Chapter 1
Madison glanced around the interior of her new lab, every piece of technology and equipment at her fingertips. The main facility of the Institute housed at least three laboratories of this size, and she smiled wistfully, glad for the chance to continue her work with this faction. Dozens of scientists stood scattered across the floor, quiet and deep in concentration. She took a step forward as she watched them, eager to start on the projects deep in the heart of the Institute.
However, when the senior supervisor cast a pointed look in her direction, reality came crashing back down.
She gripped the heavy stack of papers in her arms and hurried to the nearby administration office. A few clerks eyed her on her way in, seeming wary of all newcomers. Madison returned their guarded gazes and made a beeline for her desk situated in one far corner. Dropping the papers onto the surface, she plopped in her sleek roller chair and hunched over her workspace, her cheeks flushing when she felt the amused stare of the administrative officer from behind her.
"I want all that paperwork sorted and filed by the end of the day, Ms. Li," he declared.
"That's Dr. Li, if you please," Madison muttered between clenched teeth.
"What was that?"
She twitched. "Nothing. Sir."
The office fell silent again as she began her tasks, dismayed and fuming all the while.
A desk clerk, she seethed to herself, stamping a few documents harder than necessary. My scientific resume was among the best in the Capital. The feats I've achieved in my research should have landed me any position I wanted. But here, in this goddamn Commonwealth, I'm only good enough to push papers and fetch reports. Unbelievable.
She peered through the window at the adjacent laboratory, vowing to herself that she would take command of that place within the year. The insulting decision by higher-ups to assign her to administrative work stung in every fiber of her being. Granted, she was the one who had approached the Institute in the first place looking for work, but to have all her credentials and past feats dismissed…
Patience, Madison. They'll see their error when you show them what you accomplished in the Capital.
For now, though, she bit her tongue and swallowed her pride.
The work day crawled by at an excruciating pace. Not for the first time, Madison wondered what would have happened if she'd stayed after Project Purity's success. The old ache in her chest throbbed to life at that thought, and she shook her head as she continued her filing, telling herself that she was better off with the distance. As much as she despised her current circumstances, at least here she could live.
Back there, she would have withered away.
The automated bell tolled to signal the closing of the day. Madison ignored her new coworkers' attempts to speak to her as she marched to the admin officer's desk and dumped the sorted folders in front of him. He shot her a mere smug grin and allowed her to stomp out of the office. Her eyes strayed back to the lab as she passed by, taking in the large machinery and chemical tables strewn around the area.
Soon, she thought gravely. I'll have everything in there at my beck and call.
Once she rounded the corner in the main corridor, the most unpleasant sight of all almost ran into her.
"Ah, Dr. Li," Dr. Zimmer stated in what she assumed was supposed to substitute for an apology. "I was actually just about to seek you out. How are things in the administration department?"
"Don't speak to me, Zimmer," she all but snarled. "I know you were responsible for ensuring I would get nowhere near the research area when I applied to work here."
To his credit, he didn't look as self-satisfied as she imagined he would be. "Well, it's most unfortunate that your prior experience in hydroponics didn't transfer to this area of the country. Surely I couldn't have had any influence in that factor."
Madison pressed her lips together and stepped around him to go on her way.
"Perhaps I can offer something of assistance while you adjust to your new role here?" Zimmer called after her.
"Perhaps you can kiss my ass," she snapped over her shoulder.
"I suppose that young woman's actions—the 'Lone Wanderer,' I believe she is now being referred to—matter little to you anymore?"
Madison stopped in her tracks. In a slow, deliberate movement, she rotated back toward him. "What are you getting at?"
Zimmer chuckled and nodded to several of his colleagues who filed past to head home for the day. "Seeing as you are still new around here—and despite your brusque treatment of me back in Rivet City—I arranged for something close to home to meet with you at the entrance."
Her heartrate picked up speed as she scrutinized him. "You'd better not be telling me that the Lone Wanderer is waiting for me outside."
He smiled and shook his head. "No, no. But one result of her actions is."
She barked at him to elaborate, but he only inclined his head and turned to walk away. Madison stood there, frozen, now dreading whatever surprise lay in store for her. After a while, she took a deep breath and continued to the entrance, reaching for her lab coat collar out of habit, but remembering that her attire now consisted of office wear. She slid her hands into her trouser pockets and withdrew into her thoughts as she rode the full elevator to the main floor of the facility.
Once she and the other Institute employees dispersed throughout the renovated lobby, she eyed the glass doors anxiously, reluctant to learn whatever nefarious plot Zimmer had concocted. When she grew tired of her own fretting, however, she steeled herself and moved forward. Considering all the odds she had survived up to this point, nothing Zimmer threw at her could be that dire.
But as soon as she strode through the main doorway and ventured outside, a familiar and unexpected face met her gaze from several paces straight ahead.
Madison slowed to a halt, gaping at the man staring back at her. How long had it been? A year? Almost two? At the time of his disappearance from Rivet City, she'd had more pressing matters on her plate and hadn't paid much attention to his absence. Now, seeing him here, so far away from home, it felt surreal.
He stood unnaturally still, his bearing and posture more rigid than she remembered. The characteristic frown in his features had vanished, replaced by a neutral countenance that struck her as odd. He wore a different set of armor now, the sleek gray material somehow making him look more imposing. His old plasma rifle hung from his back, the only sign of his life back at the Capital.
"Chief Harkness," Madison exclaimed, approaching him as her brow furrowed. "What are you doing here?"
"Greetings. My designation is A3-21. I'm to assist you during your employment with the Institute, Dr. Li," Harkness recited, his voice void of emotion, no recognition whatsoever in his words.
Madison blinked in surprise before the truth dawned on her. "Oh, my God. You were the android Zimmer was looking for."
"I have been programmed as a companion that will comply with your orders," he went on, nothing human left in his eyes. "I look forward to this partnership."
Madison gawked at him, unable to come to terms with the man she remembered and the man standing before her now. In a flash, she recalled the years they had worked together on the Rivet City Council, all their meetings and interactions, their team efforts to keep that boat community running. She had respected him as a fellow leader, and while their relationship had strictly been professional and reserved, it somehow pained her to see him as his true nature.
"You… don't remember me, do you?" she asked, barely above a whisper.
"My programming lists this as our first meeting," he replied.
Madison walked a circle around him, trying to convince herself that this was an android built to resemble Harkness, not the man himself. But when she saw the scars on his arms and face, all in the correct places, that notion went out the window. If this was Zimmer's idea of a joke, he had succeeded in making a mockery of everything she knew.
"Oh, hell," she murmured. "I see. James's daughter turned you in while she was sniffing around Rivet City. I still can't believe it was you. And here I thought you just ran off on some heroic mission or something. You know the only member left on the council is Bannon? Rivet City is doomed."
"Sorry, but my memory bank has no information on Rivet City," Harkness told her, still eerily emotionless.
Madison exhaled and crossed her arms. "Honestly. What did Zimmer hope to accomplish by showing you to me in this state?"
"Dr. Zimmer also has me observing the movements of a man known as the Sole Survivor," Harkness said in a startling display of honesty. "The location of your residence in Diamond City makes it convenient for me to gather data on this man."
"What does my house have to do with that?"
"I will be residing with you as part of my assignment."
"You most certainly will not," Madison declared at once, indignant. Harkness—or A3-21, she supposed—blocked her path when she tried to move past him. "I don't know why Zimmer wants to install you at my side when I have nothing of interest for him to extract, but I won't accept this arrangement."
"The Commonwealth is more dangerous than the Capital. I can serve as your personal bodyguard, given that you have met me in a past incarnation and know my combative skills."
Madison glared at him. "I would have trusted Harkness. I don't trust you, android."
He peered at her, something very close to human surfacing in his face. "Is there a problem?"
She paused at the familiar way he said that, picking up on the same intonation he used from back when he was the security chief. Somehow, a vague inclination beckoned. Maybe somewhere deep inside, the Harkness she knew still existed. She could say it made little difference to her, but in this foreign part of the Wasteland, even she wouldn't turn away from a potential anchor to the past.
But still, she scoffed. "I've been in the Commonwealth for a while, and I haven't needed any sort of protective services. The only way I'm taking you home is if you can service me in the bedroom, A3-21," she remarked sarcastically, shooting him a disdainful expression.
He returned her look with an even one. "If that's what you require, I'm perfectly capable of obliging. My abilities are versatile," he said, stepping closer, "Madison."
Her lips parted in shock. There was surely some element of irony or twisted fate that led to these circumstances. Even if he wasn't mentally Harkness anymore, everything else about him was. She faltered, uncertain how to take his willingness in this regard. She didn't think herself capable of going through with such a thing, but beneath it all, sheer curiosity pushed her to see how far this could go.
She lifted her chin and gestured to the south. "This way, then."