I spot the third fucking bloat fly, in how many minutes, my annoyance being I had to waste precious bullets as the disgusting vermin were flying out of range.
"Good shot."
I rubbed away the migraine that came with the Commando perk activating for the first time, it wasn't so much of an influx of memories, but muscle memoires arching into my body.
"Thanks."
"Are you okay? Another flux of brain activity."
"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry it happens from time to time, but nothing to worry about too much."
"Illogical. If I was damaged would you not be worried, and seek to help me?"
A short laugh let loose, I had to give her a point, "Yeah, Ads I would," I conceded, "but it's a headache, not much you or I can do about it." I turned to her and gave her a soft smile, "Still thanks, its nice having a friend who cares."
I kicked away the bloat-fly corpse and and squinted at a rusted metal safe that was half sunk in the ground, "What the hell is this doing here?"
"Odd."
It had a rotatory lock, but the dial wouldn't budge, probably rusted internally as well as the outer shell.
"We can lap back get bring it home, if nothing we use the steel to make another construction bot." I said simply, giving the safe a light kick.
"Is this going to be a thing we do all the time, turn safe's into bots?"
I shrugged my shoulders, "I see no reason why not, especially if they're close enough to home." Could never have too many robots to do my bidding... Alright that made me sound like a supervillain.
We continued on over the hill, and in view came a shabby looking three story shack, outfitted as a farm. This shack looked like a gust of wind could knock it over, but it wasn't my homestead so I really couldn't comment all that much.
A couple of two headed cows roamed within a fenced plot.
We approached, gun stowed and Ada… she was trying to be less intimidating, but assasultrons had a deadly rep for a reason.
"Ho' there." A man greeted, a makeshift gun in his hand but he hasn't raised it up yet.
"Sup." I greeted with a nod.
The man almost seemed shocked by Ada's presence, he even clammed up, but when the AI hadn't move in any threatening way, he let out a sigh of relief.
"Bit of an odd fellow, aren't you?"
I raised a hand up and waved a finger in Ada's general direction, a snort escaping my nose, "Not a word, Ada."
"Of course." Amusement tinged in her flat voice.
I rolled my eyes, "The names Landon, this is friend Ada." I jabbed a thumb at the the robot, "We've actually settled in at the Red Rocket Station."
"Ah yes. Not great farmland, but to each their own." Must resist the urge to comment on the shack.
"I see potential in it." I defended the spot while biting down on the retort of his own set up.
"Blake Abernathy," A woman mud caked into her tightly snug jumpsuit, she walked over with a huff, "Is that any way to talk with a friendly guest?"
"No dear, sorry dear." The man said with a mirthful laugh, "Apologises," The man bowed his head, "Landon. I'm Blake, and this is my lovely wife Connie." A couple of teens walked out of the house, "Oh and my girls, Mary and Lucy."
"Nice to meet you all." I bowed my head in return.
"Say you must be pretty good with robotics," Connie said as she walked around Ada, inspecting the AI's fine body.
"Yeah, you could say that." I shrugged, no use trying to deny it, I had plenty of ideas when it the bots, and the means to do them were out in the waste's.
Connie and Blake shared a look, "Uh if you could excuse us for a moment, Landon." Connie said with a kind smile.
"Of course." I cocked an eyebrow, and walked over to the brahmin, with sigh.
Ada followed me and I reached forward and kneaded the one of the cow heads. It let out a moo, but otherwise didn't really seemed that bothered by me.
"Bessie seems like a fan." A young voice said as they walked up next to me.
I let out a puff of amused air, "Bessie? Real cliché."
"Hey Mister I was ten when I named her." The girl was probably about seventeen, maybe eighteen, cute, I suppose. A carefree smile, and long black hair. I tried to remember which one was the one that gets killed, if I'm even remembering it right. Though perhaps I'm thinking of someone else.
"Mary, leave the young man be," Connie said suddenly as she and her husband walked over.
"Mama, but"
"But nothin'" The older woman shooed the young girl off, "Your chores ain't gonna deal with themselves."
The young girl huffed, I let out a chuckle.
Blake gave me a knowing smile that reached his eyes, "Sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it." I shrugged my shoulders, "Its almost cute, domesticated you know."
The man nodded in agreement, "Don't I know it."
"Hush you," Connie swatted her husband before turning to me, "Landon, we were hoping to make a trade with you."
"What sort of trade?"
"Nothing too unreasonable," Connie winced, "well I hope not." She mumbled to herself, rubbing the back of her neck, "We were hoping that you could build us a turret."
"Raiders?" I asked knowing that an undefended farm would be a prime target for raiders.
"I dare not worry." Connie said, "We can handle ourselves," She pointed at a couple of beefy looking folk with a decent set of weapons on them, "well my guards can, but we're not always home you see, and I would sleep better knowing that Blake and the girls have some heat protecting them."
"Make sense," I thought about it and really didn't hurt to build a good relationship with them, they were growing food after all.
"It would make a difference, we'd of course arm it ourselves. Just getting a turret that works is the hassle."
I glanced at Ada, but for whatever reason she didn't feel the need to chime in.
"I tell you what, if I get a dozen tato's, a some extra ammo for my .44, and if you point me a place where I can find some robotics supplies, we have a deal."
Connie gave me a bright smile, "Thank you Landon."
With the promise of a turret in three days, the Abernathy's pointed me to the direction of an abandoned lot, and also an robotics disposable site just east of Sanctuary. Though they couldn't tell me if the latter had any threats, it being an area that they hadn't explored for at all, they did tell me that were a couple of feral ghouls lurking around the general area.
Me and Ada made our way there, I concerned that she hadn't spoke up in a while, "Alright what's up with you?" I said suddenly, her silence was starting to worry me.
"If you mean what is wrong, nothing."
I cocked an eyebrow at the AI who was good at reading people, "Then why are you being so silent?" I inquired.
"I am simply pondering," Well that doesn't spell anything good, "Mary Abernathy was very much sexual aroused by you. I believe you are far more aware of sex, than Jackson." Its not much of a comparison. From the sounds of it he was bit of a soy-boy, Ada was willing, he created her after all, so he had the intention to fuck the AI, yet he didn't to the frustration of said AI, "And when we were leaving, Mary had discreet invited you to the family shed, away from prying eyes,"
"Not your eyes apparently."
"I don't have any. I do have an optic that functions as an eye, however it is not the same thing."
"You know what I meant." I said blankly to her.
"Yes. Still, a young girl, very much aroused, and inviting you for a discreet round of sex."
"Is there a question coming?"
"Like I said I am pondering on something."
"Pondering what?" I dared to ask.
"Why are you here, and not with Mary?"
That's opening a can of worms but I don't really need to tell her everything now, or even ever to be perfectly honest, "Look, I've made it clearly I would bang about anything I found attractive, but kids." I tried to shake of the disgust, "Eew, no."
"I believe she would not have be classed as a kid. Her breast were too ample, she was in late teens if my scans are correct." I think she added the if to stay humble.
I shrugged with indifference as I stared dead ahead, "That's a kid to me."
"Not much younger than you, going by my scans."
"I'm twenty-four." I argued back, and I hated how it sounded like a childish whine. I stopped and turned to face her, "Look I can tell she was a cute girl, but if it came to grit of it, I would pick an older woman who knows what they want, than a dumb teen who isn't thinking clearly."
"Not such a pervert, afterall."
I let out a scoff, "Lets not go crazy."
Our journey to the Wicked Shipping Fleet Lockup wasn't long at all from the farm, damn the Abernathy's were playing with playing with fire with little to no defences so close to where they said were ferals.
"Nice and easy, Ada." Don't want to the bastards to now what's happening till we can ice them.
I crouched down down, something that Ada copied and we walked towards the open area of the lockup.
I spotted a feral that was laying on the ground, playing dead, or it actually was, I didn't risk and and crept closer to it, when I was in striking distances, its body moved, though it couldn't react fast enough as I already had a hand nears its leg, I clamped it around the ankle and dragged it towards me, in a fluid swoop, knocking it off balance, it snarled as it hits its head on the ground, though it was allowed any time to further react as I sank a blade I picked up from Sanctuary, into its head.
The wet squelching sound was a mix of satisfying and wrong, and it drew the attention of two ferals, who ambled up and rushed towards me.
The fuckers were fast. I only managed to get the knife out of the head of dead feral, and wildly slashed to the side at the closest feral, I managed to cut its arm, a deep thick gory red leaking out of its arm. It flinched back.
The other one jumped on my shoulder, clinging with sharpened claws trying to dig into my sturdy flesh. I turned to my side and slammed the shoulder and feral into a the rusted fleet truck.
"Ada, get the other one!" I roared as she neared, I grabbed the newly dislodged feral, and grabbed it by its malformed head, slamming it into the fleet truck, again and again, till its wildly reactively body went slack.
Knife in my other hand I was prepared to help Ada with the third feral, but it wasn't needed, as her clawed hand was expended out and gripping its hand in-between her grasp, with a sickening explosion of gore, the feral fell dead when her hand whirled back to its original form.
"Guns, I would like some guns."
I ran a hand through my hair, grimacing as I felt a warm liquid coating it, "You got it sweetheart."
I suddenly jumped back as the fleet truck next to me shook, a feral roar coming from inside it, my gun out of its holster, and knife raised and primed.
"Darn!" I sucked in a puff of air, and hit the side of the truck, and then walked to its back, the lock was busted and rusty, it wasn't going to take much effort getting into it.
"Why risk it?"
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." I weakly defended, and stowed my weapons and pulled the sword of sheathed on my hip, using the pommel, I hit the rusted mess of a lock, and it crumbled under the hit, quickly flicking the shutters up, I walked as the thicker feral rushed towards me, I slipped into a batting stances, and swung, cutting the feral in half, a butcherly mess covering the fleet yard and Ada and I, and even still the top half of the feral was alive and crawling to me.
"Yeah, that's nightmare fuel." I brought a boot down on its head, the soft puss-like flesh squishing under my heel.
Nothing flew into my mouth, but I felt the need to spit, just to be safe.
Confirming that the fleet yard was clear, I sat on the edge of the storage space of the truck, looking at the warehouse with a sense of dread. I was fine, but that was a bit more real than dealing with overgrown and mutated rats and flies.
Zombie like creatures that had no issue with chowing me down for dinner.
"Are you okay, Landon?"
"Yeah Ada. Just, just lamenting."
"Lamenting what if I may ask?" Ada asked after I didn't elaborate.
"Lamenting, on just everything." Deathclaws. Deathclaw. Deathclaws. Deathclaws. Behmouths… Shittttttttt.
"Helpful." The AI snarked.
Well I'm going to die. No doubt.
"Yeah," I leaned back and rolled up, standing to my feet, I searched around and spotted some crates, using the flat of my sword, I pried open the rotted wood, and found some circuity of some kind, here's hoping the old wood hadn't damaged the circuits.
"Oh this could work." I dragged the crates to the edge of the truck, and looked at the warehouse. It was a maze of crates, which was just begging ferals to jump out claws a-swinging.
Thankfully there was just one, that I could see, though not to risk it, I pulled my .44 and shot the unsuspecting feral, its arm exploding off the bastard in a bloody mess. It roared and turned towards me, a punched primed, I leaned back and swung at its head, its body was thrown back against a row crates. The front of its head caved in.
The commotion was loud and yet there wasn't another heavily mutated creatures trying to murder me so I think we're good.
"Alright Ada, I think we're good."
"The scans indicate that we're alone." I turned to the AI staring at her blankly, "Is everything okay, Landon?"
"I'm a stupid man." I groaned into my hand, "I could've just asked, but instead I needlessly risked our location in a potential swarmed area."
Its gonna be a miracle if I survive for long.
A/N - Published: 2023/07/18 - Edited: 2023/07/19
Yo, thanks everyone for the support.
Not much happened in this chapter, I know. Just a little insight on Landon and his hang ups, will be touched on and expanded later.
Also while he was capable of killing the ferals, and beating them without any real trouble, it's only really hit him that he was facing creatures that were capable of killing him, and would've gladly taken a bite out him if he got sloppy, and they're lower on the totem pole of threats in the Fallout universe.