POV Rio
We finished our break and started to plan our next step. We discussed it for a bit, but I decided it was best to take a small detour South to the Federal Surveillance Center K-21B in the Glowing Sea. We could also loot Federal Supply Cache 84NE, not that far from it. The reason I wanted to go to K-21B was that I believed there would be a suit of X-01 Power Armor down there. It also had some Synths that needed to be cleared out. Not to mention the data we could retrieve. At present, there wasn't a massive rush to head back up North as Sanctuary was fine, Goodneighbor was still alive, and the Raiders were now almost all wiped out.
Most of what we would do would be Clean Up Ops. But the Raiders weren't going to magically rebound in the next day or so from this level of defeat. Kellogg won't be that hard to track down now that I have The White Wolf perk. The Minutemen would normally be able to handle the Raiders, but I had given them more important assignments. They, alongside the Griffon Mercs and M.I.M.I.C., would be hunting down and eliminating all Institute surface operatives and informants. With it settled, we moved South.
The Glowing Sea was a vast area shrouded in a green, radioactive storm for almost the entire year. For most people, this would be an impassible area that kills anyone dumb enough to enter it. We, on the other hand, were immune to Radiation, so it was just a greener desert. As for the hostile inhabitants, we didn't have many issues with them, as I quickly learned that Deathclaws are considered a reptilian and/or dragon-based species. They not only didn't harm us, but they also actively helped us. They weren't the smartest, but with them around, nothing else was willing to come anywhere near us.
Of course, the others were nearly crapping themselves in fear. I didn't blame them, as even I was pretty scared to be so close to the wastelands' best killing machine. They had massive claws, and their speed could make even that speedster struggle. But the Deathclaws didn't attack and were friendly the entire time, so my fear just kind of went away completely.
Our first stop was the Federal Supply Cache 84NE. It had some decent loot. Some healing supplies, ammo, and some weapons. It was a good amount of supplies, as it seemed like nobody had looted the Supply Cache. I was also able to pull some data from their computers. Nothing too crazy, just some clearance codes, topographical data, weather data, and a list of stockpiles at other Federal Supply Caches. I also took the robots stored at the cache.
After Federal Supply Cache 84NE, we moved to the Southwest to an inconspicuous cabin that hid a very special trap door. We said goodbye to the Deathclaws, and I gave them some meat for their troubles. I had a lot of Molerat Meat and corpses, so it was a win-win. I freed up space, and they got food.
We opened the metal hatch and went down the ladder one by one. We arrived at a reception desk with a skeleton wearing some Army Fatigues. We found some simple loot and moved on. Past the reception desk was a hallway leading to a door that was shut due to a power outage. A bit of a design flaw, as it meant no one could get in or out until someone flipped the breaker to restart the backup generator. Which was on this side of the door.
Clunk
I reset the breaker, and the door opened. The backup generator kicked in, and the lights turned on. I didn't enter, though, as I could see some Gen-2 Synths. Unfortunately, none of them were the Mk 4 and below that I could control via a virus I sent to the Institute. Which meant it was time to kill them. Our group split up, and each of us would take one of the Synths. Thankfully, there were not that many, only 5. That meant that one wouldn't be killed right away, but that was fine; I could kill two at once since they were in the same room.
I waited until both were right next to each other and facing the same direction. Then I used my Shadow Step ability to appear right behind them and used the looted sword I took from the Assassin. I cleaved both of the Synth's heads in one swipe. Then I tossed a severed head down, causing a sound that attracted the attention of the other Synths. As they looked at the sound, the others moved and attacked. With three shots, everyone killed their targets. In case it wasn't clear, I didn't send Dogmeat to kill a synth by himself, as he wasn't exactly best suited to fight metal enemies.
Once the enemies were cleared, we started to loot the base. The base was a treasure trove of prewar info. I obtained information on various topics from schematics, DIA Caches, Military Convoy Routes, Prewar Science Projects, and many more. But the real prize was found on the bottom floor. There was a set of Power Armor there, but it was a unique set. From the notes I read, this facility had to do a few projects due to budget cuts. They had to collect intel, but it was also home to a science project to create an invulnerable armor. One of the terminal entries stood out more than the others.
To: General Crawley
From: Head Scientist Martha R. Chaney
Subject: Project Aegis
Sir, with all due respect, I have read the reports and seen the footage, but the creature shown in the footage doesn't seem to follow traditional scientific principles. I am a scientist, not a sorceress. This is a project that the BPRD would handle.
To: Head Scientist Martha R. Chaney
From: General Crawley
Subject: RE: Project Aegis
This is an order from the White House itself. The BPRD is unable to handle this project. We want to see a set of Power Armor that can show similar abilities to the creature. You don't need to incorporate any magic into the armor, just make it invincible. And remember, no one outside yourself can know about the creature, BRPD, Magic, or anything outside their specific need to know. Violation of this will result in immediate termination, so don't mess this up. I stuck my neck out for you to get this assignment because I was confident you could do this. So don't disappoint me.
The entries went back in forth for a few years before they stopped 4 days after the Great War. The last message was an excited email stating that they had successfully created the first prototype immune to damage. I read the notes and realized what they meant. Not truly immune to damage, but instead, it was immune to all melee damage. It would reflect all melee damage back on the attacker while the user was left completely unharmed. It was incredibly impressive. Especially when you realise that it didn't use any magic. It had some serious downsides, such as consuming Fusion Cores rapidly, being somewhat fragile, and the armor would degrade even if it reflected the damage. But otherwise, it was a superb set of X-01 Power Armor.
I gave the suit to Nick since he was the most fragile of the group. I still wasn't fully sure how a Stimpak worked on him. I just felt it was system magic as he is clearly a machine. A machine with a heart of gold, but a machine nonetheless. I also found a copy of the U.S. Covert Operations Manual Perk Magazine. It was Issue #4, Not the Soldiers You're Looking For. I found it amusing as the name brought back memories. I also found it interesting, as there was no Star Wars Franchise in the Fallout Universe. Or at least not any that I could find. Other than that, there was some okay prewar loot, nothing too crazy. Once we had time to take a break, the others started to chat.
"That was easily the scariest thing I have ever done. I mean, those Deathclaws were within spittin' distance. I was sweatin' like a pig the whole trip," Cait said.
"I may not be able to sweat, but it sure felt like I was. I have never gotten that close to a Deathclaw before. The closet I have gotten before this was seeing one eating a caravan I was hired to find," Nick is the next to speak.
"My heart still hasn't calmed down. You could have warned us, Blue. I mean, I am all for getting a new story or an adventure, but that was... Something else," Piper comments.
"No one will ever believe you. Even if you told your sister, she would look at you like you're crazy," I reply.
"I... I... Okay, that's just mean. Maybe you could get some Deaathclaw to follow us to town," Piper said.
"Don't forget that they are still wild animals. Just because they are friendly to us and my allies doesn't mean they won't kill and eat anything that they can find. I don't know if you noticed it, but the Deathclaw's intelligence was only around an average dog or less. Heck, they might not even be able to feel love," I reply.
"What do you mean they might not feel love?" Cait asks.
"Prewar, it was known that lizard and reptile brains were physically incapable of forming attachments or feeling love. You can train them to replicate the looks of it, but they could never actually feel it," Nick says.
"Correct. It's part of the reason you can hear stories about reptiles killing their owners; the level of connection is just not the same. It is also why you shouldn't feed wild reptiles. They will associate you with food, which can result in you becoming food. Though it isn't to say that they can't connect at all. It's just a far simpler and basic connection. Like trust. But they simply can't form complex bonds. But that was all prewar. With mutations in the mix, there is no way to say for certain. For instance, Deathclaws form families. This is different from most reptiles, as they have no families, they lay eggs, and then the hatchlings are often left to their own devices. So the short answer is who knows?" I reply.
"I don't know if that should make me more or less scared?" Piper asks.
"I dunno. But regardless, we should get back on track. I made sure that Kellogg is trapped in the old Railroad HQ. My plan from here is to collect some suits of Power Armor I know are on the way. There aren't many. Three, if I recall correctly," I state.
"We aren't callin' for a pickup?" Cait asks.
"Nope, we travel on foot for the next while. The Vertibirds are busy with cleanup and more important missions. At most, we may call over a Vertibird to pick up some of the Power Armor suits. But we will try to avoid that, as like I said, they have time-sensitive missions that need to be completed. Our job is to clear out any hostile Raider groups we come across and obtain any loot that can be valuable to us," I reply.
"Where's our first stop?" Nick asks.
"A bit south of Natick Banks and then into Natick Banks proper from there," I reply.
We all nod and get ready to head out. I activate the automated security, but make sure we are set as friendlies, then we take the elevator out of the facility. Then we check back in with that same Deathclaw family and get their help to head back up North.