Heyo everybody! Wow, Fallout 4 is just, wow. If you have not played it yet I highly suggest doing so as soon as possible. Completely worth it. Now then, lets get going with some new stuff shall we? I got asked about Luther's sort of sudden breakdown last chapter and more on that will be explained in Dusty Old Stories. The actual conversations with Reilly will be addressed there. Now then, just as a heads up, there will be some more OC's added in here very soon. Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 20

Luther finds himself glaring at the two stubs on his right hand. They left from GNR headed towards Rivet City two days ago, they should be arriving later that afternoon. At present they have stopped to eat a light lunch. Their movement has been slowed by injuries from that fight with the Supers and rejoining with Clover and the boy Bryan. Luther still isn't totally sold on the the woman, she seems loyal to Tyler, but she did just decide to kill her last man, which causes him to question her sanity. Shit, he thinks, who the hell do I think I am to be questioning the sanity of someone else? The nub that used to be his pinky twitches as he closes his hand into a fist, sort of.

He has no recollection of being hit on the head by anything, or receiving any serious head damage, yet he must have done something, where else would the voice be coming from? It first showed up after Nick removed his fingers and Reilly stormed in to demand answers from him. During their, conversation, a voice in his head whispered for him to just kill her and be done with it. It was so unexpected that he completely missed most of what Reilly shouted at him. Then it wouldn't leave him alone, always trying to make him doubt himself. A scowl appears on his face from the way it made him act a few days ago when speaking with Tyler outside GNR. That was not him, not at all.

Oh come off it. You know you are messed up. You always have been. Me? I'm just life given to that which you have tried to deny.

Shut up! Luther roars inside his own head. The voice, it just won't fuck off. It just has to be him didn't it? No one else has to deal with sanity issues around here, except that bitch Clover.

Clover, now there is a hot dame. Let me tell you what brother, you should try to hit that. I know you want to. How long has it been anyways? Since she died? Have you even been with a woman since then? Of course you haven't, you are still trying to stay true to a dead woman aren't you? Seriously brother? You need to lighten up a bit. You are going to get both of us killed.

I said, shut the fucking hell up! Luther shakes his head and looks to where Charon is taking a sip from the small canteen he carries everywhere with him. Luther finds himself licking his lips. A drink, that would probably shut up this fucking psychopath. No damn it, I can't go back to that, not again. Consumed with his thoughts he almost doesn't notice when the group picks up and starts heading out. Scrambling to catch up, he draws level with Tyler and walks beside him in silence. He notices that his partner keeps shooting glances at him out of the corner of his eyes. "Something on your mind?" he asks curtly.

Tyler nods his head. "Yeah, there is something I need to level with you about."

Great, Luther thinks, here comes another argument. "What?"

Tyler sighs and rubs his neck. "Well, you remember that storm we were caught in on our way back from the Pit with Nick. How my gas mask got shattered and we needed to get to Megaton to get me all fixed up?"

This, was not what Luther was expecting to be talking about. "Yeah, I remember, why bring it up now? Do you owe someone caps for the treatment?"

"What, no. Um, actually, it may be worse than that." Tyler lapses into a short silence as he gathers his thoughts. "Okay, on the level, how exactly do you feel about ghouls? I know you think of a lot of others as degenerates, but what about ghouls?"

Okay, something is off. "You are not making a lot of sense right now Tyler. If you need to say something then just fucking spit it out. You've never been one to beat around the bush before."

"Fuck I know." Tyler reaches up to run a hand over his head, but stops short. "Okay, here it is. When I passed out in that museum and you guys carried me to Underworld. Doc Barrows diagnosed me. He said I am suffering from ghoulification. In short, I am slowly becoming a ghoul." Luther gives no reaction, but his mind is working at a hundred miles an hour. Tyler seems to take his silence for offense. "Look damn it! I didn't choose this alright! The radiation got into my lungs and Doc Church missed it. If you blame anyone it should be him. I am still me after all, I just might start loosing some of my skin and hair, actually, I am already loosing my hair."

Luther is silent for a long time, thinking. If Tyler is becoming a ghoul, that could cause a lot of problems. Ghouls are not generally accepted in most settlements due to the offensive nature of how they look like walking corpses. In the past, Luther operated with strict kill all ghouls ideal. Then he slowly came to realize that not all ghouls are bloodthirsty ferals. That still does not make them human. He has worked with ghouls, such as Quinn and the settlers of Underworld, but he never stopped to think about whether or not he likes them. He looks at Tyler, "As long as you do not go feral on me, I don't really care what you look like."

Tyler seems relieved by this. "Good, was worried we would have to kill each other in front of the boy."

"Nick could handle seeing that."

Tyler shakes his head, "I meant Bryan. Nick isn't a boy any more."

Luther looks ahead of them where Nick is walking with Bryan and that dog of his. Even from this short distance, Luther has to admit that Nick does indeed no longer look like the lost kid that stumbled out of the vault however long ago it was. His armor is patched and worn, even the newer stuff the rangers gave him is pocked with scars from bullets. The nice leather jacket he wears beneath his armor is dirty and worn, the patch of the snake on the back almost unrecognizable now. Strange, Luther had barely noticed the changes. "So it is."

As the day wears on and they near Rivet City, both Nick and Bryan start getting antsy. When the wind shifts and Luther catches whiff of something foul, it takes a good bit of persuasion to convince them to hang back and let him scout ahead. Keeping low to the ground, he moves forward through the rubble like a ghost, making his way up to higher ground. As he reaches the top of a particularly large mound of rubble, he comes into view of a fortified camp. Mulling about are around six heavily armed and armored Supermutants. Standing watch above the six is another, this one toting a mini-gun. Tied up at the Mutie's feet is a woman. "Shit." he curses under his breath.

Look at all them Muties, this will be a damn good fight, all out in the open, no way for you to get close without them noticing. What are you going to do, charge in there and hope that one with the mini-gun doesn't shred you? Please, that will never work.

Fuck, he may be crazy, but he makes sense. There is no way they would be able to assault that fort without getting torn to shreds. Looking further up the road he realizes that the can't even go around the camp as it is set up to close to the Potomic river basin. They are going to have to fight, but how? He could stay where he is, provide cover fire while the others move up, but that would only work if all the Muties focus on him. The Mutie with the mini-gun is the main threat. How to deal with that bastard?

Look at its gun.

Shut up.

No, look, what type of gun is it?

It is a fucking mini-gun. I already know that.

And what type of gun does your now ghoul friend just happen to have gotten from the Rangers?

Without stopping to consider any other options, Luther returns to the others. "Muties," he growls as he gets within sight. "Set up right in our path. There is no way around them. They have a sentry set up with a mini-gun, making it impossible for us to assault from the front of their fort. Tyler, take your mini-gun and follow me. We will provide cover for the others long enough for them to get in close and deal with the other Muties. Nick, Charon, I want you two to stay as low as possible and wait until we have those bastards full attention before moving up. Don't attack until you can smell their fucking sweat. Clover, you should stay here with Bryan in case we don't make it. Take him the long way round if we all end up minced."

Without argument the group splits up. Tyler follows him back up to the ridge. "Here," he mutters, "lie low until the others are in position." It only takes a few seconds for Charon and Nick to appear below them, hiding behind an overturned car husk. Nick waves to them and Luther gives a short nod to Tyler. Together they stand and open fire. Right away the rounds from Tyler's mini-gun tear into the Supers, dropping one. Luther expertly works the bolt action of his rifle, dropping two more. The hail of rounds forces the Muties to drop behind cover, giving Charon and Nick the chance they need to move up.

Luther's eyes follow Nick as he fearlessly charges a Mutie. His dog leaps forward and clamps its jaws down on the brute's arm and somehow Nick wrestles the thing to the ground and dispatches it with a quick thrust of his knife. Charon gets in close and shoves his combat shotgun under the chin of another Mutie and blows a hole through its skull. Now the Mutie with the mini-gun is returning fire as it aims up at Luther and Tyler. They both drop to the ground and Luther attempts to put a round through the ugly bastards head, but just barely misses, tearing open the Mutie's cheek and causing it to jerk back. As the Supermutant reals its mini-gun continues to fire, sending bullets into its fellow Muties and killing another. Now there are only two left, the one with the mini-gun and another that has yet to join the fight.

Luther's gut tightens as he realizes why the other Mutie didn't join the fray right away. Strapped to the things arm is an active mini-nuke! "Suicider!" his voice rings out over the sound of the fighting. Nick looks up just in time to see the Mutie barreling down upon him. Luther is horrified to watch as Nick, instead of running like any sane person would do, charges right into the brute! As the Mutie reaches out to grab Nick, the kid ducks and rolls under its wide reach. When he stands he has a long, slender, scrap of metal. Raising the scrap metal above his head he brings it down and cleaves the Muties arm clean off its body! As the Mutie howls with pain Nick grabs the arm and hurls it up at the Mutie with the mini-gun. Just as the arm lands the mini-nuke detonates, consuming the bastard in its cloud.

Luther works the bolt action of his rifle and dispatches the suicider before it can regain its bearings. "Shit." he hears Tyler say beside him. "Now that was impressive." Luther nods in agreement, that was badass. Carefully he and Tyler pick their way down the rise to join the others. Luther steps over a Mutie corpse and examines its armor with a shake of his head. "Yeah," Tyler agrees with the unspoken statement, "these bastards were way to well equipped and organized."

"We can figure that out later, we should get moving now, congratulate Nick with a drink when we reach Rivet City." He then sends Charon to get Clover and Bryan. He looks up as he hears angry shouting coming from further within the fort. Worried that one of the Mutants may still be alive, he lifts his rifle and rushes towards the noise. He comes upon Nick attempting to restrain without hurting her while she kicks and scratches at him. "Hey," he shouts as he pulls the woman off Nick, "what the hell is this?"

Now free of Nick, the woman turns her attack upon him. Being not even half as gentlemanly as Nick, Luther pins the woman's arms to her sides and shakes her. "Stop!" the volume of his voice is powerful enough to startle to woman into holding still long enough for Luther to get a better grip on her so as she couldn't break away. This must be the captive he spotted before the attack. He had been so caught up, he must have forgotten about her. "Now," he continues in a commanding voice, "you are going to hold still. As long as you don't try anything you have nothing to fear from us. Understand?" The woman continues to struggle. "Understand!" She nods weakly and her limbs go limp.

She sinks to the ground and Luther carefully helps her down. "That fucking bitch bit me." Nick states in a deadly calm voice. "Fucking waster."

"You touched me." She woman spits back.

"Would you have preferred that I left you tied up for the next bastards to come along? I doubt that they would have been nearly as nice as we are. You would have been rapped, beaten, sold to slavery, or if you were lucky killed." Nick turns on his heal and marches off. Luther stares at the Kid's retreating back. No, he sure as hell isn't a kid any more.