I do not own anything.
'thought'
"Speech"
"Text via book or newspaper... when those are around..."
System Text
I sit alone in my room. Pondering. Plotting. Planning.
'how do I do this.'
I look down to the small pistol in my grasp.
The reward for my killing of that cannery owner.
A sigh leaves my lips as I unfurl the roll of bounties from my bag.
'let's see here...'
I quickly flick through-
Hang on...
There's a new one?
Shaun:
Description: Old.
Notes: The leader of the Institute. Without him, the Institute will begin to crumble. So much suffering has befallen the commonwealth thanks to them. Synths. Super mutants. They seek to inherit the commonwealth after killing everyone. The main issue... is how do you get into the Institute? More importantly... how do you get out afterwards?
Reward: Command able Synth Gorilla (1 Per Jump), 4 Ranks in the SCIENCE perk, (Which is the equivalent of 200 years of advanced technological knowledge.), Institute X-01 Power Armor (1 Per Jump), Fusion Core (4 Per Jump), VERY nice pair of gloves.
A sigh leaves my lips.
'might as well tell me to kill ALL the leaders of the factions, then.'
Oh, don't get me wrong, buck-o. There's been dozens of requests for you to go out and shoot the gravy. But he's actually a decent person, so I've been sifting those out as you have those pesky morals.
I've also got quite a few request for Elder Maxson from the Brotherhood, but I'm still sort of formatting and printing that one. Interdimensional sheets of paper are hard to come by, y'know!
I stare at the text box for a long moment, then let out a quiet sigh, shuffling to the relevant paper.
I've looked over these quite a few times...
Pondering. Thinking. Plotting a road-map.
Jacob Orden:
Description: White male, grey hair, wears a suit and fedora, Light Grey eyes, has full beard, age 50-80.
Notes: Jacob Orden is the mayor of Covenant, a small town with an almost paranoid hatred of Synths, Synthetic humans created by the Institute. Recently, he and his town raided a caravan because he heard that the daughter of the owner was a Synth. All of the guards were killed, and the woman captured. Should such rampant dangerous paranoia really go unchecked? The only issue is that through killing him, it's likely you'll be forced to face the entire town as well.
Rewards: 50 Bottle Caps, Scoped 308 Bolt Action Sniper Rifle (Two Time Use) 100 .308 Bullets (One Time Use), one rank in the 'Lone Wanderer' Perk (Physical Strength improves by 25% while you are traveling without a companion, you take 15% less damage as well)
I rub my temples, letting out a long breath.
I have been thinking over my life for a long time.
I'm...
Going to skip Far Harbor.
Look. I am tempted to go over there, purely for the Vim power armor sets just sitting around... but the bounties out there... are frankly pathetic.
The first, is some cannibal guy who gives me three levels in the lead belly perk.
The other is one of the children of atom which grants me a perk to become immune to radiation.
Now. That sounds cool and all, but then again... I have no idea how far 'Far Harbor' really is.
It's also on an island... thus, I'd be forced to get on a boat to get there. Subjecting myself to any potential horrors of the deep.
Yeah. No.
My current plan is to kill Jacob, head south and take up a spot in a sky scraper or something and aim down at that big ass Ampitheater with all those culty weirdos. With my new sniper, I should be able to kill 'Brother Thomas' without being killed.
After that, I could go right for Diamond city, break into the mayor's office and unload a full magazine into his chest and jump out of this fucking nightmare... but...
Fuck.
I want to at least get ONE suit of power armor damn it!
Preferably with the knowledge of how to make and modify it. Thus, Ivey needs to die.
Slight issue with that.
Ivey
Description: Dark skin tone, Blue Eyes, markings on face in soot in the vague shape of a skull. Hair in a mohawk-like style. Typically found within a set of modified T-60 Power armor.
Notes: Ivey is the leader of a group of raiders called the 'Rust Devils', a highly technological, robot obsessed group which have taken up residence in Fort Hagen Satellite Array. Even if you can get past the endless waves of robots, raiders, and the modified Sentry Bot 'Ahab', this still won't be an easy fight.
Reward: 2500 Caps, Increase 'Intelligence' Attribute by 1 (Roughly a 25% increase), Power Armor Frame (1 time use), 30 years worth of Power Armor mechanic knowledge/experience, an additional 50 years worth of assorted fallout technological knowledge, 1 Fusion Core (3 Time Use).
SHE has a set of modified T-60 power armor.
There's a flaw in the 60's welding just below the chest plate.
'Thanks?'
No problem.
Regardless, fighting her is going to be an absolute pain.
Unless I convince the brotherhood to help out.
That just might work.
I could dangle a specialized suit of T-60 in front of their noses and a unique lightning throwing weapon. That'd likely whip them up into a frenzy to grab it and claim it, research it, and replicate it.
If I remember correctly, that weapon is also pretty fucking overpowered with the sniper attachments.
After that...
I need to worry about Nuka World.
How the actual fuck am I even going to begin that. I'm not the Sole Survivor. I can't just walk out, tank a fifty caliber shell to the chest and one-handed fire a missile launcher at people!
I'D DIE!
My eyes close as I roll up the list of bounties, reattaching the rubber band keeping the papers uniform.
I managed to buy some supplies from the nearby store.
Sadly, I'm about to burn this bridge.
Oh well.
They're fucking psychos.
Psychos who tried entering the little room I stayed in last night.
Luckily being here in the wasteland has made me a little paranoid freak and I slid a dresser in front of the door.
My eyes crack open as I slowly rise, getting off the bed.
I slip my bag over my shoulder.
I leave the house, slowly walking outside.
There's no-one around and its dark so... perhaps I can do something a little sneaky.
I look to the front gate. It's open...
I quietly approach the house I saw the mayor go into earlier, pulling a fragmentation grenade from my bag.
It takes a little time, but I eventually manage to tie it up in a way that it's out of view and the door opening will pull the pin.
With that, I promptly leave.
I offer a sole nod to the leather jacket wearing man standing guard. "Well, I'm off."
"Be careful out there. Those synths are everywhere." He replies.
"You too." I call over my shoulder.
Huh...
Well... now I can only hope and pray that my little trap works.
It worked.
"Hm? Oh. That's good. Thanks Rob." I hum as I continue walking.
I continued south from covenant, across the bridge into Cambridge.
From there, I headed west, creeping my way through the city.
I did make a note of an incomplete set of T-51 power armor at a military checkpoint on the way over, but it's locked up pretty fucking tight. Steel box. Bulletproof window- I could tell because one of the two window slits had like three bullet marks on it and it still didn't break.
Eventually, I make it to my destination...
Cambridge police station.
Nobody is here, strangely enough.
I let myself inside, gazing around cautiously.
Once more... nobody is here. No real signs of any recent signs of living...
Did... Did I manage to get here before the brotherhood?
Huh.
I look around briefly, scavenging for whatever I can.
There's not much here, honestly. It's been picked clean. There are a few locked places, sure, but I don't really have a way to get in there.
I sit on the rooftop, out of view of any nearby buildings- purely so I don't get a bullet to the skull- my arms are crossed over my chest, my brand new sniper rifle sat in my lap. Several small magazines of ammunition strewn across the floor around me. Each contains five bullets.
I place the assorted bullets into my bag, the added ammunition being quite annoying to carry.
It's not that heavy, mind you, it just takes up a lot of space in my dufflebag.
*Thud-chsss-Thud-chss*
I peer over the lip of the building, watching a group of seven marching down the street.
The size of the group isn't what gets my attention...
It's the sheer hardware they are wearing.
Five of seven are wearing large, bulky, t-sixty power armors.
The one in the front gestures to the building I am sat atop, the group begins slowly walking.
Well, might as well make my presence known so I don't get fucking shot.
"Hey there." I call out.
The group pauses, numerous helmets glancing up as I offer a wave.
"Brotherhood, huh?" I call out. "I wasn't aware you guys had a presence in the commonwealth."
They share a look for a moment before the front most one takes a small step forwards. His voice echoes out, deep and slightly modulated. "Greetings Civilian. I am Paladin Danse of the brotherhood of steel... is this your residence?"
"Nah. I just got here about an hour ago."
"Is this building sturdy?" He questions. "We would like to claim it as a forward operating base."
"It's pretty damned sturdy. Mostly made of stone brick." I nod slowly. "A lot of the inner walls are still up. I did bar the door, though. But there's a side entrance garage that can only be open from the inside. I'll get that for you, because frankly, with that armor you're coming in whether I like it
or not. Give me a minute."
I quickly stand, walking away from my spot, shifting my bag and placing my rifle on my back.
I swiftly make my way through the building and come to the garage, pressing a large red button on the wall.
I am greeted by the sight of a bunch of like seven foot tall mech armors.
"Damn." I whistle. "Impressive armor... hey, out of curiosity, can you guys bend metal? There's a gated off section of this place I wasn't able to check and I didn't have a grenade to blow the lock up."
"Secure the station." Dance orders as he turns to me. "Thank you for your compliance citizen. We are recon team gladius of the brotherhood of steel... can you tell me if you have seen anything strange recently."
"Well, hm... that's a good question, actually." I hum as I stroke my chin. "Tell you what, I know quite a bit about the commonwealth. I'll trade information for bullets if you can find the armory in this place. As a bit of good faith... there's a place down the street called the Cambridge Polymer
labs, over by the river if you had just kept walking past the station. I took a look over there briefly after hearing about it from one of those little floating eyebot things, but they are apparently looking for 'researchers'."
"The thing is." I continue. "It looks like everyone in that building has been dead for two hundred years. It looks like whoever was the leader of that place locked all of the researchers inside the lab until they completed whatever it was they were working on. I left pretty quickly after that, cause I had no plans of getting locked in a lab, but I did glean a little information."
"Apparently, before the war, they were working on some sort of prototype coating for power armor."
"Power armor coating? Interesting. We will take a look soon to see just how valuable your information is."
"I also noticed one of your friends here was missing a suit... I might have seen a near complete T-51 a couple of hours ago." I admit, looking over my nails.
The man pauses, looking down at me. "Near complete?"
"All it was missing was a right arm and leg. The rest looked practically undamaged. It even had a fusion core in it."
"I see... I would like to purchase this information." He turns. "Scribe Haylen."
"Yes sir?"
"Retrieve the 308 Rounds from the bag."
"Yes sir." She salutes as she quickly walks past.
The man turns to me expectantly.
"Huh. Well, not like I could have easily gotten to it anyways. It's trapped in a steel box with bullet proof glass. The only way inside seems to be a terminal at the side. You'll want to go across Cambridge. Roughly in that direction."
I gesture behind him. "Over there, there's a place called Wattz Consumer Electronics. There's a military checkpoint a little north of the building along the road that follows the river."
"I see. Thank you, citizen. Is there any other information you can supply?"
"Quite a bit, actually. Raider gangs. Where a super mutant stronghold is, where a crashed verti-bird with a set of complete T-45 power armor is, mostly out in the open."
"If it's mostly out in the open, why didn't you take it?" He questions.
"Lack of fusion core, sadly." I shrug. "There was a minigun too, but I couldn't get it off its mounting."
I cup my chin. "I should probably circle back around for that."
"Thank you for the information you have supplied. Firstly. We shall see if your information is correct. If so. We will be far more likely to acquire more Intel from you."
Pov: Elsewhere.
Five suits of armor crowd around a large box, an unarmored figure peers into the steel cube.
"T-51." He announces. "Missing arm and leg. It even has a fusion core."
"He was telling the truth, then." One of the knights speaks, his voice booming slightly.
"Scribe, do you think you can get this open?" Paladin Danse question.
The only woman of the group stares down at the terminal.
"No Sir..." She eventually shakes her head. "It has taken nearly two hundred years worth of erosion... then it looks like someone shot it several times with a low-caliber weapon."
"Hard way it is, then." Danse grunts as he steps forwards.
The unarmored figure steps out of the way as the Paladin's armored fingers begin pressing on the door.
With a little exertion, the top corner of the leftmost door is shoved inside, his fingers wrap around the top of the other side and begin to peel it back slowly but surely.
Eventually it gives way, causing him to stagger back as the lock abruptly snaps.
"Scribe, can you give us a brief diagnostic before Rhys climbs inside of it?"
"Yes sir." The woman salutes.
She quickly steps into the box, looking over the armor as the men stand guard.
After around five minutes she comes out. "The exposed arm and leg servos are a little rusted, but not enough that I am worried about the motors burning out. We can do maintenance back at the station. Our biggest worry would be the fact that it's unarmored."
"Better than walking around as I am now." The man without a suit grunts as he steps forwards, twisting the wheel at the back of the armor.
The armor swings open, allowing him to step up inside of it.
He looks over his hands briefly. "The helmet's Hud seems to be a little messed up."
"Can you move?" Paladin danse questions.
"Of course. The compass is just spinning endlessly... and the fusion core gauge doesn't seem to be working properly."
"Scribe, swap his fusion core for one of ours. We don't know how much energy that one contains and it would be detrimental if he lost power in the middle of a firefight."
"Yes sir!" The woman salutes and takes out the fusion core, causing the armor's eyes to dim. She reaches into her satchel and places another inside a moment later, causing the armor to perk up.
"Now." Paladin Danse begins, turning to the others. "Lets continue to Cambridge Polymer Labs. If they were truly working on some form of power armor coating... then they must have power armor there as well... or at the very least components for power armor. We might be able to armor up that arm and leg."
Seven mechanized suits of power armor gaze over a large orb-like robot with three eyes.
"Welcome to Cambridge Polymer Labs. Employment opportunities await in the field of scientific research!" The robot exclaims in a female voice. "Shall we begin your application now?"
The group shares a slow glance before the frontmost armor speaks up. "Yes."
"Let's see what employment opportunities we have available today for someone with your qualifications! Due to increased demand for staff in all fields, we have condensed the employment test accordingly."
"Question one: do you possess previous experience with Polymer synthesis?"
"..."
"Yes." The paladin mutters, lying to the robot.
"Calculating test results. I am pleased to offer you the position of "Researcher." Expect a bright future in Polymer Research!" The robot informs. "Would you all like the orientation before beginning your work in the labs?"
"No." Danse shakes his head. "Let's just move on."
"Very well! Due to staffing needs we can forgo the orientation at this time. Please follow me to the research lab so that you may begin your work."
"Complementary beverages are provided for employees. Please label any food or cigarettes you leave in the breakroom." The robot lists off, seemingly ignoring the loud thudding footsteps of the six giant mech armors.
They are on guard, the robot is clearly malfunctioning. Its body damaged, lacking a lot of its protective shell on its back half, hell, it's even acting like the great war didn't happen.
It is a vaguely interesting look into life before the great war, Danse notes.
"Here is your lab coat and clip board." The robot hums, lifting a dirty and slightly torn piece of cloth into view with its pinchy claw. "Please take a moment to change into your proper work attire and follow me into the clean room. The research staff will greet you on the other side of the clean
room. Thank you for your attention and welcome to the team!"
*Thud-Thud-Th-Thud*
The group make they way through the lab, eventually entering a large room.
The door slams shut behind them. "I have been directed to inform you that Director Elwood has issued mandatory overtime due to uncompleted milestones. Initiating decontamination process."
*SSSSS*
A spray enters the room from the top corners.
*CRACKLE*
The Geiger counters within the suits begin screaming in protest at the sprits of 'decontamination' spray.
"Shit! Rads!" One of the knights curse.
"There's a hole in the wall over here." A second observes. Haylen. Rhys. Quickly."
The unarmored woman and the incomplete suit of power armor quickly dash through the hole in the wall, deeper into the lab.
"Decontamination error. Restarting the process." The robot seems to inform.
The five remaining suits of armor quickly duck through the hole, eventually coming to a large lab.
"Scribe, Rhys, are you two alright?" Danse questions after a brief moment.
"I've got most of my body covered. Focus on Haylen." The man with the incomplete armor begins.
"I'm fine, sir. I've taken a Rad-X pill. I will use a Radaway should I see any other symptoms." The woman salutes.
"I'm glad." Danse breathes a sigh of relief. "You two should stay here. The Geiger counter on Rhys' suit doesn't seem to work, and if that was any indication, it's likely we'll soak up some radiation here."
"Sir." One of the men begin. "I see two potentially functioning computers."
"Good." Danse nods slowly. "Scribe. Begin scrubbing those files. Rhys, you protect her."
"Yes sir." They both salute as he turns his gaze to the others.
"Dawes. Keane. Brach. Warwick. We will secure the area. We don't know what we might find here."
"Yes sir." The four men nod as they, as a unit, begin marching towards the sole exit to the lab, weapons in hand. The woman of the group crouches down before the old and dusty terminal, the man with the incomplete power armor standing close by.
"We've got ghouls!" Danse calls out as the doors open.
He lifts his weapons, unleashing a beam of energy towards one of the rapidly approaching zombie-like radiation monsters.
It goes down to the first shot, his allies raising their weapons, gazing around the room as they hear other distorted growls and hisses.
"Sir." The scribe reports. "I have added the required materials to the system. All that remains would be to confirm its production."
"Do it." Danse nods slowly.
"Yes sir!" The woman marches over to a nearby terminal and quickly taps away at it.
A moment later, the wall seems to vibrate, a piece of power armor seeming to pass through numerous lasers.
A moment later, the wall cracks open, dumping the chest piece into the floor.
It is followed by a leg, an arm, another leg, helmet, and then a final arm.
"Paladin." One of the knights begin. "It's a full set of model T-51 armor."
"I see. Someone collect it. Then we should do a sweep of the building after we break out of here. If the armor is here... they likely had a frame as well. Maybe a few spare pieces to repair the armor. Scribe Haylen. Have you recorded our findings?"
"Yes sir. I have also downloaded the blueprints for the machine behind this wall and placed it into a holotape. Once we get back to the station, perhaps we should set up a transmitter beacon and send back word to the Prydwin."
"The armor needs testing before we can conclude anything. What does the research claim this armor is able to do?"
"It... claimed that it'll soak up a fraction of the radiation the suit is subjected to in order partially recharge the fusion core."
"What?!" Danse gasps.
"It appears the chest-piece is the most crucial part of this. Without it, nothing would work." The scribe continues.
The man's armored fingers come up to his mask.
He... has a tough decision to make now. Does he keep hold of this information for when- IF he meets back up with the brotherhood, or does he send in a report now, ahead of schedule, with the potential of it being an exaggerated find?
No.
He should send word.
If this works at even a quarter of the capacity it claims... it would be a tremendous boon to the brotherhood.
"So. It looks like the scavver was useful for something after all." One of the knights mutter.
"He said he had more information." A second observes.
Rhys looks over. "Are we really going to pay him for this information, Sir?"
"Yes." Danse decides. "His words have been nothing but help and more importantly accurate. He told us where a set of T-51 was. And it was there. He told us that the polymer lab was potentially working on some sort of power armor modification... and it was. That level of intel is worth a
few bullets... making enemies out of everyone we meet is how we die, Rhys. Some people are untrustworthy, but at the moment, this man has given us valuable intel. I do not put a lot of personal trust into him, not enough to put my life on the line for him, but his word as someone who lived here should be taken into consideration. This is... his... home. We are just strangers here."
"Yes sir." The man nods, causing the Paladin to look to the woman of the group.
"Scribe Haylen. Begin setting up the transmitter beacon when we return to the police station. We need to send our findings before any further searching. Rhys and Worwick, assist her."
"Yes Sir!" She salutes.
""Yes Sir!"" the knights agree.
Well, it appears our little assassin has met the brotherhood of steel... plus he got a new bounty!
Good fucking luck getting to Shaun, though.
As for MORE bounties, there's a Gunner one in the works, as for the others?
I'll skim through the rest of the comments for this soon I'm mainly looking for fallout kills at the moment. (Thought I will give a little hint, our assassin's next world is going to be WW2 MCU... and yes, he's going to have a contract out for Hitler.)
I've also seen a lot of request for Weiss Schnee and Ruby Rose and that's a little unfair. They were good characters... before the creators ruined them. Also, they're hot anime women, soooo probably going to be a 'no' on those requests.
Cinder can totally fucking burn in hell, though. If he ever gets around to Rwby, she's sure as shit going to have a bounty.