Fallout 1. Flashforward

All was dark. Natalie felt groggy, or perhaps in a trance. At the very least she noted with annoyance that she was having trouble thinking. She sighed, but something was wrong. Her breathing felt labored, and the air too warm.

Then there was movement. She was sliding and her body felt warm and sticky. Suddenly there was a bright light, accompanied by the sound of a baby crying and a strange, slow but constant "BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...". It took her a few seconds, but Natalie realized the baby cry came from her, very strange. She tried to focus and figure out what was going on, but her mind just drew a blank.

There was a large leg to her left, Natalie's eyes bulged a bit at the size of it. However two giant figures directly in front of her, but shrouded in shadows quickly caught her attention. One leaned forward and Natalie's brow furrowed, he looked a bit familiar. Her suspicions were confirmed an instant later when he spoke. The voice was crystal clear, that of her dad, James. "A girl Catherine, it's a girl!" His mouth was obscured by a surgical mask, so Natalie couldn't see his lips move. "Hello there little girl, I'm you daddy... daddy!" He was addressing her, but Natalie was confused. She was not a baby. Still, James continued. "Your mom and I have been talking. You're going to need a name. What do you think about... Natalie... hmm, yes, that sounds like a winner."

James turned and said something Natalie couldn't hear to the other figure, who was now clearly a woman. As if on cue, a monitor on a mechanical arm swung down. James turned back to speak once more, "The gene projection's finished. Let's take a look at what you're going to look like all grown up!"

The screen flickered to life, the blankness replaces with a stunning image of Natalie's face, her current age if she guessed right. Her deep black, shoulder length, somewhat ragged hair had a nice contrast with her piercing green eyes. She couldn't help but mentally smile, or maybe even smirk slightly as she looked upon her own soft features. Not like Natalie knew many people, but she figured she was definitely quite the looker. _"Damn sexy if I do say so myself Dad,"_ she thought as she snickered, prompting strange baby noises to come out of her mouth, only serving to make Natalie laugh harder at the absurdity of what was going on.

James then pressed a few buttons and began reading some of the other information the monitor displayed, "Hair like your mother's, her green eyes too, though I must say I see a lot of myself in there too. Estimated height... five nine, or maybe five ten, depending on how your environment affects your development. IQ estimate... 130, not bad, but remember sweetie, just because you're IQ's high doesn't mean you don't have to work at it. You still have to try." From behind her there was a feminine laugh. "Oh, silly me Catherine, lecturing her already. Best to wait until she learns to speak before I begin to hassle her for academic performance." Another laugh was heard, but Natalie was feeling sleepy, her attention started to wander.

Natalie looked around the room, but her neck felt quite stiff. The effort almost wasn't worth the trouble, especially as the room was so bright. She sighed, getting a bit frustrated, when something happened. The owner of the giant leg, her mother she guessed, started calling for James in a distressed tone of voice. "James... James! Something's happening..."

"What, Catherine, what's wrong?" He whipped around quickly as the steady beeping started to pick up speed. "She's going into cardiac arrest! Get the baby out of here!"

Natalie felt a sudden rush to her head, almost enough to make her want to vomit. She was moving backwards, pushed by the woman. _"Huh, wait, I was on a cart? Wasn't I on the same thing as that leg, er... with mom? What the..." _Natalie's thoughts were interrupted by a bright flash that continued even after she shut her eyes, followed by a sharp pain from behind her left ear. _"Fuck, headache!" _Natalie hissed loudly and gritted her teeth, thought she didn't hear a sound for some reason. Fortunately, the pain quickly faded, that didn't usually just happen. The light was fading, too, and with it came her dad's voice again, calm again.

"Don't look right into light sweetie, you'll hurt your eyes." The sound of his voice made it easy for her find him. James was kneeling across a playpen from her, arms wide. "It's just something you get used to down here. Now, like before, come to daddy!"

Natalie didn't know why, but she felt compelled to do as he said, forgetting for a moment the strange surroundings, though taking note of some other oddities. She was feeling a form of vertigo from having her eyes at such a lower level then usual, apparently because that's just how tall she was right now. _"Dude... why am I so small... What... what is WRONG with my legs!"_ She staggered back and forth as she crossed the distance, just like a toddler. Natalie couldn't help breath a sigh of relief when she landed safely in her dad's arms.

"There we go! My my, hardly a year old and already walking!" The two locked gazes, Natalie's eyes bugging out at how huge James seemed, though he didn't seem to think anything was amiss. The embrace lasted a few seconds, but then he released Natalie and stood up. "I have to check a few things in the lab, but I'll be back soon." Natalie just stood in awe of the size difference as James shut the gate to the playpen and locked it.

It took a moment for Natalie to regain her senses, but eventually she snapped out of her trance. _"Huh, what's going on. I'm a toddler? Where the hell am I?" _Even as she thought, though, Natalie felt her mind working faster. _"This is... the vault, yeah, okay... our housing unit... maybe... some of these things are familiar..."_

As Natalie surveyed the room, she spied a chest full of toys. She smiled lightly. Part of her felt like acting the part, maybe a bit of hidden nostalgia. _"Hmm, well if I'm a toddler, I guess I better go act like one." _She toddler walked over to the gate, still a bit frustrated with how weird she was feeling, but deciding to put up with it for now. It was a simple matter to unhook the latch, so easy that Natalie almost wondered how it could contain anyone for long.

Stumbling over to the chest, Natalie first dug out a rattle, shaking it a few times, before then taking out a big rubber ball and batting it across the room. There actually wasn't that much in the chest, she could see now, and Natalie quick grew bored. However, then a bright, colorful book caught her eye. It was on a nearby chair, and Natalie thought she recognized it. _"Is that... that stupid 'SPECIAL' book? I remembering finding that in storage once... man that was lame. Who comes up with this crap? No wonder little kids are so naive. They get fed crap like that."_

Natalie was now truly bored. Unfortunately, she really had no idea how to get back to normal. Mentally cursing a bit she stumbled over to the rattle, wanting to take her anger out on something and vaguely remembering times when she'd bopped someone on the forehead as a child. Not like there was anyone here to hit with it, but she had nothing better to do then retrieve it.

When she turned back around, Natalie saw something else that caught her eye. A bright red Nuka-Cola toy truck up on a shelf. _"Oh wow, I remember that! Dad never let me play with that, because 'you might break it, it's very delicate'. Well too bad, I'm getting it down!" _By this point Natalie was getting the feeling none of this was real, anyway, so why not. Even if she respected her dad, most of the time, she highly doubted there would be any consequences from this.

Positioning herself just right, Natalie wound up for a big pitch and hurled the rattle at the truck. She hit it just fine, but Natalie would not have time to regret her action. The truck, and shelf, were knocked into the air, only to come crashing back to the ground. Unfortunately, the path the debris took placed Natalie's face directly in the way. She never knew what hit her, literally. The impact sent her sprawling back, cracking her head hard against the cold metal floor.

This time the flash was black, not bright. Natalie found herself out in the hall, a bit dazed, with her eyes back at a "normal" height. Groaning, she looked around, quickly discovering that she was back in her own, familiar body, though she still didn't feel exactly right. _"Uh... what happened... I'm... out in the hall... why?"_

Natalie slumped against the wall trying to recover a bit. She didn't get to rest long, though, as a few seconds later James came back down the hall and humming a tune to himself. Natalie called out, hoping he'd take her to the medical wing and see what was wrong with her head, and why she was feeling nauseous.

"Hey dad! Dad!... Dad?" James kept walking, so Natalie stepped out in front of, scowling that he didn't notice her. _"How the hell can he not see me, the hallway's tiny and I'm waving my arms like an idiot." _James didn't slow down as he approached, looking as if to walk right through her! Natalie opened her mouth to yell at him again and tried to jump backwards, but it was too late, he DID just walk right through her. "Dad! Wa...! Ahhh! What the fuck! How the... he just walked right through me..." She stood there, dumbfounded as James rounded the corner into their housing unit and headed for the bedroom. Natalie was starting to get seriously freaked out, but at least it was making her more alert. As she collected her thoughts once more she quickly darted after him, noticing she could pass through the furniture too. She didn't pause, afraid to lose sight of her dad.

When Natalie caught up James was standing still in shock. She quickly followed where he was looking to a prone form of a toddler, dressed in a pink dress type garment. The young girl wasn't moving and had the Nuka-Cola truck across her face. _"Shit! That's me isn't it! Am I... a ghost..." _Natalie shook her head to clear her mind, something still wasn't adding up. She wasn't a toddler, and even if she was, why would her ghost be an older girl, one that she clearly remembered being.

One thing was certain, Natalie felt for this girl on the ground, though she wasn't sure what she was feeling, or should be feeling. Her mind locked. Was it sympathy, fearing for the girl's well being, sadness, a mix, or maybe something else entirely? Saying Natalie did not do well with her emotions was a major understatement. She preferred to avoid dealing with them if she could.

As Natalie stood frozen, James sprung into motion. He was a trained medical professional, after all, and knew how to handle an emergency. Natalie watched as he carefully picked up the truck and then tossed it across the room. He checked the toddler's vitals and seemed to calm down slightly, before sliding a hand around the back of her head to check for any damage. His gulp was audible a moment later, Natalie guessed he found something. James then made sure there were no more injures, especially ones that would make it danger to move her. Satisfied with the quick check, he took a deep breath and carefully picked up the toddler. He rushed, but didn't run. Dropping the child was the last thing she needed. Natalie followed behind, feeling her heart rate pick up from the tension.

Halfway to the medical wing they found Jonas, James' young assistant. Seeing the doctor's hurried pace and grim expression he rushed over to see what was up, uttering a small curse when he saw Natalie unconscious. He opened his mouth to say something but James shook his head. "No time for an explanation. Start prepping the scanners!"

"Right Doc!" Jonas nodded and went ahead. When the injured toddler arrived Jonas would already have the proper equipment turned on and ready. The patient was slowed by having to be carried up stairs. James was obviously mentally berating whoever designed vaults to have stairs instead of ramps as he carefully maneuvered the last leg to the medical wing.

When they arrived James rushed the toddler right to the prominent medical bed in the middle of the suite. He checked her vitals again as the monitors swung down from their mount above. "Don't worry sweetie, everything is going to be okay." His words were more for himself then her. As he started to work Jonas came up behind up.

"Don't worry Doc, you're the best this vault's had in well... probably ever. You'll pull her through." James didn't say anything, grimly looking at the monitors.

Natalie stood on the other side of the bed, looking down at the unconscious body, when suddenly a revelation hit her. _"Oh, I remember now! Dad told me about this once. This is why I have these damn headaches..." _She felt her body relax, reassured now that she knew what was going on. As the emotion faded, it was replaced with a new one, anger that she was getting worked up about something like this. _"Seriously... how could I not have figured it out sooner... and getting all excited like that, fucking embarrassing." _

She didn't have the chance to sulk long, though, as there was another blinding flash. Natalie felt another sharp stab in her skull. _"Speak of the fucking devil." _Her face twisted into a highly annoyed look. Her expression fit perfectly for the situation Natalie found herself in as the light faded again.

Her eyes were once again low to the ground, but not as much as before. Within a few seconds her vision cleared, revealing the vault's cafeteria, decorated for a child's birthday party. As soon as the scene finished registering in Natalie's mind she was nearly pushed backwards by a chorus of "Happy birthday!" directed right at her.

The force was enough to make Natalie lean back a bit, blinking a few times, prompting a comment from the crowd. "Stanley, you turned on the lights to fast! You blinded the poor kid!" Natalie recognized the voice as that of Officer Gomez, Freddie's dad. He was standing at the back of a small crowd under a large 'Happy Birthday' banner. In front of him were her dad and her best friend, Amata.

"Happy birthday sweetie, I can't believe you're already ten. I'm so proud of you, if only your mother could..." Her dad had come forward to congratulate her personally, but the overseer had arrived, rudely interrupting.

"Yes yes, happy birthday. Now that you're ten, you're expected to work in this vault. As such, I hereby present you with your very own Pipboy." He handed Natalie the device, which her dad helped her snake her arm into. "Take good care of it, you'll get your first work assignment tomorrow." His tone started pompous and slowly degenerated into a smooth, smug sound. His two default modes of expression in Natalie's experience. The overseer walked away, to sit across from old lady Taylor in one of the booths.

Natalie's arm twitched a bit. She hadn't realized she hadn't been wearing one. After awhile it just became a part of you, or at least felt that way. This was a really vivid memory. Natalie belatedly realized she was dreaming, probably. _"Whoa, this is really realistic. I haven't had a dream like this in a long time... hmm... I bet I could have some fun with this." _Movement from the side reminded her that her dad, or the dream version thereof, was still present.

"Happy birthday sweetie, enjoy the party."

"Oh I will dad, I will." Natalie grinned devilishly with her reply, though to James it probably just looked like standard little girl cuteness, or something else similarly sickeningly sweet. Not like it mattered if she did anything out of place. She was actually counting on that.

Before Natalie could act, though, Amata rushed over excitedly. "Surprise! You should have seen the look on your face! We got you real good, didn't we?" The young girl giggled at Natalie's new look of surprise, or what appeared to be surprise. Truth be told, she had quickly thought up something fun to try, and talking with Amata hadn't been it. She supposed it could wait though.

"Uh... yeah... I had no idea... Hey, you got me something, right?" Natalie didn't exactly remember what Amata had given her for her tenth birthday, but maybe her subconscious would feel like letting her make things interesting.

"Of course! You'll really like it! I bet you can't guess what it is." Amata had a sometimes annoying habit of playing games like this. Natalie didn't like it, but admitted it gave the girl some personality.

"Oh... is it a date with Freddie Gomez?" She blurted the first thing that came to mind, one of her own annoying habits. She had only been half paying attention to Amata while planning out what kinds of things to attempt now that she was pretty sure this was a dream.

"Huh, I didn't even know you liked boys..." Natalie snickered in reply to her friend's comment. At her apparent age of ten, she wondered if Amata got the meaning someone post-puberty would. The girl's face twisted into an expression of mixed shock and a hint of childlike disgust. Natalie smirked in response.

"Oh just tell me already." As fun as it was to gross out Amata, reliving childhood conversations with her friend was not high on Natalie's priority list.

"Fine. I knew you wouldn't guess." Amata had been hiding something behind her while they talked. She handed it over now and Natalie could see it was a comic that she used to enjoy reading. While Amata looked at her expectantly, Natalie's smile fell a bit. The dream let her down with that gift. She decided it was time to move on.

"Yeah, that's cool and all, but hold on to it for me, 'kay?" Natalie pushed past her friend rather abruptly before a reply could be given. She didn't care if she slightly offended Amata, it happened often enough anyway. Doing so in a dream would hardly make a difference. Besides, she wanted to do something fun before her mind decided to transition to someplace else, and she had just the thing in mind now, confronting Butch and his group.

However, before Natalie got there, old lady Taylor stopped her. "Hold up a minute there, birthday girl. Ten already... it seems like only yesterday that your father came..." Natalie spaced out as the elderly lady started to ramble, wondering if she should just give up and punch the woman right then and there for daring to interrupt, knowing the ensuing hilarity would be almost as good as punching Butch. She sighed, about to just ignore the old coot and move on, but the woman seemed to take the cue. "Oh goodness, listen to me, here you are waiting for your present patiently."

"Yeah, whacha get me?" Her impatience was seeping into her words by this point.

"Well!" Old lady Taylor was momentarily taken aback. "In my day, children were more respectful of their elders! Fine, here's your gift, a sweetroll I baked just for you." She wasn't too grumpy, though, and handed over the small item.

"Um, thanks..." Natalie tried to remember if this was what she'd gotten from old lady Taylor way back then or not. _"Eh, whatever. I can probably make this taste like whatever I want." _She thought of strawberries, her favorite flavor, and practically inhaled the sweetroll. She gagged a bit as either she was horribly off in her imagining or this was all real and the old coot had burned the thing.

Natalie dealt with her momentary discomfort just in time to see Andy, the vault Mr. Handy, cut the cake, or try to. He used a metal buzz saw, comically spraying icing in the process. Natalie took a hasty step back just in time to dodge as some landed on the floor where she had just been standing. Quite vividly she remembered that this had indeed happened, and Andy's antics wasn't just a spur of the moment thing her mind had cooked up.

What came next also popped into Natalie's mind. Butch had tried to take her sweetroll, which she hadn't eaten yet the first time around. _"Not this time"_. Natalie smirked as the memory only make her more eager to get some revenge.

The kid was almost done turning to complain about the cake when Natalie's fist connected with his face. Butch hit his head on the booth's table. While stunned, it wasn't from the impact. But from Natalie's sheer audacity. The look on Butch's face pure shock, very gratifying.

Dream Butch collected himself fast, though, then launched himself at Natalie. "Hey! What the hell was that for!" He was easily slapped down again, though. Another right hook and he was on the floor. Any fight in her dreams was of course biased in Natalie's favor.

Taking a moment to stand proud over Butch's groaning form, Natalie glanced around to see if anyone had a problem with what she had just done. None had even noticed, as she expected. _"Ah, I love lucid dreaming. Kind of petty though, I guess." _Defeating Butch hadn't been nearly as fun as she imagined. _"Too easy, and it doesn't even really matter, this isn't what happened..." _

Natalie's mood was actually turning sour pretty quickly now. Her dad came over, said something, and opened the door for her as if they were going somewhere. If she remembered correctly, this was when she'd revived her BB gun. That had been a fun time, but the fondness of the memory was tainted by how fast the experience had gotten old. It had been great having a weapon at first. She'd always been aggressive and such. However, all she'd ever had to shoot were targets and the occasional radroaches. Granted, there had been more radroaches as of late, but Natalie lamented that she would never have the chance to really prove herself a capable fighter. _"We are born in the vault, and we die in the vault."_ Natalie's thoughts echoed the overseer's often said phrase with venom. She would never have the chance to do more then slave away at the vault's systems and pick the odd fight here and there like a common low life.

As if sensing her brooding, another bight flash and twinge of pain assaulted Natalie. She was too annoyed to really protest this time, only grunting slightly as the sensation quickly faded again. Smoother then before, but she was still disoriented upon regaining her sense of self again.

Blinking back to awareness, Natalie felt more normal now. She was standing in front of her dad, eyes level with where they normally were. She felt a bit cold and realized she was in her underwear, though it was quickly apparent why when she noticed James had his medical instruments out and was reading her clipboard.

"Well, from what I can tell, you're a perfectly healthy sixteen year old girl, though I must say, your acting skills have really improved lately. You're doing a good job of looking the part." He looked at her intently, but Natalie was too dazed to respond. "Give it up honey, you have to go take your GOAT exam today, no getting out of it. It's just something you have to do."

The mention of the GOAT exam snapped Natalie back to reality, or dream reality. She remembered that day, only three years ago. She didn't remember this specifically, though, and highly doubted she tried to fake being sick to get out of it. That sort of thing was for the weak, and Natalie would never sink to that level. _"Must be my mind dwelling on my bad mood, and those imagines from before... ugh..."_

With a sigh Natalie turned to leave. James chuckled a bit, assuming she had just been admitting defeat, unaware of her continued internal sulking as she walked off.

What happened that day was actually one of Natalie's biggest regrets, though she'd never admit she had any regrets to herself. She had joked with Mr. Brotch about how little the test actually meant. She'd been surprised when he agreed and offered to let her just mark whatever she wanted on the evaluation sheet. Then she'd made the mistake of letting her resulting good mood get the better of her, marking unrealisticly high qualifications and scores. Mr. Brotch had no choice but to tell the overseer she cheated, giving Natalie a one way ticket to the maintenance department. Eventually she may "redeem herself", as the overseer put it when she was chewed out in his office afterwards, but that would be a long time in coming. Plus the maintenance department liked her as she was pretty competent with machines anyway, so they didn't really want to let go of her.

Natalie made it to the door and was exiting into the hall when there was another white flash, seemingly triggered by her deepening scowl. _"Again, seriously... I'm getting pretty fed up with th..."_

The fade back in was very fast this time. Natalie found herself laying on her back, nice and warm under a bunch of blankets. The shift in position made her dizzy, interrupting her thoughts like slamming into a concrete wall. She felt achy all over. Groaning softly she went to lay her head to the side, only to have it gently cushion against something soft and warm. Natalie stiffened as she realized she wasn't alone in the bed.

"Oh wow, that was good..." Natalie instantly recognized the voice as that of Freddie Gomez. "You were right... this wouldn't just be a birthday present for you..." He snuggled up closely against Natalie's side.

She remembered this. There was no way she could forget her first time. Two years ago on her birthday she decided to escalate her flirtatious teasing of Freddie. She had felt the need for quite some time and the frustration had just been getting to be too much. Freddie was just the type of guy she wanted, probably the only one in the vault too. Sure, he tried to act tough and hung out with Butch and all that, but it was pretty clear he had a nice, soft, gooey center that Natalie could toy with with ease. On top of that, he wasn't bad look at all either. She had been right with her assumptions and Freddie had soon been right in her pocket, so to speak.

Freddie tried to wrap an arm around her and Natalie quickly shrugged it off. They way he acted was cute, though annoying at times. He happily let her lead, though sometimes needed to be reminded of his place.

"Ugh... don't tell me you're going to go all emotional on me Freddie..." Natalie inhaled deeply, reliving the smell of the moment.

"Oh... uh... sorry. It's just... does this make us... you know... now?" Freddie was very apologetic, but his voice also contained a lot of hidden excitement that he was trying to suppress. He tried so hard to seem macho around others. It added to his charm, sometimes.

"We are NOT boyfriend and girlfriend." Natalie felt Freddie tense a bit. Even while asleep it was uncomfortable to be too hard on him. Sighing, she continued, "Don't worry, we have something special, if that's what you want. I picked you for a reason." Freddie laid his head down on her neck, breathing much easier now.

Natalie remembered this was also the first time she smoked. She'd red, and seen in videos, that sometimes people liked to light a cigarette after sex. Smoking was usually frowned upon in the vault, where the air was recycled and purified almost completely, but she'd managed to find some in storage after looking for a few days beforehand.

She glanced over to the nightstand. Sure enough, there was a pack, as well as a lighter. Lazily she reached over and lit up one up, bringing it to her lips and taking a big drag.

"Eww, you smoke! And we're in my room, they'll think I was doing it!" Freddie hadn't been too enthusiastic about the idea, but he got over it after a few times.

"Shut up. You should be happy just to be in bed with me. Besides, I'll change the filters tomorrow without telling anybody. No one will know." She had a soft spot for him, as much as she hated to admit it. While they never showed any "affection" towards each other in public, there were rumors that they had a thing for each other.

Natalie hated it when anyone hurt Freddie. She would make sure anyone that did would have a hard week. Even if there was no way they could connect the dots that they were being punished, it still felt good to see them squirm under her retaliatory efforts. The vast majority of the time it would just look like some random misfortune, a heating unit breaking for a few days, the door jamming and trapping someone in the restroom for an hour or two, that kinda thing. Natalie didn't need credit. She was just defending her territory, so to speak.

She continued puffing on the cigarette and Freddie quietly fell asleep behind her. Natalie didn't smoke often, probably once a month, but that was more then enough in the two year span since to get used to it. She remember when this actually happened the smoke had given her a coughing fit, triggering one of her headaches. It had been a really bad one, incapacitatingly so. She'd reluctantly let Freddie give her a massage and cuddle with her. No doubt he'd had fun, seeing it as "taking care of his lover when she was in need", or some kind of emotional drivel like that. Of course, thinking like that was somewhat hypocritical when she herself gave Freddie special treatment, but Natalie loathed showing weakness like that. She did not like being humbled.

Just recalling that particular headache brought one back to Natalie. _"Oh for crying out loud, can't I get any peace around here."_ She rolled onto her side more. If she positioned just right she could sometimes stop a headache before it began. Not this time, though, as the pain continued to grow, joined by a constant, buzzer like sound. At first Natalie almost thought it was the heart monitor, from earlier in the dream, but as it continued she could focus on it more clearly. _"Oh... damn... the alarm clock..."_

Natalie slowly opened her eyes. She was in her own bed, under the sheets, but in an awkward position as if she'd been tossing and turning pretty bad. Mumbling curses under her breath she reached up to slam the top of the alarm clock, taking a few tries to hit the correct button.

The headache was still present. Natalie rolled out of bed, taking only a moment to stretch before shambling over to the first aid kit on the wall. Being the doctor's kid, she had access to a lot of medicine. The vault didn't have any hard core recreational drugs or anything, but in addition to the normal stimpacks Natalie hid a few choice pills from her dad's office in the box. Right now all she cared about was her special prescription, heavy duty pain killers that specifically targeted migraines. She grabbed the bottle, quickly opening it and downing three pills with a dry swallow. The dose was technically two pills, but three wouldn't hurt. This felt like a big one anyway.

Know she'd have relief soon, Natalie walked into unit's small common area. She was scheduled to help in the medical wing replacing some parts on the x-ray machine today, so James said he'd be here with breakfast at the usual time her alarm went off. Strangely, he was nowhere to be seen. Natalie checked the clock again just to make sure he hadn't set it to another time as a prank. It wouldn't be the first time. All seemed as it should be, though, and there was no place to hide in the small apartment.

"_Oh well, guess I'll just get back to bed." _Natalie didn't have anything else on her schedule until after lunch, so she could afford to take a nap and let James wake her up when he got back from wherever he was. _"Weird that Dad's late... not like him at all... eh, maybe I'll have time to dream about something nice now, instead of that depressing monstrosity of a montage"._

Natalie didn't even bother to cover up, just flopping back down on top of the ruffled blankets. The medicine kicked in and soon she was drifting off again, this time with a smile on her face.


	2. Escape!

AN: While generally I go for realistic violence, at times the over-the-top action of Fallout will indeed be present. Just wouldn't be the same, eh? I know one part seems a little ridiculous, but it's based off my first ranged kill playing Fallout 3, so it was just too good to leave out.

Natalie's vision was fuzzy. She was on her back again and there were many bright lights. Slowly a figured leaned in. _"Mmmm, this seems pretty familiar. Guess I'm not too creative today." _This dream was much like her previous, but now Natalie was fully in control. Therefore, it was no surprise when the figure blurred into the form of Amata, and not some weird representation of her birth. Natalie noted with delight her friend was wearing nothing but a set of black, lacy lingerie. She was too transfixed by Amata's appearance to check to see what she was imagining herself wearing. The girl was too caught up in the overseer's "we must procreate to ensure the survival of the vault" crap to even consider doing something like this in real life.

Amata bent over the raven haired girl's smiling form, sensually moving her hands to Natalie's shoulders. However, instead of something predictable, such as a gentle pseudo-massage, Amata violently shook Natalie.

"Wake up! Come on, wake up!" Amata's voice was far off and muffled.

"Huh, wha..." Her mind was working slowly, but Natalie hadn't been fully asleep. Her eyes darted open, revealing that Amata really was standing over her, though dressed in a standard vault jumpsuit as usual.

"Come on, you have to get up, hurry!" Natalie could now hear yet another annoying buzzer over her friend's voice. She seemed to be hearing the entire range of alert noises this morning.

"Uhh... Amata... I was just dreaming about you." She yawned as her sleepy daze wore off.

"Eww, that's gross!" The connection to her earlier thoughts made Natalie snicker as her friend's face contorted into one of mild horror. "Ugh... we don't have time for this. Look, you have to get out of here." Amata's words didn't make much sense, thought Natalie figured she might just be slow after having woken up.

"What are you talking about. Get out of here? Why?" Natalie wasn't even sure what Amata had meant. Did Amata mean the apartment? There really wasn't any place to go in the vault if trouble was brewing, considering they were all in the vault in the first place because a disaster had happened on the outside.

"Your dad is missing! Gone! They killed Jonas while trying to find out why and how!" Finally Amata's words snapped Natalie fully alert, though the weight of this information was almost too much.

"Wait... WHAT!" She almost fell off the side of the bed while sitting up. "J... Jonas killed?" As the news sunk in her face curled into a snarl. Jonas had been a friend, if a distance one. He was her dad's best friend, at the very least. "Explain, now!"

"Uh... well, this morning, somehow your dad exited the vault. He had to have hacked the terminal or something, only my dad can open it... usually..." Amata sheepishly looked towards the door, realizing she really blindsided Natalie. "They questioned Jonas... Officer Mack got carried away... they just beat him and wouldn't stop! They'll be wanting to talk to you, they've already sent someone, but I got here first."

While Amata had glossed over some of the details, Natalie thought she understood now. A twinge of fear was building deep inside her. "So he left the vault... he actually left the vault... and your dad's gone berserk and I'm next, is that it?" She couldn't help but gulp at the gravity of the situation. "Are they... seriously going to try and get information out of me... I don't know anything!"

"You don't know anything? He didn't tell you he was going to leave? Oh... wow... I'm so sorry." Amata watched as Natalie's face fell a bit. For all her tough girl attitude was worth, she'd never actually had to deal with any REAL danger before.

"No... no he didn't. We don't have time for that now, though. I guess you better show me how he got out then. I... don't think I have any choice." Natalie wasn't one to scare easily, but the thought of leaving the vault, even if she dreamed of it frequently, was definitely something that made her pause. She knew that if vault security was after her she didn't have time to waste, though.

"Wait, take this!" Natalie had just been getting to her feet when Amata pushed something into her hands, something cold and metal. "I swiped this from one of the guards, may come in handy." It was a standard issue service pistol, a N99. Natalie had always wanted to get the chance to shoot one, being a step up from her BB gun. Her mood immediately brightened a notch or two.

"Wow! I've wanted one of these for, like ever!" She turned it over in her hands a few times as a wicked smile slowly crept onto her face. "This will definitely come in handy!" Her schoolgirl-like excitement approached disturbing levels.

"Hey now, I just gave that to you because I want you to stay safe. I don't think you should be too brazen with it." Amata started off in a very nervous tone, but ended up sounding a lot like a mother rebuking a child being unsafe with a new toy. "Just... be careful, okay. Here's some spare ammo." She pulled two reloads from her pockets and placed them on the bed. "I'm going to go ahead and try and reason with them, maybe distract them a bit. Head for my dad's office, there's a secret tunnel in there that will take you past most of the guards. I have no doubt you'll have no trouble getting in. I manage it all the time." She put some sarcasm into the last part of her explanation. Natalie couldn't help but smile. Even at a time like this, the two friends could still share their special brand of humor.

Both women sprang into action. Amata was out of the room in the blink of an eye, offering a final "Good luck!" as she dashed away. Natalie took a deep breath to compose her thoughts before moving over to the table she kept most of her items on, or at least those that would be useful if she was going to have to run for her life. Her mind went into overdrive as she began trying to figure out just exactly what she'd need.

The first object Natalie thought of actually wasn't that important anymore. Her BB gun was laid across the table with all her ammo nearby. _"Hmm, don't really need this now." _She glanced back at the bed and scooped up the extra ammo before she forgot. It really wasn't that much. _"Guess it wouldn't hurt to have a backup..."_ Fortunately the rifle, which now seemed very toy-like, had a shoulder strap so she could sling it over her back.

Propped up to her right was her baseball bat. Natalie wasn't really a fan, but the others who played always needed a few people to fill in and she was a good hitter and never let her mere lack of interest stop her from being competitive. _"Might have to get up close and personal... better take this too, just in case." _She grabbed it with her right hand as she tried find a way to holster the pistol effectively. _"Damn it, I need like another hand for all this."_ Eventually she settled on making sure the safety was on and sticking it partially in one pocket. Very unsafe, but Natalie didn't have any better options or the time to improvise a safer solution.

Weapons taken care of, all that was left to grab were the first aid supplies. Natalie almost didn't think of them before leaving, but remembering her earlier headache she realized it would be a good idea to at least take her prescription. She opened the box and took out that bottle first, shaking it to see how many pills she had left. _"Mostly full, I refilled this last week, didn't I?" _Natalie went to pocket the bottle, but then stopped when she saw just how many stimpacks she had stockpiles in the container. _"Damn, there has to be at least ten in here! If only I could take this whole box with me." _ If heading out on an adventure, forced or otherwise, she was going to need a way to carry a lot of stuff.

Carefully, almost sheepishly, Natalie slipped her hands behind the mounted box. She didn't know how well it was attached, but she wanted to at least try. Tugging with all her weight behind her didn't budge, so she awkwardly put a leg against the wall for leverage to try one last time. On a mental count of three Natalie lunged back again. Not expecting results, she was quite surprised when after a brief jolt she found herself sprawled backwards against the bed. She really didn't need to be spending time laying around like this, but the thought of being able to take the medicine and whatever else she could fit inside made up for it, in her mind, and brought a small smile to her face.

Standing up, Natalie realized she still needed a way to carry the box. She couldn't have her hands full and fight her way out at the same time. She looked around for something to use. In her tool box for work were some bungie cords, but those wouldn't work very good. There was nothing on the desk that would help either. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. The tab to aid in opening the container had a slit in it, just wide enough for a belt. Natalie opened up her dresser and frantically dug through it. Separate belts weren't common at all in the vault, as the vaultsuits fit like a glove, but maintenance workers sometimes needed them for a few purposes. She knew she had one, but it was probably under everything else.

Time felt like it was inching by, seconds seeming like hours. Natalie knew she didn't have much time left to get out of her room safely. Fortunately it only took a moment more to find the belt. She quickly gathered up all she'd selected to take with her as she threaded it through the container's tab. She left a lot of slack, it'd probably bang against her back, but that was better then restricting her movement in a fight.

Breathing a sigh of relief Natalie finally managed to make it out of her room. There was really only one way up from here, though she had the option to cut through the bathrooms as they had doors on either end. It wouldn't bypass much, though, and Natalie realized she'd be facing the majority of the security force no matter what she did. Maybe she could get around a few, though, by being as stealthy as possible.

Natalie pressed a button next to the bathroom door and the hatch came open with the usual mechanical sliding noise. The sound generally blended into the background vault noise, but it was just enough to alert a nearby security office officer who must have been checking the nearby entrance to the maintenance areas, where Natalie would usually be found at this time of day. She heard him yell something into his radio, so she was also alerted to his presence.

Spinning to face down the hall again, Natalie saw Officer Kendall with a baton drawn, a look of restrained anger on his face. He began to advance towards her, so so she held up the bat and waved

it as menacingly as she could. "Stay back and... I won't have to hurt you!" The situation had her wrong footed and Natalie's words sounded nervous even to herself. Officer Kendall kept moving in, though careful not to give her any openings.

Attacking vault security could put Natalie in an even worse position, so she quickly grabbed her pistol and aimed it at Kendall. She didn't intend to fire, only to scare him back, but unfortunately he assumed she was about to shoot. He dove forward, latching onto her arm in an attempt to wrestle the gun from her grasp and slamming Natalie into the wall hard.

Natalie was a strong woman, but Kendall was slowly winning the grapple. It was his job to overpower threats, after all. If she didn't want her escape to be but woefully short, Natalie was going to have to play dirty.

The slow progress of the fight gave Natalie time to plan her counterattack. She let Kendall gain ground on her, leaning back as if her strength was about to give out. However, she was also sliding her leg forward slowly at the same time. Kendall didn't notice, focusing on the deadly weapon they were struggling over. He didn't realize his mistake until Natalie's knee firmly connected with his groin. She had bypassed his frontal riot armor by coming directly up between his legs.

Officer Kendall instantly released Natalie and doubled over. "You bitch! You'll pay for that!" Adrenaline was flowing through his veins, allowing him to ignore his pain for a moment. He raised his baton swinging at Natalie's face.

Not having been stunned, like her foe, Natalie was able to react quicker. She tried to block with one hand. While getting hit would hurt either way, her hand was more expendable then her head. She also tried to fire before Kendall could start to get serious. After hearing what happened to Jonas she had doubted from the start that she would be treated well if she gave up, but now she expected to be roughed up by security just for fun if she lost or surrendered.

Natalie pulled the trigger right before the baton hit her hand. However, the gun did not respond as the hard plastic smashed into her tense grip. The sudden, sharp pain interrupted Natalie's recollection that she had never taken the safety off the weapon. Her arm did its best to not yield to the blow, with limited success, but that just made it all the more worse. She yelped loudly and jumped back, the gun falling from her hand and landing between them. Kendall flinched backwards as well, his face going white at how close he'd just come to being shot.

For a long, tense moment the two just stared at eachother. Natalie's eyes teared up briefly before her own adrenaline rush kicked in. A firm resolve came over her as she felt a surge of energy sweep through her. Blinking to clear her vision she looked Officer Kendall in the eyes. "Okay you fucker, YOU'RE going to pay for that".

Both combatants rushed forward at the same time, Kendall taking Natalie's strong declaration pushing him to action again. Natalie swung high, but Kendall went low. He slammed into her legs and flipped her up and over him. The girl went slightly airborne before landing on her back, but held on tightly to the bat, despite clunking her head hard enough to make her see stars.

Kendall's goal was to get the pistol before Natalie could again. He slid on his hands and knees over to it, but Natalie was not nearly as stunned as he had hoped. She spent this time getting back to her feet, and when he turned around to face her she was looming above him with an expression of pure rage.

"This if for Jonas!" She brought the bat down on his helmet hard, the dull thud echoing down the metal hallway. The bat creaked slightly from the force of the blow, but it was overshadowed by the action.

Kendall groaned loudly and listed to one side. His world was spinning. There was no way he could keep fighting like this, but Natalie was still enraged. She was bringing the bat around again as he looked up at her, about to beg for mercy.

"And this is for ME!" Her swing connected just under Kendall's chin, snapping him around like a rag doll. His form slumped lifelessly to the floor after doing a half-spin. The only sound now was the slow drone of the vault's alarm.

Natalie stood still to catch her breath. She couldn't take her eyes off Kendall. _"Did I... kill him?"_ She bent down, checking for a pulse but not finding one. Gently lifting his head revealed it moved a lot easier then it should. His neck was definitely snapped. Natalie guessed she might have knocked him out with the blow, though, as she thought she had heard her dad tell her once that snapping a neck was not an instant kill. Would probably have been less painful, or at least less panic inducing, if he had been unconscious before dying too.

The confirmation only pushed Natalie into a minor state of shock. She had not problems with having killed Kendall, far from it. Still, she'd never actually seriously hurt someone before. She could be down right nasty, but all her transgressions had been petty things, really. She had just taken a big step up, and not necessarily in a good way.

A quiet skittering sound snapped Natalie back to reality. Down the hall were three radroaches scurrying towards her. _"Huh, how did they get in here..." _The little creatures were only dangerous in large numbers. Natalie could take on three of them with little trouble, most likely, but was in no mood for her usual joyous bug crushing. Retrieving the gun, she sighed and slipped into the restroom as she'd originally planned, leaving Kendall's body to be picked apart by the hungry insects. There would be time to brood later.

Natalie ran to the far door, really feeling the lost time from the fight and gathering her gear. The fight probably hadn't taken as long as it felt like it had, but Natalie was still surprised no other guards had come upon their little scuffle. She quickly opened the door, popped her head out to make sure the coast was clear, then dart into the other sex's restroom.

Dashing to the next door yielded a surprise, though. Directly to Natalie's left were the stairs going up a level, where the medical and education wings were. However, to her right was the apartment unit belonging to Butch and his mother. The punk could be heard screaming inside amongst the frenzied radroaches. Natalie had no idea what was going on in there, but the thought of Butch freaking out so dramatically couldn't help but raise her spirits a bit, even after what she just did. She couldn't afford to stop and gloat over his loss of of his tough guy attitude, though, so Natalie continued up the stairs.

The path on the next level was just a straight shot, hardly taking any time at all. Andy and Officer Gomez had been hosing down some radroaches with the robot's flamethrower down one of the halls, but Natalie snuck past unnoticed. She liked Freddie's dad. He was a lot more respectable then most of the security force, in her opinion at least. If there was one guy who would stop to listen to her side of the story, it was him, but Natalie wasn't willing to take any chances.

These stairs led to the atrium. Two people were conversing a short ways away from the exit, despite the vault seeming to be locked down. Natalie hung back in the shadows along the walls.

"He made it out, he really did. We could be next! Security wouldn't really shoot us, would they?" The voice was that of Tom Holden. The other person was confirmed to be his wife, Mary, a second later.

"I don't know Tom, I think we should just go back to our rooms and let this whole thing blow over." She was tense, but Tom almost sounded angry.

"No! We don't have to take this any more. James escaped and so can we!" Without giving Mary a chance to reply he ran for the hallway that led up to the vault's exit, the way that Natalie was specifically trying to avoid because it would be heavily guarded.

Tom called out to the guards to let him pass, but the jumpy officers took his speed and erratic gestures as a sign of attack and opened fire. Natalie couldn't see what happened, but she heard several shots, at least five, followed by a dull thud of a body hitting the floor. Mary screamed and ran to presumably cradle her dying husband in her arms, but the guards fired again. She didn't even make it to the doorway like Tom had.

Natalie almost froze. She didn't think Kendall had even been armed with a pistol, but now security was shooting vault citizens who weren't even remotely connected to James' escape, without warning! Her survival instinct was in full gear, though, and she knew she had to move fast. Quietly sliding along the wall, Natalie found that the door to the upper level access stairs on this side of the atrium was sealed and locked. Forcing it open was unfortunately beyond her skill or strength.

Footsteps made her turn around. One of the shooters was coming to investigate the two bodies. Natalie saw now that there was a massive pool of blood, big enough to encircle both bodies. It was hard to look away, but imminent danger was a great motivation.

Straight across from her was the other passage leading up. The door was wedged open by a locker someone had jammed in. Hope tingled in Natalie's gut. If it had been locked as well her chances of escape were basically zero. However, she couldn't just dart across and run up or the two goons down here would see her and give chase. Definitely not a good position to be in, as no doubt the overseer had guards up top too. Getting surrounded went against all common sense.

Bracing herself to the side of the door, Natalie decided her only chance was to catch at least one of these two, preferably both, off guard. She flicked the safety off on the pistol so she wouldn't have a repeat of last time. She aimed across the room at head level, finger tensing on the trigger. The first person to walk through the door would have an earfull of lead before they even knew what hit them. After shooting Tom and Mary like that, Natalie didn't really think sinking to their level would be inappropriate.

She assumed a firing stance just in time. The officer that stepped through the door was still transfixed by the sight, perhaps having similar thoughts to those that Natalie had just experienced. Death was sudden as two bullets flew through his brain. The riot armor helmets just weren't designed with the expectation of facing other people with firearms. The man's body was already slumping to the ground as the bullets shattered against the far wall.

"Oh shit!" The other officer had stayed down the hall to cover the first. The door at the far end could be heard to open followed by frantic footsteps and the door closing again. Natalie dared to peek around the corner and found that the man had fled. Probably a good decision on his part, unless he happened to have a grenade.

Natalie wasted no time in ducking under the partially closed door and heading to the upper level. Most of the doors here were under lockdown as well, but the door the administration wing was suspiciously open. She approached cautiously, wary of an ambush like she had just set.

Stopping just short, Natalie tossed the bat through the door and into the main computer banks to see if there was anyone waiting on the other side. It clattered loudly on the metal, but there was no immediate reaction. Natalie quickly slid in and scooped it up, only then hearing a conversation.

"I told you, I just heard something!" Whoever it was sounded very irate.

"Well, if you're so sure then, why don't you go check it out. Officer Mack and I can handle this without you Chief." The second person was the Overseer, as condescending as ever. The first man just grumbled and stomped in her direction.

Natalie hid in the dark corners of the computer room, working her way towards the far end as the vault security chief emerged. He looked around, but didn't see her, so proceeded to slowly walk down the length of the room, peering into the darkness occasionally.

As soon as he was at the far door and about to turn back, Natalie darted out and slammed the panic button to lockdown the room. As a maintenance worker she knew that every door in the admin section had them on the side closer to the Overseer's office. Only pressing the same button would unlock it, or the master board at the very heart of the section could do it. This was a quick and easy way to take care of one problem, with the added bonus of not alerting the others with sounds of a fight.

Sticking to the wall, as had served her well, Natalie made her way towards the Overseer's office. Up ahead were some rooms with windows, so she ducked down to go under them in the event someone was on the other side. It was then she heard the Overseer again, muffled on the other side of the wall.

"I don't know why you insist on playing these silly games Amata. We only want to help your friend, you know tha..."

"How can you say that! You killed Jonas! I'm not telling you anything!" The Overseer sighed heavily at Amata's anguished declaration.

Natalie risked popping her head up to look. The Overseer and another guard were standing with their back to her while Amata was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room. She was very distressed, holding on tightly and almost flinching back, but didn't appear to be injured. She was too focused on the menacing men to notice her friend spying on them.

"I urge you to cooperate Amata. It's for your own good. We don't want to have to use force if we don't have to." The Overseer glanced at the security officer who moved closer to Amata, as if using his presence as a threat.

"Go to hell!" Amata's eyes glared daggers back.

"Very well, you were warned..." He took a step back and the officer moved in, cracking his knuckles. The man wore a broad smirk, like he was going to enjoy what was to come.

Rage found Natalie again. She couldn't believe the Overseer would let this happen to his own daughter, let alone condone it. Readying the gun once more she ducked down and slid to the door, pressing the release button. She would not allow them to get away with this.

The two men turned to look when the door opened, but there was nothing they could do. Natalie already had the Overseer's head in her sights. She pulled the trigger three times as the man opened his mouth to speak. Three hot pieces of lead struck him in a line across his neck. Natalie wasn't used to the weapon, but these shots were more devastating then the three headshots she'd planned, actually. Somehow his head came clean off, flew through the air, and landed in Amata's lap.

The girl reacted to her father's dead stare at the same time Natalie was bringing the gun around to shoot the other man. He was in shock from the sudden, brutal violence, surprisingly, and even Amata's scream did not snap him out of it. He couldn't have reacted in time anyway. Two bullets struck between his eyes just as he was about to scream himself. Natalie watched the blood and grey matter splatter across the wall. She didn't dwell long, though, as she knew these people deserved it. Amata needed tending to, and that was a more pressing concern.

Amata's scream quickly faded. Natalie got up and walked over, but the girl was most definitely not alright. Her breathing was heavy and labored, almost to the level of hyperventilation. Her father's blood was soaking her clothing, draining from his severed head. She could not take her eyes off of his.

"Amata, are you okay?" Natalie put a hand on her friends shoulder, which brought her out of her trance. Her reaction was not what Natalie had been expecting, though.

"Don't touch me! You... you killed my father! Why! He could have been reasoned with, you didn't have to kill him!" Then the tears started to flow freely. She brought her hands up to cover her face.

"He was going to hurt you, I had to stop him. I was just trying to help." Natalie immediately backed off. She really hadn't thought her action through to the end. It greatly pained her that she hurt Amata.

"Help... HELP! You call this help! Just leave me alone, murderer!" She got up and pushed past her former friend, running down the hall. Her sobs echoed loudly long after she rounded a corner and was out of sight.

The emotional weight of the consequences hit Natalie like a sledgehammer. She wanted to give up right then and there, but now she'd killed four people. Even if it was mostly self defense, as Amata just demonstrated, she wasn't going to be welcome here anymore no matter how she spun the story. Leaving the vault was still the best course of action.

She exited the room quickly. Natalie wasn't squeamish, or even really remorseful, but thinking about the trauma she caused Amata was just too much. She didn't even bother to search the lockers. No doubt she could have used the weapons, ammo, and other supplies from the security office, or have found something useful on the Overseer's body, but the sooner she was out of the vault, the better.

The operations room was just a few doors down. It was oddly empty. Usually there would be at least a few people on duty. Natalie tried to think of a reason why, but wound up almost stepping on the answer, Jonas' body.

"_What the hell? They just left his body here, in a pool of blood, for the whole world to see!"_ Anger was bubbling up again, but her mood was too subdued to get truly worked up. The body reminded her of something she could have said to Amata, but it probably would have just made the girl more upset. Natalie was not one to call the world a fair place. Her favorite word to describe it was generally "hellhole", but right now it she was hating it more usual.

Natalie trudged to the Overseer's office door. It was locked, but the last door with extra security features was the one to the operations room. She could unlock this one with a simple bobby pin, a skill many youngsters learned in the vault. It was a simple matter, and within half a minute Natalie was in.

The office was rather spartan. The only decoration, besides the stock wall coverings, was a picture of Amata on the desk. Natalie sat down at the nearby terminal, only to find the system password protected. Not surprising, but she was hardly in the mood to focus and hack login, another skill she had picked up over the years. She stared blankly at the empty field as the computer waited for input.

Perhaps her adrenaline rush was fading, but the sense of urgency was slipping away. Propping her head on one arm, Natalie idlely looked around the room. The small window showed that there wasn't anyone coming up after her, yet, so she felt slightly vindicated in taking a small breather. She supposed she could lock everyone out of administration from here anyway, and could take as long as she liked.

Her eyes fell upon the picture again. It was old, probably from around ten years ago, but Amata's features were pretty recognizable even then. Natalie let a sad smile creep onto her face, realizing how good she used to have it. Never again would things be like that.

On a whim, she typed Amata's name into the password field. She'd once read something about loved ones' names being the most commonly used password besides 'password'. She couldn't help but wonder if the Overseer really loved Amata, but it was worth a shot.

The terminal pinged with the sound it made for accepted commands. The screen blanked, then returned with a list of options. Most were about regulations, operations, records, or some combination thereof. The last option, however, read 'Open Tunnel'. Natalie let out a small laugh and clicked it. That had been easier then she expected.

The desk suddenly started shaking. Natalie rolled the chair back quickly, afraid she might get caught in some moving piece of the secret tunnel. The desk lifted and revealed a set of stairs going down.

Heading down, Natalie found a maintenance tunnel inhabited by a few radroaches. Unlike before, she smashed them under her boots. Killing the insects was great, quick stress relief, though she was sure she'd have even more stress by the end of the day.

The tunnel ended in solid wall, though it was obviously another secret door. A release button on a mounted control slid the wall down into the floor. Beyond was a medium sized chamber Natalie had never seen before.

The first thing she noticed upon stepping through was the large machine hanging in the center. She couldn't figure out its purpose until she looked to what was on the left wall, a large, gear shaped hatch. _"I've found the exit! Now, how do I open it?"_

Continuing into the center of the room Natalie found a small platform which looked to be connected to the machine overhead. It had many knobs and buttons, but the one thing that stood out was the large slide lever. Natalie tried that first, pulling it down despite a lot of resistance from the rusted metal.

Klaxons sounded and orange warning lights on the wall spun as the machine whirled to life. Behind her Natalie heard pounding on the normal access door along with muffled shouts. More security officers, but fortunately it seemed like they couldn't get through.

Clamps extended and latched onto the massive door. The sound of metal scraping against metal filled the room as the hatch was pulled back and rolled to the side. Natalie watched with so much anticipation she did not notice Amata had followed her through the tunnel.

"So you got it open. Good, this is no place for you now." She wasn't audibly crying anymore, but her eyes were still watery with tears.

"Amata... I'm sorry." Natalie wanted to reach out and hug the girl, but no doubt she'd just be rejected.

"Yeah, well, maybe next time you should think before you go shooting someone!" Amata had to pause to sniffle. "There will be a next time, though. I'm going to distract the guards so you can escape. Despite what you've done, I don't want to see you killed as well. I enjoyed our years of friendship, it's the least I can do, even if I can never forgive you. Goodbye Natalie." She extended an arm towards the fully opened door.

"Goodbye Amata, I'll miss you." Natalie shed a tear of her own and turned back towards the opening. Sucking in a deep breath, she marched down the steps, pausing to look over her shoulder at the exit. Amata was standing facing away, between her and the other door, which sounded like it was being forcefully removed from its hinges. More tears streamed down Natalie's face as she moved outside the vault for the first time.

She was in a small cave, only about 50 meters long. The mouth was narrow, with a fence spanning it. Light shone through the cracks. Not just any light, but real sunlight. It was the brightest thing she'd ever seen, and even at this distance she had to shield her eyes with one hand.

Natalie pressed on, only looking back again when she heard the warning klaxon start again. They were sealing the vault again behind her. She watched as the gearlike door rolled back into place, then slid forward to forever bar her from returning. She had no past to go back to, only a future beyond this cave. Wiping her tears away, Natalie swung the gate open and stepped out into the Capital Wasteland to face uncertainty.


	3. Welcome to Civilization

AN: Of course I'm not going to mention searching every little thing, as most of us do when playing, but here in the beginning I may lampshade it a bit, such as how Springvale (or is it Springdale) seems to always hold some awesome items, suspiciously. Also as you may have noticed, I've taken liberties with dialogue, but pay homage on a regular basis.

Outside was even brighter then the white flashes in her dream this morning. Natalie shielded her eyes as she stumbled out away from the cave. She couldn't see where she was going and bumped into what felt like a large rock. Leaning up against it was as good a place as any to wait for her eyes to adjust. It was also a good chance to catch her breath and let the high of combat fully leave her body.

While it didn't take long for Natalie to regain enough sight to be functional, only about thirty seconds, it seemed like a painful eternity. She looked down to avoid the worst of the sun's wrath. She kicked the ground and watched the loose, brown dirt fly up. For someone who'd spent her entire life in a vault, even something as mundane as a nonmetal surface under ones feet brought interest.

Looking up after the brief rest, the next thing Natalie saw as a small blue sign with the words 'Scenic Overlook' and and arrow pointing ahead. Even in the post-apocalyptic wasteland, the view was still breathtaking. She was standing on a small cliff that she fortunately hadn't wandered off the edge of while blind. Below and in front of her were the ruins of a small, pre-war town. Definitely not what the sign was referring to, but stunning nonetheless.

Her gaze ventured further up as the light became less of a nuisance. The wreckage of DC still formed a skyline, much as it must have two hundred years ago. Natalie had seen pictures from before the war, and one thing stuck out as recognizable, the Washington Monument.

Something closer caught her eye, though. On the other side of the village was a small ridge. To her right a bit was a big mass of twisted, black metals. Unlike debris, it looked deliberately constructed as it was.

As Natalie looked at the strange formation she realized she had no plan now that she was outside. This was an unfamiliar world that she knew nothing about. The thought made her feel exposed all of a sudden, drawing an involuntary shiver despite the heat. Here she was, alone, with only the things she took with her out of the vault, no food or water, and no idea where to go. The only thing Natalie felt she could safely say was that more places then not wouldn't be a safe place to stay.

Lacking a better option, and wanting to put some distance between her and the vault, Natalie carefully climbed down from the rocky ledge. There was a road, or what was left of one, at the bottom leading into the town. She found it odd there was so much loose junk around, or that so much was actually still standing after the bombs fell. The creepy atmosphere was not helping her sudden vulnerability.

She approached the edge of town carefully, skirting around as close to the hill as she could on the off chance there was someone else out here watching that she hadn't seen. There was little cover, but it was better then the open wasteland. Natalie highly doubted she'd find anything useful in the ruins, at least from before the war, but maybe some of the surface dwellers hid valuable items here. Perhaps backed more by naivety and misguided hopefulness, but digging through the remnants of the town would would at least keep her mind occupied until she could figure out what to do next.

There was a mailbox on the edge of town, only a few footsteps away, as good a place to start as any. Natalie cautiously checked the front, but didn't expect to find anything. When a few grenades rolled out into her palm it was quite the shock. She jumped back and dropped the explosives. They obviously weren't about to explode, but the last thing she had expected were real grenades. With embarrassment Natalie picked them back up. They wouldn't fit in her makeshift carrying case, so she awkwardly stuffed them into her pockets. Finding a proper backpack was definitely high on her to do list.

Encouraged by her find, Natalie scanned the nearby buildings for anything that stuck out. She thought she saw something shiny a little ways ahead, but when she moved up there was another, less pleasant surprise. There was indeed an interesting object, but instead of a brief glance of a safe in the rubble, what Natalie had actually seen some kind of tiny, floating robot.

The houses, while barely standing, provided some visual cover to hide behind. Either it worked on the robot or it wasn't hostile. It continued to fly in a roundabout path in the village center. Natalie risked getting closer. The robot didn't appear to have any weapons mounted on it, at least as far as she could tell, so the risk seemed minimal.

As she got closer she couldn't believe her ears. Music, just like that on some of the old historical reels she'd seen in class was being played. It was almost disarming, but Natalie didn't trust it just yet. After the song ended a man's voice came on, with a slight accent she'd never heard outside of a few of the Westerns the vault had in the entertainment library.

"Hello America, this is your President, John Henry Eden. I believe it is time we had a talk, you and I. The issue at hand is, well, my presidency. The question has been raised as to how exactly I was elected to this illustrious office, and if I will indeed step down at the end of my term..." The speech went on, but Natalie quickly tuned it out. Authority still existed out here in the wastes, or so it seemed. That meant there would be safe havens. While she wasn't eager to chafe up against the establishment again, she needed a place to get on her feet first and foremost.

Finally deeming the robot a non-threat, Natalie stepped out to take a closer look. It looked a lot like a floating eye, with many little antennas, probably for that radio it had. She couldn't see how it was staying afloat, so she stayed back a respectful distance just in case. She'd love to get her hands on it more closely an examine the technology, the first real thought of something other then survival for over an hour. The bot finished the tail end of the speech and started another patriotic song. Natalie lost interest. Shooting the thing down would probably have consequences she was in no position to deal with when it went missing.

From her new vantage point on the crossroads she could survey for loot much easier, but something else caught her eye instead. On the far side of town was a fresh sign made out of scrap metal. It read 'Megaton', with an arrow pointing off towards that heap she'd seen from the vault exit, a post-war construction without a doubt. Signs were literally and figuratively pointing out that civilization still existed in some form.

While she wasn't in the best of moods to see other humans again, Natalie knew shelter should be her top priority. She couldn't help but smile at her good fortune as she followed the rough path. Looting, which is what it was instead of scavenging if people seriously claimed these stashes, could wait until she herself had a place to come back to herself.

The path wound around, but from the start the massive, black top of what looked to be some kind of gate could be seen over the tops of hills or other obstacles that blocked line of sight. Natalie kept her eyes on it, neglecting her guard, and thus tripped over the corpse of a giant ant. She mostly caught herself, but her legs pressed into the dead creature, coating them in goo. It wasn't a fresh corpse, though not too rotten. The insect's body burst and broke in places from the weight, further dirtying the unwary girl.

Panic quickly took hold, but then faded as Natalie realized she wasn't being attacked. She was only a victim of her own carelessness. The part squishy, part slimy sensation as the gunk soaked through her vaultsuit caused her to shudder as she rolled off the corpse. A few swipes at her clothes only made her hands sticky as the ant guts soaked in, drawing a sharp curse.

While waiting for her heart rate to slow to normal, Natalie looked over what was left of the ant. She knew what they were from her classes in the vault, but she was pretty sure they weren't supposed to be anywhere near this size. The radiation must have made mutants. She leaned over to see if she could find what had killed the ant, but if there had been any marks left her fall had erased them. Either way, it was a nice reminder not to get too complacent. She hadn't even had her first taste of wasteland danger yet.

Natalie kicked the ant as she got up and passed it. Looking back to the gate she spotted catwalk with a sniper on it. There was a man, probably five years her senior, watching her with a pair of binoculars. She tensed up, her mind now ready for danger again, but he put them down and waved her on when he noticed her looking.

"Come on, you can wash that off in here!" He was holding back his laughter, causing Natalie to blush furious red. He must have seen what had happened.

Walking briskly, she tried to hide her embarrassment, but her stiff posture radiated her emotions all too well. She was stopped at the gate by another robot, this one more humanoid, though it was a stretch.

"Welcome to Megaton. We hope you enjoy your stay." Its voice was cold and monotone, with the pauses between words a little too long. Not at all like the familiar Andy back in the Vault. She must have been staring too long, as the sniper spoke again.

"Don't mind him, he's just the town greeter." This time the man did chuckle. "You aren't the first newbie to stare like a tribal."

Natalie scowled. She supposed the man trying to be friendly, but with the day she'd had it was only digging deeper under her skin. With a huff she pushed past the robot and up to the metal gate. She saw no way to open it, but in short order it slid open accompanied by a short electronic buzzer. As soon as she stepped through the buzzer sounded again and the gate slid closed.

Inside Natalie found a good sized town, or at least she assumed it was large for the wasteland. She really didn't have any frame of reference. The ground in front of her sloped down dramatically. The town was built in layers on the hill, or more accurately, crater. There was so much, even at only eye level, that Natalie had to give up in the end. Dead ahead was a multistory building that looked precariously perched.

Her eyes trailed down and inadvertently found the town's centerpiece. A very large bomb sat at the bottom of the crater in a trickle of water. A few people were gathered around it, generally at a good distance, though one man seemed to be bowing down to the bomb while standing knee deep in the water. All around the sounds of hustle and bustle filled the air to complete the picture.

Natalie wasn't totally awed by the sight. Seeing so many new things was starting to take its toll on her. Instead, her thoughts turned to more practical matters, such as self-criticism. From outside she hadn't been able to really see what she was getting into. A bad, potentially unsafe practice, but the invitation was warm enough. She made a mental note to be more careful next time, as this could have easily been a trap. Trickery was a game she knew well. Sooner or later she would encounter a like-minded individual. Still, it felt good to relax a bit, after a stressful morning. This place was better then she could have hoped for.

Natalie's private thoughts were interrupted by a dark skinned man in a cowboy hat. His demeanor was cool, but he had a mean looking assault rifle slung across his back. He came up level with Natalie, nodding before greeting here.

"Well I'll be damned, another newcomer. Welcome to Megaton. The name's Lucas Simms. Nice outfit, haven't seen one of those in ages." Simms gave her a quick but thorough threat assessment. Unfortunately, now that she was winding down, Natalie's sarcastic conversational tone was back, provoked a bit by being looked over like so.

"Yeah, and nice hat there Calamity Jane. Get that out of the bargain bin?." She'd been a fan of westerns, for the gunfights, but an old insult she used against Butch cropped up again for some reason. A broad, almost goofy grin spread across her face. Banter such as this brought back good memories.

"So, that's how it's going to be." Simms watched as Natalie got a needed reality check. This man was friendly, but not to be trifled with. "Look, you're new here, so I'll give you a break. Don't cause trouble and you won't get trouble, understood?".

"Yes, understood." Natalie eyed the gun on the man's back. Only someone with a lot of power would wear a gun like that so openly in a place such as this. "Sorry..." Just like the story of her life, up until today. Cause trouble, offend someone, give a halfhearted apology, then rinse and repeat. He hadn't done anything to deserve her being snippy, either, so she really shouldn't antagonize him.

"Good, don't let it happen again." He walked off, as calm as ever, leaving the girl alone at the gate again. She thought she heard him sniff a bit, as if catching a whiff on the ant guts still covering her lower body.

An awkward silence hung like a bad aura around the top of the crater, as much as it could with only one person standing there. Natalie stayed put for a long moment, unsure of what to do. Only her father had so efficiently stopped her in her tracks before. A real bummer, right when she was getting in a good mood again.

Brooding alone was just wasting time right now. She'd rather be in some place nice and cozy to reflect then rubbernecking like an idiot where all could see. It was time to explore. There were many things she needed and probably not many ways she could pay for or otherwise obtain them. If all else failed, perhaps she could clean up a little bit in the puddle at the bottom, though her clothes were probably a total write off.

Natalie went slow so she could take in all the details she could. She passed a medic's shack of some sort, as well as a strange, two headed cow creature. She almost stopped to stare at that, but was adjusting faster now.

Approaching the bomb, Natalie stopped to lean against a pole at what seemed to be a bar. The man standing in the water was very animated, waving his arms and repeatedly bowing or kneeling in front of the bomb. He was giving some kind of a sermon. The others gathered around seemed to be watching more for entertainment then for any spiritual reason.

"Crazy, but harmless, eh." The bartender, a young woman in a dirty yellow jumpsuit, also had a front row seat. She must have been inside the shack earlier, as she'd hadn't been noticed. Her sudden appearance was enough to spook the recent arrival. "You new in town? Don't recognize you, or your clothing. The name's Jenny by the way."

"Uh, yeah. I'm Natalie." The woman's outgoing nature had caught Natalie off guard. She'd not met someone new in a very long time now, besides Simms, and it would be best to actually start out on the right foot with someone around here, though smalltalk was a long forgotten skill by this point. "I... came from a vault nearby."

"Oh, we don't get many of you folks. Staying long?" Though Jenny was bright and cheery, her voice sounded a bit forced. Every weary traveler who passed by probably got the same sales pitch.

"I don't know, maybe." Natalie looked over what Jenny had out at the bar. She would need food soon, and Jenny seemed pretty eager to sell, but she had no money, or whatever the people out here used. Stealing would be an acceptable option, but the bar didn't have much food out in the open. Aside from the lone patron's drink and a fridge, there wasn't anything else outside. The fridge even had a lock on it. Stealing from inside would be tricky if Jenny was out here keeping watch, too, so Natalie would most likely have to find food elsewhere.

"Would you like to order anything? We've got quite the selection." The bartender sounded slightly annoyed.

"Maybe later. I'm still getting my bearings here." Natalie pushed off the pole and walked on, getting the feeling Jenny didn't appreciate a non-customer hanging around that closely.

As she walked on Natalie took her attention from the people on the ground the unbalanced looking building above the bomb. On the side were the words "The Church of the Children of Atom", confirming that the bomb was some sort of religious icon in this town, for some people, if not all.

The path sloped up again, with a metal ramp on one side. She'd noticed a few of the catwalks before, but decided to go up now for a better view of the whole town. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the town was constructed from the same, nondescript metal fragments. Scouting would be more a game of sign spotting then looking for anything interesting.

Natalie passed an armory, locked up tight, on the way up. It was perhaps the best constructed building she'd seen so far. The residents were no slouches when it came to guarding their weapons. She didn't even bother looking closer and just followed the ramp on farther.

The view from the top was still rather impressive, and vertigo inducing. In the vault the highest point, relatively speaking, was the balcony overlooking the atrium. As a result, Natalie was unused to being high up. The railing didn't look safe at all so she kept to the middle of the thankfully wide walkway. Locals laughed at her as she awkwardly maneuvered her way around the catwalks, drawing many annoyed scowls from the girl.

Minor discomfort was well worth getting higher up, though, as from here Natalie could see the entire layout of Megaton. The crater did make a nice rim for the townsfolk to build around, though the tiers were a bit sloppy. Some catwalks were actually integrated into the roofs of a building.

Only one location stood out that she hadn't already seen, a building with a barrel shaped upper story and a sign that read "Craterside Supply". The town's general store most likely, so a place she'd want to check soon.

The only place Natalie hadn't really surveyed by now was the building that was on the nearest section of the crater edge. A large sign proudly proclaimed it to be "Moriarty's Saloon". It was probably a rougher place then the other, friendly bar. This was the type of place the lowlifes would be attracted to. Natalie didn't like to associate with those types of people, but they were also the kind to engage in some shady, back room dealings. She didn't exactly have experience with intrigue, but she wasn't above it by any means.

Her stomach rumbled loudly, empty because she hadn't eaten any breakfast. Sighing, Natalie decided to try her luck now. She took a deep breath and put on her best poker face as possible. Appearing vulnerable would just encourage any scum she found inside, but maybe she could charm someone into paying her bill, on her terms. It would be better then just skipping on her tab and making more enemies no sooner then she'd arrived.

The interior was dark and smelled a bit raunchy, just as expected. There were was quite the crowd inside for this time of day, too. Two small tables were occupied, though by one person each, and a seat at the bar was taken. A sexy looking redhead caught Natalie's eye, but her clothes were a dead giveaway for just how seedy this bar was. There were a lot of things she'd do to get ahead, but sinking to that level wasn't one of them.

As she took a seat the saloon's bartender came out from the back room. If Natalie had already had a drink she might have spit it out all over the counter. The man's face looked like it had been melted off and then reconstructed with cheep plastic, covering only the vital parts and leaving bare muscle exposed. The rest of his body didn't look much better. She couldn't imagine how someone could survive whatever caused such deformation.

"What can I get you?" His voice was just as nasty as his appearance. An angry frown slowly formed on his face as his customer cringed in disgust. "What, you never seen a ghoul before?"

"No! Jeeze, what happened to you?" Natalie's calm facade wasn't as strong as she hoped. The recent trauma was taxing her already normally lacking tactfulness.

"None of your damn business smoothskin! You going to order something or not?" Before the girl could respond, though, another, strangely accented voice joined the conversation.

"Gob! Are you causing trouble again out there? Am I going to have to teach you a lesson again?" A middle aged man burst out of the back room. His fists were balled, but his angry expression softened upon seeing who was seated at the bar. "Why... I know you! You're the little girl, all grown up now! How are ya lass?"

Natalie was still sneering slightly. For some reason she wasn't comforted by this strange man knowing her, quite the opposite in fact. "Who the hell are you? Have we met?"

"Ah, quite the mouth on you, eh?" A hardy chuckle filled the saloon. "I'm Colin Moriarty, owner of this fine establishment, at your service. And yes, we've met before, way back when you were but a wee lass,your dad brought you through here." He was smiling, but had a very smug quality to his expressions.

"What do you mean... I was born in a vault... I've always lived there..." She gestured to her vaultsuit as evidence. "That's an utter load of-"

"Whoa there, no need to get upset. They teach ya crazy things in those vaults. I assure you, I know your daddy. He was in here not long ago, actually." Moriarty raised his eyebrows as Natalie's seething rage turned into another creature entirely.

"Wait... he was just in here? Where did he go? I need to find him!" She hadn't even thought of seeing her dad ever again. She'd had no leads as to where he was going. Going after him had never seemed remotely possible. The silent acceptance was now broken in a big way.

"You mean you aren't out here with him? Hmm, that's odd. I know you meant the world to him." The gears were turning inside his head, but not quick enough for the impatient girl. He wasn't intimidated by her low growl, but had a better idea than to antagonize her. "Look. I know where he went, but I can't just tell ya. You see, out here, information is a commodity, just like food and drink, so you're going to have to do me a favor if you want me to tell you."

"You mean I have to work for something a simple as knowing where my father went? You can't be serious!" She had the distinct feeling that Moriarty was trying to take advantage of her, rightly so, but did not have a clue as how to worm the information out of him, especially as he was the one holding all the cards in this situation.

"I am. You're new here, not your fault for not understanding commerce. I'd ask for caps, but I'm betting you don't have any fresh out of a vault. You probably weren't even planning on paying me for your food, either. I know another crafty one when I see em". Moriarty let his words sink in before continuing. "So here's the deal. There's this junkie out on the edge of town named Silver. She owes me caps. You go get em for me and I'll take that as payment. Then, you can be on your merry way after dear old dad. I'll even throw in free food and drink cause I like ya."

The offer was tempting, very temping. Natalie didn't like doing this man's dirty work, but it really was a simple task for a deal that favored her. Better then some alternatives, she thought, as the imagine of the prostitute reentered her mind. "Fine, I'll do it."

"Excellent! I don't care what happens to Silver, all I want is my caps." With a snap of his fingers he ordered Gob to slide down a Nuka-Cola. The ghoul was still sulking nearby. He was still angry, but complied.

The owner and bartender left Natalie to her drink. It was warm, unlike in the vault, but in her state she didn't care. After the confrontation she kept her head down. She could finally think about what had happened to her, and finding her dad, but she was in public. She couldn't show weakness here, especially after that outburst. Fortunately, caffeine always lifted her mood. She'd think about her problems tonight, after making sleeping arrangements.

Natalie ordered another Nuka-Cola from Gob, for the road, and was turning to leave when a man at a corner table waved her over. He was better dressed then anyone in the bar by a wide margin, even if his suit was a bit dirty in places. He had on tinted glasses and a businesslike hat. This didn't mean he was any less dangerous then the other patrons, though. If anything, he was probably the most dangerous of them all.

She slid into the seat across from him anyway. There wouldn't be any harm in seeing what he wanted. The man wasted no time, smiling with a more sophisticated smugness then Moriarty had.

"Why hello there. You're not from around here, are you... and thus not involved with any of these... people." He waved his hand dismissively at the rest of the customers. He was also creepily enthusiastic about meeting her, for some reason, setting off warning bells in Natalie's head.

"What do you want? Just to be graced with my presence or something?" Taking a hardline approach with him would probably work better then it had with the owner.

"Oh, forgive me. Where are my manners. I'm afraid I overheard your argument, but I believe I have a proposal you may wish to hear. I'm Mr. Burke, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. And you are?" He extended a handshake which she reluctantly took.

"Natalie. What kind of deal?" She did her best to keep her face blank of emotion. At this stage she knew she should be interested in perusing anything that might benefit her.

"You seem to be in desperate need of caps. You also seem to be having difficulties with the locals..." The words rolled off his lips almost painfully slow.

"If you've got a point to make, make it." Natalie maintained her expression perfectly for a change.

Mr. Burke leaned in closer and kept his voice down. "Very well. The bomb in the center of town is still very much active. I want you to rig it to explode for me. I have this device here that can start a chain reaction, but I unfortunately have no expertise in explosives. I have a feeling you are quite handy with machines, though, and as such could complete this task for me. You will be paid handsomely, of course."

Natalie froze in her chair. He wanted her to murder the entire town. She was cold, but not that cold. Sure, she could be brutal to people that crossed her, but Megaton had done nothing to her so far. Still, she did really need the cash. No doubt this deal was worth a lot to Burke, and he did look rather rich. Perhaps she could get some money out of him without having to go through with it. "How much are you willing to pay?"

"Five hundred caps should about cover it." He said it confidently, and Natalie didn't know what the real worth of anything was, having never had to deal with currency beyond vault ration tickets.

A plan popped into her head to milk Mr. Burke for all he was worth, and maybe get some spending money for the time being, though it made her feel slimy. She leaned in even closer so that he could feel her warm breath on his neck. "Are you sure you can't pay me more. A girl's got to make a living you know..."

Burke tugged as his suit's collar nervously. "Well, maybe a thousand?" Another warm waft of air was blown across his skin. "Or would one and a half do?"

Natalie put on her sweetest smile before continuing. "And, could you perhaps advance me some of that... I have things I need to take care of in town beforehand. I'd get them done a lot faster if I didn't have to earn some caps first."

"Of course, take five hundred now." Burke was visibly blushing as he took a coin purse from under his suit jacket. "That's nearly all I have on me, but I have enough credit here to spend a few more nights." He was not nearly as ruffled as he appeared, though, as evident by his following statement. "Return to me when you're ready, and I will give you the device. I'd like to escort you to my employer's safehouse personally once you are done."

She snatched the pouch quickly. "Then we have a deal." She wasn't too nervous about Burke wanting to check up on her later. He didn't look like he could take her one on one, and of course there was no way the townsfolk would help him if she failed to hold up her end of the bargain. Her reputation wouldn't fair well if exposed, but they'd see her as just another cheating scammer, untrustworthy but not necessarily dangerous. Burke would be pissed at her when he found out, and it would be when, but she could deal with that easily enough.

"If you excuse me, then, I have places to be." Natalie stood up and headed for the exit, stoic mask once again in place. However, a shy looking blonde girl sitting at the table next to the door appeared to want her attention. Natalie stopped by her table, checking her out. It had suddenly occurred to her that women out here may be a little more receptive to her wish to explore. She didn't know what this girl wanted, but it'd be a good chance to try flirting.

"You want to say something to me?" Natalie smiled smoothly, making the woman flustered with her tone.

"Umm... well I'm Lucy West, and I was wondering if you were heading back out soon. I need a letter delivered to my family at the Arefu settlement, not far North from here." Lucy returned the smile cutely.

"Well I am going out, but I hadn't planned on heading far. Maybe I can make the trip for you though, sweetie." Natalie let her smile widen as Lucy's face turned red.

"I... uh... can't pay you much..." Lucy's eyes darted around the room, a sign of her growing discomfort.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you can pay me enough." She winked at the blonde, who shuddered a bit in response.

Natalie stuck out a hand for the letter. Surprisingly, Lucy handed it over after a few seconds. "Okay. I guess you're better then some of the people around here. I'll give you caps. If you want more you're going to have to do more for me." She was trying to sound sure of herself, but her voice was unsteady near the end. Natalie accepted the outcome as decently good.

"Mmm, I don't mind working. I'll set out for Arefu tomorrow most likely. I'll come and find you when I get back." She didn't know just how far she'd gotten with this girl, but it couldn't have been bad for a first try. She wouldn't force things, but this encounter brought Natalie's mind back to a world of possibilities. There were so many things she could now try that she'd never thought she'd get the chance to. Leaving the vault was definitely not all bad.

Natalie watched Lucy as she left the building. The blonde's blush was a major turn on. The dark haired woman had much to do, though, before she could afford to relax more then the brief moments she'd already taken. Her pipboy clock read 10:30, meaning there was plenty of time for her to go hit Silver up for money and maybe do a bit of exploring of the town and surrounding wasteland. Plus, she now had the money to do a little shopping...


	4. Woman For Hire

AN: Sorry about the long wait. I had a hard drive corruption issue. While I saved everything, I had to reinstall windows and get stuff back up and running, which really demotivated me for awhile. While some of my games still worked, Fallout 3 was kinda screwed up (wiping the registry will do that), and I had been playing a long for inspiration. Yes I fixed it, but it took awhile, and stuff came up, etc etc. I'm back at it now, though the chapters will probably be shorter, as classes are going as well.

**12:30 – Day One - Springvale**

The midday sun beat directly down onto Natalie's warm black hair as she peered around a dumpster. Her target was in sight, but it had taken her longer then she would have liked to get back into the ruined town, and the heat was starting to annoy her. The trip wasn't long, but she'd decided to visiting Megaton's general store before heading out. While an interesting experience, as Natalie had never "shopped" before, she certainly hoped not all stores were like Craterside Supply.

Inside she had met a chatty woman by the name of Moira Brown, the shopkeeper. Upon seeing Natalie's vaultsuit, she had immediately launched into an excited speech about how she hardly ever got to talk to someone from a vault, and how she was writing a book, or some such nonsense that Natalie really didn't care about. Moira had mostly just been talking to empty space as Natalie zoned out in mild annoyance. The vault wasn't exactly something she wanted to remember right then anyway.

While she had been distracted by the girl's inane ramblings, Natalie still had managed to look around and check out the shop's inventory. However, despite spending over an hour, all she really accomplished was buying a few more bullets and a bottle or two of water, plus a much needed backpack to carry her items instead of the converted medkit. There had been some very useful looking items in stock, of course, but most of her money would be better spent later for dinner or a room for the night, and no doubt Moira would have had unneeded volumes to say if Natalie had asked any questions.

The storekeeper must have really enjoyed the talk, though, because afterwords she offered to swap Natalie's vaultsuit for an armored version some traveler had requested years ago, but never returned to pick up. While surprised, and not one to readily take help, it had been an offer Natalie couldn't refuse. She had the feeling a little extra protection would go a long out here. As luck would have it, Moira lived in the store and thus had a room she could change in with a bit of privacy. Privacy was also probably pretty rare in the wasteland, and while Natalie could soldier on just fine even in the conditions she now found herself in, there was no harm in enjoying small comforts as they presented themselves.

She had inspected the new garment as she had put it on. It also had a big '101' on the back of it like her old vaultsuit. That had caused pause. She'd always thought the overseer was just blowing smoke with most of his mantras, but now she had solid proof of his lies. The vault most definitely had been opened sometime in the past. For a moment she had almost gotten angry, even as the irony had washed over her, but Natalie just hadn't been able to bring herself to get truly mad. That life was over, and she now had more important things to worry about.

A gust of wind snapped Natalie back to the present. She scowled and shook her head to clear the flashback. So much had happened recently that her mind was having trouble keeping up. Her emotions were definitely starting to bubble up, though, and Natalie knew she was probably in for a sleepless night tonight, or at least a few hours of tossing and turning.

Natalie leaned out more and surveyed the house across the road more closely. It was in much better shape then any other house in town, so intact that Natalie had only seen better in pictures from the vault so far. Moriarty hadn't really specified where Silver lived, but it was the only house in town that could possibly be inhabited. A few others actually had walls that were still standing too, but all of those had boards across their doors. If anyone lived inside one they were either trapped or had a secret tunnel. All of that was irrelevant, though, because from time to time a shadow could be seen moving behind the dirty windows of this building, so Natalie at least knew someone lived there.

Natalie carefully edged out from her cover and slunk over to the door, but only after making sure the figure inside wasn't watching. Her movements were much more fluid now that she was properly equipped, especially as the new vaultsuit had come with a holster. She let out a deep breath as she pressed her back against the house, releasing some of the tension that was rapidly building.

She listened, ear to door, while trying to calm her nerves. There were faint noises from the other side, but fortunately nothing that indicated the occupant was alarmed. Still, Natalie listened for a good half minute before acting, only gripping the pistol tightly. She wanted to make sure she had a plan before going in.

There were a few options Natalie could choose from. Most, when weighed carefully in her mind, were a jumble of ideas with no real unity. This situation wasn't the survival of escaping the vault, and despite her normal "devil may care" attitude, in the heat of the moment she was out of her element and starting to freeze up. Natalie wasn't a stranger to fights, but these were the highest stakes she'd ever been involved with. Not the money, but the fact that out here violence, if not exactly acceptable, was a fact of life. Sure, in the vault she'd been pretty tough, but she had no idea how Silver would respond, and highly doubted anyone would really care if some kid fresh from out of town was discovered face down in a ditch nearby. With that in mind, it seemed like the best option was to surprise the druggie, make her demands, have the gun ready for defense, but emphasis that she'd leave without a fight if Silver just handed over Moriarty's caps.

Natalie kicked in the door, pistol leveled at chest height. Slowly she stepped in and scanned the room for signs of life. Silver wasn't here, but Natalie jumped slightly when a voice wafted to her ears. It was just a radio turned down low, though, with more of the President's speeches. Her aim wandered over instinctively, however, and Natalie muttered a curse when she realized her mistake.

The commotion attracted a battered woman with dirty, platinum blonde hair. She stepped in from the other room as Natalie was turning back, freezing in the doorway when she saw the intruder.

"Who the hell are you?" A nasty looking snarl graced what might usually be soft features on the woman's face. She didn't looked armed, but her tattered clothes had many places where a weapon would be easily concealed.

"It doesn't matter. You Silver?" Natalie swung the pistol around. Her voice was calm and low, even though inside she was coiled like a spring. She didn't want this to last any longer then it had to, and hoped intimidation would speed things up. Her stomach dropped when she realized that Silver was probably just as tough as she was, and most likely had had to deal with rough spots before.

"So what if I am?" She didn't so much as flinch. If Natalie still couldn't tell from her defensive tone, the way the woman locked eyes with her in challenge practically confirmed her identity."

"You owe Moriarty. Cough it up." Natalie could feel her voice almost crack, but was pretty sure she held it together enough to maintain her illusion, at least for now. She really hadn't thought of what to do if Silver wouldn't budge. Drawing upon vault experience didn't really help here.

"I don't owe that scumbag anything. You go back there and tell him I ain't paying him squat!" Blonde curls fell gently down Silver's face as she stared Natalie down, as if oblivious to the fact she was inches from the barrel of a loaded gun. She even put her hands on her hips in the classic pose of defiance. The move also put them closer to her cargo pants pockets, which made Natalie even more nervous.

"Look, I'm just doing my job. Give it to me and I'll get out of your house. You'll be left in peace and no one will come knocking again." A tense knot was building in her gut. She hoped Silver couldn't see through the cold mask she was trying to display.

"Screw you bitch! Get outta my home!" The rage that had slowly been building boiled over. Not only had she sensed Natalie's indecisiveness, but she had visibly gotten angrier when the girl had tried to pass the home invasion off as just business. The blonde dropped down and scrambled for something in her pocket.

While fully aware of what was going on, that Silver must have a weapon, Natalie still reacted slowly. Her plan had fallen apart rather quickly and now things had come to the worst possible conclusion. For a brief moment, panic almost broke through.

Fortunately for her, and unfortunately for the blonde, her survival instincts kicked in quickly. To her credit, Silver's dodge was probably the best thing someone in her position could of done if they were set on a violent resolution. Natalie naturally had good reflexes, though, and her previous scrapes had honed them quite well, even if they hadn't helped with decision making. Factor in the range and the outcome was certain from the start.

Silver was still trying to draw her weapon as Natalie lined up a shot on her head. She looked up, realizing she wasn't going to make it. Her face twisted from rage to terror just in time for the bullet to enter above one of her eyebrows. Little bits of gore splashed up, and out the back of her head, but otherwise it was a pretty clean kill. Her momentum carried her for a bit, but Silver's limp body was done moving.

Natalie stood still as the gunshot echoed once. She stared down at Silver's unmoving form, letting in sink in. As the adrenalin faded her knees gave way and she slid down the nearby wall, eyes still fixated. It didn't seem real to her. The whole process, from breaking down the door to killing Silver had taken only thirty seconds.

Natalie pulled the corpse over to her, digging out what the blonde had been trying to get at. In Silver's pocket was a small revolver. It almost looked like a toy, or something that belonged in an old Western, not a serious weapon. She knew it was deadly, though, and she cringed as she realized just how close she had come to at least getting seriously injured. Regardless of her other thoughts, Natalie knew that luck and speed had done more to resolve this fight in her favor then skill or attitude. The urge to let out a few nervous laughs was strong, but resisted.

Reflecting brought back what Moriarty said earlier. _"I don't care what happens to Silver, all I want are my caps."_ This was probably a normal occurrence for the wastes. Nobody would come looking for Silver, and no one would really hold it against Natalie for killing her. The blonde had failed to pay a debt, and had unfortunately been killed when a collector was sent to get the money. That's how the average wastelander would see things, or at least how Natalie assumed they would. Some of the invisible weight on her chest lifted.

The girl sighed. The irony wasn't lost on her. On one hand, she had more freedom now then she could have ever wanted, but on the other hand consequences still existed, only changed. Natalie knew she could do well out here, but it would take time to adapt. She could not afford to throw caution to the wind. She had the wits of a survivor, but desperately needed practical experience. A few more incidents like this would remedy that, but in the mean time life would be constant tension punctuated by brief spurts of downtime in which she'd be utterly exhausted.

Tossing the pistol aside, Natalie continued searching Silver's body while trying not to look at what she'd done to the woman's face. Silver hadn't had much on her person, but another pocket contained a bloated coinpurse. Natalie pocketed it, not in the mood to count the contents now but hoping it was enough to pay Moriarty, and decided she might as well look through the rest of Silver's belongings. No sense leaving perfectly good loot unattended, now that the owner wouldn't be needing them.

The fight had made Natalie surprisingly hungry, so she looked first around the tiny kitchen area. It was very well stocked, so she could be picky and choosy about what she wanted. Most was of inferior quality to vault food, but would do. The local eating establishments Megaton boasted probably didn't have much better anyway.

Unable to ignore her gurgling stomach any longer, Natalie sorted through the "fresh" food after stocking her pack with mostly preserved good. She refused to eat any of the meat that looked like it came from a giant insect, though, but fortunately her nose attracted her a few long sticks with meat bits that seemed safe. She'd never tasted anything like it, but the exotic taste was pleasant enough. After cleaning one such rod she placed a few by the door, to snack on as she left.

Also in the kitchen area, Natalie stumbled upon Silver's considerable stash of chems. The blonde had definitely been a junkie, though the thought occurred to her that while frowned upon, there couldn't possibly be any laws against drug use, or really anything out here. No matter what their status was, what Natalie had seen so far made her doubt that she'd get any trouble for having any on her. She snatched up as much as she could, with the intent of selling them later for some extra cash. At the risk of being overconfident again, Natalie figured she could handle being a drug dealer, and it was probably a good idea to diversify where she got her caps from, if this job was any indication of wasteland life.

There wasn't much else of interest in the small house. She turned off the annoying radio that had almost cost her the fight before it even began, then stepped back outside. There weren't any signs of Silver's demise visible from out here, so her resting place would be left in peace for a few days, at the very least. Natalie half wondered if she should report on the girl's demise, or if the wasteland had any traditions for the dead. It probably didn't matter, though, and she wagered she could afford to be indifferent in this case.

The sun had hardly moved since the time Natalie emerged from hiding and its rays beat down unneed warmth on her hot, sticky outfit. Having black hair wasn't a good thing in the heat, either. She didn't feel like going back to Megaton while rattled and tired, and dealing with other people, just yet. The safe thing to do would be to stay low for awhile anyway. Things probably blew over quickly out here, and just avoiding anyone who mildly cared about what happened to Silver might even let suspicion pass over her. It was a good thing she'd found something else to pursue if she had what passed for free time in the wasteland, delivering Lucy's letter.

Her pipboy had a build in pre-war map feature that Moira taught her to use, and inputted a few locations into, so she set it to lead her to Arefu. The journey hadn't sounded any dangerous then the norm, though at this rate Natalie figured she'd probably still have to stay alert. Hopefully she could get some deep thinking in as well, as all these new situations certainly called for her to reexamine her worldview. She couldn't judge the distance or how long the journey would take from the map. The trip itself would be very valuable in teaching her actually, but any self-respecting settlement would have a place she could spend the night, at a rate she could now afford, if darkness fell, so there was no need to worry about her pace.

Natalie checked her gear one last time before setting out up the barren hills at a leisurely speed. Keeping one eye out for the easiest path, she took some time to look over some of features of her pipboy that she'd never really paid attention to before. The only icons on the pipboy's map represented Megaton, this town, Vault 101, and some supermarket Moira had been going on about, leaving only a tiny little section of the display used. If she completed this task and still felt the need to spend more time away from Megaton, taking a little adventure would fill it out nicely...


End file.

Fallout, Adventure, Angst