Disclaimer: All properties belong to their respective owners, including Fallout 3 to Bethesda, my characters and storyline, and other trademarks and references that may be featured in this story.

"One should rather die than be betrayed. There is no deceit in death. It delivers precisely what it has promised. Betrayal, though ... betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope." -Steven Deitz

Chapter 13: Fenway Crumbles

Dr. Li's POV:

I didn't think I left the Capital Wasteland to pursue higher scientific pursuits. That was all a ruse. My opportunity to change the world was long gone. The flame of inspiration had burned out. Burning my old lab coat somewhere along the way would be a nice send off but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Following the pre-war routes to the Commonwealth, I traveled alone and didn't look back. If the Brotherhood had any sentiment of my departure, it never stuck on me.

I arrived in the Commonwealth about a month ago. All I wanted to be was as far away from the Brotherhood of Steel as fucking possible, but I've been handed a far bigger curse. It never ceased to amaze me how every wasteland asshole I come across figures I was entirely responsible for Project Purity. Even if was partially true, James should get the credit after all, I definitely wanted no part of it. Trying to explain that to unbelievably stupid ingrates was like arguing with a super mutant, so I gave up. At first, I'd thought I wouldn't be a heartless bitch and direct people to the fresh water. Mainly so I could give the Brotherhood hell on earth in the form of unceasing water demands. Their responses were always the same though. Goddamn it! I hated their responses!

"But you're a doctor, why don't you build it here?" They all asked.

Yeah, from Baltimore to New York, I'm expected to be some kind of miracle worker to these people. Build it here? They're out of their fucking minds! How the hell do they expect me to replicate what took James and I nearly all our lives in DC? For the love of God, age has gotten to me. Unlike a serene old grandma, I don't have the patience to listen to those people beg. The life expectancy for a wastelander was low, they just had to get used to it. I couldn't do anything about it as I only had barely enough supplies to last me to the Commonwealth.

Surprisingly, the Enclave weren't that bad during the times I ran across them, despite what many a bigoted wastelander had thought of them. I just had to give up some of my time and my stimpacks to negotiate an uneasy compromise, nothing bad there. Beyond the power armor they cloak themselves in; they're just the same as a normal human being on the inside. They were thankful for whatever help I could provide and would let me pass through undisturbed. It helped that they were rational of their expectations. It was comforting to run across thinking men who don't demand so much out of me.

As for what I want to do when I get there, it's mainly to work and live the rest of my life in solitude. James never really was an outgoing person until he met Catherine and neither was I. That bitch from Baltimore. Right in front of my face, he decided to propose to Catherine while we were doing lab tests in the bowels of the Jefferson Memorial. Goddammit, I should've told him back then but I acted like it never even happened. When he gathered everyone in the gift shop to announce that she was pregnant, I wished it was my child. It devastated me when Catherine suddenly died, I'll admit that. But as he took his only child and ran off to find a habitable Vault, he betrayed all his life goals, and mine. Now that he's been gone for about a year or so, well, I hope the Institute can provide me that solitude that I crave and the stability that I need.

What were those two wanderers again? That's right, Todd and Megan. They reminded me of James and me when we were much younger. We'd bicker occasionally over admittedly irrelevant things but I was willing to swallow my ego and move on, essentially kiss and make up. Just like them, ironically. Todd reminds me so much of James' son when I first met him; an arrogant and cocky son of a bitch that had just enough luck and combat skills to keep him alive. Thank god Megan's there with him to instill some common fucking sense into him, like getting me untied for one.

Meeting up with Vault dwellers to find a shady Institute, from what I've heard, hardly interacts with anybody aside from shelling them to bits, ranks as one of the craziest things I've ever come across. It doesn't come close to anything to the likes of Project Purity, but still. Well, at least their VATS systems were working fine but who knew what they could do to me. They could instantly target me and I'd be powerless to escape. Any practical doctor out here carries their own knife, I was no exception, but I was without a gun. I know it's suicidal but once you're caught with a gun, the credibility of a doctor goes straight to hell.

"Hey, you," Todd called. "What do you know about stimpacks?"

I wouldn't expect Vault dwellers to remember names to begin with, especially mine. "They treat injuries or they bring a crippled limb back to life, easy," I shrugged. Stimpacks should be the same, no matter which wasteland they came from. "They get to work instantly and have a near 100% success rate, why?"

"I call bullshit!" he scowled. "They're fucking painful and don't work half the time!"

I asked him to pull out one of his stimpack and I did the same, to compare them side by side. Just from glancing off of it, I knew that mine was the superior product. Compared to the near glowing red, pinkish fluid of mine, his were something I'd throw away in a heartbeat. No wonder they causing so much suffering. What was that old hack from the Commonwealth, Zimmern right? Spewing all sorts of propaganda about how superior the Commonwealth was to us. Lies. They probably hoarded the best technology all to themselves.

"You wouldn't have any spares would you?" They asked almost in unison. Vault wanderers are too cute in their naiveté. Even though I just got here, I probably have more information than the two of them combined.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't have enough," I lied. These whelps were a lost cause.

"Oh, ok," he said rather disappointingly. I didn't want to seem like a heartless bitch but if the shit hit the fan, I'd find myself out of here. James, I hope you're watching, because once I get to the Institute, you'd wish you hadn't died for your Project Purity rubbish. I'll show you what I can achieve without your goddamn help.

A low rumble passed overhead, probably fast-movers. I heard there was an old Air Force base in the vicinity and the Brotherhood may have moved in already. They could choke on all the technology that they find for all I care, not that they need it. Lyons or Rothchild might have sent one of their plucky paladins to act as some sort of kiss ass representative in the area. I didn't want to entertain that thought; that made me sick.

What I was more interested in were how useful these escaped vaulties may be. Vaulties have a very good control coefficient, in my opinion.

He opened the door nervously, "What was that? It's safe to go outside again, right?"

I feigned like I didn't know anything and followed them out the building. There were a few things up my sleeve I could use to get away.

Todd's POV:

"Ohh yess! It burns!" I muttered sarcastically as I stepped out into the landscape.

My rifle slid down over my shoulder and into my arms like a wounded old comrade begging for death's sweet embrace. I wasn't finished with it, not quite yet. It still needs more time to prove itself. I glanced over my shoulder, thinking Megan was in the same boat as well. Even up to this point, I tried to not get my temper the best of me. Was it because I had her in tow? Someone that I was forced to take care of? I couldn't help but wonder about the possibilities if I hadn't taken her with me. Maybe things would've been much easier.

Even though I tried not to show it, I had every right to be suspicious about the witch doctor. From my standpoint, she was looking at us sometimes like we were her long lost guinea pigs or something. For the love of God, I should've shot her right there! But since I had the medical know-how of a fucking tool, it would've been a costly decision.

We stopped right near a lean-to to give the ladies a rest from the heat. The blue and yellow poles had their paint peeling and rusted rebar sticking out all over the place but it was still sturdy enough. Kicking it a few times proved my point. I looked out determinedly over the god-forsaken hell of the landscape. My journey never got me any closer to finding that son of a bitch.

Dr. Li spoke up. "Are you sure you're heading where the Institute is?"

I was going to formulate a response but I heard another high-pitched wail. It was no doubt another shell but it wasn't going to hit any of us. However, its noise did a lovely job in interrupting a conversation.

"The safer way at least," I shrugged. "That shell's one of many welcome gifts, get used to it."

"I've been handed far better welcoming gifts," she retorted.

"Fucking hell." I mumbled, shifting my tired arms around my rifle.

The bitchy doctor lit up a cigarette. Jesus Christ. She was one contradiction after another. Weren't doctors supposed to be kind and all?

"I thought doctors already knew that cigarettes were bad for you," Megan commented.

"The water's not much better," she shrugged. "That's why we tried to make it clean. To change to world, if you will."

"Who's 'we'?"

"I was a part of a scientific team and," she swallowed, "one of their kids… on Project Purity."

"Where are they now?" I asked. "Maybe they can come up here and cure the water."

"Well… they're probably all dead by now," Dr. Li said. "And I'm too old to do anything useful."

"But then what's a doctor doing up here looking for the Institute?" I asked suspiciously, finding it doubtful that a doctor would ever come up here to actually help us. "I'm sure they have enough doctors to cover their asses."

"It's personal," Dr. Li dropped her cigarette on the ground and snuffed it with her shoe. Yeah right, finding the Institute. That's about as personal as someone raping you up the ass. "Don't ask, it's often very messy."

But getting bogged down in other people's messy life stories was not something I found particularly interesting. The winds picked up, shoving all sorts of dust and crap into my face. I slung my rifle back over my shoulder and found something to cover the end of the barrel with. Better have a gun that goes "bang!" and not "boom!"

"How about you find something with four sides and a roof, Todd?" Megan said.

We moved on like a wandering trio of stooges. There was always a chance that we would inevitably get lost because if your tech hasn't been working in decades, chances are it's going to be fucked up.

The blowing of dust was just a prelude to the sea of red the wasteland was blanketed in. Never seen anything like it. I thought those were made up to scare some Vault kiddie into never leaving his sanitary hellhole. Not only could we hardly see what was in front of us, talking was rendered useless. Seeing a darkened figure point straight ahead was my only clue that we had found something to relieve ourselves from the biting dust storm.

Beating the onslaught of dust, I stumbled in and forced the door shut with my body. I guess finally we could rest and wait it out. Yet another delay in my search. I'm sure he was still out there. If he ever dared to wander into the outside world, he must at least know more than a few things about it. Looking up, I saw Megan casually leaning next to a small slit where the reddish glow was let in.

It went awkwardly silent for a few moments before I murmured, "Am I any closer to finding him?"

"He could be anywhere, Todd," Megan crossed her arms sympathetically, like someone telling me to move on. "The fact that he didn't leave you with anything should tell you something."

"She's right," Dr. Li said calmly. She must have been betrayed that badly to say that with hardly a hint of tact. "He should've left you a holodisk note if he cared that much about you. At least James did that to his kid to save him the mental torture."

Mental torture? Hah! I was going to tell them of my little adventure of mental torture but they'd look at me like I've been taking a hell of a lot of drugs. The only thing I could do was smirk inwardly. They had no fucking idea of what I had been through. Megan especially had no idea. Yeah, if we were both willing to think back and re-organize ourselves.

Something else caught my eye as the reddish glow faded from the room. "That was fast," I said.

"Dust storms usually don't last very long, maybe for a few minutes at best," the Doctor explained.

It couldn't hurt to do a little recon, just to familiarize myself if we got caught in one of those things again. I headed toward the door.

"Todd, where are you going?" Megan asked.

"Stay here," I said, pushing my PIP-BOY buttons to save my current location so I could return back. "I'm going to go for a little walk."

"What the hell are you thinking, Todd?"

I slid my rifle down my shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I won't be gone for long."

And so I found myself back in the wasteland once again. There quite a bit of ruined railroad cars tossed around like a super mutant had banged a few together. Gleaning for any speck of useful aid I could find, I searched some of the boxcars, but no luck. I was ready to go meet back up with the ladies when I heard some kind of commotion nearby. The bars came back green on my PIP-BOY. They shouldn't be hostile but the curiosity got the better of me. They could be the Railroad for all I knew and if the shit hit the fan, I had VATS.

I dashed into another railcar and let the drama unfold in front of me. There were four guys in covered those monolithic pieces of armor from head to toe approaching a group of wastelanders twice their numbers. I think I remember reading across those. Those were T-51b power armor right? They looked odd though, I don't recall them having yellow eyes.

"I will only say this once. We're from the Institute. Cooperate fully and you will not be harmed. Got it?" The lead one spoke up in an unusually flat tone.

There was no response from the wastelanders. Instead, they pulled out whatever weapon they had on them. From pistol, to magnum revolver, to assault rifle, they unloaded everything they had on the intruders. But strangely, there was no return fire from the intruders. Not even a shred of panic was expressed though their armor.

When the hail of bullets stopped, they were still standing in the same spot, not having moved an inch. I was dumbfounded. The turds right in front of them must be shitting in their pants right now. There was no way their armor could have absorbed all of those hits.

"What would you like us to do, Lieutenant?" The one on his right casually asked.

"They deserve to be erased from this planet like always, Sergeant. All units search and destroy."

"Yes, sir!" They all replied in unison.

It was not even close. It was a slaughter; like a butcher that relished in brutally sawing every little screaming pig's head while it was still alive. I could tolerate the agony and the killing, but only for a moment. At least the wasteland gave me some immunity from that.

"Where's my androids? I want my androids!" The Lieutenant chanted.

He and the rest of the members in his squad tore into the boxcars and shacks like nothing, grabbing anybody that was foolish enough to think that was enough protection. Their bodies were forcefully raked through holes barely wide enough for them to squeeze though. By that time, I could barely take it anymore. Their screams and begging for mercy forcefully etched their way into my head. Holy crap. I don't know what that crazy bitch saw in the Insitute.

Over the noise of screams and energy weapons, I could hear and feel a loud crunch of metal, definitely someone punching through steel. No doubt someone else was going to have their torso sliced open. That was my cue to get my ass out of here and not get lit up. Hell, I could even be mistaken for an android for all they cared about.

I followed my PIP-BOY back to the marker to find smoke billowing out... Smoke! Those bastards couldn't have set fire to the building! I rushed back with a mix of emotions, although I was secretly hoping that the Doctor might've died in that. After kicking down the door, I used my PIP-BOY to scan the darkened room. I picked up a faint cough, which guided me to Megan but I couldn't locate the damn doctor anywhere. Trying to hold my breath as long as possible, I dragged Megan outside and laid her to rest.

"Megan, what the fuck happened?" I asked while I was catching my breath. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. But that... that bitch," Megan wheezed, wiping some of the grime off her face. "It was her!"

"Where is she!? I'll fucking kill her!"

"There's no use. She's long gone, Todd. She must've had some sort of special-"

"You can tell me all you want about it later," I interrupted. "We gotta get the hell out of here!"

Damn it, I should have shot her when I had the chance! Not knowing if she could walk or not, I forced her arm over my shoulder and staggered along and over the rails the best we could. Anything to escape the Institute demons in the area sounded like a good idea. They had armor of the gods. I still couldn't get over the fact that their armor stopped well over 100 bullets. The only way that was possible was through a miracle.

We struggled through rubble and the thorny underbrush as we kept dragging our feet on the ground. Even though my shoulders were taking most of the brunt, I couldn't help but feel a certain liking to this person. It was strange, yes but I hoped it wouldn't get in the way. Random thoughts of her kept popping in my mind but I had better things to concern myself with.

We were moving in a south or southeasterly direction but frankly, any direction away from people that could rip my body out of a railcar was good enough for me. The chaos seemed to fade as we inched farther from that goddamn railyard, but those screams never faded. I did my best for pain management but I'm not sure if that was ever enough.

"Todd," she whimpered as she stumbled and fell into my arms once again.

Now that I thought about it, I had a feeling she was right after all. Maybe I've become too hard-headed for my own good and we're not going anywhere because of it. Overcoming that little fight was a start but it finally became clearer to me that I needed to do better. I was so close to wandering this wasteland all alone, without anyone. Megan would have been particularly devastated as well. She had absolutely nothing going for her except me.

I saw a burned out townhouse that looked sturdy enough, helped her in, and settled her down on a ruined couch. I gave her some of the radioactive water that I had. Even though I knew that it might make her feel worse than before, I was shooting in the dark anyway without a doctor. It was just the two of us now, hiding. How pathetic can this be?

Megan was the first to speak. "I needed to pee so I tried to find a secluded corner. The next thing I heard was a clang and then the smoke filled the room."

I sat down on one of the chairs. "And she bolted?"

Megan frowned, "Like a bitch with her tail between her legs."

I tugged my pants. "I should've shot her or left her there earlier. Seriously, why did you ever convince me to set her free or even ask her to come along?"

"I'm sorry Todd, I didn't know. I'm sure you wouldn't have known unless it was pointed out in front of you."

To be honest even though she seemed suspicious, I didn't know her intentions either. But that bitch was a doctor. Hell, if doctors couldn't be trusted in this miserable place, I don't think anyone could be. So much for the rosy picture I had for the Institute. I hated the fact that if I had taken some shots at those bastards in power armor, I would've met the same fate as those people they dragged out and killed. I looked out some of the holes in the ashen, brick building and wondered. Wondering why the wasteland couldn't be a little easier.

Megan's POV:

To be fair, I was wrong sometimes too but Todd is too thickheaded. Honestly, are all men like this? I still have to feel some sympathy for him though, especially with Dr. Li's comments sometimes. She's spent a good amount of time in another wasteland, yeah I know that. But what the hell did Todd ever do to make her so bitter? I wouldn't go so far to shoot her myself with my own hands but she would have been better finding the Institute by herself if she wasn't a doctor. It was like she made my comments even more obvious and rubbing salt on those cutting words to make it feel better.

"You're right," Todd sighed. "I didn't either. But look, I don't think we should be so trusting of other people in the future."

Okay, it's a start. He was moving in the right direction, at least thinking rationally. "Yeah, I can agree to that."

I'm still not quite done with Todd. Not yet. If he thinks I'm only good for being a pushover, I wouldn't mind pulling my gun out of my trenchcoat and point my gun between his eyes. I took this coat and the .45 from a bitch who obviously didn't deserve it for nothing. But sometimes, I would often wish of becoming a lone vigilante. Though the more I thought about it, the more it sounded crazy as hell. The last way of traveling the wasteland would be alone.

But right now, I tried to fight some of the aches and pains of dealing with a whole bunch of crap. From smoke grenades, to gunshot wounds, to general tiredness, I'd say my body has been through a lot. Not beaten up as much as Todd's, no doubt, but I'd love to see a little vaultie girl scream at the sight of the wasteland.

I was curious of what actually happened on Todd's little recon mission and why we had to leave the area abnormally quickly. "Hey, what did you find on your little recon of the area?"

"The Institute," Todd shrugged while he was looking over his assault rifle.

I straightened up, suddenly becoming very interested in his answer, "Really, where is it? Is it nearby?"

God, I hoped so. Frankly, I didn't know too much about wastelanders but they seemed to be a bitch to deal with on a day-to-day basis. They would probably be even worse than Todd, as they'll find absolutely anything to moan and whine about. At least the only sounds a ghoul could make were gargling and groveling. Compared to those two, dealing with other civilized beings was a godsent. And admittedly, I was beginning to miss some of the Vault's pleasures of technology, like pure water for starters.

"Their soldiers, not their place. Don't get your hopes too high up there."

Typical. Giving some sardonic answer instead of a serious one. "Well, at least tell me something. It's not like you dragged your balls through the wasteland and expected to hit something."

And so having won the war of words, Todd told me. What I couldn't believe was complete wearable armor protection from head to toe, and one that could stop a bucketful of bullets. I knew at least some practical knowledge of guns, like the higher the caliber the more of an impact it will have. I never expected we'd have some sort of god-like organization striking fear into not only this wasteland, but probably into others. The worst part was that they probably realized that long before we have.

"So… we're screwed if we ever come across them?"

"Not screwed," Todd explained. "Fucked."

It didn't surprise me too much, I was expecting that. We sat there in a kind of an awkward silence for a bit while my body slowly recovered to a barely acceptable level. I knew it was far from the best but as the Institute could be at any turn, we had to keep moving.

I stretched out a bit. "Let's get out of here, Todd," I said.

"Are you going to be okay like this? You need to rest."

"I'll be fine," I half-lied. I could push it off until the next respite. "The Institute is probably on our ass right now."

Todd's POV:

I walked down the long and straight streets, ready to duck into cover or hide in a building at a moment's notice. The streets probably looked much different back in the olden days, without anyone expecting it to be deserted for this long. We decided to head closer the city itself, where it would probably be safer than in the wild desert of the outer wasteland. I tried to stay out of the wide avenues as goddamn snipers could be anywhere. Trying to beat them at their own game with an assault rifle was suicide.

The thing I hated the most about heading into the city was all the nasty surprises in store for me. Actually, it was Megan's idea to head into a death trap as I wanted to stay out in the countryside more. It was at least more predictable if I could see what was exactly in front of my face. The cars were land mines. If being bullet magnets weren't bad enough, they were ancient enough to explode like a fucking mini supernova if even a few rounds hit them. Traveling though the city would probably be slow going because every step we took could literally be our last.

The worst part about it was that our enemies probably knew the city from top to bottom and we didn't. It was like swimming in a shark tank. Every time we heard an explosion go off in the street, we tried not to say anything in the buildings we took cover in. They could be right above us for all I knew and one grenade dropped through the hole would make instant mincemeat of our bodies.

As I turned a corner, the last sound I wanted to hear was unmistakably a single bullet lodging itself into the concrete. It could only mean one thing.

"Crap, Sniper," I growled. We sprinted across to another building and then another, close enough to get within striking distance.

Upon further sweeping of the building, I discovered it was inhabited by raiders. I did not have time for this. The firefights were brutal sometimes but VATS was a godsent. Instant casualty minimization technology was at our fingertips. It made our lives a hell of a lot easier than if we would've gone in without it. It was a good day for looting as I found a machine pistol on one of them. I gave that one to Megan; I wanted a shotgun or a sniper rifle.

As soon as I fought my way to the fourth floor, I waited for that one perfect shot. Even with VATS compensating heavily for it, I was far enough where gravity took over. Damn, I should have picked up a laser; gravity sure as hell doesn't affect light. I held my breath, pulled the trigger, and left it all to VATS. Thankfully, I saw the bullets rocket straight through his torso, his body falling and hitting the earth with a dull thud. He must've been just has high as we were.

I ran outside and over the piles of rubble to find his face had taken a 50 foot dive into solid rock. It looked terrible. That fall easily snapped his neck but it didn't snap the DKS-501 sniper rifle he had on him, thank god. Megan couldn't bear to look at it and I was no mood to look at carnage as well. I stole it off of him and moved on without any second thoughts.

Not even a few minutes after that we were caught up in another sniper battle. Compared to the last guy, our foe was probably much smarter. Even though we found some sturdy cover in the adjacent buildings, I couldn't help but think he was breathing down our necks or something. As I tried to figure out where the bastard was located, I heard a dull thud. I caught a quick glance before I realized he was targeting the damn cars. One of them was already in flames. Holy shit. It was going to explode any minute!

"Get inside!" I shouted to Megan.

I bolted inside, immediately hit the floor, and shoved her head down with me. The fragile glass blew out with a deafening crash and the wave of heat and light seared over our bodies. My body tried its best resisted to give in; I know I couldn't afford to.

We hopped from building to building as the situation got worse all around us. I was starting to get some satisfaction for this rush of adrenaline but at the same time, I was beginning to grow weary of combat. It was only there to frustrate me until I gave up. All combat served was to keep me from dying, or so I thought.

I bolted across the street and underneath the tattered banners that once proudly displayed victories that didn't matter anymore. They were just as meaningless as the people that lived here. There was a lull in the gunfire. We were safe, at least for now. Trying to clear this place out was damn near impossible. There could be a lot of stupid assholes that could jump out of nowhere, especially through the holes in the ruins.

We wandered though the twisted maze of the collapsed mess of brick, steel, and wood. "This is a fucking tinderbox waiting to happen," I said.

Megan didn't respond, instead idling with her weapon. As we walked around, I kept having a nagging feeling that it was going to collapse at any minute. The last remaining supports heaved and groaned like a beast was ready to tip over. The steel supports buckled and snapped as if we were the only ones they were going to let through. The longer we stayed inside, the longer it became a death trap.

"Look Todd, there's an exit," Megan pointed out.

I followed her out of the exit, which led us to a richly overgrown field of weeds. Looking around, I got a sense of how lucky we really were, somehow managing to get through that without having our limbs cut off or enduring another firefight. The Nuka-Cola and the Button Gwinett signs were smashed like most things were, violently. What remained of the metal structures that once supported lights became a swamp of sharp steel to block us from reaching the only visible way out, a big gaping hole in left field.

"Todd, there's something in the middle of the field."

I looked toward the mound of earth and she was right. I inched closer to it. "Stay back. I don't know what the hell this is."

I was expecting a land mine but instead I found a holotape. And it was addressed to, Todd and Megan? Hell, even I didn't expect to receive any goddamn presents. Thinking there was probably a mine under that, I prodded and flipped it over with my long metal guns. No boom. It seemed to be safe.

With curious hands, I stuck it into my PIP-BOY.

"If you have found this tape, at least I know that you're alive. I hoped to increase that chance by clearing out the place of a bit of ghouls. I don't think I got them all but I hope you didn't run into any trouble." it began. Holy shit. It was dad! Finally something! We were on the edge of our seats, if we could sit down.

"First of all, you're probably about three days or so behind me, as I'm beginning to head into the wild red hellhole of Boston. For your own good, give up and don't follow or look for me. You don't know what you're getting into, insipid Vault dwellers. You shouldn't have escaped in the first place."

"What the hell is he thinking?" I wondered. I'm his fucking son! Of course I have to go look for him! What a heartless son-of-a-bitch for saying that.

"But I'm guessing since you already did escape, there's no point of me stabbing a dead horse." He sighed, "Megan, it seems I reluctantly must owe you a long overdue apology. Jordan, your wonderful overseer," it dripped with wonderful sarcasm, "did not kill your father. I did."

"What?!" Megan collapsed, clenching the earth with her bare hands. "No! I trusted your father! How the fuck-"

"If that message did not sink in as well the first time around, I'll be kind enough to repeat it again. I killed your father. It was me, not the overseer. Single shot to the head. He wouldn't have known what the hell happened to him."

Megan took out her pistol and pointed it between my eyes, the barrel touching the middle of my forehead. I suddenly pushed the pause button it right there. One look at her face and it was obvious. Her eyes were twisted and red with pain, anger, and desperation.

"Megan, please put the gun away," I tried to reason with her. If I were in that position, I'd react the same way.

"Not until you promise me if you do run across him, you'll kill him."

Even though I wouldn't hesitate to kill a murderer, he was still my father. I couldn't kill my dad so easily. I tried reasoning with her some more. "Look, Megan- "

"HE KILLED MY FATHER, JACKASS!!"

I caught a glance at my PIPBOY and noticed the holotape was only in the beginning in spilling its nasty secrets. It could only get worse from here, and maybe it could defuse this situation as well.

"Just let me finish the tape," I said calmly, trying to mask any hint of hostility.

"As for my son… Well to be honest, you were never really my son to begin with. You were too young to remember but you arrived at the Vault just barely able to walk and talk. You choked crap of the wasteland even before you learned to cry for milk. You've grown up a lot since then."

He… he lied! Goddamn it! I was always told I was born in the Vault! So that's what my life was now, the biggest fucking lie in the world! I was definitely angry at him for covering it up for all these years, but I guess it was marginally understandable at best. Punching him in the face when I would reunite with him seemed like a good idea.

"I don't know where in the wasteland you two were born, but you might as well claim here. Fenway Park. Or what's left of it. That's where we found you two on a walk in the park, albeit on opposite ends of the stadium. The two of us lost in a dice game. We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into, adopting kids from the wasteland, mating with other vault dwellers, producing half-breeds."

Half-breed. That word stabbed through me. As if I was any less significant for being born outside the Vault. It was like we were bought and sold like objects.

"I couldn't help but feel sympathetic to you poor bastards of the wasteland but unfortunately, my feelings only run so deep. I've had fun but 20 years is much too long for me to play nice. Now if you'll kindly go find a mutie to bash both of your fucking heads open, the world will be a much better place."

It beeped. Finally, it was my turn to be devastated down to my core. Megan wordlessly put away her gun, finally realizing I was brought down the same level as she was. I wanted to punch something but I couldn't do it to her. Marching to the middle of the field, I knelt down and punched one of the rusted metal beams. It was once strong and shiny before but it crumbled and shattered with just a touch. Just like us.

I felt a body press up against my back. It had to be her. She needed me as I needed someone right now. "Todd, I'm so sorry," she said apologetically.

I stood up and embraced her like she did to me. "No, you don't have to be," I said. "He doesn't deserve to be anyone's dad anymore. I will find him and I will kill him."

That was a promise I could certainly keep.

TO BE CONTINUED…

For those who do care about realism, the T-51b specs are mentioned in the holotape, Power Armor Specs. It is capable of "absorbing over 2,500 Joules of kinetic impact," placing it near a Level III body armor. That means it can easily defeat 5.56x45mm NATO (~1,796J) and 7.62x39mm (~2,059J) Full Metal Jacket rounds. Only the most powerful of ammunition can penetrate power armor. The only ammunition that should ever cause any damage to power armor in Fallout 3 would be the .308.

Thanks to sunfire130 for favoriting! As you can see, it has been re-rated M for safety and because of more violence I want to add. I'm still doing revisions of earlier chapters and storyline but progress is slow at best. Sorry for the inconsistencies. Please read and review. Constructive criticism appreciated!