After The End
By THE Xenomorph (aka Xenomorph666)
I do not own Fallout 3
Leaving the feast behind
Loupe left the clan's territory quietly, all the while hearing the clanking of B.A.'s robot as the two tried to stay quietly behind him. Loupe ignored the bumbling man and the robot for as long as he could, but eventually their inability to sneak just got to him. He quickly ducked behind a few boulders and managed to sneak his way back around to the pair.
"You know you could just ask to travel with me." Loupe said as he walked past the two.
"I'm sorry sir, he slipped past my sensors." RL said in what seemed to be shock.
"Don't worry RL, I get the feeling he does that a lot." B.A. snorted. "Head on back, I'm sure we can handle whatever comes our way."
"Are you sure sir?" RL asked, he almost sounded hurt.
"Yeah get going slag heap." B.A. snorted as he took his rifle from off his back.
Loupe then began to walk with B.A. not far behind him. The two were able to cover a lot of ground before the sun rose, in part because no radscorpions seemed to be out and because the only group of super mutants that they saw quickly fell into piles of goo.
"Don't you have a weapon?" B.A. asked as he continued following Loupe.
"Only my knife, for now it is all I need." Loupe said as he patted his side where he had a combat knife.
"Yeah and Deathclaws will tremble in fear." B.A. said.
"I would not worry about the Deathclaws; they are mostly east or west of here if I remember correctly." Loupe said.
"That was three years ago, before the Enclave tried to raid their sanctuary…" B.A. stopped as he lit another cigarette. "Granted they lost a lot of people but the Claws abandoned their home sweet home and started wandering more openly."
"Then we will cross that bridge if we come to it." Loupe said as he fiddled with his arm's new computer.
"What you trying to do?" B.A. asked.
"I am trying to find the radio on this thing…" Loupe said with a mounting frustration.
"Let me see." B.A. held out his hand only to see Loupe twist the arm off just past the computer and toss it to him. He caught the fake appendage but he was obviously shaken by the disturbing effect of Loupe taking his own arm off. "Yeah…"
The two walked in silence for a few more hours before B.A.'s tinkering finally got the arm's radio to show itself. Then he let out a disparaging groan. "If I ever find out who gave that woman a violin I'm gonna pop him one."
"You may have a harder time doing that than you would expect." Loupe said he took back his arm and dialed up Galaxy News Radio, currently it was playing the familiar music it normally did.
"Christ…" B.A. groaned, "You huh? Figures…"
The trip continued with B.A. complaining and generally commenting on the various changes since Loupe's disappearance. Loupe was surprised to hear Megaton had grown after trading with Rivet City for the parts from the planes on the deck of the city ship, but he was unsure how the people would welcome him. He also learned that the purifier thankfully was still operating with Dr. Li's careful eye making sure it never failed he made a mental note to visit her after this was over. He also learned of Little Lamplight's pillaging, not from slavers but from Super Mutants apparently, the freaks somehow got through the rear entrance and stole off with a good number of kids. In his heart, Loupe knew he would be returning to that horrible vault to exact the worst kind of bloody revenge he could.
"How is Amata?" Loupe finally asked as they came to a scrap yard where they say to rest for a few hours.
"Well aside from being in charge of a growing community and letting almost any wanderer in she's doing pretty good I guess." B.A. shrugged.
"Letting wanderers in huh?" Loupe smiled. "She always was far too trusting."
"She had to boot a group of them before I left; they stole some food and lied like hell about it." B.A. said. "Idiots even denied it after the security cameras caught them."
"It must have hurt her to do that…" Loupe said darkly.
"I wouldn't know she's pretty good at bottling up her emotions now." B.A. said. "Let's get some shut eye before we get up and go."
"I do not need sleep." Loupe said with a tremor of terror in his voice. "These… 'Enhancements' are solar powered and I am quite adept at staying awake for days on end anyway."
"All right then, I'll catch some sleep." B.A. shrugged as he sat his hat over his head and began to snore not long after.
In Loupe's mind he felt and odd familiarity about this place. It seemed like a place he had passed through a few times, but he could not remember why he did or where he had gone. He knew it was important because almost one of the first things he did after leaving the vault. Then all at once, the memories seared themselves back into his skull he remembered the town they passed through right before the scrap yard and before the town, he found himself nearly killed by several raiders in this very place, but the dog saved him.
"DOGMEAT!" Loupe shouted as he sprang forward, it was night and B.A. was glancing at him nervously.
"Thought you might have shut down or something…" B.A. said. "I was gonna give you till morning before I started draggin' you."
"I…" Loupe held his head. "Memories took over; I was trapped in them…"
"Dogmeat…" B.A. said. "That mutt Amata found at your place in Megaton."
"Is he being taken care of?" Loupe asked.
"Hell yeah he's the Overseer's best friend." B.A. smiled.
"Thank goodness." Loupe smiled. "He did not listen to me."
"Huh?" B.A. said as he stood up and grabbed his rifle.
"I told Dogmeat to leave the purifier room and find a new home. I guess he took it as me telling him to go home." Loupe said with a sigh as he too stood up and kicked dirt on the small fire B.A. had started. "We should get moving."
Once their journey resumed the duo did not speak until they reached the town of Megaton, which took Loupe by complete surprised. The town's front extended almost half way to Springvale and there were several robots on guard duty including a Sentry bot. He was happy to see one of his old caravan friends waiting for traders though.
"A wanderer…" Lucky Harith froze as he saw Loupe. "I'll be damned…"
"Good morning Harith." Loupe said with a smiled. "Do you by chance have a sword in today?"
"Afraid not friend." Harith blinked. "Is it really you?"
"Yes." Loupe said. "I have had a difficult time…"
"Well it's damn good to see you." Harith said with a smile.
The two then entered the town and they were quickly approached by Lucas Simms. For a moment, Loupe flashed back to when they first met. Loupe had just left the Vault, he was frightened and ready to freak out when he entered Megaton and Lucas was the first person that he met. The Sheriff welcomed him immediately first with a word of warning and then a friendly chat that led to Loupe eventually disarming the large nuke in the center of town.
"You can't be…" Lucas froze when he saw Loupe.
"I am alive Sheriff Simms." Loupe said. "I was wondering if I still had a home here."
"Haven't touched it." Lucas said, "Couldn't bear to, everyone thought you were gone kid; although people have raided your food supplies."
"That is all right, I have been gone for some time." Loupe said.
"Here…" Simms said as he passed Loupe his house key. "Got you a new lock when we traded with Rivet City, should be a lot better than the old one. I also made sure Jericho left your weapons and clothes alone."
"Thank you Lucas." Loupe smiled. "How is your son?"
"He's my Deputy now." Lucas smiled. "Although we have a different mayor now."
"Oh?" Loupe asked.
"Moira." Lucas laughed.
"Oh dear god." Loupe said.
"Wow, that's new even for me." B.A. said.
"She got elected last month and so far we've been doing well." Lucas said. "She still runs the shop of course, but now she's got other duties to keep herself busy with."
"Well at least she isn't writing another goddamned book." B.A. snorted.
"I did the research for her on the Survival Guide." Loupe said his voice unusually cold.
"Well damn your sense of humor sucks…" B.A. snorted.
"I was young." Loupe said. "And she is insane."
"Better go drop in or she'll never forgive you." Lucas smiled.
"Oh we would not want that." Loupe said with a touch of dry sarcasm.
Much to his surprise Crater Side Supply was unchanged from what he first saw when he wandered in. When he walked in Moira Brown was busy looking over several papers, she simply kept her eyes on the paper as he and B.A. walked up to the counter. Loupe did notice however, her bodyguard's jaw was now wide open in shock.
"Congrats Loupe you're a bon-a-fide celebrity." B.A. laughed.
Moira's pencil snapped as she slowly raised her head. "Oh MY GOD!" She leaped right over her counter and grabbed Loupe in a massive hug. "I KNEW YOU WERE ALIVE! I thought maybe you were a ghoul given your mutation from earlier, but I knew you were alive!"
"It is nice to see you too, you crazy, crazy woman." Loupe smiled. "And I hear mayor now too?"
"Oh that…" Moira blushed. "I just keep trade organized is all, nothing else much to do as Mayor."
"Ah, well I am sure you are going to do perfectly." Loupe smiled. "Have you met B.A.?"
"We've met." Moira glared at the rough wastelander. "No more boozing past seven for you."
"Wha?" B.A. looked shocked. "Fine, screw you too!"
"Why am I not surprised?" Loupe sighed. "If you will excuse me I must prepare for the vault." With that, Loupe left.
"Finally got your bounty I see." Moira said.
"He's my mission; I don't get paid to find him." B.A. snorted.
Moira rolled her eyes then asked something odd. "Has he been talking weird, like that the whole time?"
"Yeah…" B.A. said with a nod. "Now that you mention it he has."
"Wow, what shocks a person into losing their speech pattern?" Moira asked rhetorically.
"How about being turned into an Enclave experiment." B.A. offered.
"Oh my…" Moira looked to chide B.A. for making a horrible joke, but she did not see him smiling. "You're serious?"
"Dead." B.A. said. "Found him strapped to cabled and shit in an alcove. He's mostly machine now too…"
"Well I knew he has enhanced reflexes wired into him and a few cybernetic nodes to help with taking damage and such. Oh that's so horrible…" Moira frowned.
"Yeah, kid seems tough though so he should be fine." B.A. said. "Better go wait by the exit or he might try to slip away."
After waiting for a half hour, B.A. saw Loupe heading towards him. He was wearing the simple clothes of a travelling scavenger and he did not look happy. B.A tried not to think much on it and simply followed Loupe out the front gates. In almost no time, they were at the entrance to Vault 101.
"Well lets go in, Amata's waiting." B.A. pressed an intercom button where the command console once was. "I'm ba-a-ack." He spoke into a microphone.
"Welcome back B.A., opening it up and calling the Overseer down. Stand back man." The voice from the other side said.
"Welcome back kid." B.A. smiled as he turned, but was shocked to see Loupe's face pale with fear. Then the door opened with its usual screech and Loupe promptly fell limp. "God damnit…"