25
He couldn't believe Patience had cheap-shotted him like that. Then again, thinking about how blurred and flexible that hero complex of hers was, he could.
Regaining consciousness, with his face in the dirt, he felt like leaving her to it. Damn the woman and her stupid ideas! As soon as the mushed feeling in his head cleared, he picked up the scope and tried to search for her in the twisting darkness of the trenches, lit only by the strips of lights and barrels burning at various points. He couldn't find her, not that he expected to be able to.
What he could see were the dozens of Super Mutants that the idiot was going to try to sneak her way past. It wasn't going to happen. Super Mutants may not be the brightest of individuals but neither were they completely stupid. Patience was going to get caught and, as much as he felt she'd deserve everything she got, for being such a fool, at the very least, he couldn't sit here and let that happen.
He pounded the dried mud with his fist as he fought with his instincts. Looking over his shoulder, he glared at the power armour. What was the point of getting the damned suit if she was going to throw the plan out of the window and go solo into enemy territory? Well, as his drill instructor always told him, stick to the plan until the plan got busted, then make another plan. He still had the power armour. He still had the mini-gun and he still had the charges, ready to blow.
Scrambling backwards until he was sure he was out of sight, he then stood up and ran, crouching towards the armour. He'd taped the detonator to the left arm of the armour. All he had to do was get into position and then light it up. He'd heard tales of a mid-year celebration, once, where people sent mini explosives flying into the air. Where people would gather, families and friends, celebrating together. Maybe, after tonight, they might restart that tradition in his name.
He couldn't let Patience hog all the glory.
The power armour folded in around him and he began to control his breathing, as his instructors had taught him. Things could get hot inside the armour, the enclosed space could cause some rookies to panic, but not him. Not tonight. He felt the electric thrill of the armour powering up around him. Servos resetting, pistons preparing, electrical systems powering through pre-combat checks. Everything was a go.
Bending one knee, he reached down, picking up the mini-gun, almost weightless in the grip of his armoured hands, ammunition bag attached to the rear of the armour. He tested the rotation of the mini-gun, the barrels whipping around with that unmistakeable whine that would be the last, worst thing anyone would hear facing the wrong end of the weapon. Satisfied, he piloted the armour back over to the area where he'd set the charges.
As he moved along the mall, his armoured feet crunching loose stone with each step, the sensors within the helmet brought up movement in various places on all sides of the trench network. More idiots, like himself, dragged into this foolish enterprise, but, he'd be damned if Patience hadn't got people out there. People, as Three Dog would say, willing to fight the Good Fight.
He reached the penetration point. The area where he and Patience had decided would be best to have the Super Mutants running to once all hell broke loose. He made the armour rest on one knee as he placed the mini-gun on the ground beside him. He was already sweating in the armour, through exertion or through adrenalin rushing through his body, he didn't know. Could be he was still feeling the effects of the StimPak. Either way, his heart pumping, he was ready to push the button.
"And what the hell do you think you're doing, Brother Vincent?" The electronically modulated voice came from behind and Vincent swivelled around towards it.
"Knight Captain Hazel?" The unmistakeable armour of the Knight Captain loomed over his kneeling form. Behind the Captain, Vincent could see others, Knight Foreman, Knight Bitterman, Knight Kowalski and three others, hidden by the other bulky Brotherhood of Steel members. "I can explain."
"I'm sure you can, soldier. Like how a shit-ton of supplies mysteriously go missing just as an 'accident' smoked out the entire lower floor of the GNR building?" Knight Captain Hazel made her armour take a knee beside Vincent, the other six following suit. "Or, maybe, you can explain why the fuck you haven't returned to your assigned mission?"
Vincent struggled to find the right words that wouldn't end with his Court Martial. He looked down at his arm, the detonator, bright red, begging him to press it, and then he looked back towards the trenches. Down there, somewhere, Patience was about to get her stupid ass killed. He could kowtow to orders, right here, and let her die alone, but he had to decide.
"With respect, Sir. I don't give a shit about my assigned task." He waited, expecting the bawl out of the century.
"Good to hear, soldier. Three Dog told us some home truths, earlier. Kind of made us feel like shit. We don't like feeling like shit. Ain't that right, boys and girls?" Vincent heard distorted voices sounding off in agreement. "So, what's the situation?"
"I have charges placed at this end of the trenches. The plan is to raise hell, get the Super Mutants running this way, then make a tactical withdrawal, keeping them out of the way while the civilian, Patience, infiltrates the enemy lines to rescue her friends." With her helmet on, Vincent couldn't tell what Knight Captain Hazel was thinking. "To rescue our friends."
"Tactical withdrawal, huh?" Hazel nodded and scanned towards the trenches below. "But you're not going to withdraw, are you, Brother Vincent? I'm not stupid. You know a tactical withdrawal won't keep the big yellow snots occupied long enough. You're going in."
Vincent said nothing. Even with their faces covered by the power armour helmets, Knight Captain Hazel could read all of them like cheap books. Nothing escaped her. He had made the decision as soon as his head had cleared after regaining consciousness. He couldn't let Patience down again. Sticking to plans, following orders, staying on mission, it all meant nothing if it didn't stand for something. Going in to give Patience time? That stood for something.
"Yes, Sir." His hand hovered over the detonator on his arm.
"Then what are you waiting for, soldier? Raise some hell!" She turned to the other Knights, raising her firearm in the air. "Come on you apes! Do you want to live forever?"
All eight of them raised up to their full power armoured heights. Vincent felt something he hadn't felt in a long while. Maybe even ever. He felt pride.
He pressed the detonator and watched as explosions plumed along the edge of the trenches, lighting the sky for miles around and, in the light of the explosions he could see dozens, perhaps hundreds of people lining the trenches. This was a celebration and friends and families had come to celebrate with them.
With the detonation of the charges and the tumult of the Wastelanders' 'attack', the majority of the Super Mutants fell into disarray. The captives she freed ran in the direction she indicated, forgotten by their captors and Patience hugged the trench wall, crouched beside a makeshift barrel brazier, its contents burning low.
Patience found luck to be with her as, one after the other, Super Mutants ran towards the far end of the trench network, heading out to counter the attack that she hoped wasn't really happening and passing her by, unnoticed. She had made it clear to Three Dog that she only needed a distraction, not an all out war. If people died to give her the opportunity to save two people, it would be a wasteful sacrifice, as far as she felt concerned.
As soon as the activity around her died down, moving further up the trenches, Patience began to move towards the bunker door where the King had taken her friends. She could hear the noises of gunfire, rifles, shotguns and mini-guns, all unmistakeable sounds to her ears. Explosions from grenades and even missiles echoed through the tight trench network. It didn't sound like only a distraction. She cursed herself for not making her orders clear enough.
Regardless, she was here, now, and she needed to find her way to the bunker. Anyone else could become confused by the intricate nature of the trenches, but she had the network memorised seconds after observing it through her scope. Two more turns and she'd be there.
Poking her head around the first corner, she saw the coast was clear. She pushed down the urge to run to the next corner, instead she crouch walked, sweeping her rifle forwards and back, keeping every angle of attack covered as much as one person could.
Half-way to the next corner, she almost fired as someone ran around the corner. It was a human. A man. Half-crazed, he ran towards her, screaming and staring at his hands. She lowered her rifle, trying to grab him to tell him the direction to run. He stared at her as if she were a Super Mutant.
"He cut me! He cut me and himself. Oh, god!" Patience grabbed the man's hand, turning it over. She saw a cut on his palm that appeared to be healing. The hand swollen and discoloured in the light of the strings of bulbs attached to the trench walls. "He's making me into one of them!"
Before Patience's eyes, she saw the man begin to transform. His hands swelling and growing, his face bubbling, his hair falling out in chunks, landing at his feet. As she watched, he began to grow in height, his clothes ripping and tearing as his muscles expanded.
She took out her sidearm and shot him five times in the face. It was a mercy.
Patience didn't have time to debate with herself over her action. Taking one last look to make certain the man was dead, she replaced her sidearm, raised her rifle back into position and continued on to the next corner, keeping low. She could berate herself later about killing an innocent man, right now, she had to keep moving.
Reaching the last corner before the bunker, she eased her head around in a fast reconnaissance. As she had feared, the bunker door still had two Super Mutants guarding it. Why they hadn't joined in the fray at the far end of the trenches, she didn't know. It was possible the King had greater authority over some of the creatures more than others, or that they were simply too stupid to disobey orders. Either way, they were between her and the bunker door and she had to get through them to reach it.
She took a few seconds to breathe and prepare for the assault and then had a thought. She raised her left arm and switched on her Pip-Boy. She flicked through the options until she found what she was looking for, firing up the 'VATS' option. She was going to need all the help she could get. As an afterthought, she turned on the radio, raising the volume to maximum and nodded in appreciation as Smiley Lewis and 'I Hear You Knocking' raged from the speaker.
Taking two grenades from the bandolier, she pulled the pins, holding the spring levers tight and walked around the corner.
"Hey! You! You ugly sons of bitches!" That caught the attention of the two Super Mutant guards and they began to lumber her way. She calculated the distance and sent the two grenades rolling along the ground towards them, ducking back around the corner.
The dual explosion sent debris flying past the corner, the wall of the trench shifted against her body and, what looked like, a Super Mutant hand spun through the air, slapping against the far wall of the trench. She gave it a couple of seconds and then whipped around the corner. The light from her Pip-Boy's 'VATS' technology lit up the area, revealing both Super Mutants were still, somehow, alive.
She stalked through the haze left by the grenades and found the Super Mutants. One crawled back the way it had come, stretching its fat, yellow fingers back towards the legs the grenades had blown from its body. The other sat against the trench wall, clawing at its head with its one remaining hand, trying to push the skin of its face back up into position.
'VATS' recommended head shots for them both and she hated to disappoint the device. She stomped her foot in the chest of the one with no face and let loose half a magazine into its skull. Turning, she reached the other one, moaning pathetically as it tried to hold its leg to the wrong stump on its body. She finished the magazine into that one's face.
She popped the empty magazine, placing it away into a pouch at her back and taking out a new magazine in the same movement. She slapped it into place and cycled the rifle, ready to launch more bullets into any Super Mutant that came her way.
Almost disappointed that no reinforcements came, she moved on towards the bunker door.
Valrie couldn't feel her arms anymore, the ropes cutting in to her wrists, and she waggled her fingers, desperate to get some blood flowing, however small an amount. She wondered how the Super Mutants were able to tie the ropes so tight with their fat, cumbersome fingers. A strange thought to make as the creatures led them down, further into the bunker.
Gia had stopped crying, letting out the occasional sniff, but Valrie could tell the girl still felt terrified under the eyes of the Super Mutants. That little revelation, of her parents taken and turned into these monsters, had hit Valrie. Gia had seemed so fresh and cheeky and vibrant. She had no idea that the girl had such trauma in her past.
Everyone had a tale, in the Wasteland, some were more tragic than others and Valrie had, like many others, become anaesthetised to it all. Gia's story had hit home. It could be the amount of time they had spent together had caused Valrie to care about the girl a little more than she expected. Or it could be having your parents ripped away from you and transformed into Super Mutants before your eyes happened to be one of the more horrific stories she'd heard. Either way, she wished she could throw off the ropes and give Gia a hug.
"Where do you think they're taking us?" Gia thought she was whispering, but it came out in an echoing hiss, causing one of the Super Mutants to turn and growl.
"I don't know." She avoided Gia's eyes.
Only moments ago, a man had passed them, pushed by another Super Mutant, staring at his hands and babbling. In the dim bulkhead lights, Valrie had seen the discolouration of the man's skin, the cut on the palm of his hand. And she had caught a couple of the words he ranted. Somehow, the Super Mutants had infected him. It wouldn't be long until that man became a Super Mutant himself and she feared that was what was going to happen to them, too.
Eventually, they found themselves shoved into a room. It was stark. Almost empty, save for a line of five, terrified civilians against one wall and the Super Mutant King stood before them, leaning on its sword. The King's head almost brushed the ceiling as it inspected the civilians. It turned and smiled as Valrie and Gia found themselves forced into the room.
"Ah! My newest recruits." The King pointed to the wall. "Untie them and line them up."
One of the Super Mutants grabbed Valrie, spinning her around. It then cut the ropes from her wrists, pushing her against the wall and repeated the process with Gia. The pins and needles sensation hit Valrie's arms straight away as the blood rushed back into her hands. She rubbed them and shook them, trying to ease the pain as soon as she could.
"Don't bet on me not trying to kill you, you ugly fuck." It was bravado. She had nothing else to fight with. "Give it a few minutes and our friend'll be down here blowing every last one of you fuckers to hell."
"Good. I'm counting on it!" The King moved to the other side of the room, leaning its sword against the wall, then returned to stand before the humans. "She may just be what I'm looking for."
"You won't have to wait for long, asshole! Patience will come for us!" Valrie had to hold Gia back as the young ex-raider found her bravery, even as she still appeared terrified.
"Patience. That's what she calls herself now?" The King looked up, nodding his head. "You know, I wasn't certain it was her. She smelled familiar, but that look in her eyes? That was different. Took me a day or two to work out that she was what I needed."
"You don't know her. Don't try to fuck with us, snot boy." Valrie wished the creature would get it over and done with. Mutated or killed. Anything to end the whole damned thing.
"Oh, I know her. Well, of her. We're the same, she and I." The King showed Valrie its left arm, a series of scars and holes dotted the forearm. "I'm from the same vault. The same experiment. I was supposed to end the Super Mutant menace, but look at me now. I rule."
"You're nothing like her! She's kind and brave and she's coming. Coming to kick your ass!" Gia tried to shake Valrie's hands from her shoulders. What she thought she could do, Valrie didn't know. The King, meanwhile, laughed. A heavy, rumbling laugh.
"They sent me out here, just like they sent her. To infect the Super Mutants with a new virus. One to end their threat once and for all. Instead, it made me into this, King of the Super Mutants. All the power and strength, but with all my intelligence and skills." Placing his huge hand on Gia's head, the King ruffled her hair, playful. "When she gets here, right where we're stood, her Pip-Boy will activate. A powerful version of the virus will surge through her body and, within seconds, I'll have a queen to rule at my side. With two of us, we'll own this world."
"You are one fucked up son of a bitch if you think she'll join you." Valrie squeezed Gia's shoulders. The girl no longer struggled to get at the King.
Everyone's heads turned as the sound of an explosion came echoing and reverberating down the tunnel from the entrance. The King grinned, taking a knife from behind its back. He cut a deep slash into its own hand and then grabbed the hand of one of the civilians, cutting it and forcing their cut against its own. It repeated the action with the other four civilians and pushed them out of the doorway, back towards the entrance.
"Just a little something to keep her occupied." The King gave Valrie a grotesque looking wink. "The virus will work faster if she's tired. Hold them. Keep them quiet."
The two Super Mutants grabbed Valrie and Gia, putting their huge hands over their mouths. Valrie gagged at the smell, but there was nothing she could do. She couldn't even move her head as she tried to look to the side for Gia. Patience was coming, but what she didn't realise was, she wasn't coming to destroy the Super Mutants. She was coming to join them.