Crawled Out Through The Fallout

Chapter 47

Once we were in, things went more or less how I expected. There was an army of synths spread through out the Institute, all ready to fight until they were nothing more than a heap of scrap metal. Sneaking through with such a large group wouldn't work. There is a chance I could make it alone, or maybe with Deacon. I stopped the group and thought through what my next step would be. I was cut off by the sound of shots ringing out, and Danse yelling.

"Safety's off! Enemies in my sight!"

The synths began shooting Danse, who shot back. I ducked for cover, pulling Deacon down with me. I crouched behind a power generator and held my gun up. 

"Preston, Piper, Deacon! With me!" 

I called to my companions and they dodged the lasers to get to me.

"What's the plan, General?"

Preston stood by us.

"We'll let the Brotherhood make a scene and distract the masses while we sneak through to the core. We can come back for them on the way out."

They nodded to me. I peeked around the corner and waited for the shooting to slow. I rushed forward a bit, stopping by Sturges.

"Remember, sound the alarm as soon as you see us come back. And stay alive, I need you still."

I smiled at the mechanic and gave him a short hug before gesturing for the others to follow me. We slowly went around the synths, who were focused on the Brotherhood soldiers. Luckily, none of them noticed our small group skirting around them to the hallway in the back. I remembered how to get to the core from my days of exploring the Institute. We made our way towards the fusion room and stopped in what looked like a locker room.

"I don't know how many guards they have around this thing, but they will not be easy. Preston and I will shoot from a distance, going for long range attacks. Piper, Deacon, you two keep them distracted by potshotting them. And don't get hit. Especially you, Dee."

"Aw, boss. I didn't know you cared so much."

Deacon grinned at me.

"I think I've had enough of patching people up for my entire lifetime. Including the two centuries I spent as a popsicle. And most of my patch jobs were on you. What I'm saying, is you have a tendancy to do stupid things."

"Me? I would never do something stupid."

Deacon put a hand on his chest in mock surprise.

"Really? Because I seem to remember you punching a deathclaw in the face. And then trying to shoot it."

"Okay, well, that was one time and you-"

Piper threw her hands up in frustration.

"We REALLY don't have time for this! You two can argue over Deacon's stupidity later!"

I nodded.

"You're right. We have a job to do. Everyone ready to do this?"

"Ready or not, here they come. We've got company!"

Deacon pointed behind me at two coursers who held up their guns at us.

Preston immediately wound up his laser musket and began shooting. The coursers went invisible, avoiding our shots. I thought quickly, trying to find a way to end this quickly. The coursers were joined by more synths. I glanced around the small room for an advantage. I pulled out my sniper rifle and shot the light switch. It fizzed out, and the lighted shut off.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?"

One of the synths asked.

"We couldn't see you, now we can't see each other."

Except me. I backed out of the room and looked through the scope of my rifle. I saw moving green shapes outlined in the scope. Piper had dropped to the floor and began crawling to safety. Deacon was spinning in circles trying to find the synths. And Preston had his back against the wall, ready to shoot. The synths stood still, confused because they were deprived of their main sense. I kept looking through the scope as I navigated the room. I quietly went up to each of my allies and pulled them to the core room. I handed Deacon a bag full of grenades.

"Light those suckers up. Preston and I will make our way to the core, up there. We'll be in good position to help if they come after you two. So, um, just yell or something if you need us."

Deacon nodded and took the bag.

"I'll give 'em hell, boss."

I began walking up the metal walkways with Preston close behind. There were flashes and bangs coming from the locker room. I watched for a second as Deacon pulled a pin and threw the grenade in. We got close to the nuclear core and Preston handed me a holotape.

"It'll override the system so it can be overloaded."

I took the holotape and loaded into the computer. I clicked through the system settings and began the process of overriding it. 

"Bosssss! I'm out of grenades!"

Deacon came running back into the core room with Piper close behind.

"Preston, help them out. I've almost got this."

He nodded to me and took aim at the angry coursers. I finished setting the system, and began to reboot it. I aimed my sniper rifle at the courser closer to Deacon and took a few shots. The impact made him stumble back. It gave Deacon enough time to reload and finish off that courser. I jumped from walkway to walkway down to where they were standing. I took out the Deliverer and loaded up V.A.T.S. to help with my aim. The courser was hit with a barrage of bullets from the four of us, and fell. I glanced at the fluctuating nuclear core.

"We need to get out, now! The system is ready to blow!"