Authors Notes:
Two followers and a like in two days? That's a new record and I'm touched, I'll try to keep writing before my spark dies again.
I Don't Own Fallout 3 or the song by Guns and Roses, just sets the feel for most of the chapter nicely.
WIOWIOWIOWIOWIOWIOWIOWIO
Chapter 1: Welcome to The Jungle
It took me a month at least to fully master my cybernetics and the Zeta weaponry. Zeta is what the aliens call their species and under normal circumstances, it would take a year tops to fully understand and master how to use their technology. Thanks to my brain being integrated with my Pipboy, I was able to learn and retain information at a swift pace.
My new limbs made me much stronger, agile and enduring. Having a computer part of my brain allowed me to access the capacity of my brain power; though not without taxing me afterward.
I installed a few upgrades into my Pipboy that may prove useful. Like a hacking and coding matrix, and since most of my body is machine and all is connected to my mind and Pipboy, I can attempt to hack anything that is electronic by simply directly touching it.
Speaking of touch, I used the Epoxy liquid that the aliens use to repair their gear to make myself a synthetic skin to cover my cybernetic limbs. Though it isn't obvious, the skin doesn't have any hair or nails and the shade of grey would make people think I have lead poisoning.
My left optical could zone in on a focused target at 600 yards, added to the night vision and data analysis for Pipboy input.
Me and Sally explored the ship in my spare time, got stuck in the trash shoots for a bit, Sally kill me if she knew I told anyone or recorded the events like this. She's a good kid; she's from before the bombs fell so despite her physical age, she's older than me chronologically.
I found a stealth suit in the cargo bay; records indicate they got it from a test subject they picked from before the war. The audio logs were that of a Chinese officer, after my language matrix adapted to the language, I could safely deduce he was a stealth agent from the Battle of Anchorage, part of a unit called the Crimson Dragoons.
The suit was impressive to say the least but lacked any way to protect the wearer if spotted and most in the Wastelands would be on edge at all times, so I needed to modify the suit.
I always try to avoid violence where possible and it's much easier to get by someone via sneaking rather than alerting everyone around and ending up being shot up.
I'll be alone down there, so I'll need protection and the upper hand if I want to survive. Though my luck hasn't always been the best, I made due and the technology on-board will allowed me to augment the armor.
I added some alien alloy plating to the shins, shoulder and torso. The helmets glass visor would be an issue if someone decided to take a shot at my head. I had to make a helmet from scratch; I drew inspiration from those old comic books and made a helmet that would be able to fold up to save space and be hidden when required and could fold back on and cover my entire head when it was needed.
I asked the doctor to help with its creation, so the suit could link to my thought matrix so I could control it better. The doctor added a feature so that when I willed it, the suit would mold to my epoxy synth skin and the suit wouldn't be able to come off without my consent. We had to rework the stealth system since the suit was altered so vastly, but after a few failed attempts we finally got the stealth feature working. The helmet's visor would aid my left optic in its functioning and allow my right eye to see like my left could without replacing it. (The suit is based off the Reinforced Chinese Stealth Suit by Shake and/or gaijune and HiRes Chinese Stealth Armor by eidospsogos, Darker Version on and Nexus mods. The variation is that of the Assault Armor since I like its shoulders best, with The Assault helm with a Night Visor. Mod comes with a barrier which shows as a blue or red electrical discharge like on the Tesla Power Armor. Solus's won't have this feature since the plating is made of the same metal his bones are made of so a force field is unnecessary, their alien alloy is tougher than Tungsten; Earth's strongest metal.)
At long last, I was ready to return to Earth while the Zeta repaired the ship. I suited up and gathered the basic necessities; Radiation medicine and Biogel that was much more efficient than any stimpak, water with some rations and a lot of ammo for my upgraded Atomizer now the Atomic Pulveriser, Sniper Rifle for long range and a Silenced 10mm Pistol. I kept a combat knife just in case I run out of ammo, lucky for me; the Pulveriser's ammo is almost weightless and very powerful.
I bid Sally goodbye, she made me promise to call as often as I could so I wouldn't forget about her. Guess not being able to properly communicate with the Zeta was an issue, so she would get lonely, I also made it very clear to the Zeta that Sally is not to be harmed in anyway and those who dared would pay dearly.
I double checked everything and I teleported back to Earth.
When I landed, I wasn't where they picked me up; back at Vault 101. I checked my map positioning and found I was pretty far northeast of Vault 101. Guessed that I should head back to where I started if I want any chance of picking up Dad's trail, as cold as it may be seeing as I have been hosted by aliens for the last few months and I'm far behind.
I headed southwest and quickly discovered my luck had not improved. Attacked by a massive mutated bear like creature and a few malfunctioning rogue robots, I made quick work of all thanks to my enhancements.
Around dusk, I caught sight of a massive structure, shaped like a person but in a comical style, I used my left optic to do some recon. What I saw horrified me…
Clear as daylight from my hidden position; over 200 yards away, I saw men beat and kill others who didn't put up any form of resistance. Closer inspection showed me all those who were submissive all wore these metal collars with these red lights on them. I saw one of these captive try to run and before he could get 10 feet from his captives, his collar exploded and took his head with it.
I gripped my hand so tight, the rock I was holding onto for support burst into dust beneath my crushing grip. I looked at the dust fall from my gloved cyber hand, that's when it occurred to me that I was no longer a simple human with limit, my limits were broken and now I must rediscover where they are by doing something to make a difference.
X-X-X
Paradise Falls
Night had fallen on the slaver city and as usual; nothing eventful outside of the failed escape attempt and new shipments happened. The two guards sat back and stared into the dark wastes while drinking beer, seeing as no one dared attack Paradise Falls anymore.
That ended that night.
While leaning back, one slaver swore he heard something.
Crunch…
He stood up to get a better look, his combat shotgun ready for any intruders.
"What's got you so worked up?" The other guard asked his shift partner.
"Could have sworn I heard something…" He looked onward and saw nothing, and then a Molerat came running toward the pair.
Without even flinching, the guard unloaded one round and the Molerat's head blew into bits. He sat down seeing as that was taken care of. He took another sip of his beer, completely unaware of the transparent shadow that loomed over his shoulder.
"Nice night out…?" A hushed robotic voice said from behind the slaver; right by his ear, he felt a cold blade scrap his skin as if to shave his beard. He didn't move a muscle for his shotgun.
"Anything useful to share?" The voice asked so low only he could hear it. He reached for his side where an odd gun sat. The shadow took the weapon to inspect it. A Mesmetron; a weapon that disrupts brainwaves and dazes a victim, explains how they enslave so many people.
The shadow pulled his knife back and jabbed it into the neck of the slaver, a quick and merciful death was more than most of these bastards deserved.
The shadow disposed of the other guard before dropping his invisibility and making his way to the front gate.
He stopped to examine the body of the poor slave who tried to escape. Solus found a piece of the collar still intact, he grasped it in his right hand and sent a bio-electrical scan through its circuitry to see if he could find and exploit a weakness in the collars programming.
He stood up and looked up at the lights that lit Paradise Falls.
"Time for them to learn how it feels to be helpless." His tone was cold and wrathful as he devised his plan.
Inside the walls of Paradise Falls, a young woman looked up at the crescent moon from the balcony of the Slaver Boss's place, trying desperately to remember anything from a time before she wore the collar that had defined so much of her being. Being a slave for most of her life and being basically brainwashed into being nothing more had robbed her of almost all of her memories and emotions.
She was a slave and bodyguard to the boss of the slavers, she served obediently because it was all she knew and could do.
Her thoughts were cut short when the lights suddenly all shut off and everyone was left in the dark. She heard screams of confusion that soon turned to panic.
Gunfire lit up were slavers shot at something, she looked closely and could barely make out a faint outline of person. He returned fire with what looked like an energy weapon but the bolts were like nothing she had ever seen.
Some slavers lost limbs that resulted in fast haemorrhaging that killed most in less than a minute, others were reduced to dust by the bright sliver plasma like bolts.
The woman drew her katana that she favoured for close combat. Most slaves would run or hide instead of aiding their masters, but years of service and programming had taught the woman not to disobey the masters.
She sprung from the balcony and rushed the silhouette of the attacker, she nearly caught him by surprise before he dodged her strike and leapt back to avoid further assaults.
When he saw the collar around her neck, he deactivated his stealth cloak, but before he could even try to reason with the woman she attacked again and didn't relent.
Solus used his armguards to deflect her strikes and avoid hurting her in turn, but when she leapt with a downward strike aimed to take his head off, he reacted and kicked her in her gut and sent her back.
Before she could get up, he was upon her and had grabbed he collar and held her in a firm grasp so she couldn't move.
The woman looked into the black metal visor of the helmet, where she thought his eyes may be. The silent tension was agonizing; she had witnessed what he was capable of and awaited her fate.
Clip
The collar released its locked grip and she fell back as that was all holding her weight.
The woman looked in shock as the armoured man stood above her, holding her collar. She felt her neck to see if it were true and found no metal chocker around her neck.
The sound of rapid rotation broke the trance as a remaining slaver took aim with a mini-gun. Solus grabbed the woman and ducked behind the ruined remains of a car, shielding the woman with his armoured body so she wouldn't get hit.
The mini unloaded bullets for about a minute or two before the slaver ran dry, all the while the woman clung onto her saviour like he was her life preserve and in this case, he was.
When the slaver attempted to reload, Solus peaked out and aimed with his Pulveriser. His V.A.T.S. aided optics analysed the target in a split second and located the perfect spot. Solus shot and hit the knee of the slaver, he fell from the impact. Solus followed with another shot to the head and the slaver fell to pieces as mere broken atomic matter.
With danger averted, he turned his attention to the quivering woman in his arms.
"You okay?" His robotic voice seemed to unnerve her so he willed his helmet to open and show his face so she could see he wasn't a threat. She looked at him with surprise, for his age or the fact he wasn't a monster he didn't know, but he saw tears in her eyes.
The woman was of Asian descent for what it was worth, her eyes and style of dress said that much. Her hair was black and not styled in any fashion except to not be in her face, but it wasn't unkempt either. She didn't seem to be more than a few years older than him. She didn't bear any sign that most slaves carried but her eyes told a story worth a lifetime of suffering.
"What's your name?" He asked the woman.
She didn't respond at first but she soon calmed herself enough to respond. "I'm Clover."
"It's nice to meet you; Clover. You're free and safe now; you should leave before this place is nothing but a bad memory." Solus smiled and gave her a pat on the shoulder before turning to the Slave Pen and doing the same thing he did to her.
Solus would approach a person and simply touch their collars and after moment the collar would release. The freed slaves ran for it, the children offered their gratitude and mentioned a place called Little Lamplight where he would be welcome. He even freed the poor soul in The Box so the girl of the children would leave with her friends.
When Solus turned to where Clover was, he found she was gone. The slaves told him of the leader named Eulogy.
"Time to pay Mister Eulogy a visit." Solus said to himself.
When he walked into Eulogy's pad, he discovered someone had already beaten him to Eulogy.
He found Eulogy on his…well, kneecaps, seeing as his lower legs were lying near the door. The man was cut up pretty badly and bleeding everywhere a he whimpered for mercy.
Clover walked around Eulogy like a predator mocking its prey, her katana, dress and face were red with Eulogy's blood.
"What's that Eulogy? You talking back to me?!" Clover antagonized the man as he moaned in pain.
Clover hit him with the pommel of her sword.
"I thought I told you to only speak when spoken too!" Clover was venting all her hatred and anger at Eulogy while Solus just stood back. As far as he was concerned, this was justice a long time coming for everything Eulogy had done to the people he enslaved and Clover.
Clover threw her katana aside and began punching Eulogy with her bare-fists; she knocked him down and continued to consecutively beat the living hell out of the man. She beat him relentlessly with no break for a few minutes while screaming.
"You Like That?! And That?! I KNOW YOU DO! COME ON, SHOW ME SOME SPUNK!" Clover continued to beat Eulogy into a bloody pulp for 10 to 15 minutes before Solus decided to intervene.
He grabbed the woman from behind and pulled her off, all the time screaming and struggling.
"LET ME GO, YOU BASTARD! HIS NOT FINISHED YET!" Clover reeved trying to get loose of Solus's hold on her.
"Clover his dead, you killed him already. You've just been beating up a corpse for 10 minutes." Solus tried to reason with her, she was resisting less but she still had fight left in her.
"Well I still have to cut him up and burn the pieces, just to be sure." Clover tried to rationalize her remaining frustration to continue the pointless beating, but was succumbing to her saviour's calming tone as he used her name with no ill intention or ulterior motive.
"You've killed him and you did it with your own two hands, that's more than I can say. It's not necessary to descend to his level of barbarism just to vent unneeded anger." The words Solus told himself when he worked as Vault 101's Loyalty Inspector finally made her relent.
She crumbled into a weeping mess, just letting all her emotions go, she clung onto her saviour; whose name she still didn't know.
After she cried herself out, she turned to her saviour who waited patiently for her to finish crying, he didn't leave her alone to her weeping like most in the Wastes would.
"What's your name?" Clover finally decided to take her mind off recent event.
Solus didn't respond at first but did respond after a second. "Solus. Solus Omega."
"Well, Solus Omega, I thank you. I have nothing to give but…" Solus decided to cut her off.
"You don't need to give me anything; no one should live the way you and the others were living. You should leave; I'm going to blow this place up so no one can continue their work." Solus looked over the desk and found a Vault Boy Bobblehead and decided to bag it.
X-X-X
Clover took her time and collected her things and left. I continued to loot the place of anything of value, ammo and bottle caps which I figured was currency in the Wasteland.
I even paid a visit to the Slaver's barracks and found a Vault Jumpsuit number 77, the holotape indicated that the Slavers feared whoever it might have belonged to so I decided to bag it. I raided the weapon supply and found some useful tools, such as a Plasma grenade. After tampering enough with Zeta technology, I knew how to use a Power Cell to increase the power and range of the grenade.
I searched top to bottom for any survivors, the Slaver's Medic didn't attack so I spared her but advised her to leave this place and life behind. She accepted and told me she would be heading for Megaton, a settlement to the south, it was close to Vault 101 so I decided to head there after I was done.
After making sure no one was left in Paradise Falls, I armed the grenade, threw it over the gate and ran as far as I could. When the grenade detonated, the night sky was lit up by a silver green energy wave that left no trace of the Slaver town beside the statue that was just out of the wave's radius.
I admired my handiwork and then followed the remains of the road heading south.
I didn't encounter anything of significance till morning. I decided to take a break to rest then when the sun rose; I continued my walk to Megaton, but ran into a group wearing red and black Power Armor.
Calling themselves the Outcasts, Outcasts of The Brotherhood of Steel. I didn't know much about either, but when they took a shine to my gear, things turned ugly.
X-X-X
"We will be confiscating that tech you've got, local." They didn't even ask nicely or even try to hide their obvious bitterness toward someone not among their ranks."
"Excuse me?" Solus was taken aback by the blatant request of a command.
"You heard me, Wastelander. Our mission is to locate and secure all advanced technology, to keep it from the wrong hands and secure the future of humanity." The one pointing the laser rifle said it like he rehearsed it in front of a mirror trying to convince himself about that bullshit.
"And who says you're the right hands?" Solus's comeback threw them aback and only seemed to agitate the already itchy trigger fingered zealots.
They all switched the safety off on their weapons and took aim.
"Last warning, scum! You have no idea how to use that gear, we will ensure humanities survival with its safeguarding!" Again with this bullshit, and their wrong about another thing.
Since these assholes wouldn't back down, neither would Solus. He willed his stealth cloak to activate and he vanished from sight.
The Outcasts were taken by surprise.
"Think I don't know how to use this technology? I made the suit, I know better than anyone how to use it and I made it for surviving the Wasteland, not for your bullshit cause." Solus mocked them as he circled them so they wouldn't be able to track his movements.
Out of frustration, one of the Outcasts started shooting his laser rifle blindly. Solus decided to return the favour seeing as they started the fight, but he intended to finish it. He pulled his Pulveriser and shot at the armoured opponent.
It took a few shots before his power bolts managed to penetrate the armor and strike the man within the Power Armor.
'4 shots till the armor gives, so five shots each.' Solus thought to himself as the Outcast started shooting at him and he ducked behind a rock for cover.
He snuck around the other side and flanked their left and shot again as they shot at the rock he used for cover. He managed to get a good shot at one's head and nail him in the eye with one shot and unload the rest at another one.
When the third one was dust and he was about to turn to the last one, he heard a clank at his feet to find a pulse grenade.
BIIIIZZZZPPP!
His body acted like a conductor with the metal that made up the majority of his body. Luckily his Pipboy systems were unfazed from the shock, but his stealth cloak had deactivated and his metal limbs had locked up.
Still as a boulder in a kneeling crouched position with his back facing his opponent; he was a sitting duck. The last Outcast solider who wore a robe approached him and pointed a plasma pistol straight at his head.
"Trash like you, don't deserve to be in possession of such advanced technology. You only abuse it like the degenerate you Wastelanders' are." The Outcast mocked with a smug look on his face.
"He's not trash." Said a voice from behind the Outcast, followed by the cock of a gun.
"You are." The sound of shotgun went off and the Outcast fell to the side missing his head. Solus regained control of his limbs and turned around.
Now standing before him, holding a sawed off shotgun was Clover with a playful grin on her face.
"I had that handled, but thanks all the same." Solus stood up.
"Getting shot in the head at point-blank range? Yeah, you had everything under control." Clover mocked with a coy smile.
To prove a point, he grabbed the plasma pistol and shot himself in the forearm guard. Clover almost screamed that he was mad, but halted when she saw only a slight burn mark on the surface with no real damage. Clover mouth hung open in awe at the demonstration.
"I made this suits armor plating and helmet out of a very tough metal; it'll take a lot more than a plasma pistol to get through this armor." Solus explained while Clover could only nod.
"Why are you following me?" Solus's helmet unfolded to reveal his full head and face as he turned the tables on Clover.
She looked down, as if looking for the proper words to say.
"Well, I've got nowhere else to go. I've been a slave for as long as I can remember, parts that I can remember are very vague." Clover explained, she looked to see Solus gesturing for her to continue and he'll listen.
"Now that I'm free, I don't know what to do; all I have is my name and no purpose. You not only freed me but you saved me from getting killed in the crossfire and from myself when I gave Eulogy what he deserved. I owe you more than gratitude, let me help you, it's the least I can do. Give me a purpose so I can find myself. I can be your bodyguard, your backup or even your lover." She didn't even blush at the last part, which told Solus that she was dead serious.
"As flattering as that last part is, I'm not that type of guy. But I'll settle for having a friend for company and some backup when I need it." Solus offered and Clover smiled in gratitude.
"That and I could use someone who knows the Wastes since I'm kinda… fresh out of the Vault." Clovers eyes shot wide open at his confession.
"You're kidding?" She asked with a chuckle.
"Fraid not." Solus replied while scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, while smiling awkwardly.
X-X-X
Since my armor attracted the attention of the Outcasts, it was probably a good idea to use something to hide my gear when I'm not in definite need of it. Though the Outcasts are assholes, they do have good taste. I took the robe like outfit that the guy who Clover killed, and I made a duster like coat out of it.
I looked like I wore a long black trench coat with some metal body armor underneath; I kept my helmet withdrawn so it would complete the look and not draw too much attention.
Clover informed of all the basics I needed to know about the Wastes. What the more dangerous creatures are called, the main towns and settlements, the biggest contenders for control like the Enclave and The Brotherhood of Steel whom haven't measured up well in my book so far. The way things work from place to place like laws aren't really that straight forward, not so different from life in the Vault if you look at it a certain way.
We walked and talked for a few hours before we reached the metal gates of Megaton, they parted to allow entry.
Since this was the closest settlement to Vault 101, this was the most likely place my dad would have been or might have passed through. At that point I was just walking blind with no purpose, but soon I would have I would have purpose for I didn't know it then, the Wastes was in desperate need of someone like me at that point in time.
WIOWIOWIOWIOWIOWIOWIOWIO
Authors Notes:
To those who might have caught it, I left a God of War 4 reference in the previous chapter, a quote from Mimir at the point where Jonas is mentioned. I thank all those who are following this story and I hope this gives you a new or reignites your appreciations for the Fallout series, after this story is done, I'm thinking of doing my own Fallout: New Vegas Fanfiction. I'll try and keep the flames of creativity going as long as I can. This marks my 5th work but only one is complete, my inspiration is like Karma, a fickle woman with issues. Till next… Fare Thee Well.