Marvel Adventures: Dragonborn

…

Voice Cast:

Kari Wahlgren as Emma Frost

Erica Lindbeck as Felicia Hardy/Black Cat

Natalie Dormer as Red Sonja

Keeley Hawes as Betsy Braddock/Psylocke

Tara Strong as Laura Kinney/X-23

Richard Armitage as Dragonborn/Dovahkiin

Candice Swanepoel as Vault 76 Resident Aurora Rose

…

Chapter 3: Guess Who I Met Today?

The sun slowly ascended in the sky as the group made their way along the cracked asphalt road. It was a warm day with the sun beating down warm rays onto the group. Emma wiped her brow clean of the slight perspiration that coated it. She looked at the rest of the group; they weren't too bad, all of them stoically keeping pace with each other. Dragonborn walked ahead of them slightly, showing no sign of tiredness or slowing down. It was a wonder that the man didn't look tired wearing such heavy looking armour on a warm day. Although the fact that Dragonborn was wearing a full helm which obscured his entire head from anyone seeing his expression could be what prevented from anyone seeing if he was tired or not.

As they passed a farmhouse, Laura stopped and sniffed the air. "What is it, Laura?" Betsy asked.

Laura frowned as she replied, "Trouble." After hearing that Dragonborn drew his sword and crouched down low.

"Stay low," He whispered to them hoarsely. "We may able to pass them unnoticed," he added.

Everyone else crouched down and watched the farmhouse carefully for signs of whatever it was that Laura had smelt. The front of the farmhouse creaked out and stepping out nearly had Emma recoiling in revulsion.

It looked as it was once human, wearing tattered rags but its skin looked as though it was burnt, although scorched would be a more apt description. The face was a horrific mess; the lips looked melted away showing yellowed and chipped teeth. The nose was practically gone, and the eyes were sunken yellowed orbs. There was not even a single strand of hair on the head. Poking out from the scorched skin were small glowing green lesions that were almost crystalline in appearance. In its hands it held a rusted machete.

The creature gave a harsh grating rattle of air as it looked around with yellowed eyes.

"Good God! What is that thing?" Betsy whispered to her companions, horrified by what she was seeing.

"I think this is what Sheogorath meant by the Scorched," Felicia replied grimly, a look of disgust on her face. "Should we move on before it notices us?" she asked.

"Maybe. But I'd like to get a better understanding of what it is we're up against," Emma replied.

"So, we kill it?" Sonja asked.

"There might be more than one," Betsy pointed out.

As the others debated, Dragonborn silently left them, creeping around to the side of the farmhouse as the Scorched itself descended the front steps. Dragonborn then picked up a rock and tossed it. The rock soared over the Scorched's head and clattered against an upturned wheelbarrow. The Scorched gave a harsh groan. "Not… us!" it grated out as it walked over towards the wheelbarrow, its yellowed eyes looking around blankly.

Dragonborn then pulled out a dagger from his belt. Flipping it over so that the dagger's tip was held in his fingertips, Dragonborn pulled his arm back before flinging the dagger. The small weapon went end over end until the blade sunk deep into the creature's back where its heart would be. The Scorched creature gave a harsh cry as it crumpled to the ground, twitching it before it succumbed and died. Then rushing out from the farmhouse were two more Scorched creatures. One was armed with a pitchfork and the other was armed with some kind of firearm that looked as though it was cobbled out of scrap metal and wood.

"Not… here!" the one with pitchfork said. The one with the gun looked around, its weapon held in front of it. Dragonborn then rose to stand and drew his sword; the whispering rasp of steel against leather and wood rung out into the area and the Scorched themselves turned to see Dragonborn standing there with his sword drawn. A moment passed before the Scorched launched themselves into action with harsh shrieks of rage. The Scorched creature with the pitchfork swung its weapon at Dragonborn's head, but the warrior ducked under it and jabbed his sword into the creature's chest.

Dark red blood spurted out of the deep wound Dragonborn's sword left on the creature causing it to stumble back with a guttural growl, swinging its pitchfork wildly. The Scorched with the makeshift gun pulled the trigger and fired a couple of shots. Luckily, its accuracy wasn't the best as the bullets whizzed past Dragonborn who took in a breath before shouting three words of the Thu'um.

"ZUN HAAL VIK!"

The weapons the creatures had went flying from their grasp and they briefly screamed in rage before Dragonborn sliced off their heads in one stroke. Dark red blood spurted out of the stumps of the creatures' necks as their heads rolled off and their bodies crumpled to the ground, blood pooling around them.

As Dragonborn prepared to move forward to examine the bodies, a loud cracking bang stopped him as a bullet whizzed past his head. Ducking around the side of the farmhouse, Dragonborn poked his head out and saw a Scorched creature coming out from the barn armed with a rifle and another rushed out with a shotgun, firing a couple of shots.

Dragonborn hummed in thought and prepared to wait for the shotgun wielding Scorched to come closer to him. Then there came a rattling death cry and Dragonborn peered out to see Betsy with her psionic katana slicing through the shotgun wielding Scorched. The Scorched with the rifle had its weapon ripped out of its hand by Felicia who was using her grapnel launcher to latch onto the rifle and wrench it out of the creature's hand. Once the rifle was in her grasp, Felicia aimed it at the Scorched creature's direction and pulled the trigger.

A sharp bang broke the air as the bullet burst out from the barrel of the rifle and hit the Scorched's head. A large chunk was torn out of the creature's head taking its left eye and part of its left temple with it. The thing was barely still alive as it fell over on the ground, writhing and grunting as it struggled to live. Felicia walked to the beast, pulling back the bolt of the rifle before closing it and pressed the barrel against what remained of the creature's head and pulled the trigger.

Another bang and some dark red blood splashed against Felicia's costume making her grimace and give an "Ew!" in response before she tossed aside the rifle and looked back at everyone else.

Dragonborn nodded his approval before looking at the now dead Scorched creature's. Going over to the first one he had killed with his dagger, the warrior pulled the blade free before turning over the Scorched's corpse and prepared to examine it. Emma, Laura and Sonja came over to Dragonborn as he examined the creature.

"So, this is what Sheogorath meant by when he said Scorched," Dragonborn said, more to himself than anyone present. "Muscle tissue is exposed and skin is practically flayed off," he then remarked as he made his observations. "And there are these," he added as he examine the small green crystal growths. "Seem to hold some kind of power, but I don't know what," he then said.

"Never took you to be a forensic examiner," Emma commented.

"Just need to know what we're up against," Dragonborn said to the blonde without even looking at her. "The more information we have, the better prepared we'll be to face these creatures," he added.

Looking up at everyone, he told them, "You might want to turn away if you're squeamish." He then stabbed down into the chest of the Scorched with his dagger and dragged the blade down in a line across the creature's body. Betsy, Felicia and Emma looked a little disgusted by what Dragonborn was doing whereas Laura and Sonja did not seem too disturbed. Without seeming to care for the reactions of everyone else, Dragonborn examined the innards of the Scorched creature.

"More crystalline growths on the organs, showing signs of petrification and spreading across the insides," Dragonborn observed. "This creature was beginning to petrify into a statue," he remarked.

"So, this plague eventually turns its victims to stone?" Sonja asked. "Like a Gorgon?"

"Maybe," Dragonborn said. "Won't know until we find a subject that has been fully petrified," he added as he stood up and wiped his dagger clean before sheathing and wringed his hands free of the creature's blood. The warrior then dragged all the bodies of the creatures into a piled before pulling out a flint and tinder from his satchel. Dragonborn then set the creatures' bodies aflame. Hungry red and orange flames licked and ate away at the bodies of the Scorched, filling the scent with burning meat and something else that made the eyes sting.

"Let's go. Won't learn anymore from here," Dragonborn said.

"Should we check out the farmhouse first?" Felicia suggested. "There might be some supplies we could use," she said.

"Make it quick then," Emma told the platinum-haired thief who took Betsy and Laura with her into the farmhouse and they quickly searched for any supplies that they could make use of.

Laura found some bottles of purified water while Betsy found some cans of cram and a mercifully intact backpack. Felicia found a safe in the upstairs bedroom and after quickly working the lock, she opened it to find a pistol of a design that didn't match anything she knew of, along with some stacks of cash and a small box of ammunition. After that, the three of them joined the others outside.

"Find anything good?" Emma asked Felicia who replied, "Found some water and rations. Also a pistol, some cash and ammunition." She then held up the pistol and ammunition.

"What is a pistol?" Sonja asked.

"It's… a weapon that fires projectiles called bullets," Betsy explained to the redhead. "I don't use them much myself, but they're pretty useful in a fight," she said.

"Either way, we'll need some weapons," Dragonborn put in before looking up at the sky which was starting its descent towards the horizon. "We need to keep moving. It's going to get dark soon," he said.

"Agreed," Emma said and they all left the farmhouse and went back onto the road. Over an hour later, the group soon came to an intersection where a covered bridge crossed over a river to the other side whilst the road ahead continued going forward. Just off to the side of the road was the glow of a campfire and a column of smoke rose up into the air followed by the sounds of someone or something hammering at something.

"Laura?" Betsy asked daughter of Wolverine who smelled the air before nodding and saying, "Human."

"Who wants to go and say hi?" Felicia asked.

Dragonborn went forward, his stride careful yet confident. "Well, that answers that," Emma said dryly as they hung back and watched Dragonborn walk towards the campfire glow.

…

Aurora had left the Vault and made her way down the main road. She had come across some corpses of people who weren't fortunate enough to enter Vault 76 and although it disgusted her, she had scavenged a machete, some stimpaks and bottle of purified water from them, along with a note that read that someone had sent these unfortunate souls to scout out the Vault and watch for any signs of it opening. Granted life in a Vault would be more preferable to a nuclear wasteland, but so far it didn't seem to bad out here. So, what was it that made these people watch the Vault for any signs of it opening?

Aurora had then made her way down to the main road where she had spotted a campfire. Hopeful for the sight of living human company, Aurora had walked over and to her disappointment, there was no sign of anyone living. There were some workbenches already set up, along with a CAMP module. Aurora had one herself as did everyone Vault Resident; the CAMPs were advanced technology developed by Vault-Tec to quickly build and develop camps and could even be used to build settlements which was their intended design.

There was even a Vault-Tec crate that contained a holotape. Curious to see what was on the holotape, Aurora had slotted into her Pip-Boy and played it. Then came a familiar voice from the Pip-Boy. It was the Overseer of Vault 76.

"You left the Vault. Good, I was worried that no-one had left Vault 76 yet so that means we can start rebuilding Appalachia," the recording of the Overseer's said. "As you know, the CAMPs Vault-Tec have given us are designed to build whatever it is you need for your own camps and eventually build settlements. I have my own behind at this very spot with some essentials so that anyone from Vault 76 can use it."

"But, whilst you're all rebuilding our great nation, I have a mission of my own," the recording continued. "For so long, we have been out of contact with the outside world. I even lost contact with the other Vaults in Appalachia. I did not tell anyone in the Vault this, because I feared this would only spread fear and panic which would lead to anarchy. Hence why I left the Vault first to begin my investigation of what has happened in Appalachia. My first stop will the town of Flatwoods. Hopefully there are some survivors from the Great War who can tell me what's happened since the Bombs fell." The recording then ended.

"Flatwoods, that's just down the road," Aurora said to herself before she looked at the workbenches thoughtfully. Looking at the machete she had tied to Vault suit belt, she noticed that the edge looked a little dull and there were some spots of rust on it. "Could do with a clean and sharpen," she added as she pulled out the machete and walked over to one of the workbenches and prepared to clean and sharpen the blade.

Aurora then noticed that the blade was slightly bent out of shape and frowned. Taking a hammer from one of the drawers of the bench, she began to hammer the bend out of the blade. Raising the hammer into the air, Aurora brought the hammer down onto the flat of the blade. A ringing clang filled the air and vibrations went up Aurora's arm as the head of the hammer hit the steel of the machete's blade. Ignoring the vibrations in her arm, she raised the hammer into the air before quickly bringing it back down onto the machete. Another couple of strikes and Aurora looked down the length of the machete; the bend seemed to have been straightened out and she nodded with satisfaction.

Brushing her thumb against the edge of the blade, Aurora was right in her assessment that the blade needed sharpening. It was then a cough alerted Aurora. She whirled around and her purple eyes widened in surprise as she saw what she could only describe as a medieval knight standing before her.

Both Aurora and the knight stared at each other for a moment then the knight broke the silence. "Greetings," he said.

"Huh?" came Aurora's response which made her wince as it didn't sound very intelligent but the knight took it in stride or simply ignored it in favour of, "I am called Dragonborn. I am new to this region," he said.

"I'm… I'm Aurora. I just left the Vault," Aurora said in a small voice. "Are you… friendly?" she asked hesitantly as she held the machete tight in her hand. Aurora didn't feel that confident that she could fight this stranger and win, given that he was wearing heavy looking armour and the fact her machete had a dull edge.

"I mean you no harm, milady," Dragonborn said calmly. "My companions and I saw the glow of your fire and I went over to investigate," he explained.

"This… isn't my camp," Aurora said lamely. "This camp was the Overseer's," she added.

"Overseer? Was he your employer?" Dragonborn asked.

"She," Aurora corrected. "And she was in a way. She oversaw everything in Vault 76," she explained.

"I see," Dragonborn said. "Where is she now?" he asked.

"I don't know," Aurora said honestly. "She left the Vault before the rest of us did, but she left this camp behind for others to use. She's gone on her own mission to find out what's happened since the bombs fell," she added.

"I see," Dragonborn said nodding his head. Turning around, Dragonborn waved at someone and coming into view were five women. Aurora did her best to not stare at the five women; each of them were drop dead gorgeous, all of them blessed with womanly figures and astounding beauty. Each of them wore something different such as the blonde who wore pure white clothes that bared her midriff and showed off her cleavage with pants that looked like they were painted, or the platinum haired woman wearing skin-tight black leather with white fur collar and cuffs. The redhead wore the skimpiest outfit consisting of a scale-mail bikini barely holding together by thin leather strings.

"These… are your friends?" Aurora asked faintly as she tried not to stare or look judgemental.

"I wouldn't call them my friends just yet, but we were brought to this world for a common purpose," Dragonborn replied. "These are Emma Frost." The blonde wearing white nodded her head slightly. "Betsy Braddock." The purple-haired Asian gave a friendly smile. "Laura Kinney." The brunette nodded shyly in greeting. "Felicia Hardy." The platinum-haired leather wearing woman gave a grin and wave. "And this is Red Sonja." The redhead held a fist over her heart in greeting.

"Everyone, this is Aurora," Dragonborn told his companions.

"It's… a pleasure to meet you all," Aurora then said to Dragonborn's companions. "How is it you came here to Appalachia?" she asked.

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you," Betsy said with a chuckle.

"I'm pretty open-minded," Aurora said.

"Basically, a Daedric Prince and some other godlike entity brought us here for some kind of game they want to play with us as the chess pieces," Dragonborn said bluntly.

"A what-prince?" Aurora looked at Dragonborn who shrugged his shoulders and replied, "It's complicated. But apparently this region is under threat from plague. My companions had encountered with those who are afflicted with it."

"P-Plague?" Panic filled Aurora's eyes as she wondered if she should've stayed in the Vault after all.

"Yes. It's apparently afflicted this region and can not be easily cured," Dragonborn said.

"Oh god…" Aurora looked a little faint. "I think I need to sit down," she mumbled as she felt around for a chair. Emma quickly helped Aurora to a nearby chair and glared at Dragonborn.

"You could have worded that better," the ash-blonde haired woman said to the warrior.

"It's the truth."

"Maybe so, but you need to learn some tact."

"I did not see any reason to conceal the truth from her," Dragonborn said simply. Emma sighed tiredly before she looked at Aurora who was a little wide-eyed at the revelation of a plague afflicted Appalachia.

"Are you alright, luv? Do you need a minute?" Betsy asked the Vault Resident kindly.

"I'll be fine," Aurora replied with a murmur. Suddenly a thought crossed her mind and she exclaimed, "Oh god! Bella! She's out there!"

"Slow down, who's Bella?" Felicia asked her.

"She's my best friend. I grew up with her in the Vault!" Aurora replied. "What if she gets sick?!" she said frantically.

"Don't worry. If she's out there, we'll help you find her," Dragonborn said swiftly.

"We will?" Emma asked the warrior who nodded in confirmation. She sighed and said, "I suppose we will." She then looked at Aurora and asked, "Do you have any idea where your friend might've gone?"

"I'm not sure. She left the Vault while I was still asleep," Aurora said uncertainly.

"We were heading to Flatwoods, maybe your friend is there?" Betsy suggested.

"Yeah, she might be there already," Aurora said hopefully.

"Then let's move," Dragonborn said and he immediately went back onto the road and began to stride down it.

"Hey! Wait up!" Betsy called out to him. "Sorry about him. He tends to go on ahead of us from what we've seen," she then said to Aurora as they scrambled to catch up to the warrior.

"I can tell," Aurora mumbled as they jogged to catch up to Dragonborn.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: Third chapter of this is done and dusted. So now we've seen my Vault Resident OC meet up with the Dragonborn and his companions and next chapter they'll be arriving at Flatwoods where hopefully my OC's friend is there and begin their investigation of the Responders and maybe even deal with the problem of some out of control robots.

Other than that, I haven't go too much more to say, so I'll just leave this here and see you all in the next one.

Be kind to one another,

Angry lil' elf.