Chapter 15: Emancipation

Marcus was dead. At least, he thought he was when he saw the flash from the Terrible shotgun directly in front of him. The Nineth Circle bar, which a moment ago was filled with chaos and screaming, was now as silent as a tomb as everyone stared at the headless body of Ahzrukhal lying on the floor. Marcus turned and stared at Charon, his friend, who had just done the unthinkable: he had killed the holder of his contract. Charon began to shake and his breathing became erratic. The Terrible shotgun slipped from his hand, and the ghoul crumpled to the ground and began to wail. The sight of Charon, the strongest man Marcus had met in the wasteland, lying in the fetal position wailing and crying, was more of a shock then the killing if Ahzrukhal. Clover, who a moment ago was prepared to shoot Charon, kneeled down and tried to console him. Only the ghoul was beyond consoling, and he continued to wail. Marcus quickly began searching Ahzrukhal's corps, until at last he found what he was looking for: Charon's contract.

"Charon!" Marcus said as he knelt down in front of the ghoul. "Charon look! It's your contract. Now watch." Marcus torn the contract into several pieces and disposed of them in the trash. Almost immediately Charon stopped wailing and slowly rose to his feet. After securing his shotgun, Charon looked his friend in the eye. "Thank you, Marcus. You have freed me from that murdering bastard. I am forever in your debt."

Marcus began breathing a little easier. "No Charon, you freed yourself - as I knew you could."

Charon shook his head. "I merely pulled the trigger. You set me on the path of freedom, Marcus Lincoln. I will stay by your side until my debt has been repaid to you. My shotgun is yours."

Marcus didn't know what to say, so he just slapped Charon on the shoulder and smiled. Clover, obviously relieved that he was okay, ran into Marcus' arms and kissed him. After retrieving his 2,000 caps, Marcus turned to Quinn, who shook his hand.

"I don't know how you did it, kid, but thank you. You did a good thing for Charon, and this city."

"Thank you, Quinn." He looked over at the corps. "Sorry about the mess."

Quinn chuckled. "Don't worry, our Mr. Handy will clean that shit up. You take care, kid. Watch yourself out there."

"I will." The trio walked out of the Nineth Circle, and as they descended the staircase, everyone in the ghoul city stared at Charon, who was walking with his head higher than normal.

The trio had taken up position near the Northwest Mall metro station which was two-hundred yards from the Lincoln Memorial. The plan was to get some idea about how many Super Mutants were at the memorial before attacking, but instead they spotted over two dozen slavers patrolling the monument. On the front steps were two machine gun nests which contained M240's, two slavers armed with miniguns, and two more armed with grenade launchers.

"Damn it!" Marcus cursed. "The place is practically a fortress. I can see now why Hannibal wants it so badly."

Clover looked through the binoculars and gritted her teeth. "Bastards! Maybe we could sneak in the back way - catch them by surprise."

Charon shook his head. "Even if we could, I fear we do not have the numbers or fire power."

Marcus sighed. "You're right. We'd need an army to take that pla..."

Marcus stopped mid sentence, and both Clover and Charon watched him as a smirk appeared on his face. "Or we could use the next best thing."

Before either of them could ask, Marcus continued. "You two wait for me by the Washington Monument. I'm on pretty good terms with the Brotherhood so you should be fine. I'm going to get help."

"From who, lover?"

The same smirk appeared on Marcus' face. "It's a surprise." Before Clover could press the issue, Marcus pressed his lips to hers, and then ran off in the direction of Underworld.

It was after midnight and Marcus had still not returned. Clover had drifted off to sleep behind a pile of sandbags in front of the Washington Monument, and Charon was keeping watch with the Brotherhood knights. While they weren't happy about a couple of "locals" being inside their perimeter, the BOS soldiers honored Marcus' request.

"Contact!" one of them yelled. The soldiers readied their weapons, and Clover jumped awake.

"What do you got, soldier?" The BOS commander yelled.

"Multiple contacts, none of them Super Mutants. Unable to determine if they're friendlies."

"Hold your positions until we can identify."

Charon strained to see in the darkness. A number of silhouettes were approaching from the right side of the battlefield. The leader raised his hand and shouted: "Hold your fire! We're friendlies!"

Charon recognized the voice. "It's Marcus!"

"Stand down." the BOS commander said.

Marcus and his group double-timed it to the monument, and it was then that his new companions were revealed.

"It's the Rangers!" Clover said.

Reilly, Butcher, Donovan and Brick greeted them with hand shakes and hugs.

"What are all of you doing here?" Clover asked.

"Marcus here came by the compound and said you needed a hand with some 'vermin'." Reilly said. "And since we still owe all of you for saving our hides, figured we'd come and help."

"Beside," Brick said as she patted her minigun's barrel. ", me and Eugene love killing slavers almost as much as we love killing muties!"

Donovan slapped Marcus on the shoulder. "Plus Marcus here promised we could keep any loot we find on these slavers. A mercs gotta make a livin', ya know."

They had taken up position by the metro tunnels once again, and the Rangers spied the slavers defenses. "That's a pretty tough nut to crack," Butcher began, "but I think we can do it. We scouted the memorial out a few weeks back and found an openning in the back."

Marcus turned to Reilly. "If the three of us can get in there and take'm by surprise, we'll have them caught in a cross fire."

Reilly agreed. "Sounds like a plan, but instead of Charon you should take Donovan. Chances are there might be mines and traps back there, and he's the best there is at disarming them."

Marcus nodded. "Okay. Give us about ten minutes; we'll start our attacks together." He turned to Clover. "You ready?"

"Oh I'm always ready, suga."

The team separated and got into position. Just as Reilly had predicted, there were mines and traps placed behind the memorial, but thanks to Donovan they were able to navigate their way through them. When they entered the memorial the trio found themselves at the foot of the headless statue of Abraham Lincoln. Half of the slavers were asleep in cots near the entrance, and the rest were standing guard on the front steps. Donovan looked at his watch. "It's almost time." he whispered as he removed a grenade from his belt and smiled. "What do you say we wake'm up."

Marcus smirked and removed one of his own grenades. "With pleasure."

They both pulled the pins and rolled the grenades towards the cots. Three seconds later the explosions tore into the unsuspecting slavers, killing seven and wounding another six. Outside, Reilly started their attack by firing an RPG into one of the machine gun nest, killing the gun crew. The three Rangers and Charon charged towards the steps of the memorial, blasting away with their weapons. Though they were knocked off balance by the surprise attack, the remaining slavers recovered and opened fire. Reilly and Butcher took up position to the right of the steps, Brick and Charon were on the left. A slaver fired a grenade that landed dangerously close to Reilly, and after being showered by dirt, she yelled over at her heavy weapons specialist. "Brick! Get that motherfucker!"

Brick looked over at Charon. "Watch my ass, hot stuff!" She stood up and fired a full burst with Eugene, shredding the slaver with the grenade launcher and two others in the vicinity. Two other slavers tried to take the exposed Ranger out, but Charon put both of them down with his Terrible shotgun. Inside there was chaos as gunfire and smoke filled the memorial, as Marcus, Clover and Donovan engaged the slavers in close-quarters combat. During the may lay Marcus got separated from his team, and a slaver jumped out from behind a pillar and knocked the tri-beam out of his hand. The slaver tried to punch him, but Marcus remembered what Charon taught him, and he threw the slaver to the ground. Marcus drew his sawed-off shotgun and blasted a hole in the slavers chest. Hearing a noise to his right, Marcus turned and blasted another slaver who was charging him in the face.

Outside, the slavers remaining minigun and M240 machine gun were keeping Reilly's team pinned down. After retrieving his tri-beam, Marcus and his team finally made it to the entrance. Clover shot the slaver with the minigun in the back, and Donovan tossed another grenade, killing the second 240 gun crew. Reilly saw all of this and decided to press the attack, and her team surged forward. The remaining slavers didn't have a chance as they were trapped between the two teams, and the last one was turned to ash by Marcus' tri-beam.

"Well that's that." Reilly said as she lite a cigar. "Out standing as always, Rangers."

"Thank you Reilly." Marcus said. "The Temple of the Union will appreciate this."

Reilly took a drag and blew out the smoke. "Think nothing of it, kid. As I told you: you're one of us now, so anytime you need our help call us." She reached inside her pocket. "This is a ranger transmitter. It's encrypted to our frequency so just use it whenever you need the Calvary."

Marcus took the radio and put it into his pack. Butcher walked up to Reilly. "Donovan cracked opened the safe and found over two-thousand caps. Between that and some of these weapons and ammo I'd say it was a pretty good night."

"Hell yeah!" Brick said enthusiastically.

"Would you and the Rangers mind watching over this place while we go tell Hannibal that it's safe to come?" Marcus asked.

"No problem, kid." Reilly said. "We'll hold down the fort for ya."

It was dawn by the time Marcus and his companions had made it back to the Temple. After giving Hannibal the picture of the Memorial and telling him what had happened, the ex-slave leader was almost brought to tears. "You have made our dream a reality. There is no way we can ever repay you."

Marcus didn't say anything. He simply reached into his pack and began removing the other Lincoln artifact he took from the museum. Hannibal was amazed by all of them (except for the hat, which he called ridiculous, but he wore it none the less). When Marcus presented him with Lincoln's rifle, Hannibal refused. "You should have it; it is the least we can do for all you have done for us."

Marcus shook his head. "I have plenty of guns..."

Hannibal stepped closer. "No Marcus, you should wield this rifle. Just as Lincoln was the Great Emancipator, you Marcus Lincoln are the Emancipator of the Waste. This rifle will serve you better then it will ever serve me."

Marcus was awe struck as he listened to the title that Hannibal had anointed him with. He had been called many things since he'd left the Vault: Lone Wanderer, Wasteland Saint, now Emancipator. It was almost overwhelming. "Th...thank you, Hannibal. I will treasure it. So how long will it take all of you to reach the Memorial?"

"If we move out at once we should reach it by tomorrow evening."

Marcus hooked the rifle to his pack. "Good, we'll travel with you with our battle truck as far as we can, then make the rest of the journey on foot."

The group of ex-slaves emerged from the Northwest Mall metro tunnels around five o'clock the following day. As promised the Rangers had kept watch over the sacred sight, and they had even cleared out the bodies of the slavers for them. Marcus and his companions walked to the foot of the steps with Hannibal. "Well Hannibal here we are."

Tears began streaming down Hannibal's cheeks. "Thanks to you we will make this a symbol of hope for all slaves seeking freedom. Thank you, again." He shook hands with Marcus and ran up the steps. The three friends began walking back towards the metro when Clover stopped and stared at the ex-slaves running and leaping up the steps to freedom. Marcus realized that Clover was no longer walking with them, and he back tracked to approach her. "What's wrong, Clover?"

Clover looked at him, then back toward the Memorial. Something about the look in her eyes told Marcus what she wanted. "You want to stay with them, don't you?"

Clover looked back at him with a look of guilt on her face. "Oh lover, you know I love traveling with you. But...for the first time in a long time...I feel like I belong somewhere. For the first time I feel like...I'm home."

Marcus looked into his companions eyes, and it was there that he realized that Clover was not the same girl that helped him to escape from Paradise Falls. Gone was the hardened ex-slave who didn't care about anyone but herself. This Clover felt compassion, and she knew what it meant to be a friend. "I understand, Clover." He reached into his pocket and presented her with the slave collar key. "I think you're finally ready for this."

Clover hesitated at first, but soon she took the key and placed it into her collar. She closed her eyes, held her breath, and turned the key. The collar fell off her neck and landed at her feet, and she released the breath she was holding and opened her eyes.

Marcus smiled. "How do you feel?"

Clover took a deep breath of air. "Free!" She threw her arms around him and kissed him passionately. After a few moments they pressed their foreheads together and stared into each others eyes.

"I will miss you." Marcus sighed.

"Stay with me." Clover pleaded.

As tempting as it was, Marcus shook is head. "I'd love to but I can't."

Clover's heart sank, but she knew what his answer would be even before she asked him. "I know; you have to find your father." She put her arms around his neck. "We had some good times though, didn't we suga?"

Marcus smiled. "Yeah, we sure shook the pillars of heaven, didn't we?"

Clover laughed. "Fuck yeah, we did!"

Marcus kissed her. "No one in the Waste is going to forget about us for a long time."

"No, they won't forget you, Lone Wanderer. People are going to be telling their grand kids about you. But no ones going to remember a whore like me."

Marcus shook his head. "I told you, there's more to you then that."

Clover smiled at him. "Yes you did. And for the first time...I actually believe it. And It's all because of you."

Marcus swallowed the knot forming in his throat. "You helped me as much as I helped you."

Clover scoffed at the statement, but Marcus continued. "No it's true. You helped me to get through the worst time of my life. Without you, I would've either died out there or gone insane. And I will always love you for that."

For the first time, Marcus saw Clover begin cry. They kissed passionately one last time, and Clover flashed him a seductive grin. "After you find your father, why don't come back here and we can...you know."

Marcus laughed. "I just might do that. You take care of yourself."

"You too, lover. See you around."

They release from their embrace and Marcus watched as Clover ran back towards the memorial. As he watched his companion join up with Hannibal's people, tears of both joy and sadness filled his eyes. He was sad that Clover would no longer be with him, but happy that she had finally found a place in this world where she could find a measure of peace. After wiping his tears away, he re-joined Charon who had kept a respectable distance. Marcus looked up at his friend. "You can stay too, if you want to."

Charon shook his head. "As tempting as that is, I still owe you a debt which I intend to pay. Not because I have to, but because I choose to."

Marcus was relieved. "I'm glad to hear you say that; I could use the company." The two friends began walking side by side towards the metro.

"So where to?" Charon asked. "Vault 112?"

Marcus nodded. "Yes, and this time Charon there is nothing, nothing, that's going to stop me from finding my father."

Not five seconds later Marcus' PIPBOY began to beep. He looked at the touch screen and saw one word flashing across it: Vault-Tech.

"What the hell?" He asked. Suddenly the beeping was replaced by a robotic voice: "This is an automated emergency message from Vault 101..."

"Amata!"

Without saying another word, Marcus took off running, with a confused Charon trying to keep up.