Adam woke up the next day feeling the time pressure. Of course it's not like he had been lazing about the past few days, in fact he had been incredibly busy. However everyday that passed meant they were that much closer to the giant battle he had thrust himself into. He still had no idea who was actually going to show up for this battle. After all he had put out the call to war to a number of groups and while he did confirm they should be coming, there was no way to know for certain if they were. He had to go to the meeting spot today, he needed to see who had arrived and start making plans on where the battle would take place.
Adam ate breakfast with Salvatore, he shared his misgivings about the battle to come but otherwise it was a casual breakfast despite the tension Adam was feeling.
"Salvatore." Adam paused as he was finishing his meal. "Can you make a run for me?" Adam asked, seriously.
"Sure kid, what do you need?"
"We need to see who, if anyone, has gathered for the battle. If there are people gathering we can all head over there to prepare. If not…" Adam paused and then sighed. "We will have to play that by ear." Salvatore shrugged.
"Sure kid, I don't mind. Took it easy all day yesterday so I don't mind putting in the leg work." Adam nodded and then remembered something.
"You done eating?" He said as he stood up with his empty plate.
"Yeah, why?" Salvatore returned, confused.
"Come with me, I got something for you." Adam said as he then put his dish in the dishwasher and then led Salvatore out of the cafeteria and towards the armory.
Once inside the armory Adam opened one of the pip-boy boxes and tossed the fresh-out-of-the-box pip-boy to him.
"That's for you." He said with a grin. Salvatore inspected it.
"You sure kid? These things ain't cheap."
"I'm sure. I'm still not exactly sure what I'm doing with the rest but I think, for now, handing them out to anyone who stays here but often leaves for missions is the best strategy. Besides I trust you with it, and this way you don't need to wait around outside until I decide to open the door."
Salvatore shrugged and then put on the pip-boy, turning it on and playing with the UI for a moment.
"It'll take me some time to get used to it but…" He grinned as he flipped to the radiation reader and smiled at the fact that the meter was reading him as having maxed it out for readable radiation intake and was exceeding the lethal dose. "I think I will like it." He then patted Adam on the back. "Thanks kid, I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Good luck, Salvatore. Stay safe."
"I always do." Salvatore chuckled and then turned to leave the Vault, a bit more excited to be able to play with the Pip-boy than Adam expected. As Adam had said, he was unsure how best to make use of all the pip-boys, after all they were extremely useful and very valuable, but in all likelihood keeping them for himself and only handing them out to his close allies made the most sense. After all, unless Salvatore died no one would be able to use his pip-boy to enter the vault. Besides, even if the Naper folks were living here right now, it's not like they planned to stay. And even if they were, they didn't need the pip-boys to do tasks. It was better to keep them accounted for. But he was getting ahead of himself.
Adam spent the time while Salvatore was away helping the Naper refugees to continue to clean the Vault up. As he had learned, the power was sufficient to run everything in the vault currently since so many rooms remained unoccupied, which meant he was not limited in using anything in the vault as far as he cared. Places like the labs were out of power but he certainly didn't care about that. The lights were on, the TVs worked, the gym had power, and the kitchens all were powered on too, truly he was fine with it as is.
He had gotten a list from Remington of the things needed to fix the generator. He would do it when the fate of Chicago didn't hang in the balance. However, for now, he was content with what he had.
After a few hours had passed the sound of the Vault door opening could be heard in the distance and Adam headed that way to meet Salvatore at the entrance.
"Kid." Salvatore began as he stepped through the entrance of the large metal door. "You got your wish. I think it's time to mobilize." Adam stared at him seriously for a moment, let off a sigh of both relief and anxiety and then nodded with a determined expression.
"Let's gather the troops."
A few minutes later Adam had gathered everyone who was going to join in the battle and brought them over to where he had stashed the APC. He gave Pearl and Deccanus each a pip-boy for themselves, for the same reason he gave Salvatore one. Deccanus was hesitant because it was foreign technology but he eventually agreed and put it on without turning it on. Pearl on the other hand had no qualms about using it, if she could figure out how it worked. However for her sake all that mattered was that she had the ability to open the Vault door if ever needed. He would show her how it worked later, simply having her own one was good enough.
Fitting the pip-boy around her wrist pushed the one-size-fits-all feature of the pip-boy to its limits but she was able to wear it without it bothering her at all.
As everyone loaded up into the back of the APC, along with his turrets and power armor he took out from the Vault, as well as some weapons, Eve showed up at the APC.
On her back was a laser gatling gun, a rocket launcher, and a grenade machine gun. She was not messing around considering how heavy her ordinance was. If she wasn't a robotic assaultron he might question how she was managing to carry all those heavy weapons with such a lithe body. However the weight did not seem to phase her and all the weapons were ratchet strapped to her body for easy transportation.
"Miss me handsome?~" She teased as she walked over to Adam.