shadowsaint007

Fallout: New York (Still accepting :D)

"Glad to meet you, Mr. Sawyer," Par then shook the man's hand, smiling. "And...George is a recent pet. Wouldn't have managed to tame a Yao Guai if not for various mutations on the species, that's to be sure." He then looked around; where was Gabe?

"I have to get a friend back; can you help keep escorting the slaves back to freedom?" the merchant requested, before turning back towards Old Man's Corner yet again, worried about the blond. He knew that Gabriel had fought in the battle; he could hear the third set of gunshots, so he must be in that site. And, sure enough, Gabriel was still there, hidden in an alleyway between two outbuildings.

"Gabe!" shouted Par in fear as he and George loped over to the young man. "We're here, and we need to get out. You're in no condition to move on your own, so I'm pulling you onto George's back." And Par, taxing his low reserves of strength, did just that; pull Gabe onto the bear's back. Then, the merchant handed a Stimpack over to the young man.

"I'm glad...I'm glad you're alive..." he trailed off.

@shadowsaint007, @Madly33, @Marcus XVI

@Letter Bee

"I'm glad I'm still in one piece myself," Gabriel replied. "Thanks for caring. Just let me catch my breath."

Took a couple seconds for him to get back up, kicking aside the dead dog, feeling a bit sick in the process. He holstered his pistol and shouldered his rifle.

"Radio tower down?" he inquired. "At least the detonator collars are not going to go off... hopefully."

He followed Par, keeping an eye out for any pursuers. He rubbed his injuries, knowing he'd need to properly patch himself up as soon as they got out of danger.

Fallout: New York (Still accepting :D)

Okay, @TheUnknowable I removed the Pip-Boys from the post on page 5 and made it clear Sparks was using her own. Again, sorry for the mix-up and hope that clarifies things. Will modify my most recent post for Sparks in a bit.

Fallout: New York (Still accepting :D)

<Snipped quote by shadowsaint007>

I was talking about the second one that you pulled out for him, the one that he put on his arm. I assume you don't need both.

Technically, though, he should have one from his own vault. Do we need to rewrite our last few posts to fix this? I'm confused. We could say that instead of you pulling out another one, you just plugged into his. That would only require changing a few lines.

I thought you were going to use bio readings from the pipboy somehow. Or we could say we just tied into his desk computer, as it would be more powerful than a pipboy.

I just want to get this sorted out before I post again.

@TheUnknowable

Okay, yeah, I was just assuming we were working off more than one or two computers here. A Pip Boy for Sparks, one for Greg to work on, and a computer to act as the "hub" for additional processing power. Otherwise, if you feel Greg's computer and Sparks' Pip Boy will do the job, then yeah, I'll go edit my post.

Fallout: New York (Still accepting :D)

<snip>

@TheUnknowable

"Okay, let's get started then and fix that thing in your head."

Some time later, she sighed in relief. The code had been altered, and Greg was again his own man.

"So, feeling better, champ?"

((OOC: Just decided to speed it up to get it over with))

Fallout: New York (Still accepting :D)

Unknowable, the Pip-Boy Jennifer is using is the one she's had on her before she came to Liberty Island. What I meant was a sort of distributed computer system where both of them can enter commands and edit the code. Jennifer isn't buying anything yet.

Unless you're assuming the operation was over, in which case, my bad.

Fallout: New York (Still accepting :D)

((Snip))

@TheUnknowable

"A reasonable response," Jennifer said, as though the idea of tampering with the chip had never crossed her mind at all. The guy did have a point. "Still, I think I can help with more than just setting it up.

"And no, I wouldn't mind a bit of compensation for the help," she said in a joking tune.

Ten minutes later, the chip was connected via a mess of wires to a display, a keyboard, and Spark's Pip Boy.

"Ready to get started?" she said, beginning typing. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

((snip))@shadowsaint007, @Madly33, @The_written_John

@Letter Bee

"No thanks, I'll walk," he replied. "And no sweat; just a freak shot. Could have been much worse."

Gabriel had the good sense to stay on his two feet, keeping an open eye and nimble running stance in case anything happened. Plus, while the Yao Gui was a tough target, he was a big one, meaning all the fire would be aimed at the giant mutant bear.

The hunch paid off; the moment shots were fired, Gabriel managed to tumble into cover, and got his rifle ready. Peeking behind cover, he quickly made out the attackers; three gunmen, one of whom was blocked from Gabriel by Par and the bear, and two dogs. The dogs were the smaller targets, and while they can be fast and wily, he needed to take down the ones armed with guns, reducing the chance of a lucky shot. Hopefully, 'George' can handle the dogs.

Though a slaver who used the term 'ignoramus'... a cultured slaver? Will wonders ever cease?

He took a deep breath, aimed from behind cover, squeezed the trigger - and the man in the center had his face disappear in a puff of pink mist. The second to go was the one on the right, leaving only two dogs and one armed gunman. Hopefully, this would be enough for Par to handle himself.

One of the dogs, however, saw where the shots came from, and ran towards Gabriel, barking loudly.

"Aw, crap!" Gabriel said, pulling out the 9mm pistol to shoot the thing before it got too close. Several shots went wild, another winged the thing, eliciting a sharp yelp of pain from it, but it barreled towards him regardless. Only quick-thinking got him to use the rifle as protection, the dog snarling as it bit down on the barrel. The momentum knocked him backwards, and the dog, snapping and snarling, tried to reach for something softer with its sharp teeth. Taking an opening, Gabriel jammed the pistol against the side of the dog's jaw, and opened fire several times, stopping only when the dog flopped to the ground, lifeless.

Panting, covered in blood, and suffering several bite wounds on his hand, arms, and fingers, he crawled back a couple of feet to catch his breath, making sure to stay hidden out of sight.

Fallout: New York (Still accepting :D)

"There's certainly some valuable tech there", Greg said, "maybe even enough for multiple trips. The problem is, I need to find someone who's got more computer knowledge than I do to figure out how to hack this chip in my head so that I can lead you inside. As it is, I could take you to the door, but that's about it. You wouldn't happen to know someone like that, would you?"

@TheUnknowable

Jennifer thought over her situation. She could probably use the chip as leverage for negotiations, try and get some concessions in exchange for cracking it. There were certainly other possibilities to a programmable chip.

She snapped to, forcing herself to chug her Nuka Cola, perhaps a bit too quickly. As she sputtered, she chastised herself. The idea of using something like that, even if it was minor subliminal orders, was a scary thought. Even slavers weren't this bad, though not for lack of trying; the power to go in and mess with a person's mind was utterly terrifying. If she ever had a chip implanted in her brain, the first thing she would do is failsafe it against any tampering.

Still, the idea of something so intricate and powerful in a human brain... it was a double-edges sword, but if it indeed could bolster logical thinking and memory storage, wouldn't it be possible to study it? It wasn't everyday that you had a chance to examine advanced Old World Tech like this. She pulled up her backpack and took over several wires.

"I dunno, I'm pretty good with electronics and security systems," she said. "Think those are good enough odds? Might need a bit of help with setting up the equipment, though."

As John scrambled to remove as many slaves per trip as he could he would find himself on high guard and constantly tripping over his own feet because of how fast his movements were.
As Gabe moved down to the rear he paused and looked behind him "Almost out" He said quickly motioning to the hole they came through
"Five more minutes, plenty of time" He said towards Gabe.

His mind moved to Par. "Ah hes a big boy, he will be okay" he thought as he looked off to the north woods where there was no sign of Par.
Just as his mind came back to the situation he felt a sharp pierce in his right shoulder. The numb throbbing and spilling blood, John knew what it was.
"Mother Fucker!" He shouted and shot the attacker twice.
He turned back to Gabe and cubbed his shoulder, spinning a cloth around it. "No, don't say anything.. It's fine" He hissed at him before Gabe could speak.
As they moved towards the hall entrance John noticed the unmistakable blinking of a slave collar on two of the slaves in front of him.
Explosive collars.. He though looking at them Damn

@shadowsaint007@Letter Bee@The_written_John

@Madly33

Gabriel covered the group's retreat, noting with some pained and disgusted looks at the prisoners' state. Slavery really was the work of animals, breaking the minds and bodies of their fellow men for a quick buck.

John's injury incited a concerned look from Gabriel, but the stubborn old man refused help. In a situation like this, it would have been best to patch the wound right then and there to take care of the infection, but it was going to leave them exposed to enemy attack. Best to hold the line and make an ordered retreat for now. But once they got back to safety, Gabriel was going to look at that shoulder whether John liked it or not.

However, when he noticed the explosive collars, his heart sank. He hadn't really thought about the collars, even though he probably should have. He really should have brought Sparks along; she was really good at disarming the crude wiring of slave collars. All he could do now was hope like hell the collars' reception was out of range.

He took a look at the collars, trying to figure out if they could be removed. He managed to catch a few lessons from seeing Sparks work, but he wasn't sure if he was up to the task here, especially under pressure.

"Better we get going," he grunted. "The sooner we get the slaves out of range, the better. I think I might to go back and find the remote detonator for those things."

Fallout: New York (Still accepting :D)

Gabriel provided cover fire as John freed the slaves, climbing a guard tower and using it as a vantage point to keep the slavers from getting close. A couple of pistol rounds to the face and a bit of knife-work took care of the guard, his dying carcass tossed over the side. Gabriel took aim, focusing, predicting the targets' paths, and, with suitable leads, dispatching each. It was a bit too easy, he mused; once he had the vantage point, it was easy to take on the more scatterbrained slavers. One thought he was being smart by zig-zagging, but Gabriel caught on, nailing him through the thin corrugated tin wall he was trying to escape behind.

Though he was wondering about one other thing; where were the other slavers? Par's distraction bought them time, but they'd be back sooner or later, and that left the question of where Par went, and whether he was still alive.

He suddenly heard screaming and glimpsed bursts of flame out of the corner of his eye. Scoping, he looked for the target, only to find some unknown person laying into the slavers like a frenzied avatar of wrath. Gabriel contemplated going for a headshot in case this was a rabid berserker, but to his surprise, he saw him pick Par up. Unusually friendly for a person they just met.

He would have observed longer, but shouts from John and the pattering of feet alerted him that the mission was only halfway done. Best to focus on the task at hand, he thought, as he turned his sniper rifle on any incoming foes. This time, however, they had learned; they were firing back at him from behind cover with whatever they had. Fortunately, none were armed with anything bigger than a rifle, so he took a shot at anyone who peeped out of cover before suppression fire forced him back behind cover. Pity he couldn't find any grenades on him, could have been useful in flushing them out of cover.

Still, by his reckoning, the slaves had been freed, best to follow suit. He climbed back down the tower ladder, and followed John, covering the rear against anyone who followed. Hopefully, they'd be able to make an escape back out quickly.

Fallout: New York (Still accepting :D)

@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."

@TheUnknowable

Sparks accepted the Nuka Cola, absent-mindedly placing the 10 bottlecaps on the counter in return. She listens eagerly to the tale, and already, the gears were spinning in her head. If the tech there was still intact, it could contain a veritable wealth of Old World stuff. Maybe she can cut a deal with Greg here to get a contract. He probably knew some passcodes and stuff to the better stuff.

"Certainly sounds interesting," Sparks mused. "Still, there's a lot of salvageable stuff there, right? Think an expedition or two will suffice? Assuming I can get one together, what sort of arrangement would be amenable to you?"

Fallout: New York (Still accepting :D)

@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.

@Madly33

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..."