Chapter 13: History of Nothing

This news perplexed me, seemed far too convenient, but heard such great things about this person. "The legend herself then. I've heard great things about you." I said.

I stepped off of her back and held out a hand to help her up; she didn't even hesitate and turned around and took my hand, taking care not to touch the claws.

She leaned her Super Sledge against the wall as well as leaned against it herself. "So, a talking Deathclaw. I have never seen one of you before. I know the Enclave was trying to domesticate wild ones, but you were never wild, were you?"

I tossed her back her helmet and just shook my head. "No, I was an F.E.V experiment, technically. The Enclave did not create me. I was actually a case of successful hatching, but the rest of my kind, the intelligent ones who could originally talk, were experiments. None of the original ones live to this day, though."

I felt I could trust this Mia. Something about them just screams they want to do the right thing.

"See, Mia, I am the last of my kind that I am aware of. The Enclave wiped my vault, which I came from, when I was very young."

She looked very sad about this news. "I am sorry for your loss. The Enclave killed my father and plenty of others, too. I already destroyed their base at Raven Rock all those years ago, but they are back and it worries me like hell."

She got off the wall and ejected from her Power Armor. "You don't be the reason for that, right?"

I sat down, adjusting my robe to not be so tightly confined. She already knew what I was. "No, I am here looking for someone. Not this vault, specifically. I have nothing specific in mind. As in I don't have a person's name, just blindly looking, and hoping."

She wore a weathered armor vault 101 jumpsuit with various pockets and strips of metal and leather covering her arms, legs, and chest. Her pip-boy was worn out and weathered as well; paint chipping off and a minor crack on the screen. She sat down leaning against the wall and leaned her head back, lightly tapping the metal as she did, and gave out a sound of rage before hitting her fist against the wall behind her. I crouched down enough, so I was now around her level and she looked at me with this just, disgruntled and disgusted face. I can tell it wasn't from me, no. It was from what happened here, in the vault.

She gave a deep breath and finally spoke up. "I got a lead from my pal, Three Dog, that the Enclave is back. Their first target would be me. I guess they thought I would be back home. They didn't know that before I had Raven Rock blown up, I came back here; solved their issue of wanting to go into the Wasteland. Now, see, I had a friend here and her name was Amata, I-"

She stopped and collected herself. I continued to listen, saying nothing. The only sounds were our breathing and the occasional crack of metal. "My friend Amata, who saved me when I left the Vault, got executed right in front of me on the road leading to Rivet City. I stumbled across the Enclave. They were interrogating her and then killed her for the location of the Vault here on her pip-boy. Yes, when I came back, she banished me for keeping all the residents in the vault. It doesn't matter now. They opened it up anyway and now they are all dead."

I let her take a moment before moving closer, keeping her eye level with mine. I wanted to comfort her somehow. "You know, Mrs 101, that tale isn't too far off my own. They forced me out of my Vault when I was but a whelp, well, really a teenager in your terminology; except they wiped my entire race out. I saw my mother, friends, everything I knew and loved taken from me. The Enclave massacred us all. The only reason I escaped was that my father tossed me into a secret escape route in the Overseer's office." She let me continue, curiosity in her eyes. "I was new to the Wasteland. I had never set foot on the sands of it before. I should mention, now I was in Nevada, either way. I came back a few days later and buried everyone except for my father and our Alpha, who acted as Overseer. Their bodies were nowhere to be found."

She asked me. "What if your father and Alpha are still alive? Like taken as captives? They do that too. They take prisoners sometimes. Hell, I have been taken before even. All I'm saying is if you found no body, they could still be alive. How long ago was this?"

I thought for a moment. "It would have been 30 years ago. I know you want to give me hope and optimistic scenarios. They are dead and I'm the last of my kind, simple as that. All I can do is make sure the Enclave never does this again, which is why I plan on stopping them. Oh, I'm John by the by, yet to mention it."

I stood up and backed away from her. She stood up. "Well, I suppose its time to search these old halls. I'm looking for a picture of my father. James was his name. I wanted something before the Enclave blew this place up or destroyed it completely."

"So they came here looking for you and massacred everyone else while they were at it? That doesn't surprise me at all and so recently, too."

It was at this point I remembered, "Hey, Mia? They were at Megaton just a few moments before I left to come here. Is that suspicious?"

She walked over to the desk by the Overseer's office. "You know, they must have come here first and then went to Megaton. They are searching for me. I used to live there a while back. They know everything, which is why I've laid low for so long. The Wasteland needs me, though, but I don't know if I want it to need me, you know? I can't start a new life. I'll always be known as ,"The Lone Wanderer" no matter what I do." She ended the sentence with literal finger quotations.

I gave her an agreement but sometimes people need someone to follow, or they will lose their way. "You seem like you should keep it up. The number of people who mentioned you and your deeds was simply amazing. It has given people hope. Even with you being gone, those residents still looked up to you and formed themselves around what good you have done for them."

She checked drawer after drawer, all being empty on my end as well. "As much as I agree with you and believe me, I am proud of how far I've come. I just... want someone else to be capable and not let the Wasteland beat them. You know, people resorting to raiding or taking advantage of innocent people just trying to survive."

I turned from my desk and looked down at her and then back at the doorway we came from and I noticed something.

"You've been hanging in this room a lot. Why are you stalling?"

She froze and closed the final desk drawer. "I don't want to enter the Overseer's office. I can only imagine what happened there. You saw the blood on the window."

She was right, it must have been quite the grizzly scene. I had inspected the door, and it almost appeared to be welded shut from the inside.

I attempted to lift it from the bottom, but it didn't even budge. I shared my observation. "It must be welded on the inside but, why?"

Mia took out a photograph from the desk and showed me."I think he trapped himself inside, with the information of the vault, and anything else probably bled out in there. This was my childhood friend Jonas, and he was my father's assistant. He died helping my dad leave the vault in this very room. That was years ago." She gave a sign before pocketing the photo. "This will have to be done. We should leave nothing else here. Maybe Doctor Li has something I can use." she clarified. "An old friend, absolute brainiac."

I told her, "I am sorry for your loss."

Attempting the door one last time. I got down as low as I could before digging my claws under the door and pulling with everything I got; much to my surprise, it opened just a little.

"Holy crap, you moved it, keep going!" She encouraged me.

I repositioned myself and lifted once more, pulling it up halfway and then fully, I stood arms upholding this incredibly weighted door waiting for Mia to enter the room; she grabbed the fusion core from her Power Armor first before ducking inside, letting go of the door behind me. I followed in as well.

It was a typical Overseer's office with a mass of computers in the back and the signature desk in the middle, and some lockers on the side all dusty and empty, as expected.

There was nobody and no lead to the blood trail; there was nothing here aside from that."This reminds me of my old vault, the room, the terminal, everything, especially the Overseer's room here."

I turned around to face her, and she didn't even flinch. I even looked up at myself now that we were in the light. She could make out more of me, I'm assuming, as the previous room was dimly lit with red lights from the various computers and machines."I still can't believe I'm trapped in a room with a damn deathclaw and I'm not in various pieces, er...no offense or anything, I just never met a talking one of your kind before."

"I take no offense. I would be fearful if not a tad bit skeptical myself. You needn't worry about me, Mia. Despite my appearance, I am probably less of a monster than most people you have ever met."

"Yeah, no kidding, so... why the robe exactly? It's not for modesty. I'm pretty sure that does not apply to you anyway, huh? Being an animal, reptile, creature, thing."

I shook my head. "Certainly not. We needn't wear anything. I donned my robe to hide. I have it custom to hide my fearful appearance when I travel or have to stop in a town, for example. I will keep quiet and do what I need to before moving on."

"This is going to sound weird, but could you remove the robe completely? I mean-" She stopped almost as if trying to justify the seemingly ridiculous request before collecting herself. "I just never seen a Deathclaw up close without them trying to tear me apart, assuming you are comfortable with it."

"I think you are making this worse than it needs to be here, Mia. I am not a human and it is my natural sort of form anyway, right?"

I leaned against the wall next to the lockers. My back spikes scratched ever so slightly against the metal wall.

I removed the straps around my waist, which kept everything together before removing the sleeves, causing my robe and hood to fall behind me. I stood up straight and spread my arms out, tapping my claws against the wall to show how far I can reach.

Mia looked me up and down and even went to one side of my hand and asked to give it a touch. I told her if she must.

She backed up but remained in front of me. "You are much taller standing up straight, but still smaller than an average Deathclaw, it seems, right?"

I lowered my arms back to a resting position in front of me. "Yes, I am smaller than an average Deathclaw. See, rather than being hatched with strength and power, like many other ones around my time. I was hatched with a much greater amount of intelligence, not saying they my kin were per se stupid, but they got more brute force and brawn."

I repositioned myself. She studied me from my feet upward. She noticed my satchel this time around. I didn't notice I still had it around my waist.

"What is in the bag?" She asked, curiously.

I had moved it around to access the opening. "I use this to hold my journal, caps, and various other things like stimpacks and anything of interest I find out there." I showed the shotgun which couldn't even fit in the whole thing.

"Alright, so why are you albino? I have never seen any other one like you before, just, ever."

"That's funny really, because my mother was a dark and light gray and my father was a darker brown. No other ones were ever hatched like me as well. I was a unique one, the only albino to hatch in the vault."

"Okay... this might be a bit of an odd one but, do you feel I don't know, exposed in any way? I mean, by all definitions, you are naked right now." She laughed as if almost realizing how strange of a question it was before going to the Overseer's desk and rummaging through it.

I made my way over to the terminal, and it was locked, shut down. I saw signs of someone attempting to sabotage the mainframe, but failed. "To answer you, no I do not. You are aware we are reptiles? When you mentioned the robe wasn't for modesty, you are correct and in our vault. It wasn't mandatory at all to wear anything, but there were custom-made suits and things for those who wanted to. It was mainly for position and importance. There are advantages to being a lizard."

I gave a pause and sat down in front of the massive terminal, clicking the keys and it wouldn't even turn on if someone or something turned off the power specifically to this one."Besides, it's not like we need to wear any sort of armor for protection, our hides are pretty sturdy as I'm sure you can tell, as for the modesty aspect it's not needed if you notice we aren't like humans, and that regard where we need a coverup, or really worry about temperatures, unless in extremes." I said with a chuckle.

She leaned back in the chair and twisted around to look at me "Well... yeah that just be strange for you deathclaws, potentially leaving everything to just hang there." She paused and broke out laughing. "Sorry, sorry I had the stupidest vision. I'll keep it to myself. Thanks for the insight we should keep at this terminal, to get out."

I continued my attempt to open the terminal. "I agree and I'm glad my talk of basis and anatomy can leave you such entertainment!" She couldn't see, but I had a smile on my face. It's nice when someone can have some fun banter in the hell of a Wasteland.

I got the power back on and turned the terminal on once more, it's covered in dust on the screen so I had gently wiped it off. Upon doing so, there was a loud thud from outside the room; Mia and I both looked at each other before quietly we both stood up and leaned against the wall near the door.

Saying nothing, she pulled out a heavily modified 10mm auto pistol. It had blue coloring and a green dot sight with a massive extended magazine.

I leaned against the wall, waiting and listening, then I heard a clanging sound, footsteps of power armor, one after another drawing closer and closer till it stopped right outside the door. I could faintly see a shadow below the closed door. They just stopped and seemed to listen before stepping away.

"Shit, John, my power armor is out there! They will know I'm here and we both know it's the fucking enclave!" She whispered, gun ready at the door.

I gestured with a claw up to my mouth to (shh) and then tapped the side of the head where ears would be to signify they were, indeed, listening. Probably determining their odds.

She gave me a nod before cutting her losses and staying put. I gently crept back to the terminal. This looks exactly like the room in my out vault so the desk must lead under, back to the entrance.

I didn't sit this time and kept my hearing at peak performance. I turned and asked her, "What could the password possibly be?"

She didn't even think before softly saying, "The friend I mentioned!" she looked down for a moment as if sad before aiming her gun at the doorway awaiting it to open.

Her friend? Right, it must be Amata and she didn't say it out loud in case they would hear us. As I entered the password and waited for it to register, I went to pick up my robe and satchel back up.

Then suddenly a pound on the door, "Open up! I know you are in there, Lone Wanderer! Can't hide forever. We Will blast this down and get you!" He beat on the door, mocking her name.

Her face sank after they found her! And before she could say a word, they continued, "Whoever you got in there with you, I'll make you a deal. You open this door up and let us take her and you get to leave no harm to you at all. "

Yeah, right, the cocking of a gun behind that door didn't prove your promise or anything. Mia looked at me almost with uncertainty as I turned back to the terminal. "You can go straight to hell, whoever you are, do your worst!"

That was all he needed before we heard an explosion outside the door, then another, the door looking bent inward as they continued to bombard it to open.

Ah-ha! Open the hidden chamber, got it! I pressed that, and low and behold, the desk rose and revealed a walkway beneath. Very similar to my Vault.

"Mia, should I destroy the terminal?" As I hastefully got my robe back on and strapped my satchel in place.

She thought for a second and just said, "Fuck it, go for it. We can't let them get that information."

Without even getting confirmation again, I backed up from the set of computers and gave it a swipe across them all, and then another. I mangled and cut the screen and circuit board. There was no fixing that, but I kept at it just to be sure. I noticed a picture behind one of the lower consoles. It was a middle-aged man with a beard and a little girl with a BB gun. This must be Mia and James! I grabbed it in a blink of an eye before hastefully going down the newly opened passage.

Mia stayed up before coming down, then she stopped checking her gun for bullets and looked at me, then the steps again before saying. "I need to make these bastards pay for what they did!" As soon as she said that, the door busted open and two soldiers leaped into the room, the dust-covered Mia from sight, but before she could take a shot, I pulled her down the steps and hit the emergency close button with my tail.

I stumbled down the set of stairs and she fell completely on her back, as we saw the last of the light from the Overseer's office close shut along with the desk locking in place.

"Damn it! Someone get to that entrance now!" I heard the soldier yell!

Mia looked at me with just rage before giving a deep breath. "Why? Why did you do that? I would have had them both. They didn't even see me. I could have taken them out!"

I backed up and gave her some space. "BECAUSE, we didn't know how many there were and you are far more useful than dying for some revenge plot. The Enclave will get what's coming to them, but now is not the time. If it's the same group I saw from earlier, they had 5 more on standby!" I explained

She dropped to her knees and let go of her gun. "Why did they have to take everything from me, my dad, my home? They aren't helping anyone but themselves."

I shook my head and reached into my bag. "They haven't taken everything from you." I went up next to her and leaned down to her level before showing her the picture frame I found.

She wiped her eyes before grabbing it with such speed. "But how and when I didn't see this anywhere?! Oh my God, thank you so much!" before quickly sitting up and hugging me.

I returned the hug and told her. "Had you died in that room, this wouldn't have ever made it to you, this simple thing, something to keep it going. No, you haven't lost everything. You have people who need you and are relying on you to bring them out of the darkness."

She pocketed the photo before picking up her gun and going ahead of me. "You are right. We should get out of here before they find us, pronto."

I nodded and gestured for her to lead the way. We went through a maintenance door and ended at a wall but there was a switch next to it.

I stopped her before pulling it. "You should let me, assuming they are waiting for us here. I'll be able to take much more lead than you will."

She pulled her arm back and agreed. I pulled the switch and stood right in the middle of the opening wall, arms stretched out, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

Much to our surprise, it was clear. We wasted no time making our way back to the entrance, and I even closed the vault door just to be safe. The beeping and blaring siren behind us as we both exit the small cavern before the vault entrance.

I held a hand up to block the sun from my eyes as it was bright, which must be a side effect of the short while in the vault.

Mia walked in front and gave a stretch. "Well, this is where we part ways, John. As much as I loved the company, I have my things to get done and I don't believe they will let a Deathclaw in where I'm going."

"That is fine, Mia. I have my task, granted I do not know what or where that is but I'll find it, say can you do me a favor? I got this letter here for Lucy in Megaton. She wants to give it to her brother in Arefu. Can you do that for me?" I handed her the letter Lucy gave me in Megaton.

She took the letter and said, "Yes, I can do that. I'm going that way anyway to reach Rivet City. If you are ever there, come to the broken part of the ship and ask for 'Pinkerton', which will tell more than enough. He's old but may be able to help."

I gave her a nod and said I shall remember. We were about to part ways before suddenly a shaking of the ground and a massive gust of wind happened above us.

"This is the Brotherhood of Steel! Do not be alarmed, Capital Wasteland. I am Elder Maxson and what we are doing here does not and will not concern you. Any attempt to set back our operations here will be met with termination. Ad Victoriam!"

This massive flying structure went over us. It was like a blimp, but much more heavily fortified. It looked like a fortress. It went as quickly as it came and soon became a dot on the horizon.

Mia holstered her pistol before making her way down the rocks."That was the Prydwen. I saw it lurking around yesterday. It's the largest and most efficient Brotherhood vessel this entire Wasteland has ever seen. Why don't you go see them before coming to visit me in Rivet City, yeah? Oh, and I almost forgot to take this insignia. It will prove you met me and gained my trust. It will give you some leeway. Best of luck to you, John!"

She handed me a Mini Nuke top with a "101" engraved on it and a signature A.V. Huh, interesting. I placed it in my bag and when I looked back up she was gone; just like that, disappeared into thin air.

I suppose it's a much better lead than I had previously. I began heading east; toward where the Prydwen was heading. I have quite the journey ahead.

End Chapter: 13