Chapter 11: Even A Little Change
I woke up the next morning and went into The Overseer's office. Joe and Victoria were standing around the room. Rachel sat in the desk, adjusting papers.
"They told me what happened. I'm sorry, Jace. I didn't know he slipped that far into madness." Rachel told me.
"Sure." I said anti-socially.
"Don't worry, I won't be like him, I promise." She shook her head.
"Yeah." I nodded, sitting down in a chair. Rachel winced as my dirty clothes touched it.
"It's time, make the call." Joe said to her. Rachel put her finger on the intercom and moved her face into it.
"Attention citizens of Vault 101. After realization of the past Overseer's—my father's- corruption, I have been appointed new Overseer of this vault. Things are to change, I promise you. After intelligence from the outside, it has been deemed safe to leave this vault, but leave with great caution. As a compromise for our food from the outside, our security and work forces will go and work at the outside town called 'Megaton'. Times are changing, and this time, good things will follow. I promise I'll keep this legacy safe, no matter what we face." Rachel took her finger off the intercom.
"Thank you, Jace. For everything that you've done." Rachel nodded.
"You're welcome..." I mumbled.
"You're going to stay here, right?" Rachel asked me.
I looked up and stared at her. Joe and Victoria were on my left, Rachel on my right. My eyes groggily looked at them for my answer.
"I think I have to go." I said in almost a whisper.
Rachel inhaled and swallowed.
"You guys are welcome here anytime. I'll see you later, Jace." Rachel told us as I Joe and Victoria walked up to me. Joe patted me understandably on my back and walked out of the office.
"She's a keeper." Rachel smiled at me. I smiled slightly and walked out.
The three of us left the vault and walked to Megaton in the heat of the morning.
"So you took care of him?" I asked Joe.
"Yep, he didn't like it too much, though." Joe answered.
"Good." I said, happy in the Overseer's downfall.
We continued into town and told the guard covering the gate that the security forces will be arriving shortly. We all went into the mayor's office to decide what to do next. The room was empty. Joe immediately ran to the safe. "I totally forgot!"
He stuck his tongue out as he listened to the safe with this right ear, pressing his face against it. He spun the knob and continued listening to it closely. Victoria and I looked at each other and then back to Joe. A quick "aha!" soon followed as he backed away. He moved back away from the safe, took out his gun and shot the lock. It fell off and the door opened slowly.
"God, I'm so good." He said as he pulled it open.
"Yeah Joe, you're a true master of the art. A real asset to us." Victoria rolled her eyes as we walked towards the safe.
The safe was stocked with money. Packs of money poured out as we stifled threw it. Joe started laughing maniacally as he took it out.
"Stop being an idiot, Joe. We need the money for the town." Victoria explained.
"I'm just taking what the mayor/sheriff/thing owed us. Here's mine, Jace that's for you, and by the way you're acting Vee, I don't think you deserve your cut." Joe said. She elbowed him and took the money.
"That's the greatest thing I missed about you, Vee." Joe said sarcastically, coughing as he felt his ribs.
We took our money and put it into our packs. We then stood up and went to the desk, taking seats on it and on the two chairs around the room.
"So, now we took care of that, we need to take care of what we came here for." I reminded them.
"And what's that? This is what I came here for." Joe said as he flaunted the money around and made it rain.
"We need a new mayor and law system." I told them.
"And why's that? A mayor-slash-sheriff-when-the-need-arises worked so well, didn't it?" Joe said sarcastically.
"Stop being a wise ass, Joe. We need to do things differently or at least improve things if this town's going to stay on its feet."
"So what are we going to do?" Victoria asked.
"The way I see it, we have a mayor, sheriff, and deputy in this room. We just need to assign them to the right places." Joe said as he put his feet up on Larry's old desk.
"I don't think the townspeople would like us deciding it." Victoria put forth.
"They already like Jace, and plus, we've played a big part in helping the town as he did." Joe smiled.
"For once, Joe's right. The people like us and they've already seen us fight, so why not?" I said.
"Alright, then." Victoria shrugged.
"I want to be mayor!" Joe raised his hand.
"Yeah, let the immature man-child run a town." Victoria rolled her eyes.
"Wow… and they called me 'Low-Blow Joe'." Joe said, holding his chest like he was just shot there.
"…"
"It's because I used to kick people in the balls." He said after a pause in the room.
"Yeah, I remember." Victoria nodded.
After hours of discussion, and constant interruptions of Joe's "mayor" voice, we all made a decision. That night, we announced it the townspeople. They all agreed and clapped at the progress our town made. We then all went to the armory to equip ourselves. Joe grabbed a sheriff's badge and I grabbed a deputy's badge. We both replaced our weapons, throwing them to the side. Joe took an assault rifle and I took a .44 magnum revolver and bullets. I reloaded the cylinder and put it in my holster. I put the bullets into my pack.
"Well, someone's been reading!" Joe said, impressed by me.
"Yep, how's your weapon?" I asked.
"Fits me like a glove! That reminds me..." Joe walked up to a closet and opened it up. Cowboy hats and dusters filled it. Joe put a brown cowboy hat on over his red bandana.
"Fits me like a glove, too." He mumbled with a smile.
I took a black cowboy hat and put it on.
"C'mon, you gotta admit, I look sexy." Joe said, outstretching his arms.
"Shut up, Joe." I laughed.
"I'm not a hat guy." I muttered as I placed my hat back.
"So, what are you going to do as mayor, Vee?" Joe asked Victoria.
"I don't know, but this town's going to go through some rough-ass puberty, I know that." Victoria answered.
"He-heh, gross." Joe smiled.
We walked out of the armory and to the bar. The people inside clapped as we walked in, raising their drinks to us. We all walked to our rooms with smiles on our faces, and drinks in one of our hands. I put my things onto my dresser and started reading Joe's book. Victoria then walked in, and I put my book down.
"Hello, Mayor. What brings you here?" I asked. She smiled and sat down.
"I've come to see my people so they can bask in my glory!" She laughed.
"Wow, already a fascist, huh? So, are you ready for this kind of stuff? Seems like a big change from patrolling the city." I asked.
"I can handle it, besides, not like I'm going to do worse than a mayor and sheriff combination." She said.
"And what about you? Can you handle being a deputy?" She asked.
"I don't know, time will tell, I guess." I said. We sat there for a moment.
"You know, you are the only person that I told about what happened to me, you, and Joe of course. Most of the people here haven't been around the town that long. Except that girl Maya." She said.
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten. Joe and I will work to find where he's hiding."
"Thanks, Jace. I know you don't really think that you're doing a lot but… you are. Seriously." She smiled.
"We're not done yet, I won't let a battle like that happen ever again. What happened to you, it's just... I don't want it to happen again." I said, looking down.
"Thanks for caring about me, Jace." Victoria smiled as she sat down next to me.
She leaned in close to me and we stared at each other for a moment, and slowly kissed. We sat there for a moment, kissing, and the door opened, it was Joe.
"Oh, Jee-... I-I'm sorry, I-I'll just.. just... um, oh God, I'm not drunk enough for this shit." He awkwardly closed the door and fast walked to his room. We looked down at the floor and smiled.
"Well, goodnight, Jace." Victoria said. She got up and went to her room. I continued to read Joe's book until I got tired and went to sleep.
That night, Rachel adjusted herself to her new office in Vault 101. She logged into the computer and read through files to see where her father's work left off. Lazily, she fell asleep on the computer, scooting it back and knocking it off the desk. Below it was a weird device; a finger scanner. Curious about the hidden tech, she touched it. A screen popped up in place of her computer with the words " ." at the top. She looked at it as code scrolled through, ending with the words, "Welcome, Amata Almodavar!" She stared quizzically at it.