"Where are the communists, sir?" Sgt. Fyre asked as he did as asked, helping move the guns from the racks into bags they found or prepared to later move into the APC.
"There are none here, Fyre. They moved on. For now we are collecting these weapons to arm ourselves for the future. Either to sell or to keep."
"I see. Keeping an eye out for communists, sir? I knew you were the intelligent sort!" Sgt. Fyre praised. "The only good communist is a dead communist. Better Dead than Red I always say! But in order to kill the communists we need to be well armed! I'm glad to serve alongside such a patriot as yourself." Adam just let off a silent laugh and shook his head.
"You sure you don't wanna reprogram him? He kinda gets on my nerves." Mira asked as she walked over, dropping a bag of guns next to Adam.
"Nah." Adam said as he turned to her. "Honestly I kinda like it. Reminds me of the old days."
"Did all of you talk that way?" Mira said, an eyebrow raised and a look of disbelief on her face.
"Oh, no." Adam laughed. "Thats the propaganda. He talks like a commercial on TV or a badly written movie hero. No one really spoke like that. Maybe a light joke or something. But no one really cared that much about the political divide as much as the fact that this was our home and they were invading it."
"Well that I can understand." Mira said with a soft nod.
"Nothing like the threat of a red horizon to scare you into becoming a patriot. Talking anti-communist slogans just kinda hammered the point home. Though to be honest you had to agree that you were anti communist otherwise you might not get a job… or worse." Adam shrugged.
"What do you mean?" Mira asked, confused.
"Well the US government was not uh… very welcoming of certain ideas. And with the war heating up they needed to tamp down on spies. Companies followed suit and tried to clamp down on corporate espionage. Ultimately you had to watch your words a bit when in mixed company. Not like you couldn't speak your mind, just that you had to keep in mind your words were likely being overheard. It taught you to keep one eye open at all times."
"Wow… I had no idea things were that bad." Mira said, now fully engaged with the conversation, learning an aspect of the old world she didn't know.
"It really wasn't that bad. I swear." Adam laughed. "It was just a casual level of awareness about where you were and what you said. I mean while working at Second Life I couldn't talk bad about them. Or when serving in the military I couldn't say positive things about communism. More or less anyway. I know it sounds kinda bad, but it really was just second nature. I basically never thought about it." Adam shrugged. Mira opened her mouth to reply but then Percy showed up and cut her off.
"I finished checking around, no traps or nuttin' but I did find another room you might be interested in."
"Oh?" Adam said back to him gesturing for him to lead the way.
Percy then led Adam into the backroom of the Theater and down a hall towards the changing rooms. The interior was completely overhauled into a storage room. The only remaining evidence it was ever a changing room was the sign on the door.
If the main theater room had been turned into a massive stockpile of weapons, this one had been turned into a storage room for practically everything else.
While much of it was picked clean a lot was still left behind, enough for Adam to get a sense of how much random stuff was stored in this room. From extra clothing with the symbol of War, to military circuit boards, to other odds and ends that were as varied and random as something he might find at Lune's shop. It was likely this space was for overflow of items, whatever War's people collected or did not have a need for at the moment ended up here, out of the way, until it was needed.
Honestly, a lot of it was useless to Adam, useless to sell or keep. However there were a few standout items. For one there was Vault-Tec Bobblehead. The Vault Boy was flexing his muscles like he was strong. Adam's collecting obsession meant he had to take this with him. There were also a few books of note worth taking, two film reels that seemed in good condition, and a whole box of Vinyl records. Beyond that though, by sifting through the numerous shelves full of junk Adam was able to find a decent number of things that might be worth bringing back to the Vault to re-sell to the General Shop owner Gracie. He could make a profit and give more items to the Vault for eventual distribution, it was a win win, honestly. Still, there was a ton of junk here he had to sift through. It seemed almost as if the men of War may have been packrats. But then again, in this world, everything could be useful. So who was he to judge?
"Good find, Percy." Percy nodded with a small grin.
"Just doing my part to help out." He chuckled and then helped Adam with all the looting that was needed to get this place picked over.
Ultimately between the guns and ammo and all the various other things they found scattered around the theater the run was exceptionally lucrative. Not nearly as much as if Adam had sold every gun in the Theater before War left, but still quite a substantial sum.
However, once all the bags were full and ready for transport from the main hall into the APC Adam was stopped by the sudden arrival of about 7 men, all of whom looked to be former Warfighters, still wearing jackets emblazoned with his emblem.
"Hey! What do you think you are doing?! This belongs to War!" The woman in the front yelled at Adam, rifle raised, pointed at his armored chest. Adam's immediate reaction was not a very kind one but he tempered himself and held back, remembering that, from an outside perspective, it did look like he was simply stealing. Even if the truth was far more nuanced.
"I was offered the contents of the Theater by War himself before he left. I am simply here to collect his gift."
"Yeah well I don't know nothing about that!" The woman yelled back, gun still raised. Adam glanced at his friends, all of whom now had their weapons at the ready and were staring down the group in front of them. Adam was decently confident his group could handle these folks well enough but a massacre was not what he was here for. If he could he would rather talk his way out.
"I have no proof or evidence to give. However War told me the contents of the theater were mine and then rode off on his big ass motorcycle. Though not before saying Chicago was mine to save… or whatever he meant."
"What a load of bullshit!" She shouted back. "You expect me to believe you not only spoke with War but he left it on your shoulders? Yeah, nah. I don't know who you are but-" She continued before stopping abruptly when one of the men behind her whispered into her ear. After the man had finished she looked at him and then at Adam and then back at him before her gun slightly lowered.
"You… What's your name?" She asked, suspiciously.
"Adam Baxter." Adam said, honestly. The woman just sighed.
"Well I'm not stupid enough to fight you, even if what you said is bullshit…" She said, softer now as she lowered her gun to the ground. "Fine, fine, whatever, take what you want." She added, disgruntled now, clearly. Adam nodded at her and then motioned with his head to his friends to begin loading the bags onto the APC. However Adam stayed behind. He was still curious about them. Why were they still here? War was gone, and so should the warfighters. Why did they stay behind?