OMG… 20th CHAPTER!
Honestly this went a lot farther then I thought it would. I thought I would run out of steam and run myself into a corner by now.
I just want to say I am thankful for all of your reviews, and thanks to all of you who have been following this since the beginning.
Before we start the twentieth chapter, I would like to give a shout out to another writer. I don't do this often, so here it goes. In my search for good self inserts, I came across a story called The Stranger From the Sky, a Final Fantasy VII self insert written by acebrainbuster.
When I wrote him a review saying for him to keep it up, I didn't know at the time that he has been a subscriber to this story along with the rest of you. (While we are on the topic, is there a way to see how many people follow a story?) His story so far kicks so much ass, and has a lot of things a good self insert should have. One of those being an original idea that could spawn into something bigger in time.
I, as a SI fan, recommend people to check it out if you are a Final Fantasy fan. So far he is at 32 chapters. A number of chapters I hope this story will also contain, and hopefully surpass.
Keep writing man.
I am not Commander Shepard, and that is one of my favorite stories on this website.
The Wildcard
Chapter 20
("Sometimes, when I look back, I wander." Plague said to himself at the campfire, hunting rifle in his hands. Wooden stock felt cold to the touch thanks to the air. The three girls he saved from that pharmacy were sleeping closely together with all the articles of fabric he had stored in his pip-boy acting as a blanket on the other side of the fire. It was too dangerous to take them to the Galaxy News Radio station. That meant he had to get them out of the DC ruins as fast as possible. Now that they were out of the city, the closest haven he knew of was Megaton. "What would have happened if I was born outside of a vault? What would happen if I wasn't even born at all?"
He looked at the three sleeping children as he let out a sigh.
Now that he got the chance to see them with some more light, he saw that two had the same brown hair, while the third had a dirty blond. The youngest was Beth, at eleven. Brunet number one. She was a shy little girl. He saved them yesterday and, as far as he could tell, only whispers to the other girls since, apparently, they were all siblings.
He didn't know if she was always like that, or if she was simply afraid of him. He couldn't blame her. Especially after what they had all been through.
Becky was the second oldest and was twelve. The blond one. She was the strongest one among the trio. She was protective and always held onto one of the other's when ever one was in arms length. The blond had eyes on him at all times. The first night they were with him, she just sat there while the other two slept, and watched him.
Maybe she was trying to catch him off guard when he went to sleep. That was made clear when he pretended to dose off in a sitting position against a rock. A few minutes later his eyes snapped open to see she was trying to take his hunting rifle out of his iron grip.
He was not mad at her when he atomized the weapon, to her shock, and lead the angry girl back to the bundle of fabric he had made for her sisters. Becky only wanted to eliminate all threats to her family. She had been the one who killed one of her captors with his shotgun.
If it had more then one shell in it, he would not be surprised if she shot him next.
He out waited her this time, and she collapsed when it was late enough. Maybe if he didn't have a pip-boy pumping caffeine into his bloodstream while he kept a lookout she would have had a chance.
Samantha was the oldest at thirteen. And was unfortunately, the one he was too late to save.
She hardly moved on her own without Becky holding her hand. The first thing he did after getting those collars off, was throw a trashcan into the window of an old store that used to sell clothing.
The three just stood there at the front of the store as he dropped armfuls of children's clothing and shoes at their exposed feet. He didn't have much to go on, so he grabbed everything he saw that looked even remotely their size.
101 had went outside to give them some privacy, and almost fifteen minutes later they walked out.
Beth wore a little blue dress along with a pair of black shorts with a small smile on her face. Becky dressed with her surroundings in mind, and apparently went into the boys section in order to get both a shirt and pants with grey and brown camouflage.
Beth must have dressed Samantha herself. He guessed that since she wore almost the exact same thing. Only difference was shorts instead of pants.
He heard Beth whine earlier. Which was why they all didn't match.
Becky made them wear black boots to protect their feet.
He wanted to fully examine them to see if they had any injuries. Becky wouldn't let him go anywhere near her sisters, so he resorted to using a stealth boy to check on them as they changed.
The idea of spying on children as they changed was not at all appealing to him. If it wasn't for the worry for the health of the girls, he would have punched himself for even beginning to think of doing it.
Beth was in the best condition with only a small bruise on her left shoulder from some one grabbing her too hard. Becky had a medium sized bruise on her stomach and another on her right side.
Samantha's was the worst to watch.
Her back and front were covered in bruises. They had beaten her regularly.
Becky had told him they were being taken to other slavers and hardly did anything worse then hit them. Samantha was the protective one at the time, and did everything she could to act as a lightening rod to protect them from the beatings.
The bastards made sure all the damage inflicted on the girls wouldn't be seen when covered by clothing. Thy couldn't offered for the "merchandise" to appear damaged.
What she told him next almost made him sick as his hands turned to fists.
The night before he got to them, Samantha had injured one of the slavers when Beth was going to be dragged away. She kicked one of them in the groin.
Next thing they knew, Samantha was being stripped down and raped right in front of them.
The first time he placed a hand on the older sibling's shoulder before he could remove her collar, she pulled away and started screaming for him to go away as she cried. In her eyes he, and every other man in the world, was a monster. She would only calm down when Becky or Beth held her.
When they stepped out of the store, 101 almost couldn't hide the feelings running through him. A small smile was forced onto his face as he complimented Beth's dress, making her blush and run behind the closest thing she could use as cover… Her sisters.
They were all afraid of him, but Beth was the one who always had a hint of curiosity when ever she looked at him.
He gave them what little food he had and watched as they devoured it as if they hadn't eaten in days.
Even then, they still didn't trust him. Becky asked why they should go with him when he said they should.
His answer was to simply point a finger in the direction of the pharmacy where he had liberated them. That made the girl go quiet as she looked at the ground after glancing at the other girls. The oldest was unable to voice her opinion, while the youngest was too busy playing with the dress she wore.
After a long silence of him leading them through the safest route he could find, he asked if they had any family. The slavers took them five days ago. Before they were captured, they were traveling from a small settlement north of the DC ruins. They were with their father and grandfather who traveled with a trading caravan on its way to another settlement, where their mother was. Some place near Megaton.
The caravan was attacked by raiders at night while they set up camp. Their father and grandpa were gunned down along with the traders. The only reason they got away was thanks to a female bodyguard who told them to run as she covered them.
After hiding in a, thankfully unoccupied, mole rat hole they found for the rest of the night, they walked the next morning aimlessly and thought it was a good idea to head towards the ruins where they were captured by the three slavers.
The vault dweller had no idea how to act around children. The closest he could think of was when he was their age.
And not much of that helped the situation.)
Kasumi Goto POV
"He will be okay, Kasumi." the AI in her suit reassured.
Kasumi didn't respond as she sat next to the bed in the sickbay. She had been there since they carried him in a few hours ago. Jack had been in the room for a few minutes until Kasumi convinced her that someone needed to make sure no one took anything from Plague's room.
She sat there and messed with her hands impatiently while the man slept.
Mordin was called down to assist Chakwas in trying to find out what was wrong, and came up with nothing. His condition looked normal, but something had to be wrong.
Garrus and Tali came to the sickbay and said they saw him a few minutes before Kasumi found him.
Something has to be wrong.
Chakwas had to downgrade a little and used old fashion heart monitoring methods. The last time Plague had to be taken care of, the doctor informed them that the man had a mechanical heart. So could the problem be technical?
No.
She knew Plague long enough to know he would notice something like that.
Plague POV
("Come on."101encouraged: as he reached his hand down to help Becky climb a small eight foot high cliff wall to get out of the small canyon their route put them in.
Beth was already up with him. Now he just needed to get the other two up.
"Jump, Becky!" Beth yelled excitedly as she cheered her sister on.
A smile started to form as he finally managed to grab Becky's hand and quickly pull her up.
The blond wasted no time as she turned around and reached down to the oldest girl.
"Sam. Grab my hand."
The girl just looked up at them in that daze she was still in. Those empty eyes made 101's jaw clench and his eyes sadden. Three days and no change in the girl's mental state.
"Sam?" Becky said when the girl hesitated.
Hearing her name again, Samantha stepped forward and reached up. With her being taller then her sisters, she didn't have as much trouble grabbing the hand reaching down to her.
101 lowered his hand as well and grabbed her other hand, only for Samantha to freak out and go back down. He had a feeling that if her sisters were not with him, she would have ran away at that moment.
"I'm going to need you to go back down and try to keep her calm." 101 explained after a sigh as he sat on the ledge.
"What are you going to do?" Becky asked as she got ready to climb down.
"Just trust me." 101 said as he lowered her down.
Once her feet hit the ground, the vault dweller dropped down, after telling Beth to stay. When he looked up, he saw the girl looking down at him with a questioning look.
Samantha tried to back away from him again, but Becky held her in place.
He wished he could kill those slavers all over again for what they did to her.
101 put his hands together and had his back to the cliff wall as he braced himself.
It took a while for Becky to convince her older sister to accept his help. When she finally stepped on his hands, 101 wasted no time and lifted her to the top of the wall before she could change her mind.
Becky went up the same way, and 101 was about to start climbing as well until he heard a scream above him.
His eyes widened in terror and anger as his hands moved faster to find handholds.
"Beth?" he shouted as he climbed. The girl didn't answer, but he could hear crying and Becky panicking.
Only one of his shoulders were over the ledge when he pulled out his pistol and aimed. He heard the sounds of buzzing before he saw the small baseball sized insect flying around. Beth was on her side holding her arm whimpering loudly, while Becky grabbed a stick and started to try and hit it out of the air. Samantha was on her knees trying to calm down the youngest girl, but clearly didn't know what to do.
It was the first thing he saw her do without one of her sisters having to help.
Adrenalin was pumped into his system as he aimed and fired. The bloatfly went down, and the small amount of dust it kicked up when it hit the ground, didn't even settle before Becky started hitting it with her stick hatefully.
101 finally got up and ran straight to the small girl and kneeled down to look at the arm.
"I… I… it… hurts!" Beth wailed, making 101 momentarily deaf before he pulled her hand off of the injury.
"Everything will be ok." he soothed as he looked at the large stinger in the center of where a bump started to swell.
Like every other stinger a bloatfly could shoot out of that stubby, fat excuse for a tail, the stinger was slightly barbed. No wonder the girl was crying her eyes out. And that was without the toxin it injects as well. Not poisonous, but made to cause as much pain as possible when it came in contact with a nerve. If he could get it out before the toxin spread, then he could save the girl a lot of pain. Hopefully she wasn't allergic to the damn things as well.
"Don't touch it!" she screamed before he could pull the stinger out.
"Calm down. I have to…" he didn't get that far before the girl wailed again for him to not touch anything. "Beth." he said sweetly as he looked into her teary eyes. "I need you to be a big girl and close your eyes and count to ten for me. Alright?"
"W… why?" she asked warily as she tried to look into his brain and find out what he was going to do.
"Nothing, I swear."
He looked next to him to see the girl's two sisters watching him. Becky with her stick, and Samantha with her blank stare that barely showed the smallest hint of worry.
"Now, count."
"Okay…" Beth mumbled with her eyes shut and her brow scrunching up. She looked as if she had just bitten into something sour. "One…" tears started welling up and just barely made it past her eyelids in anticipation. "Two…" she became stiff. "Three… Four… Fi… AHHHH!"
And that is when the barbed stinger, as large as a three inch nail, was pulled out.)
Taylor Shepard POV
"For the fifth time, Shepard, I was only trying to help." Miranda repeated, sounding even more annoyed then when Shepard walked into her office.
"And you are sure you have no idea why Plague would collapse in the elevator?" Shepard asked again while in the seat on the other side of Miranda's desk. The question was beginning to annoy her just as much as it did the operative.
"I told you all ready, Shepard." she reminded as she looked at her right in the eyes. "I had nothing to do with what happened to, 101. I was just as surprised as everyone else there. Only difference is, I was the first biotic to arrive."
"You and I both know what Cerberus would gain if the situation were under TIM's control." Shepard reminded as she rubbed her temples. "I had him open up a little to your organization, and he still gets dirty looks from certain members of the crew." she then looked back to the other woman with a small glare. She didn't know it, but her eyes still gave off a small bluish glow that somehow made the glare look more threatening then what it really was. "Including you."
"I will not lie and say his disclosure pertaining to that device of his provided much information on how we could replicate it." she confessed. "But that does not mean I am out to get him. My standing with 101 can be described as fragile at best. To try and capture him now would be counterproductive."
Shepard could almost see where she was going at with this. At the moment, Miranda and Cerberus saw Plague as a tool. She had a feeling that once this whole deal with the Collectors was over, they would be after the man again like a swarm.
"That is all." Shepard announced as she got out of the chair and started walking to the door.
Before she made it out of the room, she was hailed by the woman.
"Shepard." Miranda called quietly, maybe not wanting to be heard by those in the galley. Shepard looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. Miranda's face looked like she was uncomfortable with what she was about to say. "I hope his doesn't effect our plans on Illium?" she voiced the sentence as if it were a question.
Shepard's eyes widened a little at what the operative must have been thinking and felt something grip her heart before answering.
"Even if you were to suddenly kill over, I can't ignore a young woman who may be in danger once the situation has been given my attention." she said reassuringly and could almost hear the sigh of relief leaving Miranda. "Three days, and we meet up with your contact, yes?"
She could have sworn she saw the beginning of a smile before it was swept away and replaced by a mix between a calculative, and a strictly business expression.
"Father's snooping is becoming more and more apparent, but we have some time on our side."
"Good to hear." she said before turning to leave again.
"Thank you, Shepard." she heard Miranda say quietly before the door closed behind her.
Plague POV
("I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" Beth yelled childishly as she pounded on his chest with little fists that hardly did any damage.
He had removed the stinger, and treated the wound, but the child was still mad at him.
When he said they should move on, the girl turned away from him dramatically and ran to the side of a lightly laughing Becky. The sound was pleasant to his ears. It was the first time he heard the blond girl laugh.
That changed when she noticed him looking at her. She quickly went back to sending him small glares.
He chuckled as he atomized the remainder of the medical supplies he got out and turned to the three.
"We should get moving. If we hurry, we can find a nice place to camp out for the night.")
Kasumi Goto POV
"How is he doing?" someone asked from the door, interrupting Kasumi's thoughts.
She looked up to see Shepard walking into the sickbay, and stand next to the chair the hooded woman had been sitting in for the last four hours.
"Whatever is wrong with him, it seams to be out of his system now." she answered tiredly. She was hungry as well, but she didn't want to leave the man's side. Something made her want to be there when Plague wakes up.
"Good to hear." Shepard said as she leaned in a little, and lightly tapped on the screen of Plague's pip-boy before pulling back to her standing position. "Any chance he has on/off switch in that thing?"
That made Kasumi laugh a little before going quiet for a few seconds.
"Wish all men were like that." she voiced jokingly. "Would give a whole new meaning to turning someone on. Would boast a lot of egos as well."
This time, they both laughed. Once it died down, an awkward silence filled the air before Kasumi's curiosity got the better of her… Not the turn on part.
That would bring up a lot of awkward questions if Plague woke up while someone peaked under the sheet covering him.
That thought made her grey-box go back to the man's first day on the ship without telling it to. And she quickly pushed the image that popped up out of her mind. It was when he was about to be examined by Chakwas, while wearing that formfitting blue shirt and shorts he wore underneath.
The thief didn't even understand why the image was brought up until she looked down to his…
'Enough of that!' she shouted in her head as she felt heat going to her cheeks. 'Wow, though… Just, wow… No…. No no no. Bad, Kasumi!'
She didn't even remember glancing down like that!
Kasumi quickly chalked that up to one of those things you don't think about until someone says something about it.
She grabbed the man's arm and focused on the little green screen before the image of his covered… 'Damnit!' with that image in her mind again, she turned one of the knobs experimentally.
The display and controls looked so old to her. She felt like she was playing with an antique. When the knob clicked loudly she jumped, and instantly felt a sense of panic start to set in before she realized she had just turned on the screen.
It now gave off a light green glow that illuminated her face under the hood.
"You know I was joking, right?" Shepard asked as she watched over her shoulder.
Kasumi didn't laugh, but she did smile at those words.
"I just realized, I have never really looked at his thing before." she confessed as she found out that the selection screen moved in pages.
Right now she was on a page labeled Misc, and read a list of small objects she could scroll through. Nothing really exciting was there, sadly. Just bullet casings, old duck tape, old weapon mods, syringes, a book… Wait, what?
"Why does he have empty syringes in this thing?" she asked aloud.
"Not a stim addict, is he?" Shepard asked back with a slightly wary tone. That was almost exactly what was going through her head until Shepard offered an explanation. "He doubles as a field medic, remember?"
Kasumi let out a sigh of relief before moving to the next page.
This one was labeled, Aid. She quickly identified the words Medi-gel. He must have atomized some for just in case.
Next she saw the word, stampack. She didn't know what that was.
There were other things as well, but she didn't think it would be a good idea, going through the mans belongings.
The next page was, Apparel. And the first thing she saw was an image of his stealth suit.
Everything else she saw on that list was either a small piece of clothing, are a piece of armor. None of them looked anything like something she would see in this time and age. She then saw his old suit he wore on their outing.
She took that as a sign to move on and went to the next page labeled, Status.
Before she could examine the images that appeared, a voice was heard that made her freeze.
"Not polite to go through someone else's things, Miss Goto."
Plague POV
("Stay here." 101 whispered to the girls standing closely against the large piece of wall next to them.
It was dark out, and he managed to avoid any other dangers. He now found himself a little west of the DC ruins, and approaching the same supermarket he cleared out his first few months out of the vault. Even though he killed the last raiding occupants, there was no way of knowing if anything moved in.
He wanted to avoid the building and work his way around, but he was half a days walk to Megaton, and wanted to see if he could find anymore food.
Sure he could go a few days with little food, but to be so young and hungry in the waists were dangerous. In the small time he had been with the girls, 101 started to develop something he didn't know he could.
He wanted to help them, protect them, almost as if they were his own daughters.
The thought was strange to him.
He never once thought of the possibility of fathering a child. If he still lived in the vault, he might have eventually started something with Amata. He remembered when they were younger. When they were kids. He was ten at the time, while Amata was seven. Just a few days after his tenth birthday.
Back then, neither understood anything involving a relationship between a man and a woman. At the time they were just close friends. He remembered when she spent the night with him and his father. Her parents were arguing, and her mother asked if Amata could stay with them for a night so she wouldn't hear the ensuing shouts and yells.
Amata slept in his bed, while he took the floor. The conversation they had was still fresh in his mind, even know.
"Adam?" she asked in the dark room, the only light being a small dimly glowing lamp his father got him when he was smaller.
"What…?" he responded sleepily as he curled up in the blanket. He thought that if he covered his head, then somehow Amata would magically go back to sleep.
"I'm sorry…" she said sadly from his bed. He could hear her moving around, but didn't think the investigation was worth the effort.
"What… for…?" he asked, his words barely sounding understandable.
"For making you sleep on the floor." she clarified.
"I don't care… where I sleep…"
"No. I should have found a way for mom and dad to stop fighting." she said quietly as he heard movement again. "I think… it's my fault… anyway."
"How is it you fault?" he asked in surprise, her words waking him up just enough to make him think clearer.
"Dad thinks I should be taught in my room, and not with you guys in class." she explained sadly. That made Adam sit up on the floor to see Amata laying on her side to look at him from the bed. "Mom thinks he is being overprotective, and wants me to stay."
"He can't take you out of class." Adam stated as he looked into her eyes. The small amount of blue light from the lamp made them sparkle in a way he had not seen them before. He didn't know why, but his breathing hitched. "Everyone else in class is an idiot. No one else in there even reads comic books!"
She smiled at his small outburst and giggled a little. He always made her laugh, and he loved to hear the sound.
"I don't read those, remember?" she reminded him as she sat up with her legs crossed on the bed.
"I know you don't, that's why I like telling you about it."
She looked down a little before replying. "If that's the case, then why couldn't you tell the others?"
"But I want to tell you about it!" he said dramatically with his hands in the air for effect. "Why does your dad want to take you out anyway?" he asked as he got up and abandoned trying to sleep to sit next to her.
"He thinks some of the kids will be mean to me for being the Overseer's daughter." she said jokingly. But Adam could hear the sadness in her words.
"Is anyone mean to you?" he asked in a worried voice.
She looked up at his face and smiled warmly at how protective he was of her.
"No. He just thinks some one might start."
"That's stupid." Adam said bluntly as he turned on the light on his pip-boy, the green glow illuminating Amata more. "No one is dumb enough to start picking on you." he said in his happy sounding tone as his arm wrapped around her shoulder to put her in a small hug.
"Why is that?" she asked him a little nervously when he touched her.
"Because I'll punch them."
She giggled a little at what he said before leaning into him a little bit. The silence was a little awkward, but it was tolerable.
Amata was the one to break the silence. "Why are we friends?" she asked him as her eyes looked into his.
Adam slightly froze on the spot. He never really thought about it. Amata was just, there. He knew her his entire life. Almost not a day went by that he didn't see her, either in the halls, or in class.
That was until that cootie outbreak broke out. He didn't know anything about it, but he still practically dragged Amata to see his father, and begged for him to get rid of them so he could still play with her.
He couldn't believe his own father laughed when he told him about the epidemic. He laughed!
What kind of doctor laughs when someone says the girls are infected with the cooties?
When he stopped laughing, he told them the cure to cooties was water. At first he was a little skeptical, but two minutes later, Amata and himself were drinking class after glass after glass, until they both fought over who would be first to use the bathroom.
After that little fiasco, he continued to see her every day and they actually held hands to class some days.
They were practically inseparable.
He looked back at her and just shrugged. "I don't know. I just want to play with you."
He almost couldn't tell, but she started blushing a little as she looked away from him.
"Amata?" he asked as he shook her a little to get her attention. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah…" she answered hesitantly. "Adam… Are you my… boyfriend?" that sudden question made him jump a little before looking back at her with wide eyes. He must have looked a little funny, because she giggled again before suddenly hugging him. "Can you… be my boyfriend?"
He didn't know what to say to that, but he found himself hugging her back before he whispered in her ear.
"Do… you want to be… my… girlfriend?"
She looked up at him for a long moment before she quickly gave him a kiss and pulled away.
The action left him breathless, even though the small contact only lasted two seconds. His mouth opened, and closed dumbly as he stared off into space. People have kissed him before, like his father would some times give him a small kiss on the forehead before messing with his hair, before sending him off to his first day of class. But this was different.
Amata had kissed him on the lips!
His brain strained to process the overload, but he just sat there with that dumb look on his face.
Amata giggled at him again and gave him another hug. He almost didn't hear her whisper a goodnight before she went back under the covers and rested her head on his pillow.
He didn't know how long he sat there, but eventually he went back to the mess of blankets on the floor and closed his eyes with the memory of Amata and his first kiss.
101 lightly laughed at the memory. Having almost a perfect memory made the images appear clearly in his mind. When he told Amata about what she said when they got older, she said he was just messing with her. She didn't remember that night, but he did.
He protected her like he said he would as they grew up together. Anyone who wanted to be rude, or try to pick on her for being the Overseer's daughter eventually met his fist. He got in a lot of fights over the years.
His father was disappointed in him every time 101 came home with a bloody nose, or someone else's blood on his shirt. But he always knew, deep down. That his father was not mad at him for defending someone else, but for not being able to find a more peaceful solution. He never regretted defending her.
Sadly, even after all of his efforts to protect her, after all of the time they spent together, Amata started to see him as a brother figure. Sure he was devastated when he realized this, but if he confronted her with how he felt, he was afraid she would start to avoid him. So he spent the rest of his years in the vault as her close friend. He wouldn't let anyone or anything hurt her.
He was happy to just be with her, even though she had long forgotten the small crush she had on him that started his own feelings for her.
Then that day came, when his life went to hell. He didn't know what to do. Janos, a man who was practically his uncle, was beaten to death by the guards who were supposed to protect them. Protect everyone! The Overseer was causing so much chaos, just because he lost control of his little world. And then he wanted to kill Adam just for being the son of a man he saw as a threat.
Riots started, people were gunned down, neighbors who welcomed him with a smile the day before, looked at him with disgust yelling that he was the cause of the madness.
Soon, he met up with Amata. She was forced to sit in a chair as her own father loudly interrogated her. She wouldn't tell him where he was, and 101's blood boiled when her father ordered Mack to hit her to try and get her to talk.
Something inside of him just snapped. He opened the door and walked in with the pistol he refused to even hold up until that point. Without hesitation, he aimed and shot Mack in the back.
It was the first time he had killed another human being, and he knew he didn't have long until he would realize what he had just done.
Amata's father looked at him in shock, and didn't even get to form a word before a bullet hit him in the head.
When the old man hit the floor, the first thing to pop into his mind as adrenalin, both natural and synthetic, pumped through his veins was Amata.
He dropped the gun and ran over to the woman and wrapped his arms around her, only for him to be pushed away by the same woman he secretly loved his whole life.
When he saw her face, some part of him thought she should have been smiling at him, returning the hug. Even maybe, finally returning his feeling. He had just saved her from a man who caused such chaos.
But what he saw was the polar opposite. What looked at him were not eyes full of gratitude, of love. Just fear.
She looked at him with teary eyes that looked as if they couldn't believe what they just saw.
"Adam… you… killed them…" she said shakily with both sadness and fear.
Those words snapped him out of his small delusion, and he turned to see what he had just done.
Two, still warm, bodies rested on the cold metal floor. Both with a bullet in them. Bullets from the gun he had held in HIS own hand that now rested on the floor where he dropped it.
His mind was blank.
He didn't know what to do. His father always told him to try and avoid conflict, but he did much worse. Adam slowly looked back to Amata, who was still frozen in the chair. He felt fresh tears replace the ones he shed when he saw Jonas's body.
"Amata… Please…." he barely managed to whisper. "What… do I… do? I… I don't… know what to do."
They stayed motionless for what felt like for ever. Neither of them moved until shouting was heard down the hall.
He didn't move, as if he thought doing so would hurt some one else. Hurt Amata even more.
He couldn't believe it when a hand grabbed his, and he was lead out of the room.
Amata pushed away the tears, but she looked like she would collapse any second. But she pushed on and closed the door to the Overseer's office behind them and locked it. She went over to the terminal while holding in whimpers and managed to find the password to the stair case under the desk in the room.
Something about the password made her fall to her knees and cry even harder.
Adam, in his daze was drawn to the sounds of her crying and looked at the terminal she had been working on.
When he read the password, he wished he still had that pistol in his hand so that he could shoot himself for what he did.
Even after all the arguments with his daughter, after all the madness, he still used his daughter's name as the password.
He wanted to do something. He wanted the tears to stop flowing from Amata's reddening eyes.
Adam started to go on his knees so he could hold her close to him in an attempt to soothe the pain, but again, she pushed him away.
He almost fell on the floor, but Amata grabbed his hand and pulled him up to his feet to lead him down those stairs he would remember for the rest of his life.
They entered the room that held the vault door. The door that kept the outside world away from them. The door his father went through.
She went to the terminal and almost instantly, the large mechanisms keeping the door closed moved with a loud groan from not being used for so long.
He watched the large parts move slowly before them and before the outside air could come in, he felt arms wrap around him.
This shocked him until he looked down and saw the last person still in the vault that he loved. She was crying into his chest loudly, and he could already feel the wetness from her tears soaking through his jumpsuit.
His arms wrapped around her, one arm around her waist while his other hand started going through her hair.
He had always wanted to hold her like this, but hated how it took all of these disasters in they're lives for it to happen.
His arms held her tightly as hers tightened around him.
When the machines went quiet, neither of them wanted to let go as if the other would vanish.
Adam's mind started working again and he did the one thing he was afraid to do all those years. He cupped her small chin and slowly had her look at him with those eyes he always loved to look into. He saw that beautiful face he always wanted to feel. And finally, he saw those lips he had always wanted to kiss.
He pressed his lips against hers, and felt her stiffen in shock before she slowly started to return it hesitantly.
Adam could tell she still didn't see him the same way he saw her, but he mentally thanked her for at least letting him be with her like this for just once.
He didn't want the moment to end, and continued until his lungs started to scream for air. When he couldn't take it any more, he pulled away breathing heavily and saw she was doing the same and was now blushing a cute pink.
"Adam… I…" she didn't get far before footsteps were heard from the way they came. They must have got through the door in the office and now were trying to get the passage way to open. She looked at him with mixed emotions as she hugged him again. "You have to leave…" she sobbed into his chest.
He hugged her again as tightly as he could and cried along with her. "You can… come with me."
Her reaction was to look up at him in shock before she looked down. "I can't."
"Why not?" he almost yelled.
She looked up at him again with even more tears before pushing her face into Adam's chest again.
"I have… to fix… this." she said sadly. "I have to… stay and be the next Overseer…"
"Then I'll stay and help."
His words earned him a slap across the face he didn't see coming from the woman who had been known as a pacifist her whole life.
"They'll kill you!" she screamed as she reluctantly got out of the embrace and dragged him to the now opened entrance to the vault. "Leave!" she yelled at him as her arms pushed him towards the large door. "Go. I don't want you to die!" she screamed at him as she pushed again. "Run!"
"I don't want to go!" he yelled back as he grabbed the hands that had started to pound on his chest. "I want to stay with you!" every word he said was full of emotion, and he could almost see them cut deep. "Even if you will always only see me as a friend… I want to protect you!"
"I'm trying to protect you!" she snapped at him as she struggled to pull her hands out of his. "You've been protecting me my whole life. This is the only way I can return it!"
Before he could recover from her words, Amata almost crushed his lip with her own. Again, Adam felt the world around him stand still as his hands released hers so he could wrap them around the woman.
Suddenly, those hands pushed him as hard as they could and made him trip backwards on the metal frame of the door.
He hit the ground hard, and instantly gasped in pain as his back landed on a rock. Adam's eyes snapped open to see the first thing he had ever seen outside of the vault. The roof of a dark cave.
Once the shock left him, Adam stood up shakily on the uneven terrain to see Amata already at the terminal trying to close the door as fast as she can.
"Amata!" she yelled only to freeze when she re atomized something in her right hand and aim it at him.
It was a gun. The same gun he had dropped just moments ago. And she was aiming it right at him as she continued to cry.
"If you don't leave… I'll shoot you…" she cried. The gun was shaking in her hand, showing how much she didn't want to aim it at him in the first place. He instantly called her bluff and started to walk back, only to be stopped by a round hitting the ground next to his foot. "I'll kill you!"
"Amata. Please, put the gun down." he begged as the cog shaped door started to move and cover the opening slowly.
"I wont… let you be… executed, even if it means I have to kill you myself…"
He wanted to think of a plan. One that either involved him getting back in, or her coming out, but the opening was too small by the time he came up with anything.
The last thing he saw in the vault was Amata drop the gun in slow motion as his pip-boy pumped in the necessary amount to allow him to see Amata for as long as possible. She started to fall to her knees as security guards descended the stairs behind her.
When he saw her eyes, his heart ached when he saw she was watching him as well, the just as fast eye movements taking in his image like he was taking in hers.
He wanted to do nothing more, but to hold her in his arms again.
The opening was so small now. Only one of his eyes could see through the slowly shrinking opening until it was nothing but a slowly shrinking crack.
He could see one of her eyes looking back at him and could see the emotions going through her.
Pain from losing a father, and now losing a friend. Sadness from having to watch him disappear slowly. Remorse for being unable to feel the same thing a felt from her. Fear for what was about to come, as well as fear for Adam's life. And then he saw one last emotion.
Relief.
Relief in knowing she was successful in protecting him.
He could some how decipher a message from just that one eye.
'Be safe.'
'I love you.' he replied.
There was some hesitation, and he feared he wouldn't get another massage before the door closed completely.
Just when there was nothing but a small sliver of space left to see through, he could barely see her answer.
'I know…'
Then the world sped up again, and he heard the loud sound of the cog locking into place again.
Not even a second later, his fists pounded on the door as he yelled Amata's name. The name bounced off the cave walls and eventually returned to where they originated.
"Ama… ta…" he said weakly as he fell to the filthy ground and continued to slowly hit his fists on the metal door.
Within twenty minutes, Adam's life was ripped apart.
He came back from the store relieved. The only living thing he found in there was a redroach.
The memory still haunted him. And when he returned to the vault a few months later when Amata needed his help, she hardly recognized him in his change of cloths and a new collection of scars. His body battered and bruised. His skin burned by the unforgiving sun.
She almost fell apart on the spot. He had no doubt in his mind that she was mentally berating herself. She made him leave the vault in order to help keep him safe, only to find out she had actually condemned him to hell.
The first thing he did after those first few awkward, agonizingly long seconds was walk up to her. He saw her start to retreat backwards in fear and jumped when his arms wrapped around her frame.
Much to her surprise, he didn't hate her.
No matter what she did to him, he could never hate her.
"I still love you." he mumbled weakly.
Stepping back into the place he had always thought was home, left him mentally exhausted. Maybe a part of him thought everything would go back to normal. Maybe his father would come back. Maybe he could once again have a home. Maybe he could once again hold Amata's hand as they walked through the halls.
But no.
He knew he had to go back after he finished helping her. Adam, now known as 101, had to find his father. His father needed to be found so he could continue his work.
And then, there was Sarah.
He started to look at her more often, even though she was always so strict. She looked so beautiful to him. He saw her in a way he still saw Amata.
When he collected the girls, he started setting up camp while chuckling to himself. Mostly to the positive memories of his childhood. Every time he paused to reflect on how he ended up where he was now, he would see the smiles of those he loved.
Having a photographic, along with an almost perfect memory, gave him the ability to keep a collection of images with him at all times.
Like a book full of pictures.
One showed Amata at his tenth birthday party with that stupid, red party hat on as she held the one she was about to force on his own head. Looking at it now, he thought it looked adorable on her. The next one was the day they took the G.O.A.T. together. They both were older. He had just gave Butch a bloody nose, and he and Amata held hands for a few seconds before they went to their seats. He looked over to her with a smirk on his face, and she, almost like she sensed him, looked up as well while pausing in the middle of writing her name to give him a smile.
Then there was another day when the both of them managed to swipe some alcohol, and drank together. He couldn't remember the details, due to him being intoxicated at the time, but he still managed to snag an image he loved to look at.
It was rather interesting, really. It was late, so no one was walking around but the guards.
They were sitting on a stair case that wouldn't be included in a guards patrol until later that night. Amata gave him her glass so he could refill it, and he accidentally poured the drink on her since she was sitting a few steps under him.
Amata had jumped up with a girly sound escaping her lips as she turned on him in disbelief. The upper part of her jump suit was open, showing the white shirt she wore underneath. The liquid soaked through the fabric, and instantly made the shirt become rather transparent. Before she looked down, Amata gave him a look of shock that was torn between disbelief, and effort to hold in a laugh at what just happened.
He loved that look on her face as she looked down at her self with the beginnings of a smirk that was replaced by a scowl and a look of embarrassment when she realized he was staring at her chest in a drunken haze.
She crossed her arms over her breasts and started yelling at him. Calling him a pervert, and what not.
When she finally ran out of steam. He got up and helped her close up the upper part of her jumpsuit.
He didn't plan it, and she knew him too well to accuse him of doing so.
It was moments like those that he loved.
But the next day, he woke up with a hangover as he realized some one was standing over him panicking, yelling at him to wake up.
He looked up to Amata, and instantly thought there drinking had resulted in her going to bed with him. So, with that train of thought in his mind, he gave her a smile.
He was sad to hear his guess was wrong. But when he said he was dreaming about her, he wasn't lying. It just wasn't about what one would think.
His dream of her actually was nice. They were sitting on a blanket that rested on green grass he had seen in one of his father's books. They were having a picnic together with a clear blue sky above them.
The food and dishes were put away in the basket, giving them enough space to just lay on the blanket, side by side as they looked at the clouds.
She didn't wear her jumpsuit. Instead was a long white dress that looked beautiful on her. Her hair was a little longer and hung loosely instead of being in the normal bun.
He was not wearing his normal attire either. Instead was a clean suit his dream self thought would be appropriate for the occasion.
The point of all this was, 101 never got a chance to find happiness. Happiness was already given to him since birth, and was ripped away when his father left the vault.
So, any thoughts of him settling down and starting a family were always ignored. He was too afraid to act on such impulses.
He was afraid, that if he tried to find happiness, it to would be ripped away.)
His eyes slowly cracked open, and winced when they were assaulted by a bright light.
The next thing he noticed was a splitting headache that felt like it was going to rip his skull open. His eyes slowly started to get accustomed to the light, and he slowly turned his head to see a hood looking at his arm. More accurately, his pip-boy.
He didn't care at the moment. If someone attempted to take something out of his pip-boy, it would lock up and ask for a password.
Another shape appeared as well behind the hooded figure. Shepard?
Yeah. It was Shepard.
She was looking over the first person's shoulder out of curiosity. When he looked at that hood, something told him he saw that hood before.
Seconds ticked by as his eyes narrowed in concentration.
Finally, something clicked.
Again, in his head. Might have to inform someone if there was something in the ship, clicking out of place.
He should know that hood. He built it, and the rest of the suit it is attached to.
"Not polite to go through someone else's things, Miss Goto." Plague said sleepily.
Her reaction was priceless. She froze as if someone dropped an ice cube down her front, followed by her head looking up slowly until she looked at him with slightly nerves eyes.
"Hi… Plague…" Kasumi said as her hands slowly pulled away from his pip-boy. "Sorry…"
He chuckled a little at her curiosity and saw how the sound made the woman's shoulder drop. She then gave him a small smile before Shepard made a noise that sounded like she was clearing her throat.
"Ma'am." Plague welcomed with a slight nod after he looked away from Kasumi. "Not that I'm complaining, but why are you two in my room?"
"We aren't in your room." Shepard clarified as she crossed her arms. "You collapsed in the elevator."
With those words' Plague remembered what happened and instantly felt a small burning sensation in his limbs as if he had just been lifting too many weights.
"That is… compli…"
"Don't say that!" Shepard interrupted. He was a little surprised by her outburst and how her eyes were drilling into him as if he were a child who was not telling the truth. "If some one mysteriously falls ill on my ship, I want to know why. I want you to explain to me why you are trying to take advantage of your ability to hide from the machines on the ship as well."
He tilted his head a little. He didn't know if it was out of confusion, or intrigue, but to hear someone straight out say they wanted to know what was wrong with him was a little strange. His whole life he had been asked the opposite sequence of questions when patching up people. Am I going to be able to walk again? How is my back, Doc? Will I be able to hold a gun? Where did you put my whiskey?
Actually… that last one was him, if he remembered correctly.
"Again, I am fine." he repeated as he started to sit up, only for Kasumi to push him back down.
"Don't lie to me." Shepard warned while Kasumi stayed quiet for some reason.
"Fine. I guess Garrus got in a lucky…"
"I said don't lie!" she snapped at him. "I've seen you take a lot worse then a turian's fist."
That made him pause a little. He could have sworn he was using a decent poker face… Great… now he wanted to play poker.
"Do you know how long Kasumi has been sitting here?" she almost yelled. Instantly, Plague looked at the hooded woman who continued to hold him down, even though he wasn't putting much effort in getting up. She looked away a little when she realized he was looking at her. "I want an explination. Now!"
Plague let out a tired sigh as he forced his way into a sitting position. When he was up, he looked at Kasumi for a long moment before looking back to Shepard.
He had many theories on what was happening to him. Not a lot of them made much sense though. And a larger number of them wouldn't be believed by a normal person.
"I… don't really know…" he stated honestly as he hung his head. "All I know is, I'm being ripped apart." that information made both women look at him in worry with wide eyes. "Some times… it feels like… I'm being ripped apart from the… inside out."
"What?" Kasumi voiced her first question as she leaned forward in her seat to make sure what she heard was accurate.
"What makes you think that?" Shepard asked in a tone that sounded like she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"When it happenes…" he started as he looked up at her with half lidded eyes. "… I can… see it."
After those last four words, everyone went quiet until Shepard asked her next question.
"Do you have any ideas? Would Mordin be able to help you?" she asked slowly.
"I don't think anyone can help me, Boss…" he answered in a slightly depressed tone. "I thought, maybe the Grim Reaper might have finally caught up to me, and is now breathing down my neck. After all… I should be a dead man."
"Why do you say that?" Kasumi asked in shock at his words.
"I guess I never really told you the conditions I was in before coming here, huh?" he asked sadly.
"Again with your apocalyptic world." Shepard sighed to herself as a hand rested on her temples. "Why do you keep trying to make us believe such…"
"If I heard correctly, the Council didn't believe you either." Plague stuck out there before she could finish. His words made the Commander stop in her tracks before looking at him. "What story is more far fetched? Yours, or mine?"
"That's diff…" she started, only to be interrupted again.
"Do you want to know what my last moments back home were like?" he yelled. Shepard couldn't realy think of anything to say, but Plague didn't really give her a chance to think anyway before continuing. "I helped people. And in return, I got a needle in my neck so I would be helpless while Enclave strapped explosive, upon explosive, upon nuclear device to me!" he shouted as he stood up. "When those bombs went off, the next thing a saw was nothing but an empty void. A large empty space with no light, no life, no food, and no one to talk to for what felt like years!" by this time, his eyes actually started to water, and he didn't care if anyone saw him. Shepard was frozen where she stood with her jaw hanging open, while Kasumi was still sitting in that chair with a look of pity on her face. "I thought I was dead!" after he said that, he fell back on the bed and sat there as his heart tried to slow down. "I… should be dead… At least then I would see my loved ones again. My father. I'd… be able to meet my mother for the first time. My uncle, Jonas. Sarah…"
One of his hands rested on the side of his head as warm tears fell and landed on the metal floor of the sickbay.
He wanted to get back up to aplologize. Plague didn't mean to throw his pent-up emotional baggage at Shepard and Kasumi. This should have been said with a little more… tact.
When someone sat on the bed next to him, he didn't bother to look at who it was until some ones arms wrapped around his shoulders.
What he saw was Kasumi trying to comfert him, and he was thankfull for her trying to. His hands moved on there own and held her as well as his eyes closed again.
He heard Shepard walk out of the sickbay, and the sound of the door closing made him want to follow her so he could clear the air.
"It's okay…" Kasumi told him as one of her hands started to make circles in the center of his back. "It's going to be okay…"
When the two finally pulled away, he saw Kasumi had started crying along with him as well. If it wasn't for the tears messing up her makeup he probably wouldn't have been able to notice under that hood.
"Thank… you." he mumbled as he looked into her eyes.
It was then that they realized how close their faces were, and they both held still for what felt like hours.
Kasumi's eyes were fixated on his. Eventually they started to feel a small pull that made them start to move their faces closer towards the other's. When his warm breath touched her lips he felt her shiver in his arms. Finally their lipps brushed up against the other's, the small contact actually making him think his heart skipped a beat. Before it could actually turn into a full kiss, Kasumi looked like she realized what they were about to do and pulled away to try and steady her breathing.
"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have…" she said quickly, only to be silenced by Plague's hand signaling her to stop.
"I think… it was partially my fault as well…" he reasoned as they both just sat there quietly.
Kasumi Goto POV
She couldn't believe what she heard.
Kasumi already knew where he came from, but his story on how he arrived gripped her heart.
When Plague sat on the bed, all she saw was some one in pain. So much pain, that she thought she could feel it running off of him in waves. Her body moved on its own when she sat next to him, and hesitantly wrapped her arms around him.
Once they pulled apart, she felt like he was pulling her towards him. When their lips touched, she felt electricity shoot through her whole body. The feeling was so beautiful.
For a moment she felt light headed. Her heart was beating quickly. She was so close. All she had to do was move a little closer.
But then her legical side woke her up.
She haden't felt that way since Keiji… Her eyes widened in relization as she pulled away from him.
She thought she saw a hurt expresion on his face, but it was quickly replaced by a calm look with the beginnings of a smirk he always had every time she saw him.
Then he said he was just as much to blame.
No it was not. She sat on the bed! She hugged him!
If anything, only 25% of that was him.
"No. it was me." she pressed as she started to wipe away the tears she just realized she was shedding. "I'm sorry a lead you on like that."
"It's alright." he conceded. "I see you like the outfit." he said as he looked at his hadnywork before looking back at her face. Almost all traces of his outburst earler was gone.
It took her a second to understand what he was talking about, and smiled when she connected the dots.
"It is beautiful." she complimented. "I love it, but you didn't have to make it."
"Yes I did." he corrected. "Think of it as me apologizing for threatening you after Horizen.
That memory made her look down at her lap with a small frown on her face before talking. "I disserved it."
"Maybe, but that does not mean I had the rite to react the way I did." he apologized sincerely. "I shouldn't have asumed you did it her your oen personal gain." She looked up at him when he said that. Before she could argue anymore, he interrupted her. "If you keep trying to argue, Ill take back the suit."
Kasumi paused for a moment to stifle a snicker before aiming a playful pout in his direction "But I like Takara."
"Takara?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The AI." she explaind as she tapped the side of her hood.
"I am, Takara!" the AI anounced cheerfully, loud enough for Plague to hear as well.
He gave her a blank look before chuckling lightly.
"I see you two have become acquainted." he said, more to himself. "Nice to see you again… Takara."
"I like having her around. She makes good company." Kasumi commented with a smile before she remembered what the man said earlier. Her smile faded as she asked the question. "What did you mean when you said you were being… ripped apart?"
That question made Plague's smile disapear as well as he tried to divert his eyes.
She thought he was trying to find a way to avoid the question until he answered. "I think, what ever brought me here, wants me to go back." he said quietly. "This is only a guess on my part." he then looked back at her with a weak smile. "You didn't have to wait for me to wake up."
"I wanted to be here." she reminded him. She then looked at her Omni-tool to see she had been in the sickbay for almost five hours and let out a sigh. It was in the middle of the night cycle on the ship.
"How long has it been since you ate?" he asked her.
"I'm fine." she reassured. Sadly, her body betrayed her and a quiet grumble was heard that originated from her stomach.
"Liar." Plague laughed.
He continued to do so until Kasumi lightly elbowed him in the ribs.
"That's not funny." she scolded as she herself fought to contain her own fit of laughter. "Fine." she gave up as her hands went in the are in mock annoyance. "You want to come with me?"
He stopped for a moment before answering. I don't think Gardner is up. At least a cant see him in the window." Plague said as he shifted where he was sitting to get a better view.
"Its not a problem. I'll cook." she offered as she gave him a bright smile.
Taylor Shepard POV
Shepard stepped out of he elevater as fast as possible, and practically punched the door controls.
Many thoughts were going through her head. Mostly they were about Plague's confession. Old momories serfaced in her mind as she stumbled into her cabin and went straight to her bathroom.
She barely had enough time to lift the lid as she started pukeing the contents of her stomach into the bowl.
When her stomach was empty, she continued to dry heave as words, said long ago, were remembered.
("No light? They always said there would be- ah…" the asari's body stopped moving as her last breath of air left her.
By that time, Shepard was trying to comfert Liara. She had just made piece with her mother, only for them to have to kill the older asari.
Shepard felt like someone held her heart in a death grip as she pulled the woman closer to her, only partially because of the cold of the cave they were in. The rest of the large partion was because… it was Liara.
The blue woman she had awkward conversations with.
Liara always said it was because she didn't have much experience talking to humans. Shepard had a feeling it was something more.
And she was right.)
Benezia's words stuck with her for a while. Not just because of the impact it caused in her love's life, but because she to had asked that same question.
Gasping for air, lungs screaming, eat starting to cook her alive within her suit.
Shepard spashed water on her face at the sink as her death played in her head.
Plague was, as far as she could tell, telling the truth. At least concerning that void. And there was a good reason for why she believed him now.
She saw it for herself. Only difference was, she saw a light and thought she was moving on.
Instead, she woke up on a table without a familier face to great her in a world that changed so much within the span of two years.
That void is real.
Elsewhere
A light shined brightly from the outside of her eyelids while she felt the warm air wrap around her frame.
The ground she was on was soft and she didn't want the comfort to go away. What the woman was sleeping on was far more cozy then most of the other things she had used as a bed.
She had even slept on a mattress a few times, and this was close to the feeling. Sure there were no springs, but it provided something those mattresses never had.
It smelled clean.
No smell of death.
The air she breathed was cleaner then anything she had ever breathed before.
Sadly that bright light was starting to become a real annoyance. She wanted to sleep. Why would some one deprive her of such.
It was when she rolled onto her side that the small sense of piece was shattered.
She screamed as a sudden sharp pain shot through her body.
Her eyes snapped open, and she realized she was still on the unknown world. The thing she was sleeping on was a patch of grass. Yes, grass. And that light was the sun shining above her in a clear blue sky.
She cradled her right arm as she sat on her knees to take in her surroundings.
She was within a small clearing in the trees, and had been sleeping underneath a strange, short plant with large circular leaves.
She must have ran herself to the ground the night before and fell asleep where she dropped.
A small sense of panic showed itself as she spun around and scooted farther underneath the plant, as if expecting her captors to suddenly pop out of the surrounding foliage.
After what felt like ages, she relaxed and rested her back against the, what looked like a small trunk, of the small plant behind her.
As she relaxed, her muscles finally started to ach from her exertion the previous night. Her legs ached, her left hand stung, and her right arm throbbed. And that was not including her ribs.
She looked around and found the plasma pistol and two stimpacks she got off of that one Enclave.
She reached out and grabbed the first one with her left hand, and grimaced when she saw the scraped flesh. Putting that to the side for later, she shrugged off the upper portion of her leather armor, hissing at the pain caused by the bad arm.
After feeling it, she found out there was only one fracture, at least as far as she could tell.
She took the plastic covering off of the needle and aimed it at the area.
"Do it fast." she said to herself as she readied herself.
Using a stimpack was rather simple. All you had to do was insert the needle into the center of the injury, and it would take care of the rest shortly. That did not mean it was painless. For bones it was the worst.
She had to actually drive the needle into the center of the fracture and hope the pain goes away quickly.
Hopefully it was just a fracture and had no shards broken off.
Before she could stab her arm with the needle, she let out a string of profanities once she realized how stupid she was being.
She picked up the removed article of clothing and placed the leather sleeve between her teeth, and let out a sigh before she readied herself again.
The needle went into her forearm with a slight sting as she pushed it in deeper.
Every centimeter felt painful, but it was small compared to the larger injury. When the tip of the needle hit the fracture, she bit down hard as waves of pain shot through her body.
At first her arm burned, making her eyes water for what felt like an eternity until a cool sensation swept over her.
She let out a sigh of relief as she slowly pulled out the half empty syringe and put it down, before clamping her hand over where she injected.
The pain was dulled, and she could almost feel the bone knitting back together.
She would have to refrain from moving it for a while until it was fully healed.
Next was the hard part.
She used her hand to feel her side. Her skinny form made her able to feel her ribs one by one, and when she felt the third rib down on her right side she winced.
There was only one thankfully.
She took a moment to take in how her waist looked before picking up the half empty syringe.
She bit down on the leather again as the needle entered her flesh and immediately made it to the bone. After she took a second to prepare herself, she injected the remainder of the stimpack into the rib.
Almost instantly she felt her chest burn, the pain making her involuntarily arch her back before slumping onto the ground when she pulled the needle out.
Panting was heard in the small clearing as the cool sensation washed over her again.
She didn't want to move. She was tired.
But she had no choice. She was dehydrated, starving. To wait any longer could might as well be a death sentence if she fell asleep. And the sustenance would speed up the process the stimpck was going through.
She lifted her left hand and no longer saw scraped flesh. Instead she saw, what looked like raw skin.
The multiple injections where helping her minor wounds.
She started to put her top back on until she noticed a sound nearby. The woman froze as she looked around for the source. It was when she realized what the sound was that she relaxed with a smile gracing her lips.
It was running water.
In the environment she found herself in, she realized a few things. This place had plants. Healthy living plants. And what did healthy plants need?
Clean water.
She wrapped the weapon and unused stimpack in her top and walked shakily in the direction the sound was coming from.
Once she pushed a small branch out of blocking her view she couldn't hold back the smile on her face.
Before her was something she hadn't seen before. It was a small stream with crystal clear water flowing through it. On the bottom she could see smooth stones with a brown color.
It didn't look too deep, maybe three feet or so.
She placed her bundle of clothing on a rock and sat down to remove her boots. At the moment she wished she had a spare set of cloths. Would be faster if she just ripped hers off.
Untying the boots with one hand made it a hassle.
Once they were gone she hooked her leather armored pants and pulled them down, and then did the same with her unmentionables. No one was around. An Enclave in power armor would be noisy walking through the environment. And they relied on them far too much to walk around without a set.
A pleasant shiver went up her spine when she dipped in a toe. It was freezing, and felt wonderful at the same time. She walked into the stream and sat down on the edge so she could submerge herself.
She just sat on the rocks and relaxed as the water ran over her, carrying all traces of the life she once had off of her shoulders.
She used her good hand as a cup and drank heartily.
Once she considered herself clean, she got out of the stream and felt the gentle breeze on her wet skin.
She let the feeling wash over her for a few seconds before she dressed herself.
Once she put on her torn top, she tried to tie some of the strips of leather together and only partially succeeded in doing so. Her torso was still exposed for the world to see, but at least her breasts were now covered.
When she walked back with the plasma pistol and stimpack in her hands, she realized something as she sat at the bottom of a tree trunk.
If she and the Enclave were here, then there was a chance the Courier was here as well.
The thought made her feel multiple emotions at the same time. On one side, she would have an ally somewhere. That would help her greatly if she could find him and avoid the Enclave. Together they could survive easily.
Now was the down side. She was afraid of the possibility of him finding out the Enclave got his position from her. He trusted her to take care of things in the strip. Instead she got captured by those he hates most and she told them he returned to the Capital Wasteland to see if he could help those in his home vault.
She practically killed him herself.
Would he forgive her?
As you can probably guess, the AI's name is now Takara. What, many of you may not have guessed, makes DirtyBlue929 the winner. An awesome name man… or woman… or anything else that qualifies inbetween.
I would like to talk about something a reader asked me. When Plague's fingers got smashed by the door of the project purity device, I did forget the doors closed up instead of coming down. Its just one of those small details that slipped through the cracks. Just for the sake of the story, just pretend the door closed deferentally.