There she sat on her wooden throne, legs crossed and her chin resting in her hands. The throne was clumsily painted gold with poorly sewn cloth as a cushion. From where she sat, the entirety of Nukatown USA was visible. She could see all the gangs he gathered amassing at the courtyard. They were packed together like sardines in a can, uncomfortably clustered and taking a moment to breathe when they could.
At least the buildings had room. She can barely remember how many he had to clear out for extra space. So much dirt and rubble still piled in the streets. Slaves had been working themselves to death cleaning it up. And if not from that, it would be piles of garbage collapsing on them and crushing them to death. She couldn't remember the death rate if he could even be bothered to.
"It's crowded," She thought aloud, her tone empty and uncaring. "Won't be long until people start complaining. They'll try to leave and I'll lose control of their leaders."
An eye-patched man hummed in agreement. "Not really much to expand on out here if we're bein' honest. If you're really worried about control then why not make a statement?"
She looked at gage with an unimpressed gaze. "You actually think those morons will listen, Gage? The pack, maybe. But the Operators only give a shit about how much I can put in their pockets, and the disciples... that's a different beast entirely."
"What about the others?" Gage asked.
"Rust Devils know their place as the scavengers they are and the forged aren't really worth my attention."
"Why not get rid of the latter then?" Gage queried. His superior hummed in thought. In the few moments that passed by he poured himself a glass of moonshine from one his bosses bottles.
"Hey! Don't drink it all!" She shouted, extending her hand out for the bottle Gage held in his own.
"Sorry, Boss." Gage apologized. He handed his boss the bottle and watched her take a swig from it.
"I could," The overboss agreed with Gage's idea, wiping the excess booze from around her mouth. "Though I could give them a chance to-" She was cut off when he saw the elevator lower to ground level. "The hell is it now?" She groaned in agitation.
The elevator stopped when it hit the bottom of the floor. The overboss yelled down to the occupant, "What the fuck do you want! Who the hell even is it?!"
"It's William, boss!" The occupant shouted back up. "'Few of my boys have something they wanna tell you!"
The overboss paused for a moment and looked towards Gage with an interested look. "Should we humor them?" She asked, still holding a half-full bottle in her hands.
"I don't see why not," Gage stated before the elevator made its final stop.
From the elevator came one of the Black siblings alongside three Operators. The overboss laughed slightly, "Where's your sister?"
"Gone, for now." His answer was short and quick so he could redirect his attention to his subordinates. "Let's hurry this up. Tell 'em what you told me."
One of the operators stood up, a skinny male with messy black hair. "So... Uhh... we kinda happened along some weird building in the middle of Bradberton-"
"There's a bunch'a weird shit out there, what's your point?" Their boss rudely interrupted, taking a small and quick swig from the moonshine bottle.
"I went out there to see if they were wasting time and they kinda have a good point," The Black brother chimed in. "Damn thing sticks out like a sore thumb."
"So what're we looking at?" The overboss asked. "Some old-world bunker under a collapsed building?"
"It looks like some weird monument from DC." The operator from before spoke up. "White stone, smooth, a bit too clean. Right in the middle of the street."
The overboss laughed a bit. "I don't remember DC being clean. Quite the opposite to be honest."
"Well this is cleaner than Appalachia."
She huffed slightly, ready to shoot the three and send Will back home. "And the three of you saw it?" Asked the overboss, resisting her violent urges. All of them nodded their heads. Gage and the overboss shared a curious look. Their boss sighed. "Fine," she said "take us there."
ELSEWHERE
Ruins surrounded them. Structures of brick and marble crumbling around the street they rode in. Buildings that could once touched the tops of hills reduced to waste. The road itself, shattered and uprooted, was no easy path for their horses to walk on. They were forced to leave horseback to walk on their own feet out of fear of being bucked off.
The air, however, was different than the ruins – more sinister in every way. It was rotten and plagued, carrying foul odors filled with decay and rust. This was only complimented by their environment, which was desert-like and dead. Whatever creatures or people have built these now ruined structures are likely long gone and dead as a result.
Off in the distance were much larger structures, ones that could gleam in between the rusted parts. Could this place also be dead, or did people manage to survive there?
How could anyone have survived whatever happened to these lands? What could have caused such massive destruction to bring down architects of buildings such as these? Many began to wonder what these buildings may have looked like in their golden days.
From a corner around them they heard the falling of metal garbage falling from a pile. They turned to the source, weapons pointing at it and soon a skinny old man wearing torn up clothes and a bandana around his chin. He had leather braces on his arms with a single combat knife holstered to the left one.
"State your business, peasant!" A soldier shouted from the crowd.
The man looked at him, confused and unimpressed. He answered back to them in a language foreign to theirs. None understood what he said, but from the tone alone it sounded like a warning. Not a threatening warning, but a 'beware' warning. He pointed to the structures in the distance, telling them about something that no one could understand.
He began to wonder off in the direction he was headed, ignoring the soldiers who stood in front of the Gate. At least they now knew that people still lived in the ruins of their ancients. Maybe they should inspect those ruins that the elder was showing them just a minute ago.
One soldier called to the back of the line, "Commander, should we launch an expedition into the area ahead?"
Their commander, approaching the front line, looked out towards the horizon. "Maybe," he said. "If we are to go any further we should alert our camp back in Alnus. It was already a bad idea to not send any scouts ahead in the first place; if we are to go forward we should expect reinforcements."
"It is settled then?" The soldier rhetorically asked his commander. "We shall set up camp here."
"Yes," his commander agreed. "If we can clean out some of these ruins then they will provide ample shelter and less tents should be required."
The two soldiers faced back towards the rest of their men. The superior spoke out to them, "Everyone, start construction of temporary barricades and clear the rubble from the buildings! In the meantime, those of you in the back will move some of the camp tents through the Gate!"
The man was greeted back with a loud "Yes, Sir!" from his soldiers. It was a bit of a scramble from some of them, with the hundreds of soldiers crowding and shoving against each other to make their move.
Eventually each unit managed to get their heads on straight. They began knocking down doors to buildings and shoveling broken concrete with their shields to make flat land. The rest disappeared back to where they came from to move their tents further forward.
In some these buildings they found corpses and skeletons of adults and the children who belonged to them. Some sat in their couches faced towards strange boxes on legs. These adult skeletons held the bones of their children close to them, like they knew the impending doom that brought this state upon them. Skeletons of dogs and cats were also found in some of these rooms. Such a sight made most of the soldiers stomachs churn, yet never fully distracted them.
This worlds sun was still high in the sky, beating down on the soldiers in the deep-grey armor. It was much hotter than the sun in Falmart at the current moment. Back home it was spring, just leaving winter.
'Is this land even worth it?' The commander wondered. "We should just let these people what little clean land they have. This world and its species are of no use to the empire."
Galactic Zone: current home of the Rust Devils, as well as their paradise. All the robots they could want with new mods to mess around with. The whole place smelled of oil, grease, sweat and... well, rust as the gang's name would imply. Often left to their own devices, their overboss would rarely show up. Today would be the first time in weeks he showed his face to their nest.
Their she stood at the entrance, waiting for the overboss to arrive. Ivey, a tall black woman with a mohawk and large burn scar on her face, had a personal history with the woman she was forced to call her superior. After a bitter loss that made her and her boys look like a joke to the raiders of the commonwealth, she was forced to serve under her boot as a glorified scavenger and mechanic. There was only one group she pitied and that was the Forged. If she made her look like a joke, then she made the forged look like dirt. At least a joke was acknowledged where dirt was forgotten. And jokes could regain the power they once had, compared to dirt which never had power in the first place.
She had heard about why her boss is coming. Word travels fast in a cramped space with people who can't keep their mouths shut. 'This is a waste of everyone's time.' And after a few minutes of repeating that phrase in her head, there she was. Short brown hair left in a bedraggled mess. She wore leather clothes and a metal bracer on her left arm. Her steel grey eyes absorbed the sunlight that shone into them, no heroic gleam to be found. Not anymore.
"Ivey, got the buggy ready?" She asked tapping her foot impatiently.
"Yeah," she curtly answered. "So we goin'?"
"Yeah, we're going," Gage shot back. He looked back to his boss who still had the booze bottle from the tower in her hands. "If we're gonna be headed to investigate some shitstain set of ruins I'd recommend being as sober as possible. Don't want any ghouls to ambush you and you wouldn't realize it until your arm is gone."
She looked to Gage annoyed, but tossed the bottle behind her. "Fair point," he agreed reluctantly. "Shit's empty anyway."
"This way," Ivey said, gesturing them into her section of the park.
Passing by the half-finished projects and piles of scrap metal they pushed their way to the other end of the zone. The air here was thick with chemical residue and large amounts dust. It only got worse the further in they went.
Passing by one particular set of raiders, they took note of how different this project was compared to others. A power armor set made from the scraps of robots. A mister handy helmet and sentry-bot chassis for a chest plate. Each shoulder had a mortar attached to it.
"What's goin' on over there?" Gage asked as the group passed by the spectacle.
"Some sorta prototype power armor," Ivey answered while waving them off. "They've been at it for half a year now and it tends to blow up in their faces."
"Literally, I assume?" The boss asked with a light laugh. Ivey nodded.
After a few minutes of walking they came across a shoddily constructed garage. It was stable enough for the time being; best they could do for a rushed job.
"This way," Ivey said, opening the door for her superiors.
A small, open buggy sat in the middle of the garage. It was enough to fit eight people. The seats were dusty and the engine was exposed – a disgrace compared to the cars of the old world, but compared to the ones now it was borderline marvelous.
One by one, the crew hopped into their ride with the Ivey at the wheel. Their overboss road shotgun. Gage and William road in the seats behind them.
The overboss turned to Ivey, a somewhat drunken slur in her voice, "If you crash this, deliberately or otherwise, I will kill you."
"Understood," Ivey coldly said.
The raiders drove forward slightly and hit a pressure plate in front of them. The garage door began to open and let the sunlight shine right ahead of them. In only moments they made their way out into the wasteland that awaited them.
Camp had been halfway set up. The commander and the Legatus stationed themselves in a larger room in one the abandoned buildings. It was at the top floor with windows that could peer out across the landscape. Nothing could rattle them more. The land was barren. A wasteland barren of life, filled with nothing but dried earth and collapsed buildings.
They could see monsters in the distance. These beasts were close enough to camp for them to send squads to wipe out. Their men would come back, describing it like fighting humans who have lost their senses. Some said that many even looked as if they used to be people. Their general may have been a man of destruction and war, but a sight such as this could only wrench his heart.
"Amulius," The Legatus called to his lesser, "what do you think this land looked like before all this?"
"Maybe it has always looked this way," Amulius suggested.
His superior laughed at the jest, if it was one. "I wouldn't believe it. There are people out here who barely survive as is. Take that old peasant from earlier."
"The one we didn't capture?"
"Yes. He was skinny, fragile and weak. I didn't order his capture because his life seemed hard enough. If he spent an hour in the mines he would die within the first hour."
"Since when have you been the considerate type, sir?"
The Legatus hummed. "To be honest, I'm scared. What if this land is like this as a punishment from their gods? What if our interference here could lead to the same destruction to the empire?"
"What makes you say that?" Amulius queried.
"Those creatures," He answered. "I have dealt with them myself when escorting a scouting party. They were ravenous and feral. Only two of the eight men survived, me among them. Maybe these beasts used to be the dissidents of the gods of this world."
"And the survivors...?"
The commander picked up, "... are the devout worshippers or descendants of these devout. That is why they are untainted."
Amulius hummed. "You... may have a point. So should we quit?"
"I don't know. I fear that if we interfere that the same plague that befell this land will come to the empire... or far worse."
Only a few minutes after the silence footsteps were heard coming up the steps. "Alvan, Amulius, sirs!" The man ended at the very top step, introducing himself with a salute to his fellow countrymen. "Unknowns are approaching us at high speeds! What should we do?"
The radio was kicked on. The group drove forward to a massive set of barricades that had been set up. Tents could be seen over them, granting the overboss a curious look. "The hell is that?"
Gage pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked through a singular hole. "Looks like a buncha kai-zarz ripoffs."
"So the legion but not the legion?" The overboss asked.
"Yeah," Gage laughed.
The overboss looked at Ivey. "Pull up just a few yards away," she said pointing at the unfinished gate.
Ivey slowed the buggy the closer she approached the gate. The moment she began to park the buggy at least ten soldiers climbed poorly made walls, aiming bows ready to launch arrows at them. Unimpressed and annoyed, the boss fired a single warning shot from a small sidearm, piercing the wood and barely missing the soldier.
"Calm the hell down!" She yelled, holstering her gun as they approached the front gate. Gage stood at her side and William Black behind them with his raiders. Ivey sat next to the car, smoking a cigarette while waiting.
They shouted at her, bows still readied. No one understood a word they said, only being able to read their body language. They were paranoid and hostile, especially more so, now that a shot was fired.
One of them turned their head to behind the wall, the raiders still locked in his peripherals, and yelled back to someone. A cocky smirk swept across his face, one that put them all on edge.
"Gage," the overboss said to the man on her left. "I've got a bad feeling about this." She stepped backwards, reaching for her sidearm. The others made a similar move and quickly backpedaled towards the vehicle.
Footsteps were heard marching towards the gate, maybe thirty or so. The group didn't take the time to find out as they ran towards the buggy. The archers fired their arrows, grazing Gage's cheek and three bouncing off William's armor. One, unfortunately, got stuck in the overboss's leg.
"Gage, help!" She shouted in pain. The golden armored man shot a flurry of bullets from his revolver and made his way to his boss. Three archers fell from their towers and off the tops of buildings, allowing for an easier escape.
Ivey was already in place, ready to drive off. Gage loaded his boss in place first and the others followed soon after.
Ivey drove off with the gang all in. William looked back with a rifle aimed at the barely finished gate. The doors violently swung forward, showing a small infantry unit leading out a group of horseman forward. The mounted cavalry must have been gathered after they drove off; no one remembered the sound of horse hoofs before leaving.
The cavalry chased them down, but failed as William shot them all down from a distance. The horses stopped the moment their riders fell from their backs, though others ran off in directions opposite of their camp.
"I'm not letting them get away with that shit!" The overboss growled. "Ivey! Turn back around!"
"Hell no!" She shouted.
"Yeah, I'm agreeing with Ivey on this one boss," Gage said with a shocked look on his face.
"Turn around! Now!" Ivey heard the click of a safety being disengaged from behind her. She looked back to see her boss holding a blue smoke grenade in her hand.
"You're a fucking psycho," she sighed.
Ivey turned the buggy around and drove back to the camp. Her ears immediately tuned themselves into her boss's pipboy as Redeye's voice came through. The dumbass was telling another story he told hundreds of times over: the story of Atlas.
The buggy was only a few yards away from the gate and the archers readied to fire again. The overboss pulled a pin from the smoke grenade, and chucked into their camp and over the the wall.
"Get us the fuck outa here!" She yelled with a maniacal laugh.
The radio on pipboy went silent for a bit. "We see the signal boss. It's about time we get to test these things out." The radio cut out again, allowing Redeye to run his mouth again.
"Haven't you guys used the mortars before?" Ivey asked.
"Yeah, but we got new ammo," The overboss laughed in a vindictive tone.
Seconds passed by. The sound of whirring came through the sky behind them. They only caught a glimpse of something passing behind the gate and colliding with the ground.
The explosion was massive, and reminiscent of a mini nuke impacting a building. Chunks of rubble and meat flew as far as hundreds of feet in front of them, even when they were still driving. More explosions made their way behind the fortifications, decimating all the structures there.
Gage stared on with an impressed countenance glued to his face. William appeared frightful and their boss had a sadistic smile the whole time.
ALNUS HILL
Soldiers came back through the gate, bloody and scarred. Some had missing limbs and their equipment was covered in scorch marks.
The camp looked on at the horrified soldiers. Small groups of soldiers came back in at least twenty at a time. Parts of their fallen comrades even came flying through the Gate, leaving the flocks of retreating men to believe the bombardment is still continuing.
The camp commanders looked at the chunks of their former comrades come flying through the Gate. Their eyes were stretched wide, horrified at the display.
Infantrymen would pile in for minutes before stopping completely. Limbs were still flying in through the gate. The heat of the unrelenting explosions made its way through the Gate, allowing the unscathed soldiers to feel the sickly radiation of the bombardment.
After awhile it stopped. Everything was calm, at least as calm as it could be. All available soldiers rushed in front of their injured comrades, setting up a massive shield wall to prepare them for what was to come. They waited. One, two, three, four, five minutes passed, and nothing. Still, they waited.
"They rode off in their mechanical carriage," a heavily injured soldier said. "They won't be coming for awhile."
"You don't fear they will come back?" A sergeant asked.
"Of course I do," he said. "It's just whether or not they come back in force."
The sergeant hummed in agreement.
Nukatown USA
The overboss sat down in her little throne, a bloodthirsty smile sat on her face. She had got what she wanted. That town should be little more than rubble, ash buried in more ash.
There was still the matter of that damn monument – it wasn't there before. She had come across many strange things in the wasteland, and that construct had to be at the top of the list. Whether or not it's the legacy of the Dunwich family, the entire island of Far Harbor, or the downright strangeness of manikins these days, this was just more of the same shit.
She turned to Gage who was pouring a shot glass full of whiskey. She whistled to him, grabbing his attention. "I wanna go back there when the radiation dies out. Something about that weird building tells me it's still standing."
"Have you been taking chems again boss?" Gage questioned with genuine worry.
"No," she answered. "It's just... a gut feeling." She turned her gaze to face the direction of Bradberton, which was blocked off by the metal walls of her room. "I'll probably be picking out a team as well. I wanna check out what's inside."
Thanks for reading through the whole thing. I'm not entirely sure if I'm gonna continue this because this was more like a spur of the moment idea, so don't be surprised. But if you like it, be sure to let me know.