Location: Sanctuary, The Commonwealth
Mickie wasn't feeling herself… or anything really. Her hands and body were cold and her head was pounding. Through her hazy vision, she realized she was lying on warm grating, a steel cat-walk of some kind.
She picked herself up and looked around, seeing dozens of strange pods lining the walls on both sides of the long room she was on. The one behind her was open and a cold gas billowed out from several tubes.
She glanced at the one in front of her, seeing a small window. She approached it and wiped away the frost, recoiling as a man appeared inside.
His eyes were closed and posture relaxed, but the gun shot wound on his head was covered in frozen blood, shocking her into retreat.
For some reason the body caused a pang of guilt in her chest, causing her to turn away and begin walking towards a door at the far end of the room. Aside from the pods, the rest of the room was stark and industrial, with wires and pipes crisscrossing the ceiling.
Where was she? Who was that man and why was she here? she couldn't seem to remember anything past a haze of frost and fear. She depressed the lever on the door, swinging it open with a rough squeal. The hallway outside matched the decor of the room, minus the apparent cryogenics.
She marched through the strange halls until she made it into what looked like some sort of generator room. The large machinery was still running, but several cracks shot out streams of electricity every few seconds.
As she pondered what to do, movement caught her eye. A skeleton lay across the room in a white labcoat, the coat rustling ominously. From underneath, a roach the size of a small cat emerged, chittering angrily.
It rushed towards Mickie, who was frozen in fear, raising it's wings and preparing to leap.
Just as it did however, a bolt of electricity flew from the generator between them, frying the insect. It fell to the ground with a heavy crunch as Mickie sighed in relief.
She wasn't afraid of bugs, but that was a bit much. Stepping carefully around it, she pondered what could have caused something like that to exist as she ducked under the arcing electricity.
The next room of note was some sort of office. At the desk was another skeleton wearing a strange device on its wrist, plugged into a computer. The room was fairly barren, with a small security cage standing open in the corner.
Walking over and tapping the screen, she could see the device was still working with a bright readout with the title "PipBoy". One of the options was to access some "evacuation tunnel".
Hitting the option, Mickie jumped as a panel opened in the far wall, revealing another hallway. Before leaving, she grabbed the PipBoy from the skeletons arm and secured it to hers, before checking out the security cage.
Inside she found a suit of combat armor and began to don it, noticing for the first time the blue jumpsuit she was clad in. A tag at the wrist read "VaultTech".
She also grabbed a handgun and ammo from a nearby shelf.
"A snub-nose .44. Nice." She wasn't sure why she knew the guns model, but holding it gave her a sense of control. She quickly headed out into the Evacuation tunnel, noticing the sounds of more roaches coming from the cracks and crevices of the hall.
Just as she got halfway, a particularly large roach, with a green glowing hue, skittered out from beneath the walkway. It beat it's wings together loudly as 3 more roaches emerged from various hiding places.
As they rushed her, Mickie fires twice, killing the closest roach and sending another running back into it's hovel. The shots crack inside her mind, sending images of explosions and gunfire cascading through her thoughts. as her senses come back the third roach makes it within striking distance before it's head is crushed with a thin boot.
The glowing roach chittered again and shoots towards Mickie, who empties her clip trying to dispatch it. Sadly none of the shots connect with the quick creature.
The roach tackles her to the ground, attempting to bite at her face with vicious looking mandibles. It's claws dig into her jumpsuit and pulled at the plates of the combat armor, pinching her skin. Struggling, Mickie eventually pushes it off and bashes it's head in with the butt of the gun, ending the fight.
Her newly acquired armor was scratched and the gun empty, but she was fine, picking herself up and moving on past the roaches.
She shuddered a bit, but didn't let herself be delayed by the horrifying creatures. She could still hear the one that got away chittering somewhere in the walls, prompting her to move faster.
She exited the hall into another room, this one much larger, with a retractable catwalk leading to a large, gear-shaped door mechanism. Another skeleton in lab gear was lying next to a control console which seemed to be wired to the door.
She walks over and hooks her PipBoy's cable into the consoles only port, accessing the command menu. With a few taps, the door begins to open, the rusted metal groaning and grinding against itself.
Within the next chamber, a large, industrial lift is revealed, presumably leading out of this building. Mickie climbed in, pulling the gate down behind her. She could hear machinery as the lift registered her weight and began to move, groaning and clanking much like the large door.
Above her, the ceiling began to open to either side, allowing bright light to stream in and blind Mickie on her ascent. She covers her eyes and ducks involuntarily as the lift reaches it's apex.
Her eyes clear and Mickie stands, observing the area around her.
She was atop a large hill, overlooking a small river and the ruins of a suburban town. As far as she could see, the landscape was… scarred.
All around her were the husks of machinery and skeletons wearing the scraps of military uniforms and civilian clothing alike. What little plant life there was to be found, all looked malnourished and wilted. Even the trees had little to no leaves on them.
Seeing little else to do, Mickie began to make her way down the hill and towards the town, an unknown dread building in her gut. As she walked, pieces began falling into place. A burned landscape, broken buildings, nature barely clinging on…
A bomb fell here. A big one, judging by the damage, but something nagged at her.
"Why do I know it was a bomb?"
Ignoring her doubts, she trudged on, entering the town from between two houses. Every window blown out, cars destroyed. For some reason, she was hit with a startling sense of loss.
Up the street, a sudden sound caught her attention. A rusted, Mr.Handy unit was forlornly clipping the wilted leaves from a bush.
Hit with a sudden wave of nostalgia, Mickie rushed towards the droid with joy.
"Codsworth!" The robots cameras perked as it spun to face her. She stopped a few feet short, confusion replacing joy.
"I… uh. Do you know me?" The robot whirred for a moment, before dusty speakers crackled to life.
"Of course, I know you, Miss! You and -kkzzzzzt- lived here a-a-and -kkzzzzzt-"
Codworths stops speaking as his internals begin to shit again.
"I'm so sorry, Miss. My memory seems to be a bit -kkzzzt- fuz-fuz-FUZZY -kkzzzzzt- 200 or so years. Who are you?"
Mickie sighed and rubbed her head, before plastering a fake smile on her face.
"Hi, I'm Mickie O'Gibbon and you're Codsworth. You're going to come with me."