The recycling sector was filled with more machines and piles of plastic scrap and other recyclables.
A reminder that in the early years this entire vault was a fully functioning small city. Now left to rot.
It was too late for us to take the stealthy approach. I was certain the mermen on the other side were waiting for us.
"Take these." I dispensed some more frag grenades. This was another area where frags could be used without risk to the structure so I planned to use them to thin out the herd.
All three of us pulled the pins, before I lunged out and threw the frag in my hand into the awaiting herd of mermen.
Lady and Jonny followed suit.
The shrieks of the mermen was suddely drowned out with bangs. Many of the weaker ones were instantly turned to splatter art.
We began firing into the crowd of dazed surviving mermen, mowing them down like wheat.
But things can never be so easy, right?
A larger merman gave an ugly snarl from the on top of one of the machines after using an unusually impressive display of agility to move out of danger.
It raised it's claws and gathered energy that coalesced into a ball of fire the size of a basketball.
With a wave of it's hand, the fireball launched in our direction.
"We got another tough one. Get back!" I shouted as the ball flew through the air at us.
Jonny's face paled and Lady pulled his collar and yanked him back.
I moved behind them to cover just as the fireball hit where we were and exploded with incredible force and left a lingering blaze of fire.
Similiar in force to one of the grenades we had just thrown...
'That was dangerous. Another plasmid?'
I assessed the situation by accessing VATS, my perception slowed allowing me to observe the battlefield calmly.
A captain level opponent up high raining down fireballs and a few dozen armed infantry...
That captain wouldn't just sit still and let us shoot it dead. It was able to move quickly.
I had precious moments to think of a good strategy that didn't end up with any of my side dead.
Jonny was an unarmored target after all.
After thinking about it, I decided to act.
*psh* my power armor opened up. We had only a moment before the group of mermen regrouped after our frags and the captain level threat decides to lob another fireball.
I hopped out of the armor and grabbed Jonny before he could protest.
"Figure it out on your own!" I pushed him into the armor and then closed it on him.
Now he had the T-45 and I had mobility.
"You two fight those scrubs, I'll handle the captain." I stated urgently before hopping up using my mutation to the top of one of the shorter machines.
I was equipped with shadowed combat armor and my two 12.7mm pistols. One of which was Fuckbringer with explosive rounds.
The mermen had begun pouncing on those two. Lady began firing like a machine, her bursts of laser fire leaving each merman burned to cinders.
Jonny was still trying to figure out how to move the power armor, some mermen broke through Lady's gunfire to try and dogpile him.
But his frantic movements managed to bash several dead anyway, safe within the protective cocoon of armor.
As for me, I locked eyes with the captain mermen a short distance away. It seems it understood my challenge.
A fiery ball flew at me as it jumped to another machine, but I jumped to the side also and activated VATS.
I fired three bullets from each of my pistols. Two of the explosive rounds hit it neck and shoulder causing it falter mid jump. The three other bullets from my other pistol hit the lower abdomen and legs.
The merman wasn't dead yet as it grabbed onto a bar to stop itself from toppling over down to the floor.
It then hurled another fireball at me as I made my landing onto a railing.
I jumped again as the fireball hit the railing I had been standing on.
However I was not completely prepared for a second fireball that was aimed for my exact trajectory as I was in mid jump.
'Clever little bastard.' I thought I activated VATS again. After the first 6 shots, my AP was low. But I had already recovered enough to end this.
Two shots rang out with only a split second difference between them.
One bullet passed the fireball as if it had better plans while the second decided the fireball had insulted it and took exception to that.
The first bullet fired by Fuckbringer passed the fireball and made contact with the center of the captain merman's head, exploding his top cap into paste.
The second bullet penetrated the fireball and caused it to burst like a dirty firework.
Which generated force close enough to me to alter the trajectory where I would land.
I noticed a sharp piece of steel sticking out that nearly took out my family jewels. Thankfully I missed it by a hair and landed into a hopper filled with card board boxes.
As I lay there I thought, 'That was too close. I'm putting more points into luck...'
After that I climbed out and helped the two put down a few stragglers.
The skirmish had ended quickly and a quiet lull returned to our immediate area.
*ding*
I had leveled up to 34 after the large quantity of XP I just received.
I put another point into luck bringing it up to 10 as I had just said I would. I saved the perk points I had for now until this quest ended.
As for the Electro Bolt plasmid serum... now was a good as time as any.
Before we moved on, I took a moment to pull out the serum. The process was said to only take a minute but it could be a very intense minute.
"Here we go... You two protect me while I take this." I said as I held the bright red syringe above a vein in my left arm.
"Uh... You sure that's safe, Boss? You won't like, turn into a squid person will you?" Jonny asked as he eyed the syringe nervously.
"It will be fine. Meryl's research notes had all the data. We are gonna need this power in our fight."
"I will protect you, sir." Lady interjected and stepped forward, steadfast as ever, making Jonny scratch his head sheepishly.
I smiled and then plunged the needle into my vein and injected the serum.
Red hot pain burned through my body as the serum began circulating through my blood stream.
Glowing blue veins grew out across my entire body creating a sprawling new network within me and a few showers of sparks erupted from my fingertips as I clawed the floor in a silent scream of anguish.
'Holy fuck it feels like my whole body is on fucking fire!'
I thought that but soon after what felt like an hour instead of a minute, my body started feeling cool and I started feeling a current of energy flowing through me.
I never felt greater actually.
I followed my instinct and watched as my hands began to glow blue and electric currents once again ignited my fingertips. This time controlled.
I turned my hand and released the energy towards a busted machine. A bolt of electricity stretched out and struck where I had aimed it.
A scorch mark marred the broken machine and a lingering current flowed around it.
'The bolt doesn't just zap my targets but also causes a stun effect on what it hits for a short duration of time... I can think of a few possible ways to utilize this...'
Jonny's eyes went wide upon seeing the lightning I shot from my hand while Lady just nodded once as if this was a normal thing.
"Okay, I'm ready. You two stick close to eachother and take out any enemies that get in our way. I'll stay mobile and pick off the most dangerous ones first. Let's go!"
As we made our way through to the other end of the sector, we encountered more groups of mermen ambushes. It was like the entire colony of these things were alert to our arrival.
Some rushed at us without care for their own safety, others waited and jumped out or threw tridents at us. One thing was clear... these fellas were highly territorial.
But things got much easier now that I put Jonny in the power armor.
Even though I stated in the beginning we wouldn't stick our necks out to protect him, he has proven his worth in the battles we have had.
Now I don't have to worry much for his safety and I am free to fight as my original build was intended.
My entire fighting style was built for fast and precise movements while evading danger. The power armor was great protection but I realised I was far more efficient without it.
And this particular environment, open space with tons of places for me to jump around to, is to my advantage.
We finally cleared the recycling sector and pushed for the next area, the forge.
The forge was a sector that people worked in processing the minerals mined from the seabed.
Iron, copper, and other useful metals were brought in and refined and forged for whatever the vault needed.
Whether that was copper wiring, steel plates, tools, etc.
As we entered there were more machines like the other areas but also many workstations and smelters.
The place was a jungle of metal with large overhead cranes that still held large hanging crucibles of cooled metal and slag.
And of course more damn enemies...