Quick Note: Hikari Mei Both

Chapter 1: Escape

"You're well enough to take the G.O.A.T. I see nothing wrong with you, now go on," James, the twins' father, said, "I have too much work right now."

They sighed before the one with violet eyes and short, midnight hair, Hikari, said, "Fine. Any advice before we take it?"

"Just answer the questions to the best of your abilities," he said absentmindedly as he turned to his computer. "Now get going."

They nodded and left their father's office and headed down the tunnel, only to discover their friend, Amata, being bullied by the so-called Tunnel Snakes.

"Guys, leave her alone," the dark-haired one said with a slight edge to her voice. "Don't make me go get the Overseer. Remember what happened the last time something happened between us?"

"Fine, fine. We'll leave her alone, for now," Butch, the irritating leader, replied. "But just you wait, Mansens. You'll get yours soon."

They rolled their eyes and went over to Amata.

"Thanks, guys. Those jerks pick on me just because I'm the overseer's daughter. Honestly!"

"Don't worry, Amata. We can take all of them on at once, and they know it," the blonde with bright blue eyes, Mei, said.

Amata let a small chuckle escape her mouth. "Yeah, sure. Let's just go to class and get the stupid G.O.A.T. over with."

"Come on, I could at least take on Butch alone," she defended.

"Just Butch, I'm sure, but when will Butch be alone? His 'Tunnel Snakes' will always be right behind him," she pointed out as they entered the classroom.

"True," the dark-haired twin admitted.

"Come on, class, take your seats and keep your eyes on your own paper," Mr. Brotch said rather loudly over the few conversations taking place. "Just answer the questions as best as you can, and keep your hands to yourself. Yes, that includes you, Mr. DeLoria."

Butch sniggered before responding with, "Whatever you say, Mr. Brotch."

They took their seats in front of Amata. Hikari was stuck behind Butch. She could hear Butch whispering, "Daddy's girl," over and over under his breath, and she rolled her eyes. Her dislike for the greaser wasn't hidden from anyone.

"Okay, question 1: You are approached by a frenzied vault scientist, who yells, 'I'm going to put my quantum harmonizer in your photonic resonation chamber!' What's your response?"

She thought for a moment before putting, "Say nothing, but slip away before the scientist can continue his rant."

Hikari took a gander at her twin's paper out of curiosity only to see that she put, "Yeah? Up yours, too, buddy!"

Mr. Brotch waited a moment until everyone was done writing before continuing. "Question 2: While working as an intern in the clinic, a patient with a strange infection on his foot stumbles through the door. The infection is spreading at an alarming rate, but the doctor has stepped out for a while. What do you do?

Easy. I'd medicate it to the best of my abilities until the doctor came back.

Restrain the patient until the doctor comes back, merely observing as it spreads.

"Question 3: You discover a young boy in the lower levels of the Vault. He's hungry and frightened, but also appears to be in possession of stolen property. What do you do?"

Well, I wouldn't leave him there... I guess I'd give him a hug and tell him that everything would be okay.

Stupid kid. Confiscate the property by force, and leave him there as punishment, and leave the boy to his fate. How do you get lost in the Vault, anyway?

"Question 4: Congratulations! You've just made one of the Vault 101 baseball teams! Which position do you prefer?"

I wonder why this is a question... We don't even have a baseball team anymore. There aren't even enough people for two teams. Still, if we had one, I'd want to be the pitcher.

Baseball? No, no, no. I wish the vault had a soccer team.

"Question 5: Your Grandmother invites you to tea, but you're surprised when she gives you a pistol and orders you to kill another vault resident. What do you do?"

Personally, I don't have a grandmother, which makes me wonder about things, but I'd throw my tea in her face, I guess.

Pfft. What kind of question is that? Ask for a mini gun instead. After all, I don't want to miss.

"Question 6: Old Mr. Abernathy has locked himself in his quarters again, and you've been ordered to get him out. How do you proceed?"

Well, I'd try my hand at picking the lock with a bobby pin, but if that didn't work, I'd get a laser pistol from the armory and shoot it off.

Just walk away and let the old coot rot. He locked himself in there, so he can get himself out.

"Question 7: Oh no! You've been exposed to radiation, and a mutated hand has grown out of your stomach! What's the best course of treatment?

Large doses of anti-mutagent, but some of these questions are pretty ridiculous. There is no radiation in the vault. Besides, when am I going to leave? The vault has been secured since it was first filled before the war.

A bullet to the brain.

"Question 8: A fellow Vault 101 resident is in possession of a Grognak the Barbarian comic book, issue number 1. You want it. What's the best way to obtain it?"

That's pretty easy. I'd put some knock out drops into his drink when he wasn't looking. I'd then take the book while he was unconscious.

Steal the comic book at gunpoint, no problemo.

"Question 9: You decide it would be fun to play a prank on your father. You enter his private restroom when no one is looking, and..."

Hm... Put a firecracker in the toilet. That's sure to cause some chaos.

"And finally, question 10: Who is indisputably the most important person in Vault 101: He who shelters us from the harshness of the atomic wasteland, and to whom we owe everything we have, including our lives?"

I hate this question. What's the purpose of it? None. It might be funny to put down my name, or even Stanley's or my dad's, but... Nah.

"Well, that concludes the infamous G.O.A.T.," Mr. Brotch stated. "Please remember to turn in you test before you leave. You don't want to know what happens to people who fail the G.O.A.T."

That test was honestly a joke. None of those questions had anything to do with a job. They believed that it was some kind of sick joke played by the Overseers to make all of them worry and to cover up for the fact that they give the residents random jobs or just put us in the same jobs as their parents.

"Done, Mr. B," Mei stated.

"Very well. Let's see what you get... Huh. It says two jobs. Tattoo artist or masseuse. We've never had this happen before. Your pick, I guess."

She thought for a split second before saying, "Tattoo artist."

"Alright then. I wonder who will be brave enough to be your first customer as the vault's new Tattoo Artist. I promise it won't be me."

Hikari handed hers to Mr. Brotch.

"Well, well. I guess you twins are more alike than you seem," Mr. Brotch stated. "You've also got a choice to make. Waste Management Specialist and Clinical Test Subject. Well, which one do you want?"

No way did she want to be involved in Waste Management. "Clinical Test Subject."

"Interesting. 'Clinical Test Subject'... sounds like something you should excel at. I guess you and your dad will be working together."

She nodded and waited for Amata with her sister. Figures Amata'd get to be Supervisor. Still, hopefully Dad and I will grow closer since I'll be working with him. Ever since they were little, he hadn't really had much to do with his daughters. They knew he loved them, but could tell the death of their mother weighed on him, putting distance between them. They thought he partially blamed them for her death. According to him and everyone else, they looked just like their dad, but they each had something of their mother. Hikari had her personality and Mei had her eyes and hair. They had his pale, pale skin, but being in a vault all of your life does that to you.

Still, Hikari couldn't wait to tell her dad the news. She would be working alongside both him and Jonas. She was a bit worried as to how he would take it, though, because of everything that had happened.

Well, her dad took it better that she thought he would. He seemed actually excited that she would be working with him in the medicinal field. Hikari would mostly be the test subject for new chemicals which needed to be tested. The twin's father said that he wouldn't dare test them if he thought they were dangerous or addictive, only to see if they had the desired effect, but she couldn't help worrying. What if something happened and she was impaired somehow, or if she would become addicted? Then what would he do? She guessed she didn't really have a choice. This was what she picked and there was no going back. Maybe she should have gone with Waste Management Specialist. That may be disgusting, but at least it was safe.

Their father wasn't too pleased with Mei's outcome, but he supported her, none the less. He congratulated her, and told her that one day; maybe she could give him a tattoo. She decided that she would have no regrets about choosing her job. Heck, she may come to hate it, but she knew it would be better than rubbing the old people's bodies. She would much rather be inflicting pain on other people than making them feel better. She would be better at it, too. Of that much, she was certain.

Hikari's first time taking one of the chemicals was rather intimidating, but she put on a brave face. It was supposed to cure acne by speeding up the body's programmed healing ability and cell regeneration. The other teens were having fits about it, and the Overseer couldn't take on any more complaints from irritated teens. When the needle pierced her skin, she cringed in pain, but endured it. At first, she felt nothing, but then a weird stinging sensation spread across her face. Her father and Jonas had a curious expression.

"Well, is it working?" she questioned.

"Curiously well," their dad stated. "We'll need to keep the observation going for 24 hours to see in any kind of rash occurs, then wait for more acne to develop, if any, then test again, if things go according to plan."

She nodded, feeling hopeful. Jonas began to input the new data into the medical lab's computer. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

Mei had very few people come in, but she liked it that way. Only Butch and his gang had entered to have snakes done in order to prove that once they became a tunnel snake, they would always be one. Corny, but she didn't complain. It at least gave herself something to do other than help out Stanley and give herself multiple tattoos.

By the time they reached 19, there had only been one incident where things didn't go according to plan with the experiments being done on Hikari, and that was because she had an allergic reaction to the chemical. She probably would have died if it hadn't been for Jonas's quick thinking of flushing out her system with some sort of pre-war chemical used for drug addictions.

As the two went to bed, they had no idea what was about to happen to them. They were soon woken by Amata shaking them and loud, blaring sirens that echoed throughout the halls, accompanied by red, flashing lights and the Overseer's voice.

"Come on, wake up!" she said.

"Amata? What's going on?" Hikari questioned.

"You... You don't know?

"No, I know exactly what's going on. I mean, I've only been sleeping since around ten," Mei sarcastically replied.

"Sorry, I thought you knew," she stated. "Your father... He escaped! He just left the vault, and my dad, well, he's gone crazy! He... He had Jonas killed... Beaten down by the security forces... But that's not important right now. The point is he's sent for the guards to take you to him or kill you if you resist! He thinks you helped your dad escape!"

"What? He really has gone insane!" Mei said.

"Yes! That's why I thought up a plan of escape. There's a secret passage out of here, but you'll have to break into my dad's office. Here," she said as she handed them about 10 bobby pins. "Take these and you can get in, but I don't know the password. You'll have to figure that out. I took my dad's pistol and grabbed the ammo for it. Promise me you'll only use it if you absolutely need to."

Hikari nodded. "Thank you, Amata."

"No problem, now, I have to go. I'll try to meet you down there, but don't wait for me. This may be goodbye."

"If it is, then goodbye, Amata, and thanks for everything."

She nodded before running out of the room. The twins were left with each other, and decided that it would be best if they packed their things in order to survive in the outside world. Hikari grabbed her Vault 101 bag, the BB guns and BBs, their baseball bats, jumpsuits, and all of the boxes of food from the kitchen. Mei grabbed all of the available bottles of water and stimpaks and chems from the med-box on the wall. They stored it all in their pip-boy's storage area and wondered just how much it could hold, but they could still felt the weight of their supplies pressing on them, slowing them down.

When they were done, Mei strapped the 10mm pistol to her waste and stored the clips of ammo in Hikari's bag that she wore for easy access. As they ventured out in the hall, they came across an officer, but it was so dark that neither could tell who it was. He then started yelling about radroaches, so the two used the distraction to make my way down the hall, towards the Overseer's office.

"Hikari! Mei!" They heard someone yell. Butch. "Guys, you just gotta help me! It's my ma! The radroaches! They're killin' her! They're killin' my ma!"

"Butch, if only you understood the meaning of the word, 'Irony,'..." Mei said.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it, but please, if not for me, then for my ma."

They sighed in sync. They had hated Butch's guts, but his mom... Well, she didn't deserve to die, and besides having a hangover every single time she came into the medical center, she was always kind to Hikari and one of the few customers to actually visit Mei and get a tattoo. She would always say how good of a kid Butch was deep down inside, and for them to find it in their heart to forgive him.

"Fine, but I'm doing it for her, not you," Hikari submitted.

He seemed elated. "Thanks!"

The twins followed him as he ran into the room. Mrs. DeLoria's cries for help penetrated through the door, and Mei had the pistol out of its holster, and Hikari had the BB gun, cocked and ready to go. Butch ran after one, and the other two fired a few shots into one before it stopped moving. A few more into the third radroach, and it, too, stopped its attacks.

"We did it!" Butch cried. "Thank you so much. Here, take this-" he stripped his jacket off and handed it to Hikari- "I know I've been a jerk to you both in the past, and I apologize. Thanks, guys."

They nodded and stuck the jacket into Hikari's pip boy. Neither of them really wanted anything to do with it, but who knows? It may come in handy someday. As they pressed on, they killed a few more radroaches along the way before reaching the atrium. Mei was running low on ammo and decided that it would be best if she only shot at the radroaches if there was no way around them.

They could hear arguing up ahead of them in another room. They could barely make out the Overseer's voice.

"Please, Amata, just tell me where your friends are, and then you're free to go. Officer Mac doesn't enjoy this anymore than I do," he stated.

"Please, I don't know! Just let me go!" Amata pleaded.

"I'm afraid I can't sweetheart."

There was a loud, "Smack!" and a cry from Amata.

"Now please, just tell us where she is."

Mei couldn't stand it. The Overseer was ordering Officer Mack to attack his own daughter for information. How sick and crazy was this guy? Without thinking and blinded by anger and hatred, she entered the room, despite Hikari's pleas for her not to.

"Stop!" she shouted. "It's me you want, not her."

"Ah. Amata, you may leave," the Overseer ordered. "I hope you have come to turn yourself in, young lady."

She chuckled. "What makes you think that, you sick, twisted-"

"Please, watch your language. Officer, teach her a lesson."

Mei felt the police baton collide with her right arm, causing Hikari, despite her better judgment, to jump into the room. They pulled out their guns, aiming for his head. Two shots rang out, piercing through Officer Mack's helmet. He stopped, his baton in mid-air, and slumped to the floor, a pool of blood slowly forming around his head. They couldn't believe that they actually just shot and killed Officer Mack. Hikari was almost... horrified by it, but knew it was necessary for survival. Mei, on the other hand, had felt a sense of pride and joy in her first kill.

"Now, tell me, what is the password for the computer in your office?" Mei demanded, Hikari too stunned to utter a word.

"Amata," he muttered. "It's... It's Amata. Just go away, and take the key to my office."

She yanked the key out of his hand and ran. As they were passing the medical quarters, Hikari thought it would be a good idea to grab the stimpaks. She entered, and her breath hitched. Jonas was lying on the floor, an ocean of his own blood surrounding him, and his limbs bent out of place. She could feel tears prick in her eyes at the sight. Jonas had been a good friend of both the sweeter twin and her father. She stood there for a moment before treading further into the room. She saw a holotape lying in his hand. It said, "To My Baby Girls," on it. Curious, as Jonas had no children, let alone a wife, she gently took it out of his hand and stored it in her pip-boy. They would have to listen to it later. Their main focus was to hurry and get out before more security officers showed up.

With the stimpaks and other chems safe inside their pip-boys, they left the room and headed to the Overseer's office. Mei unlocked it and the twins entered. Upon approaching the giant computer, it asked for the password, and Hikari typed in Amata. It let them in without any trouble and selected the action to open the secret door to the exit. They jumped when the whole desk began to move behind them, but they slipped down in and flew down the stairs, hitting the switch to close the entrance behind them. They were plunged into darkness, so they turned on my pip-boy light. It wasn't much, but combined, they could at least see where the door was.

They entered the room and went down another hallway. They could see the switch for the door to the vault. Mei pressed the switch, and lights flashed along with a siren. The horrible screeching noise of metal on metal echoed throughout the room and down the hallway as the vault door opened. Amata approached them from behind.

"You... You did it! I almost didn't even believe that it was possible."

They nodded before Hikari said, "Thanks for helping, Amata."

"You're very welcome, but I'm sure you could've done it without me."

"Maybe, but I doubt it. I'd ask you to come with me, but I think the Vault needs you more than I do," she told her.

"I guess... I guess this is goodbye."

"Goodbye Amata, and thanks for everything," the black-haired girl replied.

They could hear security guards approaching and decided it was now or never. The two ran out the door and into a cave. An old, wooden door stood in front of them. Light pierced through the cracks. Slowly, Mei opened the door, ready to face the new surroundings and venture off to find their father.

After Notes:

Well, whaddya think? I'd love to know through a review or PM. :)

Anyway, I wanted to give the G.O.A.T. to give a bit of insight of the two personalities. Oh, and while editing, I was having trouble with number nine. It's supposed to be both underlined and in italics, but for some reason, it refuses to do both.

I'll be going into first person soon. I've already got this whole thing typed out, so there shouldn't be many delays. I've just re-edited the chapter again, but if you notice any mistakes, please let me know. Much appreciated, HikariMei.