Radiance Ch. 90

Chapter 90: Teacher's Pet.

"So it took me a while to realise that the Gatorclaws were indeed fully sentient and sapient but after observing them for a while I saw the way they seemed to be not only communicating with one another but that they seemed capable of quite an impressive vocal range, so the idea occurred to me that maybe just maybe they might be able to learn and to use language in the way we do, so I made it my mission to educate them in English, it was my distinct hope that not only would this allow them to understand us fully but also visa versa with regards to them and their ways, so far I have met with surprising results but I also fear that my intrusion has directly influenced their natural development, though how much natural development there is to be found in a species that was artificially created is hard to say at this early stage," Eve explained as Seven and the others sat and listened while Thundertail flitted about doing things like fetching them refreshment.

"So the Gatorclaws were indeed an artificially created variant of the Claw species then?" Seven said and Eve nodded.

"Yes they were a result of a scientist long since killed for their efforts taking the research that was used to create the race commonly known across the country as the Deathclaw and applying it to Alligators which resulted in our large scaly friends here, though there have been whispers that Alligators were not the only species that he experimented with, so who knows maybe there might even be a few more species of Claw roaming around," Eve said gesturing to Thundertail as she mentioned her species.

Both Visa and Vess growled in unison at being called Deathclaws and Eve looked at them in surprise, "They don't like being called Deathclaws," Seven explained and Eve nodded in understanding.

"Well what would be your preferred way of your species being named?" she asked curiously.

But before either Visa or Vess could answer Seven saw an opportunity and jumped on it, "Horny Claws," he said without missing a beat and both Visa and Vess's heads snapped around to glare at him.

"I think the scientific term is Tailliftius Hornyus Maximus," Timothy said catching the joke and running with it and making the two now besieged Claws snap their attention to him.

"Also known as the lesser spotted tail-lifting Claw known for their excessive purring and snatching of human males," Shauna said making the growls of frustration from Visa and Vess grow to epic proportions.

"But I and Seven just call them lover Claws," Chris said patting Vess's massive thigh and making her snap to him about to yell something before she realised what he'd just said and froze mid-breath and freeze up.

"You're all a bunch of tail lifters you know that?" Visa growled at all of her giggling friends and even Eve now seemed to catch the joke and joined in the chuckling as well.

Seven grinned as he telekinetically ran invisible hands all over Visa's tail including the underside making her have to fight to stifle the gasp and purr that threatened to burst out of her as she shot him a surprised look that threatened vengeance at a later point.

"We just call them Northen Claws due to that's where their pack hail's from, but now I think of it without any joke intended Horned Claw's is probably a good name from them and in answer to at least one point you raised Eve we know of at least one other race or possibly subspecies in the form of Passa Vess's son," Seven said and Eve looked at him curiously.

"Oh? Is he not the same species?" she asked in obvious confusion.

"Well he was until he got his overly curious not so little hands on something called Project Unity, it injected him with a series of what appeared to be nanites that altered his DNA to take it into line with what Claws were supposed to be though given they were specifically created to be what they are now we are unsure why this device had another form for them on its file," Seven said.

"What did it do to him?" Eve asked curiously.

"I can do better than that when it all happened I made a point of recording it all on my pipboy and with the aid of the camera mounted in the power armour I can show you visual references," Seven said and with that, he jumped back into the armour, though his invisible hands were still tormenting Visa.

It took Seven only a few minutes to show Eve the visual records they had of what had happened to Passa, "Fascinating! Simply fascinating, it's quite possible this device was programmed with an alternate DNA profile for the Claws and the ability to implement it via the DNA-altering nanites, I can only theorise without actually seeing the device and the paperwork associated with it but it's quite possible that an element within the team that created the Claws saw an instability within their genome that could cause long term harm to them so created the device to correct it by rolling their DNA back a few generations more in line with their ancestral forefathers, kinda like if you were to take a chicken and roll it back into a velociraptor," she said thoughtfully.

"If that were the case then how come it didn't affect his speech or cognitive functions?" Shauna asked thoughtfully.

Eve shrugged, "Safeguards possibly, perhaps the nanites you spoke of were capable of realigning his neural pathways so they didn't suffer any damage or degradation due to the process, so essentially it would be like rapidly evolving the brain of a dinosaur while leaving its body intact, all this is highly theoretical of course but whoever achieved this device was a genius no doubt of that, though the wings and feathers that have now presented themselves do bring up so interesting questions as given that Claw's have the DNA of things like chameleons thrown into them it makes me wonder what other abilities your son may now have that were once long dormant that may have now resurfaced but are possibly undiscovered yet," Eve said making Vess growl in wonder.

"And invisible flying Claw now that's a potent mixture right there," Seven said.

"Sure make hiding from Shepherd when it's her time of the month easier," Timothy said making Shauna gently punch his arm in mock outrage as he grinned at her.

"Do Claws even have PMS?" Eve asked and Seven nodded his head very rapidly.

"Oh yeah and how, ain't enough chocolate in the world to fix that shit trust me, but we love them all the same," he said grinning at Visa who was scowling at him.

"Huh that explains why once a month all the male Gatorclaws all seem to vanish on an extended hunting trip," she said and a slow smile began to spread across Chris's features and Vess shot him a warning look.

"Don't you dare, female Claw's of my species are exceptional hunters and there is nowhere you could hide that I would not find you," she growled and he gave her an innocent look before all of them just broke down laughing.

"Well back to the tasks at hand, Eve have you had any problems with the raiders up here?" he asked and she shook her head.

"The raiders know the Gatorclaws are here and they have tried twice on mass to remove them, they have failed both times as the Gatorclaws are a lot smarter than the raiders think hell I doubt anyone would doubt me if I said they are a lot smarter than the raiders are," she replied and Seven chuckled.

"Yeah the vast majority of them anyway, well we intend to remove the threat of them from this place once and for all, we intend to free the people of this place and we intend to try and enlist the help of the Gatorclaws to do it," Seven said and Eve's eyebrows shot up.

"Do you really believe such a thing is possible?" she asked and Seven nodded but before he could respond Timothy chimed in again.

"Before I joined them Seven and his people took down Paradise Falls the legendary slave trading outpost in the Capitol Wasteland and their team has grown in number and strength since then, trust me when I say Seven here is a one-man army let alone with both his Visa, Chris's Vess and my beautiful Shauna at his side," he said proudly making both the Claw girls puff out their chest proudly along with Shauna.

Eve glanced between them curiously, "Oh and what makes you so......" she began but Seven already saw this question coming and with a simple wave of his hands he lifted every piece of furniture in the room and rearranged it.

"Is very true Miss Eve, you's should have seen him in cowboy town, he turns big nasty worm queen into little ball of sticky paste and never even touches her!! Lucky Claw Visa must be so happy and proud to have male like him at her side," Thundertail said bouncing on the spot and slapping her tail on the floor a few times making the room ring with the resonance of it.

"Happy and proud are not strong enough words for what I feel towards this beautiful male," Visa purred seizing the opportunity to snatch hold of Seven and pull him into her grip, he sensed an act of revenge stroking for all the invisible hands that slipped their way under her tail coming his way.

Eve's eyes popped open wide at the display of Seven's ability and she was on her feet in an instant circling him and making observations while both his and Visa's eyes both tracked her, "Telekinesis! Oh this is absolutely marvellous! Never in my life would I have believed I'd be alive to see the next step in human evolution!" she exclaimed stepping close and leaning down to analyse him with her sharp blue eyes before slight warning growl from Visa quite clearly told her to look but don't you dare touch.

"Umm, not exactly Eve more like Enclave bio-weapons experiment gone amok and broke out of its cage," Seven said and Eve's expression darkened quite drastically.

"This is their handiwork?" she said a distinct snarl in her voice and Seven nodded but before he could ask how she knew them she stomped over to a table and pulled something out of a draw that turned out to be a photograph.

"Let me guess it had something to do with this woman?" she asked holding it up and instantly Seven's blood ran cold as ice in his veins, there on the paper staring back at him with a truly happy smile lighting her face was Dr Chalmers.

Seven used his telekinesis to snatch the photo from her hands and pulled it right up to his face to analyse it closely, it was a group shot of about twelve scientists both male and female, but it was the two at the centre of the group that truly caught Seven's attentions, it was both Eve and Dr Chalmers both wearing white lab coats stood together smiling.

"You were in the Enclave!?" Seven exclaimed and he saw Eve shift uncomfortably but she nodded all the same.

"I was part of a team set up to study the effects of radiation on both the local fauna and plant life, our job was to study the effects of the radiation on both crops and animals to see what mutations the radiation had caused to both and to see if we could find and useful mutations while also identifying and possibly finding ways of either reversing or eliminating the negative ones, it was supposed to help humanity, this was back in the days of when I still believed that the Enclave actually stood for something good," Eve said in a rather forlorn sounding voice.

"What changed your mind?" Seven asked.

"She did, Dr Ava Chalmers," Eve said taking the photo from Seven and staring at it long and hard before sighing heavily and glancing at him.

"I was fresh out of the academy of sciences and she wasn't far ahead of me but she was brilliant, a truly gifted genetisit and researcher, we made leaps and bounds in our first few months of operation but that's when she saw the potential of some of these mutations and began looking into what they could do if applied to human subjects, she came to me with what she had found out and her wish to actually trial some tests but obviously i found the whole thing abhorrent, so i told her there was no chance I was going to condone such things, well she didn't like that and set out to try and ruin as well as discredit me, well she nearly succeeded and she did in the form of getting the Enclave higher ups to sanction her tests, well Icouldn't believe that they would condone such things so I really began to look into our so called overlords and well lets just say one faked death in a lab accident and a stolen escape pod later I have not looked back since, i am glad to be as far away as I can be from them but now it seems my past has caught up with me hasn't it?" she said.

Seven's mind was absolutely whirling like a fan running in a hurricane, Eve r rather Dr Eve stepped forwards and reached out to grip Seven's hands in hers prompting another warning growl from Visa though this one she ignored.

"I'm so so sorry Seven for what she and those like her have done to you, all I can say is that I will do whatever it takes to help you put a stop to her and to those like her, so whatever it is you are planning to count me in, I guess you could call it my atonement for running like a coward when I could have done more to try and put an end to the vileness she was cooking up," she said releasing his hands and stepping back to look at the floor in front of her.

It took Seven a few moments to regain his thought train and for it to get back on its tracks, "It's not your fault doctor, you did the only thing you could in the circumstances, we both know what the Enclave does to those that stand in their way, infact you and I are not the only one's in this room who know the depths of their depravity and determination, Visa, Vess, Chris we all know them on a deeply personal level, they experimented on Visa and Vess like they did me and they sent Chris to die trying to stop us from stealing out a prisoner from under their noses knowing full well what we would do to any Enclave forces that we encountered, but they sacrificed his life anyway, so trust me when I say you are among friends here and I welcome you and your expertise to our cause," Seven said raising from Visa's lap to step forwards and place a hand on Eve's slender shoulder.

Eve's eyes actually wet with tears, "I can see why they all follow you Seven," she said quietly and he smiled softly and warmly.

"I'm just a man trying to make a difference in this world, you can kill a man, you can destroy him and erase him from existence to the point where even his bones are nought but ash in the wind, but in idea, an idea is like a virus, it spreads and spreads until it infects everyone it can find and that's what we are doing carrying a very very specific virus to as many people as we can," he said and Eve cocked her head curiously.

"Hope, a hope for change, for a better life, for a more balanced and stronger society where the weak are not persecuted by the strong instead the weak, are protected by them and in return, the strong are loved by them for it, look at Chris and Vess other than with some kind of very heavy assault weaponry does he look like he could take her down? The answer is a flat no but the love that Chris has in his heart is more powerful than any weapon his hands could lift, his acceptance and love were stronger and they conquered Vess's strength and now she sees his value and adores him for it she protects him and he gives her all the happiness she could ever pray to any god or goddess for in this life, mutual respect becomes mutual love and this is the message we are trying to spread, there is hope for better and we are all a part of it just look at any one of us and you'll see a similar story," he said proudly reaching up and kissing Visa without a single hint of shame in his loving eyes.

Thundertail began to slap her tail on the ground while jumping and jigging on the spot, "This is what I's wants!! To protect beautiful human and have them love me for it, me's keeps them safe and protected from all harm, then have them love me's in return and make me's happy, any who wants to harm pretty human will face Thundertail's wrath and she will not be kind!!" the loveable and excitable Gatorclaw girl yelled while bouncing up and down making her scales ripple and her rather large chest swells bounce up and down nearly smacking her in the face if it wasn't for her long snout parting them like an ocean of scaly flesh on the upswing.

Eve looked at Thundertail's reaction and then smiled at Seven who was not protectively clutched by Visa from behind, "Now I truly see why they follow you, you seriously have a knack for public speaking plus given what I saw you do earlier I get the distinct impression that in your relationship Visa is not the stronger one is she?' she said and Seven shot a sly smile up at his heart's brightest star.

"Even the strongest of us can have our knees turned to jelly by the power of love, no matter what skin it wears, we both know that truth better than most," he said essentially neither confirming nor denying it but showing just how much he loved and respected his Alpha Claw girl in one fell swoop.

"I have the claws, the teeth, the horns and the fury, my love here has the calmness, the analytical mind, the voice that reaches many and when all else fails the raw power to turn any who would wish us or those we protect harm into a paste, in my mind we are the perfect Alpha couple to lead this group," Visa said proudly as she embraced Seven once again from behind placing her large hands across his chest and stomach while also wrapping her tail across his hips.

"You know when young Thundertail here first confessed her attraction towards me I didn't know what to think, a part of me was flattered, another was shocked, another was disgusted at the thought of being with another species but then yet another was curious about what such a thing would feel like or how it would even work," Eve said her words making Thundertail stop jigging on the spot.

The big Gatorclaw girl seemed to actively deflate as the reality of Eve's somewhat harsh words hit her and it was obvious that they stung the poor, innocent Gatorclaw girl's heart.

She hung her head and looked at her feet which she shuffled on the floor now though it was obvious she'd have a hard time seeing them over her ample chest, "Is not Thundertail's fault she was born this way, me's wishes me's was human like you's," she said in a very sad voice filled with bitter pain and she turned to rush out of the room but Seven instantly picked up on Eve's alarm at her reaction as it was obvious she had more to say.

Quick as a flash he held out his hand and caught the large Gatorclaw girl and hoisted her off her feet making her thrash and whip her massive tail back and forth in alarm as he floated her in the air telekinetically.

Slowly he rotated the floating and thrashing Gatorclaw girl to face Eve who looked truly stunned by Seven's seamless display of power in lifting the multiple hundred of pounds of scaled muscle that made up Thundertail into the air and holding her there despite her best efforts to escape like she was nought but a feather floating on the breeze of his warm breath.

"Let's me's go!!" Thundertail wailed as she thrashed.

"Not yet I think you are going to want to hear the next part," Seven said softly as he turned to Eve expectantly who now looked amazed that he had picked up on that and she cleared her throat and nodded.

"Umm yes right you are Seven," she said and Thundertail now switched her attention to Eve narrowing her amber eyes on her as she did.

"Now while yes I admit I was shocked by your clumsy approach the more I thought about how much in the way of guts it must have taken for you to put a voice to those feelings and the side of me that felt flattered overwhelmed me somewhat which gave flame to the curiosity that burned inside me and I did wonder what it would be like, a part of me was actually terrified that you would turn on me when I rejected you and for that, I'm sorry Thundertail I should have known better what type of person you are, you are not a bad Gatorclaw and you would not harm someone for simply saying no to you, but also I have to stay true to myself fearful or not, I am not bisexual or lesbian so I have no interest in other females in that way and for that I am sorry but my heart cannot swing that way, but if it is any consolation to you Thundertail you have helped open my eyes to a much larger possibility with the help of our new friends here," she said with genuine remorse and sorrow in her voice.