Chapter Three: The Voice
Liam Kincaid, sole adult survivor of Vault 111, was poking around the lab that doubled as a player home. He was trying to decide what pieces of armor he wanted to put on the power frame, what mods would be the most beneficial overall, and he was floundering a bit. He was never certified for power armor, so his knowledge on the subject was limited.
He was a marksman during his time in the military or used as an infiltrator. That part of his career left a sour taste in his mouth. His natural charm and good looks made him into an ideal candidate for an infiltration unit. They actually trained him how to seduce both men and women, how to pleasure both sexes, and how to bullshit even the best bullshitters.
He hated it, hated all of it, hated just how hands on the fucking military was with his training. To this day, he still felt dirty like he was more whore than man. He had been considering leaving the military, breaking his contract, and just going full AWOL, but then Eleanor approached him with a different kind of infiltration mission and his life has never been the same since.
Eleanor was going deep undercover as a disgruntled ex Vault Tec scientist to discover what was going on in a secret base. It was supposed to be a routine assignment, but she discovered illegal experiments being conducted on people that had survived the destruction of a parallel universe.
Most of these individuals were too far gone. They had been beaten, brutalized, carved into, injected with countless chemical compounds, and experimented on for what was apparently years. The women were subjected to far worse than the men, though there had been a few men that suffered almost as much. The things done to them were not just cruel but truly depraved of any sort of common decency.
These people had been subjected to sexual experimentation. They had been raped in countless ways; positions, drugs, torture, brainwashing, pain and pleasure becoming the same thing, and so much more. These individuals were so far gone that the moment anyone entered the room, they would immediately assume a sexual position and start begging to be used. It was absolutely sickening.
Amongst this group was a specific individual that had been singled out. She was stubborn, headstrong, willful to a fault, and refused to surrender. Eleanor had been completely enthralled by the woman, and she had not been the only one. The other scientists began to neglect the others and focus on the one test subject that refused to submit.
They pulled out all the stops for her, no experiment was too great. They turned her into a feral beast and yet she still would not yield. She was wild and untamable. They had to lock her in restraints all the time, kept her in a tiny cage, and only brought her out to either fight or fuck. Eleanor could see it in the woman's eyes, the intelligence was still there.
She was fighting her own baser instincts, the conditioning and the drugs they pumped her full of, and yet she still fought with all she had. Eleanor placed her hopes in that woman, deliberately setting her and the other subjects free while she ran to the extraction point. Liam's team came in after the initial chaos and that was when he saw Artz for the first time.
She had fought her way through the compound, fighting off every soldier that tried to stop her. His men prepared to fire when she turned her feral gaze upon them.
'Wait! Hold your fire!'
He had told his men to not kill her and the look on her face went from feral to shock like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. She staggered over to him, her eyes wide in disbelief. She reached up and touched his face.
'Killian?'
He didn't know who Killian was, but the moment she had touched his face, he had felt something inside him come alive and he had never felt more like himself in his entire life. He remembered wrapping his arms around her and holding her close.
'You're safe, you're safe with me, you will always be safe with me. I'm here now, I will protect you, I promise.'
From that day on, he was hers. Eleanor joined them not long after, returning the blue box that now hung around his neck to its original owner. Artz had collapsed a few hours later from exhaustion and she nearly died several times from withdrawals. When she was physically recovered several months later, it was discovered that her memories of the compound were gone.
The only thing she remembered was Liam and Eleanor, so they took her in. It was hard work to make certain that Artz remained free. They fought hard for her, both leaving their original lines of work as a military scientist and a trained soldier to provide a peaceful and stable life for her.
Those days in Sanctuary Hills were the best in his life and how he sorely missed the woman that stole his heart. Everything he fought for was meaningless because she was gone. She died by nuclear fire when the world ended a second time for her. He would give anything just to hear her voice again, but that was just a desperate dream for a man out of time.
He cursed when he dropped the chest piece he had been putting into storage onto the floor, having decided to put off using power armor for the time being. He knelt down to pick it up when he noticed a medium sized chest on one of the lower shelves. It was halfway off the back end, so it was likely shoved backwards by accident by George and forgotten about.
He picked up the chest, the armor piece forgotten for the moment. He brought it over to the small cot and set it down on the mattress. He flipped open the locking mechanisms and discovered row after row of holotapes. His hands stilled when he recognized the writing on them…it was Artz's handwriting. Did she make these tapes and for what purpose?
He picked up the one that was labeled #0 - Intro. He popped the tape into the pip boy and pressed play.
"Hello, Liam. If you're hearing this message then you've found your way into Jane's lab. More importantly, it means that I'm not with you. If I was, I would be telling you all this stuff in person and you wouldn't be listening to this holotape.
You're probably wondering why I'm addressing you and not Eleanor because she already knows everything that I'm putting into these holotapes. In fact, it was her idea for me to explain everything like the lab, the game, and all the crazy shit you're going to find yourself in as you travel the Commonwealth.
Each holotape explains specific things, seeing as how you'll need a set of power armor and a minigun in Concord to deal with a group of raiders and a deathclaw, the next holotape will explain everything you need to know about power armor. Though I do suggest the Quantum variant of the X-01 power armor, make sure it's Mark VI and boost the rad protection because you'll be heading into heavy radiation in the Glowing Sea later on.
Anyways, I'll save that for another holotape. I know that right now you feel alone, more alone than you have ever felt before and that it's going to be hard to listen to my voice because…well, I'm not…ya know…sorry, just picturing you staring at the pip boy as this holotape is playing…it's making me cry, Liam.
Look, I'll guide you as best as I can, even from beyond. Not everything will line up, but at least you'll have a fighting chance and a working understanding of the hostile environment you're in. A part of me wishes that I could be there with you, but I also know that once you get out there…you're gonna be grateful for my insight but also grateful that I'm not being subjected to the horror of the wasteland.
It's bad, Liam. You told me about the compound where I was. Now imagine that everywhere. The weak are either oppressed or dead, the strong either become greedy and corrupt or they just don't care about anything save their own survival, but not all hope is lost, there are some good people left.
You'll find the last Minuteman, Preston Garvey, in Concord. In Goodneighbor, you'll find the ghoul mayor, John Hancock, and the ex-gunner known as Robert MacCready. Curie is a unique case and is located within Vault 81. You have Codsworth already since you're in Sanctuary Hills again.
Strong is a super mutant you'll meet while clearing out Trinity Tower, Paladin Danse will be at the Cambridge Police Station…I'll explain more about him later. Same thing goes for X6-88, he's a synth, yeah sorry, complicated. There is Piper Wright, she's a reporter in Diamond City. She's not the only one you can recruit there.
A personal favorite of mine is Detective Nick Valentine. He's a prototype synth, but he's one of the best companions in the game for those players that are not savvy at hacking computers and I know you suck at most science stuff. He'll do right by you, I just know it. You'll meet Cait in the Combat Zone, Ada is a robot that's traveling with a caravan of sorts…keep your ear open with the pip boy's radio to track her down.
Long Fellow is in Far Harbor, Porter Gage is part of the Nuka World raiders, so perhaps steer clear of them until you're certain that you can take them all out. Oh right! Duh, forgot about Deacon. He becomes available as a companion once you find the Railroad's headquarters and the most important companion of all is the canine known as Dogmeat.
He's loyal to a fault and you'll meet him at the Red Rocket Station between Sanctuary Hills and Concord. He's good against most biological stuff but if you plan on taking him into battle often, please put the specially crafted dog armor on him. Seriously, it's two steps shy of power armor for a dog. It's lightweight so it won't hinder him but will protect him from most laser and plasma damage.
Whoops, this holotape was meant to be a simple introduction, but of course, I got side tracked…again. Still, I know that you'd rather listen to tapes like these than boring explanations for everything. You know how Jane and Eleanor get when they try to explain science stuff, it's either monotonous dribble or super excited fangirlism that makes you go what and they look at you like you're an idiot.
Good luck out there, Liam, and remember to never give up. No matter how bad things get or how questionable some of the things you will have to do might be, don't ever give up and know that I believe in you. You can do this and you will…because you're a fucking badass." The tape played before clicking off.
Tears were streaming down his face, his heart aching so badly. He had wanted to hear her voice again and so he did. It hurt, it hurt so much, but at the same time, he was glad that these recordings survived and that he found them. They would make certain that he never forgot her voice, the voice of the woman he loved more than his own life and even now, she was still trying to help him and he loved her all the more.
He had to take notes while listening to the holotape about the different kinds of power armor, the mods that could be used with each piece, the pros and cons for certain models, and the limitations in regards to mod augmentation. Apparently, most mods would conflict if one tried to apply more than one mod to any given piece of power armor.
Fortunately with the assistance of Eleanor and the idea generator that was Artz, a minimum of two mods could be placed are the arms and legs. Three for the chest piece and anywhere from one to four for the head piece, but it had to be specific ones or the whole armor piece became permanently irreparable.
Unfortunately, he couldn't hold off going to Concord any longer. There simply wasn't time for him to do everything he needed to do to customize his power armor and rescue the last Minuteman. According to the game, the day that he woke up from cryostasis which was yesterday, the Minuteman and others were already in Concord and at the Museum of Freedom.
He knew better than to head off anywhere after being so recently defrosted. He had been exhausted and needed the time to rest, recovering at least some of his strength. He transferred all the holotapes into his pip boy's inventory, so he could listen to them whenever he wanted. He would poke around the lab some more after he saved the people in Concord and escort them back to the relative safety of Sanctuary Hills.
He played another tape while he sifted through the armors and weapons, gearing up for one hell of a fight. This tape was about the last Minuteman himself, Preston Garvey and detailing specific things about the man, along with his connections to others.
"Hey, Liam! This tape is about the second companion you are technically supposed to gain in the game, Dogmeat being the first. Though I always cheated with the Cheat Terminal so that I could go straight to Nuka World, become overboss, loot the different parks, reclaim the power plant, and gain perks based on which factions I sided with.
Anyways, Preston Garvey enlisted in the Minutemen at the age of seventeen. The Minutemen were his personal heroes growing up and is a die hard believer of their cause which is essentially helping the Commonwealth, protecting people from raiders and feral ghouls, making certain there was food and trade, and seeing to the overall happiness of the general populace.
In 2282, the leader of the Minutemen named General Becker was killed in action and thus the infighting began. The chaos that followed led to a division of the companies, and more and more of them stopped answering the calls of the settlements. Eventually, only Colonel Hollis's company, in which Preston was a member of, were the only ones still fighting the good fight.
Five years later in the year 2287, a tech savvy man named Sturges contacted the Minutemen for help. You see, Liam, he's friends with a woman named Mama Murphy and well, she's a bit of a stoner, but when high, she receives visions with something she calls the sight. Don't knock it because in the game that shit was fucking true and once she mentions the words claws and death, keep your eyes for a big monster with a nasty roar and scary as fuck." The tape played and he heard her clear her throat,
"Anyways, 2287 is when Preston and the rest of his company head to the settlement where Sturges and Mama Murphy lived. A group known as the Gunners were laying siege to the town. They broke through the line and the Gunners retreated for a time. Turns out that the one leading the invading force was a former veteran of the Minutemen.
Betrayed by one of their own, they sent out a call to their brothers, requesting for aid, but it never came. It was a bloody battle and almost all of the company and civilians were slaughtered. Preston took those that remained and fled, shaking off pursuit near Jamaica Plain. Only ten remained so they went to Lexington, but the place was overrun by feral ghouls, killing two more.
Out of the original twenty that left Quincy, only six managed to reach Concord, but when you arrive, only five will be alive. Preston, Sturges, Mama Murphy and two others whose names I don't recall. Sorry, Liam, it's been a while since I've played the game, but I do remember the line ' had one of her visions while stoned out of her gourd'...I know, it was a stupid line to remember but it just sort of stuck out in my brain."
He let out a small laugh as he loaded a sniper rifle and digitized it into his inventory.
"I'm not surprised, love." He commented softly, grabbing two 10mm pistols.
"Moving along, you'll have to be careful with Preston. He's an all or nothing kind of guy and once he places his hope in you, a slight infraction against his beliefs and he'll be crushed by disappointment. Thus the reason why I took care of all the raider stuff in Nuka World before actually going to get Preston in Concord.
Unfortunately, you don't have that luxury. Shit is now extremely time sensitive or dependent on other events or factors being at play. So yeah, grab Dogmeat, take out tge giant mole rats, check the small cave near the Red Rocket Station, clear it out, activate the workbench, and book it to the Museum of Freedom. The only reason you need to clear out the Station first is because it's along the route you and the others will take to return to Sanctuary Hills.
Right, sorry, getting sidetracked again. Preston is pretty straightforward about what he likes, mainly helping others or assisting settlements, aiding the Minutemen, not working with raiders, taking out the Gunners in Quincy, not accepting bribes, and things similar in nature. He's pretty much the polar opposite of the majority of the Commonwealth. Just try not to break his heart, okay, for such a badass, he is remarkably fragile.
Next tape will outline what you'll need to know for Concord and some nearby points of interest. Don't worry, I'll make a holotape for settlement building, so you can have a blueprint for all future settlements. Remember, Liam, you got this and I am so very proud of you! Now go be a badass already!" The tape clicked off and he removed it from the player, digitizing it back into the inventory.
He strapped on both leather and metal pieces of armor, but would not hinder his movements. He pulled out a machete, a combat knife, and several throwing knives, sheathing them all on his person in various places. He holstered the two pistols on either thigh, grabbed some ammo and stimpaks, and slid on a pair of black sunglasses.
"Oh you don't have to worry, love. The Commonwealth is going to be given a massive overhaul by yours truly. I'll make you proud, I'll change things…for you. You bloody minded wench… I miss you." He spoke aloud, taking a deep breath to stop the tears from trying to form in his eyes.
He left the lab, making certain to lock it down and digitizing the key into his inventory. He bade farewell to Artz's robotic butler and made his way towards the bridge. He made a mental note to repair the bridge at some point so weary travelers don't accidentally take a tumble into the bloody river.
He did play the settlement tape along the way and sighed heavily upon realizing that he needed his notebook for this. It was clear that Artz had put a lot of thought into making these holotapes and could be quite meticulous when she wanted to be. He ejected the tape and decided to come back to it at a later date like tomorrow.
He spotted the Red Rocket Station and more importantly, he saw his first companion. A brown and black dog that looked positively healthy for being in a radioactive wasteland was sniffing about.
"Dogmeat!" He called out and he almost laughed at how fast the dog's head turned towards him.
The canine raced over to him with a happy bark. He knelt in front of the animal and pulled some jerky from his inventory. His canine companion gobbled it up rather quickly, licking his fingers before rubbing his head against him in thanks.
"My star told me about you. She said that you would stick by me no matter what and having met you, I believe it, but we're in trouble, Dogmeat. A group of mole rats are going to pop up out of the ground any second now, so get ready for a fight, boy." He warned and the dog barked in acknowledgement.
He was about to stand back up when he felt a tremor in the ground. It was slight and he barely noticed the ground beneath his feet stirring. He cursed and dived out of the way just as a large, mutated mole rat breached the surface in a cloud of dust. He rolled away from another eruption of dust as he pulled both pistols from their holsters.
His eyes widened as a mole rat leapt into the air and directly towards his face. It was intercepted by the jaws of Dogmeat, literally tearing its throat out. Liam focused on the others, firing shot after shot. He had been surprised by how many that had popped up. He had been expecting half a dozen, ten tops and ended up with seventeen.
He wondered how many remained in their lair beneath the Red Rocket Station. He whistled for the dog to follow him and looked about for the cave. It was a bit smaller than he was led to believe and he had to practically crouch down in order to navigate it successfully. He found some loot, harvested something the pip boy called brain fungus and some glowing plants.
The mole rats were annoying and the irradiated one was a fucking pest. Wasted a whole damn clip in that son of a bitch and Dogmeat still had to break its neck to get it to finally go down and stay down. He had to use some Rad-X when his pip boy picked up a spike in radiation. Worth it because he had found himself a fusion core and if the storyline of the game continues to hold true then he'll need it for the suit of T-45 power armor waiting for him at the Museum of Freedom.
After crawling back out, he stuck in the holotape for Concord. The tape began to play and he watched how Dogmeat responded to the sound of Artz's voice, wagging his tail excessively and looking rather happy. It was almost like he recognized her voice, but that would be impossible. His love was dead, but still, it gave him a small sliver of happiness that his first companion seemingly appeared to get along with the woman he loved.
"Hey, Liam! This next holotape is predominantly about the city of Concord. As you know, Sanctuary Hills was once the suburban residential district of Concord, but throw in a nuclear bomb and shit gets fucked up big time. You'll need to keep a lookout for specific items and not all of the buildings will be accessible.
Here is a list of the locations I can remember. Keep in mind, you might not be able to enter some of them, so I apologize ahead of time for any tedium caused. I didn't really spend much time in Concord because the only quest for the area was rescuing Preston Garvey and his refugees. Okay, here goes.
Concord Church
Concord Civic Access
Concord Savings Loan
Concord Speakeasy
Fallon's
Hardware Store
Municipal Plutonium Wells
Museum of Freedom…duh.
Some house to the northwest
Pinelli's Bakery
Walden Drugs
Some kind of Workhouse
Oh and Wright's Inn
As for the items you need to find…there are a few things that need to be grabbed from the Museum of Freedom. Please note that these things are just the notable loot. You'll undoubtedly find a great deal more and that's mainly from sifting through every container you come across, looting every corpse, and just random shit that is lying around.
Anyways, just outside the museum will be a laser musket. Preston will actually point this out to you before you enter. Inside the room with Preston will be a Perception Bobblehead and a RobCo magazine. On the roof of the building will be the audio log of the previous owner of a set of power armor, which was the next item of note, T-45 power armor.
I don't rightly recall what model it is or any specifics. I usually had a better suit of power armor anyways, along with a modified minigun. Moving along, a copy of Taboo Tattoos along with a fusion core can be found in the civic access tunnels. I remember reading somewhere that you could get some powerful chems at the Speakeasy.
I doubt you'll use them, but you could sell them or something, perhaps store them at Sanctuary Hills. To be honest, looting will be pretty pointless if Jane manages to work out the last few bugs with her duplication algorithm. Though it would be better to take everything not nailed down, scrap them for parts, so people won't wonder where you're getting all this shit and accidentally stumble across the lab.
I've already suggested something to Jane, George and Eleanor. It's a locking mechanism thingy. Classic key to open the interface and of course, digital profiles designed for specific people. Eleanor is working on that right now. Oh hey, George…a Nuka Cola Quantum and so icy. I know this shit is pretty much radioactive but damn if I don't love it! Ah whoops, forgot this was still on…uh, until next time, Liam and try not to die!" The tape ended.
He let out a small chuckle, but stopped when his canine companion whined pitifully. He knelt down and petted the dog's head.
"What's wrong, boy?" He asked, wondering why the canine seemed so melancholy.
The dog nudged the wrist wearing the pip boy, another whine emitting from his throat. Liam's eyes filled with sadness. It would seem that even her disembodied voice held power over others.
"I'm sorry, Dogmeat, but it's just a recording. The woman that made it has been gone a long time and she's not coming back." The marksman stated, feeling his heart tighten in intense sorrow.
He was surprised when Dogmeat growled at him, almost like he disagreed with what he said. The dog then took off down the road and into Concord. He would have called out for the canine to stop, but then remembered the Deathclaw Artz had told him about.
The Deathclaw was a mighty powerful creature with a lot of health and a lot of damage resistance. Thus the reason for a minigun, but the best way to bring down such a beast is target the underbelly while utilizing VATS. Crippling the limbs would make it easier to fell the creature, but its hide is incredibly tough. Melee was out of the question, and so was laser damage. Ballistic type attacks were his best chance of piercing the skin.
He equipped his sniper rifle and used it to scan the immediate area. He didn't run into any enemies straight away, but as he turned the corner, he spotted the Museum of Freedom at the end of the road. There was a man on the balcony, shooting a laser musket to fend off the assholes trying to shoot him. He activated VATS, his eyes shifting to mirrored obsidian, and quickly dealt with the raiders.
Once certain there were no more enemies in the immediate area, he requipped his rifle back into his inventory and sprinted down the road. A dark skinned man called down to him and he looked up to give the man most of his attention.
"I've got a group of settlers inside! The raiders are almost through the door! Grab that laser musket and help us! Please!" The man shouted, clearly desperate.
He grabbed the laser musket and entered the Museum of Freedom. The place was in shambles, columns were crumbling, the floor was cracked and warped, and whatever appeal this place once had was long gone. He requipped the laser musket and brought out his sniper rifle, picking off the raiders on the higher floors with ease.
He digitized loot along the way, always being mindful of his carry weight. He requipped the rifle away and withdrew the pistols, shooting down raider after raider. His mirrored obsidian orbs blazed with determination as he fought his way through each section of the museum.
He was genuinely surprised by just how unorganized these idiots were. It's like they lacked any kind of basic training or common sense for that matter. They allowed their emotions to show in their body and it telegraphed every move they were about to make. This was sloppy, very sloppy. How the hell did these morons even survive in this radioactive wasteland when basic survival tactics were nonexistent?
He did feel a little bad about stripping the bodies of their gear, but desperate times call for desperate measures. When he ran across the terminal and the locked gate, he groaned in annoyance. Hacking was not his area of expertise and he glared briefly at the still viable fusion core. He'll have to come back here with Nick later so he could grab the stupid thing.
He was grateful that he nabbed that fusion core back at the Red Rocket Station then remembered that he had the damn infinity lab and completely forgot that he could just materialize whatever he needed before any damn mission. Bloody hell, the lab was going to take some getting used to.
He continued on, picking off the raiders and briefly wondering where his canine companion had run off to. He was sure that Dogmeat would return. He really did seem like a loyal hound and he also seemed to be smarter than your average animal. He kept checking around corners but he wasn't finding any more enemies.
He walked towards the final door he could access on this level. There was a brightly glowing exit sign above the door and he just shook his head at the ridiculousness of the situation. Of all the things to still be intact and working after two hundred plus years…he sighed.
"Building's cleared of raiders, mate." Liam called and was surprised when the door suddenly opened.
Did anyone have any sense of self preservation? He holstered his pistols and raised his hands in the universal sign of surrender. He was ushered inside with the door closed behind him.
"Man, I don't know who you are, but your timing's impeccable. Preston Garvey, Commonwealth Minutemen." Preston introduced himself.
"Liam Kincaid and I am more than happy to help, though my dog has wandered off so keep a lookout for him if you would." He replied lowering his hands.
"Well if that's true, we could use some more good will. As you can see, we're in a bit of a mess here. A month ago, there were twenty of us, yesterday there were eight. Now we're five. First it was the ghouls in Lexington. Now this mess." The dark skinned man rambled, showing just how stressful it's been for the poor man.
"Sorry I couldn't get here sooner, mate." Liam offered, feeling a little guilt for taking two days to get there.
There was nothing he could do about it now. He needed to focus on saving the lives that he could actually save and not the ones he couldn't.
"Thanks. It's good to meet someone who really cares. Anyway, we figured Concord would be a safe place to settle. Those raiders proved us wrong, but…well, we do have one idea." Preston responded, shaking him loose from his train of thought.
"This idea wouldn't have anything to do with that crashed vertibird on the roof, by any chance?" He inquired, already knowing the answer.
A man in overalls and a white shirt looked up with a smirk on his lips.
"Indeed it does. Turns out one of the passengers left behind a seriously sweet goody. We're talking a full suit of cherry T-45 power armor, military issue. Protection, with an added bonus. Get the suit and you can rip the minigun right off the vertibird. Do that and those raiders get an express ticket to hell. Ya dig?" The man stated in a rather southern drawl.
"To utilize power armor will require a fusion core and as luck would have it, I stumbled across one in my recent exploration." The sole survivor replied, pulling the fusion core from a pouch on his belt.
"Well how about that? Maybe our luck is finally turning around. Once you jack the core into the power armor and grab that minigun, those raiders will know they picked the wrong fight. Good luck." The last Minuteman commented, ending the conversation.
Liam made certain to note the location of certain items to grab after he dealt with the raiders and the deathclaw. He walked past Preston and Sturges, but stopped when a woman with clouded eyes, touched his hand. He knelt in front of her, knowing in an instant that this was Mama Murphy, the woman with the sight.
"The man out of time and the child of the sea. Dogmeat chose well, he'll stick by you, kid. You…you already know who I am and that I have the sight because she told you. You're guided by the voice of your heart so you know that something's coming and it's angry. Claws and teeth and horns, the very face of death itself." The psychic rattled off.
He placed his hands on top of hers, making her stop talking and look at him.
"It's alright, Mama Murphy, I don't need you to use your gift. I know what's coming and I will protect you and the others. I give you my word." He promised, meaning every word.
The woman with clouded eyes smiled warmly at him.
"You may know it's coming, but it won't be you that stops it." She eluded.
"What do you mean, Mama Murphy? Who else is going to don a suit of power armor and fight off a band of raiders and a deathclaw?" He asked, being humorous to keep things light.
"You are the man out of time, but soon you'll meet someone that has walked through time yet is untouched by it. That's why Dogmeat ran off, to get them, to bring them here to help us, to give back that which guides the sailors across the sea. I've seen it, kid, and it's good. You'll see soon enough. Don't keep them waiting." The psychic answered vaguely, further confusing him.
He rose to his feet and left the room, heading down the hallway. He took the door leading to the roof and immediately spotted the suit of power armor. It was rusted in some areas and some of the pieces were in need of repair, but overall it was intact and appeared to be functional. He took the core and jammed it into the back, hearing the suit power up.
He was distracted when he heard people yelling in pain. He worked his way past the crashed vertibird and knelt near the edge of the building. The raiders were being picked off one by one, but he couldn't tell where the gunfire was coming from. Seven raiders went down before a beast with long claws, horns, and tail crashed out of what appeared to be the sewage tunnel at the far end of the street.
He was about to leave to get in the power armor to take down that monstrosity when movement caught his eye. A lithe individual wearing some kind of protective suit including covering the head entirely was scurrying across rooftops. He noticed something reflecting in the sunlight.
Was that some kind of metallic wire? Were they attempting to trap or capture the deathclaw and for what purpose? Imagine his shock when the person swung off the roof like they were a damn monkey swinging on a vine. They used the metal wires they had set up to limit the beast's movements, got on top of its back, then looped another set of wires around the creature's neck.
They pulled harshly and the wires cut through the creature's hide like melting through butter. The deathclaw let out a gurgled roar before falling to the ground dead. What the hell did he just witness? They took down the deathclaw like they were shooting fish in a barrel. He watched in fascination as they carved the deathclaw up and the pieces seemingly vanished, but he didn't see a pip boy on either of their wrists.
They moved on to looting the corpses of the raiders and that's when he noticed Dogmeat trailing behind the mysterious figure, looking right pleased with himself. He barely even registered that Preston had joined him up on the roof until he made a disgusted sound.
"Great, just what we needed… the King of the Nuka World Raiders. What the hell are they doing all the way out here?" The last Minuteman pondered aloud, making him glance at the man.
"If they're the leader, why not just kill him and be done with it?" He asked, wondering why the dark skinned man simply didn't act.
Preston aimed his laser musket at the mysterious figure and shot them in the head, the figure going down easily. The Minuteman pointed to the figure and Liam was shocked to see them get right back up like they hadn't just been shot in the head.
"What did I do this time, Garvey?" The figure spoke, the voice being run through a voice filter and sounding neither male or female.
"Answering a question, Nuka King." The Minuteman answered.
The figure took off towards one of the buildings and the marksman watched as they repelled from surface to surface before using a grapple hook gun to connect to another building and swing up onto theirs. The mysterious figure landed gracefully in front of them and Preston didn't even blink, making him wonder what the bloody hell was going on?
The mystery person released the grapple hook from the wall and let it return to the gun before it slipped under the sleeve of their coat. He went completely rigid when the mysterious figure asked him a very specific question. It couldn't be, it was impossible.
