Trouble on the Homefront

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The door opens into the dusty, metal-smelling interior of a house built from the parts of long-ago airplanes. Light leaks into the room through the greased-paper covering over a few windows, and through the chinks in the metal walls. Ahead, a set of dented lockers takes up one wall. An alcove in the back seems to hold dishes and possibly an ancient refrigerator. There's a workbench off to the left, and stairs leading upward off to the right. "Well," Ellen says, "this is it. Home sweet home."

"Welcome back, mistress!" comes a tinny, mechanical voice from upstairs. "You weren't gone long at all that time..."

Comments

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Hey! Hey, it's you! You and your stupid dad started this whole mess!" comes a small thin muffled voice from the direction Tyler came. If he turns around he'll see Ellen staring towards the window where he saw the angry man and his wife. The man is now leaning on the window and pounding it from his side. "Security! Somebody call the guards!"

Ellen shakes her head and hurriedly moves on.

[basic_powers]

The Not-So-Nice security guard is getting tied up with the roll of Duct Tape Tyler had in his backpack, if that's alright with Ellen.

"Sorry, he came to shoot Winston."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"That's Security Chief Hannon," Ellen says, staring. "He'd probably have shot you given half the chance. Are you okay?"

[basic_powers]

"Yeh, I kinda hit him in the kneecaps before punching him with a taser...is that okay?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Probably," Ellen says. "Let's get him out of the way, and make sure he doesn't get loose any time soon- he could be trouble."

[basic_powers]

"Kay..."

Well, Mr. Hannon is going to find his tazer-induced nap extended, just one gas capsule into the face ought to help.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Thank you," Ellen says with a bit of a smile. "Okay, let's keep going."

She can't hide now, not properly, so the best Ellen can do is move quickly and hope nobody gives her any reason to reach for her laser pistol. There's a sign up ahead, though, past the computer room: SECURITY. Ellen gulps at that, and glances to Tyler- would he mind getting over there to peek through the window or the door or something?

[basic_powers]

...One invisible boy creeping up to peer through the window.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Nobody, thankfully, appears to be in the security office. The weapons lockers are open, the computer terminal's flickering green screen is on; there's no one home.

Well, no. That's not true. At the far back there's a few barred cells, and an extremely unhappy looking dark-skinned man slumped against one of the cell walls.

[basic_powers]

"...who's that?"

The man in the cell looks like he needs help.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen peeps into the room and her breath hisses between her teeth. "That's Mr. Brotch," she says. "My old schoolteacher. God, he looks like they've been hitting him- we need to let him out before we go any further. Come on."

She's got her hairpins and screwdriver with her. She always has them with her.

[basic_powers]

Tyler's getting some instant ice-packs and some simple painkillers out of his first aid kit, along with a bottle of clean water for Mr. Brotch. He isn't sure if those Stim Paks are going to help with that beating.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Brotch looks up as Ellen starts fiddling with the cell door. "Good Lord," he says. "Now there's a face I never expected to see again. Welcome back- to what do I owe the honor of the occasion?"

"An emergency message from Amata," says Ellen. "Are you okay? How badly did they-"

"They've only roughed me up a little so far," Brotch says. "It's not important."

Ellen stares at him at that, as if he'd grown another head.

"Ellen- I overheard some of the guards. They're planning something. Tonight," Brotch says urgently. "Check the computer. I saw one of them entering notes, but there's something very ugly in the works."

[basic_powers]

...The gadget hero-in-training is going to get very worried right now, leaving the first aid kit and bottle by Ellen in favor of checking the computer's notes.

He's got a sinking feeling about this.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Normally the computer would be password protected and locked, but the guards here... well, they are like anyone else in the world, and are not being paid to remember passwords. Someone has scribbled 'rainstorm' on the table next to the terminal, and sure enough, that lets Tyler in.

And there it is... a message from Paul Hannon to the 'trustworthy' members of Vault security, a scathing indictment of how the Overseer's gone soft and can't do what needs doing to bring these kids to heel before they destroy the Vault. Anyone with enough sense to do his job is to meet up here tonight at 11:45; they're going to raid the clinic in force at midnight, and present the Overseer with the fait accompli in the morning. The only deaths to be avoided are Security deaths- the rebels've already signed their own death warrants.

[basic_powers]

"...Ellen. They're planning to kill all the people in the clinic."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen looks up from where she's been getting Med-X into Mr. Brotch, eyes wide.

[basic_powers]

"They were going to meet up here at 11:45 tonight...and raid the clinic...They were going to do it because the Overseer wasn't." There's a pause before he continues. "They were going to take the dead..and Amata to him in the morning."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"We have to tell the Overseer," Ellen says. "He might be crazy but he's not crazy enough to let them hurt his daughter. Let me get a copy of that-"

The interface between the computer and the Pip-Boy is a simple one, and the note is copied immediately.

"All right. You taped up Chief Hannon pretty good, right?"

"You two knocked out Hannon?" says Brotch, eyebrows rising. "Nice work..."

[basic_powers]

"Taped him up and made sure he got a faceful of sleeping gas." Although...

"Maybe I should encase him in Daffy Putty...just for good measure."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"You'd better. Just in case someone else on Security finds him," says Ellen. "Mr. Brotch, will you be all right?"

"I think so," says Brotch, flexing one arm. "Man, remind me to add a section on rescuing your teacher from the Vault jail to the GOAT exam..."

"Okay, good. I'm really sorry, but-"

"No need to apologize, Ellen. Go."

[basic_powers]

Tyler's just going to be a minute, the egg has to get reprogramed and then taped to Hannon's clothing.

When he wakes up....he's going to find himself cocooned up nicely into the ceiling by many thick, strong strands of rubbery pink goo.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

There's gonna be so much screaming from that direction... but that's a problem for another time. The instant Tyler's done Ellen's practically grabbing him by the shoulder and galloping down the hallway.

"Tyler," she says as she runs towards the Overseer's office, "can you use that thing to record what the Overseer says? I don't know if we want to play his reaction to this to everyone until we've heard it first..."

[basic_powers]

...Tyler's thinking on that in a bit, digging into his utility belt before producing a small black rectangular object. "I can use this to record his voice."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Please," says Ellen. "If he sides with Hannon after all and everyone hears it, it won't be a rebellion any more, it'll be a general riot, and I don't want anyone else to get hurt... we can always go back to Milliways for help if we have to fight the security men or something, but I don't want people killing each other in here."