Chapter 29: An Eye For an Eye.
The whole village was scrambling, weapons were being passed out, weak points secured, children hidden away in safe points with guardians.
Seven jumped into his armour and grabbed his weapons checking them both as he did, "Alright peeps looks like the White Legs didn't take too kindly to us upsetting the status quo first by us stopping their raping spree and second by me turning their little wannabe little war band leader into a hamburger, they're going to be out for blood and if that's what they want then that's what they'll get, only it's going to be their own blood" Seven said as his team assembled.
"You have a plan, my male?" Visa snarled and Seven nodded.
"It's not much but its the best I could come up with on the spot, we have the tactical advantage of high walls and defences so we're going to put that to use but we can't rely solely on that, we have to take the fight to them, Wisp, me and you are going to be our opening salvo, we need to scatter them and stop them focusing on one area, thin them out and we can begin picking them off plus we are the most resistant to damage in these things, Visa and Ven you two are going to flank them, one claw on each side, when I and Wisp scatter them we should drive them right to you, they won't be expecting a pair of angry claws coming at them out of the bushes," Seven said and both claws nodded their agreement.
"Riss you are going to be our ambusher, I want you hidden and behind them if possible, when they scatter it will be your job to take out priority targets, we want them as disorganised and scattered as possible, go for their leaders, Shamen, any targets of opportunity really, dash intake one out and then vanish, I want these fuckers chasing ghosts and jumping at their own shadows," Seven said and Riss smiled evilly flicking her tongue at him.
"I can do thissss" she said and Seven nodded.
"Ok that leaves Gregory and Runs you two are going to be pivotal on this, Gregory I want you cloaked and in that tower with a rifle, harass the fuckers with sniper fire and direct everybody else, you are going to be our eyes up there, only show yourself when you need to tell us where to go got it?" Seven said and Gregory nodded nervously.
"I can do that," he said and this seemed to make Ven happier as he knew his beloved man would be further from the main battle and from harm.
"That leaves you Runs, you are going to help us direct the defenders, you are going to be our translator and coordinator, we tell you where the attackers are pushing and it will be your job to get your people in place to counter it from inside the wall if they are coming up the right I want those fuckers running face-first into a wall of arrows and bullets got it?" Seven said and Runs nodded.
"I's will do I's best," he said proudly and Riss squeezed her man from behind tickling his ear with her flickering tongue.
"Alright people we know what we have to do so let's fucking do it, this place will not fall today, not while we are here," Seven said and the team cheered and broke each heading for their starting point while Runs ran to tell the chief the plan.
Seven and Wisp headed out of the main gates and down the hill a little ways to meet the Warband head-on, as confident as Seven was at their ability to win this fight he was still nervous, a million scenarios were firing through his head all at once and some of them were truly unspeakable, like what if he lost one of his friends or Visa?
No, he had to be confident and strong, they were all relying on him to lead them to victory, he didn't quite know how he had become the leader of this rather ragtag group of misfits, but they were his group of ragtag misfits and he loved them and he would defend them with everything he had.
It didn't take long for the war band to appear ahead of them in the distance, there had to be at least three maybe four hundred of them, Seven was taking deep breaths as he watched the heavily painted and armed tribal warriors marching in time to their beating war drums.
The four drummers walked ahead of the main group beating the conical-shaped tomb like drums that were secured to them with leather straps, behind them in loose disorganised ranks were the warriors of the tribe, all decorated with the white paint that gave the tribe their name, each of them was bare-chested with their skin shining in the sunlight that beat down on them from the sky above, their jet black hair was tied back and decorated with a variety of beads and bones from both animals and what looked to Seven's zoomed in vision to be human.
Seven instantly began to pick out the leaders among the warriors not only because they seemed to be mounted on horseback but also they were decorated very differently, there far more colourful feathers in their hair in hues of reds and golds, they also wore what appeared to be blood-red face paint and also upon their chests.
The commanders also carried the best weapons, a mixture of rifles that appeared to be shotguns, while all the warriors carried what looked to be bows and a mixture of small handheld axes that were similar to the traditional Tomohawk axes carried by their ancestors of old.
At the rear of the formation Seven spotted a single man who was decorated far more decadently than the rest, he figured this was either the chief or the Warband leader, which Seven felt was pretty odd as he'd always expected leaders to be ahead of their troops not behind, but it appeared that the White Legs didn't share his view of leadership, as he felt a leader should be at the front to you know lead.
The whole group stopped about a hundred meters away from Seven and Wisp, as they did the Warband leader moved through the group flanked on either side by two of his lieutenants, the three on horseback rode forwards until they were only a few meters away from Seven and Wisp.
"So you must be the metal man who killed my son," the leader said in heavily accented but perfect English.
"If your son was the leader of the war party that came here looking for vengeance after we killed a bunch of raping, murdering scum and freed two captive women they had taken from their loving tribe, then yes I am," Seven said glaring up at the man through his visor.
The man glared at Seven but he was eyeing Wisp cautiously who had taken to repeatedly spinning up her guns and then stopping them and then doing it again, it was a tactic designed to intimidate the man and it was working rather well in Seven's estimation.
"What do you care what happens to these people? They are not yours, this is the natural order of things, the strong dominate the weak and should always rule, we are strong and they are weak" the Chief snarled.
"I care because its the right thing to do, these are good kind people and they do not deserve what the dumpster fire you call a tribe is doing to them, so we're putting a stop to it, plus you are wrong, the strong should not rule the weak they should protect them, often the weak tend to be smarter than the strong so the pair should work in harmony, but it obvious that you have no concept of this so we will be happy to show you something you can understand, so now as far as I can see you have two options, you can take your trash pile of a tribe and tuck your tails between your legs and scurry back off to your dod eat dog dumpster fire, or you can try and take us on to prove us wrong but I advise caution, option number two does not end well for you you think you have the upper hand because of your numbers but you haven't evaluated the situation carefully, did your men tell you how I killed your son?" Seven said.
"They said something about using spirit magic but I believe they did not wish to appear weak before the tribe as no man can use magic," the chief said defiantly.
"Well there's mistake number one, you didn't listen to your people, that is the mark of a good leader, don't assume you know better than they do, listen to them and evaluate because then you wouldn't be arguing with someone who has the ability to crush you to the size of a soda can with a single thought now would you?" Seven snarled.
The chief began laughing and behind him despite the fact that none of them obviously had a clue what was being said the other warriors began laughing two, towards the rear of the formation where a couple of the officers were spaced out Seven saw a faint shiver creeping up behind one of them, before the man could yell a warning he vanished backwards into a bush and never returned, Riss was starting early it seemed.
"Get ready" Seven hissed to Wisp and she nodded.
"You honestly expect me to believe that you have the power of a spirit? What kind of idiot do you take me for?" the chief snorted as two more of his officers vanished from the rear of his ranks.
"The kind that led his men into an ambush with nothing more than arrogance and a healthy dose of piss and vinegar" Seven said and with that he held out his hands, both his flanking officers flew from their horses and into the air and the chief's face turned to a mask of pure shock and horror.
"Wisp now!" Seven yelled.
"Time to dance boys!" Wisp yelled and she already spun up Gatteling lasers opened up on the tightly clustered men.
Seven crushed the heads of both officers killing them instantly before reaching for his own weapon, the chief's horse reared up as one of Seven's invisible hands smacked his hard across the arse and it threw the startled man to the ground.
The cluster of warriors began to break as they ran for cover to the sides of the trail trying to look to their now missing officers for some kind of leadership, as they were confused by the utter lack of orders two very angry claws came out of the undergrowth they were currently running towards on both sides, letting out bellowing roars as they did.
Seven fired off multiple shots into the scattering men and from the tower and the ramparts shots and arrows began to rain down on the scattered warriors, the chief tried to crawl away from Seven and he helped him on his way by planting one of his huge metal boots right up his arse causing him to fly forwards and grind his face through both the dirt and gravel.
As he tried to get up Seven snatched him from the ground and held him aloft by his throat, "No you don't get to run away now, now you get to see what you have unleashed, you wanted a blood bath well here it fucking is, see what you have wrought and bask in it!" Seven roared at him using the pain in his skull as fuel for the power as he forced the chief to watch his men being cut down left and right as they scrambled to form some kind of defence.
A man hoisted a hefty looking rifle that could have killed a claw with ease and pointed it at Visa but before he could squeeze the trigger a shape appeared to his right and sank her fangs into his throat knocking the rifle skyward as she did, as his companions turned to see what he had shot at they found him slumping to the ground with two large puncture wounds in his throat and froth spewing from his mouth.
Ven having seen what was about to happen to his beloved sister let out a roar so loud it echoed down the valley and charged right at them with his head down like a giant two-legged bull, he slammed his horns into the midriff of one man while impaling two others with his claws and he hoisted the three screaming impaled men up, promptly using them as meat shields to protect both himself and his sister from the volley of arrows a couple of warriors unleashed on them.
This sparked another roar of pure fury and shots began to rain down on the archers from the tower, "LEAVE MY CLAW ALONE YOU BASTARDS!" Gregory's voice roared across the battlefield as man after man fell to his rifle.
Wisp was still firing off her guns, she was firing so fast and so much her fusion cores were beginning to overheat, this was causing steam to piss out of the back of her armour making her look demonic as she glowed red in the cloud casting a truly demonic visage.
Three minutes was all it took, three whole minutes and it was all over, out of the four hundred men that had come to fight maybe twenty got away with their lives, running as fast as their painted white legs could carry them into the valley, Seven rotated the chief so he was looking him right in the eye.
"This is what you have done, what you have forced us to do, now go back to your dumpster fire and never return, the Dead Horses are protected now if we so much as see a white leg in a hundred leagues of this place the next time you see us will be at your village gates, do you understand?" Seven snarled.
The chief nodded, his face had turned as white as snow below his red face paint, Seven flung him screaming into the undergrowth before bursting out of it screaming and took off after his men as fast as he could run.
A huge cheer rose up from the village along with loud whoops and yells of victory, the Dead Horses had not only won the day but indeed the war, the White legs would never return as now they no longer had the strength to do so and after seeing what their defenders were capable of they wouldn't want to either.
Seven looked around at the bodies littering the battlefield and felt a pang of both sorrow and guilt in his heart, now he knew that these men would have happily killed each and every one of them without a single shred of either guilt or remorse, but that wasn't the man that Seven was, he firmly believed that taking a life should never be easy or indeed a quiet thing, it should weigh heavily on the soul because in his opinion it was that that let you know you were at your core a good person, because a bad one would never feel a thing for the life they had just taken away, of all the memories and experiences that they had just destroyed.
Visa appeared right in front of him and he looked up at his big claw girl, she seemed to sense his pain even though the expressionless face of his armour's helmet and she wrapped her long blood-covered arms around him.
"It is alright my male, you did a good thing here, these good people are alive and their nest is safe because of you and what you did here, feel not guilty for this, you defended those who needed you in their hour of needing it, what you and indeed us did here today will be remembered by these people for a very long time," she said.
Seven nodded and he turned his head to see the others emerging as well, Riss appeared next to them and from nowhere another five NightStalkers appeared, though these were the quadrupedal non-speaking and human loving variety.
"I found some friendssss, they came when they heard the fighting and wisssshed to help the kind humanssss who helped them, they helped us fight and several thesssse killssss are thierssss," she said gesturing first to the bodies then too proud and surprisingly regal feral NightStalkers stood around her.
"Well, maybe we should convince the chief to give them a home here in the village eh? Would certainly help both of them giving them a stable source of food and a safe place to sleep while also giving the village an added layer of protections" Seven said and Riss nodded her head in agreement.
The group walked back through village gates together and were instantly surrounded by cheering villagers, they were clapping all of them on the backs and shoulders as they celebrated their victory.
Seven watched as the villagers even clapped both Visa and Ven on the backs and shoulders enjoying the surprise the two big claws had painted on their faces, it was obvious to him that never before had anyone celebrated their arrival but now these people were showing them unreservedly that humans truly could not only accept them but celebrate them.
Gregory jumped down off his tower and unashamedly ran straight for Ven and threw himself into his bog claw's long arms, clinging to him tightly as the big claw picked him up and hugged him tightly to him.
"I'm so happy you are alright, when they started shooting at you like that I got so incredibly scared I thought I was going to lose my mind," Gregory said in a soft and relief soaked voice.
"There there my sweet boy, I'm alright, see? Not a single scratch on this scaly rear you love so much" Ven said softly and teasingly, trying to chase his human boy's fears away by making him laugh.
It worked and Gregory nuzzled tightly into him, Seven looked at Visa and she at him and the pair shared a happy smile, there was a silent understanding between them both as they gave each other a squeeze, these were feelings that they had shared only moments ago.
The chief of the village approached them and began to speak to them, "Chief says you are truly spirit sent to us, never in life has he seen so few defeat so many with such ease, yous prove to him and all that you are good spirits, that yous is guardians of innocent, yous will forever have a place and home here with us if yous wishes it" Runs said translating for them.
The gesture made Seven smile warmly under his helmet which he reached up and took off breaking the seals so he could look the chief in the eye when he spoke despite standing taller than him thanks to the armour.
"Thank you great chief your offer is kind and generous and maybe one day we will return here and claim that reward, but for now we must move on, we came here to fulfil a promise to our good friend Runs-With-NightStalkers that we would help him protect his people and we did just that, but it is not safe for anyone if we remain here, mighty and evil people pursue us and we cannot lead them where they would bring much death and destruction to your good people and we could not bear that, so we must leave, but we ask you for permission to take young Runs here with us as we know that neither he nor Riss could bear to be separated," Seven said.
The chief listened to Runs translating Sevens words and then he nodded in agreement before speaking again, "Very well it will be so, Runs-With-NightStalkers will accompany yous and hes will represent the Dead Horses where ever yous tread, hes will stand as a guardian to the mighty spirits he brought to us and will be the anchor that hopefully brings yous back here to us one day, but before yous leaves I's will do as was promised and will marry Runs and Riss before village so all may see that love wears many faces and knows no bounds" the chief said through a now rather startled but ecstatic Runs.
As it turned out the Dead Horses took their weddings very seriously, the whole village went crazy, while some of them were dispatched to clear the bodies of the fallen White Legs from outside and to form a proper burial party as they believed that even the dead of an enemy should be given peace at that end of their life the others all went into full meltdown to get everything ready.
Riss got vanished by a large group of women who squirrelled her away into a tent and Runs got the same by a group of men, as attendees and guests of honour the rest of the group were pulled to one side and set upon by villagers determined to make them look their best.
Seven couldn't help but be both amazed and laugh as both Visa and Ven had so many flowers wound around their horns that each of them looked like they had a hanging basket on their heads.
Though both he and Wisp faired no better, they didn't let him out of his amour and instead decided to paint it, so he was utterly covered from head to foot in colourful patterns and swirls in thick tribal designs made from natural plant dyes, as was Wisp who now looked like a hippy bus with a face.
When both Runs and Riss finally re-emerged from where the locals had squirrelled them away to the group had their collective breath taken away, the pair of them looked utterly radiant.
Runs had been dressed in traditional ceremonial garb and headdress, he had a crest of white feathers on his head which had trails of colourful beads running down his shoulders and onto his chest that looked like a rainbow and a waterfall had a baby, he was wearing a white leather top and matching pants with splashes of colour painted over them.
Riss had beads and feathers of all colours braided into her fur, her tail and rattle had been decorated with both feathers and flowers as well as a crown of flowers in the form of a circlet planted on her head, the big NightStalker girl looked about as nervous as it was possible for a giant talking NightStalker girl to be and it was obvious that she had never had a makeover before.
The pair were stood before the chief and Seven and his now highly decorated group were shepherded up to the front to form a ring around the pair and the chief.
The chief took Riss's hands and placed them in Runs hands before tying them together with a woven silken rope while reciting both vows and prayers for the pair, the whole thing culminated in the pair vowing to live and love one another for a lifetime.
Once the vows were spoken aloud the ceremony finished with the pair sharing a deep and loving kiss before everyone which started the gathered crowd cheering and clapping as they celebrated the union of these two very different people who despite their different species shared a single heart and soul.
The Dead Horses really knew how to throw a party, the reception they threw for the newlyweds was incredible, they really pulled out all the stops to show both the couple and their guests their appreciation, Seven and his group were lined up along a laid out table that had local dishes of all types.
Seven couldn't help but watch both Visa and Ven tucking in the offered meat hungrily, the pair had obviously worked up quite an appetite fighting for these good people and the locals seemed to utterly revel in feeding the pair of hungry claws until they were both sat back-patting their full bellies.
Reggie approached Seven while he sat back and relaxed after their satisfying meal and listened to all the joyful conversations going on all around him, "May I?" he asked gesturing to the seat next to him.
Seven nodded and gestured for him to take a seat and Reggie dropped into the bench while setting his meat-laden plate down on the table, "I guess you'll be heading out soon then?" he asked and Seven nodded.
"Yeah I'm thinking first thing tomorrow morning, let the two newlyweds enjoy their wedding night in comfort you know?" Seven said glancing at Runs and Riss who were both sitting at the centre of the table and seemed to be thourally enjoying the happy atmosphere all around them.
"Yeah I get it and honestly I'll be sad to see you guys go, it was really good to meet you Seven you really kinda opened my eyes as to what's really possible in this world, I never in my life imagined what you and your group have accomplished, I mean who in their life would have ever imagined a human and a deathclaw as a couple, but your group has not one but two couples and one of which is a homosexual couple I mean Jesus you guys are like the poster children of open-minded acceptance but seeing you all together I can't see anything but pure love and respect among you all and it truly warms my heart to see, I mean when I look at you and that big scaley girl of yours I just can't help but feel jealous so if you see any more human loving claw girls out there send em my way will you? Maybe a big girl with a tail and scales is my future as well" he said with a big toothy smile.
Reggie's features then hardened into a far more serious look, "Look Seven you really do have your work cut out for you in evading the Enclave, those fuckers do not give up easily i should know, the way I see it you got basically two choices when dealing with them, either convince them you are dead so they stop looking for you, or hit them so hard that you make thier losses near impossible to replace, this will force them to back off you, anything else is just a folly as they simply not give up, especially as with someone like you they are utterly convinced they own you and they do not like the prospect of others playing with thier toys, the prospect of all that power you have under your hood falling into the hands of their rivals will put them right on edge, imagine what would happen if someone like the Brotherhood of Steel got ahold of you and set you against them, that would lead to another war, so you gotta stay away from the super powers my man, do not trust any of them no matter how good their intentions seem, they will use you as a weapon for their benefit" Reggie said soloumly.
Seven sighed heavily and nodded, he'd been giving this thought a lot of time himself, "Now I won't ask you where you're going as in truth I don't want to know because it means that if the worst ever happens and they get ahold of me they won't be able to pry a hidden truth out of me because there won't be one, but let me give you a recommendation, don't go near Apelacia, instead, head to Boston, I hear there are good people up that way, but if you head into Apelacia be careful there is a heavy Enclave presence there, they got a command bunker in the area, never went there myself but I heard all about it, plus the Brotherhood is pretty strong in that area as well" Reggie said and Seven nodded.
The pair spent the rest of the evening chatting and Reggie seemed determined to cram as much knowledge as he could into Seven's young head, once they finally parted and Visa stared him towards their tent for the night is head was utterly ringing, though not as much as Runs's was by the sounds that were coming from his and Riss's tent.
The pair of them were far too exhausted to have any fun that night and instead chose to curl up in each other's arms and simply enjoyed the feeling of being loved and cherished by another living being.
First thing in the morning after both Seven and Wisp had washed off their armoured bodies not to mention the claws in their number the group set off with Runs bidding a tearful farewell to his beloved people and despite Seven offering the pair the chance to return here once Runs had guided them out of the canyon both of them had said no, that they wished to remain with the group that had brought them together and had saved both of their lives, they wanted to show their love to the world at large in the hope that it would show others like them on both sides that there was another way and that beauty plus love came in all sorts of shapes, sizes and flavours.
The group made their way through the natural beauty of Zion following Runs until finally after nearly a solid day of hard slog they finally reached the far side of the canyon, the group stood staring out at the great forests of Buena Vista.
"Well, at least those giant fucking trees will make it difficult to nigh on impossible for the Enclave to land forces anywhere nearby," Seven said craning his neck to look up into the huge trees as they towered up into the sky like they were trying to touch the sun high above them.
"Well this is as far as I's knows how to go, the rest is mystery to I's" Runs said as his new wife curled herself around him as he stood staring into the huge trees.
"Well this is the last chance for you to both turn back I guess guys, if you want to return to the village and live happily together no one here will blame you or even resent you, hell if anything we'll be a little jealous," Seven said.
Riss turned to fix him with a look that said everything her following words could ever convey, "We are going nowhere Seven, our place issss with you and your group, you brought ussss together and you kept your word to me, you helped me find the love of my life to call my own and now I will keep my word to you, we will help you to essscape the Enclave and together we will all find a place to call our own, where we can one and all be happy and maybe along the way we can find otherssss jussst like ussss who need our help" she said proudly and Runs stood nodding in front of her.
"I's agrees with I's beautiful wife, I's is your man till the end, live, fight and if need be die at your side, you gave I's love and I's people freedom, you's also avenged I's beloved sister when I's could not, this is debt I's will repay in full even if it costs I's life, this is I's vow to you's Seven, I's is your man until the end" Runs said proudly.
Seven stepped forwards and place a hand on both their shoulders before pulling them into a three-way hug which the other joined from behind and all around them, "Thank you both, I don't have the words to tell you what this means to me" he said.
"Then no more wordssss, let ussss go forth and bring freedom and love to thosssse who need it, evil wassss done to ussss ssssso now we sssshall take those sssscars and usssse them to break otherssss like ussss out and sssshow them the truth!" Riss said proudly.
"Exactly, I agree with both of them, so come on let's go, we got a long way to go, a Robo loving boy for Wisp to find and a human loving claw girl to send back to Reggie," Gregory said surprising both Seven and Wisp as the young human grinned at them both, he really was an observant one this lad.
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"So that's where you've been hiding, I see you Seven, you won't escape my eyes now," number Two said softly to herself as she watched the forest morph into view around Seven, his jerky movements indicated that he might very well be aware of her infiltration of his mind, she could also feel the strength that was welling up in him as his own powers seemed to react to the presence of hers.
All of a sudden like a flash of lightning there was another presence in his mind and number two gasped as she felt the strong influence of the third presence, "I see you number two, get the fuck out of his mind and tell your snivelling little taskmasters we know what you are doing, we will kill all you send till you can send no more, so if they value the lives of their men they will leave us be, this is your only warning" the female voice said and just like that her connection to number Seven was forcibly terminated and she shot awake with a loud gasp.
"Report!" the desperate voice of Dr Chalmers exclaimed from above her.
"I-I-I found them but I was unable to maintain my link, it appears number three has found a way to block me and force me out" she replied in a shaky voice.
"Where are they?" Dr Chalmers snarled appearing before her making her shrink back into the bed and number two explained what she had seen in her brief connection to number Seven she also told the Doctor of number three's warning.
"Oh, so they want to make demands, do they? We'll see about that" the doctor snarled before reaching for a comms panel, "This is Dr Chalmers, I've located the fugitives but they are protected by strong allies, I think this will be an excellent time to give number four a field test, yes sir I think he is ready, very well sir I'll see it done you can count on me" she said before hanging up.
She pressed another set of buttons and when the person on the other end picked up she began to speak, "This is Dr Chalmers, I have the authorisation to send number four out into the field, assemble your best hunter squad and have them waiting in the hangar bay, I'll have him outfitted and sent down to you, he will have strict orders and he will obey them to the letter, so tell your people not to get in the way or he might just go through them, they are to support and protect him nothing more, their lives are inconsequential, all that matters is the recovery of subjects two and seven, that is all" Dr Chalmers said before hanging up and rubbing her hands together rather gleefully, somehow number two felt rather sorry for number seven and number three all of a sudden, this was going to turn rather nasty rather quickly