So, if you are just starting off and reading this I would recommend reading my story Homward Bound, set just hours before this story.
James, Susie, Butch, Jericho, and Dogmeat came before the town of megaton, a sight now very familiar to all but two of them. Susie and Butch stood in awe, as the metal doors slid upwards to open for them. James had not said a word since he left the Vault, and still remained deathly quiet. Jericho on the other hand, had talked non-stop since they left. Most of it mocking Butch for asking about Dragons, and some of it complaining about Dogmeat growling at him.
"That Fucken mutt keeps eye-bawling me and he'll be fucken sorry." Jericho barked, as he glared at Dogmeat with contempt.
"Yeah! Stupid dog." Butch stated, trying to remove the memory of questions about dragons from the group.
"Shut the fuck up, Vaultie!" Jericho snapped, dismissing Butch's attempts at redeeming himself.
Susie held back her panic since they left the Vault. She had so many concerns swimming around in her head that she was unsure whether or not she should voice them, under fear of persecution due to ignorance. Where was she and Butch going to live? What were they going to do? What if they were killed? What if this was a huge mistake, listening to her heart and leaving? Maybe it wasn't too late to go back, to the Vault. No, she couldn't think like that otherwise she would start hyper-ventilating, and that would show weakness. And from what she could gather from the examples of James and Jericho, weakness was not something that was tolerated out in the Wasteland.
Entering the city, James and Jericho walked down the familiar path, as they were followed by the fascinated vault dwellers. Watching them look in awe at the shanty homes made of steel, James wondered if he was this green when he first arrived in the town. That seemed like a lifetime ago, his first step into Megaton. Just having lost his home, his father, his friend, and everything he called home. A sliver of dejavu crept over him, but was quickly dismissed as a thought too depressing for the time.
It was then, that Butch and Susie noticed the most vocal attraction in Megaton. The huge bomb in the centre of the town.
"Holy shit! Is that a…a…a…a" Butch stammered pointing towards the large bomb in the centre of town.
"A bomb!" Susie shouted, as she felt fear gripping her tightly.
"Really? Where?" Jericho asked, mocking the new meat of the group.
"Right in front of you!" Butch announced, not aware he was being made a fool of by the old raider.
"Hey Kid…that always been there?" Jericho asked, trying to get a word out of the Lone Wanderer.
"It's not armed." James said, finally breaking the silence that claimed him since his departure from the Vault.
"How do you know that?! What if it just blows up one day!?" Butch blurted, voicing the shared concern between himself and Susie.
"It won't." James dismissed, almost positive it wouldn't blow up anytime soon without outside involvement.
"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?!" Butch shouted getting a lot of unnecessary attention, before receiving the butt end of Jericho's shotgun to his gut.
"Because the Kid disarmed the fucken thing!" Jericho barked, no longer able to put up with the shit coming from this Vaultie.
"Really?" Susie asked, as Butch fell to his knees in pain.
"Yeah, I did." James admitted, sounding as if he deeply regretted saving this town from possible destruction.
"That's amazing…" Susie said, watching James kneel down and rub his dog's fur.
"Dogmeat…go home. Rest a little." James said, in the most compassionate tone Butch or Susie had heard him use since the Vault.
Barking, the dog ran off away from the group, presumably to return to his masters Home. James slowly rose to his feet and turned to face his comrades, new and old.
"What do we do now?" Susie asked, breaking the silence that consumed them.
"Look, I have had a long ass day. I've been shot at, held hostage, had the shit beat out of me. I think I need a drink." James explained in a harsh tone, while still sounding exhausted.
"That's what I'm talking about. Come on Vaulties, Drinks are on the Kid." Jericho announced, eager to start empting the kid's pockets.
Moriarty's bar was exactly how they left it, crappy and void of an uplifting atmosphere without james and Jericho to drink everyone but each other under the table. When the "old man" and the "kid" began a drinking contest, everyone in the bar had to participate. They would always be the only two left standing, while everyone else had either passed out or threw up. Of course, then they would break out into a fight over who can still keep drinking, and who couldn't hold their liquor.
Upon entering the bar, Butch let his presence be known as that of an outsider to not only Megaton, but the wastes in general.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!" He shouted, as he pointed to the ghoul barman.
Feeling annoyed, James quickly slapped Butch across the head with his flesh hand as hard as he could. Susie covered her mouth in fear and shock at the sight of the man thing behind the bar, but didn't allow herself an outburst as vocal or rude as Butch's.
"Ouch!" Butch cried out, as James glared at the Leather wearing Vault dweller.
"What's the matter with you?" James asked rhetorically, walking towards the bar and barman.
"What the hell did I say?" Butch asked rubbing his head much to the delight of Jericho, whose laughter indicated a sort of enjoyment from watching Butch get hurt.
"Hey Gob, give me and the kid some whiskey…" Jericho stated, following James to the bar.
"And keep em coming, the kidz paying!" Jericho continued, as James just stared into his lap.
"Great…I'll get the blood mop." Gob said in the sarcastic manner the two wastelanders were accustomed to, much to the enjoyment of both.
James sat in silence, looking down into the abyss of his lap. Before he went back to 101, he could at least had hoped for a day he could return and leave the wasteland behind. Now he knew, there was no chance he could ever go home. He had lost everything dear to him in the last year. His father was dead, his best friend and earliest love had abandoned him, and now he was back in this shit hole of a bar. Yes, he considered Megaton his home, but there is only so many times he could tell himself that the place he lived for two years was more a home than the place he had spent 19 years. But, he had overcome worse times in his life. Darker times. He could certainly overcome this.
"Wow…I can't believe this." Butch said, as he looked around the bar.
"I know, it really takes your breath away." Susie agreed.
"Yeah." Butch stated, as a woman came down the stairs smoking a cigarette.
"This place is amazing. True society." Susie stated, wondering if she was the owner of the place.
"What? No! I mean they have booze out here!" Butch announced, pleased with the fact that there was alcohol outside the fermentation room in the vault.
"You two look new." An old man pointed out, as he approached the two.
"Who's asking?" Butch asked, stepping toward the elder.
"Colin Moriarty, at your service! Welcome to Moriarty's! My saloon, me home, my slice of heaven in this backwoods little burg." Moriarty announced, making as good an impression as one would assume the owner of such a place could make.
"Um…hi." Susie greeted, brushing her loose hair behind her ear in an attempt to look presentable to the owner.
"Pleasure to meet ya both. Might I ask what brings ya to my fine establishment in this pisshole of a town?" Moriarty asked, smirking and shaking both of the vault youths hands.
"We're from the Vault." Susie stated, much to the amusement of the old man.
"I can see that, but sad to say your gonna have to get a job if you want to be using any of my fine services." Moriarty stated, as he began eyeing Susie up and down.
Susie could feel the old man's eyes traversing her body, and didn't want to imagine what kind of "job" the old man had in mind for her.
"Moriarty!" a voice from behind the old man shouted, causing the bar to grow quiet.
James got up from his seat, swaying a little to the left as he tried to get maintain his centre of gravity. Having just knocked back five large bottles of whiskey, James was starting to feel the effects rather fast. Finding it, he began to approach the frowning bar owner.
"They came with me…"James admitted, his face now scowling with a serious frown.
"Oh really? I never would have guessed, what with the vault jumpsuits and them looking as naïve as a nun in a whore house." Moriarty stated, much to the displeasure of the young waste lander.
"Leave them alone…" James grunted, glaring at Moriarty with great drunken displeasure.
"Go back to smelling like the arse end of a whiskey bottle son, it's what ya good at." Moriarty sneered, referring to the periods James had spent at the bar in the past.
James clinched his fist, and grinded his teeth. He wanted nothing more than to beat the snot and shit out of the old man's face, but he couldn't. He would kill Moriarty if he released all his rage on the man. All the anger, all the hate, all the pain, that james had faced and controlled, since even before his return home to vault 101.
"Susie…Butch…come on." James ordered, as if he was talking to that of an enemy and not of an ally.
Susie and Butch sat to the left of James, as Jericho did not seem motivated to move from his stool. Butch could not help but stare at the bar man, and his grotesque appearance. Susie on the other hand, wondered if James was the man he seemed to be back in the vault.
"What did he mean?" Susie asked, placing her hand on James's own.
"None of your business!" James snapped, pulling his hand away from hers.
"Sorry…." Susie's stated, as James looked towards Gob.
"What do you want to drink?" James asked aloud, receiving the attention of Susie and Butch.
"I'll drink what you're having." Butch stated, trying to sound as mature as possible.
"No ya won't." Jericho intervened, objecting to Butch's request.
"Why the hell not?!" Butch asked, wanting answers from the aged man.
"Because I said so." Jericho grinned, showcasing his yellow smile before letting out a sandpaper chuckle.
"He'll take a small whiskey." James stated, sick of the petty argument.
"Susie what do you want?" James asked, turning to face her in the dim lit bar.
"Um…do they have any 101 Cola?" Susie asked, not really wanting to drink anything from this bar.
"HAH!" Jericho scoffed, looking towards the young girl who was now blushing and hanging her head.
"Fucken Vaultie through and through." Jericho continued, before returning to his drink.
It was then, that James came to the conclusion he was never that green. But it did bring a smile to his face, to be reminded of that vault product.
Good Ole Cola? Good Ole 101.
Was the slogan.
"Give her a Nuka Cola, and two more big whiskeys." James said, raising two fingers to Gob indicating the number of whiskeys he wanted.
A silence crept over the four, as they sat and waited for their drink order. James dug his hand into his pocket, and fished out his newly acquired lighter. The 101 and vault logo on the lighter, James had a small momento of his life before the wastes thanks to this little piece of stainless steel. Opting to smoke a cigarette over his newly acquired cigars, James asked Gob if he could spare one. After being handed one, much to the disgusted stares of Susie and Butch, James lit it and began smoking.
"Thanks buddy." James gratefully accepted, gaining an approving nod from Gob.
"You really gonna smoke that thing?" Butch asked, looking as if he was about to vomit if James continued to smoke the small paper tube concealing tobacco.
James pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and analysed it carefully in a mocking motion.
"Well I don't know…I was thinking about it." James mocked, before placing it back in his mouth and taking a deep drag of it.
"But….that thing…" Butch stammered, as their drinks were placed in front of them.
"Gob." James said, stating the barman's name.
"That Gob touched it." Butch continued, showing his ignorance of the wasteland.
"So?" James asked, inhaling the smoke deeply and releasing it out into the bar.
"He touched your drinks too? You still gonna drink them?" Jericho pointed out, looking at the new meat.
"What is he?" Susie asked, looking at James inquisitively.
"I'm a ghoul, honey." Gob answered, looking at her and Butch in annoyance.
"What's a ghoul?" Butch asked, not aware of just how much he had offended the bartender.
"Itz what happenz when ya pass out somewhere with a lot of radz." Jericho answered with a yellow grin, before breaking out into loud obnoxious laughter.
"So…is this what heroes do? Drink all day?" Susie asked James, not impressed by his choice of company or attitude.
This comment was quickly greeted with the sound of Jericho choking on laughter and cheap whiskey. He began coughing hysterically and wheezing, all while laughing at Susie's comment.
"She thinkz you're some kind of hero kid!" Jericho laughed, much to James's disapproval.
Jericho rolled his eyes, and continued to drink, keeping his obnoxious laughter to a snigger now. James turned to Susie, and looked at her as if she had just said something horrible to offend him. James thought long and hard about what he had to say to her, the alcohol and depressing feelings he was experiencing didn't help him come up with an answer.
"Don't make people into heroes Susie. Heroes don't exist…." James started, before lifting the bottle to his lips and downing the remainder of the bottle.
"..And if they did? I sure as hell, wouldn't be one." James finished, raising his finger to indicate another drink order.
"How can you think that way?" Susie asked, as James rolled his eyes at her innocence.
"I don't know…ask me again in half an hour." James answered, not wanting to continue this conversation.
"You know what? Maybe you want to sit in a bar all day and get drunk-"
"And I do." James interrupted, before Susie pulled the cigarette from his mouth and threw it across the bar.
"HEY!" James barked, glaring drunkenly at Susie Mack.
"But, I don't!" Susie stated, standing up from the stool and walked towards the entrance.
Stepping out onto the Balcony overlooking the disarmed bomb, Susie Mack found herself standing on the edge of the Crater of a city she barely knew. She watched from the edge at the circus below, a group of people surrounding the bomb and chanted some form of gospel. She looked to the east, and saw some rusted metal shacks that she assumed were homes. Looking to the west, she saw a building whose upper half seemed to be a crashed plane which had the word "supply" above it. The cold night air, brushed against her soft skin. She felt like shouting her desire to go home, behind the tears of regret that filled her eyes. He wasn't the man she thought he was.
"He's a lot to handle sometimes…" A voice from behind Susie emerged, startling the young vault dweller
"Huh?" Susie asked, surprised at the sudden appearance of another person.
"James, He can be too much sometimes…" She continued, hinting at some familiarity on the subject at hand.
"Yeah…*Sniff* I guess he can." Susie sniffed, not really sure if this was true or not but agreeing only so another would not see her cry.
"But ya know…he may not like to be called one. But he is a hero. Ask anyone." The women stated, leaning over the railing and looking down into the circus of believers below.
"Really?" Susie asked, feeling a form of reassurance from the presence of this woman.
"Uh-huh." The woman nodded smiling towards Susie.
"What's your name?" She asked, as a light breeze caused some of her hair to float upward for a moment revealing her pretty yet sad eyes to Susie.
"I'm Susie Mack. Nice to meet you." Susie addressed herself, putting her hand out to greet her new friend.
"Names Nova. Pleasures all mine." Nova responded, taking Susie's hand and shaking it. A new friendship formed.