The morning after the Rainbooms’ desperate escape from the Enclave, a thick pall of fog blanketed the entire wasteland. Whether or not it was related to the unleashed magic of the previous night was impossible to say. It was thankfully free of radiation, so most of the wastelanders were just happy to have a source of clean water for a change, no matter how small the quantity.

For the Rainbooms, it probably would have been less of a problem if they and their escort weren’t attempting to clamber over a particularly huge mound of debris. Loose chunks of concrete and exposed sections of rusting metal rebar made the journey especially treacherous.
Sunset had, understandably, raised the question of whether or not the group should just go around the small hill, but Knight-Sergeant Metzger had refused, citing that their only other options involved either swimming across the irradiated Potomac river, or wandering dangerously close to a known mercenary encampment.

Rarity took a slow, deep breath as she crested the hill and started easing her way down the other side. They had left their little camp at the crack of dawn, trekking for a few hours through blasted streets and skeletal buildings. Fortunately, they hadn’t run into any more super mutants, magical or otherwise, though they had certainly heard them in the distance. The Knight-Sergeant had still ordered total silence until they crossed the river, just in case.

“Easy, watch your step.” Rarity looked up at the sound to see one of the Knights helping Fluttershy off the bottom of the hill. An old road stretched out ahead of them in a straight line past several bombed out buildings on one side and a river tributary on the other.

Once everyone was safely down, Knight-Sergeant Metzger gestured for them to gather around, “Alright, we’re out of super mutant territory now, but don’t let your guard down too much. It’s not unheard of for raiding parties to come here or even attempt to attack the Citadel, so stay on your toes.”

With that, the group headed off once more, with the Knights splitting up to cover their front and rear. Trudging along quietly, Rarity wasn’t particularly surprised to find Tabitha and Claire keeping pace alongside her. She was glad to note that neither of them were ponied up any more.

“You’re… Rarity, is that correct?” Tabitha asked quietly.

“It is,” Rarity replied. “How are the two of you holding up?”

Tabitha took a deep breath in through her nose, then let it out through her mouth, “Fairly well, I suppose, all things considered. I can’t deny I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around the concept that magic is real, let alone the fact that you’re all from another world and… well…”

“That we’re different versions of each other?” Rarity suggested. Tabitha just nodded. “I suppose it is a lot to take in.”

“That’s an understatement,” Claire muttered.

Rarity smiled wryly, understanding all too well how they were feeling. She considered asking about the Railroad, and how they knew where the Rainbooms had been taken, but the Knights were all still within earshot, so she stuck with a slightly safer topic, “I, er, I’d like to thank you for helping to rescue us. It means a lot.”

Tabitha smiled graciously at her, “You’re more than welcome, darling. I’m just glad we were able to provide some assistance.”

“Eyes up, we’re here,” Metzger called suddenly. As the group crossed a small parking lot, a huge building slowly came into view through the fog. Large gun turrets poked up out of concrete emplacements at strategic intervals, panning back and forth as they scanned for targets. As they approached the girls spotted more Brotherhood Knights patrolling the perimeter, all of whom called out greetings to Metzger and the others as they passed.

“What is this place?” Applejack asked, looking up at the walls.

“We call it the Citadel,” Metzger replied. “It’s the home, fortress, and base of operations for the whole eastern Brotherhood of Steel.”

Pinkie cocked her head as she looked up at a series of brightly coloured splatters on the walls, “What’s that supposed to be?”

Metzger looked up at it too. Her helmet may have hid her face, but she couldn’t hide the note of worry in her voice as she replied, “I don’t know, it wasn’t there before. It must be something to do with your magic.”

Tabitha shivered and looked out into the fog, in the direction of the downtown ruins, “I have to admit, after seeing what it did to those super mutants, I’m more than a little worried about what all that magic is going to do out there in the wastes.”

Rarity grimaced, but nodded in agreement, “You and me both, darling.”

Tara couldn’t suppress a shudder as she watched the feed from the eyebot. After grabbing what little sleep they could last night, she and the others had woken early and set themselves to work, cataloguing everything that had been destroyed or damaged in the fight and trying to establish what exactly had happened up on the surface. Vincent had tried contacting the rest of Squad Sigma using his armour’s built-in radio, but all attempts at communication had been met with silence.

Without any other real options, and with Michaels still unconscious in the first aid room, Vincent had opted to go to the surface by himself and see what had happened, with Tara and Becky monitoring the situation via eyebot. The fact that they were all still ponied up actually hindered matters in that regard, as Vincent’s wings prevented him from fitting properly into his power armour. After a short argument, the women agreed to let him go without, provided that he stayed within the eyebot’s line of sight and kept his walkie-talkie switched on.

The surface level of the Exodus building was surprisingly untouched. The thick fog, however, gave Vincent a moment’s pause when he arrived at the building’s main entrance. “Entrance is clear, no contacts. Visibility outside is low, maybe five or six metres at most,” he half-whispered into his walkie-talkie.

“We can see it, be careful out there,” Becky replied.

“Will do.” Holding his plasma rifle steady, Vincent cautiously made his way outside, the eyebot bobbing along behind.

The forecourt was disturbingly quiet. Congealed blood was splattered around in many places, with the odd dismembered mutant limb or bone dotted around, but of the bodies that these pieces belonged to, there was no sign.

Tara and Becky both nearly leapt out of their seats as the door to the office behind them suddenly opened. “Sorry,” Sienna said as she stepped into the room and closed the door.

“It’s fine,” Becky sighed, settling back down. “What did Turner say?”

Sienna rolled her eyes, “You were right, those sleeping pills he uses are seriously strong. He didn’t hear a thing last night.” She plopped down onto a chair and yelped as she caught her elongated hair under her backside. After a couple of seconds of struggling she managed to free her hair and fling it back over her shoulders. “I hate this stupid hair. Anyway, I told him the version of events we agreed on before we went to bed.”

Becky nodded. The three of them had agreed that, given his recent track record, Doctor Turner was not to be trusted with the truth of the Rainbooms’ escape. Instead, they had altered the story slightly, insinuating that the Rainbooms had broken themselves out, and everything else that had happened occurred in the process of trying to stop them. “How did he take it?” Becky asked.

“He freaked out, as you’d expect,” Sienna replied. She was about to say something else when Vincent’s voice crackled out from the speakers.

“Hold on. Uh, are you seeing this?” he asked. The three women instantly looked back at the monitor. A single suit of X-01 power armour was standing in front of Vincent, it’s back open to expose the inner framework. It was in pristine condition, without even a speck of dust on its glossy surface. Peering around the back, Vincent glanced back at the eyebot and shook his head, “This is Lector’s suit, but where the hell is he? And how is it so clean?”

Tara hummed, then leaned forward and pressed the button to respond, “Have a look around, see if you can find any clues as to what happened, or where the Rainbooms went.”

Vincent nodded, “Roger that.”

It happened just as Vincent was turning away. The moment he wasn’t looking, the helmet of the armour shifted suddenly, swivelling around to look directly at the eyebot. ‘I see you.’

The women all stiffened at the sibilant voice that hissed out of the monitor. Becky lunged forward and slammed her palm on the button, “Vincent! The armour!”

“Huh?” Vincent glanced over his shoulder at the armour. “What th-holy shit!” He leapt away and whipped his rifle around as the helmet snapped it’s gaze to him.

‘Little girls hiding. Hiding downstairs.’ The helmet snapped back to looking at the eyebot, ‘Not hiding from me.’

“FUCKING SHOOT IT!” Becky screamed.

Vincent complied instantly. The moment the first bolt of plasma struck the armour it collapsed, the whole suit suddenly turning liquid and splashing to the ground. The black puddle that remained writhed and bubbled, bright colours occasionally shimmering across its surface as if it were an oil slick. As Vincent took aim again the puddle moved, sliding across the floor and disappearing into the fog before anyone could so much as blink.

Silence reigned for several moments. Finally Vincent whispered, “What the fuck was that?”

Becky shook her head. She knew he couldn’t see it, but her mind just wasn’t capable of forming a verbal response just yet. All she could think about, over the pounding of her own heart, was the sound of that voice talking directly to her and her colleagues.

“Fuck this, I’m coming back downstairs,” Vincent said flatly. “Have you sent the distress signal out yet?”

Tara reached out with a shaking hand and flipped a switch on the monitor, then pressed the reply button and managed to croak out, “Y-yes.”

Vincent nodded and started heading back to the entrance, looking in every direction as he moved, “Good, because I get the feeling things are going to start getting a whole lot fucking worse around here.”

Lightning bit her lip as she pressed her back into the wall, stifling a cry of pain. Blood was streaming down her arm from a nasty gash, but she didn’t dare take the time to try and bandage it just yet, not with that thing still out there. Gripping her remaining pistol tightly, she eased closer to the edge of the wall and peered around the corner, keeping herself out of sight as much as possible.

The street looked deserted, at least, as far as she could tell with all of the fog. Lightning didn’t let that fool her. Waiting patiently, her diligence was rewarded as she heard something scrabbling over rubble. Sure enough, only moments later she spotted a yellow glow coming closer through the fog. The creature gave a gurgling moan, then somehow darted up the side of a building, easily clearing four storeys in barely two seconds.

Lightning held her breath, hoping that the creature was leaving. Her hope was short-lived as the monster hopped out of a window on the first floor. The ghoul glanced around quickly, then scrambled on all fours to a nearby mound of debris, squatting down on top of it.

This was it. This was Lightning’s one and only chance. Fighting to keep her hands from shaking, she slowly raised her pistol. Her first shot took it in the chest. Her second shot missed as the ghoul became a blur, crossing the distance between them in the span of a heartbeat.

Her third shot came just as the ghoul’s jaws latched around her throat.

Hello again!

These last couple of chapters have been a little short, but fear not! The next chapter will be back up to size, and it'll paint a slightly better picture as to what exactly is going on in the wider wasteland, as well as what's happening with certain other characters...

Also the previous chapter has been touched up a little. Nothing major, mostly just some grammatical fixes courtesy of Mocha Star!