Vault 112 had to be the creepiest place Maverick had ever been in.
He and Leyah were still cautiously making their way down the halls, even after that robot was more than happy to give both he and Leyah the jumpsuits.
Maverick was glad they were basically on a mission after what happened at Fort Independence. It was the perfect distraction. He studied his Vaultie for a moment and he couldn't help but grin. She truly was amazing. She fucking yelled at Morgan for him and she held a gun up to his own dad. And the fact that she was just there afterwards did more than Maverick wanted to admit.
He didn't know what would have happened if she wouldn't have been there.
They finally made it to the main chamber, which had a bunch of pods connected to a large computer in the middle. Maverick glanced in one and saw that it was empty. What he saw in the next one almost made him yelp in surprise.
The person in the pod was almost skeletal they were so skinny. He could see their eyes barely moving as they stared at the screen in front of them. IVs and tubes were inserted all over their body, probably keeping them alive. The woman—at least, he thought it was a woman—had a grey color about her and her hair was almost all gone. Her dress looked like something out of the old Pre-war magazines.
Leyah squeaked in surprise when she looked to see what he was looking at. "What the fuck is going on here?!" she hissed, staring at the woman in horror.
"I don't know, but it's not fucking right whatever it is. I don't like this at all, Ley."
"I don't either," she said, stepping over to the computer the pod was connected to. "It has her name, vitals, brain activity, everything. Holy shit."
"What?" Maverick asked, looking over her shoulder at the screen.
"It says she was born in 2033."
"No fucking way," he said, looking back at the skeletal remains of the woman. "And she's alive?"
"Yes. Somehow, the brain is being kept alive. Mav, this is just awful," she said, voice shaking.
Maverick cursed under his breath and started to look in the other pods. "What the fuck is going on here?"
Leyah started to look at the other computers, avoiding looking at the people in the pods. Maverick's heart sunk when he saw what looked like a little boy sitting in one of them. "Jesus Christ, this is…"
Maverick didn't know what it was.
"Oh no," he heard Leyah whisper.
He looked to see her sprint over to a different pod and she started to pull on the hatch. "Dad!"
Maverick sprinted over as well and tried to pull as well, but the hatch wasn't going to budge. He looked inside to see an older version of the Dr. James Hunter he knew. The man was staring straight forward just like the others were, and he had only one IV in his arm.
Leyah was beating on the side of the glass almost hysterically now. "You asshole! Why did you go in alone you stupid jerk?! How could you be so reckless?!"
Maverick quickly got over to her and pulled her away from the pod. "Leyah, lets look around and see if there is any way we can open them. Where would all of those controls be?"
Leyah looked up at him and his heart sunk more when he saw tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Jesus, he didn't know who had a worse day. Him or her. "Right. Controls….they would most likely be in the Overseer's office."
Maverick gestured to the stairs nearby. "Let's go figure something out."
They wandered through the hallways for what seemed like hours until they finally found a large, locked door on the top floor. Leyah easily hacked into the computer and the door opened with a hiss. Another pod was in the office and a terminal sat near it.
Holding up his gun, Maverick stepped close enough to the pod to look inside of it as Leyah flipped the switch for the light. The man inside the pod was just as skeletal and tube filled. "Jesus Christ," he grumbled, lowering his shotgun.
Leyah was already at the terminal. "This is…disgusting. I can't believe Vault Tec would allow this."
Maverick slung his rifle over his shoulder, glancing at the screen over her shoulder. "Considering what I've found in other Vaults, 101 is probably one of the few that was actually made for living in."
Only the sound of typing was his response as Leyah looked through the terminal. "He was...experimenting on these people. He was putting them in different scenarios in a virtual world and slowly killing them each time. God," she slumped down into the office chair. "And my Dad willingly walked into it. I was only able to hack into these computers because the dust was disturbed. My dad saw this and knew what the hell was going on and he went in anyway."
She slammed her hand down on the desk with a growl of frustration. "When we get him out I'm punching him!"
"But how are we going to get him out? Can you override it from here?"
Maverick hated bursting her bubble, but they had to make a plan.
Leyah turned back to the terminal and started to search. Maverick patiently waited, trying to avoid looking at the damn pod the crazy scientist was in.
"Fuck!"
"What?"
Leyah pushed away from the terminal angrily and she stared up at him. "The only way to disable the program is inside. Shit shit shit shit!"
Maverick didn't know what to do. The only way to stop this shit was by going into one of those pods? There was no way in fucking hell he was letting her do that because he sure as hell wouldn't know what to do in there.
"I have to go in."
"No."
Leyah stood up and scowled up at him. "Maverick, the only way we can find out where the G.E.C.K is and get my dad out is going in. I'm going."
"No. You. Are. Not," Maverick seethed, glaring right back at her.
"You're not the boss of me!"
"No, I'm you're fucking boyfriend and I don't like the idea of letting someone I care deeply about stepping into one of those death pods!"
"There's no other way! I have to go in and-"
"What about me, Leyah?! What am I going to do? Say you go in and never come back out, what the fuck am I going to do?!"
That shut her up.
She bit her lip and stared down at the floor. "Maverick, I can't let my dad become one of those skeletons, I can't," she choked out.
Maverick's own throat closed up and he blinked rapidly. "Leyah, don't."
Shit, he couldn't take this right now. Running into his dad was exhausting enough, but arguing with Leyah to not do something suicidal? He was worn thin.
Tears were running down her face now as she stared up at him. "Mav," she said softly, reaching up and cupping his cheek.
Maverick leaned into her touch and he stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her. "Let's sleep on it and make a decision when we aren't so tired, okay?"
He felt her nod and he held back a sigh of relief.
Hopefully, they could figure something out.
hr
Leyah regretted everything she decided on.
She glanced toward the storage room she and Maverick had decided to sleep in…and where Maverick still slept.
She knew he wasn't going to bend on not letting her go in. He was one of the most stubborn people she knew and he wasn't going to change his mind. Leyah couldn't sit to the side knowing her dad was stuck in some virtual horror show. She had changed into the Vault 112 jumpsuit and was staring at the empty pod in front of her. Should she dare?
She looked over at the pod her dad was in.
Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself and got in. The straps on the armrests clamped down on her arms and pushed up the sleeve on her left arm. The machine got ready to insert an IV. She stared at the screen in front of her and she gasped when everything went black.
The first thing she saw was grey blurs. When she finally focused in, she saw that she was in what almost looked like a Pre-War magazine. The lawns and houses were perfectly manicured and everything was clean. A young boy sat at a lemonade stand a couple houses over and people were going about their days everywhere.
A young girl was in the playground in the middle, watering some flowers there.
Leyah looked down at herself and she sucked in a breath when she saw a little girls legs and hands, not her own.
She stood up, brushing off the skirts of the dress she wore. A low bark had her looking at a German Shepard sitting nearby. The eyes seemed oddly familiar as the dog cocked his head. "Hi there," she said, cringing at the high pitched sound of her voice.
The dog stepped forward and nudged her leg with his nose. Looking over at the girl in the playground and back at her. "Should I talk to her?" she asked, looking at the girl as well.
She figured the dog was probably one of the people in the pods, why wouldn't he help her?
She made her way over to the playground, glad that the dog was following close behind. She kept a lookout for her dad as she looked around the neighborhood. Something was deeply wrong and it caused goosebumps to raise on her arms. The sooner she got out of here, the better.
"Maverick is going to kill me," she said to no one in particular.