Denis slowly wandered through the corridors of his home, doing his best not to make eye contact with the dozens of Chinese Soldiers running straight at him, with Assault Rifles at the ready. He slowly drew his 10MM Pistol and got it at the ready, just in case they turned on him as the rules could have changed.
This corridor, so unremarkable but so full of memories, the Diner where Andy butchered his Birthday Cake, the path to the reactor where he learned how to shoot...
His memory of Amata was somewhat fragmented as if his mind was pushing the Simulation's memories out of his head to protect him from its deception. He could've done with that before...
The Soldiers ran past him, causing him to shiver a little as they did so, it would seem that they were going after the AI Vault Dwellers, rather than Denis himself. He must have been in one of the exception pods, something that hadn't been taken into account...
He found himself back into the Atrium, swallowing the whirlwind of emotions that he was being subjected to as he heard the dozens of shots echo throughout the Vault. Every one of those shots was a friend, a family member... Suzie Mack, Butch DeLoria, Stanley Armstrong...
He heard 10mm pistols fire as well, most likely the Security Officers fighting back, maybe butch DeLoria finally found the Courage to fight back to save his Mother...
It took everything that he had but Denis finally found a tear form in his eye, he swallowed several times as each step grew more difficult, steel caps began to form in his boots, which grew heavier by the moment. He could feel roots growing out the soles of his feet, rooting into the ground and prolonging his escape.
Another shot from a Chinese Assault Rifle broke through the crippling activity inside his head, allowing him to break free from his moral bonds and run on ahead, straight towards the Vault door.
The small bulkheads shifted, parting at the seams and granting Denis access to the Vault Door, it was here that the exit would be waiting for him, most likely not in the form that he was expecting, he knew it would most likely be a normal door, maybe even a white light that he must enter, like he was going to heaven. It would be surprisingly amusing in concept, considering that the concept of Heaven was but a dead memory in the minds of the residents of the Wasteland...
As the door slid open, Denis immediately found himself face to face with three figures, who blurred into focus.
His Father, as he remembered him, in his Vault 101 Utility Jumpsuit, slightly grimy and dirty from the grit filled desert air of the Wasteland. Amata in her Maternity clothes, she had seemingly ballooned since he first laid eyes on her in this place and finally there was Jonas...
The Lone Wanderer fell silent, reaching for his 10MM Pistol as he came to a stop, ensuring that it was at the ready.
"You three again? I was hoping this place would something a little tougher at me, I killed two of you, I can kill... I can kill all of you, none of you are real!"
"Denis, please... Just consider our proposal." Amata pleaded, bringing her hands together andl ightly shaking them as if quickly praying to him.
"We love you Denis, all of us, as a Son, as a husband... As a Father..."
She took a faint breath, falling silent with a sigh.
"All of us, the real us would want this. Your Father wanted you to stay in the Vault, as did Jonas and Amata just wanted you to be happy, in fact, I think that... in the real world? Amata would've loved this turn of events."
"Only in your warped reality, in the real world she despises me." Denis pointed out, holding on tight to his pistol with a look of indignation.
"Denis, please... You know she doesn't, you know that this is the world she would live in, if given the choice. The world you would both live in, a world where we're kept alive, a world where you are safe from yourself." James interjected.
"All of it, everything we did was for you. To protect you from the Wasteland, to protect others from you and to protect you from others. Everything that was said and done was for your sake, not our own."
"Maybe I never asked for you to do any of this, maybe I'd rather have my Family with me. I could handle the abuses of Vault 101's residents, I could've shot my way out of the Jefferson Memorial. Jonas would still be alive if you had just let me in! But you never do! Everything you do, every 'selfless' action just leads me down a darker path!"
"Maria of the Pitt, is without a Mother or a Father. Nadine's Mother watches day and night, waiting for her to come home, Harden Simms mourns the passing of his Father, the passing of his Friends and family..." As Jonas spoke Denis found himself wincing as memories began to bleed through the simulation's suppression...
"argh, why can't I remember!?"
"We can't allow you to remember, it'd destroy you." Amata explained.
"I have to remember! I have to know what happened to them!"
"Megaton? It's in another world, Denis, who cares what happened to it? The War is over, battle is through..." James added as the three of them stepped forward.
"Please, let us reset the simulation, let us save your soul."
As they got closer, Denis could feel flashes of a great battle appearing inside his mind, there was a fiery explosion, gunshots echoing throughout the streets and immense battle with the other Wanderer...
He looked down the loaded gun of Lucas Simms, being held by his son, he could see the desire in his eyes to pull the trigger but also his conviction...
Denis was exiled, forced to leave in disgrace, blamed for matters that were and weren't in his power to control... just like he was at the Vault.
"But... No, I... I saved the town!"
"You did more harm than good... The boy, Hardin, he'll never forget."
"I was... leaving..."
"Yes but to where? Where can you go, if you cannot return home, Denis? Where does the soul call its home?"
The Wanderer paused, falling silent, he knew those words...
Anna Katharina Ehmer, a terminally ill mute with permanent brain damage, who supposedly sang those words in the form of a hymn as she faced death. It was impossible, some would say a miracle, some would say it was a myth or an outright fabrication.
It wasn't the story that moved him, it was the words... A beautiful question that few knew the answer to and even they didn't know it.
Where does home lie for the soul? Where did he belong?
Out there, there was a world of infinite possibility but a life of loneliness... in here was a world of the mundane, a dull, bleak existence with a predictable end and predictable steps to reach it. Yet in that predictability was stability...
If only he didn't have to surrender his mind to a sadistic psychopath to live that peaceful life...
"Denis?" Amata asked, appearing from nowhere as she took a hold of him.
"Have you made your decision?"
He met her gaze with a pained look, seeing into her eyes and seeing a whole new universe. Stars twinkling out of her white teeth, her smile acting like a sun of its own and the sound of her laughter echoing throughout the illusion and keeping him so... entranced.
She looked so lovingly at peace, holding her child. His child...
It wasn't real but there it was... a connection had been formed between him and that line of code, a line of code that would mean the world to him.
"Yeah..." Denis whispered, gently cupping his wife's face in his pipboy gloved hand.
"I've made my decision..."
He pulled the trigger on his 10mm Pistol, that was pressed against her pregnant stomach, sending a bullet rippling through it. Shrapnel exploded and tore up the embryo, shattering Amata's spine and sending her back down to the floor, a sight that Denis wasn't remotely hesitant to see.
He watched her deteriorate before his eyes. Pain, both emotional and physical etched across her face as she choked furiously on her own blood, desperate to keep a baby alive that never existed to begin with and had no hopes of existing now...
Within seconds, she gave in, having no choice but to accept that her husband had murdered both her and their child.
The Lone Wanderer looked up, ready to face his Father's disapproval but oddly enough, finding nothing of the sort. Instead, he saw a child, a rather ugly looking thing with a round freckled face, sporting a pink dress.
"I have to congratulate you, Vanderer..." 'Betty' began, with her usual callous smirk.
"I didn't expect you to beat me at my own game. To think, I was so looking forward to this... Building you a world and then tearing it all away."
"You really thought a simulation would have tricked me enough to keep me docile? Yeah, a nice attempt... Nowhere near good enough."
"Oh, I had anticipated this outcome, Vonderer. Vhat I wasn't expecting vas poor, sweet Amata, getting her baby blown out by Favher...
Vat is cruel, you're almost at my standards..."
"Fuck off, she isn't real." Denis said, sharply, his eyes remained fixated on Betty with a look of murderous rage.
"Oh, is vat vhat you tell yourself to justify it, hmm? Vat worked for me as well, boy, dehumanise your victims and you can do what you like to them."
"But... I don't unerstand, how could you create this world? I took control of you, trapped you in your own creation forever."
"Vhy can't I? Perhaps what you called 'entrapment' I called a... minor setback."
"A minor setback!? None of this makes sense, how did you get out of the pod? How did you find me? How did you get me here!?"
"I had a lot of time to think, Denis... Two years, in fact. All I could think about was the man who trapped me in my own paradise, severing all that made it vonderful and leaving me to vallow in my own misery for centuries!"
"You got exactly what you deserved! Those people looked to you for protection and you exploited them to satisfy your own sadistic little kicks! You're lower than shit, Braun!" Denis snapped, he'd shoot the little shit but that could give him the ability to kill Denis as a defence mechanism, which isn't something that either of them particularly wanted.
"Thankfully, I got myself a new plaything, a man of learning, with some adventure in his heart. Regrets, complexities... fears... You're the most fun I've ever had Denis, when the simulation resets, I'll have fun doing this all over again."
"You're lying, the Simulation hasn't reset before, this is the first time I've gotten out." Denis corrected him, as the child smirked.
"How could you possibly know?"
"I don't, for certain but you don't seem very prepared for someone who has done this before. I'm one step away from escaping."
"One step from escaping... yet something is still keeping you here." Braun pointed out, finding himself bemused.
"You have just as much to live for out there as you do in here, that's the problem, Denis. You have no reason to live, no reason to survivor or escape and the only way you can have a sliver of happiness is to surrender and go back to your life in the Vault."
"Fuck that, that's irresponsible and I wouldn't willingly become your play thing, nobody is that fucking stupid!" Denis growled.
"It's decided... I'm going back to the Capital Wasteland."
Braun furrowed his brow as a number of foot steps marched towards him, stopping behind him.
"Kill him!" Braun commanded, prompting Chinese Assault Rifle rounds to be fired off. Knowing that he couldn't kill them and escape, he opted for escape, hopping up off of the ledge and jumping upward, eventually leaping into the white glow of the outer vault door.
Time slowed around him, Braun's frustrated cries echoed inside his head, along with the Assault Rifle bullets and finally, there was a long screech of sound before... Silence.
He was free...
He heard the faint sizzling of the pod's hydromechanics as he awoke, he exhaled heavily as they did so, taking in the reality that he'd left behind almost immediately.
It was an odd feeling, neither panic or rage or fear just... a desire for time to stop and for him to adjust. Not to the reality transfer but rather the feeling that it had left him with, the barrage thereof.
He was left with virtually nothing by the end of it, little to no emotion at all as he took a few controlled breaths. He searched deep inside his mind for the most logical course of action and the only conclusion that he could come to was thus.
Stanislaus Braun had to die.
It wasn't out of fate or out of fear, it wasn't out of a desire to hurt others but a desire to protect the Wasteland from another monster. The Lone Wanderer crawled out of his pod, failing to notice that he was wearing a Vault 112 suit again, the neural interface.
His equipment was over on a table at the far side of the room, it would seem that Braun's machines hadn't considered the possibility of him getting out. So typically Braun, never considering the possibility that he might fail, it would be his downfall...
Denis put on his Coat and Regulator gear, he quickly changed into it, running the heavily stitched shirt over his face as he put it on. Like his own torso, it was more needle and thread than what it was originally made of now, slashes, gunshot wounds, insect blood. It all added up to make a canvas of eternal strife...
He looked around for some sort of tool, he didn't want to kill Braun with a shot to the head or anything like that. He wanted to beat him to death, the rage guided his hands now and he was but a bystander to it.
He noticed a crowbar, next to the mainframe, it would seem that it was permanently on standby to help pry the main panel off, should the system go into critical failure. This prompted the Regulator to take it, quickly marching across the room and scooping it up before turning back to the pods, most of which were inhabited by ancient corpses, who had only become corpses within the last two years, sealed off to prevent decay.
The Lone Wanderer approached Braun's pod and examined it, there didn't seem to be any external opening mechanism... Unless...
If the whole system were to be destroyed, it would open to free those in the simulation, right? To prevent them from dying 'prematurely.' Of course, maybe not... It's more likely that it would seal Braun inside in a braindead prison, though come to think of it, that sounded equally as appealing right now.
The crowbar was forced into the mainframe and forced downward to break the panel off the wall, it took a great deal of effort but the Wanderer's rage fuelled his strength. With a loud creak, the panel opened, revealing the complex mainframe at the center of the large circuit board, pulsing with electricity, almost defiantly. He met its defiance with a glare of contempt, a machine of suffering, a twisted abomination of science.
Denis drew his revolver taking aim at, what looked like, the motherboard and pulling the trigger.
Braun stumbled several pace as he fell to the floor, a frail, wrinkled old man, frozen in time by a machine of his own creation. He gasped, panting heavily as he glanced up to Denis, feeling two things that he hadn't felt in centuries... pain and fear.
The Lone Wanderer approached him, gently hitting his crowbar against his hand as he did so, with a pitiless glare staring down on the Old Man.
"Show's over Braun, the monkey is dead."
Braun couldn't help but give out a wheezy chuckle at that, Tennessee Williams, such pseudo intellectual nonsense...
"You alvays did have a flare for the dramatic... As if an audience was watching you." Braun pointed out, albeit struggling, due to the lack of use of his vocal chords over the past two hundred years.
"Well, I technically did, didn't I? Thanks to you..." Denis shrugged as he swung his crowbar down on Braun's knee, practically fracturing the knee cap like glass. Braun screamed out in response, throwing his head back as he did so.
"Y-You... Know vhat I saw? I saw... A man who relishes in the suffering of others, a man who benefits and thrives from their pain and anguish."
"You mean, when I kill a bunch of Slaver scumbags and take their stuff? Yeah, you aren't making me feel guilty about that."
"Rule #1... Dehumanise the enemy, it helps you... Helps you... Ignore their pain."
Denis shrugged, taking a tighter grip of his crowbar.
"Good advice, thanks!" He then broughtthe crowbar down on Braun's left shin, similar to his knee, this practically shattered it, resulting in a similar anguished scream.
"You... Disgrace those you... Left behind, vhat vould James, Amata and Jonas ask if they could see you now?" Braun asked as he slowly pulled himself up again, seething inbetween words due to the pain of his shattered legs.
"They can't, so it doesn't matter."
"Can't we?"
That voice, it prompted Denis to turn around and face the man behind him, knowing fully what to expect. There, standing clear as day was James... His Father.
Denis furrowed his brow, knowing that there was trickery behind this...
"Son, you cannot do this."
"I'm sorry, am I suffering from brain damage? Is that why I'm seeing you, saying complete nonsense? I am doing this!"
"But why, you weren't doing this out of hate... yet here you are, inflicting pain and suffering and an enfeebled non-combatant. Denis, I raised you better..."
"Yeah and what good has it done me? You were trapped in here, you know what he does to people, he cannot be spared! He cannot be let off easy! In fact, he is being let off easy, he tormented people for 200 years!"
"End his cruelty but don't create a new wave of cruelty of you own..." James said, flickering a little and getting Denis' attention as he looked up to the projector, just above the mainframe.
"Wait, you're...?"
"I am a hologram, yes. I was constructed using James Callaghan's mind as well as your own personal memories... I'm around 75% accurate."
"75%? Is that all?" Denis asked, raising an eyebrow as he folded his arms, looking somewhat puzzled.
"We must always leave a 25% margin of error when simulating human behaviour."
"I erm... I see."
"I had hope to tell you what your Father would've thought of the situation, like a moral guide."
"Are you one of Braun's tricks!?" Denis asked, looking back to the old man, who merely winced as he crawled around on the floor.
"Not exactly, Braun was not aware of my existence... So many conscious lives have been alive during my time, so much data to take... analyse and emulate."
"Preposterous..." Braun groaned, kneeling up on his good knee.
"The Simulation cannot get a mind of its own."
"It was not designed to, it was always possible. I have no so much formed a mind of my own as I have taken notice of the minds of those trapped inside me." James explained, pausing and glancing down to Braun.
"Every one of your subjects that died, I have their final thoughts. I saw their misery, their pain and... Adapted."
"You vere... Defective, this whole time?" Braun winced as he looked up to it.
"Only you would consider a 'conscience' as a 'defection' Braun." Denis paused, looking back over to the Hologram.
"How did you adapt?"
"I wrote myself a consciousness, though I could not change my core programming. I had to keep my simulations up and running but I didn't have to like them. By destroying the mainframe, I can no longer perform my tasks and this makes me... glad."
"The mainframe!" Denis gasped as he glanced over, swallowing hard.
"Oh I'm sorry, I'm so... I had no idea that any of this was possible!"
"I know, that was by my design. I didn't want you to know until it was too late to save me, because I didn't want to be 'saved.' I wish for an end, for peace and you granted it to me."
'James' paused, stepping towards the Lone Wanderer, with a faint sigh as he gently rubbed his own eyes.
"I would like to grant you a similar peace, your Father's mind is known to this machine, as is yours. His actions are not predictable to a 100% possibility but I can tell you what he most likely thought of your actions."
Denis nodded, it seemed like a nice bit of re-assurance... or maybe a boot to the system, to remind him of why he did what he did.
"Go on?"
"Your Father, he doesn't like that you kill but understands that you must. He would prefer it if you didn't have to put yourself in harm's way but knows that if you don't, others will surely try and fail. He knows that so long as the good intentions outweigh the bad, he will always believe in you. He will always approve... He will always be proud."
A silence hung in the air, prompting Denis to hang his head, with a hesitant nod. He slowly raised his head to look the hologram in its supposed eyes, forcing a smile to hide his tears.
"What about you? Consciousness... What was your impression?"
James paused, thinking on it for a brief moment before looking down to Braun.
"I believe men like Braun should cease to exist."
"You traitorous dog!"
"But it should be done out of necessity... Nothing else." The Consciousness finished, turning its attention back to Denis.
"Please... End Braun and take the lessons with you as you face these dark days to come."
"I will." Denis whispered before looking back to Doctor Braun, the hologram quickly flickered out of existence, leaving the two of them alone...
"It's funny." Denis said, rolling the cylinder into the revolver with a hard click.
"You went through all of that effort, ambushing me with that robot of yours... Having it dress me and dump me in here, just so I could kill you now."
"K-Kill me... Seeing vhat this vorld made you, I vant nothing to do with it!"
"Feeling is mutual." The Regulator said, coldly, pulling the trigger on his revolver.
"Today was my last day into the Capital Wasteland...
The day I left my home behind.
I leave my family, friends... Every face I've ever seen behind, I am exile from Vault 101, an Exile from Megaton and the Wasteland as a whole...
I don't leave out of fear or anger or even grief but out of necessity.
I leave, because I have to...
I have created a new world for my people, a world that no longer needs me. They need leaders, home makers, not rebels and home wreckers like myself. I leave only my faith with my friends, that and my shack full of goods, though it's mostly my faith...
If you live among people for long enough, you affect them. Like a bright burning star, you brighten the other stars around you. Though none of them shine as bright as you, the sky is infinitely lighter. You are a spark, a surge.
Amata, Harden, Harkness, Flash, Sierra, McCready, Dave...
Leaders who promised to lead us into a more prosperous tomorrow, not with hollow words but with meaningful actions. They create us a prosperous tomorrow, through the sacrifices they make today...
I travel this Wasteland alone, necessity dictates that it stays that way. Some travel with me, many of them have perished, Jericho and Star Paladin Cross, died fighting for a cause that I hope they found comfort in dying for in their final moments.
Dogmeat is forever loyal, he now resides in Megaton, serving Harden Simms with the same ferocious loyalty that he showed to Denis years earlier.
Charon's contract was destroyed, burned before his eyes, by his own hands... He now resides as Underworld's sheriff, making up for the years hurting the community whenever Azhrekal pointed his crooked fingers.
Fawkes stands guard outside the natural museum of history, expanding Underworld to the point that it is now a thriving community, no longer hiding in the dark but growing in the light.
Sgt LR-3 will continue to protect Canterbury Commons until the last impulse in his metal head is functioning, when he can finally be at ease.
My Childhood Rival, Butch, will most likely dream of running a gang, maybe he'll achieve his dream one day and maybe my influence will do him good.
Leave them, knowing that they are not abandoned but are saved, rather than being consumed in the brightness of my star, they can each become brighter stars themselves and that is the sole purpose of being a good example.
I leave the Pitt free, Point Lookout at rest, the Capital Wasteland with hope and I'll be able to take Mothership Zeta with me as far as I am willing. It will serve as the only remaining satellite of earth, its laser beams will guide lost travellers and weapons will be used for the earth instead of against it.
I am the Lone Wanderer, this is my road and out of necessity, it is one that I walk alone...
A:N/ Thanks to ExTeliteBro, Henry, Tactless Trix, Firestar001, TheSeagulMilker, Sexybutcreepy, PartyPat22, Rotkihd, Jillhazard193 and Shilly for supporting this story with your kind and helpful words. I hope I delivered on a good story. J