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The group at the Nucleus was hardly Nora’s first introduction to the Children of Atom. She’d met, fought and killed many of them before. Mother Isolde and her group in the Glowing Sea. The stragglers in the Sentinel Site. The madmen in Kingsport Lighthouse. She thought she’d known what they were like, the wide-eyed raving or the soft-voiced madness she’d seen from them.
Seeing one of them order two to shoot each other to prove their loyalties had only reaffirmed that.
Having said that, she’d seen something similar in the Brotherhood…
No, the Brotherhood, for all their bigotry, would never agree to spreading radiation across an entire island ‘for the Glory of Atom.’ She wondered if the empty barrels strewn across the island were the Children’s handiwork. She hoped DiMA had a plan to keep the peace somehow, and a guilty part of her wanted to wipe the children out and hoped that was part of the plan. Tektus seemed the run of the mill raving madman, his followers similar. Honestly, the sooner DiMA’s memory banks were recovered and returned, the happier she’d be. The Nucleus gave her chills despite the heat of the rads.
Still, Richter…Richter seemed almost…sane.
She’d left Nick at Acadia for the moment. The Children seemed content to ignore him, but Nora was hardly willing to take the risk in case one day they chose not to. She’d already popped more than one Rad-X today, and by the time she headed up to the top of the bunker to start searching for DiMA’s memories, she was worried about how much she had left. The Sister on the door let her in, but warned her of the Old World constructs on the other side. That could be all manner of turrets, robots, lasers…
She counted the EMC she had left, and let out a relieved breath when she found a reassuring number, reloading her Gauss rifle. Even behind the door, there were reassuringly less rads here. The hallway in front of her was dark, filled with the sound of blaring alarms and faint, flashing lights at the end. She could see the faint red of laser tripwires. Well, her government had spared no expense, it seemed. She took one step, then another, heart pounding as she headed past the broken red double doors and into the tunnel, gazing down at the bodies of the other Children who had come before her.
With the blaring of the siren, she missed the footsteps behind her, concentrating on the pattern of the lasers. Would it be easier to try and disarm them, or duck under them? She’d be able to move more than fast enough to-
“Sister?” a voice said in her ear, and Nora jumped forward with a surprised scream, inches away from the roving line of light. A hand grabbed her arm and dragged her back before she set off the defences, pulling her against a solid mass. Her breath heaved in her throat momentarily as her heart thudded painfully with the shock. Her eyes flicked upwards and blood ran to her face.
“G-grand Zealot?” she whispered.
“What are you doing up here, Sister?” he asked. “It’s not safe. Did the guard on the door not say?”
“She did,” Nora managed, heart hammering in her chest. “Can…can you let me go?”
The Zealot did so, gently releasing her from his grip. “I ask again, what are you doing up here?”
“I…I just wanted to see what was behind the door,” she replied. “I’ve…been through worse than this.”
“I’m doubtful that you should continue, but if you are really so determined…”
“I am. I can disable these tripwires if you give me a moment,” she added. His brows raised in curiosity.
“I can see why you were invited to our fold,” he said. “You are resourceful.”
She could feel a blush coming on. Why?! This was ridiculous, it was just a compliment, an errant comment about her electronic skills.
“Thankyou, Grand Zealot,” she stammered, and pressed her lips together. “I...hold on. I’ll…deal with the lasers, and then you can leave me. I’ll be safe.”
“I doubt that’s a safe or sound decision, Sister,” he pointed out. “There are many old world defences here. You see those turrets?”
He gestured with his rifle to the turrets suspended on the ceiling.
“Be careful whilst you disable these lasers. I would not like to lose a Sister after gaining her so recently.”
She swallowed, her face warm.
It took her several minutes to disable the tripwires, and even then, the two of them hurried under the turrets and through the doors at the end of the corridor.
“Nice work,” he commended, as the corridor became a tunnel, machinery and broken doorways lining the way. “We should have welcomed a person with skills like yours in sooner.”
“Gutsy!” she warned, as she heard the barking, Drill Sergeant voice echoing from a side room. It floated out into the small space as Nora was charging her Gauss, and Richter began firing quick, successive shots, breaking off some of its armoured plating, hitting an eyestalk. The woman reached full charged and unleashed an electric blast that zipped through its system, frying its circuits. It was thrown back to the opposite end of the room and clanked into a Protectron, smashing it against a wall. The brief respite from its guns was taken advantage of in moments. They were on top of it with guns blazing before the robot could even bark remonstrations at them. It collapsed, smoking, and Nora flicked her gaze to the terminal on the wall.
Her fingers danced across the keys, and she frowned.
“Does it say anything, Sister?” Richter asked.
“Nothing,” she sighed. “Just warnings about the containment leak.”
“The old world did not realise what a gift they gave us,” Richter mused. Nora’s brow rose.
“A lot of people still see it as destruction,” she pointed out.
“And you, Sister?”
“I’m…I can’t deny what I’ve seen,” she admitted.
There was a Protectron in the cafeteria ahead and when it spotted them, it opened fire. Nora got a shot in to the glass dome and knocked it free, scurrying behind a table.
“Ungh!” her companion yelled, barking in pain. “Atom above, that hurt!”
Richter slid behind the table next to her, a smoking patch on the only spot of leg not covered by his armour. Nora lit a Molotov and threw it over her head, rolling out from the cover as she heard it connect with the bot. Her gun sparked with charge, and one blast later, the Protectron was falling onto its back with a loud clang of breaking machinery.
“Richter!” she gasped. “Hold on…”
“That’s quite a sting,” he panted. “Sister…a stimpak…”
She handed him one and watched him jab it into his leg, close to the wound. The grunt of pain he made sent heat rushing through her. Truly, whilst the man was injured? She cursed her lack of propriety and watched his face twist in pain.
“You can’t just stim that,” she told him. “You have to treat it properly.”
“Is there not antiseptic in this?” he asked.
“There is.”
“Then I’ll be fine.”
“Sir,” Nora managed, “you should really look at that, just in case.”
Richter climbed to his feet, wincing.
“You insist?”
“I do!”
“Then help me to those beds I saw in the sideroom,” he began.
They made it down the corridor, back to the side room the Mr Gutsy had appeared from, and Richter sat himself down on the mattress of one of the bunk beds, putting down his gun and unstrapping his armour piece by piece. Nora had a canister of cold water ready and was about to offer it to him when the Zealot pulled away the final piece and revealed…
Oh god.
He was wearing a wetsuit.
Skin-tight, black, military issue, it fitted him like a glove, and as he took the water and a cloth his bare hands touched hers. Richter paused. He looked between her and her hands repeatedly, his fingers going to the zip of his wetsuit. Her eyes widened, and she looked away, hearing the zip descend.
“You’re like me,” he finally told her, as she heard the rustle and squeak of the rubber suit being peeled away from him.
“What do you mean, sir?” she asked.
“You have so little of Atom’s Glow in you,” he explained. “The radiation…the wastelanders, they’ve got in buried in their skin, as part of their being, but you? Vault Dwellers lack that innate, hard-wearing blessing Atom bestowed upon them, I’ve seen it before. You, though…there’s even less of it in you than in even the youngest of the Vault Dwellers I’ve ever met.”
“And you…”
Oh god, she didn’t dare look at him.
“You were like that? Still…are?” she managed.
“I was once,” he confirmed. “I was not always a Child of Atom.”
“If you weren’t, then what were you?”
He laughed. “Brazen thing, aren’t you?”
She inhaled softly.
“All right. I was a soldier before I came to Atom. Lieutenant Brian Richter. Recon, Capital Region,” he told her.
“With what force?”
“They called themselves the Enclave,” he told her. “Used to be quite the force back in their day, but that was a long time ago.”
“But you weren’t as irradiated as the rest of the Wastelanders?” she asked, tapping her fingers on her arm. He hissed in pain as he pressed the cold water against the burn.
“No. We of the Enclave prided ourselves in possessing purer DNA that the others inhabiting the wreckage of this world,” he replied. “Some of us in the Children can feel it in the touch. It’s like a coolness of the skin, lacking the heat of Atom. To me, your fingers were almost cold. The radiation has not touched you, not truly. How is this?”
“I…don’t feel comfortable telling you that,” she admitted. “I’m a Vault Dweller, that’s really…all I want to say.”
He hummed, and she heard him moving around, the canister being put down.
“You are shy,” he noted. She giggled nervously.
“I…”
“Of the Vaults that work, they are incredibly communal, are they not?” he asked.
“I…Yes…it’s just…”
“The Children do not care about nudity,” he informed her.
“I do,” she whispered.
“You have shed your fear before,” he reminded her. “When you followed Atom’s path and found the Shrine and the icon of the Mother. You must learn to embrace His power, Sister.”
“Can’t I embrace it without seeing somebody naked?” she murmured, biting her lip. Something rustled behind her.
“Perhaps,” he agreed, his voice soft. She exhaled gently as the sound stroked down her spine. “I have my own way of spreading His will…”
A hand rested itself gently at the base of her back. She stiffened, straightening.
“You are a brave woman, Sister. You have fought your way here using your wits, and you have courage. Now…”
Lips pressed against her neck. Nora swallowed, lashes fluttering. It was suddenly so, so warm, heat curling over her skin.
“…Lose your shame,” he murmured, his fingers skimming across her waist, up her stomach, pausing at her breasts. “Embrace Atom’s Glow.”
“Richter,” she breathed, as his weight settled on the bed behind her, and she leaned slowly into his touch. The hand on her body rolled slowly up, resting between her breasts briefly.
“May I?” he asked, his beard scratching her neck as he dipped to press more kisses to the skin. He was naked, or nearly naked behind her, one of the two, and she nodded, feeling him grip her zip and slowly slide it down her body. The heat pressed against her, rolling over the sternum and the line of her stomach, following the click of the metal until it reached the end, just above the faded white elastic of her underwear. Richter’s teeth dug in gently, fingers springing up to the lapels of the blue suit and pulling as she started, using her own momentum to peel the fabric from her shoulders, exposing the soft, dark skin below. He sucked over the bite and watched her back arch, stripping her down to the waist. She could feel the broad chest of the ex-soldier behind her, hardened, covered in a light carpet of short hairs, body strong and muscular against her own.
“You’re so soft, little Vault Dweller,” he whispered, kissing her shoulder blade. “So soft and cool.”
He pulled her back against him with a strong arm around her body, lips and tongue decorating her upper body as his large hands rolled the blue suit down to her knees. She gasped helplessly for breath, feeling his hand grip her thigh and pull it towards her chest as he tugged off her boot, rough palm skimming over the sensitive flesh. She pressed harder into his lap and heard the soft grunt of pleasure he made, enjoying the noise and rolling her hips to try and push it from him again.
“You lost it already,” he rasped with a small laugh, removing her other shoe and pushing the blue suit over her feet. His cock was hard and hot against her behind, but he seemed to be ignoring his own pleasure as his hands unclasped her bra and let it fall away, cupping her breasts. His thumb rubbed her nipples slowly until they were pebbling, the Vault Dweller twitching in his grip.
“Not…actions don’t…you...oh god,” she breathed. “Richter…”
“Ask, and you’ll receive,” he murmured, nipping her jaw. “What do you want?”
“I…more…more,” she managed. “Hands…you…whatever!”
Richter’s fingers fell to the cloth of her pants, and dragged them down her hips. The heat of the room washed over her sex and she gritted her teeth as the Zealot tossed the white scrap aside. She was already slick, and he lifted her up behind her knees and laid her down on the bed. A second later he was gone, and she heard the door close, before his weight was rejoining her on the mattress as he leaned over her.
“I can do more,” he said, and kissed her sternum. His lips found her nipple and his tongue flickered rapidly over the flesh. Nora felt pleasure thrumming through her at the touch, and the blond Zealot slowly kissed down her body, beard scratching her stomach as he got between her thighs. Nora’s eyes widened, and her fingers clenched into the old mattress as he kissed the soft skin, tongue darting out to draw soft, wet circles into the flesh. “Is this better?”
“Mmhmm,” she whimpered, and then he gripped her hips and her head thudded back against the bed. His mouth covered her sex, sucking softly at the wet folds, ripping a cry from her throat. He kept her pinned to the mattress, tongue circling her clit repeatedly. She pressed her fingers into his hair, pulling just a little as he skimmed his palms up her stomach. His fingers left warm trails over her body and despite the warmth her nipples were hard, sensitive to the touch as his fingers began to stroke them. His tongue was making wet, slick sounds against her, and the only thing louder than him was her, her moaning filling the air. Thumbs rubbed firmly into her breasts and the wet muscle between her legs slid, wet and agile, into her opening and out again, drawing tighter and harder circles around her clit.
“Richter!” she panted. “I…”
Pleasure was coiling in her gut, growing with each determined circle and pulling her hips to his mouth, body rolling again and again until her back was arching off the bed, seconds away from her climax. Richter moved a hand from her breast, and slid two fingers inside of her, curling hard. Her head snapped back and she saw stars, crying out in ecstasy as her orgasm rushed through her, his fingers just enough to force her to ride higher than she’d been going.
“Richter!” she managed, fingers trembling, gasping out his name repeatedly, chest heaving, whimpering as he gently squeezed a nipple. “Fuck!”
His fingers kept going until she was shaking, and she had to push him away with trembling hands. He looked up, his eyes hooded with pleasure, and kissed the inside of one quivering thigh.
“Clean,” he murmured. “Strong. Tangy. Without the bite of Atom’s blessing.” His tongue slid up the dip between thigh and pubic mound. Nora let out a strangled moan. “It’s an appealing taste.”
He slid up her body, fingers brushing over her sensitive clit as he rose, and Nora jerked with a grunt, her eyes glittering in the dark of the bunk. Richter rubbed her again and watched the woman twitch beneath his fingers, kissing her jaw.
“I can still do more,” he murmured, as her eyes rolled back. He regarded her as she fought for words.
“F-fuck, please?” she whimpered, lips trembling. “Richter, please?”
The Grand Zealot kissed her firmly, stifling her whimpers, and wrapped an arm around her waist, rolling onto his back. Her sex was rubbed against his hot, pulsing cock, and she gasped as he grasped handfuls of her ass.
“Slide your hips back,” he whispered, and seconds later, he was slowly sinking inside her to the hilt, groaning. “Oh, Atom…”
“Fuck,” she grunted, scratching his shoulders. “R-Richter…”
His hips rolled into hers and she whimpered, panting into his neck, her rear in the air as they slowly moved against each other. Her teeth pressed against his skin, sweat-slick in the heat, her hair falling over her face. The Zealot’s eyes flicked up to hers and then he undid the leather tie holding the brown locks back, allowing the hair to cascade around them, framing her blushing, red face.
“Do you hide this for convenience or shame?” he murmured, stroking the hair. Her eyes closed briefly as his body pushed into hers. “It’s lovely.”
“Convenience,” she breathed, arching briefly. “Uhhh…”
“More?” he whispered.
“Yes! Grand Zealot…please…”
“You can do it,” he murmured, lips tracing her ear. “At your own pace.”
She was immediately writhing hard against him, and the man below her snarled in surprise at the rough, hurried pace she set with her body, riding him as best she could, fingers gripping the rails of the bed above his head. Richter’s hands raised to her breasts and stroked, and Nora felt a hot rush of pleasure roll through her.
“You’re an eager thing, as well as brazen,” he chuckled breathlessly. “Atom above, woman…”
“Nora,” she managed, arching hard, feeling his legs tense as he started to work with her to fuck her from below. “I-it’s Nora, Grand Zealot.”
“Just Richter,” he reminded her softly, and then panted as she surged against him. “Oh Atom…maybe…”
“Richter?” she gasped, confusion warring with arousal. She could hear the sounds of their coupling echoing throughout the room, and the gasps he made were only spurring on her arousal. God, he sounded so good in the throes of passion, and his hands were busy, groping and squeezing her body, fingers pressing into sensitive spots and working her harder.
“Si- ohh,” he moaned, as her fingers left the railings, fingers digging into his hips as they writhed. “Oh…Nora.”
With a sudden rush, she found herself teetering on the edge of climax. The sound of her name in his voice…that soft, rough tone, the warmth of it…her body was tingling with his noises, and when he said it again, her toes curled, and she swallowed. Closer…
“Richter,” she breathed. “I…”
“Say my name,” he growled, the noise strangled. Could she feel him twitching? Already? When was the last time he’d done this?
“N-name?” she whimpered.
“Brian,” he grunted, and kissed her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him, hips slapping into hers as he fucked her hard as he could. Nora gave in, panting heavily as her climax ripped into her.
“Brian!” she yelled. “Oh, god…”
The Grand Zealot’s face twisted into a wanton, desperate expression, gripping her tightly.
“R-receiv- oh, Atom, fuck, Nora, ughnnn,” he gasped, his words dying on his lips and reincarnating as a series of needy moans. His cock twitched inside her, and then he was coming, holding her close. She stifled his words with a firm kiss, and milked the sensation until he was finally done, and he slipped slowly out of her.
“What…were you…going to say?” she gasped.
“Receive Atom’s blessing,” he finally told her, as the pair got their breath back. “But…I lost control.”
“It…sounded nicer,” she whispered. “I…rather…preferred the moaning.”
He laughed softly.
“You brazen heathen. What a confession.”
She blushed, as Richter’s lips pressed against her brow, and began tracing little sweaty circles into his firm chest.
“Did...why did you follow me into the tunnels?” she murmured, and kissed a little scar just below his collarbone.
“Curiosity,” he rumbled. “What drew our newest Sister to the dangers of the old base?”
“That’s exactly what pulled me here,” she mumbled, as her breathing evened out. His hands stroked up and down her back gently.
“As you said,” he reminded her. “Will you keep exploring now?”
She pressed her lips to his collarbone.
“…Your…uh…blessing…can…can it be given…uh…multiple times?” she stammered, her eyes meeting his. Unless she was mistaken, there was a grin crinkling the corners. A somewhat dirty, hot grin that made her own eyes widen, tongue flicking out across her lower lip.
“Since you’ve yet to release your shame,” he rumbled, “I suppose I will need to bestow it again.”
“Good idea,” she whispered.
He kissed her throat.
“On your knees this time, Sister.”