(Tenpenny Tower)
Griffon couldn't help chuckle, god life was good! It was a stroke of genius really, take aqua pura, add a little jet and mentats, some other two dozen chemicals and next thing you know you have aqua stimulus, a highly addictive liquid drug that creates a massive demand and a sea of caps for the taking, add these brotherhood nuts who were willing to put him and his goons up in the most luxurious digs in all of DC for a slice of the action and you get Griffon's little 'family' a collection of ghoul rejects kicking around anyone stupid enough to wander too close to the tower (something which gives the WCB some breathing room) or drink their stimulus (which ensures a weak DC ripe for occupation). Griffon spent his time out on the balcony of Tenpenny Tower, he understood why that old prick Tenpenny loved it up here, the view was spectacular. To any sniper who would try to take a pot shot at him (there was more than a few) it would seem like Griffon was completely unprotected, but if they were to actually take the shot they would find there bullet to hit the air in front of him as though hitting a brick wall. Discreetly hidden under the table which held Griffon's drinks and lunch was a transparent energy field projector (courtesy of the WCB), this little device could project a two metre wide force field bubble which was capable of stopping most ballistic and energy weapons at a range effective up to a metre, at this point, a carefully planned roster of patrol teams meant that if the shooter was anywhere within a kilometre of the tower, the teams could easily converge on their location and end them, more than a few would be assassins' corpses decorated the surrounding landscape as a warning to others, it was not a pretty sight. As Griffon sat in his palace, enjoying his ill-gotten fortunes, it had never once occurred to him that the WRM was anything more than a bunch of kids playing hero.
Pitt hadn't said any goodbyes, there was no letter left in his room or heartfelt messages left telling his friends to continue living their lives, he knew he didn't have to worry about that, for intents and purposes he simply decided to transfer to Charlie squad's long distance recon unit, otherwise known as the agents. His mission was to bring down Griffon and his organisation before the WCB could fortify the tower, Charon had apparently recruited a team to harass the WCB at Evergreen Mills in order to buy Pitt time to achieve mission. Pitt was cramped behind an overly peppy saucer pilot who called herself Mary; she seemed to enjoy flying as she had taken the longest possible route to take Pitt to his landing zone, when they finally did reach their LZ the RobCo factory just outside of Tenpenny Tower the sun had already set, Pitt was slowly set down by the saucer's gravity lift and the stealth craft skittered away undetectably as Pitt headed inside the ancient facility. The facility had not survived the years anywhere near as well as its robots had, protectrons and Mr Handys roamed the halls, defending the perimeter (as the four ghoul corpses indicated) and repairing and building the other units. One year earlier the Wanderer had managed to alter the robot's programing and take control of the facility, ever since the artillery bots however this place had become somewhat unimportant, but allowing Griffon to get his hands on the place, and in turn the WCB would be unacceptable. As he entered he was scanned by five Mr Handys until the codes put into his pip-boy were transmitted to them giving him complete access to the factory, Whoopdi fucking do he thought to himself as he made his way past the robots, they tirelessly worked on one another, making repairs and doing other necessities but as Pitt climbed a particularly dilapidated stair case he saw two protectrons simply, staring (if that was possible with sensor panel) at one another, almost as though they were having a muted conversation, it looked… disturbing to say the least. Just as Pitt was going to investigate further however, the protectrons attacked, the lasers they fired seemed amplified it was more like they were shooting cannons. Pitt burst through a nearby door and found himself in the factory's cafeteria, more and more protectrons began to appear forcing Pitt to run through the only hallway that wasn't teeming with the metallic bastards, the hallway led to a stair case and the stair case led to a room. He was faces with three options, take the left hallway which was teeming with robots if his hearing was any judge, take the right hallway which in all probability led to nowhere or he could try the door in between the two and hope to god that was the mainframe he was told about. As he burst through the door he was greeted with a 10mm pistol in his face, Pitt quickly knocked the gun away and rolled back to get some space; he stood with his plasma pistol pointed at his assailant and almost had to double take, in front of him was very fragile looking women, she was decked out in wasteland wanderer gear and had dirty blonde hair going down to her shoulders, she had a sniper rifle slung around her back, a fierce expression on her dirty face… and a pip-boy on her wrist, what the fuck? It didn't take long for Pitt to connect the dots, he flashed his handy dandy wing pin and as hoped his would be dispatcher lowered her side arm and regarded him with an ominous look.
"Soooooooo, small wasteland huh?" Pit awkwardly chuckled as he slowly put his own weapon in its holster. The girl simply turned her back to him and started typing into the robot's mainframe.
"Are you just going stand there staring like an idiot or are you here to actually do something, god I hate stupid wastelanders and this place is hardly fitting for a super important person like me." The girl said in an annoyingly whining tone.
"Uh I was under the impression that I was the only… agent in the area, so um what the hell are you doing here?"
"You want the long version or the short?"
"I can just tell this is going to be fun" Pitt groaned as he barricaded the door to listen to the long version.
(Robot Assembly)
Bigsley had managed to dodge bridge duty by the skin of his teeth, he was still riding the high of seeing Olin's face as he strutted out leaving her to the humdrum of war organisation while the Captain did… whatever it was he did when he wasn't doing… whatever it was he actually did on the bridge, Bigsley decided against trying to evaluate their fearless leader's job performance, should the Captain get wind of any kind of talk like that then Bigsley would have to face… the tears, oh god angry tears that could tear apart a man's very soul. Dismissing these frankly disturbingly childish thoughts Bigsley focused on the work ahead of him, he had turned two of the rooms in the assembly area into his personal laboratory, the construction variants of the robots produced had taken down a wall connecting two adjacent rooms, they were quite industrious something Bigsley had no end of pride about. Even with the expansion it was very small for a lab, one large table covered in gizmos and test tubes a Chinese stealth helmet was connected to various computers allowing Bigsley to run complicated simulations and even access and interact with his entire personal computer network with unprecedented productivity, the cluttered and cramped space was a cosy retreat for Bigsley, all he ever wanted, a small to run his experiments in peace and relative solitude. Bigsley walked and carefully placed a small glass test tube inside one of the computer terminals, he then sat in his favourite chair, leant back as a heavily modified enclave power armour helmet descended on his head and watched the world deteriorate into green lines of code which turned into holograms of the pathogen, fatality rates, weapons integrations, countless simulations swarmed in front of him, the world became an endless testing lab. The disease was genetic it would seem, some natural defect stimulated by years of radiation exposure, it was fascinating really, theoretically if it could be replicated at the fully mature stage it was in the child then anyone afflicted by it would be killed from minor radiation exposure in seconds, the WCB would be forced to stay in extremely controlled environments or perhaps the radiation they've already accumulated would kill outright. First its kidney failure, after that the heart begins to go into overdrive but the blood cells its moving are actually part of the mutated genes, organ after organ ceases to function until the body can simply function no more, it was so cruel that it was perfect FEV could learn a thing or two from this.
(RobCo Facility)
"You are screwing with me right?" Pitt asked disbelievingly
"What's so hard to believe?" the woman replied impatiently
"Who names their kid Bittercup?"
"I chose the name, Mr Tasteless"
"Who the hell names THEMSELF BITTERCUP!"
"Someone who has a true understanding of the dark" Bittercup replied trying to sound poetic… it did not work. Pitt resisted the urge to tear down the barricade and just take his chances with the horde of robotic assholes waiting for him outside but just barely decided that he probably shouldn't ditch his first mission just because he ran into one of the most annoying girls in the wasteland.
"So you decided to rewrite the robots to attack the tower? That's actually not a bad idea, but why are you here to begin with?" Bittercup seemed to be very hesitant to answer the question but Pitt's unrelenting glare and the awkward silence that ensued eventually won out.
"Well before this I kind of, well maybe umm… made one of the robots on the ship blow up, I didn't know black paint would make it do that! Well anyway I heard about this Griffon guy and I thought if I could get rid of him my boyfriend would forgive me and I could stop this stupid wasteland assignment and get back on the ship" Bittercup giggled as she proudly explained her plan to Pitt.
"Wait, Boyfriend?" Pitt asked with a sinking feeling, if she was talking about who he thought she was then this girl was more delusional than he thought.
"You know, the captain, your boss, you should really address me as mam" Bittercup giggled again and Pitt had to sit down to stop himself breaking down the barricade and leaving this incredibly stupid girl for the robots. Pitt took a second to consider his situation, if he left now then he would have to fight the robots, it's a fight he'd probably win but Griffon's lackeys were set up pretty well around the tower. Pitt was about to consider some other options when a thought crossed his mind.
"Wait a minute why are the robots hostile, the codes on my pip-boy should have marked me as a VIP but those things are shooting to kill!" Pitt asked Bittercup, who in turn looked at the ceiling like a guilty child.
"Uh well…."
"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me…. You messed with mainframe didn't you?"
"Oh you mean the big computer thingy?"
"…..go sit in the corner while I fix this"
"But-"
"NOW!" Bittercup sulked in the corner while Pitt used his limited computer knowledge to try and fix the situation. He couldn't stop the hostile targeting of the robots but an idea crept into his head, Griffon had a heavily fortified perimeter but what were the odds that he was smart enough to do the same for the building itself?
(Jefferson Memorial)
Project Purity had become the east coast brotherhood's headquarters with the loss of the citadel they were scrambling to simply have it adequately fortified, thankfully most of the brotherhood's science staff were here working on the project when the citadel was destroyed. The pride had been disbanded, most of them leading teams of their own, others training up the initiates, it was a nightmare, supplies, staff, equipment all of these things were limited to begin with but now it was a hard question whether they had enough food to last the facility for a week. Sarah had become the new elder and that frankly scared the living shit out of her, her men looked to her for answers, answers she could not give them, she was full anger for her father's death, still was, but now that she had cooled down keeping the brotherhood alive just didn't seem possible, were they really going to have to give up and join the WRM?
"Sen- uh elder Lyons, mam Rothchild's condition has stabilised but it seems he's slipped into a coma, I'm sorry mam we don't know when he'll wake up… if he'll wake up." A scribe said raggedly, he had obviously been up for days, they all had, Sarah gave him a quick nod and sat back in her chair, she could see why Bigsley hated this room and the news about Rothchild didn't help her mood at all, another person she knew dying might just be enough to push her off the edge right now. Sarah watched all of her people scurrying about so frantically, she looked around the office she had made hers, why were there so many maps? She realised she was still in shock, it had only been what a day, maybe two, she couldn't tell with no windows in her room, two days and she had become the head of her chapter? What the hell! This wasn't right, she was supposed to have more time, she was supposed to be ready… she was supposed to have her father here. Alarms began to ring throughout the facility, supermutants, or raiders, she didn't know, it wasn't until a medic came into her room that she finally snapped out of her little emotional paralysis.
"Mam the supermutants are attacking the facility, if they attack the power generators then all of the brothers on life support will die!" Sarah had taken exactly three seconds to review her situation before she responded.
"Get Gallows' squad out there, and route any generator inside the facility to the life support systems" Sarah was quick and to the point as she grabbed her laser rifle and power armour helmet.
"Mam Gallows' squad is already out there and the generators inside the facility do not have enough power to support the medical systems!" Things had gone from bad to fucked up very quickly, they had run out, out of time, ammo and soon people, the end was exceedingly nigh right now.
(RobCo Facility)
Pitt had managed to set the mainframe to send all of the units towards the tower, while Griffon's guards were fighting the metallic swarm Pitt and Bittercup managed to sneak into the compound and disabled the four guards at the door, say what you about Bittercup, the girl could handle her sniper rifle, still not worth spending more than five minutes in the same room with her however. The two worked their way through the lobby by stealthily ending one guard after another, thankfully Griffon never expected anyone to get into the tower so the number of guards was pitiful. Pitt used the elevator leaving Bittercup to watch the entrance and cover him from anyone left alive in the lobby (the mess would indicate that was very unlikely). Pitt readied his plasma pistol and waited for the little lights to eventually hit the top floor, when he heard the ding it was as though time had slowed down. Two thugs facing the elevator, morons didn't even bother to get behind cover, two shots two kills (and one very green floor), another by Griffon's door, Pitt had to take cover behind a pillar as the guard begin to shoot his combat shotgun in a frenzy, there was a very uncomfortable silence when the gun began to give clicks when he pulled it's trigger.
"…You did pack another clip for yourself right?" Pitt asked through the gun smoke
"Uh maybe" the ghoul replied in his gravelly voice. Pitt literally smacked his head in embarrassment for the moron, of course he then proceeded to kick the shit out of him, somebody had to. Pitt kicked in the door to Griffon's room and was met by a very bad shot from the man himself, the shot ended up hitting a vase about half a meter away from Pitt, who simply shot Griffon in both knee caps.
"My guards-"Griffon began to grumble
"Yeah they're dead" Pitt chuckled
"What do you want?"
"Honestly? A serious conversation, lately it seems like everyone's just plain retarded" Pitt answered seriously as he put his gun to Griffon's head "So let's talk"
(Robot Assembly)
"What'cha doing?" The Captain asked childishly as he snuck behind Bigsley
"God dammit! How many times have I told you to not bother me when I'm wearing my simulation helmet!" Bigsley shouted as he took of the helmet, as he did he saw the Captain staring at him and ten seconds of awkward silence ensued. "…you sound disturbingly like Sally"
"Really?"
"Why are you here?"
"What we can't hang out anymore?"
"We never hung out"
"Well why don't we start?"
"I will shoot you"
"Okay fine then Mr antisocial I shall take my leave then" The Captain twirled around with surprising grace and began to walk out of the room, before he reached the door however he spoke to Bigsley once more without looking at him, his voice much deeper and almost terrifying. "Are you aware of the story of Icarus Bigsley? Of course you are, he died because he flew to close to the sun, remember that old friend, we are substantially closer to the sun here than down there." With that the Captain took his leave and Bigsley started to sweat for the first time since he boarded the ship.
(Jefferson Memorial)
The super mutants were attacking in force, Gallows counted three overlords, four masters and no less than ten regular supermutants, knight after knight fell and things became exceedingly hopeless, luckily they were stupid enough to all bunch up on the bridge leading to the facility. Gallows threw a grenade into the crowd and took out two of the regular ones but the rest seemed unscathed, they couldn't afford to let them get any closer, Gallows was losing hope quickly. As the mutants got closer Gallows scrounged up two more frag grenades, not enough, he desperately looked around until he found one of the ammo crates, bullets and lasers were flying all around him blood made the ground hard to move on with his power armour, he managed to reach the crate slipping and nearly falling into the lake, he opened it up and nearly kicked the damn thing over, all that was inside was a single mini-nuke, out of time, out of options. Gallows threw one grenade into the crowd and grabbed the mini-nuke he then took the other grenade in his hand and began to sprint at the supermutants; they were close to the end of the bridge. Sarah screamed something at him from the facility's entrance, he couldn't hear her, ten metres, five metres, before Gallows could reach his mark and blue light descended from the sky, it burnt the mutants to a crisp and sent Gallows flying backwards, he simply stared at the light that came pouring down and for a second, just a single second, wondered if this was the thumb of god smiting something he saw as unrighteous, before the light left darkness surrounded him, nobody else could tell but under his helmet was a smile, he remembered that god died at least two hundred years ago.