The air smelled. The air had a weight to it. The feeling of the building was different than outside. Moriarty's saloon was no light at the end of the tunnel, to Max at least. It reeked of booze, cigarettes and something he couldn't quite name. Its patrons no different; they looked and smelled like shit. Some had vomit on their clothes, others had barely any. What a lovely place!
Max went towards the bar and sat on one of the stools. One word was in Max's mind when he sat down: uncomfortable. He eyed the bartender. A fairly tall man of medium build. His skin was peeling off, exposing muscle, tissue and decay. Whatever hair was on the man's head was long gone, along with most of his nose and lips. Poor guy.
"Yeah?" Max continued to stare. "Are you gonna' order somethin' or just stare at me?" No response. The bartender snapped his decaying fingers in Max's face, catching the eyes of the Vault dweller. "What, you never seen a ghoul before, smooth skin?" One good look into the eyes of the bartender showed age. Lots and lots of years were captured through those eyes. Lots of loss and pain. The ghouls eyes looked at Max's armored Vault Suit that Moira had given him. "That explains it," he said "you're fresh out the Vault.
"Yeah. I-I am," he finally answered. "Do you have any Vodka or something like that?"
The man pulled out a bottle of vodka and leaned on the counter. "Fan of the Russian drink, eh? That'll be twenty caps."
Max pulled out the caps from his reward money. "Nope, but them Russians were a whole lot better than the Chinese." He laid them on the counter.
The ghoul gave a raspy laugh, almost sounding like sandpaper was in his throat. "I like you, kid. You're one of the only people in this town who didn't berate me when meeting me, especially since you're brand new to this all, and you know the Chinese are shitters. I mean look at me! This," he motioned to his body, "is their fault. Damn Commies! Tell you what," the ghoul hunched over and started to whisper, "I'll give you a ten percent discount on everything we're selling. Just don't tell Moriarty or he'll have my head hanging by the neon sign above this place."
Max gave a small smile and extended his hand to the ghoul. "LeBay. I'm looking for Moriarty."
The ghoul took Max's hand and shook it. "My name is Gob. Sorry, kid, but Moriarty isn't here right now. He went off on errands. Should be back tomorrow at the latest, though."
Max sighed, "Alright. Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Gob. I'll be back soon and we can talk more about Communism." Max paid for the drink and left the bar, his drink along with it.
As he got up, Max had this feeling he was being... watched. He turned around and saw a man. A man in a grey suit, sitting in a small little room was beckoning him over.
"Have a sit, boy." The strange man pulled a second chair next to him.
Max sat. "Do I know you?"
The man ignored his question. "This town. Look at it." Max looked around the bar. "You have your drunks," he motioned towards the swarm of people around the bar. "You have your junkies," motioning to those sticking needles in their arms in a corner of the room and taking breathes from an inhaler. "You even have your cheap whores," motioning to a man following a lewd redheaded woman up the stairs to a room. "This town is the equivalent of a stain on a man's boot-no. I'd say brahmin shit on your boot would describe this heap of metal and rubble far better." The stranger took out a silver flask and drank from it. "From what I can tell, you're not an avid drinker are you, Mr. LeBay."
Max raised an eyebrow. "How'd you know my name?"
"Oh, my dear boy, it wasn't very hard. You're all what the town is talking about. Look around you. This... gathering of filth is a result of your actions."
"My actions?"
"Yes. You disarmed that bomb outside, didn't you? No one knew of its secrets, of its potential. They all thought it was harmless. Well, except for a handful of people. Once the population of this town caught wind that you saved them from a horrible death they were never aware of, well, they came in here in droves. They've been here since yesterday too. Seems the owner took a bad time to be absent."
"What does the bomb have to do with us? Why have you called me over?"
The man sat up and faced Max. "Now that's the question. Why did I, Mr. Burke, call someone from some pigsty? Well, I'll tell you. My employer sent me down here for a very special reason. See, it was my job to come over to this eyesore and... well, shall we say bring it up to my employer's standards-using that bomb."
Max sat up. "You wanted to blow this town up?"
The man called Burke smiled and stood up, fiddling with his fingers. "My boy, I am going to blow this town. While everyone was out celebrating their new lease on life, you in the hospital and Simms watching over you, I took a look at the bomb myself and guess what. It is very much alive."
Max's eyes widened. "No, no," he stammered. "I turned that thing off! It's gone!"
"The bomb was never really deactivated," Burke replied. "All you did was disconnect the small, little part that told the bomb to blow. The heart of the bomb, the actual trigger, is still in there, connected to a small piece of hardware where my employer and I can set off in the safety of our home."
Max stood up and started to walk out of the small room they were in. "Not if I can help-" A sharp pain. A warm feeling. The man's face an inch from his. Max looked down to his side and saw the man's hand enclosed around a bloody handle. A switchblade.
The man leaned in and whispered in Max's ear. "It's already done." The knife came out, and the man walked away.
Max gripped his wound with his hand. The world was spinning. Everything seemed to slow down. The men drinking, the women dancing, the blood flowing. Even collapsing on the floor seemed slow. All Max could do was stare on as the man in the grey suit, brown hat and dark sunglasses walked away and out of the saloon.
Burke left Megaton as people rushed to Moriarty's Saloon. They most likely found Max's body. He smiled as he pushed the giant, double doors of Megaton open and closed for the final time. Within a couple hours, he'd be at his employer's side, watching the town of Megaton blow up into oblivion. The first thing necessary though, was to arrive there. Walking the wastes wasn't something for the faint of heart or the ill prepared. The heat was terrible, especially in a stuffy suit. Raiders, or creatures could attack at any moment. You needed a decent ranged weapon and one if they got too close. Burke's sudden departure left him no time to get the rifle and sawn-off shotgun he had in the home he used to stay in Megaton. All he had was a silenced pistol, a switchblade and the key to his home.
He felt exposed. Training in close combat and weapon handling only took you so far. Two magazines for his pistol, a rusted switchblade. The rocky slopes dotting the wasteland surrounded Burke in his travel. A wave of growls and snarls emanated from both sides and a pack of dogs looked down upon Burke.
Seven dogs. All scrawny, malnourished. The look of hunger in their eyes. Any fur that was once on them was now gone, leaving a tan, leather-like skin in its place; even that, though, was falling off. They descended from the stone slabs, and circled Burke. He took out his switchblade and pistol and readied them, blade in one hand, pistol in the other. One dog lunged at him, and Burke stepped to the side and ran his knife along the mutt's side.
The dog fell, alive but bleeding. The other dogs looked at their fallen comrade and smelled its imminent death. The mongrels pounced on the fallen dog and ripped it apart, their first meal in weeks. Burke walked away, assuming the ordeal was over. In fact, it only just begun.
The dogs, if you remember, were fsr malnourished. They were pure skin and bone. The dogs feasting on the fallen devoured all the skin it had to offer, bit through the bone and chewed any meat it had. They were still hungry. What better meal than a full grown, healthy man with his back towards them? They crept up behind Burke, trying to keep as quiet as possible. A small snarl from one of them alerted him. He turned around. They lept.
Burke fought them off, kicking and punching them long enough to get his weapons out. Pop, pop, pop. He shot at them with his pistol. He fired three shots into one of the dogs but it kept coming. It tried biting him but he rammed his knife through its skull, killing it. The others lunged at him. A couple shots and three were dead.
The three remaining mutts circled Burke, intent on ending his life and their hunger. One dog lept at him and he rammed his knife into its neck and shot its body three times before dropping it to the ground. The two dogs flanked him during this and jumped at him at the same time. He dodged them both in the nick of time and sliced one's leg and shot the other. Both weren't dead but injured enough so that he could kick them upside their jaws before shooting both of them.
"Fucking mutts," he muttered. He reloaded his handgun and wiped his blade on their skin before pausing. Something was different. He still felt watched.
He turned towards Megaton and scanned the wastes. There. A small speck of blue. Burke grew a scowl across his face. A small flash appeared where the blue speck was, followed by a popping sound and pain in his abdomen. Looking down, he saw blood seeping from his stomach. A second shot hit his shoulder and the third hit his chest, knocking him on his back.
Minutes later, a shape blocked the sun. A familiar face replaced it.
"How did you..." Burke was far too injured to talk, having blood flow out of his mouth.
Max knelt down beside Burke, assault rifle in hand, and said," Miss me?" Max took Burke's glasses off and folded them before setting them down. "The people of the 'heaping mess of metal' gave me this suit, which is reinforced. When you stabbed me, the kevlar cut an inch off the length of your switchblade therefore protecting my vital organs." Max showed Burke where the cut was made. "See?"
"Fucking beautiful," Burke replied sarcastically.
"Who sent you, Burke? Who is your employer?"
"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"I would actually."
Burke gave a small, pained grin. "Too bad, so sad, boy."
"I'll figure it out one way or another, Burke."
"And when you do," he replied "Megaton will be a crater in the ground!" Burke coughed blood at Max.
"No... It won't. I won't let it!"
Burke started to laugh, in whatever way a dying man can laugh. "Foolish boy! Do you honestly believe that?" Burke started to laugh more and more. Max got up and put a bullet in between Burke's eyes.
Max took deep breathes and calmed his nerves.
"It gets easier everytime..."
Looting the dead man's body gave Max some assortment of items. A pistol, ammo for said pistol, bloody knife, and a few keys. He took the keys and looked at them closely. One of them looked clean and the other two were rusted. The two keys had an engraving right under the ring hole. Though they were rusted orange, Max was able to peer closely and identify the strange markings. They looked eerily familiar to him.
He took out the key for his house in Megaton and compared them side by side. Rusted. Marking by keyhole. Marking looks to be a letter 'M' scratched on. If the key was for a house in Megaton, Max would have a lead.
"Took you long enough," said Simms. "I was starting to think something went wrong."
"Nothing went wrong. Burke's dead."
"May he rot in hell, the bastard."
Max pulled out the rusted key. "Do all houses in Megaton have the 'M' on their keys?"
"They should," Simms replied. "Why?"
"Because I have Burke's house key and we're about to do some searching."
"Well, then. Better get going," Simms said. "It's right in front of the bomb."
The two of them looked at each other and shook their heads.
"Burke bought the house in front of the bomb," Max started. "Always having a careful eye on it."
The marched down to the home and unlocked the home's door. Opening the door, they realized just how mysterious Mr. Burke was. His home was a simple room, bed on one side, fridge and dresser on the other, and tons of junk on the floor. The two searched through the home, lifting the mattress, opening every box they saw and Simms even checked the wall for a secret compartment.
"Simms," Max said. Simms looked over at Max, who carried a bewildered face. "The house is made of scraps of metal. I'm pretty sure there couldn't be a hidden safe unless the walls were thick enough."
Simms blushed a little and the two continued the search. After minutes of searching, they turned up with nothing.
"Where could that little rat hide things," Simms asked.
"There has to be something we missed. What was strange about Burke..."
"What wasn't strange about him. The man wore a dirty suit all the time for goodness sake!"
Max perched up at Simms statement and looked at the dresser. Max opened it and found multiple copies of Burke's grey suit, dirt and all. Max checked every pocket of every suit and eventually felt something thin and solid in one of the coats. Taking it out, he found it was a small holotape. Max blew on the tape, to make sure all the dust was out, and slipped it into his Pip-Boy.
Lights flashed in a linear direction as the tape was read. The tape was spit out not long after and its contents copied onto the Pip-Boy.
"Now, let's see here..." Max selected the newly scanned tape and heard a recorded conversation between Burke and someone named "Allistair Tenpenny."
Max listened on and realized it was a voice-recorded contract to blow up Megaton. Aliistair Tenpenny...
"He's some snob. If you heard of Tenpenny Tower," Simms said, "then you should know he's the owner."
"Where is it?"
"It's a couple hours southwest from here. You may spot it from the distance as this big building peeking out of the horizon."
"Beautiful," Max said. "Would you care to join me in some... Wasteland justice?"
Simms laughed. "I'd love to, son, but I need to hold down the fort here, you know? Got to look out for my own."
"No problem." Max stood up and extended his arm. "If I don't come back, know it's been on honor knowing you, Simms."
Simms shook Max's hand. "Likewise, Mr. Lebay. I do hope you come back in one piece."
With that, Max walked off, secretly hoping he'd come back. After all, he made a promise to Amata and made one to himself to find his father.
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. The next one should be up shortly. If i didn't make anything clear, made some spelling, grammar mistakes, please let me know. Also, leave reviews if you like it! :D Helps with motivation and whatnot.