Fallout 3
Again, the setting, premise, and a lot of the characters are not my creation. I'm making my own version of Fallout 3. That said, I'm going to stick to the basic storyline of the game, but I'm going to add some of my own special twists. First and foremost, I have two main protagonists.
Matt Kenderson and Jamie Campbell. Not related to Atlantis Rising whatsoever. This is one of those fun "what-if's."
For anyone who hasn't played the game, I recommend getting it.
Homepage: Atlantis
"It's a boy! We have a son, Catherine!"
Catherine sighed, murmuring.
"Hi! Hey there! I'm your daddy. Da-ddy." James waved.
"What should we call him?" Catherine asked faintly.
"Matthew. His name is matthew. We'll call him Matt."
Matt wailed happily.
"What kind of person will you be, son? It's a big world out there. Who will you become, hm?"
"-James!"
"Wha- Catherine! Start compressions. Get the baby out of here! One-onethousand, two-onethousand - come on Catherine, don't give up yet-"
Matt was wheeled out of the room and down a bright hallway, quickly succumbing to the harsh lights. Matt sank into a deep sleep.
One Year Later
"Don't look right at the light, pal. It'll hurt your eyes."
"Da-da?" Matt gurgled.
"-just, something to get used to down here. You won't understand any of this until much later, and I hope you never find out. For both of our sakes, I hope you always believe you were born in this Vault." James murmured, more to himself than to the baby.
Matt tottered about the fairly spacious room. There was a bed, a toy box, a crib, and a gated play place, just for him.
James crossed the room and crouched down inside the play pen's gate. "Come on, pal. Over here."
"Dada!" Matt squealed again, waddling over.
"Listen, kiddo. I know you don't like it when Daddy leaves you, but I've got to run a quick errand for the Overseer. Just stay here and I'll be back before you know it." James closed the gate of the play pen and walked out the door, leaving Matt by himself.
"Hehe." Matt giggled, playing with the metal latch on the gate. His thick toddler arms fumbled with the metal piece for a moment, then lifted the latch. Matt rocked forward and pushed on the gate, letting it swing forward.
Matt giggled again, crossing over to his toy box and picking up his toy car.
James came back about four minutes later. "Hm." He laughed. "Quite the little explorer, aren't you? Here, pal. Look at this. Mommy's favorite verse. From the bible." James walked over and crouched next to a framed quote. "Revelations 21:6. I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning, and the End. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of knowledge..."
Matt gooed and started tottering for the door once James had finished.
"You see, this was what it was all about. The Waters of Life. Ah well, perhaps when you're older. Let's go see if your little friend Amata wants to play."
Nine Years later
"Surprise!" The lights flicked on suddenly.
"Stanley, you flipped the lights on too fast. You blinded the poor kid."
"Happy Birthday!" The crowd cheered again.
Matt smiled, laughing. "You guys did all this for me?"
Amata came up, grinning. "Isn't it great! I just helped with the decorations some, but really your dad did most of it."
"Thanks, Amata."
"No problem. Your dad thought you were onto us, but I knew better."
Matt half-smiled to himself - he had known the surprise party was coming. What else were the party hats and balloons his dad had tried to smuggle into their dorm on his birthday for?
"And guess what!" Amata continued. "I got you a birthday present!"
"Really? All the way down here?"
"Yeah! Grognak the Barbarian. Issue 104. I found it in a box of my dad's old stuff. Who knew he used to read comic books too?"
Jamie came up and high-fived Matt. "Awesome. Can't wait till the fun starts. Oh, here comes the Overseer - saw your PipBoy already. Pretty sweet."
The Overseer came shouldered his way through Matt's party guests and stood in front of Matt, holding a gauntlet in his hands.
"Well, well, you sure do grow up fast. Ten years already. I'm sure I don't have to tell you what this means. When you turn ten here in Vault 101, well, you're ready to take on greater responsibilities. As Overseer, I now grant you your PipBoy2000. And you'll be receiving your first work assignment tomorrow!" The Overseer laughed like his joke was hilarious.
"Dad," Amata elbowed her father.
Jamie rolled his eyes.
"Thanks," Matt smiled nervously.
Matt spent the next half hour mingling with his guests. They talked, laughed. Andy, a multi-armed 'Mister Handy' model robot tried to cut the cake with his chain-saw articulator, which turned the birthday cake into a messy pile. But one of the older ladies gave Matt a sweetroll instead.
Butch slouched in a corner, pouting. His dad had made him come, and Matt's dad had invited him, but Matt and Butch hated eachother. Butch had his own little gang with a couple of the other kids. Jamie was one of the few other guys not in the club.
"I'm hungry, and that stupid robot destroyed the cake!" Butch whined. "Gimme that sweetroll Mrs. Palmer gave you."
Matt frowned. Why should he? "Come and take it from me, Butch, and see how far you get. Oh, sorry. I forgot. Your mom must have drank all the ration coupons again. Here you go." Matt held out the pastry.
"Why you - I'll get you!" Butch leaped out of the cafeteria booth and flew at Matt.
Matt raised his arms defensively, throwing a few punches of his own. Butch managed to land one painful blow, but Matt gave back two before Officer Gomez interrupted. "Butch, you little bully, I'll take you straight to your mother. Go wait by the door until I'm done." Then Gomez turned to Matt. "You're okay, aren't you? He didn't hurt you?"
"Nah, I'm fine." Matt said.
"What was he doing, picking fights on your birthday like that?"
Matt thought about telling Gomez how Butch had started it, but Matt had insulted his mother. "He wanted the stupid pastry Mrs. Palmer gave me. I told him he couldn't have it."
Behind Gomez's back, Jamie smiled.
"Why that little - I should've known he started it. Take it easy, I'll make sure Butch's mom knows exactly what he's been doing."
"Thanks, Office Gomez."
"Take care of yourself, kid."
Matt turned around and slapped high-fives with Jamie. Butch's gang looked subdued. Amata rolled her eyes and smiled. Matt smiled back.
"Hey, sport. Jonas and I have a surprise for you. Why don't you gather up your friends and meet me down at the Reactor level with Jonas? I just have one little thing to pick up."
"Sure, dad. Come on guys." Matt waved, leading the way out of the cafeteria, down a hallway, down the stairs to the reactor level.
"Hey, Jonas!" Matt said.
"Hey there, kid! Not every day you turn ten there, is it? Here comes your dad, you'll want to see what he brought you."
Matt turned around and saw his dad holding two BB guns.
"Ah, sweet!" Matt cried.
"Go on, son. Bout time we taught you how to shoot. It took me some time to fix these up - you have no idea how hard it is to find a spring that small. Good thing Butch 'misplaced' that switchblade of his."
Matt laughed. "Thanks, dad."
"Go on, now. You and Jamie go have fun. Amata needs to get back up with the Overseer or he'll get paranoid."
Matt and Jamie ran off into the corridors, firing BBs back and forth.
"Just another day in the life of a Vault dweller." James remarked to Jonas.
"Yep. Let those two have fun while they can. Heaven knows the world outside isn't a friendly place. It's a good thing you're here to teach him."
"I just hope I can do enough."
Four Years Later
"...nineteen... twenty." Matt grunted. "There. 20 reps at 125. Now you."
Matt slid off the padded chair and let Jamie take his place. Jamie gripped the rubber handles and pushed out and up, raising the 125 pound weight, then again, and again, until he had done twenty as well.
"Nice. Another set." Matt did 20 more, followed by Jamie, and then one more set.
"Whoa." Matt rubbed his arms. "I feel strong."
"I second that." Jamie agreed.
Matt caught his breath, then said, "Sit-ups."
Jamie hefted two twenty-five pound weights. "Sit-ups with weights. Make it harder."
"If you say so." Each of them did a hundred sit-ups.
"I wanna see the look on Butch's face next time he starts a fight." Jamie said.
"I hear that. Lets go shower, then meet up with my dad. He wanted me to help him fix something and do a little Calculus project for him."
"So your dad teaches you math and science and stuff in your free time?"
"Yeah, sometimes, if he doesn't have any patients in the clinic and I'm bored."
"You let him teach you when you get bored?"
"Yeah, doesn't everyone?" Matt asked sarcastically.
"You Science nerds." Jamie said, knowing it would set Matt off.
"Hey, that's Science Geek to you. Nerd implies that I don't have a life. Geek implies that I'm smart but I still have a life. Geek is good, Nerd is bad."
Jamie laughed, shaking his head. "You're the boss. Let's hit up the Mess Hall before we go back to your place. And don't you guys ever, like, go to the Vault's theater or something?"
"If I can get you or Amata to go with me. What's the point otherwise? They've only got like fifty vids, and we've been watching them for fourteen years."
"So, you're hitting on me too?"
Matt gave Jamie his best evil stare. "You're funny."
"I try."
One Year Later
"Shh! Do you wanna alert the goons?" Matt asked in a hoarse whisper.
"Sorry, sorry!" Jamie whispered back. "But they're coming this way. Hurry it up! If we get caught breaking into the Overseer's office-"
"Yeah, well, we won't. Shush so I can concentrate."
Matt inserted one of the dozen hairpins Amata had given him into the lock on the door. She and the rest of the world called them bobby pins. Who was bobby? They were hairpins.
Matt slid his stolen switchblade out of his pocket and flicked it open, using the point to apply torque. The lock slid partway open but then jammed against the hairpin, threatening to snap it. Matt quickly let off the pressure and rotated the hairpin to a different angle. He felt the third tumbler catch faintly and then fall, so he moved it back and twisted the lock. The handle turned smoothly and the door popped open.
"We're in." Matt reported.
Jamie didn't answer, instead pushing the two of them into the Overseer's deserted office and shutting the door behind them.
"Cool." Jamie crossed to the window that looked out on the vault's common area and lowered the blinds.
"Put in the book that he changed the lock again. 3-tumbler system. Still cheap as hell, but it's the worst its been since we started this."
"Right." Jamie scribbled in a notebook from his cargo pocket. "Get working on that machine, we've got five minutes tops."
"Okay." Matt slid on black cotton gloves to mask his fingerprints and bent over the Overseer's computer. Matt pulled up a query of recently entered letter combinations in the computer and inserted his thumb drive program. He had written it himself. The program would access the source code on any Roboco, pretty much the only electronics company, machine. Matt would select a string of letters, usually words, from the computer's list and his program would tell him how many letters were the correct letter and in the correct spot for the password. The computer gave him a maximum of four tries per keyword, but he could always log out and log back on, but the computer would select a new keyword as the password. Matt was still pretty good at it.
Meanwhile, Jamie went around to the Overseer's various lockers and cabinets, checking to see what kind of stuff they had. They would just take some small things, for sport more than anything. Jamie grabbed a box of more hairpins, a stack of almost worthless pre-war money, and a clipboard and blank notebook. He left the N99 10mm handgun where it was, but he grabbed one of several clips that lay nearby. The Overseer barely tolerated the duo's occasional forays into his office as it was. If they stole a weapon, they would be hunted down.
"Alright, we're in." Matt said after about two minutes.
"Good. I've got all the stuff there is. Your dad won't question why we're experimenting on a bunch of contraband 10mm pistol rounds with his equipment?"
"Oh, he'll know its from the Overseer." Matt said. "The question is whether or not he cares. My dad hates the Overseer just as much as anybody."
"Sounds good. Download the stuff."
Matt pulled out a separate flash drive. Just in case there was some hidden virus on the Overseer's machine that would download with the data and wipe it all out. Matt didn't want his program obliterated, but he did have it backed up on his home server. Still.
"Alright, all good. Let's bug out before he finds out."
Jamie opened the door a crack. "All clear." He reported.
"Okay. Let's get back to Amata's room. After that we're home free."
"Sounds good. Ready... go!"
One year Later
"Back off, you stupid Tunnel Snakes!" Amata yelled.
"Or what? You'll call your big bad Overseer daddy to come rescue you?" Butch laughed.
Five of them, Butch included, had Amata trapped against a wall.
Matt came up from behind and shoved Butch into the wall. "Hey, leave her alone."
"Oh, good. Here comes your boyfriend, Amata. What're you gonna do to me? Fight?" Butch laughed again.
"Leave her alone or you'll answer to me." Matt responded, deadly calm. He was 6 feet as a 16-year-old, 200 pounds of muscle. He could beat the crap out of Butch, easy.
"Ooh, I'm scared. Come on, Tunnel Snakes, let's teach this punk a lesson."
Leave it to Butch to come back with four guys to even the odds.
Matt didn't wait to be attacked this time. The intervening six years between now and his tenth birthday had brought plenty of changes.
Matt stepped forward and drove his fist into Butch's unprotected stomach. Butch curled around the blow, exhaling explosively. Matt took Butch's head and slammed it into the metal wall before one of Butch's cronies grabbed him from behind.
Matt twisted and smashed that guy into the wall, too, but then the other three tackled him. Matt kicked and punched and struggled until he blacked one's eye, then overpowered the other two and rose back to his feet, shoving the closest one into a wall.
"Alright, alright, you win. We'll leave your girlfriend alone." Butch said, trying to keep his composure, acting like they hadn't just had their butts handed to them. Butch fought the impulse to raise a hand to his bleeding lip. "Come on, Tunnel Snakes."
As he turned to leave he found his way blocked by Jamie. Jamie looked at Butch's fat lip with a raised eyebrow before grinning widely. Butch's bodyguards backed up a step.
"Did, I miss something?" He asked, smirking as Butch got up in his face and yelled at him to stay out of it. Jamie just wiped his eye like he had been spit on and watched them leave.
"Where were you? It was 5 on one. I could have used some help." Matt growled
"Well I figured you would want to go play the hero with the dame. Besides if something went badly I would have jumped in and helped. God knows they almost couldn't handle you, imagine what would happen if we took them on together. We'd probably get kicked out for manslaughter. Now grab your girlfriend and lets go take those G.O.A.T.s" Jamie retorted before sliding past them, leaving them alone.
"Thanks. I dunno what they wanted. I guess because I'm the Overseer's daughter or something stupid." Amata said.
"Anytime." Matt smiled.
"If you want, maybe after the exam we can go get some food in the cafeteria together, compare answers?" Amata asked.
"Yeah, sure, that'd be fun." Matt nodded. "First we have to ace the exam. Or I'll ace it, and you can copy my answers."
Amata laughed. Matt loved the sound. "I think it would be the other way around. But if you say so. Come on." Still giggling, Amata lead the way into the classroom where everybody else was already waiting.
3 years later
"Come on, wake up! You've got to get up!" Amata's voice filled Matt's head, tense and upset.
Matt rolled out of his warm, comfortable bed, wearing nothing but his boxers. Amata was shaking his shoulder. Jamie was standing with his arms crossed at the door, standing guard.
"Huh? What's wrong, Amata?" Matt asked, fighting to stay awake.
"It's your dad! He's left the Vault!"
"Whoa, what?!" Matt jumped fully awake and began pulling on a pair of pants. "When did this happen?"
"About ten minutes ago. You just missed him."
"Then I've got to follow him." Matt said. He pulled an undershirt on, then his Vault jumpsuit.
"You can't. My dad's got the whole Vault locked down. His security goons are patrolling everywhere, and they have orders to attack anyone who's not in their rooms. They're on the lookout for you two especially. The Radroaches got in somehow, too. My God, they killed Jonas. He was trying to follow your dad and they shot him again and again-" The words came tumbling out of Amata's mouth rapid-fire.
"Hey, hey, calm down." Matt said. "It'll be okay. We're leaving the Vault, the three of us. We all need to get out of here."
"That's exactly what I had in mind." Amata said, smiling weakly and wiping her eyes. "Here, I managed to take this from my dad's office without him noticing." She pulled the Overseer's N99 out of her inner jumpsuit pocket and held it out to Matt. "I only found one, though."
Matt looked at Jamie. "No offense, but I always was the better shot."
Jamie grunted. "Whatever. I'll just use your baseball bat until we can find another one. Go grab your gear - I've already got all of mine. I took a bunch of Stimpacks from James's clinic, too."
"Right." Matt finished lacing his boots and crossed quickly to the table in his room. He grabbed his backpack, which was already stocked with some food and purified water. Then he opened his dresser, removed the false bottom in his drawer, and retrieved the five clips of modified 10mm ammunition he and Jamie had stolen over the course of several years and worked on, sometimes with James, to improve.
The twelve bullets in one clip had been modified to explode on impact. Another twelve had had their steel tips cut off with James's cauterizing laser and new, softer, hollow-point copper tips welded back on, ready to deliver a more anti-personnel punch. The same had been done to another twelve, but instead of copper heads, the steel had been replaced with teflon-coated titanium for an armor-piercing effect. And the last clip had had its load extended from twelve to twenty five rounds, the last thirteen shots having been home-moulded with James's help.
Matt slid the extended clip home and cocked the gun. "Alright. We're going for non-lethal takedowns here, so I'll try to aim for the legs or arms-"
"Man, screw that!" Jamie half-laughed. "They'll be shooting back, and we don't have the benefit of bullet-proof vests and helmets. We're shooting for survival first, humanitarianism second."
Matt grimaced. "Okay, fine. Survival first. I'm still aiming for their legs." Matt turned to Amata. "What're you going to do? Your dad would've ordered the security guys not to harm you, right?"
"Yeah. I'll meet you at the entrance. But you can't go the normal way, he has it all sealed off. There's a secret tunnel from my dad's office. Take these." Amata pressed a box of hairpins into Matt's hand. "You two know how to get in. He keeps the password in one of his lockers, too, so no need to hack his terminal. I'll meet you at the exit."
"See you there." Matt nodded. "Thanks for your help."
"Yeah. I just wish..."
"What?"
"Nothing. See you at the door."
Amata strode out the door into the hallway, heading back for her room.
Jamie gave Matt a look.
"What?" Matt asked.
"Nothing. Let's go."
Matt hit the switch next to the door to his room. The door slid open, and Matt swept the living room with his N99. "Clear!" Matt reported. He and Jamie had both played enough of the Vault's simulator vid-games and read enough in the library to know their way around a combat zone. Out of everyone in the Vault, the two of them knew the most about everything military.
Matt advanced to the next door. Bat held at the ready, Jamie hit the switch. Matt swept one side of the hallway, then pressed his back to the opposite side of the door and swept the other side of the hallway.
"Clear!" Matt motioned, and Jamie moved forward.
They had just reached the corridor hub, where four corridors met, when an officer rounded the corner, police baton ready and another N99 at his hip.
"Gotcha! You two are dead meat-"
Just then, a two-foot-long Radroach leaped up and attached itself to the officer's back. Screaming like he was on fire, the officer dropped his baton and rushed past the two boys towards the bathroom. Matt lined up a quick, reflexive shot and nailed the officer in the calf, sending him spinning to the ground.
Jamie ran forward and kicked the Radroach into a wall, then smashed it with the bat. "Eew. Sorry." Jamie examined the sticky green residue the Roach had left on the bat.
"It's fine." Matt hopped forward and kicked the pistol out of the officer's grip. Jamie picked it up, and Matt grabbed the officer's baton. Jamie relieved the man of his helmet, armor, and ammo and left him holding a cloth to his bleeding leg. Probably not fatal, but definitely painful.
"Alright, you've got the fancy armor. You take point." Matt said.
"Hardly fancy. This is like, prewar junk tech."
"Everything's prewar junk."
"No, but like, before the war started prewar. Not prewar, during war prewar."
"Oh. That makes sense."
"Whatever. Let's go."
Jamie lead the way. They came across two more officers. The first one managed to land two shots on Jamie's new armor vest before Matt stepped around a corner and nailed the guy in the thigh. That officer was relieved of his equipment as well. The second one just turned and fled.
The two made their way quickly through the underground labyrinth of the Vault, but at the next junction, Butch jumped in their way. But he wasn't screaming his usual insults. Instead, he was screaming, "It's my mom, you've got to help her!"
Despite all the things Butch and his cronies had said and done, Matt stopped and said, "What is it?"
"She's trapped in our room. There're a bunch of Roaches in there!"
"So? Go in and kill them." Jamie said, and started walking again.
"No! I- I can't!" Butch almost whined. "Please. It's for her. Not for me. Save my mom!"
Matt looked at Jamie. "Stay here." He told Butch, then darted off down a side corridor, burst through the door to Butch's mom's quarters, and blasted the three Radroaches as the lady cowered. Unable to keep a look of disgust off his face, Matt reloaded his gun and strode out the door, rejoining Jamie and Butch.
"Yeah! You did it!" Butch cried. "Awesome. Hey, I know its not much, but take this." Butch shrugged off his Tunnel Snakes leather jacket and handed it to Matt, along with a switchblade.
Matt looked at the jacket. "Cool. Thanks. Bye." He tossed it to Jamie, who stuffed it in his backpack and kept walking.
"Why do we always have to play the hero? That coward was afraid to confront a bunch of rabbit-sized bugs. It's not as if they could kill you unless you lay down and let them, like his mom was doing."
"We've lived our whole lives in a Vault, protected from every danger. The only reason we're any better at this is because we've read about it, watched movies about it, and trained. You and I are the best tactical combatants in the Vault."
"Well, tell it to them." Jamie motioned with his chin, where two more officers had just rounded another corner.
"I will." Matt sank into a crouch and Jamie hit the deck, then they both opened fire. The two officers retreated around separate corners, one clutching a bullet in his shoulder.
The two boys advanced and took cover in an alcove to a bathroom. The bathroom had two doors.
"I'll stay here, you go flank 'em. They won't know what hit them." Jamie jerked his chin.
"Got it. Don't die."
Matt turned and pushed through the door into the bathroom, ran out through the other door that led out behind the two officers, aimed down the handguns sights, and opened fire. Both guards, still distracted by Jamie's erratic fire, went down holding their legs. Matt and Jamie disarmed them both. Matt grabbed their armor, folded it quickly in two neat stacks, and had Jamie put the stacks in his pack.
"Come on, let's get moving."
Matt led the way this time, down the corridor. They were almost home free.
They were just passing by the door to the Armory/Guard Post when Matt heard the Overseer's voice, "Now, Amata, be reasonable. Tell us where your friends are and I won't have to have officer Mack injure you. He very dearly wants to, you know."
Matt's blood ran ice cold, then boiled. The Overseer threatening his own daughter with bodily harm, just because Matt'd dad had left? Not on his watch.
Matt motioned with his chin, then hit the control panel and leaped into the room, gun raised. Jamie followed half a second later, an N99 held in each hand. Matt aimed the barrel of his gun squarely at the Overseer's forehead as Jamie disarmed Officer Mack, shoved him into the Police's jail cell, and hit the door controls. Jamie then untied Amata, who had been sitting bound in a chair.
"Young man, you have made a very serious mistake. You will pay for this, and your father's actions. Give up now and turn in your weapons or I will call security."
Matt considered a dozen possible answers, from, "You killed Jonas. Shut up and die." to "yeah, look how far that's gotten you so far. Call security. See what happens."
Instead he went with, "Are you out of your mind? You would and have had people killed, threatened you own daughter, all in the name of trying to keep the effing Vault door closed? You're insane. The Vaults weren't built to be permanent homes, they were built as bunkers to last the war. Then we were supposed to come back out into the world."
"Young man, someday you will learn differently. Jonas's death was... regrettable, but necessary. This is your last chance. Surrender or die."
Matt dearly wanted to just pop the Overseer in the face with a couple antipersonnel rounds. But Amata would never forgive him.
"I'm going to count to five, and if you haven't left-" The Overseer began.
"No, well I'm gonna count to three." Matt said and cocked the N99. "Get out of this room. Go hide down in the Reactor level. Whatever you want. Just get out of my way, and if you threaten Amata again, I - will - kill - you. Kapiche?"
"Why, you insufferable- Security!" The Overseer called as he ran out the door.
Amata shuddered. "Thanks. I don't know if he really would have hurt me, but-"
"Didn't sound like he was kidding to me." Jamie muttered, then spit on the floor.
"I- I need some time to think." Amata said. She got up and strode off down the corridor.
"See?" Jamie asked.
"What?" Matt demanded.
"The Overseer threatens to beat her, and she gets up and says, 'I need to go think for a while. Bye.' Well, I'm not waiting for her."
"We'll meet her at the door." Matt agreed.
"And thanks to your heroics, now we have to fight through the rest of the Vault security." Jamie moaned.
Matt opened a weapons locker tucked into a corner of the room. "Hey, Jamie, quit whining."
Jamie looked over. "What're you holding?"
Matt turned around, clutching two R91 5.56mm Full-Auto Urban Assault Rifles.
"Sweet!" Jamie cried, grabbed a rifle, and stuffed ammo clips into pouches on his armor.
Matt pulled the charging handle on his rifle. "Remember these from the sims?" He asked. "They called it the 'Backtalker' because of the weird report."
"Does it matter? It fires full-auto assault rifle bullets by the dozens."
Matt grabbed the rest of the weapons between the lockers and distributed them between his and Jamie's packs. If they ever got out, they would be great to sell, or alternately, for spare parts.
Jamie cocked a round into his rifle. "Lets do this."
Matt hit the door controls, raising his rifle. As the door slid open, the two Security Guards that had been approaching backed up quickly, guns raised. Matt paused briefly to switch the fire-selector to semi and aim at their legs, then pulled the trigger twice. Two high-velocity rifle rounds ripped through the Officers' flesh and ricocheted down the corridor.
Jamie stepped out into the hallway and suppressed the next to Officers further down. Matt crouched and put two holes in one Officer's shoulder, keeping the second one firmly behind cover.
Jamie advanced, still firing rounds. When the clip ran dry he dropped the rifle, letting it hang from its strap, drew his N99, and nailed the guy twice in the chest when he came around the corner. Both rounds were stopped by Officer's armor, but the 10mm rounds knocked him back on his butt. Jamie lunged forward and kicked the Officer in the face, then shot him in the foot. Better than a concussion, anyways.
Matt and Jamie took the staircase three steps at a time, bursting out into the Vault lobby. Two residents, people Matt didn't know, were having a huddled conversation by a support pillar. Apparently they came to a decision, because both of them got up and ran for the exit.
Matt tried to call out, "No, wait!" But before he could get the words out, the two residents ran into the exit corridor. Two Officers guarded the door at the far end. The Security Guards drew their N99s and blasted the two residents.
Matt cursed, slammed a new clip into his R91, and opened fire down the corridor. The two Officers had no cover, but even so got off a few shots before Matt's and Jamie's combined full-auto fire put them both out. Jamie collected the Officers' equipment.
"Come on, let's get out of here." The door the Officers had been guarding was locked, so Matt lead the way to the Overseer's office. Jamie stood guard while Matt picked the lock, getting them in.
"Alright, no time to waste." Matt rifled through the Overseer's desk and found a slip of paper with a password inscribed. "Hm. Convenient. Grab whatever he has stashed in the lockers."
Matt typed the password into the computer, quickly scanning the contents. The Overseer had added a lot of new data since the last time the two of them had been in here. Matt selected the command to open the Overseer's secret access tunnel, watching as the Overseer's entire desk lifted on hydraulic arms and folded backwards, revealing a staircase leading down.
"Got his stuff. Extra ammo. Some jet, too. I didn't know the Overseer did drugs."
"He probably confiscated it from Butch. I doubt they're his." Matt said skeptically.
"It would explain a lot."
"Whatever. Come on." Matt lead the way down the staircase, pushing through two doors and out into the Vault's entrance antechamber.
The giant, multi-ton silo door with a huge 101 inscribed creaked backwards sluggishly as Jamie hit the door controls. The door grated against the floor, and Matt winced as the sound of scraping metal filled the air. Then the door pulled out of the silo and rolled to the right, into a special groove built for it.
"Get this effing door open!" The Overseer shouted somewhere behind them. Matt looked over his shoulder and saw the regular entryway door shudder. "Come on, we've got to move!" He shouted. The two of them raced down the stairs and out the Vault door as the Overseer's top goons pushed through their door, opening fire. Bullets rebounded, ricocheted, and shattered against various surfaces. Jamie gave erratic covering fire while Matt fumbled with the Vault's door controls. He finally hit the right switch, causing the Vault silo door to roll back into place, nearly crushing one of the Security Guards.
Matt slumped against a wall, then ran a hand through his bleach-blond buzz-cut.
"Pretty intense." Jamie groaned as he sank to the floor.
"Indeed." The two of them rested for a moment. Then, as one, they turned and looked to the far end of the cave, where a screen-and-barred door let in stripes of light. "Shall we go see the world?"
"We shall indeed." Jamie got up and strode towards the exit.
Matt put a hand to the door handle and pushed outward. The door opened on rusty hinges, flooding the cave with light.
"My God." Jamie murmured.
Before them was the entire Capital Wasteland. Matt dearly wished he had a scope just then. He and Jamie walked forward almost reverently to the edge of a cliff with a rusted sign next to it that said 'Scenic Overlook.'
In the distance, Matt could see the Washington Monument, and a little ways off, the roof of the Capitol Building. Damaged and destroyed highways criss-crossed the land.
"Hey, check that out." Jamie said, pointing. Matt looked where he was indicating and saw a low, long wall, the color of rust. It blended in with the wasteland brown, which is why Matt hadn't seen it at first. The wall looked like it was made from broken airplane parts.
"Wasn't there something in the Overseer's files about some town just outside the vault? We should go check it out." Jamie said.
"Yeah." Matt slid down the hill on their right and came out onto a road at ground level. Abandoned cars lined both sides of the road.
"American culture. Hasn't advanced since the 1950's. 250 years later and we've still got the same cars."
"Yeah, well, same cars with nuclear fusion cell engines. Watch, put a few rounds into the hood of one from a safe distance and it'll explode pretty well." Matt warned.
"Ooh, I wanna try!" Jamie ran to the nearby gas-station and aimed his N99 at a car. He squeezed the trigger five times, and then the car's hood started venting smoke, then flames a second later. Jamie grinned. The smile quickly wiped off his face as the engine exploded, throwing out a shockwave that knocked Jamie on his butt.
The Geiger counter on Matt's PipBoy clicked, and a red sign came on that informed him he was now absorbing one rad per second.
"Get away from that thing. You just managed to irradiate that part of the wastes." Matt called down to Jamie as he backed out of range.
Jamie got up and ran off a ways. "That was AWESOME!" He shouted.
"Crazy pyro." Matt muttered.
"What was that?" Jamie yelled back.
"I said, awesome fireworks." Matt shouted sarcastically.
"Uh-huh." Jamie nodded. "Hey, there's a sign over here that says Springvale School. Should we check that out first, or the town?"
"Let's check out the town first, see what's what." Matt shouted back, jogging off to join Jamie.
The two of them strode down a street with the skeletal remnants of houses on both sides. Matt and Jamie checked the mailboxes, finding everything from lawn mower blades (of which they grabbed a couple) to frag grenades (which were all swiped). Matt found more 10mm ammunition, as well as 5.56mm rounds for their R91's.
Eventually, they made their way to the walled town. Matt saw a rusted-over street sign with large spray-painted letters that read 'MEGATON' with an arrow that pointed towards the town.
"Megaton, that was it. Let's go see what this is about."
"Hold up. D'you hear that?"
Jamie listened closely. "I hear lasers."
"Yeah. Come on."
Matt drew his N99, made sure a full clip was in, and ran towards Megaton, where the sounds were coming from. He rounded the crest of a hill and stopped dead. In front of him, a giant scorpion was assaulting the town. A Protectron model robot stood guard at the edge of the wall, firing a laser from its arm at the scorpion. The laser seemed to have little effect, but the robot fired enough rounds to harass the scorpion. A moment later, a deeper crack resounded, and the scorpion jerked and was still.
Matt looked to the top of the wall, where a figure was crouched, holding a hunting rifle. Matt activated his Vault-Assisted-Targeting-System (VATS) from his PipBoy, and a snapshot of the figure flickered to life on his helmet's HUD, complete with readouts on his percentage chance to hit the different parts of the figure's body. After a second, the PipBoy identified the figure as someone named Stockholm. Matt hit a control, and the VATS shifted its attention to the robot. Matt waited, and then a caption appeared that labeled the robot 'Deputy Weld'.
Jamie, meanwhile, had been examining the scorpion and removed its poison gland from its tail. "Wonder how much money we could get for this."
"Wonder what kind of money they use out here." Matt responded.
"Hey, you there!" Stockholm said. "Get away from the Radscorpion. That thing's still poisonous. What, did you just walk out of a Vault or something?"
Matt pointed to the big 101 emblazoned on his armor. "Where'd you think we got this?"
"Oh, perfect. Okay, someones going to have to bring you up to speed. Get in here -" Stockholm hit a switch, and the corner of the wall rose up into the air. Matt saw a gate inside a small enclosure where the wall had been.
"Get in here," Stockholm continued, "And talk to Lucas Simms. I'll let him know you're coming in."
"Uhh, okay." Matt yelled, shading his eyes from the sun.
"Shall we?" Jamie asked, one hand on the gate.
"Ladies first." Matt gestured.
"Haha. You're so funny." Jamie opened the door and entered the town, followed by Matt.
Matt stepped out of the narrow shade provided by Stockholm's sniper perch. In front of him was a steep hill with scrap metal steps leading down to a crater at the center of the town, with a gigantic nuclear bomb nestled at the center.
"Well, I'll be damned, another newcomer!"
A man dressed in a leather duster jacket climbed quickly up the hill, stopped a few feet away, and looked the two Vault Dwellers over. The skeletal stock of an assault rifle, not an R91 model, poked up over his right shoulder, and a N99 pistol was holstered at his hip. Under the duster, Matt could see a bunch of pockets with magazines in them. Probably wouldn't be smart to mess with him.
"Welcome to Megaton. Name's Lucas Simms, town sheriff. And mayor, too, when the need arises. I dunno why, but I like the looks of you two."
"Yeah, that must be my devilish charm." Jamie muttered. Matt repressed a laugh and held out his hand. "Nice town you got here, Sheriff."
"Friendly and well-mannered? I think we'll get along just fine. Now, how can I help you?"
Matt and Jamie looked at eachother for a second. "Um... where to start. We just walked out of Vault 101, so... a rundown of what the hells happening would be nice for starters."
"That would probably be a smart idea." Simms nodded. "Alright. You two probably know more about the Great War than I do, with all that Vault stuff I've heard about. Basically, China started a war over resources, mainly fossil fuels, with us sometime around 2060. We fought back when they invaded Alaska, and for a while things looked really good once all our advanced tech hit the front lines. Then, all of a sudden, the bombs fall. Nobody knows who struck first, but the world experienced a nuclear winter 200 years ago. That's why we call it 'The Capitol Wasteland,' here in the nation's great capitol. DC, and pretty much everywhere, has become a wasteland of ruins.
"We use bottle caps for currency, standard throughout the Capitol Wasteland, mainly from Nuka-Cola bottles. DC got hit directly by the nukes, but even so there are still some scattered settlements around. The big ones, you've got Rivet City to the southeast, then places like Canterbury Commons,
"That's how this town got its name. Megaton, from the undetonated bomb down there in the crater." Simms continued.
"Right, let's discuss this bomb." Jamie interrupted.
"What about it?" Simms asked.
"Don't you think someone should disarm the thing?" Matt put in.
"Yes, but I don't trust any of the locals round here to do it."
Matt and Jamie exchanged a glance. "We can see about disarming that bomb for you."
"Great. I kind of figured. You had that pyro look about you." Simms said, pointing at Jamie. "I can offer you a hundred caps for the job."
"Umh, Sheriff-" Jamie began, but Matt cut him off.
"Make it four hundred caps and you've got a deal." Matt declared.
"Two hundred." Simms countered.
"Three hundred. Final offer." Matt said with a half-smile.
"Done. Just - be careful. I don't want that thing going off in the middle of the town anytime soon."
"Yes. That would be kind of bad." Jamie agreed, nodding. "We'll check it out."
Simms nodded and walked off.
"Before we do, I wanna check out the saloon, figure out what we're going to do for bedding tonight. It's already about 1200 Hours." Matt said, pointing at a giant sign in the air that advertised, 'Moriarty's Saloon' on the far side of the crater.
Matt carefully dropped down the scrap metal steps until he was standing in the middle of the town, Moriarty's ahead of him, a diner called 'The Brass Lantern' on his left, 'Craterside Supply' on his right, and the bomb directly in front, laying in a pool of irradiated water. Matt's Geiger counter clicked faster the closer he got to it.
"Check out this moron." Matt said under his breath, pointing at a guy knee-deep in the toxic water and spouting instructions to some suicidal doctrine.
"Nice place." Jamie agreed.
The two of them walked up the steep scrap metal ramp and entered the saloon. The door opened to reveal a warm, comfortable interior. Matt stood in the doorway and looked around. Set up to his right were several tables and chairs, and in a corner was a sitting area with a sofa, coffee table, and recliners. At the bar was a large man conversing with someone seated at a stool, and beside him was what looked like a zombie, banging on a radio.
"What is that?" Jamie asked, disgusted.
"Stupid radio. Thing's always broken." The zombie muttered to himself.
"He sounds sane." Matt considered.
"He looks like a zombie."
"Gentlemen, what can I do for you?" Asked the man at the bar in a thick Irish accent. Matt assumed he was Moriarty.
Matt approached the counter. "I'm looking for my dad. Tall, science type. I was wondering if he'd been through town."
"Well I'll be- your the kid. James's son." Moriarty realized.
"Yeah, that's me. How do you know my dad?"
"Where to start, kiddo. First of all, yeah I knew your dad. Yes he's been through here. He used to come down every now and then, a long time ago, then, what, eighteen years ago, ups and disappears into the Vault right up the road-"
"That's not possible. The Vaults been closed for hundreds of years." Jamie interrupted.
Moriarty shook his head indulgently. "Kiddo, the vault's been open for years before your dad showed up. Well, open for anyone who could pay, that is. Then your dad went in, and then after that, nothing. Closed for years."
Matt brushed it aside. "It doesn't matter. You were saying you've seen my dad? How long ago? Which way did he go?"
Moriarty sighed. "I wanna help you, kiddo." He said, at which point Matt decided he didn't like how this guy called him kiddo. "I really do. But the thing out in this world is, help costs caps. If you want more information, you're gonna have to pay up."
Matt considered refusing, forcing the barkeep to tell them what he knew. And as much as he wanted to, it probably wouldn't have been appreciated by Simms, or anyone else in the town.
"Alright. How much." Matt asked, adding several names in his head.
"There now, a business spirit. That's what I like to hear. Let's say... a hundred caps."
"Um, Matt, we're broke. We gots no caps." Jamie reminded his brother-in-arms.
"Right. We just stepped out of a Vault. How do you expect us to pay up?" Matt asked.
"I've got a job for you. There's this gal I know out by Springvale. She and I, we had a business proposition. She would ship me, er... a few extra commodities, in bulk. I'd then sell them at top prices out to the fine people of Megaton, and she'd get a cut of the profits. Problem is, she scrammed. Took the drugs and ran, holed up in some ranch home just outside the town. I want you to go pay her a visit and request the funds that she owes me. That should cover your expenses, plus some."
Matt and Jamie considered it. "Deal." Matt said, and held out his hand. Moriarty shook.
"Great. Come talk to me again once you've got my caps."
Matt waited till Moriarty had turned and resumed his conversation with his other customer, then wiped his hand on his jumpsuit.
"Sorry about him, smoothskin. Moriarty's only got one concern in life - caps. Don't care about nothing else." A gravelly voice piped up from behind them.
Matt turned to regard the zombie he had seen earlier.
"Smoothskin?" Jamie asked.
"Yeah. You know, cause your skin is smooth." The zombie said. "Name's Gob."
"Nice to meet you, Gob." Matt interjected before Jamie could ask anything offensive.
The zombie's grin widened. "What? You're not gonna hit me? Not even berate me a little?"
"I hadn't planned on it." Matt said.
"Well now, that's a pleasant surprise. I'm used to every two-cent bigot around here shouting at me just because of the way I look. Look, Moriarty'd have my butt if he caught me selling at a discount, but for you guys, I'll risk it."
Matt smiled.
"Not to be rude, but what exactly are you?" Jamie asked, trying not to be offensive.
"I'm a ghoul. I used to be human, before the war. Now all I've got is this rotting zombie-carcass of a face."
"Interesting. Body must have had some kind of extreme allergic mutation to the radiation that caused the skin to deteriorate and then just flake off. Something must have happened with your skin's replication DNA."
"Right. Anyways, I'm not the only one. If you ever get down to Underworld, city of Ghouls, tell Carol I said hi." Gob nodded glumly.
"I'll do that." Matt assured him.
"And uhh, he'd really kill me if I told you this, but Moriarty's got his own computer in the back, with all his files on all the people that've been up to the bar. Your dad might be one of them. I'd check it out before I paid him."
Matt shook hands with Gob. "Until next time, then."
Jamie patted him on the shoulder, saying, "Gobby."
Then the two of them turned and considered the man in the white suit.
He was tall, mid thirties maybe. He wore a filthy white linen suit, a brimmed hat, and tortoiseshell sunglasses.
"My, my, just when I had all but given up hope. Gentlemen, I have quite the proposition for you."
"Help! Help!!"
Matt paused in the act of reaching for a Talon Company Merc's dog tags and looked for the source of the piercing scream.
He and Jamie had been ambushed coming out of a metro station by a band of the opportunists. The Mercs had said there was a price on the Vault Boys' heads. Matt suspected that Tenpenny was involved - ever since they had diffused the bomb in Megaton and helped the sheriff deal with the white-suit-clad Mr. Burke, his employer Tenpenny had it out for them. Hiring these heartless guns was just his style.
Retreating into the station, they had taken out one of the three with sustained bursts from their assault rifles. A grenade crippled the second Merc, and a .32 cal round from Matt's hunting rifle drilled straight through the last one's head. They had just finished off the second, wounded Merc and were in the process of stripping anything useful off the three, especially their armor. Talon Company standard-issue armor was basically a modified version of the Combat Armor Matt and Jamie wore, and shared many of the same parts, making the Mercs' armor useful for repairs.
"That sounded like it came from the War Memorial." Jamie said. "Not far from here."
"I do agree. Let's check it out." Matt slapped a fresh clip into his assault rifle, marked the coordinates of the three bodies on his PipBoy in case they wanted to return later and make another pass, and set off down the bank of the river towards the sound.
"Anchorage War Memorial, constructed for the battle of Anchorage, Alaska, in 2066, now is home to a huge nest of Mirelurks." Jamie read off his PipBoy3000 as they jogged.
After another minute they came near enough to see a Super-Mutant dragging an unconscious girl by the arm into a bunker made out of two rusted semi-trucks. Then a grotesque thing walked out from between the trailers, taking up a watch position. Matt and Jamie went prone and pulled out their binoculars.
Matt pointed his Pip-Boy at the creature, where it registered after a second as something called a Centaur.
"That thing has six arms." Jamie muttered, eyes glued to the lenses of his binos.
"Six arms?" Matt asked, distracted by the tentacle-like mass of the thing's tongue.
"Yeah. Its legs have human hands on them instead of feet."
"Let's get closer." Matt said.
The two of them pressed their backs into the semi-truck barrier of the bunker where the Super Mutant had taken refuge. Around the corner where one semi ended, the centaur stood at the end of a second, perpendicular truck that formed the gate. The semis were positioned to create be the third and fourth wall between a partially-collapsed building and a 60-foot tall concrete retaining wall. The truck that Matt and Jamie were hiding against ended a crack before the retaining wall - Matt thought he could squeeze through it.
"Alright, here's the plan," he murmured to Jamie. "I'm going to try and sneak around through that crack there. Meanwhile, you set up here and get ready to blast the Centaur. When the Super Mutant hears the gunfire, hopefully he comes running to the front. I'll take him out from behind."
Jamie readied his assault rifle. "Got it. I'll give you sixty seconds, then start shooting."
Matt nodded, already shuffling towards the crack.
It was a tight squeeze in his combat armor, but he made it. After having climbed halfway up the truck, he shimmied around and dropped relatively silently to the ground, inside the bunker. There was a 8 foot tall heavy canvas tent, one flap left awry - Matt caught a glimpse of orange skin in the half-light. Gingerly, he set his assault rifle on the ground and pulled a combat knife, holding it backhanded.
A few seconds later, Jamie opened fire and whooped, "Hell yeah! Come get some!"
The response was immediate - the Super Mutant charged out of the tent armed with a 6-foot long plank of wood with nails bristling on the business end. He didn't so much as glance in Matt's direction, instead looking towards the gate.
Matt dry-swallowed. Up close, this thing was much more intimidating. Clothed in an armor of rubber tires and scrap metal, muscles rippled across its huge chest. It stood around eight feet tall, maybe more. It started for the entrance and loosed a savage war cry.
Despite its intimidating physical appearance, Matt was not about to let the thing threaten Jamie.
He jumped forward, clinging to the mutant's back, wrapped his arm around the thing's yellow forehead, and plunged his knife into the thing's neck.
Or would have. The razor-sharp instrument penetrated only around two inches into the mutant's incredibly tough skin and muscle.
Crying out in surprise, the mutant bucked and through Matt off his back. Matt went flying ten feet and slammed into the retaining wall, pulverizing a section of the stone. He crumpled to the ground, trying to get his breath back.
The mutant turned towards this new threat, lowered its head, and charged.
Frantically, Matt scrambled forward, numb fingers grasping for the handle of his assault rifle. His fingers dug furrows through the soft rubble, then bruised the wooden grip. He clutched at it blindly and brought the R91 around, letting off a burst of full-auto rounds one-handed. The oncoming mutant was so big, though, that most of the rounds hit it dead-on - not that it did anything other than stumble. Seven 5.56mm rounds stitched across its chest and the only result was a momentary slackening as the projectiles slammed into the beast and were stopped.
Matt leaped to one side as the nail board came down. He lost his rifle as he twisted and leaped again into the corner of the retaining wall and the rubble pile. He was trapped.
Then Jamie stepped around the corner and drilled tight, controlled bursts into the Super Mutant's leg, bringing it down to one knee. The mutant growled and threw its weapon side-arm at Jamie with incredible force.
Jamie's eyes widened and he barely managed to step to one side before the wood hit him, cracking the chest plate of his combat armor. Jamie fell to his butt, stunned.
The mutant turned to finish Jamie off. Matt grasped his combat knife and leaped onto the mutant's back again.
This time, Matt went for the mutant's eye. Driving the blade up through the soft flesh, Matt buried the knife up to its hilt, far enough to penetrate the creature's brain.
The mutant finally collapsed, creating a puff of dust and a mild tremor as it landed.
Both of them were panting in the cool evening air. Matt collected his assault rifle, loaded a fresh mag, and clipped it to his pack.
"That- was something." Jamie coughed.
"You can say that again." Matt agreed. It was only the third or fourth Super Mutant they had ever taken completely by themselves, and the first one up close. Usually they simply riddled the creatures with bullets from afar - the mutants, at least the lesser-ranked ones, were crap shots.
"That was something."
"Smartass."
"Dumbass." Jamie countered. "How did you not kill it the first time?"
"Because this thing's skin is like Kevlar!" Matt protested. "My knife went in two inches."
Jamie snickered.
"Whatever. Come on, we've got a girl to save."
Matt ignored Jamie's juvenile comments about Matt's supposed plans for taking advantage of the situation and swept through the doorway into the tent, and with two deft swipes from his blade, cut the ropes that bound the girl.
"You hear that?"
The two of them listened intently. "Sounds like... a minigun." Jamie frowned.
"And laser rifles." Matt nodded. "Come on, let's go check it out. Could be the source of the distress signal."
"Whatever it is, they brought plenty of heat to the party." Jamie commented as a large explosion shook the walls of the metro tunnel. The two of them picked up into a jog.
After navigating their way down the tunnel, they came to a stop in the line. Matt took the steps to the surface two at a time, pointing through the metal grate towards the open air. Cherry red lasers and tracer bullets criss-crossed the morning air.
At the bottom of the steps leading into the metro station, a single man in red-on-black T-45d Power Armor was engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with a Super Mutant. A Brotherhood Outcast and a Brute.
Matt attempted to wrench the gate open, wanting to help the Outcast, but the gate was secured by a thick padlock. As the two figures fought it out, Matt and Jamie smashed the lock with the butts of their weapons to no avail.
Luckily for them, it was a fairly one-sided battle. The Power Armor encased Outcast had the benefit of incredible exoskeletal strength and a nearly impervious composite shell. The Brute's nail board did little more than dent the thick armor, while the Outcast's trained strikes brought the creature to its knees, then ended it with a well-placed blow to the throat.
Breathing heavily, the Outcast finally turned and noticed Matt and Jamie. Retrieving his laser rifle and pistol from where they lay in the rubble, the Outcast melted the lock off in one shot.
"What the hell are you two doing here? You got a death wish or something?" Before they could answer, he continued. "Listen, you can help us take out the Mutants on our way back to base. Otherwise, get lost."
Matt glanced at Jamie and racked a round into the chamber of his R91.
The two of them followed the Outcast to the surface where a heated battle was underway. Another four Outcasts were pinned down by a collection of Brutes lead by a Super Mutant Master with a minigun - hence the tracer rounds. The Outcasts fired back with their AER-9 laser rifles, the superheated air crackling as the beams passed through.
The three of them took cover in the temporary shelter of a bombed-out sandbag-lined crater.
"You two, cover the East approach. Concentrate your fire on anything in that direction - let us handle the rest." An Outcast pointed down the intersection along one road.
Matt selected a target from the dozen available and opened fire with his modified Assault Rifle. He and Jamie had worked on their weapons a good deal back in their workshop, coaxing the guns to maintain a tighter spread of bullets via the addition of a quality steel barrel. In addition, Matt had bought a custom metal frame from a vendor in Rivet City and replaced the striking pin in the rifle, resulting in a rate of fire increase. And the two had spent hours taping extended mags side-by-side, packing 35-round clips into dual-mag bundles.
Under Matt and Jamie's combined fire, four Super Mutants dropped face-down in the debris before an Outcast looked over and swept the muzzle of his Gatling Laser across. Matt ducked his head and covered his neck as the searing heat from the barrel spread out in radiating waves. After several seconds of sustained fire, the Outcast turned and began vaporizing a new area. Matt looked up - nothing was left moving. The five or so Mutants that had been left before were now either half-liquefied steaming puddles or bone-dry ash piles.
The two of them glanced at each other.
"I want one." Jamie murmured reverently.
"Maybe for Christmas if you're a good boy." Matt replied.
They found new targets and began firing at a more leisurely pace, letting the Outcasts do the heavy lifting with their Gatling Laser.
The nightmarish battle claimed plenty of victims. Of the twenty or so Mutants they encountered along the way, all were dropped. But despite the Outcast's training and heavy equipment, they lost two of their own along the way.
Once the last round had been fired, an Outcast that Matt's PipBoy identified as Defender Mirrill who seemed to be in charge collected each of the fallens' tags and tapped their helmets.
Matt and Jamie, remarkably, had escaped serious injury. While their modified combat armor wasn't as strong or versatile as the Outcasts' Power Armor, it was good at deflecting bullets and other projectiles thanks to their tinkering.
The Virtual Reality simulator activated with a whir of multicolored lights. Despite Matt's strong stomach, he felt a moment of vertigo before his mind accepted the reality being beamed to his senses.
"Come on, snap out of it! Shake it off, soldier!"
Matt blinked, his vision un-clouding to reveal an earnest looking American soldier.
The man, Sergeant Benjamin Montgomery, muttered something about Matt's chute having collapsed on entry. Matt looked around - Jamie was nowhere in sight. Matt shrugged inwardly - they both had the same objective, and he doubted any Commie saps would get in the way of Jamie laying his hands on a Gatling Laser.
Matt examined the Winterized Combat Armor he was encased in as Montgomery said, "You still have your equipment, so I'll let you decide whether you want to go in guns blazing or go stealth."
Matt nodded, then watched as the Sergeant proceeded to climb up a cliff and shuffle out of sight.
Patting his hip, Matt discovered he had been equipped with a silenced N99 10mm pistol and a vicious-looking trench knife - not exactly frontal assault weapons. Matt held his N99 in one hand and his knife in the other, proceeding along the linear path towards his objective.
A Chinese commando stood in front of him, looking out at a mountain vista, facing away from Matt. Readying his trench knife, Matt lunged and clapped one hand over the commando's mouth, and with the other dragged the vicious blade across the commando's throat. Instead of erupting in a fountain of blood, like normal, the simulation simply dropped and dematerialized. Matt made a grab for the commando's assault rifle but it also disappeared in his clutches.
"Great. Thanks, General Chase." Matt kept moving.
Matt stuck with the stealth approach for a while longer, until he found an abandoned assault rifle tucked in a corner of a bunker he had just cleared. Matt picked it up and grabbed ammo from a nearby hopper, also stopping to swipe a couple grenades from a table.
Matt loaded a clip and stepped out of the bunker, aimed, and unleashed a torrent of fire into several Chinese soldiers guarding an overpass. Two of the three dropped,
