Blinded by the natural sunlight they had never grown accustomed to, Alexis and Amata both instinctively covered their eyes for protection. After a few minutes of resting on the ground, their eyes had grown used to the light and the pair looked from their location for any clue of where to go, breathing heavily as the adrenaline wore off.

Amata pointed a little down the path. "There's houses over there. Houses probably mean people," she reasoned.

"Sounds like a plan." Alexis got to her feet and began to make her way towards the houses, Amata close behind her.

The two approached the houses but became dejected when they realised they were empty and destroyed. "Damn it," Amata complained, kicking a small piece of rubble in her anger. "I thought we might have been getting somewhere."

Alexis didn't hear Amata's comments, her attention being transfixed on the round robot that was floating daintily through the air. "Amata…" Alexis said, still staring at the robot.

Amata turned, seeing the robot which had now began to loudly play the American national anthem. "Why is there a floating robot at an abandoned town?"

The robot seemed to pause in the air before lazily making its way over to the two girls. "I bet its spying on us," Alexis conspired.

Amata nodded in agreement. "Let's back up," she decided. The two took a few paces back before Amata aimed her pistol and unloaded her clip at the still stationary robot, until it exploded in a shower of sparks and metal debris.

"Nicely done." Alexis sniggered. "But, where do we go now?"

Looking around momentarily, Alexis spotted a large steel structure not too far away. "We could go over there," she suggested, pointing at the location.

Shrugging, Amata replied, "Better than nothing."

Making their way over to the new place, the girls kept a wary eye on their surroundings.

As the two approached the dome structure, which seemed to be made of a mishmash of vehicle parts, they spotted another robot, thankfully this one stood on two legs and acknowledged the girls. "Welcome to Megaton," the robot said in a synthetic voice. "We promise that the bomb is perfectly safe."

"Megaton?" Alexis said in surprise, as Amata cautiously asked, "Bomb?"

Before the two could discuss this with each other, the part of the dome closest to them rumbled loudly, before part of it was pulled away, revealing a large and sprawling town inside the dome.

The girls gasped at the metropolis inside before hesitantly entering the town craning their heads in an attempt to take all of it in.

The two stopped abruptly at the sight of an imposing black man dressed in, as the girls knew from the occasional film night at the Vault, full cowboy attire, including a duster and sheriff's hat. The man chuckled softly to himself. "More newcomers from the Vault," he stated. "Mind telling me what you're both doing here"?

The girls looked at each other before Alexis replied, "My dad left the Vault."

Amata added, "So we left to find him."

The man glanced at the two of them before nodding. "Alright, as long as you're not planning on starting any trouble. Because let me get one thing straight, this is my town and these are my people. If you even think of hurting either of them, I will not hesitate to put a bullet through your fuckin' skulls."

The girls looked at each other again in surprise at the man before nodding. "No problem, sir" Amata reassured. "Message received." Alexis couldn't help but cringe slightly to herself at how Amata had immediately regressed back to her training from her father on how to handle authority.

The man smiled. "None of this 'Sir' Bullshit. The name's Lucas Simms." He offered his hand out, "And you are?"

Amata shook the hand tightly. "I'm Amata Almodovar," she informed formally.

Alexis shook the hand next, "Alexis Neeson," she replied. "Now that that's all out of the way, how about you help me find my dad."

Lucas studied Alexis' face intently before looking down at her Vault Jumpsuit. "Yeah, your dad came through here, and then he left," he started. "No clue where he went to, but if you ask around town I'm sure somebody heard something."

Alexis sighed in frustration. "Ok, who can help me out then"?

"There's Moriarty at his saloon up there, Moira at the supply store, Doc Church at the clinic, and I'm sure other people around probably paid attention to the newcomer." With every building mentioned he pointed to in the general vicinity of its location."

Alexis nodded. "Thank you," she said gratefully.

Lucas grinned in response before becoming serious. "I hope you find him," he said with sincerity, before walking away.

The girls looked at each other before Amata spoke, "You're call, where shall we go next"?

Please review. A poll has been created on my profile about which quest should be done first, feel free to answer.