Chapter 3
When daylight broke into the room Analise found herself sighing and smiling as she let herself sink into the warm pillow a little more. The sun was something she was quickly becoming adapted to. It was comforting and even raised her spirits, she noted. Moments like this made her grateful she was no longer living in the vault.
Sitting up, her feet found the floor and she stumbled forward to her jumpsuit, pulling it on slowly. As the aroma hit her nostrils she cringed. Time to talk to Moira about some new clothes. She stepped outside, finding Moriarty standing just outside his room, enjoying a cigarette, and he offered her a smile. "Good morning to you, miss. Had a change of heart on my offer yet?"
She shook her head. "Just as broke today," she said and he shrugged.
"Well you best get on that. Would hate to see you die out there wandering blindly when I could just as easily give you the information."
"I'll keep that in mind," she muttered and walked past him, heading down the stairs. As she crossed the bar she paused, glancing over to the spot she'd first seen Mr. Burke, half expecting him to already be there. To her relief, his chair was empty and there was no sign of him. Perhaps he'd given up on his endeavour and left? Putting it aside she stepped outside and made her way to Moira's.
"Well look who it is," Moira greeted her with a bright smile. "What can I do for you today?"
"I need something to wear," Analise answered, looked at her dirty jumpsuit. "I can't keep wearing just this."
"No of course not! Let's see what I have!" She turned and headed to her supply closet, fishing through various items until she dug out a few articles of clothing. "I've got some pre-war attire you might like..." she said, setting out some casual clothes. "Or if you're interested, I have some raider outfits, they would offer you a bit or armor."
"Raiders?" she asked.
"Oh haven't run into one of those yet? Well consider yourself lucky. They're not a friendly bunch to come across." She pulled out one of the suits and Analise took a look at it, unable to hide her interest. "See?" asked Moira. "There's built in armor around the legs and arms. And a bit on the back. The front is made of leather which will give you some more protection, but not enough against bullets, unfortunately."
"How much?" she asked.
After paying, Analise hurried to the women's restroom to change. After adjusting the clothing into place she looked herself over in the grimy mirror. The armor protection Moira had been adamant about mentioning was nothing special, and she highly doubted it would protect her much against anything, but still, as she admired herself, it was a better look than the jumpsuit. She tossed it in the trash as she left, and decided to talk some more with the residents or Megaton to find answers.
When she stepped outside she wandered one of the many paths and soon found herself in the center of the town again, facing the bomb. It still seemed mad for anyone to live here, and if she only had another idea of a place to look, she would have left by now for her own safety. But compared to the vast Wastelands, this was still safer. But not by much.
"Sad isn't it?" asked a voice. She didn't look over, she didn't have to. "To think with all the knowledge mankind has accumulated over the years... enough scientific progress to create this, one of the deadliest weapons in the world... and yet still capable of the stupidity to build a town around it."
"It may be crazy," she muttered. "But that doesn't give anyone the right to murder them for it." Mr. Burke scoffed beside her.
"If you say so. Personally, I simply see this as a chance for natural selection at its finest." Analise turned to him, giving him a dangerous look.
"Men like you are the reason people like me had to spend most of their lives in a vault." He chuckled.
"That was no one's fault but your own," he said and turned to leave. "Moriarty's computer will have the answers he's charging you for. You need only the password." She looked up at him raising an eyebrow.
"And the password?"
"I can't be helpful all the time now can I?" he asked, and with that he walked away. Analise watching him leave and saw him enter a house near the bomb. The rusted mailbox outside of it read, "Burke," and she smirked. Bingo.
Around eight that night, after taking the time to meet some of the townspeople, she found herself standing outside of Mr. Burke's house. Most of the people were either in their houses or at the saloon, so she knew no one would notice her if she acted fast enough. Kneeling down and pulling out a bobby pin from her hair, she began to tinker with the locked door. Her dad had taught her at a young age how to pick locks. It may have been an odd skill for a father to teach his daughter, but over the years of practice she had found it to come handy more often than not.
The lock clicked and the knob turned. Very carefully she pushed it open and looked around the inside. The lights were all out, and there was no sign of anyone inside. Quickly she stepped in, closing the door behind her and she turned on the flashlight on her pip boy as the dark room became slightly lit.
There was not much here, but then again she doubted there'd be much in any of the resident's homes. There was a small kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom, all of which seemed to have the bare essentials and not much else. It was clear he had no plans on making himself a life here, not that that surprised her.
The bedroom would be the first place to look, she decided. It was the only room with compartments to easily store anything. If he knew Moriarty's password it was more than likely written down and stored some place safe. She stepped into his bedroom, heading for the closet first. When she opened it she was a little surprised to see there was only 1 other outfit inside. He probably hadn't been planning on staying in Megaton long. Just long enough to recruit a killer.
She searched the pockets of his jacket hanging inside, and the trousers, but to no avail. There was a small safe at the bottom, but when she picked it up and shook it she could tell there was nothing inside. She closed the closet and moved on to a small nightstand, opening the drawer.
A hand clamped down on her shoulder from behind and tugged her around, and knuckles met with brute force into her jaw. She fell backwards, spitting out blood, and a hand grabbed her by the collar, tugging her to her feet and pinning her to the wall. "When will you damn Raiders learn to respect a man's property!" he growled and she looked up into his eyes. Only there were no eyes, just tortoiseshell glasses. When she adjusted her pip boy's light so he could see her face she felt his grip loosen a bit.
"Well well," he said, finally letting go and stepping back. "Find anything you like?"
"I need that password!" she snarled.
"And you thought I'd actually have it? My dear girl don't be so naive. I have no interest in your dear father, or anyone else in this town, so naturally having Moriarty's password is the least of my concerns." She stared at him frustrated.
"You don't have it?" she demanded.
"No," he answered, a grin spreading on his face. "But I may know where it is."
"Then tell me!"
"Why?" he asked. "Why would I help someone who doesn't give a care about the problems of others?"
"Because so far I haven't reported you to Simms, but that could be fixed easily," she growled.
"Simms!" he scoffed. "Simms is weak! Report me if you wish, there's nothing he'll be able to do. If you want to get the location of the password you'll have to try harder than that." He reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out the fusion pulse charge. "Take it, and I'll tell you where the password is."
"I don't want that thing!"
"Then we have no deal." She sneered at him and turned to leave. "You don't have to rig it, I'm simply asking you to take it. What do you say?" She looked over her shoulder at the charge, and after considering it for a few moments, she reached out and took it from him. He smiled. "If you pick the lock to his locker beside the computer, you'll find his password stored there." He stepped towards her and reached over, touching the bruise on her face, and she jerked her face away. "Allow me to buy you a drink," he offered. "I can keep Moriarty busy while you get into his computer."
She still didn't trust him as far as she could throw him, but it was her only chance. "Fine," she said, wiping the blood from her mouth.
They stepped outside together and walked up to the bar, Analise trying not to draw attention to her swollen jaw, which was throbbing in pain from the blow. She hadn't been punched so hard since the last time she'd tangled with Butch. Burke opened the door for her, pretending to be a gentleman, and with a smile, Analise pretended to appreciate the gesture. The minute they were in public the charade had begun.
She took a seat at the bar and he parted, seating himself in his usual spot, whispering, "Wait for my queue," as he passed her. Looking to Gob she ordered another whiskey and coke and sipped on it as Moriarty wandered over in her direction.
"You know, Miss, there's always work to be done around here if you're ever looking to be paid." She raised an eyebrow.
"As a barmaid?" she asked.
"Not exactly," he said, smiling as his eyes wandered up and down her. It was then that she noticed the slight slur in his speech. "Nova's a fine lass, but some of the boys would like a little more variety, if you get my meaning..."
Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to object when a loud crash came from Mr. Burke's direction. "Watch where you're going you filthy zombie!" she could hear him shout, and Gob began to protest.
"You tripped me!" he shouted.
"How dare you even suggest such a thing! You have a lot of nerve!" Moriarty cursed under his breath and wandered over to see what the commotion was about. Analise knew that was the queue and hopped off the stool, hurrying past the bar and to the back room where the computer was. Sure enough there was a locker there and after some work, she managed to get it to unlock. Opening the door she spotted some caps inside which she quickly pocketed, and looked around, soon finding the scrap of paper laying in a box.
Closing the locker, she sat herself at the computer and logged in. Just as Mr. Burke said, there was information on people in the town, and to her surprise, her father's name appeared in that list:
"So out of nowhere James came back to Megaton. Since he stayed here before he asked me where the hell he could get a lay of the land and find out what's going on in the world. I told him about Galaxy News Radio in the ruins of D.C. and that guy, Three Dog. Then like that, he was gone again.
"I remember the first time he showed up almost 20 years ago. I never expected someone to want to or actually be able to get INTO a vault. But he must have had his reasons. He had his kid with him, some baby."
She stared at the screen in confusion. Into a vault? Had her father really been lying to her? She quickly made a copy of the note and saved it to her pip boy to refer to later when she heard the sounds of footsteps. "Dammit, Gob! I swear I've had about enough of your shit..."
Turning, she noticed a locked door behind her. Quickly, she picked it, and slipped outside just in time for him to miss her.
Colin Moriarty cursed under his breath as he wandered towards his terminal and noticed the computer was still on with his entry on James on the screen. "What the devil!" he grumbled. "That little brat hacked my computer!"
"Problems?" asked a voice and he glanced over at Mr. Burke and shook his head.
"A man has no privacy in this place, I swear to God. When I get my hands on that girl..."
"You know," said Burke, lighting a cigarette. "It looks like that locker's been tampered with. I hope nothing of value was in there."
"What the?" he growled, turning swiftly to the locker and pulling it open. "My caps!" he shouted. "I've been robbed!" He grabbed his gun and cocked it.
Nova wandered in and looked at the two of them curiously, then tossed some caps to Moriarty. "That girl's staying for another night. Here's her caps."
Moriarty looked up at her and sneered. "Her caps indeed!" Smiling to himself, Burke took his leave.
Analise lay back on the bed, reading the message again on her pip boy. Nothing was making sense. Every time she got closer to the answers she only found more questions. What else about her past wasn't true? Why would her father lie to her?
The thundering of heavy footsteps broke her train of though and the door burst open, revealing an enraged Moriarty glaring at her in a drunken rage. "You little thief!" he shouted, slamming the door behind him before grabbing her and pinning her to the wall.
"What are you talking about?" she shouted.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about! My caps! The ones in my locker! You stole them!"
"I didn't steal anything!" she shouted back. "You're mad!"
He tugged her forwards by the collar then slammed her back, cracking her skull on the wall. "Don't you fucking lie to me you little bitch! Now give me back the caps before I blow your head off!"
"Okay!" she cried, shaking under his touch. She reached in her pocket to pull them out, but the minute his grip was loose she stomped on his foot as hard as she could, causing him to let her go in a cry of pain and she twisted towards the door. A sudden but firm grip on her ponytail caused her to fall backwards and he dragged her across the floor and threw her against the wall. She lay there for a moment coughing as the wind had been knocked out if her, and he stared down on her, the smile from before beginning to creep on his face.
"All right," he said. "If you want those caps so badly, you'll have to earn them." He grabbed her by her shirt and threw her on the bed. She immediately sat up, trying to make a run for it, but he was on her in a flash and had her pinned down, his hands grasping her breasts.
"No!" she screamed, struggling beneath him. "Get off me!"
The door burst open behind them and Nova stood there with her hands on her hips. "Colin knock it off!" she shouted. Moriarty glanced behind him and turned back to Analise.
"Get lost, whore. This doesn't concern you." There was the sound of a gun being cocked and the barrel was pressed firmly against his head.
"Get off her," she said in a cold tone and after a moment he grumbled, getting off of her and slumping away to the door. Nova watched him leave then turned to Analise, reaching into her coat and pulling out the caps. "If you ever pull this stunt again, you won't be so lucky," she warned her. With that she stood up and left, closing the door behind her.