Death From Above

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

It's not quite dawn yet, which is the usual time of first activity in Megaton. For the humans, anyway. In the main household, though, Dogmeat is making a fuss. There's a mumble from Ellen and a scuffle of feet, and the dog goes quiet. Shortly thereafter, there's a knock at the second bedroom door.

"Voodoo?"

Comments

[boston_bruiser]

There's silence on the other side of the door. At first, anyway. It soon opens to reveal Voodoo, one hand on the door, the other on the pistol grip of his M4. The muzzle's pointed at the floor, of course, and his finger's off the trigger, but from what he's seen of this world, it's better safe than sorry.

"Yeah?"

If Ellen looks closely, she'll notice that the sheets on the bed are completely undisturbed.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen glances briefly at the bed, and then back to Voodoo. "Sorry about that. I hope Dogmeat didn't disturb you too much. There were scorpions going after the Brahmin herd."

She holds up one off-white, mottled claw. It is roughly the size of a human torso. Maybe bigger.

"Anyway, they're dead now. We should get ready, the Brotherhood will be coming shortly."

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo stares at the claw for a while - seriously, is there anything in this world radiation made smaller or less, y'know, kill-happy? - before nodding.

"I'm ready to go. Mind if I wait in the living room?"

It'd give him the chance to get some breakfast in before they hit the road.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Go right ahead. It's going to take me a while to get into my armor anyway," Ellen says. "Do you want Wadsworth to make you anything?"

[boston_bruiser]

"Sure. Can he make bacon and eggs or something?" Voodoo says, cracking his back. That floor is really uncomfortable - but then again, it's a floor.

"I've still got some canned stuff, so it's no biggie if he can't."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"... um. I think we might have some powdered eggs he can scramble, but... I haven't ever seen bacon anywhere but Milliways," Ellen says. "There's other crispy meats we have, but they're... squirrel. And iguana. You're welcome to either, but... well, it's up to you."

She's willing to deal with the fact that her world is, not to put too fine a point on it, crazy. But it's kind of disturbing having it suddenly thrown in her face just how much is missing.

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo shrugs. "Iguana sounds good. Might as well try some of the local cuisine while I'm here."

Picky guys don't last long in his line of work. And he's long since accepted the fact that it doesn't have to taste good to keep you going.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"All right, not a problem," Ellen says, and raises her voice. "Wadsworth! Can you get started on some crispy iguana bits, please?"

"Of course, madame," answers the cheerfully British voice from below. "Won't be but a moment."

"I'll be as quick about getting ready as I can," Ellen says. "We're likely to be on the road all day, so eating now's a good idea."

[boston_bruiser]

"Okay. Any idea where we're headed?" Voodoo asks, slinging his M4 over his shoulder.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Rockland. The southern part of the Capital Wasteland, past the old Warrington trainyard for the pre-war Metro," Ellen says. "I spoke to Knight Watts after the scorpions were dead, and he said there's a car tunnel there that feeds out into a valley with an Enclave communications relay station at the far end."

[boston_bruiser]

"Oh, right, that place," Voodoo says. "You guys hitting it today?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Depends on when the big guns get there," Ellen says. "There's a combat robot on the way- Liberty Prime, he was the forefront of our assault on the Enclave forces at the purifier. He's going to be part of the main assault force here, so..."

[boston_bruiser]

"He's not going to do all the work, though, is he?"

He's really looking forward to getting in on some of the action.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Just the heavy lifting," Ellen says. "He won't be able to follow us into the building once the outside forces are neutralized- he's too big."

[boston_bruiser]

"Oh. Well, I can't complain about having some extra help on board."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Just, um... just be aware that he was built for the Alaska campaign," Ellen says. "He's got the lasers and the explosives and all but the original designers kinda programmed him to shout things to demoralize the Chinese and encourage the American troops and the Brotherhood hasn't really given a whole lot of priority to changing the shouting function."

[boston_bruiser]

"...oh. Oh, this oughta be good," Voodoo says with a hint of a smirk on his face.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"It's an interesting experience," Ellen says diplomatically. "Anyway, we'll be meeting up with Paladin Tristan and the robot and a couple of other Brothers once we get down there, and then Paladin Tristan's going to fill us in on the situation."

[boston_bruiser]

"Okay, sounds good to me."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The robot is efficient in its duties, and Ellen is quick with her armor. It's not long before breakfast is served and eaten and the company is under way- Dogmeat, Fawkes and all. The grey and blasted Wasteland rolls along on either side, fragments of old highway or rusted electrical pylons visible in the distance. Since the group is taking what used to be a local road as far as they're able, now and again they pass the wrecks of cars; Ellen notes under her breath to Voodoo, "Don't get too near those. Some of them still have intact power plants, and if they get shot, they'll explode."

Their road passes through a hillier area for a while, twisting and turning. Dogmeat's head suddenly comes up at a scuffling sound; the heeler growls.

[boston_bruiser]

That's all it takes for Voodoo. He immediately drops to one knee and puts the M4's stock to his shoulder, pointing it at some nearby hills and slowly panning over to the right.

"I don't see anything," he says after a few moments. "Ellen, Fawkes, you guys got anything?"

He flicks the safety to semiautomatic with an audible click. Just in case.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I don't think so," says Ellen; the other Brothers are pausing to see what the trouble is. "Fawkes?"

The mutant already has the massive firing-piece of his Gatling laser ready, but shifts its weight to one hand so he can shade his eyes with the other and peer toward the hills. "Ah," he says suddenly. "I see it."

'It' being a scabrous, pinkish rodent scrambling out of the hills towards the party at the highest speed its stubby little legs will give it. Granted, it is a rodent the size of Dogmeat, which might account for the growling.

... then again, if it was just a rodent, wouldn't the dog be looking less tense by now?

[boston_bruiser]

There's something about seeing a naked mole rat the size of a dog that simply breaks the human mind - for a moment, all Voodoo can do is stare at the pinkish, bucktoothed rodent as it makes its way toward them.

"...what the fuck?

That about sums it up.

He lowers the M4, squinting as he searches the hills for anything he might've missed. It might be just his gut, but he's got a feeling Dogmeat wouldn't get in a tizzy over a naked mole rat.

"I don't fucking like this. Something sent that mole rat running."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Dogmeat normally just chases them," Ellen says warily. It would be nice to say she flips the safety off on her plasma rifle, but they've never been built with safeties.

Which is just as well. The mole rat's pursuer leaps into sight... and it's bigger than Fawkes.

"Shit," says Paladin Rama. "Deathclaw!"

[boston_bruiser]

"Holy shit!"

That's the only preamble Voodoo's going to give before he starts pumping rounds out as fast as he can pull the trigger. It's more of a deterrence, really - he's got a feeling 5.56 rounds won't even faze this thing.