"Well, well. If it isn't our little Lone Wanderer, savior of the Wastes. What the hell do you want, smoothskin?" Roy Phillips' gruff voice welcomes us to the Warrington metro tunnel.

"I want to help you, Roy."

"Oh, yeah? And how is one little smoothskin gonna do that?"

Amelie rifles through her pockets and pulls out a large, worn key, and proudly holds it up to Roy. "I'm gonna let you into Tenpenny Tower."
A key? "Uh, when the hell did you snag that?" Remembering I'm supposed to be nothing but her bodyguard of sorts, I reluctantly add "...mistress."

"Right before we left! We walked right by Chief Gustavo, and I saw an opportunity to make this a little easier for all of us, so I took it. I guess if you didn't even notice, he'll be none the wiser, too." She repockets the key. Sure, we're about to do a mildly evil thing, letting those bigots get eaten alive by feral ghouls, but Roy can't be trusted with it.

"Alright, kid. What's the catch?" Roy's eyes never left the key while it was out, and even through the layers of armor I heard his heart beat faster.

"Nothing serious. First, I don't want Charon or I, or any other companions I may bring along to be harmed if we ever come around these parts. I know there's only so much you can do about that, what with the ferals and all, but it would be nice if I knew you wouldn't shoot us immediately after we finish this.

Second, I would like to have one of the suites upstairs. I'll pay whatever you want for it, I don't mind. I just want one.

Third... I get Tenpenny."

"Now, now, princess. I've been fighting with that asshole for two decades. I want his head for my own. I've earned it."

"...Fine. Then I get Burke."
"Burke? Whatever. If the ferals don't get him, you're welcome to him. Everything else you're welcome to. Loot, rooms, whatever the hell your fresh little heart desires. Go unlock that door and at nightfall, I'm gonna need you to hack into the terminal in the basement to let us in there. I'll meet you there."

"It's a deal."

As soon as we're out of eyesight, she wraps her arms around my torso and puts her head on my chest. I wrap one arm around her back and put one hand on her head, petting her hair the way she told me she likes it.
"Charon... do you think less of me?"
"For what?"

"For basically condemning twenty mostly innocent people to death, just because they're bigoted and filled with hate. They're not evil. Most of them have never actually hurt anyone, not really. I don't feel like I'm making the wrong choice, but I'm afraid that you'll think bad of me for my decisions."

"Oh. I had never even considered thinking less of you for this. For all of the times in my long life when I needed someone around to defend ghouls, even as drastically as this, no one stepped up and did it. It is about time someone does. This can be known as the new age, when ghouls and humans can live together in harmony... or suffer death. Other bigots will learn their lesson quickly once word of this gets around."

She pulls away from my chest and looks into my ruined face. "I don't want anyone to know it was me. I mean, I don't want Three Dog to tell the Wasteland that I did this."

"Then our next stop after this will be to his studio to do a little cleanup. Okay? We will take care of this. I promise." I lay a soft (well, as soft as it can be with my peeling lips) kiss on the top of her head. I take her left arm and check the time on her Pip-boy. "Now, it is almost dusk. We should go get everything ready, prepare everything, and then eat something. I don't remember seeing you eat anything for the last few days." We detach from each other and make our way through the maze-like tunnels of Warrington.

"You know how I get when I'm determined. I get so focused I don't get hungry."

"And that is why I am here to remind you to do such things."

"Hey, you know what'll be great when everything is, well, cleared up?"

"What is that?"
"Our suite will have a shower. And not just a shower, but a shower with running, hot water. Hot water, Charon!"

"I have not had the privilege of a hot shower in eight decades. What an exciting promise." Our Megaton house has only cold, irradiated water that flows into a dirty, centuries-old bathtub.

"Then you can have the first turn." She gives me her quick sideways smirk. We walk the ten minute travel back to Tenpenny Tower in silence, focused on the job at hand. She almost trips in the sand a few times, but thankfully doesn't hurt herself. The boots she looted off a Raider's body are too big for her feet, but she will "grow into them eventually", she says. It has been a while since I've been human, but I don't think human feet grow that much after a certain age. I could be wrong. Still, they're better than the cloth shoes she had when she left the Vault. Those were most certainly not fit for the Wasteland.

She hits the intercom buzzer to be let onto the Tower premises. "Yeah, yeah, keep your panties on!" I wonder if this security guard ever says anything else.

I follow her inside and into the room that leads to the tunnels from within the Tower. Who knows why they would ever need an access door that leads to the metro from in here, but it's here, and it works. I keep watch while she unlocks the door and forces it open for the first time in at least a hundred years, propping it open with some broken cinderblock pieces. We sneak our way out of the access room and back out the door, heading for the basement; here is where the access door is. There's a strange window where I can see Roy, his lackey Michael, and his wife Bessie waiting amongst a horde of feral ghouls, right outside the huge access door. Why would there ever need to be a window here? It is coming in handy now, but why would they have ever needed it when this was built? Questions that will never be answered.

A few keystrokes on the terminal will unlock the access door. Amelie's finger hovers over a key, shaking a bit. "Mistress? What's wrong?"

"I'm just... thinking. Trying to make sure I'm making the right choice."

I put my mouth close to her ear and say in a hushed tone, "Unless you want there to be a firefight, I think it's too late to make any other choice. You were very sure about this not twenty minutes ago."

"And twenty minutes ago, I didn't have the fates of two dozen people literally at my fingertips. It's a little harrowing for one person to decide. You know what? Fuck it. They deserve it." She smacks the key and the access door opens. Roy Phillips approaches the strangely placed window.

"Hey, great job, kid! Meet me out front, I got a present for you."
"A present? What, is it my birthday?" She says, sarcastically, though I pick up on it a second too late.

"Not for another thirty-seven days, Amelie."

"That was sarcasm, Charon. Wait, you remember my birthday? I told you what it was months ago!"

"I have a very good memory."
"Clearly. Let's go." And we head back up to the front doors of the Tower. Roy is already there and waiting for us. He approaches Amelie holding a small, vaguely colorful bundle in his hand.

"Here, take this mask. It'll keep you safe from the ferals. Just don't get too close to them, or they'll sniff you out. Don't forget to put. it. on." He holds the bundle out to her, and now I see what it is - a mask made to look like a ghoul's face. It's a hideous patchwork thing, looking like it's made out of actual ghoul skin. It might just be. Amelie tentatively takes it from him, and he heads back into the Tower. She stares at the ghoul mask in her hands, then looks at me, then back to the mask. She shrugs once, and puts it on. It's hideous.

"I don't know that the 'sniff you out' part is true. Ghouls tend to have a very bad sense of smell due to damage done to the olfactory receptors when our bodies start rotting and falling apart. My sense of smell is decent due to the modifications some doctors made to me one hundred years ago, but it's still not perfect. Even in close quarters, a feral ghoul would probably not be able to tell you apart from any other ghoul. That mask is very... convincing." And disgusting. How could she ever care for someone that looks like that thing permanently? Charon knew he avoided mirrors for a reason.

"Well, that's good to know." Her voice is muffled through the small hole in the mask meant for a mouth. "This thing smells terrible. The sooner I can get it off, the better. Let's go." She turns to open the front doors to the Tower.

"Are you sure you want to go in now? It's most likely a bit... messy at the moment. You may not want to see."

"I know what I've done, Charon. I can't shy away from it. That, and I have to get to Burke before he either flees the Tower, or one of the ferals get him. Come on." And in we go.