22.8.2277
Moriarty was already asleep when I got to his… Bar? Saloon.
He has a guy with no skin working for him. Apparently it's a condition called ghoulification, and those ill with such condition are called ghouls. Caused by rare cases of exposure to radiation, instead of dying of radiation poisoning. Non contagious. Horribly reeks.
Although the reeking could be a result of a mixing that condition with poor hygiene. I didn't really bother to find out. Nor do I intend to, really.
I uh… (sigh) I was got robbed by a wastelander last night. And I… I Ended up... (deep breaths.) I E-ended up… (Crying, record cuts in middle of sobs.)
(Sniff) I passed out right after that. I can't stop thinking about it. I could have yelled. I could have done… something.
(30 seconds of silence and distant chatter and occasional mooing.)
I could have DONE something! Why does everything out here have to go by kill or be killed?! (unintelligible ramblings)(unintelligible, crying)(unintelligible yelling, device falls, recording cuts.)
(Deep breaths, shaking breaths.) Lucas, Megaton's sheriff, found out. Let me off with a warning.
Moriarty was still nowhere to be seen, so I went off to the 'Super Duper' mart.
Spectrum chapter 10 - Out of the blue, Pt.3: It's not all bad... is it?
She grabbed his helmet, turning his face towards her. "What's, Your, Name?" She mouthed the words slowly.
He was having a hard time thinking. His ears were ringing. "R-Raph-phael."
She seemed to be relieved. "Raphael, my name is Sydney fox. We're both in a sticky situation here, and I need your help. Can you stand up?" She asked, unclipping her black backpack.
He nodded, dragging his legs underneath him, then sluggishly standing up, as if he's getting off his bed for another day of work.
She laid her bag on the floor. "Good. Do you know how to use this?" She pulled out a small, eclipse shaped, tiny green object, with some sort of mechanism attached to it. A hand grenade.
His eyes went a bit wider than usual. "I-I know the mechanism, but a-a-I never..." He murmured, gulping.
"It's easier than it seems, just release the pin, and immediately throw it. On my mark, throw it to where I'm pointing at. For now, I need you to wait here like this." She went down on one knee, with most of her body behind the wall, except for her head and left arm which held the gun. "And cover for me, alright?" She stood up.
He nodded stupidly, crawling into a position similar to hers.
"Great. Remember, grenade on my mark, don't keep holding it after the pin's released." She took his gloved hand and stuffed the grenade into it, staring dead in his eyes. "Don't drop it."
She rushed into the room.
A man and a woman rose from behind the counters, only to be brought down by two short, amazingly accurate bursts from Sydney's machine gun. Raph stared, dumbstruck.
Sydney jumped over the bodies, and with one smooth motion hopped on an intact seven feet tall stacking shelf, immediately landing in a crouching position with the grace of a cat, as her father used to say.
From her heightened post she had a much better view of her surroundings. She knew standing so tall made her dangerously exposed, but from her experience the dumbasses would still be stunned from the explosion and wouldn't notice a Brahmin charging into the building. She easily located six Raiders and fired short bursts to their location, taking them down.
A glimpse towards the Vault dweller revealed him being completely stunned. She smirked.
Raph looked at her skip from shelf to shelf, practically jogging, then jumped back to the floor, her eyes focusing on another enemy that was concealed from Raph's sight. He was amazed at how fast she alternated her aim between the armed foes. He couldn't see them, but he didn't need to. It wasn't hard to tell she's not missing.
Sydney landed on a female raider, knocking her off her feet, and hammered her machine gun on the base of the woman's neck. She then yelled over to him, snapping him from his stupor. The final step to shell shock treatment: Make him feel useful, dim the helpless sensation.
"Raphael, grenade!" she pointed to a spot between the shelves as she ran towards him.
Raph pulled the pin, unused to the thick gloves, he was having trouble releasing it completely. He took them off with a smooth motion. With sweaty hands he tried to throw it, but it slipped from his grasp before he completed the throwing motion, and it fell a bit too close to him.
Sydney's run turned into a sprint, her mind a blank. She lunged at him, tackling him back behind the wall, both of them rolling on the floor just as the detonation sent sharp shrapnel and wood chunks to every direction. Shelves were knocked over in a domino effect, raising massive clouds of dusts.
Being used to loud gunfights, she managed to hear him grunt next to her. She rolled to her side, scanning him for injuries, then chuckled with ease, consciously talking louder than usual. "Well that was fun, wasn't it?"
He frowned at her as the dust began to settle, his head pounding. He barely heard her over the ringing in his ears.
She was young, looking younger than him, comparing her to his aged reflection. She had delicate Asian features, which somewhat contrasted with the stubborn look in her eyes. Her skin was bronze with suntan, and her hair was raven black, loose and smoothly gliding down just enough to brush her shoulders.
She was an inch taller than him, with a slim build, and she wore what seemed to be a bulletproof dark green shirt, giving protection to her shoulders as well. Her hands were bare and suntanned. She wore matching pants with green kneecaps, with the edges of her pants tucked in military boots, similar to his. He looked away when he realized he was staring at her body, as she helped him up.
Her slanted eyes were an enchanting dark shade of brown, and her sunburned lips were a delicate shade of pink, drawn in a cocky half-smirk.
He averted his gaze, trying to distract himself from her distractingly distracting form. His eyes landed on the bodies. "Who a-are these people?"
She raised an eyebrow as she clipped the bag back on, then her eyes laid on his Vault suit. She nodded to herself.
She pointed an arm at him "Raphael," she pointed the arm towards the bodies. "Raiders." she turned to the dead bodies. "Raiders," she pointed at him again "Raphael."
He inspected the bodies, the ones that remained whole, managing to recognize some common properties.
If the Wastelanders at Megaton weren't particularly clean, these people were downright filthy. They all wore rather ragged clothes, made from old leather and rubber leftovers. Most men were shirtless with shoulder guards, or wearing clothes that left half their chest bare. They overall seemed to not be too concerned with proper body exposure - one of the women was only wearing a metal bra that seemed to have been hammered to a bowl shape, then tied with torn fabric. These people basically wore junkyard as clothes.
He turned to her. "Raiders?"
"Assholes that find it easier to murder and steal." Her smile slowly faded. "Usually so full of Chems they can't tell shit from food."
He shivered at the thought.
"Out of their mind, doing the most horrible things to sate basic needs." Her expression turned dark. "They can barely form an agreeable group, but when they do they can erase entire settlements off the wastes."
He glanced over the remains of the assault rifle of the raider that attacked him. Not hard to see why.
"Wh-who puts c-chems in them?"
She studied him. "They do."
He grimaced. "Why?" That can't be good for one's health.
"To get high, dumbass. Haven't you heard of Chems in your Vault?"
He contemplated for a moment. We call them drugs.
"Anyway…" she shook off the topic. "What brings you here?" she switched to a lighter one.
"I'm checking i-i-if I can…" he frowned. What was he doing here? Mutant dog, drugged bandits, gunfight and exploding grenades, and her. Tough, witty, beautiful… mercenary? So many unplanned events, it was too easy to get distracted.
Survival. Focus.
"-C-can find food." he swallowed. "In here." he added after a moment.
"If you're looking for rotten human flesh, there's plenty of it hanging outside." She motioned towards the exit.
Raph frowned. He didn't notice anything. Then again, he did tend to get so focused on one thing he'd forget everything else.
"You?"
"Me?" She took out the magazine and disarmed her weapon, catching the round that flew out. "I was passing by and I heard gunfire, came to see if I can help." She inserted the round back into the magazine. "I figured it was Raiders attacking some poor bastards." She inserted the clip back into the gun. "Thought I might scavenge the assholes while I'm at it." she causally hit the bottom of the clip, ensuring its position in the socket, all while looking at him. The causality she did it with made Moira's guard look like an amateur.
He raised a brow. Scavenging from dead Raiders. That's not much better than killing innocents for their items.
A man stepped out from the toilets, tripping on his half worn pants.
Sydney aimed her weapon at him. "Hands up!" She barked, and Raph resisted the urge to raise his own hands. The raider perked up, only managing to stand on his knees due to his tangled pants.
She leaned towards Raph. "Cover me." She whispered, then walked to the raider. She looked down at him, hands on her thighs, tilting her head as if she was trying to decide what to do with him, then kicked him in the face, knocking him unconscious.
"Wasn't worth the ammo." She shrugged to his frown, smiling, unaware of the butterflies she caused to flutter in his stomach.
She then looked into the room the raider came out of and then took a step back, eyes wide, covering her mouth.
Raph tensed, the laser pistol humming in his hand. After a moment he realized the gesture is an expression of something, although he couldn't remember what. Raph paced up by her side, stopping dead in his tracks, noting himself that that gesture expresses shock.
Inside the room was a young woman. Or rather the torso of a woman, as her limbs were piled up in the corner. She was completely undressed, and was laying in a pool of blood from said missing limbs.
Her eyes were closed shut, tear marks running down her face. Her skin had a blue shade to it, the kind that suggested that she was now in a better place. She was still bleeding, what little blood she had left.
The man with his pants down suddenly became much less comical.
Raph stared indifferently. So much death.
He glanced over to Sydney, who clenched her fists so hard her knuckles turned bloodless white. She raised her metallic weapon at the raider. "Sick, sadistic, son of a bitch..."
"Wait." Raph murmured, and was taken aback by the glare she sent him. Eyes wide with bloodlust, teeth clenched with hatred. The kind of glare that can blow holes in solid steel.
"Talk, or I'll give you the same treatment." She hissed.
He didn't know if she meant the broken-nosed raider, or the woman.
He gulped. "He deserves worse."
She deadpanned him. "I'm listening."
He drew a deep breath. That's the most talkative he's been in quite a while.
"In... Megaton, there's a woman who wants to produce an antidote for radiation."
"Get to the point." Her hand was shaking.
"She needs a subject to experiment on. A human subject. And he has to be heavily irradiated for that."
"So?"
"So, there's an inactive nuclear bomb in the center of the town. And it's leaking."
She lowered her gun. "That's not a bad idea."
He grabbed the man's pants and took them off, leaving him in his loincloth.
She seemed to be ready to throw up. "What are you doing?"
He didn't answer. He flipped the man on his stomach, then tied his hands with the pants, securing the knot, twice, then thrice.
She frowned. "Good thinking."
He nodded absentmindedly. Following her example, he climbed a stacking shelf, one of the few which weren't blown up or knocked over during the fight.
She made it look easy. He thought as he struggled to get up.
He looked around. Except for the main room, now full of bodies and destroyed wooden shelves, there was a side room near the entrance, a toilet room, and a main storage room at the back.
He walked over to the side room, while she searched the bodies.
It was small, with a few metal shelves. Some preserved food was lying around, a locked medical kit installed on the wall which he easily unlocked, and…
He stared dumbly as he picked it up.
It was dent, the lever was rusty, and the paint was faded. But it was a laser pistol, similar to the one he was already holding. Two energy cells were resting on the table. Back at the Vault, the only laser pistol inside there was a secret, which he found out about only due to his somewhat nosy nature. He had to hack the same computer twice, and pick three different locks just to know of its existence.
The pistol itself was only locked behind two locks, though. He shrugged it off. Focus.
Sydney gave a yelp of surprise, catching his attention. but when he turned to her he saw she was inspecting an odd glass jar with pills.
"Buffout. Pre-tty valuable." She answered his stare, pointing at the jar.
He shook his head. Probably another Chem.
He loaded a cell into the second laser pistol, then unloaded it. As far as he knows, it can burn out in his hand because of a ridiculously easy-to-fix short circuit. He decided it would be best to check the internals thoroughly before a test fire.
He walked all the way back to the storage room, jumping over a counter to find it locked behind a blast door. A bulky monitor with a folded keyboard was installed on the wall near it.
He detracted the keyboard from underneath the monitor, and began typing away.
A few minutes passed and he heard the soldier girl walk up behind him. "You can hack terminals?"
He stopped typing. "Terminals?"
"Well, you know. This..." she gestured with her hand towards the computer. "thing?"
He nodded.
"Can you get the door open?"
He got so caught up fiddling with the computer itself and the model of the blast door that he forgot the main reason he hacked it for in the first place. He really doubted his intelligence sometimes.
He typed in a command and pressed enter. Something clanked inside the door, and Raph pulled it open.
Sydney entered it first. "Guess they haven't opened that door in a while." she called from inside.
"Mm-hmm." Raph squinted. The room was stale.
There were many miscellaneous electronics scattered across various metallic shelves. He nodded with appreciation. He could do a lot with those.
Numerous craters of nuka cola bottles, both full and empty were piled up in the corner. One of the bottles contained a glowing blue substance. Holding the pip-device next to it confirmed his suspicion - it was radioactive.
But that wasn't the most notable part about the room.
There was a stasis chamber, containing a Protectron model robot in a relatively good shape.
Raph squealed internally.
He immediately pulled out the retractable keyboard from the… Terminal, as Sydney called it, and frantically typed away. It took mere moments before he found what he was looking for. PLEASE WAIT was flashing on the screen, then replaced by a long list.
Raph briefly scanned it, his enthusiasm fading the more he read.
Sydney hovered behind his shoulder. Staring at the gibberish that flickered on the green monitor, unconsciously shaking her head. She might as well try reading Chinese. "What?" She asked, noticing something's wrong.
"It's…"
He didn't answer, eyes focusing on the screen.
"Raphael." she laid a hand on his shoulder, causing him to sharply turn his head to her in surprise. "What is it?" she asked.
He returned his gaze to the monitor. "Processing is far from optimal, the gyroscope is barely functional, weapon systems…" he sighed, pointing at a line on the screen which ended with ERROR.
"Can you get it running?"
"I can boot it up." He thought about his next words, typing some more. "But to get it to do anything-"
"-We're back. Somebody open up the... hold on." a voice echoed throughout the mart's intercom system.
Sydney sharply turned to the door, her machine gun aimed at the room entrance as if it was never holstered.
Raph nearly jumped out of his skin, then struggled to pull his own weapon when he noticed his companion had hers ready.
"What, the, fuck?"
"I don't think they liked our little surprise." She smirked with an evil giggle, and crouch walked to the counter outside the blast door.
She peeked from her spot, then quickly lowered her head back.
"Okay. Six a-holes, seem sober, and they're splitting up." She whispered.
Raph nodded, keeping eye contact from inside the room. His ears were still ringing.
"They have no idea where we are, so we're gonna do this simple: Wait for them to come as close as possible, then gun them down. Alright?"
He nodded again, taking a deep, shaky breath.
She put a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, surprised. "Relax. It's gonna be fine."
They looked each other in the eye, then Sydney rose from the cover, exposing only her head and her hands, released three short bursts then ducked again. The effect was immediate, as he heard commotion beginning to stir. He nearly jumped out of his jumpsuit when numerous volleys went off at once.
The soldier girl caught his attention by firmly grabbing his shoulder. She signaled with two fingers at the far edge of the counter. He walked there, imitating her crouched walk.
Taking a few quick breaths, he raised his head over the counter. He aimed his weapon at another frantic raider, but missed him by far. He ducked when the psycho turned his barrel to him, ricochets flying from the wall behind him.
Sydney was used to the deafening noise and the enormous pressure, so she didn't lose her composure for a second. The moment the volley stopped, she answered with one of her own, taking down another asshole. A raider with the body of a super mutant holding enormous weapon spotted her, and began firing the monster, holding it from his waist. She backed down immediately.
She ducked further when one deadly bullet pierced their cover.
At this rate, the enormous projectiles would grind their cover to shreds. This was hopeless. Raph found that breathing became quite a task. The Raiders don't seem to run out of ammunition. His vision was getting blurry. He just noticed numerous cuts in his body, where the ricochets managed to pierce through his suit. It hurt. They're going to die. He's going to die. They're dead. So dead. So very, very dead.
Sydney glanced over him to see him staring at the floor with wide eyes, holding his head. His breathing was rapid and flat.
She grabbed Raph by the helmet. "Raph."
He didn't respond. She shook him violently. "Raph!" His eyes focused on hers. He stared at her, and for the first time since they met, his face wore an expression.
Helpless.
"SNAP OUT OF IT!"
Raph took a deep breath. He felt odd. Relaxed against all odds. He reached down into his mind, and found the void. With panic out of the way, he could think clearly. Calculating the holes created in the wall behind him and crossing it with the approximate location of the raiders, he found a blank spot in the torrent of bullets. It was a risk, but it was either 'Maybe die now', or 'Die for sure later'. 'Maybe' seemed more promising.
Even if only by a little.
He raised from his cover, and shot one beam, missing the goliath of a man by an inch. He immediately corrected and fired three more beams, each one slicing further through his enormous torso.
He ducked back, seeing Sydney pulling out a grenade. She looked at him, he nodded.
She pulled the safety, and tossed.
Clank. Three, two, o-
The explosion was overwhelming, but he was prepared for that, covering his ears with his hands. They both raised from the cover, gunning down the remaining stunned opponents, which now laid exposed, as there were no shelves left to hide behind.
They both sat down, heads against the wall, breathing heavily. Sydney stood up, glancing over the wrecks, frowning. Raph wobbled up, just to be pushed down by the mercenary. He heard gunfire.
Something was wrong. She felt it in her stomach. Some of the bodies were splattered by the grenade, making them impossible to count. How can she know they got them all?
That's when another Raider popped up, not where she expected. She pushed the Vault dweller out of the way. The raider fired, and she felt her leg burn up from inside, forcing her to kneel.
Barely standing on her knees, she emptied her magazine, turning the scum into a human Swiss cheese.
Raph heard her scream, then saw the raider fall. He rushed to examine her, noticing a pool of blood pouring from a wound in her leg.
His magnet glove would be useless here. He knew what a five-fifty-six bullet can do. And he also knew that the exit wound is never even close to the entrance wound, as that merciless bullet was made to do as much damage as possible to living tissue. If there was an exit wound at all. Sighing, he took out his medical kit, and began improvising a Tourniquet.
…
They walked, or to be exact, Raph walked while Sydney limped, having most of her weight on him. His muscles screamed for rest, and his injuries were flaring, but he managed to push back the feeling, dimming it down to nothing more than a mild nuisance. Who knew armor could be so god-damn heavy?
The bound raider, now also blindfolded, was a few feet in front of them, allowing them some privacy. The robot was bobbing with a clank in every step behind him, with one stern, cold metal arm forcing the scum to keep walking blindly. Sydney's bag was strapped onto the body of the automaton.
"So-" she inhaled sharply, wincing. "Where are you from?"
Raph found the silence rather comfortable. "Vault one-o-one." He mumbled."West from Megaton."
There was a few more minutes of comfortable silence, only broken by the Protectron's clanking and an occasional grunt from Sydney.
"What was it like?"
Raph sighed. "Home."
She chuckled. "Aren't you informative."
He looked down. His thoughts wandered to Amata - the sister he never had, and Paul, who with time grew to be like a brother to him. He missed them. They were his family.
It feels like it has been years since.
"Raphael?"
"Raph." He sighed.
"Raph. Well?"
"I'm…" his mouth opened, closed, and opened again. "Not very good at talking."
"Yeah," she chuckled. "I noticed."
He didn't answer.
"One-o-one sounds like one of those safe havens." She said, trying to get him to talk.
"It was."
"Why did you leave then?"
"Overseer got crazy."
A few more moments of silence passed, filled by constant clanking , and Raph was thankful for every single one.
He frowned, trying to figure out how to show he's not completely indifferent to her. "What about you?" He finally managed to say.
"Not much to say. Grew up in Canterbury commons, my dad taught me to get around. Got into relic hunting about a year ago, brought back a document for this guy, Abraham Washington. After he loaded me up with caps, I got drunk, got laid, and never looked back since."
A few more moments of silence passed.
He looked at her hand, the one holding the machine gun. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that doesn't look like a stock model."
She smiled proudly. "That's my Ultra 10mm SMG."
"Can I have a look?"
Without a second of hesitation, she took off the strap and handed him the weapon, taking his laser pistol to cover with instead.
Looking over the machine gun, he could easily see the amount of thought put into the metalwork, the flawless color, down to the knot used in the strap. Many parts have been swapped with ones of better quality. It was a work of art.
"Impressive." They switched back. He watered his mouth.
Her voice became bitter. "My dad was a gun fanatic, taught me everything I know."
He felt a knot in his stomach. "Were you close?"
"Yeah." She took a deep breath. "The best dad in the world. Caring, loving, a bit too protective, but that was him. With mom gone, all we had was each other. Then one day I wake up, with him nowhere to be seen."
Silence. Clanking.
"He didn't even say goodbye." She sighed
"Do you have any idea how scary is this world for a fourteen year old girl? All alone?" She chuckled, as if not believing. "He used to call me my-" She inhaled sharply. "-little moonbeam." She groaned, leaning more of her weight on him. "Double faced bastard."
Her hair tickled his neck, light and soft, and her scent filled his head. Under the smell of the sweat, It was pleasant. And a bit too distracting.
"Anyway, that was four years ago." She concluded, seemingly unaware of the impact her gesture made on him.
He nodded to himself. Eighteen. So she is younger than him.
"My dad went missing too."
She chuckled darkly. "Yeah, looks like that's the only thing they're good at."
"Don't talk about him like that!"
She flinched. That's the most expressive he's been so far. "Sorry..."
The silence became uncomfortable. "No." He finally said. "It's okay. I was... I'm sorry for breaking out like that." He swallowed, contemplating his next words.
Silence. Clanking.
"It's... He... My dad is not one to just... Disappear. He helps. Always."
Raph wiped his eyes with the less filthy part of his sleeve. "He would go through countless nights without sleep just to help those who need it."
"He came back to our dorms one time, after helping our maintenance worker repair half of the Vault, and that was after he had to watch over a premature baby's vitals, for three days straight."
He gave himself a moment to breath.
"When he came back half dead, the first thing he did was sit by my bed, asking how was my day. And me? I wouldn't shut the fuck up about some kid who always annoyed me, or that some other kid who wouldn't stop bullying me." He wiped his eyes again unconsciously. "And suddenly he's gone, only leaving behind a voice memo that couldn't possibly be more vague."
He felt Sydney's hand, the one that was using him to support his weight, gently squeeze his shoulder.
He lifted his gaze, and for some reason was surprised to see a warm, understanding look in her eyes. "Is that why you left the Vault?"
"You can say that." being hunted by a crazed control freak also had its fair share.
"You can't be so hard on yourself, you know. You were just a little kid back then. And that's what kids do at this stage of their lives. Adults give, a child takes." She looked at the blindfolded raider that was being pushed by the Protectron, seemingly ready to throw up just by the sight of him. "Sometimes, adults too."
She looked back at him. The rapid change from pure hatred to empathy was rather difficult for him to digest. "Would you mind playing the recording for me?"
Raph searched his pocket with his free hand and took out the pip-device. Browsing the files, he quickly found the recording and pressed "play".
As the recording played, Sydney alternated her gaze between him and the device, a knowing smile spreading across her face as she returned to search the wastes.
It was only then that Raph noticed that the voice from the recording sounded like an older version of his own.
"Well, it does sound like he has a good reason." She suggested as the recording ended.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if he is the sort of person as you described him, maybe he was needed somewhere else. Otherwise, why would he leave?"
Raph frowned as he tried to process that information.
"I mean, the Vault is a safe place, right?"
Raph nodded, still frowning. "Until the overseer got mad."
"Which was before or after he left?"
He frowned. For his father to know he's needed out there in the Wasteland, meant he's already been there once.
It made sense. The exhausted, somewhat haunted look in his eyes. The rough appearance. The same look that caught onto Raph himself after so little time in the wastes.
"After…"
But the Vault itself had so many people in need for his help, Raph couldn't find any possible reason for him to go out there in the first place. Unless…
"Then why would he leave?"
That's when it hit him, like a burning sun ray on his sensitive, Vault - accustomed skin.
Unless he's not originally from the Vault.
Sydney groaned again, but this time with ease. Looking up, he saw the metal dome in the horizon, peeking out among dozens of dead - brown hills. The torturing walk was coming to an end.
He looked down at her leg. The Tourniquet wasn't holding up. "You're bleeding again." He determined critically.
"Explain to me one more time. How do I carry an injured person on my back?"
R&R!
HUGE Thanks to Shepard's Lore (formerly RiotDragon) for an AWESOME shoutout, and the new reviewers! Hope you guys are here to stay.
As usual, Any mistakes pointed out (Either Grammar, spelling, or cannon) will be fixed without giving credit what-so-ever to the... 'out-pointer'? 'Cause I'm evil, that's why.
Not really. Thank you Shepard! Moira's accent is northern. Not southern. Heh, my bad...
Nothing keeps an author like hearing his readers!
Shouvin, out.