A tongue trailed across his face, waking the Lone Wanderer up from a deep sleep. Dogmeat sat in front of him panting, tongue hanging out of his mouth. Checking his pip-boy, James Jr. saw that it was 4 am and he had only been asleep two hours.
"Dogmeat….Buddy what you want?" James groaned as he talked to the dog with his eyes half open.
Dogmeat barked at him and continued to stare at his loving master and friend. James remained motionless staring at the dog with the same expression of exhaustion. He rolled around, turning his back to the pet he had met long ago, assuming he just wanted to show affection. The dog barked again and again in order to gain his attention. Finally reaching an end to his patience, the lone Wanderer sat up and shouted at his loyal companion.
"WHAT DOGMEAT!? WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" he had screamed looking at Dogmeat.
The dog started to whimper at the sight of his angered master. The lone wanderer felt like he had just beat the poor thing around his cosy little shack with a nail board. That look always melted James' heart and caused him to feel worse for what he had just done to his dog. He sighed and looked at his Pip-boy with regret, searching for something to cheer the poor thing up. Maybe Three Dog was on and he could play something that would make them both feel better. Upon switching stations, the radio let out a faint yet familiar voice to James' ears. It was a voice he hadn't heard in more than a year and from a person he had not thought about for some time now.
"It feels like you left home a long time ago, but I know you're still out there. I just hope you're still alive to hear this."
The voice rang out in James Jr. mind as he heard the woman speak over his pip-boy. A smile spread across the face of the Lone wanderer as he listened contently to his old friend's message.
"Things got worse after you left. My father's gone mad with power. If you can hear this, please stop looking for your dad and help stop mine."
Having heard this, James Jr. dashed over to the filing cabinet where all his clothes were. Pulling out a vault 101 jumpsuit he began putting it on. The message repeated as he got dressed in his old vault jumpsuit. Then a thought came across the young man's mind.
"What if they are going to shoot on sight? I doubt I have changed that much that the security team have just forgot about me." He thought as he began to come up with a plan.
He then remembered he had a vault 101 security set from his escape and he knew the one person in town that owed him a favour and was surprisingly trustworthy. Grabbing the old security armour he ran out of his house into the town of Megaton. The night sky peered down on him like it had the first night he left the Vault and Amata. He came to his neighbour's door and knocked on it impatiently. When no answer came he decided to bang on the door louder.
"Lucy West could probably hear this down in her house." He thought as the door was pulled open by a very angry looking individual.
"The fuck you want Kid?!" Jericho shouted at James smelling of booze.
"I'm calling in a favour old man." James said with the same devilish grin Jericho knew meant there was something he wasn't going to like about this trip.
"What fucking time do you call this kid?" Jericho asked.
"Look this is important to me and if it goes wrong you get to kill a few vault dwellers." James said as he looked at the old raider.
"Where we going?" Jericho asked as he swung his shotgun over his shoulder.
"I changed the door password to my name. If you're hearing this, and you still care enough to help me, you should remember it."
"Home…"
Jericho did very little on the walk to the door besides complain about various things. For a badass he did as much talking and bitching as he did shooting, which considering was a lot. However, James saw Jericho as a form inspiration for James. Yes his father will always be the Lone Wanderer's role model,but having lived in the wastes for a year and a half had put things into perspective for the young man. He realised that Jericho had survived this long out in the waists and with raiders of all people. If James had any wish it would be to live as long as the old raider had so he could continue doing his good work throughout the wasteland. Besides, James found Jericho to be good company even with his bad attitude.
Dogmeat on the other hand didn't like Jericho. Maybe it was the fact that he was a former raider or that Jericho talked down to Dogmeats master, but every time James brought them along together there was always someone complaining about the other.
"Why we bringing this fucking dog?" Jericho asked causing Dogmeat to growl at him.
"We need a guard." James said smiling down and his loyal friend.
"Wait…the fuck am I here for then?" Jericho asked stopping in his tracks.
"I need you for when we get into Vault 101." James said smiling at his plan.
"What so special about that place anyways? Thought they chased you out of that hole when your Dad left?" Jericho asked causing the group to stop to a halt.
James had not thought about his father for some time. That's to say he thought of him a lot at first but then he began to accept that his father was gone. Now it was nothing but a painful memory to James and he wished he could both forget and remember the sight of his father dying behind that door.
"Jericho it isn't what they did to me. Yes they treated me like an animal and bullied me and showed me nothing but contempt while I was there. But there was one person who showed me everything I needed." James said smiling as his memories of his time with Amata came back to him.
"Ooooh so little 101 had himself a girlfriend." Jericho said resting his arm on James' shoulder, like the fathers in those Pre-war posters.
"Yeah… 'Had' being the operative word. Things have changed now. I've changed" James said as he looked towards Jericho's grin, not liking it one bit.
"So how was she in bed?" Jericho said smiling perversely.
"Go fuck yourself." James said moving forward toward the vault.
"Oh come on kid. Cant ya take a little teasing?" Jericho shouted after the Lone Wanderer.
There it was. The door to Vault 101. James took a deep breath as they approached it and with authority told Dogmeat to guard his bag as he unpacked the security armour of Vault 101. The sun was only now beginning to rise which made both the Wastelander and the former raider remember just how tired they were.
"So what's this great fucking plan ya got kid?" Jericho asked.
"We walk in,see what's wrong, and then come up with a plan. Then fix it." James said to Jericho with a confident smile.
"Yeah that's great and all, but don't they have like security? How are we gonna get past those assholes?" Jericho asked as Dogmeat began to growl and bare his fangs at Jericho.
"Simple. You dress up as a Security officer. And "escort" a prisoner to his cell." James said throwing the security armour at Jericho.
"What about my gun? I mean you didn't exactly come out with a semi-automatic did ya?" Jericho pointed out as he looked at the security armour he was supposed to wear.
"Vault Security only carry 10mm pistols and batons. But that's not to say a 'confiscated' weapon can't be carried around while keeping a prisoner." James said smiling at Jericho.
"This is a fucking stupid plan you know?" Jericho said as he put on the Security armour.
"I know." James agreed as he handed Jericho the helmet.
"Boy you stay here. I'll be back as soon as I can." James said to his dog rubbing the animals head for assurance.
Taking a deep and heavy breath, James walked up to the door and took hold of the handle. Jericho walked up behind him and waited for the Lone Wanderer to step through the doorway. Was he really ready for this? Maybe more planning should have been put into this. So many emotions flowed through James body at this moment. The man who had killed mutants, survived the monsters of point lookout, killed 3 Behemoths, as well as clawed his way out of the Pitt, was now shaking at the idea of opening a door to his past. Hearing Jericho's impatience, the lone wanderer gave one strong push and into the cave he went.