Disclaimer – The OC's are mine. The world and most other things in it are Bethesdas and I claim no ownership of them. I merely play with them for my own amusement. Also for those that care, none of these characters are based on real people and are totally fictional.

I put a high rating on this one and do intend to use it. You have been warned.

"Look you seem pleasant enough, just maybe a little too pleasant." The older woman said with a knowing glance at the two men that flanked Chloe. "We are just asking that you leave Megaton by morning and not… er… make too much noise tonight ok?"

Chloe pasted a perfectly fake smile on her face that didn't bother trying to pass as real. This wasn't the first time that the three of them had been kicked out of a place for being who or what they were. "Not a problem, we are leaving now."

Chloe was the daughter of the great womanizer Dukav, who had killed enough people that they now just avoided him rather than question his lifestyle. She had picked up a few of his proclivities, but not womanizing or the merc duty. Yes, she was sleeping with both of the men that were with her, but no they were not married men. Her father hadn't been there to teach her to shoot, but she ended up being at least as good as he was. So her guns made some people nervous and her lifestyle made others nervous.

Greg was one of the rare humans that managed to live in the wasteland while being an albino. The Family had tried getting him to join them a few times, but they couldn't understand his desire to neither eat people, nor drink their blood so that would never work. The long brown hooded robe he wore kept most of the sun's rays off of him and the gloves finished the work. When traveling he looked a lot like one of the monks that occasionally took pilgrimage across the wasteland.

Michael was the poor random person who on sight looked perfectly normal, but the fact that he was more comfortable with the two of them than anyone else led people to believe that there was something wrong with him as well. Not that there was anything wrong with any of them. They just didn't fit the normal quota. Regardless of assumptions, Michael still had a way about him that just calmed people down and had them opening up to him more than they normally would.

"B-but you were going to fix the water pressure problem that we are having. Don't you still have time to do that?"

"First I am too pleasant and now I am not pleasant enough?" Chloe's eyes narrowed and she turned to leave.

"We just don't want to cause trouble with the married folks in town. That's all. Your Dukav's daughter aren't you?" The woman said as though that explained her request for them to leave. She was ringing her hands in obvious distress.

So it was that complaint today was it? "The wives only want one other whore fucking their husbands?" She threw over her should as she made her way to the town's exit. Her father might be a whore monger and a filthy mouthed bastard, but even he hadn't taken to married women. Well she didn't think he had.

The two men that she was 'too pleasant' with followed her silently, which was not normal so she had a feeling they were a bit pissed too. It wasn't until the screeching of the metal doors closed behind them that anyone said anything and even then it was only the protectron that sat outside. It wished them a pleasant stay in Megaton and she nearly kicked it.

Since Project Purity had gotten up and running a decade ago a lot of places, including Megaton had begun to grow. As the different towns got their own purifiers they were able to sustain bigger populations while slowly ridding the world of the radiation left over from the war. The old shell of metal that had surrounded Megaton now only housed the middle of the city. All the people that had wanted to settle over the years, but had been unable or unwelcome had just started building around the inner circle until it was now three times the size of what it had once been.

"Michael?" An unknown voice called, bringing their angry escape to a sudden end. Michael had turned to see who had called him and now stood with half a grin on his face.

"Tony?" I haven't seen you in years. How are you? Michael seemed pleased by the man's arrival so Chloe and Greg hung back a bit and tried to look friendly. Chloe was having problems due to her mood and Greg having to have the hood up just looked mostly dark and foreboding. Luckily their presence was going unnoticed.

"Alive, barely. You?" And it was true. Everyone bore scars from the wasteland, but this man bore more than his fair share. If he said that he had jumped into spinning vertibird blades no one would have questioned him. The gashes covered every part of him that clothing did not and all of them looked nasty. Any one of them could have killed him by the looks of them and though his had the pink look of healed scars, some of them still burned red with infection. He might be alive, but he was not yet healthy.

"Good. A little annoyed with Megaton right now, but nothing out of the norm." Michael chuckled one of the little chuckles he had that seemed to always amuse those around him, putting them calmly at ease. "Bastards want us to work for them, but don't really want us here. Kind of grates. What happened to you?"

Chloe wasn't sure who this person was, but for Michael to give even that bit of information away meant that there was some history there. She stayed quite in the background. Michael was the talker, which was possibly why Megaton was being bitchy; she had spoken to them.

Tony smiled and some of the scars stretched his face into something that just looked painful. "Well I was out looking for one of those lost vaults but found a den of deathclaws instead. They got me pretty bad, but the damndest thing happened. I am laying there waiting for death to come pick me up and instead one of those Mr. Gutsy things floated up and took out the deathclaws with just a few laser shots. Next thing I know I am waking up with one of the medical versions hovering over me and telling me that everything would be fine. It was the damndest thing."

"Sounds like you were damn lucky." Michael said with a smile. "Where were you looking for this vault? I had thought that the brotherhood had located all of them."

"They had located the ones in this area and back west, but no one has gone too far north lately. The yao guai and deathclaws seem to be more heavily populated up there because of the cooler weather. There are some other freaky looking critters up there too. I couldn't even tell you what they started out as. That vault though is there waiting to be plucked like a virgin's cherry." The lecherous look Tony tried to give was again ruined by the scars, but he didn't seem to realize it. "But I tell you it's there, right in the middle of the old keystone state. Big school that used to be there before everything got nuked."

They left him at Megaton, he was a settler of the outer ring after all. Michael was grinning the entire walk out of there as he led them in a north westerly direction. No one was speaking. Greg was just usually quiet if he wasn't manic and Chloe was just feeling more bitter than usual. The sun was hovering very low on the horizon when Michael finally just stopped walking.

He had them out in the open and still he looked around as though someone could have snuck up on them. Chloe had just opened her mouth to ask him what the fuck he was doing when he finally spoke.

"I know where he was, near abouts."

"And?" Greg asked sarcastically. "Vaults are dangerous places to go poking around in even if we could find it. You heard about the one that was still pumping psychedelics, right?"

"The bigger the risk the bigger the reward." Michael said a little too cryptically for Chloe's taste and she finally did speak up.

"Michael, exactly what are you plotting?"

"Do you want your own place babe?" Michaels grin just got bigger and bigger. He knew that was exactly what she wanted.