POV Rio
The trip North to the Asylum took about a day, but during that trip, we found some interesting loot. The most notable was a unique 44 Pistol called The Gainer. It wasn't that impressive; it lights enemies on fire with each shot. We also found Wasteland Survival Guide Issue #4, The Scrapyard Home Decoration Guide. It unlocked Lawn Flamingos. We also met a very nice family of Deathclaws. I planned to get their help to attack the Raider Camp once I found it.
When we arrived, I spoke with Captain Maria, the leader of the Mercenaries. She was able to provide me with some information on what she found from the ransacked shipments. From that info, I flew up North by myself to see if I could find the Raiders. I found a few at Parsons Creamery, but it was only 3 of them. I disabled all three and interrogated them to learn where their main group was. What I learned from them was a bit alarming. They claimed to have nearly 300 members in their gang. They were holed up in an old town called Middleton.
Now I knew the numbers the Raiders gave were probably inaccurate, as they were uneducated imbeciles who had a passion for taking mind-altering substances, but the numbers should be vaguely accurate. Which meant I needed to gather the 23 Deathclaws and bring them to the feast of a lifetime. I knew many wouldn't survive, but that was acceptable since they would have far more food to support themselves afterwards. And I wouldn't just let them handle it alone. I would help as much as I could.
I flew over to Middleton to see the Raiders and double-check the numbers and found that it was decently off. There were 213 Raiders in total. A large gang for sure, but not as scary as 300 plus. They were at most around a 30-minute walk for a Deathclaw from Lynn Woods, where they lived. Which meant this should be easy enough.
'I wonder if Combat Chems work on Deathclaws.'
While I was thinking about how well this would go, I had made one crucial mistake. I assumed that the Raiders I interrogated didn't have an accurate guess at their numbers. So when I saw 213, I assumed that was all there was.
An Hour Later...
I watch from above as the Deathclaws sneak into the Raider town and kill to their heart's content. I was using my sniper to eliminate any dangerous Raiders I could spot. With attacks coming from above and monstrous killing machines slashing through their defenses, the Raiders didn't last long. Many tried to flee, but outrunning a Deathclaw is a stupid idea. But I did notice something odd.
'Where is the Raider or device that was able to split the mercs limb from limb?'
I landed in the Raider camp and started investigating. I quickly found out I had made a serious blunder. The chaos of the camp masked some tracks, but I could clearly see the trail of around 80-90 Raiders leaving the camp. And from the looks of it, the tracks were over 3 hours old. That was really bad, as the Asylum was around 2 and a half hours away. I flew up and towards the Asylum. I quickly arrived and saw that Asylum had already been breached, but thankfully, they hadn't gotten through the entire facility.
POV Cait
Everythin' was fine while Rio was gone. Nothin' of note. That was until the explosions started. It was a bit of a surprise as Rio was dealing with the Raiders, so it didn't make much sense for them to appear here now.
'Maybe it's a Super Mutant attack?'
When I reached the entrance, I saw that several of the mercenaries were already dead, and Deacon was trying to hold the Raiders off. Hancock arrived around the same time as I, and we all started to help. I was able to see who was attackin' us and I was rightfully confused.
'Raiders? Did they somehow stop Rio?'
I was a little worried about Rio, but for now, all we could do was try and hold back the Raiders. As we were fightin' the Raiders, I heard another explosion and told Hancock that I was headin' to deal with it. It wasn't too hard to reach where the sounds were comin' from, and when I did, I saw an 8-foot-tall man in Combat Armor. He definitely didn't seem like a Mercenary that I had seen before, and the fact that he had a few Raiders with him made me make a decision.
I had a grenade launcher, so I decided to use it.
BOOOM
The grenade hit him dead on, and I smiled. But then, as the smoke faded, I was shocked to see him almost untouched. He sees me and frowns a bit.
"Don't you know who I am?" he says with a Boston accent.
"No," I reply.
"I'm the Juggernaut B*tch!" the Juggernaut says while runnin' at me.
With each footstep, the ground shakes. My eyes go wide and I start runnin'. I put everythin' I can between me and the Juggernaut, by vaulting over obstacles and closing doors. But he literally smashes through everthin'
"What the hell are they feedin' you?" I say with exasperation.
As much as I try, I can't outrun him forever. He eventually grabs me. But what he does shocks me. He grabs me and we run straight towards a wall. I struggle to get out, but his grip is insanely strong.
CRASH
He uses me as a battering ram as he forcibly breaks through wall after wall. I use everythin' I have to make him let me go. Bullets, Knives, Lasers, even a god damn grenade, but nothin' phases him. Suddenly, I see him head towards a metal wall.
'Ah bollucks.'
POV Rio
I land at the Asylum and make my way to Lorenzo's cell. I could see that most of the other areas are being held if only barely. But if Lorenzo got out, it would be a nightmare for everyone. I also spotted Cait fighting with a large man who was breaking walls.
I ran into a few Raiders here and there, but they weren't too hard to deal with. Most didn't even know I was there until their throats were slit. A few did cause some issues, such as a maniac with a China Lake grenade launcher.
BOOM
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah baby! I am invincible!" screamed the clearly high Raider.
Click Click
"Huh?" The Raider said while looking at the jammed Grenade Launcher.
I didn't wait and stood up and shot a hole through his forehead before he could fix it. I grabbed the Grenade Launcher and found that it had an unlimited magazine size. This explained why he never stopped shooting. I kept going until I reached the cell. It seemed Jack arrived at the same time.
"Those idiots are trying to shut down the Abremalin field! That's the only thing keeping Lorenzo from breaking out of there. We need to get in there and stop them," Jack tells me.
"Hello, Jack. It's been a long time since I've had the pleasure of a personal visit," said Lorenzo with a calm and in-control tone.
"Father. I will stop this," Jack says with determination.
"My powers have grown, Jack. The artifact still has so much to teach me. Once I am free, I will be happy to teach you, too," Lorenzo offers.
"You know I can't let you out until I can remove the artifact. Let me see... Lucifer's balls. They've locked down all the security doors. I'll have to open them one by one from here while you work your way down the hallway. Quickly now!" Jack says.
"No need, let me," I say while my form turns into water. I then use the small gaps in the walls to bypass all of that and get into the room.
The Raiders didn't notice right away, so I threw 4 throwing knives and killed all but the leader, who managed to dodge the attack.
"Sh*t, that was close," says the leader.
The Raider leader goes to draw his gun, but I yank it from his grip. Then I rush at him, and he puts up his fists. He goes to block my feint from the left, and I hit him squarely in the jaw and then follow with a knife to his throat.
Grk
His eyes go wide, and his hands clamp over his bleeding neck.
"Great! Switch the four Abremalin generators to 'manual override' and I can flood his cell with a lethal dose of zeta radiation," Jack says over the intercomm.
"Don't listen to my son. He's the crazy one. You know this. Look at what he's done to me. Do the right thing and open this door and let me out," Lorenzo offers.
"Yeah, no, you are literally radiating Evil Magic right now. I would be insane to let you out," I comment while throwing all four switches at the same time.
"That's it! Don't worry, the zeta radiation won't harm you. I'm sorry, Father. I did everything I could to avoid this. I believe I was close to finding a way to remove the artifact," Jack says.
"Liar! You would have fed upon me here forever if you had your way! Puny worms, do you truly think you have the power to destroy me?" Lorenzo says.
"Goodbye, father," Jack says sadly.
"So... you've prepared for this day, eh, Jack? Cough... Even your own father..." Lorenzo says while falling to the ground.
As it seemed like he would die, we heard a crash as the wall was shattered and Cait was thrown to the floor. Standing in the hole was the large man.
"Ugh, my everythin' hurts," Cait comments on the floor.
"Help me!" Lorenzo says.
The large man runs at the cell, and Jack screams for me to stop him. I move to stop him.
"Nothing can stop the Juggernaut!" screams the Juggernaut.
He punches the wall, but I catch him before he can.
"Huh? Where'd you come from?" asks the Juggernaut.
I answer with a punch. I was transformed into my rage form. Even with using my max Strength buff, I had barely stopped the Juggernaut. The Juggernaut recovered before I could rush him. He spat out a bit of blood and a tooth to the ground.
"Heh, let's play!" the Juggernaut said with a smug look.
He runs at me, and I do the same. We each go for a punch, but his form is a mess, so I get two punches into him, but he doesn't stop and keeps running, tackling me. The amount of force knocks the air out of my lungs. While he has me, I gather my hands into a fist and hammer down on his back over and over again.
BOOM x 6
Nothing seems to damage him, and we almost smash into the cell. I brace my feet against the cell, and the glass cracks and the metal bends, but I stop the Juggernaut and I respond with a headbutt. It honestly hurt a lot, but it seemed like I did a lot of damage as well. I follow with a point-blank Magic Ray of Frost. It seems to mess him up pretty badly as he then throws me away and starts to run blindly around. I shoot him with a few more spells, but they seem to do nothing.
'Hmm, oh... So that is how it is.'
I run in front of him and stop him again and hit him with another combo of spells and melee attacks. The attack does damage, but my buff ends, and I get punched through the wall. But the damage I did was great, as he was in really bad condition. He seemed like he might run away, but I didn't let him do that. I needed to stop him, so I used Sovereign Tsunami combined with Ice Magic to stop him.
Crack
Even with all the water freezing him in place, he was starting to break free, so I grabbed General's Ghost and shot him in the head. Everything seemed to freeze, but then he stopped, and his head drooped as if he were dead. I fall on my butt and take a deep breath. Cait crawls over and takes a seat as well. She hands me a bottle of Lemonade.
"Thanks," I reply.
"Let's not do that again," Cait says.
"Yeah," I reply.
The doors open, and Hancock and Deacon arrive. They take a seat with us, and eventually Jack comes to do the same. We all feel and look exhausted, so we just sit in silence while drinking Lemonade.