[ The Ruined Town of Nag ]
Grizzly team moved slowly through the refugees, directing them to the various emergency stations along Nag's lengthy main street. Grizzly helped a shaky mother lift her boy onto the first aid wagon, keeping a watchful eye on the woman he suspected was Rachel Seth. A woman sobbed loudly near him, and without breaking his watch he handed the woman a dented tin containing some Med-X, by Med-Tek.
Zeke made his way to the food wagon, his dog at his heels. After consuming a few packs of Fancy Lads and a cooked fish, he was cut off by a member of Grizzly Team who was currently helping the volunteers. The boy sat down near the abandoned post office, tossing the last bit of his fish to Zeus. The dog devoured the chunk greedily, then turned to Shady. The boy turned to Shady as well, his sand colored hair sticking to his forehead in the light rainfall.
"My pa used to say there are only two kinds of men who don't speak. One is very dangerous, and the other is very smart. I don't think you're the dangerous kind. Your probably real smart. Do you know why those people attacked Kitty Hawk?" he said in his best grown-up voice.
The rain continued to fall across the Banks. After a moment passed, Zeke spoke again.
"We should probably head into one of those "stations" they got set up in some of these buildings. You know, so you don't catch cold." he concluded matter-of-factly. The dog sat on it's hind legs beside them, allowing the rain to soak his fur with little regard.
Grizzly payed little mind to the boy, the dog, and the mercenary sitting on the road. As refugees wandered back and forth across the town, he remained on the main stretch. Pulling the hood of his rain poncho over hid head, the man leaned against a weathered telephone pole. The telephone wire had vanished long ago. As the leader of Grizzly Team prepared to settle in and watch Rachel nonchalantly, his radio beeped. He turned it on, knowing he was a safe distance away from the woman and would go unheard among the chatter of refugees and the rainfall.
"Grizzly Team, come in!" a familiar female voice hissed over the radio.
"Grizzly Here, what's up?" he said casually into his mic.
"Don't give me that shit, you keep your hands off Rachel Seth, she's mine. Be there in a quarter." the Alpha Wolf growled over the radio waves.
"Loud and Clear, Alpha. Grizzly out." he said. And with that, he turned his radio off before she could continue. It did not beep again.
What an angry little woman. he reflected to himself while keeping and eye on Seth and her escorts. An old man sat humbly in the street, eating his dried beef in the rain. A wolf approached him and insisted he seek shelter inside a nearby bar. He agrees after several refusals, and she follows him into the building. The bar is crowded with people seeking rest or drink. It's lights began to glow brighter as the sun began to sink somewhere in the West. Thunder rumbled from somewhere up North. The sky remained smothered by storm clouds.
Tigru stood near Grandma, surveying the new arrivals and awaiting her move. Though her response had been riddle-like to the simple man, greed held him still. He would accompany her for the day. If she was ready to leave eventually, he would escort her. The merc decided that come nightfall, is the old woman wasn't ready to move then he would head to Whalebone.
[ Manteo Mansion, East Wing ]
The door to Frederick's room was unlocked, and a soldier opened the door slowly. A man stepped into the room, accompanied by a Wolf wearing a metal mask. The man walked across the small room to Frederick.
He stood tall and skinny, sporting an unbuttoned lab coat. Underneath, a sort of tool vest could be seen. The man's hair was lengthy and grey, hanging down to his shoulders. He wore a pair of leather gloves. The fifty year old man twitched twice as he studied Frederick. His bodyguard, the Wolf in the metal wolf mask, stood patiently near the door.
"So, you're the m-man they claim was Rachel Seth's brain. I am Oxford." He greeted, bowing every so slightly.
"I am, in a way, a brain for the Wolves. They pay is excellent, and benefits are even better." he joked, holding his hands up above his shoulders and giving Frederick a strange look. Metal Face was not amused.
After Frederick absorbed this, Ox returned to a normal posture and continued.
"So, care to see the mansion?" he asked earnestly. Oxford worked in mysterious ways, Mean Mask knew this, but he did not agree with Oxford's decision. As ordered, however, he remained silent.
"I thought you would. Come with me." Oxford said quickly, cutting off Frederick's response. Oxford, as most mad scientists, did not have good etiquette when it came to conversation. What he did have, however, was access to all
( or nearly all ) of the mansion's advanced tech. Leading Frederick down a long corridor, Oxford spoke as he walked in front of Frederick. Metal Face was following Frederick quietly.
"The Manteo Mansion was built by a Mr. Dirk Maxwell, sometime in 2063. Or rather, was completed in 2063. No record of it's initial construction survived the Great War, but I'd estimate sometime around 2052. Equipped with all the state-of-the-art goodies, this mansion was almost completely self-sufficient, and 100% self powered. It's construction had been blocked from the public by a large, tinted dome. The dome was deconstructed in 2062, as the Mansion neared completion." he drawled as the navigated the corridors.
Oxford's guard seemed uninterested in the history of the structure, but that was probably because there was little of it that made sense to him. Instead he simply stared at the back of Frederick's head, seemingly in a world of his own.
Oxford led Frederick down a corridor lined with plated steel, and into the Lab.
"On the mansion's blueprints, the room is referred to as the "hobby room", but in fact it had been a sort of engineering shop and tech maintenance bay for the inhabitants and machines of the mansion. I've added some things over the last few years, but most of the equipment here is original." The man with the crazy hair continued, looking at the machines and robots as if he were a boy looking at his prized collection of rookie baseball cards.
The bay was line with stainless steel, and man machines of all shape and sizes occupied it's enormous square-footage. A robotic arm with a dozen rotating and curling joints sat nearby the terminal the controlled it. A table held a plethora of beakers, on of which was bubbling out green slop. A disassembled Mr. Handy sat on another metal table, it's wire soldered to hard-lines, making it remote controlled. A Protectron hummed in front of a work bench, effortlessly recharging micro-fusion packs and rocking back and forth.
"Ahh, Leroy. I programmed him to enjoy music, both transmitting and receiving. I turn him off when I get tired of it.""Sorry. I love to hum a good tune, Dr." Leroy said in a digital, monotone voice. With that he returned to recharging ammunition.
"I know you do." Oxford respond to Leroy, while rolling his eyes at Frederick. He walked away from Leroy and to a station obviously built for technical work on energy weapons. Books and diagrams lined the table, some original and some of Oxford's own sketching.
"In this room, I oversee the advanced technology the Wolves use everyday. My responsibility is great, young man, and I rarely have the luxury of sleep." Oxford continued, retrieving a two Nuka-Cola's from the refrigerator. He handed one to Frederick, then opened the other and took and long swill before placing the bottle cap in his lab coat.
"Now, I understand you may have some minor knowledge in the medical and scientific field, am I right? Explain what you can do." The strange man asked, arcing a fuzzy eyebrow. Something was going on in his head. Something always was.
From the other side of the table, Metal Face glared at Oxford from behind his mask.
What the fuck is he thinking!? This radroach is a damn bandit, one of Seth's boys. His sentence should be execution... and if Oxford doesn't agree, well, I guess I'll have to give him a reason to. the soldier thought darkly. Thunder rumbled from outside the mansion, as if to emphasize Metal Face's thoughts.
[ Streets of Kitty Hawk ]
Roth glanced back the fisherman, then nodded.
"Whatever you say." the team leader concluded, shrugging his shoulders in the light rainfall. He turned on his radio, and requested a "sweeper team" to Kitty Hawk.
( The town was going to need it anyway. ) He added that one of the Deathjaw corpses be taken by brahmin and wagon to wherever,
"What's you name?", Thiago wanted. He replaced his radio on his belt and signaled Roth Team to advance out onto main street. He gave a quick nod to Thiago before rounding the corned. Bursts of gunfire were heard shortly after.
Kim sat on the street beside the medical wagon, tending to Jade's wound. The bullet had went through her shoulder, and luckily had not lodged it's self somewhere near the artery. After a few minutes, the wound had been cleaned, repaired, and stitched together as best as one could get in the field. Jade remained unconscious, even as Kim snapped her fingers before the young woman's face. Her breath came in labored wheezes.
Beside the cart was another town guard. This one had not been as lucky as Jade, and was covered in a woven blanket. His boots stuck out of the bottom, and blood had soaked it's center. The man was no longer breathing.
Frankie busied himself with examining Thiago, trying to keep his mind off the Wolven casualties littered along the streets of Kitty Hawk.
"I just want you to look into this light and follow it friend, it's just a test. You hit your head on the wall pretty hard, we saw you." he explained as he held a rare pen-light in front of Thiago's face.
Kim spoke as she continued to administer meds to Jade.
"Yeah, most of us saw what you did in the street back there, contractor. Mighty white of you. Any less of a man would have left the girl to die. But you, you protected her. Half of Roth Team watched you do it. Don't think It went unrecognized. If all the contractors were like you, hell, I push for Darwin to fill the Banks with y'all." The female soldier said.
Kim was the first medic of Roth Team, and normally would not have left Roth's side in battle. However, knowing Roth and the other teams had the town under control, she had chose to stay and care for the injured nearby. She gave a look of admiration to Thiago before turning back to Jade.
"You saved her life." she said quietly, before breaking the stick of smelling-salts underneath Jade's nose. The girl coughed twice, then slowly opened her eyes.
Frankie added, after determining that Thiago was not suffering from the symptoms of a concussion,
"And Roth let you keep the 'Jaw. Not a bad reward in it's self. Usually only Jager Team brings in DeathJaws, and that's only once in a blue moon. But word in the ranks it that the meat goes for 10 caps a pound. And teeth for 5 caps a piece. I'd guess that ugly bastard at at least 1500 pounds, and Father knows how many teeth those things have." he concluded, referencing the Wolves high regard for their deceased creator. He became silent, allowing the reality of the moment to set it.
The sounds of the quiet rainfall nearly overpowered Jade's cracking voice. She had sat up slowly, attempting to keep her eyes open.
"Thiago." she said boldly, giving him a dopey grin.
( Kim had juiced her up pretty good to deal with the pain. )[ Manteo Mansion, Observatory ]
"You were so misguided... And yet you rose from the dirt nonetheless. Remarkable." William's voice echoed in the wide, round chamber. It sank into Marilyn's head, becoming a narration to her memories. With a blink she snapped herself out of her past, giving the strangers her complete attention. And with her complete attention, came the grinding gears of a woman's analytic brain. She had always been fairly intelligent. It was one of the reason Darwin chose her to be his bride.
Marilyn had gauged the reaction of the other's, her excellent memory recording their facial expressions. Hardwin had seemed unimpressed, and the other two, somewhat taken aback.
"Well, we've many questions, but I suppose first things first m'lady. What exactly is this festival?" Hardwin picked up.
Chau continued to stand with his trademark blank stare, but he was certainly eager to hear this conversation. In his head, he was grinning like a madman. Which he kind of was... Chau stood patiently beside Angel, not moving an inch.
Marilyn brushed a long, golden lock of hair behind her ear, then gave the stranger a coy smile.
"I cannot tell you of it's beginning, Ser Hardwin, as the Festival of the Blood Moon has been a Wolven tradition long before I was born. But, in essence, it serves the Wolves as a night to celebrate and vent their primal feelings." she said, studying the group as she began to circle the table in the center of the room. She dragged her finger lightly across the white sheet covering it's secret, taking quiet steps despite her heels.
"You see, Ser Hardwin, we Wolves believe that in every man, there is a wolf. Or an ancient primal instinct, if you prefer to think scientifically. Those who are strong can control the beast, even channel it's will during hunting and battle. But more importantly, those who are strong can suppress it, in order to live in a civil manner and be just. The weak, or the pointless murders, torturers, thieves, and rapists of the Wasteland have no control over their inner beast, and thus are no more than mere animals themselves. We, however, broken our primal chains and learned to control ourselves for the good of us all. For the survival of us all."Marilyn paused, studying the faces of the Wolves around her before she continued.
"But every soul needs balance, you see. Every human being requires and outlet for the beast inside our hearts. The Festival of the Blood Moon serves this purpose. This night, The Wolves celebrate in the memory of the beasts we are, and in the morning they will awake more productive and motivated than before."
"Some refer to it as a cleansing of the spirit. Darwin and I have achieved some amazing results with supporting the festival. Perhaps I am not explaining it well, but who can explain one's own true spirit? We are all very spiritual people, Ser Harwind, though we seldom act like it openly." Marilyn said, returning to the head of the table.
Ghost knew the truth. In his eyes, everyone in the room was a wolf. People were animals, whether they liked it or not. As usual, however, he did not speak his opinion. Ghost just looked around to his soldiers: Ghost Team, the knights: Hardwin, William, Ordeith, Marlon, the jester :Chau, the sorceress: Angel, Marilyn's Guards, and finally the queen: Marilyn. He chuckled silently, reminding himself to focus less on the surreal and more on the real.
Wouldn't that would make me a knight as well? The thought burrowed into his brain.
Marilyn looked over the group of strange warriors, then focused on William.
"True calm cannot exist without the presence of Chaos, nor can true Good exist in the absence of Evil. That idea is common among my fellow Wolves." She continued, seemingly saddened by the thought.
"In the past, our tradition and loyalty to each other kept us alive. And in the future? Perhaps the same loyalty could be extended beyond these broken banks." she concluded, giving William a sultry smile and awaiting the rest of the questions.
[ Manteo City, Roanoke Island ]
As Zoller passed under the gate, a chime echoed six times across the city. It was six-o'-clock. As he took his first steps into Manteo, Zoller was greeted by true civilization. Most buildings stood several stories tall, most of them reconditioned and repaired if possible. Many of these buildings were hotels and motels. Electricity did not seem to be a problem, as most of the structures already had their lights on this dreary afternoon. A few Wolves had began to celebrate early, drinking and smoking cigarettes on the many balconies. Some swilled whiskey and talked loudly, others drank quietly and looked down upon the streets of Manteo.
Even in the rain, the streets were bustling with people preparing for the festival, inspired by the speaker announcement. The vendor sitting in the ancient van trailer shouted over the bustle, announcing his various cooked delights at discount prices. A group of female Wolves in rain ponchos were hanging flags and banner made from leaves, grass, and vines. More wolves were starting scattered bonfires, fighting the rain. A nearby pub's jukebox allowed the sounds of old Sachmo to carry across the street to Zoller. A whistling man walked past him, shouldering a bounty of fresh fish for dinner.
There was another presence, among the people. There were Wolven Soldiers scattered everywhere. Some had been assigned a post. Some were patrolling. Many stood on rooftops. More walked the walls of Manteo City. It seemed Rachel Seth's attack had caused an increase in security across the Banks. Trouble was, everyone was a Wolf in Manteo.
( Well, most people. ) It would sometimes be impossible to tell the difference between civvy and soldier, as many non-military Wolves were armed and armored just the same.
South of Manteo City, Roanoke Island
Ding-Ding held perfectly still as the crazed man in power armor kept the sword threateningly close to his internal organs. The Wolf was quivering, and rightly so, caught smack dab between and Enclave Strike Team and a Storm Trooper Squad. The two groups pointed their weapons as eachother, and the tension was chokingly thick. Ding-Ding sniffed in the rain as the stand-off continue. On the 'table' were several cards: power armor, pulse grenades, a Deathclaw, and many guns. And Ding-Ding.
Alphonso cleared his throat while holding Ding-Ding as a meat shield and began to speak
"Alright sir, we will play your little game." Alphonso said, switching the blade to Ding-Ding's neck while scratching his head. The Wolf winced as the cold metal touched his bare skin.
Alphonso sighed and began to speak again.
"I am unsure what it is you gentleman are out here trying to prove, ambushing an enclave squad such as ours. Perhaps we can help each other though. It is possible we have similar goals, so let's talk what is it that you are doing here." the man in power armor said before producing a cigar and lighting up. As he exhaled the smoke drifted into Ding-Ding's face, causing the young man to cough several times.
To the North, a bell chimed six times from somewhere within Manteo's Walls. Ding-Ding squeaked quietly.
The bell. Shit. Fuck. he thought. If Ding-Ding did not make it through the Gates before they closed, the felt he would surely die. Then again, if he led these people into the city before the Gates closed, he would betray his family and his community.
Why me? Why? Jive... what the fuck."Excuse me fellas!" Ding-Ding squealed as Alphonso held him. He looked to the Troopers, then at the sword against his neck. He swallowed loudly in the rain, then spoke with great effort.
"The.. uh... the Gate is about to close. If you run for it, you might catch it..." he said quietly.
"If it closes, it can only be opened from inside Manteo."And of course, Ding-Ding was right. A horn sounded from Manteo in two short bursts.
"That-that's the horn. It let's Wolves and contractors know that they have f-five minutes before the Gates close for the ni-night." he stammered in the rain.
A single Carrion Gull flew out of the rain and landed on Jive's hastily buried corpse. It turned it's head sideways, seizing up the Deathclaw standing a few yards away. Deciding the creature was uninteresting, it's sharp beak began to dig deep into the soft soil. It's head emerged. holding one of Jive's eyes in it's hungry beak. More Gulls waited under nearby trees and shrubs, quickly noticing the first one's buried treasure. One by one, they walked awkwardly across the sandy dirt towards Jive's corpse.
Ding-Ding gave a wail of disgust. The rain continued.
