A/N: Hey, guys! :D Long time no see, huh? Apparently all I can only write is poetry and fluff... Sorry. :\ But anyway, this one is a possibly/most likely fluffy Fallout 3 fanfic. Know what? Yep. It's gonna be fluffy. This story will contain spoilers for those of you who haven't gotten the the quest that far in the main story orThe Replicated Man. If you haven't gotten to The Replicated Man, just skip to the story until you've completed the quest. This takes place after The Replicated Man, Harkness doesn't know that he's an android. And in this fanfic, he really is an android. Part human, part robot. So, Lone Wanderer is a girl, after a while the Lone Wanderer started taking care of Harkness. He allowed himself to be persuaded to follow her outside of Rivet City. Before I get carried away, I don't want to give away all of their story right now, so...yeah. Well... Enjoy! :D Let me know how you like it! :) P.S. Just so you know, I will switch point of views at least once in this chapter. :D
He was given a hidden protocol while he was unconscious, giving the "owner" of him the ability to bring out this "Guardian Angel" attribute. Especially if he significantly cares about the "owner". But if he doesn't particularly like the "owner", he has the option to ignor orders. All that will happen is that his "human" side will step back as his "android" side takes control. He won't remember what he did, if he is forced into it. But if he chooses to use the "Guardian Angel" ability, he will remember everything that he had done. We are planning a test run soon. Hopefully this won't be a waste of good engineering and programming. At the moment all we can do is cross our fingers and hope for the best.
Angel's (Lone Wanderer's) POV
Rock shards broke under the weight of me. Harkness, rivaling Dogmeat's loyalty, was a step behind me, always making sure that I was safe and out of harm's way. We were trying to silently tread through Murder Pass, Super Mutant territory. Watching Dad over the years helped to make me less queasy about blood and guts, but I never liked going in somewhere and blowing a clean hole in someone only to find that what I was looking for wasn't there. That alone could get me miffed.
"Hey, Angel, do you have a stimpack or something? That last Super Mutant did a real number on me," Harkness said.
After his… situation… that he never knew about, I convinced Harkness to trust in me, and I trusted him. He's the only one, outside of the Vault and the doctors who helped Mom give birth to me, who knows my real name. Everyone else knows me as The Lone Wanderer or Loner.
"Yeah, here," I said, giving him my remaining stimpacks.
"You have more for you, right?" His voice was filled with concern.
"Yeah," I lied. I knew that if he knew the truth, he wouldn't take the medicine that he needed.
He injected the medicine and was visibly feeling better already. Harkness suggested that we keep moving while he was resting. I wouldn't hear of it. Once he was healed, we kept walking in silence.
We kept on walking for awhile, before Harkness crouched down, pulled me down too, and motioned for me to remain silent. I gave him a quizzical look, silently telling him that I didn't understand. He motioned for me to give him something to fight with. I gave him my best hunting rifle. Without a word, he took the rifle, aimed, and killed a Super Mutant in one shot to the head.
I couldn't help myself. I looked at him, with a surprised smile on my face, I mouthed, "You killed a Mutant with one shot?"
A soft smile touched his lips as he nodded and handed back my rifle. Turning in all directions and noting that there weren't any Mutants following us, he got up and offered me his hand.
I didn't decline.
"You think that's the last of them for now?" I asked, searching the Mutant for anything useful. He had a .10 mil mini sub-machine gun with a few clips. That was enough to put me over my carrying ability.
"For now, yes, I think that's it."
I looked back at Harkness and asked, "Why don't you lead the way for a bit?"
"Is everything alright?"
"Yeah," I tried to brush the feeling of the weight of the world crushing my body and soul, "I just don't know where to go after here. Also, don't go too fast."
Confusion crossed his features.
"Okay. Why?"
"I think I heard a Mutant Brute or Master. Couldn't tell," I quickly told him.
For a second, it looked like he wasn't going to believe me, but just nodded and headed in the direction that I was originally headed in. Every now and again, he would look back to see if I was okay. And each time he looked back, it got harder to keep to with him. Eventually, I just silently collapsed behind him. He didn't hear me and didn't know that I'd fallen behind him.. At least not until he looked back only to find that I wasn't following him.
He got out of crouch and ran back to me.
"What's wrong? Where did you get hurt?"
"I'm not hurt. I just can't move. I'm carrying too much," I confessed.
"Do you have any duplicates of weapons?" Harkness asked, searching my beaten and falling apart bag, tossing somethings out of it.
I ran through a mental list of what I was carrying with me and came up with a few duplicates.
"Yeah, I have two .10 mil pistols, two hunting rifles, and two assault rifles. I was going to use the extra ones to repair the other ones," I answered him.
"How good are you in repairing your weapons?"
"Eh. So-so. I do better with the small ones, though," I stated.
Sorting through my extra weight that I was carrying, Harkness handed me my .10 pistols and "ordered" that I repair my good one while he fixed the other two rifles. When he said that he had better repairing skills, I didn't doubt him.
While we were taking my guns apart to fix others, I heard something that I hoped to never hear while injured or stopped. Heavy footsteps sounded behind us and a slight whirling sound followed.
Apparently Harkness heard them coming, too. He let his warm and caring mask fall into his usual colder and harsher one. Choosing his spot at the entrance of the section of the tunnel we were in, Harkness had his plasma rifle aimed at where the people would be coming. I knew that if I got hit once, I was done for. Idea after idea raced through my mind as I tried to think of a plan to keep both of us alive. I was charged with keeping Harkness safe. One plan did catch my attention, though. Rummaging through my apparel, I found only one suit of armor.
I got up and reached Harkness.
"What do you need?" He asked, warmer than his expression let on.
"I need you to hide somewhere. Don't worry about me, I'll come for you after everything's over," I said/ordered. He looked like he wasn't going to comply with what I said so easily. "If you hurry, they won't see you. Oh and one more thing. I need to borrow your plasma rifle."
He just gave me a confused expression, but handed over his gun and I gave him my hunting rifle to hold/use. Staying to the right of the way that we had been coming, behind a set of large boulders that had a gap big enough to hide him safely, he watched me carefully. It felt strangely… nice, knowing that if something went wrong, I still had a fighting chance of living another day. I went to a part of the cavern, that I knew that he couldn't see me, and changed into the power armor.
I scouted ahead, sneaking, and found a group of three Super Mutant Brutes, and aimed the rifle at the center one's head and fired. It, surprisingly, didn't kill him. Just what I wanted, only with this one dead. The one that was hit pulled out an assault rifle, another pulled out a hunting rifle and the third pulled out a nail board.
I stood up, making sure that they could see me, and ran for my life.
"I'm going to get you, puny human!" One shouted behind me.
Sparks flew off of rocks as bullets hit them, chasing the living tar out of me. One of many reasons why I prefer light armor over heavy armor is because you get to run a bit faster than your enemies, especially Super Mutants. Thankfully, the Enclave group wasn't too far away. And very close to where Harkness was hiding. I just had to put in a bit more effort to stop them before the got to the point of seeing him. I couldn't let that happen. Fortunately, for me, the leading officer saw me first.
"Soldier! What are you doing this far ahead of us?" An Enclave officer demanded of me.
Disguising my accent, I mimicked a lower ranking soldier, "I was sent to scout this area out."
"Well, then, why are you running back to the entrance?"
"Have you even bothered to look at my medical status, idiot?! Besides, I have three Super Mutant Brutes after me!" I retorted.
"How dare you talk to me in that tone, maggot!" He shouted at me, using a more vivid language than I am willing to recite.
"There you are!" A Brute, victoriously said.
A flaming dagger hit my left shoulder blade and I felt my strength seep out of every fiber in my being. Gravity and I fought over how I was going to be, Gravity won. I ended up staggering back a few steps, pain flaming up my calves with pain-staking each step, before falling backwards. Harkness' plasma rifle landed somewhere to my left, not far from where I landed. Pain claimed my body as blood freely flowed out of my wound and my armor onto the sharp pebbles below my aching body. Unable to do anything else, I let my head lull off to the side that Harkness was hiding at, only to find him gone from his spot. Confusion, worry, and pain (from the gun wound) mixed together for a moment before numbness and exhaustion overtook the other three emotions. I, numbly, wondered why I hadn't heard anything, no gun fire, no one else crying from pain. I couldn't make out any words, but Harkness' voice I did hear. Relief came to me, also. Knowing that I was going to be okay allowed me to rest.
I was standing outside of Dad's purifier office. He'd locked the airlock door, he, a few other scientist, and some Enclave soldiers were inside.
"Tell me the code!" The man intront of the door demanded my dad.
"Alright, just give me a second," Dad said, in his normal calming voice.
"Dad?" I asked, walking up to the glass.
He saw me, his blue eyes were full of affection, but looked back at the man. Then, turned around and started to punch in a series of numbers.
"What's taking so long?" The man demanded.
"Almost done," Dad said.
Suddenly, all of the Enclave soldiers dropped. But, Dad staggered to the door and started hitting it with his fist yelling, "Run! Run!"
Then he fell, too.
I couldn't stop the tears from streaming down my face.
"Dad! No! Daddy, please no!" I cried.
My world… my entire world just shattered into a thousand pieces. Everything about my original home was…gone. Forever. I screamed bloody murder. Dad couldn't be dead. Not now. I desperately tried to find a way to open the door, but someone held me back. When I tried to look back at my captor, I just saw a man in a light tan overcoat with black shades and a slightly darker brown hat.
I looked back up at the airlocked chamber calling, "Dad! No, I won't leave you!" Then to the mysterious man holding me, I screamed, "Let me go! Please let me go!"
I could hear his voice, which sounded vaugely like Harkness', trying to calm me down. Ever since he laid his hands on me, I fought fiercely, but now a sense of calming acceptance started rising up and I started loosing my fierceness and slowly stopped my attempts of my liberation from my captor.
"Alright, alright. I give in, I give in," I cried, loosing my ability to hold myself up. "I can't do this. I just- I just can't. I need help."
As I confessed this, the ceiling and tiles of the the Memorial started falling into nothingness. I just turned around and clutched his coat. The calming feeling never left me since it first came. When the tiles under the two of us gave out, somehow I just knew that we were going to be okay.
Just as we were falling, I heard Dad's voice whisper, "I love you, sweetie."
Harkness' POV
After all of the Enclave soldiers, Mister Gutsies, and Super Mutant Brutes were dead, I pulled Angel out of the hiding spot, picked up and put away all of her equipment that we both kind of tossed aside, and figured that the best way to carry her was bridal-style. To be honest, when I saw her fall, I couldn't believe that someone would shoot someone as gentle, sweet, and nice as her. Unable to contain myself, I got up and fought along side of the soldiers that refused to help Angel. It took a few bullets from me, alone, to end all three of the miserable Brute's lives. Now it was time for the Enclave soldiers that dared to enter this cave to pay.
Once all five of them lay lifeless in front of me, I took care of business. While she rested in my arms, Angel looked at peace. Her long burnet cascaded off of my arms, like a smooth brown waterfall. Her head rested against my chest. Despite my attempts, I couldn't stop my heart from picking up. A light and happy smile dusted my features. I did my best not to cause many movements that would probably make her wake up. It' seen a long time since she's allowed herself to actually rest, and it pains me to see her do that to herself.
Once we were close to Little Lamplight, Angel was muttering incoherent things and started to squirm a bit. Thankfully, she kept quiet, for the most part, until we reached the clinic and she was on the mattress. Then she screamed. Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around her and let her fury or fear out on my body.
"Dad! No! Daddy, please no!" She cried helplessly. The more she struggled against me, the firmer I held her.
I wasn't sure if she could hear me in her dream, but I tried. I lowered my head to equal height of her's and said, "Your dad is still alive. He isn't dead." When that didn't work, I went to, "It's alright. Harkness has you. You're safe with me. I won't let them take your dad away."
That worked better than what I was saying before. But, she wasn't completely calmed down. What I did next was pure instinct.
I kissed her.
Everything stopped, including her struggles. I think it shocked up both that I did that. Surprisingly, she moved first. Angel ran her fingers through my hair and I pulled her into a protective closeness. Her breathing slowly evened out and she stopped crying. Breaking the kiss to lay down on the mattress, I let her do what she wanted. Just as long as she didn't try to get out of my hold on her. At one point, she turned so that she wasn't facing me. It hurt me, but I didn't force her to do anything.
Then about midnight, she turned back to me and snuggled into my chest, holding a bit of my armor. Her breathing worked like one of my mom's lullaby, and I found myself drifting off to sleep with an angel within my arms.
As I fell deeper and deeper asleep, but before I was completely asleep, I made an oath that nothing would hurt my Angel. After I did that, I surrendered myself to one of the most peaceful rests that I've had in many years.
A/N: Okay, what I tried doing here was show, or create, the warm caring side of Harkness but also the soldier that we all know him as. But, I'm agreeing with what TheLivelyBunch said in The Tin Man, they never really tell you Harkness' true character. I, personally, think that he really cares about certain things. Especially the Lone Wanderer(girl one).
To be honest, if this wasn't as good as Meeting Sherlock, I just kinda freaked out. :\ Oh, and I actually was going to go back to Angel's POV, but I thought that this would've been a good place to stop. Well, I don't bite. :) Please leave a review and free virtual hugs for everyone! :D