Fallout - Ruins of D.C.

For those of you that know about Fallout you should be able to jump strait into this RP but for those of you that don't here is a quick summary of the Fallout universe.

The original Fallout game is an RPG that takes place on the west coast of America after an atomic war levels the world and thins out the worlds population a tad. those that are left are reduced to scaving what they can and just simply trying to survive.

The biggest problem facing the "honest" folk of the world of Fallout (WOF) is the fact that the world is hostile not only have they got other humans (Raiders, slavers, The Enclave and most Mercs) to deal with but they also have to fight off bands of Super mutants(Humans dipped into the FEV), Feral Ghouls (Humans "killed" by radiation but infected by the FEV and gone mad as a result), Giant scorpions, Mole Rats (A mutated combo of rat and mole), Yew Guai (mutated Bears), bloat flies (Giant Flies) and the dreaded Deathclaws (Escaped Weapons Experiments) and then there is the environment harsh bleak and full of radiation.

The upside is not all ghouls are feral some are just trying to make there way like everyone else.

The FEV or Forced Evolution Virus was supposed to be the vaccine to a bio weapon the Chinese were working on however it was never completed and when the bombs dropped the lab, in which it was contained was hit by one of them sending gallons of the stuff into the air it is the FEV that is responsible for the mutations in what's left of the worlds wild life and the Ghouls.

Super Mutants are people who have been dipped directly into the FEV this causes them to grow extensively in mass and more than often results in a stupidity that could rival that of the village idiot.

Games in order of release.
Fallout
Fallout 2
Fallout Tactics
Fallout - The Brotherhood of steel
Fallout 3

Links to the best fallout sites to visit.
The Vault
No Mutants Allowed Forum
The official Fallout 3 site

War. War never Changes, ever since the dawn of Human kind when our ancestors discovered the killing power of rock and bone, Blood has been spilt over every thing, from God to Justice to simple psychotic rage. In 2077 after millennia of armed conflict man's destructive nature could sustain its self no longer and the world was plunged into an abyss of Nuclear fire and radiation...

...In the early days hundreds had been saved the ravages of nuclear war by taking refuge in huge under ground bunkers known as Vaults, years latter when the Vaults opened all that greeted them was the nightmare of the endless wastes. But unlike many had predicted the apocalypse was not the end of the world it was just the prologue of another bloody chapter in human history.
Ron Perlman
Fallout 3

It was the first of June 2280 when Falks reached what is now known as the capital wastelands his eye's scanned the horizon through dust covered black sunglasses the first thing he noticed was the huge tower that jutted from the city ruins 'The Washington Monument' he guessed he would need to head there at some point if the old crone was correct in her fuzzy memory of the area then that would be the Mall and thus the location of the Capital Building. he turned his gaze to the north west and to a large Iron water tower standing alone atop a nearby hill this he though would be his first destination and he set of toward it with a hint of haste in his step.

To his dismay the towers tap had been destroyed and the pipe had been welded closed "Nothing is ever easy" he said removing his kevlar helmet and wiping his brow before placing it back on his head he circled the tower looking for the best way to climb up. The ladder was several feet above the ground and out of reach of the 4 sturdy legs that held the vessel aloft. He grunted in dissatisfaction and then began to climb up one of the legs, after what seemed like hours he reached the top and hauled himself over the rail onto the cat walk that ringed the tower it soon became evident why the ladder was out of reach slumped against the tank was the skeletal remains of a waste lander who must have climbed the tower and pulled the ladder into its storage position perhaps to escape death only to be claimed by it later rather than sooner. Turning his attention back to the task at hand Falks gave the tank and experimental tap his luck seemed to be turning. rather than the annoying reverberating sound of emptiness he was greeted by a comforting low pitch bong and the faint slosh of disturbed water.

After a few hours of work Falks managed to affix a spare tap to the under side of the tank it was not easy to get to and some one would need rope and brain power to be able to get at it at all. but that suited him fine he had no intention of sharing this water with any one irradiated though it was he had methods of purifying it.

After filling his water bottles he moved on his sights set on the ruins of Fairfax ahead...

...It was late in the evening when he reached Fairfax he skirted around to the west of the town. as he suspected there where a number of raiders in residents and they had some slaves imprisoned inside a small fenced courtyard. Despite the little voice at the back of his mind telling him to keep going and leave the unfortunate people to their fate his conscience played the louder tune. So he quickly went about formulating a plan and found a location he could make a stand in.

By the time he had finished his preparations the sun had set and the moon had swept high up in the cloudless sky the building he was in was dark and hazardous -with out the mines he had placed on the stairwells and entrances it would also make it impossible for the raiders to see the tripwires that stretched across each door that lead to his current location- With that small comforting thought he drew his rifle which was well maintained and had the name Louise carved into the Stock. It was a Lee Enfield probably one of the best rifles of its time of course there were better rifles around that could fire at greater distances and just as accurately but few could match it for its reliability and most importantly its adaptability with a twist Falks could remove the scope and have a long to medium range rifle and in close the solid wood stock could shatter bone.

His first target was a lone raider in the building opposite -a young looking fellow smoking a cigarette- Falks took in a breath and held it, with a gentle squeeze of the trigger the man dropped dead but the noise had alerted the others. He quickly lined up a second target and shot then a third and then a forth with each bullet fired a raider dropped dead a bullet between his eyes, Falks aimed for a raider who was hiding behind a trashed car he had a clear line to the guys head when he spotted a group of raiders pile out of a nearby corner shop so he quickly adjusted his aim and fired the bullet ripped through the first raiders head causing it to explode showering the raider behind him in blood and gore and if that was not enough the bullet continued its path and ripped through a second raider who had been running slightly behind the first seeing her two comrades fall so easily to the hidden marksman the gore splattered female raider obviously lost her blood-lust and turned on her heels and darted back into the building "Clever girl" said Falks as he returned his attention back to the hiding Raider and promptly killed him.

By this time the first of the mines went off downstairs and a chorus of warnings shouts went up slightly muffled by the sound of anguishing screams seconds later a second mine exploded which prompted a shrill high pitched scream "A woman" he noted with a hint of dissatisfaction -Women were a touchy subject where Falks was concerned he didn't like having to kill them where possible but he was after all a survivalist and in this world every one, male or female was a potential threat. He turned back to the window and finished off the few raiders stupid enough not to find a good place to hide before sliding the rifle back into its holster and drawing his assault rifle -this too was an impressive piece of equipment the M4CQB. (Essentially an M4A1 with a an under slung 40mm M203, a silencer, illuminator, reflex sight and a target designator) In this case both the light and the designator were switched off- He got in behind the makeshift barricade he had previously constructed and lay in wait.

By the time the first raider entered the room Falks had counted at least 8 explosions from mines and 3 from the frag grenade tripwires which he considered was a decent amount of killing. But now the fun started. He studied the man who now stood just inside the door way a pasty faced fellow with tufts of orange hair dotted about his head like foliage springing up between paving slabs and in his trembling hand was a pathetic looking .38 Special Double-Action Revolver a mere cap gun compared to the awesome might of the one pointed at his head.

"Can you see him" said a feminine voice from out in the corridor
"N-no" replied "Pasty"
"He must be in there I saw him"
"L-look for yourself"

A blood stained face peered round the wall and scanned the room. Falks stood up and walked around the 'barricade' this caused "pasty" to panic and unload the 3 remaining bullets in his gun, Falks turned and studied the wall behind him.

"I can spit better than you can shoot pasty and you... splat get you arse in here or I'll shoot you through the wall" he said coolly. The woman obliged and edged her way into the room and up behind the pasty raider and peered round him in both awe and terror
"Today is your lucky day" said Falks as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it "Today you two get to live" both pasty and splat breathed a sigh of relief at this news "But! there is a catch" he let the words linger in the air to allow the suspense to play in their minds "From now on you are to give up your raiding and live out the rest of your lives how ever short" he said looking at pasty -the man had obviously taken far to much radiation to have much of a life left- "you will go to the nearest raider camp and tell them what has happened here and tell them that Henry 'The Falcon' Falks has come to the capital wastes and that he is coming for them... now go and do be careful on your way out"

The two former raiders both nodded several times before slowly backing away then bolting out the door the way they had come.

Falks went about looting the dead -mainly for cigarettes and caps (the new world currency which consisted of the metal bottle caps from glass bottles of nucka cola though most people still accepted the US dollar)- and gathering up his mines and grenades that had not blown up yet.

After his meticulous cleansing of the area he freed the slaves from the pen and told them to gather up the weapons the raider no longer needed and then head toward the nearest settlement. after they had gone he entered the conner shop where splat had ran to earlier and looted the cigarettes the raiders had stashed there before settling down in the back room for a good nights sleep.

The next day was just like the one before, warm and breezy with no clouds in sight, based on the intell he had gained from the slaves he decided to head north to the town of megaton...

...It soon became apparent why they called Megaton, Megaton the whole place was built in the crater of an unexploded Chinese 1 megaton nuclear bomb "Crazy Bastards" Falks unintentionally said aloud
"Who you calling crazy boy?" came a voice from beside him. He turned slowly to look upon the speaker. Stood before him was an Afro-American man dressed in a leather duster with a large cowboy hat and a Sheriffs badge pined to his chest.
"Hi...I'm Falks, Henry Falks" he said stretching out his hand. The Sheriff looked at his hand then back up to his face.
"Simms, Lucas Simms" he said folding his arms across his chest "What brings you to Megaton?"
"Information mainly and a bed for the night"
"What sort of Information?"
"I'm heading to the mall tomorrow so I will need an up to date map of the city"
Simms looked like he was about to give the you'll be dead if you go there speech then noticed the array of weapons strapped to Falks in various easy to reach locations "Word is that the mall is over run by Super mutants and ghouls no "Human" can get to it only thing stopping them from heading this way is the Brotherhood of Steel who have the area locked down, If you are thinking of going there you may want to hire a team to go in with you"
"Know anywhere I can get some mercs?"
Simms shrugged "you could try the Brass lantern at the bottom of the crater I saw some people in there that may be interested in a trip to the old D.C. ruins"
"Thanks Sheriff" said Falks as he strode of in the direction of the Brass Lantern.

Inside the Lantern there were indeed some likely looking sorts so Falks took up a seat at the bar and began asking questions loudly figuring if anyone was interested they would make it known...

Bob Stryder sat in the corner of the bar with a glass of water. It had been a hard day. He had spent the last few weeks in the next town down the coast, but it had been over run by mutants. He had made the decision to leave just at the right time, and along with a family he had hooked up with, they made a dash for this town.

He was the only one who made it.

There had been mutants coming in from both sides of the town, one group they knew of and one they didn't see until too late. After a three hour running fire fight they were in the clear. Until a small group of five mutants attacked from the shadows and felled the family of father, mother and three small boys in less than ten seconds. Bob had seen the rage and left the mutants as piles of steaming gore on the ground.

After walking a day and half through the wastelands he had arrived at this town, and made his way to the bar for a glass of water.

He sipped his drink and wondered what to do next. His original goal had been to get home, but that was becoming so unlikely now that he was beginning to dismiss the idea.

Then a stranger entered the bar, ordered a drink and then began asking loud questions about the mall in Washington.

Bob sat and watched him for a while. The Mall in Washington had reached a kind of cult celebrity now. Over run with all sorts of horrors, there were supposed to be all sorts of things still in there since before the war. If you could get in, you would be rich.

After a few minutes, Bob beckoned to the stranger, who picked up his drink and his kit bag, moved to the table and sat down. Bob leaned forward and said

"Hey. I'm Bob. Bob Stryder."
"Hello Bob. Henry Falks."
"Huh. Henry Falks. You wouldn't be 'The Falcon' would you?" Bob made the quote marks with his fingers when he said Falcon. Falks grimaced slightly.
"Yea. That's me." Bob leaned back in his seat.
"You get around quite a bit, don't you? Still, it's a pleasure to meet you. So you wanna go to the Mall?" Falks nodded. "Well, I'm not to busy at the moment so I'll tag along if you don't mind."
"Why?"
"Why not? The Mall's famous. I'd like to see it, maybe take a few pictures to circulate. If we manage to get in there, and then get out again, we'll be famous. Such fame as is availible now, anyway." Bob leaned forwards again. "Most of all though, I wanna kill mutants. Anyone I've hooked up with recently has been ripped apart by them. You won't be, I know that. I'm reliable, trustworthy and bloody good in combat. In a fight I'll have your back."
Falks nodded slowly, impressed by Bobs passion and intensity.
"What weapons do you use?"
Bob smiled.
"Well," he replied, "for your everyday mutant and slime beast destruction, I use a modified XM8 carbine assault rifle. Good fast rate of fire, single or triple round fire for those moments when you need it, plus the optional XM320 grenade launcher, sniper scope and an optional twenty inch barrel for sniping. If carnage is required, I have a Benelli M3 combat shotgun. That thing'll spray death in everywhere, clears rooms. Plus I have assorted other bits, knives, a garotte and other things."
Falks nodded again and smiled. Bob held out his hand.
"Partners?"

"I think everyone else around here are pussies," grunted Stryder, "and I think we'll be on our own."
Falks sighed. "I thought that too, but it'd be kinda nice to have a large group. Just for the novelty, if nothing else."
"Listen, I've got a place above and behind the Brass Lantern. I..." started Stryder, but Falks cut him off.
"You have a place? Here? A house? You've only been here a day or so! How'd you get a place?"
"I know. I got chatting to the Sheriff when I got here. Did you know that bloody bomb was still active?" Stryder shook his head. "Craziest thing I ever heard. I knew that this town was built around a nuclear bomb, but a live one? Jeez." They were walking towards Stryders place, Stryder grabbed a beer from the Brass Lanterns counter and tossed a few bottle caps in its place. He took a swig and carried on. "Anyway, I mentioned to the Sherriff that I may be able to disarm the bomb, and he said that he'd be grateful if I did. So I took a look, cut the right wire and removed the trigger and took it to the Sherriff. He was so chuffed that he gave me the keys and the deeds to this place." Stryder gestured to the door they had arrived at. Falks looked impressed.
"Nice." he said as he followed Stryder through the door.

The house wasn't much. A small kitchen, two or three chairs around a table and a workbench were on the ground floor. On the first floor was a bathroom and two bedrooms, each had a bed.

"If you wanna store some gear here you're welcome. There are a few empty lockers by the front door. I'm gonna hit the hay for a bit, we can get started in the morning. Apparently there's a Super-Duper mart over the hill, I wanna hit that when we go past and see if there's any meds there worth taking."

Falks shrugged out of his gear and dumped it on the floor in his room. "Mind if I put some water and coke in your fridge?"
"Be my guest," yawned Stryder. "I'll see you in a few hours."
"'Night." said Falks.

Once Strider had turned in Falks headed back out into Megaton he had heard mention of a saloon on the upper far side of the crater and wanted to sample the 'night life' for himself as he made his way up the ramps and catwalks he walked past a place called crater side supplies of which he made a mental note. perhaps he could purchase some much needed ammo and and explosives he had used far more than he had intended to on those bloody raiders back in Fairfax.

He pushed open the door to the saloon and took a seat at the bar the bartender came over and crocked out some kind of greeting to which Falks simply said "scotch no ice" and then turned his attention to the fellow and almost fell back off his stool "bloody hell a ghoul" he thought "ur... sorry mate you took me by surprise there last ghoul i met tried to rip my face off" the barman simply shrugged and walked off to pour the drink then returned and placed it in-front of Falks "5 caps" he crocked, Falks paid up and downed to swill "watered down" he said under his breath. Just then he spotted a small group of would be adventures laughing and exchanging friendly banter so he decided to ask them if they would join his expedition.

by the end of the night Falks had gotten quite drunk and he had also gotten to know the group fairly well there were 5 of them in all the one that did most of the talking was a guy called Butch De Lorian he and an asian chick called Zuki had ventured out of vault 101 a year back and it turned out that Zuki was a hero of some kind and she had single handedly brought an end to the Enclave butch talked at length about her exploits and the two seemed to be an item, one of them hardly said a word an attractive if not scruff raider lookalike called Angel she had spent the night eyeing him constantly and he had the feeling she didn't like him much, the third female was Mika she was a sniper and something of a pre war film buff her party trick was doing impressions of long dead actresses that he had never heard of and finally there was Barry a carrot topped freckled face borderline psychopath who was built like a brick shit house and had the look of a guy who would tear you head off and shit down your neck while reading a newspaper.

The group said they would go and get some friends and meet him at the entrance of Farragut west Metro station tomorrow evening where they could start their trek into D.C.

Henry headed back to Bob's place and somehow managed to climb the stairs and fell through the door of his room and tripped over his pack landing face down on the bed, there he stayed till morning when he was awoken by Striders robo butler Wadsworth.

Falks staggered down the stairs and flumped into a chair. Dust puffed out of the ancient material and slowly sank to cover the surrounding furniture. Bob looked around the kitchen door, then disappeared back towards the stove.

"You look like shit." he called to Falks. "Wadsworth tells me you went out again last night." Falks grunted.
"We needed more people if we're gonna get into, and out of the mall. I went back to the bar again."
"Any luck?"
"No, she already had company." He stared off into the distance. "Beautiful ass..." he muttered to himself.
"What? I meant did you find any more mercs or anyone who was going to the mall." Stryder looked closely at Falks. "What did you think I meant?"
"Oh, uh, yea, sorry." started Falks. "Yea, I found a group who wanted to come with us. Five of 'em. Double hard bastards, each one."
"Uh-huh. Tea?"
"Fuck, yeah!"
"Do you trust them?"
"About as much as I trust you, given that I met you yesterday."
"Fair comment. Where are they staying?"
"Dunno. Didn't ask. We're gonna meet 'em at the Farragut West tube station tonight."
"Good stuff. Means we have time to hit that Super-Duper Mart."
"Do we have to? I'd kinda like a few more hours sleep."
"Dude, if you want to go out and get pissed then that's your choice. We need caps, and to get caps we gotta forage." He stopped to take a gulp of tea. "And where better to forage than an old super market?"
"Okay. We'll have to fight our way in." he said with a half-smile. Bob grinned.
"I knew that would make you smile."


Two hours later, Megatons' two massive doors slammed shut behind them. They walked out, passing the sentry bot. It turned to face them, scanning them to see if they were friend or foe. It made the right choice.
"WELCOME TO MEGATON" it grated in a nasty computer voice.
"Shut up." said Falks, swigging from a bottle of purified water. The bot turned away.
"Super-Duper mart is this way." said Stryder, pointing his carbine to the west.
"Lets go." nodded Falks. They turned towards the west and started walking. It didn't take long, after twenty minutes they crested a hill and looked over the valley. The Super-Duper mart was clearly visible, a large, warehouse like structure just next to the collapsed freeway. They selected a viewpoint and dropped to the ground, sniper scopes to their eyes.
Scanning backwards and forwards, after a few minutes, Falks said
"What do you see?"
"I see one guy at the back of the building, right now he's taking a leak. There was one other guy went around the far side a minute or so ago. They're both raiders."
"Same here. Two, maybe a third, outside and a butt-load inside. How's your trigger finger?"
"Hmm...twitchy I'd say. Shall we go?" he glanced at Falks. Falks nodded, a smile on his face. They changed to a crouch and began to move down the side of the valley. About fifty feet from the edge of the store, the Raider became curious of the scree falling down the slope and moved to investigate. Falks knelt on one knee, aimed and put one round centre forehead.
"Nice." complimented Stryder. Falks nodded at the edge of the building.
"Your turn." he said, indicating the raider who had appeared, drawn by Falks single gunshot. The raider was already raising his gun, an old, damaged assault rifle. On one knee, Stryder raised his carbine, which still had the scope and longer barrel attached, and double tapped the raider, one in the heart and one in the mouth. Stryder grunted.
"Missed."
"Really?" said Falks with raised eyebrows.
"I was going for his forehead."

They moved towards the edge of the building. Falks poked his head around. Nothing. The moved to the front doors. No-one. They moved through the doors and into the cool depths of the store. The air was stale and a bit musty. The sweat of the raiders was easy to distinguish from the other smells. In the distance, shadows could be seen moving about.

Henry switched to his M4 and fixed a silencer to the barrel. He then slowly edged his way around the litre of trolleys that adorned the floor and surveyed the shop floor with an air of disgust the victims of the raiders were hanging from spikes or rope or staked to the floor with arms and legs or heads missing even the corpses of rival raiders could be seen in a state of mutilation and the stench of rot was thick in the dusty air around him.

He fought of the erg just to start killing indiscriminatingly and pushed on toward the back of the store with Bob a few paces behind him. As they rounded a shelf they came up right behind a raider unexpected. Falks drew his combat knife from his boot and jammed it into the man's neck who let out a slight whimper and then a short gargling noise before his eyes glazed over and passed over to what ever after life he may have believed in.

They continued on...

It felt like I landed in a huff. Wait, no, I did just land? Or did I?
He opened his eyes to a hot and angry afternoon sun. Squinting his eyes, he looked groggily around at the strange new landscape he was in. It was not very comforting. It all seemed to be desert, a ruined desert, with pieces of buildings and junk as far as the eye could see. And more importantly, it perfectly reflected the heat. I hate this place. I hate this place and I don't even know where I am yet. On that the tail of that thought came a a strangley familiar voice, born from within the confines of his own head, or so it seemed.
Boot up protocols complete:70% integration of neural interface. Noted........
................
................
Upload complete. Records show that there is 53.42% chance of Verse Break here. Recommend immediate action and recconisen of area.
And with that, the world went black again.

As the sun peeked in the the tiny crevasses in the barricades on the windows Sheffield sat on his bed. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he wondered just how many more days he would be alive. Which pretty much depended on that funky generator kept running.

Sheffield, or Shef as his friends used to call him, had stumbled across this fortified building nearly 6 months ago. Shef had been a member of a group that had come to The Mall in search of some secret item that "The Boss" would not reveal. The pay was decent and it gave him something to do.

Then the mutants attacked. What a horrific day that had been. Everybody scrambled. Shef ran for blocks. He could hear the mutants searching the area. He hopped a short wall, which surrounded a small courtyard to a very bland looking building. Shef walked to the door, noticing the half decomposed body only 10 feet from the door. There was a small electrical device in the hand of the corpse, pointing right at the front door.

Sheff picked up the device and pressed the green button. With a soft hiss, the front door swung open and revealed what looked like a decontamination "airlock" type area. Shef decided he should try to find the others and walked back into the street, directly in view of two mutants. The mutants started to move, and quickly, right at him. Shef weighed the odds and took off towards the open door and dove through, pressing the red button as he dove. The door shut and sealed behind him. Once the outer door sealed, and inner door popped open and revealed a drab interior. A small kitchen, sitting room and a bedroom. The lighting was poor and the place was very dusty.

Shef remembered that day like it was yesterday. Since then he had found some interesting things in this little "safe" house. Firstly, the mutants seriously attack the house. Some sort of violent electrical charge emanated from the house when a mutant approached it. They had learned to steer clear. Secondly, whoever lived here before him (presumably the corpse outside) had kept copious notes regarding the mall and the mutants, including ways to kill them. Including some notes regarding "a cache of treasure" that the man was trying to find.

But best of all, was a myriad of weapons Shef found in the house. The only thing that worried Shef was the generator. He didn't know anything about it.

All in all, he could find food, had some decent weapons, and a safe place to hide from the mutants, it wasn't a horrible life, but he was getting tired of it and wanted to go home, just hadn't figured out a way to kill enough mutants to get to the gateway home.

Time to fix some breakfast thought Shef to himself, then go check out that sector to the NE. Perhaps something good would turn up today.

Bob slid around the corner, careful to keep low and quiet. He moved towards a counter, looked around, and then climbed over and dropped to the other side. He could see a few ammunition crates, some metal boxes and a few other items. He kept still and listened for a minute. Nothing. Satisfied that he had not been spotted, he rose to a crouch and moved towards the ammo boxes. In them he found some ten millimetre rounds, stimpacks, some radiation meds and a rat. He looked around again and spotted a refrigerator and made his way towards it. He was just about to open it when shouts rang out. They'd spotted him.

He looked around but couldn't see anyone. Shots were fired and Bob realised it was Henry they had seen, not him. He opened the 'fridge, emptied the contents into his pack and walked back to the counter. He vaulted the counter and began to make his way toward the back of the store, hoping to come from behind the Raiders who apparently had Henry pinned down. He circled the area and moved into the centre of the store, past shelves that had been empty for hundreds of years. Bob peeped around the edge of an isle. He saw the back of three raiders. He switched his carbine over to fully automatic, took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the shelves.

"HEY!" he called. The raiders turned around.
"Another one!" screamed one, who sounded like he was chewing the words rather than saying them.
"Kill him too!" said another.
"This is gonna be FUN!" said the third.
"Whatever." said Bob, and pulled the trigger. The three went down in a hail of steel. Bob saw Henry levelling his gun at him. Bob looked at him in disbelief. Henry pulled his trigger. The shot whistled by Bobs head, passed through the head of the raider that was creeping up behind Bob and ended its short but eventful journey in a wall.
"Nice" said a still slightly shaken Bob.
"Thanks." said Henry. He gestured towards the back of the store. "After you."

Henry and Bob made their way to the back of the store it seemed that all the raiders had been dealt with and they found some supplies, Henry's face lit up when he saw a whole box of instant noodles.

"Awesome" he said punching the air.
Bob gave him a funny look "Awesome like hot dogs" he said
Henry chuckled "Wow Awesome hot dogs, Its been a very long time since I have seen a can of those"

"What do you suppose is behind this door" said Henry
"A store room or office maybe"
"Lets find out"

Henry looked at the lock and then at the computer next to the door.
He seemingly fought a mental war which the techy in him apparently won and the switched on the ageing machine, he cracked his knuckles and began to type.

"Hmm looks like the raiders rewrote the code a lil, the stupid fools gutted the security system making this a very easy terminal to hack"  

The lock on the door snapped open and Bob pushed it aside and went in and henry followed.

"Look a protectron" said Bob
Henry smiled a protectron and a box of noodles I think your my new lucky charm Bob"
Bob looked around the room and unearthed some Nuka cola quantum "Look what I found"
"Yeah never touch the stuff, makes my piss glow"
Bob laughed and turned to look at the robot "can you get this thing working"
"You betchya I can but first take this" Henry chucked a ID card to him.
"What's this?"
"Its a staff ID card with that the Protectron will think you are a member of staff thus wont shoot you with its Lasers"
"Handy"
"Yep"
"So?"
"One second... and hay presto"

The door to the pod opened and the Robot stepped out.

"Scanning... scanning... Employees Identified please have a nice day... engaging sanitation mode please standby." With that it clunked and clanked out of the room.

Suddenly the lights came one and they could here voices outside.

"Yo! We is back, bitches! Where's my ho?"
"Wait something's wrong here."
"Scanning..."
"What the fuck?!"
"Scanning..."
"I thought that thing was busted!"
"Rodent infestation detected... engaging extermination mode" at that the sound of lasers, gunshots, shouting and screams of pain could be heard.

"Rodent infestation?" said Bob
"I like that Robot already, lets give him a hand."
Henry ran out the room and leaped over the counter shooting and shouting obscene insults as he went.

Bob slid over the counter landing behind a raider. He tapped on his shoulder. The raider turned round and snarled just as Bob delivered a crushing kick to his balls. The raiders face went white, then purple and he clutched at his crotch. Bob had his knife out and the raiders throat was slit before he touch the ground.
"You so had that coming." said Bob. There was a screech from his right. He turned to see a female raider struggling with an assault rifle which had jammed. She looked up and saw Bob turning to face her, she gave up trying to unjam her gun and she started to run towards him raising her weapon to use as a club. A split second later Bob started running, straight towards her. She smiled a nasty smile, Bob flashed her one of his charming smiles, raised his arm and clothes-lined her. The crook of his elbow smashed into her windpipe which collapsed, her legs carried on forwards but her torso went crashing to the linoleum head first. Blood began to pool around her head.

"Fuckin' YEAH!" enthused Bob, and saw Henry standing over the last raider. He put a bullet between the raiders eyes. He turned to Bob.
"Is that all of 'em?" he asked.
"Yea. The Protectron's cleaning up the mess now." said Bob. "Let's get what we came for and go."
"Right."

They spent half an hour looting the store, and then they left, heading towards Washington DC, their raiding group and more fighting.

The two men headed east following the road to the river and North Arlington.

"Fuck it! the bridge is out according to the map Farragot west metro is just over there... any ideas?" said Henry
"We will have to follow the road south then cross the bridge further down... see over there where the mono rail crosses the river" replied Bob
"Yeah I see it"

They walked on following the river bank south when something bounced off of Henry's armour chest plate he looked down and saw a bullet on the floor.

""What the?" he said as he looked over to the far side of the river.
"Raiders!" said Bob
"Looks like they are out of range... well for their crappy weapons at any rate" no sooner had he finished a missile sailed past in the direction of the raiders and a huge hulking mass stepped out from behind a building a little way back up the road, Henry grabbed Bob and pulled him out of view behind a wall just as a second monster stepped into view.

"Fuck me!" he said
"Super Mutants"
"Hell! I was hoping we could avoid them until later... allot later!"
"They don't seem to have seen us we could hide until they leave or try to sneak away what do you think?"
"We don't have time to fuck about here we should sneak away... are you familiar with squad based tactics namely the retreat and cover manoeuvre?"
"Not sure"
"Ok simple, one of us drops to one knee and takes up a firing position in the direction of the enemy while the other retreats after 60 yards or so he turns and takes up a firing position while the first man retreats past him... we continue to do that until we are clear of the encounter or the perusing enemy is nullified"
"Same sort of thing as cover and move"
"Yeah only we will be going away from those freaks"
"Ok who goes first"
"I will take first point"

At that Henry broke cover and knelt in the road he gave the thumbs up to Stryder who then ran down the road and did the same, Henry then fell back and they continued leap frogging each other until they felt as if they were "Safe"

They finally reached the bridge and crossed the river and then headed north...

Shef took his time and moved slowly and silently from building to building. Staying in what shadows were available he carefully watched and listened before he crossed any open area. While he was very well armed, he didn't want to waste any ammunition unless he had to. He wasn't too worried about Raiders in this area, it was the Mutants he was wary of.

Shef made his way to a large concrete building, the one listed in the notes Shef had found in the mass of notes in the basement of his home. It had taken 6 months, using a systematic search pattern to make it this far. The author of the notes seemed to think there was something useful in this building, but didn't write down what.

When Shef got an unexpected surprise. The door was intact and still locked. 'No wonder he thought there was something valuable in here' though Shef to himself. Shef tried to kick in the door, but the heavy metal security door rebuffed him everytime. A trip around the building revealed no hidden entrances. Shef now knew he needed firepower to get into the building but knew he didn't have the right equipment. He needed to head back to home and get the right tools.

On his way back to his house he thought he heard some light gun fire from the river near the monorail crossing. Probably some brave Raiders trying to make headway into this largely mutant inhabited area. Not his concern right now though. He was trying to think of a way to get into that building without attracting every mutant in the area.

Three blocks from his house he saw them. Mutants, infront of and behind his house. He sat back into the shadows and tried to come up with a diversion.

Bob smashed the butt of his carbine in to the side of the mutants head and it went down.

"Is that the last of them?" he said, looking around.
"No." said Falks as he stabbed the last screaming mutant in the side of it's neck.
"That was the last one." he said. "How far are we from the station?"
"Not far. Coupla' miles maybe?"
"Good. Let's go."

Bob and Henry moved off through the rubble, eyes scanning everywhere for signs of movement. After a mile or so there was a huge explosion from the south, they turned to look and saw a greasy black column of smoke climbing through the sky.

"That was a big bang." observed Falks. "D'you think that was Rivet City?"
"Maybe. It could have been the Jefferson Memorial. I hope it wasn't the memorial. That could be very bad karma."
Falks smiled "And we all backslide to shitty radiated water and the mutant population will start to go up and we'll need a lot more ammunition."
"Good times." said Bob with a laugh.
"Aye, good times." grinned Henry.

He woke with a start. The first thing he noticed was that he hurt, a dull aching throb felt throughout his body. The next thing he noticed was that he had moved a seemingly considerable distance than when he first woke up, though without any form of reference, he had no idea how he would know that. He did note with pleasure however, that he had moved to shade, sweet shade and the coolness of a breeze. 'Well, I'm not dead. Always good, though I HURT. What did I do, where am I and what is going on?' Anyhwo, time to check up on me.' With a grunt, he brought his arm up. It moved slowly and felt like it was grinding, and throbbed worse for his efforts. After what felt like forever,, he got his arm up, and thought nothing was visibly wrong, he noticed that his arm had a greyness, right before the skin. A more thoughro examination brought to light that the greyness was all over his body, and every joint grinded on movement and felt heavy, though it wore off with movement. "Well, enough of this. Where am I, and what have I been doing?' The first was easy, he was in a empty and obviously long abandoned store. He was sitting on a stool, leaning over the front counter, working on a small arsenal of weapons a do-dads. "Well well well, what have I been up to? What was I building all this for? Oh well, never know what I'm doing these days. Might as well take these." These were a long barreled custom laser of some kind, a salvaged laser pistol, and what was labeled a PIP Boy 3k. Examining these, he noticed that the pistol was junk, but the other two....'The rifle, God knows how I built that, but it is cool.' The gun, when slung on a holster on his back, contracted into a what looked like a lunch box, and had a solar panel on it for what he hoped for ammo. And the PIP Boy was loaded with all sort of cool features, plus...'A shield generator? But how?...' On the tail of that thought, his whole body went into convulsions, painful, mind erasing convulsions, in wich he recovered only 5 minutes later, remebring nothing. He sat for a while in a trance like state, when he saw 2 men run by, firing blindly behind them. Like a robot, he followed....

Henry's grin faded away slowly "Shit!" he said after a few seconds bob followed his eye line into the distance. small figures could be seen headed their way these figures got larger with every second.

"Mutants" said Bob
"Shit!" replied Henry
"Coming our way"
"Shit!"
"Ur.. maybe we should run"
"Like shit!"

With that both men turned and ran.

"Their gaining" shouted Bob from behind Falks. Henry stopped and turned firing of a few shots felling one of the mutants Bob grabbed Henry's shoulder on the way past forcing him back into a run. They didn't stop after that they continued firing as they went hoping to slay enough mutants for their escape.

they blasted past an ally and found they had picked up a robot of some kind. it kept pace with them though its movements suggested it shouldn't have been able.

"We're going the wrong way" said Falks
"So? Mutants!" Bob said pointing his gun behind them and taking a few shots
"This is to much I can't keep this up"

With that the robot shot ahead and rounded a corner Falks and Stryder followed. They found themselves starring down a manhole which lead into the sewers.

"Down" said the Robot.

The two men exchanged a glance then dropped into the hole closely followed by the machine.

"Well this is dark and um smelly" said Falks
"Good juob this fella has all those LEDs" said Bob

Falks activated his illuminateor and had a look around.

"So who and what are you" said Stryder to the Robot.

Somewhere northeast of the old Roboco plant set a lone soul close to the old highway, huddling around a small fire trying to draw what little warmth it provided. He pulled his cloak around him tighter as a cold wind blew through his campsite. At first glance this cloak appear no thicker than paper was much more than met the eye. The inside of the cloak was heavily insulated, so thick that when these wastes would cast down its polluted rain, it never penetrates though. And the outer layer held a slight simmer, reflecting light from the fire, This lone wanderer had fitted a special blend of flexible Kevlar, something he accidentally created and almost lost a hand too, over the cloak. This handy little trick had saved his hide more than once.

The wind shifted, suddenly smelling a foul odor moving in from the east. His head quickly snaps up and peers into the darkness. He took the bucket of water at his side and quickly doused the fired and he sat still watching. Nearly blending into the night, his hand slowly slid over to the sawed off shot gun holstered to his leg, gripping the handle. A few minutes pass and nothing had had, so he relaxed his grip on the weapon. A twig snapped... close... too close for comfort. He froze waiting for what ever it was to make the first move. A single raider walked into his vision, and knelt down to inspect the darkened earth where the fire been. The cloaked man scoffed under the hood of this cloak, and drew a combat knife from his boot and as the raider turned to leave sprang up , grabbing the raider, holding his mouth shut. The raider struggled at first, until he felt the cold steel of his blade. “Hello Mr Raider, My name is Coren, Val Coren and if you don't want to die out right, we're going to play a little game of 20 questions. Blink once for yes, twice for no. Understand?” The Raider blinked once, now terrified. “Good good, so first question are there more of you trailing behind?” He blinks yes again. “How many?” He blinked six times. “Only six? Not even worth it... Thank you Mr. Raider. I only hope you are this helpful in the after life.” And with that, slit the raiders throat, letting the corpse fall to the ground. Val wiped the blade before placing it back whence it came. Then quickly search for ammo and anything else worthwhile. He found twenty shot gun shells, which it fed about 5 into his shot gun and dumped the rest into his ammo bag. “Good I was on the last of those.” Also found 3 clips of 7.62mm ammo as well as a Ak-47, good condition and last but not least a saw off double barrel shot gun. The gun broke in his hands as he opened the barrel. So he just plucked out the two shells out and tosses it aside.

“Time to get moving before they realize there buddy's missing,” and with that slung the rifle over his should and concealed the rest of his gear and started walking east down what used to be the interstate.

"So who, and what, are you?" said Stryder to the robot. The robot glanced at him, turned and started to move along the sewer.
"Come with me if you want to live." it said.
"But.." began Stryder. The robot stopped and turned.
"Though the mutants sound stupid, they are anything but. It won't take long for them to realise where we went. You both give off scent which they will follow, and even I am trackable by the really smart ones." It turned and started walking again. "Like I said, follow me if you want to live." Bob turned to Falks and shrugged.
"It's got a point." He said. Falks nodded.
"It's heading in the direction we want to go. I say we follow it until we get to the station, say thanks and carry on with our group." He said.
"Yeah," said Bob, "And I'd really like to know where that explosion came from. I'm going to leave a surprise for our friends though." Bob opened a pocket on his jacket and pulled out two small brown parcels. He pressed them to the sewer walls on either side of the manhole opening and pressed a small black device into each package.
"C4?" asked Falks.
"Yup." said Bob. "A lovely surprise, wouldn't you say?"
Falks grunted, and they set off down the sewer behind the robot. They hadn't gone to far when there was a crashing sound from behind them, followed by a bellow. Stryder and Falks both spun around, weapons raised.
"How many were there?" asked Stryder.
"Three." answered the robot. They each moved into one of the embrasures in the side of the tunnel and Bob took out a remote detonator. A second crash and bellow came from the manhole. Falks held up two fingers. They waited. Waited for the third mutant to enter the tunnel. Three million years later the third mutant thumped into the tunnel.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" shouted Stryder from his embrasure and pressed the trigger on the remote detonator. The explosion was deafening and the flame raced down the tunnel. The smoke started to clear and Bob saw a smouldering mutant carcass had landed in front of him.
"Jeez, that stinks." he said.
"Come on guys, lets roll." said Falks. They turned and continued down the sewer pipe.

Gun fire pelted the small house that Val had taken Cover in. The Raiders had caught up to him. "Persistent bastards..." He had gone through a clip and half of the Ak ammo had recovered the other night. The rifle was stuck on full auto fire, making aiming a fun challenge. He did manage to take out 2 of the raiders. They had taken cover behind a rock pile and had been taken pots shots for the past 30 minutes or so. Irritated he pulled out his only frag greande, "Dammit I didn't want to have to waste this," and with that pulled the Pin and hurled the frag over the rocks. Shouts of "Grenade!!!!," were heard before a satisfying bang and the screams of 3 of the raiders echoed out. Val surveyed the area. The Last raider layed motionless for several minutes before rising, his leg bloodied. He reached for something behind the rock... Val's eyes when wide, "Shit..." The raider pulled out a missile launcher and slowly began to heft it onto his shoulder. Val leveled the Ak and pulled the trigger, only to have the round Jam in the firing chamber, "Shit!" He threw the rifle aside and drew his Scooped .44 Magnum and flipped open the bullet chamber... all empty rounds. He quickly dug into his ammo bag and drew a single .44 round... "Last one, just isn't my day." He quickly loaded in the single round and took aim. By this time the raider had leveled the launcher. "Better make this count," Val squeezed the trigger and the shot echoed out, followed by a flash of flame and light...

Same shit, different day. The story of my life since the shit hit the fan. The day that all life on this planet either hit the reset button or turned into road kill to stink up the joint for the rest of us. Don’t really matter either way cause the ones left behind are just walking zombies anyway with a stick up most of their asses. People nowadays, if you can call those fuckers people, are always looking for that easy grab; that easy snag that will help them get by for another couple of days while you die out on this desert world with nothing but quick kick to the nuts and a couple days worth of starvation to clear your head.
Personally, I never really had any attachment to humans before and after the bombs dropped. People always seemed to annoy me with their greedy little fingers in everything. I saw them to be too immersed with themselves to see the big-picture that we as race are a dying breed and it would behoove us to help one another but nope, that would be too much to ask for. Fuck it, why do I care anyway. I might as well think of fresh manure being eaten by maggots.
“Hey, Mister, Mister. You forgot to pay your tab.” Said the little boy.
“Umm, kid, no speak Ennglissh.”
“Mister, your speaking it right now and I’m not dumb, I’m almost 8.” Said the boy.
“Ah damn, you caught me, here you go, are you happy now to be stealing from an old man like myself.”
“You’re not old Mister, you look the same age as my sister and she is only in her 20s.” Said the toddler.
“Oh really, where is your sister.” -A Sly grin sets in-
“No games Mister. I’m not stupid, remember.” Said the kid.
“Jeeze, kid, take away my manhood why won’t ya. Hahahahaha. Ok I’m off kid, take care and take care of your sister.”
“Hey Mister, my sister always tells me to ask what people’s names are before they leave just in case someone comes looking for you.” Said the child.
“Kid, no one is coming to look for me and if they were, I wouldn’t want them to find me.”
The kid looked up at me with that puppy-dog look that no matter whom you are; you give in, no matter how hard you try to fight it.
The names H and don’t ask me what it stands for and what is the rest of it because in the end, all a name is good for is to mark where your corpse is lying if you’re lucky enough, but most of the time you don’t even get that. And so, H is as good as anything.
The kid looked upon this tall man with a dark boots, dark jeans and sweatshirt, a long trench coat that flapped from the wind coming from under the door to the outside, a beige gas mask that nearly covered his face, and a dirty-old –brown hat that had a large brim all around almost like a cowboy hat but flattened from ill-repair.
“Ok Mister H, come back soon.” Said the tot.
“Will do kid. Have a good one.”
As I walked out that cantina, I knew that I would never see that kid again but life ain’t all peaches and cream as they say –Nostalgia sets in- Oh how I miss artificial flavoring.
Well, I should probably get going, there ain’t nothing left in this town for me to be interested in- thinks about kid’s sister- nahh, more trouble than their worth. –Looks upon the barren wasteland ahead of him- Anyway back to seeing the never-ending stupidity of human-beings.
(I at least wish, I could have seen her naked….)

"So who, and what, are you?" Good questions, both of those. Even Robot, as the man labeled Falks had called him, did not know.He knew he had a name, but can't remember it, and decided that Robot would suffice. After Falks and Stryder had there fun with the mutants, Robot decided that he would need these men to survive on this world, for he knew that it was definitely HIS world. His PIP Boy was equipped with a map and echo radar, constantly updating itself with vibrations it throws out every 5 milliseconds, but strangely Robot never even needed to look. Everything he needed was just there, either in his peripherals or imposed over his main view of the world. That is how he knew his companions names, even though they never spoke them. That is why he decided Robot was a fitting name, if not a perfect one. And that is how he saw the bandits trap a long 15 seconds before they sprung it. At a large injunction of the sewer were 4 branches came to meet, rubble had been dropped from the roof, making a makeshift dam and effective obstacle. Maintenance walkyways on 2 of the walls gave the bandits clean lines of fire down much of the sewer branch they had come from, and the rubble made their spot a perfect one. As one they lept up and screamed firing a volley of fire, with two rockets adding their menacing glare to the gloom. His friends seemed to have slowed, everything seemed to have slowed. Robot took this time too evaluate his options. A quick calculation told him he had a nice and easy 3 seconds before the slow moving projectiles would reach there prespective destinations, more than enough for him to move out of the way and begin his counter offensive, but his friends were moving slower than the projectiles. That left him one option, though he felt a little uneasy about using it. Maybe because I don't if it will work or if IT even exsits, but I don't have a choice. I need these guys and they need me. He brought up his left arm, the one wearing the PIP Boy, and pictured a barrier filling the sewer passage, and then sent the force forward. At 0 seconds, the projectiles completed their journeys, pinging harmlessly on a invisible force the length of the walls in front of them. With a quick jerk of his neck, he sent the rockets on parrell reverse trajectories, which made quick work of the makeshift dam. Robot felt all of this as if a giant hand had reached into his body and tried to pull something out of his body, not quite succeeding, leaving Robot very drained. Falks and Stryder seemed just as stunned as the bandits, but thankfully almost falling just as quickly snapped them out of it. Robot then noticed a small red indicator in the corner of his eye, blinking insisently to get his attention. He willed it forward, and his heart sank. It was a small cylinder, spit into 3 segements. The bottom one was flashing, and then was gone, as did the world. The last words he saw were these:Low Battery! Sleep Mode activated....

Falks pulled Stryder up right then pushed Robot into a nitch in the sewer wall. He looked at Bob with a grin like the Cheshire Cat and said "Killing time"

He charged forward with his M4CQB levelled at the first raider he could see, A single shot sent him to the world beyond, Stryder let out a shout from behind him followed by a flurry of bullets that killed a bunch of Bandits sneaking up on Falks' left flank. When Henry looked back round he copped it in the face by a lump of 2b4 which sent him reeling back against the wall the raider wielding the lump of wood stepped forward and used it to pin Falks against the wall but he wasn't strong enough to maintain his advantage long as Henry pushed back wrestled the wood from the man and then beat him to death with it.

Scoring a gruesome victory like that made the two raiders still standing attempt to flee one of which ran strait into Bob's waiting knife and the other was tripped by the lump of 2b4 that Falk's had just thrown.

Henry sauntered over to the fallen Raider who was trying to get up and with one swift motion took his helmet off smacked the raider around the head and placed it back on.

"Not so fast... Buddy" said Falks
"Please man, please don't kill me" replied the raider
"Not today Buddy not today"
"What?" said Stryder
Henry raised a hand to his friend
"No. Today is your lucky day, Today you get to live"
"huh"
"But there is a catch"
"What's the catch"
"You go to the nearest raider camp and you tell them that Henry 'The Falcon' Falks is in the capital wastes and that he is coming for them. then If I were you I'd run like hell cause if I see you again you'll wind up like Woody over there" Falks said gesturing toward the mushy pulp that was once a Raider.

The man nodded got up and ran away.

"I haven't known you that long but you don't strike me as the kind of guy who gives a rats ass about the people" said Stryder
"Well you got that right Bob, But in my line o thinking people got a lot of shit to worry about like am I gonna die of radiation sickness cause I ate that can of Pork 'n' beans or am I gonna have my guts ripped out and ate by a rad scorpion so I say Henry you can kill raiders and your damn good at it too so why not go out and kill yourself a whole bunch of em loot their bodies for caps and bullets then go out and kill some more, get rich and earn a rep that in my neck of the woods gets people trembling whether they are Raiders or not. You see Im in it for me. It just so happens that more than me benefits a happy side effect if you will?"

Stryder nodded "I see your point, so what are we gonna do with this?" he said pointing at Robot

Falks pulled Robot under the light and looked it over.

"You know I think we got ourselves one of them Androids here, just with out all the synthetic skin" he said as he prided open a small panel on its back.

What Falks saw caused him to let out a whistle "This thing is powered by a solar battery"
"So it needs to be in the sun?"
"No, It needs heat or anything that generates heat"
"Right so we need to warm it up"
"Well look at that, Robot here has been running off an Energy Cell If I swap that out for a Microfusion Cell it should last longer" With that Falks switched the cells and closed the panel.
"Ok... Activate" he said Robot's LEDs started flashing and it stood upright. "Access application Diagnostic execute"
"Computing... Diagnostic complete system options set to Default" said Robot
"Access data Log entry play first Log"
"Computing... First Log Subject one 'We're going the wrong way' subject two 'So? Mutants!' subject one-"
"Stop" said Falks "Ah great, we are the first thing it remembers"
"Does that mean it has just been activated"
"No not really, I think its solar battery is turned off meaning it has been relying on the Energy Cell for power those things charge slowly over time but would deplete quickly and I think when the power runs out it forgets what it was doing, probably where it has been and what it is too"
"Can it be fixed?"
"Yeah" Falks turned back to Robot "Access system options List execute"
"computing... System options. Combat mode off, Self-preservation mode on, Thermal regeneration off, Fully automated self-activation and control off, IFF registry empty"
"Access Systems list all options on. access system Option IFF registry Falks Henry, Stryder Bob organic species Human set as Friend execute"
"Computing... complete"
"Rock on!"

And then the world was back. Falks and Stryder were both crouching in front of Robot, looking down, Falks with a small grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, Stryder looking at Ro...No, Me...funny and maybe just a tad misturstingly. Another red light blinked at his peripheral vision, giving Me a moment of doubt and uneasy, but I Pinged? it, and the message opened up. A list of diagnostic readouts and boot warnings scrolled down my vision, telling Me a small story about myself. I am GRG-001, better known as Garge 1 to my predecessors, and simply Garge to all others. I am for all intents and purposes a android, to the greatest and latest of my kind to be made. (All varients of VE manufacture start at 10 and go DOWN, 1 being the best.) Garge was on a mission, though what it was, he cannot tell, nor remember, though it could only be the most impossible kind to bring him out of hibernation. He had been running and Jumping? for days, though those activities alone should not have drained his power core so much as to cause a blackout like that unless....
"Greeting and thank you gentlemen Stryder and Falks for the reboot. To answer your earlier questions, I am a Android, my name is Garge, translated from GRG-001. Mister Falks, may I see the power core you removed from me?"
At the sudden outburst from Garge, Stryder had gone over backwards into the water, which he was now complaining about bitterly and with words best left unwritten. Falks however only broke into a full grin, handing over a object and shaking with suppressed laughter.
Odd, this is NOT my power core. Not good, I will need better than what I have to run properly, though even that is better than what I hold now. I can't believe I even had to use such a primitive piece of power. I will need to find more of everything to continue my Mission, including re-learning what my Mission is. I will need these gentlemen to help.
Standing up straight at a full 6ft, Garge flicked his arms, bringing down a shimmering shield that seemed to solidify into his skin, leaving him a pale, and when in the dark, slightly glowing complection.
"I thank you again gentlemen Falks. And I would like to apologize gentlemen Stryder, for causing you to fall, I did not mean it. I would like your help and any information you can give me about this world, year and any information you dub fit and in return I would like to offer you my services and companionship. Would this be agreeable?"

Slowly regaining the light of the world as Val opens his eyes with blurred vision. "Son of a bitch what the hell happened..." As his vision slowly clear, he pushed himself and and propped himself against the nearest wall. He looked around, and where he had been standing this morning was now a large hole in the floor as well at the window frame was gone.
"Damn good thing that raider didn't aim that thing any higher than he did. Oh my fuckin' head," and dug out a stimpak and went about injecting it.

Now back on his Feet, Val pulled out his silver pocket watch and checked the time. "2:35, I've been out at least six hours, Damn, I'll never catch up to those Slavers." He took a moment and admired the picture he fitted into the inside cover. It was a picture of a girl of similar age to him, "If I Weren't the guy I am you'd be so screwed," he said to himself. He collected his weapons, and went through his usual scavenging routines, found some more shotgun shells and various ammo and small firearms. He also grabbed any armor and weapons worth selling. Even examined the missile launcher, it was in surprisingly good condition for being in the hands of raiders, sadly it looked like the one missile was all they had. After debating on the weight and how much it would slow him down... but ultimately took it, the caps he would make of it would be worth it. He slung it over his back and went on his way. His pip-boy indicated there a was settlement only a couple miles Northeast of him. "Looks like the best place to resupply and sell this junk..."