Fallout Girls: Side Stories

Sunset ran a hand through her hair, trying to come to terms with what James had told the girls.

"This ain't good," Applejack said quietly. "How the heck did we get dropped in a world that's been darn near wiped out by war?"

"That can't really be true, can it?" Rarity asked.

Twilight bit her lip and looked to the door. "I think it is. Why would he bother lying about something like that?"

"To keep us from trying to escape, maybe?" Sunset said, though her heart wasn't in it. The thought that they might have actually been dropped into such a terrible world made her head spin. "Either way, I guess we're stuck here for now. If it is true, I suppose we should just be thankful that we're safe inside here instead of outside in a wasteland."

"I heartily agree," Rarity put in.

Sunset sighed heavily and took a bite of her sandwich. With little else or say or do, the others all turned their attention to their food, too. They ate in silence. The girls had managed to psyche themselves up only minutes earlier, certain that even being unexpectedly transported to a strange world was something they could handle together easily enough, but the conversation with James had squashed that confidence already.

"Do you think this place has a bakery?" Pinkie asked suddenly.

The others all shared surprised looks. "Probably?" Applejack replied.

"I hope so," Pinkie continued blithely. "Nothing helps cheer up a dismal place like cake!"

"If the Overseer even lets us have cake," Rarity grumbled.

"As long as he lets us out of this room at all, I'll be happy," Fluttershy said quietly.

Rainbow snorted and crossed her arms. "If he doesn't, we can always make our own door. Right, Applejack?"

"Let's save violence until there's absolutely no other options," Sunset cut in quickly. "James is on our side, clearly. We should give him a chance to get things done."

As far as James was concerned, the Overseer's office had to be one of the worst places in the Vault. To be fair, that was largely due to the presence of the Overseer himself. James had been called to the office only to find Officer Gomez and Chief Hannon waiting inside as well.

"James," the Overseer said by way of greeting. "Now that you're here, we can begin. I've called you all here to discuss our new… visitors."

"I fail to see why we can't keep them where they are," Hannon said roughly. "They're intruders from outside, we shouldn't bother going out of our way to make them feel welcome."

Officer Gomez shook his head slowly. "Those girls aren't intruders, they're just kids."

"And scared ones, at that," James added. "I've spoken to them further, and I can assure you that they have no interest whatsoever in staying here."

"How can you be certain?" Hannon demanded.

James shrugged. "I can't, not really, but nothing they have said or done indicates that they are lying in any way. Besides, as I pointed out earlier, sending a group of unarmed girls not even out of their late teens to infiltrate a Vault just doesn't make any sense."

"I believe you," the Overseer said, much to James' surprise. "However, I still think it would be best for the safety of the Vault if we keep them where they are until we can figure out a way of getting them back to wherever they came from."

"Why not just shove them out of the door and tell them to walk?" Hannon asked.

"Because we're not monsters," James shot.

The Overseer held a hand up to silence the pair. "I would prefer to keep the girls here where I can keep an eye on them, rather than kicking them out and having them spread the word that they managed to get inside the Vault. It might give people ideas. Besides,-" he lowered his voice and glanced briefly at the door again, "-if someone else does arrive out of thin air, looking for the girls, it would leave a better impression if we've kept them safe instead of kicking them out at the first opportunity."

James nodded appreciatively. He knew that genuine altruism was beyond the Overseer's emotional capacity, but as long as the old coot's paranoia worked out in James' interests, he'd take what he could get.

"That still leaves the question of how to integrate them into the Vault without arousing suspicion," Hannon pressed.

"I have already given some thought on how we could deal with that," the Overseer replied. "We simply inform the other residents that the girls are from the old North Block."

The others all stared at him in surprise.

"No-one has lived in North Block for decades," Hannon said flatly.

"Which is why it's a perfect cover," the Overseer said smugly. "We will simply say that when the North Block was originally sealed off, a number of residents refused to leave and have been living there in isolation ever since. These girls will be presented as the last living descendants of those residents."

Hannon frowned and crossed his arms, evidently not convinced. "We've had security officers going in and out of there for years, checking to make sure that the old generator isn't leaking and keeping the radroaches under control. Some of the residents will find it suspicious that none of the officers mentioned these girls before now."

"Not when I tell them that I ordered the officers not to speak of any North Block residents, to keep any of our more reckless youths from trying to explore," the Overseer countered. "Of course, I'm sure that many of our older and wiser residents will be able to figure out part of the truth, but they can be trusted to keep quiet." He glanced meaningfully at James, not-so-subtly reminding everyone that the older residents were already keeping one secret from the youth. “Thankfully, the only security officers who have been in North Block are our more competent and trustworthy members. All anyone else needs to be told is that the generator in North Block has finally broken down, and so the girls are being reintegrated into the main Vault population.:

“We can even blame their coloration on unusual radiation from the generator,” James added.

“Precisely.” The Overseer narrowed his eyes. “Of course, this all depends on the results of their tests. If they are harbouring some form of wasteland disease I will not tolerate their presence in the main Vault.”

James nodded curtly. “Naturally,” he replied, though he was already trying to come up with ways to deal with said problem if it did occur. “On that note, I should probably get back to the clinic and help Jonas with those tests. The sooner we get them done, the better.”