At The Precipice Of Something New

Something Questioned

Vault 81
June the 3rd, 2289
10:27

That there were two Vaults within Vault 81 was something, from what Sturges Presley had uncovered and Hancock had been told by him, they had thought no one in the Vault would know about.

Finding out one of the Vault's residents had known about it and had been using it to store his chems, both stolen and legitimately purchased was, then, something of a shock.

Sturges and Hancock having told the young man in question to let them go alone, and with Hancock having bribed him with a small bag of jet and daytripper, the moment the door to the main Vault closed behind them left them certain they had made the right choice to go alone. The 'secret' Vault was in disarray; parts of unfinished flooring, hefty steel boxes, and a myriad of other items were littered about. Moving slowly, their weapons in hand, the two men slowly made their way through the corridor in front of them before turning around the first corner they saw, a few lights flickering and struggling to stay lit. Finding a staircase, they quickly made their way up it, pausing only when they heard the sounds of scuttering and distant squeals of mole rats, the warning the Vault's doctor had given them still ringing out in the ears. Whatever disease Austin has contracted most likely came from a mole rat in that place. De Luca putting himself in danger by storing his drugs there was one thing but being so irresponsible as to let Austin follow him in there is another. If you can find anything in there to cure Austin, then great, but, at the very least, put down the infestation before it can spread into our Vault. The sounds of a mole rat darting up the stairs startling both men, they whipped around and quickly shot it down, spreading out as much as possible on the stairs to shoot down more of the mole rats coming out of their hidden burrows after the first. A few minutes of shooting and careful sliding out of the way of some of the quicker and more aggressive creatures, and they were able to reach the top of the stairs and cross over the threshold onto the second floor of the 'secret' Vault.

Taking a look around as they reloaded their guns, the mechanic and the mayor turned down the better lit of two corridors, keeping their eyes peeled and their ears open for any more of the diseased mole rats. Though the corridor was both better lit and in a better state than the one they had entered from, the clear signs of disarray, decay, and abandonment were abundant. The hum of electricity and the crackling and popping sounds of some of the lights struggling to stay active worrying him, Sturges took a look at his Pip-Boy and began a reading with its Geiger counter. Hancock slowed when he heard the other man's steps stop, the two of them waiting until the reading finished. Satisfied they were not about to walk into a bath of radiation by continuing down the corridor, Sturges gave Hancock a thumbs up to tell him to keep going and, as soon as he was caught up to the eccentric mayor of Goodneighbour, so they did. A wall partially collapsed in on the left side towards the end of the corridor, they hesitated before entering the room it led into, both surprised and unsettled to find it to be a bunk; three sets of bunk beds, desks, chairs, dressers, and a myriad of household supplies were left laying around, as though the previous occupants had left in a rush. Taking the opportunity to take any and all chems and weapons he could find, Hancock hummed to himself while Sturges crossed to the other side of the room from the collapsed wall they had entered from to try and open a proper door into, he hoped, the rest of the 'secret' Vault.

"I know whatever Vault-Tec had planned to go on between this Vault and the main one was definitely going to have been fucked up, but, hey, the previous residents left us the good stuff," Hancock grinned at Sturges as he threw the last few things he could find into his bag. "Must have had some real big wigs in here, because these aren't just everyday chems like cheap jet or psycho."

Sturges raised an eyebrow when Hancock sauntered over to him, pushing the button to open the door which, to his relief, did so despite creaking and scraping while it raised.