Blood from Vault 18

Chapter 1

Home beneath the earth

The door slammed shut behind him, the rush of the game still messing with his head. But excitement blossomed in his chest as he couldn't help but let out a soft "Yes!" as he patted himself on the back.

None of the older teens payed him any mind, too busy with speaking with their crushes or just fooling around with their friends. It was a time for celebration after all Kieron wanted to join them as some waved at him but he had to go to the security office and there was no one who would be able to stop him!

"Hey there tiger, care to give me all the juicy details about the game"

… unless your name was Jenn Hail. The blonde beauty leaned against the wall as she smiled up at him "So how about it hotshot got some time for me?" Kieron smiled. "You know that for you Jenn, I got hours" the girl giggled as she wrapped her arms around him to pull Kieron into a hug.

"Aw you always know how to make me feel special! I just have this… thing going on and I wanted to know if you would join me later in my room" the girl said as she grinned at him, it took all the willpower in his body to not into a tomato. He thanked the heavens that his pale skin was still flushed by the physical exertion from the game because he did feel his cheeks heat up a bit. And by the way she smiled Jenn had noticed it too.

Laughing a bit he brought a hand to his chin "Hm I dunno baby, there's just so much other fun stuff to do in the vault. I heard that there are some giant bugs in hydroponics" Jenn smacked him on the arm as she fake pouted. Kieron placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a genuine smile "Don't worry Jenn, I will be there. You know that whenever you need me I will be there"

Maybe it was his wishful thinking but he swore that her cheeks where decorated by pink for a brief moment "I knew I could count on you. ill be waiting for you don't make me wait long. Oh by the way tell your sister that it was a real bitch move to not be here tonight… God it's your brother that fills her head with stupid ideas and if you don't tell her I will!"

Jenn waved as she left towards the lower apartments, Kieron let out a sigh as he rubbed the back of his head. Shaun, yeah he knew he was slightly jealous but he didn't think he would go as far as to convince Mandy to not come here. But those where problems for another day, the night had just started and he had things to do, first on his list was to go to the security office and last was to kick his brother's ass all the way back to the computer lab.

The stadium began to become deserted as most people went to the mess hall or to their rooms to celebrate one way or another. Kieron was just about to leave when he spotted a lone figure sitting in a bench, Jamie Cambell, he knew her they were friends in a way. Kieron got along better with her kind of brother, Eric even if he hadn't time to hang out with him in recent and all those… rumors about them began to spread around.

Letting out a sigh he put his trip to the office on hold again as he approached the outcast of his team "Hey there little buddy! You sure showed that Johnny what was good! You saved the gamed with that play" Jamie said excitedly, Kieron chuckled a bit at her enthusiastic tone.

"Well it was about time someone beat him up, he did leave me one hell a bruise... I just hope he just doesn't kick my ass when I am not ready, oh and don't make it sound like you didn't do anything. You're part of the team too you know"

Jami laughed as she stood up and slapped him on the back "Yeah maybe, but I was just admitted on the team not so long ago. But hey you know what you should do right now? Come celebrate with Eric and I, I know you would love it… I just acquired the special ingredient for the drinks" Jamie wiggled her eyebrows at him as Kieron paled.

"Oh god no, I'll pass. If it can make YOU drunk then it must be rocket fuel or some shit like that" Jamie laughed at him as she nodded "You bet! Well then I guess I'll see you when I see you"

Kieron looked from the corner of his eye as some people whispered behind the back of the girl, seems like things where just getting worse for her… family. Things to deal another time and now he was back on the main quest, finally leaving the gymnasium and walking into the vault proper Kieron avoided the large groups of people as he took small shortcut to the office. Passing by the laundry and cutting to the right he got to the main office in no time, the halls around him seemed to get smaller as the cameras all locked on him.

Swallowing his nervousness he took some tentative first steps into the office, the security personnel too busy to notice him, or simply ignoring the kid with the vault ball outfit. Wondering who he had to talk to about this from out of nowhere ne of the guards approached him, the man with the mustache smiled at him "Oh hey there. I assume you're here to see Chevy right?"

"Yes sir, is she busy?"

The guard that Kieron felt embarrassed about not knowing his name nodded happily "Sure, I'll let you in into her office come on" Kieron eyes widened as the door opened and a wall of guns greeted him, assault riffles, 10mm pistols along with submachine guns all on the desk as a lone figure inspected the weapons.

"Mistress? The kid that your brother…"

A hand was raised as Chevy turned around, she looked at Kieron up and down then turned to her subordinate "I know, I'll take it from here"

The man nodded as he nervously moved outside the door "O-of course mistress" Kieron tried his best to not raise an eyebrow at all the mistress comments, he did not want to know what his superiors did on their spare time. Chevy glared at him with her one eye as she scratched the area around her eyepatch "You got here on time good, John informed me about your little visit. But I prefer to things more through, what's you name recruit?"

"Kieron mam"

The intimidating woman nodded as she began to circle him "And why is it that you want to join Vault Security?"

Kieron remembered his talk with the coach as he tried to put some of that to use here "To erm… better serve my country and defend my vault mam" this answer seemed to satisfy Chevy as she moved back towards her desk and began to assemble a 10mm pistol "Well-spoken you meet my expectations, ill issue you your armor and sidearm. Be prepared to start questions in the morning, do you have any questions for me?"

"… I don't have to a test or something, you can admit me just like that?"

Chevy did not turn to look at him, more preoccupied with the weapon on her hand "I know a soldier when I see one, even when they don't know it themselves. Im nbot simply a security officer I am a lieutenant. When it is time to fight, my place is beside my men making sure that they survice. If I haven't done well in teaching them to listen then I will fail in that mission too"

She finished the maintenance of the gun, holding it to her side "What have you learned of me so far Kieron Star?"

Kieron looked down at his feet as he tried to think of what to say "You're more thoughtful than others I think, cautious in a way" this seemed to intrigue the woman as she stared at him with curiosity, waiting to see what more the young man could perceive, but instead of going further Kieron simply smiled and shook his head.

"I think it would be best if I don't pry that much into my superior's mam, that is all I have learned from you so far mam" he finished saying, hiding the fact that he really did not see anything else. He was not that perceptive as people seemed to think but to Chevy those words seemed to be what she wanted to hear.

The woman handed him the gun and gave him a smile that made him shiver "Well spoken, I give you the opportunity to see more and yet you fall in line instead. That's a fine trait to have soldier, we all follow orders without question if we want to survive. You'll begin your training tomorrow morning but you have impressed enough that I may send you back to john, I know he would like to see you again after what you achieved here. You gained his favor and that means you have earned some of mine, after all he is a hard man to… reach out to"

"Understood! Thank you for this opportunity mam I won't let you down. I'll see you tomorrow morning" Kieron said as he walked out of her office, the other members of the security office handed him his uniform leaving without another word. Kieron couldn't help but grin as he walked into one of the bathroom to change into the outfit. Sure he wasn't "officially" part of them yet but he just wanted to try it on and see how it felt, looking into a mirror he pulled out his gun from its holster and pointed at the mirror.

Chuckling he let out a sigh "Man I'm glad that no one is around" looking down at his PipBoy he noticed how it was still pretty early, so might as well grab something to eat, he was feeling pretty energized after all. Whistling as he went Kieron got to the big building in the middle of the vault, which worked as both cafeteria and a computer lab. He always envied the nerds, they could just walk a couple of steps and get food while he had to run all the way from one side of the vault to the other to pick up the leftovers until the machine made more.

"Oh they left a burger!" Kieron smiled as he picked up the synthesized food and one of a bottle of water. The entire cafeteria was full, everyone loudly chatting away the night.

Even though he did recognize a couple of faces he wanted to avoid them for now, what with his new job and all some of Brags past favorites might not welcome… not that the gave a shit but still he did not want to be where he wasn't accepted so instead he looked around for a more deserted area of the cafeteria spotting a somewhat familiar face he walked up to the table "Hey there Ben, seat taken?" The boy named Ben looked up and smiled "Oh hey, congrats on the big win! Sure, I was just… you know drawing"

Taking a seat Kieron dug into his food, looking at what the drawings he spoke in between bites "Fucking sweet dude! That looks like a comic, I love those kinds of things. Hey weren't you part of the team or something? I remember seeing you in training that one time"

Ben looked uncomfortable as he continued drawing "Yeah I was… coach brag kicked me out of the team, said I was a freak or something"

"Oh… I'm sorry to…" Ben shook his head "Nah its cool no need to apologize, I got my own things going on"

Kieron was quick to change the subject pointed at the comic "Yeah those are pretty cool! Big monsters and a hero fighting them off doesn't get better than that!" Ben nodded happily as he moved the comic towards Kieron.

"Thanks, see here the name of the main character is Kurtz right and he fights this green monsters that attack his village and…" Kieron nodded as he let Ben explain the backstory of his comic, dude was creative he would give him that. It was a nice little story even if Kireon felt that Ben had just modeled the main character after him. A loud bang echoed upstairs and a set of curses interrupted the peace.

Ben frowned "Oh it's Kira"

Kieron for his part hummed as he looked towards the computer lab as some smoke began to appear, taking his last bite and cracking his neck Kieron gave a nod to Ben "Allright, have a good night dude. I will… go see what Kira is up to now"

It had been years since he had stepped into the computer lab, if he remembered correctly he had somehow managed to kick a soccer ball all the way over here. He was just glad that the one in charge of this place, Dr. Rossman never found out about the little incident.

And it was all thanks to one girl.

"Stupid piece of… come on!" the said girl in question slammed her palm against the side of a machine, more smoke came out as she returned to her notes. Kieron coughed into his fist making the girl look up and frown at him "Can I help you?" Kieron shook his head "Nah, I was just walking and decided to…"

Returning to her work the girl frowned at him "What come bother me? I didn't invite you here for a chat did I? Get out of here" Kieron let out a sigh, he knew this was going to be difficult but man this was just ridiculous "Come on Kira, I just want to see how you're doing. We haven't talked in months and I am little worried. I am not the bad guy here"

"Maybe… but that doesn't change the fact that I am working here and you're interrupting me" Kira said as she tried to restart the sequence, Kieron looked at the machine and hummed as if he knew what he was seeing. It was a mess of cable but he hoped his luck would help him "Maybe it has something to do with the plasma core"

The purple haired girl stopped her work as she stared at him like he was a dumbass "Really, the plasma core?"

Kieron looked to the side "I erm, hope it helps?"

"For a lugh maybe, but yeah maybe it does has something to with the reactor. Not just the plasma core that does not exist, not bad you certainly have improved ever since the las session" Kieron smiled "What I can say you are a great tutor"

Kira looked away as she tried to find a way to respond to him "Well… thanks I guess, look thanks for coming all this way to check up on me but I am fine. You can leave now… I doubt you can help anyways"

Kieron faked a gasp as he leaned on her work bench "And what would it be the thing I cannot help with? I'm feeling quite lucky today so how about you give me a chance"

"Why? Why do you want to help?"

Kieron let out a sigh "Because you're my friend, why else. You might not want to admit it but we are buddies and dammit I won't let one of my friends alone with their problems"

"Ok fine… I'll let you help. I need information for the terminals. They are catalogued in tiers and will need all of your scientific knowledge to even begin to decipher. Oh and you need Rossman's approval to use them who by the way hates your guts thanks to your brother. Good luck Kieron" Kira said as she gave him a cruel smile which slightly faltered as she watched his new outfit.

Kieron smiled "Looks good on me huh?" Kira snorted at him "What stole them from some abandoned locker you found, if I were you I would not be carrying that around you might get in trouble"

"That's the thing Kira, I got the job. Me! Before any of the older ones could even graduate I managed to grab a post in vault security, feel bad for the poor fucker that's going to have to work in maintenance instead of me but meh details"

Kira looked at him with a raised eyebrow "You with a job? Hah! Let's see how long it takes for you to bitch and complain about it… but for what's worth is good to see that finally there's someone in vault security that is not a complete fuck up"

"Aww I knew you cared Kira. I'm going to find Dr. Rossman, see you in a bit"

As Kieron left he failed to notice how the cheeks of Kira colored slightly pink as she let out a sigh of relief as he left. "Not good. This is not good… fuck, I thought I got over it" was all she muttered as she distracted herself from this thoughts by working again on the machine.

Kieron hummed as he walked out of the cafeteria and looked around "If I was a doctor where would I be?"

Snapping his fingers, he began to walk towards the medical facility. He never went there because whenever he got hurt it was never anything serious and cuts and bruises on him healed insanely quickly, so he only visited for shots and checkups. But it was still as cold as he remembered, the Nurse handy was still there along with the huge scanners but not Dr. Rossman... or anyone for that matter.

Letting out a sigh he was getting ready to leave when he was pushed against the wall by an irate Johnny "You motherfucker! What the hell were you doing on that field?! You broke my fucking leg!"

Kieron pushed Johnny off him sending tumbling away from him "Knock it off Johnny, you also kicked my ass and I didn't mean to injure you like that"

"Bullshit! I bet fucking Bragg told you to bust my ass on purpose to make his patriots look good, we're the fucking B team he uses as target practice"

Kieron simply raised an eyebrow "What? I barely talked with the guy! I just you know… wanted to win hehe"

This made Johnny shake his head "I don't believe jack shit of this, you weren't even on team until like… a fucking day, ah shit you might be right. Well then I guess I am a little sorry then, but I hope you know that gun toting blowhard is just using you right? He want to rig the overseer's election and… what do I find? One of his fucking cronies running around somewhere he is not supposed to be" Johnny said as he cracked his knuckles to look threatening.

It did not help that he was limping, or that he looked like he might pass out if someone sneezed on him but this was news to Kieron, sure he knew he was running for overseer but he never thought that Bragg would try to rig the election. Kieron just raised his arms in mock surrender "Look, I really don't know man. And if what you say it's true it sounds awful and I want no part in it ok"

Johnny glared but then dropped the act and sat on one of the medical legs "Well… now I feel like a dick. How about this, sorry for trying to jump all over you and now we are even. I just… I'm sick of being treated like I am basement dweller. Oh and if I hear that you actually have been helping Bragg for real. I'll kick your ass"

Kieron nodded "Sure, hope that leg gets better. Have you seen doctor Rossman?"

"No, now fuck off and let me rest"

So… back to square one then, he could always just tell Kira that he did not find him. But if he was being honest he felt bad for her and didn't want to let her down, so might as well search the entire vault for the old man. His luck seemed to kick in as he spotted the doctor walking out of the administration office "Doctor Rossman!"

The old doctor turned to see who was calling to him and Kieron noticed the frown that formed on his face. "Shouldn't you be celebrating your victory kid? Poor Johnny is going to need more stimpacks and med-x because of you"

"I err…. Sorry for causing trouble, I was hoping to speak to you about something. I mean if you have the time and everything"

The doctor let out a sigh "Yeah, sure. I just got done turning in my report and I planned to go to bed. But if its something urgent I guess I can listen" Kieron chuckled as the doctor felt his frown deepen "is not something serious huh?"

"No, not really. I was helping out Kira with something and she mentioned something about terminals and scientific knowledge I think, but I… well I cant say that I know how computers work"

Rossman hummed as the frown disappeared off his face "Ah, so this is for helping Kira. I thought you wanted to bother me with an actual stupid question, sure kid you can use the computers and MARIA. The password is here… oh and how good are you with computers?"

"I can't say that they are that great, but it doesn't matter I just want to help Kira that's all maybe put her mind at ease for a bit" Kieorn said as the doctor looked at him for a moment "You… yeah, sure. Come on kid, I will unlock the terminals for you and you can go ahead and read them. I don't think you of all people need to know science but I think its sweet that you want to help the girl out. If it helps to bring in more smart people to the world I would just do about anything"

Kieron did a double take 'does he thinks I want to… nah that can't be it'

"So… how is Mandy doing in her classes?" Kieron asked to ease the tension the doctor smiled at the name "Ah Mandy, such a bright student. She's doing just fine, finally we are going to have a new doctor around. I hope that means I won't get pulled from my actual work to fix some punk kid who got beat up in one Braggs stupid games"

Kieron laughed a bit "Yeah, she's so smart. I'm glad she is doing fine"

"Your brother is doing fine too, if that interests you"

Ah, it was time for this topic "It does, but he doesn't like when I poke my nose into his things; so I just try to stay out of his way so then I don't have to deal with more" Rossman stopped walking as he looked troubled

"Is everything ok doc?"

The old man let out a sigh "Yeah its fine, just thinking of the past. Even if he says he doesn't want you to you should still ask. Shaun is probably just dissatisfied with the way you handle things, if you took the role of older brother then you can't play favorites kid"

Kieron let out a sigh 'damn maybe it is my fault, but fuck me he could try to help me out here. I am not fucking omniscient' he thought as they entered the computer lab, the doctor sat down as he wrote down a myriad of passwords and numbers on the screen "Hold on, I set this thing up so that people would practice here. But it turns out I might have done it too hard… ah there we go, tier one and two terminals unlocked. Now I am really going to bed kid, see you around" the doctor left quickly, he seemed to be deep in thought.

That or Kira was right and Doctor Rossman really hated his guts, Shaun must have talked a lot of shit to the old man. But now was not the time for that, terminals had been unlocked and now to check on Kira, the purple haired girl gave him a grin as Kieron walked back into her small corner of the lab "Look at that, is Mr. Popular ready to throw in the towel?"

"Tier one and two terminals unlocked. It was THAT easy" Kieron said as he dusted the imaginary dust off his shoulders, Kira rolled her eyes "Bullshit, look here it says… oh my god you actually did it. How? No way… did you get Shaun to this for you, because if he is around here I don't want him near me"

Kieron chuckled "Easy there, it was all me. That and I asked doctor Rossman to help me because I am complete dumbass when it comes to technology but still… I got the job done"

"Yeah, no kidding. I never was able to get past the tier one terminals and… you know what it's my fault I never asked doctor Rossman for help. Thank you I really mean it"

Kira rubbed her elbow as she tried to find the words she wanted to say "I guess, I did miss…. having someone that know what he is doing"

"What you mean me?" Kieron asked jokingly.

Kira rolled her eyes but a smile did form on her lips "Shut it you know what I mean… I guess that means you're leaving huh?" Kieron was indeed planning on leaving, he still had to talk to Jenn even his nervousness wanted him postpone it for a bit. But then again… it was not that late.

"Whaaat? No way, we have just unlocked a precious landmine of information and even more important juicy gossip. What do you say? Want to go take a look?" Kira grinned as she happily guided him to the monitors. "Come on then, lets see what they got hiding in those terminals. Don't bother with the tear one terminals, I already got through most of those"

Kieron nodded as he tried to find anything of note in the terminals, images and reports from the wasteland scouts consisted most of the data along with some commentary on some vault residents "Holy shit that's a lot med-x no wonder Johnny hurts like a bitch"

"Right? Is a miracle you managed to actually hurt him"

Kieron smiled "Aww so you did pay attention to the game" Kira looked away as she focused on a terminal "On a vault small as this is impossible not to hear things, don't think you are special Kieron"

"Now that is interesting, hey do you know anything of the place they picked us up from before we where… adopted" Kieron said as Kira quickly moved to his side and stared at the screen "no way, this is it! This is what I was looking for, holy shit… our tribe"

Kieron frowned as he read more of the report "So, these… well raiders I guess have an empire? Man the wasteland really is full of shitty people huh, thank god we have the vault"

"Not everyone is having a good time on the vault" Kira said as Kieron frowned as the incident came back to haunt him for a bit, Jenn was wrong in sticking her nose in that fiasco. Feeling like it was best to leave now Kieron coughed into his fist making Kira look at him "Well I hope I was able to help a little bit here, I think I need to get going. I have to… talk with the family"

Kira nodded a little saddened that he was leaving "Oh sure, I will stay…" Kira felt herself being pulled into a hug as Kieron smiled down at her. Turning crimson she slammed her fist into his chest "LET ME GO ASSHOLE!"

"Maybe, but only after you said thank you"

Kira frowned as her heart almost punded out of her chest "When the fuck did you get so tall? Fine fine… thank you Kieron I really mean it"

"Sure thing, see you tomorrow Kira who know I might get assigned to watch the computer lab" Kieron waved as he looked down at his PipBoy, it was getting late. Better check what Jenn wanted… after he dropped his things at home.

Unlike the upper apartments where most of the people in the vault lived, that had most commodities one could expect from a luxurious hotel, the lower apartments where repurposed rooms from when the vault had more people. His room if he was not mistaken was used at one point for storage of medicine, he even found a secret stage of buffout but that was his little secret.

Opening the door to his home Kieron was surprised when a small figure leaped at him "YAY! It's our hero! You were fantastic out there great job!" Mandy Star, his little sister said as she hugged him tightly. "Yeah congrats, shame we couldn't be there"

From the other side of the room Shaun said as he barely looked up from his board game or whatever he was doing, to Kieron's surprise the son of the overseer was also with him "B-but… Shaun I thought we were going to fake it"

"Oops"

Kieron let out a sigh as he returned the hug "Yeah, don't worry I noticed you guys were not there. No need to apologize Mandy" Kieron hugged her back as she let out a sigh. "Sorry, I really- I mean WE really wanted to be there but… with all the test that are going on and… sorry"

"Nah its fine, I don't mind… I would have liked if you were there Mandy but I can see that you guys already had a party going on so no need to worry. I also don't know if you can tell but I got a job now!"

Shaun actually looked away from his game "Wow, how did you get with Vault security?"

"I just happened to be the Star Player" Kieron said as he smugly pointed at himself with his thumb Shaun snorted as he returned to the game "If you say so dude"

Mandy clapped happily "That's great news! Tell you what tomorrow I'll cook something to celebrate… after exams that is, Doctor Rossman is cramming everything into this exam" she complained as the tension dissipated from the room, Kieron moved to the kitchen as he looked at the table where the board game was and realized that he couldn't make heads or tails of what the fuck was going on there "Soooo… what the fuck is that game about?"

"Oh" Shaun said surprised at the attention "Well is about this world where robots are all over the world, they have sentience and thoughts but the thing is not all robots are good or serve mankind"

Kieron looked at the paper sheets and the mini figures "But then why do you need the…" Shaun laughed and shook his head "Due you clearly don't get this shit, just go rub in the fact that you won a trophy to the bugs under your bed or something"

"Whatever, I got some stuff to do. I'll be back in a bit Mandy" Kieron said rolling his eyes, so much for trying to reach out to Shaun. Feeling tired he considered just hitting the hay for today but he promised Jenn he would go see her and there was something in the air that he could not quite tell why but the air around him began to get colder, the night seemed to drag on.