"Hello children! Time once again for G.N.R! Here's the skinny on that wild wasteland out there. Been two days since the Wanderer AKA Mr 101 sent out his recruitment ad for the WRM, and people have been flocking in droves! Are you a defender of the people? A tinkerer not to be tinkered with? A saw bones who can patch with the best of them? Or maybe just a Lone Wanderer fan boy? Well maybe you should try your luck and head on down to the MDPL-13 Power Station, hurry while positions are still available!"
(MDPL-13 Power Station, Power plant)
The Wanderer addressed the large group of mercenaries in front of him from the plant's catwalk. Many of them seemed to be seasoned, most wore combat armour, others went with leather or metal but it made no real difference. The Wanderer explained the 'application' process in a loud and slow voice.
"Okay well this is a good turnout isn't it? So it's rather straight forward first we'll do a little shooting range test, then a hand-to-hand competition and wrap it up with a suitability test, simplicity itself, I'd ask if there were questions but if that confused you then you should probably leave now" The Wanderer said in a cheery voice. To his surprise about half a dozen men left leaving around thirty or so remaining. "Well that was quick."
(MDPL-13 Power Station)
Bigsley had arranged a deconstructed laser rifle lying on the table he pointed out the very basics of its design and told the group of a dozen or so in front of him and repeated for the larger group outside that each of them would have to individually reconstruct the rifle, fire it once and deconstruct it for the next participant, after that they would take the suitability test with the mercenaries and the doctors. The group formed a line outside and came in one by one, every once and a while the applicants would hear a laser shot and see a proud man or woman strut out of the office, but more often than not, there would be no noise and someone would walk out with their head hanged low. Bigsley consoled himself that at least he got to choose subordinates this time, less of a chance to be stuck with the inept; this offered him little comfort though, what was the point of having a workforce with nothing to work on?
(MDPL-13 Power Station, Garage Entrance)
Elliot did a quick head count of twenty medics, one or two had a doctor's experience but mainly the group had enough experience to be medics or nurses at best, good enough for now but he imagined he would spending a lot of time teaching.
"Okay gang so first we'll be doing a quick medical test then we'll be doing the suitability test" Elliot said in nervous upbeat manner. "Uh okay so who can tell me the proper treatment for infection after receiving a bullet wound?" Elliot resisted the urge to leave very hard when half of the people there said amputation.
(Scrapyard)
Jackal and Pitt had crossed the Bridge and snuck past the Bethesda ruins, as the sun fell they made their camp at Scrapyard, inside one of the abandoned busses. Pit barricaded the windows and door with the scrap metal while Jackal stared a small fire inside, soon the fire became their only light, The two checked their gear and rations making sure they had enough ammo and food to make it to the power station, Jackal had gotten his hands on a Chinese assault rifle from a super mutant corpse and constantly checked an re-checked it, the super mutants were deadly but they treated their weapons like shit, Pit lovingly tended to his 10mm sub machine gun, replacing pins and springs, cleaning, polishing and just about every other thing he could do to keep his prize possession in mint condition, when the two were satisfied that they wouldn't need any more rations and that their gear was in good condition, they decided to tune into GNR with Pit's radio.
"GNR, Three Dog, all you need to know. Time once again for another instalment of the Tales of the Lone Wanderer!" Three Dog said in his normal energetic voice.
"You're listening to the adventures of the Lone Wanderer played by Knight Sargent Wilks. Today's episode: A Ghoulish Complication."
"Wow that Behemoth didn't know what hit it!" Lyons exclaimed in amazement "You're certainly a man of many talents Mr Wanderer"
"Well I certainly aim to please Miss Lyons, now before any more of these horrors show up we should get inside" The Wanderer said. The sounds of walking and a door opening followed.
"Well hello Mr Wanderer! What can I Three Dog the jockey of disks and bringer of enlightenment do for you?" Three Dog chuckled, obviously delighted to be part of the show.
"My god Three Dog! It is certainly an honour to meet sir! If you know who I am than surely you know why I am here, please help find father!" The Wanderer said in overdramatic desperation.
"Of course my brother of course, but first I think you should know that there's a tragedy going on here."
"What is it that could make you look so pale?"
"GNR my baby, the wasteland's source of enlightenment and hope has been crippled by those damn super mutants, without a new dish nobody outside of DC can hear the soothing rhythms of GNR!"
"Good god! This is a travesty! A disaster! I cannot in good conscience continue on my search until this horrible problem is fixed!"
"Hahaha I knew you were one of the good ones kid, you'll need to head through the metro tunnels and make your way to the museum of technology to grab the dish and replace it on the Washington monument, careful kid those tunnels are swarming with ghouls."
"Ha fear not Three Dog I think I can handle a few feral ghouls." More sounds of movement preceded and ended with what sounded like a chain link door being opened. "My goodness it is dark in these tunnels. Ah who's there?" growling filled the bus as scarily realistic feral ghouls began to chase after the Wanderer. "Oh dear looks like I might have bit off more than I could chew this time. This. Could. Be. It. Tune in next time to hear the adventure of the Lone Wanderer played by Knight Sergeant Wilks. The two slowly drifted to sleep as the music of the inkspots filled the bus.
(MDPL-13 Power Station, Power Plant)
There was twenty five applicant's remaining after the five lowest scoring mercs in the firing range test were dismissed. Now there were three circles of the group and two people inside of the circles fought each other in hand-to-hand combat. Three people had already been dismissed for using brass knuckles, and two had been knocked out. The Wanderer lazily examined the fighting from above and waited until everybody had had a turn.
(MDPL-13 Power Station)
By the end of the test Bigsley had a group of fifteen who had shown that they were competent, about half were scientists from somewhere or other, the rest were just repair people who knew their way around machines and tech. Bigsley was satisfied that they would be able to keep up but he didn't even know what kind of technology they were going to be examining, he had a couple of hours to kill before the suitability test and there were more applicant's arriving so he got his team to set up more laser rifles to be disassembled, at least he had help now.
(MDPL-13 Power Station, Garage Entrance)
By the time Elliot was satisfied that only the competent doctors remained there was only five left, three women and two men. Elliot was truly concerned about how many idiots were posing as doctors out there but focused his mind on his team.
"Okay so we've established that over use of stimpacks, rad-x and other useful chemicals out there can be lethal but how do we know what dosage to use in different situations? Well there are a few tricks out there that can save lives when you don't have the proper medical equipment, such as examining the patient's skin, if their pale and have been shot, this would mean they've lost a lot of blood, now unlike what some the other applicant's said before leaving, you don't just 'stab a bunch of stimpacks in them' you'll need to get a blood pack."
(Minefield)
Jackal and pit worked their way past the remaining mines in the small town, carefully scanning the ground, disarming the mines and moving on, it was a methodical and time consuming process but in just a few short hours they were on they were on the other side of the town and ready to make their final push towards the station. Jackal and Pit spotted a large group of mercs just outside the station and were afraid that they were too late. They quickly ran up to the group and asked whether they were right or not.
"Ha! You kidding me? That fucking prick is barely taking anyone 'your aim isn't good enough, you're not allowed to use brass knuckles in a hand-to-hand test, stay away from the chem supplies!' Bah like I need that kind of shit in my day-to-day." One of the leather armour wearing mercs spat. Jackal and Pit were relieved to hear they didn't have enough people yet and hurried along to the station proper. They saw a man in red robes sitting outside of the power station and decided to ask him where to apply. When they got close they saw that he was asleep, he didn't even move when the two heard laser rifles fire from inside the station. Pit gently nudged and jumped back as the man sprung to life.
"Don't make sign more caravan orders!" The man shouted as he sprung consciousness. He yawned and looked around, then took in the two boys that stood before him. "Oh right, I quit, nice. So who the hell are you two, we don't need any more tinkerers or scientists, try your luck with Tercorian." The man yawned with a complete lack of interest.
"Uh were here to-"Pit spoke before being cut off by the strange man
"Yes, yes here to join up with magnificent and glorious Lone Wanderer, but if not mistaken we asked for 'experienced' people not toddlers barely out of their mother's skirts" the man impatiently grumbled. "You two scientists, medics or mercs?"
"Mercs" Jackal promptly responded
"You're screwing with me right?"
"No"
"You know what, whatever, you kids want to play hero whatever, I don't even care, mercs apply inside of the power plant, use the door entrance not the garage one, that one's for medics" The man once again sat back in his chair and almost instantly fell back to sleep. The two boys sheepishly looked at each other and wordlessly walked to the power station. As they entered they were bombarded with the smell of gunpowder, sweat and blood. The boys weren't strangers to the smell but still had to fight to avoid coughing. There seemed to be three sections inside the plant. To the right there was a small firing range, just in front of the entrance there were the circles, men and women stood on the circle lines and two people fought each other in the middle and behind the massive industrial chimneys there was two long rows of desks facing a projector that played odd little cartoon slides showing what looked like the Vault-Tec mascot in different situations such as fighting raiders, saving children, stealing water and a wide variety of other things. The boys were instantly approached by a man in green combat armour.
"What in the high holy hell are you little pukes doing here, this is a recruitment facility for soldiers not a day-care!" The man screamed at the boys. Pit jumped back but Jackal held his ground, he had seen this type of thing in other merc groups, drill sergeant plays hard-ass to scare off the bitches and see if the mercs can operate under pressure.
"Been killing since I was twelve sir! And Pit didn't take that name for laughs he's been through the worst the Pitt can throw at you sir!" Jackal kept a stiff posture and kept his eyes forward, showed he couldn't be shook by some loud words.
"Oh been killing since twelve? Well of we need somebody to get rid of the radroaches we'll be sure to give you a call, how old are you maggots?"
"Both seventeen sir!"
"Ha get out and try again in few decades or so and the we might talk"
"Now, now Sergeant, let's not be too hasty" a soft but deep voice said from above.
"Sir they're seventeen" the Sergeant said respectfully
"I'm nineteen, let's see what they can do" The boys looked up and their hearts almost stopped, the Lone Wanderer leaned on the railings with his elbows, his coat slightly swaying from a breeze coming from one of the holes in the ceiling, his face half shrouded from the shady hat he wore, his dark skin, half covered in grime and dust from the wasteland, he smiled at them and nodded towards the firing range. The boys were given assault rifles and told to hit the super mutant dummies. Pit hit the chest numerous times but he wasn't use to the spray effect from his rifle, after finishing his clip he took out his 10mm sub machine gun and decimated the head of the dummy. Jackal fired a few shots which completely missed, after fixing the sight he decimated the head on his own dummy, they had done quite well but there was still many mercs who laughed them off. Next they were both put in different circles and matched with mercs who had already passed the three tests. Jackal was a straight up puncher but knew that he couldn't take the merc head on. When the merc swung wide Jackal took his opening and kicked the mercs kneecap in, the crack was sickening and Jackal simply stepped out as a man in white combat armour excitedly ran up to the injured merc followed by five wastelanders in the bloody clothes of a wasteland doctor's garb.
"Okay good opportunity, how do we treat a patient with a broken leg?" the man asked, the pupils seemed ready with an answer but before anybody said anything the man quickly added "without amputating or kicking it back into place." The students were silent after that. The man sighed and got his students to bring the increasingly nervous merc back to the medic's section for treatment. Pit was next, he was a small wiry type of guy and the merc he was facing almost twice his size, but Pit wasn't fazed, he rebelled at the Pitt and made his way to DC alone, he knew how to handle himself, before the merc had a chance to act, Pit kicked him as hard as he could in the testicles and knocked him out with a swift kick to the head, so many people don't realise the value of a surprise attack. The room was filled with laughter as they saw the large man go down, the boys were slapped on the back and congratulated, all they had left was a 'shit easy' as one of the mercs put multiple choice test and they were in. The boys found two seats next to each other and waited for the test to begin. The Lone Wanderer casually strolled to the front of the desks and with a small remote started the projector.
"Okay only a few questions and we find out whether your WRM material, this will be the final test so pay attention. Okay so question one: you see a group of raiders about to attack a merchant. Do you A. rush to the merchant's defence, B. engages the raiders from afar, C. wait for the raiders to finish killing the merchant so you can loot the remains or D. throw a grenade and hope for the best?" Jackal didn't even have to think, before putting B down.
"Question two: a group of children run towards you in the wasteland, they claim to be victims of a super mutant attack and beg you for help, but you catch them trying to steal all of your caps and rations. Do you A. Pistol whip the children to teach them a lesson, B. Leave them alone in the wasteland to fend for themselves, C. take your things back but offer to take them to the nearest settlement or D. give them the supplies?" It went on like this for about an hour or so until they finally handed in their sheets. Jackal and Pit sat against the wall by the projector anxiously waiting for their results. It was twenty minutes before the sergeant approached them and gave them a quick salute.
"Congratulations boys welcome to the WRM" he gave them a smile and left to deliver the rest of the news to the eagerly awaiting mercs, techs and medics. Jackal and Pit high fived and laughed out loud, they were part of the legend of DC' group, and had a life of adventure and fortune waiting for them, Jackal almost felt glad he got robbed, now he had a bright future as a hero to look forward to and a friend to share it with.
(MDPL-13 Power Station, power plant upper office)
The Lone Wanderer leaned against the wall as Bigsley sat at the only desk the room while Elliot sipped a Nuka-cola while sat against the desk.
"All in all that went rather well I think. In total I have forty two mercs." The Lone Wanderer yawned
"I have twenty five techs and scientists." Bigsley responded as updated the logs on the terminal
"I managed five doctors and ten medics" Elliot said between swigs
"So we have enough to get started then" The Wanderer said definitively
"It might help to know what we're getting started" Bigsley said at Elliot, completely giving up on getting information out of the Wanderer.
"Don't look at me, I'm not going to ruin the surprise, he'll never let me hear the end of it."
"So true old friend, you'll see tomorrow Bigsley, just have a little patience." The Lone Wanderer checked his pip-boy to see that the personnel data safely transferred and, then left for the power station, to wipe the local terminal of the recruitment information. Bigsley huffed as he saw the other two men leave, he didn't like all of this cloak and dagger business, but it was either this or mind shattering dullness in project purity.