Radiance

Chapter 36: Subterranean.

After the good night's sleep, the group was utterly refreshed though Seven was somewhat sore after his late-night activities and by the way, Gregory was walking a little funny it seemed that he and Visa were not the only ones who had indulged in some *Ahem* late-night joy.

Shepherd and her crew turned up first thing and once the group were geared up they set off out of the gates, they had agreed on using the subway so they only had a little way to walk in order to access it, as they were walking Seven was giving Malakai a crash course in using a rifle and to say that Malakai holding a rifle looked odd was an understatement.

The group reached the entry to the subway which thanks to the scorched and blackened metal of the hood covering it over it actually looked like a staircase leading into the gates of hell itself.

"I used to live underground and not even I like the look of this place," Malakai said nervously as he peered into the darkness beyond the crumbling concrete steps.

"How good are those eyes of yours in the dark?" Shepherd asked looking at him and Malakai looked at her in confusion.

"What you mean humans can't see in the dark?" he asked his voice sounding genuinely surprised.

"No, our humans maybe be beautiful but they are quite fragile and limited in some ways," Visa said playfully as she stroked Seven's chin with her tail tip which he quickly snatched and bit making her let out a very unclaw like squeal before rounding on him as he laughed his ass off while dodging the attempted grabs.

"Huh well you learn something every day, but in answer to your question yes just like every Archnakai I see perfectly in the dark" Malakai said with a slightly proud note in his voice.

"As can both of our oh so proud claws here and Riss here, I also have night vision as does Seven in that suit of his when he puts his helmet back on and stops trying to suck on Visa's tail," Wisp said making Visa growl as she cradled her tail protectively.

"Well that's useful, well then you guys can lead the way as you'll see any threats ahead of us and we'll keep these torches off your backs," Shepherd said waving a large handheld torch that looked like a lamp hooked to a large boxy car battery.

Seven placed his helmet back on his head and locked it in place with a hiss, his new Enclave X-01 power armour did indeed have night vision as well as a headlamp that lit up the eyepieces making him look like a giant evil ant.

"Alright people lets go, I'll take point Visa back me up, Ven behind her, Malakai and Gregory you two file in behind them and Wisp you get on Malakai's fluffy bum as we all know you're going to be staring at it anyway, Runs and Riss you two bring up the rear of our group, Shepherd your people bring up the full rear," he said and got a lot of nods and one blush as Malakai looked like he was trying to figure out how he could hug said fluffy bum protectively.

Seven was very careful as he stepped down the stairs as they looked like they were made entirely out of loosely compacted powder, infact the only person who didn't have any problems with them was Malakai as he was easily able to spread his weight out between his eight legs and given the grip those feet of his had were able to prevent him from slipping with ease.

Seven could see how nervous the large spider boy was looking as they reached the bottom of the stairs which would lead them down to the platform, he gently patted him on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs-up, "Don't worry big fella you'll do fine, if shit really hits the fan just jump up onto the ceiling, the Ghouls and other crap won't be able to reach you up there" he said which seemed to relax him somewhat as he looked up to see that Seven was right.

Even before they entered the tunnels the group was listening hard for any sounds coming from below but there was nothing but a rather eerie silence that was rather surprising in its weight, it was like the air pressure had shifted and become heavier all around them.

Seven even noticed that Malakai had puffed up all of his fur on his body of he looked like someone had taken a blow drier to him, at first he thought it was because he was scared but that's when he noticed something odd, every time his fur got disturbed he would rotate himself to look in that direction, it took Seven a moment to realise that he was using the hairs on his body like super-sensitive whiskers to detect subtle shifts in air pressure around him so he could perceive possible threats early.

The station was thankfully deserted and the group spread out a little as they moved through the turnstile area and down onto the pitch-black platform, Seven jumped down from the platform before instinctively turning around to offer Visa a hand down, she just cocked her head at him curiously but rather than snort a laugh at him she actually accepted it and dropped down next to him and the pair looked up the tunnel into the darkness.

"Is it me or is it too quiet?" Ven said stepping up next to the pair and looking off into the darkness.

"Yeah, it's a little worrying," Seven said.

"Isn't quiet a good thing?" Malakai asked scuttling up beside them and peering into the darkness.

"Not when feral Ghouls are involved, you want to hear them before you see them so you know where they are or at the very least that they are around, they like to ambush people by springing out of holes and from underthings, but if you hear them you have a chance of catching them early," Seven said.

"It might be because we've cleared this place out more than once, granted we've never gone this deep before through the city, but this local area between here and the next station over we use quite regularly for supply runs, so yeah that's probably why," Shepherd said coming alongside them.

Seven nodded, "Alright people let's get moving, Wisp you have motion sensors on that thing?" he asked and she gave him a clawed thumbs up with her metal hand.

"Alright, then you are on point and don't worry we'll plant fluffy boy here in-between Visa and Ven along with Gregory so he'll be fine," Seven said patting Malakai's surprised shoulder and pointing to the gap in the group between the two big claws.

"He'd better be when I get me a better body I plan on doing me some cute spider boy wrangling," Wisp said playfully winking one of her lens like eyes at Malakai who even through Seven's night vision blushed hard enough for it to be visible.

The walk through the echoing tunnels was pretty slow going as they were being overly cautious once they passed the point that Shepherd indicated as the deepest part that she and her teams had ventured, but it wasn't long after that they began to find signs that not only they used the tunnels to move around the city and what they found disturbed them greatly.

"Ummmm so you think it's Amazons?" Ven said sarcastically as they all stood looking at the nailed up hanging body of a dead Ghoul with two flaming skulls being used as torch holders at its side with the word 'Amazons' scrawled in dried blood underneath it, the thing looked like it had been skinned.

"Whatever gave you that idea oh brother dearest?" Visa said with equal sarcasm glancing at her brother who just smiled darkly and swished his long tail.

"Oh I'm just the intuitive one of the pair of us," he said making Seven shake his head in dismay at the pair of them.

"Why would they do this?" Malakai said sounding very scared and forlorn as he looked up at the body that was nailed to a wooden support beam with very large railway pegs acting as nails through its hands and feet, it looked like it had been crucified.

"To send a message to anyone stupid enough to enter their territory," Shepherd said grimly as she looked up at the hanging body that was bathed in the golden light of the two burning torches.

"But aren't we the stupid ones who are entering their territory?" Malakai asked looking around the tunnel in alarm.

Seven planted a large hand on his shoulder again, "You'll be alright kiddo, you got us watching your back" he said reassuringly.

"Yeah and we'll need to be cautious here, from what I keep hearing these green 'girls' are not stupid or at least not as stupid as their genderless or possibly male hell I don't know counterparts, they are known to use ambush tactics and they hit hard and fast, so we'll have to keep our heads royally on the swivel until we're clear, but on the plus side there won't be any feral ghouls through here, they won't just leave them be like most super mutants do, they clean them out, we've seen them do that before," Shepherd said using air quotes at the word girls.

Seven nodded and motioned for the group to move out though they bunched up a little tighter as they moved, the tunnels used by the Amazons seemed to be lit by a series of torches which made him wonder who was coming out here to restock and relight the torches, also why?

The effigy wasn't the only one they found as they found a couple of the ghouls hanging from the ceiling by their ankles and they looked to have been skinned as well, he began to wonder what the point of it was and why they displayed their kills like this, was it some kind of trophy-like display, or merely meant to scare away interlopers with a display of graphic brutality?

Seven was constantly swinging his rifle through a firing arc as he moved they had been on the move all day as it had taken them that long to move underneath the entire city and other than a few long-distance Ghoul sightings they had surprisingly seen very little, "Ok this is where shit is going to get real, this is where the secret tunnel to Raven Rock begins" Shepherd said pointing at a wall that had obviously once been used to conceal a hidden railway track that connected to the main lines.

"Wisp you are up," Seven said and she gave him a thumbs-up, she shut down the Sargent Gutsy and exited it before flying down the tunnel while Seven and his crew waited for her to return, Seven had been getting a very odd feeling that they were being watched, but despite his best efforts he'd never managed to spot anything or anyone following them or watching them but he really as getting an odd prickling sensation on his neck and for once it wasn't Visa nibbling at it.

Ten minutes later Wisp came sailing back and retook control of her body once again, "Four cameras and eight turrets all taken care of, once we reach the last part of where I hit I'll let you know" Wisp said confidently.

Seven gave the others the thumbs up and they moved into the tunnel, instantly Seven began to see bodies piled up on either side of the long tunnel, all of which were utterly riddled with both bullet holes and laser burns.

They were all shapes and sizes as well, human, ghoul, mole rat, rad roach and even two which appeared to be super mutant, they had been utterly destroyed by the sheer amount of firepower that had been sprung on them out of nowhere.

Wisp pointed out the hidden turrets in the ceiling and wall as they passed them by and Seven had to admit the camo job was exceptional, there was utterly no fucking way they would have spotted the things before it was too late.

So that's how the next two hours went with the group leapfrogging down the tunnel as Wisp went on ahead to locate and shut down both cameras and turrets as well as a few mines and laser trip traps, the Enclave serious had gone all out on security for this place but eventually, they had cleared the tunnel of death and Seven could practically feel Shepherd buzzing with sheer joy as this was the furthest that anyone had ever managed to make it getting anywhere near this place.

At the end of the tunnel, they found a huge metal blast door that looked like it belong on either a bank vault or possibly an actual Vault.

"I sense there's power still going to it so we should be able to get in but if it's jammed do you think you'll be able to break it Seven?" Wisp asked.

Seven tapped on the door which made a solid thunk noise as his metal fist hit it, almost instantly a high voltage shock alarm went off in the suit and he spun on the spot and instantly grabbed hold of both Malakai and Ven's hands as the pair went to touch the door.

"Whoa!! Don't!!" he yelled loud enough to make the large claw boy nearly jump out of his scales let alone Malakai.

Both of them looked at him in shock like he'd just gone crazy, "It's fucking electrified, it just ran a shock through my suit so hands-off boys as I seriously don't need a very angry genius ninja mechanic dismantling my suit with me inside because all of his beautiful claw boy's scales are now singed before being either beaten senseless or shot in the ass with a plasma rifle by a rather pissed Robo girl because a certain pretty spider boy is now utterly bald and pink thanks to all of his fur being burned off" Seven said releasing their hands as the pair stared accusingly at the door.

"Damn straight tin man, my beautiful boy's tail gets singed because you don't warn him the door he's about to touch is electrified and warrior or not I will cut you the fuck out of that suit," Gregory said sliding himself into Ven's grip and instantly being hugged protectively against Ven's belly.

"Touch his suit and husband of my brother or not and I'll make you look like those Ghouls we found hanging from the ceiling, I'M the only one who gets to peel him out of that suit!" Visa snarled pulling Seven against her belly and wrapping her arms around him and Seven just shook his head.

"Wow, you guys really do take your love serious don't you?" Shepherd said with a smile.

"Oh you have no idea, pro tip never get between a horny claw and their chosen human unless you like having limbs removed and inserted into various bodily orifices that they don't really belong in only to be left alive and unable to escape having to listen to them going at it all fucking night, trust me claws get very very vigorous," Wisp said jokingly but Visa simply snarled and agreed wholeheartedly.

Once again Wisp left her body and seeped herself into the locking mechanism through a couple of cracks in the wall, from their side of the door they could hear a series of clunks and clicks as well as whirs from the metal, then out of nowhere there was a loud hiss and the door began to slowly rise into the ceiling, it got about quarter of the way and then jammed solid, it appeared that on exit the Enclave personnel had one last fuck you up their sleeve and had sabotaged the hinges by jamming them.

Wisp flew out and into her body again, "Fuckers have jammed the hinges" she snarled.

Seven stepped forwards and he took a deep breath, he held out his hands and with a blast of pain that felt like his brain had just been hit with a series of sledgehammer blows he tore the entire door upwards smashing the hinges completely and jammed it solid into the ceiling.

"Holy fucking shit!! Remind me not to piss you off!" Shepherd exclaimed as she and her group stood staring open mouth at the now bulged concrete and metal from where the door was jammed.

Seven swayed on the spot as his brain sparkled with raw and pure pain that sent his senses haywire, Visa was instantly at his side and propped him up, "I got you my love" she said putting her arms around him and guiding him in through the door.

Seven knew it was going to take a while for him to fully recover from the excursion so he leaned on Visa while they walked into the old Enclave bunker which was an incredible contrast to the dark and dingy tunnels outside.

Everything was painted and a lot of the walls were even covered in wooden panelling, there were even chandeliers instead of regular lighting as well as wall-mounted electronic candelabras.

"Holy shit look at this place! This is fucking incredible!!" Shepherd said.

"Let's be careful there are bound to be more security and traps ahead so let's not get overconfident," Seven said holding his helmeted head in his hand as Visa helped him along.

"Yeah good call, alright people, slow and steady let's get through this place alive," Shepherd said and the group began to move deeper into the bunker.

The place was utterly incredible, it was like being inside a luxury country club rather than a bunker, the exit tunnel lead them into a large open plan lobby that was filled with leather armchairs and small circular smoking tables that further added to the country club feel of the place.

Visa placed Seven down in one of the chairs and he looked at the table which still held an ashtray that still had cigarette butts from previous occupants.

"Wisp scout this place out, I want anything and all things that can hurt us either flagged or taken out of commission before we spread out and search this place, see if you can find a central security room to take it down all at once," he said, she gave him a mock salute before leaving her body by his table as she shot out into the bunker and they were treated to her shooting to and fro across the spider's web of corridors that all led into the lobby where they all sat.

It took the better part of an hour to find and disable the main security lab of the place, but when she finally came back with the news that it was toast she was seriously excited about something.

"Guys you gotta see this! Come on! Quickly!" she yelled trying to pull the whole group towards a certain point by flying towards it and then back again over and over until they all fell in step and began to follow her down a long corridor to what appeared to be a lab area.

As they entered there appeared to be a series of large plexiglass cubes that contained both a mixture of surgical operating rooms and what looked like mechanical workshops all linked into the central crosswalk area that they were currently inside of.

"Holy shit look at this stuff it's going to bring a serious amount of caps for just a quarter of this shit! We're fucking rich!!" Shepherd exclaimed looking around.

"This place was in the computer banks, this place apparently used to be run by some kind of A.I but when they left the A.I uprooted itself and transmitted its mind to another place but it deleted the logs so all I could tell was that it was once here but that's all, but I came across an interesting reference to something their soldiers had encountered in Boston, something they called a synth infiltrator generation three" Wisp said.

"A synth infiltrator? What's that?" Seven asked curiously as he fought through the bag of needles shaking about in his brain.

"Take a look for yourself it's in bay three" Wisp said and the group moved over to the bay and instantly all stopped dead as they all spotted what was laid on the table in the bay, it was for all purposes a human being.

They're as naked as the day she would have been born was a black-skinned human woman of about twenty-two maybe twenty-three years of age laid on the medical gurney, but despite having been laid in here with no food water or anything else to keep her alive was a perfectly preserved human body with her modesty just covered by a small white sheet that had been draped over her.

"I-Is she dead or sleeping?" Malakai asked looking at the woman through the glass.

"Nither, she's simply not alive, believe it or not, that's not a human" Wisp said and they all looked at her in surprise.

"What do you mean?" he asked tilting his head curiously.

"It's an artificial person, her skin, muscles, organs they are all synthetic, her bones are made out of an incredibly strong polycarbonate, her brain is a mixture of artificial organics and machine parts and according to the Enclave files I found on her there are models even more complex than her that are basically fully organic, she may even be a prototype but other than with a kind of x-ray or special scanning device the Enclave developed there is no way to tell them apart, every single organ in the body works the way it would in good old regular human" Wisp said.