Chapter Text
Lucy was worried. Rightfully so, since she was traveling towards an unknown vault, with a distress signal that continued to ring in her ears.
Her track record with Vaults wasn't exactly the best. She needed to keep an open mind this time around, and not jump to conclusio
The last thing she wanted was to be kicked out of another Vault.
Hopefully her reputation didn’t travel along the other vaults.
Did…the other Vaults even communicate with each other? Lucy never heard anything about the other ones, aside from 31 and 32.
Why didn’t they keep in touch?
“Cooper.” Lucy asks as she tiptoes around a large dune, following Cooper’s footsteps so she didn’t tumble and fall right into the sand. It was loose and hard to keep her footing at times. She had almost fell face first at some point but thankfully Cooper was there to grab her by her backpack.
“Hmm?” Cooper calls out, his head slightly turned to signify he was listening. He seemed to be in his own thoughts, quietly traveling with the only sound being the occasional puff to his inhaler.
“You said your wife was in Vault-Tec right?” Her hands fly up as she wobbles for a moment, her foot nearly sinking into the crumbling sand. Focus Lucy! She did not want to be tossing sand out of her boots and clothes for the next few days.
“I did, why? Something cooking in that blue suited brain of yours?”
She ignores the insult, which was surprisingly tame for what he normally had to say. “I was just thinking. My Vault, we were connected to two other Vaults. Vault 31, and 32. Did other Vaults have connections? Why weren’t we all able to communicate with each other? Wouldn’t that seem more logical if Vault-Tec wanted to make the world a better place?”
She knew they didn’t really have the best intentions but her mind was curious and Cooper seemed to be the only one with answers.
Cooper sighs, glancing up at the sky that sat right above them, almost glaring at the two of them.
“I dunno.” He says honestly, “I suppose it’s due to the fact that most, and I do mean most were not meant for the Vault Dwellers to survive. A lot had experiments and terrible tests that were made from sick minds with lots of money.”
His teeth are clenched and Lucy feels her stomach twist. “How did you find out? That…that your wife and…” It’s a hard pill to swallow but she just wanted to know the truth about it all.
“It was stupid, dumbest decision of my life. My wife had a place for us in a vault, but they wouldn’t let dogs in.” Cooper’s voice is monotonous, his face showing that he was caught in the memory. “It made me suspicious and…your little raider friend Moldaver, she convinced me to spy. Spy on my own damn wife.”
The way the words spit out, it’s like venom from a snake. Latching onto her skin, pumping into her bloodstream. “You knew her…before the war?” She didn’t realize she had been around for that long. How…how did she look the way she did, and Cooper was left ravaged by the radiation?
“I did. Didn’t recognize the name at first, but then again this rad invested brain ain’t what it used to be.” He mutters kicking sand, the dust spraying behind him. She avoids the cloud, blinking rapidly.
“They had some bigwig meeting, all the companies that we knew and loved back in the day. Robco, WestTek, Big Mountain…all of them. She was preaching some way to get them to back the vaults, offering them to think of ways to improve humanity.”
He sneers, “Assholes. They all started suggesting shit like it was some sort of science fair. And then…she suggested throwing the bombs down themselves. Just to get ahead.”
He takes in a shuddering breath, “From that moment on I knew she wasn’t my wife anymore. Just some pawn in this horrible game. We divorced and I was left out of the vault. Name wasn’t on the list.”
He stops giving a bittersweet chuckle, raising his head up to the sky, “All cuz I wanted my damn dog in the vault.” He glances down at Dogmeat who tilts her head at the mention of ‘dog’.
Lucy just stares, feeling her body start to ache at the story. Part of her sympathized with him, since she too knew the feeling. The feeling of learning someone whom you loved with all your heart, was a monster.
A monster who saw the world as some big game of chess.
And people were nothing but pieces to destroy so they could get ahead.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered quietly.
Cooper shakes his head, “I’ve made my peace a long time ago. Ain’t no point to getting angry about something that happened 200 years ago.”
Lucy swallows, even if it ruined your life? You lost your wife, and then lost your humanity? She grips her backpack watching him stare out into the desert, an unknown expression tight on his face.
“Then why are you still searching for her? For your family? Didn’t they hurt you?” Her voice barely could be heard over the gusts of wind hitting the both of them.
“Just cuz they hurt me, doesn’t mean they ain’t still my family. I just…I need to know. If they’re dead, so be it. I’ll live ‘till I finally kicked the bucket knowing that I survived, and they…they didn’t.” His voice is sturdy, and he licks his lips before turning around and beginning to walk.
He seems determined about that. Lucy knew there was more to the story, but she didn’t dare pry. She was lucky enough to even get some bits and pieces.
But she was almost impressed, that he still cared for them despite everything. Blood is thicker than water she supposed.
Maybe she felt the same way about her own family. He hurt people, a lot of people, but she had to talk to him. Just one more time. To get true answers, not ones that were meant to make her join his side.
“Come on girlie, how close are we to this damn signal?” Cooper’s voice drags her out of her own thoughts, nearly startling her in the process.
Lucy looks at her Pip-Boy, seeing the coordinates and then her location. “Not too far. We are getting real close.”
Cooper nods, “Then let’s get goin’.”
***
The signal gets closer and closer, to the point they were nearly a good couple feet away from the coordinates given.
Lucy looked around and saw nothing but desert. Dunes and sand, and maybe a stray cactus here or there.
“Where could it be?”
Cooper narrows his eyes, eyes darting left to right. “Could be a dud. Looks like there ain’t nothin’ here.” He holds his hat with one hand, body twisting around to check and see if there was anything out of place.
“That can’t be, the signal was so strong. I don’t see anything that would produce such a thing.”
Cooper shrugs, “Maybe it’s a trap.”
This unsettling feeling starts to rise in her stomach, crawling up her throat. She swallows down the feeling, taking a couple steps. The large dune she was on hid away a plateau of sand, with small bumps here and there.
It seemed a bit odd, and Lucy felt like something was wrong.
“Maybe,” She says cautiously, biting her lower lip. “But it might be real. People might be in danger.”
“Sweetheart there ain’t anyone here, look.” With that the ghoul begins to walk down, with Lucy slowly following him. It’s a bit of a stumble, and one awkward movement from Lucy sends sand spilling down.
A rumble echoes from the silent desert, and Lucy feels the ground shake under her feet. She gives out a shout windmilling her hand, knocking into Cooper in the process.
The ghoul yells in surprise, teetering forward and tumbles down into the sand hat flying upwards as he hits the compacted sand.
“Sorry! Sorry!” Lucy cries as she slides down the slope, Cooper spitting out the yellow sand with a groan.
“S fine, this shit ain’t exactly a cakewalk. Surprised you haven’t rolled an ankle.”
He moves to stand, another rumble following suit. He looked down with wide eyes, noticing the sand was starting to spill downwards. Like an hourglass, it was starting to dip into the earth.
Cooper knew of dunes being formed on top of caverns or crevices, but he never encountered one.
“Shit!” Cooper shouts stumbling forward but the sand feels like weights on his ankles, he barely moves an inch, slowly falling down. “Don’t come any closer!”
Lucy looks at him, her large eyes so wide it looks like they’re about to pop out of his skull. “What’s wrong?! What’s happening?!”
“The damn sand covered a hole, I’m sinking.” Cooper says a bit nonchalantly, he doesn’t look like he’s panicking, instead his eyes flick around and she could see the gears churning in his head.
“Here!” With a throw he tosses the rope.
Lucy grabs it and begins to pull, but with the sinking sand she can’t find any footing. Her feet slowly begin to fall, and she too is caught in the slipping sand.
“Fuck!” Cooper shouts trying to find something anything.
“What’s going to happen?!”
“If we’re lucky, we’ll fall down into whatever hole is under us. If we ain’t…” He trails off, not moving. He knew better for it would yank him further down. The sand would just swallow them whole. It was no use to be panicking.
Though his traitor of a heart couldn’t help but ram against his ribcage.
Lucy swallows, she seen the cartoons about quicksand. She never expected to be a part of them. They would surely die of suffocation. The Ghoul is falling faster than she was and she tries to pull on the rope even harder, but they don’t budge.
They’re pushing a rock uphill at this point.
Feeling tears in her eyes she tries to think of something, anything.
She grunts as she moves closer, grabbing at his arm. “There!” Cooped points seeing a cactus not too far from where they were. She lifts her head, nodding as she uses her other hand to steady herself and ready to throw the lasso.
“Remember what I taught you, it’s all in the wrist. You got this.”
Lucy feels sweat beginning to form, her heart pounding in her ears. She follows the way Cooper taught her, her form slightly awkward from how the sand had trapped her footing.
With a grunt she throws the lasso and by some miracle, some luck, it lands right on it. The ring tightens around the arms of the large saguaro cactus, and she pulls to see she has a good grip.
“Good! Good now pull it tightly so it doesn’t get loose. There ya go.”
“Okay, okay, hold onto me.” Lucy pants as she tries to make an effort to lift herself up. She can feel Cooper’s hand gripping her waist as they attempt to pull themselves up.
She can feel the sand loosen behind them and for a moment she feels relieved. With another pull she feels the rope doing it’s best to pull them out.
Then she hears a snap.
The rotten cactus can’t handle their weight and the lasso snaps it in two, sending them both flying backwards from the lift of pressure.
Copper is waist deep in the sand, all options gone due to the fact they were in the middle of the sinking pit.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.” Lucy whispers, her heart pounding in her ears.
“Lucy.” Cooper states getting her to look at him with wide eyes. She’s never heard him say her name, only some dumb nickname. “We ain’t dying. You gotta see your pa.”
“What are we going to do then?”
“I can feel my feet dangling in this pit, we are gonna drop and then we’ll find a way out of the cavern.” Cooper says calmly.
“How can you be so sure?”
“We ain’t dying today. Look at me.”
He was so intent on keeping her calm, his shoulders now deep in the ground. She can’t help but feel the tears sting in her eyes.
“Cooper! Cooper!”
She watches him dip into the earth, and she scrambles to try and find him. His gloved hands disappeared into the earth. Digging her own hands into the sand, she stops realizing it’s making things worse.
From the side she sees Dogmeat, barking and whining. She’s not caught in the sand, and she knows she’s smart. Smarter than any normal animal.
“Dogmeat! Dogmeat get help!” She shouts, scrambling to pull out one of her hands. With some effort she rips off a large piece of her vault suit, the one with the 33 pin on it and tosses it over to the dog.
“Go…go find help!” She cries out before the sand takes her and everything goes dark.
***
The Brotherhood of Steel was using an old outpost as a base, not too far from New Vegas. He had followed his orders, readying for the next big mission. Maximus didn’t care about orders at this point. He was starting to see what the Brotherhood truly was about.
Considering what had happened at the Observatory. People who were just supporting a cause, died. And he didn’t do anything about it.
The base was bustling with activity. Thumps and clanks of power armor echo in his ear. He can hear the shouts of paladins, knights and scribes. It’s overwhelming, a bit overstimulating.
He can’t focus on it though, the only thought being the girl with the big eyes and blue suit. His hands clenched as he stared at the sand, wanting nothing more than to have her by his side.
She was gone before he woke up, with Moldaver dead and the Brotherhood now holding ultimate power in their hands. Cold fusion. He didn’t know what to do, unable to move as he stared at the lights slowly turning on.
He wanted to run, to try and find Lucy.
Then Dane came in and proclaimed him to be the savior of the observatory. A true knight.
Was he though? He had been passed out and the woman had died of blood loss. He didn’t kill her. He didn’t do anything. Maximus was starting to get sick of the lies.
But he knew this was the only way to try and find Lucy.
So he didn’t say anything, but allowed Dane to speak whatever they wanted.
He wasn’t going to object. They had resources to finding people, and he would take advantage of it.
Now Maximus had one goal. To find Lucy. Find her, and then they could go to paradise. Go to the Vault and he didn’t have to be in this messed up world.
He could be with her, and happily enjoying life. He already missed the food and the comfy chairs. And the showers. Though he mostly missed Lucy, and her strange ways.
His thoughts were broken by the sounds of shouting, he lifts his head up and travels outside to see a bunch of scribes shouting and throwing things.
Traveling over Max sees what they are mad at.
It’s a dog.
A familiar dog.
The dog is whining, whimpering with something in its mouth. He can’t figure what it is, since the dog would pull away whenever anyone got close.
“I say we kick it.”
“It might be useful.”
“Stop!” Max shouts getting all the scribes to stiffen and turn around, all saluting him quickly. He didn’t want to see a dog getting attacked for just being a dog.
“K-knight Maximus.” One stammers looking at the gaggle of scribes before swallowing. “We found a dog, sir.”
“I can see that.” Max muttered traveling through them to see the dog. She was pretty, a beautiful coat and well kept too. “She doesn’t look wild. I think this was someone’s companion.”
He crouched down and gently held his hand out, clicking his tongue for the dog to sniff. “You look familiar girl, where have I-“
The dog moves closer, as if catching the scent she seems to recognize it. Her tail wagging and wiggling about.
He pauses, noticing the scrap in her mouth. It’s blue, and a familiar shine sparkles in the light.
Quietly he pulls it out of her mouth, though there is some resistance. The dog giving a small growl but eventually the fabric falls into his hands.
“What is it Sir?”
He holds the scrap in his hand, they’re almost trembling at the sight.
It’s the vault suit, the one that Lucy wore. How he knew was the shining 33 pin that was staring back at her. He looks at the dog who begins to bounce, barking at him as if to say ‘follow me’.
“Get me scribe Dane.” He barks at the scribes who all mutter ‘yes sir’.
Max gently reached for the dog, who happily moves forward allowing him to pet her. “Take me to her. Take me to Lucy.”