Shortly thereafter, our group of four arrived on the scene and the instant we did, we said our goodbyes to everyone who came to see us off before sharing a hug with our parents. Once the two of us had done that, I brought Amata over to her suit of power armor.
"This will be your suit of power armor from now on, Amata. I hope you like it. It'll keep you safe from most of the dangers that exist out in the wastes."
"Wow, this suit of armor is beautiful." She gushed as she walked circles around, inspecting the advanced and extremely durable black and red power armor.
Once she had examined it plenty, she turned round and latched on to me. "Thanks, Harold. I love it."
"Good, I made it just for you."
She stayed attached to me for a few more seconds before letting me go and approaching the standing set of armor. As she was going to attempt to climb into it, I stopped her in her tracks and had her get suited up in the Shadow Armor I made for her previously.
The moment she got the suit of Shadow Armor on, I began showing and introducing the different features of the suit to her. As soon as she understood how they worked and tested them out, I started teaching her how to operate the custom power armor suit I made for her, the Phoenix Power Armor. When I was sure she understood how to operate every facet of the armor and all of its features, including the jet pack, I handed her my AER 29 LMG to use temporarily.
Following that, I got myself decked out in my own suit, that being my Annihilator Power Armor. Immediately upon getting suited up, I retrieved my gatling gun Mulcher out of the view of everyone except my girl since I showed her most of my abilities long ago. Wielding my heavy weapon with a firm grip, I walked over to the three ghoul brothers with Amata following alongside me and had them hop on in Hauler's cabin.
With the brothers loaded up, I walked over to the front of my group with Amata and waved goodbye to all our friends and family that we won't be seeing for a bit.
"Time to head out. You ready, Amata?"
"Yes." She answered both confidently and excitedly.
"Alright, let's head out." I told my group.
Now, on our way, we exited the large cave that housed the entrance of Vault 101 and proceeded down the road west to the abandoned ruins of Springvale. From there we got to an intersection within the town and headed north following the crumbling asphalt road. Traveling on that road for a short bit, we reached the main one and right as we did; I scanned the area for any hostiles. Not seeing any, we cut through the main roadway and continued northward for the next several minutes.
After traveling for the next short bit, we arrived in the vicinity of Big Town, thus I observed the surroundings to see if any super mutants were around. As I was in the midst of eyeing the environment, I discovered a group of 11 of them and 2 centaurs crossing the bridge to the north, most likely coming from the Hallowed Moors Cemetery. Having found mutants to kill, I got everyone to hold up so I could use them to ease Amata into killing before she inevitably needs to take human lives one day, like raider lives.
"Alright, everyone, we got hostiles about 1,500 meters out coming from the north and they consist of 10 normal super mutants, 1 super mutant brute, and 2 centaurs."
Getting a number of affirmatives, Amata asked. "What are super mutants and centaurs?"
"They are two different types of humans that were subjected to the forced evolutionary virus or FEV for short."
"Oh, if they're human, can they be reasoned with?"
"Nope, the ones here in the east are basically all nuts and highly aggressive except for a small few."
"That's unfortunate. So what are we going to do about them?"
"Well, I'm going to have you eliminate a few of them so you can get used to killing. The super mutant look somewhat human so that should help with dealing with any negative mental effects you may have when you take your first human life. Which is a guaranteed thing to happen out here in the wasteland."
"Okay, I'll try my best. But I don't think I'll be all that affected by it."
"Why is that?" I asked curiously.
"Hmm... I just don't think it will affect me, or at least that is the feeling I have."
"...We'll see in a moment, then. Raise the AER 29 LMG I gave you and take out 3 of them."
Hearing my directive, she raised her AER 29 LMG, rested it against the shoulder of her armor, set it to full auto, and looked down the scope of the gun with both eyes open so as to not reduce her situational awareness. She then locked onto the nearing super mutants that were still a ways out and pulled the trigger when she felt she was ready.
As soon as she pulled the trigger back, she let out a burst of laser fire, downing one of them immediately. With the first one down, she moved the scope's reticle over to the next and pulled the trigger, releasing her 2nd burst of automatic laser fire.
Increasing her kill count to two, the muties started reacting by releasing their usual rage-induced war cry and stormed in our direction where the laser fire originated. While they were pointlessly charging over, Amata effortlessly took out the last super mutant I asked her to kill with her 3rd burst of laser fire.
"Good Job, Amata. I'll take care of the rest."
"Thanks."
Now that she was done with what I asked of her, I took over, set Mulcher to 2,000 rounds per minute, spooled it, and released a short burst at the remaining members of the mutant party shredding them and even bisecting one of the super mutants. After I was done killing off that group, I heard the residents of Big Town panicking in the distance and yelling for everyone to get inside.
"With the super mutant problem resolved, how are you feeling, Amata?" I asked her to make sure she wasn't experiencing anything negative.
"Not too bad. I just feel slightly saddened at taking a life." She responded in a slightly saddened tone, looking to be somewhat affected by her actions, although minimally.
"Amata, take your helmet off for a second."
A second later, she did as I asked, thus I took off mine as well and strode up to her. And as her head was raised, looking up at me, I leaned down and stole her lips so this potentially traumatic experience wouldn't be all negative and would instead be a positive one.
Hopefully, this will make it easier for her when she inevitably has to end another life in the future.
"Aah." She sputtered out before her face lit up with blush.
"Better?"
"Nn." She responded, nodding her head whilst looking at me sweetly.
"Aye, young love." Don commented from Hauler's cabin along with the rest of the peanut gallery, triggering Amata's embarrassment.
"Pipe down, old timer." I told him in a not-so-serious tone.
"Aye, aye, leader." Don replied jokingly in his rough, raspy ghoul voice.
"Alright, put your helmet back on." I told Amata while she was distracted by what happened and Don's comment.
As Amata put her helmet back on, I slipped my own back into place and got everyone to continue down the road to the east for a minute. From there, we took a turn and went south until we got to the bend of the road. Hopping onto that deteriorating road, the convoy continued journeying to the east for some time till we came upon the Jury Street Metro Station.
Still as cautious as ever, I raked my gaze across the area to see if there were any hostile forces nearby. After a few seconds of searching the surroundings, I spotted a pack of 5 deathclaws roaming the road we were taking to get to my home.
"Hold up everyone, we got 5 deathclaws up ahead at around 1,100 meters out." I warned.
I was expecting Amata to ask what those were, but I didn't hear her say anything, so she must still be distracted by the kiss from earlier.
"Amata, you there."
"Ah, yes, I'm here. What is it, Harold?" She responded in a sweet and endearing voice.
Haa, I may have opened Pandora's box this time around.
Sighing mentally, I asked. "Weren't you going to ask me what a deathclaw was?"
"Ohh, yeah, I was going to, what is a deathclaw?" She responded in the same tone of voice as previously.
"A deathclaw is a genetically engineered Jackson's Chameleon designed by the U.S. government as a weapon of war. Which means they are exceptionally deadly in close-range combat, so I would advise you not engage them in melee combat and to always take them out from afar."
"So if I was to engage one in melee combat, what should I do?"
"You shouldn't have to worry about that since you have a jetpack, but if you do, your armor is too much for them to penetrate. So just crank the amperage up on your power armor gauntlets to lethal levels and shock them with it. That should be enough to stun if not kill them outright."
With the Q & A out of the way, I had everyone stay where they were and walked out of the ghoul brothers' view. And right as I was out of sight, I put Mulcher away for now and retrieved Severance from my inventory to give it its first real combat test.
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The next release will be on Sunday.