"Is this really a good idea sentinel?" Glade muttered through the communicator, the use of Sarah's rank making his position clear. "He's just another wastelander, no use for us."
"You secure that mouth paladin!" Sarah's second in command cut in before Sarah had time to answer. "We are not in the citadel right now, so you will shut up and follow orders."
"Yes sir!"
Sarah sighed, damn, Vargas was a good second in command, but with the strict military sense of him he made it difficult to talk to the troopers without undermining either of them... Instead she settled for a simple: "No mutant in sight, keep up the pace." As quietly as they could the group moved forward in two parallel lines, constantly looking around themselves for the foes that had yet to reveal themselves.
They had finally left the stinking underground and were making their final approach to Colvin's latest position, on time too for once. Around them the ground was littered by craters and rubble, most of the building they passed having been torn to shreds by the constant battle between the knights at GNR and the besieging mutants. Of course that had been going on for quite some time...but only now were the creatures making a real decisive push towards them, which left the Pride once again to play the cavalry.
Glancing back she saw initiate Reddin speak with the wastelander...John wasn't it? Despite the help of his stimpaks the man was clearly still in pain, Sarah knew from experience that though the stimpak could stop the blood flow and quicken the healing process it didn't remove the pain of the damage, in fact the quickened healing in itself was painful. Despite that the man pushed forward, his eyes afire with an odd impatience. She had also noticed...a certain change in him, in fact, if he had been equipped otherwise he could have been mistaken for a new initiate....it was as if he copied their movement and behaviour with every step.
She shrugged and turned back to the road ahead, probably just another hardened wastelander taking the opportunity to copy the best in an effort to stay alive, one couldn't blame him. Though...judging by the questions he asked Reddin he didn't seem that hardened, rather as if he had just crawled out of a hole. Who were the brotherhood? What was their purpose? What did they do in the DC? Such basic questions that anyone in the world should know the answer to...he was very peculiar in that respect.
Reddin was of course more then happy to answer, using every opportunity to inflate her own importance in the brotherhoods organisation until one would think her the sole leadership of the brotherhood. Sarah allowed it with a small smile, most initiates felt like that in the beginning, it usually faded after a few mutant had whacked them over the head...
"At least he's cute." Knight captain Dusk noted with some amusement, making Sarah chuckle along with the squad. Poor man, if Dusk decided to mix it with the locals... Though the words were worth of note, it was true...he didn't have the weathered look of someone who had endured the radiation and hardship out in the wastes. In fact he sort of looked like one who lived in the brotherhood, behind radiation protection armour...or...a vault.
Ignoring the curious thought Sarah lead the squad, now in single file, down a small corridor between massive amounts of rubble and a somewhat intact buildings whose outer pillars kept the rubble from pouring all over them. Ahead of them she could see initiate Jennings limp body lie on a soiled mattress, she couldn't see any blood...but the pale face spoke volumes. Sarah had of course known from the radio message that the man had died...the sight still brought an oath out of her though.
Right at the corner of the building Colvin sat crouched, shoulder against the wall as he fired off three quick shots. The fizzling sound of his laser shots was greeted with a familiar meaty thud, Sarah smiled under her helmet as she lead the squad closer. "Colvin, status report."
Turning around the man placed his rifle against his shoulder with the ease of a veteran and stood up. "Two more mutants sent to make their maker, the rest are keeping their heads down in the building ahead. I believe the assault on GNR itself is already under way." He cocked his head to the side, eyes obviously fixed on the man standing a little to the side of the line of soldiers "Who's this? Another recruit?" The teasing tone was something only he could get away with, reliable as he was.
"Just a local, ignore him." Sarah signalled for the others to come closer into a circle, the newcomer standing a little to the side, shifting from foot to foot in obvious impatience. Odd man...who was impatient to rush into battle? "Okay Pride, this is it, we're going to hit them hard and fast. I want the building seized, then snipers and heavy weapons on the second floor for cover fire as the rest of us secure the GNR entrance." The others quickly nodded their agreement as weapons went through a last time check. "And you local, you better stay in the rear if you want to stay alive."
"Nuts to that, I want to kills some of those assholes." The man muttered, checking the crude SMG in his hands while making sure the pathetic sword strapped to his side was easy to draw. A sword...weird kid, probably one of those with a messiah complex. Meh, what did she care? Just another wastelander with too much balls and too little firepower. At times it was hard to agree with her father's idea of saving idiots such as these...
Suppressing her treasonous thoughts Sarah lowered her laser rifle and took a deep breath, feeling the familiar urge to flee coming over her at the moment of truth. As always she squashed the fear with anger and Pride, feeling a surge of greatness at looking at her squad members, such brave troopers...what had she to fear? "Alright! Move out!"
Heavy feet smashed through the rubble as they broke cover, quickly filing out into a loose skirmish formation while advancing for the nearby building. It was just another of those shells of a office building, barely more then the walls and stairs of it remaining. Between them and it there seemed to have been some sort of parking lot, a green old car still propped up against the wall of the building, as if the driver had crashed into it the moment the war had begun.
The moment they broke cover the mutants revealed themselves, though stupid they had an annoying skill for warfare and Sarah cursed as the mutants firing from the second floor forced them to slow the charge to a crawl. Aiming she fired off two shots, the first ruby shot missing a mutant in the window, the second scorching its arm to no visible affect. "Joints and heads! Remember that Pride!" She shouted the words for the others as much as for herself, damn tough monsters...
A roar brought her attention to the gaping hole in the wall where there might once been a door. Coming out of there three mutants came at them, one hefting a super sledge and the other two assault rifles already spitting shots at them. Crap...the resistance was tougher then she had expected. "Pride! Shift fire on newcomers!" Barely had she shouted the words before the wastelander dropped down next to her, eyes aflame as he fired off his SMG...and completely missed the charging mutants.
God damn cross-eyed...
Sarah's helmet thankfully shut off the sound of the car exploding, she still felt the shock wave trying to toss her to the ground though as the charred pieces of mutants flew through the air...had he done that on purpose or was it just dumb luck?
The grin he sported answered that question, waving forward he shouted over the din of gunfire: "Come on! Forward!" Huh? Was he urging them on!? Sarah watched, still off balance from the explosion, as the wastelander rushed towards the entrance, his gun pouring inaccurate fire at the second floor. With the fire from Glade and Colvin adding to that he actually got to the entrance unharmed, while pushing his back against the wall he reloaded, the impatience in his face now glowing at them.
"No way we're going to be outdone by a wastelander! Forward Pride!" Sarah growled the order through the radio, feeling a prick of irritation, that jerk should know his place! Still, the advance was now in full throttle and Sarah felt the normal exhilaration of close engagements as she brushed past the wastelander, tossing a grenade round the left corner as Vargas and an all too eager Reddin rushed down the right corner, their shots ending the shouting from a mutant.
BOOM!
The explosion of the grenade sent dust rushing past her, an instant later the wastelander and Kodiak rushed past her, guns spitting fire. Coming after them Sarah ignored the look of a super mutant against the wall twitching under heavy fire. Instead she herself turned to fire at the mutants on the second floor. One of them was already aiming at her...
With an explosion of gore her shot turned the mutant's head to a mere stump, the heavy body recoiling back before quietly slipping back through the windowframe. Another appeared, only to have its chest explode from a heavy calibre bullet that couldn't belong to anyone but captain Dusk. "Secure the second floor now! Rest of us sweeps the ground for more hostiles!"
"Ground secure." Gallows muttered, a meaty sound of another mutant falling marking his words. Heh, good old Gallows had somehow managed to get past her without her noticing....Sarah wasn't surprised. Instead she gestured for the ones not heading for the stairs to follow her, satisfied with the loud thuds following disciplined volleys when the second floor was cleared she headed for the other side of the building...
Pushing past the cluttered rubble and rubbish the mutants had left, as well as the odd green corpse, Sarah came up to the other end of the building. Gallows and the wastelander was already waiting for them there, Gallows the incarnation of calm waiting...the wastelander already pacing with impatience. What the hell was up with that kid anyway!? Sarah only held back telling him off because of the lack of time, crazy son of a... "Alright, they're fighting out there, hit them hard before they know what happens! Colvin, is your group in position?"
A little dust drifted from the floor above her as the troopers shifted their position. "Sure am ma'am, the sounds out there match the sight." Sarah grimaced, great, and here she thought the mutants were just firing into the air a little more then usual.
"Move!" Sarah was the first one out, along with the all too eager wastelander. "Kill them all!" The ground before the fortified GNR building was held by a dozen assault rifle armed mutants pouring fire into the four knights covering behind the sand bags erected around the building. A knight that hadn't been able to escape the assault lay in the fountain in the middle of the open space,his fatman half submerged in the murky water.
Four mutants were instantly thrown to the ground by the flanking fire, another three barely managing to turn around before their heads or arms were blown off by accurate sniping shots or fusillades of heavy fire. Of course the wastelander had to rush up to one of the beasts and empty his entire clip into its face, forcing the creature to fall into fountain, colouring the water red as its head dissolved under the force of the bullets. Ignoring the crazy man Sarah turned to the real battle...
There was not much to do though, the four remaining mutants sent unfocused fire towards the Pride...only to fall under the defending knights retaliation, as well as a grenade tossed by Vargas, painting the ground red. "Gather up Pride! Check your gear!" Sarah looked left and right, but of course with the massive bus to the left and the pile of rubble to the right there was no way the mutants could come at them except from the way they came...and that was unlikely at best.
"Whoho! I got one! Did you see that!?" Reddin laughed, firing off a salvo into a corpse. Sarah just shook her head as she moved towards the steps to report to the knights up on the stairs, the wastelander an annoying shadow...especially since she could still sense his impatience. Blocking out the sound of Vargas giving the woman a stern talking to Sarah raised a hand in greetings to the now relaxed knight sitting on the sand bags.
A sudden roar made her flinch. Huh...almost sounded like a...but out here? Nah...she must have heard wrong.
BOOM!
Even with her helmets ability to shut out sound she heard the explosion as the bus exploded, the massive vibration making her stumble on the steps. Steadying herself against a wall she turned around in time to see a massive monster raise a fire hydrant above its head. As well as the sight of a power armoured figure flying through the air, a crunching sound escaping it as it slammed into the foot of the fountain, its limbs rolling onwards. "Reddin!"
Ignoring the pained scream from Vargas Sarah squashed her sudden fear by virtue of discipline and raised her laser rifle with a cry: "Behemoth! Take cover and give it everything you got!"
The resultant storm of fire barely seemed to bother the creature as he took a heavy step forward. Sweeping the fire hydrant about he crushed through the sandbags on the other end of the building, killing the poor knight that had stood there a moment before, his armour being crushed like an egg between the fire hydrant and the concrete wall.
Most of her squad rushed towards the building they had just cleared...as Sarah in earnest watched their retreat her eyes caught the worn weapon still in the fountain... "The fatman! Someone get the fatman!" Vargas made a move to get out of his cover at the building but was thrown back by Colvin as the fire hydrant came down on the entrance, crushing part of the wall the rest of the Pride was hiding behind. Oh God...they were about to get killed! "Hey ugly!"
Rushing forward Sarah fired again and again, aiming for the head of the monstrous mutant and drawing its attention over to her....who stood in the open... "Oh shit!" Jumping back she barely avoided a swinging attack, glancing back she saw the wastelander come towards her, his gun pouring bullets towards it. Damn fool... "Stay back! Stay back and let us handle this!" Jumping back again Sarah felt panic beginning to swell up within her chest. "Will someone get that fatman!?"
Retreating she saw the wastelander ignore her order and rush forward...right between the legs of the creature! Was he stark blinding mad!?
Then the world spun on its axi.
Despite the padding of her armour Sarah felt a spike of pain up her spine, as well as fresh air as part of her armour fell off.
Then she struck the ground and groaned, her back paralysing her with pain. Where was the med-x?! She needed to get moving...to...where had her gun gone?! Raising a hand she tried to focus her bleary eyes on the green monster approaching her...was it raising that blurry red thing? Oh this could hurt...
Then all went white with the tell tale sound of a mini nuke exploding. The monster staggered...swayed...and fell backwards. Sarah barely heard the sound of it falling to the ground over the ringing of the nuke, nor the vibration over the searing pain in her back...damn, the armour must have taken quite a lot of damage.
Still, she got up, ignoring the tell tale feeling of her skin having been burnt. Great...probably another visit to sawbones. Maybe she should shoot herself now and spare herself the suffering? Forcing a smile to her lips was surprisingly easy, almost as if she even meant it. Of course the wanderer couldn't see it...but he probably heard it. "You don't follow orders well do you?"
The man looked a little confused as he dropped the ugly fatman to the ground, blank look staring at the massive monster he'd just killed. "Erm...well there was the time I...no...erm..." Now he was rubbing the back of his head, still looking confused. "I mean once I....damn....erm..."
Raising a hand Sarah laughed. "I wasn't being serious John." Looking over to the other end of the field she saw the rest of the Pride come out of the cover, Vargas tossing aside his helmet with an angry growl as he went for Reddin's body, ah crap...better comfort him. "You did...really good, I'm surprised actually. You better get that hero complex of yours fixed though."
"Yes ma'am." The man grinned and saluted, practically glowing with pride as he looked over at the behemoth, the proud look turning into frown. "Didn't know they came in super...erm...mega size."
Sarah laughed again, surprising herself even. "Well don't worry, I'll make sure Three Dog knows who slew the modern equivalent of a dragon. Though I'm sure it'll be horrible for that ego of yours." The man nodded numbly, then Sarah noted his still impatient shifting of feet, he was still eager to move on? What could be so important that he didn't have time to brag about such a victory? "You're free to go in now kid, I have to talk to Vargas anyway..."
The man nodded, face grim for a moment. "I'm sorry...Reddin seemed really nice."
"Thank you..." Sarah watched the man turn to walk towards the building, the knights there stepping aside for him with a certain amount of respect, he didn't seem to notice though as he hefted his SMG with already regained calm. "...you crazy bastard."
And now to comfort Vargas...