Chapter Eight: Old Man in the Radio Station.
I saw Jack walk up and I looked at him with respect. He was a well trained soldier, and I had under-estimated him completely upon our first meeting. I guess the fact that he was so upset over everything that had happened had clouded his talents out near Fairfax. He probably could have taken those raiders out with that Tommy Gun from the range we were at in the truck. We opened the blast doors back out to the river and we went to discuss the next move with Lyons. When we arrived, Paladin Gunny and Lyons gave a small round of applause for the savior of Megaton.
"Quite the display of fireworks from what I hear, child." Elder Lyons said warmly, welcoming the hero back into the control room.
"Damn right quite the display, kid! Half my paladins can't do that caliber of work!" Paladin Gunny said with a tone of happiness, a rarity for the man.
Jack replaced the Dragunov in it's rack and the shelf sank back into the floor. Suddenly, before any of us could say anything, the intercom speakers all over the city activated with a little feedback and a voice came over it, completely overjoyed.
"Boys and Girls, prepare to be astounded, bedazzled, and otherwise stupefied, after 13 years of being away from the mic, its THREEEE DOG, your master of ceremonies!"
The only words I could mutter out were "Holy shit, he's back on the air" and judging by the looks of the people who stopped in their tracks to listen to our faithful DJ they were just as speechless.
"That's right kids, those Enclave bastards may have put me away for 13 years, but you can never stop the music forever! But now, I am very pleased to present none other than our very own lone wanderer is here with us today. The man who we believed to be first a messiah, then a devil, but now we know him as a true mortal. Steven, welcome back on the air."
"Thanks Three Dog, it's nice to be back in the studio again, considering our last visit 13 years ago didn't go very well." Steven had somehow reclaimed control of GNR for Three Dog, well somehow isn't the best word; more like, he probably slaughtered the guards posted at that position.
"You're telling me, you stole my bandana and my glasses and threatened to put a bullet between my eyes. And I hear we have a newcomer to the family business in your bloodline from what I hear, and I also have him to thank for my 'Parole'. Fresh from Adam's air force base since he was 6, he's now 19 and hasn't been in the wasteland 2 days and has already saved megaton from a explosive fate, all while in the frantic search for his father. He sounds exactly like you after coming out of the vault, Steven. Any words for your son Jack?"
"It's true, son, if you can hear me, and I know you can, I love you and I'm sorry I couldn't tell you my plan before I left, but you would have ended up a casualty in the end. I couldn't die in there. The Enclave needs to be destroyed forever, and I couldn't do that from inside a cell. But word travels fast of your stunt with the vertibird carpet bombing, and I'm very impressed. Son, as impressed as I am, I want you to stay in hiding. The colonel still wants both of our heads on a silver platter, you as much as me now. I love you, and I'll come back for you in time, but there are things I need to handle first." I could see Jack's emotions darken as his dad said that over the radio, he was sad but he didn't stay that way for long.
"Steven, you are basically telling YOUR son what your dad told you twenty years ago and look how that turned out. You really expect him to NOT come after you?"
"Absolutely not. But I don't intend him to have an easy time doing it, I just hope that I don't get stuck somewhere for too long. Keep an eye on him, Charon, and make sure he doesn't feed the Yao Guai. That is all. Put on some tunes Three Dog." After the final part of Steven's speech, Jack had a monstrous grin on his face, ready to go on a journey to track down his old man. We noticed that the Galaxy News Radio signal had overridden Casdin's emergency signal. We frantically turned it on and listened to Casdin's screams of terror.
Chapter 9: And War? War Never Changes
"DAMMIT LYONS ARE YOU DEAF! ITS GONE." I could hear sorrow, fury, and absolute awe in his cracking voice. He had grown old much like myself.
"Henry, what in god's name are you talking about? What's gone?" I replied back, fearful for the answer.
"Purity. The Citadel. Arlington Library. We thought it was bad when Steven sent an orbital strike down on the citadel, there's NOTHING left now, all I saw was a massive explosion. The walls aren't even standing now, the Citadel is unrepairable at this point now. The underground city now has to function as the city itself, the purifier, and the Citadel. Everyone in that city is now a part of the brotherhood of steel, like it or not. We need to plan our next move Lyons."
I was awestruck, the sheer fact that the citadel in fact no longer existed was sickeningly incredible. I knew the Enclave had power beyond my imagination, but to absolutely obliterate the citadel, project purity, and Arlington Library in one bomb. It worries me that they know full and well this city lies beneath the earth.
"Understood Henry, go ahead in get in here so we can start planning our next move." I slammed my hand down on the desk in anger. Jack looked me dead in the eye and stabbed a knife into his old paper map of the wasteland pinpointing a location that had been overlooked for nearly 20 years now.
"Raven Rock. We take that, we can use it to overtake the base. There are abandoned transport tunnels we can take right from there to the heart of the base." He looked ready to kill.
I looked at him, depressed and said, "I hate to put it this way son, but we don't have the manpower, let alone the resources and cover to pilgrimage across the wasteland to assault a military base. Even if we did, who would lead it? Your father went off on his own and we aren't going to be able find him, Charon has been a follower his whole life, and you are far too inexperienced. No one other than your father stands a chance, and that's all he stands considering how well he knows the wasteland. Once you get there even, there is a solid lead blast shield that's 3 times stronger than a vault's that would have to be penetrated first. Do you have something up your sleeve that can help with all that...just hold on a moment." I clicked on the intercom, my hopes rising, "Henry? You still up there?"
"Yeah Lyons what do you need?"
"How much of a blast was there? Did it just penetrate the rebuilt bailey or did it look like it destroyed everything, the laboratory included?"
"Lyons, I know what your thinking, and I doubt you could get him out from under all that wreckage, if you could get in there, maybe you could power him up and he'd get out on his own, but you'd need to do it under the cover of night and have incredibly high hopes the power supplies weren't damaged in that last bombing run otherwise you don't stand a chance of warming him up."
Charon and Jack spoke at the same time, confused, "What the hell are you guys talking about?"
I spoke with a creeping grin on my face "Liberty Prime, boys. Liberty Prime. If we track down your father, this is the way to get into Raven Rock and get in quickly. Get your stuff packed, Gallows and you are headed to the citadel. Even until we find Steven, if we find him, Liberty Prime will be a valuable asset in dealing with the probably now nightly carpet bombings on megaton. I'll send the orders down to them immediately, feel free to wander the city and retrieve what you need."
Charon saluted me and said "Yes sir." he looked slightly worried about sending Gallows with him and Jack on this mission, ghoul or not I could read him like a pre-war book, and considering what happened between Steven and the Pride it's understandable.
Chapter 10: The Ten Black Chips
Jack looked at me and asked, "well where the hell are we supposed to be getting some durable tech from?"
I chuckled at him and stated, "For that we must go above this city into its former location: Megaton. Besides, judging by the explosion Moriarty set off last night, I need to go in there and clean up, and give Moriarty a proper funeral." I looked out over the city and wondered what it would be like simply to have been able to LIVE in this city, not just create and defend it. I walked over to an elevator, pressed the button and rose into one of the old shacks right next to Steven's house. We stepped out into the brisk morning air. We stepped lively into the warmth of Steven's original headquarters, his home, his armory, his barracks.
As I closed the door I turned around to find the place was riddled with Enclave bodies. Jack nearly vomited. They were the best of the best; the Enclave Sigma. Their armors were riddled with bullets, gashes, and scorch marks from where they had been hit with energy weapons; it had been an outright massacre, they didn't know what hit them. The location of them indicated an ambush but the leader was tied to Steven's desk chair in the center of the room, with a ripper run through his leg and a crater in his skull. There was a holotape next to him. I started the holotape, and got a taste of what 13 years in a iron cell does to a man who was halfway to insanity as it was.
Today is the 13th of November 2098, when I arrived at home to retrieve my equipment, I found myself in an ambush from the Enclave Sigma, the Colonel's Pride. Isn't that right Jacob?
OH GOD SIR PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! -sobbing-
SHUT UP! -thud-
So, here I am, interrogating this miserable excuse for a soldier. You sure you aren't the Colonel's cannon fodder squadron?
-sobbing- What do you want from me?
-locker opening- but wait, you're the ones that ambushed me? -locker closing- so... I must ask, what DID you want from me? -ripper warming up-
-sobbing- we didn't want...anything from you...
LIES! -stabbing sound- WHAT DID YOU WANT FROM ME!
-screams- I SWEAR WE DIDN'T!
-ripper revs higher- YOU'RE NOT MAKING IT OUT OF HERE REGARDLESS. MAKE IT EASIER ON YOURSELF.
I was so scared out of my mind simply hearing him interrogate this poor soul, I nearly crapped my pants. Jack was on the verge of tears. We continued listening, only for clues that could help us find him. Back before he went away he was having a hard time coping with his father's death, and that's what began this downward spiral into complete insanity, that and that idiot Tobar did some fucked up shit to his brain on his first trip out to the swamps.
-louder screams- Oh God, if you exist, why have your forsaken me? PLEASE JUST MAKE THE PAIN STOP! AUTUMN SENT US HERE TO DELIVER A MESSAGE!
WHAT...MESSAGE?
He told us to tell that the 8th black chip has been dealt with. All that remain are the 2 original black chips! Please don't kill me! -silence-wait...no...please I beg you! I told you everything you wanted to know...PLEASE GOD don't kill me!
Have mercy upon his soul, my lord, and upon mine, for he is simply a misguided sheep that is to far from the pack to be found now. -Magnum Shot-
after a long silence not unlike the one on the holotape, Jack spoke first, with a rather unexpected question. "What are the 10 black chips?"
"You ever play a game of poker with only 100 chips?"
"No?"
"Ok, well in a set of 100 chips there are 40 greens, 30 blues, 20 reds, and 10 blacks. Blacks represented the highest value. Back around 3 years before you were born, your father and I worked for the brotherhood as recon agents, gathering what we could. Now, before your dad met me, he went through 7 other assistants, all of whom he fired because they simply didn't work well with him. He and I retrieved these 7 operatives from their scattered locations around the capital wasteland and began a scavenging and reconnaissance operation, but we were short one, we needed a long range sniper, but we needed the best of the best.
We eventually traveled to New Vegas in hopes of recruiting a Veteran NCR Ranger, but to no avail. One night, while were out exploring the Mojave, a pair of men approached us. One following behind, carrying a sniper rifle. Steven walked forward and inquire how much it would cost for us to take the sniper with us. This guy, called himself the courier, tells us about this guy. Boone's his name. Best sniper the NCR ever had, according to legend, his art puts the Veteran Rangers to shame in the rifle department. Steven asks him, 'how much?', man says 10000 caps, it was just a drop in the bucket for your father, he says Ok, and then sees Boone hand off a little toy looking gun to the Courier. Steven looks the Courier in the eye, says he'll double the price for the gun that Boone just handed him too.
The courier looks suspicious, like he's going to get robbed, and Boone even has his rifle armed. Steven holds out a monstrous cloth pouch with the 20,000 caps. He drops it on the ground and Boone walked away with us. The next day, he showed us what we had gotten by paying the extra 10 grand. We found ourselves about to be raided by Caesar's Legion troops, and he pulls out the gun, it doesn't look like a useful thing; and then it went off. He clicked the trigger and we were blinded by the light. When our eyes readjusted themselves, we found all the Legion troops dead, we had invested into a giant solar laser. However, Boone told us the drawback immediately, it could only be used once a day. But we were fine with that. It finished off our group. We were the most skilled in the entire brotherhood. But, we were simply a group who retrieved gear. We pried anything valuable off any beast, soldier, or raider. I had sent them out to different sectors of the wasteland based on their areas of expertise.
Once a year however, we all congregated in Rivet City with our thousands of pounds of gear and gave it to Steven, he then ferried it all back to Megaton, to here, and traded with your mother in order to make a massive profit, with which he paid all 9 of us. This went on for 5 years, and on the fifth year, we had a intelligence leak, the Enclave decided for one more push and ambushed Rivet City, and while we weren't prepared for it, we fended them off, and they stayed away for around 3 more years. After those 3 years, we all went to rivet city again to do trade, and again they attacked us, far more better prepared this time on both sides, the battle raged for over a week.
This time it was a lot bloodier, the first time we lost more gear than lives, the second time, we lost gear and men alike. The Solar laser that Boone had we had already exhausted for day dealing with super mutants that were trying to overwhelm the gates of the original Citadel. We went from the 10 black chips to the 3 black chips. Clover and Dog-meat were killed by the opening squadron that rushed us with heavy incinerators. Butch and RL-3 were cut down by some soldier toting around a Fat Man. Star Paladin Cross and Fawkes took awhile to take down, but the plasma fire eventually overpowered them.
At that point, it was the four distance guys dealing with an endless onslaught of them; your father, Boone, Jericho, and I. However, after we fought our way to the bridge tower roof, a soldier carrying a modified Tesla Cannon fired at us, hitting Jericho right in the face. He went unconscious and fell off the bridge tower and Steven almost went after him too. Jericho was his first assistant and he had a bit of personal ties to him. We suppressed fire long enough to escape, but we lost all the gear for that year other than what we could carry on our backs.
It's a really sad thing to know that Boone is dead. He was a good man. Damn fine soldier, but in all honesty I would have figured he had died years ago. We got separated out in the Pitt when a horde of Trogs ambushed us and we were never able to regroup, that day we lost a good man and a valuable piece of ordinance; the access to the Archimedes Solar Laser Mk II.
"I'm sorry Charon, but we need to get prepared for the mission." Jack said, slightly depressed from the story and still freaked out over the mass of bodies.
I retorted back while stepping around the bodies to the refrigerator and grabbed an ice cold bottle of whiskey, "Ha! You sound like me after your grandfather passed away! I was always objectively thinking for the longest time..."
"Tell me, are a lot of people in the wasteland named Jericho?"
"What kind of question is that? But no, the only one I ever met was Jericho."
"But what about that man I body slammed back in Moriarty's saloon before Moriarty went and blew it and him all to hell?" Jack said, stumped, and I couldn't understand for the life of me how I had overlooked that stunning anomaly.
"Maybe there are still 3 chips left...no...I saw Jericho fall directly on to the bridge extending out from the city to dry land, he fell like a rag doll and snapped his neck. But there was no question about it; that was Jericho, you don't fight alongside another man for a week and mistake him for someone else. We have encountered a new kind of mutant. A sentient mutant that can change it bodily form at will. Someone very powerful wants to intervene in this, and it isn't in the Enclave's normal tactics to make a new mutant to deal with. We have a new player in this chess game, with a ever-changing set of pieces. Come on, we're going to need the really good gear."
Chapter 11: A talk with the Colonel
I opened my mouth to speak to the other soldier, but before I could say a word, he snapped,
"Shut it cadet. We're here to stand guard, not chit-chat."
"Yes sir." I said obedient to my superior. Suddenly I saw a shimmer of light and then a throwing knife went through my Commander's skull. I didn't move from my place and I didn't shoot. After a minute a man appeared out of nowhere in my face, holding a gun at my stomach. It took a second but I could feel the size of the barrel, either a .44 or an old .357.
"Look cadet, we're going to take a walk, you're going to lead me to the Colonel and then let me in. No funny business or I'll splatter you on these walls so well the other soldiers will think that the hallway got a fresh coat of paint. Sound good?"
"Wh-wh-who are you?"
"And that's why you aren't going to die as long as there's no funny business. But all you need to know is that I'm the Lone Wanderer, and the only reason the other one is dead is because I had met him before in my travels. He wasn't a very good man."
"Yessir." I had him put on the armor of my former commander in order to avoid suspicion and I led him through the military complex. He was writing down notes in a burned up old book as we walked through. After what felt like an eternity walking, we reached the center piece of the base where the colonel stayed in-between trips out to the wasteland. I used the eye scanner to open the doors and led him up the stairs to the colonel's quarters. I opened the door to him staring out his window and said,
"Sir you have a visitor."
"I'm not expecting anyone, I'm not taking visitors today"
The man who had me hostage spoke before I did, "Too damn bad Augustus. I'm not a stuffed shirt that can be put until another day."
The colonel spun around with his 10mm pistol and fired, but hit me instead of him. I collapsed on the ground and the wanderer shot the pistol out of his hand and it landed in his hand.
"I'm not here to kill you Colonel, even if you deserve it more than anyone else in the Wastes."
"I'm not prepared to negotiate with anti-American terrorists like yourself."
"Too damn bad. Now...SIT DOWN!" The colonel no matter how strange it may be, showed fear and sat down. The wanderer walked over to me, and said,
"I'm not going to kill you, but I can't have you going anywhere." He made a cross along his chest and shot me in each of my limbs, crippling me so I was unable to move. He smashed the pilot light in the oven in the room and it started to fill with gas. He held out a lighter and told Autumn if he didn't comply, we would all be smoking husks of ash. He nodded rapidly.
"First question! Did you kill Moriarty?"
"No! I swear I didn't. Crazy bastard killed himself in an attempt to kill me and my troops!"
"LIES! Tell the truth or we all die where we are!"
"Ok Ok! I shot him in the lung and neck, he shot me 5 times after that."
"Ok then. Next question! Why did you send 15 men to tell me Boone was dead?"
"It was a operation that had more than one objective. They were ordered to try to kill you not just to deliver the message. We didn't even kill him! Scouts found him out in Point Lookout in the lighthouse. We tried to get him out for capture. He used the Archimedes Mk II to destroy him, the lighthouse, and the ray gun all in one shot. All we found was his old S75 rifle with a note in the barrel saying, 'In your face you Enclave bastards, see you in hell, Boone.' I swear!"
The wanderer was almost at the brink of tears over this guy named Boone.
"Last question, how did you create that explosion that wiped those 3 landmarks off the face of the earth?"
The colonel looked confused and then smiled at him, "You're a moron, we didn't make that explosion...But we know who did. It was a thermonuclear bomb, hard to come by, but there are a few pre-war nuts who still know where a big site of them and other tech is."
"Where and who, Augustus?"
"I can't make your work too easy for you. I'll leave you with a riddle that should lead you on your journey for revenge quite well;
I was but a small trinket in your early travels, though once a figure of legend. You scoured every hole to the ends of the wasteland to find me and my brethren. Return to where you found me; and you shall be awarded even better than you were before."
"Well then, I guess I have everything I need, see you in hell Augustus."
"Wait! You're not going to kill me?"
"I've personally seen you die 3 times now. It wouldn't do any good. You'd come back as you are, it would be a waste of munitions. But, if I ever find your secret, be assure you won't see another day after that."
"Seeya around Steven."
The wanderer started laughing maniacally in the doorway, stopped in his tracks by his laughing. He turned to face away from us, and said like a madman "I said I wouldn't kill you, I never said anything for your men...Godspeed." He snapped his fingers, and we heard a small ticking, and explosions went off all around the base, we looked towards the explosions and saw the windows crack, but not shatter. After a minute of fire down below, a single body flew towards window and smashed it; it was my commanding officer with the machete still stuck in his skull. He didn't need me to lead him here, he had already rigged the entire base to explode. We turned around and he was gone. The scariest thing was that he had kept his word.
A few days later, after we cleared the wreckage, I went to speak to the colonel to see how bad the casualties were of the attack. He was amazed, he had mastered the patrols so that all veterans would get killed, but none of the newer soldiers who hadn't seen combat yet would survive, most without a scratch. He had it planned flawlessly, he even had hacked our roster to adjust the patrols accordingly.
Colonel Autumn stated to me, "Anti-American or not, he's a smart son-of-a-bitch and a merciful one to those who lack bloody hands."
I returned to the infirmary to rest from my near crippling experience. My doctor walked over to me and said "I choose you for a reason cadet. You have potential, and you're a wastelander and not one of these pure freaks."
He took off his surgeon's mask and there he was, the Lone Wanderer. He was unarmed and now I see why he had known our patrols so well; he had been inside the base for weeks. I didn't scream or shoot, I instead felt like I was in the presence of a valuable ally. "Why me? Is that the reason you had me take you to Autumn?"
"Absolutely. You'll know your place when the time comes. If you let me down, you won't live to see 5 seconds afterwards I assure you, but I'll give you the option, you can walk away now and I will stop you. What do you say?"
"I've hated these bastards for a long time. When I was 10, they broke into my house and killed my family. They took me with them. Justice and peace my ass. I'm in."
"Ok then. Autumn is most likely going to assign you to his personal guard after what happened a few days ago. That means you'll be overseeing masses of troop movement. Keep them away from the megaton area. My life's work is in there and if I see an Enclave soldier within a mile of the place, I'll roast you over a fire and have you for dinner."
"You are aware that if I scream, twenty soldiers break down that door and turn you into Swiss cheese, right?" He glared at me for a minute unblinking, and then, I blinked and he had disappeared leaving a body of dust. I felt I a bone-saw against my neck.
He had a sharpened bone-saw pressed up against the opening between my helmet and armor. He had clearly dealt with more Enclave than I cared to know."Kid, you don't know half the shit I can do. Let's leave it at I'm not your average master assailant. I figured you would have realized that after I put that Machete through your commander's head. But I respect the balls you had to challenge my talents. The Enclave needs more guys with balls like you out in the field if they want to get taken seriously again, lord knows the sigma aren't worth the ammo they waste."
"You...you were the one who exterminated Enclave sigma?"
"Damn straight."