FalloutJack

Dragon Ball: Universe Zero

@Double Are we? Nothing from @Balthazar007 at this time?

Bloodlines: Last Hope

Ryoko Yumekishi

As the music changed again in the car, but even as it did, there was an announcement audible to all, both inside and out, so naturally she heard it through the open window. Ryoko snapped her book shut and flipped herself over to the driver's side of the car. Hammerhead was a faithful recreation of the Ford Mustang Cobra II used in the movie, Starman, but per her own preference, the colors were reversed. The engine roared to life with the mighty heart of a powerful V-8 engine as Ryoko checked her phone for the location of the Presentation Ha-

"Oh!"

She leaned back in her seat, laughing to herself.

"It's right over there."

She put the car in pack again, locked it up as she got out, and headed on over, shaking her head. She noticed the hammock man, but thought nothing of it except that he must be comfee there, and instead caught up with another student that was going in the same direction.

"So...you're going to see this artifact too, right? Do you happen to know what kind it is? I never got much information about it."

For the record, Ryoko's English was pretty good, though an accent still showed when she was under stress or, in fact, when she was impersonating someone from a TV or radio show.

War Never Changes III: Annals of the East

@Yam I Am I actually never asked for one, but updating the map to include my expanding territory would be appreciated.

War Never Changes III: Annals of the East

INSIDE THE ENCLAVE VAULT

All Fallout Sector members were called to meet in Number One's chambers, minus FalloutJohn, who was currently taking refuge in a basement in the Fort Wayne area. Whether they were busy or not, this required their immediate attention. Bob came in from the field, Jack stopped making the rounds, Scott and Greg pulled themselves away from the computer and engineering sector, and the sniper David Davidson... We dunno where exactly he was at the time, but he suddenly disengaged his Stealth Boy system in the room, revealing his black powersuit in navy-blue highlights. Number One stood up from his seat, hands behind his back.

"Let us not waste any time. You are all aware of our goal to take Fort Wayne, correct?"

"Of course, we are! Do ya think I stick my nose in machinery so long that I don't know what's goin' on?"

"...somwtimes, but I digress. After the report that the Vault underneath may have been contaminated, I sent in FalloutJohn to investigate, and it was found that the area was teeming with mutations as of yet unknown to the world. More to the point, these self-evolving creatures - we will refer to them as Chimeras, for the time being - seem reluctant to leave the area, even in the presence of a heavy assault which is harmful to the senses by mere proximity, and immediately lethal upon contact. This lack of fear and extreme territorialism is believed to be unnatural, induced by one who possesses skills in excess to render such creatures controllable."

"In short, you believe it's Bastion."

"The idea was posed by FalloutJohn, but I agree with this assessment. Ergo, the situation is far worse than initially anticipated. We guaranteed that Vault 66 was not contaminated with the Forced Evolutionary Virus...but IT IS. Dr. Bastion brought it there for further experimentation when he was removed from position here and escaped. He and all of his experiments must be destroyed."

This was when the sniper spoke up.

"No offense, but is that info really a 'disaster'? If the folks at Indiana Homes find out, so what? We don't use the stuff because it's completely unmanageable, uncontrollable. We eliminate the problem, we eliminate the reason to rage."

"That is Plan B, where Plan A is that no one discovers the root cause and we proceed with the occupation of the Vault without issue."

"Alright, so right now, John is semi-pinned down, time is of the essence, and we need to move in and clean house. I notice we're not briefing a ton of troops right now. Do I take it we're not sending any?"

"Negative. The large Chimera will only make a target of less-skilled operatives than you. The Vertibirds that are there and the one you take will hold perimeter for your attack. NOTHING is to leave the area."

"Suppose we find something bigger and meaner."

"You know I don't inhibit 'creative measures'. I am simply ordering you specifically because I know the job will get done, and our limited numbers will not suffer."

"That's fine. I love a good challenge, anyway!"

Jack thought about this, and then...had a funny idea.

"Okay, then. There IS one thing I'll definitely need to even the odds."

The men were dismissed, and things got underway...

FORT WAYNE

Time passed, and John had spent it rigging explosive boobytraps for creatures passing by. He and Bob loved explosives. It was just that Bob was way more - and perhaps a bit unhealthily - enthusiastic about it all. Nevertheless, to make sure that he wasn't cornered, he periodically moved to different buildings, and then...set them to explode. They were all decrepit ruins, anyway. the Enclave wasn't going to live in hovels when they could pre-fab a structure suitable for human existence. Even the raw recruits living topside in Fort Knox deserved better than this garbage, and there were people that DID live like this! At least at Indiana Homes, they modified that shit! Still, he had heard a building or two go up, and when it was the big one in the midst of it, the entire town would hear. His air support had backed off, as per orders. When he heard them again, that would be the signal to start shooting once more, because that was when reinforcements would arrivee. His ammo count was...ho boy. Do you even need ask? This suit was made for long hauls, with stores of his stuff to take out a small army. Granted, that small army was suppose to be like NCR or the Brotherhood of Steel, not wild beasts who randomly sprouted wings.

Speaking of which, he'd seen the main aggressor, by now. It was indeed lion-like, and octopus-like, and eagle and reptile and- Look, the flying Deathclaws were bad enough. They never even GOT them all or the Experimental Alpha down in Texas. They could be anywhere, crossbreeding with other Deathclaws and- No, that wasn't worth getting worked up about. Creatures in nature - be they unnatural or not - could and would be dealt with as needed. If they appeared, they'd kill 'em. There was nothing else to it. Still, that big one...

The radio cracked.

"Hello, John. Are you ready for this?"

"I'm ready to begin operations."

"No no... I mean, are you ready for this?"

Over the sound of the Vertibird blades came music. They had established an extreme perimeter outside of Fort Wayne, and the other five Sector members were all approaching on foot from different directions. Jack got over the wall by grappling hook and whipped out a Plasma Defender, opening fire as soon as he saw any creatures. Bob jetted himself straight up to a building and started lobbing Incendiary Grenades. When a flight-capable Chimera swooped down at him, it was practically bisected on his sword. Nobody saw how David got in, but there WAS a severe burst of plasma from when a pair of Chimeras picked up his scent, and nothing further until he was at a high vantage point, opening up with his Sniper Rifle. Scott took out a wall with his Uber Sledge, and Greg rode in on his bike directly after. Greg had a Tesla Cannon at the ready, once he'd attracted some attention, and any of the creatures trying to blindside him were found by Scott's minigun drones. The drones were were belt from Handys and Gutsys, but without the irritating chatter. They were mindless quadropeds, but they served. Not too difficult for the man who designed the MGB. You uhh...may be wondering why THAT isn't here, by the way. Hah hah hah... Nah, that's overkill here. Definitely not worth the effort for this. Maybe if Dr. Mobius' Giant Roboscorpion were in town, but it's not.

The Giant Chimera, meanwhile, had detected multiple intrusions to its lair at once. As was expected, it was momentarily uncertain as to to where to attack first. So, when it sprouted four large wings and took to the sky, it was clear that it was going to try and make a quick run of all of it. This, however, was John's cue. He stepped out of concealment and made like an anti-aircraft platform, tracking the offending target with high-velocity ordinance and opening fire. He cut through the corner of a building doing it, but the beast was suddenly hamstringed and its wings on the right side disappeared, causing it to plummet. No sooner had it been done than the six men converged. Sniper-fire entered it's multi-eyed face, and even as it was regenerating, a volley of explosive wads of fire, electricity, and railspikes entered its body, as well. By the time Jack - who was furthest away - got to it, the beast was in a rage and trying to ram buildings to get to the offending targets. That...involved one of the buildings John had rigged, so...big explosion there. Unfortunately, Bob had been on top of that, so he had to nearly exhaust his jetpack keeping himself from cratering pavement. When the giant creature was finally still, Bob still insisted on dropping napalm.

"It's dead. You can SEE that it's dead."

"Aww, but we need to make sure! It could regenerate!"

"Its head blew up."

"It could grow another one."

"Bob!"

"Oh, come on, Jack! It's fun! You know Number One wanted us to be thorough!"

"Okay, okay... Let 'er rip."

They had all prepared something in case things got worse for wear. Bob's emergency solution was to load their Vertibird with napalm instead of the usual Mini-Nuke load-out. David had brought a full-on heavy Gauss Rifle, the only thing really stronger than his Sniper Rifle. Scott had explosive RC Cars, while Greg had a load of EMP weapons, just in case a more robotic threat came by. And Jack? Well...his idea was on board the Vertbird, as well. For now, they would enjoy the blaze of the Giant Chimera burning down to slag while the remaining smaller ones started getting picked off at their leisure.

VAULT 66

Clean-up had taken much longer than the battle itself. With the regeneration possibilities of all the creatures, it had to be sure that they would not come back, so Jack, Bob, and Greg were on that while Scott worked on opening up the Vault and the other two watched his back. By now, anyone within proximity of this town would see the Enclave working on this one little town for a good while. The big Chimera had made the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo its personal habitat, and in an access tunnel below it was the way to Vault 66. Scott was about ready to open it by the time they had regrouped.

"Alright, let's do it. Any more Chimeras are to be shot on sight. Dr. Bastion is to be taken to Number One directly, where possible."

"Why impossible? He's just a middle-aged jackass, right?"

"A twat with several degrees of intellect and ingenuity, Bob. He's easily up there with me."

"Uh-huh... Yeah, whatever. I'll try not to invoke the chunky salsa rule."

The door was opening in its painstakingly-loud manner, and the six of them walked in. There was no way that Bastion didn't know they were in here. Putting aside the question of them being monitered, you'd have to be deaf not to hear the noise, the alarms, or the computer notification that would follow. And yet...no reception awaited them. This place was dead, or at least quiet. They began a systematic search of the area, because while it was likely that it would be in the labs, he could anticipate such a thought and plan some sort of an ambush of freaks there, instead. Nothing, though. Nothing...until they heard noises from the engineering level...

"I...don't like the sound of that."

"I don't like the sound of you not liking the sound of that."

"That wasn't no equipment sound, down there."

"It had more of an organic quality, to me."

At this deliberation, David just sighed.

"Gentlemen, as much as I don't like whatever that was, myself, you know perfectly well that we're all going to have to go down and find out what that is. We don't like it. We do - in fact - hate this part of the job. But unfortunately, we have no other choice. We've been tasked to clear this Vault and get the scientist, now are we going to do this, or what?"

"Actually, why don't you go down, Mr. Stealthy?"

"What's a'matter, Bob? Spirit of adventure left you?"

"Probably a rare moment in common sense, the likes of which we rarely see. Go on, David. You're the quiet one. Go and take a look."

"Fine, fine, fine..."

He vanished, and proceeded down the stairs, weapon ready. There was pause...then a grunt and a gurgle from something large and unseen...then a loud moan...and finally a rapidly de-cloaking man in a powersuit running up the stairs!

"Fly, you fools!"

They all felt the rumble from below as something BIG got into motion. They looked down...and a HUGE face of Super Mutant quality glared back up at them! Curses were made as grenades were thrown, shortly before running. The explosions went off, and that thing moved up into the next level, flowing like an amorphous mass of protoplasm! You couldn't see the end of it, only that the beginning was a mass of twisted flesh and parts with this multi-eyed mutant face with a deafening moan blasting from its orifice was coming after them. John had no plastic explosives left, thanks to the previous combat. Plasma, Tesla, Gauss, and Incinerator fire was hurting it, but only superficially. It kept coming... It was only slowed down as they go to the upper-most level, and Scott had his explosive cars waiting, commanding his drones to stick to the Vault entrance and fire on anything that came out of that door. All things considered, that wasn't gonna last long, but Jack said...

"It's okay! We're on the surface!"

"It's okay what? I think it just absorbed the slugs and powered through anything that didn't penetrate!"

"It's okay...because I prepared for this."

"Oh right! Wait... All you brought was a half-a-dozen Replicants."

"Yeah, but remember the packs I had on their backs?"

"I remember. What's in 'em?"

"The bombs you took out of the Vertibird...plus some extra."

The creature erupted from underneath the zoo, showing multiple faces, giant horrible limbs, reaching tendrils, and a body that was disturbing to look at by all the ways it fluctuated. However, the Vertibirds were now in place, as the lead craft opened up and a half-dozen powersuit robots divebombed the mass, exploding in nuclear fire on impact. The screams off of this thing were deafening, as the parts that remained were now on fire, taking laser and plasma-fire from the other waiting Vertibirds.

"You see, Bob? There was a time and a place for explosives, and that was the time."

LATER...

Getting back into the Vault hadn't been that hard, once the fire died down. They weren't done with the operation, but then...as they surveyed the inside once more...it turned out that it was. Sort of... There was no further opposition. There wasn't anything else alive, and there were NO signs of the good doctor. Not at first, anyway. It was indeed in the lab that the most activity was made. Signs of his genetic experimentation were there, but none quite so explicit as two things. Number one, the main lab computer. And number two...a strange and half-wrecked device labeled 'FEG'. The others inspected it, or just sat around, while Jack looked through the computer.

"I've never seen a device like this, but I can guess at its purpose. This is where he made those freaks o' nature."

"That's what he did, alright, but...that isn't the end of it. It's called a Forced Evolutionary Genosplicer, and do you know how it works?"

"Nay, but I've a feelin' you're about to tell me."

He nodded, and explained.

"Vault 66 has no residents. It never did. It was kept empty by the pre-war organization, labeled 'Hellishly unsuitable for human existence', hence the name. This was a lie, however, and instead they used it to store vital equipment, things that might be needed in the future, all in cold storage, safely locked away. This includes-"

"A GECK?!"

"Several."

"Where are they?"

Jack pointed to the machine. They all looked, and even though you couldn't see their faces, you know that understanding crept upon them now.

"He didn't... He fucking used them all for his research?!"

He did, and that meant that their ultimate goal here was probably a failure.

"'The FEG utilizes the properties of the Garden of Eden Creation Kit and that of the Forced Evolutionary Virus to create the new superior form of life which I desire to bring forth into the world. This will be my magnum opus, my brilliant gene machine capable of devising perfect organisms to dominate the landscape.'"

"That son of a bitch! I'll have his head!"

"Where is he? I'll bring him to Number One char-broiled!"

"Not before I have at 'im!"

"You probably already have."

Everyone looked at Jack in confusion, so he showed them the last entry on the computer, the last-recorded words of Dr. Donald Bastion:

I want to see

What there may be

Beyond my humanity.

~ Valkyria Chronicles - Changing of the Guard [Pt. 2 - Open] ~

They stood at the ready now, the sky hanging over them in perpetual overcast.

To be fair, the weather being 'against them' wasn't all bad. This dingy, dirty, wet and soggy day with no sunlight to speak of would do nothing to illuminate them. They would not be loud, and what little noise they might make would not carry. Furthermore, they looked about as uninteresting and uncatching of the eye for the most part that the enemy would have to have a pretty good and far from miserable eye to spot anything. So, on those grounds, this job had its merits. It was not suicide, out of hand. It was only suicidal in the general sense, because of how immediately life-threatening any gunfire would be, whether it was shot out at random to spook people or done with purpose, once they were spotted. You never can tell where things are going to go. Isaac personally hoped that the Imps were just as low in moral as their enemy, and that that would allow for this other part of the plan to take place. He didn't so much as want Middleton's plan to succeed, you understand. Just for people to not DIE in the process.

Speaking of Captain Grumpus, he was now addressing them as the fog began to thicken heavily. When he got to the part about not waiting for the trench raiders, Britta gave Isaac a knowing look and he nodded. They were probably going to ignore the order, not the team. If they saw people trying to pull themselves out of the fire, there was going to be some damn cover from the other side! And frankly, no one was going to believe the faux concern Middleton spouted on the same breath as 'ignore the other team', so he could stuff it. The only person Middleton really cared for was Middleton. Anything else was pure speculation and coincidental self-service. People wanted out of this war. Isaac never wanted to be in. They'd made this thing a part of his life, and he hated it. It was stuck to him, like glue, and he wanted nothing more than to go home and wash it off. The only good thing to come out of this were the people that he hoped would survive to carry on their lives.

But let us not dwell now on the state of things and the what-might-bes, for now. Time once again to stand aggressively in the present, to see nothing but what is in front and be in the now. Their focus was needed to keep the squad safe, as Jean addressed him and Britta both. They knew what they were doing, but they followed Jean's words with the respect he badly deserved. They knew what was at stake, and would keep their shots to a minimum, where possible. Their real commanding officer also instructed them all to take a small log out with them for the posts of the wire fence. They'd need that, and the Gunners had no issue with the added baggage. Ever since the change-up of the machine guns, the packs were a little lighter and less cumbersome, and with these, they barely noticed at all. Also, when Jean mentioned the need to keep low in case they could be spotted from the sudden unrest of the trench raid, Isaac chimed in, as well.

"And be just as careful yourselves so that our presence doesn't cause them to spot the raiding team ahead of time. They need the quiet and everything as much as we do."

"We are good to go, though, Jean."

They ascended, assisted by Jean with logs somewhere on their person. Lucia was the one with the wiring, someone not on Gunnery duty would help her set. With that in mind, he and Britta both spread out. The classic pattern for the two of them was for a Gunner to be at either side of the group - rather than taking point and taking rear - with these positions giving them a wide area of fire without being bunched together. The rest of the team would spread out anyway to prevent everyone getting shot up or blown to pieces, anyway. However, it should be noted that this setup was rather common, and in anticipation of the idea that the Imperials would start thinking to aim for certain people right off to be sure, Britta had elected to use her lighter equipment to the fullest. Namely, she could get around the battlefield more.

Once she was a further onto the right, she was down even lower than all of them, with the RAR dangling under her. Moving around the low cover with little concern of potentially getting bogged down by weight - because she wouldn't be - Britta was be just a little ahead AND off to the side to perk her ears up and keep her eyes pealed for the enemy. Isaac was the main protection, while she was the anticipation and the unexpected strike from an angle you weren't a keeping watch on. It took them time, but they were all soon in position, at this...the shambled remains of a barb wire fence, the likes of which would probably be eliminated tomorrow. Nevertheless, the two Gunners watched the area with intent, that intent being to kill if anything Imperial showed themselves. Britta was positioned to get the first shot while away from the group, while Isaac was the overall protection. Should her position need to be given away, she wasn't near the group and she could reposition to prevent any personal injury.

And now...we wait with bated breath for the outcome under the rain.

War Never Changes III: Annals of the East

@Andreyich Those were certainly some words, right there.

*Shrugs*

War Never Changes III: Annals of the East

@ClocktowerEchos

Okay, the way you describe these guys, it sounds alot more like Maxson in Fallout 4 in the Brotherhood, which is not good. Current Enclave (as in, mine), though, does not cling heavily to the past. Learn from it, yes, but the lesson is that the old ways - including previous Enclave stubborn-ness - are not the right ways. Number One would be quick to remind any of these folks that treating government as religion led to such failures as the Legion, out west. So, maybe they wouldn't get along, but it's for different reasons. Namely, "What in god's name - and I mean that in every way possible - is wrong with these people?".

War Never Changes III: Annals of the East

@Andreyich@ClocktowerEchos Not the way I run 'em.

War Never Changes III: Annals of the East

Officially throwing my interest into this! Thinking of doing something with Philadelphia and being aggressively American.

@ClocktowerEchos

Bloodlines: Last Hope

Ryoko Yumekishi

It was a lovely day, wasn't it? And so, while many were in the library, there was one who was actually outside, right now. Well, for given measures of 'out'. Not too far from the library proper, parked up against the curb, was a black-and-red Ford Mustang, license plate 'HAMRHED'. The young lady inside sat in the passenger seat, one leg up with her foot against dashboard and keeping a book in place while she read. Ryoko had already been and gone from the bookshelves and studious campus-goers, having borrowed her lot for her work. She was taking in a book on Carl Jung while simultaneously shutting out the world, and yet inviting it into her senses passively.

Windows were down, and her music list had changed to a song that was just asking for trouble, but she liked it along with the show and game she'd heard it from, so it stayed as she pressed on. Ryoko's study in psychology was not just a simple reading and repetition of facts on paper. When she was not trying to figure out people, she was absorbing atmosphere both inside and out, to gain a feel for where people's reactions would lie in certain conditions. It was right alongside with the whole nature-versus-nurture argument of what marks you more in development. Personally, and perhaps the point of the argument was always to encourage this, Ryoko found that there was no way it couldn't be a matter of equal-footing in the normal development of a personality.

Take her, for instance. Traditional upbringings, respect for her parents, and a certain pressure in the back of her mind to succeed so that the rest of the world looked favorably on her family...AND YET, here she was in Philadelphia in the United States, leaning back in her American car with her jeans and her music playing and so on. Who really ruled in this dichotomy? Her parents had helped her establish this on the promise that they would hear good things, and she was personally very motivated to pursue Psych because of the events in her life.

Of course, I'm gonna have to take a break at some point. When was that event about the fossil suppose to be again?

Major-wise, archaeology had little to do with her field, but history had a place in understanding where people came from mentally as much as physically, so it was kind of a 'Why not?' sort of thing. Besides, it could be interesting.