aaaaaaaagh_sky

The door opens from Milliways onto the tumbletown ruins of what used to be an industrial area on the fringes of Arlington. The temperature is summertime-warm, the air dry; the last rains to pass through here are long since gone. Overhead, a scavenger bird or two circles, visible only to people who know what they're looking for. A breeze listlessly stirs the air, kicking up brief dust-devils along the shattered ruin of the local roads. Beyond that, the place is quiet in the way that only emptiness can bring.

"This is where I came in," Ellen says over her shoulder. "Like I mentioned the other day, it's about a day's travel to the Fort Bannister region from here. There's still some pre-war asphalt laid down here but pretty soon it all gives way to open sand and scrub. The nearest radiation source is a hundred yards northeast of here, and we're not going in that direction, so unless my Geiger counter goes off without warning we should be all right."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

Ellen glances up at the ceiling, then down at the mucky tunnel floor. After a moment she gestures down the long tunnel past where the turret had been. "This one leads towards the base center," she says. "I may get lost aboveground but I know my directions when I'm below the surface and closed in. Let's get moving, and wreck anything we can't carry away."

From:

aeons_crackshot

Annabelle nods, "I like simple plans," she says with a sharp grin. She'll follow behind Ellen while keeping an eye out for trouble.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

During the daylight hours, the tunnel up ahead is more heavily guarded- it leads to a reinforced door with an easily turned central handle. But this is night, and it's easy to die in the Capital Wasteland darkness, so the Talons generally rely on the second gun turret at this hour. Or they did, before the plasma splattered it.

"I'll get the door open. You get ready for whatever might be inside," Ellen murmurs, and steps forward.

From:

aeons_crackshot

Annabelle nods, and moves so she can fire both pistols at whatever might be waiting on the other side of the door.

She's curiously calm as Ellen gets the door open. There is guard on the other side, but he doesn't have time to cry out. A .45 caliber bullet between the eyes tends to be fatal, you see.

Annabelle is already moving through the doorway by the time his corpse hits the floor.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

"Annabelle. Wait," says Ellen.

There's a momentary crouch, and-

"I've got his ammunition," she says, standing back up. "I can pray for them later, but we'll probably need the ammo soon."

Even Ellen knows when to be realistic. Especially since they area they're moving into now looks very much like support territory- ventilation, water pipes, and so on, and they're going to have to wreck as much of that as possible to ruin the remaining Talons' days but good.

From:

aeons_crackshot

"Good point," Annabelle says with a nod. "I'll have to see if anything they've got will fit my guns as we go."

"It looks like we're headed somewhere with a lot of things in need of wrecking," Annabelle remarks quietly.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

"If you see anything you can ruin as is, go right ahead and do it," Ellen says. "I've got a few grenades for when we find anything-"

She was going to say anything big, but the sound of a Talon up the nearby stairs and around the corner calling out, "Hey! Who's there?" breaks in. Ellen grimaces and reaches for her laser pistol, but looks questioningly to Annabelle. If the other woman can get there first, she'll just start laying waste to the pipes down here.

From:

aeons_crackshot

Annabelle grins, smile razor sharp at Ellen's glance. She'll take care of him. Ellen surely knows more about wrecking pipes than she does, anyway.

She doesn't bother answering as she moves toward the corner. There's a broken lantern sitting in the corridor, in which the mercenary's reflection is clearly visible. For most people, this would not be enough to aim off of. Annabelle is not, by any stretch, most people.

Annabelle judges his position by his reflection with the ease of a professional sharpshooter. In the end, it's not that much different than shooting glass balls using a mirror, which she could accomplish readily at the age of 11.

At the right moment, Annabelle sticks her gun around the corner and fires without ever putting herself in harms way.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

There's a sharp short cry of pain from upstairs, and then the ungraceful whumph! of an armored body hitting the floor all at once like a puppet with cut strings.

There's also a series of short sharp noises down here, but they're mostly followed by hissing and spraying and an upsurge in unpleasant smells. Ellen's quick when she wants to be.

From:

aeons_crackshot

Annabelle crinkles her nose at the smell. "Good work, Ellen," she says with a smile.

"The hallway's clear, if you want to move on."

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

"Let's," Ellen answers. "It's going to get really nasty down here soon."

The dead Talon, whose ammunition and grenade are of course immediately secured, had a perfectly good reason for being in this hallway. He'd been outside on duty for hours on end today, and just came off shift a little while ago. No one down here's been alerted to the chaos on the surface yet.

Oh, did we mention 'here' is, by all appearances, a barracks area? Chock full of sleeping Talons.

From:

aeons_crackshot

"This could be very easy," Annabelle says quietly. "Do we want to give them the chance to run?"

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

Ellen thinks about it for a moment. Then she closes her eyes.

"Unless you can jam the door shut so that by the time they get loose we're hours away from here... let's get it over with."

From:

aeons_crackshot

Annabelle shakes her head sadly. "That, I can't do."

"Can I borrow a couple of grenades?"

She'll spare Ellen what she can.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

"No," Ellen says, "no. I'll... I'll do this myself. I planned it, I might as well go through with it."

There's going to be blood on her hands no matter how this goes down. Might as well be honest blood.

From:

aeons_crackshot

"If you're sure," Annabelle says quietly. "I'll back you up, just in case."

Sometimes shrapnel misses people entirely, due to the vagaries of chance.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

"I'm sure."

They aren't civilians. These are men who genuinely would kill her, given half the chance. And as much as she wants to give them a chance to run, she really doesn't think running's going to do anyone any good any more.

She's got a really good throwing arm.

From:

aeons_crackshot

Annabelle is somber herself. Ellen's good throwing arm comes in very handy as the grenades pass into the room.

If any of the mercenaries survive the blasts, Annabelle will finish the job.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

Frankly, if any of them survive it, Annabelle's action will be a mercy. Some things even stimpaks can't fix.

When it's all done Ellen silently takes off her helmet, holds it over the approximate location of her heart, and bows her head. Just for a moment, though. There are Talons still awake in the facility and she doesn't much want them to catch her unawares.

"We should go," she says as the helmet muffles her voice once more. "The armory's probably nearby if this is where they sleep."

From:

aeons_crackshot

"I'd keep my weapons close," Annabelle agrees. "And I suspect that the noise may have attracted some attention."

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

"Probably," says Ellen. "We'd better move quickly, then."

As she starts her jingling run down the corridor, plasma rifle in hand, she adds, "We're going to come back for the guns when this is all over, but when we find the armory, take all the ammo you can carry. If we have it, they don't."

(She'll react to all of this later. Right now, she'd like to finish what she started without getting anybody on her side killed.)

From:

aeons_crackshot

Annabelle follows Ellen at a run. "Right. Hopefully, they'll have ammunition I can use."

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

"Ten millimeter for pistol," Ellen starts reciting as she runs. "Thirty two caliber for pistol and rifle, .308 for sniper, twelve gauge for shotgun, forty-four cal for revolver, 5.56 for assault rifle, five millimeter for oh CRUMBS-"

Girls? You've got company. Yeah, they were on their way to find out what the hell was going on topside, but when you're four or five Talons and you've just been surprised in your lair by two armed people who are most definitely NOT Talons, you don't really stop to ask questions.

From:

aeons_crackshot

"Those might be close enough!" Annabelle calls out.

Annabelle says something a lot more profane than crumbs, in multiple dialects.

She's going to greet their hosts with bullets, in the face.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

The appropriate term here, we believe, is "YOUR HED A SPLODE."

Well.

THEIR HED.

HEDZ.

Whatever.

(Oh, and anybody whose hed does not a splode might get off a shot or two, but only because plasma bolts travel slower than bullets.)