- "No, no, get away from me. No!"
Amy jolted awake and sat up in her bed, breathing hard. It was still early, barely any light entered the room. While her eyes were still adjusting, Amy could see nothing but darkness, and her mind still halfway in the dream world, she wondered if she finally managed to escape from the Burning Man or if we was still there, behind the door, ready to burst into the room, arms flailing and mouth open as if in a silent scream.
She remained sitting in bed for some time, then finally got up, clumsily put on her Vault suit and went downstairs to get some water.
- "Another nightmare?" asked Shroud.
- "Yeah. I'm getting them every night now. Always the same thing." she shook her head. "Stupid nightmares. At least I don't have to worry about waking anyone up anymore."
- "There are advantages in having your personal place."
- "Yeah. It was fun living with Moira. But I can still come and visit her. Now at least I don't have to go outside if I want to be alone for a bit. "
- "Everything here in its' proper place? Are there any improvements you feel you could make to this dwelling?"
- "I mean, it's much better than living in the Common House. I don't know, it's fine. It's great." Amy poured some water into a glass and took a long drink, emptying about half of it. Then a hint of a mischievous smile appeared on her face. "You know what this place could really use?"
- "Do tell."
- "A robo-butler!"
- "I'm not totally sure I'm following."
- "A Mister Handy, like Andy from the Vault. Except actually functioning. But with the same accent. He could tidy the place up while I'm away and greet me when I come in. And he could bring me drinks of water when I ask. And he would tell me corny jokes. Oh, and he would cut my hair."
- "Hmmmm. I believe I could manage the accent. And the corny jokes."
- "Yeah that's the only kind of jokes you could manage. But can you give me drinks of water? And haircuts? Huh?"
- "Well, due to my nature I believe I would struggle to accomplish those tasks."
- "See? No, I will accept no compromise. It's robo-butler or nothing!"
- "I'm afraid 'nothing' is a likely outcome here."
- "Killjoy." Amy smirked. "But seriously, this isn't the Vault. There were never going to be food dispensers and a hot shower. This is great. I still can't believe Simms gave me my own house in Megaton. Most people here live their whole lives without ever having the chance. " She cast a long look over her bedroom. "No, it's pretty much perfect. " her eyes fell on her bed, still messy. "Maybe this would be better over there. Hold on..."
Amy moved the bed, its legs making a screeching metallic sound. She took a few steps back and gave a satisfied nod of the head. "Yes, this is better." She tapped her index finger lightly against her chin. "You know, maybe the table downstairs... "
About two hours later, the rays of sunlight were already breaking through the window. Amy stopped and lightly hit her forehead with her fingers.
- "Damn it, I need to go now. I should have left already."
- "We have plenty of time, but it would be better not to dawdle for too long. You should pack some dried meat."
- "Yes, yes. Shit, where's my backpack?"
Yesterday Simms told her that he had an important mission for her. About half a day to a day east of Megaton, the Brotherhood of Steel had their main base of operations, in a placed called The Citadel. Simms wanted Amy to go there and talk to the Brotherhood about setting up trade with Megaton. There were things Simms didn't say but Amy could 'read between the lines'. It sounded like this wasn't the first time Simms tried to set up trade with the Brotherhood, evidently previous attempts have failed. It also sounded like Simms was hoping to eventually expand the relationship with the Brotherhood beyond just trade.
On the whole, Amy got the impression that Simms was sending her with hope rather than expectation - her mission was a long shot. Still, she felt honored to be entrusted with something so important to the settlement. Yesterday she talked to Lesko, Moira, Billy Creel, Manya and others hoping to learn more about the Brotherhood, but nobody seemed to really know anything about them. The best and only source of information about the Brotherhood was Galaxy News Radio, and the DJ there, Three Dog, seemed determined to paint a picture of the Brotherhood using only the brightest, warmest colors.
Amy tried to pack lightly - she took food and water, her rifle and 10 mm and some ammo and her sleeping bag. The best route to the Citadel was dangerous but she was going to try and sneak past any dangers rather than engage them. She wanted to get there as quickly as she could.
Recently the days started getting colder but it seemed like today was going to be warm. The sun was already shining brightly in a cloudless sky that was a light, delicate shade of blue. A pleasant breeze was blowing from the east. Out by the old granary Amy had to shoot a bloatfly that seemed to take an unhealthy interest in her, but otherwise the local wildlife seemed content to go about its business today. She allowed her thoughts to drift.
Amy felt an intense curiosity about the Brotherhood. They had powerful pre-war weapons and armor. They arrived in the Capital Wasteland some years ago, from somewhere far away. Their numbers were large but not unlimited. They didn't seem interested in taking over territory - if they had been, Megaton, being so close, would've been the first target for their expansion. But what did they want? What were their goals? Beyond Galaxy News Radio's vague insistence that they were there to 'keep Wasteland safe' Amy could only guess. She was hoping that after today, she would know more.
The safest route to the Citadel lay along the south bank of the Potomac river. Further south lay the scavenger territory - a long expanse of pre-war ruins filled with dangerous wildlife and more dangerous people.
The scavenger lands were a number of small settlements constantly fighting among each other over valuable 'claims' - pre-war ruins that still weren't completely looted of anything of value. They traded actively with passing caravans. A caravan would never ever be attacked in the scavenger territory - on the contrary, the locals would happily guide them through the safest routes through the ruins, bypassing any places where predators were known to attack people. Lucky Harith swore that he felt safer in the scavenger lands than he had anywhere outside Canterbury Commons. The scavengers' goodwill wasn't limited to caravans but to anyone who was willing to buy their pre-war artifacts. However, as far as they were concerned, if you weren't there to trade, you were there to be killed and robbed of anything valuable - and by that, they meant anything you had on you.
Some years ago a man called Guai Rider Lou - the nickname referred to a story that he tamed a Yao Guai, obvious bullshit - unified the scavenger settlements. The unified scavenger coalition then attacked Megaton but was defeated, after which it broke apart and the scavengers went back to fighting amongst each other. Occasionally the most desperate of them would mount expeditions across the river into the DC ruins. This was all that Amy learned about the scavengers from others in Megaton, but the main lesson that all of them tried to impress on her, was to keep away from their territory. She intended to follow that lesson.
Amy took the route along the river, using the ruins of building by the shore as cover. The river looked beautiful in the late morning sun, the way the sunlight reflected from the water, almost undisturbed except for the light breeze. The way the waves gently lapped against the shore felt so peaceful. Amy spent long enough in the Wasteland to know that this was an illusion - beneath the water there were mirelurks - whole nests of them. People even said that down here you could run into a mirelurk king. Amy heard many things about them - that armor was useless against them, that they could kill you by 'screaming at you'. She didn't know how much of it was true - Wastelanders loved making up tall tales of fantastical and frightening creatures, as if there was a shortage of real ones. Still, she wasn't eager to find out - she could handle one or two mirelurks but a whole group of them was something she'd rather avoid.
So far everything was going exactly to plan. Amy saw a number of mirelurks, wandering along the shore, but none of them spotted her. She had to move slower than the would have liked, but some hours later she was nearing the Citadel. There was one change she had to make to her plan - she saw a ruined bridge from some distance away and thought that this would be a great spot to take a rest and eat - it looked safe from the mirelurks below. When she got nearer, however, it turned out that she wasn't the only one who got that idea - she saw human figures moving inside the bridge. Probably scavengers, setting up camp before one of their insane expeditions across the river into the DC ruins. This was annoying, but there was enough rubble around for her to sneak past them.
Once one of the scavengers got close, but in the end she snuck past them without any problems. This was going too well, thought Amy, this couldn't have been so simple. The Wasteland was probably just biding its time, lulling her into a false sense of security, only for her to be surrounded by a whole pack of deathclaws, or something almost as fatal. But a couple of hours later, her fears proved unfounded, and she was standing in front of the Citadel.
It was incredible. Breathtaking. To Amy, who for the first nineteen years of her life though that the Vault atrium was architecturally impressive, this thing she was looking at was mind-boggling. She remembered someone in Megaton, probably Lesko, telling her that there were even more impressive buildings in the center of the DC ruins, but surely that wasn't possible. The sheer impracticality of the design, all these columns. There was something arrogant about this huge structure, thought Amy. The pre-war people were flaunting the power of their civilization, their wealth, their technology. Look at this, the building said. Look at what we can do. In the end, just as their civilization was destroyed in the nuclear fire, this monument to their power and their hubris somehow ended up the only thing mostly intact among the ruins.
Amy forcibly stopped her train of thought. She had no time for fantasies, she thought, she had an important job to do. She started looking for an entrance to this gargantuan structure.
The entrance didn't prove difficult to find. In front of it, she saw two people in power armor. It looked like they were talking to each other and didn't notice her. This was an opportunity, thought Amy. She knew so little about the Brotherhood, she needed every little bit of information she could get before talking to them. The surroundings seemed completely safe, so she hid behind a piece of rubble, sat still and focused her hearing on the conversation between the two.
- " ... but it's impossible!"
- "You saw the reports yourself."
- "Yes, but ... it's nonsense. I know what it is. You have all these new recruits and their tribal folk tales. All it takes is for one of them to start telling stories. And then - you know what combat stress can do. Suddenly everyone starts seeing supermutants around every corner."
- "Come on Bael. These aren't wastelander recruits. There are multiple confirmed reports from our best, most experienced people. Hoss, Durga. Rothchild, for God's sakes. Face it, this is real."
- "And I keep telling you, it can't be. Come on, do you remember history or did you sleep through it? On April 20th, 2162, the Brotherhood under Elder John Maxson has defeated the abomination known as Master and its army of supermutants, with the help of the Vault Dweller."
- "Wasn't it the other way round? Elder John Maxson helped the Vault Dweller?"
- "Whatever. The point is, the supermutants were defeated. In '62. Back in California, all the way across the continent. How can they be here, now?"
- "I don't know Bael. Maybe they're very common post-war. Maybe they multiply by spores or something. Or perhaps they migrate, like the birds."
- "Ha-ha, Gertz." Amy heard something that sounded like an exasperated sigh. "Fact is, there is no possible explanation for how these things could be here."
- "If you can't explain something doesn't mean it's not happening. I can't explain why you're getting more annoying with each passing day but I can definitely observe it happening."
"You can't explain it because it isn't happening. Another thing, if these monsters are running around all over North America, how come we're only receiving reports about them now? We've been in the DC area for some years already."
- "Because we're trying to cover more and more territory, getting further and further away from the base of operations. We're going into more dangerous areas, stretching ourselves thin."
- "That's the first thing you said that makes sense. Yes, we're overextending. With how many people we've lost on the way here, we should be consolidating, securing this place and studying all the technology we've found here. Instead, Elder Lyons wants to play at being a protector of the Wasteland or some such nonsense. I think he's looking to declare himself a petty king of this area and rule over the savages. He thinks himself above the most basic tenets of the Brotherhood."
- "Now you sound like Casdin and his Outcasts"
- "No!" Amy could've easily heard this outburst without making any effort to focus on their voices. The one called Bael now sounded genuinely angry. "I'm not like them! The Chain That Binds still means something to me. They've betrayed our most basic principles!"
- "OK Bael, just breathe now. Look at the nice calm river over there."
Amy heard something like an annoyed snort. "They're deserters. That is all they are. We can't betray the chain of command no matter how misguided the command is. All we can do is try to make Elder Lyons see how much his power trip is hurting this chapter. Or hope that someone more suitable takes command instead of him."
- "Can you just ... try thinking before you say things out loud, OK?" Amy saw one of the figures looking in different directions, as if checking who is around.
- "Don't tell me you don't think the same. Besides ... something isn't right here. All the little things that's been going wrong recently, all the accidents that keep happening. This isn't a coincidence. Someone out there is screwing with us. And they're doing a pretty good job."
- "And you accuse me of not making any sense" Amy heard something like a chuckle.
Amy would love to listen to these two some more but she could see other figures in power armor nearby and was getting worried that she would be spotted. With how on edge these two seemed, she would hate to be accused of spying on the Brotherhood. Especially since it kind of was exactly what she was doing. When neither of these two were looking in her direction she scrambled out of her cover and started walking towards them.
- "Hey Bael, I think you have a visitor. Someone you know?"
- "What do you want, wastelander?" there was a definite disdain in the way Bael said the last word.
- "Hi. I'm Amy." neither men seemed impressed with the introduction but it was hard to tell with both of their faces completely hidden behind their power armor helmets. "I'm here on behalf of a nearby settlement, Megaton. I'd like to talk to your leader."
The one called Gertz held his arm out in front of his comrade, as if forming a barrier between him and Amy, while taking a step forward at the same time. "Wastelander, Elder Lyons is very busy with many important matters. He can't unfortunately talk to every one of the locals who wants to see him. Believe me, there are many. But you can talk to us, instead. We've been entrusted to speak on behalf of the Brotherhood of Steel when dealing with the outsiders. This is our task, to guard the entrance and to talk to any visitors."
The one called Bael made a noise that Amy found hard to decipher.
- "OK. I've been sent to ask if the Brotherhood wants to set up trade with the settlement of Megaton."
- "Brotherhood of Steel does not trade with sav... wasteland settlements." said Bael.
Gertz sighed. "This isn't always the case. What is it you're hoping to get from us? We don't have stores of, um, bottlecaps."
- "Oh, we're fine with barter. We were hoping you'd trade some of your technology with us. Especially anything to do with agri ..."
Bael let out a long sigh. Gertz lifted up his arm "Let me stop you there. Brotherhood of Steel does not trade technology with outsiders."
- "Oh, OK, but ..." Amy looked at Gertz uncertainly "We're not looking for any military technology necessarily, if that's what you're thinking, just the basic ..."
- "Let me make it very clear, wastelander. Brotherhood of Steel does. Not. Trade. Any technology. With outsiders." there was a definite edge to Gertz's voice now.
- "OK. OK. " Amy's eyebrows shot up but she tried to keep her expression as neutral as possible. "There are other things we could be interested in. " She remembered Simms' instructions. "Ammo would be good. 10 mm, 5.56, 7.62. Anything you have that you're OK to trade, really. Scrap metal would be good too, we'd be happy to trade for that."
- "We may have some ammo we don't need. I'd have to clear it with the Elder."
- "Seriously?" Bael looked at Gertz, Amy suspected that underneath the helmet his expression wasn't friendly.
- "Like I said, I'd have to clear it with others and ultimately with Lyons." Gertz turned back towards Amy. "We certainly have scrap metal we can trade. But what can your settlement offer the Brotherhood? What are you looking to trade?"
- "Molerat meat and skins, mutfruit, razorgrain, mirelurk shell - in smaller quantities, brahmin milk, meat and hides ..." Amy rattled off the list.
- "Right, I'll stop you there. Brotherhood is not looking to trade for food and other raw materials."
- "Oh, I , uh, we thought that with so many people who all need to be fed ... "
- "Brotherhood has always tried to not depend on, ahem, locals for basics like food. At present our supplies are sufficient. I'm afraid there is nothing you can offer us."
- "Oh. OK. Are you sure?"
- "We're very sure, wastelander."
- "OK, Uhm ... " Amy squinted in concentration. "Is there anything else the Brotherhood of Steel needs?"
- "Mhhm." Gertz thought "Does your settlement scavenge pre-war artifacts?"
- "Not that much ..." Amy started "but we have some. Yes"
- "Brotherhood isn't looking for simple things like fission batteries. But if you happen to find something that looks complicated, we may be interested."
- "Oh come on, are we going to be like the Outcasts now?" Bael sounded annoyed.
- "These 'Outcasts' are looking to trade for technology then?" Amy deduced.
Gertz turned his head towards Bael and looked at him for several seconds. Then turning back towards Amy he said. "The Outcasts are a faction that we've not had much contact with recently. I wouldn't recommend dealing with them."
- "Why?"
- "They're ... we don't approve of their goals. Besides, I think they already trade for pre-war technology with settlements to the south of here."
- "The Scavengers. Of course." nodded Amy.
- "So, you can take that back to your settlement, wastelander." Gertz started turning around.
- "Wait! There are people in our settlement who want to join Brotherhood of Steel."
- "Yes? We prefer children, the younger the better. Easier to start teaching our values from a younger age. Do you have orphans, perhaps?"
- "No, not really." Amy remembered Bryan but she just couldn't picture him joining a group like this. Besides Manya and Nathan seemed happy looking after him. "But there is someone who really wants to join you. It's been his dream for years. He never shuts up about it." Amy smiled. "He's an adult but he's young. I , know people in the settlement treat him like shit, just because he's a ghoul, but hopefully with you ..."
- "Wait. wait. Did you say he is a ... ghoul?" There was something odd about Gertz's tone. Amy nodded.
It was strange to hear the sound of guffawing, snorting and snickering from behind Gerts's power armor helmet. It was so at odds with the intimidating look of his armor. About a minute later he regained his ability to talk. Bael, who didn't seem to share his companion's amusement said "I think it's about time to end this discussion."
- "No, wait, wait!" Gertz turned to him, then back to Amy. "Please wastelander, tell us more. Is there anybody else in you settlement ... " he seemed on the verge of succumbing to another bout of laughter but then he took a deep breath and continued. "is there anybody else who wishes to join the Brotherhood of Steel?"
Amy didn't really want to continue - at this point she had a pretty good idea of the response she was getting - but she felt obliged. "There is also Jericho. He's an ex-raider. He doesn't really want to join the Brotherhood as such but he wants to work with ..."
She was interrupted by another bout of giggling and snickering from Gertz. Bael turned around and shook his head. Finally Gertz drew a deep breath. "Oh lord in heaven. You know what you should do? You should travel between settlements and tell jokes for a living. I'm sure you'd get lots of bottlecaps." he looked down and gave a brief shake of the head. "But, I'm sorry to tell you, these are not the kind of recruits the Brotherhood is looking for."
- "OK." Amy nodded, still trying to keep her expression neutral. "I'll take the news back to them. I hope we can have more dealings in future." she turned around and started walking back, then abruptly turned around.
- "You know, I listen to Galaxy News Radio. The whole settlement does. What is it that the man on the radio says? 'Spare a thought for the boys and girls of the Brotherhood, fighting the Good Fight, keeping the Wasteland safe'. Is that what 'The Good Fight' looks like? Because that's not the same Brotherhood they talk about on that station. So maybe they could have less lies and more music, because the music is not bad, at least? Could you get that approved with your superiors?"
Once again Gertz stepped forward and formed a barrier with his arm between Bael and Amy. "The Brotherhood of Steel does keep the area safe, wastelander. We have lost many people doing so. There are threats you're probably not even aware of, because we are dealing with them. The Brotherhood is not here, however, to cater to the needs of every local settlement. We have our own goals and we pursue them, first and foremost. This doesn't mean that we can't have mutually beneficial dealings, however."
Amy took a long deep breath. She then nodded. "I will take this back to my people. Thank you for this conversation."
After walking back a safe distance, Amy once again crouched behind a piece of rubble and focused her hearing on the distant voices of the two men from the Brotherhood of Steel. She really felt like she wanted nothing more to do with these two, she just wanted to get back to Megaton, but any information could be valuable.
- " ... and that's exactly what I've been telling you" this was Bael's voice, once again focusing on it took very little effort. "This 'Third Dog' or whatever he calls himself keeps going on and on about how the Brotherhood is here to save the Wasteland and so on and so forth. So now every time one of these people falls and scrapes their knee they're wondering why the Brotherhood isn't there to put a plaster on it. I told you, this station is not just a waste of resources, it's actively harmful. This is why Lyons keeps throwing resources at it, though. Our people are listening to this too. He wants to make everyone here forget everything that Brotherhood stands for and believe that the reason we're here is to defend these wastelanders. That this is our purpose. That's why we're recruiting so many useless locals, too. They'll of course be very receptive to the idea."
- "Look, Bael, let's just talk about this later, OK? I'm hungry now. Let's eat. Over there is a good spot."
- "Later? When? When we're recruiting ghouls and raiders?"
- "Oh will you give it a rest? God, I hope you're less of a pain after you're full. I think that ..."
The voices now started to grow more distant and it became too hard to recognize the words. It was getting dark, so Amy started to look for a safe spot to camp for the night.
Amy headed back to Megaton the next morning, at dawn. The journey back was just as uneventful as the journey there. She successfully sneaked past the scavenger camp under the bridge - they must have had a guard out but it looked like the rest of them were sleeping. Once she spotted a group of mirelurks shuffling in that strange walk of theirs in her direction but she hid behind some rubble and they went away. She got back to Megaton by early evening.
Simms wasn't surprised to hear that Brotherhood weren't interested in trading, just as Amy suspected. He was very interested to hear about disagreements in the Brotherhood and especially about the Outcasts and their interest in technology.
- "If you ever happen to find out any more about them, especially where their base is ... "
- "I'll come straight to you." nodded Amy.
Seeing Simms looking rather pleased in the end made Amy feel better about her journey. Perhaps Simms was right and there were positives to be found there.
Walking back from Simms' house Amy spotted Billy Creel on the steps to Craterside Supplies and called out to him.
- "Billy! Hi. Sorry, it's just the last time we saw each other ..."
- "Yeah." Billy walked towards her. "I'm sorry about that. I was an asshole." he shook his head. "Truth is, you saved our asses back there. Nobody knew they had explosives. When they started throwing that stuff at us ... " for a few seconds Billy's glazed over stare went right through Amy. "I thought, that was it. And then, who was gonna take care of Lucy and Maggie? As bad as it was back there, it could've been so much worse." Billy's eyes focused on Amy again. "It's just, to see you do that shit ... "
- "I know. I feel like everyone is staring at me all the time now." Amy looked around uncomfortably. "It doesn't make sense to me either. It's just something I could help with. But it's still me. I'm still the same Amy."
- "You kill enough people, you ain't gonna be the same no more. Trust me on this." Billy said sadly.
- "I don't think that's true. It doesn't have to be true."
Billy threw a quick glance towards the Megaton houses. "I just want to keep Maggie away from all this. I don't even want her to ever know about all this shit."
Amy smiled sadly. "I don't think you can. Not forever"
- "Well, I'm sure as fuck gonna try." Billy looked at Amy "Oh, I'm really sorry about Tom. Weren't you and him ...?"
- "No, not really" Amy shook her head. "Kind of, but not actually ... " she sighed. "You knew him?"
- "I know a bunch of people in Springvale, his folks too. They've come back to the farm now."
- "All the raiders are gone?"
- "A few of them escaped but they ain't coming back any time soon, I reckon. Springvale's safe now."
- "I should go see them." Amy sighed. "So, how is Lucy?"
- "Yes, thanks, she's doing real good. Not long now, should be month and a half, tops. " Billy grimaced. "I just hope it goes well. Manya says she'll be there, she helped deliver like half the town's people in her lifetime. She said most of them went well."
- "Good. Amy nodded. I'll be there too, but I case I can't make it, remember ..."
She told Billy everything she read about birth and what you should and shouldn't do before, during and after. Billy's face was a picture of concentration as he kept nodding. Amy hoped he would remember at least some of it. Didn't matter, she thought, she would definitely be there.
- "So, do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"
- "No. How would we know?"
Amy slapped her forehead lightly. "Sorry, back in the Vault you had tech..."
"Right." Billy nodded. "I reckon it's gonna be a boy. 'Course, Lucy insists it's a girl. Says she can 'sense' it." Billy smirked "Yeah, that's complete bunk. Right?" he looked at Amy uncertainly.
- "Well, I have no personal experience. But no, you can't 'sense' something like this."
- "Right. Yeah. Try telling Lucy though. She's totally sure it's a girl."
- "What makes you think it's a boy then?"
Billy looked at Amy with a glib expression. "'Cause I can sense it."
Amy smirked "What about Maggie?"
- "She's being all diplomatic. 'If it's a little brother I'll really love him and if it's a little sister I'll really love her'."
- "Awwww"
- "Yeah" Billy smiled. "You know, you should come over to our house. Lucy really enjoyed having you over the other day."
- "I'd love to, thank you."
It was good to know that the rest of Tom's family were safe. With a heavy heart Amy went to their farm.
The farm where Tom's family lived didn't look any different from any others in Springvale. Same destroyed building with holes filled as best as the people living there were able to. One of the walls was destroyed almost completely and they had to build a new one, from dried mud bricks. Same strip of land nearby where they grew taters and razorgrain. Tom's family was among the poorer in Springvale and didn't have their own brahmin.
The whole family was there, Tom's mother and father and his younger sister, Molly. They buried Tom in the back, right by the tater field - his grave was marked by a crude wooden cross made from two tree branches. As simple as it was, Amy found it more comforting somehow than incinerating the dead, the way it was done in the Vault. It was good to have something left of the departed, instead of the complete and irrevocable finality of incineration.
Amy could see that the family was hurting but there was an air of fatalism about them. Even the thirteen-year old Molly had a resigned look on her face. The Wasteland gave and the Wasteland took. Even if it gave very little and it took almost everything. That's the way things worked here. And Amy started to feel anger inside her. Dammit, the world didn't need to be this way. It could be better. It should have been better than this.
Going back to Megaton, Amy decided that she'd quickly drop into Moriarty's Saloon. It's been a while since she saw Gob and Nova, it was about time she had a chat with them. She felt a nervous about seeing Gob. Would he know that she went to meet with the Brotherhood? It was unlikely, Simms was very adamant that she not tell anyone about her journey. Still, in Megaton any secret had a way of becoming common knowledge in no time at all. If Gob knew, what would she tell him? She couldn't possibly tell him the truth. She'd come up with something, Amy decided.
There was another reason she wanted to go there. Amy very rarely drank alcohol but tonight she felt like she she wanted a drink of something, even if it was Moriarty's nasty moonshine that burned the throat on its way down.
It was already getting quite dark, so Amy noticed the light of Moriarty's cigarette before she saw the stocky figure of the man himself. Shit, he was about the last person in Megaton she wanted to talk to right now. There was very little space on the walkway but perhaps she could sneak by him? If he was distracted and she'd just step into that shadow over there ...
- "Hey, it's the killing machine from the Vault"
- "Don't call me that!" bristled Amy.
- "If you insist, if you insist." Moriarty spread his arms in an exaggerated gesture. "You know, I may have work for you. Very good caps."
- "Goddamnit Moriarty, how many times ..."
- "Oh I don't mean my previous offer of employment. For someone of your talents, I can offer far more interesting work."
- "You know, seeing the way you treat other people who work for you, I think I'll have to refuse." Amy fixed Moriarty with an intense stare. "Did you know that Simms gave me my own house? I've just come back from a mission he gave me. Simms listens to me now. I'll be sure to talk to him about the way you treat Gob and Nova. Oh and about all the chems you sell in your saloon. What, did you think I didn't know?"
Moriarty's mouth stretched into a wide grin. "Oh you little confused flower. Did you think that would be news to Simms? You clearly don't understand the way our dear Sheriff thinks. I guess you don't understand much of anything. Not to worry, you leave the thinking to me, you just do what you do best."
It was then that all the anger Amy was feeling boiled over and crystallized into a very simple and clear thought. This was an enemy. He had to be eliminated. She felt the sounds grow muted and everything started slowing down as her hand was reaching for her 10 mm. She shook her head "No no, that's not ... "
Amy looked at Moriarty. The look on his face changed, he was holding his hands in front of him while taking careful steps backwards.
- "OK, I can see that you're upset now. We could talk some other time than, that's fine. You just take it real easy now, just nice and ..." just then Moriarty, his movements surprisingly agile for a man of his size, opened the door to his saloon and darted inside.
- "Dammit I didn't ... That asshole! Hhhhuuuuuurrrrggghhh" Amy tried to let all her frustration out with a single breath. She really didn't feel like going into the saloon now, so she went to talk to Moira.
Today Craterside Supplies seemed much more of a mess than usual. Amy spotted bits of scrap metal lying on the floor - normally Moira kept the shop very tidy, she certainly would never have misplaced merchandise lying around. Moira herself was even more talkative than usual, Amy could hardly get a word in edgeways. Otherwise she was her usual cheerful self, but there seemed to be something determined about that cheerfulness. Couple of times Amy caught glances which seemed - nervous?
Amy was just looking at an old-world object, trying to identify it. Crazy Wolfgang's been in town recently and as always he sold Moira a bunch of mysterious pre-war artifacts. After every one of his visits Moira would get Amy to try and figure out the purpose of some of the gizmos she was left with. Amy was usually really good at it, but this time around she had absolutely no idea what the thing in her hand was used for. It looked like it was a part of some industrial machinery, a rather small and peripheral part, but beyond that it was anyone's guess. She was just about to tell this to Moira, but when she looked up she saw her friend staring at her, silently and intensely. For a second, Moira seemed to look really worried, almost terrified.
- "You know, never mind about that thingy, why don't you just put it over there. Hey, I got a new chair here. Skinny Tim made it. Here, why don't you give it a try. Pretty comfortable, right?"
Amy sat in the chair. It was made of metal and in truth a lot less comfortable than Moira claimed.
- "So, uhmmm ... yeah. You know when I told you that I'd get Wolfie to turn Canterbury Commons inside out to find some news about your father? Well ... I have some news."
- "You have?! Tell me!" Amy jumped out of the chair.
- "Oh sure thing, just ..." Moira gently pushed Amy back down. "OK, so ..." She glanced at Amy, took a deep breath and then took the plunge.
- "So this merchant, Moonshine Ken they call him. He found Old Luke's caravan. East of here, about halfway to Evergreen Mills. It was out of the way of the usual trade routes. It looks like it got ambushed by raiders. They had a lot of mercs, a bunch of others with guns but it was a big group of raiders that attacked them, out in the open and they hit them from all sides. It ... uh ... doesn't look like anyone made it out."
Amy slumped back in the chair as her legs seemed to give way.
- "Oh I'm so so sorry, are you ... I'm really sorry." Moira repeated.
- "Did they find the body?" Amy heard herself say.
- "Well, uhm, when Ken found the caravan it looks like it was a while ago after it happened, so it was, uhm, hard to tell who was who in there."
Moira sat in front of her on her haunches. She was saying something but Amy couldn't hear her. She looked past her, past the walls of the store. She saw the wasteland, dry cracked ground in the bright sunlight. The ground was strewn with bodies lying in strange poses, bloodstains all over the clothes. She saw two or three bloatflies buzzing over a dead brahmin. Next to the brahmin, one of the bodies stood out from the rest because of the blue jumpsuit. In spite of the red stains covering it, one could just about make out the numbers on the back, 101.
Amy spent the next few days in her house. Moira came often. She brought food, Amy ate it. Other people were there too, Billy might have been there, Amy wasn't sure. When she got really tired she would sleep, fitfully. From time to time the pain came in unbearably intense but mercifully short bouts and Amy would lay on her bed wailing into her pillow but most of the time she felt numb, almost disconnected.
Shroud kept on saying something about justice and vengeance. It was so completely incongruous and asinine, Amy wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with it, so she just ignored it. Some days later, she wasn't sure how many, she came outside. She hoped that the sunlight and fresh air would make her feel better but it didn't seem to make her feel anything. Still, she knew it was good for her health so she kept on doing it.
After some time she started hunting again. That dispassionate focus she felt just before shooting the animal was a relief. Amy wanted to find a way to make it permanent somehow, but that wasn't how it worked. It was during one of the hunts that the thought first came to her. The fragments of memories that kept on swirling around in her mind suddenly connected in that really bizarre way. Marigold station, and the tunnel she and Lesko used to escape from the ants. And Moira's words - " out in the open and they hit them from all sides". The remains of the pre-war metro were a terrifying place that until recently she tried hard to forget, but what if more safe passages could be found in that sprawling, labyrinthine underground network? What if some passages could be made safe?
The thought was insane on several different levels, so she ignored, but it refused to go away. She talked about it to Shroud, he was very enthusiastic about it - she should have probably expected it. The idea was still completely insane, but in the end, in the world that seemed to have lost all meaning, this offered some kind of purpose and Amy reached for it, like a drowning man grasps at a piece of floating debris.
One day Amy packed almost everything she had into her backpack, took all her guns and left the house. On the way she run into Maggie, which was a stroke of good luck. She left a message with her that she was leaving, probably for quite a long time. Amy felt bad not telling Moira, Billy and others in person, but she couldn't risk them talking her out of it, which they probably would've succeeded in doing.
She wasn't ever going back to Grayditch, but she found another entrance to the underground on the riverbank, which she spotted earlier on her way to the Citadel. Several hours later, she was there. The chain gate opened with a slight metallic screech and Amy once again headed down the stairs into the darkness of the DC metro.