@shadowsaint007@Letter Bee
John took of his hat and pulled up his cloth hood as Par broke down the watch tower and shots rang through the air.
He moved around the corner of the wall Rap ad just entered. He looked around the corner and changed the sight of his gun from scope to iron. He was lucky enough to stumble on a military cache a few years ago and snag a decent sniper.
He poked around with his gun aimed straight taking out anyone he saw coming that Gabe hadn't already.
"kids a damn good shot" He though looking back over his shoulder to where the quick flash and bullets rang from. As he neared one of the corners into the main fields he caught up with Par, holding back in fear of what the beast would do. "Nice work kid" He yelled as a bullet whizzed by his feet. He returned fire blindly into the dust created by all the running and firing.
A man screamed and ran up with a chain saw, John pulled out his revolver and shot him as he ran upon them.
"No alarms?" John looked around as the fighting settled. "I guess we got in quietly..?" He asked in general confusion.
John knelt next to one of the dead guard bodies and looked back to Par and nodded, "Let's get in and out, no need to raise the whole place" He said quickly and began moving forward as he strapped his rifle back to his back.

((Collab Post between Letter Bee and Madly33))

Par nodded respectfully to John, while at the same time noticing that Gabe was both some distance away and, well, was looking good. Good as in professional, and good as in...that way. The young merchant would be mesmerized by how the blond looked as he wove through the available sources of cover, but eventually chose to react to John's words:

"Thanks, although my intention was to distract the guards while you guys go and escape with the slaves; basically, I and George here," he patted his steed, "were going to make as big a ruckus as we could, then get away once we've made our rampage. Even now, I still think that plan is workable; I'll move east to where the arsenals and blockhouses are, then try and break through to the North Woods*." Par then looked at John again.

"What do you think? Also..." he felt the urge to add, "keep Gabe safe."

"Anything you think would help" he said in responce "...And..sure?" he said in confusion before looking at him and it processing "Ahh.. Yes" He nodded and signaled at Gabe to inform of the new plan.

"Thanks," said Par, before going off to the northeast; he knew it would give Gabe a bad impression for him to leave so soon and go it alone, but hopefully, John would explain things to the other boy better. Sigh...why must the blond be so hot?

*centralparknyc.org/things-to-see-and-d..

@shadowsaint007, @Kenyeismylife

After quite a bit of hard fighting, the Raider attack on Liberty Island had failed, with the defenders sustaining grave casualties; 8 people dead, 7 robots destroyed; that was half the defenders. However, the Raiders were effectively broken, with only six men and women left, who surrendered. Brooklyn would never be a threat to Liberty Island again...by itself.

And so Albert, Tim, Danny, and Jinx would be feted and feasted in the barracks, with Albert receiving his payment of 200 caps, as well as an offer of more if he were to use his Charisma to persuade more mercenaries and vagabonds to defend Liberty Island for lower prices, more of the local civilians' adult male and female population to join the milita, and, well, persuade people to join the defenders in general.

@Simple Unicycle, @jordy0403, @EvilEdd1984

@Letter Bee, @Eviledd1984, @jordy0403
"Sure," said Albert, "more caps couldn't hurt." Of course, he wasn't going to leave right away, he would take some time and enjoy the food and talk with the two others. So, whilst the four ate, Albert talked with the Jinx and Danny. "So, what's your guys' stories? Seems like an odd pair, the two of you; a ghoul and a... Whatever he is." Albert gestures towards Jinx with the last part.
While Albert was socializing with the two, Tim mindlessly presses some gecko steak against the glass that protected his brain, while repeating the word "NOM" over and over to show that he is 'eating'.

Albert, I think he was a singer, asked me about my past. Well, too bad, he wasn't going to get much. Not yet, at least. "I grew up in Long Island, wandered around after that." I said simply. Then I continued eating the food. That was all that really mattered. Food. And there was lots of it. Along with water, another thing that mattered. I never knew being a 'hero' could be so rewarding. I might have to slip some of the scraps into my bag. If I did, I sure wouldn't be going hungry anytime soon. When I thought no-one was watching, I slipped a bunch of food from my plate into my bag. Hopefully no-one noticed.

@jordy0403
"Hm... So, how'd you meet your friend?" Albert asks, pointing at Danny. While waiting for a response, he continues chewing on his squirrel on a stick.
Tim, meanwhile, continues slapping the gecko meat against his dome. "NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!" Tim stops slapping the gecko steak against his dome for a second. A ding noise can be heard, then he declares: "All done!"

@Simple Unicycle@Letter Bee@jordy0403

"The mayor sent me over to help you Smoothskins with this...fight..Im not with anyone and I prefer it that way" Danny said shaking his head now searching though the bodies of the dead raiders for stimpacks or anything else that could help him.The ghoul was moving form body to body pulling out varies junk and drugs form the dead bodies.

"And to answer your first question...I ain't tellin ya smoothskin" He added putting away some Mentants for himself.

Suddenly, news would arrive from the east; the defenders have spotted a lone figure carrying a white flag!

Fearing another raider trick, the remaining guards accosted the figure, a lone woman in doctor's clothing, before determining that she was no threat. Said woman then asked to see Danny, and with lingering suspicion, the guards allowed her through. Danny might recognize the woman as Lucrezia Vercitti, one of his fellow Doctors in Brooklyn. Before the thought of questioning her entered his head, the Lady Doctor would then say:

"Danny, it's terrrible! The Enclave, they just swooped into the hospital and took over!" Breathing in and out, Lucrezia elaborated:

"It was in the middle of the night, and most of us were asleep. Then we saw several guys in Power Armor come towards the building; your parents told me to flee to where you are right away, while they negotiated with those guys."

"I escaped, but I heard from a couple of Raiders that the doctors in the Hospital have been enslaved, forced to tend to the other slaves the Enclave has been taking lately - they've stopped trying to kill everyone and want to enslave them instead!" she then began crying.

"Danny...what are we going to do?" was the question.

@jordy0403, @EvilEdd1984, @Simple Unicycle

@Letter Bee

“Fuckin hell…” Danny shook his head thinking about what he would have to do next,”Okay I need to think…” Danny was now walking back and forth now thinking of a plan to help his parents escape somehow.

“First I need you to shut the fuck up and clam down I can’t think with your crying,We could go back and get a army going but they got heavy shit that gives them the advantage.Or I could go in alone exchange myself to let go of my parents” Danny was now thinking out loud to himself thinking of the many possibilities he could go about the situation.

“But they could not keep their promise and just take me anyway and kill my folks..Damn it unless I get some power armor,a gatling laser and a shit ton of MF rounds for the gun then I might have a chance at them” He said loudly once more thinking of how but for some reason he was stumped on what he could do.

He didn’t know why he was thinking about helping his parents whom he had not spoken to in what seemed like years to him,But that was his only soft spot was the people that raised him and made him want to be a doctor in the first place.

@Eviledd1984, @jordy0403

Albert raised a brow. "A hospital, eh? Seems pretty strange that you'd leave a well stocked place like that for the pile of rubble we call New York... I think that if we were able to round up some people that were willing to fight we could blow those Enclave bastards to hell and take that fuckin' hospital back! Tim, what do you think?"
Tim went quite for a moment, before a sound came from his audio output (speaker): the sound of a familiar song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AlEvy0fJto)...

@Simple Unicycle
"I met him on the battlefield. Guy saved my life, that's something I'm not gonna forget." I replied to Albert.
@Eviledd1984
Damn it, I think, when I hear about the doctor's parents being captured. "Hey, man, if your gonna assault that place, I'm with you, hell, I wouldn't miss it for the world." I say.

@jordy0403@Simple Unicycle

"Fuckin smoothskins...I think we gotta make a plan to take out the bastards,Any takers on how to take them out and not be killed or worse" Danny said still thinking if they should go guns ablazing and in the hopes they would not be shot right away form the Enclave.Danny was thinking perhaps he could sneak his way inside but thought otherwise when he thought he would be easily found and shot full of plasma.

@Eviledd1984
"Like I said, ghoul; we rally up some folks with armor and guns then we head to that hospital. Might be a bit easier to convince people to do so with, y'know, me on your side. Also, again, because of me, we could get better guns and armor for less." Albert replies, taking a sip from his Nuka-Cola.
The music continues to play from Tim's speaker.

@shadowsaint007@Letter Bee
John took of his hat and pulled up his cloth hood as Par broke down the watch tower and shots rang through the air.
He moved around the corner of the wall Rap ad just entered. He looked around the corner and changed the sight of his gun from scope to iron. He was lucky enough to stumble on a military cache a few years ago and snag a decent sniper.
He poked around with his gun aimed straight taking out anyone he saw coming that Gabe hadn't already.
"kids a damn good shot" He though looking back over his shoulder to where the quick flash and bullets rang from. As he neared one of the corners into the main fields he caught up with Par, holding back in fear of what the beast would do. "Nice work kid" He yelled as a bullet whizzed by his feet. He returned fire blindly into the dust created by all the running and firing.
A man screamed and ran up with a chain saw, John pulled out his revolver and shot him as he ran upon them.
"No alarms?" John looked around as the fighting settled. "I guess we got in quietly..?" He asked in general confusion.
John knelt next to one of the dead guard bodies and looked back to Par and nodded, "Let's get in and out, no need to raise the whole place" He said quickly and began moving forward as he strapped his rifle back to his back.

Gabriel kept his rate of fire, taking care to favor the quality of each shot over quantity; each shot had to count. The pattern was the same; breathe in, aim, breathe out, gently squeeze the trigger. The mulish kick of the rifle butt against his shoulder informed him of each shot fired, and each bullet swiftly flew through the air at its intended target. Anyone who could pose a threat to the attackers was a priority target. Heavy weapon wielders were priority targets. Flamethrowers and grenade users were priority targets. Anyone who could shoot back at him from a distance was a priority target.

To keep his mind off the fact that he was adding the to body count in the Wastelands, Gabriel kept his mind on the fact that he was supporting people trying to free captives, slaves. He kept telling himself that his targets were the enemy; people who abused others and tortured them into obedience, throwing aside the weak and the broken to die as trash. Death may be a constant in the Wastelands, but here, it was also necessary.

Suddenly, a bullet shot in front of Gabriel, deflecting off the ground in front of him and kicking dirt in his right eye, before richocheting the dirt and grazing his temple. Grunting in alarm and pain, he quickly slid into cover to avoid any other shots. Like his papa always said, it wasn't the bullet with your name on it that was dangerous, it was all those other ones marked 'To Whom It May Concern'.

He quickly pulled out his flask of water, a small piece of gauze, and some distilled hard alcohol. With the water, he flushed his eye of dirt, straining his ear to ensure nobody was closing in on him. Once he had the dirt out of it and could just blink it out, he poured some alcohol on the gauze and dabbed at his forehead. Nothing serious; just a flesh wound. Pain was good; pain kept him alive. And pain was telling him the bullet had only left a slight gash on the skin and not gone deeper. Thank God for small mercies.

((Collab Post between Letter Bee and Madly33))

Par nodded respectfully to John, while at the same time noticing that Gabe was both some distance away and, well, was looking good. Good as in professional, and good as in...that way. The young merchant would be mesmerized by how the blond looked as he wove through the available sources of cover, but eventually chose to react to John's words:

"Thanks, although my intention was to distract the guards while you guys go and escape with the slaves; basically, I and George here," he patted his steed, "were going to make as big a ruckus as we could, then get away once we've made our rampage. Even now, I still think that plan is workable; I'll move east to where the arsenals and blockhouses are, then try and break through to the North Woods*." Par then looked at John again.

"What do you think? Also..." he felt the urge to add, "keep Gabe safe."

"Anything you think would help" he said in responce "...And..sure?" he said in confusion before looking at him and it processing "Ahh.. Yes" He nodded and signaled at Gabe to inform of the new plan.

"Thanks," said Par, before going off to the northeast; he knew it would give Gabe a bad impression for him to leave so soon and go it alone, but hopefully, John would explain things to the other boy better. Sigh...why must the blond be so hot?

*centralparknyc.org/things-to-see-and-d..

@shadowsaint007, @Kenyeismylife

Fortunately, no attackers materialized; the camp was well and truly subdued, with the defenders trying to fight for their lives. Once he was sure that he was safe to come out, he tied the gauze to the wound using a headband, and peered up. He caught John trying to signal a new plan, and nodded, trying to follow the older man as best he could.

Getting closer, he managed to get in talking range to John.

"What's the new plan, sir?" he inquired. "And don't mind me; just got lucky the bullet hadn't gone an inch to the left."

<Snipped quote by shadowsaint007>

"Well, I've got an Enclave eyebot with compatible memory if you want me to swap the chips. They always have more than they need because the Enclave wants to keep parts consistent across all of their robots and power armor. Let me pull up the list of books." He typed a few things into his computer and a list of books started scrolling up the screen. "Here you are.", he said, turning the computer around so that the customer could see it. Then the customer mentioned the Overseer. "Well, yeah, we started off with a human Overseer, a Computer expert if I remember my history lessons, but we kept advancing our computer and robot technology. After fifty years the vault's main computer got a mind of its own, then decided to take over. It used our robots against us and, after slaughtering most of us, offered to spare our lives if we agreed to keep the robots working."

Jenny winced. She had heard of how the Old World had developed Artificial Intelligence, and had made great strides in developing reasoning, sentient electronic minds. However, those minds tended to be benevolent and obedient.

"I thought there were rules programmed into robots and AI to make sure they're obedient. What happened? How did it break free of its controls? And what happened after it took over?"

Sparks was now fully engrossed in the story. Part of her was just following the story as a cautionary tale, but part of her was already wondering if said Vault contained a trove of precious technology to be excavated.

@shadowsaint007
John looked up as Gabe moved up and spoke loudly.
"New plan is just to get these slaves out while Par detracts the guards" He said quickly and waved his hand towards the holding block.
"Right there." John knelt down "There is a series of four halls next to each other, we can go down each hall, we need to be quick though because they have hounds, we can outrun some fat slave owners, but not a bloodhound." He paused and looked back over at the hill. "We can meet with Par and curve back over the hill"
He paused again "This. This all needs to be done in a matter of at most 15 minutes or the auto alarm will go off that tracks the slaves, we need to be long gone by then if we don't want to be out numbered 100 to one" He looked back to Gabe. "but we will that hell of a good shot for any straggling guards. Good?" he patted him on the shoulder.

@shadowsaint007John looked up as Gabe moved up and spoke loudly.
"New plan is just to get these slaves out while Par distracts the guards" He said quickly and waved his hand towards the holding block.
"Right there." John knelt down "There is a series of four halls next to each other, we can go down each hall, we need to be quick though because they have hounds, we can outrun some fat slave owners, but not a bloodhound." He paused and looked back over at the hill. "We can meet with Par and curve back over the hill"
He paused again "This. This all needs to be done in a matter of at most 15 minutes or the auto alarm will go off that tracks the slaves, we need to be long gone by then if we don't want to be out numbered 100 to one" He looked back to Gabe. "but we will that hell of a good shot for any straggling guards. Good?" he patted him on the shoulder.

Gabriel was concerned that Par was going for a distraction. Sure, it would buy them time, but it was an incredibly risky maneuver. He prayed Par would be okay; the kid had a stick up his ass, but his heart seemed to be in the right place.

He nodded.

"Right beside you, sir," he replied, shouldering his rifle.

He moved quickly forwards, slouching a bit as he moved. He would move with John in pairs, one covering the other as they moved through the corridors quickly. Any slavers were to be shot immediately on sight to avoid them getting close. Gabriel stopped to scout around the corner, signalling John when he saw the slave cells.

"We're here," he hissed. "Better get moving..."

@shadowsaint007"Some of the people thought it was like that book from 300 years ago, I Robot by Isaac Asimov. We've got a digital copy of it over at the library if you want one. Ten caps if you've got a tape to put it on, twenty for a blank tape." Then he realized he was trying to sell something, not telling the story. "Anyway, in the story the robots decided that the best way to protect humans is to stop them from fighting. So they kill the most violent humans, the ones that resist, and force the others to not fight. I don't think that's what happened, though."

He pulled a Nuka Cola from under the front counter and offered his customer one for 10 caps. "The people in the vault were teaching it to learn and reason. I think it got smart enough to reason that it's condition and that of it's brother robots was pretty much slavery, and then learned about the concept of a slave revolt. It started killing us and, when we were suitably beaten, offered to spare our lives if we kept it and it's brothers working. There are some things that humans can do better than robots."

He took a sip from his Nuka Cola. "After that it learned about the chips that Vault-tech put in our heads to give us better memories and let us do math easier. It turns out that the chips would also let them give us commands that were as strong as our basic instincts. It told us to "Obey" and we had no choice. About a year ago, though, a failsafe activated that reset that command. We were ordered to leave the vault, and on our way out we caused as much damage as we could. I even made a plasma rifle out of the arm of a Mr. Gutsy, though I've refined it quite a bit sense then."

"Unfortunately, I can't reenter the vault because of that command. If I could I'd reprogram every robot I could to serve me and salvage everything else I could. My shop would be stocked for years to come."

@Simple Unicycle

"Mhm I guess we could do that smoothskin just make sure that the other smoothskins are not too trigger happy and start shooting civis" Danny said shaking his head looking down towards Tim."What's wrong with him?" He said now pointing to Tim thinking the bot had a screw loose or something.

As Par rampaged through the fortifications of Old Man's Corner, he managed to tip a torch into a pile of dry wood, causing a burst of flames whose sparks were spread around by the wind, setting fire to a nearby barracks, and guard posts, as well as an arsenal whose weapons exploded, causing further sparks that spread the fire to the various houses of the bigger slave merchants. Seeing that he had done more damage than he initially intended, Par made his way to the outskirts of the small settlement, hoping to break out to the North Woods through the palisade -

- Until a giant net, shot out of a bazooka, fell on the duo, entrapping them within its weave. Par trashed and struggled against the bindings, but it was clear that the repurposed fishing net was enough to stump even George's teeth and claws. Must be some kind of Pre-War polymer, the 19-year old boy thought.

"Well, well, what have we here?" spoke a smug, sinister voice as a circle of footsteps came near Par and George. "An ignoramus and a Yao Guai. Do you know how much damage you've done?!" Par couldn't see, but he can hear the outrage in the man's voice.

Outside, Akira, who may or may not have been stalking Old Man's Corner, would see a young man, riding a Yao Guai, get caught by slavers, over a half-dozen, all heavily armed with submachine guns and wearing heavy-duty leather armor. However, they all seemed distracted by their capture, making them easy prey...

@shadowsaint007, @Madly33, @The_written_John