Chapter Text
October 23, 2077
Pandora sat at the kitchen table eating Sugar Bombs. "Hey Sweetie," Nora said, coming out dressed for work. "Sorry, I can't visit more, but I have an emergency at work. I'll be back and we can have lunch together before your flight and we head to the veteran's hall," she offered.
"No worries, Nor, I appreciate the place to crash after I got bumped off my flight. Ma would've worried if I had to get a hotel by myself," Pandora replied, in her thick New York accent.
"I'm off then," Nora said running out the door. "Take care of her Codsworth, treat her like family," she called, getting in the car and heading into her practice.
They heard Shawn cry and Codsworth went off to take care of him as Nate came out of the bathroom. He grabbed a coffee taking a sip before nodding at Pandora. "How's it going, Kid? You sleep okay on the couch?" he asked sitting at the island and picking up the newspaper while sipping his coffee.
"I can sleep pretty much anywhere," as she answered the doorbell rang. Nate sighed, "That guy's been coming all week according to Codsworth, better get it over with," he said, answering the door.
Pandora listened intently as the Vault Tec representative got him signed up for the local vault. She put her bowl in the sink for Codsworth and wandered over to the couch. Codsworth had already gathered up the blanket and pillow she'd used last night. She flopped down and watched the news as Nate finished up the conversation.
"Congratulations on being prepared for the future!" the Vault Tec rep said as Nate closed the door on him.
Pandora took one look at Nate and burst into laughter. "Optimistic fella," she got out between laughing.
Nate joined her on the couch, laughter finally slowing down. "Your family sign up for a Vault?" he asked.
"Nah, Pa, he doesn't trust 'em. Got people he knew to custom-build a fallout-shelter for us. It was a total pain in the ass, but Pa always said he wanted to be in charge of his own future, wasn't going to have no Overseer telling him what to do in his own house. You know what he's like. Don't trust nobody but family."
Just then Codsworth came out, "Mister Nate, Shawn has been changed, but he absolutely refuses to calm down. I think he needs some of that 'paternal affection' you seem to be so good at."
Nate glanced over at Pandora, but she just grinned, "Don't worry 'bout me, go deal with you kid. I may not have any but I know what they're like. Lugged little Atty around like a doll until she got big enough to complain," she joked, and Nate headed down the hall to comfort Shawn.
A moment later, Codsworth's voice called called down the hall. "Sir, you should come see this," Nate picked up Shawn and headed to the living room.
Pandora was standing in shock as the newscaster read the report, "Followed by flashes. Blinding Flashes. Sounds of explosions... We're trying to get confirmation... But we seem to have lost contact with our affiliate stations... We do have... coming in... confirmed reports. I repeat. Confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania."
Pandora collapsed to the sofa, tears streaming down her face. She ran to the phone and dialed home, the automated message advised her the phone she was calling was out of service. She dialed another number with the same result. Nate put a hand on her shoulder, "It's early, they probably made it to the shelter. I have contacts," he said not even sure what he was offering, just knowing her family was in New York. She dropped the phone and sobbed into his shoulder. He awkwardly patted the back of her head with the hand that wasn't holding Shawn.
The TV turned to static. "Pandora, we have to go to the vault," he said in his soldier voice.
She nodded, taking a broken breath and pushed it down. Break down after, not during. He took her hand, tugging her along as they ran to vault, passing people crying and arguing.
The poor salesman was at the gate. Two guards in full Power Armor with Mini-guns were blocking the way. Turning away anyone not on the list.
The man at the gate, checked his list, "Infant, Adult male... Adult female... Ok, go ahead," he said, assuming Pandora was Nora. They were led to the elevator. Army personnel everywhere, a chopper landing as they reached the elevator.
Just as the elevator began to lower they saw a bright light then a mushroom cloud in the distance. Pandora tried her best not to sob, tears running down her face. Nate just tried to comfort Shawn, "It'll be ok," he said, trying to reassure them both. Pandora nodded, not able to talk just yet.
They were led to the decontamination chambers and silently changed into their suits before getting into the pod. "Just relax," was the last think Pandora remembered.
* * *
Pandora woke up freezing sometime later. Across the hall she saw Nate and Shawn's pod opened by a doctor, but it wasn't the one she recognized. There was another man with them, he looked rough, like someone her father would have worked with. She was confused, her head still felt foggy. What was going on? Why was it so cold?
They tried to take Shawn as Nate was waking up, but he refused, there was a brief struggle before rough looking man pulled out a gun and shot Nate, the doctor successfully pulling Shawn out of his arms. "No!" Pandora yelled, struggling, beating on the door with sluggish arms. "No!" she cried out again as the rough looking man walked over.
He came right up to the window and looked inside, "At least we still have the backup..."
She heard an automated voice say, "Cryogenic sequence initialized," before everything went cold and black again.
* * *
It was some time later that Pandora woke again coughing, the same automated voice saying, "Critical failure in Cryogenic Array. All Vault residents must vacate immediately." The door opened and she fell out of the pod, collapsing to the floor.
"Okay," she said to herself, "Okay," she pushed herself up and checked the pod with Nate inside. "Okay," she repeated again, "He's frozen, maybe he didn't bleed out and they can save him. I just... I need a doctor," she said, nodding to herself. "Okay, gonna find a doctor," she looked in the other pods, and everyone seemed frozen, but she couldn't tell if they were, I'm gonna wake up and find frozen, or the pods malfunctioned and we're all dead frozen.
She headed out the door, but the way they came in was blocked. She headed down the only other door to the right. She made her way gingerly down the stairs into a short hallway. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement and saw a giant cockroach in the window. "Awesome," she said to herself, "Cause cockroaches weren't already bad enough, let's make them the size of a fucking cat."
She found a small office and ransacked it, taking the medical supplies she found stashed. After little more exploration, she found a security baton laying on some storage crates. She picked it up and swung it a few times. "Not exactly a baseball bat, but it'll do," she said, before giving a startled scream and hitting a giant cockroach with it. "Okay, noted, no distractions, the giant bugs jump," talking to herself to keep herself grounded.
She found the cafeteria, grabbing the few things that looked useful. The barracks was stripped, "Where is everyone?" she asked looking around, confused. Did they just leave them all there frozen?
There was a bathroom there with running water and she used the facilities, washing her hands and drinking the water before splashing her face. She looked at her reflection nodded to herself before heading on again.
Find the reactor room, she looped around the edge avoiding the electricity in the middle taking out a couple more cockroaches with her baton before coming across a skeleton. "Is everyone dead?" she wondered out loud.
Finally finding the overseer's office. She grabbed the medical supplies and the 10mm pistol lying on the desk. She grabbed it, checking the clip and scooping up the extra ammo and anything else that she thought would be useful.
She righted the chair and sat down at the desk, reading through the notes. "Jesus, Pa, and here I thought you were paranoid. You didn't know the half of it. Freezing people without consent and doing experiments on them. Fucking monsters," she said half angry, half in apology to her father.
She opened the tunnel and took a deep breath. "Ok, paint ball time," she said to herself and peeked around the edge seeing several of the cockroaches. She nodded to herself and then spun around the corner, killing half of them before they even knew she was there and shooting the rest before they reached her. She let out a deep exhale and reloaded the gun.
She carefully made her way down the rest of the hall until she finally reached the Vault entrance. Taking out the cockroaches, there she used the pipboy from the dead scientist to open the door. She checked around and took the extra clothing she found, not like there was anyone here to use it.
She looked at the date on the pip boy and her heart sunk. October 23, 2287. Even if her family or Nora made it, they would all be gone. Everyone would be gone. She sat down on the steps and sobbed.