Fallout 3 - Beautiful Stranger

Chapter 4 Part 1

Waking and finding the Mr Handy robot, Wintergreen, hovering beside her, all three 'eyes' focused upon her, did nothing for her morning mood. She rolled from the makeshift bed, laid on the floor, and stopped herself from reaching for her pistol. The robot gave her chills.

"Breakfast shall be served in the parlour, Miss Prudence." The robot backed away and returned to hovering at its normal height. "Formal dress is not a requirement. Would you care for orange juice, tea or coffee with your morning repast?"

"It's Patience, not Prudence." She found it strange that she had adapted to her new name so fast. "And coffee. Coffee will be fine."

"Don't listen to that damned fool robot." Valrie entered, rubbing her hands with a rag. "All I have, breakfast wise, is Sugar Bombs. Got no tea, no coffee and no-one's seen an orange in decades, let alone juiced one."

Patience dressed, pulling on the snug leather pants and strapless leather top, wrapping her weapons belts around her waist. Pulling on her boots, it seemed like Wintergreen had a fascination with her. Bobbing around the room, the robot held one of its eyes on her at all times.

"I'd like to set out soon." She stomped her feet on the floor, settling them in the boots. "You're robot gives me the creeps."

"He's harmless enough." With a half-smoked cigarette hanging limp from her lips, Valrie slipped on her coat-of-many-pockets and brought her football helmet down over her head. "He gets a little excited when I have company. I swear, the last time I had Jug-Eyed Jed over, the damn thing near watched us fucking! Jed ain't been back since."

That was far more information than Patience needed to know. She wandered into the kitchen area, finding the Sugar Bombs in a box on the counter. Without a bowl that she could see, she poured a pile into her hand and started eating. They were stale, soft, not crunchy, but it was better than nothing. She saw the a bottle of Nuka-Hol and took a swig, swilling it around her mouth before swallowing.

"Miss Valrie, will you and Miss Penelope be taking your morning constitutional?" Wintergreen hovered over to Patience, returning the Sugar Bombs box and the bottle of Nuka-Hol back into their original positions. Their exact positions.

"We're going to Megaton, Wintergreen. I already told you!" Valrie picked up a couple of odd, random items and stuffing them in her pockets. "It'll be a couple of days before I'm back."

"Very well, Miss Valrie." Wintergreen bobbed to the corner and lifted a broom, leaning against the wall. "I shall attend to my duties and await your imminent return. Good day to you, Miss Priscilla. It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"The pleasure's all mine, I'm sure." Patience watched as Wintergreen began sweeping the room, the bristles of the broom missing the floor by several inches, at least one of its 'eyes' never leaving Patience.

Upon leaving the building, Valrie waited until she heard every lock and bolt made secure before she started on the next leg of the journey. Patience switched on the radio on her Pip-Boy and they set off heading east. She could see, in the distance, that the neither the freeway nor the landscape improved, but she thought she could see the first signs of the place that was once known as Washington D.C..

There appeared to be far fewer instances of the creatures that they had seen the day before. Patience found herself glad of that, despite now having more ammunition to protect themselves if the need arose. She didn't want to have fight to travel a few feet, only to have to fight something else to travel a little further.

She had no illusions about the Capital Wasteland. From the little of it she had experienced, she knew full well that this place wasn't for the feint hearted. It was rough, untamed and dangerous. All she wanted was to find answers to the nagging questions her amnesia presented to her. It seemed unlikely that unlocking the Pip-Boy would magically solve all her problems, or answer all her questions, but it could be another step towards those goals.

She needed to know who she was, where she had come from. She needed to know why she had ended up unconscious in the middle of this wasteland, alone. She needed to know if she had family, friends and if they missed her. She could sum it all up in those four words; She needed to know.

While she mused about her circumstances, Valrie kept up a running commentary about their surroundings, pointing out a vehicle she had scavenged and almost got killed for, a power station that, somehow, still received and transmitted electricity. About mid-day, Valrie pointed to the south and Patience saw another building, almost complete and untouched by the devastation around it.

"Tenpenny Tower." Valrie spat as she spoke of the place. "Full of the hoi polloi. People that think they're better than everybody else. Or, at least, it was. Heard old Tenpenny took a dive from the penthouse a few months back. Could have been suicide, could have been murder. Seems no-one gave enough of a shit to find out for sure."

"Sounds lovely." Patience gave another look at the tower before following Valrie.

"Yeah. But that's a fucking palace compared to the place we have to go through." She pointed ahead where a collection of structures could about be almost seen. "We got to go through Fairfax to get to Megaton and, believe me, Fairfax is a whole different kind of shit-hole to deal with."

That sounded a little too ominous for Patience. She made an absentminded check of her weapons, sliding out the clips to check the ammo, checking safeties, sights and actions. It sounded like Fairfax was going to be trouble. As if anywhere else in the Capital Wasteland wasn't.

-+-

"Let me ask you, children. How many vaults are there in the Capital Wasteland? We all know about one-oh-one, where the hero, the Lone Wanderer emerged from, blinking, into the light and into our hearts, but how many more are there?

I know. The intrepid and infallible reporter that I am. But, it seems I was wrong. Plain wrong.

A report has come to me of another vault, a super-secret vault, one so secret, it doesn't even have a number. And, I've been told, yet another hero has risen from that vault like an avenging angel, protecting the common man, or woman in this instance, from the ravages of raiders. Calling down great vengeance and furious anger upon those that prey upon the weak and lonesome.

A Beautiful Stranger. Mysterious and deadly.

So, it appears, the Good Fight now has a new warrior. A new player.

Here's to you, Beautiful Stranger. Welcome to our strange, wondrous and violent land and I hope, one day, you'll come visit old Three Dog and tell us your story.

For now, this is Three Dog, oooowwwww. Be good and if you can't be good, be careful."