Chapter Five
An Agreement and an Unexpected Delivery
Radar' father eyeballed Matt for a second,
"Who're you?" He asked
"The Vault Dweller, Matt...you're welcome" Radar said
Matt shook his head,
"I helped my father purify the water all over the capital wasteland" Matt said
"Just the capital wasteland?" Radar' father said in question,"That was big of you"
"Oh my God, give me a chance it's not like we can reach the other countries affected by the War you started!"
"The War we started?!" Radar' father exclaimed, "I think you'll find those mutants started off in your sespit not ours"
"OK look, turning on each other is not going to solve anything, why are you sniffing around our girl?" Radar' Uncle asked
"I'm not sniffing around anything...much, I thought she wanted to blow up Megaton, in reality she wants to move the bomb I decactivated..." He began
"We're welcome" Radar said
"Would you stop doing that? Please?" Matt asked her, "She wants to move it into a deep hole full of concrete and blow it up but since this all started there's a group of people called Atom; that praise the bomb, they praise the notion of parting the atoms, they're insane and they never leave it's side"
"He was doing this long before Matt here escaped the Vault he grew up in, he has that many radio waves buzzing around him you could pick up Heart Radio and yet he's not zombified, he appears very much alive and coherent...well apart from the crap he's sprouting about the bomb being the new massiah" Radar said
"Sounds like a synth...oh you know what's happened" Her father said
"Vault Tech observed the Loner, turned his creations against him, then "Saved him" and used his skills to build a preacher, they programmed him, I'll bet they plan to put one in every settlement and then infiltrate the Vaults they didn't do experiments in, which let's face it can't be many" Radar realised
"The people of Megaton are doomed to become guals and mutants if that's the case" Matt said, "No! We can't kill all those people we can't! We'll find a way around it"
"You know it's funny, the one thing you didn't pick up on, or maybe you did and simply ignored it. You lived in Megaton, what's stopping you from becoming one of them? If you did you know we'd have to kill you too" Radar said
"I have a place there, I've slept there a few times" Matt said, panicked, "I'm fine! I'm gonna be fine, what about you? Three days you said you've been there"
His concern for his new found frien-emy was genuine and touched Radar a little. They shared a look that wasn't lost on her father or her Uncle. Radar' Uncle knew a potential attraction when it stared him in the face.
"I'm wearing a rad suit" Radar said,
"Pull up your big boy knickers, if she means that much to you I'll find a way to removed any and all radiation you've been exposed to up until now" Her Uncle said to Matt
"We met an hour ago" Radar said, "I'm not marrying the man"
"Yet" Matt grinned, Radar' father pulled his gun out on him, "Message received"
"That's what I thought" Radar' father said with a nod
"For a price" Radar' Uncle finished
"What kind of price?" Matt asked
"Prove you're serious about putting things right, you help us deactivate and bury anything to do with the nukes and Atom and Vault Tech and we'll help you and your father purify the water for every country screwed over by them" Radar' Uncle said
"Alright" He said with a nod,
"What's the next plan of attack?" Radar asked
"I couldn't find Vault Tech HQ 2 but with this password we can, we sneak in and steal their plans and find out where the loner is being held" Radar' father told her
Radar watched her father work on the terminal, using the password while Radar' Uncle and Matt secured the area around their only exit out of the vault now alonside Dogmeat.
"So what's your name?" Matt asked him
"What do I look like?" He replied unfairly
"A leprechaun" Matt told him with great sarcasm
Radar' Uncle laughed,
"You're going to be fine kid"
"Does Radar like...you know...have anyone special?" Matt asked
"You only met her an hour ago" Her Uncle said
"She's the only girl I've met not impressed by me, I like it...I want her to like me, I mean damn, would it kill her to pay me a compliment?" Matt rambled
"Yes and now you sound desperate, that's never a good look. Just be yourself" Her Uncle said
"Uh..."
"On second thought, we want to get out of this alive. I have a few rules for you, my name is Craig, her father' name is Podray, he's a special ops and ex power trooper"
"Crap"
"We will snap you in half if you so much as breathe in the wrong direction" Craig said, "Radar can take care of herself but you better make damn sure you have her back or we will put a bullet in yours, one other thing, if for some reason you feel yourself falling for her bring yourself into check immediately and concentrate on the task at hand, you do what needs to be done and then you can swap notes, understood? There is no place in a Warzone for a soldier who is emotional. Where I come from we so much as catch a wiff of a relationship or hook up both soldiers are dismissed immediately. It puts everyone else in jepody because in that second they're only thinking of each other" He continued
"I understand sir" Matt said with respect
"Good! Now, have you done anything in terms of army related missions?" Craig asked
"Only in simulation and it had a default in it, if I'd been shot fatally in the simulation I would have died outside it" Matt said
"Well, you've made it this far"
At that moment Radar and her father arrived,
"This looks cosy" Podray said
"He called me a leprachaun" Craig said
"Had many dealings with leprachauns have you?" Podray asked as Radar gave a look to say she could see it
"It's the hair...what's left of it anyway" Radar said
Matt laughed
"We know where we're going now"
Above the Vault Radar, Matt, Craig and Podray took in the map Podray layed out across the bonnet of a bombed out car,
You could see about 12 vaults, all interlinked and subways that lead to the same place,
"That's the Nuka Cola plant" Matt said, "Cleared that out too or what's above it at least"
"We're welcome" Radar said
"Give me a break!" Matt said
"Where would you like it? The arm, the kneck?" She then eyed his trouser reigon, "The "Holiday Zone?" Matt gulped, "OK look, I'm not going to deny that, that could help us out here but the entrance to this HQ won't be in or around the Nuka Cola plant...just to be clear it didn't honestly have radiation in it did it?"
"Not before the War, Nuka meant ultimate power, we used it to power our cars" Matt said. Without delay Radar, Dogmeat, Craig and Podray backed away from the car, "It's safe"
"Said the flea parked on the back of a black rat at the height of the plague epademic" Radar replied, "What is wrong with you people?" She asked as she scanned the car, her Uncle, her dog and then her father,
"Wow, I come last?" Podray asked
"I see where she gets it from now" Matt said, "I was talking about the cola, Nuka Cola made fuel for cars, the only one's who'd have one had no sense of smell and those without didn't have any business in areas where these cars were driven anyhow"
"You know this how?" Radar asked him
"I read about it in the library" Matt said stiffly
"You read?" Podray asked
"You people are exhausting" He exclaimed until he saw the look Radar gave him. He knew she was playing but she had a power over him he couldn't quite understand, "You're going to be the death of me"
"You're my wind up toy" Radar grinned
"You can leave him in the desplay case for now" Craig said,
"We need to get Minors Vault, if we look at this propperly, and their inner map to find the entrance to Vault Tech HQ 2. If we find the entrance to the interlinking tunnel we can estimate a distance of 2-10 miles each way to find the entrance" Radar said
"She's right" Matt said looking at the map too, "But that's going to take at least a month to get there"
"Only if we walk it" Podray said
"How else are we going to get there then?" Matt asked
To Matt' shock Podray and Craig found a deserted garage and made use of scrap metal, a saw and wood to build a car,
Radar then used her mechanic skills to build an engine before Matt then helped her and Craig utilise the fuel she had rescued from the chopper for the tank. It wasn't the most comfortable ride in the world but it was better than walking,
"We have to stop" Matt complained after about an hour, "I have splinters in my butt"
"Well when you spot an upolstery shop holla" Podray called back
"This is the worst idea" Matt complained
"I think it's a brilliant idea the execution of it could use a little finess though I'll grant you" Radar said
"How are you not uncomfortable?" He asked
"I was trained by the best, mind over matter. You'd be amazed, I'll give you an example. Middle of winter, grant you this is before the fallout. Soldiers or potential soldiers were told to stand in a freezing lake for as long as possible, no matter what the condition of the weather or the terrane because there may come a time where they have to sit in wait as they observe the enemy and this is all they have around them. They could be there for an hour, a day, two days even. The big burly men were the first to fall apart but the ones no one thought could make it stuck it out unitl the commander' blew the whistle. How did they do it? They thought about the task at hand and the end result and the body did the rest"
"Wow..." Was all he could manage,
"It's a lot, we get it" Podray said
After three days in the makeshift car, two nights in the basements of old buildings, taking it in turns to keep watch and shoot any rogue robots before harvesting parts and killing raders trying to steal from them they heard the frigthened cries of a woman in labour.
At first she was unwilling to accept their help, in fact she pulled a gun out on them as they aproached her house,
"I thought someone was trying to kill you, the way you're carrying on" Matt said eying the woman now kneeling on the floor,
"Someone is trying to kill me!" She screeched
"Would you like some help?" Podray asked
"What do you think!?" She screamed
"Radar" Craig said
"Don't look at me!" She snapped
"You have the same bits" Craig said
"Seriously?" Radar said
Radar knew what to do, she'd delivered her cousin, if it meant a safe place to sleep that night then...
"You could take me for a drink first" The woman said, trying to lighten up,
"Shut up and push" She said
"Oh my God!" Matt said in shock
"You're bedside manor is atrocious" The woman said
"You want this thing out of you or not?" Radar said
The baby had some difficulties after being born but Radar took charge and got her breathing and crying, she took the baby' weight and gave her to her greatful mother,
"I...I didn't think I could love someone this much" She cried, "She's perfect"
"How come you're on your own?" Podray asked a few miutes later, all sitting around the crappy living room,
"We were attacked by mutants, they captured my husband, they didn't seem to want me" She told them
"We believe they're working for Vault Tech, if you have a picture of him, a discription we can try and find him, bring him back to you" Matt said
"He's probably dead by now but thank you" The woman said, "You're all welcome to stay until sunrise"
"What will you do now?" Craig asked, "You can't stay here"
"Where else can I go?" The woman asked
"Would you concider a move to London?" Craig asked
"UK? Weren't you nuked too?" She asked
"Not quite" Craig said
This surprised Matt.
Later that night Matt was worried when he woke to find that Radar wasn't there. Instead she was outside looking at a solitary flower,
"I was starting to miss home...that stupid vault. You tell anyone I'll cap you"
"You were amazing tonight" Matt said sitting next to her, "A little harsh at times"
"Take the emotion out of the task, that's what I was brought up with...I was scared for the child, I'm scared for the mother too if I'm honest" Radar said
"I don't want to try" He said
"You don't want to try what?" Radar asked but he left
"Not to fall in love with you" He said to himself as he shut the back door behind him