Fallout 3 - Beautiful Stranger

Chapter 24 Part 1

Patience stared down into the basement, shining her Pip-Boy's flashlight into the darkness as Vincent worked upon the power armour. He had already sent up the mini-gun and ammunition, via the pulley and harness stolen from the Brotherhood of Steel. Before that he had taken the dog tags from the dead Knight and covered her with a scrap of material found in the dark.

"Are you sure we can get that out of there?" She called as he attached ropes onto the hook points on the shoulders of the armour. "It looks pretty heavy."

"Sure. This rope and that pulley were designed for these things. I'm more worried the building structure won't take the weight." He pointed up at the pulley attached to a section of floor above her head. "If not, we're going to have to just go without it."

Patience frowned as he continued working. They had already wasted too much time trying to get the Brotherhood of Steel involved and now even more time slipped past. The fact was that between them, as they were, they wouldn't stand a chance against the Super Mutants, especially the numbers they would be meeting when they reached the Mall.

Yet, every second they took away from the Mall was one second too many that Valrie and Gia were in the hands of those monsters. She glanced at the Pip-Boy screen where the words 'Proceed to Location Two' continued to flash on the map. She wasn't sure what would happen upon reaching Location Two. All that she knew was that her friends were there and so was the Super Mutant 'King'. Whether her friends were still alive was a different story.

She heard a distinct rising hum from below and saw Vincent securing something in the rear of the power armour, a glowing tube of some kind. The fusion core Vincent had mentioned. He looked up at Patience, taking a deep breath, then stepped into the back of the power armour. At first nothing happened, but then whirring noises began, pieces of the armour began ratcheting in on themselves, closing together and capturing Vincent inside.

"Systems are ... good. Everything appears to be functioning." Vincents voice came out of the power armour's speakers, distorted and metallic. "Step back. I'm going to start pulling myself up."

Powerful motors began to hum as Vincent's armoured hands grabbed the rope. It was going to be awkward, pulling himself up, but he assured her he could do it. He began by taking one long pull on the rope, lifting the power armour forwards instead of up, it's large feet dragging upon the basement floor. When he was directly beneath the pulley, he began pulling in earnest.

It was slow work, at first and the rope slipped in the metallic grip more than once, but soon, Vincent started getting the hang of it, pulling with one hand, securing with the other, pulling again. When the power armour's head crested the edge of the hole, Patience heard a strained creaking. Looking up, she saw the pulley's bolts loosening in the floor above.

"The pulley's coming loose! Just a few more feet!" She shouted even though she felt certain the power armour had microphones for the person inside to hear things.

"Stand back! With the weight on this rope, if it gives way, it'll cut you in half!" Vincent reached up, grabbing the rope once more as Patience backed away a few feet, fighting against the urge to grab the rope and help to pull him up.

The power armour had now lifted slightly above the edge of the hole. All Vincent had to do was place the armour's feet onto the floor of this level. One foot moved forward and that was when the pulley's bolts gave way. The rope whipped through the air pinging off the metal armour, leaving a long scratch on the surface. The pulley fell into the hole and the power armour disappeared from sight.

Through the cloud of dust dropped from the broken ceiling, Patience ran to the side of the hole. There, at the edge, fingers dug into the surface of the floor, was the hand of the power armour. The rest dangled into the darkness of the basement. Vincent threw the other hand upwards, slapping the floor with a clang and then a crunch as he dug the suit's fingers deep into the concrete.