Chapter One

Luci shouldered Ol' Painless, her .32 calibre hunting rifle bestowed upon her once she had pried it from its owners dead fingers and headed toward the great hole in the ground, a crater she had finally decided. There was no doubt in her mind as to what it could be, she remembered that bright shining light, the sound of a thousand thunderbolts clapping at once and she remembered the awful pit she had climbed out of when she was only fifteen and had been unfortunately sent kicking and screaming to this cruel and unforgiving world. It wasn't a far way off and she hoped that she managed to reach the poor sod before anyone else did.

At that thought she knelt down on one knee and pulled the laces of her boots tighter before she took off in a sprint toward the light that had now considerably dimmed slapping the shoulder of her companion, Fawkes as she went and he jumped up from the ground readying his minigun before he gave chase.

Despite the fact that he was an eight foot tall monster she had great affection for the man. He was what the waste landers liked to call a super mutant. Super mutants were basically goliaths amongst men and the majority were too stupid to be evil but they still tried. They were once men and women but were so riddled with radiation from the Great War that it had mutated them, evolved them somehow into the monsters that now roamed the wastelands. Fawkes however was not a casualty of the wastelands depending on how you look at it.

He had been born unto the wasteland a human and from what she understood he had been captured when he was just a boy by a rogue group of super mutants who thrived in science and relished the idea of creating their own super race and so Fawkes was the result of genetic mutation, he was the first of their 'super army' and their only success before Luci had shut down the operation and at Fawkes' request, burned the vault to the ground figuratively speaking of course.

They reached the crater within an hour occasionally stopping to sip painfully at the only pure water she had managed to find in almost a year. The wasteland was practically barren despite the fact that she and the lone wanderer had managed to de contaminate the water plant. Apparently these sorts of things took a worryingly long time to come into effect but after six years in the wastelands of North America she had finally adapted to the water and food and thankfully the medicine. If it wasn't for what they called RAD - away and RAD - X she was pretty sure she'd have been dust a long time ago. When they skidded to a halt at the crater they both withdrew their weapons not that Fawkes really needed one considering he could give one passing glance and stop the hearts of the strongest of men. Luci leaned over the edge of the hole buried deep into the ground and pulled her oxygen mask over her face to dispel any dust from getting into her lungs, asthma in the wastelands was a bitch to treat and the Doc back in Megaton refused to treat her if she wouldn't wear her mask.

"Hello?" She called out and received a fit of coughing in response.

Without another word she climbed down landing thankfully on her feet and not her arse into the crater keeping Ol' Painless smiling at the heap of limbs gasping for breath in the middle of the hole. As she stepped closer she was grateful to find it was in fact human and reached down patting the back of the person currently having what she liked to call a major freak out.

"Hang in there mate." She called over the fitful coughs and signalled with a wave of her gun for Fawkes to join her.

Suddenly there was a loud thud and the ground quite literally shook beneath them as Fawkes landing clearing the dust up into the air in what looked like a small mushroom cloud.

"Shall I carry?" Fawkes asked and Luci winced as the person she had been trying to help up dug their fingernails into her arm at the sound of his voice.

In all honesty she didn't blame them. His presence was unsettling at the best of times with a voice that sounded like the gates of hell itself jarring open and had she been rescued by him all those many years ago on that fateful night then she reckoned she would have reacted much the same.

"It's alright. Nothing to worry about just a friend." She said to the person as she managed to pull them up to their feet.

"I reckon you ought to." She added in Fawkes direction when what she now realised was a man stood to full height, about a foot taller than she.

She couldn't see much through the mask or dust but noticed the thick leather armour and almost laughed at the idea of herself trying to carry the man out of there.

"Don't worry; we'll have you out of here in no time." She said as she pulled a length of rope from around her waist, she had wrapped it round five times so thought it really ought to be long enough to carry them out of the crater and turned to Fawkes, who realising what she was about knelt down allowing her to straddle his back before he stood.

"A little higher!" She called down to him and he straightened his spine as much as its tortured structure would allow him to until she managed to scramble back out of the she was on her feet she located a rock nearby and looped the rope around it before she turned and threw it back into the hole that smoked eerily before her.

"Got it!" Called Fawkes and she smiled as she walked back to the edge of the crater and watched as the poor man battled the mutant with all the strength he had in him which surprisingly was a lot for someone who had just been hurtled into another universe. At least that's what she had assumed to the golden haired man that Fawkes had not a moment before put to sleep using the butt of his gun. Within minutes Fawkes emerged from the smoking pit and Luci backed up retrieving her rope before she caught up to where the mutant had laid the man down, far away from all the hazardous dust.

"What will we do with him?" Fawkes asked as he smoothed his hands down over the armour Luci had kindly gifted him that year.

"I think we ought to take him home." She said referring to her metal home in the junkyard they called Megaton.

He wasn't too sure about bringing the stranger to their home but trusted in her judgment and took solace in the fact that he and the sheriff would be able to keep her safe should anything go awry.

With their minds set they decided to put as much distance between themselves and the deserts of the wasteland. It wasn't safe anywhere in truth but they just so happened to be in the most dangerous part of the wasteland with little ammo and an unconscious man. So they packed up and the mutant slung the limp body of the rescuee over his shoulder and they began a half days journey back to Megaton in relative peace. The worst foe they faced that afternoon was luckily a RAD scorpion with a broken tail.

As they walked music played from the small radio Luci had brought for Fawkes and they hummed along happily especially when his favourite song about Spring Cleaning played. It was no mystery to Luci how a radio worked in a post-apocalyptic wasteland when she considered the fact that she was the one who had gone on a mission to retrieve the satellite required to get Galaxy News Radio back on air.

As she thought of Free Dog she gave a small smile that grew as she heard his voice on the radio. It seemed that it had been a long time since the nuclear war had begun and from comparisons to her own world Luci decided it had occurred in what she called the best era, the 40s. Since the war people had come out of their vaults and in some places civilisations were built that ran with electricity, something she was greatly thankful for. With a glance at the man hanging limply over Fawkes' shoulder she wondered where he could have come from. He was wearing pretty decent armour she thought but then it could be a costume. For a long time she hoped he had come from her world though she highly doubted it...

(I own nothing, I just kinda borrowed from Bethesda and Bioware. Will be returning at a later date.)

I do apologise about any spacing issues, hope that's sorted out now. If not let me know. Used to reading on my phone where it isn't such an issue but thank you to mister/miss guest for letting me know! So what do you think guys? Is it worth continuing with or should I destroy the abomination and burn it to the ground? Reviews welcome but go easy on me, I'm a sensitive soul!