Radiance Chapter 132

Chapter 132: Do It Now In a Minute.

After the night in the barn, the group were rather glad to once again get on the move, fortunately it didn't take them long to make the final leg of the journey to the Fort of the Minutemen and doubly, fortunately, the call had been indeed made head of their arrival or they might have very well had somewhat of a different reception upon their arrival.

As the group stood outside of the gates with their hands up trying to look non-threatening a group of soldiers dressed in rather raggy camo fatigues as well as some wearing what appeared to be a kind of cowboy hat and duster coat garb approached them with weapons at the ready.

"You Fuller?" one of the group asked looking at him dead in the eye as he drew close.

The man was in his mid-forties and had a look that Fuller knew well, this man was most definitely a veteran as his whole demeanour simply screamed it.

"Yeah that would be me, I see that the captain called ahead for me," he said.

"Yeah he did, said you guys were a great help to his guys and he would be on his way here soon, said you had some kind of proposal for us to hear but I can't say I exactly approve of the company you keep," the man said glancing between both Malakai and Ven.

Before Fuller could respond Malakai got there first.

"And I can't say I approve of your dress sense or the care you take of your uniform, so I guess we got something in common already," he said causing the man to snap his attention towards the large Arachnakai in surprise before marching up to him.

"You got something to say spider boy?" he snarled and Malakai lowered his hands and then lowered himself on his legs so he was at the same height as the man before fixing his large frontal facing eyes on him.

"Yeah if you could sew as well as well as you can run your mouth you'd be immaculate," he said without ever blinking making the man snarl and bunch his fists like he was going to throw a punch.

"Wouldn't do that if I were you," Ven suddenly said and the man's attention snapped to him.

"Oh why's that then ya great scaley bastard?" the man said bitterly as Ven gave him a fang-filled grin at the challenge in the man's voice.

"Simple because he's a lot faster and a lot stronger than he looks, I can promise you he'll have you hog-tied and on the ground before that hand gets even halfway to him, but then maybe you're the type of guy who secretly likes that kind of thing, you certainly have the vibe of one," Ven said causing the man to snarl loudly before marching up to him and trying to square off with him which just looked ridiculous given Ven's size.

"And how the fuck would you know what type of man I am!? You don't know me from fucking Adam you fucking oversized handbag!!" the man yelled and instantly Fuller felt the situation starting to spiral out of control here, he needed to get a handle on this and quickly.

He turned to Glory and gave her a subtle nod which she passed on to Yumi and before the man could escalate things any further Fuller stepped forward and punched him clean in the side of the head with enough force to drop him to the ground at Ven's feet.

As the other two armed soldiers went to turn towards him both Glory and Yumi shot forward and snatched the weapons right out of their hands before Malakai seeing how this was going snagged the pair of them in his webbing and hog tied the pair of them faster than any of them could blink.

"Yeah not gonna let you insult my friends I'm afraid, if you have a problem with either of them then you got a problem with me," Fuller said stepping off to the side and dropping into a fighting stance that clearly showed his intention.

The veteran got slowly to his feet and spat out a mouthful of blood before rubbing his chin and jaw.

"Hell of a right hook you got on you there kid," he said slowly and in much less of a threatening tone as he glanced down at his two soldiers who were both tied up in thick webbing silk at Malakai's feet as the large Archanakai boy stood with his arms folded over his chest and still holding no weapon.

"You should see my left cross," Fuller said and the man chuckled and nodded.

"Alright now I know what you lot are about and how far you are willing to go you want to come in or what?" the guy said causing the whole group to glance around in confusion all except for Fuller who knew exactly what this was, it was a hazing test.

He'd seen plenty of them in his time in the Enclave, it was a kinda ritual among some veteran soldiers and it took a million different forms, everything from accepting a beasting to seeing how far you could push a new recruit before they lost their shit and started swinging punches, this had obviously been the latter.

"Love to but some names would be good first," Fuller said gesturing to Malakai to cut the two soldiers on the floor loose which he did without question and even went as far as to help the pair to their feet.

"Staff Sargent Ben Murphy at your service and these two green idiots are Corpeals Michals and Scott, sorry about the hazing but I needed to see for myself what lengths you were willing to go when someone threatened your friends there, must say I've never exactly had a polite conversation with someone who wasn't human before and I was kinda sceptical, but I can see now that you are as good as your word when it comes to standing together, I mean you could have easily had your rather odd friends here take us out and I doubt there would have been much that we could have done about it but you didn't and more than that you stood up for them, that's what in my eyes counts the most, a willingness to stand tall for your principals no matter what," Murphy said rubbing his bruised jaw again.

Fuller could see that the others were looking to him for clarification here as confusion was kinda rife.

"It's a cornerstone of what this group is founded upon, but you'll see that when the rest of our ambassadors arrive," Fuller said.

"Yeah the captain said something about that, said you were gonna organise some kind of sit down between us, the Brotherhood and some other group of bird people or something?" Murphy said and Fuller nodded.

"Yup not to mention the Railroad as well, we have an alliance going and we want you to be a part of it in order to create a unified Boston that is strong enough to repel people like the Enclave and the Raiders as well as more shadowy groups like the Institute," Fuller said.

Murphy instantly growled doing a rather good impression of a bulldog licking piss off a nettle.

"Don't talk to me about those fucking loonies, my boys and girls are fucking sick of mopping up those creepy fucking synthetic wannabes that are wandering around the place, now we keep hearing stories of them making synths that look and talk like normal people while replacing people with em to further their agenda, its lunacy I tell you," Murphy said.

"It's also the truth," Glory said and Murphy looked at her curiously, raising a bushy and greying eyebrow as he did.

"Oh? And what makes you say that missy?" he asked.

"Because I am one of those synths," she said flatly and Fuller could almost feel the smile that she was giving off as Murphy's jaw dropped open.

"Pretty bold claim there missy, but how do I know you ain't got one of them there mental illness thingies?" he said.

"Simple because I had quite a few of the institute courses trying to frag my ass when I escaped, the Railroad saved me and pulled my glorious black ass out of the fire, been running with them and helping free synths just like me from them ever since, you see that's the thing you have to realise about synths like me, we didn't get a choice on being created just like you didn't get a choice on being born but here's the kicker, we're just as sentient as you are, same thoughts, same wants, same needs, same feelings just built differently is all," Glory said.

"Well fuck me sideways I never really thought of it like that, I mean when you keep hearing all these stories of synthetic boogy men just popping out of thin air and making off with people it's real easy to get kinda jades you know?' Murphy said and Glory nodded.

"Yeah only too well, problem is most of those synths have absolutely no idea who they are let alone what, they don't do it through choice though that much I can assure you," she said.

"Well let's not stand around out here, it sounds like we got a bunch to talk about, any idea when those ambassadors of yours are gonna arrive?" Murphy said gesturing to the large gateway to the Fort.

"They are waiting for our call to make their way in, so if I could use your comms equipment to send a message that would be great," Fuller said.

"That shouldn't be a problem," Murphy said as they all began to troop past him towards the entrance though Malakai stopped when he was about to pass him and looked him up and down.

"I meant what I said about that uniform you know, but give me a space and I'll sort that shit right out for you, have it better than new in a heartbeat," he said and Murphy glanced at Fuller who simply grinned at him.

"He means it why do you think we all look so sharp?" he said before turning back to the entrance and making his way inside.

As the group made their way into the main yard of the Fort Fuller spotted the radio mast that they used for broadcasting their Freedom Radio station that could be heard all across the region.

They also seemed to have some large artillery cannons set up for lobbing shells over incredibly long distances should one of their members call for a strike, but by contrast, there were also small farm plots growing vegetables and even chickens running around pecking at the feed that was being thrown down for them.

"This whole place is like a tailoring nightmare!" Malakai said rotating himself on the spot and looking around as his pedipalps vibrated with nervous energy.

"Well, then what are you waiting for?" Fuller said and Malakai turned on the spot to look at him curiously.

"Oh come on don't look at me like that we both know that if I don't give you free rein to fix them up you are gonna wind up going bald with anxiety and then I'm going to have to answer to your sparkly missus when we get back and she finds out that you have a tattoo under there that says I love Tarantulas or something," Fuller said jokingly and Malakai twitched his pedipalps at him in annoyance but he spotted a woman walking towards the armour with a coat full of holes and he turned on the spot to track her.

"Oh for the love of all the gods, yeah alright you win I'm going!" Malakai said and before Fuller could even start giggling to himself Malakai had scuttled off to confront the woman, it took him a grand total of twenty minutes to wind up with a booth set up in the corner of the courtyard with a rather large queue running from it.

Once he'd made his call on the radio Fuller turned to Murphy who was keeping a close eye on him and he gave him a nod.

"All done, they'll be inbound soon most likely by Vertibird so if you can clear them a landing space that will be great," he said.

"Ohh fancy, we've only got one of those things that works at the moment and we called it in to go pick up the captain a while ago, should be arriving soon, but while we wait for that let me take you to the war room and introduce you to the rest of our leadership," Murphy said gesturing to a large retractable blast door set into the wall.

As the three of them walked given that Glory was still not letting Fuller out of her sight, Murphy turned to look at Malakai who was sitting on a couple of large sacks and had his head covered in his magnifying set up while he stitched.

"Well that spider boy of yours sure is popular around here," he said and Fuller chuckled.

"He's popular where ever we go, you'd be amazed how many doors having a spider boy who can sew and tailor opens, he's an absolute wizard when it comes to making soft armour as well, all this stuff you see us wearing is not just for show you know, that gear on Ven there can absorb machine gun fire and let him run right through it like you were dousing him with a water pistol, its fucking incredible stuff," Fuller said causing Murphy's eyebrows to shoot up in alarm.

"You mean to tell me that your Claw boy is bulletproof?" he said and Fuller laughed.

"More like bullet resistant but yeah it can soak up some serious damage before it reaches his scales which are like armour themselves, so yeah make of that what you will," he said.

"Fuck me if we had opened fire on you guys out there we really wouldn't have had much of a chance would we?' Murphy said and Fuller simply grinned at him.

"Always keep your friends and enemies guessing is my philosophy," he said with a chuckle.

As it happened it took less than an hour for everyone to arrive and boy did Raymond's group make one hell of an entrance, coming in multiple Brotherhood Vertibirds to deliver the whole group at once.

Though Fuller could instantly see the nervousness of the Minutemen as multiple Super Mutants as well as another Claw not to mention others all came down the ramps and formed up around the place.

After introducing himself to Raymond and his group Fuller guided the ambassadors of each group which turned out to be a Paladin of the Brotherhood and a high-ranking officer of what the Valkyries called the Featherguard as well as Raymond himself into the war room to meet the rest of the Minutemen leadership.

As well as the Captin who had helped out Fuller there was their new General who was a straight-talking woman in her mid-thirties called Molly Redfield, plus two of her regional commanders a tall black man called Preston Garvey and a rather thick-set man with flame red hair and possibly the bushiest moustache Fuller had ever seen in his life called Markus Clover.

Though Fuller did think he'd probably have to keep Malakai away from him just in case he was overwhelmed by an urge to knit his moustache into a scarf or something.

Once the introductions were done everyone took their seat at the table, Fuller was here only in an advisory capacity now as he was not really the diplomatic type given that his version of diplomacy involved hitting a target a few hundred meters out with a high calibre weapon, he'd rather leave that to the experts like Raymond.

"So young Captain Sanchez here informs me that you and your quite frankly extraordinary group of fellows here have quite the offer for us?" General Redfield said gesturing first to Captain Sanchez who favoured Fuller with a nod of acknowledgement before gesturing around the table to the others seated at it.

"Indeed, as I'm sure my college Ethan Fuller here formerly of the Enclave's ESF and now of the Free peoples informed him we represent a growing coalition of powers in the region, first of all, you have the Free Peoples of the Wastes a group dedicated to the unity and freedom of all peoples everywhere, no matter their origins or the face they wear, it is our aim to stamp out bigotry and misunderstanding between species as well as to end things like slavery for all races, as you can plainly see by the diverse group we bring we practice what we preach," Raymond said gesturing to the group around the table as well as to those still outside wandering around the courtyard and mingling with the Minutemen.

"Yes I have noticed that odd spider boy that Mister Fuller brought with him is surprisingly popular among my troopers," General Redfield said.

"His name is Malakai and he's an Arachnakai, a race of spider-human hybrids that hail from the Nevada area, he just so happens to be one of the best tailors you will ever have the pleasure to meet, he's also one of the nicest and most gentle people you could wish to meet unless you threaten him or his friends," Raymond said.

"I can definitely attest to that last part, I saw him throw an entire group of feral super mutants out of a tower block window because they shot at him," Fuller said.

"Quite," Raymond said before turning back to the table.

"Others present here today are Paladin Wright of the Brotherhood of Steel and Jewel Lighttail of the Valkyrie Featherguard, as well as Glory of the Railroad, both have been empowered to speak on behalf of their governing bodies as I am on behalf of my people," Raymond said gesturing to each of them in turn.

"Quite a lot of heavy hitters here then," General Redfield said curiously and Raymond nodded.

"We wished to show you that we are quite serious about this union between us all, but maybe it would be better if I turn the floor over to both Paladin Wright and Jewel Lighttail to explain how this union came to be in the first place?" Raymond said and the General nodded gesturing for them to continue you.

So with that, both Paladin Wright and Jewel went on to explain the nature of the war that they had been fighting for weeks, which was not news to the Minutemen as they had been aware of it, but what they hadn't been aware of was that it was thanks to Raymond and his people that it had been ended.

Then Glory told her tale of how Fuller had infiltrated her outfit before faking his death and turning traitor to warn the Free People's of an impending attack on them as well as efforts already underway to destabilise the region.

This seemed to very overtly concern the gathered Minutemen officers as it seemed to tie in with reports they had been receiving as well and to hear it right from the mouth of someone who was there really seemed to hit home.

"But that is why we are here today, we have successfully joined these mighty groups together under one banner, now each is not just an ally but are friends united in cause and we wish to bring this to your cause as well," Raymond said.

"What would we get out of joining your little caucus?" General Redfield asked pragmatically.

"Imagine this if you would General, say a farm on the outer fringes of your territory calls for aid but rather than taking a squad of your troopers a couple of hours to reach them a troop of Brotherhood Knights or a rapid aerial assault squad of Featherguard, or even a group of the Free Peoples respond first and make it there in minutes, together we could form a network that spans the region and props the others up, we plug the holes in the others defences and strengthen one another, trust me when I say this you have not seen power until you have witnessed highly trained Super Mutant soldiers or battle Claws on the front lines of a battle, nothing strikes fear into the hearts of raiders more than a fierce sentiant Claw leading the charge at them," Raymond said gesturing to Lia his proud and noble Claw wife.

'Trust me General I've seen what these good people are capable of on both sides of the spuctrum, from fighting like beserkers to handing out hot meals to freed prisoners and slaves, these people are verything they preach and more, plus they handle people with a very even hand, while they were hosting the sit down between the Brotherhood Elders and the Valkyries they favoured nither side, their only aim was to create a peace between our sides and it worked, now look at us, for the first time in its history the Brotherhood of Steel is not only working with but traveling with non-humans and from a personal point here it has been a truly eye opening experience, it has given me a much deeper and greater understanding of the plight of the sentient non-human residents of this world, because they unlike us cannot fall back on the belief of human goodness and charity, because their expperiences vastly differ from our own, but the Free Peoples aim to change that but before you go beliving that they are out here giving a free pass to all non-humans who would treat humans terribly do not belive it, I have seen how these good people handle non-humans who would openly hurt innocent people and let me say this, they are far better at it than any of us are, nothing quite says step the fuck back than an angry armoured Claw kicking your front door in an bellowing in your face," Paladin Wright said with Jewel nodding away at her side.