CHAPTER 6: THE ARTIFICIAL ARMY.
"There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent." -Lao Tzu.
March 3/2296
Around a week had passed since the four entered the Massachusetts border. Their next destination was to go through upstate New York and stay away from the city entirely. They didn't have much supplies left and they were starting to get low.
"Journal entry number 14, our journey across the country continues. It's been around two months or so since me and Doug started, and as I said in my last few entries, we have come across new companions. Joe, a Ghoul that has lived since the Great War. And Victoria, a young woman that has escaped from slavery. Right now our supplies are a little low and we are now in Charlemont, Massachusetts and heading to upstate New York. It has been a tad difficult because every road we've tried to take has either been blocked off by rubble or ruined beyond travel. We'll try to hit up some supplies and maybe some work to get caps in the next town we come across. So until then, this is Louis, signing off."
"The first thing I'm gonna do in the next town is get a drink..." Doug sighed from thirst.
"I hear you on that..." Joe surprisingly agreed.
"Maybe if you guys weren't concern about your next drink, we could get to where the signal is faster..." Victoria spoke up.
"I just want to get the hell out of this state. I can barely sleep at night as it is..." Doug looked around the area once more.
Louis sighed in annoyance. "Doug, I told you, the factions in Boston are at peace. We're nowhere near the coast, and nobody is going to get replaced by a Synth..."
"How do you even know so much about this anyway?" Doug turn to him. "Wait, never mind. The probes."
"It's kinda funny how we've never seen much of the people everyone talks about over there. The ones that saved Boston." Louis pondered to himself. "We just know that everyone is at peace and uniting the city of Boston."
"It's only one city. Are those people gonna make the rest of this country better?" Joe asked sarcastically while smoking.
"You said you're cutting back..." Victoria reminded him while waving the smoke away.
"I haven't smoked since we entered Massachusetts..." Joe tossed the butt away.
Louis raised his Pip-Boy and noticed something on it. "Hey, we're about to come up to a settlement ahead!" he alerted them.
"Yeah, we can see it..." Doug pointed ahead. They could see the settlement coming into view.
"You're a spoilsport sometimes..." Louis sighed as they continued.
()()()()()()()()()()()()
In a rundown bar of a town called Safe Trail, a number of mercenaries were hanging out in it. They were drinking wildly and starting to mess around, breaking glasses and tearing up furniture.
At the far corner of the bar sat a young woman. She had raven black hair that reached her shoulders with a dark green headband, and emerald green eyes. Her skin a very light tan and a sturdy build to her body. She wore heavy modified combat armor that covered her entire torso, lower legs and forearms. And the upper arms were sleeveless with dark green pants and a large belt with pouches and dark green gloves with no fingers.
She downed her drink and ordered another as the mercenaries were getting louder and starting to mess with the staff working there. Some were screwing with the jukebox as others were getting rough with the pool table. One mercenary even forced a waitress to sit in his lap.
"When's the boss getting back?! This place sucks!" one of them shouted before tossing his glass.
"Just fucking wait. Those robots aren't going anywhere!" another laughed as he tossed the white pool ball.
"They're called Synths! A bunch of damn bots pretending to be people!" the one by the jukebox punched it to play a new song.
"We're not allowed to attack any Synths protected by those bleeding heart Railroad people, but we can fuck up any of those malfunctioning plastic faces!" the one messing with the waitress laughed.
"I miss the old days! We tore those abominations to pieces! See what's really inside!" another said as he noticed the woman at the end of the bar and went over. He sat down next to her, she glanced over and scoff. "Hey there. I might be a tad too drunk, but I don't think I've ever seen you in our group..."
The woman finished her drink. "That's because I don't travel with any other mercs. I'm independent..."
"I like independent women. But traveling with a group brings more caps. Maybe I can...put in a good word for you..." he snickered and placed a hand on her arm.
The woman grabbed his hand and threw it off. "Don't touch me..." her face gave a dark frown.
"Whoa! Come on! Don't be like that. We wouldn't mind having a lady in the group." he laughed with his hands up.
"So you all can gang up on me after weeks of failed missions and your frustrations gets to a boiling point and you all take it out on me with your little dicks?" she glared at him. "Not a chance in hell. I've learned to never trust a bunch of no name mercenaries that are just a level above common thugs."
The merc growled in rage and lifted his fist. "You bitch! I'll show you who's a low level thug!"
He threw his fist, but she caught it and slammed it on the bar top. "Poor choice of words..." she said and elbowed him in the face.
The merc fell to the floor with a loud thud. The others caught on and stood up, the young mercenary got off her barstool and gestured for them to come after her. One started coming after and threw a punch as she countered and elbowed him in the jaw, he fell and hit the ground hard. Another pulled out a combat knife and went after her, but she grabbed his wrist and twisted it and drove the blade into his upper leg.
He screamed in pain as she threw him over her shoulder to the ground, two mercs snuck up from behind and hit her with pool cues. The wooden poles snapped in half, but she didn't even seem phased by it and turned to them, cracking her neck bones. She lunged in and took the two down with several quick strikes and sent them slamming to the floor. Another grabbed her from behind and held tight, but she forced him back and slammed into the jukebox, breaking the glass as she grabbed his arm and threw him over.
Another came after her as she kicked him in the gut before finishing him with a kick to the head. Three more came in at her on all sides, but she was much quicker and finished them all at once with a few punches and kicks.
"You have no idea who you're messing with, bitch!" the leader of the group put on a simple pair of brass knuckles. "We're the toughest mercenaries in the region! And you are just some solo, wannabe, mercenary bitch!" he charged in and started swinging.
She backed away from each swing, but the mercenary was trying to back her against the wall. She quickly caught on and went on the attack, but his arms were very large and fast, so she was forced to end the fight quickly. The young mercenary quickly dodged his left swing as he threw his brass knuckled fist for her face, but she did something very unexpected. She threw her head forward and made contact with his fist, the knuckles and wrist broke with ease against her skull. The mercenary threw back his hand and screamed in pain. The other mercenaries got up from the floor and started limping out of the place, two went over to their leader and helped him leave the building.
"That bitch! She shattered my goddamn hand! It's like I punched fucking wall!" he wailed in agony.
The young mercenary woman watched the mercs leave, she touched her forehead and felt a very small cut that was lightly bleeding. She turned back to the bar and sat down to finish her drink and wipe the blood from her cut with a napkin. The rest of the bar patrons were stunned speechless over one mercenary woman beating up a number of mercenaries by herself.
"How...how did you break that man's fist with just your skull?..." the bartender stuttered.
She ordered him to pour another drink. "I...have a plate in my head. He was just unlucky." she bluntly answered and downed her drink. "I'm leaving, so I'll be taking my weapons back at the door."
The mercenary woman went to the door where the checkout was and gathered her things. She was given her modified plasma rifle with scope and flamethrower attachment, it had long range and rapid firing capabilities. Her plasma pistol with a second slot for an extra energy cell, giving it double the amount of ammo. Her collapsible shock baton and combat knife was given to her, along with an odd laser rifle that was rectangle in shape. The last thing given back was her combat helmet with flip down, night vison goggles along with all her ammo.
The woman exited the bar and walked down the dusty road of the settlement and heading off to her mission.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
The four wanderers made it to Safe Trail and began looking around, they were a tad low on caps and needed to think of what they needed the most.
"We're shit out of luck. We can either buy food or ammo. Not both." Joe sighed in annoyance.
"Maybe go half and half on the ammo and food?..." Louis suggested.
"That means half of us get food and half of us get ammo. Not liking that at all." Doug said to him.
"Let's look for work first before we make any decisions on what to buy." Victoria spoke up.
As if luck was on their side, a man wearing an old suit approached him. "Excuse me, armed travelers, are you here for the job as well?" he asked them.
The four turned to him. "Job? What job?" Louis frowned in confusion.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were another group of mercenaries." the man in the suit stepped forward. "My name is Keith, I'm the leader of this town. Over the last few years, the factions of Boston have put together several laws on how they keep the peace and continue their goals. The Brotherhood get more access to Institute technology as long as they put their research into developing better solutions of helping peoples lives across the Wasteland with the Brotherhood's protection and distribution. And the Minutemen get better weapons and resources to protect the Boston border and beyond while the Railroad are free to help place all Generation 3 Synths in better locations for them to live. Have any of you heard about these things?"
"More or less. But what does any of that have to do with a job?" Louis asked him.
"I told you about the Gen 3 Synths being relocated to safer places, but there's a lot of Generation 1and 2 Synths out there. More then people realize. For every Generation 3s, there's five times as many Generation 1 and 2s. And the Minutemen and
Brotherhood are stretched too thin to hunt them all down, so they have made contracts to anyone that wants to hunt down the Gen 1 and 2s. The Institute has lost control of them, and to relieve the tension people already feel towards them, they have helped finance most of the caps for these operations." Keith gave them a handbill with pictures of a Gen 1 and 2 Synths. "They pay people to take care of those old models to get their minds off the Gen 3s."
"You're giving fifty caps per Synth?! That's awesome! Sign our asses up!" Doug looked over the flyer excitingly from the idea of a big payday.
"We can stock the hell up on ammo and food with that kind of caps!" Joe grinned widely.
Louis looked at the picture of the Synths. "So we just search around aimlessly for old model Synths?..."
Keith pointed north. "About a few mile that way, there's an old town in Heath. Reports say it's filled with old Synths, and they need to be cleared out. That many Synths in one location has everyone living here on edge. That's why we've been financed to hire mercenaries to deal with them."
Victoria looked around and saw a number of armed people walking around. "Don't you guys think you might have a tad too many mercs?"
"We need them, reports say there's more than a hundred Synths. So we need a small army of mercs. I just wish they weren't so rowdy!" Keith frowned at a group.
"If you're shilling out the caps, we be happy to offer our assistance." Joe folded the flyer.
"The mercenaries are about to head out. And just so you know, we only accept full bodies or a head. We won't count arms and legs, but a torso is fine." Keith instructed them. "I wish you all the best of luck, we cannot be held responsible for loss of limb or lives."
"Not a problem! We'll use the mercs as shields." Doug said as he headed for the weapons store.
"He's kidding!" Louis chuckled nervously. "Mostly..."
The four quickly stocked up on ammo with most of their caps before heading outside where there was sixty mercenaries standing around. Most of them looked like they came from the same group, but there was several smaller groups and one woman with plasma weapons standing alone.
Keith stepped up to a higher elevation platform to get the merc's attention. "Alright, you people have been briefed on the mission at hand. The prewar town of Heath is filled with old generation Synths, and they need to be wiped out! The bounty is fifty caps per Synth, all I ask is that you people work together to get rid of those machines!"
"No problem! But if we see any Generation 3 Synths working with those plastic faces, we're gonna shoot them down too!" one of them said, making most of the groups laugh.
"There's no Gen 3s with them! You all heard they have been relocated and are safe from harm! They are completely different to those machines! And I expect you all to honor the contract!" Keith frowned at the mercs. "Now hurry, everyone here won't feel safe until the robotic Synths are wiped out.
"Sorry, but we can't be held responsible for what happens to any type of Synth!" another merc shouted mockingly. Almost everyone started laughing again.
"What a bunch of assholes..." Louis grumbled in disgust.
"Next they'll want to wipe out us Ghouls. Wouldn't be the first time." Joe considered lighting a cigarette.
"Let's just hunt down those old model Synths, collect our bounties and get out of here..." Doug frowned at the mercenaries.
"How are we gonna keep track of our bounties anyway?" Victoria asked them.
A man with a couple of leather sacks approached them. "Excuse me, how many sacks do you guys think you'll need? These are for the Synth heads. I doubt you would want drag the bodies back..."
"Oh, thanks! We were just talking about that. We'll take...twenty sacks." Louis held his hand out.
"Damn, Louis. Reaching for the stars on that one." Doug laughed as he took some.
"Do you want to eat and drink, or do you want to stand around scratching your ass?" Louis retorted while inspecting his bags.
The large group of mercenaries started marching to the old town into one massive group of almost two hundred. They traveled by the dusty road that would lead them straight to the prewar town as some groups spread out to keep guard for trouble. The four wanderers stayed at the back, they didn't want to associate with mercenaries of shady reputation. The mercs were laughing and messing around, some checked their weapons and ammo while others talked about what they were gonna do with their caps.
"So are we gonna break off from these people when we arrive?" Joe asked the group.
"I think that's for the best. I don't trust a single one of these people." Victoria glanced over and noticed a raven black hair woman walking alone. "Strange, she seems to be on her own..."
"A solo mercenary? I never thought someone like that would take on a dangerous mission like this." Doug eyed her.
The woman noticed she was being looked at and turned her head to them. "Is there something I can do for you guys?..." she frowned a little.
Doug raised his hand. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare. We were just surprised you're alone."
"I don't get along with others very well." she answered him and looked back to the road.
Louis went over and pat Doug on the back. "That's okay. Doug here wasn't very social until we started traveling together!"
The woman looked at him again. "You're a Vault dweller. What's someone like you doing out here in the Wasteland?"
"It's a long and crazy story, I wouldn't want to bore you..." Louis rubbed the back of his head.
"We got nothing to do until we arrive at the town. Besides, it's not everyday I meet a Vault dweller. There must be a reason you left the safety of your home." the woman looked to him. "My name is Chloe Barlow."
"If you insist, Chloe..." Louis smiled to her.
The Vault dweller gave her the rundown of why he left his Vault on a mission to find the signal, along with why Doug joined him while keeping most of the personal details to himself. He then explained how Joe and Victoria joined them, all the way up to their situation now with earning caps by destroying all the old model Synths.
"I must say, that's quite a story." Chloe slightly smirked at their reason for traveling. "You're practically running around without a clue on where to go, facing all kinds of danger and trouble, and you don't even know what it is you're looking for..."
Louis gave a nervous chuckle. "Yeah...we get that a lot. But there's nothing much we can do about it until we get there..."
"Unless we run out of caps first." Doug sighed and looked to her weapons. "By the way, nice plasma rifle."
Chloe glanced at his weapons. "Thanks. Nice Winchester rifle. You don't see many of those around these days..."
The large group of mercenaries suddenly slowed down before stopping, they all had arrived at their destination. Quietness fell onto the mercenaries, now it was mission time to them. Everyone readied their weapons, the sound of guns loading and lasers charging echoed across the area. A few of the mercs started scouting ahead to get a lay of the land.
Louis checked his Pip-Boy to look at the map of the area before looking around. "Man, this town is big from what I'm seeing. A lot of the residential homes are pretty intact, along with the business buildings and industrial areas. Plenty of locations to hide..."
"Just keep your weapons ready. They could be anywhere." Doug raised his Winchester rifle and looked down the sights.
"This is the calm before the storm. I can feel it. My damn hair is standing on end..." Joe armed his combat shotgun.
Victoria clutched her 12.7mm SMG. "This is even more intense than those Gunners we faced a week and a half ago."
Louis' Pip-Boy suddenly alerted him of movement. He raised it and saw a blip on the compass. "We got company."
The mercenaries suddenly heard movement ahead and looked to see a single Gen 1 Synth. Its frame was a tad rusted and missing its lower jaw and right eye. Some of its robotic 'organs' were also gone, and it held a shock baton in its right hand. The Synth spotted the mercenaries and started slowly making its way towards them with its baton raised.
The mercs laughed at the lone Synth as the leader of the ones in black combat armor stepped forward. "This is disappointing! This thing must be malfunctioning!" he drew his assault rifle and aimed. "Stay back, boys! I'll handle it!"
The leader of the group fired his rifle, the bullets tore into its chest and it collapsed to the ground with electricity surging across the body.
"This is too easy! We'll clear these things out in no time!" one of them shouted.
As the mercenaries cheered, the four wanderers at the back stayed on edge. "These idiots are getting ahead of themselves! It's just one old Synth." Chloe frowned at them. "This is why I prefer to be solo."
The Pip-Boy went off again. More blips were shown on it, almost completely around them as they heard footsteps marching towards the mercenaries. They saw many Synths, Gen 1 and 2s, all of them had various pieces and parts missing, they also had Institute rifles and pistols and shock batons and other weapons in hand. The mercenaries quickly raised their weapons and started firing at the Synths.
Bits and pieces of plastic flesh and parts fell off the Synths as they returned fire with their Institute rifles. One mercenary was shot straight through the chest as another was hit in the head. One of the Synths threw a grenade at a few and exploded at their feet, killing them instantly. Some panicked and started running before being gunned down by blue lasers.
Louis fired his assault rifle in big sweeps as Doug went all out with his Winchester. Joe shot down three Synths in the chest with his hunting rifle as Victoria unloaded with her 10mm SMG.
Chloe was doing fine on her own, her plasma rifle melted through the Synths chests and shorted them out. Several more surrounded her as she switched her rifle to flamethrower mode and fired a stream of flames. The Synths staggered around on fire as she switched to her plasma pistol to finish them off.
The rest of the mercenaries broke off into their groups and either ran for safety or push through. More Synths seemed to be coming out of nowhere, and the second Gens were wearing various levels of Synth armor and stronger firearms salvaged from their victims. The wanderers retreated into the town while shooting any Synths in their way. Louis shot them in the chests with his Desert Eagle at the 'heart' areas, which seemed to be where the power source for the first Gen ones. Joe's combat shotgun tore through the Synths with ease at point blank range, along with Doug's sawed-off. Victoria took out her .223 and put a few rounds into the chest of one coming after him, sparks shot out from the openings before they collapsed to the ground.
Chloe started to run for safety, but she was cut off by a few Synths and turned around, only to be cut off again. She quickly realized she couldn't get through without getting killed, but then looked over and saw the four running with an opening to catch up with them. She sighed in annoyance, there was no choice but to follow them to safety. "Hey! Mind if I tag along for a minute?!" she asked.
"Sure! Just hurry before they get us!" Louis waved for her to follow as he shot another.
"Try to keep up!" Doug said and unload two shells into the chest of another.
"You first!" Chloe chuckled as her plasma rifle melted another Synth's chest.
The four wanderers and Chloe ran into the ruined town. Synths were pouring out all over the place, marching around in groups and patrols. Searching and scanning for new victims to hunt down in the vast town. The group avoided a small patrol of Synths and came across an old collapsing store and went in to hide for a few minutes.
"So...this whole thing went tits up to hell..." Joe sighed and rested against the shelves.
"I say we cut our losses and get the hell out of here." Victoria suggested to them.
"I hate to miss out on a good payday, but I'm with her. I'd rather be alive and broke then dead." Chloe agreed.
Doug looked out the dusty window and spotted some Synths in the distance. "We're surrounded, the Synths are crawling all over the fucking place!"
Louis reloaded his assault rifle. "So we run, then what? The Synths could march to that settlement at any moment. Those mercenaries could foolishly lead them right to it as they're retreating." he slung the rifle over his shoulder. "Like it or not, we have to stop those Synths..."
"Louis..." Doug frowned at him. "I know you're a bit headstrong and sometimes think your balls are too big, but we're outnumbered by hundreds, if not thousands! We can't take them on! Not unless you can call a nuclear strike with that Pip-Boy of yours!"
"I'm not saying we have to take them all on ourselves!" Louis went to the window and looked out. "Something about this isn't right. All these Synths working together so well in one place? It doesn't make any sense to me. Something else is going on here in this old town."
Doug grumbled in defeat. There was simply no point in arguing with him when he made up his mind. "Okay, say I agree with you on finding the source, where do we even begin with the small army of Synths out there?"
"We'll come up with a plan as we go. And if we can get the mercs on our side, the whole operation will go much smoother." Louis turned back to them. "Either we fight our way out or end it all here. But these Synths need to be stopped."
Doug groaned and threw his head back. "Ugh, jeez, fine! Let's scout it out and see what we can do! I just don't want to leave empty-handed after all the shit we've been through today."
"In that case, consider me on your side for now. I have a reputation to keep up." Chloe armed her plasma rifle with a new cell.
Victoria took out her bow. "They won't know what hit them until it's too late."
"Screw it, I've lived for over two hundred years." Joe pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "Might as well go out with a bang."
The four wanderers and mercenary went to the door of the store. "Alright, time to do this..." Louis boasted and shoved the door open.
It landed on the ground with a thud and kicked up dust. Everyone stepped out with their weapons raised in defense, even in the distance they could hear the metallic stomping of the Synths searching for mercenaries to systematically kill. Soon to face what is really pulling the strings behind the attack and large amount of Synths gathered in one place.
