Author's Note -
Quick Public Service Announcement I will be posting this on Fridays. Chapter 2 came ot early because I do not consider that worth being considered a chapter. On with the show.
"Eta till drop 2 minutes," Ridger told the group of people in front of him. Each of them was doing something different to handle the stress. Paulson was spinning his revolver, slowly getting faster. Michael was fixing and unfixing his bayonet onto his rifle. Marco was chewing gum. Somehow, he always managed to have a piece that wasn't too badly irradiated. Elliot was wrapping bandages around his arm and unwrapping them. Uncle Leo was cracking his fists, the super mutant part of his mind less apprehensive more excited for the coming fight. At the front of the shuttle Squirrel and Fawkes were piloting them into position. "Captain, be advised incoming heavy fire. A couple missiles just hit the side of the shuttle but shields held," Fawkes told him.
"Alright, if you need to change the landing site let me know," Ridge told the super mutant. "Okay boys and girls, this is it," he shouted to the crew in the back. Paulson stopped the spinning his revolver and holstered it, picking up his disintegrator and putting on the helmet for his recon Hellfire armor. Michael fixed the bayonet for the last time and activated his stealth boy. Marco spat out the gum and put his helmet on, something that would definitely get Squirrel on his ass. The young man was deeply protective of his shuttle. Elliot put the bandages away and picked up his atomizer. He was there for the wounded, not the combat. Uncle Leo grabbed his super sledge, nearly spasming with anticipation. They felt the vibrations as the shuttle landed. The doors opened and Ridger and Paulson ran forward. Shots fired wildly at them. The shield on the alien shuttle held and any shots that hit them barely got past the outer layer of protection.
That's when their weapons, stolen from the arsenals of aliens, barked. Each shot completely and utterly atomized their target, each super mutant that was hit just disappeared. The sound of cushioned boots greeted Ridger's ears as Michael ran off the shuttle and towards the forward post he was assigned to. Marco and Uncle Leo ran forward, their weapons joining the cacophony of battle. Elliot followed after the gunshots had ended. Between their superior protection, or in the case of Ridger and Uncle Leo their superior physiology and armor, and the general inaccuracy of the mutants no one had suffered an injury. They moved towards the central building of the compound, Michael keeping watch.
Stacking up on the door Ridger counted down on his fingers. The sound of a sniper discharging and a mutant dying, another unloading its gun wildly before a gurgled scream left its lips as, presumably, Michael slammed his bayonet into the monster's throat. He made a fist than opened his palm and the door was kicked open. Inside several mutants and centaurs attacked, some charged and some shot. The disintegrators tore through the mutated creatures, and Leo bashed their heads in. "Dammit Leo," Marco yelled, "Quit getting into the line of fire,"
"Just don't miss human," Leo shouted, as he pulled his hammer out off a particularly stiff Centaur body, "Simple as that."
"Cut the chatter," Ridger shouted, bludgeoning a mutant to death. "Split ranks," he told them. Going down the stairs he came across more of the mutants and their attack dogs. Strangely, these ones had laser weaponry. Then he came across a scene that made him more than angry. On a counter along the wall cracked and damaged Brotherhood armor. On one table was a woman who been opened up and her insides scooped out. Bits of people were on another table in the middle. There also was a malnourished man in one of the cages. He shouldered his weapon and pulled the door from its hinges and threw it against a wall. He grabbed the man and pulled him to his feet. Half carrying half dragging the man. The sound of bullets meeting flesh and metal stopped him in his tracks. 5.56 caliber bullets. Low chance of penetrating his armor, especially with the reinforcement made with scavenged alien material. The man on the other hand, not so much.
His pained screams filled the hall then were cut short as life left his body. Ridger dropped the body. He let out a guttural, animalistic scream. He turned and ran at the mutants. They charged in response, throwing their guns down and drawing their melee weapons, a board and a tire iron. He threw the first blow breaking one's face. The other smashed its board into his armor, which in turn shattered to splinters. He grabbed its face and slammed it into his knee before throwing it aside. He slammed his boot into the face of the first one. Stamping his heel onto the neck of the one he had thrown into the wall he heard more coming. He picked up the tire iron and yelled again. He charged, surprising the new challengers. They didn't get the chance to react as he plowed into them, like a scythe to wheat.
It became a red haze of slaughter and death. One got lucky and slammed a hammer into his upper left arm shattering it, but he didn't care. He was distracted he didn't realize he was standing outside, drenched in blood and his armor integrity basically nothing. Pain flooded into his body and he realized the level of shit he was in once clarity hit. In front of him stood close to seventy-five Brother of Steel members and a dozen vertibirds. At the lead was Elder Lyons. At her flank was her Sentinel, Maxson.
"Get on the ground and hand over your weapons and armor," Maxson yelled, his younger voice bleeding through the speaker. "How about no," Ridger responded said, "How about I go on my way and you fuck off?" He started walking back into the building. A laser rifle shot slammed into his back and he fell to the ground, the force knocking him on his ass. Had he not been through hell the shot would've been ineffective. But he had been through hell. Every bone and muscle ached and his armor was heavily damaged. His eyes began to close and things went dark.
P.O.V. Paulson
"Ridger's in trouble boys," Michael said, "We've got Brotherhood,"
"Damnit," Paulson shouted, "All right, I'm taking command. Michael, keep watching them. Fawkes, Squirrel, keep ready for a quick evac, maybe a firefight. Leo, Elliot, Marco you're with me. Stay close." A sprint broke out as they ran Marco took a position in a window, Elliot and Leo moving with Paulson due to their limited ranged. Exploding out the door they kept their weapons level with the brotherhood. Every weapon became trained on them. "Don't," Paulson shouted, "You might have us outnumbered but we got you outgunned," The Fury floated over the building and its guns revealed themselves. Like a cat's claws. Four disintegrators and a pair of the weapons that the crew of the Olympus called Drone Cannons was now trained on the Brotherhood soldiers. Even without its shields, the Fury's hull was strong enough that the brotherhood would need to bring to bear their tesla cannons to even consider doing anything more than scratching the paint.
The Brotherhood retargeted their weapons to face a new threat. Over comms, Paulson heard Fawkes calling for a lightning strike to be prepared if shit got dicey. The lead figure of the Brotherhood, an individual wearing a suit of T-50 assault pattern power armor, moved forward, their weapon set on the ground. Removing their helmet, they revealed the face of a blonde woman in her mid-twenties. "I am Elder Sara Lyons of the Brotherhood of Steel, what happened to your ally was unintentional. The soldier that fired the shot will face court-martial. Now, identify yourselves,"
"We know exactly who you are," Paulson said, lowering his weapon, "We have many names, but the one most commonly used is Olympians. A settlement, bout fourteen miles North, requested our assistance in the recovery of abducted members of their community,"
"Just the five of you?" another soldier wearing t-50 assault armor shouted, advancing.
"Make that six," Michael said, stealth field disabling with an atomizer pointed at the advancing soldier. It would do more damage than the sniper could against a suit of assault power armor. Several members of the Brotherhood directed weapons towards him, but no one fired. Not yet. The air was so filled with tension Paulson could've blunted a knife trying to cut it. "Look," Paulson said, keeping his voice level, "We wanted the same thing. The mutant citadel is cleared out. Let us get our superior out of here,"
Before Lyons could answer the man behind her spoke up, "Negative, you will submit your weapons and armor to the Brotherhood waste lander,"
"Maxon!" Lyons shouted. Uncle Leo stepped forward, raising his hammer, "We are leaving. We are leaving with our weapons and friend Ridger," Lyon's face sprouted surprise and, for a short moment that Paulson might've imagined it, relief. "You can go, take him," she finally said. "Elder?!" Maxson shouted.
"I said enough Maxson," She shouted at her Sentinel. Elliot ran forward, holstering his weapon, and pulled Ridger's helmet off. His face was bloodied and bruised, his right eye swollen shut. "Can we move him?" Paulson asked the medic, not taking his eyes off the collected Brotherhood.
"Should be…" Elliot was cut off as a laser shot struck his upper torso but his combat armor held, for the moment. He fell to the ground. Paulson saw it came from a building two hundred meters behind the Brotherhood. "Sniper!" he yelled. The group ran for cover. Leo ran forward, Paulson fearing he was charging to attack. Instead, he slipped the hammer into its harness on his back and dragged Elliot and Ridger to cover. The Fury began to spray shots into the Brotherhood lines. The ones wearing Recon power armor and weaker simply disintegrated, like the mutants. The ones in assault armor took a few shots but went down. Missiles left their tubes aboard the craft and shot out, blowing apart the Vertibirds.
"Fury one, break off. I repeat break off," Paulson shouted. Switching to long-range, "Hades base, this is Cowboy, requesting emergency teleport evac on my position. Cosmo and Aspirin are down, no fatalities,"
"Copy that Cowboy, deploying lightning strike to give you some breathing room," Flashes of blue light erupted around the battlefield. On buildings and in the street soldiers materialized. They joined the fray, each of them a master of their craft. Some were swordsman and struck with their blades. Others were marksman and executed Brotherhood members, making every shot count. He looked to his left and saw one of the reinforcers slapping a frequency homer onto Uncle Leo. The mutant disappeared in a flash of light. Forgoing his radio, he shouted, "Olympians, disengage!" Blue light flashed and the Olympians disappeared, even the dead as to not give the Brotherhood anything from this battle. He, Marco, and Michael ran back into the compound to make for the exfiltrate point.
Marco took a hit from behind, a plasma gun hit. Shot sheared through his battered armor and struck his spine. He slid inside and pulled himself behind a corner. "Go!" he shouted. Not having the time to argue Paulson and Michael ran. He heard the explosion as Marco detonated a plasma grenade, and screams as Brotherhood got caught in the blast. Victory or Death, never surrender. Reaching the exfiltrate point the Fury opened its cargo doors and the pair ran inside. Strapped in the ship began its rapid ascent, leaving behind ruin and death. "Marco better clean that fucking gum off my shuttle's floor!" Squirrel yelled.
"Marco's dead," Paulson informed him.
"Damn," Squirrel said, forlorn, "my last thoughts of him were how much I fucking hated him…now he's dead,"
"Such was war," Paulson thought.
Author's Note
Things are starting to heat up and now where Ridger went is revealed. What do his connections mean for his future? What do they mean for Sara? Who knows, even I don't.
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