History FanFic / ADeadWorld

* AwfulTruth: Hey Cain, you know that brooding, homicidal guy in the hoodie you're travelling with? Yeah, he's not actually a guy, or even human for that matter; he's a sapient virus that eats people, and is exerting a lot of self-control to keep himself from consuming you. So, every time you were poking and prodding him, you were basically saying "eat me, I'm a delectable morsel!"
** Oh, and he doesn't just ''eat'' people, he completely assimilates them and takes their appearance and memories, essentially becoming them. Have fun trying to sleep now.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: This is Fallout crossed with Prototype; you're going to have to search pretty dang hard to find any white morality here.
** Alex is a darker shade of grey than Cain or Arcade, being much more willing to kill. He's still a lot lighter than, say, the Fiends; he has his own nebulous set of morals, makes active attempts to exercise restraint over his nature, and shows significant disdain for what he hears of Caesar's Legion. Cain is more willing to try diplomacy, though she's implied to have a lengthy rap sheet, albeit of mostly petty crimes. Arcade is close to being a white hat, being a doctor for the Wasteland's downtrodden through the Followers of the Apocalypse.

* CallBack: Cain briefly mentions [[VideoGame/Fallout hearing about a vault that dispatched one of their dwellers to fetch something they needed, only to exile her when she came back]].

* CallBack: Cain briefly mentions [[VideoGame/Fallout3 hearing about a vault that dispatched one of their dwellers to fetch something they needed, only to exile her when she came back]].

* GenreSavvy: Cain, although she never quite becomes DangerouslyGenreSavvy. She picks up fairly quickly that Alex (and Arcade) are hiding stuff about their pasts, and while she's ferreted out most of Alex's secrets, Arcade's past has yet to be revealed to the characters.

* AbsurdlySharpClaws: These are Alex's weapon of choice. And they work marvellously.

* ImmuneToBullets: Shooting at Alex is a singularly unproductive and suicidal endeavour, at least with bullets. Laser weaponry hurts quite a bit more, and plasma weaponry irradiating him - which is ''very'' bad for him.

* AbsurdlySharpClaws: These are Alex's weapon of choice. And they work marvelously.

* AwfulTruth: Hey Cain, you know that brooding, homicidal guy in the hoodie you're traveling with? Yeah, he's not actually a guy, or even human for that matter; he's a sapient virus that eats people, and is exerting a lot of self-control to keep himself from consuming you. So, every time you were poking and prodding him, you were basically saying "eat me, I'm a delectable morsel!"

* BloodKnight: It goes without saying that Alex loves some good wholesome slaughtering. In fact, when Cain reveals that war is pretty much inevitable, he actually looks forward to it. He also is actively excited about fighting a Deathclaw.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Alex in spades being a sentient virus and all. He has a very loose grasp of human morals and barely any understanding of right/wrong beyond the basics. His go to answer for problems is kill or smash no matter what the problem is. He does however have a moral code of his own, mostly involving the importance of free will.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Alex is incredibly cynical and a borderline sociopath who has a dim view of the world in general, but if there is one thing he cannot stand, it's slavery. As he explains it, people's lives are their own to do with as they wish, whether to make the most of it, or ruin it. Nobody has the right to take control of another person's life.
** He also can't stand when people engage in cannibalism for superficial reasons, like certain members of the White Glove Society. Alex's diet consists almost entirely of humans, but that's because he can't eat anything else, especially now that most every other living thing is irradiated to one degree or another, and he clearly doesn't like the fact. The idea that people would willingly eat others for no other reason than a sense of superiority disgusts him to no end.

* FauxAffablyEvil Mortimer, on the outside, is the very picture of a gentleman. Beneath that, [[spoiler:he's kidnapped several people from his own hotel to serve and eat as gourmet cuisine.]]

* GuileHero: While Cain isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, she much prefers destroying an enemy’s power base or ruining their lives to simply shooting them. She’s smart enough to make it work.

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: '''House'''. Between signing up a [[TheStarscream greedy would-be traitor as his protege]] and assuming that the tribals he gave the casinos to would work for him when ''all three tribes'' were either planning to betray him or trying to resume their cannibalistic ways, Cain questions whether the man is even competent enough to consider a threat. It's implied she sees taking over the Strip as replacing an imcompetent.

* ImmuneToBullets: Shooting at Alex is a singularly unproductive and suicidal endeavor, at least with bullets. Laser weaponry hurts quite a bit more, and plasma weaponry irradiating him - which is ''very'' bad for him.

*** She and Arcade are very freaked out the revelation that he eats people, however, and even though they talk through the situation, it remains to be seen what long-term impact it has on the trio.

* MoralityPet: Cain and Arcade aren't ''quite'' these to Alex, but they're getting there. They're certainly the only two people that he currently has any personal regard for.
** Given that over two centuries have passed, Dana obviously isn't around anymore to act as this, but he holds the promises he made to her in high regard, and her memory keeps him on the straight and narrow.

* TheSpymaster: Just like in canon, Vulpes Inculta is the Legion's hidden hand. Case in point, [[spoiler: he made a secret alliance with the Omertas to take down House. Whether or not they would succeed is irrelevant since in either case, both sides would be sufficiently weakened and the Legion would be able to run right over them. Fortunately, Cain and her companions thwart the plant.]]

* ThatManIsDead: Threnody Cain isn't her real name. She explicitly mentions having discarded her old identity.

* WhatTheHellHero: Alex has a rather heated argument with Cain after [[spoiler:she reveals to Veronica, a scribe of the Brotherhood of Steel they just encountered, that he's not human. Given that her order religiously hordes any Pre-War weapons they come across, he's understandably concerned that they might decide he qualifies as one and will try to capture and study him.]] He considers what Cain did a borderline betrayal of his trust and warns her to never give away any of his secrets without his consent again. [[CruelAndUnusualDeath It's pretty clear what will happen to her if she does.]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Alex makes the mistake of eating a plasma pistol and gets himself massively irradiated early in the fic.

* SuperStrength: This is Alex's hat. Moving half-ton rocks like they were made of Styrofoam? Check. Throwing people around like rag dolls? Double check.

* BloodKnight: It goes without saying that Alex loves some good wholesome slaughtering. In fact, when Cain reveals that war is pretty much inevitable, he actually looks forward to it.

* ImmuneToBullets: Shooting at Alex is a singularly unproductive and suicidal endeavor.

* MotorMouth: Cain likes to talk.

* WhatTheHellHero: Alex has a rather heated argument with Cain after [[spoiler:she reveals to Veronica, a scribe of the Brotherhood of Steel they just encountered, that he's not human. Given that her order religiously hordes any Pre-War weapons they come across, he's understandably concerned that they might decide he qualifies as one and will try to capture and study him.]] He considers what Cain did a borderline betrayal of his trust and warns her to never give away any of his secrets without his consent again. [[CruelAndUnusualDeath: It's pretty clear what will happen to her if she does.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: Alex has a rather heated argument with Cain after [[spoiler:she reveals to Veronica, a scribe of the Brotherhood of Steel they just encountered, that he's not human. Given that her order religiously hordes any Pre-War weapons they come across, he's understandably concerned that they might decide he qualifies as one and will try to capture and study him.]] He considers what Cain did a borderline betrayal of his trust and warns her to never give away any of his secrets without his consent.

** Mortimer, on the outside, is the very picture of a gentleman. Beneath that, [[spoiler:he's kidnapped several people from his own hotel to serve and eat as gourmet cuisine.]]

** He also can't stand people that engage in cannibalism, like certain members of the White Glove Society. Alex's diet consists almost entirely of humans, but that's because he can't eat anything else, especially now that most every other living thing is irradiated to one degree or another, and he clearly doesn't like the fact. The idea that people would willingly eat others for no other reason than a sense of superiority disgusts him to no end.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Mortimer of the White Glove society has been serving up random people for months because he feels that is his right; Alex is more than happy to return the favor and in a far messier way.

* {{Badass}}: Alex Mercer is a living weapon. Threnody Cain is a Wasteland-bred conwoman who's both fiercely skilled and frighteningly intelligent. Arcade Gannon might not have the confidence of the other two, but he's getting there - and putting up with Cain's insane plans and Alex's... Alexness makes him a badass in his own right.

* {{Badass}}: Alex Mercer is a living weapon. Threnody Cain is a Wasteland-bred conwoman who's both fiercely skilled and frighteningly intelligent. Arcade Gannon might not have the confidence of the other two, but he's getting there - and putting up with Cain's insane plans and Alex's... Alexness makes him a badass in his own right.

* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse?: After the chapters involving Vault 22, several readers asked what happened to Keely, the ghoul scientist trapped in the Vault, whom the party didn't encounter. She appears in Chapter 14 at Camp [=McCarran=], having survived both the party's torching the Vault and Alex sealing it shut.

** HorrorHunger: Refraining from eating people doesn't do any wonders for Alex's health. Or sanity.

* BlessedWithSuck: Alex has an entire trick bag of nifty abilities, ranging from super strength to shapeshifting. The downside? He needs to consume biomass to continue living, and the best source of this is people. He can resist for a time, but eventually, he will need to eat and by that point, he likely won't care whose in front of him.

* BloodKnight: It goes without saying that Alex loves some good wholesome slaughtering. In fact, when Cain reveals that war is pretty much inevitable, he actually looks forward to it.