Fandom The Commonwealth Story

[Mr_DC]

The Commonwealth.
Calm and chaotic.
Safe and deadly.
Peaceful and brewing a war.

The Railroad
Having survived countless attacks from the Institute and still kept on swinging, the synth-helping Railroad is facing a new foe.



The Brotherhood of Steel
Coming to end the abuse of dangerous technology, the Brotherhood claims it is on a mission to protect the Commonwealth citizens.


The Minutemen
Citizens helping citizens. Their goal of achieving a peaceful Commonwealth seems near impossible with war on the horizon.


The Institute
The mythical group finally surfaced to achieve self-sufficiency but came to face powerful foes.​

As tensions in the Commonwealth started to mount, seemingly unconnected group odd jobs began painting a web of something larger.
With the Brotherhood arriving in the Commonwealth, scavengers started being directed to high-tech locations.
With the Railroad regaining its strength, the underground intelligence trade exploded.
With the Minutemen taking back the Castle, raider gangs started showing strategic thinking unseen before.
With the Institute seeming as a more physical threat than ever before, seeds of panic were sown.​

It does not matter where your allegiances lie.
What matters is that you are about to be offered the job which will shape the future of the Commonwealth.​

 

[Mr_DC]

Magnolia. Her silky smooth voice was exactly what Vaana needed to hear, sitting in the back room of the third rail. A few caps to Whitechapel Charlie to let her stay there. A few more caps for booze. A few more to spread the word that she's looking for clients. The privilege of hearing those soft tunes was free and priceless. Months ago, Vaana would walk right up to her and offer a drink. Now, though, bad luck had been dragging her on the flood for months. Not a thing could go right. Her robots breaking at the base, turrets firing off random shots. To top it off, she managed to screw up that power armor she never gets her hands off and managed to get the right arm to stop responding. Luckily, she almost never had to use the suit in actual combat.

The calming mix of Magnolia's singing, muffled voices, and clanging glasses was broken by a knock on the metal door. The room she resided in probably used to be a tiny office in the subway. A ruined office desk, paper scattered over the floor, office chair in pieces in a corner. Vaana spent most of her time lounging on the surprisingly comfortable bed which was specially dragged in when she took the room for herself. Reaching for the silenced handgun on the desk, Vanna plastered on her standard, unimpressed expression. "Yeah?" She asked, taking the handgun to rest on her lap as she sat up on the bed to face the door. No one would cause trouble in Goodneighbour. No one except those young and dumb enough to try and claim the reputation of the person who took down the Merc. Mounting her hat on a wall as a prize or something.

A head poked inside. Rugged man. Scavenger, by the looks of it. Didn't have the eyes of a raider or the expression of a mercenary. Long, scruffy beard and a worn face. Still, Vaana could imagine a gun poking in and firing a few rounds in her direction. She turned the gun in her fap to face the door and cocked an eyebrow. It was an act the man easily saw and got intimidated enough to vanish, throwing in an envelope. An unexpected reaction which made Vaana shrug and head to the envelope.
The message inside, handwritten by an impressively skilled hand, read:

An assignment well-paid. Details await at the Robotics Disposal Ground near Sanctuary with an advance. A person of your set of skills should get the details without an issue.
The Benefactor
​

Vaana frowned. Then, she smirked. About time she got contacted by the Benefactor.

 

[AI10100]

Hanging around Diamond City was assured to be peaceful. Or at least, no one would really even try and bother him here. Jackson wasn't exactly the type of person who liked to stay away from people, but he was also wary enough that people might want to take a shot at defeating the Specter - so he always chose settlements with at least some form of security. Corrupt, they may be, but they were at least paid to protect. Entering Diamond City is hard all by itself, committing murder within city limits is even harder. It's a good thing money wasn't a problem with him as he managed to pay off the Mayor into letting him stay, after also simultaneously proving that he would come to the aid of the city if they were ever under attack by Ghouls, Super Mutants, Raiders, Gunners or virtually any other threat they could think of.

Jackson liked hanging on the roof of his house while cleaning his sniper rifle. It gave a sort of 'cool' vibe, not to mention intimidating. He was a pretty big target here, but he wants to see if someone can actually snipe him without him seeing them first. He was moving every now and then though, standing up and stretching and whatnot. Everything was well and good. The children of Diamond City went around playing, and he could hear the distant echoes of their local newswriter Piper and her sister Nat calling out to the people to check on the latest news on Publick Occurrences. Now that he mentioned it, he hasn't really read the latest article yet. It was something to keep his boredom at bay when he doesn't have a job yet. It's been a week since the last one and while he appreciates the down time, he honestly did not like how long it was taking. At least one peep from someone else would be enough for him, even if his very twisted moral compass doesn't allow him to take the job.

Sparky stood up and began growling with his ears pulled back. Jackson turned his head downwards and a man was looking up with him. He didn't look like anything special - but he was no Diamond City resident. He was confident that he knew everyone by face by now, after years of being a resident himself. Putting a hand behind his back, gripping his pistol, he crouched down and placed his sniper rifle to the side. He extended his other hand towards Sparky who then stopped growling, but was still in an aggressive posture. "And what do you want from me, stranger?" He asked in a polite tone, one that he takes on with almost anyone who hasn't wronged him in some way.

There were no words, but the man did throw an envelope towards him. Jackson instinctively reached out and caught he envelope. He locked eyes with the man with the latter walking away as soon as Jackson ripped open the enveloped to read the contents. "Let's see here. A job eh? Details at Robotics Disposal Ground with an advance? Sweet. And this is from the..." He paused when he read over the signed name. A grin could be found in his face as he tapped the paper. "The Benefactor huh? Finally, a job that might actually be interesting." He then grabbed his sniper rifle he began to descend into his home to prepare himself for the travel to Robotics Disposal Ground. It was supposedly near Sanctuary and he very well knew where that was. Searching for it should be no problem, but he kept a compass and map close to him at all times.

After preparations, he whistled for his guard dog. "Come on Sparky, it looks like we'll have an interesting job ahead of us."

 

[Mr_DC]

"Fuck. Me." Vaana fell on her knees, puffing and panting as the sentry bot powered down in front of her in the scrap yard. She spent half an hour running circles around the thing, trying to get close enough to deactivate it and all she got for it were several wounds. Surface wounds - her armor was at least more than just intriguing. Wounded and dangerously out of breath, Vaana allowed her fatigue to overcome her and she sat against the robot. "Shit." She moaned and injected herself with a stimpak.

As the cold wind cooled her flushed face, Vaana closed her tired eyes started thinking over her thumping heart. What were the odds it was truly the Benefactor hiring her? Being literate enough to pen such a letter narrowed down the circle of potential writers but it hardly meant it was the Benefactor himself. Or herself. It could have been just someone playing a joke on her and trying to get her killed by having her dance with a sentry bot. What exactly was the advance mentioned? The robot?

Vaana's eyes shot open at the thought. A joke or not, she had a sentry bot. Sure, the thing was trying to kill her but it could be exactly what she needed. Benefactor be damned, she could return to full power again. Well... The power armor was still on the fritz but that was a problem for another day.
Taking a deep breath to try and calm her breathing once more, Vaana frowned. Taking the majestic monstrosity still left a question unanswered. Who sent her here?
Two questions: Is there truly a message holding further details somewhere here?

 

[AI10100]

The trek to Robotics Disposal Ground wasn't too long. It took days, yes, but at least it didn't last any longer than that. Though, the amount of wild animals out to kill him was in greater number than usual that it was worrying. Thankfully though, being caught by surprise wasn't a problem since a dog was guarding him. He was forced to use his two pistols - a .44 and a .10 - while he was travelling since his sniper rifle was quite useless in close range combat. Of course, he could try, but that would be a waste of bullets and he always saved bullets when he can. After he shot the second Molerat, he sighed and then reloaded his pistol. According to the map, he was getting closer.

And he found himself within the grounds of the scrapyard soon enough. He could hear the rumbling of a bot working. Quickly hiding himself, he began to move around to find the source of the sound while ordering for Sparky to be quiet. Spotting the sentry bot and a woman in what seems to be Silver Shroud costume was fighting it out. Interestingly enough, she wasn't attacking it - she was trying to deactivate it. It was so risky that Jackson felt like he should salute the woman for trying. Taking position for his sniper rifle, he aimed down the scope and tried to follow the bot's movements to shoot out its power cores.

But then it powered down. He looked up from his position and saw the woman sitting down against the robot while applying a Stimpak. Whoa, she was actually pretty awesome. Looking down at his scope again to get a better look at her face, he finally recognized her. Quickly putting away his sniper rifle, he stood up from his position slowly. He wasn't stupid enough to try and intimidate The Merc of all people - one of the most feared mercenaries in the Commonwealth because of her skills. And from what he saw, those rumors were not unfounded. He was not about to dance with that devil any time soon. But what was she doing here? Was she sent here through the same letter from the Benefactor? It was plausible.

He sat down on one of the mounds, a little ways from her but she would be able to hear him. "So, Miss Merc's here too huh?" He said out loud. "Making me think that I'm being led to a trap here. Unless you're sent by that guy too." Jackson said in a casual voice, as if not afraid of having his head blown off because of his casual approach to the situation.

 

[Mr_DC]

Vaana winced. Someone managed to approach her without her noticing. What a blow to the ego - the sneaker got snuck upon. She cocked an eyebrow at the man. It was someone she knew about. Vaana made it a policy to keep herself educated on the freelance mercenaries who survive their first few jobs. They were competition. While she never got the feeling that Jackson would be the kind of a person to tiptoe on the line between a mercenary and a raider, Vaana was still cautious. After all, he had the upper hand and his apparent knowledge of who she was only put her at more of a risk. Relaxing the tension built up in her muscles, Vaana scoffed.

"Damn, my trap failed." She began sarcastically. "You waltzed right through the massive minefield I set up around this place and didn't fall for the ambush of wearing myself down and pretending to be tired." She snapped her gloved fingers. "Guess I'll have to go for plan B and summon my super mutant army." She finished, suppressing a laugh the best she could.
"Say, you're not gonna splatter my brains over this thing, right?" Vaana asked, tapping the metal sentry bot. "I mean, I've walked away from worse things but it would ruin my hair." Mentioning her hair only made her realize how hot she was getting under the fedora.

Deciding she was enough of a smart-mouth, Vaana took off her fedora to let her short, jet-black hair with an undercut on one side breathe and frowned at the mercenary. "In all seriousness, we're not gonna go ape and try to kill each other here, if that's fine with you." She said, finally getting to the last thing he mentioned. "I may know what you're talking about but..." She bit her lower lip. Information could get people killed. Revealing too much only made it that much riskier. "Why don't you tell me first who sent you?"

 

[Karcen]

Nic had received her invitation a few days ago while she had been out doing her job and gathering more electronics, steel, and various other parts so that she could improve her home and finish repairing it. She had done a lot to get it's systems up and running but still she had some work to do before it was all restored as ghouls didn't care to fix things their fights broke. Still she had been out gathering scrap as always and had finished dispatching an assultron when a man had managed to find her, she of course assumed that this mysterious benefactor wanted something fixed as all people that contacted her did. The location was odd but well that was no big deal maybe they had found something in the junk that they thought she could get working. She had thus set off expecting just another fix job instead of anything big as for the mystery, well some people just liked to remain hidden like the institute as it wasn't like they gave guided tours despite being more active.

Arriving at the location Nic saw that there were already two people, one dressed like something out of the old comics and the other just some guy and a sentry bot. The bot was what she assumed was the thing she was being asked to work on as the machines could be rather temperamental and with something like that one mistake and you were dead. Nic in truth preferred assultons more as they were faster and far more nimble, not to mention they didn't over heat. Still nothing said stay off my lawn like a big sentry bot that sported some missiles and perhaps gattling lasers and maybe a skull. Still she guessed that one of the two was the one that asked her here and given the looks well she could see why they wanted to remain nameless.

As Nic approached, her footsteps thundering in the bulky power armor she heard them talking about being hired or something. That didn't really concern Nic who had already decided that her getting here now was just a lucky happenstance while whoever was employing her was meeting with another. Nic decided to not make much of a bother of herself and she would do what she assumed the job was and fix the sentry bot up while they talked. It was hard to not be distracting while in power armor but Nic felt she had such a small presence she could do it.

Thus Nic ignored the two people and went right to the bot assuming they would just keep going while she looked it over, if one of them hired her they should know it was her.

Mr_DC AI10100

 

[AI10100]

Jackson looked at her with plain surprise in his face as she went on a sarcastic ramble. A moment of pause after that and he began to laugh, even going as far as slapping his knee at her. Sparky seemed to have caught on his master's mood and then barked happily - his tail wagging faster than before. After his burst of laughter, he wiped his eye for the non-existent tear and then said. "Geez, if I had known Miss Merc was a pretty funny person, I would have met her earlier." He admitted. All the stories surrounding her was one of the greatness and brutality. There was nothing she couldn't do. Now he knows that it also applies to having quite a good sense of humor too - even if it was pretty dark and was made with sarcasm. Something he understands completely, considering their wasteland of a home now.

He gave her a thumbs up. "I'd rather not fight really. As you can clearly see..." He brought up his sniper rifle. "I'm not one for combat this close." He continued before placing the gun down. Of course, he had his own personal weapons against his own weakness - hence why he has a pistol and Sparky along with a combat knife to cover for it. Though, he isn't as good with those weapons as he is with his sniper rifle. "Besides, I'm not going against someone who danced with a sentry bot. Like, seriously, cool down on badassery a little bit eh? You're taking all the contracts." He said in light humor. He didn't really mind. A little competition wasn't really all that bad.

Her hesitation is saying anything made it apparent that she was still that jaded person underneath - and again, something he could understand. But he wasn't going to suddenly up and leave or be protective of this sort of information. "The Benefactor. You know, mysterious dude?" He replied with a small shrug before placing a hand on Sparky's head as the dog began to growl at another direction. He turned his head to see someone in full Power Armor walking down. Without even regarding them with even a nod, headed straight for the sentry bot Miss Merc just powered down. This caused Jackson to suddenly jolt upwards. That sentry bot was hostile and if that girl was powering it up, then maybe that's the owner and she's out to kill them!

Or probably not since she just casually strode in. His head turned to Miss Merc. "You know this guy?" He wasn't actually sure who it was underneath the hunk of metal that gave out her position all too quickly. "Hey, you, you might not want to fix that thing. It kinda attacks people? You know, it'll mince us to bits? 'Cause I don't know about you but I think I want to live for a while longer." He said, hands gripping his sniper rifle tightly and positioned to run just in case the sentry bot does power up again.

 

[Mr_DC]

AI10100 Karcen
Vaana was, at first, overly suspicious of the man. The laugh put her on even more of an edge as it went on. She could envision the man drawing his gun and opening fire, the laugh serving just as a distraction of sorts. As the laugh ended, though, Vaana could see genuine entertainment on the man's face. Someone actually had a hearty laugh at her sarcasm and didn't just roll their eyes. Even more, someone who didn't open fire on her before she finished her quips. The corner of her lips curled into a partially open smile as the man mentioned her nickname. She preferred to stay quiet about knowing anything about him but she countered that wariness by doing something dangerous. Careless. Vaana closed her eyes and gave him a friendly smile.

As Jackson lowered his rifle, a wave of relaxation passed over Vaana once more. He wasn't a threat. If he wanted her dead, he could have put one through her forehead from a mile away. It was a pure luck that chems and snipers didn't mix well or raiders would have overrun the Commonwealth long ago.
Then Jackson said something which completely disarmed her caution. It wasn't just a compliment or a stroke of the ego. It was a pretty heavy praise. With a laugh, Vaana passed fingers through her hair and put her fedora back on. A bitter taste rose up in her. One which showed itself in only a flash of a frown as she fixed her fedora. She was living on old glory.
An undeserved legend. Overstating her own capabilities and taking more credit than she was ever owed, Vaana built up an icon. An icon which was almost completely empty now that she didn't have her most trusted tool by her side. A damn fine mercenary but far from the legend whispered around campfires.
"Sink or swim out there, eh?" She grinned, pushing herself up to her feet. "Don't worry, I think a bit of a break is in order." As if she wasn't rejecting contracts left and right.

"You too, eh?" Vaana asked as her eyes drifted aside. She decided to reveal her true motive for being there - other than deadly exercise. They were both hired by the Benefactor. Their task might have been to kill each other as far as each of them knew. She still lacked more details and, from what it appeared, so did her. Further processing of that idea came to a half as Vaana's eyes landed on a power armor-clad person. It was definitely a popular accessory in the Commonwealth but seeing it still put Vaana on edge. Power armor wasn't that much more of a threat to her if she got the opportunity to sneak up on the wearer but this time the person was walking straight up to them. To her!

"Oi!" Vaana spread her arms in panic as the person came up to the sentry bot with a definite intention of fiddling with it. "I went through hell to get it down, don't you dare touch it." She walked right up to the person in a foolhardy move. She saw first hand how skulls could be crushed with a power armor fist but Vaana was confident in her ability to dodge anything coming from the walking tank at such a close range. "It's mine." She growled, withdrawing her silenced handgun. While the little thing probably looked far from impressive, Vaana brought down more than a couple of power armored raiders with a well-placed shot. Perhaps not all legends were overblown.

 

[Karcen]

Nic was a little confused if the woman had called her to fix the sentry bot then why was she telling her to stay away? Well the most likely explanation to Nic was that the woman didn't realize she was the mechanic she had hired to fix the bot. Nic had little time to explain everything, well she had plenty of time but her assumption was the bot had simply been hacked and put into shutdown, that was easy enough to fix, and while she was at it she could reset its FFID system and put it into assist mode. Sentry bots were normally on defense and set to know old world ID's so they were hostile to everything fixing this bug wasn't to big of a deal.

" Hey you call me here and as you have a robot and i fix them, i'm doing my job" Nic said revealing her mistake in who had hired her. " Now just one second" she said as she fiddled with the bot fixing the issue she found in it with the ease that came from having done this many times.

The bot soon came to life its red light illuminating the area in front of it, but it didn't attack. Nic had made sure it would work, or well she had done this kind of stuff so much that she could get one like this reprogrammed with ease, it would be even easier if she had a pipboy, but the systems in her power armor seemed to work just as well for this kind of work. The robot looked around before going into a rest state signalling it was not going to attack.

" Ok then Mrs benefactor your robot is fixed" She said thinking again that had been her job.

 

[AI10100]

"They're seeking pretty much quality service nowadays. So y'know, they're looking for you most of the time." Jackson said with a small shrug. He didn't really care much for it. He got his own steady stream of people; not as much as before, but at least he still got the caps to maintain his own weaponry and buy some radiated food every now and then. He then continued grinning at the woman. "Taking a break huh? Everyone needs that y'know? Just chilling on your recliner. I know how you feel man." Looks like he could connect with her somewhat. He was honestly enjoying this somewhat. It was good to meet someone who's not jumping at the thought of killing him. It was very refreshing.

The revelation that the Benefactor was a mutual contractor was lost when the person in Power Armor appeared. Jackson was still very wary of PPA (Person in Power Armor) but Miss Merc seems to want to tackle it on herself. Jackson was prepared, however, to try and help. She was giving quite a good view of that Power Core. However, once she said that she was called and there was a robot she had to fix, there was a confused look on his face. Miss Merc had just gotten that sentry boy... so, why had she already been called here? Unless she was from Sanctuary and Miss Merc had some sort of device that he couldn't even see that she sent a message for help, that would have been nigh impossible.

When she began to fiddle with it again, he was close to panicking big time. He did not want to dance with a sentry bot. Been there, tried that, didn't really work out all that well. "Like I said, stop doing that!" He said in a panicked tone. When the sentry bot beeped into life with the red dot for its eyes powering up, he exclaimed - "Holy fricking fiddlesticks!" He physically jumped backwards, expertly catching his footing despite the downhill slope the mound had. However, when there was a distinct lack of bullets being fired and missiles blasting off from it, he assumed that it was safe. He let out a loud, and honestly a bit exaggerated, sigh of relief. "Never do that again." He told PPA. "Okay, maybe you should but that scared the living hell out of me."

His eyes widened when she mentioned 'Miss Benefactor.' Jackson shook his head. "That's not the Benefactor though." He said plainly, pointing at Miss Merc. That only meant that PPA was sent here by the Benefactor too, even though she mistook the job for being something else, that meant she was capable of actually doing something. Oh boy...

 

[Mr_DC]

AI10100 Karcen

Vaana saw the power armored woman continue working in spite of her order and she quickly holstered her handgun. The level of threat skyrocketed in an instant. She had no true way of stopping the woman and her bluff had been called but Vaana was not powerless. Taking two slow steps back, her body tensed. She was like a spring, ready to release the energy building up in her muscles. Just a sign of a threat and she would leap for the nearest cover.
She threw a look over her shoulder. The sniper was still there. Didn't abandon her and run to save his own hide. Not a common reaction when watching potential threat in power armor with a sentry bot.

Vaana's eyes grew wider as the sentry bot powered up. Then it did nothing.
Reluctantly tearing her eyes away from the situation in front, Vaana cast a confused gaze towards Jackson. Yep, still there. She had some blind faith that he would help her for whatever reason. Honor among mercenaries or something - if there even was such a thing.
Parting her lips to speak, Vaana paused. No coherent thoughts could form. No wisecrack, nothing clever. Her mind was just stuffed. "You turn it off. Now." She pointed at the woman even after she got called 'Mrs. Benefactor'.

"First things first." Vaana raised a finger in the air and clenched it into a fist. "Do I really look old enough to be called 'Mrs'?" She began with her trademark sarcasm, planting her hands on her hips, and looking at the woman. "I mean..." She shrugged, pretending to take offense. "I don't feel that old. I mean, I look like a sausage that's been on the grill too long but I wouldn't call that old. Weathered, maybe. Not old." She mumbled, finishing by pursing her lips and looking away. "You're probably not that young either, granny."

As she turned, she found herself looking in the direction of Jackson again. "And you..." Vaana cast aside the mock offense and started in a jokingly angry tone. "What makes you think I'm not the Benefactor? I might be. Just because I'm a woman? Is that it?" She clicked her tongue. "Typical."
"But really, turn that damn thing off." She ordered the woman in power armor, hoping the confidence would add to the appearance of being a de facto leader of the group. "And you..." She motioned at Jackson. "Come here."
Vaana raised her voice. "Let's pool our information together and see what exactly we know. We've been brought here for a reason."

 

[Karcen]

Nic just sighed great she had turned the bot on and reprogrammed it for nothing. Not to mention that just meant she was here with two weirdos in the middle of a scrap yard. This could only be made more annoying if some of the children showed up, Nic had found a group of people living in the glowing sea that worshiped radiation and they were a strange bunch. They were for the most part harmless, well in that location but others wandering about attacked others, but well she had avoided them, thank atom.

"Fine fine you two are way to jumpy, this is just a basic model" Nic said dismissively as she walked around the robot and pulled out the fusion cores forcing the robot to shut down, if she wasn't getting paid for making the bot non hostile then she sure as hell was taking her own form of payment.

Nic didn't really care about who was in charge or whatever as far as she was concerned this was just some kind of joke, she didn't see anything to fix and the only robot had just been shut down till the cores were replaced. In truth the woman dressed as the shroud was the biggest weirdo and Nic did think she might just be playing some kind of game with them. She of course didn't care if there was a reason she had been promised payment and had expected the job to be self explanatory.

" Yeah well as much fun as you two weirdos are I need to get moving if no one here is going to pay me then some other place will" Nic said flatly not playing along with the woman's game.

 

[AI10100]

After his initial panic and now that everything was put back in order, Jackson managed to ease up a little bit. However, he was still standing up. His sniper rifled was now slung on his shoulder, with one hand behind his back - gripping his .10 just in case things went hairy with PPA. Sparky showed aggression, but kept relatively silent despite this. That was when Miss Merc blew up at them - first at PPA and then towards him. He had a look of shock in his face as she got angry because he said she wasn't the Benefactor and the reason behind it was because she was a girl. "Seriously?" He asked in disbelief. "Women are just as badass as men. I just said you weren't the Benefactor because you just told me that you were sent here for the same reason!" He reasoned, though his voice raised. It wasn't the type of raise that indicated anger. More like exasperation and disbelief as he tried to protect himself.

He then looked back at PPA who assured them that it was a basic mode, or whatever. Jackson was never one for technicalities involving bots. He doesn't really want to try his hand in it. They're too noisy, even the Assaultrons and would give away his position. It would be nice to have one guarding his house though. But whatever. He waved his hand dismissively. "Hey, that thing was trying to kill her minutes before you came. You can't blame us for thinking it wouldn't do the same if you turned it on." He huffed. He watched as she took the power cores from the sentry bot and his eyes went to Miss Merc. Wasn't that sentry bot hers now? Damn, PPA had a death wish. Don't they know about Miss Merc's rumored abilities?

Besides, if he got pissed off, a bullet between the eyes was the last of your worries.

"Weirdos?" He muttered. Was there anyone considered a weirdo in this state of world? Even the craziest people, like the Children of Atom, were given the benefit of doubt right? Maybe it's just PPA. It's a wonder how they get jobs with an attitude like that. Or maybe it's just this moment. Who knows. "Yeah well, we weren't the ones who called you, so why pay?" He replied with a small shrug.

 

[Mr_DC]

AI10100 Karcen
Vaana let out an annoyed grunt. She wasn't about to lose what would probably be the most important job she had done in a while. Especially not because of someone else. "Enough!" She barked and banged a fist on the power armor. If nothing else, it would get her some attention. "Put the cores back in. We were all summoned here for a reason. I assume we were all also promised a good reward and given no information since you two seem as clueless as I am." Vaana sucked in a deep breath and puffed. "I was told there would be more information here and I intend to gather them. I intend to do this job and get a reward."

Vaana paused for a moment and leaned in closer to the power armored woman. "You can walk away if you want but don't think I'll let you go far with those cores." She hissed through her teeth. Her decision to keep the sentry bot for herself might have been arbitrary but she wasn't backing out. Without the cores, it would just be a massive expense to get it back to her base. Not to mention the time waste. "I won't allow your stupidity get in my way. Just because you did something no one asked doesn't mean you deserve a reward." Vaana stared at the armored glass visor of the power armor helmet. At least she had the sniper on her side.

Speaking of which, she turned to face Jackson. "It was a joke." She spread her arms and cocked an eyebrow. "I have a poor sense of humor and am sarcastic when I shouldn't be. Get used to it if we're working together." She pointed at him. "But at least you're thinking with your head and not walking away." She turned to the power armored woman, raising her voice. "Unlike someone! Now stop fucking around and let's find out what we have to do."

 

[Karcen]

Yeah the church of atom was looking better and better now at least they just tried to get you to join instead of yelling at you for helping them. Did these two want the damned robot on or not they needed to make up their god damned minds already. Nic was close to just making the thing self destruct just to laugh at the two who couldn't make up their minds. Still if whoever it was that called them thought they could work together when one of them was a complete bitch and the other seemed scared of a robot turning on Nic doubted it would work very well. Sill Nic really didn't want to fight the crazy people who were only looking more and more crazy to her especially the woman dressed up like a pre war hero that had a temper shorter than a death claws.


"Whatever i work with robots this is a robot, i get called to fix them so i fixed it" she explained that to anyone it would be obvious to what someone here would want almost treating the two like super mutants as far as intelligence went. " And if whoever called us here isn't going to show I will go I have other jobs waiting" She said putting the cores back in and bringing the sentry bot back online and once again it came to life red lights scanning the group, still it went into stand by. Nic would give this benefactor 5 more minutes before she left or until the bitch spoke up again which she doubted would last more than five seconds, maybe in a minute she woudl be frothing at the mouth.

 

[AI10100]

Jackson was now just literally waiting for something else to happen aside from this. He even sat down and was now just probably giving up on this exchange. He then gave them a shrug. "I mean, I do agree that I really want this job." He pointed out to the two as he relaxed once more. "If the information for the next job is in this fricking junkyard, then I'm more than willing to turn over this whole thing to find it. The Benefactor, I hear, give the biggest rewards. I'm not letting this go either." He said stubbornly. Though, of course, it depends on what this Benefactor gives him as his task, but honestly, he might bend his morals a little bit for this guy.

"You were acting all serious. Sorry if I wasn't able to catch on to the sarcasm." He said, tapping his ear for a while before going back to his relaxed state. He then looked back at PPA who was very much annoyed by them. Honestly, Jackson's starting to really doubt the Benefactor's choosing of mercenaries. Well, in terms of hiring a sort of... robotic engineer? He hired Miss Merc, already notorious for her usage of mechanical robots, so why hire another engineer? Even more, why someone who doesn't even seem like a combat engineer.

But maybe she had more to her than that Power Armor.

The man in camo stood up and then gestured to the area with his head. "Y'know what? I'll go search, you guys sort that thing between you. Yeah? Yeah." He then whistled and Sparky perked up. He then made a gesture of pushing his hand towards a direction and the dog almost immediately began walking towards the general direction while sniffing around. The dog was trained to smell what the most distinguishing thing around is, hopefully it actually helps. But if there were any traps, at least Sparky would be able to sniff it out. Jackson followed behind the dog with his sniper slung on his shoulder.

 

[Mr_DC]

Karcen AI10100
Vaana took a deep breath and sighed. She closed her eyes and repeated the action. She was working with humans. Humans were more complex than robots. They wouldn't simply follow Vaana's orders because she gave them the order. Vaana also wasn't a psychopath that some people painted her as. A person who just shot anyone in her way. A raider who wasn't hooked on chems.
Vaana opened her eyes and extended a hand palm up to the power armored woman. "Listen..." She softened her tone. "I'm sorry. This situation is very hazy and I prefer working alone." She placed a hand on her hip as she spoke. "I tried to power down that thing so I can take it home and strip it for parts, then you came in with your power armor..." She shrugged.

"I'd like for us to work together. We're all here because we're hoping there's something more to this offer." Vaana explained, taking off her hat. "I'm Vaana. A professional mercenary." She pointed a thumb at the sniper. "That's Jackson. Also a mercenary." Vaana decided to leave out the hitman part. People tend not to welcome assassins with open arms. Besides, she didn't learn much about him being an assassin as that the kind of information which is kept private. "You are...?" She asked with a half-smile.

As Jackson passed a seemingly inactive robobrain, the voice of a panicked man cried out. "Oh god, please don't kill me!" The voice came from the robobrain which appeared to be fidgeting in its spot, the wheels without their usual treads helplessly spinning. "Don't let the dog bite me! Oh my god, I don't wanna die!" The robobrain panicked. The robot appeared to be in a rough condition with several bullet holes and some rust. Even the brain container had some scratches on its sturdy glass.

 

[Karcen]

Nic still didn't really like the woman, she was with two mercs so that likely meant whatever this guy had in mind involved combat and Nic was no real fighter. She might get into a few fights over scrap and electronics but well it wasn't like she sought it out and if given the chance she took a robot with her and letting it do the fighting. Still she had yet to even get some advanced pay so she would have to stay to not make this a complete waste of her time that meant she should play nice, really why didn't people have command codes like robots if one of them annoyed you you could shut them down. Well she would just have to deal with the two weirdo mercs until she finally got paid and could go home, at least there she knew the weirdos

"Nicola Armstead i am a mechanic i guess " She said though one well traveled would likely have heard of her name and the robots she made that provided protection to many settlements.

 

[AI10100]

Jackson looked at the robobrain that actually looked like it was broken. "Down boy." He ordered Sparky who backed away. He walked closer to the robot, but still kept enough distance between him and the robot so that he wouldn't be taken by surrpise if the robot was just acting. "Alright robo, what's up with you? You look like you got mauled several times over." The sniper wasn't an expert on robots, but even he could tell that the robot was in horrible condition. He wondered if this was the guy they needed to contact. Who knows. Well, this robobrain certainly did. There was a moment of silence between him thinking of either calling the two here or just letting them talk with each other for a while. He wasn't even sure if they're alright now. Maybe he'll leave them be for now. He needed to make sure first.

"You know The Benefactor?" He questioned, kneeling down to look at the poor robot. "Because I really doubt anyone would just leave you for dead here just because." He pointed out. He paused again, as if thinking of what next to say. Honestly, he didn't really know. He doesn't converse much with robots aside from that Assaultron who worked as a shop owner in Goodneighbor. Other than that, his main ineractions with them were fighting with him riddling them with bullets until they exploded. "Since you're still operational aside from a few... uh... damages that can be fixed." He then grinned. "Here, let's make a deal. I'll call over two people who will fix you if you give me the infromation you have right now." He really wanted to find out what was happening and he wanted it fast.

 

[Mr_DC]

Karcen
"Great." Vaana said, lacking enthusiasm. "Now we know each other." She motioned with her hand at the junkyard. "We're on the same side for now so let's try to make this as simple and profitable as we can." Pointing a thumb at the sentry bot, Vaana continued. "Put the cores in that thing because it might be a part of why we're here. You might be able to take them afterward. We'll see. Depends on what exactly we have to do." She explained.

Vaana's eyes slowly scanned the junkyard. Most of the robots were rusted husks, picked clean a long time ago. Finding something important there probably wouldn't be a scavenger hunt. Something difficult to notice to those who don't know what was going on yet noticeable enough for the three of them. She sighed. Nothing obvious yet. Just the sentry bot and the tiny shack. Putting one hand in the pocket of her coat, Vaana shrugged. "I'll go check the shack. Might be something in there. Why don't you head over and see if Jackson needs any help?"

AI10100
"I've been wandering the wastes for a while." The robot explained, somewhat calmer now that it saw it wasn't in any direct threat. "This is what you look like when mechanics are interested in stripping you for parts rather than fixing you." It added in a somewhat resentful tone while still speaking quickly.
When the robot heard the mention of a benefactor, it let out a nervous chuckle. "You'll be true to your word, right?" It asked before sighing. "I don't really have a choice, do I?"

"Some scavenger offered to patch me up if I come with him to the junkyard." It started its story. "I agreed to help. Most people shoot robobrains in sight - thanks for not killing me, by the way - so I was glad there was someone who didn't try to scramble me the moment I rolled up to him." The robobrain let out another nervous chuckle. "Guess having a mesmetron scares people." It commented more for its own sake than anything else. "When we got here, he shot off my tracks and intended to reprogram me with some holotape... He mentioned the Benefactor." The robobrain paused once more as if evaluation if it was smart to say that. "A group of raiders came before he could do so. They took him away and took some pot shots at me but one of them hit the sentry bot which sent them running."

"I-I have the tape, though!" It quickly added. "I'll tell you all about it if you help me. Please?" The robobrain asked.

 

[Karcen]

( whops sorry i kind of forgot here while at work)

" i already did" Nic said pointing to the activated sentry bot, really she did feel she should have been thanks as if Vaana had to turn the bot off she likely couldn't reprogram it on the fly.

Nic decided not to bring this up as she felt Vaana might just be on a hair trigger at this point if that wasn't her natural state. Nic really wasn't good with people things like realizing she might have the wrong impression kind of flew over her. Well it didn't matter she just wanted to get paid and go home nice and safe in the glowing sea where she could keep tunneling around and fixing old computers up. She was just glad that she could still think that her home was safe, and in truth she kind of wanted to find a way to maybe get some guard deathclaws or something.

"yeah yeah" Nic said not fighting Vaana on this.

Nic walked over to jackson, though weirdo number 2 would be just as much of a good name in her mind. Still when she got there she something that instantly made the day better, a robo brain, she had been trying to get her hands on one of them for awhile. they were more common in other areas but int he common wealth they were none existent, Nic had always wanted one because to her they were cool replacing computer parts with a human brain now that was just to interesting for her.

" i call dibs" she said not realizing the robo brain had a sentient brain inside.

 

[AI10100]

Jackson listened intently to what the robobrain was saying. So this robobrain claimed to be innocent and really had no connection to The Benefactor aside from this person who tired to reprogram him. So this was supposed to be their messenger if not for some raiders who decided to drop by and drag him away. How unfortunate - it would have been nice to hear about it directly instead of having to go scavenger hunting. It didn't take too long though, so he supposed it wasn't too bad. But still, it caused a lot of confusion between the three of them. Really, it was lucky for everyone that no one decided to blow some heads off - considering his and Miss Merc's occupations, it was actually quite a shocker.

"As long as you still got the holotape with our instructions on it." He said as he stood up. He was about to head over to the two when he saw PPA approaching. Jackson let out a small sigh of relief as he realized that maybe they got through the whole introduction thing and clearing up thing. Jackson waited for her to get there and she immediately mentioned that she wanted the robobrain. Well, as to be expected from a mechanic, they always want to have the cool robots. Honestly, Jackson couldn't give two craps about that. As long as they all get what they want right.

"Heyo man." He greeted PPA who was now next to him. "Robobrain here wants to get fixed up and he'll give us the orders. 'pparently, he was supposed to be active to give it to us, but raiders got to 'em first." He seemed to have gone back to his more informal drawl. "I don't know if he's tellin' the truth, but up to you. Bet there are some scrap parts here anyhow, I could find some for you if you'd like." He continued. This was a robot scrapyard after all.