The story of a rose in a shallow grave belongs to Wombag1786, the sequel to this one.
I do not own RWBY and Fallout.
Autor: Andiclip
Chapter 7: The First Step
"Let me see if I understand," Nate said, somewhat confused. "This Legion of Caesar conquered several tribes and wiped out others to rebuild the wilderness like ancient Rome?"
"Yes."
"But since this Caesar is dead, now the second in command who is Legate Lanius rules it and he will most likely try to take over this New Vegas and especially the damn Hoover Dam!" He said in disbelief.
"That's right," Ren said nonchalantly.
"How bad is the world so bad that some guy thinks he's a historical figure and wants to conquer what's left of America?!".
"And that's the tip of the iceberg, Mr. Smith."
"Please don't call me sir. you make me feel old "He said feeling a headache from the information.
"But aren't you two hundred, ten years old?" asked Ren with a raised eyebrow.
"For the two hundred, ten. I feel like two hundred" They both got a small chuckle out of the joke.
If Nate could describe Ren it would be reassuring, because, unlike the others this one had a soothing and comforting aura, probably reminding him of an old friend he doesn't remember.
"Quick question, that emblem on your jacket why does it say "The Kings"? What does it represent?" Nate asked curious about the design.
"There's a place called Freeside where there's a gang that worships "The King" some kind of old-world rock singer.
"Wait, the king of rock? Are we talking about Elvis Presley?".
"Yeah, they try to dress, talk, and act like him."
"My God, how bad is the world?!".
"Good enough," Ren said no more. "What's the plan?"
"We'll go do that mission and upon completion, we'll go to the trading post to get leads on Shaun."
"A good plan, but I reckon let's try to save as much ammo by using stealth" Meatball stood behind being alert to everything.
"I think it sounds good, your gun has a silencer, mine will make too much noise" Nate checked his Pip-Boy for location. "We're close, it's over that hill" Pointing to a slope with a sign indicating the location.
After climbing the slope they would see a large vegetable garden with the tatos; if he remembered the name of the mutated vegetable correctly, a ruined house, and a makeshift hut. As they stood nearby a man in simple field clothes quickly pulled out his pipe gun and pointed it at them, the woman would hide behind the man.
"What do you want? We don't need any more trouble here" Threatened the settler before them.
"Relax, we're here on behalf of the Minutemen."
"Wait, you're from the Minutemen? I thought they didn't exist anymore" He said surprised. "We sent a notice through a passing trader, but, frankly I didn't expect to get any response. After the massacre in Quincy, most people don't trust them anymore. It was a disaster." The Quincy massacre got both of their attention.
"We are coming back and we are willing to help people" Ren spoke.
"Okay" The man lowered his gun, but he didn't trust. "There is a band of looters that has been causing us trouble. They stole food, and supplies and threatened to kill me and my wife if we didn't pay up. We know where they are, but we don't have much combat experience."
"If we help them, they might give us a hand with food."
The man looked at his wife who whispered and would look at them "We'll take it under advisement, if you get it."
"We will."
"They're in Lexington in an old factory," said the woman calming down.
Nate nodded and withdrew as Ren gave a bow to say goodbye.
After leaving the settlement they followed the train tracks past a station full of necrophages, at first Nate was startled to see what he described as zombies, but all it takes is a good headshot to calm them down.
As they passed the old train lines they would see Lexington in the distance, once a flashy city with an industrial factory. Two things were most appealing: the Super-Duper-Mart and the Starlight drive-in movie theater. They would pass the movie theater to get into Lexington and be downtown.
"It's too quiet" Nate spoke drawing his gun.
"Too much" Agreeing with him as he did the same. They were going to continue on their way but he would notice how out of the houses would come a large horde of necrophages. They were going to defend against them, but they would hear a hissing sound that Ren would recognize the noise after his experience with the Boomers. "Get down!".
Both would do so only to feel a mini tremor along with a large heat wave. Looking up they would see a mini nuclear cloud and then several shots from 5.56 turrets.
"There! At the sign!" Nate pointed to an area with a looter using a Fat man and next to him, two looters firing their weapons to keep the necrophages coming up through a nearby building at bay. "Let's take the opportunity to get the hell out."
Ren nodded to get up along with him to go to the factory avoiding attracting the attention of the mad necrophages while screams of pain and a large explosion could be heard in the distance along with the fall of a metal object.
After being safe they would hide in the old car bridge, apparently someone had set up a makeshift home with a small fire and a dirty bed. Nate took advantage of the All American's scope to see their defenses, he would duck out of sight; although a blue jumpsuit with a huge number on it wouldn't attract attention.
"I can count five looters at the top...two below next to a turret, one in the tunnel, and two on the left; one above and one below." Putting the scope back on the gun.
"What's the plan?" asked Ren looking at the areas.
"I came up with this. I'll get their attention from here while you surprise them from behind with your weapon."
"Okay" Getting up from the ground. "Will you be all right?" asked Ren.
"I'm a war veteran, I've seen worse" Taking the safety off the gun. "Go, now."
Nate fired at the turret destroying it and drawing the attention of the looters who would start firing at the bridge. Ren took the opportunity to go around the factory and enter the loading zone where the looters were heading to give support either in close combat or with a firearm.
He would enter the area to go downstairs and shoot at them where all the looters went to defend. This surprised them causing them to split up to try to keep them at bay. Ren took cover behind a wall to reload his weapon.
Nate firing shots at will would disperse the looters or kill some of them, he saw three approaching on the bridge with melee weapons, he would pull out a frag grenade and throw it at them causing panic before it exploded leaving them on the ground. He took this opportunity to reload and continue firing.
Ren kept firing until he finished with the last one below, but there were still those above who concentrated their shots on Nate who had to take cover behind the improvised walls that did not resist the bullets.
Ren using some of his aura jumped the wall sideways to get to the platform and did the same procedure to pass to the railing to enter inside the building eliminating two in the process and be on the roof of the factory to eliminate the looters avoiding Nate to pass.
Ren killed one of the looters, drawing the attention of the others.
"Where did that one come from?" shouted one of the looters.
"Who cares! Fill it with lead!" he shouted to fire, but Nate's shots disoriented the group.
Nate and Ren were framed in a fight of attrition until killing the last of them all. Ren using the reflection of the sun on his gun called Nate's attention to confirm that everything was clear.
The two met at the main entrance to go for entry but heard the sound of cymbals being played seeing a jolly chimp playing his cymbals.
"They must be the ones who attacked the ones outside! Don't let them in!".
Nate gave a tired sigh and leaned back against the door. "Do you have any grenades?"
Ren handed him one and did the same. Nate pulled the pin and nodded to open the door and before it exploded he threw it.
A cloud of dust flew out along with screams before it exploded. Taking advantage of the confusion, they would shoot their way through the offices.
They would reach an industrial area where there were more looters on the lookout and a turret. They had to make a run and shoot against anyone who stood in front of them, luckily Ren's grenades helped a lot to disperse the destruction of the turret.
They thought the place was clear, but when they heard whimpers and screams they saw three necrophages running towards them. The dog lunged at one of them and bit its neck. Nate and Ren shot the two leaving them on the ground to watch as Meatball killed the necrophage.
"I don't know whether to feel bad for them or not?" Nate questioned tapping his foot on the necrophage's body.
"Yes, if you don't go feral you'll be like this until you lose consciousness" Ren replied.
"If it's not one, it's another."
They would leave the bodies to go up to the car assembly area where on a platform there were three looters on alert next to two turrets on top of the roof of what used to be an office.
Ren moved stealthily to the other side of the area where he noticed two looters guarding the area. Ren using his gun took them out with a quick shot to the head.
After they were safe Nate began firing at a turret destroying it causing the shots to focus on him.
In an instant, the floor burst into flames causing Nate to back up "Woah!".
Ren fired at one causing him to fall off the platform. The turret focused on him and started firing causing him to take cover.
After the flames dispersed after running out of fuel Nate made a charge while firing at the second turret destroying it and leaving the two looters alone. Ren used another grenade and threw it at the platform exploding.
After making sure no one was there they breathed a sigh of relief. "That was everyone" Nate smiled at that.
"Just another day in the wasteland" Agreeing with him "Let's go to that platform."
"Right" To follow him.
As they went up and activated the bridge they would enter the offices that were now the former Raiders' quarters. Nate walked over to a trunk to pull out whatever was there for Ren to put them in his backpack noticed on the desk was an edition of Grognack the Barbarian. "Great!" Picking it up and seeing its condition. "And the pages are readable!"
He would walk out with his favorite comic book but heard two gunshots courtesy of Ren to some looters "Let's go."
They would both leave through the trailer exit taking a baseball bat with them.
"Now let's go to that stall Preston mentioned and get this over with."
Following the same path they would just veer left to where the old cinema car was and turn right to see an old coffee shop, but the sound of a fight caught both of their attention.
"We had a deal Judy! Pay for the goods! You owe us!"
Outside the establishment stood a man in a leather jacket and ponytail and next to him a colored man with a homemade gun.
"I'm not giving you poison dealers anything! You know what that scumbag did to my kid!" the owner shouted.
"I'm buying it Trudy! It's not our fault he's so hung up!".
"Come on, don't make me burn down your trading post!" As they approached the two men drew their guns causing them to do the same themselves.
"Hey, calm down scavengers. This isn't on you."
"If you keep pointing that gun in my face, this is going to be our business" Nate threatened using his military tone.
This scared both of them, only because their guns were better than they had. "Okay, calm down. We're going to lower our guns if you do the same thing, you think? Don't do anything crazy" Following his demand they would do the same.
"Now explain, what's going on here?" asked Nate.
"It's just a business discussion. Trudy has a lot of merchandise she owes me. I've tried to reason with her, but I'll have to take what's mine by force" I'd look them up and down. "You want to make some easy money? Give me a hand. I could use another gun. Or maybe they'll be able to talk some sense into me."
Nate saw the woman pointing a sawed-off shotgun "I'm guessing that's Trudy in there, right?"
"That's right, you see this one has a kid. When he turned eighteen I sold him some Jet and then some more and more. Now he owes me money."
"Jet? Is that some kind of drug like mentats?".
"That's right, I deal drugs: meds and not to mention the fun ones. I have those too. If you help me we'll do business. It's in your best interest to have me as a friend."
Nate looked at Ren who kept his eye on him and Meatball waited for the order. He looked at the woman who was still pointing at the man. He could oblige her, but he wouldn't have the information he needed. But he remembered something or rather two things that would be useful to him and besides, they would both be winners.
"Why don't you leave the woman alone? I know a way you can recoup your investments" That got the attention of both dealers.
"Do you have the money?" the man asked.
"No...but I heard that the old Lexington factory is free of looters and that looters do drugs" He managed to get both their attention, and he smiled inwardly at having their attention. "And along with that, I heard that Concord had a battle against the same group where there are quite a few dead looter bodies. Here's how it works. You rush in and take the goods, sell them double and you'll make twice as many badges. In return, you leave the woman alone. Is it a deal?" Nate tried to maintain his confidence, but inside he wanted to blow her head off, he had felt a strange itching sensation in his neck.
They both looked at each other and whispered between them until the man saw him. "Here's a deal, if you need medicine or anything for fun I'll be here. I'm Wolfgang."
"Nate Smith and this is Lie Ren."
"I hope you're right Nate or there will be trouble," Wolfgang said to leave along with his bodyguard.
"I didn't know you had the gift of gab" Ren admitted over the deal.
"No, I just thought it would be better for them to have more merchandise and sell it for twice as much as getting the old one back" Nate confessed. "Let's go inside."
As they entered Trudy had stopped pointing at them and looked at them with a smile. "Thanks for pulling them away, I never thought I'd see someone manage to convince a dealer, but anyway, I'm Trudy, and welcome to my store. I don't normally do this, but I'll give you a slight discount for it. Ren notices the guy in the corner watching him withdraw.
"Thanks, Trudy, but I'm looking for information."
"What do you need to know?"
"I'm looking for my son about a year old, he was coming with a bald man with a scar on his face." Judy closed her eyes trying to remember until something lit up her face.
"I think I remember a similar guy, I bought some supplies along with two guys in anti-radioactive clothes, they said they had to go to Diamond City and then left, that's all I know."
Albert breathed a sigh of relief, at last, the old lady was right. "Thank you Mrs. Trudy Would you like to trade some things?".
"What do you have?"
[-]
After trading with Trudy and telling them about Sanctuary to get the attention of traders, they returned to the settlers to tell them that they had fulfilled what they had promised by gaining a settlement to give them food. When they returned to Sanctuary they had only managed to clean the houses.
They noticed the group telling them stories of the West Coast at a makeshift campfire. Nate decided to join in. For a strange reason, he was drawn to these stories.
When you get to Lexington I thought that a looter with servo armor was too much for someone with a lower level, so I removed it but left the Fat-man. In the factory, I decided to give more intelligence to the enemies so that if they hear gunshots they will be alert and in the last one if you could free that area you could have a third option like in The Outer Worlds. Similar to this in the conversation as seen with Wombag.