OoO( Prologue )OoO

Legends. Every culture has them. The Greek had a pantheon of gods who lived on Mount Olympus. The Norse had their own world called Asgard where gods and giants fought one another, with the human world at stake. Even the Asian cultures had dynasty after dynasty of kami and shén bearing tales of romanticism, anger, hatred and tragedy.

Jesus, Muhammad, the Buddha, prophets of legend. Robin Hood, Paul Bunyan, Casey Jones, Hercules, Saint Nicholas, King Arthur, Ishiwaka Goemon, Sun Wukong, heroes of legend. Every culture has them, and they are forever idolized within the people of a culture, told to children to make them behave, or to give them hope. There was even an era where these figures were put into comic form. Grognak, the Silver Shroud, the Watchers, Mighty Man, the Unstoppables, and the Unbeatable Shebeast. All made and idolized by youth until they grew up, still praising the same heroes.

This is the tale of one such hero. Not one from comics, or mythological origins. But one who people knew, one who people loved, one who was idolized not because of unbelievable exploits put into text, or told to children. But because of his actions, and his unwavering gaze in the face of impossibility. Even when outnumbered, outmatched, and outgunned, he never gave up on the people of the wastes. It was because of him that the Capital Wasteland is the way it is now, and we have him to thank for the peace we enjoy every single day.

He is our hero, our legend, our idol. He is the Wanderer.

~Excerpt from...
"The Lone Wanderer,"
Published December 25th, 2297
As written by famed author Moira Brown

OoO( 1 )OoO

It seems that a lot of the most important moments in a human's life, whether a single man or woman, or humankind as a whole, begin with a flash of light. The creation of the universe is said to have begun with an explosion on a universal scale, a massive flash of photons and galactic fire that formed the livable plain of our existence. And when we first open our eyes, we are assaulted by an intense flash of light as our never before used eyes take in the world around us.

In October 2077, when the bombs fell, the entire world was exposed to a flash of light that literally changed the face of the planet. From the moment that flash covered the surface of the Earth, mankind was plunged into a world of fire and chaos, the likes of which they had never seen before. The entire world, reborn in a flash of light.

Just as one young man was reborn as he kicked open the rickety door of the tunnel he stood in. As soon as he did, he regretted it, as the blinding light of the massive star in their solar system stabbed at him like knives. His entire life, he'd had nothing but the artificial lights of Vault 101 to guide his path. Now, he desperately covered his watering eyes as the ultraviolet light pierced him to his very core. He immediately shrank back into the small cavern outside of the giant doorway of his home, shying away from the intense burning blanket that the sun laid on him.

As he sat in the cavern, he also began to feel other sensations that he'd never felt before. His skin, at least that exposed to the open air, had began to tingle slightly when he had come into contact with the outside air. No longer did thick walls and air filtration systems protect him from the harsh irradiated world. He merely sat, running a single hand through his brown hair as he allowed his eyes to recover from the intense pain they had just received.

While sitting, he thought about everything that had just happened. It seemed as if just yesterday, he had had his tenth birthday almost ruined by the annoying and always intruding Butch. Then again, time itself seemed to disappear in a flash to him, as if vault life were somehow making things go incredibly faster than they should. That was the same day he had gotten his Pipboy 3000, a device clamped around his arm that had practically become a best friend to him. No matter how hard he thought life was in the vault, the Vault Boy always continued to smile courageously, giving him the iconic thumbs up.

He looked down at the green tinted screen of the pipboy. But he was surprised to find that the Vault Boy no longer had a smile for him. Instead, the small figure's face was melancholy, as if saddened by what the boy was about to learn. It wasn't long before he happened to see the blinking appendage that the Vault Boy had. Immediately, he lifted and examined his own arm which was covered in the usual Vault 101 blue jumpsuit.

As it turned out, one of the officers he had to gun down for firing on Tom and Mary Holden had actually gotten him in the arm with a stray shot. How he managed to make it all the way through the fight and through the situation with the Overseer without noticing was beyond him. Such was the wonders of adrenaline, he guessed. Luckily, it wasn't bleeding much, and wouldn't be beyond repairing with a stimpack. He had gotten of much better than Mary, who unfortunately, had caught a bullet directly to her ulna, leaving it in pieces. She'd live, but would likely have to endure weeks of pain and medication before she fully recovered. She told the pair as much when he removed the round from her arm himself, a surgical process taught to him by his father.

That's when he growled menacingly. His father, the man who loved him and cared for him, ultimately left him behind in the vault when he made his escape. No warning, no signs, no hints, no nothing. Just fell asleep one night, then gone the next morning, leaving his son to fend off psychotic vault guards, radroaches, and an Overseer with a power trip. He slowly began to bandage his arm as he recalled the encounter with the overseer.

After his close call with the two officers down the narrow hallway leading to the Atrium, the young man was attempting to sneak past the Overseer's office to reach the front entrance to the vault itself. That was when he heard probably the most blood boiling, enraging sound he had ever heard in his life. It was the sound of Amata screaming in pain. The next few seconds were a blur as he stepped into the office and raised the gun that Amata had given him and fired it directly into the face shield of the man responsible.

Officer Mack, the guard that the Overseer was using to extract information from his daughter, was as sadistic and psychotic as all the rest put together. He had a baton out, one of the non-lethal methods used by Vault Security to keep the peace. But his had small rods on the tip, which sent waves of electricity into whatever they came in contact with. That was currently his best friend, and teenage romance, Amata.

As he fired, he aimed directly for the chest, knowing that it was the greatest target from their distance. The officer, who had turned as soon as he entered the room, was struck in the chest plate and knocked onto his back, groaning in pain. It was then, when he had a clear shot, and Mack was unarmed, that he stepped on the officer's now pain riddled gut, and aimed directly at the man's head. The next bullet smashed the flimsy plastic and splattered the man's blood all over the inside of the shattered mask.

The much older man quickly backed up, raising his hands in defense as John, the doctor's son, reached down to grab the electro-baton off of Mack's corpse. "Please! Don't kill him!" shouted Amata. His finger froze on the trigger as he stared at the man with a hatred that burned deeper than any of the fires that had sprung up in the vault. Reaching down, the doctor's son grabbed the baton that had fallen from Mack's hand when he was shot in the chest.

"Now young man, don't do anything you may regret…" said the Overseer, his tone surprisingly level for having a gun pointed at him by the young man responsible for executing one of his guards.

"You killed him you son of a bitch..." John said as he whipped the edge of the baton into the side of the Overseer's leg, causing the man's stance to buckle, sending him to the floor in pain. "He was a pushover, a fan of sci-fi comics who had trouble asking Jane on a date. And you had him killed..." Despite the probable knee fracture, the older man still managed to crawl backwards as the pistol was held in his face.

"Please..." was all he managed to get out before John aimed the baton at him as well.

"Save it." he said, whipping the baton across the Overseer's hand as it tried to grab the leg of his jumpsuit. "You've killed Jonas, you've tried to kill me, and you had that barbarian torturing your own goddamn daughter!" he shouted, the force behind his voice practically shaking the walls. Two of the guards that had come up to the door, preparing to take the young man down froze in place at the statement.

"I-I did it for the vault!" shouted the older man.

"Say the phrase "for the vault" one more time and this'll be going up your ass." said John viciously as he waved the shock baton in the man's face. "Now, I'm going to say two things, and you're going to listen to me as I say them. Do I make myself clear?" asked the enraged young man. The Overseer nodded his head rapidly. "Good, now stand up." he commanded. As Alphonse stood, John lowered the gun. "First, Officer Kendall has a wound to his left shoulder where I shot him after he pulled a gun on me. I patched him up, and he should be fine. Officers Richards and O'Brian are lying in the hallway to the atrium with their arms and hands crippled. I shot them because they fired on unarmed men and women who had nothing to do with me. And Officer Mack..." he said, looking down at the body as blood began to pool out from under the shattered face plate. "Well, he got exactly what he had coming." he said, then turned to the Overseer again. "Do you see what I'm getting at?" he asked.

Alphonse sighed and nodded. "You were defending yourself, and the other dwellers of the vault." he said in a tired tone. "Including my daughter..."

"Good. And second, this is for Amata." he said, pulling the trigger on his weapon. A loud pop sounded, and the Overseer, fell to his back. The Overseer's daughter watched in wide-eyed horror as her father seemed to fall in slow motion and hit the ground. She wanted to scream, but couldn't. She watched in shock for a few moments before she registered that someone else was screaming, namely her father.

The older man was now holding both hands to his head and was rolling around in throes of pain. "D-Dad!?" she asked incredulously as she stumbled over and knelt next to him. After taking a moment to pry his hands away from his face, she saw that his eyes were watering and he now had a large red welt directly in the center of his forehead.

"Amata is my best friend. She has my comm code, and I swear to you that if you ever lay another hand on her, I will kill you with my bare hands. Even if I have to rip away and blow through the vault walls myself. Do I make myself clear?" he asked.

"Yes! Yes! For the love of God yes!" he shouted, still rubbing tenderly at the sore spot on his forehead.

"What did you do to him?" she asked, bewildered that her father was still alive.

He smirked and turned to her, handing her the gun he held in his hand. "Taught him a lesson. If he ever gets out of line again, give him another shot." he said with a smirk. Amata looked down at the weapon and noticed immediately how small it was compared to the gun she gave him.

"A...A BB gun? You switched your guns out?" she asked. He nodded, and she laughed, and laughed. Her father glared at her, then stood up, noticing that John was now walking out the door to the office.

"Where do you intend to go?" asked the Overseer, his voice much less angry than a minute before, but no less irritated.

John just shrugged. "I don't know..." said the doctor's son as he reached up and scratched his head. "But I will find him, and I will make him answer for what he did here today." he said with a look of steel in his eyes.

"Good luck then." he merely said. After those final three words, he left the room and headed for the entrance of the vault, unhindered by the officers who were waiting outside the room for him. When he finally made it to the giant cog that sealed their vault shut, he marveled at it once again. He had only seen it a couple times, none of those times did he ever suspect he would one day return to open the doorway.

Amata approached the young man and eyed the door warily as the giant mechanism slammed into the entry point on the giant cog. After a moment or two of locking into place, it began to pull the crenelated metal wheel free from its home and slowly began to roll it aside. Now, Amata stood next to him as they watched the occurrence with wide eyes. "W-Wow...it's actually opened. You did it." she said in shock as she stared at the dark tunnel beyond the once secured door.

John turned to her and stared at her for a long moment before he held out his hand. "Amata, come with me." he offered.

She turned and looked at him as if he had just slapped her. "What?" she asked.

"I know it's a really crappy time to ask for a commitment, but we're here now. And...I know that when I'm with you, I can do anything. So...please. Come with me and help me find my father." he asked, holding his hand out to her.

The young woman looked at him, her gut plummeting at the admission, but at the same time, her knees were weak in fear. She wanted so bad to reach out and grasp his hand. Slowly, she put her hand forward to place in his, wondering what life on the outside was like. But then she remembered her father, and the people of the vault. She didn't know what was going to happen after the door closed again, but she knew that if she left, they'd all be defenseless. As that thought ran through her head, her hand pulled away again.

John's eyes widened as he saw her pull away. "I-I'm...I'm sorry..." she said, her eyes watering slightly as she stared at him. Despite his father's actions, and despite having to gun down several officers, this was definitely the most painful thing he had encountered today. Taking a step back, he turned away painfully. "John...please..."

"Close the door behind me. I don't want anything else getting in once I'm gone." he said as he reached up and grabbed the tattered armor that was now barely hanging off him. Ripping the velcro clad chest piece clean, he tossed it aside and grabbed his pack again, then began to venture into the dark tunnel that would forever change his fate.

Remembering the situation sent him through another rollercoaster of emotions, from fear of his father being gone, to the pure, unfettered rage he felt at the Overseer's actions, to the heartbreak of seeing her pull away. It all hit him again as he sat, still waiting for the dots to remove themselves from his gaze.

Now, he sat in the cave just outside the vault with the door sealed shut behind him. With his vision clearing, and him going nowhere until the sky darkened a little, he began to notice that the cave was littered with bones. Human bones to be exact. Most of them had been taken by the erosion of time and exposure, but there were still some that survived, the odd skull or full set of arm bones. Surprisingly, there was even a plastic sign written with the words "LET US IN FUCKERS!" scrawled on it in a hasty fashion. These people had wanted in the vault so badly that they literally died trying to enter. And he just left. The safety of the walls, the purified water, the non ultraviolet lights, all of it thrown out the proverbial window. He was here now, and there was no going back anymore.

He pulled out the lunchbox that his dad had stashed behind the picture of his mom's favorite quote from the Bible. Opening it up, he found the note from his father to Jonas transcribed on a holotape, something he'd listened to multiple times now since he had sat in the cave. The rest of the contents were a mix between different medications, and oddly, a large amount of bottle caps. He sighed to himself as he threw the holotape against the wall, shattering the fragile disc, then stood to his feet.

Finally, he stood up and stared out through the crack in the door. The sun was now setting, leaving the sky a hushed dark blue, and making it more than tolerable to his sheltered eyes. Grabbing his supplies, he tucked them away before opening the door and stepping outside. It was hard to breathe out here without coughing, but something he'd likely get used to with exposure. Looking out over the landscape to the east, he saw a small, ramshackle town. Then and there, he decided that this would be his first stop. "Dad, wherever you are, you've got a lot of questions to answer." he growled.