//------------------------------// // First Impressions Matter // Story: YHaY: Set The World On Fire // by PastyWaffles //------------------------------// ???, ???, 1400 hours "Identify yourself, fiend." Said one of the guards, standing out from the rest. He wore purple and gold armor, opposed to the plain gold or blue around him. Alex supposed this meant that he was of a special rank. "No need to be so damn rude about it. Name's Alexander Meredith, but most just call me the Lone Wanderer." He replied to the officer while putting his hand down. Alex was many things and had many titles, but he figured he should just start off with his most basic ones. Also, by the way the officer looked like he was about to explode, Alex could only guess he didn't particularly appreciate the 'so damn rude' comment. "Remove thine helmet. From what our servant has reported, you are a being that should not be able to talk as you do." Said the large blue horse. Seems like they speak 'ye olde' too, to some extent. No sense in disobeying the goddamned princess of the kingdom. Alex didn't want to end up in a dungeon. He would probably break out in the first day, but still, impressions mattered. "Well, lets see if that's true." He said as he set Vengeance down with a thump, causing the other guards around him to tense up even more at the sound. They seemed pretty jumpy, probably scared. Alex reached his metal hands up and grasped his power helmet, removing it from the magnetic locks that kept it in place and exposed the gleaming gold-orange visor and black plating of his stealth armor. The horses continued to look more and more perplexed as the unmasking continued. Alex placed the duraframe helm under his arm and reached his hand to the side of his head, causing the guards to quickly break into a combat stance, shoving their spears in Alex's face threateningly. He held his hand back up to - hopefully - show that he was no initial threat. Alex was no stranger to being wary of things that he did not recognize or understand, as he had also been that way for a while after leaving his home, Vault 101, where he had grown up without any knowledge of the outside. He could still remember his reaction to the wasteland before him, astonished beyond measure, yet uncertain and scared. That fear turned to acceptance quickly, though. The guards seemed to back off slightly and Alex placed his hand back to the side of his head. He pressed the small switch there, the visor and face mask of the stealth armor sliding up and over his head, revealing his worn and weathered face. He pulled the stealth armor's hood off and let it lay around his neck, running one of his gauntlets through his messy brown hair. Alex's face... has seen better days. His chiseled features were covered in a thin layer of sweat and dust and various small scars and burns were dotted around his face, the most noticeable being the long thick line of scar tissue that ran down his face from his right temple, over his right eye, over his lips, and down his neck to the collarbone. His eyes were blue, his left one faded and almost grey. If you took the time to have a glancing look at his right eye - the eye the scar ran over - you could easily see that the eye wasn't actually natural. There was a small lining of metal around the eye socket and the iris seemed to dilate at random. The sclera was a light and polished grey and fibers of the iris were minuscule blue strands of fiber surrounding the glossy black lens that was the pupil. The right eye's color was unfaded, a perfect blue. He had lost his eye in a fight against a deathclaw. Bastard got him good, but Alex had gotten him better. "Well, here it is." He said with open arms, his helmet in his left hand. "This is me." The 'thwack' of a crossbow was heard and a heavy metal bolt hit against Alex's left pauldron. The bolt barely did any damage -just a scratch to the paint - but another of the guards took it as a cue and shot one into Alex's back, somehow doing even less damage. Alex swiftly put his power helmet back on, leaving the stealth armor's hood lying around his neck. If one person in a mob does something, more were sure to do it. Mob mentality, Alex recalled it as. He was right. As soon as he had his helmet secured, he was bombarded by more bolts all over my body. They all just collapsed and bounced off of his armor, but when they hit his helmet it rang in his ears. Blasts of energy slammed into his armor and spears were thrust at him. The energy shots left small scorch marks and the spears just glanced off. Alex was damn near invincible, but it would be sooner or later the guards would become calculated and try to search for one of the very few weak spots in his armor. A voice tried to make itself be heard, but it was soon drowned out by the varying sounds of weaponry and armor. Alex didn't want it to come to this, but he had no choice. He reached down, grabbed Vengeance and began its warm-up. The barrels began spinning and after a second they began spitting green lasers. The lasers smacked into the golden armor of the guards, almost punching clean though it. The reason it didn't was probably because of the sheen and material of their armor deflected some or absorbed some, respectively. The guards didn't stop, so Alex had to keep going. He went in a wide arc around me, throwing energy in every which way, always hitting something. The horses cried in agony as their flesh was scorched and their armor heated or melted onto them. Alex could only imagine the pain they must have been in. If they were within reach, he punched them in the face with my duraframe fist, being careful only to knock them out. It was a much better solution that just killing them outright. After a few seconds, Vengeance just... shutdown. Alex shook it to try and get it to work, but he soon realized the problem. The small counter just above the fusion core slot in Vengeance read a big fat: '000' 'Must not have put in a fully charge core.' He though as he braced myself and charged though the crowd around him, either running over or throwing guards out of my way, probably giving many concussions and broken bones. Alex finally pushed to the edge of the circle into a clear field and set Vengeance down. He knew there would be no time to reload it, so he grabbed at his waist and found the grip of his shocksword. He unsheathed it from its simple scabbard and flicked the switch on its hilt. The already prominent blue glow grew brighter and electricity arced across the blade. There weren't many uninjured guards left standing. A horse with wings dive bombed Alex and he planted his sword across its right wing, causing it to veer off and hit the ground headfirst. More of the equines started to charge at him and he easily dispatched them. Arcs of electricity flew from one guard to another and damn near cooked them. They all either dropped or fled. The last few guards ran or flew away, presumably to get reinforcements, while Alex stood amongst the bodies of at least forty guards, injured or otherwise. Cries and groans of pain could be heard every now and then. He breathed in a deep breathe and let it flow out of him as he recomposed myself. Alex examined his armor and was disappointed. The power armor was dotted with a variety of scorch marks, scratches, and things that could only be described as shallow dents. He flicked the switch on his sword and put it back in its scabbard, then picked up vengeance and loaded a new fusion core, making sure it was a fully charged one. A low groan came from a guard in the center of the crowd and Alex stepped over the other guards to go and get a good look at him. The guard was covered in the standard plates of gold armor, although the center of his breastplate was badly dented in and warped into a sheen of multiple colors. His breathes were labored as he tried to stand up as Alex walked closer, the servos of his armor whirring and the duraframe plates clanking together. The guard was barely balanced on his four hooves when Alex reached behind his head and grabbed him by the skin of his neck. A horn poked from his helmet and Alex recognized him. He was the one who fired the first shot. "Why?" Alex asked him as he looked at Alex with wide teary eyes. "WHY!?" Alex yelled. Alex turned the guard to face his fallen comrades and shook him around for good effect. "LOOK AT WHAT YOU CAUSED! YOU DID THIS!!" Alex shouted at him at the top of his lungs. The guard had shot a crossbow at him, spurring the fight. An utterly unnecessary one, at that. Because of him so many of his fellow soldiers were dead or dying. Alex didn't want to kill anybody here. He just wanted relations to go smoothly and without complications, but the guard ruined that. He attacked and began a mob mentality. Alex bashed him in the side of his head with his hand, causing him to go limp, and dropped him to the ground. Alex placed his hand back on Vengeance and chose his destination. The castle.