CHAPTER 9.
Going... Going... There's Another Going Too.
He never imagined killing things would have been such a big thing in his life.
He never imagined he'd ever have to kill anything in general to get by.
There was a clarity of innocence.
It was brief, and it unfortunately did not stand out from the blurriness of time anymore, but it was there, it HAD been there anyway...
Now though, Sanford had been down the road too far to consider that old time.
He had killed things. Animals, monsters, people, just to survive. And he had done it a lot.
Life, in the wasteland, was just another resource that some did not have value in or for. It was not cherished, and it was not preserved- to the most powerful and corrupt, life was another form of ammunition to expend in gaining influence.
All this time, Sanford had been expending this ammunition being thrown at him.
Now, he was burning through it.
A small tinge of corruption was lacing him a bit.
After all, things like thugs and lowlives... Creatures he'd never have gone near before, were falling under his boots one after the other.
Sanford heaved with effort- pulling free his red-coated gauntlet from the caved-in structuring of a Raider goon's gut- he pushed the twitching man's shoulder with the side of his gun, and the body toppled with a few convulsions onto the concrete.
Snapping his weapon to aim down the sights- Sanford fired once -someone fell from the mesh balcony above the level he stood in, impacted an old industrial generator's roof with a hollow thudding, and vanished in a pile of junk in the back of the factory.
Breathing profusely, he stepped over several ankles, arms, limbs in general that splayed from a number of dead marauders that lie strewn the center of the chamber.
The Raiders were caught by surprise. After all, everyone in the area knew who they were, what their reputation was- how could any of them suspect some lunatic in a titan-suit would burst through the front door and starting machine-gunning everyone?
No one. That's correct.
Sanford and Hancock had gone to town- it only took a few minutes, Sanford killed what looked like guys in charge, and the Raiders started to try and run.
A few held out until the end- it WAS Raiders in question.
But many of the shots he and Hancock had made for the killing blow, were in Raiders' backs.
However, on the contrary thought of say feeling guilt- Sanford could not feel sorry for the destruction of these people. They were evil, evil, EVIL lowlives. They did horrible things to innocent people. They were scum. Sanford was just the sponge to scrape them away.
Hancock's static-laced voice contacted him via communication bead in the chin of his suit's helmet.
"-Building is clear, sir!"
"Good. Come back to me."
The factory was caught in a solemn silence after the fight, the whole world must have felt the same surreal feeling he did.
Sanford placed a gauntlet on the hip of his suit, getting a rattling noise of all the stuff he had magnetically hung there like some makeshift backpack.
They were going to be RICH after all this. The amount of caps, weapons and ammunition was staggering.
Smiling heartily, the scavenger wheeled around when Hancock levitated down from a mesh platform over his head.
"Ding-Ding! Bottom floor- cadavers, free pickups and skewered faces all in one!"
"This is unbelievable. We're getting so far in just a day, Han'."
"Unbelievable, and DASHINGLY EPIC!"
Sanford and Hancock would soon move to depart from the complex- traversing a maze of carnage that they rendered from the previously marauder-owned fortress.
Matted in sweat, and stinking profusely- Sanford was grateful his robotic companion didn't have nostrils, because after all that running, dodging, side-stepping and melee fighting- he was ripe. REALLY ripe.
"You smell like a walking dumpster, sir! Just thought I'd point that out."
Sanford's grateful grin flat-lined.
Actually, thinking about it, Hancock was an asshole. Nostrils or not.
Walking, and levitating through the wastes they went- and not even a mile away from the factory, they heard a peculiar drone in the ambience of the sky above.
whmwhmwhmwhmwhmwhm-
"-What the hell is that?" Sanford muttered, helm jutting to view the sky.
"Maybe it's a dying elk!" Hancock reasoned.
"Yeah, SURE. Could be the Incredible Hulk taking a crap too, right?"
"Go suck on some twigs, monkey-man!"
"Shut up already-"
WHMWHMWHMWHMWHMWHMWHMwhmwhmwhmwhm...
A breeze kicked a whole blast of dust about them as a flying titan passed maybe a few feet above their position.
In fact, the clouding was so quick- that Sanford's gauntlet was still raised with a jutting finger as tan clogged the face of his helmet.
Sighing in agitation, he held the back of his SMG with one hand and used the other palm to draw down the eye-slots of his facial protection with two metallic creaks.
Shaking his head to dislodge some of the grit- he waited for Hancock's degrading comments about how he looked like a walking dirt-claud, but was somewhat relieved to hear the robot give an all-too ironic response all his own.
"-Sir! It's dark!"
The robot's eye-stalks looked like brown balls of dust, and Sanford couldn't help but laugh loudly at the fumbling Mr. Gutsy as his metal-arms swung about in mid-air.
"SANFORD! HELP ME!"
"Looks like the Hulk took a dump on your head, Han'!"
"-SCREW YOU! SCREW. YOU. ALLLL!"
"Calm down, just let me-"
"Find a rag or something! MAYDAY!"
"Shut up!"
Sanford reached up and swept the fingers of his gauntlets down each eye-lens separately, earning an eventual silent glare from the robotic contraption as he scrutinized his friend with a keen sense of annoyance.
The scavenger shrugged and snickered.
"I fixed you! You know... Again."
"Speak of this, and I will drain motor-oil on your head as you sleep."
"Ouch. I mean- ew."
"What WAS that thing earlier, sir?"
"I think it was a plane."
"A plane? Out here? You found some Jet or something back there didn't you!"
"Yeah. I didn't take it."
"WHAT?! Why not?! We could've sold it to some druggies!"
"I'm not going to be a dealer, you dunce... People suffer out here enough."
"Damn goody-two-shoes!"
"Cry me a river."
Sanford turned to view a gradually shrinking shape in the air above- a winged blur that reflected the afternoon sun off of a copper/drab metal hull.
Squinting, he heard another thrum of rotary blades- the craft took a sharp turn right, and vanished over the horizon with a distant echo.
"Looked like a Vertibird." Sanford said. "Who the hell owns Vertibirds?"
"Didn't look like a douchebag-of-steel craft to me, sir."
Smiling at the commentary, Sanford indicated the direction of the craft with his finger.
"You wanna' follow it?"
"And risk pissing off an obviously highly-organized militarized faction, that obviously knows its way around pre-war tech, that OBVIOUSLY is using it for some unforeseen doomsday plot, that OBVIOUSLY will require any witnesses to be vaporized...?"
Sanford looked at his friend with a raised brow.
"W-Wow, Han'... Do you, like... Know something...?-"
"-OH, no-no... I was just, you know, coming up with the stereotypical outcome to these kinds of encounters! I don't know who or what was flying that thing, it could've been an old lady searching for her cat! Right?"
"But that other risk still stands?"
"Yep. Yep it does."
"...I'd risk it."
"To stop bad-guys?"
"Why not, huh?"
"Well, then count me in."
"Sounds good."
"Sounds like LIBERTY!"
"Enough with the 'Liberty' crap, you're giving me a headache!"
-0-0-0-0-0-
The darkness swallowed her, and the floor bit against her heels in the form of a gigantic slamming noise of metal.
Water flowed freely in a tiny stream that didn't even submerge her smallest clawed-toe down the center of a cylindrical, metal-ribbed tunnel. Her breathing had still not calmed at all since her run- which, now, had lasted an entire night.
Her escape back into the sewers was by chance- and she didn't stop moving even hours after escaping the Enclave strike team on the surface.
The tunnels were quicker for her to traverse, as she had been using them as places to move undetected for years. Nimbly she skittered down all the passages, surprisingly not coming into contact with any form of fauna.
She thought it so because she was moving with absolutely no caution.
She didn't care about being quiet anymore, she wanted to get as far away from where the Vertibird spotted her above. As if on an ironic cue- a shape unfolded from a pile of offal gathered in the rounded ridge of the tunnel.
The murky-covered humanoid shape raggedly growled in her advancing direction- she swatted the thing clean in two as she shoved past with a SLK! shouldering the torso and legs away in a quick burst forwards.
The Enclave wasn't going to get her that easily, not if she could hel-
THM
-But for God's sake, how did they always find the perfect moments and places to just drop in like that? Come on!
Stuttering on her arms and legs, kicking up splashes of water- she screeched to a halt at the front of a drab/copper man.
Wearing a metal suit with a angular helmet, and shoulder-covering pauldrons, an Enclave soldier stood directly in her path, raising a green-tube, pipe-snaked rifle in her angle.
She panicked, threw herself forwards, and swept her claw upwards in a great heaving arc- drawing a connection from the base of the human's armored thighs, all the way up to his breastplate's clavicle below the chin.
Sparks and black tears flew from the ruptured suit- the human inside screamed horribly, dropped his rifle and flung his arms back.
She shoulder-checked the soldier- feeling the breath leave her as the armored suit proved more indomitable than her thick hide could allow her to anticipate.
CLK
The soldier fell on his back, convulsing under all the plating with a little choking noise leaving the amplifiers of his helmet.
Staring at the fallen human- she looked up at the cylinder-shaped hole above the pipe he had descended through- and felt her eyes grow large despite her voluntary motion to squint.
An armored individual, a duplicate of the one she had cut down- looked from above in a darkened space briefly, before vanishing in a pull back from the hole in the floor. Her feet hopped in an itch to sprint once more- and then a second figure stood in the other's place.
He had a rounded helmet with a gas-mask-like appearance to it in design- the armor was blockier, and he wasn't carrying a rifle.
With two hands the soldier hefted a weapon as big as he was into the hole above her- a blue flame tickled a receiver node before a blackened barrel -the entire tunnel way she looked through erupted in fire.
The burning aqua hadn't even reached halfway down to her level and she still felt the washing warmth.
Running for the way she had been going- the tunnel's ribbed sides flew past her vision on both flanks.
A miniature sun bloomed behind her, bulging into the small, crowded girth of the passage.
She looked over her shoulder, feeling a heated draft hit the tip of her tail-
Then she glanced back to watch where she ran- and instantly saw a big block of concrete running right into her. Or, the other way around- it just LOOKED like someone had picked up a brick and was bringing it down on her face.
CLK!
-Like a ragdoll, she face-planted directly into the stone- her titanium-hardened skull actually fracturing the stonework, and not itself- with a casting of pebbles and dust.
She flipped in mid-air, head-over-heels, and sprawled onto her back in a cramped, square chamber.
Feeling dizzy- compressing cold, wet concrete to the scales of her shoulders and hips- her mouth hung open in repeated breathing.
This was bad. If she had thought the situations beforehand were bad- she was being stupid.
THIS, was the bad part.
And it hurt like all that was worthy of the title- 'Bitch'.
Shaking her head, the walloping pain didn't subside, she stood in a shallow, cool gathering of water that formed around a rusty, circle-shaped drainage vent that capped the center of the dipping floor.
Raising an eye to the tunnel she'd flung herself from- she cast her blurry vision to the ceiling, and winced in torment to fractured sunlight from another mesh cover.
She seemed to be finding those a lot lately.
The tunnel she faced made a whooshing sound.
Her eyes readjusted to the bulging blue fire broiling down towards the little square chamber she idled in.
She went to use the most foulest human-curse she had ever learned, and only sputtered out-
"-Blgh-FLNBN!"
-And leapt with all her might for the mesh cover above.
-0-0-0-0-0-
"Hey check it out- it's the old car factory."
"Wonder if there's more victims, sir?"
"Maybe... We should be heading back home though, don't you think?"
"And END this wondrous day of destruction and debauchery?!"
"Well... Yes. I'm tired, and I stink like a brahman."
"-I'll give ya' that, sir!"
"You don't have a nose, Han'."
"But you gave me an opportunity to insult your person! I HAD to leap on it!"
"Tool."
"Proud of it!"
"Hey... Wait a minute..."
"What? Did you PEE yourself, monkey?"
"Look at the factory."
Hancock's retinal devices followed Sanford's gaze to the blocky building nearby, divided from them by a mere mile or less.
Touched down on the structure's roof- beside a few workstations and radio antennas- was the same Vertibird aircraft that had swept over their heads a few minutes ago.
They didn't even have to track the thing down.
There it was.
Sanford lowered his gun to his hip and drew lines across the drab/copper hull of the plane, mulling.
He hadn't seen a working vehicle in a very long time. It wasn't exactly a culture shock seeing the operational military craft, but it certainly made him stare for a bit with pure intrigue.
Emblazoned on the side was a white symbol- with a big 'E' above a curling iconography.
Sanford connected the dots, stepped forwards, and turned to Hancock silently.
"What?" The robot asked impatiently. "WHAT?! D-Do I have something in my exhaust grille?"
"No you dolt!"
"Hey now, listen here-"
"No YOU listen, Hancock! It's those people we were talking about the other day!"
"Those... People? Are you sure you didn't Jet yourself, sir?"
"NO! No! No-no- Han', that's an Enclave Vertibird!"
"Enclave?"
"ENCLAVE! This is nuts!"
"What are those boot-lickers doing all the way out here?"
"I don't know! I... I don't... I don't know. I don't know if we should, DO anything..." Sanford stumbled on his own tongue, still glaring to the aircraft silently parked atop the old car factory. "I don't know much about the Enclave..."
"Well, I've heard nothing good, sir."
For the first time in their vigilante spree- the two didn't know whether to jump in and stop whatever they were doing, or to just observe.
Honestly, something seemed... WRONG, with either option. Neither could place it.
They never did reach a decision though, because the choice was kind of made for them. In an indirect sort of sense.
BMMMM
Nearby, over the rounded skirt of a dirt hill- pieces of concrete flew away in thin chunks, and an explosion of blue fire mushroomed into the air for several feet.
Sanford grabbed his gun and held it ready, stepping back from the burst of destruction not far off from where they stood. Hancock floated forwards, and quivered with seething anger.
"H-HOW-" The robot stuttered, made an inhaling gasp, and broke out with- "HOW MANY FUCKING PEOPLE ARE GOING TO STEAL MY JOB?!"
Right as Sanford slowly looked to the Mr. Gutsy in pity- a scorched, hole-ridden plate of steel thundered onto the ground with a hollow slamming sensation before them, with cinders dying on its edges and center.
Sanford jumped, and Hancock aimed at the debris, expecting a person to exact his unreasonable need for vengeance on.
"What in God's name...?" Sanford whispered.
"I don't like this... And it takes a lot for me to start sounding suspicious like Han Solo!"
"-You're clinically insane."
"THAT, may be... But I still don't like this!"
"I don't either... Enclave? Vertibirds? And exploding sewer covers? All in a day?"
"Sounds FISHY to me... Ha! Ha-ha! Get it? FISHY? Like water? And... And water and fish...? And-aw, go kill yourself."
Sanford shook his head and started to step towards the scorched vent cover, Hancock hanging back with his Plasma gun aimed.
The pillar of smog from the explosion was still receding in the backdrop, and a empty hiss in the air was developing from a hundred ashes burning out.
Yet, what Sanford didn't physically see until the retinal scanners in his helmet bleeped as existing- was the second object that had been hurled from the explosion. With a red blotch jabbing in the upper corner of his vision- the human stopped short, and gazed around the surrounding hills.
There wasn't anything there! His helmet's scanners were saying something was right in front of him.
"H-Han'! Scans are picking something up!" He called over his shoulder plating.
"Where?"
"In front of me!"
"Hold on, sir, I'll- I'll... Holy crap-smothered ju-ju beans!"
"What the heck does that mean?"
"INCOMING!"
"WHAT?!"
"ABOVE US!"
"-Above-?!" Sanford looked up, and felt himself grow pale. "Jesus-CHRIST!"
"IT'S GOD! HE'S SEEKING RETRIBUTION ON MY FILTHY SOUL-!"
BMMMCLK-CLK
A blackened shape slammed into the discarded vent-cover, rumbling the earth and sending a large burst of sooty smoke into the surrounding area.
Sanford held his arm aloft to cover his helmet's facial area- more debris slacking off his armor in tiny pings and clicks.
Hancock said nothing as he zoomed beside his friend with his gun aimed at the newest fallen object.
A shadowy mound of multiple shapes and angles was spread over the flat, burnt plate. It didn't move, it was still, it looked... Like something dead.
"-I-Is that an... Animal or something?" Sanford asked lowly, training his SMG on it.
"Scans are picking up something organic."
"So are mine, but... It looks... DEAD or something..."
"Maybe it is, sir."
"But then why-?"
The shape grew taller with a blasting hiss of air- like the intake of an elephant gasping for breath, and settled down with a rapid pattern of exhales.
Sanford's mouth was the size of a dot as he watched in shock, and Hancock had even lowered his gun, and NOTHING ever made Hancock lower his guns.
The two scavengers watched the organism without knowledge on what to do.
The soot-coated being shifted, and jerked a few times. It started to gather height, and they could discern limbs- arms and legs, humanoid and hunched in assembly -unfurling from the destroyed vent cover.
Hancock went to speak- probably loudly -before Sanford slapped the back of one of his eye-stalks with his gauntlet to shut him up. The robot didn't even take notice.
The creature was large- a little larger than Sanford's new imposing height and stature. Quivering legs that grew larger, rounded by the thigh and thin, wiry down to the ankles and clawed feet- stood up a hour-glass shape with heavy shoulders, lumbering arms.
The long, reptilian head swung back and forth- a prehensile tongue flicking from between rows of knife-like teeth, a claw with nails longer than his forearm reached up and caressed its temple.
Sanford's eyes went wide, and his helmet- as if on some ungodly cue -displayed the name of the now properly scanned organism.
He would've announced the obvious, but Hancock and his pent-in natural ability to annoy people, beat him to it.
"Oh my, sir..."
"I-It's..."
"DEATHCLAW!"
The monster's head snapped up, and it spiraled on shivering legs to look right at the two of them.
Thin, yellow-colored eyes narrowed, it bore its teeth from curling chops, and it sprinted right in their direction.
Sanford raised his gun to shoot- confidence in his armor's augmentations not even allowing him to start stepping back.
The problem was, a literal second ago, the Deathclaw was several feet away from them in their frontal view.
Now, Sanford wasn't holding his gun anymore- there was a palm larger than his head wrapped over the gauntlet wrist of his suit, and those yellow eyes, weren't so small anymore.
"W-Whoa..." Sanford muttered.
The Deathclaw heaved back, and decked him in the chest with a balled fist, that held enough force to make a rounded indent in his breastplate. Sanford had basically just been hit by a car.
CRRKK
"-AGH!"
The world zoomed in a sailing flight.
Sanford traveled a few feet, and hit the ground.
PGH
-Then with a upkick of smog, he bounced, flew some more- and hit the ground again.
PGH
-And bounced.
PGH
-And bounced AGAIN.
PGH PGH
SSSSSSSSSSSSK.
-Oh, and he slid a few inches after the last landing down with his face in the dirt.
Laying there in the stupor, his helm's visor was filled with the grainy view of soil.
"Oooohh... OW..." He croaked. "-Alright-THAT, really-OW, hurt..."
His knees creaked as he struggled to stand.
The joints in his armor were screaming, a warning flare was bleeping in his hearing.
Sanford looked down at the colossal indent in his chest plating, and lulled his head in horror.
"Oh-OW-Come, ON!"
He looked up, and saw the Deathclaw descending to him, from ABOVE.
How far could this freak leap?!
CLN
-Smoke flew in a plumage of impact as Sanford was flattened to the earth- the looming, stronger monster straddling his gut, pinning him, and rearing back with its large, metal-rending claws.
The thing's face was twisted in a snarl, it was soundless, quick, efficient- but even for a member of its own kind.
Sanford watched the display for a moment- reared back with his knees -and planted them into the rear of the Deathclaw's legs.
There was a thud, the creature grunted and flew off from atop him.
Sanford made to stand, got on one foot- and only had enough time to raise his gauntlets as the Deathclaw sprinted back towards him.
"-Oh no-no-no-NO-ACK!"
CLK
Two of the thing's huge claws enwrapped his wrists, and pushed whilst the monster ran directly into him.
The two fighters shoved against their other's effort- joints in his armor screaming, servos groaning. The Deathclaw hissed and growled in effort, heels forming trenches in the dirt, as Sanford's super-human augmentations allotted.
The deadly pushing-war sat at a standstill- Sanford's heart racing as he struggled for his life.
Warnings screamed in his suit's HUD all over the place- his vision filled with the sneering face of the large reptile. He rapidly tried to think of something- ANYTHING, to turn the tide of this stalemate.
In the center of the dusty hills, the combatants could not disengage from each other.
Sanford tested fate, thought about the options and discarded them. He flung his wrists to each side- forced the Deathclaw to surge forwards without balance- and planted his helmet's forehead into its bare skull.
CLUNK!
His entire head rattled- but the physical pain went to the reptile.
"-AH!"
Sanford stumbled forward as the monster reeled back with claws holding its face.
That... Sounded like speech.
Deathclaws couldn't talk, right? He didn't know. Not that the fast-paced fight really allowed for much of knowing anything besides in the moment.
Looking around for his gun, Sanford saw the SMG clattered in a heap not too far from where he had just shoved the monster away.
Bingo.
Watching the hurt mutant- he dove for the gun, stumbling towards it. His fingers wrapped around the side, brought it up to his chest, and aimed it properly.
"HA! Take this you scaly- OH... Oh shit..."
The Deathclaw breathed practical steam in his face- shoved its claw forwards.
CRRRRRK
Sanford's breath left him.
His suit was SCREAMING warnings.
Without comment, he gazed down slowly towards his gut.
The human blinked, and stood with a quivering frown.
"-O-Oh..." Was all he uttered. "-I... I..."
The Deathclaw was still expressionless- as far as its non-human face could be read as such. It stared into the lenses of his helmet with shaky, yellow eyes.
Its claw was there, where he looked, and so were its nails.
But the tips of said nails, were also visible from a view of Sanford's back.
It had run him through.
He was dead.
Sanford's life was literally flashing. He saw memories that he forgot he had. He saw the light. He heard the explosion that terrified him in his dreams.
He saw the glow of nuclear detonation in this beast's reptilian eyes.
The Deathclaw had a frown over its features, and it tugged back with its claw. Sanford expected a final dragging of suffering before the nails that could puncture titanium finished rending through his spine, and it dropped him like a sack of potatoes.
But the funny thing was, if Sanford had the adventure of a lifetime coming up, he couldn't exactly be DEAD, to conclude that adventure before it started, could he?
The Deathclaw had a look of struggling on its face- its brow creased and jaw tightened, it remained in his close proximity, and the claw wasn't moving away from his gut.
-Also, the kicker-
Sanford felt... Perfectly fine.
Feeling the dreariness of his eyes fading, the human's breathing returned- rapidly. The flashing left his retinas. He unintentionally shifted in the suit. And felt nothing.
Sanford looked at the Deathclaw.
The Deathclaw looked down at its claw, and then it looked at him.
The stinking creature flared it jaws, and tried to tear away its wrist.
But all it did was jerk him a step closer.
It growled, and tried again.
This time, it stumbled, and Sanford followed.
Sanford wriggled his hips- and felt two resistances on either side of his pelvis, that previously- had not been there.
The nails... Missed him.
The Deathclaw had missed him.
He was alive.
Sanford grinned wickedly, and snickered profusely as the creature shoved a palm onto his breastplate, and started forcing it in a push whilst pulling its stuck fingers.
It grunted and snarled with effort, stopped, and stared to Sanford's visor as his chuckling developed into a brief cackle.
He snorted, breathed and shook his head.
"-A-AH-yeah..." He laughed. "-This could only happen t-too ME, Mr. Deathclaw..."
The thing squinted at him, head-reclining, almost like it was gazing to a crazy person.
"H-How ya' doing?" Sanford concluded without care.
The Deathclaw splayed its fangs- reared back, and screamed with all its might.
"GET-!"
PLM
-Sanford was swung right, and planted back-first to the ground with the reptile atop him.
"-OFF-!"
PLM
-He and it flung another few inches in the same position.
"-OF-!"
PLM
"-ME-!"
PLM
"NOW!"
PLM
PLM
PLM
PLM
Minutes passed of the creature hurling the two of them about in a frantic panic.
Sanford just hunkered down in the armor with wide eyes, bunched his arms and legs, and basically sat it out with no choice.
His world rattled and swung. The Deathclaw gave up after a bit.
Drenched in sweat, colored black from the explosion it had emerged from- the humanoid reptile was lain atop the suit of X-01 with a heave in its repeated breaths.
It looked down at Sanford, over both its shoulders, and the back.
Blinking, the Deathclaw made a moan, and slumped forwards with a final clanking of metal.
"J'ai fini..." It muttered, pressing its horned-head into its un-trapped forearm.
Sanford- still woven with shellshock -felt his eyes bug out of his head as the thing spoke.
On his back with the monster seemingly sulking over his chestplate, the human laid there without knowledge of what to do.
The creature breathed slowly, and with dragging efforts.
Sanford looked back and forth with eyes- head frozen, ALL of him frozen, in fear of moving.
His dry throat flared when he opened his mouth- so he swallowed, and tried again to... Well, say something.
"U-U-Uhm..." He wasn't any louder than the breaths of air leaving the thing on top of him.
Everything except a slight breeze was silent in the middle of the rolling, dirt terrain surrounding them.
Sanford glanced more with his eyes- unable to see where Hancock was. He moved an arm in a slight jerk, froze, and relented still when the creature on him didn't move.
"-Uhm... M-Mr. uh... Mr. D-Deathclaw?" He tried. "-D-Does this mean... T-That uhm... We're not... Trying to kill each other... anymore?"
The Deathclaw slowly, sluggishly- raised its head from where it had buried it in its arm.
With narrowed eyes, the monster snorted at him.
"Call me hommasse' again, and I'll chew your neck open."
Sanford stared at the thing in wonder.
"-Y-You speak?"
"Of course I freaking speak. Does THIS sound like unintelligent growling to you?" It snapped through lip-flexing chops perfectly.
Sanford's head was spinning.
He had to be dead.
Deathclaws were animals. They didn't know how to speak. They were intelligent, but not THAT intelligent.
"-W-What... ARE you?"
"What do I look like?"
He hesitated to answer that.
"A... Deathclaw?"
"How obvious..."
"But what ARE you?"
"You're not too bright are you?"
"Deathclaws don't talk." -Yet he astoundingly was able to converse back and forth with the thing after only a few minutes.
Go figure.
The reptile stared long and hard, and eventually, amounted to only a small shrug as response.
The human was at a loss.
He was pretty done for today. The craziest day of his life, that was.
"...Why were you in an... Uh... An explosion?" Sanford asked.
The Deathclaw kept its mouth shut, and jabbed a raised nail at the automobile factory to their side over the hills.
"Ask THEM." It snapped.
"-T-The Enclave?"
"Mm."
"-This is absolutely... BATSHIT. I don't... Ha-ha, I'm going insane..."
"That's lovely. But before you die of insanity, at least release me from this prison, ape."
"Release you? Oh. Oh no, buddy, I need YOU to take YOUR claw, out of my gut."
"I don't understand how you're still alive."
"You missed."
"What?"
"You missed ME. You ran through the armor. Not ME."
The Deathclaw squinted, paused, and looked down at where its claw was still lodged.
It came back up after a second with a cluck in its tone.
"Oh, my pride." It said sarcastically. "I can't even kill a human."
"W-Well... I'm thankful for that, actually..."
"Do me a favor and be quiet. The Enclave should kill both of us sooner or later, and I'd rather not die having a screaming match with some monkey..."
"My friend calls me that too..."
"'Friend'?"
"Yeah. Ugly, grease-covered, flying tin-can. You seen him?"
"SUCK MY SPROCKET, YOU SCUMBAG APE!"
"Han'?!"
The Deathclaw raised its head and looked about.
"'Han'?" It asked. "What is a 'Han'?"
"Hancock! Where are you?!"
"Are you talking about that machine?"
"A robot?"
"Yes."
"Yeah! W-What'd you do to him?"
"THAT OVERSIZED NEWT THREW ME LIKE A PIECE OF SCRAP!"
Sanford inched up a bit- despite the monster being atop him -and watched with raised brows a central propulsion rocket, and three robotic arms, jutting from a tear in the dirt, that obscured all of Hancock's chassis.
The robot spoke with a muffled ring.
"SOMEBODY GET A FRIGGIN' ROPE! MAN-DOWN! MAN-DOWN! MEDIC! MEDIVAC! SOMETHING!"
The Deathclaw blinked at these shouts, and looked back down at the armored human.
"THAT, is a 'Hancock'?"
"-'THE'-HANCOCK! FUCKERS!" The robot muffled.
"What he said..." Sanford sighed, feeling his heart rate gradually lowering- but still flaring as the awesome creature was in such proximity to him.
The Deathclaw had a hide of leathery scales that covered it from head-to-toe. It was slender, acrobatic-looking, albeit. It stunk poorly, and it was blackened with soot. But overall... The thing looked mean in general.
The curving horns on its head were matted with burnt residue too- it bowed them as it looked down at the impalement its claws still made in his armor.
"-Who are you?" The Deathclaw asked in a growl.
"Sanford. You?"
"'Don't have a name."
"Why?"
"Never needed one."
"...Oh..."
"HEY! A FELLOW SOCIAL-REJECT! HOW'DYA DO?!"
"It looks like we're all... Stuck, huh?" Sanford asked.
The Deathclaw watched without response, and Hancock rumbled under the dirt.
"THIS IS WORSE THAN A PAIR OF HANDCUFFS! AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE HANDS!"
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