29 Power Armor.

[Absolutely not!]

Instant rejection.

The Mr. Handy on the ground was strong in his refusal.

'Well, I wasn't expecting this, Maybe it has something to do with its programming?...'

Might as well try and clarify the reason.

"Why not? You're clearly not needed here..."

[I apologize Mr. Robber but I was programmed to maintain this facility. I cannot leave even if your earlier claim is true.]

So that was the case after all…

"I see. But you're mistaken, We are not robbers."

[You most certainly are. You came charging out of nowhere attacking us.]

I felt my eyebrow twitch.

'Then why was your name red?'

"Wait a minute…. So you're telling me that if I just showed up and acted peacefully you would have greeted us with a cheery personality?"

The bot and I just stared at each other for a few moments.

[Well... No…. I most certainly would have attacked you.]

"Then why…"

"Sigh"

"You know what? It doesn't matter."

Turning to my companion, I gestured to Mr.Handy.

"You can tell him why we are here."

Marcus who was spectating us for the last minute or so… Looked towards me for a moment, he nodded and spoke up.

"We came to get something that I previously left here about 18 or 19 years ago. I brought a suit of T-60 Power Armor to this shop, unfortunately, due to uncontrollable events, I was forced to leave it here.… I haven't been able to come and get it back with all the mutated animals roaming around. But now after so long… I've come for it."

Mr. Handy examined Marcus closer. Its little camera eye began focusing and unfocusing.

[You said T-60 Power Armor?]

"Yes. My name is Marcus Deburgy. Do you have any informat-"

[My, how wonderful!]

The little machine seemed to be consumed by excitement and euphoria as its jet thruster shot out flames and it lively bobbed up and down in the air.

[I've been waiting for the customers to return their things! And here you are! The first customer in over 19 years. Oh my! That reminds me! Please accept my sincerest apologies, I mistook you for robbers….. NOTE: General.atomics.may.not.be.held.responsible.]

[Yes, your T-60 class power armor has been kept safe and sound in a secure storage area on the other side of the building.]

I think I heard something very suspicious in there. Well, it's not really all that important.

[I will go and inform the manager of your arrival…. Ah… But remembering the information I learned earlier he may not be feeling so well… Oh! I know! I will just go and get the key!]

With that, the floating three eyed ball of metal turned around and sped off into the other direction….

Well, that was…. A peculiar situation…. Definitely not how I expected things to unfold that's for sure.

"What do you think we should do about the feral ghouls?"

I was broken out of my thoughts when Marcus proposed the question…

What should we do? Mr. Handy is bringing us the key so there's no longer any need to move forward…. But they could also be a source of Experience…. Not that I can't get more later…. But it would be for the best to get as much as I can right?

That's not really why he's asking me though… He doesn't know anything about Exp, He just wants to put them to rest, How should we go about doing that… I have no problems with putting them out of their misery… But we might not actually get that chance... Let's just see how things play out.

"If the Handy Bot is alright with it, we can kill them….. But if it isn't, we must leave. It would kill you if it self-destructed.

He said nothing and just nodded.

"By the way… How are your injuries? Did the Stimpack heal you?"

"Yes, I pulled out the nails that were shot at me and used one right after killing the second Protectron. All that's left is a dull ache."

"Good"

'These guys are unsurprisingly fragile…. It's to be expected… Their flesh and blood after all. Bullet to the brain and that's it… Unless you're really lucky. I'm also made of flesh and blood but it isn't really fair to compare me to them. My flesh is pretty weak right now but when I'm an adult and my Strong Hide trait levels up some more, My skin will be deflecting bullets. Their skin on the other hand… Although it can thicken with enough training… It never really grows stronger… It's something so weak it can be cut by paper.'

'Though I can't forget…. It's because of that weakness that they could grow so strong… Power Armor, advanced weaponry, Nuclear bombs that destroyed the world…. Because they didn't have strong claws or sharp fangs they had to augment themselves… They even created a serum capable of forceful evolution… Forcing something to evolve hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of years ahead of time… I'm pretty sure their FEV had a part in creating the Deathclaw…. If only they truly perfected it I wonder what would have come out. I wonder how it would have affected humans? Besides the radiation infected ones that turned into Super Mutants.

[I've returned!]

My straying thoughts were cut off as the hovering robot came flying through a doorway.

[I've got the keys for the storage room. Mr. manager was a bit grumpy but I managed to convince him to hand it over. We shall get you that power armor of yours right away…. Follow me, good sirs!]

Before either I or Marcus could respond Mr. Handy was already out of sight going in the direction we originally came from.

"A lot of time was saved… Let's just follow."

Backtracking through the facility and a few minutes later we found ourselves again in front of the sealed rooms.

[Here we are! After 19 years the customer has finally shown up! What's more!?]

*Piiiiii*

Confetti exploded out of who knows where as cheerful music started playing in the background.

[Congratulations! You are the contest winner of AutoJoe's 15th annual Halloween prize awards! You receive a gift basket and an AutoJoes sticker…. Unfortunately, mostly everything in the gift basket has gone bad.]

Even though it said all that there was nothing. No basket or sticker.

Marcus had a strange expression on his face… He walked up to the Mr. Handy and held out his hand waiting to receive something.

"Just give me the key."

At that, The Mr. Handy drooped slightly, but still seemed quite chipper.

[Yes sir, Right away!]

Lowering one of its mechanical eyes…. Hooked around it was a set of shining keys…

Taking them, Marcus and I moved over to the first door, he didn't waste time and unlocked the sealed room.

Swinging the door open, some lights on the inside automatically turned on and revealed the inside to us…

Right in the middle of the room was a large suit of glistening power armor… The T-60 series.

A silver gleam shone off the side as the light bounced off the magnificent armor. Thick breastplates… Composite double-layered shoulders, its wide body frame, and a set of glaring blue eyes all combined to form one intimidating figure.

'It's amazing.'

Seeing it on a screen and seeing it in real life are completely different….

Marcus walked up to the armor trying to enter it but there was a problem…

"I need the fusion core. It's the armor's power source. Without it I can't get in."

We tried looking around but found nothing like that.

"It must be in one of the other rooms."

[The fusion core is most certainly stored in the supply room. The room right next door.]

Walking back out we opened the second door… Not only finding 6 fusion cores but many other things. Ammo, fusion cells, tools, various materials, electrical components, and nails.

I created a Mind Link with Marcus…

'Once the cart is finished being created we take all of this…. Go and enter your armor… I'll check and see what's in the last room.'

He nodded and left, preparing to equip the power armor.

I was honestly surprised we found so much supplies, especially the fusion cores… In any of the games the most you could find at once were three but judging by the fact this is a large auto workshop and it's real life, I guess it isn't too out of the ordinary.

[Sir, you must not go in there, that room is for the big boss only and anyone with permission]

Opening the door, I expected to find goodies similar to the last two rooms but the thing in front of me left me completely shocked.

It was another entrance….. On the ground…

'Is this a…. Bunker?'

This is…. unexpected.

'Is that why this place was so fortified? Because the owner was afraid of nuclear fallout?'

Reaching down, I grabbed a hold of the giant valve hoping to turn it….

No go, It wouldn't budge.

['Hm? What's that?']

Hearing the mechanized voice of Marcus I turned around… My shining reddish-orange eyes met his glowing ice blue ones.

Both of us stared at each other for a few moments in silence….

I moved out of the way and revealed the bomb shelter.

'It's another entrance. Help me try and open it.'

He paused for a moment before shaking his head…

'We shouldn't do that. The outside radiation levels are still too high for ordinary people to survive…. If someone is down there and we open this door…. They will most likely die….'

We both ignored the Mr.Handy's complaining, who believed we were just staring at each other in silence.

Well dammit… Now I'm in a dilemma…. But he does has a point…. Still when you think about it.

'This is locked tight… If I'm correct…. This is something someone prepared in case a nuclear bomb fell? And then they'd have a safe place to retreat to?'

Marcus thought for a moment before nodding…

'There's definitely someone in here…. Right? Then who did the Mr. Handy get those keys from?'

Marcus actually paused as I said that he seemed to realize something but before he could say anything I continued.

'The owner of this place abandoned everyone in this facility, even his or her own employees then locked him or herself away in this bunker… Everyone else would die or mutate, But they only cared about themselves.'

"Stop"

Marcus cut me off.

"We don't know anything, for all we know there were only enough supplies to allow a few people to survive."

He doesn't really understand.... For now, at least...

Most of the people in power were over-privileged scumbags that cared only for themselves. I mean, Vault-tec had committed so many atrocities just to try out a few social experiments.

And if whoever is in this mini vault abandoned their employees so easily…. Then they would be no better… Right?

Well unless there truly was such a limited amount of supplies down there. But would that really make sense? It wouldn't… One doesn't simply prepare for nuclear fallout, and then only stock a small amount of supplies… They would stock an abundance, I can assure you.

With just oil prices being over 7000 dollars per gallon a large automobile workshop like this should have had more than enough money to build a proper shelter capable of housing 2 or 3 dozen people… For quite a long time.

I don't doubt that the bastard who owned this place was most likely just being selfish. But who knows, I may be overthinking it. 

'Then let's go…. But, I will come back here in a few years when the radiation levels have dropped, and then I will open this bunker… When that time comes I'll bring you with me. That shouldn't be any problem, right?

The ex-soldier hesitated for a while, but eventually, he agreed.

'Alright, But I'm still against it.'

End of chapter.