The REALLY Wild Wasteland. (The Fallout RP!)

[Souplex]

Frank was conflicted.
He didn't want to see his sister drool over her half-naked prisoner, but he did want to see the Cowardly Lion humiliated.
Suddenly he picked up something on the radio he had installed in his armor. An encrypted Brotherhood transmission, but he had built in countermeasures for Brotherhood encryption, since he had helped develop those encryption codes in the first place.
"This is Paladin Stone to Citadel! Paladin Stone to Citadel! We have a Behemoth sighting in DC Ruins! Repeat, a new Behemoth has appeared!"
Be right back!
Frank ran into Craterside.
"Lucy, buy two stealth boys from Moira, stealth out the gate with Vikki, and head to Springvale. No time to explain!"
Frank headed back out the main gate and began some inane small talk to serve as a distraction.
"So how's mum been? Speaking of mothers, yours is a whore Van Graff!"
It went on like that for a bit.
"Oh and Van Graff?"
"Going to tell me my mom's a whore again? It's getting old."
Frank ducked into the Van Graff's car and quickly hotwired it.
"No, I'm jacking your ride. Although now that you mention it; your mom is a whore!"
Frank drove off towards Springvale.

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

Frank burst through the door to Craterside.

"Lucy, buy two stealth boys from Moira, stealth out the gate with Vikki, and head to Springvale. No time to explain!" he dropped the other bag of loot by the door and he was gone as soon as he arrived.

Lucy, curious as she was, knew this was not the time for questions. Something serious must be happening if its got Frank in a rush.

She turned to Moira "I don't know what's going on, but can you spare two stealth boys, throw in another two to be safe." She eyed Vikki's SMG "Plus a few spare clips for a 10mm SMG and some stimpacks, I've got plenty to barter with"

Lucy traded the larger guns in the backpack, keeping only the 3 10mm SMG's. In return, she filled the duffel bag with 4 stealth boys, 10 clips for Vikki's gun and 5 stimpacks for her as well. She added Frank's flamer canisters which filled the bag. A little heavy, she handed it to Vikki, who held it with ease. Making sure Vikki noticed that Lucy bought the the ammo and remaining 5 stimpacks for her to keep. Lucy finally handed her a stealth boy of her own.

Lucy laid her Gauss Rifle across her back, slotted her own stimpacks into the 5 pouches on her belt, holstered her combat knife and dropped some ammo into her spare pouch. She strapped the stealth boy to her wrist, said her goodbye's and headed towards the main gate. Switching on the stealth boy, she silently slipped through the entrance with Vikki behind her.

She knew what Frank meant now. Brotherhood soldiers were tightly grouped around entrance.

Fighting her impulse to make a run for it, she calmed down and eased her way as far as she could from the group. These soldiers would surely kill her and Vikki. So she feared for her life.

She saw Frank drive off towards Springvale, lucky, he gets the fastest mode of transport. Traversing the terrain with ease while staying as quiet as possible, Lucy was going to sneak her way to Springvale as much as she could. She did not want to tangle with the Brotherhood.

She noticed the familiar dilapidated frames of the rebuilt housing in the distance. "Home sweet home" she thought. She could see her Dad's house, apparently some woman called Silver previously lived there.

She didn't want to go back, too many memories, she would rather wander the coast or do odd jobs at Megaton. Something was going on and Frank called upon her, even saved her ass by warning her about the Brotherhood. She'll get the answer's soon enough if Frank wants to regroup there.

After awhile, she reached the her small settlement and laid her hand on the nearby house. She spotted Frank and approached the car.

 

[wilcoblackflame]

"The hell you are!"

However fast Frank might have been when it came to hotwiring a car, he'd be pretty hard pressed to do so and make an escape without issue while Marlon was leaning against said car. Frank might have got it going and driven away sure enough. But not before Marlon had dived into the back seat.

Briefly managing to yell "We'll continue this later!" to Danielle, he turned his full and ill-content attention to Frank.

"Alright asshole this has gone far enough. I could go on about how you turned out to be a fraud or I could empty a few plasma shots into the back of your head, because believe you me, growing up out west with the more raider-like kind of brotherhood goons about, I know plenty about how to make that armor less than comfy. But I won't, cos here's why."

"First off, we need each other alive if we wanna stay in Simms' good books and have access to Megaton. Second, now I'm dealing with the REAL brotherhood, last thing I wanna do is get your sister to want me dead. Third, I'm sick of this horseshit, so why don't you tell me why the hell you suddenly need to get somewhere so fast, cos let's face it, you're pretty damn bad at driving this thing, but I'm impressed you got it running so fast. I'll have to do something about that."

He dropped the brief semi-jovial tone.

"Seriously, what's the deal Franky. I'm willing to help you out on 2 conditions. One, get off my damn back while I'm dealing with the people in charge, cos it turns out you weren't one of 'em. And two? Stop talking shit about my family. We got a deal?"

 

[Souplex]

However fast Frank might have been when it came to hotwiring a car, he'd be pretty hard pressed to do so and make an escape without issue while Marlon was leaning against said car. Frank might have got it going and driven away sure enough. But not before Marlon had dived into the back seat.
[Piloting (It was the skill for handling vehicles in Fallout: Tactics, so I'm importing it why not?) 21/30][Failure]Were Frank a good driver, he would have done something clever, like quickly swerve the car before he got the door closed, launching him out. Frank was not a good driver.
"Alright asshole this has gone far enough. I could go on about how you turned out to be a fraud or I could empty a few plasma shots into the back of your head, because believe you me, growing up out west with the more raider-like kind of brotherhood goons about, I know plenty about how to make that armor less than comfy. But I won't, cos here's why."
[Armor 100/50 (It's not an official skill, but it should be one. Moving around in armor takes a lot of skill, not to mention knowing how to properly brace yourself for impacts)][Energy Weapons 80/30][Success!]"It would take at least five to nine plasma-bolts to my very armored head to off me, and one magnetic slug to your fleshy head to make it explode. Pick your next words carefully."
"First off, we need each other alive if we wanna stay in Simms' good books and have access to Megaton. Second, now I'm dealing with the REAL brotherhood, last thing I wanna do is get your sister to want me dead. Third, I'm sick of this horseshit, so why don't you tell me why the hell you suddenly need to get somewhere so fast, cos let's face it, you're pretty damn bad at driving this thing, but I'm impressed you got it running so fast. I'll have to do something about that."
"In the very unlikely event that you could somehow kill me, you wouldn't have to worry about Danny Boy or Simms, you'd have to worry about my ex. She called dibs on killing me after our breakup, and now runs the Brotherhood. She doesn't like it when people don't respect her dibsies."
"I'm going to slay a Super Mutant Behemoth. One was spotted in DC, and since mutants are mutating more, it seems negligent to leave one of those alive to mutate further into something more deadly. As to how I got your car running..."
[Repair 100/70][Success!] "...Let's just say I'm better than any redneck mechanics you'll encounter out west."
"Seriously, what's the deal Franky. I'm willing to help you out on 2 conditions. One, get off my damn back while I'm dealing with the people in charge, cos it turns out you weren't one of 'em. And two? Stop talking shit about my family. We got a deal?"
"I can agree to number one, but..."
[Perception]The Van Graff had neglected to buckle up.
[Science 52/30][Success!]Frank had paid decent attention to the scribes' physics lectures. He was very heavy, and in the front of the car. The Van Graff was not so heavy and in the back.
Frank crashed the car into a rock near Springvale, catapulting the Van Graff into the windshield.
"...Now I can agree to number two."
Frank leaned out the window.
"Dorothy, Scarecrow; get in! The Cowardly Lion has joined in and we're going to Oz!"
Frank toyed with the car's music player hoping to find something tolerable, and not the hillbilly jug-blowing he expected to find from someone from out west.

Spoiler: ...Success!

Frank drove off towards DC.

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

Frank crashed the car into a rock nearby catapulting the unknown laser dude guy into the windshield.

Lucy couldn't stop laughing at the sight,she knew that was intentional on Frank's part. relaxing greatly, she walked with Vikki over to the car and took the passenger seat next to Frank while Vikki climbed in the back.

Lucy knew very little about Frank, she only caught glimpses of his personality...He had a wild sense of humor in combat, he was resourceful, highly perceptive, empathetic towards those around him even if he lacked a certain level of tact. Absolutely brutal in combat, he preferred an up close and personal approach which was devastating if you added his knowledge of creature and human anatomy.

Lucy's great skills were Energy weapons, repair and speech. She had a knack for the keen perception and assessment of human behavior and agility during combat. Little to Frank's knowledge, she had been watching him, taking note of his mannerisms, noticing when and how they shifted, what they potentially indicated.

She was starting to grow fond of Frank, she had no idea what he looked like and she had so many questions, but he intrigued her. There was a purpose behind his fighting, she admired and shared a purpose in that.

She realized she was blushing, flustered, she helped the guy who recently smashed into the windshield, aiding him into the backseat. "You make a hell of an entrance, Frank!" she smiled widely, she was in a good mood around him for some reason. "Your flamer canisters are with Vikki. Since you saved my ass back there at Megaton...Thank you" she followed up with a small kiss on his helmet where his cheek would be, not ideal, but she got her message across. "The Brotherhood would have taken my rifle, you know how much it means to me."

She turned back to the laser guy "I'm the smaller, more polite, more female version of Frank. And I'm not one to steal other people's cars...or crash them for that matter" turning to Frank "Seriously, where did you learn to drive?"

Turning back to her energy weapon equipped acquaintance "Name's Lucy, it's a pleasure to meet you" she extended her hand and gave him a large grin "The semi-mutant next to you is Vikki, she's sweet and deadly and she's also my friend"

Turning to Frank "Well, introductions have been made...now what the fuck is going on and where are we going!?"

 

[ImSkeletor]

Barry was nothing if not a fan of old world music and theatricallity. And Bob had both of these these in spades. Watching him launch out of the vehicle was immensely enjoyable. Not to be out done too badly, Flash attempted to beat him to the target. He leaped out of the cockpit reaching a similar height to FalloutBob under his own power. In Barry's imagination this was all the more epic. This tentacled mutant reached into the skys far above the skyscrapers. Barry's fists glowed a blindingly bright yellow. The light flowed behind him in massive but thin beams. But through the light he could clearly be seen rearing back his right hand about as far as he physically could. Out of the corner of his eye he could see FalloutBob with a sword easily twice as big as he was, soaked in an elegant and beautiful blue flame. The action that was actually happening was already so good that his imagination was able to create something better than it had ever made before. He took this in like a drug. Letting it seep into his lungs before flowing through his entire body. He let the sensation engulf him and time appeared to slow down to a near complete stop as he and Bob's weapons came within inches of the mutated beast simultaneously.

 

[Souplex]

"Your flamer canisters are with Vikki. Since you saved my ass back there at Megaton...Thank you" she followed up with a small kiss on his helmet where his cheek would be, not ideal, but she got her message across.
[Perception]Well this was certainly a development.
"The Brotherhood would have taken my rifle, you know how much it means to me."
"? What're you talking about? Did you grow up out west or something? Maybe you're thinking of the Outcasts? Or has Sarah gotten more militant towards wastelanders since becoming elder? Because under normal circumstances,the Brotherhood wouldn't take it unless they believed you stole it."
"Seriously, where did you learn to drive?"
"This is my first time driving, but I'd seen enough people do it and am familiar enough with the workings of cars from fixing them up for the Brotherhood that I figured I could do it."
"Now what the fuck is going on and where are we going!?"
"I've received reports of a behemoth in the Washington Mall. Those things are already pretty lethal, and with Super Mutants becoming Duper Mutants, I would rather a Behemoth not make that change and kill everyone, so I'm gonna kill it first!"

 

[Floris2123]

Brandon was listening to the strange mutant, he saw that Rex was busy gathering all of the items of value form the raiders. Brandon really wondered what kind of tricks his old master had learned to him. "Soitenly!" Brandon had no clue what the mutant was saying, he was speaking in a very odd tone. Brandon looked at the mutant, he had been impressed with his speed earlier. And he wondered how he was able to run that fast, maybe he was an special type of mutant?

"You guys know where the other mutants are at? I gotta tell those guys about this! He's a genius, I tell ya, a regular smarty-pants! Speaking of pants, yours don't fit anymore, do they?" Brandon looked heavily confused, he looked down at Rex, and then he looked back to the mutant. "No my pants suit me quite well to be honest. And you said their were other mutants? How many are there? And why are you able to run that fast? And why were those man chasing you? And do the other mutants also have an special skill?" Brandon looked at the mutant, he had asked his questions slowly so that the mutant had heard all of them.

He gave the mutant some time to think as he turned around to the supplies. Brandon grabbed the supplies that Rex had gathered and placed them in his bag, he petted Rex's nose and gave him a piece of meat "Good boy." Brandon smiled at Rex as he petted him some more. Brandon didn't looked at what they had looted, he would have time for that after he learned more about this mutant. Brandon looked back at the mutant, he was very interested in getting answers to his questions.

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

"What're you talking about? Did you grow up out west or something? Maybe you're thinking of the Outcasts? Or has Sarah gotten more militant towards wastelanders since becoming elder? Because under normal circumstances,the Brotherhood wouldn't take it unless they believed you stole it."

"Why did you think I got so antsy when we first met? Do you really think most Brotherhood soldiers will honestly believe my story about my rifle being a family heirloom? Especially it being a Gauss Rifle of all weapons?...Wastelanders and traders generally fear the Brotherhood, or more accurately, they fear the Outcasts. By the time you already made the distinction between a Brotherhood Knight or an Outcast, you're either dead or being attacked. I saw a trader getting robbed and vaporized just because he openly carried a laser pistol." Lucy explained, her tone dropping in audible sadness at the mention of the trader.

She liked traders, her Father was a trader.

"I've received reports of a behemoth in the Washington Mall. Those things are already pretty lethal, and with Super Mutants becoming Duper Mutants, I would rather a Behemoth not make that change and kill everyone, so I'm gonna kill it first!"

"A behemoth!? Holy shit, I've always wanted to see one...wait, the Duper Mutant we encountered at Megaton, what if something similar is happening with the behemoth? Did anything in the report say anything about mutations?"

Lucy stretched, cracked her knuckles and smiled at Frank...she wondered if he smiled back at her...feeling herself starting to blush, she opted to turn her gaze forward with a determined, but playful tone in her voice. "Since you're pretty much the Vanguard of this group, how about I be your long-range support and spotter?"

Why is it always the mysterious men that intrigue me?

 

[Time Travelling Toaster]

As Vikki sat beside their new friend, a man who didn't wish to speak with her and struggling to catch up with the conversation going on between Frank and Lucy, a thought suddenly worked its way through the rushing air noises in her mind.

"I've lost my bike!" she mumbles, louder than she meant to before catching the mention of the behemoth that they were hunting.

"Those things don't like me, they don't like anything but those metal things with holes in them and wheels? That and fire hydrants. Oh! And meat, they like eating people but I've saw one eating bits of a car! They make me look normal!" she pipes up, "my cousins used to keep rockets in case one of them showed up, do we have any rockets?" she asks, the thought slipping her mind almost as soon as it left her mouth, quickly being replaced by the rushing air noises, albeit not as nosily as before.

 

[wilcoblackflame]

A mild string of explicit language after impacting the windshield later, and Marlon actually smiled. "Okay Franky. That was actually pretty funny. So we're in business."

Trying to avoid paying much attention to his recently acquired headache, he turned his attention to Lucy and Vikki. "Marlon Van Graff. I make my money dealing in energy weapons. In theory anyway. But you saw most o' that."

"Oh and Franky? One last thing. Once we get to this mall? I do the driving. I'd like my car to still be servicable after this little expedition."

 

[Souplex]

"Since you're pretty much the Vanguard of this group, how about I be your long-range support and spotter?"
"I thought that was already our understanding, but certainly."
Frank, while keeping one very un-steady hand on the steering wheel grabbed one of the flamer canisters, plugged it into the port on his suit's love-handles, and tossed it out the window.
"Those things don't like me, they don't like anything but those metal things with holes in them and wheels? That and fire hydrants. Oh! And meat, they like eating people but I've saw one eating bits of a car! They make me look normal!"
Frank was always confused by the size of the Behemoth's fire-hydrant sticks. He had never seen hydrants that big elsewhere. It was almost as if the fire hydrants were scaled up with the mutants.
"Okay Franky. That was actually pretty funny. So we're in business."
"You okay Simba? You don't look so good. Also; your face is injured."
"If I can't call your mother various unkind things for being knocked up by ten separate guys, I'll just make fun of you."
"Oh and Franky? One last thing. Once we get to this mall? I do the driving. I'd like my car to still be servicable after this little expedition."
"Wait, this piece of crap was at one point serviceable? Was that before the war? You don't know where you're going, so I advise against you driving, but I promise to fix any damages I incur to your crap-mobile. I could make it stop sucking!"

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

"I thought that was already our understanding, but certainly."
"I'm just making sure our combat priorities are in order...Sir!" Lucy stuck her tongue out at him with that last quip. She watched him refill the suit on his port "A thank you would be nice, Francesca" she smiled at that one

"I've lost my bike!"
Lucy turned her attention towards her friend, she frowned as she pondering about the bike "I completely forgot about that. Did we leave it by those raiders or outside Megaton? I was a little busy killing raiders and shooting a Duper Mutant in the head to notice."

"What's a behemoth like,V? I've seen drawings and heard descriptions from traders, but I've never actually seen one."

"By the way, there's about 10 spare clips for your SMG and 5 stimpacks in the bag, consider it a present!" she beamed at Vikki

The behemoth sounded nasty going by her description, taking one down won't be an easy job. We're going to have to work together...she wouldn't want anything to happen to Vikki or Frank. She needed Marlon on their side too, so she decided to do what came naturally...be nice.

"You okay Simba? You don't look so good. Also; your face is injured."
"We could call him Scar?" Noticing the eyepatch "I think you have that whole badass look about you, Marlon. You even have a twang to that voice of yours, girls out here love that sorta thing, or so I've- erm - heard...Thirsty?" she changed the subject and offered a bottle of Purified water.

"I could make it stop sucking!"

"Are you guys still waving your dicks around!?" she smiled mischievously

"All this compensation going around is making me wonder if you guys have a little...engine trouble. Having a little difficulty getting it running in the first place? Can't go the distance? Or are the brakes broken and things go a little too fast for your liking? Perhaps it seems good on the outside, but once you pop the hood, you find out things aint exactly pretty down there?"

 

[Souplex]

"A thank you would be nice, Francesca"
"Thank you, Lucious."
Ugh, this was starting to remind him of his sister, and as much as he loved his sister, he hated her.
"All this compensation going around is making me wonder if you guys have a little...engine trouble. Having a little difficulty getting it running in the first place? Can't go the distance? Or are the brakes broken and things go a little too fast for your liking? Perhaps it seems good on the outside, but once you pop the hood, you find out things aint exactly pretty down there?"
"This isn't a man thing, it's a mechanic thing! I built better crap than this when I was 12 for the initiate's science fair."
Frank remembered the railgun he had built for the fair. It took a team to wheel it in, it was bulky, consumed way too much power, the magnetic force of firing tore it apart, and it blew a hole in the wall of the citadel, and vaporized the entry that would have taken 2nd. Good times.
"I was considered a great mechanic by an organization where everyone's expected to love machines. This hunk of junk might cut it out west, but we have standards here! This piece of crap is held together by duct tape and wishes!"
Frank was fuming. Maybe instead of fixing this scrap-heap, he could build a catapult to launch it into the ocean, and build something better to replace it.
Frank had driven up to the Bethesda ruins.
Many wastelanders had tried clearing a path through the rubble leading to the mall, but the project attracted countless super mutants who would attack anything going through. The Brotherhood cleared out the mutants but raiders moved in. Raiders who were smart enough to flee whenever a Brotherhood patrol came through, but still attack everyone else.
Making it through unscathed was difficult. Even a fast moving vehicle would take some pretty fancy driving and some luck to make it through unscathed.
[Piloting 21/40][Failure.]Frank had no plans for this vehicle to make it through unscathed.
"This is going to take some pretty fancy driving!"
Franks driving was not fancy at all.

 

[wilcoblackflame]

"Cheers." Marlon accepted the water and took a mouthful of it. Lucy seemed pretty alright. At least in comparison to the fellow in the armor. "You see Franky? You could learn from this one. She's much better at making friends than you are."

"I don't think there's any rockets here either." he said, addressing Vikki's query. "My supplies are mostly energy based."

Contrary to what Frank continued to insist, the car was quite mechanically sound. He might not have all the tools that the brotherhood had at their disposal, but having grown up assembling energy weapons and tinkering with other scavenged machinery in general had given Marlon a solid background in making something like this run and run well. Certainly it could use some improvements and maybe a good clean, but it had gotten him all the way here from the west.

But that wasn't what was getting on his nerves. He expected that from Frank. What was getting on his nerves was the horrible sounds Frank was producing with it. "You know, it works much better if you actually know how to put it in gear. Just stop and tell me where to drive already, you're gonna bugger something before we even get there."

 

[Souplex]

Explosions and gunfire sounded all around the vehicle.
"You see Franky? You could learn from this one. She's much better at making friends than you are."
"Making friends is easy; demonstrate your skills in repairs and combat then..."
Frank could feel the concentrated awkward coming from that statement.
"...I think I've been messed up from growing up in a militant techno-cult."
"You know, it works much better if you actually know how to put it in gear. Just stop and tell me where to drive already, you're gonna bugger something before we even get there."
[Piloting 21/25][Failure.] Frank did not know how to drive stick, unless that was a kinky metaphor.
"This is the only path into DC that's accessible by car, and it's thick raider country all the way there. Stop for the minimum of three seconds it takes for us to switch, and we'd be buried under a hail of lead, grenades, and harsh language. I don't suppose you can work the gear shift while I continue to drive?"
[Perception][Repair 100/30][Success!]Frank couldn't help but notice that the front-mounted laser rifles were spaced so that you could not shoot a man-sized target standing between them. An amateur job. Had he built it, he would have installed motors and a sensor module enabling them to track their target and vaporize it.

 

[Contradiction]

Through the hazy of pain blaring from not only his arm but now from his leg. Dim light filtered down to pool in the center of the area. Waiting patiently his eyes began to adjust and he was able to make out large tunnel walls. Down the tunnel were an assortment of off-shooting doors but what interested him was the slight glimmer of light down the path. Eventually managing a slow ambling crawl it became clear that the glimmer was being given off by something large and metal hidden behind quite a pile of rubble. Hearing deep rumbling and sounds of combat he wondered if the town didn't have inhabitants after all. Inhabitants now being picked off in his place.
It was a terrible thought but there wasn't exactly a lot someone like him could do about it right now, what with the bleeding out and broken limbs...
Gingerly scraping the small pile of rocks from the rough steel surface revealed a large torso and suit with a helmet not far off. Inspecting these with a disconnected curiosity he remembered the way in which the beetles had been able to recuperate from his assault earlier. With some difficulty he managed to jam himself into the metal shell. Wondering how to activate such a function he went to raise his good arm to the visor but was taken aback by the unbelievable resistance. Letting it drop back he gave up supposing it was as good a place as anything to rest, it wasn't uncomfortable in any case. Just as his eyes began to droop a strange voice came to him.
'What in the hell have you gotten yourself into this time your half as red as anchorage! I'll tell you what you're lucky its just you and me down here because if you're sergeant saw you in this pathetic state he'd send you back home to cower as the damn Chinese rain death at your door, hell I would to! Unfortunately I ain't your sergeant I am the Prototype Medic armour and if you can't do your job I sure as hell have to do mine. Now man up this'll hurt a lot but maybe that's exactly what you need'
as he finished the suit started whirring and buzzing and before Sully could react needles erupted from the armour's sides plunging deep into his limbs.
Needless to say he was feeling better in no time.
'Thank you... soldier?' he offered taking the armour of again completely vexed as to how one would use it.
Keeping the gloves, boots and helmet, as they were only slightly impeding on his movement he continued down the increasingly dark tunnel. With his head clear of the begging cries from his muscles he now became concerned about things he had otherwise been dismissing. Where was the chameleon and more importantly what was he fighting. He needed to mount a counter-assault because if nothing else was clear it was that these enclave men had nothing if not boundless resources and and if FalloutDavid was nay indication enough time to follow some whimsical grudge.
The tunnel began to smell putrid a smell that Sully knew all to well. Dead Deathclaw.
Inspecting the corpse which was now flopped to one side of the tunnel he hefted up one its large paws and smiled. Things were finally going his way.

 

[Pink Gregory]

*kssshk*

"uh...Editor's Journal, volume one; have decided to switch to audio logs for the journal, in the interest of creating more reliable retrospective information, maybe I'm trying to encourage a proustian rush when I'm goin' back over these, I don't know."

*mooouuuuuu clink clink*

"We're uh three or four days out from Canterbury, we've managed to rejoin I-95, although...we don't have a compass or a map between us, can't determine if we're facing north or south, or uh anywhere else for that matter; although as for now we're camping in a wide ditch at the edge of the road."

*whsssssss clink clink*

"Still travelling with the Walrus and his Brahmin, Abe has some business in mind with the creature, but even after hours - of course, despite lacking food, water and caps, we're overburdened with time - hours of speculation, I still can't fathom what kind of business this could be."

*"Wellp, over yonder, follow m' finger, that's where Paw catched uh crawdad THIS big, n' bigger'n that still; it's cuz a th'saucers, they come over in th'clouds, y'see? Then, they zp zzzzp zoop dem crawdads, so's they can act as th'first wave o' the invasion! Well we boiled that sucker up and wudja b'lieve it? Pot boil up colour o...well it weren't a colour so much, it were like...a sound, y'unnerstand?"
"uhm...yes...a sound, yes..."*

"Like I said, we're low on supplies, haven't even come across one of those roving caravans, stay off the roads, that's what they say, s'even in the WSG; even if we found a body we're not above looting, no room for principles here; we need to get to DC, that's the only place where we're definitely going to find something, we won't even need a compass, I can still see the Washington monument from here; well, not from here..."

*shhhhhsch "...maybe if I just..." crunch crunch crunch "...climb up this mound here I can..."*

"...huff...huff...Yes. Yes, can still...huh, what's that glow over there?"

*OOOOOOUUUUUURRRRR - recording distorts here, extreme low frequency sound*

*"HIDE! HIDE! GODDAMN HIDE YOU FOOLS! DOWN! DOWN! DOWN!"*

*recording distorts again, indecipherable, extreme low frequency sound*

*"Abe! For god's sake shut up! shut up!"*

*mooooouuuurhhh*

*"oh fuck fuck fuck, the brahmin!"

*distortion, extreme low frequency sound, extreme volume peak*

*mooooouuuurh*

*"Udders!"*

*recording cuts out*

 

[Time Travelling Toaster]

"Behemoths are like building sized versions of my cousins!" Vikki exclaims gleefully, "and probably more violent than deathclaws, which is saying something."

"They're really not nice to deal with, hopefully we can scavenge something good," she sighs, hearing Marlon's comment about no rockets, "four of us should be enough though?" she questions herself more than anyone else in the car.

"Ooh! Thanks Lucy!" she beams upon opening the bag containing the ammo and stimpaks that she had been given, "I never got you anything!" she whines, upset she didn't have the forethought of her friend.

 

[The Harkinator]

William found himself on the road to the Citadel, Dudley riding by his side, their respective engines little more than the growl of a sleeping Yao-Guai as they slowly picked their route over the smoothest parts of the road and taking care to avoid the twisted heaps of metal that had once been cars. They had travelled north to the bridge over the Potomac, once the site of a fierce battle between the Brotherhood and the Enclave. It was most memorable for being the bridge Liberty Prime crossed on his way to Project Purity.

Looking up, William could see the large crane rising above the Citadel, remembering that it had once been used to place Liberty Prime right into battle. The ground was still scarred in some places by the burn of energy weapons.

As they kept riding, the Citadel got closer into view. Brotherhood patrols could be seen much more frequently as they got closer to the great entrance to the Citadel. William and Dudley stopped and dismounted, William approached the gate guard and chose his words:, "Greetings Paladin, my friend and I need entry to speak with your leaders. Our mission is important, it concerns the Enclave." William put extra emphasis on the last word to sway the Paladin to his side.