The House Never Dies 3 - (Fallout x Xover, RobertHouse!SI)

What happens when radiation hits a plotoon of soldiers that are trained for violence, 'roided up, and prone to kill first and answer questions later?

Ghouls happen. Well, not the full-evolved Ghouls, but the readings the scanners had on the intruders in Salt Lake City confirmed their biology was mutating at an alarming pace. There was also confirmation that they had consumed human meat- cannibals.

The more I looked into it, the more I felt disgusted by what I was looking at. I had thought that I was dealing with either the Enclave or the Brotherhood of Steel but... locational and time-related details rendered the option highly improbable. Also, their biology confirmed that it couldn't have been either.

They marched in a tribal order despite bearing military equipment, displaying eagerness to loot and a lack of disciplined grouping while walking. Their Power Armors was what truly got my attention as the Military had loved to keep those out of sight and out of reach from the very first one released in 2067.

Speaking of that model, it was indeed old-fashioned T-45 Power Armors I was looking at.

Far from the finest, but a basic framework that left my mouth watering at the mere notion of using that technology to create advanced Securitrons: I had to get those. And, much to my relief, there was a safe way to retrieve those Power Armors without damaging those.

Sure, I didn't have the full scope of the T-45 as of yet, but I did know some of the faults that had gotten the military to push West Tek for rapid developments and improvements.

One of those details was a lack of protection from a specific batch of gas that the Chinese were quick to employ in Alaska. And some of that gas I could have some of the robots in Salt Lake City produce and use at once.

A large group of Securitrons was given orders to take position by the abandoned buildings, waiting as the cannibals wandered into the streets and made their goals known: they wanted to turn the city into their base of operations.

I took notes on the fact that there was another dozen of these bastards waiting 'back to base', planning to send a small punitive expedition to kill the cannibals and loot their bases for resources that could be relevant.

After all, if they had successfully ruined their quality defenses by tribalizing the leadership, then a bunch of my highly-advanced heavy-weaponry securitrons was going to have an easy time taking care of these cretins.

Once the group had dropped their guard and thought themselves in truly the desolate town, the mechanized mortars entered in action. Panic erupted as the group tried to scatter, but the spread was too extensive and the gas too immediate in its effect.

I saw those poor sods cry and beg God as they died... all the while I was playing with Rascal.

The little Deathclaw had decided that a large rubber ball was her favorite toy as she would always have it with her whenever I was around. Playing games with the little monster was a good way to soften my own flawed morality over the demise of the fellow man.

After all, I was not killing good people. And their approach towards God truly annoyed and amused me at the same time. Why would you ask God, someone that would hate on cannibals, to spare you? Maybe they justified the flesh-eating tendency as a necessity but... really, why would they expect God to care?

Their demise was ultimately collateral damage as I wanted their Power Armors. And I got those within a month after the robots in Salt Lake City had those cleaned up and sterilized. The armors were soon taken to the 'military branch' of the underground facility, carefully analyzed in their basic components and I finally saw what cogs were held within the hidden labs of West Tek.

The T-45 Power Armors were... sloppy.

The inner working was masterwork for sure, but the overall structure was rushed up and clumsy due to the way some of the energy wasn't properly directed around the armor. The schematics that I drew out of the particularly complex system confirmed that the T-45 was the first serious step forward into the more advanced Power Armors, but I couldn't let it be the starting point for my Securitron.

Thus I had a new distraction to put my attention on for well over a year.

All the while I continued to study the Deathclaws' nest and started to further test some limited genetic manipulation on Rascal. One of the main issues that I noticed was the lifespan of Deathclaws: ten years was unpleasant for many reasons, starting with the notion that it forces species to breed a lot.

If I wanted for the Deathclaws to become a viable species for domestication, I needed to expand their lifespan while also lessening some of their more aggressive traits.

Rascal had already been subjected to a degree of 'corrective' steps to mellow her aggressive nature and stimulate her mental growth. I didn't expect her to speak or write anytime soon, but the possibility existed as she was already showing some signs of understanding my words.

Still, I needed to influence more of the DNA to allow the worst bits to get either suppressed or outright removed. The former was viable with someone like Rascal, but the latter was the favored option in regard to new generations of Deathclaws.

Even then, a success would still yield a dual possibility: either the nest accepted batches of more docile Deathclaws, or I may have to seclude the new generations in properly set-up facilities while the older ones were disposed of through the older Deathclaws' sterilization.

A most humane option if I can't fix them up, especially since I would like to keep this species around for further studies rather than being forced by some Pre-war politicians to have to murder them all as quickly as possible.

So yes, 2093/2094 saw me busy tackling this important bit about Deathclaws-related issues and I made some breakthroughts in regard to a few of the newer eggs, while also making sure we had some 'Powerbots' ready for a very important event in my point of view: the foundation of Shady Sands.

The future Capital of the New Californian Republic was important in my point of view, and I had started contemplating proper scouting effort after I ransacked the military base where the cannibals had set their home at.

Old guns and equipment was retrieved out of a need to avoid any future gangs stumbling in such a gold mine for their bad intentions. Nonetheless, I found nothing valuable there and I had the place bombed down to reduce the fortification to another pitiful thing in this side of the world.

By 2096, the Powerbots were well-trained as their AI was perfected to handle the arduous military tasks their equipment dictated. Wargames had helped me set up semi-real experiences to notice any potential issues in the AIs and improve them overtime.

I had my little army to send around, and I was soon spreading some of those around the area of Southern California as I waited for Vault 13 (the OG Vault 15) to let out its citizens.

To put it bluntly, Vault 13 is a shithole by planning: Vault-Tec's plan for this Vault was for it to be a social experiment on having two groups of politically-different people. And they expected to monitor how they would fare within fifty years. They didn't even last for twenty as another issue ruined the 'test' - and that was the missed implementation of population control.

Too many people, too little space, so many violent mindsets... well, it led to a hasty departure as only a handful of Vault-Tec's loyalists decided to stick around. And I had just the right idea of what to do with the rest.

By the time 2097 rolls in, I am already rubbing my hands together in excitement as my Powerbots make first contact with the Vault-Dwellers. The leader of the group, I was reported, was familiar with the name of 'Robert House' and recognized me as a very important figure.

Considering it's been roughly two decades since the 'Great War', I had expected a large majority of those folks would not recognize me at all. So, I was a bit surprised by the news, and I made sure that first contact went well with the right material and Securitrons for the occasion.

After all, I had to make a good impression to my newest subjects.


The air of the world was odd.

That was the one odd things that the mind of young Jatayu picked up as he followed his father around. They were preparing for the arrival of this mysterious Mr. House's entourage, and the boy wondered why the man, the leader of their group after they left the Vault, would be so interested by such individual.

He wasn't part of the Vaults so... why was he important? Even the explanation his old man provided was not enough to soothe his many questions. He said that Mr. House was the founder of RobCo, the company that was responsible for most of the advanced computing devices in the Vaults. He was also someone that had improved many lives in states nearby the one they currently lived in and had been someone that distrusted Vault-Tec from the very beginning.

"But... why? Isn't Vault-Tec giving us a chance to survive the nukes?"

The leader of the survivors, in a response that mimicked the thoughts of those of similar age, gave him a solemn look. "Boy, Vault-Tec promised us prosperity in the Vaults, not damnation. We would have died if we had lingered any further."

That bit Jatayu could not deny. After all, he had been almost attacked by some of the folks that had split from the main group since 'he was not a real American'. And Jatayu was immensely confused by this claim since he was born in the US, and he spoke proper American English. He also liked Baseball and he somewhat wished to play Football.

Maybe that could be a thing once they had the chance to properly settle the land.

Still, Mr. House's group of peculiar robots arrived and Jatayu couldn't help but frown at the tiny one-wheeled 'Securitron' that took the stage. Its large screen for a chest flashed a live feed to the rest of the spectators and they saw a man sitting by a chair and looking back at them.

Mr. House had short black hair, black eyes and a well-cared mustache. He wore a formal dark-brown suit with a red necktie. He appeared quite 'old-fashioned' in that regard, but carrying himself with care and attention.

"I can see all of you... can you see me? Hear me?"

There were people saying 'yes' and others merely nodding.

"Good, good. I wish not to trouble anyone with any potential technical mistake through this first contact, and with that being said... let us begin with a proper introduction," The man spoke up, then smiled. "I bid you a good morning, Vault Dwellers. And I welcome you all back to America. I have to admit to you all that it isn't the same as it was twenty years ago, but I can assure you all... the land of freedom and opportunity is still going strong despite some issues. My name is Robert Edwin House, I am the founder of RobCo, a company known for computing, chemical production, medical advancements and robotic breakthroughs. As you can tell by my Powerbots, business is still ongoing for RobCo."

Jatayu spared a glance at the two different models of robots, fascinated but overall unfamiliar with the subject to do much else beyond call out the differences with their appearances.

"Now, you were all once part of a Vault. I was told this was Vault 13 and that your planned release should have been in thirty years from now. I wish to say this wasn't a predictable outcome, but I have known Vault-Tec for long enough and... this was predictable. And I want to say that I sympathize with your struggles as I would not with to have anyone to be subjected to Vault-Tec's faulty understanding of how to indoctrinate the American People with cost-effective decisions. Especially with how flawed their plans can be."

There was a pause and Jatayu saw Mr. House look at someone in the crowd that was listening to his words.

"I see hands. If anyone has questions by now, I can try to answer a few. Starting with... the young sir with the red hair."

Eric. Jatayu quickly recognized the boy of 'Irish descent'.

"Aren't you in a Vault, Mr. House?"

"Ah, I am not. I am in a Bunker. There is no Vaults in the old states of Nevada, Utah and Arizona. All because I convinced the governors to personally prepare bunkers that would allow the people to be cryogenically preserved for the duration of fifty years. And cryogenic preservation is the process of freezing up people for then to have those thawn in the future while preserving their bodies and minds for a long amount of time away from a decimated society."

It was a bit confusing since Vault-Tec had always advertised itself as the sole producer of 'solutions' to the Nuclear Disaster, yet Jatayu had been told since he was very young that Vault-Tec had some competitors. Some failed, others were outright forbidden to be mentioned within the Vaults.

"How old are you, Mr. House?" A voice interjected, and Jatayu froze up as he turned the very moment he recognized the source of the question.

It was Jenny, the blond-haired girl that liked to do things like a boy. She was so cool and was a childhood friend to Jatayu and- A-And she was cool, that's all!

"I would advise to wait for your turn to be called, but to dispel some perplexities, I will answer this big question: as of a few weeks from now, I will be 70 years old. The way I preserved myself and will possibly become immortal is through a special form of technology I personally tailored known as nanomachines."

This stunned the former members of the Vault. Immortality? Surely that's not possible. Yet Mr. House appeared to be in his 30s rather than be a wrinkly old man like others around his age. The explanation went on for a while, but even Mr. House had to admit he didn't wish to 'waste people's lives by bringing up all details all at once'.

Instead, he provided them with boxes filled with non-rad resources that could be used to establish a proper settlement. There were also some robots left around that would help the 'master architects' and allow people to proper set up how they wished their homes to be created.

There were limitations to each home, of course, but everyone was soon choosing their own ideal home and they were working on getting it built together with a few robots specialized in handling heavy weights. The process of creating their new home, Shady Sands, took roughly five hours of constant working with a few pauses once every two hours.

The end result was still far from the proper town they had in mind as furniture, devices, and other essential items had yet to be put into the homes, but the bedrooms, kitchens and the bathrooms were rendered active at once.

And, for the first time since he was born...

Jatayu was able to sleep in a comfy bed.


AN

House gets by for the second decade after the war and changes the plot of Fallout 1 a few decades before it happens. Alas, next chapter will focus on the SI deciding to expand the major cities a bit rather than just leave them fully untouched. New Casinos, new public services, perhaps some public works and, who knows, lets also add some new videogames.