The reason this chapter is way longer than the others is basically because its an important scene and is very action oriented. Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Trouble at GNR
I wouldn't find any rest tonight, not here, not anywhere, so I thought it best to just continue on. I trekked on through the night, until I met up with a strange group of people just a few miles away from the GNR building. They were dressed in bulky, grayish colored armor, and at first glance, they looked rather intimidating. I would have thought them to be hostile if not for the fact that their leader wasn't wearing her helmet. I could tell that they had just finished fighting with something. A few of their soldiers were lying dead on the ground, and a few more were grievously injured.
Their leader was tending to one of the wounded when I approached. She had dirty blonde hair, chiseled facial features, and green eyes that showed her combat experience. She was actually rather feisty with me when she first saw me. She grabbed her weapon and pointed it right at my head when she saw me walking towards her.
"State your business in this area." She demanded of me.
"My name is Jason, and I'm looking for the Galaxy News Radio building." I replied.
She lowered her weapon and a smirk came across her face, "Well, good luck with that. We've been trying to get there ourselves, but this whole place is crawling with those damned Super Mutants." She explained.
"Super Mutants?" I inquired, I had never heard of such a thing before, not even while I was in Megaton.
She gave me a baffled look, "You're serious? You've never met a Super Mutant before? Just where the hell have you been living all your life?" she asked.
I was a little embarrassed at the fact that I didn't have much knowledge about what went on in the wastes, so I just told it how it was. "Well, up until about two and a half weeks ago, I was living inside a Vault. Vault 101, to be precise." I explained.
Everyone else that was around was surprised at what they had been told. "I didn't think any of the Vaults were still in working condition, let alone hospitable." One of the soldiers commented.
"So what brings you out to this godforsaken place?" the leader interrogated once again.
"I'm looking for my father, James. He unexpectedly left the Vault and I've been chasing after him ever since. A bit of info I got suggests that he headed to talk to the man in charge at GNR." I told them.
The woman slung her weapon over her shoulder and smiled, "Like I said kid, we're headed up there now. We've got reports of Super Mutants swarming the area, and if you want in to GNR, you're going to have to help us rid the area of them." She said.
I wasn't so sure, just the name of these things sounded menacing, but she was right, I had no choice but to help if it meant finding my dad. "Alright, I'll help you." I finally decided.
The woman placed a hand on her hip and her smile grew even wider, "Good to hear it friend. I trust you know how to use a gun?" she asked while looking at the Assault Rifle I had slung on my back.
I pulled the gun off the strap and brought it forward, "Of course I do." I lied. The fact was that I hadn't really used any weapon all that much since I'd been out here. There was the occasional Radroach or Bloatfly, but they didn't really pose much of a threat.
The woman stretched out her hand in friendship, "By the way, I'm Sentinel Lyons, Sarah Lyons if you care. The Brotherhood of Steel looks forward to fighting alongside you." was her welcome.
She then turned to the others, "Alright men, gear up and make ready. Let's show these ugly bastards who's boss!" she shouted, and all of the men and women cheered aloud.
"You're with me kid, let's move out!" she ordered, and everyone, including myself, followed in suit.
It wasn't long before I got my first taste of fighting against a Super Mutant. Mean bastards that'll take your head off as soon as look at you. They're about twice the size of a man, have yellow skin, and are muscular as hell. Despite all this though, they aren't very smart, and most of the grunts don't pose too much of a threat. The first group we happened upon was holed up inside a partly destroyed office building. We didn't even know they were there until one of the Brotherhood Initiates got his brains splattered against the wall.
"Ambush!" Sarah shouted, and immediately we all took cover.
I could already feel the adrenaline pumping through my system as bullets whizzed over my head. I peeked over the cement block I was hiding behind and fired off a few rounds. I couldn't help but shout in excitement as my bullets tore through one of the grunt's chest. I soon found myself advancing forward from cover to cover as the fight ensued. I spotted one of them above us on the second floor and let loose in to its filthy yellow skin.
I saw Sarah take down a few with her Laser Rifle, and one of them even turned in to a pile of ashes as the beam pierced its stomach. We only suffered two casualties and no injuries during that battle.
One of the other Brotherhood guys, Paladin Vargas I think his name was, caught one of the mutants trying to crawl away. He promptly pumped its head full of lead from his Mini-Gun. It seemed a bit overkill to me, but hey, these things would probably do the same to us.
"Nice shootin' kid!" Sarah complimented as we regrouped near a set of unopened steel doors. I was too in to the moment to really say anything in response though, so I just gave a nod.
We busted through the steel doors expecting more resistance, but were surprised to find that the Super Mutants in this area were already dead. We looked through the corpses to see if we couldn't find anything useful, when a strange feeling of familiarity came over me. I looked over the bodies and noticed that each mutant had received a single shot between the eyes, and none of their weapons had been fired.
"Could it have been…no, it couldn't…" I said to myself as I continued my investigation.
I suddenly realized that it was indeed the stranger from before when I found a single cigarette on the ground not far from one of the mutant's corpses. I bent down and picked it up off the ground; it was still warm. I started frantically looking around to see if I could find anything else.
Sarah noticed my frantic searching, "Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, no need to worry about me." I said hysterically.
She just gave me a puzzling look, but let it go. "Alright men, these muties are dead, and that's all that matters. Let's move up!" she ordered, and with that, everyone followed behind her.
I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched as we ventured closer to our destination, but every time I glanced over my shoulder, I saw nothing. I finally shook the thought from my mind when we could hear the sound of gunfire up ahead.
"The plaza is just ahead. Vargas, you, Reddin, and the kid take the left flank and come out of that doorway over there. The other Paladins and I will take the right flank over here. On my mark, get ready to charge." She whispered to each of us.
We all took our positions and waited for Sarah's signal. "Now!" she shouted, and everyone ran through the doorways and caught the Super Mutants off guard. Bullets and lasers roared through the air as we did battle with them. Most were grunts, but there were a few tougher ones that wore thick, makeshift metal armor that made it harder to take them down. I shot at one of the armored ones that was heading towards Sarah and blew one of its knees out. Sarah saw it collapse next to her and disintegrated its head with her weapon.
"We've got a Mutie Master up there!" one of the Paladins shouted as an even bigger, well armored mutant that wielded what looked to be a giant Sledgehammer came in to view.
"You die now filthy humans!" it shouted as he knocked the wreckage of a nearby car away with its hammer. No matter how many times we shot the damn thing it kept trampling forward until it eventually reached Sarah's group and knocked two of the Paladins that were with her away with one fell swoop of its hammer. Sarah shot a few rounds in to its chest, but it simply laughed and backhanded her away.
"Sentinel Lyons!" Initiate Reddin shouted. She then ran foreword to aid her fallen commander. She yelled aloud as she pumped the Mutant Master full of lead, tearing through his head and shoulder. The brute staggered around, then fell on his back.
Smoke bellowed from Reddin's gun as she stood there in a calm and collected pose. "Ha! These Mutants didn't stand a chance against me!" she boasted. She then turned around and helped her injured superior to her feet.
"Nice work Reddin, I'd say you've earned your Knighthood." Sarah told her, and Reddin removed her helmet. I was surprised to see how young she was. She had to be at least 17, but she acted as if she was as old as the others. Her bright blue eyes lit up and she had a huge grin on her face when she was told she had been promoted.
"Thank you, sir! You won't regret your decision!" she said excitedly, then went over to tell Vargas, who seemed to be the one who looked after her, the good news.
Two Brotherhood of Steel soldiers descended the staircase that led up to the GNR building. "Knight Captain Colvin reporting, sir!" one of them men saluted to Sarah.
"At ease. Update me on the situation here Captain." She ordered.
"As you know we were ambushed by Super Mutants. They've been increasing their activity in this area lately, and they caught us off guard. We've got a few men still holed up inside GNR, and we weren't sure how much longer we were gonna last." He explained.
Sarah placed a hand on his shoulder, "It's alright Captain, the mutants have been eradicated for the moment. I'll have my father send out patrols to make sure the surrounding area is clear." She told him, and he thanked her.
The warm welcome was cut short however when a loud roar rang out across the night sky. "What was that?" Reddin questioned as she stepped forward to inspect an old bus wreckage.
The ground beneath us began to rumble increasingly with each passing second. "Reddin, look out!" I heard Vargas yell. The bus Reddin was standing near was suddenly knocked on its side, and just behind it stood the biggest Super Mutant I had seen yet.
It let loose a blood curdling roar which knocked Reddin to the ground. It then picked up the bus and tossed it at her.
"Reddin!" Vargas screamed as he reached out in vain. I saw the look of absolute dread on Reddin's face just before the front half of the bus landed on top of her.
Vargas screamed at the top of his lungs as he fired off his Mini-Gun in to the hulking behemoth. His attempt at avenging his fallen comrade was futile, though, because none of his shots seemed to make any apparent mark on the giant's skin. The beast was wielding a steel pipe with a fire hydrant connected to the tip of it, and slammed it down on Vargas, who rolled to the side to avoid the blow.
Captain Colvin, Sarah and I took cover behind a concrete fountain in the middle of the plaza. "Jesus Christ what the fuck is that thing?" Colvin shouted.
"It's a Super Mutant Behemoth. God damn it, I was hoping I would never meet one of these things." Sarah said as she fiddled with her gun.
We could hear it thrashing around behind us, and Paladin Vargas was still jumping around and shooting at it.
"Wait," Colvin started, "One of the knights who was killed in the raid was holding a prototype mini-nuke launcher…" he trailed off and looked over the top of the fountain. "There! If someone can get it, I'm sure we'll be able to take this thing down!" he explained.
Sarah grabbed him by the collar of his armor, "Are you mad? You want us to launch nukes at this thing? How do we know the explosion won't blow us all to kingdom come!" she shouted at him.
"It's been tested to great efficiency. The explosions are small enough not to cause massive damage, but yet still big enough to kill nearly anything it's aimed at!" he said.
Sarah let go of his collar and thought on it, "Alright." She said, then turned to me, "We'll distract the damn thing while you get your hands on that Mini-nuke Launcher." She told me, but I was still in complete shock at the size of that mutant.
"That's an order soldier!" she shouted, then both she and Colvin sprang to their feet and went out to assist Vargas in distracting the behemoth.
"Right." I whispered, then got up and headed over to where the dead Knight was lying. Colvin was right on the money, the Knight had the weapon he spoke of, the only problem was, I had no idea how to work it. I didn't want to end up killing Sarah and the others, but if I didn't figure it out fast, they would be dead soon anyways.
I found an ammo crate next to the weapon, and when I opened it up, I was greeted by the sight of two "mini-nukes" lying within. I pulled one out and loaded it on to what I thought to be the firing mechanism, which was a small plate that slid across a metal tray to literally launch the nuke outwards. I pulled the plate back to ready it for launch, then aimed it at the back of the behemoth.
"Well, here goes nothing." I said to myself, then pulled the trigger. I was instantly thrown back by the force with which the nuke left the metal tray, and I crossed my fingers as it headed straight for the behemoth's back.
I shielded my eyes as the nuke made contact, a bright white light erupted as the nuke exploded, and a small mushroom cloud was sent skyward. When the smoke and dust cleared, I realized that I hadn't hit the behemoth, but rather I hit one of the buildings we had just trekked through. It fell to the ground with a loud BOOM and sent dust in to the surrounding area.
"Damn it, only one left…better make this count." I said to myself, and then loaded the last mini-nuke on to the weapon's tray.
I knelt down on the ground to brace myself against the force with which the nuke would leave the tray, took aim, and fired. This time I hit my mark, but I was still blown on to my back due to the fact that the behemoth was closer than the building I had hit before.
There was nothing left of the upper half of the giant brute when the smoke cleared. Its legs toppled to the ground, and bits and pieces of it continued to rain down from the sky for the next few moments.
I wiped the dust and grime from my face and sat myself back up.
"I've got to get me one of these!" I shouted as I looked over at the weapon I had just fired.
I jumped a bit when I felt someone place a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Sarah smiling back at me, holding her hand out to help me up. "Hell of a job you've done here, Jason." She said as she lifted me up.
"Hey, you didn't call me kid this time!' I had noticed.
"With the way you've handled yourself, I'd say you've earned a little respect." She said.
The happy moment was cut short when Sarah noticed Vargas kneeling next to the bus that had crushed Reddin. "She was so young…" he whispered as Sarah approached him.
"I stand by what I said before. Let it be known that Initiate Reddin earned her knighthood on this day, and let her name be written in to the records within our archives!" she said to try and comfort her ally.
She helped him to his feet and patted him on the back, "Thank you." was all he said to her.
Those of us who were still alive made our way up the steps to the front door of the GNR building. Sarah approached an intercom that was on the wall to the right of the door.
"Everything's clear out here, unlock the door and let us in." she ordered.
The door made a slight clicking noise, and they were thrust open. Two men clad in the same Brotherhood armor came rushing out, one of which wasn't wearing a helmet. The two Brotherhood members saluted Sarah, "Sir, good to see you're still alive." They said in unison.
Sarah waved her hand to them, "At ease men. I have an order for you. Take this young man to see Three Dog. He's looking for his father and believes that Three Dog has some information that can help him." She told them.
"Yes sir!" the one without the helmet replied.
As I was about to walk off with the Brotherhood member, I felt Sarah grab my arm. "Thank you Jason. You have no idea how much you helped us today, I am truly in your debt." she said calmly and gratefully.
My cheeks probably went a little red, but I didn't mind since the interior of GNR wasn't very well lit. "It's nothing. If you're ever in need again, feel free to call me. Here's my radio frequency if you need to reach me." I then told her what she needed to know, then turned to follow the Brotherhood member to the man I needed to see.