"Putain de salope!" Mason roared, holding a Molerat Queen up by the throat as he stabbed it in the head. "I got no time for games." Pulling the blade out, Mason threw it into the head of another molerat as it bit into his leg armor.
BANG! BANG!
Firing two rounds, Jackson looked at the General, still surprised by something he'd witnessed earlier.
"Dang, General. First it was the Deathclaw earlier, now these molerats? Most people need guns. Large ones for Deathclaws."
"All I did was hold it back as you shot its stomach," Mason responded.
"That isn't normal. Heck, people in Power Armor are afraid of Deathclaws."
"Must be a different breed of deathclaws. These ones aren't too strong."
"Fair enough. The worst stories do come from the west." Reloading his pistol, Jackson looked to Mason. "Is there a particular reason you'd prefer I call you General outside of settlements and cities?"
"You never know who's listening. And if this Institute is as advanced as they're made out to be, they could be watching. It's why I prefer to take the helmet off indoors and in cities instead of in regions that aren't safe."
After climbing down the stairs to the road below, Mason looked around, looking at a turret that had been destroyed.
"He took out the targeting computer with one bullet. He's a crack shot."
"I can't deny that," Jackson remarked. "It's something I can do, but I've been training to use a gun since I was eight."
"I see... How old are you?"
"Twenty-one. Been told I look older."
"You do," Mason said before his eyes landed on something that made him growl. Walking over to a pipe on the wall, he picked up some bloody rags off of it, sure it was from Kellog. Calling Dogmeat over, Mason bent down, holding the rag out. "Find that bastard."
Hearing Dogmeat bark, Mason followed him, going up the nearby stairs.
"Merde!" Mason yelled, catching a mongrel by the mouth as it tried to bite him. Grabbing its snout, Mason tore the creature off his arm, throwing it back as its buddies joined. "We got mongrels!"
Pulling out his knife, Mason got ready as the mongrels surrounded him, coming from the nearby woods, two coming from a nearby bush.
"Well, isn't this interesting," Mason growled, holding his blade out. "Well come on!"
Pushing the first one to jump to the side, Mason stabbed the second one in the pit as it jumped at him, blood pouring onto him.
BANG! BANG!
Firing two rounds from his rifle, Jackson took down two of them, hurrying out of the staircase to help Mason.
"Come on motherfuckers!" Jackson yelled, grinning ear to ear as he fired another round. "Let's see what you got!"
BANG! BANG!
Grabbing another mongrel by the throat as it jumped, Mason clenched it in his hand, digging his fingers in as blood was drawn.
"Putain de merde," Mason growled. "Vous êtes combien de merdes?" Dropping the mongrel as it struggled to breathe, Mason kicked another back as Heather and Nick joined them.
Byoom! Byoom! Byoom! Bang!
Helping take down the mongrels, Nick and Heather fired at them as well, missing very few shots, though Jackson was a notably better shot, not missing any of his shots. With every shot he took, it nearly met its mark, and if it didn't, it still hit some part of the mongrel.
"Merde," Mason growled, holding a mongrel by the leg as he stabbed it. "How many of you baiseurs are there?"
Putting the knife away, Mason grabbed a mongrel by the snout, grabbing the top with one hand, and the bottom with the other.
"Back off!" Mason yelled, pulling the mouth apart, ripping the jaw off the mongrel as he dropped it, it whining in pain, panting for breath that would soon stop.
Looking back to Jackson and Nick, Mason found them looking at him surprised and merely gave them a questioning look, something they only knew because his head was tilted to the side.
"You ripped a mongrels jaw without buffout or psycho," Nick remarked. "Of course we're surprised."
"I figured the deathclaw was luck, but given your size and what you just did, I can see it wasn't," Jackson stated.
"He's fought Super Mutants plenty of time," Heather pointed out. "Never seem too much of a challenge for him."
As they looked more puzzled, Mason pulled his knife back out to collect what meat he could off the animals, not about to let it go to waste, especially in these times.
"Start collectin' meat," Mason told the others. "It wouldn't do us any good to let it go to waste."
"How can you carry so much?" Jackson questioned as they put the last of the meat into Mason's bag. "Even our strongest can't carry that much, and they aren't malnourished compared to the average wastelander."
"Combination of proper trainin', dieting, and having a 'Hercules Gene.' Basically, I can build muscle easier than others."
As they were walking, Mason heard a growl coming from ahead and held up a hand for the others to slow down and be on guard. Taking a deep breath, a familiar odor that he'd only run into a few times before hit him.
"Yao Guai," Mason growled, looking forward, realizing that somehow Alex had figured out how to put his prescription into the lense as he could see ahead clearly, even though he wasn't wearing any glasses.
Hearing the creature roar, Mason was about to put his knuckles on before he saw Jackson raise his rifle.
"Can you hit it?"
"Between the eyes."
"Alright."
Waiting for the Yao Guai to be more out in the open, Mason had Jackson time the shot.
BANG!
Firing his rifle, Jackson watched as the Yao Guai fell, seeing something further down.
"General, I think we got company."
Looking further down, Mason saw six people coming, all wearing familiar armor.
"Gunners," Mason informed them. "Heather, Nick, you two go right. Jackson, go left. Heather, you'll provide fire support for Nick from behind while Nick gets close with his pistol if things go south."
"What do you mean?"
"Gotta see if these are people willin' to listen to reason. But better to keep you guys hidden to catch 'em by surprise if need be."
As the others went into the woods or side, Mason kept Dogmeat by his side as they approached the gunners, three of them in the back immediately on their guard as Mason approached, the others keeping a calm demeanor as he approached. Probably confident in their abilities.
"Can I get directions to the nearest settlement?" Mason questioned as he approached them, the gunners eyeing him with suspicion. "Comin' from Diamond City, and they didn't provide much. Not enough to my likin'."
"Can we get a name first... uhh..."
"It's Grayson. Grayson White," Mason told him, keeping his actual name unknown even if it was apparent what his actual name was.
"Well, Grayson. You say you come from Diamond City. Got any supplies to spare? After all, information isn't cheap."
Seeing one of the other Gunners reaching for their gun and another reaching for their knife, Mason knew something was about to go down.
"Only mongrel meat and some knuckles. A couple bullets for my pistol."
"Alright. You still want information? Hand over everything you got, including that nice armor, and..."
Before the Gunner could finish his sentence, Mason had already begun to put the knuckles on.
"What are you doing?"
"Here's what's goin' to happen," Mason growled, standing up straight as he towered over them, his size now becoming apparent as he had been hunched and leaning down before. "You're going to drop your weapons, and leave."
A few Gunners looked at each other questioningly, unsure whether they wanted to fight.
"And what makes you think that? There's six of us and one of you."
Mason growled, getting close to the leader, "That's never stopped me."
Before the Gunner could respond, Mason swung up, breaking the Gunner's jaw and sending him flying back as the others came out.
"Shit!" one of the Gunners yelled, turning to shoot Jackson.
Bang! Bang!
Firing two shots, Jackson shot the Gunner in the leg and another into his arm.
"Fuck!" the Gunner yelled, dropping his rifle. "You bastar-!"
Bang!
Firing a third shot, Jackson shot the Gunner in the head, sending them to hell.
"It's too late for prayers."
Turning to the other four remaining, Jackson saw the General punching another one, seeing him hold back while Heather and Nick fought the other two.
Byoom! Bang! Bang!
As Heather and Nick both took down a Gunner, Jackson closed the distance between him and the Gunner. Grabbing the Gunner's wrist, Jackson twisted it before pressing his gun to their head.
Bang!
Dropping the body, they turned to help the General before seeing him fight the Gunner. Holding him by the collarbone, the General punched the man in the stomach, likely breaking some ribs considering the force. When Jackson was going to shoot the man in the head to stop their pain...
Bam!
Punching the man with extreme force, the General broke his neck, making him fall to the ground, choking for air as his airway was twisted.
Bang!
"Save that for the man who killed your wife," Jackson said, reloading his pistol after firing it. "While that man wasn't innocent by any means, I doubt he deserved that."
Sighing, Mason turned to the man. "Fair enough. I'll try-" Stopping mid-sentence, he got into a fighting stance, seeing something in the distance. "Machines ahead. Looks like they got company."
Hearing the sound of a nineteen seventies train whistle, Mason dodged to the side as a rail nail flew by, impaling itself into the train car behind him.
"Merde!" Mason shouted, pulling out his shotgun. There were six machines coming, three people with them. While not too many for him, there wasn't enough time right now to deal with them the usual way. "Putains de salopes!"
Charging forward, Mason held the shotgun in his hands, dodging the incoming rails as they were fired, lasers and bullets bouncing off his armor.
BANG! BANG!
Firing the shotgun into the nearest machine, Mason moved to the next one, not pausing to catch his breath.
"I don't have the time!" Mason yelled, firing into the nearest machine.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Stopping the machine in its tracks, Mason shot its legs out, shooting its power core before kicking it to the middle of its buddies.
BOOM!
As the machine exploded, two machines staggered, while another two got sent flying to the side.
BANG! BANG!
Taking down another machine, Mason ducked below another as it swung its blade at him.
BANG!
As the machine staggered back as it no longer had a head, Mason kicked it, knocking it over as he placed the barrel onto its chest.
BANG!
"I said I don't have the time!"
Bang! Bang!
Shooting one of the Rust Devils down, Jackson was surprised by how effectively the General had taken down four machines. He'd taken down one machine with two shots, another with three, used the explosion from the second to damage nearby machines, and taken another two out in a span of five seconds.
Pow! Bang!
Hitting one of the people with the machines, Nick used them staggering back to fire a bullet into their head, sending them to hell. When he turned to help Mr. Black, he was surprised to see him moving to the fifth one.
BANG! BANG!
With surprising speed, Nick saw as Mr. Black took out the thrusters first before stepping up to it and taking out its processing units.
Byoom! Byoom! Byoom!
Taking down one of the Devils, Heather spun to see Mason had put away his shotgun and was now using his fists. She moved to help him, along with Jackson and Nick, until they saw him lean back from a swing from the machine, then swung back.
BAM! BAM!
Hearing the force of the punch, they were all surprised when the machine staggered back. Heather had seen him fight machines before, even Deathclaws. But she'd never seen a machine stagger like that. She nearly shot at the machine as it swung its blade down before...
BAM!
Hitting the machine with tremendous force, Mason turned to make the blade glance off his armor as he punched it, using its momentum against it as it moved into his fist.
Breathing heavily, Mason pulled a bottle of water from his bag.
"Heather... Can you and... Jackson check the bodies for anything? I need to... catch my breath."
"Of course," Heather said, already pulling her bag off. "Do you need a stimpak?"
"I'll be fine. Didn't... get hit..."
Stepping into the doorway that led to more stairs that went down, Mason took his helmet off, bringing the bottle of water to his lips as Jackson came up.
"I'm still wondering. How are you so effective at fighting creatures and those machines? You can't have been here for that long."
"About... two months. Spent most of that time... traveling and clearing places out. Learning to fight creatures. As for machines... they tend to keep the processing unit and core in the most protected places. Take their legs, then it's pretty easy to get to the core... Of course, if you want them to initiate self-destruction, take out their arms..." Pulling his helmet back down, Mason placed the bottle in his bag and turned to the battlefield. "Let's finish helpin' with the clean-up."
"Find anythin' interestin'?" Mason questioned, holding a bottle of water out to Heather.
"A Gunner had this arm piece, looks better than the rest." Heather told him, holding it out. "It's a bit odd. You'd expect it to be in worse condition."
"Not really. Gunner's armor is typically in better condition than a raiders." Looking at the leather, Mason released a breath of air as he sighed. "Too bad it's leather. Only good for defending energy weapons."
Putting the armor away, Mason helped them collect the rest of the gear, giving Heather the fusion cells the machines had.
"Let's get movin'," Mason said, shouldering his bag, holding the weapons they got in it.
Going down the stairs, he almost approached a sleeping bag before Mason stopped them, noticing a fragmentation mine.
"A decoy. Clever," Mason remarked, disarming the mine before putting it in his bag. "Should come in handy later."
Moving forward, Mason kept a brass knuckle on one hand, keeping his free hand near his pistol.
"Be careful," Mason said as they moved. "The area ahead likely has ferals."
"You remember?" Heather questioned, keeping her rifle raised. "We haven't been here in a few weeks."
"Kinda hard to forget the little merdes," Mason remarked, Dogmeat ahead of them. "They terrify most," Nick remarked. "First time I've heard them called that."
"Take out the legs. They won't move after you do that like machines." Coming to a turn, Mason saw a feral on the ground, crawling to get to Dogmeat. Moving quickly, he kicked it in the head before it could get up, breaking its neck, putting it out of its misery.
"Let's move!"
Moving quickly, Mason put his other brass knuckle on, knowing there were ferals and no machines.
Bam!
As he moved forward, Mason landed his fist in the skull of a feral as it moved to attack.
"Got a pack of 'em!"
Kicking one back as it charged, Mason sent it flying, knocking two of them down as it fell. Punching one as it flew at him, he stopped another as it tried to bite down on his arm. "Putain de mère!
Bang! Bang!
Coming from around the corner, Jackson shot down two ferals attacking the General, shooting the one biting onto his arm, shooting another in the leg, taking care of its knee, preventing it from moving. Putting his pistol away and pulling out his rifle, Jackson took aim.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Firing quickly, Jackson shot the one with the destroyed knee in the head before taking out the legs of more coming from afar, likely trying to join the other six there. Not stopping to take aim, Jackson moved forward quickly, pulling a grenade from one of his pouches.
Bam!
Running by, Jackson heard the General punch another feral as he prepared to toss the grenade. Throwing it to the trailer ahead, Jackson saw ferals starting to get up inside and got to a knee.
BANG! BOOM!
Pulling the trigger, Jackson shot the grenade, not leaving it to the timer to explode on time as it landed in front of the trailer.
Byoom! Byoom!
Moving to help Mason, Heather took down two ferals as they came from down the street, coming at them from the north. Hearing an explosion, Heather saw Jackson moving to take down ferals from the west, most of them either missing limbs or limping.
'What the hell?' Heather wondered, taking down another feral as Nick helped Mason.
Bang! Bang! Bam!
Helping Mr. Black, Nick shot a feral in the leg, one shot missing and the other hitting its knee before he punched the creature.
BAM!
When Mr. Black slammed the deceased feral into another, Nick was surprised by the force he slammed it with, knocking three of them clean off their feet. Not allowing them to get up, Mr. Black reached down, picked one up by the rags that covered it, and punched it clean across the face.
Bam! BANG!
As Mason punched a feral across the face, Jackson shot one of them in the head, clearing the ones coming from the west.
Byoom! Bam!
As Mason took care of one of them, Heather took out the last one, taking out the last of the ferals in the area.
As the General began to check the corpses, Jackson thought about how he was clearly trained. It was odd to him because the man seemed to have military training and something else, though he didn't know what. Seemed like an effective way of fighting.
Following the General, Jackson was surprised by the carnage they approached, machine parts everywhere. He'd seen machines stripped for parts before, but that was usually in Ashbourne, where they put the parts to use. Here, it seemed like pointless destruction.
"I guess this didn't do 'em any good," the General said as he picked up some supplies from a medkit nearby.
"Guess not," Jackson said, seeing the nearby body, a bullet in the head.
"The bodyguard robots... guess they didn't do too well."
"Attention, assailant. Lower your weapons immediately," an assaultron head said, its body detached as it lay on a crate.
"What do we have here?" the General questioned, looking down at the machine.
"We're still on track. Hopefully he's not much further," Nick remarked, Jackson eyeing something on the crate at the same time he did.
"One of his stogies," Jackson said, picking it up and handing it to the General. "Dogmeat should be able to track it."
As the General knelt down with the cigar, Dogmeat growled, probably sensing his owner's hostility towards the object.
"Take me to the bastard," Jackson heard the General growl, his voice not wavering. He wasn't going to like what the General did. The bad thing was, he could understand it.
Following Dogmeat, Mason began to get that bad feeling he'd gotten when they first came through the area, and now he could understand what that feeling was. Walking up a hill, he found some rags on the fence, and after picking them up and giving them to Dogmeat to sniff, they continued forward.
"We've been here," Mason remarked as they stepped onto the road. "Fought some rad-crazed lunatics and Gunners here a few weeks ago."
"Mason," Heather said, getting his attention. "He's here. I know it."
"I get the feeling," Mason remarked, looking over at the Blood Clinic, seeing some bloatflies. He could've sworn they'd cleared the place. "I... hope this feelin' I'm gettin' is wrong."
Approaching the old fort, Mason clenched his fist as he looked up at the building.
"Mason?" Heather questioned, unable to see his expression under the helmet. However, she and the others could tell what was going on. Mason would've been thankful if it wasn't for the one emotion replacing everything in his mind right now. His breathing became heavy, his body started to shake, his fist clenched. He could feel his heart rate rising, his hearing going dark. He clenched his jaw as he took his bag off, taking Overseers out of it before putting it back on.
"So," Mason growled, his grip on his rifle tight as he raised it. "This is where you've been hidin'. Kellogg."