24
Patience stared down into the basement, shining her Pip-Boy's flashlight into the darkness as Vincent worked upon the power armour. He had already sent up the mini-gun and ammunition, via the pulley and harness stolen from the Brotherhood of Steel. Before that he had taken the dog tags from the dead Knight and covered her with a scrap of material found in the dark.
"Are you sure we can get that out of there?" She called as he attached ropes onto the hook points on the shoulders of the armour. "It looks pretty heavy."
"Sure. This rope and that pulley were designed for these things. I'm more worried the building structure won't take the weight." He pointed up at the pulley attached to a section of floor above her head. "If not, we're going to have to just go without it."
Patience frowned as he continued working. They had already wasted too much time trying to get the Brotherhood of Steel involved and now even more time slipped past. The fact was that between them, as they were, they wouldn't stand a chance against the Super Mutants, especially the numbers they would be meeting when they reached the Mall.
Yet, every second they took away from the Mall was one second too many that Valrie and Gia were in the hands of those monsters. She glanced at the Pip-Boy screen where the words 'Proceed to Location Two' continued to flash on the map. She wasn't sure what would happen upon reaching Location Two. All that she knew was that her friends were there and so was the Super Mutant 'King'. Whether her friends were still alive was a different story.
She heard a distinct rising hum from below and saw Vincent securing something in the rear of the power armour, a glowing tube of some kind. The fusion core Vincent had mentioned. He looked up at Patience, taking a deep breath, then stepped into the back of the power armour. At first nothing happened, but then whirring noises began, pieces of the armour began ratcheting in on themselves, closing together and capturing Vincent inside.
"Systems are ... good. Everything appears to be functioning." Vincents voice came out of the power armour's speakers, distorted and metallic. "Step back. I'm going to start pulling myself up."
Powerful motors began to hum as Vincent's armoured hands grabbed the rope. It was going to be awkward, pulling himself up, but he assured her he could do it. He began by taking one long pull on the rope, lifting the power armour forwards instead of up, it's large feet dragging upon the basement floor. When he was directly beneath the pulley, he began pulling in earnest.
It was slow work, at first and the rope slipped in the metallic grip more than once, but soon, Vincent started getting the hang of it, pulling with one hand, securing with the other, pulling again. When the power armour's head crested the edge of the hole, Patience heard a strained creaking. Looking up, she saw the pulley's bolts loosening in the floor above.
"The pulley's coming loose! Just a few more feet!" She shouted even though she felt certain the power armour had microphones for the person inside to hear things.
"Stand back! With the weight on this rope, if it gives way, it'll cut you in half!" Vincent reached up, grabbing the rope once more as Patience backed away a few feet, fighting against the urge to grab the rope and help to pull him up.
The power armour had now lifted slightly above the edge of the hole. All Vincent had to do was place the armour's feet onto the floor of this level. One foot moved forward and that was when the pulley's bolts gave way. The rope whipped through the air pinging off the metal armour, leaving a long scratch on the surface. The pulley fell into the hole and the power armour disappeared from sight.
Through the cloud of dust dropped from the broken ceiling, Patience ran to the side of the hole. There, at the edge, fingers dug into the surface of the floor, was the hand of the power armour. The rest dangled into the darkness of the basement. Vincent threw the other hand upwards, slapping the floor with a clang and then a crunch as he dug the suit's fingers deep into the concrete.
There was a pause as Patience heard heavy breathing emerge from the power armour's tinny speakers. She had no idea using the power armour caused so much exertion. There was nothing she could do to help and this infuriated her. She wanted to grab one of the hands and pull Vincent up, but she knew the weight was far beyond her.
"Are you okay? Is that it? Do you just drop, or what?" She could feel herself stepping forward and back again, looking around for something, anything, to help.
"I'm okay. Just ... just give me a second." Vincent's voice sounded strained. Patience wondered what the point of the armour was if it strained the wearers so much.
A few seconds passed and Vincent's breathing started to come slower and deeper. Soon, he lifted one hand from its purchase on the floor, stretched it forward and slammed it down into the concrete again, pulling himself a few inches forward. A second later he did the same with the other hand and then again with the first.
Long agonising seconds passed as Vincent continued to make progress until the entire body of the power armour now lay upon the concrete floor. He stayed there for a short while, spread eagled, face down, unmoving, and then with the sound of motors, pistons and gears, Vincent pushed up from the floor and gained his feet.
He towered over Patience at the best of times, but now, in the power armour adding several more inches to his height, he positively loomed over her. Patience wondered to herself whether it would be a fair fight now that he had the advantage of the armour and laughed to herself, snorting at the ridiculousness of thinking such a thing at this time. That, she thought, was the Vault's programming in action.
"What's so funny?" The head of the power armour turned, almost independent of the rest of the suit, and looked down at Patience.
"Oh, nothing. Just releasing some of the stress of the situation." She covered her mouth as she continued trying to suppress her sniggering.
"Well, when you're ready, we've got some Super Mutant asses to kick." Vincent manoeuvred the power armour over to where the mini-gun lay, picking it up. The walking tank moved in a surprising, graceful way.
"You're right." Patience picked up her rifle, slipping the strap over her head and securing it across her chest. "It's time we showed those Super Mutants what pain is."
With Vincent stomping behind her, Patience left the building and headed towards the entrance to the nearest Metro station. It would be a short trip underground before they would get to the Mall, but Vincent had got intel from his fellow Brotherhood Knights that those tunnels were clear.
Soon, she would find Valrie and Gia and liberate them from their captors. Alive or dead, Patience would not allow them to remain alone for much longer.
"This one's going out to all you folks who still want to fight the Good Fight. To those people who hope for a better future. That pray to your God, or gods, or even those that don't pray, for a better life. A safer life. This is the time, brothers and sisters. This is the time.
That vault dweller, our Beautiful Stranger, is putting her life on the line, tonight, for you.
She's heading out for one last shot at the menace that has flooded the rubble strewn streets of the Downtown ruins. You know what I mean. You know who I mean.
I'm talking to you, who've lost loved ones to these monsters. I'm talking to you, who've found yourselves forced out of your homes. I'm talking to, who have simply had enough.
Now, our Avenging Angel does not want you to put your lives at risk. She doesn't want anybody else to die. She only wants your noise. She wants you to be loud. She wants you to be proud Capital Wastelanders, fighting for your home with your voices and whatever else you can use, even your precious ammo and explosives.
Simply go to the Mall. When the time is right, you'll know. When the noise needs to start, you'll all see the signal. But when those Super Mutant bastards come for you, you run. You don't fight.
That's her job. The Beautiful Stranger will do your fighting for you.
So, here's to you, proud Wastelanders. I'm calling you out, Raiders. This is your home too. Reilly's Rangers, you better be there. The ghouls of Underworld, she's doing this for everyone, you included. Talon Company? You bet your ass you better man up. And the Bee-Oh-Ess? Brotherhood of Steel? She's doing what you should have already done. Get your power armoured butts down there and back her up!
A hero is walking out there to die tonight. For all of you!
Don't let her die alone.
This is Three Dog, heading out to make some noise."
Meanwhile ...
Valrie opened her eyes and it hurt. In fact, everything fucking hurt. Even her hair. Alright, maybe that last bit was an exaggeration, but it felt like it. Her arms, tied behind her back, felt like they'd swollen to twice their size. Her legs, folded under her, felt numb. The side of her head felt like it had stuck in place, like she'd plastered make-up on with a trowel and a quick rub against her shoulder showed her why as flakes of dried blood stuck to her coat.
Through unfocussed eyes, she tried to work out where she was. It wasn't the Vault-Tec HQ, that was for certain. There were no buildings in sight, only the steep sides of what appeared to be trenches, dug into yellowing mud. A few foot boards laid, haphazard, upon the ground and she saw strings of lights adorning the sides of the trench.
It was night. The hazy nature of the sky causing the stars to warp and twinkle in that strange, beautiful way she loved to see out in the Wasteland. Here, it only stood to remind her she wasn't home anymore. Following a young woman with a saviour complex through the streets of Downtown D.C.. A decision that she thoroughly regretted right now, but would regret regretting later once she saw that stern, earnest face of Patience once again.
She looked to both sides. On the one side was some kid that she didn't recognise. Probably some doped up raider caught with their pants down. To the other, she saw Gia and her heart skipped a beat. The girl didn't appear to move, cuts and bruises all over her body. Valrie watched her for a few seconds until she felt certain she could see the kid breathing. At least she seemed alive, if a little battered.
Beyond Gia, Valrie could see a row of people stretching off along the side of the trench, all tied with their hands behind their backs. All looking terrified and damaged in some way. And there, stomping down the trench towards her, came a Super Mutant. Carrying an assault rifle in its huge hands, the trigger guard snapped off to allow those thick fingers to fire the weapon.
Under normal circumstances, she would have said something. Called the big, vomit yellow monster a fucker and demanded to know what was happening. For once in her life, she decided to keep her mouth shut and suppressing that urge to run her mouth off felt like a knife in the gut. Words were her weapons, but her words wouldn't help against these creatures. You can't embarrass something that stupid. Even though she was desperate to try. The only thing it would cause would be a back-handed slap by hands the size of most people's bodies.
"I didn't bite it!" Gia jumped to her knees, almost wide awake as soon as her eyes opened. The girl looked around, confused for a second. "Wait. This isn't my pad. Wait. I don't have a pad. Where is this?"
"Gia! Keep the noise down!" Valrie tried to shuffle towards Gia. "You need to keep quiet."
"Valrie! Hey! You have hair!" Gia attempted to reach towards Valrie's head, only to realise her hands were tightly tied. "Why are my hands tied? I'm not against kinky stuff, but I like to be asked first. Why are we tied up, Valrie?"
"Will you shut the fuck up!" She hissed at Gia as the Super Mutant came even closer.
Too late. The Super Mutant saw Gia scrambling against her bonds. It stomped towards them both, crossing the distance with long strides. It grabbed Gia by the scruff of her neck and lifted her up, thrusting its face close to Gia's. Gia lost all colour in her face, her mouth working, but no sound emerging, her eyes wide and filled with terror.
"Human quiet, or human die." It growled into Gia's face and all Gia could do was whimper as warm liquid dribbled from the leg of her pants. With a flick of its hand, the Super Mutant tossed Gia back to the ground.
As the Super Mutant moved on, Gia shuffled up against the wall, desperate to feel something comforting, if only the cold mud of the trench wall. Tears streamed down the girl's face as Valrie tried to get as close as possible to her young friend, resting her shoulder beneath Gia's chin, leaning in and kissing the girl's head.
"It's okay, Gia. It's okay." Valrie could feel Gia's entire body shaking.
"I peed myself." Gia sobbed into Valrie's shoulder.
"Don't you worry about that. I'm here. I'm with you." She wasn't used to be being the caring person in any kind of relationship, either with her few lovers, or with almost as few friends. She was the hard ass. The one without cares. Right now, she needed to care.
"I can't. I won't!" The young girl couldn't get any closer to Valrie if she tried, staring down at the floor, mumbling, weeping. "They took her. I hid and they took her and I followed and watched. They turned her into one of them. My mom. They took my mom! I won't be turned into one. I won't! I'll die first. I'll die!"
"Gia! You have to listen to me." It was difficult, but Valrie to tried to be gentle as she used her shoulder to nudge Gia's chin upwards, to look into her eyes. "I need you to be brave. Braver than you've ever fucking been. I need you to think of Patience. She's coming for us. You know she is. I fucking know she is. Be brave, like Patience."
"Like Patience?" Gia sniffed through the sobs, a blob of snot dribbling from her nose. Without thinking, the girl rubbed her nose on Valrie's coat.
"Yeah. Be brave. Be a fucking hero. Just like Patience." Once again, Valrie leaned in and kissed Gia's head. The girl needed the comfort.
"Interesting." The voice boomed from behind Valrie and she knew, without even looking, who, or rather, what the voice came from. The Super Mutant 'King'. "I know you."
With his huge sword in hand, the King stepped into view. It cocked its head to the side and crouched down before Valrie and Gia. Even crouching, it still would have towered over them both. The King even appeared to smile as it reached out a huge, meaty hand, gently turning Valrie's face from one side to the other.
"And I know you, too, you big ugly mother fucker." She spat into the King's face and regretted it immediately. She didn't care if she died, but she may just have killed Gia, too. "Go fuck yourself."
"Feisty! I like feisty. It makes all this even more fun." The King laughed, wiping the spit from its face and then rubbed its hand on Valrie's coat. It turned to a Super Mutant beside it and stood up. "These two. Do not damage them!"
The King strode away, throwing its sword onto its shoulder, still laughing. The other Super Mutant pulled Valrie and Gia to their feet and pushed them forwards to follow the King. Valrie looked at Gia, still terrified, still crying, but with a hint of defiance in her eyes. Gia's way of being brave.
Unfortunately, what Valrie had told Gia was bullshit. She was lucky the girl didn't know that. Patience wasn't coming. Valrie doubted she was even alive, but, even if she was, there was no way she could get to them. As they turned the curve in the trench and saw what was ahead, she realised how true that was.
When she got to thirty Super Mutants and lost count, she knew she was as good as dead.
Through the scope Vincent had borrowed from the Brotherhood of Steel, Patience watched from her prone position above the trench network as she saw Valrie and Gia pushed through the doorway into what she could only imagine was a bunker of some kind. She lowered the scope and chewed on a fingernail as she considered her next move.
Raising the scope again, she surveyed the trench network and tried to count the number of Super Mutants and captives. There were around a hundred Super Mutants and almost as many captives, that she could see. Some areas of the trench network were out of her sight line and they could hide the same numbers of Super Mutants and captives.
Using stealth, she could, most likely, reach the bunker door undetected. Getting in, finding Valrie and Gia and getting out again would be another thing entirely. Two Super Mutants guarded the door entrance and movement in and out of the bunker by Super Mutants made keeping track was difficult. Apart from the different pieces of scrap they used for armour, she had no way of telling the creatures apart. They could be the same ones coming and going or different ones altogether.
She snapped her sidearm upwards at the sound coming from her left, only lowering it when she saw Vincent scrambling towards her, keeping extra low. He dropped to the ground beside her and raised his own scope to survey the area below. His power armour stood, looming and impassive a few feet behind where they lay.
"I've set charges in several locations up towards the Washington Memorial." He used his hand to indicate the areas. "Say the word and I'll suit up and be in position before you know it."
"There's too many of them." She flipped over onto her back, staring up at the cloudless sky. "It's going to be a bloodbath."
"What are you talking about? If anybody comes to help, and that's a big if, they know to retreat as soon as they're fired upon. You heard Three Dog on the radio." He raised the scope again and lowered it just as quick. "Look, I won't say it's the greatest plan ever, but it's all we have. You can't back out now. Valrie and Gia are down there."
"I know, and so are dozens of captured civilians." She covered her face with her hands, rubbing until her face burned. "We start this, they're all going to die. I can't justify their deaths for two people. Can I?"
"Are you crazy? What? Are you just going to abandon Valrie and Gia?" She heard him sigh. "Listen, all those people? They're already dead, or worse, they just don't know it yet. Doing this, sticking to the plan isn't going to change a damned thing as far as that's concerned. Dead with the plan, dead without the plan. Dead or turned into those things."
"No. I can't." She looked at the Pip-Boy on her arm, still blinking those words. 'Proceed to Location Two'. She could zoom in and see where Location Two was. Right where that door to the bunker stood. "I'm going in alone."
"The hell you are!" Vincent grabbed her jaw and turned her head to face him. There was genuine anger there. Genuine concern. "We stick to the damned plan! We stick to the mission! If I don't draw those shits away from you, you'll be dead before you even reach the girls."
"I'm dead anyway." She tapped the screen in her Pip-Boy. "I go down there and this thing activates, or I have to activate it. Doesn't matter. This, whatever this is, kills me or the King kills me, I'm dead either way."
"We stick to the plan!" He growled. He wasn't listening. Retreating back into his training. Follow the plan. Complete the mission.
Without any warning, she rolled over from her back, mounting his back, wrapping her left arm under his throat, grabbing the crook of her other elbow and pushing the back of his head down with her right arm. She squeezed. Vincent tried to push himself upwards, but she slipped her feet between his legs, pushing them apart. Still, he pushed up with one arm as he scrabbled to pull her arm from his throat. She held on tight, cutting off his blood flow. Faster than choking him, but more chance of hurting him. It was a choice she was willing to make.
Still, he struggled for longer than she expected. The tough bastard. It felt like long minutes had passed, but she knew it was only seconds. He slumped forwards, unconscious, and she released her hold, checking his pulse. Thready, but alive. She pushed herself back up, rolling to the side and picking up her Chinese assault rifle.
She didn't know how long Vincent would remain unconscious. She hoped it would be long enough for her to reach the bunker, at least, then there would be no need for the distraction they had planned. No need for the charges to blow. No need to set the Super Mutants into a panic. It would be her against the King and any Super Mutant that got in her way. She checked the bandolier of grenades, 'borrowed' from the Brotherhood of Steel, and her ammo pouches.
Satisfied, she started out towards the trench network, keeping low, switching from cover to cover, avoiding silhouetting herself against the night sky. Super Mutants, apart from the King, weren't the greatest of minds but even they could tell the signs of a human moving in the night.
Several times, she threw herself to the ground as Super Mutants came into view, grumbling and growling to themselves, slouching and stomping through the trenches. It was a miracle that she wasn't caught, but then, turning around a sharp bend in the trench, her luck ran out.
Somehow, she had found herself near a group of captives, kneeling upon the ground of the trench, their hands tied behind their backs. She didn't know if these captives had moved here after she entered the trenches, or whether they had been out of sight when she'd surveyed the area. Either way, they saw her.
"Help us! You have to help us!" Several voices, all begging the same thing. Men, women, children. Staring, wide-eyed and terrified, pleading. "Help us!"
Urging panicking people to be quiet would do no good and their cries carried, bouncing against the walls of the trenches. Caught by the ears of a Super Mutant. It lumbered from a side trench, ready to deal out heavy-handed retribution against those talking, until it saw Patience.
"Human escape?" It spied Patience's weapons, licking its curled back lips. "No. New human. Dead human!"
The Super Mutant punched its massive fist into its hand and began moving towards her. It was too late, now, to care about going undetected. She'd blown it and now she's signed Valrie and Gia's death warrants. She brought her rifle up to bear upon the Super Mutant, aiming for its bulbous face.
And then there was an explosion. To the east, a flash of warm, orange light plumed over the tops of the trenches, briefly lighting up the towering needle of the Washington Memorial. Then another explosion occurred and then another. Vincent had not remained unconscious long. Another explosion followed and then another. And then something strange happened.
She heard shouting. From all sides. Not Super Mutants, but human voices. Shouting and screaming from beyond the edges of the trenches and the voices were then joined by gunfire and the smaller explosions of grenades. The Wastelanders had come!
The explosions, gunfire and shouts had distracted the Super Mutant, confusing its mutated brain. It seemed to have forgotten Patience was there. But she hadn't forgotten it. She shoved her rifle up close to its face and squeezed the trigger, sending bullets ripping through the creature's face turning it into an unrecognisable mush, before it fell backwards to the ground.
Patience grabbed a sharp, shard of metal from the Super Mutant's belt, presumably some kind of knife. She ran to the civilians and cut the bonds of the first one, handing them the shard to cut the others free. She pointed in the direction they needed to run and then turned the other way.
She had her friends to save.