So close, he was so close now!

"Boss you shouldn't rush in like this. who knows what could be inside of this Project Purity?" Charon said as they hurried there way to the Jefferson Memorial.

"My dad, that's what inside!" Pegasus countered hurrying.

"COMMANDER DETECTING SEVERAL CHINESE BIOWEAPONS AHEAD." RL-3 shouted. "THE REDS SEEM TO BE ATTEMPTING TO HIJACK THE CIVILIANS' SCIENCE PROJECT!"

A wave of fear coursed through him at RL-3 words. If the super mutants had taken up residents in the Jefferson memorial, they may have taken his dad to wherever they took their captives.

"No!" He shouted. Running towards the memorial. Madison was right, it was impossible to not see. The large water tubes came out of the side and large metal walkways, rusted and corroded with years of neglect surrounded the memorial. A super mutant patrolled the top of it. it shouted something and ran to meet him with a large pipe in its hand.

"Get out of my way!" He shouted firing at the mutant approached. Hitting it four times in rage and fear.

"Lover!" Clover shouted trying to keep up with him.

Pegass didn't care at the moment. So worried about his dad that he barely registered the two mutants outside waiting at the entrance, hardly noticed them drop and the echoing of sniper fire. Going through the door labeled gift shop, hearing the sounds of automatic fire and mutants screaming.

Running down the corridor he nearly got shot by the auto turret in the ceiling walls of the welcoming hall, and the super mutant that was trying to take it down. the turret had killed several, but two more still remained and they saw a human. Rushing him, Pegasus fired a round into ones' chest before it grabbed the gun and threw him down the hall. Rolling to a stop the mutants closed in, his rifle in their hands. Firing his submachine gun in burst, even a large amount of 10mm bullets at once didn't phase them.

Shotguns blasts and streaks of green plasma came from behind them. Charon and Rl-3 flanked the mutants, firing as they made their approach. Turning their attention towards their new assailants the mutants tried to strike at them, but for every step they took they took one plasma shot or a shotgun shell, until finally bleeding out from their wounds and burning from the plasma they died.

Then the auto turrets tried to shoot them. "Boss we have a serious problem here!" Charon shouted.

His dad might have made them shoot anyone that tried to come in, or he'd set them only to shoot specific targets, such as the super mutants.

"What the hell's wrong with you just rushing in here like that! I thought you were smarter than that!" Clover said walking passed the welcoming hall. The turrets didn't shoot her.

"Charon, Rl-3, stay there.' Pegasus guessed the turrets didn't count them as humans. Finding that the turrets had managed to take out three mutants, a terminal was located on the desk of the gift shop turning off the turrets to let his friends pass.

"So think your old man is here? Shouldn't he be trying to check up on all this gunfire?" Clover asked.

"More than likely he'd be waiting several minute to make sure that his enemies have left." Charon said handing Pegasus back his rifle. "The enemy could be trying to lull him into a false sense of security."

"When the hell have super mutants shown anything resembling an ambush? They're too stupid to do anything other than attack!" Pegasus snapped. He didn't want to argue or talk. His dad was here and no number of super mutants were going to stop him.

"Boss you need to calm down or you're going to make more tactical mistakes." Charon said. "If I and your metal unit hadn't come in, you'd be dead or captured."

An anguish cry erupted from Pegasus. He wanted to rage and scream even more, but the logical part, the part that had been training ever since he was ten, told him that Charon was right. He could've died and he needed to calm down and think.

Breathing slowly. He saw that the gift shop led to two doors; one said to Rotunda, the other to the maintenance tunnels. If he was going to spend a large amount of time here, he'd make his home in the tunnels.

"We're going down into maintenance." He said finally reloading his rifle, luckily the mutants hadn't broken it. "RL-3 you detect anything?"

"SCANNING: THERE ARE NO KNOWN TREATS IN THE VICINITY AT THIS TIME." Rl-3 said. "THOUGH I HAVE LOGGED YOU IN FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION THE NEXT TIME WE REPORT TO BASE."

"there are no bases anymore RL-3! Just the destroyed Capital Wasteland! You've been fighting for a government 200 years dead! And right now the only thing that's going to help with my psyche is a talk with my dad!" Pegasus rage came back. calming down at the eve of revelation was not easy.

The maintenance tunnels were dark in most areas; emergency lights had been set up in certain corridors. Following them to an open room with a clean bed and the smell of scotch and 101 aftershave. Next to the bed was a bucket of dirty water, a small table held a mirror and his dad's straight edge next to an old holo-recorder.

"No." He whispered at the empty bed. It was cold to the touch, as though nobody had slept in it for days, even weeks. The water was cold and the razor looked to be forming small amounts of rust on the edges. His dad would never had let that happen, the only explanation was that he wasn't here.

He shakily hit the play button. Every lead had taken him to this point, now he had nothing left to go on except whatever his dad had left him.

Well, here we are again. Project Purity and me. It's been close to twenty years since my last entry. Since I left all of this behind to make a life for my son. We've spent that time in Vault 101, tucked away from the rest of the world. It wasn't perfect, but it was safe, and that's all I could have hoped for. Now, my son is a grown man. Handsome, intelligent, confident. Just like his old man. Hmph. And as hard as it was to admit it, he doesn't need his daddy anymore.

"You're wrong dad. I do need you. Need you to tell me the hell's going on!" Pegasus shouted. If his dad was working on Project Purity again. If his dad really did leave the Vault to save the world as Three Dog said he was, why the hell didn't he ask for his son to join him! He would've joined his dad in this Project in a second. Hell Amata would've helped them! If his dad would've just told him what he was planning on doing, he would've let his dad in on Amata's and his plan!

Frantically he started tearing apart the room. looking for anymore holo tapes, finding several older ones.

We're back at work after a full week of delays. The Brotherhood Soldiers were able to repair the sentry guns, much to my relief. I know Madison isn't comfortable having them here, but there's no denying that we'd be lost without them. We're still waiting on the full analysis of the last three small-scale purification tests.
Catherine hasn't been feeling well, and it's slowing down our research. I don't mind, but I can tell it's bothering some of the others.

The name of his mother helped calm him down. This one must've been recorded before the projects hiatus. Charon and Clover looked at him and the mess he'd made tearing the room apart. "Don't just stand there! Help me find something, anything that points where my dad went!"

Charon shrugged and Rl-3 followed him, while Clover looked strangely at him, she'd never seem him so frantic before. Dogmeat whimpered and cowered next to the bed. When they left he continued searching the room, finding .32 rounds in a dresser drawer along with another recording.

Well, there's no more mystery behind Catherine's health problems. The news of her pregnancy has lifted the spirits of everyone here, and given us a renewed interest in making the purifier work. We now have a future generation to provide for.
The latest tests show that our methods are horribly inefficient, but I think we're on the right track.
Catherine refuses to rest; she insists on spending all day in the lab. I've never seen her more driven. She's determined to resolve the power problems before the baby is born. I've tried to reason with her, but it's no use.

If stubbornness was genetic, then he was his mother's son. Punching the pillow, he hit something hard. Shaking the pain out of his hand helped calm him down. Being more cautious in case he broke glass, he pulled out an old picture frame with two people. One of which he had no problems recognizing as a younger version of his dad. He had a thicker beard and his eyes shown with a wild happiness that he'd only seen a few times when he was growing up. His arms were wrapped around a young black woman, shorter than he was with stark white hair smiling happily for the camera. Both were wearing lab coats and in the back was the Jefferson memorial, as though this picture had been taken recently. Flipping it over were written in his dads' familiar scrawl and handwriting he'd never seen: James and Catharine.

His anger faded away, tears swelled up in his eyes. For the first time in his life, he looked upon his mother's face. Another holo recording was also underneath the pillow. He played it, looking at the image of his mother. Her hair was the same as his, and he definitely inherited her cheeks bones, her dark skin also helped explain his own copper complexion. Finding himself glad he wasn't as pale as his dad in this photo.

...That batch of tests was inconclusive, but Madison and I are convinced it's a problem with the secondary filtration system. He knew that clear gentle tone was his moms, slightly hating that all he had to hear her voice was simply technical data, but it was enough to know that she'd once lived.We're going to re-calibrate the equipment and try again tomorrow, so that... James, please, I'm trying to work. Now's not the time... Though he really didn't need to hear his dad apparently trying to seduce her.So that's the next step. Assuming we get the results we need, we'll move on to... James! Stop! I need to finish these notes...Oh my god, it was tempting to hit the off button, but maybe his dad did stop?We'll move on to diagnosing the issues with the radiation dampeners. That should... Ow! James! Now? We really shouldn't... Ha ha ha ha ha! The recording thankfully ended there.

"Wow, I am my dad's son." Pegasus said aloud. He'd pulled the same kind of thing to Amata back when they were seventeen. Though thankfully it didn't result in a kid. The thought that he could've heard his own conception had him shiver in disgust. "The only recording I have of my mom's voice, and it's when you seduced her. Thanks dad!"

He pocketed the photo, the recording his dad could keep.

"Boss! We found something down here." Charon called.

Feeling much calmer and even happier, though a little disturbed. Coming down to a room that looked like it had once been a medical station. An old T.V had been hooked together to a video recorder. Hitting play, he saw the image of Maddison standing over his mother, his dad holding her hand and resting his other on her forehead. She screamed in pain and the sounds of a baby echoed in the room.

"A son. We have a son Catherine!" His dad cheered happily.

Oh…oh James…we did it…a son… our beautiful son." His mom sounded so weak, a stark contrast to the crisp tone in the other recording.

Maddison wiped the baby clean and handed their child to his parents. "He's very strapping!" His mother laughed.

"Hey there little guy. I'm your daddy! Daddy!" James said over the cries of the baby. "We've been thinking of a name for you; and we've come up with Albert. Does that sound good to you?"

"It's better than Lindsey Jr." His mother joked, lying back. The baby cooed as if in agreement.

His dad laughed it off. "Well glad you like it." His dad said over the sounds of rapid beeping. "You've got a bright world ahead of you son. And if we get this working- "

"James! Somethings- "Catherine started breathing hard and the heart monitors beeped faster and faster.

"Get the baby out of here!" Madison shouted and the screen went static.

Pegasus stood numbingly in place, looking at the room. Nearly twenty years ago, he'd been born right here inside the dreams of both his parents. It was here that when he was given life and the dream died along with his mother.

"It's not dead yet." He whispered aloud. Project Purity was simply sleeping. His dad was trying to get it to wake up again.

"COMMANDER I DO BELIEVE THAT WOMEN DIED IN THE BIRTHING PROCESS OF THAT CHILD." RL-3 interrupted.

"That's not what I- never mind." He really didn't want to argue with a robot. If there was nothing down here than there was only one other place to go to. The rotunda.

"COMMANDER SEVERAL HUMANS ARE PATROLLING THE UPPER LEVELS WHERE WE CAME IN." RL-3 warned.

Perhaps Madison had changed her mind? Still no reason to be reckless again, he already done that enough for the day. Going back up quietly, peeking towards the corridor where they had first come in to see the black armor of three Talon Company mercenaries.

"There he is!" One shouted firing a combat shotgun, shattering the walls.

"We got company!" Pegasus shouted. Hurrying to the auto turret defenses and restarting them. The turrets started to turn towards Charon and he shut them off. they were going to have to fight. Unless.

"Burke's dead! There's nobody to pay your bounty anymore!" Pegasus shouted.

"Who said this had anything to do with Burke?" was the reply. "You think Burke was the only one who'd put a price on your pretty little head Pegasus? Hope that bitch is with you, she's worth her weight in caps!"

"COMMANDER WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?" RL-3 asked.

"Mercenaries hired by China." Pegasus lied.

"SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE! I HOPE YOU HAVE ENOUGH TO PAY CHARON TO CROSS THE STYX!" RL-3 taunted.

"What about me?" Charon asked.

Charon Later!" Pegasus shouted. Clover was already at the corner, she fired Xuanlong and received fire in return.

"So do we take them alive or dead?" He heard them ask.

"They're going to fight, so dead. Bounties a bounty."

They readied to fight the Talons as they came into the gift room. Except they didn't, instead they threw in a grenade that bellowed smoke that burned their eyes and made their skin itch.

"Tear gas!" Charon shouted. "Fall back!"

"You ain't going nowhere freak!" a Talon shouted firing his shotgun. A bolt of plasma hit him in the chest.

"GAS DOESN'T WORK ON THE AMERICAN WAR MACHINE!" RL-3 shouted. "OFFICERS DON'T BE PANSIES! TAKE A SHOT OF VITAMIN M AND TOUGH IT OUT!"

"Quickly to the rotunda!" Charon said.

Though hard to see, they both followed the green blurs that RL-3 kept firing. His aim seemed to have taken yet another dive. Coughing when they hit the clean air of the rotunda. His eyes were watering so badly that he barely could see anything.

"Clover how are you?" Pegasus managed to say through coughing.

Clover replied with a coughing fit of her own.

Charon ripped his submachine gun away from him and fired. "This way." Charon guided them up the ramp and behind clear glass.

Two Talons came in firing, Charon and RL-3 returned fire from up the ramp. one of the talons saw Pegasus and tried to shoot him. even behind the tears he could see the glass stop the bullets. He looked shocked before a plasma bolt took off his head.

The other Talon had recovered and came in firing, his armor was melted but had protected him. the barking of Dogmeat and the gurgled screams as Dogmeat tore out the other Talons throat caused him to lose his concentration and Charon took out the last one.

Several minutes passed his eyes finally stopped stinging, but they were still very teary. Dogmeat came panting up to him and he felt the blood on her lips.

"Boss you better see this." Charon said coming back from checking the dead talons.

"I can't see shit at the moment! Can you read it aloud?"

"the holier-than-thou-white-knight who goes by the name Pegasus has aroused my displeasure. 1500 caps for his body, 2000 alive so I can teach him some manners first. A bonus 200 for the corpse of the blonde woman clover known to be in his company, 500 for returning my property alive. and the gratitude of the most powerful man in the wasteland. Eulogy Jones."

Wonderful, his bounty had gone up in the world, and he didn't think he'd be able to take out Eulogy like he did Burke, yet. He wondered how many other bounty hunters he'd have to be dealing with from now on?

"Is there anything we can do to get rid of this damn itch?" Clover pleaded rubbing her eyes.

"Don't rub, it'll make it worse. If you have any vinegar it would counteract the tear gas." Charon said. "We're surrounded by water; you can rub your face in it until it goes away."

Following Charon instructions, they soaked there face until finally the burning went away and both their faces looked red and swollen.

"Boss. there's more holo-tapes in here along with a recorder." Charon said.

Blinking out the tears he finally got a good look at the rotunda. A giant glass circle filled with water, the bulletproof glass protected the computer systems that wouldn't look out of place at as a Vault mainframe. This was the center of Project Purity; Madison had left all this equipment sitting here for twenty years. She may have lost hope, yet she didn't have the heart to take all this equipment for Rivet City.

These were the final recordings that he had, if his dad didn't leave anything for him on these then he as lost. His dad had marked these ones in numerical order played the first one.

Even in Vault 101, my work on Project Purity never really stopped. Soon after we arrived, my nightly routine included sneaking into the restricted areas. Searching for, I don't know, whatever I could find. It was a Vault-Tec facility after all. The place was built with some of the most advanced technology this country had ever developed. Those excursions never turned up anything particularly useful. So one night, after half a bottle of scotch, I broke into the Overseer's office. It was easy enough to hack his console, gain access to the restricted files. Most of it was garbage: propaganda, spy reports, just plain rambling bullshit, really. But there was one thing, one name that stood out amongst all the others... Dr. Stanislaus Braun. I knew of Braun's work, of course. He was a celebrity in his day. Vault-Tec's sorcerer-scientist, leaving his peers in awe of his technological wizardry. But it was in Vault 101 that night in the Overseer's office, that I first learned of Braun's involvement in Vault-Tec's social preservation program, and his work on something called GECK, Garden of Eden Creation Kit.

Braun? GECK? Pegasus vaguely remembered reading those terms back when he was scouring through the Overseers' journals, he and his dad agreed on the Overseer's bullshit. And all this time he told him to behave himself when he himself had a problem with the Overseer! Playing the final one.

To be honest, the GECK sounded like pure fantasy, even for someone of Braun's capabilities. It was nothing short of a miracle. A terra-forming module, capable of producing life from complete lifelessness. But not only was this thing a reality, it was actually distributed to several vaults to be used after an atomic war. Vault 101 was, sadly, not on that list. I did some digging and discovered Braun's name on the reservation list for a Vault 112. I'm no slouch, but this man, he could have easily succeeded where I failed. Does his collected knowledge remain within the halls of Vault 112? Journals, holotapes, computer records, maybe even experiments? If I could gain access to just a fraction of Braun's genius, Project Purity would become a reality. I'm not sure where vault 112 exactly is, all I know that it's somewhere in the Columbia Commonwealth. Even if I have to scour the entire east coast of America I'll find it, I have to. It's so close, but that's the story of Project Purity isn't it? The eternal story of "almost there's". Let's see if Braun is the missing puzzle piece.

"Sounds almost like trying to find you dad." Pegasus mumbled. Still that his dad was alive, and that he was going into a Vault lifted a lot of worry in his heart. For whatever faults the vaults had, they were at least safe from the outside.

"I take it we're not done trying to find your dad yet Lover?" Clover asked.

"Not yet." Now there was even more at stake than just the answers he was looking for. His dad and mom had tried to save the world, now he was going to be joining his parents in this family project. All the good that he'd done on the outside, the stories Three Dog told of his heroism to inspire the Good Fight. All of that meant nothing in the wake of Project Purity now. He may be able to save the day; Project Purity could very well save the future for the entire human race.

"We're going vault hunting for vault 112." Pegasus said with conviction. Let Eulogy send as many hit squads as he wanted, let him come after them himself. Like his parents, nothing but death was going to stop him, and Eulogy might find the price he paid for that far too high.