Tormented steel 9
DISCLAIMER: I don't own fallout.
A/N I'm not dead yay .

Walking out from the vault brought Vincent the utmost feeling of bliss over him as he stepped once more into the sun it felt good to be back in what he considered his true womb his real birth place this hill was were the Lone wanderer was first given to the world.
Still he didn't have time to dwell on old memories he mused as he walked to the hills peak to behold a sight that utterly obliterated his blissfulness and the good mood that had accompanied it.
His keen eyes first spotted the red beams being shot down from Megatons guard tower and if he concentrated he could hear the distant sounds of gunfire, pulling his rifle from his back Vincent looked through the scope and saw them, raiders.
This was just what he bloody well needed dealing with his past only to be slapped in the face by the present, still from what he could see the raiders were using the rocks outside of the town to great effect shielding them from the oncoming fire.
Thinking for a moment Vincent knew that Ava would be up there and with any luck she would see this detaching his scope from the rest of the gun he lined it up at the correct angle that it would catch the sun light and hopefully would go in the direction he wanted it to go in, he dredged up all the Morse code he knew and sent his message.
After sending his message Vincent used the rifle scope to do a rough head count, the raider's numbered in the low fifty's or high forty's great just great.
Slowly he moved down the hill and into the ruins of Springvale bellow skirting around the edges of the buildings and keeping to the shadows, until he had gotten to the Holy light monastery scanning the area around him quickly, he pulled away a grey tarp that he had previously disguised with dust and some rubble to reveal the trapdoor that lead into the basement.
He'd redecorated it on his last visit, getting rid of the crazy cultists and assorted ghouls and turned it into one of his many little safe houses, it was in a perfect location to since no one would go near the radiation traps.
Regardless he needed heavier ordinance since he hadn't gone into the vault armed to the teeth as he usually did a foolish move in hind sight.
But then of course everything seems idiotic in hindsight.
Looking over the weaponry he had stashed Vincent ignored the handguns and assault rifles, looking over the explosive's, a hand full of plasma and, pulse grenades some homemade Nuka's and a pile of Russian Rgd 5's well they may not be his first choice but they were effective none the less, taking a few of them and using them to turn the raiders into red smears was an extremely enticing idea.
But there was only one thing here that he had any interest in they were relatively small, sandy in colour with yellow stripes circling the middle.
White phosphorus as the old saying goes, when in doubt burn them out, Vincent took the canisters and placed them in his jacket and was on the verge of leaving when he looked at the rifle resting neatly on what was once the centre dais his Mosin Nagant m91 a little something that he'd found in the Anchorage armoury.
Best damn sniper rifle he'd ever used even better when he'd added a suppressor to it, perhaps it would be best if he left the backwater rifle here and took up a more suitable weapon he needed something bigger than 10 milometer bullets anyway, stripping himself of the backwater and all his ten mil bullets he took up the Mosin and packed away as many 762 rounds as he could easily carry, before leaving the basement and recovering the entrance.

Moving into the perfect position behind the raider's lines was easy a simple combination of timing and practise and not even much of that was needed the raiders were far too high on stim's and adrenalin for them to worry about anything other than the people shooting at them.

For a moment he waited going over the possible outcomes of what he was about to do.
Best case scenario things went exactly as he planned and the raiders were burned, confused and ultimately easy pickings.
But as with most things in life outcomes came in pairs if the worst came to worst he drastically misread the wind and blast radius of the grenade and the spray drifted over Megatons defenders leaving them vulnerable.

But he still had a job to do and this was the best way to do it with such little time, with that thought he pulled the grenade pins and threw them over the middle of the raiders watching as they exploded with a loud boom easily lost in the sounds of battle, letting out a thick burning cloud which dispersed a bit and quickly rained down on the unsuspecting raiders it was slow at first they hardly noticed the white specks contacting with their skin but then they began to itch it was bearable at first but then it began to burn and blister by this point the raiders knew something was wrong but the howls of pain were evidence enough of that, it was time to finish them off.
Emerging from cover Vincent drew his sword in one hand and black hawk in the other, the first raider was screaming tearing at the his skin around his face apparently the spray had gotten in his eyes perfect, keeping low he moved behind the man, sliding his sword between the man's ribs he fell silenced forever more, circling around he saw the bulk of the raiders force they were all clustered together howling as they tore at their flesh, he could smell the blood in the air it was so very invigorating.

Tossing a handful of frags into the middle of the group he watched as one of them halted her writhing and almost got to the second part of screaming "OH SHIT" before the grenades detonated tossing charred meat over the surrounding area what a delightful sight it was.

Abandoning all pretences of stealth Vincent pulled his revolver from its resting place and promptly blew the head off of the next raider that came into his sights, he began moving through their ranks quickly and efficiently slaughtering them it was no challenge especially since some of the raiders had their heads blown off their shoulders followed by the familiar crack of Ava's rifle and others falling to the dazzling red beams of laser light.
He was having such fun that Vincent didn't notice the man sneaking up behind him until he felt the hot sharp pain that came with being shot in the back, whirling around he saw the scum holding a shity little 32 revolver snarling he started towards the man with murder in his eyes, to his credit the raider kept firing until he ran out of bullets not that it mattered since all of the shots hit his chest plate.
As the raider tried to reload Vincent raised his blade and swept it along in a slash across the man midsection easily cutting through the leather straps that he called clothing and opening a gash right along his belly it was worth it just to watch as he screeched in pain dropping the gun and attempting to hold his intestines in.
It reparked a hunger in him watching as the blood flowed onto the ground, forcibly ripping his eyes from the scene he reached into his jacket fumbling for his flask as his left arm began to shake he unscrewed the lid and gulped down the liquid hungrily regardless of how foul it tasted even as the last few drops landed on his tongue before putting the bottle away again he could still taste bitter copper for the rest of the skirmish which was no grand battle even as he cut down the last of the raiders and wiped down his blade he felt hollow this was little more than a distraction to state his unease there was still much to do.
As he entered Megaton the was no cheering no fond voices chanting his name just silent shock for the last two years they had not been witness such an act of brutal slaughter and seeing his now crimson form moving down the street, leaving bloody boot prints in his wake, before entering his home told them all they needed to know the wanderer was back.

Ava watched as Vincent crept up behind the raider lines wondering just how he planned to flush them out when she saw him throw something into the air she waited a moment before the objects exploded into a cloud of white dust and dust that quickly fell onto the raiders.
White phosphorus now that was creative she thought as she drilled a bullet between the eyes of a screaming raider.
But watching Vincent fight was something else entirely he mixed sword and gun play into a fluid dance of death skewering one enemy and turning him into a human shield before shoving him off his blade and shooting someone else before cutting the next of his victims into bloody ribbons and he did this with such speed and precision that you couldn't be faulted for thinking it must have been rehearsed beforehand it seemed to be the polar opposite of how she fought her battles.
Ava was always careful slinking around in the shadows waiting for that one perfect shot before disappearing; Vincent was a blood thirsty whirlwind constantly moving and cutting down people like a scythe through wheat even as he walked through the gates into Megaton covered in blood she wondered if there was any force that could stop this man from getting what he wanted and that train of thought only made her all hot and gooey inside.

Passing through his door Vincent glided over to his fridge opening the door and pulling out one of the smaller red packs ripping the plastic and tearing a chunk out of the meat with his teeth he felt a sliver of sanity return to him he needed to change clothes and talk to the sheriff but not like this not while he was in this state he was liable to kill someone at the drop of a pin swallowing down the rest of the flesh he took a deep breath and went upstairs for a clean set of clothes so that Wadsworth could wash what he was currently warring that was too close he almost lost it so much blood he couldn't go spiralling into madness yet there were still things to do, he thought as he dressed in a black trench coat black shirt black leather pants black combat boots and a pair of equally dark leather gloves before pulling a hood over his head and walking back out of his door and quickly over to the crater side supply.
He saw Moira in the corner of her shop at the workbench tinkering with something he cleared his throat to get her attention, looking up from her work Moira beamed and walked over to him.
"Whatcha need Vin?" she asked playfully even as he supressed the urge to frown he didn't like when people shortened his name and if it was anyone besides Moira or Ava and possibly Sarah they would be picking up what was left of their teeth about now.
"This is a private matter" he replied softly eyeing the guard she employed, catching his drift Moira ushered him upstairs and into her room.
"I've run out of blood as well as the substitute you gave me" he explained handing her his nickel flask.
"Oh that's not good not good in the slightest because I won't get another shipment of blood or the supplies I need for your supplement until next week" she murmured the worry evident in her voice.
"You could always try and get some blood packs from the clinic" she suggested.
"No I plan on leaving for a while and the amount of blood I'd have to ask for would raise questions" he responded and he couldn't take any of the meat with him since he would be traveling over long distances with company and he needed to eat the flesh raw, that alone would raise eyebrows much less why he wasn't sharing it.
"However I know some people who will have plenty of what I need, but I'll need something to help take the edge off until I can get there" he murmured producing something that looked like an epi pen from inside his coat though it was unique in that at the end it had an interchangeable glass vial.
Looking at the needle for a moment Moira nodded and rolled up her sleeve rubbing a patch of skin with his thumb for a moment he held her hand and slid the needle into her arm and watch as it took a few seconds for the vial started filling with her blood when it was full he touched a small button on the side and removed the vial before placing in another one and filling it before he removed the needle from her arm pressing down on the injection site with a piece of cloth.
"Thank you Moira" he said it still stunned him that she could embrace what he was, what he needed to do in order to survive, Ava was the only other person that knew about it and even that kept him wondering about how she could possible feel anything but disgust for him.

Sarah had seen the show that Vincent had put on with the raiders he was toying with them and it was terrifying.
The last time she'd seen him truly fight and kill that many people it had been clean controlled, emotionless but this it was brutal passionate, feral and he revealed in it perhaps he had always been like this but he had suppressed it before and it made her ask just what the hell happened to him in the last two years.
As Sarah moved down the ladder and towards Vincents home she saw him coming out from the crater side supply.
"Found a new colour have you?" she said smirking.
"For the moment" he replied opening his front door.
"I think it looks good on you" came a voice from behind her making Sarah jump spinning around to see Ava and Veronica behind her.
"I'll have my coat back the moment Wadsworth cleans the blood out of it" he said wincing as he turned to face her scowling he went inside and shrugged the coat off along with the shirt he was wearing under it exposing his back to the women.
Sarah wasn't sure what surprised her more that he was walking around with a still bleeding bullet wound in his back or the sheer number of scars that covered it.
Most of them looked like bullet wounds some burns and others were slash marks of varying sizes but the most impressive were the four giant claw marks that stretched from his left shoulder to his right hip along with the scaring around the base of his right arm.
"Ava do me a favour and dig that damn thing out I can't reach it" he growled before handing her a pair of tweezers.
Ava sighed and looked at the wound before carefully reaching into the wound and digging around for the bullet.
The only reaction Vincent gave was a slight tensing of his muscles which were very prominent even under all the scars after a few more seconds Ava retracted the tweezers carrying a mangled lump which she dropped into a petri dish that Veronica handed her.
"Thanks" he said before picking up a gauze bandage and wrapping it around his midsection.
"I have to say nice touch using phosphorus" Ava applauded with her massive rifle slung over her shoulder Sarah was surprised that she could carry the weapon so easily much less fire it without breaking her shoulder, still musing over this she caught Veronica glaring at Vincent as he turned to face them his chest was equally as scarred and as heavily muscled as his back, and it was the sort of body you could get from a life time of intensive work and battle and it made her reminisce about when it had been hers .
"It was a simple solution to an annoying problem, regardless pack your things we're heading out in three hours" he replied pulling his shirt and coat back over his body.
"Where are we going?" Sarah piped up wondering what plan he had come up with now.
"Raven rock I'll be hard pressed to set up a proper defence against the NCR, and the legion without help and I'm sure that the brotherhood will agree with me for the moment" he said glancing at her before walking over to one of the locker and producing a map of the wasteland which was littered with circles and dots with notes next to them he then fiddled with his pipboy which them displayed a similar map, after a few seconds he stopped and looked over at Ava and back down at his pip boy before abandoning the map and grabbing a holo disc from another part of the locker and inserting it into the wrist mounted computer.
Which bleeped after a few more seconds, he then ejected the disc and handed it to the red head.
"A full map of the wasteland" he said holding out to her, she took the disc and inserted it into her pip boy before widening her eyes at the sheer number of map markers on it.
"You've been around the block haven't you" she said jokingly.
"I've been to every corner of this place if that's what you mean" he replied tracing a line from what Sarah assumed was Megaton to raven rock, before frowning and taking another map which showed the sewer and metro tunnels.
"We'll head up through Arefu, before dropping by big town and pass through Minefield before getting to Raven rock" he muttered before his finger hit a dark red circle between Big town and minefield "we'll need to slip through slaver territory before we hit the line shit" he said scowling at the map.
"The line?" Sarah questioned quirking an eyebrow.
"The figurative line in the sand that most people don't go past, the point where the wastes belong to the really nasty things out there" he explained absently "I'm more worried about the slavers" he added as packed the maps away and grabbed a bottle of whisky from the fridge taking a long gulp of the amber liquid.
"Slaver, why should you be worried about them now you've mowed through them before?" Sarah asked perplexed.
"Because honey, Vin has been out of town for a while or did you forget that" Ava answered still looking over her new map.
"And that means they will have had plenty of time to recruit and arm up" Vincent muttered.
"Regardless make your arrangements" Vincent said cutting off further chance for the two women to annoy each other more.

With that out of the way he went upstairs and unlocked the door on the far left revealing a room that as mostly empty except for a bed which was bolted to the floor and four pairs of manacles which were chained to four steel rods at the corners of the room.
It helped remind him to stay in control he had once used this place with Wandsworth's help to keep himself from hurting someone back when he couldn't fight his hunger anymore, hopefully he wouldn't need to ever again.

A/N: okay I know most of you are planning on finding me and stringing me up for making you all wait this long but I have a good reason, for the moment, study and the fact that I have just began work with some fellow writers, writing a Mass effect fic, Mass Exodus.
P.S: remember I feast on reviews.