Couldn't believe I had been so stupid! Why did I trust that he'd stay? I'd given him everything and now he was gone from my life forever. To top it all off, he'd ruined my jumpsuit! Now, I was utterly alone, and naked! Swinging myself off the bed, I picked up the remnants of my clothing. "Ugh!" I huffed, tossing the ruined garment across the room and falling back on to the bed. How could Charon do this to me? After everything we had been through, after I had told him I loved him? I stared up at the metal ceiling, feeling numb. I was at an utter loss of what I should do next. Did it even matter anymore? My heart was broken. I just laid there and waited for the inevitable tears to start falling.
"What're you doing?" Charon appeared in the now open doorway. Realizing my current state, he quickly moved into the room and shut the door behind him. My heart nearly burst with happiness. I knew he'd never leave me! I rushed to him and leapt into his arms, causing him to drop whatever it was that he was holding, and pressed my lips to his. After pulling my mouth away, I folded my arms over my bare chest and frowned.
"Where were you?" He bent down to retrieve the object that had fallen from the ground then handed it over to me. "What's this?" It was a piece of thin, leather armor with a pair of black pants folded neatly on top of it.
"As much as I enjoy the sight of your body, I don't really want to give everyone else the same pleasure." So I guess he'd realized that my jumpsuit was deceased, thanks to him.
"How'd you get this? We don't have any caps."
"I traded some of our medical supplies. I think this warranted it." I, of course, agreed wholeheartedly. I wasn't showing off my bosom to all of Rivet City. He continued to stare down at me, making no move to leave the room to allow me to dress. I tightened my grip around my chest.
"Charon!" I scolded.
"Sorry." He said quickly, coming back to his senses and stepping out of the room. I rolled my eyes and smiled, typical male. I may have been giving him a hard time, but that's what he gets for scaring me half to death! He could have at least woken me up to tell me what he was doing instead of playing the disappearing act! As quickly as I could, I dressed myself in my new attire. It wasn't as airy as my jumpsuits, but it would have to do. I strapped on my belt and secured my sword and gun in their place, then walked out of the bedroom. Charon was waiting for me outside the hotel. "Jebs wasn't in his room." He said, sounding a bit worried. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Charon may have actually cared about the little ghoul's well-being. The disappearance of Jebs did seem rather odd. When we asked Ms. Weatherly for his whereabouts, she hadn't the slightest idea either. She did mention, however, that a scientist by the name of Dr Li was looking for me. Evidently, Father Clifford had informed her that I was searching for my dad.
"Such a nice man." I said to Charon as we made our way to the science lab Ms. Weatherly had directed us to.
"Right." Charon replied bluntly. I gave him a quizzical look.
"You don't think so?"
"I don't think you'd be saying that if you heard him yesterday." He paused, as if recollecting the memory himself, "let's just say, he wouldn't approve of our venture last night." Wait, was he saying what I think he was? I had wondered what caused Charon's sudden change of heart about our arrangement. That sneaky old man had put him up to it! I felt like a fool. If there was one thing I disliked more than murderers, it was manipulators. That guy didn't know me, what right did he have, sticking his old, wrinkled nose into MY business. I would definitely be paying him a visit later, and it certainly wouldn't be pleasant.
"Never liked that guy." I stated with a scowl. Charon only laughed. We walked into the science bay. Large generators took up most of the room, there were computers all over with an egg-head sitting at each one. Several tables sat in the center, filled with test tubes and microscopes. I was getting bored just looking at this stuff. Needless to say, I didn't inherit my father's interest in science.
A middle aged woman with brown hair tied back in a bun noticed our entrance and approached us. "Lily?" She questioned, causing me to widen my eyes in surprise.
"How do you know my name?"
"I was there when it was given to you. My name is Doctor Madison Li. James and I were colleagues." She knew dad? That was great news, if she was the one that decided to contact me, though, it was likely that my father wasn't here. My face fell and Dr. Li knew right away that I understood that my dad was gone. "I'm sorry you missed him, but I can tell you where he's headed." Great, more chasing. If I didn't know any better, I'd say my father was trying to run from me. He definitely wasn't making finding him easy.
"Please, anything you can tell me would be great." I prompted.
"He was looking for information on the G.E.C.K., a man named Braun created it," What the hell was a G.E.C.K., I mused. "He wanted to find the professors notes. I believe he said he was going to vault 112." So my dad risked his life escaping vault 101, just to go right back in another? Where was the logic in that? The idea of returning to one of those underground prisons didn't really sound like an enticing prospect, but time was of the essence. Dr Li marked the location of the vault on my pipboy. I grimaced when I realized just how far we would have to travel to reach the place. It was located to the west of Tenpenny Tower. The trip would take us at least two days. "James wants to bring Project Purity back to life, he's willing to go to any lengths to do it." Dr Li explained. Yea, including abandoning his own daughter.
"Are you part of the project?" I asked. Dr Li frowned.
"Don't you know anything about it?" I didn't, in fact. My father had kept me completely in the dark about all of this. Maybe this project was more important to him than me, or he had some other motivation for not telling me. I had thought my dad and I had a very honest relationship with one another. After all, I'd tell him everything that was going on in the vault. "Project Purity existed before you were even born. When your mother and father had you, and Kathrine died, your father left for vault 101. He abandoned the project." I wasn't even born in the vault? My father had failed to mention that to me as well! How could he lie to me? "Now he wants to start again. After leaving everything behind." Dr Li sounded bitter. So I wasn't the only one dad had let down. Dr Li sighed aloud. "I hope you find him before he gets himself killed." That was my hope as well. We said our goodbyes to Dr. Li and left the science bay, there wasn't much more to talk about anyway. We had to get moving.
"Are you alright?" Charon asked. I wasn't sure how I felt. My father had deceived me, I wasn't even sure what to consider real anymore. What else my father had hidden from me, I could only guess.
"I'm fine." I replied.
"He wanted to protect you, Lily. Sometimes, people hide things from the ones they love to try and keep them safe." Of course, Charon would understand my dad's reasoning. After all, he'd hidden things from me before too, though it had only managed to put me in even greater danger.
"I know." I smiled slowly. Men could be such pains.
I informed Charon that we'd be making a stop at the Saint Monica's church before we departed. I had hoped to run into Jebs before we left, but I hadn't spotted him anywhere as we traveled through the corridors of the ship. I was going to miss that drowsy little fool.
"What're you planning?" Charon asked me with a suspicious gaze. I just snickered. He would see soon enough. When we made it to the church, I halted in front of the doorway. Evidently, some sort of sermon was in session, for the many pews in the room were filled with people. Father Clifford stood at a podium at the front of the crowd. He was in the middle of spewing some sort of religious jargon. When he noticed me, he halted his speech, a large smiled spreading over his face.
"Minx, how are you my dear." I didn't smile back. Instead, I pulled Charon so that he was in full view of everyone, grabbed him by the back of his head, and brought his mouth down hard on my own. I felt the muscles in his body tense as I did so, but he didn't pull away. I could hear more than a few shocked gasps as I allowed the kiss to drag out for several seconds. When I finally released Charon, I licked my lips and gave him a wink. I was really starting to enjoy this newfound sensation of excitement. Charon would have to be careful. I looked at Father Clifford to see his face stricken with horror. I stuck out my tongue at him, grabbed Charon's arm, and strolled away.
"Always the trouble maker." Charon scolded.
"That felt good." I said, feeling victorious. "I can leave happily now." Charon shook his head and sighed but didn't say a word as we exited the ship. Hopefully good ol' Saint Monica wouldn't be too upset with me. I couldn't afford to have any more people out to get me. All in all, Rivet City wasn't such a bad place. I preferred it greatly in comparison to Tenpenny Tower, which we would have to pass by in order to reach the vault. We'd likely have to make a stop in between here and there to rest. Well, I definitely wouldn't be gracing the tower with my presence ever again. The only choice left to us was Megaton, which was fine by me, I needed to check on my stuff anyways.
"Minx!" Someone called out my name as Charon and I finished crossing the extended bridge back into D.C. Charon and I both looked around for the source of the voice to find Jebs leaping from cover behind an old, ruined phone booth only a few feet away with a gun in his hands, aiming it straight in my direction. I didn't even have time to let out a scream before Jebs fired. Lightning fast, Charon grabbed me in his arms, spinning me around until he stood in between me and the oncoming bullet. After the sound of the gunshot quieted, there was an eerie silence.
"Charon!" I cried. My heart felt frozen as I stared at him. Why had Jebs turned on us like this? If Charon died, Jebs was going to be following him shortly! He didn't look back at me, his gaze was fixated on something beyond me. "Charon!" I said again, attempting to shake him into his senses. He must be going into shock! A slow, easy smile spread over his face. You know, for a guy that just got shot, he was taking it rather well. He released his hold on me and turned around to regard Jebs. I examined his back, but found no bullet hole, as I'd been expecting, thank goodness.
"Nice shot." He said to Jebs, who was walking over to us as Charon spoke. I was so confused until I turned to look in the direction Charon had been staring. There, laying on the ground in a pool of blood, was a corpse. So Jebs hadn't tried to kill me? What a relief."How did you know they were waiting for her?" Charon asked, patting him on the back. Jebs smiled shyly.
"I went out for a walk after the best sleep I've ever gotten. There were two of them then. I heard them discussing their plan and offed one of them once they were alone." Now, that was a surprise. Here I'd thought Jebs was as incompetent as assassins came, but it seemed I had been mistaken. He'd managed to take down two Talon mercs on his own, I was impressed. Also, thankful that he was on my side.
"This was too close of a call. We need to do something about Talon Company." Charon said grimly.
"How are we supposed to do that? We don't even know why they want to kill me in the first place!" I replied, moving over to the dead body to search it for anything useful. I was a scavenger, after all, and this guy wasn't going to be needing any of his stuff anymore.
"What, you don't know?" Jebs questioned. He made it sound like the reasoning should have been obvious. "But Charon, I thought you were the one that was told to do it in the first place."
"I was." Charon confirmed, "Ahzrukhal said Talon Company was paying big for her death. That was it. You know?"
"Well, for starters," Jebgs began, raising a hand into the air to begin counting the reasons my demise was necessary, "you're the daughter of a man that wants to purify the water in the wasteland: Talon Company doesn't like that," What a stupid reason! Was I supposed to believe these guys were actually okay with drinking shitty irradiated water? Jebs went on, "You disarmed the bomb in Megaton, which brought a lot f attention to yourself as the little miss saint of the wastes," I actually sort of liked that title, "you give water to homeless people."
"Oh, come on now!" I interrupted, pausing my looting. "Who even saw that? Am I being stalked?" So they disliked me for being a good person: excellent reasoning, I thought. Why trouble yourself with murderers and bandits? No, the real horrors of the wastes were the good samaritans.
"Oh, and these guys were talking about how you'd refused to do what a Mr Tenpenny said, and that he'd offered up a huge reward for your head, literally. That's why they were here." That rat bastard! I should of had Charon rip him to pieces when I had the cheance. No wonder he'd looked so smug when I'd left. Hoping to my feet, I kicked the corpse violently. I wasn't finding anything of use on this guy, only furthering my frustration with the entire situation. "The only way to stop them from hunting her is if they think she's dead." Jebs said to Charon, who folded his arms and nodded his assent.
"So you tell them she's dead."
"I kind of need my head, Charon. It's a vital part of my anatomy." I butted in. Charon sighed aloud and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Thank you for pointing that out. I'm sure Jebs can think of a way. Say he lost the body at a point or something." That plan didn't sound very full-proof to me, but I was willing to try anything that allowed me to keep myself in one piece.
"It could work." Jebs agreed, nodding his head. I was a little surprised that he was agreeing so readily to help me. Perhaps, I was more charming than I thought. He and Charon discussed the details of their plan. Charon and I would head straight to vault 112. We couldn't stop in Megaton, for we couldn't risk someone seeing me that worked for Talon Company. Jebs would head to Fort Bannister to turn in the bounty at their headquarters. If they believed him, all the hit men that had been dispatched for me would be recalled and he would meet us back in Rivet City, as it was the safest location to lay low. Still though, what was I supposed to do after that? If someone from the company spotted me, they would not only be after me once again, but Jebs as well.
"You don't have to do this, Jebs." I told him. He grinned at me warmly and patted my shoulder.
"Ms Weatherly told me you rented me that room. No ones ever cared enough to do anything for me. It was the best sleep of my life. And that pillow..." he looked wistful for a moment before returning his attention to me. "Fluffed to perfection." I giggled. I was an excellent fluffer. Still, it didn't feel right to send him off by himself on my behalf. If something happened to him, it would be all my fault.
"How will we know if you're okay?" I asked. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, cylindrical device.
"It's a distress beacon. I'll give you the frequency for your pipboy. If you hear it, you'll know something went wrong."
"And we'll come for you." I promised solemnly. Jebs chuckled.
"I'm glad I'm on your side."
We said our goodbyes to Jebs, I made sure to give him a big hug, and then we headed our separate ways. Charon and I went back into the metro station. When we passed by where we had originally found Smash, but he was gone. I wondered what'd happened to him. Most likely, he'd moved on to another section of the tunnels to squish some more mole rats and ferals. The thought made me grin. We stayed quiet for most of the trip. Charon was a little more tense than usual, something I didn't think was even possible. He said he had to be certain that no one could get the jump on us. We passed by the Super Duper Mart to see the same bodies laying outside its doors, birds pecking at them. I tried to keep my eyes on the road and not that horrific memory. Charon moved to block my view of the building until it was far behind us.
"Rivet City was too close of a call. If Jebs hadn't been there.." He didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he stopped walking. I immediately thought that we were in some kind of danger. When I looked around though, I saw nothing but open road. Without warning, Charon grabbed me up and hoisted me into the air until my face was leveled with his. He brought his lips to mine, his wet tongue entering my mouth. Kissing him back. I wrapped my arms and legs around him, my heart accelerating. It wasn't anything like my playful kiss at the church. This was filled with overwhelming passion and need. The sweet taste of his tongue was intoxicating. I could feel myself beginning to want more of him, but he pulled away and placed me back on the ground. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry!" I replied hurriedly, then licked my lips, "Ohh, that tastes good. What is that flavor? You got some candy somewhere you're hiding?" Sharing is caring Charon, I thought. He chuckled.
"No."
"I guess it's just you I'm tasting. May I have seconds?" I asked coyly, twirling my hair around my finger and batting my big, dark blue eyes. He huffed out a sigh, reaching out his hand to caress my cheek as he lowered himself for one more kiss.
"Are you trying to turn me feral?" He asked with a smirk when the kiss ended and we continued walking. It was strange. After last night, a part of me feared that things between the two of us would change. I'd seen it before in the vault. A guy would win over a poor girls heart, just to take advantage of her then throw her away like yesterdays garbage. It was one of the reasons I'd closed myself off to most everyone in that hole. For the most part, I had come to realize that men just couldn't really be trusted. Luckily for me, Charon wasn't like that. He was the best thing that had ever happened in my life. Lucky for him too, because I'd have killed him if he'd tried to swindle me out of my pants!
By the time we passed by Megaton, the sun was just about to rise, signalling the next morning. I was exhausted from the day-long travel, but we couldn't stop. Seeing the massive steel structure made me think of Jebs. He'd seemed so fragile to me when we'd found him. The change one day of sleep had made was astonishing, practically unbelievable, but it'd happened. He'd managed to take down two trained killers on his own, and for my sake. The friends I had made out here gave me hope for the wasteland. From a brainwashed killer, to an assassin, to a freaking Super Mutant: they all turned out to have good hearts. Everyone had some good in them, if it was allowed to be let out. I prayed for Jebs' safety. Charon noted my worried expression. "He'll be okay." He said. I hoped so. As we continued our trek, I began to hear a very faint call from somewhere, but when I looked around, I saw no one. Charon heard it too, for he was equally as perplexed as to what it could be. The call continued on for quite some time before it became more audible. I couldn't catch all the voice said, but I distinctly heard the words 'tiny human'. We stopped moving and turned around to see a Super Mutant charging forward in our direction, but it wasn't just any super mutant. Even from a distance I could see the mighty hammer strapped to his back and a black jumpsuit tied to his neck.
"Smash?" I called out in astonishment. He quickly closed the distance between us, standing before me with an enormous smile.
"Smash found tiny human!" He cooed triumphantly.
"You sure did." I replied, giving Charon a confused look. Charon shrugged his shoulders, then brought his attention to the Super Mutant.
"What brings you out he-" Charon's question was interrupted when Smash wrapped his massive arms around him and hoisted him into the air, hugging him. The action caused my eyes to widen in surprise. I never thought it would be possible to make Charon appear small, but in the Super Mutant's arms, small was exactly what he was.
"Smash miss grumpy ghoul and pretty human. Smash follow scent. He smell human from tunnel." The mutant explained, placing Charon back on the ground. Charon apparently hadn't enjoyed the hug as much as Smash, for his mouth was pressed into a thin line, causing me to laugh out loud. "Smash want hug human. But scared he break you." He said, settling for reaching his hand out flat to me. I placed my own in his. If Charon was little compared to Smash, I was a mouse. My entire hand fitting hardly bigger than a few caps in his. "Smash come with tiny human?" I considered the proposal. Did I really want a giant mutant following me around with all these dangerous monsters, perverted serial rapists, and bounty hunters out to get me? Yes, yes I did. I nodded my ascent and Smash clapped his hands together. "Smash not disappoint. Smash kill anything that try to hurt pretty human." Of that, I had no doubt.
With our newest arrangement settled, we went on our way. We ended up stopping at the old shack the scavvers had been a few days prior to get some rest. Smash offered to take the first watch so Charon and I could sleep. Charon, of course, refused and only slept a short while after I had awoken, saying that he would have to see to my safety himself. That was our only stop and it turned out that it was a good thing we had done so. After passing Tenpenny Tower, there was practically nothing but wasteland for quite some time. When we finally happened upon a large set of dilapidated buildings, my pipboy dinged, letting me know the vault was nearby. We followed the map to a small, red building with a large port on one side and the words 'Smith Caseys Garage' written at the top in large, steel lettering. We went inside the building. There were toolboxes and large machinery strewn about the old, dusty garage. In one corner was a big trap door made of steel with a switch near it. I was guessing that must have been where the vault's entrance was. I approached the switch, but turned to my companions before pulling it. "Smash, you should probably wait out here. If this vault is inhabited, I don't think they'd give you the warmest welcome." Smash nodded his head in agreement and moved over to one of the chairs to have a seat. I did feel a bit bad for leaving him all alone out here, but it was better to be safe than sorry. I pulled the switch and watched as the steel door creaked open. Sure enough, the vault door was on the other side. Charon and I both drew our guns and went into the vault cautiously. The main entrance looked almost identical to the one in 101. The walls were white, there was a single table with a computer sat on top of it, and a room off to the side, likely stocked with vault suits. There was one door in the room, a straight shot from where we entered. I made for it at once and it opened on it's own as soon as I came into the sensors range. On the other side of the door, a Mr. Handy was waiting for us. "Welcome to vault 112. All residents are required to wear these vault suits before continuing further." One of its mechanical appendages presented two jumpsuits for us to take. The fact that this thing was still functional gave me hope that the vault was indeed inhabited. I accepted my own suit readily enough, but when I tried to give Charon his, he eyed it distastefully.
"Not happening."
"All residents are required to wear these vault suits before continuing forward." The Mr Handy repeated. I gave Charon a meaningful look. There was no getting out of it, and I was pretty sure he had realized that. He took the suit with obvious disdain. I giggled. Then began walking back to the main entrance.
"Where are you going?" Charon asked, pulling off his leather top.
"I'm not just gonna show off my goodies to this metal heap!" I heard Charon sigh as I went around the corner and quickly swapped attire. When I came back around, Charon was waiting for me. The suit did seem a little tight on him, and I had to admit aloud, "I don't mean to be blunt. But that getup is pretty sexy on you." Charon still didn't smile, his disapproval quite clear.
"It's constricting." He replied in a rather flat tone. The Mr Handy unit ushered us in to the next room, square in shape and filled with large, white pods of some sort. Most of the pods were closed with a big, black dome, making it impossible to see inside. Only two pods remained open.
"Please step inside the pod to complete your orientation." Now that, I wasn't so sure about. The apprehension Charon had been radiating infected me as well. I wasn't claustrophobic or anything, but something about trusting myself to anything made by Vault Tech put me on edge.
"What does it do?" I asked.
"Please step inside the pod to complete your orientation." The Mr Handy repeated.
"What is the orientation though?"
"Please step insi-"
"Is that all you can say?!" I raged, stamping my foot with indignation. What a pile of junk! There was a long silence in the room as I stared down the Mr Handy. It's eyes zoomed in and out of focus at me before it spoke again.
"...Please step inside the pod to complete your orientation." I hated this place and I hated this robot. An exasperated sigh escaped me as I climbed into one of the pods. I motioned for Charon to follow suit, though he didn't seem too keen on the idea.
"Just do it so this stupid robot will shut his yap already." I demanded. Charon hesitantly followed my instructions. Once we were both securely in the pods, the large black dome came down. A bright light appeared before my vision, causing me to squint. Then, out of no where, the overwhelming feeling of fatigue hit me, making every moment hat I managed to keep my eyelids open a struggle. "What the." I said drowsily as everything swirled into blackness.
"Lily, Lily! Are you okay?" I came to my senses at the sound of Charon's voice. I was laying flat on my stomach, my head resting on something soft. Opening my eyes, I realized it was lush, green grass, the kind I had only read about in books. Stuff like this didn't exist anymore! At least, it wasn't supposed to.
"What the hell is going on?" Damn robot had tricked us, drugged us then dumped us off goodness knows where. My father would be long gone by the time we figured out how to get back. I rose to my feet. Orientation, my ass.
"What happened?" Charon asked.
"Dunno, but when I find that pile of bolts I'm going to-" I turned to reply to him but when I SAW him my mouth dropped. "Oh my god Charon, you're human!"