The shrill piercing beep of Nicole's Pip-Boy alarm cut through her grim nightmare and jerked her into wakefulness. Grumbling, she slapped haphazardly at the constant mechanical companion on her wrist until she finally switched it off and let out a relieved, if shaky, sigh. Nicole hadn't had a truly horrific nightmare in some time, which she was thankful for, but it seemed to her that her brain would never let her completely put the events of her past behind her. In the murky mists of her dream, Nicole had once more been forced to traverse the ghastly halls of Vault 87 and even now she felt the same fear and foreboding that she had experienced then.
Nicole lay on her bunk for a few more moments until her heart and breathing had returned to normal and then grabbed a bottle of water from a nearby table and gulped it down. She hated dreams of Vault 87 more than any others because not only did they leave her feeling terrible emotionally, they made her suffer physically. The worst of it was the lingering oily taste in the back of her throat. Nicole knew it was nothing more than a figment of her imagination, but imagination could be a powerful thing.
Finally she got up, pulled on some clothes and slipped from the barracks as quietly as she could. The Citadel was never totally silent what with the ever changing shift rotations and patrols, but at 5:00 AM, it was about as quiet as it ever got and she saw very few people as she headed to the lab.
When she got there, she found the lab oddly deserted since the Scribes, unlike the Knights, tended to hold more normal hours. Walking through the room, Nicole cast an eye over the various bits and pieces of Liberty Prime and sighed.
Nicole had become rather fond of the robot in the short time she had seen him in action. His anti-Communist slogans ringing out over the tumult of the heated fighting was something that she would never forget. Nor would she forget the way that he had sacrificed himself to save the small contingent that had gone to infiltrate the Enclave's satellite relay station when an orbital nuclear strike had been inbound for their location.
She gently patted a piece of his armour then crossed the lab to the map of the DC area to inspect it closely. As expected, the location of the Vault-Tec headquarters was marked on the map and she entered the coordinates into her Pip-Boy. Studying the map again, she groaned when it became apparent that she would have no choice but to use some of the old metro tunnels to reach her final destination.
"Good morning, Nicole."
Surprised, Nicole jumped and whirled around to see Scribe Rothchild and greeted him with a curt nod of her head.
He apologised, "I didn't mean to startle you. Planning a journey are we?"
"Oh, yes, nothing special though," she shrugged. "I just haven't been in the Ruins for a while and wanted to refresh my memory."
"I see," he said and took a sip from the steaming mug in his hand. Grimacing he exclaimed, "How the devil did people drink this stuff before the war!"
Nicole glanced at the black liquid sloshing in the mug and caught a whiff of an earthy aroma wafting up from it.
"What is it?" she asked, her lip curling from mistrust of the contents of the mug.
"Instant coffee," he answered, took another sip and scowled. "One of the patrols found some jars and brought them back."
"It doesn't look very nice," Nicole observed.
"It doesn't taste very nice," Rothchild chuckled. "Ah well, live and learn, so they say."
"Indeed." Nicole watched Rothchild choke down another sip of the coffee. Anxious to be on her way, Nicole cut the small talk short and asked, "Did Elder Lyons bring you my Gauss rifle yesterday for repairs?"
Rothchild's small eyes peered at her over the top of his mug before he hesitantly said, "Yes, he did."
Nicole pressed for more details, "Is it ready?"
Finally abandoning the vile coffee and setting the mug aside, Rothchild said with a sigh, "I'm afraid that we encountered a problem."
"What kind of problem?" she asked, dreading what the answer might be.
Rothchild couldn't help but notice Nicole's anxious fidgeting and had a good idea what it was about. Soldiers often had a favourite weapon and deemed it lucky or special in some way or that it had some human trait or quirk. It was something Rothchild could never understand, but that was perhaps because he was usually safely holed up in the Citadel instead of out in the Wastes. He never had to rely on a trusty sidearm to ensure his survival.
"When we took it apart to clean and repair it, we found a series of hairline fractures in the casing," he explained. "Unfortunately, since Gauss rifles are incredibly rare, we can't replace the part."
Nicole's fists clenched at her side and she hissed, "Then make a new part."
Scribe Rothchild rubbed the back of his head and said, "We don't have the right equipment or knowhow to fabricate it."
"Fine then, put it back together, I'll use it as it is," Nicole said angrily. "I'll just have to be extra careful with it."
"I wouldn't advise that, Nicole," Rothchild warned grimly. "Further use of the weapon very well may result in a catastrophic failure." In an attempt to quell her fury he joked, "Surely you wouldn't want it to blow up in your face?"
Nicole looked at Scribe Rothchild in disbelief. An increasingly suspicious part of her wondered if the rifle was truly as bad off as Rothchild had said. He had said himself that they were an incredibly rare item and she wouldn't put it past some of the Brotherhood, especially those who still questioned Elder Lyons' ideals, to do whatever it took to gain a new piece of technology.
Narrowing her eyes, she shouted, "What the hell do you suggest I do now! I need that rifle!"
Rothchild bristled. He was tired of humouring the demanding girl and snapped, "Be that as it may, you cannot have it back, especially in its current condition. I promise that if we find a way to either replace the part or repair it, I will inform you. In the meantime, I suggest you speak to the quartermaster. I'm sure she has a sniper rifle that you can have in lieu of the Gauss rifle. Now, if you will excuse me, I have other pressing matters to attend to."
Nicole watched as Scribe Rothchild turned sharply and marched off, grumbling about the ineptitude of Wastelanders. Once he was out of sight, her shoulders slumped with what she could only describe as sadness and loss. Without her Gauss rifle, she almost felt as if someone had cut off one of her limbs.
Resigning herself to the situation, Nicole shuffled off to the quartermaster to arrange a replacement weapon although she knew it would leave much to be desired. The amount of damage she could do with one shot of her Gauss rifle out shadowed anything she might achieve with a sniper rifle.
Heaving a deep sigh, Nicole truly hoped that this was not an omen as to how the rest of her day would go.
The Enclave Vertibird sped its way over the broken landscape, carrying Gamma Squad ever nearer to their drop off point. Inside the Vertibird, the veterans of the team looked rather bored with their situation as they stared blankly out the windows. Jeremy, however, nervously fingered the buckle of his seatbelt and fidgeted.
Buddy's attention was soon focussed on Jeremy's nervy behaviour. Jeremy had admitted that he'd led a rather sheltered life in the confines of an Enclave outpost and that he'd only done a handful of field missions, so his worrying was understandable.
It also meant that toying with him was just that little bit more fun for Buddy.
"Hey Germs, did I ever tell you about the time I saw a feral ghoul tear into some poor son of a bitch who couldn't run away fast enough?" Buddy asked casually.
All eyes were now on Buddy and he grinned. He always loved being the centre of attention.
Jeremy just stared at Buddy for a few moments before gulping and squeaking, "No."
Buddy flashed Jeremy a mirthless smile and started his grisly tale, "Yeah, this was a couple of years ago now and we were scouting down in some old sewers looking for this Brotherhood of Steel stockpile we'd been tipped off about. We were on guard because feral ghouls like dark, dank places like that for some reason. Seems to me that they'd aspire to something more, but I guess when your brain turns into radioactive sludge, you aren't thinking about trying to live the highlife in some penthouse apartment, are you? Anyway, like I said, we were scouting in these sewers, trying to find this cache when we stumble across this old man living down there."
Katrina gave Buddy a dark look, resenting him for choosing that moment to tell one of his more colourful tales. Considering that she had been there and that she knew what had happened, Katrina dreaded to think what the impact would be on her techie.
"Buddy, do you really think now is the time for stories?" she asked warningly.
Buddy blatantly ignored her and carried on.
"I guess this old guy was a Jet addict or something because there were empty Jet inhalers all over the place. Anyhow, I say to him, 'What the hell are you doing down here?' The old man just kind of giggles and rambles on a bunch of shit that didn't make a damn bit of sense. Well, next thing we know we hear this sound."
Katrina glanced at Jeremy and saw that the colour was draining from his face and shot Buddy another filthy look.
"Buddy, I'm ordering you to stop now," she snapped.
"C'mon Kitty, the kid needs to hear these things or else he won't know what we're up against," Buddy tried to say with all earnestness but failed. The childish sadistic glee shining in his eyes was a dead giveaway of his true feelings.
"W-what happened?" Jeremy hesitantly asked, although he knew he was going to regret it.
Stephen shook his head and muttered, "For God's sake, Buddy..."
Buddy grinned broadly and looked around at his teammates. Pepper looked as if she wanted to be anywhere else but in the Vertibird, a muscle in Stephen's jaw was twitching, and if looks could kill, then the looks that Katrina threw his way would have seen him meet his demise in any number of painful ways.
"All of the sudden, we hear this sound. It wasn't that horrible raspy, hissy roar thing that ghouls make, no, it was something worse. It was the sound of a pack of ghouls running our way. Now, I don't know if you've ever heard it before, but there's something sickening about the sound of their dead, rotting feet slapping against cold concrete that'll make you sick. It's all kind of wet and squelchy."
Buddy then imitated the sound with gusto.
"Oh God," Jeremy breathed and turned paler.
"Buddy, quit being a dick," Stephen said with a forced laugh.
"Well, we went running! There were too many of them for us to fight them off. All the sudden we heard the old fart shouting his head off and screaming like a girl. I made the mistake of looking back, and oh man, I wish I hadn't. The ghouls were literally eating him alive! They were tearing chunks out of him, ripping the meat right off his bones. Hell, they even went as far as spreading his stinking guts around like party streamers!" Buddy joyously exclaimed and let out a raucous laugh.
"That's enough Buddy!" Katrina shouted. "I want a word with you once we're on the ground."
Buddy snorted and half saluted Katrina, "Yes ma'am, Captain."
Stephen punched Buddy in the shoulder and gave him a disparaging look. Why the man had to try and push everyone to their absolute limit was beyond him.
"I... don't feel so well," Jeremy muttered, leaned his head back and shut his eyes. He desperately tried to think of anything but what Buddy had just told him, but the scene kept playing itself over and over again and tied nauseous knots in his stomach.
"Great, look what you did Buddy," Pepper grumbled. Gently she patted Jeremy's shoulder and soothed, "Don't listen to Buddy, Jeremy. He's so full of it his eyes are brown. What he didn't tell you is that he did his fair share of screaming too." She then rounded on Buddy and said, "And if I recall, you puked as soon as we were out of harm's way."
Buddy crossed his arms over his chest and huffed, "The hell I did..."
The next few minutes of the flight were silent apart from the occasional whimpers from Jeremy. Everyone avoided looking at each other and to say that the mood of the group was frosty would have been an understatement.
As soon as the Vertibird touched down, the team quickly gathered their gear, disembarked and once they were clear the odd looking helicopter rose into the air, the wash of the rotors leaving them in a brief dusty whirlwind.
Katrina wasted no time, grabbed Buddy by the arm and dragged him a few feet away.
Stephen and Pepper exchanged knowing looks and went to work unloading the few crates they had with them.
"Here Jeremy, why don't you give me a hand sorting through this stuff," Pepper cheerily said and waved him over. She knew the others laughed at her for being so protective towards him and read more into it than there was, but she was naturally a mothering type. She hated to see anyone suffering and always felt the need to try and make things better.
Jeremy, still looking unwell, took a deep breath and went over to help Pepper, grateful for the distraction of unpacking the crates.
While the others made their last preparations, Buddy was frogmarched away.
With a Cheshire grin plastered on his face, Buddy chuckled, "Wow, Kitty, I always suspected that missions turned you on but I never expected this!"
Katrina gritted her teeth, shoved Buddy forward and said, "Shut the hell up. What was that on the Vertibird?"
Buddy rolled his eyes and stumbled to a stop, "Oh c'mon..."
"You've scared that kid to death!" she exclaimed and pointed in Jeremy's direction.
"What are you, his mother?" Buddy scoffed and lit a cigarette. "I thought that was more Pepper's speciality, not yours."
"No, but the last thing any of us want or need is for him to be out here jumping at shadows! It's dangerous and if you would actually use the few brain cells you've got in that head of yours, you'd know that!" Katrina glared at Buddy. "And put that thing out! The smell of it might alert someone to our presence!"
Buddy defiantly blew a cloud of smoke towards her and growled, "Kitty, he's greener than green! His inexperience is going to be enough to get us all killed! I don't know from what rock you dragged him out from under, but he needs to know what's out here!" Buddy put his hands on his hips and returned Kitty's glare.
Katrina was well aware of Jeremy's shortcomings and inexperience, but with the Enclave in its current state, beggars certainly could not be choosers. So while Buddy had made a good point, she wasn't about to tell him that. The last thing she needed was for his ego to grow any larger than it already was.
"Fine Buddy, I don't mind you giving him facts and information, but you don't have to do so in such a graphic manner!"
He shook his head and scuffed at the ground with the toe of his boot.
"This isn't a tea party at some fancy hotel. Look around you, Kitty! Polite society and social graces died 200 years ago, if you hadn't noticed," he drawled.
"Just because the Wastelanders live and act like animals doesn't mean that we have to," she sniffed, letting some of the Enclave prejudice she'd been taught from childhood surface.
"Look, all I know is that there are damn few of us and I just was trying to prepare him for what we might see," Buddy said, feigning some contriteness. He softly added, "The last thing we need is to have someone else drop dead on us, Kitty."
Katrina took a deep breath and smoothed her hair back. She knew that he'd just played her for a fool, using her guilt at not being able to save more of their comrades against her.
"Alright, alright, just think a bit before you open your big fat mouth," she huffed. "And stop calling me Kitty damn it! I've told you God only knows how many times that while we're out in the field you are to address me as Captain!"
"Yes, ma'am, Captain," he saluted, winked and went to join the others.
Sighing in exasperation, Katrina then called out, "Buddy?"
He looked back at her, "Yeah?"
Katrina trotted over, snatched the cigarette from his lips, dropped it on the ground and stamped on it, "If I have to warn you about smoking again, I'll put your cigs and lighter where the sun doesn't shine."
Buddy watched bemusedly as Katrina huffily marched away before following her. There was a small part of him that momentarily regretted that they were no longer together. Although their relationship could hardly have been called sweet or cuddly, it was certainly fiery and passionate. He had counted himself lucky that he'd been one of the few that had been allowed to see that side of Kitty.
"Is everyone ready to leave?" Katrina asked as she approached the others.
"Ready when you are, ma'am," Pepper trilled and lightly rested her hands on the grips of her twin plasma pistols.
"Let's lock and load," Stephen said happily. It had been a while since they'd seen any action and he was itching to go.
Right, let's move out," Kitty said and purposely headed into the DC Ruins.
Jeremy stood frozen to his spot and watched as the others started to follow Katrina.
"C'mon Germs, today's a good day to die!" Buddy ran past and punched Jeremy's arm.
"D-die?" Jeremy's eyes went wide at the thought.
"Buddy, damn it!" Pepper shouted after the insolent medic before turning her attention to Jeremy. She ran over to him, gently ushered him forward and said, "Again, ignore him. He's an idiot of the highest degree."
"Heh," Jeremy forced a laugh and reluctantly fell into step next to Pepper. After a few minutes he said, "Pepper, can I ask you a question?"
She flashed him a smile and said, "Of course you can, shoot."
"That story of Buddy's... did that really happen?" Jeremy asked, his eyes darting around taking in his surroundings.
Pepper sighed and scowled, "Look, the Wasteland is a pretty damn harsh place. There are all sorts of horrible things lurking in dark shadows waiting for someone who isn't paying enough attention to what's going on around them. To answer your question, yes, it really happened."
"Great," he groaned and started imagining himself dying a hundred horrible ways.
She put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, made him look her in the eyes and said, "Just stick close, keep your eyes peeled and your gun at the ready and you'll be fine, ok? We've all got each other's backs, in spite of the impression Buddy might give you. Now come on, they're leaving us behind."
Pepper trotted ahead of Jeremy and laughingly called back over her shoulder, "We don't want them having all the fun, now do we?"
Jeremy frowned, took his rifle from his back, released the safety and grumbled, "Right, fun."
Taking one last nervous glance around, he ran to catch up with the others before whatever horrors that resided in the crumbling buildings and structures of the DC Ruins decided to come for him.
Stumbling through the gates of the Metro Junction tunnel she had just travelled through, Nicole squinted against the harsh midday sun and collapsed on the steps that led up to Vernon Square. The journey through the tunnels had been fairly uneventful, which she was incredibly thankful for and it hadn't been until the past half hour that she had encountered any problems.
In hindsight, she knew she jinxed herself when she thought how easy the journey had been. No sooner had the thought crossed her mind that she heard the tell-tale call of a ghoul. The ghoul was still a distance down the tunnel from her, so she decided to give her new sniper rifle a try only to regret it. Carefully she lined up the shot, aiming for the walking corpse's head, and pulled the trigger. However, instead of the ghoul's head disappearing into a spray of rotting flesh, bone and blood, the bullet merely grazed by it and ricocheted off the tunnel wall.
The ghoul turned towards her, made another hissy roar and then ran for her. She had enough time to drop the sniper rifle and get her plasma rifle. By the time she had taken the safety off, the ghoul was nearly on top of her and she fired a quick succession of plasma bolts into the charging ghoul. Because of her close proximity to her target, the ghoul was not turned into a green puddle of goo, but instead it exploded.
Nicole frowned at the remains of the ghoul on her armour before idly swiping at it, only to succeed in smearing it. Staring at the mess, Nicole grunted at it then reached up and removed her helmet and took in a deep breath of unfiltered air. Although the smell of the humid, sun-baked air wasn't pleasant, it was infinitely better than that of the dank, stagnant air of the metro tunnels.
Before moving on, Nicole listened for any threats, but all she could hear was the mournful sound of the wind whistling through the broken buildings. It made her shudder. Nicole was sure that if she strained her ears she would be able to hear the whispering voices of those who had died on that fateful day telling their woeful tales to any who would listen.
"Well, c'mon you, let's get going," she said to herself, reluctantly pulled her helmet back on and trudged up the steps into Vernon Square.
Checking her Pip-Boy, Nicole got her bearings and the general direction that the Vault-Tec building should be in from her current position and began to carefully pick her way through the rubble. She had to be aware of any loose debris that might make her lose her footing. While that was bad enough, she also tried to avoid the rusty rebar that protruded from slabs of concrete.
While growing up, Nicole's father had given her access to his medical library and she could remember reading about tetanus, and while she knew that the rust itself did not cause tetanus, she knew that it provided ideal breeding ground for the bacteria. Nicole highly doubted that treatment for such an infection would be readily available and she had no desire to find that out firsthand.
As she rounded a particularly large pile of rubble, a building came into view and she stopped and tilted her head. It was relatively intact and incredibly imposing with its array of antennae, satellite dishes and rather stark concrete construction. Emblazoned vertically on the front of it was one word: Vault-Tec.
She smiled, pleased that she'd finally arrived and cautiously made her way towards the heavy front doors. Taking one more look around to be sure that she hadn't been followed, Nicole slipped inside.
"How much longer before we get there," Buddy gasped as he clamoured over a pile of rubble that had been blocking their way.
Unfortunately for Gamma Squad, their maps did not show them that the way they'd chosen to take was nearly impassable so they had been forced to climb over mountains of rubble. Even their plans to use metro tunnels had been scuppered when they found that their entrances were now lying buried under collapsed buildings. What Katrina had originally planned on taking an hour and a half at most had now taken them all morning.
"Are we there yet? You sound like a two year old," Stephen joked as he carefully began to descend the other side of the roadblock, making sure that he had a tight grip on his beloved Gatling laser.
"Hey Steve, I found this for you," Buddy snarked and flipped Stephen off before jumping to the ground.
Stephen shook his head and let out a low rumble of amusement. Although Buddy could be an ass, he was usually good for a laugh or two.
Already on the ground and waiting for the others, Katrina sighed at Stephen and Buddy's childish behaviour, checked her maps and said, "We're nearly there. It should be just ahead."
"How are you holding up?" Pepper asked Jeremy as her feet touched the ground.
He cautiously descended the rubble, let out a weary laugh and said, "I'm alri- OH SHIT!"
The debris he'd been standing on suddenly gave out beneath him sent him sprawling onto the broken pavement below.
Stephen and Buddy couldn't help but laugh like the loons they were but were quickly silenced by a wave of Katrina's hand.
"Jeremy!" Pepper knelt beside him and asked, "Are you alright?"
He quickly sat up, "Heh, yeah, probably bruised my pride more than anything."
Katrina turned to Buddy and coldly asked, "Don't you think that as medic you should show a bit of compassion?"
"Pft, so poor baby Germs fell down. I doubt it was enough to do any damage, but if it makes you feel any better, I'll check," Buddy said and ambled towards the neophyte, although by the time he got there Jeremy was on his feet and dusting himself off.
Katrina watched him go and then signalled to Stephen to follow her so they could scout the path ahead. Without a word he followed, his Gatling laser ready to cut down any nasty surprises.
"So, did you knock anything loose?" Buddy half joked.
"No, I'm fine," Jeremy said indignantly, slung his plasma rifle over his shoulder and stomped away to put some distance between him and the overbearing medic. Although Jeremy was generally an affable person, Buddy and his constant digs were pushing him to his limits now.
Buddy threw up his hands and innocently asked, "What? What did I do?"
"Like you don't know," Pepper muttered and disappeared around a pile of debris.
"Whatever..." Buddy said, rolled his eyes and ran to catch up with the others only to plough into Stephen's back a few moments later.
"What the hell man? Why are you all just... Oh," Buddy's words died off as he looked up at the building they had just stumbled upon.
Standing in the middle of what was once the parking lot for Vault-Tec headquarters, Gamma Squad stared up at the building but no one seemed that keen on actually going inside.
"Well, who's first?" Pepper asked.
"I think Buddy ought to go," Stephen shoved him forward.
"Fuck off!" Buddy shoved Stephen back and laughed. "What's the matter? You're too afraid to lead the charge, huh big man? How about you Germs? You want to prove to us that you've actually got a set on you?"
Katrina growled and snapped, "Shut up! We're all going in together! Now let's do what we came here to do and get home."
Purposely striding towards the building and the others following in Katrina's wake, they entered the Vault-Tec building.
A smug smile pulled at the corners of Nicole's lips as her Pip-Boy finished downloading the information she needed from the Vault-Tec mainframe. Idly rubbing at one of a dozen scorch marks on her armour, she reflected on the day's events. In spite of the poor start and the loss of her Gauss rifle, things had turned out better than she expected.
Getting through the security had been her greatest challenge. It seemed that the upper floors of the building were full of Protectrons, Sentry Bots, Robobrains and two turrets for good measure. Every time she thought she was in the clear, she would hear the metallic voice of a robot approaching her. It had been time consuming, if not more than a little hazardous considering that the floors in most of the rooms had collapsed. She had taken a few hits in the process, but nothing that a Stimpack or two couldn't rectify. In the end, Nicole had been rewarded for her persistence by way of two Stealth Boys, various types of ammunition and some medical supplies that she had found.
Once she had mopped up the last of the robots, she used the security terminals and unlocked the door to the mainframe. It amazed her that after 200 years it was still working, but here it was with its lights flashing and quietly humming. Thankfully Burke had been right and the interface between her Pip-Boy and the mainframe only required her to hack the high level passwords. Figuring out where in the mainframe the information she required was stored had slowed her down the most, but after a few minutes of searching through the directories she found what she was looking for and initiated a download.
Nicole's recollections were interrupted when her Pip-Boy beeped and the screen of the mainframe terminal indicated that the data transfer had been completed. Although it was tempting, she resisted the desire to pore over the data. Now was neither the time nor the place and she decided that once she was safely back at Tenpenny Tower she could take her time and peruse through what she had found.
Smiling again, Nicole felt certain that Burke would be pleased with her work. But as she started to walk out of the mainframe room, she paused and turned to look around her. The feeling of pride she had just had died and a frown replaced her brilliant smile.
As she looked at the numerous towers with their miles of magnetic tape, she wondered how many people had suffered and even died at the hands of the monsters that ran Vault-Tec. The shadow corporation had played on the fears of innocent people who only wanted to keep their families safe. In exchange for an exorbitant fee people could reserve a place in a Vault. Or at least the lucky ones could. Most of the unfortunate souls who had applied for their place in a Vault had been duped. Unbeknownst to them, they had not ensured their survival, but had only paid for the privilege to become Vault-Tec's guinea pigs.
The more Nicole thought about it, the angrier she felt. Even though Vault-Tec had been long since relegated to history, what they had done still had an impact today. Nicole wondered how many Vaults were still unaccounted for and how many of them might still be carrying out their experiments. Surely if Vault 101 had managed it, others had as well?
A feeling of being violated began to churn Nicole's stomach. She had been an unwitting victim of Vault-Tec's sick social experiment. Thankfully what happened in Vault 101 was relatively sane in comparison to what happened in places like Vault 87.
Nicole turned a slow circle and took in the whole of the mainframe. How much of the data and information stored there had been gained by unethical means? Not only that, how many more would be placed at risk from what knowledge might be gleaned from those records? It sent a shiver down her spine to think about what might happen if the wrong people were to find out about the G.E.C.K. and any other technology Vault-Tec might have created.
After a few moments of contemplation, Nicole took out a pulse mine, weighed it in her hand and decided that enough was enough. The Pandora's Box that was the Vault-Tec mainframe would be shut once and for all.
Squaring her shoulders and setting her jaw, Nicole started placing the mines around the computer.
Gamma Squad's feet crunched and scratched on hundreds of years of accumulated dust, dirt and debris as they made a sweep of the reception area. So far they hadn't turned up anything useful, but they hadn't really expected to so quickly.
Katrina looked at the defunct terminals on the receptionist's desk and frowned. If their condition was anything to go by, then coming here might prove to be a waste of their time. If that were the case, she wondered if Colonel Autumn would end up sending them on a wild goose chase to locate the G.E.C.K. that he so desperately sought.
They had all spread out to finish their check of the area. Pepper and Buddy were investigating the stairwells that had once led to the lower floors to ensure there was nothing lurking there. Parts of the floors above had collapsed and blocked them off, so their exploration was cut short and they wandered back out into the main reception area.
Stephen and Jeremy were about to go upstairs when Jeremy suddenly stopped.
"Hey! Give me a bit of warning next time," Stephen grumbled and followed Jeremy's gaze upwards.
"Whoa, look at that," Jeremy whispered at the sight of the huge cog-shaped Vault door suspended from the ceiling. It had 101 emblazoned on it in blocky yellow numbers.
"Yeah, you'd think being stuck behind all that metal would have kept the residents safe," Stephen mused. "Poor bastards had no idea that most Vaults were death traps."
Jeremy's head whipped around to look at Stephen, "What do you mean?"
"Vault-Tec was a sham, basically. Nearly every Vault carried out some experiment or other on the residents," Stephen replied with a shrug as if it were old news to him.
Jeremy was shocked at the revelation and warily glanced between the Vault door and Stephen, wondering if he wasn't trying to get one over on him.
"That's ridiculous," he scoffed. "What would be the point of experimenting on those who would be responsible for repopulating?"
"There's none so cruel an animal as the human animal. Besides, there were a very small number of Vaults that operated as they should have."
The two men walked up the stairs into what had been an employee canteen and spread out to take a closer look around. Jeremy was baffled over the actions of Vault-Tec. He'd heard that there was a link between them and the government long before the war, but he still found it hard to believe that the government would approve of such actions. In the end, he dismissed it and told himself that Vault-Tec must have carried out their experiments in secret. The propaganda he'd been raised on reared its head as he decided that the former United States government would never harm its own citizens in such a dreadful way.
"Hey, Germs, come over here," Stephen suddenly called and waved the techie over.
Jeremy went over, his curiosity piqued, but was disappointed when he saw that it was nothing but a broken robot.
"So, it's a busted Mister Gutsy," Jeremy shrugged and went to walk away.
"It's still warm."
"What? No way, let me see," Jeremy said incredulously and felt the shell of it. "Hey, look at this."
Stephen looked at the hole that Jeremy had pointed at and said, "That's a plasma burn."
Jeremy drummed his fingers on the Mister Gutsy thoughtfully, "I'd say this happened in the last 45 minutes to an hour.
"Hey Cap'n, you want to have a look at this," Stephen shouted down to Katrina who left the terminals and jogged up the stairs.
"What have you found?" she asked and glanced at the Mister Gutsy at her feet.
"Jeremy thinks this someone did this not quite an hour ago. With a plasma rifle, no less," Stephen said.
Katrina's eyes flicked between Jeremy, Stephen and the robot as she thought it over. If some Wastelander had just happened to wander in here, it was highly doubtful they would have had the firepower necessary to defend themselves against a robot that had been designed to fight. The more Katrina thought about it, the more convinced she became that whoever had done this, knew what they were doing.
She let out a low whistle and signalled for Buddy and Pepper to join them and once they had, Katrina said in a low voice, "We're going upstairs. I think we might have company."
Cautiously leading the way, Gamma Squad crept through the halls to the stairwell to flush out their uninvited guest.
Nicole finished placing the pulse mines around the mainframe and had retreated to the hall. For one moment, a small voice urged her to rethink what she was doing, to not go through with the destruction of the mainframe, but she knew that wasn't an option. Too many lives had been sacrificed for Vault-Tec and now it was time that their deaths were vindicated.
She took out her 10mm, aimed carefully for the pile of pulse mines and fired. The pile of ordinance went off instantly and a dazzling, crackling blue sphere spread out across the room. Nicole felt a staticky rush over her body when the EMP blast hit her and while unharmed, she was temporarily disoriented. Shaking her head to clear it, she ran over to peer at the mainframe and smiled.
For the first time in over 200 years, the massive computer lay dormant.
The sudden and unexpected explosion rumbled through the building, startling the members of Gamma Squad and making them pause.
"Shit," Buddy hissed. "Someone's trying to bring the building down around our ears."
"Stephen?" Katrina only said his name, but he knew what she was asking.
"Low yield explosives, but a lot of them from the number of blasts I could hear," Stephen answered.
"Move out," Katrina growled and practically dashed up the stairs.
Leading them through the maze of offices and meeting rooms, it was becoming more and more apparent that they were not dealing with your average Wasteland scavenger. Katrina had lost count of the robots that now lay in smoking heaps, but she was somewhat thankful for them as they served as signposts and directed them towards the next stairwell.
"Hurry," she urged them onwards and upwards.
With her work done, Nicole gathered up her things and jauntily retraced her steps back to the stairs until the thundering sound of footsteps pounding on the risers made her stop in her tracks. With every passing second the sound grew louder. Nicole snapped out of her daze and ran in the opposite direction.
Gamma Squad burst onto the Administration level and stormed forwards in time to see someone in Tesla armour disappear around the corner.
"Stop where you are!" Katrina shouted and fired a warning shot before running after them.
Nicole glanced back and barely managed to keep her fear in check when she saw that she was being chased by five Enclave soldiers.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Nicole panted and bolted down another flight of stairs, hearing the angry shouts and occasionally weapons fire.
Once she reached the bottom, she found herself in a canteen area, but the steps that led down into the main reception area had collapsed. Taking a deep breath, she went to where they once had been and lowered herself down to what remained. In her haste to escape, she lost her balance, slipped and fell to the floor with an almighty clang and winded herself.
"No time, get up, go, go, go!" she told herself and struggled to her feet. Nicole could hear the shouts of her pursuers and they were getting louder with every moment.
Still struggling to get a full breath, Nicole quickly limped outside into the parking lot.
Gamma Squad was hot on Nicole's heels and hit the reception area only seconds after Nicole had made her exit.
"Where the fuck are they?" Buddy growled and looked around wildly.
Pepper noticed a sliver of light coming from the door as it finished shutting and she shouted, "There! The front door!"
"Let's get 'em," Katrina growled. She would be damned if some deserter was going to get the better of her and her team.
Nicole breathlessly made her way across the parking lot, her eyes fixed on the gates of the Metro Junction tunnel. All she had to do was make it there and she would be home free. Her heart pounded a frightening cadence in her ears while her lungs burned. The muscles in her legs ached in spite of the assistance of the power armour.
"So much for thinking that today was finally turning in my favour," she thought miserably.
Just as she was about to reach her goal, she heard the broken, guttural sound of Super Mutants approaching her and she ducked behind a rusting car.
"Where others gone? Said be back by now," said a Master to a Brute. Their heavy footsteps brought them ever closer to her hiding place.
"Dunno..." The Brute sniffed the air, its beady eyes searching the area. "Smell bleeder. Meat."
Nicole's heart now leapt into her throat, but sometimes in the moments of panic and fear, the greatest of plans are spawned. Jumping out from behind the ancient Corvega, Nicole brazenly waved her arms.
"Hey! Uglies! Come and get me!" she shouted and then ran back towards Vault-Tec. The whole way she kept telling herself that she was officially insane, which, oddly enough, made her cackle.
The two Super Mutants looked at each other dumbly for a moment before giving chase.
"Ha ha ha haaaa! Found you!" the Master shouted with a demented childlike glee.
"No! I found you!" Nicole taunted.
"You're dead!" the Brute yelled and swung his super sledge, although he was nowhere near striking range.
All the same, Nicole put on a burst of speed to dance out of the way, gracefully leapt over some rubble and dashed back into the parking lot of Vault-Tec. Just at that very moment, the Enclave soldiers who had been chasing her stormed out of the building and stopped short at the sight of the Super Mutants.
"Shit!" Stephen said.
Jeremy's eyes went as large as dinner plates. He'd never seen Super Mutants before, not in the flesh. He whimpered and began shaking where he stood, unable to move, although he desperately wanted to run back into the Vault-Tec building.
"Take out the mutants but don't kill the other bastard!" Katrina ordered.
For one moment, Nicole stopped, looked between the oncoming tides that she was trapped between. The Super Mutants roared, gaining on her quickly. The one who was obviously the leader of the Enclave troops had a murderous look to her and aimed for Nicole.
Nicole grinned behind her helmet and making a show of what she was doing, she held up her wrist and activated one of the Stealth Boys that she had strapped to it. As the field enveloped her, she virtually faded from sight.
The Super Mutants were temporarily puzzled as to where their meal had just disappeared to, but didn't worry about it too much considering that there were five bleeders right in front of them. These ones were in cans too, so they would be extra fresh!
"The bastard!" Buddy yelled and looked for the tale-tell shimmer of someone using a Stealth Boy, but the more immediate issue of the oncoming Super Mutants made him refocus his attention.
With confusion reigning supreme around her, Nicole took advantage of it, and slipped away to the Metro Junction tunnel to make her escape.
Stephen laughed as he pulled the trigger of his Gatling laser. It whined for a few seconds before belching forth an unrelenting hail of laser blasts that tore at the Super Mutants.
Jeremy whined, clutching his plasma rifle to his chest as if it were a talisman that might magically ward off the rampaging mutants.
"Jeremy!" Pepper shouted and knelt down beside him, firing both of her plasma pistols. "Snap out of it!"
The Brute and the Master, although taking heavy damage, continued their manic charge, wildly swinging their super sledges and hitting none of their targets. They often wondered in their own inarticulate way why the bleeders had to fight back so much and why they couldn't just accept their fates.
Perhaps that was why the mutants let out a joyous shout of triumph when they saw the smaller bleeder just standing there, eyes wide with fear and his face ashen.
"Wake up Germs and shoot the bastards!" Buddy shouted, but Jeremy remained where he was.
Everything sounded muffled and as if it was happening far away and not all around him. He watched the Super Mutants heading for him and inside of his mind he kept telling himself to run, to move, to even scream, but he couldn't.
"Aw, shit!" Stephen put another electron charge pack into his Gatling laser and opened it up on the Brute.
It finally let out a terrible roar of agony, stumbled and fell to the ground. For a few moments it continued to try and fight, feebly scrabbling at the ground and trying to crawl towards Stephen, but eventually let out a wet, raspy breath and died.
The Master, oblivious to the other's fate, raised his sledge high in the air and was about to bring it down Jeremy's head.
"NO!" Jeremy suddenly shouted, finally finding the ability to move. With shaking hands, he quickly aimed for the Master's head and pulled the trigger over and over again. The plasma hit it squarely between the eyes and before it could comprehend what was happening, its head exploded in a gory mess that splattered Jeremy.
"Nice shot Germs!" Buddy shouted, ran over and clapped a hand on his shoulder.
Jeremy blankly looked at the fallen Super Mutants and then at Buddy.
"Keep that up and you might be worth keeping around, you know?" Buddy chuckled and slapped Jeremy on the back again before lighting up a cigarette. "So how's it feel to have some Mutie blood splashing on you?"
An inarticulate groan came from Jeremy and Pepper asked him, "You alright?"
His eyes rolled wildly as he looked around him. The coppery smell of blood was thick in the air and all over him. Then there was the smell of the mutant itself. It was an awful musty, musky smell. Unable to take it anymore, Jeremy doubled over and wretched.
Buddy's lip curled in disgust, he rolled his eyes and muttered, "For fuck's sake."
Katrina ignored the others and paced around, rage still burning inside her. Whoever this person was, they had the luck of the devil to have successfully managed the trick they just had done. Something, however, was niggling in the back of Katrina's mind, just below the surface of recognition, but what it was, she could not say. She dismissed it for the time being and decided that if she ever caught up with this person, they would regret crossing her path.
Now that they were out of danger, the others stood around joking and laughing. Even Jeremy seemed to be happier than he had been in some time while Buddy and Stephen ribbed him over his weak stomach. The jovial atmosphere was killed when Katrina marched over to them with a face like thunder.
"Back inside! All of you! We still have work to do!" she snapped.
Without another word, Gamma Squad shuffled back inside the building to see what they could salvage and to see what the explosion had been.
Nicole kept running through the metro tunnels until she felt certain that she hadn't been followed. Even then, while she had slowed her pace to a fast walk, she hadn't come to a complete stop. Worry and fear kept needling her, pricking at her heart and kept the adrenaline flowing for the time being. She was thankful for that though. If it hadn't been for the nervous energy it provided her with she would have most likely collapsed from exhaustion.
Sarah had warned her about the Enclave being in the ruins, but she had believed they were merely scavenging. While Nicole had no doubt that there were Enclave stragglers and deserters picking over the bare bones of Washington D.C. for whatever scraps they could find, something about the group she'd encountered today struck her as odd. They were too well organized and equipped to be working on their own.
Practically running across the broken landscape, Nicole tried to fathom out what the Enclave might be up to, but only managed to raise more questions than answers. The only thing she knew for certain at this point was that she had to get back to Tenpenny Tower as quickly as possible and tell Burke of the recent development.
In the deepening gloom that had started to settle over the Capitol Wasteland, Nicole's body protested at the abuse it had endured today. The muscles of her legs threatened to cramp with every step she took, there was a permanent stitch in her side now and her breathing was ragged. She wanted to stop, to rest, to quit even, but a familiar voice in the back of her mind kept urging her onward.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry..." it whispered.
Choking back a frustrated sob, she whispered, "I'm hurrying daddy, I'm hurrying."
Author's Note: The long awaited Chapter 11 is finally up! This one really gave me fits and I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to finally get it done. I hope you enjoyed it!