Chapter 18: Project Legacy

I walked down the stairs with Vee and dug my hands into my pockets. "Hey, I've got something for you."

"What is it?" She asked me.

I pulled out my old deputy badge and gave it to her. "Thanks" she said without a smile as she took my gift.

"I'm trying." I told her genuinely.

"I know." She nodded as she slapped my shoulder. "So what's the first order of business?"

"We've got to check on 101 to see if they're still keeping up with trade missions." I informed her.

"We're not tracking Chain?"

"Not yet. 101's on the way."

We packed on our Kevlar vests from the armory and left Megaton as fast as we could. Vee forgot the way to Vault 101, but I still had the path ingrained in my brain. I led her over to it, and we walked to the door.

"You remember the password?" Vee asked me.

"Of course I remember the password." I bluffed as I stared at the controls.

"Holy shit, you had us walk all the way over here and you don't even know the password?!" She argued.

"Well if you just let me think for a minute I can figure it out!"

"Do you even have a friggen use, Jace?!"

"Yeah, to keep you from making another poor guy suffer!"

The controls made a sound, and the intercom turned on. "Uh… we can hear you guys." The man at the other end of the radio told us. I sighed as Vee crossed her arms.

"Uh… hi."

"Yeah, we'll just open up for you, Jace."

The vault door screeched open as Vee and I walked inside. We walked past the security forces and went to Rachel's office. Rachel was sitting at her desk; she worked endlessly as it was. Like her father, she too fell victim to the vault's many needs and it changed her appearance. I realized what had happened long ago, but there wasn't much I could do.

"Hey, Rachel."

"Hey, Jace. Victoria."

"Hi." Vee nodded at her.

"Things look different around here. What's been going on?" I asked her politely.

"My father kept a small cache of tech secret from us and we just opened it last month: Had a bunch of wrist-mounted computers. 'Pip-Boys' we call them." She said as she typed away at the computer.

"Seems like he kept everything from us." She added.

"I just wanted to check in. See if you needed anything from town."

"Nothing. We don't need anything." She said very cut-and-dry.

"Are you… okay?" Victoria asked her.

Rachel sighed. "My son's been hounding me lately. He wants to replace his Pip-Boy and I just don't have the time for it. But thanks for being concerned." She smiled afterwards.

"Okay." I nodded.

"And Jace…"

"We fixed James' grave for you. The sign was bent so it might seem like someone played with it, but everything's fine." Rachel smiled as she typed away at the computer.

"Uh… Rachel?" I asked her.

"Yeah?"

"No one's ever called my father 'James' before, it was always Jim… are you sure you're okay? We can help you out, you know."

"Wow… I'm sorry, Jace. I dunno where my head's been at lately."

"Mother problems." Vee smiled at her.

"Yeah." Rachel smiled in their mutual situations.

"Alright, well thanks for looking out for my dad. Let us know if you need some help. You could use a break, Rachel." I offered.

"Thanks for the concern guys. I'll see you next month." Rachel sent us off, and with that, we were gone.

As the doors shut closed, she let out a huge sigh and moved her computer to the side and swiped her finger on the hidden scanner. It pulled up the holographic signs and Rachel's hands moved through the "Welcome, Amata Almodavar!" sign. She swiped through it like it was her job, and then brought up another screen on the terminals. She looked through the "Project Legacy" dossiers, stopping at Generation 42. She read the text.

"Childhood bully attributes: Female (Neg), Male(Pos), Gang affiliation(Neg), Personal attacks(Pos), Alcoholic(Pos), Secret Love(Pos), Family Issues(Pos), Possible Names: Damien, Luke, Hank, Phil, Butch—CORRUPTED-, Chip(Pos), Darren, Harry…"

She scrolled passed the information and stopped at another piece of information.

"Parental Attributes: Living Mother(Neg), Living Father(Pos), Alcoholics(Neg), Abusive(Pos), Controlling(Pos), Overseer(Pos)…"

She scrolled down again and read every word she could.

"Childhood Friend Attributes: Female(Neg), Male(Pos) -CORRUPTED—Possible Names: Dylan, Rachel—CORRUPTED- Sarah, Jace, Amata—CORRUPTED—(Neg)"

She didn't know what she was reading. She tried her hardest to make sense of this, but it just couldn't force its way into her brain. It was only to be contemplated in someone else's. Someone else's brain could understand.

"Current Legacy Bloodline: CORRUPTED—RACHE—CORRUPTED- Jace Marston. Manual Restart Required yes/no"

She typed "yes", and the office whirred. Rachel backed away from her desk as it moved up to the ceiling and led her down into a secret room. She looked around as the walls around her whirred and turned. Rachel spotted pods of people suspended in them. She looked around, as was regular for her by now as acting Overseer. Familiar faces of people surrounded her. She looked and spotted Chip in the pod. She looked down and saw electronic labeling. "Childhood bully".

She passed another familiar face, her father "Overseer". Rachel saw my father in a pod and looked at him. "Parent 1". And a woman next to her, "Parent 2". She then stopped at herself. An exact clone of her stood in a pod, waiting to be opened to the world. She looked down at it "Childhood fr—CORRUPTED—CURRENT LEGACY BLOODLINE—CORRUPTED, MANUAL RESTART REQUIRED."

She went to a terminal in the corner and typed away at it at until she reached the manual restart code. She typed it in and hit "Enter". The pods whirred and the people inside them dissipated painfully as the electronic signs changed all around. Rachel breathed in and looked back at the pods that were almost empty now.

"Childhood Friend. Info: Name- Amata Almodavar. Female. Race: Hispanic."

She walked over to another pod and noticed a small fetus floating in it. "Childhood Bully. Info: Name- Butch DeLoria, Race: Caucasian"

She then walked over to the center of the room, where a lone pod stood with a growing fetus inside of it. "Current Legacy Bloodline" was the title. She felt her head and her nose as it began to bleed. She instantly became confused, leaned against the computer for a moment as her brain made sense of everything. The names of people clouded her as she read off the introductory screen for the terminal.

"Welcome to Project Legacy, Vault Technician! In Vault 101, YOU have been chosen to custom build a legacy of people with deep and specific backgrounds to help propel them into any situation! Modern studies have shown that emotional stimulation can lead to extreme performance in life! Create the world's greatest fighter trying to avenge his loved ones and show his peers that the can accomplish something! Mend the world with the passive man or woman with a varied history with people and past bully experiences! You decide the outcomes of this person's future with our state-of-the-art cloning technologies! Warning! Do not procreate with clones, problems may occur. Create your lone hero today! Happy testing!"

Rachel looked at it and breathed in through her nose. She walked out of the pressured chamber and went back to her desk as if nothing had happened. She went back and started filling information out for the Current Legacy Bloodline.

I stopped outside the vault with Vee and became light-headed. I fell to my hands and knees as Vee stood and looked at the view of the D.C. ruins. She turned around to see me on the ground.

"Jace!" She yelled as she ran to me. I mumbled to myself as blood ran from my nose. I blinked as much as I could but everything I could see was black. Her voice became more and more faint until it was gone completely.