"God made all men, but Samuel Colt made all men equal."
It didn't take long for Julia to find her way back to the old highway that passed nearish to the entrance of Megaton, and started heading south to the ruins of the town of Springvale.
Probably those burnt-out house frames I saw from the Vault door. she thought as she travelled down the road. The reports on the Overseer's computer mentioned that Springvale was an empty ruin - why would someone be living there? Gee, maybe because they're hiding from the local loan shark and don't want to be found. For all the good it did. Speaking of, how am I going to play this? "Hi! You nicked some money, I'm here to collect!"
She grimaced, stepped over a loose paving stone, and tried again.
"Have you heard the good news? Also, hand over the cash!" "Oi, Moriarty sez youse gotta pay up. Make with the caps or I start on YOUR caps, capisce?"
...heck with it. I'll just knock and stand clear in case she's got a shotgun. Why did I sign up for Junior Debt Collector duty again?
Within half an hour, she found herself staring at the front door of the last house still standing in the old town. Its placement at the base of a bluff might have protected it from the nuclear blast that incinerated the rest of the town, leaving it crumbly, but intact.
Here goes nothing.
Two sharp raps on the door later, a woman's head appeared from the other side of it.
"Yeah?" she said, faintly annoyed. "Who is it?"
"..Ms. Silver, I presume?" Julia said, noting the very light blond shade of the hermit's hair.
"Who the hell are you?!" she asked, instantly on the defensive. "Where did you come from?! Did Moriarty send you?!"
"No! I mean, yes! I mean - look, it's kind of complicated." Julia stammered. "Can we maybe talk about this?"
"Whatever. Come on in..." The woman sighed wearily, retracting her head, but leaving the door ajar. Taking the hint, our valiant protagonist followed suit. She took a brief moment to examine the interior.
For the last remnant of a bombed-out town, this isn't a half-bad little townhouse. she mused. Granted, most of the furniture looks like it came with the place, but it's still cozy in a "soft rains" kind of way.
Silver stood inside the vestibule impatiently. "Well, you said you wanted to talk." the older woman prompted. "So talk. Start with the part about Moriarty."
"He sent me to get the caps you have back." Julia said, diplomatically avoiding the word "took". "Something about a deal gone south?"
Seeing the darkening expression on Silver's face, she hurriedly continued. "He's probably exaggerating a bit, though. You know how Moriarty is with caps!"
Please don't shoot me, I'm too young to die!
Fortunately, this seemed to establish a shard of common ground to stand on.
"Moriarty and his caps." Silver said, shaking her head ruefully. "What's your stake in this, anyway? He hasn't tried to.. hire.. you or anything yet, has he?"
"He has some information that I need, and I'm pretty sure he's the only one who can give it to me." the young wanderer explained. "But 'information is a commodity, lass, so I kent give you anything for free, now can I?' So he sent me here."
Silver actually chuckled at the bad impression of Moriarty's showy brogue. "All that for 300 lousy caps? Look, kid.. I used to work for that slob. Doing... you know... favors for guys. One day, I just couldn't do it anymore. I told Moriarty that I was gonna take my share and split."
Silver started gesturing, visibly getting worked up. "Hell, I even slept with the pig to seal the deal! But the next morning, he's changed his mind, he says. Says I reminded him what an 'asset' I was to the saloon. So I knocked him on his ass, grabbed my back pay, and split. Thought I got away clean. But now here you are."
"He knew exactly where you were, too." Julia said, blowing a frustrated breath through her teeth. "Well, shoot. This is a heck of a situation, isn't it? If I don't bring back the caps to Moriarty, I can kiss that info goodbye. But I'm not just gonna take 'em from you, either."
"If I were you, I'd just walk away while you still can. What kind of info could be that important, anyway?"
I should probably stop telling my life story and/or primary goals to literally everyone I meet. But heck, in for a penny..
"It's my dad." Julia admitted. "I'm trying to find my dad, and Moriarty is the last guy who saw him."
"...dammit." Silver said. "Look, kid, just take the caps and go. Moriarty's destroyed enough lives over these things as it is. I don't want this one on my conscience, too. I got enough regrets."
She went into the back of the house briefly, and tossed over a small sack of jingly metal. Julia took a peek to make sure they were caps, before nodding.
"That's really nice of you, Silver." Julia said. "Look, if you're going to find a new hideout, I could tell Moriarty you're dead. If nothing else, it might keep him off of your trail for a while."
"I'd appreciate that, kid." she said, smiling. "Good luck with your dad. I've got some packing to do."
As Julia was about to shut the door, Silver called out. "Hey! Make sure you tell him a good story about it! Say you found me with four dead raiders or something, strangling a fifth!"
"You'll be a legend by sundown!" she yelled back, laughing as she shut the door.
That.. went pretty well, actually. she thought, heading back up the road, whistling Dixie. I wonder if most people out here are actually decent sorts-
Julia's thought process was interrupted by a bullet slamming into her shoulder, sending her sprawling into the asphalt.
-0-
"Call the doctor, we got a bleeder!"
A mocking voice rang out from somewhere behind where our intrepid protagonist had taken a fall. She was somewhat surprised to still be conscious, honestly.
OW OW OW WHAT THE HELL. ALSO OW. Have I been shot? There was a shooting pain in her left shoulder, but it was still movable. A quick self-check showed that she was still more or less intact. If I was shot, then I was really lucky. I'd better get m-YEEP!
Another bullet struck the asphalt nearby, sending up a small burst of pebbles and particulates. She scootched up to a semi-crouching position and ran for cover behind an old chimney.
It's coming from the old school! she realized, once she could take a moment and breathe. Also, how am I not bleeding all over the place? I can't quite reach behind me, but I can still use the arm.. whatever. Brain, if you figure out how to get me out of this in one piece, I'll figure out the bullet thing later, I promise.
More bullets came from the schoolhouse and peppered the area. It seems like it's coming from the upper level. If I can get back around the bend of the road, I should be able to move out of their line of sight.
She risked a glance around the corner immediately after one of the shots rang out - they'd been spaced oddly to begin with. Her reward was seeing two people wearing worn sports equipment and carrying pool cues heading towards her.
"Do you like the sight of your own blood?!" one of them yelled at her.
Okay yes moving soon. Also, gun? Yes, gun.
She pulled the 10mm pistol out of its holster and palmed it, heading carefully around the old timber frames of the houses. She aimed roughly at the second floor of the school and squeezed the trigger. The gun jerked violently in her hand and the shot went wild, nearly causing her to drop the thing. She barely made it to the next house before whoever the other maniac with a gun drew a bead on her again.
Crap. Newton. OW! Recoil! GAAAAH
She braced her firing hand with her other hand and managed to fire a shot without hurting so much, though it still didn't go much toward the target. Fortunately, the pool-cue duo noticed and ducked to their own cover. Double fortunately, she was just about to a point where the terrain would provide natural cover and she could head back towards Megaton at a dead sprint. Firing three shots more or less in the general direction of the bad guys, she dove around the corner and took off running, not slowing or stopping until she reached the city gate of Megaton.
Once inside, she flopped over onto the ground, panting from the heat and exertion.
Why? she scolded herself while catching her breath. Why did I think using a real gun would be anything like a spring-loaded BB gun? I'm supposed to be smarter than that!
She just laid there in the shade for a bit, until Sheriff Simms came running up to check on her.
"I heard someone came through the gate like they were bringin' company." he rumbled. "Lucky for us, whoever it was seems to have decided to turn back. Luckier for them, though."
"Sheriff Simms. Nice to see you again." Julia mumbled from face down in the dirt. "How's your day going?"
"A fair sight better than yours, I'd say." he laughed. "Looks like you've got some lead on you."
"I wha-ow!" she exclaimed as the large man with the large hat bent down and plucked something off her sore shoulder. Sitting up, she saw that it was a squashed bullet.
"Looks like that sport jacket of yours isn't just for lookin' fancy." he said, eyebrow raised.
"...it's a very nice suit." Julia parroted, beginning to suspect the truth behind that statement.
"Reckon so, kid. Reckon so." he turned to leave, and waved casually. "Try not to get shot up anyway, though."
"Ermph." she stood, dusted herself off a bit, and flexed her sore arm. There would definitely be a shiner there, that was for sure.
In the meantime, though, one of these will help things along.
She pulled a stimpack out of her pocket, and inserted the thin hypodermic needle into her arm, releasing its healing compounds into her system. Grunting and flexing a little to work the medicine into the tissue, she headed up to the saloon to have a word with an Irishman.
-0-
"Back already? I should have known Silver wouldn't put up much of a fight, she never has, really."
I'm going to pretend he didn't say that, and then everyone can remain happy.
"Actually, she was dead when I got there." Julia said, beginning a tale. "Looks like some hooligans set up in the old schoolhouse and snuck in on her. I got to the house, and found her lying there near a bunch of other dead guys."
"Aye, well, it's a rough life out in the wastes." Moriarty said equanimously. "One less thing I have to worry about going forward. Did you manage to find the caps?"
Julia held up a slightly blood-stained bag of caps, not mentioning that the blood was from a scraped knee rather than a pitched battle, and jingled it a little for emphasis.
"Ah, the sweet sound of success." he said, smiling warmly. "Always brightens my day."
"Yeah, it's the auditory equivalent of being tickled by an angel in your most sensitive spots." Julia snarked back. "So about my father?"
"Well, fair's fair, I suppose." he said, snapping out of his reverie. "You brighten my day, I brighten yours. Your dad said he was headed southeast, into the city. Said was aiming for Galaxy News Radio."
Julia tossed over the bag of caps, and Moriarty grinned.
"No idea what he wanted with them, but I suppose you can ask him when you get there. Good luck with that, by the way.."
By the end of the sentence, he was already mostly tuned out of it, going into "cap counting" mode. Julia took the opportunity to make a discreet exit.
She spotted Sheriff Simms searching like a sentry over the soiled scrubland.
"Howdy, Sheriff! Two questions, if you've got a minute! First, who's the doctor around here? Second, do you know how to get to Galaxy News Radio?"
"Our clinic is down in the crater, by the bomb. Doc Church is a little rough around the edges, but the man's got talent and compassion." Simms recited in the manner of someone who gave that pointer with frequency. "As for Galaxy News, you'll want to head across the river and use the old subway system. There should be markings leading the way - some kinda Brotherhood base out that way."
"Thanks again, Sheriff!" Julia chirped, heading down to see the doctor.
"I'd practice with that pistol of yours before you go." he warned. "You don't get bruises like those on your hand many ways, and only one of 'em is common to newbie gun owners."
"Thanks for the tip." she said, rubbing her sore hand. "I'll do just that."
Simms nodded, accepting that, and Julia headed down to the base of the large impact crater that served as the base for the city of Megaton. She eyed the large atomic warhead in the middle of it warily as she made her way around the side of the crater, and up onto a catwalk which served as the base for the clinic.
Doc Church turned out to be a cranky, though efficient medical practitioner, who bandaged her arm and gave some general advice and diagnoses for healing up. It cost about half the caps she'd accumulated by that point, but you don't mess around with things like that. From there, she went up to the communal bunkhouse and fell sound asleep in seconds.
Sunday, August 19, 2277 - 0620
If you'd asked Julia on Wednesday what her plans for Sunday were, her answer would have likely been more along the lines of "yet more paperwork" or "pestering Amata". None of them would have started before 10:30, and "bullets" likely wouldn't have even been considered in the drafting phase. Life doesn't always go the way we intend though, which is how Ms. Mateus found herself taking potshots at poor, innocent Nuka-cola bottles on the brighter side of the crack of dawn.
*spak-plink!*
*spak-plink!*
Fortunately, once she'd managed to figure out the recoil thing, she was able to apply what she knew of aiming to the "real gun" she had now.
I still kind of prefer the *phht* noise the BB gun made to the *spak* of the pistol. But needs be as needs must, I guess. Better stop here, I've got a decent handle on this, and I'm not made of bullets here.
She gathered up the last few bottles, musing briefly that they weren't terribly far from where she found them in the first place and therefore needn't bother.
Screw it. I refuse to litter even if it maintains the status quo. You see this, world? This is a line in the sand! I shall NOT yield!
...note to self. Allow nifty pain drugs to metabolize more thoroughly before sleeping. End up loopy on waking otherwise.
...I'm still not going to litter, though.
On that note, she headed off to what remained of the Potomac River. The water levels had receded significantly since the Great War for some reason, leaving many piers and boats stranded on land. It was more of a murky, radioactive trough in some places than a proper river. Megaton was about half an hour's walk from its western banks, so Julia set out promptly. Due east from Megaton turned out to be the site of an old grocery store, right on the river.
Well, that's convenient. May as well poke my head in and check it out for Moira while I'm in the neighborhood.
The old building was about as sturdy as any still standing - not completely, but servicably. A large sign standing in the crumbly remains of a parking lot loudly proclaimed that this was a Super Duper Mart!
With savings like that, how can I resist?
Julia found an old Nuka-Cola machine out front, which still had stock inside it somehow.
Automated delivery robots? Self-replenishing stock? Lack of demand for warm, flat cola? Whatever. Their loss is my gain! If I just fiddle this thing like SO-
Bingo.
Julia's childhood of reading and fiddling with stuff was no match for the vending machine's ancient coin mechanism, and soon she had three new(ish) bottles of Nuka-Cola. Not long after that, three freshly empty ones.
Damn, that hits the spot. Oh caffiene, how I have missed you~
Tossing the empties in the nearby trash can, she headed inside. The interior was dominated by a single large warehouse space, with shelf units forming aisles. There were cash registers at checkout stations along the front wall, leading over to what looked like a break room of some sort. People patrolled on crude walkways atop the shelves. It was too dark to make out who they were, but discretion is, as always, the better part of valor. Julia carefully snuck along the back wall, darting from checkout counter to checkout counter, checking each register for anything interesting. Each one was still full of cash.
I guess before the bombs fell, nobody had time to clean them out. And after, nobody was using dollars for much. May as well grab them and play pretend, though.
Several hundred worthless dollars later, she arrived at the break room. There was a refrigerator unit there, still running.
Probably a fission cell or something. Not much activity in the mains these days. Holding my nose, aaaand! Presto!
The fridge was full of old, yet well preserved food items. Canned beans, tins of spiced ham, Salisbury steak, that sort of thing. She pocketed the ham and turned to go just as she spotted a "Super Duper Pharmacy" in the back.
Well, hm. I don't really want to tangle with those guys in the middle, but I do need some medicine. Plus how could I face Moira if I didn't at least try? ...gah! Are those GRENADES?
Sure enough, sitting on the countertop near the fridge were three grenades, pin and all.
Oh this is such a bad idea. BUT.
Julia gingerly pocketed the grenades, praying she would be able to not carry them soon, and crept back to the pharmacy area. Keeping to the darker areas and thanking whatever gods might still be listening that her sneakers were living up to their name, she gradually crossed the store. Eventually, she made it - but there was one of those sports-equipment nutbars blocking the door.
Screw it. They're raiders. That's what everyone else calls them. And.. I wonder if this is crazy enough to work?
She took one of the grenades and hefted it, feeling its weight. Judging the distance and toss was tricky, but it was still a matter of basic physics. Once she mapped the trajectory, she pulled the pin and tossed the grenade towards the door.
It landed with a quiet *thud* near the raider's feet and rolled slightly. He bent down to look at it, and Julia took advantage of his momentary confusion to duck behind the solid granite countertop. Shortly afterward, the raider painted the walls, and all hell broke loose.
The raiders were running around and yelling, some blaming the others, one of them accusing the dead one of hoarding grenades. None of them had yet considered the possibility of another party - a mistake said party used to sneak into the enclosed pharmacy area and close the door behind her.
Right then. What have we here?
The pharmacy was well stocked, serving as a bizarre combination of armory and medical supply spot. Stimpacks, painkillers, cola, and radiation drugs were stocked alongside spare clips, grenades, and what looked like a miniature nuke on shelves which mostly filled the room. There was a RobCo terminal on the back wall, near a large metal cylinder of some kind. Julia gathered the more portable items into a nearby shopping bag, along with what looked like an employee ID card. Against her terrified instincts, she also grabbed the nuke-football-looking thing. It wasn't emitting any rads, and somebody might pay money for it. As she was packing, the metal cylinder on the far wall slid open with a hiss of steam. She whirled around to see what was going on, and a robot stepped out.
Different from the eyebot she'd seen earlier, this one was decidedly more humanoid. It had arms, legs, and a "head" dome thing on a vaguely cylindrical torso. It turned towards her, and she readied herself to run. It spoke in a harsh, halting robotic voice.
"Gree-tings fell-ow em-ploy-ee. Please take co-ver un-til the law-break-ers are dealt with."
With that, it headed out the door into the Super Duper Mart proper. Julia hung back partly out of curiosity, and partly out of fear. Before long, she heard more robotic vocalizations, followed by screams and flashes of red light from outside the door. Within five minutes, the only sound that was left was the slow "clank" of the robot's return.
"Or-der has been re-stored. Thank you for wor-king at the Sup-er Dup-er Mart. Have a nice day."
It headed back out into the room and started some kind of patrol pattern. Julia hefted up the bag and made for the exit. There were no raiders left in the store, but there were small piles of ash here and there. Unashamed, she ran for the doors and out into the sunlight.
That is, until she nearly tripped over a small child running directly at her while screaming.
"Those monsters... th-they're gonna' get me. Help! Help me!"
This is gonna be a long day, isn't it? she sighed, palming her face.
A/N:
Brings new meaning to the term "suit of armor", doesn't it? It's a bit of a contrivance, but it at least lets us keep things moving along without getting too bogged down in gear management. And hey, survived her first fight! Granted, it was by exercising the better part of valor, but she's working on it. Next chapter posted eventually!
Also if you only get updates for new chapters, I rewrote about a fifth of the story previously, so you might want to go back and re-read those if you had read them before. If you're reading these notes in some mystical future time, in the era of Chapter 6 and beyond, then please disregard these scribblings. Just this paragraph, not the - oh, you know what I mean.