Chapter 79: A Lunatic Retreat
Underneath the night sky, Lionel held forth the Moonstick, presenting it towards the celestial body as he had the last few nights. The broken broom handle had occupied his fascination throughout his tenure as "lead sentry" of the Enclave bunker that most of the Vegas leadership was holed up in. "…Moonstick," Lionel giggled as he held it before him like a samurai katana.
Andrea watched with a growing sense of disdain and derision. It was just her luck she had to share guard duty with the biggest simpleton in Vegas, the blockbuster blockhead. He had to be the single most useless and expendable member of their group, even more than that charcoal ghoul who showed up. Or even herself, who for the life of her could not understand what she was still doing here.
Ziyi came down the hill, carrying a thermos. She sat beside Andrea, sharing a nod with her as she looked down to Lionel, how was once again holding the Moonstick aloft like an Arthurian knight. "…That man is just obsessed with that stick," the senator tutted.
"He's just an idiot, Ziyi," Andrea scoffed. "We're living through a coup and he's still playing with that thing. What next, should we ask that Mobius guy to put a bucket on the Moon? Moonbucket?"
Ziyi giggled. "Or how about a tumbleweed? Moonweed?"
Andrea started to snicker. "Or how about a rake? Moonrake?"
As the women tittered behind him, Lionel gazed upon the Moonstick. This device that never intended to leave the terrestrial boundaries of this planet had achieved something that few people could ever possibly dream of. Something that no amount of training on his behalf could ever possibly hope to achieve on his own. This janitorial tool had been to the Moon.
Lionel had trained for most of his youth and his entire adult life to reach pure human perfection, through nothing but the belief that one possessed all the tools they needed to accomplish their goals, they only need use them, even if those tools ultimately came down to willpower and personal strength. To him, things like cybernetics and FEV were indicative of weakness, crutches to compensate for a lack of true strength.
Even so, before him lay a sobering reminder of the limitations of his own self. This stick accomplished something he never could on his own. The rod was a symbol of his need to remember humility. It was the greatest gift that floating, talking disco ball could have possibly given him. All this went through his mind as the women continued their impromptu game.
"Mooncakes! On the Moon," Ziyi laughed. "Moon-mooncakes!"
The women laughed and laughed as Lionel continued being mesmerized by his stick. Andrea felt an arm drape across her shoulders as Ziyi continued to titter. "I'm still… I'm still kind of pissed at you," she got out, still wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Right, got it. S-Sorry," Ziyi giggled as she withdrew.
As the laughter began to peter out, Lionel began to squint his eyes as new lights drew closer. Unlike the Moon, these were starker, more direct, and moving. Also, the lights had motors.
Lionel leaped to his feet as the shots rang out around him. Ziyi and Andrea had been caught off guard, stumbling to their feet as they all rushed back to the hideout. Lionel scooped up both women under his arms as they fled, while behind them, Jake screamed at his companions!
"AFTER THEM, THAT WAS THE CALI SENATOR! GET THE HEAVY EQUIPMENT, WE'LL SMOKE THEM OUT!"
Arcade stood over the holographic map alongside his compatriots. "…Hasn't been so long since we fired off Lars into the general area," the councilor mulled to himself.
"You're suggesting we go join the field," Boone added.
"Does that notion bother you?" Arcade asked.
"Hardly," Boone chuckled, darkly. "A nice surprise to the wife and kids."
"And leave Vegas without leadership," Ulysses added.
"The rest of the council are being guarded by the marshals and hidden behind safehouses. At this point, I doubt they have the manpower to be as thorough as they need to be to find them," Arcade offered. "That being said, I'm counting about thirty plus mobiles on foot, with enough gear to scare me. Malocchio? Want to take care of that?" Arcade asked, rhetorically.
The charred ghoul had placed his feet at the end of the holographic map. He didn't look up as he cleaned his knives.
"Lazy bastard," Boone muttered under his breath.
He only managed to just duck away in time as a knife handle soared past his head.
"…He used the end. Guess he does like me," Boone replied.
Ulysses turned as the door opened behind them, and Lionel dropped off Senator Ziyi, Andrea, and the Moonstick onto the ground before him. "…We got away!" Lionel beamed.
"…And you led them all right to us," Boone replied.
"Well, what were we supposed to do?" Andrea complained.
"The RMX finding us was absolutely not a coincidence," Arcade concurred. "This is the most secure safehouse in the Mojave. Someone leaked something."
"It was probably Mr. Crispy!" Lionel interjected, pointing at Malocchio. Malocchio brandished another knife while Ziyi escorted Andrea away from the line of fire.
"Enough!" Arcade called out. "We're planning an exfil as we speak."
"This place has a back door?" Ziyi asked.
"In a manner of speaking," Arcade indicated as he looked up, towards the hovering frame of Dr. Mobius.
"I'm approximating my previous esti-min-ation of where the teleportation scheme sent Lars. I figure what would be safest for him would be safest for the rest of you."
Boone felt his knee act up while Ulysses began to feel sore all over even as his youthful enthusiasm made a brief return. Arcade cracked his neck as his power-armored body looked over the map of the Four Corners. Lars was somewhere here, and so was the AEG, along with a whole lot of unknown variables.
A muffled blast outside the main entrance hastened the proceedings. Mobius began hovering over a cleared space on the floor, emitting more light from his frame. "So, you guys want the good news or the bad news first?"
"Bad," the group around the table vocalized simultaneously.
"I can teleport you all, but it has to be done on an individual basis. Also, I need about a minute interval between each instance to recharge. Otherwise, well, you'd be lucky if I could fit whatever is left of you in a coffee can."
"And the good news?" Ziyi asked, tepidly.
"The good news is that we don't need to slingshot around the Moon. I can teleport you all directly to the drop zone," Mobius explained.
Upon stating this, a beam of light emitted from underneath the chassis of Mobius's craft. "Ok, single file everyone. I'll be the jumpmaster, for lack of a better term. So, who's going first?"
Arcade looked over the folks assembled before him. Boone had left to gather up some emergency supplies from another room, while Malocchio darted towards the entryway to try and delay the intruders as much as possible.
"…Out of all of us, it makes sense for you to go first," Ulysses offered. "You are the Lead Councilor, the most valuable prize this RMX can still capture."
"Funny, I'd have thought it would be you," Andrea whispered to Ziyi.
"I don't know about that. Lately, I've felt like a squatter," Ziyi admitted. "And besides, I really don't want to be left alone in the wasteland again."
As these discussions continued, Lionel looked upon the bright light in a mesmerizing state. Within it, he saw colors and shapes that he otherwise thought were indescribable on planet Earth. Truly, this knowledge was something beyond what he could have adequately appreciated until the arrival of his Moonstick. As he gazed upon it, a single thought ran through his mind.
"…I'm gonna poke it," he said aloud as he approached the light.
Andrea was the first to notice the fighter inching ever closer to the beam of light. "LIONEL, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOI-" was all he heard before touching the incandescent cascade of illumination and vanishing into the ether.
Ronny tore into the corpse as her brothers licked their lips. They had stumbled upon some number of these humans wearing animal skins and scattered them once more, killing about a dozen or so before they fled further towards the mountains. Davy was chewing on a leg while Petey picked his teeth with a knife. "…Why can't it always be this easy?" Petey asked, rhetorically.
"Poppa said easy meals are poor ones," Davy explained.
"Well, all meals are easy when you're Poppa," Petey scoffed.
"Wow, that was… actually kind of insightful. Good for you, Petey, using that brain of yours for something other than asking idiot questions," Ronny said.
"…You know what, Sis?" Petey growled as he dropped the knife. "I'm getting sick of listening to you insult and mock me. I have been nothing but helpful, and all you've done is criticize and complain about my concern with finding food!"
"The reason we're this far out is because you didn't kill Sonny when you had the chance!" Ronny growled.
"How is that my fault?" Petey complained.
"Because if you put half as much effort towards killing him as me or Davy did, we'd be back home by the river by now!"
"Shut it, you two!" Davy scolded. "This helps no one. Ronny, you should have gone for the neck the moment we found how Sonny killed the rest of his clutch, you let him get away the first time. And Petey, we're reptiles! Just one human a week is enough!
"Well, fine," Petey snorted. "We'll see how easy it is to find a human out here. It's not like they fall from the sky."
Two miles away, Lionel indeed fell from the sky. Landing face first, he picked himself off the ground and looked up at the night sky. "…Hello there, my old friend," he smiled at the Moon. Picking up his Moonstick, he shouldered it as he walked into the desert, not even remotely concerned that he had no supplies with him or even any sense of direction about where he was supposed to go.
"-THAT IDIOT! THAT ABSOLUTE FUCKING IDIOT!" Andrea shrieked as she lunged towards the light, only to be held back by Ulysses and Ziyi.
"Mobius, can you ID where Lionel landed?" Arcade asked.
"He jumped early! I hadn't finalized everything by the time he left!" Mobius stated. "Hold tight, I'm localizing the next drop off point."
Outside, a scar had been burned through the outermost door. A muzzle of an assault rifle nudged its way inside, only for Malocchio to grab it from his position beside the door with his cybernetic arm and jabbing his knife into the hole. Elsewhere, Boone returned with supplies, consisting of several gallons of drinking water, some MRE's, and some survival gear. "Where's Lionel?"
"WHO CARES?!" Andrea screamed.
The next interval was set. Arcade took a deep breath and stepped through the light.
"Guess you're up next," Boone offered Ziyi.
The Senator shook her head. "They don't even know I'm here, they're targeting you two first," she said, indicating the deputy chiefs.
As Andrea fumed, Boone reluctantly became the second man to take the plunge as bullets ricocheted off Malocchio's arm, forcing the ghoul assassin back from the main entrance of the vertibird hanger. As he sealed the secondary door, the main one burst open. Brodie entered, wielding an automatic grenade launcher as the rest of his men filed in. Once the coast was clear, Jake Freeman entered, flanked by Emma and Bad MFKA, followed by a static-screened securitron.
Back in the control center, Ulysses vanished into the light. "Four down, three to go," Mobius assessed.
"Ziyi, I really, really think it's time for you to make the jump," Andrea said as the sounds of gunfire and explosions came closer.
Ziyi thought back to the last time she was stuck in the wasteland. She had never come so close to dying, both from the elements as well as her own hand. She didn't know how strong she was, but the Ziyi from twenty years ago hadn't left civilization before, and the Ziyi from twenty years since never wanted to leave it. Going back into the desert, into the wasteland, submitting herself to the mercy of things she could not control, terrified her.
As Andrea contemplated dragging Ziyi to the light herself, the ghoul she only knew as IA looked at her. From what was left of his expression, she couldn't even begin to imagine what he could possibly be trying to tell her.
"…She's my senator, I'll deal with her," Andrea stated. "Go on ahead, I think they're extra pissed at you."
Malocchio nodded as he leaped into the light without hesitation.
"…Ziyi," Andrea finally said as she turned to the other woman as they were now alone. "…I don't know what happened to you in that desert, but I think I can guess. I think you got hurt, and you got hurt bad. Considering the scars on your cheek and your back, I don't think you've ever gotten better, have you?"
Ziyi came back to earth as she looked at the woman she hoped still considered her a friend.
"…As an agent of the CIB, I cannot allow any harm to come to you. So when it's your turn up next, I am going to shove you into that light," Andrea continued as sparks of light began emitting from the door behind them. "I will not allow them to capture you."
"…I know…" Ziyi replied.
"NEXT JUMP READY!" Mobius announced.
"…and I'm sorry," Ziyi announced as she shoved Andrea backward, her back colliding with the light. Behind her, the door burst open, and several men entered the chamber firing automatic weapons. Ziyi ducked onto the ground as rounds pinged off Mobius. "ACTIVATING EMERGENCY ESCAPE PROTOCOL!" Mobius announced as he shimmered out of existence in a burst of light that left nothing but scorched ozone and vapor from where he had been previously. In truth, he had returned to his station back on the Lunar Big MT, for some quick repairs as well as a pow-wow with Doctors 0 and 8.
Ziyi, on the other hand, kept her face planted into the ground as she felt the rifles pointed at her, and an enormous hand grabbed her by the back of her suit and lifted her off the ground to face her new captors.
"…Well-well-fucking well," Jake seethed. "And you guys thought this trip was going to be a total loss."
Andrea felt like lightning was surging across her body, penetrating her as it raked her brain and heart. Not only that, but it felt like she was falling. Forever. She would have screamed if she had enough air in her lungs.
Soon enough, the world came into focus around her. She felt dirt on her fingers and soon enough her face, falling onto the dirt. As the residual surges of energy gradually dissipated throughout her body, her senses gradually returned to her body. Coughing, she got onto her hands and knees as she felt the cold night air around her. Eventually, her breathing returned to normal, and she found herself taking big, gasping breaths of sweet air.
As her mind caught up with her body, she focused on her breathing. In, out, in, out. As she did, she focused on other things. Like the other three taking breaths around her.
"…You guys are seeing this too, right?"
"A fucking human just came out of the fucking sky."
"…You know what this means?"
"What?"
"Poppa was right! The Star Father is real, The Great Hub, all of it!"
Petey and Ronny both turned to look over at their brother.
"Remember when Poppa said he was captured as a hatchling by a group of humans who told him how the universe worked? It's true, all of it!"
"…So what do we do with this one?" Ronny asked.
"Well, considering the circumstances, I'd say that obviously, we should…"
Petey immediately dove towards the woman, jaws open.
Arcade waited for the rest to join up with them. "…OK, so our current headcount is at four. Boone, any sign of them?"
"I saw a beam of light about five klicks to the southwest," Boone reported as he got off the ground, taking his AMR with him.
"Grim tidings," Ulysses stated. "Perhaps something happened to Mobius?"
"Well, we can't do anything else for him. Most we can hope for is that he got out after helping everyone evacuate," Arcade replied.
With that, Councilor Arcade Gannon, Deputy Chiefs Craig Boone and Ulysses, and Saeed "Malocchio" Hassan made their way toward where the last light had been seen.
Andrea stumbled and screamed along the sand and dirt as Petey lunged after her, swiping at her with his claws and snapping with his fangs. Flanking the fat deathclaw were his siblings, corralling the actress/agent as they closed the distance with the frightened woman.
WHY DID I LEAVE SHI-FRISCO?! Andrea thought with tears in her eyes as Petey's jaws barely missed her neck. Davy came out in front of her and stuck out a foot, tripping Andrea onto her face as momentum dragged her forward a few precious feet. Someone… Dad… please help me, Andrea pleaded to anything to help her as Petey reared back a claw to rip her in half.
A wooden javelin launched out of nowhere, striking Petey in the nostril. As the lizard clutched his nose, both Ronny and Davy looked to their brother as Andrea made a break for it, running right into the legs of her savior.
"AUCK, WHAT THE- what is this?" Petey began to sniff the weapon that assailed him. Ronny joined in, similarly mystified, followed by Davy. "…What is this?" they all vocalized quietly.
Andrea's rescuer strode forward. "No, please don't leave me," Andrea grabbed onto his leg. The man disregarded his damsel as he approached the three dragons. Standing before them, he reached down and grasped his weapon. Lifting it from the ground, with all the lizard gazes following it, the warrior announced his presence.
"…My name… is Lionel Johnston… and this… is my MOONSTICK!"
Dr. Mobius crashed back into his lair, having rematerialized onto Luna. "…LOBOTOMITES!" he ordered. "ASSIST ME!"
Around him, a number of Lobotomites came unto his craft with all manner of repair equipment, their programming allowing them to maintain the craft. Most of the original lobotomites had been destroyed in the previous terrestrial conflict, but upon their ascension, the Think Tank had on hand a number of bodies of which they made use. They didn't even need to provide the new staff with uniforms, even though whatever writing dotted the clothing of their new workforce tended to be in Mandarin.
"…Dr. 8, do you still have access to the Terra-scope?"
"…"
"Excellent! I need you to locate Doctor Gannon for me! The sooner I can reconnect with him, the better for all of us!"
What Dr. 8 and 0 would later find were four old men examining the scene of what looked like a commotion between two people and what appeared to be a small pack of deathclaws. Some distance away, a pit fighter was riding atop the head of a large deathclaw, holding aloft a broomstick and screaming while another human, a female, marched along in mortal terror between two other deathclaws, as they bickered over the notion of keeping two humans as pets. And, meanwhile, back at an old refueling station for a long-extinct regime, a Senator was sat upon a chair and bound as a young disgraced underboss immediately shouted orders about getting a line with California, while a rogue securitron watched over the proceedings with a wry sense of amusement.