Head of State

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Well. Reilly's been dealt with, and her people are happy with that. It's time to go back to the basics now. Ellen needs to get herself out to the Lincoln Memorial and check things over so that she can report to the slaves and get them set up before getting back to Rivet City. Of course, from what she remembers from Mr. Mills' world, the Memorial has decent lines of sight and a fairly strategic location. There are Brotherhood of Steel patrols around the base of the Washington Monument; that implies that if there are mutants holed up in the Memorial, they must be pretty well established, otherwise the Brotherhood would've gone after them. Too bad Tulip was out of Stealth Boys when Ellen stopped by her place in Underworld. Maybe she can get one from the bar....

Comments

[vance_prime]

"Then it's probably a good day for us, too," says Alyx. "Right?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Probably," agrees Ellen. "If they're in a good mood then there probably hasn't been much in the way of violence to put them on edge..."

As they get around the Monument, Ellen pauses, glancing down at her Pip-Boy. "Wow," she says. "Yeah. We definitely don't want to go near that reflecting pool. About three yards to either side should be safe, though."

[vance_prime]

"Oh-kayyyyy." Alyx edges away from the pool a bit.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"If any of that gets on you," Ellen says, "I have anti-rad chems. But let's just avoid it as long as we can, okay?"

It's not as if the pool goes on forever, anyway. And the battle-scarred, heavily fortified Memorial draws closer with each step; Ellen's trying to judge the point at which they'll need to go for their Stealth Boys.

[vance_prime]

"Not seeing any movement," murmurs Alyx, keeping as low to the ground as she can without actually dropping to her hands and knees. "Maybe we got lucky?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"It's possible," Ellen agrees. "Hannibal didn't seem to... wait."

She's just spotted something lying out in the open, around about the first or second tier of stacked sandbags. And unless she's very much mistaken-

"Is that a green corpse, or am I imagining things?"

[vance_prime]

Alyx nods. "Do supermutants bury their dead or just leave 'em out?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I don't know, I-"

"Okay, that's close enough," rings out a human voice. The speaker, a tan-skinned man wielding an assault rifle and wearing what looks like several layers of leather, is half-concealed by the sandbags stacked even closer to the steps. "What the hell are you doing wandering around here?"

[vance_prime]

"I could ask you the same question." Alyx spreads her hands wide but keeps a hold on her machine pistol. "We thought this place had been taken over by supermutants."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"It was," says the man, nodding towards a couple of other spots where green corpses- or parts of corpses- lie. "Mr. Walker had some objections to that. Loud objections."

[vance_prime]

Alyx glances over at Ellen. Does that name mean anything to her?

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen glances back blankly; she's never heard the name before either.

The man sighs and jerks his head towards a door around to one side of the main steps. "Maybe we'd better go and see him together. People usually don't come out this way unless there's a reason, and it might just be that we've all got the same reasons."

[vance_prime]

Alyx shrugs and looks to Ellen for approval. She knows this world better than Alyx does, after all.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"All right," says Ellen. "Um... our robot-"

"You might want to leave him out here," says the man. "I don't know if there'll be enough room for him inside. He can wait outside the door. As long as he stays to the dirt path and doesn't go near the steps he'll be fine- the steps've been mined in case we get any unwelcome visitors."

[g00d_d0ggie]

"You heard the man, D0G," says Alyx. "Just holler if you see anything big and nasty coming."

Woop. D0G obediently plants his butt on the ground.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The man nods once and picks his way around the sandbags. "Follow me," he says. "Mr. Walker's just inside."

It's a short distance, but the man was right; there's no way D0G would fit through that door, let alone the corridor beyond. Maybe- maybe- in its original state it could've happened, but the corridor's being used to hold tables and lockers now, and the supply boxes would make it all but impossible for the combat droid to get past. As it stands, Ellen has a little trouble, if only because her power armor's shoulder pauldrons are on the wide side.

Fortunately, once they round a corner, they come across a dark-skinned man leaning against one of the walls. He wears a full-body suit of what looks like metal armor, pieces connected here and there with the occasional tube or cord. The butt of a combat shotgun pokes up from behind one shoulder as he nods a greeting. "Afternoon," he says. "I'm Leroy Walker, and you're probably wondering about what we're doing here."

Ellen glances past Mr. Walker, into the supply rooms beyond; there are ammo cases and packages of scavenged food stacked in the shadows. "Looks to me like you're getting ready for war," she says. "I mean-"

Walker chuckles. "You're a sharp one," he says. "We're from Paradise Falls, actually. We're hunting runaway slaves."

[vance_prime]

Alyx just barely manages to bite back what she really wants to say in response to that.

Instead, she simply says: "Really."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Mm-hm." Walker nods. "You know, you seem like the type of Wastelanders who might be for hire. I need someone to get some loot out of a nearby ruin. Interested?"

Ellen's well aware of what Alyx wants to do (the phrase 'your entrails will become your extrails' is probably involved), but something about Walker's statement has her neck prickling. So she says, "We might be. What ruin?"

"It's a museum, just past the Washington Monument," says Walker. "I'm only interested in stuff related to Abraham Lincoln. Bring me back whatever you find, and I'll pay you for it."

... that can't be good. "Decorating the place?" Ellen nevertheless manages, doing her best to make it sound natural.

Walker, however, laughs. "No, we're planning on burning it. There's a runaway who's been on the loose for years now, and all the news we've had of him's indicated that he's using the figure of Lincoln as some kind of rallying point for other slaves. Anything we can get rid of, he can't use."

[vance_prime]

"Do you know why he wants those pieces in particular?"

You have no goddamned idea who Lincoln was and what this place represents, do you?

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"From what I understand, Hamlin wants any relics he can find of the 'Great Emancipator'."

The quote marks are audible in his voice.

"And that reminds me. If you happen to find Hannibal Hamlin and his band, there's five hundred caps in it for you to tell me, or anyone else from Paradise Falls, where we can find him. So long as we find him alive, that is."

"We'll be sure to let you know, then," says Ellen. She's just going to pray that Alyx catches her 'follow my lead' look before anyone goes ballistic. "In the meantime, we'd better set out for the Museum."

"Good. You know where to find me."

"Come on, Alyx. Let's get outside..."

[vance_prime]

Alyx can't believe what she's hearing. Is Ellen seriously suggesting that they just leave?? But she catches the look on the other woman's face, and just nods.

She doesn't say a word as they exit the room. She doesn't trust herself not to do something potentially suicidal.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"... because the shotgun he's carrying would take off either of our heads at close range," Ellen mutters under her breath. "And D0G is outside."

The instant the door closes behind them Ellen turns to Alyx and says, "There's got to be at least five or six of them on the premises. All I ask is that when this is done I get to bring their guns to some people I know up north. Are you okay with that?"

[vance_prime]

"Perfectly."

Alyx puts two fingers in her mouth and whistles sharply.

Bwerp? At the foot of the steps, D0G perks up, turning around to look at the two women.

"D0G?" calls Alyx, smiling just a little too wide. "There are some nasty people up here that we need to stop from hurting anybody ever again. Would you mind?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen glances over at the stairs and up at the sandbags, and the various places people could be hiding. After a moment she says, "Can you clear the steps in a single jump, D0G? I can disarm mines but it takes me a while and I can't really get us a clear path unless they're shooting at something else while I work."

[g00d_d0ggie]

Even as Ellen speaks, D0G is backing carefully away from the building, gauging the distance. Then:

KATHUNK KATHUNK KATHUNK KATHUNK LEAP.

He lands with a THUD that cracks the concrete floor beneath him. Stealth is not D0G's forte. Making an entrance, on the other hand? That he can do.