Heroine for Hire

FALLOUT 3 – Heroine for Hire
By The Great Shaggy

Chapter Characters:

Female
Anastasia – Former Vault 101 Dweller; also known as Anya
Jessica – Former Vault Dweller and slave; also known as Jessi
Kelsey – Mercenary
Athena – NYC Resident
Rebecca Yearling –Order of the Scrolls Scribe, Brotherhood of Steel
Sarah Lyons – Commander of Lyons’ Pride, Brotherhood of Steel

Male
Charon - Ghoul
Jeffery Stepien – Paladin, Brotherhood of Steel

WARNING: Contains the following offensive material - Anguish/Torment, Death, Language, and Violence.

Readers Discretion is Advised.

Chapter Six: Revelations

Revenge is a dish best served cold! - Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, 1782


Designed by architect William Van Alen to house the growing Chrysler Corporation in the early 1920s, when the ground breaking occurred on the 19th of September 1928 for the new buildings that was dubbed the Chrysler Building, there was an intense competition in New York City to build the world's tallest skyscraper. Despite a frantic pace of a rate averaging four floors per week, no workers died during the construction of this Art Deco skyscraper of the middle of Manhattan. Standing at impressive one thousand and fifty feet it was the world’s tallest building for eleven months before it was surpassed by the completion of the monumental Empire State Building in 1931. Because of classic example of Art Deco architecture, it was considered by many contemporary architects to be one of the finest buildings in New York City during the latter half of the twentieth century into the early portions of the twentieth-first when the Imperial Tower was constructed to reflect America’s dominance in the world.

The multiple atomic blasts on New York City during the Great War of 2077 had done extremely horrendous amount of damage to the skyscraper; it’s distinctive crown shape top had been blasted off and was now nothing more than a twisted pile of debris filing the streets below, huge chunks of its elegant architectural had been ripped off by the blast wave giving the structure a look as if some giant being had used a gigantic sledgehammer on the building, and most of the metal structural skeleton framework of the building was two-thirds exposed. Although the upper floors above the thirtieth level were heavily damaged, the lower half was still sustainable and with its thick walls provided immense protection from small arms and energy weapons. With some added protection of welded sheet metal, and hastily erected barricades of concrete slaps, bricks, and fission cars coupled with a few automated energy turrets and the Chrysler Building had become a tenable outpost.

That was Anya’s thoughts as she and Athena slowly approached the building from the east. With Athena’s uncanny knowledge of the city ruins and underground transit system tunnels, they'd made the journey within two days of leaving the old metropolitan airfield. Now, as they neared the front gate of the Lyons’ Pride Outpost, Anya was starting to wonder about the fate of her companions and was hoping beyond hope that they’d made it safely to the outpost before they did. Nearing the front gate, one of the automated energy turrets whined as it swung its cold, metal barrel towards the two approaching forms which nearly caused both women to dive behind cover. But it held its fire; instead all it did was track them as they continue their approach.

“Are you sure this is the best course of approach?” asked Athena, a hint of uncertainty creeping into her voice.

The younger woman wanted to reply with a strong reassuring yes, but as the second turret came to bear towards them she was starting to have her own doubts. “I hope it is,” she replied.

The green hair woman’s mouth dropped slightly but didn’t say a word as she trailed a little bit more slightly behind the auburn hair girl. The entire team had possessed a clear IFF transmitter unit to be carried on their person to mitigate the safe passage through any Brotherhood of Steel automated defensive grid, but Anya had lost hers along with the rest of her gear and equipment when she was imprisoned and raped by a Pre-War Ghoul named Jonathan. If it wasn’t for Athena’s timely arrival and rescue she would’ve been destine to become that evening’s meal for him.

Please still have the pre-settings from the Capital Wasteland in yea, Anya thought referring to the pre-programmed settings used by the Brotherhood in Washington to automatically engaged pre-determined forms that matched a certain profile, most notably being that of Super Mutants or mutated arachnids. Clearing the automated defensive grid, Anya suddenly noticed that she’d been holding her breath and her lungs were on fire as they screamed for fresh air. Releasing her pent up air and taking a fresh breath of the dust particle-filled air, she went up to the main control panel and keyed in the pass code. The panel chimed once and the metal door swung open allowing them access into the interior of the outpost.

Their boot falls echoed through the vast lobby, crunching on the fallen plaster tiles and marble slats mixing with that of various humming machinery that could be heard but not seen. Power cables lay like a dangle of spider webs against the walls, disappearing into various points in the once elegantly designed walls or ceiling above. Athena gave the lobby a once over for anything that looked suspicious as Anya made her way over to a bank of computer terminals that had been erected on a circle-shaped counter that was placed directly in the center of the lobby. Keying in the code, Anya brought up all past entries into the terminal and noted the last entry.

“Someone has been here recently,” she announced. “Last log in was almost twenty-nine hours ago.”

Athena walked over to Anya’s side and gaze at data lines displayed on the glowing green screen. “It doesn’t indicate any particular user log in,” she stated as she glanced up at the younger girl. “It could’ve been hacked?”

That was an extreme possibility that Anya hadn’t thought about. “Unlikely, however possible,” she replied, shaking her head.

“Is there a remote security camera system that we can tap into?”

“One sec.” Anya’s fingers flew over the keyboard, accessing the main function screen and typing in her request. Christ, I need to get my head back on my shoulders, she thought to herself, I won’t do anyone any good unless I can start to think straight again. “Got it,” she chimed with satisfaction.

Both the women leaned closer as the screen displayed hazy, green images of various interior and exterior shots. Cafeteria, infirmary, laboratory, barracks, armory, lavatories, guard posts, the various images of those areas flickered through without showing a single sign of activity or living forms, besides an occasional Protectron or Sentry Bot.

“How big is this outpost?” comment Athena as another image switched to another unseen area. “If we’re going to have to search this place it’s going to be royal pain in the ass.”

“I thought you said you were here before?” inquired Anya.

“I was, but only in the infirmary and that is located on the ground level through those doors and down the first hallway to the left, three doors down,” she said pointing to a door on the far side of the lobby. “Cafeteria is just one hallway away from there as well.”

Anya grimaced as she pictured the size and scope of the interior of the building in her head. The Pride could’ve used anywhere between three to ten levels of the building depending on the scope of interior damage and collapsed sections and that wasn’t including the sub-levels of the building. Athena was right in her statement; if they’d to search the building it was going to be a long process.

“Wait,” Athena suddenly exclaimed, “go back one.”

Keying in the request, Anya brought back the previous image that overlooked an open doorway.

“There,” the green hair woman announced.

Looking at where her finger was pointing, Anya felt her heart rate increasing as she could barely make out the outline of a boot that was barely visible lying on a bed that was nearly obscured by the doorframe and the angle of the image. She keyed for the information on the camera screen and was rewarded with its information.

“Fourth level, Hallway D,” said Anya.

“Well let’s go see who it is,” finished Athena as she picked up her rifle from the counter top.

Downloading the map of the interior layout onto her Pip-Boy, Anya led Athena up the fourth flights of stairs and down the various hallways, having to only backtrack twice when they came to a collapsed portion of the floor. As they walked down the hallway, Athena pointed to the camera mounted off to the right near the top of the hall’s wall. All Anya wanted to do was run down the hall to the room but her instincts were telling her otherwise. Slowing down their pace, Anya waved Athena to push up against the wall as she was as she slowly eased herself down the final few feet to the corner of the door frame.

Carefully she peered around the frame and glanced down at the bed to see the slumbering form of the pink hair teenager Jessi. On the bed next to her was an equally sleeping form of Yearling. Both of them looked the worse for wear with numerous abrasions and lesions showing through the tears in their clothing. Spent medical supplies littered the floor around the two beds. Turning the corner hastily, Anya placed her fingers against Jessi’s Cortaid artery and let out a sigh of relief at feeling a steady, but weak pulse. Glancing over, she saw Athena checking on Yearling and nodded her head indicating she was alive as well.

“Jessi,” she said softly, nudging her friend’s shoulder easily. “Jessi, it’s Anya.”

Slowly she watched as her friend’s eyes fluttered opened and blinked to focus them. “Anya, you’re alive,” she crocked softly.

Anya couldn’t help as a tear formed in the corner of her eye as she embraced the teenage girl. “I was going to say the same thing to you, kiddo,” she replied.

Breaking her embrace, Jessi flop weakly back into the bed. “Thought they got you as well?”

The comment made Anya catch her breath in her throat. “Jessi, where are the others?”

“They got them….couldn’t stop them,” she replied. “Kelsey told me and Rebecca to make a break for it while she, Charon, and Jeff held...held them off. We crossed a makeshift bridge of a collapsed wall to an adjacent building....but it collapsed before they could get across.”

“They’re both severely dehydrated,” Athena said, opening cabinets until she found a medical kit.

Tossing her a saline solution and the needed intravenous kit, she went back to Yearling’s side as Anya prepped the kit as she laid a reassuring hand on Jessi’s shoulder. “You just rest now. We’re here now and we’ll take care of you.”

Jessi just nodded as her eyes closed once again. After administering the IV, she and Athena carried the two unconscious women down to the infirmary. Once her friends were hooked into the medical electronic monitoring devices and unable to view them in such state, Anya took her leave and returned back to the computer counter in the main lobby. Reactivating the terminal, she initiated a full security lockdown of the building and changed the targeting perimeters of the auto-defense turrets and Sentry Bots to Identify Friend-and-Foe before bringing up an inquiry on all reports that had been sent to the Citadel and frowned when it came back stating that only the outpost commander could access that function from her quarters.

Finding its location, Anya left a note on the counter to inform Athena where she was at before proceeding to the second level of the building. It didn’t take her long to find Sarah’s quarters and when she did she found herself just staring into the neatly kept and organized room that belonged to her friend. She didn’t know why she felt a sense of longing as she stared at the small cot that had been erected in the corner next to two footlockers and a small wooden box that served as a night table. Pushing the thought from her mind, she settled herself behind the crudely fashion desk that was nothing more than a wooden board supported by a set of stacked cinder bricks and activated the computer terminal only to find it encrypted with a password. Frowning, she begin attempting to hack into the system with minimal results. Cursing, she stared at the blinking cursor and had to result in attempting to guess the correct pass code phrase. After failing the third dozen time she was about to leave in frustration when she decided to try one more time. Typing in her name, she hit the enter key and was rewarded with the main option screen. Accessing the file history of reports, she started to scroll through them. Finding one that she didn’t recognize the date and time stamp, she selected it and listened as Sarah’s voice came forth from the computer.

“790802, NYC Outpost Commander, daily report to the Citadel, Sentinel Sarah Lyons reporting. Today Team 3-2 managed to penetrate into the Lodel District of the lower east side of Manhattan and reported they found a green hair human female, approximate age to be in the mid twenties to early thirties. According to the AAR from Paladin Lopez, they found the female at the intersections of Broome Street and an unnamed road and had been apparently shot with a high powered rifle, possibly a heavy caliber sniper rifle. Search of the area turned up no trace of the sniper. I ordered Team 3-2 to abort their patrol and bring the female back to the outpost for immediate medical care. She is the first human we’ve encountered so far in the ruins since arriving two weeks ago. Follow up, the woman has successfully undergone surgery and is resting comfortably in the infirmary. I’ll schedule an interview with the woman when her condition improves. Team 2-1 has reported Upper West Side District to be clear, no new information found on the location neither of the target area nor of any human settlers. They did however report the district has a high concentration of feral ghouls, recommend a cleansing sweep to avoid future problems when the time allows. End Report.”

Anya leaned back in the chair, she didn’t remember this report being given to her by either Elder Lyons or Senior Scribe Rothchild. Skipping she found another report that the leaders of the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel had failed to supply her with.

“790830, NYC Outpost Commander, daily report to the Citadel, Sentinel Sarah Lyons reporting. Conducted my interview with Athena and she was more of a puzzle then any source of information. Apparently she has suffered from a equate anamnesis that has render herself unable to remember anything about herself past the last four years. Story is in conjunction with Knight Anastasia’s new companion, the teenager female known as Jessi that suffers from the same condition. Unsure if the two are related somehow for the distances between the two are extreme. However this fact can’t be ignored and I recommend the Brotherhood interviewing Jessi as soon as possible. All external operations were canceled due to weather conditions. I plan on interviewing Athena further to see if I can help piece anything of her past together. End Report.”

Quickly, Anya glanced through the list and found one more she didn’t recognize and realized that it was dated one day past the date that Lyons had informed her when the Citadel received the last report. What are you hiding from me, Lyons, she wondered as she started the last recording.

“790922, NYC Outpost Commander, high priority report to the Citadel, Sentinel Sarah Lyons reporting. Team 2-1 hit pay dirt on a follow up patrol to the Upper West Side District. The source information prove to be correct and we located the ruins of a sub-campus used by the Institute of Technology in the Manhattan area. Knight Denning managed to extract data from the mainframe, although much of the data has been corrupted by an unknown third party we managed to discover the location of the main campus of the Institute. I’ll be moving with the whole Pride to the target’s location by Vertibirds at 0500 hours tomorrow. Outpost will be guarded by automated defensive systems, I know that is against procedures but I want the whole Pride there just encase we run into whoever has been tampering with these computers and I suspect they might've already beaten us there. Detail report will follow as soon as the objective is secured. End Report.”

The Lone Wanderer sat still staring at the green screen for a silent minute before pounding her fist on the table in frustration. "Damn it, there has to more to this," she muttered as she listened to it again.

When the exclusive information she was hoping to hear failed to materialize again she let out a scream and scanned the other reports in a vain attempt to see if she'd missed one. When that failed, she slammed her fist down on the table so hard that it nearly knocked the terminal over the side. Breathing heavily as her tantrum subsided, she allowed her head to fall on the keyboard of the computer. The electronic device beeped and suddenly Sarah voice came back out through the speakers, startling Anya that she sat back in her chair.

“Personal entry, NYC Outpost Commander, oh what the fuck am I being so formal about this, Christ it’s not like this is going to be heard by anyone. I just need someone to talk too and unfortunately the only thing I can think of is this damn fucking computer, geez I hope nobody comes walking by and wondering who the hell I’m talking to in here. Don’t need the troops second guessing their commander now, can I? But in seriousness, I guess I just wanted to get my thoughts out. Um, gee how do I start, well I guess…fuck it, last night me and Athena fucked each other wildly. She was so unbelievable that she had me begging for more, and that tongue of hers, wow, I never thought I could cum so much as I did with her mouth wrapped on my pussy.”

Listening to her friend’s in depth description of the night of sexual lust between her and the green hair woman suddenly made Anya nausea as she felt her chest tightening up inside of her. Her breaths were heavy and deep as she tried to fight a sudden, painful throb on her heart. Why am I feeling this way, she thought as she raised her trembling hands to her chest as she continued to listen.

“She was remarkable, yet afterwards, I’m not sure why but I felt…empty, almost dirty. Yes, the feeling I had when I was wrapped in Athena's arms were more of lust, but…well okay I feel like a slut. There, I admitted to it, I’m nothing more than a horny ass slut and I can’t get her out of my mind. I-”

Through the static of the recording she could hear a knock on the door and then the transcript ceased leaving Anya sitting there with an empty and detached feeling. What am I going to do? Why should I even care who Sarah screws, but damn why does it hurt inside of me so badly? Anya was so consumed with her thoughts that she didn’t see Athena standing unmoving in the doorframe until she knocked lightly.

“Anya,” the green hair woman started softly.

Fixating her with the coldest of stares she reserved only for one other person, she rose to her feet.

“I can explain,” Athena said as the younger woman walked towards her.

She stopped for a brief moment to growl, “What does it matter. I hoped you two enjoy each other for the rest of your fucking lives.” And with that she pushed past her and started down the hallway.

“Anya, wait, it’s not what you think,” the older woman called out. But when the Lone Wanderer failed to turn around, she let out a long sigh and pounded a hand on the doorframe. “Shit.”
********

It took Athena more than two hours to find Anya sitting down in the infirmary next to the sleeping form of the teenage girl. As she entered the room, Anya fixated her with a stare but otherwise said nothing as she looked back down and watched Jessi’s vitals on the medical monitoring device. Grabbing a chair, she pulled it over and sat in front of the auburn hair woman.

“I was going to tell you evidently what happened between us,” she said.

Anya let out a snort but didn't utter a peep.

“It was just one of those moments that got a bit heated and before we knew what we were doing we’re locked against each other’s mouths and soon pulling our clothes off. I don’t expect you to believe me, but it’s the truth.”

“And what is the truth, Athena? Please tell me because everyone it seems has been keeping it from me this whole time,” Anya venomously spat back.

Athena was a bit taken back at the ferocious tone of the girl’s voice. She’d no idea what she was talking about besides what she knew. Taking a deep breath, she continued. “After we’d finished she realized what she’d done and broke down. It was then that she told me all about you, Anya, everything from the first time you two meet to the many battles and triumphs you both shared together and of that one special night you shared in each other’s arms.”

The words were barely out of her mouth when Anya rose from her chair and started to walk past her forcing Athena to grab a hold of her wrist.

“Damn it, Anya, she loves you, can’t you see that?”

The revelation caused the young girl to stop in her tracks and look back at the green hair woman holding her hand, shaking her head slowly. “She can’t love me, I mean, we’re both women, it’s…it’s not natural and I don't have to tell you how wrong it is.”

“Fight it all you want, Anya, but I’ve seen that glow and deep concern in your eyes when you asked me about her back in the tower.” She increased her hold on the Lone Wanderer’s arm when she attempt to break it. “If you want to run away from the truth then that’s your choice, but what Sarah told me that night was from her heart. She cares deeply about you and I know you do as well for that is the reason why you’re here now. You love her as well.”

Shaking her arm finally free, she took two more steps and stopped, her head dropping to her chest. Do I love her, no I don’t love Sarah, I’m just concern about her, after all she's my best friend. But is my deep concern implying that I love her? Could I love her? Do I love her? Would I be going to such extreme lengths to save anyone else as I've been doing for Sarah? How about Charon, he's been with me through the best and worst of times, never wavering from supporting you no matter what? Or Kelsey, how about her or Stepien who fought side by side during the war against the Enclave? Would that imply that you loved them as well? Of course but from friendship and devotion and not infatuation. But there was something else about Sarah, a feeling that she couldn't place or still couldn't fathom. Was what Athena telling her her true feelings?

Steadying her trembling hand with a long and deep breath, Anya turned back and looked at Athena. “I deeply care about all of my friends, Athena, not just one. And if there was a shred of hope of them being alive I would go to the ends of the wastelands to save them as I am now.”

With that, she turned and left the room leaving Athena to sadly shake her head. “They were right about you, unpredictable and stubborn."
********

Over the next few days as Jessi and Yearling recovered from their wounds, Anya and Athena poured over the massive amount of data and reports that were stored in the computer mainframe, painstaking piecing together the entire two and half months worth of patrols and operations conducted by the Lyons’ Pride since they’ve arrived at the Chrysler Building. Using print outs of recent satellite imaging stored in the computer, the two women recreated a sand table in the main lobby of the Upper West Side District of Manhattan complete with rubble strewn streets and damaged buildings. From there they poured into all the pre-war records and pictures that the Pride had found in the ruins of New York in its attempt to locate the sub-campus of the Institute.

After two long days they finally managed to condense the search area down to a location around an area formally known as the Columbus Circle. With little else to go on, Anya and Athena decided to venture up to the Upper West by themselves while leaving Jessi and Rebecca behind. From the Chrysler Building it was a half day journey through the shattered landscape of Manhattan to Columbus Circle. Heaving herself over the top of a two story pile of debris, the sight that befell Anya's gaze caused her to momentarily forget about everything. Before her stretching for miles to the north amongst the ruins of the city was a barren landscape of nothingness. From her advantage point she could see husks of dead trees and bodies of irradiated lakes mixed between broken foot paths that reminded her of spider webs.

Coming up beside her, Athena said, "I was the same way when I first saw Central Park. Amazing how they decided to leave such an large piece of undeveloped land in peace surrounded by skyscrapers and buildings."

"It must've been a sight to see back then," noted Anya.

"Yeah, a moment of virtue amongst the age of folly," comment Athena and padded Anya's shoulder. "Come on, sightseeing is over."

Making their way down into the middle of the circle, they pulled out the photographs they'd brought with them that showed the buildings of the sub-campus of the New York Institute of Technology and started to compare them to those of the ruins.

"That's the one," Athena said, pointing to the structure of a nearly collapsed building on the west side of the circle.

Staring at the building, Anya looked for an entry point but couldn't spot one. "How the hell did they did in?"

"Simple," Athena said, giving her nudge to the shoulder.

Anya followed the woman's pointing finger over to an entrance to the Transit System and nodded. "Makes sense. Let's go and be alert, they said there was a lot of ferals in the area."

The underground transit system's electrical system had failed a long time ago and if it wasn't for the glowing fungus it would've been pitch dark. Flicking on her Pip-Boy light, she nearly let out a startled shriek as the light illuminated a feral ghoul in front of her which was laying slumped over a bench, it's chest ripped open. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, they followed the trail of decomposing ghoul corpses to a large gaping hole in a wall that Anya suspected was once to be a locked door or gate.

Down a corridor and through another door and Anya felt like she'd stepped back in time two hundred years as they came out onto a foray overlooking a grand atrium that still retained most of its original furnishings. Posters and banners that had faded with time were still plastered to the walls or hanging from the ceilings.

"Amazing," whispered Athena. "I'm surprised all of this survived the heat from the nuclear detonations above."

"The concrete above might've acted as an insulator," suggested Anya.

"So now that we're here, where do we start?"

That was a good question and one that Anya had no way of answering. "I guess we should look around for an information terminal."

"There's one over there." Walking over to it, Athena keyed for the terminal to activate and bit her lower lip when it failed to come on. "Oh this is just wonderful. Now what?"

"Well I guess...wait you here that?"

Straining their ears, they could make out the sound of what sounded to be metal or artificial legs. And it was coming closer to them. Turning, they ready their weapons towards a door as the approaching sound grew louder. The old wooden door swung open and a Protectron robot came prodding onto the foray.

"My, more lost students?" exclaimed the Protectron. "Upon what room have you've been trying to find?"

Lowering their weapons, Athena muttered silently. "Great, a malfunctioning walking robot that is stuck two hundred years in the past."

"This isn't the first time for me," added Anya. "Excuse us, but we're trying to find some friends of ours that came through here a while back. We think they went to the main campus, but we're not sure as too where that is. Can you be chance tell us where it's located?"

"I'm sorry, but that information isn't available to me."

Figures, she thought to herself. Can't anything be easy on this damn mission? "Do you know where we can find that information?"

"Oh that is easy. Just access the main information terminal. There is one right behind you."

"That isn't working," replied Athena. "Is there any other that is working?"

"I'm sorry, but if the terminal isn't working then you can try another somewhere else and I'll notify maintenance of the issue with this terminal."

"Is there any other way besides using the terminals?" asked Anya.

"You can try the Office of Student Affairs by calling them on the main phone during regular business hours weekdays."

"Thank you," stated Anya as she tugged on Athena's arm. "Come on, this is pointless. Let's see if the Pride left us a trail to follow?"

Wandering the labyrinth of corridors of the sub-campus underground levels, Anya couldn't help but wonder why with such mammoth buildings above during the Pre-war years would the sub-campus of the New York Institute of Technology would allocated below ground. From what she learned in pre-war history lessons back in Vault 101 colleges were prestige places of higher learning and charged outlandish tuition for people to attend. But they also hid sinister sides that exploited government grants for inhuman experiments, genetic biological research, and testing of next generation technology.

She remembered Yearling explaining to her that the New York Institute of Technology grew to prominence as one of the leading research centers in particle and meson collider acceleration, dark matter generation, and plasma distribution systems during the last few decades before the Great War and their research was going to be used exclusively with future space exploration endeavors. But what if they might have been or something else, something they didn't want the public to know about. At what lengths would they go to hid that kind of research?
So involved in her thoughts that as she turned a corner, she didn't hear the groan in the floor before it was too late. She let out a surprised shriek as the floor beneath her buckled and plummet into a black oblivion below. She landed hard on her feet and grimaced in pain as she rolled onto her side as Athena called out to her from above. Taking a deep breath, Anya slowly moved her legs, gritting her teeth as pain shot through her body but not the excretion pain associated with broken bones.

"Okay, enough of the falling down already," she muttered as she came up into a seated position.

"Anya, are you okay?" Athena cried.

Glancing up, she saw that she must've fallen a good twenty feet. "Yeah, but unfortunately I think I'm getting too good at this falling down."

Athena laughed at the remark. "Look on the bright side of things, at least a Ghoul isn't going to rape you this time."

"Very funny. See if you can find a rope or something so I can get out of here, will yea?"

As Athena disappeared back over the ledge of the hole, Anya look around the room that she'd fallen into. Apparently it looked like a huge auditorium with a podium placed on the far side of the room but other than that it was devoid of benches and chairs. Raising to her feet, she hobbled over to the podium and noticed that it was filled with various controls and was showing that it still had power. Curious, she pressed a blinking red switch and was startled when she heard a large bang echoing through the entire chamber before the whole auditorium suddenly light up. Covering her eyes from the blinding light, she slowly opened them to see a picture of the Earth floating in the center of the room.

"What the?" she muttered as she stared at the image of the planet.

"Hey what the fuck are you doing down there?" exclaimed Athena.

"I don't know," answered Anya. "But you better get your ass down here."

Dropping through the opening, Anya was astonished to see the green hair land squarely on her feet without showing anything more than a slight grimace.

"You know it would've been easier if you found some rope to slide down," she remarked.

"Couldn't find any," Athena replied as she walked up to the planet. "Wow, this thing is like three dimensional."

Anya shook her head. "Impossible, they didn't have technology like this back before the Great War."

"See for yourself?"

Walking away from the podium, what Anya once thought was nothing more than a projected picture was actually a completely moving and rendered three dimensional image of the planet. The only time she'd seen technology like this was in the Enclave's bases at Raven Rock and Adams Air Force Base.

"What's it do?" asked Athena as she experimentally placed her hand into the swirling image.

Anya shook her head. "I don't know."

Walking back, she studied the various controls and noticed a keyboard by a blinking monitor that had a tablet above it that said Destination. Taping in Washington DC, she hit the enter key and the three dimensional image of the planet stopped rotating and started to zoom in towards a portion of the North American Continent which quickly expanded to fill the whole auditorium. Both Anya and Athena gazed in wonderment as they stared at the lush and bustling landscape of Pre-War Washington DC. Anya then typed in the Washington Monument and watched as the room zoomed further into Washington to show the undamaged landmark sitting in the unscathed Capital of the United States of America.

"It's a three dimensional overlay map," Anya said as Athena came up besides her.

"So that means what, that all we have to do is type in a location and this thing will display it for us?" asked Athena

"Only one way to find out," said Anya as she typed in New York Institute of Technology into the monitor. "Please let this work," she whispered before hitting the enter key.

Looking back up, the two women watched in silence as the three dimensional image of Washington DC receded and pan to the northeast to settle over New York City. It paused for a moment before panning inwards towards the city, causing Anya to catch her breath as she saw what Central Park looked like before the Great War and then the image was racing over the bay and across the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.

"Unbelievable," muttered Athena as she watched the ever changing scenery.

Finally the three dimensional map settled on a lush, green area with various buildings dotted around large concrete quads and forays. When it failed to move, Anya glanced down at the monitor to see that it was showing the New York Institute of Technology in the district of Old Westbury of Nassau County. She couldn't help but smile as she glanced back up at the three dimensional image.

Hold on, Sarah, we're coming!
********

Crouching low on their hands and knees, Anya and her group slowly approached the blown out window frames across the empty room of the eighth floor. It had been a long and difficult trek from the Chrysler Building in the middle of Manhattan and across the ruins of three boroughs to reach the campus of the New York Institute of Technology in the district of Old Westbury of Nassau County. They decided to travel mostly during the daylight hours to minimize their chances of running into the Horsemen and to use the landmarks in the ruins as navigational assets. It was about halfway through Queens when they ran into their first group of Horsemen. Sticking to the ruins of a building, they watched the roving patrol pass by allowing them to get a glimpse at them for the first time.

They were indeed human in nature, both male and female, with most of them having a mixture of pale and slightly tan skin that could have been associated from living underground with barely enough exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sunlight. The garments and armor worn appeared to piece together from anything they could scavenge from the ruins or more commonly their victims since some of them sported skulls, both animal and human, as shoulder pads, belt buckles, or as decorative necklaces. Weapons that they could see where an assortment of melee and projectiles though one or two appeared to be carrying energy weapons. But what surprised Anya the most was that they spotted them during the daylight hours and not during the evening.

Slipping to the northeast, they proceeded on a northern course until they reached District of Fresh Meadows and then swung on a easterly route through Oakland Gardens and the Little Neck Districts to the remnants of Northern Belvedere and followed it on a north easterly trek through the ruins of Nassau County to East Hills that according to Pre-war maps overlooked the campus of the Institute from the west. However the closer they got the more groups of patrolling Horsemen they spotted until it became so frequent as they passed through District of Roslyn that they stuck to combing a way through the interiors of the nuclear devastated buildings.

With her back against the wall, Anya took a deep breath and slowly rose to her knees, peering over the ledge to glance for the first time at the campus of the New York Institute of Technology and the sight nearly stole her breath away. The entire campus that she could see was encircled by a wall of debris and refuge with guard towers interlinked by parapets. Pulling out her binoculars she could see Horsemen in the guard towers and walking the parapets of the wall as well as moving around on the campus grounds beyond the wall. Huge holes that easily had to be thirty meters in circumference darted the landscape between the buildings. In the fading light, huge bonfires illuminated the walk paths that were lined with poles that easily had to be eight meters in height with bodies of people impaled on them. The buildings looked to have been repaired but their facings were pitted and black showcasing damage from a recent battle.

"Well it looks like we found their Temple of Lucifer," comment Athena.

"Temple of Lucifer? More like the Temple of Doom," remarked Jessi. "You think that's where they brought Kelsey and the others?"

Ducking back down, Yearling asked, "So how do we go about getting in?"

Anya then noticed that all eyes were on her. "Oh for the love of, okay we can't just blast our way in, looks like the Pride tried that one already."

"Which surprises me. Tactically speaking, the Pride had everything on their side from weapons, equipment, and training," noted Yearling. "I can't believe they were defeated by a pack of biblical worshipping raiders."

"Perhaps there is more to them then we've seen so far," replied Athena. "They must've been the ones responsible in shooting down that Vertibird that Anya told me about so obliviously they have technology as well and know how to use it. Not quite as simple minded as raiders go."

"Okay but that still doesn't answer the question on how we're going to get in," said Jessi.

Anya was about to reply when Yearling took off her back and dug into it. "Thankfully I managed to find some of these in the armory before we left," she said.

Pulling out four arm bands with a circle-like device with a miniature key command panel mounted in the middle protected by a thin, silver in color shroud, she passed them out and Anya recognized them to be RobCo Stealth Boy 3001s. A product of last decade of pre-war technology, Stealth Boy 3001 was a personal stealth device worn on one's wrist which when activated generates a modulating field that transmits the reflected light from one side of an object to the other, making a person much harder to notice, but not completely invisible.

The technology was developed by Robert Mayflower, based on captured Chinese Hei Gui stealth suits, belonging to the Black Ghost counterinsurgency/terror units. Though the Stealth Boy is more portable and capable of projecting a more powerful stealth field, it has severe drawbacks. The effects of the stealth field only last for about an hour, at which the Stealth Boy will run out of power and require recharging if possible.

Holding the unit, Anya looked at Yearling with a perplexed expression. "Why didn't you tell me you had these?"

Shrugging her shoulders, she tugged on her pack and said, "I didn't think we would need them, but now judging from our circumstances I'm glad I brought them, don't you agree."

"No arguments here."

They waited until night fall and utilizing a returning Horsemen patrol, managed to slip into the compound unnoticed. Once inside they proceeded towards the nearest of the buildings and slipped inside just as the Stealth Boys were at the peak of their operating time span. Taking refuge in a abandon room, they powered down their 3001s and stowed them in their packs as Anya took out a map that she'd downloaded from the three dimensional imagining auditorium at the Manhattan sub-campus of the Institute.

Laying it flat, she pointed to a building on the campus's western edge. "Okay, we're here. Now from information that we found the research centers is located here in this area right here to the northeast of us."

Seeing the distance, Jessi bit her lip. "That's about a good klick that we'll have to cross in the open without the Stealth Boys to give us a hand."

Athena nodded. "She's right. Unless we manage to disguise ourselves or find some other way we're pretty much fucked."

"What about a subterranean tunnel system?" asked Yearling. "Surely a campus this big had to support some kind of transit system."

"We couldn't find any information on that so your guess is as good as mine," replied Anya. "What you gals think? Look for an alternate way or try to blend in?"

It was decided that they should look for an alternate path before attempting to jump unsuspecting Horsemen to take their clothes. Carefully they moved out of the abandon room and proceeded down the building's halls with Anya in the lead, M121 Assault Rifle up at the ready followed by Jessi, Yearling, and then Athena bringing up the rear. Pausing at a stairwell, Anya strained her hearing for any noises and voices that would indicate the presence of a nearby Horseman. When she heard nothing, she nodded her head and slowly descent the stairwell into the basement. She squeezed her eyes from time to time to allow her irises to adjust to the low light level as she took the corners tight, peeking out around them before proceeding down the next flight.

When she reached the bottom, she pressed up against the frame of a closed door. Taking a deep breath as her hand twisted the knob, she allowed the door to open slightly to peer through the small crack into a well of pitch darkness beyond. Feeling her heart thumping in her chest, she opened the door and stepped through followed by Athena, weapons up at the ready. With the exception of their boot falls on centuries old titling there was no other indication of anyone else's presence in the tunnel. Motioning with her hands, she took point again and proceeded down the darken stretch. It felt like eternity before Anya found the other end of the tunnel the hard way. Rubbing her head and biting a curse that was forming in her mouth, she felt the wall for the door frame and then the handle once she found it.

The light that greeted her as she cracked open the door caused her to wince, squeezing her eyes shut for a few seconds before reopening them. Why didn't we bring along any night vision optics, she thought for a second before she stepped into the room followed again by Athena. However this time there were two suddenly surprised Horsemen on the other side. Both girls didn't hesitate as they lunged to the started biblical worshippers with Anya pulling out a combat knife from behind her and shoving it through the man's neck, severing his trachea and larynx before jerking the weapon to the right for the metal blade to tear through his Cortaid artery. The Horseman's eyes widen as blood spurted out from his nearly severed neck, making gurgling sounds as blood filled his lungs, causing him to collapse to his knees and slump over to his side. Athena was less direct but just as effective in dispatching her foe. Lashing out with a flat palm, she slammed it into the base of his throat, stunning him for the moment she needed to circle around him, wrapping her arms around his neck in the process and with a swift jerk was rewarded with the sharp cracking sound of bone.

Allowing the limp Horsemen to fall to the ground, she nodded to Anya before motioning the other two in. Taking a deep breath from the sudden and mortal fight that just occurred in all but ten seconds, Anya paused long enough to wipe the blade of her knife on the Horseman's shirt before replacing it back into sheath. Padding down the bodies fairly quickly for anything useful, they stripped weapons and ammo off the carcasses and secured them to their packs webbing before heading out. Anya didn't know how long it would take for the corpses to be found but she knew it would only be a matter of time and time was their greatest enemy at the moment.

Passing down another corridor, this one however was lined on either side with thick windows that showcased large expanses filled with various forms of machinery, monitoring stations, and scientific equipment, all of which appeared to be operational and in perfect working condition. Yearling whispered a comment on it but Anya paid it no heed for she could care less at the moment over some scientific discovery on whatever the machinery was or what it did, her main concern was attempt to locate wherever doubled over as holding area and free her friends if they were still alive.

Entering another area, this time even more clean and pristine as the last, Anya was starting to get an uncomfortable feel. The way Athena described the Horsemen as some satanic cult she imagine them being just above the intelligent level of Raiders found in the Capital Wasteland and when she first saw the compound she thought she was right. But then Athena cast doubt in those thoughts with her explanation of the down Vertibird and how they managed to possibly defeat the Lyons' Pride, but this was truly unexplainable. She paused for a brief second to peer into one of rooms that appeared to be some sort of research/testing center for it was filled with machinery, computers, desks, and even a restraint table surrounded by medical monitors and equipment.

"What the fuck," she whispered to herself as the uneasiness inside of her built.

Athena glanced inside the same room and then checked the other room. "It's the same over here as well."

"This doesn't look to be any part of future space exploration," comment Yearling. "It's almost as if this place is set up as some genetic biological research center."

Hearing a grimace, Anya turned to see Jessi gripping her forehead. "Jessi, you okay?"

The pink hair teenager nodded her head. "Yeah, just...never mind, I'm okay. Let's go."

Anya gave her one more look and then glanced over to Athena who seemed to be fine. Apparently she has suffered from a equate anamnesis that has render herself unable to remember anything about herself past the last four years. Story is in conjunction with Knight Anastasia’s new companion, the teenager female known as Jessi that suffers from the same condition. Unsure if the two are related somehow for the distances between the two are extreme. That was what Sarah's report had said once she talked to Athena and noted the similarities between her and Jessi. She couldn't help but wonder if this place had some kind of connection to them as well?

Pushing it out of thought, she lead the group down corridor after corridor, passing more rooms filled with various machinery and medical equipment. Finally they found a computer terminal and Anya hacked into the system relatively easily, bringing up the subterranean schematics. What the, she thought as she stared at the monitor screen showcasing the lower levels of the campus. What the hell is Project Predominant?

Her head snapped up as she heard a loud click followed by a whirling sound. She had heard that sound once before and was about to shout out a warning when two silver in color spheres flashing bluish white light rolled around the corner, came to a sudden halt, and erupted in an explosion of electrical currents that raked over the four women's bodies, causing to overload their nervous system and rendering them to the floor unconscious.
********

I have to got to stop doing this.

That was her thought as she slowly drifted back to a conscious state. With her eyes fluttering open Anya found herself devoid of all articles of clothing and suspended in some sort of stasis field inside a transparent cylinder. Glancing around the room she could see banks of computers, medical monitoring devices, a surgical bed, medical equipment, and control desks. It dawn on her that she was inside one of those rooms that she'd passed by earlier. What the hell am I doing in here, she thought to herself as the door to the chamber opened and in walked a man she never thought she would see here.

"Well then, how fortunate am I to see you finally awake, my dear child," he said with a grin.

She glared at the gray hair man with matching color eyes. "If I could wrap my hands around your throat at this moment I would squeeze that smirk off your face," she shouted.

Colonel Augustus Autumn just let out a chuckle as he folded his arms across his chest. "No need to shout that loud, I can hear you just fine. The genetic testing cylinder does have a built in intercom system. But however I must attest that this does feel like déjà vu all over again, don't you agree?"

"Believe me, if I could've avoid it I would have," she replied back. "Where are my friends?"

"Oh you need not worry about them anymore and I must thank you for returning one of our lost children to us."

The comment snapped through the angry haze that filled her mind. "What child?"

Now Autumn really started to laugh. "Oh my, so you haven't figured it out yet, have you? And here I thought you to be intelligent. The child that I'm referring to is one of your companions that accompanied you here."

Unsure if the two are related somehow for the distances between the two are extreme. "Jessi?" she asked quietly.

"Well, I guess I was mistaken about after all."

Has suffered from a equate anamnesis that has render herself unable to remember anything about herself past the last four years. "What did you do to her?"

"What we did to her? Nothing, we made her, my dear."

"Made her? What are you talking about, Autumn?"

The Enclave Commander let out a sight as he shook his head. "I guess you'll need some helping putting all the pieces together. As you know, Raven Rock wasn't the Enclave's only stronghold. When my father first arrived in the Capital Wasteland and realized that enigmatic President John Henry Eden was nothing more than a ZAX artificial intelligent computer that achieved self awareness, he played along with it while secretly devising a new strategy that would usher in a new phase for the Enclave."

"Project Predominant?"

"Project Predominant was a contingence plan of then President Richardson and Lieutenant-Colonel Dr. Charles Curling. The good doctor for years had been experimenting with genetic engineering although his results were less than acceptable. One fundamental flaw was that he lacked the basic knowledge nor had the appropriate facilities for such research since all of the pre-war genetic research and engineering centers had been located on the east coast and were feared to have been destroyed. When the Enclave moved eastward, the first thing my father did once re-established at Raven Rock was to send out patrols to locate those centers and see if any had survived. In a five years worth of searching only one was found to be relatively unscathed by the nuclear holocaust of ages gone."

"But the New York Institute of Technology was hailed as the leading research center for future space exploration endeavors, not a genetic research center."

"Plausible Deniability," Autumn replied. "Before the Great War of 2077, The United States Government was deeply involved in genetic experimentation. Where do you think those dreaded Deathclaws came from? This Institute did in fact have any going research in a number of scientific fields, including Plasma Distribution that has benefited the Enclave greatly in weapons and power armor advancement. However they were a leading contender in genetic research. While others focused on mutate genetic research, this institute focused on human genetics including early trails of human cloning."

"But the medical research into cloning prove to be unsound because of the difficulty of cloning any living animal, it is likely that there would be a great number of failures in the creation of a living human clone, such as clones without viable immune systems or other gross genetic failures."

For a second Autumn did reply to her rebuke, instead he just stared and marveled at her. Finally he said, "You're father taught you well. Yes, the problems of rapid cellular growth and immune deficiency plagued the early attempts at genetic cloning in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, but the research being conducted here at the Institute was on their way to actually creating and sustaining a genetically perfected human, not a clone."

"And President Eden allowed this?" asked Anya.

Autumn shook his head. "No, when we started Project Predominant twenty years ago my father took great lengths to keep it from that computer. He didn't trust its motives as much as I did when I succeeded my father in command. The President, if you still want to call it that, was completely unaware of the project's existence. When we implemented the project here, we needed viable test subjects and the settlements in the surrounding areas provided a source to this end. However whenever we tried to replicate the original test, most ended up in failures. Athena was our first and only success."

"Athena is a clone!"

"No, my dear, she is not a clone, haven't you've been listening to want I've been saying? We found that full scope of the research was still impractical so our scientists using the last three procedures of the research and coupled with Lieutenant-Colonel Curling's data we were able to prefect force genetic cellular manipulation and reproductive cloning. Athena was one of the byproduct of that research. A standard human whose genetic coding and make-up has been altered and perfected. She is highly intelligent, athletic, agile, all and all a-"

"Perfect soldier," finished Anya.

"I was going to say human being, but yes, that was one goal of the project. All and all only fifty of the test subjects survived the force genetic cellular manipulation so we decided to use them as harvesters and went with SCNT."

"SCNT?"

"In genetics and developmental biology it's was once known a somatic cell nuclear transfer. It's a technique for creating a clonial embryo, using an ovum with a donor nucleus. From there these embryos are placed in surrogate mothers. However our arbitration rate was high. For every one perfect human fifty were, how would you see, unacceptable."

For the first time, the whole scope of everything that Autumn was telling her dawn on her. "You harvested those people's eggs and semen to make genetically superior human beings. Are those the Horsemen?"

"Horsemen? Oh, you must be referring to the tribes people above."

"Tribal People?"

"When we first arrived in New York City, there were two nearly primitive, brutal tribes that lived on Long Island who were always in a state of constant strife. At first we took test subjects from both tribes but when we heard that the Brotherhood was seen moving towards Pittsburgh my father decided we needed a viable cover just encase the Brotherhood came to New York City. Taking a page out of history, we killed both leaders from the tribes and declared himself a prophet and started a religion."

"Revelation 6:8."

Autumn nodded. "Kind of poetic, don't you think?"

"And the surrounding settlements? The raids on them?"

"When we needed more test subjects they were sent out to do the Enclave's bidding keeping our forces out of sight."

Anya felt sick to her stomach. "And what became of the people?"

"Those that didn't die or produce results were dispose of in a timely matter. You see we have continue our research into force genetic cellular manipulation, which we just have recently perfected in the last year."

"And Jessi?"

"A product of SCNT. She was being transported with ten others to our main compound out west when the Vertibird went down due to mechanical failure. The follow-up report noted that they were unable to locate her body and presumed that her corpse had been dragged off by local predators."

"And Athena?"

The Enclave Commander smiled. "Accomplished her mission perfectly."

Slowly, the young girl shook her head, unbelieving what she had heard. "That's not true."

But Autumn just nodded his head and said, "When the Brotherhood arrived in New York, I dispatched Athena to infiltrate their outpost and befriend them to find out if they in fact knew that we were here and if not what their mission was. Of course she went missing as soon as we dispatched her and we didn't know why."

Anya then let out a laugh and shook her head. "Now I know you're lying. She was captured by ghoul and used as a fuck pet for months before she escaped. She was then shot by him in retaliation and was found by a Brotherhood patrol and brought to the outpost where she was nursed back to health. So go ahead and tell me another one, Autumn."

"Was this ghoul's name so happened to be called Jonathan?" When she didn't reply, he said, "I take your silence as a yes. Jonathan had no love for humans and was good at killing our tribal patrols but also those unfortunate to wander into the ruins from the outlaying settlements. As a training op to see how well Project Predominant had evolved, four SCNTs were dispatched, under the direct supervision of Athena, to hunt down and kill him. During the altercation all but her and one other SCNT were killed and the ghoul escaped."

"I don't believe you."

Autumn shrugged his shoulders. "Believe what you will or what you want. The fact of the matter is she accomplished her mission in capturing you."

"And why do you want me so bad, Autumn?"

"I want you because of what you are. You said it yourself, the perfect soldier. With no combat experience, you left Vault 101 to travel the Capital Wasteland in search of your father and faced adversity at every turn. How many countless battle have you fought where older, more experienced soldiers have fallen? You single handily lead the attack on my Enclave Forces, decimating our ranks during the assault on the Purifier and then the war that followed ending with you standing triumphant at Adams Air Force Base. Not to mention the struggles against the Super Mutants, Slavers, and Raiders that you fought everywhere you went. That is why I placed that bounty on your head."

"So why did you kill Lucy?"

"If you're referring to the blonde hair girl at Paradise Falls I wasn't trying to kill her. No, in fact I wasn't trying to kill neither you or anyone else. I was trying to incapacitate the pink hair girl behind you, Jessi as you called her. The blonde just so happened to get in the way of my shot just as I pulled the trigger. A misfortune on her part that led to her untimely death."

Tears wanted to exploded from Anya's eyes upon hearing the fact surrounding her friend's death, but none came. "She died because of me. Because you wanted me and for what?"

"Like I said, we finally perfected the force genetic cellular manipulation and I wanted you to be the restarted program's first subject. Once we're completed, we'll harvest your eggs and create a new generation of fighters for the Enclave. You should be proud of yourself, you're about to become a proud mother to whole new species of Homo Sapiens."

"I would whether slice your throat and dance on your corpse, Autumn!"

Sighing, he only shook his head as he turned around and motion with his hand through the door, allowing a team of scientists to enter the chamber. "You should've done that when you had the chance, my dear. And unlike last time, no one is going to free you here."

He smiled as a scientist operated some controls and the genetic testing cylinder started to fill with a clear liquid. Anya watch as the liquid slowly rose in height, coating her nude form in sticky but warm solution. As it rose to her neck, she took a deep breath as it encompassed her head. She held as long as she could until her lungs, screaming in protest, caused her to open her mouth and inhale. Her body spasm violently as the liquid filled her lungs and she let out one last scream before the oblivion took her.
********

"Fucking let go of me, you fucking bug eyed bastards," Jessi shouted as she struggled in the grasp of two Enclave Scientists.

Managing to pry one of her arms out of the scientists' grasp, she swung as hard as she could, catching the one still holding one of her arms in his airtight environmental suit's orange Plexiglas visor. He staggered for a brief moment, but that was all Jessi needed to plant her foot into his chest sending him crashing up against the corridor's wall. The other scientist wrapped his arms around her chest, effectively pinning her arms to her sides, but the teenage girl let out a wail and bend over suddenly at her waist, causing him to go off balance so she could pivot on the balls of her heels and swing her leg back and upwards as hard as she could. Rewarded with a muffled cry and the slackening of his arms, she whirled and grabbed both sides of his Plexiglas visor and brought it down sharply onto her raised knee.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, causing her to duck a white balled fist. Ramming her own into the solar plex of her assailant, which doubled the last scientist over, she dispatched him with a knee to his visor. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the laser pistol from one of the scientists' belts before she hurried back down the corridor, pausing at each intersection she came too. Hearing voices approaching down a adjacent corridor, she opened the nearest door and slipped inside the chamber. Allowing the door to close, she pressed her body up on the other side of the frame and waited for the chamber door to open as the voices grew closer and then faded. Relaxing, she looked around the darken chamber and fixed her gaze at the cylinder Plexiglas tube that glowed a faint bluish light. Suspended inside the liquid was a naked, blonde hair woman.

"Sarah," she whispered, recognizing the woman to be that of the commanding officer of the Lyons' Pride.

Hurrying over to the tube, she knocked on the Plexiglas, but the woman didn't stir. Looking around, she didn't see any controls on either side of the cylinder. Noticing a control desk, she hurried over to it and activated the console and stared at the readout that was flashing on the corner side: Genetic Testing Cylinder B23-D Activated; Subject - Human Female, Caucasian, early Twenties; Disposition - Holding in statis field pending final evaluation of Phase One. Unsure what that all meant, she brought up the system controls and stared at the options. Selecting the command that would purge the tank, she was about to hit the enter command when the lights came on in the chamber.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a voice said. "You might kill her if you improperly key the wrong sequence."

Looking up Jessi saw Athena standing in the chamber. She was dressed in a black looking outfit that almost looked like a uniform and her hair was now tied in a tight bun in the back of her head.

"What do you mean I'll kill her if I don't properly enter the correct sequence?" asked Jessi.

The green hair woman smirked and nodded to the cylinder. "The substance inside the cylinder is a oxidized silicon insulating gel. Think of it as fluid that keeps fetus warm and protected during gestation inside the uterus."

Jessi fixed the green hair woman with a quizzed look. "How do you know so much about these things?"

"Because I spent a long time in them," she answered. "You, on the other hand, never had to go through what I went through."

"What?"

Athena smiled and shook her head. "Guess your memories haven't come back yet? You must've bumped your head harder than I thought in the crash. Jessi, this is home for you. You were born here, raised and trained here under my tutelage."

Home? Born and raised? "Athena, what are you babbling about?"

"Jessi, I'm your mother!"

For a minute, both of the women didn't speak. Jessi just stared at her, her eyes blinking as she slowly started to shake her head. "No, that can't be."

"You were somatic cell nuclear transfer from one of my eggs and conceived through artificial insemination. You were gestated in a surrogate mother and born naturally sixteen years ago. You're childhood was spent here, one of the few who were deemed genetically perfect, until you were twelve years of age when you and nine others of your brothers and sisters left for your new home in the west. While enroute the transport suffered a catastrophe mechanical failure which resulted in a crash. You were the only survivor and I suspect is where you developed your anamnesis."

"And you, what are you?"

Athena took a long, deep breath and sighed as she sat down in a chair. "That is a long story. I don't remember much, but the earliest memories I have was being part of a tribe that roamed the lands to the east of the city. I was brought here when I was eight years of age by the leaders of my tribe and experimented on."

"And you allowed this?"

"Of course I did. The leaders had brought peace and stability to our lands and people after decades worth of strife. To be chosen by them was a great honor to come here. Through the long years they made me stronger, intelligent, agile, and then when I was fourteen they told me that soon I was going to be a mother to whole new generation for my people. I raised all of my children to be just like me and taught them everything that I knew. I was so proud to be your mother that I almost didn't want to let you go when it came time for all of you to leave, but I knew it was for the best."

Jessi couldn't believe what she was hearing. "And what about Sarah?" she asked, pointing to the cylinder where the unconscious woman floated. "She didn't choose to become an experiment of the Enclave. Your great leaders are nothing more than an organization of genocidal maniacs playing God to human beings. I don't find anything of honor in it, I find it more appalling. Tell me, Athena, how many that weren't your people made the choice as you did, how many willingly allowed themselves to become nothing more than mole rats for scientists?"

"You've been out in the wasteland too long, child."

"I might've been in the wasteland too long, but I know right from wrong," Jessi stated and pointed to the cylinder. "And that goes far beyond wrong to plain just evil. Haven't we learned from our past mistakes when it comes to playing God?"

"You shouldn't concern yourself with your former friends, in fact most of have been selected to become like us."

Feeling her heart skip a beat, Jessi felt her anger rising in her voice as she spoke. "I won't allow you to hurt any of them."

Shrugging her shoulders, Athena stood up from the chair and started to approach the teenage girl. "It's not your place to decide that anymore. You'll be seeing them again, I assure you, that is if they survive the genetic manipulation process."

Taking a few steps backwards away from the approaching green hair woman, Jessi grabbed the laser pistol from her belt and pointed it towards her. "I don't care what you say I am or what I was, I know what I am and I'm not like you."

Stopping, Athena gave her a mocking expression as she snorted. "And here I thought I raised you better to point a weapon at your mother."

"You're not my mother," growled Jessi.

Both women locked their eyes on one another for a brief heartbeat before Athena suddenly ducked off to the side as Jessi reacted, triggering a burst from the energy weapon that struck the wall and floor just to the side of Athena. Cursing, Jessi tried to readjust her aim but Athena took advantage of her oversight and pounce on the girl, her hands wrapping around the girl's weapon arm. The younger female let out a cry as Athena's finger depressed on a pressure point, causing the energy weapon to fall from her hands. Recovering quickly, Jessi lashed out with her leg that was effectively blocked and countered by Athena. Her eyes grew wide as the green hair woman's fist connected into her stomach, blowing the air from her lungs and causing her to stagger backwards.

Breathing heavily, she raised her hands to counter a follow up blow and then dropped to her knees, swiping her leg in a circular motion to knock Athena off her feet but was met with only emptiness as the woman jumped over her leg kick. Using the momentum of her kick, she rolled to her left and jumped to her feet, grabbing Athena's boot in her hands a mere few inches from her face. But then she did something that Jessi didn't expect; using her caught leg as leverage, she drew her knee back to her, causing the teenager to go off balance yet again and ram her head into her outstretched fist. Stars exploded in Jessi's vision as she slumped to the ground.

Standing above her, Athena just casually shook her head. "Who do you think taught you to fight in hand-to-hand combat?"

Gritting her teeth, Jessi exploded upward, lashing out in a volley of punches and kicks that Athena nearly blocked almost all of them. Grabbing one of Jessi's punches, she wrapped the girl up against her body, pinning her arms to her chest, and gave her a kiss to the cheek and then smiled as she let her go. That only grew Jessi's frustration and she came back at Athena, who was ready for her. The kick that connected against her temple propelled Jessi over the control desk and onto the ground. Laying sprawled on the ground, Jessi glanced up to see Athena moving around the side of the console.

"I'll give you this, you've improved since the last time we sparred," she said. "I don't want to hurt you, child, but if you precise in this needless struggle I'll warn you right now that I won't hold back any longer."

"You can keep your candor for someone who cares," Jessi replied as she rose to her feet yet again.

"Why do you precise. Can't you see that your friends will be better off here than in the wasteland?"

Taking a deep breath to steady her shaking feet, Jessi replied softly. "Everyone has the right to be free and make their own choices, Athena. That is what makes us human and something the Enclave will never give anyone."

Athena waited for the pink hair teenager to come at her again, but frowned when she didn't. Then without warning, Jessi spun around to the console and slammed her hand on the Initiate switch. The console beeped and the hydraulic system activated and began draining the oxidized silicon insulating gel from Sarah's tank.

"No, you'll kill her," Athena shouted and ran to the panel, pushing the girl aside.

It was the moment of distraction Jessi had hoped for and she slammed her conjoint fists into the green hair woman's temple. Athena crumpled to the ground unconscious as Jessi's hands danced over the control panel and reversed the pumps, replacing the drain fluid back into the Sarah's tank. Allowing herself to collapse to the floor, she leaned up against the control desk and stared at the unconscious green hair woman. For all your talk, I just provided that you still have a conscious, Athena.