February, 2282

"What the hell do you think we can do about this, Rohit?"

The boys had moved to the bathroom down the hall; it was empty, secluded, and granted the boys the privacy they needed to discuss the Graduation papers. They'd also avoid waking Alma, who had been unconscious when they'd stepped out.

Rohit's skin had lost its color, and he paced the room whilst running his hands through his hair. He wondered for a moment what he'd gotten himself into. "I don't know, James!" He exclaimed, "But we have to do something! You see what that says!"

James leaned against one of the sinks as he looked the papers over once again, his expression almost fearful. If what the papers said were true, it was deeply disturbing. "I know. It's got a list of kids in our class, but it's out of date; Mitu died, and she's still on here." He paused for a moment. "I'm confused though. P.E.V. isn't something I've heard of; FEV is what makes super mutants, so they might be related." He sighed as he flipped through the pages, wondering for a moment if he and Alma had some form of FEV in their systems, and what that meant. Were they a danger to their friends? "It sounds like this has been going on for a while, maybe even since the bombs dropped."

Rohit nodded in agreement. "That wouldn't surprise me, but we need to do something."

"Well, yeah," he said, "but we have no idea what we'd be up against. Even if we did make it out of here, you know what's in Uptopland. Raiders. Mutants. Radscorpions."

"Deathclaws," Rohit added.

He nodded. "Deathclaws."

"So what do we do?"

"I don't know," he muttered. "But even with all the deathclaws and raiders and mutants, we have a better chance at surviving up there than we do down here. It's guaranteed that we'll be killed if we do nothing."

Rohit turned to face James, coming to a stop. "We need a plan, then, and we need help."

The boy remained silent for a moment as he considered their options. They'd likely have to fight their way out; the Overseer wasn't one to negotiate, and if he found out that anyone knew about what actually happened at Graduation, it'd mean trouble. That man would do anything to keep the vault running how it should. The other problem was that they had no idea how many people stood between them and freedom. Even if there were only a few humans, the synths could still be a threat.

"We need a way to find out what we're going to be dealing with," James stated. "We can't do anything blind, or we'll end up dead."

"The only way we can find out anything about the research team is by finding someone who's willing to help. That's what you want to do?" Rohit gawked. "James, they'll go straight to the Overseer! We can't!"

James shook his head. "I don't think they all know."

His brows knitted together in confusion. "Why not? Why wouldn't they all know?"

"Think about it, Rohit. They recruited Washington and Margaret from last year's kids. A few years before that, they recruited Rochelle Morris. They knew some of the people here personally. They had friends. How do you think they'd react to finding out we all die at Graduation?"

Rohit blinked in surprise, then nodded slowly. He hadn't considered that, but James had a point. "So, those are the three we talk to."

James nodded. "They're our best bet. Washington was kind of an ass, but I don't think he'd just jump on board with that, especially with how close he was to Nina. Margo had a big heart, so she wouldn't be okay with it either." He paused a moment to think. "Rochelle could be a riskier option, so if we can recruit Margo and Washington, maybe we should get them to scope her out."

"It's not a bad idea," Rohit muttered, "but it's also been almost a year since we saw any of them. We don't know how much they've changed."

He sighed. "You're not wrong, but what choice do we have? Like I said, if we go in blind, we're dead. We need help. So, if you handle Washington, I'll find Margo. Screenings are coming up, and they always need more people than usual for that. I bet they'll bring the new recruits down to help."

Rohit let out a small sigh, but nodded. "I hope you're right. For now, I don't think we should tell Alma anything. If we get caught and she doesn't know what's going on, they might not hurt her to get information."

James nodded in agreement. "Right. Until we know more, and have some kind of plan, she needs to stay in the dark. She doesn't need this now anyways, not after the experiment they did on her today. We'll let her rest for now."

•⊱──────⊰•❀•⊱──────⊰•

Rochelle sighed and leaned back in her chair, surveying her living quarters. Full sized beds were on opposite sides of the room, each with a nightstand next to them and a Vault-Tec steamer trunk at the foot. There were also a pair of dressers, two desks, a bookshelf, and a bathroom that the room's inhabitants shared. While it was small, the room had enough space for the items that had been placed in it.

**I feel like this next bit reads weird. Y'alls thoughts?**

She'd been tasked with coordinating the next round of screenings. Each child went through them once a year. It served as a way to measure how well they were doing, and how well each type of experiment worked. Unsurprisingly, P.E.V. subjects scored high every year.

Screenings tested subjects' intelligence and physical strength. Those who performed well were subjected to harsher experiments later on to find their limits. To Rochelle, it all seemed more like torture; she knew the purpose of all this was to enhance the human gene pool, so survival in the wasteland was easier, but it still didn't help. To make matters worse, Vault-Tec never contacted any of the vaults after the bombs dropped. If the vault's experiment succeeded, what would happen? To her knowledge, the Overseer's directions said nothing about what he should do after succeeding.

Rochelle turned her attention back to the task at hand. As she began to turn back to her papers, the room's door opened, and in came a woman only a few years younger than her. Like all the staff, the woman wore a white lab coat and black slacks; her chestnut hair was pulled into a neat bun, and she sported a bright red lipstick. Bold colors like that were an uncommon choice, but it suited her. "Evening, Rochelle," she said as she made her way to her dresser. "I heard Hayes charged you with coordinating screenings. How's that going?"

"It's not," Rochelle muttered. "You and Washington are going to have to help; we need everyone who's available for this, and Bissel, Lee, and Rivera don't want to participate. Overseer Hayes seems okay with that, and all he's doing is watching."

As Rochelle spoke, the young woman made her way over to her dresser and began rummaging through her clothes. Upon finding a set of pajamas, she changed. "Can I oversee the P.E.V. screenings?"

"You're sure?" Rochelle's brows knitted together. "I feel like Hayes might not like you handling our most successful subjects."

She flashed her dark-skinned companion a smile. "He put you in charge of this; if he doesn't like the way you do it, it's his own fault. Besides, if something happens, who better to be in the room? Most of you guys have low physical scores, and you're just smart; I'm a P.E.V. subject too, so if anything goes wrong, I'm the most likely to get out alive."

She raised a brow. "The other stuff in that injection keeps the FEV mutations in check, while still offering the extra strength and endurance it should have given when FEV was first developed. The odds of anything happening are slim to none, Margo."

Margo shrugged. "It's experimental. We don't know what could happen, not really."

She laughed a bit. "Right, and let's say you do end up in a room with a super mutant. What then?"

"I was always a good shot," she boasted. "Mutants are tough to kill, but a shot through the eye would do just fine. It'd be easy enough in close range like that."

"If you could pull your gun in time."

"Other vaults used regular FEV, and those records say the transformation took a bit. Other vaults had them quarantined in individual rooms. If it was instant, they wouldn't have been able to lock them up, and their bodies would be majorly screwed up."

"Fair enough," Rochelle muttered. "You're the only one on this team aside from Hayes with decent physical scores anyways. I doubt the rest of us could take down a mutant."

"Speaking of Hayes," she said, padding to Rochelle's bed to take a seat, "I think something's wrong with Graduation." Rochelle opened her mouth to protest, but Margo held up a hand to stop her. "I know, okay? But listen. Washington said he talked to Hayes about repairing the shooting range, but he got really defensive about it. Told him it wasn't his job to worry about that, and he got really mad when Washington kept pushing for it."

"That's… weird. If the other graduates are up on the surface, what's wrong with contacting them and asking for supplies? Maybe manpower to actually do the repairs?"

"I don't see why; we could frame it as something to test the kids' physical strength. And our part of the commonwealth is pretty safe except for some ghouls and molerats, so if we opened the vault to previous graduates we wouldn't be running a huge risk. We're under a school, too."

Rochelle crossed her arms. "Synths could also bring in materials and manpower, if needed. Maybe he just doesn't see the shooting range as a priority?"

"But why would he get so defensive about it? I feel like he panicked when Washington asked and just wanted him to drop it." She paused, a concerned expression settling into her visage. "Rochelle, what if those kids aren't up there?"

She paused as well, mulling over the idea. Graduation had always been shrouded in secrecy; only a few senior staff members were involved in the process, and no one saw where the children went after the ceremony except for those few. "If the vault had been opened every year, starting 18 years after the bombs dropped, we'd have an insane amount of radiation in here, too." She stopped again as the magnitude of the situation hit her. "Margo," Rochelle croaked, "please tell me you haven't told anyone else about this."

"Of course not," the girl scoffed. "I'm not stupid. This is dangerous talk. Most of the staff have their heads so far up Hayes's ass that he could shoot them, and they still wouldn't question him. If they heard this, they'd go straight to him."

"Exactly, which is why you should be careful."

Margo gave a nod. "I know, and I will be. I need to know what's going on though. If Hayes, maybe even other Overseers, have been murdering kids…"

Rochelle barked a laugh. "If what? What could you possibly do?" She crossed her arms. "Even if you somehow managed to get rid of Hayes, you'd be forced to leave the vault; nobody would let you stay here. Anyone who collaborated with you would be killed or have to escape with you, and nobody else has good physical scores. The rest of us are weak. The first ghoul we ran into would kill us."

"So, what, you're okay with them killing kids?" She scowled at her roommate.

"That is not what I said."

"No, you're just too much of a coward to do anything about it."

"We don't even know if it's happening, Margo!" Rochelle huffed and turned back toward her desk. "Look, I have a lot of work to get done before I go to bed. I'm guessing you have an early morning too."

Margo paused, but decided she'd pushed Rochelle enough for one evening and nodded. "Yeah, I do."

•⊱──────⊰•❀•⊱──────⊰•

Rohit sat next to his sister's bed. It had been a few days since the last experiment – the one that left so many of her bones shattered – was performed on her, and since he'd found the papers on Graduation. Over that period of time, he and James hadn't spoken much – to each other, or anyone else.

His thoughts had, of course, been focused on any potential plan to escape the vault. Thus far, he had no ideas. According to a map he'd found in one of the storage closets, the vault's exit was on the top floor, and the only way to get to the top floor was an elevator that required an access card. Even if they got the card, the exit was on the other end of the staff floor; they'd have to fight their way through every staff member up top, and neither he nor James knew how many there were.

Alma was also a concern. If, somehow, he and James were able to get help from at least one of the younger staff members, there'd likely be a battle in the vault. He had no doubt that the staff were armed, given that all the children were trained to use firearms, and they were probably dangerous enemies even if they'd been on the upper floor for years. Alma could handle herself, but he hated the idea of deliberately throwing his twin into battle. He wanted her safe. It was his job to protect her, but if he had to fight, he knew it was a possibility he'd be unable to do that.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Rohit jumped and whirled to face James, who'd entered with a couple bottles of Nuka Cola. He held one out to Rohit, who took it and held it rather than opening it. "Alma," he muttered. "I want her safe, but if we have to fight our way out of here, neither of us can protect her. We'll be busy elsewhere."

James watched his friend for a moment before sighing and pulling up a chair. "Rohit, she has some of the best scores out of all the kids in the vault. She even outran me on the treadmill." He paused to glance at the girl, who slept soundly. "I want her safe too, but she's not a kid. We're all a couple months away from being eighteen, and she can take care of herself. We're all going to have a part to play in what's coming. Besides, the only people who get recruited to the staff have low physical scores. I don't know how much of a threat they'll actually be."

"That doesn't mean they're any less deadly with guns. There's no way they're not armed up there."

"You're right," he muttered, "but we're good shots, and we'll hopefully surprise them. They don't come down to the shooting range, and I don't think there's space for them to have one up there. I bet they're out of practice."

Rohit nodded, relaxing a little. "It's almost like they're grooming us to overthrow them."

James's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it," he began, "they only take people with low physical scores and high intellectual ones. We're all experimented on to make us stronger and smarter, and they tell us it's so we can go to Uptopland and help people. According to Overseer Hayes, the people up there struggle, and they're weak, so they need strong people to protect them." Rohit gestured toward the upper floor. "If we're so much stronger, I guess we stand a chance. Unless there are more up there than we can handle."

He nodded, slowly beginning to understand. "You're right, but that doesn't mean it'll be easy to get out of here. One well-placed shot could take any of us down, and we don't know whether those synths are going to be a threat or not."

"Who exactly is 'us,' anyways? Who's going to be fighting, and which age group are we considering too young?"

"I'd say if they're capable, they should fight," James stated. "This affects all of us; we can't ignore it, and we can't afford to be picky with help. That said," he paused and pursed his lips, considering their options, "I don't think many of the younger kids would be any good in a fight. Maybe thirteen? Nina's the only one younger than that. Twelve, and the last one left in her class."

"Nina also has really high physical scores though. I don't think we should leave her out." He sighed and leaned back in his chair, his eyes locked on the floor. "Me, you, Alma, Mehren, Nina, and Ellie Barnes all scored either superior or excellent in our last physical screening. Ellie scored below average on her intellectual screening, but she could still be useful. We should take everyone but Alma to the upper floor, and leave her with the younger kids. You know, the toddlers and stuff. She can protect them while we fight, and she'll be safer away from the main battle."

James sighed and closed his eyes. "That's actually not a bad plan, depending on the staff. We may have to ask Alma to fight on the upper floor though, if there are too many of them." He glanced to Rohit. "I know you want her down here - I do too, since it'll be safer - but we can't afford to leave her here if we need her."

Rohit nodded. "I know. Besides, if we all die, they'll probably kill her too."

"You're not wrong," he muttered. "I just hope we'll get through all this."

Rohit spared a glance to Alma. "Believe me, I do too. We need to-" he stopped as someone knocked on the door.

Rohit glanced to James. "Who do you think that is?"

"I have no idea," he muttered, "Everyone's usually asleep by now." He sighed, then padded toward the door, opening it when he arrived. When he saw who their visitor was, his blood ran cold.

"Washington?"