Chapter 14: Vault 114
“Hey blue, we should really tiptoe in the commons. People don’t come back from there.”
Jon and Piper’s trip towards 114 was as uneventful as a trip could be in the middle of downtown Boston. The gunshots never stopped, matching the tempo he saw, at least one every couple minutes, sometimes full exchanges echoing down the street.
He had stopped at a police station just along the outside of the wall and got a bit of loot from the lockup, and a Holotape relating to Eddie Winters. It was a message saying someone on some job wasn't getting their pay because others got arrested in the attempt from his actions. He was an informant if he was straight up recording criminal conspiracies.
A couple ghouls, a couple raiders holed up in blown out buildings, and they were just passing an APC that Jon had looted for it’s ordinance. They were now walking softly.
Jon said, “Any particular reason why?”
“Swan lives in the pond. That big green lump. A super mutant behemoth. Nasty news, blue.”
Jon huffed, “Then I’ll be coming back with power armor and a fat man.”
Piper scoffed, “Because you just have those laying around. Of course you do, blue. How could I think otherwise? Gonna be one hell of a story.”
Jon smiled, “If you could do me a personal favor, when you write that story make it about the effect my actions have. That's what defines me. Not my sometimes messy actions themselves. It’s not about me. I’m just a man with a gun.”
Piper met his spark, “Willing to use it to defend the little guy. Alright blue. I’ll switch up the focus, for you.”
Jon gently gripped her hand and held it a moment before turning back to his march into yet another vault. Jon peaked around a corner, and there were some raiders standing around there, not that far back from the square. Jon had a choice to make.
He stepped in the open, able to use VATS if he had too. The raiders saw him and froze a moment. Their hands were hovering slowly towards their guns, but normal raiders would be firing already. It seemed they weren't stupid. They probably had their main hangout here because no one else would be here, owing to the slumbering behemoth. It was a quieter and more isolated area with still plenty of cover, and they could pop in and out along any direction in down town. They may even do business with the mob nearby.
Jon gently raised his gun hand up, and they slowly matched it. No one wanted to be the one to wake swan. Jon simply turned away and continued on his path though the ruins.
The vault entrance was actually the entrance to a subway station. It would make sense, as they wouldn't have to start their dig from scratch. The subway would already be deep down, and make a passable shelter from the bombs just by itself. At least from the blast, if not the radiation since it wouldn't be air tight.
They entered in quietly and crouched down at the head of the stairs. Jon leaned in to whisper in Pipers ear, and he never saw her eyes roll at it, “Stay behind me and watch my 6.”
He did smell it though. He pulled back with a sly smile, and she met it. Jon saw the shadow of a man in a chair just in front of the door, peaking though it. He also heard about five more milling around and chatting. Jon decided to open with a frag. He pulled the pin, purposely let out the lever, and the tossed it on a trajectory that would have it roll right to their first watch. It detonated shortly after the screams started.
Jon tossed another one, quickly this time, and advanced only a little slower down the step, piper struggling to keep up. Jon took cover behind the door just as the second detonated to more screams. Piper had taken the opposite wall with a crazy smile, and was met with Jon’s warm one.
Jon poked his rifle out and took shots at a couple of gangsters trying to recover form the concussions of the blast in the tight quarters and bring their weapon up. Two when in the first one, and one simply took the head of a ghoul. Piper fired her own shots across his at her own angles at her own targets, and Jon’s smile stayed warm. She had a Delta elite like the one he had, and it has some modifications like an extended magazine, ported compensator, and a laser sight mounted on a bracket that also held a red dot.
The fight was over almost as soon as it began. Jon stormed though and was satisfied that the enemies were dead. He could just hear the commotion down a couple flights of stairs. There was no way the sound didn't echo down to them. like their yells were echoing up where he was. He expected this, and he took a superior position.
It was on the first landing down the steps, as it turned back on itself to exit in the station proper. He carefully avoided triggering the crude bathroom scale trap tied to IEDs, and fired around the corner as a couple were making their way up. One was another ghoul, and Jon felt slightly bad that a man had potentially survived it all just to run into him. Don’t be a mob goon, Jon guessed. He also wanted one of their Tommy Guns. Real Chicago typewriters, and a couple in mil spec.
No more goons were currently advancing, so Jon advanced himself. Fire was bringing to cut thought the air, and hit wall above the handrail that proved excellent cover.
Jon was kneeling just before the handrail wall began it’s angle down from the station roof. He wasn’t going to lean out into the hail of fire, the mobsters proving more disciplined with their fire than raiders. Jon had to guess the old timers taught the greenhorns what they knew, and in all likelihood some served in the army as well. Different clusters, two or three at a time, alternated their fire and reloads. It kept Jon in cover, and let their boys advance again.
Jon didn’t lean out, but back, giving him an extreme angle for a sight line that cut across the room and went into the tunnels, while still keeping him firmly in cover. Some were trying to move up so they could get into the cover the goons no doubt placed their themselves for just such an occurrence. This lent more wight to Jon’s speculation. Their movements and reactions weren't professional as it was a mob in a dungeon, but they were smart and well taught.
They weren’t faster than Jon though. The ones he saw ducking under the fire as the got across the rail by way of makeshift rail car bridges died to his accurate fire. One took one in the head, and another in the shoulder, and then the head following the double tap. He grabbed and tossed another grenade, hopefully to get them in cover so he could attack.
It worked as expected, and the calls to get in cover spread though the room. Jon had the gap in the fire he needed to lean out and pop his rifle through the acute vertex of his cover’s geometry. His VATS was activated, and each time someone tried to get firing again after the explosion they met his bullets. Sometimes two shots were needed, but the shorter range, his rifles inane accuracy, his targeting optics, and his natural eyesight ensured each hit chance was high. If the first missed, the second wouldn’t. He also thought his luck also played a factor it in. How they quantified such a thing Jon didn’t know. If it was inane to him, and not something acquired over time, then it would explain how he survived the Eugenics War. Smart luck.
He worked his way around the room in a flash, staring with the angle he originally had on the room. It pivoted his rifle around the angle in the roof and wall along a perpendicular plane. When it was done 10 goons had their head either shot thought or exploded entirely. There were only a couple sounds now in the station. The leaking of the goons, the ding of the intercom, and the run of more goons up the tunnel from deeper in the complex.
They got out, wondering where their own side and their fire was, and were gunned down just as fast, Jon not needing VATS for two goons that stopped in their tracks to figure out what was happening. All of the goons were in suits and vests, with no armor or helmets to speak of. For unarmored man sized targets at less than fifty meters, Jon didn’t even need to aim. He listened for a moment, and all he heard was the ding of the intercom again.
He whispered, “Think we’re clear. Stay frosty.”
Piper just slowly nodded with a worried expression, “Soooooo, increased everything. Well over two dozen of some of the best goons money can buy in the Commonwealth? Who’s even heard of em.”
“After today?” Jon said to Piper’s scoff.
Jon continued, “That was mostly VATS I admit.”
Piper said, “Ah. I’ve heard the Commonwealth models are freaking weird. Like slow time weird.”
Jon slowly nodded with a worried expression. He certainly didn’t understand it. He said, “Gonna move slowly till we get to the door. Give me space when we do.”
“Don’t need some goon getting lucky with a molotov or grenade. Not my first rodeo, blue.”
Jon gave her a shark grin, “I know.”
He picked up and moved though the complex. Down the tunnel was a post where the two came from, and the vault door was clear of hostiles. Piper said, “Blue, can I get that quantum real quick?”
Jon nodded. And she took to her task as he talked up to the control panel. He plugged his Pip-Boy in, and hit the red button just as Piper jogged back up with a warm smile. Her lips were blue and slightly glowing. Jon could only scoff as the gear shaped door was pulled back, and tolled off to the left with a screeching cry. He did not what to know what made it a quantum. He did actually. He leaned in and took Piper’s taste into his mouth. Her hands shot up to his face, and she thrust deeply against his tongue. It was a strontium isotope.
Jon came up and now his lips had a faint glow to him. His Pip-Boy ticked a couple times. He said, “What the fuck were they thinking.”
She scoffed, “That one of those ulterior motives there, blue?”
Jon smiled, “Yeah, wanted to know what made it blue.”
She returned the smile, and slid her hand down his armor, pulling it away just before it got to a more interesting spot, “Lucky you I’m willing to share.”
Jon smiled, lucky indeed. The bridge screeched it self across, and Jon brought his weapon back up when he heard another goon, “Skinny? Darla? Why they got to make that door so loud.”
Jon marched across and popped him as soon as he cleared the door. His compatriot behind him reacted, and was dead from Jon’s sprint into the room and VATS shot into his head. No other enemies stirred past the door into the side room. There was another side room he wanted to check as well.
Piper said, “There is a lot of loot in here blue. No wonder they took the place over.”
Jon nodded, “Hmm. The Minutemen will be taking this place for sure. Depending on how big it is, it could be a decent garrison right in the middle of downtown.”
“Just have to come back with that power armor and fat-man. I’d like to see that.”
Jon smiled, “I’ll be sure to invite you.”
He walked over to the other side room, past a door he couldn’t get open, and found a small med-bay. He picked up it’s supplies, and looked thought the terminal. It had the vault’s purpose in a memo fro the science staff. The city’s high society and political class would be put in this vault, and they would be in cramped conditions while being managed by a homeless crazy person for an overseer.
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He said, M’yeah not surprised at all.”
Piper said, “Yeah me neither. Not even rich snobs deserve what Vault-Tech does to people. Sounds like you found another messed up one yourself.”
“Two. 111 was the cryo-facility, and 81 had biological weapons testing labs. Maybe don’t publish that. Those are decent folks in there, and they didn’t know until I threatened Overseer McNamara and forced an investigation into the issue.”
Piper shrugged, “Yeah that would put a damper on their good reputation. I lost a lot of friends when I became a journalist. I was Piper the snoop, not Piper the friend and confidant. I’ve learned over the years that some things shouldn't be snooped. So you threatened the Overseer?”
Jon shrugged as well, “Sometimes messy actions. I was going to put a bullet in her skull if I thought she was a collaborator. She wasn’t, and in fact the first Overseer sealed the labs and shoved as many people as she could into the Vault, list be dammed. Even executed a guard that questioned her as people streamed in according to her logs. It was for all intents and purposes a fully functional vault. It had to be for a large enough sample size to test their diseases.”
Piper said, “Well, she would have deserved it. I’m glad it worked out in the end.”
Jon smiled and said, “Me too, because now they’re citizens of the SCPG.”
Piper scoffed and her jaw hit the floor again, the blue just beginning to fade from her tongue. She said, “Well of course that's just one more side project of yours. Just restart the CPG. Why didn’t they try that before? Are they stupid? What’s the angle there.”
Jon said, “The final frontiers. Space. Need stability to have a space program.”
She shook her head in disbelief, “Wow, blue. I almost believe that.”
Jon pondered, “Yeah okay, I’ll go down in history as a conquer. One of my kind tried the same, to conquer. The greatest of us, the first. There was a war. I fought against them when I realized it was all bullshit. Petty bloodletting, not the next step of humanity.”
Jon took a thoughtful breath, “Unlike them, I am superior. Everything else is proving it. When I get up there, I will have proved it. Done what no Augment had done before, except to run and hide from their fate. I was going after them after watching their cryo-ship launch. Now it’s simply the goal itself.”
Piper said, “What made you realize?”
Jon said, “It was about six months in. We had made blitzkrieg advances across much of Asia and the Middle east, steady headway into Africa. Then my commander, a first generation Augment and Khan’s younger brother, wanted to march their war right over a school that had done no wrong. Superior men and women do no do that.”
She shook her head, “No, they don’t. I’m glad you didn’t. Thanks for sharing blue.”
Jon said, “For what it’s worth, I’m your friend of indeterminate status. Let’s get moving.”
She picked up his hand, determining the status, and they both exited the small med bay. Across into the other side room, the door yielded steps further into the vault. Down them was a storage and shop area, and it had more passages further in.
A couple goons were speaking, “Hey, Paully. So why they build a vault in a subway station? This place ain’t airtight, like, at all.”
The ghoul said, “Heh, heh. Cuz they were never plannin to use it. At least not the people building it. It was a big time con we pulled off all the time before the bad news hit. Get some guys on the payroll, keep the work low and slow, skim right off the top when everything was over budget and time. Couldn’t do nothin about it, cuz the guys are union and they got their own reach. That reach got more city money thrown at any problems that would mysteriously arise.”
Jon cut their conversations off with two gunshots. They had their backs opposite where they should have been facing, and they were halfway down the hall, far away from where they should have been guarding. Jon advanced and opened the door at the opposite end. It opened to a construction area, a part of the vault never actually completed.
Three enemies were milling about the catwalk at the opposite end of the room, and it was nothing to VATS three shots into their heads, chunking one of them. The distance was still practically point blank when compared to the average or effective engagement range of his rifle.
“We’ve been had!” One of the goon cried.
Jon ran forward on the catwalk's, and got an angle into the room dug into the cavern wall two goons were advancing on. A couple wild shots sprayed from the hip of one before. Jon took a quickly knee and fired twice more at the goons. The shots didn’t come close to him, and his were as accurate as ever.
A quick glance to Piper confirmed she was okay, and she smiled and waved after noticing. He returned it. She caught up and he moved into the bunker room they came from. There was a hole into the floor that lead furthering in, and that Jon would have to jump down.
There was a voice coming from it, “Hey! Whats going on up there.”
Jon simply cooked a grenade for a couple seconds, and dropped it down the hatch. The scream was cut off a moment later by the explosion. Piper chucked, “Seem to be coming out of your ass there, blue.”
Jon winked, “Maybe they are. Looted a couple of former military sites that had raiders in them, plus the APC. They like to stick to Molotovs, save the grenades for a rainy day.”
“Didn’t seem to work.”
Jon scoffed, “Nope, and hopefully it never will.”
Jon Jumped a second later, and landed on his feet, flexing his knees to compensate for the force of suddenly stopping. His rifle was up, and he saw nor heard no hostiles.
Piper called down, “Sooooo, gonna catch me, blue?”
Jon scoffed, “Is that even a question? Tuck your arms in, keep your feet straight.”
She dropped down, and Jon swept her into his strong arms with a yelp and giggle. Jon tried to put her put, but her arms stayed firmly wrapped around him, and she took Jon this time. He wrapped his arm back under her hips and they stayed like that for a moment, before she finally dropped down. Her smile and spark never left, and neither did his.
Jon moved past her down the finally hall, and opened the door to Vault 114 proper. They only had to twist a couple more times before opening a final door to the main congregation hall. Judging by the size, the vault was meant for a couple hundred of the elites. He could station a full company here at least, and maybe a battalion if he squeezed him in on full bunks. Multiple companies on a middle estimate.
There was a man at the end on the top level, speaking to who was no doubt nick, “How you doin, Valentine. Hungry? Need a snack, pal?”
Nick replied, “Keep talking meat head. Just gives Skinny more time to think about how to ice you.”
The man scoffed, “You don’t know a thing about that Nicky. You got nothin, you are nothin right now.”
Nick replied, “Lousy cheating card shark were his exact words. Then he got his little black book, and crossed your name three times, pal. I’d say your through, and should run while you can.”
The man took a couple nervous steps back, “Three strikes...in the black book? Oh nah. I gotta smooth thi-”
The last thought though his head was a bullet. His brain splattered on the glass of the brig, and took a chuck out of the window. Jon never saw Nick’s own step back. He said, “I don’t know who you are, pal, but you got about three minutes before Dino’s boys show up for a look see. Best get the password and get this door open.”
Jon was already on his way, and stepping over the corpse to crack the system as his sentence finished. Piper started rooting for the password, but Jon had already broken the system with his hacking skills. If he ran into a system where the enter button didn’t work he would be screwed.
He opened the door, marched in, and said, “Holy shit. You’re like a gen 2.5.”
Piper sauntered in, “Darling, you know it’s not nice to comment on someone’s good looks like that.”
Nick chuckled, and then he laughed. He lit a smoke and said, “Piper Wright. I knew I wouldn't be able to get away from you. Gotta say, love the whole fem fetale knight in blue armor thing we got going, but we got to blow this joint.”
Jon said, “Yeah, I have a case, but we can talk more later.”
Jon lead the trio out of the room, and back down to the ground floor of the vault. Just as they were creeping though the side room in the hall, Nick said, “I assume you're a fast and loud kind of guy, huh?”
Jon smiled while Piper answered for him, “You have no idea, Nicky.”
The door opened and three more goons walked in. they began to call out for their boss when Jon walked out and opened up before they could even get their guns ready. They dropped in sprays of blood one after another.
Nick said, “Shame for whoever has to clean that up.”
Jon said, “Probably the Minutemen I send here.”
“Heard those rumors right before going in the hole. Didn’t believe them. Oh sure, make this long trip to these isolated settlements that totally exist. There’s even a General defending them.”
“Totally not a raider trap at all. Helps control the immigration rate if they’re just rumors. Can’t have the entire Commonwealth move into one town when they find out brand new shit is being built. Can’t have others try to take it before we’re ready.”
Nick raised his eyebrow, “You see that’s what made me not believe it. It was just too fanciful. With a name like Sanctuary it rings like a sick wasteland joke. I guess I’ll have to see it myself.”
“Why are you here?”
“I was hired to find a young woman named Darla by her parents. They thought kidnapping. Turns out it was a runaway, and she has one mean streak. Took this chuck out of my jaw you see.”
Jon said, “Hmm. I’ll do what I can, but mobsters with intimate knowledge of this place will not be allowed to live. I’ll give her a choice, I promise.”
Nick grimaced a bit, knowing what was going to happen to his long standing rival. He was ever the skeptic though. From what he’s seen, Piper dragged a maniac with her to come pull him out of the hole. He said, “We’ll see.”
Jon nodded and the trio continued up the stairs. Nick said, “Who built this damn place, a fitness instructor?”
Piper scoffed, “A Vault-Tech fitness instructor, so there was evil intent from the start.”
Jon chucked and continued on point. They worked their way though a couple more residential areas on the various levels. Jon could fit most of a battalion in here, even without completely packing them in. while the vault was supposed to be cramped, it was only cramped for people unaccustomed to such modest dwelling. The local material wasting design philosophy was also factored in. There were only a bit more than a dozen goons scattered on the levels. They quickly realized that the top door was locked tight, and if the trio was this far and shooting at them, then there was no hope. They died like the rest.
They finally reached the top door after an exhausting amount of steps for Piper, and a good exercise for Jon. Nick said, “Let me see if I can fiddle with this door. Have a way with machines.”
Jon huffed with a smile as he stood ready to meet any threats. The door shot open, and Nick quickly got out of the way of the bloodbath. There were four left. Skinny Malone, with a pot belly and tuxedo, two goons, and Darla in a dress with a ball bat.
Jon activated VATS, and targeted three crits. Each shot slammed into the heads of the mobsters, and chucked them to bits. Darla got hit with some spray as time sped up again, and she flinched in fear. She began breathing nervously, realizing that her time was up.
Jon spoke softly, “Darla. You have a home, a family that misses you. You should at least call them more often. Even if you want to do this? You shouldn’t be shacking up with these mooks. They should be shacking up with you. As long as you keep it respectable, you have nothing to fear from me. I have bigger concerns than wasteland crime lords that aren’t in my way.”
She nodded slowly, and tentatively turned around and began walking away, her heels clicking on the concrete. Nick came out with his hat in his hand, and in the other lit up a smoke. Jon and Piper matched it, with Jon tossing her ratty smokes and giving her a pack of his preserved ones. There were many more he saw on the way past.
Jon said, “Sorry Nick. I imagine you have history.”
Nick nodded, “Yeah, history. You called him a mook, but he was one of the biggest crime bosses to come out of the post-war. His gang you walked though was top notch. He only got pushed out of the old neighborhood because of politics, Hancock not wanting a full blown gang war in Goodneighbor. He even volunteered for the exile to settle the issue. No wonder why if he had this place in his pocket. Skinny Malone had it coming. If it wasn't you, it would have been someone else icing him. At least he finally lost some weight, that big head of his.”
Jon and Piper chuckled. Nick said, “Thanks for pulling me out, and keeping your word with Darla. I guess I misjudged. There are folks like you out there, killers with a compass. But not one I’ve seen with these mechanical eyes is exactly like you. What are you, pal? You know what I am. Generation 2.5. I always say a prototype because I’m an oddity like you. Never seen another like me.”
Jon said, “I was genetically engineered from conception. Not by any suspects you know. I’m from far away and lets leave it at that for now.”
Nick nodded, “Yeah, for now. We all got things we aren't ready to say. Well, I Would say you just paid my fee for your case. You coming with?”
Jon asked, “Piper, I think I saw their quar-”
“Yes.”
Jon nodded, “We’ll be staying here for the night. I’ve got a lot of loot to organize here, see what I take or leave. Can you make it back?”
Nick said, “Yeah, now that I’m out of the hole. We’ll meet later then.”
Jon said, “I already gave Ellie the jist of it, and she should already be working on it. In case the worst happened I would still get some leads. She would have had a place to go.”
Nick nodded, “Thanks for looking out for her. That’s what I was most worried about in there. What would happen to her? I should really give her a raise. See you back at DC you two.”
Jon and Piper retired to their clean quarters first before looking at any loot. They even got a hot shower before starting their revelry as the water steamed around them. As it turned out, Dr. Forsythe had an injectable universal contraceptive for vault population control, and tests showed it indeed worked even on him. Jon leaned in and gripped a wet and moaning Piper tight to him as he shot into her for the first time of the night, grunting softly in her ear all the while.