Radiance Chapter 85: Casting off the Shackles.
It took Fuller and Glory about two solid hours to both calm down the scientists and escaped synths as well as to convince them that they not only meant no harm but were who they said they were.
It turned out that one of the reasons that they had fled was a relationship between one of the scientists and her synth helper had blossomed and she had come to realize how very wrong what they were doing was and given she knew the Institute's ways of silencing its opponents by vanishing them and replacing them with a synthetic duplicate she had decided to run taking her lover with her.
But as it turned out she hadn't been the only one with that line of thinking and there were rather a few within the Institue who felt as she did some of them were somewhat vocal and this had led her to her current comrades and together they had hatched an escape plan.
The female scientist who was one of their head Biologists in charge of creating synthetic replicas of extinct species and her lover made Fuller think of him and Glory, a human and a synth who refused to let their differences get in the way of their feelings for one another but it also reminded him of the ticking clock on their relationship and it filled him with great sadness.
"Teleportation huh well that explains how the damn hunter teams keep getting the drop on us as well as vanishing," Glory said thoughtfully.
"You guys have to help us, if they capture us it's a death sentence for all of us as they can't allow people to know that not only is there a way out but that there is an alternative to their way of thinking," the lead scientist a woman called Justine said imploringly to Fuller.
"Don't worry we've got a plan to get you out but first we kinda need your help with a matter of great importance," Glory said before Fuller could respond.
She turned to look at her curiously, "Anything, please just get us out of here before they send more coursers after us," Justine said.
Glory nodded and looked at Fuller, "What's your gieger reading?" she asked and Fuller instinctively glanced at his dials and to his surprise, it was incredibly low.
"I'm getting standard of rads but how is that possible?" he exclaimed.
"The cave is lined with a mixture of minerals that absorbs radiation, it's why we chose it to hide out in the first place, these suits won't last forever out there just like even that power armour of yours won't though granted it will last a great deal longer than this thing, but we needed a place where we could hide out without the rads killing us off while we waited for the heat to be us so we could move but the coursers found us quicker than we would have hoped," Justine said.
"Makes sense oh and nice trick with the Deathclaws by the way," Fuller said making Justine nod and smile.
"Yeah our field teams have observed how aggressive the females are when hunting for a mate and we've seen them track males for miles across all sorts of terrain just for the chance to capture him, those girls are quite something," she said.
"I guess there's a lesson there, never underestimate the power of horniness," Fuller said making Glory punch his arm playfully making his armour ring.
"Indeed but now that you've removed them we no longer have a cover screen here we have to move as soon as possible," Justine said and both Fuller and Glory nodded in agreement.
"Tell me can any of you perform surgery?" Glory asked.
"Umm yes three of us can, myself and both Richard here as well as his sister Lilleth, we were all in the Biology team they were my helpers and assistants but I made sure they were trained to the highest standards why?" Justine said in confusion.
"Because we need you to remove a couple of tracking beacons," Fuller said and now Justine looked horrified.
"Tracking beacons!?" she exclaimed in panic and Fuller put up his hands to calm her down.
"Don't worry the signal is blocked here by the radiation but if we leave this place with them still operating it'll bring the ESF right down on our heads," he said and this seemed to calm her.
"Enclave Special Forces? Here?" she asked and Fuller was kinda impressed that she knew who they were.
"Yeah, I'm ex-ESF, well as in they believe I'm dead and buried but no one truly ever leaves the ESF it's kinda one of the tenants of joining it in the first place, you're in it till you die, or in my case, until they believe you are dead, so yeah I took a bit of a hit out there and it kinda reactivated the chips in my body so I'm thinking I really need to get these fuckers out of me or we'll have more than Institute to worry about," Fuller said.
"And if we'll do this you'll help us get out of here and disappear?" Justine asked hopefully and Glory nodded.
"Yes we already have an exit strategy ready and even an evac vehicle ready to go," she said.
"Alright then, I'm not exactly thrilled about doing surgery under these conditions and I must warn you due to the non-sterile nature of this place there is a significant risk of an infection, we do have extremely powerful antibiotics with us but still," Justine said and Fuller nodded.
"I accept the risks," he said and she nodded before she turned to who he assumed was Richard who was a tall man with a shock of messy blonde hair and blue eyes.
"Prep the place, we'll do this right now," she said and he nodded and turned to a load of cases they had with them to begin pulling out what looked like fibre covers.
"Do you know where the device is?" she asked and Fuller nodded.
"Devices, plural and yes I know where they are," he said and she looked surprised as he pointed them out and listed them off while also warning her of potential booby traps and how to both identify as well as disarm them.
"Well it sounds like your former people are as paranoid as my former people," she said and Fuller nodded before stepping out of his power armour.
"Ain't that the truth oh and call me Owl by the way," he said.
"Interesting name Owl I'm guessing it's a codename?" she asked as she gestured for him to head into the hastily prepared clean area and he nodded.
"I'd heard the Railroad was paranoid and until I had to do this I always found it both quaint and funny, now I fully understand them, doing this kind of shit with people always looking over your shoulder is a nightmare and it frays your nerves something rotten, I don't know how your people do it as a day job," she said.
"Because the reward is worth it," Fuller said grinning at Glory.
"Oh? And what reward is that might I ask?" Justine asked as she motioned him to lie down on the sleeping bag come surgical mat as it was covered with a clean sheet made of plastic resin.
"Let's just say you aren't the only one who knows the truth of the synthetic heart doctor," Fuller said as he lay down and looked into the pop-up ring light that Richard was currently aiming at him.
"Oh? Oh! I see and you know what that makes me so very happy," Justine said as the realisation dawned on her of what he was saying.
"That makes two of us doc," Fuller said and winced as he felt her inject him with something that instantly made him drowsy.
"Well here goes nothing lets do surgery in a cave shall we?" she asked her now masked and gloved companions it made Fuller realise that they had most likely been planning to use their surgical skills as a way to barter their way into any settlement they could to hide which was a pretty fair trade as good doctors weren't exactly common in the wastes and that was the last thought that crossed his mind before everything went black.
It could have been seconds or hours of unconsciousness passing for Fuller as in the void there is no time, he dreamed no dreams, thought no thoughts, had no fears or loves, he simply was, one with the blackness until the light returned.
When he gasped his first breath and snapped his eyes open we went to sit up until an armoured hand appeared on his chest and held him in place and he suddenly found himself looking into Glory's handsome features, at some point she'd removed her helmet but not her power armour.
"Easy there big boy the surgery was a success and damn those little buggers were dug in deep weren't they?" Glory said with a grin.
Fuller took a deep breath and then laid back before looking over at the tray laid next to his makeshift bed and he quickly counted the small devices and they were all accounted for, with these devices out of him his link to the ESF was severed, now it was time for phase two.
Unfortunately, there really wasn't time for him to relax and recuperate so instead a few shots of powerful painkillers and some regenerative agents later Fuller was back in his power armour and they were underway, now all he had to do was once again fake his death and he kinda had a plan of just how to do it.
So once they got the scientists and their synthetic allies packed up the group headed back out into the wastes of the Glowing sea, Fuller gently guided the group near to the lake where he'd sent the hopeful Claw girls with the Pissile and as he hoped they were still hanging around still searching for the illusive male Claw and as he hoped as they passed by the caught a whiff of the coating his armour had picked up when he released the canister and now they began to follow them at a distance.
Both Glory and Fuller were running security and as they drew close Fuller pretended to notice their tails, "Hey Glory I think we got some followers," he called up and she turned around from the point of the column and followed where he was pointing and she obviously noticed the glowing shapes in the distance all following in their footsteps.
"What the fuck? How the hell did they find us?" she exclaimed.
"It's gotta be my armour, I must have gotten sprayed when I fired off that canister, we can't afford to stop not here, we're too exposed, we're gonna need to split up," Fuller said and he could positively feel Glory looking at him like he was crazy through her helmet.
"Are you nuts!? What are you gonna do?" she demanded.
"I'm going to lead them off while you get our friends here to the pickup point, they are what's important they are the mission and we are the soldier's Glory, it's our job to keep these civilians safe, so you take them to the drop off I'll lose my fan club and then meet up with you but as soon as you get to the drop off fire the flare, don't wait for me, I'll be there before the Vertibird arrives I promise," Fuller said.
He could tell that she really didn't like this but she could see his logic, she walked right up to him and gripped the back of his helmet as he deactivated his teslas just in time as he saw what she was going to do.
"You come back to me you hear me?" she said and he nodded.
"Not going anywhere else," he said and she bumped their helmets together.
As she was heading off with their charges she turned one last time and her next words very nearly wrenched his heart clean out of his chest between his ribs, "Hey Owl" she said and he turned to look at her.
"I love you," she said and with that, she turned and walked away making Fuller feel like she'd just punched him full force in the gut with the armour still on.
As he walked away Fuller was feeling a maelstrom of emotions swirling in his heart and he kept catching his heart trying its hardest to talk him out of what he was about to do, but he couldn't allow it to happen as much as it hurt like a bitch this needed to happen and he needed to do this as sorry as it was going to make him.
As he left the sight of the group he kept an eye on the Claws in the distance and they had changed direction to follow him and in a weird kinda way he also kinda felt sorry for these girls as despite being apex predators who would most likely kill you as soon as look at you they still did nothing wrong in this situation, they were just innocent girls looking for a boy to make eggs with, they didn't know any better.
As soon as Fuller knew the Claws were out of sight from the group and he saw the flare fly into the sky he took a deep breath, it was time to kick phase three into gear and this was the one that was going to be the worst by a long shot.
On his way out after landing he'd been looking for a perfect spot to carry out this next part and given he hadn't met the Claws yet he'd kinda been scratching his head as to where to carry this out, but now all the pieces had kinda just fallen into place and it felt like the universe was rolling him out of this just to spite him.
Fuller took a very deep breath and initiated something he'd never in a million years figured he'd have to do, the little-known power armour self-destruct.
Unbeknown to pretty much anyone all Enclave power armour is fitted with a self-destruct to stop it from being captured by the enemy and it can also be used as a booby trap, but another fun fact was that once it was initiated it could not be stopped, the only way to lessen the effect was to rip out the fusion cores which would only then cause the armour's computer systems to destroy themselves rendering it totally useless.
But this time he was going full nuclear so once he went through all the safety are you sure you really want to do this routine he hit the final countdown, he now had two minutes to get to the minimum safe distance before the suit went critical, now all he needed was both an audience and a reason, so now he opened fire on the Claws deliberately missing them but shooting near to them to get their attention.
It worked beautifully as the group of stunned Claws who had ducked for cover as the first shot went overhead now bellowed roars at him and began to run, but Fuller was already out of his armour and running using a series of ruined buildings for cover so neither they nor Glory if she came running which in a way he kinda hoped she wouldn't but knew she would could see him.
His instincts were spot on because from his hiding spot he saw the tell-tale silhouette of Glory cresting a nearby hill just as the Claws jumped onto his armour and knocked it down tearing into it.
But it wasn't that that tore his heart out, it was the blood-curdling scream she let out only a moment before his fusion cores went critical and detonated starting a chain reaction of detonating the broken-down cars that were surrounding it and turning the whole place into ground zero as the whole place just vaporised in nuclear fire.
Fuller's heart was completely destroyed by the sight of Glory dropping to her knees as the remnants of his armour and burning bits of Claw skeleton rained down on both him and her, but fortunately Fuller did not have the time to hang around as the RadX he had popped was not going to last long and he didn't even want to think about how much Radaway he was going to have to use to get shot of this shit, so with a final gut-wrenching silent goodbye to the woman he had rapidly begun to love Fuller turned his back and began to slip away out sight heading for the edge of the Glowing sea as fast as he could.
Every single step he took made him feel worse and worse and he was damn sure it wasn't the radiation, it was the guilt burning into his soul.
Despite him knowing that this was for the best he couldn't help but feel the pain radiating from Glory's heart not to mention his own as he moved, but he would have to grieve later because his next big hurdle would be coming up in the form of slipping past the ESF who were undoubtedly watching the outer edge of the Glowing Sea for his exit, but the boon in his favour was that they were undoubtedly watching for a Vertibird, not for an unarmored man on foot.
He heard the Vertibird before he saw it and he saw it glide overhead into the distance where it turned and lowered itself for Glory and the scientists to board before lifting up and heading out.
As it passed by him in his hiding place between some rocks just outside of the rad zone Fuller could see Glory manning the door gun and even from here and inside her power armour he could feel the sadness radiating off her and his own soul mirrored it perfectly at that moment, now he hated himself more than he could have ever thought possible, he had broken that innocent woman's heart into a billion pieces with his actions and it gave him guilt that was rightfully his for it.
He silently swore to himself that once he was properly free he would try and make things right, not that he could truly make them right with her as that would put her and the entire Railroad in jeopardy as he did not doubt in his mind that the ESF would most likely try and infiltrate the Railroad again in order to learn what had happened to him as well as to carry out his now failed mission.
This left him with a very limited window of opportunity to act, he had to find Seven and his people before they did, he had to ensure they were warned of what was coming for them, but that was only step one to making things right with the universe, step two would be trying to figure out how to open his mind enough to embrace their way of life.
That was working on them even allowing him to be among them that was because they could very well send him packing back out into the wastes alone and really who could blame them if they did?
To them he was not only an enemy combatant but he was one of the very people tasked with tracking Seven down and handing back to the fucker who had started all of this by trying to play god with the lives of innocent beings in an attempt to give the Enclave control over the country again through the fear such beings could create, just look at Seven himself.
He was a human man with the power to level a city with nothing more than the power of his mind, then there were the others like number eight and number nine who were shadowing his team and none of them truly knew what they could do yet but if they were going after Seven then they must at the very least be his equals.
All he knew was he had to try, it would be the first step on his road to redemption because of his brief time with Glory had taught him anything it was her and non-humans like her deserved life and the chance to live it in peace and right now Seven and his people was the greatest chance of something like that coming to pass, he had to find him.
The biggest question running through Fuller's mind as he sat in his hole waiting for night to fall so he could slip out of the area silently was where to start?
So far Seven had been a pretty illusive character despite making such a splash in his wake, he was like the stories of the Mysterious Stranger who showed up out of nowhere to help those he deemed worthy in their times of need.
Now he could ask about in a few settlements but he knew that would draw unwanted attention to him so he guessed that his only choice was to head north and do this the hard way, he was going to find where they had entered the territory and try tracking them from there but little did he know that fate kinda had other ideas for him.
After night had fallen he had set off making sure he stayed out of sight of things like main roads and settlements, it felt odd being completely on his own now, with no backup, no support, and no one to call if shit went sideways this was it just him and his gun.
After two days of travelling, he felt like he was sure that the ESF was off his back as their attentions would be focused on both the Railroad and the Glowing Sea, undoubtedly they had searched the death site now but thanks to his armour's self destruct there would not be anything left for them to really find other than bit and pieces of burnt twisted metal and a few body parts that would be pretty much indistinguishable.
Another thing they would have most likely done was infiltrated the Railroad HQ to get their hands on the combat report that Glory would have given to Desdemona that would have reported his death in action in leading the Claws away from their group before being attacked and overwhelmed causing him to initiate his self destruct to kill the claws in order to protect the group.
That line of thought brought him back to Glory and his heart began to ache once again, but as he sat on an old bed in an abandoned apartment above a shop lamenting about how he felt his senses began tingling and he heard the sound of voices on the wind.
Grabbing his gun he set himself up with a sight line on the road leading past these houses and small shops, he would have been invisible from the outside thanks to the shadows in the room and he had a clear view down the road leading up this way but what he saw actually made his mouth fall open in shock.
There was a group approaching and they looked like the most mismatched collection of people you could have ever imagined in a million lifetimes, there were two Claws though one looked rather odd given that it seemed to have both wings and feathers while the other was a rather large male, with them were some humans one black-skinned female walking hand in Claw with the feathery Claw and another a man in a Chinese Stealth suit walking next to the big male Claw.
But it was the two at the head of the group that really caught his attention, it was a black-skinned human female who appeared to be riding on the back of what looked like some kind of spider centaur with his top half being that of a human albeit with some very spider-like features like mandibles and multiple eyes but very distinctly human features and a full spider-like bottom half.
Fuller's heart soared like a fucking eagle on the breeze, this was them or at least some of them, this was Seven's group, he'd found them completely out of fucking nowhere!
But where were the rest of them?
As he counted he realized there appeared to only be six of them and that begged the question as to where the rest of them were and he couldn't see number Seven anywhere among them, had they split up or something, or we these guys a scouting party?
These questions and so many more needed to be answered before he made his approach so he would have to tail them for a bit and see what kind of intel he could gather from them before he approached, so with a bit of work he got himself into a position that once they passed by he could fall into step with them but maintain a suitable distance as to not be seen while eavesdropping in on them.
"You know when I joined up with this outfit I never thought we'd wind up being detectives or mercs," the black-skinned female who was walking hand in hand with the feathery Claw said and the woman on the back of the spider centaur laughed.
"Yeah know what you mean but I think Seven would be proud of us, it shows that we're willing to go out of our way to help people don't you think, even if those people are not human and at the end of the day isn't that what this group is all about?" the rider said.
"I think it's a good thing, it shows normal everyday humans that not only are we not scary but we can be really helpful," the spider centaur said in a surprisingly musical voice.
"Speak for yourself spider boy I'll have you know I am a very scary Claw," the large male said puffing out his massive chest proudly as he struck a pose with his hands on his hips.
"Except when your on the bed with your tail over your shoulder begging for more, not so bloody scary then are we?" the man in the Chinese Stealth suit said making the who group laugh except for the male Claw who deflated and glared at him.
"Well see who's begging who for more later shall we little human?" the big male said aiming what was blatantly a playful swat at his head and missing as the man dodged him nimbly while roaring with laughter.
"Oh I got no shame in begging you my love because I know you haven't got it in you to deny me, so I get what I want which is all of my big bad Claw boy," the man said dodging back and appearing next to the big Claw while embracing him from the side making him make a humph noise before returning the embrace.
This open display of affection and sexuality actually shocked Fuller, it really did seem that this group had embraced practising what they preach in the form of interspecies togetherness and they really weren't shy about showing it.
Fuller really couldn't get over the surrealness of this situation he found himself in, he was full-on tailing a pair of Deathclaws, a giant spider guy and a collection of humans who were all talking about their love lives together, it was the oddest scene he could have ever imagined in his life but then again he had just had a love affair with a synth so who was he to judge them?
That's when he noticed something on the ground and he looked down only to see what appeared to be ultra-fine strands of what appeared to be sticky silk glimmering in the sunlight as he tried to step over one he failed to notice the two others that didn't shine in-between the grass, it appeared that the spider boy had been busy a point that was confirmed a moment later when he whipped around on the spot to face him in the bushes.
"We got a tail, there in the bushes!" he exclaimed pointing at the bush that Fuller currently hid in making his heart lurch into his mouth as the whole group Claws included spun and fractured spreading out around him.
"Come out with your hands up and leave any weapons you got on you on the ground otherwise I'm gonna send our two scaly friends in to drag you out and trust me you don't want that," the black-skinned woman who had been riding the spider boy yelled as she took up a firing position by a crumbling wall as the spider himself jumped up onto a rooftop of one of the shops to get a bird's eye view.
Fuller cursed under his breath, he couldn't believe he'd made such a rookie mistake as to fall for a simple fucking trip wire and still had no idea how the fucking spider boy had even managed to get it into the bushes ahead of him without him seeing it but now he really didn't have much of a choice so he made his Gauss rifle safe and placed it on the ground.
"I'm coming out don't shoot I don't mean you any harm," Fuller called before putting his hands up and stepping forwards into the light.
He instantly saw every set of eyes lock onto him and with them came weapons and even Claws as the two Deathclaws extended their claws just enough to make a point that was received loud and fucking clear, make a move and you become cutlets.
"Get down on your knees and interlock your fingers atop of your head," the black-skinned woman who had been walking with the feathery claw commanded as she circled closer to him with her weapon trained at his chest, these people were professional.
"I'm going to frisk you if you act stupid see that hunk of feathers and scales right there? Well, he sees you and trust me when I say his eyes will see any move you try to make before you can make it, so if you like hands and arms keep them where you were told to," she said and the feather Claw growled deeply as if to say fuck around and find out how quick I am.
Fuller kept his eyes forwards as she patted him down and found nothing but his combat knife in its holster on his arm, she removed it and then went to the bush and retrieved both his sidearm and his rifle.
She gave a low whistle as she came out carrying it, "Now this is a fucking gun, no civvy would be able to afford a piece like this so who the fuck are you and why are you following us?" she asked.
"My name is Ethan Fuller former member of the ESF that's the Enclave Special Forces to the uninitiated and I am looking for Number Seven or Number Three," he said and that got their attention.
"He's with the fucking Enclave?" the big male Deathclaw snarled menacingly flexing his Claws.
"Oh? and what do you want with them?" the black woman who had been riding the spider boy asked.
"To deliver a message to them it's of great importance," Fuller said looking her right in the eye.
"What message?" she asked.
"They are in great danger, the ESF is here and they are hunting them and their entire team which I know you are a part of," Fuller said.
"Why should we believe you?" the woman asked and Ethan sighed.
"Because I am part of the team sent to capture Seven and Three as well as kill the rest of you," he said which got more than a few snarls from them non0-human and human alike.
The woman held up her hand to silence them and walked up to him, "And why should we believe you and while we are on it why would you tell us this?" she asked.
This was it the make-or-break moment for Fuller but how the hell was he supposed toward something like this?
How did someone put such a life-changing point into words like this?
"Because I've had a change of heart, I met someone in my duties while I was trying to find you and she showed me the truth, a truth that I could not deny and I just knew that I had to do something and this was all I could do," he said realising how hollow his words sounded and indeed felt.
"Who was this person you met?" the woman asked obviously curious.
"A synth called Glory who works for the Railroad, that's the synthetic freedom network that frees synth slaves from the institute, I've been with them for a number of days and we planned to use their resources to find you guys by convincing them that you were using captured synthetic slaves so they would track you down, then we were going to hit you guys with the help of two of Seven and Three's former colleagues," Fuller said.
"Colleagues? What Colleagues?" the woman asked.
"Number Eight and Nine, fuckers creep me the fuck out but they are here to capture the pair of them while the rest of us were ordered to wipe out the rest of you, all Dr Chalmers cares about is Seven and Three," Fuller said honestly and the woman's face changed into a scowl and then into a snarl like she suddenly discovered her mouthwash was actually week old cat piss.
"Fucking Chalmers because of course it is, we need to get hold of Seven immediately, this shit changes everything," the woman said and suddenly it just clicked in Fuller's head, this was number Three.
"You're Three aren't you?" he said and she shot him a dangerous look.
"I don't go by that name, while Seven owned his and made it who he is I'm Wisp now and don't you fucking forget it, you call me Three again and you'll find out what having your head turned inside out from the inside feels like Enclave boy," she snarled and Fuller felt an ice prick tickle his heart.
"Wait you believe him?" the other black woman said.
"Gonna find out now but this still needs to be addressed, we need to warn the other groups, if these fuckers are out there in the shadows they need fair warning," Wisp said.
Then in a display of both pure beauty and terror-inducing power she turned and streamed out of the mouth, ears and nose of the black woman before swirling around his head in a glittering cloud forcing her way into his head before he could even blink.
Fuller could actually feel her in his head, it was like having two minds in his skull all at once and he dropped onto his face clutching his head as the pain of having his mind forcibly rifled through like fucking filing cabinet hit him, it was like someone swinging a bag filled with bells and nails into the inside of his skull.
When she finally pulled herself free Fuller stayed panting on the floor as the ringing in his head slowly began to subside, Wisp flowed her way back into the woman's body which he only now realised had not moved the entire time making him realise must be either a robot or synth body.
"So what's the verdict?" the spider boy asked now dropping down beside her and scuttling up to her.
"He's telling the truth, he's a former member of the ESF who infiltrated the Railroad on their orders in order to get them to hunt us down but he met a synth girl who kinda changed both his mind and his heart and he had to do something terrible in order to protect her, he faked his death letting her believe that he is dead so he could come and hunt us down himself but not to hurt us but to warn us of what's coming, he also wants to join us," Wisp said looking at him as he pushed himself up off the floor.
Suddenly two very large scaley hands hoisted him to his feet with zero effort and held him up, "So he's for real?" the big male Claw said and Wisp nodded.
"He's one of us and he's paid one hell of a price to find us, I'm sorry about Glory despite how you tried to hide it I felt how you felt about her, pity it took her to make you see the truth Fuller but I am glad you did," she said looking at him with a much softer expression now.
"So what do we do now? We can't leave Valentine in danger can we?" the other black woman asked.
"Well that's the question now isn't it?" Wisp said thoughtfully.