Chapter 28 - Mutants and Mini Nukes
"Seriously, one of these days, I will have a look at that sword and shield." Ruby huffed, as Jaune turned his shield back into a scabbard, and sheathed his sword into it casually.
"I keep telling you, I don't know what it's made of myself." Jaune easily replied, as he looked over the small group of dead raiders who'd charged at them screaming, as soon as they'd seen the pair. He still needed a fair bit of practice with using that pistol, and reloading under pressure, but it was a hell of a lot better than the complete lack of experience he'd had, when he'd first joined Beacon. And speaking of a complete lack of experience...
"And how are you holding up?" Jaune asked Ruby, even as he looked her over. Even though the raiders had refused to stop and listen to his warnings, he couldn't help but feel a small pang at the waste of life. And he knew Ruby would be faring even worse than him. She was still reeling from learning that her entire life had been a lie, after all.
"I'm fine, Jaune." Ruby replied with forced levity, already detaching herself emotionally from the encounter. Intellectually, she knew they'd been given no choice, but she was still a doctor's daughter. It helped, too, that with Jaune around, she had the opportunity to hang back and shoot them from the distance, rather than having to engage them by herself. All she'd smelled, as she'd shot them from the distance, was smoke and gunpowder, not blood and gore. And she'd tried to make sure each shot was a kill shot, not wanting to let them suffer.
Jaune frowned, seeing that Ruby wasn't just talking a big game. Ruby was growing quickly, prodigy that she always was. And while he'd have wanted to let her continue being idealistic and optimistic... he himself didn't know anything about the world around him. And he didn't know if he'd still be sticking around with her, once she was reunited with her father. After all, if her father was heading to some safe sanctuary, and Ruby chose to follow him... well, Jaune would still try to visit, but he hadn't left Ansel to be safe.
"Well, at least you're not throwing up at the smell of blood anymore, Vomit Girl." Jaune said, forcing a smirk onto his face, before the silence could become awkward.
"Jaaauuune!" Ruby wailed, as they stripped the bodies of ammunition, and began heading down the road, following the compass on Ruby's Pip-Boy.
It'd been five days since they'd left Megaton, heading for the Galaxy News Radio station to the southeast.
Five days of trekking through the desolate wasteland around them, and fighting off giant rodents of unusual size, giant insects of unusual size, and no small amount of raiders and bandits.
They'd made a few detours; Moira had given them a list of things she wanted to research about, for her book, and while Jaune would definitely be asking experts about some of them (describing the effects of radiation sickness? Returning to her when badly injured, so that she could see how their bodies coped with the injuries?! Navigating a minefield and bringing one back?!), some of the pointers she'd given them were helpful, like checking a nearby Super-Duper Mart for food, water, and medical supplies, and the fact that there was a mirelurk nest somewhere to the southeast. He didn't know what mirelurks were, and he didn't feel the need to change that.
Eventually, though, they'd come to the ruins of a large and dense city, the roads blocked off by rubble.
Ruby had called up some Pre-War maps, and seen that there were subway tunnels throughout the city that they might have been able to use. After all, the tunnels ran deep under the city; they might have survived the bombs.
Jaune had walked up to a subway station entrance, and upon hearing howling from within the dark depths below him, had heartily suggested that they just climb over the rubble instead.
Ruby had looked aghast at that, but had quickly come around to his school of thought once she'd heard the tunnels too.
As it turned out, though, the outskirts of the city had a minor raider infestation.
As it also turned out, ducking and weaving through buildings, using rubble for cover, trying to figure out which of the buildings had raiders with rifles shooting at them, was not fun (fortunately, the raiders helped by laughing, whooping loudly, and taunting them throughout).
It was, however, still probably marginally more fun than being forced into tight dimly-lit (if they were lucky) tunnels, fighting their way through... whatever managed to actually survive in them. Jaune may had had Aura, instinct, and experience, but Ruby didn't. Also, he still remembered the past few caves...
The sounds of battle caught Jaune's attention, and he immediately snapped out of his thoughts.
Somewhere ahead of them, he could hear gunfire, guttural screaming, and an occasional odd "pew pew" sound.
Ruby heard it too, and immediately identified it as the sounds of rifle fire and the discharges of laser weapons.
"What should we do?" Ruby asked, looking up at Jaune.
Jaune gave it a brief consideration. This far in, all they'd encountered were raiders. It could have been raiders fighting raiders, or it could have also been a group of people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The latter was highly unlikely, but not impossible. "We'll keep a low profile, and investigate the situation."
Ruby nodded, and she followed Jaune's lead as he crept along the side of the building, towards the sounds of battle.
The scene before them, as they rounded the corner, was an odd one.
To Jaune, it looked like bulky robots were fighting overly-muscled yellow-skinned... humanoids.
Ruby, however, recognized it. T-45d power armor, AER9 laser rifles... she doubted they were mere bandits. This was military equipment. Surplus, rather than top-of-the-line, sure, but it was still highly complicated and specialized equipment, especially two hundred years after the bombs fell. There was no way mere bandits could maintain such equipment for this long!
She didn't recognize the yellow-skinned brutes in metal scraps with wooden clubs and simple rifles, but she doubted they were the "good" guys in this fight, seeing as how one of them, a particularly big one, had human skulls lining his belt.
"I'll wear your bones around my neck!" The creature helpfully roared, using it's fellow creatures to shield itself from laser beams as it charged towards the power-armored people.
Ruby was already aiming her hunting rifle at the creature's head.
The three power-armored figures, showing more agility and grace than Jaune would have expected, back-pedaled out of the way as it leapt towards them, before snapping their rifles towards it as soon as it had landed. Three laser beams hit it's head simultaneously, and the now-headless creature slumped to the floor.
The other creatures, however, rather than being demoralized, simply rallied and charged, uncaring of the loss of their apparent leader.
Jaune could see the power-armored figures were outnumbered at least two-to-one, and while he didn't know if they were friendlies... he at least knew the yellow humanoids weren't.
He was already sprinting across the street, sword and shield in one hand, pistol in another, firing wildly, trying to distract the creatures.
He wasn't the most accurate with a pistol at range when standing still and aiming, having only learned basic marksmanship five days ago, so he didn't think he could be faulted for not actually hitting anything.
It still worked out like he'd planned. The creatures turned to face the new threat, surprised that a mere human was charging right at them.
Ruby was surprised by his sudden charge too, but quickly got over it, and aimed for the eye of the one furthest from Jaune, recalling the training she'd done, both with the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, and on raiders.
As it's brain flew out of its now-hollow eye socket, Jaune ducked into a crouch, as he reached the nearest creature, shoving his pistol forcefully into the holster by his lower leg. He then grabbed the sword from his other hand, and thrust it forward.
The creature was eight feet tall and a few hundred pounds of pure muscle, with bits of scrap metal around it's body. In it's surprise, it failed to do anything about the sword stabbing at it, and the dragonbone blade, which could pierce through the scales of even the World-Eater, easily ran it through.
The remaining creatures blinked, surprised by everything that had happened in such a short time. Before they could recover, Jaune was already withdrawing his sword, and rushing forward, decapitating another one. At the same time, Ruby fired a second round, and the power armored figures shook off their shock, and also charged forward, firing their laser rifles at the creatures.
Ten seconds later, as the creatures all lay dead or dying on the floor, Ruby came out of cover to join her friend, as Jaune cautiously approached the metal men. "Hey... you guys okay?"
To his surprise, the lead figure removed it's helmet with a hiss, revealing a young blonde woman, barely older-looking than he was. She stomped towards him, and snapped: "Look, I don't know who you are but you don't belong here."
"You're welcome." Jaune riposted, refusing to back down.
"We didn't need your help, Wastelander. And this area is no place for you." The woman barked harshly. "The Super Mutants have overrun our brothers at the Galaxy News Radio building, and we're headed there to back them up."
"Hey, we're heading to the Galaxy News Radio building too!" Ruby piped up, before cringing back in embarrassment, as the power armored figures all turned to her. "Uh... maybe, we could... come with? You know, help you out, while you show us where it is?"
"Did you not hear what I said?" The woman shot back impatiently, before throwing her hands up in the air. "You know what, fine. I don't have time to argue. You can tag along if you want. But keep your head down and try not to do anything... stupid."
Jaune just nodded, filing the creatures they'd just faced as Super Mutants, and the woman they'd just talked do as a bitch.
As the woman put her helmet back on, and the power-armored figures began jogging away, Jaune and Ruby followed them.
"So... strangers are just friends you haven't met yet, huh?" Ruby teased, as she caught up to Jaune.
"Hey, she agreed to help us." Jaune pointed out with a pout, before increasing his speed, so that he was next to the woman.
"Uh... those Super Mutants..." Jaune began conversationally, trying to get more information. "Are they common around here?"
"You been living under a rock?" The woman asked incredulously, though her pace didn't slow at all. "This is D.C. The entire city is crawling with Super Mutants. Now, if you'll excuse me... Galaxy News Radio is just around this corner, across the plaza..."
Jaune, apparently, did not have good luck with corners.
Once again, rounding the corner showed Jaune another warzone.
This one, however, had dozens of these Super Mutants, all armed, all charging towards what Jaune assumed was the radio station. It's front doors and windows appeared to be barricaded, and red beams occasionally shot out from the gaps.
Ruby was horrified at the sight. They had to help them, but what on earth could they do, three power armored figures, Jaune, and her, against such numbers?
Jaune was already preparing to channel Aura into his sword, when the woman gripped his shoulder, stopping him.
"I thought I told you to keep your head down and not do anything stupid!" She hissed.
"You got a better idea?" Jaune shot back at the expressionless helmet.
"I do, in fact." She replied smugly. "Initiate Reddin, use the Fat Man."
"Ma'am!" Reddin acknowledged with an excited edge to her voice, before pulling out and unfolding what Jaune could only describe as an absurdly-large (barely) man-portable catapult.
Ruby's eyes widened. She'd only heard of the M42 Fat Man project! Man-portable spigot mortar weapons systems that launched...
Ruby gulped, as she saw Reddin load the 3 pound projectile, and discreetly took a few steps back, hoping that this Reddin knew what she was doing.
As it turned out, Reddin was at least competent enough to avoid friendly fire, as she pulled the trigger, and the Mini Nuke whizzed through the air, before descending right into the middle of the plaza.
There was an explosion, a flash of heat and light, one that Jaune had never witnessed before, and he was forced to look away for a moment. When he could finally open his eyes comfortably, he looked back.
The middle of the plaza was a crater of glass, surrounded by shadows and ash. In a fifteen-foot radius around it, there just weren't any Super Mutants left.
All Jaune could think of, at that moment, was that Nora Valkyrie would have done anything for that explosive. And Lie Ren would have done anything to keep her away from it.
Of course, that still left a little under half the horde untouched, and they turned to the new threat. Evidently deciding the radio station could wait, they charged, guttural roars and cries of war ringing through the plaza.
The three power armored figures immediately pulled back to cover, as the first bursts of inaccurate fire sprayed their positions, and returned fire with their laser rifles.
Unlike them, however, Jaune didn't dive for cover. He didn't see the point; his pistol wasn't the most useful tool he had against them, after all.
Instead, as the walking tanks ducked behind cover, Jaune, visibly protected only the armored vault suit Moira had given him and his steel gauntlets and greaves from Skyrim, burst from cover, shield up and in front of him, and charged towards the Super Mutants.
Bullets bounced harmlessly off of Jaune's shield, as he ran forward, before he rolled forward, under a clumsy but powerful swing of a nail board from the leading Super Mutant. As he came to a stop next to the Super Mutant, he swung his sword in a large horizontal arc, and bisected the Super Mutant.
"Woah..." Reddin was speechless, though she was disciplined enough to continue firing.
"Wastelander's crazy, but he's got balls." The third power armored figure acknowledged in a deep gravelly voice. Who in their right mind would willingly get into melee with a Frankenstein? Even in their power armor, the Brotherhood of Steel's knights were no match for them in a one-on-one fight, physically speaking. Well, there was Star-Paladin Cross, but half her body had been replaced by metal for a reason.
"More like a lack of brains, Vargas." The woman shook her head. Going up against a horde of Frankensteins with just a sword and shield was suicide! Turning to the dimunitive ravenette with the rifle, she asked: "Is your friend crazy?!"
"It's Jaune." Ruby just sighed like that should have explained everything, too focused on picking off the Super Mutants further away before they could shoot at her friend to care that the scary stranger lady was speaking to her. "He'll be fine, you'll see."
Vargas shook his head, before the woman could reply. "No use arguing, Sarah. He's already in the middle of the horde, anyway."
"Damn it! Give him covering fire!"
Jaune raised his shield, as a sledgehammer was swung at him, and hissed as he felt a jolt travel up his arm, and he was actually moved by the impact. Damned things were stronger than Ursa! And they used weapons! This just wasn't fair!
Fortunately, neither was his sword.
He ducked under the next blow, and quickly chopped the sledgehammer in half, before smashing the hilt of his sword into the Super Mutant's jaw.
A few stray bullets bounced off of his body, his Aura glowing faintly as it protected him, and he quickly thrust his sword into the Super Mutant's chest, before spinning him and the body around, using it to shield himself from stray gunfire. He smiled ruefully as he did so; he really had been spoiled, by Pyrrha and Yang. He'd never needed to watch his back so much in a fight, had he?
A flash of moment caught his eye, and he pulled his sword out of the Super Mutant, and used the flat of the blade to block an incoming nail board, scoffing as he did so. Stronger than an Ursa, perhaps, but all they had going for them was brute force. It almost reminded him of sparring with Cardin, except that Cardin had at least been smart enough to use Dust.
Huh, what had happened to Cardin, anyway? Jaune found himself hoping that he and his Team had managed to get away, during the Fall. Sure, he'd been a bully at the start, but he'd really gotten a lot better, after Forever Fall!
Jaune blinked as the Super Mutant before him fell, decapitated by his blade, as he realized that there was no further movement in the plaza. No more yellowish-green humanoids charging at him, no more boards, bullets, or sledgehammers flying at him.
"Jaune! That was amazing!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly, zipping over to her friend. "How you were all like-"
"Thanks, Ruby." Jaune just ruffled Ruby's hair fondly, as she began to make more exaggerated sound effects and hand movements.
"Damn, son. That wasn't half bad.." Vargas admitted, as he walked out into the plaza, surveying the pile of bodies around Jaune. He hadn't even been scratched in that fight! Unable to help himself, he hastily added: "You know, for a Wastelander."
"That was... impressive." Sarah grudgingly admitted, though she couldn't help but continue: "It was also incredibly reckless and suicidal, Wastelander! If you'd been hit by a stray bullet, we wouldn't have been able to help you!"
"Hell yeah! We sure showed those Uglies what happens when they mess with the best outfit in the whole Brotherhood of Steel!" Reddin whooped gleefully, carelessly moving to join Jaune in the plaza. "So how'd I do, Vargas? I pass my little trial run?"
At that moment, a loud bang and a thud could be heard, followed by the sounds of metal screeching.
Jaune was already turning towards the noise, at the fair end of the street, when the cars and buses blocking it suddenly burst outwards, in a fiery explosion of metal and shrapnel, as a twenty-foot-tall Super Mutant Behemoth smashed a live missile into the engine of one of the cars, causing a chain reaction the detonated the whole barricade.
Jaune didn't have time to think, didn't have time to concentrate on his sword, when he saw Reddin freeze momentarily, as the burning wreck of a car flew towards her. All Jaune could do was act.
He knew he couldn't push her out of the way; that armor looked way too heavy and sturdy.
Instead, Jaune jumped in front of her, and hoped his timing wouldn't be off.
He swung downwards, just as the car reached him, shield raised just in case.
The two bisected halves of the car flew past him, missing both him and Initiate Reddin behind him.
The giant Super Mutant was already sprinting out of the flames and smoke, though, quaking the ground with it's every step.
It saw Initiate Reddin with the Fat Man launcher, and identified her as the biggest threat.
Jaune was reminded of a Goliath charging, as it started running in his direction. It was fast, faster than anything that big should've been.
Even though his shield had been raised, he hadn't been able to recover his footing, when it reached him and swatted him contemptuously out of the way, and he was sent flying into a nearby building.
With nothing now between Reddin and the behemoth, it swung it's oversized fire hydrant at her like a hammer.
There was a sickening crack, as the power-armored figure was sent flying through the air, before landing with a dull thud against the concrete.
"By the numbers!" Sarah shouted, trying to rally whoever was left standing, trying to ignore the fact that half the people she'd come here with wouldn't be walking out on their own. "Short, controlled bursts!"
Vargas, the soldiers inside the station, and Ruby all complied, firing at the behemoth.
Bullets just bounced off it's thick hide, and laser beams just vaporized small chunks of flesh, unable to penetrate and hit anything vital.
The behemoth just roared, enraged by the pain, and charged at Sarah, who dropped her rifle and rolled out of the way, the joint servos in her armor whining in protest as she forced them to compensate beyond any tolerances the design engineers as West-Tek had ever dreamt of in their worst nightmares.
As it turned back to her, ready for one more pass, it noticed an insignia on her armor's pauldron. A symbol of a sword and a lion. It didn't remember what those were, intellectually, but it knew that the armored ones that wore that symbol... they were dangerous, far more so than the other humans in power armor. The ones with that symbol had been responsible for killing scores of its brethren, throughout the decades.
It roared once more, this time enraged by Sarah's very own existence, and charged at her, ignoring the beams peppering it, prepared to destroy its hated enemy once and for all.
Sarah tried to get up, but the servos in her knees were sluggish, after the stress she'd put them through. And she knew she'd just hurt her leg, trying to force the armor to move against the joint servos. In one final act of defiance, as it loomed over her, getting bigger with each step, she slowly got up, flipped it the bird, and defiantly and quietly said: "Fuck you."
There was a bright flash of light.
As the seconds ticked by, and Sarah's heart pounded in her chest, she belatedly realized she wasn't dead.
As she opened her eyes, she saw the blonde Wastelander standing over her, feet planted firmly, shield holding against the blow that had sent Initiate Reddin flying. The ground around his feet was cracked, as if the force of the blow had hammered him slightly into the ground, but he was still standing strong.
At the same time, Ruby, who had given up on the rifle as a bad job, had gotten to Reddin's body. She grabbed the heavy cannon, and set it up as she'd seen Reddin do earlier. As she searched for some ammunition for it, however, a groaning Reddin held up a Mini Nuke, and said: "Make the Ugly pay, kid."
She loaded the Fat Man, and remembered the lessons she'd been taught, operating the vault's laundry cannon. Surely the principles were similar, right? Heavy projectiles had an arc, so she'd need to compensate by firing at an angle, the blast had a radius of about fifteen feet, and the behemoth was probably bigger than that...
Jaune saw Ruby aiming the launcher behind the behemoth, and quickly looked at the woman behind him. Hiding a gulp, he asked: "Think you can get out of here on your own?"
"What about you?" Sarah asked with less heat than usual, still stunned by the Wastelander's reckless act of heroism.
Jaune grunted, as he blocked another blow, fighting to keep his arms and knees from buckling. He still had Aura in the tank, but he wanted to keep some in reserve, in case the blast was closer than he expected. Injecting as much urgency into his voice as he could, he stated: "Just go!"
Sarah got the hint, and she hobbled out of there as quickly as her damaged servos would let her.
The behemoth roared in frustration, at the stupid human who refused to get out of his way, and swung again, trying to clear a path.
Jaune, no longer needing to block, simply ducked under his wide horizontal swing, and sliced the fire hydrant from the length of pipe it was connected to, so that it landed on the behemoth's own foot.
As the behemoth was temporarily distracted by the pain, he shouted: "Ruby! Now!"
Ruby gulped. Sure, Sarah was out of the blast radius, but what about him?! Still, though, she trusted him, and she found herself hoping he knew what he was doing, as she pulled the trigger.
The 3-pound mini nuke soared through the air with all the grace of a rock.
Jaune simply ducked under his shield, hoping his calculations had been correct.
The mini nuke hit the left shoulder of the behemoth, eighteen feet above Jaune.
There was an explosion, a blinding flash of heat and light.
The lower legs of the behemoth toppled to the ground, everything above the knee having been vaporized by the blast.
Jaune peeked out from around his uncomfortably-warm shield (thank Oum for Aura protecting him from temperature, too), and breathed a sigh of relief, before giving Ruby a thumbs up.
Ruby grinned back, relieved that he was fine, that they'd all survived the fight. Then she blinked and looked down, remembering Initiate Reddin, and quickly got to work on checking up on her.
"I guess I owe you a "thank you", Wastelander." Sarah admitted, as she walked up to the blonde wastelander who'd saved both her and Reddin. Then she coughed, as if the very act of thanking him was foreign to her, and quickly continued: "Anyway, the area's secure, so you're free to talk to Three Dog if you need to."
Jaune blinked, and stared at the woman.
"What is it?" Sarah shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.
"No, I'm just surprised you even knew what a "thank you" was." Jaune commented, fighting to keep his voice level and his face straight.
Sarah, however, spotted the slight mirth in his eyes, and knew he was just messing with her; she'd grown up in the Brotherhood of Steel, after all. With a roll of her eyes, she defended herself: "Hey, look... I've just met many Wastelanders, who thought they were the biggest hotshots in the Wasteland. Most... couldn't back it up."
Jaune hadn't expected an attempt at reconciliation from the woman, and he mentally filed her from "bitch" to "not as much of a bitch". Holding out a hand, he introduced himself: "The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue."
Gripping it, Sarah responded in kind: "Sentinel Sarah Lyons, of the Brotherhood of Steel. So, why were you and the girl heading to Galaxy News Radio?"
"She's looking for her father, James Ironwood. Our last lead told us he was heading to Galaxy News Radio." Jaune answered, subconsciously searching Sarah's face. Nope, no signs of recognition. Then he remembered something, and asked: "So... the Brotherhood of Steel... you're all like badass fighters, right?"
"I'd like to think so, yes." Sarah preened at the praise of her father's organization. "Why?"
"Got any tips on landmines?"
Author's Note: There. Soon. Don't expect the next one for a while this time...
Sarah Lyons is a bitch, yes... because she's worried. Her brothers are being overrun by hordes of Super Mutants, and her squad of four (down to three, by the time Jaune gets there) are the only reinforcements they can spare at the moment. She doesn't have time to babysit outsiders, to escort them and keep them safe; she's already got her hands full keeping her own squad alive. And yes, Jaune and Ruby can kill a few Super Mutants. That doesn't mean they can follow orders, work as a team with her, or be trusted not to get in her way, when facing hordes of Super Mutants.
Another thing to remember is that she's also incredibly jaded and bitter. The Brotherhood of Steel arrived in the Capital Wasteland 22 years before the events of Fallout 3. Since then, they've been stuck in a bitter war with the Super Mutants, not to mention a massive internal schism that saw a significant chunk of them leave and become the Outcasts. She's seen many of her mentors, friends, brothers, die in the increasingly-costly battle for the Capital Wasteland. And taking their place? Undisciplined, trigger-happy Wastelanders, who don't know a thing about military tactics, how the Brotherhood of Steel works, and barely even have time to be trained before they're thrown into the meat grinder. After 22 years of that... well, there's a reason even the friendlier Brotherhood of Steel characters take a dim view on the capabilities of Wastelanders.
As for the Fat Man launcher and the Mini Nukes... Jaune wouldn't understand what a spigot mortar system is (and I'm working on the Fallout 4 documentation on it's design). To him it just looks like a catapult launcher. And mini nukes have a weight of only 3 pounds... and in-game, their effect is miniscule, as is the fallout from their explosions. Since, in Fallout, nuclear physics is apparently slightly different from our reality...
And Super Mutants are... well, they're honestly the first big threat Jaune would face. Radscorpions, Deathclaws, and Super Mutants are far worse than most Grimm or wildlife in Skyrim. But he's used to fighting dragons and vampires, so...
