Kyu kept an eye on the table, examining the carvings that some bored man did so long ago. It was times like this that he sometimes felt like he needed to remember being human but no matter how hard he tried... he just couldn't visualise it.
The vision caused him a great deal of mental exhaustion and sometimes physical pain, it was like holding up a colossal weight, the longer and harder you try to hold onto your memories, the more tolling they were.
He wondered if this was what drove his brethren mad, he could feel his grip on himself failing as he tried to let go of it and grab hold onto his humanity. He felt it was a trap. It was too much to hope to succeed...
He had been at the bar for a while, not feeling comfortable leaving just yet. He wasn't an idiot, he knew what people were expecting of him and what they'd do to make him meet their expectations. He was too familiar with human nature...
The door opened and the Boy from earlier slipped in, prompting the Supermutant to turn his attention towards him, slowly rising to his feet.
"Hardin bring you back?"
"Hmm?" Arthur asked, finding himself confused that the mutant had begun to address him first.
"Erm... N-No... Well... He found me... He didn't send me anywhere. I came here myself actually, to talk to you."
"D'aww... Well, you're too young for me but maybe in a few years I'll consider giving you a chance." Kyu assured him, causing Arthur's face to scrunch up in unadulterated disgust.
"Don't be foul!" He hissed, marching over to him and staring the large brute in the eye.
"I want to know about your leader! Tell me about Shepherd!"
"A please would be nice." Kyu shrugged but whatever.
"Shepherd's this... grey mutant, he's shorter than me but taller than you. He's smart, strong and knows what makes the muties tick." Kyu explained, with a shrug.
"That's all I can give you."
"You must know more!" Arthur insisted.
"What's his plan?"
"I don't know the guy personally, let me make that clear but... I think his plan involves unifying the mutants. I don't know why or how but he wants to be recognised as the mutant leader... hence the name. He's shepherding us into a new age for us, now that could be beneficial for you humans, if this guy is smart enough to reign the mutants in or could be disastrous if the muties are suddenly smarter and better equipped. Your guess is as good as mine, I only know what I've been told."
"Who told you this?" Arthur asked, seeming somewhat eager to keep this momentum going.
"A mutant, just a random one that I asked on the road."
"Wait... The Mutants just... let you talk to them?" Arthur asked, seeming puzzled by that.
"Yeah, they see me as... Well, not one of their own, I mean we have a tribal identity but they don't attack me on sight, sometimes we can trade, talk... whatever."
"Do you think they'd let humans approach with you?" He asked, he almost seemed enthused by this idea, getting a laugh out of Kyu.
"Hmm... Somehow, I really doubt it. Could be wrong though... I'd rather not find out." The Mutant shrugged, not wanting to experiment with human lives or with the mutant's own tolerance with him.
"I guess I could, in theory pose as one of them and pretend I've captured you, spin a story and shit... Of course, that would be a lot more effort than it's worth."
"If you made that effort, I would assure you that you'd be spared, when the Brotherhood purges the Mutants." Maxson offered, getting little more than an irritated glare from the tall warrior.
"Oh, that's nice, ain't it? Help us and we'll let you live! You Brotherhood people really are assholes, you know that!?"
"I... Thought you would be grateful, grateful for the chance to..."
"You're shit at this, ain't you? You can't even promise that I'd be spared! If your bucket head buddies want me shot, who's goin' to stop that from happening, you?"
"If necessary." Arthur said, sternly.
"Who's going to listen to you? I mean, I shit bigger than you!"
"It doesn't matter how big I am, my opinion matters in the Citadel!"
"Pfft... Who even are you? Some knight captain's kid or somethin'? You're probably kept around out of pity..."
"I am kept around, because throughout my life, I have earned my place. I am the true heir of our order, the future incarnate. My opinion on the world that I want to live in is going to be far weightier than some close minded old shelf stocker's!"
The large mutant just glanced down to him, pausing for a moment before walking away. He was done with this shit...
"Arthur!" Durga snapped, staring over the railings and glaring down at him, like a hawk, watching its prey. She quickly got his attention, gesturing as he looked up to her, with a quick gesture to their room, behind her.
With some degree of hesitation, Arthur began his ascent up the stairway, knowing that he was likely going to be ash in a few minutes.
He was snatched and quickly dragged into the room, the door slammed shut behind him.
"Are you kidding me!?" She snapped, storming around, so that she could be directly infront of him.
"What the hell were you thinking!? I thought you were better than this, trying to sneak off like some dumb-shit kid!"
"I wasn't!" Arthur protested, harshly at first but his tone and face softened.
"I... I was looking for information, trying to make myself useful by finding some items. I actually did as well."
"You..." Durga sighed, she had just woken up in a blind panic and wasn't too concerned about arguing anymore.
"Alright, fine... What did you find out, from the mutant?"
"I know who their leader is and what he's doing. They call him Shepherd and he's a Marisoppa Supermutant, from out west. According to that guy down stairs, he's trying to achieve something similar to the Master."
"Another..." Durga paused, taking in a deep, sharp breath before sighing.
"Another Unity... Dammit, we barely survived the first one, if it weren't for the Vault Dweller, we would all be ten feet tall and green now. Without Paladin Callaghan though..."
"We don't need that traitor, we can manage just fine on our own!" Hardin demanded, firmly.
"Just us two? I'm not exactly a paladin and you aren't even a soldier, what're we even going to do?"
"We'll go back and warn the Brotherhood, if they know the risks..." Durga paused, what was the point in finishing that sentence? It was all just delusions anyway, the kind of delusions she had before being locked in that damn closet.
"There are plenty of Paladins who would help us, like Danse or maybe even..."
"We can't trust anyone in the Brotherhood, assuming we could get in and out of there without arousing suspicion. There has to be someone in town..."
Durga paused, glancing to the floor, with a heavy sigh, she knew what he was saying but wasn't inclined to agree. Still, going back now? That could mean being locked up or at least being under the watchful eyes of her superiors. She couldn't, in good conscience sit in a prison cell, waiting for the world to go to shit. She just couldn't... not after everything they'd built.
"There... Is an option but..." She murmured, taking in a deep breath.
"We'd be chasing a rumour."
"A rumour? What?" Arthur asked, folding his arms and looking at her, sternly.
"The rumour... suggests that a man, matching the Lone Wanderer's description has been see in Megaton. He wears a pipboy, a leather coat and has the same hair colour as on file. Though the description seems... Off..."
"Off?"
"He doesn't have the right skintone or hairstyle, Denis could be in disguise but... That is a very large 'could be' for such a diversion."
"Who else is there? Denis is gone, Star-Paladin Cross died for him and..." He paused, not wanting to say anymore but...
"There's no one who can fill his shoes."
Durga paused, she could almost feel the effort off of him, pulsating furiously.
"Maybe we don't need those shoes filled... Maybe we just need someone to slip into them again." Durga shrugged, looking away, to the railing.
"Still, we should get a few more hours sleep and head out in the morning, we aren't safe, now that you've told everyone who we are."
"I didn't, they figured it out on their own. It's not my fault that that Mutant is perceptive and that your outfit is a dead give-away."
"My..." Durga paused, sighing heavily as she accepted responsibility for her mistakes. Albeit silently...
"Well... It seems we'll both have to do better but let me make something clear, like Crystal. If you pull that shit on me, sneaking off again? I won't look for you, I'll just go. You've already lost me so damn much with this and I don't blame you for that but what I do expect is that you don't deliberately fuck around and put the entire mission in jeopardy, because you're bored. Got it?"
"But I..."
"Got it?"
"Y'Yes... Sorry..." He sighed, folding his arms and looking away, with a bit of a shiver.
"I'm... I think that getting some sleep is a good idea."
The two of them lay back in their beds, their eyes fell shut, almost immediately. There was a long, dark silence, after they fell asleep, floating in and out of dreams as the stress caused a great deal of turbulence but their will kept them afloat.
Well, for two hours or so...
Durga's eyes were the first to shoot open as she heard some loud screams, down bellow, gunshots rang from outside, along with several explosions. She was quick to sit up, checking on Maxson and immediately finding herself relieved, when she saw him stir.
"What's... What's going on?" He asked, quickly sitting upright.
"Is there... Fighting?"
"Sounds like an all out war out there." Durga observed as Arthur rose to his feet and cobbled his belongings together.
"Shit, we have to help them!"
"No we don't that isn't our place and we are severely under equipped..."
"But it could be the mutants! Every gun would count and that is our place, they're an abomination of technology!"
"That maybe so but we aren't soldiers, we talked about this."
"You talked and I listened and if this means we're through, we're through. I'm not just going to sit here and let the mutants take this place and turn it into a damn fortress!"
Durga sighed, damn he was stubborn... She kind of liked it...
"Alright, fine." She scowled, readying her laser rifle.
"You follow me, got it? Don't break ranks! If we're going to pretend to be soldiers, lets go all the way and act like them."
"Yes Ma'am!"
Without any further hesitation, Durga marched down the stairs of the Salloon, laser rifle at the ready.
Hardin found himself knelt down behind a fallen Nuka Cola machine as several mutants tore their way down the path, using hunting rifles, sledge hammers and one even had a plasma rifle of some description, that shot three beams instead of one, like the energy weapon equivalent of a shotgun.
The people of Megaton had taken a stand, by the bomb, knowing that the mutants would likely not bother to use the ramparts, given that they were more about showing brute strength and force. Hardin had already urged as many of the small folk as possible to head back to the common areas, fearing that they would likely be slaughtered if they stood against the mutant force.
"Hardin!" Jynx called, rushing over to his side and kneeling down, doing her best to keep her head down.
"Raine? What the fuck man? I told you to get back to the commons!" Hardin snapped, peering over the edge and taking a shot.
"They need someone to protect them!"
As he peered over the edge, to take another shot, he found himself stalling as he saw a Supermutant Overlord was already making his way up the ramparts, tri-beam laser rifle blasting full throttle at the barricades.
"Shit!" He yelled as Jynx pulled him to the floor.
"Hardin, what the hell!? You nearly got killed!"
"Jynx, he's movin' around the Ramparts! They're gonna flank us!"
The Lamplighter looked up in horror as she saw that he was right, she swallowed hard and backed away.
"Sh-Shit... I'm going up there!"
"On your own? You'll be killed!" Hardin yelled as the Settler next to him's head exploded, causing Jynx to scream as chunks of brain and skull showered over the young Sheriff to which he winced and shivered.
"Are you okay?" Jynx asked, catching his eye.
"N-No! Jynx, this is awful! I don't know what to do!"
"Okay, just... calm yourself!"
"Jynx, we're going to die! I can't help anyone, I can't even help myself! What the fuck am I doing here!?"
"Hardin! Please!"
"Why did I send him away!? He would've saved us!" Jynx took this as a clear sign that Hardin had indeed lost his mind, she slapped him across the face, a quick, sharp sting knocked his face to one side.
"Snap out of it! You're all we have right now, Hardin! You're all that can save us!"
Hardin paused, shivering a little, with a faint sigh as he reached into his pocket, drawing out a small flask and knocking a swig back.
"Okay... Okay... I'm... Jynx? You need to go to the Saloon, find that Brotherhood woman and get her to help. I don't care how, just do it!"
Jynx nodded, firmly, crawling over the brass lantern, ignoring a bullet as it bit at her heals.
"Okay, I have this!"
"Y-Yeah you do!" Hardin agreed, with a firm nod as he glanced up to the Ramparts and saw how close the mutant was. However, to his surprise, a red blur appeared by its side, kicking at the Overlord's feet and throwing it down to the ground.
Kyu was already on top of the mutant, punching it in the face, repeatedly as the beast tried to overcome him with his superior but misused strength. The Large, sack-cloth mutant had already drawn blood within seconds of meeting this creature, much to the disgust and frustrations of it.
"Traitor! Die now!" The Overlord snarled, throwing a punch into the side of Kyu's head, causing him to deflect it with his bear-paw-like hand. The pain forced him to retract, holding said paw as he stumbled back to his feet, knowing that it had caused him a lot more pain than he had let on.
The Overlord stumbled to his feet, breaking into an enrage scream before charging onward and shoulder barging into the Mutant martial artist. Kyu was swift, with his counter attack, shuffling a little to the side before doing a hard hitting chop into the creature's back, causing it to stumble forward. It continued to snarl, snorting a few times as it did so, turning around to see Kyu gently recover his hand by nursing it in his other.
"For your fighting, you are weak still!" The Overlord said, spitting as he spoke and seemingly not noticing that Kyu wasn't exactly listening as he was planning his next move.
"Come and break me." He said, practically daring him to do so as he let his arms fall to his side.
As Durga kicked the saloon doors open, she immediately found herself face to face with the Sheriff's girl. She had no idea what she was doing here of all places, possibly protecting the liquor for her boss.
"Thank God, we need your help!"
"Where do you need me?" Durga asked, much to Jynx's surprise, she would have thought that they would need more convincing than this, being Brotherhood and all.
"Erm... On the Ramparts? The Mutants are starting to make their way up there, hoping to flank us. We need to keep them clear!"
"I'm on it!" Durga answered, with a quick, decisive nod.
"Arthur! Stay put!"
"Durga, I..."
"Stay. Put."
Arthur sighed, knowing that there wasn't a great deal of things that he could do anyway.
"Alright, I'll hold this position." He acknowledged, not letting his disappointment go unnoticed.
"If things go to shit, leave this place and head straight back to the Citadel."
"I... Yes."
Without even bothering to hear his answer, Durga rushed down the approach, laser rifle at the ready as she made her descent, discharging several lasers down at the mutant horde.
From her position, she could see five on the main approach and two on the Ramparts, on closer inspection, she saw that one of the ones on the Ramparts was the red robed mutant from before and considering that he was in hand to hand combat with the Overlord, she figured it was best to consider him an ally.
The thought occurred to her that he could've orchestrated this attack but had he done that, he wouldn't then have turned on his own people. Or at least, she'd hope he wouldn't be that idiotic. With little else to go on, Durga began her descent, covering Hardin along the way. She managed to shoot and kill a weaker mutant, by blasting him in the right shoulder and blowing the attached arm off, leaving little but a charred stump behind as he fell to the floor.
Jynx stepped up behind her, 10mm pistol at the ready.
"We should probably help Kyu!"
"The Mutant is fine, we should cover Hardin." Durga insisted, firing off another shot.
"Hardin is in the most immediate danger. The Mutie can hold that other guy off, surely!" Jynx insisted, getting and irritable sigh from Durga as she didn't exactly appreciate being told what to do.
"Alright, we might as well use their tactics against them, we can use the ramparts to give them cover."
"R-Right, though I'm not the best shot." Jynx admitted.
"Don't worry." Arthur assured her, leaning over the railing, with his laser pistol.
"Just keep aiming for the mutants, something is bound to hit them."
"I don't exactly have bullets to waste." Jynx sighed as she fired one off, she couldn't even tell if it had hit anything or not. She decided to take it slow, ensuring that she was able to make some good shots, instead of just firing blindly…
By now, Hardin had been unable to do anything for a while, he was pinned down by a barrage of bullets, all of which were buried in the fallen Nuka Cola machine.
He took some deep breaths, finding himself glad for the cover fire as he attempted to think of a way forward. These mutant freaks didn't seem to be decreasing in number, not yet anyway…
It felt like one would pop up, every time another died. This confirmed it to him, this was definitely an organized raid, these creatures hadn't just stumbled across the Town, by accident, they were planning to take it.
As he sat there, thinking, he heard a very loud thud in the distance, several in fact, followed by an earth shattering roar. His trembling hands found themselves slipping in and out of his coat pockets, trying to find the mirror that he used to see what was coming. It took him a few moments but eventually he managed to clasp his hands around it and held it up before his eye, examining it carefully.
Marching through what remained of the door was some sort of colossus, a supermutant, who reached a height of thirty feet. It dragged a large club behind it, that looked like it was a street lamp, with a huge chunk of a car attached to the top of it. It looked very heavy and looked like it would mean certain death to anyone who came into contact with it.
The Creature looked around at the chaos, even from several feet away, Hardin could see that it's behaviour was that of a distressed creature, growing enraged at the noises and the flashing lights. Within seconds, it went from being terrifying to… something else. It let out another ear shattering roar before charging forward, readying its club and charging straight for Hardin's vending machine. The Sheriff dropped his mirror and began panting, finding himself frozen on the spot, out of fear as he saw the colossus charge towards him.
His eyes tightened, clutching his rifle as he grimaced, curling up into a ball.
Wanderer… Help us!