A/N: I own nothing except the laptop I wrote this story on.

She would never forget the sound.

They'd flown from the Castle several hours ago, with several Vertibirds flanking the one she was sitting in. There were a few very powerful people sitting in the same bird as her, but this was not a social call. It was business. Though, judging from the looks on everyone's face, this was not the kind of business that they wanted to do. Neither did she. But she was there anyway. It was a favor to him.

He deserved to have some support.

The Vertibirds touched down in the middle of the street. There were a few people that cleared out of the way, while some of the men and women that were out patrolling the perimeter kept a careful hand on their weapons, just in case. Word had travelled out about the Commonwealth Accords, signed three months ago, and of the new relationship between the Brotherhood of Steel and the Minutemen…but that didn't mean that everyone was immediately supportive. And considering what Sanctuary represented, it was understandable that they didn't want to trust the Brotherhood quite yet.

As they disembarked from the Vertibird, one of the Brotherhood initiates helped her get to the ground. He was your typical soldier: head shaved bald, steely eyes, and decked out in the latest in Power Armor. It was even shining in the afternoon sun, so he'd clearly polished it recently. He gave her a little smile, and then asked her if she'd had a safe flight. She nodded. She hadn't thrown up over the side of the Vertibird this time, so that was an improvement.

"Nice of y'all to stop by, Piper."

Piper Wright adjusted her cap, and turned around to see the voice.

"Hey, Sturges."

Sturges had always been one of the nicest people Piper had met in the Commonwealth. She'd met him the first time that Blue dragged her back up to Sanctuary, back when he served as the city "tinkerer/handy-man." But that was back when Preston and, technically, Blue were both in charge of the city. But when they left to take their jobs at the Castle, they'd asked the people of Sanctuary to come up with someone that was the best choice for mayor.

From what Piper heard, there wasn't even an election. Everyone had just pointed at Sturges.

"What's the occasion?" He asked. He was chewing a piece of razorgrain wheat in his teeth. He always had something in his mouth like that: razorgrain, a straw, a toothpick…Struges was about as folksy as it got. But that belied his incredible technical skills. After all, if it wasn't for Sturges, the Minutemen wouldn't have been able to get in and out of the Institute.

"It's…it's Blue." Piper said. She turned around, and saw the man in question. He was surrounded by a few Brotherhood soldiers, and the Elder of the Brotherhood himself, Arthur Maxson. Judging from the quiet tone of conversation and the look on Blue's face, it was clear that Maxson was being very considerate of what his companion was feeling.

"It about the Vault?" Sturges asked. Piper didn't say anything, which was all the answer that the mayor of Sanctuary needed. "Figured. Ain't no one goes up there anymore. Not that we ever really did while y'all still lived here but…ever since he left it's been like a boogeyman up in the hills." He shook his head. "Is it about his wife?"

"How do you know that?" Piper asked.

"I might not look it, but I can put two and two together." Sturges said. "He comes out of that vault, keeps askin' about his kid, won't say what happened to his wife…and he still wears his wedding ring, don't he? He's in mourning. And she's gotta be up in the Vault. Most likely still frozen."

"Now how do you know that?" Piper challenged. Sturges shrugged.

"I explored the upper levels of the Vault a few months ago. I never found his wife, as far as I know…but I can tell you that she ain't the only one up there."

"What do you mean by that?" Piper asked.

"Piper."

She turned around.

Blue was standing behind her, and Arthur Maxson was standing next to him. The latter was surprisingly subdued at the moment. It was a strange sight: Piper had never really liked the Elder of the Brotherhood, and though Blue assured her that though he was an asshole "he wasn't impossible to work with" she wasn't sure that she bought it. But then again, Maxson had willingly provided Vertibirds to Sanctuary, and insisted on riding with Blue. So clearly there was a mutual respect there.

"Yeah, Blue?" Piper asked.

"You've already done so much for me." Blue said. He was a big man, and yet this conversation seemed to make him shrink with every word. "You…you don't have to go down there with us, you know. It's…it's okay if you want to stay in Sanctuary with the others."

Piper shook her head.

"Blue, I told you in the beginning that I wasn't here for half-measures. I'm there for you in the good times, I'll be damned if I abandon you in the bad times."

Blue didn't smile, but the look on his face made it clear that he was grateful.

…

It was unlike anything that she'd ever seen before. The technology looked like the interior of the Prydwen, and yet somehow even more advanced than that. As the Brotherhood scribes furiously took notes on what they saw, Elder Maxson turned to Blue.

"And these vaults were designed to save people?" He asked. Blue looked at him and just shook his head.

"The vaults were never designed to save anyone." He muttered quietly, walking deeper into the mechanical depths of the vault. Piper shivered, and it wasn't because of the cold in the vault.

"Elder!"

She turned to see an initiate frantically waving over to the Elder. Proctor Quinlan, that aging scientist, was standing next to a pod of sorts. The initiate took another glance at the interior, and proceeded to vomit on the floor. Maxson was stunned.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Look inside the pod, Elder." Proctor Quinlan said gravely. Elder Maxson peered inside, and then recoiled sharply.

"Is that-"

"A person?" Piper squeaked. She'd managed to get a closer look, and wished she hadn't. It was someone. She didn't know who. Or how old the person was. There was a combination of freezer burn and decomposition going on with the body. If not for the teeth and dental records, it might be impossible to know who that person was.

"What in God's name…" Maxson began.

"They froze us."

Everyone turned to see Blue in the hallway. He looked worn and tired.

"…What?" Maxson managed to speak.

"Vault-Tec only accepted about 100 people from Sanctuary Hills when the bombs started to drop. They even denied entrance to their own employees. I still remember the screams of people that were denied entrance, begging that the soldiers reconsider." Blue said. "They gave us all vault suits, and then promised that we were going to be 'preserved.' They asked us to step into pods, saying that they were decontamination chambers…they were cryogenic pods."

"Why…why did you survive and this person didn't?" Proctor Quinlan asked.

"We were all frozen for centuries." Blue said. "And then, some years ago, the Institute came into the Vault looking for a pristine human specimen. They dethawed every pod…but only unlocked the one that held my wife and child. I watched them rip my son out of my wife's hands and…" He stopped. "And then they froze me and my wife again, and I didn't wake up for another ten years."

Piper knew that Blue wasn't telling the entire truth. But for the sake of protecting the boy that was currently sitting at the Castle playing with Curie and tinkering with Ada, it was for the best that Maxson didn't know that he was a Synth. Although, Piper also knew that if Maxson so much as lifted a finger against Shaun, Blue would personally end him.

But there was something that Blue had said that was sticking in Piper's craw.

"Blue…" She said. "You said that they re-freezed you and your wife. What about the others?"

Blue just stared at her.

And then he walked away.

Elder Maxson spoke for the entire room.

"This is an evil place."

…

Finally, they reached the deepest part of the vault that anyone could reach. Blue was standing in the center of the room. There were those people pods on both sides of the room, and one of them was already opened. That had to be where Blue had come from. It was…surprisingly small. Some days Piper thought that Blue had just come from the skies from some sort of deity to do good for the Commonwealth but…but instead he'd come from below. Like a demon of sorts. Well, maybe to the bad people of the Commonwealth he was a demon. But as he stood silently in the middle of the room, he didn't acknowledge the others.

"We've activated the other pods. Except for in this room." Elder Maxson said. "We're going to give them all burials. None of them deserve to rot in this place."

No response.

"I hope you don't mind. But I can't in good conscience work in this place without having cleansed it, and given those that died in here peace of mind. They are to be considered victims of the Institute. I don't think that you'll mind when I say that the litany of crimes the Remnant face will include the murders of these people."

Silence.

"General?" Arthur asked. His gruff voice gave way, and once again Piper had to remind herself that he was younger than she was. Blue had once joked to her that he wasn't even legal to drink back from his time, not that the Elder drank anyway. But the way that Maxson switched between commander and child could be jarring.

Blue didn't turn around.

"She's in pod thirteen." He said in a voice no louder than a whisper. Maxson nodded, and turned to the Brotherhood knights that had followed them into the building.

"Activate that pod. And then…leave us." He said.

The Knights pressed the necessary commands into the command console, and then departed.

Blue walked over to the pod in question, and pressed a command button on the console in front of it. Cautiously, Piper and Maxson found themselves walking over.

She was beautiful.

That was the first thing that Piper noticed. She had shoulder-length brown hair, and fair skin with a beauty mark on her left cheek. Her hair was frosted, and her skin was paler than normal due to the lack of temperature. She looked peaceful, as if she was sleeping.

And it would almost look like that, if not for the massive gunshot wound in her chest. Right in between the breasts. The vault suit and ice had sort of covered over it, leaving it as little more than a dark red stain. Piper wondered what kind of weapon could cause such damage.

And then she saw the gun strapped to Blue's chest. That gun. The one that he almost never used. And in that moment, Piper realized why Blue kept such a weapon so close to his chest as if he'd promised it would never be fired again.

"Hi Nora." Blue's voice was soft. "It's…it's time to go home, honey. You've been here long enough." A tear ran down his cheek. "Shaun's all grown up, honey. I found him. He's safe. They can't hurt him anymore. I found him, just like I promised." He sniffled slightly.

"Nathanael…"

Piper realized that it was Elder Maxson speaking.

"Nathanael, it's alright." Arthur said. "Take all the time you need. We can wait outside for you."

"No." Blue said. "I can't keep her here anymore. It's time for her to come home." He turned to look at them. "Will you help me?"

"Of course." Maxson and Piper both said at the same time.

Blue nodded, and turned to look back at his wife.

"Nora, baby. It's time to go home."

And then he cried.

Piper would never forget the sound.

…

Rat was annoyed. He was usually annoyed whenever he hadn't shot up recently, but this was particularly bad. The shit he'd bought was weaker than normal, he just could tell. And what sucked was that he couldn't just take more of it; there was enough crap in his system already that he might OD. And he didn't wanna OD out here in the middle of nowhere. He'd rather get back to Goodneighbor, and then see a girl before he drugged out in peace.

What was annoying him even more was the fact that the others seemed to be enjoying their high more than him. He looked over at the head next to him.

"Why they so fuckin' happy?"

The head belonged to some civvie that they'd gatted on the road a week ago. There were a lot more civvies coming to the Commonwealth these days. Like they thought it was safer. Something about those metal guys and the blue coat people. He didn't buy it. It was dumb. They weren't fucking safe from the raiders like him. And he was about to make a healthy living.

Night was falling as Gunk sat next to him. Gunk had his nose and ears pierced, and had once tried to pierce his own eyeball. Rat wasn't the sharpest, but even he knew that was fucking stupid. So did Trash, who was standing watch out on the outer edge of their camp. He'd walked off to the edge of their sight, right where the fire from the trash pile was at its weakest. Gunk picked his nose, and looked at Rat.

"Meat's bad tonight."

"Course it's bad. You ate the good shit last night." Rat grumbled. "Didn't save none for me."

"Why should I?" Gunk asked. "Legs are the best part. 'Sides, I killed 'er. My kill, my food."

"Then we all starve, shitbrain." Rat said. "Not good." He reached for his bag. "Where's my fuckin' sting?"

"I used it." Gunk said.

"You?" Rat growled. "That's not healthy!"

"Why not?" Gunk asked, picking his teeth. Rat folded his arms.

"Not healthy to share needles. Read it somewhere."

"You can read?"

At that, they all heard a snapping noise. Everyone whirled around and pointed their weapons towards the sound. It came from the riverbed in front of their camp.

"Who's that runnin' through the dark?" Rat barked. "Show yourself or get wasted!"

A figure slowly stood up, holding up its hands. It was too dark to see the figure, but the figure was very big. Maybe it was one of them metal guys?

"Calm yourselves, gentlemen." The figure said. He had a very, very gruff voice. Like he drank nails and ate glass or something like that. "I do not wish to harm you."

"Yeah? Then why you goin' round in the dark like you do?" Gunk asked.

"I tend to move most at night." The voice said. "Most people would be quite fearful of me in the daytime."

"Yeah, well too bad for you." Rat said. "We gonna gat ya all the same."

"That is regrettable." The voice said. "Can we at least talk about this?"

"Sure!" Rat said, looking at his buddies and grinning. "First yeh gotta toss your weapons where we can see them!"

There was a pause.

"My friends, I confess that the weapon I am carrying is very large, and if I throw it there will be a loud noise. Will you promise not to shoot upon hearing this?"

"We think about it!" Rat sneered.

"Very well."

There was a grunt, and they all jumped at the sound of the clatter. It was a massive gun. It looked like one of them guns on the metal people's flying birds. That guy must be big and strong-like. Rat was starting to wonder if maybe they shouldn't bother him.

"Okay, you got your gun in front of us. Give us the other one!" One of the other raiders, a stupid man named Glick, said.

"I have no other weapons!" The voice protested.

"Then shit one out quick!" Glick said.

There was a groan of annoyance. And then a large pistol was tossed up in front of the raiders.

"There." The voice said. "Now I hope you believe me that the only gun I have now is when I make my fingers point and start going 'bang, bang.' Now can we please talk about this like civilized gentlemen? I am looking for Diam-"

"Yeah, we listened." Gunk said. "Now we gonna shoot ya. Sorry big man!"

"Any last words?" Rat asked. But there was a troubling feeling in his gut, and he wasn't sure what it was.

There was a pause.

"I only say that I kept my word." The voice said. "I did not harm any of you."

"Yeah? So?" Rat asked.

That was when they heard something. It was…they weren't sure what, but they heard it from behind them. They all whirled around, and saw that Trash was gone. If they thought about it…they thought that they'd heard a muffled scream.

"Yo, Trash! Blow this loser!"

No answer.

"C'mon, Trash." Rat said. "Don't be no tweaker. Just gat him!"

Silence.

Now there was a hush over the group.

"…Trash?" Rat asked.

"Oh dear."

They all turned back around to look at the big figure in the dark, who'd clearly spoken.

"It would appear you all took too long to decide."

"What are you talking-YEEEEEEEEK-gu."

Glick had literally disappeared in front of their eyes, dragged away into the darkness screaming. Gunk and Rat screamed, and opened fire into the dark. They got nothing. And then there was a blinding pain in Rat's chest, and he fell to the ground. Through fading vision, he saw Gunk's head explode into fragments.

And then there was silence. Rat tried not to acknowledge the hellish pain in his chest. He looked at his chest, and tried not to faint. There was a hilt of a big knife in his chest staring back at him. He crawled on his back to a darker spot in the camp, and tried to hold his breath.

"I must say, you took long enough." The voice grumbled. It stepped out of the shadows, and Rat tried not to scream. It was a super mutant, and it was carrying a massive minigun. It took a burlap sack, and started to gather up any supplies that were in the camp. "If things had taken any longer I think that they would have shot at me."

There was no response, so the super mutant was clearly talking to himself.

"Seriously, friend. I was about to get out of them the location of Diamond City. Isn't that where we want to begin our investigation?"

No response.

"Alright, friend. I suppose you're in one of those faraway places in your head right now but eventually you're going to have to acknowledge me."

At this, there were footsteps. Rat looked up through bleary eyes and saw the demon.

Her hair was gnarled and went down to her hips. It was dreadlocked and matted with dirt and grime and other pieces of the wasteland. She was dressed in a longcoat and it was coming apart in some places and patched in other places. There was a red scarf around her mouth and neck, with the tail tangled in her hair. She stood in the center of the camp, staring at the super mutant.

The pain was unbearable. Rat let out a cough.

The woman turned around. She was wearing goggles and she'd smeared dark grease around her eyes. The scarf covered her mouth. She saw Rat struggling on the ground, and took off her goggles. Her eyes were a steely blue.

"One still alive?" The mutant asked.

She didn't respond. She kept staring at Rat. She let her jacket flow a little bit in the wind, and Rat saw a massive pistol on her hip. Her eyes were passive, and she was staring at the knife in his chest. Rat coughed, the blood trickling out of his mouth, and spoke in barely a whisper.

"Please…please…"

She stepped towards him, and was standing over him.

"Please…help…me…" Rat whispered.

The woman lowered her scarf so that he could get a decent look at her face. She looked both feral and beautiful at the same time. She stared at him silently with those cool blue eyes. And then she spoke in a low growl.

"I can do nothing for you, son."

BANG.

A/N: And we return with the sequel to Détente! Hope you enjoy Zugzwang, and everything that comes with it. This is gonna be a helluva ride, I promise.

See you next time.