Sally stared off at the Jefferson Memorial from the height of the platform leading into Rivet City. She couldn't see any mutants from here, but she knew the place was crawling with them. She trotted down the stairs and headed for the tunnel opening. Maybe she could find 3Dog and find out if he knew anything about her Dad or where he might have gone, assuming he made it out of the Memorial. Moriarity had said he was headed there, so maybe he knew something. Nobody in Rivet City had been able to mark his location for her, they just had some vague idea he was somewhere in the heart of DC.
There were no dangers lurking around the metro entrance and no traders either. Sally was just pleased to get the few yards to the gates without running into trouble. She pulled open the old rusting gates with a screech of iron, hoping that wasn't loud enough to alert anything within. She went in with her rifle loaded and ready. The entrance was empty of any living thing. Trash scattered the floor of the tunnel. An old Nuka-Cola machine blinked ceaselessly and overhead lights glowed eerily. Sally moved forward quietly. She could hear voices coming from a chamber just ahead of her.
Suddenly a raider stepped into view, spotting her at the same time she saw him. With a yell he lunged for her, whipping out a rifle. Sally dodged into an open doorway as bullets slammed into the floor next to her. As soon as the firing ceased she leapt out, took aim and blew off the raider's head. She had handled raiders before. Thankfully they didn't seem to gather in large groups. She had only to take them out 2 or 3 at a time. They were usually too strung out to work together.
She knelt down and crept forward toward the opening. She peered around the corner and spotted a raider standing on the other side of the platform, his back to her, peering over the edge of a railing. She took her time, getting her aim just right. Her hands seemed to move of their own accord… as she looked down at them her sight landed on her Pip-Boy. V.A.T.S was displayed on the screen. Wait! What? She knew that acronym! She had an automatic targeting system? That helped explain why the instrument couldn't be removed; it must be integrated to her nervous system. Not for the first time she wished she knew someone that could explain all the functions of this thing to her!
The raider moved, jerking her attention back to the business at hand. She took aim again, feeling the almost imperceptible tug as her hands moved into position. The raider fell without a sound. She didn't have time to think about it now, but filed it away for later consideration. Right now she had more important things to think about, like staying alive. She quickly scanned the area, but there weren't any more Raiders in evidence. She rose and went out to check the area for salvage.
Steps lead down the platform to the rails below. Rusting hulks of rail cars lined the tracks, some leaning, some falling over, all damaged relics from a past age. She could see that the tunnels appeared open, with walkways running past the lines of cars. There were two tunnels on each side of the cavernous room, with the cars seeming to run in opposite directions. A raider walked along the top of one car, and she could spot another between two lines.
Sally crouched beside the rail and drew a bead on the raider on the car. A single shot took him out but of course alerted the one on the ground, who headed for the stairs with a savage yell. She calmly waited for him to appear at the top of the stairs, where she would have a better shot. As soon as he presented a clear shot she took it. Three down, and no damage to herself. She squelched the feeling of pride and went to check the body before trotting down the stairs.
It took more than half the day to work her way through the tunnels, keeping alert for raiders, searching them for loot when she came across them. You couldn't avoid raiders, they were always intent on killing. It was their favorite sport. She wasn't inclined to leave any behind anyway if she could help it, knowing they left the tunnels to prey on anything that moved.
She finally found herself on a platform with entrance tunnels going off to either side. Toss a cap, let's see, okay may as well go left. She trotted up the tunnel and pulled out an assault rifle before shoving open the gates. She had learned the hard way anything could be waiting out there.
The gates opened easily with just a slight groan of protest. They must be fairly well used, she suspected. She stopped to listen and scan the top of the stairs before heading up. Some sound, some disturbance made her uneasy. There was something up there. Crouching low, assault rifle at the ready, she crept up the stairs.
She had barely cleared the top step when she heard the low, guttural growl. "I see you," the deep feral voice shouted and she heard the whine of a mini-gun firing up.
"Over here, sightseer", another voice shouted urgently. Sally whirled to see a ghoul motioning her from the steps of a building set behind the tunnel entrance. She ran toward it even as the spit of fire slammed behind her from the mini-gun, followed by the guttural, maniacal laughter of the super mutant firing it.
Now that she was out of range the mutant lost interest and went back to patrolling what looked like trenches across the street from the building. Deciding there wasn't any danger there any longer, Sally turned to the ghoul. She had grown quite used to Gob and this female didn't faze her.
"Hey.", she said. "Thanks for helping me out there. My name's Sally."
"Hey.", the ghoul returned. "Name's Willow. What are you doing, sightseer, taking in the sights?"
"More or less.", Sally admitted. "Though not intentionally. I'm looking for a guy named 3 dog. You know how I can find him?"
Willow said, "The radio guy? Naw, I don't know where he's at. You can ask inside, maybe someone in there knows." She motioned at the big building behind them.
"What is this place?", Sally asked.
"The Museum of Natural History. Some call it Ghoul City."
"Oh, that's where Gob said his mother lived. Maybe I can talk to her for him. He said her name's Carol."
"Yeah, I know Carol, she runs the hotel. So you know Gob, eh? You must be all right then. Go on in. Go straight back through the far door. If you take the one on the left you'll end up upstairs and it's inhabited by ferals.", Willow warned.
"Thanks.", Sally said. Taking her farewell she went up the stairs and opened the huge doors into the Museum. The air was permeated with the slightly musty smell of ghouls but it wasn't overpowering; it was even vaguely pleasant. The room was huge with a large semi-circular counter in the middle. Doors ran off to the left and right. The one on the right was blocked by debris, and she had no reason to take on the ferals if these ghouls were controlling them, so she headed straight on to the big door in back behind the counter, bypassing the doors opening to the left.
Her first reaction on entering the next room was WOW! She certainly hoped the beast whose bones she was staring at stayed in history. She had enough problems with Death Claws and Yao Guais without having to encounter truly huge, sharp toothed creatures. A quick perusal of the room revealed steps leading to another door, a long extinct and ratty giant stuffed creature with huge tusks, and the giant bones. Since there didn't seem to be any danger lurking about she went to examine the stuffed mammal.
A name floated up from her memory. The big creature with tusks was a mammoth. She examined the huge bones half scattered about the floor and decided the extinct creatures probably hadn't been as formidable as a Death Claw after all, although considerably larger. Her curiosity satisfied she turned her attention to the steps leading to a door into the main part of the building.
The door was framed by a huge bas-relief of a skull-like face flanked by an eerie design, apparently cut into the stone by some long ago artisan. The words 'Underworld Journey' were carved just over the doorway. Sally almost laughed at the appropriateness of it. Undaunted she strode up and shoved open the huge metal doors.
The first person- that is ghoul-she ran into turned out to be a maintenance man. His only interest was in trying to get her to obtain scrap metal for him. She'd keep it in mind. She asked about Carol and was told she was on the upper level.
Carol turned out to be a pleasant if somewhat vague person. Gob wasn't her natural son, of course, ghouls didn't multiply that way. She had adopted him when he had shown up one day many years before. Sally assured her he was fine and working in a bar in Megaton. Carol was so happy he wasn't in DC and was safe that she decided to omit the part about him being a slave.
This small personal task for her friend taken care of she asked where she could sell some alcohol she had scavenged. "The Ninth Circle.", Carol said, waving down the hall. "Ahzrukhal is a creep but he'll buy it from you. He'll sell you anything else you want too." Sally frowned to herself. What seemed familiar about that name, Ninth Circle? Maybe it would come to her later. Something she had read, surely.
Sally entered the bar and looked around alertly, a habit now when entering a strange place. Her attention was immediately caught by the tall, strong looking ghoul in leather armor lounging against the wall. Her senses were shouting 'danger' at her but she found herself fascinated. She approached the man. "Hey.", she said. He stared coldly at her.
"Any remarks you address to Mr. Ahzrukhal", he said in a tone that allowed no room for discussion. Sally raised an eyebrow.
"Friendly, aren't we?", she snorted a little injudiciously.
She went over to the bartender. "Hey.", she said. "Name's Sally."
"Hey smoothskin," the well dressed ghoul responded. "You looking for a drink?"
"I'm looking to sell.", Sally responded.
"I can help you with that. Let's see what you've got.", he said. Sally conducted her business, pointedly ignoring the large dangerous ghoul.
Having finished her trading to her satisfaction she nodded toward the ghoul. "That guy over there.", she said. "Who is he?"
"You mean Charon?", the bar owner chuckled. "He's my body guard. You couldn't ask for better, he's absolutely loyal and does anything I tell him."
"Really?", she asked skeptically. "Anything at all?"
"Yes, you see I hold his contract. That makes him mine as long as I have it. He'll do anything I ask."
"Oh.", Sally said. "So he's a slave."
"Absolutely not!", he replied emphatically. " I wouldn't own a slave. Listen, where he comes from the contract is everything. He could leave if he wanted, but he won't. He just can't break the contract. That's his choice, so he isn't a slave."
Sally didn't exactly see the difference but decided not to aggravate him. "So he's your contracted body guard then. Is he any good?"
"The best. He's saved my life a couple of times. You seem awfully interested in him."
"Yeah, well, I was thinking it would be good to have someone absolutely loyal at your back out there.", she said, nodding in the general direction of the DC wasteland. "How much would you take for his contract?", Sally asked curiously.
Ahzrukhal considered. "He's a pretty valuable instrument.", he said. "I would have to have 2000 caps for him." Sally noticed he hadn't said 'property', but she still felt like she was negotiating for a slave. She had been saving but was a few caps short.
"I don't have 2000.", she said. "Would you take 1000?" He laughed.
"Can't do that, but I tell you what. I have a job you could do for me. I don't like competition, and Greta has decided to start competing with me. Kill her and you can have the contract. You'd want to make it look like an accident so the residents don't get upset and try to kill you for it."
Sally tilted her head at him. "Um, no, I'm a scavenger not a mercenary. If Charon there does anything you want why don't you tell him to do it?"
"Oh, he'd do it all right, but that would be the same as doing it myself. Everyone would know I told him to. I'm afraid people wouldn't like that much, they might even run me off for it."
"Ah well.", Sally said. "Guess I'd better be on my way then."
"Come back when you have the caps and we'll see.", he responded. "Good travels, smoothskin."
Sally stopped and stared at the big ghoul on her way out. He pointedly ignored her bold appraisal but she felt he was truly discontented with his position. She was going to get him out of here.