Four days seemed like more than enough time to Sally to recover from their little adventure. She was anxious to head out. "Hey, Hawk", she said. "I'd like to return to Vault 87. I'm concerned about the kids at Lamplight. Is it gonna bother you to go back there?" The big mutant grunted.
"I think I can deal with it. There's good stuff in there, especially now that the brothers are dead." Sally eyed him warily, then shrugged. If he said he was good she would take him at his word.
They stood on the balcony at dawn the next morning, fully armored and packed, watching the sun rise. Sally insisted on going down to the cantina for breakfast before leaving, though that could be quite expensive when you were feeding a super mutant. Jenny accepted Hawk as she did all Sally's acquisitions, and was happy for the caps. At least she had made him bathe and washed his clothes so he didn't stink. Neither one of them had smelled too good when they came in.
Sally checked her direction on the pip-boy, set her sight on the horizon and started out. They hadn't gone many miles up the road before Hawk's guttural laughter caused her to spin about, in time to check the body of the radscorpion that had unwisely caught the attention of the mutant. He laughed uproariously at the kill. Sally sighed, and knelt to cut out the glands. After two more such kills she decided she had enough glands, and simply kept on, unless the radscorpion was a giant. Then she hurried to help before he got himself killed.
They had just topped a rise when Sally glimpsed the light in the far distance. If that was what she thought it was, she didn't want Hawk anywhere near it. She brought out her sniper rifle and focused in. It was an Enclave signal disc, as she had suspected, right in their path. She put the rifle away and moved off to the side, around the hill. Skirting it quietly she managed to keep Hawk from becoming aware of the camp, but down the hill, far enough away she could barely make it out, she spotted a Death Claw. It seemed to be moving off.
They were now caught between the Enclave camp, and a Death Claw, neither of which she wanted Hawk to engage, which he surely would if he spotted them. She knelt and began to negotiate a delicate path between the two threats. Even as they were leaving the threats behind Hawk laughed maniacally and stormed past her, blasting at the robobrain that had spotted them. Oh, well, it was definitely the lesser of the threats. She stood up and went to scavenge the energy cells and what ammo she could from the now defunct machine.
The rest of the trip to Little Lamplight was surprisingly without incident. It was the middle of the night when they approached the caverns and the residents were all asleep except for the guard, who might have shot Hawk if Sally hadn't gone in first and warned him she was bringing in a friendly super mutant. They made their way to the Great Cavern and found some empty mattresses. She kept Hawk close since she hadn't yet introduced him to the kids, and they generally shot super mutants on sight. She was also concerned about his state of mind. He had said he didn't mind returning but he had seemed tense and nervous since they had entered the tunnels.
The next morning Hawk caused some consternation but children are adaptable, and they soon accepted the big mutant wasn't a threat. Sally did some trading at the store and with the doctor, who wanted to examine Hawk, and then prepared to make their way to the storage lockers next to the vault entrance. As they left the building housing the small clinic they were accosted by a young man in a party hat.
"Hey, man", he said. "What are doing here with these kids? I'm going to Big Town. How about you come with me?" Sally eyed the hat.
"What's with the hat?", she asked curiously.
"Oh, that", he said, removing it. "Here take it, I don't want it. I just turned 16. I had it on for my party. I have to leave now, though, no one is allowed to stay after they turn 16. Once we grow up we go to Big Town. That's where I'm headed now. My girlfriend's already there. Wanna come with me?"
Sally realized the kid was actually hoping they would accompany him. It was a dangerous journey to make on his own. She groaned inwardly. She couldn't let him go alone; he'd probably get killed out there.
"Sure.", she said. She smiled at Hawk. "We should help this kid out.", she said. "The vault isn't going anywhere."
She might as well. She still had quite a bit of salvage anyway, so she couldn't carry a lot more from the vault. The heavy door had locked behind her and no one else knew how to unlock it. Jason had shut down the computer after she was taken. The mayor had informed her the entrance through Murder Pass had been locked by the Enclave when they left and they couldn't get in that way. The vault was sealed so it could wait. She didn't miss the fact that Hawk had seemed to relax after she decided to leave without going in the vault.
The kid was waiting impatiently by the front gate while Sally reclaimed the items she had left in the lockers. They set out for Big Town at midmorning. The kid chatted annoyingly. He never shut up! Sally grew more and more disgruntled. A couple times she caught Hawk eyeing him, fingering his minigun. She knew how he felt. If they just left him here in the wasteland…..
The boy proved to be as injudicious as Hawk or any of her previous companions. What was wrong with these people? Did they think charging full speed ahead at every threat was the best way to stay alive? After a rather serious confrontation with a couple of super mutants, and rescuing the kid from a radscorpion, she was more than relieved to see the buildings of Big Town. The kid took off at a run toward the town. Sally took off after him. Really? Just because they were in sight of the town, did he think there were no more threats? Luckily for him there weren't and they made it into the town without incident.
Sally crossed the short bridge into the town where she was confronted with the town guard. "Halt!", he said. "What do you want here?"
"I just brought you a new resident from Little Lamplight. I thought I might do some trading while I'm here.", she replied.
"Well you've come to the wrong place for that. We don't have anything to trade. In fact we don't have anything. We get raided all the time by super mutants and slavers. There aren't many of us left now.", he said grimly.
Sally went on into the small town and talked to the few remaining residents, but she got the same story from all of them. They didn't have weapons or the knowledge to defend themselves and were getting picked off regularly. The town doctor and a couple others had just been taken by super mutants that very day. Sally groaned inwardly. She had completed her task, she should just leave now.
That wasn't going to happen. "Do you know where they took them?", she asked the guard.
"Over that way.", he pointed. "There's a place called Germantown. I think it was a headquarters for the police or something. It's a super mutant camp now. That's where they take them, and they don't ever come back. I don't even like to think what they do to them."
"I'll get them back for you.", she said. " In the meantime I'm going to put some mines on that bridge into town, so be careful if any of you decide to go out."
"Ya, no problem, none of us has anywhere to go.", he said sourly.
After mining the bridge to provide some protection to the residents of Big Town they set out for the mutant camp. It wasn't far, but they decided to spend the night nearby in the wasteland to observe for a while before going in.
They were cleaning up after the skimpy meal they had eaten. It was cold and old, but they didn't want to start a fire this close to the enemy camp. They were going to have to take down an entire compound of the strong, vicious creatures. This wasn't going to be easy. And she was sure she was going to get hurt. She never got used to the hurting.
She had been thinking and had reached a decision. What if Hawk had been seriously injured during their expeditions, what could she have done? Her basic medical training hadn't included super mutant physiology. Now, as well as the usual amount of weapons, water, and food Hawk carried, his pack was heavier by a medical tome, surgical supplies and a variety of meds, including anesthetics she had taken from the clinic. She would pay the doctor later, if she was still alive. She had a plan.
"Hawk", Sally said, putting the last of the refuse in the hole he had dug and covering it up, "After we get done in there tomorrow, you know, after all the super's are taken care of , you usually dispatch any that are still moving. I'd rather you didn't kill them. I have plans for them." Hawk grunted.
"Whatever you say," he agreed. He wasn't big on questions and he was engrossed in his book. Sally still found it intriguing that his eyesight was so good he could read by moonlight.
They went in at mid-morning. It wasn't any advantage to Sally to attack under low light conditions as they could see so much better than she could. They were moving quietly, staying as much in cover as possible. The more they could pick off one at a time, before the camp was aroused, the better chance they had of avoiding serious injury, like dying.
Sally had just taken down her third super when the yell went up. So much for surprise attacks; time for all-out war. She dove for the building, Hawk's maniacal battle cries following her. The big guy had gone berserker. Again. The battle raged furiously through the courtyard and throughout the building, but at last no more mutants came at her. She had lost track of Hawk.
Sally freed the last of the prisoners and turned to the task of checking out the damage. She walked through the building, checking the creatures lying about. She didn't find any alive. She frowned, heading out to the compound. Hawk was bent over a small super mutant who was making low moaning sounds though he was barely moving. "I tied him up for you," he said as she approached.
"Good, thanks, do you think you could carry him into the kitchen and put him on the table? He looks awfully heavy. Is he the only one alive?", she asked.
She surveyed Hawk as she talked, assessing the damage he had taken. It didn't seem too bad, he wasn't spouting blood anywhere even if he was seeping from numerous wounds, and all his limbs seemed functional. Hawk grunted. "I'll manage. Yeah, the rest are dead."
"Okay, well, hold still a moment, would you", she quarreled as he moved to bend down. She held up the stimpack and he sighed. She injected him smoothly and pulled out another for herself.
"We'll have to clean up our wounds back in the kitchen before we start on him.", she said.
Sally knelt down to look the creature over. He had heard what she said and was looking up at her with terrified eyes. He knew what super mutants did to captives and was sure the next few hours weren't going to be pleasant. He didn't look forward to ending up as a gore bag. He struggled as Sally dug in her pack. She knelt down, looking into the mutant's terror.
"Hush, I'm not going to hurt you.", she said compassionately. "See? I'm just going to give you a shot to make the pain go away."
She pulled out a syringe and injected the mutant. "That should be enough to keep him out", she said, rising as he fell into unconsciousness. Hawk's curiosity finally got the best of him.
"You're not going to kill him?", he asked tentatively. He had been reluctant to ask, half afraid she intended to torture the super, although that seemed very unlike what he knew of her, but that hardly seemed to be the case if she anesthetized him.
"No, I'm going to operate on him," she replied calmly.
The super mutant was in pretty bad shape. Hawk had managed to get him onto the kitchen table and had helped Sally cut off all his clothing. He had fetched large containers of water from the sink. At least it was handy. There were a large number of gunshot wounds and some deep knife wounds. A good variety she thought wryly. She showed Hawk how to lay out the surgical tools, and named them for him. He would assist. She picked up a scalpel hesitantly. She hadn't done anything like this since she had begun her medical studies in the vault.
It was a grueling but interesting 3 hours, as Sally opened up the mutant, attempting to stop bleeding, repair organs, reconnect severed tendons. Since the patient died shortly after the surgery began, it couldn't be considered a spectacular success, but she learned a lot about super mutant physiology. That was the goal.
Finally she put down her instruments and surveyed the mess. She sighed.
"I'll clean up the tools, if you want to go start looking for salvage.", she offered.
Hawk agreed and left her to the nasty task. They wouldn't bother with cleaning up any bodies; scavengers would take care of it eventually. After carefully cleaning the tools in disinfectant she packed them away and began filling her own pack with saleable and useful items. She didn't look at the mutilated body left on the table; it no longer held any interest for her.
It was getting on toward evening now. The battle itself hadn't taken that long, not as long as the practice surgery. But it takes time to look for loot. Now they had to leave the encampment. The super mutants were all dead, but the night wasn't likely to pass before predators began showing up to gorge themselves, attracted by the carnage. They didn't want to have to deal with Death Claws too.
Heavily laden they took off through the wasteland. Although the small town of Big Town wasn't far it was well after dark before they approached. They had left mines on the bridge to protect it, but they knew where they were and easily avoided them. The residents were all too happy to greet them. The captives had made it back safe and sound.
Sally heaved a sigh of relief as she shed her pack. They had a room to sleep in, water to clean up, and a meal. Neither was severely injured, they had all the loot they could carry and they had helped the residents of the town. It had been a profitable day.
Before going home they took the time to help the residents defend themselves. While Hawk worked on the robots in the junkyard Sally gave them some firearms and lessons in how to use them. A good supply of bullets and instructions on how to set up practice routines were given to the guard, along with mines to help defend the bridge. Sally promised to stop back when she had the chance to see how they were doing.
With weapons and the ability to use them the residents could finish cleaning out Germantown and scour the countryside for salvage. With items to trade, the traders could start stopping here. Hopefully the small town could begin to thrive.