[ TOTHELASTMANSTANDING ]


002:
- UNCOOPERATIVE EFFORTS


[002]

"I told you, it's a perfectly good idea."

"You could be exposed at any moment. Please do explain how that qualifies as, 'A perfectly good idea'."

"Yes, yes, there is the immediate threat of execution and whatnot, but isn't that how the saying goes? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?"

"Correct. But I still think it's a terrible idea. What if they realise, what then? They are relentless, if they find you, they'll dig you out. You'll be an exposed nerve."

"If it ever comes to that, we better start moving faster... and just bloody well prey that all hope for the Wanderer is gone by the time it happens."

"We'll try to keep it discreet."

"Good. I have a contact in Rivet City, he'll create the necessary noise. If everything goes to plan, they'll go right where we want them to, arms a' ready and war a' whooping."

"You really get a kick out of pulling the Brotherhood's strings, don't you?"

"I find it therapeutic."

"Good for you, Sergeant."


: 1802 HRS [Local Time] | 20, December 2277 | [ TAGG. LOCATION : (1013, 1324) ] 'Megaton', Washington, D.C :

When Sentinel Sarah Lyons moves into the Lone Wander's home, she expects to see the very picture of a dying man; weakness, fatigue, sadness and perhaps, a little flicker of regret, sometimes pain. She's comforted dying Brotherhood troops before and they had shown similar attributes. She had expected for him to show these signs too. Harder, stronger man had tried to hide it and failed.

But, apparently, the Lone Wanderer was a different kettle of fish. Because if Jasper Throne was dying - he wasn't showing it.

Lowering a half emptied bottle of alcohol against the table with a soft clank, brows furrowing together as he scrutinised her from across the room, Jasper blinks. Something hostile filtered over his features before he pulled on his usual expressionless mask, turning towards the woman in the jumpsuit, the one who had tried her damn hardest to stop Sarah from seeing him. They debate wordlessly between one another and, eventually, Jasper turns back towards Sarah, frown deepening.

"The fuck do you want now, Lyons?" he rumbles in question, he doesn't look anywhere near her face when he asks, just sort of stares at his beer bottle. Not that it's unusual, really. Then he seems to consider the silence that follows, jaw hardening. "Go."

For a sickening moment, she thinks that the Wanderer is addressing her, but then his head turns a little and flicks his umber brown gaze towards the woman.

"Are you sure?" she asks, giving Sarah a long, distrustful look. Jasper nods his head. "Well... do you need anything?"

"No." he hesitates then, stressing the words as he says them. "But thank you."

The woman turns towards the door, giving Sarah another look, before turning over her shoulder to address him as she leaves. "I'll be back with dinner at about half seven."

"Sure."

Then she frowns at Sarah. "Don't you go pull anything stupid now."

Sarah wonders what the hell she means by that, and she's about to demand for an explanation when the woman flounces outside, shutting the door behind her. They are alone now, and the room feels both empty and suffocating all at once. Jasper seems to evaluate her quickly, examining her from the tips of her boots to the end of her ponytail. After a few seconds of silence, he opens his mouth slowly, still relatively expressionless. The hazy light of developing evening makes him an emblazoned silhouette, basking in liquid amber beams.

"People don't trust the Brotherhood out here." is all he says, possibly in explanation to the woman's behaviour.

He seems to expect her reaction, because he leans back nonchalantly to consider his drink again. "After everything we have done for them?" Sarah scowls; he just gives her a flat look.

"You forget that the Brotherhood has little to no presence outside DC." is all he says as he throws an arm towards the couch and she takes the offered seat, Power Armoured form sinking heavily into the cushions. This close up, she can see the signs. His skin wasn't in very good condition, this she had realised after a quick glance. A lot of the softness had been taken away and the bones in his face stuck out a little further. His eyes were bloodshot, there was a developing ulcer on his bottom lip in the left corner and while he hadn't lost his hair yet, the dark thick waves had thinned somewhat. He had always kept his hair short, though. So that was no different.

"How are you?" she asks, a little awkwardly perhaps, but she's not exactly used to asking for help. Her father made it quite clear before she left - if she wasn't polite, he probably wouldn't help and they'd be back to square one. Sarah doesn't quite know what went on between him and the Brotherhood while she was unconscious - and hell, Jasper had always been a little distant - but they've gone from ordering him to do stuff to straight up begging.

Jasper clicks his tongue, keeping his tone carefully nondescript. "Dying." he answers, pretty casually, she thinks.

It's not like the first time they met, or during those short few hours they spent talking in the Citadel back before Project Purity. Something had changed, the most obvious of which being Jasper - and not because of his relationship with the Brotherhood.

To put it simply, Jasper was a man now.

It's strange how people change so quickly. A few months ago he was some weird adolescent sort of attractive. His ears had stuck out a bit and his features were just a little too sharp to be conventional, but now, even though he was supposed to be on death's door, he'd grown. Since Sarah had last seem him last, which was a good two to three months ago, give or take, what was once gangly awkward sinew had blossomed into hardened and pretty damn confident muscle. His frame had evened out properly, leaving him with broad shoulders and a well-proportioned torso. Having passed the embarrassing stages of development, all the abstract angles of his face had since softened into prominent cheekbones and a strong chin. Hell, even his voice had broken, finally dropping into a deep baritone that resonated from his chest as opposed to the naturally accusative drawl he had previously.

So yeah, he's pretty handsome now, but Sarah doesn't notice that. Partly because it's not the Jasper she's used to seeing. Not the Jasper she can predict. Something aside from his physique has changed - part of his psyche.

She doesn't know what to predict. Not at all. He was on the higher ground of the playing field now.

"Three Dog... his broadcasts... we thought you were getting better not worse." Sarah turns away slightly. It's true, from all the stories that had been told on GNR, you'd think that the Lone Wanderer was an unstoppable killing machine, barely even affected by his big fat dose of radiation.

"I was exposed to seventeen to thirty rads per second in that Purifier." Jasper states, unblinking. Something in his voice has changed and he seems distant. Uncaring. "Considering how long I was in there for, that's over nine thousand millisieverts. I should be dead, not just dying." then, he shakes his head ever so slightly, eyes narrowing. "You want me to help you, with what I can only assume, but it doesn't change anything. The matter still stands - I can't help you, Sarah. I'm not in any condition to go around shooting mutants."

"It's not the mutants." Sarah is quick to state. How Jasper knows she want's help... she doesn't quite know. Perhaps it's obvious, why else would she be here? That thought makes her internally frown. "We've got that under control. It's the Enclave." slowly, he exhales. Folding one leg over the other and tracing the edge of his beard in thought. A flick of the gaze prompts her to explain. "We are seeing less and less of them over time, but we've had a tip off that they're holding a satellite relay station in Rockland."

"A tip off?" he almost seems unconvinced.

"One of the traders. He had a bunch of working Enclave radios to sell, said that a lot of them were still broadcasting and when we took a look, we realised that we might be able to learn how the Enclave are still able to communicate and coordinate their forces, even though Raven Rock is gone. We guess that the Relay Station would be able to provide answers." Sarah explains. There is a hesitant few seconds as he takes it all in. Thoughtful look on his face, he continues to muse for a very long time.

"I assume you'll be going in guns blazing." he mutters and she pulls a face.

"Yup." What else?

He seems oddly satisfied by that statement, but it's replaced as soon as it surfaces. "I'm not going to be much of a use in a firefight against the Enclave."

"You don't look... that bad." Sarah tries lamely and he gives her a pretty flat look in return.

"It's not the radiation poisoning."

Silence follows the statement and he looks away. Sarah leans against her knees, not quite getting it. "Then what is it, Thorne?"

He gives off a long, beat sigh. Idly rolling his eyes as he shifts. "The medicine that's being used to treat me. Rad Away is an intravenous chemical solution that bonds with radiation particles and passes them through the body's system. It takes time to work, and is also a potent diuretic. It gives me headaches after a few minutes of it being administrated, and stomach and chest pains for the better part of the day afterwards. Add that to the cocktail of drugs I'm using to combat bacterial infections, fever and vomiting and I'm pretty much floored." the explanation leaves her ears ringing and she bites her lip.

"If you stopped using them?"

The flat look only gets flatter at the suggestion. "I'd still be irradiated. And in a stupid amount of pain." before she can go into some kind of charade about her not being any form of expert, he just huffs, chest surging. "Not that it matters. The damage is done."

"... There has to be something... perhaps the Brotherhood-" Sarah frowns when he cuts her off, tone sharp, but simple.

"I don't trust the Brotherhood."

Standing slowly onto shaking legs, Jasper half hobbles, half pads over towards one of the desks, leaning against it heavily on his knuckles. "Clearly, you want me in this fight. Fine. Understandable. But you have to realise that my track record no longer applies." looking at her darkly over his shoulder, his face is expressionless. "I'm dying, Sarah. Nothing... at least that I've seen... can stop that." then, he tilts his head, somehow expecting her reaction before she can even give it, again. "If I'm going to be any use at all, then I'll have to go visit someone."

"Why... do they have something? Something that could help?" she pretends to miss how her enthusiasm is raised.

Jasper shrugs. "It's a long shot. I had a contact up north who I recommended to the resident doctor in Tenpenny Tower. If they have managed to pull through... they might have a series of medications to make the side effects... bearable." his eyes flicker at her, jaw shifting to the side when he realises that his expectations to her reaction were met. How the bastard does it, she doesn't know. Nor does it make her any more comfortable. "I'd have to go and see him."

"Tenpenny Tower?" Sarah makes a face. "What the hell is a guy like you doing in a place like that?"

"Does it matter? No. It doesn't." Jasper suddenly spits, his expression crumpling into something vaguely hostile.

"Even then, it's a helluva long way to go." she reasons, trying to stay on his good side. God, what could get him so defensive? She makes a mental note to prod him at a later date... when he can't get out of it. "I told my father that you were willing to help, that I'd get you there as soon as possible. We have men waiting on us."

"Too bad." the whole thing was wasted on him it seems. "Either you come half way, or I stay here." then, he snorts, voice turning darker, jaw clenching. "I'm not going through hell and back just to die a second time. The first wasn't worth it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" the Sentinel demands, making to rise out of her chair.

He simply deflects her with a glance. "You wouldn't get it." then, Jasper huffs under his breath, clearly getting agitated. "Are you coming with me or not? I've got a killer headache and I need something to eat before I go to sleep."

"Fine." Sarah relents after a few seconds of starting. She'll play his game for now. Plenty of time to convince him that the Brotherhood are the good guys on the trip.

"It will take us around a day to get the Tower from here. From there to the Citadel, about two and a half, depending on what we come across." he recalls, moving over towards the front door slowly, grabbing an old, brown leather jacket from a hook in-bedded in the door-frame. "I'm still sick, so we'll be taking three stops per travel, not counting when we bed down for the night. I need time to rest, otherwise I'll get worse - that and I need to keep on my daily drug schedule."

"Why?" Sarah frowns, watching him go wryly. Where the hell does he think he's going?

"My body would probably freak at the chemical imbalance and put me into shock." he answers with an idle shrug. "Anyway. Do you have everything you need?"

"Not.. really." the thought hits her hard. That was something she'd have to deal with, and soon.

"It doesn't matter. Wadsworth, fix the Sentinel with something to eat." he calls over her head, voice wavering ever so slightly. "You can have my room upstairs for the night."

"What about you?" she makes to stand and he just gives her another look.

"I have other... residences. As for why, I need to prepare. I'll see you in the morning - oh-five-hundred." and with that, he's bounced through the door and shut it behind him. He's not much of a teary farewell kinda guy it seems. Sarah sits down slowly, eyeing the messy-but-still-somehow-clean house she was currently stuck in. Well, she doesn't suppose she's stuck per say, but where else could she go?

Or, more importantly. What the hell has she got herself into?


[002]


: 1825 HRS [Local Time] | 20, December 2277 | [ UNKNOWN LOCATION - CO. POINT : (_ _ _ _, _ _ _ _) ] , [ * UNTRACEABLE SECTOR * - CONSULT PIP-BOY MAPPING MODULE INFORMATION PACKET ] :

The surrounding land around them builds upwards into a sharp faced mountainside, harsh and rugged, with little flat ground to land. They do find it, eventually, right up near the structure they were sent to investigate, cut into the mountain like some form of launch pad. It's around here that the scrappy, off brown grass begins to thin, replaced by crumbling weather-worn earth and radiation battered flysch rock. Two of them examine the area at a strict radius of one hundred metres, noting the way the trees bend, dead, with spindly twigs and the way they cast out long, menacing shadows before the moon. What was once a vibrant area of land filled with plant life of all stripes before the Great War was now a pile of withered looking brown.

The other two forms move towards the large steel doors of a thick concrete structure. Buried into the mountainside, what they were looking at was little more than an airlock of sorts, perhaps an annex, yet the doors were far larger than the Vertibird they had travelled in.

"Is this it?" A woman's voice came out tinny through the speakers, distorted and somewhat unclear, but undoubtedly sceptical.

The slightly larger individual, clad in the very same armour as the smaller, looks along the doors. He nods his head. "Yes, it is." the faint whine of servo motors sounds when he turns his head to look at her. "Get the Colonel on the radio."

She nods her head with a mechanical whine and leaves him to stare at the doors.

Clutching his AER9 laser rifle in his armoured arms, the Enclave soldier moves across the flat section of mountainside slowly, examining the way the ground beneath him was suddenly flat, as if sanded down on a large scale. The doors before him are menacing and cold in their presence and he examines them in silence.

Eventually she returns with a radio in hand and he takes it with a wordless nod, handing her his rifle so he's able to take of his helmet. There is a hiss of pressed hydraulics as he does so, reviling a pale face and shortly cropped hair. "Colonel Autumn, Sir." he greets, voice sounding much smoother without the speakers of his helmet making it anamorphic.

"Lance Corporal Vaughan." the Colonel's voice echoes through the radio with a loud crackle. He seems expectant.

Lance Corporal Christian Vaughan does not blame him.

So he decides to cut it to the chase rather than standing in ceremony. "Sir, we found it."

"... are you positive?"

"Affirmative, Sir. We've found it. Requesting further orders."

"Return back to base..." the Colonel suddenly exhales, Vaughan can feel the weight lifting off the man's shoulders from here. "I will inform the Sergeant immediately."

All four of the Enclave soldiers stand before the great steel doors. "Of course, Sir."

"Good work, Vaughan."

"Thank you, Sir."

The radio is cut on the other side and Vaughan hands it back to his counterpart, though he does not put his helmet back on, instead, he stares forwards with the rest of his men. Along the doors, in bold white lettering, the words stare back at them.

CAMP SEBASTIAN


[ TOTHELASTMANSTANDING ]


Author's Note of Notifying Notification:

After a bit of research, it is pretty evident that the radiation levels in Fallout are much less lethal then they are in real life.

For example, in the games, the character will die after being exposed to 1000+ rads or more. However in real life, common symptoms of radiation sickness (I.e., nausea and vomiting) tend to appear at the 100 Rads mark (1000 mGy). 400 Rads (4000 mGy) would ultimately mean death for 50% percent of the cases in a few weeks or less. 600 Rads (6000 mGy) would mean death for 95% of the cases, with damage to the central nervous system, haemorrhaging and profound internal bleeding running it's course, perhaps in a mere few hours. So yes, if a human was exposed to 1000 Rads (10000 mGy), they would be wiped out at once, but realistically - if they did not peruse treatment immediately, they'd be dead by the time they passed the 450 Rad mark.

Typical dosage recorded in those Chernobyl workers who died within a few weeks was 6,000 mGy - and they died of acute radiation poisoning, not the side effects, like a lot of long term suffers do.

In the purifier, the character is exposed to 17-30 Rads/second (170-300 mGy/second), and considering how long they were unconscious for, they could be exposed for a long amount of time. Realistically, they would die from the exposure (Which they do, if you do not have Broken Steel installed.) but considering how the player character is alive for the events of Broken Steel AND that Colonel Autumn survived the original burst of radiation the first time, I decided to mix it up a bit and try to make a balance between the in-game mechanics and lore with actual fact. It should make for an interesting mix, methinks. More background into the medicines we all take for granted in-game ;)

Of course, constructive input is always welcomed - I'd very much like to see what you think!