Chapter 69 (Giggity): Spring in Their Steps.
Corporal Fuller checked his weapon for the eighth time in the last minute, he was a professional and he took that professionalism very very seriously, it gave a healthy in his opinion dose of paranoia and he lived by the code of check and test check and test then when your happy check and test again.
He had been the Red team's sniper since he had been appointed to the ESF or Enclave Special Forces and it was a constant source of pride for him as he had worked fucking hard to obtain that position as many soldiers applied for this honoured posting but very very few ever made it in as the Enclave took their security and safety very seriously and applications, as well as the physical requirements to get in, were incredibly high so most just couldn't make the cut.
Fuller was also the youngest member of the team having only been a member for six months, most of the team had been members for years as entry to these teams tended to be operated on a dead man's boots situation, so you could only get in when an existing member died or retired though very few got to the age where option two was applicable, especially these days where hostility was absolutely everywhere.
He glanced around at the team which while made up of eight members only six were present, it was made up of six men and two women, each of them having a specialisation which allowed them to operate pretty much anywhere unsupported, Fuller himself was the team's sniper.
"I don't like this, command isn't usually this hush hush when they send us out, must be something big though, wonder if it's got anything to do with those two hits we took down in DC recently?" Corporal Jackson the team's electronic warfare expert said leaning back in her chair and folding her well-muscled arms behind her head and glancing at Fuller.
He nodded in agreement, "Yeah was wondering that myself, heard through the grapevine the sec boys down there took a royal beating, heard we even lost that FOB we were setting up down there, bet command is pissed about that, somebody even said those townsfolk got themselves an army of fucking Death Claws, can you believe that shit?" Fuller said and Jackson nodded.
"Yeah heard that too, pretty fucked up if you asked me but from what I heard they ain't gonna touch that place now, too much fucking risk and yeah I can see that if they really do get those Claws on a leash then we gonna lose a lotta good people trying to take it back and for what? Some hick town? Better to move on and find someplace, we'll just come back later on and we got more people and just fucking steam roller the place," Jackson said and Fuller nodded.
Suddenly the door opened with a hiss and two figures strode in causing the entire team to jump to their feet and snapped to attention, the two figures commanded the respect of this elite team with just their mere presence because they had earned the right to lead it.
Sargent Riley was a tall and incredibly solid black man in his early forties with a set of eyes that could tear a man's soul from his body with a single look while at the same time being large enough that he looked like he was wearing power armour before he even put it on.
Next to him was a much smaller figure but one that commanded no less respect and that was Luitenant Fletcher, a six-foot-tall blonde woman who looked like her ancestors were Vikings by her white blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, to look at her you probably wouldn't think she was one of the best tactical minds that the Enclave had but having seen her in action against raiders, the Brotherhood and countless other enemies the Enclave had, she had not once failed to complete her objective.
"At ease people, take a seat this is going to be an interesting one," Fletcher said gesturing to the seats and the team dropped into their seats while Fletcher and the Sarge stepped up to the front of the room and started up a projector and inserted a holotape into it.
"Ok people we got ourselves a mixed mission, it's a part snatch and grab half search and destroy, now I'm pretty sure you heard about the ass-kicking we took down in DC already as I know no news travels faster than bad news, you oder new boots and it takes six months for them to find the paperwork but you fart in a conference room and someone in a satellite station across the country will tell you how it tastes before your fucking ring puckers the fuck back up," Fletcher said making a few of them chuckle.
She clicked a button and on the screen flashed a few images of bodies piled high, of burnt-out power armour suits which were blatantly their older X-01 models, "Yeah this is what they did, so as you can see we are not dealing with amateurs, we are dealing with professionals, these guys are terrorists plain and simple and they are very good at it, they are smart and they are careful but not only that they are brutal, this is their leader," she said pressing a button and the image changed to an image of a rather handsome man but the image was pretty grainy as it was taken through a long-range telephoto lens most likely through an Eyebot.
"This is Number Seven, that right you heard me correctly, now I'm sure you have probably heard the whispers floating around about the myth of this man, well here he is ladies and gentleman, now other than the power armour you would probably be forgiven for thinking he doesn't look like much but I can tell you here and now this man is the most dangerous you will ever set eyes upon and I can tell you this, pray you see him before see's you or he will be the last thing you ever see, you see Number Seven here is part of a group that was created by Dr Chalmers of the Advanced Bio-Weapons and Psyonics department, that's right people Number Seven here is a living bio-weapon, he is for one in possession of Telekinesis which for those who did not know means Mr Seven here can interact with the world with nothing more than his mind," Fletcher said in a very grim tone of voice.
Fuller could hear the shock and the tension in the sharp intake of breaths from his team, but Fletcher wasn't done, not by a long shot, "Now put frankly we as good as we have no chance against this dude, we simply aren't trained or equipped to deal with this guy or the other one who is part of this, ladies and gents may I introduce to you to Number Three and if you thought Number Seven bad then this girl is worse, now we have no current pictures of her so this is all we have and with good reason, because you see her body is just a shell, Number Three can become non-corporeal which is to mean she can become a fucking cloud of smoke, but not only that she had a real talent for being able to infiltrate both machines and even people, yeah you heard me right, she can take control of machines and people so she is not someone with which you want to fuck add on top of that being a cloud of gas she's basically unkillable," Fletcher said.
A hand went up down the row and Fletcher gestured to them, Fuller recognised it as McKay's very softly spoken but incredibly strong man who was taken from the NCR and used to be a Ranger, he was the team's tracking and hunting specialist, he was a one-man tracking beacon.
"So how in the name of God are we supposed to deal with these people and didn't you address them by a number, not a name? Does that mean that they are ours?" he asked, he was also an incredibly observant fucker, to say the least.
"Gold star there McKay, yes indeed these two were born of the very same department that is sending us on this job so yeah it falls to us to clean up their mess but it also means we gotta cart around two of them but I don't want any animosity towards these two for the simple reason they are the only people that are gonna stand between us and them, trust me when I say we are gonna need them because we are going to be fucking busy with the rest of the team because check this out," Fuller said clicking the image again so it changed to one of a large group that seemed to be made up of a multitude of species all gathered together.
"Let me introduce you to Seven and Three's team, you have DeathClaws, what looks like a NightStalker, a Supermutant and no-one has a fucking clue what this spider thing is but what I can tell you is these guys are as dangerous as it gets, these guys took down Paradise falls and the witness reports read like a goddamn action book, Seven turned himself into some kind of pissed of Angel and flattened the place like a living nuclear bomb, they didn't lose a single person or creature, from what we've heard the DeathClaws they have are sentient and are able to speak English, but don't let that fool you they are as deadly as it gets, think about it, the lethal abilities of a Deathclaw with the ability to think, reason and plan, yeah just let that think in, an animal that could possibly out think you, this is why we are going after them, our orders are simple, we are to attempt to capture anyone we can but we have standing kill orders on all of them except Number Seven and Number three, these are the only two who we cannot touch and honestly I don't want anything to do with anyone who can turn me into a soda can inside my armour with a single thought, so we are going to leave Number Eight and Number Nine to deal with them, while we deal with the rest of them, so lets grab your gear and armour and head to hanger number twelve, they gave us an MCV for this one as we are gonna be out until the job is done or we are it's that simple, we are wheels up in thirty so make it quick, alright people dismissed," Fletcher said and with that she and the Sarge headed for the locker room with everyone else in tow.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Seven and Visa walked into the lobby of the house and Visa had a real swish in her tail and a spring in her step, as did Vess who appeared with Chris a few moments after them, "Good morning auntie you look happy this morning," Visa said with a sly smile that flashed between the pair.
"I feel wonderful this morning and it's all thanks to my beautiful human here, I haven't felt this good in years, hell I almost forgot what it felt like to have a real swish in your tail and now I see why both of you and Ven's tail's swish so much, you were absolutely right out this human love thing," Vess said happily.
"Glad you think so and now Passa's skipping this morning make's sense, I thought he was actually dancing for a bit and walking behind him is a nightmare now because I'm having to play jump rope with his tail," Shepherd said from her right suddenly and Vess turned to look and then as if waiting for his cue Passa emerged from the kitchens humming a happy tune to himself and actually dancing while carrying a Claw sized mug of coffee.
That's when he noticed them all looking at him and he stopped, "What? Is there something on my scales?" he asked.
"Actually something is missing from them," Shepherd said heading over to the confused-looking Claw boy and he looked down at himself.
"What?" he asked looking around.
"Me," she said pulling him into a deep kiss right in front of all of them which obviously made Vess a little jealous as well as Visa because one after the other they each turned to their own human and grabbed them lifting them into a deep kiss as well.
Ven and Gregory wandered in during this little snogfest and they looked at each couple in turn before looking at one another and shrugging in unison before Ven snatched Gregory off his feet and pushed his entire tongue into his mouth locking him into a deep passionate kiss.
After the impromptu snogfest, each of the Claws placed down their human mate and they all walked hand in claw into the main lobby of the house where they found the rest of the team was already gathered.
"So what's the plan now then boss?" Wisp asked from her favourite lounging spot on the back of Malakai's abdomen.
"Simple it's time to get back on the road again, as nice as it would be to stay here for a few days I do not think it would be wise, the Enclave will not be pleased about the loss of their FOB and sticking around here will not do us any favours, so our best bet would be to continue on our way out towards Boston, now we have the cargo Vertibird things should be a lot easier for us well as long as we don't get shot down again," Seven said with a smile.
"How much fuel have we got let in the big girl?" Wisp asked looking at Gregory.
"Enough to make there but not any further than that, lets pretty much tap out the tanks and those are some pretty damn big tanks, so unless we figure out somewhere to refuel her along the way she'll get us to the outskirts of the Boston area and we're on foot from there," Gregory said thoughtfully.
Seven nodded, "Well that'll have to do then won't it?" he said.
"What's the plan when we get down there?" Vess asked curiously as she stoked Chris's hair with her claws gently as he sat proudly in her lap on one of the large couches that she was currently taking up all of, it very much seemed to Seven that he had accepted the life as a Claw lover and little nuances of it.
"Well I'm guessing there are a few things we can do when we get down there, one thing that might be worth looking into is those synthetics that that institute place is supposed to be sending out, didn't those rumours you and Riss overheard say something about them being sentient so if that's the case and this institute is using them as some kind of slave labour then that's gonna stop right away, another thing I also think we should look into is what they were also saying about those Avian people that were duking it out with the Brotherhood down there, something tells me we might be able to help maybe broker a peace of some kind," Seven said and he saw lots of nodding heads except for one, Faith.
"Peace with the Brotherhood?" she asked obviously very sceptically and Seven nodded.
"That's the ideal outcome yes, look I know you don't like the Brotherhood and nor do you have any reason to really, but I have to believe that there are good people within their ranks, people like Timothy here, people who can be made to see reason and if we can reach those people then maybe just maybe we can set in motion a change, at the very least I think we should have to try," Seven said.
"Well I don't like it and I'm not going to pretend I do, I've seen the Brotherhood chase off and even kill my brothers and sisters, even those they supposedly 'tolerate' they are openly racist towards as far as they are concerned we are no better than animals, they simply don't care a single fuck that we are still sentient beings, hell we are still human underneath this but they don't care about this, to them this world should be for humans and no-one else, the only way you are going to change that is to show them in a language they will fully understand, force, show them that their actions and attitudes will have consequences, bad ones and then and only then will they reconsider their stance on things," she said.
Seven glanced and Timothy and to his surprise he found him nodding, "Care to chime in here?" he asked.
"Hate to say it but Faith is right, now I'm not saying we all out have to attack or go to war with the Brotherhood in fact I'm hoping to Christ that we don't have to but at the same time I am a realist, the Brotherhood don't back down or back off unless they are made to, so if we want to help these people we are going to have to show the Brotherhood in no uncertain terms that any aggression will not only be met like for like but with a force that they cannot or do not want to handle, that's the only way to force them to talk," Timothy said definitely surprising Seven but he nodded in understanding.
"Well I'd like to see what this thing about a new breed of Claws up at that place you humans call Nukaworld, as memory serves that's also up there somewhere," Ven said.
"Well then sounds like we got a pretty solid basis for a plan, once those things are done I think we should start thinking about a place where we can go that's going to be out of range of the Enclave, that was always the plan, to begin with, and I don't think it should change because to take out an organization that size with those kind of resources we'd need a fucking army, better would be to find a place that they simply have no influence over but do as much good as we can on our way there," Seven said and the others looked thoughtful and then nodded in agreement.
"Well then let's get moving," Seven said and the team broke up to pack up.
Chris took Vess up to meet his mother and sister so that he could introduce them and to say a final goodbye, he asked Seven and Visa to accompany them so that he could easily show how a human and Claw love could work, well it worked and while they were shocked at first it didn't take Chris's mother long to really see just how much Vess loved and cared for her son so a very touching scene where an emotional mother handed over the care of her only son to Vess and made her promise her to care for him, love him and protect him on their journey, which an equally emotional Vess promised her wholeheartedly plus Seven couldn't help but love both the emotional and tearful Claws was adorable.
Once that was done the entire town actually turned out to see the group off and Seven felt rather embarrassed and self-conscious standing on the tail of the cargo Vertibird waving like royalty, hell even the feral claws had turned up to wave them off thus cementing in Seven's mind that despite the fact that they could not speak they were every bit as smart as any of them, especially by the way Ricky Claw and his little friend were both waving them goodbye, now he just had to figure out where to stash all the meat they'd been given as thanks.
"Alright people let's get this bird in the air and let's get on our way," Seven said stepping out of his power armour before attempting to drop into his seat though he never actually made it because before his arse touched the cloth seat he felt a large scaly hand appear around his waist and he was promptly yanked right into Visa's lap which turned out to be equipped with a long scaly seatbelt made out of her massive tail which was promptly dropped into his lap to hold in place and to be stroked, this was going to be a nice trip.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"Ok people listen up we've just received some intel from HQ, it seems one of those weird talking supercomputers they got over there tasked a satellite and it just got a hit, it looks like they got their hands on a cargo Vertibird so it looks like our initial hunch was right, they did steal a vehicle from that bunker so that explains how they were able to get from DC itself all the way out there so fast, we're tracking it right now and the projections are putting them on a heading to Boston and to say they got a serious lead on us is a fucking understatement, they will have been on the ground for at least six hours before we get anywhere close to the place, so we are really going to have to amp up our game here," Fletcher said pointing at some very grainy satellite photos on the projector screen in the back of the MCV.
"Any idea why they are headed to Boston boss?" Fuller asked and the Luitenant shook her head.
"Not as of yet no but we do believe by their travel pattern since they escaped initially this may have been their intended target all along, though what it is they are seeking down there is a bit of a mystery, unfortunately, this area is going to be pretty fucking hostile for us, we are very thin on local assets, to say the least, and there are numerous groups at play in the area though at least for the most part they are pretty hostile towards one another as well, the Brotherhood of Steel are down there though we are not sure who the new Elder is down there after Maxim screwed the pooch and got himself killed, as well as them there is a very well organised militia group that call themselves the Boston Minutemen operating in the area though from what our local assets report they have a great many settlements that need help, it's almost like they just kept relying on one guy to do all the work for them or something," Fletcher said scratching her chin.
"Anyone else we need to watch out for down there boss?" the Sarge asked.
"Yeah two groups spring to mind but our intel on both is near non-existent, one calls themselves the Institue and they seem to be responsible for numerous synth sightings we keep hearing on both the Brotherhood's chatter as well as from people we have in Diamond city which is the self-proclaimed capital of the area, apparently these robots or synths as they refer to them as are near indistinguishable from a normal human, so we will have to keep ourselves on our toes, the other we have so little intel on they might as well be a myth and we are positive that is by design, they call themselves the Railroad," she said.
"Railroad boss? What as in the organization responsible for moving freed slaves into the north during the civil war?" Fuller asked and Fletcher pointed at him and nodded.
"Exactly my thought as well corporal, for the whispers we have heard it seems these people are responsible for targeting the institute's synths and freeing them, though for what purpose I have no idea, not sure why anyone would want to free talky toaster but hey if that gets them hard have it as long as they stay out of our way, but we still have to be cautious of them as from what we have heard they are well equipped and very well trained, plus as with all underground movements they specialise in guerrilla warfare and clandestine operations, we have no idea who is affiliated with them or not, but we have seen pictures of the scenes left over from their ops and they appear to be very good at what they do, not a trace anyone can use to track them left behind," she said.
"Hmmm, maybe we could use them, boss?" Sarge said suddenly and Fletcher looked at him curiously.
"Care to explain that Sargent?" she asked and he nodded.
"Well it sounds to me like these guys will have eyes and ears everywhere, who better to help us locate our targets than people with a network in place already?" he said.
"And what makes you think they will help us, they don't owe us anything nor us them?" Fletcher asked.
"Sure but that doesn't mean that we can't use them now does it? All we need is for one of our number to infiltrate their ranks and then feed them misinformation, like for instance either Number Seven or Three is themselves a synth and they are being used as a slave, or something along those lines, then we just sit back and let them do the hard work and find them for us because given Number Seven's past actions something tells me he won;t be quiet for long, guy is too self righteous about this crusade he's seemingly on, he won't be abe to resist sticking his noe in where it doesn't belong sooner or later and when he does we then get to hear about it, then we can either just scoop him up ourselves or even better get the fucking Railroad to provide a distraction by hitting them so we can swoop in and grab him in the confusion, before they even know they got played we'll be miles away, or you know number Seven will wipe them all out and save us having to concoct a cover story to extract out people," the Sarge said and by the way Fletcher's face lit up she liked what she was hearing here.
"I like your thinking Sargent, it certainly would be very useful to have a local network like that at our disposal, hell with a bit of work we might even be able to usurp the whole thing and turn it to our cause, alright good that's a solid base, alright as for our infiltrator I believe corporal Fuller would be our best option as he is our sniper and covert operative so this is his area of expertise, so once we are on the ground we will secure ourselves a staging area out of sight of all the local players and secure supplies, then we will put out feelers to locate this Railroad and from there the ball will be in your court Fuller and I expect nothing short of death or victory, same as from any member oldest to youngest is that understood?" she said turning her powerful gaze upon Fuller, he didn't hesitate he saluted and nodded.
"Good, well then let's start going over these satellite images and looking for a good place to set up unnoticed, the last thing we need is the Brotherhood up our collective ass before we can get moving, so let's get to work people," she said.
"Yes ma'am!!" they all chorused in unison before setting to work with their own copies of the satellite pictures.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"Alright guys we are pretty much bingo on fuel, we gotta put her down," Gregory called back and Seven patted Visa's large thigh and she lifted her sleepy head off his chest and looked at him with the most adorable sleepy face.
"Huh? What's going on?' she asked in a sleepy voice.
"Time to land, get up and let's get everyone ready," Seven said sliding out of her lap and stretching himself before heading for his armour, once inside he began waking his sleeping team and they began getting ready as he felt Gregory descending towards the ground.
There was a bit of a bump as they touched the ground and Seven immediately hit the ramp release and followed it down walking out into the clear night with his weapon raised, the area looked clear around them so he beckoned the rest of the team down though Visa was already stood at his side ready to defend them anyway.
"Alright first thing given the time we need to find somewhere to hold up for the night, possibly longer if it's decently secure, did you get anything from the map Gregory?" Seven asked as the young man came down the ramp alongside Ven both wearing backpacks.
"Yeah we're a few miles away from the small city of Concorde, but if you are looking for something a bit quieter there's a few old farms and a satellite station around here," he said and Seven went quiet and thoughtful for a few moments.
"Alright, people I think the satellite station would be our best bet, it's going to have military-grade quarters though we are probably going to have to evict some current tenants given where it is it's probably going to have super mutants so we'll need to either convince them to move out or more likely kick them the fuck out," Seven said and he got a few nods.
"Hey umm, Visa mind if I ask a favour?" Zixxy asked in a slightly nervous voice and the big Claw turned and looked down at her.
"What can I do for you little one?" she asked warmly.
"Umm, would it be alright if I rode on Seven's back? Walking distance isn't exactly my strong suit and if I'm going to be any use I need to be fresh when we arrive, plus Ummm our eyes really aren't very good in the dark so I can't see more than a few feet, we have exceptional day vision but incredibly poor night vision," Zixxy said sounding highly embarrassed.
Visa glanced at Seven who just shrugged, "Fine with me, it's not like her small frame is gonna make any difference to the power armour is it?" he said.
So as they tromped along Zixxy was sat atop Seven's pack looking pleased as punch as she got to ride along instead of having to trip over constantly and feel around in the dark despite it being a pretty clear night, but she wasn't the only one getting a ride along as Malakai was beginning to look like a trusty steed crossed with a pack mule as they'd been flying he'd been hard at work and had knocked up himself up a set of saddlebags and indeed a saddle, somehow the super polite and ultra helpful Arachnakai boy had managed to score himself some high-quality leather from somewhere though Seven suspected it had something to do with the dresses he'd been stitching and fixing back in their temp home back in town.
So now the result was a set of heavy-duty saddlebags and a very finely stitched saddle which Wisp was now very proudly riding on as Malakai scuttle along and it seemed the clever spider boy had set it up so so she could not only hold onto him for support but access the bags, so there she was clamped onto his back as he scuttled along smiling all over his pretty face.
When they finally arrived at the outer edge of the satellite station Seven could already see the camp the mutants had set up as they neared the place, "Alright people stash the excess gear here, Zixxy can you tell how many are in there?" he asked glancing up and she nodded and closed her eyes for a moment.
"I sense about ten of them in there, pretty spread out, should be easy enough for us they seem pretty simple-minded hang hmmmm yeah that might work, give me a second let's see if this works," Zixxy said and moments later there was a series of yells from inside the station followed by bellowing and gunshots that made them all flinch.
"It's ok don't worry I got this," Zixxy's voice said into his mind, then the yelling got louder and what sounded like more gunshots before a deathly silence descended over the camp and Zixxy took a deep breath as she seemed to come out of her trance.
"Well sorted it, damn I'm glad that both Raymond and Shauna are nothing like these mutants, they are good people but what I saw in their minds really disturbed me, like pure anger at everything and everyone, but it made it really easy to manipulate them," Zixxy said with a smile.
"Err what did you do?" Seven asked.
"I umm kinda just made them believe that all of their friends had turned into members of the Brotherhood of Steel so they just kinda shot each other to death even to the point that I convinced the last one of them standing that he himself was a bucket head and after he saw himself in a mirror he just shot himself, so the job is done and we didn't have to lift a finger or fire a shot though we will kinda have some cleaning to do now, so yeah, sorry about that," Zixxy said and as one pretty much every one of the group's fell open like a row of dominoes falling.
"By the Great Saviour of Spiders, you are a scary individual Zixxy you know that? Damn I'm glad you're on our side," Malakai said and the little alien grinned at him and winked.
"Well I owe Seven and all of you for getting me out of that living hell, in all that time you are the only people who would have accepted me for who I am and what I am, so yeah I owe you guys, you saved me from the Enclave, so yeah you guys have my loyalty and I'll do anything to keep this group and its members safe, trust me on that," she said happily.
The group made their way up into the satellite station and the group were pretty disgusted by the scene they found but thankfully the mutants somehow had managed to completely miss the living quarters in the small bunker under the main station and had only been living in the station above, so with a generous use of Telekinetic energy to shift all the bags of meat and bodies out into the main fenced in area of the station where they were set alight before the team set about scrubbing the place up to make it livable, Seven got the feeling they might be holding onto this place for a while and a secure staging area and roof over your head was nothing to sniff at in the wastes.
But once the emergency clean was done and Seven did have to admit it was rather funny to see Visa with an odd hanky-like bandana on her head and a stick fitted with sticky silk thanks to Malakai was pretty funny, in fact, Seven thought she looked kinda cute in it he wondered if he'd be able to convince Malakai to make her a nice apron, though he did have to admit the sticky hanky that was on the end of her tail was a very night touch it actually made her look like she was doing some kind of dance while she was using it to sweep, now all they had to do figure out where they had to go next from here, where to start, that was the real question now wasn't it?