Collaboration between Pyro/DemonTongue/Vash
Silence weighed in on the trio as the rest of Eagle Squad made their way to the entrance of the cavern and out of sight. They were almost done. After this one last little hurdle was jumped they could all head back and reap the rewards of a job well done. One last hurdle. Ginger turned his back on the daylight that shone through the cave and faced the vault door. He double checked his ammunition, running low on microfusion cells, and made sure his share of the C-16 charges were secure.
He nodded to Golem, "Ready as I'll ever be."
Golem looked toward Ginger and smiled underneath his helmet, nodding. He turned towards Bear now and spoke. "Bear? Ready?"
The big guy turned his head slightly to look at the others, and nodded in response.
"Alright," Golem turned back to the door console and began entering the proper commands, "In we go."
A deep, momentary humming rumbled through the cavern, but the near soothing sound was soon torn apart by an ear splitting shriek as the vault door shuddered to life. Slowly the great door rolled to the side, the noise a testament to its age and resiliency. Warm fetid air hissed out of the widening doorway and flooded around them. Their giger counters went off the charts as the radiation levels became lethal. The door halted with a heavy crunch and the silence returned even thicker than before. The opening to the vault beckoned like the maw of a wretched hell-beast waiting hungrily for those who would dare to step into it's throat.
Inside Vault 31 was dimly lit and visibility was low. It was obvious from here that many of the systems had failed over the years of war and misuse. Further down the path lights could be seen flickering out in places, doors stuck shut with rust never to open again, refuse and human remains piled along the edges. Over two hundred years worth of filth. However, one thing did stick out in the gloom. A single open doorway, decently lit, and a hulking figure that took up most of the doorway, though was clearly hunched over. Ginger raised his rifle to take aim, and Bear's gatling laser began to come to life, but neither were fast enough. A single shot pierced the gloom, the red glare of a laser flying across the room. It pierced through the inner control panel, searing the mechanics and destroying the mechanism. Instantly, the room was washed with a flashing red light, and the Vault echoed with the deep bellow of the alarm. As the first shots were fired by the squad, the mutant that had started it all had already run, the shots merely slamming into the ceiling and doorway where it had been.
Bear, with his very refined tact, let out a roar and let his left hand fall from the gatling laser, the weapon sagging forward as the barrels halted, and whipped out his defender. A burst of plasma destroyed the offending light, and the noise that had accompanied it quieted in the room, though they could hear the echo from down the corridor, and see the light. Shoving the pistol into its holster, Bear growled, and began walking down the hall. Andrew echoed over the comms, asking what happened.
Golem spoke first, "Mutant tried to ambush us and ended up destroying the inner console. We'll try and find the overseer's office to close the door when we blow the vats." "No need, Archangel's slice into the door mechanism outside in the cavern is able to close the door as well. We'll make sure that nothing comes in after you."
The further they sunk into the depths of the vault the more the place began to stink of disease and carnage. Human and animal remains had been strung up at random around the vault. Were the super mutants using this vault as a home base or meat locker? Several times they had to smash their way through obstructed doorways or even circumvent them entirely. At times it sounded like something was moving beyond the walls. Yet another doorway loomed up ahead. It was identical to all the others they had come across, but it was bigger. Much bigger. The sign above it simply read "Laboratory." There was a terminal on the wall next to the door. Golem and Bear took up defensive positions while Ginger got into it. He tried to open the door, but all he got out of it was a loud buzz and a small red light. The door wouldn't budge. He tried again with the same results. A little screen above the terminal declared that the access code was invalid.
"Shit!" he slammed a hand into the wall next to the panel, "I can't open it without the right codes."
"And just where are we going to get them?" Golem was still focused down the hallway keeping an eye out for mutants.
Ginger turned from the console and heaved a sigh, "The Overseer's office."
"Alright, change in plans, boys," Bear muttered into the comm. "The vats are taking a back seat. We need to find the Overseer's office and pray to any god there's a way to get those doors open." He turned his head slightly towards them, glaring through his visor, "Agreed?" With the squad agreeing, they contacted Andrew to keep him updated. He mentioned that all was quiet up top and that the Mutants had apparently abandoned the post and that his tea was tasting fantastic. The radiation however was starting to spread a little into the city and that their time here was growing short.
As they came into the administration wing of the vault the hallway took a sudden turn, Golem stopped them. Bear was annoyed by the sudden halt, but made no noise as the man peered around the corner, and quickly whipped his head back. He motioned towards the area around it, then held up a single finger: One guard down there. Bear gently sat down his gatling laser, and unsheathed his knife. While the others might question the sanity of this, Bear didn't wait for them to say anything as he rounded the corner and threw the knife. The super mutant turned just enough to see the blade coming from the corner of his eye before it embedded itself into his temple. With a heavy thump, it fell to the ground, much quieter than it would have been if it had been shot down. Returning to his gun, he lifted it up and motioned for Golem to take the lead.
He did so without complaint, leading them down to hall to the door he was guarding. A plaque above the door read "Overseer", though the "seer" had been scratched out, and above on the wall, "lord" had been etched into the wall. The door opened with little resistance, and inside sat a single super mutant, quite small by the standards of his kind, watching a few screens, giggling like a child at whatever he was watching. Rather than go for the stealthy approach, Golem calmly walked forward, boots pounding the floor, as he raised his axe up. The small mutant turned, gave a look of horror, and reached for the rifle strapped to its back, but was no where near quick enough. The axe arced down, cleaving the green bastard's skull clean open. Pushing the corpse from the axe with his foot, Golem glanced at the screen the mutant had been watching. His face turned to one of disgust as Bear and Ginger appeared at his sides, both sharing his sentiment. The screen showed a woman, likely some raider, repeatedly being dipped into a vat filled to the brim with what was likely the FEV virus.
"Disgusting," Bear commented, then turned. "Ginger, find the codes or try to get the lab open from here. Golem and I will guard the door." Nothing more to say, he took up a position outside the door, staring intently down the hallway, hoping something showed its face so he could blast it off.
"Right," Ginger slung his rifle over his back and pulled up the large terminal. Hacking into a computer managed by super mutants didn't exactly put a strain on the mind. He couldn't open the door from here but within minutes he was copying the codes into the system in his power armor. During the upload he noticed a grenade on the belt of the mutant Golem had dispatched. With the most powerful terminal in the vault sitting right here in front of him he wondered if he shouldn't give the side mission a nice little send off. He contacted Deathstroke.
"Codes for the FEV vat room doors uploaded and ready to go, Sir. I'm not sure this terminal is necessary to our mission anymore, you?"
"No, but just in case, don't smash it until you set the bombs and get out of there. Once you head out, destroy the console."
Ginger frowned and glared at the console, "Ye'sir," he confirmed albeit disappointment in his voice, "Don't think this is a get outta jail free card," he pointed at the inanimate machine, "You're goin' down." With that he left the room to meet up with the others and get to the vats.
Golem entered the laboratory first, with Bear and Ginger following up the human shield, guns at the ready. A sickening chemical stench wafted over them. The room was huge, lit by a glow shining up from beneath the grated catwalks that spread across the room and surrounded the rims of three large vats. The vats themselves were all sealed with steel doors save for the third on the far end of the room. It was there that a small group of super mutants were submerging the captured raider girl they saw in the monitors.The girl hung helplessly in the air, covered by the virus, as the mutants turned to check on the intruders. They reached for their guns a bit too soon, the mutants quickly incinerated by the wave of green lasers, ash and corpses falling around the vats. The one operating the crane exited, only for the big gun to be turned on him. As the others began to set up the charges, the Bear headed up to the crane operation room, and set the girl down next to the vats, away from the corpses. She didn't look to be too mutated by it.. seemed to be mostly human, though she might get worse as she's left alone. The Bear grunted and went back down to set up his own charges, ignoring the girl, though Ginger and Golem were both perplexed by the lack of an execution. Once all the charges were set, Ginger and Golem headed towards the door to leave. Bear, however, stayed behind a moment longer, offering the girl a hand. The raider girl took it, and he hefted her up, and allowed her to lean on him as they headed out.
As the group headed out, the raider leaning heavily on the Bear, there was a small rumbling behind them. They turned to see a large dent in the metal wall. There was another slam, just as a door at the far end opened up. Bear turned, forcing the girl to stand on her own for a moment as he raised his gun to fire. A rifle shot echoed out, and slammed into the handle of his gatling laser. The thing dropped to the ground, the firing mechanism detached from the weapon. Bear let out a growl, and another rifle shot sounded out as a group of mutants led by an Overlord came from the doorway. The others, including the raider, scattered, but Bear stood his ground. The bullet skidded off his shoulder as he began walking in the direction of the owner of the weapon. He unsheathed his blade and took out his pistol, though he tossed the gun to the raider, who just barely managed to catch it. A few more shots sounded out, but they either missed completely or merely skidded off his armor.
By now, Ginger and the raider were firing back, causing the rest of the mutants to scatter and take cover. The Overlord, though, pulled a machete from his back and waited for Bear to get within ten feet, in which they both stood and stared at each other. Behind, there was a loud crash and the screech of tearing metal, but the Bear did not even flinch. His grip on the knife shifted, and he raised it up, the blade near his pinky. The Overlord held the machete at his side and readied himself. The pair let out roars at each other, drowning out the gunfire as they charged. The Overlord struck first, the blade of the machete clanging onto the power armor. The force of the blow dented the pauldron, but the section of the blade that hit it shattered, making the weapon nearly useless as a blade. In response, the Bear slashed upwards, cutting a long, shallow gash along the underside of the Overlord's sword arm. The mutant reared back, shouting something unintelligent, but Bear was not quite done. The blade was thrust forward, the blade embedding into the Overlord's chest. Unfortunately, it was nowhere near long enough to hit anything important, and so the Overlord was very much kicking.
The mutant threw Bear away, the heavy power armor crashing on the floor. The mutant stood over him, broken blade raised high in the air. The Bear winced even before the machete slammed into his chest, the mutant repeatedly chopping away. The machete was chipped away with each hit, each hit denting the chest of the armor more and more. Bear wheezed into the intercom, wincing as he did so, praying the others didn't hear. His foot reared back and slammed into the knee of the mutant, a satisfying crack sounding out. The mutant wailed in pain as the Bear rolled away and worked his way to his feet. As the mutant turned to face him, the Bear was upon him, the large man tackling the Overlord to the ground. The Bear now on top, he reached down and gripped the knife. He twisted hard, causing the Overlord to cry out in pain, the machete rising up to come crashing down on Bear's shoulder and back.
The blade of the knife snapped, leaving most embedded, twisted and abused, in the chest of the Overlord. He raised the broken knife up, and thrust it down, forcing it into the Overlord's throat. As he did so, the machete slammed into his head, sending him rolling off. The Overlord forced his way to his feet, free hand clutching the gash in his throat, as if it would hold the blood in. He glared down at the Bear as he laid on the ground, stunned by the blow. The Overlord's foot rose up to stomp the man into the ground, but it never came down. The mutant's foot dropped down to the ground without force, and soon after the Overlord fell to its knees, and knelt its head, the life gone from its eyes. Bear managed to look up and see the raider girl, his pistol in her hands, smoke leaving the barrel. The back of the mutant's head was melted in, the green, gooey plasma eating away at his brain. As Bear worked his way to his feet, he tossed the girl another clip, no doubt that she would be out soon, if not already.
Still asking for it were they? Golem didn't move when the mutants burst into the room. Perhaps they would soon grow tired of being mowed down at every turn. Or perhaps not, he thought after driving his axe through the collar bone and into the torso of the pesky mutant sharpshooter. Admirable as their persistence was it was beginning to grow tiresome. He raised his shield, deflecting a bullet from another enemy who fell quickly to the fire from Ginger and the lucky raider girl. He saw Bear struggling with the Overlord and began his march toward the pair, ready to be of assistance when the pounding from the wall opposite him grew louder. The steel couldn't handle what was on the other side any longer. It split and sheared open. Large humanoid hands with unnaturally long fingers slithered inside and peeled the wall open like it was opening a curtain and out from it came a disfigured face trailing a trio of long slimy tongues from it's ever gaping mouth. Multiple pairs of disjointed arms pushed it into the room like a giant snake. Golem frowned, immediately changing his target. Bear could handle himself.
The centaur was a freak among freaks. It reared up twice the height of a man when Golem charged, ax at the ready, shield positioned out front. A set of arms braced it against the destroyed wall. A retching noise came from it's guts. Golem barely missed the corrosive poison as it was sprayed across the floor. The monster drooled the foul smelling stuff, it's lifeless eyes locked on him as he lunged forward. With a great cleave he aimed to spill the entirety of the exposed bowels of the centaur. The proton axe whistled through the air with a momentum that could fell the largest of trees in one blow. It stuck not even halfway up the blade into the centaur's flesh. Golem's eyes widened. A massive tongue whipped into the shield and another slammed into his helmet. He managed to keep a grip on his axe until the monster threw itself from the wall and plowed him into the ground. Tongues and tail whipped around the room furiously as it smashed him against the grated floor and lodged him against the door of one of the vats. The things tongues thrashed into his power armor and visor, clouding his vision with the venomous slime. He snagged one of them as it landed. His body twisted and he shoved the powered up riot shield up into the beast hard. Another gurgling sound issued from the centaur as it got ready to spit again. Golem ripped the tongue in his grip clean from it's mouth.
An enormous weight was lifted from him as the centaur recoiled to the edge of the room smacking the wall and flailing it's limbs knocking cranes and throwing equipment to the floor in a frenzied racket. Golem rose calmly to his feet. The thing still had his axe. He pulled the shotgun from his back. Another stray tongue flew at him. BOOM. The centaur was down to one now. Still he strode forward with heavy footfalls echoing off the steel. Slime and blood pooled under the centaur threatening to begin eating through the catwalk. It sputtered and writhed then came at him again. He raised his shield. A satisfying THWACK resounded through the chamber as it's dead face bounced off the front with all the force that had been put into the charge. He was coming ever closer. BOOM. Another round of buckshot shredded through it's already mutilated mouth. The centaur's face was an unrecognizable bloodied mess. In a rage it threw itself at him again. Golem caught it by the neck remaining upright despite the force sliding him back several feet. A wave of the mutant's spit burst over his visor and oozed down his shoulders. He clenched his teeth, the foul smell near unbearable and the strength of the creature pushing him to his limits. The last tongue dangled limp and useless, unable to provide any resistance against the onslaught as Golem slammed the shield into the dead, once human face. Again and again and again. With each shock the creature's body flailed. Blood slicked the front of the shield and the arm that held the thing's neck. Soon the flailing stopped reduced to the occasional twitch. Golem dropped it. There was nothing left of it's face. He retrieved his axe with a sigh. No amount of showers would make him feel better after this.
Ginger put the last of his microfusion cells through one of the super mutant's belly, nearly tearing it in half, before retiring his guass rifle to his back for the rest of the mission. He pulled his .44 from it's holster and clicked the hammer back. He and the raider girl had taken care of the mutants save for the Overlord and the centaur. Being on the last of his ammunition and not exactly comfortable in close quarters he was just fine letting the big guys handle that mess, though a little envious. There was just one more mutant scum to go.
"We should leave," Golem said hurrying for the door, "there isn't much time left."
"Right behind ya," Ginger turned to the raider and put the barrel on her scalp. She didn't even have time to jump before he pulled the trigger.
Bear had moved on ahead with Golem, but the sound of the gun firing gave him a moment to pause. He turned to see the girl fall to the ground, the massive hole in her skull, and Ginger standing over her. Immediately, rage set in, but he forced it down. Bombs ticking, time to go. He retrieved his pistol from her, pausing for a moment over her before running after the others.
The Vault was eerily silent for the first time since they entered, and truly it was the first time there had been true silence since they had landed in Seattle. The trio exited the Vault, maybe a minute to spare. Bear waved the other two to go on, staying behind to give the command to shut the door. As it closed, he could feel the ground shake as the bombs went off. The door wasn't even fully closed as he sprinted as fast as he could in his armor, fire and death filling the space behind the door, the Vault shutting for the final time as the explosives did their work.
They all made it out alright, though Bear looked the worst of them, weaponless and dented all to hell. But, by the way he carried himself, standing erect and proud, it was obvious that he had no serious wounds. However, before they met up with the others, Bear had some business with Ginger. He called the man's name, and as his squad made turned around, a steel clad fist rammed into the front of his helmet, sending him reeling to the ground. A moment later, the plasma defender was in the Bear's hand, pointed down at Ginger.
An all too visible crack ran through his line of sight and an annoyingly polite warning chimed in his ear. He lay on the ground with the taste of blood in his mouth. Then he saw the plasma defender in his face and Bear looming over him. Now he was seeing red. His hand went for his magnum, but this was his squad-mate. Wisely, he stopped short of pulling it.
"What the shit!!" he screamed.
The Bear growled down at him, but hesitated on pulling the trigger. "Who the hell gave you an order to kill that girl?" he asked, rage filling every word to the brim.
Ginger pulled himself up on his elbows, one hand still on the grip of his gun. He paused for a moment trying to figure out just what this guy was talking about.
"Oh. Oh I get it," he smiled, "Y'see big guy, I don't remember needing an order to kill every individual mutated freak in the wasteland. What's goin' on, man, get a crush on her or something? She was fucking smothered in FEV in case you didn't notice!"
The grip on the gun tightened, the hand around it shaking with barely contained rage. After a moment, though, he turned and threw the weapon aside, to make sure he wouldn't shoot his ally. He walked a few steps away, before turning to face him.
"You think that this is about something as petty as that?" he asked, voice low. His hands rose, and the airlock on his helmet disengaged as he pulled it off. The scarred, weathered face no longer showed rage, but a melancholy look of someone who had seen countless things they shouldn't have. "That was one of the few people I had called friends. She did not deserve to die like that." He swallowed, then turned back to head towards the rest of the team. "Come, they're all waiting on us. Don't want to keep Wraith waiting."
Quietly, Ginger staggered to his feet as Bear walked away. "Got some weird taste in friends..." he mumbled. He pulled his cracked helmet off and spat one of his teeth on the ground then followed behind Bear. His stomach churned a little. If that hadn't been a walking murder machine waiting to happen he almost would have felt guilty.
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