The Broken Banks [Closed] [M] [Slow]

Chapter 2 Start...
Round 2-1






Tommy was the first Wolf to spot the advancing group of raiders. They swept across the bridge like a tide of hungry radroaches, scurrying towards the East Gate. Alpha Team had radioed ahead and warned Kitty Hawk of the advancing bandits, but Tom had not expected this many. A couple hundred bandits advanced East across the bridge, armed to the teeth. Tommy looked through the scope of his sniper rifle, studying the dirty bandits rushing towards him.

“Hit the horns!” Tommy called from his perch on the East Gate. The pre-war raid sirens groaned to life across the town of Kitty Hawk.

The people of Kitty Hawk had been preparing for the coming festival. Red circles had been drawn on many of the buildings, and the smell of cooking meat was carried off by the winds coming in from the Atlantic Ocean. When the sirens began to wail across the town, however, the townsfolk began to scatter. Within seconds the sound of high powered rifles echoed from the East Gate. A child began to cry as his mother scooped him up and hurried down the street. Radios crackled with military talk, and guards ran through the streets to various stations. An explosion was heard from somewhere beyond the gate. The sun climbed high in the sky, and beyond that, storm clouds gathered.

A bandit fell heavily to the bridge as a .308 round pierced his chest and entered the man behind him. The bandits had returned fire, but the riflemen on the Gate held superior ground. When the bandits had closed in close enough, hunting rifles and battle rifles joined the snipers in defensive fire. The sounds became a crescendo of arms fire. Soon shell casings began to rain off the back of the East Gate.


In the General Store, the shopkeeper who had weighed out Thiago’s catch was quiet. He hurriedly handed the fisherman his pay in caps, and looked out the window with a terrified gaze.

“I’m sorry, Jade, but we’re closing.” the burly man said as the sirens screamed outside.

“And I’m going. Thiago, Shady, feel free to head South. If whoever is attacking manages to break through the gate, Kill Devil will be the next stronghold the Wolves will fall back to. As for me, I have to protect the gate. Nice meeting you, Shady. Take care, Thiago. Goodbye my friends, and be careful.” the young woman said as she loaded her own hunting rifle. Running out the door, she sprinted for the East Gate. She was forced to weave between fleeing townsfolk. As Jade got closer to the town's entrance, she could hear her fellow gate guards cursing and shouting for ammunition.






Darwin turned away from Frederick, tapping the ear of his power helmet. He spoke in a muffled tone into his radio. After a minute of conversation, he returned his glowing eyes to Frederick.

“Forrest!” Darwin called. His speaker allowed his voice to echo out from the room. Forrest appeared in the doorway.

“Take Mr. Frederick to the Mansion. Keep an eye on him. I must go.” The man in the power armor grumbled as he walked past the two and into the factory.

Forrest watched his leader storm off, then turned to Frederick. “You heard the man, let’s go. A nerd like you is gonna love the mansion, so don’t think I won’t be watching every move you make. And you are not to speak with Lady Marilyn at all. C’mon.”

Frederick was led through Manteo City and to the Mansion. The massive structure was patrolled by several guards out front, and snipers sat on the rooftops. The building stood like a proud Victorian monument, and the sound of a massive generator rumbled from below the ground. Gulls circled it’s roof, spooked by something unknown.






Ghost’s radio crackled to life, and he took a knee. Ghost team waited silently around him, pretending not to hear the conversation.

“Confirmed. Heading for Mansion. Ghost out.” the captain said before rising. Soldiers rushed past them and towards the Manteo Mansion. Ghost looked at his team and his new companions. The mask hid his grim expression.

“Kitty Hawk is under attack. Stumpy’s Raiders, no doubt. Orders are to book it for Manteo Mansion, and defend it in case of a second attack. William, I am sorry for the disorder. You may join us in defense of the capital building, if you wish.” Ghost said as he began walking backwards towards the north side of Manteo. Ghost Team began to follow their captain, who was making his way to the Mansion and it’s secrets.






As Marilyn finished her glass of wine, she looked at Angel with a sympathetic gaze.

“Angel, try to understand, my husband thinks very highly of you. But, sometimes he wants to protect us too much, you see. He does not hide things from you or I because he does not trust us, but because he cares for us. He does not want to burden us with his responsibilities, I think.”

“The Vault is not what he expected, I think. Something dangerous. I-” Marilyn was cut off as an armed Wolf jogged to the dining room table.

“Lady Marilyn, Grand Magician, I beg your pardon.” he said in a winded voice.

“What is it?” Marilyn asked, giving Angel a raised eyebrow.

“Kitty Hawk is under attack. Darwin has gone to Kill Devil. Manteo City and Kill Devil are waiting for possible attacks. The island is on alert. Do you two wish to come to the control room?” he asked.






“Mother of Fuckin’ G-!” Ding-Ding screamed as the beast barreled towards them.

Jive stepped back and readied his assault rifle. Soldiers emerged from the foliage behind the raging Deathclaw and Jive panicked. The assault rifle clattered as it spewed .223 rounds towards the advancing creature. Ding-Ding raised his shotgun and fired a 12 gauge slug into the monster.






The rifles continued their execution of bandits. Bodies littered the bridge behind the advancing mob, and blood flowed heavily into the ancient drains. From here it trickled down the pipes and into the salt water below, mixing lazily in the midday sun.

Large shadows appeared one by one, darting under the Wright Brothers bridge and swimming through the waters below the drain pipes. Fish cowered in the hiding places under the bridge, and mire lurks buried themselves in the mud below. The kings of the ocean had arrived, called by the fresh blood raining from the Wright Brother‘s Bridge.

When the bandits began to scale the East Gate, a great number of them had already been killed by the Wolven snipers. The gate riflemen fell back into the town entrance, digging in and waiting for the enemy. As the bandits topped the gate, they were greeted by assault rifle and shotgun fire. Among them was Jade, her rifle blasting a bandit from the cover of a nearby building.

Thiago glanced upwards when he heard the sirens. “What the…” Thiago muttered, never having been in the town when an attack happened. He soon figured it out and nodded a bit in understanding.

“Sounds like trouble.” Thiago muttered under his breath as he was handed his caps. When he heard the store was closing he glanced to the others. When Jade said she was going, Thiago looked at Shady. “I can either take you south, or you can risk it, stay here and help. I’m sorta inclined to stay, but I’ll get you out if you want to get out.”

Thiago watched as Jade left, taking up his own harpoon gun and checked it over. “Come on Shady, we should let the guy close his shop.” And so Thiago walked out.

When he was in the street, Thiago stepped to the side, out of the way of people, and took a few moments to clean his goggles. He knew his harpoon gun wasn’t exactly made for combat, but he could at least defend himself with it. Plus he had his knives, he’d killed a mirelurk with a knife before, an asshole was nothing.

Thiago sighed heavily, Jade had been good to him. What kind of guy-what kind of person would he be if he left her to her fate. “You know what Shady. I’ll have to apologise, I aint coming to Kill Devil. I’m stayin’ right here. Kids live here and if some assholes are gonna invade, then I wanna help.” He didn’t exactly want to join up with the wolves, but he wanted to help protect the families. Hell, if Kitty Hawk fell and he was down in Kill Devil, his home would be in danger, and he’d worked hard on that place. It was his home, and no one was gonna take it from him.

Shady set the folded up poncho on the shelf he retrieved it from and looked outside when the sirens began screaming. He saw the towns' people fleeing to safety, as the soldiers called 'Wolves' ran to the east side of town. When the shopkeeper said he was closing the store, Shady walked out with the two individuals he had entered with. The tall merc nodded to Jade before she ran to where the rest of the soldiers were gathered. Shady wasn't about to ask the fisherman to escort him down to the next town, but it didn't matter, Thiago had changed his mind anyway.

Shady wanted to help defend Kitty Hawk, but his survival instincts kicked in, telling him that if he went around helping every town he stumbled upon, then he would have been dead a long time ago. However, seeing Thiago's weaponry, Shady drew his 10MM compact pistol and handed it to the fisher, the grip pointing at Thiago. "Unless you're hidin' something under that big coat of yours, you might want something with a little more firepower. And don't think anything of it, just keep this place standing."

Shady began walking to the south side of town, looking for an exit there. Some civilians had gathered there as well, probably getting ready to go to Kill Devil to flee from the attack. Shady decided the least he could do is help escort a band of civilians to safety.

The journey was long and quiet. Zoller silenced any attempt at conversation with a barbed threat or a slap that transported the recipient back to their childhood. To amuse themselves, the troopers carved Reich symbols onto the raft. Zoller trod the logs with disdain. Perhaps one day, the Storm Troopers would have boats at their disposal, or perhaps even planes or submarines, or the other wondrous vehicles said to be possessed by their predecessors. Until that day, they were cursed to sail around on the tribal garbage which reminded every man in the ranks where they came from. Zoller spat over the side.

"Everybody down! Sich Ducken! Raus!!

The Whalebone had been visible for less than five minutes before the Troopers discovered they did not have the waves to themselves. Fortunately, Zoller managed to steer the raft into a large patch of mutated reeds before it got too close. Cursing under his breath, h unpacked his rifle and balanced it carefully on the raft, the weapon's barrel peeping through the undergrowth.

Zoller pressed his eyeball against the scope. An lone old wolf tended the rickety old boat. It was a former fishing boat, converted with a little barbed wire for that intimidation factor. It bore the number "11" on the bow, emblazoned in peeling paint. The wolf merely looked down at the waves, as if he was expecting someone to come out of them.

With a snake's smile, Zoller pulled the trigger.

Before Rachel Seth and her bodyguard stood the military town of Kill Devil. She would have to find a way through it's streets in order to continue south to Whalebone and then over the bridge to Manteo.

Soldiers shouted orders, running around the broken streets with loaded weapons. Windmills spun steadily in the afternoon gusts. The Wright Brothers Monument towered into the sky, broadcasting radio transmission for the Wolves. A crescendo of sounds came from the First Flight Airport, with squads of Wolven soldiers getting geared up for possible deployment. Machinery could be heard. Snipers camped the roof of the Wright Brother's Monument, looking out across the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds for signs of trouble, awaiting the coming storm.

The sounds of generators and knocking engines rumbled from various parts of town. As the clouds darkened the sky, flood-lights kicked on. A large group of refugees was nearing Kill Devil's northern suburbs, fleeing the battle in the northern settlement of Kitty Hawk.






Marilyn and Angel were escorted to the control room, which was sealed with a heavy bar lock behind them. Darwin once told me they had been known as panic rooms, in the Old World. Excellent name... Like the lavish mansion which contained it, the control room was grander than need be. Control consoles and key boars line the walls. Couches, coffee tables, and beds were found in the back of the room, beside a large refrigerator. Working sinks, a bar, and a bathroom completed the place.

Marilyn turned to the flickering monitors, scanning the images feeding in from the ancient security cameras. The screens portrayed soldiers moving around in full combat gear, and townsfolk hurrying to their destinations. She could see the wind blowing steadily outside, and Wolves on the docks hurried to secure their boats. The valuable ones were lifted from the water into the Manteo Complex, hung from rusty cranes.

Angel then heard a sound. It had no distinction, only a vibration of willpower and primal energy. The sound repeated in her mind, and Angel alone could hear it's throbbing. It pulsed like the heartbeat of some great beast. The sound changed with every pulse, until finally it became words that she could recognize. Open the Vault.

“What of the assault on Kitty Hawk?” Marilyn asked soberly, never removing her bright eyes from the two-hundred year old monitors before her. Four soldiers stood in the room behind Angel and Marilyn. Their thoughts were streamline and focused. Protect Lady Marilyn and The Sorceress.

“The town guards and mercs have lost hold of the East Gate. The units from Kill Devil have not arrived yet, Ma‘am. Also, death jaws have been spotted near Kitty Hawk, drawn by the fight, no doubt. Radio contact with Alpha Team has been lost.” One Wolf said quietly.

“May the Great Wolf watch over the people of the Banks…” Marilyn whispered. Darwin, what are you doing out there?

On the screen before her, Ghost Team entered the mansion, stepping into the grand hall. With them were four soldiers in strange power armor, along with Anubis, Caroline and her bodyguard. Marilyn tapped a few buttons on the control console, zooming the camera in onto the group. Power Armor she though soberly.




Down in the Grand Hall of Manteo Mansion, Ghost walked up to a guard wearing an iron wolf mask who was standing near the grand staircase. The soldier held a riot shotgun. A image of a wolf's paw had been seared into his shoulder long ago.

"Where's Lady Marilyn?" he asked, his voice muffled and low behind his mask.

'In the control room, along with the Witch." he responded, staring at the large group that had just entered the Manteo Mansion.

"Welcome to the Manteo Mansion, boys." Caroline said to William, Hardwin, & Co. The Wolf made a few struts towards the center carpet, then paused. She had always loved the monument to architecture. "Not as pretty as she used to be, but a mansion's a mansion."

"The tech and security systems have remained online for hundreds of years, powered by some underground generator." Anubis added, glancing out the window at the dark clouds.

Ghost turned to the group. "We did not come to enjoy the mansion's luxuries, Caroline." He pointed to a few of his men. "You three, guard the East Wing. Caroline, Geoff, and Rude... you three guard the West Wing. The rest of Ghost Team and I will being staying with our neighbors here in the grand hall."

And the hall was grand, indeed. Artfully crafted support pillar rose three stories high. Only one of them had fallen over the years, and the ceiling above had already been repaired. Statues of beautiful women and handsome men lined the hall's open walls, each expertly carved centuries ago.

A massive staircase rose from the center of the room, splitting in two on the second level and turning up to the third level like great ivory snakes. Mutant flowers and reeds stood in vases of various cultural origins. The grand hall's marble flooring gleamed in the artificial light, having been freshly scrubbed. A few chips and cracks lined the stairs and the floor, mostly from when the support pillar had fell years ago.

Someone had recently installed a functioning Nuka-Cola machine near the front door.

As Ghost Team split, the two smaller groups ascended the stairs quickly, and entered double doors into either side of the mansion. Ghost turned to the guard near the stairs again. "Go get some boxes from the armory. These two will help you." He said, nodding to a couple of his team. As the men entered on of the dozens of doors that lined the grand hall, the captain of Ghost Team sat on the lowest step of the staircase, facing the front doors. He pulled his mask down to his neck and removed his goggles. Running his fingers through his hair, he mumbled to himself. "What the hell is going on in Kitty Hawk?"

"Looks like we have a little time to kill." he said to the group, just as the front doors flung open. Rifles, SMG's, and pistols were raised instantly by Ghost Team.

Forrest entered, a scrawny man in tow. "Man-Jesus, put your guns down." He said, holding an arm up as if it could stop bullets. Ghost Team lowered their weapons. Forrest nodded, then gave Frederick a light shove. "Priso- I mean, guest of ours. One of Rachel Seth's right hand men, or so I'm told. Probably cutting up the Wolves she's been picking off in the swamps." He commented with a playful look, adjusting his mask on top of his head as it slid down.

Ghost stood up. "Yeah, I recognize him. Alpha Team pick him up?"

"You betcha." Forrest said in a smug tone.

Ghost looked into Frederick's eyes, judging the former bandit."I'll only ask once. Are you going to be a problem?"








The gunfight in Kitty Hawk was still raging, but the bandits had taken the most casualties by far. A town guard was cut down by a SMG. A bandit was hit by a Wolf’s revolver, sending him tumbling back over the gate and onto the bridge behind it. As the struggle dragged on, screams could be heard from the other side of the East Gate.

Jade returned fire, ending a bandit as he attempted to cross the street near the gate. A bullet ricocheted past her. The young woman raised her rifle and killed the gunman before he got out a second shot.

One of bandits cleared the top of the barrier. Instead of dropping down into the gunfight below, he instead ran across the gate and to the guard platform. Leaping through the air, he landed beside the control panel and dropped his palm onto the red button. An engine rattled to life nearby. With a groan, Kitty Hawk’s gate began to rise. The steel cables that pulled it up shifted under the stress, their ancient coils twanging occasionally. The bandit was hit by a .308 round, sending him tumbling off of the guard platform. He was dead before he hit the ground, but the gate had already been activated.

“The Gate!” Jade cried above the gunfire, attempting to direct attention to the rising wall of metal. A bandit let out a burst from his 10mm SMG. Two the rounds hit Jade’s leather armor, jerking her violently to her right.

Dropping her rifle and hitting the ground with a heavy thud, Jade gasped. One of the bullets had planted it’s self in her right shoulder pad. The second had entered her arm. Thiago rounded corner of the building, joining Jade as her attacked raised his freshly-reloaded SMG. He pointed the automatic weapon at the fisherman and the guard, sneering like the devil himself. As the East Gate continued it’s ascension behind him, a massive set of jaws closed around his torso, tearing him in half instantly.

Swallowing the bandit’s upper half, the monster turned to Jade and Thiago. The DeathJaw let out a mixture of a growl and a snarl, spraying fresh bandit blood from it’s jagged teeth and opening it's jaws wide. It then dug it’s talons into the street of Kitty Hawk, ready to lunge.








The people fleeing the battle in Kitty Hawk moved south across the beach, constantly looking back at the shrinking town the had left behind.

Shady was one of the few people protecting the refugees, as most of them were mothers, children, and the elderly. A man in his fiftes seemed to be carrying a hunting shotgun near the front of the snaking group. A few women carried guns as well. A skinny girl helped her mother over a dune as the wind began to blow.

The afternoon had brought the ocean winds quickly, and sand often sprayed from the top of the dunes during these gusts. Dark clouds continued to creep ever closer.

As shady passed over a rolling dune covered in stiff sea grass, a grey dog appeared beside him. It sniffed his leg as it walked with him, then trained it’s focus on the path ahead.

“That’s Zeus.” a young, blonde haired boy said as he trotted up to Shady moments later. He walked beside the man and the dog, wheezing from his sprint to catch up with his companion. “He has a mind of his own” The boy concluded. “He must think you’re a good guy. He doesn’t like bad guys. Not at all.” The boy continued, pulling an old .22 pistol from his worn overalls. He made sure it was loaded, then tucked it into his pocket. "See that town in the distance. That's Kill Devil. We'll be safe there, they got a whole mess of soldiers. The good ones."

“They call me Zeke. What’s your name, stranger?” he questioned , doing his best impression of an adult. Zeus gave Shady a questioning glance, as if to emphasize the boy’s question.






Tillbert never heard the sound of Zoller’s rifle, tumbling over the side of his boat with a quiet splash. A Blueshell Mirelurk had been camped in the muti-reeds. It slipped quietly into the water, looking forward to the fresh meat. A second Blueshell surfaced near the corpse, and the pair busied themselves with eating the fisherman before he got cold. No one seemed to have noticed what had happened. Most of the fisherman and contractors had returned to the towns of the Banks when they had first heard the sirens. Boat Eleven bobbed lazily on the salt water, oblivious to what had transpired on it’s deck.

The Manteo Bridge loomed in the distance, starting in Whalebone and ending across the water in Manteo City. It was the only easy way to get onto Roanoke without entering the heavily guarded Manteo Docks. Distant noises could be heard from Roanoke Island, echoing out from the firing range and the Complex.






Ding-Ding screamed as the Deathclaw took a bullet and fell onto him. They hit the sand and dirt with a heavy thud. He cringed, waiting to be mauled. It’s rank breath poured over his face as it licked him lovingly. The Wolf struggled beneath the beast, but his shotgun has been pinned down beneath it's bulk as well. Ding-Ding let out a cry of terror as the squirmed.

"Jive, look out!" he rasped.

Jive juked away from the blade just in time, dodging a fatal strike. Instead, the blade left only a bloody gash across his lower chest. Injured, the Wolf stumbled backwards and released another spray from his assault rifle towards Nalania, a look of panic in his eyes.

Thunder rumbled across the Atlantic Ocean, and the dark clouds began to suffocate the afternoon sun.

Thiago didn’t once glance at Jade as he came around the corner; instead he just moved and placed himself between her and the asshole with the SMG. Thiago sneered a bit, thankful for the rain that had cleaned the mirelurk blood smears off his goggles…. usually the glass wouldn’t be so clean. He readied his harpoon gun against his shoulder and aimed. However as the gate opened Thiago saw something he’d only ever seen from a distance.

“Well would you look at that.” Thiago said matter-of-factly, temporarily lowering his gun to take the beast in. as it ripped open the bandit, Thiago almost chuckled. “That’s why you don’t turn your back on the sea, not ever.” Once the Deathjaw noticed him and Jade, he flicked a switch on the underside of the gun, and made the gun hiss, although the only person who’d have heard it was Thiago. Raising the gun, he aimed for the Deathjaw’s ‘forehead’, where he assumed was it’s brain. He watched as the dial on the pressure gauge rose up from the white, to the orange. It seemed to take forever until finally it was touching the red danger line. Any further and the pressure canister had a chance to explode, probably removing his face in the process. “Ah ha! I hope you like metal for breakfast you ugly son of Hell.” With that Thiago pulled the trigger. It sounded almost like a small rocket, with less of a rumble. The gas shot out of the canister and into the barrel and made a quiet ‘whoosh’ noise. Thiago’s shoulder jerked back a bit as the Harpoon shot out, though he was used to the recoil. “You better get your ass moving Jade, if this doesn’t kill it, it’s gonna be so pissed off,” with that said, Thiago put the gun strap over his head and pulled out a large hunting knife from within his coat and got ready to go down fighting.

Frederick looked at all the technology, in awe. But was alarmed by Kitty Hawk being attacked.
"She wants me, dead or alive. She won't be staying at Kitty Hawk, radio your men at Kill Devil to keep an eye out for a woman in Wolves' armor, along with a brute of a man in combat armor, and more guards."

"I'll only ask once. Are you going to be a problem?"
"No sir, It's good to be out of that camp and into real civilisation."



The Bandits stormed Kitty Hawk with a fierce vengeance, unfortunately, the DeathJaws had also invaded. Many Bandits died, further Wolves did.



Ms. Seth was approaching Kill Devil, leaving her bodyguard behind at Kitty Hawk, she was dressed in some Wolven clothing from refugees on the road from Kitty Hawk. Herself, and her 4 bodyguards all carried high-end Bandit weaponry. Their plan was to wait for another group of refugees, and join them, then get through Kill Devil, then on to Manteo, to retrieve Frederick. It most likely wouldn't work, but she had to try.