((Chapter heading is a line from the song Fight by Deine Lakaien.))

Chapter 1
And I Won't Leave You A Light

Deacon watched Sturges standing hip deep in the river and tinkering with one of the water purifiers. 'Oi, how's the water?' he shouted down.

'Wet,' Sturges answered. 'Where the hell have you been?'

'Someone's grumpy. I have been working. You know. Stuff. While Kalyna was humouring Mister Follow-orders-and-shut-off-your-brain.'

Sturges waded out and up, unsmiling. Bad sign. 'We had an incident a couple of hours ago. One of the settlers from Red Rocket came here, freaking out completely and yelling that Kalyna' been abducted. Nick's gone off to catch them. They left that.'

Deacon took a holotape and a piece of old, dirty paper from Sturges. He realised his hands were shaking. 'Where'd Nick go?'

'Red Rocket, where else? He took Dogmeat, too.'

'Good. Do you have anything I can play that with?'

'No, but I'll tell you what's on it because the settler brought Nick her Pip-Boy. Looked at the paper?'

'No. Hang on.' He needed no more than a glance. The paper wasn't at all dirty, it was just made to look like it by four parallel, jagged smudges painted in dirt. He felt his face go cold with fear. 'Oh God.'

The mechanic halted. 'That bad?'

'Worse.' He swallowed. 'Keep talking.'

'Look, Nick will find her.'

'Nick's going to end up dead is what will happen.' He crumpled the paper, let it fall, and grabbed Sturges by the shoulders. 'Tell me already what's on the fucking tape!' The other man's eyes went wide. Deacon let go and took a step away. 'I … I'm so sorry. This isn't your fault, none of it is.'

'It's all right. You won't waste all the work you had saving me by strangling me now.'

'Careful. We have the enemy under our very noses here.'

'Right. There's nothing really useful on the tape. Just … I know it sounds weird, but Nick says it's a kettledrum. One beat, then nothing, then another four, a pause and then a bunch more. Nick tried to make sense of it but he failed. He asked me to tell you it's not Morse so you don't waste time trying to wriggle meaning out of it that way.'

'A kettledrum? Now I'm confused as well as scared. Great.' He swallowed. 'Thanks, Sturges. And … God, I really am sorry.'

'Just find her. She's a fine gem.'

'Yeah. And I'm the blast furnace she's dangling over.' He shook himself. 'Got to go.' He didn't even make it over the bridge. 'Hang on.' He spun and ran back into Sanctuary. He wasn't about to go alone, and he needed serious backup for this.

Ϡ

Nick didn't like to admit it, but whoever had done this had done it well. There was a trail leading out in the general direction of a junkyard, which made sense. But none of the settlers had seen who had taken Kalyna, except for the one who had come running into Sanctuary. And that one wasn't someone Nick had ever seen. 'I'm getting old,' he informed Dogmeat. 'I'm prepared to bet the skin on my left hand that it wasn't a settler that tipped me off. Now let's find Kalyna, shall we?' He held out a shirt he had taken from the house she'd made her home. 'Find her, Dogmeat.'

Dogmeat completely ignored Nick's order and pointed back towards Sanctuary. He let out a deep, quiet sound before starting to bark in earnest. Alarmed, Nick pulled his gun. 'Shame you can't communicate better.' But at another glance, Dogmeat was communicating: That bark wasn't angry. For one blissful moment, Nick thought it was all a hoax, that it was Kalyna approaching. Instead, he spotted a super mutant lumbering towards them and a smaller figure trying to keep up. 'Of all the people you could have asked to come along,' he muttered.

The pair reached him in a moment. Deacon was flushed and out of breath, leaning forwards with his hands on his knees. Strong was completely unfazed. 'Bad humans take Kala. Strong smash them.'

'That's the essence of your plan Deacon?'

The human stood up straight again. 'Yes. That's about it. And you're going back to Sanctuary.'

'Now wait for just a moment.'

'Listen.' Deacon struggled for enough air to keep talking. 'Listen, Nick, you can't go near them. They can't see you.'

'Who's they?'

'Raiders with the sorry rest of a gang I didn't wipe out as efficiently as I wanted. You really don't want to know more than that. But they're absolute monsters. And if they spot you, you're dead before you can wonder what happened.'

'The messenger …'

'Was a con. Sturges said they wanted me specifically to get on their track. This is a trap and all I can do is barge right in.'

'What is this about?'

'Revenge, Nick.' By now he had recovered himself. 'From Sturges's description I think I know who the messenger was. She's insane and she wants me to suffer. And she hates synths with a fervour.'

'And she found out about the Railroad? Why take Kalyna then? Why not the leaders?'

'This isn't about the Railroad.' He swallowed. 'This is about me, believe me. Stay clear, Nick. Leave Dogmeat with me and I'll run in there with Strong and maybe, just maybe, I can save her.' He balled his fists. 'And finally kill whoever has survived our last encounter.'

Ϡ

Deacon had followed the trail leading out of the settlement. Strong was muttering threats, and Dogmeat was sniffing his way out. If this was who Deacon thought it was, she was good. 'I should have smashed her skull. I shouldn't have gone and freaked out without a plan but methodically murdered them, one by one.'

'Smash good,' Strong answered.

'Oh yes. You can smash as many skulls as you want. Just not Kalyna's.'

'Strong no smash Kala.'

'I know. Just saying.'

'Human talk too much.'

Deacon huffed and didn't point out that Strong wasn't that far behind him regarding word count. Well. Sentence count. He was too focussed on not losing it completely. He couldn't, not as long as Kalyna might be alive.

Ϡ

Nick was sure that Deacon had no illusions that he'd stay put. But he would give them a head start. He was worried. For Kalyna as well as for her frightened partner. Nick knew what it felt like to be completely powerless. If someone had asked him, he'd have said that any desperate act from Deacon would be driven by quiet depression. But now the normally cautious man had chosen Strong of all people to come with him, which meant he had no wish to be subtle about this. That might mean he was certain Kalyna was gone. Or it meant he didn't even think that far and was losing his head. Both didn't add to Nick's optimism.

For a moment, the detective contemplated going back to Sanctuary to fetch help himself – Curie would have come to mind. But he didn't have that sort of time. To follow a trail left behind by a super mutant Nick didn't need a dog. He would find them all right.

Ϡ

Deacon saw the building that overlooked the junkyard, took in the barred windows, and knew this was it. 'Listen, Strong,' he said. 'We need to be very fast about this. Get in, kill everything, grab Kalyna, and get out. You read me?'

'Strong smash bad humans.'

'That's the essence of it. But … look. I have the feeling that this is going to be weird.'

'Humans die. Then no longer weird.'

'True. Yes. But …'

'Strong knows. Save Kala. Smash rest. Protect Kala.'

'Yeah. Well. I suppose that's the only plan we need. On we go.'

Watching Strong tear the place apart was a pleasure in itself. The few people inside were clearly unprepared for the attack. Deacon shot everything that moved except his companion. He shouted for Kalyna but got no answer. He contemplated using their language – actually, it was her language, but he'd learned some of it. It was bloody useful. No-one could read it, no-one understood it. People simply didn't learn foreign languages anymore, so it gave them a clear advantage in the field. Somehow, however, he couldn't piece together a single sentence right now.

One of the thugs had managed to get close enough to make a grab for Deacon. He let himself fall, bringing him down with him. He crashed the handle of his gun into the exposed throat. Hard. The thug made a gurgling noise and tried to breathe. Shuddering, Deacon stood and landed a kick against his jaw that snapped his head back. 'Sleep tight,' he muttered.

'Oi, cunt!' Deacon stopped dead at the shrill voice, and so did Strong. 'Up here.' He glanced up to a half-fallen upper floor. 'We've got her. She's being taken care of by real men now. Not something like you. If you're even you.'

'You'll learn how much I'm me in no time at all,' Deacon said so quietly he doubted she heard him. He fired. She ducked. And in doing so, she threw something his way. Deacon leaped out of the way, but Strong wasn't quite quick enough. The explosion unleashed a massive amount of smoke and some fire. He felt something graze his cheek. Strong was shouting fury and apparently making a beeline for the balcony rather than out. What he planned to do from under it was beyond Deacon. He felt a sudden, sharp pain on his head and frantically flung his wig away because it had caught fire. 'Strong! Get out of here now!' The super mutant was slamming his fists into the wooden posts holding the remainder of the balcony up. Deacon swore and made his way towards him, coughing. He went by sound alone, the smoke stinging in his eyes. 'Get out,' he said again, finding Strong at last with his hands stretched out. 'We'll die in here. We've got to catch her, come on.'