What's up everyone? I am back with a new update. I hope you guys all like it. Plus I want to thank you all for your wonderful reviews.
Also I'd like to give CyberJordan a big thanks for helping me out with this chapter. So thanks to you CyberJ.
Reviews:
Caesar35: Thanks man.
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CyberJordan: Thanks CyberJ, trust me, these warriors may be a major threat, but wont survive in the future.
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Chapter 3: From Their Cold Dead Talons
Megaton: June 9, 2279. 1:54 A.M.
Eric and his group managed to make the long trek back to Megaton without any problems from the Outcasts. On arrival to the city, they saw four Brotherhood Soldiers guarding the main gate. They all raised their laser rifles at the sight of Eric and the others.
"THAT'S FAR ENOUGH!" One of the Brotherhood soldiers shouted.
Eric took one step forward with his hands up in the air. "It's Star-Paladin Daniels, stand down soldiers!"
The Brotherhood guards immediately lowered their rifles and signaled for them to get over to the steel ramparts that they'd set up. The Brotherhood Commander walked over to Eric. "Sorry sir, we didn't expect to see any friendly faces out here."
Eric nodded, "It's alright Paladin. I need you to get Sheriff Simms and tell him that he needs to start evacuating the town!" He quickly looked over all the other Knights and noticed that they were wearing T-45d's and were only armed with regular laser rifles. "How come you guys haven't been given your standard issued gear?"
"It hadn't been issued to us yet sir. Why?" The commander asked.
"Alright, you four are coming with me. McGraw, I want you and your men to get everyone ready for when we fall back to the Jefferson Memorial! Harkness, Butch, you two are also with me." Eric ordered. McGraw and his squad of defected Outcasts ran into the town while Eric was leading the squad of Brotherhood soldiers to the old Holy Light Monastery. He remembered when he first went there to stop the Apostles of the Holy Light from stealing Megaton's water and radiating it to turn everyone into ghouls. He had replaced the cellar's wooden door with a heavier, sturdier metal door that was locked down. Eric pulled out his key to the door, but before he could unlock it, the sound of gunfire drew their attention towards Vault 101.
Butch was shocked when he looked down the road to see a redheaded girl in a vault security uniform taking cover behind a burnt out car. "SUSIE!" Butch shouted as he pulled out his assault carbine, rushing off to Susie's aid.
"Butch, hold up!" Eric tried to stop Butch, but he was more focused on protecting Susie. "FUCK! Come on, we gotta help him!" Eric drew his M-16 and charged off after Butch. Harkness and the Brotherhood soldiers quickly tailed after them.
It was a good thing that Butch and the others got to Susie when they did. She was down to her last magazine. Butch opened fire on her attackers forcing them to take cover. "Are you alright?" He asked her.
Susie nodded with relief. 'Man, I never thought I'd be happy to see you.' She thought.
Butch noticed he needed to reload, but as he was loading a new mag, a bullet nailed him in his arm causing him to yell out in pain. "AAAH, FUCK! GODDAMN BASTARDS!" He dropped next to Susie holding his bleeding wound. "Goddamn sonuvabitch!"
Eric came up the hill and aimed his M-16 at the scenic overlook where the enemy soldiers were firing from. He fired one round at a time, landing precision headshots on a few of them before getting pinned down himself. Harkness pulled out his plasma rifle and his targeting systems quickly locked on to a group of light machine gunners. He fired several bolts of plasma, reducing some of the soldiers to piles of goo. The Brotherhood soldiers wasted no time in joining Harkness and began firing on the overlook with their laser rifles. Suddenly, everyone was stunned to see the remaining attackers fall over dead when no one hit any of them. A voice could be heard from up on the ridge. "Clear up!"
Eric recognized whose voice it was and jumped up from his cover, "On your feet, let's go!" Eric ordered the Brotherhood Soldiers as he started up the hill.
Harkness knelt down beside Butch to make sure he was alright. When he saw Butch's arm he sighed with disappointment. "What the hell were you thinking?"
Butch smiled. "Who said I was thinking at all?" He chuckled as Harkness just shook his head, pulling out a stimpak and injecting it into Butch's arm, hard. "OW! Not cool!" When the pain finally numbed down a bit, he and Susie got back to their feet. Butch loaded a fresh mag into his assault carbine. "Shall we?" He said as they followed Harkness to regroup with Eric and the others.
Upon making it to the hill, they were dumbstruck to see that their assailants turned out to be a Talon Company Kill Squad. They saw Eric and the other Paladins talking with an unknown figure dressed in a black armor that none of them had ever seen before. "Gallows you sure know how to make an entrance." The Pride's spec ops soldier just shrugged as he removed the face cover for his Chinese Stealth Suit.
"Yeah, well speaking of entrances, looks like Talon Company kicked in the door to your old Vault Eric."
Susie got a worried look on her face as he said that. "What? Eric we have to do something, my family's in danger."
Before he could say something his Pip-boy, along with Butch's and Susie's, started beeping. A message popped up on the screen. 'New Transmission from Vault-Tec Vault 101.' Eric hesitated for a moment before hitting play and a wave of horror fell upon them.
"Hello Eric, I was hoping that you had died out there in the wastes, but I figured I'm not that lucky." Eric clenched his teeth when he realized that it was Officer Wilkins 'Should've killed him when I had the chance.' Eric thought with blind fury. "I'm sure you realize that Ms. Almodovar is no longer in a position to be giving me orders any longer. You see, I am now acting leader of Vault 101 and if you have anything to say about it, then come say it to my face. That is…if you still care about Ms. Almodovar. The password to the vault door has been changed to her name. If you are not here within the next 24 hours, I will put a bullet in her. Don't keep me waiting!" The message started to repeat.
"Somebody's got a hardon for you Eric." The others turned to see McGraw standing there an amused look on his face. "I heard enough to know that we're going in to launch a rescue mission?" McGraw asked.
"Damn right we are, but first things first, I need to get these guys properly outfitted with some better armor. Let's go!" Eric led the others back to the cellar door and quickly unlocked it with his key. "I'm gonna need some help with the door." He wasn't kidding as it took him and two of the Brotherhood soldiers to lift the heavy door open. "Thanks." They all walked down a flight of stairs and Eric opened a door leading into the large shelter. Everyone was taken by surprise as they all fell to the floor when a burst of fire almost hit Eric in the face. They could all hear a robot yelling with a British accent.
"I'VE GOT YOU NOW YOU PESKY EIGHT-LEGGED NUISANCE! YOU AREN'T GOING TO GET AWAY FROM ME THIS TIME!" Eric's personal robotic butler was having a little trouble trying to kill a spider that was giving Dogmeat many sleepless nights. He immediately realized he almost injured his master. "Oh dear, my deepest apologizes sir. I did not see you enter the room."
Eric stood back up. "It's alright Wadsworth." He looked over and saw the wasteland arachnid. No wonder why Wadsworth was trying to fry it. It was the size of a cat. Eric shuddered as he pulled out his Berretta and put a hole in the mutated pest. "That better?"
Wadsworth went over and torched the dead arachnid and then threw it in a trash can. "Much better. Now, what can I do for you sir?" His robotic butler asked.
"I need my spare T-51bs and a few gauss rifles." Wadsworth turned and moved over to a security code panel. After entering the password, five suits of advanced T-51b Power Armor appeared from hidden compartments in the floor. On the wall, a row of Tri-beam laser rifles and gauss rifles appeared with an ammo crate filled with microfusion cells. "Take anything you need, that includes you McGraw. Susie come with me!" While the Brotherhood guards and McGraw were suiting up in the stronger power armor, Eric led Susie further downstairs to his room. Several different weapons lined up against the wall along with several military crates. There was a massive clean bed, a Vault-Tec Bobblehead Stand, a Pristine Nuke-Cola Machine, a jukebox, a first-aid kit, and a chemistry set. Above his bed was a Gadsden Flag with the words "Don't Tread on Me." "Here boy, come here!" Susie turned to see Eric petting an old Siberian husky.
Susie walked over and knelt down to pet the dog. "Cute dog. What's his name?" She asked him.
"Dogmeat." She chuckled thinking that was a weird name. "Don't laugh!" He said as he got up and walked over to a dresser, pulling out a set of combat armor. "Put this on. It'll give you more protection."
Susie took the uniform from Eric. "Thanks."
Eric left the room to give Susie some privacy to change. He walked upstairs to find that McGraw and the Brotherhood guards were almost finished putting on their T-51bs. "Goddang you guys are fast! Either that or I'm slow." He said.
"What's the plan Eric?" McGraw asked.
"First," Eric looked to the Brotherhood guards. "I want you guys to assist Morrill and his team in evacuating Megaton. Should the town come under attack, I want you to escort them to Grayditch. If we don't report back within the next hour get everyone to the Purifier and don't stop for anything." The Brotherhood guards nodded and walked out of the cellar towards Megaton. "Alright, Butch you're with me the whole time, we're gonna sneak our way inside through the Overseer's hidden tunnel and make our way to the Security Office. Once we're in we get everyone out the way we came. Harkness I want you to watch our backs and make sure that no one gets the jump on us. McGraw, wait by the Overseers Office, if things get bad, I want you to give us cover so we can make a break for it. Gallows, I want you to keep an eye on the outside entrance. Let us know if we should expect any more trouble!" Eric walked over to a small crate by the corner of Wadsworth's recharging station and pulled out three handheld radios. He tossed one to McGraw, one to Gallows, and kept the other one for himself. "Use these to keep in contact."
Everyone nodded and got their weapons ready, Gallows put his face cover back. "I'll rendezvous with Kodiak at Springvale School. I'll let you know if anything comes up, though I don't know how effective these radios will be with the vault walls being so thick."
"It's a risk we're going to have to take." Eric told him.
Gallows nodded and walked out to meet up with Paladin Kodiak. Susie appeared a few minutes later wearing forest green combat armor with the Reilly's Ranger's logo. "What do you want me to do?" She asked.
Eric looked at her and before answering her; he walked back over the crate and pulled out a few more magazines for Susie's assault rifle. "You stay behind us the whole time and keep your head down. Understand?" She nodded and joined the others. Eric then pulled out a Colt .45 pistol. He straightened his beret and led everyone outside. "Alright, let's go."
Vault 101 Entrance: June 9, 2279. 2:13 A.M.
The Vault Entrance was being guarded by a dozen Talon Company Mercs and five Vault Security Guards. Some of the Vault Guards didn't like having to put up with their mercenary guests. After a while of radio silence from the outside guards, two Talon Company Commandos armed with Chinese assault rifles went to open the giant steel door. "I swear to God if those bastards aren't dead I'm gonna kill'em myself!" One officer growled as the door opened. Just when they were about to walk out the door, they both fell to the floor as gunfire filled the cavern.
"CONTACT, 12 O'CLOCK!" The mercs and guards opened fire, but they didn't expect a hail of laser and plasma fire to fall on their positions. The guard standing by the door's control panel dropped as bolts of plasma seared through his neck. Two Talon Specialists tried to charge at their attackers head on, but were torn to bits by a hail of bullets from Butch's assault carbine. The rest were easy prey from there. In less than three minutes, all that was left of the security personnel at the entrance was piles of ashes, goo and flesh.
Eric and his team walked in to see their handiwork. He felt the side of his head was bleeding and realized that a bullet grazed his ear. "Damn, this is gonna sting in the morning." He winced in pain.
Harkness did a quick scan of the area. "All clear Eric. Now where is this secret tunnel?"
"Over here." Eric replied as he moved over to the control booth.
Vault 101 Security Office: June 9, 2279. 2:20 A.M.
"GET IN THERE TRAITOR!" Two Vault guards yelled as they threw a battered Officer Gomez into the holding cell with the rest of the vault residents. "You should've just followed your orders from an Overseer who knows how to do their job."
Gomez spat some blood out of his mouth while the others ran to his aid. The two guards left the room, leaving four Talon Company mercs to watch over the hostages. Amata and her father helped Gomez onto the bed in the cell when Talon Sergeant Brady commented. "That bitch looks real tasty."
Amata turned and looked at him with a cold glare, but it didn't faze the mercenary as he just kept smiling with a lewd look on his face. She wanted to say something, but her father wouldn't allow her and he stepped forward in a stare down against the mercenary. Another merc just laughed at Alphonse. "Awe look at that boys! Daddy thinks he can protect his little girl." That caused the rest of the mercenaries to burst into a fit of laughter.
"Kinda pointless if you ask me. Oh well, once we kill that worthless Wanderer, we'll just take her as a bonus." One other merc stated.
"You'll never get away with this!" Stanley Armstrong spoke up.
Amata stepped out to face the mercenary. "Yeah, you really must be as a dumb as you look if you think that he'll come back here!"
Brady's smile grew wider. "Ooooh, you're a feisty one. I like that. We're definitely gonna have a good time with you. Yes, I'll admit he is smart enough to know that it's trap. However, when it involves the people he cares about, I'm pretty sure he's gonna take the risk. I can't say I blame him either. You're one good looking skank!"
Alphonse's hands balled up into fists snarled. "Now listen here you neanderthal, you aren't going to lay a single hand on my daughter. Not as long as I'm still breathing."
Brady's smile diminished and was staring directly at Alphonse. "That can be arranged you know!" His tone was ice cold.
"Not if I have anything to say about it." Everyone turned to the security office entrance to see a man wearing black BDUs and a black army beret aiming a Colt .45 pistol at the door guard.
"Eric!" The crowd shouted at the sight of their savior for the second time. He fired a round in the door guard's temple, and then a second at the merc standing by the locker, and a third round at the merc standing by the security terminal. Not a sound was made except for the bullet casings and the lifeless bodies hitting the hard metal floor. Before Brady could raise his shotgun at Eric, he dropped his pistol and charged at the merc, slamming him into the window and taking him down. Eric punched him in the face before receiving a punch to his and being kicked away by Brady. The Talon Sergeant pulled out a combat knife and got to his feet as he held it up to his face. Butch, Harkness, and Susie ran inside and closed the door hoping none of the other mercenaries would hear the fight.
Eric smirked as he pulled out his trench knife. "Let's go sweetheart!" He said, pissing off the Talon Sergeant even further. Brady lunged at Eric with the knife, which he quickly dodged and retaliated by swinging his trench knife that sliced the merc's arm. Brady didn't even flinch when the blade hit him. Eric took another charge at him, but the merc kicked the knife out of his hand and jabbed at Eric with lightning speed.
Miraculously, Eric had managed to dodge all, but one strike against the side of his face. "HOLD STILL YOU FUCKER!" Brady tried to stab Eric in the side of his head, but the young man quickly grabbed his wrist and slammed a fist into his elbow. Brady's elbow was bent in backwards and still he didn't show any sign of pain. Instead, he just laughed.
Everyone in the room, including Eric all looked at Brady with shocked faces. "What. The. Fuck?" Brady stood up and started walking at Eric with nothing but a smug smile on his face. Eric's fists were clenched and he slammed a right hook at the Mercenary Sergeant, causing him to hit the wall by the holding cell window. He didn't stop there; Eric started punching, left and right jabs into Brady's gut as hard as he could then focus all his attention on Brady's face. Eric lost count after landing ten solid punches in the mercs face.
Everyone was cheering Eric on as he didn't stop hitting the mercenary. He was either too tired to defend himself or just decided not to. Finally, he walked over and picked up his trench knife and used the spiked knuckle guard to inflict more damage as he laid one more punch on Brady's face. 'I think that did it!' He thought. Blood started streaming out of Brady's face and his right eye was torn open. Unfortunately for Eric, by some phenomenal strength, Brady stood back up and looked at Eric with a look of pure sinful hate.
"For fuck's sake, will you die already?!" Butch snapped as he picked up Eric's Colt .45 and emptied what was left of the mag into Brady's skull.
Brady's body had fallen over dead, filling Eric with relief. He looked over to the residents staring at him. He approached the terminal but found it was destroyed during the fighting. He turned to Harkness and told him to shoot the door to get it open. After four precision shots to the doors locking mechanisms, the group lifted the door open before the burning plasma welded it shut. Everyone was still too afraid to leave the room. "It's alright, you're safe now." Harkness assured them.
Amata was the first one to step out of the security cell, followed by her father, then Mr. Brotch, then everyone else. "Amata!" Susie ran and embraced her friend, happy to see that she is alive. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"I'm glad to see you too." Amata said thankfully.
Susie pulled out of the embrace to give Amata a serious look. "Amata, where's my father?"
Amata opened her mouth to tell Susie, but the words died in her mouth. "Susie…"
Susie immediately knew what Amata had to say wasn't good. "W-what about my brother?" She asked with tears in her eyes.
Amata solemnly shook her head. "I'm sorry Susie."
Christine Kendall pulled Susie into an embrace as she silently started to cry.
Amata looked over at Eric and saw him putting a medical patch on the side of his face where Brady's knife cut him. She walked over with a half-smile on her face. "I can't even begin to tell you how good it is to see you Eric." Eric looked to see her and everyone else, including Amata's father smiling at him.
Alphonse stepped forward. "Indeed, it really is good to see you again."
Officer Gomez spoke up. "Glad to see you're still kicking buddy."
Butch hugged his mother, happy to see her again before walking over to Eric and gave him back his pistol. Eric loaded a new magazine before holstering his sidearm. He looked to the others. "Look guys, as good as it is to see you again. This couldn't have happened at a worse time." Eric said gravely.
Vault 101 Entrance: June 9, 2279. 2:33 A.M.
"Sir, we're at the site of the broadcast. He's here alright, but so is Talon Company." An Outcast Commander spoke into his radio.
"Take no prisoners! Kill them all! Scavenge the Vault! You have your orders Commander, now do your job!" Protector Mullen ordered through the radio.
"Yes sir." The Commander looked back to his ten man Death Squad. "Clear the vault!" The Outcasts nodded and armed their Gatling lasers and missile launchers.
Vault 101 Security Office: June 9, 2279. 2:36 A.M.
"Look, I don't have a lot of time to explain, but we need to get all of you out of here before something goes wrong." Eric told them. He opened the door and checked the corridors making sure it was clear. He saw McGraw motion for him to start moving the residents to the Overseers Office. Eric and Butch covered the hallway leading to the Atrium while Harkness and McGraw covered the hallway to the lower levels. Everyone started running towards the office when suddenly; 'KABOOM' An explosion jolted everyone around. The sound of gunfire filled the vault hallways. "MOVE!" Eric shouted. When everyone was in the office, he peered through the window into the atrium and his eyes almost popped out of his head. The look on his face went from shock to a devious smirk. "This just keeps getting better and better." The Outcasts poured into the atrium by the handful, starting a new firefight between the power armored foes and the ruthless mercinaries.
McGraw walked towards the window, charged his Gatling laser and unleashed hell on the two groups. "Go! Get them out of here!" McGraw ordered.
Before Eric could object, Harkness started firing his plasma rifle down the hallway away from the office. "Eric, I think you should listen to him!"
Eric sighed with defeat and went over to McGraw. "You better be right behind us!" McGraw nodded and continued firing into the atrium, killing both Outcasts and Talon Company alike. Eric grabbed Amata's and led everyone down the Overseer's secret tunnels. When they made it to the control room, Eric drew his battle rifle and Butch pulled out his assault carbine making sure it was clear before running for the wastes. Butch looked at Eric and nodded to let him know it was safe. Eric entwined his hands with Amata's once again and took charge hurrying everyone out of the vault.
McGraw was about ready to make a run for the tunnel exit until a missile fired into the Overseer's Office and knocked him off his feet. Seconds later a plasma grenade flew in through the window and melted through a good portion of his power armor and Gatling laser. McGraw managed to gather up enough strength to crawl his way into the tunnel. Before leaving he set up a C-4 charge and detonated it to prevent anyone from following into the hidden tunnel. As he limped to the vault exit he pulled out a hidden plasma defender and fired a bolt of plasma into both consoles, sealing the Talon Company Mercenaries inside.
Overseer's Office: June 9, 2279. 2:43 A.M.
All of the Outcasts were dead and half of the guards and mercs were left alive. Officer Wilkins and the Talon Commander walked inside to find the office destroyed, but no bodies of their attackers. "How the fuck did they get away?" Wilkins asked, not knowing about the secret tunnel. He looked over to see a very pissed off mercenary. "Listen, I promise I'll do anything I can to help you get your money, I swear."
The merc pulled out a scoped 44. Magnum. "Sorry, but the deal's off." He raised his gun to the security officer's head and put a round right between the eyes. He grabbed his radio and called all other mercs. "Kill them." He walked over to the window and saw his fellow Talon officers shoot the remaining vault guards. As he was about to light up a cigarette he heard a beeping sound and turned by the Overseers desk to see an undetonated C-4 charge. "Shit." The whole room went up in flames in a matter of seconds.
Capital Wasteland: June 9, 2279. 2:45 A.M.
Eric saw the horrors that were unveiling out in the DC Ruins. The fires were visible from the scenic overlook and the Capitol Building couldn't be seen behind the plumes of smoke rising up in the air. Most of the vault residents were gawking at the sight of the destroyed wasteland. Suddenly his radio blared to life. "Yeah its Eric."
"Hello Eric." Came an all too familiar voice.
Eric scowled. "What the hell do you want Casdin?"
"What's the matter Eric? No snide remark? No pithy comeback?" Casdin goaded
"The only thing I'm going to give you is a bullet right between your eyes Casdin. Especially after all the innocent people you have killed." Eric growled menacingly.
"Innocent is such a strong word for the local wildlife. Think of it this way. These people were suffering like rabid dogs. I was doing the humane thing by putting them all down."
Eric snarled. "Leave it to a coward to say that."
"Who are you calling a coward?!" Everyone jumped at the angry voice on the radio.
Amata stepped forward, "Eric…what are you doing?"
Eric smirked. "Stirrin' up a hornets nest. Which I might regret later." He lifted the radio back up to his face. "Casdin, I'm going to give you one warning. Pull your men back, and I won't have to come to down to Independence and kick your ass!"
Casdin just laughed off Eric's threat. "I would love to see you try you insignificant bastard! Until then Defender Matthews, give him hell!" The radio went to static and Eric frowned at what Casdin said. He turned to find Defender Mathews and five Outcasts in Advanced Power Armor Mk II loading plasma rifles. Eric, Butch and Harkness ran in front of the residents, guns raised to protect them. Right as the Outcasts readied their weapons a barrage of minigun fire rained down on the Outcasts from the cliff above the entrance of the vault. Everyone ducked down afraid for their lives. After several seconds of bullets pegging the power armor it was dead silent and everyone looked up to see the Outcasts lying lifeless on the ground.
Eric stood up and looked around. "Is everybody alright?" He asked. After several nods and yeses Eric offered his hand to Amata which she kindly accepted.
Harkness helped Christine to her feet before asking. "What the hell just happened?"
A female with a southern accent yelled down to the group. "How y'all doin'?"
Eric's face went into a focused state when he recognized who it was. He looked up. "Brick?"
Everyone looked up to see a group of soldiers in forest green combat armor rappel down the cliff. Once their feet were on the ground Brick turned to face Eric. "Good to see ya again kid. Been a while."
"Yes, it has. I don't mean to sound rude, but what are you doing here?"
"We picked up the transmission that was broadcasted from your vault and Reilly wanted to make sure you were doin' a'ight and to see if y'all needed any help."
Eric smiled. "Good old Reilly, and yeah I need your help. I need to get them to the Purifier, but I don't think I can get them there alive with just three people acting as security."
"Four." A voice came up over the crowd. Everyone turned to see a busted up McGraw with a destroyed Gatling laser. "Sorry Eric, but your Gatling laser became the victim of a plasma grenade."
Eric was shocked to see McGraw hurt so badly. He had fought by his side many times and the only injury her ever received was a small cut on the side of his face, but now his whole face was bleeding badly, he had a massive bruise over his eye, and his arm was pretty much dislocated. "The fuck happened to you?"
McGraw dropped the gatling pack from his back before talking. "Oh, you know, a couple missiles here, some plasma bursts there." He stated, trying his best to pull a smile.
Eric and Harkness ran over and kept him steady before he lost his balance due to the severe pain from his sustained injuries. Brick walked forward and took over for Eric. "Don't worry kid, I got him…and about providing security, we were gonna have Megaton help with the escort, but they've already moved to Grayditch. Donovan and Butcher and their team have taken over and are waiting for us when we get to the town. However, it wouldn't hurt to get these people some guns." The merc suggested.
Eric nodded at the idea. "Alright." He turned to face the vault residents. "Follow me!" Eric took point and led everyone else, followed with Brick's minigun squad covering their flanks. Once they made it back to Eric's house, he, Butch, and one of the Rangers helped him lift the metal door. Butch and Harkness offered to watch the outside for any threats. Eric led the others down the stairs into the cellar and some were shocked to see a Mister Handy outside of the vault.
"Oh dear. My apologies sir, if I had known you'd be bringing more guests by, I would've tidied up a bit." The robotic butler said.
"Don't worry about it Wadsworth, I need the crate with all my extra outfits of leather and combat armor."
"Of course, sir." Eric and Wadsworth both went down to the lower level of his underground home and came back with the crate of spare clothing. Eric opened it up and went back downstairs along with McGraw, Brick and her team. "He has requested that each one of you change your attire to better your protection for the outside. The men will change in here, the women change in there." With that Wadsworth left the room to join Eric. Everyone grabbed a suit of armor and the women went into the separate room to change.
Twenty minutes later the residents were all suited up in better protective gear. Eric appeared with another crate only this one was filled with guns. "Amata." She turned and he motioned for her to stand by him. Before he handed her a gun he checked to make sure that the armored plating on her armor was in place. She couldn't help the heat that rose to her cheeks. "Alright you're all good, now then." He handed her a .45 Auto submachine gun with two magazines. "Everyone grab a gun and two mags and wait outside for me." He quickly walked back outside to meet with Harkness and Butch.
As the vault residents started grabbing a gun, three medical officers from Butcher's squad came inside. Two of them went downstairs to treat McGraw, the other spoke up. "Which one of you is Herman Gomez?"
The still beaten Gomez walked forward. "I am."
The medic pulled out his medical kit. "Eric asked me to take a look at your wounds…doesn't look too bad, but…" The medic took out a stimpak and a shot of Med-X and injected them both in his arm. "That should help with the pain." He pulled out an icepack and gave it to Gomez. "Put that over your eye and it should help with the swelling."
Gomez instantly put it over his eye. "Thank you."
The Ranger nodded. "No problem."
Most of the vault residents were impressed to see an outsider with medical experience. "Where did you achieve your medical knowledge Mr.?" Alphonse asked.
"Just call me Jason. Me and most of the medics learned everything from treating cuts to doing field surgery from our commander, Butcher and Eric." The medic answered. He saw his fellow medics carrying McGraw on a stretcher and ran over to assist them.
Everyone went outside and found Eric and the other mercenaries loading supplies on a caravan. Some of the residents were shocked yet again to see the two headed cows. More Rangers came back out with several military marked crates and loaded them onto the caravan. "That's the last of it sir." One Ranger spoke.
"Get these crates to the Purifier and tell them to wait for my instructions." Eric turned to face the group and went into his drill sergeant mode. "All of you better listen and listen real good, because I'm not gonna repeat myself. First, keep your fingers off the trigger of your guns; I don't want any accidental gunfire. Second, you listen to everything I say! If I tell you to run, you run! I tell you shoot, you shoot! Understand?" After several nods from the group he continued. "You see anything that looks suspicious; you point it out to the closest Ranger and they'll take care of it. And last, if any of you try to be a hero and end up getting someone else killed, I'll shoot you myself! Do you all understand?" Everyone gave another nod and Eric smiled. "Good. You stick you by us and you'll live to see tomorrow." Eric raised his thumb and index finger to his mouth and let out shrill whistle. Seconds later, his loyal companion was at his side.
Amata and some of the residents that worked for the scavenger team were baffled by Eric's orders. They really had no idea what was going on in the Wastes. Susie was the one to speak up. "What's going on Eric? When I left the vault, everything seemed normal, but when I left Megaton, Sheriff Simm's was gathering the town militia. They all seemed pretty frightened. The Brotherhood Guards watching over the town even offered to escort me back to the vault and they've never done that before." She glanced over and noticed the Butch's name stitched into his combat armor. "Butch, are you a security guard?" Susie asked incredulously causing all the other vault residents to have the same expressions.
Butch spoke with his typical 'Are you kidding me' tone. "Out of everything you just listed off, that's the one you're having trouble with the most?"
Eric coughed to get their attention. "All your questions will be answered when we get to a safer location. Right now we need to move." He grabbed his radio and got ahold of Gallows and Kodiak. "We're on the move, make your way to Grayditch."
Kodiak's voice came through. "Copy that. Be advised, multiple Talon Company Kill Squads are converging on Megaton. You better get out of there now."
Kodiak's warning came out loud and clear to Eric and the Rangers. "All right Brick, have your minigunners watch over the vault residents, we're gonna double-time it to Grayditch. We'll grab Butcher and Donovan and the others on the way."
Brick readied Eugene, her minigun and ordered her men into formation. "Alright, y'all heard the man, let's move it!"
Eric went to the front. "Everybody better keep up, if you break away from the rest of us or you get left behind, don't expect anyone to come back for you. Come on!"
Everyone started jogging up to the makeshift town until he caught sight of Butcher and Donovan. Butcher gathered his men and met up with the group. "We heard everything on the radio. Donovan's engineers already set up explosive charges around the town. Once Talon Company makes it to the Brass Lantern, the whole town will be obliterated."
"Then we better get going."
Donovan and the rest of the Rangers bolted out of the town to join the crowd. "Good to go."
Everyone didn't stop for anything; they just pushed forward through the wasteland. When they made it to the Super Duper Mart, the sight of the dead Brotherhood soldiers that littered the compound was a little difficult to bear, even for Eric and the Rangers. They spent a few minutes retrieving the holotags from the deceased before continuing on to Grayditch. On arrival, they were met with several Megaton militiamen wearing riot gear and wielding marksman carbines and riot shotguns. The one thing Eric couldn't believe was that Jericho was part of the militia. He walked forward and extended a hand to his old friend. "Good to see you Jericho."
The former raider took his hand and replied with his same old vulgar tone. "Yeah, yeah. It's good ta see you to kid." He looked over his shoulder to see the vault residents. "Old friends?" He asked.
Eric nodded. "Fresh out of the vault."
Jericho decided to give them a 'proper' wasteland greeting. "Welcome ta the Capital Wasteland! The shittiest hell hole on the fuckin' planet." He cackled.
Few of the vault dwellers were somewhat offended by his uncouth nature but were just too exhausted to care. Amata was about to speak, until she saw something out of the corner of her eye that acquired her attention. "Eric, who's that girl Butch is with?" Eric furrowed his bro, but his jaw dropped to the ground when he turned and saw Butch was locking lips with Lucy West.
"Oh boy I'm definitely going to bug the shit out of him for this." He said with a devious smile. With that, he walked away to have a talk with Sheriff Simm's while the vault residents decided to sit down around a campfire and converse with some of the residents from Megaton.
Megaton: July 9, 2279. 4:13 A.M.
A large Talon Company Kill Squad made it through the city, searching for the Lone Wanderer and anyone else that would be of use to them. One of the mercs stepped on a trip wire set up by the Brass Lantern causing a chain reaction of hidden mini nukes and C-4 charges to detonate throughout the city. The explosions slaughtered the mercenaries, melted the steel structures from the intense heat and collapsing the town walls and buildings into the crater. Thanks to Eric disarming the bomb and Donovan's engineer's removing all the explosive and radioactive contents, the undetonated warhead at the center of the crater didn't pose much of a threat to the wasteland surroundings. Megaton was no more. Five men in modified Advanced Power Armor Mk II stood at what was left of the entrance inspecting the damage. The commander went to his radio officer. "Warrior One, this is Warrior Two, come in over."
"Go ahead Warrior Two."
"He was here, but we don't know where he's gone."
"Don't worry about that. Warrior Three has a visual on his location. We'll have him by sunrise."
"Roger that. We're gonna link up with Warrior Three. On the move!"
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