“He what?!” Lucy suddenly cried
“Martin Septim sacrificed himself to stop Mehrunes Dagon in the Oblivion Crisis” Bjorn replied, cursing himself for mentioning it
San-Kai intervened, attempting to calm the situation. “There is no way to know if the same will happen to you, it’s entirely different circumstances and the prophecy that applies to you has never happened before in recorded history”
“But when I…” Lucy paused. “In my dreams, I was visited by Akatosh, he said he was what would join with me”
“Akatosh is part of you? By Talos…” Bjorn commented
“Anyway, I asked him if I would get my body back after he takes control”
“And?” Nigel asked, concern filling his voice.
“He never replied,” Lucy said, looking up into Nigel’s eyes
Nigel groaned, walking away and then turning back again – his eyes glowing slightly red with the anger, “I won’t let him kill you – we won’t let him kill you”
“Exactly, I don’t care if you’re the chosen one of a God – you won’t die” Bjorn added
“Agreed” San-Kai included
"Thanks, guys” Lucy smiled. “So where are we off to now in the search for a Dwarf? Diamond City, right?”
“Yeah, it isn’t too far from here, we should…” Nigel never finished his sentence as a dart hit him in the head and he fell to the ground, unconscious.
“Nigel!” Lucy screamed in futility as men, armed with rifles and armoured jackets quickly surrounded them. Lucy held up her hands, as did San-kai and Bjorn and three more darts were fired towards them.
***********
Nigel awoke, his augmented brain quickly realised that he had been hit with a tranquillizer from a distance – there was only one group in the Commonwealth with the tech to take him down but a reason to have him alive, the Railroad. Nigel looked around him; he was tied to a chair in their new headquarters, the crypts under the old North Church. The place was littered with beds and dirty equipment, agents lay asleep throughout and it all stank of cigarette smoke – the old brickwork clearly needed repairing and the whole place was decrepit, perfect for the Railroad.
“Hello Nigel” A woman dressed in yellow fatigues and a scarf stood before him,cigarette in hand
“Desdemona” Nigel replied. “What do you want?”
“You could be our greatest agent Nigel, your war against the Institute has helped us – whether you like it or not”
“I’m not joining, I may stand up for synth rights but you take it too far – but that isn’t why I’m here, is it?”
“Tom wanted you, no idea why” Desdemona walked off, shouting across the headquarters. “Tom! Nigel’s here!”
“Wait!” Nigel yelled. “Where are the others?”
“They’re safely tied up in the other room – we’ll let them go once Tom is happy”
“Alright!” Tom shouted as he made his way over to Nigel, still tied up. Tinker Tom was dressed in dirty overalls and a bizarre contraption sat atop his head, covered in telescopes, microscopes and plenty other scientific equipment.
“The hell do you want, Tinker?” Nigel replied, using the insane mechanic’s moniker
Tinker Tom dropped into a whisper, “You looking for a Dwarf, am I right?”
Nigel started, “How do you know?”
“I’ve got eyes all over the Commonwealth, when I saw an Argonian I knew he wasn’t from our Dimension, but from Dimension ES1994! You’re looking for a wristband to get him, and that Nord warrior, back to their home – aren’t you?”
“How do you know about the wristband?”
Tinker Tom held up his wrist, wrapped around it was a sleek, silver wristband with controls attached to the top – a Dwemer Crossover Wristband.
“You’re kidding me” Nigel replied, near speechless
“Yeah, I’m a Dwarf – explains my skills, right?”
“Yeah, pretty much – I presume you won’t just give us the wristband, though?”
“Hell no, I’ve got a task for you – get me the Diamond that I lost in Goodneighbor”
“You went to Goodneighbor? Thought you never went outside?”
“I lost it on my way to the new HQ after the Switchboard Incident”
“Fine, my friends and I will find the diamond for you and you’ll give us the wristband”
“Excellent” Tom then shouted to Desdemona. “Dez! Let Nigel and his friends go, they’re doing a job for me!”
“Okay, Tom” Desdemona walked on over to Nigel and began untying the ropes that bound him to the old wooden chair, “So, you’re finally working for us?”
“Nope, just doing Tom a favour” Nigel replied as he stood up, unbound. “Let the others go now”
“Of course” Dez walked on over to a back room of the crypts and untied all three of them, within a few minutes they were prepared to leave as they walked on out and off towards Goodneighbor – the city of drugged slobs and well-dressed thugs.
***********
“Logic damn them!” Kagrenac screamed at the projection that had just shown the events in the Railroad HQ
“What is it, my Lord?” Calcelmo replied, having not witnessed the recent events as he made canis root tea
“Tatak, one of my old Tonal Architects, has betrayed me!”
“In what way?”
“He will give them a wristband if they secure a diamond for him”
“What if they don’t get the diamond?”
“They will, they’re easily powerful enough” Kagrenac paused then looked at his plans. “We must advance our attack”
“But my Lord, the Crossover is not at full power”
“It is sufficient – we will finish the remaining dimensions off later once it has been charged with the essence of a thousand destroyed ones” Kagernac looked proudly upon the glowing, golden sphere that was the Crossover. “It needs only two days to charge fully”
Kagrenac yelled triumphantly,
“48 hours ‘till the end of all creation!”
***********
Lord Commander Mark Collins stood outside the gates of Diamond City, ready to destroy everything, when suddenly the glowing purple entity that was Molag Bal reappeared to him.
“Mortal!” Molag cried as Collins knelt. “Their path has changed, you must go to Goodneighbor – I will teleport you there, you must kill them!”
“Yes my Lord!” Collins replied as the purple glow enveloped him and he suddenly found himself standing outside Goodneighbor, the town was small and only contained a few buildings, but many of the residents stayed either in the hotel or in tents outside. Shops selling guns, junk and chems covered the place and the Ghoul Mayor, Hancock, stood on the balcony and oversaw it all. Collins walked on through the town; ignoring the wary looks of the residents as the hideously burnt Gunner walked into Hotel Rexford, where he would book a room and watch in wait for the group that would ruin his plans no more.
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