"So that door just behind you or the one further down the hall out that way?" I asked.
"Down hall, dead kin at door." it said as if that was obvious.
"Thank you. We'll be right back hopefully with good news." I said before casually turning around and walking out of the room after getting the key.
"I can't believe that worked." Jess said once we got out of earshot of the room.
"It's easy to see why he's the leader though. Split personality schizophrenic. He thinks he's talking to that skull when really it's his own rational mind talking to him." i said with a chuckle.
"Is that who that Antler person was? I thought he was actually talking to another Nightkin that was invisible." Jess admitted.
"There was only one breath in that place if you'd have listened. The large lungs of the mutants, Nightkin included, make them breath loudly. The Stealth boys let them go invisible but that is literally the only stealthy part about them. Still terrifying for any normal person of course but it makes it easy to figure out if there is more than one present. Also the name "Antler" was kinda on the nose." I said with a chuckle.
Jess couldn't argue with that logic which ended the conversation there. Finding the door we were after wasn't hard given the huge blue corpse on the floor in front of it along with a ridiculous amount of rusted through radioactive waste barrels that had never actually been used. Clearly the loss of his "kin" hadn't bothered that other Nightkin much since the corpse had been stripped of it's useful stuff already. I used the key on the metal sliding doors lock and turned the handle to open it.-
The moment the door opened a loud "PING!" sounded out as a bullet struck the chest of my armor.
"Are you done?" I called out casually.
"Hey! You're not one of those things out there. Who the hell are you?" The ghoul replied with surprise though I noted the rifle in his hands wasn't being aimed away.
"Jason sent us to deal with the uglies, we are being diplomatic about it." I replied honestly.
"And I bet he told you it's the creators will to risk your ass instead of his right?" the ghoul said snidely. "Well good luck with that! I'd give you a hand but no thanks. I may look like a corpse but i'm partial to living!" he said bluntly.
"I'm looking for a stash of Stealth boys in this room." I said with a shrug.
"A stash of Stealth boys? Are you kidding me? If there was some big stash of devices that made you invisible in here, do you really think we'd be having this conversation?" the ghoul said sarcastically.
"Okay so theres no stealth boys. I can't exactly tell the Nightkin that now can I? Is there at least a terminal up there that might shed some light on the matter?" I asked pointedly.
"Yeah there's a terminal. Not like Ive looked at it though." he said frowning.
"Good. Why don't you check that while we stay right here? We need something concrete to tell the Nightkin to get them to clear out peacefully. Once they're gone you can also stop being trapped here." I said seriously.
"So you are just going to stand there? Not try anything funny?" he asked suspicious.
"Look, I can see at least three proximity mines and half a dozen bear traps on the ground in every possible pathway to you. You couldn't PAY me to make an attempt." I said flatly.
"Fair enough. Stay there." the ghoul said before turning and moving to the far side of the large mostly empty storage rooms upper area.
As promised we stayed right in the doorway until he came back.
"So? What the word?" I asked.
"The Stealth boys got sent here by accident before the war, got misused and sent away. None left." the ghoul said seriously.
"Well shit. Time to break the news to the big ugly and hope he isn't feeling homicidally angry about it I guess." I said with a sigh.
We head back to the room with the leader of this group of Nightkin.
"Antler sings for Stealth boys. Did you find them?" it asked impatiently.
"There are no Stealth boys here anymore." I said honestly.
"Liar! The invoice said Stealth boys here! Antler read it out loud to me!" the brute screamed angrily.
"The stealth boys WERE sent here. But it was a mistake so they were sent back." I replied calmly.
"But invoice note said Stealth boys were here! Why can't that note be true?" it asked really not liking what it was hearing. Then it paused as if listening "What, Antler?..... But human could be lying! Stealing the Stealth boys for itself!" Then it sighed "Oh, Antler you trust so easy." it said reluctantly before locking it's eyes on us. "Your lucky day human. Antler believe you. Nightkin will follow the new note to find Stealth boys. Better be there." it said with a warning tone.
With that said the big brute lumbered out of the door past us and called it's "kin" before they all left the basement.
"For a moment there I thought things were about to get hairy." Boone said as his grip on his plasma rifle loosened.
"For a moment there it almost did. Be thankful the reasonable part of that things mind could understand and accept the truth." I said seriously.
"Guess we just go give that other ghoul the good news, and Jason too." Jess said and I nodded.
Actually doing all of that took us like fifteen minutes and most of that was just travel time.
"Is the way clear?" Jason asked when we returned.
"Yep, blueberry free." I said casually making Boones face twitch a little.
"Praise the creator! And bless you Wanderers! The way is clear. I will lead my flock through the basement to the sacred site! I hope you will come find us there wanderers. There is much to be done." he said before immediately running off to collect his "flock".
"Hey do you think this is good enough for Manny or nah?" I asked my companions seriously.
"The threat's not fully gone until they are." Boone said firmly.
"As much as I hate to admit it I think he's right." Jess said tiredly.