Radiance

Chapter 126: Minute by Minute.

As the group stepped into the room where the fight had taken place Fuller could already see that they were too late as the first thing he saw was the body of Sarge dressed in nought but his long Johns.

A soft clanging noise came from the next room over and he turned to the rest of the team and placed a finger to his lips before pointing to the room.

The team all nodded and slowly followed him as he silently made his way further into the room so he could look into the next room without being spotted.

As he leaned in he saw what appeared to be a very skinny and bedraggled man dressed in scraggy leathers with the look of a drifter about him.

He was leaning over a large burlap pack that was covered in all sorts of things from pots to old mining lanterns and seemed to be barely hanging in there thanks to the copious amount of twine it was tied with.

The pack itself seemed to have been mounted onto a frame that Fuller instantly recognised as one of the frames that the Enclave used to mount either one of their own backpacks or the ammo can for a minigun and what was more was the frame looked new, indicating that it had been recently acquired.

Fuller turned to the team and then pointed at Ven before motioning for him to slowly and silently advance on the man before speaking with him.

A faintly evil smile crossed Ven's lips as he clicked onto what Fuller wanted to achieve here and he nodded before slowly and as quietly as a couple of hundred pounds of scaled muscle could manage he slipped into the room behind the scav.

"Excuse me my good sir mind if I ask you a few questions about what happened here?" Ven said in his poshest sounding voice which still sounded gravely as a hillside in the Rockies but still passed for human by the man's lack of reaction.

"If you were looking for any good shit left over you're too late, the fucking Minutemen got here first and what they didn't want I fucking got so you can just fucking well............ HOLY SHIT!!!!" the man began before his voice rose to a near scream as he turned mid-sentence to see Ven looming over him.

"Ahh good now that we have your attention would you mind telling us what happened here?" Ven said as the rest of the team stepped into the room.

The man's mouth opened and closed like a fish dragged out of the water and his wide eyes darted between Ven and the group now surrounding him.

Fuller let out a sharp whistle and clapped his hands together sharply enough to grab the man's attention.

"Hi there, you said that the Minutemen were here, did they strip these guys off?" Fuller asked and the man began to nod for a moment before turning it into a shake.

"Well, which is it?" Fuller asked.

"T-T-They took the power armour and the weapons these guys had, I-I-I saw them carrying it all out of there but they left the bodies, they even put sheets over them and closed up their eyes but before I was able to get up here some Radier types came and took pretty much else, all I took was those two mess tins and that rack I swear!!" the man exclaimed.

"If the Raiders got in here before you how did you know the Minutemen wrapped the bodies in sheets?" Ven growled deeply and the man's attention snapped back onto him and he began to shake violently looking like he might just piss in his trousers at any second.

"I-I-I was up there in my hide watching the whole thing!!" the man said pointing to a window of a high-rise tower nearby.

"Where did the Minutemen go?" Fuller asked.

"They got a camp set up nearby, they use it so they can trade between Goodneighbor and Diamond City, they'll probably store the stuff there until they are ready to ship it to the Fort, that's all I know I swear, please don't hurt me!!" the man said his voice going high enough that it was barely within the human hearing range.

"Hurt you? Who said anything about hurting you?" Ven asked glancing around at the group who all simply shrugged and shook their heads.

"B-B-But you're a Deathclaw!!" the man said and Ven grinned at him showing off his massive fangs.

"And? I'll have you know my good fellow that we noble Claws of the proud Northen Pack are a little more cultured and more refined than our feral brethren but I do believe this might serve to not judge a book by its cover the next time hmmm?" he said with a smile that you could actually hear in his voice.

"Wouldn't happen to know where this base is located would you?" Fuller asked deciding to capitalise on the man's confusion and fear to get all they could out of him.

"Yeah it's in the old Cambridge polymer labs across the river," the man said pointing.

"Much obliged, do me a favour and put the sheets back over the bodies before you leave yeah?" Fuller said jerking his thumb at the surprisingly white sheets that had been piled in the corner and the man nodded his affirmation as the group turned and headed back out again.

"So what's the play now?" Ven asked as they reached the street level.

"Well the Minutemen are one of the major players in the region and from what I understand Wisp was trying to figure out an angle to approach them and possibly broker an alliance so this might be our chance," Fuller said scratching his chin.

"Yeah they have been operating in the area like since forever, they have gone through their ups and downs from what I've heard to the point where they very nearly got wiped out but some mysterious stranger who was passing through got them back on their feet and helped them rebuild before vanishing into the shadows," Glory said causing them all to look at her.

"What kind of mysterious stranger like the fedora and trench coat-wearing kind or the shadowy benefactor kind?" Gregory asked.

"The latter and hey you seen that guy too? Fucking weird right?" she said causing Gregory to nod.

"So what someone just showed up rebuilt the Minutemen and fucked off?" Fuller asked in surprise and Glory just shrugged.

"Dont know the ins and outs just the stories, from what I heard one day this stranger just shows up and helps a bunch of people before helping to get the minutemen back on their feet, last anyone saw of them they were headed for Far Harbour on a boat, some say they had business there, other say they just got fed up of all the settlements that needed their help, no-one knows for sure, but they got the Minutemen back on their feet and made them a force to be reckoned with in the region," Glory said with a shrug.

"Well, whatever the reason all I know is if they got the power armour then chances are they got the transponders too, so it's off to see the Minutemen we go, let's just hope they don't have a shoot-on-sight policy," Fuller said glancing at Ven who simply huffed in annoyance.

"One-day people will see my kind differently but I guess it's not today," he said with a tinge of sadness in his voice as Gregory patted his massive thigh.

"Chin up;p big guy we'll get things there eventually," Fuller said and with that, the group set off for Cambridge.

The trip through the ruins of downtown was surprisingly quiet considering the place was usually a hotbed of violence between mutants and Radiers as well as between the two aforementioned groups and well anyone they happened to set their eyes upon, but other than a few distant gunshots echoing through the empty streets from far away there was little in their way.

"Must be the Raider's day off or something?" Yumi said as they passed by what appeared to be an old human skeleton strung up in what looked like a medieval gibbet cage.

"Oh I doubt it but when you have a large sexy Claw boy in tow most people tend to think twice about picking a fight with you, as well most people rather like their limbs still attached to their joints and well not shoved up various bodily orifices," Gregory said stroking Ven's tail and sending an involuntary shiver through the big Claw boy before he danced away and looked momentarily embarrassed by the revelation that he had a rather large enrogenous zone on his tail.

The others simply chuckled as they watched the pair play fighting between them as it helped to ease the tension of being so exposed in hostile territory, none of them were under any illusions that around here things could go very sideways very quickly if you weren't on the ball.

As they reached the road running alongside the river they glanced to their left and right to locate the nearest bridge which seemed to be a rather ramshackle thing that had been constructed out of plants haphazardly nailed down between a load of beached boats.

"Think we should try our luck with that thing or move on a little further on and take one of the main bridges?" Glory asked.

"As much as I'd love to say my lover Claw is as dainty as a butterfly I seriously don't think those planks are gonna hold up for long if he goes strolling over them," Gregory said before dodging as Ven flicked a playful swipe at his head.

"Are you trying to say my tail is fat?" he snorted trying to hide the smile under the menacing look that Gregory saw right through like it was made of glass.

"No I'm trying to say you got a lot of junk in the trunk, granted it's all muscle but it still gives you a hell of an ass to drag around," Gregory shot back with a wide grin that caused Ven to short circuit as he tried to figure out if it was a playful insult or a veiled compliment.

"When you two are done flirting the rest of us are heading for the main bridge," Fuller said pointing off into the distance at the large supports that towered up to hold the suspension bridge in place.

"Fuck me if you're waiting for us to stop flirting then you're gonna be here a while," Gregory said with a grin before falling in step with them.

"Tell me about it," Yumi said grumpily.

"Oh chin up there number girl don't you worry about a thing, pretty sure there's gonna be a nice muscular Claw boy for you just around the next corner, or maybe a nice fluffy spider boy like Malakai is more your speed?" Gregory said in the most obvious fishing expedition in human history.

Yumi simply snorted a laugh before shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head.

"Honestly I have no idea, I used to think it was just humans for humans you know, hell I even had quite a crush on Fuller there when I first met him but upon running with this group for a bit it kinda opens your eyes to what's actually possible you know?" she said as Glory turned and gave a her a death stare while Fuller's mouth simply fell open at the candid confession.

"Yeah I know what you mean exactly," Gregory said taking hold of Ven's massive hand in his own.

"Hey don't look at me like that Glory you don't have to worry I'm no man stealer and it's obvious to anyone with eyes and a heart that Fuller only has eyes for you, hell you didn't see how much pain he went through when he was wallowing in the guilt of living with what he'd done to you and what he was putting you through, but it doesn't mean the rest of us don't have eyes or that it makes his looks invisible to any other straight female," Yumi said glancing at Glory before turning and staring her down.

Glory simply huffed before blowing out a deep breath and nodding.

"Yeah I guess you got me there, I did get myself a pretty one didn't I?" she said looking happily at Fuller who was still looking rather shocked as he wasn't used to getting such earnest and candid compliments like this.

"Yeah and I'm not gonna pretend that I wasn't a bit jealous when I found out what was happening between you two during the mission as I'd kinda had my eye on him since we got assigned but I can see what you guys have is real as it comes, you can't fake pain like the which I saw in his eyes when he was talking about what he'd done to you, the man hurt something fierce," Yumi said as they walked.

Glory folded her arms over her chest and glanced at Fuller while raising an eyebrow at him.

"How much exactly did your fellow ESF lot get to see of our 'mission'?" she asked and Fuller shrugged.

"That I couldn't tell you because I honestly don't know, I know they were capable of tuning in to whatever I was saying or hearing at any time while I had that fucking thing jammed in my head but I never knew if someone was actively listening to me or not, but someone was always monitoring the frequency in case of emergency calls," he said.

"So that thing wasn't just a tracker then?" she asked and he shook his head.

"No it was a subdermal communication and eavesdropping system, they could hear what I said and hear what I heard but that's as much as I know about the thing," he said.

"Let's just hope it didn't let them see what you saw or they would have been getting a right eyeful now wouldn't they?" she said with a bit of a look of concern spread across her beautiful face.

Fuller stepped forward and slipped his arm around her waist as they walked and she looked at him curiously.

"If they could see what I saw then they would have felt nothing but pure jealousy because they would have seen that I was the lucky one getting to spend the night and now all nights onwards with the most beautiful woman in the world," he said with a warm smile that seemed to infect her as well.

"Charmer and thank you," she said softly.

"For what telling the truth?" Fuller laughed giving her a grin.

"No for saying woman and not synthetic woman, you have no idea what something that small means to me," she said turning to hug him tightly against her.

"Well this could be a bit of a problem," Fuler said suddenly as they reached the mid-section of the bridge and saw a rather large break where some of the road had collapsed into the river below.

"Not for me," Ven said.

"Or me," Yumi said.

"Well for the rest of us without any kind of powers or legs the size of a human torso there is going to be a bit of a problem," Fuller said.

Ven gave Fuller a grin before snatching Gregory off the ground and after taking a few huge bounding strides to build up the momentum he compressed his legs making the huge muscles contained under his scale compress like steel cables, he jumped.

There was a thud loud enough for them to hear easily as Ven landed and dug his toe claws into the asphalt and cement to prevent himself from sliding before he turned and with a triumphant smile, placed Gregory down on his feet again.

"I got this, time to show Claw boy what I can do," Yumi said with a grin and before Fuller or Glory could say a word she grabbed them both and summoned a flaming tornado all around them to lift them all into the air.

Carrying two people at once obviously strained her but the smile never left her face as she floated them over the break in the bridge before setting them down gently on the other side with a loud whoosh of dissipating flame and air.

"Show off," Ven said with a playful grin.

"Says springy McClaw face," she shot back with a grin of her own.

"Told you my Claw boy's legs were not just for looking good," Gregory said with a grin.

"Come on let's get a move on before Wisp winds up sending out a search party for us because then you'll see real jumping when we got a certain fluffy spider boy swinging through the city like a fluffy eight-legged fucking Tarzan," Fuller said making them all laugh as they turned and carried on their way.

As they entered Cambridge they began to see the presence of another force at work in the area by the sheer amount of dead feral Ghouls and bugs of all shapes and sizes they began to find along the way, this was also interspersed with a few dead raiders and interestingly enough, a few blown synths.

"Mark one's and that one there looks like mark two," Glory said kneeling down to inspect the broken metal skeletons of the shot-up synths.

"How can you tell the difference?" Yumi asked leaning over her broad shoulder to peer down at the pile of scrapped bodies.

"The differences are subtle but if you know where to look they are easy enough to tell apart, look here see these armour plates and those eyes are different, you only find this stuff on a mark two," Glory said.

"Kinda makes me think of Valentine in a freaky kind of way," Gregory said lifting up one of the synth's arms which appeared to have been shot off its mounting by something with quite a lot of force.

"Nah Valentine is a prototype of some kind, not sure what gen he is but he's most likely the base template of what they used to reach my generation well at least in the mental department anyway," Glory said.

"How do you mean?" Gregory asked scrutinising the severed arm with the eyes of an experienced engineer and mechanic.

"Well when they reached my generation they did away with the metal skeleton in favour of a carbon fibre style which acts more like regular bone but is stronger, for Coursers they still use metal but now its titanium to make it super light and incredibly strong, but all the meat you see around us is still living, though with Coursers they still have a few optional tricks up their sleeves like mesh weave implanted under their skin to absorb incoming ballistics and subdermal micro shield generators to deflect energy weapons," she explained.

"Fucking hell sounds like they really went all in with these Coursers," Fuller said causing Glory to nod.

"They are the enforcers of the Institute will but their primary function is retrieval and assassination, they retrieve any runaway synths or personnel while eliminating anybody who might stand in the way of the Institute's goals, they are not to be fucked with," she said.

"I'll bet they go down just as easily as a human if you remove their head," Ven said flexing his long claws and admiring them.

"Yeah if you can get close enough to cut it off them, they almost always come packing serious firepower and they got advanced targeting systems which mean they rarely miss what they are aiming at, I once saw one of them take out a runaway scientist through a fucking mail slot with a single shot from over a mile out," Glory said causing the others to pass around some nervous glances.

"Bet Seven and Wisp can handle them just fine and now we got Yumi as well so we got some tricks of our own up our sleeves," Fuller said clapping a hand on Yumi's slender shoulder and causing the slender woman to smile and nod.

"Right!" she said enthusiastically.

"I hope so I really do," Glory said extracting some parts from the fallen synths before slipping them into her pack to give to Tinker Tom later on.

As they moved a little further into Cambridge the group instantly noticed the factory they'd been told about and it was easy to see the Minutemen's presence there as not only had they slapped up a load of flags displaying their colours but their sentries posted all over the place, they were really intent in holding this place.

"Alright people best diplomatic faces on and smiles aplenty, form up around Ven and don't give them a clean shot," Fuller said and the group surrounded Ven on all sides.

"If things go sideways kick up a dust cloud and obscure their vision so we can get into cover ok?" Fuller said glancing at Yumi who nodded in agreement.

"Stop right there!! Holy shit is that a fucking Deathclaw!!?" one of the sentries who happened to be a woman in her early twenties yelled aiming her rifle at Ven who to his credit didn't even flinch.

"Whoa take it easy he's with us and we don't mean you any harm, we came here hoping to meet with your leaders," Fuler said cordially raising his hands to show he didn't have any weapons in them.

The woman was seemingly having difficulty with looking away from Ven but with a large amount of force, she tore her attention off the smiling Claw boy and turned it towards Fuller.

"What do you mean he's with you? Deathclaws aren't on anyone's fucking side! And what do you want with our commander?" she demanded.