4

Waking and finding the Mr Handy robot, Wintergreen, hovering beside her, all three 'eyes' focused upon her, did nothing for her morning mood. She rolled from the makeshift bed, laid on the floor, and stopped herself from reaching for her pistol. The robot gave her chills.

"Breakfast shall be served in the parlour, Miss Prudence." The robot backed away and returned to hovering at its normal height. "Formal dress is not a requirement. Would you care for orange juice, tea or coffee with your morning repast?"

"It's Patience, not Prudence." She found it strange that she had adapted to her new name so fast. "And coffee. Coffee will be fine."

"Don't listen to that damned fool robot." Valrie entered, rubbing her hands with a rag. "All I have, breakfast wise, is Sugar Bombs. Got no tea, no coffee and no-one's seen an orange in decades, let alone juiced one."

Patience dressed, pulling on the snug leather pants and strapless leather top, wrapping her weapons belts around her waist. Pulling on her boots, it seemed like Wintergreen had a fascination with her. Bobbing around the room, the robot held one of its eyes on her at all times.

"I'd like to set out soon." She stomped her feet on the floor, settling them in the boots. "You're robot gives me the creeps."

"He's harmless enough." With a half-smoked cigarette hanging limp from her lips, Valrie slipped on her coat-of-many-pockets and brought her football helmet down over her head. "He gets a little excited when I have company. I swear, the last time I had Jug-Eyed Jed over, the damn thing near watched us fucking! Jed ain't been back since."

That was far more information than Patience needed to know. She wandered into the kitchen area, finding the Sugar Bombs in a box on the counter. Without a bowl that she could see, she poured a pile into her hand and started eating. They were stale, soft, not crunchy, but it was better than nothing. She saw the a bottle of Nuka-Hol and took a swig, swilling it around her mouth before swallowing.

"Miss Valrie, will you and Miss Penelope be taking your morning constitutional?" Wintergreen hovered over to Patience, returning the Sugar Bombs box and the bottle of Nuka-Hol back into their original positions. Their exact positions.

"We're going to Megaton, Wintergreen. I already told you!" Valrie picked up a couple of odd, random items and stuffing them in her pockets. "It'll be a couple of days before I'm back."

"Very well, Miss Valrie." Wintergreen bobbed to the corner and lifted a broom, leaning against the wall. "I shall attend to my duties and await your imminent return. Good day to you, Miss Priscilla. It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"The pleasure's all mine, I'm sure." Patience watched as Wintergreen began sweeping the room, the bristles of the broom missing the floor by several inches, at least one of its 'eyes' never leaving Patience.

Upon leaving the building, Valrie waited until she heard every lock and bolt made secure before she started on the next leg of the journey. Patience switched on the radio on her Pip-Boy and they set off heading east. She could see, in the distance, that the neither the freeway nor the landscape improved, but she thought she could see the first signs of the place that was once known as Washington D.C..

There appeared to be far fewer instances of the creatures that they had seen the day before. Patience found herself glad of that, despite now having more ammunition to protect themselves if the need arose. She didn't want to have fight to travel a few feet, only to have to fight something else to travel a little further.

She had no illusions about the Capital Wasteland. From the little of it she had experienced, she knew full well that this place wasn't for the feint hearted. It was rough, untamed and dangerous. All she wanted was to find answers to the nagging questions her amnesia presented to her. It seemed unlikely that unlocking the Pip-Boy would magically solve all her problems, or answer all her questions, but it could be another step towards those goals.

She needed to know who she was, where she had come from. She needed to know why she had ended up unconscious in the middle of this wasteland, alone. She needed to know if she had family, friends and if they missed her. She could sum it all up in those four words; She needed to know.

While she mused about her circumstances, Valrie kept up a running commentary about their surroundings, pointing out a vehicle she had scavenged and almost got killed for, a power station that, somehow, still received and transmitted electricity. About mid-day, Valrie pointed to the south and Patience saw another building, almost complete and untouched by the devastation around it.

"Tenpenny Tower." Valrie spat as she spoke of the place. "Full of the hoi polloi. People that think they're better than everybody else. Or, at least, it was. Heard old Tenpenny took a dive from the penthouse a few months back. Could have been suicide, could have been murder. Seems no-one gave enough of a shit to find out for sure."

"Sounds lovely." Patience gave another look at the tower before following Valrie.

"Yeah. But that's a fucking palace compared to the place we have to go through." She pointed ahead where a collection of structures could about be almost seen. "We got to go through Fairfax to get to Megaton and, believe me, Fairfax is a whole different kind of shit-hole to deal with."

That sounded a little too ominous for Patience. She made an absentminded check of her weapons, sliding out the clips to check the ammo, checking safeties, sights and actions. It sounded like Fairfax was going to be trouble. As if anywhere else in the Capital Wasteland wasn't.

"Let me ask you, children. How many vaults are there in the Capital Wasteland? We all know about one-oh-one, where the hero, the Lone Wanderer emerged from, blinking, into the light and into our hearts, but how many more are there?

I know. The intrepid and infallible reporter that I am. But, it seems I was wrong. Plain wrong.

A report has come to me of another vault, a super-secret vault, one so secret, it doesn't even have a number. And, I've been told, yet another hero has risen from that vault like an avenging angel, protecting the common man, or woman in this instance, from the ravages of raiders. Calling down great vengeance and furious anger upon those that prey upon the weak and lonesome.

A Beautiful Stranger. Mysterious and deadly.

So, it appears, the Good Fight now has a new warrior. A new player.

Here's to you, Beautiful Stranger. Welcome to our strange, wondrous and violent land and I hope, one day, you'll come visit old Three Dog and tell us your story.

For now, this is Three Dog, oooowwwww. Be good and if you can't be good, be careful."

Patience stared at the Pip-Boy on her arm, open mouthed. She then turned that stare towards Valrie as the older woman scrambled over a loose piece of battered freeway concrete.

"That was me!" Patience picked her way over the rubble, jumping with little effort from stone to stone. "The man on the radio. He was talking about me, wasn't he?"

"I reckon so." Valrie didn't look around, shrugging as she moved.

"But, how does he know about me?" Her rifle whipped around, without her even thinking about it, pointing at some falling rubble. A loose, imbalanced piece of concrete had caused the rock fall, and she relaxed again.

"I might have radioed something in. In passing." Stopping at the top of a mound of rubble, Valrie adjusted her helmet, staring ahead. "We don't get much news around here. I figured people should know what you did for Sierra."

"I don't know how I feel about that." Joining Valrie at the peak of the rubble, she looked towards the collection of buildings the older woman had called the Fairfax Ruins. "I'm not a hero. I just want answers. I'm not here to be anyone's savior."

"Try telling Sierra that." Valrie turned to Patience, looking her dead in the eyes. "Sure as I'm stood here, that girl would have suffered, maybe even got killed, if it weren't for you. You didn't think about it, you just jumped in and killed fuckers that needed killing. Now if that don't make you a Big Damned Hero, I don't know what does."

Valrie jumped down, spry for an older woman, and continued heading towards Fairfax. Patience waited a second, thinking about what Valrie had said. She had jumped in, without the slightest thought, to help the Nuka-Cola obsessed Sierra. She wondered if that was a throwback to who she had previously been before losing her memory?

She had an idea about some things. She seemed to know her way around weapons. Had definite skills when it came to stealth and hand-to-hand combat. She didn't feel like a soldier, though, when instinct took over, she acted like one. She didn't think of herself as a hero, couldn't think that. As far as she felt concerned, she only wanted to stay alive, find out who she was and where she came from.

Valrie had turned southwards, continuing to follow the derelict freeway, but moving them away from where she had said they were heading.

"You're going the wrong way." Patience used her rifle to point across the land towards the ruins. "It's quicker across than turning south."

"I'm going the wrong way? Well, I'll be good god damned! Let's bow to your superior wisdom, shall we, missy?" Valrie snapped around, stomping back towards Patience. "So's I don't happen to know that there's a big ass pool of radiation that way? I don't know about no big packs of dogs just waiting to rip some dumb fucker's face off? I mean, you know so fucking much, you go right ahead, but don't come to me begging for Rad-Away when you're fucking hair's falling out and you start becoming all ghoul-ified, or wanting me to find you a new fucking face 'cos some dog's done run off with it between its fucking teeth! Go on. I ain't stopping you."

Patience backed away from the ferocious outburst. She'd seen Valrie annoyed, at Wintergreen, for instance, but this was out-and-out anger. Something must have triggered it and Patience felt certain there was more to it than the suggestion to head across the land. There was something there, deep in the eyes of Valrie as she stood there staring at Patience, daring her to question her choice again. Patience didn't want to push the matter. Not right now.

"So, south, then?" She nodded in the southerly direction.

"Well. All-fucking-right." Valrie made a dramatic meal of brushing down her coat and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. "Let's get going."

As Valrie turned and moved away, Patience shook her head at her strange companion. She suppressed a grin at Valrie. In the mood she was in, it could make her explode even more.

"You swear a lot. I mean, a lot!" Patience continued to sweep the area as she walked and talked. "I'm not averse to a bit of cursing, myself, but you, you swear like a sailor on shore leave."

"You don't fucking say?" Valrie shoved her hands in her pockets, making long, deliberate strides to express her anger. "Maybe I should take on the mores and manners of a fine ass lady such as yourself?"

"God, no! I like you just the way you are. Cussing and everything." She did laugh, this time. "It adds colour to a dark fucking world."

"You're damn right." Valrie didn't turn around, but her shoulders appeared to relax a little and she continued in a hushed mumble. "Fucking sailor on shore leave?"

Patience checked the sun. The day was fast turning into afternoon. The southern detour, if it followed how the previous part of the day's journey had gone, would take them until mid-afternoon to reach Fairfax, leaving little daylight to go much further.

She wondered how far away Megaton could be. Valrie had said they expected to reach it today, but, other than the Fairfax Ruins, Patience couldn't see any other habitation. She hoped they could reach Megaton before dark, though, and, if they were lucky, avoid the kind of creatures that Valrie had described.

However long it took, Valrie seemed to be there for the ride, no matter how annoyed she became.

The freeway continued south for a short distance before turning eastwards and then, a little further, northwards. It seemed a strange way of taking the journey, but after Valrie's outburst and acknowledging the older woman had the better area knowhow, Patience felt comfortable taking the detour.

With the ruins of Fairfax in sight, they heard the first gun shots, followed soon after by an explosion. Patience took immediate cover, switching off the radio, training her rifle towards the sounds of battle. Valrie didn't follow her lead. Instead, stood upon a mound of rubble, Valrie shielded her eyes to get a better look at what lay ahead.

"I can't get a good look." Digging into her capacious pockets, she pulled out one half of a pair of small binoculars, holding it up to her eye. "I can see movement, but there's dust flying up everywhere."

Valrie scrambled down the rubble and, in the most nonchalant fashion, turned north-eastwards and started walking, her back half-bowed as if that could hide her enough from whoever the battle was between. Patience followed, lowering her profile, walking crab-like while keeping her weapon covering the direction of the firefight.

"Shouldn't. We see if anyone needs help?" She noticed the direction they moved in took them far to the side of the battle, heading for the outer edge of the ruins, to the east.

"Nope." Valrie crouched fast as a couple of bullets zinged overhead. "And in case you're wondering, 'nope' stands for 'Not Our Problem, Esa!'."

Patience dropped her back against a slab of upright concrete and peeked out between broken edges and strips of rebar. Another explosion buffeted the air and a large puff of dust erupted beyond one of the buildings. She could hear shouts and screams now.

"I'm going in for a look. You stay here." She identified another piece of cover, an upturned car about twenty feet away and readied herself to move.

"I thought you weren't no fucking hero?" Before Patience could answer, or stop her, Valrie trotted out of hiding, racing towards the car, holding her helmet down with one hand.

Patience thought about what Valrie said. She didn't think she was a hero. Yet, her first instinct upon hearing the gunfire appeared to be to run towards it. 'Maybe I'm not a hero' she thought, 'Maybe I'm just a fucking idiot.'

Running, head down, she followed Valrie, throwing herself against the car and turning, aiming her rifle, supporting it next to the deteriorated rubber tire. She saw movement and, reaching blind, grabbed the broken binoculars from Valrie, ignoring the yelp of protest.

The scratched and dull lenses made seeing through them difficult, but she caught sight of four combatants racing from the ruins, firing back the way the had come, random strafes of bullets in wide arcs. A stupid method. No tactics, only plain panic. From the looks of their outfits, similar to what she now wore and the other raider had worn, she made a guess that these people, two men, two women, were also raiders.

One of the men stopped, pulled something from his pocket and then, a second later threw it. A grenade. Before the grenade even reached the top of its arc, Patience heard a familiar, elongated zing. A high-velocity round. The back of the raider's head flowered outwards sending brain, blood and pieces of scalp showering the air behind him. He fell, limp and quite dead, where he stood.

"Give me that! I can't see a damned thing!" Valrie ripped the half-binoculars from Patience and looked towards the gunfight. "Damn! Look, there's a snipet up there, on the roof."

"Sniper. You mean a sniper?" Patience had ducked as another couple of bullets buzzed too close for comfort. After a second, she peeked again, searching the rooftops until she caught the flash of sunlight on telescopic sight.

"That's what I said, a snipet." A bullet pinged from the bodywork of the car, but that wasn't what caused Valrie to dick down. That was a second or two later, her face ashen as she handed the broken binoculars back to Patience. "Holy fucking shit! Super Mutants."

Patience whipped her head up, using the half-binoculars, and scoured the area of the battle. What she saw made her jaw drop. Creatures, humanoid creatures, followed the raider's out of the ruins. Tall, most at least seven feet in height, or more, heavy muscled, with skin a sickly yellow, or vomit green. Each of them carried weapons and fanned out from the ruins, making a wide area of offence towards the raiders.

One seemed to be carrying some kind of missile launcher, brought it level and fired. A puff of exhaust smoke plumed behind it and the missile flew, beyond Patience's ability to track. The explosion caught another of the raiders. One of the woman flew through the air, tossed aside by the explosion, her left leg and arm ripped from the body, flying in different directions. There was no way to survive that. And then the firing stopped.

The remaining two raiders had thrown down their weapons, surrendering. Patience couldn't believe that these creatures, these 'Super Mutants', were the kind to accept surrender, but she saw them lower their weapons, sending one of their number towards the defeated raiders.

Upon reaching them, the Super Mutant loomed above them, glowering, breathing heavy, its shoulders rising and falling. It punched the remaining female raider, knocking her flat to the ground, then dropped a hammer blow of a fist on top of the male raider's head, crumpling him to the dust. Then, it seemed, without any effort at all, picked both raiders up in its huge, shovel-like hands, carrying them back to the other Super Mutants.

Patience found herself so engrossed in the grotesque scene, she almost missed the tell-tale flashing of light hitting her eyes. Almost. She ducked back down behind the car, grabbing Valrie and pulling her down without the slightest care.

The sniper had targeted them.