Ch2

They padded back to their room, quietly changing and washing away the evidence of their exploits. Satisfied they were now free of any guilty markings, they hurried over to the diner.

Which was completely dark.

"Hey, what gives? The place is shut down!" Morgan exclaimed.

"Can't be, it's too early."

"Look!"

"Well, door is still open, let's head in and wait for Dad."

They stepped into the room and were immediately blinded by a bright flash as the lights came on.

"Jeez Andy, you turned the lights on too fast! You blinded the poor kid!"

The pair blinked their way back to sight.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

The twins looked at each other, stunned. They were expecting some sort of quiet gift, not a big party!

"Look at you two." They whirled around to face their father. He was wearing his regular lab coat, his smile making his whole face look younger than his graying hair said he was.

"Ten years old already. If only your mother were here, she would be—"

"There you are, you two ruffians! I don't have to tell you how special a day this is!" It was Overseer Almodovar, leader of the vault and a source of endless annoyance to the twins. Well, to Morgan anyway. Whose complaining got on Danny's nerves.

"Down here in Vault 101, when you turn ten, well, you are ready to take on your first responsibilities. So…" He took out a pair of items from behind his back. "I present to you boys your very own Pipboy 3000s. Wear them well." The twins were ecstatic! Pipboys were awesome gadgets, and could help out with nearly any task! "You'll be getting your first work assignment tomorrow, boys." The Overseer continued. "Good luck." He wandered off, chuckling at their now-horrified faces.

Their dad smiled."Enjoy your party, boys! You're only ten once, so have fun!"

They grinned and started walking around the diner, immediately running into Amata, the Overseer's daughter.

"Hi guys! We really surprised you, didn't we?" She grinned with pride.

"Nah, we knew the whole time, we just didn't want to spoil the surprise." Morgan lied. Danny shot him an annoyed look.

"Yeah right! Ah well, I suppose you won't be wanting your surprise gift then…"

"What gift? What is it?"

"Guess!"

"Ummm… a date with Christine Kendall?" Morgan asked.

Both Danny and Amata gave him a surprised look. "Ewww, gross! I didn't even know you liked girls!" Amata squealed, disgusted.

"I'm sorry for Tweedle-Dum here, Amata. What'd you get us?"

She brightened immediately. "Check it out! I found it with some of my father's old stuff!" She produced an old Grognak the Barbarian, Issue number 14.

"Awesome! That leaves only 16 and 20 before we get them all!" Danny exclaimed.

"Thanks Amata!"

"No problem!" She ran off to talk with some of the other guests.

"So far, this is pretty awesome!" Morgan said, grinning like a loon.

"Hate to rain on your parade, but look over there…"

Sitting in a booth on the far side of the room was Butch DeLoria, resident bully of the Vault, along with Wally Mack, his friend, for want of a better word.

"Oh great…" Morgan frowned. "Who invited him?"

"Not worth askin', as he's here now…" Danny sighed. He didn't really care about Butch all that much, but he and Morgan always butted heads when they started talking, which generally ended in a fistfight.

"Uhhh…" a voice from behind them started.

They whirled around to see Paul Hannon, son of the security chief. "Uhhh… thanks for inviting me to this party and all…" He seemed unsure of what to say to the pair.

"Uhhhh… I'm sorry for how Butch and I mess with you, we don't really mean it… Anyway, thanks." He scampered off to Butch's booth, who began harassing him about speaking to the pair.

"You know he ain't too bad…" Danny started.

"But then he hangs out with the human-shaped Radroaches there." Morgan finished. "Meh…"

"Hey kids! How ya doing?" It was Stanley, one of the Vault mechanics. "How do you like the Pipboys?" He grinned, guessing the answer.

"They're great Stanley!" Morgan beamed, waving it in front of Stanley.

"Did you fix them up for us?" Danny asked,

"As a matter of fact, yes. Almost didn't finish though." He stared at Morgan. "Because for some reason I found my toolbox missing early this morning. I made do with what I had though. Any idea where it could be?" He glared at Morgan.

"Beats me, Stanley. Bet you'll find it back in your workshop before you know it though!" Morgan smiled, trying to look innocent and not quite succeeding.

Stanley smirked. "I certainly hope so. Oh, I got something else for you two." He brought out an old pair of baseball caps. "These used to belong to me and my brother. We were a lot like you two, actually."

"I doubt that." said Danny, casting a sidelong look at Morgan, who just shrugged.

"Well, enjoy your party!"

After thanking Stanley, they wandered off and talked with some of the other guests, though Morgan avoided Officer Gomez, muttering something about unfair confiscation. They stopped at Mrs. Palmer's table, who talking to the Overseer.

"Hello you two! My, how fast you've grown! Reminds me of myself at that age…" She sighed happily, not noticing Morgan rolling his eyes, and Danny elbowing him for it. "Anyway, I have something for you two!"

"Oh, you didn't have to get us a gift, Mrs. Palmer." Danny offered. Morgan shot him a nasty look.

"Fiddlesticks! What 10-year old doesn't like presents?" She pulled out a small tray. On top were two heavily iced sweetrolls. The boys salivated just looking at them.

"One for each of you! Happy birthday!" She gave them a big grin.

"Thanks Mrs. Palmer!" Danny smiled back. Morgan was too busy gobbling down the roll to answer.

"Seriously, where did you learn to eat like that?" said Danny, glaring at his brother as they moved away.

"I am half-radroach, you always say." replied Morgan.

"That's because of how you keep your room."

"Oh come on! At least I don't obsessively organize my socks!"

"Greased pig!"

"Clean freak!"

"Attention everyone, it's time to cut the cake!"

Morgan and Danny turned around in time to see their friendly robot Andy attempt to cut the cake.

With a buzzsaw.

It made quite a mess.

Those who were at the bar, including their Dad and Stanley, got the worst of it, with icing splattered over their faces.

The twins cracked up, they couldn't help it, it looked like Stanley had a big white beard and dad all of the sudden had very fluffy eyebrows.

"Awww man, why…. why didn't anyone bring a camera?" Morgan spluttered, barely able to get his breath.

"With that kind of luck, it'd be covered in frosting too!" Danny crowed, and that set them off again.

They subsided after a minute, with a lot of the grown-ups smiling too. The twins grinned at each other, this was a great party.

And then…

"I'm hungry, and that stupid robot destroyed the cake!" growled an all too familiar, whiny voice.

Danny sighed and turned around to face Butch. "So?"

"So gimme that sweetroll Mrs. Palmer gave you!" Butch demanded.

"Yeah, you tell em' Butch!" Wally Mack egged from behind him.

"Oh for the love of…" Morgan began, taking a step toward Butch.

Danny rolled his eyes and put an arm between Morgan and Butch. "Look Butch, we'll share, alright? Half for me and half for you." Morgan stared at his brother, his jaw hanging open.

"Sharing! What do you think this is, kindergarten? I want it all!" Butch demanded, clenching his fists.

Danny sighed. "Look, Butch…"

"Go soak your head Butch!" Morgan cried. "He's not giving you his sweetroll!"

Danny sighed. It had been going better than usual…

"Oh yeah! We'll see about that!" Butch shouted, rising up from the booth. Wally Mack climbed out from the back too, and Paul just sat back, looking confused.

Mack tackled Morgan, both of them going down in a flurry of blows.

"Well, crap." Danny turned to Butch. "Look Butch, do we gotta-"

He dodged as Butch lunged at him, missing and sending him sprawling into the bar.

"Butch, now I know-" Danny began again, interrupted as he had to dodge a clumsy swing.

"Butch-" Another clumsy shot.

Danny groaned, put his sweetroll on top of the bar, and grabbed Butch by the arm.

"WILL YOU QUIT IT!" Danny shouted, tripping Butch and leaving him sprawling on the floor.

"All right, knock it off! Break it up, all of you!" Officer Gomez shouted as he tried, with limited success, to pry apart Morgan and Wally, who each had a firm grip on the other's limbs with their teeth.

"Morgan! Fight's over, we won." Danny shouted over, halfheartedly. He looked back at Butch, who was looking up at him with hate in his eyes. He sighed, wondering what the big problem was. Can't they all just get along? Well, at least not attempt to kill each other, yes?

"Heck yeah we won!" Morgan crowed standing up. He had a black eye, and a few bruises. Wally was looking pretty similar. They both eyed each other warily.

"Now that's enough out of all of you! Because it's a party, I'll overlook it, but if this happens again, you will all be in big trouble!"

"Yes, Officer Gomez." They all droned. They knew this wasn't the first fight, and it certainly wasn't going to be the last.

Amata came over. "Are you guys okay? What happened?"

Morgan cut in before Danny could reply. "He tried to take Danny's sweetroll. I told him to soak his head. Too bad Gomez stopped me before I could really get Wally!"

Amata looked at all of Morgan's new bruises. "Riiiiiight…."

Danny looked from his sweetroll to Butch, who was getting back into his booth.

"Hey Butch, catch!"

Butch looked up and barely caught the sweetroll. He gave Danny a look of triumph and started chowing down.

"Danny!" Amata cried.

"Why'd you do that?" Morgan asked, amazement and a little anger on his face. "He lost!"

"So? It's just a sweetroll. And he was hungry." He looked back to Butch, who had a big grin on his face, and smiled. Just a little.

Morgan rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Hope the prick enjoys it."

Amata looked like she was about to say something, but Dad came over. "Just talked to Jonas on the intercom. We've got a surprise for you two down in the reactor level."

"Cool! See you later Amata!" Morgan said, dragging his brother out of the diner with him.

Amata shook her head. "Boys…"

Morgan rounded the corner and nearly ran into Butch's mom.

"Oh! Hello there little boys! I was just coming over to your party!" She had a big, glassy grin on, and she was a little off balance.

"Hi Miss DeLoria." Danny said politely.

"Hey." Morgan nearly spat.

The woman didn't notice. "I wrote you two a birthday poem! " She handed over a stained piece of paper. "Happy birthday!"

"Thank you, Miss DeLoria."

"Is that all?" Morgan seemed disappointed.

"Of course, silly! Now run along!" She walked, a little unsteadily, toward the diner.

"What's up with her?" Morgan asked.

"She's drunk." Danny deadpanned.

"What!" Morgan was shocked.

"Yep. Wonder why Butch is always thin and hungry a lot of the time? She drinks up the ration allowance."

"Wow… that sucks. No wonder he's so angry."

"Yeah… poem's kinda' morbid too."

"Lemme see…" Morgan looked it over. "Err… that's a bit creepy."

"Yep."

They continued down to the reactor, where Jonas looked up from a cluttered workbench.

"What're you doing here, young men? Kids aren't allowed down in the reactor level." He said severely.

"Oh… but dad said we could come down here." Danny said, uncertain.

"And we're not kids! We're ten years old!" Morgan pronounced proudly.

"Heheh, you sure are. Let's wait for your dad; he wants to show you the surprise too."

"No need, I'm here." Their dad walked though the door, holding something behind his back. "You ready for your surprise?"

They both nodded excitedly.

He smiled. "Well here you are!" He pulled out an old BB gun from behind his back.

"Woah! Where'd you get that dad?" exclaimed Morgan.

"We found it down here one day when we were checking the reactor. It was pretty battered though, and took a while to repair. Do you have any idea how hard it was to find a spring that small?" He smiled. "It's lucky that Butch "misplaced" that switchblade of his!" He handed the gun to Morgan. "Now follow me."

He walked through a door on the opposite end of the hall, revealing a long shooting range, with three revolving targets at the far end.

"So? What do you think? You can come down here to shoot anytime you like."

"This is great Dad! Thanks!" Morgan was nearly going to explode with joy.

Danny turned to Jonas. "Did you fix this up Jonas?"

"Yeah, I did. Thought you two would have a lot of fun with it. Now come on! Let me see you shoot!"

Morgan took first crack, nailing all three targets in rapid succession.

"Nice!"

Danny tried, but it took him longer to line up the shots, and he missed once.

"I may just stick with punching, if it's all the same to you."

After a few more hits, two radroaches came scurrying into the range.

"Careful!" Dad warned. "They got a nasty bite. Why don't you try to shoot them?"

"Cool!" Morgan immediately sighted up and fired, nailing the first.

"My turn! My turn!" Danny shouted, grabbing the gun and attempting to hit the radroach. It took him four shots to do it.

"Your aim is as bad as Wally's punches!" Morgan crowed.

"Yeah yeah, from the looks of you that isn't a bad thing." Danny shot back.

"Well done you two! That's two less radroaches to worry about. Hey Jonas, get a picture of me with the big game hunters here."

They stood in a line, Dad on the right, Morgan in the middle, and Danny on the left, both twins with a grip on the gun.

"Smile!" Jonas said. Then the world turned white…