Chapter 2,
Kait was in disbelief when she learned what the brotherhood was and about the technology they possessed. She had possibly found her ticket into finally finding Shaun and she nearly cried tears of joy from it. She was inside the police station now getting treated by a woman named Haylen.
Haylen was a scribe in the Brotherhood and, outside of Kait, she was the only one who seemed fine with the fact that Nick stayed so close to Kait while her leg was being looked at.
Kait understood soon why Nick seemed uncomfortable with both Danse and an ill-tempered man named Rhys, who nearly died from the battle that had taken place about half an hour ago outside. Danse explained to her what the Brotherhood was and what it stood for. On the list of hated people or things, synths were near the tip top but Nick refused to leave Kait alone with strangers. Especially while she was vulnerable.
"There we go," Haylen happily said as she finished wrapping bandages around Kait's leg. "All done."
"Thanks," Kait said with a smile before rolling her pants leg down. She stayed silent as she looked at the Brotherhood members before then asking, "So what brings you here?"
The Paladin spoke for the others. Danse explained how there were others and they were investigated a powerful energy reading that Haylen had picked up but some of the others didn't make it. He spoke of how they needed to retrieve a deep range transmitter to get their radio working. When Kait realised that by getting the radio up and running, she could have access to a vast arsenal of technology that could find Shaun, she immediately felt the urge to help.
"I can come with you," she suggested.
"What?" It was Rhys that spoke up; a sour tone in his voice, "no way."
Kait eyed him with annoyance but Danse retorted instead, "That's not a bad idea." He glanced at Kait, "She held her own far better than another civilian would have with the ghouls outside. And," he looked at Rhys now, "you're too injured to accompany me and Haylen needs to stay to check up on you."
"But sir," Rhys was already arguing, "she is accompanied by a synth! I don't know why we haven't even addressed that yet!" Rhys cast a hostile glare at Nick and Kait, not having anymore of it, stood defensively. "We should destroy it now!" Rhys yelled.
"If you," Kait spoke before anyone else could and grabbed her sniper before gripping it in her hands tightly, "lay a finger on Nick, then you will have an enemy you will regret."
"Kait," Nick spoke carefully as he placed a hand on Kait's shoulder. "We should leave."
Rhys and Kait shot endless glares of hostility towards each other before Danse stepped in, "Rhys, that is enough. She saved our lives and who she chooses to accompany her is her business. Instead, you should be thanking her." Danse looked at Kait again, "And please don't leave. We really could use your help. But if I may ask, why are you so eager to accompany me?"
Kait, still pissed off at Rhys, finally slid her eyes over to Danse, "I think you guys could help me in return. I'm… looking for someone. …. A dear friend of mine has gone missing and I need help finding her." Kait knew it was just for Shaun and Nick knew as well but he was aware on how she didn't share her true story lightly, so instead he remained quiet and stood close by her.
"What a waste of time," Rhys spat. "You really think we'd help you find a friend? She's probably just another synth needing to be destroyed!"
"I've had enough of you!" Kait retorted immediately.
"Enough!" Danse boomed over both of them just as a yelling fight was about to break out between the two. Danse was now annoyed too while scribe Haylen appeared scared and stayed quiet in a corner of the room.
"Rhys," Danse started with the Knight, "that is enough from you. Go check the station for any resources we can use. And you," he now turned his anger towards Kait, "if you still so choose to accompany me for the transmitter, we will help you in return but you will listen to everything we have to say and follow orders without question. It is true that we harbor a hatred towards synths but we have been kind enough not to destroy your friend but I would advise that he leave while you wish to help us. There are many Brotherhood members that wouldn't be as nice as we have been about it. … Is that understood?"
Kait looked ahead of her, not at the Paladin. She was annoyed and was debating if helping was even worth the trouble. She trusted Nick with her life and there was no way she'd ever choose the Brotherhood over him.
"Is that understood?!" Danse repeated with more anger in his voice now.
Kait clutched her rifle that she was still holding tightly to repress the anger before she spat her response quickly with returned anger, "Sure!"
After things had calmed down in the police station, Danse had deemed that it was too late to travel to ArcJet Systems and that they would rest for the night and leave in the morning. He allowed Nick to stay and she and the detective stayed in a room far from Rhys with sleeping bags on the floor. Instead of sleeping like she should be, Kait and Nick sat next to each other against the wall and talked lightly.
"I'm sorry to have gotten you in so much trouble," Nick said as he closed and opened his robotic hand while Kait had her head rested on his shoulder.
"That's not your fault Valentine." Kait said with a smile as she watched him mess with his hand. "I think Rhys is just jealous of your hat."
Nick cracked a smile and laughed, "I think you might be right."
Out in the main room of the police station, Danse finished their ammunition count. He wasn't in his power armor. Instead, he wore military pants and boots with a light t-shirt and a coat over it. His dog tags hung to his chest. He faintly heard laughter from the room he knew Kait and Nick was in and quietly approached the room to see if his ears were right or if she was asleep like she should be. When he reached the doorway, Kait had quickly turned the corner and ran face first into the Paladin's chest. Even out of his armor, he was a giant.
Danse was taken off-guard, not expecting her to run out and Kait looked up at him with a just as startled look on her face as he wore. On her head, she was wearing Nick's detective hat. Kait quickly snatched Nick's hat off her head and held it to her chest as she felt small under the Paladin's gaze.
"Um, Paladin?" Kait looked back into her room and motioned with her hand to Nick that she was alright before looking at Danse again. "What are you doing?"
"Inspecting," Danse answered honestly. "Why aren't you in bed?"
Kait took a good step back from him; she was still in his personal space, "Looking for any paper and a pen if there's one here."
Danse looked confused, "Why?" He questioned, "Do you need to write something down?"
"Kind of," Kait replied as she began to wander off in her search. She quickly found paper and not too long after she then found a pen.
"You should be asleep," Danse began. "We have to be up in the morning."
As Kait walked towards her room again, she stopped in front of him and put Nick's hat back on her head. "Then why aren't you in bed?" She asked. Before she let him retort, she tipped the hat to him, "Night, Danse." And she entered her room.
The next morning, Danse was up first regardless of him being last to bed. He hadn't entered his power armor yet as he got prepared for the journey ahead of him. He quietly approached Kait's room and peered in. She had her back to him as she slept in one of the sleeping bags on the floor. Nick, on the other hand, was sitting in a chair at one corner of the room taking a screwdriver to his hand and not noticing the Paladin enter the room until he stood next to Kait.
Before Danse spoke, he looked down at Kait but what was lying next to her. On the paper she had retrieved the night before was now a picture. It had the police station in the background as all those present to that fight were drawn in looking playfully triumphant, besides who Danse assumed was Rhys. In the picture, Rhys was lying by the others with x's as his eyes and his tongue hanging out. Kait was up front in the picture but her drawing had her looking down at her leg. It looked as though she was supposed to be in the middle of a cheer but a cartoony ghoul was biting on her leg and she had drawn a playful look of horror on her character's face.
"Is this what kept her up?" Danse asked as he knelt down and picked up the picture.
Nick, looking uneasy at first, replied calmly, "She insisted that she had to get it down."
Kait now stirred in the sleeping bag. She closed her eyes tighter as she tucked in her head and rubbed her nose roughly as it began to itch before she sleepily opened her eyes. As she slowly turned her head, she flinched when she saw Danse standing over her, his piercing brown eyes staring into her light blue ones.
"God… dammit Danse." Kait groaned as she dropped her head on it's side again. "You're a scary sight in the morning."
"Get up." Was all he retorted as he dropped the picture on her then left the room.
When Kait got ready and left her room, she just had her coat in her hands but the need for more sleep was written all over her groggy face.
Rhys sneered as she walked by, "I can tell you're not Brotherhood material."
Kait tossed her coat on without even a glance in his direction, "It's a good thing I didn't ask you then."
Kait and Danse had departed within the hour. Unwillingly, Kait had to say bye to Nick as he returned to Sanctuary but she promised that she'd be okay. She and Danse made it to ArcJet Systems in a few hours. The place was overrun with synths and Kait could now see why the Brotherhood was so hostile to them. They were a formidable enemy. At one point they were overrun and Kait had accidently turned on the engine at the bottom of the factory. Luckily, Danse could tell that a tremendous heat was about to erupt in the room but only had enough time to save Kait as he shoved her back into the engine room before a large set of thick steel doors slammed shut in front of her. Kait was terrified to see what had become of the Paladin but when the doors slid open again, he was kneeling on the ground, his power armor a hot red color.
Soon after the scene, they had got what they came for and had reached the surface again to the Commonwealth. Once outside, Danse had stopped Kait when he saw that her pants leg was thick and wet with fresh blood. She had opened her wound up.
"Are you alright?" He quickly asked when he reached her.
"Oh," Kait looked down at her leg with surprise, "I didn't even notice." She sat down on the ground and Danse exited his power armor to kneel down by her while she pulled up her pants leg. The bandages had gotten too heavy and came undone. When Kait touched the gash on her calf, she winced from the pain. She then dug into a small bag and pulled out a thick cloth she had in there but before she could hold it to her leg, Danse had retrieved it from her, grabbed her leg carefully and pressed firmly to her wound to stop the bleeding.
"Th-thanks," Kait said with grit teeth.
Danse nodded but didn't look at her. He wasn't a medic like Haylen but he still tried to treat her leg with care. When the bleeding had finally slowed, he spoke softly, "You did really good in there. I definitely don't regret taking you with me."
"Will," Kait began, "this fix the radio?"
"Yes," Danse said with a small smile. He looked up at her now, "I would love for you to join the Brotherhood. I think you would make a great asset to our organization."
Kait almost blushed with embarrassment, "Thanks but," she shook her head and broke her eye contact with him, "I'm not cut out for the soldier life."
"Like hell you're not," Danse argued. "You have a knack for the sniper rifle and after today, I would trust you to watch my back. When we get the radio up and running, I'll contact our Elder. He would agree with me once he sees you in action."
Before Kait responded, Danse held his hand out to her but for her to hand him her bag, which she did. He glanced through her medical supplies and used a stimpack on her leg before making a makeshift bandage for her out of some old cloth to cover her wound again. "At least think about it." Danse stood and grabbed Kait by the hand and brought her up with him.
"I will," Kait responded with an I guess so attitude. She watched him return to his armor and reenter it. As they began walking away, he glanced in her direction with a smile, "We make a good team."
Kait didn't smile back but stared at his face. He did have to overall appearance as Nate. Danse was taller but not by much. But Nate also had brown hair and the stubble facial hair that Kait absolutely loved with brown eyes. Kait found herself blushing at Danse but quickly whipped her head forward. How dare she compare this man to her deceased husband? She felt a sick feeling down in the pit of her stomach as her heart ached. She couldn't move on. All she had going for her in her life was finding her son and that was it. There wasn't time for her own happiness.