Trouble stirs for the surviving members of the Railroad in Boston. Discovering their secret base in the Switchboard, the Brotherhood have once again launched an assault on the Railroad; this time with the intent on completely wiping them out and any synths they are hiding away. Nora manages to save all the intelligence the Railroad have collected, as well as co-ordinate the evacuation of their base; but she knows that Maxson won't let up unless he gets something in return...
Chapter Text
1 week later
Location: Boston
Shells pummeling the surface could be heard deep underground in the Switchboard where many of the survivors from the Railroad were scrambling to save their gathered intelligence and their lives. Once again, the Brotherhood had found them.
After being driven away from Old North Church by the Brotherhood years ago, the last remaining members of the Railroad found sanctuary in the Switchboard again. With the Institute out of the way, it was a safe place for them to re-group. Or so they thought...
"Maisy, did you backup our information onto the drive?" Nora called above the noise of shells and people shouting and rushing, trying to salvage as much as they could.
"Almost!" Maisy yelled back, "98%...99… 100! I'm good!" she disconnected her storage drive and packed it away in her bag.
"Good! Go with the first group, Deacon will meet you at the set co-ordinates to take you to Sanctuary" she gave the young woman a hug, "You'll be safe there, take Shaun with you".
"But what about you? And the others? You need my help to purge the computers!" Maisy protested in vain.
"We'll be right behind" Nora comforted her, "But you need to go. Now!"
Maisy nodded reluctantly and followed the rest of the first group towards the exit rout, while the rest carried on salvaging any information they could and destroying any physical copies they couldn't carry. The majority of the Railroad members were evacuated by now, the only ones left were Nora, Charlie, and Theo to ensure they hadn't left any clues for the Brotherhood to find them.
Another shell explosion, this time much closer than the others, cracked the ceiling and rained dust and small debris down on everyone. Nora completed her file transfers and purged any remaining computers before helping the others down the hall into the escape tunnel; and just in time too as the following explosion rocked the room, making her stumble. She pushed the two remaining Railroad operatives into the hallway as the ceiling caved in with a rumbling groan, concrete and steel filling the main operations room. Luckily the hallways were more reinforced, but now there was only one way out for everyone. Taking a moment to catch her breath, Nora leant on the wall to steady herself, patting the dust off of her overalls.
"You alright?" Charlie, one of the new agents, came up to her holding his arm out to help.
Nora nodded, accepting his help and they continued down the tunnel. Some two hundred meters down, they reached the end of the corridor that lead into a room with computers and terminals littered around with cables haphazardly snaking on the floor and above their heads like a spider's web.
"You'd think Tinker Tom could've sorted this room a bit?!" Theo commented, almost tripping over a toolbox while Nora entered the co-ordinates in the computer.
"Everything's ready for transport, get on the platform" she ordered the two young operatives. Before entering the command to teleport them to safety, Nora took off her PipBoy and placed it in an empty backpack, handing it to the youngest operative. "Charlie, I need you to do me a favour…"
Danse stood at the top of a hill, monitoring the surrounding area before sunrise. A storm was brewing in the West, the all too familiar green clouds filled with radioactive rain blanketed the horizon. Otherwise, the area was clear. He had received an encrypted message from Nora with information that one of the Railroad operatives would make their way to his location within 6 hours. That was well over 24 hours ago. With a heavy sigh, he decided he needed to make it back to Listening Post Bravo after waiting out in the open for hours.
Walking up to his base, he allowed the turret system he had set up to scan and authorize him for entry. As the turret disengaged and the door swung open, he heard a faint call in the distance. He looked up at the turret but it had not engaged.
'Whatever it is, must be far enough away from the sensors to detect' he thought, but he wasn't going to risk it. Grabbing his laser rifle, he walked back outside keeping his head low and his rifle aimed in front of him. Walking some two hundred meters south west of his base, he heard rustling in some nearby shrubbery.
"Who's there?!" he called assertively, "Show yourself".
A faint groan answered his call just a few feet ahead of him in some dead shrubs. Danse's whole body tensed up, hoping that he didn't just stir up a feral ghoul from its slumber that was just waiting for him to get closer so it could jump him.
"Hello?!" Danse called out again.
"P-please" a faint voice answered, "Help me".
Danse rushed in, pushing the thick vegetation aside to see a young man in bloodied grey slacks, off white shirt and a tattered brown newsboy hat. Gently hauling him out of the shrubbery, he realized the man had recently been attacked, suffering at least two bullet wounds that he could see.
"Who did this to you?"
"Brotherhood" the man gasped, "Please, I need to find someone. He's close by…a place called Bravo Post".
Danse's eyes widened, "Did Nora send you?"
He nodded. This was the operative she had told him to wait for!
"Were you followed?"
"I - I don't believe so..." he winced, clutching his side, "Are you Danse?"
"Yeah. Come on", Danse nodded, "Bravo post is just up here". Shouldering almost all of Charlie's weight, Danse carried him to his base and down to the crumbling makeshift quarters.
Setting the injured man on the bed, Danse got his medkit and began examining his wounds.
"What's your name son?" he asked, trying to keep his patient pre-occupied while he prepped and administered a stimpak.
"Charlie…sir", the man grimaced as the needle pierced the skin.
"Nice to meet you Charlie", he said, feeling slightly awkward. He was never good at socializing with other people; not to mention the recent year he spent secluded in Bravo post didn't help with his social skills. Taking the scissors out of the medkit, he cut Charlie's shirt to examine the gunshot wounds. There were two that appeared to have gone straight through and the bleeding was already slowing which meant no major organs or arteries were hit, but the third bullet was definitely lodged in his side. That was going to be a bit more complicated. Taking out a pair of long forceps, gauze and some clotting agent from the kit, Danse cleaned the darkened blood around the area so he could get a better look.
"Urngh, didn't think it would hurt this much" Charlie added.
Danse's brow furrowed in confusion, "You didn't think it would hurt to get shot? You really must be new to this. What did you do before getting yourself tangled with the Railroad?"
"Worked at a junker station with my parents in Quincy. Ma took care of the shop, pa was a caravan trader and sold our wares on the road".
When Danse picked up the forceps to remove the bullet, Charlie's breathing quickened in panic. "I need you to relax so I can get the bullet out, Charlie", Danse tried to comfort him, "This is going to hurt a bit, but the stimpak I gave you will help numb the pain".
Charlie nodded, relaxing his breathing. Wasting no time, Danse quickly removed the bullet before Charlie had much chance to register what was going on. Thankfully the bullet wasn't lodged awkwardly or shattered into fragments. It was either sheer luck that all three bullets managed to miss all the important areas, or the universe had other plans for him. All that was left to do was to sterilize the wounds, bandage him up and administer a vial of clotting agent to help with the healing.
"You're going to be alright, kid", Danse reassured him, giving him some of his old clothes so he could get more comfortable. Admittedly the fit was on the larger side for Charlie, but it was better than remaining in blood and dirt soiled clothes. "What happened out there?" he asked pulling up a chair.
"I don't know how, but the Brotherhood found us. They started shelling our base out of nowhere. We were lucky that we had the teleportation plans Nora brought back from the Institute, so we all managed to make it out alive…"
Danse sighed in relief, running his fingers through his hair. The thought that his former faction had completely eradicated the Railroad did cross his mind, especially since he got Nora's encrypted message in the dead of night. Although he did not approve of the Railroad and their doings, he did harbor respect for them and their dedication. Taking time to be away from the Brotherhood and experiencing the Commonwealth as an individual also gave him a greater perspective on the matter and convinced him that Maxson's current warpath against anyone who is an abomination would result in civil war in the Commonwealth.
"That's good, at least. But I don't see why I am being involved in this".
Charlie took a deep breath to calm himself before he proceeded, "Nora surrendered herself to them, to Maxson, in a bid to spare us".
Hearing the news was like a kick to his gut. Danse wanted nothing more than to drop everything and get her back… but now more than ever, he had to keep a level head and think strategically.
"Judging from your condition, that didn't go as she had hoped", Danse pointed out.
"No, I suppose not" Charlie admitted, "But she asked me to bring you her PipBoy", he pointed over to his backpack in the corner of the room where Danse dropped it when they got inside.
Danse picked up the bag and hesitantly undid the fastenings. It was the only thing inside, the lights on the dials flickering a bright green color.
"Put it on, there's a message for you" Charlie insisted.
Securing the PipBoy on his arm, he flicked through the options and found a message in there. It prompted him for a password, which took him by surprise.
"It won't let me open the message until I enter the correct password" Danse's brow furrowed.
"Ah, yes. Nora said to tell you 'it doesn't matter how we start life as, what truly matters is what we do, what we are'" he recited the words, "I'm not sure if that helps at all".
Hearing the words made Danse smile as a memory came rushing back to him.
"Human" he whispered, typing in the letters. The screen lit up and Nora's voice recording began to play.
"Danse, I hope this message reaches you in time. I need your help… A few months ago a Railroad agent intercepted an encrypted message destined for a place called New Vegas. Unfortunately, due to a severe lack of equipment, we weren't able to decipher the message until about a week ago. What's worrying is that it has an Institute signature…
The message provides a set of co-ordinates and an activation code, A47XJ00. We don't know what it means and there's no record of it in the Institute files that we salvaged after their defeat. We need to find out what's going on , so you're going to have to get to New Vegas. There's a vertibird hidden away in Nukaworld, I have included the directions on the PipBoy's map. When you get there, tell the raiders I sent you; they'll take you to Gage and he'll handle it from there. That is, if he's still around. And Danse, whatever you do, do not let your guard down. These people will kill you if they feel they have something to gain. I'm sorry I can't be of more help… Good luck, and don't get killed."
With two beeps the recording came to an end, leaving Danse with more questions on his mind, and a heavy weight on his shoulders.
"You're going to need a disguise, you can't go looking like…that" Charlie pointed to his worn Brotherhood apparel.
Danse nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I know". He began gathering the gear he would need for the journey, trying not to dwell on the knowledge that the woman he loved... loves... was captured by Maxson's forces. Undoubtedly they would be interrogating her by now...
"The question is, what are you going to do now?"
Charlie shrugged, "Find the other members, we still have a couple of secluded safe houses scattered around".
"Feel free to use this place as long as you need" Danse replied, "By the sound of things, I'll be away for a while". Charlie thanked his newfound friend, promising to keep himself hidden away for the next couple of days until the search died down.
Waiting until night fell to start his trek to the station that would take him to the raider inhabited Nuka World, and with a backpack filled with supplies and weapons, Danse left the safety of Bravo post with a lump in his throat and a nagging urge to disregard Nora's request and go after her instead.
Checking the PipBoy's map, Danse weighed his options: follow Nora's request and go to Nuka World, where his odds of survival were poor; or completely ignore her request and go after her where, again, the odds weren't favourable. If anyone recognised him he'd be killed on the spot, although if he went to raider territory it's a guarantee that he'd be killed. He knew that Nora was just looking out for him, trying to keep him away from the Brotherhood to save his life. But Danse stood a slightly better chance of surviving an encounter with the Brotherhood than raiders. Plus he knew the Brotherhood base inside and out, all the entry points and exits, and they also had well stocked and fueled Vertibirds on hand. The complicated part would be finding a way to steal one away without anyone noticing.
"Screw it", he muttered under his breath, changing the waypoint on the PipBoy to Boston Airport. If he was going to take a risk, he'd rather take one where he had an advantage, no matter how small.