Springvale

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The door that Ellen used to get to Milliways wasn't in Megaton this time. Bringing Annabelle and Demyx had caused enough questions from the people in town. Bringing Mr. Mills through would just have let the flood loose. She opted instead to buy another set of combat armor from Moira, one more appropriately sized for a larger person, and traded her last few caps for extra ammo and supplies. Then she made for the Springvale ruins, found a house with a door still hanging from the frame, and opened it.

The scene that'll greet Bryan Mills is one of old, old ruin. There were houses here once; all that remain are splintery blackened pieces of wall and heaps of rubble. There are cars, rusted-out hulks lurched across the grey, broken remains of the places where roads had been. And there's Ellen, waiting on the other side with that bundle of armor and supplies. "Welcome to Springvale," she says a little nervously. "Thank you."

Comments

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

Mills will be very proud of her skill and accuracy, just as soon as he's done with the pock-faced maggot with the lead pipe. The arm breaks in three places and the man's scream is cut off abruptly as his airway collapses.

He turns to assist Ellen and sees her standing over the fellow with the smoking crater where his skull was a few moments ago. He nods, his grin sharp and pointed.

"Good work."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Thank you," says Ellen, who's still feeling a little shaky but who is not going to let it show in front of anyone thank you very much. "These guys can get pretty nasty."

She holsters her pistol and crouches down to check the corpse for possible useful supplies. It hadn't occurred to her until the Talons attacked, but sometimes even people like this carry something useful.

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

He approves and does the same with the other corpses. "Looks like you may not need my help after all."

Adrenaline still surges in his system, though you'd think he was at a business meeting for all it shows.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen shakes her head. "Raiders aren't very bright," she says absently; it helps not to think too much when she's going through dead men's pockets. "They just come at you in numbers. Talons have real armor, and real weapons, and they don't mind using cover. I had to deal with ten raiders by myself and I got out of that all right, but three Talons were tougher."

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

"Team tactics. We can work on that."

He's already making a lesson plan in his head.

"Ellen, look over there."

When she does, there is a horrible crunching noise and the man with the crushed windpipe exhales for the last time.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"What am I- oh..."

She'll count to two before turning back, just to be on the safe side. Just because it has to be done doesn't mean it's necessarily something to want to look at.

"All right."

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

"Sorry," he mutters. "Let's get moving again. Too long in the open."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"It's all right. If you'd seen what these people do..." She shakes her head. "Okay. Moving is good."

They've got to locate a bridge anyway.

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

He falls in behind her, unslinging the AR again. "Looks like three miles to the target. I'm thinking, half an hour? If we can hold this pace."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen blanches inwardly, but nods. "Only one way to find out," she says, and essays a smile.

It takes somewhat longer than that, if only because Ellen has to pause at a point or two and just breathe for a bit. It's not an endurance question - at least, it's not entirely one. It's just that, well, every so often she does remember that she's outside and that outside is big and the sky goes on forever and there is no ceiling. Fortunately, the momentary need to overcome agoraphobia attacks gives the body a fractional respite, and she's up for moving again shortly thereafter.

Up ahead, as they move down towards the remains of the Potomac, there are the beginnings of the remains of office buildings. Broken in places, melted in others, scorched and washed only by storms, they begin to rear up more and more noticeably as the two figures draw closer.

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

Mills gives her an encouraging smile, keeping watch while she catches her breath. He understands. Watching Kim get into a strange vehicle and drive away evokes almost the same response in him. He shares a bit of personal history to distract her as they run.

The increasing threat of the attack from above sets Mills' teeth on edge and he grows quiet again.

"What are we looking for?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"A statue," Ellen says, scanning along the river. "A statue of three soldiers- it's huge, it's tough to miss... ah. There it is."

It's on a small man-made rise overlooking the river's eastern shore. The three soldiers' forms, larger than life, are atop a pedestal at least as tall as a human being. It's a brilliant scene, especially in this light.

It'd probably be nicer to see if there weren't several large, grey, clawed things wandering about on the riverbanks. They don't seem to pay much attention to one another, though.

"... good Lord," says Ellen hoarsely. "Moira said 'mutant crabs the size of people' but I thought she was just exaggerating!"

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

Mills sucks into the cover of one of the buildings, and fishes out a small pair of binoculars to take a closer look. He'd been somewhat prepared for what Ellen's world contained with her gift of the ant head, but this? This took a second and possibly a third look.

He drops the binos and his eyes focus on the middle distance. "Right." He gives Ellen a predatory grin. "You didn't tell me I needed to bring lemon and butter."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"What's lemon?" Ellen asks.

The creatures look fairly hefty, given the way the water splashes when one of them moves, and their carapaces look pretty thick. Their shells part a little at the top to reveal small, complicated faces with glittering black eyes.

"Moira wants the observer planted in one of their egg pods inside the Memorial," Ellen notes, "but she also asked that we not attack any of the mirelurks once we're in there, so that we don't change their behavior. I think the ones out here might be fair game, though."

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

His brow furrows but he nods. He takes up the binos again and has another long look. After a moment, he hands them to Ellen. "Is that the bridge? And do I see mines?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

It takes Ellen a little bit to get the hang of the binoculars. They're not really like her father's ophthalmoscope at all. Once she does, though, she grimaces. "Yep," she says. "Scads of 'em. I can defuse them one at a time if we're very careful... I'm guessing somebody must live around here, and wanted to keep the mirelurks off the road."

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

"Makes sense. How long will that take, do you think? And will those -- what did you call them? Mirelurks? Will they give us problems while you work?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"A few seconds each. More than that and they explode," Ellen says. "And I've never encountered a mirelurk before, I don't know what would attract their attention... can you stand guard while I clear us a path?"

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

He nods and tilts his head at her. "You doing okay over there? Sky not getting to you too much?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"As long as I have something else I can concentrate on, I'm all right," Ellen says. "This counts as concentrating. All right, here goes..."

The ant tunnels taught Ellen to move quietly, if nothing else. Her progress forward is painfully slow, but there isn't a sound to alert any one of the crabs- and, perhaps more importantly as she gets closer, there isn't a single beep from the cluster of mines as she approaches.

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

Mills moves like oil over glass, carrying the shotgun at low ready, giving Ellen plenty of room to complete her task as well as be well clear of the blast radius if he does have to fire.

His mouth fixes in a firm line. The idea of going bare handed against these crab creatures has his mind racing with possibilities. He's really glad he brought the big knife.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

As well he should be. Ellen is so wrapped up in disarming the mines in front of her that she scarcely notices the motion at the edge of her vision- one of the mirelurks suddenly noticing something amiss, perhaps? Who can say. The important thing is that the single rocky, narrow path that wends its way up from the water suddenly has a 'lurk on it, padding towards the western shore and the human standing there.

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

It is a massive piece of armoured meat, he thinks. He slinks the shotgun and draws his knife, completely silently.

His eyes flit over the creature. Joints and face. That means getting inside. He doesn't waste a second, crossing the distance between them in two strides.

Damn it, they're quick. He strangles a cry as the creature's pincers latch onto his off wrist. The knife flashes, slotting into the soft flesh between the carapace. Half of the creature crumples as tendons are cut, but it doesn't let go.

Mills feels the flesh under his BDU's giving way to the serrated edge of the claw. His mind thinks, what a brilliant bit of engineering. And then he dissects the creature's face with a violent thrust and twist of the knife.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Mirelurks are capable of surviving and even attacking after a crippling gunshot to the face, to a certain degree- but that's pure reflex, and it doesn't last long. Eventually the rest of the body notices that it's not getting neural signals any more and just shuts down. The 'lurk makes one more effort at knocking Mills down before the right nerves are severed, and then slumps, hard. The term 'dead weight' exists for a reason.

For her part, Ellen's only just turned around from stacking up the last of the disarmed mines now.

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

"Little help?" Mills calls quietly from under the carcass. The 'lurk has a death grip around his left wrist, and the pain makes it impossible for him to shift much. Also, there's 'lurk gore all over him now. Lovely.