POV Rio
I go into the basement and meet the hired help Bobbi brought. His name was Mel, and he was a robotics expert. Mel had brought his customized sonic emitter eyebot, Sonya. This admittedly quite ingenious creation would allow safe travel through the Earth. It would emit bursts of sonic waves that would dislodge loose sediments, making pathways through the Earth. I discussed a bit with Mel about his robots, but Bobbi put a stop to it and insisted we start. We agreed to speak later and got to work.
We began our journey through the underground with a trip through the first room into a branching room. Now I could see perfectly which way was the correct way, but my goal was to either delay this trip or get Bobbi killed in a way that brought no blame. So we entered a room that I was a little unsure about going into.
'Well, here goes nothing.'
Sonya hit the east wall, and it only took a few seconds for all heck to break loose. On the other side of the collapsed wall was a nest of Mirelurks: 2 normal varieties and, most dangerously, a King Mirelurk. I grabbed Mel and hit the ground and screamed to get down right as the King started its attack. Bobbi wasn't quick enough and was hit dead center by the sonic scream, sending her across the room. She was both lucky and tough enough to avoid a hit to the head. A hit to the head would cause her head to explode like a watermelon with too many rubber bands around it.
Dogmeat, that brave boy, lunged at the King while I pulled out the Iron Cross and started to blast the other Mirelurks. The main target was the left Mirelurk that was closest to me and Mel. Mel also recovered about now and started to shoot as well. The right Mirelurk went for Dogmeat to get him off the King. That was a mistake on their part, as Dogmeat can't die, and the only Mirelurk focused on Mel and me was not able to get close enough before succumbing to the concentrated fire.
Arrrgh!
Dogmeat screams as it is thrown by the King. The remaining Mirelurk and King then looked at us, and I used that chance to put a sniper round through the shelled one. You might wonder why I would attack the shelled one instead of the stronger King. The answer is simple: the shelled ones are a pain in the rear to kill because their shells are highly resistant to firearms. You usually have to use high-caliber guns to break the shells, so most people just avoid Mirelurks. But Kings don't have a shell, at least not in the same way; they sacrifice defense for higher strength and speed, as well as the occasional invisibility. The other reason is that you should kill the minions before focusing on the boss.
Mel seemed to guess my intention and started shooting at the King, causing it to bob and weave behind a pillar. I knew it was planning to go invisible, but that was fine. I grabbed Mel by the collar and flew up.
"Woaaah!" Mel screams in slight panic.
"Stop struggling, it's not easy flying with a passenger," I complain while flying over to a ledge.
I place him on a ledge where the King can't use his close-range attacks, which means it can only use its sonic attack, which causes the invisibility to break, and it was also not that hard to dodge, as it is heavily telegraphed before it fires. I then pretended I didn't see the invisible King and lured it closer. This was why I needed Mel off the ground. If he were on the ground, the King would likely kill him first or move to a position where I could attack him without shooting Mel. Kings were by far the smartest variety of Mirelurk out there.
I hover just close enough to the ground and wait patiently as the King inches closer. Then, right at it, it leaps at me. I turn around and show a smile. The King's eyes widen as the .50 cal is shot at point-blank range. With a silent shot, the upper half of the King is turned into fast-moving red chunks. I make sure everything is safe and then run over to Dogmeat. I give him a Stimpak and then walk over to Bobbi. She was still alive, not in the best condition, but still alive.
"Ugh, damn crabs. Help your employer up, would ya?" Bobbi says while holding her hand out.
I don't take it and instead start ot observe her condition.
"You shouldn't get up yet. The fall, combined with that sonic attack, likely caused severe internal damage. Give me a moment to stabilize you, and then you can get up," I say while moving to do as I said.
"Ugh, fine, just hurry up. I don't know how long this water has been here, and I'd rather not find out what's in it," Bobbi says with a grimace.
I find that she had a lot of bruising and a few broken ribs, but was otherwise alive. A Stimpak and some rest would do. But I doubted she would rest. Once I was done, I helped her up, and she told me to look at what was in the tunnel. I go in and see a suit of X-01 Power Armor in atrocious condition next to a skeleton in Army Fatigues. I put the suit in my inventory as I didn't want Bobbi taking it from me. Besides the suit, there wasn't much else of value. Some eggs and a very rusty Combat Knife and Service Rifle. I do make sure that there are no traces of a suit being in the room before I leave. I report what I find.
"Great, I nearly died for some rusty junk and some eggs. Let's get back on schedule," Bobbi says with a grunt before we start back on the way we were going.
"Wait, before we keep going, I think we should consider adding another person. You almost died, and there is no guarantee that we won't deal with even tougher odds going forward," I say to Bobbi.
She stops and thinks for a few minutes, but eventually sighs.
"Fine, you can bring one more person, but it has to be MacCready. I know him and know he is a professional. He knows how to keep his mouth shut. But you will be using your cut to pay him," Bobbi says with a serious stare.
"No problem, let me go get him," I say while heading back to the surface.
I wanted to leave as the Power Armor was taking up a majority of my inventory, so I needed to drop it off. And I got more backup than all the better for me.
We were much slower than before, and I purposely led us down as many wrong tunnels as possible, but eventually we made it to the end of the path.
"Well, this was a longer trip than anticipated, but we're getting really close," Bobbi says to keep everyone's spirits up.
"Sigh. Are you sure? You said that the last 6 times, and we still aren't there. Your directions are worse than Rio's!" Mel complains loudly.
"There is a brewery near our strongroom; this has to be the basement to that brewery," Bobbi says with conviction.
"Brewery, you say?" Mel jokes.
"Mel, no," Bobbi says with I am done with this face.
"Just kidding. Geez," Mel says with his hands up.
"Are you sure this is the right place, as this seems odd. It's quiet, too quiet... Hahaha, Oh man, I always wanted to say that," MaCready helpfully comments.
Bobbi goes to glare at MacCready, but she pauses and notices that it is a bit quiet. I can see what is up ahead and just say it.
"Yeah, there's a massive gator ahead," I say with a blank face.
Everyone freezes and then stares at me, and when they realize I am not joking they all start to back away slowly. I do the same, as I was not expecting a god darn 4-foot-tall and 30-feet-long alligator below Hancock's storeroom. Needless to say, I was not going to wake it up as it was asleep. We retreat and try to think of a way around this. The issue was that not everyone was super clear on what a gator was, but the fact that I called it massive made them think it was some crazy monster.
I explained why I thought what I thought, but Bobbi insisted on checking it out. But nobody was willing to go in there, so she huffed and did it herself. When she came back, she was the palest ghoul I had ever seen. Her face was scared and she clearly saw what I saw through the walls. The strangest thing was that I couldn't tell if the gator was mutated or just really old. My bet was on mutation, as from what I knew, Boston was too cold for alligators, and they didn't just keep growing indefinitely. That is assuming this was an Alligator and not a Crocodile. Either way, I wasn't interested in fighting it.
"At least it isn't a massive snake, and we're not on a plane," I comment.
Everyone just looks at me with a baffled look.
"Uncultured swines," I complain to myself.
Everyone just ignores me, and they go back to thinking about what to do. I myself didn't have much in the way of a plan, as I really didn't want to fight a god damn 30-plus foot Alligator/Crocodile. Especially if it was mutated. Which it probably is. But Bobbi didn't share my opinion. But she did at least tell us to head home and rest for a while, while she tried to think of something. I was okay with that, as the tunnels were honestly quite smelly and not the most pleasant place to be. As for the plan to kill Bobbi and replace her well, I didn't see a need to do so as the massive reptile put her plans to a temporary stop. Which gives me time to do some other jobs. And I knew Bobbi wasn't going to cut us all out at the last minute, as that could be quite dangerous for her. So I would let her stew in her issues until she either gives up or tries something stupid.
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Author's Note:
I was originally going to have the creature be a Deathclaw, but I thought that the Alligator in the sewers was funnier and would add some variety. Don't worry, the next chapter will continue this. If you want a visual of what I imagine would happen if Bobbi were stupid, then I recommend watching What if Arthur brings the Legendary Bullgator to the Camp on YouTube by Nestan. It won't be exactly like that, but I still find it funny. Until next time, Ciao.