Fallout 4: War Never Changes!

[Tysyacha]

FALLOUT 4

 

War never changes. It seems as if humanity, despite surviving a nuclear holocaust, inevitably contains those who are eager to recreate the same exact nightmare. Whether in the name of justice, God, insanity, or unfettered greed, there are some who demand the freedom of others as a ransom for being spared the threat of war.

 

Even though the former "Capital Wasteland" has been turned into a paradise on Earth, not everyone has been able to partake of it. There are still some who live in sealed underground shelters known as "vaults", in the name of scientific experimentation.

 

In Vault 119, its inhabitants have been sheltered from the outside world, not knowing that the Wastes have been transformed. Certain factions intend to keep it that way, for they have financed the vault and its continued operation. Little do the residents know that they are building an atomic bomb, to detonate either in the U.S. or abroad. They are equipped with bio-implant chips that erase their long-term memories, so they have no real knowledge of their life's purpose: to make sure that nuclear arms remain.

 

One day, the door of Vault 119 is opened, and its hapless "sleeper agents" emerge...

 

TALLY DVANOVA remembered exactly three things: her name was Tally Dvanova, she was nineteen years old, and she had recently emerged from her underground home in Vault 119. The rest was a misty haze, a cool fog of jumbled sights, sounds, smells, tastes and sensations. She licked her lips.

 

It had been only a few minutes ago that she had stripped herself free of her full-body HAZMAT suit, it being hot, itchy and cumbersome. She stood naked on the top of a grassy hill, the breeze making the tendrils of her light brown hair curl and unfurl. For some reason, she felt blissfully happy, though Tally did not know exactly why. Maybe it was because she was finally free of the protective armor she'd worn since infancy, but Tally sensed it was more than that. She walked down the hill and kept walking, her body reeking of sweat.

 

What was this beautiful paradise that she had so recently discovered? Tally didn't know, but any outsider--that is, anyone who already lived there--knew it as Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States of America. She didn't want to go too far into the maze of silvery skyscrapers just yet. For now, she wanted to enjoy nature, the warm sun gazing down upon her and the birds twittering their latest song especially, it seemed, for her enjoyment.

 

Suddenly, an all-encompassing wave of lightheadedness enveloped Tally, causing her to collapse on the grass, unconscious. What had overcome her?

[Kyvios]

Lyon wondered around the plains of what once had been known as the wastelands. The sun blared down from his skyward perch. He lowered his head and tilt the rim of his hunters hat down as he walked along the ground. He sighed as he walked not having a real destination in mind, things seemed to have become peaceful since he placed the FEV into the water.

 

Lyon shifted his hunting rifle strapped to his back a little, and placed his hands into the pockets of his advanced mercenary outfit and continued to walk. It was a nice sound in the background of birds singing as they flew through the air. It was more nice that they weren't out to attack him on sight. That thought made him laugh a little, when he first got out of Vualt 101 to search for his father originally anything he came across basically attacked him even people. Now with peace erupting all over attacks were less frequent but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was up, something was about to happen.

[Tysyacha]

"Very good, Tally. You've done well..."

 

...seems like we've got another crybaby teacher's pet! Waaahhh!"

 

..."time to take your G.O.A.T. exam, though to me, it's rather redundant..."

 

..."it's time you unlocked your true potential, Dvanova. Dvanova...?"

 

Tally's head felt like it was made out of a single lead weight, and her body felt the same. She tried to open her eyes, but the sun nearly blinded her. She had not seen sunlight since...well, to tell the truth, she never had seen natural sunlight. People rarely ventured out of Vault 119, and when they did, it was on some secret business that the Overseer, naturally, would not tell anyone about. Tally herself had never had an occasion to leave the Vault...

 

...and now she wished she was back inside. Tears sprang to her eyes, though that was only the natural reaction of someone who had almost never seen the sun. What had happened to her? One moment, she had been standing on a hill, naked, and now--She was still naked, but now she was a little chilly. Tally moved to close her eyes again, catching a flitting shadow...

[Kyvios]

Lyon noticed a woman laying on the ground with no clothing. Hey grinned slightly and chuckled to himself, an interesting event to an uninteresting day he thought to himself. Luckily today for the woman Lyon brought a bag with him with a change of cloths, never know what the situation called for so it was best to be prepared.

 

Lyon knelt down besides the female placed the bag down with a thump and started sorting through it. He pulled out a wasteland wonder outfit and threw it over the female.

 

"My suggestion is if your conscious is to put those on or you'll be a little red." he knew it wasn't good with jokes, if anything he was horrible at them but he needed a distraction for himself. Gently he placed his hand on the female over the clothes and shook her hard making sure she was awake.

[Tysyacha]

"Hmm?" asked Tally, coming out of her unconsciousness as of a drugged stupor. "Oh!" She abruptly realized she was naked, scrambling to put on the clothes as the man turned his back. "I didn't realize...you were here...oh, ge-vault, I must have fainted..." Once she was fully clothed, she smiled at her mysterious benefactor.

 

"My name is Tally Dvanova, I'm 19 years old, and I recently came out of Vault 119. That's truly all I can remember, because these--spells--keep taking a hold of me from time to time. One of them must have happened before you saw me. I'm really sorry."

 

She looked around her, at the distant skyline of shimmering buildings. "Where are we?"

[Kyvios]

Lyon looked at the distant skyline of shimmering buildings "most likely another settlement of some sort. They're becoming more common as the human race tries to rebuild itself."

 

Lyon placed his hands into his pockets and kicked the dirt with the toe of his left boot. He was going some where but with the distraction from Tally he forgot. He turned his head to the right and looked along the distant beat up road. He knew raiders still existed so staying put wasn't a smart move.

 

"Don't be sorry by the way. Things happen." Lyon said to the girl as he turned to his right and started talking. He stopped abruptly reached into his bag and tossed the girl a .10mm Pistol "I hope you know how to use one of those. Now start walking or I leave you behind."

 

With that Lyon started walking destination still unknown but where ever he went he knew he was going to have a good time. He just hoped that the Tally was a good of fighter as she was at passing out.

[Tysyacha]

"Thanks," replied Tally with a sly wink. "And don't worry. From time to time, we would have 'guests' try to encroach upon the sanctity of our Vault, and all of us were called to 'deal with them severely'. Usually, we the mob beat them to a bloody pulp, but the most I ever did was act as a sniper against one of the Raider militias who tried to invade." Strange--a fragment of memory, clear as day? Where had it come from?

 

She and Lyon stayed close to the road, or the large, gaping fragments that could be called a road. Both of them took potshots at a few mole rats, but other than that, there was no real danger to either of them. Tally heard a sudden crackling on her wrist--her PipBoy 3500 had flickered into emerald life. How was it working outside of the Vault? As far as she knew, this series had been specially designed for the residents of Vault 119.

[Admiral_Thrawn]

Sev watched the pair through the scope of his Sniper, carefully ensuring the safety was on. The woman had previously stripped out of what seemed to be a HAZMAT suit, only to be found a short time later by the male, who supplied her with more 'fitting' clothes. Reluctantly Sev lifted the barrel until it was skyward, then slung it over his shoulder as he used a rappel to descend his perch at speed. The Marksman walked up to the pair cautiously, his hand fingering the butt of his sidearm.

 

He was currently clad in full armor, covering his entire body from head to toe. The visor on his helmet supplemented his already brilliant vision and provided critical statistic's and other such utilities that could come of merit. "Hey, you two, stop a second will ya'?"

[Tysyacha]

Tally, instantly alarmed by the heavily-armored stranger, aimed her pistol at him. "Halt!"

 

She cared not whether or not she looked entirely ridiculous in her meager new clothes and with her--compared to this man's--meager weapon. She wondered if she should surrender, but she wasn't ready to give the Sdayus'! announcement just yet. The armored being before her didn't look much like a Raider, although she supposed that ones with full bodysuits were, in fact, possibly roaming the Capital Paradise. To warn the stranger, she took a shot at a vicious-looking dog in the distance, hitting it between the eyes.

[Kyvios]

Lyon sighed hearing the gun fire from the females pistol. He lifted his hand up and placed it upon the barrel of her gun and forced her to lower it. There wasn't any reason to be hostile so quickly with out proper cause. Even though Lyon was still pretty young he knew the Capital Wasteland well enough after traveling all over it first searching for his father, then gathering stuff for the purification project. At this point the last thing he really want was most hostilities for the moment.

 

"Tally, wait until something shows it intentions." Lyon then turned his attention to the stranger. The questions was, was this man part of the Enclave Rebellion, or part of The Brotherhood of Steel?

 

"Who are you? an what do you want?" Lyon asked the man looking straight into the mans eyes keeping his voice level and calm.

[CommanderQ]

Ka-klunk...ka-klunk...ka-klunk

 

Schmidt Thorwald walked along in his black heavy anit-radiation armor.

 

He had been walking through this new land for several hours, and now the noise of his armor was sort've getting on his nerves.

 

He had been traveling along many of the vaults, looking for work. He had been succesful at Vault 107 and 100, but everyone after that was pretty content in their peace and would rather not disturb that.

 

Now, here he was, walking in bright daylight, in the middle of somewhere, lugging enough weaponry to pulverize a small army. He rather enjoyed it, too.

 

 

He looked at the weapon he had attached to his wrist-gauntlet, a large mini-gun. Without the suit's help, he probably would be unable to carry it around so easily, but he'd have found amends. It really didn't matter though.

 

Suddenly, he heard a gunshot nearby, and his ears perked up, his Combat HUD activating in his helmet.

 

He smiled, "Action...at last.."

 

He began running at great speed towards the area the shot had come from.

[Admiral_Thrawn]

"Sev Kershaw, I don't have a paticular affiliation I suppose. I mean you no harm, it's just been a while since I've found another Human in this sector." He tapped his visor and uploaded their personal data.

 

"So your both from vault's huh? Sorry to hear that, I know what it's like in there . . ." His voice trailed off slightly, as he cocked his head out of curiosity at the pair.

[Tysyacha]

Tally holstered her pistol, at least for the moment. "I'm from Vault 119," she said, "and besides my name and my age, that's all I can remember at the moment. I'm 19, by the way." Her cheeks flushed hot. "I always have been more than a little headstrong. Since I was a child, the Overseer always tried to pound it into my thick skull that I should be a nice and sweet little girl, not to mention obedient. As you can imagine, I never listened."

 

She brushed back a flurry of wind-blown tendrils from her face. "Yourselves?" she asked.

[Kyvios]

Lyon stuck his hands in his pocket he found it hard that he hadn't run into any raiders, or a settlement. He sighed not really wanting to talk about his past since it bring back painful memories. Lyon turned to his right and looked up the road, shacking his head he started walking.

 

"I don't talk about myself really. Though if you ask around you may find some one who knows me. Just ask about the Lone Wonder." he told them.

[CommanderQ]

Schmidt approached the position slowly, and as quietly as his suit of powered armor would allow.

 

He took position behind some nearby ruins and noticed where the shot had come from.

 

There was no battle, to Schmidt's dismay, only three people holding idle conversation. Something Schmidt found boring.

 

He stood walking loudly to their position, mini-gun at the ready.

 

"You have 1 minute to identify yourselves and what you are doing here. This is a restricted area to many, including you..."

 

He stopped, awaiting an answer, he hoped they would take his advice.

[Kyvios]

Lyon stopped walking and sighed heavily. Now not only was he running into more people then he wanted, this whole situation to him was becoming very annoying. Obviously by the powered armor this guy was either the last remaining faction of The Enclave, a member of The Brotherhood of Steel, or The Brotherhood of Steel Outcast. Either way this person didn't know who Lyon was, which in a way was a good situation.

 

"I'm a Lone Wonder. I go where I please." Lyon said turning to face the new person frustration noticeable in his voice "Your rules and restrictions have no control over me."

 

It seemed to Lyon that this man was no better than any raider he's come across, but the raiders were on a shoot first ask questions later attitude. This person at least asked first which put him once step above the raiders, but not a very big step.

 

"Are you going to continue being rude, or are you going to introduce yourself?" Lyon asked the person.

[Tysyacha]

Tally looked at Lyon, her tone sly and cool, like a stream over rocks. "Can I shoot now?" The sun beat down on the paradise below, yet its heat and radiation proved inert.

[Jedi_Man]

Sam walked over the plains, his HAZMAT suit torn up and bloody. Not long after he had stepped out of the Vault, he had been attacked by some weird mutant freak. He had managed to bash in its head, barely escaping with his life. The faceplate had been broken, and the left arm sleeve was missing. But, on the bright side of things, he had gotten a Rifle and a knife from it.

Sam stopped to once again look at the sleekness of the Assault rifle. He didn't know much about it, he had some basic skill with the weapon, bu the didn't know all the gizmos and doodads.

He only had three magazines, one of which was nearly dry.

" Maybe I'll find more, if I could find another on of those Mutants." Sam said to himself.

Sam stepped over the hill, finding Tally, a girl he had known vaguely in the Vault. But next to her were three men, one of them in a large armored suit.

"HEEEEEYYYYY!!! TAAALLLLLYYY!!! HEEEEYYYY!!!" Sam yelled at the top of his lungs.

[CommanderQ]

"Are you going to continue being rude, or are you going to introduce yourself?"

 

Schmidt cocked his head to the right and took a step forward. This 'Lone Wanderer' was obviously feeling very lucky, but he wasn't an enemy right now...he'd have to follow 'social custom' so to speak.

 

"My name is Schmidt Thorwald. Soldier-for-hire. As you can see, I'm looking for a job. People like you have made that rather difficult. Enclave doesn't pay well when they're dead."

 

'The Lone Wanderer' began to dawn on his memory, and he remembered some of his briefings from earlier days, back when the wasteland was the best place to be for a merc.

 

Can I shoot him now?"

 

He looked at the small woman. He smiled and quickly grabbed the gun, fast enough to were she could not get off a shot. He then crushed it in his grip.

 

He dropped the pieces on the ground.

 

"You'd do well not to go around asking to shoot people, little girl."

 

 

A sudden shout surprised Schmidt.

 

"HEEEEEYYYYY!!! TAAALLLLLYYY!!! HEEEEYYYY!!!"

 

He turned quickly, activating the mini-gun, and spraying the ground in front of the man who had shouted.

 

He looked closer, seeing that this manw as obviously a vault-dweller, and not very much worth killing. He was instantly glad he had shot the ground, and not the person.

[Jedi_Man]

"WHOA!" Sam said as he jumped back, just enough to avoid getting hit by the flying dirt. He almost had the cojones to shoot the armored man, but not enough. He'd fight him, sure, but Sam would lose, and Sam doesn't fight losing battles.

Sam walked forward, his assault rifle hanging from the makeshift rope sling.

"Tally, hey, good to see you!" Sam said as he neared them, keeping an eye on the armored man.

[Tysyacha]

Tally was delighted to see Sam, but she was still wary of the man she privately called 'the armored one'. 'Schmidt' or even 'Thorwald', to her, were still too familiar of a moniker by which to call him. She stared at her right hand, which had very recently held a 10mm pistol. Now the pistol had been crushed into bits of scrap metal. This piqued her interest as well as provoked her anger. Raiders didn't wear such heavy armor, but, there was still...She directed a warm smile at Sam, and a clipped suggestion to the others.

 

"Let's head for the city," she said sharply. "Raiders can't get as much of a clear shot at us when there are thousands of other people around." She hoped that Lyon, Sam, Sev, and 'the armored one' would agree. Tally herself was used to enclosed spaces, as she had grown up within the confines of Vault 119. She manipulated the controls on her Pip-Boy, intending to switch it to the 'Maps' screen, but mistakenly hit 'Radio' instead.

 

After a crackle of static, an advertisement blared into sudden, louder-than-normal life:

 

"Is there trouble in paradise? Are you unemployed? No one should have to suffer such a fate in this brave new world! Stop by our local recruiting offices in D.C. and join the Conglomerate, where nearly all the mega-corporations of the world have come together! We can use anyone and everyone, for how else would our products get sold? Ha, ha, ha!"

 

Tally blinked, wondering what the others thought of this annoying intrusion on the silence.

[CommanderQ]

Schmidt heard the small broadcast, and nodded his head in slight interest.

 

The girl called 'Tally' obviously didn't mean for the broadcast to air, but most everything had a reason. And good jobs were hard to come by. Schmidt would look into it.

 

He sighed and stopped pointing the large mini-gun at the people in front of him.

 

"Hmmm...it appears this meeting by pure chance has just provided a good answer for me. Goodbye, and good hunting. I will take my leave."

 

He immediatley turned on his heel and began walking in the general direction of Washington D.C. He had little to do with this group of people, and if he didn't know any better, he'd think that he wasn't welcome. Best to keep moving.

 

He klunked away, keeping an eye on the surrounding areas, and the other on the group of people he had just met. Perhaps they'd meet again in better circumstances.

[Kyvios]

"Thousands of people to live in the settlements, and your best bet would be Rivit City." Lyon said as he started walking.

 

He didn't much care for the broadcast, but it would do him some good to find out what the 'co-operations' were up to. Lyons destination was Washington D.C. or what was left of it anyways. The dirt beneath his feet cracked and shifted under his feet as he dug them into the ground below. One thing he learned while wandering the wasteland was that to move quickly you needed to be prepared.

 

What everyone else was up to he couldn't say. He didn't really care much either for that matter, he'd risked his life for everyone already trying to create a clean mutant free world. But now he had a feeling that everything was about to change that, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

[Tysyacha]

THE TRIP TO Washington, D.C. was uneventful, at least by former Wasteland standards. Now that the city, formerly an inhospitable war zone, had been refurbished and re-established, there were no greater hazards than a lone Raider or two with which to deal, which had gotten easier since there were now hordes of policemen roaming the streets as well. It wasn't long before Lyon, Sam, Sev, and Tally spotted a billboard with a large arrow on it:

 

"BUILD A FUTURE: CONGLOMERATE HEADQUARTERS THIS WAY! ---------->"

 

Tally raised an eyebrow and gave a wry smile. She hadn't even heard of this "Conglomerate" or what it did, but why would she have had an occasion to do so? She'd been sealed up in Vault 119 for a total of nineteen years. Everything she and her fellow Nineteeners had needed was produced on-site, and they hadn't needed this "Conglomerate" at all. Or had they? Whatever the case had been, she and her companions soon reached the HQ.

 

Once inside, a receptionist and Director of Marketing greeted them. "Good day!" said a tall and lovely Asian woman. "I'm Mei Wu, Director of Marketing. We here at the Conglomerate are always looking to recruit new talent. What about yourselves? Are you interested in a job?" Tally nodded. "Very good!"

 

Mei Wu led everyone over to a conference table with chairs and a HoloSlide projector, a top-of-the-line advancement these days over traditional slides. "Now, then," she said, "we have three chief products that we're trying to promote. The Conglomerate sells everything from cars to baby carriages, coffee to chemicals, but these three are our latest inventions. We're proud."

 

She turned the projector to its first slide. "The first product we've been working on is called Safe-T Gear, to protect oneself from the hazards of the areas that haven't been terraformed by the G.E.C.K.--the Garden of Eden Creation Kit. Those areas are still highly irradiated, although rare around D.C. We're looking for product testers, as we are for our other two offerings."

 

She turned to the next slide. "The Cam-Eye, our latest nanotechnology product, is a security camera inserted into a contact lens that you can slip in and out of your eye as you will. For those involved in national security work, the Cam-Eye is a permanent addition to the cornea. Want to see some footage?" Tally sat forward, intrigued, and the slide flickered into a full-motion video of armored figures talking about something called "Project I."

 

"Those are enemies of the state," announced Mei Wu, "and one of our NSS's--our National Security Specialists--caught this with his Cam-Eye. We're still trying to work out the 'kinks', and so again, we'd like product testers."

 

She turned to the final slide. "Passi-Fi," she announced, "is one of the first of the new PAN-C class of drugs--a combination of a powerful antidepressant, antipsychotic, neuroleptic, tranquilizer, and attention-span regulator." She smiled. "Relax. I'm not asking you to test this particular pharmaceutical on yourselves. Rather, there is a large state hospital for the mentally ill here in D.C., and I want at least one of you to go over there and observe its effects on the patients. We always need good researchers for all of our products."

 

She turned the projector off. "Are you interested in testing any of these?"

[Jedi_Man]

Sam looked at the woman. She had offered a variety of jobs, but he didn't know which one to choose. Sam leaned in close to Tally, " Hey, which one do you think I should take? I'm partial to the eye one and Passi-fi"

" So, you'll be taking Passi-Fi then?" Mei said to Sam.

" Huh, wha- I didn- Of fine, yeah, I will" Sam relented.