Hello fellow readers, it is I, Hypn0s, bringing you another chapter of the Chornicles of Maverick, now I must say so far this story shows promise, considering that my last attempt at a fallout history was a complete fiasco, and no you can't find it in my prfile because i erase it, my only story so far that has met that end.
Now i want to thanks those who had been reading a review the story and reading it.
now onto the show shall we, enjoy!
CHAPTER 5: THE GREAT ESCAPE
"Damn it all to hell!" Sarah snarled as she gunned down yet another feral ghoul, a ghoul from her home, it was in times like these she cursed the person who started the damn Great War, the man who pushed the button and screwed humanity.
Another wail caught her attention, she only turned to see the head of the armored feral being blow away by a shot of Paulson, the cowboy was actually a good shot and pulled headshots left and right, even more considering the feral ghouls, while physically strong, are actually fragile, well with the exception of the Glowing ones and the Reaver ghouls, one because they heal by the radiation they had in them, and the others had the remnants of a metal armor on them, grafted on their skin, granting them protection.
Sarah had little time to ponder into this when a Reaver ghoul actually appeared, making a mad dash at her while holding a piece of gore on its hand, just when it was about to launch it, it's right hand was sliced cleanly of its wrist, this stopped the Reaver long enough to Toshiro, the reason the Reaver lost its hand, to lash with his katana, slicing cleanly the neck of the ghoul.
Sarah could only stare in amazement on how clean the cut was, hell the body was still catching up with the fact it was now lacking a head, shaking her head she looked around, and focusing her sights of every combatant.
She, like the rest, had heard the pair of gunshots, alongside the scream of rage of Maverick, alongside with parts of the conversation he was having with Amata, the parts he shouted of course, then the explosions, and all hell broke loose, in the literal sense.
Whatever happened on a room far beyond the minefield, the explosions had caused a chain reaction, according to Julia and Sally, that room was in fact a big room where it was held in cryo-stasis some of the most dangerous non-human experiments caught in the wasteland.
Among them the first to actually emerge had been a Deathclaw, perhaps the biggest Sarah had ever seen, while the horns of the Deathclaw were pointed backwards, instead of forward, it was still as intimidating as dangerous, and hard to kill, as the minefield it trekked and the 200 rounds of a minigun used to put it down could attest to, well at least the minefield softened the flesh of the Deathclaw, so the rounds could penetrate better.
"Goddamitt to hell, these ghouls sure are persistent as they are ugly" Johnson said as he fired another burst of his minigun, mowing a group of unprotected ferals with ease.
"Don't get cocky, these things are like zombies, alone they are shit, together they become a bigger pile of shit!" Somah snarled as she blasted the head of a ghoul, then kicked the corpse away, causing a group of ghouls behind it to trip on it and fall, easy picks for Somah.
Sarah kept downing every ghoul she saw, this she found odd, after all she expected at least more variety on their attackers, not that she was complaining, as she reloaded her gun with another EC pack, she saw, like the rest how the number of ghouls attacking actually became thinner, until they stopped pouring altogether.
"Well…now that is odd" Sarah muttered, staring at the halls, now filled with the corpses of the ferals, it was just sheer luck that no one got hurt.
"Okay people reload and check for wounds and wounded!" Sarah called, everyone nodding and following her orders, "I got a bad feeling" she muttered.
"…this silence…is creeping me out" Paulson said, looking at Sarah, "No shit cowboy" Sarah muttered back, then turned to Paulson, "Go to your family now, check if they are okay" she stated, he didn't needed to be told twice, after all he had nearly got his family torn away from him, they were torn away from him, frozen solid, like him, it was sheer fortune that they were alive.
Suddenly growls or rather a loud growl was heard on their floor, making Sarah tense up, she wasn't the only one, everyone who was done reloading was aiming their guns at whatever might emerge, and it did emerged, but not in the way she expected.
She has seen lots of things in the wasteland, from the odd to the gory, to the sad to the funny, and stuff of legend, things that just spread to the wasteland with just one witness of it, the scourge of the Pitt, the slaughterhouse that was the Republic of Dave, thanks to Amata.
But seeing a Deathclaw, one of the most dangerous creatures of the wasteland, flying towards a wall was certainly something you don't see every day, or any day for that matter.
The Deathclaw simply stood up, albeit with some difficulty, that was the last thing the Deathclaw did before two super-sonic bullets ripped through it, one blowing its right arm clean of its socket, the other basically opening a hole of the size of a child's head on its chest, not to mention the exit wound, which was of the size of an average human torso.
"Good lord, the aliens are fucked up" she heard, recognizing the voice instantly, slightly jogging at the remains of the Deathclaw, she saw Maverick of all people there, a trail of feral ghoul corpses with caved heads behind him, or cut down by the Deathclaw.
"Maverick! You magnificent bastard!" she exclaimed as she made a full sprint on him, "Sarah!" Maverick replied, unloading the empty shells of That Gun and hand-loading the receiver, much to Sarah's surprise, in a near blink, she also noted that his once pristine face, devoid of any kind of scars or cuts now had a neat three lined scar that started from his forehead, passed to his nose bridge, slightly cut his lips and ended on the right side of his chin.
"Goddamitt, Amata is in deep shit when I get my hands on her, I swear it, and Butch, oh he is going to regret not actually shooting me" Maverick snarled, "I come out of the elevator and these ghouls attack me, dammit I used the butt of That Gun to kill them, and then this…what in god's name the aliens did to that?" Maverick snapped, pointing at the Deathclaw.
"Maverick" Sarah began, "That's a Deathclaw, is natural in the capital wasteland, more to the north, fast, strong, and it can shred you apart, armor or no armor, in fact its claws can cut an armor down, and you with it" Sarah said to Maverick.
"Damn thing tried to take a sweep at me" Maverick snarled, "It did" Sarah mentioned, running her pinky finger to one of his cuts and then showing to Maverick the blood accumulated in it.
"Oh…that explains why I felt like ripping its face off" Maverick muttered, "Instead you decided to punt it to a wall and shoot it to death" Sarah stated drily, then sighed.
"Here's your gun" she said as she handed him the Twin Boom, he noted that the gun was not warm at all, "Didn't fire it, too overkill against a ghoul, no matter how many they are" she added, seeing how Maverick put the gun to its original power setting.
"Is everyone ready?" Maverick said, "We were five minutes ago, just after we heard the first gunshot, I can see Amata less than warm welcome" Sarah drabbled, seeing the hole on Maverick's clothes, on his shoulder and chest.
"10mm, the bullets got flattened upon impact, she said something about a DIAMOND implant" Sarah simply rose an eyebrow at that, "I'm not stranger to sub-dermal implants, most brotherhood has it, the IRON implant in particular, pretty popular, used vastly in elite special ops during the pre-war era" Sarah mentioned, "I have one as well, along with some special ones to make me a deadlier soldier" Sarah added.
"That might explain why the aliens didn't experimented on you so heavily" both adults turned to see Sally behind her, "Sorry to interrupt you both, but we are ready to move out, we just need your OK to use the rocket launcher to blast the core and we can move" Sally stated.
"Good, tell them to wait at the door, as soon as the rocket launcher is shot, we leave" Maverick stated, walking away, Sally was about to leave as well when Sarah held her by the shoulder, "What the aliens did to me?" Sarah asked.
"Not much, truth to be told I was surprised when I saw your file, of all the people, besides Sandra and Marie, you are the less experimented" Sally replied, "I asked what they did to me, not how much they did to me" Sarah shot back.
"As I said not much, I guess they saw you clad in a power armor and decided to give you some edge, basically you're stronger than before, faster, and younger" Sally said, making Sarah blink.
"I…younger?" Sarah asked, "Yeah, they used the same procedure they used on me, but instead of keeping you on a permanent 30 year old state, they reduced your age to twenty five, apparently your prime" Sally said as she walked away, Sarah just remained on her spot, shocked completely.
Not because she was now five years younger, not because she was stronger ore faster than before, no, she remained there because her brain was trying to catch the fact that a girl who is over 200 years old, just told her she is old, and past her prime.
"I…SALLY I AM NOT OLD!" she snarled as she marched angrily where the escapees were gathered.
It seemed nuclear fallout was not enough to snuff the righteous flames of rage of a woman when she is told she is old.
As she approached the group, her rage was suddenly focused on another thing altogether, how Jackie, broken right hand an all, held two of the little girls together, all while being held at gunpoint by a vault dweller.
"How the hell he made it past us?" she wondered, that was until she saw on his right wrist a stealth-boy.
"Oh, sentinel Lyons, how good to join us" the vault dweller said, Sarah instantly recognized the dark skinned boy of Maverick's age as Paul Hannon, the second.
Of course Sarah and the brotherhood knew him by other name, "Paul the butcher, I should have know, whenever the snake of DeLoria is around his little lapdog would follow" Sarah snapped.
"You're just mad we butchered those initiates" Paul Jr. replied, then his eyes traveled to Maverick, and actually grinded, "Well, I'll be dammed, Maverick, you bastard, you dare to be still among the living after what you did"
"Cut the crap junior" Maverick snapped, That Gun already out and aimed at Paul, "I had the same chat with Amata, made her vomit blood and broke some ribs, but unlike her, my history with you is not a nice one, now drop the weapon or I'll blast your head off" Maverick stated.
"You're bluffing, that shot is not even possible with V.A.T.S." Paul stated, "Maybe, with Jackie in the middle maybe…NOW!"
It happened too fast for anyone to realize of it until it was over, one moment Jackie was on the line of fire, the next she is on the ground, her body over the girls own, two gunshots, one louder than the other, and Paul 'the butcher' Hannon Jr. was missing his head.
Maverick lowered That Gun at the same time the headless corpse of Paul met the ground, holstering he walked towards the fallen Jackie, the girl looking upwards.
"You know, somehow 'I told you' doesn't cut it" Maverick said to Jackie, the vault dweller simply scoffed at that.
"What the…how the…explain" Sarah said, seeing how Maverick helped Jackie stand up.
"Long story short, she wants asylum" Maverick began, "Asylum? Why she would want that?" Sarah asked, "I accidentally downloaded information Lyons" Jackie said, Sarah could see that her right hand was already healed, albeit a little swollen.
"How you 'accidentally' download information" Sarah asked, "My pip-boy" Jackie began, "Is a series 3000-C, unlike Maverick's, this means my pip-boy is only compatible with a specific download port, unlike the A and B series which accepts all, unfortunately, the only port compatible was the overseer's personal computer, I needed to update my pip-boy and his computer was the only one compatible as I said before, he let me update my pip-boy out of pity, and mostly because I was going to be shipped to Raven's rock" Jackie said.
"But…the C series have a slight…eh, glitch" she said in a very uncomfortable manner, "They…download everything" Jackie said, the meaning didn't went unnoticed to Sarah however.
"Everything?"
"Yeah, from the useless and memory consuming files, to heavy encrypted and super valuable files" Jackie said, "I was already out of the vault when he realized of this, and ordered my termination" she said, "Of course I didn't knew until I checked my pip-boy and the file 'overseer's personal log' appeared, there I realized I was marked" Jackie added.
"And being a vault dweller, clad in a jumpsuit didn't help either" Sarah said, "Nope, I ran for my life to be honest, I was fast back in the vault, perhaps the fastest, voted the fastest person around, and Maverick here was voted the most optioned to survive outside, I swear, he knows medicine alright, but his inkling is basically hacking computers, picking up locks, fixing guns of all kind and basically making bigger shit out of lot of little shit" Jackie explained.
"Girl, focus" Veronica added, entering the conversation, "Oh yeah, well, as I said I ran, I did a pretty good job, of course I didn't noticed I was in Deathclaw land until I saw two of them basically ravaging the remains on an Overlord" Jackie added.
"On a high noted, out of the thirty dwellers send to kill me, Amata and Butch included, ten died by the Deathclaws, I swear perhaps me and maybe Maverick can outrun them, and only he can actually kill them barehanded" Jackie said.
"After that well, I made it to a crater, I ran as fast as possible, but in the end I was surrounded by Amata's team, when I swear I was dead, this blue light came down and the rest is history, most of it anyways, I made my way here, hid in the trash of the first floor, and I heard Amata, on the trash I found a stealth-boy, it helped me sneak into this place and heard about you being here, that gave me an idea"
"Let me guess, capture me, becoming a hero to the vault, and sparing your life" Maverick said, "Well I can say it would have worked if the bitch with the robes hadn't got around" Jackie added, "So your part responsible for the dwellers being here" Sarah added.
"Not that I wanted, but in any case" Jackie said, "Look I just want a place to lay low, a place where I can be safe, I want to live and form a family you know, and I can do that with a bullet in my head or being a pile of ash or green goo" Jackie confessed, "In exchange I will give the brotherhood the edge the need, the overseer's terminal was connected remotely to an high Enclave terminal, I downloaded a lot of info, trust me on this, I am high on the hit list of the Enclave, only comparable to Maverick here, he is to be killed on sight as well, and let news of his 'capture' out, to lure his father out" Jackie added, there Maverick frowned at that.
"Is because of Project Purity…Amata mentioned it, but I don't really know what it is" Maverick mentioned, Jackie simply scoffed, "Trust me on this, Project Purity, if works, will be either the salvation or the doom of the wasteland in general" Jackie stated.
"How?" Maverick wondered, "Is a massive water purifier, built in the Jefferson Memorial, your dad, and your mom built it, to purify millions of gallons of rancid, irradiated full of muck water into potable, drinkable water, this will cause a shift of power, in the past, armies formed empires and held nations, now water does that, you have a water purifier, then a town will grow and prosper around it" Sarah explained.
"Yep, and you really don't want to know what they will do during the activation of the purifier, if they are able to" Jackie said.
"So…that means…" Maverick began, "Yep, you're a wastelander made a vault dweller, then against turned loose to the wasteland…now that is something to think about" Sarah said, not actually believing that Vault 101 had so readily accepted Maverick's father and Maverick for that matter, if what he had been telling was to be believed, it meant he had lived inside the vault all his life, 19 years.
It matched the time Project Purity was abandoned.
This was no coincidences, she didn't believed on those things, but so far good things had been falling to her lap, besides the gun and armor, she had very important information about enclave plans, if Jackie was led to believe, this could, in turn, turn the tide of the war easily.
Besides the fact that the first person she saw in this god forsaken place was perhaps stronger than a Overlord and was willing to help her also make her believe that either her overall luck was finally improving, or that Maverick was just too damn lucky and whatever spare luck he has is shared with those around him, is the only explanation that so far no one has died, no one allied to them that is, Paul Hansson Jr. and every other critter around being the exception.
"In any case, I want help, and you two can provide it, I'll give you all the info of the pip-boy, hell I'll give you my pip-boy if you need I, I just…I just want to live" Jackie stated sadly.
"As everyone here lady" Sergeant Johnson said, he, like the rest had heard the conversation, "You want to live?" he asked, pulling a .45 out, and aiming it to Jackie, Maverick was about interfere when Johnson flipped the gun and now the grip was aiming at her.
"You better pull your weight lady, you are among the best and the meanest mankind had to offer in its time, we are busting out, and we are going to fuck everything in our path, you're in?" Johnson had his answer when Jackie loaded the gun and smirked.
"You better be able to keep the pace old man" she exclaimed as she joined the literal mob of people ready to move away.
It didn't took them less than a minute for the group to be organized and already outside the core room, the only one remaining was Maverick, holding a rocket launcher.
Taking a deep breath and kneeling, Maverick aimed the rocket launcher and steadied his aim, then he fired.
The missile by all intents was slow, yet for someone who was on the receiving end on a rocket, it would move awfully fast, and then slows down just inches of your body.
To Maverick the missile traveled slow, but with enough momentum to pierce the glass cover and blow a freaking hole on a side of the reactor, immediately he began to sweat as heat basically poured out of the hole of the reactor.
It wasn't until he saw the upper part right of his HUD light on, a red bar indicating that he was on a irradiated area and he was being slowly irradiated that he reacted, tossing the rocket launcher he made a mad sprint towards the door the others had used to leave, primal fear making him run like hell.
Back in the vault, you were educated to respect the power of the overseer and to fear radiation, of course one lesson remained on Maverick, fear the radiation, and he feared it, mostly because he had already see what it had done to the world and its inhabitants.
Reaching the door, such door opened automatically, Sally on the other side, once Maverick was inside, Sally closed the door, leaving the core room to be irradiated in deadly radiation.
"God…you never told me I would get irradiated!" Maverick snapped at Sally, "Sorry, but don't worry, your body will eat that radiation away, and use it to make you slightly stronger, temporally of course, like a reactor" Sally said, only to yelp when Maverick lifted her by the cuff of her jacket and carried her away, all the way Sally screaming obscenities and demanding to be put down.
Once they reached the group, he put Sally down, and marched forward, taking the front of the human like caravan.
"Okay, are you ready?" Sarah asked, having seen Maverick basically carrying Sally like a sack of ammo, without care, unless it's filled with mini-nukes.
"Yeah, just harassing Sally for not telling me that I would get irradiated after blowing up the reactor and then dropping the bomb that I will use that radiation as extra fuel to kill things" Maverick stated.
"Ugh…just what we needed, a super strong human walking reactor" she said with a smirk.
"Don't remind me…anyway, everyone ready!" Maverick yelled, everyone behind him gave a loud yell, signaling they were indeed ready to join him in their great escape.
"Okay, everything that doesn't look human is blasted away, Elliot, Maria, you two will be alongside Charon and keep the kids and Sandra escorted, no one stays behind you heard? No one will stay behind in this hellhole!" that was enough to fire everyone up.
"Okay, LET'S ROLL!"
And with that the human caravan moved away, spear-heading the caravan a man who would set things straight for everyone, including himself.
Dammed those who would stand in his way.
The nerve, it was a fitting name, all things considering, the central control room, where all activities and security was controlled form a secure and high place.
Amata could only smirk as she moved one of the alien corpses away of the massive consoles, the poor fools, not even armed or prepared for an attack from behind.
Yet again, during their way towards The Nerve, she had lost five dwellers, fools who got distracted and now lay as piles of ash on the halls, well four of them were piles of ash, the fifth one was unfortunate enough to cross the path of a Deathclaw, guts and blood and all kind of crap now lay on the ground where his cadaver lay, and the Deathclaw actually eating that which it could.
Amata's smirk melted into pain as her ribs painfully reminded her that a still hungry Deathclaw roaming the halls of the space-station was the least of the dangers around.
Maverick being on the forefront of those dangers, a Deathclaw you could kill, tame, cut its overgrown nails and even raise one, but what to do against an idealistic super human that was dead bent on changing things?
Maverick, ever since she knew him, had always aimed to change things, even inside the vault, he and his father always trying something to change the monotony inside it, didn't they realized that they were disturbing the peace and sanctity of the vault?
True she had helped as well, a phase her father told her once she got her senses, but the fact is that she helped, she helped the tragedy of vault 101 to unfold, if she hadn't helped him escape, nothing of this wouldn't happened, all would be fine and dandy, he would have lured his father, his father captured, would have helped them to start project purity, and then…then all their problems would be over.
Instead now her actions had built a monster, a literal one, a machine built only for death, death and destruction.
With a hiss, Amata kicked the orange alien corpse, breaking some ribs and making her own ribs to hurt as well, not to mention her belly, she was still sore after her battle against Maverick, if you could call it a battle, more like Maverick laughing at her feeble attempts of hurting him and then he using her as his personal punching bag.
"If it wasn't for the NEMEAN implant I would have internal bleeding and ruptured organs" she thought to herself, in fact she very experimental NEMAM sub-dermal implant was the only thing that had saved her, not the alien experiments, it was that, simple as breathing, and she knew that those two shots she took at him were a mistake, not only because it riled him up and made a point, but because of how the DIAMOND implant worked.
The DIAMOND implant worked in basically making the skin as thick as humanly possible, without breaking the flexible skin, it sounds easy, but in fact is not, like a diamond, which atomic structure is dense, really dense and close knitted, so much that before the Great War, diamond bladed saws were used for medical or industrial incursions, not to mention that a diamond is hard, very hard, actually requiring another diamond to actually put a scratch on one, that speaks volumes of its hardness.
Of course, like everything in life, it can be destroyed, broken, smashed, but only those who know how to can accomplish this.
The DIAMOND implant worked with that principle, making the skin hard on areas which present a significant trauma, like a gunshot, just upon impact, the nerves send impulses to the brain, which in turn are caught as well by the implant, this is where the scientific part comes in, truth to be told, the only thing she caught up of the dead professor Pascal before his disappearance was that a very abnormal nervous system was required so the implant could work well, as this had to be performed in less than nano-seconds, before the bullet could pierce the skin.
No normal human being could fit this description, until Maverick came and got his spine replaced by a cybernetic one, basically hay-wiring his nervous system, making him think and act faster than any other person.
With a grunt she looked at the remaining vault dwellers, her squad, working on some consoles.
"I want cameras and turrets poised to kill everything but us!" Amata snapped at the group, "Is not that easy you know, I don't even know what I'm doing…I think I tampered with the oxygen supply"
"Shove it Jackson" Amata snapped, looking at another dweller, "Bad news boss, it seems someone got ahead of us and damaged the core, the thing is that damaging the core caused all energy to be diverted to doors, artificial gravity and life support"
Amata glared at the female dweller that had just spoken, "Meaning?" Amata asked, already knowing the answer.
"The turrets, all of them are now offline, also any contention cells and unopened cryo-stasis pods are opening…we are talking about a big mess" the female dweller replied.
"We don't have control of anything?" Amata snapped/asked, "We have control of the cameras and robots which I deactivated, but only that, that orange alien must had some special codes to control the doors, but since he is dead" the female dweller let that thought drift off, making Amata narrow her eyes.
"Dammit, this means Paul didn't make it" Butch stated, "Zip it DeLoria, I don't care about him" Amata said, making Butch cringe, but accept nonetheless, after all Paul had been one of his friends, the fact he hadn't returned with the girls meant that he had died.
Another one to chalk it up to Maverick and his father, "I'm starting to get irritated, a war with the Brotherhood of Steel hasn't yield any casualties to us, but ever since we tried to take down Jackie and ever since we crossed paths with Maverick we have lost half of our original numbers" Amata snapped, her voice raising a lot in the last part of her sentence.
As for those inside, she was right, the war didn't put dents on their ranks, more considering the training they got and the superior equipment, but Jackie's escape had cost them ten guys because she lured them near Deathclaw territory, and after they got kidnapped no one knew what happened to Butch's grandfather and Paul Sr. Amata could confirm that Wally was dead, surely by the hands of Maverick, alongside Paul Jr. not to mention the five guys they lost on their way to the nerve.
Overall, this has been the very first time she has seen people die, her people, and she didn't like it one bit.
All this was making them look like amateurs, they had coordinated ambushes against BOS soldiers and Super Mutants with ease, true they got hurt, but they never had reported a KIA, until today.
"I want Maverick found! I want his fuckin head on a pike and the last thing he sees in life is how I kill everyone on that ragtag group of survivors" Amata snapped, that made everyone work double-time to find Maverick and company, they had learned that and angry Amata is a dangerous Amata.
"I found them" one of the dwellers said, Amata immediately made a beeline towards the console of the dweller, the screen on such console displaying the image, much to Amata's annoyance of at least fifty humans, all dressed in different clothes of different eras, all wielding weapons of all kind.
But what made Amata really angry was who was spear-heading this 'caravan'
Maverick and Sarah Lyons.
Amata brought her hand down the console, slamming it and leaving a dent in the metal.
"I should have shoot him in the head and be done with it!" Amata snapped angrily, only to realize that it wouldn't have helped much either, the DIAMOND implant must have made his skin in general bulletproof, and if given the case the bullet would pierce the skin, it had to content also with muscle and then the thickened bone.
"Can you tell their current location and destination?" Amata asked, "Well…I can see they are taking a direct route to a very transited intersection, like our atrium, this one connects to everywhere in the space-station, my best believe, they will turn to the left, heading to the hangars, there is a ship, one big ship that is currently without aliens on board" the female dweller said, her red short hair tied on a bun.
"And that little twerp must know how to pilot it" Amata hissed, "But, I got something as well, there is something…or someone standing in the hangars, there is no cameras there, so I don't know what is there, but is there, and according to this console…it has orders to kill everything non-alien that tries to board that flying saucer" the female dweller said.
"Good work Matilda, locate us an alternative escape route, I don't want to cross them" Amata said, "I don't know, we could easily ambush them and kill them" one of the dwellers said, making Amata snort, "I won't take any more chances, we lost fifteen people already, with four more MIA, I won't risk anymore on this unfamiliar territory, if we get Maverick and Lyons, it will be on our land" Amata stated.
"Finally ate your pride Almodovar?" Butch asked, making Amata to sneer at him, "Your pride and overconfidence nearly cost you your life, hadn't I came the moment I did, Maverick would have actually killed you, not only that, your want for those children cost me one of my friends, two of them if what I think of Wally happened, not to mention my grandfather, all this for your pride, wanting to find Maverick, all because of your pride" Butch snarled, not even intimidated by the gun aimed at him by Amata.
"All loses of this war Butch, all loses of this war, remember it soldier, they are acceptable loses" Amata snapped.
"Say that Paul's mom, tell that to Wally's sister, tell that to my dad" Butch snapped, turning around and pulling his switchblade, slowly running the blade around the metal of the walls.
Amata tsk'ed at Butch's words, simply turning her attention to Matilda.
Amata thoughts were still centered on Maverick, but on how she would stop him after he reach the Capital Wasteland, after all here she has no army to command, but down there, down there.
The world bows to her.
"Amata!" Matilda yelled, catching Amata's attention, "Something is approaching the space-station, something as big as the ship docked on the hangars" Matilda stated, making Amata narrow her eyes, "ETA?"
"22 minutes" Matilda replied.
"Then let's make sure we are not here when they arrive, leave the positions, let's leave towards our escape" her order was followed by all leaving the consoles and marching away of the room, only she and Butch remained inside.
"Once we make it to Raven's Rock, you and I will have a long chat with Coronel Autumn about this" Butch stated, "He'll never believe this, neither Eden, let's just say this was mission gone wrong, lured to Deathclaw territory, barely made it out alive, Jackie worked under orders of Maverick"
"That's bullshit, I know it, Autumn will know it, Eden will know it" Butch stated, "They won't, they want Maverick as I do, for different reasons, but they want him, just like his dad, he holds the key for Project Purity, and after they are done with him, I will have him for me to do what I want, whenever I want" Amata snapped.
"And what would you want to do with him?" Butch asked, genuinely wondering what she would do to Maverick once she gets him.
"Simple" Amata began, turning to Butch, "The same thing he did to me when he killed Marcus and nearly destroyed the vault" she said, eyes now burning with utter ire, making Butch take a step back.
"I will rip his heart out!"
"Keep running!"
"My god! This is a warzone!"
"Just like Anchorage!"
"Perhaps American pig, but even there the enemy didn't look like a reanimated corpse!"
"Quit the chatter soldiers! Blast 'em!" Sarah ordered, her Tommy laser gun turning to ash another feral ghoul, turning to her right she nearly had a seizure when she saw a Yao Guai advancing at the Japanese samurai, Toshiro, only go eye wide when Toshiro side-stepped out of the way of the mutated bear and cleanly beheaded the beast.
"Okay, this is just plain ridiculous!" Sally snapped, her plasma gun already overheating for shooting so many times, cursing she tossed another spent energy cell and replaced it with a new one.
"We are not making progress!" Maverick snapped, punting another ghoul away as he held the Twin Boom on one hand, and on the other he held an actual glowing ghoul by the neck.
The deafening sound of guns being fired on repetition, the fall of each empty case of ammo, discarded clips, yells and curses, wails and grunts, the children kept themselves in a tight circle, adults surrounding them and firing at whatever that looked non-human.
"I clearly underestimated the situation!" Sally exclaimed, "So, we change plans?" Maverick asked, finally crushing the neck of the glowing ghoul, then without looking, blasting the face of a Reaver with the Twin Boom, point-blank.
The group had made their way towards the intersection, that had been, as Sally had said before, the easy part, of course, much to Sally's shock, they didn't encountered any sort of resistance, at all, but when they reached intersection, they found out why.
All the aliens where holed up together, making some desperate stand against the horde of creatures they had captured, true their weapons gave them an edge, and everyone could see the inertia fields personally, some sort of grey dotted field that surrounded the alien bodies like a second skin and basically reduced the damage, and could be also deployed as a barricade.
The thing was that not even all the technology in the world could prepare the aliens for the onslaught of all the things they had done.
To Sarah, it was karma at its best, you reap what you sow, or in more rough terms, karma is a bitch.
The horde of combined ghouls, mutated fauna of the Capital Wasteland and god knows where else and even crazy raiders on their underwear, dirty, bloody underwear, had already overwhelmed many of the alien defenders, this was both good and bad.
Good because they wouldn't deal with the dammed eggheads, bad because they had counted at least three Deathclaws on the horde, Deathclaws they would need to deal, not to mention the green bug like things that Veronica said were Cazadores, to Sarah they looked like the big brother of a bloatfly.
In any case, soon the good news died, and the bad news began to pour in like a damn tidal wave, or so the saying goes.
True, energy weapons, especially the aliens carbine like weapons had an edge against anything that shot bullets, but only a dozen of those weapons can hardly do a dent against a literal army, but she had to remind herself, a dozen of aliens, even with shields, don't match against fifty pissed people ad armed to the teeth.
"COME GET SOME!" she heard Maverick snarl, seeing how he basically used the glowing ghoul as a makeshift mallet and started to slam him against every single thing that didn't seemed human.
"I'm starting to get annoyed!" Sarah heard Veronica over the cacophony of noises, looking behind her, she saw the brotherhood scribe punching another Cazador, not far off her, Charon blasting one of them as well with his new shotgun, no matter how big and scary those bugs are, nothing can still hope to match a shotgun shot point-blank in terms of damage and carnage.
Well maybe Maverick with a ripper.
In any case the shoot-out continued, the hail of bullets continued to rain without any sort of rest, and the corpses continued to pile up.
"We need to push onward!" Han exclaimed, tossing a fresh clip to his Chinese rifle, "With this amount of things…is like seeing the trogs all over again, maybe with an auto axe!" Sandra yelled, her body covering Marie, the baby's ears covered in makeshift ear muffins.
Sally had similar ideas, pushing onwards was the only thing that they could do now, no turning back, but they couldn't push against this literal tide, not even with Maverick they could push the whole length.
But she didn't come this far without a contingency plan.
"Maverick! I need you to make a push to that door!" Sally began, pointing a door on the left of the hall; at least ten meters of the group, "And hold the line while I get everyone inside!" Maverick nodded, already finding the means to make a push.
A Super Mutant, another overlord class, if Sarah was right, big, ugly, well uglier she said compared to the other Super Mutants, without weapons, yet killing ghouls left and right.
Maverick slung the Twin Boom to his back and swatted a pair of ghouls out of his way, mere inches separated him of the overlord, but the beast was so focused on killing the weak ghouls attacking that it never noticed Maverick until he tapped it's shoulder, when the Overlord turned to attack, Maverick rammed his left fist with all his strength to the Overlord's neck, knowing beforehand of the beast thick skin.
The Overlord let out a bloody gurgle as Maverick's fist found home on his throat, as for Maverick he could basically feel the spine of the Overlord regardless of the obstruction of the windpipe and muscle tissue.
With a roar he brought his right hand hard on the Overlord's exposed stomach, piercing the skin with his fist and having both of his hands stuck on the beast, as for the Overlord, it was already dead, a horrible death that Sarah knew, Gallows would we proud off.
Maverick, with his fists rammed on the beast, then lifted it, like a makeshift meat wall, and began to advance, every second pushing the body onwards roughly, anything on the path of the meat wall that was the Overlord was met with brutal force, anyone who had paid attention to this, namely Sarah and Sally, could see that even some of the ghouls were now dead, apparently the unarmored kind of ghoul were not fit to meet an Overlord, even if dead.
"MOVE!" Sarah commanded, now that they could see they were advancing, the large group could now leave the four way intersection, now focusing their strength on front and back, mostly back, most of the critters that were attacking them for a meal were not keen on letting them go that easily.
Maverick was able to make a push to the door Sally had mentioned; there he began to use the remains of the Overlord to keep the ghouls at bay, he had it easy, considering that those attacking the caravan from behind looked like the reason why humans don't inbreed anymore, and you throw radiation to the mix makes it worse.
Sally immediately make a dash to the door near Maverick, then opened it with ease, "COME ON! OVER HERE!" her scream caught the attention of the escapees who immediately began to make a beeline towards the door, in pair of two the group entered until only Maverick and Sarah remained outside, Sarah basically turning all thing mutated into ash and Maverick keeping the ghouls at bay.
"Move it you two!" Veronica screamed, that was the cue for both Maverick and Sarah, the sentinel elbowed Maverick and motioned him to follow her, all while ach other covered the backs of the other, Sarah was the first inside, followed by Maverick, there he kept the body of the overlord making sure many ghouls and those strange human looking mutants at bay, then he rose his leg and kicked the body, the blow freed him of the overlord corpse and crushed anything behind it against a wall.
With that released, Sally closed the door, immediately the ghouls that remained tried to open the door via their fists, but Sally would have none of it, ripping a nearby panel, Sally began to rips some cables, then connect them to another area, everyone saw how the door, after Sally's tinkering, gained the same shield like appearance that the alien's shields.
"That should hold them" Sally said, "Okay, now follow me, we'll go through plan b" she said, immediately everyone thought the same.
"Plan b?"
"Plan b? Sally" but only Julia voiced her discomfort of her little sister holding some secrets, especially a secret plan.
"I know, I'm sorry, but I needed a contingency plan in case we were unable to make the push, I'm glad I made it" Sally mentioned to her sister, "I counted with the generator releasing the subjects and giving us a wide breath to escape, I didn't counted however in those subjects on making it out before us" Sally began, her words not falling on deaf ears, "Remind me to beat Amata to a pulp for that Maverick" Sarah whispered to the wandered of 101 who was cleaning his hands of the blood of the Overlord in his pants.
"With that in mind" Sally began, making her way to a nearby console, "I got us here intentionally" She began, her fingers nimbly working on the console, "I wanted us to make a beeline towards the hangar, that was plan a because we would use the distraction of so many critters around so the aliens would be focused on then rather than us" she continued, "But thanks to those vault dwellers, plan a went down the drain, so I decided to work on plan b" she said, "or as I like to call it, plan tram" she said as she finalized working on the console, immediately one of the nearby walls began to move away, making everyone to panic, but panic became awe when they saw that instead of seeing more aliens of a hidden lab, they saw a hi-tech looking wagon stationed, big enough for all of them.
"This is plan b, a more direct, yet not so stealth like way to make it to the hangar" Sally said, "Plan A was stealth?" Sarah asked with a bemused smile.
"It was, considering that the aliens would be working on containing their own experiments" sally said, making Sarah and Maverick remember the abominations.
"In any case, once we board this and activate it, we will only take five minutes to reach the hangar, but we will be on plain sight of everyone, aliens included, so we better expect a welcoming party once we reach the hangar" Sally said.
"Well, sure as hell beats wasting ammo on those freaks" Johnson stated, "I say go for it" Elliot added, "I'm not too keen on riding that fancy…whatever the hell that is" Paulson said, only to have his hat nearly beaten down of his head by his wife who obviously wanted to ride the fancy wagon.
"I'm all for it Sally, just try not to keep this as a secret, like the fatc I can absorb radiation and get stronger by it!" Maverick snapped, making Sally roll her eyes.
"I don't see the problem; down there you will be like a god in irradiated areas"
"Is not the point…oh forget about it" Maverick said, making his way towards the wagon, Sally following him closely, a worried look on his face.
As the last person boarded the wagon, Sally activated it, immediately the doors behind the wagon closed, and the wagon came to life, slowly moving onwards, but picking speed.
Toshiro and Paulson could compare it as riding a chariot or a train in Paulson's case, but nothing could compare to the visage that came once they left the darkness of the exit tunnel.
Every single person, no exception was awed upon the sight of Earth, while many there remember Earth a little more blue and green, no one could deny that seeing their planet, even in its decayed state, was an awe-inspiring sight, even more considering how small it looked from where they were standing.
"It's…beautiful" Veronica breathed out, "I have never seen a sight that can compare to this" Jackie murmured in awe.
"Gotta admit, surely distracts the children" Paulson stated, looking how the girls and his boy looked at the big ol' blue in awe, alongside the stars.
Well all but Sally who walked to Maverick and nudged him to follow her to the front of the wagon, which was mostly empty.
"Maverick" Sally began, looking up front, "You don't like people who keep secrets don't you" she stated as a matter of fact, catching the enhanced human off-guard, he would have retorted, if it wasn't for the fact that she was right.
With a sigh he leaned on the wall of the wagon, crossing his arms, and looking at her, "Is not that I hate you, for those three things you conveniently forgot to tell me" Maverick began.
"Small things, they slipped my mind, honest mistakes" Sally defended.
"I know, I shouldn't have reacted like I did, and I'm sorry, is just that…is just that-" Maverick said, looking at the girl.
"My life so far has been a big fat lie" he stated, "I wasn't born in the vault like I was led to believe, I was born in the wasteland, somehow my dad was able to get us inside a vault, where everyone I know…maybe all the adults lied to me and the rest outright, hell I saw files where the vault was reported opened several times, then I come here and I find out more lies, not to mention that one lie cost the life of a friend of my dad, Jonas, so yes I hate to be lied" Maverick said in a tired tone.
"But I shouldn't be taking it against you" he added to the little girl, "True you lied to me, but you assumed everything would be right, is just…it irks me alright, that reminds me of that feeling back in vault 101, I was afraid, so alone for the first time in my life, I didn't like it" Maverick confessed, much to Sally's surprise.
They remained silent for a good minute, for all her intelligence, Sally really didn't know what to do at this point, she tried to talk, but nothing would come out.
Maverick by his part turned to the little and silent girl, with a sigh he walked to her, and padded her head, "Don't fret about it, when you think about it, I shouldn't get mad at you for what you did" Maverick said, turning around and walking away.
"You're not alone" Sally stated finally, finding the courage to talk, that caught Maverick's attention, "You said it, back in the vault you felt alone…I felt the same…for over two hundred years" Sally began, making him blink.
"I was afraid, but I knew if I kept trying…if I kept trying…I would stop being alone, and afraid" she stated.
"Then you came…and I can say…it was worth it…all that time waiting, trying, planning, it was worth it" Sally mentioned, "Now tell me something…once you return to Earth, once you find your dad, once you stop the Enclave and help Sarah…would you come with your father whenever I am currently…so I can stop being alone?" she asked softly, Maverick simply smiled, reached for her and placed his hands firmly on her shoulders.
"You're not alone either, you got your sister…and who knows, dad would surely love to meet you, he would usually say that he always wanted a girl, something among the lines of 'being able to spoil them rotten' or something like that" he mentioned, making Sally giggle.
But the moment was cut off when the wagon shook, and several green like flames erupted of several areas around the wagon tram.
"The hell" Maverick swore, not knowing what the explosions meant, but Sally did, reason why she looked shocked.
"No" she hissed, looking at Maverick with a shocked look, "Sally, didn't you said we half thirty minutes until the explosions truly began?" he asked, knowing everyone was now looking at them, especially Sally in expectance.
"Must be those dwellers, they must have planted explosives on the reactor base, is the only way I can explain the early explosions!" Sally stated, her panicked look made everyone actually want to know what this meant; they still had fifteen minutes according to her.
"The rate of the explosions, and the violence means that they planted explosives in the base of the core, that alone with the damage Maverick had already dealt has cut us of precious time…I say we have twelve minutes…"
BOOM!
Green smoke rose out of a part outside the space-station, visible to all, even more when they saw aliens and creatures alike being sucked to the vacuum of space.
"Okay, make it ten minutes" she corrected herself, making all to stare at her with horrified looks.
"Can we make it with ten minutes?" Paulson asked to Sally, a question that all wondered, "Yeah, but we will be making it just barely" she stated, eyes focused on the doors of the wagon, Maverick understood what she was worried about, it was not time, they could make it, what she was worried was any obstacles in their way, they couldn't stop for no one if they lagged behind.
"Okay then, Jackie, give me your left arm, Sarah the pip-boy of Wally, now" Maverick commanded to the girls, instantly both women gave him what he wanted, Jackie was about to tell him what was he about to do when he pulled her connection cable of her pip-boy and attached it to the one Sarah had on her hands.
"Listen to me all, Sarah and I will open a path to you to pass, don't wait us" Maverick commanded, Elliot and Johnson were about to reply back when Sarah turned to them, "He is right, we are better armed and combat ready against anything the aliens might have against us, besides we are faster, don't look at me like that, you can run really fast with a power armor on, if configured to do so" Sarah added, making all slightly nod, but not wanting to go with their plan.
"Besides…I always wanted to try a Gronak like escape" Maverick said with a smirk, only Sally and Julia got what he meant, "Issue 24, Gronak vs the mighty red horde, Gronak the barbarian stays behind and allows all the prisoners on the lair of the red horde to escape while he stays and fights what seems a doomed battle" Sally stated, "Personally I always liked La Phantoma, more realistic"
Sally smirked as Maverick pouted at that, but he of course, like Sarah, looked at her oddly when she reached from behind Sarah, opened a panel behind Sarah's power armor and began to tinker with it.
"Uh…Sally…I don't think I have the time for this" Sarah stated, Sally simply ignored her, placing two glowing white cells in the panel, replacing what seemed a fission battery, then closing the panel.
"Okay, I tinkered your armor a little, I see the coils reduced damage by laser and plasma weapons, but to a lower scale, so I decided to amp it, I added two white alien cells on the armor, a little too much to outright deflect lasers, as for plasma, well it should reduce the damage considerably, also with the extra energy I was able to boost the hydraulics of your armor, you won't be as strong as Maverick, but it will be enough to punch a hole in anything alive, and move even better" Sally stated, looking at the duo that had stumbled with her when she was about to be killed by the Overlord.
"Listen, we will try to wait for you if you lag with the aliens, but if you don't make it to the mothership there is another ship, is a small craft, it is used by the aliens to make recon flies to Earth, right now there is no extra radiation that could cause a crash like the last three, but please be careful" Sally said, looking at both with some apprehension.
"Oh you're not going alone you know" Veronica piped in, "I didn't make it here just to see you two make some heroic last stand or something like that" she added, "Besides I'm sure one more will tip the balance to your favor" she added quickly, making Maverick and Sarah to smile.
"Okay…sister" Sarah stated, making Veronica all but smile a smile that could basically blind everyone.
But the happy mood suddenly began to dwindle down as the wagon began to slow down, reminding all that they were still in danger.
Maverick tensed up, holding the Twin Boom hard, Sarah was on a near identical state, tense and ready for anything, Veronica simply tightened her displacer glove on her right hand, eyes narrowed.
Then the doors opened and Maverick bolted fast to them, and like Sally had predicted, there was something waiting for them, but it wasn't an alien or one of the shock units.
The only way anyone could describe it could be a desfigurated giant of a man, easily seven feet tall, Sarah decided that as big an average Super Mutant, the only clothes he had on seemed to be a skirt made of red leather and strips, that was the only thing he was wearing, and his face, torn apart, he was missing a chunk of his nose, both of his ears, his lips were full of cracks and scars, and so his face, his right cheek sported a nasty chemical burn, while the other was pure muscle, no skin visible in that place.
"God almighty" the charge of Sarah and Veronica was cut short as they heard the two NCR soldiers stare in utter fear at the visage of the man.
Sarah found this odd, so far the pair know as Michael and Solo hadn't show any kind of fear, even against the ghouls, but just seeing this guy was making them wet their fatigues.
"Is…" Michael began, his pale skin becoming, if possible, paler.
"The monster of the east, Legate Lanius" Solo hissed, his weapon rose at the imposing figure of the 'monster of the east' whoever this man was.
"The who?" Sarah and Veronica asked at the same time Maverick actually tackled the giant of a man, only to see in shock as in only moved him some inches, then the giant grabbed him by the waist and tossed him like a ragdoll to a wall, leaving a dent where Maverick impacted, the Twin Boom discarded during Maverick's flight.
Maverick looked slightly shocked at this, but not more that Sally, "Oh crap, is the one I spoke off, the guy with the extreme procedures…MOW HIM DOWN!" Sally's scream was punctuated when she pulled her plasma pistol and began to fire at the monster of the east, each plasma shot leaving a blackened spot on the skin.
Her reaction was mimicked by all that began to fire at the giant, much to their shock and horror, bullets, even the .45 and magnum rounds bounced of his heavily scared skin, and laser and plasma rounds did only to leave blackened skin.
The fact that Lanius seemed invulnerable to bullets and plasma and laser rounds left them mute in shock, but shock became fear when they saw him advance at them…
"OOOFFFFFF!"
Only for the massive man to stagger when Maverick fly kicked him on the ribs, hard, the impact resounded on the area, Maverick simply assumed a stance as he turned to the spooked escapees.
"What are you waiting for, and invitation? RUN!" he bellowed, rushing towards the recovering Lanius and delivering a powerful right hook to the face of Lanius, putting his weight on it, Lanius staggered even more at this, but was able to backhand Maverick away with such an ease that made many feel fear after seeing this.
With Maverick words fresh on their minds, the group began to run away, making their way towards the hangar, it seemed that Lanius didn't want this and began to follow them, nearly catching Toshiro and Somah if it wasn't for Maverick suddenly wrapping his arms on the waist of Lanius and forcing all his weight backwards, making Lanius skull to meet the ground in a perfectly executed German Suplex.
Releasing Lanius, Maverick made some distance of him, looking at the gigantic man and how he easily stood up, not even wincing in pain after such impact.
"This is going to get ugly" Maverick said to himself looking for the Twin Boom, when raw strength fails, there is always the alternative of a mean gun.
Dashing, Maverick barley dodged the sweep of Lanius, ducking and then making a slide on the smooth metal floor, the surface allowing him to do this, and with ease grab The Twin Boom, then he turned, and saw Lanius already standing before him, in panic Maverick pressed the trigger without aiming, the overpowered round easily did what the other rounds did not, piercing Lanius skin.
The giant of a man staggered after such impact, a bloody hole on his left shoulder, yet Maverick could only stare in shock because while the rounds did pierce the skin and opened a bloody hole on both skin and muscle, the rounds were flattened on the now visible bone.
Maverick tried to fire another round but Lanius had already seized the barrel of the Twin Boom and had bended the steel of the gun with ease, then ripped it of Maverick's hands and slammed it brutally on Maverick's face, making the lone rouge of vault 101 to fly to a wall.
Stunned, but alive, Maverick looked just to see Lanius slam the Twin Boom to the ground, breaking it apart; Maverick just gave the monster of the east a hating look, "It took me half an hour to make that gun you jerk!" Maverick snapped, walking towards Lanius with all the intention of hurting him.
Lanius didn't seem to care, but was prepare to fight, what he wasn't prepare however was for maverick to suddenly start outright running and jumping at him, fist poised to slam on his face, this similar move made Lanius hesitate, that cost him.
Maverick slammed his fist on Lanius face with all he got, the added weight, momentum and strength behind the blow actually made Lanius to fly a little then crash hard on the unforgiving floor.
Now on the ground Maverick had the advantage over Lanius, rushing to Lanius he suddenly kicked the exposed sides of the giant, like kicking a ball, Lanius was lifted again of the ground but Maverick found odd that he didn't heard bones breakings after that vicious blow.
Rushing again to Lanius to deliver another bone shattering kick, Maverick was surprised in how fast Lanius stood up, and rammed his elbow on Maverick's face, basically stopping Maverick's charge and sending him tumbling to the ground with his own momentum.
On the ground Maverick began to recover, just to yelp when Lanius grabbed him by the leg and began to slam him like a ragdoll over the metallic walls, each time harder than the other.
The escapees could only hear the sounds of the battle at the far, many were worried because the sounds of the battle were getting louder and closer, Sarah by her part kept her cool, this was the soldiers could do, keep their cool at the moment, because if they lost it, so would the others.
Of course the two NCR soldiers, Michael and Solo were really scared of that man, Lanius if they had heard correctly, Legate Lanius, obviously the first part of his name was his rank, apparently this guy was Legion as well, like Decanus Severus, and perhaps on Amata's orders, perhaps.
Soon the group reached the hangar, and the only word they could think was huge, really big.
Sarah compared the size of the hangar to that of two citadel courtyards length, and easily three times taller than the citadel itself, the ceiling of the hangar held two strange rods that emitted yellow energy and held in place a massive engine that was as big as Liberty Prime's torso.
Sarah also saw several catwalks, most of them filled with alien corpses by some reason, alongside crates filled with alien tech, mostly weapons, cells and epoxy lying around, not to mention the ships Veronica had mentioned, they resembled Enclave vertibirds, but using jet propulsion and being more futuristic like and clean looking.
Sarah also spotted several of the shock units Sally spoke off, disabled, not destroyed, that made her frown.
"I…think I am I'm paradise" Somah said with a far off look, "So many machines, all so pretty…all her inner components so ready to be molested by me" she stated, her dream however was cut off when a huge explosion caused everyone to topple down, "Pity we can't stay!" Sarah snapped as she looked at Sally for indications.
"There!" Sally indicated, pointing a catwalk that was filled with alien corpses, even more than usual, down the catwalk were several aliens with broken heads.
"They panicked and tried to escape…they killed themselves" Julia stated, "Not so different now" Johnson said, sneering at the dead aliens.
"Okay…where is Maverick?" Sandra wondered, her answer came when Maverick suddenly emerged out of the hall, flying away and landing on the ground, sliding and rolling on his body, Lanius not far behind, heavy steps indicating that he was indeed heavy for all the augmentations on his body, especially muscle and bone.
Maverick was able to right himself on his back while sliding, and pulled That Gun, aiming to Lanius.
For an average person, shooting like that would been almost impossible, but Maverick had tools to make it possible.
V.A.T.S. it truly a remarkable tool for any Vault dweller who knows how to bring it out at its fullest, with eyes narrowed, Maverick was able to see that he had a perfect chance to shoot Lanius legs and head, then he focused his sight on the two rods that held the alien like engine.
All this happened in less than a nano-second, Maverick already having five solid targets.
Maverick pulled the trigger of That Gun, the first round impacting the right sheen on Lanius and opening a hole on the skin, making him stagger a little, but not stopping him, the second overpowered round impacted on his left kneecap, that one tore through the soft kneecap, the bullet then stopped between the knee junctions, that made Lanius nearly topple, but he was able to right himself.
The third shot was aimed to his head, the bullet was able to push him back and made him lost momentum, enough for Maverick to slam his hands behind him, stopping his sliding altogether, then bringing his feet together, and allowing Lanius to tumble over them, with a yell Maverick pushed Lanius away, lifting the massive frame of the Legate away, now with Lanius in the air Maverick aimed higher, pulling the trigger he fired the last two shots at the rods holding the engine, damaging the rods and causing the field to falter for an instant, that was enough to make the engine to fall over the flying Lanius with a mighty crash, the combined weight of Lanius and the engine causing the metal floor to cave in under their weight.
Maverick panted, seeing how the monster of the east was stopped, if momentarily, standing up he reloaded That Gun and kept it in hand, noticing as well the escapees staring in shock of what he had done, Jackie included.
"Guys, move it!" Maverick snapped, walking to them and slightly pushing them towards anywhere but where Lanius was.
"Sally, guides them to the mothership, I'll catch you all in a few, gotta make sure our friend is…"
"MOVING!" Solo screamed, Maverick turned around and could only stare with wide eyes as Lanius was moving the massive engine away, but with some difficulty.
"Sweet lord, mother of mercy" Maverick said, seeing how Lanius lifted the engine block over his head, "That's impossible, that thing should weight over five tons, the human femur can hold two tons of weight, but is holding it with a damaged knee!" Elliot snapped, assault rifle aimed at Lanius.
"Sally!" Maverick yelled, "I accept suggestions!"
"I got one" Sarah said as she pulled a plasma grenade and lobed it to Lanius feet.
"RUN LIKE HELL!" she bellowed as the device exploited over the feet of Lanius, immediately everyone began to make a mad dash towards the stairs that connected the catwalk to the mothership entrance.
Maverick stayed behind, seeing how the concentrated energy did little to stall Lanius, raising That Gun Maverick fired two rounds, his surprise was evident when the round actually pierced and exited Lanius torso.
"The plasma grenade must have softened his hardened skin, nice" Maverick said as he holstered That Gun and made a mad dash at the still standing Lanius, who was still holding the alien engine over his head.
With a grunt Lanius tried to slam the engine over Maverick's head, but Maverick easily dodged the blow, then with a yell he slammed his fist on the softened flesh of Lanius side, while he didn't hear bones cracking, he heard Lanius grunt in slight pain and stagger.
With the upper hand now, Maverick began to slam his fist on Lanius exposed sides, hard and each one making anyone around to wince with each blow.
The massive man also began to retaliate, but the engine that had fallen over him had actually hurt him enough to make his blows easy to read, Maverick ducked of each blow with ease.
Suddenly Lanius moved too fast, twisting his injured leg in an unholy angle and slamming his other leg in Maverick's chest, sending Maverick flying away towards one of the ships, leaving a dent upon impact.
Lanius then turned around and began to advance at the escapees, but his now unusable leg was impeding his movement, that and turning his back on Maverick was the greatest mistake he would ever make as a mindless drone.
Maverick recovered his senses just seconds after Lanius began to move, looking around he saw the monster of the east making his way slowly to the escapees, very slowly, not even bothering to check if he was still alive or unconscious, Maverick was going to capitalize this chance.
Prying himself out of the ship, Maverick pulled That Gun and aimed the last two shots at Lanius damaged leg.
The two super-sonic bullets, with the already weakened flesh of Lanius found home inside the back of his knee, the first one that is, the second shot actually blew Lanius leg from the knee.
The lack of support on his leg made Lanius fall on his face, turning around on his back, Lanius saw how Maverick reloaded That Gun and aimed it at him, the first round aimed to his right hand, opening a clean hole on the palm of his hand, the second shot met his gut, but didn't made an exit hole, the third one entered his left wrist but didn't went beyond the skin, the fourth and fifth shot were shot at his head, each shot making the back of his head to meet the ground hard every time he rose his sight.
Unable to stand up, Lanius was defenseless against Maverick who twisted his gun around, now holding it by the barrel and exposing the grip, then he slammed the butt of That Gun on Lanius face two times, followed by slamming his foot on his face, making the head meet the ground and leave a dent upon impact, Maverick repeated the process two more times until he was satisfied that Lanius wouldn't stand up at all.
"MAVERICK!" Sarah bellowed from the top of the catwalks, having seen all, "Sally says we have five minutes before this place blows up, leave him and move!" she snapped, Maverick didn't need to be told twice, he holstered That Gun and began to run away, just to look once over his shoulder at the fallen Lanius.
"That…could have been me" he muttered to himself, but then shook his head and made his way to the stairs, reaching Sarah's location at record time, there the sentinel of the brotherhood gave him a nod as he passed her and she covered his back, the woman never gave a second glance to Lanius.
The man was already dead to begin with.
Once both where inside, the door behind them closed with a loud hiss, neither gave it a second glance, they just continued walking until they reached what seemed a bridge or something like that, all the escapees gathering over Sally and Julia, both seated and working on the consoles, nearly everyone had a beautiful view of Earth, and of two ships, one of them looked like a dropship, moving away, the other was a smaller, yet equally intimidating looking space-saucer.
"T-minus 30 seconds for engine ignition" Sally called, "How much we have before this place blows up?" Maverick asked, "3 minutes" Julia called.
"Okay people, find something to hang on, this is going to be a bumpy ride, and that dropship better not have aliens inside" Maverick called.
"It doesn't, is filled with humans!" Sally called back, "The dwellers! They left the station just like rats abandon a boat!" Johnson snapped.
"Forget them! We have pressing matter, take us out number 1!" Maverick commanded.
"Aye aye captain!" Sally said, working on the consoles, and then grabbing a pair of joysticks at the sides of her seat, she brought her arms onwards, and the ship followed suit.
The space began to move to them, all while explosions sounded behind them, each one blowing a chunk of the space-station, green balls of fire exiting space alongside aliens and creatures that couldn't enquire the extreme conditions in the vacuum of space, no oxygen, no atmosphere, no heat, anything alive would die a very horrible death, and a quick one also.
"T-minus 1 minute for final detonation!" Sally called, "Put the pedal to the metal Sally, I don't want to be caught in a nova event!" Maverick screamed, the little girl complied, soon the once, small Earth was closer and bigger to them.
"We are in the Exosphere, far away of the station!" Sally said, slowly turning the ship so everyone could see the last moments of the space-station.
Even in the distance they could see the small space-saucer dock in the space-station.
"What they are doing, don't they know that place is going to blow?" Elliot asked, "I don't think so" Sally said.
"That space-station, alongside that ship were the only places the aliens lived, their home planet is like ours currently, they feed on irradiated and toxic water, and is actually perfect for the worms they eat, the arid area is perfect for their rough skin, they were more suited for hot environments, my believe…they were getting ready to eradicate humans of the face of the universe" Sally said, looking how the massive pin size space-station began to lose chunks of itself, chunks that exploited in amazing and catastrophic ways.
"T-minus 5, 4, 3, 2…" Sally called, leaving the one hanging as she held for dear life on one of the consoles, just like everyone else did.
Soon the darkness of space was lit, even if for an instant when the pin shaped space-station exploited in a massive green ball of energy that consumed anything in a 100 km radius, the space-saucer near the station and the station itself were vaporized into oblivion, just like Sally had said.
No one found odd that with such massive explosion, no sound was heard, but those who knew didn't say that in the vacuum of space, no one can hear nothing, not even the screams of the dying.
The silence of the escapees was absolute, no one wanted to ruin the moment they had so long carved for, so many lives had been lost for, they just observed the make-shift funeral pyre for those who lived and died in that space-station, wanting to escape.
Only fifty-five souls made it out alive of that hell, and in reverence, they remained silent for those who died.
"We did it" Maverick whispered, looking at Sarah, the sentinel looked at him with pride, "Yeah we did Maverick, but that was too damn close for my taste" Sarah added.
Soon the silence that had fallen began to be lifted by the cheers of those who had escaped, some cried, some shouted, other laughed and hugged the nearest person.
Maverick, Sarah and veronica however just walked towards where Sally was seated, the little girl leaned on the seat, a tired look on her face.
"…200 years of captivity…of nightmares…it's over…it's finally over" Sally whispered to herself, she didn't jolted when Maverick placed his hand over her shoulder, she just looked upwards and gave Maverick a tired grin, one he returned with a grin of his own.
"You know…for a 200 year old girl…you did well" Maverick said, "For a genetically and surgically enhanced 19 year old kid…you did well" Sally said as well, padding his hand with her own.
"…Now what?" Julia asked to the three people behind her little sister.
"Well, I think the people should remain here, until we can make sure the Enclave won't attack them, and look for that spot the little girl said it was on Oasis, then they can settle I and…try to make a life" Sarah stated, looking at the celebrating people behind them.
"And you three?" Sally asked, "Sarah and I will return to the wasteland, the reason I asked Jackie her pip-boy was to copy all that information and store it on Wally's own, that way Jackie won't have to go down there with us, she will stay here, with the rest, safe" Maverick said, "Besides I have to find my father, maybe I have an idea why he left, this project purity thing, but I want to hear from his mouth" he added, making the girls nod.
"Me? Well, I'll be joining them, my place is down there, I was born there, besides the brotherhood in Sarah's place are far more friendly with those who want to do something for the wasteland, the elders back in Lost Hills will lose a screw once they find out that I joined that chapter and my example will rally others" Veronica said, a serious look on her youthful face.
"Yet I don't hold any kind of fantasy that the High Elders will take this nicely, they will wait until the Enclave is dealt with, and then they will move to try and capture your dad Sarah, and try to eradicate the chapter in the Capital Wasteland up to the last man and woman, so we better be ready when that happens" Veronica finished, making all nod at that.
"Well, I might speak by the three of us when I say I want to sleep, and eat something, I'm not going down there without some rest" Sarah said, Maverick and Veronica rose an eyebrow at her, something she noticed.
"Yeah I know, I was the one who was nagging you all with going back down there ASAP, but let's face it, a tired soldier is of no use down there, besides, we have a whole ship full of alien technology, weapons and medical items included, not to mention weapons of our world, maybe Maverick can cook up something nice to replace the Twin Boom" Maverick tensed at Sarah's words, and so Sally.
"You lost the Twin Boom?" Sally asked, "Eh…uh, well…funny story, it didn't got lost…" Maverick said, taking some steps back of the rising Sally whose face showed nothing else but restrain anger.
"Then how…I pray ask it got lost?" she hissed, "Uh…Lanius grabbed it and broke it in my face" Maverick said fast, but not enough for Sally to not understand.
"MAVERICK I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" the little girl all but snarled, making Maverick to run away of the girl in a way many found comical.
"THAT WAS OUR BEST WORK AND YOU LET IT BE BROKEN!"
"I'm sorry please don't kill me!" Maverick screams became lower as he and Sally ran out of the halls, much to the slight shock and amusement of the escapees.
Of course the duo, being the magnets for oddities, found themselves, after a five minute chase, on a room that held something on some sort of stasis field like tube.
"What is that?" Sally wondered, mounted on Maverick's back and staring at the object in the stasis tube, Maverick wondered the same, all things considered, "Don't know…you don't know either" Sally shook her head, "Is the first time I'm on the mothership" Sally said as she lowered herself of the back of Maverick, and walked to a nearby console.
"Whatever it is, is human made…but the aliens actually modified it heavily…it seems they were interested in the power armors, and this armor in particular held something the aliens were unable to replicate with machines" Sally began.
"And what that might be?" Maverick wondered, "Stealth fields" Sally said, turning the stasis field off, showing to both of them what seemed a pitch black armor, or a very snug looking jumpsuit, the fact the black jumpsuit was human made didn't cut the fact it was modified by the aliens.
"I have never seen something like this ever" Sally stated, "It reminds me of some commercials during the war, short clips of the Anchorage campaign, clips of dead Chinese soldiers, some of them clad in similar armors, but without the plating" Sally said.
"You don't say…did they had a name?" Maverick asked as he approached the modified armor.
"Yeah…the troops called them the Crimson Dragoons" and with those words of Sally, Maverick grabbed the armor, a small smile on his face.
It was high time the aliens did something good with human technology.
And there is a wrap people, another chapter done and gone, this marks the end of the lone wanderer stay on space, far more entertaining than in the original DLC, i know i know, the game was good, and so the DLC's, but to some hardcore fans, it needed something more, a little spice, this is my take of that 'spice' i wanted in the game, the last DLC had to end with a massive one man stand against a horde of aliens while covering the escapees and facing a super-genetically and surgically enhanced human or mutant controlled by aliens, leaving death in his or her wake and then escaping with the others.
I also wanted that Fallout 3 had an ending like the originals Fallout, Fallout 2 and New Vegas, because every action left its mark on the world.
but we can't get it all can we, that's why we have mods!
in any case people, read, review and let me know if you want somehting more, i'm taking in consideration something that was said in the reviews.
beyond that, Be Well!