Chapter 73: The Bigger They Are.
The walk to Nukaworld was quite a trek even with his power armour doing most of the hard work Seven was still feeling the strain of it as was Chris by the look of him, well that was until Vess had noticed and now Chris was riding on the back of his massive Alpha Matriarch Claw girl as she tromped along happily.
Honestly, Seven had known that Claws had some serious stamina from loving Visa as long as he had but they were like scaly fusion batteries in that they just never seemed to run out, though when Vess had snatched Chris off his feet and planted him on her back he'd caught Visa eyeing him thoughtfully and he'd had a grin to himself inside his suit as he imagined himself riding his valiant Claw steed into battle in a full power armour suit, or rather her running about ten steps and then face planting into the dirt under the weight of it, she was strong but carrying him, the armour she was wearing, the armour he was wearing and his pack might just be a tiny bit too much even for her.
But eventually, they reached a large platform for a train system that seemed to lead to Nukaworld and by the look of it it was still running much to their complete amazement, though not as much amazement as the mercenary group that was camped out at the entrance when two large Claws, a dude in enclave power armour and a human showed up at their door.
Though fortunately for the group they had decided to try talking rather than shooting the moment the odd little group walked into the concourse that led to the platform though as the leader of the group walked up flanked by two of her soldiers Seven could feel the numerous rifles being aimed right at them from numerous hidden positions all around them so he took the liberty of encasing them in a telekinetic bubble to catch any shots so they'd have time to break into cover if need be.
The leader and her two soldiers were clad in olive-coloured military-style ballistic armour that was obviously meticulously well maintained and cared for, it screamed professional to Seven as he approached flanked by Visa and Vess who incidentally still had Chris riding on her back as she had insisted on keeping him up there where she felt he was safer, though he was now supporting his plasma rifle in case things went sideways.
Seven noticed a Captin's rank badge on her shoulder and he recognised these from the Enclave soldiers he'd seen both on the airship and from those who had fallen to his team, "Greetings we are here looking for a way through to Nukaworld," Seven said as the two groups stopped about twenty feet from one another and Seven could see the three of them nervously fingering their assault rifles as they glanced between the two large Claw females flanking him.
"What's your business their stranger? Are you a raider?" the woman said in an authoritative but obviously nervous voice.
"We are investigating rumours we've heard about a new breed of Claw that's been seen in those parts, heard they have been causing some problems around there and we think we can maybe help out," Seven said never taking his eyes off the black-skinned woman as her dark brown eyes darted from Visa to Vess and then back to him curiously.
"You a Deathclaw tamer or something?" she asked curiously and Seven chuckled and patted Visa's massive thigh making her growl softly at him.
"Something like that, let's just say me and my friend here have somewhat unique perspectives on them and we think we can help the people up there to not only understand them but for the Claws to understand the people as well we think that we might be able to help both groups to find a happy equilibrium," Seven said cheerfully.
The captain snorted a laugh, "You want people to find common ground with Deathclaws?' she said in a now rather amused sounding voice.
"Oh it's easier than you'd think human, I think you'll find that a little understanding and compassion goes a long way," Vess said in her best Matriarch's voice which she had obviously used for scolding younger mischievous Claws and keeping them in line.
The reaction from the three soldiers was instantaneous as all three of their mouths dropped open and all three of them snapped their attention snapped onto the massive Claw female, "E-E-Either you are the world's best fucking ventriloquist or that Deathclaw just spoke!" the captain stammered as she looked up at Vess who just smirked at her.
"Not so easy finding out that you are not the only sentient species on the planet now is it?" Visa said and now their attentions all snapped to her as their jaws sunk even lower.
"They prefer the term Claw actually as they only bring death to those that threaten them or their loved ones, otherwise they are quite content to live in peace with anyone as long as they are left alone," Seven said.
"H-H-How is this possible!?" the captain exclaimed glancing between the two large Claw females before settling her mystified wide eyes upon Seven.
"Welcome to the truth captain, guess what the world is a lot more mysterious than you ever believed possible, you'd be surprised how many non-human species are as sentient as we are and would be quite happy to live in peace with us if given half a chance, now I'm not saying that all Claws are like my companions even for a moment, but even the non sentient ones are smart enough to respect boundaries for the most part, if people leave them alone and don't infringe on their territory or if they must at least show respect to their hosts then they would be left be, I've seen entire towns that live with feral Claws as neighbors and when the settlement was threatened by the Enclave the Claws came out to fight for their friends because those people had not only respected them but had showed them respect by giving them free food, in exchange the Claws had kept large animals and dangerous predators not to mention raiders away from the town, its amazing what can be achieved if people are just willing to take the time to try something different rather than shooting first," Seven said proudly as he saw both Claws puff up in pride and nod their agreement.
"Well stranger you certainly are an odd one with an odd way of looking at things and to be fair given that armour I thought you were Enclave at first until I saw the paint job on that thing, so I'm guessing you liberated that thing from them and that marks you as ok in my book as you are no friend of the Enclave and you didn't come in here swinging and shooting, so maybe you do have a point about how showing respect gets things done better," she said once again glancing at the two Claws who nodded in agreement.
"So captain what's the deal with entry to Nukaworld?" Seven asked gesturing to the train station behind the small group and she glanced back where he indicated.
"Place is loaded with raiders, we got tasked to come don here and basically keep them contained, they've got their own little fiefdom going on down there where they basically kill each other over supplies and territory and that's fine with everyone else as if they are down there killing and robbing people they aren't up here doing it, but its the civvies that got caught up in it I feel sorry for, there a whole settlement down there and a few satellite ones dotted around the old park and yeah we got stories of some whole new breed of Claw as you call them floating about down there near the old zoo, some crazy stories I've been hearing say that they have mutated alligators or something but I don't know and I'm not going in there to find out if you want in I'm not going to stop you as that's on you but I can tell you now you'll regret it, so my advice is turn around and head out, it ain't worth it," she said.
Seven sighed and nodded getting the feeling where this was already going, "Thanks for the advice captain and I appreciate it but we came here with a job to do and we're going to do it and hell if we get to save some Claws and kill some raider fucks at the same time all the better I guess," he said and she shrugged.
"Alright man then it's on your head just don't say I didn't warn you but for what it's worth I hope you make it through, this world has a whole lot of crazy in it at the best of times but at least you and your friends there seem to at least be the good kind of crazy, ain't too much of that floating about no more," she said and Seven nodded.
"I hear you there," he said.
"Alright the best bet is to walk the rail line here, we locked down the train to prevent anyone falling into the trap of riding it as it leads you right into a warzone-like area death match gig the raiders set up, so your best bet is to stick to the maintenance shaft that runs alongside the monorail until it reaches the park then split off and vanish into the park itself, just whatever you don't follow it to the end or you'll regret it," the captain said and Seven nodded.
"Thanks for the advice," he said and the captain held a hand and then dug into her pocket and produced a small folded paper booklet.
"Here you'll need this, its a map of the park, hopefully, it should point you in the right direction and for what it's worth stranger I hope you make it through you seem like the good sort to me," she said with a smile and with that her and her men headed back to their posts and waved Seven's group through onto the platform and on their way.
The maintenance tunnel was pretty dark and gloomy and Seven had to deploy his night vision to see more than a few feet in the darkness, the four of them were moving in a staggered line as there wasn't a lot of room to manoeuvre in the tight tunnel and given it was a pain in the arse in power armour he couldn't imagine how either Vess or Visa felt, though by the constant clonk noise of horn meeting cross beam and then swearing he got the feeling it wasn't pleasant.
But finally after an hour or so the small team finally reached the part that the captain had indicated, from what Seven had seen on the map it was easy to see why the raiders had set up in this place as it was very defensible on all sides as it was near impossible to enter except from this one place, this provided a natural choke point to control who got in or in the case of what he'd heard, out.
A distinctly cold slimy feeling was sitting in the pit of Seven's stomach that they might very well be dealing with a massive slave labour camp here as Raiders were not exactly known for being either forgiving people or good neighbours by anyone's stretch of the imagination, hell he was pretty damn sure that given a choice most normal people would have chosen a nest of Claws as neighbours any day of the week, at least Claws were rational and could be reasoned with if you knew how, jetted up raiders intent on either killing you and taking your shit or slapping an exploding collar on your neck and taking you as well, not so much.
Seven spotted a submarine-style service access door and after deploying his armour's strength to open the very rusty and stiff wheel handle he poked his head out and looked around onto the darkened platform beyond, it appeared clear and off to his left he could see what the captain had been talking about, it appeared that the raiders had built a wall out of corrugated metal and wood to prevent anyone getting off the train from simply being able to escape into the park, it would serve to funnel them into their clutches like a rat maze.
No sooner had the four of them crossed the threshold of the door than Seven heard voices and he held up a hand to freeze his team in place as he listened and tried to locate the speakers, they appeared to be on their side of the wall and by the footsteps, he was hearing they were getting closer.
Seven quickly ushered the two Claws and one human into cover behind some large pillars and the group sat watching the wall where a telling glow was getting closer, "Don't engage unless they spot us," he hissed quietly and everyone nodded.
"God it's been so fucking long since we had some fresh meat around here," one of the raiders complained and another grumbled in agreement.
"Yeah it's because those Gunner fucks have got the fucking entrance locked down, don't know what fucker hired them but they shoot anyone trying to leave on sight and they are fucking good at it and they also stop anyone trying to get in either, so no more freshies for us to play with and not getting out to raid the local towns either," the other said.
"Fucking do-gooders, I thought the Gunners were supposed to be as tough as it comes and doesn't take shit from anyone?" the first raider said in a gravely voice.
"Yeah, I heard that too, had a friend who used to run with them and said they were just like us but in cleaner armour, until some new guy took over the reins, cleaned the whole lot of them up apparently, got rid of the chaff as he called it, in other words, people like us," the second one said.
"Huh I tell you what gone are the days when you could make an honest cap ripping off a lazy fucking farmer, if we didn't have this place here we'd be fucked, what with the Brotherhood showing up in Boston and clamping down on everyone not to mention those other mercenary clowns towns keep hiring to protect their towns, it's getting harder and harder man, hell we've even got those fucking Gatorclaws running around up in the fucking Safari zone now I mean have you seen those fucking things? I thought regular Deathclaws were bad but those fuckers, I tell you man its fucking bad, whole place is a no go zone now, they keep sending in slaves to try and figure out where they are coming from, not one had come back out, they just find bits of them," the first one said which made Seven smiles inside his helmet and then an idea crossed his mind and he motioned for both Claws and Chris to stay hidden.
As both raiders rounded the corner where Seven and his team were hiding Seven stepped out into the open in front of the two men, "Hi fellas," he said with a cheery wave.
"What the ever living fuck!?" one of them yelled and went to hoist his rather battered-looking pipe gun in Seven's direction but before it got halfway both his and his friend's guns just turned into a shower of loose parts in his hands which clattered down onto the floor along with the bullets they'd had in them.
"Oh come now that's not very nice is it?" Seven said holding out a hand towards them and hoisting the pair into the air securing their arms and legs out to their sides like they were affixed to invisible crosses.
"What the hell!? Who the fuck are you and how are you doing this!?" the second man a rather scraggly thin-looking man who looked like his diet consisted entirely of jet and caffeine exclaimed.
"Me? Oh, I'm no one really, just your friendly neighbourhood Claw wrangler, they tell me I've got quite a talent for it and let me tell you, fellas you haven't lived until you've managed to wrangle yourself a female Alpha Claw Ooooh boy that's a whole lot of energetic girl right there," Seven said putting on a fake Southern accent to fuck with the two men, from behind the pillars he heard a soft purr and a quiet pair of giggles, one very distinctly human.
"Claw wrangler!? What the fuck are you talking about!? Let us down!" the first raider yelled, he was a rather heavy-set-looking man who obviously made his way through life using his size to bully and intimidate others into getting what he wanted, Seven knew the type a mile away so he was the target.
Seven walked right up to the man and looked him right in the eye, "Now I don't suppose you fellas might be so kind as to tell me what the deal is around these parts, guy has to know who's in charge now don't he?" he said still holding onto his accent, it was more for if there were any raiders on the other side of the wall that he hadn't seen or heard it would throw them off the trail until they could get themselves set up to deal with this place.
"There are three gangs here, the Operators that's us, the crazy fucking Disciples and the savages that call themselves the Pack, then there's an Overboss who runs the whole show and keeps the groups in line," the scraggly man said quickly and Seven turned his head to face him.
"Good to know, now where might one find said gangs and Overboss?" he said.
"Don't tell this fucker nothing Blades!" the large man yelled and Seven turned to him again.
"Now that's not nice now, is it? I and this fine gentleman here are having ourselves a nice conversation and you just had to butt into it, I can already see you are going to be a problem so shall I show you how I deal with problems of the raping, stealing, raiding and just generally scum of the fucking earth style problems?" Seven said still keeping the accent but taking on a whole new leave of menacing to his tone.
"Go fuck yourself you...ughhhhh" the man began before Seven crushed his entire body down into the size of meaty dripping soda can that he let fall to the floor with a wet thud as the incredibly dense meat tube hit the cement.
"No thanks don't need to fuck myself got a big sexy Alpha claw girl who happily does that for me and she's a whole lot better at it too," he said before hearing a soft growly purr from behind the pillar.
"Oh my fucking god! Who the hell are you!?" the scraggly man called Blades yelled in a panicked voice.
"I told you, your friendly neighbourhood Claw wrangler, I just forgot to mention that I have zero time or patience for raiding fucks but now that that's cleared up you'd better start talking unless you want me to insert your new meat tube friend there into a bodily orifice I'm not sure if you'd like him to be in," Seven said and Seven had never heard a man talk so fast in his life before.
Once he was done Seven nodded, 'So that's it, I've told you everything I know, so you'll let me go now right?" Blades said in a hopeful voice and Seven chuckled.
"Nope that part was never on the table, can't have you warning your friends that we're coming for him now can we?" he said.
We? What do you mean we!?" the skinny man yelled and on cue both Visa and Vess stepped out from behind the pillars doing their very best angry Claw routine, Seven heard the piss hitting the cement very soon afterwards.
With a flick of his wrist Blades hit the cement and rolled over next to his friend, to anyone that found them they'd just be two tubes of meat laid rotting on the platform, well that was unless the rats or radroaches got to them first, of course, if there was one thing Seven had learned on his travels, you don't have mercy where raiders are concerned because they sure as fuck won't have any towards you.
"You are one scary fucker Seven you know that?" Chris breathed as he looked at the two wet-looking meat tubes that only seconds before had been men.
"Only to my enemies and those who would hurt innocent people, to everyone else I'm as nice as pie, I'm just your friendly neighbourhood Claw wrangler," he said aiming that last part at Visa who gave him a deep throaty growl.
"Keep calling yourself that and this Claw girl is going to wrangle you right out of that tin suit and into the nearest bush," she replied making him laugh.
"Promises promises," he said patting her large thigh.
Vess turned to Chris, "Don't you go calling yourself a Claw wrangler just you remembered who wrangled who," she said playfully as she stoked her human's head with her massive hand.
"Oh I don't know I think I did a pretty good job of wrangling myself a sexy Alpha Matriarch Claw if I do say so myself,' Chris shot back and Vess gave a purry growl before turning to Visa.
"I see what you mean my dear niece, their tounges are made of silver and do make you just want to yank them into the nearest bush," she said and Visa nodded eagerly.
"See? I told you, I know it wasn't just me," she said and Seven laughed before pointing towards the far end of the platform.
"Come on let's go before our horny Claw girls here start getting any more smart ideas about novel uses for the shrubbery around here," he said getting two growls and a laugh in response.
Getting out of the station unseen was easier said than done when your team consists of two massive Claws and a guy in power armour but thanks to night fall and most of the guards being cracked off their tits on some substance or another they managed it escaping into the open area of the park itself.
Seven decided their first stop should be the safari zone given what he'd heard about the raiders being shit scared of the Gatorclaws as they'd called them it seemed like a good area to possibly set up a safe house for them to hide in until they could really get their bearings and get to work here, so making sure they didn't run afoul of any roaming raiders who were wandering around the place they made their way over to the old zoo area.
The place was pretty big with large open area cages and enclosures that had obviously housed a multitude of animals from around the world before the bombs fell and ended everything, now given this place had not been nuked whether the zoo keepers had been kind enough to let the animals go and let them take their chances at living through the fallout or had just put them down was anyone's guess, but there were at least one species that had survived and it didn't take them long to spot one as to be fair it wasn't exactly easy to miss.
"Fucking hell I'd say that's gotta be at least fifteen feet from tip to tail and he stands at least nine feet tall," Seven said quietly as they all hid in a rather large bush and watched the lumbering Gatorclaw wander along one of the pathways that led around the enclosures.
The large male was carrying what appeared to be a freshly killed radstag and he was either going back to his home or possibly his nest with the meal for himself and possibly his family, they didn't know enough about these Claws yet to really determine if their ways mirrored those of the Claws he knew and loved.
Though Seven could quite easily see why they were called Gatorclaws as the large male's head was indeed reminiscent of an alligator in its shape and size, as were his dark patchy scales and the fins that ran all the way down his back and along his massive and wide tail that was being dragged along behind him, he literally looked like a walking oversized alligator.
"Think there will be any sentient ones or do you think they are all ferals?" Chris asked.
"We don't even know if that one is feral or not, remember its best not to judge a Claw by their outward appearance, until their open their mouths to speak the only indicator I've seen is the eyes, those of the sentients tend to be different colours and have far more intensity than those of the ferals," Seven said.
"We take greater pride in our appearance too," Vess said a little indignantly and Seven nodded.
"Yeah and there is that, though when facing down an angry Claw it is a little difficult for a human to appreciate how shiny her scales are or how polished her horns are to be fair, we only tend to get to notice those things if given long enough to fully appreciate them," Seven shot back and Vess huffed.
"A fair point I guess, it is a little hard to appreciate the effort a girl has taken on her scales if she's swiping her Claws at you," she said and Chris patted her large tail.
"Though you do grow a distinct appreciation of them when you get to be the one to wash them and polish them, especially the scales that no one else gets to see,' she said with a playful wink and Vess gave a soft growl.
"Are you forgetting we are in a bush my beautiful silver tongue little human? Do not for one second believe that the presence of my beloved niece or her beloved life mate will keep you safe from my passions should you keep pouring gasoline on the flames of my heart," she purred softly.
"Alright, guys Gatorclaws first pouncing on tempting humans second ok?" Seven said and Vess simply huffed.
"Spoilsport," she said.
Seven and the others followed the lone male Gatorclaw at a distance as he wound his way through the enclosures and paths until finally, he entered what appeared to be a large caged in area, Seven, Chris and the two Claws managed to get close to the cage so that they could peer inside and what they saw warmed their hearts.
At the rear of the cage there appeared to be what looked like a concrete enclosure that looked like an oversized shed, the big Gatorclaw tromped his way over and let loose a deep resonating call as he got close, out of the door appeared four heads one of which was blatantly his mate by the way she was nearly as large as he was and just like Visa and Vess had a very distinctly feminine shape to her as she stepped out into the open followed quickly by three much smaller claws which were obviously their children.
The two large Gatorclaws greeted one another by dipping their long snouts and pressing their foreheads together before rubbing their long snouts together before the big male presented his prize to the female just as the three little Gatorclaws all quickly gathered around them obviously excited by the return of their patriarch and the spoils of his hunt, it was obvious that the big male was happy that his hatchlings would go to bed with full bellies this night.
"So they do have nests like us, but it appears that they live in smaller family units," Vess said as all of the Gatorclaws vanished back into their home to obviously begin their feast of radstag venison.
"Well that's a start and by the look of it there is obviously affection and empathy there too by the way he greeted his lifemate and his children, so I believe we have a starting point of how we could possibly approach them but I think more observation would be a good idea as well because we need to ascertain if there are any sentient Claws among their number because if there are it would be easier for us to establish communication with them rather than trying to build the bridges from scratch with the ferals," Seven said and the others nodded.
"Agreed, even our feral brethren can be quite testy at times, so it would be advantageous to have someone we could communicate easily with," Vess said.
"Alright let's find somewhere to lock down for the night and pick this up in the morning," Seven said and the group silently slipped away from the happy Gatorclaw home and back to an outbuilding seven had spotted on the way over here while they were tailing the male Gatorclaw, but little did they know that this time they weren't the followers but the followed.
The building had obviously once been a pump house of sorts designed to feel the water pools for either the semi-aquatic animals like the alligators or possibly the water troughs of the enclosures for the animals to drink, but the place was made of solid concrete a few foot thick, had big heavy steel doors and as far as any of them could see only one way in and one way out, so once they'd cleared the place to make sure they were going to wind up tripping over a snoozing Gatorclaw having stumbled innocently into their home they secured the two-story building using some metal rebar they'd found to hold the doors shut.
Once they were sure it was safe inside Seven stepped out of his power armour, the only windows to the place were little slit-like affairs that were set pretty high above head height and there was no way in hell a Claw of any variety could get in through one even if they could peek through one, though strangely enough, all the glass was still intact in every single one which these days were a true rarity.
The building was big enough that even though they set up a little communal cooking and eating area down the far end there was room for both pairs to have a little privacy when sleeping as the massive pump in the middle of the place was made of r a rather nice dividing wall though to be fair the group were used to sharing the same room by now.
Seven made a small fire to heat up some rations from the supplies they'd brought with them, though he told them as it was only for cooking as he didn't want the fire running for long as it would be easily visible from the outside and any late night wandering Claws would easily spot the glow in the high windows and may come to investigate, though Vess did remind him that the smell of cooking food might very well do that as well as there were few things as motivated and determined as either a hungry or horny Claw of any type or gender.
Once the meal was cooked Seven extinguished the fire and instead used a small powered lamp with an improvised cone attached to the top to direct the soft blue light downwards and away from the windows so they could sit and eat in peace, as they did they discussed their plans for tomorrow.
"I believe we should avoid going out too early as that will be the tie that most hunting Claws will rise to ensure they have a full day to hunt their prey, so I believe it would be smart to let those hunter head out for the day before we venture out and begin to poke around, though we must be respectful of these Claw's nests, we are in their territory and their homes, we do not want to be simply walking into another Claw's nest especially one that has hatchlings present otherwise we will be met with instantaneous force from the partner guarding said nest," Vess said and Seven nodded.
"And easily understandable concept as human families are exactly the same, I think it might be wise if one of us heads out and does a little hunting of our own not only to supplement our own food supply here but also so that we might have some offerings to present as a symbol of our intent, we want to show these good Claws that we mean them no harm and that we come in peace and will respect the sovereignty of their nests and their territory," Seven said and Vess nodded approvingly.
"This male of yours thinks like a Claw dear niece, I see why you chose him, like my beloved human he knows well the ways of honour and respect," she said drawing said human into her lap and wrapping her arms tightly around him as he tried in vain to eat his stew unmolested.
Visa nodded and very soon Seven found himself sat upon a muscly and scaly seat as well, though she didn't hug him tight enough to stop him eating his stew, "He knows a great many Claw secrets this one dear aunt, like how to wrangle an Alpha female into his nest and how to make it so she never wants to leave," she said with a deep resonating purr in her voice that told Seven all that teasing he and Chris had been doing this day was not going to go unpunished or rewarded whichever way you chose to look at it.
"Indeed and I do believe that he had been passing those Claw wrangling skills along to his protege here, as once I had him in my nest he made it so I never wished to leave it ever again either, though no matter how hard I try he just keeps putting these annoying covering back upon himself, it's so very frustrating, it makes a girl want to roar in frustration at it all," Vess said playfully while gently stroking the side of Chris's face and teasing her claw tip through his hair gently.
"I know auntie spare a thought for me because not only do I have to deal with the frustrations of these accursed coverings but I have to deal with that blasted thing hiding my male's beauty from my eyes as well,' Visa said hooking a thumb towards Seven's power armour suit which stood like a silent guardian just off to the side away from them.
"Well, I think now that we are nested down for the night and we are fed and watered I believe there should be no more need for such accursed things don't you my dear niece?' Vess said and both Chris and Seven swallowed hard and glanced at one another.
"I couldn't agree more, though I do believe we must keep our voices to nest levels, as we are hidden within the territory of others, we would not wish to wake them with jealousy would we?" Visa said and Seven felt her grip on him tighten.
"Ahh so frustrating, oh to roar free and ture of the joys of our beautiful humans, oh well I guess we'll just have to make do with snarling right into their mouths, that should muffle things nicely," Vess said.
"Good plan, I like it," Visa said and with that both Seven and Chris both found themselves dangling from a female Claw shoulder and facing one another.
"See you in the morning I hope," Chris said as he and Vess vanished around the pump and out of sight.
"Hope is the right word," Seven thought to himself as we were promptly deposited on their oversized bedroll and promptly pounced upon by a very fired up Visa, so fired up was she that neither of them heard the shocked and very curious gasp from the window high above them where a silent observer was watching their coupling with great interest.