And now, we rejoin the Enclave, as their Vertibirds fly off on different missions, one headed North...and the others headed South.

Let's start with...

[h3][color=ed1c24][b][i]INDIANA HOMES[/i][/b][/color][/h3]

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntXJJwEk1NA[/youtube][/center]

To anyone below, past the areas of Louisville, the sight of a Vertbird bearing the mark of the 'E' surrounded in stars was either a relatively new thing...or the source of old and frightening memories.  Some people in this part of the former America didn't know of the Enclave.  Others knew all too well, but were coming around to the idea that maybe the new management didn't have its head up its own ass.  The ones that remained fervently convinced that they were up to no good, or simply [i]could not ever BE good[/i], were dwindling at a gradual rate, at least locally.  The Enclave shot up every hostile rad-creature they came across, or captured it for study.  They had a zero tolerance for any Raider that did not surrender on sight.  They were still secretive, still a very scary people, but it was a far cry from 'Obey or Die'.

Aboard the Northbound Vertibird, several soldiers sat with the cargo entrusted to it, flying at an altitude generally too high for anybody without surface-to-air missles to hit.  Some people had such things, however, like the folks at Indiana Homes.  They weren't far-reaching, per se.  The Enclave could easily go around their territory, but barring an actual important need, Number One ordered that attempts be made to secure open routes and proper lines of infrastructure, so that little to no interruption or sabotage may be made.  Hence...the crates that now sat secured to the floor of the vehicle.  The interior of the Vertibird was somewhat insulated from the outside, but the drone of the engines was constant.  It was easier to use the radio units in their powersuits to communicate, which one soldier did, in fact.

[b]"Pilot, how long to our destination?"

"Well, according to this red line on the map, our ETA is ten minutes."

"Alright, then.  Remember, the lot of you.  There's hundreds or maybe a thousand people here, all of them doing that crazy parkour shit and stunt driving.  We're [i]five[/i] total, and the pilot stays with the 'bird.  The locals agreed not to shoot at us, as long as we don't interfere with them."

"And base thought we could just barter our way with a buncha' trinkets?"

"[i]Number One[/i] believes so, yes.  Any questions?"

"Yeah, just one: I thought Johnson was sick.  Is he he gonna be okay for the mission?"

"Ask 'im yourself."[/b]

He did so, but the soldier he addressed did a sort of slow pan of the head with a mechanical precision and ease.  That wasn't Johnson.  That was a Replicant.  He - or rather, it - would be the one pulling the crates on a pallet jack, without delay and without complaint.  They soon came to a landing, just outside of the city gates, beside the newly-paved road, with several cars zipping on by.  The formation was three soldiers up front, the Replicant in back with the crates.  They identified themselves and made their intentions known.  The city guard then said that they would have to inspect the cargo.

[b]"You may inspect the cargo to make sure nothing weaponized or volitile is contained, but the [i]examination[/i] is for your leader."[/b]

"Sir, if we do not examine the boxes thoroughly-"

[b]"If you [i]damage[/i] those articles, you [i]will[/i] explain to your leader [i]AND[/i] ours how you ruined historical pieces and records of events, our bargaining chips and potentially his currency.  We've already agreed to leave weapons behind.  Don't push it."[/b]

There was some continued arguing before the crates were simply opened and the soldier in charge pointed out how the items inside were so obviously not weapons or poisonous or radioactive that even without a physical examination, it was clear to anyone that no harmful material was involved.  Of course, anybody here knew that three men and a machine were no match for this entire town, even WITH their armaments, but nobody was going to assault them.  SAMs or not, the Enclave still held power, and if provoked, they would make sure it was known that they were not the ones responsible for what happened next.  SO!  The jack would be wheeled towards the museum, to reach a man who seemed - by all accounts - like a professor, but...there was a hardness in the man's demeanor, like he'd seen the world and dealt with alot from it.  This was the town leader, Indy.  He DID examine the articles carefully.  Flags, busts of past Presidents, war records, Civil War pieces, holotapes of music, etc.  Yes, indeed, this stuff was all for bartering, none of it lethal.  Indy smirked.

"I half-expected you to offer me gold, for all the good it'd do."

[b]"We use that in electronics.  It's not worth giving up.  This was."[/b]

"No eye for history, huh?"

[b]"No need.  The Enclave is working on a fresh start.  The old America is a relic, as Number One would say."[/b]

"So I've heard.  And you want in return...what?  Our cooperation, for this?"

[b]"Ideally, but my orders say 'Secure a safe route to Fort Wayne'."[/b]

"You [i]could[/i] just go around."

[b]"We [i]could[/i] not have to, and not have to deal with people taking pot-shots."[/b]

"That's true.  What do you want with Fort Wayne?"

[b]"We were thinking of turning it into an actual fort."[/b]

"This have anything to do with the Ontario people?"

[b]"It couldn't hurt.  Fact is, though, if they want to waste their resources coming down this way, they're not gonna achieve much."[/b]

"Well, the good news is that you won't have to construct much of a fort in Fort Wayne.  There's already one there."

[b]"Already?  How come?"[/b]

"Fort Wayne had a zoo in the city area.  When the bombs fell, there were over a hundred different species in captivity that broke out and roamed the area, eventually becoming mutated by radiation.  Because the city had become their home, they didn't roam too far and the area effectively became their eco-system...until more recently, when they mutated further.  Are you familiar with a [i]chimera?[/i]"

[b]"I read a bit, sure."[/b]

"The animals have become bizarre amalgamations of species.  They were incredibly violent, and we worked very hard to wall them into the city in the hopes of starving them out.  At last check, though, three weeks ago, something let out a primal roar in that place.  Something big."

[b]"That's impossible.  Radiation can't do that alone."[/b]

"Well, it is what it is, and I've a sneaking suspicion that you know [i]what[/i] it is that did it."

[b]"We haven't had any contact with the place.  If there's something extra-volitile there, [i]we[/i] didn't do it."[/b]

"But you [i]will[/i] clean it up if you want any real cooperation from us.  For this stuff, I'll let you through, but we're not helping out the Enclave with a monster hunt.  You're on your own."

That was the end of the meeting.  The soldiers headed on back to the Vertibird, and reported back via radio.

[b]"Mission successful, but we have a problem."[/b]

[color=ed1c24][b][i]"What is the situation, soldier?"[/i][/b][/color]

Everyone flinched.  That was Number One.  He must've been watching dispatch.

[b]"I have to report uhhh...a possible FEV presence.  Vault 66 may be compromised or [i]contaminated[/i]."[/b]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The news was both satisfying, and yet...not.  Indy had reluctantly given the Enclave leave to be in the area and proceed onward North, but the area in question they were going to now appeared to have an unexpected mutational level that seemingly couldn't have been caused by anything other than the Forced Evolutionary Virus, which he himself outlawed the study and existence of.  The only [i]possible[/i] answers to something like that would be a random event so radical that it was borderline miraculous, that it was a pre-war FEV experiment that they simply did not have a record for, that any GECK that was on-site might be malfunctioning, or...  Well, they never caught [i]all[/i] the deserters who wanted to cling to the old ways, or were far too insane for the new.  This may be a very dangerous situation indeed...  Number One hit a button to the base dispatch, now.

[color=ed1c24][b][i]"Call in FalloutJohn, if you please."[/i][/b][/color]