Radiance Ch. 117

Chapter 117: Man of Many Faces.

After outlining the plan everyone knew their roles and what they needed to be doing, so while Tom and Wisp headed back into the Railroad HQ, everyone else save for Fuller who was still on overwatch made their way to the ambush site in order to prepare it.

"Do you think your team will be able to contain this guy if we manage to lure him out?" Tom typed into the pipboy that Wisp was currently occupying on his wrist.

"Hard to say as this guy if he's switched on has the capability of seeding absolute chaos thanks to that be anybody he wants the ability of his," she wrote back.

"Damn man I'm still trying to wrap my head around this superhuman bio-weapon bullshit, and here I thought that the Institute creating synthetic humans to replace people and as slave labour was bad but this is fucked up on a whole new level," Tom wrote.

"Yeah tell me about it, as someone who had to leave their dying flesh and blood body to die so that she could escape the lab in the body of an Assaultron while taking Seven with me it's a feeling I can seriously relate to," Wisp wrote.

"Man that sucks on a whole other level, I know there would be some around here that might be a little twitchy about you using the body of a dead synth like maybe Glory for instance so might want to not mention that part when you possibly meet them all later down the road," Tom wrote.

"I think honesty would be a better policy as I don't want her to feel that I'm hiding things from her, if we want your people's trust we're gonna need to be open about stuff, plus it's not like I killed an innocent synth and took her body, merely liberated it from the Enclave who had far more sinister plans for her, she was already passed on I was in need of some flesh of my own so as morbid as it is a win-win so to speak, trust me if there was a way to print up a body that had never been inhabited by another consciousness I take that over and give the poor girl who was once in my skin before me a proper burial in a heartbeat," Wisp wrote.

"You know what, I believe you would, your people as scary as all hell as they are don't strike me as bad people, I mean with the muscle you guys got on hand you could have easily come in here and popped the doors open with this ability of yours and those two Claws of yours would have torn this place and the people in it apart before we knew what hit us, but you didn't, instead you not only try to make peace with us but expose a traitor in our ranks and then offer to help us out in the long run, so yeah that makes you pretty solid in my book," Tom wrote.

"Thanks, Tom that means a lot, this is exactly the sort of thing we are trying to do, we are trying to build bridges with people, not burn them down, we genuinely want to help people, it's like our leader Seven said, it would be too easy for us to simply go underground and say fuck it to the whole world, but then things never get any better if we do, people go on hating other people and shit never gets any better, at least this way we can all hold our heads up high and say we tried to make the world a better place, we tried to bring people together no matter what skin they wear and show them that things are better together," Wisp wrote.

"Yeah I can genuinely see that, I think you guys would be a pretty good fit around here and with the skills you lot have on hand we could make some serious progress with your help I think," Tom wrote back.

"That's the plan or at least it is once we stop Eight and the Enclave from bringing whatever shit storm they cooked up down on our heads," Wisp wrote.

"Here's hoping," Tom wrote.

A couple of hours later everyone was up and about and with Wisp's help Tom managed to convince one of their better scav teams that there was some valuable salvage in the area that Wisp's team had designated as the capture point for Eight, he also began to litter the system with numerous false sightings of Wisp's team though never making deliberate reference to them as to make them seem legit.

He wrote things like 'Saw a strange group operating out of a warehouse, seemed to have two captive deathcalws with them and some kind of spider creature, have tagged to be monitored, possible threat,' and things of the like.

It was their hope that this would catch Eight's attention and draw him to the area to investigate, they also referred to possible sightings of a heavily armed team in power armour that were not Brotherhood as Wisp was aware that Eight would have no clue that his team had been wiped out save for Nine who was now on their side, so with the hook baited all they had to do now was wait for a nibble.

As it turned out they didn't have to wait very long as the figure that they believed to be Eight in disguise came into the HQ later that morning.

She made herself a cup of coffee while Wisp told Tom to stop staring at her as she didn't want him giving the game away, then she went and sat at one of the terminals in the back of the main room and began scrolling through the data, seemingly looking at a list of currently ongoing operations for free agents who weren't currently assigned to anything to take care of when they could, kinda like a bulletin board for non-critical ops.

But Wisp thanks to being in the network now could see that they kept opening the intel tabs and looking through all the inbound reports, they'd been careful to trick the system into inputting the reports they'd entered with fake time indexes so it didn't look like they'd all come in at once, Wisp had also made sure to shuffle them about so they looked more natural.

The person they suspected was Eight opened every single one of them but it was when they came across the false report of a team seen in the same area in power armour that they really seemed to get interested.

Once they'd read them they quickly erased their history from the machine and quickly packed up before heading for the door.

"Alright Tom thanks for the lift and the help but it's time for me to head out for a bit, I'll be back soon to show you how everything goes, here's to hoping," Wisp wrote.

"Good luck I hope you get the bastard, the last thing we need is someone with a million faces running around the place," Tom wrote back and with that Wisp quickly left the same way she'd once entered back through the pipes to her body which was waiting with Fuller.

"How's it all going in there?" Fuller asked as Wisp's body sprung to life.

"Looks like Eight took the bait, they are on the way I believe to the warehouse, have the rest of the team checked in?" she asked as she got up and collected her gear.

"Yup Malakai said the place would make a whole nest of social spiders very happy whatever that means but I'm guessing it means he's got the place webbed up good and proper, the rest of the team is in position, I saw the Railroad scav team heading that way a while ago so they should be there combing through the place by now," Fuller said.

"Good heres hoping this goes smooth because if not I can see Eight being an absolute bastard to catch, if he slips us now we may never find him again until it's too late," Wisp said.

"Look I didn't want to ask this but did you umm see Glory down there?" Fuller asked suddenly and Wisp shot him a sympathetic glance.

"Yeah I did and I can see why you like her, she's a strong beautiful woman," Wisp said and Fuller nodded to himself.

"Did she umm look ok?" he asked in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

"I can see she's still hurting, you don't have to know a person personally to see stuff like that but she's cracking on with her life by the looks of things," Wisp said honestly.

Fuller nodded and breathed a sigh that could have been of relief or regret, maybe even both.

"Good umm thanks Wisp, I owe you one if you ever need a personal favour don't hesitate to ask," Fuller said and with that, he turned back to his rifle and started twiddling the scope dials.

Rather than make his pain any worse with hollow words Wisp decided to leave him to his personal pain and headed out, thanks to the shortcut to the warehouse she knew she'd get there way ahead of Eight as all she had to do was follow Malakai's little silk trail which he'd left in his wake.

As she arrived she had never even seen the ultra-fine trip lines that Malakai had set up all over the place, which made her smile because if she couldn't see them and she was looking for them then no one else had hope in hell of finding them.

She silently entered the building and made her way stealthily through to the centre of the place avoiding the scav team which she could hear working their way inwards and given that this place was indeed a warehouse attached to a lab there was quite a lot of good stuff here, especially now that the mutants that had once infested the place all seemed to have mysteriously vanished.

Well vanished might not be quite the right term as their whereabouts were quite obvious if one was looking hard enough, they were all stuffed in pieces into some of the industrial dumpsters out the back of the place where Ven and Passa had placed them after surprising them at lunch and going berserk in the middle of their cookout.

Suddenly a shadow fell across Wisp and before she could even look up she was snatched off her feet by a massive shape which dropped on her from high in the ceiling.

A hand clamped over her mouth to stifle the yell of surprise but the presence of a yellow leg holding her just below her breasts gave away who had pounced on her from high above her as Malakai used his other legs to winch them both back up his silk drop line.

"Sorry about the snatch and grab my love but you were about to walk into some of the scavs that broke off the main team," he hissed softly in her ear as he winched them both up into the shadow-laden rafters before depositing her on a little silk hammock he'd woven up there like a little nest.

The fact that the silken hammock that was strung between four steel girders was strong enough to easily hold them both was a testament to how incredibly strong Malakai's silk really was, soft too as it felt like she was laid on a bed of smooth clouds as she righted herself under him, though the view she got as she turned over made her instantly have to start pushing salacious thoughts from her head as this was most certainly not the time for a revenge jump on her not so little jumping spider lover.

Malakai's eight legs allowed him to easily balance on the silken hammock he'd set up in the rafters and Wisp could see his little spinnerets working as they added more layers to it while also strengthening and binding threads he was not happy with together.

"Where are the others?" she hissed as she crawled out from under her overprotective male and looked down at the warehouse floor far below them.

"Ven is hidden among the shelves over there, Passa is in the rafters over there and all our humans are high up with good sight lines down into the area below," Malakai said pointing to the various regions where her team were spaced out and hidden.

"Where's the scav team?" Wisp asked looking over the edge of the hammock at the maze of shelving units below them.

Malakai paused for a moment and Wisp could see him touching various threads of their hammock with his feet before nodding to himself.

"Two of them are in the midsection, another two are down the far end near the lab entrance and the remaining four are looting the old staff kitchen," he said with absolute certainty which impressed her immensely.

"Wow you can even tell how many are in an area?" she asked in surprise and Malakai gave her a little cute smirk which caused his mandibles to twitch happily.

"I can even tell which ones are male or female by both the weight they exude on the threads as well as the way they step, males tend to be more aggressive while females tend to be more cautious," he said.

Wisp scoffed and grinned up at him, "Tell that to Visa or Vess I dare you," she said and he laughed.

"No thanks, I like the spinnerets on the back of my body thanks," he said then his head snapped around and his eyes seemed to be tracking something curious nearby.

"What is it?' Wisp asked hurridly craning her neck as she tried to locate what he was looking at.

"I do believe our guest has finally arrived," Malakai said pointing towards a doorway at the far end of the warehouse near to where he'd pointed out Ven hiding.

As Wisp watched, a solitary figure silently slipped their way through the partially ajar doorway and began to pick their way cautiously and silently inside the warehouse.

The figure was blatantly female from what Wisp could see from up here and was dressed in the same long black trench coat that Railroad heavies wore and what she'd seen Mouse wearing just this morning.

"There's a rifle for you right there my love, I'm going to get into position, I'll see you soon," Malakai said leaning down to plant a kiss on top of Wisp's head and cheek before he silently scuttled his way onto the ceiling and made his way across it until he was directly over the target, being careful not to walk over the skylights lest he throw a massive spider-shaped shadow down into the warehouse below and giving himself away.

Seeing the way he moved and the way he did things it was so easy to see the aeons of predatory DNA woven into the beautiful and gentle man that Malakai was, talking to him and seeing him tucked up in his favourite spider loaf mode while sewing a ripped shirt or adding pockets to someone's coat it was so easy to forget that the arachnid side of his DNA was ruthless and highly evolved hunters.

Not that the human side was much better as humans had evolved into a predatory species with incredible levels of both stamina and cunning at their disposal, so if one combined the two in a being such as Malakai the results were unquestionable.

Though that didn't stop Wisp from wishing that she lived in a world where she didn't have to see her beautiful gentleman from having to do such things, she oh so wished that they lived in a world where the only threat he faced was mucking up his stitching all while tucked up in loaf mode in front of a warm toasty fire while she gazed at him lovingly, but such a world was not theirs to have, at least not yet anyway.

Wisp quickly picked up the rifle that Malakai had indicated to her and using a backpack that he'd left up here filled with supplies she used it as a shooting brace, while she was hoping that they'd be able to take Eight peacefully given his status as a number she had to be prepared for anything.

As it turned out that was a very wise policy, not that it helped in the end.

The plan was a simple one when Eight made it far enough into the warehouse that he could be seen by the scav team the team would confront him, first, it would be Yumi that spoke to him, the play was for her to get him to reveal himself and once that was done they would take him down, hopefully through non-leathal methods, she really didn't want to have to kill him if it could be avoided, his skills could be absolutely instrumental to infiltrating either the Enclave or the Institute or both when the time came.

But she also knew from Yumi's profile of the man that he was a hardliner and a die-hard Enclave supporter, though whether that was due to the brainwashing that had been forced upon him or to do with his own personal beliefs was currently up for debate though she was sure all would become clear once they had him in hand.

Right on cue as Mouse walked into view of the hidden scav team Yumi stepped out into the open from her hiding spot only to have Mouse snap his gun up on her.

"Eight it's me Yumi don't you recognise me?" Yumi said holding her hands up either side of her head in a surrender display.

Mouse seemed to hesitate and then looked around herself cautiously before lowering her weapon.

"What the fuck are you doing here, where's everyone else?" she said and that was it, the confirmation that Wisp needed, this was indeed Eight.

If this had been the real Railroad operative called Mouse there would have been no way she would have recognised Yumi let alone responded to her with anything but hostility having found a stranger in the place where she was expecting to find a highly hostile team.

"They are dead Eight, things went sideways and they tried to liquidate me, but the Brotherhood got them before they had the chance to pull the trigger on me," Yumi said lowering her hands.

Above Eight's head, Wisp could see Malakai silently and slowly moving himself into position while also setting himself up a set of swing anchors from the rafters, it was obvious that his plan was to drop on him and inject him with a mild dose of his venom so that he would be paralysed and much easier to secure.

"I saw reports that Seven's team were operating out of here, where are they?" Eight said looking around himself in confusion.

"Oh that was a lie, I fed the Railroad a bunch of false reports to draw you out so I could speak to you one on one, now take that bloody stupid face off and show me the one I remember, please?" Yumi said letting a little annoyance slip into her voice.

Eight seemed frustrated and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger but he did as she asked morphing back into the shape of a man.

From the shadows Wisp saw the scav team looking on in both amazement and horror, it was obvious they had all known Mouse but now to see their once friend morph into another person must have been a serious shock for them.

"You said the team tried to liquidate you? Why?" Eight asked looking up at Yumi.

"They got themselves compromised by a Brotherhood patrol and decided to make a last stand but what failed due to the sheer amount of firepower brought to bear by the Brotherhood, so rather than either let me die on my feet they decided to liquidate me," Yumi said bitterly and Eight nodded.

"Yeah SOPs, rather than let important assets fall into enemy hands it's better to remove them," he said.

"Is that all we are Robert? Assets?" Yumi yelled.

"I've asked you not to call me that and yes Nine this is all we are, it's our job to ensure the survival of this country and its people, we are to help the Enclave usher in a new era of prosperity, a noble goal to give your life for in my opinion," he replied in a very matter of fact voice.

"Well I don't believe so, the Enclave are nothing but control freaks and traitors, they don't give a single shit about this country or its people, all they fucking care about is absolute control over everyone and everything and they don't care who they have to kill to get it, they are nothing but murderous thugs!" Yumi yelled.

Suddenly Wisp noticed that Eight's grip on his weapon tightened somewhat and his stare became rather cold and calculated.

"You didn't bring me here to just speak to me again did you Nine?" he said and in that instant Wisp knew he'd figured something out.

"No, I didn't, Malakai NOW!!" Yumi said her voice raising to a shrill yell and from above her Malakai dropped like a massive fluffy stone.

In his hands and front legs, Malakai was holding a large net made of sticky silk and as he dropped he stretched it out in order to ensnare Eight in it but that's when Eight decided to pull a previously unknown trick out of his bag.

Unbeknown to the group or even to Yumi hell maybe even to the Enclave themselves it wasn't only humans Eight could take the shape of, in the time it took for Malakai to drop from the ceiling and snatch the shape up in his web before sinking in his fangs to deliver a mild dose of venom Eight simply shrunk.

His body seemed to morph and vanish into the clothes that had once been belonged to the woman called Mouse so when Malakai grabbed him and bit down all he got was a mouthful of cloth and leather.