Chains

Clarissa "Chains" Baines is the heavy weapons specialist of the New Runners.

Background
Chains was born in 2256, in the vicinity of what used to be Alton, Illinois.

She lived with her parents and a twin sister, until July 2267, when a Super Mutant broke into her home at the old Hopp Hollow Farmstead, quickly disposing of her parents who fought valiantly but hopelessly to keep them from reaching their children. The Super Mutant was rummaging through the upper level of the home when in a complete chance encounter, Travis "Tank" Sivart entered the home on a scavenging run thinking it was empty, just to hear a blood-curdling shriek coming from the upstairs floor. He raced upstairs to find Chains despairingly pleading with the Super Mutant not to harm her after the Mutant had already brutally killed her sister. Tank jumped on the mutant's back and screamed at Chains to get out of the house immediately. Unable to do so due to being frozen with fear, Chains was grabbed by Tank after he made short work of the Super Mutant.

Chains, now with Tank, arrived back at his hideout, and eventually told him who she was; she was named Clarissa, and the other girl in the room was her twin sister, Claudia.

Over the next five years, Tank trained Clarissa on everything he knew about fighting, and she eventually became known as Chains.

Chains, with Tank, eventually left Alton to head to the Capital Wasteland, where they met Samuel Dacomb in the old Super-Duper Mart near Megaton. After about 10 minutes of a weapons-drawn standoff, trying to convince them that he shouldn't be shot and thrown into the old river, they finally joined up with him and established their new hideout near Rivet City as the New Runners.

Inventory
Chains wears a standard set of raiders' armor. She carries a special minigun that is capable of tearing through any opposition with ease.

Trivia

 * "Chains" is a mash-up of her first and last name. Plus, according to her, "it just sounds cool".
 * Chains was re-written multiple times through development, including post-release. She originally played a completely different role in the story and had no ties to Tank at all; this concept was never fleshed out, however, and Chains very quickly became Tank's traveling companion.
 * Chains was originally supposed to be voiced by a different voice actress, however, due to unavailability, Chains was made a mute in the initial release of Washington's Malevolence in a similar vein to that of Christine in Fallout: New Vegas's Dead Money DLC. In the first major content patch (2.0) and the Tale of Two Wastelands initial release, Chains's original dialogue was restored, and she was finally given a voice in the 2.5 release.
 * Despite her location of birth, no references to Chains are made in the Fallout 3 mod, Alton, IL. This is due to the fact that Washington's Malevolence started production two months after Alton, IL 's final update. However, a reference was added to the Tale of Two Wastelands version via a note and a unique weapon in Alton's trailer park.