An East Coast Wasteland

by DCWestby

Instability breeds insanity. Overseer should've known this. Told from LW's recollection of her earlier days in the vault and the wastes. Follow her journey as she leaves the C.W. for Appalachia only to curve up toward Boston. Note that this is a rough draft and a work in progress. Evaluating response at this point.

[Disclaimer: Don't own worlds, Worlds furnished by Bethesda. Thanks.] Additionally, certain tweaks have been added to account for ingame allowances which I played the game using, please be tolerant of that fact. And I am very aware of the punctuation, grammar and spelling issues this may also contain, WIP after all.

"...Three Dog here with the news. Apparently that Jezebelle from Vault 101 is intent on really twisting the knife into the wasteland, yes, you heard me right; she is a demon's spawn of a Jezebelle from 101. Why would I say such things about her over the airwaves? She will attack trade caravans without warning, a one woman raiding force. Nothing has been able to stop her yet, not even a Regulator warning or the fact her bounty has been increased to 5,000-yes-five THOUSAND caps... That waste product from the Vault can't be considered human; consider Bigtown, she rescued some of their citizens who were captured by super mutants, and then she goes and leaves the town to its fate. Now Bigtown is a ghost town as heard from multiple travelers through that area..."

"And the irony is that my name is Jezebelle." The aforementioned young woman mused as she took another bite of the fruit soup she had ordered the butler to make earlier. She kept no companions, there was a reason for this enforced isolationism of course; the weapons she tended to use at times were blanket effect and tended to be extremely deadly and not discretionary about who they damaged.

FLASH

A pained howl arose from her right as the multiple war-headed conglomeration exploded in the rad-scorpion's face, killing it and everything else around the vicinity, including Dogmeat. Were it not for a strange mutation from one of Moira's experiments, Explosive Immunity, Jezebelle would have been seriously hurt at the very least.

BACK

The black haired girl took her now empty dish to the sink and cleaned the remnants of her meal away as her mind wandered down the lane of memories...

FLASH to the PAST

A series of images and a soup of sound, that was all the black haired teen recalled of her earliest years. Scattered recollections of playing with other vault children seemed to be few and far between. One clear example of this was Jez's 10th birthday party, where she'd gotten into a scrap with Butch and kicked him really hard after he'd made some snide remark about... Well, him trying to finagle her sweetroll present from her had not helped matters, and had not her dad decided to take her down to the reactor for his present's presentation, she might've killed Butch then and there. As it was, Officer Gomez had to pull her off Butch and give her a strong warning. Come to think of it, she also had a weird conversation with Mrs. Palmer, who'd peaked her curiousity about her past, and yet wouldn't say anymore about it, not even privately after the party. So the young Jezebelle had begun to build a veneer at that point, after her 10th birthday, a veneer that hid her growing unease with the way the vault was around her and her dad.

As much as the preteen could, she spent time in the vault depths, shooting radroaches and progressing to torturing the mutated bugs by shooting their legs off and even cutting off their mandibles then waiting and watching their slow demise, even documenting the disections in holo-tapes. She'd made up her mind to endure, watching the others; Amata, Paul, Wally, Freddie, Susie, Christine and Butch. Jezebelle watched as the others melded into little groups, the so-called Tunnel Snakes and the Gossipers. She allowed Amata to be her friend, though even that was limited. The adults patronized her, after all, they had raised her in a poor replacement for her dad. The vault was foolish to think that it would be just fine the way things were. Her dad had foisted her off to the Vault, he didn't know that his pained looks toward her were noticed. He couldn't stand to be around her, leaving the task of her care to the vault at large. Puberty hit and so did her father's absence from her life, moreso as she adapted to being a woman from a child. Her father gave her glances, and muttered to himself about her mother before excusing himself with other things. This led to arguements when the young woman had her physicals, ending in the silence of painful emotions. Then the General Occupational Aptittude Test came about.

Jezebelle was 16, also a day of her medical physical and the day of the G.O.A.T test. Her veneer started to fray as her father continued to evade questions she'd asked him about her mother and her dad had shied away from the topic. She was getting fed up with his behavior over the subject, and decided to try one last time to pry her father open about her mother, this time during her physical exam.

"Seems like you're a healthy sixteen year old girl." Her father clinically mused as he put away his eye-light tool, "You've got the G.O.A.T to take Jez."

"But dad, can we talk, about mom, please?"

James sighed, they'd been over this hundreds of times in the past, each time before, he'd avoided the question and moved to something else; this time however, there seemed to be something extra in her voice that hadn't been there before. "Alright dear, what do you want to know?"

Jezebelle was surprised, "Finally, How did mom die?"

Her dad frowned, but answered her honestly, "After you were born, she went into a massive cardiac arrest, you were taken from the room for safety reasons."

The daughter blinked, well that was enlightening; now she could see why he'd been reluctant to bring the subject up. "Was I born in this Vault daddy?"

"Of course you were sweetheart." The answer came quickly, too quickly mixed in with thinly laced evasiveness. "Everyone is born and dies in the vault after all." Another lie that screamed unconvincing sprinkled with a mixture of disbelief and empty ardor.

The emerald eyed teen stared at her father frowning, "Is that really true dad?"

James shifted uncomfortably, "Come on Jezebelle, you've got a test to take... That's what the Overseer says isn't it? That we all live and die in the Vault." He shifted again and stood, knowing his daughter had picked up the trail of the lie he had told her. "Listen to me, no matter what may happen in the future, you have a home here; you are safe here..." He realized his daughter was over by his terminal browsing his records, no longer listening to him. He ignored the pang of emotional pain this caused him and scolded her. "Jezebelle! What do you think you're doing?! Those records are private-"

"Stop lying to me father." the blade of her words sliced through his thin attempt to retcon her actions and froze him in his tracks as he considered the tone of her emotions behind the words as she downloaded a copy of the records and logs to her pip-boy. "Both of us know you're lying to me dad, so until you come clean about whatever you're truly doing, I'll go take this farce of a test. Later Father."

James winced at the ice in his daughter's voice and knew he'd fouled up, but he had a promise to keep until he was certain he had his numbers correct. As his daughter suspected, what they had here was a facade, built solely for her benefit, which due to Jezebelle's perception; was already starting to crumble.

Jezebelle hurried to the classroom, ignoring the fact that Amata was being bullied by the so-called Tunnel Snakes and was stopped just inside the classroom by Brotch.

"You ok Jez?" The teacher asked her, "Are you fine with taking the G.O.A.T today?"

Jezebelle nodded, "Sure, I'm ready to rumble."

"Good to see you're enthusiastic at least. Take a seat."

The black haired teen nodded and selected a seat behind Susie Mack as the rest of the class filed in. These so-called "peers" of her class were the others of her age bracket and generation. The test was simple and over hyped in Jez's opinion, coming off of the episode with her father in the office not trusting authority. She was quick to see the hollow emptiness of this supposed occupational test; particularly in the last question, which amused her greatly.

"Okay, that's a wrap people. Pencils down, turn in your tests in an orderly fashion after I'm seated at my desk." Mr Brotch got seated at his teacher's desk and almost immediately the line formed with her classmates being anxious to find out what they'd be slated to do for the rest of their foreseeable lives.

"Well Amata, it seems like the supervisory track for you." Not surprising to nobody, Jezebelle thought derisively; some tests were obviously just farces. Jezebelle stood and walked up to the teacher's desk as Mr Brotch was giving Butch his verdict.

"Hairdresser?! What? Aww come on teach!"

Jezebelle snickered at the bully's discomfited composure as she put her test on Mr Brotch's desk and waited expectantly.

The teacher looked at her test, then looked at her, his eyebrows raised, "Well Jezebelle, it seems you are also headed to the supervisor track."

All conversation stopped at that as the class that remained strained to hear this confirmed, Amata herself was frozen in shock at the room entrance.

Jezebelle smirked, "Supervisor huh?"

Mr Brotch took off his glasses and cleaned them, "Yep, not what your father was expecting or any of us were really-"

The green eyed teen snorted derisively as she turned to leave, "I don't give a radroaches behind as to what my father wanted for me, for all I care, put me as a super where ever you want. Later."

Mr Brotch replaced his glasses onto his nose as the tempered girl left the room. The teacher frowned as he checked Jezebelle's answers against Amata's. Both sets of results were the same, yet as far as the teacher knew they were completely independent of each other.

36 months later, James tied up the last tie on his rucksack and straightened to stand in the midst of his Daughter's domicile. He was moderately displeased with how things had transpired the last few months with his daughter; things had gotten worse between them of late, but James had to do this, everything was ready.

Quietly, he picked up his rucksack and exited the room, easily avoiding the very lax late night security as he made his way up to his workspace and the overseer's office. The latter of which was his goal tonight. He'd done this before, to look at some of the records of the past; this time however, he was going to breach his trust with the overseer and leave this place. He went into the routine of picking the lock and quietly opened the overseer's office, slipping inside, closing the door behind him and leaving the lights off. He logged into the overseer's screen and selected the open tunnel option then stepped back and watched the tunnel unfold. Upon entering the tunnel, the doctor slash scientist closed the tunnel up behind him before moving on and going through the next two doors, which put him inside the entrance room.

At this point, James plugged a blank holotape into his pip-boy and hit record, "Hello Jez, I don't expect you to be happy with me for leaving you here, but it is necessary. This is where the lies stop honey, Vault 101 is meant to be your home, but at the same time you were not born here." He paused to take a deep breath and continued quietly, "You were born at the Jefferson Memorial, the equipment there was not the best, but we made due even as your mother died and the team and I struggled to take care of you and the Project too. But never forget Jez, that you and I, were never from Vault 101; I'd made a deal with the Overseer for safe haven to allow you to grow up and hopefully have a home. I'm sorry for the lies all these years, but it was a necessary facade. Take care Jezebelle, I love you."

James ejected the tape's plug and stashed it underneath the control module for opening the great door before he grabbed the handle and activated the door mechanism; which meant that the klaxons started their racket. Meaning he having to move fast and be out the door by the time the vault security actually showed up here. He raced out the still opening door then entered the sequence to close the heavy metal door and then started running for the final exit.

Jezebelle was having what she would describe as a pleasant dream when her world began rocking and rolling like some massive earthquake.

"Wake up Jez, come on, you need to wake up!"

Jezebelle's hearing picked up words spoken as she came to from slumberland and opened her eyes to find the Overseer's daughter asking for her to wake up. "What the...? Amata?"

"Shut up and listen Jez; my father's men are coming to kill you. Please hurry." Amata pleaded.

Jezebelle sighed as she sat up, reaching for a discarded jumpsuit and put it on ignoring the other girl's discomfort, "Do you have a plan?"

Amata nodded while looking toward the covered window, handing over a small handgun in the process. "Yes, my dad's got a spare office key and terminal password in his room, you'll just have to sneak past his guards to get there."

Jez took the gun and concealed it beneath the folds of her jumpsuit, "Right, and the gun I will try to use as a last resort only, but if I lose my cool... Ya know?"

Amata nodded tersely, "Now hurry up and escape, I have to get back."

The green eyed teen watched someone she'd known for most of her young life in the vault run out of the quarters as she packed what little she had into a backpack crouching all the while. The last things she picked up from her room was the bat and the bb gun before slowly exiting the room….

PAST to PRESENT

Jezebelle looked at the awesome view of the sunrise from her perch upon the TenPenny Building as she sipped at a bottle of purified water watching the surrounding landscape as the rays of another morning sun pushed back the shadows. Her mind shifting to another time closer to the present, but the main focus of her thoughts still hovered on 101.

Jefferson Memorial, pre-Purity revival

Jezebelle relaxed in what had to have been her father's room at one point, silently processing the holotapes that her dad had left randomly. She now knew that James had been focused on this project, granted, while he certainly had loved her mother, it felt like the social interactions that he'd had were all either work or romance and nothing revealing about the person he really was. She'd gone through all the tapes she had found of him, noticing that a couple had been with Doctor Li in her Rivet City room.

With a frown she dug into her backpack and pulled out a blank holotape, plugged it into her wrist computer and started speaking. "So I sit here in my father's great work [a snort is heard]. Right, great work indeed dad, even when we were in the Vault you were focused on your work. I understand now, but there is a saying among the older folks like Miss Palmer used to impart to us kids in the Vault; you can only ever parent once in your life, no matter how many children you may have. There is a limited time in which to teach a child, and you'll never have that time back dad; do you understand that? [the words come slowly as if the person wanted the heaviest emphasis on this statement] You will never be able to rewind time in order to do things right as it were. You had your chance at being a father, and while I admit you did try, your results were not very good."

Jezebelle switched to a second empty holotape to continue amidst some moist eyes and a now trembling voice as she resumed speaking. "I've turned out a disappointment to you daddy. I've pushed the button on Megaton, I went through Arefu and killed everyone there. I went and killed all the Brotherhood Outcasts I've found. I must be a huge disappointment to you dad. Words of apology will never rewind the related actions, Moriarty is still dead, wouldn't return if I apologized. I do regret to some extent about Megaton, but certainly I do not regret killing Mr Burke or his colleague Tenpenny. [A sigh is heard] I only wish you could see the view from the Tower, it is most magnificent and peaceful up there. I know where you're off to, so I best follow you there. I know you tried dad, having found your holotape in the vault entrance proves that; but it is not enough to say words when the actions are what matters the most. Still, remember that even if I don't behave how you expect me to, I do love you."

Father and daughter stared at each other, unable to say anything, allowing the silence to hang between them as each mind reorganized the thought patterns after being stuck in Braun's simulation. Both entities shivered figuratively in recollection of the world…..

Braun had noted the second unexpected arrival and had made sure to tall all the adults that could be reasoned with to tell the arrival to talk to him. He noticed the new arrival appear much like her father had at first, but after covertly watching her interactions with two of the adults, he had to grind his guise's teeth in frustration. For the girl was talking to every adult, and even as he abhorred the thought of it taking place; the child had gone to talk with the unreasonable Ms. Dithers. The deranged psychopathic scientist cursed inwardly as the black woman pointed toward Braun's control house. He watched openly as the onyx haired girl turned toward him and paused for a second before following the drive around the park, tilting her head at the dog and approaching her. Braun forced his voice mode on as the girl stopped before his avatar.

"Hello..?"

"Hi! you must be the new arrival I've heard about..."

"I guess... Would you know where my dad is by chance? Guy in his fifties...?"

"Oh, he was here, still is actually. But I would like to play a game with you."

The black haired girl narrowed her eyes, "What sort of game?"

"Make Timmy cry and I'll allow you a question that I will answer."

The girl squinted hard at him and Braun winced at the scrutiny. "Okay."

Braun smiled internally as the girl went off and messed up the lemonade stand, then gave The little boy a black eye and... He winced as she exclaimated her point and returned to him. He greeted her and watched her eyes widen at the change of voice and cursed internally at his error. "Good job, now for-"

"What the hell are you? A grown man in a suit of a little girl? Creepy..."

Unable to get a word in as she stalked off, he watched in disbelief as the girl entered into the control house.

inside

Jezebelle was weirded out by Dither's explanation of Braun, all she could see was a blonde little girl in the park and a dog off to the side. However, she was intrigued enough to check inside this place to find what was termed as the "failsafe terminal". She doubted as she searched the place the first time through that she'd find anything, and she had been right.

She considered the contents of the house as she stood at the head of the stairs gazing down on the room with the most contents in it; she visually catalogued all the items that were noteworthy. The radio was standard for a living room, so her eyes moved to the next object; a pitcher which was empty. Conceivably, it looked like someone had emptied the pitcher and then forgot to return it to the kitchen, very lifelike and realistic. The next object however did not necessarily make the best case for being in the living room, let alone inside a high use room. A cinderblock perched on a shelf of the coffee table; she descended the stairs to get a better look, Jezebelle's mind evaluating the usefulness of the apparently misplaced item.

The teen turned child reached out and touched the cinderblock, recoiling when she heard a dingle of a bell sound followed by an odd click sound. Intrigued, but still order bound, Jez turned and studied the gnome, also reaching out to touch that object and receiving a similarly pitched dingle with a similar click sound. She did this with the empty soda bottle as well, then ventured to touch all of these items in a plethora of sequences. Blinking as eventually one sequence phased in a massive computer bank along the far empty wall; she paused and stared at the apparition. "So Dithers was right it seems, let us see what can be done here…."

Outside

Braun was quite concerned, but could not do anything about it as all the residents were at the park, enjoying a barbeque meal of which he too had opted to take part if only to distract himself with a trivial task. That was not working however as apparently the dog, Ms. Dithers and himself were aware of the new girl's absence and also seemed concerned.

"Failsafe terminal operational." He heard in his mind and he let loose a word that instantly stopped conversation around the picnic bench, "Fuck!"

"Well! What words we have, Betty, your mouth needs washed out with soap!" Ms. Dithers rounded on him, only her eyes really held any true emotion and her eyes were malicious in their glee.

He managed to assume the appropriate chagrin for a 10 year old girl, "I'm sorry for saying such a rude word everyone." Dammit! Right now he should be in that house throttling that interloper, not stuck at some social function he'd acquiesced to just for a distraction from what was happening a few meters away.

"Failsafe Protocol Accessed, Chinese invasion activated."

And suddenly nothing mattered anymore as the adults began screaming while bullets began to fly and harsh words in a foreign language were heard. Fuming, Braun turned and watched the arrival of the unknown girl who finally deemed it necessary to talk to him; he was so upset that he didn't bother using the voiceover. "Do you realize what you've done?!" he shouted at the girl as soon as she was in earshot, headless of how those surviving yet had turned to look at the sound of an old man's voice coming out of a ten year old girl's mouth. "You've ruined it all! Everything is undone!" Braun switched back to voiceover mode, "You've ruined it all!"

The change in voices brought a reaction from the unknown girl, "Look you sick pedophilic old bastard, this is your reward for being into little girls! Get your mind out of that little girl you sick old man!" Needless to say, that was not the reaction Braun had expected, and it left him speechless enough that the girl continued on after seeing he was at a loss for words. "I've seen your files Braun. While this was certainly a genius structure to put together, why put the residents into this sort of lie Stanislaus? Why not make em face the reality that lies beyond this place, or is it the fact that by now most of your bodies in the sim pods are antique barely functioning organs? Too painful for you that you had to create an alternate reality for your own twisted sense of pleasure to deny any acknowledgement of reality?"

Braun could hardly keep up with the pointed questions, "I… I…. GET OUT!" He roared, unable to muster any words beyond that.

To which the girl simply snorted dismissively and nodded, "By the way Braun, my name's Jezebelle. Have fun in here being Alone for Eternity you... Psycho!" She added one final snipe as she touched the door and vanished along with the dog.

Vault 112

James watched his daughter as she sought some items from her backpack for him, "So dad, thank you for that holo tape in the vault. I appreciated it."

Her father nodded, "True, but I never intended for you to come after me."

Jezebelle looked up at him, her hand holding a small stack holotapes for him. "Figured as much. Here, these are from me to you to explain how I ended up out here and some the choices I've made. Listen to them now while we're here together at this place. I will explore what I can of this vault."

James nodded and took the tapes and started listening to them as his daughter moved off to do her own thing. His eyes widened at some of the things she said, how she felt that it had been her call to seemingly do what was right in her eyes by killing who she had to. His eyes grew downcast as he heard some of the hard times she'd faced facing supermuts, as she'd taken to call them. He went through each tape she'd made, avidly listening to his daughters voice as she grew up in the wastes and matured. His mouth was a thin line as she'd described the mistakes she made and the bad things she'd done.

"….I've become a calculating little bitch dad. I… I'm not proud of it, but that vault, and I know I'm pointing fingers here. That vault was so full of lies and hypocrisy, I had to get out, but you know what father? Every day here in the wasteland, there are hypocrites and fools aplenty. So my rage has not been sated daddy, I'm scared. Scared that I've been a failure to you, looking for help, yet not knowing where to turn. I end up trusting in my weapons to somehow transmit my feelings, but it doesn't quite work that way I guess. I don't know if we'll ever able to talk like this again, or if you'll hear from me again; just saying… I love you Dad."

James fought to keep his composure after the last tape ended, he was guilty as charged with a few of the issues she'd raised. He hadn't been good as a father, hell, she was his first ever child; and he'd had no idea how to do things. That was why he had turned to the Vault, to seek help on raising his child, but what with the overseer's actions, the result was that his daughter had gone rogue after being ousted from the vault, because of his leaving the vault. He stared at his pip-boyless hand and made a fist, grumbling in frustration to himself. His Project had gotten in the way, and it had ruled his life ever since. In some ways he admitted to himself that he resented his daughter for being born because she'd taken away his friend and greatest confidant. He'd resented her for sidelining Project Purity and he'd thrown himself into his work in the vault trying to avoid being reminded of Jezebelle's mother. He was very tired he realized; his search for needed items for Purity's success had cost him valuable relationships. And as his daughter had told him point blank, one could only parent once in life; there were no do-overs. He sighed exhausted and looked up at the approaching steps of his daughter.

"Dad?"

"We should get some rest tonight, then we can discuss plans tomorrow honey."

She nodded, "That's fine, but I want you to see my home at the Tower, then we can go from there."

James made a sound of agreement and both went to sleep.

"…Until recently, we've always known Tenpenny Tower to be just that, but with the change in leadership there. Just who owns Tenpenny Tower anyway now? Is it the Doombringer from the Vault who allegedly killed both Tenpenny and his mysterious cohort Mr. Burke? Should Tenpenny Tower be renamed now since Alistair Tenpenny is dead? Tune in next time children….."

The Tower

It was mid-day when they reached the tower, and James could not help but be awed by the pre-war interior and how the residents stubbornly clung to that ideal considering the state of the area outside. Wordlessly, he followed his daughter into the elevator and they began the ascent to the top floor.

"So what do you think of this place?" Jezebelle asked, "I know it's similar to the vault in some ways, but stuff isn't getting shoved down your throat by an overseer at least."

"That is true." The doctor admitted, "I'm surprised this place hadn't been overrun by now, must have good security forces here."

A nod of silence answered the observation as the elevator came to a stop at the desired floor. "We're here." The two walked into the sparsely lit lobby and turned to a door on the right of the lift area. "Welcome to the best of my various homes Dad."

James arched an eyebrow at that, "The best? What do you mean?"

Jez smiled at his confused expression slightly, "My other hiding-holes are underground, while some have more useful features than here, there's one that I find the best from here."

James followed his daughter through the oddly opaque doors that led to the deck…. And what a view it was, the Rob-co factory was below them; the landscape they'd trekked through a while back was laid out before his eyes. He could see the remains of D.C on the horizon with the specter of the Monument looming there; a quiet corner of his analytical mind estimating this tower to only be a few meters shorter than the old Washington Monolith. He could see the Jefferson Memorial from here. "Beautiful view up here." He started to walk around the obviously open deck that went entirely around the structure and saw some sort of briefcase like item laying open on a table. "What is this, why is it still here?"

A quiet mumbled answer drifted to his ears, "That was the switch used on Megaton. Dad, you know I'm not proud of that moment." His daughter leaned on the railing a bit and explained the happenings in Megaton more. "When I got there, a weird lady named Moira had something for me to do." The voice turned sour for a moment, "Basically using me as a test rat for her research." She looked over at her father, her hair covering her eyes. "First it was extreme radiation testing, bloody neared killed me. Super market wasn't so bad, only had raiders who were likely intent on using me for pleasure and throwing me away; killed them, found the food and meds for Moira and returned. Then there was going to Minefield, by the time I got to that place, I was convinced she was trying to kill me, even more convinced of it when I saw all the landmines around. Oh and there was something she didn't mention, who was actively trying to kill me. Dad, that lady was a pseudo-psycho. She may have had a heart of gold, but her methods were torturous to achieve what she had in mind."

"Sounds exhausting, I'm glad I didn't visit her store when I was there, just went up to Moriarty's for a bit of a chat—"

"That bastard tried to charge me for the information you gave him." Jezebelle revealed, her face clouded in thought, "I thought we could talk things out in his office, he tried to make a move on me and I shot him."

James listened in stunned silence to his daughter's revelation.

"He…His terminal, he had dirt on every noteworthy person in Megaton, Simms, the doctor, Jericho, Its all on my pip-boy if you really want to see it."

James shook his head. "That's fine honey. I can see why you thought you did what you had to do, I don't agree with your choice of methods, but I understand the why."

"Thanks dad." Jez smiled at him gratefully.

"As much as I'd like for this to continue," James lurched back into his normal tone, "The project still rules over me my child."

A frown appeared on Jezebelle's face, "And I suppose you simply must go to your pet project huh?" She said with venom in her voice, her lips twisted in hurt at the reminder of her father's work.

"Now Jez, please—"

"No father, you've always kept your pet project first," Her voice had a poisonous lilt to it as she attempted to convey her built up feelings from years of parental elusiveness. "Even your own flesh and blood daughter."

Her words hit James deep and he rose in his own ire and pain, regretting that things had to be this way between them. "Jez, I-"

"Brahmin-Procreating waste products dad! Your stupid project has gotten in the way of this family and you know it! You told me yourself in a holotape, don't deny this father." A glaring daughter livid with pent up emotions caught her breath as James struggled to respond.

"I… You're right. You were right in your holotape and you're right now. Subconsciously, I guess I thought it would work better if I threw myself into the vault work and avoid have to be reminded of your mother every day." James quietly replied, his voice thick with emotion. "Seeing you, especially as you got older, reminded me of your mother so much it hurt me when I looked at you. I just never saw how much I was hurting you; until it was too late to make amends…."

Jezebelle stood silently watching him, eyes moist with tears, "You know dad, I hope this project doesn't kill you, but you're right. This land needs the water to be cleaned, and that won't happen if you dally here." She raised a finger of caution to head off anything said, "But try finding a way to get it done yourself if at all possible." The young adult took a deep emotion charged breath, "I think it better if I do not come with you; we are liable to get into arguments like this too easily."

A somewhat drunken nod came from her father as he turned to leave. "I…understand Jezebelle. I love you."

It was a struggle for Jezebelle to not go running for her father right then as the emotional enormity hit her while watching her ancestor walk away, "I love you too dad."

Rivet City

James stood in the midst of the science team having just explained what needed to be done for Purity, Doctor Li was convinced, but some of the junior engineers had doubts.

"Where is your daughter Doctor?" Agincourt, the junior engineer asked.

"She is insistent upon not directly helping the project, but she has been most helpful by clearing out the tunnels that were accessible underneath the project." James stood his ground resolutely, "It has been assured to me that the area inside is clear and free of obstructions."

Daniel still was being irritating however, "And the outside areas? Did you hear those explosions last night? Sounded unsafe to me."

"Engineer Agincourt," James said in a dangerous formal voice, "I have it on good authority that those explosions were in the areas of where super mutants were camped. These areas will be clear for the next two days, which is why we must move now to return to the Jefferson Memorial."

"….Fine." Came the voice like that of a petulant child from Daniel's direction.

James ignored the insolent whelp and asked the entire team to make sure, "Do you all have what you need from here?"

A chorus of replying affirmatives encouraged the doctor, "Very well, let's go."

The way to the Memorial was actually devoid of any impeding obstacles and the group of scientists made good time to the scaffolding that was set up over the huge penstock pipe system. James spotted a decent sized note that was jury-rigged to a railing and halted the group to read it over.

"What's it say?"

James rubbed his beard growth thoughtfully and replied, "It is written here to examine the pipe system for any…. oddities. Does that pipe look odd to any of you?" He pointed to a pipe that had a section metal covering stripped away with a ribbing remaining. Doctor Li came up beside him and looked for herself, comparing the strangely mutilated pipe with the others around it and finding that 2+2 was not adding up to 4.

"James, this looks suspicious." Madison remarked quietly beside him.

James nodded, his expression grim. "Yes, this does look suspicious, but nothing we can really do about it right now. I'll have Agincourt look at it once we're ready."

"Noted." Madison moved away as James motioned the group to move forward. The team's thoughts now focused on not only getting the project running, but examining that piping system anomaly.

One thing that James had not told the others was that his daughter was watching them now from the roof of the memorial, not sure how she had gotten up there, but grateful for her presence still.

Jezebelle watched her father lead the team of scientists over the scaffolding, grateful that he stopped to address what she'd written for him and pleased to have noticed such a weird anomaly that was most likely to be very important to the team later on. She silently skittered down the side of one of the tower scaffolds to the main level and waited behind a massive pillar, listening to the building's internal intercom with an ear while checking her pip-boy for possible threats.

"Agincourt, that pipe we saw earlier outside, can you go inside it to determine the extent of the damage?"

A grudging affirmative sounded in reply and the Devilette of the wastelend looked toward that one pipe where she would see telltale shadows of a person moving through… And there the shadow of the junior engineer was.

"This is not good, Control, it appears that a valve was inserted into the piping system, possibly from the external point of entry-"

Jezebelle heard the roar of a vertabird hovering very close to her and pressed the earbud to her ear while readying to speak.

"-I attempt to open the valve?"

"Do so yes."

"Terribly sorry to break in," Came the voice of James' Daughter on the control room intercom, surprising most of the team members. "But a vertibird just landed or possibly dropped something off very close to my location—shit, Enclave!" The voice cut off in a hurried whisper.

James looked around at his team, "We know what they likely will want and we don't have much time. Any evidence in written form should be—"

He was rudely interrupted by a voice he dreaded to hear. "—Turned over to the Enclave scientists as this project is now being taken over by the enclave."

The speaker did not notice the felling of the power armored guards as his own voiced drowned out the heavy metal being degenerated to ashes from a nearly unseen shock sword.

"But where are my manners?"

"You never knew them you idiot." Thought ten minds at once in reply.

"—I am Colonel Augustus Autumn of the Enclave; and I must order you to turn over both this project and all your research on it to us."

"Sir-"

"Now." Demanded the impatient second most important person of the Enclave.

"Colonel, I must ask you to reconsider, this project isn't even functional-"

A gunshot sounded and Janet Kaplinsky fell as though detached from her puppet strings. The Colonel stood with a smoking gun, "Bloodshed should not be necessary sir."

James bowed his head, "I will do as you ask." He moved to the control terminal under the Colonel's watchful stare and with Autumn placed behind him, started the sequence to overload the area with radiation.

Jezebelle watched this from the other side of the bulkhead that had somehow been put in place and heard her pip-boy start to clatter as radiation started to climb. She saw the Colonel fall to the ground and her dad first beg her to open the bulkhead, then realize it was futile and shouted for her to run. She watched semi-frozen as her father succumbed to the radiation and collapsed. She turned from the scene to leave but was grabbed by Doctor Li roughly, "Hey, we've got to get out here!"

Jez glared daggers at the older woman, "What in procreation do you think I'm trying to do bitch? In case you haven't noticed, my father just DIED!" She couldn't help shouting in the others face at this point, Jezebelle's temptation to shoot the dense doctor was gaining ground. "Let's just go and we can discuss it on the move okay? Now you can let go of me, or I can either shoot or cut your arm off." The doctor's eyes widened as she let go and babbled meaningless words behind the black-clad teen as they barreled through the doors and down the hall.

Later, BoS

Jezebelle was shaking with rage at this point; all she wanted to do at this point was get some privacy so that she could mourn the loss of her dad, but would these morons let her go? No, they had to blabber on and on inanely while she seethed in rage and frustration.

"So you're James's daughter…."

The wind stilled.

Citadel Exterior

The guards were bored, obviously, much more enlightening activities were going on within the base than out here right? If only they could—

"I WILL PERSONALLY CUT YOUR SPLEEN FROM YOUR GUTS AND SHOVE IT INTO YOUR BRAIN IF YOU DON'T LET ME LEAVE!"

Then again, maybe they were safer out here, yes, watching for threats…. Much safer.

BoS interior

The Elder slowly nodded as much as his shell-shocked body would allow, "Yes…. You may go, sorry for your loss…"

Jezebelle stomped away with a mutter of possible gratitude, leaving the courtyard as the group slowly recovered their wits and returned to their own routines.

timeshift, general D.C area

A blurry mass slowly made its way over the rocks and outcroppings of the shoreline after clearing out the small raider band from under the bridge, and also offing the Enclave patrol as well that had been in a brawl with the raiders. The heavily stealthed figure moved slowly past the ruins of Greyditch and Wilhelm's Wharf, pausing only to cut down an innocent old lady in front of a shack and take the newly deceased's stuff. A snipe here and a snipe there; cars and a bus exploded with little warning, lighting up the dark parking lot of what used to be a Super Duper Mart. Slowly the figure made its way up to the ridge line and with some patience, took out another Enclave scout camp.

Jezebelle slowly made her way into the remains of Springvale and paused as her pip-boy alerted her to a new signal, but ignored the notice for now; she needed water and rest more than a new song to listen to at the moment. The Doombringer of the wasteland nudged a hidden switch that caused some doors to pull back revealing a manhole cover which Jez quickly opened and dropped down out of sight.

In the morning, Jezebelle made sure to grab her shocksword that was from the Outcasts facility and made sure she had restocked all her ammo before climbing out of the hole in the ground and hiding it again. Only then was she glad she had come up the ladder with the stealth field on as she noticed an enclave patrol just west of her. Switching to her best anti-group weapon, she let the massive frame settle onto her shoulder before firing what she called "The Death's Head."

Eight micronuke explosions rent the base of the ridge and incinerated the Enclave patrol, pieces of robot and trooper tossed up into the air landing in various places on the ridge. Seeing this made the Lone Wanderer sigh in resignation and begin the trek to find and loot the bodies. She tuned in to her pip-boy and frowned at the emergency signal broadcast, but turned on GNR instead to listen to music while she looted.

It was outside the rickety wooden door to Vault 101 that she took a second look at her radio listing as though seeing the new station there for the first time. "Wait." She selected the new signal and listened as the robotic voice droned for 10 seconds too long and stiffened as a near forgotten voice came from the depths of time. "What?"

She strode forward to the door and shoved it open, striding through and past as the old gate lost a bit more of its dilapidated structure. Her emerald eyes adjusted to the cavern's darkness while her emotions broiled within; the icicled contralto of her voice echoing off the stone walls. "Stupid Vaulties." She punched in the code and was relieved when the steel structure started to make the noise of opening, and within the cover of that obnoxiously loud steel on steel grating; "You all will die; slowly and probably painfully… What…?" The words died on her lips as the interior of the vault was revealed to her.

Jezebelle folded her sunglasses and put them in her pocket, then hooked her shocksword to her side and entered the vault for the second time of her life. She spotted the rad roach as it came to investigate and put her foot down on its head, killing it before moving on and seeing the body of a young man near the interior vault controls. "Jimmy Wilkins." Obviously dead, nothing in his pockets. She moved on, pausing at the door as her pip-boy noted a presence on the other side of the door.

Setting her face, she opened the door and stepped through.

"Hold it! Who are you and…. What, what are you doing back here Jezebelle?" It was Officer Gomez, she seemed to be lucky that it wasn't a more trigger-happy guard.

"Clearly there are issues here that need dealing with, then I will leave this tin can for good." She hoped he would buy that and leave her alone.

He nodded at her statement and she internally sighed in relief. "Alright, do your business here and get out. Things are really tense as is."

She nodded and waited till he'd turned his back on her then disappeared into blurriness, unsheathing her sword quietly and making sure that no one ever knew of her presence here, yet. With the guard's body on the floor, she opened the reactor door and moved down that corridor. After an empty room beyond that door, her pip-boy again warned of another presence. She went through the door and spotted Officer Wilkins moving to intercept. She jump-kicked him in the chest and propelled him to slam into a large cargo container.

"You—"

She pressed close and pushed the blade her sword into his inner thigh, "While I might have been the catalyst for this mess to occur, it was not me who killed your son in the vault entrance. He was already dead." Her expression turned even increasingly stony as Wilkins attempted to move; she pressed the button that activated the weapons electrical field and he stiffened in fear. She smiled coldly and swiftly brought the sword up slicing towards the ceiling while his body tingled with nervous reactions from the huge electric shock treatment.

One by one, Jezebel hunted the occupants of 101 down, uncaring of the fact that she'd gone into a near berserk state of mind from an overload of emotional stress. Bodies of draining blood told the tale of her path that took her down to where she used to live; and where the young Mack son was apparently living. She left him there without him knowing she had been there and continued her path of unneeded extermination that was slowly coagulating into a methodical plan. Turning a corner after descending a stairwell she came to the level of the classroom and clinic, where a familiar face greeted her. "Butch."

"Hey! You're back... Exceptional bio-waste, what happened to you Poindexter?" Butch refrained from being more enthusiastic as he eyed her nervously; his words being steadier than his body language.

Jezebelle approached him cautiously, not liking the rather narrow corridor that was created by the heavy furniture. Her sword rested on her shoulder, blood still in the process of drying collected on the shoulder of the coat she wore. Butch noticed she didn't seemed disturbed by the excrement and cringed inwardly at the possibility of what it meant. Jez stopped shoulder to shoulder with him and softly spoke to him, "How they hanging these days?" A smirk twitched at her lips as Butch sputtered soundlessly, "You do remember the kick I gave you at my birthday party over 9 years ago, right?"

Butch's face turned crimson at the reminder of that episode, "They're f-fine.. Um-"

"Go make yourself useful, there's some songs I want you to put on the pa system for me instead of that boring report stuff." She passed a holotape to him, "Just make sure it cannot be circumvented by Monster Mack."

Butch nodded and ran off to do as he was told. Jezebelle's smirk turned into a sinister grin and she resumed walking, noting a presence in the classroom to her left, she took a gander to see who it was. Her eyes widened slightly, "Ms. Palmer!"

The elder looked up, her face breaking out into a smile that showed her age, but also happiness at a former student's return. "Hello there young lady. Nice that you've returned." Her voice got really quiet as Jez enfolded the older woman in a kind embrace, "Allen Mack, the new overseer, things are worse now. There doesn't seem to be much hope here."

Jezebelle chewed on her lower lip, "I have a hide out in the topside ruins east of here." She replied back in sotto voice, "If I were to give you an extra key, would you be able to make it there?"

Troubled eyes met troubled eyes as Ms. Palmer frowned, "Well... I'm not as spry as I used to be..."

Jez frowned and thought out a plan, "If I were to ask Butch to go with you... He's not the best person for it, but He's it as far as I know... Look, I know you'll be shocked to hear me say this, but this tin can is on its last legs. This crisis you're in down here, well, there's a crisis topside too; and that crisis just took my father's life." A shocked gasp told her that she had the old lady's attention and also an interloper that Jez could kick herself for not noticing earlier.

"Well, I'm very sorry to hear that Jez, your father was a good man, so kind and selfless..."

Jezebelle frowned and nodded, "Go out to the hall and wait for Butch to return. Christy and I need to have a chat."

The sole Kendall offspring looked terrified as she approached. "Um, hi; you here to help?"

Jezebelle let her sword arm hang loose as she considered the teen before her, "I'm sorry about your father... No hard feelings, but I just lost my father two days ago. I hope you understand why it has to be this way."

Christine made no move to get up, she looked at the ground. Saying nothing to the girl who had beaten her father to death. The emotionally exhausted girl said nothing as she felt the sting of an electricized blade at her neck...

Jezebelle bit her lip as she watched Kendall's head roll from her body, she closed the door on her way out of the class room. Moving down the corridor, Jezebelle opened the clinic door and strolled in, she knew it would be a long discussion from the looks on the remaining faces. Considering that she'd gone and killed off many of the older people already, she could see their point of view.

"You're back! Thought you wouldn't show." Amata exclaimed, stopping short after noticing the bloodied sword at the Wanderer's side.

Jezebelle nodded slowly, "So I understand that Mack's a monster..."

Emphatic nods replied to her from around the room.

"For the past twenty years, this tin can has been in a state of lies-"

"You knew?!"

Jezebelle raised her hand for quiet, "I was angry too, I only found out after I left the vault with the tape that was hidden under the control panel." The young woman frowned at the memory of that time, how she'd plugged the tape in and sat down on a rock and listened only to break down in tears. It had taken her a day to get through that particular tape. She knew what she had to say next would absolutely floor them. "I found that I'm not from this vault," She heard intakes of breath and continued. "I was apparently born in the Jefferson Memorial at the site of where my dad's project resides." She raised her eyes and quelled the quiet murmurs around the room, she spotted Susie Mack among the throng. "Miss Mack, your brother Wally should still be in my old room, go there and wait please." She drew her sword to emphasize the order, and the youngest Mack skedaddled from the room. "You've asked me for help Amata, knowing that I am not of your Vault. Why come to me begging for my help knowing that I was not born here?" The jade eyes drilled into Amata's, the cold voice grew chillier still. "Is it because you don't have the balls to do what you know should be done? All of you seem to lack one tiny attribute to do things yourself." She brought herself to Amata, so close that the other girl averted her eyes, "You lack courage!" Jezebelle half shouted, causing everyone to jump. "You lack the Will to do it yourself, don't you?" She leaned toward Amata, although her question was addressed to everyone. "Am I to understand that you all are just cowards?" She twisted the knife as she looked around the room.

"Or is it the fact you just need a convenient jump-starter to goad you into action? Well, which is it Amata? You, knowing full well that I'm an outsider, called me here to be your gun. You should've known somewhere that this was a risk. Three years ago, when we all took the G.O.A.T, I suspected it was all a sham, and I was right. You might think you get a choice, but it isn't quite the case." She started to move around the room in sidesteps as she spoke. "Take the barber for example, all of us can recall that he was most unhappy about becoming a barber. According to the G.O.A.T, I was slated to become a shift supervisor, so what did I end up being? A technology maintainer person." Jezebelle looked at Amata and gestured toward her with her sword, "It was your father's doing Amata, you remember right? I basically told all of you that day that the test was a farce if you recall back then." The green eyed girl withdrew her sword and again approached Amata. "I'll help you." The casual tone made everyone blink, which was when Jezebelle disappeared from view.

To the others, it looked as if Amata suddenly imploded into ashes. They were too scared to speak, Jezebelle had been right, they had no courage. They had been fools to trust their wellbeing to an outsider.

"Freddy." An apparition whispered in his ear as he felt fingers caress. "I found a Vault-tec letter addressed to your ancestors." Jezebelle continued to speak even as she readied a combat knife. "And I'm sorry about killing your father."

Freddy Gomez was slow to react as he suddenly found himself on the floor with a knife stabbed into...

Jezebelle frowned, "I thought he had more endurance than that." She frowned at the unconcious male and drove her sword into his skull to kill him. Wiping the bloody residue from her sword, she sheathed it as she entered the back room of the clinic. "Andy, what do they have you doing these days..." She blinked, noticing Beatrice on the table. "A temporary surgeon? Great."

"Hello, it's been sometime-"

Jezebelle quickly shoved her sword into the droid's body and hit the switch, causing Andy to short circuit and explode. "They made a bad choice to make you a medical droid."

Susie Mack stared at her brother, "You mean she was the one who killed Steve?"

A clipped nod was his only response.

Susie frowned, "You realize she has a variety of weapons with her right." She shivered at the implications and froze at her brother's words.

"Susie, she isn't even from this vault."

"What?! You're serious?"

Another nod, but anything said was interrupted as the door hissed open and the outsider appeared again. If anything, her attire seemed to have become more bloodied over the last 10 minutes from when Susie saw her last.

The implications hit both of them hard and they cowered back from her in fear, Jezebelle only smirked at their obvious cowardice. "I was born out there, at Jefferson Memorial Susie, not here. I am the reason effectively why the old overseer clamped down so hard on vault isolation the past 20 years. I am the reason that my father's project was delayed and my mother no longer lives." She paused and looked at them both, "I am the reason my father gave his life two days ago for his project."

The overseer's office, a place where power corrupted you. Granted Allen Mack didn't think of it that way, but that was the fact of the matter. He stared at the Vault information wall like he'd been doing for the past 2 hours. Someone had returned to the vault, he couldn't pinpoint the voice and had few working cameras. So he stared at the vault monitor, hoping for new information. A light flashed in security, catching his attention. Brotch was free, he frowned at this sudden loss of security. All he had was old man Taylor, who was down watching the atrium.

Some voices caused him to look toward his door, an argument of some kind. His door hissed open and he froze in disbelief as a person from his nightmares appeared. "You! Why did you come back?"

Jezebelle narrowed her eyes at him, "I could've sworn I'd beaten you to death all those months ago."

Mack snorted, "That was my oldest son-huh?"

Jezebelle again vanished from behind his other two children and reappared in front of him, the point of her sword pressing rather sharply into the groin. "Amata called me here for assistance; that was her mistake." The nitrogenic voice intoned, "No one lives."

Mack tried to move but the older Mack was handicapped by the wall behind him as Jezebelle angled her sword up through very soft flesh and into his spine where she pressed the button before a brave junior Mack attempted to pull Jezebelle off his father.

Susie just stood there frozen in horror at the sight of her father bleeding and being electrified to death as her brother caught a harsh uppercut with his chin and Jez was able to over power him to get the upper hand.

Jezebelle drew a combat knife and slashed accross the youth's neck, ending his threat. With that, Susie Mack was in her sights, but Jezebelle decided that play time was done. Walking up to the now fried Mack, she yanked her sword out of his body and walked past the frozen girl. She switched weapons going for the Deaths Head.

Obliteration. The aftermath in the overseer's office was pieces of shredded person and clothing. Jezebelle left the carnage behind, only to lob another Deaths Head into the atrium.

No one else would be leaving this vault alive.

Jezebelle paused and sat down heavily before tending to the various wounds she'd received during the adrenal rush of battle. "A few stimpaks here, a few stimpaks there." She mused as she let the advanced healing aids work through her system. She rested while also having a bite to eat, going through various documents she'd lifted from the terminals in the vault.

"Vault-tec…." She scrolled through the listings, "Huh, Overseer's sealed orders." She opened that file and read, frowning as she went further into the depths. "So 101 was supposed to be closed permanently under a dictator, that's unpleasant. So why did they let Dad in?" Jez moved through other documents, "Looks like their doctor died with no one expert enough to take over the occupation in medicine several years before Dad showed up with me…" She read on frowning at the obvious hypocrisy of her years in the vault.

Timeshift to Present

Jezebelle shook herself out of the past momentarily and stared north, imagining a different area and time, recalling when she was fresh from the vault, and naive about the wasteland.

Timeshift into Memories

The emotionally stressed teen walked down the hill toward the town that sat below the vault entrance; stopping to take a look around at a world she was unused to. Gone were the limits and artificial walls of the vault, the vault lighting in her youth paled in comparison to the massive glowing energy ball in the sky. Said natural light actually felt far better too, so warming and pleasant, human-made fascimiles just couldn't compare. This space outside was so vast and just begged to be explored. She took a look around and spotted a mostly entact large building in the distance to the north.

...

"Springvale Elementary" The sign read as Jezebelle crouch-walked slowly towards the school. She had spotted the people at the north end of the school and carefully slipped into the building with all the stealth she could muster...

...Only to come to face an absolutely grotesque display of humanoid artwork. The teen blinked with wide eyes as she drew her gun to prepare for anything even as a cry from one of the rooms ensured she was not among friendlies.

...

Much later, a skittish teen sans a blood-covered vault-suit stood in one of the rooms of the upper floor. She had wounded the leader of the building's savages and locked the comatose man up in the makeshift jail. As her heartrate slowed down along with her train of thought. Jezebelle started to plan her future from the present. "Think Jez... You came out of the vault fresh and almost got used for whatever bad ideas these savages had. Are you gonna walk out of here now or are we going to stick around and educate ourselves a bit?" The black haired teen talked to herself as she started to collect things for the education she had in mind using the wounded guy as the testing laboratory.

...

Jezebelle stayed at Springvale Elementary for a bit of time, punishing curious raiders with various methods of sensory perception research. The innocent and naive vault girl was gone; replaced with a cold untrusting veneer who watched as blades peeled away skin layers while the receptacles of the sensation writhed in pain.

...

Briefly, she left the school to attain some implements from an installation where she did their jobs for them and then killed them all. Looting the entire base, and taking both the shock-sword and the stealth suit. On returning to the school, the former vault dweller found all the ways to use electricity on the body and catalogued the results in her pip-boy...

Timeshift: The Lyons' Fall, The Citadel Perspective

It had only been a handful of minutes since the sentinel had reported in, having collected the agent who assisted with the cleanup of Adams A.F.B., and most of the group was heading outside to welcome the Pride back from a successful mission. The end result was that nobody knew of the threat from above until it was far too late. The Elders had just exited the building to the courtyard when the first missile struck, obliterating many who had just stepped out the door. Missiles followed, destroying and yet excavating the building in the process of many people dying. Liberty Prime was destroyed in the conflagration, revealing more sublevels to the Citadel than the building had above-ground floors.

A squire ran from the building as the wall collapsed behind him, unable to fight, he opted to hide as the Vertibird beats drew closer. Suitably hidden, he watched as people disembarked from the aircraft, looking around in shock at the destruction burning around them. The squire saw Sarah Lyons speak with the ex-vault dweller in harsh terms as she gestured to the local environment.

"Do you realize what you've done?" The Sentinel demanded as the Defiler took in the scene around them silently before gazing at Sarah Lyons with what seemed to be remorse as she spoke softly in the wake of Lyon's anguish.

"The terminal on that platform had a target list, and I wasn't necessarily sure what kind of response time the satellite had. So I selected what it called "The Pentagon" and-" The Wandering One's head turned to the side as Sarah slapped her, interrupting the reply as the Dweller was thrown from the impact a few feet. "-What was... Okay." Jezebelle regained her footing as she stared the cadre of armored people down, her helmet already into assist mode even as she reformed her thoughts. "Okay," She repeated slowly. "I envied you for having a father you could converse with as my late father never did that role well." Her hands tightened around her silenced Blackhawk as she brought it to bear on the group, "Unfortunately, our cooperation has ended."

The squire watched with wide eyes as the odd one out dropped into a crouch and disappeared from view, telling signs of injuries appeared on the Pride side. Within a few seconds, the entire fight was down to Lyons and the Dweller, and the Squire forgot himself and edged excitedly forward to witness the epitaph of the skirmish.

Jezebelle smirked as she spotted through the VATS system the young squire, then taunted Sarah, tagging a lucky shot into the Sentinel's fusion core before pointing out the young observer. "So, was He supposed to be watching this?" She smiled as Sarah muttered epithets while trying to untangle herself from her now useless power armor.

The blonde head came up at the dweller's question and swiveled in the direction 101 indicated. "Arthur! What are you doing here? Ack!"

The stealth suited woman interrupted Sarah with a grapple and tackle, and Lyons found herself hard-pressed to keep the electrified blade from her throat. "Don't get distracted," Jezebelle bore her weight down upon Sarah, and using the assistance of her pip-boy, sliced Sentinel Lyons throat. "Don't go anywhere, I have something to do inside." She arose from Sarah's bleeding corpse and went into the Citadel.

The squire ran over to Sarah's side as soon as the lady had disappeared, "Sarah! You can't die! I won't let you!"

Sarah grasped one of Squire Maxson's young hands in hers, barely managing a sad smile up at him as she tried to speak. "-'m s-rry... Arthur... Good...B-"

"NOOoo!" Squire Maxson wailed, the sound masking the doors closing as the Lone Devilette returned. The crying of the boy masking her quiet footsteps, her voice startled him as she spoke.

"So, I was right, you did have a crush on her after all." The teenage hellion tossed a look of regret towards the youth.

"You don't know anything at all Murderer!"

Sighing quietly, she looked at him. "Sarah would want you to grow up to defeat girls like me, but remember one thing if you can Maxson. If we meet face to face again, you must be ready to that end. While I'm sorry about Sarah, there was a point that had been reached. It was me or her, one of us had to die." Jezebelle turned and walked off, leaving the young Maxson to stew in anger that matched the flames of the burning wreckage that used to be the Brotherhood's main base.

The squire watched the former vault dweller fade into the distance through the building fires, his eyes narrowed in hate, vowing to avenge the fallen silently.

Timeshift to Present

Having packed up what she could from the Tower, the lone wanderer headed north, intent on going through Bigtown; when she got there it was already sunset, so she agreed to do some work for them in return for a bed for the night. Having to teach an amorous teen a lesson did not help her or anyone else get sleep that night, and nor was anyone really curious as to what had transpired in that one room while the outsider was on her mission for them.

Later, she returned with both the young teens, but requested her reward for the Germantown rescue before Red even had a chance to unwind. While Shorty had gone off to check on Bittercup, Red had asked about staying around to defend the town.

"You have able people, there's no reason why you can't do it yourselves." The black overcoat of the lone wanderer faded into the depths of the night as Shorty hollered for help from the common house.

Timeshift

"…Listening to GNR. Now for the latest bit of news… Vault 101, according to a curious informant who ventured; quote, too close to the center of Hell. Unquote; has apparently been a scene of mass slaughter in the past few weeks. The details are too graphic for even me to impart upon you out there, but evidence seems support the theory that the girl who escaped from Vault 101 in search of her father has perpetrated this gruesome action. This… this Grim Reaper of the Wasteland walks among us, taking whoever she chooses. She's exterminated many of the scum in the Capital Wasteland, but also coldly murdered those who were trying to help and assist. Bigtown is a Ghost town, Arefu sits empty, Megaton sits in ruins. How can the few good things that she has done possibly outweigh the many negative things she has brought upon this wasteland? True, the raiders fear the sight of her, even those big green monsters pause before they try to take her down. Let me be honest here, I would love to see her head on a plate just for all those bad things she has brought into the Wasteland. Someone, anyone out there; I implore you to stop this Grim Reaper of the Wasteland before she spreads her death scythe much further. Now, let's go for some music…."

"Too late for that Three Dog." Jezebelle murmured quietly before shutting the radio of her pip-boy off as she stood at the point of no return, clad in the shadow of the elevated highway's remains as she paused to remember the region before moving on. The now ragged trenchcoat that hung from her lithe frame had seen countless battles with raiders, mutants, poisoned creatures; even the ones who had worked with her all were marked as "collateral damage". She'd put an end to the Brotherhood of Steel and the Outcasts in this area. Jezebelle had braved an alien invasion and cleaned up Point Lookout. The fabled "Devilette of the Wastes" had cleaned out every Vault she could in the area, hunted down the Deathclaws of the region to make their extinction a near certainty. Over a thousand deaths rested on her slender shoulders; Tennypenny Tower, Arefu, Megaton, the Underworld, Bigtown, Lamplight. The Regulators and Talon Company were devastated in numbers, if not outright destroyed. However, "One more end to tie up; Sir Dog, I'm coming for you."

"Goodbye Capital Wasteland, hello Appalachia."

The lone one wandered into the area that had been West Virginia at one time partially because that was where the rail line went. She got sidetracked by her own curiosity and started to explore the remains. Along the way, she came across quite a number of pip boys that somehow, still functioned. Browsing through the files on each one yielded quite a lot of information on the region, people, and the vaults. One such vault was apparently the catalyst for the wasteland that she traveled through, judging by the records of the overseer that were found on multiple pip boys. Vault-tec had played her for the fool, shafting her deep and hard on the largest phallus of experimentation they could. Proclaiming to the outside that 76 was a control vault, and yet handing the overseer a vaguely worded mission to "take control of the silos for Vault-tec". Jezebel supposed that the overseer didn't figure out that she'd been horns-waggled until the dwellers found these silos and started using them.

Eventually, from other holo-tape evidence, she was able to conclude that the dwellers went mad from lack of social interaction, having found other humans to either be devolved into mindless zombies or super mutants. The dwellers had nukes, so what the lone explorer ascertained was that the dwellers had gone to town on each other, dropping nukes like candy wrappers and after a short period of time, killed nearly all of themselves off after disposing of the giant bat problem..

chapt1 end====Chapter Two start

Timeshift; 2282-2283

Jezebelle hated deathclaws; she sat covered in the mix of her own blood and the deathclaw's, fighting to keep from passing out as she worked to slowly free herself from underneath the dead creature's body. The Lone One hated deathclaws due to their ferocity in approaching melee range, but this time, there had not been time to get the Death's Head out. She had only managed to get her shocksword out in time to parry a claw swing so it did not slice her head off. The resulting wound had badly damaged one eye and she needed to heal the best she could...

2283

The fabled Torturer of the Wasteland stood, looking out from the settlement she had managed to find after leaving the cave with the dead deathclaw. She had spent time helping the people in the settlement as a way to pay for her stay; she'd hated having to set aside her pride, but it was the only way to heal from the wounds dealt her a year ago. Jezebelle had spent time learning to cook, build new items, learned how to grow some things in the time of healing. The doctor of the village had pronounced her left eye as gone, and had given her a glass "eye", but Jezebelle had insisted on an eyepatch, refusing the glass ball while keeping her left eye intact despite the damage.

After about eleven months by her pip-boy, Jezebelle had gotten used to seeing with a single eye and spent time practicing with her various weapons. Now, the figure stood outside the village of her healing, seemingly cold and distant, a mirv launcher strapped to her back, shocksword on her hip, a compact sniper rifle in her hands and a Blackhawk pistol on her other hip. Her hair briefly parting, allowing her sole green eye to be seen at the will of the accosting wind; the black eyepatch on her other eye sporting a "1" which stayed hidden most of the time beneath long onyx bangs. The helmet she wore had the eye goggles up on the forehead of the helmet as she surveyed the landscape to the northeast. It was time to move forward, Jezebelle decided; she chose the Death's Head and hefted the bulky frame onto her shoulder and pulled the trigger while aiming from left front to right front.

Repeated multiple explosions rained on the landscape, both rousing potential threats and exterminating those same organisms. This sort of combat method had a horribly tedious cleanup process, but it was preferable to getting caught out by supmuts or deathclaws. This process of progress was slow from that time onward, but it served her well as nothing stood in her way or got close to her for long.

2284-2285

Jezebelle frowned in disbelief at the carnage her barrages had inflicted on a small settlement that had been under attack by raiders that the Lone One had chanced upon. She had not known at the time that the village was a group of settlers until she entered the compound and stood in shocked silence gaping at the carnage unintentionally done by her mini-nukes. Mangled and cooked bodies of very young right in the mix with the adults who were both settlers and raiders; the shock that she had killed infants stunned her for more than a few minutes. The Lone One spent some time in the area after that incident.

Location change, 2286

A couple of years passed, the young woman from vault 101 refined her skills as she wandered towards the commonwealth; routine was to mirv-nuke the area she would be traveling to, and then pick up the pieces the rest of the day. Other days, she would simply look out for wandering souls and on occasion, snipe those travelers, especially if they were traveling in groups. She'd found a reference to some weird place called Nuka-World on some woman who had seemed to be some sort of raider. She frowned as she had listened to the holotape found and scowled at the contents. "Not keeping this one." She ejected the tape and after throwing it on the ground, drawing her blackhawk and shooting the little piece of plastic full of holes. "It is far better than what you deserve `Dixie'." She told the corpse and shot the corpse again for good measure before looking around at the road that the small group had been on...

The vault 101 wanderer had stumbled into an interesting area that she'd never been to before; filled with rides to fit various themes in the distant background and one derelict powerplant that sat in front of her...

"Boss, we got a problem." Gage dutifully told Colter, who was polishing his power armor for the 10th time. It'd only been a couple months since the salami can of raider gangs had taken over Nuka World, and Gage could see that Colter was already slipping into a phase of arrogance.

"What's the problem, and why can't you handle it yourself?" Colter growled as he stood up, wiping an imaginary spec of dirt from the suit of power armor before he turned to face the unofficial master behind the temporary gang alliance that had been the victory to take over Nuka World.

"Power plant. A patrol earlier this evening spotted lights in that top floor room where the power control switch is, and others have been noticing some park lights blinking from time to time." Porter Gage replied, and was delighted when the overboss frowned in serious thought before he replied.

"Well, get the leaders together, tell them I'll be along shortly, and we'll go and take care of this problem."

The Wasteland widow-maker paused in her work of considering the master junction box as she spotted some bobbing lights on the road east of the plant. She reached for the light switch and then exited the room, leaving the door propped open. Crouching, the lithe woman slunk her way to the edge of the building's rooftop even to be able to look through her scope at the disturbance below. The person in the power armor had to go...

The group paused, looking at the towering vestige of the power plant having seen the light on the roof go out. "Dang-it Colter, turn that lamp off! We may have been spot-"

A single round whistled passed Gage's right ear and slammed into Colter's nose, shattering it and the rest of his head instantly.

"-ted. Scatter!" Gage looked up at the edifice of the building in concern, someone had just whacked out Colter with ONE shot. That was almost mythical these days, unless the shooter had one of those pip-boys... He swore and quietly explained his thoughts to the others, "Be as stealthy as possible, we still have four-"

Another shot whisked by and struck Nisha in the neck, severing her head from her shoulders.

"-three. " He corrected, "And the person up there is only one..." He faded off in speaking as he stared at Nisha's bleeding corpse. Gage had seen enough, he knew what was needed, and he told the remaining bosses; "Let's go back, gather our forces, and then come back to rid the plant of this nuisance."

Reluctantly, the three remaining leaders agreed, and Gage frowned, planning how to mollify the Disciples remaining leader. Savoy would want blood, and the only way Porter could see through this was to let the Disciples just go after the unknown lurker at the plant.

In the next week, the Disciples were seen sending scout parties up toward the plant only to never hear from them again. Fewer and fewer Disciples members were left as Savoy became obsessed with finding what happened to Nisha. Finally, the Disciples leader grabbed all the members in an attempt to storm the plant only to be mowed down by newly placed fortifications.

During this time of chaos, the Cola Cars arena still had visitors from the Gauntlet, and alarms would sound, but no one bothered with it. Even Fritsch, who managed the arena, didn't really know what was happening as some of the Operators would go in the day after the alarms and find a bare looted corpse. After the sixth alarm day, people stopped coming through the Gauntlet altogether, much to the annoyance of the gangs.

A month after the demise of the Disciples, while wary eyes still strayed to the west and the power had been on for the past couple weeks without fail; a lone figure descended from the bluff. Jezebelle had decided to change out her old suit for a sleekly designed replacement which assisted in matters of stealth, but she had managed to carve out 101 on the shoulder pads after repainting those in black. She walked along, casually killing the wildlife from great distance, a throwback to spelunking of her past. She preferred the guns that shredded an enemy at a distance. When she got too annoyed with the wildlife, she pulled out the trump card in the arsenal.

The capital wastelander walked into the central Nuka World complex, having secured the entire park for some people called the Operators despite having never met them. She met those who remained, agreeing to stay on and make sure that the raider gang recruited more people, and then set out for the commonwealth.

The commonwealth greeted the traveler as she gazed down from the nearby mountains, waiting for her wrist computer to update its map of the area. Slowly scaling down from the mountain ridgeline, Jezebelle picked out suitable sites for the Operators. Later, she would go over this list with a supposedly trusted friend of Gage; picking out Red Rocket, Taffington, the outpost Zumonja, Hangman's Alley, Jamaica Plain, Murkwater Construction Site, and Egret Tours Marina. Over the next two months, the young woman ventured, fought and conquered for the Operators, securing the chosen places for gang camps and occasionally forcing a nearby settlement to share their supplies. This state of being would remain for a few months as 101 built up her nest egg of caps, but eventually, she would decide to cash in and wiped out the operators and the pack for good. If she was questioned why she did the cleanup job, the answer would be "Springvale Elementary."

The onyx haired lady came to an old farm built around the base of one such power line tower that she'd found during her initial explorations for the area. Agreeing to do an errand, the young woman kept to the shoreline past some interesting stuff which she earmarked for later exploration. As she delved into the raider issue at the listening post, she briefly wondered what kind of name Ack-Ack was, but only briefly as she simply used the Death's Head to vaporize the entire lot and retrieved the locket for the farmer family. Upon her return to the farm, the grateful family allowed her to set up shop and start building to improve the place; giving the property a semblance of proper defenses and starting work on a lookout tower. Even after learning that she was behind the nearby raider encampment, they still allowed her to build on the promise that she would keep the raiders off their land.

After Jezebelle had completed the ungainly looking spindle, she'd taken the woman of the farm up to the top for an example of the view that none of the farming family had ever seen before. The poor woman turned out to be quite nervous to be so high up off the ground, but had pointed out with quaking knees several nearby reference points including a vault that was close by. As the woman left, shakily clinging to the railing for life descending the stairs, the Lone Wandering lady looked to the north where vault 111 was, making plans to go there in a few days. Then the vaultie looked east toward what the woman had called "Concord" and looked at the town with the aid of a weapon scope. The town looked deserted, but in pretty good shape considering the time elapsed.

She put her weapon away and began the repetitive process of descending the tower to then tell her hosts her general plans and ask their advice. She'd left the old fuel station alone with the pup that was there, now it looked as if she'd have to build up a bit of a fort-like structure. So for a few days, another tower slowly took shape, one at the edge of the property that oversaw the main portion of Concord and had a top floor that literally looked down on the town and the surrounding area. Which is what she then did for a whole day; scoping out any threats around Concord before descending her tower and approaching the town quietly. Picking off the raiders she found as she moved through the north portion of the town on a foray to Zumonja.

It was only a month later that Jezebelle decided to travel up to the ridge where the vault was reported to be; using the river, she cut across and scaled the ridge to avoid the island town to reach the clearing.

She murmured out loud to herself, stepping closer to examine the console, mostly for her own benefit as closer scrutiny revealed the probable method to unlocking the vault's secrets. She plugged her pip-boy into the terminal for a better idea of the function. "Interesting, so I hit the button and then walk onto the platform..." Experimentally, the slender woman reached out and gave the button a single hard poke and frowned before walking toward the platform. "Strange that they give nothing to indicate that the button worked at all; no sound or light indicator, stupid Vault-tec."

Jezebelle bent down to examine the platform area closely even as she stood on it, starting in surprise as she felt the area begin to descend into the underground. On instinctual reflex, the green eyed female looked up to see that a secondary door had closed already sealing the hole from the outside world. "Great, I hope this one isn't like Vault 112." She shuddered at the memory and refocused on her surroundings as the long way down finally seemed to be coming to an end.

Vault 111, 2287

For the last few years on her journey, Jezebelle had started questioning her actions and slowly easing her finger away from that trigger. Allowing more of those who were just trying to rebuild to do as they were doing. The Feared of the Wastes was softening, because she'd realized that killing everyone she saw, regardless of alignment, was fruitless. Conversely, allowing those who were honest at wanting to rebuild, would improve the land.

Now, Jezebelle was in yet another Vault-Tec tomb; there weren't very many that she could say were clean and tidy. The only other cleanly Vault she knew of had been 112. Shaking her head to clear it, the Lone Wanderer mentally prepared for whatever might face her. The lift descended into a cage like structure which started to open as soon as the ride had finished. Jezebelle tilted her head and frowned at the giant door that was closed, with no visible way to open it from this side. "So how am I supposed to handle this one?"

Jez Hawklyn was not happy with Vault-Tec. The cryopods were history after a pre-mature malfunction; to make matters worse, she was the ONLY one alive and her son was gone. The memories she fought against as she strapped on the pip-boy, the woman allowed the machine to boot up and cycled through the various functions before moving over to the panel to open the vault door.

Jezebelle twitched with surprise as klaxons began to blare; klaxons that she knew well enough insinuated the opening of the vault door. Using that knowledge coupled with the fact that someone seemed to be alive in this metal morgue, she dashed over to a point underneath the stair way to wait as the vault door cycled open. Tense with adrenaline, she watched the grated floor above her waiting for the person to show themselves.

Jez Hawklyn ran her fingers through her short neck length hair as she watched the ramps slide into place. She should've known better then to blindly trust Vault-Tec, she thought to herself as she walked across the bridged span of steel grating to the stairs on the other side. A faint sound emanated from beneath her feet that was different in contrast to her footfalls on the steel floor and she paused at the coldness of the voice that stilled her motions from beneath her feet.

"Come down the stairs slowly, hands where I can see them." A cold female voice intoned from the shadows beneath the stairwell.

The clothing the other woman wore was very familiar to the Lone One; a vault dweller, female with short black hair stepped slowly down the stairway, her hands clearly visible and empty at her sides. Once the woman reached the concrete floor, she stopped, looking around for the source of the voice.

Jezebelle stepped forward out of the shadows, deigning herself with the right to speak first. "So, Vault 111 dweller..." Anything the 29 year old woman was about to add after that tripped and fell as the two women got a good look at each other.

They were both similar in height and possibly age, but it was difficult to tell just from a visual inspection. Jezebelle was wearing her self-made, customized Vault 101 sleek armor which consisted of a black recon suit with blue painted areas over what originally had been red portions with the blazing gold lettering proclaiming "101" on the shoulders. Never mind the fact that she wasn't originally from vault 101, but it had always been the place she most identified with, even after hunting down and killing most of the vault 101 dwellers. Now she simply wore it to remind herself of the atrocities she'd enacted and to not stoop to that sort of coldness again.

The woman wore her black hair like Jezebelle used to have it, low on the forehead and basically close-framing her face; whereas Jezebelle's current style had a third of her head shaved with the rest of her hair portioned down the right side of her head, slightly covering her right eye slightly.

Timeshift

"We could be twins..." The original dweller observed after the two had compared their lives.

Jezebelle shook her head, "You're an original dweller, that is of far greater value then you realize Eleven."

Black hair tilted to the side, "Eleven?"

The Lone Wanderer nodded, "Yes, as in one-eleven, but shorter, you can call me one if you want to. Better than us getting confused over the name we share."

"Point taken... So the Eastern Seaboard is toasted huh?"

"In a manner of speaking Eleven, I suppose you could say that. There's a few spots of normality around, but not many." Jezebelle stood up and offered a hand to her counterpart, "Come, let us get out of here."

The Sole Survivor took the offered hand then stood, "Yes One, lets blow this tin can."

The two vault dwellers stepped on to the lift and into the Commonwealth.

Topside

"Ugh!" Eleven exclaimed, raising her arm up to ward off the bright sunlight, "My eyes!"

One only smirked and fished out an extra pair of sunglasses, "These might help you."

Eleven glared briefly at One in the process of snatching the proffered eye protection and putting them on. "Thank you."

The duo stood on the platform for a bit, pausing to take in the view before moving from the center where One stopped and motioned Eleven to check her Pip-boy. "So you might want to study your Pip-boy closer; there's other things it does besides a map... Like the time for instance..." The Lone Wanderer trailed off as Eleven stared at the stat screen of her pip-boy in shock.

"H-how long has it been?!" The shocked woman enunciated in disbelief, "Last I knew, it was 2077; now this says its twenty-TWO eighty-seven, two hundred and ten years!?" Eleven looked up as One gently placed a hand on her back, shutting up as One took the pause to speak.

"It has been 10 years for me since I left vault 101." Jezebelle quietly stated, her eyes far away seeing something the other woman could only guess at. "In search of my father... He was stuck at another vault much like the one you were in. Only it was a virtual reality show..."

The Original dweller listened as the Lone One told her what had transpired in a nutshell as they followed the trail down to the creek. The young woman beside her clearly had been through a great deal of hardship, judging by the cold distant look that One's eyes had while in the midst of the story; also the undeniable fact that Vault-Tec had a lot more to answer for than she originally thought.

Eventually, the two dwellers parted ways.

Granted, parting ways can mean little in terms of the eventual goals of each person. Jez wandered south toward the town Codsworth had mentioned; she remembered Concord as a peaceful little suburban town, but it was nothing like her memory anymore. Portions of houses were collapsed or boarded up, dead corpses of cattle laying on the road with mutated flies buzzing over said corpse. Abandoned vehicles, some burned out husks, alongside the road or on the road. Her newly acquired companion barked a warning to her as he shot ahead toward the corpse of the now clearly seen mutated cow. She smothered a curse as the flies became alert to her presence and proceeded to use the pip boy's combat system with assistance from her gun to finish off the insects.

The newly unearthed vault dweller entered the town proper and with a bit of time, she managed to get all the raiders in the central area of the town. When asked by some redneck to help him inside to clear out raiders, she did as requested, but then left after she had cleared the building of hostiles, much to the annoyance of the man who had asked her to assist. A little while later and another day of walking, Jez entered Boston proper, having heard from the other dweller about "Diamond City" it was called. She remembered Fenway Park before the war and the baseball games she would attend, sometimes with her parents or friends. Last time she went to the ball game, Nate had taken her after he had returned from military duty. Now, the stadium looked so different with ramparts and roughshod fortifications. The sole survivor paused in her mental evaluation of downtown Boston to excommunicate a couple of green skins that were giving the guards trouble.

In a much denser portion of Boston, 101 cleared another street of lowlifes on her way to what appeared to be a park of some sort, paying no attention to the numerous graffitied signs warning of "Swan's Pond" as she utilized her Death's Head in a triple salvo of micro nuclear rain upon the park. Once the visible spectrum returned to the park, the young woman moved forward, looting everything she could; and upon finding another sign of "Swan's Pond", she dug out a paint can and scribbled out the "pond" and wrote "gone". The Lone One did this for every sign around the commons, so that later, when the raiders came to investigate the area, all they would see were signs proclaiming: "Swan's Gone."

Jezebelle quietly entered the subway access point known as Park St. station and began quietly sorting out her gear while listening to the voices floating up from the area at the bottom of the dead escalators. She unloaded a few of her things into the cigar vendor machine before nodding to herself in satisfaction, marking the machine with a number on each reachable side read as "101". Later, she would return to collect the gear and store it elsewhere, but for the moment, she selected her minigun and descended into the earth.

The sound of a minigun being powered up did very little to warn the triggermen as a storm of shells shredded the first ghoulified triggerman from beyond the doorway to the surface. Cries of outrage and alarm were cut short as the minigun wielder came through the door and sprayed the entire interior with bullets the even went through the walls in some cases. The whirring continued as the figure kept the gun online while she checked out what used to be the station restrooms. Then the noise stopped as the woman collected the most important ammunition and loot, then slowly moved down the stairs.

Jezebelle had found that the best way to avoid getting hurt was to use the minigun, spraying bullets everywhere so that those she was trying to eviscerate from life had to remain heads down or risk getting shredded to death. For her interests, the triggerman in her sights didn't realize that, and so they died by the dozen, futile in their efforts to keep the invader from reaching their base. 101 had to shake her head at Vault-Tec when she saw yet another vault door in front of her. "Let's open this tin can." Was stated in a voice that would've made even seasoned war veterans cringe at the casualness of the almost flippant remark.

After another dozen triggermen killed, Jezebelle entered the vault proper, having picked up every piece of information and holo-tape she could find. She cautiously made her way toward the main area and opened the door, scanning for signs of life. Spotting what seemed to be a lone person at the far end of the room possibly looking through a window at something, Jezebelle raised her sniper rifle to her eyes and aimed for the lone guy standing at the far end of the area. A minute later, said triggerman was sprayed all over the vault room wall, most of his brains either stuck to or oozing down the overseer's room window as the sniper moved about the room taking what she could before wandering up to where the overseer's office was located. She found a password tape on the deceased Dino for the nearby terminal where upon unlocking and opening the door, 101 found a weird sight, "Who, and what, are you? Some robot playing a detective?"

Nick Valentine paused a second as his rescuer finished operating the terminal, the door having allowed him to evaluate the person before she focused on him. She was very well traveled, several layers of muck and grime decorated her boots and lower legs, underscored by what appeared to be the occasional blood spatter of enemies. On her back and sides were several weapons; a sword of some type, a sniper rifle, some sort of scoped revolver, a weapon framework that was folded on her back, and beside that was a wicked looking minigun. Now that she was in the room, he began to speak, "Its not often that the roles are turned around where the damsel rescues the guy in distress... The name's Nick Valentine, and yes, I am a detective and a synth..."

A synth, Jezebelle considered this thinking of an earlier time, she'd just met Harkness and found that he was a synth. She took the view in that she had of this new synth who looked like a bad example for a robot dealership if there was one. He had wires in his neck, and servos in his arms. The facsimile before her was nothing like Harkness, this one seemed much older. "Funny, the synth I met in Rivet City looked nothing like you, so are you one of the earliest synth models then?"

"I guess so considering I was a prototype synth. I've never heard of Rivet City, where is that? You don't seem to be from around here, that pip-boy..."

"Never mind where I'm from, let's get you out of this joint. Follow." Jezebelle strolled in, took the holotapes and the bobblehead and exited the room at a brisk walk, forcing the synth to keep up.

Nick had to admit that this lady was very dangerous. She had vaulted over the railing forcing him to do the same, then absolutely demolished the triggermen with that minigun of hers. He was disappointed though that the second they'd returned to the vault entrance, her mini gun had spun up and mowed Malone down along with his case.

Then, she'd left him on his own, "I'm guessing you come from a town around here, so you best get going, bye."

winter 2287-88

The grizzled mercenary looked at his new temporary digs in a satisfied calmness, after having the boy recalled, he'd moved here to Fort Hagen as quietly and as quickly as he could. Having only to dispatch a few scavenger patrols and a possibly more dangerous variety of raider pack. He looked up as synthetic expendables arrived in flashes of light along with X6, "Place is secure. As for this region around here, there are a new group of raiders to look into called the Operators. Can you have the higher ups look into them?"

The black clad gen-3 nodded, "Noted, I will pass your interest along. Your orders..."

The two vault dwellers sat on the overlook outside the Fort Hagen Command Center, silently watching the sun come up, having discussed the developing situation as they'd followed the canine. 111 had sent the dog off to Sanctuary before they took a seat on a bench and embraced a short time of rest unfettered by enemies as they'd cleared them all when they first arrived at the site.

"Let's do this."

The two dwellers had changed very little appearance wise. 101 now took a sniper pistol off her hip that had a silencer longer than the weapon itself and 111 readied a plasma pistol before the two women disappeared into the building.

"Hostil-" phoit

"Scanning for-" liyt

The duo killed and looted as they went, marvelling at the sheer numbers of mindless drones they had to forcibly deactivate, but collecting any loot found nonethless. Halfway through the building's labrynth of halls, the speakers flared to life for a short time at least. "...My friend, the frozen tv dinn-" The speaker clattered from it's place on the wall, split in two by a sniper round as the ladies disappeared into a deeper section of the building.

Kellogg was concerned, there were two interlopers, one almost certainly was the vault 111 survivor, whom he expected. The gen-1 bolt buckets were falling too fast to get an accurate read on the other person who was assisting however. He watched from the safety of the secured room as the two cut down the 3 synths in the hallway and observed. He was unfamiliar with the targeting system both of them seemed to use, but he surmised that it was close to the system supplied by his cybernetics that it would be an exceptional challenge to take these two down. He watched and leaned toward the hallway as they conferred before going onward, making out a few words from the woman clad in black.

"...Guy's a clever bastard, look how we're passing by... forcing our route... At least Dr Zimmer was much easier to address in Rivet City..."

The cybernetic frowned, Dr. Zimmer had been on assignment in the capital Wasteland for over 10 years, the Institute had not heard from him or the synths he had taken with him for 10 years. He frowned as the intruders disappeared down the hall, he would need to be careful how this was handled.

"I wasn't aware this place had advertised for tenants. Leave-" phoit

The two dwellers moved on, amassing more plastic and metal parts as they swept the synthetic pawns aside. With 4 turrets destroyed, the voice once again begrudgingly addressed them.

"I guess you've proven your point by getting this far. My synths are standing down, follow the opening doors. Let's talk."

"I knew it." Jezebelle proclaimed as the lights came on to a semi-familiar room. "Bastard routed us." Her visible green eye narrowed at the bald merc came into view, "Talk old man." 101 growled, her lone eye noting that the buckets were already moving to flank them and stayed in the corner by the door.

Jezebel nodded as she approached a bit further into the room before stopping, "Yes Kellogg, where is my son?"

"The institute has him, and as for trying to get there from here." He paused, smirking, "You don't find them, they find you-hey!" The old man stared as the woman in the corner exchanged the pistol for what had to be the longest sniper rifle he'd ever seen and aimed the weapon at the synth closest to her. It quickly became apparent that she was using a targeting system as she took out the gen-1 closest to her then trained on him.

phoit, phoit, phoit Half his health disappeared as the other person also started shooting him too even as he attempted to initialize a stealth boy, but the combined effect of the plasma and lead impacts proved to be too much.

Both the dweller's gazed at the crumpled corpse of the bearded one before the well traveled one bent to examine the body. "That's a lot of tech, almost a cyborg really." One passed what looked to be a memory back up of some kind to Eleven. "Looks like it might be of importance."

"How?" The lone Wanderer exclaimed, standing with the survivor on top of the Ft. Hagen building, watching the airship move into the Commonwealth. "How did they rebuild so fast after I destroyed the Citadel?"

"Brotherhood of Steel?" Jez looked at her compatriot questionably and then sat down at One's behest looking out over the remains of the military base while the younger Hawklyn began to speak.

"There were issues between me and the BoS, I did not get along well back then with them. By the time it was over, and the purifier was online. Then came the air force base and the Enclave crawler... Basically, it ended with me targeting the Citadel and then sneaking out the way I'd come. When I resurfaced again in D.C., I almost got killed by the BoS... I'd killed their Elder, his daughter, everyone that I could find except for Squire Maxson... Hmm, now thinking of it, Maxson should be a strapping young man by now... As for why one should be cautious with the BoS, they have a policy of hoarding prewar tech under the guise of "protecting the common people" which only works in a perfect world." Jezebelle looked up at Jez considering her silently before rising to her feet. "We should get going."

Jez got up from her seated position as well, nodding. "Yeah, I need to go back to Concord, talk to some folks. Feel free to come along."

A half day's walk back to Concord later, the two dwellers entered the museum. Jezebelle hung back a bit while the other went forward to talk with the lone militiaman.

Garvey looked up the sound of the doors closing and spotted the person who helped them out earlier. He tilted his head in curiousity at what looked to possibly be a near look-alike person behind her. "Glad you were on our side Miss Hawklyn. Who's your friend?"

The black clad woman looked up, her single green eye nailing Garvey with its intensity. "Capital Wastelander and former vault dweller Jezebelle Hawklyn. No relation to her as far as I know."

Garvey blinked, digesting before turning back and the entire group discussed the next move.

"Sanctuary huh? Been there, she lived there a while back." The vault pirate flippantly supplied, this statement brought a mild glare from Eleven and attention from the elderly woman.

"You..." The old lady rasped, "You are from far away, your destiny has already happened, but you are here. Now you are free."

101 grimaced and softly murmured about brahmin fertilizer, thankfully the old kook had moved on to address 111.

"You... You have lost someone dear to you..."

"Been there, done that crazy lady. Let's just move on."

"...Yes, to Sanctuary..."

Neither dweller could stand the group any longer, "Look, we'll meet you there."

The two approached Red Rocket.

"Hi Overboss."

"Okay, listen up folks, there are refugees coming this way to Sanctuary on the other side of the river. Do not hold them up." Jezebelle held her hands up for quiet and raised her voice, "Anyone who fires at them will be hung naked by their nipples and genital parts from the underside of the observation deck of the tower while alive. Is that clear?" Eleven looked on in shock as grumbled acquiescence rumbled from the crowd. "I mean it, in fact, all of you go tend to the hedge over there for the next hour."

Later, the duo met with Garvey in Sanctuary...

The last Minuteman looked up at the approaching women and sighed, "Hey." He called out, "Who are these Operators anyway?"

Jezebelle's eye narrowed, "Some people I met while in the theme park west of here, made them see straight. Why the curiosity?"

Something told Garvey to drop the subject, "Nevermind, its hearsay anyway."

"Really? Where did you hear this say?" The world explorer snarkily asked.

Preston frowned, "Overheard one of those guys talking about this overboss as we came past the Red Rocket-"

The sudden intensity of the woman's gaze surprised him so that he cut his own thought off allowing the slim twin to interject. "I told those numbskulls be quiet... Yes, I'm their overboss, overboss who does all their fecal matter for them. Expect to see some decorations on the rocket tomorrow." Preston only felt relief as the woman walked off to deal with other things and turned his own attention to stuff he needed to do, like look into Ten Pines Bluff.

"Hold on there."

Both conversants looked toward where 101 approached from, "You, Sturgis. Can you repeat what you just told her, or am I to understand that you want US to take responsibility for YOU like spoiled children?"

"Well... Um, we've been on the run-" The big tinkerer found himself lifted up by his shirt collar and thrown into a chair behind him and Eleven lifted a hand to caution the wastelander, who simply carried on with her tirade.

"I don't care if you've been on the run. I can understand if you want beds to sleep in. We can do that much for you yes, but YOU can plant YOUR own food! YOU can construct a water pump and filter! YOU can build defenses! For shame man, by the looks of it, you like to dabble with mechanical things right?"

She waited for Sturgis to confirm with a nod, "Yes I do, but-"

"NO BUTS ABOUT IT!" The wastelander exploded. "If its logistics you're worried about, then YOU build the water system and defenses with Garvey's help. Marcy and Jun can help with food and the beds."

"Huh? What's this about me?" The bitter mourner walked into the room after hearing her name. "It better not be-"

Jezebelle whirled from the contemplative mechanic to the complaining mourner. "What? Are you seemingly allergic to work as well?" Marcy stood there frozen as the other woman stomped toward her, "Last I heard what the definition of settler meant, it was someone who actually DID things to help themselves survive. Boohoo, your son died, its been what, a couple months since that happened?"

At Marcy's hesitant nod, the lone one stepped up into Marcy's face. "Well then, only one thing for you to do. GET OVER IT! Are you so weak and pathetic that you can't even defend yourself?! Get up you worm! Have another bloody child, its not that hard to do."

"You don't unders-"

At those words, the Terror of the Capital Wastes turned scarlet with rage, her eyes undialated to pinpricks as she literally got nose to nose with the other woman. "BRAHMIN WASTE! YOU THINK I DON'T UNDERSTAND? I WAS BORN IN THIS WASTELAND, LOST BOTH MY PARENTS! DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M A SNIVELING RAIDER PEON?!"

Marcy cowered into the corner, shivering with fright, a meek voice responded to the angry woman's question. "Well... no..."

"Then why are you acting like one?"

"I... Excuse me?"

"Why are you acting like a RAIDER bitch instead of the SETTLER you claim to be?"

Marcy jumped up in an attempt to gain a little more ground, "How dare you-"

Jezebelle glared at her, "A raider does nothing for themselves except piss and go for dumps. They push people around because they have guns and a loose form of organization. They do nothing else but prey on settlers who aren't very numerous. Why am I saying this?" She looked around at the entirety of the area sans Garvey. "You are expecting ME to do what should be YOUR work for you, that is simply unacceptable Marcy. Yes, I realize it may not be your intention, but all you've done." 101 raised a gloved finger and enunciated each work with a poke to the other woman's chest. "All, You've, Done is COMPLAIN. Ever since we saved your worthless rear-ends from raiders in Concord." Jezebelle held Marcy's gaze. "You need to shape up or ship out. You have one week Marcy, prove it to the rest of us you're worth keeping around." Jezebelle turned on her heal and exited the building quickly while things moved on.

Over the next few days, the Pep Talk, as Jez called it, had given the few settlers something to think about; slowly, buildings took shape. Both One and Eleven assisted with Jun and Sturgis to complete some of the more esoteric structures for the immediate area. The defense towers with the turrets took time to fully assemble, mostly with turret plans and materials from 101's knowledge; enough defense to even thwart the raiders that Jezebelle was affiliated with. Even Marcy began to show signs of improvement.

---

"So our surface operative is dead, yes?"

The acting Director of the SRB nodded confirmation, "Yes, and going through the place afterwards revealed some startling information about Dr Zimmer's whereabouts.

"Go on."

"From these snatches of recorded audio, it appears that Doctor Zimmer was killed in Rivet City, along with his detail, but that last is unknown. Just Dr Zimmer is mentioned as having been in Rivet City."

"We need to talk to Kellog's killers... Send 88."

"Yes sir."

A seeming thunderclap of light briefly seared the night behind the "Hawk House" of Sanctuary Hills. Everyone was asleep, X6 needed to do this quietly and making sure the Mr. Handy was on the other side of the settlement, he crept through the side doorway in search of his query.

It was a rare time indeed that the two Hawklyns slumbered together in the same room, this night would change that as one would start insisting on her own room. For at that moment when each felt a hand on their shoulders subconsciously accompanied by unheard spoken words.

"Three to relay back."

The Institute Director looked on at the latest acquisitions from the Commonwealth. He had not expected his mother to be one brought in so easily, but the other one... He mentally sighed, furrowing his annoyance on his forehead. `It just had to be her.'

She was the one from the Capital Wasteland, where, according to watcher obtained reports, she had single-handedly wiped half of the area's population from the map. The local radio there had vilified her presence to that of legend. In all probability, that young woman had been the most likely cause behind Dr. Zimmer's demise.

"Get all the tests done you can, give both of them a micro-relay..." The old man squinted at the pip-boys, discerning the approximate ages, "Also give my mother a pip-pad to replace that old wrist computer she has, the wastelander's is actually really advanced for a 3000 model." `Looks like its been jury-rigged to be upgraded.'

Ayo approached and stood beside the director, watching the various underlings carry out their tasks, "Sir, the wastelander's items have been looked through and are going through sterilization right now. Quite amazing how one with her frame carried so much... stuff. Such a plethora of weapons and accumulated junk."

Just then Doctor Li approached and invaded Ayo's space bubble, causing the director to shift his focus to the aging scientist. "Doctor."

"Director, I believe I know one of these people personally-"

"The wastelander?"

"-Yes, but I believe her given name was Jezebelle." Aged eyes from three faces looked at the pair of sleeping people, each considering the words they were hearing. "She was quite the handful for her father to raise from infant to young woman, but I fear that her resemblance to her mother in her father's eyes caused him to not parent her properly. Before James died, he told me that his daughter had laid it out for him on holotape and that he'd been wrong to let the vault effectively raise her."

Doctor Li frowned in thought, uncomfortable in revealing the past and yet unable to stop the flow of words to describe the person on the other side of the glass. "The few of the team at Rivet City all those years ago were shocked that James would leave his daughter alone in a vault that she had not been born into, but James wanted to finish Purity. When we finally saw his daughter, she did almost look like her mother, but her entire personality was screaming "stone cold killer". After I got Prime up for the Brotherhood, I straightout left the night after completing my part. I was glad I did, because the night I stayed in Canterbury commons, hell broke loose at the Brotherhood Citadel. I heard on the radio a day later that Jezebelle had invaded Adams A.F.B and just decided to destroy the Citadel... There was alot of light and explosions far off from the Commons."

Madison Li took a deep breath and focused on the wastelander, "I'm sure she's learned a lot of lessons from her travels up this way, hopefully some of it humbled her. She had decimated so many lives in the capital, destroyed all of the outlying settlements according to Three-Dog. When I heard the Brotherhood had come to the Commonwealth, my first thought was they'd come to find her, but I'm sure that she is simply icing on the cake to the gem the Institute would be."

At that, all three administrators turned to the window and considered the women in the room before them, mostly appraising the unknown quanity. The director turned at another person entering the room and nodded, "Doctor Holdren."

"Directors, the wastelander only has one eye intact, it is possible that we could replace the dead eye. In fact one of her logs from her pip-boy even states as much, intending to get some sort of ocular replacement here."

Father nodded absently, while he reeled within his own mind with the news. "We shall see, in the meantime, finish analyzing the tests and then report back to me on both of them and let me know when they wake up. I want to see them." The bearded man turned and left the observation chamber as everyone else got back to work. He collected his thoughts about what he'd heard, as far as he knew, his mother's name was Jezebel. Very similar to the other woman, Hawklyn was the last name that all three shared, but needing more clarification before a proper conclusion was reached.

So it was an hour later that his terminal signaled for his attention and Shaun Hawklyn sat down to read the results of the various tests that had been done on not only his mother, but the person who turned out to be... Hadn't she died back then? Shaun arose from his terminal and walked to the window, the excitement in his heart that she didn't die in those weeks following the purifier activation. James...

"Madison." The person in question looked up, a look of understanding passed between them.

"Come in Shaun. You noticed too, didn't you?" The two sat together, allowing Shaun to gather his thoughts.

"Yes." A husky sound, followed by a throat-clearing. "Yes. I'm surprised she survived that." Shaun looked at the floor before continuing, "Agincourt was right it seems, the daughter did survive while James is dead."

"We were trying to find a better way to do things Shaun, prove that we didn't need synthetic life forms around in our lives." Li briefly glanced into the observation window, "Unfortunately most of those who originally split away are dead, along with the project information, leaving us no way to know for certain what precisely happened after Adams AFB."

Shaun nodded, looking at the coffee table, "Yes, that was an unfortunate decision made, but it was not an easy decision for the director to make, even in regard to her own daughter." Shaun referred to the Doctor Li that had helped to care for him while he grew up from infancy to adolescence, effectively Madison and himself both regarded each other as half siblings despite the failings of the former doctor in parenting. "I'm glad you returned Madison, I know you don't agree with some of my decisions, but I value that just the same. Thank you for your help with the board after the Virgil fiasco. While I know he was your friend and I do not like those green beings any more than you do. Brian knows too much, and as much as I loathe our current topside asset. He is the best available for that job."

Madison winced, "Right. Thank you. Yes, well, you are the basis for the synths after all."

Father rose from his seat and rolled his eyes with her remark, "Now if you'll excuse me..."

Shaun walked to the quarantine room deep in thought, mentally recounting some of the history during his earlier years. When he had been brought up, the Institute had been busting at the seams with a crop of children. Unfortunately, many of that once close-knit group split off around 2245 with the announcement of a mass-produced line of synthetic beings. Nearly two-thirds of his peers that he'd grown up with defected to what could be described as a pro-human opinion. This caused the Director at the time to devise a reason for the dissenters to leave on an expedition, primarily in the hope it would kill them off on the journey.

Despite that vain hope, some had survived and returned with unexpected tidings involving a forced mutation serum which got the go from a previous director and the results were inconclusive at best. While having someone undergo forced mutation was great from a scientific perspective, you needed a way to reverse the process, and Virgil had been working on that ever since the Swan case. However, pressure caused Virgil to snap and escape the underground life, which had initiated the board's decision to excommunicate the previous director.

In the chaos that followed, one person returned from the "Forgotten Group"; Madison Li, with holo-tapes of files and reports that had pushed her into the lead for Advanced Systems and also advocated for Shaun to be Director. This had led to more things getting done, mostly direct stipulations that avoided the oversight of the board, like the Vault 111 issue where Shaun had personally seen to thaw out his mother.

With a resigned frown, Shaun dragged his mind back to the present as he approached the Quarantine chamber.

Jezebelle slowly came awake, "Hmm, vault ceiling? Too smooth for that." She looked to her right, where the other vaultie was laying, her eyes widen while she slowly observed the room, muttering to herself all the while. "So if this isnt an alien ship, and she's beside me...-"

"Welcome to the Institute, an orderly will be with you momentarily." A voice sounded from speakers in the ceiling causing 101 to roll off the gurney into a combat crouch.

It was this action that woke the Lone one completely, "What the-what happened to my weapons?!" Her loud exclamation woke the Dweller up from her own induced sleep.

"Huh, what's going on? Not so loud Nate, I'm trying to- wait, this isn't my home. Where am I?"

"You are in the Institute; do not be overly concerned. Your presence here was requested by our head director. Most of the reasons to bring you here concern the whereabouts of one of our department directors. A guide will be with you shortly."

Jez blinked and looked at her apparent cell mate for answers, "Why would you know where one of their directors is One? What did you do?" Eleven gave the other woman a mild glare.

Jezebelle sighed and frowned in thought, "Possibly a Doctor Zimmer, but I had no idea at the time he was connected to an administration."

"Correct," a voice came from the doorway. The two turned to face an older man with a beard. "Forgive me, but the wastelander is correct. While this scenario was not the planned result, this is more than adequate given the situation." This left the two a bit flummoxed as the guy went from one topic to another with no warning, causing them to silently inquire with body language for more information. This made the old man smile slightly and he obligingly continued. "I took the liberty of having various bloodtests done while you were sleeping, if only to confirm what the records I've kept stated. I did find out something surprising however; please, do sit down for this."

The two sat on the ends of the gurneys they'd used and looked at him with healthy skeptical faces. "Go on." The wastelander prompted.

"The DNA tests specifically revealed something that confirmed what I already knew intellectually, " He nodded toward the supposed sole survivor, "and an absolute surprise." He finished inclining his head to the former lone wanderer and paused dramatically looking back toward the dweller. "You came out of the vault looking for your son did you not?"

Jez frowned, but nodded curtly, "Yes, but there was an issue I met up with in the vault entrance that kind of derailed that plan." She gestured toward the lone one as she explained and the old man nodded at the elaboration.

"Interesting, so she gave you a crash course in the wasteland hell?"

The well traveled vaultie nodded positively, "Yes I did." Jezebelle paused, staring at Shaun closely, "Wait, who are you?"

"I am known as Father, the Director of the Institute. You were brought here after recovered audio logs revealed that you might have information regarding Doctor Zimmer."

"Dead with his head blown off along with his two guards in the reactor room of Rivet City. Sniper tactics for the win." Jezebelle stated matter-of-factly, causing the other occupants to momentarily blink in suprise. "He wasn't a pushover, but I managed. He'd been annoying a bunch of people on the carrier, so the guards there let me kindly take care of him."

"I...see. Changing the subject... Have you noticed your similar faces?"

"Yes, and we've wondered on that subject quite a bit."

"Yes, well; first to clear up a small matter that is of great importance." Shaum looked at the sole survivor, his eyes serious. "Hello Mother, its me, I am your son, Shaun. Yes, I know that's surprising, but be patient and let me finish." With a deep shuddering breath, the old man began the explanation...

"...So you see that its been sixty years since I was taken from you."

"I see."

"And the reason that you two look so alike is that you are related, but not directly."

"How? Oh wait, I guess my sister was already married and was expecting when they went into the vault. That makes sense, but the number of greats before the title would be absurd." Jez nodded in understanding and slowly Jezebelle did the same.

"Hmm, but there seems to be several steps missing." the wastelander pondered aloud. "Unless her sister's daughter had a boy, who later had a daughter and so forth. We are only assuming wrongfully that the other vaults were like 111; and I can tell you with dead certainty that they are not copies of the vaults in this region..."

Late 2288, Far Harbor

The two Vaulters considered the antique synthetic being before them considering the question he had asked of them.

Really, he'd directed the inquiry towards Eleven, but One deigned to answer the research, catching Dima's attention. "I can fuzzily recall reading a book about special-something or other maybe when I was a year old."

"But that doesn't mean that you are not a synth-"

"Don't play logic games with me you bolt-bucket! I may have a cybernetic eye, but I am no synthetic human with a "Made in the Institute" stamp on my ass! Not like you."

Dima blinked, "There is no need for such an acidic response, I apologize for obviously offending you." The synthetic gestured to their uniforms. Both ladies had on a variant of attire designed for stealth and speed, One was entirely black, and Eleven's sported a secondary white color. The glaring red flag in Dima's view was the obvious institute stamps on their gloves and helmets. "However, I must also ask if you are from the Institute as most of the people here were once familiar with the organization."

Eleven spoke up, "Yes, I am Head Director and my cohort here is the Recovery Director and Operator Overboss. No, there is no need to worry about us forcing your relocation."

"I see... Tell me, is your life what you envisioned it to be?"

Jezebelle sucked in a breath as her eyes unfocused and she remembered...

Flash

Her hand held a knife to Moriarty's throat before she violently pressed the utensil into the skin and sliced...

Flash

A smiling One slowly lowered a nude raider woman onto the burning candle as the female's screams became hysteric...

flash

"...This Devilette of the Wastes must be stopped! Please, I implore anybody out there..."

blink, blink

One shook her head slightly and focused on the weird man with the tubes in his head, "I do not think anyone ever lives a life that they envision. No, we live life according to what we make of it, not to simply exist."

The old synthetic nodded appreciation to the answer and looked to the Survivor, "What about you?"

Eleven frowned, "…My first date… My wedding… I remember a lot from my teenage years as well."

"Forgive me for putting you through that arduous question, but I needed to know certain things about your reactions." Dima explained.

Old North Church, mid 2288

"What a shoddy method of finding the Railroad when the passcode is also "Railroad". Gotta wonder what they were thinking." Jez commented to Eleven as the duo watched the wall fold in and a space revealed itself. One held up her hand as she first used Vats to scan the void space ahead of them. "Four people ahead." Louder, 101 called out to the unknown. "We know you're there, no point in going for the theatrical reveal if that's the effect you were hoping for, so come on out and show yourselves." In the surprised silence, Jezebelle pulled out her tri-barrel and slowly took a step forward. "But, you know, on the off chance-"

"And it was said, Let there be light."

Jezebelle ducked her head slightly, "-ah! Well played." She used the barrel to gesture toward the other minigun toting person. "Nice piece, but does it out-damage this-" a nod to indicate her own held weapon, "Shredder of Life?"

The pale haired woman smirked, "We'll have to see about that won't we?" came the somewhat arrogant comment that brought a slight smile to One's own lips before the scene was jerked back to the main scene.

"Who are you? Why did you come here? What is your purpose being here?"

"I have a courser chip to be decoded."

"Come to think of it, I always wondered what these lightbulb shaped items in my backpack were. Yeah, I have a couple for decoding as well."

Jezebelle watched as the people took their chips to be decoded and followed the entourage into what had to be the Railroad's HQ. Being the last person in the door had advantages like being able to place a small monitoring device in a very hard to see place. In a place such as they were, this Railroad was very vulnerable to being bugged. Having the Railroad work on decoding these courser chips gave the two time to introduce themselves and get familiar with the layout; two more devices were placed while the decoding took place. A promise was made that 101 would come by and the two would go hunting together before the dweller duo left with tapes of the decoding.

Timeshift

"Interesting." Shaun observed, watching the footage from the planted devices. The two top-siders stood by as the SRB people also crowded around to see the rather limited view, but it was more the audio that piqued their interest.

"I could get a team of coursers ready-"

Dr. Ayo started, only to be cut off by Shaun. "No Doctor Ayo, that won't be necessary." The bearded man nodded to the two outsiders, "I'm sure these two can handle it right mother?"

Jez frowned, but nodded pensively, "We can handle it, but we need to let the evidence as it were build-up before we strike."

"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." Chimed in 101.

"Exactly." Eleven nodded as slow agreement was heard from the room.

"Something else has come to our attention on the surface." Dr. Ayo moved to indicate the monitor bank that oversaw the ancient freeways to the west. "Two separate groups really, one from an old amusement park to the west and the other from the southwest. This latter group we've never seen before at all, carried the moniker "U.I.F". Ideas?"

Jezebelle studied the images, "I can tell you about Nuka World as I entered the Wealth through there. The first group you talked about is called the Operators, highly structured and fairly disciplined type of raider gang. I control the lot of them, and I get a nice stipend of caps every so often too. If they start putting their noses into your business, I will see to it that they know not to. As for this U.I.F lot, I can say I never heard of these guys before. They must've moved up into the Capital sometime after I left. I'd say that you need to keep a watch on them. I can find out their goals in this area if you like."

"That would be most helpful." Shaun nodded.

The raider gangs of the Commonwealth were in chaos, always being hunted down by these mysterious people who used a "1" or an "11" as calling cards. More-so that every place where both of these marks signified regular visits and was a warning to stay away. At the time however, the leader of the Gunner's could be excused for not knowing what was going on, not having yet heard what happened to the northern areas yet; so he was caught unawares when the sound of gunfire penetrated the walls of the communications center he had made the local headquarters.

"What's that ruckus out there?" He asked a runner who just came in from the outside, eyes suspicious over the news he was about to receive.

"S-sir, m-most of the m-men posted outside are dead-"

"What?! It isn't those mutants is it?" Stupid green trees...

"N-no, it seems to be one person-"

The building shook under the onslaught of 12 mobile nuclear warheads before Wes could ask the obvious question.

"-And that person has one of those modded fatmans."

Captain Wes grimaced, but ordered the obvious choice. "Everyone grab the heaviest gun they can find and try to convince this person that coming in the building is a bad idea."

A crackling intercom came to life with sound of gunfire, "Intruder has entered-" a loud crack sounded and the speaker cut out.

"You know what's needed, Go! Go!"

The Lone Wanderer, aka "The Demoness" as well as a few other aliases, crouched in the entrance of the television station and used her thermal filter to consider her immediate plans as hostiles could be seen through the walls. Frowning, she checked her ammo, looked around the room she was in confirming she had looted it clean; moving out using her targeting system heavily. However, using the targeting system in conjunction with a highly destructive weapon was not usually done inasmuch as simply pointing and firing.

It was outside the broadcasting room that one Gunner finally managed to get a rather stilted but identifying view of the attacker. "Commander, does "101" mean anything?"

Wes frowned and replied back, "Nothing I can think of related to the Commonwealth... Unless... it's that one dame we met just outside the Pitt..."

The ground shook as the doors finally shattered inward from the explosives used, and there, for a moment of time, Wes saw a shadow cautiously approaching from the fires of the dying artificial furnace.

Jezebelle frowned as the somewhat familiar Skull symbols came into focus, "Really Gunners? I thought I told you if I ever saw you again I'd have to go drastically old school yes?"

In this case, "old school" meant Springvale Elementary level, which very few raider groups went to these days. Captain Wes felt fear for he had seen the interior of that place as a youth.

It was sometime later, as another dawn broke, the Commonwealth shivered in horror at what the sun lit up for all to see. The Lone One strolled away from the ex-Gunners Plaza, past the viewpoint of the awed caravan guard who remained staring at the three leaders of the Gunners leaders' bodies. The flag that had been raised with them brazenly stated, "Gunners days are numbered."

Quincy Quarries Area

A whistling sound caused those who were awake to look around a second in confusion before the night was rent by multiple points of blinding light. The ground shook under the young raider's feet as she heard more incoming whistles, Acorn knelt close to the rock wall even as the residual heat of the blast bathed her skin with seductive heat. Cries of terror mixed with promised yells of revenge being expelled fruitlessly into a cacophony of explosive noise. it was last sound of note Acorn would ever hear as her universe exploded.

Another raider incinerated as the Lone Terror endured the heat of another explosion; slow footsteps descending a section of carved out stairs punctuated by a turn and a pause. The sort of pause that gives senses time to discern for the smallest hint of movement among the settling dust, any sort of weird sound dawning from the unearthly bass rumble of a dying explosion. The descent resumed, footsteps sounding loud on the excavated marble stairway, despite the owner's best effort to remain quiet. The shadow raised her weapon again, one more time to be certain, and hit the switch.

A massive ball of light ensued from both ends of the excavated room behind the rock wall, snuffing out the last few artificially generated lighting fixtures and left an almost unnatural blackness to the area.

"Huh, what do we have here..."

"Figures." Jezebelle muttered as she fired the Death's head again, filling the small area with a plume of death.

"Please cease and desist..."

"Great, another Vault." Using her pip-boy, the woman unlocked the vault door.

Later, Jezebelle the Vault destroyer stood in front of Overseer Barstow as she ranted about her directive, only to perk up as the old ghoul mentioned... "Did you say Dr. Braun?"

"Yes, I did-"

"He's not dead... Technically at least, though in a manner of speaking, he likely IS dead by now."

"Wh-where do you come from? You're obviously a Vault Dweller but... To know that information..." The stunned overseer rambled until Jezebel reached out and shook her by the shoulders.

"Get it together! Dr. Stanislaus Braun went into Vault 112..."

The ghoulish overseer was quiet as the Capital wastelander told her about all the vaults she had been to and shared the information from the vaults purposes. It was quite a lot for the overseer to process. Jezebelle could only mentally smack her forehead as the woman insisted on moving forward with her experiments.

Jezebelle slowly withdrew her Blackhawk from its holster as she coldly looked into the old ghoul's eyes. "I'm very surprised that anyone came out from that war with their head on straight." The ghoul stared at the gun barrel pointed at her in shocked silence, letting the Lone Vault girl continue as a round was chambered. "Consider this as saving you from the outside, I declare you guilty for all the sins of Vault-Tec. Goodbye."

Bang

The overseer ghoul flew back as the now lifeless corpse skidded to a frictionized stop while green eyes coldly surveyed the scene and started to plan.

Future Flash

Maxson stared at a woman who he'd not seen for a decade, feeling anger course through him as the two of them stood alone in his Observation room. "You... You're the Jezebelle of the Wastes."

The growled statement made the woman smile slightly in reaction; a cold smile. "That's my name Squire-" She replied, deliberately using the name the now Elder had had a decade ago. "-Don't wear it out... On another note, I'm surprised anyone made it out of the Citadel crater; how did you survive?"

"I managed." was the curt answer.

"Look, I was emotionally unstable back then, and Lyons... The man was tenacious about getting my help. I grew to loathe him and the Brotherhood as well. So, when that opportunity revealed itself, I took it."

Maxson stood immobile as he looked out past the observation windows, his mind in the past reliving the days after his life was turned and twisted upside down... He watched hidden in the rubble as the evil one slowly made progress down into the crater of the Pentagon; wishing he could kill her where she was, and yet refraining from the action out of fear. Knowing that she would likely hear the rubble in motion and react, so he just watched as she disappeared into a previously unseen entrance; then took his chance to escape, moving aside the cover providing rubble and scrambling out of the Citadel ruins. He stopped and took cover behind a still smoldering ruin of a vertibird to mostly catch his breath, but he was glad that he had, for a minute after his hiding spot had been created; the evil one exited the door she had entered from. Squire froze as he found those eyes of hers seemingly locked with his; even though she was a ways off, he was glad for the smoke of the steel framed carcass in front of him... He returned his focus to the present to find those same eyes, more weathered with age and maturity, far closer to him than the memory served. An involuntary jerk of his body happened as he realized that he was on the Prydwyn with his adversary right in front of him.

Jezebelle sighed softly and looked toward the ground below for a moment. "Squire-no- Arthur, have you ever wondered why one of the Brotherhood mandates was to collect technology? What good is technology if it sits idle doing nothing but collecting dust? While I don't consider myself as such, people think I'm an evil witch that they have to protect themselves from. Its good because it enables people to stop moping and focus. Some of these who are settlers find it hard to keep going without weapon technology at least. Why do you, as a faction, believe that holding onto and keeping tech from the citizens is sound foundation to stand on? People are dying every day out there, battle wounds and various other violent issues, because most of them did not have adequate enough technology to use at the time. Technology that is almost certainly using up space in your ship."

Maxson spoke without moving, tightening his grip on the railing, "The mandate has always been the perogative to protect the civilians from violence brought on by possession of more advanced weaponry." He turned to face the woman from his nightmares; "However, having gone through the archives of the Citadel before you callously destroyed it..." He noted the lack of facial movement on the Lone Wanderer's face and continued. "You were a child of the Wastes. born in the Jefferson Memorial basement; yet you have turned to violence-"

Jezebelle cut him off sharply, her eyes hard and cold. "Seen that footage, memorized it, don't you bring those old things up Arthur." She used his first name like a sword, killing his thought with a verbal railspike. "My dad spilled the whole story to me before he died, so I know where I come from Elder. I've seen in my travels to this region people trying to rebuild, and since the Capitol Wastes, I've realized that people simply want to survive and rebuild. Not taking away their weapons and killing them is what will help them to rebuild. Sharing weapons so that others can defend themselves properly is key. Eleven taught me this and I've seen it the times I've been in the settlements she builds. Keeping weapons away from the people who need them for defense will just keep this land from recovering Maxson; if you and your order cannot comprehend that..."

Forward Flash

Vault-Tec Exposed, by Piper Wright

Many of you know the Vault Dweller by now, but it was recently revealed to me that there are two of them. Yes, you read that correctly; two Vault Dwellers here in the commonwealth. I've given you the reader one vault's story, and now you will get to read another vault's story...

...We have to look at Vault-Tec and wonder, "Why? What was their purpose for effectively forcing innocent people into these shelters?" We've heard what has been pieced together about the vaults in this region; and that is hard to believe of itself, but adding in what happened in the Capital Wasteland's vaults. It becomes too much to ignore. Children being trained for war, drug experiment laboratories on both innocent and guilty. Experiments to change people into supermutants, both here and the Capital Wasteland. An experiment to drive aspiring musicians mad and into raving psychos. An entire vault dedicated to one man's meglomania and virtual reality, another vault for freezing people. Are these the sort of inhumane acts that our forefathers perpetrated to cause us this world that we have now?

Think about it folks; why do we have ghouls who are perfectly sane and then other ghouls who went insane? What was Vault-Tec doing? What was our own pre-war government up to? Even though the Vault 111 dweller was from that period before the war, we cannot ask her, because she was just another cog in the machine and certainly had no way to know what was going on back then. Don't ask the Lone Wanderer either as she is just like us, a wasteland survivor who persevered and started traveling.

Asking Vault-Tec is a lost cause as well, but at least these questions are out in the open to be examined by posterity; lest we consider the same mistakes again.

[Yes, the last part is very rough, I agree. From where CIT enters the story onward it is difficult to ascertain where the story is going, and I'm not sure where precisely to go. Considering how I ended 111's playthrough with CIT [sided] and by the time I got to writing this part of the story, I'd forgotten how I'd dealt with the other factions by then on the first run through. Also, I do not have the computer I played FO 3 and 4 on anymore either, so that kinda makes it difficult to keep going.

And about Appalachia, I played pre wastelander expansion mostly. I got to L32 on 76 and rage deleted the character because the game had given me a mob 10 levels above what my characters level was in the first place, AFTER I had leveled up more in hopes to get past that step i the story. So yes, what you get is my estimation of what would've eventually happened. Not anything approaching the current 76 flavor.]