The next day Mira walked up to Adam during his morning meal. He already had plans on what he was going to do today but he had not started yet. Still he was happy to have company.
"Good morning, Mira. Sleep well?" He asked with a smile as he ate some of the food prepared by Cass, the woman who was shaping up to be in charge of the cafeteria and cooking for everyone.
"Yes." She smiled, a much warmer and calmer smile than he had seen her have in a while. "Honestly, I didn't wake up once last night, which is a miracle for me, I'm usually such a light sleeper, the slightest noise causes me to wake up." She giggled softly and then took a bite of her own food. Adam chuckled too.
"The Vault is really good at sound dampening when the doors are closed, I guess that's solid metal meant to keep radiation out for you." He smiled. "How have you been liking it down here?"
"Honestly…" She paused. "Its almost too good. I have lived in many places, places far more secure than even here but…" She paused again. "Well lets just say that I can understand why everyone from the old world were excited to live in Vaults."
"Actually that's a bit of a misnomer, it really was only the rich people who got to live in Vaults." Adam chuckled. Mira gave him a strange look.
"Is that so?" She asked curiously. It took a moment to realize that she still did not know that he was pre-war or that he was a clone, he had forgotten. It wasn't exactly a secret he intended on hiding, but it also was a very personal part of himself. He didn't know how well he knew Mira yet, or how she might react to the news so for the moment he was not intent on sharing. At least not right now.
"Yeah." Adam said, letting the matter drop, deciding offering an excuse would only draw more suspicion than simply leaving it as is. Mira ate a bit more in silence before speaking up again.
"Well, anyway, I wanted to thank you again for inviting me into the Vault. It's nice to have a home again." She smiled and then sighed and looked more serious. "Which is why I wanted to tell you I need to leave for a few days." Adam looked at her confused.
"What do you mean? Leave? Why?"
"I could say something sappy like because now I have something to protect or some such nonsense, but that isn't my style. But right now things are moving in the area that could put people in danger and I have the skills to figure out which way the winds are blowing. I don't intend to live the rest of my life hiding inside this metal box, just knowing I have it to come back to alone is… comforting." She paused at the end. Adam remained silent for a few moments and then nodded slowly.
"Do what you have to do. The Vault will still be here when you get back." He smiled. She smiled warmly back, her eyes showing him clearly how much she appreciated his very simple words.
"I will only be gone a short time, after all, it wouldn't be useful information if by the time I got back it was obsolete, so I will see you again soon." She then grinned and added. "Unless of course you throw yourself into yet another mess." Adam laughed.
"I do seem to have a habit of being drawn into Chicago's politics huh?" He grinned now too. "But at least for the time being I have a list of tasks to fulfill, namely fixing the generator and robots, which is on my to-do list for today." She nodded.
"Well good luck with that." She said before she ate quicker and with more gusto. Adam paused as he watched her for a moment and then nodded to himself.
"When you are done eating, come with me."
After the two of them finished eating he walked her to the armory and then opened another pip-boy box and tossed it to her.
"You are about as tech savvy as I am, I'm sure you can figure it out quickly. Even if you don't need any of its uses it acts as a key to get back inside and since we don't have cameras installed yet you could end up waiting outside for a while." Mira looked at the pip-boy for a moment and then back at Adam.
"A-are you sure? What if I sold this off, or lost it or used it to bring in raiders." She asked cautiously. Adam stared her dead in the eyes and responded.
"I trust you Mira." He said as he stood up from the Pip-boy boxes and then turned to face his body towards her. "You called this Vault your home, I know what it's like to lose a home, and to have to build a new one again." He said seriously.
Mira stared at him back for a few moments and then sighed and shook her head.
"You are too trusting. I can't believe someone as naive as you have survived out here as long as you have." She grinned. "But then again, I guess it's on women like me to keep you safe so you can keep being bright-eyed and bushy tailed." She chuckled softly and then turned to look down the hall. "I'm going to get my gear, I'll make sure to keep your key safe." She then winked and turned down the hall to return to her room, leaving Adam alone now.
After she had left Adam set out on his own task for the day, now that he had fixed up the APC he needed to go scavenging again, there were specific parts he needed and aside from stopping at his nearest nuclear powered generator and robotics department store, he needed to collect what he could from other sources. Namely, scrap. And he knew the perfect place to go scrap hunting.
Adam gathered together his crew, Salvatore, Deccanus, Pearl, and Eve. He originally wasn't going to ask Eve to come along, after all this seemed less her speed, but as he was gathering folks for the outgoing mission she jumped at the opportunity to get outside again. Adam was not about to say no to the help.
He considered bringing Rae too, but he wanted to leave room in the APC for anything he found. Besides Rae was best suited in keeping the area around the Vault clear, so they were ordered to patrol the immediate area to keep it clear of hostiles alongside the turrets.
So, with his team gathered, and only a small bit of sass from Salvatore for having to go out again immediately after yesterday, they set out the the place Adam hoped would have almost everything he needed. The Scrap yard.