Chapter 99 - 99

Words : 1488 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

The fight continued as they continued up more and more stairs. If Adam had stopped to consider what they were doing he would have realized they were clearing out a huge number of raiders with just the two of them. It was a hell of a feat. Truthfully, and to temper the level of awe that might be inspired from their fight, the men they were fighting were all very split up, only 3 or 4 to a floor at most, very manageable with the group they had available. Furthermore these raiders were very ill equipped, poorly trained, and very unprepared for a fight. Some of them didn't even wear armor, they had sleepwear on, one was even nearly naked. But regardless of the circumstances a feat was still a feat. By the time they reached the top floor the two of them were not even thinking about how many they had felled up till now, numerous, no doubt. However the top floor was another story. The sentry on the ceiling had been totally destroyed and as the three of them made it up there they came face to face with the most heavily armed foe Adam had seen up to this point. It was a raider, no doubt, but he wore power armor. However the armor was nothing like Adam had ever seen. Power armor was, in effect, two main parts. The power armor frame, which contained all the mechanical parts and struts needed to support the weight and frame of the armor, and the armor itself. All power armors used the same frame. Even if the technical differences between the T-45d and the T-60 were vast, even to the point that T-60 armor was capable of even heavier loads, the frame was the same for both. This meant, in theory, one could mix and match armor pieces from any set of power armor they could get their hands on. Though of course such a thing would never fly in the army, but here, in the wasteland, it was not too far-fetched. And right in front of Adam was that exact situation. The man wearing power armor seemed to have a T-60 left leg and right shoulder, a T- 50 right arm, a T-45d right leg and left shoulder, and for the remaining parts it looked like a mishmash of non standard power armor parts. All of it heavily modified in obnoxiously unhelpful and purely aesthetic ways, such as spikes coming out of the pauldrons, and a flame painting on the left arm, but the helmet was clearly a welding mask that had been upgraded to interface with the suit with a wire mesh in front of the screen. Beyond all of that much of this was rusted, it looked in poor condition. It truly was a shitshow of power armor. But despite the poor condition and poor choices in maintenance, it was still power armor. As if to punctuate this point the man in the armor rushed forward into the hail of laser he was already receiving from Buddy, who was already showing signs of overheat due to the combat mode modifications Adam had installed into him. Buddy was never meant to be using the upgrade this long, it was only meant for short bursts, clearing the entire building like they were, was putting a lot of strain on his systems. The power armor slammed into the protectron like a freight train into a car, throwing him clean off his feet and right into the wall beside him. Buddy seemed mostly undamaged from the football tackle but due to his power systems already being overheated and his systems running slower he was unable to pull himself back to his feet. Like a turtle stuck on his back he laid on the ground waddling back and forth unable to move. It was then that a hail of bullets began to fire from the end of the hall, the raider boss had a handful of men with him, and they were just as unfriendly as the rest. Salvatore shot a quick glance to Adam, a whole conversation passed between them in that instant, and each man understood their roles. Salvatore rushed forward ducking underneath a swing of the power armors arm as he fired the whole clip from his assault rifle at the men at the end of the hall, ignoring the raider in power armor entirely as he created a space for himself to advance and take cover to engage the lesser raiders. It was Adam's job to handle the man in power armor. The raider boss turned to swing at Salvatore again, but Adam fired at him three times, it hit and did some damage but it mostly just caught his attention. The raider boss now dove at Adam trying to punch his head and squash it like a watermelon. Adam dodged the swing by a hair's breadth and saw as the fist collided with the concrete wall where his head was but a moment ago. It broke clean through, the outside world now visible from the power armor fist sized hole in the building. It was now Adam could see why the man had no guns on him. It was not simply because he was in power armor, it was because he also had a power first on. The power fist was an actuated pneumatic gauntlet that shot a solid block of steel forward when punching. It was designed specifically for power armor units, to do much the same as the man was doing now. It was a cool idea, but in the war it saw very little use. After all if you were this close to an enemy you would much rather be using a ripper or something else instead of punching. Still it was showing its worth now, as Adam was one unlucky hit away from being broken in half by this power first enhanced punch. Luckily Adam was very familiar with Power armor, he knew its weakness, its strengths, and most importantly, its vulnerabilities. Adam ducked, dodged, and weaved around the numerous punches the raider threw at him, staying to his right side, where the metal meshing that made his helmet look more 'intimidating' also blocked his line of sight. In addition Adam stayed low, power armor was not great at maneuverability or bending over. It could do both, of course, but it could be cumbersome in close combat. Adam, by staying light on his feet, dodged every one of the punches that were thrown his way. The raider was clearly getting pissed, now yelling obscenities at Adam as he continued to be outsped at every turn. Adam was not just dodging either, he was making use of the opportunity afforded to him to fire at the servos visible on the sides of the body of the power armor. Normally, in real power armor, this sensitive and vulnerable area would have been protected by a several inch thick steel plate, but here, with this shoddy recreation of armor, it was very visible and a very easy target. After a number of missed swings Adam had completely disabled his chest servos meaning he couldn't twist his chest anymore, by the time another few swings had missed him he had completely disabled the ability of the armor to maneuver in any manner other than directly facing forward at all times. Even his arms now had lost their angles, if he wasn't directly facing Adam he couldn't hit him. This was enough. At the next swing Adam dove past him, using the raider's now quite lumbering speed to his advantage, right to where the fusion core was placed into the power armor frame. The raider had just given Adam the ultimate power armor training taboo, never turn your back to an enemy. However Adam was not in a mood to correct him, instead he made full use of his advantage, pulling out the fusion core from the back slot with a slight twist. He could have left him there, locking him inside the power armor after taking the fusion core with him. However Adam wanted to take no chances. So long as this man was alive he would pose a threat, Adam was not in the mood to play the odds today. So instead he pulled out the fusion core far enough to disconnect it from the suit, leaving him locked inside, unable to move or even exit the suit, but still leaving the core balanced in the slot enough that it remained suspended and exposed. Adam then ran back up the stairs, turned back around once he was a sufficient distance away, and fired every last ounce of energy in his laser pistol into the fusion core. A moment later, the core exploded. Taking that part of the stairway, a chunk of the wall with it.

Chapter 99 - 99

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