I loved the game so much I decided to write a variation of the Main Storyline. Please bear in mind that I have changed a few aspects of the game, tweaked the storyline so that you're not reading just a walkthrough.

EDIT 22/08/15: With the release of Fallout 4 on its way I've decided to go back and edit a lot of things I'm not happy about. I wrote this story when I was 16 so it's quite out of date now.

Fallout 3: The Wayward Soldier

Chapter One: Escape Velocity

"Don't you want to feel like a rebel
Renegade on the run?
Real live wire in the cross fire ridin' shotgun
Not talkin' 'bout a deal with the devil
I said nothin' about sellin' your soul
Call it what you will
If you start to feel out of control."
- Draughty "Renegade"

"Dad? I'm home!" The disgruntled voice sounded off as the owner slid the door shut, leaning down to unlace her boots. Nimble hands unclipped the tool belt bucket around her stomach, letting it drop to the ground with a heavy thud. A metal vomit of Screwdrivers, wrenches and various nuts and bolts spilled out at the front door but the young woman had neither the energy to care nor the patience to pretend otherwise.

"In here Alex!" Her father called from (if it could be called) the living room. Alex padded through to the sterile longue to find her father collecting up several bunches of yellowed paper from the coffee table, shuffling them out of sight. Alex didn't know why he bothered hiding them. It was not as if she were adept at understanding anything biological or chemical. He may as well have written all his notes in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

With a sigh, Alex sunk into an armchair opposite him. Her father smiled over at her and the gesture seemed to lift the age from around his eyes and forehead. "Hello sweetie. Have a good day?"

Alex sighed again. The throbbing headache from earlier had yet to recede, leaving her mood fractious and irritable. "About as good as you can get shifting through ten years of shoddy wiring," she remarked, not bothering to hide her irritation.

Her father suppressed a sigh and eyed her carefully. "Wished you had taken the G.O.A.T seriously now?" he asked, reproachfully.

Alex snorted in response, pulling a pair of old leather gloves off and trying her best to ignore the scars that marked her palms and fingertips. "That's a laugh. How seriously can I take a test that has 'The Overseer' as an only possible answer?"

A grunt of agreement followed. "I guess you're right. Still, try and make the best of it honey."

She stretched out in the armchair, relishing being off her feet for the first time in six hours. "Mom is not going to haunt you now is she?" Alex asked.

"No need. Her daughter is a Technical Specialist at the age of nineteen. Hardly a garbage burner,"

She let out a short, humourless laugh. "You know that 'Technical Specialist is just a glorified Mechanic right?"

A low chuckle escaped her father's chest and he reached under the coffee table, fumbling about for something. A colourful box of Sour Rattlesnakes found its way onto Alex unexpectant lap. The pain from between her shoulders suddenly lifted. Nothing broke up the day like a box of sugar, carbohydrates and numerous amounts of E numbers.

"Here you are sweetie. Came in this week's rations."

And just like that, Alex's bad mood was squashed. The furrows on the brow of the girl disappeared and instead she smiled for the first time since the primarily coolant conduit had blown that morning.

"This a feeble old man's attempt to cheer me up?" She asked, bursting the packaging. The Vault's doctor chuckled and nudged his daughter with a booted foot.

"I would hardly call myself 'old' or 'feeble'" the man countered.

She smiled again, sucking a chewy gummy worm up between her lips. She did love him so. No one else could even come close. After all, he was the only remaining family she had left. James Halsey was weathered but tidy, with once jet black hair now showered with streaks of grey. His shoulders slumped like he was carrying a great burden upon them (She wanted to believe it was simply old age but she knew better than that now) His face was stamped with kindness and compassion; the very picture of an friendly, family doctor, but his eyes hid a kind of resigned regret. Alex had spent years trying to work out the mistakes hid behind those thoughtful green eyes. She had yet to succeed.

"How are the repairs on the Vault filtration system coming along?"

Alex's face pinched into a frown. "Not at all. I'm off the project now anyway. Lewis is handling it so I doubt we'll see it finished before the next ice age," Alex explained, looking as if she had just bitten into a lemon.

Her father quirked an eyebrow. "What did you do Alex?" he questioned.

"Nothing! Really!" She protested, though it would do her little good and she knew that. Her father knew her too well for that.

"I know when you are lying to me Alex." The said girl winced at the warning in his tone.

"I may have been involved in a workplace related incident," she answered, not bothering to elaborate further. She didn't need to. It was an all too familiar story – and often argument – in their household.

As she expected, her father released a pent up sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. The gesture irritated her more than it should of. "Getting into fights again? Honestly Alex, when are you going to grow up?"

Alex felt herself inwardly coil up, like a rattlesnake ready to strike. "It wasn't my fault, Christine provoked me; acting like she's the head of the department when she doesn't know shit compared to me!"

Her father gave her a very hard look indeed, one that immediately put her back up. "It's never your fault is it? You can't get away with this anymore Alex. The Overseer with end up putting you in the brig. Permanently."

She shrugged in an insolent manner that she knew would upset her father. Tough titties she thought to herself. He upset her first. "You say that like it's supposed to be a threat."

"Oh Alex don't start..." Her father said wearily.

The young woman ignored his comment, not caring in the slightest how rude it was. "It would be an improvement! I don't know why the Overseer even bothers letting me work at all. He's always complaining to Lewis that my work is substandard."

"Honey, you're overreacting again-" There her father went, trying to be mister reasonable. All it did was irk her. Anger bubbled up her throat and spilled into her words. "He doesn't trust me dad."

Her father sighed again. "Of course he trusts you," he insisted, yet he didn't meet her eyes. "Why wouldn't he?"

"I don't know Dad. It's just a feeling I get," she said, her fingers curling into tight fists. "He's always looking at me like I'm up to no good. He gives me more stick than he does Butch, and Butch is the man who painted a giant dick on his door once!"

Her father frowned again and she felt her thinly leashed temper flare again. He was going to take the Overseers side again. What a shock. "Sweetie, we have been over this already. This Vault…I know you don't like it but it's a safe place. And I know you don't like the Overseer but he's doing his best for the vault."

"By making me feeling like an outsider? Because that's really good for morale," Alex fired back.

"Alex," he said, a touch more sharply. "You know what I mean."

She scowled at him. How typical of her father to take the side of the Overseer. He always did. "Yeah, alright, I get it."

Suddenly, she didn't want to sit with her father anymore. "I'm supposed to be on the early shift tomorrow so I'm going to bed," she stated. It was too early for bed, yet she wanted her father to know he had upset her. She flounced off the chair and started towards her sleeping quarters.

"Alright…Goodnight sweetie. Sleep well," said her father behind her, sounding so old and weary that it startled her and stopped her dead in her tracks. She studied him, properly, for the first time she had arrived home. She felt her anger towards him deflate almost immediately, as it almost always did after she had a strop. He appeared pale with red rings under his eyes as if he had been weeping moments before she had arrived him. Her stomach knotted uncomfortably, like a bad cramp. How could she have missed it?

"Are you okay Dad?" She asked, pausing at the door to her room.

Her father gave a drained smile that didn't meet his eyes. "I'm fine Alex, just very tired. Go to bed sweetie. You've got an early start tomorrow remember?"

Though a query leapt to her tongue, Alex swallowed it back down. She had pushed him enough tonight. And it was likely he was just missing her mother again. He seemed to be missing her more as of late. "Goodnight dad. See you in the morning."

Her father hesitated a moment before answering. Clearly he was more tired than he let on. "Goodnight sweetie. Sleep well."

Weary and eager to get the day over with, Alex left her father in the living room and trotted through to her dark bedroom. She flicked on a rusted lamp and hauled a hand through her russet coloured hair. It had been freshly cut into a choppy yet feminine style and she loved running her hands through it even when her fingers were dirty with machine oil. Her hair style was the only remotely feminine aspect about her. She was short and slender and often mistaken fifteen year old boy with an effeminate hairdo rather than a nineteen year old woman. Her nose was smaller and she had thicker eyelashes but the whole, she was very boyish looking and it dismayed her dreadfully. What little curves she had were hidden by the overalls she wore for her shifts.

Alex flopped down onto the standard issue Vault bed and yawned in a very unladylike manner. Alex did not even bother getting changed out of her jumpsuit, only kicked her boots off onto the floor for her father to trip over when he woke her up in the morning. A twenty minute lecture on picking up after herself never failed to wake her up properly. Her father complained about how untidy her room was but other than the boxes of electrical supplies and cables stacked up in the corner, there was very little in the room to indicate that someone lived there. A patchwork quilt was spread across the bed, faded now with age. On the small table sat – iron like everything else in the room- with a few knick knacks spread across the surface including a vault boy bobble head, a set of allan keys, a pack of bubblegum and a handful of cosmetics.

In the furthest corner was a Vault-tec standard desk. A Pip-Boy 3000 sat on the surface; glowing a bright luminous green while "he" recharged. She stared at the glowing device. Over the past few years, the Pip-Boys had been undergoing a full maintenance reconfiguration which included an enhanced V.A.T.S and artificial intelligence integration. Every Pip-Boy had a unique personality that was found in no other device. Some part of Alex could not quite get over the fact that her Pip-Boy could talk. She was not used to her hardware answering back. That really wasn't supposed to happen. Her device housed what was apparently called a Scotsman. Her father's held an Australian.

It wasn't long before Alex drifted off to sleep. Through the early hours of the morning and into the late morning she slept. The wakeup-call came not from her father telling her off for leaving her boots at her ass but instead her wide eyed, frantic friend Amata.

Alex blinked at her friend, still drunk from sleep. Didn't she realise it was in the middle of the night? "Amata? Why are you in my room so early?" Alex asked, her eyes adjusting to the harsh halogen lights. Usually, The Overseer's Daughter looked neat and tidy at every minute of every day as an example to the other dwellers. Today, she looked rumpled, frantic and messy.

"Hurry Alex! You've got to get up! Your father is gone! And my father is looking for you," Amata explained quickly, grasping the brunette's hand pulling Alex and her comforter from the bed. Her legs, still dead from sleep,

She blinked again, not quite processing what she was hearing. Gone? Gone where? Gone to work early? He always did that. "What do you mean he's gone? Has he gone to work early?"

Amata shook her head, her eyes wide and fearful. "No! He's gone gone. He's Left the Vault and my father...well he's kinda gone crazy," she explained frantically as she picked up random supplies strewn across the bedroom, shoving them into an old leather backpack that had obviously seen better days.

Alex felt as if a bucket of water had been dumped over her. Immediately she sobered up from sleep. "Amata, I've never seen you this upset before. What the hell happened?"

A strangled, choking sound escaped Amata. "It's Jonas! They killed him! My father's men, they took him and...I'm so sorry, I should have done something…" she sobbed, her dark knuckles turning white.

Alex felt the blood drain from her cheeks. She shook her head, trying to convince her hammering heart that it was all a horrible, horrible dream and that any moment now she would wake up to her father's endearing nagging. Any moment now she would wake up to reality where her father was still in the Vault and sweet, dorky Jonas was waiting for him in the clinic.

Yet nothing happened. Alex opened her mouth several times to try form a coherent sentence and found that her tongue couldn't function properly.

"It's not your fault Amata…" Alex sucked in a breath. "It's not your fault," she repeated again.

Amata's throat jerked as she swallowed down a sob. "I know. I'm just sorry you had to find out like this. I know Jonas was your friend," her friend replied, fingering the leather bag in her grasp. "Listen, I know it's not any of my business but did your dad say anything to you about leaving?" Amata asked carefully, her tone cautious.

"No…He never said a word about it. And he wouldn't have left me behind if he could help it" Alex replied, though her words sounded hollow and stupid now. She eyed the bag in Amata's hand. "You going somewhere?"

Amata shook her dark haired head and pushed the bag into Alex's unexpected and lack hands.

"Not me, you."

Alex nearly dropped the bag. "Me?!"

"I'm sorry, but I think you should follow your father. It's not safe for you here now. "

Alex nodded, unable to trust herself to do anything else. "But how do I get out?"

"Listen, I have a plan."

"Let's hear it."

"In my father's office, there is an underground tunnel that leading right up to the door. You'll need to break into the office and hack the terminal. There are some bobby pins in the back pocket of that bag, that's how I always get in, along with some others things I think you would need for the outside. Oh, and here is my father's pistol. You'll probably need it more than him"

"Okay." Alex took three deep breaths to calm herself. It had helped in the past with her temper and it seemed to help even now. The pressure that gripped her chest seemed to lessen. "Thanks Amata. What would I do without you?"

Amata smiled tightly. "Fail ever class ever. Now go! I'll try and meet you at the entrance but don't wait for me. Good luck."

With that, Amata gave Alex one last fleeting smile before disappearing from the room through a ventilation shaft. In the distance, the scream of the alarm bells resounding throughout the halls. The girl's stomach clenched in a sickening manner; tying itself into a pretzel for several moments. Distant shouts ricocheted through the vents, amplifying the sound tenfold. Alex had never heard such chaos before.

Alex reached over for her charging Pip-boy and buckled him against her wrist with trembling fingers. There was something reassuring about having him on her person. The device stirred and the screen began to glow a bright emerald green.

"Hmm? What's the craic jack?" The voice of her Pip-Boy asked, his Scottish accent heavy upon his synthesized voice. With her mouth fixed into a frown, Alex darted out the door; her steps light and agile against the metal floor plating.

"Dad has left the Vault and the Overseer has started a witch hunt. We're leaving. Now" Alex whispered, pressing her back up against the wall before rounding another corner. The halls were surprisingly empty despite the blaring sirens that rocketed through the corridors. Biting her lower lip, she peeked around the bulkhead. A single security guard stood in the hall, dressed in standard issue Vault-Tec jumpsuit with a flakjacket strapped to his torso. Luckily, he was armed only with a police baton.

"So we're going for a little jaunt about the wasteland? I've been gettin' cramps from livin' in this bloody bucket," The Pip-boy remarked from his position on her wrist, a little too loudly for his own good. Alex groaned as the officer spun around and raised his weapon.

"Hey! There she is! Alex! Don't you move!" the security guard suddenly hollered. He opened his mouth to yell something else, only for his shouts to suddenly be drowned out by the scuttling of insect legs against metal. A squad of synchronised Radroaches swept down the corridor. Small and quick usually they posed no real threat on their own but in a group, they could cause all sorts of unpleasantness. Alex would have smiled if she hadn't felt as if her heart was about to burst from her chest. They were adequate distraction.

While the swarm attacked the security guard, the young woman darted forward. She jumped over several roaches and ran right past the distracted security guard, not bothering to look back. He would be fine, Radroaches were easy to take care of and the security training provided by the Vault was not completely useless.

She had just turned the corner when Butch leapt in front of her, his eyes wide with uncharacteristic fear. Without hesitation, Alex's hand darted to the pistol at her hip and whipped it out; trembling finger hovering dangerously on the trigger. The gun felt odd in her hand, as if it didn't really belong there. "Out of the way Butch. I don't have time for your shit. In case you've haven't noticed, Security are after me," Alex snared, gesturing with her 10mm pistol at him. The pistol was unfamiliar and heavy in her hands. She tightened her grip on the pistol to keep her hands from shaking.

To her immense surprise, Butch raised his hands as a peaceful gesture and it was enough to cause her muscles to relax behind her skin. Alex lowered the pistol slightly. What had gotten him so spooked?

"You have to help me! My mum is trapped in there with the Radroaches!"

Alex wouldn't quite believe her ears. "Why the fuck would I help you? You've given me such shit over the years," she snapped at him. Was this truly happening? Today of all days?

Butch swallowed and glanced back at the door to his home. "Look, I know I have been a jerk to you and I'm sorry."

Alex would have laughed had she not been so inwardly terrified. "You're apologising now?! Of all times? Sorry isn't going to cut it Butch, not after kicking the shit out of me for years."

"But please, help me! If not for me but for my mom! She didn't do anything to you," Butch countered, his voice breaking slightly.

Alex gave herself a shake, wondering if she had stumbled into an alternate reality where Butch actually made sense. She lowered the pistol completely.

"Alright Butch, but I'm doing this for your mom. Not for you," Alex replied. Butch sighed with obvious relief and gestured to his living room for her to follow.

Like the home of Alex, it felt sterile and empty; devoid of life expect for the scratching and scuttling from the next room coupled with painful cries. The Pip-boy on her wrist, who had been silent since giving away their position, finally spoke up.

"Aye, targets confirmed. Three Radroaches and the old baggage from the looks of it," he piped up. As she reached for the doorway switch, Alex readied her pistol. The door slid open with a groan and Alex darted into the room.

As her Pip-Boy had predicted, three large Radroaches were attacking Butch's mother.

"Now?"

"Yes, now"

The young woman blinked once and suddenly the cold rush of the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System enter the fight. Time came to a complete halt; freezing the Roaches with it. A translucent shine of neo green seeped over her vision as several lines of code suddenly ran across her sight. A sudden pressure was placed upon on her neurons as the Pip-Boy connected its frequency into her brain wave patterns; displaying the status and position of the roaches across her vision. Percentages of probable hits shot up across the young woman's blurred sight.

Alex fired.

The roaches exploded.

A round of bullets hammered through each of the rock hard outer shell of the Radroaches; cracking through the protective brown shell and painting the floor white with various internal organs.

Breathing hard, Alex turned to see Butch appear through the doorway.

"We did it! My mom is going to be okay!"

"Hey, when I say I'm going to do something, I'll do it," Alex replied breathlessly, making her way back out to the communal hallway. Butch followed after her, worming out of his patented leather jacket.

"Yeah yeah. I know it's not much but here, take my jacket," Butch said happily, shoving his leather tunnel snakes jacket into Alex's slack hands. "Hey, thanks again. The Overseer won't get shit out of me about you, I swear on my mom's life," he said with a boyish grin before retreating back into the safely of his quarters. Alex glanced at the jacket, still warm from Butch's body heat and made a mental note to destroy it at a later date; maybe even burn it.

Never the less, she threw it on and continued on her way with a renewed vigour in her step. No time to wrestle it into a too-small bag She needed to move, and move quickly if she hoped to survive the next thirty minutes.

Alex rounded another corner, practically skidding down the hallway and losing her footing in her haste. She zipped straight through the canteen and came across the body of Grandma Taylor and stumbled against the bulkhead. Old lady Taylor had always been kind to her. Why was she dead? What had she done to anyone? She wiped tears she didn't know she had shed on the cuff of her new tunnel snake jacket. She'd cry it all out later if she lived.

She ran straight through the Atrium and up onto the upper Atrium level; storing bullets in three roaches and impacting her boot on a fourth as she passed. Two of the security doors were locked so she rounded onto the third, relieved to find it open. She ducked through the arched hallways. It wasn't until the bright lights from the consoles poked her in the eye did Alex realise that she was standing in the middle of the maintenance department; her stomping ground

The frozen face of Floyd Lewis stared back at her and she let out a quiet sob of grief. Floyd had taught Alex everything when she turned up two days after the G.O.A.T test, asking – though more like demanding a place in the Maintenance Department after her G.O.A.T. She checked his body for any ammo. When she found nothing she reached for his lucky sunglasses to protect her eyes when she left the vault. Her fingers coiled back inches from the frames. No, she couldn't take his glasses. He wasn't Lewis without them. Instead she turned her attention to the small box next to his corpse. In his toolbox, she grabbed the scrap metal, a wrench and a paint gun before continuing on her way. Like Old lady Taylor, she'd cry for him later too.

Alex came to an abrupt halt when the voice of Amata could be heard over the wailing emergency sirens. The girl inched forward and peered through the glass window. Inside was the Chief security officer, The Overseer and Amata. From the look of the situation, Alex could only guess that they were interrogating her and it made her gut tighten into knots.

"I told you! I don't know!"

"Now Amata, I know you helped her."

"She is my friend! I had to!"

"But would she do the same for you? Please Amata, don't make this any more painful that it already is. I just want to have a talk with her."

"I swear she hasn't done anything. She wouldn't! You know she wouldn't!" The words were like a bucket of ice In Alex's face. A sudden thump of fist upon flesh was unmistakable and Alex winced, looking down at her pistol; or rather Amata's father's pistol. There was not nearly enough ammo to take three security officers down. Heck, not even enough for one. Too much ammo had been wasted on the Radroaches thanks to her crap shots. She couldn't take them all on. She simply didn't have the ammo for it, and they could physically over power her easily.

Alex let out a strangled hiss through clenched teeth and ran straight forward; each step felt like a bullet to the gut. "I'm sorry Amata. I'm so sorry," she hissed as she ran. Her heart hammered. Her lungs burned. Large, fat tears rolled down her cheeks and dripped onto Butch's jacket. "I'm so sorry." She couldn't help Amata. And Alex hated herself for it.

She was so wrapped up in her self-pity that she had not noticed that she had arrived in the administration complex. The still body of Jonas lay on the ground, a pool of scarlet seeping out from beneath his head. Alex's hands shot up, clamping over her mouth to hold in the scream as she stared down at him. Glassy stared back at her from behind thick, coke bottle frame.

Poor Jonas.

Poor sweet Jonas.

She crouched down next to him, trying desperately to hold herself together. She removed and pocketed his glasses then gently closed his eyelids shut with trembling fingers. A holotape peeked out of his pocket, the crude sticky label addressed to Alex. She recognised the writing and felt her blood chill. It was her father's neat scrawl – she could recognise it anywhere. She took the tape stuffed it into her jumpsuit pocket to watch when she was in safer territory.

After quickly picking the lock on the door but snapping all but three bobby pins, Alex entered the Overseers office with little apprehension. She closed the door behind her and hoped it would buy some time if security discovered her location. A quick raid for the locker near his desk revealed the password for the computer, one and twenty 10mm rounds and a pack of Mentats.

"Pop me in, I'll see I can't download some of the information from his console," her Pip-boy suddenly asked in his synthesised voice, causing her heart to jump in surprise.

"Don't do that to me. Nearby gave me a heart attack," Alex snapped, pulling out the connection cables from the top of her Pip-Boy and slotting him into the union ports. The screen of her Pip-boy flared up in response as data trafficked back and forth inside his circuits; downloading all relevant information regarding the outside world.

"There isn't much here but I've stored what I can. I've found the code tae open the door" he remarked, bright green text scrolling across the screen. Alex opened up the Overseer's file and clicked on the Overseer's Tunnel. A low rumble groaned from beneath her feet then the desk behind her became animated so suddenly that she jumped again. The platform rose up for another few seconds before it came to an abrupt halt.

"I'm done. Unplug me," Her Pip-boy whirled. She unplugged the device and fed the hacking cables back into their slots. She ducked into the tunnel and flicked another small switch, following dimly glowing lights right down to the depths of the tunnel. She met one or two Radroaches along the way and implanted a bullet in each; her pistol fresh with ammo. She came to the control room for the vault and she rested for a moment; fatigue burning at her throat. The air was sterile and almost tasted stale on her tongue and the chilling atmosphere of the room put Alex in mind of a crypt. The Vault door was cut in the shape of a giant gear and sunk a good few feet into the wall; accessed by a control panel nearby. She turned to the console and her fingertips danced across the panel and activated the Vault's entrance. The door whirled to life and screamed in protest at being open a second time that day. Compressed air spilled out from the gaps as the Vault door slid forward with a long, crunching sound. It was quite unlike anything she had seen nor heard before that Alex couldn't help herself but stare.

Alex had been too enraptured to notice Amata suddenly appear next to her like she had just popped out of the ground.

"You did it! You really did it!" Amata cried happily. Alex turned and felt remorse crash into her hard. How could she even look Amata in the eye after leaving her behind like that?

Alex swallowed the lump of guilt balled up in her throat. "God I couldn't have done it without your help Amata."

Amata shook her hair, more locks coming free from her usually neat ponytail. "No, you didn't need me. If anyone can survive out there, it will be you." So certain did she sound that Alex almost believed her for a moment.

Alex's eyes were drawn to the pansy bruise blooming on Amata's cheek, vibrant against her dark skin. "Amata…I'm sorry I-"

Her words were cut short as Amata reached out and gave her arm a squeeze. "It's okay, I understand. Listen, If you ever find your dad out there, tell him I'm sorry; for Jonas, for the Vault, for everything…You'll be okay out there. I know you'll be okay."

So certain was she that Alex almost believed her. "Why don't you come with me?"

The dark hair girl shook her head again. "No Alex, I belong here. This is my home. I'll be damned if my father thinks he can chase me out."

"I'll miss you."

"Goodbye Alex. I'll miss you too. Be careful out there, and don't fight with anyone bigger than you." Alex snorted at the ludicrous thought.

"That leaves out nearly everyone. I'm like four foot nothing."

"Exactly."

They stared at each other until Alex's vision blurred with tears. She wasn't sure what more she could say then Amata reached over and enveloped her friend in a tight hug. Alex felt as if somehow hauled a rusty knife through her gut. She hadn't been able to help her friend when it mattered most yet still Amata cared. Or perhaps it was just a habit to care. Either way, Alex returned the favour and held onto her friend tightly, committing Amata's smell and feel to memory one last time. "Now, go!" Amata urged, breaking the embrace and pushing her friend towards the exit.

Two security guards rushed through the door, shoving Amata roughly to the side. Alex turned and ran straight out the door as quickly as her short legs could carry her. The security officers did not pursue, and hung back at the entrance. Alex took another few steps back only to see the horrifying sight of the door to Vault 101 sliding shut with another deafening screech. The home she had known for nineteen years disappeared right in front of her. Her legs gave weight beneath her and she buckled in the middle of the dusty, dark tunnel.

There was a howl in the tunnel, so sad and angry and haunted. It took Alex a moment to realise it was her, and that she was crying all over again. All the grief and the loss poured out of her, sobs wracking her small frame. If the Overseer could see her, she did not care in the slightest.

Her Pip-Boy whirled to life, illuminating the tunnel with familiar, comforting green light. "Get it all out. It's okay. We are goin' to be okay. I promise," he said softly.

A minute passed, then ten before Alex could finally summon up the energy to move. Admittedly she felt much much better after a good sob.

The moment Alex stepped out into the sunlight for the very first time, nothing could have prepared her for just how much it hurt. A yelp of pain escaped her and instinctively, she threw her gloved hand up over her burning eyes. She had not expected the outside sunlight to be so piercing. Through squinted eyes, Alex slowly but surely allowed her sheltered eyes to adjust to the light of the wasteland. She spied a nearby signpost reading "Scenic Overlook" in faded white print and laughed at the irony. Someone must have done that on purpose just for a laugh.

The "Wasteland" did not fail to live up to its expectations. Rubble littered the landscape; a patchwork of tragedy upon the worn quilt of a landscape. The Nuclear war had completely devastated the land, leaving behind husks of empty cities and former shells of townships. Roughly to the west, Alex could vaguely make out a great tower just peeking over the landscape and to the southeast jutted large collection of scrape. Alex felt some hope. Perhaps humanity had managed to survive even now. The thought alone quelled some of the anxiety in her stomach. The idea of being alone was deeply unsettling.

With trembling fingers she moved the leather jacket, unzipped her jumpsuit and secured the arms around her waist tightly like she would a fleece or jumper. The last thing she wanted to do was get sun stroke so early in the game from overheating in the wasteland. The young woman then heaved the sack higher upon her back and set off down the slope towards the hunk of metal marring the landscape; taking care not to trip on the way down. Her legs weren't entirely steady yet.

Heat beat down from the sky relentlessly and Alex wiped her damp brow. She had been walking – more like stumbling for a good one hour so, listening to the stolen downloads from the Overseer's computer. From what her Pip-Boy could decode, it appeared that the Vault had been open sometime before either she or Amata had been born. Several documents explained some of the creatures that could be found roaming the wastes, the city of "Megaton"; a detailed report about a human settlement to the southeast and the economic crisis that gripped whatever was left of humanity. People used Bottle caps or just "caps" instead, of what she would have considered, money. Caps were used to buy medicine, food and other supplies in various other settlements dotted around the Wasteland. A breathless laughed escaped her as she stumbled her way to Megaton. To think she had thrown nineteen years worth of bottlecaps away. Otherwise she'd be minted.

Aex swiftly came to the conclusion that she did not like Megaton one bit. Once she got over the amazement of a town being built around an active Atomic Bomb, the town was a lot to be desired. The place appeared to be dark even in the daylight, smelly with very little in the way of shops and retail. The workmanship was substandard and poor; thick ropes of cables hanging freely here and there and the walls were crudely welded together with scrap metal. The walkways were in complete disrepair, a good few having to be closed off completely. The houses, no shacks, were just like the residents who resided in them – bleak and hopeless. People within Megaton kept to themselves and were uncooperative, surly and suspicious of outsiders.

Alex stopped abruptly and surveyed the area, lips curled into grimace. If her father had been planning an extensive trip, surely he would have passed through this "Megaton" before setting off.

"Well hot damn, we've got us a Vault Dweller." The young woman spun around, her body tense. A good natured but weathered man stood before her, his dark skin wrinkled like a baked potato left under the heat for too long. He was dressed in an overcoat, sporting an old cowboy hat that had obviously seen better days and a pointed silver star was pinned to his chest. The mechanic would have scoffed if it hadn't have been for the Chinese Assault Rifle strapped to his back, warning enough to silence Alex's snide words.

"Lucas Simms, Vault girl. Pleasure to meet you," The old cowboy greeted.

Alex swallowed, finding her voice at last. "Lucas Simms…Are you a security guard or something?" Alex asked, nodding towards the star stapled to his chest.

"Well, I try to bring law to a lawless town so yes. You're not here to cause trouble are you?" He eyed her suspiciously.

She smiled for the first time since leaving the Vault. "I don't cause trouble; I just have disagreements."

He laughed, and it was a rich, warm sound that reminded her of her father. "You seem like a nice kid so I'll let you off with that one. If you need information, you give me a holler."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

Alex took a deep breath. "Have you seen my father? Middle aged kinda guy? He's from a vault like me so he'd stick out like a sore thumb."

Lucas Simms scratched his rough beard. "Well, come to mention it, I did see a stranger pass through here not too long ago. Had purpose in his eyes, kinda like you. I saw him last at the saloon. " Lucas Simms explained and he pointed a finger towards the only speck of real light in the city; a seedy looking saloon at the top of town. Alex smiled gratefully, plotting a course up through the shackle of a town.

"Thank you."

"Anytime. Keep out of trouble now, I'd hate to waste bullets on ya."

Alex turned on her heel and bolted up the nearby ramp onto the winding metal tree houses of Megaton. Nearly everyone stared as the girl passed them, some even stopping to whisper to a fellow resident. She tried her best to ignore them as she climbed up the winding ramps of Megaton. Did they really have to stare so much? It was hardly her fault she was a Vault Dweller. And clean. How long had it been since a Vault Dweller had passed through that they actually stopped and stared when she passed. Alex wasn't used to such attention and kept her eyes focused purely on the sign of the saloon.

She walked along the ramps and pathways; hoping against hope that she would find her father leaning over the counter of the bar alive and safe. Well, safe enough until she was through with him. As she climbed the last of the steps and skidded to a halt outside the pub, the girl felt a sickening twist in her stomach. What if her dad wasn't in the bar? What would she do? Alex shook her head, chasing her doubts in. He just had to be inside. He just had to.

Alex wretched the door open. Walked in. Took one look around and could have curled up and cried.

No weathered, kind doctor.

No Vault-Tec issued suit stamped with a 101.

Alex glanced around and felt the despair creep onto her face. Just like the town, the squalid saloon was rundown and dark. A cocktail of shame, sweat and alcohol clung to the air in a rather unpleasant manner. The young woman's skin felt like it was going to run off without her but at least it was warm. There were a few residents present in the pub; a man who appeared to look like corpse minded the till, a few people sitting at the counter clutched glasses filled with amber liquid and a woman who looked to offer her services to anyone with too many caps and lots of time. Considering what she had seen the past twelve hours, she was too exhausted to care.

What now?

Alex padded over to a bar stool and dropped herself onto it; her feet dangling a few inches off the ground. The man behind the counter eyed her warily as Alex fished out what little money she had on her person. For a moment she stared at him, noted his singed flesh and rotting body. She should have felt repulsed, but she didn't. She was too exhausted to do much of anything.

"Hey smoothskin, can I get you something? Anything at all?" he asked, his words guarded and careful like he was expecting her to say something horrible.

Alex swallowed, trying not to let her eyes linger on any part of him too long. "Something really really strong. Like really really strong," her tone heavy with exhaustion as she dropped the handful of bottlecaps onto the surface. "Is this enough? I don't really know the currency…"She bit the inside of her mouth, cursing herself for sounding so lost.

The man behind the counter almost dropped the glass he was cleaning.

"You're not going to hit me? Yell at me? Even berate me just a little?" he asked, disbelief on his mangled face.

Alex arched an eyebrow. "I wasn't planning on it. Am I supposed to?"

The man put down the glass and gather up the caps with a weak smile. "No, no. It's just a surprise. I'm used to every smoothskin in this town giving me crap just because I look like a corpse. Nice to know there are still some worthwhile people left in the world," he explained, sliding over her change. "He would have my ass if he caught me selling at a discount, but for you, I'd risk it. I'm Gob by the way. Gob from Underworld." He reached a hand over to her.

Taken back slightly, Alex stared for a second before reaching up and grasping in palm into a shake; an unpleasant enough experience she wasn't sure she wanted to repeat. His hand was lumpy and squishy, like cold rice pudding. She resisted the urge to wipe her hand against her jumpsuit afterwards.

"Alex Halsey, formerly Vault 101," she replied with a frown. Gob's brow jerked and she supposed he must have been raising an eyebrow at her

"Figured from the jump suit. Not many of those around here. What are you doing out here in this shithole?"

Alex gave a disgruntled snort and swirled the contents of her glass. "I was, quite literally, chased out after my dad did a runner." the young woman replied as she took a swig of the amber liquid in her tumbler. All the way down it burned before settling in her stomach, calming her scattered nerves slightly.

Gob gave her what she supposed was smile. It was hard to tell. "Sorry Alex. Must have been rough…If you need anything else, give me a shout," Gob remarked before turning his attention to another customer.

It wasn't until the girl downed the last of her whisky and was left alone with her thoughts when she became aware of something quite strange from the corner of her eye. Someone was watching her intently and had been for quite some time. Alex shuffled in her seat, trying to get a look around the bar without being too obvious.

Sitting in the corner was strangest man the young woman had laid her eyes on, save from Gob. He was such an immense contrast to his surroundings that Alex was amazed she had missed him in the first place. He seemed to be trying to get her attention. Alex swallowed again. Perhaps he knew something of her father?

She had to ask, just to be certain.

Against what little judgement she possessed, she swung off the barstool and approached the stranger.

"My my, just when I had all but given up hope." His voice was smooth, trusting almost; if it was not for the fact that there was a Silenced 10mm pistol clipped to his belt. The man in question was wearing a pristine white pinstripe business suit a pre-war brown hat and a dashing pair of tortoiseshell glasses. It was hard to tell his age but she supposed her was maybe in his thirties and he wore a smile that didn't make her feel at ease.

"You talking to me?" the teenager asked, attempting to keep her tone level and detached. They both knew the answer.

"Why of course. Now, would you care to sit down?" he replied with an enticing smile gracing his lips.

Although he framed it as a question, it was more of on order. Her legs acted on her behalf and she found herself slipping into the chair next to him. He smiled again crisply, and Alex returned the gesture with a frown. Had to keep it cool, play it close to her chest. To his credit, Burke's grin did not falter in the slightest. If anything, the blue eyes hidden behind his sunglasses flashed in dangerous amusement.

"My dear boy, I am very happy to make your acquaintance. I am Mister Burke," he introduced, knitting his long fingers together.

She felt herself bristle with annoyance.

He thought her a boy.

Unbelievable.

Alex's jaw tightened in anger. She was not even out in the wasteland one day and she was being mistaken for a boy again. "I'm a girl," She hissed through clenched teeth. The man stopped, shamelessly trailed his eyes over her short figure then let out a chuckle of laughter.

"Really? My apologies. The line between boy and girl seems to be rather blurred these days," he said with a raised brow.

Her temper flared, as did her cheeks. "Really? The line between your face and my fist will become rather blurred as well," she threatened, curling her gloved hand into a fist for effect.

Burke's mouth curled into an amused smirk, as if he were enjoying her reaction. Alex felt her confidence waver slightly. He was supposed to be threatened, not amused. She would prefer anger or irritation. That she could deal with. She wasn't accustomed to anything else. "Now now, we must remember our manners. We wouldn't want our business arrangement to get off on the wrong foot now would we?" he said smoothly.

She frowned again. "What business arrangement? I just needed to ask you something." The man chose to ignore Alex's comment. Or perhaps he just didn't hear. "So, I have introduced myself, it is only polite for you to do the same," Mister Burke stated, his tone lined with silver.

"Alex Halsey," she stated, trying to sound as unimpressed as possible but failing miserably.

To her dismay, Burke simply chuckled at her response; infuriating the young woman further. People were not supposed to laugh at her.

It didn't happen.

Ever.

If Alex had been a bird, her feathers would have been beyond repair.

"Oh, you have a boy's name as well? How perfect."

Alex attempted to rein in her anger and failed, the skin on her cheeks flaring up. "Well if you must know, my full name is Alexandra and it's a girl's name last time I checked," Alex insisted.

"Alexandra sounds much more refined."

She pulled a face. "And pretentious. I prefer Alex, thanks."

Mister Burke leaned back in his chair, somehow looking both relaxed and intimidating at the same time. It set her skin on edge in a way she couldn't quite explain nor wanted to think about too closely. "Very well, Alex. If you care to indulge me for a moment, am I right in assuming that you are indeed new to this 'capital wasteland'" he asked, dark eyes twinkling behind his sunglasses.

"What gave it away Clever clogs? The big '101' stencilled on my back?" Alex retorted, kicking the ball back into his court. To his credit, the mysterious Mister Burke didn't falter for a second.

"Careful now. You'd do well to remember that out here, not everyone is as well-mannered as I am and would shoot you dead for such cheek."

Alex's found her eyes drawn to the pistol resting upon his hip and her own felt lighter. She reined her irritation back. "Look, I am really tired. What exactly do you want from me?"

The gentleman paused to surveyed the girl for a moment; eyes pausing on her features with interest before continuing.

"I'm glad you asked. I represent certain...interests. And those interests view this town, this 'Megaton', as a blight on an burgeoning urban landscape." Alex snorted.

"'Burgeoning?' You're kidding right?" She asked shortly. Burke silenced her with a forceful look before continuing. Apparently he was not a man who was used to being interrupted.

"You have no interests here; no connections with cesspools affairs or fate. You could help us erase this little accident off the map. The undetonated Atomic bomb for which this town is named is still very much alive. All it needs is a little...motivation" Burke explained, his voice dropping an octave.

At that moment, Alex was silenced for several seconds; allowing the implications of his words sink in. The girl swallowed the lump in her throat and wet her lips carefully. Burke's steel gaze followed her moments. "You're not planning on blowing up Megaton are you?" Alex asked with disbelief. "Is that even possible?"

The man chuckled then leaned a little closer. "No no dear girl, I am merely the recruiter. You will get to have all the fun," he answered.

Alex was plum out of words to express her astonishment. Her silence seemed to please him for the fox-like smile he wore deepened.

"Splendid, I have your rapt attention. Now listen closely. I have in my possession a fusion pulse charge, constructed for a singular purpose. The detonation of that bomb. You rig it to the bomb. And you'll get paid. Handsomely. What do you say?"

She stared him blankly. "God you're serious aren't you?"

"As a heart attack," he answered smoothly, not missing a beat.

"You're crazy," she said with disbelief. Only yesterday she had been snoozing in the vault without a care in the world. Now she was being propositioned into committing murder by a man stupid enough to wear sunglasses in a dark bar. "No, no I'm not doing this. It's crazy. You're fucking crazy. You're fucking crazy." She made an attempt to move from the chair.

Had to get away.

Got to get away.

Suddenly, Burke's hand shot up and seized her wrist. "Now now, Miss 101. You'd do well to remember that you're alone out here, and you don't want to make an enemy of me." Alex hissed as he applied pressure with a hand large enough to encompass her wrist completely. Her first instinct was to tug her hand, but he held her tight in his vice like grip. "Let go."

Burke did not budge an inch. He simply smiled, as if he were holding her hand in a loving embrace as opposed to crushing her wrist. "It's rude to leave in the middle of a conversation."

Desperate, Alex glanced around behind her to find none of the patrons in the bar the least bit surprised. Or just ignoring the situation completely. Didn't they care? If this were the vault –

Alex stopped herself. It wasn't the Vault at all.

She swallowed her fear down and tried to find her courage. "Let go," she repeated. "Or I'll break your hand."

Burke squeezed again and pain streaked up her arm. "Not if I break your wrist first. You'll find bones take longer to heal out here Miss 101."

Fear seeped through her like ice. "Let go," Alex repeated, trying to keep her voice steady.

The man clicked his tongue at her. "Only if you promise not to do anything silly. It won't end well for you."

Alex found herself nodding, unwilling to suffer the situation any further. She just wanted to get away, far away from him as possible. Even Butch never did these sorts of things. He roughed her up a little, but rarely did he truly hurt her.

But this wasn't Vault 101.

And Mister Burke was far more sinister and insidious than Butch.

"I won't. Just let go."

The man smiled in victory and had her wrist not been throbbing with pain, she might have reached up and smacked the smug smile right off his face. Or punch his stupid sunglasses. His fingers released themselves from around her slender wrist and she recoiled her hand immediately.

"There's a good girl," he all but purred as Alex massaged her sore wrist. She was shaking in her jumpsuit like she had a terrible fever. "So, now that all that unpleasantness is out of the way. Does my proposal interest you?"

Alex flexed her fingers, her confidence clawing its way back with a considered her options quickly,adding up and calculating possible outcomes of the situation. How could she get out of this, and quickly without Burke breaking her wrists.

Or worse still, her legs.

Burke was waiting patiently for her answer, his sly smile still firmly in place. Alex swallowed again and she noticed that his eyes seemed to follow the movement. In fact his entire gaze seemed to be skimming over her, not lingering overlong yet still enough to know that he was mildly intrigued by her. She knew that look before; when Butch's eyes lingered on Amata when he thought she wasn't looking.

Maybe…

Just maybe…

Alex leaned forward on the chair, lacing her fingers together. Wind chapped lips tipped into a smile she didn't feel at all but tried regardless. "I have a little 'proposition' of my very own. Would you like to hear it?" Behind shaded lenses, Burke's eyes seemed to darken with curiosity and he shifted in his chair.

"Colour me intrigued. Go on," he replied, voice like liquid silk that curled around her. She almost shivered, but remembered the throbbing in her wrist.

"Well this proposition of yours would blow up the entire town, and you see Mister Burke I plan on staying here a while until I'm on my feet. Maybe you could hold off for a while, unless you want me dead along with this place." Her fingers reached up and tucked a loose lock of hair back behind her ear, just like Christine Kendall might have done. Her residence in Megaton wasn't exactly set in stone but he did not need to know that.

A heartbeat passed, then two.

And just like that, Burke's demeanour completely changed. The sly smirk he wore had melted away and instead he looked like a man who had just been paid a compliment by a pretty woman.

"Well I...I uhm...I mean, no." He coughed, evidently trying to recover his composure. "Of course not. I must admit, I've never met a woman quite like you. This changes everything."

Alex could have laughed had she not been playing the part of a seductress. Surely it couldn't be this easy even here in the Wasteland.

"I'm not sure what I'm going to tell Tenpenny, I'll think of something," Burke stated, his fluid and commanding tone all but diminished. Alex bit the inside of her mouth to stop herself from giggling. "You wait here my dear. I have some important business to conclude in the wasteland. But you won't be waiting long, I will send for you soon."

With that, Burke adjusted his hat and made to leave. Alex folded her arms over her chest; what little cleavage she had pressing out for effect. Burke let out a small, frustrated noise that she almost missed. "Take your time. I'm not going anywhere," she lied.

Burke gave her one last look, and it was impossible to ignore the longing on his face. Then just like that, he disappeared out the door like a shadow.

Feeling terribly smug and pleased with herself, Alex stood up from the armchair and went back to the barstool she had occupied earlier.

"Good riddance. I thought he'd never leave," Gob remarked, cleaning a glass. "Didn't think he'd clear off for a pretty face though."

Alex's cheeks reddened and glanced back the door, suddenly worried that maybe he was outside listening. Her paranoia was on high alert. "Yeah. I didn't know how else to get rid of him," she said before quickly continuing the conversation. She didn't want to think about Mister Burke and how he could make her both shiver and shake with both fear and anticipation. "Hey Gob, Is there like an inn or something in Megaton. After what I've been through today, I need a sleep."

The ghoulish barkeep jerked his thumb towards the auburn haired woman in the corner. "If your caps are good, Nova will set you up straight," Gob responded.

Her pockets suddenly felt very light. "Probably only got about one thirty on me at the moment. I haven't really counted."

"You would want to find some work tomorrow then. What can you do?"

"I'm an engineer."

Her newfound friend waved a hand. "You'll find work no problem. See Nova if you want a bed." With that, Alex slunk of the barstool and approached the ginger haired woman that Gob had gestured to.

"Hey kid, haven't seen you about before," the woman said with a practiced purr.

"I just got here."

Nova grinned playfully. "I heard. And you finally got that Burke guy to leave. He was giving me the creeps."

Alex managed another weak smile. "I can't believe that even worked. I keep expecting him to come back and break my wrist."

Nova's brow wrinkled. "It looked like it was about to get ugly. I was going to go and get Colin."

"I've had worse," she said, feigning bravado. "What do you know about him?"

"Polite enough man I suppose. Makes my skin crawl though. There's nothing not quite right about the guy."

"Anything else?"

The corners of Nova's mouth tweaked faintly before being coupled with a breath of laughter. It was dry and weak; almost like the copper haired woman had almost forgotten how to laugh altogether. "Only that he's a man, and predictable."

Alex laughed, and she felt some of the pressure in her chest lift. "There was a book in the Vault that was all about how to make any man fall in love with you. I wish I could tell everyone that it worked."

Nova laughed again. "So kid, what can I do for you?" Alex dug her hand into her pockets and she replied with a small bag full of caps.

"Gob said you could get me a bed. This enough?" The copper haired woman carefully counted by the handful of caps Alex handed over. "Just enough for a bed and some company."

"No offence Nova but you're not my type." Despite her comment, Nova did not appear to be defeated in the slightest. If anything, her alluring smile changed into a suggestive grin.

"The mysterious, suit wearing guys more 'your type'?"

Alex rubbed her wrist again, feeling the bruise already begin to form. What a creep. "No. Strapping mechanics are my type, not snakes in suits," she insisted. "So, can I have the key to the room now?"

A worn key was held out to her, accompanied with a warm smile.

"Upstairs, middle room with the better bed. Sleep well kid." Nova remarked, her lines sounding somewhat rehearsed.

"Thanks, uh, Nova is it?"

"Any time sugar."

Alex took the key and headed up the creaking stairs towards the room that Nova had directed her to. She unlocked the door, slipped inside and took care to lock it behind her. A simple double bed took up space in the center of the room; grimy and hardly up to Vault-Tec standards. The furniture was haggard and most likely broken. Alex wondered if the bed even had springs. The Vault Dweller wrinkled her nose in disgust but dropped her sack on a nearby chair. She struggled out of her clothing, leaving them where they fell thought.

The girl was asleep before she hit the pillow.