Twilight watched as Janey tapped all over the wall, muttering to herself as she inspected what mechanical workings she could see. It wasn't much, nor did she seem able to find anything that could make them part. Aside of course, from brute strength. Occasionally Janey would pull out her pip boy and tap on it a few times, taking readings for reasons beyond Twilight's comprehension.
“Welcome,” repeated the voice. “Please sit in the chair. The show is about to begin.”
Twilight rolled her eyes, and frowned, getting more and more bored as time passed. The voice repeated, Janey continued to mutter and nothing seemed to change. After several minutes, Twilight got up, wandered over to the tiny chair, and as gently as she could, sat down in it.
“Greetings martyr, and welcome. If you are sitting here that means you have been offered up as a sacrifice to ensure your vault continues to thrive,” Continued the voice.
Janey spun around. “What did you do?” demanded the courier.
Twilight shrugged her shoulders.
“Oh, you sat on the chair! You’ve triggered whatever switch there is to kill us!” Janey exclaimed.
Twilight cocked her head to the side.
“-perhaps you never got the chance to have grandkids, or to enjoy the pleasures of a fresh cigar,” droned the voice.
“Is it just… what is it doing?” Janey muttered.
“But march with your chin held high soldier. And remember, each of us has an important role to play,” the voice exclaimed.
“It's just… rambling? Why?” Janey murmured, gesturing absently to the screen displaying a picture of a vault boy reclining on a beach with a drink raised as if in toast.
Again, Twilight shrugged.
“Maybe it's trying to bore us to death,” Janey remarked.
“-and for others, it might mean they will drive a race car, or fly a rocket ship,” the voice declared, the image changing to an adult character helping a child character to ride a bike.
“Okay so we got some time before it gasses us or however they are planning on killing us,” Janey stated. “Help me with these panels. Maybe we can stop that from happening.”
Twilight shrugged and did as she was asked, rising from her seat and walking over to the seemingly normal wall. Striking a wide stance, Twilight jammed her claws through the narrow gap, and after a bit of wiggling, began to pull them apart. The resistance was immense and no matter how much the deathclaw’s muscles bulged, her efforts seemed to have no visible effect. All that happened was the panels groaned, and two distant pieces of metal ground against one another but that was it.
“Come on put your back into it,” Janey encouraged. “If we end up getting nerve gassed it won't matter how big you are.”
Twilight growled under her breath. She tugged with renewed strength, anger rising from deep down inside of her. The feeling rose, becoming more powerful with each passing second before suddenly a flood of something white-hot shot through her veins.
In an instant, she felt stronger than ever, and with a titanic heave, threw open the two sides of the panels. The moment they had ripped loose from whatever was holding them, they flew into the walls, half collapsing in the process. With the panels out of the way, Twilight could see that several strange metal plates with spinning handles on them lay behind the false barrier, creating a second wall.
Twilight span around and glared at Janey, convinced that she had been hit with more psycho without her consent. Yet the courier was just standing there, a confused look on her face.
“Hey uh, you alright? I swear I would have helped if I thought that would have well you know, actually helped,” Janey offered.
“Did you psycho me?” Twilight demanded.
“What? No. I’ve been standing here the whole time,” Janey exclaimed, throwing up her hands. “That would have been a good idea though, but after we talked about… whatever, let's worry about that after we aren't going to get gassed.”
Janey walked up to the metal wall, and after a brief inspection, grabbed the wheel and gave it a harsh spin. Metal squealed and gears ground against gears but in the end, she managed to trigger some kind of hidden mechanism. The various levers, and sections of metal folded into one another and fell away until the barrier disappeared completely.
Janey’s gun leaped into her hand, and she seemed ready to fire, only for the courier to stop just short of doing so. Twilight looked in on the one-half of the wall that had fallen away and flinched when she saw several robots and turrets waiting for them. Despite them standing ready, the metal constructs didn't notice the duo’s presence, and continued to stare emptily forward as if waiting for something.
“They probably only activate after that weird presentation is over,” Janey thought aloud. “Smash those turrets while I deal with the robots. If I’m lucky we can handle these guys and move on to the other side before the slide show has a chance to finish.”
Twilight nodded and jogged over to the first turret before grabbing it with both claws. With the lingering remnants of whatever still flowing through her, she had more than enough power to tear it right off. Tossing the twisted mass of metal and sparking wires aside, Twilight wondered what had happened to her. She assumed the psycho was gone by now, but she had assumed that last time too.
Despite her curiosity, the former pony concluded that it was a complication she couldn't contemplate at the moment, not with their lives on the line.
Wrenching a second turret from the ceiling, Twilight glanced out of the corner of her eye to find that Janey was finishing up with the first robot. The trundling, pill-shaped thing beeped and booped a few times before raising its arms, but thankfully not firing. It seemed almost subservient to the courier, watching her as she moved to its other former companion and opened its back panel.
Twilight realized then that she was wasting time, and in a rush, tore the remaining two turrets from the ceiling. Tossing their shattered remains in a growing pile of scrap metal, sparking wires, and unspent bullets, Twilight looked around. Her gaze immediately settled on the other side of the room a part of her worried about what may emerge from it while another part desperately wanted to peek inside.
“-imagine what joys await you in the afterlife. Can you see them? Good,” concluded the voice, the flickering picture fading before shutting off completely.
“Shit. The slideshow’s over. I’m gonna have to just shut this one down,” Janey muttered. “Hold on a second more…”
Twilight glanced past her friend, to the other side of the room. The white panels slid cleanly into the wall, revealing an identical set of large metal doors the kind that they had gotten past a minute earlier. Only where one of theirs jammed and refused to open, both of the others slid cleanly apart, revealing a small horde of enemies.
“Fuck it,” Janey muttered, grabbing a handful of wires and ripping them all out.
The robot she was working on toppled forward, its back panel sparking. The courier managed to duck behind cover a second before the four turrets, one protectron, and a lone sentry bot opened fire. Bullets and lasers whizzed past, forcing Twilight to lurch to the side lest she be cut down by the hail of fire being directed her way.
Though a bit startled, Twilight was fairly certain she could tank the damage and simply push past it. That assertion vanished when a missile flew by her head and exploded at the back of the room, sending metal shards flying in all directions. Ducking fully behind the wall-to-ceiling cover, Twilight glanced expectantly at Janey, only to find the courier digging through her backpack.
“Use your magic to float these to the back of the room and take out the turrets!” Janey shouted over the roar of gunfire. “I’ll cover you!”
Twilight took the oddly shaped circular grenades into her magic, and nodded, awaiting the covering fire she would need. Janey didn't hesitate, the woman popping out from behind cover and emptying her weapon in the protectron’s direction. Somehow, despite not even trying to aim, the courier’s first shot pierced the targeting center of the robot and sent it into a frenzy.
Spraying lasers in all directions, it flung its arms around uselessly, and in the process seemingly triggered the defensive protocols of the sentry bot. As the larger, three-wheeled, vaguely humanoid robot moved to gun down its former companion, Twilight got to work. Twisting the top of the grenades, she then floated them across the room and between the two clumps of turrets.
Though Janey’s distraction had done relatively well, Twilight was still pelted with low-caliber bullets. Most of these ineffective projectiles simply bounced off but a few of the luckier ones either broke flesh or managed to graze her. When the grenades finally detonated, all of the turrets were out of the fight, and the sentry bot was shaken. Its frenzied companion was also down for the count, though it had been bisected by the sentry bot’s minigun arm.
The three-legged bot’s armored chassis was thicker than its fellows, however, and it turned around quickly, its minigun spooling up. Twilight was tempted to charge it, and her burning blood egged on this desire but she fought those instincts and fell back behind cover. And just in time too, as a hail of bullets rained down on the spot she had just been standing, the metal projectiles ricocheting off the ground and bouncing around the room.
Their allied protectron then stepped up, its large heavy torso having finally turned around so it could face the enemy bot. Fearlessly it engaged the larger robot, firing its weak, ineffectual lasers into the sentry’s midsection. Before Twilight decided what to do, she glanced down to find that Janey was dealing with a jam, something having gone wrong with the weapon after franticly emptying all the rounds it carried.
Her choice made, Twilight sprinted out from cover just as the sentry bot tore through their allied protectron. Its bulbous, rounded head ruptured, and a moment later, its now exposed, internal structure was completely annihilated. By then Twilight had cleared most of the distance and had cast a shocking grasp on her right hand, but unfortunately for her, the sentry bot was surprisingly quick.
Its gun arm swung back at her, peppering the deathclaw with a flurry of stinging lead. Though they served mostly to piss the deathclaw off, she could also feel that she was starting to sustain some serious injuries. Tough hide or not, getting hit with dozens of rounds per second was a painful, life-threatening matter. With each impact, Twilight felt that now familiar animalistic rage rise within her, but she refused to let it loose, at least not yet.
Swiping with her electrified claw, Twilight removed the sentry bot’s minigun arm completely, her spell unleashing an explosion of sparks at the moment of impact. With the release of energy, Twilight was vaguely aware of her mana pool finally emptying. That was a concern for later, for now, Twilight was busy trying to destroy the sentry bot before it could bring its missile arm to bear.
Three rapid swipes tore through metal and damaged internal systems but the reinforced exterior was strong enough to stop the attacks from doing anything more than just slowing it down. Its arm came up, and in a panic, Twilight punched it at the elbow, making the ensuing missile go wide. Across the room, Janey popped out from cover only to duck back the moment she saw the rocket-propelled explosive flying directly at her.
The ensuing explosion rent the metal barrier Janey had been using as cover asunder, sending hunks of shrapnel at the human. That wasn't the only thing that became airborne, as there had been enough kinetic energy to turn Janey into a ragdoll and toss her across the room. Impacting the bank of computers with a hard crunch, the courier immediately felt something was very wrong with her shooting arm.
Twilight didn't notice any of this, as she was busy slashing the front of the sentry bot open. Once enough of its armor had been sheared off, the deathclaw rammed its arm into the exposed torso region of the robot. Retracting the now oil-slick limb, Twilight took a step back, judging if the sentry bot was still operational.
Its remaining arm hung limply at its side, while its torso had pitched forward, indicating to the former pony that it was defeated.
With a smile on her face, Twilight started to walk back to her friend only to notice the unmoving bot was now loudly beeping. Not only that but the noise was getting faster, as if it were counting down to something. Twilight managed a curse as well as a single step before it detonated, sending the deathclaw into the closest wall with a loud crash.
The ex-pony groaned, and slumped to the ground, landing in a bruised, and bloody heap. Alarm bells were firing in her mind, telling her to get up and get back into the fight but pain dulled that urge. Even her animalistic side which usually would have been screaming at her by now, did nothing but weakly urge her to rise to her feet.
Janey sat up and reached for her bag only to hiss and stop herself. Using the other hand, she pulled out a super stimpack and started preparing it. While she did so, she shifted her broken forearm into position, lining up the snapped bone with its now separate counterpart. A moment later and a wave of healing chemicals flooded the woman’s body, accompanied by a fresh surge of pain.
While Janey gritted her teeth and fought through the agony, Twilight was trying to stand back up, but the fact that everything was spinning was putting a damper on that. Getting back up, she raised her claws and tried to find an enemy but everything was a swirling mass of unfocused color. When her eyes finally focused the deathclaw found that all the robots were destroyed and that Janey was nowhere to be seen.
Twilight called out in a questioning manner, hoping that her intention was understood by the courier.
“I’m here,” Janey muttered. “That last rocket broke my fucking arm.”
Twilight looked herself over and was surprised she didn't have any worse injuries. Sure she had bruises, cuts, and bumps galore but nothing important had been hit. The deathclaw was bleeding a bit more than usual, however, and limped over to where Janey sat on the floor, her jaw clenched tight.
“Good to see you’re still in one peice,” Janey murmured. “Your whole left side is burnt blacker then my boots though.”
Twilight winced and nodded.
“Shit, this is gonna take a while to heal properly,” Janey remarked lifting her right arm in emphasis. “How are you looking? Did they hit anything serious?”
Twilight shook her head.
“Good. At least one of us isn't completely fucked,” Janey murmured, gesturing towards the door to the sacrifice room. “Grab a stimpack for yourself. I tucked a few in there amongst all the food and if you need more rads, drink some of the water with the big X on it. I gathered it from a crater in case you needed a quick dose.”
Twilight muttered a bitter curse under her breath and went back to her discarded bag sitting on the ground beside the exit. A quick inspection told her that somehow, despite everything, nothing appeared broken. Sure a few of the cans were banged up, but other than a spilled bottle of water that was it.
A deeper look revealed a small bundle of stimpacks and a bottle of water that bore a green x on the front of it. Even just holding the irradiated thing was enough for Twilight to feel her mana reserves slowly filling back up. She wanted to toss it out or refuse to drink its contents but if they got attacked by even a few determined rats they would be in for a desperate struggle.
With that in mind, Twilight screwed her eyes shut tightly before unscrewing the top of the bottle. She tipped back the contents of the bottle, swallowing hard the moment it hit her tongue. Despite all her precautions, she was still hit with the taste of slightly greasy, muddy water that carried with it a slight acidic tang. Her stomach nearly revolted against her, but somehow Twilight managed to gulp it all down and not immediately throw it back up.
With her mana reserves refilling quicker now, Twilight gave herself a brief once over, pulling out any bits of metal stuck in her flesh. Bullets and bits of robot chassis were plucked from her skin and tossed into a bloody pile off to the side. Once she was certain there weren't any extra foreign materials stuck in her, Twilight stuck the stimpack into her leg and hit it. After she felt the last bit of the healing liquid enter her bloodstream, Twilight removed the used needle and put it with the rest.
Glancing over at Janey, Twilight was unsurprised to see that the courier was busy unlocking the mystery door she had seen earlier. Forced to use only one arm, the going seemed slow, but thankfully it wasn't a terribly difficult lock, as it opened a second later.
“Shouldn't we wait until you're healed?” Twilight asked.
“Gotta lift the lockdown first,” Janey replied. “The door we came through locked the moment you sat down and I have a feeling we are going to need to access a terminal to unseal it.”
Twilight watched as Janey twisted the metal handle before pushing open the door. Peeking over the human’s shoulder, Twilight saw that directly ahead of them lay a terminal but there were also numerous crates littering the area. A look inside revealed bullet-riddled clothing, as well as random personal effects like jewelry, caps, and other small items of a similar nature.
“Normally I’d wonder what they did with the bodies, but something tells me I don't want to know,” Janey remarked, lifting one of the pieces of cloth and revealing that it was almost completely encrusted in long-dried blood.
Twilight scowled in disgust, and was about to turn around when she noticed something glint in one of the open metal crates. Leaning inside, she plucked a small silver container out and lifted it to eye level.
“Ahh she's finally learning how to loot. It's about time,” Janey remarked.
Twilight snorted, ignoring the comment and focusing on the box.
Its smooth metal exterior resembled the kind of case that would contain jewelry and was adorned with only a small latch. Flipping it open, Twilight revealed two small slips of paper, and what looked like a modified dog collar with a large metal box at the back. The first peice of paper was blue and once unfolded, revealed itself to be a schematic for something called the translation collar.
Twilight's eyes widened and she hastily took in every detail before reverently placing it back in the box. She wanted to grab the collar next but instead chose the other slip of paper, noting that it was smaller, barely more than half a peice of loose leaf.
To whom it may concern.
I don't know what happens to our personal effects when we are ‘done’ here but I hope they are not destroyed. If you are reading this, then they are not and I can only hope that you are able to use my invention for good. With a consistent, easy way to translate between languages hopefully, some of the tension in our vault can be dismantled. I don't know if this will be possible however, or even if it will be necessary by the time you read this. Already they’ve voted almost all of the Spanish speakers to the overseer position out of some misbegotten sense of purity.
Grandma, how I miss you. You didn't deserve what happened to you, but I guess I’ll be joining you soon.
Twilight sniffed and paused to dab her eyes though the effort was more psychological as she could not actually cry. With her will steeled, Twilight continued to read.
Please bring this back to the vault, make more, and tell everyone to stop this madness. I don't know if there is a way to stop our vault from being wiped out by those nutjobs holding us hostage but the sacrifices have to end. Please, if you are reading this, help my people and put a stop to the bloodshed.
There was a signature at the end but it had become so smeared by some unknown liquid that it was unreadable.
Twilight took a long deep breath, and glanced up, half expecting a snide remark from Janey. The courier was busy typing away at the terminal, a concerned expression visible on her face. From the look of things the password on it was more difficult than usual, but it may as well be Zebrican for all Twilight knew.
Turning back to the box, Twilight tucked the paper back inside and retrieved the device. It looked like a larger-than-average dog collar with a bulky box at the back which had a fusion battery attached to it from there sprouted several wires and two circular pads placed a few inches apart from each other. It took a bit of a struggle to adjust the thing so it fit around Twilight's massive neck but thankfully it wasn't too tight.
Twilight clicked the button to activate it and stood there patiently, waiting for the start-up sequence to complete. She didn't know what the beeping coming from the main compartment meant but after a few seconds, it stopped. Confident that it was done, Twilight was about to talk only to get mildly electrocuted when she did so.
“Owch,” Twilight muttered only to blink when her animalistic grunting was overlaid with a robotic masculine-sounding voice.
Janey spun around and looked up at the deathclaw in confusion. “What was that?” She asked.
Twilight reached back, and clicked the small lever at the base of the device, moving the voice mode from male to female before speaking again.
“I think it's working,” Twilight stated in a monotone, female voice.
“You think so?” Janey deadpanned.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Obviously it's working just fine,” Twilight stated. “I’m a bit worried about having a fusion cell so close to my neck though. I thought you said those things had a tendency to explode.”
“They don't. Well, not usually anyway,” Janey replied.
“That really puts my mind at ease,” Twilight muttered, the sarcasm not coming through at all due to the monotone voice she spoke with.
“Well it works, so let's be happy about that,” Janey exclaimed.
The courier turned on her heel and got back to work on the terminal. With nothing else to do, Twilight watched her friend type, fingers flicking across the keyboard at a breakneck pace. After another minute, Janey triumphantly hit the return key and the machine jolted to life, displaying three entries.
Override Lockdown.
System Recording: Vault 11 Solution.
Automated Response: Vault 11 Solution.
“Override the lockdown,” Twilight offered.
“Oh really? And here I was just going to not do that,” Janey snarkily shot back, hitting the return key a second time.
The door to the sacrificial chamber clunked loudly before receding into the ceiling and floor.
“Let's see this solution of theirs,” Janey murmured.
Hitting the key, Janey activated the recording, causing a masculine-sounding human voice to emanate from the terminal’s speakers.
“All right, I know you can hear me, so listen up,” it began. “There's five of us left. Five. Out of... I don't know how many. So... it's over. We've talked and it's over. We're not going to send anybody to die anymore. So shut off our water or gas us or do whatever it is you're programmed to do. But we're done listening to you.”
A small indicator popped up, telling them both that Janey had downloaded the recording.
“I guess they finally gave up and decided to see what would happen,” Janey remarked.
“These Vault-Tec people must have threatened the complete destruction of their home if they were willing to go this far,” Twilight offered.
“Gas probably. It's why the vents are so big in this place. But this place is built for a larger population so that might be a coincidence,” Janey replied.
Twilight blinked, having not even noticed that anything had been different about the vault. So many human buildings looked like a mess of boxes and metal that Twilight could barely tell what anything was.
“Let's see what Vault-Tec had to say about that,” Janey exclaimed.
The courier made two quick keystrokes and activated the final option on the terminal.
“Congratulations, citizens of Vault eleven!” Announced the familiar, clean masculine voice from the slide show. “You have made the decision not to sacrifice one of your own. You can walk with your head held high knowing that your commitment to human life is a shining example to us all. And to make that feeling of pride even sweeter, I have some exciting news. Despite what you were led to believe, the population of Vault eleven is not going to be exterminated for its disobedience. Instead, the mechanism to open the main vault door has now been enabled, and you can come and go at your leisure. But not so fast! Be sure to check with your overseer to find out if it's safe to leave. Here at Vault-Tec, your safety is our number one priority.”
Both Janey and Twilight sat there, in stunned silence for several long, quiet seconds.
“Those sick fucks,” Janey muttered bitterly, slamming her good hand down on the terminal.
“All that loss of life,” Twilight added, glancing back to the chamber behind them. “And they could have avoided it all if only they had refused earlier.”
“How could they have known that, huh? How could they have figured that out!” Janey shouted.
Twilight held up her hands. “I am not blaming them,” Twilight hastily replied. “I just… wish it hadn't ended the way it did.”
Janey spat a bitter curse and kicked one of the boxes.
“Damn those Vault-Tec fucks,” Janey muttered. “I hope they survived the bombs somehow and are out there, waiting to get what's coming to them.”
For once Twilight couldn't help but agree with Janey’s declaration of violence.
“Come on. Let's get the fuck out of here,” Janey stated, walking back towards the exit. “I don't even care to loot the place. All I want is a drink.”
Twilight nodded and followed behind the woman as she walked back through the chamber and into the tunnel. Thankfully the recording didn't play a second time, as Twilight wasn't sure if she could take being reminded of what had happened here, at least so soon anyway. Silence reigned, and was broken only when Janey activated the exit door leading to the space beneath the Overseer’s desk.
The pair stepped up out of the pit and began to spread out only for the distant thump of booted feet to alert Twilight of trespassers. Seeing Twilight's suddenly bristling spines, Janey drew her gun with her offhand and motioned for the deathclaw to lay low. Twilight nodded back, falling into a crouch as the courier crept towards the open door to the office.
She peered outside for a few seconds before cursing and ducking back behind cover.
“They’re here!” shouted a distant voice. “Alert Vulpes Inculta, the profligates have been located!”