ICC- Fallout Chapter 2- The Wastelands

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For much of the morning the group investigated the site. Despite being forgotten for years the installation had survived the years in good condition. Most of the light fixtures suvived and provided sufficient illumination, although a few had died out and others would fizzle and crack. The generator seemed to hum in a steady beat, tended by a robotic mechanic, a Mr. Handy that had been changed to provide diagnostic and mechanical service. Despite Rich's attempts to communicate with the bot, it ignored his entreaties, treating Rich as little more than a distracting annoyance.

Nor was the robot alone. Hovering eyebots would move throughout the system on random patrol seeking unknown security threats. Mechanical eyes would follow the movements of the group, which were filtered back to a video security room.

Sam delayed in the file room. Each case presented a wealth of historical and scientific data, each was a goldmine of information. Inne and Melvin worked peaked into the evidence room and saw rows of guns. However, when they sought to open the lock they were confronted by a hovering bot with a clear warning. "Please desist from tampering with the lock of the Evidence Room or you will be vaporized."

After much searching on the second level they found the central administration room. The main screen was functional and there were two alerts.

(1) The central elevator was not functional because of a power failure located on the bottom level. Maintenance robots had failed to address the problem and were believed destroyed. Request further instruction.

(2) Breach in the lower security shell. Integrity lost. Further information deemed Top Secret. Apply security protocols.

No one made much sense of that message.

In the directors office, they found another PC with a group of holodiscs, a record of the site. THe records were short but clear.

(1) Most civil and criminal files and records have been placed in storage. Work on USPTO office continues. Have raised concerns re: structural integrity, to USPTO Director. No response. Concerned about the biological agents below. Danger of possible leaks into nearby cave system.

(2) War. Have evacuated what staff possible into the shelter of the site, but many of the staff have left to return home for loved ones. We have enough stores to last us some weeks, perhaps even a year if we stretch it. Contact with local Civil Defense Failed.

(3) Insect problems, especially scorpions. Have reprogrammed robotic security systems and finished auto-run for turn-key administration. System is 80% operational. Damn big bugs though.

(4) Power problems stemming from generator. Must leave for Bakerfield to optain parts. Hopefully the destruction is not so bad. First foray out of the site since the war began. Wish me luck.

(5) Bakersfield is dead. Was able to return with missing parts, but doctor says I am dieing. Radiation overdose. I have instructed Marshals to maintain security and provide. Hopefully they will hold out longer.

"Biological agents below." Said Inne. "Might be that's what's causing the bugs?"

"Could be the mutations that cause the radscorpions to breed start here." Said Sam.

"Could be why they are so concentrated around here. We got to bring down the house."

WIth Curt's help, Dwemer and Caribe had tracked down the elevator and had forced the door open. THe shaft was dark and deep, little could be seen below.

"Looks like this is the only way down." Said Caribe.
 
After two days of walking, Vedpose was ready for a change of scenery. Seeing nothing but dried, cracked, dead earth will do that to you. It had taken her less time to reach her destination than she thought but either way she was ready for a rest. As she entered the Hub, she saw the usual array of caravan drivers and mercs, along with that smell she found a reeking destruction of her olfactory nerves, Brahmin. Her town never had any animals other than dogs and cats and those were just for pets. Her grandfather called the philosophy he practiced “VEGAN.” Apparently before the war many people refused to eat or use animals because they felt it was wrong or disgusting. Her great-grandfather had been one these people and passed his teachings on to the next generation. Vedpose had been raised the same way and found the eating of flesh as unappealing as the smell. This way of life did present problems in finding food and also required her to take curtain vitamins. She has eaten meat before but only when it was the only option other than dying.

She walked down the main street of the city passing the various caravan offices and shops until she reached a place called the Maltese Falcon, the local casino/bar. Vedpose walked through the door, removed her hood, and took a seat at the bar.

The bar tender turned around and asked, “What’ll it be?”

“I’ll have some water and a salad.”

“What the hell’s a salad?”

“Just take a whole bunch of vegetables and put them a bowl, alright.”

The bartender looked at Vedpose like she was some kind of idiot but complied with her wishes. Before she ate, she pulled a bottle out of her pack and took two vitamin pills with her water. She then finished her quick meal, paid the tab, and stepped outside into the evening’s dusk. The day was done and it was time to get some rest before setting out in the morning. She found what appeared to be an empty building, laid down, and was asleep within moments.
 
Carib grabbed the flare from his side and tore the cord, letting another green flame come to life. With a toss, it lit the way into the darkness.

"After you," He gave an antiquated mock gesture to Dwemer. Carib filed the extra clip he filched from a locker. The Armor piercing rounds would come in handy. Most of the bots were taken down, blinded or shut down by Rob's deft skill with the computer.
 
Roadrunner moved down followed the trail of her would be comrades like a sleepwalker. Nothing hindered her, as she passed through the darkness, her finger's felt the rock of the cave and she got flashes of screams and violence. And the movement of things that moved, but were not moved with the spirit within.

Opening her eyes, they adjusted to the darkness, and she made out the words of Selma Federal Depository. Reaching at the small of her back she removed the oil black, matted handled .44 revolver magnum.

She followed the trail, wand looked on the ground and saw the remains of mutated rats. One had its skull caved in. Looks like someone doesn't like rats?

****

Five minutes later, Roadrunner walked in, like an out of place piece in a dresser. She was an average heighted young woman, dark brown eyes, and hair as black as the abyss, dressed like some post modern gypsy.

She stepped into a small office and nearly had everyone's gun turned on her, she raised her weapon. "I seek the two who make the cookie of old." Her eye's fixed on Melvin, her eyes got a glimpse of the jump suit blue.

"Well ain't that the turth, lil sista." Melvin said, a smirk on his face. She looked like a little girl, though you could see pain had forced her to grow up quickly.

"My name is Roadrunner... And I have come to join you."
 
File Room

Sam sat indian style on the dusty floor, not caring her trousers were getting grey. Clothing could wait, not everyday you got a chance to hold the past in the palm of your hands.

In background, she could here the synthetic voice of the security bot threatening Inne and Melvin with vaporization. Times like these she wished an EMP grenade was at hand.

Opening her pack, she slid in the documents she needed. Vree and Maxson would be most interested in this. Very interested.

Then she heard another voice. A strange accent. Like hispanic or mexican even. Or at least that was the stero-type she heard in the cliched pre-war films. Like Desperado.
 
Richard was shaken up a bit at first. This young woman had come out of nowhere. She was pretty small and frail, but she looked as if she could handle herself in a tough situation.

Richard regained his cool, holstered his pistols and said "Goodday to you, i'm Richard, the woman sitting in the back is Sam. This tough specimen next to me is Inne. The soul brotah overthere is Melvin, his big mate is Dwemer. The dude next to the elevator is Carib. The oldtimer is Curt and the loner in the back is Rob."

"Hi, I..." Roadrunner said before being cut off by Richard.

"Now that we got that out of the way, what in the bloody hell are you doing here? And don't tell me you are looking for 2 cookie bakers, because if that is the case, you're a few cookies short of a batch yourself, 'Roadrunner'." Richard said sternly.

It was unlike him to act like this, but tis whole situation had caught him off guard.
 
Roadrunner's face hardened. "I don't mean cookie baker, Gringo! I mean the black man and his big friend there. They are like the cookie of old. I was guided to them."

Richard still wasn't sure what she meant.

"She means Cookie. You know the one with the black cookie and white frosting in the middle."

Roadrunner smiled. "Si. You must be the Maiden of Steel." She said, smiling at Sam Solo. Next she looked to Carib. "You are the peddler of the post war pop." She remembered looking at a Card with a man wielding a Desert Eagle in hand and holding a Nuka Cola in the other.

"I am pleased to meet of all of you."
 
He could use a good shot of vodka right about now, a pity he had sold it to Curt...

"Would someone please explain to me what the fuck is going on around here?" Richard said while raising his eyes to the sealing feeling completely helpless.

But then he became his usual calm self again.

"And why I didn't have some nifty description." He added with a faint smile on his face.
 
rob walked into the office with his new SMG which he had gotten from the weapons locker along with the kevlar vest.

"well who's the new girl?"said rob as he examined his SMG

"hi.....i'm roadrunner"she said as she extended her hand

rob shoke her hand......he looked into the eyes of the young girl,roadrunner gave rob a werid look.

"uh....wha...h.......ah nice to meet you"said rob as he turned around went over to caribe
 
Vedpose awoke sometime in the early morning but before dawn, not because she was fully rested but because something was wrong. There was some else in the room with her. She didn't look, but she could tell by the sounds exactly where the person was. She stayed motionless, waiting to get the jump on whoever was here with her. She then very carefully drew her 10mm pistol from the holster in the right sleeve of her robe and sprung to her feet pointing the gun at the person.

She quickly shouted, “Move and I’ll blow your cerebellum all over the back wall comrade.”
 
Dwemer was in the elevator shaft when Roadrunner had made her appearance. The shaft had been dark and grimey, and it had been difficult to get a good grip on the bars in the shaft of the cable.

He had found four doors before the rope came to an end. ALthough he had tried to open each, even Dwemer's mighty strength proved futile against the locks on the shaft. Perhaps he might be able to pry them loose, but he had not brought down a crowbar.

When the rope came to an end, he had swung up against the frame of the shaft, until he was able to make a landing on a narrow metal beam. There he unwrapped the rope he had carried down and attached it to a cross section, secured and tested it's strength, then descended deeper.

The flare they they had tossed in was still burning below him, what he guessed to be some 30 or 40 feet.

Down the first 20 feet and he came to another door. Like the others this was locked and marked "HIGH SECURITY. ACCESS FORBIDDEN" on the outside. Nearby was a key pad, but he had little idea what was the necessary code. Like the others it was tightly shut.

Down the next 20 feet, and finally his feet landed on a hard surface. The light on his helmet revealed he had landed on the top of an elevator car, a pile of cable lieing haphazdly on the top.

"There's an elevator car down here. I'm on top." He called up the shaft. "It looks broken and this is the bottom level."

In a few moments he found the top of the trap door and was able to kick it out of the way and peered in.

The first thing he noticed was that the light unit was not working, and that perhaps the electrical systems had partially broken down. Their was a fetid and oily stink coming up, and mold on the wooden insides of the elevator.

He popped another flare and dropped it in. This plopped and then sank under brackish water, it's light still burning. There had been some flooding down here.

A closer look, the door of this elevator was open, giving access to the bottom level.
 
Zeke slowly put his hands around the corner of the wall and stepped out into the strange girls sight.
He looked pretty ridiculous with a toothbrush hanging in his mouth and a towel on his shoulders standing in his boxers.

"Why are you here, what do you want, and who are you?" the girl said.

Zeke took the toothbrush from his mouth and spat "I am going through my morning ritual,I'd like to get dressed and the name is Zeke..........Pleasure meeting you miss.....??????
 
"Zeke you say. I take it you live in this dump. I guess I should apologize. After all, I did come in this demolition site you call a dwelling uninvited. My name is Vedpose. What's up with the gut there Charlie?"

The whole time Vedpose seemed to be having the time of her life mocking this newfound individual. She kept her gun trained on him the whole time, not because she viewed him as a threat but because she found the whole predicament quite uproarious.

"I'm a successful hunter, Miss Vedpose," Zeke said pointing at his slight gut "and like I said, the name's Zeke"

"Right, right, right, Zeke, I know. I was just kidding around all right. You try talking to yourself for almost three days. Despite the fact that I am a great conversationalist, its still gets quite monotonous"

Vedpose lowered her weapon and put it back into her sleeve holster. She decided that this was enough fun for now.

"So you say you're a hunter survivalist type of guy, eh. Would you be interested in coming on a job with me? I'm a trader by profession and have to deliver a piece of equipment up north to someone in Shady Sands. I can't promise much, but I'll split whatever I get with you 50/50."

Vedpose didn’t tell the whole truth here but she did tell most of it. Yes, she had been a trader before joining the brotherhood and she did need to go up north to Shady Sands and was more than willing to give to split whatever they found 50/50. Truth be told she needed someone who could forage for food when it was needed. Heaven knows that she could never find any for herself with any degree of ease.

“Uhhhhh, let me get dressed and we’ll talk about it.”

”Sure thing, Zeke. I’ll be waiting right here.”
 
10 minutes later Zeke came out from the back room in his combat gear(most notably a wicked looking hunting knife and a well kept colt .45) he was straightening a bandoleer of his own special nail bombs over his shoulder.

"what the hell are those?" Vedpose questioned

"they are a little something I make from time to time for pest control when i need to clear out nests of bugs or rats near my hunting grounds. Want a couple?"

"Ok I think i'll take two or three, besides you seem pretty decked out with them."

Zeke handed Vedpose the nailbombs as the walked out of the house and onto the road to shady sands, and then proceeded to
take out a strip of meat jerky from his pack and a full canteen of water."Want a few bites of this jerky? I made it myself."Zeke stated proudly.

Vedpose sighed."I don't eat meat, I am a vegan."

Zeke scratched his head"what in the hell is a vegan?...."
 
Vedpose turned to Zeke, "Vegan is a prewar term. It's a way of life really. People who are Vegan don't use animals for food, clothing, or any other means. Personally I find the using of animals quite disgusting in any fashion.

Vedpose looked at Zeke's vest.

”Let me guess, more carnage.”

"Carnage? Oh, you mean I used a dead animal to make this"

"Yes", Vedpose said utterly disgusted.

"Yeah, it's made from the skin of a gecko, they come from up..."

”North, I know. I used to reside in Northern California before I arrived here.”

“So wait a minute, you don’t eat animals, wear animals, or use animals for anything”

”Correct. But I have to take these every so often.” Vedpose pulled out her bottle of vitamins.

“Whoa, drugs! Hey, listen if you’re a druggy, the deal’s off!”

Vedpose looked very annoyed but then busted out laughing, ”You do realize that you never answered my question about coming on this little trek with me.”

“I didn’t?”

”Negative comrade, Negative. And don’t worry, these are vitamins and not mind impassioning drugs. The tone of her voice was spewing sarcasm.

Zeke stood there looking a little foolish.

"In any case let’s find a way out of here. That is if you are coming with me.”

Vedpose walked down the main street of the hub trying to decide if it would be better to go out alone, just Zeke and her, or if they should take a caravan. She figured that Zeke should give some input before they decided and waited for such.
 
As Roadrunner became the odd guest of the group, she did sit herself down at one of the nearby tables and took out some of her cards, laying them face down on the stainless steel. It was cold to her fingers. A feeling that also gave a short, but very sharp premonition.

Her eyes closed, she opened her lips. "Beware of the soulless that waits in the abyss. Beware. You must have the key... The key that is flat and has no teeth. The key." She said, turning to Dwemer and Carib. "Don't enter the abyss now... soulless things walk there. Mad things."

Getting up, she slipped a small coin with string tied to an end and slid it down the small coin slot of the Nuka Cola machine. Hitting the button, she heard the slurring sound and heard the chug as the copper machine spat out a warm, flat bottle of nuka cola. She did it again, and got enough for everyone.

"The Colas are on me."
 
Dwemer had come up from the elevator. He had noted the new girl but had said nothing.

THen he had explained. THe other levels were cut off from the shaft. Perhaps if they got the elevator working, they might gain access. But that would take time. The elevator seemed cut off, and they woudl have to redo the cables. The elevator car was at the bottom of the shaft, and it looked like the bottom level was partially flooded. Whether the systems worked or not, was unknown. As for the statuts of the robotic defenders, that too, Dwemer had no knowledge of.

So when the new girl spoke, Dwemer was caught off guard.

"And how do you know this?" He asked. popping open one of the cold Colas, the real thing.

Caribe was still near the shaft and looked down. "Either way, we got to go down."

Rich was nodding. "Besides, didn't we find a card?"
 
It was getting dark and vedpose had already gone to sleep as they had traveled hard through the wasteland. As Zeke prepared to fall asleep he heard a slight rustle and scrape a few yards away.
His face tightened and he drew his knife and pistol.It was a gecko........Zeke's most hated enemy that never really knew it.
It stooped over to scratch the ground for food when a shot hit it in the back end of the base of the skull and knocked it flat on it's face.
Another round autoloaded into the chamber and was fired into the gecko's spine followed by Zeke's screaming charge which ended in the gecko being stabbed multiple times.

Vedpose had seen half of what happened."What in the hell did you just kill it for it was defenseless!?!?!?!"

"I have damn good reasons so why don't you just leave me alone you damn animal freak!"

Normally Vedposed would've been angry and responded accordingly but she saw he was angrier deep down for some reason and let it slide as she went back to the camp.
 
Vedpose didn’t shift her graze at all as she circled Zeke on her way back to camp. He looked like an entirely different person. His eye shone with a fiery tone of hatred. He just stood there with the same burning look, stroking the blade of his knife over his thumb creating an ever widening gash.

“Zeke…. Comrade….. Are you okay?”

Still he just stood there, with sweat glazing his reddened face. He seemed to be a ballistic missile, like those that deadened the Gaia of the land in Great War. Vedpose debated if approaching him would be a prudent course of action. She decided that it would be best if she took the knife from him before he impaired himself more. She reached down and took the knife from his hand without much effort. As silent as before, motionless with that same enduring look of anger, Zeke eyed the Gecko.

Then he snapped.

“God damned son of Bitch, I’m going to rip your fucking heart out and feed it to you!!!!”

He shifted the aim of his colt .45 to Ved’s forehead, point blank range.

“All right, Comrade,” Vedpose said softly and calmly, “Let’s go back to camp and talk about it. Okay?”

Zeke just stood there, breathing deep and sweating profusely.
 
Sam bit the top off the way Curtis had taught her. It felt funny on the teeth, but Vree said Sam always had the stroingest teeth of the pack.

"You need an extra gun?" Sam asked, looking at Dwemer and Carib.

Carib just shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat 'Maiden of steel'. The edge of sarcasim was very present in the Nuka Cola dealer's words, but Sam let it go. No need for a battle of wits.

She checked the automatic pistols and loaded them with the 10mm AP rounds.
 
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