See Ya Later Alligator

"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

—Murphy's Law

Ruven Allen/Iron Man's pov

You killed your own son. My conscience reminded me as I sucked in the ichor of the gods. Jet made me feel like the memories were fading away but I think it just made my recollections... slower.

You're not my son, I said, the son I had died with his mother. Both of their lives were stolen from me.

I had fought a war, ripped and tore my way through myriads of Commies with the preconceived premise of watching my son grow up. We should have went fishing, hunting, and played baseball together. Or if he was an inside type, we could have painted, watched TV, or played charades with Nora and Codsworth.

You were raised by thieves, I spat at the old man, you were raised by kidnappers who stole everything that I held dear in this world!

The echo of my laser musket blasted in my ears. Phantom pain invaded my throat from when I held his body and screamed. I felt like I was in a time capsule of that moment and couldn't get out.

"Ruven?" A distant voice said.

My efforts were in vain, my son's life was stolen from me. Stolen from him! We should've been-

"Blue? Are you okay?"

I sat up and my drugged gaze landed on the brunette at my door. The Caucasian girl removed her newsboy hat respectfully, and holding her hat close she stepped into the room with caution. Concern oozed from her mannerisms, her face dripped with pity, confusion even and it made me sick.

"What Piper?"

"Oh nothing," she started sarcastically, playfully saying, "just checking to see why a blue-spandex-wearing friend of mine is so... blue."

"Oh?" I stretched my back and spat back, "Do I know this guy? Maybe he's not in the mood."

"The smarty-pants I know is always in the mood. I just gotta stick to my guns for just a second and the gruff goof falls in line just like a little puppy."

I laughed, it was hollow but a hollow reprieve is better than none at all. "That's what you call it? Is it a cute pre-war puppy or a two headed mutant hound puppy?"

She barely contained a laugh and pulled up a chair from the kitchen, placing it in front of me. She plopped down and set her chin on the back of the reversed chair, shaking her head. "You got a vivid imagination don't you? Got any you can spare?"

"Nope," I drily said, grabbing another Jet from the crate next to me, "guy named Jet took it all."

She didn't appreciate this one bit. You wanna know how I found out? The serious look on her face after she swatted the plastic inhaler from my fingers made me freeze. When her brown eyes burned into me it turned my brain into something resembling green mush. "What the hell is wrong with you Blue? Everyone has been celebrating the fall of the Institute for months but here you are. Shaun is wondering what's wrong with you, what am I supposed to tell him?"

I'm trying to forget Piper. In a flare of anger I held in the retort, she doesn't know what that boy Shaun really is. I started twisting the old wedding ring on my finger anxiously and didn't even realize it.

"Why do you always do that?"

"What?"

"Fiddle with your ring, goofball."

You remind me of her... the woman whose life was stolen from me. And all I could do was watch. Of course, that'd be an incredibly awkward thing to say at the moment so I opted for silence. Piper sighed, "Look you know chems aren't my cup of tea. Chem usage isn't the problem," she pointed at the shattered plastic not far from us, "this is abuse and everyone with half a brain knows this isn't you. So please, please Blue, come and hangout with us. We'll help you through whatever's bothering you, okay?"

She patted the back of my hand, slipped her hat on, blew a rebellious tuft of hair from her face and then left the room. I was alone in my living room, only the echo of the closed door and the sound of water dripping from the ceiling into pots and cups was there to give me company. With a sigh I got up, made myself presentable and joined the others outside.

***

Butcher Pete was still playing in slow motion when I joined the others. The sound of gunfire interrupted the music here and there but no one was bothered by it. We knew it was either the children competing for pre-war snacks or the adults competing for hard caps. That and bragging rights, the hotshots always liked bragging rights. I imagine that MacCready was somewhere in the middle of all that noise. The only two people I saw competing off to themselves were Gawd and Cupid who were pulling trick shots with pistols as they tossed bottles and cans into the air.

There was a roar from a group surrounding a table on my right as I walked out of my home. It appears Cait won another arm wrestling match. Howler stood close by, analyzing how Cait placed her arm in a way that she could overpower her stronger, male opponents. No doubt he was analyzing the woman's exposed neckline due to the corset as well. Hancock eyed me darkly as I passed and I ignored it going towards the workshop.

Crossing the street Preston and I shared a nod as he made his rounds and spied Shaun and Piper watching people do jovial dancing under the overhang. For the first time in a long while, I smiled, seeing everyone attempt steps of the Swinging Charleston, the Jitterbug, or pieces and bits of East or West Coast swing they picked up from war torn magazines. I bet Hancock or some other ghouls remember.

That being thought, the old Vault-Tec representative was trying to teach a few steps. Approaching Piper and Shaun the- robot got up from his seat with a huff and disappeared into the house. I snorted in disdain and took his seat next to the brunette reporter. She branded me with a suggestive look saying that I should talk to Shaun, a message which I ignored. After a sigh she and I sat in silence as we watched the grand jubilee.

The time slow effects of the jet from earlier finally left my system. I popped my neck and got comfortable. I was always a good chemist.

It wasn't long until an idea was written all over Piper's grin and side looks at me.

"Wanna dance Blue?"

I raised a brow, "You know how to dance?"

"Call it a guilty pleasure."

"Then let's start with some good ole Jitterbug."

I took her hand and, to our surprise, dragged her onto the floor. As I did so, Travis-from the radio- began, "I'm extra glad to say that I got some new music! Found in the wasteland by an incredibly thoughtful Diamond City Reporter grab a partner and enjoy Jerry Lee Lewis' Great Balls of Fire and Bill Haley's See You Later, Alligator." A knowing, mischievous smirk widened on Piper's face as we took each other's hands.

"You knew he was getting ready to play these didn't you?" I said as I freed a hand and quickly put my Black Rimmed Glasses in a pocket of Reginald's suit and tossed my Tribly Hat onto the weapons workbench. "You're always full of surprises Piper."

"You too Blue, you too."

I was distracted by Hancock's cold gaze on us. Murderer, he had called me. Piper waiting for my lead brought me back to the present. Throwing myself into the dance I hadn't realized how starved for enjoyment I was as I juked n' jived with Great Balls of Fire blasting in my ears. Having listened to this song in my youth I knew it was short, less than two minutes, and boy, Piper was swingin'. We began facing one another, our hands gently intertwined before we pushed into one another's hands to propel our bodies back. Stepping back with my left foot, Piper performed her part with the opposite foot. Then we pulled each other's hands gently, moving closer together with the opposite feet we started with, performing a solid rock step. Then the party began and I stepped and leaned, left, right, left, right and even threw in the triple step till the song's downhill slide.

Testing her moves and wanting to end with a flourish I led her into a underarm turn, inside turn and finally the Cuddle step. Halfway into a triple step, I performed an inside turn, drawing a counter-clockwise semi-circle over her head, turning her face away from me. She didn't resist the move but naturally glided her left hand across her stomach to my right one and we finished the last half of the triple step in the cuddle position. I finished the dance, spinning her back to her starting spot just as Great Balls of Fire ended.

I didn't even notice everyone watching us until they started clapping. Cait hooted from her arm wrestling ring, "Ey'! I'm almost wet just watching Pipes!"

Piper flushed red muttering as she fanned herself, "I-is it me or is it hot in here?"

Giving her a playfully flirty smile, "It's you."

"O-oh, t-that-that's cool!" She stammered.

Once the first 'See ya later, alligator' at the beginning of the next song sounded, something horrible happened. It was so fast, a pulse grenade hit a guard post on the walls around Sanctuary. The turrets next to the watchman exploding from the pulse did more damage to the wall and the guard than the grenade. That said, the ensuing chain of explosions from one grenade blasted the guard off the wall in a bloody mess and almost wrecked the wall.

Everyone wasn't shocked by the display of gore the explosion caused, nor the loud thunderous sound, no, the horror came from unexpected the timing of it all. What came after compounded the feeling exponentially, a trio of soldiers clad in black power armor rammed through the wall. Watching in shocked horror two of the three unleashed an auto plasma rifle and the other a Gatling laser. The third made a show of popping the maimed, screaming guard's head under his boot in a swift stomp.

Muttering a curse I dragged and basically threw Piper into the house just as bolts of plasma began melting the wall behind us now. A chaotic cacophony of screams and disorder erupted as the 100 men & women of Sanctuary who weren't armed rushed to get their weapons. Standing up I gripped Piper's shoulders and barked desperately,

"Nora, you need to-" I realized what I did and it was equivalent to having slapped her, "Piper, find Shaun and regroup at Diamond City."

"What about you Blue?! What about Sanctuary?!"

"I need to get my power armor from the Red Rocket!"

Peering through the hole in the wall the plasma made, I spied at the least a dozen normal infantry joining the fray as the power armor baddies soaked up whatever light arms fire we quickly mustered. The situation was looking bleaker and bleaker by the second. If only I had my guns! I mentally cursed.

"Blue," Piper embraced me from behind, her chest in my back, "stay safe."

"For the Commonwealth!" A familiar voice yelled from a distance. The echo of the six-crank laser musket that I had given Preston, and the scream of a power armored soldier shortly followed. Instead of tumbling over like Brotherhood frames, the suit locked in place before a foot soldier went to pull the body out and hop into the armor. It was then Piper and I went through a window into the melon patch and I vaulted a worn picket fence as Piper blended into the schools of refugees.

I hope you can find him Piper, despite everything.

I ran into the street leading to the bridge towards Concord. Once I first hit pavement however, I noticed that we were in the middle of a two pronged attack. However Ashman emerged from the house closest to the cooking station with his staple minigun, Ashmaker, wearing a 'kiss the chef' apron. Coming around the corner, with the minigun already spinning, he did a lazy spray on the enemies in front of him as if it were a flamethrower. Having lit them all ablaze the light infantry began to twirl around in flames, some stop-drop-and rolling to put out the flames. Then, George concentrated fire on the armored infantry that were now almost in arms reach before the fire from constant incendiary rounds being spat at four-thousand rounds per minute became too much. They bailed out of their power armor and ran for the river but died halfway from their burns.

Having bought only less than a minute, Minutemen came from behind him with buckets of water and sloshed it on the power armors. Once the first one wasn't burning Ashman threw his apron over the armor and hopped in before I advanced. Kicking a plasma rifle from a burning soldier, I rolled it in the mud to cool it off. The rifle came back muddy and red.

"Ruven!"

"To the rocket!" I shouted before shooting two scrubs who emerged from another breach in the wall we installed around Sanctuary, the plasma turning one's muscle and skin tissues into green goop.

I hopped into one of the three hijacked power armors and took a deep breath. The Heads-Up Display was jacked the hell up but I could also hear a COMM. That's interesting...

I haven't seen COMM's in two hundred years. The damage was simply too much though so all I could hear was mostly cackling, clicking and a few words. That and the war around me. Laser muskets and small arms fire began blending in with the growing sound of plasma bursts.

"I'll cover ya!"

"After I'm gone, get everyone out of Sanctuary!"

"We're in a rout!"

"Then cover their retreat! I'll be over in three minutes at the most!"

"Aye-aye!"

My feet thundered over the ancient and crumbling bridge and caused it to groan. Once across, plasma bolts started whizzing over my head. Snipers. I heard a hiss and watched as a rocket finished off the bridge that stood two hundred years in the test of time. Steeling my resolve I kept going, I wasn't separated from the others.

Sprinting, plasma was being thrown at me like rain. Once I was closer to my location, my little turret purred to life and started spitting lead. Positioning the power armor between the pumps, I initiated the self destruct protocols, got out of the borrowed suit and ran inside. Clambering to the fridge we installed, I opened my chem stash and injected Psychojet into my neck with an erotic groan. I popped some Buffats as time seemed to move at a snail's pace. Washing it down with a swig of Whiskey, I tossed the bottle out the window.

Oh... my mind thought, they've been shooting at me this whole time? A door to my left slid open so I ran to the right, towards my power armor. The green flames of a plasma thrower licked behind me, in the garage I hopped into my shark XO-1 power armor and grabbed my gear before the hijacked suit self destructed. I hit the thrusters in my jet pack and burst through the ceiling and safely into the air. Landing my vents in my boots swirling up dust, I casually prepped my weapons.

Spray n'Pray, Gronorak's Axe, Pickman's Blade and Zeus, my six-crank musket that did double to enemies who weren't hurt for some odd reason. Not to mention some grenades and my power armor. Passing maimed or crippled enemies that tried to pursue me I grabbed as many of their grenades as I could. Once I was getting shot at, I didn't shoot them, I didn't throw a grenade at them, I never even pulled a weapon.

I just leapt into the fray. The blast vents crippled the light infantry and caused their armored men to stagger. Pulling the rings on their grenades I leapt out again, now at the foot of the statue outside Sanctuary. What I saw next, even through the Psycho, broke my heart.

"My God."

I spied at least three dozen hellcats accompanied by light infantry. In the distance, a Minuteman was being ripped out of his T-45. The man's bald head shined in the sunlight, Preston. The hellcats pulling him out then ripped his arm off, hit him with it and tossed it aside before taking him prisoner. Minutemen, men, woman and children were being dragged from their places, bewildered at the flames around the town, and too weak to resist any further.

Plasma bolts from the river hit me in the chest but my armor tanked it. Pulling out my Tommy Gun I super jumped off the ledge and onto the river bank, spraying the snipers with explosive rounds. I started running, clearing most of the river bank. The fighting attracted attention and I was in a run for my life as I jumped across the river.

Behind enemy lines, I passed several bodies, mostly people from Sanctuary as I pushed towards the others. It started to all become to much! These were people I knew, everyone except one or two people from the world before the war was dead. I cut my way through Commies telling myself that I was making a brighter, safer future for my family. That was stolen from me, now everything else I have fought for seemed lost.

"Piper?!" I shouted, "Team?!"

"Hostile!" Was my only reply. I emptied the rest of my clip into an armored soldier, making him fall back, I put away my SMG and grabbed my axe. Time finally began to be restored just as rage began to fill me, if everything is gone. No...

"NO!!" I leapt into the air and landed atop the soldier, breaking his armor into pieces and crushing his chest. Lifting the axe overhead I plunged the blade into monster's chest cavity.

Then his head. Then-

A shot hit me in the back of my helmet and knocked me forward. A dozen hellcats and infantry were on my tail and I started running, hoping to catch up with the others. Digging into my back I clumsily took a hit of Ultra Jet and kept going. The chaos, trauma and Jet made me forget where exactly I was, how far was I running exactly? It wasn't until I collapsed at the edge of the Old Gullet Sinkhole that I realized I was alone.

"Get their leader! Don't let him escape!"

They found out? Someone amongst the Prisoners Of War must have ratted me out. I turned and although surrounded I started cranking up Zeus but as I let a shot off they unloaded on me. We weren't 20 yards from one another and the kinetic energy from the plasma barrage knocked me into the hole. My Ultra Jet was wearing off when I heard an ominous growl.

I pushed myself up from the flowing water under me. Next, I made eye contact with a giant horned lizard. Friggin Deathclaw. The beast came out and I hurriedly cranked Zeus but too late. Mr. Maws and Claws batted my tired and exhausted form down and began clawing the hell outta me. Left, right, left, right.

Small green explosions flashed across its back and it roared in pain. When the Deathclaw turned, it's tail slapped slapped my bleeding and helpless body into the current leading deeper into the sinkhole. Just before I went unconscious, I thought I heard Piper's voice, Nora, Shaun but all that didn't matter when I fell asleep in this grave.

A/N: & this is why I don't socialize. It makes you vulnerable to Enclave attack... wanna learn to Jitterbug?

-Begin facing your partner with your hands clasped gently in front of you.

-Press into one another's hands to propel your bodies back. The lead should step back with his left foot, while the follower steps back with her right.

-Pull one another's hands gently to move closer together, stepping forward with the opposite foot. Together, steps two and three are called the rock step.

-The leader steps and leans to the left while the follower steps and leans to the right.

-The leader steps and leans to the right while the follower steps and leans to the left.

-Repeat steps two through five as many times as desired at a pace of quick, quick, slow, slow.