AN: Hey all... so if anybody was actually waiting for this to be updated sorry for taking so long. To be honest it started with waiting to see if more people would review, then I got distracted with christmas and playing Skyrim (I may do a story about Skyrim later). So as there weren't many votes I went with the Megaton house (it'll be more obvious next chapter) and as suggested by one of the people that reviewed they will loot Burke's place later.
Disclaimer: I probably should have been doing these from the start but... I do not own the Fallout series, nor do I own anything else I may use in this story. Except Mordecai he's mine, any other exceptions will be noted if they appear.
Wrecking Raiders and Finding a Home
As they walk down the trail Kai looks around carefully to make sure nothing dangerous was too close as they walked into Springvale. Walking over to where he knew a footlocker should be hanging out a wall, he sees it still there so he drags it out to the middle of the street. Motioning for Amata to come over and drop the makeshift bag into the footlocker, after she does, Kai takes the sling off his BB gun before tossing it aside and laying the BB gun in the locker. Sliding his pack around so he can open it he emptys the spare stuff into the locker too, although he leaves the other world stuff and bag of caps in the pack. Closing the pack he pulls the toaster off and puts it in the locker before adjusting his pack and standing up.
"Alright let's check these ruins, see if there's anything useful. Mailboxes, crates, dressers, car trunks, check things like that. Don't bother digging through rubble just stuff in the open or in visible containers. We'll start from the side we came in and work through these four before turning left and checking the rest of the town." Amata nods in agreement and they move back to the edge of the town and start inwards her taking the right side while he took the left. Checking the mail drop box Kai found three frag grenades which he set in his pack before moving towards the first house. Checking the mailbox he finds nothing of value then heads into the house and moving to the cabinet in the back. Finding three bobby pins and a pile of bottles he puts the pins in his pocket with the others before sifting through the bottles pulling out wine, vodka, and whiskey, one bottle of each. Kai goes out and sets the bottles in the locker before checking the trunk of the nearby car and finding nothing. Heading into the second house, figuring that if that magazine was in the mailbox he'd want to grab it last where it was closer to the locker. Not finding anything he grabbed the magazine and set it in the footlocker before closing it and sitting on it to wait for Amata.
Kai didn't have to wait for long as she soon came over holding a suitcase and handing it to him. "The fridge in the first had more food than I could carry so I grabbed one the suitcases from the step of the second one." Kai simply nodded and asked her to go grab the second suitcase so it could be used for storage. Standing up he moved the food to the locker, which filled it, and estimated they had enough food for a couple days. With Amata's help carrying it they stashed the footlocker behind the dumpsters by the Red Rocket. It was out of sight so hopefully no one would think to check there. A relatively quick scan of the other ruined houses didn't turn up anything so it was off to the school, each of them carrying one of the empty suitcases and their guns at the ready they quietly approached. After a slight internal debate Kai told to her they were going to wait by the boarded up ranch house until nightfall.
Setting the suitcases down and sitting beside them Kai turned to Amata and told her that this was a private enough spot to tell her everything, so that's exactly what happened for the next couple hours he told about the other world and his theories on why this happened. Once he was sure she understood, he then went on to explain about the raiders in the school and why night would be an advantage but he wanted her to stay out here so he could go through without worrying about her getting hurt. Once he was sure they were all dead he'd come back out, open up the house so they could rest and then they could start looting the school in the morning. "In the other world this world is a video game, that's why I know what's in the school and how to get around in it. It's also why I waited till night and want to go in alone, this is real life which means they'll either be asleep or high from drugs. I'll be able to sneak around and deal with most of them without too much danger."
"Alright... but you get out if it gets too dangerous. We came out here to live our lifes, not die."
Nodding Kai gets up and sneaks across the street, stashes his gun in his pocket and eases the door open before slipping in. Pausing just long enough for his eyes to adjust he looks to the caging remembering that a nuka cola quantum was up there and the second floor had a combat knife laying around. Climbing up he pauses to pick the cola up deciding to move the it so he wouldn't have to climb this again tomorrow, he stashes it in the fridge before moving to the doorway to clear out the second floor first. Going right and down the hall a quick sweep of the library turns up no raiders, as he heads towards the table the combat knife should be on he sees the guard dog laying across the hall directly in his path. Slowly and with as much caution as possible he positions a foot at the back of it's neck before grabbing it's muzzle to keep it quiet and hauls back on it's head bringing his foot down on it's neck at the same time. The sickening crack tells him that the kick worked, with a sigh of relief he moves the dog by the wall out of the way.
Finally reaching the table he happily notes that the combat knife is there, after all slitting throats will be a bit easier than trying to break all their necks. Heading over to the collapsed stairwell he finds two raiders, placing his hand over the mouth of the first Kai slits his throat before repeating the process with the other one. Heading into the library storeroom he tosses two bottles of dirty water into his pack so the blood could be washed out after he was done, letting it dry would make it really hard to get out and he liked his outfit. Back across the hall and out the side door he finds himself outside and checks out there before re-entering the school on the lower level. A quick check reveals that the rest of the raiders must be on the first floor, of course he doesn't check the locked door having no desire to deal with the ants yet. Heading down the side hall and up the stairs he comes out on the back side of the school and head to the back "bedroom" and deal with another three raiders. Down the hall and to the left he walks into the first bathroom with the bloody bed.
"Forget it Mack I aint giving it out tonight, my stomachs too upset you'd wind up covered in chunks." Of course fate would toss a wrench at his carefully thought out plan in the form of a female raider tossing chunks in a toilet when they should all be asleep. "Hey you aint Mack, you aint even a raider." She mutters before finally comprehending what was going on. "Hey get up guys, intruder!" she yelled bolting out the door, most likely going to get the others.
'Oh fuck me!' Kai screams in his head, stabbing the combat knife into one of the stall doors so he'd know where it was. Kai dug a grenade of his pack and held it in his left hand and pulls his 10mm out of his pocket with his right. Crouching he looks out the doorway and sneaks in the direction she went, making it to the corner he looks to see her and one of the others standing in the doorway to the other "bedroom". Using his thumb he pulls the pin and tosses the grenade at them then ducks back as it blows. Checking Kai notices both of them downed and they looked to be missing a couple parts, heading forward slightly he nearly gets shot before ducking back again. Bringing his gun up he turns the corner and fires at the one that shot at him, the first shot going through his knee and dropping his head into the path of the second. Moving closer he looks into the room and let out a sigh of relief as that one seemed to be the last one.
Heading out across the street Kai pauses noticing that Amata had fallen asleep so turning to the door he grabs one of the boards and test for the best spot to pull then yank it off before repeating the process with the rest. Opening the door he picks up Amata and takes her inside laying her on the bed, before checking around and gathering everything that looked useful into the front room. Picking up a pot and digging out the dirty waters from earlier Kai pulls his clothes off, using the pot to catch the water as he rinses them off. Laying his clothes out to dry out over night before going and laying down beside Amata. Waking up the next morning Kai makes sure his clothes are dry before putting them on and digging through the pile he made last night to find something to eat. Grabbing two nuka colas he put the caps in his pack before picking the colas and box of sugar bombs up and heading over to the bed where Amata is just waking up. They eat in silence before she asks, "What was that tingling?"
"Radiation, most food and drink in the wastland have a small bit of radiation because they're either surface water or something made before the war. It's not serious our pipboys will tell us if we pick up too much radiation and then we can either reduce it with rad away or go see a doctor they've figured out how to get rid of any radiation their patient has."
"Oh well as long as it doesn't kill us I guess."
"As long as we're careful it shouldn't." he paused here moving the empty box and bottles to the trash can. Turning as she stood up he spoke again. "When I got back last night I went through this house and moved the useful things to the front room. We'll leave them there until we're done with the school and then figure out what to do from there. We'll need to build a push cart or something because the footlocker is full, there's this stuff here, and the school definately has more stuff than two suitcases will hold. We'll fill the suitcases and bring them back here then go back and fill however many metal boxes we need too, there's plenty of them in there."
Their plan set at least as far as grabbing the stuff went, they left the house grabbing the suitcases and headed into the school. After reminding Amata that raider armor was just random materials that weren't worth too much, Kai sent her left and then went right. Of course that meant she'd see the molerat and probably be startled but it also meant she didn't have to pick her way through the body bits from his grenade. Picking through the bodies in the hall first Kai placed any good stuff in the suitcase before checking the room and grabbing stuff from it as well making sure to get the book of sheet music, before moving on to the store room and filling the suitcase. Setting it in the hall he continued in the store room stashing the rest of the loot in one of the metal boxes. Checking the bathrooms and grabbing the bottle of buffout from one he brought the box out and checked the lockers. Amata came over with the other suitcase, before taking the box to clear out the second bedroom.
Grabbing the suitcases Kai moved towards the front door, Amata moved the box over to the stairs to go up before following. Getting to the house they set the suitcases inside before leaning against the half wall outside to take a short break before continuing. Heading back he grabbed the metal box noting it was 2/3rds full and they headed up stairs and filled the box with the nuka colas and the stuff off the raider corpse that had been laying in the corner. Setting it by the stairs they head into the library store room and grab another metal box and put anything useful in it before checking the library and then the other two bodies. Taking both boxes down stairs they leave the first down there before taking the second to the basement and looting down there. Kai used the key and unlocked the door to the tunnel filling the box with the jet and psycho.
Setting the box down they head below pistols out and at the ready, Kai puts a bullet into the eye of the first ant dropping it right away. Heading down further he misses the first shot before dropping it with the second, but the next two rushed forward at the same time. Taking aim Kai dropped the left one and Amata used two shots on the right one, taking out one of it's legs before finishing it, continuing forward and having to stop for another two ants they finally made it to the open chamber. Moving into the chamber Kai listened carefully and heard ants coming out the tunnel on the back end of the chamber, crouching low he dug out a grenade and waited for them to get a bit closer. As soon as he could see three of them he pulled the pin and rolled it in backing away so he was out of range. Turning towards where the bodies were Kai could hear more ants coming down from there too, Amata stepped forward slightly as they came down towards them and shot one, leveling the pistol Kai finished the second one and they wound up both hitting the third. Not hearing any more Kai put his pistol away and approach the bodies sliding his pack around to put most of the stuff in it. One clip went in the assault rifle, the other in his pack along with a dose of jet, a chinese army spec. op. manual, two stimpacks, a blood pack, a dose of med-x, and six bottle caps. Swinging his pack back in place he picks up the assault rifle and stands. "Alright let's get out of here before more show up."
They head back up and Amata grabs box 2 on our way up to the first floor once there Kai heads over to box 1 and sets the assault rifle on top before grabbing the handles. Heading out the front they get over to the ranch house and set the boxes inside before going and getting the footlocker from behind the dumpsters and bringing it in too. It was getting late so they decided to stay in this house another night and figure out a makeshift cart in the morning. They sat down and ate old salisbury steak washed down with another nuka cola before heading to bed.
The next morning Kai heads outside and digs into some of the debris piles, unearthing a table with two of the legs busted half off and a pole. The plan starts forming in his head as he pulls two car tires that are still on the rims out of another pile. A trip across springvale and he's picking up two coils of old rope, hoping they will hold up for his plan. Kai sets the pole into the rims to create a makeshift axle then sets the table across it. Some creative tieing with the stronger rope and the table is strapped to the pole in a way that keeps it there but still allows the pole to turn with the tires. The other rope is looped around the shorter legs, then the longer ones before they are tied at the ends to create a sort of handle for him to pull it with.
A short time later and their stash so far is loaded onto the makeshift cart. Handing Amata the assault rifle and telling her stay here while he bundles up the stuff in the house, Kai heads in and trys to find a crate or something to put it in. Finding a sack under the bed he moves to the front room and loads the house loot pile into it, thankfully the sack was just big enough... maybe the previous resident was planning on relocating and had to leave the stuff behind. Kai takes the sack outside and setting it on the cart before grabbing the rope and attempting to pull it.
The rust and hill worked against him at first, but once his feet started digging in and getting grip Kai was able to get it moving towards Megaton. Getting up the hill required Amata to set the assault rifle down and help pull it up to more even ground before heading back for the rifle. They finally got it inside Megaton and into a corner where they sat down for a minute before the sheriff approached them.
"Well I'll be that's 101 security armor, your fresh out of the vault and already know how to scavenge the wasteland. Name's Lucas Simms, town sheriff and mayor when it's needed." Simms introduced himself as he came up the trail and stopped in front of the pair.
"Nice town you got here Sheriff, say any idea where I can get a hat like yours?" Kai asked with a genuine smile to show he was being honest and not making fun of it.
"Well how about that polite and friendly, I think we'll get along just fine. As for the hat I hear they have a lot of similar ones out west in the Mojave but around here I'm not sure."
"That's alright I'll find one eventually, now let's talk about that bomb down there. Shouldn't someone disarm it?" It was an obvious change of subject, but Kai didn't feel safe staying in a town with a live bomb.
"Well most don't remember that it's still a threat, and I wouldn't trust any of the locals to do it. Why you think you can? There'll be a 100 caps reward if you do." Simms seemed ready to explain what caps were before Kai spoke up.
"100 caps... that's a nice little sum of wasteland cash, alright I'll give it a shot."
"If your from the vault how did you know that caps are the currency up here?"
"I found a bag of them in dad's safe down in the vault, he only put three types of things in it; things that were valuable, things he didn't want the Overseer to find, and things that were both. Aside from that while prewar money was still used in the vault, up here where there aren't banks or a government to decide it's worth something a simpler system had to be made."
"Impressive reasoning skills... Well alright but just take a look unless your sure you can disarm it, don't go blowing us up now." Simms said before walking away presumably to patrol another part of the town.
After spending a couple minutes working out a schedule Kai heads down towards the bomb and examines it for awhile. He was fairly certain it was wired the same as other bombs so it shouldn't be hard, but he had to make a show of this so he had a reason to go to Moriarty's and set up Burke. Back in the vault Kai had discovered that pipboys had a voice recorder in them and had used it to sleep in class but still know what the teacher was saying. It had taken three months for the teacher to figure it out, of course once he did Kai was stuck in the front row for the rest of his time at school, his dad had laughed and said not to get caught next time. This voice recorder would allow Kai to give Simms the proof he would need and then he could make sure that Burke got what he deserved but Harden kept his dad.
Turning the voice recorder on then walking through the door to Moriarty's he talks to Nova and Gob first finding out what he could from them (when nobody was in the back room from Gob and what the terminal password was from Nova) and showing that they could trust him before turning and heading over to Burke. Burke seemed pleased as he started talking, "Just when I had all but given up hope, in you come. You realize you are a valuable commodity don't you?"
"What do you mean?" Kai ask, acting confused.
"You are not a resident of the cesspool known as Megaton, that means you are a free agent and very valuable individual. You have no ties to Megaton, thus no reason to care about it."
"Okay I'll bite, why does any of that matter?"
"It makes you perfect for a job, you see my employer wants this place gone and will reward you handsomely if that happens."
Playing along Kai nods slightly, "Interesting and how do you suggest we go about making that happen?"
"I have in my possession a fusion charge constructed for the purpose of blowing up the bomb in the center of this town. You attach the charge then come meet me at Tenpenny Tower, where your reward will be waiting, I guarantee the reward is more valuable than anything that knuckle dragger Simms could come up with."
"Ok how soon do you want this to happen?"
"It won't blow until the detonator is activated, however I leave tomorrow and would prefer to know it's attached by then." Burke answered as he handed Kai the fusion charge and a note for the location of Tenpenny Tower. Kai nods and heads out the door. Stopping outside he stops the recorder and adds the tower location to his map before tossing the paper. Looking around Kai finds Simms and stops him, "Listen I just had an interesting conversation with Burke that you should here. He seemed shady so I played along to find out what he wanted." Playing the recording and skipping to Burke Kai watches as Simms listens to the conversation and starts looking angry.
"Where's the the charge?" Handing it to him he smashes it to the ground before pulling the Chinese assault rifle from his back and looking at Kai, "come on kid your going to get to see some wasteland justice." Then he took off up one of the ramps. Crouching Kai grabs the charge pieces and shoves them in his pack before running after Simms, having to resort to free running to catch up. Entering the bar he walks beside Simms before stepping away slightly to get a better view of both of them. "Burke! Explain your business in Megaton."
"Sorry sheriff but what are you going on about?"
"You know damn well what I mean! You're planning on blowing up the bomb."
"Well it appears someone has been spreading rumours, I'll be sure to address the situation."
"Your under arrest Burke, at least until I figure out what the hell is going on."
"I'm afraid that isn't possible sheriff, you see I have pressing matters elsewhere that need attending."
"This isn't a discussion I'm taking you in."
"Why do you knuckle draggers always insist on doing things the hard way." Burke mutters before speaking up, "very well sheriff lead the way."
Simms turned and headed towards the door but as Burke stood to follow Kai noticed Burke's hand reaching for the pistol holstered at his hip. In what seemed like a second Kai was between him and Simms with his 10mm in Burke's face yelling at him to put the pistol down. He cocked his fist back then swung at Kai's face knocking him on his ass, before pulling his pistol and aiming at Simms. Thankfully Kai's yelling had got Simms' attention and he fired, laying Burke out with five shots in his chest, getting up Kai checks Burke for a pulse before shaking his head.
"Well I guess that's that, thanks for catching that I owe you my life. Anyways you should go see about the bomb before someone else shows up with the same idea. While you deal with it I'll clear him out and see about getting you something for your help." Simms said as he put his rifle away and walked towards Kai. Nodding his head Kai stands up and walks outside then down towards the bomb.
As he got to the bomb and approached the access panel Kai was happy to note that he could get to the panel without stepping in water higher than his boots. Ignoring Cromwell and his crazies he popped the panel open and checked the wires before reaching in and pulling one of the wires. Repeating this with the other wires and some other parts Kai put them all in his pack before closing the panel with a sigh. Checking the sun Kai estimated it took about forty five minutes to disarm, he also took note that it would be dark in a few hours. Heading up towards the gate Kai found Simms talking to Amata. "All done sheriff." he said once he was close enough.
"Well alright then that's one less thing for me to constantly worry about. Could use people like you around here, hell why don't you move in? Here's the key and deed to the house right over there, it's been empty for quite a few years. Of course your welcome to look around Burke's place too, we'll have to discuss what to do with it another time, I've got too much to do right now."
"Thank you sheriff, finding a safe place to stay and keep our things was one of our biggest problems after leaving the vault." Amata said as Kai took the key and deed placing them in his pocket.
"Also here's your share of the reward for Burke, I hope you don't mind it being a bag of stuff I felt the actual cap bounty would be better used fixing up Megaton. The cap reward from the bomb is in here too." Simms said handing Kai a bag which was apparently filled with random stuff like a surprise bag or TCG booster pack or something.
Placing the bag on the cart Kai smiled at him before picking up the cart's pull rope, "Not a problem sheriff, I'm sure it's the same decision I'd make if I was in your position." he replied before starting to pull the cart towards his and Amata's new house. A couple minutes later they arrived and he was unlocking the door. Getting their loot into the house they set it in a corner to deal with tomorrow and left the cart outside by the door also to be dealt with tomorrow. They climbed into bed too tired and relieved to have a place to stay to worry about food. Kai noted he would have to look into a bigger bed or a second one to attach to this one, two people in a small bed wasn't all that comfortable.
Getting up the next morning they sorted through their stash sorting stuff out so they could figure out where things were. The footlocker for the stuff that they wanted to leave packed up for the moment, one suitcase for ammo and the other for meds. A box for scraps & random stuff and the other metal box had a working lock so it was used as a caps stash. The sawed off was set with the crowbar and 2 batons in the locker by the door, the "ammo" suitcase nearby. The locker near the kitchen became the designated clothing storage Amata's extra jumpsuit and the female clothing bundle being the only things in it so far. Food was set on a metal shelf or in the fridge along with drinks and cooking tools (utensils, plates, pans, etc.) went on the other metal shelf with the ones already in the house. The surprise bag was left alone until later and the sack they had was used to carry the things they were looking to sell. Going outside they headed towards a place called Craterside Supply but neither of them were really prepared for the type of person they would soon deal with.
Pairing Poll
Just Amata = 0
Amata + 1 = 0
Amata + 2 = 0
Amata + 3 = 1 (Recommendation of Sarah Lyons)
So if you haven't voted on this yet feel free to do so as well as make recommendation on who should be considered.