Fallout 3: Project Purity

 

CHAPTER THREE: THE HOSTILE TAKEOVER OF CANTUERBURY COMMONS

 

Andrew and James Ross walked on either side of Melissa Kimbly as they neared the stronghold of the Brotherhood of Steel. Kimbly looked at the structure in awe, her dark eyes scanning the thick steel walls and the turrets upon which various paladins perched, watching over the lands around what was known to the wasteland as the Citadel. 

“The Brotherhood of Steel was the one group in the wasteland who offered to help us when we were building Project Purity twenty years ago.” James mused as they passed in shadow. Andrew’s father gave a slight wave as they passed a weary paladin patrolling the outskirts of the heavy Brotherhood base. This gesture earned him a nod from the soldier. 

 

“What is Project Purity? I’ve heard you say the name before, but I don’t know what you mean.” Kimbly asked hesitantly. James gave her an earthy smile as he went back in his mind.

 

“Years ago, before you or Andrew were born, my wife Catherine and I were the leaders of an ambitious project, a project to give clean water to the people of the Capitol wasteland.” James elaborated.

 

“Seems like a tall order. Did you think you could ever get it done?” Kimbly asked, looking at James. 

 

“We were close. So close, Kimbly. However we were missing one critical piece of technology to make it work. While I was trapped within vault 112, I found that technology.” James explained as the trio neared a large freeway overpass that led over the giant Potomac river.

 

Kimbly was about to respond when Andrew gave a sharp but quiet whisper for both to hit the dirt. He then pointed to his eyes and then toward the base of the overpass which housed 6 raiders. 

 

“Kimbly, stay here. Dad and I will sneak over there and take them out by surprise.” Andrew stated, the experienced wasteland general he was. 

 

“Are you sure? You’re outnumbered! Let me join you, arm me and I will help you!” Kimbly whispered fiercely. 

 

“No! Now hit the dirt and stay here!” Andrew whispered just as fiercely. Kimbly glared at Andrew but did as she was told, lying flat on her lithe belly as James and son crouched and moved toward the raider mini stronghold. 

 

The raiders noticed first and opened fire as James and Andrew hid behind the rocks. Hot lead continued to rain down on their position even as two raiders who were patrolling the ground, one with a tire iron and the other sporting a pool cue ran down the hill toward them. 

 

Kimbly screamed out to warn Andrew of their unwanted visitors just as the raider with the iron smacked Andrew across the side of the head, effectively knocking him out and causing his 10 mm pistol to fly out of his grip toward Kimbly’s position on the ground. 

 

James was able to take the head off the raider with the tire iron, only to be knocked unconscious by the pool cue holder. Kimbly was worried, but she did not panic. Instead she rose to her feet and bolted toward the weapon on the ground as fast as she could while bound by the wrists. She grabbed the weapon in both hands and struggled with the hammer. 

 

The raider’s pool cue was raised and he was poised to kill Andrew Ross just as Kimbly pointed the pistol to the raider and pulled the trigger. Kimbly saw in slow motion as the bullet pierced the raider’s skull and decapitated him. 

 

As the raider fell to the ground Kimbly sprinted behind the cover of the rocks as the bullets turned her way, the raiders still entrenched looking to make her the latest kill under their belts that day. Kimbly fell to her knees beside Andrew.

 

She looked beside herself as James stirred with a moan, he rolled to his side and grabbed his pistol as he looked around to cover Melissa with what she was doing. She went to her pack and pulled out a syringe of med x and a stimpack, injecting both into Andrew’s exposed arm. He stirred but looked as if his recovery would take a few minutes. Until then, Kimbly aimed her pistol alongside James’ weapon as both fired into the nest of raiders.

 

The raiders took cover from the single shot onslaught except for one who took a single bullet to the forehead and fell to the floor. The resulting fire storm caused the raider’s killer, Kimbly, to fall back behind cover to catch her breath. 

 

“Kimbly, move close to me, ill free you.” James called. She nodded and approached him as he took a kitchen knife from his pack and deftly sawed through the ropes binding Melissa’s wrists. Once freed she thanked him before popping back out of cover and firing once again, her newly free hands allowing her much better accuracy as she popped two raiders in the skull before retreating to cover once again. 

 

James stared in awe at the marksmanship he had just witnessed. 

 

“Like I said, James. Otaka made me a damn fine markswoman.” Kimbly smirked as she eyed the final raider who was now blind firing at their position. After the fire died down, Melissa and James pointed their weapons, only to hear the automatic fire of an assault rifle resound from beside them. 

 

The newly revived Andrew Ross sprayed the raider’s location with bullets as Kimbly swiftly approached the truss in which the raider hid. She took a few seconds of cover until Andrew’s fire died down. The raider poked his head out of cover only to catch a bullet from Andrew’s 10 mm pistol wielded in the hands of Melissa Kimbly. As silence once again descended, Kimbly approached James and Andrew and as the younger man stared warily at the slightly younger former raider, she smirked and twirled the 10 mm in one hand, released the magazine, and handed the now useless gun handle first to a stunned Andrew Ross.

 

Andrew smiled and extended his hand, which Melissa grasped and shook. Andrew crouched to the ground and rose again, staring anew at the half full magazine which Kimbly expelled in one swift motion before she returned the gun to Andrew before looking back into Melissa’s coal eyes. He handed the gun back to her, again handle first as she had demonstrated for him. 

 

“So I take it this means you trust me now?” Melissa asked. Andrew nodded.

 

“If you wanted to kill us, you could have while we were unconscious. Welcome to the team, Kimbly.” Andrew said once again shaking Kimbly’s hand. 

 

“I am honored.” She said with a smile. With that the team looted the corpses and the stronghold before setting their feet upon the over pass that allowed them to cross the river cleanly, as both Andrew and Melissa gained newfound respect for one another. 

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Canterbury Commons was in his sights and he grinned as wide as his mouth muscles would allow him to. He was spread on his belly with the eye pieces of his binoculars pressed against his evil eyes. He noticed yet another commotion on the streets before him as ant woman and robot man were having yet another war of words with their respective companions. 

 

“Get the two idiots in your sights.” Eddie Gallows stage whispered into his portable radio. He heard whispers of acceptance from the speaker and after buying his snipers a few moments he again clicked the thumb button. 

 

“Let’s make this fun. On the count of three.” Eddie said with glee evident even in his whispered voice. The two crazy people would not know what hit them. 

 

“One…” Eddie counted and he heard the tell-tale clicks of safeties switching off through his radio.

 

“Two…” came the next number and he knew although it was silent, that his favored snipers from his team of former raiders were settling in and pressing their gun stocks to their shoulders awaiting the final number. 

 

“Three.” Eddie whispered evilly before he heard the loud report of sniper fire coming from his teams strategic positions. The two idiots in their superhero garb fell to the ground, both missing their heads. 

 

The rifle fire caused a mild panic in the streets as the few citizens of Canterbury Commons who were watching the fight moved quickly indoors. 

 

“Hold a minute, bro, what do we have here? A couple ‘a smart asses with guns coming out. Man and a woman.” Eddie said as the towns duo of defenders came out of what looked like a large warehouse in order to investigate, twin assault rifles raised and at the ready as they scanned. 

 

“what are your orders, boss?” came the chilling delivery of one of Eddie’s men through his radio.

 

“the man, shoot to kill. The woman…just wound her.” Eddie said with a nasty grin. One fell dead and the other simply fell writhing on the ground as Eddie’s demand was met. 

“Alright fellows, that was a fine bit of fun. Stay where we are now and I will radio in to base. Then were going to have some fun with the brave girl down below.” Said Eddie as he tuned his radio into the Enclave mobile base tower’s frequency.

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The darkness followed Martha Crowne and Katrina O’Malley up the rusted ramp that sported a sign that stated that this was indeed Rivet City. The pair had done a good job digging a makeshift grave for their deceased friend Crow and setting it up with an equally makeshift grave marker. 

 

They had taken a break to compose of themselves and eat some food. Gem made it clear that she was only eating because she had to, for the baby’s sake, for she had no appetite to call her own. 

 

After a time sitting and eating in silence, the pair retrieved their Brahmin from where it was standing comfortably munching on some grass. Right where the former trio had left it. Gem climbed aboard with help from Katrina and they continued on up until this point. 

 

The women had tied their Brahmin outside to the steel supports that held up the structure that granted them entry.

 

Gem had been silent since they had buried Crow, opting to sit alone in her grief without sharing with Katrina her pain, despite several prompts from the older woman to do just that, but nothing in the world would make her open up. 

 

She was thinking about thoughts long ago, when the pair just met. About their secret affair when they were much younger. She thought about the various salvaging and mercantile trips they would all make. She also thought about how Crow had recognized her immediately despite years of being apart.

 

She was clamped up tight even as they approached the already drawn bridge. Katrina looked at Gem with pity and proceeded to cross after holstering her weapons and made sure Gem had done the same. The pair crossed with their hands aloft before appearing before the head of Rivet City security.

 

“Another pair of newcomers? Alright, state your business.” Harkness replied sounding weary of helping more newcomers. Katrina wondered what he meant by that. 

 

“at the moment we need some rest and recovery. And I need a medic. I’ve been shot in the arm.” Katrina admitted. Gem looked at Katrina who met her gaze with an apologetic look. Gem looked away again, still silently so.

 

“And after that? I guess you’ll need residence too huh? I guess the whole of the wasteland is gonna show up on my door and ask to live in Rivet City.” Harkness said sarcastically. He sighed dramatically before continuing. 

 

“Common room is through the door on the middle floor of the stair well. Market is through the door behind me.” Harkness said as if he’d said the speech a thousand times that day, which is not unbelievable. 

 

“Now the rule.” Harkness said as the air itself seemed to get darker to meet his firey gaze. 

 

“If you so much as breath wrong, you will rue the day you…” Harkness started on his dire threat. What had interrupted him was the barrel of a 10 mm pistol pointed right under his chin, held by the deft hand of Martha Crowne, who had an icy death stare of her own. 

 

“We have come a long way, we are battered and bruised and I just lost my best friend, and she lost her husband. We are coming in here, were not going to cause trouble, but we don’t need any fucking threats today. Leave us alone, we leave you alone.” Gem said almost under her breath, but the words carried a lot of weight. 

 

Gem holstered her weapon and pushed past Harkness. Katrina apologized softly before following her friend through the prescribed door and into the stairwell of Rivet City. 

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Eddie Gallows stood at the center of the crowd, puffing on a big cigar and wearing a winning smile. The smile that said he was in charge and if the people wanted to live they would do as he said. 

 

Directly in front of him was Earnest Roe, the leader of the town as well as the moderator of all the Capitol Wasteland’s traders. 

 

Around the pair were the various citizens. Joe Porter held Derek Pacion behind him as if protecting him. The girl known only as Machete crouched over her fallen companion Dominic as she tried not to cry, but to look tough. 

 

Surrounding the citizens with their weapons drawn, but not trained were the four former raiders who decided to pledge their undying loyalty to Eddie when he took over their raider tribe and killed those who would not join him. 

 

They stood at four points around the crowd watching as this ploy unfolded around them. Some just stood there. One was eating a handful of molerat jerky and another was smoking a cigarette, but they would all leap into battle should anybody try anything heroic. 

 

“Uncle Roe. So nice to see you, it’s been a very, very long time wouldn’t you agree?” Eddie started as soon as the murmurs from the crowd died down.

 

“Eddie. Seems as though we should never have taken you in for anything. You’ve changed.” Uncle Roe said, obviously saddened by the evil changes in Eddie Gallows.

 

“When I escaped from that hell hole, I had only hell to greet me.” Eddie sneered. “You want to talk about change, well the wasteland changed me to better my odds of survival. And I linked up with the winning side, furthering my chances of survival. Call me what you want, but I won’t be kicking it any time soon, old man.” 

 

“You were once a fresh faced former vault dweller, and now you’ve descended so far into corruption that you won’t be saved. It makes me very sad. It is unfortunate, because you had all the potential in the world to do some good.” Earnest spoke sadly. 

 

“But now you’re here with your doom squad. So what is it that you want, to take us all out, like you did to poor Dom over there?” Earnest said motioning to the prone form of Dominic, not far from the huddled form of Machete.

 

“Doom squad is such an ugly term. But the answer to your question is no. We are not here to destroy, in fact, we are here to make Canterbury Commons a third Enclave base. We needed to only get rid of certain people who would get in the way of our goals.” Eddie said, motioning once again to the deceased Dominic D’Ellsadro.

 

“Nevertheless me and my boys, as well as the Enclave, are commandeering Canterbury Commons. Everyone else shall live unless you attack us. In fact Uncle Roe, my Commander is ready to allow a certain privilege to you. You are the most important part of this alliance.” Eddie said proudly. 

 

“What are you talking about Eddie?” Earnest asked skeptically. “All ive ever heard about the Enclave is that they are bullying and destroying anyone and anything that gets in their way. The fate of poor Megaton…”

 

“…Would not be avoided.” Eddie finished for him. “We needed the rest of that town’s steel for a secret project and we told the residents to flee into the wastes. Some did just that, but most decided they would fight the might of the Enclave with pea shooters and kitchen knives and they, THEY, were the ones who were obliterated and crushed underneath our might.” Eddie proclaimed with passion. 

 

“Canterbury Commons is useful as well to us, however not as scrap.” Eddie continued to the patiently waiting Earnest Roe as the rest of the town looked on at the proceedings with interest.

 

“You are the central hub of trading for this entire area. We want that. But if you won’t comply with these very fair terms and conditions, then I am authorized to shoot to kill.” Eddie said, finally sealing the terms.

 

“what are the benefits for me and my town?” Earnest asked finally after a few moments of deliberation. 

 

“for you, you get the protection of the Enclave. Four experienced soldiers will guard your front door, two at a time in two 12 hour shifts. Your caravans get the added protection of one Enclave trooper and one Enclave officer. They will need to comply with their respective officer’s directions, because in addition to your normal routes there will be several new stops for supplies added on. Enclave sites for the most part.” Eddie said. Earnest looked to be contemplating. 

 

“there is also the benefit that these other buildings here and here will be unboarded and used as another Enclave base, because we lack one in this area. Of course the troopers and officers will not be allowed to bother any of your townspeople during their occupation except on official business either in battle or in escort of your caravans.” 

Earnest Roe shook his head sadly, but sighed resignedly. 

 

“Eddie, allow those who don’t want to stay the option to leave.” Uncle Roe said somberly. Eddie nodded and smirked before turning to the people. 

 

“Anyone who wants to run, do so now.” Was the simple directive. After a few beats with nobody moving from their spot, Eddie turned back to Earnest.

 

“Are you satisfied?” Eddie asked raising his brows. Earnest nodded.

 

“I accept the terms and conditions. And I hand over control of the caravan business to you. I accept the secondary role as coordinator.” Earnest said, shaking Eddie’s hand. 

 

“One more thing.” Edie said, turning with a gentleman’s grin toward the kneeling Machete. Her eyes perked up as his eyes stared into hers. 

 

“Machete is mine. I will not hurt her, I simply tire of chasing pussy all over the Capitol Wasteland. I am ready to take a steady girl. And she is simply breath taking.” Eddie stated. He walked toward her kneeling form. She shivered a bit, her former personae of bad-assery melting in his presence.

 

She was Hispanic in nature with short cropped black hair that fell in bangs over her green eyes. She wore only the slightest of makeup. She didn’t really need a lot, just her rouge and lipstick and she looked stunning. Her leather armor hugged her large breasts and ample curves flatteringly as Eddie stared her down with lust dripping from his eyes. 

 

“I must be too young for you. I’m only 19.” Machete tried to reason with the man. He shook his head.

 

“That’s good enough for me. I will be moving into that garage with you. You can accept it or be exiled. I promise not to hurt you and I will not push anything on you. I want the chance to win you over myself. You’ll see that I am a very charming man and people around me normally like me.” Eddie said. Machete nodded her head before allowing Eddie to help her up. She braced herself on Eddie’s shoulder as he walked her back to the garage home he would be sharing with Machete, he would win her over if it killed him. 

 

Back on the streets Derek Pacion watched silently as Eddie and Machete walked for the most part arm in arm back to Machete’s residence. A few unknown tears fell from his eyes as he silently said goodbye to his secret love. 

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“This path is familiar, son, and Rivet City is within thirty minutes of here.” James said excitedly as the trio sat upon a concrete abutment to rest from their long travels. Andrew had traded with a woman who had set up shop underneath the bridge on the other side of the river. He had scored ammunition, an assault rifle, ammo, and a set of leather armor for their new friend Melissa Kimbly, as well as lunch for all three. 

 

“This is the start of so much. Even during my time as a raider, I haven’t seen this much adventure.” Kimbly commented as she finished the last of her nuka cola. 

 

“well it aint always fun, Kimbly. War can be hell. It takes you away from people you…love.” Andrew said softly. He pulled a picture from one of the pockets of his pack, showing a smiling Sarah Lyons showing her radiance in the portrait.

 

“You will see her again.” Kimbly sighed. She had a person she wanted to find for herself, even if it was not for love, it was sort of similar, so why not share. 

 

“Who are you trying to find, Kimbly?” Andrew asked. His father staying strangely silent, and simply listening to the two young people talk, Andrew nearing 21 and Melissa Kimbly in the middle of her 18th year.

 

“Well I suppose it doesn’t matter if I tell you, if only to build up trust.” Melissa started.

 

“I am after a man named Herbert Dashwood. He was the reason my family was killed.” Melissa stated, a flat tone of anger lacing her speech.

 

“Did he kill them?” Andrew asked interested.

 

“No,” she laughed derisively, “He was such a fucking idiot that he couldn’t even kill them himself if he tried. I lived in a place called Rockopolis with my mom and dad and all the friends I had made who already lived there.

 

“then one day there comes this secret knock that only those who have clearance to enter know. King Cragg opened the door and there was this fucking moron named Herbert Dashwood. He had inadvertently led the fucking slavers to Rockopolis.”

 

“That is a horrifying story.” James whispered with sympathy.

 

“That’s not the half of it. This dim wit was so weak and pathetic that he wouldn’t stay and help us fight them off. They ran out the door, but I was able to shoot his stupid ghoul in the back as he tried to run, the coward. Now i've just got to catch up with ‘Daring’. Most ironic fucking nickname i've ever heard in my damn life.” 

 

“I've heard his radio show on GNR. Sounds like he was a moron. Didn’t know it was true though.” Andrew mused. 

 

“Every word is absolutely true. I watched as Rockopolis fought back against Miss Chase, the slaver leader at the time, and her band of assholes. We won the fight, but they killed 90 percent of our people, including King Cragg and…my parents.” Kimbly stated, her voice trailing near the end at the painful memory of her parents demise. And she had grown to love King Cragg over the years as a sort of grandfather figure, and his death weighed heavily on her mind as well. 

 

“I just can’t believe the coward got away and left his ghoul manservant whom he supposedly loved to die.” Andrew said shaking his head derisively

. 

“It was a blunder of errors on his part. Leading the slavers to the safest place in the wasteland and then scampering away when the slavers fought with us, never taking accountability for what he’s done to me. But you’ll see, I’ll make him pay. It has to be me. Someone else might get it wrong.” Kimbly said resolutely. 

 

Andrew and James stood. Andrew helped Kimbly to her feet as well before they checked their weapons. 

 

“Alright, let’s go. Maybe someone in Rivet City will know how we can find Dashwood, along with the other information we need.” Andrew said.

 

He placed a hand on Kimbly’s shoulder, where it rested for probably longer than it needed to. He looked in her eyes with reassuring confidence and gave her his best grin. He could see its effect immediately. 

 

“Come on Melissa. Follow us, it’s just another day at the office.” He said.

 

 This brought out an actual smile from Kimbly. If she was pretty when she scowled, she was radiant when she smiled. She nodded her head and fell in line behind James with Andrew leading the trio across the walkways of cement that would lead them within minutes to Rivet City.