Ella entered into Kirk's home to Dogmeat running up to her, wagging his tail. "Hello boy, did you miss me?" she asked, giving him pets. He barked and laid down on the couch. "Oh dear, please not the couch, it takes forever to clean your fur off it..." Wadsworth said, floating in. "Ah Miss Ella, the master told me you would be coming, please make yourself at home and I shall get dinner started."
Ella didn't know what to do so she simply said thank you and sat down on the couch with Dogmeat, petting him. She was unsure about all this, but it was better than sleeping in a bunkhouse with a bunch of strangers. She definitely felt safer here with Wadsworth and Dogmeat anyhow. She was nervous about it still though, the town was already talking like she was Kirk's new girl. Which is completely false, but gossip will continue. She found herself thinking of Kirk and hoping he was alright.
Kirk and Nick were having a rough time dealing with the ant guardians. The took cover behind a rock as two of them spewed fire their way. They could feel the heat rush past them as they reloaded their weapons. These guardians were definitely bigger and tougher than the other ants. Their bullets seem to be doing almost nothing, and Kirk didn't want to use his grenades right now. Kirk got his shotgun ready, "Okay, I am gonna charge one of them and blast their head off, you open fire at the other one."
"You're fuckin nuts man, these things are tough bastards." Nick said, getting his SMG ready. "Well, I don't see any other way, so unless you got a better idea..." Kirk said. As the fire died down, he charged with Nick opening fire at one of them. Kirk was just about a few yards away from the ant when he took aim. Suddenly the ant lunged at him, shocking Kirk as he watched a giant spiky ant fly toward at him alarming speed.
It tackled Kirk to the ground and shoved its pincers into the ground on either side of his head. Kirk watched in horror as he saw the ant building up it's fire in the mutated nozzle, readying it to blast it into his face. Kirk quickly shoved the barrel of his shotgun into the hole and fire erupted into the gun, turning the barrel red. Kirk kept pulling the trigger but nothing was happening so he just kept pushing the barrel deeper into the ant in desperation. The legs of the ant clicked all around him and it's pincers were snapping at his neck. Kirk pulled the trigger one more time and a small explosion went off, blowing the head of the ant into bits.
Kirk laid their stunned and covered in ant chunks, realizing the other ant was still their, he scrambled onto his feet and aimed at it. Only to find that his shotgun was destroyed, the barrel was practically gone. Nick was feeding bullets into the ant, but it kept coming at him. Kirk pulled out his pistol and fired into its side. The ant turned it's attention to Kirk and scrambled after him.
Nick climbed up a nearby rock and jumped onto the back of the ant. He aimed point blank at the top of ant's head and held the trigger down. Bullets ripped into it and finally the bullets broke through and demolished the ant, falling limp onto the ground. Kirk and Nick took a minute to compose themselves as they checked their weapons.
"How the hell did that happen?" Nick asked, pointed at Kirk's broken shotgun.
"No idea, I'm just lucky that most of the barrel was in the ant went it blew up or else my face would be gone."
They moved forward and saw the entrance to where the Queen should be. They took a peek inside and Kirk's heart fell into his stomach. The queen was massive, biggest creature he had ever seen. It was like a monster out of a Grognak comic. They both looked away and stared at the wall in front of them. "We're fucked." Nick said.
Ella had just finished eating when a knock was heard at the door. Wadsworth was cleaning dishes so she got up to answer it. She opened the door to Sheriff Simms who was surprised to see her.
"Oh, hello miss. Ella right? I was seeing if Kirk was home." he said, taking his hat off.
"Hello, you're the Sheriiff right? Um, no he hasn't returned. I'm not sure when he will be." she said awkwardly.
"Hmm, okay. I'm sure he is fine, I just expected him back by now. Well you have a good night miss." he said, putting his hat back on.
"Um, Sheriff does he usually come back late from these things?" she asked, wondering why she would anyway.
"Well this is technically his first scouting gig, but it's near that grocery store where, uh, anyway. He isn't alone, they may be handling a situation they deemed could be handled by them. I wouldn't worry, he is tougher than he looks." he said, and left.
Simms went to the sniper perch where Arkansas was. "Any sign of those two?" he asked.
"Nope." he said simply.
'What the hell did you get wrapped up in now? Nick wouldn't let you go into D.C. that's part of the reason why I sent him with you. Nick would never go into D.C. without more men. So what the hell are they doing?' he wondered, heading home.
"I hope you have a plan to deal with that monster." Nick said, checking his ammo, he only had one mag left and one half full in the gun. He had a small revolver but that was gonna do fuck all against these ants.
"Well I was hoping these grenades would be enough but I'm starting to think they won't do much either. I have one gun that could kill it." Kirk said, pulling his pack off and opening it.
"I hope it's a Fat Man, but I doubt you would be able to fit that in there." Nick said. He watched Kirk pull out a small funny looking gun. Which Kirk showed him like it was impressive. Nick stared at it and then looked at Kirk. "Are you fucking kidding me? That pea shooter is gonna kill that thing? What the fuck is wrong with you?" Nick asked bewildered.
"Trust me this thing is more powerful than it looks, now let's go." Kirk said, getting up. "Wait, Lesko said their were five of those guardian ants and we only killed two of 'em. Now if I remember right, his drawings showed the other three down that way. If we attack this Queen then those three are gonna come up behind us and pincer us, which means we are dead."
"Yeah, but if we kill the Queen quickly and then use the computer to frenzy the ants, they will kill each other. It's not like we got the ammo to kill the last three anyway."
Nick pondered the idea and still didn't like it. It could work but it was putting ton of faith in this weird gun. "Fine, we will do it your way, let's see this wonder gun of yours."
Kirk took a deep breath and walked into the Queen's chamber and pointed the alien gun at her. He pulled the trigger and nothing happened. He pulled it again as the queen screeched at him and still nothing happened. He pulled the glowing capsule out and reinserted it. Pulled the trigger...still nothing. Kirk dropped the gun and rolled away as the queen smashed her leg down at him.
"Fucking idiot!" Nick yelled moving to point his gun at the queen, until he heard skittering to his left. 'Oh fuck...' he thought and turned to see the three guardians coming around the corner. He looked over at Kirk running around the queen with only his pistol. Nick knew if he ran in their with those guardian they both will die. He sprayed bullets at them backing away from the chamber back toward where they had entered. "This way you freaks!" he roared emptying his clip and loading his last into it. The giant spiky ants chased him down the tunnnel away from the queen.
Kirk ran around the queen, seeing Nick being chased away by the other guardians. He mentally kicked himself for not trying to figure out the alien gun. He was a fool to think it would operate like a normal gun like theirs. Now Nick was gonna die for his reckless gamble. He ran by the robot just standing there doing nothing. The queen continued to skitter in circles slamming her giant legs down near Kirk. If one got him he would be crushed instantly.
As Kirk bobbed and weaved around the queen, he assessed his options. All he had was his 10mm, his rifle and a belt of four grenades. The pistol and rifle weren't gonna do enough damage unless he shot it in the eye, which he doubt he could do. That left the grenades. He had only one idea.
He leapt onto one of the queens legs and started climbing up it. The queen shook it frantically sending Kirk flying into the cavern wall. He hit the wall so hard, it felt like his soul left his body. His vision blurred and he tried to stand up but collapsed. His whole body was numb, blood was running down his face. He must've cut his head open somewhere from the impact. He looked up and could barely make out the queen charging at him. This was it, this was how he died. A flash of red hit the queens side, and another. The queen turned to the protectron shooting lasers at her.
"Human life in danger, executing contingency plan. Kill the Queen. Protect human life." the robot said. The queen began to smash it to pieces. Kirk forced himself up and with everything he had he ran up a slanted boulder and jumped on the back of the Queen. The Queen screeched and wiggled, trying to shake him off. Kirk made it up to the head and slung the belt of grenades around it's neck and pulled a pin. He then jumped off and felt his ankle twist on landing.
Kirk groaned in pain and did his best to limp away, but the Queen swiped him, smashing his arm into his side and sending him flying again. He rolled over to see the queen coming at him. Finally the belt of grenades blew up and the her head blasted off her body in gory fashion, landing a few yards away from him. The huge body collapsed shaking the entire cavern. Green liquid flooding out of its body.
Kirk wanted to lay their in his victory but knew he had to get to the computer or else Nick was dead...if he wasn't already. Kirk stood up his left arm dangling like a noodle. He couldn't move it at all. He limped over to the computer, he put in the password Lesko gave him and activated the severing link protocol and then collapsed, blacking out.
Simms couldn't sleep, he sat outside his house drinking whiskey. They should've been back by now. He didn't have the manpower right now to send out a squad to look for them. As he dwelled on the likely outcomes, Doc Church came around the corner.
"Told you to take those meds when you couldn't sleep." Doc said gruffly, sitting down next to him.
"Don't like 'em, I feel sluggish the next day." Simms replied pouring a glass for him. "What brings you to my place Doc?"
"Noticed the kid ain't back yet. Been also wanting to talk to you about him."
"What about him?"
"His mental state."
Nick was cornered by the guardians he had been desperately running from. He did his best to keep them occupied by firing at them when one turned around to head back to the Queen that was shrieking. He tried to dodge but one pounced and he held the pincers away from him. His heart dropped as it blew fire at his face which he did his best to dodge but still got him. He roared in agony as the heat was intensifying. He could feel his skin bubble up and fall away. His right eye stung in pain as it slowly started melting. He was about to let go so the ant could just bite his head off to relieve himself of the agony. Suddenly the ants started shrieking and attacking each other, leaving him alone.
Nick watched out of his left eye as the guardians ripped each other apart. It was terrifying how quick they were about it. They were tearing into one another ruthlessly. It made it seem that they were toying with him earlier. His only hope was that they killed each other, but being three of them meant one of them would likely live. He readied his SMG with only a few bullets left, but those bullets would have to be enough.
Finally the one that survived the frenzy turned to Nick and limped over to him. It was missing some legs and it's head was cracked. Nick aimed at the crack and opened fire, breaking through the carapace and killing the large guardian. Nick dropped his empty gun and sat their staring at the cavern ceiling. He couldn't feel his face which probably wasn't good he thought.
After a moment he stood up and walked back to the Queen's chamber to check on Kirk. He entered the cavern to see the Queen's head laying nearby and the body on the other side of the cavern. At the moment Nick, couldn't surmise how that was possible. His wonder gun? He found Kirk laying in font of the computer and went over to him.
"Kirk, wake up. You better not be fuckin dead after all this bullshit you dragged me into. I lost half of my fuckin face you asshole!" Nick yelled, slapping his face. Kirk didn't budge.
Nick sighed and picked him up. He also grabbed the alien gun nearby and headed back to Lesko.
"What do you mean his mental state? He is fine as far as I can tell." Simms said, drinking his whiskey.
"Simms how long has that kid been out here? Not long at all right? How many life and death situations has he dealt with in that short amount of time?"
"Come on Church we all deal with that daily out here."
"Some more than other Simms, and he came from a safe place. Where they didn't have to worry about that stuff. Has the kid...had a chance to stop and deal what he has gone through? We all have a breaking point Simms, that kid does too."
"I don't even know where the hell he is right now. What am I suppose to do? Chase after him everytime he leaves the town? He could be in D.C. right now. Why do you care, you never have before."
Doc finished his drink and stood up, "The kid has gone through too much in too short of time is all I'm saying. When he is back, send him to me." He walked away leaving the glass.
Simms watched him leave and pondered on the conversation. He had a feeling more happened on their Arefu trip then they let on. He decided to go see Lucy in the morning.
Kirk woke up in a bright room. He felt bandages wrapped around his forehead and his left arm was in a sling. He looked around and saw Lesko bandaging Nick. Lesko turned to see Kirk, "Oh good you are awake. How do you feel?"
Kirk sat up and saw Bryan running up to him. "You're alive! I thought- I thought..."
"Bryan? How did you get down here?" Kirk asked, surprised. "I brought him down here after all the specimen frenzied. You both are lucky to be alive." Lesko explained.
"You can say that again." Nick said, looking at Kirk. The right top side of his face was covered with bandages, showing only his mouth and left side. "Lost an eye to those guardians, but if you hadn't killed the Queen, I'd be dead. Good job."
"I'm sorry, the damn gun didn't work. If I knew how it worked, we would be a lot better off. We need to get back to Megaton and see Doc Church. See if he could fix that ug
Lesko must've heard him because he brought over the alien gun. "A remarkable piece of technology you have here. Why didn't you use this on the Queen?"
Kirk scoffed, "It's busted, it wouldn't fire. Almost got us killed." Lesko hummed, "Could you come with me?"
They walked into the cavern, Lesko handed him the gun. "Demonstrate how you tried to use it for me please." Kirk pulled the trigger and let go, nothing. "I see. Are you not familiar with using energy based weaponry?" he asked.
"No, but I fired some before that were similar to this one. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn't."
"Similar to this one? Where did you get it at?"
"Long story Lesko, and I rather not talk about it. Now tell me what I need to know about it."
Lesko took the gun and pointed at a boulder. "All energy weapons need a moment to charge the projectile, it isn't like gunpowder where it's an instant reaction. You have to let the energy build and then release. Observe."
Lesko held the trigger down and a blue light glowed at the end of barrel and then it fired, leaving a hole in the boulder.
"Remarkable! This would've killed the Queen, no probably anything in one well placed shot!" Lesko exclaimed.
Kirk scowled, thinking back to the other alien weaponry and realized maybe they did work when held the trigger down longer than usual. If only he had taken the damn time to learn. At this point everything he had been through was based off luck and desperation. He needed to be better at learning and preparing for these situations.
"Thank you for showing me Lesko." Kirk said heading back to the room.
"So we good to head out?" Kirk asked Nick. He nodded and stood up. "Um, thank you for everything." Bryan said, waving at them. Kirk looked at him confused, "I thought it was apparent you were coming with us?"
"No the doctor is going to Rivet City and I have an aunt there so I'm gonna go with him." he explained.
Kirk turned to Lesko, "Isn't Rivet City in D.C.? Everyone tells me it's a warzone, how do you intend to get there?" Kirk asked.
"Well usually I have my robot be my protection, but Nick says it's destroyed unfortunately. I know of one caravan route to get there, we will use that, they tend to be safer. We should get there with no issues, if we do I will protect young Bryan with my life, I promise." Lesko said with determination.
Kirk stared at Lesko and nodded. He could tell this was his way to start making up for his mistakes. He won't rob him of that. Kirk knelt down to Bryan, "I'm sorry we couldn't save your dad, stay strong and always remember to keep moving forward."
Bryan sniffed and wiped some tears aways. He nodded and have Kirk a hug. He gave one to Nick too, who was shocked for a moment but then embraced him. "See you around kid."
Kirk and Nick left the station and headed back to Megaton in silence. As the town got into view Nick stopped and sighed. "What's the problem?" Kirk asked.
"Simms is gonna kill me when he sees us beat up like this. Look I gotta say something and I'm only gonna say this shit once."
Kirk remained silent and crossed his arms waiting. "You were right earlier about me. I do only look out for myself. I thought you were an idiot who couldn't understand common sense of how it is out here. However, after what we just went through. I see now it was worth it. Stopping an out of control experiment and saving a young boys life. It feels good. It makes me want to be better. So thanks for showing me that. You are still a jackass though who is gonna get himself killed. Be a bit selfish once in awhile, it will keep you alive." Nick felt awkward after saying all that, but was still glad he did.
Kirk nodded, "Thanks and I will keep that in mind. So you done flirting or can we get home?" Kirk asked with a smile.
Nick laughed, "Fuck you." He jabbed Kirk in his good arm and walked on. Kirk followed with a limp. The sun was just starting to rise and he could feel the exhaustion starting to take it's toll from fighting ants all night.
The gates opened to Sheriff Simms waiting for them with his hands on his hips. Once the duo stopped in front of him the sheriff shook his head seeing the state they were in.
"Jackasses."