As the enemies emerged, me and Jonny retreated to an aisle between the tanks and rushed to the back row. I figured when the bulk of these elite mermen come to attack us we give them only one direction to approach. Then Jonny focuses the front with the gatling plasma while I take down any that try to flank.
It was the optimal formation that could help us beat the sheer number of enemies that were crawling out from their tanks.
The saving grace was that not every tank in this lab had a merman inside. I counted roughly 50 that did.
The first batch emerged and turned their eyes to us.
*brrrrr* The gatplas Jonny was holding spun up and then a torrent of green plasma orbs rocketed down the aisle, splashing the first unfortunate merman and dissolving him into a puddle.
These mermen were definitely elite as they immediately sought cover while some jumped up to the top of the tanks to try and approach from above.
My rifle focused on those and as red streaks of laser fire began, charred holes appeared in the first couple of mermen heads that approached.
The mermen didn't just recieve the attacks without making their own.
Electro Bolts and Incerate fireballs were hurled toward us.
I could shoot the fireballs to disperse them but the bolts had to be dodged or we would get shocked and paralyzed for a moment.
Jonny's fire kept them from swarming us but these mermen were much smarter and seemed to move in sync as if they were a hive mind.
I was doing my best to kill any that tried to get close from above or the sides but the pressure was increasing and the number of kills we were actually finishing was small compared to the increasing number of mermen systematically getting closer.
A bolt I couldn't dodge struck me, followed by a fireball that I couldn't react in time to.
"Ahh!" I screamed as my body seized up followed by a concussive explosion against my chest plate which forced me to step back.
I look down at my armor and saw a scorched crater in the plating.
I activated VATS and took stock of the current battlefield.
Jonny still firing non stop at the horde in front which was slowly utilizing cover to get close.
A dozen mermen jumping on the tanks to flank us that I had not been able to put down yet as I was being overwhelmed by the number of enemies while receiving stray hits.
If nothing is done, Jonny and I would be overrun in a matter of moments.
I decided my next course of action immediately. With VATS on, I had plenty of time to analyze the enemy position and I concluded I would be far more effective outside the power armor once again, utilizing my builds true strengths.
I stood next to Jonny in a way that the armor suit I was leaving could still act as cover for him and then I hopped out.
"Keep drawing their aggression, I'm moving!" I said as I jumped up to the top of a nearby tank, now once again wielding Fuckbringer in my right hand, and my left hand glowed with eerie blue veins.
I fired a round as soon as I got up at a merman that had gotten close. Its head popped and the body tumbled over to the ground. The others jumping on the tanks noticed me and began throwing plasmids at me.
With my mobility outside power armor I dodged them easily. My pistol fired as I jumped and weaved out of the way of their attacks, causing them to try and dodge in return.
But they were caught unprepared as blue bolts of my own plasmid struck and immobilized them. Which was always followed by an explosive headshot.
The battlefield became chaotic as Jonny's fire kept the bulk of the mermen pinned while I executed any that broke cover.
I activated VATS every few moments so I could percieve every attack and movement of the enemy horde that had finally stopped growing.
In fact we were finally seeing the number begin to drop and I noticed the Overseer's squid like face contort into frustration as his subjects were being killed by two humans.
I also saw that the boy Milo had already completely transformed into a merman. His body had distorted into a scaly man creature with feral eyes.
As I plunged another bullet into a merman skull and dodged an incoming incinerate plasmid, the Overseer turned and pressed a button releasing his new merman.
"Milo! You fucking bastard!" Jonny saw what I saw and cursed. His aim becoming more aggressive and lethal due to his aggression.
The new merman looked similiar but something must have been different with this one since the Overseer began to look more confident.
*bang bang* Two more mermen dropped from my bullets when the new merman joined the fray.
An energy coiled around its scaled hand as it made a lifting gesture.
My gut twisted as I felt a bad premonition.
A tank nearby was ripped from the floor and floated above the merman's head.
"Oh fuck!" I said out loud as I witnessed this feat of telekinesis. I saw the merman look at me then turn it's head toward the back row.
My eyes widened as I continued dodging attacks since I knew what was about to happen.
"Jonny move!" I yelled but was too late. The heavy tank sailed through the air and smashed into Jonny, burying him under a pile of metal, his power armor pinned down under the weight.
The gatling plasma was smashed against his armor, now unusable and Jonny was left pinned down and possibly out of the fight completely.
I jumped over a merman that tried to grapple me and blew it head off but The pressure on me had increased by alot without Jonny's plasma fire.
A cut from a claw here, a scorch mark there. I was in a frenzy killing as much as I could but was still getting whittled down.
The new merman supported the others using telekinesis, sometimes throwing rubble at me or moving the mermen out of range of my attacks.
It was a frustrating situation all around.
The mermen didnt hesitate to step over the corpses of their comrades just to get to me. My stamina was barely keeping up as I moved like a deadly storm, killing the enemies in front of me.
Finally the situation turned when I tried landing on a tank after a jump, only for the tank to move and me to plummet back to floor.
I hit the ground and recoiled from the landing but my eyes widened in surprised as the tank I just missed landing on was crashing down on me.
It happened so fast I might as well have been frozen in time. There was nothing I could do, I was about to be squished.
But my body suddenly moved on it own, springing up and flipping backward with a reaction speed that should have been impossible for me.
My Dodgy perk activated at the moment and my body moved on it's own and I landed atop another tank, my chest heaving from the sudden stamina drain and all around exhaustion I had accumulated.
But my enemies werent going to give me time to breath and were already making moves toward me.
I quickly pulled out a black device and with a black puff of smoke I vanished and then relocated. The mermen that came into contact with the black smoke suddenly became enraged and turned on eachother.
The mermen began fighting among themselves while I maintained a 30 second optical camouflage.
Thanks to the Phantom Device which is an item used by the Order of Mysteries in Appalachia, I got a few moments of breathing room.
The Phantom Device is from a questline on F76 and is a combination of a Stealth-Boy and Hallucinagen Gas.
I only had one on display in my vault and brought it with me. I didn't actually think I would have to deploy it but I'm glad I brought it now.
I'll have to get my hands on more Hallucinagen gas canisters if I want to make more.
The effect on the mermen didnt last long and only one of them managed to die while the frenzy lasted.
But I had managed to catch my breath and put on a new outfit while they were beating eachother up.
I stepped out of the shadows and cut a merman's head off and the eyes of the rest turned back to me with a look of promised violence.
But since I was now wearing the stealth suit, my form shimmered and I began moving.
I had traded all my armor protection for stealth. Because I planned to finish things quickly...