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Author's Chapter Notes:

We've just passed the halfway mark of the story.

Amy’s loud voice echoed through Drew’s head, rousing him from his sleep. At first, he thought she was standing over him calling his name, but her voice sounded muffled.

He opened his eyes and tried to sit up only to realize that he was being held in place by Gemma’s huge arms. It wasn’t the worst place to be in the world as his head was nestled rather comfortably between Gemma’s huge breasts which explained why Amy’s voice hadn’t been clear.

She wasn’t there, though, meaning he had either dreamed it or she was trying to talk to him using the intercom system. Then again she could be standing right next to Gemma and he’d never be able to see her due to the massive breasts blocking most of his vision.

A few moments later, as he heard her muffled voice again, he realized it was the latter.

“Gemma!” he shouted loudly as he tried to squirm free of her grip. “Wake up, I think something’s wrong!”

Her response was to squeeze him tighter, but thankfully not uncomfortably so.

Drew, where are you?” Amy’s voice echoed. “You need to get up to the office now!”

“Gemma!” he yelled out. “Something’s wrong, Gem! Let me go!”

He squirmed some more and managed to get an arm free. As he tried to pull himself out of her grip, he unintentionally placed her hand on her breast and he felt her large hard nipple poke his palm.

“Hmmmmnn,” Gemma hummed quietly.

“Gem!” Drew shouted again. “Something’s wrong!”

“What’s that?” Gemma asked sleepily. “What’s up?”

Amy’s voice echoed over the intercom again. Drew, they can’t get close because of the turrets and you’re the only one that can disable them!”

Gemma’s grip on him eased and he wasted no time sliding down her chest, out of her grip and landed on her tail between her legs.

“Sorry,” he said as he quickly climbed off.

“What’s happening?” Gemma asked as she rolled onto her side.

“I don’t know,” Drew answered as he glanced back at her. “Something’s wrong.”

He hurried out of the basement and made his way up to the manager’s office where he found Amy and Veronica. Amy was behind the desk while Veronica was standing on the near side. Neither of them looked particularly happy.

Veronica scowled. “There you are,” she said angrily.

Amy peered over the computer “Where the fuck were you? How do we turn off the fucking turrets?”

“What’s going on?” he asked as he rushed over to the desk.

Amy gestured out of the window and he went to look. To his surprise and fear, he saw Lotte along with Kiki and the others standing by the main gates. His heart rate immediately jumped, especially when he noticed they looked injured.

“Did our turrets do that?” he asked.

“No, they were attacked,” Veronica answered.

“Who was attacked?” Gemma’s voice asked from behind.

They looked behind to see her step into the room.

“Your friends,” Drew told her as he stepped behind the terminal and quickly disabled the turrets.

He looked up at Gemma. “Tell them the turrets are off. They’re at the main gate. They should be able to approach now. Also, tell them to go around back. I’ll open the dispatch warehouse door and they should be able to get in that way. It might be a squeeze for Lotte, though.”

“I’ll join you,” Veronica said as she followed Gemma out the door, their feet thumping along the concrete. With her gone, Amy scowled at him as she rested her hands on her hips. She didn’t look happy.

“I can explain,” he said. “I was down in the basement with Gem.”

Her look of anger turned to one of confusion. “I sent Jack down there. He told me he didn’t see you.”

“Maybe he didn’t,” Drew said with a shrug as he looked back out of the window.

He saw Gemma run across the parking lot with Veronica past the old armored tank towards the gates. Lotte ducked down and the two spoke before the group began their approach.

“I’ll head down and open the dispatch warehouse door,” he said.

“I’ll come with you.”

They both left the office and made their way down the stairs to the warehouse where he made his way quickly to the shutter control. He slammed his hand down on the button and the door slid open with a shower of sparks and an ear-piercing screech.

“Oh, shit!” he heard Amy utter from the far side of the warehouse as a large shadow moved in front of the door.

Drew gulped as he moved away, keeping his gaze on the open door as Lotte moved into view. The warehouse door itself was maybe sixteen or seventeen feet in height, meaning that they saw her from her belly downwards.

Drew stepped beside Amy on the far side of the warehouse by the interior doors and watched as Lotte got down onto her hands and knees, the ground quaking under the pressure. She peered inside, her eyes locking onto them.

“Nice of you to drop by,” Drew said loudly, thankful that his voice didn’t betray his fear.

She crawled inside, the others following behind. Then, without saying a word, or even asking permission, she grabbed one of the racks along the walls and ripped them out of the ground, causing highly stacked boxes of pre-assembled robots to come crashing down to the ground. She then shoved it towards Kiki who was still standing outside.

“Dispose of this.”

“Uh, sure,” Kiki said, taking the large rack from her.

Lotte was far from done. She grabbed the rack nearest and an Assaultron tumbled free and fell nearly twenty feet, striking the ground only a few feet in front of them.

Amy let out a cry of shock as the two retreated through the doors and into the hallway.

“She’s smashing the place up,” Amy said unnecessarily.

“Yeah, I can tell,” Drew grumbled. “I was hoping to grab those robots eventually once I had fixed the crane.”

“What’s that noise?”

The both of them looked around to see Jack approaching with Sarah and Suzy, the Nanny robot.

“Charlotte is making herself at home,” Drew answered.

“So they’re all here?” Sarah asked, looking genuinely terrified. “Jack said something about them showing up.”

“Yeah, it looks that way.”

Amy chimed in. “They were apparently attacked. I don’t know much of the details.”

“Which means,” Drew began with a sigh, “that this isn’t a fleeting visit.”

Sarah looked stricken. “Back to sleepless nights, then.”

More crashes echoed from the warehouse making Drew wince and Sarah whimper in fright. He hoped that Charlotte wasn’t going to completely wreck the warehouse, but he knew that no amount of hoping would change the reality.

Thankfully, the sounds of crashing and smashing eventually stopped. As Drew took a step towards the double doors that led into the warehouse he heard Charlotte’s voice boom. “I wish to speak with all the humans that are staying here!”

The voice was so loud that it made the walls and floor rumble. Sarah hid behind Suzy, gripping onto her white shell tightly.

“I guess that’s our cue,” Drew muttered.

He could already tell that this wasn’t going to go well. Charlotte undoubtedly believed that the old Robco plant was now hers and he anticipated her telling him and the others to; and in no uncertain terms, to ‘fuck off’ as the old saying went.

“Come on, then,” Drew said as he rested his hands on the doors. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Do we have to?” Sarah asked. “Maybe I should head back to the nurse’s office?”

Drew shook his head. “I think it’s best we get this whole thing done with. She’s asked for all of us and unless you want to piss her off, you have to go into the warehouse with us.”

“Shit!” she uttered as she gripped Suzy’s shell even harder.

He pushed the doors open and heard a whimper from Sarah before he heard Jack utter. “Oh, shit, they’re huge. They didn’t look that big from the gate.”

Drew stepped inside the warehouse, followed by Amy. Jack was more reticent and Sarah allowed Suzy to guide her inside while she continued to hide behind her.

Charlotte’s gaze was on Drew and she didn’t look very happy. All he knew was that they had been attacked but he didn’t know by whom, at least not yet. He was certain that she was going to tell them.

Not a second later, she did. “We were attacked by people in power armor. They had missile launchers, laser and plasma weapons, and mini-nukes. I want to know how they knew we were there?”

Drew glanced at the others before responding. “How or why would I know that?”

Gemma came to his defense immediately. “He wouldn’t do that.”

Veronica then added, “None of them would.”

Charlotte looked at the two of them. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yes,” Gemma said firmly. “We are.”

Sekka added her voice. “I agree.”

“So do I,” Kiki said.

“Same,” Axa agreed.

Charlotte’s gaze fell onto Suzy and Sarah. “Who is that hiding behind the robot!? I want to see your face.”

Drew stepped over to Sarah and rested his hands on her trembling shoulders. “It’s okay, Sarah. We won’t let anything happen to you.”

Slowly, Drew helped her step out from behind Suzy, where she promptly stared at the floor.

“Look up, I want to see your face.”

Sarah turned her face upwards but didn’t make eye contact.

“You are the only one I don’t recognize,” Charlotte said.

Sekka answered. “She’s the doctor we told you about.

“I don’t know her. She could be the one that told.”

“No,” Veronica said firmly. “Sarah wouldn’t do that. She has a kind soul.”

“We’ve dealt with kind souls before,” Charlotte said. “They turned out not to be as kind as they pretended to be. She could have talked.”

“She hasn’t had the chance even if she wanted to talk,” Drew said. “No one here is to blame.”

Charlotte rested her hand on her stomach. “You know, all these lies are making me feel a little peckish.”

Kiki stepped in front of her, the ground quaking under her heavy footfalls. “You are not eating anyone!” she shouted.

Sarah began to shake so much that Drew thought she was going to collapse.

Charlotte glared down at them past Kiki. “All they have to do is tell me the truth, then I won’t have to.”

Drew found himself growing angry. He stepped in front of Sarah, shielding her as he confronted her. “The only one here who knows where that facility you lived at was me!”

“So, you want me to eat you, then?”

Drew pushed down the rising fear in his gut. Memories of her holding him above her gaping maw filled his head. He looked down at the ground, averting his gaze.

“Scared little man?” she mocked.

“Leave him alone!” Gemma shouted as she moved over, placing herself between him and Charlotte. “If you must know, I have an idea of who it might be. Drew found out a few days ago.”

“You have my ear,” Charlotte said.

“You mentioned people in power armor,” Gemma said. “Well, some matching that description were spotted on the southern east-west highway. A caravan went missing down there and they had robots that the caravan was using with them.”

Plucking up some courage, Drew stepped beside Gemma. “There are three groups that have been known to use power armor, though not all three use the same power armor.”

“Explain,” Charlotte said.

“What color was their armor?”

“Metal gray.”

“Which means it probably wasn’t the Enclave. Their armor was rumored to be black. That leaves Brotherhood of Steel and NCR, though NCR power armor is heavily modified and they usually just use bits and pieces to cobble together something of their own.”

One of the other Greenclaws which Drew didn’t know the name of spoke up. “They had gears on their armor and a sword. A sort of emblem painted onto their armor.”

“That sounds like Brotherhood,” Drew said, not liking the implications. “If they’re up here then that’s bad news. This region has been cut off from the wastes in its own little bubble. It looks like that is about to end.”

Charlotte slowly shook her head. She didn’t appear convinced. “Am I supposed to believe that he has nothing to do with it? Not a week later after we show him our home a small army shows up and he’s somehow not involved? I do not like coincidences.”

Gemma stood firm. “He’s not lying. He wouldn’t lie to me and he wouldn’t put my life at risk.”

“It wasn’t your life at risk, though, was it?” Charlotte asked, peering down at them from up high. “He sent them after us!”

“I didn’t send them anywhere!” Drew shouted. “And if you thought I had, then why come here? Why not go elsewhere? Why even have this conversation in the first place?”

“Then explain how they knew where we were?”

“I don’t know,” Drew said, looking down at the floor. “But if they’re Brotherhood, then it’s possible they knew the place existed. It’s also possible they sent out a scout.”

The large Greenclaw Drew still didn’t know the name of nodded eagerly. “Bek did kill a man the other day who was snooping around. He had a radio on him.”

Drew nodded to himself. She had probably killed a scout.. “No matter what you think, Charlotte,” he said, looking up at her, “it’s clear that we have to prepare. First of all, what happened to those that attacked you?”

It was Kiki who answered. “We killed most of them. But we were forced to flee.”

“So they’ve taken the facility?”

Axa shook her head. “Unlikely. They mini-nuked the fuck out of it. The place was half collapsed when we left.”

Drew rubbed his chin in thought. “Which means their primary goal was to kill all of you.”

“They managed to kill some of us,” Kiki said sadly.

“Varan and Darla gave their lives bravely,” Charlotte said sounding almost proud.

It was clear to Drew that his slacking was going to bite them in the ass. He shouldn’t have made the excursions to the hospital or lazed around as he had been doing. Instead, he should have been working on bringing the factory back online.

He took in a deep breath. “We have to prepare,” he said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that they will eventually show up here and when we do we need to be ready.” He looked back up at Charlotte. “Were you followed?”

“No, we were not,” Charlotte answered.

Despite her apparent certainty, Drew decided it was best to err on the side of caution. If they saw the Greenclaws head in the direction of the factory, then there was absolutely zero doubt in his mind that they would send a scouting party to investigate and it would happen sooner rather than later. When it did, it was likely they would be non-the-wiser and an army could be descending down on them before they knew it.

Drew ran his hand through his hair. “Things have become extremely complicated very, very quickly.”

Gemma agreed. “Yes, they have.”

“The question,” Sekka spoke, “is what do we do? We can’t hide here forever.”

“No,” Drew said loudly. “We need to find out where they are hiding out. We need to build an army of robots and we strike first.”

Charlotte frowned down at him. She didn’t look impressed. “And how do you suppose we find out where their base is?”

“I could go into town and ask around. Jarik already knows about them so I might ask him if he has any more insight.”

“No,” Charlotte said. “I do not trust that you won’t tell someone we’re here. For all we know, you’re the one that sent that army after us in the first place.”

“You know I wasn’t,” Drew said, unable to believe the accusation. “We need to do something. Those power-armored goons haven’t just attacked you. They’ve attacked a caravan as well. Possibly more.”

“If you are speaking the truth.”

“He is,” Veronica said, backing him up.

Charlotte wasn’t impressed. “Oh, so you were there when he was informed of this?”

“I don’t need to have been there to trust him, Lotte. You shouldn’t either. This is Drew we’re talking about.”

Charlotte visibly clenched her jaw before she looked away, something which took the others by surprise. It seemed that she was actually relenting on something, or at the very least admitting to herself that he wasn’t the type to betray his friends.

Kiki then spoke up. “Actually, we might know where they’re coming from.”

All eyes fell on her and Charlotte’s gaze was intense.

Kiki explained. “We know of an old military base down south. It was marked on a map, remember?”

Axa spoke up. “I do. The map is probably gone now, obliterated with most of our home.”

“It’s also not guaranteed they’re there,” Sekka said.

Drew disagreed. “Oh, they’ll be there. They didn’t lug all that firepower across the country. The military base is the type of place they like to occupy. That also means that they are well-equipped and have likely sent scouting parties all over. One might have even been here.”

Charlotte peered down her snout at him. “If they try anything, then we’ll be ready.”

Kiki wasn’t so sure. “That didn’t go well back at the facility. The place was almost flattened and we’re all suffering from burns from missiles, laser fire, and even more burns from being too close to a mini nuke blast.”

Charlotte growled with displeasure. “I am getting tired of you constantly testing my authority. I am in charge here.”

Drew raised a finger. “Actually, you’re not. You are a guest here.”

Charlotte’s head snapped to him as another growl escaped her throat. He took a few steps back in fear before he was able to compose himself.

“This place belongs to me now,” Charlotte said firmly. “I am the one that will make the decisions around here. You humans are lucky that I’m allowing you to stay!”

Kiki shook her head. “No, you’re not in charge here. Drew is, and I trust him to make the right decisions.”

“I don’t care what you think, Kiki. I am the matriarch. You follow me or you can leave!”

Drew had long since grown tired of Charlotte’s power trip, though there wasn’t much he could really do about it. Not when she could crush him to death with a single slap of her hand or poke of her clawed finger.

Kiki, on the other hand, was more than happy to keep on challenging her. “We’re family,” she told Charlotte. “This includes Drew, Amy, and Jack…”

“And Sarah,” Veronica interrupted.

“…And her,” Kiki accepted. “We might no longer be humans, but that doesn’t mean we have to distrust our friends just because they still are.”

Drew latched on to what she was saying. “You are all from Paulson,” he said loudly. “We lived together in a tight-knit community for years. Charlotte, you were the newcomer, hell, most in Paulson saw me, Jack, Amy, and Gemma as newcomers too, even after we’d been there for five years. It didn’t matter how new you were, though, as you were a valued member of the community.”

Charlotte’s gaze on him was harsh. He half expected her to either squash him flat or pick him up and eat him whole. Thankfully, she did neither.

Drew continued, despite not at all feeling safe. “We mourned you all. What happened broke us, made us feel worthless. We made our way to Colville to try and reconnect, but even there none of us were really happy. I saw bringing this plant online as a challenge, as a means to take my mind off how I have lost nearly everyone I have ever cared about.”

Drew looked at Amy and Jack. “That’s the reason I didn’t want you going out there with me on scavenger hunts. It was because I feared something would happen to you.”

He focused back on Charlotte. “I’m not gonna let anything like that happen again. Not while there’s something I can do about it. This place is almost operational, we just need a few more days, maybe less and we’ll be able to start producing Sentry bots. There’s also a few more turrets that need to be repaired and brought back online. When they find us here, I will do my very best to ensure that all of you remain safe. That is my promise.”

Axa stepped over to him and turned to face Charlotte. “I trust him.”

Sekka was the next to show her support. “I agree. Drew, Jack, Amy, they are our friends.”

“Yeah, they are,” Veronica agreed.

Gemma was the last one to speak. “And you know where Kiki and I stand.”

Charlotte growled. “Fine, I will trust you. For now. But if you betray us, then you will find a place in my stomach.”

Something in Drew broke. “Would you stop threatening people with that!” he shouted.

He didn’t know if it was the deep-seated fear from being held above her gaping maw a week earlier, but his fight and flight response had been triggered and he had decided to fight.

“You have to stop eating people. If you eat a single person while here, then you’re out!”

The Greenclaw that was Charlotte’s right-hand spoke. “You cannot do that! She is the matriarch. She decides where she can and cannot stay and who she can and cannot eat!”

Drew didn’t respond. Instead, he turned and left, followed closely by Sarah and Suzy then by Jack, Amy, and finally Gemma.

As the doors closed behind them, he heard Gemma speak. “You know he’s right, Lotte,” she said. “We’re in this together.”

Drew hoped that Charlotte could see that. Unlike the others, it seemed that the thirty-foot Greenclaw enjoyed being a monster and he feared that sooner or later she was going to have to be dealt with.

Thankfully, he had plenty on his side. There was the one called Bek, the one he didn’t know the name of, one that had yet to show her allegiance; which he assumed was the one the others called Glower, and there was the other one that had glared through the whole encounter, and then there was Charlotte herself. That meant it was five claws potentially against five and with Charlotte’s size that meant the opposing team had the edge. At least until he built his robots.

Still, he hoped that he could appeal to what humanity she had left. He didn’t want to have to destroy her, but at the moment he felt that Charlotte might not give him any other option.

He hoped he was wrong. At that moment, though, it didn’t matter. He had to get to work. He had to bring the old Robco plant back online.

There was no other choice.

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