Edited by TacoTown
Day 8 part 2
Initiate Carmine was out on patrol with the rest of his squad. Knight Alex and Knight Samuel were on either side of him, while Paladin Jacobs took up the lead. They were on a routine patrol looking to clean out some of the raiders that had decided that the Brotherhood was too busy with the mutants to worry about them.
“Initiate, you really need to wear a helmet.” Knight Alex said as they marched along.
“No I don’t, it disrupts my vision, sir.” Carmine replied quickly.
“It’s going to get you shot in the head kid.” Paladin Jacobs told him sternly while his hazel eyes scanned for threats.
A slightly insane female laugh erupted from one of the back alleys and the entire squad turned in the direction with their weapons raised. They found nothing in the alley. The senior members of the squad exchanged worried glances and Paladin Jacobs gave the order to travel in a tighter formation. The laughter returned a few minutes later coming from a different alleyway. They scanned the area for half minute but once again found nothing.
“Something’s fucking with us.” Knight Alex said as his eyes scanned the other alleys warily. Suddenly, laughter
came from behind them and the squad who turned to find themselves faced with a single black haired women wearing slightly revealing leather armor.
“Oh look, someone left me some toys. I’ve always wanted my own set of tin soldiers to play with.” Supertramp said with a giggle.
The squad did the only thing that could be expected of them. The combined firepower of three plasma rifles along with a gatling laser (carried by Paladin Jacobs) streaked towards Supertramp in a green and red colored wave. The energy smashed into Supertramp, burning and melting her skin and burning the bones beneath. The Brotherhood kept on firing until they’d exhausted their clips, and as they reached for another Supertramp stepped forward.
In one lightning-quick stride she covered the ground between herself and Paladin Jacobs, who had yet to stop firing thanks to his larger ammo capacity. Lasers cut through her chest, but she bled only silver which began to reknit her skin and bones as she stepped forward. With a large smile on her face she slashed off an arm and grabbed the gatling laser. With a horrifically strong tug she pulled the laser weapon away from the Paladin, wrenching his arm out of socket in the process, before casually throwing it over her shoulder as if it were a twig.
The other members of the squad continued their fire, but it proved to be completely ineffective against Supertramp. With a feral grin on her face Supertramp pulled back her fist and punched directly into the area of the Paladin’s armor over his heart. The T45D armor imploded inward as Supertramp’s fist plunged into the man’s chest, cracking ribs as it went until it reached the man’s heart. With a satisfied laugh she tore the heart out of his body in a bloody explosion before bringing the heart up to her mouth and taking a hearty bite out of the still beating organ.
“What the hell?!” Knight Alex shouted as Supertramp bit into the heart.
“Yummy, I always did love canned goods.” Supertramp said with a sadistic smile as she stepped towards the others. Knight Samuel pulled out a ripper and revved it menacingly.
“Stay back.” He said firmly while keeping the ripper between them.
“Oh look, a mini chainsaw, how adorable.” Supertramp said with a smirk as she pulled out her laser pistol and shot Knight Samuel through the eye, blowing a large hole through the knight’s head and eliciting a shout of rage from Knight Alex, who charged towards Supertramp a powerfist attached to his left arm.
Supertramp caught the blow mid swing with one hand, and with almost loving care shot him in the chest with her pistol, sending the knight to the ground in a broken heap. Initiate Carmine had continued to fire throughout all of this, but his plasma rounds did nothing to stop the woman. She looked at him quizzically, tapping a finger against her chin as balls of plasma smashed into her face, leaving behind silver blotches that began to heal themselves instantly.
Then, a seductive look came over her face, and she stepped forward through several balls of plasma, knocked the plasma rifle out of the initiate’s hands, and much to the initiate’s surprise and disturbance, smashed her lips against his. The overwhelming taste of hot blood, molten metal, and an odd taste that Carmine didn’t recognize followed over his tongue as the woman’s tongue danced through his mouth. Carmine struggled valiantly against her, but he was powerless to stop her. After a minute long kiss the woman threw him to the side and licked her lips before throwing an object to the ground at his feet.
“Play that tape to Ethan Smith in the player.” She said with a chuckle as she walked away. With one last look back, the woman took another bite out of Paladin Jacobs’s heart and strode off into the distance, leaving behind an extremely confused (and horrified) Initiate Carmine in her wake.
***
“Alright, so we go out and we find her, get her trapped, and then keep shooting till she’s dead.” Ethan said, looking around at the others who nodded in agreement. Ethan, Cassandra, Twilight, Shining, Veronica, and Arcade sat, discussing what their next move against Supertramp should be.
“I still don’t like this plan.” Shining said, shooting Ethan a scowl.
“Duly noted. Anything else?” Ethan asked.
“No. Let’s do this.” Cassandra declared. Before any of them could so much as rise from the table Initiate Carmine burst into the cafeteria. His uniform was a tattered mess, and his eyes looked slightly crazed. His lips were stained with dried blood as if someone had kissed him with a broken lip.
“You need to hear this!” Carmine shouted, pointing at Ethan and pulling out the machine that Supertramp had left beside him as he law immobile on the ground. Before Ethan could do anything Carmine pressed a large button on the side of the machine and Supertramp’s voice filled the room.
I’ve grown bored waiting for you to come out of your little hole, so I’m going to give you some initiative! I’ve just killed a squad of Brotherhood soldiers and used one of them as a messenger. If you don’t meet me on top of the Anchorage War Memorial by the end of today then I’ll destroy Megaton and kill everyone there. If you still refuse to face me I’ll go to Vegas, burn the city to the ground, and rape your cunt of a wife with a powerfist.
Ethan was visibly shaking with rage at this point, and Cassandra’s eyes had hardened and glinted with fury.
Hmm. I feel like I’ve forgotten something. Let’s see, I challenged you, told you about the consequences of ignoring me, threatened to rape your wife, oh right, how could I be so careless. Activate code 654542.
Without warning Carmine’s head was consumed in a silvery swarm of hissing, seething motes of dust that flooded out of his nose, ears, and mouth. It took only seconds for the initiate’s head to vanish in a shower of red blood before the man even had a chance to scream. His body convulsed for a second before it dropped to the ground with a wet meaty thunk. Shining Armor and Twilight stared in horror as Ethan and Veronica looked down at the body with looks of sadness. Veronica and Arcade exchanged a worried look.
The rest of the Brotherhood members in the cafeteria looked at the fresh corpse in silent shock before they erupted in a roar of anger.
“Pride, get ready to mobilize. We’re killing her and sticking her head on a fucking pike!” Sarah Lyons shouted over the commotion. Immediately, the members of the Pride began to get up from their seats, but they were stopped by Ethan.
“Don’t, you’ll just die. She’s made this personal (well, more personal) by threatening my home and the people who I love. I’m going to kill her and I’m going to make sure that it’s slow and terrible.” He told them.
“Fuck that!” Dusk said with a snort. “I’m not going to let you tell me what to do anymore!” She added with a slight glare at Ethan.
“In order to deliver this message the woman had to kill at least three other Brotherhood soldiers, do you think that you can take her on?” Ethan asked her.
“Well I’m sure as hell not sitting here and waiting for you to kill her.” Dusk replied angrily.
“Alright, come on then let’s go.” Ethan said with a shrug.
Dusk looked at him in shock for a few seconds. (apparently she’d been expecting an argument of some kind). Then, with a shrug, the woman grabbed her sniper rifle from where it lay next to her on the floor and walked over to the group. Sarah Lyons traded a look with Ethan, and he knew that if Dusk died he’d be held directly responsible.
***
“Alright, we don’t have time to pick up anything from my house so I hope everyone has enough ammo.” Ethan said as they walked towards Rivet City.
“I’m good.” Cassandra said as she patted her trusty Anti-Material Rifle.
“Why are we going to Rivet City if time is of the essence?” Dusk asked with a slight growl.
“Because, there are only two men I know who could possibly know anything about Supertramp and they both live in Rivet City.” Ethan replied.
“Oh, who are they? Because I’ve never heard of anything like her and I grew up with the Enclave.” Arcade asked.
“Harkness and Pinkerton.” Ethan replied with a shrug.
“I thought Pinkerton died.” Dusk said.
“No, he just got kicked out by Doctor Lee and decided to move into the broken bow of the ship.” Ethan replied with a shrug.
“Ethan, didn’t you mention something about not wanting to bring me to Rivet City before?” Twilight asked from where she was walking on Ethan’s left.
“I still don’t, which is why I’m leaving you and your brother with Pinkerton. You’ll probably enjoy it. He’s a pretty cool guy once you get past the bad attitude and profanity.” Ethan replied with a chuckle.
Shining grunted, still a little annoyed at having to do what Ethan said but seeing as he didn’t know anyone around here he guessed that he might as well. As the great steel bulk of Rivet City reared up on the horizon, the group headed towards the broken down bow. Ethan led them inside the creaking section of the ship and was immediately confronted by a very confused mirelurk. With a casual flip of his wrist, Ethan sent his shock sword into the mirelurk’s chest before tossing it to the side.
“Oh yeah, he lets the mirelurks breed as a form of extra security, don’t worry though, I clean them out every once in a while so there shouldn’t be too many at the moment.” Ethan told them. Dusk scowled at him for the lack of forewarning but Ethan had already started forward. They were attacked twice more by mirelurks, but Ethan and Cassandra killed them all before the others even got a chance to raise their weapons. When they came to a thick metal door with an electronic combination lock on it Ethan walked up to the lock, entered a long series of numbers, and the door slid away.
“Hey old man, you in here?” Ethan called.
“Where the hell else would I be you little snot?” Pinkerton shouted back as he came up to look down at their group from his place on the upper balcony.
“I don’t know; you could’ve died.” Ethan replied with a shrug as he led the rest of the group into the large room.
“Kid, if I die before you it’ll be because the boat gets blown up.” Pinkerton said with a scowl before his gaze fell upon the rest of Ethan’s companions. “A fucking cyborg unicorn. Only you Ethan, only you.” The old man said, rolling his eyes heavenward.
“Make that two unicorns. I need you to watch them while I dig up some information.” Ethan said.
“Since when did I become a baby sitter?” Pinkerton asked with a scowl.
“I thought that you’d be overjoyed to get a look at two talking magical unicorns, but I guess if you don’t…” Ethan said trailing off.
“Leave them here, I’ll keep them safe.” Pinkerton said dismissively and Ethan smirked at him triumphantly.
“Okay we’ll be back in an hour or so.” Ethan replied, smirk still in place as he lead the five humans back the way they’d come.
Twilight Sparkle made her way up to where Pinkerton was standing, looking around herself inquisitively, Shining followed behind, slightly slower as he scanned the area for threats. Pinkerton looked at Twilight with interest, his old eyes absorbing every line of her body while Twilight did the same to him. After several minutes of silent observation Pinkerton sighed.
“So, can you talk?” He asked.
“Very well thanks.” Twilight replied with a smile.
“Should I even ask how in the hell a horse acquired a working set of vocal cords?” Pinkerton asked.
“Well, we’re ponies not horses.” Twilight replied with a cheeky grin.
“Oh that’s right, what was I thinking?” Pinkerton asked with a weary chuckle.
***
“Alright, you three head down to the bar while Cassandra and I talk to Harkness.” Ethan said.
“Why can’t we come?” Dusk asked.
“Because Harkness doesn’t know you and he probably wouldn’t tell us what we need to know if you were there.” Ethan replied simply.
“Fine, I could use a drink anyways.” Dusk said with a scowl as she headed towards the doorway to the Muddy Rudder.
“Keep her from killing something.” Cassandra told Veronica.
“We might be able to manage that.” Arcade replied with a shrug before the two walked after the annoyed Pride member. Ethan and Cassandra made their way up to Harkness’s office and found that he was alone.
“Ethan, Cassandra, what can I do for you?” Harkness asked, looking up from a small pile of papers.
“We have a problem and only you can help us.” Ethan said.
“Well I’ll try my best, but if you two can’t solve it I don’t see how I possibly can.” Harkness said with a good-natured chuckle and a smile.
“We need information about the Institute.” Cassandra told him. Harkness’s face immediately fell into a deep scowl and joviality left his face.
“Why are you asking me about that?” He asked guardedly.
“I’m being chased by someone known as Supertramp, she claims to be from there and I need to know how to fight her.” Ethan answered. The blood drained completely from Harkness’s face, leaving him white as a corpse.
“She’s after you?” Harkness asked his eyes wide with terror.
“Yep, and I’m going to kill her.” Ethan replied with a grin.
“Ethan if you fight her you’re going to die horribly, quite possibly while being shoved through a wood-chipper face first, and then immolated in liquid iron so that she can use part of you as a bullet.” Harkness told Ethan flatly.
“Well, I’ve already fought her once and I didn’t have any encounters with wood-chippers so I’m going to assume that I’ll be fine once I know what I’m up against.” Ethan replied with a shrug. “Besides, I’ve got Cassie here with me, can you think of anyone who could possibly beat the two of us in a fight?” Ethan asked.
“Yes, her.” Harkness replied flatly.
“You’re such a kill joy sometimes Harkness, you know that right?” Ethan complained.
“Ethan.” Cassandra said giving her husband a hard look.
“Fine. I let you handle this because you’re obviously so much better at it than I am.” Ethan huffed.
“Who talked her way to power?” She shot back before turning back to Harkness. “This woman has already come close to killing Ethan. Besides that she’s threatened to burn my city to the ground, for both of those things I’m going to kill her-“
“She also called you a cunt.” Ethan interjected.
“-that too, for those three things I’m going to kill her and you’re the only one who could possibly know how. Now are you going to help us or am I going to have to knock you unconscious and download your data on her rout of your head the old fashioned way?” Cassandra asked leaning forward and staring into Harkness’s eyes.
“Did you just say what I think you said?” Harkness growled.
“Yes, and I’ll do it if you won’t help us.” Cassandra said, her eyes narrowing dangerously as she leaned closer to Harkness. They had a stare off for several seconds before Harkness blinked and lowered his eyes.
“Fine, have it your way. Go and sacrifice two of the only people who really seem to give a damn about the Wasteland.” Harkness said with a resigned sigh. Cassandra’s gaze softened but nodded for him to begin speaking. “Alexandria Supertramp; born approximately fifty years ago to two lower level scientists at the Institute. Had a normal life (or at least as normal as you could have there) growing up and showed no real inborn talent towards the scientific pursuits. At the age of ten she killed both of her parents with a spork. It was said to be an extremely painful death. From there she spent the next several years in a lab being experimented on. When she emerged ten years later she was viscous, crazy (or at least crazier than she was before), and absolutely deadly-” Harkness said.
“Thanks for the origin story (especially the part about the spork) but we need to know about what she can do now.” Ethan said.
“I was getting to it.” Harkness replied. “-Anyways she’s been infused with a vast colony of nanobots that have over time eaten away and replaced her organic organs and flesh. These nanobots give her extreme healing abilities along with strength vastly superior to any normal being. That isn’t all however-”
“Oh it gets worse?” Ethan asked with a slight grin, and Harkness shot him a scowl.
“-Apparently she’s unkillable and can punch clean through powerarmor with minimal effort. Oh, and did I mention that she’s insane?” Harkness asked, finishing his description.
“Once or twice, so has anybody ever gotten close to killing her?” Ethan asked.
“Once, some genius led her into an old prewar pulse field. From what I heard it fried a lot of her nanobots and bought the man enough time to get away. Then again he ran to Canada, and it’s a real hellhole up there so I kind of doubt that he’s really any better off.” Harkness answered with a shrug.
“What’s wrong with Canada?” Ethan asked puzzledly.
“Giant robotic worms with machineguns mounted on their heads, psychotic clowns with knives, and enough gang conflict to make you happy the most of the American population was killed.” Harkness explained with a shrug.
“They have clowns?!” Ethan asked excitedly.
“Ethan shut up.” Cassandra interjected, shooting her husband a look.
“But I’ve always wanted to shoot a clown, they’re too damn happy.” Ethan said dejectedly.
***
“I went mad out in the wastes once you know.” Arcade told Veronica as they sat at the bar of the Muddy Rudder.
“Really? I never thought that you were the type.” Veronica replied in an interested voice as she sipped at a bottle of Nuka Cola (it was times like these she wished that they’d brought Cass with them, that woman was amazing in bars.)
“Yeah, it was a little while after I left the Enclave before I joined up with the Followers. For some reason I decided that I was a lemon. I spent around three months jumping in and out of a lake pretending to be a gin and tonic.” Arcade replied with a chuckle.
“How did you survive?” Dusk asked looking over at him from where she was sitting next to Veronica.
“I ate fish; I was a very weird lemon.” Arcade answered with another chuckle.
“Hey Dusk, if you don’t mind me asking why do you hate Ethan?” Veronica asked, turning to face the other woman.
“I have my reasons.” Dusk said with a frown.
“Which would be…?” Arcade asked.
“To be honest it’s because he’s such an ass. I mean, if any other member of the Brotherhood talked to Elder Lyons the way he does they would’ve been demoted back to initiate. Besides that he goes around stealing credit for everything the Brotherhood has done!” She answered angrily before taking a sip of her water.
“I know what you mean, and he is kind of an ass.” Arcade replied with a shrug.
“Finally, someone who gets it! Anytime I say something like that people give me blank stares!” Dusk said with a scowl.
“No offense, but it’s probably because he’s one of the few people who seem to give a damn.” Veronica told her with a shrug.
“I know that, and I’m glad he does. I just wish that he wasn’t such an ass.” Dusk replied before draining her glass. They sat in silence for the next few minutes till Ethan and Cassandra arrived.
“Alright, time to go get Sparky and her brother.” Ethan told them, the three rose without comment and followed them out.
***
“So your country is run by a celestial diarchy who control both the sun and the moon. Living underneath them are unicorns like yourself and your brother, pegasi that can control the weather, and normal ponies who are good farmers.” Pinkerton stated quickly, summarizing what they’d been discussing over the last half hour.
“Yes, that’s a good summarization.” Twilight replied with a grin.
“If it wasn’t for the fact that I’ve never touched a goddamned chem I would swear that I was high right now.” Pinkerton said with a sigh as he massaged his nose.
“Now that we’ve got that done, let’s talk about science!” Twilight said excitedly as she eyed the devices around the room.
“Sparky, it’s time to go.” Ethan called from the doorway.
“But, but, I, we, dammit!”