Super Mutants. This was going to be trouble. My companions back at the vault had warned me about the Supers - warned me to avoid them if I could, and to run away if I couldn't. The way they told it, the big bastards were strong, fast, completely ruthless, and had a strong appreciation for the taste of human flesh. And after seeing the way they'd turned the West Everett water tower into a larder, I could see that those stories were accurate. 

 

I knew that I'd have to approach the area carefully. With the power suit I was sure I had the mobility to outrun the big Supers, but I didn't have the firepower I'd need to put them down. This whole exercise was going to have to focus on stealth. Get in, find the Workshop, pull out the card, and get out. The first part wasn't too difficult - I had an unobserved path to the wall of rusted out cars on the perimeter of the development, but as I drew close I could hear snarling and growling that alerted me to another problem: dogs.

 

I'd felt bad shooting the raiders' dog back at their camp, and I'd wished I could have scared it away, but these snarls were deeper and more vicious, and I wondered what sort of dogs Super Mutants would keep as pets. Fortunately, one of the features of the power suit was that it hid my scent, and I hoped that would give me an edge over less well equipped prowlers.

 

 

"Someone there?? I can hear you!"

 

Yeah, that fell apart pretty fast. In the end it wasn't the dogs that found me out - it was one of the Supers. I pulled into a hidden spot amongst the cars and tried to keep still, but I could hear the sounds of movement within West Everett and more voices. Compared to skulking past bugs or raiders, this was going to be a new level of challenge. 

 

Fortunately, the Supers' search was rather half-hearted, and I was able to pull back slowly until I was back at the tree line. Giving up on moving around the wall, I followed the lake shore north, looking for a better angle to enter the development from. Unfortunately, that just walked me right into their trap. The Supers were organized, and when they'd detected me they'd put out patrols - just not noisy, obvious ones, and just as I got ready to slip through a chain link fence I heard growls and gunshots. Pairs of hulking Super Mutants and absolutely terrifying giant dogs were closing in on me from both sides. One of the dogs charged me, and it took two blasts from my shotgun to drop it. I gasped as the power suit stopped a rifle round that struck my thigh, and I set off running away from the development with the Supers in hot pursuit.

 

Another bullet caught me low in the back, right in the kidney, and once again the suit managed to stop it from penetrating me. Still, a flare of pain rolled through my body and I staggered, nearly falling.

 

!! ALERT !! Gunshot wound detected

Administering Stim-Pak™

Administering Cyklokapron®

!! WARNING !! Lidocaine reservoir at 0% Unable to administer local anesthetic

Med-X™ reservoir at 15%

!! CAUTION !! Opioids are habit-forming. Administer Med-X™? [Yes] [No]

 

The drugs sloshed into my colon even before I could make a decision on the last question, and the stimulants quickly cleared the fog and panic from my brain. It also made the strike to my kidney ache even worse... but I was, so to speak, old enough to remember what a problem opioids like Med-X had caused in the old world, and I let my eyes linger on 'no.' I wasn't going to use that crap unless I really had to.

 

Looking around, I realized that my headlong retreat had taken me into some sort of industrial park. I was crouched low under a huge fan assembly, with a drainage ditch behind me and a rusty wall blocking me in on one side. The sounds of pursuit seemed to have faded, but I'd learned my lesson from the first time the Supers 'gave up' and moved to escape with great care and stealth. 

 

 

My Geiger counter went off a few times as I worked through the complex, and I realized that the Rad-X I'd taken earlier had probably worn off. I had more of it stored in the medical system, but since I was probably going to have to cross the river again, I decided to save it for later and just carefully watched the dosimeter to make sure I wasn't soaking up too many rads. At the same time, I realized that my decision to take the sneaky approach was justified, as I saw one of the mutant hounds prowling through a different section of the park, sniffing around. I got into cover quickly, keeping quiet and out of sight.

 

While I waited, I found my mind drifting back to the close encounter I'd had before. I realized that the Supers hadn't starting shooting in earnest until I slipped out of their pincer move. Had they planned to capture me? I knew that the Supers had a reputation for cannibalism, but I wondered if they had anything else in mind. Absent-mindedly, I imagined the mutants pushing me to the ground and having their way with me. Though, probably for the best, I realized it wouldn't be very easy for them to remove the plugs, a state of affairs that would probably keep me safe from any unwanted intrusion. 

 

In fact, I wondered, could I even remove the plugs without taking off the whole suit? They seemed to be somewhat held in place by the pelvic guard, but at the same time the ends of them were clearly accessible. Why make it so I could engage or disengage their connection to the suit when there wasn't a way to take them out? Maybe, I guessed, it was just a failsafe in case the medical system got contaminated to prevent dangerous substances from accidentally getting injected. But still, I made a note to find out later about whether or not I could completely remove the plugs while I was suited up.

 

 

After spending about an hour hiding out and ruminating on the mechanics of Super Mutant molestation, I decided to make one last attempt at getting to the Workshop. Swinging around to the east of town, I found some wooded high ground to survey the site from. 

 

All that led to was an extended, running gunfight with a pair of Super Mutant guards. Using a shot of the biofuel, I managed to dash in and gun down one of them, but the second Super - fortunately armed only with a wooden board - chased me relentlessly while the biofuel injector refilled. While he might have been poorly armed, he was clad in a suit of armor that appeared to be fashioned out of scrap metal, and my guns weren't doing much to him. I switched to my sidearm, emptying it into him, and succeeded only using up my precious 10mm ammunition. Finally, after what felt like an hour of running and shooting, I managed to blast him in the face.

 

Blinded, the Super reeled back and gave me a chance to get in close, unloading right into his mouth. Then, finally, he lay still. 

 

 

Hearing shouts and crashing foliage getting closer and closer, I finally gave up on raiding West Everett. With the Super Mutants so deeply entrenched, I wasn't going to be able to do anything here until I had more firepower and more numbers. Even with the power suit, I just couldn't handle so many power and organized enemies on my own. 

 

And then, I had the strangest turn of luck. Breaking out of a particularly dense stand of trees and shrubbery, with a number of Supers hot on my tail, I burst into a very familiar looking back yard. It seemed that in my headlong flight from the Supers, I'd actually gone in a wide circle and ended up back at West Everett Estates. I knew I must be on the east side of town, and so if the Supers were all behind me, I'd have one chance to run through the town and maybe salvage this clusterfuck.

 

 

The Supers weren't complete idiots, and there was at least one of them left behind. Accepting that my shotgun wasn't the right tool for taking him down, I retrieved one of the small and more or less irreplaceable supply of hand grenades I'd retrieved from the Air Force base. 

 

I pumped in my final does of diluted biofuel, dashed around the corner, and gave him a facefull of buckshot - a distraction as I quickly triggered and threw both grenades at him, bracketing him. He'd just finished reflexively clutching his face when the grenades exploded, blowing him to bits. Even before the biofuel-induced blur had faded, I started ransacking anything that looked even remotely construction-related for clues about the Workshop's location.

 

I was able to find ample evidence of the Supers' cannibalism, but I was having no luck in my search for the Workshop and I was starting to get anxious. The rest of the Supers couldn't be far behind, especially after the explosions from the grenades. Rubbing my slightly distended and grumbly belly, I wracked my brain trying to figure out where I'd failed to look.

 

 

And then... I found it. The remains of the Workshop, that is. It was rusted over and taken apart, its inner parts long since exposed to the elements and ruined. I really wanted to start screaming right there, and I was about to. I had literally taken a long inhale and got ready to let loose, when I saw a glow from within one of the houses. The glow of an active computer terminal. I slipped inside, dodging a makeshift pressure plate someone had rigged with a bathroom scale, and took a look at the computer. 

 

Unlike the trashed Workshop, the terminal was in pretty good shape. Some paint had chipped off in places, but nothing was actually broken on the outside, and the fact that it was literally turned on and waiting for input confirmed that the guts were working too... and it was still getting power. I tried to bring up a directory of the contents, but the damn thing was password-protected. I wished I'd had Winter there and enough time for her to work her magic. I remembered, though, the warnings from my orientation session before the war about information protection. A recurring theme was that people kept doing dumb things like writing down their password and leaving it in their desk drawer, and that sort of carelessness led to millions of dollars of losses for companies every year. 

 

 

So I checked the drawers. I didn't find a negligently stashed password, but I did, in the bottom drawer of the desk, find a collection of circuit boards and other electronic parts. Some of them even had RobCo branding. I knew I didn't have time to be picky - I scooped up all the cards and started making my escape. Just in time, too, as my pursuers were entering the development and starting to fan out in a search pattern. They shouted and pointed and took pot shots, but at a flat run I easily outpaced them and ran for the shore, even as I triggered my last does of Rad-X and felt it pump into me. 

 

Then I screeched to a halt just before I broke out of the settlement. I saw a prisoner - a live prisoner. The woman was tied to a post and partially undressed, but she was very much alive. 

 

"Help me!" she cried out.

 

 

I didn't waste time screwing around. I used the full strength of the suit to tear apart the ropes binding her wrists even as she shrieked, then I dragged her behind me. When she couldn't keep up, I hauled her over my shoulder in a fireman's carry and tried to press on as fast as I could.

 

Unhelpfully, the helmet monitor flashed a warning.

 

!! CAUTION !! Excess cardiovascular stress detected. Administering treatment.

!! ALERT !! Buffout™ reservoir at 0%

!! ALERT !! Erythropoietin reservoir at 0%

!! ALERT !! Propranalol reservoir at 0%

!! WARNING !! Unable to administer endurance enhancement. Medical stores critically low.

!! WARNING !! Excess cardiovascular stress detected. Cease strenuous activity at earliest safe opportunity.

 

As the waterline got closer, I whispered to the woman, "sorry, babe, you're going to catch some rads. Hold your breath and try not to swallow any water," and then I dove into the Malden River. Mutant or not, the Supers seemed unwilling to follow, and once we were over a rolling hill to the west I set down the woman and tried to catch my breath before my heart exploded. 

 

The woman took half a minute choking, sputtering, and crying before looking at me with wide eyes. "You saved me... thank you... I'm Tracey."

 

"I'm Charley," I said, "and you're welcome. How did you end up in there?"

 

 

"They raided my settlement about a month ago, rounded up almost everyone. I think I must have been the last one, or close to it. They've been... eating us for weeks." Then she added, "ugh... what am I going to do? I've lost everything."

 

I couldn't help but notice that her jumpsuit was in Vault-Tec colors. "What's your connection to the vaults?" I asked, pointing at the gold piping around her neckline.

 

"Been down to 81 a few times, I got this in trade for some power regulators. And you? That's a pretty fancy getup you have."

 

"Ah, yeah, I'm with Vault 111," I said. "81? I don't think I've had any contact with them. Where are they at?"

 

"Just west of Boston," she explained, "nice bunch if you have something they want. One-Eleven, huh? I've never heard of them."

 

"We just opened up recently. So... power regulators? Are you a trader?"

 

"No," she said with a shake of her head, "just a mechanic. I came along with a caravan to make sure the parts got installed right. Now I kind of wished I'd stayed. I don't think there's anything left back home after the Supers hit 'em."

 

And then my charitable attitude got the better of me. "Want to work with me? I'm trying to set up a new settlement west of here."

 

"Vault folks?" she asked.

 

"Um, kind of. It's a long story. But we're also looking for skilled settlers to help us get up and running, and a mechanic sounds like just the sort of person we could use."

 

"Okay... but what's the catch? If I don't like it, can I leave?"

 

"Sure," I agreed, "no catch. Come and go as you want, though I'd expect you to do your fair share if you want access to food and water rations. If you're going to just be in and out you'd need to arrange for your own supplies. Speaking of supplies, I'll get you set up with vault gear and I can fabricate most tools and equipment you'd need. Does that sound good?"

 

She looked at me cautiously. "I... don't know. I'm sorry, Charley, I want to trust you but it sounds too good to be true."

 

"That's fine," I said, "you want to take a look at my map?" I moved my wrist so she could see the screen of my Pip-Boy, "how about we figure out the safest path for you to get to Boston."

 

She gasped a little when she saw the Pip-Boy, evidently not having noticed it before. "Holy shit," she whispered, "you really are from a vault."

 

I nodded slowly, "yup."

 

"Can I reconsider, Charley?"

 

"Yup."

 

She paused again, then seemed to center herself and met my eyes. "Show me the way, Charley, I'll give your settlement a fair shot."

 

We didn't talk too much on the walk back. Once the rush of liberation wore off, Tracey became quiet, introspective, and I didn't want to prod at fresh wounds. We got into town at dusk, and I took Tracey down to my house and encouraged her to take a shower before getting to bed. I figured she needed a good night's rest more than anything else at the moment. Before I retired myself, I checked in with Codsworth and he confirmed that the other two had made it to town and that they were resting in Winter's house at the moment.

 

I woke up early and checked the Workshop to see if I was right about a hunch I had. Just as I suspected, I confirmed that the Vault-Tec Proprietary catalogue was now accessible on the Rosas' Workstation. Evidently, Winter had been successful with her hacking efforts. I took a moment to fabricate a vault suit and Neural Sentry, then went back to my house to prepare some breakfast. When Tracey woke, I offered her the stack of clothes and asked her to get dressed. She was about half way into her suit when she paused.

 

"Um, Charley... I think you forgot to make the underwear."

 

I smiled underneath my helmet as I pushed a piece of jerky into the food processor set into my air filter.

 

"That's the standard issue vault suit," I said, "it doesn't come with any other parts. Need any help getting it adjusted?"

 

She blushed visibly, hesitating. "Charley... I'm not pretty like you are. I... this is embarrassing."

 

"Come on, trust me Tracey. First, you look fine. Second, the Neural Sentry doesn't work right if you aren't wearing the vault suit. And in the community we're building here, we don't need status symbols like fancy outfits."

 

She still looked hesitant, but resumed putting on the suit.

 

"Are you sure, Charley? I don't have skinny thighs or a tiny waist like you. I don't think anyone wants to see me all exposed like this."

 

I considered her. She did have a fuller figure than those two skinny traders I'd recruited, but it suited her and her meaty thighs came together smoothly with her clean-shaven pubic mound in an eye catching way.

 

We talked a bit more about how everyone used the vault suits here and about the health benefits of the built-in sensors, as well as how the Neural Sentry worked. Indeed, I had to wonder if the Sentry was already doing its job, because she seemed to get more and more comfortable with the suit as we spoke. Was it already chipping away at her inhibitions? I'd like to believe that it was all my powers of persuasion, but I had a suspicion there was more to it.

 

Finally, she pulled on her gloves and turned around fully so I could see her front and back.

 

"What do you think, Charley?" she asked quietly, still struggling to meet my gaze.

 

"I think its a perfect fit. Come on, let's meet the others."

 

 

I led her to the back yard of Winter's house, where I'd heard her and who I assumed were my other recruits talking. We turned into back yard to hear an ongoing discussion about improving the food supply when I felt Tracy grab my arm and start to melt into my back.

 

"You said... they all... eee."

 

Right about then, I saw the latex skirt and I groaned. The white-haired woman was dressed the way I wanted her, but not her companion. She'd customized her vault gear with a cute looking miniskirt and top. I couldn't fault her taste, but this was exactly the wrong thing I wanted Tracey to see right after I convinced her to bare herself for these introductions.

 

 

"You said everyone just wore the vault suit," Tracey whispered, "so why does she get to wear more?"

 

I glanced over to Winter with what I hoped was a clearly-transmitted, if unspoken, question. Winter shrugged in response.

 

"Sorry, boss," she said, "I would have talked to you first, but you were away."

 

"Bring me up to speed," I suggested.

 

"Well, these two," she pointed at the white haired woman first, then her quiet - and covered up - companion, "Scout and Lonnie, are a package deal."

 

"Call me London," Lonnie said, pronouncing it 'lawn-dawn', "Lonnie Donahue."

 

"London it is," I agreed. "And you, Scout, you a Donahue also?"

 

"Yeah," she confirmed, "She's my half sister, same dad."

 

I nodded, "I see it in your figure. He must have been a wiry guy."

 

London laughed at that, "yeah, he was something else. I really need to go see him some time."

 

"Anyway," Winter continued, pulling the conversation back on track, "London feels shy about the vault suit. She was ready to move on, and Scout wasn't going to stay without her, so we made a deal."

 

"Oh?" I asked.

 

"For the privilege of breaking the dress code, London's going to take on extra duties until she can start trading, and after that she'll supply a percentage of her profits to the settlement to help with maintenance and improvements."

 

"OK," I admitted, "that's not unreasonable."

 

"That's not it either," Winter said with a bit of a smirk, "Since Scout provided the leverage to get her sister an exception, she doesn't get a pass on the dress code, and since she won't be covering up, I get to groom her and bleach her cute little bush to match her hair do."

 

As this exchange played out, I could feel Tracey clinging less tightly. I wondered if the fact that no one was making a big deal out of her nudity was starting to take the edge off. I looked over to her.

 

"What about you, Tracey? To be honest, I wasn't going to allow any dress code exceptions. I didn't really want the risk of having divisions within the settlement, even dumb stuff like fashion. But Winter made a deal with the Donahues, so it wouldn't be fair for me to deny you. Do you want to buy the privilege of breaking the dress code?"

 

She thought about that for a while, then she looked at Winter. "You're Winter, right? Charley's right-hand lady? What do you think?"

 

Winter herself seemed to pause for a moment, maybe formulating her words, then she rubbed her bicep a little and straightened back up.

 

 

"When my family moved in with Charley, we all thought she was a little crazy. But I've come to think of her more in terms of being eccentric now. She has some ideas that are new and different, but she means well. And honestly, once I got used to basically being naked all the time, I kind of started to like it. It's a little different for Charley - she actually experiences pain when she wears clothes... long story for a different time... but there's something to being able to move my body the way its designed to move."

 

Tracey got a little more clingy for a moment, then she backed off from me.

 

"Charley, you rescued me and I think I owe you a fair shake. I'll try things your way, but if I don't like it, I'm still free to leave, right?"

 

I nodded, "you got it. Thank you for giving me a chance to show you a new way of doing things. By the way, Tracey, you got a last name?"

 

"Johnson," she said. "Tracey Johnson."

 

"Well, Tracey, welcome to the settlement."

 

Before I could elaborate, Winter came over and wrapped her in a hug. "Yes, Welcome," she said, then added in a whisper, "by the way, one of the best parts about the suits is how good hugs feel. Skin to skin is soooo nice."

 

Tracey blushed a little, but pulled Winter in tighter and cuddled her for a good fifteen or twenty seconds.

 

When they released, she looked to me with newfound confidence. "OK, boss," she said, copying the way Winter had addressed me, "where do I get set up?"

 

For the moment, I directed her to the Rosas' carport to take inventory of their tools and equipment and to draw up a list to what she might need. As she set on that task, I looked back to Winter.

 

She anticipated the turn in the conversation and said, "so, did you find it?"

 

I produced stack of circuit boards and offered them to Winter. "I hope so. The Workshop was trashed, but someone had pulled out some of the parts and stockpiled them. Can you take a look at these?"

 

Reaching into the stack, she pulled out one circuit board in particular and showed it to me. "See these," she said, pointing to gold-plated teeth on one side, "and this?" she pointed to a part number that, on closer examination, I saw had a hyphenated segment that said 'DRMC'. "This is the controller card. Now we just have to find out if it works."