"I'm telling you, I saw something." Captain Dusk argued, impatiently stepping back and forth while half-raising her sniper rifle.
Sarah and Colvin both chuckled. "Sure you did, you just want an excuse to blow up a few muties." Colvin replied, hefting his own sniper rifle with his usual casualness. In fact all three of them were equipped with the sensitive weapons, out on recon as they were. Perhaps not an 'official' recon mission...but Sarah knew her father wouldn't call her on that. She was only curious about the Jefferson Memorial after all.
Or irritated rather. It was an insult that something so close to the citadel was in mutant hands. The small group were on the other side of the bridge leading to the large building, partly hidden behind broken piles of concrete and an odd wooden sign that probably referred to the little house further down towards the water.
Looking through her scope Sarah frowned. Two mutant's stood sentry by the entrance, their assault rifles hanging from their backs and bored expressions on their faces. The large steel walkway to the left, still pale green from an old paintwork, was patrolled by another three mutants...what Sarah had confirmed at least.
Annoying, they could take them! Them and, with maybe a little backup or luck, the rest of the mutants in the whole building. If she had had the whole pride it would even have been a cakewalk. Of course, she knew that the moment they had taken the blasted thing the mutants would strike back with force. They always did, it was as if they merely wanted the memorial to taunt the brotherhood into another battle.
Of course such thoughts were ridiculous, the mutants were far too stupid for such a thing. Still...it irked her to see them hold such a building right in front of them, a sign that the brotherhood's claim on the land was tentative at best.
"Well yeah, I love blowing apart a few mutants." Dusk replied, as always confident. "Must challenge Sarah's kill count you know." Sarah smirked, trying to get on her good side so she would order an attack would not work...this time. "But I'm serious, there was something else moving in my scope over by the walkway."
"Maybe you need glasses?" Glancing back Sarah chuckled at the sight of Dusk taking a swipe at Colvin's head which he easily dodged. Even with their helmets on Sarah could imagine their faces, Dusk scowling as she always did when her skills were questioned. Colvin with that stupid sardonic grin of his... "Its okay, I know your aim has been a little off as of late...whoa!" The knight was forced into a hasty retreat from his female compatriot as she kicked for his ankles. "As has your combat skills..."
"Hey, if I wanted to kick your ass I would do it easily." Dusk retorted, her voice betraying her frustration. "Now believe me or I'll dunk your head into the Potomac."
"That won't be necessary." Sarah finally interrupted the argument, forcing herself to look back across the bridge instead of at the two subordinates calming themselves down. She kept her voice calm, as always making sure she maintained the authority, at times she really envied Colvin... "We can only observe, heck, we should already be going."
"Yes ma'am." Dusk wasn't happy.
"Oh well, this is a sealed suit anyway, dunking me wouldn't do much." Colvin piped in, drawing a growl from Dusk. "You know...glaring at people from behind a helmet isn't very effective."
Sarah didn't hear Dusk's reply, instead suddenly spying new movement on the walkway. Raising her rifle she zoomed in, the scope catching the sight of a super mutant's head exploding like a ripe melon. The creature staggered into the railing of the walkway before dropping unto its back, a rifle uselessly falling over the ledge. "We got movement."
"See? I told you!" Dusk exclaimed, being right making her chipper.
"Yeah, yeah...lucky break." Sarah felt the others raise their rifles to see what was happening even as she saw a darting shape beneath the walkway. Watching with surprise she followed the little figure as his...because it had to be a he...wide shoulders swung as he began to climb one of the beams towards the walkway, apparently uncaring of the mutants taking aim on him. "Should we help him?"
"Not yet, slow advance." Sarah muttered, finding her feet moving her down the bridge while watching the figure slide around the beam, hugging it tightly while putting it between him and another super mutant on the walkway. Was that a talon company mercenary? What was he doing there alone!? Sparks flew from the beam from the super mutant's fire...then stopped as the figure aimed out from his cover and blew the assault rifle right out of his hands.
"Wow." Colvin muttered, all three watching the agile man putting another three bullets into the monster, sending it tumbling over the railing of the walkway. "That guy is crazy." Sarah silently agreed, looking on as the man holstered the no doubt heavy calibre pistol of his before quickly climbing up atop the walkway. The third super mutant was behind him, aiming an assault rifle against his back.
"Should we do something?" Dusk asked, actually sounding a little concerned. Sarah didn't have time to reply though since the mutant had already started firing, stitching a line of small explosions along the steel floor as the man rolled aside...then lunged forward, batting the enemy weapon aside with a blurry line of silver.
The two mutants by the entrance finally reacted to the sounds of battle, ponderous they hobbled up towards the walkway, pulling out their assault rifles. "Yes, now!" Sarah found her pulse quicken and her steps becoming wider. Immediately Dusk followed orders, her shot creating a massive hole in the arm of one of the mutants and making him stumble.
In fascination she saw the mercenary stab what had to be a sword into the right arm of his foe and wrench, showering the floor with blood until the entire arm, still clutching the assault rifle, fell to the floor. He followed it with a wide sweep of his sword, cutting a deep wound across the right side of the mutant's neck and forcing it unto one knee. The return stroke sent the blade, tip first, into a roaring mouth. Another wrench of the blade and the top half of the head fell off.
Colvin opened up next, the powerful shot knocking the leg off the mutant that had almost reached the top of the walkway, sending the monster tumbling back to the ground and making its wounded friend stumble over the corpse. Forcing herself to slow down for a moment Sarah took aim, bringing the wounded monster into her cross-hair...and blew half its throat away.
She was no close enough to hear the death rattle of the mutant as it struggled to stay concious, mutants were nothing but stubborn when it came to surviving...she didn't look at that though, she had seen it enough times to know it was only a matter of seconds. No...she was focused on the sight of the mercenary calmly sheeting his sword and already moving to loot the bodies of the fallen.
"Approach with caution." Sarah instructed, lowering her rifle slightly while moving towards the building. No mutants were coming through the door though and the man didn't react to their approach, despite obviously being aware of them. "You there! Mercenary! What are you doing here!? In the name of the brotherhood you will answer!" Better scare him, those talon guys were nothing but bullies, push hard and fast and they'll cave before you...
To her surprise the man didn't look up as he rifled through the pockets of one of the mutants on the base of the walkway. The man had a scoped magnum and a few grenades hanging from his belt, a Chinese assault rifle hanging from his back, with all that the sword looked strange on his hip...and now Sarah noticed that the symbol on his dark combat armour had been painted over. "I am no mercenary."
"I gathered..." Sarah glanced at the others. To her right Colvin had his rifle over his shoulders, arms resting on it as if he was on an evening stroll. On her left Dusk had barely lowered her rifle at all, probably considering shooting the man if he did anything suspicious. Their masked faces told her nothing though. "So since you're not getting paid for going all suicidal on this place I guess I have to ask you...why are you here civilian?"
Civilian...the word doesn't really fit to the gaunt shape hurriedly checking the massive bodies...he seemed to think the same, a quick snort escaping him. "The scientists in Rivet city told me my father headed for this place, I'm here to look for him."
"The place is crawling with mutants you idiot." Captain Dusk huffed, a hint of amusement in her voice.
The man looked over at her, and for the first time in...ever...Dusk took a step back. The man was gaunt in a sickly way, as if he had lost a lot of weight as of late. Though he stood steady before them the blue eyes looking at them glowed with impatience, as if he was physically restraining himself from continuing with his task. All combined the man gave a haunted impression, as if he was about to crash from whatever he might have injected. "I know."
Sarah licked her lips, edging backwards. Was this going to end in a fight? Though they obviously had the advantage over the man a quick look told her that he might just pull the pins to his grenades and rush at them to annihilate them all out of sheer spite. "So he might be..."
"If he's dead I'll find his remains, if he has moved on I will find something to guide me on." The man stated the words like facts, apparently the mutants inside were no factor... His hands twitched, making Dusk growl through the radio, there was no danger though... Sarah recognised an obsession when she saw it, though it was usually for drugs and not a person...
Colvin took a furtive step forward, tilting his head a little. "Looking for your father eh? Sounds like something Three Dog talked about before."
Sarah blinked, doing a double take when she suddenly recognised the man before her. "Hang on...John!? You're the one that had to talk to Three Dog before, we fought a behemoth!" Wow he had changed! Though probably not for the better...
The man nodded, apparently not really caring, his eyes afire with impatience. "I remember."
"I don't think I ever introduced myself." Sarah fiddled with her neck guard, finally unhooking the helmet and pulling it off. She thought herself as better looking than most women around in the wasteland...living in the brotherhood and eating yourself full helped with that...though apparently this man wasn't impressed. Huh... "I'm Sarah Lyons, an honour to meet you again." She offered her hand.
The man took her hand, through the glove of her suit she felt the powerful grip catch her in a vice. Don't grimace...don't...man this guy was strong! She could have sworn he hadn't been that strong last time she'd seen him... "John...are we done here? I have work to do." There it was again, the obsessive look...creepy.
"We're just concerned." Sarah withdrew her hand feeling decidedly unsettled under the scrutiny of the odd wastelander. "There's roughly a dozen super mutants in the building and you're heading in there alone."
"It's suicide." Dusk snapped, trying to reassert herself, a glare from the man sent her shirking away though. And here Sarah thought only Gallows capable of that...
"Are you going to try and stop me?" He didn't reach for his weapons, in fact he didn't shift at all, yet she could sense him tensing up...ready to spring into action. He was just waiting for a struggle, almost welcoming opposition to overcome. Had he gone crazy!? The only humans itching for a fight with brotherhood warriors were raiders, and those were crazy with drugs...this guy didn't have the bloodshot eyes of a druggie though. He was simply...something scary.
In the radio Colvin whistled. "Try? I like this guy..." Switching over to regular speech he said: "Calm down kid, we're not going to stop you, if you want to kill yourself we're fine with it, the brotherhood only defends those wanting to be saved."
"I don't need saving." The man snorted, grimacing. Then he turned around, already moving towards the buckled blue door leading to the innards of the memorial. "Now excuse me, I have mutants to kill."
"Wait!" Sarah caught herself reaching out, placing a hand on John's shoulder. He looked back at her, cold eyes piercing her flesh, making her tingle in sudden fear...she pulled her hand back as if she had been burnt. "You can't just...I owe you dammit!"
"Excuse me?"
"You saved my ass back at GNR, the least I can do is to return the favour." Turning slightly back to her squad mates she pushed the rifle behind her back and reached for her hip. "Alright Pride, pull out your side-arms and check your grenades, we're doing some intensive recon."
"Yes ma'am." Colvin and Dusk spoke as one, both sounding a little hesitant, yet they obeyed...they always did. Suppressing a grin Sarah pushed her helmet back over her head.
"That is not necessary." John replied, voice cold. Looking back at the man Sarah blinked, was there sudden...fear in those cold eyes? It disappeared too soon to be sure. "I work alone."
"Nonsense, I hate the super mutants holding this place anyway, will be fun to put a few down." Sarah replied, checking her laser pistol with practised hands.
Dusk chuckled, her side-arm whining as it went active. "Bet you I'll get the highest kill-count in this attack." Neither Sarah nor Colvin commented, the woman was obviously a little shook up and wanted to assert her toughness again, and the other two knew her well enough not to deprive her of that. "I'm going to line up the headshots! "
"I. Work. Alone." The man grumbled. Though the threat was there he didn't seem all that dangerous anymore, he rather looked...frightened. "So go do...whatever you idiots do."
Sarah chuckled, feeling new confidence. "Well we idiots are going to help you."
"Fine..." The man reached back and pulled out his assault rifle, face crunching up in frustration. "Then stay behind me." He reached for the door, gun at the ready. "And keep out of my way."
Sarah heard the others chuckle as she watched the far less armoured man take the lead. She smirked...what an odd one...