Chapter 33 - Viruses & Vaults


"Hey, Ruby..." Jaune began, looking down at the drowsy figure slowly stirring next to him. "You, uh... you okay?"

"Jaune?" Ruby asked, as his voice roused her back to consciousness. Then she blinked, and looked around her, before sighing and cursing. "I did it again, didn't I?"

"Yup." Jaune answered simply, deciding not to make a fuss about her being in his bunk again. After all, Pyrrha and Yang used to do it all the time, not to mention most of his sisters. Instead, he simply stroked her head lightly, worsening her bed head, and waited for her to continue.

"Damn it." Ruby cursed, looking away from Jaune, unable to meet his eyes.

"Hey, it's okay." Jaune reassured the older girl. "I understand."

Ruby couldn't reply, since that was both true and false. She'd felt his soul, his emotions, when he'd poured his Aura into her.

She knew that he genuinely did understand that she was still hurting about her father's loss, about the loss of the only person she'd really been able to rely on, for a while.

She also knew that he didn't understand that she was seeking it out from him, finding his very presence comforting.

Instead, she just sighed, and ranted: "I'm supposed to be stronger than this. Ever since we showed up with Sarah, it feels like I'm being expected to live up to some unreachable standard, as the daughter of the legendary James Ironwood! I didn't even know he was legendary!"

"Ruby... you threw up on my boots when we first met." Jaune pointed out, eyes twinkling with mischievous delight. "It's a bit late for that, Vomit Girl."

"Jaune!" Ruby whined.

"Well, jokes aside... I do understand that, kind of." Jaune said, propping himself up on the bunk. "My great-great-grandfather was a hero during the Great War, you know. And when I took his sword and shield, and ran off to go to Beacon... it felt like I was failing to live up to his legacy."

"Really?" Ruby asked, sitting up as well. He'd told her a lot about his world, but she hadn't asked about his family, remembering the look on his face, when he admitted that he'd missed them. More to the point, she found it hard to believe that Jaune had considered himself a failure, in the same way that she found it hard to believe that Jaune had been considered the bottom of his class.

"Yup. My family... didn't want me to be a Huntsman, so I never received any training." Jaune admitted, remembering Initiation and everything after that, less than two years ago, two lifetimes ago. "I didn't know anything about fighting, history, Dust... hell, I don't think I've actually ever won a fight, now that I think about it. I was basically the biggest failure in the school..."

"... you, Mr. Invincible the Dragonslayer, a failure at combat school?" Ruby just stared at the boy. Finally, she asked: "So... what changed?"

"I did." Jaune said with a sad smile, remembering how much it had taken, how much of a wedge had been driven between him and his team, all because he'd been unwilling to admit that anything was wrong, that he needed help, for so long. "I messed up badly, and someone tried to hurt my partner using me. But after that, I realized that I had to get stronger. I owed it to my team to be the best I could be. It helped that I had the best partner in Beacon, of course..."

"And who was your partner?" Ruby leaned forward, curious.

"Her name was Pyrrha Nikos." Jaune's smile became a happy one, one that made Ruby feel a faint pang in her chest. "She was... patient, kind, polite, understanding, fond of chocolate, had this small smile that she'd try to hide... and incredible in every way. Better than the best partner I could have ever hoped for. She was also, apparently, a four-time champion of a fighting tournament, though I still don't know much about that. She didn't like to talk much about it, for some reason. But she's the one who unlocked my Aura, and taught me everything I know about using my sword and shield."

Ruby fought down an odd sensation of unhappiness, as she instead asked: "Do... do you think you could help me be less of a failure, and more like you, Jaune?"

"Sure thing, Vomit Girl." Jaune smiled down gently at her, remembering when Ruby Rose had told him he wasn't allowed to be a failure. At least Ruby Ironwood was willing to ask for help. "And you can help me with power armor too, while we're at it."

"It's really not that hard, Jaune. Just work with the armor, let it do the work for you; don't force it, don't fight the servos." Ruby repeated what Star-Paladin Cross had taught them, over the past week they'd been at the Citadel.

Jaune just sighed. Even in death, there was no escape from learning, it seemed. Changing the subject, he asked: "So... think we'll hear from Sarah soon?"

"Hopefully..." Ruby replied, before admitting: "Honestly, it's still a bit hard to believe, you know?"

Jaune nodded, remembering the conversation he and Ruby had been dragged into, when they'd first emerged from the sewers.

"This doesn't leave the room." Elder Owyn Lyons, a balding old man with a bushy white beard and mustache in blue robes, had said in a grave tone, as soon as Sarah had brought Ruby and Jaune into the room, and Star-Paladin Cross moved to guard the doors.

"Is it about the Enclave, Father?" Sarah had asked, deciding not to bring up Jaune's... unique abilities, until the blood test results came in.

"It is. Firstly, Scribe Rothchild, if you could please explain who the Enclave are?" Elder Lyons confirmed, and gestured to another balding man, this one lacking any facial hair and in a red robe.

Scribe Reginald Rothchild nodded at his old friend and Elder, and began: "The Enclave were... are an old foe, ones we faced in California, over 30 years ago.

"They are an organization that fancy themselves the successors of the Pre-War government. How true that is, we have been unable to determine, but we do know is that they certainly possess a level of technology and resources that would have been expected of the Pre-War Army."

"But we defeated them, right?" Sarah had asked, frowning.

Elder Lyons merely shook his head, having been around during the conflict. "When we faced them... it was the first time, in the history of the entire Brotherhood, that we found ourselves outmatched on both a technological and military level. Their power armor was better than ours, their guns were better than ours, and they had more of both than we did, and that's even before you factor in their Vertibirds."

"We only defeated the Enclave because we had help." Scribe Rothchild had added. "The New California Republic, Arroyo... even a Super Mutant named Marcus, we all allied together, and fought them back. In the end, we only won because a tribal from Arroyo and some brave souls snuck onboard their control station, an oil rig in the Pacific, and overloaded it's reactor, decapitating their leadership."

"And now they're here..." Sarah had murmured, as she contemplated everything she'd just learned. It was one thing hearing stories about the bogeyman in her childhood, it was another learning that the bogeyman was real, and had almost won a war against the Brotherhood before she'd even been born.

"But why Project Purity?" Ruby had asked, with tears welling up in her eyes. "What do they want with my father's work?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Dr. Madison Li had spoken up, as Jaune had embraced Ruby. "If they controlled the water, they'd control the Wasteland."

"That is certainly one way to look at it." Elder Lyons had said, stroking his beard. "But our records show that they may have more sinister motives."

"What do you mean?" Jaune had asked, confused, trying to follow their entire conversation.

"This information came from the Arroyo tribal who destroyed the Enclave's control station." Scribe Rothchild had explained in a serious tone, looking back down at his terminal. "The Enclave were working on a modified version of the Forced Evolutionary Virus, designed to wipe out all humans and human-based mutants. Apparently, they succeeded, and produced 250,000 gallons of it, planning on releasing it into the Earth's jetsreams and letting the wind currents do the rest. If they'd unleashed the virus as they'd planned..."

"All humans and human-based mutants would have been killed in under a month." Elder Lyons had finished somberly.

There had been a stunned silence, as those not in the know struggled to process what they'd just learned.

Finally, Jaune had spoken up: "So... you think they want to do the same thing here?"

"They were genocidal maniacs, when we first met them in California." Elder Lyons had replied, before pointing out: "Seeing as our first contact with them here had them seizing Project Purity and killing innocent scientists, I don't see any reason to assume their intentions are peaceful."

"It's certainly possible, if they released a virus into the purifier..." Dr. Madison Li had murmured, quickly going through the calculations in her head. It didn't look good. The entire Tidal Basin would be contaminated if they did so...

"We can't let them do that!" Ruby had shouted. She would not let her father's life's work be twisted, perverted in such a way!

"And we won't, Ms. Ironwood." Elder Lyons had tried to calm her down. "But firstly, we need to know how close your father and his team were to getting Project Purity functional."

"We'd just made a breakthrough..." Dr. Li admitted hollowly. "All we needed was to install a GECK into the purifier, and it would have worked."

The people in the room had blanched, as they realized just how close they'd been to handing the Enclave the means of their own destruction.

"Well then, we just need to get all these GECKs things in the region, and they won't be able to get it up and running." Jaune had pointed out.

"Good thinking, Jaune." Sarah had nodded. "Dr. Li, what was your plan for finding a GECK?"

"Well, James was planning on sending Ruby and Jaune on an expedition into the old Vault-Tec Headquarters, to try and find information on the Vaults in the region, see if one of them had a GECK issued to them."

"Oh, we're in luck for once, then." Rothchild had reassured them, as he'd looked back down at his terminal. "We carried out an expedition to Vault-Tec years ago. We should still have the information in our archives."

"Very good, Rothchild. Find out where the GECKs are located. Ms. Ironwood, Mr. Arc, once we have the information, would you mind-"

"Owyn, you need to look at this." Scribe Rothchild's voice cut in urgently, as he stared in horror at his terminal.

"What is it, Reginald- steel preserve us..." Elder Lyons had walked over to the scribe's terminal, and looked down at it.

"What's wrong, Father?" Sarah had found herself feeling worried at the uncharacteristic behavior both men were displaying.

"Sarah, I need you to take your squad and secure the GECK ASAP." Elder Lyons barked out, regaining his composure.

"Wait, what about us?" Jaune had spoken up.

"I'm not going to sit by and do nothing while-"

"Our forces are reporting contact all over the region." Elder Lyons had announced gravely. "The Enclave are landing soldiers and pushing us back throughout the entire Capital Wasteland."

"A virus that would have killed all people in the Wasteland... I just can't wrap my head around it, you know?" Ruby spoke, bringing Jaune back out of his memories.

"Vomit Girl, you're living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and talking to a guy who's died twice and been to two different worlds." Jaune pointed out.

"That's not what I mean, Invincible Boy!" Ruby shot back with a pout. "I mean, it just feels like so much to handle, you know? The stakes are just so high... what if we mess up, you know?"

"Yeah, well... the more you think about it, the worse you'll feel." Jaune advised. "Trust me... at least this one isn't vampires..."

"You've been through a vampire apocalypse?"

"Yup. In Skyrim." Jaune shrugged. "They wanted to put out the sun and enslave the world."

"Wait... that doesn't make any sense, though." Ruby frowned. "If they put out the sun... wouldn't that kill off all the plants, which would kill off all the animals, and then kill off all the people?"

"Eh..." Jaune thought about it. "Magic, I guess. I don't understand, either; I was only there for two months."

"... how many crises have you been through, anyway?"

"Hmmm... there was the attack on Beacon, then there was the vampires, and the dragons..." Jaune listed them off, counting with his fingers. "I guess this is the fourth one."

"With all that experience, I'm surprised you didn't go with Sarah and her team, you know." Ruby contemplated. "I'm sure her father would have let you go, if he knew what you could do."

"I did volunteer, but Elder Lyons refused." Jaune admitted. "He said that the Lyons' Pride was the best squad in the Brotherhood, and that he would not risk send out an untrained and unarmored Wastelander through an active warzone past the Enclave army."

Ruby smiled and nodded in understanding. In the past week they'd spent under his hospitality, he'd shown himself to be an idealistic and compassionate humanitarian, and he'd insisted on training them both up to at least some level of competency before he let them run missions against the Enclave.

Before she could answer, though, the door barged open, and in rushed a young boy.

"Ms. Ironwood, Mr. Arc, there's a message from Lyons' Pride." Squire Arthur Maxson breathed between pants. "Paladin Reddin reports that they've been ambushed by the Enclave at Vault 87!"


Author's Note: After the past few chapters, here's a relatively light and quiet chapter, since things can't always be action-packed. Sometimes, there needs to be a lull in the story... or so I say, as I reveal the FEV possibility and Sarah encountering the Enclave in this chapter. Shows what I know, clearly.

And yes... Ruby sleptwalk into Jaune's bed because she had nightmares. She's a girl who relied a lot on her father, and in the span of a month, lost her home, her father, and Project Purity. Kid's got issues, man...

One of the big changes I've made to the Fallout 3 storyline is the early introduction of the FEV. In the base game, the main driving force behind the story is that they don't want to let the Enclave activate and control Project Purity, since doing so would allow them to control the Wasteland. Here, however, Lyons and Rothchild inform the others about the Enclave's original actions in Fallout 2, in 2242.

Another major change is that Lyons' Pride is the one undertaking the mission to Vault 87, rather than Ruby and Jaune. Because Sarah is keeping Jaune's abilities a secret for the time being (on grounds that, since even she can barely believe that Jaune is both superhuman and human, nobody else would believe it), and thus there is no reason for Owyn Lyons to risk sending Ruby and Jaune, two relatively-unknown and unarmored Wastelanders of unknown training and experience, out through the Capital Wasteland, as it's being attacked all over by Enclave squads. From his perspective, they're unlikely to even reach Vault 87, let alone find the GECK and return safely. Much better to send his best squad, while he trains them up to be more valuable meat for the grinder later.

Also allows me to give Ruby and Jaune some Power Armor training. Jaune won't be using it yet, though; he's still unfamiliar with it, being used to the more mobile fighting style in Remnant. Don't get me wrong, compared to almost any other Huntsman and Huntress in Beacon, old Jaune's basically considered a glacier (see how Team RWBY were running up falling rocks during Initiation). Compared to Wastelanders, after spending two months with Yang? Well... just look at how I described him fighting the Enclave...

And no, no Remnant sections for a while, like I said. And don't expect any new chapters for longer than "a long while" either... work continues to haunt me.