Chapter 8: The Purifier

Right before I exited the lab, I looked back and saw the sad expression on Madison's face. She simply stood near one of her research tables with her eyes closed, all alone once again. My heart sank at the sight of this, I would have to make sure to return to her and give her a proper thanks for these new grenades.

Upon exiting Rivet City I glanced to the east and could make out the building Madison had told me about. It wasn't too far off, would probably be an hours walk at most. I grabbed on to my shoulder and twirled my arm a bit. It was starting to feel less sore, maybe it had healed enough for me to use my trusty Assault Rifle again.

After jumping down from the scaffolding across the main bridge outside the city I headed towards a broken down wall to see if my shoulder was up to taking the kick from my rifle. I pressed the stock against my shoulder and aimed at the wall. The rifle kicked against my body and I cringed in pain. But it wasn't a terrible pain it caused. It would be bearable enough in a firefight.

As I moved ever closer to my destination, my mind kept going back to Madison. The image of her beautiful face flashed over and over again. I felt strange, I had slept with a few other women since I've been out here in the harsh of the wastes, but I never found myself thinking about them once I went on my way. Yet here I was thinking about this older woman who for some reason made me feel like I could take on the entire world whenever I thought of her.

My thoughts suddenly turned away from her as I had arrived at the memorial building faster than I had calculated; now the only problem was how to get inside. The main doors had been completely sealed shut, and many yellow pipes protruded from the building and ran in to the Tidal Basin. There were also many scaffolds built around the building which had ramped access points.

I jogged up one of the ramps to get a better view of the area, but I still couldn't see much. I continued along the perimeter until another ramp led down the other side of the building. Here I found a single door sticking out of the wall. A small metal plaque on it read: Jefferson Memorial Gift Shop. I suppose this would be the best route for now.

Upon entry I soon realized that there were Super Mutants on the prowl. I checked the clip in my gun, twenty-one bullets. I looked in to my pack for my reserve ammo. Thirty-three 5.56 mm bullets and fifteen 10mm. Great, just great. In all my rushing out to find my dad I had completely forgotten to resupply on ammo.

I swore at myself under my breath, but I knew I had to continue on. The first mutant I came across didn't notice me at first, so I took this as my cue and unloaded a single bullet from my pistol in to its giant cranium. I glanced around to make sure I hadn't alerted any of the others.

When no other mutants showed up, I continued down the long corridor until I came to an open room at my right. Two mutants stood behind a set of sandbags, and even worse, a single ceiling mounted turret scanned the room for hostiles.

I reached in to my pack for something to use, anything. A sneer came across my face as my hand brushed across one of the plasma grenades Madison had given me. I pulled it out and looked for the activation button. I pressed it, and a low pitched humming noise came from the ball of death. I lobbed it over the sandbags and it landed right at the mutant's feet. The mutants screamed aloud but could do little else as the grenade erupted in to a bright green light.

When the room went dark again nothing remained of the mutants, but the turret had sustained no damage from the blast.

Shit, I was in a real predicament now. My guns weren't powerful enough to pierce through the metal the turret had been constructed out of. Maybe a console or wall panel that I could use to shut it down loomed nearby. I found no such objects, but instead, I found a giant metal plate leaning against the wall further along the corridor. I presumed it to be thick enough to take the turrets bullets until I could get beneath it and shoot out the wiring.

I got a good grip on it and placed it directly at my front and headed back to the room where the mutants had been. The turrets sensors kicked up as I entered and started to unload in to the metal plate I carried. As I had judged, the plate could take the bullets without being fully punctured and prevented me from becoming a human pin cushion. I was directly below the turret now, and it couldn't aim low enough to continue unloading one me. I spotted a few wires in the darkness and shot a few bullets from my rifle up at them.

A few seconds later the turret made a loud buzzing noise and then shut itself down. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and dropped the metal plate on to the floor. Now finding any traces that my father had been here became my next task. I rummaged through the many desks and file cabinets within the building but found nothing of use.

I found another door which read: Memorial Rotunda, and entered. Within I found a massive, circular machine which surrounded a brass statue in the center. There were many strange looking terminals and other smaller machines within the big one. I could hear the sound of running water and soon realized that the center of the machine had been filled to the top with water, and a smaller pool ran beneath the catwalks which led up to some of the terminals.

I carefully made my way up and looked for any trace of my father. It wasn't long before I found a few audio tapes lying on one of the smaller data processing machines. I plugged one of them in to my Pip Boy and turned the volume to the highest level. My heart filled with joy as the sound of my fathers voice rang out over the sound of the running water.

He spoke of how rundown the machine was, and he also talked about how he had tried to coax his former colleagues in to helping him again. Surprisingly, he mentioned me in the tape as well, said he regretted that he could never bring himself to tell me the truth and was sorry for having to leave me behind in the vault.

When the tape ran out I pulled it out and popped another one in. This time he spoke of different places where he might find something called a G.E.C.K. for the main purifying system within the memorial. Said this contraption was just what he needed in order to purify such a large amount of water at once. He sounded so overjoyed when he talked about finding someone who might now where to find one.

Once again the tape ran out, and I popped the third one in. This time my dad used a serious tone and spoke of a "Vault 112". Said some genius scientist by the name of Dr. Brawne ran the vault and would probably be the one to see about locating a G.E.C.K. He mentioned mom and said he was going to see her dream fulfilled. The last thing he mentioned was hearing something moving around outside the rotunda, so he took another way out of the building.

The tape ran off in to static, and all I could do was stand around in silence. I should've been happy that I knew my father still lived, but I couldn't shake off the burning sense of dread within. Would my father make it to this Vault 112, and even if he did, who's to say that the doctor he mentioned wasn't some crazed loon who would try and use him in some crazy experiment?

I shoved these thoughts out of my mind and just hoped that he still lived. I had no idea where to go from here. I knew the name of the place where my feather had headed off to, but I had no knowledge of just where in the wasteland it was.

I finally decided to head back to Rivet City and ask anyone there if they knew where to find Vault 112. I slowly trotted along the corridor back towards the exit and kept telling myself my father still lived.

I had to shield my eyes from the sunlight when I threw open the exit door, and when they adjusted, I was shocked by what I saw.

Four men clad in strange looking armor were waiting for me with their weapons drawn. Two of the men had some sort of tesla pack strapped to their back which emitted green bolts in to their armor, and another wore a brownish officer's uniform

"Drop your weapons vault dweller." the officer ordered.

How did he know that?

"I said drop your weapons!" he shouted.

I slowly unstrapped my assault rifle and lowered it to the ground, and then un-holstered my pistol and threw it at his feet, "There, I'm unarmed, now what do you want?" I asked.

The officer grinned, "Not so fast, drop your bag, who knows what surprises you might have for us in there.

Damn, I had hoped he wouldn't think of that.

I tossed my pack to the ground and threw my hands in to the air.

"Alright, now tell me what this is about." I demanded.

"You're the kid from Vault 101 are you not?" he interrogated.

I nodded apprehensively, "Yeah, what of it?"

The officer then looked to his guards and whispered something I couldn't hear.

"Colonel Autumn would like a word with you kid. You're exploits have caught his ear, and he's become very interested in you."

I shook my head, "Sorry, but I've got more pressing matters to attend to, maybe some other time." I responded.

When I tried to walk off the armed guards stepped in my path. "Would you tell your lap dogs to move please?" I said as politely as possible.

I received the butt of a gun across my jaw in response which caught me off guard and sent me to my knees.

The officer sneered, "The U.S. government doesn't have time for rain checks son. Colonel Autumn is President John Henry Eden's right hand man, and it would be unwise to keep him waiting." he barked.

I spat a bit of blood on the ground, "What's all this talk of a president and government? I thought they were wiped out when the nukes fell?"

"Ah, the ignorance of these vault dwellers. No son, the U.S. government is still very much alive, and we still have a president at the helm helping to keep this country together." the officer told me.

"Well, it looks like you guys are doing a bang up job!" I spat sarcastically. I received another blow to the face, and the officer knelt down in front of me.

He pressed the barrel of his weapon in to my mouth, "Son, you're trying my patience. One more word out of you and my finger might slip across the trigger of this here plasma pistol, you get me?" he said in a threatening tone.

I simply grinned, and then butted him in the nose with my head. He staggered back, and I quickly grabbed my Assault Rifle off the ground and rolled behind a nearby boulder.

"That's it, you're fucked kid! I don't give a shit if Autumn wants you alive, I'm going to rip that fucking smirk right off your face you hear!" the officer yelled as he fired off a few shots in to the rock.

I responded by firing blindly in to them. "Fuck, my leg!" I heard one of the guards yell as a bullet tore through his thigh.

"Get over there and kill that little fucker!" the officer ordered, and I could hear the sound of the loose pebbles crunching beneath their heavy metal boots.

Suddenly, a blurry figure leapt forth from atop the scaffolding and landed on top of one of the officer's guards. A shot rang out, and the guard fell to the ground. Gunfire erupted from the group as they tried to take out their attacker. Another agonizing cry rang out over the air.

"God damn it take him down!" I heard the officer yell.

Another shot, and another guard crumpled to the scorched earth below.

I glanced over the boulder and saw the Mysterious Stranger standing there with his Magnum pointed at the Enclave officer.

"Fuc…" before the officer could finish his sentence he received a bullet right between the eyes.

I suddenly found myself staring at an extended hand. I took a hold of it and the stranger pulled me on to my feet. I was now standing face to face with my guardian angel once again, only now I couldn't find anything to say to him.

"Just who are you?" I finally blurted out, but didn't really expect any sort of audible answer.

"It's not important." he said, which caught me off guard. Up until now he had never spoken a word. His voice was deep and gruff.

"What is important is that you remain alive." he added.

"Why, what's so great about me? What do I have to offer this fucked up world we live in?" I said bluntly.

"You're the last, best hope of humanity kid." he responded.

I couldn't believe what I had just been told. It had to be a joke. Me, the last, best hope of humanity? What a bunch of bullshit. What could I do for humanity that someone with more experience couldn't do?

Without even realizing it I had burst in to laughter. I dropped my gun to the ground and slapped myself on the forehead. The laughter soon died down when I noticed the cold stare the stranger had thrown my way.

"Laugh all you want kid, but very soon you'll know just what I'm talking about." He then lit himself a cigarette and turned to leave.

"Wait, if I need to be alive, why don't you come to my aid every time I'm in trouble!?" I yelled after him.

"You can't expect to learn anything if I'm saving your ass all the time now can you?" he yelled back in response.

I smiled at this and watched him as he walked off and then disappeared from sight.
I picked my guns off of the ground, as well as my pack. I pulled a white piece of cloth out and wiped the blood off my face. The side of my face had become pretty swollen, and my jaw hurt like a bitch, but I knew it would heal on its own.

I decided to head back for Rivet City and see Madison for some "medical treatment". A few of the guards greeted me upon my arrival, but I said nothing in return and headed straight for the science lab.