"Damn!... Look who's come waltzing back into the vault…" Said Butch. "It takes some real balls coming back here, after everything you and your dad screwed up. But, if you've gotta be back, might as well make yourself useful. You gotta help us."
"What kind of help?"
"What sort of help do you think I mean? You must've heard about the changes since you left, right? The deaths, the lies, the whole Overseer-lockdown thing? Ringin' any bells? Man, they'd have rushed in here long ago if they didn't know I stole one o' their guns from when they issued martial law. Anyway, ya gotta help us get outta here. Ya gotta help ME get outta here."
"What makes you think I came back to help YOU?" Al asked his nemesis.
"Because you're a goody two-shoes, right? You get off on helping people in trouble. Isn't that why ya saved my mom? I bet she'd thank you herself, but she and I ain't exactly on speaking terms at the moment. At least... not when she's sober." Said Butch. "But, I tell you; your old man had the right idea! I can't STAND it down here, anymore - you gotta help me get out!"
"Why do you need to get out of here so badly?" Al asked.
"Because ANYTHING up there has got to be better than a lifetime o' the same thing down here. Think about it, man. Down here, I'll always be stuck with the same job, with the same food, with the same people, forever. You and your dad had the right idea: get outta this pit and make your own life!"
"Don't worry - I'm trying to help the entire vault."
"Man, SCREW the entire vault! What about me? Even these rebels just want the OPTION to go outside for lousy trading and stuff. I just wanna get the hell out of here for good! Why stay here and be stuck as a barber for my entire life, when I could go out there and make my own choices?" Butch made his point.
"Butch, what do you do in the vault, exactly?" Al teased, knowing the answer.
"The damned G.O.A.T. said I'm supposed to be a hairdresser, but that ain't me. I'm a barner, you got that?!" Said Butch. "There's a difference!" He added, his voice trembling slightly.
"Whaddya think you're gonna do outside, Butch?" Al inquired.
"I'll start a gang, of course. Why… it'll be the toughest, coolest, badass-est gang the wasteland's ever seen! Hey, play your cards right, maybe I'll even let ya join it, huh?" Said Butch, full of pride and confidence.
"Hey, I'm already in the Tunnel Snakes, technically. You gave me the jacket…" Said Al.
"Yeah, but I'm thinkin' it'll be a new gang. We ain't gonna just be in tunnels, ya know." Butch clarified. "Besides, there's gonna be a lot more who'll wanna join. Competition's gonna be tough." He added.
"I bet you're mole rat chow before you make it one day out there." Al said bluntly.
"Yeah, well… get us out of here, and we'll see. Won't we?" Said Butch.
"You have no idea how many gangs of idiotic raiders are out there." Said Al.
"Well, they ain't seen nothin' like me yet. Butch is gonna take that wasteland by storm!" Said Butch.
"So… why should I help you, Butch…?" Al asked curiously.
"Because you've always been a goody two-shoes. So, when I need help, it's what you're gonna do, right? You're gonna help Amata anyway, right? Just make it so we can leave the vault, and I'll leave and never bother you again." Said Butch.
"Right, but see, Amata is my girlfriend, the girl that I'd been best friends with since we were babies, whom I would do absolutely anything for. Whereas, you're just some worthless little scum-bag pretty-boy with absolutely no survival or weapons skills whatsoever." Al cleared up.
"Hey, that ain't true! I've got lotsa combat experience. You would know, hehehe." Butch retorted.
Al just rolled his eyes. "So, what happened that night? When I left to find my dad?" Al asked Butch.
"I heard Old Stanley complaining a lot of the stuff down in the reactor got fried pretty bad. Uh, nothing too bad… yet. But, he's always worrying we'll lose air filtration or whatever. Of course… if that happened… guess we'd all have to leave the vault then, huh?"
"Gotta go." Said Al, walking straight past Butch and towards the wider hallway, which connected to the classroom and the clinic. Al saw Freddie Gomez, in Paul Hannon Junior's jacket, so he spoke to him.
"I never thought you'd be back." Said Freddie, surprised. "Hey. Good to see you again."
"I can't believe they almost shot you!" Said Al.
"I tell ya, those guards are getting nastier every day. One o' these days, it's gonna turn REAL ugly. But, I'll be ready for it."
"What happened down here?" Al asked.
"Paul got bit real bad by some o' those radroaches, but he thought he could tough it out, If we'd had a doctor to treat him, he might still be here." Freddie answered.
"So… what's the deal with this rebellion, Freddie?" Al inquired.
"The Overseer thinks he's in charge of us, just because it's his job?! Well, nuts to that! We do what we want! And we wanna open the vault!"
Just then, Al turned and saw Christine Kendall approaching. "Wow, you're back! I never thought you'd be back." She told Al.
"What happened down here?" Al asked.
"Mom and little Monica got caught in the fires. I tried to get them out, I really did… *Sigh*... but it was just too hot. I know it wasn't your fault, but my dad doesn't think as highly of wouldn't want to hear what he said he'd do to your dad either."
"So… what's the deal with the rebels, Christine?" Al inquired.
"I wouldn't call us 'rebels'... I mean, we don't agree with the Overseer, but we still love the vault. We just… want to try going outside, too." She answered, just when Susie Mack approached.
"I never thought you'd be back! You're alive!" Said Susie.
"Yeah, sure, whatever, just tell me what happened." Al said dismissively.
"A lot of security wounded… and worse. In all the confusion, we still don't know who's responsible for some of them." Susie answered.
"Just tell me about the rebels." Al said bluntly.
"I hate that this whole thing has turned us against our families… but we just can't keep living down here forever, I mean… look at this place!" Said Susie. Al then went into the clinic's waiting room, where he found the love of his life waiting for him; he tapped her shoulder, and she turned to face him.
"Oh my god, you're back!" She said, hugging him tightly. "You got my message and ACTUALLY came back!" She said very happily, then pulling away to face him. "When you left, we realised we could leave the vault, but my father won't stand for it, and it's just getting worse down here. He won't listen to us, but he can't just ignore YOU. So, we need your help… I need your help." She said.
"I came as soon as I heard you were in trouble." Al said sincerely.
"Oh, THANK you! Everything's gone crazy since you left, and now that you're back,you can help set things straight…" She said.
"Oh, I just happened to be in the neighbourhood, so I thought I'd stop by." Al joked.
"I missed your sense of humour, but I really don't think thi is the time for jokes." Amata said sincerely. "We're in real trouble, and your help could make all the difference. So, could you please take this seriously? For me?" She asked with some desperation.
"Don't flatter yourself, Amata. I'm just here to take care of a few loose ends." Al said coldly.
"What?" She asked, genuinely shocked, not even angry. "Have you gone crazy from radiation or sunstroke or whatever they've got out there? This place is a police state, and we're on the edge of civil war. If you won't help for ME, at least do it for your home."
"I… I'm sorry, Amata… I'm just already very stressed out with my own problems at the moment… I DO wanna help you…" He said apologetically. "You saved my life back then, Amata. The least I could do is help out now."
"I just… wish we could've saved more people… Jonas, a-and the Hannons, and so many others died that night. It was bad enough they died because my father was trying to keep the door closed. But then, I found out it was all to protect a lie! I found out the vault wasn't always closed! They've lied to us about it for our entire lives!" She said, sounding heartbroken.
"What? How did you find that out?" Al asked.
"After that night, I heard Wally's father say we should never have taken you, or your dad, into the vault. I found out the vault used to be open, but for some reason, they closed it off when we were babies, and swore to hide that it had EVER happened." She explained. "But, keeping that lie meant Jonas' death. And, even though we know the truth, the Overseer still won't let us make our own decisions."
"Well, to be fair, that explains why I found an old Vault 101 jumpsuit outside." Al added.
"I heard we sent a couple of scouts outside, long ago… Maybe the suit was theirs." Said Amata. "The vault was open for a while. But, for some reason, they closed it off when we were babies, and everyone swore to deny it had ever happened. But then, Jonas died, and they're keeping us locked in here… all to protect that fantasy of remaining 'untainted' by the outside world!"
"I may have had to leave, but this is still where I grew up; I can't leave it in chaos." Said Al.
"Chaos doesn't even cover it; it's a nightmare down here!" She corrected.
"Actually, this was kinda my dad's fault, for leaving. Without him going, this wouldn't have happened." Said Al, trying to reason.
"Your dad didn't kill Jonas. Your dad didn't lock down the vault. Your dad isn't the one keeping us from leaving, right now! My dad did… and we need to take a stand against him." Amata said firmly.
"Well, you and your 'rebels' hope to go outside… That's pretty crazy, too." Al calmly argued.
"Are you honestly comparing 'Maybe we should look for help' with ' stay in an underground bunker all your life, or I'll kill you'...? Amata asked. "Obviously, I don't know what's out there, but it can't hurt to take a look, right?"
"You have no idea how good you've got it down here." Said Al.
"What the hell do you mean?" Amata sounded terribly confused, and rather anxious. "Take a look around! If we weren't dying down here before that night, we're definitely on our way now. How much worse could it be if we tried to leave? There HAS to be something out there worth finding…"
"It's a dead world out there. You're better off down here, even with a madman." Al scoffed.
"I… I just CAN'T believe you… If we stay here, we'll just wither away over the years. There has to be SOMETHING for us out there… But… we don't even have that chance while my father's got the place locked down. Please - something has to be done. You know that better than anyone."
Al just looked down at himself in shame at his cynical attitude. "There's… there's actually… *Sigh* There's more out there than we ever imagined. Good, bad, and in-between."
"And, all this time? We're living in a tiny world that's been falling apart for two-hundred years. If we don't take a chance out there, we're just going to die down here. But, NONE of that can happen while my father's got the place locked down. Please - something has to be done. You know that better than anyone…" Amata almost-begged.
"Yeah… There ARE other survivors… Some are even doing better than the vault." Al began to agree with Amata.
"That's why we need to be able to go outside!" Amata perked up. "We can trade with them, get supplies and things we both need. Even… just to meet new people…"
"So, why don't you just leave? It's not difficult, especially now." Al suggested.
"It's not that simple…" Amata lamented. "Just because Butch wants to leave this place behind, doesn't mean the rest of us wanna go away forever… It's our home, and we want to stay here. It's just that… since you left, we started thinking, maybe the outside wasn't something to be afraid of. But, we can't even suggest going outside to communicate or trade at all. Not with the Overseer keeping us trapped down here. You need to stop him!"
"Sounds like he's gone crazy with power and needs to be stopped." Al observed.
"You're ABSOLUTELY right." She agreed firmly. "It's not like we wanna abandon the vault or anything. Well… Butch does, but he's too big a coward to go out on his own. Most of us had accepted that the outside was certain death, and things would always stay the same down here. But, now we know, they don't have to be! After all, it was enough to get you an' your dad to leave, so there must be something good out there."
"Why is the Overseer doing this?" Al asked.
"I just don't know, Maybe he thinks he's protecting us, but… all he's really doing is condemning us. I thought parents were supposed to want a better world for their children… Well… there's a new world waiting right outside that door… and we're not going to give up until we can reach it." Amata answered.
"What happened that night?" Al asked her.
"The REAL problems came after you two left. The injured had nobody to turn to, since our doctor had run off and his assistant had died. Now, we've got to rely on that old Mr. Handy for most of our medical needs… and he hasn't exactly got the best bedside manner… Ever had an examination from someone with cold, metal pincers? You don't want to!"
"Why don't ya just leave? There's not much security."
"Don't you get it? We don't want to abandon the vault. We want to open it! We still want this to be our home, but we want to get supplies from outside; trading, exploring, anything's better than just hiding down here!" She explained.
"I think I have a solution for the vault's troubles…" He said.
"I certainly hope so. We can't keep going on like this." Amata sounded more hopeful.
"I swear; I'll stop your father and his guards. Just watch." Al said reassuringly.
"You will? Thank GOODNESS for that…" She said, relieved. "No matter what I say, he just doesn't listen. He just spends all day up in his office. But, you've actually BEEN outside! So, you can tell him what it's like with first-hand experience! Just… please don't do anything rash, or hurt him. All right?"
"I still owe him a lot for that night. Don't expect to see him again." Al said emotionlessly.
"No, please! I KNOW he's hurt - and lied to - us, but… he's still my father! I just want him to stop keeping us locked up, that's all! I know I can't stop you… but I know somewhere in there, my father just thinks he's watching out for us, so… please… Please don't hurt him…" Amata pleaded.
"Don't… hurt him? Are you crazy?! He tried to kill you, Amata!"
"Well… yes, but… he may have done some terrible things, but… he's still my father, ya know? Please… for MY sake… don't hurt him…" She pleaded again.
"Sorry. I'm not promising anything. He'll be stopped, one way or another."
"But… he's still my father. He may have made terrible choices that night, but he's the same person who's always looked out for us before then. Maybe he has some reason. Just… please don't kill him. We've already had too many deaths."
"'Looked out for us'? You fuckin' serious, Amata?" Al looked down and sighed in disappointment, rubbing his eyes, before looking back up into Amata's eyes and putting his hands on her shoulders.
"Amata. Look into my eyes and listen to me. I've never lied to you once, and I never will. I love you more than anything, and always will; more than this vault, more than anybody I've ever met inside or outside the vault. I don't know how you feel about that, but I guess it doesn't matter anymore. So, for that reason, I… PROMISE you… I won't 'kill' your scum-bag father." He said with complete honesty and sincerity, before putting his hands back by his sides.
"Y… You still…" Amata's face softened. "After everything I…" She mumbled sadly, before putting on her stern expression once more. "You're right; it doesn't matter now." She said, regretting it instantly, but now unable to turn back.
"You know violence isn't my style, Amata. Don't worry." Al assured her.
"I should have remembered… I was just worried… I don't know. Maybe… your time outside had changed you…" Amata responded, sounding ashamed in herself. "Thanks… and good luck talking to him. Let me know when you change his mind!"
As Amata walked outta the clinic's waiting room to talk with Butch, Freddie, Susie, and Christine, Al walked to the inner clinic's window, where she found Old Lucy Palmer, Jonas' maternal grandmother, who made Al a sweetroll for his tenth birthday. "Oh, it's good to see you're back from outside. It can be dangerous out there for someone your age." She said to Al in her usually-sweet voice as she turned to face him.
"It's nice seeing you again, Mrs. Palmer." Al said as he gave her a hug. "What happened down here? D'you know?" He asked.
"My poor grandson Jonas died is what happened. They say it was just an accident in all the confusion… but I know it was the Overseer.
"Please, what can you tell me about the whole 'rebel' thing, Mrs. Palmer?" Al asked politely.
"Oh, dear… We aren't asking for anything special. The vault's been open before, but - for some reason - everyone tries to present it wasn't." She explained. "I guess they try to forget the poor souls who never came back from out there."
"Okay." Al said softly. "Well, just take it easy, if you can. I'm gonna sort this mess out with him."
"Oh… please be careful…" She said.
However, Al curiously peaked into the clinic, where a blood-soaked Andy hovered, and Beatrice lay dead on the table, with the bottom half of her right leg severed. "Andy… Just… what the fuck…" Al was speechless.
"Ah! Another patient!" Andy said cheerily. "What's it to be, eh? Appendectomy? Tonsillectomy? Hysterectomy?" He asked Albert.
"Andy… What happened? All this blood…" Al could barely form a proper sentence structure.
"Ah yes! A rather unfortunate incident. In all the commotion, Miss Beatrice suffered a rather bad sprain in her left toe. The big one. Obviously, I had no choice but to amputate. The leg. Yea-I'm sorry to say the operation was… uh, not a… success."
This revelation made Albert almost burst and tear the dumb robot into tiny pieces with his own hands - not just because he loved Beatrice, but because her death was 100% avoidable and completely in vain. And… it didn't seem to be a very pleasant fate. However, not wanting to stir any more shit up in Vault 101, he just managed to remain collected and more-than-rational.
"Wait… they made you the doctor?" Albert asked, dumbfounded.
"But of course! With your father's departure from the vault, and Jonas' untimely demise the Overseer had to take swift action. Haha! And so, he named me the new Vault Medical Practitioner! A marvelous decision, if I do say so myself! I am fully-equipped, after all."
"If you're the new doctor, can you heal me?" Al asked out of curiosity, but not desperation.
"Um… actually, uhh… no, uhh, I'm afraid I've been, uhh… What's the human term? Ah, yes, uh, fired… I've been reassigned to cleaning detail… My first duty is, somewhat ironically, cleaning the clinic. Ah, but surgery was fun while it lasted…" Said Andy.
"So, what's your take on this whole situation?" Al asked the Mr. Handy bot.
"Ah… Human problems for human hearts… I don't trouble myself with such… petty affairs. My work is my life. And… as you can see… I've been quite busy…"
"Gotta go, you rust-bucket." Al said in an irritated manner.
"Of course, of course! Don't let me keep you." Said Andy. With that, Al went to read his mother's favourite Bible verse framed on the wall, before taking it off, placing it on the floor, and picking the secret safe on the wall. After picking the safe with a bobby pin, he found lots of bottle caps (post-apocalyptic currency), a blueprint for a home-made weapon, and a holodisk labelled 'Home Sweet Home'. When Al went back to the hallway, away from everyone, he listened to the tape on his Pip-Boy.
James' voice spoke, from over nineteen years ago. "Well… here we are. Nestled all safe and snug inside Vault 101. It's so cold down here… Colder still with Catherine gone. Oh, Catherine… I so wish you were here with me… How the hell am I supposed to do this by myself? Live down in this hole… Take care of our child… But, this is our life, now. So, I guess I'd better get used to it. The Overseer who runs the place is an overbearing bully… but I've dealt with worse." The tape then ended.
After walking around some more, he saw his old bully Wally Mack on the way, in the diner. "Why won't you just leave us alone? You've done enough damage. Oh boy, are YOU in trouble." Wally said to Al.
"The fuck happened down here, pretty boy?" Al asked Wally. "Tell me about the rebels."
"Whaddya expect from IDIOTS like them? I'm just glad I was done with Butch's stupid gang before they got involved in all this." He answered. "You shoulda seen my pop! He personally saved Old Stanley. But, guess you wouldn't know what it's like to have a hero for a dad, would ya." He added, pissing Al off big-time. Al checked for anyone else in sight, and then promptly beat the shit out of Wally with ease, and great pleasure, though lamenting his small desire to not kill him, for Amata's sake.
Just after Al tossed Wally over the diner's counter and out of sight, a half-drunk Ellen DeLoria came in and saw Al. "You're back, again?" She asked impatiently.
"Tell me about the rebels, sweet-cheeks." Said Al.
"They're a buncha hellions, that's what they are." She said, ignoring Al's comment. "I'm at my wit's end about them, I really am."
"And what about everything else?" He asked.
"It's all kind of blurry for me. But, I hear I owe you for saving me. But, don't expect much. The whole thing was your dad's fault in the first place." She said coldly and dismissively. This pissed Al off once more, the ungrateful slut. He just head-butted her in the face once, knocking her out, before dragging her body over to Wally's.
Al then went back to the Atrium to Officers Taylor and Armstrong. "I think I'd like to have a talk with the Overseer. Take me to him." Al told Armstrong.
"I hope you know what you're doing. I don't think he's going to be happy to see you. Follow close to me, and I'll escort you down to him." Said Armstrong.
As they both reached the entrance to the computer room, where Floyd Lewis and Officer Hannon were killed, Al said he could go the rest of the way. "I can take it from here." He told the officer.
"If you wanna go on alone, it's your call. Just… don't stir up too much trouble down her, 'kay? You may be used to the outside, but… this is all the world some of us have." Said Armstrong, before walking back.
When Al walked through the room, Officer Wilkins came from behind some computer apparatus with his 10mm pistol drawn. "You never should have left, kid. Now, we'll make sure nobody ever leaves again!"
Wilkins then shot Al in the chest a couple of times, only for it to have no effect against his metal armour. With that, Al immediately pulled out his .44 Remington Magnum, and shot Wilkins right in the chest, piercing his armour and killing him. As Wilkins lay bleeding on the floor, Al looted his pockets, only to find an extra 10mm magazine, and a holodisk labelled 'Jail Cell Password'. He then took the magazine from the fallen pistol, and proceeded.
However, on his way to the Overseer's office, he curiously went into the armoury - where Amata had been interrogated 'that night' - and went to the door on the back door, which was locked. Al used the holodisk labelled 'Jail Cell Password' to open the door with the nearby computer terminal. As Al looked into the room as the door opened, he saw his old teacher - Edwin Botch.
"It's been a while, kid! I guess the G.O.A.T. couldn't have predicted how you'd turn out, could it." The teacher greeted his favourite ex-student. "Remind me to add a question about rescuing your teacher from the vault jail. If the vault ever goes back to normal, that is… By the way… while I was in there… I heard some worrying things from the guards."
"What did you hear from the guards?" Al asked his former teacher.
"I heard one of the guards talking about some plan to raid Amata and the rest of us. I didn't hear anything else… but I think he read it on the security terminal. So, maybe, you can find more there. I'm sure it's bad news for us all."
"What happened, Mr. Brotch?"
"It was pretty rough, I'll tell you. I know a lot of folks blame your dad, but I know he didn't mean to cause all that. Don't blame him, or yourself."
"Tell me about the rebels." Al requested.
"Most of 'em are just kids who're caught upm in the idea of seeing the world. But, I know we've got to actually open the vault if we want to survive. Otherwise, we're… just going to dwindle away down here, until it's all too late. Watch yourself down here." Said Brotch, before walking over to the clinic and classroom area.
Before leaving, Al took a quick read of the terminal, which confirmed what one of the guards said about raiding the rebels, or the 'scum', as he called it. However, this terminal entry actually confirmed that the Overseer was unaware of this planned midnight raid. Al copied the notes onto his Pip-Boy, then proceeded to go to Brotch and walk him to Amata at the classroom.
"Glad to see you here." Amata said as she saw the two men.
"I wasn't taken away in the night, for what that's worth… That's about the best news I've got to report." Brotch told Amata.
"Well… I guess it could be worse, but… if I know father, he's NOT just going to change his mind on this." Amata told Brotch.
"Will do, Amata. You watch out for yourself, too." Brotch told Amata, before Al left. However, Al decided to check out the reactor first, so he headed downstairs to the Reactor level, where he found Stanley.
"I… don't know that I should be talking with you." Said Stanley.
"You okay, Stan? What happened?"
"With all of the bugs and fires, there was an awful lot of strain on the systems down on the Reactor level. Our water chip's pretty delicate right now, but I'm working on setting her right again" Said Stanley.
"Tell me about the rebels."
"It's just a phase they're going through. Every kid thinks they wanna leave the vault at some point but we all grew out of it." Said Stanley.
Al then went straight back upstairs and, when roaming the hallways, he saw Officer Mack blocking his path as he entered a doorway. When Amata shot Mack, the 25-year-old guard actually survived the wounds. "Why won't you just leave us alone? You've done enough damage. I sure didn't expect you to show your face here again." Mack told Al.
"What happened?" Al asked the guard.
"We were so busy fighting those bugs, there wasn't anyone to help put out the fires that started after you left… It was horrible."
"What's with the rebels?" Al asked the guard.
"I expect as much from some of those idiot kids and batty old Palmer, but I expected more sense from Brotch." Al then just gave him a dirty look as he walked past him.