Fallout Equestria: Memento Mori

”And the stars shall aid in her escape.”

Okay this either really good or really bad. I woke up and found myself tied to a bed. I glanced around the old hospital room. The paint was a fading pink and chipping in several places. All four of my hooves were tied down by heavy duty gauze. Ok so this might be bad. I craned my neck to get a better look at a surgical tray that sat against the wall. Inside sat a few dulled tools. I focused my mind’s eye and…yes I still had my talisman’s. I picked one up in my telekinesis and started to cut through the gauze. I looked up at the door as it opened and the ghoul from before walked in. I quickly hid the two blades.

“Zom-“I started but he rushed forward and clopped a hoof over my mouth. Ewwww I could taste the dirt on his hoof. I glared up at him with a particularly annoyed expression.

“If you say zombie one more time or any variation thereof I’m sewing your mouth shut,” he hissed,” Capishe?”

I nodded and he removed his hoof. I gagged slightly before glaring back up at him,” So why am I tied to the bed?”

“So you wouldn’t do anything stupid,” he grunted,” I’ll let you out if you promise to behave.”

“Hmmm that is a good idea,” I pulled the blades up and pointed them both at him. He jerked back surprised by the blades that now floated in front of him,” But how about you back off.” I felt myself calm down now that the tables were turned. He reacted like a normal pony would so he could just be a pony with horrible skin issues but fate favors the cautious.

“How are you doing this?” He asked, wonder in his voice.

“Zebra talismans,” I stated as I pulled a blade back and took to sawing through the gauze,” Now stay right-“Suddenly he rushed forward. I squeaked from surprise at the sudden movement. Oh Goddesses this is it…I braced myself for my fate…Huh?

“Fascinating,” he gushed as he eyed my earrings;” I had thought they were only cheap jewelry.” Cheap jewelry?! “But they are honest to goodness telekinesis talismans. Such fine work.”

“Umm thanks?” I inched away and he only got closer,” Personal space would be really good right now.”

“Oh,” he gave me a sheepish grin,” Sorry I tend to get excited at such finds. I haven’t seen such a talisman in a long time. Where did you get them?”

“A guy,” I said with a shrug much to his chagrin. I screwed my face up in concentration as I sawed through the gauze. Damn it couldn’t hurt them to sharpen these things once in…oh right two hundred years. Duh! There was a greenish silver flash and the gauze was ripped away. I looked at the stallion who was still inching toward me, his eyes focused solely on my earrings. Huh that’s the first time a buck was solely focused on my jewelry and not my plot.

“So what’s your name?” I asked as I pulled the gauze off my limbs.

“Hmm?” The ghoul blinked, as if he’d been pulled out of a trance,” Oh sorry my name is Silverlux.”

I perked my ears up at that name. Silverlux? Wait that name is so familiar…hold up. “You’re the pony from the train!” I pointed a hoof at him. He gave me a blank expression. “You know you showed me a picture of your sister and niece.” Realization sparked through his eyes.

“Nightingale,” he said,” Right?"

“Uh yeah,” I scratched the back of my head,” Nightingale. Damn dude you aged badly.”

He chuckled,” And you not at all. But I have to ask how did you end up in that pod?”

The lie came quick and easy," I was asked to help with a friend's work on cryogenesis chambers and their effects. Must have been the same time the facility went haywire."

He nodded," Looks like you got lucky then," his ears went flat," Sorry about your friend."

The part asked for sorrow and any professional actress delivers. "I am too," I cast my eyes down and blinked them enough that tears showed on the edges. "She didn't deserve the fate she was given."

Silverlux placed a comforting hoof on my shoulder. Hook, line and sinker. " I'm sorry."

I sniffed, nodded, and gave him a small smile," Thank you." I rubbed my nose," So what now?"

"We work together to get out of here," Silverlux stood up," You with me?"

I considered my obtions. As mush as I loathed the fact I would have to put up with someone there stood the fact that I needed another body, in the very least to throw at the robots should I get overwhelmed. I smirked, "Sure but the second you slow me down it’s the curb buddy.”

“Oh please,” he rolled his cloudy eyes;” If anyone slows anyone down you’ll slow me down.”

“Uh huh,” I snorted,” So how do we get out of here?”

“There should be a kill switch for the megabarrier in the comms room and the only way to get there is from the top floor.”

“Well then let’s go,” I said and pushed past him. I gave him a flick of my tail as I passed,” And as I said do keep up.”

“Mares,” he grumbled before following me out. As I rounded the corner I spotted one of the psycho robots floating down the hall and it hadn’t seen us. Silverlux bumped into my ass. I gasped at the touch and turned a glare at him.

He glared back,” What’d you stop for?”

Rude buck. I flicked my tail and looked back at the robot. Still unawares. “There’s a psychotic robot down the hall.”

“Oh I see,” he trotted out into the hall just as more green blips showed up on the E.F.S. A lot more.

“No wait-“ I started but he pulled out a pair of magic energy pistols from his foreleg holsters with his magic. The crystals hummed to life and he shot two beams of pink energy at the robot. It whined loudly before exploding. He smirked back at me,” Don’t see why you’re worried.”

Green became red and surgicalbots rushed around the corners and out of rooms. I glared at the dumb buck. You’d think two hundred years would make you smarter but nope apparently it doesn’t.” That’s why you damn idiot.” I started down the hallway in a gallop away from the murderous robots. “Come on dumbass this way!” I shouted back at Silverlux.

“Right following the mare who’s been here a while now,” he said with wide eyes at the sure number of robots before running after me, his pistols cracking energy beams at the robots as he went.

I came to a door that marked ‘Stairwell’. Damn locked. I pulled out my screwdriver and a hairpin and set to work.

Silverlux skidded to a halt and unleashed a flurry of beams at the robots as they rounded the corner. He swore as they clicked empty and he ejected the smoking dead crystals. “Hurry up!” He shouted as he reloaded his pistols.

Then the hairpin snapped. Fuck! I growled and pulled out another one,” Shut up and let me work!” I stuck my tongue out in concentration. I was rewarded with a click and the door unlocked. Success! I rushed inside. “Come on you idiot!”

He fired a few more shots before ducking inside as well. He shut the door and tore a length of iron from the railing. I looked at him like he was crazy.

“What are you-“I started before he rammed the metal rod between the door handle and the wall. Oh okay that makes sense then. The door started to jiggle and rattle as the robots tried to push the door open.

“Come on,” he grunted as he started up the stairs,” That won’t hold them long.”

“Good idea,” I said stating the absolute obvious. I started after him and we walked in silence for a while. Shit this place has a lot of stairs. Before long the silence became annoying,” So what did you do during the war?” He turned to look at me,” I mean what did you really do?”

He sighed,” I was an undercover agent of Image.” I knew it! “I was assigned to keep an eye on a few questionable members of M.o.M.” Wow that was surprisingly easy didn’t have to pry or anything.

“You’re surprisingly truthful.”

“It happened a long time ago so I’m pretty sure the ponies that would care are died.”

“Valid point.”

We climbed in silence before he spoke up,” So where did you learn how pick locks." He cast a searching glance my way. Shit.

I shrugged," As a scout we had to learn basic infiltration." I remembered that Nightingale had a history of B and Es. "Besides I've done some things I'm not entirely proud of," Ain't that the truth," So I learned the skill through practice when I was younger."

Silevrlux nodded in understanding and dropped the conversation. Eventually we came to the fourth floor. I pushed the door open and peered out carefully. No robots in either direction, good. I trotted out and Silverlux followed close behind me, his pistols floating loosely at his sides.

“Alright there should be bridge connecting the building to the comms tower,” He said as he walked ahead of me.

“You seem to know a bit about this place,” I stated as we walked down the hall. I kept my eye on the E.F.S. and he cleared a corner before trotting down the hall.

“Yeah my team and I were sent to see if we could get inside and deactivate it. Once inside we could scavenge it for medicine, chems and other supplies. We went through the sewers, hoping to find the underground entrance.” His tone soured. “Turns out we were walking right into a Screecher nest. Most of us were able to get away from the main pack but we came to a dead end. We held our ground for a bit but they just kept coming. Eventually they took most of my squad down. That was when you opened the door.”

“You’re welcome by the way,” I said with a smug grin.

He chuckled and gave his eyes a roll,” Either way the mission was a bust.”

“How? You’re inside right?” Ok seriously confused now. Didn’t you say you needed to get in here in the first place?

“Yeah but I lost a lot of good ponies,” he grunted,” Many of them had families. Doesn’t seem fair when the one who’s been around for longer than he should survived.”

“The past cannot be changed,” he looked at me like I was crazy,” And the future will take care of itself. Worry only of the present.” He continued to stare at me like I’d grown a third eye before smiling gently. At least I think he was. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said before turning back,” That sounds like a zebra saying.”

“It is,” I said simply. I almost stopped in mid-stride. Stupid! You're revealing too much. Silverlux arched an eyebrow at me," They were the last words this zebra scout told me. He said they would curve fate's cruelty on me."

We came to a large Steel door. Saved by the fucking bell. There was a terminal beside it attached to the wall. The keyboard was locked though and it was too small to pick the lock. Damn.

Silverlux stomped a hoof,” Damn it. Now how do we get in?”

“We find the key,” I continued down the hall. Silverlux gave me an ‘are you nuts’ look.

“How?”

Thieving 101, Look for the biggest and most luxurious room and you’re sure to find your prize. I kept a neutral expression and shrugged," A hunch."

You now these M.o.P. characters have a real penitent for cute fuzzy things. The Director’s main office was easy enough to find on the fourth floor. Inside there were bookshelves filled with dozens of cutesy animal figurines and other trinkets, though they were dusty as hell. The thing that caught my attention was the weird red and blue spiral in the room’s center. It looked partially built and some pieces were lying around the base. There was a unicorn skeleton slumped on the big oak desk at the far end of the room. As we got closer I saw a hole in the skull and a 9mm pistol on the floor with a bunch on bullets strewn across the red carpet.

Silverlux sneered,” Coward.”

Something we agreed on. I pushed the bones out of the chair and started searching the desk. Just found a couple of bottle caps, hairpins and papers. I slipped the hairpins into my hair and tossed the caps behind me. Quick as a whip Silverlux pocketed them. Huh must be a collector, weird. I looked behind me at the painting of Fluttershy surrounded by rabbits. Aww how adorable just makes me want to violently rip the heads off small animals. I guess Silverlux felt the same way because he scowled at the painting.

“What the hell.”

On a hunch I pulled the painting back and it opened on a hinge revealing a safe. I smirked and took to unlocking the safe. This guy must not have believed in buying a quality safe because it opened in a synch. Inside was a few files, the key, (called it!) a large bag of bits, (Fucking score!) and a box of 9mm bullets. I pocketed the bullets and bits. Why the hell was Silverlux chuckling? I shrugged it off as him being odd, old, and possibly senile.

I pulled the old files out carefully and set them on the desk. On top the first file was a black butterfly pin. It read ‘Curiositas’ on the back. Huh Latmane. Wait this was Dr. Strand's. The second I picked it up I felt almost obligated to find out any and all secrets I could. I glanced at the files; across the top in black, faded letters was A.R.C. I scowled at the file and Silverlux froze.

"What?" I asked feeling a little annoyed.

"Nothing," he said quickly and trotted around the desk.

I shrugged and opened it. There was sheet after sheet of astronomical data, moon phases, positions of the sun and moon at certain times and dates, locations of constellations at certain times of the years. Most of this data had no place in a hospital. Had to admit the next set of papers I came across made absolutely no sense to me.

I opened the next file and 'Flux Properties' was written across the top of most of the papers.

Flux properties? “What the hell is Flux?”

“It’s a substance that was made at Hippocratic Research in Hoofington,” he said as he stared at the papers,” But it never left the testing phase.” He pulled a sheet up that looked like a patient report and just stared at it. I had a feeling he knew more about this stuff than he let on.

On this page the writing was too faded to read but I was able to catch ‘Deceased’ stamped in big red letters across it. I scanned the other papers and the writing had degraded to the point it couldn’t be read. Can’t worry about this later. I closed the file and made some notes on my pipbuck. I glanced at the tattered clothes the skeleton had on. Curiosity. I did a quick search of the clothes and found a small audio file. I inserted into my pipbuck and lent an ear.

"Gene Strand I need you to keep a hold on these files for me I was almost found out. Shadow Status has been activated in the mane labs. Someone's onto us. Be careful.

"This pony was murdered."

I looked up at Silverlux. He was glaring at the skull. "How do you figure?"

He turned to me," Cause the entry is off by about a centimeter," He turned the skull a little," As well there would have been cracks in the skull from the 9mm round. This hole shows a lower caliber, maybe silenced too. The damage would have been greater from a 9mm. In short-"

"She was trying to defend herself," I finished then scowled," Bitch got what she deserved then." Time to stop pondering on dead ghosts. I pulled the key up and tossed it to Silverlux. “You know how to hack a computer right?” I asked as I grabbed the pistol and placed it in my bag along with the scattered bullets. He froze and looked like he was going to say something but instead smiled smugly.

“Please,” he said with a little more attitude than necessary,” Can I hack a computer she asks.” He trotted out of the room with a scoff. Wise ass. I followed after him contemplating testing out this gun on his flank.
---------------------------------------------------

We backtracked to the massive door. Silverlux unlocked the terminal and started working his magic on the terminal. Suddenly red blaring lights started to flash and a shrill alarm sounded. Fucking fantastic.

“What the fuck did you do!?” I growled at the buck as he moved his hooves across the keyboard.

“It’s built into the system,” he said, not taking his eyes off the screen,” Someone was inside when the lockdown started.” Damn it. Surgical robots and sentries came rushing out into the hall. “Keep them off me while I shut down the alarm.”

Great. I braced myself as a pair of surgicalbots flew at me. I flipped through the air and charged up the tasers. I hit one right in its motor but only glanced the other. It whined but stayed in the air. I landed and slipped into S.A.T.S. and targeted its motor and the sensory array of another. Both got a good shock and went down. A beam of hot pink magic surged into me, knocking me off balance but my riot armor kept me from taking any real damage. I jumped out of the way as another energy beam lanced past me.

“Hey watch it!” I heard Silverlux whine behind me.

“Well I’m not gonna let them hit me,” I screamed back. I rushed the sentry, weaving in and out of its beams with graceful ease. I slammed a sparking hoof against its chest casing but it just brushed it off and tried to slam me with its arms. I jumped back. Damn not enough charge. I pulled the gun out of my bag and racked a round. I slipped into S.A.T.S and fired a single round into its head before S.A.T.S. deactivated.

I ducked another flurry of beams but some hit my wings. I yelped at the pain and felt sick as the smell of burnt feathers reached my nose. Luna's cosmic cheeks that stings! I grimaced as I launched myself into the air and over the sentry. I emptied the clip into its combat inhibitor. It went still and the other sentry whirled around on me. I slammed a second clip home and got two lucky shots into its arm fitted magic arm-rifle. Its arm exploded and I wasted no time to slam a taser into the exposed wires. It let out a deep whine before slumping.

I aimed the gun with a cold eye as the last surgicalbot rushed me. I fired a shot right at the sensory orb and it veered off to the right just before it hit me and skidded on the floor. I calmly trotted up to it as it started to rise and tased it with extreme prejudice right in its motor. The alarms stopped and not a moment too soon. The steel door opened and I trotted over to Silverlux. I fell back on my haunches as I reached the ghoul, panting. Damn that was a workout.

“You alright?” he asked me clearly worried. His eyes traveled to my smoking feathers.

“Yeah,” I glanced at my wing,” But this is gonna take forever to preen.” I gave my wing a flap and winced as the dead feathers were shaken loose.

Silverlux rolled his eyes and bowed,” Ladies first.”

“Oh such a gentlecolt,” I said with a little sarcasm,” Even let me fight off the murderous robots.”

“Yeah but I did get the door for you,” he grinned.

“Pfft,” I trotted down the encased bridge of metal and glass,” Come on let’s see who locked their dumb ass in the comms array.”

As we walked along I noted the sandbags and the bone piles huddled behind them. Strange thing was they were arranged facing the door to the comms array. They were trying to get in or hold something back. I glanced at my tasers’ power levels, both red. I quickly swapped spark batteries and even loaded a gas canister into the launcher.

Silverlux cast a glance at me and smirked,” Paraniod?”

Xea’s words echoed through my mind,’Fate favors the cautious my moja kidogo,’

Yes mshauri. I shouldered the launcher and nodded,” Something like that.”

I trotted ahead to the door. Another card slot. I pulled the cardkey out and slid it home. It beeped and the door opened. Silverlux and I both balked at what we saw. Standing with its back to us was what looked like an earth pony but its skin was oil black and looked to be pulled taut over its bones. It turned slowly toward us yellow piercing eyes staring back at us. In the center of its forehead is what caught my attention though. A red gleaming gem in the shape of a star. A growl rumbled from its throat as it faced us.

“What the fuck is that?” the ghoul beside me breathed. Like I would know, you’re the one with over two hundred years of experience. It charged without warning and I braced myself. We both jumped out of his path. The beast burst through a stack of sandbags like nothing. Crap if we dual it out here we’ll destroy the equipment.

“You get that barrier down,” I shouted at Silverlux,” I’ll draw it off.” I didn’t even wait for his answer as I launched myself into the air. I glided over the black beast and hit it upside the head with a back hoof. I landed in front of it, a smug smirk on my muzzle.

“Nya, nya,” I flagged my jet black tail at it,” Can’t catch me. ~” It snorted and charged. Ha sucker. ”Alright ugly name of the game is tag and you’re it!”

I ran down the bridge and to the right. The Director’s office will be a good place to hash this out. I rounded a corner and pulled the gas mask from the riot armor’s belt. I clamped it on and pulled the breather ring. I bucked the director’s door open and ducked behind one of the couches by the wall. The black beast burst into the room a moment later and looked around confused. I pulled the launcher out and aimed it at the ceiling.

With a *Pffphm* it fired the canister and white smoke filled the room. The beast roared in fury and started to thrash around the room. The smoke made visibility limited but I still had E.F.S. I clicked both tasers on just as a red blip passed before me. I jumped into he air and landed right on the beast’s back. It screeched, setting my teeth on edge. Sounded like nails on a bloody chalkboard. I slammed both tasers into the side of its neck but that seemed to just piss it off more cause it reared and threw me off.

I landed hard on a wing. Fuck it hurt. Okay so bull rider I’m not. I sat up slightly dazed and shook my head. Okay ugly round two. It rushed me once I came into its line of sight.

I tried to roll out of the way but it slammed both fore hooves on my chest. A sickening *crack* reached my ears and I felt my chest flare up in pain. It reared up a second time but I upped the charge on the tasers and slammed both into its belly. It stumbled and snorted. The knockout gas and taser strikes were taking its toll. Don’t give him an inch. I entered S.A.T.S. and targeted his head with three strikes. I pounced aided by the targeting spell and landed three shocking hoof strikes into the side of its head. On the third strike I felt bone give way and it went down.

I waited a moment ready for it to get back up. Yep it stayed down.

I plopped on my flank and white hot pain lanced through my chest. Damn it the fucker broke some ribs. Pulled the pistol out and fire two shots at the window, shattering it. I waited a grueling couple of minutes for the gas to vent out. Once the room was clear I pulled my gas mask of, pulled out a health potion out and downed it.

Fuck! It hurts even more when they mend back together. After the health potion did its work I trotted up to the beast. The red star in its skull dulled some, it looked like a gem. I reached out and touched the gem. My world went black.

I was strapped to a table; my bones felt brittle, weak. My flesh seared and blackened from the magic they had worked into my body but that is not why I screamed. Over me stood two ghastly figures, their muzzles were long, full of razor sharp teeth, their fur, translucent and grey. The eyes…Oh Celestia the eyes…pale yellow and piercing, like a demon’s from the depths of Tartartus. They worked strange instruments in their knurled hands. I flinched as their wickedly curved claws neared my flesh.

There was no light save for the red gleaming gem above me, it called to me and promised to take all that I was away and replace it with something else…something sinister. One of the beasts looked at me as it grabbed the jewel. It pressed it to my forehead and a blinding pain ripped through my already pain stricken body. I unleashed a scream unequine as I was unmade but over my ragged brays I still heard my mind whisper-'Your soul is forfeit.'-then darkness.

I stumbled back, my chest heaving. The voice of that…Thing had been sinister and chilled me to my core. I felt that had been me but it wasn’t. I looked at the gem, now dull and cracked. It was like a memory orb. I curled up and started shaking like a new born foal. What the fuck was that?!

“Hey,” I heard Silverlux shout,” Where you at Nightingale? You alright!?”

“I-in h-here,” I stammered. My mouth was horribly dry and I couldn’t keep the tremble out of my voice. Silverlux ran into the room and gasped when he saw the state I was in. He rushed over to me.

“Hey are you alright!? Anything broken?”

I shook my head,” N-no I-I’m fine,” My trembling started to subside.

“I wouldn’t call this fine,” he pursed his lips together.

I rose to my hooves, only trembling slightly as I did so. Silverlux rushed to help me up but I pushed him back. I don’t need help getting up, I’m not a foal. ”I saw something when I touched that gem in the beast’s head,” I explained,” I wouldn’t recommend it.” I gave my head a shake,” Did you get the barrier down?”

He shook his head,” Apparently it takes two shut off keys to get the barrier to shut off. The protocol needs to be initiated from a terminal in the tower and one in the generator shed. They need to be sent at the same time or it won’t shut off.”

“Alright then I’ll go to the sheds-“I started but Silverlux stopped me.

“No I’ll go to the generators you go back to the tower and wait for my signal. I grabbed one of the radios from there,” he went through the door and shouted back,” I’ll be on channel two!”

I gave my head another shake and stepped forward. I stumbeld as my chest pulsed with a dull ache. Ooh ribs still tender. Okay yeah he can go to the sheds. I made my way back to the tower. The inside was just dusty but looked like everything still worked. Hmmm probably ran off the excess form the megaspell foci. I found the radios. They ran off spark batteries and there was a charger for them. I pocketed all eight of the fully charged one, swapped out my tasers’ batteries and put them on the chargers along with my other drained batteries.

I clicked the radio on, put it to channel two. “Testing, testing,” I spoke into the receiver,” You hear me Silver?”

The radio crackled before he came in loud and clear,” Yep, just got to the stairwell. Met some resistance via robot but I got through.” A pause,” You alright?”

“Yeah I’ll be fine,” I replied,” Radio if you need anything,”

“Roger.”

I clipped the radio to the clip on my riot armor and started up one of the terminals. No password was needed. Huh that’s odd. The command for a search was running…for the last two hundred years! Celestia. Odd. I brought up the search focus. A.R.C.? Maybe that thing I fought was searching for it but it didn’t seem to act intelligent at all, more like a mindless and very pissed off beast. Weird. The terminal beeped.

-Object not found-

I scratched my chin with a hoof. The creature had been searching for this but why. Curiosity. I pushed it to the back of my mind. It would have to wait for another time. I pulled up the tower commands and found the barrier shut off. Looks like Silverlux had to route power through the S.O.S. signal to get the emergency shutoff working. Suddenly a terminal flashed beside me.

’Hello.’

Okay this day is getting stranger and stranger. I clicked the receiver,” Hey Silver position?”

The radio crackled,” Worried mother hen?” He chuckled,” I took a detour through the chem labs even picked up some supplies. Why? What’s up?”

“Nothing.” The screen flashed again.

’Anyone there?’

“Just curious.” I put the radio down, my eyes focused on the screen.

“Okay. I’ll let you know when I’m at the generators.” The radio crackled before going silent. I pulled my chair over to the terminal and started tapping away at the key board.

’Yes. Who is this?’

Watcher. And you?’

Watcher? Highly doubt that’s your real name.

’Listener. Where are you at?’

’A place.’

Smart-ass. I snorted. I wonder? I pulled up another screen. Now then how did Codekey do that phantom search? I pulled up a signal tracer but placed it under a searching object listing.

I looked over at the other screen.

’Why did you contact this tower?’

’That tower and Baltimare in general have been completely dark for the last two hundred years. When I saw the signal suddenly powering up I decided to investigate. I have to ask. What is your real name?’

’Tell me your real name first and maybe I’ll tell you.’

The phantom trace was finally set up. -Routing signal trace- I smirked and turned back to my conversation.

’What if Watcher is my real name?’

I rolled my eyes. How stupid does this joker think I am? I tapped the keys a little harder than necessary.

’I hope you realize you are using the moniker for an operations control advisor.’ I glanced over at the screen that was searching. It had narrowed the signal east of Manehatten in the mountains. I pulled my attention back to the conversation.

You’re familiar with military operations?’

Well you do learn a thing a two when you infiltrate the Ministries. All kind of juicy protocols just float around. Though I will admit there was a protocol in the M.o.M. for cupcake shortage. Weird as hell if you ask me but then again I heard that Ministry Mare Pinkie Pie was a strange egg.

’You could say that.’ The search found the location. It looked to be coming from inside a mountain, maybe a cave. Suddenly the connection cut off. Damn it he found the search.

’You ran a search on me.’

’Sorry one tends to get curious about mysterious people talking to you from undisclosed locations.’

’Impressive. But I wouldn’t make a house call if I were you.’ The connection cut completely. Okay then added to my list of things to do find out who the hell this Watcher was. He’s familiar with military protocol so that means he’s either a ghoul or just recently unfrozen like me. The unfrozen thing is a little farfetched so I’m thinking ghoul. The crackling of my radio brought me out of my thoughts.

“Nightingale, I’m in the generator room.”

Wow that was fast. I clicked my receiver,” You move quickly. Give me the word when.” I pulled the search down and started up the emergency shutdown.

“Okay now.”

I clicked the shutdown and the comms interface hummed to life. All manner of beeps and pings filled the air. Outside the barrier fluxed before cutting off completely. I pulled my radio up,” Alright its down.”

“Good now come and get me,” the reply sounded more annoyed than anything,” Got a bunch of Screechers banging on the door and they won’t get the idea that no one’s home.”

I chuckled at that,” Alright one ass saving coming up.”

“Oh har hardy har har.”

I trotted out of the comms tower giggling. What? I thought it was funny.

Footnote: Level up!

New Perk added! Calm Nerves: You are cool, calm, and collected in tight spots. You are 10% more likely to hit an enemy when being attacked.

Quest Perk added! Otherworldly Visage : You saw something that is not of this world, and others will see it in your eyes. Low level enemies will hesitate to attack you first and Intimidation attempts are 10% more likely to succeed.