Chapter Text
Broken Brotherhood (Fallout 3 AU)
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Amata walked as fast as she could, vault security leading from the front as well as following behind her while they rushed through the corridors towards the entrance of the vault. Someone had sent a signal to open the vault and the computer wouldn’t reverse it until after it had complete the opening process. Armed with their 10mm submachine guns and pistols 101s security was well equipped to fight off any hostiles that might make it in while they were closing the vault doors. As for why Amata was there, she had a hunch on who it was that had opened the door, and if it wasn’t, she’d taken precautions, securing a stealth boy so she could disappear quickly if it turned out her hunch was wrong.
As they got to the door way to the vault entrance, the guards stacked up on the door, counted down, before one went up to push it open. It swung on its greased hinges and her security team poured in. Amata waited a moment before finally the head of security called out.
“Who the hell are you?”
“An old resident,” a low gravelly voice came over what Amata knew was a speaker on power armour. They’d encountered it once before, when he had come back. Now without fear Amata stepped through the door into the vault’s entrance area. As she looked to the control area there already was one of her security personal working on the controls there. Another man was working at the console in front of her, pulling the lever down that started up the sealing up process. The door would be closed soon enough but it would take time, and as she watched the entrance the man in power armour came stomping forward through the cog shaped entrance.
“Hold it right there Jim! You’re not allowed back in here remember!”
“It’s fine for the moment,” Amata called out. She saw that Wersker, the new head of security, wasn’t happy about it but at the moment Amata wasn’t about to worry too much about that. Despite how many in the vault still had it out for Jimmy, for the chaos that had happened in his father’s wake, she didn’t blame him.
Though, some part of her wondered why was back here? He’d changed and it had been nearly a decade since he left here. She almost wished that he’d never left sometimes, but even if he could come back it wouldn’t be the same. Once upon a time he’d been a nice boy, a good friend and so much like his Dad. A lover of the diplomatic approach, always willing to help anyone around, even looked like he’d become the next vault doctor when his Dad finally passed on the title.
When he first came back though… The wasteland had changed him. She’d barely even recognised him then, and were he to take off the helm of that power armour, she was pretty sure she’d barely be able to recognise him now. Though, as she watched him come forth, she finally noticed someone else was there as well. Since the other wasn’t in eye catching power armour she hadn’t noticed them. Her frown grew as she saw how dirty the girl was, her blonde hair was a mess that looked like it was chopped short with a machete, the duster she had on was ragged at the bottom while the side bag she had looked stuffed. She carried an old hunting rifle as well that looked a bit big for her, modified to have a scope and looked quite a bit more powerful than the average .32 hunting rifle that were often among the raiders out in the wastes. Surprisingly though, as she gazed about the interior of the vault, she didn’t look that impressed. Most wastelanders often were in awe of the pristine condition of the vault, of how clean it was, and even more how clean the people were.
She can’t be more than ten, Amata thought as she gazed on at that youthful face, taking in the details. As she continued to look though, her eyes caught on specific features, saw things in that face. Her eyes for one, they were familiar, very familiar, the shape of the nose. Amata looked to Jim and then back at the girl, remembering his face, back when he first left. Slowly she nodded and her frown deepened. He couldn’t possibly be thinking of trying to come back? There was still too much bad blood, especially after the lie her father had used in order to cover up the disasters that had happened around the same time that Jim’s own father James had gone to escape the vault. Perhaps if she wasn’t related to him, or if he just left her here…
But… if anyone were to ever find out… it could be bad. At best banishment, at worst…
She remembered hearing from some of the other security guards, some of the younger ones that were loyal to her talking about the plan her Father’s supposedly loyal security team had been hatching behind his back to deal with them. The thought sent chills down her spine at how close they’d all been to death.
“Who’s this?” Amata asked since it didn’t seem like anyone else was going to ask. She looked to Jim, waiting on a response.
“An orphan,” he simply said and Amata almost believed it from the way he said it, were the evidence not so blatantly in her face. Despite that though, she visibly saw one of the security guard’s expression soften. Moreno was a youngster, barely even fifteen but he fit in the uniform well enough, and he didn’t have the same kind of prejudices that plagued her father’s loyalists. He definitely had some reservations about letting in too many savages… yet he didn’t seem to mind the girl all that much.
Amata raised a brow at Jim, though through that helm she couldn’t see his expression. She could imagine it though from their last interaction. Through that helm she could imagine his cold hard stare, one of steel tempered by the wastes. Any of the kindness that had once been there having been ripped out, and replaced with a stoic determination. Amata looked to the girl, and she didn’t have as good a poker face. She’d glanced over to Jim briefly, her frown deeper, her expression troubled as concern passed through her eyes, yet she said nothing. Instead she looked away hiding her expression by watching the giant cog slowly being pushed back into place. Just like Jim used to do when he either was lying, or didn’t want someone to see what he really thought.
He used to be so expressive… she couldn’t help but think before shaking herself of that idle thought. It wasn’t useful to reminisce on the past like that. It would leave her vulnerable to her own emotions pushing her into a rash decision.
“Why have you brought her here?” Amata asked. Jim continued to silently stare at her. Some of her people were growing increasingly uncomfortable. After a time though Jim spoke.
“I brought her here to be taken care of. The wastes are a dangerous place, and she’ll be safe here,” he said. Briefly Amata gauged the reactions of her guards. The older guards, those that had supported her father, didn’t seem to like the idea. She could see their thoughts easily visible on their faces before they just as quickly returned to neutrality. Most didn’t seem to think much about of it, not reacting visibly. Some among her force that were younger however briefly looked at her, gauging her own reaction while their expressions softened. Moreno even smiled a bit at the suggestion.
Even so… while her father endorsed her and her reasoning, those that had initially stuck with him hadn’t been quite so quick to change their tune. Rather than shifting their positions when they were informed of how limited the gene pool was they merely doubled down or ignored how serious the threat of incest was to our vault surviving. Bringing in someone too soon, before she could convince enough people that it was a necessity, it would weaken her position and authority. Her ascendance to Overseer was mainly due to her father handing her the position and his loyalists honouring his decision, but if she lost their tacit acceptance her place would become that much more tenuous since her own supporters were still in the minority among the vault.
Part of that acceptance was by honouring her father’s lie, and ensuring that Jim was gone, letting the older generation have their scapegoat to blame for not just the invasion by the radroaches and the fire, but also for filling their heads with muck. It eased the tensions, and let them blame everything that happened on those two. It helped as well that people were looking for an excuse, anything to try and return everything back to normal.
“Why do you think we would take her in?” Amata asked, hoping he would take the hint. Jim being involved at all, especially if they figured out who the girl’s likely father was it, was just asking for trouble.
He didn’t.
“Because ever after being forced from my home, and then being banished, I’ve been protecting the vault. Done it twice now,” with that he raised his off hand with two fingers up. “The first was from raiders using dynamite to try and blow their way in.”
Wersker scoffed. “That door was built to withstand a direct nuclear blast, there’s no way that they could get in with just a few sticks of dynamite.”
“True… the door would hold… but what about the walls of the vault? They were blowing their way through the ground, would have come from below or the sides… tell me, how did those radroaches get in again?” he asked and she could see how Wersker’s face scrunched up at the mention of that event. Even Moreno began to glare at him, yet of course Jim stood his ground, unafraid, not that he ought to be in that kind of armour. If he needed to he could probably kill everyone in this room and they wouldn’t even be able to do more than dent his armour.
Satisfied he had shut up the older man Jim lowered a finger before continuing. “The second was when the Enclave decided to come knocking. Probably would have conscripted or killed the lot of you were I not there to end them.”
At the mention of the enclave her men began to grow nervous at the fact. More than a few had heard Butch’s stories about them, about the men out there that had tried to conquer the capital wasteland. They’d tried to gain access to the vault only for her father to deny them access. From what Butch had relayed to them about the Enclave, it didn’t paint a pretty picture of what might have happened had they gotten in. Worse yet it weakened her position as well since they knew that the second even had happened for sure. The corpses of Enclave soldiers by a ruined vertibird near the cave’s entrance had effectively confirmed the story. Even if the first one could be blown off as a fabrication, the second incident couldn’t.
“Now… if you don’t take this girl in, I won’t be around when there is a third,” he said. Once upon a time Amata would have called that as a bluff, no matter how gruff his voice sounded now, no matter how grimy and how much like one of the savage outsiders he looked, she’d have been able to call that as a bluff. But… he’d changed since he was out there. Where before he was happy go lucky, an intelligent and bright if not too confident man, now, his voice held none of the mirth from before, and there was a coldness to it that sent doubt into her heart.
Damn it all, she thought before finally nodding. “Fine then, we’ll take her in, clean her up.”
“Good,” was all he said. Gently, far gently than she’d thought could be possible in such a heavy suit of armour, Jim gently pushed the girl forward.
”Overseer…” Wersker asked but Amata silenced him with a gesture of her hand.
“What’s done is done. Moreno, get the girl some new quarters, there are more than enough around here.”
“Yes ma’am,” the young man answered with a hasty salute, earning a smile from the girl and getting him to smile as well. From there he and the girl left the room. Amata meanwhile looked to the rest of her security team.
“Leave us, I want to speak with our guest,” now how to fix this, or at least make it so that people won’t object too much. “I need to make sure that our guest doesn’t try anything like this again, understand?”
“Ma’am, are you sure it’s wise to leave you with him? He could be dangerous,” Wersker said and Amata couldn’t help but laugh.
“If he wanted to kill us he would have no trouble doing so whether you were here or not. Now go,” the rest of vault security didn’t like it, yet even so they finally after a time relented. They slipped away from the entrance area further into the vault and closing the door behind them. She was under no illusions that they were truly gone and would come back through the door if they heard anything concerning. Finally as the last of them were gone, she smiled at her former best friend and descended the stairs until they were on the same level, though he of course towered over her. Leaning against the lower rung of the railing she looked up at him.
“It’s been a while… a bit less than a decade right?”
“Something like that,” he said as he raised his hands to the helm. For a brief moment there was nothing before as he turned the helm, there was a hiss of pressure, before finally he lifted it and she saw his face. The first thing she noticed was that he’d aged. The man in front of her was almost in his thirties, just like her. For a moment she briefly looked for that youthful remnant that should have been there among the scruff and grime, yet it was all gone. Even his eyes had shifted, changed and turned haunted by his time out there.
“What’s going on Jimmy, why’ve you brought her here?” she asked, her tone low as she asked. He was silent for a long time after she asked that. Once upon a time she’d have been able to see all those emotions plain on his face. Now she could only guess as he thought, as he muddled over what to say.
“I need to keep her safe… she’s my daughter and… this is the only place I can think of that might stand a chance at that,” he said, his voice less hostile, more lost, or perhaps sorrowful was the best way to put it. It was still hard, nothing like the grief that would consume a person here, but still… it was a hard world out there…
“Is the Enclave back?” she asked, worry spreading across her own face but then Jimmy shook his head.
“No… They’re gone… but things have changed, the Brotherhood has changed…” once more silence reigned for long moments. “They killed Sarah… after everything she did for the Brotherhood, they killed her. I didn’t want to believe it but they did…”
Amata’s frown grew as she heard this. While she didn’t know too much about the wasteland out there, the death of the Brotherhood’s new Elder, Sarah Lyons, had been big news on Galaxy News Radio. For a time Three Dog had implied that it was a super mutant with a powerful rifle or something like that, that she killed hundreds of them before finally falling… but if the Brotherhood had instead done it…
“She’s Elder Lyon’s daughter as well?” she asked and Jimmy nodded. He blinked and Amata saw a single solitary tear falling down his cheek. “Will they come for her?”
“Maybe… they weren’t before… but once I start they may want to grab some hostages,” Amata didn’t need to ask what he meant by “once he started.” From all that she’d heard about him on GNR, he was an unstoppable killing machine for good, slaughtering raiders, super mutants, and even Enclave soldier in a storm of death. Now though it seemed that he’d turned his eyes on the Brotherhood, and found them wanting.
“Cut off access to the outside by noon, don’t accept any signals for the next few months… I should be done by then… and if not… well, I guess it won’t matter,” with that he put the helm back on, and twisted it to seal it once again. Taking this as a sign Amata pushed off the railing to head for the controls. She flicked the switch and the giant door was slowly opened. Once open, Jimmy turned to leave though Amata called out.
“Hey!” he turned to her. “If what you’re saying is true, give them hell.”
He nodded and began to march out once more. She wasn’t sure if it would be the final time, or if she would ever see him again. Hopefully though, she’d see him again once he was done.
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