Vi flipped through the tracks on the old digital music player, annoyed. Surely more than the same ten songs had survived the war, but yet she was relegated to listening to just the same few over and over forever. She felt nauseous at the thought of hearing bingo bango bongo I'm so happy in the Congo! in her ears one more time, not to speak of the rest of her options that sounded even less appealing. With as much exasperation she could use without disrupting the rest of the initiates, she threw the headphones and player under her bunk and rolled over in the blankets to try and sleep. Living on the Prydwen had been hard to adjust to after spending her entire, albeit short, life far underground in the solid core of the Institute. Everything creaked and groaned on this tub, including her bunk mates that seemed to sneak in a different girl every night. They seemed to at least try to be quiet, which was appreciated, but as she stared up at the bottom of the rickety bed above hers she was tempted to shove a boot knife in both the youngster's ears to make them shut the hell up. Still, the sounds of passion were a little less monotonous than her musical options. She guessed.
The little old fashioned alarm clock that sat on the tin floor next to her bed flicked over to 4:48am, the clicking noise of the mobile number cards barely audible over the ruckus. Vi sighed and realized she wasn't going to get any more sleep tonight, swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood. She spun quickly on her heel and fixed a cold glare at the boy that slept up top and his conquest of the night who was giggling in a tone that sounded like she thought she was being quiet. The duo froze, eyes wide and doelike for a second before the boy broke out in a grin, "Want to join us, baby?" His voice was hoarse and his mustache looked like he was struggling to grow more than five hairs at once.
Vi prickled, but she was willing to let it go. He was just trying to act tough for his girlfriend. She gently requested that they consider the sleep requirements of everyone around them from now on and then made to leave, perfectly happy in how she'd handled it. Not every situation needs murder and chaos, she reminded herself. Except, some situations did call for that.
"No need to be such a cunt," He said under his breath as the girl scoffed and got her clothes gathered up from the corners of the bunk and slithered back into them.
Much like a dog who'd had his tail yanked one too many times, Vi's lip curled into a snarl. In a flash she was back at the bunk with an iron grip on the boy's throat who subsequently knocked the woman out of her spot and onto the floor, drawing the complaints of a few recruits around them. He tried to splutter something but his airway was constricted too much to squawk too much. The blonde on the floor cursed loudly, then noticed what was happening with a gasp. She scurried around the side of the bed, still without a bra or shirt and only one boot, and made to claw at Vi who snatched her by the scalp without looking. Her programming had taken over, clouded her thoughts and vision and decision making. Just as the boy began to lose consciousness and the woman had begun to twist and scratch like a cat caught in a trap, she was shaken back to life by the sound of her voice being hollered from across the room.
Her blood ran cold for a second and she released them both instantly, ignoring the desperate gasps for breath from her bunkmate and the angry name calling and threats from his girl. She turned robotically, metaphorical tail between her legs, and saluted sharply. "Paladin, sir."
Danse stood in the doorway, silhouetted by a hallway light behind him, and she didn't need to see his face to know she was in trouble.
"Initiates Fleischman and Kaftan, don't let me catch you like this again. And you, Vi, with me. Now."
She glanced back at the pair who had all but forgotten their brush with death and were now worried about being tossed off one of the catwalks outside. They agreed quickly and apologized, but Danse ignored them. He remained staring at Vi, who shuffled into her boots and scooted out the door after him as he turned to leave.
"Assaulting your brothers and sisters is unacceptable, initiate. You're lucky it was me who found you," He said, not looking at her.
"I got no sleep because of those two, as well as every night for the past two weeks. Would you prefer I strangle them a little or get someone killed in the field because I can't keep my eyes open?" It was a mostly genuine question. Danse glanced down at her as they walked and there was no approval in his eyes.
"From now on, bring these issues to me," He said.
Vi rolled her eyes, "Sure, maybe after a week or so of neither of us getting any sleep you can help me gut them. Where are we going?" She stopped in front of the door to the flight deck as Danse held it open for her expectantly, one hand on her hip.
"We get to go help play ambassador today. Another initiate I sponsored in just before you had uncovered the location of the Railroad and Elder Maxson has instructed me to take you down there to meet up with her to negotiate a truce for the time being. They hand over all their information on synths and the Institute and we don't drop a bomb on them from the air. Everyone wins."
"The Railroad?" She asked, moving ahead of him. He pointed her toward the vertibird they were to board, the rotors beginning to spin up.
"A group dedicated to rescuing synths that escape from the Institute and helping them integrate into society. A bunch of delusional bleeding hearts, to put it lightly."
Vi's heart leapt with nerves. She had no idea anything like that was even possible. She'd heard of synths never being recovered by the coursers sent after them, but it was assumed that they had either been destroyed or had wandered so far into the wastes as to never be seen again. But to have an organization so nearby that ihelped/i them? The idea left her feeling shaken and desperately curious.
The drop off point for the vertibird wasn't far from their destination thankfully, and while she had been so busy thinking about the Railroad that she'd forgotten to ask at all about this other recruit, it was obvious enough where the woman was from when they were dropped off. Her bright blue, god awful ugly vault suit was a bit snug on her plump body and it was easy to see that she wasn't long out of the vault at all. She bounced on the balls of her feet up to the pair as they approached, all smiles and swinging blonde ponytail and fluttery eyelashes.
"Hi, Paladin, sir! It's uh, this way," She said, apparently overcome with a disability that caused her to be unable to break eye contact with Danse. Vi narrowed her eyes at the woman and cocked her head a fraction, feeling slighted already. She existed damn it!
Danse nodded, but didn't smile back which Vi took note of, and suggested they get on their way. The idea seemed to blindside the vaultie at first, who giggled and hopped away on eager feet. Everything about this chick made Vi's skin crawl, but she decided she'd been caught strangling people enough for one day.
The Railroad's headquarters were apparently hidden in the catacombs beneath an old church which was, as the blue clad girl put it, totally cleared out of ghouls already because those things are like, way gross! Vi thought she might like, totally puke every time she heard her speak, but wasn't entirely aware why she hated the woman so fiercely already. Annoying personalities were a dime a dozen, but something about this one in particular made her think violent thoughts. The trio ventured down some stone stairs and into a damp smelling cellar-like area that had a single hallway leading off the side with a single lantern hanging to light the way. Vaultie made sure to alert everyone that it was like, down that way, teehee.
"Oh gosh, I forgot to introduce myself to you, new girl! I'm Paula!" She chirped suddenly, startling everyone. Vi felt her hackles rising, new girl? Who the hell was she?
"I'm Vi. You haven't been out of the vault long, have you?" She said, unmasked hostility creeping into her voice. Paula seemed surprised and stopped suddenly, turning around to look at her.
"Woah, how did you know that? Are you like, a mind reader or something?"
Danse apparently finally sensed the unmitigated volatility seeping from Vi's every pore because he chose that moment to urge the little group forward, making the excuse that introductions could be done later. Paula never seemed to realize that she was quite literally advertising her origins on her back, and after a few minutes of stewing over it Vi managed to find it slightly funny. Only slightly.
A few minutes more of walking had them standing outside a giant stone circle with multiple rings and a white chalk arrow pointing to one letter of some sort of inscription on the rings. Paula reached forward and moved one of them, then spun around to face Danse and Vi.
"So, like, I was following the trail here and every so often there would be a stop with a message carved into the ground and one letter was circled in them and I like," She paused to gasp in a breath as if she'd forgotten to inhale, "Figured out it spells 'Railroad'! Super cool right? So, like-"
"Just...just do whatever you're thinking." Vi barked, growing more annoyed when Paula didn't seem deterred. She just nodded happily and turned around to set to work on the rings.
Vi stole a bewildered look up at Danse while Paula worked, and he looked back down at her. His eyes held a warning as much as Vi's held a threat, though not directed at him.
A few minutes and misspellings of the world railroad later, the stone door seemed to suck in air before sliding to the side to reveal a pitch black room beyond that gushed with cool air smelling of a place long forgotten.
"Gosh, it's like totally Indiana Jones, right?"
Danse agreed, sounding confused. What the hell that was, Vi was unsure, but she knew better than to ask for an explanation. The Paladin quietly urged them to be silent as they stepped forward.
Mere feet into the inky room, flood lights flickered to life and blinded them all.
"Tell me why I shouldn't have my people gun you down where you stand, Brotherhood." A female voice spat, sounding like it made her tongue hurt just to say the words. Vi's eyes hurried to adjust to the lights, but she was already sure this would be her last day alive if Paula decided to speak before anyone could stop her. She wouldn't even blame these people for killing them on sight, if that were the case.