The Vaults; they originate back in the early 2050's, back when the Euro-Middle Eastern War, the New Plague, and the collapse of the United Nations caused a nation-wide scare. In response in 2054, the government was set in motion Project Safehouse, with the intention of creating shelters that would protect the population in the event of a nuclear war or even plague. These bunkers were built using junk bonds, and cost more than a small fortune, one in particular costing at most $645 billion dollars. By the year 2077, only 122 to be built nationwide, meaning less than 1% of of the population would be allowed sanctuary in the light of a holocaust.

In light of that fact, Vault 120 housed even less than the intended amount.

In reality, a fully functioning vault could hold up to about a 1,000 people. Vault 120 housed only 45; At least it only housed 45 at the moment.

The rest would hopefully make it before Armageddon came if not…

Solomon pushed that thought away as he looked ahead, his attention focused on his opponent standing across from him in the Vault's Gym. He took a breath, looked his opponent over and raised a hand to his neck as he rolled it.

Oliver Caste. Oliver was a good man, light skinned with black hair and black eyes. You looked at this man you'd honestly think he was part gorilla, muscles were bulging out of that vault jumpsuit of his and threatening to shred it at a moment's notice.

Solomon though, he wasn't as muscular, but he might as well of been part bear. At 8"7' he was actually shorter than the 9ft behemoth that Oliver was. Solomon had a tanned if vaguely red skin tone and short brown hair and hazel colored eyes, with his suit actually fitting a bit easier.

"You sure you wanna do this?" Oliver stated as he crossed his arms. "To be fair, I won't blame you if you wanna back out."

"Now why would I want to do that?" Solomon asked. "A spar can kill time, and we need to do something while waiting for everyone else to get here."

"I guess you got a point." Oliver admitted as he watched Solomon lower his arm. "Whenever you're ready?"

"By all means." Solomon smiled lightly. "Don't wait on my account." He blinked, and Oliver moved, seeming to appear before him as he threw a punch that he the smaller giant blocked and made to counter. Oliver didn't let him, with his left he deflected the incoming blow away by striking the inside of his wrist. He followed by throwing a straight punch, three actually as Solomon blocked the first two and weaved away from the third. Solomon grabbed the arm that deflected his first strike and pulled, bringing his opponent closer before snapping his other arm out and throwing a punch to the man's face.

Oliver just caught it, twisted the arm and countered with his own. This time Solomon deflected the punch before pulling his arm free. Oliver just pressed his attack as Solomon went on the defensive. Several jabs were followed by a roundhouse, which quickly evolved in a series of snapping kicks as Solomon put up his guard and seemed to frown. Mid-snap he grabbed the leg and pushed it down before rushing forward, freezing when Oliver slammed his other foot on his thigh to stop his advance. Solomon just powered through it, forcing Oliver off balance as he continued the step and slammed his fist forward. Oliver took the blow with his forearm, grunting slightly as he stepped back to regain his footing.

Solomon advanced. Each punch landing on Oliver's guard as he forced him back and towards a corner. A straight punch hit air as Oliver seemed to vanish. A blow to his blind-spot told Solomon where he had gone. Turning, he made a backhand as Oliver leaned back to dodge before going on the attack. He started with a punch, and when Solomon made to block it he suddenly found himself greeted with the other fist landing in his abs. Oliver barely pulled his arm back before it came up met Solomon's jaw and forced his neck to shoot upward. Without missing a beat though Solomon grabbed the arm and pulled, bringing Oliver forward and slammed his fist into his chest. He followed by releasing the arm and delivering a strike to Oliver's head, missed and hit his blocking arm. Another grab, this time on his shoulder and he pulled down so his knee could meet Oliver's chest. He dropped the leg, shoved Oliver away before snapping his leg at the man's ankle. Another snap and the leg went high, smashing into the man's bicep before dropping to hit his side. Oliver grabbed the leg after the third strike and turned dragging his opponent along as he forced him on the floor.

Solomon rolled as he got some distance, getting to his feet to find Oliver already charging him Oliver brought his arm back, throwing a punch that Solomon made to block before he suddenly dived and grabbed the teens legs and knocked him on the floor. Mounting he threw a barrage of punches that Solomon guarded against. The man grunted as he blocked, every punch threatening to break through. One did and he took it head on, his arm dropping to the side before snapping to Olivers side as he forced him off of him. They both took a minute. Oliver rubbing his side as Solomon, wiped his finger on his cheek and dragged it across the edge of his lip. Solomon moved first, rushing Oliver as the other man blocked, a volley of blows raining down on his forearms before he grabbed one and threw Solomon over his shoulder and onto the floor. He brought a fist down, Solomon rolling to the side to dodge before twisting, his leg snapping to attack the inside elbow before he got to his feet. He lunged stopping again when Oliver stepped on his thigh before powering through it and threw a punch. Oliver countered deflecting the arm before twisting , bringing the teen onto his stomach as he held the arm in the air in a form of lock.

"Come on Sol, that all you got?"

Solomon didn't respond as suddenly moved his arm from the air to the floor, taking Oliver with him the man almost slammed head first into the ground. Solomon got to his feet, dragging the man clinging to his arm with him as though he were a dumbbell and twisted his arm. He slammed Oliver back first into the ground once, then a second time before snapping his arm outward. He threw Oliver off his arm and to the edge of the ring, if not for the ropes he probably would have stumbled off the arena.

"Come on Oli, that all you got?" Oliver regained his footing as he looked at his opponent and smiled.

"Honestly…" Oliver found Solomon already in front of him. A straight punch hitting his gut before it was followed by a jab above his heart. Four more punches landed before Oliver managed to start blocking, the edge of the ring keeping him on his feet as Solomon just went about trying to break his guard. Out of nowhere the Solomon grabbed his arms before forcing them open and slammed his knee into the man's chest again, before returning to both body-shots and head-shots. "I swear…" Oliver took a fist to the chest and retaliated, a strike straight at the side of Solomon's neck before knocking him to the side. He followed by a point-blank blow to the chest to get a bit of room. Then extended the next fist for a second. A shoulder tackle, was followed by a kick to the shin, which snapped to meet the man's chin, and finally ended with a sudden dropkick that sent Solomon to the other side of the arena. This time Solomon hit the opposite rope and seemed to shake his head as he pulled himself from a sudden daze. He just got back up, rolling his shoulders and his neck before stepping forward. "You still hit like a damn train." Oliver stated as Solomon made a noise. "Can't you go easy on a guy?"

"Sorry, still working on that." Solomon stated as he stepped forward and raised his fists. "Still, think you can keep going?"

"We'll it'll be suicide to keep fighting a superman." Solomon flipped him off. "What you don't like Superman?"

"I prefer Captain America to be honest." Oliver released a chuckle as he raised his fists.

"Of course." He retook his stance. "Ready to keep going?"

"I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't."

"Well I would prefer if you didn't bring down the Vault." A woman stated as she walked into the Gym and looked at the two. "Honestly, must you do this now?"

"There's not much else to do Doc." Oliver admitted as he and Solomon lowered their hands and looked at her. Doctor Alberta Wade, she was in charge of Vault 120's medical division. Her job was to keep them healthy after they took their oncoming nap. Woman wasn't a model, but she was a looker. Petite waist, shapely legs, thick lashes. She made that body of hers work for her. "The others are just still getting their check ups and the rest aren't here." Oliver stretched winching slightly as his hand hit his side. "Damn it man I think you bruised an organ."

"I did not." Solomon stated as he gave his counterpart a look. "And don't cry, you can take it."

"I'm probably the only one that can take your punches head on." Solomon had no counter to that, so he just nodded his head before looking back at Doctor Wade. "So, Doc what can we do for you?"

"I heard you two were going to spar, I didn't want you two breaking anything." The woman stated as she looked around. "Really though, Mr. Gabriel, it's your turn for a check up." Solomon sighed as he looked at his counterpart.

"Well you heard her, time for me to go."

"Don't cry when they put the needle in your arm."

"I haven't done that since I was ten." Solomon countered as he stepped out the boxing ring and looked at the Doctor. "So should we do this here or -"

"Go to the medical wing, I have someone already there waiting to administer your check up." "Got it." He looked back at Oliver as he smiled. "Finish this later?"

"Yeah." Oliver stated as he watched his counterpart leave the gym and seemed to settle down in the ring and take a breath. "Oh~ damn." The man stated as he rubbed his side. "I swear to god… It feels like he hits me harder every time."

"I'm amazed you're still standing to be honest." Dr. Wade stated as she pulled herself up and into the ring before unhooking a small first aid kit from her waist. "Given his record, I'd expect you to be unconscious or having to be pulled out of here on a stretcher."

"Yeah well, I've been with Sol ever since we were kids, I know he'd never intentionally put me on a stretcher." Oliver stated before pausing. "Besides I'm built pretty tough, I don't look like this for no reason."

"And yet here you are." Dr. Wade stated as Oliver unzipped the top of his Vault suit and showed off the fresh bruises Solomon had given him. The doctor said no more before starting to work on his wounds frowning slightly as she sat next to the giant of a man. "The funny thing is, at this rate you might become as strong as he is."

"You mean how after being damaged the human body repairs itself and grows stronger right?" Dr. Wade looked at him.

"Huh, I see you aren't just muscle."

"Well I wouldn't say that, the brain is a muscle after all." Oliver stated with a smirk. "Still I don't I don't think I'll catch up to him any time soon. I can break my bones and stress my muscles to their limit get stronger, but Solomon, he was born with a body most would kill for."

Dr. Wade didn't respond, After all Oliver was right, in his own way.

She'd seen their files, Oliver had gone through gallons of blood and sweat to get where he was now. He could bench over 1000 pounds easily, hit the peak of human running speed at 39 mph, and apparently had the brains to back up his muscle. All this had been the product of decades of experimental diets and arduous training methods that had pushed him into real life superhuman.

Solomon though, Solomon had been "specially made". To say he was a "Test Tube child" would be a lie, but that didn't change that he was unique. Birth records put his birth weight at 12,150g, about four times that of the average birth weight of a newborn. It was caused by rare mutations, one in his anterior pituitary gland, which increased production of his growth hormone; where as the second one affected genes - particularly his MSTN gene, which produced a protein that helped control the growth and development of tissues throughout the body. One mutation gave him a skeleton on par with metal, the other gave him a muscle and organ density that were 52 times that of average. The man was practically bulletproof and could rip off a metal door if need be. Despite weighing well over 200 pounds he could run even faster than Oliver.

Oliver had become a real life superman, Solomon was born a monster.

'But.' The Doctor though. 'If we can crack the secrets that led to him developing these abilities, It should be able to improve the EEP experiments at Vault 87.' She told herself as she continued working on Oliver's body.

"Oh well." Oliver stated as he smirked slightly. "He might always be stronger than me, but I can still kick his ass."

"You just said he was stronger than you." Dr. Wade stated.

"Raw power doesn't always decide a fight." Oliver stated. "Most of the time its tactics." The man grinned as he leaned back, letting the doctor continue her work on him.

Honestly, he hated tests. Hated them with a passion. They always felt so… invasive. Having a person looking at his weight was one thing, having them check things like his Blood sugar, his his throat, and all that. That felt like it was an invasion of privacy. Thing was it couldn't really be helped, could it. This was their job, and they had to make certain he was healthy enough to take part in this project.

Still…

"We done yet doc?" Solomon asked as he stretched slightly before looking at the much smaller man.

"Yes Mr. Gabriel. We're done." The Doctor stated as he looked at his counterpart before nodding his head. He quickly turned his attention to the computer terminal as he started typing something in. Solomon just watched, a small frown on his face as he watched the man work. He wasn't concerned about whatever it was that his counterpart was working on, but the terminal itself confused the hell out him.

The Terminal while simple was… old. And it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it was older than he was. The terminal looked like something one would find in a World War 2 exhibit. He should know, he'd been to one. This kind of computer might have been popular in the 1940-1990's, but this was the year 2077, they had drastically improved the models in the past couple decades, and that's not adding in the laptops and wrist mounted computers. Why would they still use something so old?

'Wasn't there something about the old war tech being overly made or something.' He muttered. "Yeah, something about being made to last as long as a cockroach."

"Excuse me Mr. Gabriel?" Solomon just shook his head as he straightened up.

"It's nothing. And please don't call me by my last name." Solomon took to stand, stretching slightly as one of his hands touched the ceiling. "So, we done here, doc?"

"Yes Mr. Gabriel, we're done." The doctor stated Solomon took to leave. "If you see, Mr. Albedo, please let him know he's next."

"On it Doc." Solomon didn't break his stride as he left the medical room, his counterpart just going back to typing something on his terminal.

As for Solomon, he just walked down the halls of the Vault, making for the main floor. In boredom he raised a hand to the ceiling, letting it drag along the steel for a moment before finally lowering it. Finding the main floor was easy, and it was here he just found himself looking around, taking in Vault 120's design. From what he understood, the Vaults would most likely share a similar design. 25 sub-floors, each holding up to 8 rooms.

"Lets see, 25 x 8… that means there should be 200 rooms in total."

From what he had read in the file, most vaults were more or less equipped for sustaining life for a number of generations to come. They had rec rooms and schoolhouse, water purifiers, subterranean gardens; everything needed to survive in the fall of civilization. This one though, This Vault had dropped things like the classrooms in order to make room for more med-bay and a science labs, and of course the armory.

See Vault 120 wasn't built for Project Safehouse, well not the Project Safehouse the public knew about.

Solomon didn't know all the details but he understood the main details; Project Safehouse, the original Project Safehouse didn't start in the year 2054, it started in the year 1945, after the Fat Man and Little Boy were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After they were dropped and the Cold War began, nations started building up nuclear arsenals left and right, pointing them in all possible directions. They knew that when the Cold War turned "hot", any outcome that followed would likely leave the war without a winner. So, the US and likely the other nations started Project Safehouse so that they would have at least a handful of elite soldiers and intelligence agents to carry on the fight after a nuclear Armageddon. At the time the bunkers back then weren't close to being finished, and thankfully the a man made apocalypse had been pushed aside as humanity started using atomic power for energy.

In its own way, Armageddon had been canceled do to pure dumb luck.

Still, after the United Nations collapsed, that old scare came back, and Vault-Tec was just what the US needed to continue Project Safehouse, just more openly now, well mostly anyway.

More people would survive, but in this Vault, and who knew how many others across the world. There were men and women ready to continue a fight to restore their nation after the world was saturated in atomic Hellfire.

"Why can't we all just get along?" Solomon grumbled as he scratched his head in annoyance.

"Solo!" Pausing in his walk the giant of a man caught sight of another figure walking up to him. Austin Harold; the man barely hit 6ft.

"Austin." The giant greeted him as he walked forward and looked at his counterpart. "You get your test done?"

"Yeah, not I'm just wandering the Vault like you." The man stated as he looked up at the giant. "So, what do you think?"

"About the Vault or the Suits?" Solomon asked. "Honestly the Vaults not that bad, plenty of space and I don't have to hunch over all the time, but the suit?" He pulled at the fabric he was wearing. "Honestly It's a little tight in certain areas, and I'd prefer my old clothes. Think they'll let me get out of these?" Austin shrugged as he started walking beside his counterpart.

"Not sure if they'd like that, I mean they actually had to tailor that thing for you."

"Yeah I know." The two walked for a minute in silence as they reached the stairway.

"So, this nuclear scare got everyone riled up." Austin stated. "Can't say I blame em though."

"Well it is a scary time to be alive."

"How you feel about all this?" Solomon shrugged.

"Me; I can't wait." He faked happiness. "I mean, it's the end of the world, and I get to sleep through it. So yeah, I can't wait." He stated before looking at his counterpart. "But seriously, I feel like I'm still trying to wrap my head around this. The real objective for us being here, having to rebuild the US." He shook his head. "Hard to believe it honestly." He made a noise. "And being part of this… It's hard to believe."

"I know." Austin agreed. "But we gotta do what we gotta do." Austin nudged him. But we'll pull through, I mean, we have Hercules on our side here." Solomon released a humored smirk. "Hercules huh? Careful these nicknames might go to my head."

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Austin stated as they two made for the next floor. "So you hungry? Cafe's got a nice spread for us before we turn in."

"I could go for a bite before bed." Solomon admitted before patting his stomach. "I haven't eaten since I got here."

"Me neither." Austin made to say more before an alarm went off. "What the?"

"The alarm?" Solomon thought as he turned seeing several others already running in their direction and past them. "Shit, doesn't that mean…"

"It's started." Austin grumbled as he took off. Solomon followed, grunting something incoherent as he followed after him.

From the intercoms they heard a broadcast, someone mentioning where detonations had taken place.

New York.

Pennsylvania.

"This is just the start." Solomon whispered as he followed the others to where they'd be sleeping. In accordance with scenario MX-CN91; the president would no doubt order a retaliatory strike - one that he'd probably already done. "Damn." Solomon whispered as he looked at the others.

This room was no doubt excluded from all the other Vaults. It was filled with tubes of sorts; cryogenic chambers. An old cold war rumor and myth of science fiction, one that the US had either managed to make reality on their own or perhaps reverse-engineered from stolen technology. Regardless of its origins, this is where they would sleep till the nuclear holocaust passed. Solomon looked to Oliver and any other day he would have snickered at the sight of him; that vault suit had finally caved under the stress of containing those bulging muscles, tearing itself apart. He paid it little mind though, just gripping his cryogenic tube and stepped in. Solomon made to follow his example, stopping when he looked around at the number of empty tubes.

He turned, looking at one of the doctors before pulling them aside. "Where are the others, are they still on route?"

"Yes." The doctor stated. "But I don't think they'll make it." Solomon made to counter but found nothing leaving his lips. It it had already started, then the chances of them making it was… slim. Without a word he released the doctor before looking back in his Cryogenic tube.

"You getting in?" Austin stated as he found his chamber and made a noise. Solomon just glanced at his counterpart before taking a breath, and stepped pulls the door closed over him with a slight 'tsking' noise.

"Resident secured."

"I guess this is it." Solomon whispered. "Armageddon's here, and I have to sleep through it." He told himself as the chamber started up.

"Occupant Vitals: Normal."

"Procedure complete in...5...4…"

"Wonder how much things are gonna change." He muttered as he closed his eyes.

"3...2..1…"

Two hours; two long hours, that's how long the nuclear exchange lasted between America, China, the Soviet Union and every other nuclear-capable nation across the globe. At the end of those two hours the world fell silent. The global superpowers were destroyed, reduced to ash in light of the great conflict. The amount of life lost in what would be remembered as the Great War is both uncountable and undocumented; and yet thanks to the Vaults, the vestiges of humanity remained, locked away for many years and even centuries opening only when the world baptized in radiation became inhabitable once more.

But as the man-made Armageddon scarred the Earth, and the dream of forging a new world on the ashes of the old sank into the hearts of the men and women; few took the time to consider how the new world may treat them.

Fewer still questioned just what kilo/megaton yield the bombs possessed.

And fewer still questioned just how hard the nuclear bombs hit.

Ok... this here, this is something I've been considering working on for a while now. I'm not sure if this will actually be an interesting read or not, but here's the start of it. Fallout Wayward Son. I'll continue this in my spare time, but I'm not certain if it'll actually catch anyone's attention. Still I love the fallout series and in continuing this I hope it does the universe justice.

Anyway the idea for this actually came from a Tabletop game called Sleeper: Orphans of the Cold War. Long story short; your put in the shoes of a cold war sleeper agent created to rebuild the world after a nuclear war... one that never came. Well from that idea I figured "why not" and since Vault 111 actually had Cryogenic chambers (though for social experiments) I thought about if few other vaults might have them as well but for other uses beyond experimentation.

Regardless I'm not sure how well or if I should incorporate more elements from that game, but I'll see what I can do. If not, then I'll just step away from it.

As for Solomon Gabriel; The genetic mutations he - well one of them is known as myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy. I learned about it from this Manga called Kengan Ashura, and it causes reduced body fat and increased muscle size. When I actually looked to see if it was real, I found it affected individuals with twice the usual amount of muscle mass in their bodies and increased muscle strength. The second thing Solomon has isn't named as far as I know, but it's a real mutation that makes the bones harder than normal So yeah Solomon is a basically superhuman, but he's not Superman (unbreakable and unstoppable), but he will be hard to put down in a fight, even if that fight involves Super Mutants.

That's all I can really say about that for now, so I hope you find this even remotely interesting, if not let me know, and if there's something I should work on, feel free to make me aware of it.

Later, I'll see in the wasteland.