The Replicated Man

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The door opens onto ruin and rust, buildings blown apart and left for time and sun and God alone knows what else to work them over. Ellen wrinkles her nose as she holds the door open. "Sorry about the smell," she says, "but nobody lives here except ghouls and a couple of bandit types. We'll be heading west to get you that armor and stop at Big Town; the doctor there gave me one of those holotapes."

Comments

[replicant-cop.livejournal.com]

...Night Ghost?

Deckard has to admit, getting something to eat and a bed to crash on is sounding pretty good. He wasn't feeling it a moment ago, but the thought is already reminding him how far they walked that day.

He nods to Wollinski. "Thanks for the help."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Just doing my duty as a citizen of this fine town," says Wollinski.

Ellen does her best not to sigh. "Thanks," she says. "Come on, let's head out..."

The diner is pretty broken down to say the very least, but it's serviceable. The man who runs it, Joe Porter, even comes up with some reasonably decent noodles to go with the sliced meat he serves up. As Porter walks away, Ellen glances at Deckard. "I'm sorry it took so long down there," she says. "Got any questions?"

[replicant-cop.livejournal.com]

"A few. But I'm not sure I'm ready to ask them."

He chews for a bit.

"Ok, one maybe: what's this about a 'Night Ghost'?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I used to have a prewar suit of armor," Ellen says. "It was Chinese manufacture. They invaded Alaska in 2067, and it took us ten years to drive them out- but the American armed forces captured a lot of their tech in the process. Their special operations snipers wore suits that generated stealth fields that could bend the light around them and make them almost invisible. Pretty good protection against most guns, too. Back when Mr. Wollinski was calling himself the Mechanist, I came here with a friend of mine on the mayor's behalf, to talk him and his adversary out of it. We passed ourselves off as superheroes so he'd listen to us. I wore my suit, and my friend called me the Night Ghost because I could appear out of darkness just by turning off the stealth field."

[replicant-cop.livejournal.com]

"Nice."

"But that suit's long gone, huh?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Unfortunately," Ellen agrees. "I liked it. Not that I can't use Stealth Boys with this to get a similar effect, but they're expensive and they run out eventually. Not to mention that they don't mask the noise."

[replicant-cop.livejournal.com]

"I've never had much help sneaking up on an android, anyway. Doesn't really work that way."

But coming upon one by surprise, when you aren't suspecting it--that can happen to a Blade Runner all too easily. Some Runners have even survived to tell about it.

"And it sounds like some people around here aren't exactly on our side."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen sighs. "I had no idea that lady was coming, or that her organization existed," she says. "The Commonwealth must be an awfully interesting place if they've got so many androids at the Institute that there's a whole organization devoted to freeing the ones that run away. I'd never even heard of them before."

[replicant-cop.livejournal.com]

"Something about that doesn't seem right," Deckard agrees. "Why do people care?"

"And did she know we were here, or was her coming around just bad luck?"


Because it seemed likely now that she might warn the android they were following.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Considering that there's human slaves in the Capital Wasteland and nobody seems to much care about it- or if they do they're too scared of Paradise Falls to do anything- then...." Ellen considers. "I don't know. Maybe these people don't care about the androids at all and the Institute just made some serious enemies."

She rubs at her face with both hands.

"At least we know where we have to go now. Rivet City's a long way south of here, but I know the safest ways to get there."

[replicant-cop.livejournal.com]

"More walking?" A wry smile.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Unfortunately," Ellen says. "Sorry about that. We'll leave first thing in the morning."

[replicant-cop.livejournal.com]

"It's ok," Deckard replies. "I can use the exercise."

He pats his stomach. "Too many noodles."

"If this group is going to start getting in the way, we might have to change tactics before we get there. Keep a lower profile, make sure we don't talk to anyone who doesn't have information we need, that sort of thing."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods. "The faster we get there the better, anyway," she says. "There's too many things out there in the Wastes that would just want to take us apart. If we keep our heads down and stay out of sight until we reach the DC ruins we should make pretty good time."

[replicant-cop.livejournal.com]

Deckard frowns. "Any chance of picking up some heavier weapons before we head out there?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen scratches her head, thinking. "Depends on if Lucky Harith gets here by morning," she says. "How heavy did you want? I don't think he normally sells miniguns or Fatmen, but he's got some very nice shotguns for sale most of the time, and usually some assault rifles in respectable condition. And there's always grenades."

[replicant-cop.livejournal.com]

"Anything that'll take down whatever we're going to run into out there. Preferably in one or two shots."

"If it's not a tactical nuke, I can probably hit something with it."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"So definitely no Fatmen, then," Ellen says, completely seriously. "Okay. Assault rifles can be kind of finicky from what I've seen, so we'll get you a combat shotgun. One of the drum-fed ones so you don't have to re-rack the thing every other shot."

[replicant-cop.livejournal.com]

Deckard nods with satisfaction. "Think I'll sleep a little better tonight."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"All right."

The beds on offer aren't much, but they're better than sleeping on concrete. In the morning, Crow's moved on, but there's another caravan on its way, and the man at its head is a familiar figure to Ellen. The weapons dealer is more than happy to offer a fine shotgun for sale along with some shells, and some grenades- some of which Deckard will probably recognize as the classic 'pineapple' type, some, not.

The trip southward itself is largely uneventful, save for Dogmeat periodically breaking off to chase after mole rats. He always comes back, though. And eventually, they make their way into the ruins of Washington itself.

"Not much farther from here," Ellen murmurs as they pick their way over the concrete. "Rivet City's an aircraft carrier a little ways east of the old Jefferson Memorial."

[replicant-cop.livejournal.com]

Deckard has to stop and stare open-mouthed at the Capitol, not to mention the wreckage of other famous landmarks. When he told Ellen his world's DC wasn't doing well either, he hadn't expected anything like this, even after yesterday.

"Aircraft carrier. 'Rivet City'," he mumbles. "Guess that makes sense."

Deckard's hand stays near the trigger of his new/old shotgun.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Nobody ever really understands the level of devastation in Ellen's world until they see it for themselves. She's seen that gaping face several times now on new arrivals from the Bar. She's starting to get used to it.

"Oh, yes," she says. "It used to be the USS Oriskany-"

"I'm going to eat your arms when you're dead, human!" thunders a voice like all the rage Deckard's ever heard, just before Ellen shoves him to the ground. As the 5.56mm bullets rip through the ground where he'd stood Ellen hisses, "Greenskins! Mutants, former humans- they're out to kill us!", and draws her own gun.

[replicant-cop.livejournal.com]

"Shit!" Deckard barks, spinning onto his back and hefting the shotgun as one of the greenskins closes in.

He fires a second later, but that first shot goes wild. He's not used to fighting raging mutants, after all.

Fortunately, he does manage to snap into another roll just before the mutant fires again.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

There are three of them. They're seven feet tall and more muscled than a bodybuilder's nightmares. They're dressed in scraps of metal and rubber scavenged from whatever source they can find, held together with strips of leather in a crude approximation of armor. They're armed with the weapons of dead men- two with assault rifles and one with a .32 caliber hunting rifle. And they are very, very angry.

Ellen is... maybe a bit more so, if the fact that the nineteen-year-old girl in the suit of power armor is screaming "KNEES! ARE! A! PRIVILEGE!" in between each pull of the trigger- and scoring some serious hits on the nearest mutant's legs.

[replicant-cop.livejournal.com]

There's nothing like a seven-foot-tall monster wanting to bite off your head to make you get to your feet faster than you ever have before. Deckard even manages not to drop his shotgun on the way.

Backpedaling, he aims the gun right at the nearest mutant's gut and starts firing.


...That tactical nuke is starting to look like a much better idea now.