Heyo! The changes took much longer than anticipated and it was a b**** to rework everything. While the first chapter won't be so obvious about the changes beyond grammatical changes and other creative freedom, the other chapters will be vastly different. Another reason I took so long is I wanted to make sure it was cool with Sonicstorm if I did my own interpretation beyond simply trying to finish his early work and man, does that guy take forever to respond. But anyways, this is mostly done in the large sense, with me hoping that the generous and gallant (I know, kiss assing won't get me anywhere.) readers of fanfiction will enjoy. But do not dare hold back your criticism, as I have worked hard on this. It just wouldn't feel natural if I told people because its my first time within this setting.
As for readers expecting another update on my FF story, I simply wish to take a break from attempting to write mass effect and see if the writing comes easier. But in any case, Read, Enjoy, Review.
"Come on, let's go get some lunch." Amata Almodovar said as she passed by Douglas, who had been patiently waiting for her to receive the results of her G.O.A.T exam. Douglas stood up and waved for her to lead the way, falling in behind her as she walked. They walked in silence for a moment, stewing the results of their G.O.A.T in their minds, or perhaps more accurately in Douglas's case, the questions he had to answer to get them. For the amount of studying that they had down, or the amount worrying that they had down for a simple survey that determined their future. Although, judging by the bouncing steps and almost infectious smile, Amata was clearly happy with her result of Supervisory track her G.O.A.T. promise. Douglas on the other hand, got stuck with the job that most teenagers and their parents feared. Garbage Burner. "You know, some very famous people have been garbage burners."
"Oh yeah, I dare you to name one." Douglas challenged with mock offense. Amata scrunched her face as she thought before shaking her head in defeat.
"Alright, fine, you got me. Maybe you can convince Mr. Brotch to change the results somehow." Amata suggested with a shrug.
"No madame, I am a man. I will suffer my transgressions with glory and go through even the most degrading of jobs with my head held high. And it is pronounced Waste Management Specialist." Douglas announced as he came to a halt, raising his head high and giving a superhero pose. Amata gave an unconvinced smile and poked his puffed out chest rather roughly. His chest deflated and he gave a hurt expression as he rubbed his chest. Then sharing a laugh, they continued onwards towards the cafeteria for the this day's latest lunch. However, as they walked in relative silence once more, Douglas began to chuckle once more.
"Butch is a hair stylist." He told his female companion when she raised a single eyebrow in his direction. She smiled for a moment at this before sharing in his chuckle as she remembered how angry Douglas's childhood bully and Amata's constant harasser had gotten when their teacher had addressed him as a Hair Dresser. Although they both knew that 'Waste Management Specialist' wasn't exactly a job that could be rubbed into anyways face either.
After they both got a fair laugh from this, they once more fell into silence. As they walked, approaching the stairs that would lead them down towards the cafeteria, Douglas reached into his pocket and pulled out his father's vault-boy medicine Bobblehead. Douglas always liked the depiction of the Vault boy, though he wasn't exactly sure why. Something about the cartoonish way he was always presented and the fact that no matter what, he always had a smile on his face amused Douglas to know end. On the bobblehead, it was just the Vault boy, with an oversized needle that was bigger than he was, with a small inscription in it. "A true doctor knows that a band-aid only covers the wound."
His father always told him that just having the thing made him feel more like a doctor and granted him luck whenever he was in a difficult situation with a patient. It was probably a Darius family quirk, believing in lucky objects, as he had always relied on the hat he had received on his tenth birthday for luck, wearing it almost everywhere he went. Still, for what he was about to do, he needed all the luck he could get. Bopping the bobblehead, hoping to steal its mysterious power, he finally managed to peak his confidence.
"So, Amata, do you remember when Christine and I were….dating?" Douglas said, air quoting the word dating. Of course, dating was simply a nicer way of saying that there had been a very persistent rumor that Christine was currently taking Douglas in to dirty the sheets. She had unfortunately been stuck with a reputation of promiscuity by the Tunnel Snakes and if she spent more than an hour talking to someone of the opposite sex, the rumors flew fast. And being in the vault, they flew faster than one could possibly imagine.
"Yeah, I can't believe I fell for Butch's stupid lie." She said, shaking her head in disappointment at the history of it and blushing slightly as well. Christine had finally been the one to set the record straight with Amata, finally telling her that Douglas had simply needed history tutoring and was too embarrassed to ask Amata.
"Me neither. You kept giving me the cold shoulder, glaring at me from across the room, begrudgingly working with me. One would almost think you were jealous." He pointed out, walking faster and then getting in front of her. He didn't stop, walking backwards down the stairs as he spoke, It was a skill he had learned simply to mess with his father and Amata, who both would worry when he did so. True to history, Amata's face screwed up, with worry and she glanced behind him to make sure he wasn't walking into anything.
"I hate it when you do that." She complained quickly, seizing her chance to change the subject. "You're going to run into something or fall down the stairs and you're going to be in the doctor's office for weeks. Again!"
"Oh please, I have perfected the art of backwards walk. Besides, that one time was just bad luck and you know it." Douglas responded. "You changed the subject by the way."
"I was just upset you didn't come to me for help okay? We've been over this. I had perfect grades in class and you went to Christine for help." She gave the excuse that she had several years ago. Douglas smiled and gave her a skeptical look, causing her blush to intensify. Of course, he knew it wasn't true. Christine had told him that Amata was very surprised at the turn of events and had tried to laugh it off.
"See, now that is a shame. Because it would make what I have to ask you so much more…..difficult." Douglas said as he felt the bottom of the end of the stairs meet his feet. Amata looked up, staring at him with what looked like confusion and….an insy bit of hope. His confidence at its height, Douglas opened his mouth to ask the question he had been mulling over all day. Only to have a fist connect to his jaw and send him to the floor with a bloodied mouth. The punch was jarring enough that the red ball cap that Douglas had been wearing flew off his head and hit the floor.
"Tunnel Snakes rule!" Announced the leader of the Tunnel Snakes as Butch and his gang fell out of their hiding places and descended upon the ambushed Douglas. Amata watched in helplessness as the three began to hit and kick the teen that was now on the floor, curled into a ball in a measly defense. No doubt this was revenge for the amount of bruises and cuts he had left with Butch the first time that they had fought. Douglas had managed to goad the leader of the Tunnel Snakes into a one-on-one fight and use the self-defense tricks his father had taught him to win against Butch earlier in the day when they wouldn't leave Amata alone. But now, the Tunnel Snakes not only had the advantage of numbers but also the advantage of surprise.
Amata, knowing if she just stood around any longer, Douglas would end up nothing more than a bloody pulp, quickly looked around for a weapon. She didn't have the physical brawn to deal with Butch's petty gang. Spotting a toolbox left out by the Vault's mechanic Stanley, she rushed over. Despite the guilt she would feel later, she silently thanked her fortune that the mechanic had been so forgetful lately. Opening the toolbox and taking out the first thing she could get her hands on that was solid and heavy, she rushed towards where the Tunnel Snakes were still beating Douglas. Unfortunately for Butch, he was the first person to notice her charging, meaning he was the one who received the vicious hit to the face.
The impact of hit jarred her body, causing her hands to hurt just hanging onto the wrench she had turned into a weapon. Butch stumbled away, hitting the wall with all his weight and slumping as the blood began to pool in his mouth. It was lucky for him that Amata had not put every ounce of her strength into the blow or he may have had more than a chipped tooth and split lip to worry about. Freddie and Wally paused as Amata threatened them next, holding the wrench she had grabbed as a worthy club. They back away from her, their eyes rife with fear at the fact that the Overseer's daughter had just taken down their leader with one blow. It wasn't until the Tunnel Snakes turned tail and ran, leaving an injured Butch to stumble after them before she finally lowered the weapon.
"Bitch." Was the last thing that she had heard before the Tunnel Snakes leader stumbled out of eyesight.
"Butch has gone too far this time. I should report him to the Overseer." James growled to himself as wrapped the bandage around his son's head. Douglas, wincing as the tight bandage covered his pounding head, grimaced at the thought of bringing the Overseer into this. His jumpsuit was unzipped down to the waist, so that his dad could wrap the bandages around his cracked ribs.
"Yeah right. The Overseer would probably throw them a party to celebrate. Maybe even have an awards ceremony and present him with the Vault's equivalent of a medal of honor." Douglas hissed through the pain. James sighed and rubbed his head with annoyance.
"You know that isn't fair. The Overseer may not be the most agreeable person but he does his jobs just like any of us do. That's just something you learn to accept down here." James told his son. It had always been like this, with Douglas insulting the Overseer every chance he had gotten ever since he reached his teen years. Not that many of his insults weren't completely unfounded, but that was hardly the point.
"A guess being a pompous ass is just part of the job then." Douglas sighed as he adjusted himself on the pillow. He had barely been in his bed for more than an hour but he was already growing restless. His father had told him that the best thing he could do was get some rest and heal his concussion, but just for good measure, he medically ordered his rebel son to his bed.
"No, that's just one of the perks." James chuckled. "Well, son, as much as I enjoy patching you up, I have other patients to attend to. Stanley got his hand caught in one of the generator's gears and needs it patched up. That being said, if I come back to this room, and you're not here, I will not be pleased." With that veiled threat left to Douglas's imagination, James stood up and left the room with a good-bye.
Douglas sighed and laid his head back, trying to occupy his mind with idle fantasy. For about half an hour, he amused himself with plotting intricate and far-fetched revenge schemes against DeLoria, some of which involved locking him in the areas of the vault that were sanctioned off or humiliating the bully in some grand way that told him that the Darius was not to be messed with, most of which physically impossible. Once he grew bored with that, he began to imagine new ways to mess with the security or higher ups of the vault, although many of his plans he knew would land him in the vault's security lock up….again. He could already see his father, shaking his head in disappointment as he once more got his son out of the cell after unscrewing the pipes of the guard's personal bathroom or after hacking their computers and making a funny image pop up after a certain word was typed. After an hour passed, when the door to his room finally opened, he would have accepted anyone, even Butch DeLoria to keep him company.
"Hey." Greeted Amata as she came into the room. She walked over, settling nicely on the edge of Douglas's bed. She paused as she looked over his various bandages, her face clearly unhappy with what happened. "Your father said you were okay, beyond a minor concussion, and that, as long as I didn't encourage misbehavior, I could visit."
"Well, he's too late. I'm already up to my old schemes. I already have a plan that involves loose pipes, a broken lock and Butch's bathroom." Douglas answered. He even put his hands together in a pyramid and gave an evil laugh to complete the scene, causing Amata to let out a small giggle. Then, calming down, she reached into her jumpsuit's pocket and removed a very familiar red item.
"I brought your hat back. Figured I should grab it before one of the 'Waste management specialists' decided to throw it away." She told him, tossing him the pre-war baseball cap. Douglas caught it with one hand, grimacing as he looked at his soiled hat. The once clean red cloth had a black boot mark down the middle where one of the Tunnel Snakes had stomped it into the ground, and a few splotches of blood were on the bill, either from his or Butch's blood. Douglas sighed, looking up to see Amata staring at him with a worried face. Quickly, he quenched his grimace and put on a large but teasing smile.
"Oh, you got my hat. You do care." He told her before unfolding the hat and roughly shoving it onto his head. "This will now be my war trophy. The time where I survived the ambush from the dreaded Tunnel snakes." He ignored the dull thuds of pain at this new compression and kept his smile up for the girl on his bed. She gave a small smile back before glancing down at the floor. And there they sat, in an awkward silence for the better part of two minutes as both avoided the uneasy eye contact with each other.
"So, before the Tunnel Snakes ambushed you…you were saying something." She finally spoke up. Feeling his heart double in speed and lacking the confidence that he had managed to muster at the time, Douglas chose to stare at the ceiling as he said:
"Uh, was I? I don't quite remember. I think it may have had something to do with firecrackers." He scratched the back of his head in unease, hoping Amata didn't catch onto his obvious avoidance of the question. "Maybe I was talking about how I was planning my great Firecracker Extravaganza to mess with your dad." Amata sighed and twiddled her fingers.
"You know, it wasn't because you didn't come to me. Well, not mostly." Amata said, turning and looking at Douglas with her brown eyes.
"Um, what?" Douglas asked for clarification at this seemingly random remark made by his childhood friend.
"When I was…..jealous…." She said the word begrudgingly and as if she didn't want to, but it still made Douglas get a half-smile as he guessed what was coming. Seeing his smile, she puffed her cheeks angrily and looked away, only made worse when Douglas laughed at this reaction. Plus, it didn't help that she looked pretty cute when doing this. "Forget it, I'm not finishing."
"But Aaaamataaaaaaa!" Douglas complained, doing his best to sound like a spoiled child. Her angrily puffed cheeks went down and was replaced with a smile. Then she stood up and made her way to the door. "Wait! That's it? Nothing else to say? No big revelation to revel?" Douglas questioned hopefully, causing her to pause at the door.
"Hmmmm." She said, tapping her chin as if she was deep in thought about her next actions. "Get better and we'll talk about it."
Expect many changes to be made. Characters are purposefully OOC, so as to give them actual personality and such, because...let's be honest, Amata isn't exactly a well-rounded character. Also, I made Douglas way more jocular than he had been before, and gave him the more pranksterish mindset. He'll maintain that jocular attitude, but the mindset will fade with time. That being said, hope you enjoyed the chapter put forward.