Abducted

Spoiler Warning! Fair warning: if you haven't gotten to the end of Fallout 4, this will spoil some of the important bits... Like the main story line. Now that that's out of the way, sorry to have been away for so long, hope you all like this one, thanks for reading enjoy!

Chapter 1

“Shaun! Over here!” Dad called. Absently, Shaun turned away from the view of the bay, and back to the smoking ruins of The Castle. There, his father waited, one foot planted on the remains of the broadcast tower. He looked like something out of a magazine, decked out from head to toe in the new Institute Power Armor.

“Is there an error in your programming, or do you just enjoy staring into space?” Dad asked, dryly. It wasn’t the first time he’d reminded Shaun of who was a real person and who was synthetic. “What do you think?”

He gestured at The Castle. Once this had been the headquarters of the Minute-Men, a ragtag kind of militia. Besides the bodies already being piled out, and some twisted remains of machinery, all that truly remained were some of the fortress’s walls. Still taking it all in, Shaun knelt to grab a teddy bear. There was a splotch of red on its matted fur.

“I feel sorry for them,” Shaun replied, earning a sneer from his father. “They go to bed hungry every night. They have to fight monsters and mutants and each other just for the space to sleep… I wish they didn’t have to fight us too.”

“Wishing isn’t…” Dad trailed off, tilting his head to listen. A low whistle came over the fortifications. As it rose in pitch, Dad’s eyes went wide. “Emergency Telep-“

He was cut off by the most horrific flash of light and clap of thunder Shaun had ever experienced. It was like someone had dropped the sun right in front of them. Then, the shockwave arrived to slap his body like he’d belly-flopped into a pool.

The sudden blast picked him up and tossed him like paper caught in the wind. When he hit the ground it was hard enough to force the wind from his lungs. Before his brain could catch up with the sudden sharp pain rolling through his spine, bits of hot metal pelted Shaun from head to toe. Feebly, he curled into a ball to try and protect himself.

For the first few seconds, everything was just agony and a high ringing, the afterimage of the explosion seared into his retina. The only thing to come in over the ringing was his short, desperate gasps of air. As the ringing slowly subsided, he could make out the crackle and snaps of laser fire.

Rolling, Shaun found The Castle in utter chaos. Half the Synths had been caught inside the small nuclear blast and were, Shaun suspected, the ash that coated everything. The other half had been knocked flat and were recovering.

Coming over the hole in the wall were six figures, charging at the Synths. Four of them rushed headlong into the staggered Synths. Of the two who remained behind, the one in heavy power armor let loose a torrent of laser fire. The Gatling Laser ate into the flank of the Synths.

The other, in lighter armor stopped at the crest of the ruined wall and kneeled. He then leveled a massive rifle at the battle field and fired. A bolt of white light shot out to smash a pair of Synths who’d lined up.

However the worst of the destruction came from those who’d dived straight into the recovering Synths. One, wielding a Ripper, and moving with surprising grace went from Synth to Synth, cutting at their weak points. Another, who’d dropped their weapon had wrapped their arm around a Courser. Squeezing the artificial man until sparks and gear began to shower from its neck, the armor-clad warrior batted at the others with the Courser’s own dismembered arm.

Despite this brutality, the ones causing the most destruction, were the two pushing down the middle, straight toward where Shaun and Dad lay recovering. One, wearing the heaviest armor of the attackers, wielded a Super-Sledge that made the Synth armor look like porcelain. With frightful ease the berserker smashed through one Synth after another.

Nearer, moving faster thanks to much lighter gear, another attacker, wielding a pair of Power-Fists made quick work of the Synth who stood between Dad and the assault. Every time those fists struck a small explosion erupted, rending armor and the mechanics beneath. With a flourish of blows, the brawler split the Synth in two at the waist.

“Emergency teleport!” Dad shouted into his Pip-Boy. “Get me out of here!”

“Dad!” Shaun shouted uselessly. He watched as the leader of the Institute vanished in a pillar of light. He’d left, he hadn’t even checked to see if Shaun was okay. Oddly those were the thoughts at the forefront of Shaun’s mind rather than the attackers who were bowling over the remaining Synths.

“Stay behind me,” X6-88 ordered moving between Shaun and the one who’d rushed forward. The Synth let loose a burst of laser fire, every round of which bounced harmlessly off the berserker’s heavy armor.

In response, the berserker swung at the Courser. X6-88 tried to dodge, moving faster than a human, but far too slow to avoid the blow. The hammer knocked the rifle to the ground and staggered the synth. Desperately, X6-88 grabbed the berserker’s arm to keep him from swinging again. The man in power armor lashed out with his free hand, bringing the Synth to his knees and then, with a single, brutal blow, decapitated X6-88.

The two of them, out of targets turned their attention to Shaun. Swearing, he tried crawling back on his elbows. He’d sat there, frozen in horror as these attackers had annihilated the other Synths, killed X6-88 and as his father had teleported to safety. Only after they started for him, did Shaun’s muscle unfreeze, his mind reeling. After what they had done to a Courser, he knew he didn’t stand a chance against them. And that was when his hand brushed against something in the dirt, something that didn’t belong.

Grabbing the Institute Rifle, Shaun swung the weapon up. With a roar he squeezed the trigger aiming for the one with the Power-Fists. Institute Rifles were notoriously underpowered, but considering his opponent’s lighter armor, Shaun figured he might be able to do some damage, and maybe, just maybe, he might buy himself enough time to escape.

Just before the gun kicked into Shaun’s shoulder, the berserker stepped between the two and shielded the other fighter. The laser bolt hit the berserker’s back shoulder and deflected off harmlessly.

“Oh [censored],” Shaun muttered as the berserker turned to glare at him. Sliding through the dirt and mud, Shaun tried to crawl backwards. The berserker easily caught him and grabbed him by the collar. One handed, the man in power armor lifted Shaun to his feet.

With another shout, Shaun tried to punch the berserker. He may as well have punched the side of a building for all the good it did. In fact, the only outcome seemed to be the sudden roaring pain in his knuckles. The berserker let out a muffled huff of what sounded like laughter. Then, the steel plated back of his fist slammed into Shaun’s face and the world went black.

As always: comments criticisms and questions are greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!