The Dunwich Conspiracy Session 9
General Summary
As the battle over the Super Duper Mart rages on, the group desperately make their attempt at a clean escape. Tommy and POSH attempt to rendezvous on the captured dune buggy while Ratt wrestles the Roc towards a better landing zone. Complications begin to arise when the rest of the compound becomes aware of their missing Protectrons and vehicle. Despite the continuing firefight, cultists begin to fan out into the camp with their hounds to search for the perpetrators, calling out, "BRING ME THE VAULT DWELLER!!! referring to Tommy's numberless blue jumpsuit.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Tommy finds himself at the mercy of the doctor that saved his life once more. If the man gave away his position now it would surely mean a swift death, but it appears he has other plans. He introduces himself as Zeke and in an ironic twist, begs Tommy to take him out of this place. Having little other option but to agree, Tommy tells the man to stick close and attempts to start making his way around the wall and into the cover of the dust cloud that is rapidly growing under Sir POSH's wheels.
POSH does his best to continue driving the slavers back as he makes a wide U-turn to get in position for a pickup. His Protectrons discharge a few wild shots into the obscuring smoke and sand, dissuading the retreating Fodder from returning fire as they head for the relative safety of their armored transport bus. During his run he spots the perfect place to snatch up Tommy and the stray he just took in; a small depression on the other side of the sandbag wall that is out of sight. Leaving the cleanup to the people that actually live in this compound, he abandons routing the enemy mutants and focuses instead on calculating an efficient path for the recovery.
Exploring new facet to his abilities, Ratt uses his overwhelming strength to maintain dominance of the archaic controls of the Roc. Not quite enough on its own to compensate for piloting knowledge, he must simultaneously access the memories and experiences of Tommy to keep it from tipping over mid-flight. Having a feeling that more altitude is a good thing, he begins to climb as he surveys the ensuing battle rapidly changing pace beneath him. Unable to locate his comrades from this distance, he slowly makes his way closer towards the dilapidated grocery store to get a better look.
Furious over their missing guardians, evidence of their holy fungi being tampered with, and now a missing vehicle, the cultists are not pulling any punches when tracking down 'heretics'. Unsettled just as much as everyone else in the chaos, the hounds they lead snap and bark at anyone that gets close. Safety measures are ignored, and two buggies attempt to smash through the fortifications to chase down POSH. Their own barricades prove too much however, and both become hopelessly stranded amongst the barbed wire fencing. Unperturbed, one man swivels the support weapon mounted above the cabin while the other two collect themselves and try to disembark.
Still recovering from the last bullet he took; Tommy is in no hurry to suffer another injury. Leveling Old Man Thompson's double-barrel with the cultists he was defending only moments before, he lets loose a volley of steel pellets and prays for the best. Sparks fly and a cry of pain seems to indicate his success, however a sinking feeling soon fills Tommy's limbs as he witnesses movement through the smoke. With his weapon empty and having no time to reload, he dives on top of the quivering Zeke and tenses his entire body in anticipation of the return fire.
Still receiving emotional data from the man in the numberless Vault suit, POSH quickly turns his attention on the gate. Skidding across the pre-war pavement, he brings his buggy to a full stop and sends the command to attack over his radio transceiver. Bright crimson arcs burst forth from his small compliment of Protectrons, further injuring the cultists and suppressing the ones preparing to flank Tommy and his new doctor companion. Attracting a lot of attention in the process, he is unable to actually pick the duo up, but instead must immediately speed off once again as more fire is concentrated on his position.
Seeing the chaos from above but unable to operate the Roc's weapons efficiently, Ratt decides to rely on a 'tried and true' tactic. Maneuvering himself over the battlefield, he digs in his bag and begins to produce explosives while cackling with maniacal glee. "Enjoy boom above! Ratt bomb dropper!", he yells into the wind as he lets loose a bouquet of grenades into defenders and attackers alike. Unable to actually track the progress of his contribution to the fight, the Ratt is unaware that once again it is common settlers that end up feeling his wrath. Regardless, the distraction once again sends the cultists into confusion as they attempt to work out who is actually the bigger threat.
Some choose to engage the retreating POSH, scattering a few shots through the vehicle and Protectrons but missing the Eyebot seat-belted snuggly into the passenger seat. Meanwhile a barrage of gamma rays strikes the belly of the Roc, and while the physical damage seems to be superficial, an internal component overloads and causes a short. Without anyone on board to fix the problem for him, the Ratt must fight the controls to avoid a wreck while frantically jamming a bent bottle cap inside the fuse box as a temporary work-around.
Realizing that no incoming fire has hit their position and starting to become aware of the urine and feces now covering the shivering doctor, Tommy feels it is a good time to sprint for better cover. Working their way around the wall of crushed cars, they take themselves out of view of the cultists and instead expose themselves to the fleeing slavers. Concealed partially by the clouds of sand kicked up in the dune buggy's wake, this proves immediately safer for at least the time being. Using his radio to make a quick plan with POSH, he gets Zeke ready for the pickup as best he can and sends the go-ahead through his transceiver.
Having no desire to see his perfect screen chipped by one of the bullets ricocheting around inside his vehicle, POSH orders the Protectron crudely forced into the driver seat to gun the engine and make haste towards the eagerly awaiting Tommy. Unable to come to a full stop, the two are forced to leap onto the cage and hang on for dear life. Barely making it even with the helping hand, Zeke loses his entire doctors' bags in the process. With hardly enough time to process the loss of his material possessions, a pair of hulking Corvega City mutants comes hurdling out of the swirling sands in the hopes of hijacking this vehicle for themselves. With their Chryslus automobiles wrecked against the walls of the compound, this opportunity to make a hasty retreat seems too good for them to pass up.
Not wasting any time with pleasantries, Tommy opens up the conversation with a vicious blast to the slaver's face. Any normal human would have been decapitated by such a blow; however the creature still clings to the side of the buggy even without any eyes left in its skull. Snarling through its coughing and choking, it lashes out with a knife a few times in blind anger before being punted off the side by one of the Protectrons. Not out of the woods yet, more incoming fire is focused on the vehicle. When Tommy is hit this time however, it he hardly even notices the flesh wound amidst his other injuries.
Compelled to make another harsh U-turn to avoid colliding with the slavers' bus, POSH must drive back through the dust cloud to finally escape this waking nightmare. Feeling a pair of bumps, he inadvertently meets the second Corvega City mutant to try and board his vehicle, this one finding even less success than the first. Still running his sensors at maximum power, he becomes aware that the bus filled with the retreating Fodder are not returning to the main host and are instead giving pursuit. Taking advantage of the superior handling and acceleration that the buggy affords in this environment, POSH cuts a new path at an extreme angle to help build some distance between them as they rush to the landing zone.
Already having trouble maintaining his altitude due to the malfunction, Ratt glances up to witness a new horror crawling its way from the Super Duper Mart. The physical embodiment of Atom, or at least as the followers here perceive him, a god by its own assertion. The being towers above the compound, growing in scale so that he can casually peer into the TGF-01 and into the terrified crimson eyes of the pilot. Reaching one of his massive hands outwards, Ratt yanks on the controls as the expression on the entity darkens and becomes angry, losing quite a bit of altitude as he haphazardly steers his way towards the others.
Not willing to take a chance stopping early and giving the busload of slavers time to attack, POSH transmits directions for the Ratt to follow so that he will land well in front of them. Slowing down just enough so that they will not crash straight through to the other side, the buggy successfully makes it into the cargo bay, but not without causing the ship to shudder and shift in place. Home at last, the crew waste no time getting into their positions. Tommy takes the helm, while POSH plugs into an outlet to charge and serve as co-pilot. Fully bushed and suffering from one of the worst migraines in his life, Ratt chooses instead to make his way to one of the 'luxurious' cots that were bolted into the sides of the interior where the two aircrafts were merged together. As they take off to put this experience behind them, Tommy is alerted by alarms as the damaged landing gear breaks free and plummets back down towards the Dust Bowl. Unable to do much more then let his mouth fall slack, he continues on his way and tries not to think too much about it until they return to RJ's.
Even with a few small detours, the group manages to arrive back at the Sarsaparilla Plant before they run out of fuel. POSH uses his thrusters to land first, leaving Tommy to keep the Roc level while he gets help pushing few cars in place to handle the weight of the vertibird. Zeke is given a change of clothing and a chance to collect himself while Tommy and POSH both do their best to console him. They offer promises that this settlement would love to have another doctor and that he is safe here. This conversation leads to the three friends getting to know one another a little better, and they discover they have a lot in common when it comes to core values.
Feeling accomplished in their mission and ready to reap the rewards of their toils, the three step off the vertibird and into RJ's compound. Chuckling amongst themselves they continue to talk about their plans to make the wasteland a better place. RJ approaches to greet them, waving amicably and glancing over the aircraft with an appraising gaze. Before he can open his mouth to explain how 'docking taxes' work, one of his Sentry Bots turns towards the newcomer amongst them and states, "HOSTILE DETECTED. COMMENCING NEUTRALIZATION.". Before anyone can so much as react, fully automatic gunfire shreds through not only the intended target of Zeke, but Tommy as well.
At a loss for words, POSH can only stare down at the remains of the two humans that stood before him just moments ago. Not particularly upset by the incident, RJ runs up to look down at the bodies and explains, "What the hell were you thinking?! You can't bring strangers in here! They gotta be on the 'whitelist'. Damn.. well, I expect ya'll to help me clean this shit up!" A response not acceptable to POSH, his screen begins to glitch between his normal face and a much darker one. With military subroutines hard coded into his systems, his usual pacifist nature is overridden by a strong emotion, something that a robot should not be capable of experiencing in the first place. Riled awake from all the commotion, Ratt yawns as he walks down the ramp but abruptly stops when he sees the corpses.
While RJ attempts to play off another faultless excuse on his behalf, he shows no concern for the two people cut in half by his feet. Meanwhile POSH is on a warpath, quickly hovering towards the automaton that just murdered his compatriot in cold blood. Not wanting to meet a similar fate, he bypasses the sensors by taking advantage of a blind spot in the original design. Without a moments hesitation, POSH manages to get into a hidden maintenance panel designed for diagnostics. While he works, Ratt has also begun to process this situation. Demanding more answers or at least some show of remorse from the nonchalant ghoul, he is pushed over the edge when he is offered another dose of Buffout instead. Before he can actually take a swing at RJ however, POSH's new instructions go into effect, and he is interrupted by yet another burst of automatic fire.
Removing the deranged ghoul from his own whitelist, the Sentry Bot now recognizes one more intruder. Sending a few hundred rounds in his direction, one puts a hole clean through RJ as he is in the middle of giving one of his lazy speeches. Although not killed, he immediately assumes a glitch in the system is to blame and races off to deactivate the compound security from better cover. This saves the remaining two members of the group from being completely annihilated by the remaining automated security; they also lose their chance to finish off RJ in turn as he retreats into the irradiated factory district to lick his wounds.
Desperate for some kind of control over the situation and not ready to say goodbye to Tommy, POSH tries to invent reason with Ratt by telling him to use the artifact on the body. With little else to try, the red-eyed scavenger obliges with his best approximation of what that might entail. To his great surprise a connection is actually established, but instead of seeing some form of afterlife or endless nothingness, the Ratt gets his first glimpse on what Tommy really is..
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