The gravity of what had occurred over the past few days hit Nikolai like a ton of bricks. He was all alone. Not just alone out here,but in life aswell. His parents were dead,his only companion died at the hand of freakish insects,and for all he knew he was the only vault dweller left. He was taken away from a world of relative saftey,good people,and many blessing,now he was in this poisned world of insanity,monsters,and barren landscape.

Nikolai covered his eyes as he began to cry. He cried for his mother,his father,his friends,his home,and he cried for all the wasted lives that were claimed by those children of the wastes. He had dreamt of leaving the vault many times when he was a child,just like all the others. It was supposed to be a world filled with new life,centuries after the atomic war should have been a time of a healed Earth. The holotapes of the vault library promised a world of grass,trees,and animals. All that was needed was patience,patience to let the world come back to life. But if this was what 200 years of healing offered,what could truely be left of this world.

Nikolai turned off his radio,and took out his 10mm and looked at it in his hand. He sat there looking at it for a long time,not really thinking of anything else anymore. Slowly,he put his security helmet in front of him,and put his gun to his head. The wind howled loudly all around him,and Nikolai decided not to die without a little music after all.

When he clicked GNR on again,he heard something he didn't think he was ever going to hear again. They were playing "Maybe",his mother's favorite song in the vault. It brought back a lot of memories of his childhood in the vault,hearing his mother hum the song while she was around the house,the stories she would tell him about Mother Russia,and how she would hold him when he was sad like he was now.

With a soft smile,he put his hand on the shoulder his mom would touch as they hugged. "All right mom...message recieved. I'll be sure to think of you when I'm alone,because there is no one else left to remeber you,but me".

After holstering his weapon,Nikolai started walking again. At least this time,his tears came from happier thoughts.

OCC: Okay then,wow. I really put a lot of heart in this post. I think I need to give someone a hug... :hugs:

OOC: awww *hug!* poor little Nikolai! Hang in there! We will be reunited soon! Hopefully... Maybe? You never know haha

OOC: Andy, you are in the houses too. Do you wanna make yourself known? Then we can all headback to New Haven together!

OOC: Nikolai you do get the Vault One-Ten mug Sorry DBAssassin, i know i said you did, but i checked the times and Nikolai got there first. Sorry!

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Jonathan asked Max a question to which Max replied, "Well I am glad you are ok. As for us, I will fill you in on the journey back and then you can see for yourself. I've set up a camp about half an hour's west from here. In time, we will be fine but we must unite and it won't be easy. I will need alot of hard work from everyone but we will be just fine" Max said with a slight smile. You could tell in his eyes that he had direction, and that he fully believed that everything was going to be ok.

"Gather what you can, and i'm talking ANYTHING that we can benefit from back at New Haven. Grab a trolley each from up the road as there is a super market near, but we will leave that for a scavanger team at a later date. It's too risky now... We must prepare to leave. I will go and scout to see if anyone else is on their way to us, and then we must leave... Everyone... Be careful... I will NOT lose you again..."

Max walked out the door, secured his goggles in place, put his hood up and started searching the area for any signs of life...

OOC: Well he should get it after that post. I have a hug for you too Nikolai (Scholar) :hugs:



IC: "Okay Max, by the way I have a dune buggie back there." Jonathan didn't know what New Haven was but he guessed it was a settlement. "See you in a while after I check a few shacks." He broke down the door to the nearest shack and looked inside. Ow shouldn't have done that.

The room smelled putrid and there was mold growing in a corner. He covered his mouth and nose with his hand and continued looking around. Jonathan grabbed a few pieces of loose metal off of the sides of the shack. and threw them towards the door to pick them up later. There were a few syringes filled with what looked like to be med-x on the table so he picked those up as well.

He went into the back room not paying attention and stumbled onto a giant mutated scorpion. It was about to attach with its tail before Jonathan jumped back. He grabbed his hunting rifle and shot the Scorpion a few times. It suddenly screeched and leaped towards him pinning him on the ground. He dropped the rifle and unsheathed his knife stabbing it a few times. The scorpion cut into his arm with it's giant claws and backed up due to it's injuries. Jonathan threw a piece of wood at it at picked up his rifle again finally killed it off with a few more shots.

He grabbed a piece of cloth from some tattered draqes around him and tied it around his wounds. There was a bike in the corner and Jonathan thought Ashley might like it. It was a little big for him but he would grow. He took everything he found outside and put it next to his buggie.

Richard heard Sarah say over the radio, ""Richard?! Is That you?! It's so good to hear your voice! This is Sarah, Max's sister. Max has gone to the rendevous location. I'm so happy you two are ok! I will let Max know you got in contact and hopefully i will see you soon?!" The duo could hear the glee in her voice as the radio shut off. Richard then said, "Let's go, it'll take us at least 12 hours to get out that far." The duo then started walking in the direction of the signal.

Judith said as they were walking, "So what do you want to do when we get to where Max is?" Richard said, "I don't know, you?" Judith said, "I think we should try to convince Max to form an expedition into the Capital Wasteland, as we don't know everything that's out there. Besides, I want to explore some more, the outside has secrets just waiting to be uncovered, unlike in the Vault." Richard said, "I agree with you, but though the Vault wasn't perfect, it was a lot safer." "True.", Judith replied, ", but we're finally free to persue our own destinies." By the time the duo had reached Fort Constantine, it was nightime and the moon was in the sky. As they were passing through, they were attacked by Rogue Protectrons.

Richard started shooting with his Assault Rifle, downing three with concentrated fire. Judith shot the Combat Inhibitor of one Protectron, causing it to shoot at the others until they destroyed eachother. Judith said, "That was close." At that moment a Sentry Bot rolled down and yelled, "Intruder alert! Lethal force authorized!" The duo was forced to run yet again, as their weapons were too weak to put a dent in the robot's armor. They ran for about an hour before finding themselves at the very edge of the Capital Wasteland. Richard said, "It's a good thing that since our Vault was outside the greater Washington D.C. Area, we already have a map of this area built it, and with our enhancements, its topographical as well."

The area was fairly mountainous, making it hard to get around, so the duo traveled west until they found ground that was flat enough for them to traverse safely, and they continued northwest. As they neared the source of the signal, they noticed that there were other former Vault 110 Dwellers walking in the same direction, many still wearing their old jumpsuits. The duo joined the group and eventually ended up in a group of abondoned houses. Richard and Judith decided that they'd stay there until Max came down to meet them.

Sweat poured from Ryan's body. He had been practicing with his new blade for hours, while waiting for something to do. He sheathed his blade and took a swig of irrated water. panting heavily. Ryan poured some of the water on his hand, and wet the back of his neck. he looked at his Pip boy for the time.

Max will be back soon Ryan thought, and headed towards the front gate. he wanted to be the first in line if any of the vault one ten dwellers had survived and gotten Max's message.

At roughly twelve o'clock, Harley and Kate stood up from the couch.

"Time to meet the rest of the Vault" Kate said to Harley, smiling.

"Let's do it" he replied as they pushed the fridge out of the way of the door and went outside.

The moment they left the house, Kate spotted Max, then Harley saw him too. They ran over to him shouting "Max! Hey Max!". Harley greeted him by patting him on the shoulder and saying "Hey man, it's good to see you again" to which Kate agreed and added "Yeah, has anyong else met up with you yet?"

Harley started excitedly telling Max about what him and Kate had been up to, how they found some good supplies in some of the houses and set up in the house they had come out off. He then told him about when they heard the strange noises from outside and he saw those odd parallel tracks, which he soon found out to be trolley tracks. After a few minutes of ranting about what him and Kate had been doing, he told Max he'll go and pack their things and eagerly ran back into the house and started packing all their stuff into the big backpack.

Kate didn't want to leave anything in the house so she went and grabbed a shopping cart that was lying on the street. they could put their blankets and pillows in the cart and put the loaded backpack on top, or maybe even the mattress from the house.

Harley had packed everything into the backpack; the radio, the HAM radio, all the boxed and canned food in the house and the pillows. All that was left was the toolbox which had the guns, tools and other hard items, including Harley and Kate's PIP-boys. He brought the massive backpack out of the house to find Kate waiting outside with the shopping cart. He put the backpack in the cart and ran back inside to get the mattress and blankets, and shoved the blankets in under the backpack and the mattress on top of everything.

They went back over to Max and told him they were ready.

Night had fallen on another day out in the wastes,and Nikolai was still haunted by the night Hoover died. He wasn't willing to sleep and risk the same fate as Hoover,and this was another oppritunity for his insomnia to work for him. Trudging through the darkness,Nikolai hoped he would find something useful out here. He had a stroke of luck when he found a small hut made of sheet metal. It might not have had walls,but it was the only kind of shelter he found since leaving the vault,and it would have to do.

Rumageing through the metal boxes around the hut,he found some more turpentine and some tin cans to use as containers for whatever he might find useful in the future. After gathering plywood,paper scraps,and any thing else that burns,he squirted some turpentine over and used Hoover's lighter.

Nikolai stayed close to the fire. Feeling it was the only protection against the creatures that lurked in the night. Throwing his resolution to the wind,Nikolai pulled out all his stimpacks and counted them out. "Okay I got five stimpacks,I'll just save the other four for later." After injecting himself for a pick-me-up,Nikolai put away the rest of the stimpacks,and started his destructive habit of using substitutes for sleep,anew.

The hours past,and Nikolai jumped a bit at every sound he heard. The stress and panic were taking a heavy toll on him,and his self-induced sleep deprivation only made it worse. His body couldn't keep up with it much longer. It was going to get him killed at this rate,and deep down he knew it.

Nikolai was about to drift into sleep when he was snapped back into reality by a loud russling sound that was no hallucination. He quickly pulled out his gun and pointed it in the direction of the sound. From the bushes came a wimpering wild dog that had a horrible claw mark on its side. The wound squirt blood with every limping step,the dog was in horrible agony. Nikolai wasn't sure what to do,he had only seen dogs in books before and he didn't want to put this one down.

Nikolai put his hand out to touch the wimpering dog,and petted it on the head gently. The dog growled slightly,but was too weak to bite Nikolai. Seeing a puddle of blood form around it as it lay on the ground,and looking at its horribly infected wound,it was clear it was beyond help. Facing facts,Nikolai petted the dog a few more times before reluctently putting his gun to the dog's head.

But before Nikolai pulled the trigger,its ears stood up,and the dog struggled to get itself up. Figureing it couldn't know what he was about to do,the dog must be hearing something else approaching. Nikolai grabbed a branch off the ground and lit it with the campfire. With a torch in one hand,and a gun in the other,Nikolai waited for whatever came out.

The dog had limped almost completely away from the light of the fire when a massive set of claws came down on it. A sickening crunch was heard as its ribs shattered under the pressure. From the darkness came out the face of a snarling Yao Guai. Nikolai trembeled at the sight of the beast ripping the dog apart with its huge jaws. When the Yao Guai moved into the light with the front half of the dog hanging from its jaw,it revealed deep cuts and bullet wounds all over its body. The beast was almost as wounded as the dog,but it only added to the terror.

Nikolai started to empty an entire clip with little effect on the beast. It merely charged forward and tried to swipe its claws on Nikolai. If it had not been injured,then Nikolai might have died,but with its wounds hindering its movement Nikolai was just barely quick enough to doge its monsterous claws. In retaliation,Nikolai jabbed the torch into the beast's face. The Yao Guai gave out a roar of pain as the fire burnt the left side of its face.

Nikolai knew a single hit from its claws would easily kill him. His only option was to exploit it slugish movement,and hit it at every opprotunity. Nikolai quickly reloaded as the Yao Guai thrashed at its own face to put the fire out. When it reoriented itself,it went back hard on the offensive. Fueled by what could only be a torrent of rage,the Yao Guai swung its claws and snapped its jaws furiously at Nikolai,refusing to give Nikolai another opening.

The two continued this deadly dance for what seemed like an eternity. All the while drawing the fight farther and farther from the fire. As Nikolai's vision got worse in the darkness,the beast's only improved. Nikolai was losing control of the fight,and at this rate the Yao Guai would get a second kill tonight. It was now a waiting game of who made the first mistake.

When the bear made another attempt to bite,Nikolai gave two shots into its face. One of the shots must have hit their mark,as the bear backed off and retreated into the darkness. Nikolai knew that after all that it wasn't just going to walk away,but it was at an advantage now. Nikolai could only hear his labored breathing now,a bad sign. Its strike was iminent,but from where...

Suddenly he heard moving gravel behind him and threw the torch in its direction. The light reveiled a lumbering figure charging towards him,and Nikolai emptied everything left in his clip before it was upon him. The bullets hit all over its body,and one hit it on the front leg,causing it to stumble and fall before reaching Nikolai.

Nikolai made a horrible mistake and charged the beast with his knife. He stabbed it in the back of the neck before pulling the blade out,causing blood to splatter on the side of his face. But it was not a fatal wound,and the hulking beast stood on its hind legs and slashed at Nikolai chest. The blow was much weaker than it could have been,but it still caused him to stagger and feel incredible pain in his chest.

The two creatures both staggered around eachother,both in great pain and at the point of exhaustion. One was driven by murderous rage,the other by unparalled fear. The struggle had to end,and one of them had to die. Neither would be safe until then.

From the darkness came a quick intervention of a frag grenade rolling between the two. A voice yelled,"Jump now!!!!". A command Nikolai obediently followed,jumping away from the bear followed by an explosion. As the dust settled around him,Nikolai heard the wails of the mortally wounded Yao Guai. Its legs were brutally torn,and every sound it made caused blood to come from it mouth. The once fearsome demon creature,lay helpless and defeated.

A figure approached the dieing beast,and without hesitation,administered the killing shot to the head. The sound of the bullets ejection from the hunting rifle signaled the end of this struggle between man and beast,but offered the possibility of another struggle between fellow men.

As the figure approached Nikolai,it swung its rifle over its shoulder and pulled something from its pockets. The fire of a match revealed a woman lighting her cigarette before all that was left was the cigarette's faint glow. The woman took a long breath of her cigarette before saying,"Alright idiot,who are you,and what are you doing at our campsite?"


OOC: Good lord it took me an hour and a half,scratch that,three hours to do this damn post. It better have been worth it. I'm getting some sleep... :snoring:

James, Lisa, and Joseph had set off for the direction of the vault, North(?). James and Lisa had a few supplies, while Joseph had a huge almost man-sized bag across his shoulder. When they came to the Potomac river, they climbed a hill, dropped onto it, and looked over towards the river. They were about to get up and move to the river but Joseph motioned for them to stop. He spotted an Enclave post about 350 feet away by the river. An enclave officer was working at a desk while three soldiers were walking around the camp.

"Don't worry, I've fought a few off these guys before." He dropped the bag next to him and pulled out an atuomatic sniper rifle in perfect condition. James and Lisa stared at it. "Yep, stole this bad boy from Eulogy. Heard he paid 20,000 caps for it. Ain't got much ammo for it though, about 30 rounds."

Joseph cocked the rifle and took aim. First the officer, in the eye, then two soldiers in the necks. The third soldier tried to get to cover and find out where and who was firing at him. Joseph couldn't get a shot. The soldier through dumb luck had flipped the desk and hid behind it, blocking Joseph's shot, and finding out where they were. The soldier started firing off in their direction with his plasma rifle. Joseph backed away to partial safety.

Joseph pulled the gun down and looked at James. "Alright, your going to have to draw him out. Load up your assualt rifle with the ammo in my bag. Run to the right and flank him. I'll provide cover fire so you can get there. Don't shoot till your close. Hopefully once you get there he'll screw up and lift his head up from the cover of the desk and I can take a shot at him."

"Hopefully!?" James contested but realized it was hopeless as the person he was arguing with had a huge sniper rifle and perfect aim. James looked into his bag for .556 ammo. James grabbed some ammo and loaded his rifle, then turned to Lisa. "Alright, on the count of three, I'm going to run and distract the guy under the desk. I'll be back in a few minutes. Stay right here and don't lift your head up."

Lisa was scared. The constant shooting at them by a plasma rifle might have done that. She wanted him to stay, but he said he had to go. He stood up to a semi-crouch and ran to flank the soldier. Jospeh gave cover fire. James tumbled a few times, but the soldier didn't know who to fire at. James, or Joseph? James arrived 30 feet away from the desk, aligned with it so he could see the soldier perfectly. He held his chinese assualt rifle at his thighs and fired at the soldier. The soldier looked at James and started firing. The soldier was on his knees, with his head down, reloading when James ran out of ammo. James decided to rush him. As he rushed him, the soldier looked up at him and tried to move back but lost his balance, as he tried to regain it he brought his head up. James stopped rushing and backed away, when the man's head exploded. Blood covered James. He looked up at Joseph who gave him a thumbs up. Joseph and Lisa walked to the camp.

They searched the camp and found 12 stimpacks, 5 rad away, two cartons of cigarettes, two plasma rifles a plasma pistol, a combat shotgun, 2,000 caps (which Joseph explained to them what they were for) and a good number of ammunition. James wiped off the blood. He grabbed the plasma rifle, reloaded it and slung it over his shoulder. He grabbed the plasma pistol and did the same thing but gave it to Lisa. Joseph reloaded the rifle and put it back into his bag, preferring the combat shotgun. When they were finished they crossed the river and made for the vault.

"Okay, 1pm. That's it for today. If everyone is ready, then we shall head back to New Haven" Max said addressing the reunited Vault One-Ten dwellers...

He was so happy to see everyone, but he really hoped that they didn't mind the quarry. It wasn't anything special, but it really could be if they all tried hard enough...

Everyone had gathered together and swept most of the houses in the area taking everything that wasn't attached to the floor and loading it into almost unmoveable trolleys from the weight...

"Ok, let's roll out!" Max said, putting his goggles over his eyes and pulling his hood over his head. They all set out with a trolley loaded each, straining and pushing as they endured the desert sun directly overhead, beating down on them all.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the gates of New Haven...

Ashley had been waiting with Ryan for Max to come home and when he did he ran up to him shouting "Dad!" with an overly excited tone and ran giving him a hug. "Welcome to New Haven" Max said to the others as they opened the gate and stood looking down on all the huts, the large building, and the molerat spit roasting over a fire in the middle of the camp with Sarah standing in the doorway of the kitchen hut, wiping her hands clean with a rag...

She saw who had arrived and was so happy to see them all that she quickly dropped the rag and ran over calling their names and giving everyone hugs...

They were together again, but some of them were still out there and Max wouldn't rest until he got confirmation that the good people of his Vault weren't struggling to survive...

"Welcome Home..." Max said with a smile before turning round, locking the gate behind them and pushing his cart down the hill to the camp to unload...

Ryans heart leapt as he saw several other people coming towards the gates of New Haven. Ryan swung open the gate with a smile across his face.
"John! Harley! its so good to see you!" Ryan said as they endered the encampment.
"I can't believe Max's transmition worked! This is great!" Ryan said as he closed the gate and turned back to the newcomers.

When Max said, "Welcome to New Haven." Richard looked around the quarry and thought, "Well, this sure beats the [censored] holes we were sleeping in over the past couple of days, besides that house we found." After Sarah came and gave the group hugs, the duo decided to break off from the main group and sit down near the fire. Judith said, "Now, we have to figure out how we'll fit into this new society." Richard said, "There's always a need for a Pip-Boy technician, and I'm pretty sure we'll still need an archivist." Richard then asked Max, "Is there anything we can do to help?"

Max replied, "thank you for the offer. There is lots to do but anything you can do would be much appreciated. We are all working hard in any way we can to contribute to New Haven's development." Max then went to unpack his trolley of supplies...

Rihcard said, "Alright, let's get these things unpacked."The duo then started helping Max unpack the supplies off the trolley. As they were working Judith asked, "So, how'd you guys find this place anyway?"

I hate to bother you guys, but this RP is really intersting. I think I have a nominee for the RP awards.

OOC: thank you very much I really appreciate that but probably wouldn't stand up against the might of cold steel and uprising II. If you have read it from the beginning, you will see the characters lives and relationships have really been developed to a much higher standard than your average rp. It's like a tv series haha.

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"I stumbled across it looking for shelter from the slavers. If we manage to get some triggered spotlights and those who can fight take shifts at guarding the gate, as it's the only way in, I don't see why this wouldn't be a safe and perfect place to set up a thriving community, I mean we have plenty of space for development." Max went on with a very passionate tone in his voice, "I have commendered the office upstairs and have been making alot of plans for the future safety and well being of our little community and I will really need us all to pull together. Keeping spirits high is very important, even when times get rough, and believe me... They will get rough."

Max then shouted to everyone, "ok all, pick your hut, grab what you need and welcome yourself into your new homes! Don't be greedy now..." Max said with a smile...

OOC: I'm finding it hard to syncronize the time of our characters,all you guys in New Haven are at the time when Nikolai was thinking of shooting himself. Oh well,I'll just think up some event that should fix the problem for me. Until then prepare for a post from the future,ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

IC: Nikolai wasn't sure what to make of this woman. She did just save his life,but she wasn't exactly acting like someone not ready to shoot him. From the darkness a voice said,"The lady asked you a question. What are you doing here?" Two more figures came from the darkness behind the woman.

Things were looking risky to Nikolai. At this point they could just kill him and be done with it. He had to be very careful. "This place looked abandoned when I got here. Its the first shelter I found in days. I'll leave in the mor-". Before he could finish his sentence,someone hit him in the back of the head. The world was spinning,and soon everything went black.

It was morning when Nikolai regained consicnence. The Yao Guai from last night was roasting in a fire,and the people from last night were eating some freashly cooked Yao Guai meat. Nikolai looked around and noticed they tied his hands behind his back,and tied the rest of the rope to a steel pillar sticking out of the ground.

As he struggled to get out,Nikolai felt excruciating pain in his chest. He looked down and saw blood oozing from the tears in his body armor. The claws must have penetrated the security uniform when the bear swiped at him last night. The wound was serious,and it was left unattended all night,if it got infected he was a dead man.

The woman from last night heard Nikolai struggling with his restraints and made her way to where they tied him up. She was smoking another cigarette,as she looked at Nikolai. With a smirk on her face she flicked her cigarette at Nikolai's feet and said,"I got to say,for someone who has the balls to fight a Yao Guai with the [censored] weapons you have,you really know how to go down like a little [censored]."

Steven stood a bit back from the crowd. On their way to New Haven, Steven thought about what had happened. His break down had taken a toll on Jessica. He knew it, because she wasn't at the gate when they arrived. Steven walked around to find her, and went to the last place he saw her, the power control room. An envelope lay on the floor, with "Steven" hand-written neatly. Steven stepped over to it and picked it up. The envelope wasn't sealed, and the letter slid out with ease.

Dear Steven,

I don't know what is left for me. My parents died in the vault, and that raider frightened me terribly. Every time I shut my eyes, I see his evil smile. The feeling of his dirt covered fingers all over me won't go away, I remember his every move. Then you came along. Took what he didn't deserve. But I fear now, for you can take others lives and do it without a second thought. Your pistol sits hot in your pocket and you have no fear of pulling it out at the first sign of trouble. I'm scared that you might hurt someone at New Haven, but I'm especially scared that you might hurt me. I am leaving New Haven, don't try to find me. By the time you read this, I will be gone.

Love,
Jessica.

Tears welled up in Steven's eyes. How could she be scared of him? He realized that she was right. Anything he had killed died without mourn. He felt blind rage when that pistol sat in his hand. That sweet, sweet smell of gunpowder.....no. He was done. Killing was for food only. The pistol shifted from it position in his waist band, poking him. He reached a hand behind him. The pistol grip was warm from the sun, and burned his hand as he gripped the black steel. He raised it in front of his face. This machine had hurt people. What happened? He fought honorably in the vault, but picked up the tool of pain and destroyed. He cast the pistol aside, making a clatter. Steven walked over to a cabinet, with a padlock for a bolt. He punched it. He punched it again. Again and again, until his fists bled. The lock tab sheared off as the steel bent, and the doors swung open. Inside lay a Kevlar vest, and an AK-47 rifle, including over 100 rounds. Steven donned the armor and filled its pouches with clips for the gun, which he slung behind him. He looked at his reflection in a mirror in the back of the cabinet. He had tanned. His face changed too. He was a cheerful kid back in the vault, but now he looked like a sleep-deprived hungry man with a face of stone. He turned and walked out of the compound. The fence gate was shut, but Steven just booted it as hard as he could, making a noise as loud as gun shots. People watched him as he walked out of the gate, rifle in hand.

He barley got thirty feet before stopping. He turned and started walking back. Before he said a word, he stepped into the garage. Steven walked to the motorcycle. He pulled off the panel and replaced the parts that needed it. He replaced the panel with a metallic click. Steven almost left before he heard a small voice. "Steven?" He turned around and saw Ashley standing in the doorway, clutching the teddy Max brought for him. Steven smiled at his brother. "Where are you going?" Ashley asked, tears lining his eyes. Steven sighed.

"I'm going away. Not forever, but for a while."

"Why?"

"I need to find my friend" Steven said. He walked over to his little brother who stood in tears, and gave him a hug. Steven stood back up and tussled the young boy's hair. He walked back to the bench and took a gasoline can off it, filling the bike. Steven mounted it, and kicked the pedal down, making the bike roar to life. Steven rode the bike out slowly, stopping at the gate.'

OOC: I hope you don't mind my short control of Ashley, strive2b

Harley and Kate pushed their cart of gear, following Max with the rest of the reunited Vaulters. It was hard pushing the loaded cart through the dirt, even with Harley and Kate pushing together. The shopping cart's wheels were pretty jammed up. After a while they realized it would probably be a lot easier if one of them pulled from the front while the other pushed from behind. Harley went to the front of the cart and pulled it over the dirt and rocks as Kate pushed from behind.

After a bit of pushing the heavy carts, the group had reached their new home. It was called 'New Haven'. As they walked toward the gates they saw Ryan and Ashley.

Kate and Harley both yelled and waved when they saw Ryan and Ashley "Hey guys!" and Kate thought it might be a good time for a joke, or what she thought was a joke "We just got lost on the way to the shops!"

It was good to see even more friendly faces. Max opened the gates to reveal their new home, New Haven.

Harley and Kate looked at the huts and a building, it was quite an impressive place. It wasn't long before they spotted Sarah running towards the group and giving everyone hugs. Everyone started talking about how great it was to be together again while pushing the carts down the hill, making their way down to a camp area.

They could see there would be a lot of fun times had around the camp fire in the future. Harley and Kate stood near the fire and smiled at each other, then hugged for about five minutes. It was a very happy moment, they are now with most of their friends, more like family, but they were together again.

Harley looked at all the faces, just taking it all in. He then patted Kate on the shoulder, motioning for them to unload their gear in a hut and they pushed the cart to one. They weren't bad looking huts from the outside, they opened the door, went inside and dragged the cart inside after them and closed the door.

They then started to unpack their things into their new home.

Richard and Judith picked a hut and went inside. Once inside, they looked around and noted that there was a decent amount of space, a lot more than was needed to hold their stuff. The duo placed their books on a makeshift bookshelf and left their heavier weapons leaning up against the wall. Richard said, "We should give Max some of these books, they'll probably help with the long term survival of this community, but first..." Richard then went outside and said to Max, This holodisk I'm holding contains the entire Vault archive, do you have any terminals I could plug this in to." At that moment, Richard heard the sound of a motorcycle revving up and turned to see what appeared to be Steven driving off with a motorcycle. He then asked Max, "Do you have any idea where he's going? It appears that he may not be coming back for some time."

Days had passed since Caine's initiation into Talon Company, and he'd been on 5 missions since then. Each mission had taught Caine something about himself, and about life in the Wasteland. Indeed it was a harsh and uncompromising world, but it was one Caine fit in with just fine. For his seemingly unquestioning loyalty to Commander Jabsco and the Company along with his high mission completion rate, he'd been promoted to the less-expendable rank of Sergeant. He was given command of 3 fresh-faced recruits much like himself a few days prior, and today was their first mission.

Mainly the mission entailed the reconnaissance of some potential targets and clients to the northeast. Caine couldn't help but wonder if it had to do with some of the other surviving vault escapees, but that was unlikely. The others were soft, not like Caine. They were most likely rotting corpses by now.

Caine immediately walked into the recreation area to find his men playing pool, apparently oblivious to the fact that their mission was today. He took a pool cue and wrapped each one of them on the back of the head, finding it the most desirable way to get their attention. "Alright grunts, double-time to the armory and get your gear. We have a top secret mission handed down from Jabs himself. I suggest you don't make me ask again."

The three young men were each roughly Caine's age but he had them tightly pressed under his thumb thanks to a healthy amount of cruelty and respect. He followed them into the armory and grabbed a weapon he'd grown to favor during his time with the Company, a custom built M4 Carbine assault rifle fully loaded with a laser sight and 4x magnified scope. He also grabbed four clips and stuffed them into his satchel, grabbing a M1911 .45 caliber handgun and holstering just in case.

Each man in Caine's squad had a position to fill, and they were as follows:

Smitty was an explosives expert. The guy could take out entire battalions with a well placed plasma grenade.

Purcell was a sniper, the lone wolf type. He'd saved the rest of the squads lives enough time to earn Caine's respect thanks to his Barrett .50 cal.

And finally Smoke, a heavy weapons expert that didn't take [censored] from anybody, except for Caine that is. The man slept with a minigun by his side. Enough said.

After the squad was sufficiently geared up they grabbed some MRE's from the cafeteria since the objective was apparently pretty far from Fort Bannister. "Oh joy." Caine thought. He'd get to meet more of the Wastelands colorful inhabitants on this trip.

Caine approached the sniper guarding the gate and gave him the signal to open it, stepping through with his men and taking a long look at the endless field of dull gray and brown in front of him. "Right, keep up with me or I shoot you in the knee caps and make you do winds sprints for the rest of the day." That's all the motivation the men needed before sprinting after their hardcase leader, weapons in hand.

James, Lisa and Joseph had been walking north for 20 minutes when they came across a destroyed pre-war city. They came across an old office building which was in pretty good shape. They decided to stay the night in it. Lisa collected books and papers to make a fire, James counted the supplies they had and Joseph cleaned the guns and blocked off all the doors leading into the lobby by using desks filing cabinets.. When they were tired they went to bed next to the fire. Joseph stayed up a little later then the others but soon followed.

"James, get up." James woke up to see Jospeh right on top of him.

"What?" James asked, a little frustrated of being woken up.

"I think this office isn't totally empty of life besides us." Noises could be heard farther into the building. "I'll check it out."

Joseph lifted his giant body up off the floor next to James and moved one of the boards that was blocking a door into the building. He poked his head in and looked around. "Nope, nothing." He started walking back to the camp when James noticed something in between the gap he had made.

"Wha- wha- wha- the hell is that!!!!???" James pointed to the creature trying to get through, whispering so it wouldn't notice them.

Joseph lstopped and looked around. "Super mutant!" He ran back to the fire. "We gotta get out of here! Grab all the equipment!" By this time the mutant saw the group and alerted his companions. Lisa woke up and started helping James and Jospeh gather their belongings.

The mutants were trying to get through the barriers. The original one was half way through and could get his arms through and shoot. The group had all of their stuff and made for the exit. Joseph was in the back of the group, moving slow. The mutant shot at him with his laser rifle. Most of the shots missed, but the last shot hit him in his left shoulder. He dropped his bag. Lisa was out the door and James heard Joseph grunt in pain. Jospeh ripped open the bag and grabbed the sniper rifle, leaving the rest. He caught up to James and they ran out. They caught up to Lisa, who was about 20 feet away. They stopped to catch their breath.

"We... have to... get farther way..." James looked at Joseph's bloody shoulder. He looked at the building and mutants strated to crawl out. "[censored]. Lisa get back. Joseph, we have to fight." He threw a chinese assault rifle at him. He caught it with his right arm. Lisa ran behind a building, and James and Joseph hid behin a dumpster and started firing at the mutants.

They were runing low on ammo, most of it was in the office. Five super mutants were firing at them in front of the office. They decided to launch a last resort offense. They ran out of cover and fired at the mutants. One down, two down, three down, four down, five down in a matter of seconds. All the mutants had died. James looked at Joseph, confused. Lisa walked to them

"We did that?" He asked.

"No, we did." James looked at the direction of the voices. Four BoS knights walked out from behind the side of a building, towards James and the group. The leader walked out in front. " I am knight comander Jasmin. What are you doing here, watelanders?" She looked at Joseph's sniper rifle.

"We were ambushed. My friend Joseph here needs medical attention." James looked at Joseph.

"Alright, you can come with us then." One of the knights looked at Joseph's arm while they waited. A verti-bird landed and they all got in. (They have verti-birds right?)

"Where we headed?" Lisa asked.

"The Citadel." Jasmin responded.

(OOC: How does anyone even know about New Haven and where it is apart from the people who are actually there?)


IC:

Harley and Kate unpacked all their gear into their hut. There was a bed frame, a couch, a small table and a shelf in the hut, luckily they had brought their own mattress. They lay the mattress on the bed frame and threw the pillows and blankets over the bed.

Harley lifted their backpack out of the shopping cart and dropped it onto the floor, setting all the food they had aside to take to the kitchen.

After a while their hut was set up. They had put the toolbox on the floor in front of the shelf, and removed everything from it except from the tools and put everything on the shelves, including their PIP-boys, a few .32 pistols and all the ammo.

Kate dashed out of the hut with all the food they had brought and took it to the group's kitchen, returned to their hut and they finished off setting up and rearranging the furniture, just to make a bit more space.

OOC: No one in the wasteland knows specifically of it's location as no one knows we have taken it over. People can roughly find it if they knew what direction the rest of the vault dwellers ran in.

OK SO WE ARE NEARING THE END! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Real life stuff! Bleh... Anyways by no means think that this is coming to an end because we still have a long way to go and plenty of tricks up my sleeve

SO! I am putting this here to let everyone know that i will be launching Part 3 soon, so stay tuned...

I will make an update, i am planning on trying to include a basic layout of New Haven so everyone can visualise a bit better...

:D

Richard looked at Max and noticed he seemed to be in a state of shock at Steven's departure. Richard yelled, "Max, are you alright? Max!"

To Be Continued...

Ooooh the tension and suspense! dun dun... dun dun... dun dun dun dun dun dun dundundundundundundundundundundun...

Part 3 Coming Soon...