章 16: King Under the Mountain
I don't own Fallout or anything else really. This chapter is excessively violent, It also has no sex, but its story plot important, so read at your own care.
"I know this is probably a bad time to bring this up, but does anybody have an actual plan?" Casey asked as she strapped on the leather armor they had… 'acquired' from a group of brave Raiders yesterday. They had journeyed long through the night and most of the day, rested, then finished up the journey coming to a hole in a hill that led deep underground into the vault. They had rested once more and now they were preparing for an all-out assault on the stronghold.
"Rodney gets the front door open and we work it from there." Swat replied, eyeing the two vault girls. "There's nothing but protectrons waiting for us right?"
Masha nodded slowly as she held tightly to her rifle. "Yes. The security forces are all protectrons…"
"And I highly doubt the 'nobles' are any better than this idiot." Swat replied, roughly elbowing the bound Rodney. He had tried escaping again after the raider attack, so Swat tied him up and attached him to the back of the wagon, by his bound feet. He had hopped the rest of the way. "And we have come prepared." He tossed Casey a pulse rifle they had acquired more legitimately from the gun runners. Granted they didn't have enough ammo to put down every protectron in the vault but it was more than enough to help.
"Indeed!" Smiled Shakespeare as he sorted through the wagon. "When do we attack?"
Swat sighed softly, fiddling with his sequoia as Casey primed the pulse rifle. "…Well they're not going anywhere…" he noted but Jack elbowed him in the side gently, tilting his head towards the cave that led into the vault. "Alright fine… let's go clean house then."
Shoving and elbowing Rodney ahead of them they entered the cave, descending a little until they came to the iconic Vault Door, a giant metal cog. Admittedly Swat, Casey and Jack had never seen one before, it was quite a sight. Raid however seemed unconcerned. In fact, he approached the metal cog, sniffed it, then raised his back leg, claiming the door for himself. The door was Raid's now.
Swat roughly shoved Rodney forwards towards a crude-looking console, his eyes wandering for cameras and finding none. Perhaps this would be easier than he expected. Rodney scowled quietly to himself, then he punched in a code on the keypad, waiting patiently for a long time…
"Who is it?" came a bored, and very annoyed voice from the console as Swat held a finger to his lips… and pressed the barrel of his sequoia silently to the side of Rodney's head as he froze up. he quickly found his voice.
"…Sir Rodney. I have returned. Open the door." He said, word for word what Swat had told him to say.
"…Seriously?" came a reply, "Well… shit no one expected you to get back- hold on." There was a sudden shriek and an audible smack. The noise made Satsuki and Masha flinch as the familiar sound of a hand across a face echoed in their ears, their faces a stone mask of fury. "Fucking slut! D bitches am I right?" he laughed as Rodney nervously chuckled as Swat pulled back the hammer of his Sequoia. "Well not all of us can get A class girls like you. Speaking of did you bring them back? The King wants to administer his own punishment…"
Rodney glanced at the angry and stern collection of killers that had followed him back to the Vault. And the big wolf Raid snarled silently at his feet… "Yes. Open the door." He said, noticing immediately that Swat was quickly losing patience and control over his trigger finger. "Hurry up!" he demanded, his voice cracking a little and trying to maintain the very last vestiges of his 'nobility'
"Alright, Sir Rodney alright. I just need to find the… key thing… hey! Bitch where's the fucking key?"
"It's right here si-AH!" a woman screamed as she was hit again.
"Bitch your mouth is for sucking not talking! Fucking point! You dumb cunt."
"…I'm going to shoot him." Casey said as everyone seemed to silently agree to her statement of inevitable facts. "In the balls." she added firmly.
"Tell him to come to meet you." Swat noted softly as Rodney eyed him incredulously only to feel the cold dangerous barrel of the sequoia press against his temple as he ground.
"…Come meet me at the door… I have… a surprise to show the Vault. I guess we'll start with you."
"…Cool. Opening the door now." He said as the door creaked and rolled open, slowly dramatically, and there standing at the entrance was the man they were talking to. He cruelly yanked at the long blonde hair of a woman with a black and blue face. He had half a second to register that the 'surprise' was Swat and the others, seconds before Casey yanked one of Jack's revolvers and shot him in the testicles.
He screamed like… well like a woman, his voice high-pitched as the beaten woman quickly crawled away, shocked at the sudden violence as he clutched to the flooding blood between his legs as they all approached him. "You fucker! You fucking whore! I'm going to fucking kill-" he was silenced by another accurate shot to the forehead from Casey as she handed the still smoking revolver back to Jack.
"…Could've done that with just one bullet." He noted reluctantly, reloading the revolver as Swat pressed a button to call the elevators. There were three very large elevators, easily capable of fitting a dozen people at once. Or eight protectrons. It depends really.
"Then I wouldn't have gotten my point across…" Casey replied as Masha and Satsuki tended to the bruised woman who was ridiculously happy to see them again. "Well, that's one… How many more? Thirty? Forty?"
"Let's just kill all males in a vault suit." Swat said as they all entered the elevator. The girl returned to the control room to shut the door… preventing any escape for the occupants of the vault.
"Damn…" Jack mumbled just as the elevators began to shut. "…I kinda wanted a vault suit."
...
Sir Caman had drained himself with his favorite B class slut and he zipped up his vault suit passing the protection guards. Leaving the attractive dark chocolate-skinned woman covered in his white seed as he debated on whether or not he'd have lunch in the company of a D Class or C class woman, when one of the elevators to the surface dinged. He blinked, there was to be no reason as to why the elevators dinged. He remembered that the overseer had sentenced Sir Roy to man the door with only a D Class for entertainment for displeasing him, but it hasn't been nearly long enough for him to return.
The door slid open and a monstrous blue-skinned giant exited the elevator. Sir Caman's jaw dropped briefly as the mutant hefted a giant mini-gun. Aiming down the hallway right at him. "It's not exactly the Bard but Swat told me to say this-" Shakespeare said in a posh accent as he cleared his throat before adding slowly. "-Dakka. Dakka." as Sir Caman turned, screaming in horror as the mini-gun revved to life. Ripping into his body and spraying his blood across the floor while his lifeless corpse dropped onto the formerly pristine floor. Half a dozen protectron guards were destroyed before anyone realized what was going on…
Then the alarms went off.
The overseer, the King of the Nobles, watched as his Vault was assaulted by the motley crew of wastelanders. Six nobles were killed before the protectrons began to mount a proper defense in the tightened hallways of the Vault. The supermutant's mini-gun had long run out of ammunition, it was probably just the first assault to clear the room. His three S class slaves sat on their knees, heads bowed and silent, completely oblivious to the attack on the vault as the overseer lazily activated the sound system.
"Attention nobles. Fall back to the training room. Unless you want to get shot." He added as another Noble was promptly gunned down by an attractive wasteland woman. He then pressed a button on his desk. The door to his office was locked and bolted securely as he relaxed. A bomb couldn't open that door, and he had more than enough food stored in his office to last weeks to monthes… but it wouldn't come to that. He had plenty of protectrons, and there was always the Slutmaster. He absently, but skillfully spun his laser pistol on his finger, smirking to himself. And if by some miracle they managed to get past them he was more than capable of handling some group of wasteland misfits.
The overseer had quite more than a bit of confidence in his gunplay. Unlike the rest of the nobles who lived in their own little bubbles of debauchery that were now rapidly being popped by a collection of bullets, he had devotedly trained his abilities to shoot. Really devoting his time to his S.P.E.C.I.A.L training. Special of course stands for Strength. Perception. Endurance. Charisma. Intelligence. Agility. Luck. The nobles were more interested in the pleasures of lust… but he always knew there was a chance that the vault could be infiltrated… and he was more than ready.
…Granted there was over a foot of solid steel between him them… be that was semantics.
Jack's Winchester rapidly downed a trio of protectrons as a laser blast singed his hat and he ducked into a doorframe as another trio of protectrons advanced on them. "Brat! We need to flank them!" he shouted to Swat whose sequoia rang out with a loud bang and destroyed another protectron.
"…Satsuki! Masha! Casey! Take Shakespeare and find another way around!" he said. This was their vault, Masha and Satsuki would obviously know of a way.
"Got it!" Masha shouted determinedly as she fired her rifle into the protectron ranks. Casey and Shakespeare followed behind her as Satsuki hesitated.
"Go!" Swat smirked, "We'll be fine!" Jack sniffed and gave her cover fire as she ran after Masha.
"…We will?" he added curiously under his breath to Swat as he pointed up towards a sign that said, 'Training Room.' Pointing in the direction that the protectrons were coming from.
"More or less." Swat replied, pulling out his shotgun. Taking a deep breath, and firing blindly into the ranks of the protectrons as Raid waited patiently for his moment beside him.
Shakespeare had long run out of minigun ammo and had dropped the dead weight onto one of the many MANY protectrons chassis. He smashed a protectron head with his bare hands. Ripping off an arm of the mechanical man and rigorously bashing another "The robb'd that smiles, steals something from the thief!" he stated eloquently before 'stealing' another arm and smashing another protectron, hefting another away from a screaming young maiden and smashing it angrily against the wall before moving on.
Casey and Masha fired potshots at the oncoming horde. Satsuki brandished her laser rifle, passing by a collection of half-naked women cowering in an odd position in a nearby room. She frowned before entering and approaching them, they shivered terrified for a moment but then one of them; a B class blonde blinked at her. "Satsuki?"
The rest of the girls suddenly stared at her, in their eyes she was larger than life. A terrifying wastelander, but now that they recognized her she was much more. She grabbed a tall leggy redhead and pulled her away revealing a rat-faced noble who had been using them as a meat shield. He stared at her in awe… and could not help but lower his gaze to her breasts… they were the last things he saw before a hot blast of laser fire burned through his forehead.
The girls stared amazed at her sudden and violent action. There was no hesitation, no mercy. Just the cold hard kill. "Stay here and wait for me to come back." She said as the blonde who recognized her, in a strange surge of confidence, stood up and began to kick the corpse of the dead noble. Hesitantly at first, then harder until his arm bent awkwardly from a broken bone she stomped into it. She was soon joined by the other girls, their cheers slowly rising as they stomped and kicked the dead body… like a tide through the vault Satsuki and Masha liberated room after room of women as they rallied behind them, cheering them on as the nobles who could not make it to the training hall were systematically shot, beaten, and essentially killed by the outsiders and the return of the runaways.
Most of them died pitifully, begging for their lives as the girls descended upon them. The mental, and sometimes literal, chains were broken as generations of vengeance were wrecked upon them. Many with those very chains. Cracking like whips on their backs. There was no mercy or pity in the eyes of their former slaves. A few died 'valiantly' cursing them for 'not knowing their places' many of them were smashed into a red paste by Shakespeare, often quoting the Bard as he did to the delight and cheers of many of the women. "Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing!"
In fact, Shakespeare was becoming something of a hero to the women of Vault 69 himself… but we'll get to that in time.
A pulse grenade bounced into a crowd of protectrons as Swat, Jack, and Raid approached the training hall, half a dozen protectrons twitched and trembled as their circuits were scrambled, casually strutting through them Swat and Jack absently shot them through their heads, coming up to a large secured door with a wheel handle.
"After you?" Jack asked gesturing to the door as Swat reloaded his sequoia, almost bored.
"Thank you kindly." He replied politely, spinning the wheel and pulling the door open.
Over thirty slimy, portly, disgusting, pompous, cross-eyed, inbred men stood at the far end of the 'training hall' as big as two basketball courts and filled with things that they obviously wouldn't personally be using. Racks, stables, stockades, posts with chains and rings to hold them… a bondage slave's nightmare.
Training obviously meant something much, much more different to the men of Vault 69.
"…Did we bring enough bullets?" Swat ask cooldly as Raid began to growl, the desperate men scrambling to get behind what looked like a room with viewing glass window. Shutting the door behind them and securing it tightly.
"Oh, we definitely brought enough bullets…" Jack replied confidently, loading his Winchester as he eyed a 'rape rack' covered in blood, obviously disgusted. "And I'm tempted not to make headshots so we could use all of them." He said snapping up his rifle dramatically and fired at the viewing glass. The men jumped away as a large spider-web cracked across it, but the bullet clattered to the ground.
"Greetings guests." Came a voice over the sound system from what they heard before it was The Overseer's. "I am the Overseer." He confirmed with a sultry sort of charm you might find in a cult leader who demanded to sleep with your sister. "You've caused me quite a bit of trouble… so… I invite you to the training hall, where all the toys come to learn their place. Some don't make it back out the second time." He added silkily as the bloodstained instruments seemed much more ominous. "Now. Now you'll learn your place as well." A wall to their left ominously parted as slowly a robot stepped out. It had the body of a protectron, the legs of a sentinel, and the head of an assaulttron, but it was covered in fetish rubber like a poorly designed sling bikini as it brandished its thick pink painted arms.
One hand had a jackhammer attachment, but an overlarge (the size of a supermutant arm in fact) steel dildo in place of a spike. Regardless of how comical it would be to die to that. It was still an ominously dangerous weapon that had clearly seen use. But the other arm was a sort of wheel of horsewhips, that slowly began to turn, making a sound like a card against bike wheels. A click-clacking sound that once it began to speed up had an ominous buzzsaw-like hum as it became a devastating weedwhacker.
"Bend over and take your punishment." It said in an almost sultry dominatrix voice as it hovered towards them. "Know your place." repeating the phrases.
"…I refuse to die to that in a sex dungeon." Jack said as his rifle came up with Swat's sequoia. "Maybe I'll die from one or the other, but not both."
"Destroy them Slutmaster…" said the overseer as the two began firing, "…OR perhaps wreck them is a better choice?" he began to laugh manically as the men behind the safety glass began to laugh and cheer as Swat and Jack darted around the sex devices as the 'Slutmaster' smashed and destroyed the furniture in the worst and most suggestive of ways. The jackhammer dildo pierced through a stockade like it was tissue paper, and the horsewhip weedwhacker sheered messily through a pointed pummel horse like a real buzzsaw.
Swat firred again and again into the armored chassis of the glorified sex toy, before he drew his deathclaw knife. Flippeded it slightly in a flourishing twirl and catching it by the tip before hurling it angrily into the Slutmaster's arm joint. Through sheer skill and an almost godlike Perception. It jammed deep into the arm of the jackhammer as it buzzed and surged, trying to move but only serving to pull the makeshift knife in deeper just as a collection of women, led by the others entered the training hall to watch.
The former slaves stared in awe as the ghoul and the outsider man battled against the Boogey-bot of their nightmares. The mere mention of the Slutmaster was enough to cow the most stubborn of women, and those who returned from a 'session' with the robot often never had any sort of thoughts again. Casey brought up the pulse rifle, frowning as she saw it didn't have much charge left, but Shakespeare, strangely, held her back. Giving her a knowingly look as slowly but surely… the women began to cheer.
"Go! Get it! Smash that thing!" said a brave C Class.
"Get it Swat!" Satsuki and Masha cheered and, picking up on his name. the women joined in.
"SWAT! SWAT! SWAT!"
Jack rolled his eye, deeply wishing he hadn't lost his own Deathclaw knife in a card game a while back, and fired at the Slutmaster's assaultron eye, getting its attention as it began to heat up. It burst in a misfire as its eye surged only to have Swat fire at its Jackhammer arm once more… the joints damaged far beyond anything it's ever had before it disjointedly fell from the Slutmaster's body. Swat dove for the metal arm, lifting it with a mighty heave before hurling the metal dildo arm at the weedwhacker limb, it mercifully jammed them into the wheel well, stopping the horsewhips as he aimed his sequoia at its damaged head, point blank…
The roar of cheering from the women of Vault 69 echoed all the way out of the vault… Rodney, sitting at the elevator bound by his hands and feet froze at the sound… and his stomach fell out of him as he whimpered in fear. Some sixth sense told him that the reign of the men of Vault 69 had just ended…
The Overseer, watching from his computer as the Slutmaster fell in a mechanical heap stared in awe at the man known as Swat. The Ghoul clapped a congratulatory hand on his shoulder as the big dog absently sniffed the destroyed slutmaster. Raising a back leg over it and claiming it as his property. "…Brilliant." He said, grinning manically as he fondled his laser pistol.
Swat absently loaded his pistol as the men of Vault 69 stared in horror from behind the glass. They were trapped, and the women were now armed and dangerous with various tools; whips, cooking knives, shovels, hammers, dildos, and all sorts of unpleasant devices. And there was no escape for them.
"I'm going to go kill the overseer." Swat said casually with a smile, "I assume you'll handle this?" he said, gesturing to the men as the women surrounded the glass and door, some of them trying in vain to break the glass with their makeshift weapons as the men backed away from the sexy horde.
"Sure." Casey said, casually shooting the last of her pulse bullets into the Slutmaster. Just to make sure. "See you in a few?"
Swat smiled as he walked back up the stairs with Raid right behind him just as he heard Shakespeare heft a heavy, un-urinated on piece of the Slutmaster and heaved it mighty towards the locked room window as the glass shattered.
He found a common room, and on the second floor with the window of the overseer's office overlooking the room. The man himself was a smarmy, Handsome black-haired man, but Swat couldn't deny that out of all the men and corpses he had seen so far: Overweight, sickly, inbred. The overseer looked the most… normal. He was even handsome to an extent, but his eyes were cold and unfeeling… Swat had no doubt that if they met in a dark alley somewhere, the man would've shot Swat for no reason.
He raised a hand and waved, almost like a friendly neighbor. Smiling in an almost welcoming manner as Swat began to climb the stairs to the second floor and his office. He approached the heavily barricaded door and frowned, trying to find a way to open it as a computer clicked and buzzed next to it. Swat had never had much of a talent for computers. Often they'd end up with a 40-70 bullet in the screen.
But it flicked to life, a hazy image of the Overseer appearing on the screen. He didn't look mad, or even seemed phased at the fact that his entire world order has just been destroyed. But he grinned at Swat, almost like a long-lost friend. "You are amazing…" he said with a soft hiss, the women in the room flinched… positive emotion wasn't something they were used to from the overseer. "I've never seen such a fine breed of man." He said almost reverently, "Tell me your parentage. Are you Chinese? Russian? Surely your capability of destruction is ingrown. Where are you from?"
"…Jack says he and mom found me in a city called 'Detroit'." Swat said, confused at the conversation he was having, but he shrugged, letting it casually flow over him. "Best I got… why don't you uh… open up and we'll talk more deeply on it."
But Overseer's eyes twinkled maliciously, "No. No I don't think so." he said casually, "…I think I'll stay in here for a long. Long time." He said almost dismissively. Tapping the door, it made no sound. "This is strong enough to withstand the blast of a fatman at point blank. And I have enough supplies in here to last me years…"
"There are four of you in there." Swat said, glancing over the overseer's shoulder towards the meek S Class girls.
"Well, I'll let them decide who will continue to entertain me… and be fed." He noted, "…Perhaps I'll let them starve slowly… let the strongest of them survive." He glanced at them, they remained silent and unmoving as Swat scowled…
…He was going to shoot this man.
"You strike me as a man with a purpose." The overseer said, turning back to a stoic Swat. "…With your ability and my mind, we can restock the Vault! Making it bigger and better than before! Forget those inbred fools in the training hall." He grinned, "Pick your women, claim your place at my side! And the Wasteland will bow before us both! Imagine a paradise for men as our founders intended!"
Swat stared at him for a good long while, seemingly thinking… Then sniffed, trying to hold back his laughter. "…Let's… get something clear, and out of the way…" he said absently petting Raid as the big dog sat happily beside him. Still waiting for his moment "I… am NOT a good man." Swat said, calmly, sternly. "I kill who I wish, and none dare resist." He said as the overseer's lips twitched proudly in a broad grin. "Particularly… assholes like you." Swat said and the overseer's smile lessened. "Granted, killing assholes MIGHT make me a good person, but I normally get paid to do it… do you know why I came here? Why I killed your men? Destroyed your toys? Ruined everything you probably held dear?" Swat rested his hand on the door, looking into the camera. "It wasn't for caps, fame, or girls... I came looking for a book. I destroyed everything for a BOOK. Who fucking does that?"
The overseer's eyes twitched at the sheer stupidity of that statement. "Now. If killing a vault full of assholes like you is the price I have to pay FOR A BOOK, then I'll pay it." he noted, "But I am not a good man, and neither are you. People like us, killers, survive in the wasteland until we encounter each other… then one of us dies." Swat said softly, "You treated women like brahmin, cattle. Something you play with and toss away when you're bored… as a man who has killed a lot of people I'm not one to judge your life choices. But you have a Vault FULL of women who can judge you."
The Overseer smiled, "…Not while I'm in here." He said smugly.
"No. Not while you're in there." Swat noted coolly. Pointedly in fact before declaring sternly. "Open the door." He said firmly as the Overseer laughed.
"No. No, I don't think I will." The overseer smiled, "I would love to have a good old-fashioned quickdraw with you 'cowboy' but I think I'll stay comfortably in here until I get bored. Turning off all nonessential functions in the Vault. Meaning everything outside my office… it doesn't matter if you 'freed' my toys, they won't survive in the Vault anymore."
"Open the door." Swat repeated firmly, glaring at him as he pulled up the sequoia, readying himself..
The overseer glared at him, "…I am not a fool like oaf Rodney. I am not underestimating you. Or anyone" He drew his laser pistol, matching Swat's holding of the gun, like a dark mirror. "I. AM. SMARTER. THAN. YOU." He said with a proud smile.
"Maybe." Swat said softly, "But I'm not underestimating anyone, either… but unlike you, I'm including your slave girls." Swat said as something clicked in the Overseer's mind and he turned towards his desk as one of the S class girls, a blonde woman who could've been a supermodel in the back when times, slammed the button to the door on the desk. GLARING defiant cold fury at him as his blood ran cold. He aimed his laser pistol almost mechanically at her and shot her, dead center in the chest. She went down with a smile on her face as the door hissed open and Swat charged in with a roar. Her sacrifice gave him an opening.
Gripping the Overseer's gun wrist Swat fought him, but the overseer was stronger than he looked. Holding Swat's sequoia away as they struggled to aim at each other, Swat's forehead slammed against the Overseer's nose but even covered and dripping in blood the Overseer was defiant, his eyes filled with fire and madness.
How dare this worthless piece of shit come here and ruin everything! Destroy everything his family had built! The Vault-Tec Gods had built! He was king here! King under the mountain! his own forehead slammed back into Swat's nose, both bleeding now as they managed to loosen the grips on their guns, resorting to a good old-fashioned brawl as he got a bleary Swat in a headlock, bashing his face with his fist as Swat bodily lifted the overseer up and suplexed him backward onto the floor. They Separated, Swat scrambled for his sequoia only for the Overseer to leap onto his back strangling him from behind as Swat got to his feet and ran rapidly backward slamming him against the wall as he held on with the strength of a madman.
"I am KING! No! I am GOD HERE!" roared the overseer. Spitting blood into Swat's face as Swat elbowed him in the jaw. "I CURSE YOU! I DAMN YOU!"
Swat jammed a finger into his eye as he screamed in pain, releasing Swat as he turned and rammed a heavy haymaker into the Overseer's face. He spat blood, his face red and bloody like an otherworldly monster. "My mother would've shot you." He said before grabbing the Overseer by the hair and yanking him up and exposing his throat. "RAID!"
Now was his moment.
The big monstrous wolf darted into the room, and sunk his teeth deep into the overseer's throat as he gargled around the dog's teeth Swat reached down, grabbed his sequoia and pushed it flush to the Overseer's forehead… "I might not be a good person. But my mother was, and she would've shot you." he said coldly.
And did just that, ending the reign of the Vault 69 "King" with a bullet through his crown.
Swat left the room, the other two S class girls stayed with their 'sister'. He left them to mourn, lazily walking back towards the training hall with a bloodied jowl Raid.
Satsuki met them halfway, staring at him with concern. "Swat are you alright?" she gasped, approaching him quickly as he waved his hand.
"It's mostly the other guys…" Swat said casually, ignoring the obviously bleeding nose "…How'd cleanup go?" he asked as he noticed a distinct trace of blood on her boots.
"…There's a little confusion as to what they're going to do now." She said hesitantly, "…But everyone is smiling." She said, giving him a pretty one of her own. "…Just one more thing to do." She said, turning towards the hallway that led to the elevators… Swat followed her as she approached Rodney, who promptly wet himself.
"Wait! Wait!" he whimpered hesitantly, "Please! I helped! I helped!" he begged as Satsuki pushed the laser rifle to his head.
Swat was more than ready to let her finish… but a nagging, really nagging feeling rose in his gut. He felt it occasionally when he was with his mother, and he did something she wouldn't approve of. Killing the Overseer was apparently okay, but putting a bullet into a whimpering Rodney?... "Wait." He said annoyed with himself as Satuski glared familiar daggers at him. "Wait..." he said, and watching Rodney sternly, Swat pulled out his sequoia as Rodney whimpered again. Pleading for his life without words.
Swat emptied the five-chambered barrel and looking directly at Rodney, held a bullet up. "You're an asshole." He said, loading a bullet into the gun, "You're a misogynist." He loaded another bullet. "You broke my arm." Another bullet, "You're a rapist." Another. And held up a final bullet. "And Satsuki really wants to kill you…" before he filled the gun and Rodney pitifully cried as Satsuki watched, curious as to what Swat was doing as he let the chamber spin to a stop. "…But you helped…" Rodney blinked up at Swat as he removed one of the bullets from the chamber, and spun the bullet chamber again, holding it to the side and snapping it shut without looking, holding it to Satsuki.
"…You get one. Pull the trigger." He said firmly, "…If it's empty… the fat pig goes free. And if you ever see him again then you can shoot him."
Rodney wept pitifully, closing his eyes as Satsuki held the deadly sequoia to his temple. Pleading with any sort of ancient power to save him… Satsuki hesitated, the rush of the risk flooding into her even though it was heavily in her favor… and pulled the trigger.
…Click…
Rodney literally shit himself in relief as Satsuki took in a breath from the shock. Swat was completely surprised too, unable to hold his usual stoicism. "Holy shit. UGh" he cringed at the smell. "Ah... shit..."
…Satsuki should've been unhappy, she should've just pulled the trigger again. But as Rodney rolled in his own excrement in relief, she realized that… she killed him. Mentally, spiritually… Rodney was gone, 'Sir' Rodney was gone. All that was left now was this whimpering mess of a man. She didn't even know what to call him anymore… but she had fired the sequoia. And it decided to let him live.
She kicked the broken man into the elevator, slicing his bindings with Swat's Deathclaw knife. "Leave. And never come back or I'll kill you." She said determinedly, pressing the elevator to go up as he wept in blissful relief… the doors shutting out the smell.
"…Sorry." Swat said, "It might be the concussion talking but just killing him like an animal to slaughter... it didn't feel right… probably the concussion." he suddenly collapsed but Satsuki caught him, holding him up.
"I'll get you to the medical room." Satsuki said but Swat waved a hand.
"Library." He said firmly, "Take me to the library…" she blinked in surprise, surely his medical attention was more important. But she lifted him onto her shoulder and helped him to the library.
Shelves and shelves of books littered the large room. Granted the carpet had a few traces of cum stains but as Swat reached out and pulled a book from the shelf, he read the first few pages. Real books… he put it back. It wasn't the one he was looking for… then, wiping his face of blood with the back of his gloved hand. He rolled the ladder to the end of the shelf and climbed to the top, beginning his search. Side to side. Top shelf to the bottom.
For two days he looked, going from shelf to shelf, book to book as he did. Reading the first few pages and putting the books back, not finding what he was looking for. The Vault had begun to rebuild itself as he looked, with Casey, Jack, Shakespeare, Satsuki and Masha: the women of the Vault were slowly coming into their own. Many of them had had useful training. If a man had wanted some doctor play he got to do it with the real doctor. That sort of thing. But Swat ignored them all, Raid quietly dozing in the library as Swat searched.
When he awoke on the third day Shakespeare had entered to check up on him, handing him a cup of coffee. "…Perhaps we can help you look, my friend." He said, glancing up at the treasure trove of old-world tomes. "What sort of book are you looking for?"
"…It was a story my mother told me about..." he paused trying to remember. "...fantasy creatures." Swat said, shaking his head, "I just don't know the damn name…" Shakespeare however frowned.
"… Fantasy creatures?" he asked, "…So… Fiction?" he then looked to the collection of shelves that Swat had covered and tried very hard to hide a smirk.
"What's fiction?" Swat asked as Shakespeare couldn't hold back his laughter.
"Ha! Ha ha ha!" he chortled like a super mutant, then clearing his throat he helped Swat towards another collection of shelves. "Fantasy creatures and such things would be held under 'fiction' in this section. You've been looking through NON-fiction. Real things…"
…Swat didn't appreciate the irony.
…But… miraculously… on the fourth day as Jack came to check in on him. Swat was frozen on the ladder, sitting on it and reading from a rather worn-looking paperback book. Jack had been thoroughly enjoying the attention of the women of Vault 69. He had expected that once free they would become a sort of matronly society, hating all men. But they had surprisingly managed to stifle their hatred and focused it on the former men of the Vault. They had no problem with Shakespeare, Jack or Swat, especially Swat: of whom tales were already being written down by the more talented Vault Girls.
"Hey, Brat! Come on and let's have a break with the girls. They got some music and want to show us some dancin…" he grinned a little lecherously at the young man as Swat's lips moved slowly in the same pattern, over and over like a mantra. "Take a break…" he added concernedly. "Brat? Are you aright?"
"…In a hole in the ground. There lived a hobbit…" Swat said… ridiculously out of nowhere as Jack froze. A small tear flooded down Swat's cheek as he smiled. He held the book up to Jack as Jack stared almost reverently at the book. As if it was a holy manuscript of a forgotten religion…
…Well… he wasn't wrong.
"…Mom's book." Swat said smiling. A genuine, happy, the world is a wonderful place, smile…
"…Gladys' book." Jack said, realizing what that meant. Grinning as well.
Swat leaped from the ladder, Raid, previously snoozing looked up. Seeing his big bro and Jack dancing the crazy prospector dance and not wanting to be left out, joined them in prancing around like mad men. Yipping and howling happily with their cheers.
"Give it here! Give it here!" Jack said excitedly, taking the book as Swat continued dancing with Raid. Casey, Shakespeare, Satsuki and Masha, all nearby and hearing the cheering from all over the Vault skidded and crashed into the library as Jack shifted and skimmed through the book.
"Where is it?… where… Where!?" he chanted, then he smirked. Turning to a page most of the way through the book he tapped at a word repeatedly looking smug. "…There you are." He said like a proud father who spotted his son in a picture.
Swat looked at the page, and that confirmed it. This was his mother's favorite book, as there was his namesake.
Casey abruptly yanked the book from their clutches and instantly skimmed the page as she danced away from them. Expecting resistance. But Jack and Swat only grinned "…What? nothing?" she asked as Swat gestured for her to read.
It took her a while, since she kept glancing at them and frowning. Expecting a sneak attack, before finally after reading the page multiple times. She said Swat's real name.
"…Bard?"
Swat bowed a little elegantly, like a nobleman greeting a king, and surprisingly, so did Raid, as if trained to do so. "Bard Bowman. Nice to meet you, Casey James…"
"…I like it!" Shakespeare cheered fondly as Casey frowned, continuing to read the book.
"…I'm still going to call you Swat…" she said, almost sounding disappointed as the girls cheered and instantly began to refer to Swat by his real name.
Bard.
End of Arc I
Epilogue.
The middle-aged guard of the Salty City Gate yawned broadly as he climbed to the top of the parapet, looking out onto the wasteland of the Salty City for anything… then paused as he looked down thoughtfully at who stood outside the door.
Like a barbarian superhero, a tall, almost gigantic, muscular blonde woman with a steel-plated headband stared up at him. Her hands resting dramatically on her curvy slender waist. She had wide hips, firm rear, muscular legs, and big firm breasts. All of which were bound in what could only be described as a sort of scale bikini that barely hide her modestly. One wrong move and she would've been on display for everyone to see. It was definitely the skin of some reptile but it looked to have been freshly torn off the Alligator (not that the guard had ever seen a gator this is for your benefit) She had heavy, worn, combat boots on her feet, and a massive steel oar strapped to her back, the edges lined with some sort of sharpened tooth of an animal. Like a Macuahuitl. (again not that the guard had ever seen one).
She was an amazon beauty in every sense of the word… and he had a great view of her cleavage. Her bright blue eyes twinkled cheerily as she smiled beautifully at him. "Greetings! I am the Princess of the Bourbon Street Gator Slayers! The heir to my tribe! Destroyer of the Crypt Dwellers! Sharptooths! and the Lowlander Muckmen! I have journeyed for many moons, walked for many leagues, and slain many foolish attackers in my quest! And I seek only one thing!" her beautiful broad smile lessened somewhat as she asked almost too adorably for a woman of her… size. "…Directions?"
The middle-aged guard blinked at her and rubbed his eyes in disbelief… he didn't have a hangover… but it felt like he had a hangover. "…Where?" he asked a little disappointingly.
She smiled again, "…I seek the man who calls himself Swat." She continued to smile proudly, "He who slayed the Great Albino! Eater of Our Children and Terror of the Bayou! He who-
"Fucking Shit, We just call him Swat!" he interrupted exasperatedly, "Ugh why?" he said annoyed with himself but he felt honor bound to ask. "…Do you seek him harm?" he asked. Equally annoyed with himself as he seemed to be drawn into her… delusion.
"I seek his hand!" she said straight-faced. Still grinning broadly with pride. "He is my husband!"
…Well... He didn't quite know how to respond to that.
End of epilogue.
The following is a mostly unedited Author note: because it's important to me.
So… Bard Bowman. That's his name. I'm sure most of you are either disappointed or slapping yourself in the forehead. But it's his name. Deal with it. It also ends the first stretch of Swat's story, when I pick this up again there will be some changes, some additions, some familiarity, and references. You know a Fallout story… an ACTUAL one, (or if you're being cruel an attempt at one), not one pissed out by a certain company that rhymes with 'Kathesda'.
Ha ha! Cheap shots!
And Gator Gal!... she's a Brick!-Da-da-da-da-HOUSE! If she was going to look like anyone maybe Alura Jenson, she's the only real Amazonian I know of. So. I hope you all enjoyed it so far, I certainly enjoyed writing it.
The Hobbit is what inspired me to write. Not just this, but in general. It was important to me. I'm not trying to be sappy, that's just how I am. I want to write Fantasy and it all started with a Hole in the Ground…
…Much like most Fallout stories really
Some early hints include Lord of the Rings Quotes, mangled songs, and Casey literally spelling out 'Hobbit' and J.R.R when she was trying to guess Swat's name in early chapters.
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