CHAPTER 47
Clash of Titans.
Here was the one thing anyone in the Wasteland knew as an absolute fact- it was obvious, after all, his story had been doing nothing BUT discussing the very element of it.
The Commonwealth, D.C., Pennsylvania, all the way out West- it didn't matter where in the United States you were- all it was was varying forms of solitude, desolation, and ruins of a time that did not exist anymore.
So in the brewing darkness, the mystery outside the walls of the small, ragtag civilizations people had established for themselves- nightmares were born, whether from mankind's meddling, or from sheer nuclear mutation of the very cells that made the building blocks of organic life.
Monsters- not just animals, or vicious predators- these nightmares were monsters. Things you read about in ancient mythology, things that killed people for sport, things who laired in caves and mountains and whose homes were decorated with human remains.
THOSE, were the monsters- they lurked in the dark, and they struck without warning and they struck fatally.
Monsters, no matter how many Sanford had killed, were frightening.
Bluntly, everything in the wastes was frightening- but the monsters, the abominations were something else. They didn't fear the dark, they didn't fear people, they didn't fear radiation, or other monsters, or the environment, or the mysteries, or each other.
There was good reason the heartiest never underestimated the real nasty shit that lurked in the places no one tread.
However, it was the monsters that also did not fear daylight, and exposure, that were more ferocious.
See this is where the Deathclaw, HIS Deathclaw, came in.
She wasn't a monster.
But this beast before him, certainly WAS.
An ill tempted sort of parody to her- the reptile was larger, it was more imposing, its body was riddled with scars from a hundred wounds from a hundred different opponents- and whatever had pissed off the bull beforehand, had certainly earned it a bloodthirsty abandon as it came up against poor Sanford.
How it had appeared on this battlefield that was originally between man and synth, Sanford didn't know- whether it had just happened to be roaming around, or it was attracted to the noise, was up for debate.
The whole thing was a rush of motion- he reacted with how he had trained himself over the years, he twisted his body, angled back his gut, and then jerked back with his head-
SWSH!
SWSH!
-And black contrails of the monster's claws, each finger capable of puncturing titanium, flew past ineffectively each time.
But Sanford was trying to outrun a creature that had been biogenetically engineered, to be the fastest thing around- so eventually, he got sloppy.
Psk-MM! –He was just thankful it was the creature's fist that hit him, and not the claws.
Sanford didn't even get an opportunity to cry out in surprise from the hit- the Deathclaw was all over him like a fly to shit- it swung up and then from the side, and then when it missed him, its bunched hand came along and decked him right in the cuirass.
The reinforced steel making his suit added another dent to its long list of already outstanding examples- he was tossed clean off of his feet.
-BM-bmbm-CLLLMMM-
-He landed on one heel, and then tumbled onto his back.
Sanford grunted as he splayed out on the street- the concrete cracking by the plating of his lower waist- he fumbled about for his sword, for his gun- and right as he had the same dual-wield styled grip from before- the Deathclaw was hanging over him- a long, sinewy tail lashing behind it, it opened its fang-riddled maw, and spittle coerced the air as it bellowed down at him.
The thing's hand descended in a gutting motion- the Deathclaw was smart, for a feral- it knew to target the stomach- because, unknown to Sanford, or anyone else- this particular specimen had dueled other male Deathclaws twice its size, and each time it had won it had always disemboweled its opponents.
To the bull, Sanford was just another large foe that it held confidence in surpassing- terribly, the Deathclaw wasn't even hungry, it just felt up to the challenge.
-It had made a big mistake taking the downed man for granted.
Sanford angled the blade of his cutlass- and the sword drew upwards with a flick of his arm- cut straight between the crease of the 'Claw's middle and index digits.
Blood coursed in the air in a thin, dark vein as the reptile moaned and reeled back- Sanford made his point and sprayed the reptile's torso with bolts from his gun in the other hand.
PMPMPMPMPMPMPMPMPM-
-The beams of carbon energy ate into its chest and shoulders, singing and melting scale and flesh there in dotted wounds- the reptile opened its mouth and screamed out from the pain- it was a loud, deep-throated wail mixed with the trail of a snake hiss. Weird stuff.
Sanford scrambled on the ground, his armor lurching and bucking- he got on his feet-
"-FUCK-!"
SWSH-
-And he immediately found himself staggering back from an array of claws slashing right past his face.
The bull got angrier- it leapt right off of its heels, spread its arms on either side of it, and catapulted itself right into Sanford's chest.
The Deathclaw completely divided itself from the animal kingdom as a species- for even feral ones that still scratched their own asses for a past-time- they wrestled, and they fought like a regular humanoid.
The breath left his lungs-
PMM!
-Sanford again had his limbs spread out, he was on his back, dust was everywhere- and the Deathclaw pinned him with one opened palm over his suit's breast- and it reared back with its presented fingers, aiming downwards with the other hand for his stomach.
Wads of green, luminescent energy smacked into the Deathclaw's body- the creature howled, reared back its head- the hand aimed for Sanford momentarily convulsed, the fingers angling painfully.
Sanford took the moment- he heard Hancock screaming some anti-Communist rant in the backdrop- he aimed his rifle upwards, angling his wrist-
PMPMPMPMPMP-
-And while a bunch of the shots flew right over the Deathclaw's back, one clipped it in the temple-
-psk!
-And the base of its horn shattered into a hundred, dust-trailing pieces.
The weight compressing him to the street lifted off all in that second- the Deathclaw made this barking/hiss sound- it flew to a full eight foot stand before him, and it cuffed the stubble of its ruined right horn with its knuckles, bowing its head, groaning.
Parts of the blown-off horn were scattered across the street- the Deathclaw stumbled for a moment, shook its head rapidly- Sanford could see a river of blood coursing from the center of the stump of its horn, gathering down and at its jawbone, before flecking off in singular drips.
The reptile curled back its chops as Sanford stumbled to his feet again, and stood before it- aiming the gun at its head, as best he could from the hip- and brandishing his cutlass on the either side.
"-FUCKIN' GODZILLA WANNABE!" CLACKCLCKLCKLK –Plasma fire kicked up clouds of green around the Deathclaw's right arm- the reptile screamed out so loud that the air practically tugged at the mass of volume.
It stormed right past Sanford- a claw swiping past his head as the reptile at least made an effort to continue the fight with its first target- it closed on Hancock.
"-HOLY WEASELS-UNDER-THE-HEDGE! INCOMMINNNGGG!"
"HAN'! MOVE!" Sanford shot one-handed with his rifle- he drained the rest of the battery charge as lasers clapped about the 'Claw's lower back.
FffffFFMMMMMMM!
-Hancock shot into the air, disgorging a cloud of black soot that enveloped the Deathclaw when it stumbled right into where its prey had flown away from- it swiped at nothing, and comically, if Sanford wasn't focused on killing it, it would've been funny at how the reptile flapped its arms about.
PMPMPMPMPMPMPM-
-As if oblivious to the shredding energy fire that literally was stripping its life away bit by bit, the Deathclaw spun right around and came back at him- lumbering through the Laser rifle's fury- Sanford was able to pump a bit more juice into the shooting before the battery gave.
TSSSssss... -A small pillar of steam hissed from his weapon's frame- Sanford cursed repeatedly, a pattern of profanity, as he holstered the gun and readied himself with the cutlass.
He and Hancock had done a number on the Deathclaw- it was readily apparent as the creature closed distance to him in all but a second.
There were strips of cauterized scales and flesh pockmarked horrifically across its body- a chunk of its very hide had been blown away by its ribcage, revealing a sprawling gash of blackened crimson that gushed individual geysers of blood.
The Deathclaw didn't even heed the grievous damage done to its body- it bellowed again, leapt at Sanford who raised his sword-
PMK-!
-And then, a blur of gray impacted the Deathclaw from the side- the beast's head and arms snapped to an angle as they flailed opposite the direction it careened as a whole- holding it around the midsection, was...
-HIS Deathclaw.
...Oh boy.
Sanford couldn't really do much else beside watch the two reptiles grunt, hiss, bellow and groan as they rolled across the street- a tumbling ball of swinging arms, kicking legs, snapping jaws.
Sanford switched his battery on his gun, and he aimed at the pile- and then... and then he didn't shoot.
What if he hit her?
"HA-HA! Lookatthat! Old Lizard-Face is REALLY tearin' some skin!" Hancock bellowed from a distance-
BBBZZZzzzMMMM-CLK
-Sanford looked up at the roof of building flanking him- over the safety trim, he saw his robot finish buzz-sawing an Institute synthetic in half at the waist- the android was flung away in pieces, and Hancock gestured for Sanford down on street level with his gun.
"SIR! LOOKOUT!"
Sanford spun around, gasped, and directed the fury of his gun onto a synthetic that jumped out into the street, nearby the Deathclaws as they rolled and kicked in the center of the pavement. The android was blasted apart, and fell a blackened mess.
Sanford advanced towards where his friend and this monster were dueling- he ran forwards without another priority- so that was why right as he neared the borders of the fight, another synth with a holo-blade jumped out and landed over his shoulders.
"-DEATHCLAW!" Sanford yelled- swinging his body back and forth to dislodge the synthetic assailant- when the robotic man flapped onto the pavement- Sanford ended it and stepped on its head.
CSSKK!
-It shattered into a sparking, electronic pancake beneath his boot.
"DEATHCLAW! HOLD ON I'M-"
-Another synth ran out and stood before him with a blade.
"-GOD DAMN IT! GET THE FUCK OUTTA' MY WAY!"
-0-0-0-0-0-
See that? Fate right there.
She showed up, and right as she saw Sanford, her friend, her ally- she sees some jerkoff from the feral side of things lance out and try to eat him.
She hadn't run into another of her kind in almost eight or nine years- seeing as they weren't as prevelant as in the West Coast, like she'd heard- and she hadn't killed another member of her kind in around ten.
An even fight between her, and the biggest male she had ever seen on the East Coast unraveled in that street, right by Fenway Park- and even though her mind was garbled, and nonsensical as she concentrated on what her body was doing- she found it figuring, that it was SANFORD, who got her into this battle.
The two Deathclaws had been unable to land an effective blow on each other- they locked fingers, much like humans would lock swords- and the nails would get caught, and then torn away, and then they'd try to jab or slash from a different angle.
She managed to get on top of him- she used her weight, even though he was bigger- to keep him down long enough to rear back her jaws, and clench her twin rows of razor sharp teeth down on his collar.
The male bellowed loudly, and blood started to swell up in crimson bubbles around her fangs- she tasted the metallic, warm overwash- she shook her head, tearing and trying to work in her teeth as hard as possible.
The male's clawed feet drummed into her belly-
WHMWHMWHMWHMWHWMHWM- A rapid succession of kicks that knocked the wind out of her, she unclenched her jaws, and he tossed her off.
She landed on her heels- her opponent swung upright, and slashed from the left-
CLKCLlclckclk- -She intertwined her nails with his, and then he roughly tore away, came with a round-house from the other arm, clenched his fist, and decked her across the jaw.
whmp!
-A walloping blow- saliva trailed through the air, and her head was roughly slapped off to the side.
She reeled, sucked in her gut, and the male's swipe for her vulnerable section was missed by centimeters.
It was a fight of speed and strength- whoever was to win was the fastest, and the hardest hitting.
The problem here was, she was no longer on the offensive, which meant she was reacting slower- which for Deathclaws, was fatal. But where her foe momentarily caught her off guard- she still had the power of an intellect he could never hope to even come close to.
She kept backing off- and she waited for the right moment- soon, it came.
The bull lunged at her, completely off his feet, arms out, made to tackle her- she sidestepped and hooked out her arms faster than even the other 'Claw could process. Before the bull knew what was happening- he was being jolted back from his sailing flight, and there were arms over his chest.
Heaving from the weight- she hauled him as high as her arms would let her- she freed one hand, wrapped her fingers over the back of his skull, and then thrust downwards for the street.
The other Deathclaw's snout bulldozed into the pavement- even from where she was, even through the gunfire she heard in the backdrop- she still discerned the cracking of broken teeth, and possibly of his broken jaw.
The Deathclaw howled, muffled, and his body collapsed stomach-first at her feet.
She took the advantage, gripped one of his arms, hoisted it straight before her, and lined up with her other set of nails to his elbow joint.
If she could remove his weapons, he couldn't fight.
So that's what she tried to start doing.
She sliced upwards- and the scale and flesh of his arm was mangled in four lanes of ragged crimson- blood followed her nails as they passed through in the air above. The arm wasn't completely severed, but a few more slices, and that would be reality.
The bull SCREAMED.
It was a bawling, ragged shriek- his mouth looked like it was about to unhinge down there for how loud he cried out.
-Then, the other Deathclaw fought its last attempt to survive the encounter.
The bull's tail lashed out, tumbled over her calves- a set of fingers wrapped over her one ankle.
The male hollered, his body in agony as he forced his bioengineered muscles, despite being torn and broken- to pull out her feet from under her.
She gasped, the world rushed, she felt dizzy- she landed on her back, and she instantly started to try and scramble away so she could right herself.
But the bull wouldn't allow it- the wounded Deathclaw was atop her, and this time, he had a set of nails aimed for her throat- a downwards thrust- she didn't have enough time to get her hand up there.
"-DEATHCLAW-!"
-Unknown to her, her savior, in the amalgamation of metal and man that was Sanford- had finished tearing his cutlass free of a crumpling synthetic soldier's abdomen, and was beelining towards her aggressor.
Sanford kicked away the body of his recent kill- he stormed down the street, screaming at the top of his lungs in this animalistic cry she had never heard come from him before- a few more synths were actually brave enough to put themselves between him and the Deathclaws.
He hacked left and right, and cast aside holo-bladesmen with each strike, cleaving his way through each and every synthetic that tried to impede him- he ignored laser fire that bounced and burned off the flank of his suit- Plasma shots flew out from Hancock in the backdrop, and silenced the ranged attackers.
"-DEATHCLAW-RRAAGGH-!" Sanford's arms jerked free of resistence on either side of his person- and a synthetic body tumbled away from the sword's length, and its torn-off head from the other gauntlet's grasp.
The bull Deathclaw was halted in its final move for her- as Sanford was physically unassailable in his rampage to get to her.
Sanford raised his sword- gripping with both gauntlets- over his helmed head.
He brought it down right across the arm that his friend hadn't had a chance to damage yet.
Which meant that in the following moment, the bull Deathclaw was in trouble.
ssSSLLK!
-Everything from mid-forearm up was hacked off, and dropped uselessly with streaming arcs of blood shooting out, staining Sanford's suit, both Deathclaws' hides- and spattering the street in jagged splotches.
The male Deathclaw reared back its head and screamed out again- though this cry was abruptly silenced when Sanford leapt forwards, and tackled the massive reptile, his arms encasing around its ribcage- man and 'Claw tumbled in a tornado of dust and flailing limbs on the street.
Sanford gripped his sword- aiming the blade down- and ran it to the hilt through the Deathclaw's other shoulder- you know, the one that still had an arm that wasn't a stump.
CssllkKK! -It was so sudden that blood didn't even get a chance to bubble out around the blade.
The abomination howled, it screamed more, it wallowed in unimaginable pain- but that wasn't good enough for Sanford, because it wasn't DEAD, when it was dead, he would be satisfied.
Seeing nothing but red- Sanford took his bare gauntlets, gripped the Deathclaw's swinging head and forced it still. His teeth bore in a growling sneer- Sanford arced back his plated thumbs, and he lined up their tips with those crimson eyes of the bull's face.
He thrusted downwards.
...At this point, a few feet away, HIS Deathclaw, she was just getting up on her feet- and while for a fleeting second, she believed that the fight between her friend and this other 'Claw was still happening- the prolonged, drawling cries, the shrieks of defeat- the way the bull was convulsing and writhing underneath Sanford... That told her it was over.
She hung over Sanford, her nails still lengthened, eyes locked on the writhing bull- she grew less anxious for a fight, more concerned, actually- when she saw what Sanford was DOING to it.
The young man still had his thumbs buried in the Deathclaw's eye sockets- there was blood EVERYWHERE, it frothed out in such copius amounts, that flecks of it were catapulted upwards, where they stained and drew horrific shapes on his gauntlets and his forearms.
The male Deathclaw stopped moving eventually, but it took time- his one arm was stilled, his tail twitched underneath his calves- his jaw was slacked open, and the lower mandible loosely shifted as Sanford tore his hands free, and sat up on the bull's chest, heaving heavily.
His fingers were still clenching towards each other- and even through the gauntlets, it was noticeable that his hands were quivering.
Sanford looked down at the mauled beast- its eyeless face, its shot-up body and its mangled arm and its one removed arm...
...It was... Awful.
They'd torn him apart.
...He just... Looked at what he had done...
...Jesus Christ.
"...A-Are you alright?..." Sanford mumbled after the grotesque silence came and went. "...Did it hurt you?"
"...I'm fine, Sanford." She said lowly over his shoulder, lowering her arms, the muscles in her fingers drawing back her nails. "...Y-You saved me."
"You saved ME."
"...Then, w-we are even, monsieur'."
"...Yeah... Even."
"SANFORD! HOLY CRAP! SANFORD THAT WAS BADASS!" Hancock flew over by the Deathclaw's flank- he gazed down at the mauled bull. "You just completely skewered his FACE! Ha-ha!"
Sanford quivered up to a full stand- he quickly backed off from the large corpse, and he looked up at her, ignoring Hancock.
"...You sure you're alright?"
"...I'm not hurt." She shook her head, blinking. "...The synthetics in the museum attacked me, I killed them all."
"...How did you know to come here?" He asked, almost uninterested in the museum, and the synth planters.
"...Instinct." She answered.
-"-Diamond security! Turn around!"-
"...NOW they're here... Fuckin' unbelievable..." Sanford grumbled.
The three heroes turned around to see a man in pre-War umpire gear plated over with leather and steel- he wore an old BPD, S.W.A.T helmet and visor- and he carried an assault rifle.
There was a gunshot in the distance, and a synth that had been curling out from a nearby alleyway dropped on the street with sparks kicking from its head.
Sanford looked up, and standing in the shade of one of the wrought iron tower plats were a pair of similarly dressed men, one of them had a bolt action, and he ejected the casing and lowered the weapon.
Behind the guy on the ground, a small assortment of people gathered, and looked towards Sanford, the Deathclaw, and Hancock.
Robert Cannary stood beside none other than Corporal Jim Brody, who had the same angry lady from the carpenter square, Roe, at his flank- there were five other soldiers in Diamond uniform, one of them had no helmet, was bald, and was an older fellow.
"Sanford Tobs... Cannary broke it down for us, you and your... Deathclaw." He shook his head at the large reptile standing beside Sanford. "...A-And you can speak?"
"-Captain Liham." Sanford nodded, hissing from tightness in his muscles. "Sorry for the mess."
"Sorry I couldn't get here sooner, Tobs." Liham shook his head. "You alright? How's that 'bot of yours?"
"-WHAT THE HELL?! I had to wait for the random BALD GUY to ask how I was?!" Hancock snapped. "Fuck all of you and your lack of concern for my well-being!"
"Mr. Sanford," Robert nodded. "I'm glad to see you're alive and well!"
Sanford felt like walking over and punching him square in the head.
He controlled himself- glanced over at the Deathclaw.
"...Liham, I won't go in Fenway without her, before you ask."
"...Gimme' a minute to talk people so it doesn't cause a panic..." Liham groaned. "-Ain't ever let a Deathclaw in through the gates before."
"I was very adamant in stressing the point to them," Robert smiled. "I wasn't about to let a friend of Sanford's get shot, I got your back, sister."
"...Thank... You?" She raised an eye ridge.
Liham jumped when she spoke.
"What have you gotten' us into, Rob'?" He muttered.
"Tobs," Brody stepped forward, and tipped his trifold. "I came out the second I heard it was you."
"You LEFT us with your mess, connard'." The Deathclaw snapped from behind Sanford- Roe tightened her grip on her musket when she got loud.
"We'll discuss it later." Sanford sighed. "Right now, I just want to fucking sit down for a minute... Is that doable? Can I have a God-damned chair? And a quiet place to just SIT?"
"He DID save the city, Captain," Robert grinned. "Who knows what those Synths would've done if Sanford wasn't here to stop them."
"I'll give it to ya', Sanford, you had a bit of a spree." Liham looked around at all the sprawled out synths across the streets. "-And ya' killed another Deathclaw, that's... pfft, wow."
"OH-OH! Sir?! Sir, can I go to the announcer's dugout inside?!" Hancock asked, giddy.
"...I know he was a bit loud last time," Sanford rolled his eyes. "-But, can he?"
"...Yep'." Liham sighed after a second.
"WOO! Eat my contrails monkeys! I'll announce a homerun that never happened just to cause indigestion! HA-HA!"
-0-0-0-0-0-