Radiance Ch. 48

"I understand and I'm sorry Seven, it was a momentary lack of judgement, I-I wasn't going to touch him but I admit I did think about it, it's sometimes hard to keep these instincts of mine in check, one one hand I've got human instincts trying to keep me decent and upstanding and on the other I've got all these powerful mutant instincts screaming at me like a voice in my head telling me to just take what I want when I want, to show m strength and power and it's fucking maddening sometimes," she said with a soft sigh in her voice.

Seven nodded, "Trust me when I say I understand what you mean, I love a claw and when I say they can be impulsive and intense I mean it, so I get your struggles plus from my own struggles just imagine having the power that I have inside me and having to resist the urge to misuse it, I mean think about it Shuna there's pretty much nothing anyone could do to stop me short of killing me before I'm aware of them but I am not that person so I have to fight all these demons inside me that tells me to just make people do what I want or force them to comply, but I hold myself and this group to a standard of conduct and honour that yes I know is pretty rare in this day and age but I want to ensure that it is upheld," he said and she nodded smiling softly.

"You really are a good man Seven you know that?" she said softly and he smiled under his helmet before he reached up and removed it so she could see his face and see him smiling at her.

"I try to be," he said softly.

"Umm may I hug you?" she asked suddenly and Seven raised an eyebrow but nodded his consent.

The big woman stepped forwards and wrapped her huge arms around his metal-plated chest and lifted him off his feet for a moment before placing him back down and letting go, "Thank you for being you Seven, I am glad that men......no people like you exist in this world because you truly are an example for all of us to follow and you are of course correct but I want to thank you for doing that because it proves to me that you truly are not only a man of your word but that you truly will stand for anyone that needs you regardless of who they are and that is a beautiful thing to see in this world" she said.

Seven nodded and the pair returned outside locking the door behind them, Faith led them to a lounge room which had been done up to look like an old retro diner with lots of red and blue neon signs offering burgers and Nuka Cola, it had large red leather booth seating and a few tables as well as a rather large bar.

"You guys hungry or thirsty?" Markus asked and Seven nodded.

"I could eat," he said and the rest of his group nodded their agreement so Markus gestured for them all to take a seat and Seven stepped out of his armour before squeezing into a booth next to Visa.

While Markus and the other two Ghouls in the group began cooking and preparing the food, Faith sat down with Seven's group, "I still can't believe that you are the one people are calling the Dark Angel of DC, I mean when I first heard the story I just didn't believe it, but having heard it right from the horse's mouth when you had no reason to lie or to tell us in the first place so the fact that you just brought it up and it fit with what our scouts reported perfectly pretty much confirms it because you had no idea that they were even there" Faith said.

"So your guys were watching Paradise Falls, shit they must have been well hidden because we never saw them at all," Gregory said and Faith smiled at that and nodded.

"Used to be one of them myself and we are good at what we do, though the scouts aren't part of the slave recovery teams we sent to snatch the slaves away and free them, but the scouts and the teams used to operate out of the same safe houses like this one," she said.

"Where did you guys get the money for all this it doesn't look cheap?" Seven said and Faith smiled.

"You'd be surprised really, a lot of the Ghouls we free have a whole lot of skills and connections all over the place, so given that we gave them back their freedom it's only right they wanted to help us, plus money comes in from all over the place, say for example we kick out a gang of drug pushers we are not going to leave them with the finances to either retaliate at us or simply set up elsewhere, so we remove that from them," Faith said.

"So you rob them?" Visa said and Faith grinned at her.

"Is robbing scum who kill naive kids with fucked up chemicals still stealing really?" she said and Seven laughed and shook his head.

"I guess not," he said and she nodded.

"Look I get it it kinda sounds hypocritical for us to say that Ghouls just want to be left alone but then taking an aggressive stance to what's going on around us but is it not right for us to have a safe place to live in? Is it not right for my people to want to have a safe community?" she said and Seven shook his head just letting her get her points out.

Faith sighed and nodded sensing Seven's point that was coming, "Listen I know it seems like it's kinda a conflict of interests really but we are not going to let anyone and everyone just walk all over us and while we are not as well equipped or as aggressive those Brotherhood douche bags or the megalomaniacs at the Enclave but that doesn't mean we are defenceless, other than you guys I have never seen anyone stand up for Ghouls so it's up to us to stand for ourselves, speaking of which what are we going to do about our prisoner?" she said.

"When he wakes up which shouldn't be too long I'm going to have a friendly little chat and see if we can come to an arrangement," he said and Faith sighed and nodded.

"Alright then, look I'm sorry that I snapped and yelled before, I'm kinda used to being betrayed and I thought it was happening again, that after putting my faith in you you were going to betray us and go back on your word, but I don't believe that's the case and the more I thought about it on the way over here the more it made sense, turning an enemy to our cause is a smart play but I'll warn you I've had dealings with the Brotherhood and not one of them didn't turn into a firefight, fuckers are Zealots and seriously trigger happy who believe me, my kind and pretty much all of your friends there are perversions of nature to be destroyed, plus they'd see you and the other humans in your group as a bunch of perverts to be removed from the gene pool," she said and Seven nodded.

"I'll bear that in mind and we'll see how it goes when I speak to him, hopefully, he might be amicable but I'll warn you now I'm not going to either harm or kill that man in there, he has done us or you no wrong so I will not be the instrument of murder and I will defend him if need be," Seven said his tone going hard and Faith flared for a second but then she took a deep breath and then nodded.

"I understand and I promise he is under no threat from any of us, I don't want a war with the Brotherhood on my hands, those fuckers are just itching for an excuse to go after us and I won't be the one to give it to them, so he won't be harmed and after this is all done he'll be released, though we will be taking him pretty far from here before we do it," she said and Seven nodded.

"Glad to hear it," he said and that's when Markus arrived with plates of freshly cooked Brahmin steaks and the whole group began to chow down, Markus was a seriously good cook as the meat was melt in the mouth and dripping in juices.

Not long after the meal was done a banging noise and yelling started coming from the hallway though thanks to the thickness of the bunker walls it was rather faint and sounded far away.

"Looks like our guest is awake," Faith said and Seven nodded getting up from his seat but he didn't jump in his armour, instead of leaving it standing where it was which made both Faith and Markus look at him curiously.

"Not gearing up Seven?" Markus asked and Seven shook his head.

"I don't want this guy to fall into the same line of thinking you guys did when you first met me so I'm going to go in there and chat with the guy alone at first, after that we'll see where it goes," he said and Visa cocked her head.

"You do not wish me to come in as well my love?" she asked and he shook his head.

"Not this time my love, I don't want the guy to be scared first off the bat, I want to open a dialogue before I show him what he's dealing with," he said and she thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Ok I understand, but I'll be outside the door and if I even think he's going to become violent towards you he's going to find out what a few hundred pounds of angry claw girl can do in a tight space when the one she loves is threatened," she said with a slight snarl in her voice making Seven chuckle and reach up to stoke both her jaw and her horns before planting a kiss on her lips.

"God I love you, my big girl," he said and she purred before letting him go.

Seven took a deep breath, "Step back from the door I am entering the room if you are directly behind it when I do you are going to get hurt, do you understand?" Seven said loudly.

There was silence for a moment before a much quieter voice came back, "Y-Yes" the scribe said and Seven opened the door stepping into the room in one fluid movement closing the door directly behind him.

The Brotherhood Scribe that Seven had been told by Riss was called Belweather, the man was tall and very broad standing about 6'5 maybe 6'6ft tall, he had short-cropped blonde hair and bright blue eyes, he also had a little blond stubble on his face and his eyes had looked onto Seven as he'd entered the small room and while taller and broader Seven could see he was not confident in himself as his eyes gave him away as they darted around both him and the door behind him.

"If you are thinking about trying to assault me and make a break for the door I really wouldn't recommend it, because you really won't like what you find on the other side of it, I am not going to hurt you unless you make me do so, I just want a civil conversation and given that I and my people pulled your arse out of that cluster fuck your people got you into back in that junction back there I believe we are owed that right?" Seven said and now Scribe Bellweather's locked onto him as if analysing his intentions.

"Who are you?" Scribe Belweather asked.

"I'll give you mine if you give me yours," Seven said despite knowing it already he wanted to see what the flavour of the conversation was going to be, would he outright lie to him or would he be honest and this would be a good indicator.

"My name is Scribe Belweather, my first name is Timothy, I'm a Scribe with the brotherhood of Steel," he said and Seven nodded.

"Ok Timothy my name is Seven and yes I know it's odd but it's all I got so call me Seven and I represent both the free Ghouls of Underworld and my own group the Free People's of the Wastes and a member of which pulled your arse out of that particular fire you got yourselves into back there," Seven said.

Timothy seemed to process this and then cocked his head curiously, "So you represent the Ghouls?" he asked and Seven nodded.

"That's right, got a problem with that?" Seven said and Timothy shook his head.

"No not personally, I've seen them about and I know a lot of the Paladins and soldiers do but personally I think they are just people like us that are just trying to live the lives they have been given, I personally don't think they are bad people, just people trying to live the only lives they have, I mean they didn't choose to have what happened to them happen to them, they are just trying to live their lives," he said and Seven nodded approvingly.

"You know what Timothy, I do believe we can have a conversation you and I," he said.