Off to Arefu

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The door opens on the inside of Ellen's Megaton house. "Fawkes is outside with the cattle at the moment," she notes. "He'll be going with you to Arefu. Alan had to leave a while ago- he's the vampire from Arefu who came to tell me about Joseph, and he only travels at night. The sun's coming up soon- you don't want to have to cross the Wasteland in the dark if you can avoid it."

Comments

[basic_powers]

"Let's cross that bridge when we come to it, kay?"

Besides that, he's started wondering how any of the other places he's seen in the Wasteland are doing...

Like if any new crazy has sprung up from the water in Canterbury Commons.

[boston_bruiser]

"Yeah, let's."

Voodoo is still guarding their rear.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Fawkes nods, and the Arefu raised highway is soon fading into the distance behind them. The landscape around them is quiet, save for the distant barks of wild dogs and a faint angry noise that sounds like a yao guai, a long way off.

(Which isn't to say there isn't something moving up ahead, pale and low to the landscape. It's just quiet.)

[basic_powers]

Even riding up on Fawkes' shoulders, it's not easy to spot anything that would be trouble in the distance. There's bushes in the way, and every so often he has to call Winston back from when the little monster decides he's spotted a radroach that looks especially tasty.

"Koh!"

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo turns around and catches the movement. His weapon is up in an instant.

"Contact, 12. You got eyes on, Fawkes?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I do indeed," the mutant rumbles, readying the Gatling, "and I see a tail. Scorpions. Large ones."

Hard to tell, with a face like his, but he might be grinning.

"This should be a good fight."

[basic_powers]

..Yeah he's just going to hold on for dear life and point Winston in the general direction Voodoo just called out.

"Sic'em."

"KkkssSSSSSsssss!"

[boston_bruiser]

BUPBUPBUPBUPBUP.

That?

BUPBUPBUPBUPBUP.

That is the sound of Voodoo's machine gun spitting out carefully aimed bursts of seven-six-two, right at the scorpions.

Sorry, scorpions. Today ain't your day.

He is not sorry. Not in the least.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

In a perverted kind of Wasteland fairytale, there are three of the damned things.

The first one is little, about Ellen's size if she were here, and it's got all of its myriad eyes on the cyber-raptor.

The second one is larger, the size of a large grown man, and Voodoo's bursts are doing terrible things to its carapace as it charges.

And the third is albino and the size of a Japanese car, and it's clashing its claws furiously as it skitters this way and that in its attempt to dodge Fawkes' automatic laser fire.

[basic_powers]

And the baby scorpion got a pissed of cyber-raptor going for it's eyes. It looked at Winston funny, it had it coming.

"KSS!"

Moon Shadow is meanwhile trying to hold on and remember what biology lesson was it where it said there was a way of making a scorpion sting itself to death...

[boston_bruiser]

And Voodoo's scorpion is out to have a very, very bad day, if any of the bursts going straight for its thorax, pincers, and eyes actually land.

BUPBUPBUPBUP.

A very, very bad day indeed.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Tyler's scorpion starts whirling in frantic circles. It was not equipped by Nature or the Atom with elbows- trying to knock the little monster off its face is more a matter of scraping and hoping for the best than anything else. As for Fawkes' monster, lasers rake its carapace briefly before the mutant cackles madly and changes weapons. Sometimes you just have to get in close and smash things with the giant warhammer.

And Voodoo's, well... there's a lot of scorpion blood spewing all over the place. And a lot of vengeful scorpion that seems to suddenly take the tack of 'if I have to die I will DRAG YOU DOWN WITH ME', as it rears its hind end up for a better crack at a tail strike before it loses too much structural integrity.

[basic_powers]

Good luck with getting rid of Winston, Baby Scorpion. There's brainbots that couldn't shake that metallic little biter.

Now on the other hand, seems like a good time for Moon Shadow to hang on for dear life as his brain finally supplies that little biology lesson.

Sadly, there is no alcohol to splash and Fawkes is already starting to swing. TIME TO CLING LIKE KOALA.

[boston_bruiser]

Too slow, Scorpion Numero Dos - by the time you bring that stinger down, Voodoo'll have long since dived out of the way and emptied out a quarter of the M60's belt into your carapace.

If it's any consolation, he thinks you bleeds damn good.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

And in such lovely patterns, too. Jackson Pollock would be pleased. Think of it this way, Voodoo, once the wretched thing stops twitching you'll have a fine... um... well, maybe you can wrench the legs off and use what's left of the body as a planter. For very tall plants.

The smallest of scorpions is not really in a much better position. These are not the brightest of arachnids to begin with, and the little raptor is biting at its eyes and brain area. If it had a thought process, that process would be, PAIN ON TOP - LOW HANGING OBJECT - HIGH SPEED SKITTER - SCRAPE OFF PAIN. But... it doesn't, really, which is why the best it can do is essentially run into the nearest available rock front end first.

That's not gonna end well.

Which, of course, leaves the Toyota Imperator over here, which is now trying to decide between stinging Moon Shadow and getting its tail pulped by mutant hammers...

[basic_powers]

..oh FUCK YOU PAPA SCORPION!

EJECT ITEM FROM JACKET MODUS, DRAGON'S TOOTH.

The thing about fetch modi is this, when something gets ejected, it's generally at great force. And with the jacket modus, everything either gets ejected from the sleeves or the neck.

And Moon Shadow's had a lot of practicce with aiming by pointing his arm at something.

[boston_bruiser]

And once Voodoo turns his attention to the alpha male and opens fire?

Between the three of them, there is no way he's leaving alive.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Nope. None whatsoever. Frankly, for all that it's drawn a lot of Fawkes' blood already, there's not going to be much more than a lot of pale pinkish-greyish scorpion jelly left lying around.

(Of the big one, that is. The little one rammed into a rock at high speed and Winston is currently nowhere to be seen.)

[basic_powers]

...

"Winston?"

The littlest scorpion backs away from the rock jerkily and starts jerking around, twitching spasmodically before shuddering to the ground. Then the scrabbling starts at it's back before something punches through the carapace hissing and covered in entrails.

"ksss...sss? KOH! Koh! KooOOH!"

...okay, who here wanted to see the cyber-raptor doing a funky little happy dance over having killed the scorpion?

[boston_bruiser]

...well, Voodoo certainly wasn't expecting it.

But if the little guy killed it, he figures it's got the right to celebrate all it wants.

He scans the area, then lowers his weapon. "Looks like we're clear."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I believe you're right," says Fawkes, who's shaking the gore from his hammer. "Is anyone hurt? Do either of you require antivenom?"

If they don't, he'll use the dose he's carrying on himself; there's some very bloody spots on that swanky suit of his.

[basic_powers]

"I'm okay."

It's take more than that scorpion to tear through the power ranger armor. He's going to need to get that jacket repaired by Kanaya later though.

"...someone want to grab my dragon tooth out of the big white scorpion's head?"

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo will, plucking it out of the carapace as he passes by the corpse and holding it out to Tyler.

"I'm good."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"One moment, then," says Fawkes, and rolls up one of his sleeves to get started on the injection. "I'm fairly resistant to the stuff, but scorpion venom's still an unpleasant experience."

[basic_powers]

"Take your time."

Seriously, no sense in wandering about half-cocked with a supermutant on a scorpion venom bender.