This is one of my FAVORITE missions in the whole game. Tripping on some plant you find in a swamp? Yes, please. I hope you all are enjoying this story. I know it doesn't follow the game exactly, but if we all followed the game to a T, we'd be writing the same crap over and over again (plus, I was pissed you couldn't take followers with you in the DLCs). Thanks much to XxCheshireGrinxX and Nem (Desmond is hilarious!) for your constant reviews and thanks to everyone else who pokes in to see what's up. Really people, no need to make me blush!
Ava trudged through the muck and tall grass towards the cathedral. She had no clue, not even an inkling of an idea, how to convince the Tribals to tell her anything about Desmond or their attacks.
Dad always said I was a silver-tongued devil, Ava thought with a grin. She could bullshit her way through this.
Point Lookout was eerie at night, to say the least. She quietly made her way to the cathedral in one piece, without being attacked at all. There was something about the cover of darkness that kept the swamp folk from coming out. The cathedral was gated and surrounded by high, brick walls. There was no way Ava could scale them on her on.
If Charon was here, I could have just stood on his shoulders and been able to climb over, she thought. Being without her ghoul made her feel uneasy, like someone was watching her just out of sight. Ava noticed an intercom by the gates and pressed the button.
"I hope I don't get shot," she mumbled to herself.
"Who lingers at the threshold of transcendence?" asked a male voice.
Ava bit her lip in an effort to contain her laughter. Post apocolyptia sure brought out the crazy religious fanatics like no other. These Tribals gave the Church of Atom a run for their money, that's for sure. Responding as a normal person wouldn't be enough to let her in. Ava had to make this good. She had to make this some of the best shit ever to spew from her mouth.
"I seek the wisdom of your glorious people. May I join your tribe?" she asked.
"What's this? A humble traveler, seeking the guidance of our awakened minds? Truly, this is a glorious day! You are from far away, and must have been strong to have traveled this far. But strength is nothing without guidance of the mind. If you seek entry, you must be prepared to expand your consciousness. You must prove yourself worthy to transcend!" said the voice.
"I have no fear in me. I will take your test, and I shall be victorious!" said Ava.
"You may not be so brave when you face the ritual of the Mother Seed. Stronger souls than you have attempted it and lost their minds."
"My soul is stronger than any you have encountered. This, I guarantee," she said.
"Venture west, to the great bog and within you shall find the mother of all punga fruit. She stands taller than a man, and her vines guide our future. Collect her seeds and kneel before her wisdom. Only then will you be ready to enter these sacred halls," said the voice.
Ava looked west and frowned. Before leaving, she scanned the area with her sniper rifle, just to get a heads up of any enemies she might bump into. There, by a cluster of trees, huddled three feral ghouls. Ava reached into her back pocket and pulled out her ghoul mask that Roy Phillips had given her as a gift. She didn't wear it around Charon; he was good enough protection without her needing the mask. Now she was alone, and she didn't wish to waste any ammo on those mindless bags of flesh. With a loud sigh, she pulled the mask over her head and began her journey west, towards the bog.
"God damn, you're ugly!" screamed Ava as she shot a huge, deformed man in both knees, sending him hurtling into the ground. She placed a foot on the side of his head and before he could reach up to grab her, she pulled the trigger and sent a bullet into his brain. Ava could see the entrance to the bog just ahead of her. Swamp folk had been chasing her for at least a mile and she quickly learned that swamp folk could easily overwhelm her. It was better to pick them off from a distance. A shotgun blast had grazed her bicep and she had to waste four stimpaks on the injury. It would not happen again.
The door to the bog was wrapped with chains, and a crudely drawn punga fruit was scratched into the door. Ava didn't bother putting away her assault rifle. She walked through a short, but damp, underground passage that led her to another door and finally, into the bog. It seemed deserted until Ava was knocked over. Looking over her shoulder, she saw a mirelurk hunter standing above her. She dodged to the side as it attempted to impale her on its claw, and grabbed her rifle.
The face, Charon said the face is vulnerable!
Ava aimed for the mirelurk hunter's face and unleashed hell. Other mirelurks were attracted to the commotion of Ava's shots and splashing about in the water, and they were all gunned down. She hiked through the bog and walked up a slope, killing all the mirelurks that stood in her way. Every so often she would see a couple of dolls on a stake or hanging from the trees by their necks, staring at her with beady, soulless eyes. The bog was easy enough to navigate through, but it also made it easier for the mirelurks to see her.
At last, she came to the end of the bog and the only way she could continue was down the small path that led her out of the knee-high water. Ava saw a colossal punga fruit plant at the end of the path. Thick, green vines hung from the center of the large flower, with tiny white seeds peppering the vine itself. She took a handful of the seeds and the plant released a gas, knocking her to her feet. She coughed until she was gasping and stared back down the path.
The world was blue.
Ava walked into the bog water and saw a small vault-tec bobble head on a raised piece of land. She picked it up and examined it. Why was this in the middle of a bog? She read the inscription on the base:
Tsk Tsk. Walked right into another trap. Exactly how stupid are you?
Ava dropped it and it disappeared into the ground. What the hell was going on? Bobble heads did not come with personalized messages. She continued walking slowly and she heard music. Violins, specifically. Another bobble head sat on the ground before her and she warily picked it up. This one read:
This is one situation you're not going to be able to fight your way out of. He's not here to save you.
Ava threw it into the water and continued on her way. At least the music was soothing and pleasant. It seemed to get louder the further she went. The world was now a shade of purple and another bobble head appeared in front of her.
Keep it up, you're almost there…wherever 'there' may be…probably nowhere.
"What the fuck?" shouted Ava. The bobble head turned into dust and floated away. She whimpered and held herself as she sat on the ground for a moment. All she wanted was Charon to come find her, to tell her how stupid she was for getting lost and to hold her close to him while she slept. Ava panicked and started looking about the bog. Her head was pounding and she had no idea why.
"Charon! Charon I need you! Please help me, I'm freaking out! Charon!" Ava screamed. There was no answer, only the wind blowing between the dead trees. She stood up and decided to keep going.
She took a step and a giant, transparent saw began cutting into the ground beside her. The noise it made, it was searing into her eardrums. So loud…so close…
Ava ran. Bottles of Nuka-cola Quantum rained down beside her and made quiet, little explosions. The saw was following her, getting louder. It faded almost immediately when she found another bobble head.
Isn't it funny how everything you get close to ends up leaving?
"No…Charon! Please, don't leave me. I…I think I'm falling for you. I don't want anyone else; the thought of someone else makes me sick! You're the only one I can trust. I may not have dad but I have you! Please, please don't leave me. I need you!" Ava sobbed into her hands. Charon wouldn't leave her.
Would he?
She walked further and the world went upside down. Literally. Ava held her breath and ran as fast as she could, her feet touching the sky. When she made it to the other side, she let out her breath and fell to her knees, heaving. Out of the corner of her eye, a giant sewing needle was sewing the world back together again. Maybe this was all coming to an end. At the end of the path, stood an operating table with a skeleton wearing a party hat. Balloons decorated the morbid scene and so did a bobble head.
Blech, if my kid looked like that, I'd abandon it too.
It was mom. The skeleton was mom.
Ava threw up once more and the bile burned her throat like nothing she had ever felt. The world went red. Bodies dotted the water. Human bodies. Ava was afraid to touch them or even look at them, but she was so close to getting out of the bog. Another bobble head stood beside the water's edge.
He doesn't care about you. The second he gets in your pants, he's gone.
"That's not true!" Ava screamed as she kicked the bobble head as hard as she could. She marched into the water and pulled up the bodies to see who they were.
Dad. Amata. Elder Lyons. Moira. Gob. Carol. Nova. Herbert.
There was one last body and Ava knew who it belonged to. She gently held Charon's head in her arms, his blue eyes blank and dead. She traced the bones in his face and couldn't stop the tears that fell from the corners of her eyes.
"I wanted you to stay with me. I thought I meant something. You're not the cold-blooded monster everyone thought you were. You weren't supposed to leave!" she whispered, her voice shaking before letting go of Charon's body and watching him sink to the bottom. Ava looked up and saw a final bobble head in front of an atom bomb. Mr. Burke leaned against the bomb with a dark smile on his face. The same smile he gave Ava before undressing her. She picked up the bobble head and read it.
Dead mother, dead father, life in a post-nuclear Wasteland and not a friend in it. Yeah, you aren't exactly blessed.
Rage surged through her body. This, she knew wasn't true.
"I have friends. Friends that fucking love me. My best friend is the most feared ghoul ever to walk the Wasteland and god damn it, I love him!" Ava snarled.
Mr. Burke laughed softly and said, "Congratulations my dear, you're going to pull through."
A sadistic grin formed on Ava's beautiful face and she raised her rifle, pointing it at Burke's head.
"Fucking right I am," she said with unnatural confidence. She pulled the trigger of her rifle and obliterated Burke's head.
Ava's world went black.