Elijah decided on doing a quick workout instead of his usual long workout. He quickly finished up his sets with the various arm exercises. "Alright time for a quick shower then straight to the armory." Elijah said to himself. Elijah quickly put the weights back into their spots. After the weights were up he headed toward the locker room for a quick shower so he could rid himself of his workout sweat. After stripping himself of his workout clothes he went over to the showers. The showers tended to be really cold because the vault overseers didn't want to waste hot water down there. After quickly cleaning himself of, he hopped out of the showers and changed back into his vault clothes and started heading back toward the elevators. The one thing he liked about the gym was that it was one of the least discriminatory place in the vault. Hell he even had a few records in the gym mainly in bench press and squat. Elijah walked over to the record list and looked at them. "Almost got the power record. Just third place I'm only off by fifteen pounds. So fucking close." He thought. After taking a quick look he walked towards the elevators.

After a short wait for the elevator to arrive, Elijah walked in and pressed the button for the first floor. After a short ride Elijah found himself in the atrium and started walking toward the vault security. It was a short walk no longer then five minutes. As usual he was stopped in near the laboratories since it was unusual for a refugee to be there. After a quick scan he was allowed to pass. Finally he was at the vault security. He was halted by a security officer. "Whats your purpose here?" He asked. Elijah took a second to look at the officer. He was just a standard grunt nothing in particular stood out about him. "I'm here for the Armory Sir. I work there." Elijah said. The officer took a second to think "Let me see your pipboy, and show me where it says you work here." Elijah nodded. After pressing a few buttons he was there. "Here officer. Right there" He said pointing at the spot where it said he worked at. "Alright you're free to pass" The officer said and with that he turned his back on Elijah to keep watch out the door.

Elijah walked past the officer and toward the armory. Once at the employee entrance he knocked twice. He was greeted by the Chief Armory Engineer. "How you doing Elijah? You know you get a week off right?" He asked. "Doing good sir. How about you? And I know but I don't have anything to do for a week. So I figured I'd be kind for a change and help out a old person." He said with a smile. "Hey now! I'm not that old. But that's kind of you. Recently that vault was trying a new training exercise and a lot of the weapons that were used in it got damaged. So I've been backed up. You think you could help for a little bit?" He asked. Elijah got a smile. "Hell yeah sir. You know I love repairing this stuff. Where should I get started?" He asked. "That's the spirit boy! You can get started on the pistols over there. After that help me with these rifles. Sound good to you?" The Chief engineer asked. "It sure does Sir!" Elijah said and with that he moved toward the pile of damaged weapons and began his work.

Jackdaw was alarmed. He was an instinctive and quick-thinking young man, and so, when he heard the sounds of rushing boots going through the Living Quarters, along with the voices of other refs asking 'What's wrong', and other such things, his naturally-honed instincts pushed out. Swiftly, he slid his weathered 10mm into a small, hidden slot beneath his work desk, while the cleaning kit was swatted off to the side, unknown and hidden. At the same time, the man's hand lashed out, nabbing a nearby Vault-encrypted magazine, Jack sliding it in front of him. Just in time, as well, as the group of - Security Officers, he assumed - pressed the button to his room, and rushed in. Guns of all shapes and sizes were aimed directly at his sitting, reading form, and Jack felt a minor rush of panic...before he violently brushed it away, and regarded the men through sharp, suspicious amber eyes. The command of 'Hands up' was heard clearly, and as to not invoke his death, Jack followed it calmly, his eyes practically glaring as he worked over the reasons for his arrest. What had he done recently? Got to class...got his results. Talked to another refugee, and then...Ah. Self-defense.

"Is there a problem, Commander..." He narrowed his eyes at the man. "Johnson. Why am I being arrested?" As he spoke, Jack slowly stood, hands still clearly above his head. It wasn't a threatening gesture;; if anything, it seemed as if he was completely surrendering. His eyes were like smouldering flames, however, and it was obvious that, despite the young man being unarmed, a few of the shorter, less experienced officers were slightly intimidated. This was ridiculous...He had done nothing wrong! Was this Vault so discriminatory and foolish? He could see other Refugees peeking through the door, and some seemed angered at the treatment, despite not knowing why Jack was being apprehended. It was understandable. The young man was known for being hard working, and albeit rough and sharp around the edges, he was honest and direct;; to the point.

Another person joined in on the group. This was starting to get out of control. There were now four blue Vault jump suits gathered around one wall in the small Vault corridor. The fourth member decided it would be best to inquire as to what was going on with the Security Forces. No one in the group knew what was going on. Matthew decided to reiterate that. "I don't think that any of us know what's going on with the Vault Security. Probably like a training exercise or something" Matthew said. "Probably best that we don't go investigate and get in their way." Matthew finished. On occasion Matthew had seen firsthand what happens to those who messed with the Security Forces. It was not pretty. Especially so when dealing with Refs. For whatever reason, the Vault Security Officers just did not like Refs at all. From time to time Matthew would ponder on why there was such an extreme hatred for Refs in the Vault. Sure, they were not naturally born in the Vault or original bloodlines, but they were people too. And people who had survived on the outside for generations. Matthew had to give them some credit for that, or at least, the older generation of Refs that survived on the outside. Most of the Refs that were now in the Vault were born in Vault 24. In a sense, they were as much a regular Vault Dweller as anyone else. But Security did not see it that way.

Once the intrigue with the Security Force seemed to die down, Matthew decided to speak again. "So I don't know if you guys were aware but apparently they are bringing down the air conditioned vents for an hour or so today to investigate why it was making that thumping noise. I don't know if you guys had heard that noise during Mr. Lancaster's lesson, but I sure did and it was obnoxious." Matthew chuckled a little.

Vault Security Force

The boy, freshly out of school, Jack, who was being arrested, tried to figure out why he was being arrested. The Security Officers had nothing for him in regards for an answer. They just swiftly moved in and threw him to the ground. Jack's head nearly hit the edge of a table as the Officers brought him down. A loud thud was heard as he hit the ground. The Officers all swarmed the room, weapons drawn and aimed at Jack. "Shouldn't have beat up those boys you fuckin' Ref scum. If I had it my way, we'd toss your ass out of the Vault and let you rot with the rest of your outside people" the Officer spat near Jack. "But you'll get yours Jack." He continued.

As the Officers continued to try and intimidate Jack, and the rest of the Ref population, a large group of Refs had gathered. They were shouting and spouting off obscenities at the Officers. Hatred and bad blood was slowly getting ready to boil over into violence. Finally it turned into something more than a gathering group. Some of the Refs had knives, screwdrivers, other tools, a few had bats. The four Officers guarding the front door were rushed by a group of 15 or so Refs. The Officers brought out their batons to try and fight back the mob. There were a few exchanges of bloody batons and other weapons, but the Refs were too numerous for the Officers. One of them simply drew his pistol back from it's holster and started shooting. A few Refs dropped but the four Officers were overcome by Refs and they were killed. Five more Officers exited the room, firing shots into the crowd. The group of Refs dispersed and took cover. Now they had guns. A shootout between the two sides ensued. The Officer still with Jack had finished tying his hands and moved to the intercom. "More Officers to the Ref Living Quarters. NOW! They are shooting at us. Fuck, I think they killed Jones, Wills, Jacobson, and Garcia." He said into the intercom.

Osaki's mind on the whole situation was diverted by Mathew pointing out the air vent making a odd noise. She noticed it too, and it did worry her a bit. "I hope there is nothing wrong with the air filtration systems. We sure will be pretty screwed if we lost our air." She began to scratch the back of her head and looked about the group. "Sorry for being rude, but I think it is time for me to part from our little gathering. Got to let my parents know what job I got stuck with." She added. She nodded, bowing her head slightly at the others and headed for the elevators. When she got there she pressed one of the buttons and waited. She didn't know why but it seemed like it took forever for the elevators to come to their level. Perhaps it was just already in service at the time she pressed the button. When the doors opened she was about to hit the button that would take her eventually to the living quarters ,but decided on taking the elevator down to the maintenance floor. She looked forward to grabbing her new jumpsuit that was used by the maintenance crew of the vault. When she arrived and the doors opened she stepped out and headed for the offices.

When she got to them she saw one of the engineers and gestured over to him. "I am here for my uniform, I will be joining the crew in about a week." She said and the man looked up at her and then hollered for someone to come along. The person was carrying a fresh new jumpsuit for her. She took it and smiled and bowed her head. "Thank you." She said and with that she headed to the elevator once more. She wondered how her parents would react to her new job. She just hoped they wouldn't be disappointed in her. She entered the elevator and took it back up towards the living quarters. Her quarters where not too far from the elevator doors hopefully. Her mind trailed back to what Mathew said and took note on how stressed those two looked. I hope there is nothing wrong with their air, at least let it be fixable.

Kat's thought about the vents when the topic came up. She really couldn't think of much that could have been making the noise. Maybe a few mole rats had gotten up there somehow but she really couldn't fathom why and how that would happen. Her only other explanation for it would be that someone had been making the noise on purpose. She remembered doing things like that back when she was a kid and frankly it was stupid back then and it is still stupids now. Her eyes followed Osaki as she slipped away from the group. She'd always felt sort of sorry for the girl. She'd heard her trying to explain that she was Japanese to people who had just assumed she was Chinese in the past. Kat had never really felt any type of prejudice to the standard of the refugees or Osaki for that matter. Of course, she had heard a comment here or two about her being vault-born in her past, but those were largely rid of after Kat's identity as a gang leader grew. To tell the truth, most of her reputation was just fabrication and myth. Word travels fast in the vault and it was like a giant game of chinese whispers so things Kat had gotten her cronies to do was attributed to her.

Kat's head shot to the left as she heard the echo of gunfire. She looked back to the group quickly and frantically. Her hand flew up to her mouth and she began biting the corner of her thumb, cocking her head to actually be in the position to do that. She had never really used guns before, she had been taught how to use a pistol or two here or there when her father went to inspect security and the chief wanted to make a good impression on him. But other than that, guns were a scary, dangerous thing to her. Her speech was quick and frantic.
"What do you think that was? Is something happening down below?"

Oscar thought about the noise in the vents He said " It is probably just wear and tear. That is what happens to machines when they begin to break down. I am sure there is nothing to be worried about. The maintance workers are probably working on a solution" This is one of the rare times that Oscar socializes with his own classmates. He is usually on his own, drawing sketches of old world tech or chatting with maintance workers and scientists about the inner workings of things. It is not that Oscar dislike any of his classmates. It is just more interesting to learn than talking about , to him at least, trivial and unnessasary banter. Oscar just feels that most people do not share his passion. Besides his grandfather

After awhile , the sound of gunshots were heard. Oscar seemed puzzled. If it was training, why are they using their precious ammunition? The girl, whose name is Kate or so Oscar remembers, commened on what they were doing. Oscar replied " I do not know. What ever it is, it may be good." This is unheard to Oscar. Normally there would notices about training drills. Also there is no infestation last time Oscar checked. The next likely logical guess for him is one he does not to be a reality.

Jackdaw Missouri
Refugee Living Quarters
Tagged;; Hostile Refugees & Vault Security

Jackdaw solidly refused to cry out or utter any sort of pained grunt was he was thrown against the ground, officers swarming around his body. His back was quite sore from the landing, but he had dealt with so much worse, and so, the only thing he did in retaliation was glare viciously at the 'main honcho' of this clear case of security brutality. He did not want to lead a bunch of toxic-blooded cowards. 'Fuck them. I'm getting another job.' He thought as he twisted his body, his torso constricting as he used the dense muscles in his midsection and ankles to throw himself up into a stubborn half-kneeling, half crouching position. "I didn't do anything." His lips scowled even further, even as the voices of other Refs began to pick up very loudly, the discriminated-against populace making their anger and disapprovement, very, very well-known.

Although he had to fight back a small, very slight smirk at the rebellious attitude, his eyes slowly narrowed once he saw people reaching for objects and weapons, along with the screaming turning into roars of outrage. "Shit. Stop!" It was too late...bloodshed wasn't necessary for this. Jackdaw's amber eyes widened, before practically glaring, his voice rough and hoarse as he struggled against his bonds, pushing and headbutting security officer's away. It was wild now;; Blood was flying, gunshots flew through the roof...the Refugees had guns now. This was not good...not good at all. As the head man pulled him away roughly, talking into his speaker, Jack growled and roughly, yet 'accidentally' slammed his head backwards as a guard pushed into him, sending the hand-held walkie-talkie splattering across the cold metal grounds. All of the Refs were gonna die in this shit. He needed to get these damn cuffs off, and do...do something!

"Are you happy now, Commander?" He hissed harshly, watching another Ref get gunned down. A familiar man ran across the corridor, a massive sledgehammer in hand, and eyes wide in rage. He was practically frothing. His name came instantly, and ripped through Jack's lips before he could help it. "Devon! No!" He wanted to flinch away...but his dark golden eyes could only stare in shock, and anger, as the large man's body was torn open by a heavy spray of rifle lead.

"Devon!" A female voice screeched above the sound of gunfire and grunts. A red-head ran out into the open...more lead fired.

His wife, Cassidy...dead, falling on top of the man's body. No...Tears didn't escape. His eyes had been dried way too much after his father's death, to the point where he found it painful to cry. But this...He didn't realize his shoulders were shaking, or the fact that his fists clenched so hard that the knuckles popped. He did, however, realize that his heart was constricting. His last two friends...the only two he could call family. Dead.

God damn it.

The gunshots were growing more and more audible and frequent. Louder. The talk of the vents was no longer important. Matthew turned his attention straight to the gunshots. "I don't think the gunshots are meaning anything good or training" Matthew said. "And I don't think we should go investigate either. I think straying away from gunshots is better than going to investigate them" he reiterated. A few seconds more and a bunch of Security Officers ran by, guns drawn. "That doesn't look good. I'm staying away from whatever the hell is going on." Matthew said. "Security will take care of whatever the problem is, I'm sure" Matthew spoke calmly. The gunshots were making Matthew nervous but he had full faith that Security would handle whatever situation was developing down in the Vault. "I think I am going to visit my home and see what I got for a job" he trailed for a second, pondering whether or not he should invite them to come. Surely his parents would not mind. "I guess you guys can come with if you've nothing better to do" he said, smiling.

-----

The fight escalated down in the Ref Living Quarters. Back up was on the way but it did not arrive soon enough. The Refs swarmed the Jack's room and easily overtook the Security forces. Within two minutes, there were only two Officers left and they were now captives to the Refs, who also had a large armament and large amount of ammunition as well. One of the Refs made his way to Jack and freed him. "This is our Vault today brother" he said, handing a rifle to Jack. An apparent leader arose from the group of Refs. An older man. An experienced man. "They've treated us like shit since we arrived 50 years ago. We work the shit jobs, we labor day in and day out. And what have we to show for it!?" He shouted. "When their reinforcements arrive, we will gun them down. Then we will take the fight to the Overseer. And gun them down too" he continued shouting.

Behind the leader, the elevator opened and a barrage of gunfire followed. The old man, the leader, was the first to fall to the ground. It turned to chaos instantly. Gunfire, handheld weapons, fists, all kinds of brutality. It was an even fight.

-----

The maintenance workers who had been working on the air conditioning had begun to report feeling sick. They had, almost all of them, arrived at the Doctor's Office. None of them looked to be in good condition.

While she rose up in the elevator she could hear the gun fire. Each shot made her jump and flinch. That was not normal, it sounded like a war was going on up there and she did not like it. She grew ever more worried about her parents as well as the classmates she just left behind. Once she reached the desired floor she got off looking about and could see many others locking themselves into their quarters. What was going on? Were they being attacked? She did not walk but ran instead. She needed to check in on her family and make sure they were alright. She was then going to plan on regrouping with those she left behind if she could. When she got to her quarters she pressed a button opening the door to find her parents praying. She tossed her new uniform onto a table and ran to them. "Did you hear those gun shots?"
"Yes,hun" responded her father, not even opening his eyes. She saw that they were alright and sighed with relief.
"Seeing as you two are alright, I am going to go see if everyone else is alright okay?" She told them and they opened their eyes and nodded.
"Be careful dear" Her mother said. She did not know that this was probably going to be the last time she would see them. When she exited her quarters she ran to the elevator waiting for when Mathew and the others came up them. She held her hands together and closed her eyes praying that the gunfire wouldn't claim them. The fire sounded farther up but you never know. It could escalate even further. She had no clue as to what was going on in the maintenance wing, only that the workers she saw didn't look okay. However, that was no longer her concern. The sound of guns had her full attention right now.

As Elijah was working on repairing the weapons. He overheard a call on the radio since the armory was in the same room al the security officers. Apparently a gunfight had broken out between refugees and vault security officers and from the sound of it the security officers were losing. From what was heard it was one of the most traumatic events to happen in this vault.

If the refugees lost. Those still alive could face execution of banishment, same for those associated with them. " fuck this is bad. Like really bad." Elijah said. The security chief looked at him. "Yes it is." Since he was a pure blood vault citizen he didn't have to worry about a thing. "Elijah was really worried now. "sir if the refugees lose I could face death, since the overseers aren't so kind to use refugees. I don't want to die. I still haven't even lived yet. What should I do?" Elijah asked the old man. The old man sat there and thought for a bit. "You could always open the vault door and try to escape. And take your chances in the wasteland. " he said quietly. For what they were talking about was treason, and during times of difficulty treason could very well kill you. Elijah looked at him confused. " but sir how? And we don't have any food or water or weapons. Plus doesn't the vault door require a passcode?" Elijah asked. " ha for a vault door all you have to do is pull down a lever and that opens the door. And since nothing is happening between the outside world and here it'd be unguarded so you could easily escape. For supplies that's pretty easy as well see all the stuff brought in by the refugees is still in the security checkpoint before the vault. All the contraband that is plus some of the old prewar food. So you could technically requisition some supplies from there and be fine. " the old man said. "Plus with all the Maintenance workers being sick the vault is going to be overactive and nobody is going to be paying attention to the entrance." The old man said. " thank you sir" Elijah said " I'm not feeling to well I think I might've are something wrong earlier. I'm going to be in the bathroom for a bit."

And with that Elijah walked out of the armory and started to speed walk to the bathroom while holding his stomach and groaning in distress. The good thing is the closest bathrooms where outside of vault security so he could easily get out and once he was out he could easily make his way to the vault entrance. But how would he warn people of what was going to happen.

Kat thought about Matthew's proposition, still biting the nail of her thumb.
"Nah, I think I'll check out the tattoo parlor for right now" She said, turning and heading towards said parlor. The gunshots were increasing in amount and volume. She could even hear screaming and chanting floating up the vents. She was really rather worried now, but she hoped that visiting the parlor would at least take her mind of things. The parlor was very close to the atrium, and looked like it hadn't been used in decades. There was dust everywhere, and the equipment was practically rusted to the table it sat on. Kat sighed, she pulled a broom out of a closet nearby and began cleaning up. She could still hear the gunshots, but at least she had something to keep her occupied. The room wasn't exactly spacious, with just a stool and a dentist chair in the centre of the room along with a table against the wall near the back. The broom closet was embedded into the wall and only really had the broom and a few other small cleaning supplies in there. As a result of the small space, the room was rather warm, and the dust wasn't exactly helping. Kat took off her leather jacket and laid it down on the now 'clean' table. She rolled her jumpsuits sleeves up to her elbows and zipped it down slightly to reveal the top of her tank top. She wiped her brow with her sleeve. In all fairness, a leather jacket in an area like the vault wasn't the greatest idea because of the enclosed space. But an extremely small space like this was just too much heat for something like that.

It seemed as if no one was going to take Matthew up on his offer so he decided to depart to his living quarters on his own. With a quick movement of his hand, he waved, a sign to the rest of the group that he was leaving them, for now. And once that formality was dealt with,
Matthew

Matthew left. His Vault issued boots, rubber and leather, smacked up and down as he walked down the Vault hallways. Matthew reached out his hand from his hand, letting his fingertips brush up against the metal walls of the Vault. These metal walls surrounding him were home, they had been his whole life. They represented a prison to some. There were people in the Vault, younger generations, who thought that things would be better on the outside. Obviously they had never listened to the Refs when their elders discussed the outside world. Yes, to some this was a prison. But to Matthew these walls represented safety, safety from the outside world. Even though there were those that wanted to explore the outside world and be free, Matthew was not one of them.

When Matthew arrived at his home he pressed a few buttons next to the door and it quickly lifted open. Inside his mother was reading. The book was entitled Animals of the Deep. "New book Mom?" He asked. She looked up from her book and smiled at her son. "I'm going to start teaching the kids about big fish. Sharks, whales, dolphins, that kind of stuff" she said. Matthew smiled, "that's awesome" he said. "Did you know that sharks would lose an average of one tooth every time they took a bite and that, on average, they lose like 30,000 teeth in a life time. Nature is... was amazing" her smile almost became a frown. Matthew knew that his mother yearned to see the wildlife of the past, but he also knew that that would almost certainly never happen. The only animals she ever got to interact with were Mole Rats and regular rats and mice. "Love you Mom" Matthew said before disappearing into his room.

Resting on his bed was a letter, from the Overseer. Matthew was actually surprised that it was folded and prepared so nicely. Slowly he unfolded it. Nervousness completely enveloped his mind. The whole main portion of the letter was just a word from one of the Overseers, one that was told to every graduating student, and Matthew just groaned as he skimmed it. Finally he came to the bottom. Animal Care and Husbandry Specialist it read. "Well what in the fuck is that?" he said to himself. "Language Matty!" His mother yelled from the other room.

---------
Civil War

The fight down in the Ref Living Quarters continued. Blood spattered the halls of the Ref Living Quarters. Even though the Security Forces were clearly better armed than the Refs, the Refs severely outnumbered the Forces. Bullet holes riddled the walls all over. Bodies covered the floors. It was a terrible bloodbath. The Ref forces killed more and more Officers as the battle continued. That meant that there were more weapons getting into the hands of the Refs. Security Forces made a push from the elevator down the hallway a little bit, but then they were halted. Some Ref forces had doubled back around the battle and attacked the Officers from behind. Knives were sunk into the backs of the Officers. Bats cracked against their necks and helmets. Guns fired into the backs of their heads.

The battle was over. The Refs won.

After the battle, the Ref population began to go over their losses and treat the wounded. The more experienced Refs began to discuss a plan of action. They came to the conclusion that it would be best to kill the Overseers.

---------
Overseer's Office

Thick crimson fluid poured across the steel floor of the Overseers Office. Both of the Overseers shared the office. A thick layer had now covered the floor of the Office. But not a single sound escaped from the Office.

The butt of his rifle slammed against a nearby security guard's back, before his foot slammed into the bruise, sending the man into a hail of lead. Jackdaw's eyes glared viciously as he slid behind cover, his hands instinctively twisting around the trigger of the assault rifle that had been given to him. He no longer cared....he was going to kill these god damned bastards that dared to murder his only family in cold blood! As bullets slammed against the dense metal table, the man waited, ears straining. The sound of 'I'm reloading!' Blasted from the direction of whomever was releasing their clip towards his way, and Jackdaw pounced, leaping over the table and slamming the butt of the rifle against the security guard's mask. The visor cracked, blood and bone crunching and flying, and Jackdaw yanked the trigger. The spray of hot lead blasted all within the man's chest, instantly piercing the security armor like it was nothing.

Jackdaw didn't even pause, his eyes empty, his mind empty, and his body running on pure adrenaline, fear, anger, and instincts. He brought the gun up, and concentrated fire broke through the back of the helmet of a wrestling security guard, blasting brain matter across the vault's walls. Another burst fire tore through yet another man's head, before the clip was spent. Jack subconsciously slung the rifle across the room, reaching down and grabbing his dad's old, weathered 10mm from where it had been discarded on the floor, jostled loose by the action. "Damn kid!" A roar came from behind him, and Jack twisted, bringing his forearm up just in time to block a fist swung at his face. It hurt, the skin most-likely bruising, but he felt no pain, releasing his own grunt as he kicked the man directly in the chest, sending him falling backwards. Sharply, Jack fell onto the guard's chest, releasing two 10mm rounds directly in his face. Bone and blood splattered across the young man's cheek. His eyes were still empty.

...

...

His head hurt.

"Victory!" The yells of the refugees, the moans of the injured, the scent of the dying...it was all too much. Adrenaline began to peel away, leaving the young man with a sickness deep within his stomach. Jack fell back onto a nearby chair, bent by battle, and wiped at the itchy feeling at his jaw. His hand came back, stained with blood. "Damn it..." Bile rose forth, and Jack swallowed harshly, eyes closing, almost painfully hard. His hands began to shake. Fuck. No...he wasn't a god damn coward.

"Kid...you did good. Calm down and get ready. We're going to assault the Overseers." His hands stopped shaking as a middle-aged man leaned against the wall beside him. The man was right...he had fought. But...was this really necessary? All of the blood...all of the death? He had killed a man. However, when his eyes unwillingly turned towards the bloodied, torn bodies of Devon and Cassidy, covered in the blood of their own selves, and the guards and refugees around them...his eyes hardened. "I'm ready." He muttered, his deep voice rough and hoarse from emotions, but solidified in his future. The overseers would pay...in blood.

Osaki didn't know what to do. She wondered if the others stuck together or split up. She then tried to remember where each of them lived and recalled that Mathew was probably the closest. At least she hoped anyways. She was worried on both fronts. Then suddenly the gunfire stopped. It stopped, there wad no slight pause and continued with mire gunfire. It had stopped. That meant two things could have happened. The security force had won, or.... No they had to have won right? Just like Mathew said, nothing gets in the way of the security force. She still wanted to find comfort in someone else's words. Mathew was perfect, she decided to head for his quarters hoping nothing bad had happened. Nothing more that is. She had her eyes in the floor of the vault. The overseers lied, they said we would be safe in these walls. If that was true, we would not have heard gunfire.

Mathew would likely say the security forces handled it well, but what if they lost and that the threat was more real and we were not as safe as we thought we were.

It had started out being one of those days. Wake up first thing in the morning pulling a magazine off his face and getting ready for the day. All started off being nice and innocent. Slapping in a holotape for a goodie but an oldie, John went about brushing his teeth, banging his head, and stubbing his toe all just getting ready for the day. on his way out the door shut a bit early and bonked him on the head. rounding the corner before class he'd smack square into the wall having rounded it too soon, and the bottle of nuka cola he had practically exploded when he popped the top in class. and while he saved the cap and managed to drink some, pretty much the entire bottle was wasted. After the GOAT though, things got strange.

John was the last one to submit his test scores on the last day of class and sure enough the computer had issues. submit the scores, computer crash. reboot the computer and call up his name. displays the page for about a second, and crashes. pull it up again after a reboot, crashes. again, crashes. after finally managing to keep the damn thing stable long enough to copy the data code down into his pipboy John was tired of wasting time. "So, Jukebox technician eh? time to get to work then". bringing up his pipboy he'd load in the job and soon enough he'd have little landmarks for each and every radio and jukebox in the vault. a little vault boy with a happy face and a thumbs up stood next to every radio and jukebox that was working... while a sad and gloomy vault boy with a rain cloud over his head stood next to the ones that were broken. Smiling as he saw there was work to be done he'd tap the screen and set a waypoint to his first task... causing him to feel a slight jolt and tingle in his arm, shaking his head he could see words appearing in the air in front of him like some kind of hallucination. "New Quest" it said. "Back on the air" it added shortly after in yellow text. shaking his head a bit the words would fade and John felt compelled to go in a certain direction. opening up an old maintenance clauset he'd duck in and grab a tool box and a wrench nearly the size of his leg.

Heading out on his "new quest" John stopped by the diner. while it's jukebox was in perfect working order, it did have a few extra holotapes it didn't seem to ever use. more energetic stuff instead of the drab slow go music that most of the upper levels seemed to have. slapping those spare holotapes into his vault suit's pockets he'd pull one out and open up his pipboy's holotape reader. removing the tape he previously had in he'd slip the new music in and turn up the volume on his pipboy. though as gunshots rang out his mom's words ran though his ears. "now son, you're one of the bigger boys in your class so it's your job to look after the smaller ones. you keep them safe now you hear?" the words rang in his ears as the sound of gunfire went off and the music started to play on his pipboy. looking down to his map he'd start configuring a few things as he tried to zero in on the smallest person he could remember from class...Mary... then there was Osaki. Sure big tall dude coming to the rescue was cleshay, but his mom would have his head on a plate next to a fancy lad snack cake if he didn't.

Running down the hall fast as he could John would call out their names, holding tight to his massive wrench and tool box. "MARY! OSAKI!" he'd shout... fixing the radios and juke boxes was secondary.... he had to find those girls and make sure they were safe. ref or no, didn't matter to john.

(( music playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWRCnzCiFPE ))

Jerry was completely unsure as to what was going on, but then again, he rarely ever did. His standard morning involved waking up, getting his teeth brushed by his personal "Mister Handy" meant to assist him with basic functions. He was not exactly very good at maintaining himself, so the robot was used to help him along his way. After that, he would put on his jumpsuit, get his trusty baton, and go on patrol. Usually this involved stopping in the cafe and eating a lot of bread, then walking down the same hallway for five hours. It was perfect for someone of his intellect.

Today, however, things were going much worse than usual. His Mister Handy had been broken when it arrived to brush his teeth, with two of it's arms, including the tooth brush arm, missing. That threw off his whole schedule, forcing him to attempt to brush his own teeth, taking a solid half hour. Then, when he finally got around to picking up his baton, he heard the radio on his wrist-friend begin to blare out a cry for help. Something was going wrong in the Ref Living Quarters. Jerry had never been allowed down there before, to prevent any sort of incident arising due to his... Special brain difficulties. However, it seemed that an incident was already in progress. And so, mustering all of his courage, Jerry ran to the security checkpoint in an attempt to "arm up", though he had never been given armour before, he thought maybe this was a special circumstance. However...

Before he could make it to the Security Office, Jerry heard a series of loud shots from below. It reminded him of the noise that the steam pipes made when they broke, but louder and angrier. Maybe somebody was hurt! Rushing to the elevator, Jerry went down as fast as possible, making it to the Ref Quarters just in time to see the end of the battle... A poor loyalist executed like an animal. Jerry nearly wet himself.

Ruth picked her herself up off the class room floor looking around it didn't seem that anyone had noticed her fall over except the teacher making her feel a bit embarrassed. She heard the other teens talking about the noises coming from the vents. The noises were very annoying and it defiantly wasn't the usual creaks and groans that usually came from the vents. It sounded like something was stuck in the vents more than likely it was just a blockage or maybe some kids found someway into the vents and thought it was a good place to play. Ruth remembered when she used to mess around in the vents when she was younger and very bored.

Suddenly Ruth was snapped out of her trail of thought hearing gun shots in the distance. Looking over she saw that other teens had heard the gun shots so Ruth knew she wasn't just hearing things. Standing still Ruth began thinking about why security would be shooting their guns off. Ruth became more concerned when she saw the security officers pass with guns drawn. Something serious was defiantly going down. Ruth was even beginning to panic a little hoping that her family was okay. Ruth didn't want to go home since no one was there and she didn't want to run into the thing that was being shot at and she defiantly didn't want to be left on her own of their was something dangerous out there. However the group that she had been watching didn't seem to share Ruth's fear of being alone as they had decided to leave probably going back to their homes. Ruth decided to ask the teacher if they new the results of her test to keep her mind occupied on something "teacher do you know what job I was assigned"? "Well Ruth it seems you have been assigned to Pest Control" the teacher said after rummaging through the test results on his computer.

It took Ruth a few minutes for Ruth to figure out what she should do know as. It sounded like what ever security had been shooting at had been dealt with as she couldn't hear any gun fire so she wasn't as scared as she had been a few minutes ago. What ever had happened Ruth was sure it was taken care of. Thinking things through Ruth chose to check out where she would be working. Which was technically everywhere since the rats and mice seemed to be everywhere in the vault. Maybe her job would be fun she joked with herself as she walked down the corridor towards Mole Rat Storage which is where Pest Control stored their equipment. She noticed that Pest Control seemed to have a makeshift office. Clearly no one thought that anything but people would be living in vault. Walking up to the man behind the desk she asked him "excuse me I'm going to be working here and I was just wondering if I could pick up my equipment"? He looked up from his magazine and reached into his desk he pulled out a belt with several traps on it and what looked like a makeshift cattle prod. "What's this for" Ruth enquired picking up the makeshift cattle prod? "When the rats get cornered or they're hungry it's good for making them think twice about trying to bite you" he said lifting up his right hand showing a missing pinky finger. Ruth felt a bit sick thinking about it. Ruth decided to give her equipment a once over just to get used to it and kill some time.

Oscar decide to leave the group and head to the cafeteria. Oscar was famished and needed a bite to eat. He said to the remaining people " cheers, I am going to get some chow." He went fetch his thing from the classroom and went to the cafeteria. At the cafeteria, he got some food and sat at one of the tables. Oscar ate in solitude. All was quiet except for the gunshots. Oscar is now more puzzled because of the length of sustained noise and the loudness of it. While Oscar hopes that it will be all okay. Oscar wonders what his grandfather did today. His grandfather is the only parent he knew. When Oscar is done with his food, he decides to go home. He goes to the elevator and calls it. It arrived shortly and he got in. When the doors opened on his floor, the refuge living quarters,there was blood an bodies everywhere. There was a security gaurd as well. The first thing on Oscar's mind was that of his grandfather. Oscar bolted to his home past the security guard. The sound of gunfire had now but Oscar did not care. When he got home, he called for his grandfather. His grandfather replied from the grandfather's room with a moan. Oscarrushed to his grandfather's side. Oscar said "Are you okay,Gramps?" His grandfather replied " To put bluntly, no. But do not worry about me. I am old and it is about time that I will leave this place. You are young and full of life. It is nearly your time to make your path in life.Your mom and dad would be proud to see you grow into who you are now. I am sorry to depart but I must. Farewell Oscar." Father he draw his final breath, Oscar's grandfather died. Oscar wept for a few moments. After that, he stood up and walk out. Oscar was not out for revenge. He wanted out.....

Everything in the Vault halted. The Refugee revolt halted. The citizens trying to go about their daily lives halted. Everything came screeching to a stop. Because of an announcement, Vault-wide announcement, on the intercom.

This is the Overseer's Chief Assistant Hamil. The Overseers are both dead. I am assuming control of the Vault. Lock your doors. Hide your families. Arm yourself with whatever you can find. We have a breach in the security of the Vault. Early this morning the air conditioning systems began to go haywire. Reports on the systems showed a new chemical entering the air ducts. We sent a crew to investigate and they were contaminated. We do not yet know what they are contaminated with but...

The intercom went dead. Panic unfolded. The Overseers were now dead.

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Refugee Living Quarters

The growing number of armed Refs were now uneasy. Something had slain the Overseers and it was not them. "What do you think it could be?" A few Refs began to ask. They pondered for a while. "I wonder what contaminated the Vault" another few began to ask. It was clear that another situation was unfolding in the Vault, something that had potential to be as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than the Ref uprising. No more Security Forces came down to the Ref Living Quarters, but gunfire suddenly erupted from the upper levels of the Vault. The Refs decided it was time to move out. "We're going to the upper levels! Now! We are figuring out what's up there and killing it" the leader of the Ref group said. They pressed the elevator buttons and slowly but surely, they disappeared as a group from the Refugee Living Quarters. What was left behind was a mess of blood, guts, bodies, and pain.

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Upper Levels

Vault citizens ran for their lives. A dark force had entered the Vault and it had moved from the Doctor's Office into the rest of the Vault. It was killing off Vault citizens and battling it out with the Security Forces, which were weakened severely after the fight with the Refugees. A fight that they still had no idea that they lost. Bullets bounced around the hallways. Bodies were thrown about. Security finally managed to kill what it was that was killing off their people. The group of Officers came near it. The creature was tall, maybe about 7 feet tall, and muscular. It had pale gray skin. It's eyes were black, devoid of a soul. One arm was bigger than the other, much bigger than the other. Rather than fingers, this creature had claws that were maybe seven inches long. Bloody claws. The creature was terrifying. And screams emanating from deeper within the Vault led the Security Officers to believe that there were more. These creatures however had one weird trait. They wore torn Vault jumpsuits.



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Matthew

Gunfire erupted near Matthew's quarters shortly after the announcement. He took off into the hallway. Matthew accidentally bumped into Osaki. "I don't know what's going on. I think it'd be better if we stayed together. Safety in numbers" he said to her, before quickly moving down the hallway. Matthew hoped that she was behind him. The once quiet Vault corridors were now a mess of screams, shouts, and gunfire. Matthew had no idea what was going on, that was, until he rounded the corner. Standing, looming more like, down the hallway, was a beast unlike anything Matthew had ever seen before. It was gray and pale. It's eyes were dead. It was huge. It was a monster. Matthew turned to see Osaki behind him. "Don't go over there" he whispered, back tracking away from the monster.

Security Forces rounded the corner, running. They were followed by one of the monsters. "Fuck" Matthew said. Suddenly he was thrown to the ground by a shattering explosion. Somehow the Security Forces created an explosive and used it to kill the beast. It was successful, but it lured the other one over. Matthew was able to dodge by it while the Security Forces engaged it in battle. The first thing on Matthew's mind at this point was his parents. There was a nearby intercom and he reached it very quickly, making a radio call to his home.

"Matty. Don't come back. For God's sake don't come back. We love you" his mother's voice was cut off by the sound of a roar. Matthew began to tear up and rapidly slammed his fists against the metal Vault walls. "Fuck fuck fuck!" He shouted. I have to go back! He thought to himself. No. She wouldn't say that unless she meant it. You have to go Matthew, you have to go! His inner monologue continued for a few seconds before he decided it would be best to find a way to safety. Only one thing came to mind. The former homes of the Refs. If they could survive out there, so could he. Just until the monsters left the Vault or until he could get help down into the Vault. It was a long shot but it seemed as if the Security Forces were losing. Matthew could overhear on the intercom shouting from Officers and then nothing. At least four full floors had gone down.

It was time to leave. It was time to escape. Matthew just hoped that some other people realized the situation and would be joining him. Matthew turned to Osaki. "Security is losing. I'm going to the Vault doors and figuring something out" he said. As Matthew made his way to the elevator, he noticed a distinct clanking noise. The elevator reached his floor and something deep down told him to hide off to the side with Osaki. He moved the two of them around a corner and then peered around. Sure enough one of the monsters exited the elevator shaft, covered in blood. After it disappeared Matthew went over to the elevator shaft. He looked down into the darkness and saw fire. Only one elevator was working, the other was brought down. When the last remaining elevator opened, it was a sight to see. A horrible sight. Bodies, guts, and blood covered the floor. Refs. With guns. What the fuck Matthew thought. Did the Refs fight these monsters downstairs first, is that was the gunfire was? Matthew did not know. All he knew was that if the armed Refs were dead, even though he just discovered them, then Security would probably not be faring too well.

Matthew entered the elevator, quickly. He covered his nose with his collar, as well as his mouth. Matthew gagged quite a bit.

Kat wiped her brow once more, the sweat rubbing off on her pale arm. She heard more gunfire, this time closer, the roar of something inhuman and the crack of bones against metal. She bit her thumb again, picking up her jacket and hanging it over her arm before clutching it to her chest. She peeked around the corner, her eyes widened in disbelief and horror at what she saw. A giant, alabaster beast slamming her old goon friend against the wall. It fell soon after she saw it, under a flurry of gunfire as what remained of the security force quickly sprinted off to where another source of gunfire was coming from. She stumbled over to the corpse of her former friend, her legs shaking as she did. The smell hadn't even gotten to her, the shock of seeing one of her only real friends die in such a way was too much. Her eyes glanced over to her left and back to the corpse of her friend before her head turned fully towards what she had glanced at. The other 'goon' friend had been killed in the mess too. She felt her eyes tear up. Her face was soon streaming with tears as she tossed her jacket to her side. She sat like that for a while, attempting to wipe away what tears streamed down her face only to realize it was like trying to dry up a waterfall. She clutched her legs against her chest for a few minutes.

Kat wiped her face for the last time. She grabbed her jacket and got up, stumbling over the bodies. Her eyes were bloodshot as she made her way through the vault. She really didn't know what to do, that thing had just killed so many people effortlessly and had taken a cacophony of bullets before going down. She decided the vault wasn't safe, she had to get to the surface. She had heard refugees talk of settlements outside the vault in the past, it was a small amount of hope, but it was just that. Hope. She made her way to the elevators only to find Matthew and Osaki already at an elevator. Matthew was standing in an elevator filled with gore. Kat rubbed her nose with her forearm before putting on her jacket once more. She regained her posture as she made her way over to the two.
"Are you two going up to the vault door? I sure as hell hope you're not going lower down" She said. She moved her collar over her nose to block out the stench as she entered the elevator. She looked to the ground, a few guns were scattered around with small amounts of ammunition still left in them. She picked up one of the pistols laying on the floor.
"We might need these, I doubt they'd help against those giant albino things though" She held the gun, almost empty on ammunition to her side, waiting for something to happen.