Hello everyone, hope you are doing well.

And there we hit chapter 50 and start a new arc in the story

Enjoy.


Damian finally reached the top of the ladder. The tunnel had been big enough for him to pass through with the flamethrower on his back. He stopped just below the manhole cover and caught his breath.

The tank of the flamethrower weighed down on his back and he was starting to get aches in the lower part of his neck.

Damian lifted the metal plate and squinted his eyes as the daylight entered the tunnel. The hole led to a large parking lot, located outside Olney's town and behind the large white building Damian had seen from the fire station. A trail of smoke was coming from the roof, indicating that this was probably the ruined building he had walked through and where he had destroyed the Vertibird.

Damian looked around, and then exited the tunnel. Fawkes was waiting for him on the other side of town. Damian replaced the manhole cover and grabbed the radio.

"Tristan, this is Franklin, come in."

He heard a growl and turned around but saw nothing exceot a brick wall separating the parking lot from the rest of the landscape. Damian looked up. At the top of the wall, a Deathclaw was watching him. The creature had at its feet the corpse of an Enclave soldier. A trickle of blood was flowing from the Deathclaw's mouth.

Damian stepped back. The Deathclaw growled again. It left the corpse of the soldier and jumped from the wall.

"Lone Wanderer, Lyons' Pride actual, come in. Do you have the device?" asked Tristan's voice in the radio.

The animal roared and approached with a menacing air. Damian dropped the radio and aimed the flamethrower at the creature and sent a stream of flame in its direction. The Deathclaw retreated with a grunt. Damian looked around him. He could not see any other Deathclaw, but he could not see Fawkes either.

The parking lot was completely deserted, except for a few cars that were rusting in the rising sun. Damian was going to have to kill this Deathclaw if he wanted to get out of the parking lot safely.

He let the Deathclaw move forward a little and pulled the trigger on his flamethrower. A stream of fire sprang from the barrel of the gun. The flames flew towards the Deathclaw, who leapt to the side. Damian followed the animal's movement, but the flames went out. A few drops of gasoline dripped from the muzzle of the gun.

The Deathclaw roared and rushed at Damian who dove to the side, avoiding the claw that nearly tore his head off. He grabbed his assault rifle and felt the creature's tail hit him in the stomach. The shock made Damian pulled the trigger, but the shots missed. He hit the front bumper of a car and hit his head against the tank of the flamethrower.

Damian came to his senses just in time to see the Deathclaw rushing at him. Damian rolled to the side and heard the creature hit the vehicle, which slid a few centimeters. The Deathclaw shook its head, stunned, and looked around. It saw Damian trying to get rid of the tank of his flamethrower and ran towards him.

Damian pulled the tank from his back and climbed up the hood of a car. He crawled through the broken windshield and into the back seat. He turned around and saw the Deathclaw trying to grab him by putting its hand through the windows of the car. Damian grabbed his pistol and fired a bullet that went in the eye of the creature, which collapsed on the car in a metallic noise.

Damian took a long sigh and put his head against the perforated seat of the car. He crawled out of the car.

Another growl sounded from the wall above the parking lot. Damian raised his head and saw a second Deathclaw. He raised his assault rifle when a laser beam hit the creature in the chest. A second beam hit it in the throat. The creature fell from the wall headfirst.

Damian turned his head. A man in Brotherhood power armor stood not far from the parking lot. He inspected the area around him before lowering his weapon and quickly approached Damian.

The man removed his helmet. He had dark hair, brown eyes, and a slight three-day-old beard on his face.

"Knight Danse. Paladin Tristan sent me. Have you secured the objective?"

Damian caught his breath and nodded his head. He reached into his bag to grab the Tesla Coil. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Knight raise his weapon and point it toward the city. Damian raised his assault rifle and saw Fawkes walking towards them.

Fawkes stood still. Damian lowered his rifle and to his relief, the Knight did not to fire. Danse frowned and gave the Super Mutant a scornful look.

"I'm relieved to see that you're all right," said the Super Mutant. "When I heard the shots and saw the explosion of the Vertibird, I feared the worst."

"I'm fine Fawkes, thank you," Damian replied.

"We should get back to the Citadel," the Knight said.

Damian nodded. They set off and went around Old Olney to the West, getting as far away as possible from that deadly place.

After a few minutes of walking, Danse stopped and tapped his helmet. He did it again, harder, and took it off before inspecting the interior.

"A problem?" Damian asked.

"The radio in my helmet is picking up statics."

Damian raised his Pip-Boy and turned the radio on.

"What's the frequency?" Damian asked.

"120."

Damian tuned the radio. The static started to crackle. In the middle of the noise, Damian could hear something, like a voice. Danse had put his helmet back on and walked a few steps away.

"Here," he cried.

Damian joined him. The static had almost stopped, and Damian could hear a man's voice on the radio.

"...this message, my name is Wernher. I come from a town in the North. I have information of vital importance that I'm ready to give to anyone who will help me free my people from slavery. Please... Please help us!"

A robotic voice announced that the message would be repeated. Immediately, echoes of gunfire came from the Northwest.

Damian let the message repeat itself in his head. His mind wandered to the scenes he had seen in Paradise Falls. Children locked in cages, men and women sold to the highest bidder like cattle.

He grabbed his gear and began to head to the source of the shots that were still ringing.

"May I know what you're doing?" cried Danse. "We have a mission to accomplish."

In response, Damian reached into his bag and gave him the Tesla Coil.

"If the Enclave was able to destroy the Citadel, it would have done so long ago," Damian said, hoping wholeheartedly to be right.

The Knight of the Brotherhood protested and then confessed defeat when he saw that Damian would not turn back. He sighed and headed for the Citadel.

Damian had been walking for about 20 minutes in the pouring rain. He was in the middle of a small forest of dead trees, stuck between several rocky hills and the remains of a monorail.

The radio signal was getting stronger as he walked along. Fire had become sporadic and was now coming from the West.

Damian climbed a rocky mound with Fawkes. The fire seemed to come from a large radio tower, the likely source of the radio message.

They approached the tower slowly, watching for any suspicious movement. Several bullets slammed close to them. Damian dove to the ground, while Fawkes took cover behind a rock. Shouts of voices echoed in front of them.

Damian raised his head. A woman, wearing a tank top and pierced jeans, with a rifle beside her, was lying on the ground. Damian approached her and saw that she had been shot with a large bullet in the stomach.

More shots rang out, closer together, and a cry of pain rose before going out immediately. Damian continued to move forward and approached the radio tower. He passed another dead body with the upper part of its skull missing.

Just behind a rock, he found himself facing the barrel of a revolver. Damian raised his gun and deflected the barrel of the revolver. He subdued his opponent and pushed him away. The man fell backwards and when he got up, he found himself facing the barrel of Damian's gun.

The man had tousled brown hair, a small beard and an eyepatch over his right eye. His face was covered with dirt and small drops of blood.

"So, you finally tracked me down, you bastards," he said with a bitter smile. "Come on, let's get this over with..."

"Was it you who send that radio distress call?" Damian asked.

The man raised his eyebrows.

"Wait... Aren't you with them?"

"No, I'm here for the radio call."

A smirk appeared on the man's face. He got up and dusted off his leather jacket.

"You already know who I am in this case," he said, picking up a large .44 caliber revolver with a scope, and putting it in a holster under his left armpit. "Why don't you tell me who you are?"

"My name is Damian."

"Well, Damian, the man says. I hope you're here to help me."

Wernher headed for the radio tower and the power supply. He turned off the airwaves and then walked to a small straw mattress where some camping gear was scattered. He walked by Fawkes and to his surprise, Damian didn't notice any reaction from the man, as if seeing such a close Super Mutant left him completely indifferent.

"I come from a place quite far, Northwest of D.C.," Wernher said. "It's called Pitt. It's, uh..."

Wernher searched for his words a few moments before he sighed.

"To be frank, it's a pretty hard place to describe. Imagine Hell, and add to it all the shit that's going on in this world and you'll have a vague idea of what it can be."

He gathered his things and then headed towards the corpses Damian had come across on his way here.

"Radiation, disease, mutations. But the worst part is, my people, they're enslaved in all this mess."

He turned to Damian and waited for his reaction. Damian remained stoic. It wasn't the first or the last time he had heard this kind of speech, and although the idea of seeing an entire town under the control of slavers like those in Paradise Falls surprised him or revolted him, he did not show it.

"It's not an easy task, I'll admit it," Wernher continued. "But I have a solution. I have the means to set my people free. All I need is help from someone on the outside."

"Is that why you came to the Capital Wasteland?" Damian asked.

"Yeah, and that's why these guys are tracking me. As long as I know about the cure and I'm alive, I'm a threat," Wernher said.

"Wait a second," Damian cut him off. "What cure? What does this have to do with slavery?"

Wernher took a deep breath and looked down.

"Pitt is a real shithole. Those who live there are bound to get sick one day or another. The inhabitants are dying or... Worse. I don't know where it comes from, but it's something in the air or in the water. Everybody's dealing with it. Usually it takes a few years to get sick, but sometimes, especially with people born in Pitt, it only takes a few months, sometimes a few days to get sick."

"What kind of illness are you talking about?"

"I don't know exactly," sighed Wernher. "No one is affected in the same way. Most of the time, the symptoms are lesions on the skin, like this."

Wernher rolled up the sleeve of his jacket and showed Damian his forearm. His skin seemed to be burned or infected by something and blisters and redness stretched from his wrist to his elbow.

"In some people it stops there," said Wernher while hiding his arm under his sleeve. "For others it ends into a plague-like illness, minus the contagion. You get sick and you die. Others go completely nuts and live outside the city. And the worst ones... They forget who they are. Their appearance changes, they behave like wild animals and do nothing but kill, eat, sleep and fuck. I hope you don't have to run into them..."

"And this cure you're talking about, it will eradicate this disease?"

"Yes," Wernher said hopefully. "But only the bastards who exploit my people have it and they refuse to share it with us!"

He looked around him as if he feared that someone else might hear him.

"Look, I need your help. I know you must have other things to do, and I know you might not care what happens to us, but without you, my people will die."

"What am I gonna have to do?"

"I need you to infiltrate Pitt. Once you're inside, you're gonna have to find a way to get close to the guy in charge. His name's Ashur. He and his slaver goons are running the city with an iron fist and no-one's dared stand up to him so far. Once you get close to him, steal the cure from him."

"Where's the trap? Damian asked, certain that it would not be an easy job.

"Well, you're going to have to pretend to be a slave if you want to get enter town. They'll never let anyone with all that gear go through, let alone someone with a mutant on their heels."

Damian hesitated for a few moments. The war against the Enclave was an urgent matter. Yet he could not bring himself to turn his back on this man and condemn all these people to a fate similar to that of the slaves in Paradise Falls.

"All right, Wernher. I'll do it."

The man thanked Damian with a smile and a nod.

"Okay, let's go, let's not waste time."

About ten minutes later, they arrived at a railway tunnel. The place consisted of a large concrete construction, similar to some of the metro tunnel entrances in downtown D.C.. A wide half-open metal door separated the tunnel from the outside world, the purgatory from Hell, and the rails, twisted and rusted over the past two centuries, snapped out of the structure and meandered away into the Wastes.

Several freight and passenger cars were scattered around the tunnel entrance.

"Shit…"

Damian was lying next to Wernher on a rock, while Fawkes was standing guard behind them.

Next to the tunnel, a group of men and women were held inside a small enclosure, surrounded by barbed- wire. All were wearing rags, had no shoes and had bruise on their faces or arms.

Outside the enclosure, a smaller group of men, wearing leather outfits or military fatigues and jackets and armed with assault rifles, shotguns or laser rifles for some of them.

They seemed to have set up camp at the train tunnel, as Damian noticed a tin metal sheet, welded pillars to act as a small roof under which, three of these armed men were sheltering from the rain, around a burning barrel.

Two others were standing near the enclosure, sliding a police baton against the fence and addressing a young girl, while a third one was patrolling the enclosure.

"You know these guys?" Damian asked, as Wernher swore again.

"They are slavers, but no, I don't know them, they are not from Pitt. Slave trade is a great business in the Wastes. With all the death caused by the disease in Pitt and the ever-growing demand in workforce for Pitt, Ashur started to import slaves from different parts of the Wasteland. Now, any Raider gang, who wants to make easy caps can kidnap some people and sell them to the Pitt Raiders. Looks like these ones are about to send a lot of poor souls to Hell."

Damian was biting his lips and inner cheeks in frustration. He had wiped all slavers from Paradise Falls, but it was a far cry from stopping slavery in the Capital Wasteland, as the corpses in the building on his way to Old Olney had proven him. The dead slaves had started to decay and with the abuse some had been through before dying, it was impossible for Damian to know for sure if they died before or after his visit of Paradise Falls.

Here again, this group of slavers was the bitter proof that every Raider gang that would get eliminated in the Wastes, would just leave an empty place that a new group would be happy to fill.

Damian thought back to the Regulators, these cowboys looking vigilantes he had met before. If them, or the Brotherhood, wanted to get rid of the plague that were the Raiders and slavers, it would take years to secure the entire area of D.C. and a tremendous amount of men and women to make sure that no other group would come and take the vacant spots. That of course, if the Brotherhood could eliminate the Enclave and the Super Mutants.

"With my escape and all the Raiders on my trail, I lost track of time," whispered Wernher. "I though I could find help and come back before a new shipment."

"Is there no other way to go to Pitt?" Damian asked.

"No… I mean I don't know. I've never been outside Pitt before, and I escaped through that tunnel. I got lucky when I arrived here, the camp was deserted. I guess they only come here when there's a new shipment."

Damian watched the camp and the tunnel. The idea of asking the Brotherhood for help crossed his mind, but as they already had no men to spare to help him on a dangerous mission, it was certain they would not send him any help, and going to Pitt with the Vertibird was impossible. Damian had no idea how to fly this thing and it was far from being a discreet mean of transport.

He looked at the slave's enclosure and tried to count them.

"They must have been here for quite a while if they managed to kidnap so much people," Damian said.

"Not necessarily," Wernher replied. "Look, most of the captives are old people and women. I think they attacked a town, killed everyone resisting and took all other people here."

Damian looked at the slaver camp and the train tunnel.

"What's happening next? You know the slave trade better than I."

Wernher stared at the camp in silence for a moment before answering.

"I know that some of Ashur's men are sent outside Pitt to collect slaves. I suggest we wait and… Well, speak of the devil."

Damian looked at the camp and saw several figures coming out of the train tunnel. From a distance, they looked like ghouls and were dressed in leather outfit or draped in a cloth poncho. They slowly approached the enclosure and started talking with the local slavers while observing the people behind the barbed-wire fence.

"Do you think you can take these guys out?" Wernher asked.

Damian looked at the slavers talking next to the enclosure.

"Yeah, but won't the Raiders in Pitt be alarm not to see their friend come back?"

Wernher shook his head.

"The outside of Pitt is very dangerous, same for the tunnel. Besides, Ashur's not a very popular man outside of his city, so…"

If I can get close enough, then yes. Assuming you'll be helping."

Wernher grabbed his magnum revolver and Damian heard the distinctive noise of the cylinder turning very fast. Damian turned to Fawkes.

"Fawkes, you stay here and cover us. Let's try to do it quietly for as long as possible and wait for my signal."

"Don't you forget anyone?"

Wernher pointed to the various freight trains and wagons and Damian saw a slaver wrapped in a black poncho, scanning the Wasteland with a sniper rifle in his hands.

"I'll go left. Good luck," Wernher said.

Damian looked the area for a path that would allow him to get close without being noticed and attached his silencer on his 10mm pistol.

Fawkes took position on the rock while Damian and Werhner approached the camp from two different directions.

Damian took a discreet look toward the enclosure, from under the wagon. The slavers where all gathered around the enclosure. One opened the door and forced a small group of captives to come out.

He walked along the wagons until he arrived under the sniper. The slaver was scanning the Wasteland through the scope of his rifle.

Damian climbed on a ladder and stopped at the edge of the wagon and prepared his knife. Suddenly a gunshot resounded among the drumming of the rain. He saw the sniper turning away from him to face the camp.

Damian climbed up. He grabbed the sniper's poncho and pulled. The man fell down from the wagon. At the same time, Damian heard screams and cries. He jumped on the slaver and thrusted the blade inside the man's neck.

"What's going on?" Damian heard.

Damian was sure that Wernher or Fawkes had been spotted, but he did not hear any other gunshot. Instead, was the sound of the pouring rain and the cries of some slaves.

"Nothin'. Just a guy who tried to escape. Fuck, next time, aim the leg. Dead slaves are worth nothing."

Damian exhaled slowly. From under the wagon, he could see the shadows and legs of the slavers, resuming their bargaining and discussions.

"Right, where were we? Ah, yes, these ones. They are too old, the trip to Pitt will kill them and even if they survive, they won't last a day of work. I give you 300 each for the five guys over there. They are young and healthy. Same for the girls. Boys back in Pitt are tired of banging girls that look like feral ghouls. Some fresh beautiful skin will be a nice change."

Damian heard some of the slavers chuckle.

"500 for the girls. Each. Non-negotiable."

The laughter stopped. Damian looked between two wagons. The slavers around the burning barrel and walked away to dispose of the dead slave and were putting chains and ropes around the necks, ankles and wrists of some slaves. The Pitt Raiders and the leader of the local slavers had taken their place around the brazier and where now negotiating.

Damian grabbed a frag grenade and took a few steps back.

"Well, gotta keep the workforce and the boys happy, am I right?"

Damian threw the grenade, which landed next to the negotiating slavers. The explosion resounded, immediately followed by gunshots from Fawkes and Wernher.

Damian walked around the wagons and stumbled on the rest of the slavers, running away. Damian turned his head and saw Fawkes, on top of the rocky hill, aiming at them and eliminating the runners. Damian motioned to Fawkes to come and went back to the camp.

Wernher was standing over one of the Pitt slavers and seemed to be talking to him. Damian approached, but before he could hear anything, Wernher shot the man in the head. Damian looked at the dead Pitt slavers. They looked like regular Raiders or slavers, except that their skin was covered by lesions, just like Wernher's arm. For some it was just on some part of their arms or on the neck. For the other, it was all over the face and they actually looked like ghouls.

Damian approached the tied-up slaves who looked at him and Fawkes in terror.

"Don't be afraid,' Damian said. "It's over."

He grabbed his knife and cut the ropes restraining the slaves, while the Super Mutant removed their chains.

"Who are you?" asked one of the slaves.

"Come on," said Wernher in his back. "We've got to hurry!"

Damian finished removing the ropes and went to the enclosure and smashed the padlock with his rifle butt.

All the slaves ran outside, thanking him and scattered in the Wasteland.

"Here. You'll just have to put these on when we get there, and sorry for the smell."

Damian turned around and saw Wernher handing him some rags, which he assumed where worn by the dead slave. He rolled the clothes and put them in his bag.

"Perfect," said Wernher. "Gather what you need for the trip. Just one more thing. Your... Companion can't come with us."

"Why?

"I don't feel like attracting attention by showing up with him."

Damian turned to Fawkes.

"I'm sorry," he began to say.

Fawkes raised his hand.

"Don't worry about me. I'll wait for you to come back here. And someone has to give the dead a nice resting place."

Damian gave him his radio and his Pip-Boy. Even though he had agreed to help Wernher, he did not trust him completely and he would rather leave some of his things to Fawkes than to this man.

"If the Brotherhood contact you, explain them the situation and tell them that I'll be back soon."

The Super Mutant bowed slightly forward. He watched Damian return to Wernher and enter the tunnel.

In the tunnel, Damian followed Wernher to a handcar set up on the tracks.

"We should reach Pitt in the early evening, if all goes well," Wernher said as he activated the lights on the handcar.

He sat behind the manual mechanism and waited for Damian to settle in. They operated the mechanism and the handcar started to move slowly, following the rails under its wheels, sinking into the darkness. After a moment, they stopped and the handcar, powered by a small electric generator, moved on its own, following the tracks.

"Tell me," Damian asked. "That Ashur. What can you tell me about him?"

Wernher did not seem to hear the question. Damian was about to rehearse when the man answered.

"Ashur came to power about twenty years ago. Pitt is not a good place to live, but it was worse before Ashur came. Pitt was and is still, nothing but a ruined city, ravaged by radiation and pre-war industrial waste. The people who lived there were killing each other to survive and they all ended up becoming Trogs, humanoid monsters with disease-ridden brains, or being eaten by one of those things. About twenty years ago, these guys called the Brotherhood of Steel came to town and started shooting at anything that looked like a mutant, a cannibal or a Raider."

Damian was surprised to learn that the Brotherhood had come through Pitt. His father had explained to him that they were from the West Coast, but he wondered why Lyons and his men had passed through Pitt before they went to D.C.

"Shortly after they left, Ahsur arrived, and he took control of Pitt, with the help of some survivors. Then more Raiders and mercenaries began to flock in, and they called themselves the "Army of Ashur". For his part, Ashur began to dream about reviving the city's factories and industry, with the idea of rebuilding civilization by rail in mind. Yeah, you heard right, that nutcase wants to rebuild the railroad network all over the country."

"Quite an ambitious idea," Damian commented.

"Yeah, but like I told you, with all the radiation and the disease that continues to affect everyone, there aren't many volunteers to come and collect steel. So, Ashur started importing slaves."

"What about you?" Damian asked.

"I was born around the time the Brotherhood purged the city. Without their intervention, Ashur could never have seized power. While I was in Pitt, I learnt about the cure and gathered some other slaves to organize the rebellion, but without help from the outside, it won't succeed. So, I managed to escape a couple of days ago and came here to look for help and found you."

They observed the darkness in front of them for a moment.

"The Pitt. What kind of name is that?"

"It's because before the Great War, the city was called Pittsburgh. I'm surprised you don't know or have never heard of Pitt. Ever since Ashur started his slave trade, getting sent there, has been everyone's great fear."

Wernher grabbed a small flask and drank a couple of sips. He handed it to Damian who silently declined.

"You should get some rest. Pitt is a long trip, even with this automated handcar."

Wernher turned toward the tunnel. Damian looked in the darkness, wondering what he was going to find at the end of the tunnel.


Hope you enjoyed.

Until next time