Chapter 14
The interior of Fort Daggerpoint was dimly lit which prompted Dee and Helios to turn on their Rotom-Boy lights and some of the soldiers to turn on flashlights. It was remarkably clear inside with only a few piles of rubble lying on the ground of the main entrance.
"Alright, people, fan out in pairs and grab anything useful: weapons, explosives, even canned food and medical supplies. If you find anything hostile call for backup instead of fighting, I want everyone to come back alive." Captain Jameson's orders made everyone disperse.
Melany and GR-0-WL's search led them to three ammunition boxes that had been stacked up by a wall, GR-0-WL's eye light illuminating everything for them to search.
"Let's see…" Melany crouched down to open the box and pulled out a small cylindrical battery. Her face broke into a wide grin, "Finally! Motherfucking microfusion cells!" She pulled out her plasma rifle and swapped the drained cell for the fresh one she'd just looted and powered the weapon on.
"Good, maybe there's more," GR-0-WL turned and pushed another box open with its nose.
Melany fished another microfusion cell out of the first box then checked the others, "Just some bullets but let's bag them anyway."
Some ammunition and a few grenades were found in other boxes scattered around the concourse. Annai, Gertrude, Alisson and Mary explored an offshoot room but came back almost empty handed, with only a few stimpacks from a first aid kit to show for it, saying it was just administrative offices.
Shouts and the rattling of gunfire drew everyone's attention. The shouts came from the Frank as he cowered behind a wall while Zade pressed up against the same wall where the side has been skimmed by bullets.
"You were supposed to wait to engage, Sergeant!" Zade hissed down at the shaking Furret-man.
"Sorry…" Frank looked up.
"Sorry what?" Zade's voice was harsh.
"Sorry, sir!" Frank stood up.
"Report, Lieutenant," Jameson said, the rest of the group now joined them behind the wall.
Zade saluted, "There's a ramp down to a garage that forms a trench across to the deeper parts of the base but there's a sentry bot guarding the other side. Sergeant Frank," he shot a stink-eye at the now calmer Furret-man, "Tried to cross before we could do proper recon and it started firing. Were it not for the debris crowding the ramp he'd probably be dead."
"What's a sentry bot?" Helios asked.
Captain Jameson turned to face the rest, "Old military robot designed purely for combat, armed with either a minigun or gatling laser and a missile launcher and armor that just shrugs off small arms. We're fortunate it's indoors because it probably isn't allowed to use explosives in here. Either way it's going to be a roadblock to where the best stuff is probably stored."
"Your assault rifles could work but you'll waste a lot of ammunition to break its armor," Annai's voice made them jump slightly as she'd been mostly silent during the gathering.
"We can't go back with what we have, barely enough to replace the stuff we've spent just getting here," Zade's fur sparked, "Not sure I can zap it from here without getting perforated, not enough light to see it without painting a target on us."
"Leave that to me," Melany drew her plasma rifle from her back, "Just give me a moment to spot it."
"You sure?" Jameson sounded concerned, "Need any distractions?"
"Toss a couple grenades in there first and hope it starts firing," Melany checked the sites on her rifle.
"Got it," Zade primed one of his frag grenades and hurled it out into the next room. A moment later it exploded and there was the rattling of a minigun as the Sentry Bot fired where it had gone off, the muzzle flashes giving away its location. Melany darted out of cover and fired at the robot, bright green bolts zooming across the trench and striking the robot's chassis. The Sentry bot turned to fire at Melany, the bullets striking her armor a few times before she melted through its armor and two more shots fried its CPU, shutting it down.
Melany winced and pulled a bullet from her armor, "That was close, but one Sentry Bot down." She reloaded her plasma rifle, "Shall we?"
Jameson shone his flashlight into the next room, "Not all of us, the Tauros'll never make it across that mess. Sergeants Joel, Jamie and Dew."
"Sir!" the three Lycanroc-people saluted. Joel the Midday-man, Jamie the Dusk-NB and Dew the Midnight-woman.
"Stay here and guard the Tauros but be ready to load up everything we find. Everyone else with me," Captain Jameson led them across the ramp trench, needing to stop over broken vehicles and debris to the door that the sentry boy had been guarding.
They found themselves in a long high hall with catwalks that crossed the width of the corridor and a few parked cargo and troop transports parked on the floor. It was eerily silent as they all made their way down the long wide corridor with Captain Jameson in the lead and Sergeant Frank at the rear.
Dee paused as her aura-dreads started to rise then turned to look at the side of the corridor where she saw a gear shaped door imbedded in the wall. "Everyone, look!" her voice made everyone stop as she walked to the door and placed her hand on it, "It's a Vault door."
"Like a treasure vault?" Sergeant Mary scratched her head.
"No, like a Silph Co. Vault," Mary's fellow Raticate-woman Alisson nudged her and rolled her eyes.
"Sir, there's another on this side," Zade pointed to another gear-door on the exact opposite wall of where Dee was, "And it looks like there's more up ahead."
"Keep an eye on them, I'm more concerned about those catwalks," Captain Jameson looked up, "Zade, take a look up there."
"Yes, Sir!" Zade saluted then made a beeline for the stairs to the first catwalk they had passed. A minute later he called out, "Captain! There's turrets up here, inactive but still intact!"
"Can't risk having those turn on while we're here," Jameson turned to the rest of the squad, "Frank, Allison, Mary, go up there with Lieutenant Zade and tell him he's to scour all the catwalks for any more turrets. Disable, disarm or destroy any you find then regroup with us. The rest of us will keep moving."
"Yes Sir," the three normal-types saluted then followed after Zade, Frank trailing cautiously behind.
Dee shuddered as she spotted each of the Vault doors, her aura-dreads raising in response. Helios put a hand on her shoulder, "What's wrong?"
"I can feel something, I don't know what though just something unnatural," Dee shuddered.
"You should practise your aura-sense, it will save your life," Annai's voice made them jump again.
"Please stop sneaking up on us!" Helios growled.
"If she worked on her aura-sense then Dee wouldn't have been surprised," Annai returned to walking with the group.
From behind they heard the sounds of metal cracking and small electrical zaps as Zade, Mary, Allison and Frank dealt with the deactivated turrets.
Melany was at the front and was the first to spot the sign that had been attached to the wall, ARMORY, with entrances to either side. The Stunky-woman smiled, "Looks like we hit paydirt!" She ran around the wall with GR-0-WL at her heel, then stopped at the sealed door with a computer at the side. She tried to turn the door latch as the rest crowded around the sides but found it unmoving. "Locked, crap."
"Here, let me try," Dee walked to the front and accessed the computer, immediately trying to find the password.
"You know what you're doing?" Lauren asked.
Helios grinned, "Dee was a computer whiz back in Vault 18, she should be through in-"
"Now!" Dee entered the right password and they all heard the lock click open.
"Finally," Melany turned the door handle and they watched as the door folded open, and were met by two sentry bots with their miniguns already aimed at them.
"Retreat!" Jameson's shout was unneeded as they had all bolted around the connecting wall before the robots could open fire. They heard the sound of bullets ricocheting off the other side of the thankfully thickly reinforced wall.
Melany held her plasma rifle up and tried to poke around the side but pulled back as another hail of bullets fired off, "Shit! Too close!"
"We can't just give up here!" Lauren held up her assault rifle, "We need to charge them."
"Stand down, Sergeant!" Jameson held out a hand, "I'm not throwing you or anyone into certain death like this. Dee, can you get those pulse grenades around the corner?"
Dee pulled one of the cylindrical pulse grenades off her belt, "I can try. Any risk if I miss?"
"Maybe to your Rotom-boys but worst we'll feel is tingling," Jameson replied.
"Alright, here goes," Dee stepped back and to the side, took a deep breath then threw the grenade into the small gap where she could see the edge of the door. It bounced back and hit the other side of the wall. A moment later there was a burst of blueish electrical energy and what sounded like angry whirring from the robots. Not taking any chances, Dee hurled two more into the gap and after the explosions the sound stopped.
Melany and GR-0-WL were the first to poke their heads around the wall and the Stunky-woman sighed in relief, "They're down."
"Make sure that's all of them," Jameson nodded to Lauren who stepped around and peered into the armory.
"Captain!" Zade's voice drew Jameson's attention to the Jolteon-man Lieutenant's return. He saluted and gave his report, "A dozen turrets located and terminated Sir. Destroyed the chassis and stripped any ammunition from the husks."
"At ease, and good work Lieutenant," the Manectric-man smiled.
"Jackpot!" Lauren's voice rang out as she darted out, a new assault rifle held in one hand, then stopped and saluted, almost smacking herself in the head with the new weapon, "Armory's secure, Sir, and fully loaded."
"Best news I've heard all day," Captain Jameson turned and pointed towards the armory, "Alright, everyone, get in there and load up with whatever you can carry. Explosives take priority then ammunition and guns, laser and plasma weapons if you can carry them."
"Speak for yourself," Melany was already heading in, "Dibs on the MF-cells!"
"Sir," Frank the Furret-man raised his hand, "We spotted a mostly intact boarding ramp off to the side on your return, looks like it leads somewhere else. We should send Dee to investigate."
Jameson gave the sergeant a skeptical look, "We need all hands here to load up the ordinance, especially since we're down half the squad at the moment."
"Not a bad idea, can't risk having anyone sneak up on us while we're loading up, Captain," Zade nodded towards Frank.
"Alright, I'll ask Dee and Helios to go down there and check," Jameson turned to where the Lucario-woman and Charmeleon-man were waiting after having heard her name come up.
"NO! I mean we'll need Helios to help carry more stuff out," Frank gulped as Helios stomped over.
"What do you mean?! Dee can carry stuff too, she's probably stronger than I am now!" Helios huffed and a small plume of flame escaped his mouth.
Dee put a hand on Helios' shoulder, "It's fine, I'll go make to sure nothing sneaks up on us."
Helios turned, "You sure?"
Dee nodded then gave Helios a kiss before she turned to head back the way that Frank was now pointing, "I'll be right back, I promise." Helios waved then turned and followed everyone else into loot the armory. Dee walked down the wide ramp nearly blocked with giant metal crates to a door at the bottom.
Dee emerged onto a bridge built into a canyon wall to her right and falling down to a river on her left. It was eerily silent as she made her way across, needing to walk around cargo containers and parked trucks. She stopped halfway across at a door built into the canyon wall and tried to open it, only for the door not to budge. Dee shivered and her aura-dreads rose as she felt assaulted by unknown alien feelings.
Dee stepped around an overturned military truck then froze as she was confronted by the sounds of laser weapons energizing and pointed at her. Dee threw her hands up in response and gasped: she was being faced down by three Pokemon, not Poke-people but normal humanoid Pokemon that had laser rifles aimed at her. Though "normal" only in the sense that she could see their proportions didn't match the human standard shape she'd seen in Poke-people up until now.
The two to either side were vaguely feline in features and covered in grey fur save for their bellies and long thick tails that were purple and tapered off until a small bulb at the tip; they had short horns (or were they ears?) on their heads, three fingers and toes all with large round ends and stood on their toes. While the two on the sides wore old metal armor that had clearly been patched a few times, the one in the middle wore tailor-made armor that covered its entire torso, shoulders, ankles and forearms and a helmet with a black visor across where its eyes should be.
"Ahh, the one we were expecting has finally arrived. Wonderful."
Dee heard the masculine voice inside her mind and clapped her hands to the side of her head. "What was that?! Who or what are you?!"
"You are new to the wasteland," the voice spoke inside her mind again as she felt the aura pouring off them and she could tell it was the armored one 'speaking' to her, "We are Mewtwo, genetically engineered psychic Pokemon, remnants of The Master's army. I am Vagyer. I was worried you'd sense this trap and run away before we could meet. Not that it would have mattered, I would have found you soon anyway."
Dee stepped back as the armored Mewtwo approached her, "What's going on here!?" She tried to sound demanding but the overwhelming presence from their minds cowed her.
"You look just like her, and The Mother Beast thought it was a failure." Dee could tell he was smiling as the armored Mewtwo got right into her face, "she will be pleased to see you."
Dee finally lashed out with a force palm, striking the Mewtwo's armor and shoving him back several steps. The other two were about to fire when Vagyer raised a hand which made them stop, Dee assumed he had just told them to do so telepathically.
Vagyer touched his armored chest, which was now dented and cracked from the force of her strike, "Impressive for a Vault-born."
Dee took up a fighting stance, she had never felt so alone or scared in her life but she wasn't just going to roll over and surrender, "What's happening here?!"
"It's simple," Vagyer flexed himself and held his hands forwards palms open, "You were sent here by the NKR to be ours because you have an important part to play in our plans. No one comes here unless they're a sacrifice meant to appease us, as you are."
Dee wilted a bit, feeling betrayed but not sure by whom. Surely it was Senator DuVille who had planned this but the raid was General Silverman's idea.
Dee tensed herself, ready to run or fight, "I'm not going with you!"
"You act as though you have a choice," Vagyer's helmet slid back so she could see his eyes, which were now glowing blue, "now sleep and come quietly, I know you can recover from almost anything but I'd rather not risk damaging you or what's inside you."
Dee felt her mind starting to go hazy but she pushed back, her aura-dreads flared up and she countered the hypnosis which sent a backlash at the armored Mewtwo who almost fell backwards. A gunshot rang out, striking Vagyer in the eye and a familiar voice shouted.
"Dee! Run!"
It was Annai, standing on top of the overturned truck that blocked most of the road, smoking revolver still in hand. For once happy at the human's sudden appearance, Dee turned and ran as she heard a psychic howl, "GET THEM!" before it was silenced by two more gunshots. Annai jumped down and ran after Dee as Mewtwo charged or jumped around the fallen truck, laser rifles firing at their fleeing targets.
As they ran, the side door Dee had passed burst open and a grotesque creature which was hugely swollen with bright red skin on one side emerged and swung some huge blunt instrument at her. Dee dodged around and kicked it hard enough to send it sprawling. She didn't stop to confirm her kill but kept running for the door back inside Fort Daggerpoint.