Chapter 100: Eye in the Sky.
Seven landed with a thump next to the entrance to Dry Rock Gultch and looked around himself, in the distance he could still see the Sheriffs patrolling the abandoned town but thankfully there didn't seem to be any new raider bodies strewn in the dust so it looked like they had decided not to try their luck again.
One of the things that played on Seven's mind as he began to lift a few of the bodies that still had their head and bomb collars intact was that he had made a little bit of a discovery while flying about.
It seemed that because of the concentration required to keep himself and any passengers aloft while keeping his flight bubble both stable and in place, he was unable to use his abilities in any other way, so he couldn't say fly over the city of Radiers and start ripping buildings apart from the air as the stress on his mind was simply too great, though he could harden the bubble into a shield which would protect him and his passengers from any kind of solid state projectiles aimed at them.
Energy weapons were a totally different kettle of fish however, both plasma and laser would punch clean through with little problem.
As Seven looked down at the slave bodies he was lifting he felt a pang of guilt in using these poor people in this way, despite them being already long dead he felt that they at the very least deserved more respect than to be simply used as test dummies but without any other viable option he was left with little choice but to test the defuser on the collars they still wore, but he did make a concession in that when he was done he made himself a promise that he would at the least bury them.
Removing the defuser from one of the pouches attached to his armour Seven moved over to the closest body which happened to belong to a woman who looked to have been in her mid to late forties with thick dark hair that had a few streaks of grey peppered throughout it.
"I'm sorry about this," he said softly as he placed the prongs on either side of the small rectangular explosive worn around her desiccated throat, as he pulled the trigger the device made a high-pitched whine before sending out a pulse that kinda sounded like a subsonic pop.
No sooner had that pop sounded than the small red LED on the front of the collar that indicated that it was still armed blinked once and then faded out, it appeared that the defuser had been successful in shutting the arming mechanism and therefore the whole device down.
Seven decided to see if it was a fluke and moved down the line doing the same to every device and getting the same results each and every time, it appeared Shauna and Timothy's handiwork was more than just impressive it was downright MasterCraft as was Eve's design.
Seven decided to see if he could safely remove one of the collars though he wasn't in possession of a key to undo the padlock and tube lock holding the collar in place they put up next to no resistance to his telekinetic probing, soon the locks rotated and both popped off as if he'd placed said key into the barrel and turned it.
For added safety, he kept a telekinetic grip on the collar as it slid from around the woman's neck ready for the first sign of a re-arming to send the collar into orbit but it thankfully never came.
He turned the collar over in his telekinetic hands and examined it closely, it was a crude, barbaric and horrendous device to be sure but also highly effective, the mere threat of it alone would be enough to keep the unlucky wearer in check because no one really wanted to get their head popped like an overripe zit on nothing but a whim.
Once he'd removed all of the remaining collars Seven piled them up in a corner next to a large rock for retrieval later, once that was done he set about finding a suitable spot around the town but soft ground wasn't exactly a premium in the rocky terrain though he did eventually find what he was looking for.
"What are you up to deputy?" an instantly recognisable mechanical voice asked from behind him as Seven stood watching four graves dig themselves in the fake graveyard of the fake church inside the town limits.
"Burying some people who fell out there to the worms and the raiders," he replied lifting the bodies tenderly with invisible hands before lowering them into the six-foot-deep pits and piling the dirt back atop them.
"Do ya know their names, they should have headstones," the Sherrif said clomping up to stand beside him.
"No clue, horrible fate to die alone and to be left to rot but at least the raiders can't get to them where they are now," Seven said quietly.
"Indeed, knew you were one of the good ones moment I laid eyes on you pardner, keep up the good work and we'll bring those varmints to justice soon enough," the Sherrif said before turning and clomping off back the way it had come to resume its patrol leaving Seven to watch it go.
"You got that right Sherrif," he said quietly lifting himself back into the air before shooting off back towards the Safari zone with a few minor detours along the way to search for any scrap metal he could lift.
He planned to drop off what he found along the way and to report the success of the defuser before heading off to the theme park area they'd discussed in search of the droids and the power armour to make Gatorclaw armour, but as he landed he found Shauna and Timothy hard at work with Thundertail stood modelling their creation in the middle of a large crowd of curious Gatorclaws all watching this strange behaviour.
No sooner had Seven touched down with the pile of large canisters and metal plates salvaged from vehicles and other sources than Timothy and Shauna were in the pile like kids digging through a toy box.
"Seven excellent timing, this is going to be really useful come and check this out," Timothy said shepherding him over to stand before Thundertail who looked down at him with a hopeful look in her eyes though whether it was hopeful he would approve of their creation or not just laugh at her was up for debate.
They seemed to have created a mixture of something that looked like a medieval plate curious and spaced armour, to the point where Thundertail was beginning to resemble something in-between an ye olde knight and a walking tank.
They had created curved plates that covered her main body and vital organs and from that place, they had placed spaced plates that were welded onto rods of what looked like steel rebar that was attached to this plate to create a spaced armour effect between the main plate and itself.
"Is that spaced armour?" he asked leaning down to look into the gap between the plates and seeing the rows of cut rods separating the two.
"Good eye and yeah, we figured that the biggest problem that an armoured Gatorclaw would have in the field would be getting hit by something like a shaped charge or an AP round, so we figured the best way to deal with this would be to rob the projectile of its kinetic energy or in the case of a shaped charge it's heat, the best way to do that is spaced armour, the initial strike plate takes most of the energy out of the shot as it penetrates it and then it hits the second and stops, I'd love to stuff the gaps with some of Malakai's kevlar like silk but we don't have any on hand so I'm gonna have to figure out an alternative," Timothy said proudly.
"The trick is balancing protection along with mobility, thankfully the Gatorclaws are incredibly strong so the weight issue is reduced greatly but we still want them able to be able to move freely, this is just a prototype you understand but it is coming along swimmingly, now if you can get us some lighter materials like say titanium used in those power armour plates of yours then that will make it even more effective," Shauna said seemingly sizing up what appeared to be a bade of some kind to fit to Thundertail's now armoured tail.
Her tail seemed to have spaced plates affixed along it slowing downwards and overlapping one another to create an ease of movement without giving too many gaps in protection, though there was no spaced armour here.
Seven could feel Thundertail's eyes tracking him and he was still aware of her need for his approval written in those golden amber eyes of hers, so he stood up and popped off his helmet to smile up at her.
"Looking good Thundertail, you were already a force to be reckoned with but with these two hard at work we'll make you unstoppable girl," he said patting her large arm and making a large smile break out on her face.
"Me's will stop nasty raiders and free good humans!" she said proudly making Seven chuckle to himself.
"Yup and won't they get a fucking shock when they see a cross between a Gatorclaw and a tank charging them down?" he said making Thundertail bounce on the spot making her armour jangle and clank loudly before the inevitable boom of her tail hitting the concrete came in its wake.
"They's not stand a chance!" she said fiercely.
"Anyone seen Visa?" Seven asked looking around for his absent Claw girl.
"Oh she's with Vess and Chris, they are talking to the Gatorclaw Alphas about helping out, they are trying to strike up some kind of deal where we help the Gatorclaws and then they help us, favour for a favour so to speak," Timothy aid as he went back to measuring various parts of Thundertail and writing down his findings.
"Ahh ok no problem I'll leave her to it, oh the defuser works like a charm, one hundred per cent defuse ratio on everything I tried it on," Seven said and Shauna looked impressed.
"Excellent that's what I like to hear bout time we got some news like that, we'll make sure we get some more underway," she said.
"Alright I'll leave you guys to it, I'm heading to the theme park to see what I can dig up, Seven said.
"Be careful out there boss we don't know what the raiders have in that area, make sure you scout it from the air before you put down and commit, the last thing you want to do is drop in atop the heads of a raider squad," Timothy said and Seven nodded before giving them a wave and taking to the air again.
Seven decided a high-altitude fly-by was a rather good idea as not only would it give him a better look at the problem on the ground but it might give him an idea of the best places to hit, so using the clouds for cover he circled the massive space themed part of the park using his armour's zoom feature to get a better look at the ground.
Far below him, a large roller coaster towered above the centre of the park with its rocket-shaped cars stopped silent on the tracks, around it was a host of colourful stands and rides that were obviously designed to appeal to children and to drain parent's pockets as well as their sanity at the same time.
Most of the centre part of the park was deserted which Seven thought was odd until he noticed the little shapes moving about and he swiftly figured out why.
Even from up here, he heard the shots ring out as a small group of raiders engaged what appeared to be an odd shaped protectron that kinda looked like a cross between a robot and a fridge that was clomping along between the stands.
No sooner had the first shots rang out than the droid itself opened up and returned fire with two hand lasers but it wasn't alone because, from the stands all around them, other robots began to appear in the forms of Mr Handy's and even a massive brightly painted Sentry Bot that kinda looked like it was supposed to be some kind of moon rover by its white paint and oddly shaped wheels.
The sheer barrage of laser fire they unleashed on the hapless raiders from all sides meant that they had next to zero chance of survival, even from up here seven could see their bodies jerking and spasming as they endured multiple hits from every direction burning a plethora of smoking holes right through them before they finally fell as dead as the ground upon what they dropped.
"Ok so stay the fuck clear of the loony robots, I wonder if there's a master control centre in there somewhere, I might be able to reprogram them to hunt for raiders?" Seven said thoughtfully as he circled.
Something caught his eye towards the centre of the park and in the shadow of the large coaster, it appeared to be a large two-story building with a large glass front that was oddly intact, but it was the signs that stood outside that really caught his eye, they all showed pictures of power armour on it.
Spiralling slowly and silently down Seven kept his wits about him as he touched softly down outside and no sooner had his feet touched the ground than a mechanical voice began to try and sell him a Nukacola.
Spinning on the spot and preparing to lift off again Seven spotted the small robot standing inside what appeared to be a ticket sales booth that also served as a concession stand.
It was painted bright red and truly did look like a walking fridge with a series of taps like you'd find in a bar attached to the front but it didn't seem to be trying to shoot at him so there was at least that, then it clicked, they respond to hostility.
"Huh you guys must have been programmed to act as both vendors and park security," Seven said softly to himself as he looked the robot over as it simply stood there spouting Nuka Cola slogans at him in an attempt to get him to buy something.
He figured that as long as he kept his weapons in their holsters and didn't shoot at anything the robots should just ignore him as if he was a park guest, well unless, after so many years of clomping around the park with zero maintenance, they had been driven loopy anyway.
Turning to look at the large building he had landed by he instantly saw what the raiders had been trying to reach, sat inside the glass-fronted building were sets of computers set into the wall but sat atop glass-covered plinths in the centre of the place were three pristine looking sets of T-60 power armour.
Seven looked around the large open plan room packed with computers and wondered if this was some kind of control hub for the park itself, as he entered he could see lots of promotional placards and fliers strewn all over the place showing Nuka Cola's support of the American troops and their struggle against the evils of communism all featuring the sets of brightly painted power armour with the soldiers inside doing something heroic like helping small children.
He strode in through the open door and walked up to the encased platforms that contained the armour which had been arranged so that they looked like they were saluting the viewer.
Each set was painted a deep cherry red with the words 'Nuka Cola' embossed across the chest plate in silver and gold lettering replacing their usual white, the armour also supported some golden trip around the edges of the pieces.
Tapping the glass with his armoured knuckles Seven instantly figured out how it hadn't broken like the vast majority of glass he encountered around the wastes, it was heavily tempered bulletproof stuff like the type you tened to see in jewellery display cases.
He looked about for any kind of release switch or locking mechanism but found nothing on the plinths themselves, so that meant that the cases releases were buried in amongst the absolute forest of buttons and switches attached to all the computers situated all around him, hell for he knew they were controlled from within the software itself and given that he couldn't see a single functioning screen in the place he was going to have to go with plan B.
Seven wound up a punch with thanks to the hydraulics in the suit he was currently wearing hit the glass with enough force to punch a Claw the size of Ven off his feet, but the glass was a hell of a lot stronger than it looked because as his armoured fist impacted it all it did was make a loud dong noise like he'd struck it with a hammer.
As he stared at it he noticed that the glass wasn't even lightly scuffed from the powerful impact, he huffed to himself and looked up and down the glass tube surrounding the armour on all sides but finding no visible weak spot he sighed to himself, "Alright then plan C it is I guess," he said raising his hands to his sides and as he brought them together in a squashing motion the glass cracked and eventually shattered under the sheer weight his telekinetic force put it under.
No sooner had the glass exploded than a load of little red flashing lights dropped from the ceiling and alarm klaxons began to blare all around him making him very glad of his helmet insulating his hearing from the deafening din.
That's when he saw the turrets dropping down, "Ahh fuck!" he exclaimed diving for cover just as the first one opened up spraying the spot where he'd been stood only moments before with laser fire that left a series of glowing burns on the metal floor.
"Holy fucking shit!!" Seven yelled as he scrambled behind one of the computer banks as the now multiple turrets began to chew the fuck out of it above him, lasers burning glowing holes through metal all around him slagging it on contact.
That's when he heard the droids outside, "Thievery will not be tolerated on Nuka Cola premises, leathal force has been authorised by the Nuka Cola corporation and its affiliates," one of them said in its twanging voice.
"Think I've outstayed my welcome," Seven yelled to himself over the din of the automatic laser fire peppering the ruined computer bank he was hiding behind.
He poked his head out for a moment to get a gauge on how much shit he was going to have to avoid to pull this off and he instantly saw six turrets in the ceiling and no fewer than eight droids outside heading his way.
Focusing his mind Seven shattered the two other cases and as he did he swore the fucking sirens got louder, it was like being inside an air raid siren as it was going full fucking chock, it was making it hard o focus his mind as he lifted the three sets of armour and floated them safely outside where he placed them down just out of sight of the main doors and more importantly out of the line of fire of the turrets.
With that done Seven took a deep breath and envisioned in his mind's eye how this was going to work, as his mind's eye focused Seven propelled himself forward kicking off the ground and he shot forwards like a power armoured missile heading right for the doorway.
All of the turrets swivelled on their mountings to track him as he moved to spray the walls and floor in his wake as he flew forwards though no sooner had he made it outside than he had to pull a sharp turn which sent him smashing into one of the concession stands with a crash as he narrowly avoided the wall of fire thrown at him by the droids outside.
Above his head light began to pour in through the plethora of small holes being punched in the wood and metal as the droids continued to fire into the stand trying to hit him, returning fire was simply pointless there were just too many of them and they'd score a lot more hits on him than he on them in the time it took for him to bring his weapon up into the aim, he needed to disable them all at once.
Turning his head so he could peek through one of the small holes burnt in the metal next to him he could see the army of robots advancing on him and more were joining them from all directions, this was going to have to be quick if it was going to work, so grabbing the front shutter that was hanging limply down he tore it down and briefly used it as a shield to absorb some of the fire as he stood quickly up.
But that was all the time Seven needed to collect his thoughts because no sooner was he on his feet than a telekinetic wave burst out of him exploding away from him in a semi-circular shape heading away from the front of the stand with incredible speed and force.
The invisible wave was only detectable by the way it moved both dust and anything it came into contact with like the droids, it lifted them clean off their feet or tracks in some cases and threw them backwards through the air like they'd been hit by a bomb blast.
He didn't wait to see how long it would take them to right themselves or require him, Seven punched his way through the front of the stand leaving a power armoured shaped hole in it as he moved, the turrets to his right wasted no time in opening up on the now required target as he sprinted to where he'd left the armour standing burying the floor at his heels until he was clear of their arcs.
Once stood in between the three suits of armour Seven focused his mind and shot vertically upwards with the three sets of armour attached to him by his telekinetic grip but it appeared that the droids weren't done yet as red bolts began to zip past him causing him to have to take evasive manoeuvres to avoid being shot out of the sky with one or two pinging off the armour he was holding.
"Jesus Christ, they really didn't want anyone getting their hands on this stuff did they?" Seven said to himself as he shot along through the air holding the armour close to him, fortunately, the bolts that had hit had done little more than singe the paint off one of the suits, hopefully, Timothy and Shauna could do something with this as he got the feeling going back would be far more difficult now the place was on high alert.
He also thought about the implication of setting off all those alarms in the place, the raiders as stupid as they were most of the time were definitely not going to miss that place lighting up like a fucking Christmas tree, they were going to know something was up now and that someone was operating in their territory, so much for a sneak attack.
Seven landed back outside the tree lab to find Thundertail now clad from head to tail in a surprisingly well-crafted suit of armour that made her look somewhere in between a roman legionary and a walking tank, she was even holding up what appeared to be a massive tower shield that was fastened to her left arm with huge leather straps that she was showing off for the other Gatorclaws who were prodding and tapping at the suit curiously while also tapping at the heavy shield.
"I see your model is enjoying her role," Seven said a little breathlessly as the energy drain of carrying the heavy suits and himself along at high speed not to mention the adrenaline crash caught up with him.
"Yeah, she does seem to have taken to it well like an alligator to water doesn't she?" Shauna said.
"Oh, this is excellent! Three whole suits of T-60 can't say I'm a fan of the colour prefer green myself but we can work with this," Timothy said walking up to inspect the new suits closely and Shuana beamed at him as she caught the green reference.
"Hey are these laser burns? Where the hell did you get these and did you get seen?" Timothy said a noted concern creeping into his voice as he spotted some of the minor burn marks on one of the suits.
"There's a big theme park called the Galaxy zone close to the centre of the park, they were on display in one of the buildings there and yeah kinda set off the alarms when I yoinked them, the place is filled with pissed-off robots and fucking turrets, so many fucking turrets," Seven said rubbing the back of his head.
"Did someone say laser burns? Who's been shot!?" a familiar voice said behind him and Seven turned just in time to see Visa seemingly pop out of thin air right next to him instantly grabbing hold of his suit and swivelling him around to examine him.
"Are you hurt? Did they breach your suit?" she asked in rapid fire.
"I'm fine honestly, just some friendly AA fire is all," Seven said taking hold of Visa's hands and holding them in his.
"No such thing as friendly fire," Vess said appearing next to her niece and leaning down to examine him as well.
"Set the alarms off liberating these three and it kinda lit the place up, they took a couple of glancing hits as I made my escape, nothing major, so how did it go with the Gatorclaws anyhow?" Seven said brushing off the worries of Visa to reassure her.
"Not telling you until I am satisfied you are not hurt, I know your habit of brushing off injuries, out of the tin suit before I peel you out of it!" Visa said in a commanding tone causing Seven to glance up at her in surprise but he sighed and nodded knowing full well it was pointless to argue with her when she was in this kind of mood, they didn't say stubborn as a Claw for nothing.
No sooner had Seven stepped out of the suit than Visa hoisted him off his feet lifting him up to her height so she could examine him closely, she turned him around and once she was satisfied she placed him back down on his feet releasing him as she did so.
"Satisfied now?" he said and she nodded raising herself back up to her full height all while taking on the look of a regal Alpha Claw, it suddenly clicked why she was being not only overprotective but a little bossier than usual, it was because of all the Gatorclaws watching them, she wanted to show them that she was indeed an Alpha Claw capable of keeping her pack in check while taking their safety seriously while showing she cared about her most important and beloved one.
"The Gatorclaws have agreed to join us, they too are tired of the harassment from the raiders and want them gone, they are sick of young hunters coming back with injuries sustained thanks to those savages as well as sometimes not coming back at all, so they have agreed to do anything that is necessary to be rid of them, as long as the human settlers that remain behind leave them in peace or at the very least treat them with respect," Visa said and Seven felt the smile tugging at his face.
"That's excellent news, get the feeling that we are going to need a whole lot more armour for this than just three sets of power armour," Seven said and Vess smiled.
"Indeed and they have agreed to help us there as well, so impressed by what Shauna and Timothy came up with to protect Thundertail that they have offered to help, they are aware of a couple of scrap yards where old attractions and broken robots are dumped, they have agreed to help us retrieve what we need to make more," she said.
"Well then I'm pretty sure I can think of a few ways we can use these suits of power armour not least of all to protect us out there in the field," Timothy said opening one of the suits up and stepping into it after he'd placed one of Seven's spare batteries into the back of it.
As they watched Timothy testing out the suit and moving about in it Shauna sighed heavily and turned to Visa, "Guess you're not gonna be the only one who has to peel their human out of a tin suit anymore," she said and Visa grinned at her.
"I can see that you are already feeling my pain sister," she said.
Chris wandered past the pair and took one of the spare batteries from the bag that Timothy had brought down and turned to one of the suits, "Always wanted to use one of these, but they never let the grunts use them," he said slapping the fusion core into the back of it and before Vess could say a word of protest he was inside of it and moving.
"Great now I know it too," she grumbled as she watched both Timothy and Chris clomping about testing out the manoeuvrability of the seven-foot-tall suits.
Seven chuckled and then turned to look at the last suit and just as he was wondering what they would do with that one he saw Eve come down and look at it before she too took a battery from the bag and slapped it into the back, "I've always wondered what it would feel like to pilot one of these suits," she said turning the handle on the back making the suit stand erect while opening up.
She wasn't as graceful as the others clambering into it but after a little stumbling around as she got used to the suit doing the work of moving for her she soon got the hang of it, "Ok this is officially cool," she said making Seven laugh out loud as he watched the three of them clomping around being watched by the crowd of curious Gatorclaws as well as the fully armoured Thundertail.
"Hard not to feel fucking invincible inside one of these," Timothy said his voice being amplified now by the helmet's onboard mic.
"Yeah but having been shot through one of them let me tell you are bullet-resistant, not bulletproof," Seven said reaching up to rub the scar on his shoulder.
"Only to the heavier stuff like plasma or concentrated laser fire, or maybe anti-material calibres, most bullets just bounce right off these things, I've knocked enough dents out of them and repaired more than enough paint jobs in the Brotherhood to know that, plus these in case you hadn't noticed are the T 60F variant," Timothy said.
"So?" Seven asked curiously.
"So they have much heavier plating all around, they might have a gaudy paint job but they are no less combat effective, plus with me and my big green love machine on the case I've got some ideas where we can make them even stronger," Timothy said confidently as Shuna planted a massive hand on his shoulder.
"Oh?" Seven asked curiously.
"Let's just say that working on Thundertail's new get-up has inspired me and these suits will be perfect to test some ideas I've got out on, don't you worry Seven once I'm done we'll be able to walk through the gates of hell themselves and punch the devil right in the balls in these things," Timothy said confidently.
"Could you apply such upgrades to my male's suit as well?" Visa asked and Timothy looked at the X-01 appraisingly before nodding.
"I don't see why not, same principles apply, just needs some adaption on the shaping, leave it with me I'll plan it out and when I have what I need I'll give you a shout," he said giving Visa an armoured thumbs up.
"Well then looks all we need to do now is get everyone ready for battle, while you guys handle that side of things, I'll continue to scout the outer settlements and take note of the defences they have, I'll also look into that cult while I'm at it," Seven said.
"I'm coming with you, I'm not letting you get your arse shot off without me," Visa declared firmly and Seven glanced at her before closing his mouth again knowing it was pointless to argue with her simply by the look of powerful determination radiating through her eyes.
"Alright fine which would you prefer we look into first the outer towns or the cult?' he asked and Visa scratched her scaly chin with her long claws making a deep rasping sound.
"Hmm I believe our first priority should be to free slaves and to protect the common people, this will set a good example of who we are and what we stand for, if we can rouse enough support then we will be on a far better footing when our main attack on the radio compound is to commence, yes the cult is intriguing and should not slip our notice but they are not a threat to us yet so I'd say slaves first lunatics second," she said and Seven chuckled.
"Fair enough then, alright go get your armour on my lover claw and we'll get to it, I know just the place to start looking, saw one of those towns on my way to the centre of the park that warrants a look," he said.
"Should we not wait for it to get dark? Raiders may be stupid but even in their narcotic fuddled haze I seriously doubt that even they could fail to notice a power-armoured human and a Claw descending from the heavens upon them?" she said and Seven shot her a grin.
"Well who knows if they see you first they might actually think it's an angel coming for them," he said grinning and Visa's growly pur caught in her throat before she shot him a smile.
"Cheesy my silver-tongued human but never stop," she said making him laugh.
"Alright yeah we should wait for dark, probably for the best anyway I could use something to eat and a bit of a rest been flying all day as it is, surprising how draining it can be especially when you have to lug things like that around," he said pointing to the armour that his three fellow humans were wearing while they appeared to be having a jumping jack contest for some reason.
Suddenly Visa planted her hands on his shoulders and began to steer him towards the tree lab, "Then come along my human I am going to feed you and rest you, a strong well-rested male is a happy male and my male will never be sad!" she said defiantly pushing him towards the lab.
Seven sighed and just chuckled while letting Visa steer him towards the lab while out of the corner of his eye, he could see a crowd of scaly heads all turning in unison as they watched, it seemed that Visa was fully intent on making the statement that not only was he her male but that she was proud to be a human loving claw a very public one, not that he was complaining as he got the distinct impression from her body language that resting was probably the last thing he was going to be doing.