POV Rio
"So we meet in person," says a voice I know all too well.
I turn around and see Grand Admiral Theodora in the flesh for once.
"Indeed. Is this the part where you start monologuing about your grand manifesto while a trap is slowly activated to kill me?" I reply.
"No, nothing so grand. I've lost. I tried everything I could have done to stop you and failed. You have killed Agent Horrigan and his team. Therefore, everything I could do wouldn't be able to stop you," Theodora says calmly.
I was surprised she was so calm, which made me even more suspicious of them.
"You're taking this surprisingly well," I reply.
"I am a warrior. A warrior may retreat; she does not flee. She may lie in ambush; she does not hide. She may experience victory or defeat; she does not cease to serve," Theodora says.
"Is this a surrender or an attempt to join me?" I asked with confusion clear in my voice.
"No, I will go down with the Alliance. As for a surrender, I must admit I must ask you for a favour from one warrior to another," Theodora asks.
"Depends on the favour," I reply.
"I wish to fight you; no tricks, no powers, just one warrior's skills against the other," Theodora requests.
"Just like that? You want to have a traditional duel? Why? No offence, but we are enemies," I ask.
"I know I will die at your hands, but I know you wouldn't begrudge a foe their final wish. You're too... kind for that," Theodora says in a way that I feel as if she was trying not to insult me.
"And why can I trust you won't try to pull something?" I ask.
"Is there anything I can actually do to threaten you at this point?" Theodora retorically asks.
"No. No, there isn't. At most, you could cause a minor annoyance," I answered honestly.
"I thought as much. Besides, I kept my word, did I not?" Theodora asks again.
I hated to admit it, but she wasn't wrong. And I couldn't really find a good reason to deny a dying woman's last request. Despite our adversarial positions, she was an honourable opponent.
"Very well. What will the rules be precisely?" I ask.
"Melee combat. We shall use the swords behind me. I ask you to try to reduce your strength to more closely match a human's. But if you don't, I won't complain. No magic. No strange abilities. Just raw skill," Theodora explains.
I nodded, and I was passed one of the swords.
"Roman design. But not a replica. Impressive," I comment.
"They were given to me by my father. They were passed down in the family since supposedly the time of the Western Roman Empire. Whether that is true or this is looted from some old crypt and refurbished or maintained, I was never able to ascertain," Theodora explains.
"Hahahaha," I laugh, and Theodora looks at me with interest.
"Care to share?" Theodora asks.
"These are magic. Nothing crazy, just some preservation enchantments and a sharpening enchantment. Which likely means they are indeed from the Western Roman Empire. Can't say if it was passed down as your family says, but it is at least a genuine artifact from that time," I explain.
"Indeed, that is quite the interesting coincidence. But we should start," Theodora says while moving a small distance away and getting into a swordfighting position.
I do the same, and my smile vanishes. We both stare at each other before eventually Theodora makes the first move. She goes for a cross slash, and I block the attack, quickly estimate how strong she is, and adjust accordingly. She follows with a sliding thrust towards my head, which I counter with a side swipe, which she easily dodges. We both back away and get ready for another clash. We start by circling each other, looking for an opening.
I am the one to attack first, as a small opening that I knew was likely a trap opens up. I thrust at her left leg and avoided the counter thrust towards my chest. I then roll to the side and aim for her right leg as she goes to slash at my back. None of our strikes hit. I don't wait any longer and make a slight slip, which she tries to capitalise on. But it was a trap, which I responded to by striking her blade in a way that made her drop her sword. She goes right into an unarmed attack that has me dropping my sword as well. I adapt very quickly and start blocking all her strikes or avoiding them. I don't counter right away as I start to learn and memorise her movements. After 20 seconds of this, I find the best way to slip under her guard and get her in a choke hold.
Grunt
We fall to the ground, and Theodora elbows me over and over again, but slowly she starts to lose strength as she runs out of oxygen. That being said, she manages to fight in the choke hold for far longer than anyone else would in her shoes. Once she goes limp, I release her and get up. I pick up the swords and wait for her to wake up, as, unlike what many games would make you believe, choking someone out doesn't kill them most of the time. If you only do it long enough to cause unconciousness they will wake up fairly soon afterwards. Case in point.
"Gasp... It seems I lost. Not unexpected. But you haven't killed me yet. Why?" Theodora asks.
"I want to kill you, but I promised to leave you to my friend. She wants to kill you herself. I at least convinced her to kill you swiftly. She originally wanted to torture you. My guess is it's a demon thing," I reply.
"Hmm, then I suppose I shall thank you for that," Theodora says while walking towards her desk.
She types a few things, and a compartment opens from the desk. She takes a slab from the compartment and hands it to me.
"A datadrive?" I ask.
"Yes, it contains the location of a temporary base that was constructed to hold the members of the Alliance who weren't fervently loyal. Those who didn't want to die for the cause were sent there. I didn't want anymore unneeded deaths. It's mostly scientists and bureaucrats. It also contains a complete copy of all the Alliance's research, and thus all the Enclave research we had when the Alliance separated from the Enclave. I suppose it will be of greater use to you and your people," Theodora explains.
"I don't get it. Why are you so... calm? And you don't seem to hate me. Why did you antagonise me in the first place?" I ask with genuine confusion.
"I have long ago accepted that death comes for everyone. Some sooner than others, but it comes all the same. I never hated you, and in fact, much of the Alliance didn't hate you. We are foes. We are ideologically opposed to what you stand for. We wish to see a return to the Old Republic. A society of stability. And I don't mean the fascist democracy we had before the war, no, I refer to the founding republic that this country made. You are forming a more monarchical government or even a dictatorship ruled by a General. Then the biggest reason is that we can't control you. Your powers were constantly changing, evolving. If we didn't strike when we did, we couldn't guarantee we would have ever had the chance. Then there is magic. That strange esoteric power that many historical records all paint as a dangerous and corrupting presence. It also didn't help that you worked with demons," Theodora explains.
"Most of those things are minor issues. The world is more than big enough for both of us," I reply.
"Perhaps, or perhaps not. When we learned of you, we started to wonder what would happen if you took action against us, so I had my people run some computer simulations. If the Minutemen ever attacked us, what do you think would be the result?" Theodora explains.
"Sigh. We aren't a threat," I explain.
"Humour me for a moment. What would happen if we clashed? I'll tell you. In every single scenario, you beat us. Badly. And the simulations only got worse as you gained power and added new members to the Mintuemen," Theodora explains.
"So you chose to attack first?" I ask.
"What would you do in my situation? An enemy that you can't beat but has a very real chance of becoming an enemy in the future?" Theodora asks.
"I would try to broker an agreement," I suggest.
"And reveal your existence. Before we took your friends, you didn't even know who we were," Theodora retorted.
"Fear makes us do irrational things," I reply.
"That's an excuse. I made a call. It was not based on fear but logic. I studied you. Everything about you. I have studied beings like you as well. It was the best possible choice I could have made given my position," Theodora explains.
"Others?" I ask.
"The Vault Dweller, Chosen One, Courier, Lone Wanderer, Resident, and so on and so on. Those that are destined to cause great upheaval and change in the Wasteland. Often at the cost of one faction or another. They appear cause change and then often vanish not long afterwards. They defy the odds and obtain victory against the impossible. You are one of them. Or at least that is what I believe," Theodora explains.
"Then why not try to stand with me? If I'm so scary, why become my enemy? If you studied me so well, you would know I treat my allies well," I question.
"And abandon our ideals? I said many didn't hate you, but that didn't mean that none did. And those who didn't hate you were too fearful to consider anything other than a preemptive strike. I cannot betray the trust of those I lead. Thus, we were always destined to be opponents. But we have talked long enough; I cannot avoid my fate any longer," Theodora explains.
"Sigh. Very well, then let's go," I reply.
"You misunderstood. I'm not going with you," Theodora says.
"What?" I ask.
"A captain must go down with their ship. By now, your friends have killed off the last of my men. Which would have triggered the self-destruct sequence. You have perhaps 2 minutes to escape unless I leave this room, in which case the detonation will begin immediately," Theodora explains.
My eyes widen, and I just sigh loudly.
"Of course. Fine, I assume if I kill you, the same will happen?" I ask, and she nods.
I shake my head and leave her to her suicide. I run to find my friends and find them quickly. But I quickly realise we won't be able to get out in time. Thankfully, we had a plan for that.
"Get to the airlock! As soon as you can, use it to escape. I'll get Zao!" I explained before running to the Yangtze.
No one waits around and runs to the nearest airlock. Once they were in the open ocean, they could easily teleport to safety. I still had a few methods to escape, so they didn't worry about me.
I found Zao quickly, but he seemed calm.
"Thank you for the offer. But if the Yangtze dies, I shall die with her. It is my duty," Zao firmly says.
"I... Sigh. Fine. It was an honour to fight alongside you, Captain," I say while saluting him.
"As it was to you, General, may your journey be filled with fortune," Zao says.
I turn into my lich form as the numerous weapons and bombs go off, vaporising the entire Vault alongside the Yangtze. Which makes the explosion even larger as the nuclear reactors all detonate, increasing the blast radius as well as heavily irradiating the water. As for me, I had just under a minute of invincibility and used that time to swim towards the surface, and once the lightshow ended, I started to clean up the radiation as I didn't want to let that fester. I also sent a message to my friends letting them know I was fine.