"RADSCORPIONS!" Adam yelled out moments before several other radscorpions began to pop out of the ground ready to kill the intruders. It was clear to Adam immediately that they had walked into a nest. He did know that Radscorpions were immune to radiation, the scrap yard had a soft dirt ground, and the scrap yard looked, at least mildly, untouched by other scavengers. He had already considered that something could be here, but this was far outside his expectations. Walking into an unseen Radscorpion nest was not at all what he planned to find here.
Deccanus was the first one to act, throwing his spear through the Radscorpion that was charging Adam, impaling it through the torso, while the creature seemed to survive the impact it was mortally wounded and stuck in place so it was no longer an immediate threat.
Eve dove forward at the largest Scorpion, a scorpion a few times larger than even herself that also appeared to be glowing and drove her spinning claws into its carapace. Green blood began to spurt as her claws began to drill through the armor, but before she could make too much headway the stinger tail hit into her chassis with a enough blow to send her flying back a few feet and sprawl her onto the ground.
While Eve was engaging what was likely the boss of the nest, Pearl was showing off her batting and golf swings as she swung the super sledge hard enough that the shell of the two radscorpions she hit next to her died immediately.
Adam wasted no time too, with the spear implanted into the radscorpion near him and no others immediately threatening him he pulled the Laser rifle from his bag and began to lay down fire on the huge Radscorpion that was about to stab at Eve again.
His actions were not a moment too late as it caused the scorpion to recoil in pain giving Eve a moment to roll out of the way of the stinger tail that was intent on stabbing her.
Adam was content to continue to lay down fire on the big one however he heard more skittering sounds nearby and, coming out from around a pile of scrap made up of broken cars and dishwashers, more radscorpions could be seen entering the field of battle.
Adam had no choice but to switch targets and lay down fire on the Radscorpions now coming to reinforce the others. He trusted Eve would be able to handle herself. His laser rifle lit up the scrapyard with a brilliant red as he killed one, then another, then another, as the group slowly got closer to his position. He had managed to take 3 down from the group but he had not managed to stop them from getting to the fight.
It was Pearl, however, who met them in battle first, charging head first into the ranks of equally swelling and dwindling radscorpions swinging her Super sledge widely bowling over a few of the smaller ones in her initial charge.
The radscorpions immediately began to nip at her with their pincers, one even landing a stinger tail hit on her but she did not seem to slow down. Instead she seemed to only pick up a pace as she screamed out in rage, literally grabbing the radscorpion that stung her by the stinger and then throwing it hard into a nearby scrap pile where it got impaled on some rusty metal.
Adam did his best to clear the ones encircling Pearl, mostly focusing on stalling or hurting the radscorpions to buy Pearl the breathing room rather than outright killing them. He was learning quickly that laser fire seemed to be less effective on the Radscorpions. While it was the gun he was most comfortable with, he needed higher fire power, so instead he threw his laser rifle back into his bag and then unslung his scoped rifle and began to use that instead. He could immediately see the difference within moments. Unlike the laser rifle fire which seemed to be met with mixed results on the hard and sturdy carapace of the radscorpions, the higher caliber rifle proved more than effective in taking down the targets.
His efforts were bearing fruit as, despite being hit from all sides, the tide of scorpions near Pearl were beginning to thin. He could not look away yet, however, he needed to stay focused. So he did not stop firing at the crowd until there were only a few left near Pearl, which she seemed more than equipped to handle.
Adam was content to leave the last few to her as he turned to check on Eve and Deccanus. Eve was still battling with the huge Radscorpion though it was now missing one pincer, clearly lasered off by Eve's head laser, and the pointed part of its tail was clearly ripped off and still bleeding.
Deccanus, for his part, was helping her. Firing his repeater into the center mass of the giant scorpion as Eve kept its attention. They had already seemed to fall into a good rhythm for working together. Which was great to see.
Adam was about to join that fight, help them take down the big threat when the worst case scenario occurred.
Through the pile of scrap that stood behind Adam another, an even larger radscorpion burst straight through the pile, throwing pieces of junk metal all over forcing Adam to dodge a car that had fallen and was about to crush him. This one was massive, it was the size of a truck, it truly was a monster. The only saving grace of the situation was that this radscorpion was not glowing, so that was something, at least.
Still, this was bad, Eve and Deccanus had their hands full and Pearl was still busy cleaning up the remaining few smaller scorpions. Which left only himself to handle this new enemy. He really regretted not bringing Rae here now, but there was no time for regrets, only action.
So, with a roll on the ground to change his firing position after narrowly dodging the car, he fired right into the eye of the giant scorpion causing it to rear back in pain and, just as he hoped, focus its attention solely on him. This was a dangerous prospect, obviously, but it was better that it was him and not his allies who were already otherwise engaged.
As the massive stinger the size of his chest came down fast and hard from above, he dove out of the way and behind a fallen stove that had been thrown to the ground when it burst through the pile of scrap.
He fired at it again and then stood up, and ran. He didn't specifically have a plan yet, but he needed to stall for time at least, that much was certain. He had confidence in his friends, they could win their fights, he just needed to stall until they were done. And, until that point came, he would do as much damage to this creature as he could.
He narrowly dodged a charge of the creature from behind as he dove off to the side while it continued forward, through another scrap pile, and through the fence, taking the fence with it as it tried to stop. Adam did not waste the short chance he had when the creature's back was to him so he fired his rifle twice, both times hitting the stinger tail. He saw blood draw, trickling down the tail, however unlike as he had hoped, the tail still seemed more than functional, so he resumed his run.
Adam weaved through the piles of scrap in the scrap yard as the creature chased after him, blood in its eyes, and Adam in its sights. While Adam was fast and noble, able to weave through the piles of junk as he moved, the creature was much less elegant and much less careful, bowling through furniture and junk alike. It did not seem to have the mass to completely move a car, however, but it was large enough that it could either walk over it without stopping, or push the car slightly if needed.
Still, despite the two varying methods of navigating the maze-like scrapyard Adam was able to keep pace. He even once had a moment to turn around and fire at it again while it navigated around a stack of cars it couldn't simply charge through. However then Adam made a mistake.
He had obviously never been to this scrapyard before and due to the maze-like structure and relatively large size, he was very much lost. So, as he turned a corner and tried to continue to keep the radscorpion at bay he ran into a dead end. The worst case scenario.
Now, in ideal situations, Adam could easily scale the mountain of scrap and climb to the otherside. However the creature chasing him had already shown proclivity for going straight through the piles rather than around them.
Adam wiped around, rifle in hand, firing once more at the creature as it rapidly closed in on his position. It hit, but it was not enough to kill it, not by a long shot. However then he heard a voice shout out.
"Adam! Duck!" Eve's voice called out from a scrap pile off in the distance.