It was a blur. The House. The Bomb. The Vault. Death and doom, fears come to life. And then, as the door shut on the recompression chamber, Shannon Walker felt a pang of terror as a bone-curdling chill struck her. A sort of burning agony that lapsed into unconsciousness.
After a few heartbeats, she struggled awake. Across from her, in the pod, a man struggled. Her Scott - and with him, little Shaun. In the blurry darkness and burning chill, Shannon leaned forward - and saw a woman in a full-body cleansuit step forward, pointing at Shaun's pod as he coughed in pain - the same pain she felt.
Her heart beat. Poor Shaun. Was he okay?
A man in a black shirt, with armor over his left arm, stepped out from the darkness at the edge of her vision.
"This is the one." The cleansuited woman said.
"Open it." The man commanded. A menacing pistol lay in his hand. The doors opened as the woman pressed a button, and Scott practically shambled out of the door. The woman grabbed at Shaun - but he protested.
"No! I've got him!" He said.
"Give us the kid." The man in black said. He leveled the pistol at Scott, who didn't look up from Shaun.
Shannon slammed on the glass. "NO!" She shouted. "Don't you dare! Scott!"
A gunshot rang out. He collapsed on the floor. The figure in the cleansuit looked back at the man in black, recoiling at the gunshot. "That subject was valuable, Kellogg."
"We have the backup." He said, thumbing at Shannon. "Every second we waste is another for mutation in the DNA. Get moving. Quickly." He gestured her along.
The chill thickened, and Shannon leaned back, tears streaming down her face.
She awoke to the same tears frozen and burning against her cheeks. She let out a whimper as she brushed them away, stinging blood from cuts where they'd been frozen for god knows how long. The door cracked open - and a skeleton lay where her husband had not moments before.
Shannon stepped out of the pod and collapsed to her knees, hands on the bones as tears ran down the cuts in her cheeks, blood and tears mixing and dribbling onto her Vault Suit. "No!" She shouted, the crumbled bones rattling, barely connected by rotted ligaments. "NO! Scott! Why?! You just came home!"
The war had been terrifying. She'd been home, pregnant, while Scott had been in Anchorage. They'd met in the service. She was with the 14th Air Force out of Vancouver. He was with the 506th Airborne Infantry Regiment. The veritable Screaming Eagles - even if their idea of parachuting had changed to jumping from Vertibirds. The kind Shannon had been fixing as Maintenance Officer.
She couldn't remember the last time she practiced law. She'd gotten out once Scott got her pregnant. They got married by proxy - and then he was discharged when Shaun was born.
They'd built their happy little life. With Codsworth - with Shaun, in Sanctuary Hills.
And then it had all caught fire.
And now she had neither of them. With a rub of her eyes and her cheeks stinging, Shannon stood - red hair soaking wet with the ice from the cryogenic pod - for that's what it was.
As she slowly stepped down the row, she realized that the pods around her - save hers - hadn't been working. The bodies within were thawing, but the bodies inside had the stillness of a corpse. Like the bodies flying back on the planes coming from Anchorage. She shivered.
"Nobody?" She asked gently.
Snapping the door switch, she exited - and found the door she'd entered through sealed shut. Her heart skipped a beat. Was she trapped? How had the other men gotten in?
How could she find Shaun? If Scott had... rotted, then it had to've been years, now. He could very well be all grown up.
"I've gotta get out of here." Shannon said - and turned toward another exit. With legs churning, she turned - and headed down a gantry - only to come face to face with a giant... "Roach?!" She shouted, stomping down hard. Its shell resisted for less than a second before the thing's body cracked, pincers chittering once before it fell silent. "What the hell!?"
She stared through a nearby window - watching the coils of a pair of fusion reactors shudder and spit electricity, frying another one of the large cockroaches - radiation roaches, if anything. "If these are what the bombs made, god knows what else is out there."
Down the corridor, she found a terminal - detailing the original 'purpose' of Vault 111. Long term, mortality-optional cryogenic testing. Shannon shuddered as she read the results - but none of it involved extracting babies. Whoever had stolen Shaun, they definitely didn't do it in 2078. The people in this Vault probably tried to leave. God knows what happened to them.
Probably died. Or even ended up mutated. Shannon wasn't sure what was worse. As she headed down the exit corridor - she noticed a small wing that shunted off on the route to the staff living quarters. It was sealed down tight - and the locks seemed to still be engaged. 'SPECIAL PROJECT: AMERICAN ICICLE' was stenciled in the doorframe. 'MILITARY AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED - XGW-76'
"XGW-76? X-Ray Gamma Whiskey? That's an old one. Not sure why they'd key the door for it." Shannon stepped toward the door panel, and punched in the four-digit authentication she'd punched on so many Vertibird supply shipments.
The door hissed open, hydraulics decades in disuse slowly reopening. Behind the door, a singular robot painted stark white stared back at her. "HELLO VAULT CITIZEN. THIS IS A SPECIAL PROJECT SITE. I AM PROTECTRON CARETAKER 4-3-1. DESIGNATION FROSTY. NO COAL OR BUTTONS REQUIRED."
"Uh, hi Frosty." Shannon said. "Do you know what happened to this place? Where'd everyone go?"
"I DO NOT." The Robot stated, turning toward the door and gesturing with a claw. "THIS UNIT IS ASSIGNED TO CARE FOR CAPTAIN ROGERS' EQUIPMENT UNTIL VAULT-TEC PERSONNEL ARRIVE FOR REVIVAL WORK. THIS UNIT HAS WAITED OVER 200 YEARS."
"Right, well." Shannon brushed several locks of her hair back. "Who is this Captain Rogers? Why is he stored in a special section of the Vault?"
"ROGERS, STEVEN. CAPTAIN, UNITED STATES ARMY. ALTERNATIVE DESIGNATION - "CAPTAIN AMERICA", DEFEATED NAZI AFFILIATED ORGANIZATION "HYDRA" IN 1945. PRESUMED KILLED IN ACTION OVER ATLANTIC DESTROYING HYDRA AIRCRAFT ATTEMPTING NUCLEAR STRIKES ON AMERICA. SURVIVED. FROZEN IN PACK ICE."
"Really?" Shannon said. "For over 200 years?"
"OVER 300." The Protectron replied. "THE EXPECTED SAFETY DE-THAW WAS TO END BY 2078 AFTER RECOVERY IN 2073. NO SCIENTISTS WERE PRESENT TO COMPLETE STANDARD DE-THAW PROCEDURE ON OCTOBER 23, SCHEDULED DATE OF VAULT ENTRY."
"'Scheduled'?" Shannon practically shouted. "You mean the war was scheduled? For how long?!"
"THIS UNIT'S DATABANK DOES NOT HAVE THAT INFORMATION. CAPTAIN ROGERS MUST BE DE-THAWED. POWER FLUCTUATIONS ARE GETTING SEVERE. SURVIVAL OF CAPTAIN ROGERS - PARAMOUNT."
Shannon paused. Captain America. Steve Rogers. Like, in the trading cards? The Captain Rogers from the old war films? With the Smithsonian exhibit in DC? And at the liberty museum in Concord? "Lead me to him." She finally said. The Protectron started shambling, and Shannon was close behind.
The Protectron triggered a hydraulic door, and a singular cryopod lay at the end of a large room - a red white and blue suit on a mannequin sitting close to the right, with a shield on a pedestal to the left. Various weapons and equipment lay on racks nearby - but most of it was in terrible condition. Centuries did that to equipment - but Shannon did find some Pre-War Fatigues. A little grimy, but better than this damned Vault Suit. With a few moments of shimmying, the suit was off. A few more moments of pants and undershirt on, plus some tied boots?
Shannon already felt the military wax rubbing back on. Her heels clicked as she stood from a provided stool. "UNIFORM RECOMMENDED. GOOD CHOICE. PROVIDES CONTEXT FOR CAPTAIN ROGERS."
The Woman practically chuckled. "Thanks, Frosty." She said, as the robot approached Steve's pod. "What do I need to do?" Her boots carried her to the pod, where a blonde man sat behind glass, body frozen and covered in frost. Shannon winced as she touched her face, where red streaks still stung and bled gently.
They'd leave a scar. Bloody streaks from her husband's death. A final parting. She wanted to cry again - but she had a Captain to wake.
"YOU WILL NEED TO REENTER X-RAY GAMMA WHISKEY SEVEN SIX AUTHENTICATOR. THEN COMMENCE THAW SEQUENCE. REMAIN ON STANDBY WITH MEDICAL EQUIPMENT AND TO PROVIDE CARDIOPULMONARY CARE. ONLY BASIC MEDICAL TRAINING SHOULD BE REQUIRED."
Shannon nodded. She punched in the four number authenticator again. "Right. Nothing like a real American hero to get me out of the apocalypse, right?"
The Sole Survivor bit her tongue at that. Outside, the world was gone. Who knows what she could find?
The pod hissed, and a heartbeat began to beep from the pod controls. With a heavy hand, Shannon brought down the release lever. The same one that had released her husband. Biting her lip, she watched as the pod eased open. A coughing rattle escaped the Captain's lips as the blonde man fell forward onto his knees.
He looked young. Younger than even her. Maybe twenty? Just a boy, but enhanced beyond his wildest dreams. A shrimp that became a lion, or so some of the old holovids had said. He coughed up some strange fluid. Probably water and ice frozen in his lungs over eons. "Ugh. Better than some of the gruel I've been served in the day." He said, looking around. "Where am I?"
His eyes fixed on Shannon. "Uh. Hi." She said. "This is gonna come as a bit of a shock, but it's been a long time since you fell asleep.
The Robot turned toward him with a subtle clang. "333 YEARS TO BE EXACT. WELCOME BACK TO THE LIVING, MR. ROGERS. ON BEHALF OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT CIRCE 2077, "WELCOME TO THE PREPARED FUTURE OF VAULT-TEC"."
Rogers stared at the robot for a pregnant moment, pointing a finger at it, and looking back toward Shannon. "That's a robot."
"Yep." Shannon said. "There were alot of those before the war. The third one, that is. Started in 2076. America versus Communist China."
"You mean like Soviet Russia?" Rogers asked, hands on his thighs as he stretched out his arms. He glanced over the room, eyes locking on his shield. "What is this place?"
"Well... it's a Vault. But not the kind they advertised. They were supposed to protect us from nuclear bombs. Atom bombs." Shannon said, pointing around the shelter. Cap looked around, seeing the metal, and looking back at the pod.
"Atom bombs? I stopped some on the way toward America. Hydra weapons." Rogers said.
"THE HYDRA VESSEL WAS DESTROYED, CAPTAIN. YOU SAVED THE COUNTRY. ADD A POSTHUMOUS MEDAL OF HONOR TO YOUR UNIFORM AT THE NEAREST OPPORTUNITY - CONGRESSIONAL ORDER." Steve smiled at that.
He frowned. "It's too bad." He said. "I had a date." The three stood in silence for a moment. "So... this war. The Vaults were built to protect you from the bombs? And we were frozen? When was the war?"
"2077." Shannon said. "The robot said it's been over 200 years since then."
"210 EXACTLY." Frosty added. Rogers slowly stood, scratching his head.
"I-" He said, hands on his hips. "It makes sense, but..." His head shook. "It's alot to take in."
"You're telling me." Shannon said. Cap gave her a once-over, glancing at the bloody streaks down her cheeks.
"You're bleeding, soldier." He said. "There's gotta be a medical kit somewhere. Let's get you patched up." Steve spotted one on the wall, and crossed the room in the tatters of his old uniform. He pulled it off the wall, sitting Shannon down and putting gauze over her nose and down her cheeks. "What's your rank?"
"First Lieutenant." Shannon said, wincing at the pain. "I wasn't in long. 2074 after Law School. Did three of my four before I got pregnant. They discharged me after we started on the Anchorage offensive. I met my husband there."
"Really?" Steve said. "That's good to hear." He said, taping her gauze on around her neck. "Is he somewhere else in this Vault?"
"...Yes." Shannon managed, face paling. Steve winced.
"I'm sorry." He said. He'd seen that face before. "How?"
"Shot. Someone thawed us out. Took our son, shot him when he tried to resist." Shannon managed through gritted teeth. She dug her nails into the pants of her uniform. Steve sat there in his sopping 300 year old uniform, nodding all the while as Shannon recounted what she'd learned so far.
"So he's out there - could be alot older. We don't know for sure - but to be sure, we need to get out of here. We can't just shack up in this rustbucket.
"I STAND READY TO ASSIST." Frosty said. "MY DUTY IS TO CARE FOR MR. ROGERS UNTIL HIS THAWING. AWAITING NEW DIRECTIVE."
Rogers took a look at it, and around at the walls. "How good of a condition is this facility in?" Rogers asked.
"Pretty bad. Reactor's a mess." Shannon said. She glanced at the robot. "Tell him to snazz it up?"
"Figure it could house some people, if it's bad outside. Not sure how many, but..." Rogers shook his head and looked down at his rags. "Doesn't matter. I need to get dressed."
Shannon pointed at the Mannequin. "I think someone made something just your size." Rogers glanced at it, and smiled. Grabbing his shield from the Pedestal, he quickly ducked behind the pod with the mannequin, returning with the new deep blue suit strapped on, shield clung to his back by magnets. In a hip holster he tossed one of the few 10mm pistols on the weapon racks. From underneath a shelf he grabbed a combat chest plate with a small ammo belt and canteen.
He tossed it at Shannon - who was in the midst of checking a Combat Rifle. It was in poor condition, but a gun was a gun. "Thanks." She said, clasping it on with a few quick straps. "Not exactly Power Armor, but I'll take it."
"Power Armor?" Cap asked. Shannon glanced at him, before Cap waved his hand at her. "I've got a lot of catching up to do. Let's get outa here."
"You and me both." Shannon said, racking her rifle. The pair jogged down the corridor, leaving Frosty in their wake as he awkardly bent and righted Cap's downed mannequin.
"GOODBYE." Frosty said. "BE BACK ON CHRISTMAS DAY!" In its metal core, it knew they wouldn't be. Not that robots knew anything.
Shannon and Cap slowly stalked through what remained of the facility - Cap's shield crushing another roach as they found themselves inside some sort of habitat area. All of the lockers were cleaned out, lacking vault suits and other supplies. The terminals spoke of severe food shortages - and, eventually, a possible mutiny. Steve and Shannon entered the Overseer's office to find a corpse, a gun, and a locked terminal.
Shannon typed through the dump interface, hunting a password, as Steve looked around. "Aaaaand... got it!" She said. "Door access control - we'll be out of here in no time." She said. The nearby door hissed and shuttered open - the cog of the vault door set harshly into its moorings. Rogers stepped forward, crushing another roach - as Shannon put a round into two others.
"Were you infantry?" Steve asked.
Shannon shook her head. "My husband was. We went to the range together before his group assaulted Anchorage. We got pregnant by then... but, well, duty called for him. And for me, in my own way. I was air maintenance - but that was more for the effort. I had a law degree. Was supposed to work at my father's firm, but you know how it is."
"War." Steve said. He shook his head. "Does weird things to all our lives. All I wanted to do was follow my best friend into the war. Then they made me stronger than I'd ever been. Bigger. Faster."
"You did good things." Shannon said, stepping toward the door controls. She reached down, furrowing her brow as she grabbed an old arm computer, a Pip-Boy, from a scientist's body. With a hearty click, the device sealed around her wrist - and to her surprise, it started booting. "Wouldja look at that?" She said, showing the booting interface to Rogers.
"Like I said, I have alot to learn." He replied. Shannon plugged the device in. The plastic shield on the release flipped open, and Shannon slapped the button. "What do you think we'll find?" Rogers asked.
"If we're lucky?" She asked. "Not much."
"And if we're not?" Steve replied.
Shannon looked at him. "Then it was nice knowing you, Captain." She added, brushing her hair aside as the door swung open. The bridge extended, and she stepped across with purpose. "Whatever the case - my son's out there. I have to find him, no matter what may have happened."
"And I'm with you." Cap replied, shield swinging at his side as he stepped with her onto the elevator. It lurched gently as the gate rattled shut. "You said you lived down the way? Sanctuary Hills?"
"Yeah. We're near Boston. Concord's just over the bridge and past Red Rocket. Not sure what's left. A secondary blast or two could've leveled the entire area - or the one that struck may've been it." The sky overhead shone in as the overhead covering slid aside, and the pair shielded their eyes. Dusty sunlight was filtered out through thick clouds - a clear but sullen rain showering them both. A loud crack split the horizon.
"Great!" Cap said. He looked around. Dead trees lay in all directions, broken and twisted. Some bushes still grew - brown-green leaves somehow eking out an existence. Rusted out cars and old shacks remained near, and Shannon took the time to rustle through them as Cap kept watch.
"It used to be beautiful." Shannon said, several magazines of .223 and 10mm in her hands. She handed Cap his and pocketed hers. "Now?" Her eyes darted over the horizon. A sigh escaped her lips. "I guess I don't know what I expected."
Cap stared harder. His eyes spotted the steeples of Concord not far in the distance, and saw the torn holes in the walls of the homes below. A stream still ran left and right of the Vault hill, with clear water. "Hm." Cap said. "It's a mess, but we've got a son to find." He said. "We should start down there. Your house still intact?"
Shannon looked down the rise. "Looks like it. Not sure what kinda state it'll be in after 200 years."
"Probably worse than mine." Cap said. The pair chuckled slightly. "C'mon."
And as the rain spat down on the dusty hill of Vault 111, two new heroes set out into the Wasteland. A Wasteland of Heroes. Of Villains. Of Virtues and Vices.
The Commonwealth.