Fallout: Fury Blood

Chapter 111: Strangers In Arms

The guerilla tactics were set in motion. With the canyon abandoned by the Bloodhunt, only a skeletal force remained to the outpost, leaving it dangerously vulnerable. After the reckoning of the She-Demon and the Bloodlander, The Dark Bloods had thrown everything at the Brotherhood of Steel, believing them the guilty culprits. Everything had culminated perfectly into the ripe conditions for a Red Claw uprising.

To come was the night of the Red Doom, as the Sightwalkers foretold.

Clan runners streaked the rocky heights in a red migration, rallying support and contacting deep scouts to take up the call to fight. Just hours after the vengeance-seeking army had marched for war, Red Claws were harassing Dark Blood sentries to draw off attention from the coming attack at the main gate.

The Grim Gates, they were known as. Giant steel hell gates welded together and burrowed deep into the towering cave mouth, barring any unwelcome entrance. Kelly and Danse were taken to see them from afar on a pre-mission scouting run, fields away from atop shrouded cliffs. The winds were high, shredding at the foliage where they crouched and whipping Kelly's hair in it's current. To her, the gates looked impenetrable, a fortress stronghold that only the likes of the Brotherhood of Steel could barge through. A giant pulley system was mounted at the height of the gates, using axles and cable winches that could be seen through the bars of the gates. The source of strength needed to power the system was hidden from view, but Kelly couldn't imagine what was used in this land of little industrial materials. If the Dark Bloods possessed machines capable of powering those gates, what else would they have inside waiting for them?

"How are you planning to storm the main entrance with that gate barring the way?" Danse was obviously thinking along the same lines, putting to question the runner named Fox-Trot, who had been tasked with guiding them on reconnaissance.

He looked at Danse through the narrow slit in his headscarf, a conspirational smile tipping the balance of his weathered lips. "Wouldn't you like to know, soldier-boy."

By the looks of him, the exiled Paladin didn't appreciate that at all, expression darkening with intolerance. "If you expect us to assist you in this rescue operation, then we need to be privy to all the details going forth. What use are we in overseeing the battle if we're kept in the dark?"

His chagrin was met with a haughty huff as Fox-Trot turned to usher them back down the passage they climbed. "You weren't stolen away for your tactical advice. You did walk right into that Dark Blood ambush, remember? If not for us, you would be dead meat."

Kelly felt the anger spark and roll off Danse before he even made to respond. "If not for that cowardly dart, you and your entire team would be nothing but ash."

Fox-Trot only laughed smugly. While Kelly wished Danse would put his pride to rest more often than not, she also found she couldn't blame his short leash; the raider was a douche. He had done nothing all day but act as though taking them through the canyon was the worst assignment of his life, and he had dared to scoff at her flagging and faltering during the steeper climbs, until Danse tore him a new asshole explaining that she was still recovering from an 'illness.'

"You speak well for a tribal," she commented benignly as she and Danse picked their way back down the passage.

"Not all of us are brainless Neanderthals. I was born in the Commonwealth, before I was reborn in the Bloodlands."

"Ah. Explains the stick up your ass, then."

Danse peered at her sidelong. Fox-Trot gave a caustic snort.

"At least my stick is of this world, Apocalypse Eyes."

Fucker. How dare he think she had it easy coming from that. She was all set to tear him a surprise vagina when Danse caught her by the shoulder and warned her off with a browbeating.