John was still tired. Making sure the other slaves could get to their homes by equipping them and getting them food from the the buildings in Paradise falls before they burnt up had only been the beginning of his troubles. Then there had been the whole taking two children through the wasteland while being hunted by enclave patrols and the odd predator that could gobble up a kid in one bite...the kids had been remarkably good at following orders and enduring hardship...but it still hadn't been easy.
Of course there was no rest for the wicked either, so once he was done with all that, a feat that had taken him a full four days due to the enclave going crazy over their previous losses....he found himself pushing forth into vault eighty-seven after a mere two short hours of sleep that would have been better if he hadn't been disturbed by those damn kids singing all the time...
Sighing he forced himself not to remove his helmet to rub his sore eyes, he shouldn't risk anything now... For not only did the rusty vault stink in a way he'd never experienced...it was full of super mutants. Judging by what little he'd overheard it seemed to be one of their bases or something...and he guessed the stink was the smell of super mutant presence being rubbed into the walls themselves.
At least these ones didn't hear him when he snuck up on them in full armour. Perhaps it was due to them being a little relaxed in their 'safety' or perhaps they were simply less attentive then the average deathclaw...or maybe he was actually getting better at the sneaking thing? Either way he had put a plasma bolt into a full dozen unsuspecting super mutants by now...and their angered companions.
Of course he couldn't really be bothered to keep count of his kills by now, he had once written it down in his pip-boy...but nowadays it felt a little...unnecessary. What difference did it matter of who or how many you killed? The important thing was why you killed them...which meant John actually found some pleasure in turning these creatures into goo.
He wasn't surprised what he'd learnt from the few computer terminals still active in the vault. Another testing facility...vault-tec seemed to have loved performing tests on those living in their vaults... It seemed a little odd considering how few people would survive after a nuclear holocaust...not exactly the right time to perform tests on the people you'd think...but perhaps they never expected the nuclear war to occur or something?
Turning a corner he found himself staring at the lower back of a mutant just inches away from him, the thing grunting slightly as it scratched its head. If it was bored with just standing around in the middle of the corridor it made no sign of it...odd creatures. Putting aside his rifle John drew his sword, a quick glance past the mutant telling him the next one was at the end of the corridor two dozen feet away, busy staring at the wall of all things.
A quick stab in the spine and the creature went rigid...two more and he fell to the floor, unable to move nor breathe. John briefly smiled, remembering a time when he wouldn't have dared to do something so bold as stab a super mutant when he had other options...then he forced himself to move on, sheeting his sword and aiming down at the distant mutant while moving as quietly as he could.
"You stupid!" The distant mutant shouted at the wall, a slight shuffling of the large shoulders showing that he was actually looking through a window. The corridor seemed to split both left and right over by the mutant...and John couldn't really see if any other mutants were around either corner...but he was pretty sure there were none. "You speak stupid! And...and you ugly!"
He didn't get to say anything else since John had advanced far enough to put a plasma bolt in his neck, sending the now decapitated mutant tumbling to the floor...and revealing another mutant staring at him from behind a window. John frowned...did the mutant wear a blue vest? And not roar at him? Maybe it was blind?
"Why hello there!" John froze mid-step, frowning. The mutant's mouth was moving...and the voice coming through a small speaker in the wall was the rough voice of a super mutant...but it didn't make any sense. "I understand you must have killed a great many of my misguided brothers to reach this place. May I enquire...why?"
Lowering his rifle John went up to the window, eyes wandering. The super mutant was no doubt locked into a small cell, a small bed and a computer was the only furnishing in the rust-covered room, and the door to John's left was sealed, the small control next to it blinking in the 'locked' indication. "Are...you...talking?"
"Indeed I am, though with a far greater vocabulary than my brothers...which I believe is the source of your pondering." The mutant smiled, the brutal grin John had seen on many super mutants ready to bash his head in...this one was probably meant as a friendly one however. Or maybe it was trying to trick him? A clever super mutant...the thought was obscene. "Do not worry, I harbour no ill will for those who kills my brothers. They have trapped me in here for so long...I cannot remember a time I wasn't in here."
"Uh...I'm sorry?" John smirked a little under his helmet as he relaxed. This was probably the oddest conversation anyone had ever had. "Why did they lock you up? Are you a criminal?"
"What is a criminal?" John opened his mouth to answer, but the mutant was faster. "If being a criminal is breaking the rules of a society...then yes I'm a criminal." A rhetorical question? The hell!? "But if those rules are despicable in morals...would I not be an activist? A political prisoner?"
"Erm...I guess..." John looked about himself in confusion. "Has the smell of this place gotten me hallucinating?"
"I do not believe so." The mutant replied, a deep chuckle escaping it. "I am Fawkes...and I understand your confusion, never have I met or heard of one such as I, which most likely means you have only met my brutal brothers like the one by your feet."
"Your name is Fawkes? You remember such things?"
"Fawkes is the...name I took. And no, I don't remember much, save that I have read on my computer." The mutant gestured for the computer in his cell. "And...oh now I understand."
"Eh?"
"You are here for the GECK. You must be, that is the only item of value here that-"
"You know where it is!?" John interrupted and stepped closer. "It's here!?"
"Yes...and yes." Fawkes nodded. "I will tell you where it is if only..."
"If only what?"
"Please free me." John blinked. "I have been here so long...I cannot stand it anymore! I must see something else but these damn walls! See those things the computer only speaks of! Please!" John took a step backwards. "If you do that...I will get the GECK for you, it is bathed in radiation...I could take it out of there for you."
"I have a radiation suit and rad-x packed for such things..." John muttered, unsure. He realised this mutant was far from normal...but to take a chance such as releasing one right next to him...and then have it around...it was a great risk. "And I'm pretty sure I can find it after a while of searching...with or without your help."
"I understand your hesitation. Believe me I do." The mutant made a gesture that perhaps was meant as a pleading one. "But if you won't do this for the sake of aiding yourself...then do it for compassion. Let me out and I tell you where to go...then we go our separate paths and you won't need fearing. Please!"
"I'm not sure I-"
"Look out!" The pointing finger instantly made John spin around in a crouch, firing on instinct.
The chest of the charging enclave officer was instantly enveloped in plasma, dropping him to the floor with a smoking hole in his dead centre. John cursed, jumping to the left and putting his shoulder against the corner of the wall he watched as two enclave soldiers appeared from the corner he so recently had come past, one of them jumped over the corpse of the stabbed super mutant while the other sent three bursts of ruby laser shots in John's direction, making him scramble for cover.
Returning fire but only hitting the walls John saw with growing despair how another pair of soldiers appeared. Could he retreat? That would probably just put him between the enclave troops and any other mutants... "God dammit!" John managed to melt the leg off an advancing soldier, three successive plasma hits finally cracking his power armour.
"Surrender!" A enclave officer cried out as she appeared from around the corner. "You're boxed in and-" Her head was burnt right off, smoke still rising from the remains of her neck as she fell over the dead mutant. John grimaced, ducking into cover as a a storm of plasma and laser shots slammed into his corner...this wasn't going to work.
"Alright! You're free!" Jumping over to the controls to the door he slammed the button down even as he felt his left side heat up as something hit him there. "Now help me before we both get killed!" Rolling into the rightmost corner of the corridor John took up his new position even as Fawkes came out of his cell, hands curling into fists.
"You have set me free, I am obliged to-"
"Great, actions instead of words Fawkes!" John tossed a grenade into the corridor, the explosive landing right beneath an advancing soldier and tearing him to pieces despite his armour. "Try to grab a gun and..." The massive super mutant rushed past him, fists raised in attack. "...or you could do that."
At the sight of Fawkes rushing into the wall of plasma and laser fire John somehow doubted the mutant really was that intelligent, but he hadn't much time to think about it though as he found himself laying down covering fire. With a roar Fawkes reached one of the enclave soldiers, grabbed him by the head even as the screaming soldier fired shot after shot into Fawkes' chest...and slammed the man head first into the wall. With a crunch skull and helmet gave way, leaving a smear on the wall even as the super mutant rushed for the next soldier.
Then John got shot in the head.
Blinking John stumbled sideways, slowly turning as he found enclave troopers appear from to his right. "Oh...flanking..." John muttered the words, feeling sluggish even as his helmet begun to buckle inwards... "You...clever..."
The enclave soldier's next shot took him in the chest, sending John tumbling unto the floor with a grunt. There was pain...wasn't it? John wasn't sure, trying not to think of it he levelled his gun at the foe...before it was blown out of his hands by a flurry of laser shots coming from his left. Wasn't Fawkes...there? John moaned, arms dropping to his sides even as fresh pain flooded his senses when a third shot took him in the shoulder.
Huh...the roof was rusty...like the walls...and the lamps...dirty...odd...
"Now, now, that's quite enough private." That...voice...familiar.
"Yes sir!" A pause. "Area secured sir!"
A polished boot was suddenly resting atop his chest as a calm face appeared before him. The man's greying hair closely cropped...features healthy and slightly noble-looking. As far as John could tell he was wearing a trenchcoat and...no!?"Well, well, if it isn't James' son, how fortuitous. Ever since we've read through his files we've been eagerly looking for you. And here you are...no doubt looking for that GECK."
"You...died...."
"Back at the memorial?" The man chuckled. "Enclave chemicals is far superior to that rad-x you people use...though I do regret not having enough to save your father...it would have saved us a lot of time."
"I...doubt...it." Dark spots danced before him, threatening to overcome him.
"Tsk, tsk...there is no need to debate that now." The man smiled. "For now we have you...and with the GECK soon to be in our hands project purity will continue...under Enclave supervision."
"Go...to...hell."
He felt very drowsy...eyes heavy...
"Eloquent..." The man snorted and turned to someone outside John's field of vision. "Officer, secure this man for transport, I want him alive." Then he turned a little to talk to someone else. "Doctor...have you localised the GECK?"
Darkness...
"Yes sir, but it's in a heavy irradiated area."
"Good, then get some radiation suits and retrieve it, I want to leave in an hour."
Dark...all was dark.