Radiance Ch. 33

Chapter 33: The Heart of Power.

The group charged down the narrow staircase of the tower moving as fast as the terrain allowed, there were many times where they had to swap staircases due to the stairs being just gone due to structural damage, though that didn't slow Malakai down as he could simply switch to the wall or lower himself down using silk anchors.

But eventually, the group emerged cautiously from the ruined lobby of the tower and into the street below, the first thing they all saw was the twisted and burning wreckage of the Vertibird which seemed to have blocked the narrow street to their left leaving no gap for them to squeeze through.

This unfortunately would force them to have head towards the fighting between the scavengers and the super mutants which was booming down the streets.

The gunfire was echoing down the streets and the muzzle flashes were lighting up the street ahead casting some absolutely monstrous shadows onto the buildings around them, "Wisp get us some intel please" Seven said as the group took cover using some broken down cars and wrecked dumpsters to hide from sight.

"On it," Wisp said and she shot out of his head and headed up the street into the middle of the fight doing a quick circuit before coming back, "It looks like the scavengers are losing badly, the super mutants have killed over half of them," Wisp said.

"Fuck, we'd better hit the super mutants in the back while they are the distracted" Seven said.

"What did she say?" Gregory asked.

"That the super mutants have killed off half of the human scavengers already," Seven said.

"Hmmmm why don't we just let them kill each other?" Gregory asked.

"Don't fancy getting penned in here, I mean sure we could let them kill each other but then the winners are going to come in here looking for blood and spoils, they are going to hit us and who knows that maybe just maybe if we save these scavengers from the mutants then maybe they'd be able to help us out somewhat, you know the enemy of my enemy and all that," Seven said.

"I's wants vengeance for what green monsters did to Soars-With-Eagles" Runs growled angrily and Riss gently stroked her husband's shoulder.

"Are you sure we can trust them?" Visa asked and Seven shrugged.

"Doubtful, they are scavengers, I wouldn't trust them as far as I can throw them and given my Telekinis that's pretty fucking far," Seven said.

That's when the argument got concluded through circumstance as two of the remaining super mutants charged around into the street ahead of them and by the look on their faces, they were rather surprised by finding a power armoured human, two deathclaws, a Nightstalker, a half spider half-human and two regular humans all doing a rather shit job of hiding behind the cars.

Before they even had the chance to raise their weapons towards them both Visa and Ven both leapt from behind the cars and charged them with a loud roar impaling the pair of them with their huge claws before throwing them aside.

"Well, I guess that decides it lets go!!" Seven yelled charging forwards with the others following in his wake including Malakai who looked incredibly nervous and scared.

As Seven rounded the corner he got a good look at the carnage spread out before them, to the right of them the three remaining super mutants was laying heavy fire down on the besieged human survivors who were bunkered down behind various cars.

The humans seemed just as surprised as the three super mutants to see the two claws and the power armoured human appear right in front of them, "Ven left, Visa right I got this fucker in the middle, everyone else get into cover!!" Seven yelled and the group instantly fractured as he charged towards the leader of the super mutants.

Visa and Ven both charged towards the two surprised super mutants and despite them firing on them the two claws were just too fast for them and closed the gap in only seconds, the leader did the same to Seven as he charged towards him and Seven felt the impact of the heavy rounds being fired at him as some of them deflected off his armour sounding like angry wasps as they shot off into the air around him.

"Rwaaaaah finally I get fight bucketheads!!!!" the leader yelled as he stepped out from his cover and beat his huge chest with his fist which was the size of a sledgehammer head.

Though it seemed he wasn't expecting Seven to skid to a halt and drop to his knee bringing his rifle into the aim as he did, infact the look of pure shock on his face was very short-lived as Seven levelled his rifle on his forehead and fired, as it was all he'd been trying to do was bait him out of his cover so he could do just this.

The large.308 round slammed dead centre into the mutants face imploding his fucking ugly face and turned it inside out splattering the contents of his skull in every direction as the pressure bubble formed by the large round popped.

The now headless body simply stood there for a moment with blood fountaining from his neck, his hands even came up to try and touch his now missing head, before the whole thing crashed down to the floor.

To the left and right of him, Seven saw Ven and Visa finishing off the two companions with a few very well placed swipes of their vicious claws, that's when a bullet bounced off the back of Seven's armour and a damage indicator lit up to tell him where the shot had come from.

Seven spun around just as another round fired by the scavengers cracked over Visa's head causing her to duck out of sight behind a large blue tube that had Pulouski personal protection shelter written on it.

Ven saw this and dodged out of sight into a narrow alleyway to his right and got out of the way, Seven took cover where the now-dead leader of the super mutants had been hidden, "We don't want to fight you we just saved your fucking arses!!" Seven bellowed as yet another bullet cracked over his head.

There was a pause in the shooting, "Who the flying fuck are you!? And what the fuck are you doing here!?" A feminine voice yelled from behind cover.

"My name is Seven and I was one of the people in that fucking Vertibird that these green fuckers shot down, we don't want to fight me and my group just want to get out of here" Seven yelled.

"Why the fuck aren't those two deathclaws attacking you!? Are you controlling them somehow!?" the woman yelled back and Seven heard both Visa and Ven growl from both sides of the street and he held out his hides to calm the two insulted claws.

"Yes they are with me no I am not controlling them they are people just like you and me, if you don't try shooting at us I'd be happy to show you and introduce you to them, I can promise you they will not attack you if you do not try to attack or harm me, them or any other member of my group" Seven called out.

There was a pause and he could hear what appeared to be a rapid-fire conversation between the remainder of the group, "Ok come out but be warned if you make a single aggressive move we will fire on you" the woman said.

Seven noticed a couple of shadows moving about behind the group who were all so focused on Seven and the two claws that they didn't even notice them.

"I've got a better idea, we both count to three and then we all come out and just bear this in mind if you do fire on us there are quite a few more of us than you think and they will not take too kindly to their friends being fired upon" Seven called and that seemed to take the scavengers aback and he could actually see them trying to figure out where the rest of Seven's group was but they were now located directly behind them having used the shadows and in Malakai's case the walls to move above and behind them.

"Ok agreed" the woman yelled and then in perfect sync Seven and the woman counted to three loudly and then every one of them stepped out as did Seven and the two claws but Seven was quick to notice that they were pointing their weapons towards them so he did the same shouldering his own and training it on their leader.

The two groups moved slowly towards one another which included Riss and her part of the group who were moving through the shadows behind the group, the seven remaining women from the scavenger group all stood staring wide-eyed at the two claws flanking Seven but the leader of the group never took her eyes off Seven.

"I recognise that Power Armour, that's Enclave armour, you with those fuckers?" she asked with a deep growl in her voice.

"Nope nicked it from them along with the Vertibird those green fuckers shot down, if I was with them I seriously don't think they'd approve of the company I keep, speaking of which this beautiful slab of claw feminity is Visa and this is her brother Ven, they are free and Sentient claws" Seven said as Visa purred slightly and leaned herself on his shoulders as Ven folded his arms over his broad chest as his eyes focused on one of their group was staring at him while pointing her weapon at him.

"You want to lower that weapon human because I promise you if you fire it you will regret it one way or another" Ven growled and the young Asian woman's mouth fell open.

"T-T-That deathclaw just talked!!" she exclaimed.

"Very observant," Visa said and the woman's eyes flicked between them in utter amazement.

"Ok talking Deathclaws, hats a fucking new one" the leader exclaimed glancing between the pair.

"Oh, that's just the tip of the iceberg," Seven said before giving a shrill whistle and as he did the remainder of his group morphed out of the shadows directly behind the women startling them, one of them went to snap her weapon onto Riss but before she could Malakai then proceeded to both shock and surprise both groups by throwing out a series of web balls that hit every one of the weapons and yanking them from their owner's hands.

Every single one of them all stood staring open-mouthed at the large Arachnakai boy, "S-Sorry for taking your weapons, I didn't want you to shoot my friends" he said as he stood there with an armful of silk wrapped rifles.

"Hey!! You'd fucking better give those back right fucking now spider boy or I'll......" one of the women yelled at Malakai who looked startled at her aggression and shrank back from her as she strode towards him but then Riss stepped into her path and folded her arms over her chest while glaring at her.

"Or you'll what?" she hissed at her menacingly making the woman shoot worried glances at her comrades for support but none of them moved, they seemed to be evaluating their options here without their guns.

"If you's tries to hurt our friend you will not like what happens next, he's of our tribe and we stands for him, if you's raises you hand to him we will raise ours to you's" Runs growled menacingly as he stepped up next to Riss showing that he not only had Malakai's back but hers as well

"Well ssssaid husssband" Riss hissed never taking her eyes of the woman.

"Husband!!? You are married to this........" the woman began and that set Riss off and she instantly appeared right in front of the woman's face glaring into her eyes menacingly.

"You do not want to finissssh that ssssentance" she snarled making the woman jump back.

"Let's all calm the fuck down here shall we? The last thing we need today is to be losing any more fucking people we already lost enough of our fucking sisters today or did you not fucking notice that there's only seven of us left, so lets fucking stop to get the fucking rest of us killed shall we!!?" the leader yelled at her comrades.

"Well, I'm glad to see that at least one of you is willing to talk rather than just posture and shoot," Seven said and the leader turned her attention back to him and glared at him.

"Oh trust me I'm as not happy as my sisters with the situation I just know an unwinnable fight when I see one, I wouldn't fancy our chances against one of your scaly friends there in these kinda close confines let alone two of them, but since you are asking to talk and you know not to claw our fucking arses off might as well take advantage of that right?" she said and Seven nodded.

"Honestly we're not looking to fight anyone, we're just trying to live in peace and to be left the fuck alone, but that doesn't mean for a second that we don't know how to fight because trust me when I say we won't even hesitate to defend ourselves or each other, its what keeps us together, mutual trust, respect and love," Seven said placing a large metallic hand on Visa's arm at that last part which made his large Claw girl purr happily as she glanced down at him.

"You are some seriously strange fuckers you know that?" the scav leader said glancing between the two.

"Probably but what's stranger going through life hating everything because it's different from me or realizing that despite the fact something might look different to me they are not all that different on the inside and embracing that difference and realizing that beauty can be found in the most amazing places if you only have the guts to look?" Seven shot back as Visa embraced him from behind and the pair stood there proudly staring the woman down.

"Well whatever floats your boat man I ain't here to tell you what not to stick your dick in, so what happens next?" she asked.

Seven turned to Malakai who was putting those six eyes of his to good use by watching as many of the women all at once while still watching him, "Give them their guns back Malakai" he said and the big spider boy blinked at him.

"You sure about that Seven?" he asked and Seven nodded.

"Yeah I won't have people defenceless out here and I'm pretty sure that we've found some discourse here so there's no need to start a fight over nothing right?" Seven said looking at the leader who was looking surprised as the large Archnakai male scuttled up to her and handed her the rifle he'd yanked from her grasp back to her.

"Ummm yeah right," she said in surprise as she looked down at her silk-wrapped rifle.

She tried to pull the silk away and failed miserably as the incredibly strong spider silk refused to break, "You might need a knife to cut it free or Visa if you wouldn't mind" Seven said before Visa leaned forwards and with a single claw simply ran it along slicing through it like a hot knife through butter.

The leader looked utterly amazed by this and Seven was sure that she'd got the veiled message that said 'Fuck with us and these claws can do this to your skin just as easy.'

"Errr thanks," she said and Seven nodded.

"You're are most welcome, now let's get down to business shall we?" he said.

"So what do you want exactly?" the leader asked eyeing Seven as she slung her rifle over her shoulder on a leather strap.

"Not much really just some insider knowledge, like a lay of the land, what groups to look for and where they are and possibly a place to crash for the night if you happen to know one, I'm pretty sure being out here at night is not going to be great if this is what the day is like," Seven said.

"Nothing in this world is free tin man especially not here, what you got to trade?" she asked.

"Not a lot, pretty much everything we had got burned up in that crash, we're down to pretty much the clothes on our back here," Seven said.

"What about that power armour suit?" she asked and Seven shook his head.

"Not a chance, it's useless to you anyway as it's DNA locked to me, so it's useless to pretty much a brick to anyone but me," he said.

"Ehhh figured as much but it was worth a shot," she said then she scratched her chin thoughtfully and eyed both Visa and Ven curiously.

"You know what there just might be something you can help us with, so how about this, you help us get into a place and help us carry out any salvage we find and in return not only will we give you guys a safe place to crash, some food and I'll give you a map of the area, how's that sound?" she asked and Seven detected a note of hope in her voice.

Seven was cautious, "This place you want our help getting into who does it belong to because we're not going to help you steal shit from people unless those people are raiders or slavers and if that is the case I'm gonna want proof first," he said and the leader shook her head.

"It doesn't belong to anyone but the place is both a fucking gold mine and a fucking death trap all in one, it's utterly infested with feral Ghouls and Mirelurks, so much so that every group that has tried to get into the place has fucking failed miserably, but any group that managed to crack it would be set for life, we are talking a boatload of caps and here's a sweetener for you, we'll even split the profit with you fifty-fifty, which I think is fair as granted you guys would be doing the security and the heavy lifting but without our knowledge and skills it doesn't happen, with this both groups walk away rich and we can stop doing this shit while you guys go on your merry way to where ever the fuck it is you are trying to go, so what do you think?" she asked.

Seven looked at Visa and Ven both of them looked cautious but gave him a nod of approval, honestly, it sounded too good to be true but then most treasure hunts always did otherwise no one would ever fucking chase after them now would they?

But the way Seven saw it they really didn't have a lot of options here did they?

"Alright you got yourself a deal," he said offering her his hand and he instantly saw the leader's eyes lit up with a very distinct sparkle as she reached out and took his hand shaking it.

"Smart, alright then let's head back to our place you guys can stay there till this is all done and then you guys can go on your merry way and enjoy our fair city," the leader said and Seven nodded.

"What's your name?' he asked.

"People call me Shepherd," she said and Seven nodded.

"Alright nice to meet you, Shepherd I'm Seven, this is Visa, Ven, Runs-With-NightStalkers, Malakai, Riss, Gregory and last but by no means least the cloud girl who lives in my head till we can find her a new body is Wisp," Seven said pointing to each member of his group as he called their name.

At that last part, Shepherd looked confused and rather sceptical, "Cloud girl that lives in your head?" she asked and before he could answer Wisp shot out through the vents in Seven's mask and did a circuit around the utterly amazed looking Shepherd before to her utter surprise shooting right up her nose and into her head.

The woman looked freaked out for a moment before she sparked up in a one-sided conversation that obviously indicated that Wisp was speaking to her, "Yeah I'm telling the truth, alright alright no funny business you got my word" Shepherd said and with that Wisp shot out through her nose and shot back over to Seven again.

"What did you tell her?" Seven asked switching off his external mic as he felt her in his mind again.

"Told her that if she tried to double-cross us she would regret it because not only can I read her mind but she can't hurt me but the same is not true of me being able to hurt her and if a single one of my friends gets hurt or worse because of her I would torture her for the rest of her life and there would be fuck all she could do about it," Wisp said making Seven chuckle.

"I forget how scary you can be sometimes you know that?" he said and he felt Wisp's happiness in his mind.

"Damn straight I might be a cloud but I'm an evil cloud and no one fucking hurts my friends and lives to tell about it, plus I got to impress a certain someone somehow now haven't I?" she said and Seven glanced at Malakai who was wringing his hands and twitching his mandibles as he glanced around at all the humans around him who were constantly glancing at him.

"I" ll make sure he knows," Seven said with a chuckle before he turned his mic back on.

"I'll tell you what Seven you got a fucking serious group here, not fucking sure how you managed to pull a group like this together but fuck me sideways never thought I'd see something like this in my lifetime," Shepherd said sounding distinctly nervous now if she'd had any plans to cheat them Seven got the feeling that she very much just shelved them thanks to Wisp.