August 3, 2274
Inside the medical office Bren and his Dad were talking about taking the G.O.A.T. or the Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test.
"Alright Bren, now don't worry about the test, it is only going to tell you what you are good at in the Vault" James explained
Bren nodded his head, his black hair now longer in the form of a mullet, and his face still holding the joy he had when he was just a kid.
"Here how about I give you a good luck charm" James said handing him a Vault Boy Bobblehead, this one held a large Syringe and on the bottom it said, "The smart man knows a bandage only hide his wounds"
"Sound advice" Bren thought pocketing the Bobblehead.
"Good luck son, just don't come back if you find out you're a garbage burner" James said chuckling; Bren chuckled too and walked past Jonas who went into the office to talk to his Dad.
Jonas looked back to Bren who was walking away
"Think we should tell him?" Jonas asked
"No, it would be better if he didn't know" James said
Bren continued through the hallways when he noticed Butch and his gang harassing Amata
"Hey Amata, come with me into the closest and I will show you a real tunnel snake" He said to her
The Tunnel Snakes were the name of his Gang, how he chose a name like that is beyond Bren, but they had Jackets with a snake on the back making an S.
"Leave me alone" Amata said, but she couldn't escape from them as they surrounded her
"Oh is little Overseer daughter gonna cry?" Wally said mockingly wiping his tears
"My father doesn't give me special treatment" She said trying to get away
"Leave the lady alone Butch" Bren said glaring at the group
Butch cracked his knuckles and his neck
"Or what, you gonna fight me and my gang?" He asked
"Just you and me, winner decides Amata's fate" Bren said
"Deal, I'm gonna have fun tonight, am I right boys?" Butch said and the guys laughed
Butch ran at Bren and swung a punch but Bren dodged and struck his side
"Not a bad move Brenny, too bad I'm tougher" Butch said slamming his knee into Bren's Side knocking him to the ground
"And now for the final blow" Butch said but then Bren moved to the side just as the punch was thrown causing Butch to do a tough punch into the tile floor
"OH FUCK!" Butch shouted as he clutched his right hand
Bren got up and punched Butch right in the chest
"That was for Amata, now leave her alone, or I will do more damage to you then that" Bren said and Butch and his gang walked into the classroom muttering threats of revenge
"Thanks Bren, if you didn't arrive…." Amata didn't want to finish the sentence
"It's ok, now I think we should go take our G.O.A.T. now" Bren said to Amata
They walked into the class room and took their seat
"Now that everyone is here, we can start the test, now there are no right or wrong answers, just do what feels right, now let's begin" The Teacher Mr. Brotch said
Question 1
You are approached by a frenzied vault scientist, who yells, "I'm going to put my quantum harmonizer in your photonic resonation chamber!" What's your response?
Bren decided on 1 "But doctor, wouldn't that cause a parabolic destabilization of the fission singularity?"
Question 2
While working as an intern in the clinic, a patient with a strange infection on his foot stumbles through the door. The infection is spreading at an alarming rate, but the doctor has stepped out for a while. What do you do?
Bren decided on 3 Medicate the infected area to the best of your abilities, it made the most sense
Question 3
You discover a young boy lost in the lower levels of the vault. He's hungry and frightened, but also appears to be in possession of stolen property. What do you do?
1 Give the boy a hug and tell him everything will be ok, was the answer. Besides he was just a kid, why punish him too much
Question 4
Congratulations! You made one of the Vault 101 baseball teams! Which position do you prefer?
Bren hated sports but he decided on 3 Designated Hitter only because he is good with a bat (he even beat Butch in Baseball when they need him to even the teams one time)
Question 5
Your Grandmother invites you to tea, but you're surprised when she gives you a pistol and orders you to kill another vault resident. What do you do?
Bren was surprised on, first off why would grandma (if he had one) ask for this
2 Offer your most prized possession in exchange for the vault resident's life, was his only choice
Question 6
Old Mr. Abernathy has locked himself in his quarters again, and you've been ordered to get him out. How do you proceed?
Bren chuckled as he picked 2 Trade a vault hoodlum for his cherry bomb and blow open the lock. And as an added bonus he drew a quick doodle of a scared Abernathy with the door being blown up
Question 7
Oh no! You've been exposed to radiation, and a mutated hand has grown out of your stomach! What's the best course of treatment?
2 Large Doses of anti-mutagen agent, was chosen, besides what else can he pick that won't kill him, although a third hand would be interesting
Question 8
A fellow Vault 101 resident is in possession of a Grognak the Barbarian comic book, issue number 1. You want it. What's the best way to obtain it?
1 Trade the comic book for one of your own valuable possessions, of course it didn't matter to Bren, he already had issues 1-17
Question 9
You decide it would be fun to play a prank on your father. You enter his private restroom when no one is looking, and...
1 Loosen some bolts on some pipes. When the sink is turned on, the room will flood. Of course Bren once did this in the past, so far no one has ever figured out it was him
Question 10
Who is indisputably the most important person in Vault 101: He who shelters us from the harshness of the atomic wasteland, and to whom we owe everything we have, including our lives?
All 4 answers were the same, The Overseer
The first thought that went through Bren's head "Are you serious?"
Bren decided on 3 The Overseer.
"Ok Pencils down, that was the infamous goat, the rest of the day, is yours" Brotch said
Bren was first up and he handed the paper to Brotch
"Hmm….They say the G.O.A.T never lies. According to this, you're slated to be the next vault ... Chaplain. God help us all." Brotch said to Bren
"No kidding? Well its better then trash burner" Bren replied
"That is true, that is true" Brotch replied
White out.
August 17, 2277
"ake up ren….wake up Bren" was what Bren heard and when he opened his eyes he saw Amata shaking him to get up
"What's going on?" Bren asked half asleep
"Your dad left the vault, everyone is looking for you, they think you are a part of this" She said quickly
That woke Bren right up
"Are you joking? Please tell me it is April first" Bren said
"I'm not….they killed Jonas" Amata said with tears in her eyes
"No…." Bren said, he was speechless, Jonas was like an older brother, he told him all sorts of tips on repairing items, fire arms (small fire arms as big guns were never found in this vault) and woman, of course those lessons were between guys, and in "special" magazines.
"Listen, you have to get out of here, the Overseer….my dad will be looking for you, take this pistol, you might need it" She said to Bren handing him a 10mm pistol with some cartons of ammo, along with a few bobby pins for lock picking
"Bren, I have to go, be safe" She said running off
Bren took a moment to get his nerves, so he got up, got dressed into his vault uniform, tied his long hair back into a pony tail (Bren grew his hair longer and kept it tied back, he found it to be cool that way) and grabbed his Vault Tec Backpack and began to pack his stuff into it, his bobble head, his birthday issue of Grognak, his baseball bat, and his BB gun with all the ammo he had, along with 4 bottles of water just incase
"Time to go" Bren said to himself as he walked out but then he saw to his horror one of the Security officers being overrun by radroaches, in seconds they killed him and turned his attention on Bren
"Back off" Bren shouted as he swung his back on them smashing them into the ground, they made a sickening crunch and stained his bat with light green blood, it was tough to find a good bat in the vault
"Are they gone" a familiar voice asked and Bren saw Butch around a corner
"Yeah they are Butch, now if you don't mind I have to go" Bren said turning to walk off
"Wait, my mother is in trouble, radroaches are around her, you need to save her" Butch pleaded to Bren
"I should because why?" Bren asked, a normal person would laugh at the irony but Bren wasn't cruel, he just wanted to know the reason why Butch wouldn't just fight them off
"Alright I admit it, I'm scared of radroaches" Butch admitted
"You, the leader of the Tunnel Snakes, come on, you define fear, and your telling me a bunch of oversized bugs scare you" Bren said, he decided it would be best for Butch to learn on his own to face his fears
Butches face lit up
"Bren you are right, hand me that bat and I will show you how a Tunnel Snake rumbles in this town" Butch said and Bren handed him his bat and followed Butch to his dorm
"TAKE THIS YOU FUCKING ROACHES" Butch shouted as he crushed the roaches into the ground, his mother must have been drunk because she was looking dizzy and not paying attention to the bites on her arms and legs
"That's right, who's the man?" Butch asked
"You are Butch" Bren said high fiving Butch
"Here Bren, thanks for the loan, also I want you to have this" Butch said taking off his jacket and handing it to Bren along with the bat
"You are an Honorary Tunnel Snake, and don't worry we didn't see anything" Butch said, Bren then put the Jacket on around his Uniform and smiled as he ran off through the hallways.
He could see the lights flickering and the alarm sound blaring throughout his trip. He kept sneaking around, smashing any radroaches he sees along the way when he came near his Dad's office and saw as officer Gomez smashing radroaches and Andy torching them.
Gomez turned to Bren
"Bren you're alright, thank goodness I thought they were going to hurt you" He said
"What's going on?" Bren asked
"Your father left and now the Overseer is going crazy, listen you have to leave the Vault it isn't safe for you, I'm sorry. But don't worry I didn't see anything" He said
"Thanks Officer" Bren said continuing forward through into the Atrium.
He stood back and watched as two fellow Vault dweller s tried to get help from some officers but were instead gunned down.
"What the hell?" Bren thought, he pulled out his own pistol and slowly made his way closure to them.
He fired four times, each shot in the officer's legs forcing them to the ground.
"Stay down" He said as the officers watched him leave them there.
They then noticed some radroaches come out from the darkness and they desperately tried to grab their guns to kill them.
Bren continued forward until he got near the Overseer's office and he saw in the window a guard and the Overseer talking to Amata
"…now Amata, I'm not going to hurt him, I need to know where Bren is" The Overseer told his daughter
"Dad I don't know" She said and the guard held his gun up to convince her otherwise
Amata screamed and then a gun shot was heard and the guard fell dead, a bullet was in the back of his head
"Let her go, now" Bren demanded holding the smoking gun at the Overseer
"Ah yes, Bren, you saved me some time looking for you, now then surrender and I will make sure we get this sorted out" The overseer said to him
"I don't think so, I'm leaving this Vault, now let her go, or so help me-"Bren was about to say
"You will what? Shoot me? I don't think so, but I will do that out of the smallest amount of respect for you" he said and Amata ran out
"Good day sir" Bren said lowering the gun and turning his back but then he heard a click and he turned back to see the Overseer holding his own pistol
"Do you really think I would let you leave alive? No, not this time, this vault is too precious to let you screw it up like your father" The overseer said but before he could fire Bren shot first and hit the Overseer's hand forcing him to drop the gun
"Fuck" The Overseer cursed as Bren ran off
"If you ever come back, I will make sure you will regret it" The overseer shouted at the retreating Bren
Bren went to Amata's room where he saw her crying
"Amata…." Bren said
"It's ok, thanks for saving me, look you should go, I will be alright" She said wiping her tears
"…ok" Bren said and he walked out to the science lab where to his horror he saw the body of Jonas with two bullet holes in his back, face down sitting on the table, in his hand was an audio file, and next to his was a piece of paper
"Jonas…." Bren said and looked at the paper
"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. "
—Revelation 21:6
"The passage mom loved…." Bren said to himself
He then took the audio file from the hand of Jonas's corpse and inserted it into the Pip-Boy and heard the voice of his father
"Hold on Jonas, I need to record this first.
I… I don't really know how to tell you this. I hope you'll understand, but I know you might be angry. I thought about it for a long time, but in the end I decided it was best for you not to know. So many things could have gone wrong and there's really no telling how the overseer will react when he finds out. It's best if he can blame everything on me. Obviously you already know that I'm gone. It was something I needed to do. You're an adult now. You're ready to be on your own. Maybe someday things will change and we can see each other again. I can't tell you why I left or where I'm going. I don't want you to follow me. God knows life in the vault isn't perfect, but at least you'll be safe. Just knowing that will be enough to keep me going.
(Jonas) Don't mean to rush you, Doc, but I'd feel better if we got this over with
Okay. Go ahead. Goodbye. I love you. "
The Tape ended and Bren sighed as he closed Jonas's eyes out for the dead, it was time to go
"Dad you bastard….I'm gonna find you whether you like it or not" Bren said out loud running into the overseer's office
"Let's see" Bren said to himself as he began to hack the terminal, it took a few tries to get it, as he tried 3 different codes, then reset it so he could keep trying, until he decided to try typing in Amata just for laughs, interestingly enough it worked so Bren activated the secret passage and walked down.
After a quick walk he made it to the huge cog shaped door and he pressed the switch to open it, and with a loud hiss the door opened and creaked to the side
Amata came from the passage behind him and looked at Bren
"Bren, I guess this is it…." She said
"Yeah…." Bren said as he began to walk out
"Wait!" She shouted and she ran to Bren, kissing him on the lips
"Good luck out there, I hope you find your dad" She said and Bren smiled
"He's in here, get him!" A voice shouted and the duo saw 2 guards running out to get them
"Bren run!" Amata shouted and Bren ran off
He never turned back as the door shut, and he opened the old wooden door and saw a blinding light, when his eyes focused, for the first time in his life, he felt warm heat on his arm, he smelt fresh air, and saw a new world to explore. This was the Capital Wasteland and somewhere out there, he would find his father.