It was the year 2289, by now, New Vegas has become independent, and is now starting to expand beyond it's own walls. The great city's bright lights were seen for miles, regardless if it was day or night.
The half moon illuminated the night sky over the Mojave, doing little to light up the landscape. An hour walk south of Hidden Valley was a cave. From the outside, it would seem like any other ordinary cave, but through a hidden door to the northwest corner of the tavern the entrance lead to, was the Enclave's bunker. Almost a clone of Raven Rock, yet more vast and sprawled. Like a hidden city underground. Crawling with Enclave Troops and Scientists.
In one certain room was Enclave PFC Mitchell Phillips, who was currently being given orders by his CO, Jacob Kennedy.
"You're the first person to be allowed out of the Bunker in over a decade. I expect you to keep yourself seen by no one to minimize the chances of your armor being recognized. I want you to survey the land closest to the bunker." Ordered Jacob. "Under no circumstances will you go farther than a mile from the bunker. Do you understand?" The man finished.
"Sir yes Sir!" The man inside the bulky power armor almost immediately answered. Not daring to face anywhere but forwards.
"Outstanding. Now doubletime it to surface level! I'll be waiting for you to report back in two hours." The man an Officer uniform barked.
Without a second thought, Mitchell made his way towards the entrance. Stopping only to give the guards his clearance as the perfectly camouflaged door opened. As he stepped forward he could see the moon's rays already shining onto the ground from the cave's entrance to his left. He looked to the said entrance and found himself staring out into the night sky from a narrow passageway.
He turned around to find the base's entrance shutting closed. The grinding of stone filled his ears as he equipped his Plasma caster.
"Best not to waste any time..." He muttered as he made his way towards the passage to the Mojave Wasteland.
Once he emerged from the cave, he almost expected to be attacked by some mutant on the spot. But nothing happened. nothing but a half moon. He flipped a switch on the side of his neck. The switch in turn activated his helmet's night vision function. He was a bit stunned at how empty he realized this desert to be.
"Just like they said it would be." He told himself quietly. He faced each direction, having to turn his whole body for most directions, given he was in a hulking suit of Power Armor. He noticed something he would never expect to see though. A city. A real city! Although not the actual size of Las Vegas, it was still a city. From the flashing lights to the Roulette wheel shaped tower.
"Not even five minutes in and I've run into something I would never think to exist again." Mitchell said to no one in particular. To his left was an abandoned house that seemed like it had seen better days. It was around fifty feet from him. And to his right laid a rocky hill formation.
Seeing as the house was closer, he decided to check it out first. Making his way to the house, he noticed a couple of green figures roaming around inside the house. He had been taught about these. Supermutants. Strong, but dumber than a rock. It's a wonder how all of them remember to breathe.
He raised his Plasma caster. The idea of stealth was pretty much out of the window when you're in a two ton combat suit with a twenty pound gun that throws bright green bolts of plasma. But they didn't seem to notice him just yet, giving him the perfect opportunity to fire the first shot. He lined his sight up with one super mutant that was standing infront of a hole blown into the house.
He took a breath and pulled down on the trigger. Effectively firing a bolt of the dangerous plasma right into the thing's neck. It was reduced to goo before he even knew what was going on. The rest of them must have heard, given they all started shouting to the dark.
Mitchell was struck a little confused when he heard one mutant in particular. "We keep flying battle cattle!" The thing yelled. Mitchell shrugged it off. He was in combat and he had little time to wonder what that meant. He flinched when he felt the bullet from what sounded like a hunting rifle bounce off his armor. From the shouting he heard and the times he had seen a mutant run by a window, there were four left.
Easy pickings. Thought the Enclave soldier while he started to fire back. He started to advance towards the house when he noticed one aiming another hunting rifle at him. He was easily dispatched with a green plasma bolt to the chest, but not before he got a shot off on the man's armor. By now he was at what was left of the door. He kicked it out of his way and made his way inside the house.
The house was two levels. The living room, closet, and bathroom on the first floor, and three bedrooms and another bathroom on the second. There were stairs to his left right beside the door while a hallway to the other rooms where right infront of him. He decided to go clear anything out of the rooms on the lower level first.
As he made his way to the living room, he heard a voice come from the second floor. "Is metal man still there?" It was true what his comrades said, these things were dumber than a rock.
Mitchell peeked through the doorway to the living room. Place was a damn mess, but empty. Next up was the closet, which was right next to the bathroom. He opened the door and was greeted with a pile of bloodstained clothes. But it was still void of any Supermutants. Then there was the bathroom. "I go down to see if metal man gone." He was interrupted from opening the bathroom door by the deep voice of a Supermutant.
Mitchell hid himself around the corner while he waited for the thing to come down the stairs. And before long he heard the sound of the wood protesting against the mutant's footsteps. The soldier lightly smirked under his helmet, waiting for the mutant to come close enough. Eventually he heard the sound of the mutant's steps on solid floor. That was his cue as he left his cover of the corner and fired three bolts of plasma in quick succession. Two of them found their mark, the thing screamed horribly while it was reduced to a puddle.
"Metal man stupid fighter! Stop using green light!" He heard another one yell. Presumably the last one. What the man didn't expect was the thing to charge down the stairs, straight for him. It obviously caught him off guard, as he was pushed up against the wall that threatened to break in protest. Losing his P-94 Plasma rifle, Mitchell threw a few well placed punches at the thing's head. This caused the Supermutant's grip to loosen. Which in turn allowed the man to knee the stupid thing in the stomach. It doubled over in pain as Mitchell brought his boot up and slammed down on the failed FEV experiment. It was now reduced to a screaming green body on the floor face down. One more stomp on it's head caused death for it. The thing's thick skull not enough protection against the power armor he wore.
He took a deep breath, glad the fight was over. He walked over to his plasma caster and picked it up. He prepared to go into the second floor and clear out any other stragglers. Maybe he would find something of interest to the Enclave as well.
As the man in the powered armor made his way upstairs, he heard the faint sound of crying from one of the bedrooms. Crying? Did they capture someone? I think I remember being told they did that. Wondered Mitchell as he made his way to the source of the crying. It sounded female. He was told not to interact with anyone, and not to be seen by anyone. But he wasn't going to leave some girl out here alone in her own tears. It didn't feel right, whether they were the mutated civilians or a pure human Vault Dweller, he won't do that.
By now he had pinpointed the room the woman was in. He just hoped that the humans in the wastes didn't grow an extra head from the radiation. He took a breath before he opened the door, and was greeted by... wait... Is that a... horse? With WINGS?! His mind was suddenly trying to process what he's seeing. He shook his head and closed his eyes. He had to be drugged or something. He was not seeing this right.
The mare gasped at the sudden entrance of the Enclave soldier. She looked up at him in fear, or atleast she tried to. From what Mitchell could make out, her left eye seemed to not follow her right one. "These are some weird mutants." Mitchell muttered, after what seemed like an hour of silence. This was a... Pegasus, right? It doesn't look like a mutant. He silently thought. A creature for American mythology is right infront of me. No way radiation did this. It still has fur. Mitchell lowered his plasma caster. This thing's left wing was snapped, and she had tears staining her cheeks. Wait, it's what was crying? It can cry? She had her ears flattened against her head, overall the thing looked pitiful. To the point where Mitchell genuinely felt bad for the poor thing.
"Pl... please don't hurt me..." The words shocked him.
It TALKS?! Holy shit it talks! A pegasus that talks! What the hell is this dream?! His mind was rampaging in his head, still trying to process this. After a short moment, he regained a little bit of composure. "I uhhh.... I won't hurt you, little... pegasus...?" He awkwardly reassured.
Something in his head made him want to protect this thing. It seemed... innocent. Like it had never had to kill anything before. "Do you... Do you have a name?" He asked, still in shock at what he was seeing.
The mare seemed hesitant, but still took a small bit of comfort in hearing that he won't hurt her. "Derpy." She answered.
Derpy? The hell kind of name is that? The man could have burst out laughing, were it not these circumstances.
The Enclave soldier reached to the left side of his neck, and flipped another switch, which caused his helmet to make a hiss before it was lifted off his head, revealing his face. He had a blonde buzz cut, and a clean shave. His eyes were of a dark green, and his mouth contorted into a comforting smile.
"It's nice to meet you, Derpy. I'm Mitchell." He responded. By now he had regained most of his composure. He was still in shock but he did well to hide it. He was hoping that somehow, by being nice and gentle it would make her feel better. "Now, I don't know what those Supermutants did to you..." He crouched down to her height, which was up to his waist. "Nor do I want to... but I'm pretty sure a wing shouldn't bend that way." He motioned to her left wing, which was snapped backwards.
The mare took note of his statement and looked back towards the wing, and winced a little at the sight of it.
"But I've got something that'll hopefully fix that." The soldier finished. He started to dig around in his belongings when he found his item of interest: A syringe that was filled with a red liquid, and some sort of gauge on the back of it. Mitchell noticed the mare flinch a little when she caught sight of the stimpack. "Don't worry, this repairs any broken tissue. You won't feel anything but a little poke." Tried to reassure her a bit awkwardly. He wasn't exactly the best at situations like this. Then again who is familiar with trying to comfort a mythological talking creature that's injured?
"Please work." The man whispered as he slowly reached out and inserted the needle at the base of her wing. The syringe sensed this and the fluid automatically rushed into the poor pegasus' body. "I wouldn't look at your wing for a moment. The first time I did this for a torn ACL, it nearly made me puke to watch it."
Mitchell could clearly tell the pain in the mare's wing was going away. But she decided to take his advice and kept her gaze away from her left wing. Which was currently forming itself back into place. A small smile formed itself on the mare's face, and without a warning she leapt and hugged the man that saved her.
"Thank you so much!" Mitchell was caught by surprise, as he nearly fell on his rear, but he smiled. He couldn't exactly feel the hug from his suit, but he enjoyed it still.
Author's Note
So, this is the lovechild of a boring afternoon and a little idea I was kicking around, hope you enjoyed it. I'll try my best with this story, but don't expect it to be something I update every couple of days. (Though It would be nice to have the time to.) But I'll do as much as I can to keep this little thing alive.
So, yeah, have a nice day.
