Okay, I am going to be honest with you all, Three Dog has proved to be way to hard to write, so I cut that part out, but do not worry, I will be including some parts of the book that I have left out or removed for pacing in a collection of one-shots that I will put out after finishing up a few other projects, If there is any interest. These will also include some back story for each of the characters, mostly Nick Luther and Tyler, but a few others as well. Anyways, here is Chapter 14, hope you all enjoy!
Chapter 14
The group emerges from the metro entrance and Nick looks around warily. Before them stretches the war torn mall. Towards the Capital Building he can make out the hulking forms of Supermutants patrolling along their trench lines. Clustered around the Washington Monument are a few soldiers from the Brotherhood, but their are only a few of them. No matter how good their gear may be, Nick can't help but feel that they would be overrun by a full attack from the Mutants. He shakes his head, overwhelmed by the distance they will have to cross, in the open, to get to their destination. "Once more," he says turning to Luther, "Three Dog wants us to find a dish from some old space tech and attach it to the top of the Washington Monument to boost his station's signal strength?" Luther looks at him somberly and nods. "So we have to get all the way to this museum, loot it, haul this dish all they way to the monument, and then trek all the way back to GNR?" Again Luther nods. "Well if this isn't a huge plate of brahmin shit."
Beside him Tyler chuckles, "Lucky we left the that boy and Clover back at GNR, or she would tell you to watch your language around him. Never thought of her as the motherly type, but she has all but adopted him." His laughter becomes a hacking cough.
Nick rolls his eyes and starts towards the Museum, "That little squirt couldn't care less about bad language. From the way he talks his father swore all the time. Now are we going to stand around or are we going to get this over with?" Without any further discussion the group moves across the no mans land towards the Museum of Technology. They manage to make it inside without being noticed, but once inside Nick swears silently and motions for the others to duck. Standing at the top of a set of stairs is a large Super, holding an assault rifle. Below is a second carrying a twisted metal rod. Luther moves up beside him and motions that he will deal with the Super holding the assault rifle. Nick nods and stealthily moves closer to the other, Dobmeat padding along silently behind him.
Crouching behind the remains of some form of airplane, Nick waits for Luther to take the first shot. The crack of the rifle splits the otherwise silent air of the museum. Nick jumps out, landing on his side, and pulls the trigger. The Super doesn't even have time to turn before its back is riddled with holes from Nick's assault rifle. A bullet narrowly misses his head, causing him to curse and scramble back into cover! A third Super has appeared, this one with a rifle similar to Luther's! The Super lets out a bellow and all but leaps down the stairs from the second level. The second its feet touch the ground, Tyler is there with his shotgun. The Super's brains splatter out the back of its head seconds later. Nick stands and looks around the lobby they are in for the tech they need to find. "It isn't in here." he says, reaching down and idly scratching the dog's ears.
Luther emerges from where he had taken cover. "Right then, we should try the next level up." He points at a collapsed section of the wall, "If I had to guess, the thing we need is on the other side of that wall. Maybe there is another way in." Nick nods and the three of them ascend to the next level up. Moving as silently as possible to avoid detection, they soon come across an exhibit that makes Nick's skin crawl. Before them is a life sized replica of a vault door. Inside he can see the metal hallways, leading into dark corridors. "Hell no." he says simply.
Tyler looks at him and smirks, "What, afraid to visit home?"
Nick glares at him, then strides into the exhibit. Three steps in and an automated voice starts talking through hidden speakers, startling the whole group and causing them to grip their weapons, nervous that Supers may hear them. Nick soon breaks out in a cold sweat. This is all too eerily similar to 101. The slant of the walls, the sound of their boots on the floor, the design of all the rooms the automated guide lights up and explains as they walk by. Luther growls, "All of this is bull. This thing makes the vaults out as being there to save people. The vaults didn't save anyone!"
When they reach the exit Nick all but throws himself out. He is breathing hard and his heart is racing. He hadn't realized just how much of an effect the memories of the vault would have on him. Even now images of the people from his home are racing through his mind, forcing him to revisit all his past nightmares. Butch bulling him, Amata trying to comfort him, his father... His fucking father leaving him at the mercy at the fucking crazy Overseer! He rolls his neck and moves forward, suddenly not caring if they get into a fight. Dogmeat rubs against his leg and looks up at him with worried eyes, "Don't worry boy," he says, "I am good."
They reach a set of double doors, beyond which they can hear the Supermutants milling around. Nick turns to Tyler and Luther with a snarl on his lips, "No more playing it quiet." Tyler coughs once, then kicks down the door! Nick charges through the opening, Dogmeat hot on his heels. He lifts his assault rifle and guns down the nearest Super. A floor below is the tech they need, and on all the other floors are the Supers! Dropping beneath the railing, Nick takes cover as the Super's open up on his position. "Dogmeat," he grows, pointing at a Super below them, "kill!" Without hesitation the dog complies, launching itself over the railing and latching his jaws around the Super. Taking advantage of the distraction, Nick stands and guns down two more Supers!
A body falls from the floor above him and Nick looks up in time to see Tyler standing there. In one hand is a bloody knife, and in the other is the severed arm of a Super. "Come on you fuckers," Tyler shouts, "come and get some!" Nearby Nick spots Luther grappling with a Mutant. Another Appears through a set of doors behind Luther and goes at him. Nick pulls the trigger and kills the Super just as Luther finishes off the one he was fighting. Vaulting over the railing, Nick drops to the bottom floor and sweeps his rifle around, looking for more Supers to kill, but there are none. Moving to the lunar lander he reaches up and tears off the satellite disk. "Got it!" he shouts up at the others, "lets get the fuck out of here!"
He turns to run back up the stairs, but is met by both Luther and Tyler rushing down towards them, with a group of six Supers on their tail. "No time to explain," Tyler shouts frantically as he pushes Nick through a nearby set of doors, "just run!" They dash into the room. It is some for of auditorium. The fact that it reminds him slightly of some poster flashes through his mind before he dives into cover beneath a bench, grabbing Dogmeat and clamping a hand over the dog's muzzle to keep him from growling. Seconds later the Supers crash into the room. They snarl and shout at each other in their throaty voices. The Supers lumber to the center of the room, forming a circle in the center around some weird machinery. One of the Supers bumps the machine, and suddenly the room is plunged into darkness as a map of the stars appears on the ceiling and a voice begins commenting.
Apparently, they all have the same idea at once, because all three of them sit up and open fire on the Supers! Within seconds all six of the mutants are dead in a heap, riddled with bullet holes. The machine sputters, the stars vanish, but the lights remain off. Nick stands slowly and calls out, "Luther? Tyler? Where are you?"
Off to his left there is a crash followed by a string of angry curses. The lights flick on and Nick sees Luther standing near a set of doors opposite the ones they entered through and Tyler splayed across a row of benches. Luther laughs, "Well, just couldn't wait long enough for me to turn the lights back on could you? Just had to go and throw yourself at the benches! What, did you think they were dangerous!" Despite the adrenaline still pumping through his system, and the possibility of there being more Supers nearby, Nick has to fight to keep from laughing. Finally, unable to contain himself any further, the laugther bursts out of him as an uncontrollable howl that sends him to his knees!
Tyler grumbles and attempts to get to his feet, but his footing goes out from under him, sending him crashing onto his back. This results in breaking Luther's resolve, as the merc's laughter joins Nicks, which has been amplified. Nick, now rolling on the floor with his sides heaving, somehow manages to get to his feet. He whips his eyes, gasping for breath as he walks over to Tyler and helps him to his feet. "Come on old man," he says happily, "lets get the hell out of this place."
Tyler looks up at him and the anger on his face dissipates, replaced by one of his genuine smiles. He reaches a hand up to Nick, but then doubles over in a hacking fit of coughs. The elation Nick felt vanishes. "Tyler?" he asks uncertainly. Tyler cannot respond, he is sucking in gulps of air in between fits of hard coughing. Nick shouts and grabs Tyler just before the man collapses to the ground. He turns the merc's face up, and sees blood leaking from the side of his mouth! "Luther!" he shouts frantically! Tyler is seized by another fit of coughs, spitting blood over the front of Nick's armor!
Luther appears beside him and grabs Tyler's other arm, hoisting the man between them. "We have to get him out of here!" he growls through clenched teeth. "I know a place across the mall. There are some people there who can help us, but we should move fast!"
People, Luther had said. People look alive. People don't look like the horde of ghouls that attacked them in the metro tunnels. People have skin. Sure, Nick had met ghouls that weren't feral like them, like Gob in Megaton, and some of the scabs in the pitt, but a whole fucking city of zombies! That does not classify as people in his mind! He and Luther had dragged Tyler across the mall, avoiding the patrolling Supers in the no mans land, to another museum. Nick had thought nothing of the ghoul standing guard outside, or the ghoul who greeted them at the door to where they are now. He had, however, taken notice when they walked in and saw nothing but ghouls, everywhere!
That, on top of the fact there were only ghouls here, no humans, or smoothskins as the ghouls insist on calling them. Luther instructed Nick to wait for him at a bar on the second floor of this little, clubhouse, for the ghouls, and then disappeared into a clinic called the Chop Shop, which did nothing to abate his worries. So there he stood, no idea where to go, and more than a little nervous about being attacked. Needless to say, when a hand clamped down on his shoulder, he took it badly. He grabs the ghouls arm and twists, bringing the ghoul in front of him and drawing his pistol. He pushes the barrel against the ghouls head, but manages to restrain himself when the ghouls words finally break through the haze of his fight or flight instincts. "... hey, hey damn it! I don't want any trouble! You just looked lost for fucks sake! Just calm down!" Nick looks around and realizes that there are at least six different sets of guns pointed at him, including the plasma caster of a sinister looking Mr. Gutsy robot floating nearby.
He swallows past the lump in his through and shakily moves the gun away from the ghouls head. The ghoul stands and waves his arms at the others. "Leave it be folks" he shouts in the croaking voice all ghouls seem to have. "The smoothskin and I were just getting to know each other is all." The other ghouls slowly lower their weapons, but Nick knows they will be keeping an eyes on him from now on. The ghoul turns to him and smiles, an expression that Nick is sure is supposed to be friendly, but still sends a chill down his back. "Hi there, sorry about that, folks around here are jumpy around smoothskins. They should know better, you arrived with Luther and Tyler, means you are okay. Name is Quinn by the way, what is yours?"
"Nick," he replies, his curiosity suddenly spiked, "you know Luther and Tyler?"
The ghoul nods, indicating for Nick to follow him as he heads towards a set of stairs. "Sure, ran a couple of jobs with those guys back before I settled down into the life of a trader. Those were the days, let me tell you. The shit we got ourselves into, unbelievable sometimes." The ghouls opens a door to a place called simply Carol's, and users him inside to a table. "I remember this one time, we took a job from this crackpot Abraham something or another. He wanted us to steal the Deceleration of Independence, ha! Turned out we weren't the only ones he sent either, met this sweet chic, Sydney, she helped us, and eventually set up a munitions trade with Tulip, Underworld's main supplier. How did you come to be stuck traveling with those two saint like scumbags?"
The question is simple, but it floors Nick. Without any warning, everything comes rushing at him. The first steps on the surface, stumbling into Megaton, the attack by the raiders, Luther and Tyler saving him, how he killed Silver like he was some form of psycho, Arefu, the Family, the slavers, the torture, the hole, the trogs, Luther and Tyler showing up to save him, them saving him and Maria, them sticking with him even though he attempted to abandon them both, them getting him all they way here, helping him even though he has no way of paying them for what they are doing, and recently, he has been a dick. He deflates, sinking down into his chair and burying his head in his hands.
Luther and Tyler have done more for him in the short months that he has known them, than anyone but his father had in during his entire childhood in the vault. Beside him Dogmeat whimpers. He looks down at the shaggy dog and shakes his head, reaching down to rub his ears. He looks back at Quinn and answers truthfully. "They saved my life. I would have never made it without them.
So, for those who did not pick up on it, I had Nick go way bad Karma for a little while. I have steadily been working him back up to neutral. As to if he will ever surpass that and reach good karma, remains to be seen. Keep in mind that Luther and Tyler, while essentially good people, maintain neutral Karma, something that I have sorta let fall recently. Hope you all enjoyed this, post a comment, review, let me know how you feel. Thanks for reading, cant wait to see you all again in Chapter 15, it is going to be a good one, trust me. Also, shout out to Lee who asked for me to add Quinn and make him badass, hope you liked what I did and don't worry, Quinn will be returning!