As usual the playlist for this chapter can be found on my profile page, so, anywho, enjoy the semi-awesome writing and free music =D
January, 2278
"CARETAKER!" roared Jason storming around the bunker for the damn RoboBrain.
"How may I be of service to you Captain?" asked the RoboBrain rolling towards him.
"What's the date!" demanded Jason
"According to my system clock the date is January 12th 2278,"
Jason backed up so fast he hit the wall, then suddenly not having any energy left in him slid down it and came to a stop on the cold concrete floor.
"200 years," he whispered "200 fucking years."
Where the hell was the government? DC should have been rebuilt a dozen times over by now. It made no sense.
"Caretaker, when was the last time you had contact with a representative of the government?"
"April 3rd 2089; General Constantine Chase; United States Army."
Jason's eyes narrowed; he knew in his gut Chase had survived the nuclear apocalypse; the man had that much in common and more with a cockroach.
"What was his purpose here?"
"He requested access to the facility's mainframe; beyond that I have no further data."
Jason got to his feet, "Take me to the mainframe."
The mainframe as it turned out was, like the rest of facility, powered by a nuclear reactor located in the lower levels; a reactor which according to the Caretaker had been offline for over 50 years. So Jason spent the next eight hours taking apart the reactor's control console and cannibalizing stored Sentry Bots and a Goliath Tank he had found stored along with several other military vehicles. Around hour five the emergency generator that had been powering the lights gave out and Jason spent the next hour smashing a sentry bot to pieces with a wrench while screaming obscenities. Eventually he stumbled into a crate containing T-45 Power Armor and used the headlights from a couple of the helmets to complete his work.
"Captain, are you positive you're qualified to repair a nuclear reactor? I feel I should inform you that if you were to inadvertently breach containment of the plutonium core this entire facility will be atomized."
Jason was really staring to lose patience.
"No, I'm not positive I'm qualified to repair a nuclear reactor, in fact there's a 50/50 chance I'm going to connect the wrong lead and blow away what's left of DC; so unless you have something constructive to say or a degree in mechanical engineering or physics kindly shut the fuck up and let me work." growled Jason as the god damn RoboBrain questioned him for what seemed to be the millionth fucking time.
"Finally!" shouted Jason
The room started shaking as the reactor came back to life. The lights soon followed, and not long after that Jason could hear machines coming to life all across the facility.
Jason walked over and sat down at the mainframe terminal and brought up the records of the last known user. Chase had accessed the facility's database but his search history had been corrupted by a power surge, most likely the reactor going on the fritz before it failed. Jason kept looking and came upon something that caught his eye.
Video File; April 3rd 2089 9:22 PM Atlantic Standard Time
Jason clicked on the icon and General Constantine Chase appeared on the terminal screen; he was older and thinner than Jason remembered and looked like he hadn't slept in days.
"This is General Constantine Chase. Commander of the remnants of the United States Military. I'm leaving this record in the hopes that should I fail someday some poor and hopefully not too mutated bastard will stumble across this place and see it."
Chase gave a long sigh and ran his hands through his hair, "I need people to understand that this wasn't how any of this was supposed to happen; We had a plan in place for when the bombs dropped; we were going to rebuild this country; make it better and stronger than before; free from the threat of war. But nothing happened the way it was supposed to."
"We didn't count on so much of the population surviving the fallout; if you can call it survival. They had become monsters in appearance; ugly bastards. But many had still managed to keep a hold on their humanity; they were still American. The Enclave disagreed; they changed the plan on us; they decided that as long as these monsters roamed the country we would have to put rebuilding on hold while the Army hunted them all down."
Chase's eyes lost focus for a moment and for a while it looked like he was someplace else.
"I hunted them for two years," he continued, "But I couldn't do it anymore; so I took my Army and tried to knock those assholes off their throne."
Chase chuckled darkly, "The Second American Civil War lasted for eighteen months; and for a while it looked like we were going to win...but then the Enclave showed us exactly what caliber of son of a bitch they really were. They dug up the last of country's nuclear arsenal and…well you can imagine the rest."
"The Enclave won and the United States, the real United States, was officially dead. So I took what was left of the armed forces and a nuclear submarine that had survived the war and went in search of civilization someplace else in the world. It doesn't exist. I've been to Europe, the Middle East, Australia, India, Japan, even China; they're all about as well off as we are except for China, who's considerably fucking worse."
"The only places to escape the bombs are the places nobody ever cared about to begin with; Parts of Africa and South America, some islands in the South Pacific, but once the rest of the world was gone those places fell into chaos too; rape, murder, and starvation are the order of the day."
"So we came back, if there's no place left in the world worth running to then why are we running? I tried to get a hold of Braun; his genius would have been an incredible asset but that bastard has come completely unhinged from reality and isn't opening up his Vault anytime soon. And I came here to wake up Captain Wolfe and beg for his help on hands and knees if I needed to, but now that I'm here I know I'm too much of a chicken shit to face him. Besides, he didn't create this fucking mess, I did, and after all he's done he has at least earned the right to sleep through it."
The video file ended.
Jason sat in silence for a couple of minutes processing what he had just heard. Things were a lot more complicated than he had realized; from what he could gather the people who had made up the worst of United States government in his time had survived the bombs; and also just like back in the day they were doing exactly jack shit to help the people. And Chase, that god damn coward threw in his lot with them and when then he got a case of guilty conscience he launched a rebellion, fucked it up, spent the next few years cruising the world, and then came back to wake him up only to realize he forgot to pack his balls. Somehow all that only made Jason want to kill him more; unfortunately unless time travel had been invented in the past 200 years he doubted he would have the opportunity.
Jason needed more information; he decided to start with something Chase had said. Jason pulled up the facility's database and typed in Braun.
Dr. Stanislaus Braun; Director of Vault-Tec's Societal Preservation Program; Overseer of Vault 112.
Jason brought up the information on Vault 112 and after going over the records for an hour a dark murderous smile spread across Jason's face.
Well, at least one bastard on my list of people who need killing may still be alive.
Jason grabbed the tool box he had used to repair the reactor's control console and made his way to his Cryo Pod. Jason ripped off one of the panels then took out a wrench and wire cutters and went to town removing pieces of machinery and tubing; when he was finally done he reached into the pod and pulled out a clear cylinder containing a green bubbling fluid. Jason carefully wrapped the cylinder in sheets of cloth and placed it in a soldier's pack he had dug out of a crate.
Jason then went about searching the rest of the crates and pulled out a full suit of Army Combat Armor, a military Pip-Boy, a .44 Magnum Revolver, an R91 Assault Rifle, a Scoped Gauss Rifle, a box of plasma grenades, and two combat knives. He thought about grabbing a suit of Power Armor but decided it wouldn't really make any difference given his new found strength and speed.
Once Jason had donned the armor he paused to look at the assortment of vehicles in the storage bunker.
"Caretaker? How did they get all this down here? I'm guessing not through the shaft."
"They brought it in through an entrance hidden in an underground garage; the entrance has been sealed shut however with 10 meter thick blast doors in order to prevent contamination from radiation, sensors also indicate roughly 100 tons of outside pressure being placed on the blast doors."
"You could have just said it was buried, you know." said Jason before he could stop himself.
Despite having a human brain installed as a central processor RoboBrain's operated on machine logic; which meant they gave lengthy scientific answers to all questions and when asked to keep things simple gave a lengthy scientific answer on why lengthy scientific answers were better.
"That-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I gotcha!" snapped Jason cutting it off.
"So basically there's no way of driving any of these vehicles out of here, correct?"
"On the contrary this facility was designed to withstand nuclear warfare and the builders took into account-"
"Yes, very interesting; where's the exit?"
"Very well," replied the Caretaker.
The Caretaker sent out a signal and the wall at the far side of the room slid upward revealing a massive steel room; it took Jason a moment to realize it wasn't actually a room at all, but a steel platform that could easily hold several vehicles.
"When you are ready this platform will take you up to the surface; breaking through whatever lies between it and its destination."
"Just let me pick out a set of wheels," replied Jason
Jason walked through the assortment of vehicles; searching for something that could drive on debris. There was everything from APC's and tanks to Jeeps and motorcycles. He immediately tossed out the ones that had a fuel ignition system; then moved on to the ones that operated on nuclear power, but most of them were too damn large to be of any use for what he had in mind. Finally Jason's eyes came to rest upon something that was shiny, dangerous, and just plain beautiful to behold. Despite everything that was going through Jason's mind right now he couldn't help but smile.
"Hover bike," he said simply, and in the kind of voice one typically reserves for seducing a cheerleader.
Hover bikes were still experimental technology at the time Jason was frozen and typically cost more than the Army paid him in ten years; it didn't really make sense that one would be stored in a military bunker but he wasn't about to question his luck.
Jason ran his hands along cool metal; the hover bike was sleek, and about twice the size of a Harley Davidson. And as an added bonus it was made of Titanium A, the same metal used to coat the president's limo.
Jason popped open the engine compartment and checked out the insides; everything appeared to be in working order and the fission battery still had an 85 percent charge so he slid the compartment shut and started it up. The engine purred to life and the bike rose gently into the air.
"Thing of beauty," Jason said simply.
Jason hopped off the bike and stored his pack and all his weapons, except for the gauss rifle which he slung over his back, into the bikes storage compartments. Then as an after thought he grabbed a tool kit and tossed it in with the rest of his stuff.
Jason drove the bike onto the platform and called out to the Caretaker.
"When I leave I want you to activate the sentry bots and keep anyone who isn't me the fuck out of this place,"
Jason knew next to nothing about this fractured world he had found himself in, but he had a hunch it would be a bad idea for people to start coming in here, grabbing guns, and toying around with the nuclear reactor.
"Yes Captain as you wish; shall I activate the platform now?"
"Do it," ordered Jason.
Dust fell from the roof and onto his head as the room started shaking violently; though being on a hover bike while it was happening Jason had the novel experience of feeling nothing as the machinery began groaning and the platform rose to the surface. There was a loud screeching sound as the roof of the platform ripped through the centuries of debris that had fallen on top of it. And finally an explosion of light as the platform broke through.
Jason drove the bike off the platform and as soon as the pressure had been removed from it the platform began sinking back into the ground; coming to a stop after about 25 feet so that the roof of the platform formed a barrier between to outside world and the bunker.
Jason took a look around his surroundings, to say that DC had been bitch slapped by a hail storm of nukes would probably be understating the situation; there were virtually no tall buildings left standing and the road ways were broken, falling apart, and covered with debris.
Jason tapped a few keys on his M1 Pip-Boy and brought up a live satellite feed of the area; the eyes in the sky still seemed to be working at least, but then again they like a few other integral systems were designed to withstand nuclear war and aid in the rebuilding of the country. But it would appear even having taking precautions to survive the bombs humanity clearly still found a way to fuck everything up.
Jason scrolled through the satellite imaging of the area looking for something that could be a town or settlement, he switched to an infra-red view point but instead of highlighting a human settlement the whole map lit up like a Christmas tree.
Must be the radiation Jason decided.
Jason switched back to the standard view point and found a structure that could be a walled settlement. Jason enhanced the view and was able to see buildings and people walking between them.
"As good a place as any," muttered Jason
Jason marked the location and gunned the bike. As the buildings and objects zoomed by him at 40 miles an hour Jason discovered that he could see every single detail as if the world was moving in slow motion and he was on fast forward. This new found ability failed to bring a smile to Jason's face, which seemed to be fixed in a near permanent state of cold homicidal rage. Jason remembered what that dipshit doctor had said about him being crazy.
Well he thought grimly, if I wasn't back then, I sure as hell am now.
Sane people didn't occupy their free time contemplating new and inventive ways of killing others.
Jason drove for hours, through the wreckage of his civilization, and the more he saw the greater the pain he felt, and the more fuel that was thrown on the storm of hate and anger that was raging inside him. Less than a day ago, at least from his perspective, this had been one of the greatest cities on the planet; the seat of power and authority for the entire western world. Now? It was nothing but a fractured bombed out ruin; a spectre of the past and a loud reminder of what Jason had lost. Everyone he had known was dead, and he couldn't help but wonder how they went. Did they die in the initial blast? Did the fallout get them? Or were they killed by one of those mutated monsters Chase had spoke of? Hell maybe they became those mutated monsters. Jason would never forgive himself for not being there for them in the end; and God damn Chase for taking that away from him; for not letting him die with the rest of his world; for condemning him to live in this twisted perversion of that world where all the sacrifices he had made throughout his life to provide safety and security for the people he loved, where all the dozens of battles he had fought, all the blood he had spilled, all of it, didn't count for a god damn thing.
Jason had been keeping a lookout for signs of life, a couple of times he had found what looked like the remnants of camps, but overall it seemed that people almost intentionally avoided the DC ruins. Jason had checked the Pip-Boy's Geiger Counter but the radiation was only about on par with a couple of hours too many in a tanning salon; it wouldn't kill anyone. And he had to imagine that after 200 years people would have evolved somewhat to survive in a slightly radioactive environment. That meant there had to be another reason for avoiding DC, most likely a reason Jason wouldn't want to run into in some dark alley.
Just as night was beginning to fall a cloud of black smoke appeared on the horizon; interest sparked, Jason veered towards it and was about half a mile away when he heard the crack of gunfire.
Jason slowed the bike's speed to a crawl and stopped a short ways away from where he had heard the shots. Quietly, he got off the bike and reached into the storage compartment for his combat knives. He made his way silent as the night itself towards the site of black smoke. When he had found a good vantage point Jason took up position on top of a short hill and looked down at the scene before him.
The smoke was coming from the engine compartment of a damaged dump truck that appeared to have been converted into a cargo hauler. Behind the dump truck were three flatbeds, all sporting bullet holes and all around the damaged vehicles were dead, mutilated bodies. But that wasn't what had Jason's attention. It was the small group of people that had been tied up and thrown to the ground, and the twelve douchebags dressed like some freakish Dominatrix/Viking hybrid who were pointing guns at them and cackling like rabid hyenas that were drawing his gaze.
Jason had a pretty good idea who the bad guys were in this scenario. He tapped his gauss rifle thoughtfully, it would be so easy to blast those goofy bastards into another dimension; but it just wouldn't be as fun as doing the job up close and personal; besides he needed to test out what his new body could do anyway. Jason slung the gauss rifle across his back and pulled out the combat knifes. Then with the stealth and grace given to him by years of working in the highly competitive field of Spec Ops he made his way down the hill.
Author's Note:
As you may have noticed there are a couple changes to the Capital Wasteland that aren't in the game; I've made the whole place a lot bigger and put some cars on the roads. I did this for a couple of reasons, first of all I didn't want to write about the weeks it takes for Jason to get from one place to another, and second of all I needed to satisfy my own need to incorporate Mad Max style death races into the story.