Chapter 5: Old Enemies
Location: Cougars Stadium, Hanover Timeline: 16 A.E.
As Me, Ruby, and Ralphie followed Cole and his comrades, a woman spoke from the comms.
"Sovereign to all KR units off-ship-We are under heavy Lambent attack. The ship has been boarded. We require support. I say again, we are under attack and require immediate assistance."
Carmine replies, "Oh, dammit. Well, that changes our dinner plans!"
I turned to Cole and asked, "Uh, Cole, who was that?"
Cole replied, "That was Anya."
Then Cole got on the comms, "Cole to KR-Seven-Zero. Time to get us back to the ship!"
"KR-Seven-Zero here, that's a negative, Cole. Got some serious Lambent shit on board Sovereign. Stand by."
Cole responded, "Roger that."
Then Cole turned to us and said, "Okay. Let's see if the boss lady can get us back to the ship some other way."
We all nodded and we followed Cole to find the boss. After a minute or so, we found her, but then back at the field, more stalks popped up.
Sam commented, "Oh, well. Nice while it lasted!"
Baird shouted, "Ah, shit!"
I replied, "Yeah, this is bullshit!"
But then the boss lady came up to us, "Hey, this is all your fault! Those things left us alone until the COG showed up!"
I stepped up and said, "Calm the fuck down, lady! We don't like it either!"
Cole turned to me and said, "Eddie, calm down."
"S-sorry, Cole. I guess my tension is high right now." I replied.
Cole nodded and then turned to the boss and responded, "Ma'am, our ship is in trouble, and we're tryin' to get back fast. You got any transport we can borrow?"
"Ohh-here are the keys to my luxury yacht!" she replied as she flipped us off.
'Okay, now I'm getting pissed.' I thought to myself.
Then the boss continued, "Look, COG, you're on your own. Get out while you can."
Then another stalk popped up from the ground in the field, then the boss lady ran up to the other Stranded folk, "Come on, come on, move it! Get downstairs and open the rear gates! We've got people to evacuate!"
I then suggested to Cole, "Why not head to that bridge, Cole. The ship is going to sail right under it, right?"
Cole nodded and replied, "Good idea, Eddie!"
Baird followed up, "Right, right... yeah... uh, maybe take over those gun turrets... or just rappel down when the ship's below us."
The Cole nodded and then walked up to the boss lady and asked, "Ma'am, is the cable car to the bridge still working?"
Then another stalk popped up and the boss lady replied, "Yeah, but here's some free advice-forget the bridge. There's Stranded over there that you really don't want to mess with."
Cole replied, "Yeah, we'll take our chances. We gotta get back on our ship!"
The boss said, "Fine, get yourself killed! No skin off my back!"
Then the boss lady left with the other Stranded folk and Baird began, "Hey, Cole, they seem to know a way out!"
Then Cole replied, "So do I. This way!"
We all ran up to a double door and it was blocked by a vending machine. Cole said, "Hey, Eddie! Help us out with this!"
I nodded and helped Cole move the vending machine and we proceeded to the elevators. We split up and I was with Carmine and Cole while Ruby and Ralphie went with Baird and Sam.
As we rode the elevators, also fought off against some glowies, we finally arrived at the floor where the cable cars are at, but it turns out that the cable cars themselves weren't there.
Carmine replied, "Well... shit."
Then Cole asked out, "Uh, anyone afraid of heights?"
Ruby and I looked at each other before replying, "Nope!"
But then more stalks popped up and Baird replied, "Uhhh... not anymore. Love heights. I love 'em. Fuckin' love 'em."
Then Sam found six hook lines and tossed them to one of each to us.
I switched to my Elite Riot Gear and pulled out my new Boltok Pistol and Ruby pulls out her new Snub Pistol and we began to zip line to the bridge and we heard Cole shouting, "WHOOO!"
I have to say, the Boltok has a very strong recoil but is still powerful as hell. I am indeed liking this gun and is going to be one of my most favorites.
After we zip line down to the bridge and took out some stragglers. Then when we landed on the bridge, there were glowies waiting for us, and we took them out.
"That's the last of 'em. For now, anyway." Baird said.
Then we proceeded to the side of the bridge and the bridge itself was unstable.
Baird replies, "Y'know, I'm more worried about the stability of this bridge than some trigger-happy Stranded."
I nodded and agreement and replied, "Yeah, I'm with you on that, Baird."
Carmine agreed, "Yeah... this doesn't look good at all."
Then Sam replies to us, "Come on, will you? Get on with it! If we lose that ship, we lose everything we've got!"
Then Cole got on the comms, "Cole to Sovereign-Cole to Sovereign. Come in, Sovereign!"
Then he turned to us and said, "Shit, the comms are still down, and I can't see a goddamn thing. We need to get the center of this bridge!"
Sam replied as she pointed outwards to the Stranded outpost, "Yeah, but we have to get past that first."
Baird began, "My unique charisma should do the trick."
Carmine responded, "Uh, yeah, I'll have to lend you some of mine."
Me and Ruby snickered at this and then we proceeded to follow them to the outpost.
But then something felt off, as if someone has their crosshairs pointed at my forehead.
Then Baird asked, "Am I the only one who can feel crosshairs just about here?" as he pointed to his forehead.
"No, you're not the only one, Baird. I'm having the same feeling, too." I replied.
"Oh, good. I'm not paranoid!" he replied.
But then Sam whispered to us, "Hey, I saw movement! Top of the barricade. Stay sharp!"
Then we all halted and I replaced my Boltok with my 'This Machine' and Ruby pulled took out her Hammerburst she still had ever since we first arrived here, and we readied ourselves.
The Cole slowly walked up and shouted out, "Hello! Anyone home? Knock, knock. We're just passing through. We just need a hand to get back to our-"
But then the locals started to fire upon us and catching us off guard.
Cole shouted, "SHIT!"
Then we took cover behind the road dividers. Me, Ralphie, and Ruby took the right side, Carmine and Sam in the middle, and Baird and Cole on the left.
Then we overheard Cole saying, "Heh, so much for diplomacy."
Baird replied, "Yeah, what else do you expect from these Stranded shits? Let's get this over with."
I then suggested to them, "Maybe we should pop them in the knee or something?"
Then Sam raised her Longshot and looked through the scope, then yelled out, "Hey! Those aren't Stranded! They're Locust!" as she shot at one of the snipers.
"Oh, great! Look who's back in town!" Baird said.
"Well, we did flood them out of their tunnels." Cole replied.
"Okay, forget what I said. Let's end them right here, right now." I replied.
Ruby replied, "I agree. After what I heard about them and what they did, they might as well have no soul, like Grimm."
I then switched from my 'This Machine' to my Anti-Material Rifle and looked through my scope and took a look at these Locust, and God damn, they're uglier than Super Mutants!
I then took a shot and blew off its head. Sam shouted to me, "Nice shot, Edward!"
"Thanks!" I replied. Then a sheet of metal fell off a toll booth and revealed a gun turret made out of older-looking Lancers of sort, which pique my interest.
Cole shouted and, "Hey, they got a gun position in that toll booth!"
I shouted, "I got this!" as I pulled out my 'Great Bear' Grenade Rifle. I then fired a grenade into the booth and exploded, killing the gunner and destroying the turret.
Then I saw another gun turret positioned at the right side of the bridge, right next to a fuel tank. I smiled and fired another grenade at the fuel tank, blowing up the tank along with the second booth, and collapsed to the water below.
"Another gun turret down!" I shouted.
Cole shouted, "Nice job, Eddie!"
I then saw Ruby and Sam, using their Longshots, killing the Locust snipers that are on top of the barricades.
After that, then more 'Grubs', as Carmine shouted once while during our heated battle, came charging with older Lancers with a regular bayonet blade.
After taking out them all out, I went over and picked up one of those old Lancers and then replaced my 'Great Bear' with it and switched from my Elite Riot Gear to my Power Armor.
Then Baird said, "Hmmm... creative assholes, aren't they? Looks like they're building turrets out of old Lancers. A for effort."
"Yeah, they are creative when it comes to finding ways to kill you." I added.
Sam replied, "Everyone's salvaging stuff, even the bloody grubs."
"Yeah, those things can stop a truck. As long as the recoil didn't dislocate your shoulder." Baird replies.
"Luckily, I'm wearing my power armor for this, 'cause I going to be using this old Lancer here." I replied.
Baird replies, "Yeah, lucky for you."
Ruby replies, "Well, I'm just glad it's over."
But then a car hanging in the air started to descent down, opening the gate itself, and more Locust ran out, including three big guys. Two with large grenade launchers and one with a big blade.
Ruby added, "I spoke too soon."
As the Drones, as what they were called, gone after the others, the three big guys were focused on me.
The two shouted, "BOOM!"
Then they fired grenades at me, not even affecting me what-so-ever. The two looked at each other in confusion and the one with the blade charge at me and swung his blade at me. But I counter-off its attack as I grabbed the blade with my hand. Then I pulled out my 'Smuggler's End' and shot him in the face, killing him.
Then I took the blade and used it to kill the other two. After that was down, I looked at the others and they were already done, and noticed that Ruby used her Cresent Rose on those grubs. Then I picked up the 'Boomshot' and stored both it and the 'Cleaver' into my Pipboy.
Then we proceeded through the gate and started to make our way to the center of the bridge.
We looked around us and this place reminds me what Raiders would've built.
Baird commented, "Hey, I like what they've done with the place. The informal, squalid look."
Sam chuckled and said, "It's the grubs we're talking about here, Baird. Squalid's normal for them."
Baird replied, "No, when they were underground, they were organized. This looks like they've gone feral or something. Stranded. Savage, even."
Sam responded, "Savage, eh? Does that make them easier to fight or not?"
I replied, "Eh... I don't think so."
Then we entered through the lower road underneath the higher one. Then more grubs showed up and we began our fight.
I sighed and thought, 'This is indeed going to be a long day.'
To be Continued...
