"I was hired, but it's for a good cause. The research that I've been doing is for a 'Wasteland Survival Guide'. It teaches wastelanders about plenty of information and that sort of thing. Of course, research is also dangerous." Taylor said. "I've almost died a couple of times, developed a mutation while I was at it. But it's worth it, you should check it out."
Jonathan nodded slightly, bit appaled about what she had to go through in the name of research, "Well, as long as you didnt nake it sound too smart, I would say a lot of Wastelanders will want it." He looked around, "Well, if you dont have anything else to do around here, I guess we should get going, huh?" ****** Inside the small base, a man surrounding by equipment sat in a cover crater in the ground, the wires lesding to the radio tower, "Mayday mayday, this is Assault groups 2B and 5A of the 3rd Mixed Legio radioing in. We are in imminent stress and danger. We have landed on a world we dont reconize. It looks similar to how Earth is supposed to look, but it isnt Earth. We are requesting immediate evacuation." The man paused for a bit, listening intently, he knew there wouldnt be an immediate responce, but he knew there would be a certain sound that played if there was connection. He waited for several minutes, and nothing happened. He hung his head, "We're never going home.."he muttered.
Taylor and Jonathan made it to Megaton after a two hour walk. The Craterside Supply was still open, and the two of them went inside to find Moria Brown sweeping the floor while her hired guard just stood there as usual. Moria seemed cheerful as always as Taylor dropped the final part of her research. "All done!" Taylor happily told Moria, almost jumping around with joy with the completion of the final chapter. She went through the piles upon piles of notes and was almost beaming with excitement. "Wow, someone has been busy. Don't worry about the publishing side of things, I know a few people who can get that done and sorted. You should take a rest. Oh, and because of the detail of everything, I'm going to give you an extra reward. Here's a thousand caps!" Moria handed over the huge sum of caps to Taylor, who happily took the reward from her. "Thanks!" "No, thank you. This wouldn't have been possible without your help and dedication, I'm proud to have you alongside the creation of this book. I have a feeling that this is going to save some lives!"
"Well, you two are just bundles of joy, aren't ya?" Jonathan said chuckling, "Hope you two didn't go making the book sound too smart, that'ld likely piss more than a few people off." He tried to ignore Pop, who had started vibrating ever since they got by Megaton. The now intense vibrations were starting to irritate him, not thinking of what he programmed the vibration to mean, "And that's a pretty sum of payment you got there, Taylor." He added before turning to Moria, "Say, have you heard anything about that new faction by the Arlington Library? Like have any of them passed by here that you know of or anything?"
"I've don't think that they've ever left their camp, but I do know that they can be nasty folks. I advise to let them do their own thing." Moria told the two before looking at Jonathan. "Taylor might be the smartest person in Megaton, but she's made sure that it's easy to understand and not to smarty pants for the reader." "Do you think the Brotherhood would launch an attack for their tech capabilities? I've caught glimpses of what they have, and it's centuries ahead of its time. I'm not sure exactly how advanced it is, but it's advanced enough to catch the attention of the wrong people." Taylor asked. "The Brotherhood in the Citadel wouldn't make an enemy with them, if that's what your asking. I'm sure they can be reasonable about them. However, the Outcasts would. Technology is all they care about, I'd say that it will happen eventually."
Jonathan nodded, "Yeah, the Outcasts would be the most likely. And I also know that they do send patrols out, I ran into one while trying to check out their base." ******* "What is this place?" priimariigula (think Private) Varius asked as the small patrol stepped out of the Metro and onto the Mall "Sources say this was an area of high importance to one of the most powerful Earth Alliance nations, something along the lines of the USA?" Squivarrius Fanillius responded, "Though I doubt the Earth Alliance ever existed in this time we've found ourselves in." "Big uglies, 10 o clock!" a soldier suddenly said over the comms, "In the trenches!" The squad of 8 hit the deck, pointing their guns where the soldier said, and they could see that fat ugly heads of a few mutants. "Gah, are those things ugly." desariigula (Private First Class) Fedariius muttered. "Hush your trap, comrades. Move 100 salvfultas (about half a meter) to three o' clock and prepare to engage at long range." Fanillius ordered.
"It's only about when it's going to happen, it's their fault if the Outcasts launch a suicide attack." Taylor told the two. "They might be sending out patrols, but for what reason? That's something I want to know."
Jonathan shrugged, "I dont know, it could be for any reason." *** The squad moved into position, setting themselves up with military position as they brought their rifles up to their shoulders in sync. At that same time, two quad-copter drones flew off of each of their backs, small firearms attached to their bellies as the squad assigned target on their visor HUDs. Then, with swift percision, they began to eliminate the Super Mutants in the Mall..
The Super Mutants roared when they were attacked, so they came to attack this new mysterious faction. Their biggest problem was that despite being powerful enough to conquer the Capitol wastes, they are too stupid to do it. All they have was rage. Hundreds upon hundreds of them attacked in the mall, many of them actually going down in a single shot. By the time that the battle was over, the results were much different. The new visitors not only took the Mall, but they removed a high majority of DC's mutant problem while they were at it.
As the 8 soldiers lowered their rifles, having retreated to a more defensible position by a building and their drones returned to their charging stations on their backs. "That...Was intense." Fedarrius said slowly, "It was like one of those wargames against Vengians or something." "Still easier to take down." Fanillius responded as he stood up and held his hand to his ear, "Bordiifortus, this is Patrol 4A, we have entered into the target area, we were met with intense resitence from the local Big Uglies, but we have suffered no casualties and our shot trackers say we took down about a hundred fifty. We are preparing to move in deeper. We'll notify when we reach Check-in Travus." After a small pause, a voice responded over the comms, "Rodger that 4A, see you at the next check in. Remember to investigate anything that looked like some kind of government or cultural significant building." "Rodger that."
Three-Dog's soothing charismatic voice came over the radio of Galaxy News, it seemed that it was time for another news broadcast. "Hello, Children. I'm coming in with breaking news from the Mall inside downtown DC. Approximately half an hour ago, our mysterious newcomers left their settlement near the Arlington Library and have been spotted battling hundreds of Super Mutants. I've been watching this battle from the penthouse of Galaxy News Radio, and children, to call this a massacre is an understatement. The Mall is now completely Super-Mutant free, at least a hundred and fifty mutants have been killed with blue bolts from energy weapons and these flying contraptions that shoot the same thing. Not a single casualty was taken on our mysterious folk. Personally, I would like to say thank you for removing one of the Capitol Wasteland's major problems, things inside of DC are going to be safer from now on. Doesn't mean that the place isn't a hellhole, but at least you can make it from point A to B without encountering those big green freaks. As of this stage, it's unknown why our newcomers have traveled to the Mall. They speak a foreign language, so maybe they are tourists? Visiting some kind of government or cultural significant building perhaps? This is Three-Dog! ARROOOO! And you are listening to Galaxy News Radio, bringing you the news no matter how bad it hurts."
-meanwhile in Megaton- Jonathan stood in shock as Pop activated his radio and tunwd in on Galaxy News juat in time to hear the latest bit of news, "Holy moly, they killed 150 super muts without a single casualty? Are those guys super human or something??"
"Maybe...possibly....I dunno?" Moria said to seemingly nobody in particular. "They could be aliens for all we know." Taylor just yawned, she hasn't had a goodnight sleep in a few days. As much as she wanted to go to her Megaton home and collapse onto her bed, she couldn't really leave Jonathan alone. Unless he wanted to come with her back to her place.
Jonathan raised an eyebrow at Taylor, "Tired there?" He asked, but he really didnt need an answer, the look on Taylor's face said it all, "Should probably find a place to bed down." **** Fanillius and his squad made their way into the large building at the end of the mall, and sounds of fighting soon came to their ears, sounded like some Big Ugly fight against some human group. They decided to creep through the large building that looked like it had former significance in government to try to recover anything of importance to them, while picking off the survivors of the current fight if the survivors were hostile
"Yeah....haven't slept in about two days. My place is not very far from here." Taylor said before yawning once again, this time her eyes were getting droopy. "I have to go Moria, I don't know how much longer I can stay up." "Alright, sleepyhead. Catch up with you again later." Moria replied as Taylor made her way to the door and out into Megaton.
Jonathan followed Taylor out after waving goodbye to Moria, "This place looks made out of airplanes.." he observed, looking around, "And like it's falling apart." *** The squad watched as the humans attacked a massive Big Ugly in a large domed room, one with something that looked like a missile launcher but soon revealed itself to be a launcher of mini-nukes as they watched him use it to take down the massive Big Ugly. Out of reasonable concern, they rewarded the man's success with killing him then dismantling his weapon so it couldnt be taken and used against, say, them.
"It was, but it's going to fall apart eventually. Nothing last's forever, but until then, this is one of the safest places in the wasteland other then Rivet City." Taylor told Jonathan as the two walked towards Taylor's own home, which was right near the entrance of Megaton. After a small walk, the two came to the door. Taylor then reached for her keys, almost half asleep, then opened the door. "Come on in..." she said, smirking to herself. Nobody knew what this meant, either she was being flirty or she was severely overtired. It didn't matter, only she understood what she was thinking about.
Jomathan didnt really care himself, as he's spent the better part of 2 years without really any human contact, he really lacked the ability to pick up on social cues and the like. To him, he was just following someone who was the first person to actually like talking to him in years, ever since he left his old..."family". He looked around at taylor's house, "Looks cozy. Quaint. But cozy." He said
