The morning sunrise gleamed over the destroyed Brooklyn skyline, colouring the sky a pinkish hue. The last minutes of darkness started to fade away by the minute.
"I'm going to disconnect the servos in his limbs, then we're going to disconnect the limbs themselves. I figured he can't do much to us, if he hasn't got any arms or legs." Scribe Eastwood shrugged, examining Rook's arms.
It's alright Morgan. You can do this. Do what he would do. Keep calm. Stoic...
She bit her lip, peerin out over the wheel, clocking a fair few mines ahead of time. Slowly but surely, they were getting away...
Morgan sighed heavily, listening to Eastwoods plan in the background.
Knowing Rook, that will probably not stop him.
Gabriel nodded and knelt down. He then started to wait for EastWood.
Why did they have to force me? Gabriel thought. He sighed and looked at the body examining everything.
The fact that Morgan was not a sailor probably had to do with the fact that she wouldn't be able to dodge that one Mine up ahead with at least brushing it.
They had to brace for impact.
"Fuck!" Morgan snapped, spinning the wheel wildly. "I can't avoid this! Brace yourselves everyone! We're going to brush a mine!"
Scribe Eastwood rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Oh for fu-"
Gabriel then looked to find somewhere to brace the impact. He went behind a cover and went onto the floor, covering his ears.
At that moment, the boat brushed the metal pins of the big ball and the next thing they knew, they were tossed to the side like ragdolls. The boast was blasted to the side, luckily the lining of the boat was pretty strong and no shrapnel got through the deck, the hull was blown to pieces though.
After that everybody was tossed overboard into the dark irradiated waters of the Hudson Bay.
The boat had capsized.
Get out! Get out!
Morgan clawed her way to the surface, desperately seeking something to hold onto, to stand on, anything! Getting out was a priority.
Her lungs were fit to burst. Her energy was almost spent, but Morgan finally broke out into the air. She floated, panting and coughing.
Gabriel? Rook!? Garry? Heather? Miss Eastwood!? I...I can't open my eyes, not yet. They'd be liable to fall out.
Morgan blindly searched for a piece of debris and clambered onto it, removing herself from the direct source of radiation as soon as possible.
Do not open or touch anything until you are dried off!
Rook splashed into the water, still rather unconscious.
Perhaps the radiation would soak through to his circuits eventually and jump start him, but not now.
Unfortunate that one of his upgrades was not a bumper, similar to one of the many that was currently floating in the remains of the capsized vessel.
The unconscious Android was way too heavy and sunk to the to the dark bottom.
Gabriel looked around him. He held his breath and saw Whiskers, trying to float up. He swam all the way and picked up Whiskers. He went up and came to the surface. Gabriel tried to wipe off the water from his eyes and decided to close them. "Morgan!" Gabriel shouted.
Garry pulled himself onto a floating piece of debris, desperately spitting out the water as he did so, he looked around for the others, not knowing what the hell to do next.
"Gabriel! Follow my voice!" Morgan called, instantly regretting it as her throat burned. She retched violently, but nothing came out due to the fact she hadn't eaten.
Whatever happens. However much it hurts. Do not wipe your eyes!
Slowly she opened her peepers, crying out as they burned violently in reaction to the light and radiation. She blinked several dozen times, looking around at the devastation once she could focus.
Everything was blurred...
C'mon...Rook don't fall to the bottom! I knew I should have left you there...
Please!
Gabriel looked around the water. He desperately tried to get to the top. He went back to the top. "Morgan!" Gabriel screamed again. Whiskers looked around also and made a loud snorting noise.
"Kid!" Eastwood called out, recognising that whiny voice anywhere. The Scribe closed in on him, treading water just behind him as she looked around.
"I saw something, over there!" She pointed to the northeast.
Gabriel opened his eyes and screamed again. He followed Morgan's voice as he kept blinking, he then saw Morgan. He reached his hand out to her.
"Eastwood!" Morgan called out, reaching for Gabriel. She took his hand and pulled him up onto the debris she was sat on. There wasn't room for much more...
"Have you seen Heather!?"
"N-No!" Eastwood called out, clutching the debris from the sides.
"I saw... The man, he was floating on something... Haven't seen anyone else."
"No, I did not, but I thought I saw Rook sinking below." Gabriel said. Whiskers was shaking and whelped. Gabriel tried to calm down Whiskers, before sighing.
Rook's system slowly kicked back to life.
Rebooting...
Systems online...
Targeting engaged...
Servo-motors firing up...
Onboard weapon functionality at 75%...
Auto-repair system online...
He glanced around.
The world is brown. He was safe from it all through the mask of his helmet, but an analysis soon revealed he was underwater, through the movement of legs above him.
Water... suit's vacuum sealed so mounted weaponry is alright, but everything else... His rifle and submachine gun would be ruined...
What happened? Where are my targets? I need to complete my mission... The Colonel gave me this himself!
The legs... targets?
He couldn't swim, couldn't reach them from here... but the mainland was... He checked his interface inside his helmet. ...that direction. Close. They would be headed there. And he could finish them. He wouldn't get close- they proved too skilled for that. The one with the plasma weapon especially. He'd terminate them from long range.
He'd finish the job.
And return to base.
"No...No...No!" Morgan gasped. "He...He can't have! But it's...the only possibility. It has to be like this."
She lay back on the debris, looking at the sunrise.
"It's safer for him, if he is away from us for now..." Morgan mumbled, sighing softly.
"Let's find Heather, and get to land ASAP!"
Gabriel looked at Morgan. "And how do we do that without a boat?" Gabriel asked Morgan. He looked back at Whiskers, he shivered a bit.
Morgan leaned forwards, gently crawling over to wrap Gabriel up in her embrace. "I... don't know yet." She admitted, resting her chin on top of his soaking hair.
If we had Rook, he could have pushed us...
"I'm working on it."
"I'm still not happy with you. That was ridiculous, and I didn't have to work on Rook, Whiskers was my top priority. You also should've known, he suffocated me, and hurt Whisker's leg." Gabriel said.
They had however made surprisingly a lot of progress; Governor Island was distant enough so they wouldn't be sniped out of the water.
Closest shoreline was Brooklyn's.
"I don't think we're that far away from the harbour! Check your pip boy map!" Eastwood insisted, peering around for any sign of the others.
There were parts of the ship floating about which they could use as float boards.
They had to be swift though, the Radmeters on their Pipboys were ticking up.
"We're by Brooklyn!" Morgan called back. "I think the current can drift us over for now, unless you want to do a lot of swimming?"
She sighed softly, running her hand through Gabriel's hair.
"Heather was going to look after Whiskers. I'm...sorry for making you try work on Rook, truly. But...you and him are the two most important people in my life, alright? I wanted you both to be safe, and now, none of us are."
"And Whiskers is more important to me than a robot trying to kill me" Gabriel snapped. He slammed the debris softly.
"I'm not, if we would have disabled him, we could've worked on both and your pig rat would have been fine with the girl anyway." Eastwood replied, looking around.
"Either way, you're right about none of us being safe, I'm only safe because of this damn suit and it's not going to stop me from drowning. We need a plan to get to shore."
"Oh, who was the one who shot first, you, now don't call Whiskers a pig rat, idiot." Gabriel said.
"I know..." Morgan sighed, letting Gabriel go. "We'll talk about this when we're safer."
She glanced at her pip-boy, watching the Geiger counter shoot up rapidly.
Crap. I'm gonna get poisoning at this rate...
"Look, could you be okay to sort of swim us to the shore?" Morgan asked Eastwood. "It is not that far."
"Well, I don't know what he is, we don't have anything like him out west!" Scribe Eastwood sighed, examining the creature.
"And I had to shoot first, the Android had all of the advantage."
She then sighed, glancing up to Morgan.
"I... Can try, just hold on, I don't want to tip this thing up." She replied as she began to push.
Gabriel sighed and got out a sort of medicine and gave it to Morgan, and then himself. Whiskers snorted meanly at Morgan and EastWood.
Morgan heroically gave the medicine back to Gabe. "You need it more than me, kid. Sorry."
"Thanks, Eastwood..."
"Urgh... It's Naomi, you sound like my Drill instructor when you just call me 'Eastwood.'" The Scribe uttered, with ah heavy sigh.
"So, what is 'Whiskers' anyway? A mole rat?"
"Sorry, Naomi. Thank you."
With that, Morgan went quiet, she hugged her knees, and stared out at the horizon.
Gabriel took the medicing before looking at Naomi. "Yea, he is a mole rat bit don't say that, he doesn't like when you say that mean term. Anyways he has been with me since my mom died, and he helped me a lot." Gabriel said. Whiskers was sleeping, and made a snort sound before waking back up.
"Huh... Y'know, out west, they're a lot bigger and have a lot of fur on them." Naomi replied, picking up the pace a little.
"They weren't as cute though."
"Your wrong. I have met other mole rats and they did not attack me, no, they did, but Whiskers was just little, we had to take him." Gabriel explained. Whiskers stared at Naomi, and then licked her face.
"As I said, this was out west..." Naomi repeated, believing that Gabriel was missing the point.
Brooklyn's shoreline existed mostly out of docks and piers.
"Just a little farther..." Morgan said quietly. "Map says the docks should be in view."
"And are they?" Naomi asked, sounding somewhat annoyed at this point, sick to death of repeatedly having the waters splash against her visor, rendering her unable to see.
Gabriel was looking around. "Yes, it is." Gabriel said. He pointed at the dock in the distance, and put his hand back down. Whiskers started to lick himself.
The enclave soldiers had in the meantime retreated, assuming that the intruders were killed by the mine.
Naomi continued to push the raft, leading it up to the docks, she was really starting to get worried about her own health, even though she is in a suit. The Scribe eventually reached a wooden dock, pushing her towards a point where Morgan could climb up...
Gabriel sighed and whiskers slowly got up. "Well, let's get off..." Gabriel whispered. He waited for Morgan to go first.
Morgan crawled forwards, dragging herself onto the docks and collapsing on them with a pained groan.
"We...made it..."
Gabriel picked up Whiskers and carried Whiskers to the docks. "We need someplace to rest." Gabriel said. He put Whiskers to the floor, and looked at his leg.
We all need rest... Gabriel thought.
"We..." Naomi wheezed, pulling herself out of the water and onto the float, slowly rising on shaky legs.
"Need... To find... The others..."
"We...do." Morgan agreed, looking out over the water. She blinked several times, her eyes still incredibly blurry.
"I can't see 'em out there..."
"What the heck is wrong with you Naomi?! Whiskers need's rest, I need rest, so how about we find shelter!" Gabriel snapped. He looked back at Whiskers.
"The others might be hurt!" The Scribe cried out as her muscles felt like they were on fire, she rolled over and lay on her back, panting heavily as she stared up at the sky.
"F-Fuck... Wish I... Didn't cheat... My physical..."
"We're hurt..." Morgan panted, laying on her back also. "Can you...see them at all?"
"Like you care, I'm going to find shelter on my own, since you and Morgan would rather risk our lives!" Gabriel shouted. He picked up Whiskers and slowly started to walk.
"F-Fine..." Naomi uttered, she honestly didn't mind if Gabriel went off to find shelter, she just wanted the others to be safe.
"I... Haven't seen them..."
"Gabe..." Morgan sighed. She rubbed her eyes, narrowing them to focus on the river.
"Maybe...Maybe they washed up further downstream."
Naomi removed her binoculars from her back pocket and began to scan the beach from afar, wondering if they had washed ashore but there was little to no visibility, due to the fog.
"Can't see for shit..."
Gabriel walked further away and sat down. He then just started to think, and that was all he was doing, thinking.
Why did I ask to go with them? i was so stupid to fall for that... Gabriel thought.
"We'll have to...rest and look when we're recovered..." Morgan said, though she was clearly regretful.
"It's...the best we can do..."
"Th-... Think you ca... Help me? My arms are like... F-Fucking glass right now..." The Scribe sighed, rolling her head over to face Morgan.
The Scribe sighed heavily as she was pulled to her feet, clutching her ribs as she finally found herself upright.
"Argh... Shit! Everything... Hurts..."
Governor seemed pissed.
So much so he deemed it necessary to press down a clenched fist on his desk.
"So, you're telling me they got away?!"
The officer in charge was quacking in his boots, and about to rebut the contrary.
"Well no, sir... They blew up."
The colonel seemed to lose his patients here, he knew that. It was just a matter of verification.
"Did you see any bodies?!"
"No, we did not, sir."
"Idiots! We can't some wastelanders with knowledge of our plan get away! It could ruin everything; they could warn the PRCT!"
Governor noticed that some of his hair had fallen out of place, over his eyebrow. He saw this as a sign that he was overreacting and needed to calm down. A deep inhale later he stroked his silver lock back on his head.
"... And Rook?"
"Sunk too, sir."
At least that made him crack a smile.
"I don't think so... He'll be back on the case, don't you worry, it'll take more than bay water to take down that marvel of technology."
After that there was an awkward silence. The officer held his cap with both hands below his waste, which made him fidget with it slightly, waiting from an answer from his superior.
"Get a team ready, and a vertibird. We've been lured out of the shadows, denying that fact won't help us at all. I'm not taking any chances."
"R-radiation...poisoning..." She said weakly as she shuffled along. "If I could just...get some R-radaway, I could f-fix you up."
Me too if there was enough left…
"N-Nah... Suit protects me... Pushing a giant float and swimming through shit? Everything hurts..." Naomi grumbled, pulling her back and rolling her shoulders over.
"Urgh... I don't think I'll be walking for a few days..." She admitted, slowly stumbling along behind the scientist.
To their left, the Sun could be seen casting over the stone arches of Brooklyn Bridge.
So that way was obviously back to Manhattan Island.
The only buildings in their vicinity now were old warehouses along the docks with large garage doors that had long since rusted shut.
"Same..." Morgan admitted, limping as fast she could to keep Gabriel in her sight. "Fractured foot...R-rad poisoning. Not sure how much..."
Gabriel got out the medicine and drank it. He coughed for a bit before looking around. He saw a piece of meat on the rock. He grabbed it and gave it to Whiskers before getting it to himself. He gagged, but ate it, before grabbing his water bottle and drank it.
Survival of the fittest... Gabriel thought.
"Oh... G-Guess I don't have much to complain about, we need to get you some rest." The Scribe grumbled, placing her hand on her hip, feeling very old at the moment.
"I hope the kid found something good..."
"G-Gabe...!" Morgan called out weakly. "Found anything? E-even a warehouse that's open?"
I need more than rest...
Gabriel then saw a distant place. A tall like building, abandoned, and with broken windows. He picked up Whiskers and smiled. He continued onward. "Yes!" Gabriel shouted. He was almost there...
"Good kid..." Morgan groaned. She slowed her walking down to a crawl and eventually stopped to retch heavily.
"God..."
"You okay?" Naomi asked, gently placing her hand on Morgan's back as she knelt down by her side.
"I'll be fine..." Morgan panted. She stayed doubled over for a few more moments, to regain herself. "W-we're not that far now."
"Yeah, should be okay... I have some med-x on me somewhere, once I get out of this damn suit, I'll be able to find it for you." The Scribe replied, taking hold of Morgan's arm to keep the two of them supported.
"Wish I brought a pistol with me now..."
Gabriel finally reached the place and sat at the front, staying silent.
"My...M40...Is back on the island..." Morgan said sadly. She looked down at the ground, wheezing heavily.
"Loved...it. Was the first thing Rook...ever got for me..."
"Damn... The first thing that my boyfriend got me was a broken watch..." Naomi grumbled, sighing heavily as she did so.
"'You can fix it Naomi!' Sure, ignoring the fact that half of the parts were missing and what was left was rustic as Roger Maxson's ballsack."
Morgan would have laughed if she had the energy, but alas. They did however, reach Gabriel and the tall building he'd found.
"Y'did good...kid..."
Gabriel just stared down, not acknowledging Naomi. He sighed and picked up Whiskers. He got out of the way and waited.
"I'll get a fire going..." Naomi decided, wandering over to the center of the room and kneeling down, she looked over to Gabriel.
"Hey Gabe, think that you can get me some paper or something to burn?" She asked, drawing a battered lighter from her pocket.
"Gabe...you've got a big job to do." Morgan began. "I... have no weapons, s-so you need to protect us, okay?"
Gabriel nodded to both Morgan and Naomi. Gabriel got out a crumpled piece of paper he found and gave it to Naomi, and then went around the place to go and sleep.
Naomi drew her lighter and began to flick the fiddly little switch, the thing barely worked and it frustrated the hell out of her, she just wanted to throw the fucking thing into the harbour and watch it sink to the bottom.
*Flick!*
Oh, okay, never mind then...
Naomi moved the tiny flame towards the pieces of paper at the center of the room, igniting them and getting a small ember going, which quickly filled the room with a warm, orange, pulsating glow.
"Whew... Looks like that lighter had one more trip in it after all.
"There. We f-finally came into some luck..."
Morgan crawled over to the fire and curled up beside it. She was trembling and she looked far too pale to be considered normal.
I miss his warmth.
Gabriel found a room, and then a dirty bed. "Might as well sleep on this..." Gabriel whispered. He sat down and got out the paper his mom gave to him when he was little. He smiled and put it back in his pocket. He laid down Whiskers on the bed. He then slammed the door closed...
A.R.C.
"You are listening to... Three guesses."
"I've got some news for you today. Pop the ferryman says he'll be retiring soon. Says here he doesn't like the danger anymore. Understandable Pops... Understandable. But We... Or well... I myself won't forget your services. You probably wouldn't remember me, but I sure remember you."
"Especially for our old sea-dog, this song: Let's Be Thankful by Irving Aaronson
Meanwhile a shady character with a two-man escort walked carefully through the rubble of the Financial District. The agent sighed and looked down at some of the old remnants of the old skyscrapers and banks of America.
The People's Republic of Chinatown wasn't far off now. It would take them about half an hour.
The agent carefully held on to the merchandise he was carrying.