Chapter One: Vault 101
Light. A sudden burst of light flooded the newborn's eyes as he entered the world. The overjoyed father that was helping to deliver him was wondering a lot of things. Among these were simple things like, is the child a boy or a girl. This question was answered swiftly answered as James checked. He remembered the name that Catherine and him had picked out whenever they first found out that Catherine was pregnant.
"Catherine we've got a boy, a beautiful baby boy!" James told his wife. "Do you remember that name we thought of, Catherine? John?"
"Oh yes, it's very strapping," Catherine said, "I've always wanted a strong, dashing young son."
"Great, it looks like they've finished the gene projection!" James said, as he looked at the screen and saw a young man whos look seemed like the very essence of the good of humanity. He had medium long brown hair, blown back to show his forehead, he was handsome, with blue-green eyes, a square jaw, and a righteous look in his eyes.
"Oh my, he looks... He looks.. James... I think that something is going wrong..." Catherine told James before she went into cardiac arrest.
"What the... She's going into cardiac arrest...Get the baby out of here!" James yelled as he tried in vain to save his wife's life. "3... 2... 1... Go! No, do it again!"
1 YEAR LATER
"Come here son. You can do it John!" James said to his one year old son. John hobbled over unsure if he would fall or not. He managed to get to the playpen only to be caged inside by his father.
"You just stay here while daddy runs out to his office." James said as he walked out the door. John opened up his play pen and broke into his toy box so he could play with his teddy bear. A few minutes later James returned and found John playing in the toy box with the play pen door open. James chuckled and said
"You are so much like your father, always going on adventures. Well, since you're already out of your pen, how about I show you your mother's favorite bible quote? Come here, I'll show you," James said, gesturing to the saying on the wall. "Revelations 21:6, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely."
"Gah gah," John said, cutely.
"Well put son!" James said with a chuckle. "Let's go see if your little friend Amata wants to play." James said as he led John away by the hand.
9 YEARS LATER
Light. A blinding flash of light flooded the new 10 year old's eyes as he entered the diner of Vault 101.
"Agh!" John yelled, obviously in pain from the flash.
"Stanley! You turned the lights on too fast! Ya blinded the poor kid!" Officer Gomez yelled.
"Happy birthday!" All the people in the room shouted.
"Young man, I don't need to tell you how special this day is, do I?" Alphonse Almodovar, the Overseer, or self-proclaimed "Savior of the Vault".
Oh God, here he goes on one of his speeches again, doesn't he know we don't care about him? Or his stupid "vocabulary"? John thought absentmindedly.
"Well," said The Overseer, "I do not want to take too long, so here is your very own, Pip-Boy 3000a."
Wow, that's the first good thing he's ever done for me!
John strapped on the Pip-Boy, felt it tighten on his arm, and felt the sharp prick of a needle as the Pip-Boy took a blood sample to make sure it was never stolen, for whatever reason."Now, be good, young man, you'll be getting your first work assignment tomorrow." The Overseer said as he walked away, chuckling for effect other than personal enjoyment.
"Happy Birthday!" A voice that could be none other than Amata Almodovar said.
Amata was the daughter of The Overseer, but was nothing like him. She was nice, and a good friend. Sadly, her mother had died of reasons unknown during childbirth.
"Thanks Amata, what've you got for me? Guns and Bullets? Deans Electronics? Pugilism Illustrated?" John replied with a smile.
"None of those! Who's your favorite barbarian?" Amata said, not at all surprised at John's jokes.
"Grognak." John said.
"That's right! Grognak the Barbarian, issue 14, with no missing pages!" Amata said, proud of herself for finding this gem of a comic book.
"Wow... Where'd you find this?" John said, amazed and grateful.
"Ironically, it was in a box of my father's old things, guess we were all ten once." Amata said, surprised that her father might have had a sense of humor, let alone be young.
John whistled, surprised. "Well, I better let you get back to mingling with your guests, see you later!" Amata said as she walked away.
John walked over to Old Lady Palmer, and listened to her ramble about how the Vault was crowded back in the day. But soon she finished, realized her mistake, gave John a sweetroll, and said goodbye. John slowly ate the sweetroll, but was surprised when Andy declared it was time to cut the cake.
"Attention Everyone! It's time to cut the cake!" Said Andy as he lowered his sawblade onto the delicious looking cake.
Now, Andy was a Mr. Handy robot, who was equipped for Vault defense with a Flamethrower, a Circular Saw, and a Plasma pistol. Some say he has some equipment from the "Mr. Gutsy" models, distributed to the US Army at the time of the Apocalypse. And that circular saw met the cake in a very, very messy way.
"Andy! Why did you do that!" John yelled in a fit of anger.
"I am sorry sir.. I would offer you a piece of cake, but..." Andy said, his butler style voice tinged with guilt.
"Hey! Nosebleed, I'm hungry, and that stupid robot destroyed the cake!" Butch Deloria, the local bully, interjected.
"What's the matter Butch? Your mother drink up all the ration coupons again?" John said, with equal hostility.
"Grr... Why you little bitch!" Butch yelled, as he tryed to punch John.
John ducked the punch, and decided to try out a technique he learned in a pre-war book called "Pugilism Illustrated". John grabbed Butch's arm, twisted it, and delivered a heavy palm into his spine. Butch fell on the ground, in terrible pain. Later in life, John would be able to temporarily paralyze somebody for about 30 seconds.
"Hey! Stop that!" yelled Officer Gomez, who was watching and saw that Butch attacked John first, and hauled Butch off to his mother.
"Hey, are you okay? I saw Butch attack you, and then Officer Gomez nabbed him, what made that jerk attack you?" Amata ran up and asked.
"The bastard tried to steal my sweetroll that Old Lady Palmer gave me!" John replied.
"Wow! Watch your language!"
"Oh shut up, it's my birthday party."
"True."
James walked over to John, and said:
"John, that was Jonas on the intercom, we've got something to show you, come down to the reactor level." John followed James downstairs and heard Jonas make a crack about kids on a reactor level. John didn't really care and Jonas was disappointed.
"John, we have a surprise for you. You know how Butch 'misplaced' that switchblade of his? Well, Jonas and I found an old BB Gun and Jonas and I managed to fix it up."
"Wow Dad! You got me.. A gun!? Are we allowed to even shoot down here?" John said, surprised.
"We aren't allowed to shoot down here, but that will be our little secret, won't it?" James said, cracking a smile, "You won't tell anyone, won't you?"
"Nope! I've always wanted a gun!" John said, as giddy as a schoolgirl.
"Well, we didn't just get you a BB Gun, we got you a shooting range too!"
"What!? You did not.." John whispered under his breath.
James led John through a door to three small targets, about 15 feet away, separated by about 5 feet. James handed John the BB gun, and John quickly took aim and fired 3 times, Managing to hit all three targets.
"Wow! Looks like we got a deadeye on our hands!" Jonas called out.
"Watch out John, it looks like we have a RadRoach on our hands." James said.
"Watch this!" John said, taking aim at the large bug.
John shot at the RadRoach three times, somehow managing not to kill the beast. This infuriated the small child, and he just had to hop over the barrier and punch that unlucky roach in the head and James watched as John stomped the poor creature until it was nothing more than goo.
"Uh... Good job son.... It's just.. But you kind of got your Vault suit stained..." James said, more than a tiny bit embarassed.
"Thanks Dad!" John replied, thinking this was the best day ever.
"Hey James, help me get a shot of the big game hunter, eh?" Jonas said, not noticing the RadRoach blood over almost everything.
Jonas raised the camera and took a photo with extra flash.
6 YEARS LATER
James had just finished examining John for any diseases. The only thing he found was a minor case of Faking Teenager.
"You are a perfectly healthy sixteen year old young man, so yes, you have to take the G.O.A.T." James said, giving his son a dirty look.
"Aww... Come on Dad! It's just a stupid test. We have them every day." John complained.
"Which you nearly fail all of them, I know you are a clever boy, it's just you're lazy. Now go, you have a test to take." James replied.
John walked out the door, saying hello to Jonas, and walking down the hall. Then he saw something that pissed him off a lot. Butch and his "gang" were surrounding Amata, and mocking her for "running to her daddy" or something about them.
"Stop it, Butch! I told you I didn't say anything!" John heard Amata
"You little bitch, what's up with running to your daddy about us? You scared?" Butch said this to Amata, and needless to say, it seriously pissed off John. John walked over to Butch, and started the most insane thing he did that year.
"Hey Bitch? Why are you going after Amata? Are the three guys you "hang out" with not good enough anymore? Do you think you're a tough guy?" John said.
"Back off, Romeo, this isn't your fight." Butch replied, with his hand on the switchblade in his pocket.
"I believe it is." John said, before he sprang into action, punching Butch in the stomach, then kicking Paulie in the precious parts as he began winding up. Wally was about to attack John, before John oh so kindly headbutted Wally in the mouth. They all fell to the ground, each in terrible pain. Especially Wally.
"Hey Amata, sorry about the trouble these guys gave you, I hope I helped." John said to Amata, both were out of breath.
"Did you really have to do that?" Amata asked John.
"Mmm," John looked around, "Pretty much, yeah."
"Well, you know they'll just come back worse, right?"
"I'll just hit them again."
Amata chuckled at the macho-man coming through in John.
"C'mon, let's go take our tests." John said.
"Yeah, but you do know these things are staged right?"
"You are such a conspiracy theorist."
"No, I'm the daughter of the Overseer."
"No difference." John said with a smirk.
"You do have a point."
Amata and John walked into the classroom, followed briefly by a pack of heavily bruised Tunnel Snakes.
"What happened to you, Mr. Deloria?" Mr. Brotch, the teacher, said.
"I fell down some stairs." Butch said, not wanting to reveal that his ass got kicked.
"Some really hard stairs, I might add." John added with a smirk.
"Well anyway, everyone, get in your seats, We are going to take the dreaded G.O.A.T." Mr. Brotch said, adding extra dread to the word G.O.A.T.
About an hour later, after some slightly humorous questions, John was done with the G.O.A.T. He gave it to Mr. Brotch, who ran it through a Terminal, and John waited anxiously for the result.
"It says here that you are.. The combat instructor! Wow, never would've guessed, seeing what you did to Butch back there," Mr. Brotch said. John blushed at the end part.
"Well it looks like you're gonna be charged with training yourself and any others in martial arts, bye!" Mr. Brotch said.
Well shit. Now I have to read Pugilism Illustrated for a job.
3 YEARS LATER
"Please John! You have to wake up! NOW!" Amata yelled at a sleeping John.
"Wha-What? What's going on? Where's my dad?" John said.
"He's... He's left the Vault!"
"What? We all know he can't! That door's sealed shut! What do you mean he left?" John said, thinking Amata was joking.
"I'm not joking! I'm being serious! My father's guards.. They.. They killed Jonas!" Amata said.
"What!? Those murderers!"
"I'm serious! They just kept beating him and beating him... He just couldn't take it..."
"I swear... If I get my hands on one of them.."
"Please, don't!"
"Sorry it's just.. They killed him.."
"Here I have a plan, you have to leave the Vault. They'll kill you if you stay. Go to my father's office, pick the lock, and enter the password into the terminal and.. Leave the Vault. Take my father's pistol, just for protection.. Please don't use it.. And take these bobby pins, so you can pick the locks on my father's door."
"No, you take the gun, I can't be trusted with a gun, I hate the bastards. Thanks for the pins though, might have to put up my hair. Now, I have to go.. We meet at the door." John said, before he looted his room for weapons and stimpaks.
He took a baseball bat, his BB gun, and a Grognak the Barbarian comic book for entertainment when he was "out there". He walked down the hall, and encountered a security guard. He had forgotten this particular guard's name, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that he was coming at John with a police baton.
John ducked the first swing of the baton, but the next swing caught him in the stomach. His mid-section hurt immensely, but John managed to tackle the man, and bring him to the ground. John then managed to pull off the man's security helmet, but only the plexiglass face mask. John then punched the guard in the nose, seeing the the nose in a disfigured shape, punched the guard again.
Man this feels good. I need to do this more often.
After punching the guard three times more, John realized that the guard was out cold. He took the guard's baton, and walked further down the hall. He came to the door to the Atrium, and saw two Vault residents talking to each other.
"We have to run! This is our only chance! We could get out and make a name for ourselves!" The male resident said, before running, shouting "Don't shoot! It's me!" and getting a clip in his stomach.
As the other resident was making a fuss, John lept into action, running for the door, and managing to get through without a bullet in his stomach. He shut the door behind him and locked it. He ran as he heard shouting, and somehow ran into Andy and Stanley, fighting off some RadRoaches.
"Stanley! You're alive!" John exclaimed, breathless.
"Not like you could say for most of us, now keep moving. I don't want another appliance to wash the blood off of. " Stanley said, eager to shrug John off, because there were things to fix and 'Roachs to kill. Plus, his father betrayed us all
John continued on, until he was in the Overseer's room, where Amata was being interrogated.
"Alphonse! You son of a bitch!" John yelled as he entered the room.
A security guard tried to club him, but John ducked the baton and knocked the guy out cold. He then grabbed the Overseer and pinned him against the wall.
"Where the hell is Amata? If you hurt her, you don't know the things I would do to you. You would beg for death." John said. Amata watched in horror, as John noticed.
"Oh, so it's the little traitor," Alphonse said cooly, "Are you going to follow in the footsteps of your father? And betray us all?"
"He did NOT betray us!" John replied, angered.
"Oh yes he did, he let all of these RadRoaches in, and then we tried to get Jonas to tell us his partner's plans, but he didn't speak," said Alphonse, "He screamed and screamed, oh it was so fun, you should have heard him when we-"
Alphonse was interrupted by a knee to stomach, followed by a heavy punch to the face. Alphonse fell to the ground, unconscious. John turned around and was relieved to see Amata, scared, but holding herself together.
"Is he..?" Amata, fearful of the worst.
"No, but I'm surprised that I didn't kill him myself." John said, kicking Alphonse in the groin, just so he felt it in the morning. Or whatever time they woke up.
"I... I don't think I can go with you... My place is here, in the Vault. If anyone can survive out there, it's you." Amata said, surprising John.
"But.. I thought we were going to.." John said, his voice trailing off.
"I know, but the Vault needs me... I found the password for the terminal, you just need to pick the locks. The password is my name." Amata said. John realized that Amata didn't think her father loved her.
"Amata.. I understand now.. Don't worry about it.. I can survive out there alone." John was surprised that after he said this, Amata hugged him and whispered goodbye.
"Amata.. Goodbye." John said, but he had a feeling that this wouldn't be their final goodbye.
John walked to the Overseer's office, easily picked the lock, despite it being his first lock picked. He went to the terminal, entered 'AMATA' into the keyboard, and was surprised when he found a secret passage open near the desk. He walked through the passage and came to the Vault door. It was the first time in his life that he had ever seen the door. He walked to a nearby terminal and hit a button that read 'OPEN'. He pushed the button and was alarmed by a loud siren, followed by the screeching of the Vault door opening. Some security guards ran to the door, but all they saw was John waving goodbye amongst some ancient skeletons and signs. Amata walked into the room and saw John, and nearly burst into tears. She saw John, and then all she did was push the button that read 'CLOSE' as John went into the light.
Light. A blinding flash of light greeted the pale Vault Dweller as he entered the Wasteland.
Okay, that's my first fic! Hope you guys liked it! Please Review! It really helps!
Special Thanks
To Ethan, for being awesome, and being my proofreader!
To The. Frost. for providing the ispiration to write this story again!
To All of my friends over XB Live and in real life for the support and cameo appearances (in advance)
To Bethesda for being awesome!
To me for being narcissistic!
To Captain Delicious for being Delicious!