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Chapter Twenty-four: Bunker Hill and back north.


BrotherofCats

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After escorting the four women who didn’t want to live next to the water to County Crossing, expanding that settlement to eleven, they headed back to Bunker Hill. Barb and Heather chatted with the men they had entertained the night before, all smiles and a few blushes. They wouldn’t have time to make that a permanent thing, unless they resigned from her service. That was always possible, though she hoped not. Still, she was very happy to see that they had gotten their needs met with the men they had rescued. Kind of like a reverse damsel in distress situation, but in her and her peoples’ cases the reward went to all the parties. Nora knew she had given Ricky and Billy a hell of a good time, while they had raised the bar on the heights of extasy she had reached.

 

Kessler was very happy to see the rescued guards. She took the news that one of the men had stayed at a settlement with good grace. Not everyone stayed with the caravans, and when she heard of the wonders of the settlements that Nora was building she could understand why the man had left the service of the road.

 

“And you also took down BADTFL,” had said the smiling woman. “Good job. It seems that we hired a real badass.”

 

“Just doing what needs done,” said Nora, looking into the woman’s eyes. “If you joined my Alliance I could make this place over for you as well. Give you much better facilities.”

 

Nora already had a general plan of what she wanted to do with this place, starting with putting a wall of foundations around it that would be proof against any weapons Raiders might be able to wield. Following that with a ring building that would give residents and guests much more spacious living quarters and recreation facilities. And, of course, defenses.

 

“No thanks. I think you mean well, but I still don’t trust the Minutemen, and prefer for this settlement to remain independent. But thanks for building up the other settlements. Those sorry little outposts, with few people and even fewer products, are not really helping the caravans. The way you are building them up is going to provide a much larger market to our traders. And the idea of showers and clean beds is really going to help our caravan recruitment.”

 

Nora didn’t mention that soon the settlement system would be producing much of what the traders were now providing. It might not be as much of a boon as Kessler thought. Though with a little shifting of the market they would soon be making record profits on what they could deliver. And the bars and clubs that Nora was thinking of for the settlements would pull some caps from the pockets of the traders and guards. If she started putting some working girls in the clubs, even part time volunteers, the profit would be even greater. She didn’t think she would have any problem getting those volunteers. They would be protected, comfortable, receive medical care, and make a lot of extra caps they could use to buy the things they wanted.

 

The men they had rescued talked Nora up, with her permission. Barb and Heather expressed no desire for prostitution, though they did welcome the guys they had had sex with at Nordhagen into their beds while they were here. Nora opened for business at eight, and Old Man Stockton was right there. The old gentleman was really a horny bastard, and from the things he said about Nora he wasn’t about to pass up on the best pussy he had ever had. Joe came in next, followed by thirteen caravan traders and guards, including Lucas. She started charging a flat hundred and fifty a shot, thinking she was giving good product for that price, and came out of the night with twenty-one hundred caps after expenses.

 

Joe upped the price on her room the next night, which wasn’t a big deal with what she was bringing in. She had a little bit of a problem in the trade center when three of the whores tried to back her into a corner and intimidate her. “You need to stop offering your services,” said the largest of the women, one that actually had a body going to fat, unusual in the post-apocalyptic work. “You’re taking caps out of our mouths.”

 

Nora thought the woman, known as Large Betty, could do with fewer caps going into her belly. She instead she tried to reason with her. “Look, I only have one more night here, then I’ll be on the road for quite some time. And I need the money for a good cause.”

 

“I could care less about your cause,” said Betty, putting a hand on Nora’s throat.

 

Nora grabbed the front of the big woman’s shirt and lifted her into the air, her feet coming off the ground. “If you ever lay hands on me again I’ll break that arm. Understand me. I do some whoring, yes. But my vocation is warrior. So remember that before you start making threats.”

 

The woman nodded her head quickly. Nora lowered her back to the ground, not even straining, and the three whores hurried away.

 

She made over twenty-two hundred the second night, taking on sixteen men, including Ricky and Billy. That was about her limit. It left her drained, though she tried to have an orgasm with each and every one, rewarding both them and her. Men liked to make a woman Cum. They liked to shoot a load into a wet hot pussy, sure, but feeling the woman orgasm during the act gave them a feeling of virility. That she was a quick comer, and the more sex she had the faster they came, was a plus. But there were only so many she could have before she reached the point of diminishing returns. And she refused to fake it. That was cheating her partner.

 

“I’ll take three hundreds gram of nuclear material,” she told Deb the next morning, approaching the trader dressed for the road. “And sixty of those damaged laser and plasma rifles.”

 

“You’ve got a lot of people talking around here.” said Deb as she sent a helper for Nora’s order. “A lot of excitement. Raiders down and settlers up is good for everyone. And I appreciate your business as well.”

 

“Some of the ladies here don’t like that I am providing services.”

 

“Well, fuck them. I’ve noticed that the men around here are much happier. In fact, Old Man Stockton is virtually giddy from the pleasure you’ve given him. I’ve never seen him so happy.”

 

“Well, it’s about to end for a while. I’m planning on starting from three to five more settlements this time out.”

 

“That will make all the traders happy,” said Deb. “Even me, since traders have to buy my products before they hit the road.”

 

“You know, Deb. I’m planning to start producing things at my settlements. Now, I don’t want to put you out of business, so how about we talk, and make some deals for me to supply you wholesale.”

 

“Sounds good. When you start production come talk to me.”

 

Nora spent a couple of hours stripping the weapons of their barrels and receivers, taking all of the circuitry as well and loading up Wilson. He was full when she sent him on his way, and she dropped the stocks, frames and other leavings of the weapons in one of the abandoned buildings off premises.

 

“So where to, partner?” asked Heather as they headed north.

 

“I’m thinking first to Taffington, since it’s said to be abandoned and we can start up without permission. If they have a workbench like we’ve been told. Then swing around to Greentop Nursery, and hope they have something for us to do to prove our worth. Then maybe over to The Slog.”

 

“You might consider Finch Farm while you out that way,” said Barb. “Old man Finch and family are struggling, but they have a nice piece of property.”

 

“Do they have a workbench?”

 

“I think so. I seem to recall one next to the sorry little shack they live in. But you need to look out for the Hub City Auto Wreckers. That’s a huge Gunner camp.”

 

Nora thought about that. She still had three nuke rockets for her RPG. One or two of those could soften up that target enough to make it an easy strike.

 

“And I’ve heard that Croup Manor, on the causeway south of Gibson Point Pier and Lynn Pier has a workbench,” said Heather. “And its on the ocean, which means more salt production.”

 

Nora’s ears perked up at the mention of the two piers, both on Halen’s list. And Croup Manor was on Reese’s list, as was Medford Memorial. She started putting it all together in her head, then gave it up as she thought that she really didn’t know what she was going to find at the settlements.

 

They crossed the saltwater inlet at the Tucker Memorial Bridge, one up from the bridge they had used to cross on the way to County Crossin. There were some cars to strip, and Dogmeat pointed out a few mines that Heather disarmed, and they were on their way.

 

“Left branch takes you to Covenant,” said Heather when they got to the fork. “Nice place, but the people are creepy. Everyone smiling all the time. Not natural.”

 

“Well, we’re going right,” said Nora. Her experience with Bunker Hill taught her that nice places didn’t want to join a mutual protection society. Soon after stepping onto the right fork they were ambushed by robots.

 

The Gutsy, she thought it called itself a Major, lite them up with a fifty caliber. Barb went down cursing as some heavy slugs hit her Forteliza armor over her left arm. Most of each round bounced away, but some pieces of shredding bullet went into the flesh of her arm. Nora jumped in the way, rounds striking her chest piece and her armor calling out damage. A forty millimeter to the body of the Gutsy shredded it and dropped it to the ground. The Assaultron then made its presence known, fading into visibility as its strong head laser reached out and truck Nora, doing more damage to her armor. Barb shot out its left leg from a sitting position, and as the robot crawled toward them to try and catch them in the self-destruct, Heather sent a powerful beam into its head. A moment later it detonated, much too far away to do them damage.

 

“You okay, Hon,” said Nora as she exited her power armor and knelt beside Barb.

 

“Well, it hurts like hell,’ said her friend as she finished injecting a stimpak into her arm. “As to whether its going to kill me. I don’t think so. So let’s move on. I’ll rest at Taffington.”

 

Nora reentered her armor and moved on, her sensors on the alert for more robots. They came upon the boathouse, abandoned as she thought, except for a swarm of bloodbugs. There was a swarm outside that Nora took down with single shots. They walked into the house and shot down some more, then found the owner, her desiccated corpse drained of blood. Nora went out to the workbench and had her Handy assemble a QESS, then started the process going. The house was in good enough repair that she decided to keep it, as was the boathouse once she removed a couple of booby traps.

 

“I think we’ll spend the night while I make sure everything is going as planned,” she told her friends. "We can leave in the morning and head to Greentop Nurseries.”

 

By midafternoon they had a generator working in the Core Services Building, constructed on the concrete boat ramp. She soon had the walls up, pumps going, and three saltwater extractors working on the water of the inlet. She marked the points for the pumps, the water purifiers in the CSB, then the foundations for the settler quarters and the workshop building.

 

Nora looked over the house, marking the repairs she wanted the bots to make. Fix up the roof, patch a few wall holes, repair the railing on the deck around the house, and it would be quarters for eight or so settlers, including a toilet and shower in the upstairs area. She had the robots mount the Settlement Recruitment Beacon earlier than normal, hoping she might get someone in there before they left in the morning.

 

By evening the place was more or less ready. Two scaffolding towers, four laser and four machinegun turrets and the place was defended.

 

“In the settlement,” called out a voice from outside. Nora ran outside, to see two men in dirty but well made clothes waiting for permission to come in, anxiously looking at the turrets.

 

“Are you looking for a place to settle down?”

 

“We sure are,” said the older of the two. “We caught your beacon. So, is this a safe place?”

 

“It is. So come on in and let’s talk.”

 

She found out that the two were brothers, Bob and Ted Matthews, from the western part of the Commonwealth near Springfield. Their story was common. They had a decent farming settlement that the Raiders wanted more than they did. One night the Raiders attacked, putting everyone to the knife that couldn’t run. The brothers were good runners, and took off. Now they were looking for a place to settle that they could hold.

 

“Well, I think this would be a good place for you to settle, and I need someone here to greet and vet more settlers. Let me bring some weapons in through the QESS system so you can defend this place.”

 

“Just who are you. And how did you get tech like that QESS thing.”

 

“Long story. We just ate, but here are some rations the other settlements have produced.”

 

They talked for several hours while the robots continued to work in the background, completing the house first off so the brothers and her people would have someplace to stay. She found out that Bob was an engineer, trained at the vocational center in Springfield. While Ted was a medical specialist who had taken care of the people on his settlement. She thought they were both kind of cute, and started out to seduce them.

 

They seemed to be warming to her, and Nora excused herself for a moment to talk with her friends. “I think I’m going to fuck one or both of them. Either of you want to join in.”

 

“Yes,” said both, raising their hands and giggling.

 

“Then lets hit them with our heavy guns.”

Nora and the girls walked into the kitchen, where the brothers were still sitting and discussing their change of fortune, sans clothes. The eyes almost popped out of the heads of the two, a shocked expression on Ted’s face, a wide smile on Bob’s.

 

“What’s going on here?” said Ted.

 

“I think the ladies are going for a quick seduction.”

 

“And you win the prize,” said Nora, plopping into Bob’s lap. “Though if you act real nice we’ll fuck you too, Ted.”

 

Neither was what Nora would call an expert lover, but they were both enthusiastic. She, Barb and Heather took turns sucking them hard, then fucking them soft. They obviously hadn’t had sex in quite some time, as they both came as soon as they entered a pussy. The plus side was they were full of cum, and saw to the ladies for several hours before they couldn’t get it up again. When they finished they and the ladies were limp and tired, and Nora sat down to talk with them again.

 

“Is it always like this with you people.”

 

“With me, probably yes. Probably not with all the settlers. You can hit on anyone who lives here, as long as you know to take no for an answer. And tomorrow we are hitting the road, early. So your might want to get some before we leave.”

 

“Hell, if I die tonight I’ll figure I’ve already been to heaven.”

 

The robots were still going at it through the night. And the five people were going at it again when the sun was lightening the sky. The men hadn’t fully recovered yet, of course. But it took some time for them to cum, and all of the ladies had a nice morning orgasm to carry them through the day.

 

“Now if you need help, don’t hesitate to contact someone on the terminal, and we’ll try to get someone to you as fast as possible. Once we have all the settlements out here up and running that should be pretty fast, but until then it’s hit or miss.”

 

“Thank you, Nora,” said Bob, giving her a soft kiss. “And thank you, Heather and Barb, our warrior angels. I never expected a welcome like this.”

 

“In the settlement,” called out a soprano female voice. “We picked up your beacon. May we come in.”

 

The new arrivals were sisters, Becky and Debbi, both as pretty as the rising son. They looked with lust on the two brothers as they walked in and stood through the introductions. “I’ll leave it to you boys to get them settled. We need to hit the road and see about another settlement up the road.”

 

“Well,” said a smiling Heather. “That worked out well. I had fun with them, but they need something more permanent, and it looks like they’ve got it.”

 

Nora hoped so, though lust at first sight guaranteed nothing. Still, they had a start to a good community here.

 

They moved to the south of Malden, out of sight of the Supermutants at Medford Medical. They turned north at Med-Tech and headed North, sighting the greenhouse at Greentop Nursery about ten thirty.

 

“Looks good,” said Heather.

 

Yes, thought Nora. It does. The greenhouse needed work, but was still a serviceable growing shed. The house had an intact roof, though there were some holes in the wall. Two men and a woman were at work in the greenhouse, while another woman worked at a cooking pot. As they watched from cover another woman came out of the house. All were young enough to still have children, which was ideal, and that there were five of them meant they would start out as a fairly strong settlement.

 

“On the farm,” shouted Nora, standing up and walking into the open. “Can we approach.”

 

Every one of the farmers had a pipe pistol out in an instant, aiming them at Nora. Nora kept her rifle lowered, then exited her power armor so the people could see what she looked like.

 

“She doesn’t look like a Raider,” said the youngest of the woman, a freckled face redhead who couldn’t have been older than sixteen. “She’s clean.”

 

“Who are you?” asked an older Brunette.

 

“I’m Nora Jane Adams. I’m with the Minutemen. And I'm here to see if you need any help with anything.”

 

“We sure do,” said the young redhead. “We..”

 

“Shut it, Taylor. We don’t know who this woman is. Not really. I thought the Minutemen were through. Over.”

 

“We’re reorganizing them under new leadership.”

 

“Whose?”

 

“Mine. I’m building an Alliance of Settlements to protect people against Raiders and other threats. I’ve got ten on the other side of Cambridge, and three so far in this area. Now, can I come in so we can talk without yelling at each other. I have two more women with me, and I’d prefer if they could join me.”

 

“Look at them, Doris,” said one of the men, looking at the brunette, who was obviously the leader here. “Look at that armor, that rifle. And damn me if that isn’t a grenade launcher over her back. If they meant to harm us we would already be dead.”

 

“I mean you absolutely no harm. I want to discuss having you join us. If you turn me down we’ll leave, and you will have to contact us to bring us back.”

 

Barb and Heather stepped into view, along with the dogs and the ready Handy. The girls and Dogmeat smiled, and Nora could feel the tension going down.

 

“You said that you kill Raiders. How about Supermutants?”

 

*     *     *

 

“Anyone see the suicider?” asked Nora over the radio.

 

“Maybe they don’t have one,” said Heather.

 

The party was on the edge of another farm called Breakheart Banks. And this was definitely the band of Supermutants who had been terrorizing Greentop. They had been raiding the farm, forcing the settlers to flee while they trashed the place and stole all the food. The farmers were, of course, concerned that the Supermutants would kill them all if they caught them unawares.

 

“I’m going to start hitting them with grenades. Everyone stay alert for the suicider.”

 

She guessed that they didn’t have to have a suicider. If they couldn’t get their hands on a mini-nuke, not really that common, they couldn't equip one of the running bombers. But she didn’t want to take any chances.

 

Nora put her grenade launcher to her shoulder and aimed in on the central shack in the center of the area. The farm seemed functional, with corn, razor grain and tatos ripening in the sun. She wasn’t sure why they were raiding other farms, unless it was just in the Supermutant nature to do so. While still not sure where the damned creatures had come from, whether accidental mutation caused by rads, or an experiment gone awry, what she did know was the things were a menace that needed ended wherever they were found. She doubted they were a natural mutations, as there didn’t seem to be any female mutants, which meant there was no conceivable way in which they could have descended from a common ancestor. But who in the hell thought it a good idea to create these things, and how had they gotten free and out of control?

 

The round sent through the window to the shack and exploded, and Nora waited for the reaction. A lot of shooting, some yelling and boasting, but no flashing lights or the beeping of a mini-nuke. She sent another round into the building, a Molotov, setting the shack on fire. A supermutant came charging out, on fire, hitting the ground and trying to roll to put the flames out.

 

“I don’t think they have a suicider,” she said over the radio, jacking in another HE Frag round and sending it into another building. “Where the hell is the Supreme Lord?” she asked next. She wanted to bring that male’s torso armor back to prove to the farmers that she had killed the mutants here.

 

“I see him running for cover with a mini-gun,” called out Barb. “Got him.”

 

Nora made a quick sweep in case they missed anything. She found another couple of mutants in a shack about two hundred meters north of the main settlement, on the waters of the long lake. Nora thought this would make a great settlement, but without a workbench they would have to haul in materials to build it. Maybe when they ran out of buildable area.

 

“You got them,” said Doris as Nora threw down the torso armor and the mini-gun. “Was it hard?”

 

“Not particularly. Now, have you considered joining us?”

 

“How could we not. Yes, you can fortify us. And we’ll accept other settlers into our settlement.”

 

“Good enough. Then get ready to have your minds blown.”

 

*     *     *

 

Nora felt good about herself and her crew as they walked the shore of the long lake to the north of Greentop. She actually felt like singing, but thought that not a good idea when they were traversing potentially hostile territory. But it was a beautiful day, birds singing, the air fresh. And she was leaving yar another strong settlement behind her.

 

“I can’t believe how many of these mutated ferns I’ve found already,” said Heather as she pulled another couple of flowers from one of the plants. “Can we walk by the water so I can get some of the bloodleaf.”

 

“Sure. I…”

 

“Eliminate the damned targets,” said a robot voice, the kind used by a Gutsy, just before a stream of high caliber bullets came flying in. Barb and Heather ducked quickly behind trees. Wood splintered as the heavy rounds chewed through them. A few struck Nora’s armor, causing yet more damage.

 

“Take cover,” said the suit. “Damage taken.”

 

“No shit.” Nora tracked her rounds in on the Gutsy, watching as armor and innards came apart and sprayed everywhere. As the Gutsy fell a heavy laser came in and hit the suit, causing more damage.

 

Nora cursed as she tracked in on the Assaultron. Her suit was almost a wreck. Of course, that meant it had protected her precious body from that damage. She sawed off the leg of the robot with a burst, the best way to attack them. She then aimed in on the head and killed the robot so thoroughly that the machine didn’t even have the ability to self-destruct.

 

“They’re a fucking menace,” said Heather, getting up from behind the tree and knocking the dirt from her clothing. “How in the hell did so many Gutsy/Assaultron pairs end up wandering the Wasteland.”

 

They were military bots of course, and it seemed reasonable that they would operate in tandem. But Heather was correct in them being a menace. The team had found the bodies of Wanderers, Scavers and Traders that had been blasted apart, probably by the bots. So it was their job to destroy any the came upon, not just for self defense but to protect her settlements.

 

Not just the settlements, thought Nora. Sure, the settlements were her people, but she was actually out here to protect all the citizens of the Commonwealth, at least those not bent on taking everything from others.

 

They walked on, coming over a hill and looking down on the settlement they had come to find. The Slog, and Nora was surprised to see that it was built around an old swimming pool. A number of people were working in the fields that were full of corn and carrots, while others tended the Tarberries that grew in the water of the pool.

 

“They’re ghouls,” said Heather in disgust.

 

“Well, they’re not feral,” said Barb.

 

“All ghouls eventually turn feral,” said Heather. “It’s inevitable. Might as well take them out before they hurt anyone.”

 

“We are not going to gun down people. I said people, Heather, who are going about their business in a peaceful manner. Am I understood?”

 

“Yes ma’am,” said Heather, looking down as if ashamed. “Sorry.”

 

“It’s fine to think what you want, to have feelings. Lord knows I think ghouls are disgusting as well. But they can’t help what happened to them, and I think it’s wonderful that they found ways to move on with their lives. So no comments about how disgusting they are within earshot. I want this settlement to be part of the Alliance. They are placed well to support us in operations, and they’re already stronger that any other settlement we’ve found.”

 

“Can I help you?” asked a female ghouls as the party walked down to the swimming pool.

 

Nora exited her power armor before speaking. People preferred to speak to a flesh and blood face with a normal voice attached, and not to the visage of armor that the suit projected.

 

“Who’s in charge here, ma’am?”

 

“Ma’am,” said the ghoul with a laugh. “So polite. Hey, Wiseman,” she called out, waving to a ghoul in jeans and t-shirt. “We have some well-behaved visitors here.”

 

“And those are always welcome,” said the ghoul, walking over. “I’m wiseman, and this little operation is my responsibility.”

 

“I’m Nora Jane Adams,” said Nora, taking the offered hand while repressing a shudder. “I represent the Minutemen, and I’m here to ask if there is anything you need help with?”

 

“I’m assuming, based on your armor and weapons, that you are not referring to helping us tend our crops. But yeah, there’s something that you might be able to do. And not just to me, but to all the people of this region. But take a moment to look over our farm. Pretty cool, huh?”

 

“Ingenious,” said Nora truthfully. “Using an old swimming pool for a Tarberry bog. And it looks like you are much better off than most of the people of this region. But I’m thinking we can make it even better.”

 

“Quite the sales pitch,” laughed Wiseman. “You must have been a saleswoman before you became a soldier.”

 

“Lawyer.”

 

“I thought we got rid of all of them when the bombs dropped.”

 

“Prewar lawyer, before I served in the United States Navy.”

 

“No. You’re not ghoul. So, what’s your secret.”

 

Nora gave the ghoul the short version of her history while he stared in amazement.

 

“Unbelievable. So good to meet someone who remembers the same world I do. But is sucks that someone took your child. Any clue as to who it was.”

 

“All kinds of clues, but nothing definite. So, what caused you to settle here?”

 

“You mean after that Rat Bastard McDonough threw us out of Diamond city.”

 

“Why did he do that?”

 

“Because we’re ugly, we go crazy and kill people periodically, we scare the kids. But I have to ask you. How often do smoothskins lose it and kill someone? Look to the south at the Saugus Iron Works, the old forge, and you’ll see examples of humans who are psychopathic killers.”

 

“Can’t argue with you there. So, you want us to clear them out.”

 

“I wouldn’t send such pretty ladies to their deaths like that. No, I have something else in mind.”

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