[IC] Fallout: The Northern Wastelands [Jakeozzy & Grey]

[Jakeozzy]

"The Tower, huh...? Bastard's been right under our noses." The interrogator backed away from Sarah, finally letting her breathe. You could hear how afraid she was just from her breathing patterns! Anyway, the knife-toting merc paced back and forth a few times, slowly, before coming to a halt and an apparent plan of action. "Here's what we'll do. Tell the Major things have changed, and that he might have to commit some resources to this operation. We fight with the Rangers on their home turf and we've got a disadvantage in firepower, height, cover, manpower, goddamn everything. Go," The interrogator said, nodding to his assistant who promptly left the room.

...But it wasn't over yet. The interrogator grabbed Levi's chair and dragged it around so that he was facing Sarah. No, of course he wasn't going to keep his word or anything. These fucks got off on torture, it was sick. But the law didn't reign everywhere in the wasteland.

"What are you-? No! He told you everything! Let us go!" Sarah cried as that same knife from earlier was placed underneath her left eye.

"Watch closely now, kid... I'm gonna show you cushy Vault faggots what the real world is like. Her eye, ...and I'll take something of yours too, don't you worry. Fingers, maybe? Leave you unable to pull a trigger, heh."

Sarah cringed and reared her head back as far as it could go, but the merc casually pulled it back into place. Before she could say anything else, the knife got pushed into her left eye, the merc whistling a merry tune over the sound of his victim's agonized screaming. The whole process took about 30 seconds, but the pain made it feel so very much longer than that... With blood gushing down one side of her face, Sarah's head quickly fell limp. She couldn't take it anymore, and likely passed out because of it. The merc laughed and threw the 'surgically removed' eye into a bin in the corner of the room, fist pumping like a child as it went in.

"Swish~!" The cruel mercenary laughed, patting a seemingly lifeless Sarah on the shoulder twice before moving in front of Levi and smiling. "Mouthy little bitch had it coming. ...So, have you decided..." He ran the knife's bloody tip across the teen's face, "What am I going to take from you?"

[Grey]

Levi's triumphant 'go shove it' smirk soon faded once he felt his chair get hefted up and flipped around, letting the two Vault Dwellers face each other. 'What the Hell?' Levi thought, breath picking up pace for just a moment. This couldn't be good. At all. Served him right for trusting these assholes! Now they were just gonna go ahead and do whatever they wanted anyway!

Levi squirmed in his seat, trying to get his body free to do something before the interrogator could do what he wished to him or Sarah. He looked up every now and then, hopefully Sarah's defiance could stall for enough time. These merc idiots forgot to take away his bag, the idiots. What, did they assume he didn't have anything in there?

And just like his triumphant 'go shove it' smirk from earlier, this iteration came and went with even more speed. Once the screaming started, the male started to panic a lot more than he already was. Levi knew he couldn't waste time, or that'd be him in a few seconds. 'Oh God, oh shit, oh SHIT!' he thought before the feeling of his right arm went slack. He had a forearm free to get something, but the ropes were too tight to let him get it completely out. 'Gotta work fast...!' he thought, taking several panicked breaths, looking up and seeing Sarah practically dead already. Slowly but surely he unzipped the bag, allowing a few toys to get in his reach...

"So, have you decided what I'm going to take from you?"

"Did you mean, what are you gonna take that's mine?"

A certain metal object clacked onto the ground, getting sent towards the merc with a kick from Levi, who put all his weight into letting his chair, and himself, fall to the side. Hopefully the old pre-war wood would give under his squirming now that it took a good fall to the ground...!

...And if not, he was still able to fetch a grenade. The mine was just to buy some more time; it wasn't even active. It's not like he'd intentionally send an explosive to both his enemy and his injured ally at once.

[Jakeozzy]

"The fuck-!" The mercenary shouted in surprise, backing up and diving away as an ACTIVE MINE bounced along the ground towards him. The guy was curled up in front of the door shielding his face, waiting for that inevitable explosion. ...Waiting for that explosion... It'd go off any moment now...

.....

He inched his arms away from his eyes and his facial expression quickly grew from stunned to red and fierce. But was it from embarrassment, or anger? Or both? Levi was free, the stupid old chair broken, the binds loose, ...and that kid had to have more where that deactivated mine came from. "Oh, you're dead. Now we know where your faggot Dad is, doesn't matter if I just off your sorry ass right here and now!" The merc said. It would appear that he never let go of his knife through all that earlier, so... It was a heavy-hitting trained killer with a dagger versus a Vault Dweller with a pack full of dangerous toys. The odds were actually stacked evenly here! One missed button or pulled pin and Levi might get stuck by the mercenary, one foot wrong and the mercenary might get blown to smithereens! It was strength versus agility too considering the merc's armour. The man tossed the knife from hand to hand, approaching Levi cautiously. "I'll kill ya' quick if you drop the bag... Come on!" He egged the young vault dweller on.

...That was when a more familiar merc slowly entered the room, knife drawn, something dripping from the blade's tip. It was bloody, but who's freakin' blood could that be in a place like the merc's stronghold? "Oi, fatty." The Englishman taunted the torturer, who you'd expect to be a comrade of his. "Would you mind stepping into one corner and dropping the pig-sticker, just.. I don't appreciate you doing this to personal mates of mine. Eh?" David said in a ridiculously neutral tone. Considering he'd apparently murdered some of his comrades already, you'd think anyone would be running on adrenaline and hype right now!

The larger man backed away from Levi and his tied-up friend so that he could observe both his opponents. "You did always have an independent streak, kid. But no, none of this backstabbing. Traitors fucking die. I'll kill everyone in this room if I have to..."

"Ah, shut up already you windbag," David said in a bored manner, glancing at his true ally here. He would explain his actions later, when there wasn't a fight about to break out. Heck, if there wasn't any field of doubt surrounding Dave one could probably summarise he was doing this because he liked his new Vaultie pals more than the killers he grew up with.

Welp, it shouldn't be too hard to gain a victory here. Sarah was currently out of (further) harms way, and the torturer was in one corner of the room. David had the escape covered. All they needed to do was blow that son of a bitch up, or at least get him to make a stupid move whilst running from any bombs thrown his way.

(I wrote this at like.. 3 separate times of the day. Forgiveth me if it seems rushed and whatnot.)

[Grey]

"Heh. Oh how the mighty have fallen," Levi taunted, a smug grin as he began getting off the ground and dusting himself off while the merc was distracted by David the Big Goddamn Hero's entrance into their little skirmish, bloodied weapon in hand. And as the merc was still distracted, Levi began unveiling a few of his toys from his bag now that his previous gambit had worked its magic. Admittedly it was pretty risky, but it all worked out in the end, right? And now there they were, 2 vs 3.

Levi was fucking juggling grenades in his hands. Tossing one grenade from left to right, and the other from right to left at the same time. It wasn't circus-level juggling, but the dexterity and motor control needed to do so in the first place! No wonder the kid was so great with lockpicks. "So dickweed," he started nonchalantly, further humiliating the interrogator, "You wanna know a secret?"

Levi mimed pulling the pins from his grenades and threw both of them at the man, all inactive. He sent another wave at the man before charging in, actually pulling the pin from the one he had in his hand. The other 'nades were to pin the man down psychologically while Levi could go in for the kill. "One: I'm not actually Weaver's son," Levi said, thrusting the pin at the interrogator's eye, "Two: Mines beep before they explode." If the pin got in the eye, all well and good. Then he'd stick the 'nade in the man's mouth as he screamed, or maybe down his shirt if he didn't, before dashing off to victory. If the guy managed to deflect Levi, he could still throw the grenade at least, and there'd be no dodging that, it was already cooked enough.

[Jakeozzy]

Levi's fearless 'nade rush was pulled off almost flawlessly! Just how the fuck does one prepare to fight a man wielding a hot explosive?! It looked like the kid wanted to blow them both up! As the torturer howled in agony at the frag's pin getting thrust in his eye, he felt something hard get jammed between his jaws. He bit down on it, quickly realising that it was no use. And within a second or two, there was head-mush all over the place... Job done.

David didn't even flinch during all this. At the end however he did rub his ears a little from the annoying ringing sound that hung in the room. Hopefully nobody outside realised what was going on. It's not like Dave made any effort to hide his ex-comrades bodies. If somebody took one step into the prison building they'd find a dead man lying over the desk in the lobby, a dead man near the cells, and another lying outside this door! ...And this guy's headless, gory body.

"...Good job." David said, giving his pal a casual thumbs up after using it to wipe some blood off his cheek. He turned his gaze to Sarah, still unconscious in that chair. "...Red still alive? I brought her gear so we could all get the fuck out of here."

"Ugh.. M.. My eye.. I.. I can't see out of it.. Oh god..!" The redhead sobbed to herself, weakly pulling at her binds. Her intact eye fluttered open then, black and bruised from the mercs' foul treatment. She was overcome with relief that she could still see, but at the same time knew of her left eye's irreparable damage. ...How could someone be that cruel and still sleep at night? This is what the surface was like...

"Levi... You're alive, right?" The girl asked, gazing at the blurry image of a broken chair in front of her.

David said nothing for now. His 'friends' just carved Sarah's left eye out. How would she react seeing him standing in the door, blocking their exit with either her or Levi's blood on that dagger of his? Giving her some space seemed like the done thing for now. He dropped Sarah's bag and gently tossed the 1911 on top of it, followed by some bandages, then he went to the lobby to fetch his gear. What came next might be a quiet escape, or an intense battle...

[Grey]

"Jesus FUCKING Christ!" Levi exclaimed, basically drenched in head-fluids and grey matter. He... didn't actually expect to pull that off so flawlessly. More stab wounds and less unharmed head detonations. But he wasn't gonna argue with the obviously positive results! Grabbing the edge of the explosively beheaded clothes, Levi went to tear off a loose piece and wipe the face off his face. "...Pretty damn gross though..." he muttered, tossing aside the damp rag and pulling himself off the ground. There was still body on his Vault Armor, but he figured it would be fine even if he didn't clean it. Made him look more 'rugged' and 'intimidating'.

It was then, guided by the sound of anguish, he remembered Sarah was still there. Minus one eye, unfortunately. "...Yeah... Of course I'm alive! Who the hell do you think I am?" Levi declared, doing his best to make the situation even just a little less bleak than it was. He gave a forced, yet somewhat 'real' sounding laugh. He caught a sight of David making his way out of the interrogation room. "Hey wai-" he cut himself off as David escaped view after leaving Sarah with her supplies.

Fortunately for David, Levi trusted him enough not to go rat them out. After all, his actions spoke wonders of his true allegiances. Though it didn't take too long for Levi to figure out why the older male had decided to leave for now. Sarah hated...ish... him before, and after she got her eye nabbed by the guys he vouched for? There was definitely going to be some shots fired.

And not metaphorically.

After cutting Sarah loose, Levi looked down at the bandages and the turned to Sarah. Then back to the bandages and back to Sarah, and so on. ...Was he supposed to be the one to put these on? "...It's just bandages, I can't screw this up," he reassured himself before kneeling down, taking the tools in hand, and saying to his partner, "Well. I'm no doctor, but lemme try somethin' for you."
***
The young Vault Dweller tried his best, he really did! But for some reason, Sarah looked a bit like a mummy. Or at least, half a mummy. Levi wasn't dumb enough to cover the bottom part of her head, just not educated enough to give her a kind-of-not-really blindfold. "Okay, let's try that again..."
***
"...Good enough." Levi muttered. Finally, after multiple trials and errors, he finally settled upon something that looked right, if those holotapes were to be trusted. "...You good?" he asked Sarah, "because we gotta get the fuck out 'n' all." He put his hand to his chin, "Probably can't go out in a blaze of bullets, what with you being, ah, Patchy the Pirate, but I figure we can sneak out and get back to the Rangers!" Levi glanced at the door, wondering if David would arrive any time soon. He'd have to break the news to Sarah eventually.

[Jakeozzy]

"Patchy the f...?!" Sarah got to her feet and belted Levi around the face with a slap, "That's not funny! It really hurts!" She cried before she broke into laughter, apparently not that miffed in truth! There was a stupid grin on her face as she went to pick up her customised rifle, the pistol and her backpack. You could probably put the weird behaviour down to everything they just went through. Between having her eye cut out and seeing brains splashed across the room, Sarah was unstable at best. Adrenaline was taking over. Still, she seemed to be going along with the escape idea. With her rifle slung over her shoulder and the M1911 in her hands, the red-haired 'Vault Pirate' nodded at Captain Levi in readiness for whatever was to happen next. Her single eye's pupil looked dilated. ...Would it even be safe to have David around?

As if on cue he leaned into the room with his assault rifle hanging from one hand, "Oi. Best be on our way, guards are distracted by something. There's a different entrance to the base we can use to get outta here." He said before grabbing a set of keys from the explodified torturer, and walking further INTO the building, towards what seemed to be the dead end at the end of the jail cells. He unlocked a cell and stepped inside, throwing a "CAUTION" sign out and into another cell. He was removing a freaking sewer grate. Seriously, their way out was a sewer tunnel?!

"This better be good, Davey... Or heads shall roll." Sarah murmured quietly in a rough English accent.

[Grey]

"Well that hurt," Levi bluntly stated with the cheekiest grin as he scratched at his stinging cheek, "buuut I probably deserved it." Once the sting subsided, the young Vault Dweller rubbed his hands together, "So I figure we can go create an explosive diversion, right? And then do a sneaky thing and then get out safely by... Running fast. Yup. That's the p-"

Fortunately, David had arrived mid-sentence, cutting Levi off from further explaining his absurd 'Levi-esque' plan by introducing his own, much more thought out plan of action. Following the older, more experienced waster, Levi turned to Sarah post-vaguely English sounding threat, "Well it's better than what I thought up. Is that good enough for you?"

It was a bit concerning actually. Did David even know where the sewer grate of magical wonder led? Or even know how to make his way around in the first place? "Well... Guess I'm going in first?" Levi asked-slash-suggested immediately after David did his thing with removing the grate. The Vault Dweller took some tentative steps before gulping, turning to his allies with a 'it smells like shit' look, and descending into the depths...

[Jakeozzy]

Sarah rolled her eyes- ...eye, at Levi's question and began nodding sarcastically slow. The last Dave suggestion got them into this mess! ...But apparently it was this, or the surface. The redheaded techie decided that these mercenaries had pathetic IQs. They wouldn't anticipate this escape route would they?

"Ladies first," David offered after smelling the old sewer pipe. How could this thing still stink after what, 200 years? Well it was this or risking getting shot... In truth Dave only vaguely knew where this thing went. It was kind of rusty, but it was built to last wasn't it? Yeah, probably.

Sarah grabbed Dave by the arm and pulled him toward the open grate, letting him go in second after Levi. He reluctantly climbed in and began following behind the male of the two Vault dwellers. "You're going the right way, mate. If we keep going we'll come across an opening in the pipe. Should let us drop down into a subway station. You know, like.. Ah, you know what I mean aye? Anyway it shouldn't be far along - I used this thing once as a kid."

After about a minute of crouch-walking through the torturously bad smelling pipeline, there was a broken opening on the underside of the thing. When looked through there was the tiled floor of the metro station below. The drop was only a meter so. "The tunnel heading south should take us back into the NYC metro lines. ...Unless you plan on doing the recon properly. Personally I'd just tell Hunter that things up north are... Well, batshit insane."

Sarah suddenly let out a short yelp as she unluckily fell through a more rusted part of the pipe and landed back-first on the platform below. At least the rifle was still in one piece when it hit the floor.

"...Red?" David called down, listening out for anything below.

"Oh I'm just frickin' loving it..." Sarah snapped before pulling herself back up and dusting down her bloody clothes. She could've sworn she saw something scuttling away down one of the two dark metro tunnels. Her eye darted around the dark station, looking for any signs of life other than whatever just crawled off down the tracks.

"Your turn. Try to land on two feet," Dave said to Levi, indirectly teasing Sarah. Eventually she was gonna snap and just.. punch him, bash him with a rifle butt or something. He was actually waiting for it!

[Grey]

"I wonder if she fell 'cause of the lack of depth perception preventing her from landing right..." Levi mused upon hearing the entertaining sound of Sarah's body hitting cold, hard metro ground. There was just no luck going for this girl was there? Sure, the male Vault Dweller could be considered a fan of schadenfreude, but at this rate it was leaning into hilariously disconcerting. He'd prefer his allies didn't look like blind, cyborg amputees by the end of the week. Hell, it'd only been what? Three, four days? 'Damn,' Levi thought before looking to David and slipping (metaphorically, that is - he was no Sarah with an abysmal Luck SPECIAL) down the meter high drop.

"Oof!" Levi landed with a thud and a grunt, legs being forced to crouch down, "I swear, this escape thing is murder on the knees... Anyway..." He looked back up at the pipe and gestured for David to get his butt down so they could discuss tactics. "So, I'm most definitely not gonna go back up North. I was hoping it'd be more 'Santa Claus', 'friendly Canadians', and 'snow days'. Not 'psychos', 'robots', and 'weird-ass mutant creatures'. You guys can continue up, if you want." He looked around the dank, poorly-lit metro. "...Plus this place gives me the heebie jeebies... Dave, you sure you know your way around this place?"

[Jakeozzy]

Post-Apocalyptic Metros need creepy Metro music

"Last time I was here I was just a kid. I headed south, exploring. The northern tunnel gave me the creeps, and it still does. Start feeling physically sick if I look into the darkness there for too long, it must be a gas or something like that," David explained as he hopped down onto the tracks, the clicking coming from his rifle notifying everything in the vicinity, that he just turned the safety off. It was strange to see the guy tensing up like this - he didn't seem this nervous during dusk up on the surface, what with all that dreadful howling and shit. This place obviously got to him.

Sarah hopped down into the tunnel, clutching where her eye used to be as she landed. The pain wouldn't go away any time soon... When she turned her gaze back up, she was facing the northern tunnel. She froze and stared into the darkness, squinting for something she thought she'd seen. Her mind was already overcome with a feeling of curiosity. Forceful curiosity. The girl took a step forward, a whisper telling her to come closer. Another step and the whisper grew louder. Another step, and a pitch-black hand extended out to pull her in-! ...But David's grip on her shoulder suddenly yanked her away from the seemingly impenetrable darkness at the last moment. He span her around and pulled her closer, protectively, "Don't you fucking dare leave us, Red... You go that way, and I'm not going in after you. Stay focused down here - this underground ain't normal..."

"I- ...What? I was walking behind you with Levi..." Sarah blinked, utterly puzzled at what was going on. Did she really just.. lose it?

David gulped and shook his head before he gently pushed her along, "Not even rats reside here. We're in no-man's-land. Just keep walking the southern tunnel. Stay close, and don't stray. Keep talking as much as we can, alright? Freakish shit affects the mind down here..."

Sarah was fairly stunned by her unconscious stroll towards the unknown, but was now leading alongside Levi with David keeping his eyes on the two from behind, "...What's so different about this metro line to any other? Why is it so dangerous?" she asked, apparently dismissing the paranormal or hallucinating event that took place only moments earlier.

"Keep walking, Red..." Dave replied coldly.

[Grey]

Levi... Didn't really know what he thought the underground of this post-apocalyptic wasteland would be like, but after experiencing more than 30 seconds in the catacombs that were the metros of New York and the surrounding areas, the young man had to say that he very much did not enjoy the view her was getting. Or rather, the lack thereof. He could barely see a few meters in front of him, even with his PIP-Boy light active! Place gave him the fuckin' creeps. And kid David came here for fun? There was something very wrong with that indeed...

...Urghh... Levi most definitely did not enjoy the part where his PIP-Boy light essentially made the group a giant fucking target down here. Any raider with half a mind would know to fire towards the big-ass glowing light source. Or any odd, mutated creature to just stalk them. Following, waiting until they rested to take bites out of their flesh...

"AHHHH!"

Someone screamed like a bitch. Oh wait, it was himself. He screamed like a bitch. But David just had to sternly talk to Sarah out of the blue... Fucking scared the shit out of him. With leading alongside himself, Levi felt slightly better... If only because if something jumped out, he might not be the only one to cry out in fright. This whole place was making him paranoid, and David's avoidance of the questions did nothing to help him feel better. Levi really just wanted to get home now.

[Jakeozzy]

"No, no! We're fine. There's nothing wrong with this place, let's just keep walking. The PIP-Boys should light the way a bit..." Sarah tried desperately to remain calm. David was right, there wasn't even any rats down here! But then.. what was that she saw scurrying away when the stupid rusty pipe gave way? Maybe she frightened off a mutant with her not-quite-explosive entrance? Somewhere along the line her hand had wrapped around Levi's, very tightly, "We're fine~" she repeated.

David found himself walking closer to the two as well, the darkness around them almost seemed to thicken. It's like the black void was following them, and that only made the more experienced wastelander worry more... "This tunnel isn't like any anomaly you'd find on the surface. Advanced darkness, no living creatures running around, complete silence aside from us... I swear, this place is like.. alive. We're trespassing."

Sarah shivered, "That's nice, Davey. Stop talking now. Is there a way to increase this thing's brightness? Please~" she laughed sheepishly whilst flicking through her PIP-Boy's settings, "Damn it..." she whined.

"David, how far-"

"Two miles. We walk south two miles, and we're back in happy mutant-infested metro tunnels. Don't look back, and don't even bother stopping for a rest until I say so... I figure there's worse fates than death after what I've seen down here."

Sarah shivered yet again and moved closer to Levi at the mention of mutant-infested tunnels. So they would walk out of their absolutely silent, pitch black hell and straight into mutant hell? "Levi, you don't believe in all this stuff do you~? No, of course you don't~!" the redhead chanted nervously. 

It got a little colder, enough for the three to feel, "...Seriously, why do we have to come through here?" Sarah's voice broke. Protesting or turning back seemed like it would piss off their British 'pal' to a worrying extent. He really seemed serious about some kind of unseen danger stalking them...

[Grey]

"...Yeah...Sure..."

That was lie, of course. Levi was freakin' capital-S Scared. At least it was only two miles and not a huge stretch of map to go waltz through. He could take solace in that fact that meant the whole situation would be resolved relatively soon. Hopefully with a minimal amount of pants pissing on his part. And if David kept going on about that, Levi'd probably stuff a rag in the guy's mouth!

While the light from the PIP-Boys were good and all, Levi couldn't help feel like he'd feel safer with them off. If only for the fact that, because there was light, it made for seeing anywhere that wasn't lit very, very hard indeed. Though, since there wasn't much to do other than put one foot in front of the other, Levi's mind began being a total ass and making him think again. Really, from all the possibilities filling his mind, mutant infested metros would be a fucking godsend in terms of the amount of relief it would give him. The enemy you know, and all that.

After a few more minutes of dead silence and walking, Levi had to pose a question. "So, what exactly do you mean by 'fate worse than death'?"

[Jakeozzy]

"Can you imagine repeating the moment you die over and over again, in a never-ending cycle? Trapped here, in the darkness.. forever." David replied in a sorrowful manner. It was a first for Levi and Sarah to see - the guy was indifferent when he wasted his old mercenary buddies. And yet this tunnel put him so on edge, it scared him in a way no man or mutant could... It changed him. "She was...-"

The tunnel was suddenly filled with a sinister howl, which developed again suddenly into a woman's scream. Sarah stopped dead in her tracks and pulled the others closer in fear of what was about to jump out at them and start ripping their limbs off! ...Well, it was like Dave said as the redhead opened her eyes, arms still wrapped around her partner(s) - this place was empty. It was silent once again, but that damnable scream would remain in Sarah's mind forever. Funnily enough, her own shriek of terror was good enough to compete with the tunnel's.

David had shrunk closer to his two companions, "...She was a friend, the one I lost down here... The darkness took her when she died... It would be six years ago now. She's still here, but she's not- ...I can't even describe it..." the 'Tough-Guy English Merc' explained in a pitiful voice.

Sarah rapidly nodded twice and started willing the other two further down the tracks, "Should only be a bit more tunnel to go~! You can tell us your love story another time. I for one want out of this place~"

[Grey]

Immediately after asking that question, Levi regretted it - and David hadn't even started speaking! Probably should have thought it through, really. You're supposed to ask questions like that after leaving the dangerous place you're asking a question about.why exactly a place could cause a fate worse than death. He believed the saying was, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.' Doing his best to ignore David's story about love and loss pr whatever, Levi kept sticking one foot in front of the other before, as if on cue, a horrific scream of terror reverberated throughout the area.

"JESUS H. CHRIST!!!"

Levi nearly had a friggin' heart attack! Where the fuck did that scream come from! The Vault Dweller removed a grenade and tossed it in the general direction of whatever the hell just decided to make him nearly piss himself in terror. Whether he did it from fright or anger didn't matter at this point, he just wanted to relieve the tension and hopefully drop whatever made this place as frightening as it was.

"So! Instead of, y'know, walking, why don't we make haste and run? I like that idea!" Levi suggested hopefully, completely and complacently following Sarah's urging forward.

[Jakeozzy]

The grenade exploding in the underground made the air ring, Sarah having to clutch her ears to stop them being damaged. As if to push the three back as they broke into a run, another sinister howl rang out deep in the tunnel, this time not bringing with it a piercing scream, but a very real blast of wind. David held his footing, while Sarah was taken by surprise and thrown back against the cold steel tracks. They were at a station now - they could continue on the horror tunnel, or they could fucking bail now! After picking herself back up, Sarah opted for the former.

"I need some fresh air, be right back!" The red haired techie made any random excuse, climbing up onto the subway station main platform. Despite originally suggesting they stay on track, Dave too opted to GTFO before things really got bad for the three. He didn't leg it straight away, and instead offered an arm down to Levi.

"Red, don't go too far ahead!" David called over to Sarah.

"I'm not going anywhere by myself, we're in a paranormal deathtrap here!" Sarah snapped back at the one responsible for bringing them down here in the first place. Realising headed surface-ways was actually quite dangerous, she readied her modified bolt-action rifle for war.

[Grey]

"FUCKING FUCK FUCK SHIT DICK!" Levi screamed once the powerful gust of wind blasted him on his ass, as if in response to that 'nade he threw down the metro. Like his two companions, the male Vault Dweller basically lost his shit and started in a wild sprint-crawl towards the exit of this unnatural hellhole, before smoothly transitioning into an actual sprint. He didn't even go for David's helping hand or make some bullshit excuse like Sarah did, he was just that scared shitless. He pulled out the only projectile weapon in his arsenal, the 'nade launcher, and held it for dear life like some kind of explosive comfort blanket.

He did a mad leap for the metro station platform and pulled himself up before kind of cowering by the stairs heading upwards back to the surface zone, waiting for David to catch up with them. He was breathing wildly, eyes darting around the room and grenade launcher aiming in various directions matching his gaze.

[Jakeozzy]

As the two Vault Dwellers reached the surface, the eerie feeling tailing them dissipated as if it had been satisfied that they'd left it's territory. Dave pulled himself into the daylight after the two, breathing heavily. As far as scary tunnels went, Sarah was quite frankly never venturing into underground New York ever again. Like, ever. "This is the last time we let you choose the route! Our magic PIP-Boys would never tell us to walk such a torturous road like that!" The redhead barked at the Englishman.

David waved off Sarah's assertions rather calmly, "Oh fuck off... Let me catch my breath before you start bitching, Red..."

"I have every right to bitch about it! You nearly got us killed taking us down there!" Sarah cried in her defence.

"How was I supposed to know it would go like that?!"

"A ghost story came to life down there, you asshat!"

"Not my fault! Don't start calling me out over one little mistake! Besides, it's just mindfuckin' hallucinogenic gas or some silly thing..."

"I knew you were an asshat, but that just went above and beyond retarded. What were you thinking?! You ignorant, annoying-!" Sarah interrupted herself, making a clumsy swing for Dave's face.

David took one step back to dodge, then one forward towards Sarah and socked her once in the gut, causing her to instantly fall lifeless into his arms. The pissed-off Brit threw her over his shoulder and opted to use his pistol in one hand for any engagements that might break out. "...I cannot frickin' deal with mouth-offs. Let's head back South, Levi... I want to wipe this whole day from my mind," he murmured.

[Jakeozzy]

One Day Later, Back at the Tower

They were held up again. Night time and that wintery setting it brought with it just rolled in too fast, so the three had to stop for the night... It was a night without incident, well, if you didn't count the constant howls of mutant beasts. Vicious as they were, they were all too stupid or too oddly shaped to fit through the same passages their prey had used to escape the old world city streets. When the morning came it was a short trip back home, to the 'Tower' as the Empire State had come to be known these days. Sure enough, they were greeted a few streets out by Ranger patrols, which thickened with outposts, barbed wire, sandbags and whatnot as they came ever closer. Those hadn't been there before. Neither had the damn mounted machine guns, or the boxes of heavy weapons and equipment. Was Hunter expecting someone violent to show up? The Rangers had enough firepower lying around to level what was left of the ruins surrounding their Tower settlement, easily. It must have taken years to gather or craft all this! Or perhaps they just raided an ancient pre-war armory for all it's goodies, which seemed like the most likely scenario.

"Alright... I feel about fifty times safer now. I'm going to hit the bar - the two of you can go see Hunter or whatever it is you planned on doing. If he needs me, just tell him where to find me." David chattered as they entered the lobby, headed straight for the nearest drink he could get his hands on.

Sarah still felt a little woozy and tired from all the trauma suffered the other day. Down an eye and roughed up, she just needed a break already. Getting a real doctor to look at her injuries would be a big first step - but she was going to remain at her pal's side. Reassured that David was a complete fucking idiot, Levi was once again the only person on her list of trustworthy people. Well, maybe Masky up in his office somewhere too - but the gasmask was kind of eerie. It felt like he would stare into one's soul with that thing on...

"...Well. We're still alive. Somehow," Sarah coughed as she and Levi stood still in the lobby. "What do we tell Masky? That those Mercs and the robot-y guys joined forces? We didn't even get to see one..."