Radiance

Chapter 49: The Chain That Binds.

Seven was watching Timothy Belweather very closely as the young Scribe paced around the room, his body language was nervous and twitchy, but Seven could also see his mind working as he analysed the situation he was in, Seven had been asking him a series of questions for a while now, they had been at it for at least two hours solid and Seven could tell the young human was getting impatient.

"You don't have to fear Timothy we are not going to hurt you unless you give us a reason to, we are not bad people but given the nature of the group you are a part of you can obviously understand our wariness," Seven said, he was leaning against the door and he could hear Visa shifting her weight from foot to foot as well as swishing her long tail back and forth over the concrete floor.

"Oh? So you kidnap me from my team, lock me in a room and interrogate me about the Brotherhood for hours, why could I possibly be worried?" Timothy said sarcastically.

"Look I know you have no reason to trust me but we did save your life and we have not hurt you have we? So that's got to count for something right? I mean if I really wanted to hurt you there is nothing you could do about it but I'm not that kind of person" Seven said.

"Oh no? So what kind of person ARE you Seven? And what kind of name is Seven anyway? It's a bloody number!" Timothy yelled and Seven heard the sharp click of claws behind the door.

"Yeah no arguments here but when you wake up in an Enclave lab with no memories and then get subjected to torture and abuse day after day after day you tend to cling onto anything you can, as it is Seven is the only name I've ever known and even though THEY gave it to me I'm owning now, it's fucking mine and I'll make them fucking rue it" Seven growled making Timothy baulk but then also look guilty about prodding him.

"D-D-Did you really wake up in an Enclave lab?" he asked and Seven nodded.

"Yup bio-engineered human right here, but then you guys know all about my kind right given how happily you kill us for the heinous crime of merely existing" Seven said bitterly but it was a carefully thought out tactic that would go one of two ways.

"We do not!!" Timothy yelled and Seven raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? So what about the Ghouls then? They were once humans and you guys happily kill them without thought to whether they are feral or not, don't see your brothers and sisters losing any sleep over it and I'm pretty sure that we fall into the category of non-pure human or are you going to tell me that the experience that they have lived is untrue? Or how about the non-humans like claws, or super mutants? You going to tell me that they aren't killed with reckless abandon as well?" Seven said.

Timothy's brain seemed to stall at that last part, "N-Non-humans?" he said and Seven nodded.

'That's right, let me ask you something, you said you personally have no problems with the Ghouls and now the Ghouls are so widespread that they are essentially considered a race in their own right, a non-human race, I mean sure they were once human but now they are so different they could be considered a species in their own right, a sentient species that is separate to our own, so let me ask you this, as a sentient race, a living breathing, thinking, feeling species capable of making their own decisions for their own lives, what right does anyone have to take that away from them because they are different from us?" Seven said.

Timothy seemed to consider this deeply and his bright eyes glimmered as he ran through the options and possible responses in his mind, "Well no I personally do not, as I have stated I have no problems with Ghouls myself, I will admit that my brothers and sisters have been incredibly heavy-handed in their dealing with them but what do you mean by others non-human races, you mentioned the super mutants you can't be serious on that right? I mean who the hell has had good experiences with them?" Timothy said.

"Well I have for one, there's two of them outside this room right now who are as articulate as you and me, in fact, one of them is a noted scientist who probably has an IQ greater than your own as she is a biologist and a virologist who used to work out of Rivet city, in fact, her best friend another super mutant died fighting against her own kind to save enslaved humans and that's only the tip of the iceberg," Seven said.

Timothy looked completely shocked and Seven could see that he was trying to figure out if he was joking or not, Seven banged his fist on the door with his fist, "Shauna you're up" he yelled and there was some shuffling as Visa moved out of sight and then the door opened.

The look on Timothy's face was truly priceless, his eyes went wider than a pair of dinner plates and his bottom jaw looked like Seven could use it as a boot scraper it was so low to the floor as he stared at the huge super mutant girl, "Timothy Belweather meet Shauna, Shauna, Timothy" Seven said gesturing between the two.

Shauna held out her huge shovel head like hand for him to shake, "It is good to meet you Timothy" she said trying to give him her warmest smile.

"I-I-It talks!!" he exclaimed and Shauna baulked flexing her hand inwards instinctively as he'd just handed her a lump of hot coal.

"Hey! SHE carried your sorry ass all the way from that fucking slaughter zone your so-called brothers and sisters walked you right into to here and she didn't complain once and what's more, it was another non-human who saved your life by pulling out of that fight so show some respect or are you not even capable of basic civility?" Seven snarled making Shauna flinch in surprise at his sudden aggression.

Timothy blinked in both shock and surprise and then he glanced between the two, "S-She? But super mutants don't have a gender" Timothy said.

"These aren't basketballs jammed up my top, some of us do now thanks to a new variant of the FEV" Shauna said and while Seven sat back Shauna explained what had happened to her and indeed Raymond while Timothy just stared at her in shock.

"So this new variant allows super mutant to keep both their gender and their intelligence? They essentially remain the person they once were but in a new body?" Timothy asked curiously, now they were both sitting down on the bed, as they had spoken about the science behind what had happened to Shauna the pair had slowly moved closer together until they had sat down and Seven stayed leaning against the door but now with far more relaxed body language.

"Not always, it was a bit random like that, it was the idea behind it, yes but it was far from perfect, certain gene sequences could really throw it for a loop, take my best friend Sheila, she was once a brilliant scientist, but the FEV has a way of fighting back and twisting genes so while Sheila was still Sheila she was intellectually diminished, she was still as much a woman as she ever was, all bits still in the right place and fully functional just like me, but her IQ was affected but to her credit, she embraced her new self, but there aren't just female super mutants, there are males too like Raymond who is a member of our group, he used to be a member of a group who called themselves the Greasers and who fought against slavers and raiders on the outskirts of DC," she said.

Timothy looked thoughtful for a moment then he looked like a lightbulb went off in his head, "You mean they are sentient super mutants?" he said and Shauna nodded.

"She is the tip of the iceberg Timothy there is just so much more to this world than your brother and sisters would have you believe, sentience is not something reserved for humans and Ghouls, it can be found in a great many places if you are only willing to look for it" Seven and Timothy looked at him curiously.

"What do you mean?" he asked and Seven gave him an evil grin and knocked on the door again.

"It's time Guys, Visa, Ven, Riss and Malakai come on down," Seven said and the door swung open and much to Seven's delight Timothy's eyes nearly fell out of his head and he went as white as a sheet.

'Holy fucking shit it's a deathclaw!!" he yelled before diving for the corner of the room and trying to jam himself into the gap between the metal toilet and the wall while trying to make himself as small as humanly possible.

"Actually there are two of us, not to mention a Nightstalker and an Arachnakai" Ven said stepping out from behind his sister as Riss appeared out of thin air leaning on the wall opposite Seven.

"Actually I wassss in here the whole time," she said with a sly smile making Seven chuckle impressed that she'd managed to slip inside before he'd managed to close the door on her considering he'd come in and closed the door in one movement, she was a fast as fuck when she wanted to be.

"Not much room in there with all of you in there, ahh I've got an idea," Malakai's voice said behind him and suddenly an upside Malakai wandered past Seven but upside down as he'd climbed up onto the ceiling and stood on it causing Timothy to look up and promptly faint nearly flushing his own head down the toilet.

"I don't know whether to be impressed or insulted, he's got two mighty claws in here, a super mutant and a cloaked Nightstalker assassin girl and the cute smiling spider boy is the one that finally does him in," Ven said chuckling at the unconscious Timothy.

Seven laughed and then held out a hand levitating him out from behind the toilet and floating him over to the bed where he laid him down next to Shauna, he was tempted to lay his head on the big girl's lap but given what said to her earlier he decided not to, Timothy had to make the realisation himself, not have it forced on him, this was designed to be a shock tactic, Seven wanted all of his fears and preconceptions rushed all at once so they could combat them in one hit, so it was overload and now reset.

It took Timothy half an hour to regain consciousness but as he did he found that Seven had switched places with a somewhat reluctant Shauna on the bed and the other four were all sat on the floor in the tight small room, well except for Malakai who was still on the ceiling with his eight long legs fanned out.

"Ahh welcome back," Seven said as Timothy scrambled up the bed and his eyes darted about.

"I-I-I don't get it how am I not dead? Why have they not eaten me?" he exclaimed.

"Because we are not fucking savages" Visa snapped.

"Though I'm sure at least one of us thinks you look rather tasty," Ven said shooting Shauna an evil grin making the large super mutant girl flush deep, dark green.

Timothy was rapidly glancing between all the different faces in the room with him, "Y-Y-You can speak!?" he exclaimed focusing on Ven.

"No shit Sherlock what gave it away? Was it the dulcet gravely tones of my supremely sexy voice that gave it away or perhaps you've been listening to me singing in the shower?" Ven said making Seven snort a laugh but still shook his head.

"Oh come now Ven doesn't wish that torture on the poor guy, he might be with the Brotherhood but there are some fates I wouldn't wish even on bigots," Seven said and Ven turned and gave him a fang-filled grin.

"And what about the Enclave?" he asked.

"I'd teach you the joys of fucking aquatic opera" Seven snarled and Ven roared with laughter.

The look on Timothy's face seemed to be one of pure confusion as he watched the pair and then he looked around at the others including Malakai who was hanging from the ceiling above him, "Not what you expected huh?" the young Arachnakai boy asked blinking all six of his eyes at the same time.

"W-W-What are you?" Timothy stammered.

"I'm an Arachnakai I'm the half-human half spider," Malakai said proudly.

"Half-human, half spider one whole hell of a tailor" Seven said with a grin.

"I-I-I don't understand.....how is any of this even possible.....it just doesn't make any sense!" Timothy said.

"It makes perfect sense if you let it, look I get it, you've been indoctrinated into believing that all non-humans are nothing more than animals and savages, but look here, use your own eyes and your own mind, you can see that it's just not true, these good people here are not animals and are not savages, yes they do tend to lead different lives from us but that doesn't mean that they are different from us, think about it no two humans lead the exact sam lives so why is that only something that gets held against non-humans?" Seven said and Timothy looked thoughtful so Seven pressed him.

"Look at these good people, yes they may look dangerous but are they abusing you? Are they snarling or frothing the mouth? Do they look mindless to you?" he asked in quick succession and Timothy shook his head.

"No" he conceded and Seven smiled, he was starting to cave and it was time to not just hit him with a hammer blow but to drop a fucking nuke on his world perception, so he turned on the spot reached up to Visa took her horns in his hands and pulled the surprise looking claw girl downwards and planting a kiss right on her soft leathery lips.

Visa only hesitated for the briefest of seconds before grabbing hold of her human scooping him up and pushing her tongue into his mouth while holding him aloft, their passionate kiss had the desired effect, Timothy's mouth dropped open and his eyes looked like they were going to fall out of his head.

"I....what......how......but....." Timothy began to stammer and the pair broke their kiss and turned to look at him.

"Oh did I forget to mention that humans and non humans are FAR more compatible than the bigots would ever let you believe, I found love in the arms of this incredible woman right here, she treated me like no human ever has, she showed me more respect and care in one day than I had been shown in my entire life, plus just look at her, she is the epitome of what my ideal woman should be and look like, that beautiful face, those radiant eyes full of joy, love and intelligence, those long sexy horns, those abs of her look like they were carved and not grown, those arms and shoulders look like she could punch through a concrete bunker wall just to hug you on the other side, I can tell you from personal experience that those thighs can crush a man to a pulp or hold him in place making sure he's only able to move the way she wants and don't even get me started on the joys of that long, strong and luxurious tail of hers, they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and what i behold is the woman I love and i do not care what anyone else thinks about it, to me she is my perfect woman and I love her" Seven said proudly as he felt Visa squeezing him tightly in aforementioned arms.

Timothy looked like he'd seen a ghost, "Y-Y-You love a deathclaw?" he stammered and Visa growled.

"And this 'Death' claw loves him right back and if you do not mind we prefer the term claw, we do not bring death wherever we go and we resent that name as it is insulting, both myself and my good brother are both proud claws, we are proud of who we are and what we are as you are of being your race, or at least you should be, tell me young human are you not proud to be human?" Visa said.

Timothy snapped out of his shock for long enough to think about it, "I try to be but it is hard sometimes given the atrocities I keep seeing my brethren commit, it's one of the reasons I'm proud to be part of the Brotherhood, we are trying to make things better" he said and that's when it seemed that Faith had had enough.

The door burst open and the angry Ghoul marched right up to the startled looking human sat on the bed, "Better for fucking who huh? Because you fuckers sure as hell didn't make it batter for any of us!!" she yelled and the young scribe seemed to shrink in on himself under her scathing wrath.

She pointed around at everyone in the room, "Your fucking so-called brothers and sister would happily shoot any fucking person in this room for nothing more than living on the same fucking planet as you racist or should I say speciesist fucks, because God fucking forbid anyone other than you inhabit this fucking planet or offend your overly sensitive ideals! So what's the best way to deal with that problem? Oh, that's right! Fucking kill us!" she yelled.

The scribe looked both appalled and ashamed, "I've never killed anyone in my life" he said in a small voice and Faith glared at him and Seven while he wouldn't let her assault him but he felt letting her vent was a wise move as otherwise, she would most likely break any attempt at any discourse they were trying to achieve here.

"Oh and that makes it all alright then does it? All you brothers and fucking sisters go around murdering innocent Ghouls and non-humans but it's perfectly fine as long as Scribe Bellweather's hands are fucking clean and blood fucking free! Well your hands might be fucking clean but your soul is as fucking stained as all the rest of them because that's what that uniform you so proudly wear stands for, not freedom asshole, death, murder and oppression for anyone whose fucking face doesn't fit into your poster world" she part yelled part growled.

Timothy now looked completely ashamed and Seven glanced down at his uniform as if seeing it properly for the first time, "What can I do about it? I'm just one scribe, I can't influence anyone especially not the Elders of the Brotherhood, they don't listen to anyone except either other Elders or their chief paladins" he said sounding forlorn.

"Seven was only one man but look at him, he started not only human non-human love revolution but a whole group based around the ideals of freedom and personal choice plus responsibility," Ven said.

Timothy looked up at him questioningly, "What do you mean?" he asked.

"We are the Free Peoples of the Wastes, a collection of races gathered together because of our mutual love of humans and non-humans alike as well as our quest for freedom from oppression and bigotry, we just want a place in the world to call our own where we can live our lives the way we wish, in the arms of the ones that our hearts have chosen for us, is that too much to wish for?" Ven explained.

Timothy shook his head, "No....No it is not, honestly it sounds kinda wonderful, not having all this pressure on you to conform to someone else's ideals, making sure that you act a very specific way lest someone report you for either deviancy or endangering the great chain, honestly your way of life sounds so much better to me" Timothy said softly.

"That's only part of our mission, we also help those in need while spreading our message to anyone who will listen because to us we don't just tell you about our way of life we show it to you, we let our actions speak for us because actions always speak louder than words, someone could tell you how sexy a claw can be but you won't believe them unless you see that sexy claw bending over lifting its tail just enough to fill you with an unspoke promise and giving you a smile that will light your heart and loins on fire, plus also stories of what we have done for people spread far further than we do," Ven said.

Timothy looked not only thoughtful but also hopeful and that's when Seven saw it and a smile began to tug his mouth in a broad and warm smile because his eye caught the secret glance that Timothy threw Shuna's way so fast that if he'd have blinked at the wrong time he'd have missed it.

"You see all we want is for humans and non-humans to live in peace Timothy, think about it a world where your neighbour is a happy Arachnakai boy who makes and fixes your clothes, where claws are your village security, Nightstalkers are the village's hunter who goes out and come back with enough to fill everyone's bellies while you study sciences and engineer things to make all these people's lives better letting Ghoul engineers and scavengers roam the wastes retrieving what you need to make these things that you can sell to other villages enriching their lives and yours, all while relaxing in the arms of a loving super mutant girl who would give you all the muscles filled love your heart could ever prey for while you make her smile every day," Seven said and there it was again, his words prompted a second stolen glance at Shauna, he had him the ideal had wormed it's way into Timothy's mind and was taking root like a seed.