Radiance

Chapter 63: Breaking in.

Sleeping in the back of the Vertibird was not exactly comfortable but everyone made do, they had set up guards to ensure that the Enclave did not sneak up on them in the middle of the night trying to investigate any possible noise that they had made coming in but all was quiet except for two little visitors they had just before daybreak.

Seven got shook awake just before dawn and he had to very quickly had to stop Visa from swiping at the waker in alarm, "Sorry to wake you Seven but we have umm something of a situation out here, you gotta check this out man you are not going to fucking believe it" Gregory's voice said in the darkness and instantly Seven was on alert.

Without even pausing to put his power armour on he simply scrambled along with the rest of the team who had been woken by the commotion and had quickly gotten up but when they all poured out of the Vertibird what they found waiting for them was absolutely not what they were expecting.

"How?" Seven said.

"Where?" Visa exclaimed.

"What?" Ven exclaimed as they all saw the two rather happy-looking children standing playing with Riss over by a patch of bushes, but it wasn't the fact that children had found them it was the fact that one was a human and the other was a claw.

The human kid was a boy about ten years old and his companion was a male claw who looked to be about the same age as claws aged roughly about the same as humans, the pair were absolutely fascinated by Riss who kept appearing and disappearing before appearing somewhere else and the pair were trying to catch her.

"They wandered into our range about half an hour ago, the pair just walked up to Riss as bold as brass," Gregory said with true amazement in his voice.

"Is the claw feral?" Seven asked in amazement and Gregory nodded.

"Yup doesn't talk but does seem to know what you are saying to him and he's not nervous of humans at all, bold one too, think he led them both here must have smelled the ration pack I was eating because he proper homed in on me little a little scaley food-seeking missile," Gregory said with a chuckle.

"Let's hope his matriarch is not tearing her scales off trying to find her wayward hatchling" Vess said as she looked at the little claw who was charging around trying to catch Riss and seemingly both delighted and confused by the fact that she kept vanishing before he could grab her like smoke in the breeze.

Seven walked up and the pair stopped playing and looked up at him before they noticed the group of much larger claws stood behind him, "Hi there mister wow you like deathclaws too huh!? Yours are much bigger than Ricky Claw here though when he grows up he's gonna be big and strong like yours too" the human boy said.

The little hatchling instantly locked onto Vess and instantly he seemed to be nervous and he cowered holding out a large hand towards her with palm turned upwards which made Seven raise an eyebrow, "He senses that I am an Alpha Matriarch, it's a display of submission to say he is sorry for entering my territory and that he means no offence or harm, his matriarch has taught him correctly and well" Vess said proudly before she reached out and gently ran her large clawed hand over Ricky Claw's outstretched hand and gently pushing it down.

"Oh wow!! Your Deathclaws talk!! That's so awesome!!' the human boy exclaimed running up to Vess and staring up at her till she turned to acknowledge him.

"Hi there miss Deathclaw my name is Adam, Adam Cosgrove what's yours?" he said happily holding out a hand in the human sign of greeting, a handshake.

Vess glanced at Seven and he nodded, she reached out and enveloped his tiny hand in her massive one, "I am called Vess little one, I am the Alpha Matriarch of the proud northern pack, this here is my daughters Lia and Lemet and this is my son Passa, this here is my niece Visa who is the alpha female of this group and that is my nephew Ven, it is good to meet you" Vess said and each of the claws greeted him, in turn, making the boy bounce on the spot.

"Oh wow talking deathclaws!! This is so awesome! I can't wait to tell everyone back home they are gonna be so stoked! The deathclaws that live up at the hidden quarry don't talk but they are still awesome, my father and uncle feed them from our farm and they take donations from the other farms and in return, they keep all the nasties away from the farms and the town, they are really cool, there's a big girl deathclaw that lives up there that kinda looks like you but she's green, not brown and black and she lets me walk around the quarry but I think it's because I'm friends with Ricky here, they only moved up there after the bad people in the metal suits showed up, they used to live a lot closer but then my dad and my uncle found out that they were gonna go and hunt them down so they and a few of the other farmers managed to convince them to move to the hidden quarry and don't no-one know bout that place, so they are safe there" Adam said both happily and proudly.

Vess nodded very approvingly, "I like this hatchling, he is respectful and he is polite, he knows the value that claws bring and he respects them, this world needs more humans like him and it pleases me greatly to see that there are indeed humans in this world that believe as you do Seven and as the humans of this group do, it goes further to prove to me that coexistence is possible if done right," she said.

"Yeah the deathclaws have been around since before our town was built, they never bothered us none so my daddy said that we didn't have no right to hurt them or to make them leave, this is their land as much as it is ours and there's no reason we can't live together side by side, they don't hurt or bother us and we do the same, infact I would never hurt Ricky Claw he's my friend, I and he have played together as long as I can remember, he'd come around our farm and I and he would go off and have adventures together, in fact, it was him that found you hiding here, umm come to think about it why are you hiding here?" Adam said turning thoughtful towards the end.

That's when Chris stepped out of the aircraft he was still limping as his wounds were still healing, as soon as he saw Adam's expression lit right up, "Chris!! You came home!!" he exclaimed and he actually ran up and hugged him nearly knocking him over.

"Hey, there short stack how you been?" Chris said.

"Daddy been missing you around the farm since you joined the bad people," Adam said and that's when he seemed to remember that Chris had been with the Enclave and he stepped back and looked at him accusingly.

"Why did you go with them, Chris? Your mamma cried, your sis cried, my daddy, says you should never make a lady cry especially not your mama" Adam said all while little Ricky Claw seemed to have become fascinated by Seven who most definitely smelled of claw and was circling around him looking up at him.

"I didn't have a choice short stack, they said they was going to hurt my mama and my sister if I didn't join them, they said that they was the government of the United States and if we didn't obey them we was traitors and that they could kill traitors and then the families of traitors to stop traitorous bloodlines, so I didn't have a choice, I couldn't let them hurt my mama or my sister so I had to go with them," Chris said.

Adam as young looked absolutely appalled as he obviously hadn't known about that part, "That's horrible, my daddy said they was bad but I didn't know they were that bad, I mean they is definitely bad because they want to hurt Ricky Claw and his family just because they is, but that is absolutely horrible" he said and Seven and all the other around him nodded in agreement.

"It is and that's what these people are here to stop, they are gonna make the bad people leave and they are gonna give us our town back, they attacked the place that the bad people sent me to but they didn't kill me, I made a deal to come with them and to help and they would help me free my home and here we are," Chris said making Adam smile and he turned to Seven.

"Are you really going to get rid of the bad people?" he asked and Seven nodded.

"Yeah, we're pretty used to dealing with the tail holes now so we'll do what we can to make sure that not only do they leave but that they never come back but we are going to need the help of any people we can and Ricky Claw's family, do you think you can show my big scaly friends where they live?" Seven asked gesturing to the claws behind him.

Adam looked thoughtful and then nodded, "I can but they'd better be respectful, the deathclaws don't let just anyone into their home, they are really picky, they only let me in because of Ricky Claw," Adam said proudly because of the trust of the feral claws was obviously both important and special to him and rightly so.

"Do not worry little one a matriarch Claw would never trespass unwelcome in the home of another without reason and will always be respectful while she is there" Vess said and Adam nodded.

"Ok, we can go right now if you'd like?' Adam said and Seven nodded.

"Alright but you must promise me something first Adam, you cannot tell anyone we are here, if the bad people get wind of the fact that we are about they could try to stop us before we can set up and a lot of people of could get hurt and we want to avoid that if possible" Seven said and Adam nodded.

"Yeah the only people that should get hurt are the bad people," Adam said and everyone including Chris nodded.

Visa hugged Seven and kissed him before she set off with Vess to meet the other Claws which seemed to really surprise Adam but he didn't say anything as the group began to head off up the valley.

Seven turned to the others that were still gathered, "Alright people while our claws are out doing their claw thing we need to get ourselves busy, we've got some recon to do as we need to find out what we're up against, so Gregory get your suit in gear and Riss you too, Runs you're going with your wife we will go and try and speak to the farmers that live outside of the main town first to guage how we could approach the towns people because we are going to need their help if this going to work and I'm pretty sure these good people want shot of the Enclave as much as we want to kick them out of here because every base of their we break is another FOB we take out of their hands is one less place they can use to deploy against us or anyone else and to be fair we also have yet another chance here to make a real stride for human and claw co-operation here because these pople have already made their own strides but we have an opurtunity to make their lives even better here for both humans and claws so lets get to it" Seven aid and they all nodded.

The trio on stealth recon headed out to the town itself, their job was pretty simple, they were to infiltrate the town and to mark everything they saw, everything from troop clusters and garrisons to weapons caches, watchtowers and hard points like pillboxes or heavy weapons, they would also log civilian areas so the team would know what to avoid if an all-out assault was to happen.

So hearts and minds were going to be seriously important here because the more people they convinced to stand with them the harder job the Enclave were going to have trying to ignore them or threaten them into submission.

One of the things the recon team would be looking for was the Enclave armoury, if they could remove any heavy weapons they had access to or even their small arms or armour was going to be a win for the attackers as they would be hard pushed to repel them and a couple of tons of angry charging claws was not going to be stopped by harsh language alone unless it was accompanied by heavy weapons fire, so no heavy weapons and angry claw goes right through you unopposed.

So Seven divided the team up into smaller teams each with a job, some of them would be remaining with the Vertibird in the form of those who couldn't hide or blend in, it wasn't that they needed to be ashamed it was the fact that with the Enclave about they needed to lay low until everyone was ready to strike.

So once everyone had their jobs Seven took Chris with him as a familiar face that could open the doors for him, both of them got changed with some of the spare clothes they had so that they didn't stand out.

As they walked and Seven helped Chris along with his still healing limbs having quite a limp Seven decided it was a good chance to have a one-on-one chat with their newest member, "Hey Chris I wanted to have a word with you in private while we have a chance" Seven said and the nervous young man glanced at him.

"Ok?" he said obviously a little worried b the serious note in Seven's voice.

"Yeah I wanted to apologise to you for what Vess did and I am going to have a quiet chat with her the first chance I get about her conduct because offering someone a no-win choice is not how we do things and I wanted to offer a personal apology to you as well for not correcting it right in the moment before things kinda got cemented, but I was just so caught up in what we were doing it kinda only really hit me afterwards what she'd truly done, that is not what this group stands for, so her basically press-ganging you into her service under threat of losing your life is not something I condone and as the leader of this group I am overturning it, so once this is all over you will have the choice as to whether as to remain here with your family or to come with us but it will be your choice and no one else's, Vess will have to accept this decision whether she likes it or not," Seven said.

Chris looked absolutely amazed by this and he blinked a few times in rapid succession as he seemed to be trying to comprehend that Seven was essentially releasing him from Vess's service it seemed shocking to him that anyone would actually stand up to the big female Claw like that.

"W-Well thank you Seven that is really kind and if I'm honest kinda undeserved, I mean we were enemies and if you hadn't been so heavily armed and armoured chances were we would have killed you, I mean you were there to attack us and we were there to defend the place, you guys had absolutely no reason to spare my life but you did, granted I know its not much of a choice realy but you guys coulda just left me there to bleed out and die in agony and no one could have blamed you, I shot at you guys with the intention of killing you on the orders of the Enclave, so in all honesty being given a chance to to live and now seeing you guys doing all this for me and my people has kinda got me thinking, you guys are good people I mean you don't have to do any of this you didn't have to help me but here you are, so I figure it is the least I can to do is help you good people to do what it is you're doing, I respect what it is you guys are trying to accomplish so if it's all the same to you I'd kinda like to stay with y'all and given that I gave Miss Vess my word I'm gonna keep it, my daddy always taught me to be a man of my word before he died, he always said to me that if you give somebody your word you keep it no matter what because a man is only as good as his word and I promised to serve her and thats what I'm going to do" Chris said with an oddly defiant tone to his voice.

Seven couldn't help but be impressed with the defiance of the young man, "Well alright Chris if that is what you want but I am going to still speak to Vess either way and I want you to understand that Claws do take these things very very seriously, she gave you her word that she will take care of you and that's exactly what she will do but she will expect you to do the same but I want you to be absolutely sure that this something you want and that this is something you have chosen for yourself through free will and I also want you to be aware that she may very well try to claim you" Seven said and Chris gave him a slightly odd look.

"Claim me? You mean like you and Visa?" Chris said as the realisation hit him and he looked at Seven with wide eyes.

Seven nodded, "Yeah and that's what I want you to realise here, if you go down that road it needs to be free and it needs to be equal, Alpha claw or not and I will be speaking to her about it, but you do really need to think about what you want in this situation because I'm pretty damn sure she's attracted to you, take it from someone whose kinda an expert on female claw body language but i need you to know that you are under zero obligations to return that attraction I know she's big and she's kinda scary but we do NOT tolerate any kinda force in a relationship here, now I'm not saying for a single second that she would do something like that I just want you to be aware that if she did you can come to anyone of us myself included, we believe in freedom of choice and will, just because she may like you does not mean you are under any obligation to do anything about it" Seven said letting his voice go low as it kinda hit him a bit what he was saying and he kinda felt guilty insinuating something like that about Vess but he needed Chris to be absolutely clear what this group was about and what it would not tolerate, dominant yes forced, not even slightly.

Chris looked truly amazed by this little revelation and he looked like a whirlwind had just blown through his head, "Y-Y-You mean she likes me? Like woman like a man likes me?" Chris stammered and Seven smiled softly and knowingly.

"Yup I can't be one hundred per cent but given the way she keeps acting and the way I've caught her looking at you on the way over here I'm pretty damn sure she likes you but I'm also kinda sure she doesn't know the proper way to go about courting a human so she's kinda acting on instinct and given that she's an Alpha Matriarch claw she's kinda used to being in charge but she's going to need to understand that you have to want it too and her status does not give her the right to claim you if you do not wish it," Seven said.

"D-D-Do you really think she'd do something like that?' Chris asked nervously and Seven shrugged.

"I highly doubt it and please understand me when I say I am not trying to cast aspersions upon her character at all, Vess is a proud Alpha Matriarch claw and is very set in her ways and if there is one thing that sentient and indeed from what I'm hearing and seeing feral Claws believe in its honour, so I highly highly doubt that she would dishonour herself by taking things that far but I just want you to know how to handle yourself with her is all" Seven said and Chris looked amazed.

"W-Wow well that's not something I ever imagined someone would say to me, wow this is surreal I mean I saw how this group is and I gotta admit when I kinda first saw what all you guys were about it shocked me kinda hard but while we were in the Vertibird on the way out of there I kinda got to thinking well when I wasn't sleeping because I'm kinda beat ya know, but watching ya'all in the short time I been with you I can see you are not bad people at all, different yes but bad no and that's kinda when I get to thinking that maybe its not a bad thing ya know being in love with a member of another species as long as you know they are sentient and they want it too i mean i've seen people search their entire lives for something with their own kind thats as real as what you guys have with members of other species, you guys are such a diverse and incredible group I mean you got the spider guy and the pretty robo girl, then you got the native guy and his big Nightstalker girl, then you got the two scientists the Supermutant girl and the ex-Brotherhood guy, then you got all the Claws three of which are with humans and one of which is gay, I mean I never in my life thought I'd see anything like this but you know what I'm kinda cool with it and more than that I'm kinda thinking hell it might actually be kinda cool to have a big deathclaw girl trying her best to love me and if I'm being honest with myself and you here she is rather pretty, I mean I've never really gotten the chance to see them really up close you know I've helped them but I've never been as close to them as what I have in the last day and Vess has really pretty scales, they are really pretty colours, and now i think about she really does have a nice shape to her, I mean have you seen those legs? They're fucking massive I gotta wonder what it would be like to have those big fuckers on either side of your head, damn man she could probably pop my head like a fucking grape, damn man no human girl could ever do anything like for you, hell not that'd I'd know anything bout that, never really got the chance to ever date a girl before the Enclave took me away with them," Chris said getting both kinda animated and excited towards the end and Seven couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he walked.