Fallout: Total Wasteland

Chapters

Prologue
"Rude Awakenings"
"Preperations"
"Relics"
"Cold and Bitter"
"Witness"
"Benefits of Doubting"
"Cycles and Circles"
"Strange Bedfellows"

Prologue

Author's Note

This is yet another spinoff from Equestrian City. Any fan of the Heroverse knows Pinkie is adamantly a fan of a show called Total Wasteland. The show is a satire of the MLP fandom to a degree.

This however, is only loosely based on the show within a show concept in the Heroverse. That's why you'll see some familiar names.

As a old school fan of Fallout, I've used a bit of inspiration and sometimes plain homage and references to the world Knight lives in now. As such the world of Fallout and how it addresses sexuality and violence is turned on its side so shall this world.

So this is a project I decided to do for fun on the side. Don't expect full attention as given to Equestrian City or Side Streets, unless of course this takes off. :)

That being said….wake up!

Prologue

Prologue
By Darkmalcontent
Proofreads by Alisia

The gentle hiss of cryogenic frozen air escaped the nostrils of a resting man. A split second later he violently coughed out the new air to hit his lungs since his several hundred years of slumber. He wasn’t used to the taste. Snapping his brown chestnut eyes open, he grabbed at his throat and continued to cough violently. The man began panting while reaching to pull himself upright and out of the tube

A few people rushed forwards, causing the disoriented man to swing an arm wildly with a panicked noise. “Easy, easy,” a female voice interrupted while pulling the eager people back. “He's confused, remember? Let's give him space,” she said with her voice echoing in the man’s ears, barely audible. The blurred woman turned towards him and leaned forwards. “Can you hear me, Captain Knight?”

The man scanned around the room still in half a panic as the words began to clear up. “Captain,” she asked and he nodded despite not yet being fully focused on where each voice belonged. Tilting his head back, Captain Knight winced and shut his eyes tight from the blinding ceiling light. No doubt the years of ice forming in his soft tissue made it hard to use any of his senses. He nodded instinctively.

The grey toned male coughed another round of fresh air in and out of his lungs, his body slowly returning itself to full working order. Dressed in only a pair of grey trimmed, black boxer briefs, he stumbled out of the tube onto the cold tiled floor with his feet finding little stability. He grabbed hold of the nearby orderly or nurse, he didn't care who it was at the moment as he needed to steady himself, and quickly flashed of ingrained cyro training images in his head. The man grunted as he tipped over almost.

“Careful Captain. You’re not fully revived yet,” another woman said, this one on his left. “You need to sit back down.” The world slowly came into focus around him as her words rang in his ears.

“Where...what happened,” Knight asked gruffly, his vocal chords no better than the rest of his body. “What year is it?”

“Easy Captain, you need to focus on fully reviving. You are in a safe environment to do so,” the girl on his right said, her tone rather procedural and hardly that of a typical nurse tone. “It’s necessary after such a long slumber.”

That caught his attention though he wasn’t entirely sure why. Flashes of the past slammed into his brain, as well as a shooting pain in his right arm. Reaching over to it with his left, he realized why: it wasn’t there. Smooth and knitted flesh met his hand. The removal of it had been surgical, which meant it wasn’t an immediate concern. Though it did bother him why he didn’t know where it was.

“Easy, you’re fine. Your dimensions are being sent to R&D to get you augmented with a prosthetic limb,” the other nurse said. “Aloe, can you hold him for a second? I need to grab the data logs to make sure we aren’t missing any of his measurements.”

“I know what measurement I’d like to know,” Aloe said, a playful tone in her voice and a latex covered hand running over Knight’s toned, albeit scarred, abs.

“Hey,” the other girl snapped, slapping her partners hand. “Be professional. We’re here because they trust us.” the tone and the firmly planted heels leaving the room told Knight she was the more practical of the two.

“But we’re never really allowed any creature comforts down here, Vera,” the other girl, whose hot pink skin tone was slowly coming into Knight’s blurred vision as it recovered. “Fertility wouldn't mind if--”

“Yes. Yes they would,” Aloe snapped at Vera, walking back in with what appeared to be a clipboard in her bright blue hands. She sat down, the material of her outfit squealing as she put herself eye to eye with Knight.

She ruffled his bright orange two toned hair, its styling was half military standard and half simply unkempt due to his time in cyro. Shining a pen light into his eyes, she seemed satisfied and made several notations on her clipboard. “Who are you two...and where am I?” Knight finally croaked out, his voice returning to his lower bass tone.

“Captain, I’m Aloe. This is Vera,” the blue girl introduced herself finally, the semi medical attire she wore matching the antiseptic environment that he was becoming aware he was in. With vision slowly returning, his hearing was as well. “You’ve been asleep for two hundred years. There may be some complications due to such an extremely long sleep.” She continued, clicking her pen open again and scribbling, “what's the last thing you recall?”

Knight winced as she gave him such an info dump but nodded as it all made a small amount of sense. He focused on recalling the past and, as much as it was hurting, he felt more images starting to combine and make sense. Patches of gunfire, people screaming, explosions and alarms all raced around his head at once. Closing his eyes gently, he started putting things back in order.

“I’m...supposed to be here. Volunteer,” he started. “Military Engineering, 2nd company of…” he shook his head, losing that part of the memory. “I’m Captain Knight, military engineer.” He nodded, “lost my arm...said I’d be better frozen for the future than a cripple on the field of…” he shook the proverbial cobwebs from his head. “I don’t remember where I lived but a lot has changed.” He looked around at the technology around him, it was cobbled together and patched over older generations and models of the same type. Like a freight train hitting his brain, he saw flashes of a giant conflict involving nations and armies, tanks and planes and the final sound of an air raid siren ringing as he took a secure elevator down underground. “War.”

Aloe nodded. “Sadly, Captain Knight...” she leaned back. “War never changes.”

“That’s kinda catchy,” Vera said, rubbing her chin absently. “He got some of his biography right.”

Before Knight could say anything else, the far end doors to the room opened and the rapid echo of high heels touching the tiles filled his ears. Turning his gaze towards the door, he saw a yellow toned female and a pair of blue eyes looking directly at him as her lab jacket swayed back and forth. On the lapel, a nametag was sewn in with care reading “Shimmer”, the opposite side matching and several unrecognized logos on it to boot. “Is he damaged,” she asked coldly, coming to a halt in front of the two attending researchers and completely bypassing Knight. “Have you run a check on vitals?”

“Well hello to you too.” Knights sense of humor was slowly waking back up as well, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes Dr. Shimmer, he's in perfect condition,” Aloe said, nodding and bowing her head gently.

“I'll say he is,” Vera added.

“He's missing an arm...is that genetic? An accident?” Dr. Shimmer frowned and opened the clipboard with his name on it. Scanning through papers she still had not directly addressed him. “Ah. War veteran.” She closed the paperwork. “Can he hear me and understand me?”

“Yes. Yes he can,” Knight flatly said and raised his other eyebrow, now almost insulted.

Dr. Shimmer scoffed and looked him over slowly, tracing a finger over his amputated limb at the shoulder. “Have R&D fit him up with a mark 4.”

“Order is already in ma’am," Aloe said.

“Could somebody talk to ‘him’ he's feeling a bit like a chunk of meat here,” Knight finally said, shrugging at them all. “Give me the short version, doc.”

Shimmer put on a facade of a smile and leaned down to look Knight in the eyes. “Very well Captain. You've been asleep for two-hundred-seven years. The world population was devastated by an exchange of atomic weapons and we are the descendants of these fortunate enough to make it underground.” She stood back up and crossed her arms. “And to the best of my knowledge, which is considerable, you are our best hope the human race ever has on returning to the surface of the world.”

Knight stared at her in utter shock. “On second thought, maybe we should go into some details?” he finally said a fearful look creeping over his face.

End Prologue

"Rude Awakenings"

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

"Preperations"

Total Wasteland
Episode 2
"Preperations"
By DarkMalcontent
Proofs by Alisia

2287 (217 years post Great War)

CIT Ruins, Commonwealth Wasteland

Dash released a heavy sigh as she brushed a few rainbow colored strands out of her face. She rubbed her dry, itchy, bloodshot eyes with speckles of the sand she was subjected to, uncomfortably mixed with the irritated veins which were visible on the whites of her eyes. Shifting her position, Dash examined her surroundings that were off the main walkway utilized by the local merchants and rape gangs. Upon seeing no one, she pulled a crisp white box of smokes out of her dark, stained and dirty gear. She knocked the box against her leg, pulled out a wrapped stick and slipped the box back into hiding while pulling out a lighter in one fluid move. The wind quietly blew as she lit the marked end of the cigarette, took a long drag and propped her leg up to rest her arm, releasing the smoke. “Better not be late,” Dash grumbled, watching for the one which doubled as her employer as well as her lover to return.

“Wish he’d hurry it up,” she said softly after a few minutes, looking around casually for any trouble that might sneak up on her. She’d learned to keep an ear and an eye out after working as a Pit Fighter before she became entangled with Mal. The nights and sometimes even the days you had to be careful you weren’t jumped in the back of the warehouse bunk area and robbed, raped or both.

She narrowed her eyes as a flood of unpleasant memories swam through her mind as that last bit of knowledge fluttered away from her mind. She recalled a group of rough girls and even a male who cornered her in the back of the bunkhouse. Might of got me then, she thought, puffing another smoke ring in front of her. But I got them back. She smiled ever so slightly. “One by one.”

A sudden burst of air displacing caught her ear and she spun to be blinded by a flash of white light. Raising her iron sights of her carbine, she took aim, only to bring the sights down as she saw the source. Standing in front of the old CIT building and among the crumbling ruins that were left from the centuries old nuclear blast, was her current contract holder and bed partner, Mal. The bleed off of the displacement and lights still crackled around him as he turned his head towards her and laughed. “Kept you waiting, huh?”

“Was wondering what happened to ya.” She stood up, resting the carbine on her shoulder as she walked over to him. The leather straps of her armor creaked softly and hugged her slim and rather flat chested figure, rubbing against the ‘tactical’ shorts and holster top. The remaining exposed skin she showed off put her in contrast to the world around her. The dull blue skin didn’t mix well with the environment. The only real armor to be considered were on her arms, working and retrofitted military armor plates which had a symbol etched on them, the same as Mal’s chest plate.

Mal’s rebreather muffled his voice, but she could hear his chuckle. “I just bet you were.” He pulled a small sack that was slung from his right side and tossed it to her. “Here ya go. Fresh from Requisitions.”

Dash caught the sack awkwardly and some of the items spilled out, several packs of cigarettes and a set of vials marked “Psycho”. Quickly gathering them up, she began stripping the items out and putting them into various empty pockets of her leather armor. “Damn good thing too, I was nearly out.” She smiled, happy to be paid. “What’s the job this time, love?”

Mal jumped over a pile of rubble and down to her level of the ruins, grunting softly and pulling his mask off to hang loose. “Oh you’ll love it. We get to deal with Raiders.” He pulled a smoke out himself and lit it with an old but sturdy looking flip top lighter. The etching on the side read “Vault 76”, though it was starting to wear down. “Not just any though, these ones can think.” He puffed a brief cloud of smoke and motioned for her to follow him.

“Smart Raiders, eh?” Dash said, somewhat hesitant to put the words together. “Seems like oxy...er…”

“Moron,” Mal finished her sentence, smiling at the double usage.

“Yeah, that's it.” She narrowed her eyes a moment but kept walking, their boots disturbing rocks a bit as they started to clear the meeting place. She wasn’t much for book learning, most of the lessons she learned in life were the hard way, and she didn’t like being talked down to. She made an exception for most of Mal’s antics for a few reasons, most of them material based. Dash ignored his insult and kept a somewhat decent smile on her face. “We’re heading West? I take it the Theme park is where we’re going?”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you with me.” He smirked at her, looking her up and down. “Aside from you having a nice arse.”

“We’d move quicker if you kept your eyes off it as much as you do.” Dash smiled back, half teasing. She didn’t mind the attention, mainly because he was the first male that didn’t just attack her on sight or was dumber than a box of rocks. Having one take a shining to her was a blessing in the Wasteland, not to mention his ties to the ever-so-secret-slightly-terrifying Institute technology. Making their way to what was left of a main highway, they kept a decent pace. “Why couldn’t we just zap our way over there?”

“Complicated reason, it’s a nice day anyway.” He knocked ashes from his cigarette. “Besides, you always said you didn’t mind hoofing it as long as there was something exciting at the end of the road,” he finished.

“Aye, I did.” She kept two paces behind him now, bodyguard mode kicking into her brain. “Suppose I should just shut my trap.”

He chuckled and walked on, reading several messages on his pipboy as they cleared the ruins. “Not a bad idea. I'll let ya know when I need your mouth.”

An uneasy silence began between the two, until finally he turned on his radio and the gentle sounds of swing music filled their immediate area.

***

“Ok, I literally just finished chapter 1.” Knight stood in shock at Shimmers revelation. “I can't simply go out into this world you've described with as little data as I've been given.”

“I wasn't asking you, male.” Shimmer sat down at her desk and shuffled papers, her gaze down at her work. “You've got until my innoculations are approved by the directorate to familiarize--” a loud ringtone interpreted them and Shimmer turned to face her monitor. “Yes what is it?”

“Priority summons from the Director.” Maud said flatly, the screen switching to a darkened board room.

“Dr. Shimmer,” a distorted yet distinctly female tone sounded from the monotone speakers. “Your request for Surface Work has been reviewed and the Directorate has declined it.”

Shimmer’s look of shock was apparent, followed by one of anger, calm and collected, but anger nonetheless. “Director, my expertise will be vital to--”

“Your expertise is vital to the work here.” The voice cut in and sternly reminded her. “However, you will be able to keep in touch with your surface operatives. We’ve been in contact with Advanced Systems and they are sending over a communications solution for you.” The eyes of the shadowy figure narrowed. “You will comply or face expulsion. That is all.”

Shimmer sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, leaning back in her chair and taking in all she’d heard. She barely remembered she had a guest until Knight shifted in place. Perking up she tried to maintain some semblance of authority and began to shuffle papers. “You'll be working for me. Your first order of business is to acclimate yourself to your new surroundings. After that you're to head to this area.” She handed him a crudely drawn map. “There you'll find what scouts have insisted is a dead vault.”

“Dead you say?” Knight asked unsure if he wanted further clarification.

“Hopefully not in the literal sense but no communication or movement has been seen, yet scouting parties report the main vault door has been opened. No contact, just a few ghouls.” Shimmer replied, looking at Knights arm. “I see your tissue is not rejecting the arm.”

“Fits like a glove.” He rotated his new appendage. “So to speak. Fascinating technol--”

“It's quite advanced so please don't monkey with it too much. I'm sure as a man you have urges but I suggest you find some local infertile to get your jollies.” Shimmer interrupted, looking down at another folder. “Once you’re at the vault, procurement of resources is your own problem.”

Knight paused as she interrupted him and any ease he felt vanished and was overtaken by the awkwardness of her seeming disdain for him based solely on gender. “What is it I’m supposed to procure for, Doctor?” his final word filled with as much venom as he could.

“Your first directive, agent, and I use that term loosely, is to stabilize power, water and of course food and basic shelter issues. After that, you are to begin retrofitting the existing structure to become a working settlement.”

“I'm building a town?” he raised an eyebrow.

“You're doing as you’re told you--” she closed her eyes and smiled, seemingly clearing her anger away. “You are lying down infrastructure for phase two. You'll be part of this entire project from start to finish so I'll give you a bit more latitude and trust I would any surface operative,” she continued. “As the tapes you were supposed to listen to told you, the current population projections are not looking very good. Overall we’re dying. Both above and below ground.”

“But your Fertility department has a fix for that?” he asked.

“We hope so.” She adjusted her lapel slightly. “At least ninety percent of the remaining population above is female. Of the ten percent that is male, only five percent are none feral.” She turned in her chair to face him directly. “Of that five percent only three percent are educated. Which means you being--”

“An engineer, combat efficient and speaking in complete sentences makes me enticing to anyone,” he concluded. “Or a valuable asset..er target.”

“Yes. Which is why I'm taking a great risk. The collective mentality was to simply hook you up to a milking farm and try to squeak out a few more generations with your DNA. I had a more grand solution.” She turned back and pulled a folder from a pile and opened it.

“Well. Thanks for not turning me into some sort of commodity?” he said a bit leery. “What's your solution?”

“It’s fairly complex but what we're doing here lays the groundwork for it.” She laid a graph out on the table. “Basically we know most of the male data is correct. We need to find a reasonable data pool that defines the female fertility numbers I postulated. If we can get both those, I can start to move forward on stage three.”

“Which is?” he asked inquisitively.

“Not a concern now.” Shimmer snapped to him, crossing her arms defiantly. “You need to get down there, secure the site, cleanse it and report back to me.” She flipped her hair out of her eyes as she finished. “Is that clear?”

He paused for a moment, all his training made him want to simply answer immediately, but the military side of him was conflicted with the human side. Part of her plan made sense, but there was a nagging feeling he couldn’t get away from. Still, he couldn’t quite figure out what she was hiding. Finally he snapped his head up and nodded to her. “Yes Ma’am,” he finally said, a firm tone of respect he’d not been using summoning up in his words. “When and how do I leave?”

Shimmer smiled. “Better. I like this. You’ll leave as soon as Advanced Systems gives you what you’ll need to stay in contact.” She tossed him a holotape. “Load that in and follow the map to their wing, male.” She sat down and pulled a folder up, beginning to thumb through reports. “You’ll hear from me soon enough, dismissed.”

A tone of familiarity swept over him, like the warm embrace of a lone, lost lover as she addressed him. Her tone and inflection was more to what he was trained to receive, though he had to admit, her lack of respect for him still nagged at him. It was clear she didn't like men, which wasn’t a problem for him in general. He’d met plenty of men and women in his tour of duties that preferred the company of their gender, or even both genders at once. This dislike from her was more personal he felt, intense or both.

As he mused on all this, he followed the map leading to the Advanced Systems wing and stopped just outside it’s doors. The identification terminal took longer to approve him than he cared for, the nervousness of the automated laser turrets pointing at him finally relaxed as the doors parted and he was granted access, sealing behind him as he walked through them.

The same sanitary environment the entire facility before was present, though must more of the interior was used for large consoles. Each console had a flurry of work flipping across monitors and automated tasks working on them, each themselves with blinking lights as they calculated their tasks. Several technicians and other scientists were too engrossed with taking down their data on their clipboards to notice him as he took several steps in, the doors closing behind him with a soft rubber on metal contact.

One scientist looked up and seemed somewhat startled, turning to her left and walking into another room, she called out to someone he couldn’t see. “Ma’am, the male is here.”

“Bothersome timing, but alright, I’ll be there in a moment.” A clearly annoyed voice said in the distance. The clicking of heels on the marble floor echoed as the annoyed women came into view, her lavender hair in a bun and a set of sticks holding it in place. Dark rimmed glasses were pushed up as she lifted her gaze from her work to notice Knight. “Ah. You must be the male. We’ve heard alot about you.”

“I have a name.” Knight raised an eyebrow. “Knight, Doctor..?” he left the sentence hanging hoping to engage her a bit more personally.

“I’m in charge of Advanced System. Dr. Twi Li.” She said somewhat flatly, turning on her heel. “Follow me, male.”

Knight sighed and walked behind her, his arm twitching a bit as the connections to his flesh and machinery fired wrong. “Gah.” He held onto the side of it, walking quickly.

“Do be careful with that. It’s the most advanced prosthetic we have.” Dr. Li said, turning at a small island inside her lab space. “Give me your Pipboy. I’m told to give you teleportation codes.” She reached her hand out expectantly. She seemed less than thrilled as she brought his human arm down to the table and opened the back paneling with a small flat tool. “Hold still please,” she asked, noticing his body moving still.

“Sorry, Doc, it’s the arm, must still be getting tuned.” Knight said as he did his best to hold still, a flexing of his muscles in his real arm to hold it still, even as another jerk nearly hit a set of standing beakers on the table. “Dammit.”

“There’s no need for course language.” Twi commented as she installed a flat chip into a hollow slot on his device. “No one else but the security forces get these. THAT should tell you how special you’re being treated.” She scolded him as she replaced the paneling and turned to look at his arm. Frowning at something she saw, she picked up another tool and popped open his shoulder plating without another word.

“Hey careful!” He startled as she opened his paneling.

Twi didn’t respond as she dug around inside, the small wiring harness popping out as she did. “Here’s the issue. Whoever set this in didn’t change the interface. It’s meant for a female.” She flipped several small pins and a set of jumpers. Picking up a small needle nose plier, she dug in and hit something that made the arm go dead weight.

“Hey! “ Knight startled as his limb went limp. “What are you--”

“Calm down, no wonder the world is the way it is. The male sense of savage is one thing to read, another to behold.” She touched the same place again with the tool and it came back to life. “There, it should work better. Well, as well as for someone of your gender.” She clicked the paneling back into place and pushed her glasses up.

“Your bedside manner is amazing, Doctor.” Knight said, his arm flexing as it booted up. “Thank you. However, it feels more real.” He smiled at her. “The chip too, I assume I just enter in x and y coordinates and away we go?”

Raising an eyebrow, the doctor seemed impressed if only for a moment. “No, map coordinates aren’t needed. I’m surprised you can read those. But there’s a series of hot spots we have security teams teleport to across the Wasteland.” She pulled up his mapping tool on the device. “You need but to select one and the sequence begins when you press teleport.” She canceled out the program. “When you’re ready that is.”

“Fascinating. How were you able to re-assemble a whole person? I can understand a simple object, but--”

“It’s far too advanced to even pity you with a break down. Rest assured we’ve had no mishaps since the new system update two years ago.” She shivered as she referred to the incidents.

“Incidents?”

“Your mapping system can add all sorts of hot spots, we’ve just never been interested enough to flesh out a system of different teleportation markers. Don’t use it too much, like you, it’s memory is limited.” She walked over and picked up a clipboard. “Off you go.”

“Thanks again.” He hesitantly said, feeling more and more like a lesser being as he turned and strolled passed several ogling technicians and other personnel. Taking a left as he exited Dr. Li’s lab, he walked out of the wing and past the doors, their seal sounding behind him.

***

Abandoned Scrapyard - West of Fort Hagen

“Ya hold onto that thing pretty close. Is that a souvenir?”

Mal looked up from the flickering fire, the flames just starting to grow to a adequate size when the question hit him. The item in question, a flip top lighter with the Vault 76 emblem on it. He closed it with a simple gesture and leaned back, staring at Dash through the growing fire. “Looking for a bedtime story?”

“Ha, not likely. This works out pretty much the same. You'll eat. We'll fuck. We'll be back on the road after I get some shut eye.” Dash smirked, no hatred coming off of her but clearly it wasn't genuine adoration either. “All part of the deal.” She lit a stick match and puffed on a new smoke. “Mmm much better.” She blew a ring of smoke up in the air as she brushed her bangs free of her bloodshot eyes.

Mal's eyes stared at her still, their purple glowing color accenting his mutated split irises. “Not like I need sleep as much as you.” He kept staring as he continued, bringing the lighter to view.

“Old. That's for sure. Just like you if your to be believed.” Dash mentioned, looking down at the trinket. “What are ya 200 years old?”

“247.” He corrected her. “I was 20 when I entered Vault 76.” He spun the brass and gold plated lighter casually. “You know a bit about Vault Tec yourself I've noticed.”

“Not a lot. Don't get into that egghead stuff. But I do know they were not what they were supposed to be. Those vaults were nothing but giant tombs for evil experiments.” Dash knocked an ash off next to the log she was sitting on, a distant frog making a croaking sound as she did. Turning to look at it hop by, it stopped and warmed itself by the fire. “While you all were cherry in them air conditioned vaults, the world turned into this. Those that made it out were scarred and not just on the outside.”

“Partially correct.” Mal acknowledged her with a smile. He leaned back on the stump he had chosen to perch on and picked up his backpack, rummaging through it. “The vaults for the most part were awful. Immoral experiments from sound manipulation to isolation studies. Radiation experiments and virus study on unknowing victims. All to find out the answer to those two burning words: what if?” he unrolled a sleeping bag and laid it straight on the ground.

“And you were a what if?”

“No my lovely Dash.” He zipped his pack up and set it to the stump next to him securely. “I was in what was called a control vault. No experiments. After all, you can’t compare results without some normal folks to compare them to when all is said and done.” Mal pushed his glasses up his nose slightly and smiled. “No, this lovely result you see is the result of over exposure and a new radioactive shielding drug.”

“Seems it worked. You're alive.” Dash started, nibbling on a pack of mole rat jerky she had pulled from a pocket on her skimpy harness. “‘Cept the eyes.”

“Regardless. I didn't start out like this nor did I get it from a vault experiment. Rather I left my vault on time as we should have.” He leaned back and smiled at the stars. “Vault 76 was filled with the biggest and brightest the country had to offer. We were to rebuild the world from the ashes. I was chosen because they knew civil disobedience and counter insurgency was going to be a problem no matter what scenario played out.” He looked back across to Dash. “So they chose me. Top of my class in law enforcement and military police training. Then I focused on special forces programs.”

“I take it the world wasn’t as primed and ready for rebuilding?” Dash stood up and took off her gloves and tossed them aside, tying her hair back in a sloppy ponytail for the evening’s activities.

“There’s a reason I like you. Just smart enough to keep up.” Mal smiled, his fangs just barely present as he did. In turn to her disrobing, he began to shed his top layer, his jacket going first and his gloves next as he made room for her next to him.

“So ya make it out, world is a mess, you just give up?” Dash moved next to him, unbuttoning her pants and a few latches on her chest harness, revealing more skin then previous to her lover.

“Not precisely. You see, the world was more of a mess then we thought, but after a while, I made due with the tools I found. Made it to an old bunker where the computer system was more then willing to help me reactivate a series of new resources.” Mal continued, pulling at Dash’s pants and then her harness, looking over her scarred but still reasonably flawless body. The smallest hint of ab muscles glistened with sweat as she grew closer.

“Oh yeah?” she smirked. “Robot overlords?” she sat down as she pulled herself to his lap. Straddling him, she gave him a kiss on the neck, slowly making her way down to his exposed chest.

“That would have been more helpful.” He laughed softly, his hands roaming up her back, tracing over the scars from what he could only guess was a massive bladed weapon. It had healed poorly, but it wasn’t really a problem. To him, she still had all the things that mattered to him. “No, they were automated nuke silos. Handy as hell. Once fired, they restocked and rebuilt another missile in hours.”

“Wait..what?” Dash leaned back, shocked and slightly offended. “You mean YOU were firing more nukes off AFTER they fucked up the world?!” she huffed, almost moving to get up, had his hand not grabbed her bare bicep, circling it and keeping her in place.

“Don’t you try to pace judgement, Dash. You’ve been hopped up on chems and sleeping with people for thrills and caps most of your life,” he reminded her. “That is when you weren’t beating the living crap out of people for more chems and caps?” he cocked an eyebrow as his words hit home and she eased up a bit. “Besides, you didn’t let me finish.”

Dash gave a long stare at him and her face relaxed, though if it was because she was interested, or was being paid to be, was hard to tell. “Keep going.”

He pulled her closer with his Pipboy set for proximity alert to keep them from being ambushed as their foreplay continued. “There was a greater purpose. The world was doing fine, rebuilding itself. That was until something else happened upon the world: The Scorched.”
“Never heard of’em.” She said absently, leaning forward and nibbling at his ear. “Sounds like a buncha hopped up raiders.”

“Raiders would have been easier.” He grinned as the nerve endings in his ear fired as she worked her mouth over his lobe. “But this plague was responsible for wiping out most everyone who had begun to rebuild. Raider, Responder, Settler, it didn’t care. All it did was consume, turning you into one of them or simply killing you.” He tilted his head to give her access to the other side, his hands running down to her sides and to her firm ass, giving it a squeeze. “Long story short, the generals of these things, huge giant bats, would breed underground until they’d overrun caverns and break through to the surface.” He grunted as she bit slightly harder than he liked, his response being to tug on her ponytail.

“So where do the nukes come in?” she asked between kisses, her own hands running down his equally scarred back and shoulders.

“There were only so many points they’d force themselves up to break through. Ground was softer or something, I don’t know why it only worked in some places.” Mal undid his belt and unzipped his pants between them, pushing her hand down into the waistband.

“Ah. So you’d blast them as they came..up and out?” she asked, teasing as she grabbed worked around in his now open pants.

“Almost.” He grunted, shifting his weight. “Nukes were used to collapse the breaks in the ground they pushed through, seal them shut for a time.” He gave a louder gasp at her activities.

“Mmmmhmmm.” Dash smiled, enjoying the semi control she was able to hold over him, ever so briefly. “So you beat the scorched and saved the entire world? Doesn't explain those eyes.”

“Not exactly. Long story short, running clean up on the nuke zones is not the safest of things, but a needed activity to collect samples to learn more about them. Collected enough over time to help turn the tide.” He leaned back and looked down at his companion. “Course, I also spent enough time in the radiation to get a few..unwanted gifts. The side effects you see before you, among other things. Helped kill the queen beast too, but that's another story for another time.” He stood up and disrobed the final bits he needed to. “Let's get to what we know will speed the night along for you. No doubt you’d like to sleep?”

“Hopeless romantic.” Dash shook her head, staring up as he disrobed. Pulling off her harness and the last of her clothing, she perched on her knees in front of him. “Fine by me.”

***

“Well that just left a bad taste in my mouth.” Knight said softly as he walked along the curved hallways of the Institute. The subtle water trickling of the artificial environment whispered into his ears. The sudden alert tone on his PipBoy snapped him back to focus again. “Knight here.”

“Has your chip been installed?” Shimmer asked over the speaker, a gentle crackle sounding with it.

“Chip installed. I'm on my way back.”

“Don't bother. I've sent the solution to my inability to be topside with you your direction.” She answered back quickly. “You'll no doubt need some provisions and weaponry. She’ll take you to the quartermaster and then you two are to jump out immediately.”

“Whose this teammate?” he asked curiously, his footsteps slowing down as he remained focused on the PipBoy screen. The spectrograph moving in time with Dr. Shimmers voice.

“S-537. Generation 3 synth. You'll be able to sort things out as she’s got a very detailed set of programs to run and will be whom you report to get to me.” The stern reminder in her tone made him stop in her tracks. “She’s got an experimental long range transmitter we’ll use to communicate to you when it’s needed. You listen to any and all directives as if they were..” she laughed softly. “As if I were standing there giving them to you.”

After a brief pause Knight nodded. “Yes ma'am. Knight out.” He switched the relay off on his Pipboy and sighed. “That's all I need, they might as well shove a leash up my-”

“Pardon me.” A voice interrupted him with an almost delicate tone compared to Dr. Shimmer. “Are you Operative Knight?”

Turning to the voice, Knight immediately widened his eyes and stared at the generation 3 synth before him. Dressed in a lab coat with reinforced stitching and several other modifications for cross country travel, was a girl no more than his age. More distracting was the obvious fact that her appearance was a young but still remarkably identical version of Dr. Shimmer.

“I'm to be utilized by you for the rest of my life span.” She said, calmly extending a hand.
“I'm S-537. But the lab gave me the name ‘Sunset’.”

Author's Note

We strive for a mixture of satire, comedy and total drama island like atmosphere when we write ;)

Stay tuned for more and comment away!

"Relics"

Total Wasteland
Episode 3
“Relics”
by
DarkMalcontent
Proofs and Polish by Alisia

Exterior of Vault 88, Quincy Quarry - 2287

Popping open a small plastic pouch from his belt pouch, Knight pulled out a single pill with the word “RADX” written on it’s side. Looking it over for half a second for damage, he popped it into his mouth and dry swallowed it with a distasteful grumble coming from him as he did. “Never get used to these things.”

“They are pretty vital.” Sunset, or S-537, said in response. “Thankfully I don’t have to use any myself.” She walked with him, hauling her own small bag of supplies on her right shoulder, the re-enforced lab coat fluttering as they walked.

“Must be nice.” Knight responded, stepping over a series of destroyed blocks of quartz that had been weathered with age. “Not having to worry about radiation. It was the first and most important thing I was taught in survival classes.” He offered a hand to help her over the debris.

“No doubt. Radiation is very dangerous to a fully organic life form.” Sunset smiled as she leapt down from the long drop, landing with ease and no apparent need for his help. “But I was referring to the fact it’s better for YOU that I don’t. I’m not good as a burden and less RADX for you makes our chances of success drop.” She kept walking, somewhat indifferent to his offer.

“Right.” He adjusted his shoulder sling on his rifle and stepped to catch up, the Geiger counter on his Pipboy ticking a bit more persistently. “Seems like we’re getting close. Intel said Vault 88 was built into the side of a rock quarry, but the rock quarry…” he said, looking up and sighing at the landscape. Littered with orange and white barrels all with the hazardous material warning on them lay strewn about, some even still leaking and broken. “...Was also like so many other places...a waste dump towards the end of the war.”

“Strange.” Sunset widened her eyes. “Why would a world that needed basic building materials like one would get from a quarry contaminate their own supplies like this?” she jumped down a dangerous distance and landed easily again, her exterior shell much more durable despite it’s seemingly normal skin.

“Towards the end, if I remember correctly...” Knight leapt down and grunted, falling forward into her arms as he lost his footing. Surprised but thankful he stood up, using her as a steady point. “Thanks.” He dusted himself off. “Towards the end, they were running out of places to store the stuff. The side effect of using nothing BUT nuclear power.”

“I’ll say.” Sunset replied bluntly. “The byproduct of all the extraordinary energy had to be stored somewhere. It makes--” she turned her head towards a distant doorway built into the rocks.

“Yeah,” he simply responded, the plasma rifle on his back coming to bear as he crouched down and stared at the same place. Having both heard the movement, their weapons were already primed, her Institute laser pistol ready.

Knight didn’t have the same systems at his disposal as his teammate did. He was flesh and bone for the most part save a cybernetic right arm. The old training from his military service never really went away. Despite being seen as a lesser soldier being an engineer, he still had the training to keep himself alive if need be, and it had kicked in just as his companions sensors had.

A battle cry that sounded like a guttural growl came from the doorway. At the same time a grenade came flying from up apong on the rocks. Several raiders, all dressed in mismatched and scavenged clothing, popped from the doorways along the side and began firing at the two travelers.

“Grenade!” Knight shouted, racing forward and diving behind a set of rattling catwalk railing for cover. At the same time he glanced back to see Sunset moving the opposite way, out of instinct no doubt, and into the line of fire. She paid little mind to the several shots on the ground in front of her as they were both firing wildly towards the raiders. “Down, get behind something!” he shouted, pulling up the smart sight on his rifle.

Sighting several up top on the ridge of the rocks, he tagged two of them with bursts of fire, the plasma rounds hitting them in the chest and shoulder. The burning continued and sent them to the ground howling in pain before they fully expired. The third one he shot exploded in a flash as the round hit dead on and the attacker turned to a bubbling pile of green plasma residue.

Several rounds hit near Knight’s shoulder, making him recoil for cover, giving him a moment to check on Sunset again. She was firing wildly, which wasn’t very helpful from her place behind a abandoned trailer. Peeking from behind his rocky cover, he spied a set of four, including one in power armor, or what passed for it in raider terms. Welded plates and rigged up armor sheets covered the apparent leader’s chassis.

“Look out, that one’s the problem you morons!” she yelled, coming to the same conclusion Knight had of her, the voice emitting from a crackling speaker. A long armor plated finger pointed at his location as she shouted new orders. “Kill that fucker, NOW!”

Knight narrowed his eyes as he saw the remaining gang turn their attention towards him. Ducking back as a new salvo of pipe rifle and rifle rounds glanced off the rocks, kicking up dust and knocking off more and more rocks from his cover. Turning his plasma rifle’s dial to full auto, he leaned the barrel out and started firing suppression fire at the main cluster of his attackers. Most shots went wild and hit nothing but the ground or remaining structures, but one shot as luck would have it rang true and struck a support strut on the last few sets of catwalks above two of the raiders. Before they could react, the heavy barrels of radioactive material crushed them both, their cries cut short as the entire overhang went down.

“Starky and Bill are--” the last girl said, her leader cutting her short with a shove towards Knight’s location.

“Shut up and flush him out, but don’t kill him. He’ll be useful.” The raider in power armor chuckled deviously, her intentions clear with her tone.

“Oh good, that’s what I need.” Knight leaned back in and spoke under his breath while reloading a new plasma cartridge into the butt of his rifle. Pulling the slide back the main receiver whined back to life as he turned back, sighting down his rifle to the pair of now vanished attackers. “Shit.”

“Aww what’s the matter, lost me?” a taunting voice said, the sound of approaching footfalls above him sending his glance upwards. The non armored girl dropped down on him, barely missing his neck with her handmade blade, sparks flying as it connected to the rocks. “Hold still you piece of meat!”

Knight moved quickly to keep alive, ducking back from another slice from the girl, letting out a grunt of his own. Backhanding her with his real hand, his rifle went flying behind her, leaving him with just close quarters combat. Glancing toward Sunset, he couldn’t see her, but those were the least of his worries as the raider engaged again, her blade missing his side and grazing his fake arm, sounding a dull metal on metal echo.

“Some sorta freak show, ain’t ya?” she grinned widely. “That's ok, meat don’t need to have all it’s parts, just what's between those legs.” She slashed and then tackled him into the rocky cliff, knocking the wind out of him nearly. “GOT YA!”

Knight grunted and tried to recover, his footing failing him and sending him sliding down to the ground. Looking up he groaned as the girl hit him square in the chest, stunning him. Coughing in response, he kicked her own legs down and her body twisted midfail. The sickening sound of her own blade impaling her in the chest brought her sounds to an end. “I've heard of aggressive come ons but that's a bit too much.” He sat up and dusted himself off.

Rolling to stand up properly he reached his plasma rifle, stopping short of picking it up as a shotgun cocked loudly above him. The leader held a modified combat shotgun, aimed down on him from an elevated position just to his left.

“Dont worry handsome. I'll be gentle.” Her voice crackled and then she chuckled. Her loud steps in the power armor echoing on the catwalk. Moving towards him she trained her sights carefully, the gridiron improvised shielding she’d welded to the chest barely giving anyone a fair shot at her face from below. “Now that you finished off my girls, seems it's only fair I take their fair share of your ass for myself.”

“Ya think that's entirely smart?” Knight raised his hands and stared up at her. “Males must really be useful if you could lose a whole squad and still only worry about me.” He kept her talking as he eyed up the catwalk supports. They looked as decrepit as the rest but he would need his rifle.

“You should really shut up.” The power armor creaked a moment as she changed her position. “I'm going to take my time with you. Really enjoy myself. Been too long since I've had a good-” A series of three shots rang from behind the leader, causing her to freeze in place.

“Fuck!” she cursed as her power armor whined in protest. The fusion core Sunset had shot free falling to the ground and leaving her almost entirely immobile. She still had enough energy to open fire at Knight however. The first shot hit him square in the real shoulder, sending him spinning and out of the rest of her few desperate shots. The helmet of the armor popped open as a safety precaution and the alarms alerted the raider her armor was on empty now.

“Told ya you shouldn’t have been focusing on me.” Knight grunted, his roll to his rifle causing him untold amounts of pain with the buckshot in his shoulder. Despite the anguish, he lined up a sloppy shot and fired at the support struts of the catwalk sending the last threat into the radioactive water.

“You fucking asshole. I'll kill you I’ll-” was all her final screams could muster as the catwalk pinned her exit valves on her armor and drug her beneath the water. A maelstrom of displacement bubbles surfaced as the useless armor that was the raiders tomb sunk out of sight.

Knight relaxed and grunted as he tried to stand, surprised at how quickly Sunset had made it to him to help. “Easy, Knight. I've got ya,” she said, helping him hobble to the edge of the water.

The bubbles lessened and finally a few final ones were all that came up as the raider inevitably drowned in her suit. Knight pulled out a stimpak and shoved it into his arm that had taken the hit, the healing slow but steady as it knotted back together. “Nice shot.” He smiled at her.

“Thank you. I was waiting for the perfect moment.” Sunset responded as she helped him into the doorway they originally stopped at. “Looks like some raiders had made camp before we arrived.”

“No kidding.” He chuckled at her statement. “Nothing we couldn’t handle.”

“Nah.” She smiled at him and kept holding him up with remarkable strength. “Nothing at all.”

Holstering his rifle a bit more securely, Knight walked straight passed the walled single makeshift rooms and into the back where a community room made by the raider’s sat, then he checked the map on his Pipboy. Looking around to oriente himself, he finally turned sharply left and stared at a bookcase. “There. Behind that.”

Sunset reluctantly let him walk towards the hidden entrance, his stimpak working the wonder it was supposed to on his injuries, and began to help him move the shelve. Heavier than it looked, the two grunted while the wood strained as it shoved aside and revealed a large open cavern entrance. Dusting off his hands, Knight pushed a button on the side of his Pipboy. A shoulder mounted flashlight rose, coming to life and lighting up the way in front of him. “Stay behind me. Any other crazed rapists come at us, it’ll be me they come after.”

“You mean raiders?”

“Same difference it seems,” he said gruffly, aiming his rifle in front of him with the green piping on the side flashing ready.

“Are you alright?” she hesitantly asked as interaction with humans clearly was not her forte. She received nothing but silence as his figure disappeared into the shadow of the cave. The uncertainty of human interaction was one of the few handicaps Sunset had. Searching her database of information, she noticed her companion leave her sight and quickly moved to catch up as the darkness overtook Sunset’s figure as well.

The footsteps were their only company for the moment until the two came to a halt as the catwalk they were on creaked and strained with age.”Uh oh.” Knight said softly.

“Corrosive agents present, coupled with decades of wear. We need to watch our step. You especially.” Sunset commented, stepping more precisely on the flooring. “I could take a fall. You might be able to.”

“Noted.” Knight said, replacing his bold steps with delicate motions as his destination came to within reach: A mounted door control console with a security plate over the main coupler firing switch. Layers of dust pushed aside to reveal a link port to open it. “Ah ha. Here we go,” he said softly, his shoulder lighting moving a bit erratic as he shifted in place to unlock an analog linking wire from his pipboys rear panel. Tugging the cord out for some slack, he blew another puff of dust from the port and finally linked in.

“Universal interfaces.” Sunset mentioned, looking around the cavern slowly. “Handy and quaint.” she slowly opened her own light around, a simple hand tool with the institute logo. “These look like weapons fire. Looks like someone tried to open this door before.”

Knight’s face was glued to his Pipboy display as she spoke to him. “No doubt the automated defenses cut them down. Thankfully I'm bypassing those now. No doubt the synth scouts had a similar bypass or we’d not have got any info--” a massive set of gears and motors began moving in the distance finally. “-at all.”

Several more jarring sounds filled the rocky cavern, each louder and more complex in their interaction. The massive inner workings of the vault’s door was coming back to life with the motors of the main interlocking arm gripping the door, echoing in their ears. Finally with a groan of metal on metal, the huge cog like door pulled itself free and slid to the side, bathing the two in yellow flashing lights from inside. The final crunch of the door sang as it came into its final resting place, fading from Knight’s ears signaled him to start his decent down from the ledge. “Alright, let's get down there.”

“Already on it. Reading radiation levels higher than normal but not life threatening, Knight.” Sunset already had her counter out and its needle twitched ever so slowly as she said that. “Recon reported same levels. No apparent changes.” She continued as the catwalk up to the massive entryway groaned under her movement. Several sets of footprints in ages worth of dust were the only signs of life. “No one but the recon team has been through here,” she informed in a manner-of-fact tone as she stared down at the dust.

“Why do you say that?” Knight asked as he hurried in behind her, his shoulder light beam dancing around carelessly as he navigated the catwalks. “Can you tell shoe size?” he joked.

“Yes.” Sunset replied and stared a moment longer, a subtle twisting in her irises gave the slightest hint of her internal processors working. “Not to mention depth of dust and the slight stagger XJ-71 has.” She stood up straight and continued through to the main lobby and screening area.

Knight silently gave a wider eyed expression as she continued to impress him. “Makes me wonder why I'm even here,” he said softly, his boots kicking up dust bunnies as he looked around the ceiling. “Structural damage is...damn near zero,” he commented, the engineer in him coming to the surface.

“For all my database and software, the one thing I lack is the more chaotic nature of the human brain.” Sunset answered as she kept moving forward, picking up a overturned table and setting it straight. “I could easily clean this place up. But I couldn’t do what needs to be done with it without your expertise.”

“Not sure why not. I learned from teachers who learned from books.” He twisted in place and checked the wiring that was hanging loosely from a ceiling panel. “Hmm. May need new conduit in some places. Something's been chewing on that.” He made mention offhand, startled as he turned to face Sunset who had silently returned to mere inches from him.

“Books and technical manuals can have uses.” The light in her hand disappearing as she conserved its powercell. “But no one still alive has had any field experience in over two hundred years. For you, it was days ago, perception wise.”

Knight felt a chill run down his spine as she reminded him of the utterly incredible situation he was in. He was, for all intents and purposes, the last engineer upward and mobile for a hundred miles. Based on what Dr. Shimmer had said he was the only intelligent male for hundreds of miles too. He shook off that creeping lonely feeling and went back to assessing. “Well let's get to the power room. Fusion generator should be hot still.” Knight cleared his throat and walked down a hallway to the left of the screening room they were in. “Be careful. Who knows what sort of ghosts are still here,” he said jokingly.

***

Appalachia Commonwealth, Vault 76 - 2102

“Well this is a bust.” Mal commented, kicking the remains of a skeleton, a long lost soul trying to get into the vault during the war no doubt. “I was hoping for something more grand.”

“What were you expecting? A parade? It was a war. A big war.” Sigma, a fellow vault dweller and brilliant ecologist asked as he adjusted his own vault suit. Checking over his Pipboy he stared at the readings. “Looks like the radiation played havoc on the landscape and the weather. More so than we were thinking.”

Mal knelt down at a fresher corpse and looked it over. “Not looking good. This one's fresher.” He stripped the girls corpse of a machete, the deathgrip on it snapping a few fingers. “Not ballistic. But not plasma. Looks laser based,” he commented on her wounds, covering his nose. “But still quite a while ago.”

“Must you field strip the dead?” a third voice asked, a female and almost aristocratic tone in her voice. A pale pink colored girl adjusted her own Pipboy, the suit she was in was identical to their own. The blue fabric and gold piping gave any casual observer evidence they were brand new, and completely out of place.

“Yes, Puffy. I must.” Mal answered, collecting a handgun from the corpse as well and a crumpled up letter. “This isn’t going to be easy on anyone whose prepared for the cut-throat nature were about to meet. Let alone the more, shall we say, delicate experts from our vault.” He latched the machete to his back and pulled the dead girls clothes off, rummaging through them. “Besides, with that fashion eye that you've got you surely need a new outfit.” He snickered and stood up, offering the clothing.

“Ugh. Please. Someone died in those.” Puffy scoffed and walked off towards a set of stairs heading down from the platform they were on. “I wouldn't be caught dead in--” Her voice cut short as several red laser blasts hit her in the shoulder, chest and temple. The last shot ended her life without a further word, sending her body ragdoll and rolling down the stairs.

“Down!” Mal yelled and pushed Sigma to the concrete while drawing the newly discovered pistol to a readied stance. “Looks like we were expected!”

“Puffy! Puffy!” Sigma shouted and looked at her rolling corpse, the last throes of post mortem twitching shaking out of her. “She's dead! She's dead!”

“I know Sig!” Mal knocked his companion in the back of the head. “This wasn't going to be pretty we all knew that. Now stay down and shut up!” he changed his position and peeked over at the source of the shots. “This is why they put people like me with you eggheads.”

2287

Mal snapped his eyes open from his meditation. The reality of his here and now swept back to his brain and his mutated features lit up with a sudden surge of awareness. Looking over at his sleeping companion, he checked his Pipboy and looked back to the sunrise. He admired it for half a moment before standing up and picking up his clothing from the nights activities. He wouldn't call it love making, more of a business exchange.

“Sun always rises.” He muttered softly. “You were right Sig. Sun always comes back.” He put his shirt on and tightened his belt after he tucked it into his waistband. “Should have learned to duck though.” He chuckled as he walked over to Dash and nudged her semi nude form.

The companion he kept for several years now stirred and a groan of protest came out of her crumpled form. Another shove from his boot woke her up more. “Aww come on. What time is it?” she checked the horizon. “Not even sunrise? Fuck me.” She flopped her head back down.

“Already did that. Let's go. We have to get to the Nuka World parking lot today,” he said as he began gathering his items and breaking camp quickly. “Come on. No time for breakfast or any other pleasantries.”

“Oh for cripes sake, Mal. I'm not even awake.” Dash began to haphazardly assemble her clothing and rebuckle her harness straps.

“Here,” he pulled a vial from his pocket on his jacket and tossed it: Daybreaker written across it. “This should get you going.”

Dash's bloodshot eyes lit up as if she'd been given a piece of candy as she examined it. Pushing the end of the vial a small needle popped out, causing her to grin in anticipation.”Who needs breakfest when I've got this.” She jammed the needle into the crook of her elbow and the chemical cocktail emptied into her.

A shiver ran through the girl's entire body as she lost hold of the empty vial. It clattered to the ground harmlessly as the euphoria washed over her and brought her senses back. Lazy eyes gazed forward as the rush peeked and sent another wave up through her in reverse, sending her up to her bare feet. She stretched and flexed her muscles in a state of invincibility that she felt. “Fuckin’ awesome!” she almost growled in pleasure.

“Yes. It is.” Mal smirked as his remark no doubt missed her senses completely in it's TRUE meaning. He finished packing as his half naked companion did the same at a faster pace.

She gave his body a few extra squeezes and kisses as she raced to ready herself, the chemical doing its job. “Alright let's get this shit going! Ain't nothing going to stop us, Mal!” she hoisted her backpack and walked ahead of him briefly as the surplus energy she had burned away.

Taking a white box from his shoulder pack, the ancient survivor of vault 76 peered in with his equally ancient eyes. Noticing he had 4 left, he took a cigarette and chewed the filter a bit before lighting it. Snapping the brass lighter shut like clockwork, he turned to face his hyper strung out lover, chasing after her direction.

***

The final ghoul dropped dead to the floor of the reactor room, the sickening thud of its squishy flesh signaling its departure. Knight ejected an empty chrome canister from his plasma accelerator, the hollow metal echoing in his ear softly.

“Well.” Sunset said, standing up from her hiding spot near the entrance of the room. “I have to hand it to you, you're much better at combat than I could ever hope to be.” The leather holster she slid her sidearm into latched shut as she turned to him. “That's not a standard plasma weapon is it?”

Knight pulled an identical plasma cartridge from his side pouch, inserting it slickly into the top loading port of his rifle. “No. It's a custom build. I had the lab whip it up from what little I could remember.” He cocked the side and his weapon whined to life with a full charge again. He looked over the small panel on the side for a moment and then slung it to his shoulder by its strap. “As much as I enjoyed the civil engineering elements of my life, everyone should have a hobby.”

Sunset nodded gradually as he said that, slowly comprehending its meaning. “You, as a non-combat zone engineer, enjoyed lethal weaponry?” she asked finally, walking with him towards a massive power unit that took up half the room they were in. Her eyes darted to the left to a small table a ghoul wearing a vault suit had fallen. She knelt down and picked up the item, a rectangular keycard with the vault tec on it.

“Ironically, yes.” He chuckled as his hands explored the dusty keyboard and monitors on the fusion reactor. Dials and readouts long since forgotten still danced with life, carefully re-adjusting themselves and staying shy of a meltdown. “I enjoyed building, but I always wanted to know more about what destroyed the things I built.” He finished as he threw a large knife switch from the up to the down position on the unit. “There we go.”

The groan of several small turbines spun to life inside the unit before them. Slowly gaining momentum as decades if not centuries of dust and lack of upkeep was whisked away from inside. The lights in the room flickered and began to glow brighter with full power reaching them. The whining of the reactor coincided with several arcing bolts of electrical power now visible inside the machines viewing screen. “Hey, we may have gotten--”

“WARNING. CRYOGENIC STASIS FAILURE. ALL MAINTENANCE AND RESPONSE TEAMS TO SECTION PCS-1 IMMEDIATELY.” a crackling yet absurdly loud computer voice shouted through the loudspeakers of the room they stood in. “Failure in pods 1, 2, 4. Pod 2 holding at status yellow. Warning. Pod 2 has sustained significant structural damage.”

“Well that's not promising.” Knight shouldered his rifle and brought the sight to his eye level. “Come on, let's go see who's left alive.”

“Alive? I don't understand there are no records indicating any life pods or storage containers for this vault!” Sunset gave an alarmed response as she stumbled up the stairs with her escort directly in front of her.

“Clearly recon didn't do all their homework.” He answered back, eyes front and following his gun sight and light beams as he secured the tight hallways of the deserted vault. “Clear so far. Move up. Follow the arrows.” He motioned his head to a sequence of lit arrows indicating where the alarm was coming from. “This place is user friendly at least.”

“Maybe we should not be running into an unknown room with unknown variables?” Sunset offered as they rounded a corner and stopped at a large sealed door.

“Terminals locked. Can you do anything with it?” Knight scouted forwards and back behind the way they came. “We’re clear for now.”

“Maybe we don't want to open this door just yet. Ever think of that?” Sunset offered again, her tone more aggressive but mildly frightened. Still, she began to type away at the terminal and ran a bypass program.

“We need to shut that alarm off or it'll attract something more unpleasant than an automated recording.” He replied and leaned closer. “Wait can't you just plug in?”

Sunset scoffed. “That's not how a synth works.” She balled her fists up a moment in frustration. “I am made of mainly organic parts. I eat. I sleep. I don't plug in like a toaster!” she crossed her arms and stared at him, the alarm still sounding.

Knight smiled and nodded to her. “I apologize. Please see if you can open the door so we can turn the alarm off?” he smiled more at the end of his request. “Before a deathclaw or worse comes wandering in?”

Sunset redoubled her efforts at that previously unthought scenario he presented and within 4 tries she'd opened the door for them. The seal broke on the door and cobwebs wisp away as it did.

Knight walked in first and secured the room, motioning for her to enter as well. He looked to the left side of the room and saw four cyropods, each with a different colored plaque on the front, all seemingly sealed. The other side housed the computer terminal making so much noise, several lines of errors on its flickering screen. “I'm assuming that's it?”

“WARNING. BREACH OF PCS-1 BY UNAUTHORIZED PERSONS. ENACT LEVEL 1 RESPONSE.”

“Oh we so need to shut that down.” Sunset worriedly pointed out as she typed away at the controls. Navigating through sub menus and different options, several keywords seemed encrypted or corrupted. “Half of this isn’t workable. I think I can turn this off though.”

“Level 1 gas canisters primed. Releasing in 20 seconds.” the computer warned.

“Oh you realllly need to turn that off now, Sunset!” Knight glanced around the ceiling and noticed several turrets ready to fire their payload at them.

“Almost got it.” Sunset answered back, her eyes scanning back and forth as she found the menu she needed and hit abort. “Got it!”

“STANDING DOWN. WELCOME. THIS IS YOUR AUTOMATED OVERSEER PROGRAM. NO ALL CLEAR HAS BEEN RECEIVED FROM VAULT TEC HQ. PLEASE ENTER YOUR KEYCARD FOR RELEASE SEQUENCE.”

“We're good for now according to this.” Sunset typed casually as she sat down at the monitor. Peering at the lines of words, she began to assess the situation. “Looks like a long term sleep study maybe? Hard to tell. Most of the data is corrupted.” She continued typing. “Pod one is labeled “C”...and the rest I can't make out.

Knight walked over to the first pod and brushed the window clean, startling at the skeleton inside with several broken seals on the side of the unit. “In this case, C is for Corpse.” He sighed.

“L and C, pods 2 and 4 are offline too.” She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “They at least died in their sleep.”

“All of’em?” he tapped the third pods window softly, trying to peer in.

“No.” she paused and typed a few more keys. “Pod 3 is a student of some sort. Life signs stable.”

“This student got a name?” he squinted and brushed more frost from the glass, barely making out a lavender toned woman of 30 years in a peaceful dream state.

“Twilight.” Sunset responded. “Twilight Sparkle.” She turned back as she answered. “She's been asleep for at least 220 years.”

[Hard cut to Black]
[End of episode]
[Instrumental version of Virtual Insanity]

Author's Note

Well that was certainly a good place to cut to black! ;)

Stay tuned for more! Let us know what you think, what you hate, what you like, what you wanta know more about! Keep in mind this is an Alternate Universe NOT connected to Equestria Girls, but uses many elements of both the Pony World and the EG world.

I wanted to make a melding of the two, and didn't want to step on the folks at Fallout Equestria's toes..er..hooves?

Thanks!

"Cold and Bitter"

“Cold and Bitter”
By DarkMalcontent
Proofread by alisia

***

Appalachia, Eastern Commonwealth, 2105

Mal groaned as the world around him came into focus. The dimness in his vision cleared away as he tried to sit up. Hands slipping lower, he hit his head on cold metal behind him, sending a jolt of pain followed by numbness through his skull.

“Careful.” A stoic remark came. Filtered through a speaker, it dripped with unrealistic concern. “You've been passed out for….some time, General.”

Mal sat up slower this time and held his head as he came full upright. Waves of a throbbing headache bleed off as he groaned. “MODUS,” he said softly. “Last thing I remember I was fighting another scorch beast queen. She had me on the ropes. I was dug in behind a tree.”

“Yes. You were unsuccessful in destroying that particular queen.” MODUS replied, a monitor popping on next to Mal. The middle aged face of MODUS flickered into view. Not a human face by any stretch, but an amalgamation of several programmers for the AI it was representing. The most striking element was the round ping pong glasses it wore, hiding its eyes. “You succumbed to the….radiation of the area. We were...able to retrieve you using some of our assaultron we used as ...proxy...for that area.”

“Spying on me?” Mal swung his legs around and tried to stand, the world very unbalanced from his bout with death.

“We prefer to...think of it...as..” MODUS paused, the damage over the decades to his memory banks causing glitches at times. “Looking out for our friend.” He finished, the screen changing to a grinning version of the avatar.

“I'm sure. Turn the lights down. It's killin’ me.” Mal held his hand over his eyes, adjusting his glasses carefully. He had but one spare set and wasn't planning on losing these ones. Looking down to the floor he found his boots, reaching for them. Hr didn't make it far before he got dizzy from the height change.

“You really shouldn't be moving too much. We've been examining your… body while you slept.” MODUS chimed in. “We've made fascinating discoveries.”

“Yeah? I grow a third arm?” Mal chuckled, ignoring the advice and slowly but clumsily putting a boot on.

“No such...aggressive mutations present thankfully for you.” Another set of monitors popped on near Mal, making him wince in pain.”Your sensitivity to the light is not merely from your sleep. The eye aches you complained of for many months seem to be associated with a sudden growth of a Tapetum lucidum in your eyeballs.”

“Ok. I'm not a doctor. Do I have cancer, MODUS? Has all the radiation I've soaked in, then cured, soaked in, then cured over the years finally done me in?” Mal winced as he tried to look at a screen. “Cuz I'm going to be so pissed off if it's the case.”

“While we do think….this is associated with the volume of radiation you have...soaked...in over your time with us.” MODUS changed his expression a moment and displayed a bar graph. “We must admit that no one we have...hmmm..worked with...has ever endured as much radiation as our records indicate you have.” The display switched back to a grinning face. “Well, at least none who lived longer then twenty-two minutes.”

“Bottom line, MODUS.” Mal grabbed a pair of sunglasses and found that made the low light tolerable. Standing up, he straightened his uniform with the Enclave symbols a bit shabby for all the wear and tear he’d put it through.

“Yes. We...forget your background is...not medical.” MODUS chuckled. “You have, by our estimations, become one of the few documented cases of a positive mutation event. Typical...mutations in the lab setting needed extracted chemicals and serums to do such things...you...have the recipe...for lack of a better term.”

“Well at least some good came from the raiding of those queens.” He took a few steps, adjusting to the balance he felt gone moments ago.

“Yes. The...specimen...runs were quite successful it would seem.” The matter-of-factly statement caught Mal’s attention.

“You planned this?”

“Certainly not this...it was however...always a possibility you would..show some new mutations like so many others before you.” MODUS admitted. “We merely meant the tissue and resource samples you've...procured us...over these many...years have not been in vain.”

Mal picked up his gun belt and rifle from the table, the clicking of automated turrets and assaultrons moving about in the hallway filling his ear. He stopped cold when the doors did not automatically open.

“We would like… to share another revelation in our...hmmm...examinations.” MODUS said cooly, popping up on a standing terminal near Mal. A blood panel and cell sample graph appeared suddenly. “Based on...previously documented..samples of your body. It would appear another effect has occurred. This one more...important to tell you.”

“Go on,” Mal hesitantly said, staring at the data, a desperate clutch on his firearm.

“It appears…” MODUS popped back on the main screen. “Your cells have had their aging slowed down by some 99.7 percent.”

Nuka World Tram Station, Commonwealth 2287

Mal stared off into the distance, waiting for Dash to finish her pit stop. Puffing smoke in a brief cloud in front of him, he stared at the patrols of mercenaries walking the old world tram station. Safely hidden and crouched down, he had been studying their patterns while his lesser partner relieved herself behind a rock.

The wind blew gently and pushed the few bangs from his eyesight. The gentle glow of his split iris’ purple ring the only real color on his figure. Worn leather and other straps were all meant to conceal him during his operations. On his arm armor plating was the black and red lighting bolt of the Enclave Airforce, dulled with age and weather.

“Shite.” Dash stumbled from behind, her voice barely audible to him. “What the hell makes ya pee neon red? What the hell was in that DayBreaker?” she grumbled, her irish accent breaking through despite her attempts to suppress it. Zipping up her meager coverings she crouched down and snuck up next to her boss, a smoke in her mouth by the time she settled in.

“Ready?” Mal stared forward, eyeing up one of the weak points of the compound parameter. “They move in a decent pattern but the one coming up...” he pointed at a larger female, her rifle slung over her shoulder lazily. “Isn't focused entirely.” He motioned to the girl further left. “That leaves her vulnerable.”

“Guns blazin'?” Mal heard her ask as she tightened her harness around her chest. “Or quiet as a mouse?”

“Don't want the whole squad coming down on us immediately. Knock out the left with subtle lead poisoning.” He screwed a silencer to his pistol with a snicker. Checking the load out on the side, he flipped a switch and a small whine followed by a series of green lights flickering to life on the receiver. “And you do that thing you do to the lazy one.”

“One dose of Dash Downer outta bring that tower of a bitch down.” She smiled, loading a chemical cocktail canister into the butt of her Syringer rifle. “This thing may have been meant for wild animals, bit it's going to be lights out for that amazon.”

“Charming to the last.” Mal ran a possessive hand over his partners ass before slapping it softly. “Go.” He smiled as he brought the iron sights of his pistol to bear.

“With pleasure.” Dash grinned, her eyes locking on her victim as she moved to keep in the shadows.

Mal concentrated a few more seconds, waiting until he heard Dash's footsteps taper off. Satisfied with the timing, he took to steading his pistol with both hands as he closed an eye. A distant stare of 1000 miles came over his face before the muffled shot hit the air. The girl in front of his sights grabbed her throat as his round silently cut her windpipe. The gentle clatter of the woman's rifle alerted her lazy companion as anticipated, giving Dash her exposed neck.

A similar muffled sound echoed near Dash as her round fired and stuck into her target, the contents of the canister injecting rapidly on impact. As the yellow fluid vanished from sight, Mal watched as the girl grabbed her neck and tried to scream. Nothing came out as her eyes rolled back into her head and she dropped to the ground like a sack of bricks.

Mal smiled as he stood up, jogging across the old parking lot to reach the bodies. A shot of plasma echoed into the air, stopping him cold in his tracks. Looking at the source, he cursed softly while looking at his partner. The drugged out girl was no doubt in paradise in her mind, but was spasming in some sort of climax. The resulting trigger pulls sent random gunfire in the form of plasma bolts at him and Dash, sending them scrambling to dodge.

Glancing towards the main gates, Mal heard the tell-tale sounds of mechanical legs. “Well she fucking blew this going quietly all to hell.” He complained while unscrewing the silencer and tossing it into a pocket on his jacket. His thumb flipped a switch near the trigger, changing it to automatic fire. The reconfiguring module in the pistol charged, the deadly harbinger of its whine piercing the air.

Shouting and boots hitting pavement grew closer, followed by stray opening shots that strayed wide. Mal ducked behind an overturned hull of a centuries old nuclear powered car as the green tint of plasma rounds shot past.

Glancing to his companion, Dash had ditched the stringer, thankfully, and was returning fire from a set of trash cans. The plasma rounds lit the front of the cans, the bleed off making her duck out of instinct. He heard the automatic ballistic fire from her carbine cut through one of the attackers, confirmed by a wet thud near his position. Tilting his head out, he got a quick glance of the opposition.

Three heavily armed Gunners with automatic plasma rifles wearing full sets of combat armor were their front line. Behind them were lighter armored infantry. Of them all only two were male, both wearing control collars of some sort.

Seems these girls have two trophies they like to show off. He mused mentally, reaching into his jacket and yanking a fragmentation grenade from his belt. Letting the pin drop and the handle fly, he lobbed the orb between the two males. Taking advantage of the moment of panic, which the more intelligent females took note, he caught one of the girls in the stomach and shoulder with a spray of automatic fire. As she fell holding her wounds, the grenade took out one of the huge brutes and blew the arm off the other.

“Suppression fire!” a louder more commanding voice cried through the violence from far in the rear.

Glancing at the gate, Mal squinted and caught an eyeful of the apparent company leader. Gunners are nothing if not consistent. He thought, taking aim at the yellow haired girl as he flipped to semi automatic fire on the switch. Bringing up the iron sights, he zeroed in on the leader and let a round fly.

Much to Mals disappointment the bullet hit the guard from her side. It was not for lack of aim but her situational awareness which let her prepare for the shot, sacrificing one of her pawns as a result. “Over there!” he heard her bark, the dead bodyguard dropping in a limp fleshy mess.

The remaining company Dash hadn't picked off all trained their laser sights on the car frame Mal hid behind within seconds. The resulting firepower began to melt the frame from the sustained heat. Ducking hard, he knew he was in trouble as several plasma orbs hit his shoulder and burnt the leather of his trenchcoat.

“Son of a bitch!” he shouted and dropped a plasma grenade. Fumbling fingers grabbed it before several shots chased his hands from it. “Alright you overrated bitches. You like plasma? Let's go with plasma!” he shouted as they all began to reload. He turned to eyeball his target, an almost calculator like projected arc appeared in his vision. Several centuries of fighting gave him full confidence in his grenade tossing as he visualized his lob. The silver orb gave a metal thud as it hit and rolled on the concrete.

“Scatter!” the leader ordered, a second later the air was filled with a bright green explosive wave. Burning everything it touched, the grenades discharge did its job and took out the main tank, their last male and one more support girl.

He heard Dash open fire again only to run dry, her trademark “Shite!” almost made him chuckle had it not been a very dangerous situation for him. He may be relatively immortal but he knew he wasn't invulnerable. “Alright ya piss heads!” Dash shouted from her cover. “Let's see how ya like a lady up close…”

He heard the distinct sound of his companion injecting a chem into her arm. Probably Psycho, he thought, peering out to assess the battlefield.

He heard Dash let out a satisfied groan he seldom heard from her in battle, followed up with a growl of intense power surging through her body. Mal knew the tide had turned when she sprung up. Watching her adrenaline and chem induced rage take over, the few shots the soldiers next to her got off missed or didn't even phase her as they hit. Grabbing the first bewildered soldier, twisting her arm too quick for them to react, a distinct snap followed by a cry of pain sounded. Dash twisted the girls wrist again, breaking both bones at the pivot point and letting her crew finish her off as Dash used her as a human shield. Allowing the poor girl to drop, the chem powered merc shot forward at a frightening pace and knocked the shotgun out of the next girls hands easily, catching it in mid air and reversing its direction so it come to rest under the Gunners chin. Fear didn't have time to register on her face before Dash pulled both triggers and the barrels blew at the same time.

Mal leaned out a bit more and watched with amusement. “Useful to no end.” He lit his smoke, leaning back as several stray shots from the leader whizzed past, the last bullet hitting him in the shoulder. Spinning in place he cursed loud and his smoke went flying in a random direction.

Trying to regain his balance, Mal heard boots run up on his position. This one knows a thing or two. He thought, pulling a Bowie knife from a holster on his right boot. “Gotta take her down.” Sounds of metal on metal filled his ears as the Gunner Commander pulled a machete down to end his life, meeting his blade in turn.

“You're so fucking dead!” she finally shouted, driving forward with brute force and taunting him. “You're going to pay for making us lose those breeding stock!” she growled and slashed at his head, cutting several strands of his hair.

“I think I did them a favor.” Mal wasn’t one for the stoic lone wanderer personality. He knew exactly how to push buttons and revelled in it. Sending an elbow into her chin, he took advantage of her stunned moment, cutting her across the chest. “Seems they would have fought your piss poor genetics. You can’t even beat two mercs with a full company.” He laughed as she slashed up, trying to castrate him.

“You fucking insecure bastard!” she replied to him, growing more frustrated as he knife play met block after block. “Wait ‘til I get a collar on you. I'll turn you into a dildo with wings!” she cursed, trading the knife in her hand to come down as a powerful stab from above him. “Keep you in the basement and make you eat what I say, when I say it!”

“Sorry,” Mal was unpaved. The many battles he’d been in as well as life in the wasteland numbing his potential fear. “I've never been one for marriage!” he punctuated his statement as he sidestepped her stab, slicing her across the throat with a step forward. Smiling as she dropped her blade, he closed his eyes in satisfaction, the once smug leader now seconds from the end of her life at his own hands.

Turning as he heard the body drop, he picked up her machete and examined it. “Nice blade. Poor form.” He commented, kicking over the leader as she began to spasm, her body going into shock. He began searching her pockets, letting deaths grip take her as he looted her still warm body. “Hmmm...what is this?” he asked teasingly, the light leaving her eyes as she clutched her throat uselessly. Unfolding a piece of paper he began to read it. “Ah. I see. These orders make you being here make much more sense.” Mal stepped on her chest and looked into her vacant eyes. “I appreciate the help, Commander Kaylor.”

Dash snapped another neck as her savage nature began to leave her. The chem she’d shot into her had a very good buff to her physical strength, but the downside was it burned out fast. She felt a crash coming and charged the last frightened girl in front of her. Several shots from the Gunners pistol hit Dash in the armor plating harmlessly as she closed the distance. Stumbling by part of a crash from the chemical, the last shot rang out and hit Dash in the exposed stomach, her grunt crossed with a cry of pain catching her keepers ear.

Mal snapped out of his enjoyment and drew his iron sights up on the last survivor. He unloaded the rest of the magazine he had at her, taking her down when his shots blew out her knees, the last hitting her gun arm at the bicep. She dropped and groaned as she impacted the stained concrete.

Dash felt reality return to her as she sat crumpled over, clutching her stomach. Trying to move at all sent another cry of anguish into the air. She barely registered Mal kneeling next to her and the last Gunner crawling away slowly, pulling with one good arm as she was in worse shape than Dash.

“Fucking...bast…” was all she got out as Mal kicked her onto her back, snatching her pistol and tossing it far out of reach. She stared helplessly at him, fear and curiosity radiating from her gaze.

“Don't break other people's toys. It's impolite.” He said calmly, raising his pistol and firing a round into the girls own stomach. He smiled as she made a pathetic whimper, her effort to curl up in pain making it all worse with wounded limbs. Turning to Dash, he reached into his side satchel and knelt beside her, pulling her hands from her gut wound. “Let me see,” he said serenely, as if he were a concerned parent.

Mal gave a seldom seen expression of concern, not that Dash registered it. He opened his kit and pulled several vials from it, preparing a syringe. “Easy. Easy. ” He said evenly, eyeing up the needle and making sure air was clear of it. “The crash from the Psycho is making your nerves endings fire. Being shot makes it worse.” He sprayed a bit from the tip. “Being gut shot makes it twelve times as worse.”

“It...it fucking h..hurts so..bad..” she stammered and shivered, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Oh fuck … it hurts!” she repeated.

No further words exchanged as he plunged the needle into her wound, a long sustained whimper coming from her, bending her forward in new pain. She curled into his grip as he injected a cocktail meant to heal and take the edge off. Staring forward as he listened to her breathing stabilize, he found himself subconsciously stroking her back, the glistening sweat transfering to his leather glove.

“You got her...right?” she stuttered, laying on him. “That bitch that shot me..?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, patting her head softly. “I got her.” Mal held on still, pulling the needle out and helping her stand. The wound was closing quickly thanks to the stimpak he had blended with the painkillers and addictol. He steadied her as they stood properly and moved towards the main gate, stepping slowly at first.

“I...I tried Mal.” she said, sweat pouring from her brow and mixing with dried tears. “I almost got them all.”

“Now, now.” He gave her the slightest of hugs, knowing most of his affection would not be remembered after she came fully to her senses. “Ya did good. I'm proud of ya.” He said flatly, not sure if he was lying or telling the truth himself. “And...I got you some nuka cola cherry!” he teased as they limped alone.

“I..I bloody hate cherry.” She gritted her teeth as her internal organs knitted back in place.

“Oh Dash...” he rubbed her neck softly. “Dont be ungrateful.” Mal snickered. “It turns me off.” He handed her the cola and she stared at it as they hobbled in faster, turning the corner and out of sight from the main road.

***

“Well that's just shitty.”

“Come again?” Sunset turned to her traveling companion. She noticed he had opened a panel on the cryo tube and was messing with the wires hanging from it. Her eyes focused and magnified his work. “Ah. I see.”

“Yeah. I can't unhook her without committing to a full defrost.” Knight rubbed his brow, staring into the dozens of colored wires in front of him. “Battery backup died a while ago from no upkeep.” Shutting the compartment on the mess of wires, he stood up, brushing the glass on Twilight’s tube.

“What a peculiar use of the word.” Sunset mentioned as she walked to join him. “Can anything mechanical truly ‘die’?” she tilted her head, her eyes refocusing on him.

There was a brief pause as they looked at each other, broken as he cleared his throat. “I mean it’s non functional. It's a figure of speech.” He hesitantly smiled as he turned back to the sleeping girl. “We better get Dr. Grumpy on the line.”

Sunset nodded, a small smile at the reference to their superior. The same person her appearance was modeled after was also waiting to hear back from them at The Institute. “Broadcast enabled. Dialing.” Sunset’s eyes dilated as she spoke. Widening as the communication array in her body connected, her eyes shifted color as a connection took. Changing to a deep red glow, her body language changed, going rigid and stiff.

“Dr. Shimmer?” Knight asked hesitantly, waving a hand in front of the red eyes.

“Operative.” a modulated voice came from Sunset, clearly no longer dominant in the synth. “These communications pull a great deal of power from both ends. Your synth will need to be recharged. I trust you have something important to report?” her frown reminded him of her shortness on pleasantries.

“Operative contact of pre war nature. Found cache of cryogenic tubes. One survivor. Appears intelligent.” Knight reported to her, motioning to the tube. “Please advise. Battery failure negates teleportation of subject or moving of entire machine.”

Sunset turned to view the tube, curiosity expressed by her body language as she approached. Stiff steps brought her nearly to the ground, only for her to catch herself on a table. “Fascinating. Remote control of this nature is foreign to me. You must forgive my--” Shimmers voice stopped as her vessel came to a cracked mirror. She tilted her head, craning back and forth as her body brought its hands to her face, running them through her hair.

Knight looked away for a moment as the realization hit him. She's looking into the past. If S-537 was built using her as a model. She's no spring chicken anymore. He thought. Must be strange to see her younger self.

“They did quite the job of perfecting this synths appearance. Remarkable. Just remarkable.” Shimmers voice sounded unsure for once, stuck between emotion and the scientist in her. “Now. Let's see. Yes, Twilight Sparkle.” She cleared her throat, examining the data on the terminal.

“What's the verdict, doc?” Knight slung his plasma rifle on his shoulder gruffly. “Still haven't begun to assess this vault and I could use Sunset back.”

“The unit is called S-537, operative.” She turned sharply. “It's better to think of it as a tool rather than a person. It's easier that way.”

“I'll just call her Sunset, no offense.” Knight responded, folding his arms with a slightly impatient tone.

“In response to your juvenile question, I authorize you to begin wake up procedures on this one. We may have a use for her, if she’s specialized in fertility or any other field we need. No doubt she'll be useful to tell you more about this vault.” Shimmer's tone grew colder. “Make sure this unit begins the process. It's beyond your understanding so the machine will have to attend to the machine.” Shimmer finished and her eyes flickered. “Contact us when you assess the vault. That is all.” Her voice filtered out into static as her eyes reverted to S-537’s blue tint.

Sunset blinked a few times as her systems returned to normal, staring at Knight silently. “Was the uplink successful?”

“You don’t remember?” Knight raised his eyebrow.

“No. My central processing units divert all resources to ensure a smooth transmission. I essentially black out, for lack of a better term.” She shook her head softly.

“Well Shimmer said Hi.”

“I seriously doubt that.” Sunset smiled.

“You got me there,” he shrugged helplessly. “But she does want us to wake our friend up.” He walked to the case and brushed more frost off, looking in again. “Boy is she in for a rude awakening.”

“You would know best of the two of us.” Sunset remarked, pulling a dusty chair from the terminal desk and sitting down at the keyboard. Knight heard her as she typed away feverishly without a second thought. “It appears most of this will be automated. But it will take some time.” She said to him, not turning from the screen. “I'll set it up and we can finish checking the vault to see if it meets parameters.”

“Sounds good.” Knight pulled his rifle to a ready stance. “How long do you think it'll take for her to thaw?”

“At least 2 or three hours.” Sunset turned back to him, standing as she pressed the enter key. “All set.”

“Good work. Let's head in further and see what's what.”

“Such strange terminology.” Sunset remarked, walking behind her partner and looking back for a moment at Twilight. “Let's hope she went to sleep pleasantly. She'll be snapping right out of the moment when she revives. Whatever the moment was...” she said, the door sealing behind them as the faintest sound of hissing mixed with ice breaking filled the room.

***

Author's Note

So there's another fine chapter released! As we work on fleshing out the good and bad characters traits, it sure is a lot to process!

I went further then most of my teen rated stuff goes but also tried to stay away from being outright lewd or violent.

Mal is hard to work out (you'd think he'd be easy ;)) but equally hard tok balance is Knight.

Now that we gave you a glimpse of what the Mal is all about for good or bad or in between, the next chapter will no doubt shed some light on Dash or Twilight.

Depends really since a lot of how this story goes is based on what interest we see posted in comments!

So good or bad, tell us what makes you interested and don't forget to subscribe to us!

"Witness"

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"Benefits of Doubting"

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"Cycles and Circles"

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"Strange Bedfellows"

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