Deathclaws

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Good luck to anyone standing between the Milliways front door and the Milliways back door today. A streak of brownish-green slams the front door open and vanishes through the back door as fast as normal human legs can carry it, surpassed only by the grey blur just at its heels. Neither one stops moving until they're both well outside, somewhere near the pells, among all the green; only then does it resolve into Ellen and Dogmeat, both panting frantically and trying not to fall over.

Thank God for stimpaks, they do wonders at closing up even the horrible wounds out there, but there's nothing short of God or Angus MacGyver that'll be saving that suit of combat armor she's got on now.

Comments

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen's never seen laser sighting before, as all the sighted weapons she knows have target scopes or iron sights, but it's not as if it's anything disturbing, either. She nods and gestures to Dogmeat to follow them before heading back to the Bar and opening the front door.

The other side of the door opens onto an alley that stinks of things Spoon is no doubt familiar with. If the yautja have a word for sick meat, this is it: someone, maybe more than one someone, died here. They weren't all that fresh to begin with, either. Long-term severe radiation exposure does that to a body.

Beyond that, there's not much to smell, save the pungent odor of a species long ago mutated from something small and harmless into something huge and terrible. And the old, old smell of concrete and steel and glass, broken and blasted and left to fall apart under two hundred Septembers' worth of beating Wasteland sun.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

It would be unfair to say that Spoon has learned caution. He's learned a little bit of defence from Glorfindel, and he's regained some stealth, but caution? It's foreign to him.

"Lead on." he says quietly. He'll take the lead when there are actually things to kill, finding them is probably something she'll be better at. At least until he knows which scent belongs to the prey.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods and moves forward. "I'd activate a Stealth Boy," she murmurs, "but the field only cloaks myself, not Dogmeat, and he just doesn't get that they're bigger than his teeth can handle."

She indicates a scorched, pinkish corpse not far away. "Got that one before," she notes. "I don't think it even noticed it was on fire until it died."

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon nods, bending to look the corpse over carefully from charred head to toes. You need to be more careful, lad. If you misjudge, your Ellen will be all alone. Denseness of the skin, a gentle testing of the sharpness of it's claws against his armour, he evaluates it carefully and then turns to Ellen and says; "I was going to ask if you wanted to go back to Milliways and wait for me, but I think that'd be an insult. So lets move on."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

I can't not protect her, Dogmeat answers, and then goes very still. A moment later he's growling, head lowered, ears pointed towards a nearby alleyway.

Ellen hisses under her breath and draws an odd little pistol that resembles something out of an old sci-fi comic book.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Didn't say you should. Saying you need to be smart about it. Sometimes a warning is more important than a bite. Spoon's target snaps on again and there is a very faint whine as the laser warms up.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The creature that slinks out of the alley is far too big to move like that and not make any noise. It has a blunt, squared-off muzzle with a few protruding teeth, and long, knobbly, five-fingered hands, each finger tipped with a claw easily as long as the hand itself.

It sniffs at the air a moment, turning this way and that.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon watches it move for a bit. He's reluctant to attack until he knows what he's fighting, in that it's considered tacky to go after things with a higher level of weaponry than they possess themselves.

On the other hand he's not really here to play around, he's here to help a human girl get through a bad situation where she's out numbered.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

It all happens in a matter of seconds. Ellen lifts her gun, Dogmeat growls, the beast's head whips their way, the beast leaps- and while it is on fire an instant later, it's also taken a sizable chunk out of the concrete wall next to where Ellen's head had been before she dove backwards.

It does not appear to notice that it is on fire.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Something very close to lust lights Spoon's eyes, happily hidden by the mask, and he promises himself that when they're more-or-less clear he'll take one on hand to hand. For now the plasma cannon hums and he shoots the space that the Deathclaw's head ought to be without hesitation.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

It is a very good strike, and the flames are almost too bright to see through. The monstrous thing is flung backwards, shrieking, and slammed into the remains of a nearby standing wall.

And then, because apparently if there is a God in heaven then he's a son of a bitch, it struggles to overcome the fact that it's mostly scorched and visibly crippled in at least one major limb, and tries like anything to get back on its feet...

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Persistent." Spoon murmurs, nodding in pleasure and then shooting it again. "How many of these did you say that there were?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I don't know? Six or seven, maybe? I can't tell them apart," Ellen says as the thing jerks and finally goes still. "Not without wounding one, anyway."

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon nods, "Then lets get you on your way. D' you mind if I...?" he gestures at the hands of the Deathclaw, "Know some girls who could use those."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Go ahead," says Ellen. "The bones are really thick. I took the claws off one once and nearly destroyed my knife."

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon nods and takes the relatively easier route of just chopping the hands off at the joint of the wrist. He can worry about better butchering later. "Right, then. Ready."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I'm trying to find a road leading out of this place," Ellen says as they continue moving. "Southwards, for preference. I'm trying to get back on my way to Megaton, and all the country herea-"

She pauses, then nods down the street ahead of them. There are two Deathclaws rummaging through the rubble up there, one making grumbling noises to the other.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Is it possible to get them to fight each other?" Spoon asks softly, "Because if not, I'm thinking we throw a mine at them an' shoot whatever comes out of the explosion."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I've never seen them fight each other," Ellen admits. "Let's go with the mine. I'll keep Dogmeat back as hard as I can."

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon glances down at the dog, I'm about to cause an explosion. Stay here so that you don't get caught in it. Your girl is worried about you.

Then he pulls a mine off his belt, arms it, and lobs it towards the Deathclaws.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

But- but that's not fair! Dogmeat answers. I want to help!

Of course, that last is probably drowned out by the explosion, and then by one of the Deathclaws' howls of rage as it turns to lunge at the source. We say 'one' because Ellen's little zap-gun has set the other one on fire... quite a lot of fire. Enough that after several rapid-fire balls of energy from the thing, it tumbled to its knees and fell face-down in the dirt.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon holds his commentary to Dogmeat until after he's shot the second Deathclaw to the point where it, too, stops moving.

I know, lad. But when it comes to distance fights you'll be more hindrance than help.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

But, but, but-

Ellen's too busy staring at the corpses to notice the dog whimpering. She shakes her head rapidly and looks up at Spoon. "We should- you need the hands, right? Once we get those, we should keep moving..."

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

But if you die, she's all alone. Sometimes you need to wait. I know it's hard. He'd rather be testing himself than guarding.

"Yeah. Won't take but a moment."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Dogmeat heaves a sigh and turns to nip at an itch. Ellen just nods. "I'll watch your back," she says. "Where did you get al those things, anyway?"