Thankfully the trip back to the Vault was both uneventful and without issues. His APC held up perfectly fine, which led him to believe he had simply overtaxed the engine earlier and not necessarily damaged it, which was the best case scenario. He would still need to repair whatever was needed but the less he had to buy to fix it up was a boon in his eyes.
Once they arrived outside the Vault he had Pearl and Rae carry the two laser turrets, Eve volunteered to carry the new Mr. Gutsy, and he himself carried Buddy as they walked towards the partially hidden entrance of the Vault. However he stopped when he noticed a huge stack of bricks nearby, a ton actually, he had completely forgotten that he had given the order to his construction protectron while he was gone, and it seemed it had continued to work diligently. It seemed to also have found a number of other things that could be useful too, though none of the rest was sorted. Still, for something he had forgotten about, it was a nice sight. In addition the construction protectron was still working in the area, sifting through rubble so it had not even been attacked while they were gone. That was an interesting factor already, regardless he was content to leave him alone for now and so they descended into the cavern again, arriving at the door a moment later. This time it was Salvatore who opened the vault door, since his hands were free.
As the door slowly slid aside what was revealed was a quickly gathering pile of people from inside the Vault who had heard the alarm and came rushing to see.
"Is it done?!" One Naper refugee asked worriedly.
"Are the ferals all gone?" Another man chimed in.
"Didja win, mister?" One of the children asked. Adam paused for a moment, not expecting this crowd of people to be greeting them at the door and then smiled.
"We won." At his words the crowd erupted into cheers, some hugging and kissing each other, some running to the tired group and giving hugs or handshakes to everyone who would oblige. Though they were tired it seemed the refugees were in no mood to let the day slip by. So, after dropping off all the robots and turrets by the entrance, an impromptu party was planned. The refugees ushering everyone, including Eve and Mira, both of who were new to the Vault, inside and towards the cafeteria. There, with a surprisingly upbeat and energetic style, Eric began cooking up a lavish feast for everyone to share. Of course the robots did not need food, but they were celebrated nonetheless, treated like honored guests and complimented greatly. Eve seemed to enjoy the attention though was seemingly a bit flustered by the praise, whereas Rae almost didn't know how to handle this many new 'friends' and was overjoyed to the point where they were rolling around in circles in happiness.
Mira tried to sit quietly in a corner and remain partly uninvolved but since the folks were from Naper they already knew her so they dragged her into the center of the party with everyone else. Though she went begrudgingly at first she seemed to enjoy herself after a bit letting her guard down and enjoying the celebrations.
After a few hours of partying people were either still going, with no intention to stop anytime soon, or were starting to head back to their rooms to sleep. Adam would give a proper tour to Eve and Mira tomorrow, he himself was tired, but he noticed Salvatore in the hallway smoking by himself and approached.
"Party too much for you?" Adam teased as he walked up.
"Not much of a party guy. I mean Deccanus ran out the first moment he could, haven't seen him all night, at least I stuck around for a bit." Salvatore shrugged. Adam nodded and then leaned against the wall next to him, his expression growing serious for a moment.
"I… wanted to talk about what I saw, about that ghoul that was apparently leading the feral army." Adam said with a serious tone. Salvatore, sensing the change in tone, snuffed out his cigarette and put it away.
"What about it, kid?" He asked slowly.
"He was… that was… that man… he was a Chinese officer." Adam said slowly. "He was wearing an officer's uniform."
"Is that what he was wearing?" Salvatore said with a shrug. "I noticed the trim but didn't pay it much mind."
"You watch those officers wielding their swords ordering whole battalions to charge into gun emplacements on the snowy banks of Alaska and you never forget what that uniform looks like." Adam said somberly. "I just… don't understand… he was a ghoul, he was here in America." Adam turned to look at Salvatore. "What was he even doing here, in Chicago? And why was he even leading the army in the first place?" Salvatore let off a slow sigh.
"I don't know, kid." Salvatore said softly. "Every once in a while one of those Chinese spooks pops up, but it's rare, almost all of them are dead, though I heard a pocket of them were found in the capital wasteland a while back, and one in Boston. Not all of them are hostile, but most are crazy." Salvatore turned to look at Adam fully now.
"You live for 200 years something inside of you breaks, not all at once, usually it's piece by piece, you lose your sense of self, whatever humanity you have left under your rotting skin." Salvatore paused for a moment and then picked back up. "Truth is, when you are a pre-war ghoul you either learn to adapt yourself or lose yourself to the madness. Especially for those Chinese spooks, they lost everything, including the war, can't be easy on them either." Salvatore said, with a hint of sympathy.
"So you think he was just crazy then? He was insane and that was why he was doing it?"
"As I said, I don't know. He could have been clear headed for all I know. But if I were to guess, in his madness, he probably remembered his original mission, to destroy the USA, and so he worked to enact that plan."
"But how did he even do that? Is it because he was glowing? Did he have some sort of tech?"
"Again, I don't know, kid." Salvatore shrugged. "He was a glowing one, they are the most powerful form of ghoul, they are like living radioactive reactors, don't ask me the science of it, cause I don't know. But glowing ones have powers others don't." Adam slowed down when hearing this.
"And glowing ones can… control feral ghouls?"
"Not usually, no." Salvatore said as he reached for his cigarette again, deciding the itch to smoke was too great to not do it right now. "But there are wild things out there, kid. Things you can only see to believe." He took another hit of his cigarette and sighed in relief. "I once saw a feral glowing one over two hundred feet tall, it was called the Maypole or some shit that… was different." He paused.
"The Maypole could attract ferals over a wide area, hell… even I was… drawn to it." Salvatore said with some disgust. "Anyway, the point is if you are looking for an answer on how, you will never find one. There are simply some mysteries that can not be solved." Adam sighed.
"Then how will we prevent something like this from happening again?"
"Kid, that sort of thing only happens once in a human's lifetime, consider it a fluke and don't lose sleep over it." He patted Adam's shoulder and then turned to walk off. "Speaking of sleep I'm beat, get some shut eye yourself kid, no sense staying up late if you ain't gonna party." Salvatore then started to walk off, heading to his room to crash, however Adam called out to him again before he left.
"Salvatore…" Adam said softly now, uncertain himself as Salvatore stopped and turned to look at him again. "The war is over… right?" Adam asked, feeling a bit unsure of himself at the moment. Salvatore just stared at him for a few seconds and then walked back over and put his hand on Adam's shoulder.
"Kid, you did the right thing." He said with assurance, understanding Adam's plight.
"You sure? You sure I didn't just do it because he was my old enemy? Because he was Chinese? I had thought I gotten over my old prejudices but-"
"Nah, you are good." Salvatore cut in, casually. "Look, if you were going around cutting down Chinese folk for the sake of it that would be one thing, but he was clearly the enemy here. Don't over think it. And, if it bothers you that much, just ask yourself next time who your enemy is." He then paused and grinned. "Besides, ain't nothing wrong with being prejudiced as long as you don't let it interfere with your work. Most smoothskins are assholes so not worth getting caught up on." He patted Adam's shoulder again and then turned to leave.
"Now I'm really going to bed. Get some sleep kid." Adam let off a long sigh, he did still have unanswered questions, unsettled feelings, but Salvatore was right, he shouldn't get caught up on this for too long. The war was over, his enemies now were not the Chinese but those that threatened him and the people he cared about, it was as simple as that.
So, with that, he too headed to his room to sleep.