Once again edited by TacoTown
Day 7 part 2
“So, when are we going to get to this Citadel place?” Shining asked Arcade. They’d been flying through the night again and Shining was beginning to get tired, even though he’d slept for several hours after they’d rescued the Brotherhood.
“By the end of the day, I’ll probably be keeping my distance.” Arcade replied with a slight shrug.
“Why?” Shining asked in confusion.
“Because I’m technically Enclave, the Brotherhood doesn’t like the Enclave.” Arcade replied with another shrug.
“But aren’t you two the organizations with the most technology?” Shining asked.
“Well yes, but the Enclave wants to whip out anyone that they view as impure, whereas the Brotherhood just wants to take as much technology as possible. This East Coast Chapter is very peculiar all things considered.” Arcade answered.
“Peculiar, what do you mean by that?” Shining asked.
“They actually care about the people of the Capital Wasteland, enough so that they’ve lost dozens and dozens of soldiers defending them from the local supermutants and the Enclave.” Arcade supplied.
“They sound nice.” Shining said but Arcade just chuckled.
“No they’re not. The only reason that they’re the way they are now is because they killed around four hundred people and gained nothing from it, and their elder feels guilty about it so he’s trying to clear his conscience by saving the Capital Wasteland. It wouldn’t surprise me if the moment that he’s dead the next elder says fuck it and leaves the people for the mutants to tear apart while they sit behind their walls.” Arcade corrected Shining.
“Do you think Ethan would let them do that?” The unicorn asked.
“No, but even he couldn’t take out an entire chapter of Brotherhood by himself…Then again we’d probably get thrown into it, and I know that between him and Cassandra those two can do anything that they put their minds to… Including destroy the strongest, most well-armed organizations in the Wasteland” Arcade replied with a sigh.
“I just want to get my sister and go home, the thought of little defenseless Twily out here with this Ethan guy is driving me crazy.” Shining said with a frown.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure that they’re doing something perfectly safe, Ethan wouldn’t bring her anywhere too dangerous.”
***
“I still can’t believe that no one in the Wasteland cares that these kids are out here by themselves.” Twilight said in annoyance as they trotted into the tunnel that led to Vault 87.
“Complain about it later, we have to be ready to fight.” Ethan told her as he readied his 12.7mm submachine gun.
“Just how many mutants are we facing?” Twilight asked as she began to check on her tri-beam laser rifle and plasma defender.
“Anywhere from one to one thousand.” Ethan replied with a chuckle as they entered the gorge.
“Oh, this should be fun.” Twilight said dryly just as the first assault rifle rounds began to slam into the ground in front of them. “They aren’t the greatest shots, are they?” Twilight asked as they both ducked behind a boulder.
“No they aren’t. At least they’ll be expecting us!” Ethan replied loudly over the sound of gunfire.
Ethan put away his submachine gun and drew his modified anti-material rifle. He poked the scope around the corner of the boulder and saw a group of ten supermutants standing around the gorge in front of them, peppering their position with gunfire. Once he’d gotten a good look he pulled his head back just a second before a round flew through the air where his head had been.
“We’ve got ten of them. two on the ground level behind the rocks on the left, four in the lower floor windows, and four on the upper level. Two of the four are on the bridge between the upper levels and they’re packing miniguns.” Ethan told Twilight as he put away his rifle.
“Wouldn’t it have been better to shoot those two with your rifle?” Twilight asked with a smirk.
“Shut up Sparky.” Ethan replied with a chuckle.
“I mean, if you had enough time to look then you should’ve been able to shoot at leas-”
“Can we just worry about killing them?” Ethan asked in exasperation. Instead of answering Twilight just gave him a smirk. “Okay, here’s what we do. I pop out and focus their fire while you focus on tearing that bridge down with your magic, hopefully causing the two with the miniguns to be incapacitated. At that point I’ll kill the others and you’ll mop up any that are left.” Ethan explained. Twilight nodded and took a peek at the bridge where the two mutants with the miniguns were pouring a relentless stream of rounds at them.
“I can get that bridge down in a few seconds. Are you sure you won’t need my help for any of the other stuff?” Twilight asked.
“Sparky, I’ve been soloing this place for years, and I destroyed the entirety of the Enclave in the region. Give me some credit.” Ethan said with a chuckle.
“I would, but you seem to lack common sense so…” Twilight was cut off when a bullet whizzed by her head and took a chunk out of her right ear. “Oww!” She shouted as a small fountain of blood blossomed from her ear.
“And that’s why you don’t take time to lecture on the battlefield.” Ethan said before he jabbed a stimpack into her ear causing the damage to begin to heal. “Alright, let’s go.” Ethan said before he rolled out from behind the rock, immediately drawing the mutant fire away from said rock and the unicorn hiding behind it.
Ethan returned fire with his marksmen’s carbine while rolling, sending a three round burst into one of the supermutant’s skulls, instantly shattering it and sending red chunks flying everywhere. He took four rounds in the chest in the process, but his armor repelled them with ease. As he came out of his roll he fired another burst, dropping one more mutant before the twin strings of minigun rounds smashed into him, sending him backwards a bit as they pinged off of his armor, and he grunted as one or two found their way into his rib cage. Luckily, at that very moment, with a loud groan of twisting metal the bridge came crashing down, taking the two minigun wielding supermutants with it.
In the distraction caused by the collapsing bridge Ethan holstered his marksmen’s carbine and drew his 12.7. With an energetic whoop he ran towards the remaining supermutants, firing as he came. Four supermutants were already dead, leaving six who opened fire on Ethan, who braced himself but to his surprise he found that none of the shots were hitting him. He spared a second to glance downward and found that his chest had been encased in a protective purple glow. With a vicious grin splitting his face, he closed with the nearest supermutant and blew its chest apart in a spray of blood. He moved onto the next mutant who charged him with a super sledge, and ducked under a decapitating blow before he kicked it in the shin and blew its brains apart while it bent down in pain.
The remaining two mutants in the lower level of the shack opened up with a vicious wave of Chinese assault rifle shots, but Ethan didn’t feel a thing as he charged the shack and jumped through the window frame. His trench knife leapt to his hand and he smashed the spikes on the hilt into one of the mutant’s eyes before turning and stabbing the other mutant in the stomach. One of the two remaining mutants charged him from upstairs but before it got within range Twilight leapt through the window frame and shot a blast of energy into its chest, causing it to explode outward in all directions, drenching the purple unicorn in blood.
“Every bucking time!” She shouted as she sent a small wave of magic over herself to get the worst of the blood off. Meanwhile the last mutant guarding the entrance threw a grenade down the stairs. It landed in between Twilight and Ethan who looked down at it, and then Ethan started to laugh.
“He didn’t pull the pin Sparky.” Ethan told her, picking up the grenade with a chuckle, and Twilight facehoofed. “Hey mutie, catch!” Ethan cried, pulling the pin and throwing the grenade back upstairs. A loud bang followed by a wet crunch met their ears and Ethan looked at Twilight with a smile.
“Okay, let’s kill Dominus and get me a freaking bath.” Twilight said before striding purposely towards the vault door.
***
Dominus stood on a balcony overlooking a chamber full of the FEV virus in its glowing liquid form. The fluid moved about lazily in a current all its own, swirling with an evil energy that Dominus couldn’t help but admire. Soon everyone in the Capital Wasteland would be one of his brothers and there was nothing anyone could do to stop him. Especially not the Lone Wanderer.
***
“Why do you think he’s just standing there like that?” Twilight asked Ethan as they looked at Dominus out of the one window.
“Fuck if I know.” Ethan replied with a shrug. At this point they were both completely coated in blood and gore. Twilight had long ago stopped wasting magic on cleaning herself and instead focused on the room ahead.
“How are we going to do this?” Twilight asked.
“I have a plan.”
***
“That’s the stupidest plan I’ve ever heard.” Twilight said
“But it’s just crazy enough to work!” Ethan replied with a smirk while Twilight facehoofed.
***
“Honey, I’m home! You got some splaining to do!” Ethan shouted as he kicked down the (reinforced steel that Twilight had weakened with her magic so that he could do this) door. Dominus turned to see Ethan striding confidently towards him, a large submachine gun in his hands.
“Oh how cleaver, how positively witty. We have an uninvited guest boys, why don’t you show him how we deal with those?” Dominus said in his high English accent. Out of the shadows stepped a dozen nightkin carrying bumper swords.
“All this for me?” Ethan asked drawing his blade of the west. “I’m touched, I really am.” He added as the first nightkin swung at him, only to find that Ethan’s blade had already moved to intercept it. With an astonishingly fast flow of blows Ethan had managed to cut off the mutant’s sword hand, and then decapitated it. The other mutants followed the first and charged with a roar. Ethan stepped forward into their midst, long blade shining in the dim yellow haze cast by the FEV.
The second to reach him received a sword through the gut while the third suddenly found itself missing its left arm. The fourth found the same sword blossoming from between its breast and the fifth’s sword met only air as Ethan sidestepped around the blow and decapitated it. The sixth and seventh attacked at once but Ethan simply blocked their attacks before countering with a viscous overhand slash that left the sixth missing half of its upper body. The seventh screamed a challenge but Ethan jabbed his blade through its throat and with a slit twist of his wrist yanked it out and stabbed the blade into the eighth’s chest. Nine, ten, eleven, and twelve surrounded him and began to hammer away at his defenses, but Ethan was only where they struck once and their blades bounced ineffectively off of his armored duster.
Ethan’s form seemed to glow purple for a half second, invisible to everyone not specifically trained to see the effects of magic, and Ethan suddenly found himself moving at a much faster rate than his opponents. It was like VATS, but they were moving in slow motion. A wicked smile appeared on Ethan’s face and he stepped outside of the circle of mutants with an appraising look on his face. The four mutants fell in a heap a few seconds later with their Achilles Tendons cut. Ethan took a few seconds to finish the job before he turned to Dominus who was looking at him wide eyed.
“As touched as I am that you prepared those nice appetizers for me, I’m more interested in the main course.” Ethan said with a grin as he approached Dominus with his sword drawn, slowly dripping blood onto the floor of the balcony overlooking the FEV.
“You really think you can hope to fight me in personal combat?” Dominus asked with a chuckle as he stepped forward.
“I don’t see why not.” Ethan replied with a cocky smile. Before the mutant could retort Ethan charged him with the sword.
To Ethan’s surprise Dominus backhanded the blade out of his hand, broke Ethan’s arm, smashed the Wanderer’s face into his knee, causing his teeth to clank together painfully, and then picked him up by the hair and brought him to the edge of the platform where he held the man aloft right over the glowing FEV.
“Boy, I was old before you were a spark in your father’s eye. I have been working towards my victory for years, and you think that an insignificant little hero like you could stop me?” Dominus asked with a sneer. “Tell me boy, what’s the true meaning of a hero? Wait, I know this one. It’s how loud they scream as they’re slowly turned into a mutant!” Dominus shouted as he hurled Ethan’s body towards the FEV below. There was a splash and Dominus turned his back to the FEV as Ethan began to scream in pain. “But now I have to create a new army.” Dominus muttered to himself. “Damn heroes thinking that they can do whatever they want.”
“Hey Dominus, you forgot something.” Ethan said. Dominus whirled to see Ethan floating behind him, wrapped in a protective purple barrier that was rapidly shedding its yellow liquid. “What about the unicorn?” Ethan asked as he dove forward and delivered a bone snapping (literally for Ethan) punch to the mutant’s lower jaw. Dominus went flying backwards and landed roughly on the floor. “So the true meaning of being a hero, now that right there is a pretty tough question to answer. I mean, everyone has their own answer.” Ethan said as he stalked towards Dominus, who had at this point regained his feet.
“Stop talking and DIE!” Dominus roared, charging Ethan who sidestepped and tripped the mutant on his way past, sending him sprawling.
“Although in my personal opinion, a hero is someone who suffers tragedy after fucking tragedy and still has the will to go on and try again.” Ethan said as he smashed his iron toed boot onto the back of Dominus’s leg, and received a very nice shattering sound and a supermutant’s scream. Dominus lunged with his other leg, attempting to knock Ethan off balance, but Ethan nimbly jumped over the leg. “Me, I’m no hero. I’m just a guy who wants men, children, and beautiful women to live in peace and harmony without constant interruptions like you and your ilk showing up to ruin their day.” Ethan continued as he slammed his foot into the back of the mutant’s other leg, and received another satisfying crack.
“You talked to me as if you believed that I was nothing a minute ago, and I find that pretty damn funny. You see, I’m more then you’ll ever be; I’m a man.” Ethan said, smashing his booted foot into the small of Dominus’s back and received a loud crack and a scream of pain. Then Ethan hauled the mostly broken supermutant into the air and slammed him into the metal balcony of the platform. “You on the other hand are nothing more than a pitiful science experiment gone wrong.” Ethan said before delivering a kick to the side of Dominus’s head cracking several teeth. “And now it’s time to send that which was wrought back to whence it came!” Ethan shouted as he delivered an incredibly power kick to Dominus’s chest sending the mutant smashing backwards through the balcony and flying out over the FEV.
“Pull!” Ethan shouted before taking out his marksmen’s carbine, dropping into VATS, and lining up a string of headshots that killed the mutant long before he fell into the liquid below.
“I feel like you messed up whatever you were quoting there.” Twilight said as she walked into the room with a tiny smirk.
“Probably, I haven’t had a chance to read it in years.” Ethan replied with a shrug.
“So now the supermutants shouldn’t be a problem?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, it looks that way. I mean, there are always going to be a few left in the ruins but this vault is going to stay empty, which means that they won’t be able to make any more.” Ethan said with a small grin.
“What’s to keep them from just coming back in?” Twilight asked with a frown.
“We’re going to close the door, wipe out the power system, and then smash the door controls.” Ethan said.
“Aren’t we going to be inside?” Twilight asked.
“Aren’t I traveling with a teleporting unicorn?” Ethan replied with a smirk.
***
Pinkie suddenly looked from the conversation that was going on around her and chuckled.
“What’s so funny Pinkie?” Rainbow asked. The four friends (plus Dash) were getting to know Gilda over lunch.
“Oh I’m just laughing about filler villains.” Pinkie replied with a smile.
“What?” AJ asked in confusion.
“You know a villain who’s there to take time away from the main quest who could never really hope to succeed.” Pinkie replied with a giggle.
“Pinkie darling, you are so random.” Rarity told the pink party pony who grinned.
***
“Why did we have to blow it up?!” Twilight yelled as they sprinted towards the other side of the gorge. Rocks were falling all around them, and a few of the smaller ones impacted against the shields that Twilight had called up over their heads.
“It was the only way to be sure!” Ethan shouted back as he instinctively rolled forward to avoid a rather large boulder that impacted into the ground where he’d been standing.
“Won’t this hurt the children?” Twilight asked while she sent a powerful blast of force into one of the falling rocks disintegrating it.
“No, or at least it shouldn’t, I hope…” Ethan replied as a rock smashed into the shield above his head sending him stumbling slightly. “Damn, I haven’t outrun an explosion like this since Raven Rock; remind me to tell you about that sometimes Sparky.” He added. They ran on for a few minutes dodging (or blasting) falling rocks until they reached the end of the gorge. When they arrived they were met by a very angry MacCready.
“What the fuck mungo, I leave you alone for five fucking minutes and you blow up half of the god damn cavern!” MacCready shouted.
“Nothing here fell, did it?” Ethan asked looking around.
“No it didn’t, but dammit mungo you have to ask me before you do stupid shit like this!” MacCready replied, pinching his nose between his forefingers.
“Sorry, to be honest it wasn’t my original plan, but once I saw how much FEV they had I just had to destroy it.” Ethan replied blushing slightly.
“It’s fine…just please fucking warn me in the future…I should never have taught you about explosives...”
***
Shining looked down at the courtyard of the Citadel as the vertibird descended towards it, different members of the Brotherhood were scattered around it shooting at targets or training in a way that struck a familiar cord with the Captain of the Royal Guard. They’d been spotted by one of Brotherhood’s outposts a few miles out and been identified easily, apparently there weren’t many vertibirds out there and even fewer of them were painted blue… Cassandra stepped into the courtyard where she was met by Sarah Lyons.
“Is my husband around?” Cassandra asked.
“Ethan is out on an assignment with Twilight (she’s a unicorn, long story don’t ask) although his last radio update said that they should be back right about-” Sarah was interrupted by Ethan rushing forward grabbing Cassandra in his arms and bringing her face up to his. “-now…” Sarah finished lamely.
Shining looked over Ethan and found himself immediately disliking what he saw. Ethan was wearing a dust and blood stained leather duster, which made Shining worry about what Ethan had been doing. Then there were the eyes, blue orbs that sparkled with a kind of wildness and unpredictability that seemed to drift off of him like radiation. In short, Shining didn’t think that this was the kind of person that his sister should be traveling around with.
“Shining?” Twilight’s voice sounded from behind him, it sounded like the voice of someone waking up from a dream.
Shining turned to see his sister and his eyes widened. His sister was standing there in the courtyard behind him. Her mane was covered in blood and gore, along with a lot of dust. She was clad head to hoof in a set of combat armor that was similarly covered in gore. What struck Shining most though was the fact that one of her legs had been replaced by a metal replica, and her left eye had been replaced by a robotic one that shined at Shining with a cold mechanical light. Before Shining could react Twilight charged him and pulled her brother into a bone shattering hug, her right leg gripping him tightly in a cold metallic grasp.
“I missed you so much! But what are you doing here?” Twilight asked when she released him.
“I’m here to bring you home Twily, but at the moment I need to have a talk with Ethan.” Shining said dangerously.
“Sparky, who’s this?” Ethan asked walking towards them with Cassandra (his arm was wrapped around her waist).
“I’m her brother.” Shining said coldly.
“Well I’m Ethan, glad to meet you.” Ethan said giving Shining a smile and extending his hand. Shining just stared at it for a few seconds before adjusting his glare so that it went straight into Ethan’s eyes. “I’m in trouble aren’t I?”