CHAPTER 36: ALL OUT RESCUE.
Doug and Inez and their grouped looked at the giant Super Mutant with mouths slightly agape. Tiny flies buzzed around the body, mostly concentrated at the head where the meat was shredded and still bloody. Doug drew his sawed-off and slowly inched around the body until reaching the head, almost gagging at the sight of its mangled face.
"I get the feeling an explosive did this thing in." He waved for them to come over. "It's dead. And even if it was still alive, I doubt it would be much of a threat."
Inez and the group came around, still not wanting to take any chances so they moved slowly. But as Doug said, the Behemoth laid dead in a massive puddle of its drying blood. Doug put his shotgun back in its holster, Inez tapped the Behemoth's finger with the toe of her boot to see if it would twitch. The settlers on the other hand had a pale shade to their faces.
"I didn't...I didn't know they got that big." A woman with dark skin stammered. "Do they all get that big?!"
"If there was even a dozen or two of them, they would tear down our home in no time!" A man with a bandanna around his head spoke, looking like he was about to run.
"Everyone just calm down." Doug looked to them. "I know this thing is scary, but think about it, if there were more of these giants, then they would have attacked you by now."
"And it shows they can die like anything else." Inez said with confidence to help Doug reason with the settlers.
Another one pointed to the ground. "After pumping who knows how many rounds into it! Look around, there's casing all over the place. That has to be half their ammo!"
Doug and Inez felt a little defeated to those words. One quick look around showed the battlefield littered with fresh casings and even a few of Chloe's plasma cartridges and Ezrah's microfusion cells. One had to be careful while walking to not slip and fall on any of them.
"Okay, fair point, but only because a small squad of them was fighting it." Doug said as he kicked a few casings aside. He looked around, the evidence of the battle was impossible to deny, and they spotted the Behemoth's weapon and could see the damage it inflicted everywhere."
"To be honest, I am actually amazed no one was killed..." Inez said to herself.
"Not helpin'..." Doug said to her. "We can't stop now. We're so close to the power plant. Let's forget about this monster and count our blessings they're still alive and fighting."
With some protests and voices of complaint, the company moved on and left the Behemoth and their thoughts about it behind to rot away in the open with plenty of critters that will come to feast on it very soon.
()()()()()()()()
The two abnormal Super Mutants were closing in on Louis and Victoria. Yet the brutes didn't speed up their pace or even seem to notice them, and the hall was lit bright enough to see anything in it. Not wanting to let the Super Mutants get the drop on them, Victoria frantically reached for her 10mm SMG to spray them with bullets. But Louis thought something was very odd about their behavior, the abnormals should have seen them by now at the range they were and getting closer with each step. He quickly flung his hand out and stopped her from taking aim. She turned to question what he was doing and saw him roughly tapping his lips with his index finger, telling her to stay quiet. He reached down and grabbed a chunk of concrete on the floor that fit in his hand. Quickly and carefully, he tossed the concrete chunk through the air. Victoria thought he was out of mind thinking a piece of concrete was going to do anything to them, but instead it flew between the Super Mutants and landed several feet behind them with a clunk that echoed in the hall.
The abnormals suddenly stopped in their tracks and turned their heads to the sound before turning fully around and went back the other way to investigate where the sound came from, passing the concrete chunk that laid on the floor. Once the abnormals were gone, Louis and Victoria let out the breaths they were holding.
"What was that about? I thought you were going crazy throwin' a concrete chunk at them." She said to him.
"Honestly, it suddenly came to me." He chuckled softly. "I thought it was weird they didn't see us despite being so close."
"What, do you think they're blind?"
"Doubt it, they moved too comfortably down the hall and side by side. Almost perfectly in sync." Louis scratched his chin for a moment. "I'm guessing they have very poor eyesight or short depth perception. So I wagered a guess and thought sound might attract them. Looks like it paid off, let's just be glad they don't have noses like a dog."
"There's a scary thought. As if Super Mutants aren't dangerous enough." Victoria looked back down the hall, thinking they might come back.
"And speakin' of said beings, we better get back to looking for Wayland." Louis said. "Something's going on here and I think we unknowingly crashed the party."
"Don't we always?" Victoria asked as they continued on.
()()()()()()()()()
Wayland didn't need to be told that he was currently standing in front of the leader, and he also couldn't take his eyes off the piece of metal sticking out of Demon's head, and didn't seem notice its growing frustration towards him. Demon hated it when anyone stared at it, just one of the many thing that could set it off into a violent rage. Splitter curled its shredded lower lip in suspicion, it too had never seen a kind like Wayland before.
"Where did you come from? I not know you." Demon questioned. But then a grin spread across its rough face. "Are you new? Did the science man just make you?"
Wayland stepped back, unable to give the leader an answer. He looked back the other way, fearing the albino was gonna come around any moment.
Splitter stepped forward and raised its axe arm. "Hey, Demon ask you question! Where you from?!"
Wayland had to start talking before they got even more suspicious. "I come from another group that was wiped out. And I want to join this kin. Are you the leader?" He hoped.
"I am. I lead this kin!" Demon boasted. "And soon we have a new army for me to lead and wipe out any humans we see!"
That was all Wayland needed to know. He thought about using his AK-47, his hand only inches from it. But at his current position he couldn't take the chance in case more were on the way, he found it odd that the leader was alone with only its second in command following. "Then let me join. I am a great fighter, and I will kill all weak little humans!" He spoke in his dumb voice, hoping it would convince them.
Demon grumbled and looked him up and down, eyed his rifle while scratching its chin. It was almost impressive that Demon seemed to be deep in thought about what decision to make. But before Demon could give its answer, Al barreled into the hall, panting a little heavily.
"There you are!" He shouted, marching down the hall fast. "Demon! Splitter! Stop that one! Quick, before it gets away!"
Demon and Splitter looked to each other completely bewildered, Al rolled his eyes, cursing them for being so damn slow to everything that didn't involve fighting and killing. Wayland grabbed the assault rifle hanging from his shoulder and raised it up. He figured the least he could do was take out the one called Demon, once a Super Mutant leader falls, the rest fight over who will be the next one very soon. Just as Wayland was about to pull the trigger, Splitter swung its left arm out clumsily and struck the barrel of the rifle with the side of its axe. The rifle went off, lighting the dim hall with its barrel flashes as bullets pelted the wall on the right. A stray bullet grazed Demon's shoulder, which triggered it into a blind rage. The leader charged forward, grabbed Wayland by the neck and slammed him into the wall on the left. The two started exchanging heavy punches, but Demon's fists hit much faster and more wild, leaving Wayland heavily dazed after being struck in the face.
Splitter raised its axe up and waited for an opening while they were fighting. Wayland still held the assault rifle in his right hand and gave Demon a hard shove with his free palm to give him an opening to fire. However, Demon lashed its hand out and grabbed the barrel and forced it upward. Once again Wayland ended up wasting more bullets into the air as the two struggled to take the gun from each other while Splitter closed in. Wayland saw him and quickly gave Demon a quick kick in the waist that sent it staggering back and got his gun out of its hand. He barely had a moment to avoid the axe blade that slashed hard against his metal chest plate.
The plate snapped like cheap plastic and sent the broken metal and leather falling to the floor and leaving a gap showing his left pec. Splitter sluggishly swung again, this time Wayland stepped back a little more as the axe missed by inches. The second in command always swung uncoordinated, treating its weapon more like a club than an actual axe. Al approached from behind, keeping his eyes on Wayland's rifle before lunging forward at full speed. Wayland happened to look back just as Splitter swung downward with its axe. Out of pure reflex, Wayland grabbed the axe by the hilt and held tight with one hand. Splitter went wide-eyed as Wayland spun himself around, dragging the second in command across the floor and slamming into Al.
Their bodies collided and went flopping down to the floor. Splitter's axe twisted loose from its slot as Al tried to shove the second in command off his body. Wayland finally had an opening, he spun back to Demon and pointed his assault rifle to empty what was let in the magazine. Five bullets fired off before the gun clicked empty, Demon growled in rage and pain from the bullets that dug into its chest armor and saved it from any fatal wounds. Wayland grumbled to himself and reached for a new magazine as a wet thud and explosion of pain came from his back near the shoulder.
Splitter's axe was lodged in his back, detached from its arm cap. Wayland turned around to see that it was Al who threw the axe, considering the expression on his face being a mix of anger and satisfaction. He felt faint for a moment and placed his arm against the wall for support. Demon screamed and charged forward, Wayland barely had time to get out of the way as the leader's fist smashed deep into the concrete wall. Wayland staggered back, his shoulder felt heavy thanks to the axe as Demon turned its fist in the wall and ripped out a big piece of concrete and hurled it at him. Once again Wayland only had a moment by rasing his left arm in defense and the concrete chunk smashed against his gauntlet made of welded scrap and shattered into pieces. Wayland was starting to get overpowered by the three, and the axe in his back was making it difficult to move his arm. So he turned and ran, leaving a trail of blood droplets.
"Dammit!" Al cursed. "It got away! Help me capture it! Thaddeus wants it because that one isn't normal! Hurry and bring it back alive!"
Demon was already on his trail without Al telling it to capture Wayland. Whatever Thaddeus' reason for wanting Wayland didn't matter to Demon, once someone or something attacked it, there was nothing any of its kin could do to stop the leader until it got its bloody payback. Al scoffed in annoyance and began following, wondering if he would be able to stop Demon from killing the newcomer as Splitter followed to get its axe back.
()()()()()()()()
Ezrah and the wanderers closed in on the power plant and got ready for a fight, but for some reason the Super Mutants went in once they started getting within range. At first they feared the Super Mutants spotted them approaching and went inside to get more. But several long minutes passed and none of them came back out. They stopped at the employee parking lot entrance, the fence around it looked ready to collapse at any moment thanks to rust.
"I don't understand," said Joe as he scanned the area with his combat shotgun. "Why did they go inside? They didn't see us."
"I am not detecting anyone at the windows or on the roofs." Asimov informed. "So it's unlikely they are waiting to attack from above inside."
"If that's the case," Chloe paused with worry. "Then Wayland, Louis, and Victoria might have been discovered!"
"Let's not jump to that right away." Ezrah said as they passed onto the cracked pavement. "At this point it's safe to assume they made it inside. Which means we have no choice but to go in."
"Uh, yeah, fuck that shit!" Radcliffe laughed unenthusiastically. "We go in, we're as good as fucked! And I didn't get out of Paradise's Raid just to go into another den of killers!"
"Yeah, you'd know from experience, wouldn't you?" Joe said lowly.
"If we want to get them out alive then we have to go in." Ezrah held his laser rifle tight. Going into a place filled with Super Mutants was nothing new, yet something he could never get used to. "Stay behind me. My Power Armor can handle anything. Let me be your shield."
"Ugh, I'm beginning to see why Louis likes this guy..." Radcliffe rolled his eyes to that.
"Don't think we can't handle ourselves too." Chloe said with her plasma rifle raised. "Most of us have been inside a place filled with Super Mutants before."
"And got caught and almost fed to strange creatures with weird bodies and three tongues in their mouths..." Joe reminded her. Cavall gave a small bark, as if agreeing with the ghoul.
Asimov came beside Ezrah, the laser mounts coming out from his forearms. "Then we're in agreement. Let's not waste anymore time before we're too late."
The group marched ahead, moving through the parking lot while keeping an eye out for any traps that might be resting between the rusting cars. They came to the door and stopped for a moment, Ezrah gestured them to hold while slowly opening the door in case a few nasty surprises were waiting for them on the other side. The entrance was clear, so they quickly filed in and closed the door behind them carefully. Once they were in they formed up, Ezrah and Asimov in the lead with Cavall at their side to sniff out the missing three, and Joe, Radcliffe, and Chloe watching the back.
()()()()()()()()()()()
Louis peered out through a tiny crack of a door that was once a janitor's closet. They hid in it when a large group of Super Mutants were heading in their direction. To their luck the closet was empty and didn't seem to be in use at the time, giving them the perfect place to wait it out.
"That's the fourth patrol that we've seen." Victoria whispered to him. "We can't avoid them forever by hiding."
"Yeah, I know." He responded, whispering too. "But it's either hide or fight. And it's just the two of us. I don't like those odds at all."
"Perhaps we should call it quits and turn back." She suggested. "I doubt there's a janitor's closet in every hall."
"I know we should, but we've come so far." Louis grabbed the latch and slowly opened the door. He looked both ways before they both stepped out. "Wayland's gotta be around here somewhere. We're bond to come across him."
"I hope he's safe." Victoria looked down one end of the hall as Louis looked the other way. "I wonder if everyone has noticed we're gone?"
"At this point, no doubt. Which is why I'm glad Doug couldn't tag along. He'd kick my ass after the stunt I pulled."
"Don't be surprised if everyone else want to." Victoria said as they continued on. "I'm worried they might attempt a rescue. Cavall could probably sniff us out."
"Oh, shit," Louis came to a stop. "I didn't think of that..."
"Are you serious?" Victoria looked to him with bewilderment. "You know that dog loves you to pieces."
"I didn't think of it!..." He ran a gloved hand through his chestnut brown hair. "What should we do now? They might be inside right now!"
Victoria held her 10mm SMG at the ready. "If they are then there's nothing we can do. Just follow the sound of gunfire and we'll find them."
"Guess you got a point." Louis held his AN-94 tight in his hands. "Looks like we can't stay out of trouble for long."
()()()()()()()
Wayland finally stopped running, the pain in his back was becoming too much. He leaned against a wall and reached behind to pull it out. His hand gripped the long hilt and gritted his teeth from the sting and began to pull. He heard the wound around his skin squelch, the axe blade was in deeper than he thought. His teeth clenched hard as he gave one more tug and pulled the blade out with a pained shout. His back felt numb for a moment and leaned against the wall for support and looked at the axe blade painted with his blood. And he could still feel the blood trickling down his back.
"Wh...what am I gonna do now? That was the leader, and it knows who I am..." Wayland panted while looking at the axe in his hand. "I need to get out and warn the others. It might be too late for the humans down below!"
Three Super Mutants approached him from behind, Wayland could hear them because of their heavy and clumsy steps. He turned to face them, they were following his trail of blood out of curiosity. Their eyes looked up to Wayland and spotted the dripping axe in his hand and pieced together their own ideas on what happened.
"That one has Splitter's axe! That one kill Splitter!" The one in the middle shouted.
They began marching towards him as the one on the left shouted. "Get that one and bring it to Demon! Our leader will make this one suffer!"
Wayland huffed heavily and pointed his assault rifle at them. "Why can't I get a break?" He opened fire on the approaching Super Mutants, giving the hall a quick sweep a few times as their lifeless bodies collapsed to the floor.
More shouts came from the down the hall and Wayland cursed himself for being so rash. He couldn't fight them all and his injury still stung horribly and it made him wonder if it cut into his ribs. He spun around and ran, his wound stinging with each step and still holding the axe, figuring there was no sense in tossing away a useful weapon.
Wayland ran blindly, still clueless on where he was or what floor for that matter. And looking out the window didn't help either with his search for a way out. He went down a flight of steps, almost tripping on the last one before lumbering down the hall. He came out into an open floor, above the second floor had collapsed from age and left that open with the edges big enough for people to walk along with the twisted rebar, hanging wires, and busted pipes as the only form of useless rails. Any thoughts that Wayland had on being safe for the moment went away as soon as he saw more than four dozen other Super Mutants hanging around in the open floor. And just like three he shot down, their suspicions began to grow upon seeing the axe in his hand. Wayland wished he tossed the weapon away now.
"Guess I'm fighting all the way!" He flung the AK-47 up and fired into the crowd of Super Mutants.
It caught them off guard, several fell to the floor bleeding to death. Even those armed with guns couldn't even try to aim properly because of how crowed the room was. Wayland knew he couldn't shoot them all down, he didn't have enough ammo, so the only other choice for him was to fight his way through. He hurled the axe with great force and the blade found its mark between the eyes of a charging Super Mutant and went falling backwards to the floor. Wayland curled his left arm up and leaned sideways so his shoulder was pointing out and charged into the crowd like a battering ram. He plowed in hard, sending several rows of Super Mutants falling back into the already cramped crowd. The force of the impact broke the armor around his left shoulder as he started to get surrounded. He shot down a few more coming after him from the right, then spun around and socked a random one in the jaw. Another wrapped its arms around him from behind and tried to put him in a choke hold. Wayland reached back and grabbed the Super Mutant by the back of its neck, his nails digging in before he pulled it over his shoulder and tossed it into the crowd. He gave another Super Mutant a kick to the stomach, then another a punch to the face, followed up by another burst of gunfire from his assault rifle. But his gun finally ran out, and the Super Mutants were closing in on him from all around.
()()()()()()
Louis and Victoria heard shouting and gunfire from down the hall. And from the sound of the noise, it seemed to be a big concentration of Super Mutants. The two held their weapons up and ready and carefully headed in the direction of the noises. They came out at the end of the hall and came to an abrupt stop upon seeing that the floor was gone and they could see the floor below with dozens of Super Mutants fighting. But after they stepped back into the hall and got a better look, they could easily see it was Wayland fighting alone.
"No, it's Wayland!" Louis pointed his AN-94 into the crowd of Super Mutants. But Victoria's hand shot out and forced him to lower the barrel down. "What are you doing? We have to help Wayland!"
"We can't," she looked down to the fight below for a moment before looking in his eyes. "If you start firing on them from here, they will only find us and attack. And that won't help Wayland either."
Louis gritted his teeth and lowered the gun more. "But we can't...we can't just do nothing. They're goin' to kill him!"
"What other choice do we have? We can't kill them all this way! And more will be coming soon!" She argued, keeping her voice low.
Louis looked to Wayland as he was pulled to the ground, his weapon wrested from his hand along with several more pieces of his mismatch armor. Al came out into the open floor to see the fight, along with Demon and its second in command came up beside the albino.
"Figures," Al grumbled. "Of course it would take so many Super Mutants to take down only one. You must be real proud of them, Demon..."
The leader took offense to that. "Quiet! We have it like you want! What does your science man want with it?"
"Hell if I know..." Al shrugged. "All I know is Thaddeus seems to have a history with it."
"And it would be a waste of time to explain it to you." Thaddeus said, coming out from the hall and looked at the leader before turning to the Super Mutants that held Wayland to the ground. "Tell them to bring it to me, I'm going to end this myself."
"Try not to miss this time..." Al spoke, earning Thaddeus' angered glare.
Wayland couldn't see anything but hands trying to hold him, along with his body struggling just to move. His anger grew, the feeling of desperation pushing him to his breaking point. A bellowing scream suddenly came out of Wayland and made the entire room fall silent and still. Louis and Victoria could see a faint green glow coming from the floor where Wayland yelled before several Super Mutants went falling back, some flung into crowd as if they weighed nothing. Wayland lunged back onto his feet, his veins glowing green and bright with radiation running through him like blood. Louis looked down at his Pip-Boy and saw the Geiger counter going off, the volume still down very low.
The tables of the fight had turned as Wayland lashed out at the first Super Mutant in front of him. His glowing fist smashed right into its face and sent in falling back into crowd, face bleeding heavily and caved in. He lashed out at the one to his right, grabbing it by the arm and throwing it over his shoulder, snapping the bones in the elbow and socket as it landed into its kin. He reached out and grabbed two by the sides of their head with his big palms and clashed their skulls together with a very loud crack. The open floor turned into a wild mess of Super Mutants trying to escape in every direction. Their large bodies making it next to impossible without tripping and trampling over each other. The fight continued as Wayland only seemed to get brighter and grow stronger with each passing minute.
Al and Demon stepped back as a dead Super Mutant landed near them. The leader stood fuming with anger over how pathetic its kin were failing against Wayland. Al on the other hand couldn't help but stand in awe at Wayland's savagery and how easily he fought them off.
"How...curious." The albino said before looking down to Thaddeus. "What do you think could have caused this strange mutation?" He waited for a response, most likely a snide one. But the scientist didn't say a word. "Thaddeus? What's wrong?"
Thaddeus stood stiff and shivering. A cold sweat ran down his brow. "That's not possible. The experiment was a complete failure. It was all a failure!"
"What you babbling about now?" Demon gruffly asked.
Thaddeus looked up to it with gritted teeth. "Again, nothing you would understand!" He spat before cupping his hands around his mouth and shouted. "Ogres! Come to me now!"
The two eavesdroppers from above heard the call and looked to the source and found themselves baffled to see a human standing next to a pale white Super Mutant.
"Who the hell is he?" Louis asked, despite knowing he wouldn't get an answer.
"Is he on their side or something?" Victoria asked, not expecting to get an answer either. "It seems that way to me. And why is that one next to him so pale?"
"And what did he call out to? Ogres?"
His answer came in the form of loud stomping coming from the hall on the other side of the second floor from across the two. They finally had their answer to what kind of Super Mutants they came across earlier as they emerged from the shadows and leaped down from the second floor. And to make matters worse it was four of them that leaped down instead of two, and Louis and Victoria weren't sure it was the same two from earlier.
As they landed, one of them landed on a Super Mutant that was dying on the floor and ended its misery for good. The crowd went silent and backed away to watch. Wayland spun around to the new attackers, his anger made him blind to reason and only saw the unknown types as another enemy to rip apart.
"Dammit, he can't think with a clear head while in that state!" Louis cursed while fighting the urge to jump in.
Down on the first floor, Thaddeus cupped his hands around his mouth again. "Ogres! Subdue the glowing Super Mutant and bring it to me alive and in one piece!"
Upon that command, the ogres sprung into action, charging in while standing in a close row. Wayland did the same, the five large beings clashed as their spectators watched in anticipation to the coming blood fight. Wayland clocked one in the face and sent it staggering back yet seemingly unfazed by the powerful blow. He followed up with a punch to the gut at another ogre and left a very noticeable fist shaped bruise. Another looped its arms under his armpits and held him in place as the fourth one landed a few blows to his head and chest. The attacks left Wayland dazed for a moment before fighting back by kicking the ogre in the stomach with one foot that sent it falling back.
Wayland attacked the one holding him from behind by smashing his elbows into its sides until its grip finally came undone. The glowing Super Mutant spun around fast and slammed his open palm into its face, held tight, and threw the ogre down to the floor. But the counterattack left him open to the two he attacked first, one of them wrapped its long arms around his waist and hoisted him into the air. In that moment, Wayland was high enough to see the second floor with Louis and Victoria looking down from above. The next thing he knew his head and shoulders were slammed onto the concrete floor. His vision u wildly and went spotty black before opening his eyes just in time to see a big foot looming over his head. He rolled out as the ogre's foot stomped down and cracked the concrete floor. Wayland flipped onto his stomach and threw out his fist and punched the ogre in the side of its knee. It stumbled forward as he leaped up and gave it another blow to the throat, hoping that would prevent it from attacking for awhile. He wanted to turn his head up and yell for his friends before realizing that will only put them in harm's way. Instead, he needed to find a way to alert them of the humans being held captive down below.
A flying fist reminded him of the fight at hand and quickly countered it with his arm, breaking what remained of his makeshift gauntlet that protected his forearm. Another ogre grabbed him by the shoulder and side to pick him up again. Wayland twisted away and ended up breaking off a big piece of his crumbling chest armor. The back part fell off after and clattered on the floor, leaving the glowing Super Mutant standing naked except for his leather pants that were already falling apart to begin with.
The four ogres came after him from all sides, throwing punches and kicks all over Wayland. He tried to fight back, but each time he attacked or defended himself he still ended up taking a hit somewhere. An ogre from behind finally ended the fight in one single blow. It picked up a huge chunk of concrete that was the floor and raised it up high before bringing it down on the back of Wayland's head and shattering it into pieces. His skull felt like it burst open, he could feel hot blood running down the back of his head and neck. Thanks to his strange radiation power the wound closed up in moments, but the blow left him dazed with a loud ringing in his ears. The glow of his body faded away as he fell to his knees, the fight in him gone.
"About time!" Thaddeus called from across the room and over the cheers of the Super Mutants. "Now bring it over here!"
The ogres obeyed without hesitation, even their broken bones and ripped flesh already starting to heal on their own as two of them grabbed Wayland by his arms and shoulders and started dragging him across the floor.
Louis gritted his teeth and got ready to jump down. Victoria threw her arms around his body and pulled him away from the ledge and held on as tight as she could.
"How is breaking your legs going to help?!" She asked, almost saying it too loud once more.
"I was going to land on one of them..." He answered while feeling a wash of defeat. "Dammit. How did this all go wrong?"
The ogres forced Wayland back to his knees, held his arms back as another one grabbed his bloody scalp and forced him to look up. Thaddeus stepped back for a moment in fear of his radiation, making Wayland wonder how he knew about it. Demon growled and started walking forward to cave Wayland's head in before Al stepped in between and gave a warning frown. But soon, the scientist felt safe enough and kneeled enough so he could be face to face with him.
"Can you understand me? Well, answer!" He shouted, getting just a little closer to meet his eyes. "How did you survive? How long have you been able to do that, the radiation charge? And when did you escape? Are there more like you? Answer before I have my ogres make you talk!"
Wayland spat some blood out and looked up. "I don't...I don't know what you're talking about."
That earned him a sharp slap upside the head, although Wayland barely flinched to it. "Don't lie! There shouldn't be any more of your strand! You were all failures, the entire project was scrapped and purged. So that begs the question of how a failed prototype is still alive and doesn't seem to have full control of its power."
"Who cares?!" Demon shouted with growing impatience. "Get back to making the humans into Super Mutants!"
"We'll get to it when we get to it!" Al said while stepping in between. "It's not like you all have anywhere to be right now!"
Wayland suddenly remembered what he set out to do in the first place as the scientist and the three Super Mutants began to argue with each other. He tried struggling against his holders but they only forced him back down and held tight. Then he also remembered seeing two of his friends on the second floor and hoped they were still there and listening.
"The humans! You're keeping them down below!" He yelled out, surprising the scientist. "They're all being held in the decontamination area!"
Thaddeus gave a puzzled look to Al. "I think the ogres hit this thing a little too hard on the head. Its speaking nonsense."
Al on the other hand felt this wasn't a matter of a simple head injury. The way he yelled out, as if trying to alert someone. "Perhaps," he looked up to the second floor, "or perhaps not..."
"Who cares what its rambling on about." Thaddeus turned away, flicking his hand to the ogres. "We'll take it back to the lab. I'm going to get to the bottom of how this one is alive. Ogres! Follow me."
As commanded, the ogres pulled Wayland up to his feet and started dragging him. One of the Super Mutants walked over and presented Wayland's AK-47 to Demon since it demanded to inspect all new weapons and decide who gets what. The leader snatched it and handed it over to Splitter, not in the mood for inspection at the time. Al couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
"I'll let you have your fun with that reject or whatever you call it." The albino went another way, pointing for two Super Mutants to follow him. "I have something else to check out."
The two up high backed away from the edge after quickly understanding Wayland's loud message to them after figuring he must've saw them at some point.
"Wayland must have found the hostages!" Louis said to her.
"But now they've captured him, what should we do? Split up to save both Wayland and the captives?" Victoria asked.
He shook his head. "We're already risking it on our own. I doubt he knows it's just the two of us. Wayland wants us to save the people before they are turned into Super Mutants. Then we'll break him free."
"But what if we don't have enough time to get the people out and save Wayland?" She asked as Wayland was pulled into the hall. "And we can't just free the people. It will be chaos with them running around and they will only get caught again or even killed."
Louis rubbed his balled fist against his forehead. "Damn, you have a point. And it doesn't help that they will be unarmed too. But if we don't help the people than we have a new army of Super Mutants to deal with."
Victoria looked back down to the first floor filled with many Super Mutants shambling about and starting to drag off their dead and tend to the wounded as best as possible. She sighed, knowing what was the best thing to do right now. "Then...we must help the prisoners first. But even when we free them, how will we get them out without getting recaptured?"
"We'll just have to play it by ear." Louis answered. "And thanks to Wayland, he's exhausted most of them and injured or killed quite a handful. That gives us a slight edge, even if it is a small one."
The redhead nodded as they turned and walked back down the hall they came to find a way down to the decontamination floor.
()()()()()()()
Ezrah stepped into the turn of the hall, laser rifle raised and scanning around for any threats. Once he saw that it was clear he signaled for everyone to follow. Their pace had been slow going to say the least. They had to take their time to not get caught unaware. They took their positions with Ezrah, Chloe, and Asimov in the front, and Joe, Radcliffe, and Cavall watching their backs. They decided to stop for a few moments to pick another hall that felt would be best.
"Seriously, what are we doing?" Radcliffe asked with a huff and threw his LMG over his shoulder. "We're going in circles or some shit..."
"Do you want to take the lead?" Joe asked him snidely.
"Well, obviously not! Ezrah's a walkin' shield! Why would I ever get in front of that?"
Ezrah turned his head to them and asked. "Where did you find this guy?"
"A sinful place where the worst of humanity linger around in a pointless existence." Asimov answered.
Radcliffe scoffed and started wandering in the opposite direction. "Whatever. I'm getting tired of all this sneaking around."
"Where are you going? Stop before you get spotted!" Joe said while reaching out to him.
"Relax," Radcliffe rolled his eyes as he reached the turn, "there's nothing here but us-"
He bumped into something big and staggered two steps back. His confusion lasted only a moment before he realized what he bumped into a wall of yellowish green flesh. Radcliffe snapped his head up to look at the Super Mutant glaring down on him, even though he was a tall man, their current enemies were still taller. And to make things worse the one Radcliffe bumped into had two others standing behind it. All of them barely clothed and holding various melee weapons like bats with spikes or long pipes with big clumps of metal welded to it.
The lead Super Mutant looked down on Radcliffe and growled. "Hey! How you get out?!" The other Super Mutants behind it began to come forward.
Radcliffe quickly took several more steps back while slinging his LMG forward. "Here's how, fuck sticks!"
Ezrah suddenly dashed towards him, the footsteps of his Power Armor thudding loud and clear with each step. "No, Radcliffe! Stop!"
The former Raider ignored his words and opened fire in a sweeping motion, laughing almost as loud as the gunfire. In moments the Super Mutants fell to the floor in heavy heaps and riddled with bullet holes. Radcliffe spat on them to get out some of the blood that splashed into his mouth. Ezrah grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, even he could tell the former Brotherhood man had an angered look in his eyes under the lenses.
"Have you lost your mind?! Now all the Super Mutants will know we're here!"
Radcliffe pulled away from Ezrah's strong cold hold. "It was either shoot them down or get caught. And I prefer the first option for everything!"
"And by shooting first you've exposed us all! Now we'll have all the Super Mutants barreling down on us!"
"Yeah, nice going, Radcliffe!" Joe called to him.
Chloe stood with her plasma rifle aimed down the hall and ready. "I hate to say it but it was unavoidable. One way or another we would have had to fight."
"Even so, but I was planning on using my blades to end them quickly." Ezrah groaned and stood ready with his laser rifle. "It would have been messy but keep us hidden for a little longer."
"Very efficient." Asimov complemented.
Cavall's ears suddenly perked low and slowly lowered into a pounce position and began to growl deeply while baring his fangs. As expected they began to hear shouts coming their way, and a lot of them from the sound of it. Everyone turned their eyes to Radcliffe, each with a deep frown telling him that he started the coming fight.
Two Super Mutants came into view carrying double bladed axes. Chloe went on the attack first and fired four bolts of plasma that sent them falling to the floor with burning green holes in their chests. Another one came in, this time armed with an assault rifle and began firing off at them. Ezrah easily predicted it and got in the way just in time, bullets ricocheted off his armor plating until the Super Mutant ran out and returned fire with a few laser bolts.
Several more shuffled their way down the other end of the hall, armed with melee weapons and a few in the back carrying guns. Joe kneeled down while aiming with his Sako rifle, seeing the Super Mutants practically trying to crawl over each other gave him an idea. He fired three quick shots at the hip of the one in the lead and sent it tripping to the floor. The rest followed, all falling into a big pile of thrashing limbs trying to get back up. Radcliffe grinned at the opportunity to kill as many Super Mutants as he could, so he stepped into the middle of the hall and swept the area with his LMG again. Over fifty rounds later he stopped firing as the squirming bodies went limp on the floor with blood slowly flowing their way.
The group didn't wait to see how many survived Radcliffe's wild assault and turned away to flee the scene. Their plan had now shifted entirely, what was supposed to be an infiltration mission to recover two of their own turned into a full on battle with more Super Mutants closing in from everywhere.
()()()()()()()()
Hiromi stood at the entrance of the crumbling building where he and his squad waited, the assault rifle hanging loosely in his hand. Many thoughts ran through his mind, on one hand he was angry with Ezrah going in with strangers that were just passing through not even a day ago. But on the other hand he had great respect for Ezrah, who arrived in their hour of need and never asked for anything in return. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming around. In a panic he almost dropped his rifle, the squad inside saw him fumbling around and quickly assumed attackers were approaching. Hiromi managed to raise his rifle just in time to see a few pairs of hands held up in defense.
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot! It's us!" Doug waved his hands up.
"We came to help!" Inez said next.
Hiromi gasped and lowered the rifle before he accidently fired. "For god's sake! I could have killed you people! Don't you know our protocols when out in the field?!"
"We didn't know you guys were here until just a minute or two ago." One of the men said to him.
"He's right, we just happen to spot you standin' by the door." Doug stepped forward. "We have a delivery to make. Inez managed to fix Ezrah's Gatling laser. Where is everyone?"
Hiromi couldn't find the words to answer that right away. He even looked back to his squad hoping one of them would answer before doing it himself. "The Vault dweller, he snuck out and went into the factory. The redhead seemed to have followed him not long after. Ezrah decided to go after them and brought the rest of your friends along with him."
"I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!" Doug slapped his forehead heavily with his open palm. "I knew he would do something like this!"
"And why would he do something like that?" Inez asked.
"Apparently he was worried about your Super Mutant." Hiromi answered her. "I for one think it was a foolish to do that for such a creature."
Doug frowned but let it pass for now. "Sorry if Ezrah and my group is making you all feel left out. But from where I'm standing the mission has shifted. We got a working Gatling laser for that guy clomping around in metal armor, and I can tell you guys are gettin' restless. Wanna shake this mission up more?"
Hiromi smiled to that as his squad crowded behind him, all with the same idea as well. "Then let's do it. And end this nightmare once and for all. And get Super Mutant's weapons too." He pulled back the slide of his assault rifle.
()()()()()()()()()()
It wasn't long since Louis and Victoria started searching for a way to the lower levels. They had just started walking through another hall section after going down another flight of stairs. It proved hard to find any reasonable direction thanks to all the signs and directions faded and unrecognizable from age.
"I think we got turned around." Victoria said to him.
"Right, maybe we should double back. I thought I heard gunfire just a few minutes ago." Louis replied with worry. "But it sounded very far off. Something's going on, but what could it be?"
"I thought so!" A sharp voice cut out from the darkness, startling the two in their tracks.
They barely had a chance to fully turn around before their weapons were snatched roughly from their hands by two massive white palms and thrown down. And just as fast as their weapons were taken, those two big hands grabbed them tightly by the throats and hoisted up off the floor. Their backs were slammed against the cold wall and held there in place, the hands around their throats held so tight they could barely make a pained sound. Louis started reaching for his Desert Eagle before the hand holding him squeezed tighter.
"If either of you two even so much as think of reaching for your other weapons, I'll crush your throats like rotten twigs!" Louis and Victoria got a better look at their strangler, the same pasty pale Super Mutant working with the scientist that took Wayland away. Al leaned in, they could make out the blue blood veins underneath his skin. "So there are little rats scurrying around here. Looks like the gas chambers are getting two new editions..."
