Vault-113 IC

Gonzalez

Gonzalez

Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
Overseer: "We got a problem, a big one, our water purification system has failed last night, we don't have th necessary spare parts to repair it, and process is to complicated for a workaround system. I've considered to open the vault and let people out, to start over on the outside with the help of the cryo dwellers, problem is our resources allocated for that task have not been issued prior to the fall of the bombs..."

Security Chief: "That is not a minor slip, how was this vault supposed to remain closed indefinitely without the necessary resources. The lack of a Garden of Eden Creation Kit I can understand, we weren't meant to repopulate until government forces arrived."

Overseer: "It is true, however, accordingly to what records we have, the replacement water chips meant for this vault, and even others, were all sent to Vault 8. And while not supposed to be opened, contingency was made for cases where our government was unable to get to us, however, due to clerical error, our Garden of Eden Creation Kit was mistakenly shipped to Vault 013, rather than ours, 113. These issues could not be addressed before the bombs fell, and so we are trapped in this awful situation, without a replacement Water Chip, and no Garden of Eden Creation Kit, I'm afraid we are doomed to die down here. I could let people out, but they wouldn't make it out there, not wit without the necessary resources... many would die..."

Security Chief: "Then I guess we are going to have to find ourselves another Water Chip, or a Garden... G.E.C.K., whichever we can find first."

Overseer: "And who do you suggest we send out there? God knows how dangerous it can be, none of us has the skills to survive... unless..."

Security Chief: "The cryos..."

Overseer: "They have much better chances of surviving out there than ourselves, they know the outside, they have actually been out there, even if it has changed after these many years, and they'll probably prefer being outside anyway... I'm making the call, we need a list of the most suitable subjects. Let's just hope they survive reanimation, no one has come out of cryostasis after so long."

Security Chief: "I have already taken the liberty, here are some of our most promising candidates. First we have a police officer, several years on the streets before being frozen, he probably knows the city layout well. We also have an ex military, veteran of operation Canadian Freedom and Alaska Shield. Of course we will need people with other, varied sets of skills as well, and more expendable assets too".

Overseer: "That soldier seems to have problems with authority."

Security Chief: "But it makes for a powerful fighter in case things get nasty out there, a party including him will have more chances to survive. We can always count on the cop to keep the search party focused on their objective, he seems obedient and easy to manipulate..."


The next day:

Markus wakes up on an hospital bed... not remembering why he was there nor realizing where he really was, like the bombs falling, the dash towards the Vault, the caos, the confusion, the fear, all that was just a dream. He sees a man in a lab coat and with a strange blue jumpsuit under it."Ahh, you are awake... I'm going to have to explain some things to you, and after that the Overseer will want to talk to you as well." "The Overseer?" "Yes, the Overseer." "Wait, you are not making any sense, overseer of what, what are you talking about? Was I in an accident? I don't remember anything?" "I see, well, this is not going to be easy."

Hours go by and the Vault medic explains everything as he asks Markus to perform a varied set of actions and movements meant to test how well he is physically and mentally. "Well, you are as healthy as the day you entered, no noticeable side effects from the preservation, I'm sure those who invented these cryo devices would be thrilled to know how well they worked, but they are probably all dead now, provided they did not enter one of their own inventions hahaha... uhh, sorry. The Overseer will want to see you now."

Markus is then taken several levels below in an elevator to some sort of classroom with a projector and a screen. There more people in blue and yellow jumpsuits, just like the one he was now wearing, awaited him. Also facing the screen was another man, and standing in front of the screen was an affable looking old man with white beard and hair, when he talked his voice was a little raspy, probably from his age.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am the Overseer..." "Finally, the man everyone was talking about." Markus thinks to himself. "Allow me to be the first to congratulate you on surviving the first full all out planetary level nuclear war, believe me, it's not a small feat, most have not been as lucky, as now humanity as we know it could very well be on brink of extinction. As you now probably remember you contracted the services of Vault-Tec and agreed to participate in the cryogenics experiment for a reduced fee of the normal dweller contract. As survivors from the time of the war, you are supposed to be the vanguard on repopulating the world. However, before this can be done, we need certain supplied that, we regret to inform you, were not delivered to the Vault in time. And you, my friends, have been chosen to retrieve them. On top of that our water purification system has stopped working, and we don't have the necessary spare parts to repair it."

The Overseer proceeds to show stills of the G.E.C.K. and the water chip on the projector, and explains details of their working.

"I know, I know, you have just woken up to the terrible realization that the world now is a nuked out irradiated wasteland, and you are being asked to risk your lives by going out there on your own and unprepared, but there is no other choice. Our survival, the lives of everyone in here, depends on you two finding these supplies, you are the most prepared people we could find, and frankly, I think you are the only hope we have. You need to go find us another controller chip, or a Garden of Eden Creation Kit. We estimate we have four or five months before the Vault runs out of water. We need either the chip or the G.E.C.K. if any of us want a chance to survive. We marked your maps with the location of another two Vaults we know to be in the area, not a bad place to start I think. Look, just be safe, ok?"

That last sentence showed sincere concern, be it for the lives of the two men he was sending out or for the fact that if they didn't make it, everyone in the Vault was doomed.

It seemed moments ago when Markus was waking up in the Vault infirmary, now sirens sound, and the big vault door rolls open revealing a dark cave. Both men carry some basic supplies, a 10mm auto-loading pistol with some spare ammo, and no other protection than their vault suits. Markus takes a few steps forward and gazes into the cave before him, not knowing what awaits for him on the other side. He then turns to the man next to him and extends his hand, with all the hastiness this whole business was conducted they haven't yet been introduced.

"By the way, I'm Markus..."
 
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Ramses returned the hand shake. Markus had a strong grip, an honest grip. "Ramses..."


He checked his kit, not Spec Ops issue, but it would have to do. After all, this wasn't the frosty front lines of Alaska. He gave a blank look at the Security Chief. The Veteran didn't like the man, didn't like him one bit. Security Chief was assessing the two. Those were trained eyes, a professionals eyes. The Overseer seemed too grand fatherly... Reminded him of those West Point Officers that ordered the men into the trenches, lead from behind and claimed the glory after most of the platoon was wiped out.

"Lets leave this iron coffin.."
 
As soon as Markus and Ramses left the gate, the sirens started sounding again and the heavy vault door sealed shut behind them, locking them out. "Someone doesn't like to leave the door open..."

The cave was poorly lit, they had some flares for illumination. Markus chose to be safe and lit one up, and the light reflected on a pair of shiny eyes. A squeak and then the eyes jump forward revealing an over sized rat, this big rat was hungry and relentless, and wasn't afraid of them. Markus pulled his 10mm out of his hip like a flash, but wasted vital seconds assessing the situation. The rat leaped towards him and defensively he kicked her away, hoping the rat would give up the fight, but this was no common rat, it came back for more, and those teeth could not only cause infection but leave nasty wounds. It seem weird doing it, but with great accuracy he shot the rat in one of the back legs, however the wounded animal still went after him.

"Rats that can withstand a 10mm blow? This is not a good sign." He thought to himself.
 
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It was pure instinct, every time he drew, it was thousands of hours spent training and fighting. He raised his 10mm Colt, got the creature in his sights and squeezed the trigger.

There was a soft pop sound as the 10mm JHP round pulverized the rodent's skull, sending the rodent off to the Rat Catcher in the Sky.

It was a big rat, and he had a feeling there were pro ably bigger things outside. Talk about living a sci-fi nightmare.

"Minnie Mouse is down... I hope we don't run into Mickey," he tightened his grip and moved the flash light to cross the gun hand, "You good?"
 
"Yeah, I just didn't imagined we were going to have to start shooting the first minute out of the vault. I hope this is not a sign of things to come. I'm used to assess, then shoot, I never faced crazed mutant rats before, I'm used to the smaller ones, the ones that actually flee from humans, not rats that you have to shoot with damn a pistol. If I shot every single rat I came across at night back in the day it sure would had woken up the neighbors."

Oddly enough there seems to be no exit to the cave, and Markus soon realizes why. There has been a collapse, and the cave is now sealed. Markus starts to panic at the realization that they are trapped, until the flare dims out. Markus readies another flare, but before ligthing it he notices there is light comming from a pond in the cave. It seems there might be a way out after all.

"First rats, now we have to get soaked in this doubtful looking water in order to get out, this keeps getting better and better." Markus stares at the water and shakes his head. "Ok, here goes nothing." He then walks into the pond and when he gets deep enough takes air and dives in, a short swim and they are in the other side.

It takes time to get used to the daylight "Quick! Get the shades they gave us on! We don't want to get our burned out like in the film!" Mark remembered the "Leaving the Vault" film the overseer showed them before. "Use protective eye wear. Years of living in the vault can make eyes sensitive to natural sunlight. Without protective eyewear EXTREME eye damage could result!"

Still knee deep in the murky water Markus hurries to put the glasses on. As he looks up he notices they seem to be in some sort of canyon. They can easely climb up and out from one of the sides. As they come out of the canyon they see a ruined gas station.

"Good thing these are water-proof" Markus takes out his Pip-Boy 2000, the 2000 version is handheld and not wrist attached, it has no biometric features, but it has a map of the area in it.

"We are here, Vault 113. The other two Vaults we know of are roughly the same distance, so that is not an issue. Which one do you want to check first?"

 
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Despite the shakeyness in the voice of Markus, Ex-Vet gave a lopside smile. He liked Markus, the man had an honest-good natured vibe about him. Reminded him of the very few good officers he served with. That seemed a life time ago. He followed Markus, and hopefully they could complete the mission together.

He looked down at the rat. The thing was as big as german shepherd. This made him wonder if they got bigger. Fighting Commies and Canadian Insurgents was one thing. Those were people; people could be reasoned with. But the thing he saw on the ground with the empty black eyes was something of a very alien nature.

SSG Deckard saw the cave in and frowned, but that didn't last for long. Looking at the pool of water, he could see the trace of light. Like any good leader, Markus lead the way and Ramses followed. Holding his breath and taking the plunge, he swam through the pond. In two or three strokes he came to the otherside and quickly donned his shades. Eyes having to adjust after so long without natural light could nearly blind a man. He waited a few moments for his sight to adjust. "I.... I never realized how bright the sun was till you lived in the false light." Taking a knee, he went over his equipment. Two first aid kits, he pretty much had to charm the Doctor's Assistant, a blonde named Peggy for the extra one. Three serits of Med-x: boy did those bring back memories. Seven stimpaks. A motion sensor that the Security Chief made sure Ramses was hand receipted for. 10mm pistols was the best the Vault would give up. Ramses was sure they had better weapons, but he wouldn't doubt that the better stuff probably ended up somewhere else. No assault rifles or battle rifles or evene a shotgun. They were given some Military Packed meals as well as a box of sugar bombs - Filled with 100% of your bodies daily need of sugar. If they ever had time, Ramses wanted to see if his old Cache was still intact. The only other weapon he had was the 11911A2 Pistol with a threaded barrel and cerakote slide and frame. That was his personal and back up weapon. For now the 10mm was the primary.

The issued pack was much like his 3-Day Assault pack. It was a dark brown, almost coyote tan pack with multiple pockets and zippers. Water proofed sack was intergral. Good design. He opened an internal pocket and saw two packs Big Boss Cigarettes. Ramses smiled, someone did him a solid. The picture of the One eye'd bearded Big Boss giving a thumbs up. Reaching further in the pocket, he saw the black and white picture of the one thing in the world he loved. Katja Clementes. A woman of latin and Native American descent. He looked at the picture for a moment and tucked it away. It was game time, the past could wait.

Markus broke out the map, and Ramses consulted his as well. He traced the road. "Either way one will be shorter distance, because Vault 106 follows these roads to the East.... however, it is a straight line to Vault 112. Either way one will be short and one will be long. I say we go to Vault 106. Hopefully along the way we may be able to scrounge up some better equipment and weapons. The 10mm's will work but if we run into hostile humans or bigger things, we will need better equipment."

Ramses checked his ammo and pack, "We will need to blend in. We look too sterile, too out of place in a broken landscape. If we run into hostile post-war survivors they maybe apt to pick the fillings from our teeth than tell us where the nearest Eat at Joe's Joint."
 
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"Hopefully we will find a water chip, or even better, a G.E.C.K, and be done with it altogether. But there is no guarantee, either the vault is sealed and they wont let us in, or it was opened ages ago and there might be nothing left. And yeah, these jumpsuits make us stand out."

Mark looks at the body of a young man next to two Nuka Cola machines. The body is recent and it looks like he died drinking himself to death in the stuff. He is wearing a worn leather outfit, didn't offered much protection, but it seemed to be current wasteland fashion. "Well, that looks a bit too tight for me, me being chubby and all, but it looks it might fit you. You are not squeamish about wearing a dead persons clothing, are you?"

"In the meantime perhaps we should check that building over there, there might be something in it. And we can take a good look at the surrounding area from there." Markus pointed at a makeshift house constructed atop a rocky cliff overlooking the canyon and the gas station.

Going around the cliff wasn't hard to get to the top. The landscape looked gray and brown, whatever leftovers of civilization now looked like garbage piles and twisted rusty metal. Nature didn't looked much better, dead trees and dry plants.

"Let's see if there's someone home." Markus signals Ramses and after checking the door they quickly sweep the room weapons drawn... empty.

Markus hears a rattling sound coming from the floor to his right. "Oh god, don't tell me these come this size now, I won't be able to make it out here." Two giant roaches, yet a bit smaller than normal rad-roaches are locked in a cage on the floor, trying to get out and attack Markus. "They are so big that you can lock them in a cage..." On top of the cage there is a table with some a knife, a cutting board and some food remains, someone was taking care of these two.

Scanning the room Markus sees locked containers, over the bed there is a worn brown coat with multiple pockets and leather straps and belts. "Looks big enough" He puts the coat on over his vault jumpsuit. "Better than nothing."

There is a pile of empty cans, and some unopened Cram next to an old stove. There is also a heavily jury-rigged hunting rifle and some rounds. "Here, some extra firepower." Hands the rifle over to Ramses.
 
Ramses catches the rifle on the fly. It was a wooden hunting rifle. Looked like the old 700 series Remington rifles. He checked the action. It wasn't smooth, but it worked. Still, probably some oil, reassembly and the rifle would be as smooth as silk. Ramses leveled the weapon, checking the iron sights and noted a white paint mark where the previous user zeroed his weapon. If time permited, SSG Deckard would confirm the zero. Usually the hunting rifle were reliable. "A little love, some gun oil and this will do fine." Checking the room, he found a box of 18 rounds of .308 FMJ. The rifle had a detachable ten round magazine. Loading the rounds, Ramses slung the rifle.

The roaches were scuttling about, eyeing the univited guests. A few cans were kicked aside. Taking the Cram, Ramses divided it among himself and Markus, "Probably not the best or most palitable, but we can make do. This stuff could stay fresh for five hundred years." Ramses wasn't personally fond of Cram. Many an MRE was stocked with good ol Cram. He much prefered insta-Mash and add some Blamco-N-Cheese....

Ramses checked the knife. It was pre-war standard kitchen knife. Crudely sharpened, but it was sharp no doubt. He placed the knife in a wrap. Who knows, its a tool that could find use later. Right now, he could use a smoke, but not now. It could wait. Hell, it waited nearly 200 years after the fall, so he could wait to light up. Besides, he didn't even have his lighter. "So,, Ramses began, looking out the window and seeing the high noon sun, "What's the plan after we get the Chip-and-or-GECK? Save the Vault, get pats on the shoulder and then what?"
 
"What about hot showers? I got soaked in an irradiated cesspool as soon as I left the vault, I figure after we bring back a water chip they'll let me have all the hot showers I like. I guess we'll figure it out when we get there... if we get there. For the time being I don't like leaving all those people to die. Let's just pray our trip to Vault-106 is not a complete waste of time... or our demise...

"I figure we have to follow the road south and then take east on the intersection. If we are done here we should probably move out."

As they are leaving Markus looks down into the canyon, he sees a group of three oversized green humanoids walking along the canyon edge. The green men look small all the way down there, but from the scale Markus can tell how big they really are, specially how small their weapons look in their hands, one of them holds a hunting rifle like it's a tiny stick. "What do you make of that? Do humans look like that now? Judging by those roaches that wouldn't be strange... wait, is that a missile launch... Look out!" Markus pushes Ramses to one side and a missile hits the cliff rocks just beneath them, showering them with rock fragments.
 
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The shove out of harms way just sent Ramses to another place and time. For a moment it wasn't a wasted looking DC, but the icy hell of the Alaskan battle lines. He was on the ground, his friend and comrade SGT Ziegler was holding a broken assault rifle, dazed and bleeding from his nose. The red mixed with the icy white. Ziegler's left arm was broken but neither man would know. The site that haunted Ramses was that of his best friend, SSG Durkin, his Ranger buddy who lay on the ground, eyes looking to a heaven that probably didn't exist with his chest blown out by a Chinese rocket.

Then the sound returned and Ramses was prone, rifle steady and bolt setting the round in the chamber. He had heard Markus' question, but he didn't answer. Ramses was in the danger zone and he saw the trouble.

The giant mutants were growling about stupid humans and dipping. Ramses didn't want to ask or even talk to them. Rocket Mutant had to go. Judging the distance as he did, part experience and part guesstimation.

He lined up for center mass.

"Get the binos, and watch my shot.... I do t know if the zero is good. But we need to take away the rocket man out of play." He lined the iron sights and squeezed the trigger.
 
That did not sound good.

Lyla was learning that she disliked DC intensely, she'd been around the area for a couple of months and it had struck her how absurdly dangerous the region was. It was like every molerat, radroach, ghoul, mirelurk, mutant and random deadly threat from across an entire state had been squeezed into this zone. It was a surprise that so many of these threats hadn't killed each other off, instead they all seemed to be oddly self-sustaining, like maybe whenever a batch of whatever had been shuffled off the mortal coil a new batch just rolled into town.

DC really was shit magnet.

Admittedly, almost being enslaved twice did poor things for a person's outlook on the neighbourhood. It did however sharpen her awareness of her surroundings by virtue of the fact that if they hadn't improved she would probably already be dead by now. That was just from playing it smart.

Having said that, she had learned some things since she'd left the west coast several years ago. One of them was that when you heard trouble, normally it was a good idea to actually go and see what it was because running in the opposite direction was not always the best plan. Indeed, after trying that near Denver and barely getting out alive because of her habit of running as her default plan, she'd revised that particular line of thinking. So when she heard the explosion, she immediately made for the nearest cover, an old chrysler, and with her scoped rifle she turned and surveyed the canyon entrance where the sound had come from.

Three greenskins, brilliant. One of them with a rocket launcher, how they consistently managed to get their hand on hardware like that was beyond her. Maybe their tolerance for radiation afforded them access to places that the average person couldn't access, but they were definitely on average better armed than they should be. Or not, she'd seen them run into combat swinging nailboards and whatever else they could find as readily as a weapon like that.

Surveying the rest of the area she couldn't see anything else nearby approaching or running away. As she considered her options she heard a shot ring out, someone was still alive. She'd learned it paid to lend a helping hand most of the time, if only so more people were able to live another day to kill off threats like the happy-go-lucky rocket toting greenie that had just let rip. She'd get over as quickly as she could while moving between what little cover there was out here. If she could get close enough in time, she might be able to sneak a shot or two before the mutants realised she was anywhere nearby. Maybe enough to give whoever else was there time to run or to help.

Shucking off her backpack so she could move more easily, she started making her way toward the canyon edge as quickly as she could. Keep down low and go go go.
 
"This guy has me confused for a sniper" Markus thinks to himself. The only snipers he met were SWAT, he worked with them before but never was one himself, so he didn't had training as a spotter. Markus plays along, takes a look trough the binoculars and hopes for the best. The first shot hits the mutant smack in the middle of the chest, but even if the wound was probably deadly, the super-human didn't seem to take much notice of it, and continued reloading the missile launcher. "Aim the same place just a little higher" Hopefully the super mutant skull wouldn't bounce a rifle round off.
 
Ramses got the confirmation of a hit, the Rocket-Mutant yelped but wasn't halted. Pulling the bolt back in one deft pull, extracting the spent case, it hit the dead earth with a tink. Pushing the bolt forward, Ramses met a little resistance, but nothing a forceful shove couldn't fix. He took aim, adjusting his aim and little higher. The mutant was about to finish reload, it's green skull, bold and devoid of any hair was fixated on reloading the 84mm round that it didn't even register the bang of the hunting rifle.

The mutant had finished the reload, smiling that simpleton smile. It would get the stupid humans with the Big Boom-Boom and eat. Tasty human on a---

The thought never was completed when the .308 168gr round shattered the top of the mutant's head, disintegrating the soft jelly matter of the upper temporal lobe. The other two mutant's howled in anger and surprise as Rocket-Mutant fell forward.

Ramses didn't waste time, he pulled the bolt back, slammed it forward and aimed for the rifle mutant. His shot was a bit hasty and the round jerked to the left, ripping the meaty bicep of Rifle-Mutant. It dropped the rifle and grabbed the torn and now useless left arm. Not wasting a second, Ramses got to his feet. "Let's flank and finish them while we can." he looked to Markus who seemed to have been taking this in, "C'mon, Mark, you don't want to live forever do you?" With that Ramses broke into a light jog, a grin on his lips. This was his element, this was what he was trained and born to do. True he was trained to fight the Godless-Red-Commies; fighting evil mutants was the next best thing.
 
"Yeah, sure, the world now is a shitty place and not worth living in, I don't know what I was thinking when I signed up with Vault-Tek." Markus tries to keep up with Ramses, but he is still a few meters ahead. He notices both mutants are concentrated in the soldier and didn't seem to notice him, the one with the rifle is trying to shoot the soldier as he goes from cove to cover, and the one with the huge club runs straight at him. Markus decides to take advantage of this and runs straight for the mutant with the rifle.

"Hey!" The mutant stops aiming at Ramses and as soon as he starts turning his body towards Markus he puts two shots in the mutant's chest and one in his head. The creature is so resilient it takes two more shots to finally take it down, even after a shot to the face. Still aiming at the mutant on the ground Markus gets closer and kicks the rifle off his hands.
 
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Well, they seemed to be handling themselves well enough.

Kneeling behind a small rocky outcropping and surveying the situation with her rangemaster's scope, Lyla had already seen the one with the rocket launcher go down and gotten into cover just in time to see the one with the rifle lose his arm. How he'd still had the presence of mind to actually reach down and toss his rifle to the other mutant and catch the club that was tossed to him was beyond her but not all mutants were dumb and even the ones on par with animals still had cunning.

The two men, she could see both now, were acting smart at least. Both the mutants had fixated on the man with a rifle, the gun toting mutant laying fire down to keep the man in cover while the mutant with the club charged in. This left the other man free to run in from the side on the mutant with the rifle and put him out of commission. It had allowed the mutant with the club to get precariously close though, one hit was all it would take.

Making a snap decision over her reservations about the two men she focused on the remaining mutant, exhaled and squeezed the trigger. The shot smashed into the back of the mutant's left leg, causing it to stumble as it cried out in pain. Two more shots from her semi-auto and it was down on one knee, trying to drag it's other leg along. That'd slow it down enough for whoever those men were to finish it off, which they did.

Ducking back behind cover for a moment, Lyla took a moment to survey the terrain behind her. Nothing approaching, nothing in sight, nothing drawn to the noise of the firefight that she could see. Turning about once more as she looked over at them through the scope, she slowly stood and removed her left hand from the rifle and waved at them so they could see where she was before she replaced her hand on the rifle to steady it. She didn't think they were raiders, too few of them, but that didn't mean they weren't possibly a danger to her and they seemed capable. She waited to see how they would respond, because if a weapon was levelled her way she was definitely going to open fire and then probably hit the frog and toad as quickly as she could.
 
Ramses saw Markus take down rifle-mutant and the Soldier couldn't help grin. Doing a rather dramatic slide, he took cover and was ready to level and aim on club-mutant when he noticed the glint.

Sniper.

Ramses took cover again as the Melee-Mutant dropped like a sack of potatoes. The glint faded for a second. Raising the rifle in one hand over his head, Ramses waved it in a sign of thanks. It was a universal code of hailing.

"Look sharp, Mark," he said in a New England twang, "we got a guardian angel." Ramses hoped. The sniper had clear shots at the Cyros, but they seemed focused on the mutants. The whole enemy of my enemy is my friend. Good. It proves that the jolly green giants didn't rule the world.... Or did they.

He looked at melee-mutant. The weapon was crude. A large slab of wood with nine inch nails. Looking at the rust and other questionable caked matter, the wound alone would get you in the end. Checking the mutant's pack, and found a hand grenade and what looked like a mutilated Human skull. It reminded him of a Chinese soldier skull they spiked outside the field canteen. It seems grim practices carried over.

Ramses walked over to rifle mutant. He checked the rifle. Cool, it could be broken down and make the current rifle better. Some bottle caps. The real prize will be the rocket launcher. But spoils will be split when they meet the mysterious stranger.
 
She saw the wave.

Lowering her rifle slightly, she slowly made her way over to them. It progressively lowered as she got closer, partly as a gesture of trust and also because the closer she was the easier it would be to train it on them if need be. Taking a slow walk also gave her longer to appraise them, they were scavenging as she approached. Everyone did that in the wastes except those who could afford to turn their nose up, that meant these weren't Tenpenny men. No slave collars and their clothing was mismatched, unlikely to be a gang or raiders because they at least still had some sort of common clothes or sign amongst them, like their hair or such.

Her rifle was pointing at the ground by the time she was about fifteen feet away from them. Cocking her head slightly as she was obviously still studying them, she realised what had been irking her in the back of her mind. One of them was wearing a coat over a jumpsuit and the pants were a very distinctive blue, the sort of jumpsuit that could be found across the lands of the old Commonwealths and was synonymous with Vault-tek. Unlikely to have scavenged them, people rarely found a vault suit and thought it'd be a good idea to put it on. Vault suits were synonymous with people who had no idea about the outside world and that tended to make them look like they were easy marks whether they were or weren't, no one wanted that sort of attention unless they were damaged in some way.

Straightening her posture as she smiled, having made her mind up as to how to proceed, she asked in a very distinctive accent as she removed her sunnies, "heard the ruckus and you were within cooee so I thought I'd have a captains and see what was what. Deadset corker shot by the way," she nodded to the one with the rifle before continuing, "seems like you can handle yourselves. Not bad for what looks like a couple of swagmen on walkabout. I'm Lyla, who are you cobbers and where are you from?"
 
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Markus looked at the Missile Launcher, it was empty, the mutant didn't get a chance to reload the remaining missile. One thing was a patched up rifle, but this thing looked like it could blow up on one's face. Malfunctioning equipment can be deadly, like he learned during his time at USMA, where on maneuvers one cadet died and another lost an eye due to a bullet getting stuck in the barrel of a machine gun while on full auto fire. They could need the launcher in the future, or they could be carrying dead weight. Markus left it for Ramses to decide to take it with them or not, he was the veteran after all.

"We are from a small village south of here. We're just exploring and mean you no harm."

Markus weapon was holstered, this presented him in an apeacing attitude, at the same time Markus was so quick drawing that it also meant that if anyone tried to shoot him he would at the very least kill the other person simultaneously.
 
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Ramses finished collect the rest of the ammo. It was .308. He gave the rounds a quick inspection. The brass was still good. No major imperfections. Interesting considering the state of the rifle he scavenged was pretty much worn to hell, the ammo was immaculate. In all eighteen rounds. He removed nine from it and rolled it into a cloth, while the rest he placed in a small carton and threw it casually to their new found ally. Her accent was curious as well was her way of speaking. Either the Aussies took over the US since the fall, or she came from far away. It was obviously Australian or somewhere in OCeania. The memory came from numerous movies as well as joint training exercises with Oceaina countries.

"Your cut. I figure no way to say thank you but pass the ammo. Names Ramses." Ramses looked at the Rocket mutant and kneeled down by the Rocket launcher. It was a Rockwell 87 Bazooka, standard of the US Armed forces. The state was okay, but it looked like it hadn't seen any maintenance recently. "Where do you hail from?"
 
Hefting the carton of ammo that the one called Ramses threw to her, she thought about it for a moment then tossed the carton back to him. Softening her accent so it was a little less ocker and a bit more how she normally spoke, she was fairly blunt about her feelings on what she'd heard. "Eureka, and take the ammo. You guys need the ammo more than me." Nodding at Ramses, she added, "I like you more than your friend, you actually answer questions and you don't lie blatantly."

Turning to the other man who still hadn't answered her question before he could say anything, she pointed to his pants. "Those pant legs beneath your coat are vault suit make, that stuff stands out a mile away up here on the surface. That you've not changed out of it says to me either you haven't been out long, haven't run into enough people to know that wearing that gear can bring trouble your way, or you're a special kind of damaged. Village to the south," she snorted, "what do you think this is, bush week?"

Replacing her sunnies, she sighed as she just came out with it. "Look, I'm going to go get my backpack before someone finds it and squirrels off with it. When I come back, if you guys are willing to be upfront we'll talk. If not, then we part ways and no hard feelings. You guys have a pow-wow while I'm gone and decide what you want to do."

At that she started walking backward while keeping an eye on them before turning and taking up a light jog, it'd be interesting to see what they had decided on when she was back in a few minutes.
 
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