AN: Time to introduce a new character, thank you Rommel9 for his information and ideas to help me make him. Now then, enjoy the epic conclusion to my Wasteland Life…..thank you all for following this fanfiction. Please stay tuned for more stories from the Wasteland, as this series isn't over….just this Arc…. Honestly this took me over three hours to type. I hope you enjoy this work….honestly I really hope you enjoy it.
Bren awoke in a strange place. He looked around; it was a small room with a locker that he could see across from him. He still had his armor but his weapons must have been stripped from him. He saw Colonel Autumn looking right at him.
"It is about time you woke up" He said
Bren tried to move but he couldn't, he could see he was in some sort of containment cell which prevented his movements
"Don't even try; they can hold a super mutant in place. Now then you are probably wondering where you are" Autumn said to Bren
"No I' m wondering how you survived that irradiated chamber" Bren said
"A Rad-X that the Enclave has been developing, works like a charm. Pity your father didn't have it. Now then tell me, what is the code to activate the purifier" He demanded to Bren
"Like I would know" Bren said to Autumn, he then spat at him out of spite
The Colonel wiped the spit off his face with his leather gloves, he glared at Bren
"Now Boy, I'm being Civil, and I won't ask again, what is the code to project purity?" He asked, his tone was darker and he wasn't fucking around
"Fine, the code is 7-0-4" Bren said making up a code on the spot
"Alright I will check" Autumn said and he walked to a nearby speaker
"Autumn here, the code is 7-0-4, repeat 7-0-4" He said to the person on the other line
"Copy that 7-0-4, one of the officers will confirm….negative we lost another one" The man on the other line said and Bren smirked
"That's it, I was through with being nice but now I'm forced to use more personal methods of interrogation" He said pulling out a 10mm pistol and he was about to shoot Bren in the leg when a voice came on the intercom
"Colonel I need you right now" The voice said, Bren could recognize his voice from the radios all over the Wasteland, it was "President" John Henry Eden
"Not now sir" Autumn said to what looked like a blue camera lenses on the wall
"Colonel…" Eden said in an almost disappointed tone
"Fine, wait here, I will be back to finish the interrogation" Autumn said annoyed, he left the room with Bren alone
"Sorry about that Bren, The Colonel has been under a lot of stress lately" Eden said to Bren
"You know my name?" Bren asked the Lenses
"But off course, you are the son of the Esteemed Scientist James. The Lone Wander by some of the rumors in the Wasteland. You made quite a name of yourself." Eden said, he didn't seem mad at all against Bren, if anything he sounded like an old friend who just met him for the first time in years
"I would like you to come to my office to meet face to face. I will release the restraints for you" He said and at these words Bren fell to the ground as the floating restraints deactivated
"You will find your possessions in the locker ahead of you. I will be awaiting" Eden said and Bren went into the locker and found his shotgun, magnum, and pack of supplies and ammo
"What is his angle?" Bren thought as he left the holding cell only to met by an officer
"Hey you shouldn't be out here" He said pulling out his plasma pistol and aiming it at Bren
"Hey I was told to meet Eden, now do you want to make him angry?" Bren asked
"I…hold on" The officer said and he went to a nearby lenses
"Um Mr. President, Lieutenant Williams here, I have a man who claims he is going to see you" He said
"I didn't authorize you to speak on this line" Eden said
"Yes I know but this man claims to-"Williams was interrupted by Eden
"Yes he is, now let our friend pass and report to the barracks for your demotion" Eden said
"I….yes sir" Williams said defeated, he turned to Bren
"Alright you may pass" Williams said to Bren and he ran off to the Barracks
"I'm sorry about that, please hold on for a moment, I will call you an escort" Eden said and Bren could hear over the intercoms Eden
"Would Commander Autumn please report to the holding cells for an escort. And to everyone in Raven Rock, please allow our guest from Vault 101 free passage to my office, that is all" Eden said and Bren waited for a moment, and soon he saw an Enclave solider in a different kind of power armor walk to him. This armor was smoothed and the helmet was bull like. What Bren didn't know was that it was Hell Fire power armor. On his back was a plasma Rifle, and on his side a plasma pistol along with three plasma grenades on his utility belt
The man removed his helmet to reveal a man about age 40, his hair was a dark black, his face full of pride and hope. He smiled at Bren
"My name is Commander Rommel Autumns, you must be Bren" He said shaking Bren's hand
"Autumns, does that make you…" Bren was about to finish when Rommel replied
"Yes, Brother of Augustus Autumn, he is my older Brother. Come we must not keep the President waiting" Rommel said to Bren and he donned his helmet and they continued into the base
"Welcome to Raven rock, home of the Enclave" Rommel said almost as if he was giving a tour
"Yeah… umm quick question, what are you going to do with the purifier?" Bren asked, he didn't know whether to trust this man or not
"…The purifier was your father's legacy, I'm aware, I'm also aware of your involvement. The Enclave wants to restore America to its Former Glory, and to do it we need a fresh supply of water. I figure Eden wants us to control it so people will look up to the Enclave rather then despise it. Then again I can understand why people hate the Enclave" He added with a sigh
"I see" Bren said, he still didn't know what to do but then the intercom fired up when they went to the cafeteria
"Attention, this is Colonel Autumns, disregard President Eden's previous order, find and kill the Dweller from Vault 101, that is an order" Colonel Autumn said, and Bren turned to Rommel who held up his gun
"Damn it" Bren said being prepared to be shot down by him
"Get down" He ordered and when Bren did Rommel fired on a soldier who had his sights on Bren
"Why did you do that?" Bren asked pretty much confused
"Unlike these soldiers in Raven Rock, I am loyal to Eden, he ordered me to Escort you, I will do as followed" He said
"Come on lets go before more come" Rommel said peering around the corner to check for more soldiers
"Its clear come on" He said and Bren followed him into the next level
"There he is" A Soldier said looking at Bren as they came to the next level
"No he isn't" Rommel said firing his pistol on the soldier and Bren was impressed
"Good shot" Bren said
"43 years in a military family will do that to you" Rommel said as they continued further into the base
They met with some resistant's but it didn't stop the military skills of Rommel from keeping Bren safe from the Enclave soldiers who were more loyal to his Brother
It wasn't long before they came to large room where two soldiers were shot down by some Sentry Bots
"Thank you Commander for at least being Loyal to me" Eden said to Rommel who smiled
"You may come in if you like" Eden said
"Sir, it will be an Honor" Rommel said to the lenses on the wall and the door opened
Bren looked around and he couldn't figure out where Eden was, all he could see was a large machine
"Head up the stairs if you please" Eden said from above and Bren and Rommel went up stairs and they came face to face with a large screen with a single line in the middle of it
"Hello" The screen said and the line shown a blip to indicate it was showing the sound
"Where is President Eden?" Rommel asked
"No, this is it, I get it now" Bren said
"What do you mean?" Rommel asked
"This is Eden, he is a computer, that explains everything" Bren said
"You are correct my good man, Commander what you see before you is in fact your president" The computer said, it was in fact President Eden
"Eden….what is your story?" Bren asked, he was curious as to the origin of this device
"Where to begin, was I am in fact an AI based on a pre-War ZAX supercomputer and I have been loaded with data about American history, past American presidents, etc. My personality is based on an amalgam of the personalities of all of the past Presidents of the United States. I find I am mostly Gorge Washington, Tomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt if I do say so myself" Eden explained
"So how many people know your secret?" Bren asked
"Well not counting you two, that would be the Late Autumn Senior, also know as Rommel's father. As well as Colonel Autumn who I now realize isn't as loyal as he should be" Eden said, his tone seemed to have remorse in it
"But I digress, I am President nevertheless and I wish to make America a better place, despite my….lack of formal appearances" Eden said chuckling a bit from his speaker
"But there is no America, it was destroyed by the wars" Bren said trying to reason with the machine
"That's a bit of a bleak outlook, don't you think?" Eden said, "Now I know that America is having a crisis but I have a plan to restore this great Country back to the way it was before the wars began" Eden said and Bren sighed in defeat on that point
"So why did you call me" Bren said cutting to the chase so to speak
"Why I have called you is of grave importance. As you may be well aware of, the Wasteland is infested with mutations, what I will present to you is a specially Modified FEV virus that can be inserted into the module of the Purifier" Eden explained and as he finished a vial of a mysterious substance appeared from the module of the system
"This FEV will be put into the water and make it so anything that is mutated die. In doing so will keep the Wasteland Pure and it was grow stronger" Eden explained
"But…." Bren didn't know what to say to this. This would wipe out countless lives…. He realized Eden meant well, but he was wrong.
"Eden, why were you designed?" Bren asked
"I had originally been created to serve as a monitoring system for the Raven Rock military base and soon I had become self aware and created my own personality, why do you ask?" Eden asked
"And how can you be president if you were not designed for it? You said yourself that you had only been programmed as a monitoring system" Bren asked
"I….I became president because I was designed to be perfect" Eden said, somewhat flustered by the comment
"But that becomes a paradox, if you were designed to be perfect, why would you have altered yourself, that reasoning is circular and thus fallacious" Bren said to Eden, his logic seemed to puzzle Eden but Rommel he thought about and he seemed to come to terms with this. He may have been loyal to Eden, but he wasn't blindly loyal like the other soldiers
"I….well….you see….." Eden didn't know what to say to Bren
"Eden, I think you should shut down, I think its time to end this" Bren said kindly, he respected Eden for his dream (if super computers can dream) but it isn't Eden's choice to fix the Wasteland, it was the people's decision
"Bren….you are correct. Thank you for showing me the error of my ways….Commander I have one final order" Eden said to Rommel
"Sir?" Rommel asked
"Take Bren back to the Citadel, Tell the Brotherhood that your brother had sent a large force to the Jefferson Memorial….tell them to stop him." Eden said
"Sir, I will do as you say" Rommel said saluting his President
"After that, you are free to choose your path….I'm sorry for leading you astray….Bren I can not let you leave without the FEV container, but do what you will with it. I will not live to see your choice. All I know is that you would be a better president then me….. Destruction Code Activated, 420-03-20-9…..good bye everyone" Eden said and he began to sing a little song as his voice began to gravel, "Daisy daisy…I'm….crazy….for…y…ou……" His voice trailed off and he shutdown forever.
Sirens blared around the base and Bren grabbed the FEV vial and him and Rommel ran out of the area and could see Enclave soldiers getting mowed down by Sentry Bots
"Thank god for those" Rommel said as they walked passed the sentry bots who said "Have a nice day" And they made it out of the base just as it exploded
They then saw an impressive sight, a super mutant with a large Gatling gun that shot lasers out of it instead of bullets, it was taking down Enclave troopers like they were radroaches.
"Fawkes!!" Bren shouted and the mutant turned Bren
"Bren, I found you. Look at this impressive device" Fawkes said holding up the Gatling laser gun, Rommel didn't know whether to pinch himself at the sight of the mutant, or to shoot it
"Know it?" Rommel asked
"Bren is that a friend of yours?" Fawkes asked
"Yes, his name is Rommel" Bren said to the mutant
"Hello, my name is Fawkes a pleasure to meet a human who doesn't shoot me on sight" Fawkes said to the slightly confused Enclave soldier
"Umm yeah" Rommel said to Fawkes
"Fawkes….would you like to help me out. I could use your muscle and brain on this one" Bren asked
"Bren, you had saved me when I was in need, I am truly in debt to you my friend, yes I will follow you. Let us go and show them the power of us Meta Humans" Fawkes said and Bren shook the large hand of Fawkes
The trio made their way across the Wasteland and they took down Enclave soldiers who had escaped Raven Rock. It wasn't long before they made it to the Super Duper Mart where they were greeted by everyone (minus Charon who was at the Citadel)
"Bren, my god your back….and it's a fucking mutant" Jericho said drawing his assault rifle
"Wait he is with us" Bren said and Jericho stood down
"Guys, we need to head to the Citadel they are gonna need our help" Bren said
"What do you mean?" Butch asked
"They are in control of the G.E.C.K. and Project Purity, they are going to need our help to take it back" Rommel said to them
"Who is this square?" Clover asked looking at the power armored Man
"This is Rommel, he helped me in the Enclave's base" Bren explained
"Whatever, as long as he can shoot gun, I'm happy" Jericho said
"Sir what is your course of action?" RL asked
"We prepare and move out as soon as we can" Bren said and he went into the supply cases and pulled out weapons and supplies and tossed them to the others
"Rommel check this out" Bren said pulling out the Novasurge and handed it to Rommel
"This looks like a prototype plasma pistol…hmm looks like it could do some real damage" Rommel said examining it
"You can keep it if you like" Bren said, having no experience with energy weapons he had no idea how to use them
"Thanks Bren" Rommel said
Butch had outfitted himself with some combat armor provided by Jericho, Clover had changed (right in front of everyone without any modesty by the way) into some recon armor, also provided by Jericho. Everyone had resupplied on Ammo and Bren led them out of the Base.
It took only a few hours to make it back to the Citadel where they were met with some resistance thanks to the guards, but with some explanation about Fawkes and Rommel they were permitted to pass. Out in the courtyard where it was noon, Bren could see Charon sparing with an African American woman in recon armor, they shown powerful moves against each other and it looked like it would be a draw when Bren called out to Charon
"Charon, I'm back" Bren shouted and Charon turned his head just in time to get a kick right in the gut and got knocked to the ground
"Owww" Charon groaned and the woman turned to Bren
"Can it be?" The woman asked and she looked at Bren
"Do I know you?" Bren asked
"Forgive me, my name is Star Paladin Cross, I worked with your father….sorry about your loss….I worked to protect him during the time he worked on the project but I think to honor his wishes and join you on your quest" She said
"But how did you know it was me?" Bren asked
"You look like your father when he was your age" Cross said smiling
"Listen you may want to see Elder Lyons, they may want your insight" Cross said and she walked off to go into her power armor
Bren walked into the lab where he saw Sarah Lyons and many Brotherhood members talking with Elder Lyons
"Look according to our scouts Raven Rock was destroyed, we should attack them now" Sarah said to her father
"Sarah we can not go into open war. We have far too many troops scattered to do this" Lyons said
"But we have to do this or else we will lose our only chance" Sarah pleaded
"Excuse me" Bren said and they turned to him
"I have a message from President Eden" Bren said and Lyons walked to Bren
"President Eden?" He asked
"Former President" Rommel said and he removed his helmet
"We met with him and he told us to give you a message before he died….he realizes what he did was wrong, and he wants us to retake project purity before Colonel Autumns takes it" Bren explained
"But the project hasn't worked, without a G.E.C.K. it is useless" Lyons said
"that's the thing, they have it, they already installed it, they just need the password and they have control of it" Rommel explained and Lyon's eyes widened
"Sarah, take Lyons pride and aid Bren in retaking the Memorial. Rothchild is it ready yet?" Lyons asked the scribe
"What….well no, the robot has yet to be prepared for simulation, the readings indicate it will work but I'm not too sure" He said
"No matter, you must activate it by morning. We need it for the final assault" Lyons said
"As you wish" Rothchild said and he got to working typing
"Bren, I thank you for this information….your father would be proud of you" Lyons said
"Listen, Eden told me to insert this modified FEV virus into the purifier, it is supposed to kill anything mutated" Bren explained and he handed the device to him
"Thank you, you are an asset to humanity" Lyons said and he walked off
Sarah walked to Bren
"Bren, I have to say you are a good man….which is why I wish to extend an invitation into Lyons Pride" She said
"…I'm sorry, I already have a group" Bren said turning to his friends and Lyon smiled
" I understand, but at least allow me to provide you with armor" She said
"Thank you" Bren said and they went into the barracks to be outfitted with power armor
Bren's power armor was a lighter kind to allow more freedom of movements, and for good measure he painted it blue and wrote on the front and back painted in Yellow Letter, "101" on them
Butch, Clover, and Jericho gained stronger Recon armor, while Charon stuck with his own personal kind. RL had been given a fine tune up to allow his combat abilities to be enhanced. Fawkes being an oversized "Meta Human" wasn't given anything, but they did at least make him some shoulder pads and arm and leg coverings out of some old power armor.
All and All, this group was ready for combat.
This Group…."The Protectors"….
Night came soon and everyone went to sleep in preparations of the final battle. Bren was up and he was looking at the stars from the walk ways on the gate. It was a full moon that night and he found it hard to believe that only about two months had passed since he left Vault 101…so many things had happened
"Ready for the final battle eh?" a mysterious voice said and Bren came turned to see the stranger who had saved him about a week ago
"Its you" Bren said
"You are an interesting man….your story is one of many that the Wasteland holds….and yet it is one of the most important…." He said
"Who are you?" Bren asked
"No one….no one important…..Bren, you must be careful. It will be you who will decide the fate of the Wasteland….." The stranger said
"I understand" Bren said and he saw the stranger jump off the gate and when Bren ran to see where he landed, he was gone
"….I understand" Bren said to himself and he went down to get some sleep.
Morning Came and Bren had put himself into his power armor. He was armed with his combat shotgun, the magnum, a combat knife on the side, grenades, and plenty of medical supplies. He was ready for combat against the Enclave.
Everyone in the group had prepared themselves and awaited at the middle of the Circle where Sarah was addressing Both, the Lyons Pride and Bren's group
"Today, we go down into history as the people who saved the Wasteland, we will show the Enclave the power of the brotherhood. Today we will fight as an army. What I see within our army is not only Brotherhood but people of walks of life. Mutants, Ghouls, Vault Dwellers, Raider….today we put aside our differences and today we show the Enclave who is truly the might of the Capital Wasteland" Sarah spoke with a voice like a general and Everyone cheered
"Everyone lets go out and show those bastards who is the best" Sarah shouted and they marched out, when they left Bren was astounded, he saw the giant humanoid robot walk. It was set out early that morning
This was Liberty Prime and it was ready to fight
"VOICE MODULE ONLINE... AUDIO FUNCTIONALITY TEST... INITIALIZED. DESIGNATION: LIBERTY PRIME. MISSION:THE LIBERATION OF ANCHORAGE,ALASKA FROM THE RED CHINESE. PRIMARY TARGETS: ANY AND ALL RED CHINESE INVADERS. EMERGENCY COMMUNIST ACQUISITION DIRECTIVE: IMMEDIATE" It said in the booming Robotic voice and it began to march against the Enclave
"Charge!" Lyons shouted and they followed the Robot until they came to a large energy barrier
"OBSTRUCTION DETECTED. COMPOSITION: TITANIUM ALLOY SUPPLEMENTED BY PHOTONIC RESONANCE BARRIER. PROBABILITY OF MISSION HINDRANCE... ZERO PERCENT!!" Liberty Prime called out and it grabbed the ends of the barrier and let the energy flow into its body and the shield was deactivated
"Fire!" Sarah shouted and everyone open fired on the Enclave soldiers who were stationed there at the time.
They never stood a chance from the combined efforts of the Pride and the Protectors and they came to the next gate
"OBSTRUCTION DETECTED. COMPOSITION: TITANIUM ALLOY SUPPLEMENTED BY ENHANCED PHOTONIC RESONANCE BARRIER. ESTABLISHED STRATAGEM INADEQUATE! REVISED STRATAGEM: INITIATE PHOTONIC RESONANCE OVERCHARGE."" It called out and it once again took down the barrier but it was shot at by some Vertibirds
"EMBRACE DEMOCRACY, OR YOU WILL BE ERADICATED." It shouted at the Vertibirds but they didn't not listen (or understand the comment) and it seemed to anger the 40 foot robot
"ENGAGING RED CHINESE AGGRESSORS." It said and from its eyes shot out some lasers with tore down the wings of the vertibird, crashing them
"COMMUNISM IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF FAILURE." It shouted
"Commander, give that soldier a raise" RL said
"I think I should" Bren said to the military robot and they continued to the last gate which didn't seem to annoy the robot
"SCANNING DEFENSES... EXPLOITING!" It shouted and it took down the final barrier and the army open fired on the Enclave soldiers, they never stood a chance against the might of the group and they made it to the Memorial.
"Bren head into the project, we will handle the rest of the Enclave" Sarah told Bren
"Understood" Bren said and he and his group ran into the memorial
"Get them" An Enclave soldier shouted to his others but Fawkes was one step ahead of them
"Get a load of this" Fawkes shouted and he sprayed laser fired onto the soldiers decimating them.
"Come we me must" Fawkes said and they continued onwards only to be stopped by four soldiers
"Ohhhh boys" Clover said in a sexy voice removing her helmet, the soldiers stopped to turn to her as she began to remove her armor….the soldiers didn't seem to notice Charon getting behind them. One soldier walked to Clover but then his head came clean off by her blade
"Fuck, she is crazy" One of then shouted but then his two friends were shot down by Charon
"Wait we can talk this out" The last begged but then he was burned alive by RL
"Never let the enemy beg for forgiveness" RL said and they continued into the Rotunda where they were met by Colonel Autumns
"Bren…and Rommel…my own baby Brother who would have thought" He said, he was annoyed as can be from this situation
"Its over Colonel, you lost" Bren said
"He is right Brother, give up" Rommel said
"Never, I worked too hard to lose now, this project is mine, and I plan to keep it this way" Autumn said and he pulled out his pistol but Bren was faster and he shot Autumn in the heart with his magnum
"No….fuck" Autumn said and he fell backwards into the irradiated water that filled the basin under the purifier
The reign of Colonel Autumns had ended that day.
Sarah came inside
"Bren we did, we won" Sarah said but then a voice came over the intercom, it was Dr. Li
"Bren, are you there?" She asked over the intercom, she seemed flustered and worried about something
"Bren here, what do you need?" Bren asked
"Listen, I've been monitoring the project, and something happened to the device, you got to activate the project manually or that memorial is gonna blow sky high" Li said
"What?!" Bren shouted
"You need to go into the radiation and activate it by punching in the code…..I'm sorry but there is no other choice" Li said, " I'm sorry…."
Sarah turned to Bren
"Bren….I…." She was speechless
"Sarah, take care of everyone" Bren said turning to the large room, that was filled with radiation
"Bren you can't!!" She pleaded
"I have too…..I have too" Bren said, he had tears in his eyes and he slowly marched into the chamber and the door sealed behind him. The door into the console room opened and Bren felt the radiation fill his body
Everyone watched in horror as Bren walked slowly to the console….Bren's body was on fire as his body endured the immense radiation
Bren knew the code….he always knew the code since his father died
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. "
—Revelation 21:6
2-1-6, his mothers favorite passage….
Bren pressed 2 and clutched his stomach
He then pressed 1 and felt his vision get cloudy and he fell to the ground
"BREN!" Sarah shouted but Bren used all of his strength to pulled himself back up and press 6 and he heard the machine whirl with the activation.
He fell back to the ground and looked up
"Dad….Rick….Mom…..I did it…..I did it…." He thought as he smiled and closed his eyes for one final time…..
A White Light engulfed him and he lost all thought
"And so it was that the Lone Wanderer, Bren ventured forth from Vault 101 intent on discovering the fate of a father who has once sacrificed the future of humanity for that of his own child.
The Capital Wasteland proved a cruel inhospitable place, but the Lone Wanderer refused to surrender to the vices that had claimed so many others. The values passed on from father to child – selflessness, compassion, honor – guided this noble soul through countless trials and triumphs.
But it was not until the end of this long road that the Lone Wanderer learned the true meaning of that greatest of virtues – sacrifice. Stepping into the irradiated control chamber of Project Purity, the child followed the example of the father sacrificing life itself for the greater good of mankind.
Thankfully, when selected by the sinister president to be his instrument of annihilation, the Wanderer refused. Humanity with all its flaws was deemed worthy of preservation. The waters of life flowed at last – free and pure, for any and all. The Capital Wasteland at long last was saved.
So ends the story of the Lone Wanderer, who stepped through the great door of Vault 101 and into the annals of legend. But the tale of humanity will never come to a close, for the struggle of survival is a war without end, and war – war never changes."
…. "Hey they are still breathing, get him and Sarah into the medical bay, I think they will alright" a voice said….