"Stay out! The plants kill!"
The message was hastily painted over the ancient, faded 'Welcome to Vault 22' sign.
"Well, I'm not going in there," said Cass.
"Oh, come on," said The Courier. "As long as we don't eat anything, we'll be fine." They had come to the abandoned Vault to collect the experimental agricultural data the Vault scientists had been working on. There had to be an incredible amount of information, given that the plants had grown all the way out of substructure to the surface. The sign they stood in front of was troubling, however. It would figure the only way to get growth this advanced would be to make the plants poisonous or something.
The Courier stooped down to examine a huge flower growing near the sign and frowned. Plant biology was not her strong suit. She wondered if Arcade would have any clue, but it was a non-issue. He was back at the 38. The girl pulled out her switchblade and started making cuts into the stalk of the flower.
Cass watched the younger girl, bored. She looked over to Boone, who was staring at the grass near the vault entrance. Judging by his stance, he saw something dangerous. He started moving for entrance, then stopped.
A group of giant mantises popped out of the grass. The sniper was ready, and the closest mantis's head exploded. Cass and The Courier followed his lead, and the group quickly cleaned up the pack of giant insects.
The Courier grinned at the pile of mantis bodies and looked to Cass. "If this is all that's down there, this'll be a piece of cake. Let's go."
The former caravaneer shrugged and followed the girl and Boone into the Vault.
*.*.*
"This amount of unchecked growth is incredible. There are no natural resources in a Vault, but these things are growing at a crazy rate. If this process can be synthesized without any toxins, the whole world could be re-terraformed in only decades!" The Courier looked to her companions, who glanced at each other, then stared blankly back at her.
She stood, brushing off the pollen that permeated the Vault. She cleared her throat. "Well, why don't we keep looking for that data?" They continued, having found little more than giant mantises as they went.
Cass was bored out of her mind by the time they got to the second level. As they passed one of the science labs, she stopped to take a look inside.
The Courier really wished she knew more about the science behind the amazing growth in this Vault. But for now, she just examined the plants as they went. She knew she was boring her comrades and was actually eager to get to the data from the vault's computers.
"All right, let's…. Where's Cass?"
Boone, who had been sweeping the nearby rooms for hostiles, poked his head back in and shrugged.
"I thought she was with you."
The girl frowned, going to the hallway. "Cass? Where are you?" Not hearing an answer, The Courier grew concerned and started further down the hall. A patch of plants blocked her view of the next intersection. She took a closer look at the plants. Some were trampled. She started to push her way through the patch, figuring that Cass must have come this way . Before she took her first step into the plants, her eye caught a vibrant green shape in the foliage.
"What the hell?" The alarm in her tone caught Boone's attention, and he instinctively drew his rifle. He looked past her to see a green humanoid shape emerge from the plants, grabbing for The Courier. He tried to line up a shot, but the girl was in the way. He ran forward, slinging his rifle and drawing his machete.
The Courier dodged the green monster and backed away, reaching for her gun. The thing lurched at her again, and she just barely avoided it, tripping over her feet and falling over. She scrambled to her feet in time to see Boone reach the thing.
The girl scrambled to her feet as the sniper's machete tore a huge gash out of the creature. She heard a noise behind her and turned, thinking it might be Cass. Instead she was greeted by another plantlike humanoid.
"Shit!" She ducked under it's oncoming hands and ran down the hallway, finally getting her 10mm free. She turned and started firing at the creature as it chased her. She ran backwards as she fired, cursing as she went. With the last bullet in the clip, she blew a hole through the monster's head. It crumpled to the ground.
The Courier cautiously approached the thing, prodding it with her foot. It didn't move. She wanted to examine the thing further, but first needed to make sure Boone was all right. When she reached the intersection where she had last seen him, all she found was the body of the other creature.
"Boone?" she called out, and was met with silence. "Cass?" Her voice echoed down the hallway. She looked down at the creature, which Boone had managed to decapitate. Her breath caught in her chest when she saw the inner tissue of the monster. It looked human.
"Oh boy."
*.*.*
"HEY! Where are you two?" Cass yelled out, now definitely angry. She glowered as she wandered the halls. They were probably making out in a corner somewhere. She came to an intersection and saw another one of those plant patches. She glared at it, lighting a stick of dynamite and tossing it in as she passed. This place sucked.
*.*.*
Boone rounded another corner, looking for signs of either missing woman. Finding none, he continued, trying to figure out where they had run off to. He ran by a small alcove but doubled back, seeing an elevator. It looked like it had been recently repaired.
He hit the call button and waited. Based on how long it was taking, the elevator must have been coming up all the way from the bottom. When it arrived, he got on and rode it down to the fifth floor, labeled 'Pest Control.'
He had only taken a few steps out of the elevator when he heard a distant scream echo through the halls. It was impossible to tell where the sound came from, but when it was followed shortly by another, he took his best guess and ran off in that direction.
*.*.*
Plants with mouths. The Courier was surrounded by plants with mouths. And more spore carriers, of course. She ducked whatever the plants were spitting at her and shot wildly at the closest green humanoid. Three of the spore carries, as the Vault computers had called them, were closing in on her as she backed against a wall. Wishing she had grenades left, she quickly dug out her magnum and was leveling it at the closest of the monsters when a stick of dynamite landed between her and the group.
The Courier ducked down, covering her head with her arms as the explosion ripped through the monsters. She looked up to see Cass glaring at her.
"Where the hell have you been?" the older woman said as the younger stood back up.
"Me? You're the one who-"
"Hey? Someone human out there?" a voice floated out of a small passage. The Courier followed the voice, and Cass heard the girl shriek again. Charging toward the passage, she found The Courier apologizing profusely as she helped a ghoul to her feet.
"It's okay! Calm down," the ghoul said to the furiously blushing girl. Cass stifled the laugh bubbling in her throat. She heard loud, fast footfalls and turned to see Boone, machete drawn, burst into the area. He saw the three women, then the remains of the plant creatures.
"You okay?"
The Courier nodded at his question, still blushing.
"Let's go to my base of operations," said the ghoul. "I can tell you what's going on."
*.*.*
"Wait, what?" Cass said, angrier than before as the ghoul, Keely, finished her explanation of the Vault.
"Yeah, you're all infected with the spore. If we don't eliminate it, it will turn you into a carrier." The Courier looked like she was going to be ill. Boone looked grim.
"So, how do we get rid of it?"
"Well," Keely said, "I can pump gas through the vents in Pest Control, where the spores originate. If you can ignite it from there, it will burn away all the spores."
Cass saw The Courier's face light up at that idea. Keely continued. "You need to ignite the gas at the source. Any kind of explosive should do the trick. I'll be waiting here."
Cass and Boone looked at each other, then at The Courier, who looked back at them carefully.
"I need to borrow a grenade… or maybe dynamite."
*.*.*
Boone was trying very hard to be calm as The Courier tore out of the small room where he and Cass were waiting. How the girl had managed to talk them both into this was beyond him, but there he stood, waiting for her to set the entire floor on fire. He heard her call back to them, letting them know she was about the throw the grenade.
"Just hurry up and do it!" Cass shouted back at her, hand hovering over the door controls. Boone heard the clanking of a grenade on the metal floor, then The Courier's rapid running. Just as the brunette was visible in the doorway, the grenade went off. Boone reached forward and grabbed the girl, pulling her into the room while Cass slapped the door controls.
The room got incredibly hot as the rest of the floor was immolated. Cass blew out a breath as the heat and noise died down. She looked over to the other two, who were untangling themselves from each other on the floor.
"Shit, will you two get a room?"
The Courier turned red at the comment and quickly stood, turning away from the other two and trying to look like she was examining a computer console against the wall. After a moment, she actually did look at the machine and laughed.
"This is the mainframe."
*.*.*
"Do you really want that idiot Hildern to have the information that made all this possible?" Keely said. She hadn't been happy to find out the girl had downloaded the Vault's research notes onto her Pip-Boy. The Courier made a face, then sighed.
"No… Get rid of it." She held her Pip-Boy up to the ghoul, who tinkered with it for a moment.
She got no complaints from her companions.