Mutatis Mutandis 31

Tenpenny Tower was no longer living up to its name. The last tall structure in the capital wasteland had been reduced to a pile of rubble, several dozen feet high. Jackrum stepped carefully over the twisted metal gates, which had been torn asunder and thrown to the ground. A few rotting corpses lay posed in the courtyard, evidence of a feeble defense. Buzzards circled overhead. A few were already on the ground, pecking at the putrid remains. The birds had certainly grown both in number and daring since the war began, Jackrum reflected solemnly. Behind him, Talon mercenaries began to spread out amongst the wreckage, salvaging what weapons and ammunition they could find. Under Turner's direction, they removed their pickings and began to sort and organize for distribution.

Jackrum's eyes fell on a brightly colored piece of fabric. A summer dress, stained with blood, and covered in dust. The corpse within had been crushed by a piece of falling debris. It still had a wedding ring on its hand, sticking out from underneath the formless masonry. He sighed, craving a cigarette.

"What do you think?" Summers asked, examining the wreckage with an air of boredom.

Not every member of the Enclave was surveying the wreckage with Summers' indifference. Turner's new girl was there, taking a somber tour through what probably used to be a garden. Plantlife was rare enough in the wasteland, requiring a decent source of water. Tenpenny Tower was one of the few places wealthy enough to afford a garden. Some smart mutant had taken the time to burn the plants. Dust from the collapsed building covered everything, and hung in the air, creating a terribly dry haze.

"I think with three behemoths and twenty muties I could take this entire tower." Jackrum murmured. The wasteland surrounding the place was a flat plain dotted with a few ruined homesteads. One quick rush to break the gate. Smaller mutants would force the humans to hole up inside their tower while the behemoths efficiently took it to pieces, and collapsed it around their ears. It wouldn't take much. One could even place a dozen mutants in the base of the tower and let the humans hiding above starve to death, though that would have required waiting; a strategy inconsistent with Brutus' blitzkrieg style of warfare. Knock it down, and let the buzzards clean up the mess.

The strange part wasn't the ruins themselves, it was the approach. At every other site the mutants had attacked, there had been mutant corpses. There had been spent shells, bullet holes, Evidence of a struggle. Yet aside from a few corpses in the courtyard, Jackrum couldn't find any signs of battle. Just a few corpses and their broken building.

"Sir!" one of the Mercs called out. "Sir, I found something!"

Jackrum strode around the wreckage to the back of the property. A few power-armoured enclave personnel were busy lifting enormous chunks of stone away, clearing a staircase leading down to a tiny dented door.

"A bunker?" Summers mused, joining him at the head of the stairwell.

"You think they're still alive?"

"Well they didn't put up much of a fight on the surface. That's a fact."

A small amount of hope blossomed behind Jackrum's jaded armour. It would make more sense to fell the tower entirely and hold up underground where the Behemoths could not reach them. He grabbed a combat shotgun from a nearby Talon Company soldier. "I'm going to find out."

The tunnel on the far side of the door was a typical maintenance tunnel. Jackrum had wandered through a hundred like it. The concrete walls, low ceiling and corrugated metal floor were as claustrophobic as ever. He kept his shotgun raised; experience had long ago taught him to expect feral ghouls anywhere. The hallway lead to a rather cramped room containing a ruined terminal, a large bunker door, and a tiny viewing window protected by a grate of interlocking steel bars. A man's face was visible, watching them suspiciously.

"Hello?" Jackrum said as a dozen Talon Mercenaries filed in behind him.

"You're standing on Mister Tenpenny's private property. State your name and business." A voice answered, echoing through a set of speakers on the ceiling.

Jackrum walked up to the viewing window and waved cheerfully at the guard.

"State your name and business." The glass was clearly sound-proof. Jackrum could see the man talking, but his tinny voice was still be transmitted through the speakers.

"Commander Jackrum, Talo-" Jackrum hesitated. He wasn't Talon Company anymore, was he? Things had gotten much bigger than that. "I'm in charge of the human resistance."

"You're Talon Company." The guard turned to an unseen comrade. "We've got looters trying to enter Mister Tenpenny's bunker."

"We're not looters, you jackass!" Jackrum protested. "I'm here with a Waster army. We're trying to gather weapons and support so we can actually fight the muties."

"War is not Mister Tenpenny's business."

Jackrum grunted in frustration "Can I talk to Tenpenny?"

"No. You can talk to me."

"Well who are you, then?"

"My name is Gustavo. I am Mister Tenpenny's security chief."

"Do you care about Living, Gustavo?"

"Don't waste your time, 'Commander' Jackrum. Mister Tenpenny is confident that after the Mutants have what they want from the rest of D.C., they will be amenable to negotiations."

A few of the Mercenaries behind Jackrum burst out laughing. The Commander himself was stunned. "Are you insane? Do you know how bad things are out there? The muties aren't interested in negotiations, they want to kill us all!"

"I'm not interested, Wastelander. Get off Mister Tenpenny's property."

Jackrum turned away, fuming. The younger mercenaries were laughing, but the veterans, the ones who had weathered countless firefights, who had stood by and protected one another through countless dangers, were looking as grim as he felt. "Get Summers down here with a group of scary-looking Enclave troopers!" he ordered. Several of the men vanished. On the other side of the glass, Gustavo watched dispassionately. Jackrum hated every inch of the man, from his perfectly-combed hair to his thick eyebrows and stupid khaki armour. It did not take three minutes before Summers showed up, toting four frightening Hellfire troopers.

"What's going on?" Summers asked.

"Dipshit ain't opening the door." Jackrum gestured at the security window. Behind the glass, Gustavo's eyes widened.

"Do you see the enclave troops here?" Jackrum asked, meeting the worried guard's eyes. "I know you do. Now, I could get them to blow your bunker door wide open. They'll shoot their way right through your security as we both know they can…"

Gustavo swallowed, visibly unnerved. "How did you get the enclave to not blow you to hell?"

"By negotiating." Jackrum said. "As I'd like to do here. I don't want more human deaths. It won't help our cause. But we need your-" he grimaced, "-expertise, and your supplies."

Gustavo took a moment to examine the considerable firepower building up outside his bunker door. He said, "What exactly do you have to offer?"

"Life." Jackrum said. "None of us can take the muties on alone, but the bigger this army is, the better a chance we have. The only chance we have. I know you figure you're safe right now, but If the muties learn you're here they won't stop until they've killed you all. You have a better chance of protecting yourselves by joining us and turning this war around. We all have a better chance. Just let me in. I'll go alone, if you want. I just want to speak to Tenpenny for a few minutes."

Jackrum had never actually met Tenpenny. He had never set foot inside the tower's grounds until that day. They never would have let a smelly old merc near the place, but he knew that the security was not to be trifled with. The Talon Company had tried to take the tower once, how long ago was that? Nine years? Either way, security snipers, and the thick concrete walls had prevented the attack from succeeding. It was also badly planned; Jackrum would have brought charges and planted them on the walls in the middle of the night. Or perhaps sending in one or two mercs –ones who could speak without that unpleasant accent which the wasteland rabble had somehow developed- to open the gates, once again at night. A frontal assault in broad daylight had resulted in heavy casualties and wasted arms and ammunition with nothing to show for it. A sniper in an upper window had targeted him, picked him out of a crowd. That was the second time Jackrum had been shot in the legs. He had walked with a slight limp ever since. Either way one sliced it, the conclusion was irrefutable: Tenpenny security guards could shoot, and keep their cool under fire. Now Jackrum needed as many fighters like that as possible.

"Commander?" Jackrum blinked and looked up at the window. Harkness was back, looking grim. "Commander, we're willing to let you in, by yourself. Unarmed."

"Fine by me." He said. He turned back and ushered the Talon mercs out of the room. Summers gave him an odd look as her own Hellfire troopers filed out one by one.

The two commanders stared at one another. "What?" Jackrum asked.

"We could just take the door down for you." she offered dryly. "You do realize you're risking your neck here."

"I knew you cared."

She crossed her arms, irritated. "Not about you."

"Well it's either that or you're just looking for any excuse to off us Wasters."

"Sounds about right."

"Lovely sentiment." He handed her his shotgun.

Summers shook her head. "This is not a tactically sound decision. I don't know why we're putting your life on the line. You're commanding this entire army. Send someone else."

"Never send anyone to do anything you wouldn't be willing to do yourself." Jackrum said cheerfully. "Now get out before they change their minds, would you kindly?"

The Enclave officer narrowed her eyes, her mouth twisting into an expression of sarcastic obedience. She turned on her heel and marched out. Jackrum watched her shadow fade into hallway. Then he walked to the center of the room and turned, facing the giant door. "Okay, I'm here. I'm alone. I'm unarmed. Open up, and let's talk."

The bunker door opened slowly, stark white light pouring into the bunker's entrance. Jackrum squinted, holding up a hand to shield his eyes from the brightness. A dozen security guards, armed to the teeth, stepped into the room, forming a circle around him. The number of guns pointed at him made Jackrum uneasy, but his will was strengthened by their deliberate motions, and careful movements. These people knew what they were doing. No shots would be fired unless the weapon's handler meant it. He could hear Gustavo's voice from somewhere behind the lights. "Welcome to Tenpenny's private bunker. If you make a wrong move, we'll blow your head off."

"Sounds fair. Very fair."

Hands gripped his shoulders, and he was carefully escorted through the giant metal portal, which closed behind him. it was no vault door, but it could certainly withstand a lot of punishment. The bunker itself was not quite what he had expected. Jackrum had seen actual survival bunkers. This was just a subway maintenance area, repurposed for permanent residence. Bunkbeds lined the perimeters of larger rooms, and every available space was occupied with supplies of one sort or another. Missiles, miniguns, MIRV's, rows upon rows of small arms from assault rifles to energy weapons, and thousands upon thousands of rounds of ammunition. That wasn't all, either. There were rooms full of medicine and bandages. There were crates of Rad-X and Radaway. Enough food had been stashed to keep a dozen men fed for a couple years.

"You guys planning to hole up for a while then, eh?"

"Keeping the wasteland out." Gustavo said. "It is amazing what unlimited amounts of caps will buy you. We are the pinnacle of civilized society, and Mister Tenpenny represents the pinnacle of civilized society, and it is our job to protect his person and property from the rest of you."

They passed by another hallway, heavily fortified against invasion. Sandbag barricades had been constructed. There were four guards on watch, two with Miniguns, and two with combat shotguns.

"What's down that way?"

"The metro system." We need to keep the damned Ghouls out as well."

"Where does it lead?"

"Away from here."

"So you had an escape tunnel you didn't use?"

"We had an escape tunnel we didn't need." Gustavo corrected, leading Jackrum through the narrow corridors. Something was bothering Jackrum, and it took him a moment to realize what it was; he couldn't see any civilians. Every person they passed in their journey was wearing combat armour. Around three dozen security guards, both men and women, but no one else.

"Hey, Gustavo?"

"What?" The chief stopped outside a door at the end of the hallway.

"Where are all the people?" Jackrum asked. "Where are the civilians?"

Gustavo stepped aside and motioned at the door. "Mister Tenpenny will explain everything."

Jackrum gave him a critical eye, but the man was unreadable. Gustavo merely motioned at the door again. The Commander stepped through and was shocked by what he saw. Tenpenny's room was among the largest in the bunker. Red cloth had been hung from the ceiling, hiding the walls. The floor was clean and carpeted. Bookshelves had been set up against one wall, along with a computer console. A sitting area with a fully stocked bar had been set up in the corner. There was a pool table, and a rather expansive bed. A nude blonde woman was lounging on it, caught up in a jet-induced haze. She glanced over at Jackrum with half-lidded eyes, but stayed otherwise motionless.

"Greetings!" said a cheerful voice, rather high-pitched. Jackrum turned. An elderly man was rising from a comfortable-looking chair in the corner. He gripped an ornate cane, using it to thrust himself to his feet. The man's suit was a very deep shade of red with far too many frills. Something ridiculously expensive. A large opal was set at the center of his collar. The man limped over, holding out a hand in greeting. "My name is Allistair Tenpenny. Chief Gustavo was just telling me about you. He's a really wonderful help in times like this."

Jackrum glanced back at the lounging woman. "What the hell's going on here?"

"The preservation of civilized life." Tenpenny said cheerfully. "Gustavo mentioned that you wanted to negotiate."

"Where are all the civilians?" Jackrum asked carefully. "I was walking through your bunker and I didn't see any."

"They're all dead, I expect." The man told him. "I retreated down here the moment we heard of the invasion over the radio. As much as I loved it, there was no way my tower would survive a mutant army capable of bringing down the Brotherhood of steel." He laughed. "Trying to defend it would have been an exercise in futility."

"I'm not quite following." Jackrum said, a certain queasiness spreading through his stomach. "What exactly happened to you?"

"When I heard of the mutant invasion I took a group of my most trusted guards and we retreated down into this bunker."

"And what about her?"

"Ahh yes, Susan. Let us just say that the American Man has needs." The man said cheerfully. "She volunteered. In exchange for survival."

Bile rose in Jackrum's throat. "You let every single one of your own citizens die up there?"

"Don't say it like that." Tenpenny chided. "I may not look it sitting here in this dungeon but the fact is that I am a very important man. I have a responsibility to protect myself. It would be… irresponsible for Humanity if I did not. What matters are the visionaries. The entrepreneurs! Businessmen! The one percent whose wealth and prosperity keep this nation on its feet. The one percent who matter!"

"So you just let others take the fall."

"A necessary sacrifice to protect what's important."

Jackrum clenched his fists. "You had an escape tunnel! You could have held up in here for ages! The muties can't fight in tunnels this small! You could have saved so many lives!"

"The mutants had to think that they'd gotten us. I knew if they killed enough people they'd leave us alone!" Tenpenny gabbled triumphantly. "And so they have! I still have my wealth and my life and my property. I can rebuild everything! People can be replaced! Tenpenny tower can rise again." He pursed his wrinkled lips thoughtfully. "This time I think I may add a swimming pool."

Jackrum grimaced. "Those people had no reason to die. Not with a bunker like this down here."

"They died saving a visionary." The old man placed a proud hand upon his chest.

"They died saving a feeble old man and his mindless thugs!" Jackrum spat.

"That is quite enough! Don't insult me you uncivilized cretin!" Tenpenny spat, "and get off my property! Gustavo!"

The door burst open and the security chief entered the room, pointing a shotgun at Jackrum's chest. "Time to go." He said. "No sudden moves."

Jackrum stepped into the sunlight and tripped his way up the stairs, to finally settle on the top step. Feeling sick, he lit a cigarette with shaking hands, and took a few long drags until he felt better. A hurricane of helpless anger and frustration coursed through him as he sat in the ruins of Tenpenny's tower. The people here had trusted Allistair Tenpenny. They had paid good caps for his protection, but when the chips were finally down…

"Well?" Summers was standing beside him. "How did the meeting go?"

Jackrum glowered at the horizon. He said, "Can you get that door open?"

"Easily."

"Go in guns blazing. Kill anything that moves." He rose carefully to his feet. "Try to save their weapons and ammo."

Summers frowned, giving him a thorough examination.

"You know all those horrible things you guys say about us?" he asked. She nodded. Jackrum blew out a long stream of smoke and glared at the tower's wreckage. "Sometimes you're right. Just get our supplies. We have a war to fight, and people to save."

The "bunker" under Tenpenny tower is actually the passageway Roy Phillips was intending to use for his Ghoul takeover. The bunker door, and viewing window are in different sections in the game, but I combined them into one single area here. Next chapter is Jason.