Dawn of the Demi Mutants

Joint Post with Kronos

Victoria had woken up to the sounds of arguing. She could hear a multitude of people in screaming matches over what to do. It's not like they didn't have a mechanism for solving issues like this, most issues they put to a vote, but this one she feared would lead to widespread violence. They already had a couple of people in lock-up for starting physical fights over the issue. The Section Chief of Repository A had locked useless ass in her office and refused to do anything but issue orders via computer. Victoria knew she wasn't going to get any work done today. She grabbed something to defend herself in case the anger finally turned into violence. She went to her usual hiding spot to get away from the arguing. When she arrived she saw something on the ground. She approached whatever it was cautiously. As she got closer she could see he was covered in dirt. Dirt that her Pip-Pad picked up radiation from. Internally she began to panic. No! No! No! A surface dweller got inside! No! No! No! This is going to go very badly. What do I do? Do I call the security chief? Do I hide the body and then dissolve it in acid when I can do so without being discovered? Then she saw the body move. She screamed.

The explosive scream woke up Syd in an instant. He looked around the metallic utilitarian hallways, then down to the slightly damp floor below him. His vision was woozy, all he could make out was a green blurry figure standing a small distance from him and making a sound like a banshee. "What are you?" he asked slightly confused.

She forced herself to calm down. It speaks. At least they didn't devolve socially into ravenous animals like some suggested survivors would do. She put her weapon down. "You are in my home. I'll ask the questions. Why are you here? What is your name? What do you want from us?" She let her curiosity for the surface take over. "What is it like on the surface? Is it safe up there? How do you survive up there with all that radiation?"

"Sorry- Just wasn't expecting to pass out. I'm Syd, I found this place on an encrypted pre-war map. You're lucky, I was the first to find it. We have been slowly rebuilding civilization up above for quite some time, I'd say we get on with it more than we actually survive," Syd explained. He reached out his hand to the woman to ask for help in getting up.

She grabbed his hand and picked him up like he would pick up a little girl's dollie. She also intentionally didn't give her own name. "We have detected others on the surface, a group, a large group. Are they looking to find a way in here like you? You clearly plan on looting this place. What were you expecting to find here?"

"Don't call me a thief just because I came looking for this place. I was just curious, wouldn't you be?" Syd said, he went to point his finger at the towering lady but quickly brought his index finger back. "I'm Syd, I just wanted to know what was down here."

"We have pre-war history books in here. We know about the lack of resources on the surface, the riots that occurred, and the looting that occurred. So I find it a little hard to believe that you are here to look around. Maybe you didn't plan to steal anything for yourself, maybe you planned to sell access to this place for others to take whatever they pleased. Tell me the real...." She stopped talking and turned her attention to where she came from. "Crap. Someone's coming. If you want to live I suggest you go hide behind that forklift..." Just in case he didn't know what a forklift was she decided to describe it. "The big dusty yellow thing with wheels. If you run off you will be caught and there is a better than good chance you'll die. So hide and wait for me."

Syd was confused but he had no other choice, he darted and hid behind the forklift. Peering out every few seconds to see who exactly was coming. He wondered if it would be more green people like her, they were intriguing to him. They weren't quite super mutants. They seemed more intelligent, shorter and less barbaric. But it wasn't Syd's place to judge an entire species off one example. He was sure there were smart super mutants out there too.

Victoria's mother approached her. "Honey I came looking because you're needed in the lab. Did I hear you talking to someone sounded like you were with a man. Don't tell me you are cheating on your husband with Pierre. I know he hurt you when he refused to accept you voluntarily mutated. He loves you. He'll see the light someday." Victoria rolled his eyes. "Mom! He's nearly 105. He's the longest-living human in our history. I wake up every day expecting to hear he died, I thank God every night he doesn't. He'll die before he changes his mind. Plus I would never cheat on him no matter how much I may or may not find Pierre attractive." And she did find Pierre very attractive. As they spoke she mulled over if she should tell her mother about Syd. Before she could decide her mother noticed the dirt. "That's not dirt from anywhere in here. "We have to seal off the radiation." Victoria's mother started to take off. Victoria grabbed her. "Before you do anything there is something you need to know. Thank God it was you not Dad." Victoria's mother became very concerned. Victoria led her mother over to Syd. "Mom this is Syd. Syd this is my mom. You can call her Mrs. Valentina. Mom he is from the surface. He claims he came here because he found an old pre-war map and was curious. I don't know if I trust him after hearing about all the looting and rioting by the everyday citizen because there was not enough stuff during the Resource Wars."

Ms. Valentina eyed Syd. "Interesting." She stroked her chin. "Would you mind if I took a blood sample? I am curious how all the radiation on the surface affected you specifically your DNA. I would have expected some outward signs of mutation. You look thin. Would you like some food. I believe Chef is making your favorite breakfast Vic you should get some and bring some to your friend." Victoria became ecstatic. "Soy Bacon! Yummy!" Victoria ran off. Syd could feel the floor shake slightly.

Syd blinked, he was still trying to figure out if this was some strange dream. But he could feel his brain, thinking away, he could sense his surroundings. "Yes, Ms. Valentina I would like something to eat. Would you like the blood sample before or after we eat?" As he finished speaking he began to study the woman. "I'm sorry for coming into your home, I'm sure you can understand that I didn't think there would be anyone else down here."

"I can take your blood sample now while Vic gets the food. Just don't expect any of the Soy Bacon. That will be gone before she leaves the dining room. I find it odd you didn't expect to find humans down here, not with Vault-Tec and all their Vaults. Did their customers not survive? Or have they never opened up their Vaults yet? So glad my ancestors didn't go Vault-Tec. I expect you have questions about what we are?" She took his blood sample. "We are called Demi Mutants. I argued for Alpha Mutants because this is Repository Alpha but I lost that argument. Repository Alpha was DARPA's answer to Vault-Tech's Vault system. DARPA was some pre-war government think tank or something. Whatever it was doesn't matter anymore. DARPA was also studying the Forced Evolutionary Virus, a super soldier project. We kept studying it after the Repository was sealed off the day the nukes fell from the sky. Eventually, we made it better bit by bit. We have the intelligence loss down to five percent at worst. Pre-war Super Mutants are stronger than us Demi Mutants. We are still far stronger than an ordinary human though. We even fixed it so that women can still look like women. Vic is one of the most recent mutants that's why she looks more feminine than I do. Lucky bitch." She laughed. "Vic solved the infertility problem so now mutants can have their own children. During the last census, it was revealed that humans outnumber us mutants by three to one, the previous year's census had it that for every five humans, there was one mutant. Eventually, we mutants will outnumber the humans."

Victoria came back with a batch of pancakes and soy sausage. She was munching on the last piece of bacon as she approached. "What are we going to do about him? The hole he came in? If dad and his people find out I don't even want to think about what will happen."

Syd rubbed at his arm where the blood sample had been taken. "I honestly didn't know what to expect down here, I didn't think it would be anything like a Vault. I tried my best to seal the way I came in but I can understand if you want me to go. I appreciate that you didn't kill me the moment I came down here, it means a lot to me. What is up with your dad and his people?" Syd asked. He brought the plate closer to him, stabbing into the sausage with a fork. It all looked quite delicious, a lot better than the muck you had up above.

"Super Mutants are naturally aggressive. My dad and earlier generations of Demi Mutants are more prone to aggression than later generations. It's never been a problem till now. The earlier generations of Demi Mutants won't to kill the people on the surface above us. The later generations are open to interacting with you surface dwellers."

"Unfortunately everyone up there won't be as friendly as I am. There's groups up there who want people like you dead, they're no different to your father. One of the groups that was scoping this area up there," Syd pointed the longest finger on his free hand to the roof. "That group I don't know how they would treat you all."

Ms. Valentina decided to chime in first. "Vic you should explore the surface you are the one least likely to get in trouble. Figure out if it is safe for us to make contact with the surface dwellers. Be back no later than a year. Figure it out quick or there might not be anything to come back to. Once you are gone I will tell everyone I saw you fleeing through whatever hole you make. The hole will be then sealed off. Don't leave yet." Ms. Valentina ran off and came back a few minutes later. "Your weapons." She handed Victoria her weapons. "I used your access code and backdated it to earlier this morning." She hugged Victoria. "Be careful out there honey. I expect you to come back safe and sound, do not disappoint your mother." Victoria hugged her mother back. "Tell everyone I love them and I will miss them. Tell Aaron I forgive him." Ms. Valentina broke the hug off. "Syd keep my baby safe."

He didn't expect to have been thrown into a babysitting mission as soon as he had arrived at this place. But he felt like he owed these demi-mutants, they hadn't hurt him and Victoria seemed to have a good soul. "I will Ms. Valentina, I promise..."