One Woman Army

Armory Lab

---Just a quick little note.... All the pictures I post at the front of my stories for this series come from in-game screenshots... ---

I broke, my mind in a whirl. Pain swelled, just for a moment, blocking out everything around me. I didn't know what to think, what to do. Did it matter? He's the one who taught me you didn't have to be blood to be family. How was I supposed to feel? Should I really feel this...hollow? I did the man a service, and I only wish I had been able to ease his suffering sooner.

I covered the shattered remains of the Staff Sergeant with an old tarp once Preston drug the corpse into a dusty corner of the lab. Preston gave me a few minutes as he looked around the workshop. It wasn't exactly the best burial, but it would do for now, at least until we were able to get out of here. That was priority. I pulled myself together, shoving my grief to the back of my head, kicking and screaming. Other people depended on me. I can always fall apart later.

Preston straightened, readjusting the laser rife on his back as he turned toward the suit of power armor the lab was built for. The Minuteman whistled as he walked over to the armor stand in the center of the space, his eyes roaming with admiration on the piece of now-ancient technology. The power armor stood almost seven and a half feet tall, and about half as wide, with the bunker housing the equipment built to accommodate the sheer size of the gear. A wonder of modern engineering and the highest quality protective gear, it was black as a moonless night, trimmed in white and decorated with white square crosses at the knee, elbows and epaulets, with the depiction of a white phoenix on the chest.

'I never could understand why you don't wear that suit of T-45 you got from Concord more often. I think I get it now..."

The obvious tone of admiration from Preston pulled me from my own head and into the present. I couldn't suppress the swell of pride I had in my creation, and even though I sometimes wonder if I was right in developing power armor, I don't regret it. I forced a grin as I glanced over my shoulder from where I was rummaging through one of my lockers.

"Oh, I will be the first to admit I'm an armor snob. I mean, some people had a passion for cars, I had a passion for power armor. Ever since I saw my first T-45..." I pulled out the specialized armor under-suit and examined it as I spoke, looking for defects in the material due to age. Satisfied the fabric seemed to have held up, I draped it over my arm as I kept digging through the containers. "I know the whole idea is kinda stupid, but if I couldn't have MY armor, I didn't wanna wear any."

"I can see why. It kinda makes standard military issue look like junk, and that stuff is pretty damn impressive."

I found everything I needed right where I left it, centuries before. In my head it was only a couple months ago, but so much time had passed. The idea that cutting edge technology was still cutting edge over 200 years later still threw me. It was like finding a car running while people were still using a horse and buggy. Hell, I haven't even seen anyone use any sort of wheeled cart or wagon to carry stuff. They just strap it to Brahmin caravans, so seeing a cart pulled by a couple of mutated cattle would be an advancement at this point. I could have sworn we were back in the late 1700's.

"Thanks." An ironic thought came to mind and made my smirk real. "Come to think of it, the X-01 was part of Project Phoenix."

"Project Phoenix?"

I stepped over to the workbench, tools scattered off to one side next to my storage case. I idly answered Preston, suddenly more interested in the contents of the case.

"The Phoenix was said to be a mythical bird that burns to death and then rises from the ashes, reborn."

I ran my hand over the huge black Carbonite foot locker, eagerly knocking the dust from the top, before flipping the latches on the container. The weapons department had made this piece specifically to my specifications, with my custom shot-gun as the backup companion piece. The automatic weapon took up most of the space, with spare fusion cores tucked in the side pockets cushioning the sides.