Rainbow sat quietly as the Vertibird shuddered through some minor turbulence. Her, Pinkie, Fawkes, and two Knights were on their way to the Washington Monument, in the heart of the D.C. ruins, where their mission would properly begin.

“We’ll be at the Monument in less than two minutes,” the pilot called back to them. The mismatched squad got to their feet and gathered their gear. Soon enough, the pilot called out again, “LZ looks clear, prepare for landing.”

“Keeps your eyes open, guys,” Rainbow warned as the Vertibird descended. “Shephard’s a sneaky fucker. Let’s not get ambushed the second we step outside.”

Despite her concern, the Vertibird landed without issue, and the only thing waiting for them when they disembarked was a pair of Paladins and an Enclave fireteam guarding the entrance to the Monument. Rainbow frowned as she looked up at the giant white obelisk. It was clearly incredibly important to both the Brotherhood and the Enclave, but she didn’t have a clue what it was supposed to represent. Probably a dick or something.

“You might be awesome, but I don’t think that’ll fit in you,” Pinkie quipped.

Rainbow snorted and turned to look out over the Mall. A deathly silence lay over the war-torn maze of trenches and crude fortifications, though that certainly didn’t mean that it was safe. She took a deep breath and turned to her team. “Alright, people, listen up. Our mission is to draw out Shephard’s pet teleporter and turn him into a grease stain. To do that, we’re going to fight our way down the length of the Mall and storm that.” Rainbow pointed at a huge building at the far end of the mall. “Intel says that the Capitol Building is the biggest outpost that Shephard’s forces have in the D.C. ruins. If we can hit it hard and raise as much hell as possible while we’re at it, we should be able to get the teleporter’s attention.”

“This is going to be very dangerous,” Fawkes noted.

“You’ve got that right,” Rainbow agreed. “Several of the buildings around here have been occupied by Shephard’s followers, so we’re probably going to get flanked, and there’s a good chance that we could run into some of the feral ghouls or the Scorched that are duking it out in the metros beneath our feet. This could be a rough fight. If any of you have changed your mind and want to bail, you can wait here at the Monument until we get back.”

“I am with you,” Fawkes insisted as Pinkie and the Knights nodded grimly.

Rainbow nodded back and drew Flashburn. “In that case, let’s get this done.”

As one, the squad moved forward, keeping their eyes peeled for danger. In order to maintain visibility the group skirted around the top of the trenches instead of descending into them. Being out in the open like that left Rainbow feeling horribly exposed, but there wasn’t much she could do about it.

Strangely, despite making no attempt to hide their advance, the group didn’t encounter a single living thing, let alone any Super Mutants. It was only when they reached the bunker that Sonata had mentioned, and the crevasse that she had blasted out of the ground with her magic shortly before being captured, that the squad finally found something.

A handful of dead feral ghouls was strewn around the bullet-ridden entrance to the bunker, staining the snow around them with blood. One of them was a glowing one, but the fact that it was missing its head was a fair sign that it wasn’t about to get up again.

“At least we don’t have to kill them ourselves,” one of the Knights muttered.

“But we may have to deal with what killed them, which is likely to be a more difficult prospect,” Fawkes noted. “We must remain cautious.”

“Especially since whatever did it is about to walk out of that door,” Pinkie added, pointing her shotgun at the bunker’s entrance. The others snapped their weapons up just as the door in question creaked open, revealing a nightmarish humanoid creature.

It had once been a raider, judging by the weird fetishy ‘armor’ it was wearing, but its skin was so infested with lesions and sores that it was a gooey dark pink, save for the few areas where its flesh had ruptured entirely to reveal glowing green crystal pushing out from within. More of the crystals grew out of its skull like a crown of horns.

Pinkie’s shotgun blasted a cavity the size of a bowling ball out of the creature’s chest before it could even register that they were there.

Rainbow couldn’t suppress a shudder as she watched the corpse keel over backwards. It was clearly a Scorched; humans and animals that were infected with a horrific plague, spread by colossal mutant bats, that basically turned them into mind-controlled slaves of the bats while also slowly fossilizing them.

“So the feral ghouls and the Scorched have managed to escape the metro system.” Fawkes shook his head, a grim expression on his face. “Either my fellow Meta Humans no longer have the numbers to contain them, or they simply no longer care to. Either way, it does not bode well for the nearby settlements.”

The thought of a zombie war spilling out into the Capital Wasteland made the blood drain from Rainbow’s face, but there was a more pressing concern. “It’s not exactly great for our mission either. If Shephard has pulled his troops out of the Mall, then the plan is screwed right from the start.” She let out a frustrated sigh and glared down at the corpse. “Pinkie, get on the radio and let the Enclave know that they need to put a rush on that Scorched vaccine, then we’ll hit the Capitol Building as planned. If there’s no Metas in there, we’ll have to regroup back at the Washington Monument and see what the Elder wants us to do.”

It only took a moment to relay the situation back to command, then the group resumed their advance. They discovered more bodies as they walked, mostly feral ghouls with a few more Scorched, but that was all. There was nothing in the Mall but the dead.

Pressing on, Rainbow noticed that the closer they got to the Capitol Building, the less dead feral ghouls there were and the more Scorched took their place. Soon enough, the group was standing by a dilapidated wall in front of the building.

Rainbow scowled up at the building towering above. Grand staircases rose up either side of the main façade, presumably to actual entrances. Dozens of Scorched corpses littered the stairs, apparently slaughtered as they attempted to swarm the place.

“I guess they didn’t like the election results,” Pinkie said randomly.

“Do you think the Scorched managed to do our job for us?” One of the Knights asked.

“Unlikely, but possible,” Fawkes replied. “Even so, we must be sure.”

As much as she wanted to get far away from anything involving a plague, Rainbow nodded in agreement. Sunset wouldn’t back down, and neither would she. “We’ve got to get this done, just don’t touch the bodies. That includes you, Fawkes; the Enclave says that even Metas like you might not be immune to the Scorched plague, only ghouls seem to be.”

“Worry not, I shall take care,” Fawkes assured her.

The thought of setting fire to the corpses with Flashburn floated across Rainbow’s mind, but she wasn’t sure whether or not that might make things worse. It wasn’t worth the risk. Taking care not to step too close to any of the bodies, Rainbow led the way up the nearest staircase and through a set of smashed doors at the top.

Inside was a wide room supported by marble columns. It had probably been fancy as all hell at some point, but now it was a half-ruined mess filled with the remains of Super Mutants and Scorched alike. Just as Rainbow was wondering if the Scorched really had managed to wipe out the Super Mutants, or at least drive them off, she heard heavy footsteps approaching from a nearby corridor.

A pair of Super Mutants lumbered into room, each carrying several dead Scorched with no concern for the hellish plague that they bore. “Hey, dickheads!” Rainbow called out, making the Mutants stop and stare at her in shock. “What are you doing with those corpses?”

“Rainbooms!” The Mutants shouted dumbly, dropping the Scorched and reaching for their weapons in painfully slow motion.

Rainbow smirked, confident that any other Super Mutants in the building now knew that they had visitors, then ponied up and ignited Flashburn before launching herself at the duo. She rolled over in mid-air and slammed boots-first into the first Mutant, smashing it off of its feet and away from the plague-ridden bodies. A storm of lasers shredded the other Mutant before it could get a shot off.

Glancing around the room, Rainbow idly wondered just where the Scorchbeasts had managed to find so many raiders to infect as she waited for the first Mutant to get back to its feet. It quickly sat up and raised its hunting rifle in one meaty fist, spittle flying from its mouth as it roared, but Rainbow calmly slapped the gun aside with Flashburn and delivered a two-handed slash that took the Mutant’s head from its shoulders.

More guttural shouts came from further inside, though not as many as Rainbow had expected.

“I think they know we’re here,” Pinkie noted sourly.

“Good.” Rainbow glanced back at the others. “Remember the plan; back me up while I get that teleporter’s attention!”

The others assented just as the first Super Mutants piled into the room. Rainbow immediately leapt into action, aiming for throats and tendons to drop the Mutants as quickly as possible. Crimson flashes and shotgun blasts let her know that the others were finishing them off behind her.

Almost as soon as it had started, the fight was over. Just over half a dozen Super Mutants had tried to attack the group altogether. Rainbow didn’t like it. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something was off.

“Does anyone else think that that was a little too easy?” Pinkie asked.

“This whole situation is fishy as fuck,” Rainbow agreed. “Let’s keep moving, and don’t let your guard down.” She kept Flashburn at the ready as she stalked through the door the Super Mutants had charged through.

On the other side was an enormous rotunda. It was entirely empty aside from a few broken statues around the edges, with flecks of paint drifting down from a faded mural on the domed ceiling high above. A shaft of wan sunlight shone through a hole in the roof. The only other exit from the rotunda was sealed by a crude barricade of scrap metal, razor wire, and half-rusted steel pipes all welded together.

Rainbow advanced cautiously into the rotunda, looking around for danger or for any hint of what the Super Mutants had been doing in there, when she heard an ear-splitting grinding noise from behind. She whipped around just in time to see another makeshift gate slam down in front of the door with a boom that shook the floor, narrowly missing the Knights and Fawkes.

“Another fucking trap?!” Rainbow spat. Shephard must have assumed that any Talon Company survivors would offer up whatever information they had, and had prepared accordingly. Then again, that wasn’t necessarily a problem if it served the mission’s purposes. Rainbow looked back at Pinkie, wordlessly reminding her of the plan, then squared her shoulders and took several deliberate steps away from the others. “Hey, is someone gonna come out here and fight me, or are you all just little bitches? I’ve met radroaches that were less pathetic than you lot!”

A faint flash of purple light from behind was all the warning that Rainbow needed. She dove aside on reflex, rolling to her feet and turning in one smooth motion. The teleporter Mutant was standing there, hand still outstretched to where Rainbow had been posturing a fraction of a second ago. Moving faster than the eye could follow, she swung Flashburn right at the Mutant’s neck.

Sparks flew as a turquoise barrier burst into life just before the blade struck home. Rainbow blinked in surprise, prompting the Mutant to smirk at her. “Magic shield works, y-”

A flurry of powerful blows interrupted the attempt at being smug. None of them got through, but Rainbow persevered, driving the Mutant back as she tried desperately to overwhelm its magic. Just as she thought the shield was about to give way, the annoying creature disappeared once more in a purple flash.

“Fuck!” Rainbow spat. She brandished Flashburn angrily as she looked around for the teleporter in vain. “Get back here you cocksucking coward!”

“Don’t worry, Dash,” Pinkie said as she stepped up alongside her. “I managed to- uh-oh.” She looked around the room anxiously as she swapped her shotgun for the Party Cannon. “On second thought, we should definitely worry.”

“Worry? What do you-” Rainbow’s question was answered by dozens of purple flashes around the edges of the rotunda. By the time it faded, the group was surrounded by heavily armed and armored Super Mutants, along with at least one Overlord and, floating above everyone in a flickering aura of purple and turquoise magic, the Mutant teleporter himself.

Fawkes practically growled as he glared up at the enemy above. “You are a fool if you think this will end well for you, Zap.”

Zap grinned down at him. “Wait ‘til you see who else we brought, yep.” He snapped his fingers and, almost instantly, a lightning bolt arced through the hole in the dome and struck the ground with a thunderous boom. Rainbow blinked rapidly to clear her eyes, keeping her sword raised protectively. Her blood ran cold when her vision cleared and she saw Talon Company’s speedster standing in the smoking crater, her arms covered by gauntlets that crackled with barely-contained magical electricity.

Raw hatred blazed in Lightning’s eyes. “Time to die, bitch.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 183 - Dash's to Ashes, Dust to Dust Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 5 Minutes