Fallout: The Long Haul (RP)

Vic wouldn't have gave his name if knew it would invite the guy to spill his life story. The seed threw him off balance. He wasn't sure what to do at first. It felt so small and fragile in his hand when he took it. When Daniel pulled the worn photo out, Vic saw the look in his eyes. This was a man who was dead serious about all that family crap. Vic wanted so bad to tell him like it is, that family isn't good for shit in the wastes, that it was nothing but a liability. He just might have, but that was when the gunshot went off.

Vic's hand shot for his shotgun as he whirled around. However, it was just someone screwing around outside. Vic watched as he gathered a box of scraps, stepped back and let the gang of employees scramble for it.

"How cute," Vic said.

"Well mate," the guy said, "if you and the rest are up for it, I'd like to say we make whatever way our job entails us to." They were the sweetest words Vic had heard all day.

"I second that," Vic said. "All this standing around makes my blood boil, if you know what I mean." He cast a sharp glance at the zombie. "What do you say, Ghoul? You up for a little stroll?"

Gene smiled, teeth like wolves' fangs, "At least call me 'zombie' it's all over your face. Nevermind that though, I have a few things for each of you in my apartment, it overlooks Times Square, and it isn't exactly easy to get into, but if a weapons cache built up over two centuries sounds good to everyone then perhaps we should stop by, it's practically on the way anyway. Plus there's a matter I had with the red engineer over there to attend to in New York. The big apple isn't the friendliest place, so if you don't want to visit I can understand, centaurs, super-mutants, feral ghouls, the damned zombies making everyone like me look bad, have quite the affinity for my beloved city. The catch, before you ask, is that you only take what you need, and nothing else. My affects are mine and I'd like you to respect that, if you can't I won't hesitate to collapse the building and kill us all. So, that's the deal. Anyone interested in a night on the town in the city that never sleeps?" Gene concluded speech with a a nod to the doctor knowing he'd object.

The young man took in Gene's speech, processed it for a moment and after a brief reflection said, "feral ghouls? You wouldn't happen to have many glowing ones, would you?"

"Yes, there's a few hanging around, why do you ask?" Gene replied, unsure what a doctor would want with a glowing one.

"I'll go, but I'm going to need something from you Gene, something you don't have in your cache. And Victor, if you want to end the suffering of those ghouls I need your help as well." Dr. Windsor's remarks were cryptic, but he knew he couldn't be too specific, not until he was sure.

Wade watched the team discuss among themselves, chortling when Gene mentioned his deal again. The prospect of soviet gear hidden in the NYC embassy was a tempting one, even if he himself couldn't use it, the ghoul was at least right to say before that he could at least study it.

When the team finally came to consensus, he had already loaded his box's contents into his rucksack. "Well, I don't know about you lot but I wouldn't mind getting a nice high view before we actually step off." Securing his pack, he rested his machine gun over his shoulders like a yoke and turned to them all.

"So." A silent pause came as he observed them all. "Whose on point?"

"I'm just not 100% in on this." It wasn't fear in his voice, but seasoned uncertainty, almost professional in nature. Daniel stood steady, challenging Gene. The man stood unwavering, "The safest and fastest route is going around the city. What good would his cache be if we can't even make it there?"

"Oh Danny boy, relax will you, you act like I've never been there." Gene flashed his fanged smile again, "I'm not stupid enough to throw away good protection, quite the opposite, I'm looking to beef up our little arsenal, I can't well retire without being alone to enjoy it." Daniel narrowed his eyes, tilted his head and thought caefully.

After considering it, and weighing in that the majority already agreed, he sighed heavily. "Unless Victor has a better plan, I suggest we go building to building, one ranged shooter per group watching the other team's back, with a closer ranged shooter covering the snipers. The doctor and Gene don't seem like they're the best fighters, so I suggest we divide them, one with team one, the other in team two. We'll go through the city in a bounding over-watch maneuver. Make your shots count, we don't want to draw unnecessary attention or run dry in ammunition. Thoughts?" Daniel didn't like playing any leader role, but he knew this plan was at least safe enough to get them through mostly unharmed.

"What are you getting at, doc?" Vic said. "I don't like surprises, especially the kind that can blow up in your face." He ignored the ghoul's comment. All that about an arsenal did appeal to him though but on the other hand, they would be placing themselves at his mercy. What good could possibly come from that?

"You'll just have to wait and see," the doc said.

Vic wasn't the only one apprehensive about a trip into the city. Daniel was too. Vic listened to his plan. It made sense; it might just get them through alive.

"I'm in," Vic said at last.

Wade dropped his head in impatience, the boys wanting to further discuss, and gave a sharp sigh. Tapping his foot to a quick tempo, as if he thought it was his salvation of boredom, he listened intently holding a sour expression only being conveyed visually by his jutted jaw and narrowed lips.

When Daniel had finished his plan and the merc agreed to it, Wade ceased tapping his foot and exclaimed, "All in order then?" Still yoking his rifle, he continued, "Right then, well following with Appleseed's plan that means I'll have to take with the second group? Wade took reference to an old children's book he read on a holodisk during his travels.

Raising and pointing his AK to the air, as if to make evident his reasons for taking the second group, he took another look at them before once again calling his shots. "Appleseed's only got that sniping 'five shooter' so I would say you take the merc and the doc." Referring to his 1903's five round magazine, Wade figured Victor's shotgun would accompany him moreso better than with himself.

"As for me," He said while dropping down and resting his rifle on one shoulder while nonchalantly gripping around it's stock, holding it as if it was a staff, he gave a turn, anticipating to finally step off after he'd finished. "I'll take point with Ghouly Gene, my rifle will make good for suppressive and Gene, knowing the place, can lead us there." He smirked and turned his head back, "And yes, there's also that deal you need to convince me of."

As if worn out from his attempt to act cool, Wade gave a large sigh and dropped his head down again, only this time in exhaustion. Taking a deep breath, he rucked up, firmly held his machine gun and slowly paced onwards, expecting the rest to follow suit in whatever formation was established.

With it all decided the band of would-be explorers took to the road, heading due south towards the corpse of New York. Fangs, Daniel thought looking at the decaying buildings leaning one way or another, just like fangs of a colossal maw, screeching in deafening silence. It beckoned to them, welcoming them into this jungle of concrete and steel, twisted about itself, the sinister smile that seemed to call to them. Daniel unslung Aegis and gripped the old rifle with mixed feelings of anxiety, and readiness. He could feel the tension building in his muscles, gripping the rifle tighter still. They had long since passed the city limits, and were rapidly approaching the Northern entrance to the contorted grin. Half a mile from the gates the occupying Super-Mutants built Daniel set up his over-watch position. "Alright, team one, start making your way up as quietly as you can. If anyone notices you, I'll take the shot." Daniel looked them over as he spoke nodding to each of them. "good luck, and keep yourselves safe" With that he was glued to his scope maintaining his focus.

"Roger dodger." Wade replied, trying to ease the tension of the situation. He had already noticed the Super mutants despite not having clear sight, he didn't need to see them, their putrid smell was all the indication he needed. Leaning by a ruined pillar, Wade took a deep breath, smiled enthusiastically and whispered.

[size=10]"Let's try not to trip on anything."[/h]

Peaking out from his position, he crouched low and kept his rifle pointed forwards, his eyes dashed about scanning the towering buildings and their bases while he took steady and nimble steps towards his checkpoint. The New York streets were littered with wrecked cars, most if not all in the distinctive yellow that indicated a taxi. While he had to maneuver between the cars, making his long machinegun quite hard to steady, it provided outstanding cover between buildings.

Finally snooping past the final line of cars, he dashed silently to the pillar at the base of the next building, dropping down against the five stepped stairs surrounding the destroyed entrance. He faced towards Daniels scope and gave a thumbs up, indicating no problems during his maneuver. Finding a good position on the steps to set up his AK, he called on radio, "Next."

(Wade sneak check failed) The Super-Mutant nearest to Wade heard the man's approach and wheeled around, suddenly the head of the Super-Mutant master between the other two burst raining down a crimson mist of skull and cranial matter. "Ataaaaaaaaack!" bellowed the other Super-Mutant producing a nail board. Crack! The sound of the rifle rang out across the distance, sound having finally caught up to the speeding bullet. It was only a short few seconds after the mist flew, before it kissed the pavement, painting it brightly with the former contents of the behemoth's head. Turning to the source of the sound the Super-Mutants exposed their backs to Wade, almost forgetting his presence. Gene produced his shotgun and readied it, pumping the action.

"That went to shit fast, didn't it?" Vic said. "This cache of yours better be worth it, zombie."

This is what I get for relying on someone else, Vic thought. Would have been better off going in alone. Probably not at all.

He pulled his shotgun free of its holster. He was ready to charge the super mutants, but he froze in place. The plan called for him to watch Daniel's back. Vic could do more damage up close, but what if another mutant sneaked out of the rubble behind them? The sniper would be wide open. But why should he care what happened to that no-good little . . .

Arrghhhhhhhh!

Vic never thought it'd be so hard to stand still and avoid fighting.

((OOT: I only realized now that my profile doesn't have any sneak displayed in his skills))

Wade laughed hysterically at the spectacle, "Wow, his head just went off like a firework! A large grin etched seemingly permanent on his face as a shriek of machine gun fire rang out, a hail of lead whizzing towards the bewildered super mutants, fountains of red oozed from them as they recoiled in pain. A lucky shot lodged it's way through the second mutants eye, killing him almost instantly as Wade cackled sadistically at his kill.

The arms fire went silent, the final super mutant meeting it's demise similar to his leader's as his cranial mass erupted with an outpour of blood and giblets. Wade's laughter subsided to a sustained chuckle, finally stopping after he relieved himself with a cigarette. Calming down, he exhaled a large cloud of smoke, as he sat down against his steps.

"I think we may have to forget doing this quietly."

((OOT: Righto then, a shame we don't have a co-GM to take over but real life takes priority here.))

((Well, shit. Do what you gotta do.))

((OOC: Sorry I took so long to get back on today, but I apparantly hit it off very well with my sister's friend and I think I may be rethinking a few personal things, if I seem distracted it's because of that, pay it no mind though, I'm just a terrible human being by inadvertanatly having a connection with someone while my fiancee is still grieving her father, and yes I DO realize how horrible a person that makes me for even giving it serious thought, then again she's a bitch...))

"Go on ahead Vic, I already cleared the area behind us, once you're there I'll be moving up myself, I'll keep you covered" Daniel said with a seriousness he hadn't expressed with Victor. Focusing down the sights he picked up on movement, centaurs no doubt, the commotion had to have caught their attention. Centaurs always gave Daniel an odd feeling of pitty and revolted aversion. *bang* he thought to himself predicting the head of the first to rise over the rubble and wrecked taxis, their passengers entombed centuries ago. CRACK! The barrel of the rifle shot forth a plume of flame with the unsupressed rifle's firing. (Guns skill check failed). SMACK! The round impacted a wall far beyond the intended target. CRACK! The next round whizzed through the air, this time impacting squarely center mass. The abomination stopped moving, its many tongues drooped lamely from its disfigured head. Two rounds left he thought, reaching into his gear with his left hand, stabilizing the barrel on a rock. There must have been at least a dozen of those nightmares crawling around behind the gates. Daniel braced himself to support his companions, he knew there was no way he could possibly take them all out, but he had to do whatever he could.

Wade peeked up to identify Daniel's targets, spotting them a good distance behind their previous victims. He scowled at the sight, a group of about twelve centaurs slowly crawling their way through the littered streets, diseased tongues drooping and their faces fixed expressions of despair.

The creatures always gave Wade mixed feelings, he sympathized them as they were victims of a similar fate to his fellow vault dwellers but also disgusted them. That they mindlessly serve the 'Master' and his army is like if his people had fought for Enclave.

"Fuckin' traitors, all of them." he muttered under his breath, his teeth gritting hard on his cigarette he almost cut it in half. Loading a fresh drum into his rifle, he stood up from the stairs."Gene, let's get a move on then."

CRACK! Firing another round Daniel produced a fresh stripper-clip for his rifle. The round found its mark, burying itself deep into the skull of another centaur. Click, click, click click. The well oiled rifle cycled the empty cartridge from the chamber and chambered the last round. CRACK! Another hit, this time burrowing itself through the side of the next centaur's head. Daniel could see clouds of dust rising further in the distance, too constant to be from the Super-Mutants, no, it had to be more centaurs. Daniel bit his lip, they needed to get through this and hole-up in a building until the commotion calms down, even if they could fight until they ran dry, but what then. New York was infested, they'd run out of bullets long before the city ran out of targets.

Vic moved up on Daniel's word. He didn't have to be told twice. He ran forward, boot stomping on ruined concrete, and slid into cover behind the rusted remains of a car. The thing creaked and shifted as he collided with it.

Vic was going to have to play this out smartly. It was always good to have allies in a fight, but they could just as easily become another hazard to worry about. If he charged in heedlessly, he put himself at risk for friendly fire, and then there was that scavanger. Wade. Vic heard the way he laughed when he took down that super mutant; he sounded like a maniac. There was no telling what a man like that would do if he lost control of himself.

All this worrying about getting shot in the back made him think about his old gang. But it was nothing more than a passing thought. He had to keep his head in the present.

Vic peered through the car. Centaurs. Those things disgusted him. The way their tongues hung out of their mouths . . . Vic felt his skin crawl, but if anyone mistook that for fear or a sign of hesitation, they couldn't be more wrong.

He took aim with his shotgun, using the car to steady himself. At this range, the pellets would be little more than an irritation. They would hurt alright, but he'd have to be the luckiest son of a bitch alive to score a killing shot.

The rifle fire from behind him stopped. Vic stole a glance at Wade and the zombie. They were moving up.

"Screw it!"

Vic got up and charged. He unloaded on the closest centaur, turning it's front side into a bloody mess. It stopped dead and crumpled over.

((OOC: If you have some problems with this post, please tell me.))

Gene upon hearing Wade's calls to follow him up the stairs, most likely to shoot down a few more of the attacking centaurs, did not react immediately. Gene had been silent all this time, shadowing his increasingly grumpy partner.

He was armed with a shotgun that would probably serve little to no use. Should they be in close ranged combat with a group of stampeding centaurs, chances are the centaurs would be feasting on a trampled ghoul carcass, together with 3 other trampled corpses that would look no different before Gene can say, "I have five lifetimes worth of experience."

He then stared at Wade, almost about to break into a smile, though Wade would most likely derive as much goodwill from a smiling crocodile. Gene then asked rhetorically and annoyingly,

"How far do you think we are from our destination and more importantly how long do you think we will reach the embassy?

"If you can stay awake for 3 days without having some shuteye, shooting every centaur you can see, we would reach that cache, on horseback assuming that we have tamed one or two centaurs in the process and have limitless ammo.

"Boy, when I was your age, I loved to see things catching fire, getting blown up and so on. When I got older, wiser, irradiated and uglier, I realised that in order to continue blowing and burning things up, I need a plan. What is your plan?"

Daniel hastily shoved the rounds into his magazine, half whispering an apology to the rifle as he did it. Ping. The freshly stripped clip fell onto the rock. CRACK! Click, click. Click, click. The bullet whizzed through the air before removing the trachea of yet another centaur. CRACK! Click, click. Click, click. Another hit, this time embedding a bullet deep within the lungs of a centaur. After cycling the round something smelt wrong in the air to him (PER check successful) "Puny human make commander die! Now we kill you!" a large Super-Mutant who had out-flanked the party drew back a powerful strike with a sledge hammer. Having a moment's notice before the weight could come crushing down Daniel quickly produced his sedgwick knife and thrust it deep within the throat of the behemoth and wrenched it forward. Coughing and gasping the mutant fell back, his hammer still behind his back. "Holy shit", he could only say it quietly, to himself, a habit he developed from avoiding using harsh words around his daughter. I need to make it up to them, I might not see the next one coming. Daniel thought to himself in hurried thoughts, 1, 2, 3, run! Daniel sprinted up toward the young doctor, only to trip on a pothole, twisting his ankle. (LCK check failed)

Wade reluctantly drew himself back, as much as he'd like to argue, Gene did have a point. New York was a hornet's nest not a lonesome forager he could kill without more to join the fight.

He spat out his chewed up cigarette and took a deep breath before responding to Gene. "Right, well it seems staying out here in the open isn't doing us any good, we're gonna need to lose them in the buildings."

Turning his head back to the scene, his eyes caught onto the building across Daniel's. Giving a nod, he pointed over towards it and continued, "We'll head to that building, provide some support for Appleseed while his team moves over to the right of us. Our teams keep moving across each other like a game of leapfrog towards your cache and yes, we'll try keep engagement to minimum."

Looking back again, he spotted the merc a few meters ahead of Daniel's team, he gave a sigh before taking a dash to his next checkpoint across from Daniel. "Three-two-one go!"