Fusion Core in hand, and Nora and I returned to the top of the museum to where the survivors were. And from there Nora and Sturges shared a couple sentences about weird Power Armor jargon I didn't understand and I followed Nora out onto the roof as she was going to get to work with the suit of power armor.
"T-45 power armor, the fusion core has more than seventy percent of its remaining charge left... And the Minigun is in stupidly good condition." Nora listened more to herself than anything as the sharp sounds of gun and laser fire rang out, and Preston kept the rest of the bandits suppressed.
"I will stay up here with a hunting rifle alright!" I called out as I got behind some crap on top of the building and with a whirling noise I heard the Power Armor hum to life as Nora stepped into it after she put the fusion core into it.
"Keep your head down, Jake." Nora's enhanced voice came out of the power armor's comm's system and I heard a loud crunching noise as the power armor hydraluic limbs ripped the mini-gun off its stand in the crashed Vertibird.
And then a massive loud crashing noise rang out as Nora dropped off the edge of the building and landed on the ground in a slight crouch.
The bandits and raiders paused as they gazed at the power armor-clad form and then without saying a word, I could hear the minigun revving up before I flinched as a hail of rounds shot from the minigun across the street making the bandits hide.
Sure exchanging gunfire with another guy was one thing when that guy only had a single shot laser rifle. But Nora? No one wanted to exchange gunfire with a person wearing power armor that could utterly ignore their pipe weapons and shitty rusty 9-10MM pistols.
As such shitty weapons versus a minigun wasn't remotely fair in the slightest... That was perfect for me as while Nora was busy bullying the bandits I had put back on the sight on the hunting rifle so the people at the end of the street who were hiding behind some cars and such could become my target.
Loud shots rang out as I used my hunting experience and I took my time, waiting for the bandits to peek their heads out to aim for Nora with a scope, and the range being like fifty-something meters away from me and my elevated position. I had a massive advantage.
Bandits in the back began dropping every few moments and as a bandit came with a bundle of grenades tied together and clearly fucking high as shit with how he was running out of one of the ruined buildings without any cover.
I shot him with the round hitting him in the lower side rather than the chest shot I wanted with how I wasn't as good at hitting a running target.
And a series of loud booms rang out that made me instinctively flinch and hide behind the corner of the building in case any shrapnel came... There did as I could feel the remains of crap hitting the building and dust shot over my sandbags.
Then a much louder massive explosion rang out with Sturges roaring out. "One of the car's fusion cores went off!"
'Does that means there's fucking radiation everywhere?' I thought somewhat hysterically before I bit my tongue to center myself... In the worse fucking case I would be healed of any cancer that would have formed down the line when I teleport back home. I was still good.
But that wasn't the biggest issue. As the car's much louder explosion had woken up the issue I had hoped wouldn't wake up. As a massive Deathclaw, three times a man's height, slammed through the sewage grate or something to come up into the surface world with a roar I could feel my body from like eighty meters away.
I finally looked back over the edge of my perch with Buttercup's 'Dogmeat' snuffling as he also peeked over the sandbag barrier wall with Buttercup took on a look and whined as he all but said. 'Nope, I ain't biting that shit no matter the scratches you got.'
The worst part about the Deathclaw besides its extreme strength, its thick leather hide that was extremely bullet resistant, and its terrible claws was its fucking speed. The Deathclaw would like ten meters in a single bound and its claws would shred through sheet metal armor like a fucking industrial can opener.
I could literally hear the scream of the shredded and crushed metal over the screams of the bandits as their weapons did the same piss all that they did to Nora's power armor. No, the bandit's weapons only pissed the Deathclaw off and with all the gunfire the Deathclaw was just pissed and going after the nearest person as Nora wisely kept her distance.
But after the Deathclaw tore through several of the nearby buildings to kill the bandits and raiders that were shooting at it... As it was driven to a state that could only be described as 'Fuck ass mad' when some dumbass high raider tried to kill said Deathclaw with a pool cue over its head.
The Deathclaw then naturally turned towards the still figure of Nora who was standing atop the stairs to head into the museum to get a slightly better position to use her minigun.
All this time however I wasn't just staring at the Deathclaw, I was lining up my sights and a loud bang rang out as the 308 round shot out my face darkened as I saw a fucking splash of blood splatter out as the round hit the Deathclaw's thick neck... And then bounced off after only breaking through its hide.
'No wonder Deathclaw's a death sentence to run into normally... A fucking 308 round even hitting in the neck where the skin and flesh should naturally be weaker, just bounced off!' I thought incredulously.
But I didn't get time to think as the Deathclaw began loping towards Nora in a charge and once again I heard Nora's minigun whirl to life before the howl of hundreds of rounds per minute shot out of the minigun towards the Deathclaw.
And the Deathclaw thankfully for Nora was running straight for her down the road, so it was running face and upper chest first into the hail of gunfire that Nora didn't have to bother aiming for.
It was horrible... I could see through the scope as the Deathclaw's thick leather peeled, cracked, and exploded from all the rounds hitting it and then the bullets began sending large splatters of blood everywhere as the rounds hit meat and then bone.
And then finally the Deathclaw's charge faltered by the simple force of the bullets ramming into it and then it keeled over as the minigun tore its body to shit at this point after it charged across the street.
A lance of laser fire hit the downed Deathclaw in the head making it snarl and sit back up and another loud bang rang out as I hit it directly in the cheekbone with a bright red spark splattering everywhere as the round basically exploded hitting the hard bone of the Deathclaw.
Nora however just reached behind her and I heard her call out. "Take cover!" And I saw her snap the pins of the three grenades we recovered and she tossed the three grenades into the Deathclaw before stepping into the museum while I also ducked down.
'That should do it.' I thought as I covered my ears as even with the cloth stuffed into them. I had no doubts I was looking into some good old tinnitus later on today.
I gave a quick peak over the building and yup. The death claw was a blown-apart mess so I headed back inside and I saw Preston staggering in as well with some of the survivors helping him as he had gotten clipped by some shrapnel that gave him a good gash across the waist but his thick clothes had dealt with the worst of the damage.
"You good Preston?" I asked curiously as someone came over with a stimpack that was injected into Preston who hissed at the pain before nodding.
"Yeah, I will be fine. With the stimpack, this won't even take like a day before I am perfectly fine." He said waving me off and I just nodded and I snagged the Perception bottlehead before I said.
"Alright, I call dibs on the Deathclaw hands though." I announced making Preston and the rest of the survivors chuckle with one of the grizzled women snarking.
"What is a soft little vaultie like you going to do with a Deathclaw's hand?"
To which I patted my chest and said frankly. "Hell if I know, but those hands can cut through fucking cars. Imagine trying to talk shit to a guy in punching distance wearing those on his hands though?"
And the survivors stopped to think for a minute, and in unison, they seemingly understood the fact that yes. They would all very much not want to be snarking off to a dude who had the murder mittens of a death claw on his own hands.
I then made my way to the base of the museum where I saw Nora had dragged the Deathclaw's corpse into the museum after seemingly stomping its head in, during the time it took me to come all the way down to the entrance.
"Jake, do you have any skinning experience?" Nora asked calmly and my lips twitched as I looked at the shredded and remains of the death claw and said dryly.
"If you plan to turn the Deathclaw's hide into something like leather armor or something... I don't think a hunting knife is literally going to cut it."
Nora was silent for a minute before her helmet dipped into a nod she added on. "That, and we don't have the chemicals to treat the hide... It's a pity my gunfire and the grenades did so much damage to the hide though."
My lips twitched and with absolutely zero humor I said dryly. "Oh... Don't worry Nora, I imagine if we could find one here randomly, we will be finding more I imagine."
Nora gave me a long look before she visibly sagged in her power armor somehow.
"Whatever... Now let's talk to these locals to get an idea of the land. We need any hints we can get on those bastards that killed Nathan and took Shawn." She spoke and even with her voice modulated through the speakers, I could hear the emotion in her voice.
I nodded in understanding as the sounds of the larger group of survivors of the wasteland came down from the top level to meet with us... And probably keep moving.
"Well well, we got a master of the Power Armor here," Sturges said with aplomb while I meanwhile got to work with a fire axe I took from a fire alarm box to begin breaking the arm bones of the Deathclaw so I could take its murder mittens.
And as I worked with the huge damned things I remembered how the Deathclaw hand weapon worked in the games. So while Nora was talking with the people I got to work collecting some metal bands from a storage room that was clearly meant to be wrapped around pipe or whatever.
And with the metal strips that had a bunch of screw holes, I cut as much of the flesh as I could off before strapping the metal bands around it to make a set of wolverine-like claws that went over my forearm with a metal rod in the middle that the three arm thick finger claws were attached to.
'I will need to chemically treat the claws to get rid of any leftover flesh and shit. But hell... I bet these claws would make for a potent natural weapon if I could enchant them or something.' I thought.
Sure here in the world of Fallout that wasn't a thing. But what if I took them to Skyrim? To Warhammer Fantasy, World of Warcraft? There were any number of worlds that could make these better.
Assuming anyway that I myself didn't get something better for close-range combat anyway. While I could use the amazing power known as 'Guns' for a good while yet.
"If you are looking for people, that are organized and might have taken your son Shawn. You should look into either Goodneighbor. Or Diamond City." Preston spoke and then he explained how Diamond City was the Commonwealth's main settlement and was based out of the old stadium.
Goodneighbor was another larger settlement that had a more wild west state of being with how dangerous it could be even if they still welcomed newcomers to do business there.
After a bit, Preston and Nora's conversation shifted to how the survivors of the Minutemen were moving north... Where Nora and 'I' used to live in that subdivision which Preston and the rest were already calling Sanctuary.
"Alright, so you ready to head towards downtown Boston to try to get to Diamond City?" I asked Nora as we watched the group heading back the way we came originally towards Sanctuary.
After had Nora told Preston her name along with some info about Codsworth so they didn't come into conflict anyway along with telling them which house was hers and to stay out of it.
Nora however slowly nodded with her taking a deep breath before she spoke softly. "Yeah. We need to head over to Diamond City. But this world is a lot more dangerous then we can know. So Jake, we will probably be taking things slow alright."
I smiled wryly and said. "Alright, Nora. I ain't in a rush for sure. Plus... This is certainly much more exciting doing an adventure than trying to rebuild 'Sanctuary'." I said making making quotations at the word.
As the house I was supposed to have lived in, was utterly flattened and wrecked by the passage of the last 200-odd years.
"Now come on Nora, we can follow this road literally into Boston. Just gotta be careful of bandits I guess." I spoke as I strolled away from the Museum with Nora speaking out.
"Also I would feel a lot better if you had your own suit of power armor... Even if I need to give you some quick lessons on how to move in one, it could save you from everything that's not an anti-material rifle or a railgun."
I shrugged and said honestly. "I mean sure that would be awesome, but that requires for us to find more fusion cores I imagine."
And with that, we lapsed into a bit of silence as we continued walking south down the major road with Buttercup following alongside me.
It wasn't just us lacking anything to discuss but more along the lines of Nora and I both being hyper-vigilant of some random asshole coming out of any of the abandoned homes and destroyed trucks to shoot us or something.
But we made it unmolested for a couple of miles where we reached a nice little diner and my lips twitched seeing canon no matter what was seemingly going to be followed. As while we made our way over to the Drumlin Diner, we from like dozens of yards away could hear people arguing.
"Your boy owes us money lady! He took our product and now he owes his due." A man yelled as he took cover beside a decrepit car that was outside the diner alongside his bodyguard.
"And I telling ya, we ain't paying you shit! You got my boy hooked on your poison and I ain't enabling that!" A female voice yelled back.
"Jake, stay back with the dog. If it goes hot, I will nudge my hand towards who I want to be shot." Nora spoke calmly as she in her power armor stomped forward making me sigh before I hid behind a tree and got ready as Nora's form got both the diner's occupant's attention along with the chem dealer.
'I hope Nora doesn't want to kill Trudy... She has one of the legendary weapons.' I mused as I took a deep breath and pushed away any of my thoughts as I took out both rifles, mine and Nora's with mine still having the scope on for longer shots but with how close I was, I didn't need the scope for Wolfgang and his bodyguard.
Both groups became dead silent as Nora stomped into the parking lot and I could all but smell them shitting themselves as the fucking power armored giant strolled into their argument with a fucking minigun in hand...
I watched as both groups took turns talking to Nora and after a moment Nora did what I expected and gave a little hand wave at Wolfgang before turning to the side as though to talk with Judy again.
And with a loud cracking noise, I landed an upper body hit from the thirty yards I was away at with a large splash of blood shooting out from behind him as he spun and fell to the ground.
Nora then took out her 10MM pistol from her side and then with one hand... One power armor hand she shot the other chem dealer four times within like three seconds of myself making my own shot.
Nora didn't look back at me, she just went over to the corpses of the two and then smashed her power armor boots into what looked like their heads to double-tap their squirming forms and then she looked at their guns and brought them over to the diner.
A minute later as I came around the corner a bit to get a bead on what was going on in the diner I saw Nora wave me over subtly so I came over to the diner only to hear arguing breaking out loudly.
As the son of Trudy, who I honestly couldn't for the life of me remember his name. Was screaming at his mother for killing his dealer.
Apparently being a 'Jet' addict made you the equivalent of a meth junkie and he was looking... Real fuckin twitchy honestly.
"Anyway, yeah the roads to Diamond City from here in a straight path is utterly lousy." Trudy spoke and I saw how she was an older woman in like her late forties which made sense with how her son was a full-grown adult.
And she was clearly trying to ignore her son's drug-deprived yelling and accusations.
Either way I spoke out. "So, we got some extra pistols, ammo, and a couple of pipe machine guns if you want to buy any of us?"
Trudy raised an eyebrow at my offer before she nodded and said. "Yeah, that could be good. I have been thinking about starting a bit of a store here in this Diner, and frankly having a few guns on hand would be a good idea as a humble 10mm isn't looking that great."
So I began haggling with Trudy for the guns and extra 'trash' ammo I had for the guns I looted from the bandits along and after showing off the Deathclaw hands I made Trudy raise an eyebrow and said.
"Hey, I mean we are at like 300 caps for all the gun's ammo, and the other odds, anything you want to buy from me? I mean you can't just clean me out on caps you know."
I nodded and after a moment I asked the pressing question. "Oh, I got something. Do you have an actual dedicated melee weapon or something?"
And Trudy blinked and gave a wry smile before she leaned down and dropped General Zhao's Sword on the table with a soft thudding noise.
"That I do young man. This is a high-grade sword that even after a couple of centuries doesn't even have speck of rust on it! So let's call it at two hundred caps so I pay you a hundred caps" She spoke calmly.
But I just deadpanned at her and said flatly. "Sure, let's take a sword to a deathclaw and hope to win... This is going to be used on some giant bugs or moles so I ain't paying two hundred caps for this. Let's meet in the middle at a hundred and you just pay two hundred and we both walk away happy."
Trudy gave me a long look before she shrugged and then she took out some separate bags that she emptied with each small bag holding a hundred caps apparently.
But now I owned my first Legendary Weapon! And although this one was very situational in doing 50 percent more harm to robots that was just its base anomalous trait. Who was to say I couldn't slap on another enchantment?
Plus whatever anomalous status it had meant that the sword was fucking pristine even after two hundred-plus years of being out in the wasteland assuredly not being properly cared for I am sure.
After leaving the diner and the clearly unstable junkie and his mother behind, Nora spoke with some confusion. "Why did you buy a sword Jake? If you are fighting someone in close range you should just use the shotgun."
To which I answered frankly. "I can only have so many guns hanging on my person at once Nora. Plus the ammo is heavy as shit."
Seriously try running around with five hundred rifle rounds in a hoodie middle pocket... Not fucking fun at all I tell you.
But now Nora had a large massive backpack I helped slip onto her Power Armor's frame so although I would need to remove the bag to change her fusion core, or if she wanted out of the suit. She was now carrying the majority of our loot.
We continued talking for a bit, with Buttercup breaking the silence as he would whine whenever one of the rabid mutated animals was in the area that it could sniff out and for a good while we just kept walking southeast as we followed the road we were on.
Until we reached a railroad and down a bit past the railroad I could see a small storage depot with Nora saying. "Come on Jake, I think I see something."
I followed behind Nora and after we killed a couple of Radroachs I saw another suit of power was standing with a trio of power cores mounted next to the suit of Power Armor. But a thick metal bar fence separated us from the suite of power armor and power cores with Nora humming at the sight.
"It seems to still be in a good state. Let me just deal with the gate." Nora said as she ignored the Robco terminal and instead linked her power armor-clad fingers in the fence near the edges and I heard loud metallic snapping noises as Nora carefully broke the edges of the fences with the power armor's enhanced hydraulic strength.
Once Nora ripped off the metal cage surrounding the suit of power armor I took off the backpack off her power armor so she could climb out and inspect the armor in detail.
"Let me make sure this is working," Nora said as she put one of the fresh fusion cores into the new set of power armor and then with a hum the power armor unfolded to allow her to climb in but she didn't she just leaned in and pushed a couple of buttons in the internals making me raise an eyebrow.
The internals of the suit shifted slightly to fit my taller frame with the joints stretching outwards a couple of inches.
"Alright, its opening and closing just fine. The hydraulics aren't showing any form of wear and tear due to this obviously being a factory-fresh suit. The only slight issue I can see there is a bit of wear around the feet where it was exposed slightly to the elements." Nora spoke.
But I just asked the pressing question. "If I put that on, is it going to violently twist around and turn my spine into a pretzel?"
To which Nora snorted and said with amusement. "Dear heavens no... Those kinks have long since been ironed out of these things. But there will be a bit of a learning curve in running, going upstairs, and controlling your hands while in the suit."
I came up to the power armor. After a moment I took a deep breath and I stepped into the power armor's foot locks which snapped around my vault leather boots. Then I heard Nora call out. "Lean into the front of the armor! You don't want to get pinched!"
I did what she said and then after a couple of seconds I felt the armor lock around my legs and then begin closing around my back as well Nora came into the front with a wide smile as she kicked over a box so she could mount the helmet on properly.
"Helmet isn't attached to save battery. Gotta plug it in manually to the suits systems." She explained as she put the helmet on my head and I felt her hands touching my neck as pushed several pinkie thick wires under the thick chest plate and it all locked in with a loud hiss.
As when Nora plugged the helmet in properly the air supply system kicked in and I felt a small pressure around my neck as the inflatable kevlar or whatever seal formed and linked up to the helmet to create an air-tight seal around my body.
This is how full suits of power armor like mine and Nora's could literally walk across the bottom of a lake or the ocean in an area that wasn't that deep and without too much pressure.
As just because I had a good fifteen minutes of air... Didn't mean my air was regulated for being under high pressure.
Either way I heard Nora speaking out. "Jake you read me?"
I nodded with the sensors around my neck and the helmet reading my nod and making the power armor move in a more expressive nod and I realized that my hands didn't fit all the way down the gauntlets of the power armor.
As a person arms don't go down to the knees like the power armor hands did. Instead in the forearms section which was heavily armored for my hand's protection. There was a thick glove that had several wires, rotors, and things that synched my hands to the hands of the power armor.
"Now Jake, I need you to listen. Your hands are rated for literally up to two tons of pressure with each finger. So you need to be very careful as you use the power armor's hands." Nora warned me firmly.
But I just chuckled and I slowly made the power armor lean over towards my bag of gear and I picked up the now much smaller seeming sword of General Zhao and I said. "Hey Nora... I can use the sword now."
I could see through the visor as Nora gave me the dirtiest look ever as she loudly exhaled in mental exhaustion. "Dear gods above... If we find a fucking Power Fist, I won't even say anything if you decide to start punching people to death in the power armor. It's not like I didn't see plenty of Rangers doing that when clearing rooms in Anchorage."
'Could I get Nora to steal a Vertibird to take me to New Vegas to get a Saturnite, Power Fist?' I wondered before I blinked as I watched Nora bend over to put the other two fusion cores into a protected and padded box that went back into the huge bag.
And Nora had a very nice ass... A very nice ass that was clad in Vault blue leather in fact.
Soon enough Nora got back into her own power armor suit and I saw Buttercup barking at us with a toothy smile so I carefully ran the back of my hand over the dog's back so I didn't hurt him as I didn't know the strength of my hydraulic hands yet.
But I soon got some experience as I lifted the seemingly weightless massive bag onto Nora's power armor and secured it carefully before Nora's voice came again. "Alright, just be extremely careful when pulling the trigger of your guns. It's for the best that all we have is semi-auto and bolt action guns as breaking the trigger was a common fucking problem in the army."
There was some real haunting frustration in Nora's voice as she said that but she shook her head and added. "Alright Jake, let's keep going."
And so we did... As we were walking I obviously asked questions on the power armor I was in which was another set of T-45 power armor. Like any issues I needed to know about it, how could I fix any common issues, and most importantly what the invasion of Alaska was like.
With Nora not hesitating to tell me how war fucking sucked. War especially fucking sucked when you were fighting an enemy that had an extreme sense of personal pride and was driven to desperate extremes as the enemy is an invading army across the sea had logistical issues.
'Actually... Is the Bobblehead making me more Perceptive' I wondered as I felt like my eyesight and even senses were better than usual.
But I didn't have any real way of checking actually so I just kept my thoughts to myself as we kept moving and everything went fine... Not a single raider dared to pop their heads out to try their luck at seeing two people in power armor with Nora wielding a minigun.
Until we hit the smaller town section of Cambridge after another couple of hours of walking and bypassing a crashed Vertibird that had another suit of Power Armor. But this one had seemingly been looted of several armor plates, its fusion core and everything else.
On the plus side, we were able to break into a couple more obscure storage area's which held a bunch more ammo for Nora's minigun and just perfectly for me! A power armor-rated assault rifle that took 308 the same ammo we had plenty for, from the hunting rifles!
"Jake stop!" Nora yelled loudly making me pause and then a bright light came on Nora's helmet and I frowned as with the coming twilight I missed serval large dinner plate-sized and shaped things on the ground.
"Fucking land mines really?" I asked incredulously and with some honest exhaustion from the long march.
Buttercup gave a soft woof as he seemingly understood something was up while Nora sighed. "Its fine Jake, just make sure not to step on them. The mines are meant for lightly armored targets in case China ever invaded the mainland so they only register close movement." She explained.
And honestly, that made a fuck load of sense. As in the game you literally just primed them and then chucked them like a frisbee and they only exploded when people walked really close to them.
So I picked up Buttercup and in the distance, I could hear the loud hissing of laser fire in the distance through the power armor sensory system.
But before we could decide whether to make our make toward the gun fire in the distance. A loud howl rang out and from the surrounding decrepit building came what I was worried about and what Trisha warned us about back at the diner.
As Cambridge was still infested with fucking ghost which were people that had been terribly mutated by the weird radiation of this world.
Each ghoul had darker thick skin and their clothes hung off themselves in rags with their bodies being visibly misshapen with cancerous growths under their skin.
But they were surprisingly spry as they sprinted at us from the buildings they rushed out of.
I dropped Buttercup to the ground and I lifted up the assault rifle that was specifically meant for people in Power-Armor and I could feel the trigger's strong weight to it as it felt more like a normal trigger with the pressure it took.
Nora herself took out two of the several 10mm pistols that were attached to her armor via strong magnets and she began shooting while I did the same.
And as a ghoul who was wearing flak armor rushed towards me, I frowned as a couple of shots from Nora bounced off the armor but Buttercup just slammed into the ghoul from the side and the ghoul howled as Buttercup snarled with his teeth snapping around the armored ghoul's neck that wasn't covered in flak armor.
When Nora ran out of ammo with her two pistols, she switched to her minigun and she tore through the dozens of ghouls while I was being more select with my ammo.
Finally, like three dozen ghouls corpses remained on the ground near us as the mentally degenerated ghouls rushed us to their deaths... And I even managed to kill one with my sword!
Which earned me a judging look from Nora but she just scoffed when I snarked back. "I told you so."
"No point in trying to pick through these freak's rags, and getting out of your power armor is a bad idea with how hot this area is. So lets move towards the source of laser fire." Nora spoke making me ask flatly.
At least as though to point out that running towards gunfire, especially laser fire could be a bad idea. "Why should we be rushing towards the gunfire? Shoudn't we just go around to avoid all the trouble?"
There was the avoiding trouble bit I really actually liked. But there was also the fact that I really didn't want to get suckered into the Brother Hood of Steel's issues... Though on the other hand, it was another free legendary weapon.
And a metric fuck load of laser weapons and ammo should we help Danse deal with the Institue if we go along and help him.
But while I was considering the thought of whether it was worth it or not. Nora asked calmly. "We need to find out what other issues lay ahead as I doubt the city isn't going to be infested with raiders and the like. Or do you want to go in blind?"
To which I nodded to what Nora had to say and I said. "Alright lead on then." As I came to the conclusion that getting a fuck load of energy weapons was well worth the side quest.
But I wasn't going to be trekking across back and forth from the wasteland! One side quest was all I wanted to deal with.
As after all. My world goal here was literally to just send Nora to Diamond City. From there, I was free to head home or I would have a solid week left in the mission time to collect goodies.
We headed further into the town of Cambridge and soon enough we were getting attacked every few minutes as the damned ghouls threw themselves out of the buildings and towards us franticly if they weren't already rushing towards the laser fire or our own gunfire.
And with the tight alleyways we were entering, I was feeling more and more like a fucking space marine or something in my power armor. As I used my sword to cut down the charging ghouls that tried to run us down from behind while Nora took point with her minigun.
The sounds of laser fire became louder and as we came upon the site of the laser fire, I could see how the Brotherhood of Steel people weren't just standing around and being shmuck.
Danse had seemingly pulled several cars in front of the police station they had taken over. And using the cars as a barricade, the four surviving Brotherhood of Steel members franticly shot their laser weapons into the tide of ghouls that seemed mono-focused on their positions.
And seeing the numbers of ghouls streaming in through the surrounding alleys, the fucking sewers, and even leaping off the roofs of other buildings Nora's voice came out enhanced to cut through the gunfire.
"You guys focus fire on the ghouls streaming in through the holes in your fortifications. We will thin them out so don't use explosives!"
And from there Nora took the shotgun we looted from that raider and began using it to great effect as Nora and I took over one side of the Brotherhood of Steel's seemingly last stand.
With Nora clearly saving her minigun's ammo as she used the fairly large store of shotgun ammo to deal with the unarmored and rotting ghouls that were rushing at us.
While I kept using my sword which with my power armor enhanced strength allowed me to literally cleanly cleave multiple ghouls in half while I used a 10mm pistol with a fifty-round drum mag I got from Trudy.
A drum magazine made all the damned difference as although the ghouls were hardy, they could easily be put down via a couple headshots as I didn't miss when the damned things were only like five yards away from me.
Finally, the damned ghouls population stopped rushing towards us. The zombie tide of irradiated bastards was done.
And with the endless song of gunfire dying out I called out. "We are still alive out here, may we approach to speak with the people here?"
There was a pause before a loud deep male voice called out. "This is a Brotherhood of Steel detachment. We are well armed and well prepared for any betrayal so approach only if you have proper business with us!"
Nora gave a sharp nod towards me and we came closer to the outlet and as we came into view and vice versa of the Brotherhood of Steel agents I saw the leader remove his helmet to display a grizzled face marked by battle and he scowled as he saw our forms.
"How are you both in perfectly working Power Armor frames? What faction do you two belong to?" He questioned harshly.
And before Nora could respond I answered frankly. "We are from a vault and have literally zero duck fucking idea of what the hell the world has become."
The four Brotherhood of Steel members froze as they heard the truth in my words and then they looked between the two of us and the only man wearing full power armor took a deep breath and spoke. "I see... I understand then. Alright then, my name is Paladin Danse of the Brotherhood of Steel. These here are my compatriots in arms as well."
After a moment to absorb that information, Nora spoke out. "We were held in cryosleep, frozen in time since the bombs fell and we just awoke literally today. So if we could go inside, I imagine we both have a wide range of questions we can ask one another."
One of the well-armed BOS members who didn't have a suit of power armor who I couldn't remember the name of piped flatly. "And what proof do you have of those claims?"
Danse however threw a look of warning at them but I spoke up. "I am literally still wearing my mostly pristine vault suit with its logo on it. And we got a gun made from the same cryo technology as well." I spoke.
Vault outfits were famous across the wasteland due to how they symbolized a place that was 'safe' from the horrors of the wasteland. And thus everyone knew what they looked like even if it was only spread via word of mouth.
To prove my words I climbed out of my Power Armor and I could see the BOS's reactions of utter fucking disdain at how clumsily I climbed out of the power armor.
But even as Nora held her minigun with its barrel aimed at the ground as a silent warning not to try to steal the power armor. The members of the Brotherhood of Steel were forced to take our words at seeing my pristine vault suit.
"Very well." Paladin Danse spoke up loudly. "Come on into the Police Station, I will share information with you if you do the same for me."
He then turned to his men and the sole lady and said. "Secure the perimeter with the sandbags to make a barrier to stop another ghoul incursion if there is still a sizable population left anyway."
And Paladin Dance in his own power armor strolled into the Police Station with me and Nora following Buttercup, as soon as I got back into my power armor anyway.
Following the paladin into the Police Station he walked over to the reception desk and he walked around the corner and stood behind it with the large table separating us as he spoke gruffly. "Alright, I propose an exchange of information then. I will ask some questions, you answer truthfully. And then I will answer any questions you ask truthfully so long as it doesn't harm my organization's operation security."
Nora took a step forward and explained how a couple of people killed her husband after breaking into the vault and waking her up partially and how one of the people were in a hermetically sealed hazardous suit.
And after explaining how we were going to Diamond City which was the hub of the Commonwealth to look for information on her lost son and the man who killed her husband. Danse took all that information and shared what he did know.
"Well, I am afraid I have not seen any child named Shaun that was kidnapped. However, the hermetically sealed suits would fit with the only organization in the Commonwealth that would have a pristine hazardous suit. The Institute."
Thus Paladin Danse explained how the Institute was a hyper-advanced group that was on the Brotherhood of Steels radar and was infamous for killing people and replacing them with synths. Which were robots indistinguishable from humans with the latest models that had their host's previous memories after they downloaded the victim's mind into them.
That made total sense actually. As I knew the Paladin Danse before me was actually a synth and he himself had no fucking clue about that. As the Brotherhood of Steel was a group that wanted to contain and control the technology of the old world as humanity had proven itself incapable of controlling itself with such devastating technology.
And the protocols, lifestyle, and history of a Brotherhood of Steel Knight wasn't something the Institute could just make up on their own, they had to extract all that information out of the original Danse in either case.
So with the explanation about the Brotherhood of Steel completed when Nora asked about it after he talked a bit about the Institute, he began asking us his own questions.
"I can tell he is a civilian or just soft with only some training and experience with guns. But you, you walk like a soldier or knight yourself. Not to mention how you walk in that power armor like its a second skin for you. What's your history?" Danse asked to start things off.
And so Nora explained how she was previously in the army before the bombs fell, with her fighting through the sprawl of downtown Anchorage to liberate it from the invaders and how she was well used to piloting most forms of Power Armor.
Danse slowly nodded in understanding before he said tiredly. "I am sure you have much you could share of America in its golden age... But regardless, I have much I must also do with how terrible this mission had gone and having lost several comrades."
Nora being the plucky world protagonist she was asked curiously. "What do you need to do? If it's not too far maybe we can help. In return at least for the right to sleep here tonight in relative safety anyway."
Danse was silent for a moment before he sighed and said. "That... A super mutant incursion brought the majority of our issues. They hit the building with several missiles and although its hardened and protected from such things. The face remains that during the attack the signal booster on the roof of the police station was broken and needs replaced."
The power armor-clad figure then explained how he needed to enter the Arcjet facility which was a facility that worked on creating rocket technology for satellites and would have the signal boosters he needed.
And after explaining that he popped the question. "If you are willing to help me do this mission tomorrow morning, then I agree to allow you both the protection of my team as you sleep."
Nora nodded and then said firmly. "I agree. Then in that case my companion and I will take a room, keep out of your team's way and then we will leave in the morning."
Danse nodded in agreement with a small smile on his face as he knew Nora was giving him an out as we would be staying out of his team's way for the rest of the night.
Nora, Buttercup and I then went to one of the side offices and then Nora locked the door and using her power armor she dragged several large heavy desks in front of the door to block it before she said. "Alright Jake, get the pack off my back."
After doing that, Nora got out of her power armor with her stretching and fixing her slightly matted hair as I took a bit more time getting out of my own power armor.
"You know what's going to suck about being in the apocalypse," I said suddenly as I took out a couple of the bottles of water I had from the vault and tossed one over to Nora.
She raised an eyebrow and I said flatly. "The fact that clean, non-irradiated water is so damned rare means that a shower is out of the fucking question."
"Fuck you, Jake." Nora snapped making me chuckle at the actual heat in her voice.
"No, you won't coward!" I snapped back with her actually boggling at me as shamelessly drank the sweet nectar that was clean fucking water after a long day.
A snort rang out of the woman as she angrily drank her water leaving us in some silence while I took out some 'clean' water I bought from Trudy to give to Buttercup as well with the dog lapping it up as I made him a little bed out of the threadbare remains of a couch's cushions I moved onto the floor.
After a minute of silence, Nora spoke quietly. "Don't tell anyone about the vault anymore Jake... In case I can't find Shaun or if I die. You and I can go back there and live with clean water and power even if you will need to find some way to get food if something happens to me."
I gave Nora a long look and I took a deep breath before I came over to Nora and sat down in front of the previously so confident woman who had brought her knees up to her chest as she leaned up against a wall.
"You alright Nora?" I asked quietly.
And she remained silent for a couple of minutes while I sat there patiently until Nora took a shaky breath and said wetly. "No Jake, I am not ok. My entire life has been utterly uprooted, I was supposed to give a damned speech about the war to the veterans award ceremony the night the bombs fell."
I heard a thump as her head hit the wall behind her as she stared up past me and into the ceiling as she continued. "I fucking lost everything. My husband, who I snagged right of getting out of service who put my ass back together after the war ended is dead. My son who I love more than anything was stolen, probably by some evil super technology organization..."
"And the only tie I have left to my old life is you, a guy who is as green as it comes and barely older than a fucking teenager."
My lips twitched at how Nora summed up her fucking terrible day and honestly, I couldn't blame her. Literally, the only reason I was so calm was that I knew that all this? It wasn't fucking the end for me. I could leave this shithole and this was just a 'vacation' for me.
So I brushed a hand across my face as I said with a sigh. "Just gotta take shit one day at a time Nora. You kept my ass from getting shot or worse, you are going to find Shaun, I promise. And then whatever happens we will live afterwards one day at a time."
Nora was quiet for a long while before she said tiredly. "Alright alright. Stop being so sappy. Now get some sleep, we obviously are going to be having another long day tomorrow. The Arcjet facility is likely going to be protected by machines from the war if it hasn't been looted alreadly."
So going around the office room I grabbed some more threadbare cushions to make my life more comfortable and then I threw some plastic over the cushions to protect myself hopefully from any bugs in the cushions as I tried to get some sleep.
And sleep did not come easy despite my exhaustion. Every creak of the rotting floors and building made me think a dog-sized radroach or molerat would eat me as I slept.
But eventually, I did manage to fall asleep, my mind went to rest... And all too damned soon I was awoken from my moment of peace and silence by the waking world again.
-
A loud rumble rang out as a loud male voice spoke out. "The sun is rising up, please prepare yourself for the expedition in a quarter of an hour!"
I rolled onto my side with a slight grimace escaping me as I hissed at the soreness in my back at not sleeping on a proper bed and I saw Nora looking at the door with a pistol in one hand and a grenade in the other.
And she only relaxed at hearing Paladin Danse's heavy footfalls leading away.
"Come on Nora... Time to get our shit together." I muttered as I popped my neck and stood up with a slight groan as Buttercup who was laying by my leg gave a soft huff as he stretched slightly.
I leaned down and gave Buttercup a pat on the head as Nora took a deep breath and said. "Jake get in your power armor and move the stuff away from the door without breaking them. Consider it a training exercise."
I gave a wane smile and said with some humor. "Sure give the guy without any power armor experience the job of moving two hundred-year-old antiques that haven't had any TLC."
Nora just flipped me off as she took out a bottle of clean water and measured sips to wet her lips and throat. I did the same and then gave Buttercup some dried Brahmin chunks of meat for him to eat for breakfast. As I knew the boy would be running around a lot today.
I spent the next couple of minutes carefully moving the debris, tables, and filing cabinets from the door and I only broke the leg of a single table and that wasn't even my fault. Nora knew that so I didn't get yelled at.
Finally, we were all ready to go after eating some of the rations we had collected from the vault that weren't irradiated. And we met with Danse who was arguing with the other knight whose power armor got fucked at some point.
But the other knight was a dick so I didn't bother learning his name. And I had no reason to talk to him as he stomped off to go do something else anyway.
"Alright, you two. Are you both ready to go?" He questioned calmly and I nodded but then I asked curiously.
"Paladin Danse, why don't you wear your helmet?"
He blinked and then shook his head as he sighed and said with some annoyance. "The fans and filters on the side got clipped from some shrapnel from a rocket sent by a super mutant."
'Ah so he would literally get carbon monoxide poisoning if he tried to wear his helmet without the air filtration system.' I thought and with that Danse gave both our forms a long look and saw us well armed even if with more primitive weapons than the military laser rifle on his hand and the other one on his back.
He nodded and then he said. "Then lets move out. We got a five-mile hike through enemy territory. And beware the land mines, they are seemingly strewn around randomly through Cambridge."
We left the police station and we soon headed west towards Arcjet Sytems through the streets of Cambridge, and maybe it was because of how early it was. But we didn't have to deal with any ghouls and with the proper sunlight we were able to see the black dinner plate-sized land mines and avoid them.
Once we got out of Cambridge we headed down the road slightly southwest until we hit the side roads which brought us more northwest and everything was chill and quiet until we had to walk under a large underpass.
Where a large group of raiders, seeing our power armor-clad forms took one good look at us and then one of the dumbasses who I was sure was high on Pyscho or Jet sprinted towards us with a rusty machete and a shrill scream in his throat.
I stepped forward and I brought my General Zhao's Sword down on the dumbass and I heard as his machete snapping at the force of my blow as his machete snapped when my blow pressed the machete between my sword and his body.
The man fell down to the ground and I heard Buttercup tearing his throat out behind me as I took out my 10MM pistol and began shooting carefully one-handed at the raiders who were hiding behind sandbags for cover.
"Pincering!" I called out as Nora and Danse shot at anyone who dared peek over the sandbags and were hitting people slowly but surely. But I knew shooting into the sandbags was a waste of ammo so I moved around the side.
And once I got to the side I could see past and over the sandbags with my pistol barking out rounds and the raiders realized they were fucked with several trying to flee but them getting up and turning their backs just made them easy targets.
Allowing us to easily deal with the rest of the raiders as their pitiful pipe weapons, 9mm and 10mm pistols couldn't do shit. And their leader who had a Chinese Assault rifle also couldn't break through our armor in the slightest.
"Let's move on, gathering their supplies isn't worth the time," Danse said with annoyance as I threw the weapons and caps into Nora's large bag while storing much of the ammo in my own large bag.
To which I replied calmly. "How are we to survive in this world without something to trade with? Nora and I don't have any farming experience. I was just a college student before the bombs fell and she was a soldier."
Danse visibly frowned before he grunted and allowed me and Nora to continue our loot goblin mode.
From there it was just another hour-long walk through the countryside as we headed towards Arcjet Systems with the long walk only being broken up as Nora and Danse shared a conversation about the war and Danse talking about the Brotherhood.
Finally however, we reached the large factory/research facility that was Arcjet Systems and from there we realized the building had in fact been slightly looted as the door was broken down.
But inside of the facility, it was more of just decay and the building itself seemingly falling apart as the forces of the nuclear bombs and radiation storms hadn't been kind to the building as much of it was in visible decay.
With parts of the second floor having fallen down where the concrete and reinforcements had given way. "The signal enhancer and other sensitive equipment will be at the top of the facility."
"But we will need power for the elevators which will be found where the rocket testing section is. Let's keep moving... If you wanna loot, just wait till after my own goal is completed first." Danse ordered.
"Fair enough," Nora said simply and from there we moved into the facility. And all too soon we heard the sounds of puttering around with Danse and Nora's footfalls becoming more measured with myself falling back with Buttercup to not make as much noise.
The sounds of gunfire rang out as Danse began blasting at what was obviously the synths ahead of us that had already dealt with the facility security robots that we bypassed.
"The damned institute is here!" Danse all but snarled as he stomped on a twitching low-grade synth that was reaching for its institute laser weapon.
Meanwhile, I was silently chucking all the institute laser weapons and their ammo cells into my huge bag.
"Can their laser weapons get past our armor?" I asked more bluntly.
To which Nora said calmly. "No, blue lasers don't burn hot enough to break through the power armor's protection. But with its more electrical yield, we have to be worried about the laser's shorting out the power armor's systems."
With that, Nora turned to Danse and said. "Paladin Danse, we should blitz them with our heavy armor as I noticed the synths have shit response times when it comes to turning towards us."
The BOS Paladin gave a slight nod before he said more firmly. "That is true. Alright then let's just rush them down as they aren't that maneuverable."
We then moved deeper into the facility as we headed downstairs into the next level of the facility towards the underground rocket section and Nora was right. While Buttercup wisely stayed in the back away from the laser-firing robot view Danse and Nora would just bullrush the synths over and Nora would use the shotgun on the synths that were of higher quality.
Meanwhile... I learned that General Zhao's Sword's anomalous effect was in full swing as I carved through the synths like the sword was a red hot knife through room temperature butter.
It's bonus effect agaisnt robots, allowed me to tear through them with obscene... And very noticeable ease as even Nora gazed at the sword with how it was able to slice through metal spines and ribs without any cracks splinters, or signs of the blade having any issue cutting through the materials.
But Nora obviously didn't call me out on the sword as we kept moving through the facility until we reached the rocket and after we passed the large rocket Danse called out. "You two get the power going. I will hold this spot in case any more synths come."
I raised an eyebrow as I only now realized the only reason Danse survived the rocket igniting and killing all the synths previously in the game was due to him, himself being a high-grade synth.
As he literally didn't even have a fucking helmet!
But I didn't say anything as we went into the tight rooms which led to the power room... And seeing the massive Junkjet, I pointed it out to Nora and she said flatly. "A minature jet engine tied to a launcher system. The thing literally weighs like four times my minigun, leave it for the love of god Jake."
And that was fair enough. It's not like I could put it in my bag either as it weighed quite literally several hundred pounds and I didn't want it crushing the more fragile laser weapons and ammo I got from the synths we dealt with.
We moved into the back of the facility and from there Nora hacked the terminal to bring back on the facility's power and then we also snagged a free extra Fusion Core. But as we headed back to the rocket we could hear the roar of explosives as the Institute Synths blew up the door leading down into the rocket area.
And with the power turned on the thick metal doors leading towards Danse were locked shut due to us turning on the power for the facility down here also apparently turning on the power for the rockets systems.
Leaving us to watch through the tempered glass as Danse huddled down low with an arm holding up a large piece of concrete debris to stop the lasers from hitting his form.
More and more Synths streamed in until we heard Danse's voice... Somehow as he yelled out. "Pulse the rocket engine! The heat will fry their connection to the Institute!"
Honestly, I called cap on that but Nora slapped the big-ass red button and the huge rocket's engines flare to lift with Danse holding the big-ass piece of concrete as a barrier from the high heat and flames that were melting the ground into slag.
A couple of moments later the jet engine cut off and the thick metal doors audibly unlocked allowing us to enter the rocket testing room with Danse pushing the large concrete pad away from himself with a grunt of effort. "You alright Danse?" I asked.
Danse's power armor-clad form stood back up with his face twisting as he said coldly. "I will be fine... Some mild burns across my face and thats it."
And his face definitely had a nice burned pink on it.
"Let's keep moving. I am not looking forward to when this burn settles in in the next few minutes." Danse said stone-faced as he checked his laser rifle and then nodded seeing it was still in working order.
From there we worked our way back up the facility and we had to take the sole working elevator one at a time as our Power Armor-clad forms were obviously heavy as shit so its not like we should pile into a single one.
With myself being last through the elevator with Buttercup falling in behind me and looking utterly adorable as he looked up at me in utter confusion and then glee at feeling the elevator taking us up to the top floors of the building.
And before I even got out of the elevator I could hear Nora's minigun roaring to life as it seemed that the resistance up there made Nora decide to spend her more valuable ammunition.
'That... Is odd.' I thought with a slight frown seeing some of the synths were clearly altered combat models with armor plating on themselves which meant our pistols and Nora's shotgun probably weren't going to be working that well on them.
But as I caught back up with Nora and Danse I saw Nora ripping a synth's head off its shoulders with her power armor-enhanced strength. She then threw the synth's head with enough force to crater the chest of another synth's chest plate.
"Jake, watch your fire!" Nora yelled at me and I realized they didn't want to fuck up the machines in the room as not even the synths were using laser weapons either and were using their preferred melee weapon in a baton that crackled with electricity.
So back to the stabby I went with General Zhao's Sword. My sword carving through the first and odd second-generation synth that got in my way. While Nora just picked up a metal folding chair and joined me in glorious melee combat.
Dance himself was using an oversized combat knife himself as his own melee tool... But frankly, I think Nora's steel folding chair was doing a lot more work than Danse's pig sticker.
And then it fucking hit me!
After getting into my Power Armor I forgot the most important weapon I had at my disposal!
The murder mitten claws of the Deathclaw, Nora and I killed yesterday!
So while Nora and Danse were busy using ripping a closed door open with their power armor I quickly dropped my bag and equipped the giant claws that went over my power armor's forarm perfectly with the power armor hand fitting well over the metal handle I screwed and wrapped between the three large claws.
One hand of mine had General Zhao's Sword and in my other hand I had a 10mm pistol with the Deathclaw hand strapped onto it that I could grab onto when I slapped the pistol onto the belt magnets on my power armor's waist.
I was becoming more and more a space marine... I basically had a power sword when it came to robots and a claw addition to my hands. Sure it wasn't a power claw or anything but it was still a useful addition as the power armor's strength was nothing to scoff at even if it didn't match a Deathclaw's stupidly potent physical strength.
"Let me try something." I spoke as Danse and Nora were bending the metal of the door more than anything.
The two backed up and I braced myself before I moved fast with my power armor and the Deathclaws... Claws made a loud screeching noise as they carved through the inch-thick solid metal door that was blocking us.
Thick gouges appeared as the claws rent through the metal with the Power Armor hissing as the hydraulics worked overtime in dragging the claws through the metal creating large rents in the metal.
"Good!" Danse spoke seeing the large rents and after a couple more gashes into the door Danse stepped in and ripped the metal between the rents out allowing us to hunch over in our power armor as we climbed through the ruined door.
"Intruders spotted. Protect the data." Synth voices rang out and I took back out my pistol and shot armored synth leader in the chest with it spinning with the force of the impact making me hum in thought as I realized that the bullet didn't break through its armor.
And seeing more Synths rushing towards us with electric batons I went back to melee as Nora also took back up her favored weapon of the steel folding chair that she could use one or two-handedly.
Soon enough we dealt with all the Synths and Danse went over to a large table that had a lot of parts on it and he secured several motherboards and such that apparently made up the signal booster he needed.
"So am I to assume you both plan to begin looting and continue your journey to Diamond City now? Or do you have any plans for us to form a fruitful working relationship? I could use soldiers like you and as a Paladin, I have the authority to induct you both into the Brotherhood of Steel."
Nora and I shared a look before Nora pulled off her helmet and said to look and speak to Danse respectfully. "I really appreciate it. But I need to look for my son. Jake... Do you?"
I shook my head and said firmly. "I appreciate the offer Danse, but Nora is the only tie I have to my old life so I need to help her see through her goal of finding Shaun."
Well... At least until she got to Diamond City, then I was free to go back home to the Shop. But I could come back to this universe whenever I wanted and could continue from the moment I left so its not like I was fucking Nora over or abandoning her.
And likewise, even if I decided to come to this universe with a team or for a different mission. I could choose between this particular universe or a completely different but similar timeline where I never even met with Nora.
Either way, Danse looked a bit troubled before he nodded with a small sigh and said. "Alright, I understand. In any case, you were both of great help, and sharing the info of that extra power armor to the north that just needs some armor panels will be very valuable so here, this is my spare Laser Rifle along with some ammo."
Danse took the extra laser rifle off of his back and he held it directly at me with him saying. "Jake this Laser Rifle has been personally modified by me to be used while in power armor so you should have it as Nora has that minigun."
Putting my sword onto the belt magnets at my waist I gingerly took the Laser Rifle, Righteous Glory with both hands along with Danse helping slap another magnet on my back so the laser rifle could be mounted on my back when I didn't want to carry it.
"Well, in that case. I wish you the best of luck in your search for Shaun. However, if you decide to work with the Brotherhood of Steel, we will still be in the area for a while yet." He spoke and then he patted his power armor-clad chest with his fist before turning his back to us and leaving us alone.
After a long minute, Nora sighed and said with a wry smile as she looked at her helmet. "A part of me is sad I refused... Having some military discipline and orders given would make life so much simpler, but the path of the Brotherhood won't let me find Shaun."
I was silent for a moment as Nora gazed into the glass eye sockets of her helmet before I said quietly. "It will be fine Nora, we still have the vault as a fallback location. Lets just keep moving."
Nora nodded with her slipping her helmet back onto her head after she shook her head to air out her hair. And then she said more upbeat. "Alright Jake, lets see if the power armor picks up any radiation from the water that comes out of the systems. If there isn't any we will refill our water bottles."
And it turns out that the facility most assuredly did not have its own water filtration system so even the backlogged water in the system that soon ran out as obviously the water systems of the Commonwealth weren't working was still irradiated to a decent amount.
But not too much so I gave the extra water to Buttercup as I knew he was well used to irradiated water and any genetic damage he had would be dealt with when I took him back home with me.
And yes I was indeed taking best boy Buttercup with me back home to my shop because he was the best boy and all I needed in life... As it wasn't like I could bring Nora back unless I did all of the events of Fallout 4 and brought her to meet her son Shaun who was a full-grown ass adult now.
An adult who left their mother, and the corpse of their father to fucking rot in that vault as well.
'Fuck Shaun, hate the little shit.' I thought honestly before I stretched and said. "We should get moving Nora, we got plenty of Institute laser weapons we can sell in Diamond City for whatever we need."
Nora nodded and we then began moving straight southeast from the Arcjet Systems building and our trip was all but uneventful until we crossed over the river across a set of railroad tracks and then we both paused as a streak of light shot over us that slowed down and we both stared awestruck as a fucking UFO flew over our heads before leaving our sight.
"What the fu-" And my words were silenced as we all had to hunker down as the world shook as a loud explosion rang out with blue flames shot up into the distance.
We were silent for a moment until I looked at Nora and I said with some childish excitement. "So Nora... Can we go see the crashed UFO?"
I swear if Nora's helmet could express her emotions rather than just her voice I would be getting the mother of all deadpans. But she couldn't express her annoyance as I added on with an actual chuckle.
"Nora... The crash site is literally dead on our path to Diamond City, we will need to loop around the site a good distance if the maps Trudy and Preston gave us are any indication haha!"
"I hate you, I hate this fucking wasteland, and I want to wake up from this nightmare!" Nora shouted throwing up her power armor's arms in frustration before she groaned and said. "Fine let's go, if I see a fucking alien though I am shooting it without any question."
And that was perfectly fine with me. The Zeta aliens weren't friendly to humanity anyway.
Though... I was curious actually, the Zeta ship that crashed just now, was it due to the protagonist of Fallout 3's actions on the mothership? I honestly didn't know the timeline of things between Fallouts so that would be a funny thought honestly.
We kept moving toward towards the east as we headed for the crash site of the UFO and we soon found the wreckage as it seemed that the UFO had landed and totaled a Super Mutant camp or something.
Which explained why other people weren't rushing over here to investigate though I had no doubt. That the Institute would be sending people to strip the place for resources soon enough.
The crater was a long drawn-out thing where the spaceship had crashed through several buildings and there was an actual kind of cave where the scouting ship had crashed into the sewer system or something and had dug into the ground.
And after climbing into the cave we could hear weird vocal noises. Coming into the cave properly we could see the little grey men.
There was three of them and they quickly pointed at us with them making gobbly gook noises as they pulled at the weapons hanging at their waists.
But before they could unsheath their weapons, the roar of Nora's mini gun rang out as a line of bullets shredded through their bodies. While I took a couple pot shots at them with the laser rifle that Nora had shown me how to use.
"Fucking aliens... Did they have something to do with the War and the nukes that destroyed the world?" Nora asked more to herself at seeing fucking complete proof of aliens in front of her eyes.
And after a long second Nora's power armor clad frame shuddered before she said outloud. "Well it doesn't matter. Jake loot whatever the hell you think is worth it, and lets keep moving."
It was clear that Nora was of the mindset that it wasn't her fucking problem and the aliens could be something she worried about when she wasn't in a hostile environment.
So knowing the truth in that thought process, I just got to work snagging all the goodies and after checking the wreckage of the ship I got into the ship's supply cache via virtue of big man hands ripping soft metal aside. So I could take more ammo and an actual alien blaster rifle.
'Thankfully the guns are... Simple enough in terms of reloading.' I mused as I played with one of the alien blasters that I was now keeping on my hip and after looting the ship Nora kept silent as we kept making our way to Diamond City.
Only speaking in short single-word sentences as though scared that any real conversation would make the world bring more bullshit onto our path and the rest of our walk was marked by me buying the Spray and Pray for the majority of my caps and dealing with a couple of Super Mutants, and that was honestly it.
Nora was obviously on edge as we got ever closer to the massive stadium that hosted Diamond City and thus as we hit the doors even I became on edge knowing I was about to leave this world.
After we reached the massive door in we talked through the intercom system as Piper apparently wasn't even here and after talking with the guards inside and saying we were here to offload some weapons and ammo. We were let in without any trouble.
To be fair... We were both clearly fucking armed to the teeth and the people knew that we were probably being honest with what we wanted to do with how we were in Power Armor to protect our wares.
"Alright Jake, let's start combing through Diamond City to see if we can find any information on the man who stole Shaun," Nora spoke and I smiled softly as I heard a ding while we walked into the grand stadium.
"Yeah Nora, I know," I spoke softly as my system bleeped for the first time in a long while it felt like.
[Mission 'Harsh Arrival' Complete!] [User has successfully delivered Nora Valdez to Diamond City while the Minutemen survivors also made it to Sanctuary without losses despite the user not escorting them.]
[Rewards Cryosleep pod blueprints. Cyrogun/cell blueprint, Full suit of Winterized Power Armor fitted for the user.] [Auxiliary loot acquired 71 Souls, 120 ounces of gold.]
[Secret Reward- Perception Bobblehead grants the user slightly enhanced senses.]
And as I felt my senses sharpen even further slightly my vision blurred as I almost tripped in my power armor as another bing went off in my mind. [Companion- Buttercup has agreed to follow you home. Due to it being a simple animal companion, it will be washed off of all parasites, diseases, cancer, and other ailments it has.]
My heavy footfalls met the ground with a heavy noise as I gazed at the area around me and I took in my surrounding shop area with a feeling of relief along with a heat in my body as the shop healed me of any damage I had taken from inside the Fallout universe.
With Buttercup groaning and rolling across the ground as I stepped out of the power armor in a bit of a rush as I could hear soft popping noises within the dog as its many... Many genetic issues were fixed apparently.
"Well I am home," I muttered as I pulled my gear into the back room with Buttercups toenails clipping along the ground as he followed me into the background.
After stashing away my Power Armor and summoning the loot from the mission rewards itself I just slumped into my stool with Buttercup standing up on his hind legs as he shoved his head between my arms to brush his moist nose across my face.
"Alright alright boy, I am alright." I said exhaling as I moved my arms and just rested my nose on the brow between the dogs eyes.
I gave Buttercup a good massage around the cheeks and throat before I leaned back and took a deep breath and drew a hand across my face as I realized something. "Shit... I need to give you a bath and I need a shower as well before I let a bunch of customers in." I muttered.
After running around the wasteland for a good couple of days, I was pretty fucking rank obviously.
'I got like half an hour until the store is supposed to open anyway... To say nothing of whether the cops are going to allow people into the store but I have the Power Armor to move their cars now if need be. I am going to get cleaned up before I see a bunch of customers though.'
So I took my dusty and dirty dog to the apartment my shop came with and I gave him a long warm shower to get all the nasty out of his coat that the transmigration didn't bother to clean up which he didn't like.
After I washed him up, I then washed myself quickly as my warning alarm went off for the shop's opening period coming close.
I then got everything for the shop in order, I even put some of the Institute Pistols and ammo for sale, which would be almost pure profit for me besides the small tax the shop would take.
As soon as the large wooden doors of my store were unlocked, I blinked as they were pulled open and the sounds of New York, Times Square hit my ears but my gaze was locked on the people coming in.
"Oh? Well, you all are very well armed indeed." I spoke blinking in surprise as I saw Natasha Romanov the Black Widow along with Clint Barton Hawkeye and the blond Black Widow Yelena or something being followed by a squad of guys in military gear and armed to the fucking teeth.
"Jake, are you open to doing business?" Hawkeye asked with a small welcoming grin and I raised an eyebrow before shrugging as I noticed the police lines and barricades were pulled back and a group of civilians and people wearing face masks and coverings being prepared to come in.
"Yup, you guys aren't making me come out to destroy the police barricades. So I am more than happy to do business, so come on in then." I spoke as I stepped back to allow the group to enter the shop.