"The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our separate ways – I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows." – Socrates
"The greatest penalty of evildoing is to grow into the likeness of bad men." – Plato
"Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing." – Thales
Furious had gotten himself into a bit of a pickle. Joseph, David, Isaac, Sufia and Suda had all gone in separate directions. Usually this was not much of a problem but now that they were in a town there was no shortage of people around to easily confuse him. Sure, Furious was bad mannered but that did not mean he would just follow anyone. Confused, the spike dog shuffled around a bit, trying to find a familiar face amidst a sea of strangers.
Instead, he bumped into a gang of rats.
Furious had never seen a rat before, much less four of them all at once. The spike dog was immediately cautious and the rats were rather startled themselves. While the rats tensed up and watched Furious intently, the spike dog went into what was a knee jerk reaction.
Furious rolled up into a spiky ball.
One of the rats, Whiskers, took the initiative and pattered forward, just a little.
Furious curled up tighter and growled.
Keeping a healthy distance away from the menacing spikes, Whiskers nonetheless sniffed a few times.
Underneath the heavy coats of stickers, Furious huffed angrily.
That seemed to get the other rats interested. All of them kept their distance but appeared to wonder what peculiar animal was in fact in their midst.
Furious was not at all pleased with all this attention.
As if on cue, Suda happened to be walking by, her heavy combat boots landing in the sand.
"Come on, spike ball. Let's go find your idiot friends." Suda grumbled.
Relieved to hear a familiar voice, Furious promptly popped back onto his four paws and trotted off, hot on Suda's heels.
The rats, still wide eyed, pondered what strange new creature had arrived on their turf.
Whiskers wondered if it liked cheese.
How many years had they done this?
By now it was more reflex and muscle memory than anything else. James, Carl and Sven sat together, preparing their weapons. Clips were rechecked and fastened, guns cleaned and verified as operational. James made sure to sharpen his palm blade machete while Carl hefted his hammer a couple times to loosen up his muscles.
Sure, other onlookers may have considered the sight of the Liberators preparing for battle as a welcoming sight. It was like watching a hurricane barreling down from the horizon. It was the harbinger that a devastating force of nature was about to be unleashed.
For the Liberators it may have been business as usual but all of them knew in the back of their minds one grim fact. James and Sven were only in their late fourties, Carl had just broke the fifty mark. Still, they were getting too old for this.
For many reasons, this could very well be their last mission. It could very well catch up to them.
"Guys, we need to talk." Adam announced, suddenly in front of them.
Adam still wore his duster like it was meant to be on him. Only the tip of his Chinese longsword peeked from his coat but only a fool would judge him from that one detail. His comrades knew that an armory of daggers and knives were under that coat, that and a silenced pistol or two. You never knew with Adam.
And yet, it looked like he had aged a couple years since they last saw them.
"This is going to be my last mission. When Albany is safe…I'm turning in my duster. It's…been…extraordinary to work with you guys." Adam finally admitted with a pained face.
There was some silence for awhile as no one moved or spoke.
"It was an honor working under your leadership." James finally nodded.
"You're doing the right thing, man." Carl said.
"Good idea, but thanks for all the stuff that needed blown up." Sven added.
And, oddly enough, that was enough of that topic.
"…So, when do you think they'll launch that all out attack?" Adam asked awkwardly, trying to change the subject.
"Honestly, with the snipers up there covering that empty expanse and them still hiding down there, not sure." James replied, locking a clip into his rifle.
David, Isaac, Suda and Joseph had been transferred to one of the fast moving Regulator patrol boats. For now, there was a small armada sitting just outside the Albany harbor. While some were faced south to act as a rapid evacuation force should the worse occur, the majority of the Regulator ships were faced north towards the enemy. The particular boat the four were on was at the vanguard, the first line towards the enemy.
David glared towards the general direction of where the invaders were camped to the north. He was in a sour mood and he was blaming that army somewhere out there. It was apparent that they had arrived back home in timely fashion. Albany, and rumor had it that also New York City, was under siege while Joseph's people were basically camped out west of Albany.
The problem for David was that while everyone else had their family here in Albany, he was worried about his wife and daughter back home in New York. Isaac was able to catch up with his parents. (The fershtinker didn't even mention his parents were the Liberators.) Joseph had been able to check on his own friends and family camped west of the city. Even Sufia had been welcomed back by her old Regulator friends after being gone for decades.
And here he was stuck in the wrong city.
Still, Francis had given his orders and he was already here. It bothered him to no end not knowing how Rachel and Shiloh were doing but he had to finish his duties here.
"You okay there, David?" Isaac asked, noticing how his friend was still glaring.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just wish those idiots would mach shnel so I could hurry home. The sooner we can punch them in the kishka the better." David grumbled.
The others nodded, sympathetic to David's situation. They were all getting antsy with waiting. The waiting before a battle was always hardest, especially when it did not seem clear when exactly the lines would clash. No one wanted to dwell on the cold fact that there was a high chance they wouldn't make it out alive. Even worse was the thought that they could also lose someone, if not more, of the people they loved.
"I didn't expect you to stay." Isaac said to Suda as she stood around.
"I got nothing better to do and it's not like I'm going to find a job around here with everyone geared for a fight." Suda muttered, brushing her long hair out of her face.
"You could have left, no reason to put your life in danger for a bunch of people you don't know, much less care about." Isaac shrugged.
"The thought crossed my mind, but…"
"But what?" David asked.
"Well…I just recently found the woman who gave birth to me. If she's insistent on fighting here I might as well stay too. I don't like her yet, don't feel like I owe her anything, except maybe the chance to try and get to know her. Can't do that if you all get overrun." Suda admitted.
"Guess we all have a reason to make sure this city holds then." Joseph murmured.
"Who is Agent Epsilon Nu?" Evelyn asked as Delta Sierra ended his transmission.
The agent only gave her a sideways glance through his helmet before answering.
"ENCOM special infiltration agent trained specifically for a situation like this." Delta Sierra replied.
"What, you guys planned specifically for 'giant flesh eating creature the size of a city block?'" Evelyn joked.
"Only because it happened once before and only because we had the answer. Epsilon Nu was made for this." Delta Sierra replied.
"And how so?" Evelyn inquired.
"That's the most I can tell you." Delta Sierra replied, sitting back down.
"So now what's the plan?" Birns asked as he rechecked his rifle.
"We're going to keep trailing this creature awhile before I drop you guys back at your base." Delta Sierra informed.
"Wait, how do you even prepare, much less train for this specific monster?" Evelyn demanded.
Delta Sierra did not immediately respond and Evelyn would have been infuriated to know that underneath his helmet, he was smirking at her.
"A pity you don't know the answer. Still, we're going to need the Liberators. I just need to think on how to bring all of this together." Delta Sierra muttered.
"It will take some time for Epsilon Nu to be activated and deployed." Athena reminded from the cockpit.
"Exactly, which means we have time to prepare for an appropriate response." Delta Sierra agreed.
"But that also means this sucker has time to regroup too." Hardings said.
"And that's the unfortunate truth. We're just going to have to hope our response will overrule that." Delta Sierra murmured.
May was the proprietor and chief server at The View in the old Empire State building. Now known as "The House" the towering skyscraper was the home to countless people and was once the most populated center of civilization of the people living in New York City, having only just recently been surpassed by The Wall. Still, The House was considered the most fortified settlement, surrounded by thick, large walls of concrete and a private army of militia men.
The View was the most popular hangout at The House and recently its numbers were swelling from the influx of refugees.
May and her staff were working overtime and frantically so. Good times were over, the saloon had turned into a soup kitchen trying to provide food for everyone. She had overheard Brotherhood knights corroborating with militia teams on which would be the safest routes outside to gather food for everyone.
Still, it seemed like everyone was teetering on the edge of hysteria.
May remembered a Super Mutant army had invaded the city some twenty years ago. Her hair was less gray back then. There were also less people in the city but nonetheless they did get some refugees during the invasion. Still, the short Asian woman could understand why everyone was frightened. Although the Brotherhood had good reason, knights in intimidating and impersonal power armor rapidly evacuating people from their homes in the middle of the night was always unnerving.
As if to prove that nerves were at the breaking point, she spotted a fight breaking out between a House guard, a Brotherhood knight and one of the refugees. People were starting to shout and it appeared a massive clamor was about to break out.
Despite being barely above four feet tall, this was where May's colossal personality stood out.
"Hey! Hey, stoppit! Quiet!" May screeched, banging a ladle and a pot together over the fight.
Everyone stared wide eyed at the furious hostess standing on the counter with a ferocious scowl on her face.
"Behave!" May scolded, waving the ladle menacingly.
Incredulously, there was silence.
"There's danger out there and you want to fight each other? You should all be ashamed! Either behave, get in line, and talk quietly or get out of my saloon! I have people to feed so they protect us!" May shouted.
Never before did a short woman armed with only a ladle and a pot seem more fit to lead an army than taking care of a food outlet.
May was about to hop off the counter when a subtle but distinct rumble shuddered through the room. Dishes quietly rattled while drinks moved around in their glasses. Fearing an imminent earthquake or worse, May jumped from the counter and huddled down, pot on her head as a helmet.
Another rumble, this time louder with the tremors growing stronger.
"Are those…footsteps?" someone asked.
Just as everyone was starting to realize what exactly was going on, a strong mechanical voice blared from outside.
"Phlegyas Urban Defense system operating at full power. All weapons are fully stocked and armed. Reaching rendezvous point. Will await orders."
The massive Phlegyas battle walker was a secret defense machine developed as a homeland security deterrent before the Great War. The Phlegyas was constructed in secret under an old New York City arsenal. A Regulator team had unwittingly activated it twenty years ago and it had been patrolling the city ever since, supported and maintained cooperatively by the Regulators and Brotherhood of Steel.
The twenty years of operations was apparent on the machine. While its construction was still sturdy and showed no sign of expiring, it was covered from top to bottom with massive scratches, scorch marks and dents. Standing at about four stories tall, a large, triangular platform supported two gatling lasers, two miniguns and two missile launchers. The Brotherhood had only just recently installed a mini-nuke launcher as well. Supporting all of this firepower were two gargantuan iron legs designed to give the platform unparallel stability and sheer intimidation power.
"Phlegyas defense system ready. All civilians will be protected from all Communist threats. We shall prevail!"
He was too old for this.
Francis sat at highest point of the Hammer resting in the Hudson River. Next to him was an anti-material rifle set up and ready to go. Francis reflected on the simple fact that he was over 80 years old. 60 of those years had been fighting and in the line of fire. He was already old by wastelander standards 40 years ago.
And here he was sitting on a warship with an anti-material rifle set up and ready to fire.
Sure, he couldn't do much fighting and he would probably get shot down in a stand up gun fire. Still, he would be darn if he did not fire a gun. Besides, he could still snipe and he was certain that no one would mind him sending some 50 caliber warnings down range into the enemy.
In the end, he simply refused to sit back and do nothing.
"Come on, already. When are those pansies over there going to get this show started?" Francis grumbled, staring in the direction of their enemies.
Several feet below him on the bridge, Carl and Poseidon stood quietly, watching the river in front of them for any sign of trouble. The Liberator and ghoul did not say anything to each other for a long while, simply watching in silence. Finally, Poseidon let out an uncomfortable cough.
"Ahem…so…you know that your boss is up there with a big rifle, right?" Poseidon asked.
"Yep." Carl replied.
"Isn't he a bit…old? A bit too many years under his belt to be thinking about fighting?" Poseidon finally asked.
"Yep." Carl agreed.
"…So…don't you want to stop him? Talk him out of it?" Poseidon inquired.
Carl raised an eyebrow at him before answering.
"Poseidon, I don't care how old that man gets, if he wants to do something, you darn well let him do it because he will always be able to kick your butt."
"Even now?" Poseidon asked incredulously.
"You want to find out?" Carl shrugged.
"Hmmm, good point, no I don't." Poseidon answered.
It was four the next morning. The sun was nowhere near to appearing on the horizon. The moon may have been descending but it was still dark. Albany was quiet while the ships on the Hudson River floated calmly on the water.
On the northern end of Albany, along the ruins that formed the buffer between the open expanse and the city proper, James laid on his stomach, eyes half open as he hovered somewhere in a middle state of consciousness and sleep. His Excelsior rifle was clutched close, the scope was just an instant away from being placed before his eye but he just simply stared into the distance. Adam, Sven and Carl were a floor below him. It was his job to keep an eye out. They elected him for this hour because he was "the morning person."
It was still too darn early in the morning.
James yawned noiselessly. He started to feel his right hand trembling a bit. He was tired while also being on edge. After hours of watching for your enemy, any hint of a movement, real or imagined, still had him scrambling to pull his scope up.
He quietly told himself to get a grip.
BOOM
James nearly bolted up on his feet, the colossal noise too real to have been his imagination. Fear started to fill into his bones as he realized that the explosion came from the wrong direction.
It had come from inside the city.
Sven, Carl and Adam came running up the steps, albeit drowsily and still out of sorts.
"What the heck was that?" Adam demanded, eyes still rolling around in his head.
Gathering his bearings, James shouldered his rifle and looked over into Albany.
A gaping, smoking crater had appeared right in the middle of the roadway. People had been clearly jolted. However, there was no immediate indicator as to why the road suddenly decided to self combust. They had destroyed their enemies' artillery so how did-
BOOM
James stared in horror when he realized where the explosions were coming from.
"Guys, guys, the bastards have staged an attack on the armada. There's fighting on the Hammer. The men on the ships are fighting over it but it looks like the bastards have taken control of one of the main guns. They're hitting Albany from behind us!" James reported, watching the chaos unfolding on the river through his scope.
"We have to stop them!" Carl shouted.
"Alright, organize the men, we have to re-take your ship before they hit anything too important." Adam ordered.
"Uh, we got another problem, guys." Sven announced, pointing out towards the open ground in front of them.
Hierarchy and Western Coalition soldiers were making their way towards Albany.
"Shoot, shoot, when did they learn to organize like that?" James hissed.
"Arggh, alright, the men on the ships are going to have to take care of themselves. We have to stay here and fight them off, do you understand me?" Adam demanded, looking at them.
All of them were torn. None of them liked the idea of a destroyer raining shells on them from behind, especially on their friends and loved ones while they rallied the Regulators and militia in the ruins to repel the incoming attack. Carl especially did not like the idea of his ship being contested.
"Alright, lets go be heroes again." Carl replied grim faced.
"Amen, brother." James replied, sniping off an attacker.
"Get to your positions, I'll keep the men here holding the line, come on, lets do this!" Adam shouted before dashing down to the lower levels.
"Less talk, more fire! This morning calls for explosions with a definite chance of shrapnel! Hahahahaha!" Sven cackled before a missile sung from his launcher.