This was a particular idea I had that just refused to get out of my brain. So I figured I'd go ahead and get it out of my mind.

Enjoy.

"Blue... this is bad. Like real bad."

"Don't worry so much Piper."

"Don't worry?! They're about to eat us!"

"No they're not."

"They're super mutants! It's kinda what they do!"

"Eh... meat talk too much." One of the aforementioned super mutants reached up with a wooden oar to poke Piper in the side.

"Ow!" Piper snarled. "Back off freak."

The orange skinned hulk wasn't fazed by the reporter's outburst and continued lightly jabbing her with the pole until she shut up. The only reason he wasn't doing the same to Nathaniel was because the man was tied up back to back with Piper. It was just bad luck Piper was the one facing the creature.

"I get down from here I'm killing you first!" Piper growled at the offending super mutant. "Just you watch!"

Sure Piper had been in quite a few hairy situations in her quest for the news. More than a few extra ever since meeting Nathaniel, but this, this was a new one.

Seriously, hanging upside down over a cooking pot tied back to back with your boyfriend about to be cooked and munched on by super mutants? This was something Piper could cross off the bucket list. At least she would if they managed to get out of this one. But there was one very important thing she had to do first if they escaped.

Punch Nathaniel as hard as she possibly could.

How the hell was her boyfriend so calm right now? He'd barely said a word since they were caught scouting the mutant lair in this old factory. The only time he did speak was to reassure Piper when she started to voice her worries, of which there was ten metric craptons to worry about.

Piper really didn't want to be a super mutant's lunch!

"Tell me you gotta plan Blue." Piper whispered, lest the mutant decide to start poking her again.

"Yup." Was Nathaniel's clipped response.

"Yeah?" Piper queried. "And that is?"

"We wait."

"What the hell!" Piper growled and started struggling with their binds again. If they got loose, they'd just fall into the boiling... whatever was in the pot below. But right now Piper wasn't trying to get away, she just wanted to free enough of her body so she could hit Nathaniel with something, anything. Hell she would settle for a pinky toe. "We're going to wait to be eaten alive?"

"Of course not." Nathaniel said it like he was chiding a kid for saying something silly. We're getting out of here in about..." Her boyfriend started moving then, but Piper couldn't see what he was trying to do. "By now should be about ten seconds, give or take for distance."

One

Two

Three

"What's happening in ten seconds?"

Four

Five

Six

"Just sit back and enjoy the show my dear Piper."

Seven

Eight

Nine

"What show?"

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Right then there was a loud banging from the nearby rusted metal loading doors. Followed by another, and another, and another. These weren't light taps either, something was hitting hard enough to not only put huge dents in the enormous doors, but the object was breaking loose from it's rusted position.

"What that?" One of the super mutants approached the metal wall just as another impact broke the door free from its slot to fall and squish the super mutant like a radroach.

Standing in the doorway was a sentry bot. At least that's what it looked like from Piper's upside down perspective. The robot slid forward right over the door with its four legs, crushing the dead super mutant further beneath its bulk.

"Is that a bucket head?" A different super mutant yelled with glee.

"GENERAL LOCATION CONFIRMED." The sentry bot spoke in it's usual rough mechanical voice. "COMMENCING PACIFICATION."

Those five words were the only warning before the sentry bot raised two giant mini-guns mounted to its arms and opened fire.

The super mutants panicked instantly and fell all over each other in pathetic attempts to escape the torrent of bullets from the robot. Even as they tried to get away, the hulking monsters were being cut down with a merciless fury only robots could achieve.

One particularly foolish super mutant attempted to rush the sentry bot from it's side with a super sledge but the robot saw the attack coming. Just as the mutant pulled its weapon back for a swing, the sentry bot twirled around at it's middle and clocked the mutant in it's exposed stomach with one of it's weapons. The blow so strong that the super mutant stumbled away with a cry of pain, bones having been broken on impact. But the sentry bot wasn't done, charging forward at full speed the robot body-slammed the super mutant knocking it further back and into the cooking pot. As the scalding hot contents of the container splattered all over the super mutant, the sentry bot finished it off with a burst of fire into it's abdomen.

Piper watched in awe as the sentry bot tore through the super mutants like paper. Most fled, but the few that did try to return fire found their bullets bouncing harmlessly off the robot's reinforced armor plating.

The reporter was so distracted by their robot rescuer, she almost missed that the sentry bot wasn't alone. Shortly after the machine rolled into the room and started shooting, several other people rushed in right behind him taking cover in various points. Being out in the open, the sentry bot drew most of the fire. Allowing the others to take precise shots on the fleeing mutants.

"What's going on? Nathaniel asked from Piper's back. She'd almost forgot he was facing away from the action. But Pipe could hear the smugness in his voice though. He may not be able to see what was happening, but he knew full well the answer to his own query.

"This sentry bot just rolled in and shot to hell everything moving." Piper retorted.

"Told you to enjoy the show." Nathaniel chuckled.

"You knew, wait a second... he said general!" Piper exclaimed, shocked at having missed that detail until now.

"General! Hold on, we got you." One of the men that accompanied the sentry bot dashed over along with several others to cut the rope holding the duo in the air. For a second Piper thought they were going to drop to the concrete but the men caught the rope and lowered them down gently.

Now that she could see clearly, Piper recognized the uniform worn by the Minutemen regulars. More than that, the Minuteman speaking was one Piper had met. Troy, if her memory was correct. Nothing explained the sentry bot though.

"Fine work guys." Nathaniel took his modified rifle Troy handed off to him, reloaded the weapon, and brought the gun to his shoulder. All in one smooth motion. "SARGE, report."

Wait... SARGE? Last time Piper saw the Minutemen's old sentry bot, it was in pieces in Nathaniel's workshop acting as a glorified alarm. Now it was not only mobile, but surprisingly effective and laying the smack-down on super mutants.

"AREA CLEAR GENERAL. SENSORS INDICATE THREE HOSTILES RETREATED, ONE BADLY WOUNDED." The sentry bot answered, mini-guns still trained on the direction the super mutants ran. "POSSIBLY MORE FURTHER WITHIN."

"That's what I like to hear." Nathaniel nodded his approval. " Piper and I will press on from here. Troy, you and SARGE take your team and circle around to the front entrance. Remember people, this might not have been all of them. So watch your backs and check your corners."

The Minutemen and SARGE departed the way they came with varying comments along the lines of "affirmative" and "yes sir".

Now that she was once more alone with her boyfriend, Piper was finally able to speak again. "What the hell was that?"

"That milady, was the Cavalry Protocol." Nathaniel scooped up Piper's own weapon and tossed the gun to the reporter. "We're just lucky SARGE was in the neighborhood to pick up the signal." At Piper's confused look, the man continued. "Took a page from the Brotherhood's playbook, they use distress pulsers as S.O.S beacons. Had to tweak the signal a bit so it can't be picked up on the same frequency. I programed SARGE to be able to pick up one of my custom beacons. When we got caught, I triggered the signal on my pip-boy. Cue sentry bot rescue."

"Power armor's one thing, even raiders sometimes have that, but doesn't the Brotherhood frown on their tech being used by others?" Piper arched an eyebrow knowing full well Nathaniel didn't give half a crap what the Brotherhood of Steel thought.

"Details details. They never asked for the pulsers back when we went looking for Brandis and his team so I just held on to them." Nathaniel shrugged. "I'm using SARGE to field test the device I built but if it works, I might start equipping patrols with them. Bit more lower profile than a flare-gun. Longer range too."

Piper had so many more questions, but she noticed something when she opened her mouth.

The super mutant with the oar wasn't among the dead!

"I'll happily give an... in-depth interview for my lovely reporter." Nathaniel wrapped an arm loosely around Piper's waist, his choice of words and tone making her cheeks turn scarlet. "But first I think we have a few asses to kick. What do you say babe? Ready for a night out on the factory?"

"Aww you know just what to say to make a lady swoon." Piper pretended to faint, knowing Nathaniel's arm was holding her up. "But seriously, I call dibs on the son of a bitch with the stick."

"Whatever the lady wishes." Nathaniel chuckled. "Let's go have some fun."

Shorter than I like doing, but as I said I just needed to get this idea out. Next story will be Piper's visit to the castle I mentioned in the last story's notes.