Miss Vicious , Her saga and story... Options

[RaderOfTheLostArk]

Wow, do they have radcicadas?

Hee hee that is imagination.

I'd love to see what your conception of what a mutated cicada is. Those are what the Sirens are in my Fallout: Florida story.

Rader: Cool, glad you have caught at least some of this. Hope you continue with Fallout Florida this summer, I think our stories compliment each other. In the past Lopov and I were writing Fallout stuff side-by-side, which was pretty fun, but Lopov's career has taken off, and he only has time for casual gaming nowadays.

...

The story definitely comes first, although there is some back and forth. Some pictures are just random, and don't have anything to do with the story, but add to the overall atmosphere. I think all the ones from last week actually fit what was going on.

Well, it's only fair. I'm trying to view as many of other people's works as I can. My own life developments have gotten in the way of that and writing my own stuff. Whenever I have the time, I'll try to write as much of Fallout: Florida as I can. But I'm glad that Lopov's career is doing well.

Starsky N. Hutch in action!

Yecch. Centaurs. One of the most disgusting enemies in all of Fallout. (The Master himself from Fallout 1 probably beats Centaurs out for first place. He created some of them himself, IIRC.) Although Super Mutants have been overused, I wish Bethesda didn't cut Centaurs from appearing in Fallout 4. I've seen some concept art and some screenshots of mods that implement them, and it is one of the most revolting and disturbing designs for anything in the Fallout franchise yet, IMO.

This post has been edited by RaderOfTheLostArk: May 25 2021, 02:56 AM

[SubRosa]

Looks like Officer Barlow is bringing some law and order to Germantown!

I laughed at Starsky and Hutch of course. I remember that show!

[Renee]

Rosa: I feel honored to make you laugh! Particularly where it says Starsky N. Hutch, I was trying to make it obvious. If we could put Vicious's tale on TV, it would probably be some sort of B movie which got sandwiched between Tales of the Crypt and the SCTV late at night. There is some humor, for sure.

Acadian: Cool, glad you picked up on Starsky and the things he says. He is pretty arrogant, right? Just so you know, this entire area of the Wasteland is dotted with places to go, and places to avoid. Vicious can go wherever raiders reside, but there's an area nearby called Big Town, in which maybe she'd be okay, but her followers would go ballistic on the town's inhabitants. And I (and Vicious) do not want to see that happen, because there'd be innocent casualties. There's also a village nearby called Minefield. As its name suggests, we really need to watch where we step!

By the way Lopov, Starsky and Hutch was an action show from back in the 1970s, in case you didn't get that reference. Edit: looks like you do get it, since you know they are two separate guys.

Yes, they did stay in that small camp just northeast of Big Town, overnight.


Rader: I imagine radcicadas are maybe a little bigger than modern ones, but unlike sirens and radtoads in your story, radcics are rather harmless. They still live underground for X number of years, come aboveground to mate, live for about 6 weeks, and then they perish. But they are nowhere near as dangerous as, let's say, that giant turtle creature which showed up during that last battle scene.

I agree that centaurs are really disgusting. I never really looked at one up close until putting that Imgur pic up last week. Yicch.

That's just one of the things that make Taneesha stand out among other raiders of the Capital Wasteland.

I was torn about making that aspect of her life (prayer / religion) more obvious in the story, in fact I had a couple paragraphs planned last week in which she explains her past to Bratty. But now is not the time for that. Maybe in the future I'll do a chapter on her past. Plus, I know we're all busy. I kinda want to focus more on the action-y parts, for now.

[Renee]

Chapter 20: Germantown HQ

Friday, August 31st, 2277, 5:54 pm



"You're out of ammo?!! What do you mean, you're out of ammo?! How're we supposed to go in there and find out what happened if your gun is now a slab of useless steel?"

Miss Vicious, losing her temper, really on the verge of almost screaming at her friend. Things had been going relatively well throughout the day so far. Her posse hadn't encountered too many enemies, nobody or nothing especially life-threatening, at least. They had planned their trip well. Still had plenty of food, plenty of meds, and Vicious had successfully used her Pip-Girl to locate the former police station she'd been tasked to find. But now, this. Bratty had somehow run out of bullets for her rifle. It was the first real hurdle of their journey, so far as being prepared and ready.

"I....no.. hey, I'm sorry!" Bratty said earnestly. "Honest-like! I know I should have been watchin' my rounds!" She looked to the ground. "Guess I'm not the big, bad merc you thought I was, huh?"

She was pouting, just like a schoolgirl from Vicious's childhood. But Vicious stood her ground, unfazed. Though she felt a little sorry she had yelled at her friend, now was not the time for pampering. "Shouldn't have been shooting 'em all up at *ferking* molerats," she chided. "Wastin' rounds. Because now, you are no longer useful to this mission," she began pacing, shaking her head. "You really gotta learn from this, brat. Because what if we was getting surrounded by Enclave or deathclaws right now, or something? Hmm? What then?"

"Geez, I said I'm sorry!"

Miss Vicious put her hand up, in an 'enough' sort of way. She began thinking, pacing in a tight circle, kicking up small tufts of dust. Trying to come up with some sort of alternative. Meanwhile, the sun was sinking low. The day's heat was cooling off (a small blessing), but it would also be over soon. Difficult to see. Which was not good, of course. Not good at all.

"Well, now you know why I prefer to carry my crappy knife around," Starsky N. Hutch interrupted her thoughts. "I've had this knife since I was a little boy. It's quiet, it's effective at close range, and best of all, and pay attention now ... Hey! .... it never runs out of bullets!"

"Oh shut up," Vicious said quietly, lost in thought.

"Just saying..."

After pondering a moment or two more, Vicious glanced seriously at her two followers. She'd made her mind up. "Okay. New plan," she said decisively. "I'm going in, by myself. I'm good at sneaking around and stuff, anyways. Much better than y'all, at least. No offense. Been pretty sneaky all my life, really. And I expect whatever's going on inside the station, it'll require some recon. Not going in there, blasting away, making all sort of noise, and junk."

"Okay," said Starsky, smacking his head. "Good plan! Only.... what the *ferk* are we supposed to do while you're gone, sarge?"

"Just stay here, and wait 'til I come back," she said, ignoring his histrionics. "For one thing, it's is a police station. Which means it's gonna have all the stuff she needs in there. Maybe you too, Starsky. Maybe I can fetch you a sword instead of a knife." She began pacing again. "Betcha I go in there, right? And find some five-and-a-halfs for Bratty's gun. Heck, maybe I even might find some whole other gun for both of y'all to use. And rounds."

"Then what?"

"Then, I come back. Give Bratty what she needs. By then, I should have some idea what the hell went wrong in there. Maybe they all got mad at each other one day. Shot each other up, who the hell knows, right?"

Starsky N. Hutch gestured like he was about to say something, but then he stopped himself. Seemed to think on his own for a moment. "Hmm, you know, that might work," he finally said. "You are right. I should stay here. I'm the man, after all. I can protect the brat while you're gone."

"Pfft, whatever! You ain't protectin' nobody randy-dandy-candy, 'specially me! Check yourself, fool. I been on my own for--"

"Enough, Bratty," Vicious said, raising her voice, pushing her friend in the chest until her boots slipped in the sand a bit. "That's enough. Not what we need right now, for you two to start goin' at it again. Got it?"

Bratty fell silent. Back into naughty schoolgirl mode. "Sorry."

"So really, Starsky. You's cool with stayin' here with her, while I go inside?"

"I am, sarge," he smiled. "And Bratty," he turned to her now. "I genuinely apologize for anything I've said which has offended you. Didn't really mean any of it, okay? It's just ... adrenaline and nerves, I guess. Can you blame me?"

Bratty rolled her eyes, but otherwise said nothing.

"Okay you two, this is good. I'm goin' in now. And I'll be back soon. Promise me you'll behave."

Vicious did not wait to hear an answer. Instead she readied her shotgun, lit her final cigarette. And then she was gone.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

6:22 pm
As she neared Germantown Police Station, Vicious crouched down. Focused. Found a small bush she could hide behind, and waited, looking for any sort of movement. Listening for any sort of sound. Cursing her Pip-Girl 2500 personal device, which did not have a 'show enemies' option like the arm-devices from vaults often had.

The place seemed deserted. Certainly not any sort of raider establisment, that's for sure. For one thing, nobody was partying. No sounds of a ruckus going on. No whooping. No beer bottles smashing into walls. None of that. Vicious waited, then crept right up to the place. The station was surrounded by a creative mixture of tall metal fences topped with barbed wire, sandbags, and plywood. She waited, then crept right behind a pile of bags. What would I do if I were Talon Company? she asked herself, then stifled a laugh. Talon Company were some of the worst examples for reconnaisance, she realized. Talon Company's worse than Bratty and Starsky thought she. All they do is go running around, shouting for all the world to--

There was something on her right, beyond the station's modified mall. Something large, and yellow, standing about fifty feet away. It was looking dumbly toward something on the ground.

A supermutant!

A-ha! Were a bunch of giant mutants responsible for causing all those raiders to flee... or worse?

Vicious did not wait for an answer. She readied her Blamhammer. Crept around the station's outer wall-fortification, and then snuck up behind the monster. Maybe it was a good thing night was about to fall, for the monster mutant did not notice her, as she snuck and shuffled from behind, found a gap where one of the tall metal fences had fallen, crept through this gap. Somebody had erected several canvas tents outside of the station for whatever reason, and Vicious used these tents to hide behind as she neared the beast. She checked carefully inside of each tent she passed, seeing if any other mutants were sleeping, or whatever.

Finally she was just behind the guy. Standing nine feet tall and weighing over 800 pounds, the mutant made an easy target for her.

BLAM! went her gun. She had aimed for the mutant's head, but managed to pluck more of its shoulder.

"Arrraaaghaaaa!!!" the mutant battle-cried, readying his giant sledgehammer. The mutant moved quickly, surprisingly fast for such a large oaf of meat. Vicious skipped and hopped around a large pile of rubble as the mutant closed in. It swung its gigantic weapon, but only caught air as the raider lady danced around.

"You want summa this?" she asked, as if she were offering candy to the giant freak of a lab-mutation before her. "Huh? Want some? Here ya go, fool."

She fired again, shattering the thing's knee. Now the monster was stuck, pretty much unable to move as fast as she could. Instead, it hobbled around. From somewhere nearby, a gun began to fire ... *bkksh!* ... a second mutant was shooting a rifle. Vicious kept an eye for this second beast, as she continued to blast at the one with the sledgehammer. Finally, the first mutant fell. And pretty soon, so did the second.

The place was hers now, or at least, its exterior portions were. There were no more supermutants around; she made sure of this. She began to loot the bodies, removing the rifle from the second giant's greasy hands.

Miss Vicious hollered for her friends, who were just up the hill, and pretty soon they were all safe for the night. She gave the rifle and seven rounds to Bratty.

Today's first mission, accomplished.

-------------------------------------

Ghoul policeman in action

Germantown HQ

Blam! goes the Blamhammer

This post has been edited by Renee: May 31 2021, 07:41 PM

[SubRosa]

No surprise Bratty is not good at conserving ammo. I don't imagine Raiders do anything with much discipline at all. I suppose that does make a good way of comparing them to mercs, who one imagines are professional enough to not waste ammo or other resources pointlessly.

Miss VD is sneaking in alone!

A big oaf of meat is right!

Now I have a rifle, ho, ho, ho!

[Acadian]

Wonderfully fun dialogue among Miss VD and her crew.

"Okay you two, this is good. I'm goin' in now. And I'll be back soon. Promise me you'll behave."
- - Haha, party members of opposing allignment.

Nice job taking down those two big meat loafs. Even a few bullets for Bratty.

[Renee]

Yes, Rosa. I think I gave Bratty 500 rounds or so in the GECK when I created her, unfortunately most of that gets wasted as NPCs fire blindly into grass and non-living items. But in a way, from my perspective, I am actually glad she ran out of bullets early. It actually fits the story quite well, as we'll see. *evil grin*

In Cho's game I use scripts to make sure his followers (his C-team) never runs out of ammo. Basically, any time he goes to sleep, and his followers are in Sandbox mode, ammo gets added into their inventories via scripts. I figure they go off on their own, and then manage to find/buy their own gear since they are supposed to be disciplined military personnel. With Bratty & other raiders though, this wouldn't really make sense.

"Okay you two, this is good. I'm goin' in now. And I'll be back soon. Promise me you'll behave."
- - Haha, party members of opposing allignment.

More like children of opposing temperaments!

I should have more Vicious up this week, although my daughter just graduated high school (woo hoo!) and so that's been eating up a lot of family time. Either way, stay tuned. Things are about to get ... interesting.

[Renee]

Chapter 21 -- Germantown HQ, part II

Saturday, September 1st, 2277

Minimum Temperature: 68
Maximum Temperature: 92

Though nobody in more modern times had ever been entirely sure of any specific date, Germantown was founded some time near the year 1830. In its early days, several German immigrants located themselves in the town's main business district, and for this reason the place became known as German Town. The village got this name despite the fact that most residents of the area were English or Scottish. Eventually, the words 'German' and 'Town' were merged.

Germantown was located in Montgomery County, in the central part of Maryland, roughly 25 miles northwest of D.C. Its main claim to fame was a gigantic cider barrel which survived for over 150 years, and provided a variety of local apple drinks to locals and tourists. In 1958, the U.S. Atomic Energy commission relocated its headquarters from D.C. to Germantown, mostly because they determined the town was far enough away from Wasthington, far enough away from any potential nuclear blasts, that is.

Or so they thought at the time...

For over a century, Germantown's population hovered somewhere above 90,000. It was the sort of place which rarely generated newspaper headlines. Unless you lived there, you'd rarely know of anything going on (good or bad) in Germantown. Even its annual Oktoberfest was only modestly noticed outside of Montgomery, and this was despite the fact that the place actually had the word German in its name.

On the other hand, the place was considered generally safe from hoards of diisorder, safe from hoards of crime. Germantown's police department dealt mostly with the same sort of crime any middle American populace might encounter. Vandalisms, bar fights, and occasional car thefts were called in most often. The town was mostly middle class, so house burglaries were also occasional. Homicides were rare; this isn't D.C. or Baltimore we're talking about.

The cops of Germantown provided a steady, standard operation, keeping the citizens of Montgomery County safe right until the year 2077. Of course, nobody during the 21st century could have ever envisioned their solidly-reputed police headquarters would ever become a lair for marauding raiders, or (even worse) actual monsters. As Miss Vicious searched the station's outside area during the day's waning hours, she knew nothing of its past. The few details she knew about Germantown itself came from the history books she'd read as a child.

After a pre-packaged dinner of Salisbury Steak, Vicious scouted the entire area surrounding Germantown HQ, looking for raiders, dead or alive. But there were none to be found. Not even a set of raider armor, cast aside and bloody.

Bratty, Starsky, and Vicious spent the night sleeping in a variety of tents which had been erected outside the station. At times, one of these three raiders would stand guard. But there was nothing to report. If the place was indeed inhabited by super mutants, they kept inside the building.

"Okay, listen y'all. I'm goin' in," Vicious declared at 0848 hours. The sun (and the day's heat) were starting to rise. "Don't get mad, but I want you two to stay here again, okay? Both y'all got guns, but they's rifles, built for long-range. Not close combat. And we don't got enough rounds for the both of y'all yet."

Plus, Vicious thought, but did not say. I don't need you two rushing off deep into the place, getting yourselves killed before I have a chance to take 'em down with my Blamhammer.

"Aw, why do you get to have all the fun?" Bratty complained. "Come on, now. Can't I come along witcha! I'll hold back, I promise!"

"Let's talk sensible now, brat. I just counted over sixty rounds for my shotgun. If there's more of those things inside, mutants, that is, I can take each of 'em out with maybe five shots, max. You only got a total of seven rounds for that rifle I gave you last night. I know, because I counted. And that ain't enough. Especially at close range, which I assume any monsters in there will be."

"But..."

Vicious took her friend aside now, leading her by the hand somewhat away from Starsky. "I promise," she said, locking eyes with the brat. "If I find some more, better weapons, plus some rounds, that I'll return and invite you inside, okay? Chin up, sister."

She turned to the man of their party now. "Starsky? What do you think?"

"Hey, I'm fine with this plan," Starsky N. Hutch answered after a quick moment of thought. "And I'm a bit claustrophobic anyway. Grew up in one of those vaults. Ugh. I hate to admit this, but I've always been afraid of the dark. And a dark full of potential monsters--?" He shuddered.

"No kidding. So which vault did you come from?" Vicious asked. "Was it 101? There was a bunch of dwellers who just was forced out of 101. Some kind of mutiny went on in there. I even met one dude who left the place, who's now livin' in Megaton. Dude 101 got into one hell of a fight inside Moriarty's, killed a man right in front of me with a baseball bat. Smack! Whap! Smack! Just like that."

"No, not 101," Starsky answered. "Uh, Vault 106 is where I was from. Wretched place. I hope I never go back"

"Dag. Always wanted to know what one of those places was like," Vicious mused.

"Well, I don't know about any other vaults, but 106 always had problems with their fusion generators, lights would go out all the time, that sort of thing. I can't tell you how glad I was after I escaped last year. Saw daylight for the first time ever."

"Sissy."

"Bratty..." Vicious warned.

"Well, he is a prissy sissy! I'm sorry, but what kind of supposed man, who's all grown up with his big knife which he carries around for slicin' and dicin', still gets afraid of the dark? So you IS a sissy, miss missy!"

"BRATTY! Enough! Seriously, I need to be able to trust you. Both of you, while I head inside."

"But..."

"No buts, unless you are a butt. And you are not a butt, you are a brat. Am I right?"

Bratty could not help but blush and smile at this comment. "Well yeah, I am a brat. I can be. Always could be. Sorry Starsky and Vicious, that I am such a brat. Always will be."

"Uh, that's better," Miss Vicious looked to the sky, which was a hazy mess of late summer sunshine overhead. She absentmindedly reached for her pocket, which (for the fourth time this morning) did not contain any cigarettes. Dammit.

"I'm goin' in," she said finally. "And I have one request. Which is, will you two say a prayer with me before I go?"

The two raiders before her exchanged glances. Bratty shrugged. "Sure," said Starsky.

"Just repeat after me..."

While Miss Vicious recited the Lord's Prayer from memory, Bratty and Starsky tried to keep up, badly following the Christian bible's most famous incantation a sentence behind their leader. It was perhaps the worst rendition of the Lord's Prayer ever spoken. But it was effective. Miss Vicious felt pleased, and a little energized, that she had given her attention to whatever higher power was out there. If only for a minute.

"Give me a hour or so," Vicious said, before stalking off.

--------------------

8:55 am

"We need ... to get MORE!"

"I know!... But where can we find... 'em?"

Super mutants, growling to each other in some nearby room! Vicious froze, listening as the two giants were deep in conversation with each other. They apparently did not know they now had a visitor. Miss Vicious hunkered down. As each giant spoke to the other, there were frequent pauses in their diatribe. As if it was taking all their mental capacity and brainpower to construct each next thought.

"The female ... is locked up!" one said to the other. "We'll take her home... with us."

"The tiny male ... is downstairs! ... He won't be coming with us. Gwaaa haaa haa haa haa haa haa!"

"Oh my guhd," Vicious whispered. Time for the Blamhammer. She made sure it was ready to go, before sneaking down the hall, toward the two voices.

"....find more, go somewhere else! ... Gwaaa haa haa haa haa haa haa haa ha!!!"

"Yeah! Those humans .... are every where! We'll get them all ... and take them home... with us!"

"Oh, I don't think so," Vicious muttered, rounding the corner silently. She emerged into a small room, used long ago for booking various perps for drug possession and other misdemeanors.

"We need! .... More prisoners! ... Before we can go home! ... We need..."

BLAM went the Blamhermmer, straight into one of the mutant's heads. The giant she shot fell straight onto the floor, just like that. For a split second, Vicious stood surprised. One shot, that's all it took. She almost wasted a second round then. But the monster was down!

So she got moving.

"GAME's OVER!" shouted the second mutant, "Baaaa haa haa haa haa!" This second guy fired a rifle, but by the time he did so his stalker had already backed out of the room. His round hit nothing but sheetrock, spraying asbestos into the air.

Vicious rushed up the hallway, crouched the entire time, for ultimate stealth. She then stayed still for a minute. Listened. Waited for the second mutant to give up its chase. In fact, the second mutant had not initiated any sort of chase... he was still in the same room.

"Awww, waste of my time!" said mutant #2. Vicious heard him shoulder his gun, as he apparently went back to standing around. Seeming not to care at all about the fate of his mate. Seeming not to wonder why somebody would just come in the place, shoot his buddy, and leave.

A minute or two later, he was dead, with just one more blast of the hammer.

She reached into her pack, and grabbed her flashlight. Turned it on, its light yellowish and warbling. Time to do some recon.

Vicious's initial theory that the place would be packed with guns and ammo came true. As she searched the police station's upper floor, she found more shotgun rounds, some microfusion cells, four live frag mines on the floor, plenty of 10 mil handgun rounds, dozens of 32 caliber bullets, and so on. She found two more rifles: one a semi-automatic, the other a single-shooter. She also found plenty of chems. Amphetamines, prescription medical pills, downers, and uppers of all kinds. Hallucinagenics. Some of these had once belonged in evidence lockers, perhaps.

One thing she did not find were raiders. Had they even had been here, staying in the station, like Slick Rick had told her? It was hard to tell. Vicious found some bones here and there, as well as a few portions of skeletons in one hallway. But these could have come from anybody human, not necessarily raiders.


12:37 pm
She went through a door, which led to a downflight of stairs. She was now on the second floor. Something large was clomping around down there. Vicious crept forward. Came to a short hallway, which led to an intersection. The giant walked right by where she was hiding. *BLAM* went the Blamhammer. The gigantic oaf fell. She had estimated it would take a maximum of five shots for each mutant she encountered. But so far, she had loosed a total of four shots, on three mutants, two of which were instant kills.

She listened closely for the sounds of raiders. But all she heard were more super mutants. And the mutants she heard kept complaining of hunger. "I'm hungry!" one of them literally said, just before she blasted its face off.

She crept some more, than heard a voice, somewhere far away. A human voice! Vicious was sure of it. She wondered if the voice she had heard could be one of those raiders, the 'rookie idiots who went up north', which everyone down in Springvale kept talking about.

---------------------------------------------------------

Germantown Police Department, circa 2010

Germantown Cider Barrel

Yum Yum Deviled Egg breakfast

Flashlight (mod)

Were these the rookie idiots who went up north?

Sneaky looking sorts

BLAM! goes the Blamhammer



Nits: I've been spelling super mutants as one word (supermutants) and that's wrong!

This post has been edited by Renee: Jun 13 2021, 07:21 PM

[Lopov]

Taneesha's story continues to be interesting. I like both stories - this one and the previous, which in my eyes serves as the introduction to the second one.

We even got a history lesson about Germantown!

With such companions Taneesha is better off alone sneaking around and fighting Super Mutants!

Blamhammer sounds like a powerful weapon. If she had this shotgun at her disposal back in Fairfax, she might play hide'n'shoot with raiders that came after her.

Looks like that we find out in the next story what happened with those that went up north...

[Acadian]

Agree with Lopov - nice history lesson on Germantown.

Managing those two companions is a challenge! Fortunately, she did score lotsa weaponry and ammo inside.

[SubRosa]

I wonder if Starsky and Bratty will kill each other by the time Miss VD returns...

I don't envy being a raider boss. Having to spend every day dealing with the people incapable of even pretending to fit in with the rest of society would age one prematurely.

It's Hammer Time! Miss V is really good with the headshots.

[Renee]

Man from Slovenia -- Yes, I figured I'd throw in what little I know about Germatown, and also see what comes up with wikipedia. We went to that giant cider barrel when I was a kid.

The Blamhammer is a modified shotgun. It does something like 10% extra damage, and was also given to Taneesha with full health, rather than about-to-fall-apart (as so many weapons out in the wasteland are). The thing about shotguns are, they don't have very much range. So the original idea was for Bratty to cover longer distances with her assault rifle. Starsky, on the other hand, was rolled with Leveled List Melee Weapons, so I had no idea what he's show up with.

Hope your vacation is going well.

Man from Vegas -- Yes, she has found a lot of ammo, but maybe only four guns so far: one assault rifle (semi-automatic), and three hunting rifles (single shooters). She hasn't found any ammo for the assault rifle yet though.

Germantown HQ includes a Bethesda-written quest which I think Vicious is going to smash into this morning, but I also wrote my own content.

Lady from Michigan -- Yeah, I know, right? In fact I knew Bratty's personality already when they met. But didn't know Starsky would play such a role, or that he'd even be named Starsky (his name in the game is the generic Raider). My original intention was that he'd be a guy who sort of played a background role, providing support to the team, and didn't have much to say. But just the fact that he showed up on this mission carrying such a miniscule weapon. Vicious couldn't ignore that. And as they've traveled together and I start 'hearing' each NPC's voice.... ahem.

Hammer Time it is!

[Renee]

..,

Chapter 22 -- Germantown HQ, part III

Saturday, September 1st, 2277


"This is bull *crap*. It's been over an hour, and she said she was only gonna be away for one hour, then she'd come back. I don't know about you, but I'm goin' in too."

"Hmm, well I don't know, Brat," Starsky replied.

"Oh, that's right," the brat taunted, "afraid of the dark, is what you said. What a load you are, ya know? Serious-like, why even come along with us if you was gonna pussy out wike a wittle wuss? Shoulda stayed back in Springvale."

Starsky stood still a moment, taking the insult quietly. Thinking and pondering. Weighing his options.

Up above, the sun was high and hot. Though Starsky and Bratty had no official way of telling what time it was, it had gone past noon for sure. To avoid the day's heat, the pair of raiders had taken cover under one of the tents outside of the police station. But both were getting restless.

"Look, if you go in there, so am I," Starsky finally said.

"Ha! I knew it! I knew you was lying! Afraid of the dark, my ass!"

"Because here's what I'm thinking," he said, ignoring. "What if something bad has happened to her? I am afraid of the dark, that part is true. Nyctophobia, it is called. But I signed up for this mission because I wanted to gain some experience. And maybe I just need to get over it. Get over my fear of the dark, that is."

Bratty rolled her eyes at him, probably for the seventh time that morning.

"Look, she may be in trouble. That's what I'm getting at. She may have gotten herself into a jam, and needs our help. So if you're going in, I'm coming along with you. And that is that."

"*Shoot*, you know, maybe you is right," Bratty said, suddenly wide-eyed. She blinked a half-dozen times at once. "Maybe she got caught up in there by who knows what?"

"That's what I'm saying."

"We gotta go in there!" Bratty said, ecstatically. "Screw this waiting around crap, we should see if she's alright!"

"Well let's go then. Come on. We can't waste any more time."

-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!

12:56 pm
By now, Miss vicious had cleared the entire top floor of mutants, and was halfway through the station's middle section. She'd been spending most of her time listening hard for the sound of the voice she'd heard before. Definitely human, and definitely female. She was sure about this.

At some point, she realized she had lost track of time. 'An hour' is what she told Bratty outside. She'd be back to get Bratty in an hour. But the truth was, she still hadn't found a weapon suitable for the brat. And she knew she would not forgive herself if, should Bratty start to lose focus and rush deep into the place, Bratty would then be crippled by one of these monsters. Crippled, or worse...

"Arrgh, no green stuff here," said one of the giants, from somewhere nearby.

Vicious was in a room full of desks and computers. She determined this room was once used as a 911 call center. Whatever that could be, she did not know. One of the computer monitors in this room still worked, though. And it had all sorts of info on 911 calls, whatever those were. It seemed these calls had been made by citizens long ago to the police station, and what Vicious was reading were the typed versions of these calls.

Whatever.

It was in this room she found a rather peculiar weapon, in an ordinary wooden desk. She immediately realized she had never seen anything like it before. It was dark gray in color, but had a yellowish-green bulb (for lack of a better word) where its barrel should be. She realized it was some sort of energy weapon. It had been stored away at some point with several energy cells, and also contained a port where cells could be loaded. Vicious was no fan of energy weapons; she preferred her shotguns. Still, the weapon might fetch a nice price back in society. Or maybe Bratty might want it.

"Come out come out, wherever you are!"

Vicious heard the sound of gunfire, a machine gun for sure. She also heard a small "yelp" coming from somewhere. Again, this yelp sounded human. So right away, she sprinted into action. Left the 911 call center, and ran into the next room, where a super mutant brute was standing. No longer sneaking around, she blasted the thing's chest. *BKKSH!!!*

"There you are! A-ha ha ha ha ha!!!!"

The mutant returned fire with his weapon, an assault rifle. Vicious ducked out of the room, and waited for the brute (a larger, stronger version of mutant) to fall into her trap. As the giant rounded the corner, too large and too unwieldy with its gun to aim properly, Vicious blasted its arm, causing him to falter, and drop his weapon. "ARRG!" The fight lasted another ten seconds or so, when finally the mutant fell.

"Hello?" she called out. "Anybody in here?"

There was no answer. So she turned on her flashlight, and looted the mutant's body. Found a Chinese assault rifle (useless) a few rounds of 5.5mm ammo for Bratty's gun, and a severed, half-eaten leg in the thing's gigantic satchel. Yicch. But ... she also found a key, which she collected. Maybe this key might be useful in the hours to come.

She then resumed her search. Outside, she could hear the sound of rainfall and thunder, which caused her to remember her posse. She checked her Pip-Girl device for time. 14:23 it said. Way past the hour she had promised Bratty. Maybe she should go back outside, then. From what she could hear, there were no other mutants stomping around. Only a few radroaches, here and there.

But before the raider could leave ...

"How'd you get in here?"

It was the human voice she had heard before. "Hey," Vicious said. "Don't be alarmed. I've come to rescue you."

"Quick!" said the lady before her. "Unlock the door! You've got to get this door unlocked so I can get out of here!" This lady was wearing red coveralls, and had a red bandanna tied around her head.

"Um, what door?"

"You're rescuing me?" lady in red asked. "Thanks, I thought we were goners for sure! I think the others are dead. Or worse. ... My name's Red by the way," she said, extending her hand.

"Hey, it's okay, Red. We know all about you and the others. All of us back in Springvale knew you came up here, tryin' to start a new branch for us, and now I can see what went wrong. But it ain't no worry. You are safe now."

"Don't I know it," said Red. "Now the trick is getting out of here."

"That shouldn't be a problem. This entire floor plus the floor upstairs have been cleared of mutants, yep, I got 'em all. There's a few roaches wandering around, still. I hate killing those things, gettin' all their guts splashed everywhere. You can just avoid those. Upstairs I left a couple rifles by the entrance. Feel free to grab one of those, and also the ammo I left up there."

Red said nothing, but she nodded, her glasses glinting in the station's dim light.

"So what happened to the others?" Miss Vicious asked. "Are there any others? Nice suit, by the way. I love the red."

"Everyone else is dead, or taken away to who knows where," said the red-suited lady. "Well, except maybe for Shorty. They dragged him off downstairs to the kitchen awhile ago. But ... no one comes back from the kitchen."

"Alright sis, I can go see if Shorty is down there. Maybe you should stay here, though. Looks like you don't have a weapon. And I ain't risking any casualties."

Vicious realized she could also lead the lady in red back to one of the rifles she had found, and then have her come along to find this Shorty. But Red would still be ill-prepared. Red wasn't wearing any armor, for instance.

"I'm not waiting around for any super mutant to lock me up again. There's a back door around here some place. If you're not back soon, I'm leaving without you. Meet me at Big Town."

"Big Town?" Vicious replied. "Hey, you don't have to go that far. Yeah, there is a door in the next room which leads outside, Matter of fact, if you go out there, just walk around the perimeter. I came with a couple others, Dogmaster's orders, in fact. The others should be still out there. You can just go there, and wait with them, while I get Shorty. You can tell them I'm okay."

By Red's facial expression, Vicious could see Red was puzzled. The lady in red immediately slunk down cautiously, obviously hiding herself as best she could, which was a good start. But she did not move.

"Okay, then. Just stay here, I guess. I'll be back soon."

Vicious turned off her flashlight, and began to continue her search.

"By the way," she called back to Red, "you might want to consider not wearing all that red if you happen to find some proper armor. Stands out too much once you're on the wasteland. You know? I'll see if I can find something else for you to wear. Hopefully some armor. I mean, once you is back with the others in Springvale you can dress however you like. Springvale and Super Duper Mart are downright safe and solid."

No wonder these guys and gals were being called "rookie idiots" by the raiders down south.

-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!

4:47 pm
Vicious found a stairwell which led to a door, and this door led to the police station's cellar. Down here, she found plenty of bones and guts in one room. She also found what had obviously been a raider female, now dead, and hanging from a meat hook. But no Shorty, nor any others. Obviously, the super mutants had been busy eating most of their meals down here. And most of their meals were (apparently) human. Other than a few more radroaches, the place seemed deserted.

Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind. Something was not right. Something about the conversation she'd had, hours before.

Specifically, Starsky N. Hutch. Something Starsky had said was suddenly bothering her. Something at the back of her mind. Vicious paused, and tried to remember what this could be. But before she could do so, she heard a voice. Another human voice. This time, a male. She forgot all about Starsky, and whatever it was he'd said.

The male was arguing with yet another mutant, but the conversation was too far away. Though Vicious could not hear specifically what was being said, obviously it was not good. She readied her Blamhammer. Checked a room which had once been the place's mess hall. Tables and chairs and dishes. But nobody in there. So she moved into another room, which was crammed with lockers. The voices were closer now, but nobody in here, either.

A gun fired! And fired again! A rifle, Vicious determined. The man screamed. The rifle fired again, and finally, she had located the mutant. It was at the end of a hallway, roughly 20 feet away. The mutant fired again.

"Put that down, you biscuit and cheese-headed fool!"

*BKKSH!* went her Blamhammer. But the mutant had already been alerted to her presence, and was able to sidestep his massive girth to avoid the brunt of the shotgun's pellets. So it took a few more shots, a few more back-and-forths between her gun and the mutant's. During the melee she realized she'd been hit, and had to rush off into the next room to heal herself with a Stimpak. She also decided to rummage into her pack. She grabbed one of the frag mines she'd found earlier, placing it onto the floor. She activated it, as the mutant stomped near. Vicious then ran into an adjacent room. She shielded herself from the upcoming blast behind a partition.

"Come out, come out, wherever you..." *BOOM* went the frag mine, throwing the 800 pound doofus onto his side. The battle was over. Immediately, a radroach seemed to appear from nowhere. It began nibbling on the mutant's leg just then, probably savoring a rare (still warm) meal.

Vicious ran past these two, and into the room where the mutant had been firing his gun. "Are you alright?!?" she called. "HEY!"

She rushed into the next room. But the guy, presumably Shorty, had already been killed.

"God-DAMMIT!" she swore loudly,realizing that she'd just broken one of the Ten Commandments, the one which said something about not taking the Lord's name in vain. But screw it. There were moments in life when making errors like this seemed more okay than usual. She hunkered down, then felt for a pulse. Found none. Though she did not know for sure who this was, she could see that the man had been rather short in height. Hence, this was probably Shorty.

Miss Vicious searched the rest of the basement. She found more ammo and finally a few packs of cigarettes. But no other raiders.

Time to go. She continued back upstairs, wondering how Starsky and Bratty were doing outside. She checked her device. 19:46 it said. Not good. In fact, by now multiple hours had passed since she'd last seen them. But maybe Red had gone out there by now, joining up with the others.

With the station silent, and the action all over, Miss Vicious spent the next few minutes thinking about Starsky, trying to remember exactly what he'd said to her hours ago.


-------------------------------------------

Peculiar energy weapon

Vicious meets Red

Quest update

Mutilated raider (by coincidence, this poor gal was wearing raider armor)

Mutant executing Shorty

Muzzle Flash!

"Gaaa ha ha ha ha!!!"

Blammo!


Notes: The part when Red says "quick, unlock the door" happened due to some sort of glitch. Red is supposed to be locked up in one of the police station's cells when we find her. But she somehow got out! So I had Vicious walk around to the correct cell door, unlock it, and this caused Red to forcegreet like she normally does!

This post has been edited by Renee: Jun 21 2021, 11:29 PM

[Lopov]

It probably won't be too long when Taneesha will realize that Red wasn't among raiders. I wonder if she'll decide to meet her in Big Town nonetheless.

Maybe those raiders ended up hanged on hooks like the one which Taneesha found.

If she killed all muties, then Starsky and Bratty should be safe...or not? Is there someone else lurking in the GHQ or maybe Starsky won't be able to cope with darkness?

Good story, it opened up quite some questions.

[Acadian]

Lots of action here, and suspenceully written. I'm not surprised that Bratty and Starsky decided to go inside given that Bratty was chomping at the bit and Miss VD was overdue.

[SubRosa]

So now the Brat and the Starsk are on their way inside to save Capt. Doby.

Awesome! Miss V thinks that Red is a Raider, not someone from Big Town. I love how Red is puzzled over who Dogmaster is, and MVs talk of Springvale and the Super Duper Mart being safe zones.

Aww, Shorty didn't make it.

That is a weird looking energy weapon. I am guessing you added it with a mod?

And now of course, what happened to Starsky and Bratty?

[Renee]

I appreciate you three sticking with this tale week after week. Especially for you, Acadian. Since Fallout games are not your true love. It is fun, but also work! I must motivate myself at times. I guess it's the same way for every major story.

I anticipate Vicious will go through the rest of the summer, and partially into fall. I also still game with Cho Zen Wan quite a lot here and there. Maybe by the time this summer's over I'll be sick of Fallout 3, and finally ready to try New Vegas again. Or Fallout 4.


Lopov: You are right, pretty soon she'll realize Red is not of one them. The raider hanging from the meat hook is just coincidence. :yucky: Beth added that Otherwise, there would be no signs of raiders being in that area. Well... not by Beth, anyway.

I wanted Lopov to realize a few things.. a few inconsistencies, since he knows a lot of FO lore. And it looks like he did notice them, he heee. We message'd each other this week.


Acadian: Quite a lot of the rest of this story will have some sort of action. Whether it's actual fighting or Vicious ... figuring stuff out, and so on. Bratty and Starsky shall play stronger roles in this next coming chapter. But it would only make sense that they'd go after her, being bored, and also with the heat rising to summer temps. It's cooler in that station, I imagine.

Just so you know, the whole part with Red and Shorty is Bethesda-written content, whereas today's chapter shall be Renee-written content.


SubRosa -- Yes, the whole mistaken identity thing was fun to write! Especially because we know the difference. Shorty never makes it in my games so far. Cho also botched that part up earlier this spring when we did Trouble in Big Town for the fist time.

Yes, that energy weapon was added by a mod. All of that shall make sense in a moment....

What happened to Bratty and Starsky? Let's find out!

[Renee]

Chapter 23: Conclusions and Collusions

Saturday, September 1st, 2277, 6:50 pm

The police station was quieter, and the reason why raiders were not able to colonize Germantown's police station was now known. Because of this, Vicious was able to take her time, and search more thoroughly.

As she moved from room to room, she spared no gunfire. By now, she had somewhere over a hundred shells; her hunch that the place would have a lot of ammo definitely came true. So she blasted every remaining, living radroach with the Blamhammer.

There was nothing new to find in the basement, so she backtracked, and was now back in the station's ground floor. She was able to use her flashlight more thoroughly now, as she searched. Because of this, she eventually found a third prisoner.



"Whoa, whoa, who the *duck!* are you?"

The guy had ratty brown hair, and was wearing the armor of a raider, Vicious could see. "Oh ... damn," she said, "I musta missed you earlier. Sorry bout that. Good news, though. I got all the mutants. All of them is dead," she said with some pride.

"Well get me out of here!" he began dancing a little. He looked as though he was fighting off tears. "You got any lock picks? Please say yes."

Vicious looked into her bag. Found the key she had taken earlier from one of the mutants. But the key did not fit this cell's door.

"Dammit. Well yeah, I do have some picks. Hold on."

Being a black girl (whose hair required all kinds of daily upkeep), she always had plenty of lock picks. She had grown up wearing them, in fact!

"Watch this."

She reached toward her head with her left hand, and removed a couple bobby pins from her hair. "One thing convenient about being a girl," she smirked. "Always got lock-picking tools on my head."

"Easy there..." said the convict, his voice shaking.

She bent one of the pins a particular way, then inserted both pins into the lock in slow motion. First one, then the other. Concentration. Picking locks was one of her hobbies as a young teenager, back in the Jehovah's Witness temple she'd grown up in. So it took just two tries for her to feel the lock's tumblers, and roll them just right with a tiny snick, and a tiny click.

"Got it."

"Sweet!" The cell's door rolled open with a series of squeaks. "Pretty sure I was going to be somebody's next dinner..."

"Listen," Vicious grabbed him by the shoulder. "Slow down, and listen to me. You need to focus now. Stay alert. I got others with me. They's still outside. I came in alone, without them. So we's about to meet us some others, okay? All of us came up from Springvale, Dogmaster's orders. Because see? We take care about our own. But you gotta stay focused. Maybe stay back a bit as we walk."

The prisoner nodded.

"Let's go find you a gun," she added.

"Okay, you lead the way," he said eagerly. "I hope we get back to Springvale soon."

Vicious reached into her bag, and grabbed a few items. "You take this ammo, okay? I got us a couple guns upstairs, too. And here, have some food," she said, handing him a box of Junk Food. "And ta-dah, I got cigarettes." She gave him a couple packs, leaving her with five.

"Goddam, this is good. I can't thank you enough."

One thing she did not have was a Stimpak she could give him. In fact, she was out of these disposable healing kits, she had used every last one during her raid. He would just have to bear with this.

"So what's the deal with Red?" Vicious asked. She glanced across the room, where Red was still crouched.

"Oh that chick?" he asked. "The one who's wearing all red? Hey I don't know that chick." He scratched his face. "All I know is, she ain't one of us."

"Hmm."

"Not to confuse the issue, but we gots to get outta here!"

Vicious agreed. But first, she made sure to tell the raider prisoner to wait where he was standing first, while she moved Red into a different room.

-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!

8:42 pm
Miss Vicious and the former prisoner left the station. Outside, the rain she'd heard before had stopped at some point. Night had fallen, but a quarter moon was in the sky, so visibility was good. The day's heat was over.

"Come round this way," she told the man as she walked forward. "What is your name, anyway?"

"Just call me Sal," he answered.

"Okay, Sal. You can call me Vicious."

She extinguished her flashlight. Together they walked down a fight of stairs, and across some ground strewn with rubble. Their boots crunched over tons of concrete and plaster. The air out here was pleasant. No more heat, at least for another twelve hours or so. She checked her device. 20:54 it said.

She began to think back to earlier that day. Trying to remember. Starsky N. Hutch had said some things, which eventually caused a few red flags to go up in her head. What were the things he'd said?

...I hate to admit this, but I've always been afraid of the dark...

Vicious stopped walking. Cocked her head from one side to the other. Afraid of the dark, he had said....

...And I'm a bit claustrophobic anyway. Grew up in one of those vaults....

"Uh, huh?" she asked aloud. "And which vault was this you grew up in?" She put her hands on her hips. "Was it Vault 101?"

... Vault 106 is where I was from. Wretched place. I hope I never go back....

Vicious clucked her tongue within her mouth, smiled. Shook her head. "Oh really? Vault 106, you say?"

"What?" asked former prisoner Sal. "Who're you talkin to?"

Miss Vicious thought back to her school days. 9 or 10 years old. The adults and children, locked into eternal worship. Eternal predictions, of when the world was going to end next. Always, there'd be some date for this. ...This 'end' of the world.

"Hey, why've we stopped?" Sal asked, sounding worried.

A young Taneesha Jones, asking questions. ... A young Taneesha Jones, seeking her own answers. ... She had been taken into the temple at a very young age. She'd been an orphan, raised by Jehovah's Witnesses, located in a town once called Ellicott City. Being an orphan, she'd enjoyed a few liberties not shared by the other kids. No immediate parents, which meant she could go unsupervised more often. As long as she was sneaky enough, this was true.

"Vault 106..." she mused.

Because of this, she had gone through a phase, in which she tried to learn everything she could about the outside world. The Ellicott City temple was just as insular as any vault, you see. Nobody was allowed to just leave. But the temple's elders also kept plenty of documents, books, and other such media, pertaining to the rest of America's past. Kept them in one of their special, 'Elders Only' rooms. But rules were made to be broken, in young Taneesha's mind. As long as she was sneaky enough, she pored through as much hidden material as she could, mostly while hiding in a crawlspace.

Now an adult, she tried to remember the pamphlet she had found. The one about vaults. It listed every vault in America, this pamphlet did. Young Taneesha had read and studied them all for awhile, staving off typical childhood boredom. Vault 106, eh?

"There was no way he could of come from Vault 106," Vicious said aloud, gesturing with her hands as if she were talking to somebody. "No way in hell. That's the one where they gave all those dwellers some kind of special drugs. Caused them to lose their minds. Place is uninhabitable. Dag-nabbit!"

"Who? What are you talking about?"

Vicious looked at him, shaking her head slowly. "All I know is something ain't right about the guy I traveled here with. Said he's from Vault 106, and now I know this cannot be. So. There's gonna be some questions to question, and answers to answer."

As the pair walked toward the front of Germantown HQ, Vicious cocked the safety of her gun from ON to OFF.

--------------------------

Raider Convict

Vault 106 wiki page



Notes: Yet another Wastelander ran through the station as I started gaming today! It must be some sort of deliberately-written, unseen quest Bethesda wrote. I was too slow with the console to get a picture of the guy. Vicious did not attack him.

This post has been edited by Renee: Jun 27 2021, 09:23 PM

[Lopov]

Interesting and tense. Yeah, I remembered later that in Vault 106 one can encounter insane survivors but those are way too insane, not as intelligent and talkative as Starsky. So I didn't know whether Starsky actually somehow survived what happened in that vault and remained more or less sane or did he...lie. But why did he lie? Maybe he plans to do something dark. Maybe Bratty is in danger! Run, Taneesha, run!

This post has been edited by Lopov: Jun 27 2021, 08:02 PM

[Acadian]

All that ammo and bobby pins too! Fully prepared, she is. So she actually found a legitimate Raider to rescue it seems. Red is a question and now more questions arise about Starsky. . . .