AN: Welcome to Chapter 10 of Fallout: Unforgotten! As many of you have probably guessed from the last chapter. Yes, Veronica is in this chapter.
The sun beamed down unforgiving rays of heat and light on the Courier's hat. He scratched an itch on his nose as he studied the trail of footprints in the desert sand. It had been three days since Amata had left Novac. When he had returned Manny was kind enough to point the direction she was heading in with his middle finger, either that or he could go fuck himself sideways, maybe both the Courier thought in hindsight. After 'thanking' him by braking his finger he began following her trail which had led him back toward the ruined gas station he had met the rangers in. He continued to follow the trail a little further down the road and came across a scene where it was obvious an attack had taken place. Lighting another cigarette Manny was 'kind' enough to give him, he began to put the pieces together.
'Looks like Cazadores surprised her, probably drawn from the smell of the corpse in the gas station. She was able to kill 2 of them seeing as two carcasses have bullets in them. A third must have managed to get her, the tracks become sluggish meaning she tried to get away. I doubt she got far, Cazadore venom acts as soon as it's in the bloodstream. She collapsed a bit off the path but there is another set of prints, heavier given the depth of the footprints meaning either a heavy set person found her or someone wearing power armor. Given the size of the footprint and the matter of which the third bug's carcass is decimated, I'd go with the latter.' The Courier looked up from the scene, his eyes following the heavyset footprints off into the wasteland.
"Where the hell are you." He muttered to himself.
Amata's eyes gingerly opened and she was greeted with the sight of a rust covered ceiling with yellow lights looming above her. The air was thick and smelt stale and she couldn't shake the feeling of confinement.
"So you're finally awake." A voice spoke from nearby. Amata turned her head to see who it was, it was the hooded woman leaning against the far wall studying her from afar.
"How long was I out?" Amata asked as her mind still felt hazy.
"Three days." The woman answered.
"Three days!" Amata repeated as she sat up. Her mind wasn't ready for the sudden change in altitude and she suddenly found herself on the floor.
"Take it easy, overcoming Cazadore venom is no easy feat." The woman cautioned as she moved to help her up.
"I take it I have you to thank for saving me?" Amata asked as she sat back on the bed. After taking a quick look around the room looked like the ones back in vault 101 only… dirtier and poorly kept.
"And you would be right in guessing so. Lucky for you I had some anti-venom on hand. Speaking of which who goes wandering out here without any?" the woman asked.
"That would be me. Way to go Amata you just wasted three whole days." She scolded herself.
"Hey, no need to be so hard on yourself. Making it this far is no easy feat either at least not in this day and age." The woman comforted. "Amata, right? Names Veronica." She introduced herself offering a metal clad hand to shake. Amata reached out and shook it, looking at it she wondered if it belonged to the Brotherhood of Steel and decided to ask.
"Are you with the Brotherhood of Steel?" suddenly Amata noticed that Veronica hadn't let go of her hand, in fact she was beginning to tighten her grip.
"How do you know about the Brotherhood?" Veronica asked giving Amata a cold icy stare.
"I'm friends with them." Amata quickly told her. Her fingers were starting to feel uncomfortable in Veronica's grip.
"The Brotherhood of Steel hasn't been seen in these parts for 4 years. Now I'll ask again and if you lie to me again I going to start removing fingers!" Veronica demanded now squeezing Amata's hand.
"I know them from D.C. where I come from." Amata quickly answered trying to pull her hand away.
"D.C.? you mean to the east?" Veronica asked bewildered. Amata managed to pull her hand free as Veronica loosened her grip.
"Yes, back east. What do you mean the Brotherhood hasn't been seen for 4 years?" Amata asked nursing her hand, but the question was wasted on Veronica as she lost in her thoughts.
"So I'm not the only one." She said to herself.
"What are you talking about?" Amata asked but before she could get an answer from her. Veronica's eyes snapped to the door to the room.
"Did you hear that?" she asked a bit frenzied.
"Hear what?" Amata asked but she never got an answer as Veronica dashed out the door.
'What is going on?' Amata wondered as she moved to follow.
The Courier walked across a dried lakebed following the trail north by north west. A quick look at his Pip-boy revealed three locations as to where Amata could've been taken. The El Dorado substation was guarded by NCR which eliminated one option, and Trade post 188 wouldn't be an ideal place to take an injured woman, which only left one option left. Vault 11. Now standing in front of the rickety wooden door that led into the cavern housing the vault, he finished off his cigarette and grounded it beneath his boot before entering. He had been in Vault 11 before, discovering the twisted social project its inhabitants were subjected to. As memories rose from the back of his mind like a Spector from its grave a bad taste began to make itself known in his mouth causing him to grimace slightly. He walked past the 3 ton vault door that was rolled to it's side and up the steps. Before opening the door he could hear the sound of hurried footsteps. Metal on metal, most likely the power armor wearer, not trying even the slightest to mask their intentions. He lifted the hatch and pushed the door open, the footsteps were echoing throughout the vault but he could tell that whoever footsteps they belonged to were quickly making their way towards him. He stepped into a long corridor that stretched further into the vault, the walls all covered in political posters demanding its reader to vote for someone else for Overseer. The Courier noticed the sound of footsteps had stopped meaning that whoever had come to greet him had finally found him. He turned his head from the poster and looked at the dark haired woman standing at the other end of the corridor. She was breathing heavily and there was fire in her dark brown eyes as she stared the Courier down.
"Hello Veronica." He greeted with a devilish smile.
There was a noticeable twitch under her left eye as she suddenly burst into a full charge.
'Well that didn't take much.' The Courier thought as he watched Veronica charge down the corridor like a stampeding Brahmin.
Amata had just made it to the entrance of the corridor in time to see Veronica running toward the Courier.
'This isn't going to end well.' She thought.
Veronica raised her power fist readying to strike as she closed in on the Courier. There was no hiding her intentions, no masking her feelings. She intended to kill the Courier. She lunged at him fist first… and missed him completely as he sidestepped her.
"Yeah I'm happy to see you to Veronica." He goaded, he sidestepped another punch this time causing her to dent the wall behind him.
"So, how you been?" he asked as she tugged at her arm in an attempt to pull her fist free.
"I'm going to kill you!" she grunted as she pulled her power fist free of the hole in the wall.
"215th your 20th time saying that." He retorted as he ducked under another swing.
"Shut up!" Veronica yelled as she tried to slam her fist down, only to put another dent this time in the floor.
"299th, Wow you are on a roll today!" the Courier teased.
"What the hell did you do to her?" Amata asked frustrated.
"Honestly? Nothing really." He answered, he had slightly turned his head toward Amata to answer and Veronica saw her chance.
"It wasn't NOTHING!" She yelled as she lunged at him again but the Courier never took his eyes off her as he tilted his head slightly allowing the power fist to past him. He quickly trapped Veronica's arm in a grapple and threw her over his shoulder into a nearby wall. Before she could get her bearings the Courier had his Ranger Sequoia trained on her forehead.
"Alright Veronica, play time is over." He warned.
"Go ahead… do it." She tempted.
"Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on!" Amata yelled.
"Tell her or I will." Veronica demanded.
"It has nothing to do with her Veronica. Leave it in the past." The Courier warned as he pulled the hammer back with his thumb.
"How can I when you destroyed the only place I called home, killed-" Veronica was interrupted when a 40 gov't bullet impacted the floor next to her head.
"You still can't bring yourself to do it." She taunted.
Amata didn't know the whole story but she could piece it together from what she heard.
"You didn't…" Amata trailed of horrified at what Veronica implied.
"Amata, before you go making rash judgements." The Courier cautioned as he moved toward her.
"No! Just stay away! I try to look for the good in people, a-and I just figured that your good side was just buried underneath this jackass ploy but there isn't one is there." Amata spat. Disgusted she took off running deeper into the vault.
"See? Even she can see you for the monster you really are." Veronica laughed as she got up. The Courier paid her no mind as he went after Amata.
Amata felt sick to her stomach and soon had to stop running. Bracing herself against a nearby wall she wondered where the exit was but her train of thought was interrupted when she heard her name being called.
"Amata, come on I don't have time to for this."
Amata reached for her gun only to remember that she had left the room without her belongings.
'This cannot get any worst.' Amata fumed.
"Listen I know what you're thinking and you got it wrong. Sure in hindsight blowing up their bunker might have been a bit much but I was mad and believe me I don't even like myself when I get to that point."
Amata spotted the Overseer's office and headed inside closing the door behind her.
"You'd be mad too if you had a squad of power armor, energy weapon wielding paladins come after you. They killed doctors, their assistants, even their patients. They tried to kill Veronica… They tried to kill me. They hurt her in more ways than I care to count and I'm not going to deny it. I wanted revenge."
Amata could hear him getting closer, she looked on the overseer's console and pressed the giant red button revealing a tunnel. She ran down it as the door's to the Overseer's office opened.
"Amata don't go down there!" the Courier yelled as he began to chase after her. She soon came to a door at the far end of the corridor and opened it, inside was a giant screen with a chair sitting in front of it.
"Don't close the door!" The Courier warned as he dashed down the corridor but Amata paid him no mind as she tried to close the heavy door on him. The Courier shoulder charged the door knocking Amata back. When she looked up she could see the Courier wasn't happy.
"Damn it! Why the hell did you run? And here of all places?" he yelled.
Before Amata could answered they both heard the latch lock shut.
"Welcome, to begin presentation please sit in the chair." An automated voice began.
"What's going on?" Amata asked, she soon noticed the Courier's solemn face.
"We're in the sacrificial chamber." He answered looking around.
"You can't be serious." Amata retorted.
"You have no choice but to sit in the chair." The automated voice reaffirmed.
"Sit in the chair Amata." The Courier ordered.
"I don't want to!" Amata snapped back, she couldn't believe this was how it was going to end. Death by pre-war death room.
"JUST SIT IN THE FUCKING CHAIR!" The Courier yelled as he pulled his revolver and pointed at her.
Amata looked at him, she was no longer shocked at the Courier's actions. If she was to die in this hellhole then she can at least die knowing the Courier wouldn't make it out of this alive either.
"Fine." She answered coldly as she took the lone seat in front of the big screen. The screen lit up starting the presentation with the picture of vault boy watching the sunset in a beach chair.
"Greeting, martyr, and welcome! If you're here now, it means you've been offered up as a sacrifice so that your vault can continue to thrive. Currently, you may be feeling sad or angry. Perhaps you never got to have grandkids, or to enjoy the pleasures of a fresh cigar. But march with your chin held high, soldier, and remember that each of us has an important role to play."
Amata did her best to try and relax, the fact that the Courier had move to stand above her wasn't making it easy. Another pic replaced the first, this time showing a father showing his son how to ride a bike. It reminded Amata of her father though he was too busy being Overseer to teach her how to ride a bike she like to think he would have if the vault had a bike.
"For some people, their role might be to heal the sick. For others, it might mean they will drive a race car, or fly a rocket ship. And some of us are meant to forfeit our lives for the good of the people. Sure, it might not be as fun as driving a race car, but it's every bit as important."
Another slide, slid into view this time depicting Vault boy enjoying a massage.
"Let's take a moment to reflect on the moments that made your life worth living. Think about that time you kissed your steady girl for the first time under the bleachers at the big game. Or when you snuck out after curfew to catch that new flick that your parents wouldn't let you see because it was too scary. Boy, were they right! And who could forget when you met the love of your life. What a looker! These are just examples."
Amata remembered when she and the Lone Wanderer were kids, how they would sneak down to the reactor level to fire the BB gun his father got for him on his tenth birthday. Now that she thought about it she never did have a first kiss. It made her think of all the first she will miss out on but it also made her think about all the things she accomplished up till now. She couldn't fight back the tears no longer as another slide slid into view this time depicting a family in front of their picket fence house.
"Do you feel that feeling stirring in your chest as you think of these things? Good. What you are feeling is peace. You've led a great life - living it has been its own reward. But, it is only the beginning."
A final slide slid into view depicting Vault Boy meditating underneath a tree.
"Close your eyes now and imagine what joys await you in the next life - the afterlife. Can you see them? Good."
Amata could hear the screens concealing the death dealing tools lowering and closed her eyes and pictured what would await her on the other side.
The Courier had other plans though.
He pulled a silver 9mm from his back pocket, the phrase 'Hot Death' crudely scratched over the pictured lady on the grip. Wielding both the Ranger Sequoia and 'Maria' the Courier entered V.A.T.S and time slowed to a crawl. He could see everything clearly, the ceiling turrets, the floor turrets, the sentry bot, the Robobrain, and the Mister Gutsy all powering up but none will make it to their targeting stage as he selected his targets and opened fired. The Courier kicked the chair over causing it to fall on top of Amata preventing the turrets from getting a clear shot. Amata fell on her face as the chair fell on top of her. Shots rang out in rapid succession and soon the sound of equipment exploding could be heard followed by more gunshots. The room dropped a second barrier revealing more death bots in a vain attempt to kill the Courier. He quickly reloaded and resumed destroying the turrets and bots in a quick and efficient manner. In the end not a single bullet was wasted and the Courier stood victorious and without a scratch. There was a banging on the door, it was Veronica.
"Amata? Are you okay?" she yelled through the door. She soon managed to brake the lock on the door and opened it revealing only the Courier standing there.
"What did you do to her?" Veronica demanded.
The Courier said nothing as he took his foot and kicked it off revealing Amata underneath.
A look of confusion was plastered on Amata's face as she tried to piece together what had happened but it was obvious that the Courier had saved her but before she could thank him. He shoved his way pass Veronica and was on his way out of the Vault.
AN: Now I'm sure many will say Amata should've had a more active role in this chapter but seeing as she is still weaken by the Cazadore venom she had to take second chair on this one, but she will be back to normal by the next chapter. Also 'Freeside' that is all.