Charon reached the gates to Paradise Falls and walked in silently. It was around ten thirty at night, and the night was silent, as if knowing what the rocket launcher he had strapped to his back was for, what he was saving his grenades for, why he was carrying twice as much shotgun ammo as he usually did.
He walked silently, and was generally ignored. He crept over to the slave pens.
"Kid, wake up!" Anastasia immediately crept over.
"I don't think I've ever been more happy to see you. Hurry, open the doors. I'll shut off the power to the collars, and we can all sneak out of here!" Charon shook his head.
"Tell everyone to get inside, where they'll be safe. I'm shutting this place down. For good." Anastasia was stunned into silence, then she motioned for him to come closer. She gave him a light kiss on the cheek through the metal wires of the fence. Charon didn't show emotion, heart pounding, and Anastasia blushed deeply.
"Don't get yourself killed." She whispered.
She woke the others soundlessly and gestured for Sammy to get the other kids inside on their side of the fence.
Charon moved over to Eulogy's pad and silently slipped in. He was using his two slave girls, so Charon silently pulled the pin out of one of his frag grenades and rolled it over to the bed. They were all dead before they realized what it was. Charon now headed up to the balcony. Apparently, nobody had heard the explosion yet.
They'll sure as hell hear this.
Charon used his missile launcher to kill a sentry armed with a minigun, and went from there. He used all his grenades right away, as the idiots all tried standing right below him and fire straight up. All he had to do was drop the down. The rest of his missiles were spent on the slavers that were streaming from the barracks, so he started taking slavers down with his combat shotgun, throwing the missile launcher aside. Suddenly, a large man wielding a super-sledge burst onto the balcony behind Charon, who swung around and took a blow to the leg. He grimaced as he heard the sickening crunch of his leg breaking, put his shotgun against the man's face and pulled the trigger. He didn't even flinch as what used to be a slaver flew everywhere in the vicinity; as long as it wasn't his blood dripping down his armor, he could care less. Finally it seemed the slavers had exhausted their supply of warm bodies. Charon injected himself with a couple of stimpacks so he could walk again, then moved to make sure Anastasia was all right.
As he walked he thought silently to himself.
Why do I care so much? Isn't this just lust?
He knew it wasn't. He shook his head and sighed as he shot the locks off the doors to the slave pens.
Anastasia stood up, and went to hug him, but stopped.
"Charon, you're covered in blood!" He looked down. He really was. He looked back at her, shrugging nonchalantly.
"Better theirs than mine." Anastasia sighed.
"I'm going to go get the kids. Please…find my bags and use some of the dirtier water to get some of that off so you don't scare them."
"Sure." Charon replied.
They'll probably be scared of me anyway.
Anastasia insisted that they walk the kids back to little lamplight. Charon had the right to say no, but followed her anyway. Where else would he go?
Having saved their friends, Anastasia and Charon became the first adult to gain entry to Little Lamplight in several decades. Not all the kids trusted them, but some welcomed them with open arms.
The 'mayor,' Macready allowed them to stay.
"It's too late to go out there, anyway; Muties get restless at night." Anastasia grinned at him.
"Thanks, Mayor." She said, hugging him. He blushed bright red.
"Yeah, whatever, mungo."