#captaincaptain

Liam had his own pack full and he was starting to go beyond the level of tired. Exhausted was a word for it. Besides, the sun was setting. “I am glad we found a few extra cans of food,” They had run out this morning after consuming their final half a can of beans. “Er shall we then?”

The ghoul nodded and they both turned on their heels to start the long journey home.

Behind a brick wall, about twenty yards away, the Captain sat, waiting. Not for them, but for something else entirely. He'd seen the crows looking at all of them earlier in the afternoon. That was the sign.

It was only a matter of time now.

The scientist and his ghoul companion however, completely unaware of the birds at all, walked on without any concern. The sky was orange and it was nice and quiet, and there were no raiders around and about. With any luck they'd be able to get back home in one piece. That was the hope anyway.

“Subject located.”

Elsewhere, a pack of metallic feet moved quickly and nearly silently over the ground. Their eyes glowed bright yellow and their laser-based weapons and metallic-and-plastic armor clattered against themselves just a bit.

The Captain peered over the wall that was his hiding place. In the distance he could see white figures coming for them. He had to move.

He leapt over the crumbling piece and began to sprint in the direction of the vault-dweller and his friend.

Walker looked over his shoulder, very startled by the much smaller ghoul's appearance. “W-WOAH- hey, who are you??” He spun around and stood in front of Liam instinctively. “What do you want? W-we don't want any trouble- please just let us leave!”

The ghoul with the gas mask stared at them briefly before turning to look again at the approaching synths, pointing to them rapidly.

Walker's brows furrowed a bit as he tore his eyes off of the newcomer and towards the hills. His breath hitched and he dropped everything and practically tossed Liam over his shoulder like a sack of flour.

“WHAT'S GOING ON-” Liam barely had any time to realize what was going on. It was a bumpy ride, and while he had to hold onto his glasses a majority of the time to keep from dropping them, he did spot the figures running at them. And the subsequent blue lasers soaring past and over their heads as well.

The Captain ran behind them for part of the way, until he had finally decided he'd had enough. He slowed to a stop, reached for the machete at his belt and whirled around to run directly at the enemy synths.

“WHAT'S HE DOING?” Liam hardly heard his own voice but he had shrieked that bit out. Walker stumbled in response and almost tripped, but he didn't stop to look back. If they looked back now, they'd be caught.

One of the synths raised its arms to fire, only to have the Captain come down on it, smashing his rusty blade onto the limbs of the robot. Its forearms severed from its body and it backed up before its head followed suit, flying off and landing onto the grassy hill. The next synth met a similar fate, drawing enough attention that the other synths stopped to repel the Captain away from their group.

The ghoul moved surprisingly quickly. From one synth to the next, he jumped in between them, swung under their blows and shots with such momentum that if he had stopped now, he'd be an easy target.

The group slowly became increasingly dismembered as the fight went on, leaving only two our of the initial ten left.

One fired a quick series of shots, only to be yanked back and stuck through the chest, and then kicked hard in the lower back, breaking its spine. It's eyes sputtered and stopped glowing as it deactivated upon hitting the ground.

The last synth backed up slowly, keeping its laser-rifle trained on the Captain. Neither of them moved, until the synth did. But it was too late. The machete flew through the air and hit it square in the face, forcefully turning its neck before being tackled to the ground, the blade ramming through its neck and circuitry one final time.

That was the last of them.

A long moment passed. The Captain stood up slowly, dusting himself off and looking around. Liam and Walker were nowhere to be found. Good... Though, that meant he had to try to find them again.

He secured his over-sized knife onto his belt again and began to retrace his steps back into the direction they had gone.

One of the downed synths flickered and sputtered back to life, barely able to raise its head. It's upper body was still in one piece, and its arm tried to move and aim at the ghoul captain walking away. It pulled the trigger and a bright blue beam shot out of its weapon.

The Captain's boot had landed on a rock and down he slid into a hole by accident, the shot missing him entirely. In fact, he hardly noticed it had happened at all. Regardless, he got back up, climbed out, and kept on walking.

The synth twitched a few times before dying.

__________

“You're telling me he took them ALL OUT?? That's IMPOSSIBLE-” “Look at the transmission footage. It was HIM. You have EYES.”

The scientists argued with one another as Neil stared at the screens in front of him. He could hardly believe that one man took on ten of their synths without any problem whatsoever. He wasn't sure whether to be impressed or not quite frankly.

“Director?” “Hm?” “Your opinion on the matter?” He sat in his chair without any answer.

“Send a courser. We know where he is now. It won't be difficult to bring him back here.”

“Yes sir, of course.”

For a long time the Institute had been the 'boogeymen' of the Commonwealth. Neil knew that much. Within the last few years, they'd gone relatively quiet until recently with the resurfacing of the old second-generation synths into the new third generation.

His fingers interlocked as he let his elbows rest on the desk in front of him, deep in thought.