Community:Fanfiction/Camilla on Ice

Camilla on Ice is a work in progress fanfiction by RurinGas.

Background
This story concerns the Svetlo & Co. Water Concern and begins in Appalachia during 2110.

Prologue
Camilla stood at the Water Concern's roundtable, pouring over the mass of papers strewn about the table. The other members of Svetlo & Co Water Concern's leadership muttering among themselves, waiting for her input. Eventually, Camilla sat down and sighed, massaging her temples.

"So." she said "What is this crackpot scheme you lot have thought up?"

One of the men at the table, a mohawked man named Seb, spoke up. "We've uncovered a Vault ma'am, just off Mount Pleasant." he said "The number on the front appears to be 113"

Camilla put her feet up on the table and reclined in her chair, her interest waning

"Yeah, yeah..." she said "So what? Water production is holding, and last week's raid on that little settlement they were trying to set up off of Berkley Springs gave us enough reserves..." Camilla then turned and glared at Seb "Why the fuck would I want to risk fucking with that pre-war Vault-tec mad science bullshit?"

There was a pause, all the other raiders at the table held their breath, fearing that intervening would lead to their deaths. Seb took a deep breath to compose himself before answering "Well, the door indicates that this one hasnt been opened, meaning everything inside is probably intact." There was a pause, Camilla still looked at Seb expectantly. Seb continued.

''"All Vault-tec Vaults come with an advanced water purification system, if we could rip one out of a Vault and bring it back here, We'd be selling the purest water available for miles, and we wouldn't have to rely on these scrap water pumps. We'd never have to worry about the water production again."

Silence filled the room once again. Camilla closed her eyes in thought. "A Vault's worth of water *would* bring in a lot of caps... And we'd be spending a lot less on pump maintenance..."

Camilla reopened her eyes, and sat upright "It's a worthy idea... but I don't like the idea of entering a Vault totally blind. Send out a party, see if there's anything in Vault-Tec Headquarters about Vault 113."

Another raider, a woman with patchy hair with metal, talon-like fingernails named Therese, chimed in. "I took the liberty of having a chat with our friends in Paradise Falls, after a little trade of merchandise, they ripped out the hard drive of some server at Vault-Tec HQ. Mitnik hooked it up to the terminal here, and it seems to be all the information they had on record about Vault 113."

Camilla turned to Therese and nodded in approval "I'm impressed, I'll have to add a bonus to your next pay, what did it say?"

Therese pulled some assorted papers and a holotape out of her pocket ''"Not very much, I'm afraid. It's not clear if the data was censored or just degraded over time, We've compressed the information onto this holotape for your personal review"

Camilla inserted the holotape into her Pip-Boy, she'd looted it off the corpse of one of the many wide-eyed and naïve Vault dwellers flooding into the wasteland as of late.

"Not much is there..." Camilla said, scanning the file, flicking buttons on her Pip-Boy to scroll up and down the file.

Therese rifled through the papers she had "Regrettably not, however I think they show well enough that we have nothing to fear from that Vault."

Camilla stopped scrolling her Pip-Boy and glared at Therese, who quickly cleared her throat and added "However it might be wise to send out a larger crew, just to be careful"

Therese looked toward Camilla expectantly, as did Seb and the others sat at the table. Camilla sighed and lowered her Pip-Boy "No..." she said, exacerbated "I'll head up a standard-sized team myself. I'd like to make sure first-hand that we don't fuck up..."

Camilla stood up, "Seb, Assemble a crew for me. Therese, ask Max to get us a Fat Man. I'm going to pull my Power Armor out of storage. I don't want to risk getting that close to The Pitt without being armed to the teeth..." she said "The rest of you; hold the fort, maintain operations..."

Chapter 1 - The First Step
Camilla began her final preparations. After a week of whittling down options, she had decided on a team of 3 others to accompany her. Camilla herself was going to take point in her set of T-60 Power Armor, behind her would be Therese who would serve as muscle, followed by Seb who would impart his knowledge as an ex-Vault Dweller, and finally Mitnik who would impart technical knowledge. The plan was to arrive at Vault 113, locate the water purifier within the Vault, and set up a temporary base there for Camilla, Seb, and Mitnik to appraise and dismantle the purifier, with Therese guarding them against any threats, after which they would purchase a Pack Brahmin, and use it to bring the supplies back. But first, they had to arrive there.

"...so make sure not to miss that.. Oh, and we have a meeting with Crater planned next Wednesday, they're not a hard crowd to please, just assure them their deliveries are coming on time and give them a chem or two in tribute if you have to." Said Camilla, finishing a long list of instructions to be performed in her absence.

Max nodded in response "Consider it done." he said, in his usual, almost serpent-like tone.

Camilla, finally assured that she had left the Water Concern in safe hands, stepped into her Power Armor. It was as uncomfortable as ever, the once soft cushioning that rested against her body had long since worn away over centuries of neglect after the war, leaving only the uncomfortable metal of the chassis to sit against her skin. It was a small price to pay for protection, she thought. The three waved their goodbyes and walked the small distance south to the main road, before heading due west towards Crater. Camilla had considered walking as-the-crow-flies towards Mount Pleasant, however she decided it would be safer to head from Crater to Mount Pleasant, considering the lands outside of the Appalachian Wasteland were uncharted, and walking through uncharted territory close to The Pitt was effectively asking to be attacked by some heretofore unknown mutant abomination. It was not long after departing, that the group found themselves at the Red Rocket Mega Stop.

Camilla stopped. "Wait..." she muttered, gesturing silently at the others to keep back and look. Over on the horizon, A lone sentry turret was scanning the area.

"Someone must've set up shop at the Mega Stop again..." whispered Seb, squinting to see if he could get a closer look.

"Yep... We should do a little reconnaissance, a base this close to home could be bad news for the bus-" began Camilla, before getting cut off by a single bullet pinging off her Power Armor's right arm.

"My reconnaissance says they're not friendly" said Therese, putting her hip flask away and assuming her characteristic bestial combat stance.

Seb drew his rifle and gave an annoyed sigh "Wouldn't be the first person we've killed for being in our way...".

Mitnik stayed back, taking cover behind a nearby hunk of rubble, examining the area on his Pip-Boy for any possible edge he could give his comrades. Therese ran up towards the Mega Stop, identifying and attacking the group of enemies head-on. Seb was a short distance behind, firing his Plasma rifle from a medium range. Camilla was at a range, using her Lever-action rifle to take precise shots at anyone behind Therese who might otherwise get a lucky shot on her. Mitnick lowered his Pip-Boy and picked up his radio.

"Camilla!" he said, his voice ringing out through the internal speakers in Camilla's power armor. "There's still fuel in the centremost pump, take a shot at it!"

Camilla smirked "You never fail me, Mitnik." she said, as she chambered a round and took a knee to steady her aim.

Therese was about to weave between the fuel pumps, she would take the shot once Therese passed by them, and the enemies followed her. Camilla removed her Power Armor Helmet to take a hit of Jet, and held her breath. Time slowed to a crawl and she witnessed Therese sprint past the fuel pumps. Camilla stared intensely. A little more, a little more, a little mo-NOW. Camilla squeezed down on the trigger, the gunshot echoing out as the bullet soared through the air, making a direct hit on the fuel pump. The explosion erupted out, blossoming out like a flower as the fire consumed the remaining enemies in one fell swoop.

Camilla lowered her rifle as the Jet wore off, blurring her vision and giving her a brief but shooting headache. She winced as she reflexively pressed against her temples.

"You alright Therese?" she said, regaining her composure, "Didn't singe you did I?"

Therese stretched in response "Hm? Oh yeah sure, think I chipped a nail back there." she said, mockingly. Camilla gave a wry smile as she rose to her feet.

"Well, maybe someone at Crater is selling a nail file." she joked. Therese scoffed, and Seb rolled his eyes

"If you're going to be like this the whole journey, I fear for my sanity" he said, half-jokingly, as he holstered his Rifle and motioned at them to keep moving.

The team continued down the main road, snaking around a small cliff and passing by the Sunnytop Ski Lodge. In due time, they arrived at the most difficult part of this leg of their journey; the Palace of the Winding Path. Not because of any hostiles or rads, but because of one, large and sheer cliff-face. Each member of the team had devised their own way of traversing this obstacle. Camilla would simply rely on the hydraulics in her Power Armor's legs to cushion the fall, she had made sure to quadruple check the functionality and load-baring capacity of the hydraulics before departing, and was confident it would work. Seb would carefully climb down, being familiar with the hobby of rock-climbing from his days in the Vault, which had numerous rock climbing walls he would frequent every so often for his mandatory 30 minutes of daily exercise. Mitnik had bought a very torn-down Mr. Handy in his rucksack, the Handy lacked a large amount of it's internal AI circuitry, but was still fully capable, meaning Mitnik could use the Handy's thruster to offset gravity and gently hover down while holding him. Therese would simply use her unique nails as ice-picks, breaking through and hooking into the rock-face bit-by-bit as she moved down the cliff. The whole process went off without issue; Camilla's Power Armor successfully cushioned the fall with only minor pain and no serious injuries, allowing her to touch ground in Toxic Valley before anyone else. After a short period, Mitnik floated down, his Mr Handy proved more unruly than planned, attempting to skew off to one side or the other, but was nonetheless successful. Therese arrived next, her metal-composite nails covered in sweat and rock dust, but intact. Lastly, Seb meandered his way down the cliff and onto the ground, his "slow and steady" approach resulting in zero hiccups, minus the speed. The group could hear the Dick Shale monologue about Philippi Battlefield Cemetery in the distance, the button stuck presumably after years of blood and soot glued it down. They took a quick breather and drank some of the rations of purifier water they had bought, before taking the short path north, and arriving at Crater.

This wasn't Camilla's first visit at Crater, not by a long shot, and the same applied for the rest of the group. Some raiders walked upto Camilla and inquired as to the time the next water shipment would arrive, but she just dismissed them. The group agreed to take an hour to restock their ammo and other personal supplies, and to meet back up at the entrance to the Crater core to depart for Uniontown. Camilla stocked up her .45 rounds and took to patching up her Power Armor, purchasing miscellaneous supplies from junk merchants to do so. Mitnik purchased a bulk stock of blank holotapes scavenged from Sugar Grove. Therese called in a few favours and had her nails imbued with Ultracite, which would give her already razor-sharp nails a deadly, radioactive edge. Seb simply purchased small items from each store as an excuse to strike up conversation and ingratiate himself with the store owners. After an hour, the four met up and, saying their goodbyes, left the Appalachian Wasteland for uncharted regions.

Next stop; Uniontown.

Chapter 2 - Rolling Up to Town
The journey further north, while short, was gruelling. It seemed to the group almost as if the sky was beginning to shift from it's somewhat-clear blue to a muddy rust orange, the diseased sky a sure sign that they were starting to encroach on lands surrounding The Pitt. Camilla put her Power Armor helmet back on in response to this, and the others either slipped on gas masks or wrapped bandanas around their face. Feral Ghouls in these uncharted areas were plentiful, many of them laying prone for presumably decades, lurching up once they sensed motion. Defeating them was far from a challenging task, Therese was able to swipe them away using her claws as they went, and the others were able to take shots at them without even having to stop moving, their combined efforts cutting a swathe through the hoards of almost-dead. They didn't encounter any other life, the uncharted expanse being too risky for any settlers or traders to traverse, and those that did hadn't lasted long. It was when they began to encroach on the outskirts of Uniontown, their first checkpoint, that the ghouls started to thin out. The group decided to rest up a moment before going any further, and decided to dip into a nearby pre-war building, an old roller rink evidentially, judging by the old sign outside reading "Shawnessy Skating". The group opened the door to see a very simple roller rink taking up a majority of the inside, with a small section directly infront of the door containing seats and tables to be used by spectators or skaters eating a quick lunch.

"Looks like a birthday party..." said Camilla, exiting her Power Armor and stretching, before pointing towards a table on the end of the seating area. It was surrounded by the deflated remains of cheap, foil balloons with lettering on that had almost been lost completely to age, but could still be read "Happy 4th Birthday Jean". The table itself was adorned with presents and pizza boxes, the cardboard in both long since turning limp from age and moisture, leaving them also looking rather deflated. But what stole the show was a 3-teired cake sitting in the middle of the table, even after all the decades since the Great War, the advanced preservatives and additives in the cake had kept it looking as if the Great War was just yesterday.

"Ooh, hello..." said Seb, pulling his bandana down and eying up the cake, he seemed like he was just about to help himself when Mitnik spoke up.

"W-Wait!" he said "We're probably not gonna see anything so perfectly preserved in our lives, we should ration it, the food here might last us the whole trip." Seb scowled at Mitnik, angry that he'd stopped him from digging in.

"And how exactly do you suppose we transport a whole cake, huh?" spat Seb, straightening up and puffing out his chest, clearly attempting to intimidate Mitnik. There was a tense silence for a moment, before a Super Sledge slammed down cleanly between the two.

"IF... You two are both finished..." said Camilla through gritted teeth, pulling her Super Sledge back up before taking a breath "...We'll sell it in Uniontown. Caps are easier to carry, and it's always good to have more." Camilla shot a glare at Seb "That is an order."

There was another brief, though even more tense silence, before Seb begrudgingly accepted and walked away from the cake to instead rifle through some of the old bags and suitcases left by Pre-war skaters. Camilla turned to Therese, who up until now had remained silent the whole time. She had zoned out, staring bullets into one of the foil balloons on the ground.

"...Uh... Therese...?" said Camilla, waving her hand in order to try and rouse Therese's attention. Therese blinked and shook her head, snapping out of it.

"S-Sorry... Its just that... these balloons... My s-" began Therese, before stopping herself and changing topic, she pointed to the cake. "How are we gonna transport that thing? We might be pretty close to Uniontown, but it's still a walk away."

It was then when Mitnik spoke up "We can use the Handy I've got in my backpack. It's how we're going to bring the purifier back home, so its gyroscopic controls and load bearing capacity are more than upto scratch for a cake. " he said, before turning to Camilla "If we do though, I'll need some caps to purchase more fuel for the thing, or it'll run out before we make it back with the purifier."

Camilla gave a thumbs up, and tossed Mitnik a small bag of caps. "Didn't your toy nearly flip the wrong way round when you were descending that cliff?" questioned Seb, eyeing up Mitnik as he took the Handy out of his backpack and began turning it on.

"That was because I was hanging off one one side. Humans move in little ways that throw off balance at the best of times. In terms of the purifier and this cake, I'm certain if I secure it properly then it'll stay perfectly upright" explained Mitnik, flicking switches on his Pip-Boy as he performed a calibration routine.

While Mitnik was calibrating the Handy, Camilla and Therese looked around the roller rink to see if there was anything else worth looting, only to turn up emptyhanded. The group still stayed there for a small time though, to rest up and eat after getting through the worst of the Ghouls on the path to Uniontown. They were just about an hour or so away from Uniontown, where they would put up for the night and restock. What they would find there however, would lead them on a tangent that would have implications spanning hundreds of years...

Chapter 3 - Nobody Needs a Uniontown for That
It was not a long walk from the roller rink to Uniontown. Mitnik's handy was able to keep the cake upright for the remainder of the trip, and only a couple more feral ghouls had to be fought off on the way. Upon arriving into Uniontown, the settlers were aghast that someone had not only made it all the way through the wilds south of them, but also that they had brought a large, perfectly preserved cake with them. Camilla could not have asked for a more imposing entrance short of razing the town to the ground. Camilla and the rest of the team ignored the attention, walking straight towards a small building with the symbol of a dollar drawn on a chalkboard outside, presumably the town's general store. The store clerk almost fell out of his chair when the group entered.

"Hey, shopkeep" Therese said, slamming her palms on the table. She then pointed behind her towards the cake that was secured atop the Mr. Handy. "What can you fetch me for this? Genuine pre-war cake. One of a kind."

The store clerk couldn't believe his eyes, and spluttered for a moment with his mouth agape. "I-I-I-Uhhhhh, 300 caps?"

Therese raised an eyebrow, and leaned over the store counter, positioning herself almost nose-to-nose with the clerk, who leaned back reflexively. "What was that?" she whispered "1300 caps?" The store clerk nodded rapidly.

Therese leaned back and smiled widely "Pleasure doing business with you!" she said "Mitnik! Unsecure the cake from your tin can."

The exchange took about 15 minutes, with Mitnick delicately unstrapping and unloading the cake and transferring it to the counter. But, after the sale, the group exited 1300 caps richer, and...

"Hey, check it" whispered Seb, drawing a 32. Magnum from his inside jacket pocket, something he did not have before "Fully loaded, also managed to take a couple boxes of Fancy Lads for my lunch"

Camilla grinned "Impressive, but that's nothing" she said, taking the left leg armor off of her power armor and shaking it out into her palm. As she shakes it, a 12.7mm pistol, 12.7mm ammo, and 4 Stimpaks fall out.

Seb is taken aback "What th-how...." he rubs his eyes in disbelief "How the fuck did you manage to steal that inside that big fuckoff suit of power armor?!" he said, half-whispering half-shouting, trying to contain himself so that the townsfolk aren't alerted to their thievery.

"That's my little secret" smirked Camilla, before turning to Therese, who handed her the earnings from their latest sale "Plus, Therese here has a powerful enough presence to offset even this big steel suit" said Camilla, handing Therese a smaller, though still sizeable, bag of caps in payment.

"Tsk. Fine, keep your secrets." grumbled Seb "Anyway, we need to find a place to set down for the night, did you see a hotel on the way here?"

Camilla surveyed her surroundings, she hadn't had the chance to on their way in as she was too focused on getting payment for the cake to take note. Uniontown was slightly smaller than Foundation, roughly 7/8ths the size she would estimate. However instead of log structures, the citizens of Uniontown lived inside blasted-out buildings that seemed as if they would protect them as much as they would fall right in on them, evidenced by the fact the borders of town were marked by walls made of rubble from the very same blasted-out buildings. After observing for a couple minutes, she spied two buildings that most of the townsfolk seemed to frequent; An old church in the centre of town, and an old school nearby.

Camilla first looked into the Church. Inside was a large open room with a hardwood floor, the walls were lined with filing cabinets, except for one small corner which had a worn sofa with a coffee table and a lamp. Up against the back of the wall where the lectern would otherwise have been was a desk, where a sharply dressed woman was sitting and using a terminal. Beside her was a metal door, thick and locked, that Camilla assumed lead up to the upper floor. The overhanging balcony of the upper floor would provide a view over all of the bottom floor, and from what little Camilla could see looking up from the doorway, the upper floor was decorated with fancy (though still torn) drapes, and fine portraits. It was an easy assumption for Camilla to make that this was some kind of town hall or mayor's office of sorts.

Checking out the high school instead, in what was once probably the main entryway leading down the central corridor, was tables and chairs adorned with bottles and ashtrays. Sequestered in a hole knocked out from a row of lockers was a Jukebox that seemed to be playing Appalachia Radio, albeit at this distance the signal was more static than song. The reception desk appeared to have been converted into a bar, with the filing cabinets on the wall behind converted into shelves for an assortment of liqueurs, spirits, and ales. Definately a bar of some kind. Camilla and the group walked into the bar, light smoke and dust from the crumbling walls and cigarette smoke circling around the air, and approached the bar counter. A droopy eyed, ghoul scrubbing a glass behind the counter stopped and looked up at them from the corner of his eye. "Whatdya need?" he grunted.

Camilla leaned against the counter, and 'turned on the charm' "Hey friend, don't happen to know where abouts we could spot a room to lay down in, would you?" she said, smiling. The bald man squinted at her, trying to size her up.

"Nope." he grunted, before returning to cleaning the glass. Camilla was taken aback, it was the first time in a long time that her salesmanship hadn't worked, such insolence couldn't be abided, especially around her subordinates. Camilla clenched her fists and pounded the desk, the force of her Power Armor causing the empty bottles on the bar counter to clink against eachother. The ghoul looked up in response, his eyes slightly wider but still droopy and uncaring.

"Listen here you walking pile of necrosis, you're going to give me a beer, you're going to give me and my friends a room to stay in, and you're going to give it us on a discount as way of apologising for being an insufferably rude c-" Camilla yelled, before a hand gripped her Power Armored shoulder and cut her off. Spinning around to see, Camilla saw two men in armored vests and security visors indicating that she should leave. Behind them was a bar full of shocked citizens paused in fear at the uproar that had occurred before them. Camilla was about to reach for her lever action when a hearty booming voice came from the doorway.

"Glenn! You're not giving our visitors a hard time again are you?" he said, Camilla turned to the doorway to see a large man with a large ginger beard and bedraggled hair, wearing a sharp grey suit and maroon tie. She could see the man carried himself with importance, similar to herself. The man turned to Camilla, noticably wary but noticably not scared. "Terribly sorry there! Glenn's a fine chap, but he's never gotten along with visitors to our humble little patch!" the man's voice roared "My name is Boris, Boris Wheatcroft, though the folks around here just call me Big Boris, I'm the mayor around here" he said, extending his hand to Camilla.

Camilla calmed down. Rationally speaking, she would get alot more out of this new connection to the upper echelons of Uniontown than she would smashing the local drinking hole into a thousand little pieces. Camilla took a beat and exhaled, before smiling and shaking Boris's hand. "Some civility, finally. My name is Camilla, me and my crew here are just passing through from Appalachia"

Boris was taken aback, and gave a hearty chuckle "Appalachia you say? You must have had quite a time getting here, what with all the feral ghouls and such." Boris turned to Glenn "Glenn, old chap, give the fine folks a room! And a drink. Give 'em the employee discount, and charge the difference to my office!" Glenn grunted and nodded in response, before Boris turned back to Camilla "All settled! Now, if you need anything else, don't be afraid to pop by my office in the old Church nearby, I'll tell my receptionist to let you by!" Boris smiled.

Camilla smiled in response "Good to hear. Thank you, Mr. Boris" she said, Boris raised his hand and gave a short wave "Now, I only popped in for a quick beer, I must be getting back to my duties. I'll be seeing you around! Oh, and welcome to Uniontown!" he said, before Glenn wordlessly put a beer on the counter, which Boris grabbed as he walked out, with a spring in his step. Glenn turned to Camilla, scowling.

"Fine. Mayor says I gotta serve you. A room is 150 caps, and a beer is 7 caps." the ghoul growled, spitting in the glass he was scrubbing to help shine it "For you, a Room is 125 caps, and a beer is 5 caps." Camilla gave Glenn a fully intentional shit-eating grin, as she slid the ghoul 130 caps. The ghoul grumbled crotchetily as he slammed a beer and a key onto the counter "Room 3b, One night" he said, before returning to scrubbing his beer glass and muttering under his breath. Camilla grabbed both and span the keys around on her finger smugly, waltzing down the corridor to her room.

The room was humble, clearly one of the pre-war classrooms, with a diving wall built down the centre to turn it into two rooms. The only things from the original room that seemed to remain was the chalkboard on the wall near the door, and a couple of old desks and chairs that serve as the rooms dining table. Even the bed seemed to be made of two school tables put next to eachother, with the legs sawn off to shorten them to a more acceptable hight for a bed, and a few moth-eaten blankets thrown on top for warmth and comfort. The walls appeared to have once been painted yellow, though time had worn it away to it's base concrete; and the floors were some kind of cheap varnished wood, and while most of the varnish seemed to have worn away over the decades, the floor was still in one piece. A bathroom sink also seemed to have been installed by the building's post-war occupents, an industrial-style faucet attached to an exposed pipe in the wall, which had clearly been accessed by means of a sledgehammer. A toilet however had not been provided, Camilla assumed that they were expected to still use the old pre-war toilets in the school bathrooms.

Camilla stowed her Power Armor, while the group had managed to beat off the ferals, it had taken a beating from the onslaught. She would spend what little free time she had during their respite repairing it. Plus, lumbering about in Power Armor is an easy way to get noticed, and people tended to respond worse to persuasive techniques when they were done through plates of impenetrable steel. And besides, she was unlikely to get into any degree of combat within the town walls that would warrant use of Power Armor. Along with that, Mitnik stored his Handy in the room. While lightweight thanks to his modifications, it was still quite the weight to carry around. It was now the late afternoon, and the poisoned orange sky was starting to look slightly oranger. Therese was helping herself to drinks at the bar, which Camilla had learnt was called "The Schoolhaus". Mitnik had gone back to tweaking his Handy in the room they had rented (Camilla also suggested he fix up her Power Armor if he had the time). Seb however had skulked off to who knows where, as tended to be his want whenever he was given free time. Camilla elected to take a more detailed measure of her surroundings.

The town itself, while mainly centred around the walled section, had some buildings extending out of it. The walled section seemed to be the pre-war town centre, which consisted of a Library, a church, a hospital, a fire station, and a couple Parks. Some of these pre-war structures seemed to have been repurposed by the townsfolk; the church becoming the town hall, the hospital becoming the town clinic, and the fire station becoming home to the town's security force. Outside of the walls were a loose collection of chem dealers, and stores of less repute than those within the town walls. Camilla spent the free time she had prospecting, idly digging through some of the less intact buildings in and around Uniontown, finding bits and pieces of varying degrees of value, from tin cans to spare ammo. It was after exploring one of these ruins on the edge of town and coming back into town proper that Camilla was confronted by a man in what seemed to be a whitecoat. The sun had begun to set and Camilla's Pip-Boy said it was about 8:35pm, so expecting to get jumped, Camilla hovered her finger over the trigger on her lever action (Gun safety be damned), preparing at any moment to swing it around and open fire.

"E-Excuse me, as I understand it, you're the leader of the group of ruffians that came into town recently?" he inquired, in a way that was perhaps the exact opposite of threatening, twiddling his thumbs and seeming skittish.

Camilla, not about to get hustled, kept her trigger finger ready. "Yes." She said bluntly, wanting to see what this fool wanted from her, and darting her eyes around to make sure there were no others waiting to jump her. She decided the insult of calling her a "ruffian" was so ridiculously minor that she wasn't about to bother correcting someone that she, in all probability, was about to correct with a bullet instead.

"A-Ah, yes, good, quite..." said the man, clearly not the intimidating sort, "S-See, I represent a certain... Oh, how do I phrase this..." he shut his eyes and hit himself against the head lightly, trying to stimulate his mind. Camilla rolled her eyes.

"How about you start with what you want from me..." said Camilla, getting impatient with the man. She wasn't about to turn away potential business if it would earn her caps, or ruin her little friendship with the mayor by opening fire in the middle of his town without good cause, however she wasn't above doing so and lying about it if the man was about to waste her time any further.

"Ah, yes, right, well you see, I've got a... friend...." the man began, clearly dancing around his words "...And my friend is... lost. I need some help finding him, some of the more... shooty, muscle-bound help..." he said, looking at Camilla expectantly.

This wasn't Camilla's first rodeo, nor was it her second. In-fact, she was deftly experienced in matters of discretion such as these. The way the man was speaking was not unfamiliar to her, it was a manner very akin to one that some of her contacts in the Capitol were want to use. The man was trying to look for help reclaiming a lost slave; a practise that, given the coded speech was probably and unsurprisingly, a frowned-upon practise in Uniontown. Camilla lowered her rifle, but did not stow it yet.

"Ahh, I see." she said, taking a glance at her Pip-Boy, which detected no others in the immediate vicinity. "So your... Friend. When did you last see him? Does he have any identifying characteristics..." she began "...and above all..." she said, as she stepped towards the man "What is this worth to you?". Camilla was perfectly fine with relocating this man's slave, however she was not about to work for free. In-fact, work concerning slaves tended to err on the 'well paying' side of things, on account that good confidential and morally unscrupulous help tended to be hard to find, and Camilla was more than willing to take this man for all he had.

The man straightened up, clearly less nervous now that his job had been accepted and that the discussion had moved to a more number-oriented front "Ah, well, Caps are no issue for me and my colleagues, we would be happy to pay you 1500 caps for your trouble" the man said, wringing his hands. Camilla would have been happy with this price, but the man had made the mistake of letting it slip that caps were no issue for him, and so she began her negotiations.

"1500, you say? I dunno.... Is that really all your... friend, is worth to you?" Camilla said, pretending to consider the offer and pretending to be unconvinced. The man's eyes widened as he panicked slightly.

"W-Wait, Okay, how about 2500? No, 3500!" he hastily said, eager to broker a deal. Camilla gave an wry smirk, this man was clearly no salesman, it didn't even require greasing the gears too much for him to almost double his offer. She might be able to negotiate even more from him when she had his slave by her side, she remembered doing something similar back in '08 to great success...

"Well." She said, holstering her rifle and putting her arm around the nervous man, who flinched in response.

"Tell me about your friend..."

Chapter 4 - Unionized/Un-Ionized
Camilla stared at the man with incredulity. He had told her that he would have to confer with his colleagues before divulging any information about his slave, and escorted Camilla to the old WGNR radio building bordering Uniontown's walls. The building looked as decrepit as any of the other buildings Camilla had scavenged in, when the pair stopped just outside of the broadcast studio.

"Please, wait here." said the man, indicating to a mouldering red sofa chair beside the door, adorned with scraps of what once must have been tabloid journals and gossip magazines. Camilla was about to turn to the man and tell him exactly where he could shove his sorry excuse for hospitality, only to find that he had already entered the room and left her.

She heard talking behind the door, there was a group of other people on the other side, but Camilla couldn't make out how many or what they were saying, no matter how hard she pressed her ear against the wall. The cadence of the conversation seemed to be serious. Suddenly, the voices escalated to a shout, before stopping. A couple minutes after that, the man stepped out of the door, looking rather sheepish.

"We've contacted our superiors back east." he said, wringing his hands once again ''"The Director has authorised us to hire you to hunt our property, but she has declined our request to inform you as to the specifics of our research... Which would include specifics about the friend I want you to find..." ''

Camilla stood up. She wasn't too pleased with this arrangement, but a paying job was a paying job, and she didn't care too greatly about any other details. Speaking of a paying job however...

"Ahhhh, well, damn that changes things..." lied Camilla, faking an awkward look "If I need to put in more effort to track your friend down, then there's the tiny issue of additional expenses..."

Once again, the man fell for the trick hook, line and sinker. "Ah-Wait! We, eheh-umm... H-How much more will you need?" he said, just as skittish as before.

Here was where Camilla was about to pull out the big guns; she'd learnt about these kinds of advanced salesmanship techniques from a trader who, quite unrelatedly, had to be picked out the teeth of a Deathclaw shortly after meeting her.

"Jeez, let me see..." she said, feigning being in thought "Maybe... 7000 caps...?". Camilla waited for the man to refuse her, after all why wouldn't he. This was part of the trick, A ludicrous request followed by a slightly more reasonable one, that way even if the second request is alot, it seems better in comparison. Imagine her surprise, when her first offer was accepted...

"Sure!" said the man, not even taking a beat to consider the offer. Camilla silently raised an eyebrow, she'd understood folks being desperate to get their slaves back before, but at the rate this whitecoated freak was thinking of paying just for expenses, he could probably just buy more instead... She decided not to ask the obvious question, because she knew she would likely be met with excuses to the tone of "Classified" and "Top Secret"...

"How do I know you're good for it?" she asked, suspiciously. The man thought for a moment, the air was tense, before indicating to her to wait for a moment, before re-entering the room. It took surprisingly little time for him to exit the room with a surprisingly large bag, which he handed to Camilla. She could scarcely believe her eyes.

"Our uh, contacts back home were briefed of the customs of this area of America..." he explained "W-We found out that bottlecaps had become the primary form of currency, so we made preparations before we left..." Camilla counted, 7000 caps exactly. This amount of money and this desperation made one thing clear; this could be a suicide mission.

Camilla sighed, they were obviously trying to put one over on her, but she wasn't about to refuse a payday this good... ''""Well, does your property have any distinctive markings, any tattoos? unique haircut?"'' she said, trying to pry information. She man once more looked sheepish.

"Yes and no.... That'd be another classified point..." he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly "What I can say is that my property is very distinctive, you'll immediately know when you find it..." Camilla closed her eyes, partially in thought and partially in frustration. "So... Kinda guy that'd look out of place anywhere then...?" asked Camilla. The man nodded.

As night turned to morning, Camilla hit the streets. Once upon a time, policemen would have access to powerful computers linked up to a network of cameras to help them find suspects, and a different computer to help them track the smallest details of a person like their fingerprints. Camilla had no such luxuries. All she had was her Pip-boy, and her charisma. In practise, this wasn't all that different from negotiating a deal; people had something she wanted, information, and she had to put the screws to them in order to get it. Normally she would hit the bar, bartenders were a hidden goldmine of information in her experience, a few caps in the right drinking hole could allow one to unlock the secrets of the universe... However, Camilla remembered she had not exactly left a good impression on the local bartender on their last encounter... Although, she had ended up leaving a good impression on someone else...

Camilla walked into the church in the centre of town. She wondered how well the average populous is treated when the mayor lives in such relative luxury. She was barely able to get a couple words out to the receptionist before the mayor came out. "Ahah, our new friend, welcome! Welcome!" boomed Big Boris, before turning to his receptionist "Jezebel! Pour my friend here some tea, would you?". The woman, presumably called Jezebel, wordlessly stood up from her desk and went into the back room. The amount of wordless compliance that this mayor had was almost creepy, no innocent man would demand this degree of respect... or fear... right? Camilla dismissed the thought for another time, as Boris lead her up to his office. It seemed to once have been a sizeable balcony, and overlooked the bottom floor of the church. The walls had ornate red wallpaper (with fine wood panelling), and was decorated with drapes and fanciful paintings. Around the rest of the office was wooden furniture that seemed almost unscathed by the Great War, including a sizeable wooden desk up against one of the walls that Camilla suspected would once have been worth quite the pretty penny before the war.

"Now!" said Big Boris, sitting at his desk, and gesturing to another chair on the other side of it. <font color="#db3e00">"What can I do for you?" Camilla took her seat gingerly, and leaned back in it. She needed something from the Mayor for certain, however she was not about to put herself in a point of weakness. No, she had to maintain some form of intimidating presence, and acting extremely relaxed and at-ease while requesting seemed to be the way to go about this.

"Well Mayor..." she began, putting her hands behind her head and leaning slightly further back in her chair, staring into the distance "I'm trying to find someone that might have come into your town recently. Someone distinctive." Camilla said, intentionally avoiding eye contact with the Mayor in order to try and further convey her presence.

Despite this fact however, Camilla could see in her peripheral vision that Boris was stunned by this request, and was sweating a little. <font color="#db3e00">"A-A person you say...? Well let me think... what does he look like...?" Stammered the Mayor, clearly out of his comfort zone. Camilla could tell he knew what she wanted, this was all a game, a pretence of being unaware.

"Yep. Well, this fella I'm looking for, lets just say he's not exactly the type you're gonna miss." said Camilla, still doing her best to look at-ease despite the fact the conversation had become so tense that you could hear a pin drop. A couple moments passed in absolute silence, before Jezebel entered the room, carrying a tray of tea. <font color="#db3e00">"A-Ah! T-Thank you Jezebel!" stuttered Boris, happy to have an excuse to change the subject.

<font color="#db3e00">"Have you tried any of the local tea yet? The Bloodleafs grow unusually flavorful in this area of the wastes; some think it's the minerals in the soil, I'm not sure myself" boomed the Mayor, pouring himself a cup. Camilla squinted. She'd heard of old techniques that Chinese spies before the war used to use (she kept a mental note of all kinds of techniques in-case she ever needed to use them herself), where they would have a secret compartment in their teapots that could be used to pour two or more cups of tea in the same motion, and inconspicuously slip poison into only one of them.

Maybe the Mayor didn't have one of these special teapots, maybe she was being paranoid, but a man who commands such respect must have earnt it somehow... Camilla decided to play the power-move; she leaned forward and grabbed the cup furthest from her, the one that was clearly supposed to be the Mayor's. She was about to raise her cup when she considered; had this been the plan, had the Mayor poisoned his own cup, expecting her to take it instead...? Was the Mayor the sort of man who would put poison into his own cup, or someone else's...? Only a great fool would take the one presented to them, unless that's what the Mayor had counted on that fact... No. Camilla dismissed it. Such a thought would be inconceivable.... right?

Camilla did not drink, just to be careful, and decided it was worth risking her position to make eye contact with the mayor. He did not look surprised, but he did not look at ease either. It was time to change that once more. "So." pressed Camilla "About this stranger we were speaking of." She shot Boris a glare that caused him to jump slightly, almost spilling his tea, which he too had not yet touched.

<font color="#db3e00">"A-Ah, um... A stranger you say? Yes uh well... I'm afraid I've not seen anyone excessively distinctive entering town other than yourself, my dear!" He boomed, clearly trying to hold his nerve. Camilla tutted, this was clearly not going anywhere. She placed her undrunk tea down on the desk, and stood up.

"Well, thank you for your help Mayor..." Camilla said coldly "If you happen to remember anything, it would be most helpful." she then walked out, the mayor simply staring at her as she did so. Camilla however was not about to back down, she was going to walk outside and lean against the wall of the church's entryway. The Mayor knew, that much was obvious, now all she had to do was wait for Boris to leave the place, and make contact with whoever this stranger was to warn them they were being pursued... However, before Camilla had the opportunity to follow through with this plan, she was confronted by Jezebel.

<font color="#c20072">"Excuse me, miss?" she whispered. Camilla jumped slightly and silently cursed herself, to be startled so easily, she must be getting sloppy... She quickly composed herself before glaring at Jezebel.

"What do you want?" spat Camilla, if Jezebel wanted something from her, she'd made a terrible decision by jumping her like that. Jezebel dipped slightly further out of the sight of the Church's doorway. <font color="#c20072">"I understand you're looking for the weird... thing, that came into town recently? I can help you with that." she whispered. Camilla raised an eyebrow, but was not about to look a gift-brahmin in the mouth. Camilla wrapped her arm around Jezebel and shot her a smile. "Let's talk somewhere quieter, no?" whispered Camilla, escorting Jezebel to a nearby alleyway.

"So. What do you know?" pressed Camilla. She didn't use the fullest of her talents quite yet, she could tell Jezebel was jumpy and somewhat uneasy about the situation, and scaring her off wasn't something Camilla wanted to do. Jezebel straightened up slightly and exhaled, calming herself down slightly, before explaining. <font color="#c20072">"Well, It all started about a week ago, a group of three folks walked into town; two of them lookin' like guards or mercs or somethin', and the other being your weird looking friend..." she began <font color="#c20072">"They set up in one of the abandoned factories on the east side of town... But the weird thing is, over the past week, more and more folks have been joining them, some of them even townsfolk!" Said Jezebel, making sure to whisper the part about the townsfolk quieter, but with emphasis <font color="#c20072">''"Now we've got a small army of folks set up over there, armed to the teeth and patrolling the alleyways during the day! I think the Mayor is scared of being assassinated if he speaks up, but we can't just let a bunch of hoodlums have reign over the town, right?" ''

Camilla internally scoffed at that last part; she'd been described as a hoodlum reigning over a town before (albeit in much more unsavory terms). It wasn't above her to probably do worse than what this little militia was doing. Still, it was bad practice to shoot potential customers, a lesson that it took surprisingly long for her to teach the raiders she tended to recruit, so she wasn't about to take over this little patch quite yet. "You've been a great help Jezebel. Thank you" Said Camilla, reaching into her pocket and sliding Jezebel a bag of caps; a meagre amount, but an amount she suspected Jezebel would appreciate none-the-less. "Take care of yourself." said Camilla, beginning to walk away, before stopping in her tracks "Oh, just one more thing..." she remembered, turning around. She didn't actually even know what her target looked like yet did she? The scientist hadn't exactly been forthcoming, but Jezebel had no reason to hide anything. "What does our strange friend actually look like?" said Camilla.

Jezebel looked taken aback at Camilla's lack of knowledge, but answered regardless <font color="#c20072">"I-I'm not quite sure to be truthful..." whispered Jezebel <font color="#c20072">"The guy walked into town with a fedora and a massive trenchcoat... Didn't even hear him speak a word... All I made out was his chin and his body-type...." she said. Camilla looked at Jezebel expectantly, and Jezebel continued <font color="#c20072">"Well, his skin was the palest I've ever seen, I figure he might be anaemic or something... and he was... thin. Dangerously so, he looked very sickly in general, I wonder if he might have been a slave that was just underfed, or some kind of ghoul..." Jezebel trailed off. Camilla shot her a smile "Thank you. Again, you've been very helpful." said Camilla, before exiting the alleyway.

Her next stop, the east side of town. Or, it would be... She had just exited the alleyway when she heard a noise from behind her. A loud cracking noise. Camilla turned around to see if it was Jezebel, but as she whipped around, Camilla saw nothing but a warble in the air. A warble she saw for just a second, before she felt something hit the side of her head, hard, and she passed out.

An hour or so passed before Camilla re-awoke, laying on the hard ground inside some building. Sitting up and looking around, she saw she was in a large room; with brick walls, a sparse flat floor, and tall ceiling. This was a factory once-upon-a-time, that much was certain. Was it "the factory" that the person she was persuing was in? Camilla shook her head. It almost certainly was, after all she happened to only just hear about a specific factory, then she just happens to wake up in one? It would be a ridiculous coincidence if it weren't, she thought. Rising to her feet, she patted herself down. "Clothes? Yes... Caps? Yes... Guns? Guns...." Camilla patted more frantically. Shit... That Lever Action had cost her a fair deal of caps... It was only when she was cursing herself for being so easily rendered unconscious that five people entered the large room she was laying down in, all of them wearing combat armor and wielding plasma rifles. This was bad, she couldn't punch her way through five people, let alone five people with plasma rifles...

<font color="#4ac200">"The boss would like to see you." grunted the centremost member of the group, motioning Camilla to follow him. Her options limited, she decided to oblige. If they wanted her dead, they had already had the opportunity... Following the man through the factory floor and into a corridor the group of soldiers marched up to a door at the end, with a plaque on it that read "Foreman's Office", and knocked. A Metallic buzz rang out shortly after, as the lock on the door popped open, and forced itself ajar. The lead soldier motioned once more, indicating to Camilla to enter the room. She once again obliged. The Foreman's Office was small, but not too small. The door Camilla entered through was in one corner of the room, and the door to what looked like a bathroom was directly to her left. However the most notable feature of the room was a large curtain placed down the centre, obscuring her view of the other side of the room. She could however, see the silhouette of who she assumed to be the aforementioned "Boss", sat on the opposite side of the table. In no position to really do anything else, she sat at the opposite side of the desk, and as she did, the door buzzed again, locking itself.

<font color="#BDA009">"As I understand it... You've been looking for something..." sternly whispered out a voice from the opposite side of the curtain. It was peculiar and somewhat Ghoul-like in the way that it sounded 'kinda-sorta human', but there was also something else, a phlegm-ey quality that gave the voice a tinny feel. Camilla responded "Yes. I've been hired to find someone I suspect to be a slave, and bring them back to a scientist."

The ghoul-like voice gave a chuckle, it was almost menacing in a way, and the laugh only emphasised the voice's peculiar phlegm-iness. <font color="#BDA009">"Yes.... Yes I suppose that would be an apt comparison..." it said. The silhouette seemed to move somewhat strangely as it laughed, in a way Camilla couldn't describe. It then straightened its back, and Camilla could feel their eyes boreing into her. <font color="#BDA009">"I've watched you. Determined your motives. Caps, right?" Camilla raised an eyebrow, but leaned back in her chair and relaxed slightly. So this was a deal. It was hardly the first she'd made at gunpoint, metaphorical or otherwise; she didn't like to make deals this way, but caps are caps. "Yes. I'd say that's an apt assessment." said Camilla, bluntly. She didn't want to put herself in any weaker of a position than she already was by giving away details she didn't need to, knowledge is power after all... The silhouette gave another, smaller chuckle <font color="#BDA009">"Then I believe I have a counter offer for your services." they said. Camilla saw the silhouette lean forward. <font color="#BDA009">"Those scientists want something, and I don't want them to have it. In-fact, I want them gone. Name your price." the voice said. Camilla was taken aback, finally the first person she'd seen in this neck of the woods with some business-sense, and she relished the challenge. "Well, those scientists weren't exactly masters of trade; I pushed them to offer me 8000 caps in exchange for their property." she lied. They'd only gone as far as 7000, but she wanted room to bargain down if need-be.

The voice was silent for a moment, presumably considering the correct course of action. <font color="#BDA009">"In my possession, I have schematics for a bottlecap press." the voice said. Camilla was taken aback at this news. <font color="#BDA009">"It was made and built back where I came from by those same scientists you've been dealing with, you've seen the products of it with their offer." The silhouette leaned back in it's chair, clearly at-ease. Camilla cursed herself once more slightly, the boot was clearly on the other foot for once. <font color="#BDA009">"You deal with my problem; you get the schematic and whatever else you can steal from the scientists, including the caps they offered you."

Camilla was almost certain there was some trick, some con, some caveat to this arrangement... But, it wasn't as if she had been afraid of that before, and agreeing to it would give her a chance to satisfy her curiosity on something... "You've got yourself a deal." she said, standing up. In response, the silhouette also stood up, and grabbed the curtain, sliding it aside and revealing themself. Camilla couldn't believe her eyes, but it would account for alot...

Stood across from her was a skeletal figure in a long brown overcoat, a metallic figure with beady orange eyes unlike anything she had ever seen, an automaton that (perhaps in another form) people in one very specific area of the wasteland would one day come to fear with every fiber in their being.

What was stood in-front of Camilla, was a Synth...