Hey there! it's me again. I hope you don't mind that this chapter has nothing to do with the previous one so.. there's that. I'm still pretty much learning stuff and I would appreciate it very much if you leave a review or a pm of some sort… Aaaanyways! Please enjoy this chapter.
Thunder booms from afar as the air gets covered with fog and the sky turns to a shade of green. Everyone in Diamond City preemptively took cover from the upcoming rain. Rain carries much radiation since the atom bomb ruined civilization so people tend to stay away from it as much as possible. But not him, he's not at all worried about the rain.
He took his hand out of the confines of his trench coat pocket and saw a single drop of rain hit it. Nothing, he didn't felt it but how could he? Given that his hands are made of carbon fiber and special kinds of metals, its impossible for him to feel.
The single drop of rain was followed by more. Quickly the streets became wet with toxic water.
As much as he hated it, he took a case about some guy's wife allegedly cheating on him behind his back. We all have to make living he convinces himself. The job is simple enough. Wait for the cheating wife to sneak out of the house and follow her to wherever she spends most of her time while her husband is working. Most people exaggerate and say that their partner is cheating without actual evidence but he likes to give them the benefit of the doubt. Any of that doesn't matter though because he was about to walk into a trap.
He shook his head and focused on the task at hand. Every store and every doors on the street are now locked shut except for one. The door, slightly ajar unfazed by the dangers of the weather. He hides himself at a nearby dumpster crouching behind it away from view. Moments later a woman runs out through the door without taking a second to close it shut. He followed the woman being careful not to get too close or too far luckily the rain helps in hiding his footsteps. The woman's face is hidden behind a gas mask and her hair is cloaked by the hood of her jacket and yet he has no doubt that this woman is the one he's been looking for.
He followed her through the alleys of Diamond city. She went left, some times right, and walked up some stairs until she reached her destination. She stopped at what looks like the back of a bar. He honestly doesn't know where exactly in Diamond City he is right now but thanks to the bright lights coming from the inner part Diamond City; the old baseball stadium that is now filled with large housing complex and fine establishments. Although the materials used in building said establishments are not exactly what you would call top shelf, what you can say is that there's nothing like it in the wasteland. Yup, Diamond City sure is the richest place in the wasteland, but it's also the most corrupt.
Ever since the Brotherhood of Steel took over the place, Diamond City quickly expanded in the span of two years, stretching out beyond its baseball stadium walls. The old mayor of Diamond City "stepped out" and was replaced by one of the high ranking officers of the Brotherhood. And just like that the Brotherhood is one step closer to their goal on taking over the wasteland.
Even though the Brotherhood despise synths like him, they opted to let him stay as a gesture of good faith to the people of Diamond City. "We value the service that you are giving to this community"they said. He knew it was just one of many shit-shows they put out to divert attention from the corruption going on under the tables of city officials.
He watched as the woman gets inside the back door. Moments later, the rain has now became a storm of radiation complete with strong winds and lightning. He figured now is as good as any to get inside and follow the woman. He twists the knob slowly already assuming that it would be locked but to his surprise, it wasn't. The room was dark and quiet. The bar must be closed for the day.
Before he could find any light source, electricity ran through his entire body effectively paralyzing him and also causing his eyes to malfunction. Without his sight he couldn't see what or who caused his sudden electrocution.
"I'm sorry Mr. Valentine but I'm afraid I can't let you see my face." He heard a woman talking. Her voice was rough. Maybe she's a ghoul? Or maybe the smokes got to her voice judging by the smell of cigarette.
"Must be some man if you're going through all this to not get caught" he was not the kind of person to be shaken just because he was unable to move. Besides, if they wanted to kill him they'd do it and not plan some elaborate trap for him. After all, everyone knows where he lives.
The woman smiled, amused at the synth's apparent blindness to danger. "Oh surely Detective you knew that it was all a cover up. I just wanted to talk to you and now here you are" she smiles as she lights a stick of cigarette.
Honestly though, the guy they hired wasn't exactly the best actor. Going into the case he already knew that there was no cheating wife. It was the main reason why he took the case, he also doesn't shy away to something that may lead to a mystery. He figured getting caught will get him more answers since people talk to much once they know they have the upper hand. But of course he wont tell them that.
"Shame, and here I thought I was going to see something juicy" he said jokingly.
"Rumors say that you're pretty smart but I guess rumors are just rumors huh?"
"I try to sound smart but enough about me. What is it that you want to talk about?" the woman lets out a cloud of smoke from her lips and then through the nose before answering his question. "My employers wanted me to ask you a question-" she's really dragging this out he thought to himself.
"What do you know about your past?"
Common knowledge to all synths like him, all of their memories are erased once set loose out on the wastes. This is done to hide the location of their creators: The Institute. So much mystery surrounds the organization. Although one thing is for sure: is that they have advance tech and possibly; the ability to help out folks in the wasteland and yet they stay hidden, observing and monitoring everyone's movement. An enigma in a wasteland already filled with surprises.
"Is that a trick question?" he scoffs at her. "If that is seriously what you came here for then your employers just wasted their time and money" His tone now changing to an irritated one. Why am I getting worked up?
"Ah well, you see my employers seems to think that they know your past and will gladly tell you if give them the time of day" Her cigarette was now almost at its end as she takes a drag off it.
His interest now peaked. How can someone know? "Who are these employers of yours?"
"Suddenly interested, are we Detective?" she puts on a sly grin.
Just tell me already! "Judging by the way you talk about your employers it seems that they're not some common band of thugs" frustration will only make him look weak so he decides to calm down and just go along with the conversation.
"Certainly not! My employers work hard for the wasteland and its people. And I hope to be a full member once this job is finished" she drops her cigarette on floor stepping on it as it hit the floor.
Thugs with a vision. Great.. "Okay. Since you're not about to tell me who they are anytime soon, you mind telling me where to go?"
"Follow the freedom trail Mako. We'll be waiting" she left in an abruptly fashion leaving him to his paralyzed state. Finally something worth his time although he may need to keep it a secret due to its personal nature. His systems rebooted some time later.
The walk back was accompanied by a creaking sound somewhere in the joints of his left leg. Gotta have that checked out. He contemplates the eligibility of this new information he just received. The probability of this being another set up or worse.. a wild goose chase is high; even so, it beats following cheating wives and husbands to frolic about. He chuckles at the thought.
The neon light in the shape of a heart struck by an arrow just outside of his office symbolizes not only his name but also tragically most of the cases he handles. He tries his best to make clicking sounds with his artificial tongue but failed miserably. Pushing the door open, he found a familiar sight of his assistant sleeping under a pile of folders and case files. He puts a blanket over her, unlike him, humans need to rest their body to regain strength although there is the occasional recharge every now and again but that hardly counts as sleep especially when he can move about in the process.
The Valentine office has been pretty busy since the Brotherhood essentially endorsed his little private I operations. Even though the work is hard and it doesn't pay much, he still do it just because of an itch as he calls it. A desire to help people, help them with their woes and make them feel a little bit better. Must be in my programming he thought.
Sitting down on his chair he noticed an envelope on his desk. It stands out among the scattered and crumpled pieces of paper that clutters his desk. No address, no sender. oh goodie. The envelope contained a locket half of which is missing and the picture faded to the point of anonymity.
He stared at it, trying to figure out what it means, who brought it? And who's on the picture? Staring at the faded picture he felt a sudden longing, a pain of some sort. Pain? Do I even know pain? He felt his circuits work much harder than usual to the point when he couldn't take it and dropped the locket. Leaning back to his chair, he looked up at the ceiling wondering why his systems are registering this strange emotions. Emotions..
"Morning Mako" His assistant Ellie, yawns while stretching her arms above her head. She wore her usual work clothes, a red scarf, brown leather blazers underneath is a plain old tees. Her skirt only reaches just above her knees with a dark red hue. Some of the guys at the bar in their stupor rated her an eight out of ten. He usually doesn't care about those kinds of things but looking at his half asleep assistant, he couldn't help but agree to them.
"It's evening, go rest. I'll clean the place up" He said placing the locket into one of his desk drawers.
She ignored his request and started collecting and organizing things around the office not even aware of how messed up her hair was. "How did it go?" her voice sounded worried like it always does after he sets out on investigations.
"A dead end. Give me that.." he took the large pile of paper that she was now having trouble balancing. "Go on now, I'll take care of things around here" if he sounded eager to make her leave a few moments ago, now he's really making it obvious.
"Ugh! You always do this! Why wont you fill me in? I can help you know" she said clenching her fist into a ball. Her brown eyes staring at his mechanical ones.
"You do help me. You help me a lot actually but right now things are a little too personal as it is equally dangerous" He said calmly whilst setting down the pile of paper on the his desk.
"All the more reason for me to help you. You think I didn't know that guy was an actor? I was worried sick!" he could see the tiredness in her eyes a little sore even.
"I'm sorry I made you worry, but it's part of the job" his smiles.
"Damn it Mako! Don't you get it?! I care about you and I want to help you with anything"
He was taken aback by the sudden confession of his assistant. His robotic brain although shaken, did not forget that he is a machine and Ellie is a woman. They're almost literally oil and water, he being the oil of course. Logic quickly takes hold of his thoughts as he replied: "Look, you're tired take a breath and let's continue this conversation tomorrow, alright?"
Even though he didn't said it. Ellie could feel that this was goodbye, that she wont see him again. The thought send tears down her cheeks. "Where will you go?"
"What are you talking about? I'm not going anywhere" LIAR! He leads Ellie to the door, the creaking of his leg only strengthens his resolve to push her away. She deserves better. "Rest up Okay?" She nods halfheartedly, her eyes looking somewhere else.
"See you tomorrow?" he asked searching for the woman's eye contact.
"Yeah" She looked up smiling at him with great effort.
He pushes the door close, it was little heavier than usual. A lot heavier. Get it together Mako. No sooner after he closed the door, he buried himself in paperwork trying distract himself from recent events. He focuses on what he knows best and that is solving cases.
It's a new day. Ellie got up from her bed quickly and started cooking breakfast. Last night might have been a complete disaster but today might be her day. Today, maybe she'll get closer to him. Even if Mako himself is oblivious to it; the synth really does have emotions even if he thinks it's programming that is making him project the illusion of feeling. As he puts it.
Her morning rituals done. She walks to work thinking of ways to make Mako realize his emotions. A couple of ideas comes mind although those maybe a little too bold for her. She was amazed to find that her feet took her to the office on their own while she was thinking of the most inappropriate scenarios. The door in front of her reminded her of last nights events. She puts on her patented smile and opened the door only to find no one.
The files that littered the office was now organized in the filing cabinets, the trash cans were emptied, and chairs in their proper places. Ellie rushed upstairs hoping to find Mako charging his batteries after all that work he clearly had done. Her heart sunk at the sight of an empty room, the cords of Mako's charger still lying on the floor.
Ellie didn't knew what to do. What can she do? Go after him? But where? She took a sit on a nearby chair because of the sudden turning in her stomach. The concept of him leaving was hard for her to swallow especially when every single time he would ran off to investigate, he always comes back. Always. But she knows that this time was different. This time he's not coming back, not for the job and not for her.
She was about to get up when she noticed a letter on Mako's end table. To Ellie. Mako.
Hi Ellie,
I'm not used to writing this sorta things but recent events warrants this kind of communication. I'm really happy that you feel the way you do about me, I mean look at me. Have you seen my face lately? I dropped a piece of my left cheek a week ago and I haven't found it since. Anyways, I'm closing up the office so I guess that means you're out of a job. (sorry about that) regardless, working with you for the last two years has been very satisfying and even if you deny it, I still think that you're a lot of help and I'm glad I had the chance to work along side a one of a kind woman (God knows there are few of you). I hope you have wonderful future and I wish you good luck.
Your friend, Mako
PS: Behind the drawer password is: 8574
Ellie push aside the drawer and saw a vault with a four number password. Using the code that was on the letter; she successfully opened it revealing its contents. Her eyes welled up with tears as she saw stacks and stacks of money. It was all of Mako's savings and he's giving it all to her.
Mako you idiot!
No glossary today I guess. Tell me if they're needed and I'll gladly edit this chapter. The reason why I have glossaries is because some people might read this that doesn't know anything about Fallout. You're welcome! Lol.