We did end up reaching Canterbury the next day. It looked to have once been a small town just outside of the capital city. More focused on serving people driving though then on any locals. The majority of the town was situated on a hill. There was a diner, fire station and overlooking them was an electronics department store. There were also a number of smaller shops and houses that had been converted over the centuries with some notable repairs to the structures. Closer to the highway and at the base of the hill was a large motel with a car park reconfigured to service brahmin.
Scattered about the place where dozens of smaller shacks but very little in the way of permanent habitation. My caravan wandered over to an empty brahmin pen paying an older woman to provide feed and water to the beasts. The rest of the caravan began to unload the goods we had transported.
A few traders wandered over. Most seeming to know Wolfgang personally and began to make offers for some of the goods he was carrying or just making general inquires. Once everything had been unloaded half of the caravan were allowed to go and relax at the diner and I found myself being dragged along.
The town did have some bustle to it. When we approached the diner, I took note that most of the people at the tables were armed guards or traders quietly negotiating. It turned out Canterbury was the first stop for traders from somewhere to the north called Ronto and from the Commonwealth to the north east.
In the quiet babble of the crowd there were some languages I did not recognise and a pair of guards clearly speaking French. We took a seat in a booth that had more patches than whatever material it had originally made out of and waited for the busty waitress to make her way over.
Without a menu the waitress listed the most popular food and drink choices. The most popular being grilled molerat and beer. I inquired about coffee only to find out that the only source of coffee was via a shipping lane to the south. According to Joy the sailors claimed that the coffee came from plantations all the way from Mexico.
I considered that unlikely. They could be picking up coffee from any number of Caribbean islands or from the American south. It was common throughout history for merchants to embellish the difficulties of acquiring rare goods in order to drive the price up. I was reasonably sure that you could grow coffee in such climates. Thinking about it I was largely ignorant about how coffee was made.
Still, that meant that my best options for any coffee stockpile was to scavenge some or buy the expensive good from Tenpenny tower or Rivet city. I hated this world, not the people. I had also hated the last world being X had forced me into. Not the people. No people are flawed and ignorant of how they can advance themselves within systems. They are illogical and needlessly emotional. But they had virtues.
As the crowded table laughed and chatted about the run. Telling tall tales about me that I did my best to downplay for the appearance of humility. And of course to avoid people thinking I was some sort of insane hero they could throw onto the front lines. I decided I liked them. A friendly bunch of caravaners. Inferior to the 203rd but I had not put nearly as much time and effort into them. I dug into the grilled meat that had been placed in front of me before I could think about how much I missed Visha.
Joy paid for my meal, she wanted me to try something special she said. In addition to the unimpressive steak seasoned with pepper and salt I was given a tall glass of fresh milk. Likely from brahmin and a plastic straw with little beads of chocolate powder inside. When I drank though the straw it turned the drink into sweet milky chocolate. The rest of the caravaners all laughed at the smile that snuck its way onto my face. I was less enthused with the incredible invention later on when I learned the chocolate straws were over two hundred years old.
"People of the Capital Wasteland! It is I, Three Dog, your ruler! Hear me, and obey! Oh, sorry, that's that other radio station!" The quiet music faded out and was replaced with an energetic voice proclaiming itself 'Three Dog'. As soon as the voice came in people quieted down and the eye-catching waitress from before turned the little radio up.
"Time for some news! Reports of a slave raid carried out against the peaceful town of Clearfield. For the geographically challenged. You are not alone their kids let me tell you. That is to the north-west, on the way to Ronto. My report says the town was highly religious and the attack was carried out against the town while they were in worship."
"The elderly and infirm were apparently murdered and desecrated while the children and adults were carried off. The attack was carried out by the raiders of pittsburg. The so-called Pitt. The Ronto authority have universally condemned the Pitt and have cut off all trade with them. I do have to ask folks, why the hell were you trading with slavers to begin with! And is that it?! Reports are that settlements within reach of the Pitt are packing up and moving on to greener pastures. Where they won't be carried off to die in a raider's hellhole. It just seems like someone should do something. If you can folks, send a prayer on over to the people of Clearfield. And if you meet a refugee on the road. Give-em the time of day, okay? Well onto the next story."
I glanced at the gun strapped to my side and the words stamped into the side. Was this gun manufactured by the Pitt? They were able to manufacture weapons in production runs into the hundreds? That sort of production complexity seemed to be well beyond anything I had seen locally. But then I did not have a good grasp of the local powers. I would need to investigate more.
"After a long dispute within the Brotherhood of Steel leadership a faction led by one Henry Casdin. Have chosen to leave their brothers and sisters and form a splinter group. They call themselves The Outcasts. Both Henry Casdin and the Brotherhood of Steel Elder Lyons have explicitly stated that the split is peaceful and driven by moral and ideological concerns. Both sides refuse to continence the idea of raising arms against each other. Thank the lord for that!"
"Time will tell what exactly this split means folks. The Brotherhood of Steel has been fighting the good fight for years here in the Capital Wasteland and this could cause some serious manpower and organisational hurdles to overcome. With Super Mutants becoming more active in the west things could get nasty."
"Well shit, I normally like to leave you all with a positive note to end on but we… Wait we do? Well folks turns out we do have some good news after all! I have a special announcement to make folks! Thanks to the ongoing sponsorship from the cool cats known as the Brotherhood of Steel GNR is the proud owner of a brand-new radio relay station!"
"What's a relay station I hear myself ask?! Well, it's a nifty piece of metal strapped to a high place that has boosted the range of GNR to ONE HUNDRED MILES! So many fresh ears to listen to my silky-smooth voice! I have been told by my trusty mechanic that GNR will now be blasting the airwaves as far afield as Harpers Ferry."
"Well enough of our good fortune. Thanks for listening, children. This is Three Dog, and you're listening to Galaxy News Radio. We're Radio Free Wasteland, and we're here... for you. Now for some music!"
By the time the announcement finished and the music returned. I had finished my food and drink and was leaning back with the others as they quietly discussed the news. It seemed that the power armoured group I had seen fighting the ghouls was a major power in the region. With the control of a broadcaster bringing news and music to people's homes they were well on their way to controlling the narrative of things.
That left the question of why they would allow an internal dispute to become public. It could just be a preliminary measure to put a positive spin on the situation. Just because they both said things were peaceful did not mean that things could not be quite violent behind the scenes.
After food was done, we all filed out to go meet up with Wolfgang. Apparently, he had a regular common room entirely booked out when he came along that we could sleep in. With the shadows getting longer it was about time to go to bed anyway. We arrived at the motel and the other half of the caravan cheered before moving off to the diner themselves.
The common room was a relatively clean room with sets of double bunks lined up. At least they had clean mattresses and sheets. In the corner of the room was a pile of Wolfgang's merchandise in huge saddles and crates. Apparently, he did not offload as much here as he expected.
"Tanya. Can we have a chat." Wolfgang looked at me as I was putting my few possessions into a footlocker. I glanced around the room before nodding and joining him outside as the others settled in for the night.
"What did you want to talk about?" I asked as we stepped out into the dwindling light.
"That mess in the metro. That was some impressive stuff. You saved our lives Tanya."
"Thank you, mister Wolfgang. But I was also defending myself. You don't need to thank me sir."
"Those raiders had us dead to rights and you gunned them down in pure darkness. How did you even see them?" I was an idiot! I should have been less conspicuous with my magic. With this place being an anarchist mess the chances of some mob getting worked up about magic and killing me for being a witch was much higher. In a world devoid of order and rules society was ruled by mobs of people.
And people are illogical and vindictive creatures.
"To be honest with you. It was mostly luck, I have always had good night-vision and I did not have any lights on me so they were not shooting at me. And it was not pure darkness, with the lights everyone had on them the metro was illuminated. I was far enough away from the lights to still be able to see into the darkness. I was able to shoot at them without them shooting back. Nothing special."
"Nothing special huh?" I winced as he looked down at me before he let out a laugh. "You have a good gun on you kid. I was thinking that you would be an asset. You know how to handle yourself and even at your age you don't complain one bit about hard work and long travel. If you want a place with my crew, I can offer you a job. Pays good, forty caps a day with food, water and accommodation paid for." Ah, so that was where this was going. I did have to admit that the idea of consistent work and what seemed to be a fair contract was attractive. But I still did not know all that much about this world. I could not rush into anything.
"Thank you for the offer sir but, I just got here. I need some time to think about it before I accept." There was an awkward pause between us for a while before Wolfgang reached into his pocket and brought out a small bag of caps.
"Well, we are going west to Megaton before we return to Canterbury. We will be back in about two weeks… If you are still thinking by tomorrow you can wait for us to get back. After Canterbury we are heading south to Rivet city. You will be welcome to join us on that route. For now, here is the pay for the time you spent working for me, you earned it." I did need to investigate Rivet city considering that it was meant to be the biggest settlement in the region. I took the small bag of caps with a grateful smile.
"I think I will take you up on the trip to Rivet city. Thank you, Mister Wolfgang."
"Please, call me James." With that we went inside with the others. I settled on a bunk and snoozed listening to the sedate conversation around me. Before the rest of the caravan returned and sleep took us more convincingly.
The next morning was more sedate. Wolfgang wanted to get going to megaton as quickly as he could to make up for time lost on the trip though the city. The other caravaners were eager for me to join them and Joy asked more than once if I would be okay on my own. Even with a damaged computation orb I was content that I could deal with things. Looking around the settlement It was clear that I was not much younger than the majority of the traders and caravaners anyway.
The rarity of veterans did make a caravan job less attractive. It was dangerous work and by my estimation it would take decades to build up enough money to retire peacefully. I needed to learn exactly how much money I had and needed. In my work for the Empire, I had amassed a small fortune. I had failed to make a good use of considering it was illegal to withdraw a lot of that money as the bank was directly used by the Empire for the war effort.
I needed to acquire more than a fair wage. I needed enough capital to deal with a wasteland hellhole and hopefully improve things for myself as I did so. I found myself walking though the morning market looking at prices written on slates as I worked out how many caps I needed for a comfortable life.
Food, pure water, shelter and luxury products. Everything cost money and without Wolfgang paying for the essentials I would have to pay out of pocket for everything. There were also other considerations. I did require some additional essentials. In my first life I had considered it silly for women to be embarrassed at a normal biological function. Being on the other side, I now understood why my position was largely mistaken. The effects certainly were a lot more difficult to deal with then I had assumed. The fact that feminine hygiene products were still being produced. If in small numbers. At a higher quality then what was available at the Empire was a relief. It was however a considerable monthly expense.
It seemed that my expenses per month would range between one and two thousand caps if I wanted to avoid radiation poisoning and sleep in a clean bed. The funds I had acquired were limited and I would rapidly eat though them if I could not find a means to make money. It made Wolfgangs offer more attractive but it was still a modest income and it would take me a lifetime to build up enough money to retire comfortably.
I let out a sigh. With relatively low risk work not offering a reasonable reward I would have to consider higher risk income streams. Walking around the market and speaking to surprisingly friendly traders I had a few leads. The most lucrative jobs involved going to very dangerous places and bringing back rare equipment or pieces of technology.
There was also a fair number of scavengers around the place too. I found out that it was not uncommon for a group of scavengers to band together in order to loot a location that was assumed to be filled with valuable goods. It seemed like a form of banditry to me. Considering that the scavengers mentioned they would often target known raider strongholds. But there were other options.
Places that were overrun with animals or with automatic defences. They likely contained things that had been untouched for almost two hundred years. Not to mention that the automatic defences themselves were a valuable commodity. I found out that there was a talented mechanic in Canterbury who was paying out the nose for anything you could pull out intact from a robot.
I did not want to murder anyone and take what they had so I asked around if there were any sites that were too dangerous to loot.
The Corvega factory complex was a series of squat buildings protected by a tall stone wall that had mostly survived the pressures of time. On the east side dust and sand had built up enough to spill over the wall making it largely useless in its intended purpose of keeping anyone out. Despite that it had remained untouched for centuries. Some effort had been made to scavenge from the place but there had been no concerted effort for a simple reason.
The squad of giant ants dragging what looked like an emaciated bear towards the factory. Some of them were dragging limbs torn from the corpse rather than helping with the… Prey item I supposed. They were fast, even loaded down with the bear they scuttled about at a jogging speed. According to one old man who had looked to be covered in leather rather than skin they could go much faster if they wanted to.
I was roughly three hours away from Canterbury. The town on the hill still visible even with all the dust in the air. Now and then groups of ants would scout out the town for prey and everyone would come together to shoot the insects. Still, what few children lived in the trade hub town were not allowed outside at night for fear of being carried off by the ants in a night-time raid.
It was not uncommon for mercenaries or scavengers to make a play at the factory and I resolved that if things looked hopeless, I would just leave. However, if I could secure the facility then I could hire scavengers to strip the place for a lot of caps. Maintaining my claim on the place would be a lot of work but I would think about that after I evicted the ants.
I made my way down the hill towards the factory. A bit of magic directed at my flight boot allowed me to hop over the wall and into a large car park. With only a few dozen cars in the huge car park I assumed the bombs had dropped some time after everyone had gone home for the day.
I made my way over to a small building close to the entrance that had its door forced open at some point and stepped inside. The place had clearly been convincingly looted but some things had been left behind. Likely considered not worth the effort by previous scavengers. On the wall was a laminated map of the facility. It only showed the ground floors but it clearly marked different areas. Onsite receiving, storage and the assembly floors being of particular interest. There was however a research and development building somewhat apart from the main factory buildings.
Being unconnected to the other structures I hoped that this building was not also infested with ants. I tested the main door only to find it locked. The fire exits also seemed too only open from inside. That indicated there was a good chance this place had never been looted.
Lockpicking was not a skill I had the pleasure to learn as in both of my life I avoided breaking any and all laws. Even if I was often accused otherwise at least as Tanya. There were however, legal reasons to know how to defeat security measures. The vocation of scavenger, prospector or whatever title they applied to themselves. Was perfectly respectable work in this world.
I thought about using my magic to force the lock but held back. I did want to use the security of the factory to protect the things I was going to scavenge. I had no doubt in my mind that once news spread of the factory becoming safe. The mass of scavengers just hours away would swarm over this place picking it apart and not earning me any money.
I would rather avoid having to shoot anyone to prove a point about property rights. Deciding that the R&D building was not going anywhere I moved on to the squat series of buildings that made up the main factory floors. I quickly found three entrances. A garage door and been pried open by what I assume was ants. The main entrance to the main building was standing with its doors wide open and from the dust, had been open for centuries. And there was a tunnel dug under the main building.
It seemed the ant infestation was situated predominantly in the main assembly floor. I made my way to the front entrance and stepped into the gloom. Quickly working on a night vision formula as I became acutely aware of the bones stacked into the corners and in messy piles. There was a rancid smell and I assumed this was where the ants were depositing refuse.
I had barely made it a few steps inside when I noticed a boxy weapon on the ground clutched in the bones of an arm missing the rest of its body. Scraps of armour and clothes about the place showed that the stories of many mercenaries and scavengers attempting to loot the place had been accurate.
A rapid scuttling was the only warning I had as an ant lunged out of the darkness towards me. Its mandibles clicking shut with enough force to ring out. I sent a burst of magic into my boot and threw myself backwards as the ant leapt forward. Its deadly mandibles snapping with loud clicks as it tried to ensnare one of my limbs. I had no doubt that if the thing actually got a hold of me, it would rip open flesh and splinter bone with ease. There was a sudden rank smell and I quickly scrambled to my feet and unshouldered my sub machine gun.
I prepared myself for the sudden thundering and welts dug into my shoulder only to be struck by how slow the rate of fire was and the easy to manage recoil. Even for an unaugmented child this weapon was a dream to shoot. A burst of .45 caliber rounds ate into the dusty earth before I had raised the gun high enough to begin slamming into the segmented form of the ant.
The beast took far too many rounds before it finally died and I made the mistake of relaxing. The terrible sound of segmented scuttling sending me scrambling for another stick magazine that would soon refresh my dwindling ammunition. From the open door of the factory half a dozen ants darted into the light baring down on me rapidly as I emptied my magazine into them and reloaded the unfamiliar weapon.
It seemed that the peppering of holes into the ants did very little to them and I found myself jogging backwards to very little effect as the insects bore down upon me. I scrambled between two rusted out cars and fired though the open windows into the squad of ants as they clambered on top of them. I felt my damaged computation orb click rapidly and grow hot as I forced magic into it. Leaving an illusion of myself as I relocated again.
The ants attempted to rip apart the illusion again and again giving me a chance to empty another magazine into them. Killing a pair of the attackers before I was forced to disable the illusion or risk my orb overloading. Slamming my last loaded magazine into the sub-machinegun I fed magic into my boot. Flinging myself onto car park security office and firing down into the heads of the ants as they clambered over each other to get to me.
When they stopped moving, I looked back at the factory as another squad of ants scuttled out looking for what had been marked by the other ants. It would not take them long to follow the trail to me so I quickly hopped off the roof and sprinted to a large empty skip. Throwing myself inside I began to feed loose ammo into my magazines while keeping an eye on the ants.
Even after just the short fight I could feel my blood raising. I used what magic I could without my orb to refresh myself and felt the siren call of the amphetamine dose in my breast pocket. Shaking my head to clear the urge and waste a valuable resource I aimed out of the skip and sent carefully controlled bursts into the ants. That got the attention of the squad and they scuttled towards me intent on ripping me limb from limb. I had exhausted my magazines again by the time the last ant reached me and I grabbed my bayonet. Waiting for the ant to clamber into the skip and expose itself I fed magic into my muscles and with a lunge and a scream of excitement I decapitate the insect.
I scrambled back as the head continued to snap its mandibles at me despite losing its body. I decided not to think about that too hard as I hopped out of the skip and made my way towards the factory. It seemed that a response of a dozen ants was all they had for me so far. There would no doubt be far more inside the factory. I would have to be more economical with my ammunition. I was paying for it now after all, not the Empire.
Stalking though the dark factory with my trusty blade I found that I could outreach the smaller worker ants on the inside. It became a familiar rhythm. Stalk forward until an ant would scuttle forward out of the darkness towards me and then dart forward to bring my bayonet down into the insect's brain. Normally they would go limp but sometimes I had to dance backwards and then decapitate the ants as they made a follow up attack.
The infestation was far wider than I thought. With a utility basement connecting the entire facility they had access to every building. They had also set up numerus food storage areas and brood nurseries. The new-born ants were pale and a good magically augmented stomp delt with them well enough.
I had not found any more soldier ants after killing the first dozen or so. But the hordes of worker ants were deadly enough that I wanted to keep things going slowly. Rushing and making a mistake could end in a painful death.
The factory was in very good condition. The ants had no interest in things outside of the basement and ground floor and had largely ignored the equipment around the place. After looping though the utility basement in the dark and stepping over what I presumed was refuse and ant spit turning the place into a semi organic tunnel. I stepped out into a larger chamber with red backup lights illuminating a much bigger ant then before.
I watched the queen slowly push out another egg as small pale attendants moved it to collect and clean the fist sized orb. I was considering ways of killing the queen when a shadow lunged at me. I reacted quickly. Dancing forward I dug my blade into a softer part of its head and into the brain only for the ant to slam into me and throw me back into the corridor sans bayonet.
The ant was big. Bigger than the soldier ants I had killed outside and did not seem at all bothered by the knife sticking out of its head. It also looked like there were more behind it pushing into the cramped utility tunnel. My survival was predicated upon ambush and mobility. Down here I did not have any mobility and they had ambushed me. Things were not looking good as I unshouldered my SMG and held the trigger down while trying to get to my feet.
A hail of bullets slamming into its face seemed to be enough to slow down the lead queen's guard and I was mobile again before it could snap down on me. By the time I had ran though the last of my .45 caliber rounds the thing had the good grace to die but two more were clambering over its corpse to kill me. I tossed the gun away and drew my pistol and computation orb. Once they cleared the hurdle, they would be able to scurry after me faster than I could limp away with what felt like several ribs cracked.
My orb let out a whine of protest as I imbued the 9mm rounds with power. If I had overdone the formula, I would soon be missing a hand. If I did not make it powerful enough, I was going to be ripped apart. How did I get here? I was trying to be careful and not get in over my head!
I fired twice and the gnashing of mandibles was replaced with a high-pitched whine and blinding light. I ignored the orb burning into my skin as I forced out a healing formula. Repairing my eyes from the night vision induced damage after witnessing a bright flash of light. Then repairing my ear drums from the sudden enclosed pressure.
The last two queen's guard's upper bodies had been turned to mush that I was now aware I had been covered in. I also found my bayonet dug into the ant spit just behind me. A few inches to the side and it would be stuck into my neck.
I collected my blade and scurried over the bodies to finish the job. Small pale attendant ants tried to attack me in a last-ditch effort but I quickly put them down with my boot and blade. The last one to deal with was the queen. She was furious and huge so I decided to work my way though my 9mm ammo plinking away at her head until I hit something important and she fell still.
I then shot her a few more times just for good measure.
With the fight over I got a chance to work on a more potent healing formula but I was under no illusions that my ribs would heal all that quickly. I spent my time exploring the factory looking for more ants without finding any.
I was now the proud owner of one two-hundred-year-old decayed factory filled with broken equipment and ant corpses. Now to turn a profit from my work. I had to secure my property rights. Without a government that meant guarding everything I owned at all times and ensuring that any guards I hired did not decide to rob me.
I would need a security force large enough to keep the area patrolled but also have the fewest possible people so I could keep an eye on them. I missed the 203rd so much. Employees you could trust and respect were so rare. Not that the idea of looking after a bunch of scrap would have excited them much. If we were not fighting, they got bored. Being a good employer meant knowing how to keep your employees happy. I would likely have to have them killing raiders and slavers to keep themselves occupied if they were here with me.
I was searching though the well-preserved R&D building when I entered a side room on the ground floor. It only had some ant excrement in it and I found something curious. A computer terminal attached to several standing robots in pods. I assumed it was a place to repair or recharge them. Did this factory also produce robots? Everything else I had found here indicated this was a car factory.
What could they be doing with robots? I approached the terminal and to my shock it was running on the emergency power. It seemed this facility was considered so important it was wired into the backup generator. Or the people who wired this place up were negligent. I had worked in an office that had a coffee machine hooked up to a backup generator along with the server banks.
Automated security. Robot security programmed to patrol the factory…
I felt a wide grin from on my face.
Who needed to hire untrained human resources when you had automation?
Scott Wollinski was a polite and reclusive man who seemed utterly baffled when I had come to his home offering him a contract. I had learned from the traders and few people who lived in Canterbury permanently that Scott was a talented mechanic and engineer. He liked to tinker with things especially robots and had quite the collection. I had asked that we have a discussion in an office so he could take notes and put together a contract.
As he made awkward small talk while leading me to his 'office' I did wonder about his name. It was curious for a man with obvious African ancestry to bare a name of Slavic origin. Or was I mistaken? America was a 'melting pot' after all. When we entered his office. Clearly a workspace cum bedroom I began to worry for the man.
Comic books lined shelves and there were even large cardboard cut-outs of popular American heroes. Holovids with outlandish labels all intermixed with circuit boards, vacuum tubes and scrap metal. Scott was an Otaku.
At least he was one of the neat and tidy ones.
"As I said I would like to offer you a long-term contract for the maintenance and organisation of security robots for the Corvega factory."
"Ummm. The Corvega factory? That's where the ants come from, right?" I nodded.
"Yes, I have exterminated them and that is why I am perusing your services in an effort to secure my salvage claim. Your role will be an inspection of on sight robotics and you will then be contracted on an advisory position. The contract is long term and you will be expected to be on call to deal with any technical issues that might arise."
"Wow you got all the ants? Even the queen? How did you do that?"
"With a lot of ammunition and my bayonet. The factory contains some automated security that is currently inactive. So, I would also like to commission you to examine the robots the to see if any of them can be reactivated or have some value as salvage. And should additional robotic security be required I will allow you an exclusivity contract. This means I will only be renting robots for the Corvega factory from you." Considering he was the only game in town for robots I would be renting them from him anyway but it never hurt to be respectful.
"Well, I have to see if the ants are actually all gone before I um. Agree to anything, how old are you?"
"I am thirteen." I replied. He looked sceptical. Annoying as Otaku are meant to just do as they are told.
"That is a bit young to kill tons of ants…"
"Thirteen and a half." I pinched myself as the childish part of me manged to surface.
"I can walk over there with you. Are you on your own? Do you have any guardian or anything?"
"Mister Wollinski. I am trying to negotiate a contract that will be mutually beneficial. Please do me the curtsy of taking me seriously."
"S-sorry." He retreated in on himself slightly at my glare. I quickly settled my face and gave him a smile.
"Thank you. Let's go and inspect your new workplace then." I stood up and nodded at him.
"Right now?" He asked as we went back to the factory immediately. I had borrowed a clipboard from him and was currently writing up a contract. If anyone was wondering why I was leaving the settlement with the town recluse and a trio of his favourite robots no one bothered to ask us.
Corporal Linda Spurlock was not having a good day.
"Onushi wa nanimono? Koko wa doko da?"
("who are you? Where is this place?")
Her head was pounding. She was freezing, even worse than she was at Anchorage.
"Was ist los... Wo ist Tanya! Wo bin ich!"
("What's going on... Where's Tanya! Where am I?")
Oh, and she had watched as little green men had cut her up and put her back together for fun. Watching her heart beat in front of her face while she could not so much as scream was going to be in her nightmares forever.
"Listen here! we have been abdu-." Linda was not a small woman but she did feel somewhat on edge when a woman looking like she was some twentieth century kraut. Something that she could very well be If Linda was reading the room right. Grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her into the wall with murder in her eyes.
"Sag mir, was jetzt los ist Amerikaner! Wo ist Tanya!"
("Tell me what's going on now American! Where's Tanya!?")
"Hey! Hey listen to me! Its fucking Aliens! Did you not see the green bastards!" Linda held up her hands in surrender as what could very well be a nazi right from the old 1940s glared at her. Considering there was a bonified medieval Samurai right there it was more of a possibility then not. It sure was a shit time to be black if she actually was a nazi.
"Nanishiteruno? Kanojo wa kore o shimashita ka?" ("What are you doing? Did she do this?") The Samurai stepped forward to speak to the kraut. Getting her attention. Linda had watched enough action movies and documentaries to know that the Germans of the time thought the japs were honorary aryan or something. He should be able to calm her down.
"Thank you! Tell her to ease up!"
"Chinmoku!" ("Silence!") The Samurai slammed an armoured fist into the wall besides Linda. "Watashitachi, dōshite koko ni? ! Setsumei shite kudasai!"
("Why are we here?! Explain yourself!")
"We are in the same fucking cell! Why are you blaming me? It's the aliens!" Her wise words did not seem to be landing for the two of them as the women turned to the Samurai.
"Er ist von der Unified States. Er steht dahinter!"
("She's from the Unified States. She's behind it!")
"United States lady get it right! And I aint' behind this! We are all in the same prison are you two mental!" Linda took the opportunity to gently push her back only to be slammed back with more force than the short lady should have been able to exert.
"Sag mir, wo Tanya jet-." ("Tell me where Tanya is-") The women had to say was cut short when the Samurai cried out in shock. Linda looked at him and then what he was staring at. She felt her heart rate quicken and she felt sick. Flashes of phantom pain, her arm on the other side of the room. A mirror overhead so she could watch as the-
NO! She was stronger than this. She had seen more blood and guts then most at Anchorage fighting the commies. There was still more fight in her and if she was going to make these alien bastards pay she had to push down the feelings that made her want to scream and cry.
"Was zum Teufel ist das!" ("What the hell is that?!") The German was the first to respond. Pointing a finger at the Alien and taking a step back.
"Sorehanandesuka! Sono akuma!" ("What is that?! An Akuma?!") Next the Jap took a step back. Perfect.
"It's an Alien! AYY LEE OON!" Linda took a bold step forward and for the first time today the two of them were looking at her as she pointed a finger at the Alien. "These bastards abducted us. They must have been doing it for centuries to get the two of you." Linda allowed a dramatic pause for a moment before she continued. "We need to find a way to escape. Then we need to foil the Alien invasion and return to earth as HEROS!"
"Ich verstehe nicht was du sagst. Aber wir müssen Tanya finden. Sie wird wissen, was zu tun ist."
("I do not understand what you're saying. But we have to find Tanya. She will know what to do.")
"Watashi wa anata o rikai shite imasenga, watashitachi wa korera no monsutā kara nigenakereba narimasen."
("I don't understand you but we must escape these monsters.")
Linda had no idea what the two of them were saying but it sounded more friendly than before. She considered that a big win. That meant that they had reconciled with her and they were going to get into the meat of the story now. She had spent many sleepless nights under a blanket with her trusty comic books.
Alien abduction and invasion? Check.
Awesome Asian Samurai sidekick? Check.
Hot chick sidekick? Linda looked over at the German who she desperately hoped was not a Nazi. Check.
Last but not least. All American action hero? Well Linda was the only American here so naturally she was the hero.
She had been preparing for this her whole life. She was the Heroine of this story and if she beat the Aliens she could end up with some incredible award. A hot wife and a few movie deals. Linda turned to look at the Alien with a cocky grin.
"Get ready for an American asskicking!" Yeah, this felt right. Much better than the part of her that wanted to break down screaming. Now to find the universal translator. There was always a universal translator.
AN: When I read the name 'Linda Spurlock' I thought to myself 'that is an action hero name' and replaced everything I had written for the zeta arc with a mind for an all-American action heroine. (who is horribly overshadowed by a fucking World War Wizard and a Samurai.)
Now onto the REVIEWS childreeen! (No I am not as cool as three dog)
Amon34: "I hope you manage to finish now let's see how tanya will do to find her quiet retirement without "any" trouble."
I hope I manage to finish too! I do have a good idea of where the story is going it's just a matter of putting in the work to get there! I will keep at it. One 15-hundred-word section at a time! Lets see just how far Tanya will go for that retirement.
Neirial: "For spacebattles, try the 'creative writing' section. Even if you doubt your writing abilities, this is better than the hundreds of shitty self-insert stories, or unending inundation of Worm fics, I assure you."
Thank you. I am glad that people are enjoying this story and I will make some posts on spacebattles! Love to see so many of you guys here!
Amon34: "I think you made a mistake, it's the 203 and not the 205 that Tanya trained"
Thank you! I did indeed make a mistake here! Corrected.
reality deviant, skywiseskychan and Landon Sorenson Get a special mention for the lovely comments. Thank you and a big thank you to 'L4 of the WEST' who explained what is a spacebattle to me!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. See you next time!