Project Procreation

They were so used to the regulated vault routine, so when the intercom tapped into their ears loudly with the Overseer's stern voice saying there was a vault meeting, they exchanged glances before putting away their work. The meeting was to take place in approximately ten minutes, so with that, Janis sighed and saved her notes on her terminal with a simple click. "Dad, do you know what this is all about?" She glanced over her shoulder as her father, James, was bust helping a patient before the deadline, and that patient just so happened to be a badly scrapped up 'Serpent King,' Butch DeLoria.

She simply ignored him as she always did, because through the years of his extensive tormenting it was the only thing you could do because any reaction you gave him would only add fuel to his fire. He eyed her from where he sat atop the metal medical examination table, her father finishing a quick stitch on a small knick on his collarbone. "You'll find out in a few minutes, sweetie." He answered through his teeth - she knew not to bug him while he was focused but she didn't really want to walk into a vault meeting and be completely surprised. She could see from the corner of her eye Butch giving her that signature jerk smirk, supposing it was because he saw her and her fathers relationship as a daddy's little girl.

"Alright." She stood up from the desk chair, straightened some notes on the surface, and strode over to the doorway, pressing the green button to slide the door open. "I'll be back when the meeting is over."

James grunted in response, cutting off the little loose threads on the stitches as the door closed behind her. Janis made her way down the hallway, a few residents walking together in a cluster as they made their way to the common room, chattering about as if this meeting was not fishy at all. She trailed them until she stopped quietly behind the Overseer, who was sternly speaking with his daughter in the doorway to the common room, Amata only nodding in a response, her head held low.

Once he left inside the room Amata sighed and leaned up against the wall, eyes looking up at the ceiling in deep thought. "Hey - Amata!" Janis waved a hand in front of Amata's face until she snapped out of it, forcing a famous fake smile she had for when she wasn't up to par. "Do you know what's going on? I don't ever remember having a vault meeting." It was even more suspicious that Amata looked more distressed than she usually was - and that was never a good sign, so a knot formed in her stomach.

"Oh, it's nothing.. Come on, let's go inside."

Janis nodded, swiveling on her heels and stepping into the slightly darkened atrium alongside her best friend, who directed them to the back of the room. Plastic vault-tec issued chairs were lined up in formal rows facing a metal podium. They sat in the back row, apologizing as they quickly shuffled passed some residents on their way into their row, finally taking their seats. She squinted as she stared up at the front, Alphonse pulling down a large white projector screen for some sort of presentation. "This is weird."

"Tell me about it." Amata wasn't all there, Janis could tell. She was trying her best to upkeep her regular personality but Amata was never a good actress or liar. Her fingers fidgeted on her lap, she was biting her bottom lip, and her brows were knitted together with concern. As the room filled with more bodies, the chatter grew louder, still, most people were oblivious to what was coming, hell, she knew she was going to be surprised.

Alphonse tapped the microphone that was attached to a small stand atop his podium, sending small fuzzy noises to hush the crowd. "Now, if we can begi-" His eyes strayed to the side as three bodies coolly entered the atrium.

"Stupid tunnel snakes." Amata rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest, all eyes now wandering over to the trio who swaggered across in front of everybody, Butch of course in the lead with a stupid grimace on his face and his comb in his hair. They took the three available seats a row in front of them and off to the right.

"Now, if there will be no more interruptions." Alphonse looked around the room, specifically waiting for a Tunnel Snake outburst, but as the room was dead silent except a few whispers, he cleared his throat and picked up his cards. "Now.. I'm sure we have all been debriefed on our Vaults history, why we're here, our purpose in this vault, why we are so important to the Vault's future.." He stepped aside with the microphone and let the slideshow begin to play, a slow start at first with crackling noises emanating from the machine but several seconds later it played perfectly fine. What played were the usual slides of the End of the World, the bombs, the birth of the vault, blah blah blah. "Vault 101 is one of the smaller manufactured vaults, thus leading to a smaller population, as you all have noticed. This was never a problem in the past; however, it is proving to be something of note now. Population over the years have dwindled at an astonishing rate and the simplest way I can put this - is that if we do not do something about this, in a few generations times there will be no one left."

In a hushed tone, Janis glanced over to Amata, who looked increasingly stressed out. "Amata.. What's going on?"

"All I know is from what I saw on my fathers terminal-"

"Wait, what?"

"I only know of the plan-"

"What plan?" Janis gently gripped her friends forearm and Alphonse's voice thundered in the room.

"Vault-tec always has a plan for us." He began as he glanced down at the cards in his hands he had yet to read from. "'In case of small breeding pool due to diminishing population Procreation Plan must be set into motion. If plan requirements are not met, further inbreeding will occur and result in stunted residents. Head Vault Physician, in our case Dr. Hobbs, will conduct the Genetic Pairing Program on main terminal located within Physician's office. The Genetic Pairing Program, or commonly known as GPP, will study through the genes from the available gene pool, picking out the 'weak links' and finding the most compatible gene to help it grow and nourish. When matches are made, the female and male that have the compatible genes will then take on the responsibilities of an adult and accept what needs to be done, those being conceiving and bearing children that will be genetically superior. With this advantage, future population of the vault will flourish - all because the wonderful residents that are part of GPP lent their bodies to science - and for the betterment of Vault 101!'"

Everybody looked absolutely horrified. Amata ashamed, Janis with her jaw hung wide, the cursing of the Tunnel Snakes, the gasping from the group of girls in the front. "My father knew..." Janis whispered almost inaudibly as she scanned the floor beneath her boots, brows burrowed, face blanched, fists trembling with both anger and shock. "Amata.. When you saw your fathers terminal, did you see the pairs...?"

She shook her head, eyes also affixed to the not so interesting floor. "No, I only caught a glimpse of the plan before my father realized I saw it and rushed me away. I think the pairs are only stored on your fathers terminal."

"Hm." She tapped her chin in deep thought. "That would make sense. There was a seemingly broken file stored in a random location and when I clicked on it repeatedly it would require administrators password. I asked my dad about it and he told me to leave it alone, so I did just that.."

Alphonse cleared his throat again from his podium and the loud murmuring died down, all but one of Wally Mack's outbursts. "This is a load of shit!"

"Thank you for indulging us, Mr. Mack." He drawled with a slight shake of his head. "This may seem sudden and it may seem drastic, but if we do not implement this plan now the future of our vault is in danger. It just so happens that it is this generation that has to buckle down and accept it. Now, here are the numbers. 'If Vault population is below 150 fully healthy residents, female and male gene carriers must resort to the minimum of two children, both of which must be up to standard health requirement - if in case a child is born genetically inferior than expected, female and male must bear another healthy child to fill their quota. If Vault population drops lower than 100 to 50 residents, which is our current state, female and male must bring forth minimum of four children to the vault. These minimums must be reached before the female reaches the age of 35 to avoid possible complications.' So that means any couples here that thought they have finished having children, may be required to bear more children until their quota is filled, that is if you are 35 and younger."

"Oh my God.." Janis thickly gulped as her heart raced, thinking of all the possible outcomes. "This isn't fair Amata!"

"I know, I know.. But there's nothing we can do about it. There are penalties for not obeying the plan."

"This is penalty enough." Janis leaned against the back of her chair and crossed her own arms over her chest, slowly shaking her head to herself. She caught the eyes of her father through her strawberry blonde hair. He looked endlessly apologetic. She knew he wanted to tell her desperately, but throughout her life she'd always encountered her father and the Overseer in a fight - so she could understand if he needed to keep this under wraps for his own good.

As the slideshow finished, it was her father who took to the podium next, clearing his throat nervously as he brought forth a pristine sheet of white paper, just about the same white as his face currently was - or anybody else who was in shock, which was everyone. "Well then, let's get started on those pairs. I will list the available gene pool options in alphabetical order. Almodovar, Amata. DeLoria, Butch. Gomez, Freddie. Hannon, Paul Jr. Hobbs, Janis. Kendall, Christine. Kendall, Monica. Mack, Stevie. Mack, Susie. Mack, Wally. Wilkins, Janice. Wilkins, Jim." James drew in a deep voice, eyes flicking up to his daughter for a split second before continuing. "Again, by alphabetical order. Amata paired with Wally."

Janis quickly looked over at her friend with a horrified expression - this was bad. Of course her best friend would be paired with an awful tunnel snake! They'd always sexually harass her, and now this? Amata's eyelids slowly closed, her bottom lip sucking in angrily. "Of course." She bit out. "Of course it had to be a tunnel snake."

Janis looked right back at her father, and out of the corner of her eye she could see Alphonse rubbing the bridge of his nose. Her only hope now would be Jim Wilkins, Stevie Mack, and Freddie Gomez, although the latter was recently spotted hanging around with the tunnel snakes. James cleared his throat uneasily. "Butch paired with Janis."

And here she thought her best friend was going to have a hard time. She slumped into her chair like a melting marshmallow, face frozen in shock, disgust filling her entire being, an arm wrapping itself around her shoulders and Amata's voice filling her ears. "Oh God.." Her friend had whispered with a quivering lip, her free hand cupping her mouth. "I'm sorry Janis-"

"I got paired with Butch?" She murmured, thoroughly confused. "I can't be paired with him, Amata - I just can't!"

Amata gave her a sympathetic look before turning back toward the front where the next pair was being read. She let her eye wander to the right, where the three tunnel snakes were sitting on the ends of the row. Butch sat in the middle of the two, his arms resting on the backs of Wally and Paul's chairs, his face covered by Paul's head. But she could clearly see the shaking of his head and the whiteness in his knuckles as he clenched the top of the chairs. "Freddie paired with Monica."

She could care less about the pairs that followed. Her life was coming to a halt and she was expected to just sit here and obey? The corners of her lips curled into a frown. "Paul paired with Christine... Stevie paired with Janice... Susie paired with Jim."

A few moments later her father began to list the residents of the vault still under the age of thirty-five and needing to contribute to the vault's success, one of those being Ellen DeLoria, who was surprisingly not as drunk as she usually was. She merely shook her head and looked down at the floor, while it was Butch who spoke for her. He took to his feet abruptly and pointed an accusing finger to James and the Overseer. "You can't make her do that shit!"

"Butch, if you could please sit down-" Alphonse stepped front and motioned for him to take a seat but Butch refused, so like him.

"Like hell I'm gonna sit down!" He spat angrily. "You guys are fuckin' nuts!" It was no surprise that Butch and his mother were on rocky terms, what with her alcoholism, so in short he was very protective over her and kept their life immensely secretive. It was no shocker when he stormed out of the room with a huff.

"He is going to be the father of my future children.." She shuddered inwardly, a cold shiver running through every vein and cell in her body, a vile feeling in her stomach. "If he's abusive normally.."

"No no, Janis, you can't think like that.." Amata stuttered nervously, fumbling to find the right words to help soothe her friend. "Sure he's the biggest jerk in this damned vault, but abusive toward his own children he wont be... I'm sorry, I just can't promise you you'll be safe from his wrath."

Wasn't there an unspoken rule that consisted of a boy not being able to hit a girl? She and almost everybody else that wasn't in his gang were their little punching bags, and as they grew older it wasn't just punches and kicks thrown their way, it escalated into actual beat downs, choking out, and cuts with their illegal and always confiscated switchblades. Thankfully since she was her fathers intern she could patch herself up, and even everybody else so the Overseer would never find out - if he found out it would be more harm to them than it would to the perpetrators. If she were to share an apartment she knew she'd be in for some beatings within the confinements of her own, supposedly safe home with no one to protect her.

When the Overseer concluded the session, Janis made sure she was the first one to bolt out of that room while everybody stayed like they wanted to chat it up like nothing was wrong. She drug her fingers through her wavy blonde hair with a very audible groan, throwing her back up against a wall adjacent to her and her fathers apartment. It was times like these where she wanted to leave and never return, but she had no place to go. The vault door was sealed shut and it seemed like these ruled were to be heavily enforced, so there was no real way of weaseling out of this one.

She heard a snort down the hall. She peered through the curtain of hair and saw Butch near his own apartment, leaning up against the wall with one foot on the wall, one hand holding a cigarette, while his other was stuffed into the pocket of his leather jacket. She tried to pay him no mind, but she was left with two courses of action. Be the bigger person and go into her apartment, or go over there and tear him a new one. The latter seemed more relieving but she was always the bigger person in situations like these, so she sucked it up and pushed herself away from the wall.

"You should be overjoyed, Poindexter." He said through clenched teeth, taking in a long drag of his cigarette. When he finished and she looked over her shoulder at him, he tossed the still lit half smoked cig to the ground and crushed it beneath his boot in an almost threatening manner.

Her apartment door was so close by - she could say what she needed to say and quickly lock it before he could storm over to her to pick a fight. "No Butch, I think you're the one that should be overjoyed, and thankful for that matter, that they could actually find someone that would make up for your extensively long list of genetic shortcomings!"

He pressed his lips into a thin line, eyes darkening, brow lowering. "Yeah? Like what? You're ugly - I'm not!"

"You're stupid, and I'm not, hairdresser!"

"I'm strong, and you're weak!" He snarled, taking a threatening step forward and that's when James had intervened, thankfully. He grabbed his daughters arm and pulled her into the apartment, quickly shutting the door behind them.

"Dad!" She bawled dramatically, throwing herself up against the wall in their apartment, burying her face into the sleeve of her jumpsuit. "You knew! You knew I was going to be paired with him!"

He cautiously raised his arms. "Sweetie, there was nothing I could do about the pairings, it just so happened both of your genes would mesh well." He truly looked and felt like he had betrayed his only child, his sweet little princess, wanting to reach out and comfort her but he knew better than to do so when she was in such a state.

"You know what he's like! I can't - I just can't! He's an awful person!"

"Janis.. Oh I wish I knew something that would make you feel remotely better.." He trailed off as he licked his lips. "All you would have to do is have children, and they're the only things you'd ever have to pay attention to."

"I don't want any of my future children related to him. I wouldn't want them to even know his name.. He'd only mess up their lives."

"We'll see what happens when the apartment situation is dealt with. Butch has already turned eighteen, so in a month and a half when you turn eighteen you're going to be moved in together. If his tormenting persists we will get something worked out, I promise you." He sighed as she stormed off into her bedroom, letting her door slide closed behind her without a further word to him.

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