Fanfic1ch20

Morgan wandered around town, whistling happily. He was surprised at this. He figured he ought to be growling, weary, broken down and all that other fun baggage that comes after getting kicked out of your childhood home. Instead he felt… free. Liberated from that anal-retentive scumbag in charge and free to live.

Even now, just wandering around town fixing some broken pipes for the town's resident mechanic, Walter, he felt different than helping Stanley with maintenance in the Vault. It was for a living, and helping a community survive, as opposed to just keeping a machine-like existence working.

As he mused on this, he spotted another pipe leaking near the town gat, on a path leading down into the crater. As he pulled out his tools and prepared to weld some scrap iron on the broken joint, something flew past his face and knocked the metal out of his hand.

"Oh, damn! Sorry about that, man!"

Morgan looked up to see a tall, well-built man standing over him. He was wearing a slightly dirty bandanna, and had a patch over one eye, and blonde hair with a scruffy but well-kept beard.

"Sorry, the little sucker got away from me." The man said, offering a hand. "M' name's Billy, Billy Creel."

Morgan took the hand and pulled himself up. "Ah, it's okay, I'm just glad that happened before I started welding. I'm Morgan, by the way."

Billy smiled. "Oh, yeah! You and your brother are the talk of the town, kid. Harith said you guys took on some raiders too, not bad for some fresh Vaulties."

Morgan was a bit surprised at that. "Man, how quickly does word get around here? We only arrived a few hours ago."

Billy laughed at that. "Ah, don't worry about it, kid. I just happen to know Harith from my caravan days is all, and I like people." He smiled that happy smile of his again. "So I kinda tend to talk a bit as well. By the way, did ya see where that ball went?"

"Ball?" Morgan looked a bit further down and saw a baseball wedged between two pipes. He retrieved it and tossed it to Billy.

"Much obliged, kid. Sorry about that, but when me and Maggie play catch it tends to go everywhere."

Moran raised an eyebrow. "Maggie?"

Just as Billy opened his mouth to reply, a little girl skipped down to the pair. She had Asian features and short black hair, and promptly tackled Billy's legs. "Didja find the ball, Billy? Oh…" She caught sight of Morgan and hid behind the older man's legs.

Billy laughed. "It's okay, pumpkin, this is Morgan, he's one of those Vaulties that came over today."

Instantly, Maggie was tackling Morgan's legs. "Oooo! Is he a robot? Can he shoot lasers out of his eyes? Does he know any molerat-men?"

Billy hooted with laughter at both Maggie and Morgan's bemused expression. "Sorry, pumpkin, but I think he's human like the rest of us." He replied, beaming at the little girl causing Morgan to lose circulation to his feet.

"Awwww… that's no fun!" Maggie pouted, crossing her arms in a huff.

Morgan smiled at the goofy kid. She reminded him of how obnoxious he was at that age. "Yeah, sorry kid, I can't shoot lasers from my eyes. However…"

Morgan knelt down and pulled his duffel bag from his shoulder, with Maggie looking at it excitedly and Billy cocking his head in response.

"I did find this when me and my brother were wandering around out there." Morgan pulled out the Eyebot that he had scooped up in Springvale. Maggie squealed so loud Morgan was surprised the pipe next to him didn't crack.

"Wow! That's so cool! Can it fly? Can it shoot lasers? What's the hole in it for?" She gibbered away while Billy was barely containing a laugh.

Morgan chuckled as well. "It's broken right now, but I'm going to repair it with help from Moira. Then it'll be able to fly and shoot lasers."

"Moira? She's fun! She makes all kinds of cool stuff! She's kinda looney, though." Billy rolled his eyes as Morgan nodded.

"Yeah, and Jericho said she's only good for plowin', cept' she doesn't do any farming so I don't get what he means by that." Morgan carefully hid his expression as Billy turned red in the face.

Maggie rapped on the metal shell. "What're you gonna name it? S'gotta have a name, right?"

Billy grabbed Maggie and lifted her onto his shoulders. "Ah, we better leave him alone for now, sweetheart, he's busy helpin' to fix up the town."

"Okay! Bye Morgan! You gotta show me the robot when you're done!" Maggie called out.

"I will, I promise!" Morgan called back as he turned to the pipe. As he started welding the rusty metal into something that didn't resemble Swiss cheese, he smiled at the idea of little Maggie chasing around his floating robot, asking it to shoot lasers. He quickly finished, grinning as he walked back up the rickety catwalks to the Water Purification Plant.

He found Walter on the balcony outside the plant, smoking a cigarette. The old man looked dead on his feet, and since he'd apparently been up for the last three days trying to figure out where the leaks were, Morgan was surprised he wasn't.

"Hey, Walter." Morgan greeted, causing the white-haired mechanic's eyes to flicker open. "Got those leaks sealed."

"Huh, really? Lemme make sure." Walter stumbled back into the plant, dragging his feet with each step. As Morgan closed the door behind them, he heard Walter make a tired grunt of satisfaction.

"Well, I'll be. The pressure's up all right, no leaks. Well done, kid." He fished a small bag out of his jumpsuit. "There's some caps for you. If you're still looking for work, I'll pay you for any scrap you bring me, since this thing is gonna bust again sooner or later."

Morgan pocketed the money and nodded. "I'll keep an eye out. Now go get some sleep old man, you look like a walking advertisement for zombie repellent."

Walter gave him a grumpy grimace. "Eh, I'll rest when I'm dead. Have a nice day." He said these last words in a sarcastic sing-song, then trundled off to the back room. Before Morgan was out the door, he heard the old man snoring like a saw on metal.

Morgan walked through town, stopping at the bomb to listen to the Confessor's rants about Atom, their savior and get a better look at the megaton mishap waiting to happen. After inspecting the bomb as best he could, Morgan continued his walk, thinking on the problem of how he could disarm the bomb if the crazy dude would start getting all "DEFILER!" in his face?

He had started up the catwalk when he accidentally bumped into an old man walking along.

"Oh, sorry, sir."

"Oh it's quite alright young man! It's another glorious day in the United States of America!"

Morgan stopped to look at the elderly person he had just bumped into, dressed in a wasteland outfit but with an old bombers jacket with a crudely made American Flag patch adorning it.

"I'm Nathan, youngster! What's your name?"

"Uh, Morgan, me and my brother Danny are new here…"

"Oh, right, the Vault Dwellers! I hope you've heard of the Enclave down there young man!"

Morgan gave him a puzzled look. "Enclave?"

"The remnant of our world's government, my boy! The last great hope of the American race! They've been broadcasting for years now, with that John Henry Eden as President, and he's going to come in here and end our problems forever!"

Morgan scratched his head. "Um… I hate to point this out, Mr. Nathan, but aren't they the ones who went around bombing the world in the first place?"

Nathan looked shocked, and his face began to redden as Morgan realized this hadn't been the right thing to say.

"Why- why that's blasphemy! Treason! It's every citizens duty to follow the leader of their country!"

Morgan gave him a flat look. "You do realize that they made the Bill of Rights and Constitution with the sole idea in mind of "if we fuck up, feel free to rebel" right?"

Nathan looked thoughtful for a moment. "Huh… I never thought of it…" But then he shook his head as if to clear thoughts from it and said, "No! You won't trick me! You'll see when the Enclave comes, my patience will be rewarded!" He then shouldered his way past Danny and continued down toward the crater.

Morgan shrugged as he approached the saloon. Crazy people out here. But it was definitely better than the Vault, still. A least he was free to argue with patriots like Nathan.

Still there were more important things to worry about. For example, the bomb was still an issue, with all those worshippers milling about and being rather fanatical. But Danny could probably keep him covered. He was good at defusing tense situations.

He thought those words over a second later when someone came crashing out the pub's window.