Into the Fire

by Darth Adipose

Stuck in the Town of goodneighbor and short on caps, Nate decides to take on a challenge issued by the mayor named hancock. Last 3 rounds in the Deathdome with his bodyguard Fahrenheit and win 5000 caps. The problem is she's agot the size and streagth of power armor, and is as vicious as a deathclaw...or is she?

I did this because I was bored, there are a lot of changes, some small. Some big. Take this for what you will. It was supposed to be a one shot, but the thing is too freaking long, so it maybe a two shot maybe more if people want to see it go somewhere.

Nate quickly observed his surroundings and took a deep breath, according to the map on his pip boy, the place was called Goodneighbor, a bit ironic considering the fact that the place looked like the perfect place to mug a person for every dime they were worth.

"Hey you!" a voice called out.

Nate looked across the street to see a man with a shaved head and a ragged leather jacket. the man gave a sinister smile that screamed "I'm about to rob you.' The former vet found himself tensing up just a bit.

"First time in Goodneighbor? If so you can't go walking around without insurance."

Nate gave a smirk. "Insurance huh, Unless it's keep ugly unhygienic freaks away from me insurance, I'm not interested.

"Hang on now, I think you'll like what I have to offer. Ya see if you don't give me everything you got, then accidents start happening. Big bloody accidents."

With a snap of his wrist Nate pulled out his gun ready to pull the trigger, that was until a gruff voice from the distance stopped the altercation.

"Whoa, whoa. Time out. Someone steps through the gate the first time, they're a guest. You lay off that extortion."

The extorter gritted his teeth. "What you care? he ain't one of us."

"No love for your mayor, Finn? I said let him go."

'You're soft, Hancock. You keep letting outsiders walk all over us, one day there'll be a new mayor."

the "mayor" chuckled and walked over to Finn. "Come on, man. This is me we're talking about. Let me tell you something..."

Before Finn could even blink, the man collapsed to the ground chocking on his own blood, twitching a bit before giving one las airy gasp. Handcock shrugged his shoulders.

"Now why did you have to go and say that huh? you're breaking my heart over here."

"He then looked over at Nate and smiled. "Now I know you had ol Finn handled but a mayor's got to make a point every once in a while. You ok?"

Nate stood mouth agape at what he just witnessed, it took him a good solid minute before saying anything and even then it was only three little words. "You killed him."

Hancock let out a laugh. 'Got a good pair of eyes on ya. I think you'll fit in here. Goodneighbor's of the people, for the people, you feel me? Everyone's welcome.

Nate let out a sarcastic laugh "Of the people, for the people? Oh brother..."

He he he. I can tell I'm gonna like you already. Just consider this town your home away from home...So long as you remember who's in charge."

As Hancock left, Nate noticed Hancock talking to a large figure in the shadows, he couldn't tell but the figure appeared to be in power armor, or at least it matched the size of someone in power armor.

Nate shivered. This really did not seem like the kind of place one wanted to stick around in for too long. suddenly without warning Nate's stomach gave a low earthly growl. He hadn't eaten all day and giant fly and cockroach meat wasn't exactly the most filling.

"Man, what I wouldn't do for a good old fashion cheeseburger right now."

Still there really wasn't much room or time to complain, he needed supplies.

"Excuse, me." Nate asked one of the armed guards. "I'm new to the area. You wouldn't happen to know where I could get groceries?"

The guy pointed to a small convenient store.

"Daisy's Discounts. She'll have what you need."

The one good thing about the place was that it made One thing pretty evident. People were clearly rebuilding after the war. There was a part of Nate that honestly expected there to be piles of trash scattered here there and everywhere with houses half collapsed, but all things considering there was little trash to speak of and the bunk houses were at least serviceable. Sure it wasn't as pristine as New Sanctuary, but serviceable none the less.

The Neon light of the store flickered on and off while giving a slight buzz. The lady at the counter seemed busy reading a Unstoppables comic, her face ultimately covered by the reading material.

Nate cleared his throat and tapped on the desk.

"Um excuse me?"

"If you're here to pawn something don't give me that it's a family heirloom story, i'm probably older than whatever it is your trying to sell. "

the woman put down her magazine. Nate cocked his head to the side as he observed her face. She looked deformed. Her skin had a leathery appearance and the cartilage of her nose and ears was all but gone. Still she seemed pretty normal. If anything she was probably a victim of radiation burns at some point. Certainly seemed possible. For all of the green that had managed to come back since the bombs fell, there were some areas that were still completely scorched with radioactivity. One thing that was odd however, was the fact that she actually had a face very similar to Handcocks

the woman gave a surprise smile upon seeing Nate's face. "Oh a new face...and you're not screaming, Wonderful manners."

Nate raised an eyebrow. "Wait did you say people scream at you?"

'Aw don't mind them, some newcomers have just never seen a Ghoul before."

Nate was confused by the statement. "What's a ghoul?"

Now it was Daisy's turn to be confused. "You're looking at one sweetheart. Not everyone made it to shelter at the time the bombs fell. It...changed us. Gave us a nice set of skin and very long life. When you get to be 210 you tend see a lot."

"Wait you're 210 years old?"

Daisy started to laugh "oh ok, maybe 270 but don't go blabbing about it. When you get as old as I do you tend to not count birthdays. I mean, really do you know what it's like to be that old?"

Nate gave a half grin. "Actually I do."

Daisy chuckled. "Well, now you're just making fun of me. If you were as old as I was, you would've been around since before the War. Well let's hear it. Tell me what the world was like if your so ancient."

nate put his finger ti his chin. "It was a mixed bag honestly. On the political front The world was nothing but petty governments going to war, dragging us into it, and shooting whoever refused to clean up the mess, I guess in that sense things haven't changed much. But at the same time. I had a beautiful house, white picket fence, and a lawn with the greenest grass you'd ever seen. It was...peaceful. Guess the Former won out against the latter.

"Yeah, I guess it did...sorry, last thing you want to see is a ghoul cry. We tend to shed tears of blood. Well...you're either the most well preserved ghoul I've ever seen, or the 2nd best liar in Goodneighbor, Ha!"

"What about you, what's your memories/' Nate asked,

Daisy smiled. " Oh sweetie, I was an angry young woman back then. Thought the world was sick and wouldn't give me my due. Then it all ended, and well, I ended in a way. Becoming a Ghoul... Maybe when you get to my age everything starts to look like fate. Anyway, I liked your story better, whether or not it's true.'

"It's true. I was put into cryofreeze in one of the vaults. Just woke up a while ago."

"Yeah sure. Anyway What are you needing sweetie?"

Nate gave a sheepish Grin. "Honestly I'm in the need of food...preferable some that's not covered in rads."

"Well lucky for you sweetie, I got a bag of rad free potatoes. So what will it be caps or trade?"

Nate had a wide eyed look pulling out a black card. "Eh, I know it's a long shot, but do you happen to accept a charge card?"

Daisy's eyes widened "charge card? Whoa. I haven't seen one of these since before the Wa..." she then looked at Nate in disbelief. "...you're telling the truth aren't you? You were alive during the great war."

Nate nodded. "Believe it or not used to serve in the military before...the bombs fell."

daisy smiled. "You know, if you haven't already, you should check out the Hotel Rexford. There's another pre-War Ghoul hanging around there. As for your card well...sorry honey sorry, honey, but this thing hasn't been good for about 200 odd years. If you're trading, I might be able to give you a couple of caps for it, but it's barely worth the plastic it's printed on.

Nate chuckled "Yeah was afraid of that. All I got of any value that I can afford to trade is this double barrel shotgun I found off of some corpse."

"That works."

the two exchanged and laughed off Nate's blunder. "Sorry about that mam, still not used to the whole bottle caps as currency thing."

"You know, if you're good at brawling, you may want to look at the third rail. Hancock is holding a contest against Fahrenheit. 5000 caps for anyone that can last three rounds with her in the cage. Started at 500 but then people kept either dying, or wish they had.'

Nate raised an eyebrow. "Wait, did you say her? I can't fight a lady. Momma taught me better than that.

Daisy grinned from ear to ear. "HA! Sweetie, Fahrenheit may be a woman but she's anything but a lady. She's nearly 7ft tall and nearly 800 lbs. only about 30% of its Fat heck maybe not even that much. In short she's built like power armor, just as strong too. There's a reason why she's The Mayor's personal bodyguard.

Nate gave a grin. "Now who's passing the bull? How can anyone possibly get that massive? that's insane even for a man."

" A steady diet of Mirelurk egg omelets, noodles, Mutant hound steaks, and a continuous infusion of Psychobuff."

Nate's eyes widened. Wait, Psychobuff?!

"Hehe, sorta. Took the stuff so long it's practically mutated her DNA to the point her body practically makes it on it's own. She doesn't even need the shots and doesn't have to worry about addiction. All the strength enhancement none of the violent mood swings, heart problems or brain damage. Honestly sounds like a pretty good deal, but I'd be too afraid to fry my brains out to risk it.'

Nate remembered hearing the stories of divisions of the military trying to make super soldiers via steroidal compounds. One of the ones at the forefront was a cocktail of both Psycho and Buffout or Psychobuff. From what Nate herd the stories were all the same. Test subject became strong enough to break through a reinforced steel door but became extremely violent and unstable before inevitably dying as a result of either severe brain damage or cardiac arrest. If what Daisy said was true then that meant Fahrenheit was one of the few if only successful experiments (albeit accidental) Nate's face began to pale. Suddenly the whole thing went from a joke to a death wish. Still He really needed the caps, and frankly there was a whole lot more risk out their for a whole lot less.

"Eh, what the heck, i'll look into it."

Daisy put a finger to her chin before sliding 500 more caps in his direction.

"i like you, and you'll need some good Armor if you even remotely want to last against Fahrenheit. Talk to Kleo at Kill or Be Killed she'll hook you up."

Daisy wasn't kidding when she said that kill or be killed was quite literally next door. Nate tapped on the desk. An assultron quickly emerged from the shop. "Well hello there. Welcome to kill or be killed. Everything designed to maim incarnate and torture at your leisure.

Nate gave a smile. "Yeah I was told by Daisy to Find A Kleo?"

"You're looking at her big guy, how my I help you?'

There was a part of Nate that thought he should have been questioning this, but considering Codsworth his experience with how robots worked in general, the idea of an assaultron developing a personality just seemed par for the course.

"What kind of armor would you recommend if your going into a bare knuckle boxing match with someone with the size and strength of power armor?"

KL-E-O let out a scoff of disbelief, "Oh lord don't tell me your doing Hancock's challenge."

Nate gave a grin. "Way to show optimism there sweetheart."

KL-E-O sighed. "first of all it's not a bare boxing match. it's a Deathdome match.

Nate raised an eyebrow? 'Deathdome?"

"Two opponents are handcuffed to Parallel sides of a caged dome. The one who pins their opponent for a three count wins. in Hancock's case manages to Pin... or at least Survive three 4 min and 30 sec rounds against Fahrenheit. Do yourself a favor honey. Run into her fist and go down for the 3 count it will save your life. "

"So I take it but I'm about to do is the equivalent of committing suicide?"

"You know what an assaultronis right honey?"

Nate nodded.

"And you know what we are and what we are designed for?"

Again Nate Nodded.

"Then you can imagine why I thought the challenge was going to be an easy 500 caps...until I woke up in the repair shop as a head on the desk. by the 2 min and 15 sec mark of the 2nd round she's turned me into a pile of scrap parts. Let me put this another way honey. There's a minigun she has called the ashmaker. She carries the thing in battle like it's a pipe gun."

As terrified as Nate was it really didn't deter him. Yes certain doom was inevitable, yes it was probably the stupidest thing he could have done, but between Radroaches, bloatflies, Mutant dogs...suicide came standard,

"So what kind of armor would I need against something like that?"

'wow, you're a stubborn one aren't you? what's your budget?;

"500 caps."

"hmm, well in that case your best bet will be a nice set of sturdy metal. Let's suit you up big boy."

Nate let out a sigh as he looked at himself. Frankly he looked absolutely ridiculous but in this particular case, function outweighed fashion, If out of the blue he did win the caps prize, he made a not to himself to get better armor...if he made it out alive that that is.

A/N: Ok to clear a few things, one Goodneighbor looks as good as it does because the idea of people living in trash 200 YEARS after the war just seems silly, after 200 years you'd get some kind of town, probably even a nice looking one, and yes Sanctuary is referred to as New Sanctuary yes people rebuilt it to nearly it's original condition and it's in fact one of the nicest towns of the commonwealth (Probably 2nd to diamond city, which in this universe is actually a CITY.

two: Why is Fahrenheit so big? Well 1. See Author username. 2: Fahrenheit's size has always bothered me due to the fact that she wields a minigun with ease despite the fact that it's stated in the beginning of the game, that realistically you need a suit of power armor to really carry a minigun efficiently. So you'll notice I actually proportioned her to about that size. if you want a good reference. look up Yamamotoyama Ryūta. he's a retired sumo wrestler, the guy is 6ft 2 in and 584 lbs and if you look at him he's built like power armor. I just scaled it up a bit. granted Fahrenheit is a woman so she'll likely have certain bigger um…parts? anyway let me know what you think.