Fallout Girls: Side Stories

Amata couldn’t help feeling nervous as she headed to the Overseer’s office. He was stern and uncompromising at the best of times, and accommodating the North Blockers after decades of simply pretending that they didn’t exist was only going to exacerbate things.

Steeling herself, Amata stepped over to the door and rapped smartly on it. “Come in,” the Overseer called out. His tone was neutral, but the fact that he hadn’t taken his usual pause before answering betrayed his eagerness for the report. That impression was reinforced as Amata opened the door and saw him sitting at his desk, ready and waiting.

The seemingly innocuous sight made Amata’s mouth run dry. As a potential future Overseer candidate she had been taught that an Overseer’s time was especially valuable, and that it was necessary to hammer this point home at every opportunity. As such, her father always kept some non-essential paperwork handy to work on when someone came knocking, even if they were expected, forcing them to wait in silence until he deigned to speak with them. There were exceptions in emergencies, of course, but Amata had never once seen her father sitting ready and waiting for a report. New blood in the Vault should be treated as a celebration, not an emergency. There had to be something that he wasn’t telling her.

In any case, Amata was careful to keep her expression neutral as she stepped into the room and closed the door. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes. How are the new girls behaving so far?” The Overseer asked, getting straight to the point.

“So far so good,” Amata replied. “The only trouble we had was from Butch, but none of the North Blockers tried to retaliate, thankfully.”

“Good. That matches the report that Officer Gomez provided earlier. As for Butch, I’ve already sent Officer Mack to get him back in line.” The Overseer made a quick note on a sheet of paper before looking back up. “And what of the gag order? Have they, or any other residents, tried to speak about North Block?”

Amata shook her head emphatically. “Not at all. No one has been stupid enough to break the order so far, and the girls themselves mentioned to me that they can’t talk about it.”

The Overseer nodded curtly. “Excellent. That will be all for now. You had best get back to the girls if you want to get them to the classroom on time.”

“I’ll take them straight there.” Amata didn’t let herself relax until she had left the office and heard the door click shut behind her. Something was definitely up. Her father hadn’t even told her to wrap up the welcome party as soon as the North Blockers left for the classroom.

Curiosity burned in Amata’s breast, but she quashed it as best she could. Whatever was going on behind the scenes, it almost certainly involved the North Block, and she was not about to start digging into that and risking the Overseer’s wrath without a damn good reason.

Shaking her head to try and clear it, Amata quickened her pace as she headed to the diner. The party was still in full swing when she got there. Officer Gomez was waiting outside, ready to provide escort once again, and he opened the door for her as she approached. It looked like all of the new girls were still having fun inside save for Sunset, who was presumably still in the restroom.

“Is everything alright, dearie?” Old Lady Palmer asked, sauntering over from the counter.

Amata realized that she was letting her thoughts show on her face. Schooling her features back into polite neutrality, she replied, “Everything’s fine, it’s just time for our new residents to take the G.O.A.T.”

“New residents. Oh, it has been far too long since I heard those words.” The old woman nodded and squared her shoulders. “Not to worry, I’ll help you wrangle these girlies in a snap.”

It hadn’t really been that long since the last birth in the Vault, but Amata wasn’t so crass as to point that out. Old Lady Palmer was one of the kindest, sweetest, and most laid-back residents out of everyone. Poking holes in her excitement would just be cruel. Besides, with her help it took less than a minute to gather the new girls together in the middle of the diner.

“Test time, huh?” Applejack guessed dejectedly.

The other girls all looked equally unenthused, except for Twilight who looked like she was on the verge of a panic attack, but there was really nothing for them to worry about. “I know it seems stressful, but the G.O.A.T. is the easiest test you’ll ever do.”

“What about Sunset?” Rainbow asked.

“Don't worry, I'll come back for her once I've gotten all of you to the classroom” Amata assured her.

“Yeah, that ain't happenin’,” Applejack said bluntly.

Rarity nodded in agreement. “Quite right. Taking a break in the powder room is one thing, but we can't leave her to fend for herself on our first day here.”

Amata was a little offended by the insinuation but she kept her mouth shut. She'd already managed to upset the North Blockers once, after all. “That’s fine, we can go and fetch Sunset first as long as we're quick about it. You don't want to be late on your very first day!”

The girls quickly agreed and fell into step behind Amata and Gomez as they left the diner. Amata set a brisk pace as she led the way through the corridors, hoping to get the North Blockers to the classroom right on time. With a little luck Sunset might not even hold a grudge for her slip-up earlier.

Amata was lost in her own thoughts as she rounded a corner and spotted a security officer halfway down the corridor. It took her a second to recognize the shaven-headed slimeball that was Officer Mack, the worst of the security team. It took her a second more to realize that he had Sunset pinned against the wall, and was forcing his baton up under her chin.

“What the fuck do you think you're doing?!” Amata yelled as she stormed down the corridor.

Mack stepped away from Sunset and sheathed his baton. “Just making sure she remembers the rules.”

Amata shoved him back as hard as she could. She couldn't believe what she had seen; Mack had always been a vicious asshole, but blatantly ignoring the Overseer's orders just to threaten a young woman was vile, even for him.

“What the hell was she doing?!” Officer Gomez snapped.

“Butch showed up when I came out of the restrooms,” Sunset replied quickly. “I tried to reason with him so he would leave us alone.”

Mack sneered at her. “She decided she wanted a go at Butch instead of coming to find one of us security guys.”

“You didn’t really give me a chance, did you?” Sunset spat.

Officer Gomez turned to Amata, already resigned to the inevitable backlash from the Overseer. “You’d best take the girls back upstairs, you’re going to be late as it is. I’ll handle everything down here and hand in a report to Chief Hannon.”

“Thanks, Gomez,” Amata replied tightly. “Come on, girls, let’s get the hell out of here.” She led the girls back upstairs, muttering angrily about how much trouble that vicious idiot was getting her into.

As they passed the diner, the party still going on inside, Applejack suddenly asked, “You alright, sugarcube?”

“I think so,” Sunset replied shakily.

Amata sighed heavily. It was bad enough that things had gone south on the girls’ very first day in the Vault proper, but the fact that it was a security officer that had caused the biggest issue was just beyond the pale. “I’m sorry about that, Sunset. Mack’s a nasty piece of work.”

“He’s an absolute brute!” Rarity snapped, “Are we really supposed to feel safe with monsters like that on the security team?!”

“Believe me, I know how you feel,” Amata said earnestly. “I’ll have a word with my father. I don’t care what his reasoning was, he went too far there. I’ll make sure he stays away from you from now on.”

Sunset took a deep breath and slowly let it back out. “Thanks. Why were all of you coming downstairs, anyway?”

“We were coming to get you, it‘s time to go to the classroom,” Fluttershy replied. “Amata said to wait in the diner while she fetched you, but we thought you might be feeling down and needing some company.”

“Officer Gomez was supposed to be escorting us for the rest of the day, but he’ll be stuck dealing with Officer Mack for a while,” Amata explained, struggling to keep the anger out of her voice. “Don’t worry, Mack won’t do anything more to jeopardize his position on the security team. He enjoys it too much.”

“I noticed,” Sunset said with a shiver.

Amata gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Officer Gomez has more pull with both Chief Hannon and the Overseer at the moment. He’ll make sure that Mack doesn’t give you any more grief.”

An uncomfortable silence fell as the group marched through the winding corridors. Amata wanted to say something, anything, to wipe away the stain that Mack had left behind, but she kept drawing a blank. It wasn't until they reached the classroom that she turned to the girls and said sheepishly, “I’m sorry, I had hoped that your first real day here would go a little better than that.”

Sunset shook her head in response. “It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault, and you’ve done more than enough to help us already.”

That was a load of bullshit, but Amata just nodded politely. “Well, hopefully things go a bit better for you from here on out. I have to get back to work after this, but if you ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to let me know.”

“Thank you, you’ve been a real help,” Sunset said with what sounded like actual sincerity, and the others were quick to thank her in turn. It was weird encountering such genuine niceness, not counting Adam or Old Lady Palmer, and Amata found herself just nodding shyly as she knocked on the classroom door.

“Come on in,” Mr Brotch called from inside.

Amata was quick to open the door and step inside. The room looked the same as always; rows of small desks, the battered old projector pointing at the blackboard, Mr Brotch standing at the front looking supremely unconcerned, and Susie, Mr Brotch’s assistant and the little sister of the security officer who had royally fucked things up, standing a little off to the side. Susie’s eyes widened as she got her first look at the North Blockers, but she at least managed to keep her mouth shut.

“Good to see you‘ve finally remembered where the classroom is, Amata,” Mr Brotch said dryly. “I was beginning to wonder if I needed to send out a search party.”

“Sorry, Mr Brotch, we had a bit of an incident downstairs,” Amata replied.

Mr Brotch frowned slightly. “I see. Has it been resolved safely now?”

“Yes,” Amata said with more confidence than she felt. “I thought that I’d best bring the girls here to you before I report to the Overseer”

Mr Brotch nodded curtly. “In that case, I won’t keep you any longer. Thank you, Amata.”

“No problem. See you later, girls.” Only once she was out of the room and the door safely closed behind her did Amata let her expression fall. Taking a deep breath, she turned and stalked down the corridors towards the Overseer's office. Officer Mack was not going to worm his way out of trouble for this one.