Chapter 92: Be My Valentine.
Gregory watched his footing carefully as he moved silently through the entry tunnel and into the narrow passages beyond.
Both Wisp's directions and Fuller's instructions were ringing in his ears as he moved, he was running through the plan in his mind as he neared the place that Wisp had reported that the hostages were being held.
So far he hadn't seen a single living soul since he'd entered and it was eerily quiet well that was right up until he reached the holding area, that's when he began to hear what sounded like a mixture of sobbing and pure grief.
A large submarine-style hatch door stood slightly ajar offering him just enough gap to slip through and into the room beyond which after poking his head through the gap and into the room beyond to take a look around he moved through.
Inside the room there were six guards just as Wisp had reported, they were all dressed in the same robe-style garments that the two they'd taken down on the surface wore, the room was filled with lockers obviously meant for personal effects for the bunks in the room beyond this one and it reminded him of the rooms they often saw in old schools and sports halls with large storage lockers sat in neat rows against the walls.
In the middle of the room was a large table where the six guards all sat around playing a card game that kinda looked like poker and they appeared to be bettering with what looked to be small bones that made Gregory think of finger bones which instantly made his stomach churn.
His movements were going to have to be swift and precise to make this work, if he even missed one a shit storm of epic proportions was going to erupt in this very small room given that they all appeared to have automatic weapons in the forms of a few surprisingly well maintained Ak 47's.
Gregory slowly withdrew the six darts they'd made on the surface, it seemed that Fuller was well versed in field craft as he'd knocked these things up in a matter of minutes with a knife and a practised hand turning some strong sticks he'd found into a series of small incredibly sharp darts that Malakai had then laced with a very generous dose of his venom to soak the wood, the result were six very sharp knock out darts.
They had debated him using a makeshift blow gun to deliver the sharp little darts to their targets but Fuller had put that idea down pretty swiftly given as he pointed out that not only did they have limited shots and time, there was no guarantee of accuracy, there would be time wasted on reloading as well as he'd have to remove his mask to put it to his lips to blow, therefore compromising his cloak and giving them a target to shoot at, it was far easier just to stab them with them at least the hit was guaranteed.
Holding the little sleep sticks as Wisp had started calling them in his left hand he moved slowly and silently up on the group plotting his movements as he did, suddenly he noticed a sparkle from a vent cover above his head and for a moment he froze before realising it was Wisp keeping an eye on the room, he blew out a sigh of relief, at least he'd have a form of distraction/backup if this went sideways.
Treading carefully he approached the closest figure who by their slight stature was obviously a female, with a quick movement he struck sticking the dart into her back between her shoulder blades where it would be almost impossible for her to reach.
Thankfully the toxin-soaked stick dart pierced clean through the robe and into her flesh underneath and she yelped as she felt it as Gregory moved rapidly to the left her arms whirled around trying to grab at the space where the dart was.
"What's wrong sister?" one of the others said in alarm at her actions.
"Something just stung me!" she exclaimed and suddenly the guy to her left did the same thing.
"Ahh something just stung me too!" he yelped doing the same as her.
Gregory was moving faster now which caused his cloak to shimmer slightly at the rapid movements but he was so focused on what he was doing he didn't even notice it as he plunged the third dart into its target, then the fourth but the fifth and sixth were more alert than he'd hoped and before he could reach them they shoved away from the table bringing up their weapons to bear as they scanned for an invisible assailant.
But this is where Fuller's words rang true, he'd foreseen this exact reaction and had told Gregory what to do if such a thing did indeed occur, so following the movement that Fuller had made him learn to the letter he flicked the dart in his left hand around so that like the one in his right it was in the stabbing position and with a swift movement he lunged forwards and stabbed both simultaneously in the sides of the neck before ducking and rolling as they swung around to face one another raising their weapons as they did.
Fortunately, Malakai's Venom combined with their rapidly beating hearts thanks to their panic worked faster than their trigger fingers and just like their four friends who had already succumbed to it and were slumped on the table face first they collapsed into heaps on the floor.
Gregory stood there looking around with his heart banging against his ribs as he looked at the scene around him, 'Holy shit it worked! I did it!" he exclaimed quietly to himself, as he looked up at the vent the glittering shape was gone indicating that Wisp had returned to the surface a fact that was backed up by moments later the sounds of footsteps and claws on concrete came towards the door before the team entered with their weapons and claws at the ready.
"Nice work Gregory, that should keep the fuckers quiet for a bit," Fuller said quickly checking all six of them before disarming them and handing the weapons to the team.
"Thanks but you were right, the last two did exactly what you said they would, you were spot on and probably saved my arse with that trick you taught me, so thanks for that," he said deactivating his cloak only to be instantly embraced by ven who was obviously trying to hide his worry for his man.
"Experience is only any good if it's learned from, I went all in with you guys when I joined you and if you get killed I'm fucked so if I can help you guys survive that's what I'm going to do, got to use all these years of training and experience somehow don't I?" Fuller said retrieving what was blatantly a large set of keys from one of the fallen cultists and standing up jangling them.
"You'd better go first Fuller as ironically you're the least likely to scare the shit out of those poor boys," Wisp said gesturing to the keys in his hands and the ex-ESF soldier nodded and turned to the door.
"Brace for a response," he said and he plunged a key into the door lock and turned it with a heavy-sounding thunk as the deadbolt moved out of the way, from behind the door they heard the moans of grief and whimpers of fear intensifying.
Fuller pulled the door open and moved with fluid grace as he entered the room bringing up his weapon and scanning it, "Clear," he said but his voice sounded gruff and severely angry.
The others piled into the room behind him and instantly Gregory saw why, there were a series of beds and fastened to them by long chains that were attached to horrid-looking metal collars were about twenty teenage boys of varying ages, they had all been obviously badly beaten and they were covered in cuts and bruises.
They all shrank from the team that entered and tried their best to hide themselves behind their bunk beds which it seemed was all they were allowed in this miserable waiting room of death.
Gregory's anger cranked all the way up so far that eleven was a fucking distant memory as flashbacks of his own time as a slave burst in his brain like a series of flashbang grenades going off inside his skull.
He stepped quickly to the closest of the boys and he shrank as far as he could into the corner behind his bunk trying his best to hide himself from the strange invader, "It's alright, we're not going to hurt you, we're here to get you out," he said in as a soft a voice as he could manage given his anger burning like a sun in his chest.
"I am going to tear the ones that did this limb from fucking limb, I will show them no mercy from this point, there will be no more sleeping darts Fuller, death is coming for these villains and it has fucking Claws!" Ven said in a voice so cold and furious that Gregory swore he saw plumes of ice breath exiting his beloved male's nostrils as he spoke.
"Agreed my big scaley friend, I've seen slave pits before but this is a whole new low, these fuckers have a fucking reckoning coming," Fuller snarled looking around at the terrified teens.
"Then you and I agree," Ven said stepping up to one of the beds where a teen cowered from him, he reached down gently and took hold of the chain securing him to the bed and with a snarl that would have chilled the blood of any who didn't know him snapped it like it was made of paper.
"You are free young one and will remain so while I still draw breath, do not fear me for only those that hurt the innocent need fear a righteous Claw, these claws of mine dish out vengeance and justice, not beatings and misery", he said softly as his fingers worked up the chain until he took the collar of the terrified teen and snapped it off him just like the chain.
The dark-skinned teen stood there for a moment staring in absolute shock and awe at the broken chain and collar that clanked to the floor before him and then up at the massive Claw male standing before him.
"Y-You freed me!?" he exclaimed and Ven nodded.
"We are here to rescue you young one, we mean you no harm and I know I look fearful to you but I can assure you that you are in no danger from me or any of my beloved friends here, we will protect you," Ven said softly and as if to prove his point Malakai scuttled past him taking Passa with him and between them they began breaking chains left right and centre.
"T-T-Thats a Deathclaw but I never knew they can talk!" one of the bos said and Ven turned to face him.
"Not all of us can but those who hail from the proud Northen Pack like myself and my winged cousin there all can," he said indicating Passa who waved in greeting before snapping a chain like it was made of string.
"Don't you worry boys we'll get you out of here in no time, Shepherd you and Passa take them up top and keep them guarded, we're going to go and have a little talk with the proprietors of this particular establishment and by talk I mean we're going to shoot and claw the living shit out of them," Wisp said slamming her fist into her open palm.
"I like this plan," Ven said flexing his Claws menacingly.
"You can count on us boss me and lover Claw there will keep them out of harm's way until you get back and try not to forget about finding Valentine while you having fun with those assholes yeah?' Shepherd said as Passa broke the last of the chains and beckoned the boys to follow him which they all did surprisingly willingly.
"Well despite you're husband's insistence on no more sleep darts I made this and these for you while we were up there waiting, I only got a chance to test it lightly so I don't know how long it will last but it seems strong enough and accurate enough for short-range stuff," Malakai said handing a jar of darts to Gregory along with what appeared to be an odd kind of pistol crossbow that appeared to have been made from a curved piece of metal he'd found that he'd secured into a jig body.
"Umm thanks but how do I use it, it's got no grip?" Gregory said.
"Oh that's because it's wrist-mounted, I noticed one of those fuckwits we took down up there had a weird glove on with what looked like three pieces of rebar fixed into it, so I pulled the rebar off and made this so it could be mounted in its place, you fire it by squeezing the same bar that he used to make a block with the rebar on it shoot forwards and hey presto, wrist-mounted crossbow made to fire sleep darts, or something stronger if need be," Malakai said smiling as Gregory slipped the glove on over his own and tested the mechanism.
The metal limbs seemed to have a very tightly wound series of Malakai's silken threads pulling it taught and he could already feel the elastic power the thing had when it fired, this little thing was gonna come in rather handy at firing the darts over a distance and he also noticed that the darts now had some feather ruff mounted onto them with some sticky silk to use as flights, it looked like Passa had got in on the act well either that or they'd taken out a radcrow and plucked the poor little fucker.
"If you must use bloody sleep darts on the undeserving fucks make sure you shoot them in the eyes or the balls my love," Ven growled looking at the contraption mounted to his husband's hand curiously.
"Oh you can count on that lover Claw, after what I've seen in here its dick kebab all the way from here on out," he said fastening the crossbow's little straps and then checking whether his cloaking device would actually hide it and to his delight, the cloaking field was strong enough to do so, though it caused merry hell with it when it fired causing the whole thing to flicker as a power surge went through it as it tried to adjust to it.
"Well alright people let's move like we got a purpose, we have cultist arseholes to fuck up," Wisp said and with that, the team headed off with Gregory on point once again hidden from view by his cloaking field.
As the team proceeded deeper into the bunker they began to hear voices echoing up from the depths, Malakai who was on point held up a fist to stop them and curiously his spinnerets went up as well as if acting like a second hand.
"Got a group of them not far ahead maybe twenty meters," he said bristling his fur all over his body in little waves and it was only then that Gregory realised he was using his fur to measure changes in air pressure, he was essentially using it like some kind of passive sonar that detected movement not by sound waves but by the subtle changes in air pressure caused by movement, he really did have more tricks up his sleeves than he could really count this spider boy.
The group moved slowly forwards until they reached a large doorway into what appeared to be a large room that had once been a mess hall of some kind but now appeared to have been converted into an altar room of some kind.
"Gregory you're up, I'll join you let's see what the score is shall we?" Wisp said and he appeared long enough to give her a thumbs up before the pair moved into the room, her in her cloud form and him running invisibly.
At the centre of the room, a large altar had been erected on a platform to raise it up to be in clear view of anyone in the room and Gregory could already see two things that set his teeth on edge, one was that the altar was covered in bloodstains some were brown from age and others looked pretty damn fresh.
But it was the second thing he saw that filled his heart with far more dread because right there atop of the white marble altar was a struggling teenage boy who was secured down by heavy chains and manacles.
Stood around the altar were a group of about thirty people all wearing the same hooded robes as the guys they had already taken down, well all except for one who was stood right at the front of the altar and by the grandiose nature of his bright purple and gold robes as well as the large ceremonial dagger he was holding it looked like they'd found the king of the dickheads.
"Hear our pleas dark ones, we bring another youth before you in the hope that their lifeblood will grant your favour to us, grant us the power to ver come our enemies, let their blood fuel our immortality as they once fueled yours, let us become as one with you and remake us in your image, hear us dark ones this is our pledge and our sacrifice to you!" he yelled in a deep sounding voice as he raised his dagger with intent to strike the boy in the heart!
Gregory's mind went into slow motion as the realisation that they were going to sacrifice him there and then, he began to fumble as he tried to load and cock the crossbow as it was the only thing to hand right now given his rifle was on his backpack, but it seemed he wasn't the only ones with the intent of stopping this.
Out of nowhere, a sticky white ord flew through the air and with pinpoint accuracy it slammed into the man's raised wrists anchoring them to a large decorated stone slab behind them, but it wasn't that that sent a wave of fear through the room it was the bellowing roar that followed it, both Ven and Passa had entered the fray and the pair were not in a merciful mood.
"You want fucking blood human I'll give you fucking blood!" Ven bellowed charging right across the room in only a few massive strides, his massive thighs bunched like steel cables as he compressed them and leapt clear over the heads of the turning cultists all of which were pulling up a very mismatched collection of weapons to attempt to fend off the two angry Claws but they were very much too late to save their leader.
With a single swipe of his razor-sharp claws given power by the momentum of his leap Ven took the cult leader's arms both off at the elbows just above his head causing the man to slump down onto his knees issuing a blood-curdling scream, the large Claw turned to look at his coldly standing fully erect so that Gregory couldn't help but admire his man's incredible musculature from the rear which was clearly visible even through his armour.
"Never again will those hands take the life of an innocent vile one, now feel their pain as your life drains from you and watch in impotent fear as we avenge all those that fell by hands oh and just in case you get any ideas about running," he said before with a mighty downward kick he broke both the man's legs at the knees causing them to fold backwards on themselves due to the weight and force he used.
As it turned out not one of the cultists even attempted to save their leader as they were all far too busy with the incredibly angry and highly agile Claw that was right in their midst whirling and using both his tail, wings and claws to incredible effect, he was like a spinning top of death knocking people off balance with both his tail and wings before finishing them with a series of slashes or stabs from his wicked claws, hell he even stabbed two of them through the gut and used them as fucking human shields to absorb the incoming fire from the survivors.
In mere seconds Passa had completely annihilated the entire group on his lonesome with Ven having only taken out the leader and two of the cultist that was so preoccupied with his cousin that they pretty much ran smash into him without looking only to be decapitated by two singular swipes of his massive clawed hands.
Panting heavily and soaked in blood from their enemies from head to foot Passa turned left and right before bellowing a roar at the felled cultists, "Never again will you harm another innocent!" he roared at their still twitching bodies that were littering the floor around him.
Shepherd walked up to him slowly and warily and when she gently touched him he snapped around and raised his clawed hand to strike causing her to flinch but not to move to protect herself showing her trust in him as he froze up and then eased down looking rather ashamed.
"Easy there big guy, it's over you did good damn fucking good I'm proud of you," she said softly taking his blood-soaked hands in hers and gently leading the large Claw over to the side to calm him down.
Malakai was the first to reach the altar and without even pausing he snapped the chains holding the boy to the altar clean off him, "Easy now we're not going to hurt you," he said softly as the frightened teen nearly up and bolted till he caught hold of him and held him tightly by the arms in the air leaving his feet kicking and his head moving wild-eyed as he tried to search for a way out.
"Who are you!? What are you!?" the teen howled and Malakai simply gave him a warm calming smile.
"My name is Malakai and I'm an Archnakai, this here is Ven and that there is Passa, they are my friends and we came here to help you as did all of them," he said turning the boy so he could see the humans and others in their group as they moved forwards to check the bodies.
"The dark gods will punish you for this! Your blood will fill the cups of the faithful you will...mmmmmmmmm" the leader began screaming until Ven leaned down and with a deft flick of two fingers snipped his tongue clean out of his head like a giant pair of super sharp scissors leaving him screaming and spitting blood.
"Suffer in silence vile one, keep your bile in your head where it belongs," Ven said coldly.
"Well it seems that the wastes never fail to surprise never thought I'd see a talking Deathclaw let alone two of them and I never thought I'd see them defending humans," a deep throaty voice said from the left side of the room and as one they all turned and there standing in a small welded cage was a synthetic man dressed in a long trench coat and wearing a fedora.
"Nickolas Valentine I presume?" Wisp asked and the man's glowing golden eyes snapped onto her.
"Now is in this more interesting, you know my name which means you were most likely here looking for me?" he said and Wisp nodded.
"Very perceptive I can see why you became a detective because the rescue work doesn't really seem to agree with you," she said slightly sarcastically gesturing to the cage he was stuck inside of.
"No arguments here, know my way around a gun but the minds of the criminally insane never fail to take you by surprise," he said gesturing to the stuttering and blatantly dying cult leader who was growing paler by the moment as he slowly bled out.
"So what's this fuckwits deal anyway?" Wisp asked as she stepped up to the cage and looked at the lock before gesturing for Ven to come over and help her the big Claw wandered over and with ease of the mighty simply snapped the cage door right off its hinges making Gregory pant a little as he once again showed off his incredible strength, of that big boy was getting all he loves his big beautiful heart could handle tonight.
Nick stepped forwards out of the cage and stretched himself like he was flexing actual organic muscles and not polymer-coated servos, it must have been a programmed behaviour and given the holes in his musculature he was blatantly a much older model than Wisp's body.
"Much obliged big fella, you got a name?' Nick said looking up at Ven as he dropped the large metal door.
"Ven of the proud Northen pack but you may call me Ven," he said.
"Well, it's good to meet you Ven, so who sent you after me and why?' Nick asked.
"Your assistant put us on your trail, we're looking for information on synths and more specifically the institute," Wisp said.
"You and everyone else, I'll tell you what I know about them but despite obviously being a synth myself I don't exactly have a plethora of intel on them, but given the breakout and what I just saw you do there I think you've earned that at the very least," he said.
"Glad to hear that our efforts are appreciated," Ven said.
"Oh trust me they very much are how many did you free if you will indulge me?" he asked gesturing to the boy that Malakai was still gently trying to calm and soothe though he wasn't carrying him anymore and had him stood at his side and looked to be measuring him to outfit him with clothing which knowing him he'd probably have made before they were done with their conversation.
"About thirty or so," Wisp said and Nick sighed heavily while nodding.
"When they first caught me there were at least double that, these fuckers believed that the vampire shit from old media was actually real and when you throw in a rather unhealthy mind and a fuckton of a charisma and you have yourself a bloody cult, they were sacrificing these poor souls and drinking their blood because they believed that it would morph them into vampires and make them immortal in some kind of blood pact with some old gods," Valentine explained.
"Fuck me why does this shit really bring out the fucking crazies and how come they always seem to be the ones that survive," Wisp said.
"Does always seem to be the way of things, doesn't it? Well let's get back up top and find out where all these young men came from so we can start working on returning them home," Valentine said gesturing to the young man who stood with Malakai who now seemed to have developed a brand new pair of silken pants.
Back on the surface the group met up with their friends and the group of prisoners who thankfully were not as stripped bare as the young man from the sacrificial chamber, they were gathered around the group waiting to find out their fate.
"Alright gentlemen we're going to be taking you back to Diamond city with us, if anyone lives in a settlement that is on the way please let us know and we'll deliver you there on the way but not to worry once we make it back there we'll figure out a way to get you all home," Valentine said much to the chatter of joy that came from them.
A couple of them stepped forwards to let them know that they did indeed live close enough to be dropped off on the way including the group from Greentop which certainly made their lives easier.
As they walked they talked and Malakai worked he was moving among the group and rapidly winning hearts and minds by patching clothes and replacing them to keep the survivors warm, infact the young man who had been strapped to the altar not long ago was now outfitted in a full new suit made from a mixture of silk and hardened cloth, it seemed that Malakai scavenged materials where ever they went he was like a one spider clothing factory on legs.
They dropped off a few of the teens as they went returning them back into the arms of overjoyed families who thought they'd lost their beloved sons forever, this included Greentops.
Both Valentines were thanked most profusely by their people for their efforts in returning their wayward sons to them, infact the people there insisted on feeding the group before allowing on their way though they got quite the shock when feeding both the Claws in seeing how much they could eat though both Ven and Passa had the good manners to wait for their human friends to go first before they absolutely demolished the remainder of the roasted radstag between them.
But eventually, they were back underway and with a renewed vigour thanks to their full bellies, as they walked Valentine filled them in on the details he had on the Institute and to be fair he'd been truthful when he'd said it was barely anything, but what they did learn was that they used operators to infiltrate settlements in order to control them and they also used human contractors from time to time to do a variety of wet work.
"Makes sense that they'd field out the work to others like the merc groups, gives them a sense of detachment and a form of plausible deniability," Fuller said thoughtfully as they moved towards the city which loomed up on the horizon after a hell of a lot of walking.
"Indeed this was my thought as well, I got abandoned by them myself, pretty much woke up in a ditch with no memories of who I truly was and a head filled with memories that weren't my own," Nick said.
"What do you mean?" Wisp asked.
"Well Nicholas Valentine was a real live person once, he was a cop from before the war though how the institute got ahold of his memories is a bit of a mystery to me really but it did help me with a bit of help from a friend to bring an old prewar gangster who Ghoulified himself to justice, it also kinda kitted me out with this set of skills towards being a detective, o that's what I did and while the people of Diamond city kinda just treated me as a curiosity and an outsider but given that I was unmistakably a synth but they didn't see me as a threat, then when I started helping people they kinda just accepted me and here I am now," he said.
"Wow but given what we've seen that kinda makes sense, this body is a synthetic woman that we found in an Enclave bunker, it looks like they either killed her or was brain dead when they found her and well I needed a new body given my own being dead and me being sick of inhabiting robots well here we are," Wisp said and Valentine looked at her curiously to see him pour out of her ears and the body lock up before she whirled around them and then flew back into her head and reactivated the body.
"Well well that's a new one, a sentient cloud girl, talking Claws, a half-spider centaur-like guy you guys really do have the market cornered on unique don't you?' he said and Shepherd laughed out loud.
"Oh you ain't seen anything yet Nick, our group is three times as large as this and we got a little bit of everything, friendly gendered super mutants, aliens, Ghouls who aren't complete arseholes, sentient Nightstalkers and a leader who while being human is possibly one of the most powerful beings on the planet," she said and Valentine looked at them all in amazement.
"Wow you sound like a walking advert for possibly the best merc company that ever existed," he said and now Wisp laughed.
"Yeah while we kinda do wind up acting like mercs we are just trying to make the world a better place for everyone regardless of who they are, we started out as just people fleeing the Enclave so as to not be used as living weapons, but that kinda grew as we gained more people and now its less of a group and more of a movement but this time one that is good, we aim to show people what the world can be if only you take the chance on the different," Wisp said pausing to grab the slightly distracted Malakai and to pulled the sewing spider boy into a deep and very passionate kiss that left im looking breathless and flustered as she gently patted his flushed cheek.
"Ok yeah you guys definitely have the market cornered on different," he said and once again Shepherd laughed and turned and pulled the rather surprised Passa into a kiss while Gregory himself did exactly the same to Ven not only surprising Valentine but the rest of the remaining group of teens with them.
"We are not ashamed to be different and we aim to show people not only who we are but what we stand for, we practice what we preach every single day because for us there is no other way to live," Gregory said.
"Well you certainly proved that point, alright we're here let's get these boys inside and get them set up in the inn for the night while we sort out how to get them back to their homes and don't worry about the cost my fee already covered that and then some," Valentine said surprising them all.
The guards greeted Valentine and their group very warmly as they entered the city and headed towards the fens where the inn was located and thanks to a standing booking that Valentine had already paid for and was holding for his return the boys found themselves with a paid for be and a meal for the night before after leaving them there while he and the team headed back to his office.
As they entered his sectary actually ran towards him and hugged him joyfully, "Oh thank god you brought him back in one piece!" she exclaimed happily.
"We told you we would and we are a group of our word always," Wisp said.
She smiled as she released her boss and then shyly but quickly headed to put some tea on for them, "First thing we got to do is sort out getting those boys back home not made of caps you know and can't afford to keep them there indefinitely, so if you guys can help me out there I'll repay the favour by helping you in your quest to find my former creators, sound fair?" Valentine said and Wisp looked at the rest of the group and saw nods all around.
"Sounds good to me, gives us a chance to show off more of what we can do so count us in," she said.
"Well alright then, let's get to work shall we we got quite a list to go through thankfully," he said and with that they began to work.