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"You're absolutely certain of this course, Director?" The doctor standing behind him asked, nervously scanning the file in his hands. Nervously and needlessly, since he'd made it and seen the Director sign it in person. "I'm happy for the opportunity to test the reparative nanites, of course- More than happy, in fact. But-"
"But interference in an experiment on this scale is not conducive to accurate testing results." Li added from her own seat at the table, eyes scanning over the incredibly classified briefing folder he'd prepared for them all, "The entire point of this experiment was to see if-"
"We already supplied our experiment with medicine and limited support to prevent random, confounding variables from ending the experiment, and our data supply." Father cut her off soundly, turning his chair about so that he could meet the gazes of the Heads of his Institute. As always, they fell silent as he spoke, listening to him intently, "Does anyone know how, in spite of our antibiotics and medication, Subject Zero-Zero-One even managed to contract this infection?"
"Bio-Science has nothing." Doctor Holdren said when is eyes reached him, "Doctor Volker has some hypotheses, but without Zero-Zero-One here to be tested, we can't be sure enough to pin down an answer."
"Understandable." If frustrating. "Advanced Systems?"
"The reparative nanite's programming is excellent, I oversaw the programming and testing personally, once Bio-Science got them to us." Doctor Li answered quietly, tapping a cool, blue-labelled file she had brought with her. "Testing done on Gen-3 Synths show a ninety five percent success rate in diagnosing various Wasteland maladies, and an eighty four percent success rate in curing them."
"Only eighty four?"
"Certain types of aggressive radioactive and mutagenic ailments were… Well, remarkably difficult for the nanites to treat." Doctor Li explained coolly, tapping the folder once more and then folding her hands on the table beside it. "This shouldn't be that kind of problem, though."
"Not yet, at least." Holdren murmured, "Radioactive diseases like these can turn mutagenic, but there'd be observable signs of it. Scales, a warping of the affected limb, intense, crippling pain- You get the idea."
"I do." He nodded, "Our Courser hasn't observed anything of note?"
"None like that, Father." Sighed as much as said, voice clipped and cold as it always was. So long as the need and good intentions of the SRB weren't being questioned, at least. "Our Watchers' observations haven't generated any data of note either. Aside from a fever, ranging between ninety-nine degrees and a rare one-oh-two."
"So it's simply a very bad infection." He surmised simply, turning a slow, rotating gaze on each of his Heads. When none took the opportunity to argue, he nodded, "Doctor Li, Doctor Holdren, is the dispensation method decided?"
"Yes, Father." Li odded, setting a small, hand-sized case on the table and opening to show them the host of stark weathered looking but no doubt brand new medical supplies inside. "We have numerous injection plants available. Morphine, a Stim-Pack, a Rad-Away sack- Essentially, everything that any form of treatment those savages envision would require."
"We deliver these to the Course on station, observing the Subject." Doctor Ayo explained, "And it infiltrates the Raider stronghold. Once there, it sets several of each of these on top of the medical supplies available to the Raiders' 'Foremen'. Odds are high to certain that at least one will be used on the Subject."
"And once she has been treated, we can remote deactivate the nanintes." Li added with one of her small, self-satisfied smiles, "Which ensures as little interaction or interference with the Wastelanders as possible."
"Good." He nodded, "See it done, then. I refuse to lose such a valuable test subject just because a Courser was too slow to prevent her getting bitten."
"And if the unit is noticed?"
"It is to terminate any who witness it and discern its nature." As unlikely a possibility as that was, between its Stealth-Boy and general stealth programming, it still bore mentioning. "If the Subject becomes aware of the Courser it is to withdraw without terminating witnesses. And we are to hold an emergency meeting, to decide our next course of action."
The assembled Heads nodded and murmured their understanding and, at a wave from him, stood to leave and see to their tasks. Once they were gone he sighed, reclined in his chair, and shook his head.
"You aren't allowed to die, Mother." He murmured to naught but the air, "Not until I get my data, at least."
He could feel the pain in his chest even now, through the pain killers. He didn't have much time, now…
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The gate into the Old City was squat but well-made, especially in contrast to the ruins that surrounded them, and had been built through the center of a wide avenue. The gate itself was large, but simple and familiar, made of bound logs fronted by smooth, black painted metal. A massive white cog, split down the middle, decorated the center of the gate proudly proudly. The gatehouse above it was much the same as her own was, back at Sanctuary, with thick logs supporting a thick roof made of more bound logs topped by sheets of old, thin, rusty and pitted metal that would do little against anything more than a particularly large rock.
It offered the handful of armed and armored Raiders watching the good cover from the sun and, ostensibly, the rain, though.
The wall itself was fronted by the old, rusted steel that thus far seemed to be a hallmark of Commonwealth design decisions. She'd already been told that the reason for the metal fronting was to make scaling the walls harder to do quietly, or at all, and was the cheapest option for it thanks to the abundance of easily accessible metal scattered across the breadth Commonwealth.
Unlike Fort Sanctuary, where they'd opted for smoothed down scrap metal collected from Sanctuary itself, the metal here wasn't scrap. It was smooth and well-made, machined with evident care and precision with an almost artful, gentle pattern of indentations between the spots where the metal panels had been fitted to the supports that attached them to the concrete brickwork of the walls behind them. In the center of each, where the curve inwards was its deepest, the symbol of the Assembly had been emblazoned in bright paint.
The walls were old and had weathered their share of misery, pitted by laser blasts and even bullet holes, and scarred by tears of sizes ranging from barely a hand's width to large scares cutting from top to bottom. All of them had been cleaned up, though. The ragged edges smoothed out, and then repainted to match as close to exactly as feasibly possible.
"It will be a moment before Minders come to clear our path." Wolf explained after Harlequin had slipped through the gate to handle the matter themself.
"Alright." Nora hummed, sitting on the floor of the cargo section of the carriage and looking at the wall, "This stretches around the entire Assembly?"
"For the most part." Wolf nodded, standing in front of her with the other Foremen on the other side of the Vertibird, watching the way they'd come warily alongside Preston and Danse. "The wall runs into the foundation of the old factory and stops. The fortress itself defends the space between, so a wall isn't really necessary."
"I could see it…" Except she wouldn't, she figured, since they wouldn't go near it and she doubted she'd have reason to go out on the battlements. Taking a sip of her whiskey and wincing as she swallowed, she sighed, "You're sure you can… Deal with this?"
"You won't enjoy it." Wolf said quietly, turning to eye her slung arm through their masked helmet, "But yes, we can. We have done so before, for infections progressed to the point that the limb itself began to rot away."
"Oh." She blinked, and then swallowed anxiously, "W-Well, I hope that isn't in my future…"
"It ought not be." Wolf assured her quietly, sparing her the smallest of glances before turning back to the wall, "Skull can tend you, don't fret. Those that lose their arms come to those that treat their infection on their backs, carried, unconscious and groaning, by their comrades. You were on your feet not an hour ago."
"Alright, then." She nodded and winced again as she did, growling, "This is starting to get annoying, though…"
"The pain?" She hummed an answer and, after a moment's hesitation, Wolf reached under their armored skirt, drawing out a fist-sized pouch. Digging into it they produced a shriveled up little mushroom and held it out to her. She hesitated and the Foreman explained, quietly, "Medicinal. For the pain. I keep some of them on me at all times."
"In your…" She raised an eyebrow, "Skirt?"
"Just above my knees." They nodded, chuckling dryly, "The pouch is cinched tight, and I have trousers on under the skirt."
"Why do you keep mushrooms on you?" She asked, taking the little thing from the Foreman and inspecting it. It was little and hard, shriveled up with a white stem and a bright red cap that normally she'd have expected warned of poison.
"For pain." They answered simply, tucking the pouch away and straightening, turning to her with a shrug. "They grow in the forests just outside our territories. We trade for them, dry and mince them, and use them for medicine and recreation."
"So… Drugs?"
"Your sensibilities or your comfort." They answered simply, chuckling when she waved them off and looked at it again. Seeing her hesitance, they explained and, gently, urged, "Stick it between your teeth and your cheek and chew it gently. Suck on it, too. Lay down in the back, close your eyes, and it will help. I swear it."
"Alright." She sighed, easing back and finding a place to lay down between the crates and the door. It was uncomfortable, and a bit tight, but it was bearable.
Slowly, she stuck the dried out mushroom in her mouth and closed her eyes. It was spicy, was the first, odd thing she noticed about it. Spicy and fibrous, with a heady taste like those cinnamon candies Nate had been so fond of, before the war. After a few seconds, she felt her mouth begin to tingle oddly, like she'd eaten peppermint. Or drank a Nuka-Cola after brushing her teeth, while the fluoride was still fresh in her mouth.
It was strange, though not unpleasant.
Then, in the span of a breath, she felt the ache in her shoulder begin to dull slowly. Then the pain in her feet, and her head, too. She sighed, sheltering her face against the light with her good arm, and heard Wolf chuckle and draw the door closed on her.
"So," she murmured around the mushroom, "hopefully this isn't poisonous."
Wolf didn't have any reason to poison her, though, and she knew that. Besides, why would Wolf be carrying a dried mushroom in a pouch like that if it was poisonous? If they wanted to kill people they had an army, and armor and weapons besides. Just stabbing her would do the job just as well as poison, now.
So why bother?
After a few minutes of relaxing in the cool dark of the carriage she heard a mighty groan, like when Fort Sanctuary's gates swung open except a lot larger and heavier. Then she heard a shout and the carriage lurched under her as they trundled forward, into the Old City. Idly, she considered sitting up, so she could look at the Old City's slums as they passed through them. The information would no doubt be useful, one way or another.
But with a sigh, she let her eyes closed again and didn't bother.
For now, she just wanted to relax…
So, rolling onto her good side and letting out a contented sigh, she did just that.
She couldn't see but that didn't stop her hearing the city as they passed through it. At first it was quiet but soon, that gave way to loud chattering, indistinct animal noises, and the sound of metal banging against metal, stone and wood. The sound of workers, she knew from her time at Fort Sanctuary, surrounded by the very same sorts of sounds.
Rolling back onto her back she looked up, through the door's window. They were passing by the skyscrapers that had made up the city, before the war. Most were broken topped, bare scaffolding spindling into the sky stories dozens of stories up. Where they were close enough, wood and steel bridges spanned between them, cloth tops hung over them like roofs. Beneath that, though, they were whole or repaired. Splotches of mismatched stone-work and concrete plugged places where holes had been, some fronted by the same black painted metal as the wall outside, along with the symbol of the Assembly.
Even forcibly relaxed as she was, the sheer scale of it all had her eyes widening.
Suddenly, a shadow blocked out her view, Danse peering in through the window at her. Smiling widely, she waved a hand and mouthed, "Hey."
He shook his great, armored head amusedly and vanished out of view, behind the armored door. Preston's replaced it after a second, eyebrows raised in worry and question. She gave him the same small smile and wave, mouthing that she was fine and just resting. He grimaced but nodded and then he, too, vanished behind the armored metal of the door.
Preston was a worrier, but he was a good bean nonetheless.
After a while, the more rough, rugged road made up of the barely repaired old roads that crossed the city gave way to something smoother. Or at least more the bumpiness evened out into something more regular, without the worst of the jostlin that the ancient, broken asphalt had. Instead, she recognized it from her old days pursuing her degree, back when the wars had been comfortably off-continent and the rationing had been closer to nil.
Cobbled stone.
That realization had her up and moving, dragging herself through the cargo hold with her good hand more for the moving of the cart than anything. She climbed into one of the old, refurbished pilot's seats to watch the world trundle by and was greeted by Paladin Danse, taking up their rear as they made their way.
"General." He nodded in greeting, "How are you feeling?"
"Better." She grunted around the much reduced mushroom, chewing it idly as they passed by. "You?"
"I'm fine." He chuckled, "My armor has a heater, so I'm nice and warm in here."
Left unsaid was that the slaves they'd passed by to get here didn't, and that it was about only in the forties right now. Once winter really hit, with all its fierce frigidity, she supposed that things would look a lot more stark in the Old City.
For now, though, they were in a nicer part of the Old City, where the old storefronts and skyscrapers had been torn down - or collapsed - outright. In their place stood neatly ordered buildings made out of thick slabs of dark grey stone brickwork that looked like old, well weathered concrete, broken into bricks ranging from man-sized to fist and then mortared into place.
Many of the designs ended with that, dull grey slabs of old, repurposed painted into various shades of white, grey, black or even blue making up structures three or four stories tall. A few ranged taller, with wooden supports marking out each floor reinforced by iron riveting. Or, in one case, the tallest, with black metal reinforcements and thick, iron cross barring enclosing the stone of the entire structure like a blend of Old World military reinforcements and New World stonework.
They passed housing with well-dressed men and women, wearing furs, leather and what looked like cloth and linen, meandering about, talking and going about their day. She saw most watching them as they trundled by, turning to talk animatedly amongst themselves once she and her escort were far enough off.
None noticed the slaves, though, from the shoddily clothed ones clearing trash or working on the buildings to the more well-dressed ones following their masters around. The latter she could barely distinguish from their owners, some even smiling and talking quietly with them as they trailed behind them. At least, so long as she ignored the silver cuffs and the collar they all wore.
That was an obvious signifier if she'd ever seen one.
"It's impressive, isn't it?" She looked down to find Danse watching her quietly, "What we've managed to do since... Er, your time."
"It is." She nodded, for once not feeling the aching twinge from her neck. She rubbed it sympathetically and grimaced, "Not crazy about the methods, though…"
"Cold feet?"
"No." Yes, but it was far too late now, and in the long run she'd only be able to help these people. Giving him a smirk she asked, "You?"
"My armor has a heater, General." He reiterated with a wry, quiet chuckle, looking past the carriage and adding. "We're approaching the fortress now."
"Thanks." She sighed, chewing up the last of the mushroom and swallowing it as she stood and turned, clambering through the carriage again. She pulled the door open and was met by Wolf, with Preston oddly at their side, walking beside the carriage.
"General." They both grunted, nodding politely. They both paused and turned a look on one another, Preston grimacing like he'd eaten something sour, before Wolf turned back to her and asked, "How are you feeling? Did the mushroom help?"
"Yeah, actually." She nodded, sitting on the edge of the carriage and letting her feet drag on the ground beneath her. "Cobblestone roads?"
"We're out of the slums." They answered simply, "This is where the warriors and their families live, if they don't wish to quarter within the Factory Fortress. Warehouses, care facilities, hostels for traders to stay at… Many things that are very necessary simply can't fit inside the Factory Fortress, General."
"I figured." She remembered the size of the factory, after all, and as spacious as it could be made to be, it was still limited. Looking around at the other assembled Foremen walking in neat formation beside the transport, she asked, "Where are Blank and Harlequin?"
"Blank went ahead with Harlequin." Wolf explained, "To let our leadership know that the meeting has been delayed, and why. Blank also wanted to rest, their head was aching after… Remembering so much."
Wolf left it at that and, out of respect and wariness both, Nora did too. A few minutes later Preston called for the robot to stop and she stepped off and turned, looking up at the Factory Fortress.
And fortress it certainly was.
The Corvega Assembly itself had been built into an incline, on top of a huge concrete foundation she knew was spider-webbed by pipes and access tunnels. She didn't know what it's bowles looked like now, and sincerely hoped to never find out given where dungeons and prisons historically were, but the foundation remained. A wall just like the one outside stretched out from the foundation to divide the fortress from the city itself, with a similarly heavy gate open and waiting for them.
But beyond the old foundation she could still see, nothing of the old factory remained visible or, seemingly, even standing for the most part.
Instead it was like someone had taken a medieval castle and plucked it from the pages of a history book, and then plonked it down on top of the factory. Four great towers rose ten floors tall, one on each corner of the foundations, each topped by wooden shelters to cover them and a tall banner with the Assembly's sigil stitched into the front. Every surface of the towers was made of stone, reinforced with wood and metal cross-beams and riveting to support them and, no doubt, more of the same inside.
Another of the metal-fronted stone walls ringed between them at half the tower's height. These were covered too, with the wood and metal roofing that seemed common-place for these kinds of fortifications, and walked by dozens of Raiders that she could see. Behind the walls, where the factory had spindled high into the sky, a stone hall stood, nearly as tall as the great watchtowers. From its center a final tower spanned into the sky, flaring out at the top with metal reinforced buttresses supporting it.
On that seemed to be a square building, ringed by a balcony from which draped even more, somewhat ragged, banners of the Assembly.
"Impressed?" Wolf asked from beside her, chuckling when Nora only nodded, "The factory itself, over time, has been replaced almost entirely. But the tools and power supplies are both intact."
"How, though?"
"Tinkers, and a lot of them, working for years." They answered simply, "I don't know the specifics. It isn't my duty to, you understand."
"Reasonable." And disappointing, she didn't say. Instead she asked, "What now?"
"You follow me." They answered, turning to Preston and adding, "You two will be shown to quarters inside the Factory Fortress. Your carriage and supplies will also be shown a place to stay, and placed under heavy guard to prevent theft. Presuming you trust us."
"I'll stay with the goods." Preston grunted simply, taking a seat on the edge of the cargo hold and easing back onto it. Smirking, he added, "Assuming you don't have a problem with me keeping an eye on our stuff myself?"
"None at all." Wolf shrugged, turning to Ape and nodding towards the citadel, "Show them the way, my friend. Skull and I will tend to our companion here."
They passed through the gate together, but separated there. Wolf and Skull lead her left, while the rest of their party turned right, vanishing around the far corner and up the hill beside Corvega, towards the span of the wall she could see a couple hundred feet away. Nora followed her own guides left, passing under a section of wall that curved up, over the old ramp that had let trucks in and out to ferry supplies out of the factory in the old days.
Inside, the image of 'medieval castle' held just as true as it had from the outside. Raiders drilled in spaces set aside for the purpose, numerous sheds had been set up where smiths repaired and fitted equipment to waiting Raiders, and guards stood posted all around the wide, open courtyard. There were even horses hauling goods to and fro on carts.
They had scaly patches on their shoulders and the backs of their hips, were uniformly a sort of grey, and had horns, but they were horses.
The stables, sheds, warehouses, food stores, and everything else filled the wide courtyard like a second, smaller city. A microcosm of the one they'd passed through, with the same reinforced, repurposed concrete architecture and styles of the city, spaced out in military fashion. And then muddled by the organic nature of people moving in to fill duties as they were needed.
If being outside had been like looking at a medieval world set in front of her, now, it was like she was walking through it.
And good god if she could barely contain the smile at the experience.
Quietly, her two remaining guides lead her through it all, across the courtyard and around the side of the great hall that dominated the fortress' center. They brought her to the back left tower, the guards pounding their fists over their hearts and then pulling open the door for them. Inside was a great room, full of bunks, storage areas and a place to eat and relax. There were only a few there, relaxing in the eating area and talking quietly, but they watched them as they passed through.
Then, for several minutes, her life was spent muttering curses about stairs.
Because of course they'd have to climb nearly to the top of the damn tower…
On the final floor before the top they paused on a landing while Skull fished out a set of heavy, iron keys. Inside was a wide, circular room ringed by medical beds and lit by bright fluorescents that ringed the room and then spindled in, towards a huge support column. Around that was storage, from lockers to crates and everything in between, and a couple of stone and wood desks.
"Wolf, go and find my assistant." Skull grunted simply, walking to one of the beds and looking her in the eye, pointing at the bed. "Top off. Sit."
"Great bed-side manner…"
"Apologies." Skull grunted shortly, amending, "Sit down, top off, please."
Rolling her eyes she did as he asked her to, stripping down to her old, loose undershirt and grimacing as the Raider bundled her things up and tossed them onto the floor by the head of the bed.
Then the Raider nodded and dragged a chair over to her, sitting down and undoing her sling. Thus began fifteen minutes of the Raider pulling her arm this way and that, turning it over in his hands until she groaned, prodding it until she hissed and generally inspecting it in the single most uncomfortable way possible she could imagine. Then, finally, he lifted her arm, inspecting her pit and then her ribs for whatever signs of infection before grabbing her head and doing the same.
It was aggravating, and whatever the mushroom had done to treat her for the pain, it had flared back with a vengeance by the time he was finished.
"Infection is in your arm and upper chest. As expected. Treatable." Skull grumbled, standing as heavy steps rumbled gently towards her. Looking to the newcomer, the Foreman grunted, "Radiation infection. Two Stim-Packs, one Med-X injector, a Rad-Away drip system and two Fungal Purges."
"Fungal Purges…?"
"Medicine." Skull grunted as those same heavy foot-steps trundled away, towards the center of the room. Neither she nor Skull paid them any mind, though, the Raider grunting quietly, "Lay down."
"Alright…" She sighed and reclined on the bed, her head resting on cool, cloth pillows she was already planning on trying to get some of to take home.
That was when she finally saw the owner of the heavy, rumbling foot-steps and had to bite her cheek not to shout in alarm.
It was massive, standing a couple feet taller than anyone she'd ever met and with biceps and thighs thicker than her head. Its eyes were small and beady, hidden behind thick-rimmed glasses, of all things, that stretched to rest on over-sized and somewhat lopsided ears. It wore thick, leather trousers and a thick leather shirt, with a simple white apron over its front full of miscellaneous doctor's supplies.
And, of course, it had the same cilver collar and cuffs that the slaves outside had.
"Don't be afraid." The giant rumbled with a strange, surely impossible, voice that was far softer than it should have had. Setting the medical supplies by her feet the giant spread its too-large hands wide and smiled, though it kept its lips closed to hide its teeth. "I'm a doctor. I won't hurt you, Miss."
She turned a slow, apprehensive look on Skull, who sat by the head of her bed patiently, and the Foreman explained, "Uncle Leo is a Super Mutant. You've not seen one before?"
"N-No." She'd seen plenty of other mutants, not not a Super Mutant. Licking her lips she forced herself to take a breath and relaxed, forcing a smile, "If you say to trust him then I will. So, what's the treatment plan?"
"Med-X for pain, and a Rad-Away drip for overnight treatment." Skull explained, looking at the massive creature and giving a nod. At that Uncle Leo moved, setting up an IV stand and hanging a bag of fluids and the Rad-Away from it before going to work on her injured arm. She hissed and yanked her arm away, cradling it against her chest, and Skull chided, "Radioactive infection in her arm. Patient is very sore and tender to touch and other stimuli, up through her shoulder."
Not that that had stopped him prodding at her before…
"Apologies, Ma'am, he should have told me you were in pain and sensitive before I touched you.." He held out a hand and smiled gently, like a doctor would. Albeit a giant green one, "I didn't know, I'll be more gentle."
Grimacing, she offered her arm back to him and, surprisingly, he was so gentle that the needle going into her arm was the most painful part of the experience. On her other side, Skull produced the Med-X, injecting her other arm with it and then one of the two old looking Stim-Packs. Setting each aside on the small tray, he picked up what looked like a beer bottle full of something that was mostly liquid, filled with little chunks.
"Fungal Purge." Skull explained, uncapping it and holding it out to her, "It will hurt, a lot. And tear your stomach up-"
"I'm sorry, it will what?"
"It's what the Stim-Pack is for." Uncle Leo explained as she felt the strange, cool rush of the IV and the Rad-Away start flowing into her arm. Kneeling beside her bed, he explained, "The Purge is made from a mushroom that emerged after the bombs fell. It leeches radiation out of a body by force and, coupled with Rad-Away treatments like this, I've seen it cure even near-lethal doses of direct radiation. Tonight will be a bad one, but…"
"Tomorrow, you'll be clear of infection." Skull finished, "It's a treatment used frequently by the Assembly. And a guarded secret."
"And it works…?"
"Every single time." Skull nodded, "Used it for two hundred years. Not once has it failed to work. And it's only lethal if taken on its own, without proper secondary treatment."
"Which you're having." Uncle Leo added, smiling, "Just drink it and try to rest. The sooner you start, the sooner it'll be done."
Sighing she took the bottle and stared at it for a moment, working up the nerve. Finally, she pressed the bottle to her lips and threw her head back, chugging the drink as fast as she could. It was sloshy, like a slurry, and disgustingly sweet when it hit her tongue. But in its trail it left the same cinnamon tingle and blooming numbness that the mushroom Wolf had given her had done.
"That wasn't so bad." Shr murmured, handing the bottle back to the Raider and raising an eyebrow. "I thought it was going to hurt?"
"It will." Skull nodded, standing and stepping back and away at the same time Uncle Leo laid a hand on her chest, covering it entirely while his other dragged a blanket up her.
Then, she felt her stomach churn and burn, like she'd swallowed molten metal. She screamed and gagged, instinctively trying to throw up, but nothing came. It was like the Purge refused to, settling in her stomach like it had found a new home and refused to budge. She didn't cry out, though, bitin git back like when she'd had Shaun, pressing her head into the pillow and heaving a breath.
For a heartbeat that was it, and all she was was the burning pain in her stomach. Then, she coughed, and felt it worsen into an inferno that blossomed across every inch of her. Her arm was the worst, scorching white hot and spasming until Leo shifted, one hand on her chest and the other holding her arm still.
Then, finally, she screamed.
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Not a lot of dialogue in this one, but I fuckin' bet you can bet why. Hope you enjoyed!
XxX-XxX-XxX
Misdirection :
It's a bit of that, and a bit of giving a shit about your fellow Pre-Wars. Glad you enjoyed it though!
Blaze 1992 :
Because you looked at my author name? Lol.
Nick (Guest) :
The world is already abundantly filled with it but, like… I can't not. I'm like a kid in a candy store when it comes to needless world building and additions.
Dark Paladin 89 :
I would argue this is 'different' not 'better'. Fallout 4 already has much going on in it. I'm realistically adding very little, aside from some in-universe and more overt Raider characterization. Glad you enjoy the story, though!