Chapter 25

The way the rest of New Years Day went, I was beginning to hope that we’d pretty much put everything bad behind us, at least as far as the Commonwealth was concerned. All of our settlements now had radios, so they could stay in touch with each other. The combined forces that were clearing things only had a relatively small amount of the city proper left to finish up, and we anticipated them being completely done in two weeks.

I should have known better.

We were sitting down for dinner when a woman wearing a Gunner’s uniform came up to the table. She stopped, standing at attention, and saluted me.

“Didn’t you hear the broadcast? It’s New Years Day. No one’s working today unless they have to. Please, have a seat,” I said, motioning to a seat across from me.

“Oh.” She seemed a little embarrassed. “My apologies, ma’am. I’m ... well, some of us still aren’t used to the changes in things.” She sat down as Codsworth was bringing her a plate and drink.

“Unless there’s a rampaging horde of super mutants about to come over the hill, take the time to eat your food.”

She shook her head. “No super mutants, ma’am. And if they did try to take this place, I’d like to be here just to watch the fireworks. I saw those defenses when I came across the bridge.” She took a bite of her food. “Hey, this is really good. A lot better than our usual rations.”

“We’re working on getting them to everyone. It’s amazing how much food we actually produce and have available, when people aren’t always watching over their shoulders for Raiders to come steal and waste everything.”

“That’s what I came here to report about, Ma’am. Raiders.”

I shook my head. “Let’s finish dinner, then we’ll talk.” I looked down the table, where my wives were eating. They’d heard, and were politely shoveling things in as quickly as possible, so dinner would be over sooner. Shaun and Nat were imitating them, only half their food was going in the air to be gobbled up by Diohgi or Duchess. I didn’t let the smile I was feeling show, but I did eat slightly faster.

“Excellent meal, Codsworth, as usual.”

“Thank you, mum. The new recipes that I have received from Wellingham in Diamond City have proven to be a hit.” He took our plates and went off to see to the rest.

I took a sip of my coffee and said, “Okay, from your attire and the tattoo, you were with the Gunners. What’s going on?”

“Yes, ma’am, that’s correct. I’m Commander Kaylor. My team and I were on a mission to find out what had happened to our forces that had been exploring Nuka-World. The word reached us that we were to stand down, and it took me a while because I honestly wanted confirmation first, that didn’t sound right. Once Cypress found us and confirmed that, he ordered me here to brief you on our mission while the rest of my squad reported to the airport for reassignment.”

“Nuka-World? That’s, what, fifty some odd miles from here?” I could see we had a lot of attention now from my wives.

“Yes, ma’am. Apparently, there’s a path through the radiation traders can use at times, if the deathclaws aren’t out, to come here. We’d sent two full squads there to find out what was going on there, especially after the rumor that Raiders had taken it over. We hadn’t heard from them, so another squad tried to use the old transit center. We got one signal back from them, something about a Gauntlet, and that was it. I had been ordered to take a reinforced squad through the transit center, to see what I could find.”

“Basically, though, we received notice about what had happened at our base here before we could enter the transit center, so we waited, as I said. And so I’m here now, to brief you on what we know. Which, unfortunately, isn’t much. We know there are a few of our troops alive, though.”

“Which puts this into both the rescue and the search and destroy category.” I looked around the table. “Haylen! Please bring me some paper and something to write with. Something large, I’ll need to make a sketch or two.”

Haylen brought that over, as well as a couple more lanterns so we had light. “Here you go, ma’am. And a large board to go under them.” She had picked up that I didn’t want Kaylor in our command center.

“Kaylor, I don’t know if you’re familiar with my history, but ... I’ve been to Nuka-World in the past. So I know where it is, as well as the general layout of where the different parks are, in relation to each other. The one thing I don’t know about is the internal layout, it’s been ... too damned long since I went there.” I started out by sketching the monorail terminal, then the reception center. The general merchandise area was after that, with the Cola Cars Arena off that.

That led into the giant lake area, then the Fizztop Mountain. “There were four areas, the Kiddie Kingdom, over here. Safari Adventure, here, Dry Rock Gulch here, and the one I never visited, Galactic Zone, here.” I’d purposely made errors, to see what she’d do.

“Ma’am, two things. The bottling plant is here, you missed that, and you’ve got the Galactic Zone and Kiddie Kingdom switched, they’re the other way.” She pulled something out of her pocket. “Here, this is obviously not accurate, but it’s what we had for intelligence, on what we were getting into.” It was a small, old, souvenir map. “I’d heard that you were alive pre-war. Hell, your exploits are practically a legend, even among our forces. Well, not our forces any more, we all report to you. But you may not know that there was a town, up here, or the power plant was over here.”

“Actually, no, I didn’t. Where were your troops, and how can I make sure we don’t end up having a blue on blue incident when we go get them?”

“While I don’t know what that is specifically, I can guess you mean a friendly fire case, where we end up shooting each other. Our troops were, as best we know, somewhere down here, in a safe position. I’m not familiar with what’s down there, just that it was supposed to be fairly secure. And yes, I have some code words I can give you, so they don’t shoot at friendly forces.”

By this time we’d made several marks all over the sheets. She also said, “Obviously, the area has sustained damage. Here, we’re not sure what is still standing, which is why we sent scouts out. Thing is, there used to be a really large trading outpost there. They were taken over by Raiders of some kind, we’re not sure how. Honestly, the reason we were looking there was because we were considering relocating. You were making the Commonwealth very tough to operate in.”

“Just curious. How do you feel now? And by you, I mean, you, personally?”

She frowned a little. “Wes has been a good leader. You know our history, where we came from. We’re ... well, we’re basically almost the same as the synths. Okay, created people. Somebody decided to play God and make us. The bastards bit off more than they could chew, though. You’re a straight shooter, and I mean that in more than one way. I’m really NOT kidding when I say your marksmanship is legendary. So, bluntly, we’re really not mercenaries, we’re soldiers. There’s just not been anyone worthy of us, to lead us, ever since we came out of the Vault. Maxson, he’s close. Brotherhood of Steel are good troops, no doubt about it. So, if you wanted me to come along, to help kick some Raider ass, I’d follow you. No questions asked.”

I nodded. “Just curious, now. How many Raiders are we supposed to be talking about?”

“We really don’t know for sure, maybe a couple of hundred, total.”

I leaned back, giving a sigh of relief. “Oh, good. I thought it was going to be tougher. Deacon, I presume you heard?”

“Yes, boss. The six of us, load heavy on ammunition, because sometimes we’ll have to shoot twice. Food and water for ... a week?”

“Double it, two. There’s a hell of a lot of walking we’ll have to do.”

Kaylor looked at me, puzzled. “You think it’ll take you two weeks to find our missing troops and bring them home?”

“No, I think it’ll take two weeks to kill a couple hundred or so of the Raiders that are there.” I smiled, and it was not a pleasant smile. She nodded when she saw it. “Raiders have a tendency to think they’re the biggest, baddest, bastards on the planet. It’s time they learned they’re not. Permanently. Oh, and Kaylor ... when you get to the airport, tell them that I plan on setting up permanent trading relationships with Nuka-World once we’re done killing the Raiders. Take a couple of weeks and set up a good team to provide security there.”

I could see her pupils, her breathing. “I ... don’t suppose you could take me?” I also knew what she meant by that.

“Not with us, sorry. We’re used to acting as a team. Please, feel free to take advantage of our facilities here this evening, I’m sure a clean bed will be nice. Thank you for your report.”

She looked a little disappointed, but got up. One of the troops, wearing Brotherhood gear, led her to a room off to the side. The rest of us got up and went into the command center.

“Madam, just to make sure I was interpreting things correctly, that woman was flirting with you, was she not?”

“That woman wanted me to fuck her, right on the table. I’m quite certain that whoever it is that took her to her guest room is going to get the ride of his life tonight. Which has nothing to do with our planning. I’ll be in power armor, again. Hazmat suits and plenty of Radaway, food for two weeks. Thoughts on mini-guns or missile launchers?”

“Just one, ma’am. You said it’s about fifty miles, right? That’s within range of my bird, easily. Why don’t I just carry you there?”

“That’s fifty miles, without knowing what’s under us, in case of emergency. It sounds like other than a certain path, and you heard, through the deathclaws, it’s dangerous to land short. You’re our back-up. You, Danse, Glory, the rest. I want to see what kind of sick game these bastards are playing first before I show too much. I think if we have a repeater up on of the towers near the transit center, we’ll be able to remain in contact.”

“Yes, ma’am. Just for the record, I don’t like it.”

Piper smiled reassuringly. “Somehow or other, I have a feeling you’ll end up flying out there at some point. I actually agree with Tina, though. If we go out there and it looks like we’ve got overwhelming force, the Raiders will run away and hide. If we go out there and play their game, they won’t suspect.”

Deacon said, “In that case, I suggest one mini-gun and I’ll haul the missile launcher. I’d rather have it and not need it...”

James nodded. “We all know how that one ends. Which doesn’t mean it’s not right. I also recommend grenades. Do we all have fully upgraded combat armor?”

There were unanimous head bobs at that. James continued, “Then I simply suggest that we get dropped off outside of the transit center tomorrow, and see what we see.”

“Sounds like a plan. Katie, I know you’ll be itching to come in, weapons hot, if we run into trouble. And I KNOW we’re going to run into trouble. Give us at least a couple of days to figure out what the hell is going on out there, first. Unless, of course, you hear one of us hollering for help on the radio. I’ll even let you tell me, I told you so, if that happens.”

“I’ll hold you to that, ma’am. And ma’am, keep in mind that at full speed, I’m still 20 minutes away.”

“You’re kidding, right? I know you. As soon as we head out, you’re going to have at least two more birds up here, and you’ll all be doing aerial probes at least 10 to 20 miles into the wilderness, to cut down your response time.”

She looked at me with a blush on her face. “Yes, ma’am, we will.”

“Good girl. That’s what I expect of my people. Initiative. Now, let’s get some rest. I have a feeling the next week is going to be long.”

We made sure and discussed what was going on with Shaun, Nat, and Jacquelyn, so they knew we would be gone for a while. After that, it was an early bed time, with no real playing this evening. Just holding and snuggling.

The next morning dawned cloudy, with more rain. We loaded up on the vertibird. It was only a short flight to the Nuka-World Transit Center. Katie set us down on top of one of the parking garages. It didn’t take long for us to find our way down. There were trash cans all over the place, some empty, some full. Several school buses were parked here, as well as a couple of Nuka-World transit buses.

I wondered how many children and families had perished at one of the happiest places in the Commonwealth on that day.

There were several statues of Cappy and Bottle around. I shook my head. As an adult, it now seemed hokey. I remembered the place, though, as a young girl, watching the cartoons on TV. “Boy, this brings back the memories.”

Gwen said, “Seems a bit ... odd ... to me. Was this all related to merchandise?”

“Exactly. Appeal to the children, they’d get their parents to cough up dollars to buy things. Capitalism at work. Funny thing is, I actually used to LIKE the taste of a Nuka-Cola. So did my dad. Ah, here we go. The door to inside.”

There were escalators leading down, which of course didn’t work. So, we used them as stairs. My spotlight did an excellent job of lighting up the area. So much so that it was easy to see the man wearing a t-shirt and pants, sitting on the floor by a bench. He looked pale and was mumbling to himself, an arm clenched to his belly.

“Shit. They’re gonna die. Goddamn Raiders. I should have known. Oh, God, they’re going to kill them, I know it! This is all my fault. All my fault.”

“Hold on, partner. We’ll take care of you. Where did the Raiders get you?”, I said. The men fanned out, to clear the rest of the station.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll ... I’ll be fine. Save it for my wife and kid, for Lisa and Cody.”

“Really? Then if you’re hurting so bad that you’re mumbling about Raiders, where’s the blood all over your shirt and such? Don’t bullshit me now.” I pulled my pistol, pointed it at him.

He held both his hands up. “Okay, you got me. I ain’t injured, okay. I just can’t do this anymore. The Raiders back at Nuka-World put me up to this. They lure people in and they kill ‘em for fun.”

My voice was very flat when I said, “So why are you helping them?”

“You don’t get it. These Raiders are different. They make Commonwealth Raiders look like a bunch of kids. I’m not kidding when I say my family’s back there, but it’s the traders and such that are all I have left now.”

“You look and sound too damned pathetic to be lying.” I holstered my pistol. “Now, how about you give us a heads-up on what we’re facing?”

“Wait? You mean even knowing you’re going into a trap, you’re going to go? First, get the terminal and power up the Nuka-Express. I shut it down to help sell my story, make it more believable if I say I’m trying to keep Raiders at bay. Then when you get there, don’t let on that you know. They’re sick. Half their fun comes from watching the victim realize they’ve been tricked. It’s a maze, full of traps and such. I don’t know what all is in there, just ... there’s a big battle at the end, and no one but the Overboss ever wins.”

He saw my look of puzzlement. “The Overboss. There’s three gangs in Nuka-World. They cooperated to take over the place, it was too highly defended otherwise. I don’t know how they managed to cooperate, but the Overboss, he’s got them scared of him and working together.”

“Three gangs? How many total are we talking about?”

“I don’t know. I try to avoid going into the Pack area. Their dogs and pet mole rats scare the hell out of me. The Disciples ... if you even look at one of them wrong, they cut your throat. The Operators are the closest thing being civilized, I’ve been in their headquarters before. They have, oh, maybe a hundred, maybe a few more.”

“Let me guess. You’ve also sent a signal, that someone came in, so if we leave, they’ll end up killing someone back in Nuka-World as a warning to you about doing your job.”

“Um ... yeah. How’d you know?” He looked puzzled.

I rolled my eyes. “Well, fuck. How heavy did we load on ammo? Sounds like we’re going to run into twice as many as we thought.”

“You really can’t tell, with that suit on, can you, just how much weight you’re hauling?”

“Not really, Piper. This is a lot different from the other power armor suit I had, so it can haul a lot more without worrying about it. Why?”

“Sweetie, we’re each carrying close to 30 pounds of ammunition, between loads for our guns and reloads for the missile launcher. So about 50 pounds total, each. You’re carrying the mini-gun, 2 full reloads for it, another 70 pounds of ammo, and the bulk of the rest of our supplies. So you’re telling me you can’t tell that you’ve got more than 200 pounds you’re carrying on your armor?”

“Um, actually, no. That’s the nice thing about power armor. I don’t even feel my combat armor under it, when I’m moving. Remind me not to get this set destroyed. Now I know why Katie was so concerned.” I looked back at the man on the floor. “Who are you, anyway?”

“My name is Harvey. Sorry. Um, just a word of warning, I guess. You all look like you’re military of some kind. Even if you’re in a group, the Overboss normally only lets one in at a time to fight him. So, that won’t help a lot.”

“That’s all I’ll need, anyway. Harvey ... never mind. I’m sure we’ll run across you in Nuka-World again.”

“Boss, I found the terminal he was talking about. The monorail power is turned on.”

“Thanks, Deacon.” I looked at everyone. “Any last minute thoughts or concerns?”

“Yes. Do you think they’ll have an emery board and some nail polish? I’m quite certain that, even with these gloves on, I’m just going to RUIN my fingernails.”

Gwen gave Piper a small punch on the shoulder for that remark. “We’re good, Tina. Let’s go set some more of the Commonwealth free.”

I saw Harvey just shaking his head in disbelief as the six of us loaded onto the monorail car. Deacon went to the front, while I stood in the middle and the rest took seats along the sides. He found the button and pushed it, starting the monorail into motion. It quickly accelerated to full speed. After a few minutes, we broke into light. In pre-war times, this would have been a scenic trip, filled with billboards advertising all the things awaiting us in Nuka-World. Now it was just sort of depressing, with most of the signs down or damaged.

We were far enough off the ground that the radscorpions I could see below us couldn’t do anything about it. The ground wasn’t totally destroyed, like the Glowing Sea. But in ten minutes of travel, I counted a hell of a lot of critters that would take a serious effort to wipe out. Probably nearly as many as we’d killed in the Commonwealth already. The only good thing was I didn’t see a lot of super mutants.

I turned on my radio. “Haylen, this is Wilson, do you copy?”

Her voice came back strong. “Wilson, this is Haylen. Your signal is strong. What’s your status?”

“It’s basically a big trap. Probably twice the forces we thought, but not more than we planned for. There are going to be a lot of civilians as well. Ground operations between your location and where we’re going are not possible at this time. Conditions are just too hazardous. I just counted twenty radscorpions in the last two minutes. Tell air units to not go anywhere singly, in case of an issue with one bird. Air rescue will be doubly hazardous.”

“Understand. We have a unit with a repeater on a mountain top. He’s trying to follow you on his binoculars, says you’re going underground again in just a bit, so we’ll...”

We lost contact as we went back into another tunnel. This time the tunnel continued for another fifteen minutes. When it came back into the light, I couldn’t pick up Haylen or Katie. However, the speakers in the monorail did quit playing music and started with a monologue about Nuka-World, which was now in sight.

As the monorail started to slow down, the speaker crackled and another voice came on. It was a rough, harsh voice. “So Harvey bagged another sucker to help his family. Can’t believe that gag still works. I only got a minute, so listen up. The name’s Gage, Porter Gage. And the truth is, you’ve been set up. This ain’t no rescue mission, it’s a death trap. But if you somehow make it out alive, I have an interesting offer for you. In the meantime, have fun and put on a good show. I’ll be watching.” The speaker went back to static, then the Nuka-Express slowed down and entered the station.

“Well, they get bonus points for originality, if nothing else. Sounds like old Harvey was right, these aren’t your usual Commonwealth Raiders,” I said.

“You think? I don’t know whether to be scared shitless or not.”

James chuckled. “Deacon, that’s why you didn’t go into the Mass Fusion basement with us. If you want to talk about being shitless, that was it.”

“Wait, the strong, silent bodyguard type is cracking jokes? Now I’m REALLY nervous.”

About that time, the doors opened. From an overhead speaker in the entry, we could hear a voice saying, “Attention, all my favorite undesirables out there. In case you haven’t noticed, looks like we got ourselves some fresh meat to run the Gauntlet!”

“Complete with an announcer. How touching. I take it we’re pretty much locked in on this level?” Everyone checked the area while I went to the terminal on the desk.

“Yes, without high explosives, we’re stuck. The elevator is powered off. What’d you find on that terminal?”

“Nothing, Piper. They’ve wiped it, just put some taunts in it is all. Okay, I’m on point, Deacon and James, Gwen and Curie, Piper in the rear. VERY slowly. I have a feeling there are all sorts of traps ahead. You may as well put your hazmat suits on, I have a feeling they’re going to throw gas, radiation, and all sorts of nasty shit at us.”

I carefully crept around the staircase leading down. It was sort of obvious that this was the only way to go, since there were big signs painted on the walls saying ‘Gauntlet’ with arrows pointing the way. The stairs opened into what obviously had been a souvenir shop at one point. The laser turrets on the opposite wall showed how it’d been made into a killing room. There were several bodies, or parts of bodies, spread out. “Slow and steady through this place.” I started shooting at turrets, blowing them up. There were a couple that opened up, but were hidden from direct fire. I carefully crept forward, finally seeing a small opening in the walls that they probably didn’t realize were enough for a shot. It took a good fifteen minutes, but we cleared the room.

From the speaker, I heard, “Aw, call me crazy, but I think our vic has something against fun! Time for things to get a little dangerous! Let’s see if she survives what’s next!”

Before going through the door, I found and disarmed the tension trigger. “Here, Deacon, some more explosives for you to play with later.” Sliding through the door, I saw an open room. “Well, isn’t this just special. Looks like they’re ready for a barbecue in here, with all these flamethrowers. And traps.”

James was reassuring. “Nice and steady, ma’am. If we don’t set them off, they can’t hurt us, right?”

“Yep.” I started working my way through the traps, ignoring the announcer. He was complaining about how slow we were going. We made it around to a set of stairs, taking out more traps, to find a very rickety pathway next to some windows. “You know if you step on the boards, they’re going to fall. I’ll show you how to cross this, and fuck with their plans.” I carefully turned sideways, then got on my tip toes. Using my hands to balance myself on the ledge of the window frame, I made it passed the trap. Once by it, I cleared some more traps while everyone else followed me.

“Doesn’t matter what you do, the Gauntlet always wins, bitch! Hope someone brought their Radaway, ‘cause our little vic is about to get roasted like a squirrel on a stick!”

“I’ll go first, clear the traps. This power armor is even better than a hazmat suit, I can see what the readings would be if none of us had protection. And I’m picking up WAY less than any of you, so scoot back down the hall a bit. Are our personal radios working fine?” They all checked in that way. “Good. I’ll call you with directions and what you’ll need to do. I’m guessing it’ll be at a dead run, to avoid too many rads.”

I headed out, disarming half a dozen more small traps, winding my way through a corridor lined with radioactive barrels. I found three doors before me, but remembered the layout and opened the left one, which led through and down a stairwell. There was another door at the bottom of the stairs. Through the glass ceiling of the concourse, I could see the park further ahead. “Okay, haul ass, folks, the way should be clear.”

It only took a couple of minutes for them to catch up to me, so I opened the next door. Once through it, I started down another stairway. There were more than a dozen machine gun turrets lining the walls. I saw at the other end of the room a clapping monkey. I knew all about how those little bastards could trigger traps, and put a single round through it.

“Looks like our little vic wised up! Last time we’ll see that happen!”

I stopped for a moment. “Everyone okay? Curie, I saw you limping, what’s wrong?”

“I was clumsy. I slipped on a piece of rubbish and twisted my ankle. It is sore, but it will not slow me down.”

“What do we look like on radiation exposure?”

“I’d just as soon not deal with Radaway right now, if we don’t need to. I would suggest a brief stop for a drink, though,” Deacon suggested.

“Sounds good. Ten minutes, only half of us out of gear at any one time. Curie, Piper, Deacon, first. See about wrapping her ankle.” It just was a sprain, not worth using a Stimpak on at this point. After we switched, all of us getting a drink, we got ready to continue through the maze. While I was out of my armor, I double checked the terminal nearby, using it to permanently disable the turrets.

Once we were done, then through the next door, I was surprised at how many generators were in the next room. But I shouldn’t have been, it took a lot of power to run things. Of course, these weren’t working now. I started working my way through it, finding a few critters and traps. There was one cute trap, an alien figure with a laser. Other than a couple of small explosives, there really wasn’t too much hassle.

The door at the end of things opened and a turret opened up. I heard a couple of bullets ping off my armor before I shot it. “Well, that was interesting. I could see where this would get someone without protection. Let’s see what we’ve got next.”

Next turned out to be a tunnel full of trailers. “Oh, hell, no. Everyone, back up. Into the generator room.”

“What’s up, boss?”

“I’m going to invest a grenade. Let’s see what happens when I trip ALL of their traps at once. I saw at least twenty mines in the tunnels, along with a shit ton of explosives. I’ll be coming back this way rather fast, so stay clear, okay?” They nodded, taking up positions to handle whatever kind of blast happened.

I pulled the pin and gave the grenade a big toss, turning and running before it even hit the ground. The fireball didn’t actually make it back to where we were, but the rumbling from mines exploding continued for several minutes. When things finally settled down, I led the way through. My suit had air filters, to remove the noxious gases, and their hazmat suits had something similar. Several small fires still burned in places, but all the mines were clear.

The room beyond, where the tunnel started climbing again, had originally had a series of boards on pillars. Half of them had fallen from the explosions. And the explosions had brought the mirelurks that were in the room out as well. “Target practice time. They’re down there, we’re up here. Take your time, and get the eggs, too.”

The voice over the loudspeaker yelled, “Get in there, sucker, and don’t forget to feed the mirelurks!”

I didn’t care. It was safer this way. It didn’t take long for us to kill the critters, then safely lower ourselves to that level. There were a couple more mirelurks in the room next door, but we got those easily as well. The painted arrows all pointed to a single door leading from here. I was my usual ten feet ahead of everyone, but made them stop a little further back. There was nothing I could see on this side.

“What’s wrong, ma’am?”

“Step back a bit. I’ve got a bad feeling about this door.” I waited while they did, then I opened it. I could hear the clicks when it opened. I pivoted and jumped as hard as I could.

“Ha! Who doesn’t love a good explosion!”, the loudspeaker said.

I stood up and dusted myself off. “That was annoying. Are you all okay?”

James looked at the others. “Yes, ma’am. And ... nice armor. That jump was a lot further than I expected.”

“Me, too. The minor detail that I didn’t just go through the door without thinking made a difference. I don’t trust anything down here to not be trapped.”

Once we were back on our feet, I looked down the hallway. I brought my rifle up to look through the scope to confirm. “You have got to be kidding. Okay, back up again. This is going to get ... loud, I think.” I waited while they retreated again, then fired at one of the traps I could see on the stairway. It started a chain reaction, with explosives setting off in sequence all the way up. I even heard more explosions continuing.