CHAPTER 38: NEXT MUTATION.

"I suspect any worries about genetic engineering may be unnecessary. Genetic mutations have always happened naturally, anyway." -James Lovelock.

Piles of papers littered the floor, several beakers and bottles fell and shattered without a care. The ogres moved at a shambling but steady pace, following their orders to the exact detail to the best of their abilities. Thaddeus sat in front of a terminal, next to him on the desk was a growing pile of holotapes with a strip of masking tape across the front of each one with words written in black marker and ink pen detailing what was on each one. Thaddeus muttered to himself as he looked at the data on the screen, he barely blinked at all since he began.

"No, no! Put those papers in the container at the corner! Make sure they are filed neatly! I hate having to reorganize them!" He continued to give orders from his seat as he popped out a holotape from the terminal, put a strip of masking tape on and wrote the file name before putting in another blank. "And place the samples in that insulated container. Be careful! Put them in one at a time and make sure the refrigeration unit is on!"

Around the back of the room in the bathroom area, the albino just finished bandaging his wounds. The white gauze would have been almost hard to spot if it wasn't for the faint blood stains seeping through the medical pads. It would take a few hours for his healing to close up the deep bites.

"If I ever see that mongrel again, I'll skin it and make a pelt." Al sneered and tighten the bandage around his forearm.

"Al! Hurry up in there! I need you. The ogres can only do so much!" Thaddeus called to him.

He scoffed while making a mock strangling motion with his hands and even wrung them for good measure. He looked back at the mirror with a crack in its side. His dark purple eyes bore into his pale reflection, followed by a strange tingling in the back of his head. It was faded memories of his past, before he became a Super Mutant, always dancing in blurs with muddled sounds impossible to make out. And the one memory that was the even remotely clear enough to make out was one of a small arm reaching out to hold the hand of someone that looked vaguely like Thaddeus, but younger.

Al pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, the memories faded away like night to day as he looked at his reflection again and thought back to something he said earlier. 'I could tell by the look in your eyes. A lot of people don't know it, but a Super Mutant that is different from the rest have a sort of 'glint' if you will. A slight hint of their former humanity'. Remembering his own words filled him with anger.

The mirror suddenly shattered, the metal frame twisted around the white fist that smashed it. The shards fell into the sink and onto the floor, reflecting everything in its view, including dozens of Al's face from many different angles. Blood slowly trickled off his knuckles as he removed his fist from it, only a few shards were still in the frame.

"What was that?" Thaddeus called again.

"It's nothing!" He responded and looked down at his fist. "Just give me a damn minute!" He grabbed the medkit again and covered up his fist with more gauze and medical tape and washed off the blood.

He came back out into the lab and almost brushed into an ogre carrying a small crate. Thaddeus had the ogres drag out their carrier backpacks. They were large and black, filled with insulation to keep samples and Thaddeus' records safe and protected on long journeys. And they were made for the ogres to carry around strapped on their backs.

Thaddeus finally finished the last of his data loading and started placing the holotapes into carrying containers. "About time. We're almost halfway done as it is."

"Sorry if tending to my injuries is a problem for you." Al rolled his eyes at him. "But we still have a way to go. As I told you countless times, we should have kept this place more organized."

"Tell you what," Thaddeus turned away and grabbed another carrying case. "At the next place, you can set it up however you like."

"Sometimes I wonder why I even bother." Al sighed. He began by gathering samples, placing them on the table and told the ogres which packs to put them in and started checking the cases to make sure the batteries were fully charged. After some time, Al finally asked a question. "So where are we going? Back to your first lab?"

"As if!" Thaddeus scoffed. "We'll head west. That's where one of our fallback labs are." He picked up the strange briefcase like device and slipped it into his military style backpack. "If there's one thing about our mutual friends, they know how to secure a location and provide us with the resources and materials we need."

"Us and so many others." Al said with discontent. "I still don't trust them. We haven't even met them in person yet. Or how many there are."

"I have. At least the leader." Thaddeus sat back against his seat. "And we've been over this, they prefer secrecy. They scrutinize every single member they bring in. And as much as I hate to say it, but we need to be on our best behavior if we're gonna keep getting all we need to complete my project."

"But I'm worried they will get rid of us once they get what they want." The albino finished emptying a fridge filled with sample trays and placed it in one of the big backpacks. "It's what they're not showing us that I don't trust. We know they have much better materials and resources at their disposal."

"If they were gonna get rid of us they would have done it by now." Thaddeus decided to start packing his clothes. "My research is important to their plans. We'll talk more about this later, let's get out before the fighting is done."

Al withdrew his argument, for now. "Fine. I've grown tired of this place." He eyed the rectangular device again in Thaddeus' backpack and frowned at it.

()()()()()()()()()()

The back end of Radcliffe's tactical axe cut into the metal surface panel with a screeching puncture. He twisted it and pulled back hard, bringing the entire surface panel off its frame. Wires covered most of the back as the buttons on the surface blinked and faded out as Radcliffe twisted his axe tip out and placed the panel down on the floor with the wires still attached. Louis came up and started picking through the wires, looking for the right ones that he could use with his Pip-Boy. He reached into the inside and started pulling out more wires connected to circuit boards and other electronic devices and laid them on the control panels around it.

"This equipment is old. Prewar, no doubt." Louis said while unplugging the port and pulling out the cable. "This man really knows his stuff. All this equipment and terminal systems is worth a fortune. How much longer does the timer say?"

Victoria looked at the terminal screen that shared the same countdown as the one in the gas chamber room. "It says about twenty-three minutes! I don't know how to read, but at least I know numbers."

"Damn, time sure does fly!" Louis worked faster. He started disconnecting wires from the circuit boards while taking a mental note of everything he unplugged as the lights on the board began to flicker more. Worry crept at the back of his mind, he feared that he would set off the gas. He knew every wire he pulled could trigger a trap or something else. But at the moment he pushed those thoughts aside and reached inside with his entire arm as the cable of the Pip-Boy laid on a control panel nearby.

Victoria approach him. "What do you want us to do? Since you seem to be on top of this."

"Well, if I do get my device plugged in, I'll need you guys to help those people out." He answered her while still searching around. "Don't need to cause a panic or have them run around without any place to go."

"Oh, we'll keep them in line alright." Radcliffe grinned while holding up his LMG.

"Not by threatening them, Radcliffe!" Victoria turned to him. "Are you out of your mind?"

Louis' hand grabbed something thick and pulled it up slowly. It was a yellow cable with white rings going down it. "The data cord! This is a hardline connection to the terminal systems here! I might be able to use this!"

"How?" Radcliffe asked.

"I...don't know..." Louis looked down dejectedly. "I got myself too excited again. Stupid!"

Victoria thought she saw a flicker on Louis' Pip-Boy out of the corner of her eye and looked to it. The screen was still black but she spotted something strange with the cable. "Louis! Something happened to your plug, look at it."

He did and almost went wide eyed. The metal part of the plug had changed, it was split down the middle and open like a prong. Louis frowned while picking it up and looked at the inner part of the prong and noticed the flat sides were covered in slants. He rubbed a gloved finger on it gently and felt a slight jolt and pulled his finger away.

"Ouch. Whatever happened, it's electrified." He said while waving his finger.

"I could have sworn I saw your Pip-Boy screen flash." Victoria said. "Then all of a sudden the plug was like that."

Louis looked at the prong and hummed softly. Ever since the day he controlled that military sentry bot like a remote control toy, he felt strange about his Pip-Boy. The specs were just as unknown as the model itself. Other than the signal pointing their direction, any attempts to find its hidden functions were locked and unaccessible other than the basics like his biometrics, recordings, map marking and positioning, and a few other things. The other thing that made him feel concern about it was when his VATS would kick in whenever he seemed to need it most. Either way it was questions for another day as an idea came to mind.

"So you say my screen flashed? That was after I found the data cord." Louis trailed on as he held the prong in one hand and the cord in the other. "I wonder..."

He placed the cord between the prongs, and as he did the prong clamped down tightly enough to keep the cord from slipping out easily. After that the Pip-Boy came alive with data scrolling on the screen. The green glow reflected off his eyes as everything there was on the terminal laid bare before him, and all he had to do was sort it out.

"I'm in! I don't know how but I am!"

"So you can shut everything down now?" Victoria asked him.

Louis narrowed his eyes at the screen for a moment. "Yes and no, some of the command controls are heavily encrypted. It's like the Pip-Boy is showing me the things I wanted to see in the format of options on my screen. But I still need to manually override it, like deciphering a code."

"So we're screwed again?" Radcliffe asked, starting to grow bored.

"No. We still have a chance." Louis took a seat on the long control panel next to the opening Radcliffe made. "And I'm gonna need you guys to help. You'll both have the most important job."

()()()()()()()()()()

Ezrah stood tall in his Power Armor as another volley of bullets and angry taunts came his way. Even through the noise, the charging of his Gatling laser could be heard. Wayland stood up behind him, the six long barrels of his Avenger minigun spinning. The rest of the group stayed behind cover yet poked their heads up to see the fight about to take place.

The former member of the Brotherhood stomped his right foot, the concrete cracked around it as he got in a wide stance, the laser pointer at the end of his weapon lit straight across the room to the left. Wayland took a stance too and pointed his minigun to the right.

"Okay, just as we planned." Ezrah aimed his Gatling laser straight. "I'll start on the left!"

"And I'll start on the right!" Wayland aimed his minigun straight.

"And meet in the middle!" Ezrah finished.

Both fingers pulled the triggers at once and unleashed their attacks. Bursting bullets and streaking lasers flew across the long room, tearing and burning through everything in their path. The Super Mutants had no time to prepare as both sides were hit. The lasers burned through their makeshift armor easily, one who was about to throw a grenade ended up having its body almost burned in half and severed the arm holding the grenade. It fell to the floor, the Super Mutant holding the grenade at the time already pulled the pin as it rolled out of the hand next to a small crate filled with more grenades. It went off and blew up the others in the crate, creating a massive chain reaction that shook the room and sending shrapnel flying and kill several more Super Mutants in the process as Ezrah continued without hesitation.

Wayland's minigun proved to be more aggressive, the bullets tore through limbs and bodies almost like a blade. One was even cut in half at the chest and collapsed to the floor in two big bloody pieces. Those who tried to shoot back only ended up filled with holes for trying. The last dozen or so still standing began to flee in all direction, leaving their wounded and dying behind, unable to see that both attacks were only a few feet away from each other. More fell as they fled, their armor made from junk failed to protect them against the onslaught. At last the streams of bullets and lasers met near the middle, only inches apart before the two stopped firing.

The other side of the room laid in ruins, every piece of equipment and machinery had some form of hole through it, either smoking or not. Every other Super Mutant was either dead or dying, either way they were no longer a threat. Doug stood up first, followed by Inez and Asimov, Chloe, Joe, than finally Hiromi and his team.

"It's over!" One of them said to break the silence. "It's finally over! We won!" He held up his rifle into the air.

Several more of them cheered, threw up their weapons and even fired a few shots into the ceiling above. Even Hiromi smiled and crossed his arms. Doug sat down on the crate he and Inez hid behind to take the weight off his ankle that started to get sore again. Inez checked her remaining ammo and chuckled to herself after seeing she only had one full magazine left and thanked her lucky star. Asimov's arm laser guns folded back in and nodded in satisfaction of a completed mission.

"Thank god, we're almost out of bullets." Doug said as he checked his ammo too.

Joe nodded while putting a cigarette in his mouth and fumbled around for his lighter. "I'll say..."

Ezrah flipped the Gatling laser over his shoulder and connected it to the magnetic holster on the right. He turned his helmeted head to Wayland. "I thank you. And I will make sure everyone knows how you helped here too."

Wayland looked at the bodies of the fallen Super Mutants on the other end. He sighed to himself while swiveling the minigun to its standby station next to the ammo box backpack. Part of him felt a rack of guilt for killing his kind in such a manner. Memories of his former kin came to mind, all of them none too pleasant either. But he still wished there was another way other than killing them all. Either way it was too late and at least many more lives will be spared.

"We should go see if the others saved the ones being held captive." He spoke plainly, a slight hint of sadness to it.

Ezrah was about to ask what was wrong before a raging scream echoed throughout the room. All eyes fell on Demon, who stood at the entrance where its kin fought. Anger was painted all over its face, its right eye twitched, pain burned in the area where the metal shard stuck out. Splitter soon ran out from the entrance, yet it looked like it was running from something rather than getting to its leader's side.

"You! All of you! You kill my kin! You ruin everything!" Demon screamed and threw its fists up.

"Just two more to deal with." Ezrah reached for his Gatling laser. "And then it will finally be over."

A loud rumble came from the entrance, followed by the sound of concrete chunks falling to the floor. That made Ezrah hesitate to attack while everyone else got ready.

Demon quickly dashed out of the way as more rumbling sounds came. "You all may have killed my kin! But Thrasher will smash you all to pieces and feast on your bones!"

"Thrasher?" Wayland asked in confusion.

"I don't like the sound of that." Chloe held her plasma rifle tight as a cold chill went down her metallic spine.

Another roar came from the entrance, one that sounded all too familiar. The sound of heavy footsteps charged down the dark hall before coming to a sudden stop. A loud clinking noise came next before the top of the entrance exploded in a shower of concrete and twisted rebar. They saw the object that smashed through come crashing to the floor. It was a pear shaped hunk of metal, a wrecking ball connected to a thick chain being pulled back in.

The massive creature crashed through the entrance, almost causing it to collapse behind it. Another Behemoth stood before them, its left arm was covered in deep scars and wore little scrap armor over its body that hanged loosely. Around its right wrist was the chain, which was long and held firmly in its massive hand. It held the wrecking ball in its left hand, letting it dangle on a few feet of chain. Before long it eyed the humans and started waving the weapon around.

"All of you stay back!" Ezrah quickly pulled his Gatling laser back into his hands and began charging. "This thing is too dangerous with that ranged weapon! And most of you are almost out of ammo!"

"I still go plenty! And my missile launcher as well!" Wayland pointed his minigun back up.

The Behemoth went on the attack once it saw its targets. It began swinging the wrecking ball above its head to gain momentum while letting the chain slowly slide out in its grip. It hurled the wrecking ball across the room with the chain clanking all the way. The weapons smashed into a nearby machinery, whether it meant to hit the machinery or just overestimated the weapon's reach, no one could say. It started stomping forward while pulling it back for another toss.

Ezrah barked out commands for everyone to get back behind cover and began running to the left while firing in short bursts. Wayland did the same by going to the right and letting off more bullets. The two managed to get the Behemoth's attention as it swung its head side to side in a struggle to pick one of them.

The wanderers and Hiromi's team went back behind cover to rest and reload what little ammo they had left. Which wasn't very much. At the other end of the room, Demon lost its attention on the fight and looked at the bodies of its dead kin. The pain in its head burned like fire and everything began to get blurry and hazy in thought.

Demon then snapped its head towards its second in command. "This never would have happened if we had more of us! It's all the science man's fault! He waste time playing with strange liquids and useless junk!" It spun around on its heel and went through the entrance, walking over the rubble that came down. "Splitter! You stay and make sure Thrasher kills them!"

The second in command gave its leader a confused look. "Where you going now?"

"To kill the science man and the white one! He needs to pay!" Demon answered, its voice growing more distant down the hall.

Splitter was unable to say anything else as Demon disappeared into the darkness. After its leader was gone, Splitter placed its big hand around its arm near the metal cap of its axe. For as long as it could remember, Demon had always been brash and reckless with everything it did. And Demon only got worse ever since the human and the albino came to them. Demon had always ruled through brute strength but rarely got involved with any fights that put it in danger. And now the entire clan laid dead or dying with only one more Behemoth left. Yet a grand idea came to Splitter's mind, it knew the human's ogres would tear Demon apart if it tried anything on the human. And that made the axe swinger all the more happy, all Splitter had to do was wait for Thrasher to kill the humans and go off to find another clan and take over as the leader.

So Splitter simply stayed back and watched as the Behemoth hurled its wrecking ball again at the man in metal armor and almost landed a hit on him.

()()()()()()()()

Victoria and Radcliffe rushed back into the holding area, they went to the other terminal and looked at the timer, which had less than fifteen minutes left before the gas released. They spotted Cavall nearby, clawing at the glass of a cell as if to dig through it but to no avail. The only thing he managed was deep scratches.

"Cavall, come here boy." Victoria called to him and held her arm out. The hybrid stopped and went over to receive a pat on the head as he whimpered a little. "I know, but good try anyway."

"Yo! Listen up, all of you!" Radcliffe shouted to get all their attention.

Victoria went next before he said something stupid or cause a panic. "Our friend found a way to unlock the cells! And when they open, quickly come out and close the doors behind you!"

"He can't stop the gas from spraying, so you won't have much time! Every second will count!" Radcliffe continued while pacing down the hall.

"So please, don't rush! We know you want to get out, but please help each other! Help anyone who can't move very well and come out a few at a time!"

"And don't run off either!" Radcliffe looked at the locks and thought for a second to take a chance with his gun. "We don't know if those big ugly fucks are still around! Our people are fighting them right now! So just hold on and we'll have you people taken care of once you're out!"

Victoria looked back down the other end of the hall. "Come on, Louis. Everyone's counting on you." She said to herself before helping Radcliffe get the people ready.

Back in the control room, Louis sat on a chair fiddling away on the controls of his Pip-Boy. He glanced over at the terminal screen and checked the time again. A feeling of haste went through him as he put all his focus on the locks system. He found out that turning off the gas would take longer because the scientist obviously put more effort into the program. But to Louis' luck, the program to the locks wasn't as encrypted.

Connecting his Pip-Boy in such an unusual way opened up a whole new level of access on his device. Using the dials to sort through the data was a bit difficult at first since the function was so new and it made Louis fear he would trigger something else or disconnect from the terminal. But suddenly a flashing alarm went off on his screen, he had lost track of time and saw there was only eight more minutes left.

"Dammit! How could I have lost so much time?" He cursed to himself and worked more frantically. "Come on, calm down and keep a level head. You can do this. Just think of it as computer class. If computer class had lives on the line." He chuckled nervously and steady his breathing.

Back in the holding cells, Victoria and Radcliffe managed to get everyone organized by standing in front of the doors without cramming into each other. Some carried others on their backs or in their arms since they were too weak from old injuries and lack of proper care that barely kept them all alive. The redhead looked at the terminal screen again and felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end after seeing the remaining time.

"No! It's almost too late!" She said to herself so as not to cause a panic. But even as she tried to hide it, anyone could see the worry in her eyes to the countless lives hanging in the balance.

Only four minutes remained as Louis began to sweat. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and his fingers trembled every time he made a mistake.

"I'm...I'm not going to make it! All those people, and I'm gonna let them down!" Louis gritted his teeth and was about to give in. His arms felt like lead and he slumped back in the chair. He glanced down at the screen once more in defeat, but the dread suddenly went away as he saw a highlighted bar that displayed the lock system with an override option. He lunged up in his seat and had to read the screen a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "What in the world? I don't remember being in this section of the coding!" He pondered in confusion before realizing that wasn't important. "Forget it, questions for later. I just hope Victoria and Radcliffe has got everybody ready."

He highlighted the command and activated it. The terminal system began blinking with a dance of sparks across the board, some shorting out for good. Louis quickly kicked away from the terminal in fear it could explode or shock him. The clamp came undone and the plug closed up as the cord began reeling in. Louis grabbed the plug and examined it for a moment and wondered if he could make it open again before putting the tip in its housing.

"The rest is up to them." He spoke to himself and looked at the timer with little more than a minute left.

Just when Victoria and Radcliffe feared it was too late, all the lights on the locks switched from red to green with a unanimous clank that echoed in the entire hall. The doors flung open and the people inside almost couldn't believe it, their freedom right before them.

Radcliffe quickly snapped into action. "Hey! Everybody out already!"

The people didn't waste another second and flooded out. A few at a time squirmed through the openings and helped those too weak to move fast. Victoria and Radcliffe shouted over the clamor of the crowd to keep calm, even Cavall barked along with them as he seemed to help shepherd the people along. Once everyone was out, Vic and Rad pushed through the thick crowd to make sure no one was left behind on each side of the holding cells. And thankfully the last ones out quickly slammed the doors closed behind them and stepped away.

A short alarm went off as the timer reached zero. Rattling from above rang out as the FEV pumped through. The room went silent as everyone looked at their former prison cells. Greenish gas with a heavy hue of orange sprayed in from above in each cell from several sprinklers. The gas quickly filled in, many held their breaths in fear that the gas would leak out. But the gas never did, even the doors seemed to lock back up after being closed. After a few long minutes of floating gas with no people to infect, vents in each cell opened from above and vacuumed the FEV in to the air ducts to run through a system to neutralize and dispense it harmlessly into the air outside.

Once the gas was gone, the former captives couldn't hold back their excitement and cheered out loudly despite the danger they were still in at the time. Even Victoria looked to Radcliffe with a bright smile as he gave her a thumbs up in response. Down the other end of the hall, Louis ran while fearing the worst at first until the cheering reached his ears. He smiled as he came out into the holding cell and saw everyone out and not mutated. He gently made his way through the crowd and found his friends and Cavall being praised by the freed people.

"Hey, guys! Over here!" Louis waved his arm up for them to see. "I knew you guys would get them all out!"

"Yes, we did." Victoria moved her way to him. "But you cut it pretty close there."

"I know, sorry." He reached behind his head and scratched it. "I kinda lost hope there for a second."

"Well, whatever the hell you did it worked." Radcliffe approached them with Cavall at his side. "The gas got sucked out of the cells. We got everyone out in time."

"Good. No one was turned into a Super Mutant. That's what matters." Louis looked up to the crowd of people and saw that they were still worried and feared the Super Mutants would come storming in at any moment. "But unfortunately we're far from done."

"What are we gonna do about them?" Radcliffe asked, pointing his thumb at the confused people.

"We can't take them with us right now. We don't know if it's safe." Victoria pointed out.

"For now we need to get back to the rest. No telling what's gone on since we left." Louis took a few steps forward and cleared his throat. "Hey, listen up!" He shouted loud enough for all to hear. The entire floor went quiet. "I'm glad all of you got out in time! But we're not out of the woods yet! Right now our people are fighting the Super Mutants as we came to rescue you! But we don't know what their current situation is! So it's best you all stay here and wait for someone to come recover you!"

The people took that far worse than the three expected, at once they all spoke loudly in protest against the idea. Louis and Victoria tried to calm them all down but their voices were drowned out. Radcliffe took out his Hardballer and pointed it up in the air for everyone to see. Upon seeing his gun the voices quieted down in a few moments before he fired off a round.

"Thanks." Victoria said to him.

"Ah, I wanted to shoot a bullet off..." Radcliffe sighed and put it back in its holster.

Louis took a step forward and held his hands up. "I can't begin to imagine what you people have been through. Spending everyday cooped up in these cells waitin' for the worst to happen and more." His words seemed to reach them as they waited to hear him out. "But you must be patient for a little longer. Let us take you to safety. There's a settlement nearby, one that will welcome you all in and build a new life."

The freed people finally seemed convinced, so for now it kept them from running off into trouble or wandering into the Wasteland with nothing but the ragged clothes on their backs. And the promise of a new place to live helped convince them as well.

"How long do you need us to stay here?" A man with a balding head asked them. "We just want to leave after all this time."

"Only for a little while longer." Victoria answered. "We promise we'll send someone to come get you."

Radcliffe took a few steps forward and slung his LMG over his shoulder. "Hey, I'll hang back for a bit and watch these people while you guys go get Hiromi and his people." He suggested. "If there's any more of those big ugly freaks around, I'll have a better shot at mowing them down."

"That's...actually not a bad idea, Radcliffe." Louis said to him. "You still have plenty of ammo.

"Alright, we'll be back soon. Just wait and we'll send help soon." Victoria spoke as they began moving forward.

The crowd parted down the middle to let them pass. After that Radcliffe stopped in front of the crowd as Louis, Victoria, and Cavall dashed off in hopes that one person was enough to keep hundreds of people protected for as long as possible.

()()()()()()()()()

Thaddeus slammed another suitcase closed and locked it and shoved it aside to fill the last one he had. Almost the entire lab had been picked clean, all the research that was worth taking had been packed and secured, a few of the ogres had the specialized backpacks strapped to their backs. Despite each full pack weighing a few hundred pounds, the ogres barely felt the weight. Not that any of them were capable of complaining.

"Okay, pack this, pack that, put this over here, pack lightly..." Thaddeus muttered to himself as he filled the last suitcase. He put in clothes, holotapes, some toiletries, a hair dryer he never uses, and a full bottle of unopened bourbon from a drawer that he looked at with a smile. "Oh! Pack smart."

"We're almost done. Don't pack any unnecessary things." Al said to him as he carried over a full duffle bag. "It's not like you're gonna carry any of this."

"This bourbon is over twenty years old and isn't some piss swill brewed up in someone's rusted bathtub or toilet." Thaddeus tucked the bottle in a sleeve on the inside of the briefcase. "I'm not gonna let it go to waste here."

Just as he zipped it closed, the metal door banged several times with a thunderous boom that threatened to break it off its hinges.

"Science man! Open this door!" Demon screamed so loud it sounded like it was in the room.

"And here I thought we wouldn't have to see that fool again..." Thaddeus sighed deeply and rubbed his eyes from the oncoming headache.

"Just give the command and the ogres will tear that idiot apart." Al whispered to him, despite not needing to because the banging was so loud.

Thaddeus thought about it for a moment then nodded in agreement, and was seconds away from giving the command. But then he stopped himself as an idea came to mind. "No. Open the door. I have an idea. Ogres, do it."

One of the lumbering ogres went over and undid the lock, the door flung open and almost sent the ogre falling over as Demon stormed in seething with rage. Two other ogres got in between Thaddeus and the rampaging leader, ready to attack as soon as the scientist gave the command.

"You pathetic human! All my kin are dead! Because you didn't make more of us!" Demon screamed, spit flying from its mouth. "If you just changed those humans we could have killed all the settler humans and the man in the metal suit!"

Al glanced to Thaddeus, waiting for him to give the command. But instead he stood up from his seat and threw his arms up.

"You're right! I screwed up!" He said in a slight mocking tone, yet not surprisingly, Demon didn't pick up on it. "Oh, sometimes being human can be such a bother. I mean, we live short lives. We need a lot of food and water just to live. It's such a hassle, isn't it?"

Al rubbed the side of his head with two fingers and grumbled. "What are you doing?..."

"Why, I'm just apologizing to our host for not keeping my end of our promise." Thaddeus answered him, again with a phoney tone. Demon seemed to simmer down for the moment. The ogres standing in front of it stood aside as Thaddeus approached, wearing the same crooked grin. "I'm sorry for your loss, truly I am. But, all is not lost. For you can still be a leader once I get down to the gas chamber."

"Those humans attacking us will still be here if Thrasher, our last Behemoth, doesn't kill them!" Demon argued, its anger flaring up again.

"Have faith in, uh, Thrasher. I'm sure with its big helicopter blade, it will dice all them to pieces." Thaddeus assured the leader.

"Thrasher is the one with the wrecking ball." Al corrected with a deadpanned tone.

"Whatever toys they play with!" Thaddeus said to him before turning back to Demon. "The point is, I on the other hand, can give you something more than just a new army at your back."

Demon raised a brow. "And what's that?"

Thaddeus quickly turned around and went over to the fridge area and opened the one at the far end. He bent down and opened the vegetable drawer and took out a slightly larger vial filled with a greenish liquid. If Al could, he would have turned pale at the sight of the vial and was about to speak before seeing the look in Thaddeus' eyes telling him to be silent.

"The formula in this vial, is something I've been cooking up just for you." He said while walking back up. "Once you drink it, you will gain the strength of many Behemoths, heal almost instantly, and tower over everything you see!"

Demon touched the metal piece in its head. "And my headaches?"

"Should clear right up." He answered. "I've spent many nights perfecting this just for you. And the other doses you've had helped prepare your body and mind. So take this, and if any of those settlers and the 'metal man' are still alive, they will die like vermin after this serum changes you!"

Demon plucked the vial from Thaddeus' hand and looked it over for a moment. It looked back down to the scientist, unsure if it could trust the liquid inside before grunting indifferently and placed its big fingers around the cap to twist it off.

"Wait, hold on!" Thaddeus waved his hands out. "The serum won't take long to change you. Why don't you go back to where the settlers are and take it on the way?"

Demon grumbled and held the vial in its big hand. "This better work. Or I'll come back!"

Thaddeus almost rolled his eyes to the empty threat. "Oh, I promise it will. And I'll take care of those people down below as well. You'll have a whole new army waiting to see their mighty leader evolved."

Without saying another word, Demon turned around and went back through the open door, completely forgetting what the ogres were doing as it observed the vial again. The ogre standing near the door closed it after Thaddeus gave the signal with a wave of his hand.

After Al was sure the Super Mutant leader was gone, he quickly marched up to Thaddeus and had to resist the urge to grab him by the shoulder. "Are you out of your mind?! You know that formula is unstable and would turn any Super Mutant into a monster! A worse one! And with Demon's brain damage there's no telling what affects it will have!"

"That's...the point." Thaddeus looked up to him. "I know the serum will ruin Demon, and even kill the shithead in maybe two or so hours after it drinks it. But that will be more than enough time for us to slip away. We can't allow anyone to see us. We have to stay in the shadows."

"Even so, it's a risky gamble. Demon could come back here after it changes it."

"All the more reason to go." Thaddeus picked up his suitcase. "We'll go to the roof. There's an emergency stair system that leads to the ground. The perfect escape."

Al left it at that and continued with the clean up. Any and all evidence of Thaddeus' work had been cleared and packed, the ogres stood ready with heavy loads on their backs and duffle bags and old suitcases in their hands save for two that were going to be the front guards. Thaddeus changed into clothes more suited for travel as Al took out his assault rifle that he hid away and held it close. Thaddeus went over to his messy bed and pulled out a cylinder that was twice the size of a coffee thermos. He placed it in the middle of the room on the floor, pressed the button on the top of it for a few seconds until a long cylinder part sprang up. He typed on the small keypad and pressed the top button again and the cylinder sunk back down into the main housing. Thaddeus gave the command to move out, the ogres surrounded the two and kept pace as he looked back into the lab that was his home for the last few years, happy to be leaving.

()()()()()()()()

The wrecking ball came down with a thunderous slam that shattered the concrete and missed Wayland by only a few inches. Ezrah circled around again and pelted the Behemoth's back with another few dozen streaks of lasers. It roared in pain and pulled on the chain with a sharp tug that sent the wrecking ball flying towards him. Despite the bulk and weight of his armor, Ezrah managed to not only leap out of the way but roll while keeping the Gatling laser from being damaged. The Behemoth tugged the chain again and sent the wrecking ball flying back towards it before reaching its massive hand out to grab another section of the chain to stop its momentum. Soon it had the weapon swinging back in the air, looking between the two to pick its next target to smash into the ground.

The rest of the group could only watch as they tended to their wounded and reloaded their guns. Doug had finished checking over his weapons and was about to step into the fight. "Guys, come on! We need to help! They can't beat that thing alone!"

"I'm glad you're itching to fight, Doug. But you and Inez weren't there when we fought the first one in the streets!" Joe said to him.

"I have to agree with Joe. Killing just one of them proved to be greatly difficult." Asimov nodded. "Their bodies are incredibly thick. Most of our bullets only pricked their skin and lasers left shallow burns."

"Damn. That bad?" Inez said in disbelief. "Is that why you guys had to blow its head off?"

"Well, Wayland actually shot a missile into its mouth, but yeah, we blew its head up." Chloe said as she loaded a plasma cartridge and checked to make sure it didn't get damage.

"Well, I agree with Doug." Hiromi stood up from his cover. "We can't sit here and do nothing! Those two can't fight that monster alone!"

Ezrah was nearby enough to hear their conversations. "No! All of you stay back! It's too dangerous!" He fired off several more volleys, having to time the charge up just right.

"Don't be crazy! We all barely managed to kill the first one with almost everything we had!" Joe tried to reason.

"But we still have far more ammo than all of you!" Ezrah responded as he started sidestepping while firing. "You all are exhausted and almost out of ammo! Don't engage unless you have no other choice!"

The Behemoth focused its attention on Ezrah since the rapid laser burns irritated the giant even more. Its wrecking ball swung up in the air before giving the chain a sharp downward tug that sent it flying down and spun in a loop and sent it slamming into the floor once more.

Wayland went around as the Behemoth focused on Ezrah. He figured hitting it from behind would have more affect, especially when he aimed for the back of its massive head. The barrel of his Avenger started spinning as he raised it higher and was about to squeeze the trigger. But the burst of gunfire didn't come from Wayland's minigun, instead his body exploded with pain. He stumbled forward and almost dropped while looking down to see blood dripping on the floor. Several bleeding wounds were all over his body, a few at his side, two in his lower abdomen, some in both legs, and several up his right arm. Seeing the wounds made his vision go blurry as he turned his head to see who shot him.

He found that it was Splitter who did it while running towards him and using his own AK-47. Firing an assault rifle one handed was always difficult for the second in command. But even so, Splitter was never a good shot even when it used to have two hands. "You ruin everything, human lover! You and all those weak humans will die! And then I become new leader!"

Splitter pointed the rifle again, it was off to the left as it fired. Wayland was prepared that time despite the throbbing pain every time he moved. It's aim was way off thanks to the rifle bouncing around in its grip. The magazine quickly went empty and Splitter cursed.

Wayland turned around and aimed at Splitter, but it already fled behind some machinery and started reloading its stolen weapon. Wayland fired upon its location, turning the machinery all around into a mess of holes. But soon he realized what he was doing and stopped shooting before he wasted anymore ammo.

In that brief moment after he stopped, Splitter lunged back up with a new magazine loaded and fired. At that range, Splitter managed to get a few shots into Wayland's lower legs before its aim tilted off to the right. Wayland's body went limp and collapsed to the floor, the minigun flew out of his hands and clattered on the floor. Wayland's big palms landed on the floor next and prevented his face from slamming into the cold dirty concrete.

Even with Splitter's terrible aim, it was enough to leave Wayland defenseless. He tried to reach for the minigun but it was just out of big fingered reach. But then he looked up to see Splitter standing over him with the AK-47 pointed right at his head.

"Now you die! Die on your hands and knees like dog!"

"Dogs don't have hands, idiot!" Wayland spat.

That frustrated Splitter enough to give Wayland a moment to retaliate. His left hand grabbed the barrel and pushed it away from his head. In a panic Splitter fired the rifle and got a few grazing shots in Wayland's shoulder. He gritted his teeth to the pain and continued to fight back while slowly standing back up. Splitter raised its axe arm up to chop his head open, and Wayland quickly threw his hand out to catch the blade by the hilt. The two struggled and tugged against each other, the minigun dragged around on the floor as the axe missed Wayland's face by inches every time Splitter tried pushing it down.

"Just die already!" Splitter shouted as Wayland pushed back harder. It pulled the assault rifle trigger again sending bullets flying everywhere until the magazine clicked empty and left Wayland's left ear ringing painfully.

A few of the stray bullets found an unfortunate mark and hit the Behemoth's back leg as it tossed its weapon at Ezrah again. Whether it was far more sensitive in that area or easily agitated, the Behemoth roared and quickly turned around, stomping the floor as it pulled its wrecking ball and gave it a quick spin above its head and hurled it at its attacker.

"Wayland! Look out!" Ezrah screamed, the vocal synthesizer of his helmet enhancing his cry.

The Super Mutants turned their heads just in time to see the wrecking ball flying their way with a slight spin to its throw. Both of them froze in place as it dawned on them it was only a few feet away from hitting them both dead on.

()()()()()()()()

Demon spat in disgust as it tossed the empty vial to the floor, shattering into many pieces. At first Demon didn't feel any different, in fact it began to feel a little queasy in the stomach as a warm sensation ran up its throat and spread to its face. The leader felt dizzy and leaned against the wall for support. The daze soon wore off, but then a warm and pricking sensation started running through Demon's body. It ignored the strange sensation and assumed it was the serum taking effect as it continued marching down a flight of steps. But little did the leader know, its monstrous mutation was already beginning.