Radiance Ch 30

Chapter 30: Road to Nowhere.

Their first night in the forest was kinda miserable as with no cover they were forced to camp in the open, well as open as a large overgrown forest gets anyway.

Though to be fair the scent of two deathclaws and the presence of Wisp rolling around on patrol did wonders for keeping any potential predators at bay, not even the Yao guai wanted to tangle with two deathclaws, a NightStalker and a sentrybot.

But after a somewhat restless night the gang was on the move again, though the thing that was weighing on them the most was the intrusion of Number two again, this time Seven with the help of Wisp had been able to fight her off as soon as he'd began to feel the tickle of her presence in his mind, it was like an odd tickle at the back of his skull and it had alerted him.

Now Wisp had told them of the warning she'd given her but somehow Seven was convinced it would do little good, she was not the one in charge, that was Dr Chalmers and Seven knew exactly how ruthless and relentless that woman could be to get what she wanted.

The whole thing had set the groups nerves on edge and they were forever glancing at the sky through the gaps in the trees or stopping to listen hard to an unknown sound to listen for the tel tale roar of Vertibird motors but they never came and Seven had an idea as to why.

"I think they are going to try and set up an ambush for us on the far side of the forest," he said suddenly as they walked and Visa glanced at him along with her brother.

"What makes you say that my love?" she asked curiously.

"Simple, it's good planning, attacking us in the forest doesn't make sense, too much cover and way too many places to hide, we could either hit them from any side or just melt into the undergrowth I mean look at some of these bushes, I could hide four claw girls in one of these" Seven said gesturing to a clump of giant ferns which had leaves three times the size of himself.

"But enough about your fantasies what about the Enclave?' Ven said playfully trying to ease the tension with humour but all he managed to do was make Visa snarl angrily.

"I am ALL the claw girl my beautiful human will ever need, if he ever sees another sentient claw girl he will look at her as a poor tiny tail beta by comparison to his strong sexy alpha claw!" she proclaimed and Ven grinned.

"You forgot crazy tail in that sentence," he said and Visa aimed a swat at her brother's head as Gregory giggled at the pair, to be honest, it was exactly what they all needed to break the growing tension in the air.

"Seven is right, Dr Chalmers is many things, a fool is not one of them, undoutabley Number Two managed to get a look at where we are, now they might not know where we are headed and to be fair this forest is utterly massive so there is a likelihood that we could pop out absolutely anywhere, but they are likely to check for any nearby population Hubs or roads and they will set up surveillance on them in order to reacquire us once we leave and unfortunately there's not a lot we can actually do about that as those are the places we need to go," Wisp said thoughtfully.

"When we leave I could sssscout ahead and ssssee if I can sssspot any ambussshess, they will not ssssee me coming," Riss said thoughtfully.

"That's good I like that, that will help us with ground troops but our major problem will be ariel surveillance, once we're out on the plains we're basically a walking bullseye, anyone of their high-tech toys could pick us up, like thermal scanners etc," Seven said.

"So what do you propose we do?" Gregory asked and Seven scratched his metal chin thoughtfully, the gesture was more symbolic at this point given that his head was encased in a metal helmet.

"Not a lot we can do, unfortunately, the only thing we got going for us is the fact that we know they are coming and we can be ready for them, that's it until we really see they lay of the land we'll be fighting on we can't even really plan ahead too much as any potential plans we make could be utterly scuppered by unlimited unforeseen circumstances," Seven said.

It took them the better part of a week to make it to the edge of the giant forest and other than the odd skirmish with an overly brave pack of wolves they encountered very little in the way of resistance, though thanks to Runs's hunting skills combined with those of his new wife and two eager claws they weren't running short on supplies, the Radstags of the forest had never known what hit them.

The group stood in the tree-line staring out at the Great Plains and watching the herds of wild Brahmein wandering about as they grazed, "I know this sounds odd but we should probably try to hug the herds as much as possible" Wisp said and Seven glanced at her curiously.

"They might help us to disperse our thermal signature in amongst all those others because let's are honest there's no fucking cover here for miles," she said waving her large gun covered arm around in a sweeping motion to emphasise her point.

Gregory nodded, "Yeah, it's not like I have a lot of problems with that in this suit but you guys and especially our big beautiful claws here are going to stick out like sore thumbs," he said.

"Agreed though at least we now have a clue where we're going, it was awful nice of that caravan guard to give us a copy of that map they were using to help us get across," Wisp said referring to a random trade caravan the group had stumbled across two days ago that was heading to New Vegas via way of Zion, the two groups had exchanged information to help one another, well the humans had, the non-humans of the group had taken cover in the giant ferns as to not trigger a misunderstanding and start a firefight.

In exchange for information on a quick way through Zion and two New Vegas which had been happily given by Runs and the rest of them, the caravanners had given the group an updated map for Seven's pipboy that would lead them across the great plains and down into either the Capital wasteland or to Boston.

The map also detailed a great many ranches and ghost towns on the plains that the team could use for rest stops if they wanted, though the old grizzled trader leading the caravan had warned Seven about a particular town about forty or so miles from here that he swore was haunted, spun them a tale about hearing odd noises there all night that didn't sound like Ghouls or any other creature he'd encountered on his many travels.

Though Seven was curious he wasn't all that worried, whatever mystery creature it was that was hiding in the abandoned ranch town it wasn't likely to be stupid enough to tangle with two angry claws, a NightStalker, a heavily armed sentrybot and a collection of armed humans but given that the town was on the route that they plotted through the plains they had decided to stop in and take a look, he figured that if the stories were enough to give seasoned caravanners pause for thought it might just do the same to others meaning there might be useful kit still there as the stories might put off would-be treasure hunters or scavengers.

So with much anxiety building about the trek across the open, the group set off, taking their first steps onto the vast open wilderness that was the Great Plains.

The large twin-headed Brahmein herds that roamed the plains were more than a little wary of the three apex predators what were wandering in their midst so Visa, Ven and Riss did their best to appear non-threatening as to not spook the huge bovines so that they didn't start a stampede which would have been incredibly bad for everyone, plus it would have lit up their position like a massive shining beacon to anyone watching the plains.

So it was a lot of careful steps and single file movement as they moved between the massive herds that seemed to be hundreds deep for some of them, the large bovine thanks to a radiation mutation were all born with two heads just like the Radstags, this means that while one head grazed the other could keep a lookout for predators, they were also pretty much five to six hundred pounds of solid muscle that could really do some damage if it got moving with any speed, so careful steps were way of things now.

They'd made it a grand total of thirty miles into the plains when they heard them, it started off as a low buzzing noise that very quickly became a deep growling roar in the distance, "They are fucking coming, we need to get out of sight now!!" Seven yelled and the group nodded looking around as the brahmein began to lift their heads to try and locate the source of the strange noise.

"But where?" Visa yelled.

"The ghost town is less than ten miles from here, I say we make a run for it, it's our best chance, fuck, it's our only chance, we stay out here and we're as good as dead" Seven said.

"We can cover the ground a lot faster than you, you'll have to ride us" Ven yelled and Seven looked at Visa but before he could say a word she simply nodded at him.

"Yes I can carry you and that tin suit of yours that distance I did it once already and you were out cold then" she snarled and Seven nodded.

"Alright, humans mount up, non-humans giddy up I guess?' he said.

As it turned out the Enclave was not fucking about this time, it took them a couple of miles to catch up with the fleeing group but as soon as the four vertibirds drew into range they opened up on the group with heavy weapons fire from the mounted guns, though by the way, they were aiming they were going for the non-human targets.

The group split up and separated, zig-zagging about to present smaller and harder to pin down targets as bullet trails ripped up the dirt in their wake, tearing huge clods of earth out of the ground and sending grass and dirt in every direction as the mounted miniguns sent trails of hot death down on them.

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It also happened that Wisp learned a new trick during this time, she'd discovered that she could roll in one direction and fire in a totally different one if she used her ground mapping radar sensors to map her path, she'd been trying to figure out how to use the thing since she'd inhabited this body, but now on the open grounds she'd actually figured it out, this allowed her to keep following the group but also to turn and lay down a barrage of gunfire on the circling vertibirds.

This resulted in two of the vertibirds taking a barrage of hits from the high energy laser weapons, one peeled off with its engines smoking, the other didn't manage to bail out of the way in time before turning into a ball of flames and plummeting into the ground like a fucking meteor.

Unfortunately, this also drew the of the other two vertibirds who decided to focus their fire on the rather manoeuvrable sentrybot and it didn't take them long to zero her in, the result was they unleashed an absolute torrent of fire down on her head and riddled her metal body with a plethora of smoking holes.

The result was Wisp's fusion cores began to meltdown, "Fuck time to bail out, ahh fuck" Wisp yelled and with that she left the sentrybot and flew after the group before thirty seconds had gone by the sentrybot erupted into a huge ball of flames that sent a mushroom cloud rocketing into the sky and bathing the area all around it in a nuclear fire which set a large section of the grass alight with good old regular fire.

The odd benefit of this was that it distracted the two remaining vertibirds as they tried to get out of the blast zone but also it fried their thermal sensors temporarily blinding them.

Wisp sailed into Seven's head as he rode Visa towards the town that had appeared ahead of them, "Sorry for the tag-along but the bot is toast" she exclaimed into Seven's mind.

"Don't worry about it I'm just glad you're ok, that scared the living fuck out of me" Seven exclaimed aloud.

"Sorry bout that, hang on I got an idea of how I might be able to even the odds here, I'll be right back," Wisp said and before Seven could say a word Wisp shout out of his head and into the air.

The two vertibirds were circling around to make another pass at the team, one was going right and the other left, Wisp didn't have time to take them both on before they reached them so she just picked one and headed left as it was slightly closer.

Wisp shot up into the side door of the aircraft and immediately startled the eight power armoured Enclave soldiers riding in the back, but while they swatted at her aimlessly she shot forwards and right up the pilot's nose.

"Ahhhhhhh!!! It's in my head!!! Get it out!!! Get it out!!!" the pilot screamed as Wisp played merry hell with his senses sending them haywire and blinding him, the result was that the freaked out pilot put the Vertibird into a steep dive towards the ground and when she was certain he couldn't recover it Wisp bailed out.

As Wisp re-entered Seven's head the Vertibird smashed nose-first into the ground and exploded in a ball of flames sending yet another mushroom cloud skywards, "Whooo! Don't know what the fuck you just did girl but fucking well done!!" Seven yelled as the team breached the edge of the town.

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The town itself looked like it was part ranch and part town, large wooden buildings spread out around the little ranch town, "Over there!! Get inside!!" Seven yelled pointing towards what appeared to be an old courthouse which indecently seemed to be the only stone building in the entire place which would be able to shield them from gunfire when compared to the old rotted wooden ones all around them.

Infact the only part of the building that was made of wood was the large front doors that Ven promptly kicked in with a tremendous crash that echoed through the whole place, they piled inside and all the humans promptly dismounted their non-humans and began checking them for injuries.

Once he was satisfied that Visa had sustained no injuries and was merely just tired Seven began organizing the defence, "Gregory get upstairs and start giving us an eye on the bastards, force them into cover if you can but don't draw too much fire" he yelled and the stealth suited human nodded and vanished taking his rifle with him.

"Visa, Ven I know you guys are tired and you've done a fucking amazing job but we need one last push from you guys, think you got it in you?" he asked looking at them both.

Both claws glanced at one another and nodded, "We will follow you anywhere my love, till the bitter end" Visa said lovingly stroking the side of Seven's helmeted head and he gripped her long clawed hand against his head and nodded.

"Alright then, we're going to have to get creative here, we need to avoid open ground as much as possible, we get caught in the open here and we're toast, so we need to split em up and hit them while their vulnerable, so ok here's the plan" Seven and he rapidly outlined what he wanted each of them to do.

As he predicted the Vertibird touched down just outside the town and started dropping off its personnel, once it was done Wisp flew back inside to Seven's head and reported what she'd seen, she also reported something worrying about the troops she'd seen on the ground, there were eight Enclave heavy assault troops, each armed with heavy weapons, but there was one that simply didn't fit.

"Ok he must be a commander or something, doesn't change the plan, the first thing we need to do is to take out their air support, we either need that Vertibird gone or on the ground, think you can do it?" Seven asked.

"Yeah I can do it can't kill me I'm a cloud," she said and with that, she shot off in the direction of the circling Vertibird.

From above them the sound of sniper fire could be heard suddenly as Gregory opened up on the troopers making them get into cover, "Alright time to work people lets do this" Seven said and with that he, the two claws and Riss went out of the doors each heading a different direction between the houses and other buildings.

It seemed that the pilot of this Vertibird was a lot better than the one that Wisp previously attacked because when she shot inside and attacked the pilot rather than spin out of control he somehow managed to put it on the ground, a lot rougher of a landing than the craft would have liked but it was whole and down.

While Wisp kept him distracted Riss crept aboard and after dispatching the door gunner with a single swift bite to the throat she turned and grabbed the pilot's head in both her hands snapping his neck like a twig in her large hands.

With the Vertibird grounded the Enclave troops on the ground had no eyes in the sky so they now had no idea where Seven and the others were going to be so they headed to the last place they'd seen them, the courthouse.

Gregory's sniper fire had forced them into cover but to heavy power armour the bullets were not too much of a threat, most of them simply pinged off the outer skin of the suit, once they realised that his shots were ineffective they regrouped and began to advance again, firing on the building as they did, Gregory used this time to do as Seven had instructed, he cloaked himself and slipped out of the building via the front door as thanks to the Chinese stealth suit they couldn't see him so he pretty much walked right past them.

The team of nine advanced through the large town square which the courthouse overlooked and this is where Seven got his first look at the mysterious member that Wisp had reported seeing, he was a large guy, about 6'5 ft tall, well built with solid muscles, he was as black as the night and his head was shaved completely bald, he was dressed in what appeared to be a mixture of an Enclave officer's uniform and battle armour, though he didn't carry a weapon of any kind which Seven thought was odd.

But it was his eyes that really stood out to Seven, they were blood fucking red.

The figure advanced out of the group and stood staring at the courthouse, suddenly he lifted his hands up and out of nowhere the whole place suddenly just burst into flames like someone had thrown a lit match into a gasoline-filled building.

The whole place just went up as Seen stood watching in horror, he was suddenly very very glad he'd instructed Gregory to get the fuck out once they were focused on him, if he hadn't the young man wouldn't have stood a chance.

"He's pyrokinetic! Holy shit I know who that is! It's number fucking four!" Wisp exclaimed into Seven's head.

"He's one of us!?" Seven exclaimed.

"Yes but I don't know much about him, he had some kind of experimental procedure done because they couldn't control him and he couldn't control his powers, don't know what or how but it's got to be him, this is bad Seven, really fucking bad, you're going to have to kill him," she said.

"What!? Why, if he's one of us then surely we could save him, show him there's a different way to......?" he began but Wisp cut him off.

"No! We don't know what that procedure did to him Seven and think about it if he can create fire just by thinking about it all he has to do is focus on any one of us and we're done, hell I don't think even I can survive that let alone any of the others," she said.

Suddenly a shot rang out and in front of number four a ball of sparks erupted, that's when Seven noticed the air shimmering around him and he suddenly realised what he was seeing, number four was superheating the air all around him, it was creating a kind of thermal heat shield around him which simply melted any incoming projectile to fuck all before it got near him.

The large man turned and seemed to regard the buildings around him looking for the shooter which Seven realised must have been Gregory, he must have fallen back to another vantage point and had decided to either try and distract them again or to try and take out who he perceived to be the leader of the group.