Nate's mind felt like a thawing piece of porkchop, which wasn't completely untrue to say that it was. In his metal containing unit, thoughts and scenes were racing around in his groggy head.
One by one, they came back to him.
The bomb dropping as he descended into the vault, dust flying overhead. His child crying in Nora's arms as they stepped into the "decontamination unit" and the panic he felt when said decontamination unit began to freeze him alive.
But then the memory he really needed came back to him. The one as he defrosted for only a moment to watch men in peculiar outfits shoot his wife through the head and rip their infant son Shaun from her cold dead body.
"Manual Cryo Pod Release Override," a robotic voice echoed from outside his chamber.
It wasn't long for his eyesight to recover and the panic set in almost immediately. Maybe she is alive, maybe there was something in her being frozen again that could save her. She couldn't be dead! The thoughts just kept bouncing around in his head to no reprieve.
The medical training he received in the army in the back of his head knew better, but it stayed back there, safe from the irrational flurry of thoughts from the front of his brain.
As soon as the door opened, he dashed out and started slamming on the open button for Nora's chamber. "Come on… come on! Hurry up! Oh God!"
After what felt like weeks waiting for the cryo pod to open its maw, the moment came where he could no longer ignore the truth. He simply fell to his knees with her cold, hard hand in his, he knew that she was gone. He wanted to cry and just lay his head on her lap for a moment, maybe a year or two, but his son was still out there somewhere. So, he quietly wiped the tears from his cheek, took the ring from her finger and said, "I'll find who did this and I'll get Shaun back. I promise."
"Halt!" And perhaps that day of reckoning came sooner than expected. As he turned around, he saw a man in power armor (not unlike the ones he would wear in the army), standing three or four feet taller than him with some kind of orange cowl over his head. Nate had a laser rifle pointed right at him, finger resting outside of the trigger. On his breastplate, he saw some kind of insignia: a sword with wings and cogs in the background.
"Who are you?" Nate asked.
"Who am I? I think you better answer that first." The man shifted his gun.
"Are you with the men who killed my wife and took my child." He immediately started looking around for any kind of weapon. He saw some loose pipes by his feet that he could grab without too much notice. Nate was incredibly lucky the man didn't have a helmet on, one or two good thwacks to the head and he could take down the goliath, no matter his armor.
"I don't know what you're talking about. The Brotherhood of Steel does not deal in child trafficking or the murder of innocents." Nate looked into the man's eyes and what honest eyes they were. Dutiful, straightforward, like a lot of men's eyes he saw in the war. "Now answer my question."
"Nate… that's my name. What did you just say? Brotherhood of Steel?"
The man seemed to calm down somewhat and turn his gun away. "Nate. It's good to meet you. My name is Paladin Danse." He raised an eyebrow. "And you don't know about the Brotherhood of Steel?"
"Are they allied with the Government?"
"The Government?" He extended a hand to him for Nate to get off the floor. "I think you might be a little disorientated, soldier."
It was true that his head did feel foggy, but it didn't feel THAT foggy. "Maybe."
"It's good to meet you and I hope you the best, but I've wasted enough time here. I thought there'd be a deep range transmitter, but it turns out it was just a false signal from a malfunctioning system." He rested his face in his palm "I can't believe I left a wounded soldier with a scribe in the middle of a ghoul infested town for this." His face remained cool, but his tone was aggravated. "Godspeed, soldier."
He turned around to leave the cryo pod chamber hall, when Nate yelled out, "Wait! Please! Don't leave."
Danse raised an armored fist. "I already told you, I can't spare another moment."
"I'm all alone, my child's been abducted. I really need your help. I have a house, a car, if you help me I'll give you anything you want."
He turned his head and showed a remorseful look. "I'm sorry, I can't imagine the feeling of losing a child, but if you think that you're the only one in the wasteland who's lost someone, think again."
"Wasteland?" Nate felt his eyes bug out of his head.
Danse's faces could be described as the depths of pity. "Good luck out there."
Just then out of the corner of his eye, he saw what looked like a giant roach crawling on the ceiling. Spewing some green radioactive liquid from its orifices. Danse kept walking, muttering something to himself, clearly distraught and distracted. It fluttered its wings a small bit and it leapt from the ceiling right at Danse's face.
"Look out!" In the split second as the roach descended, he picked up the pipe by his feet and sniped it out of the air. The now speared roach hit the ground with a loud clank, twitching slightly.
Danse slowly turned around. "Good aim…" he said with a speculative lilt. He walked back over with his feet thudding like thunder. He suddenly grabbed Nate's arm with his gauntlets and began inspecting his muscles. "Tell me, soldier, was that luck?"
"What?" Nate blushed a little.
"Did you hit that radroach by luck?"
"No… I was the best shot in my division."
Danse continued to squeeze at his body and stare deep in his eyes, looking contemplative. Nate had to wonder what suddenly made him stay. Eventually, Danse just sighed and said, "Truth is, soldier, I'm in a bit of a bind."
"Welcome to the party."
"I'm here scouting the commonwealth, but things haven't gone as smooth as I've wanted to put it mildly. I've wanted to call Headquarters for back up, but the radio transmitter we have isn't strong enough and we need a deep range transmitter. There's a place that we know has it."
"Then why don't you go get it? Why are you here."
"Arcjet Systems, it's swarming with synths and as I mentioned, I've got one soldier down and my only other soldier is tending to him. I was banking on this place being—one—unprotected and—two—having what I needed. One of those were true."
"Excuse me, synths?"
Danse just shook his head. "I need another able body to go with me to Arcjet to get the transmitter. And you're the ablest, non-raider body I'm going to find."
"Oh, you think my body is able, hmmm?"
"Don't get cocky, soldier," he said turning his face away.
"What's in it for me? I get to risk my life against these unknown enemies for your unknown organization?"
"Being able to say you helped the Brotherhood is one of the greatest rewards anyone can ask in the wasteland," Danse said with bravado. Nate cocked his head. Danse leaned on the control panels. "But I guess that doesn't mean much to someone who knows nothing about The Brotherhood of Steel. In turn, I'll help you out on your crusade as long as you help me out on mine whenever the need arises. What do you say?"
"You'll help me all I want?"
"Within reason of course. The Brotherhood will come first and foremost above all else and if our goals should ever oppose one another, then I would consider our partnership null and void."
Nate couldn't hide the speculative look on his face, imagining the petty reasons he considers 'opposing goals.'
Danse followed up. "Look, I would normally never make such an offer a generous amount of my time, but if I don't get this deep range transmitter, it'll likely be the end of us."
Nate just had to look back at his frozen wife and the ring in the palm of his hand. He never felt so alone in his life, having everything taken in only a single moment. Some could get addicted to that feeling of being alone, having only yourself to trust and rely on. Something secure in that feeling that you'd die and live by your own abilities. But if he knew anything about himself, it was that he didn't want to be that person, some kind of lone wanderer, some sole survivor.
He raised his head and flashed a smile that shone through his dried tears. "Well, I was thinking about what the next handsome armored man would offer me, but I think I'll go with you."
"Outstanding," Danse said with a smile. "I have a feeling this will be a fruitful relationship."