NOTES:::
Song:: "Arms of Sorrow" -Killswitch Engage
Every head in Goodneighbor seemed to turn to look at the mismatched pair entering the town. A Brotherhood of Steel paladin, escorting a small woman in flannel. They walked through the people staring at them. Curie was blissfully unaware of all the eyes, focused on her mission. Danse was busy giving everyone a "Don't fuck with us" look.
The two made it to the Memory Den. "Maybe it is best for the mission if I stay out here. Dr. Amari may question our intentions if she sees me here."
"Oh monsieur Danse, Dr. Amari helped make me, she knows Madame Nora well, and she knows that you are with us now, wholly, after your…um… revelation. It will be fine! Come on!" Curie gently grabs a finger of the power armor and pulls the Paladin inside. She walks to the back where Dr. Amari stays, careful not to disturb the patrons in the building. Dr. Amari sees them coming in, she looks at Curie, then Danse, then her eyes back to Curie.
"I can tell this is important, let's go to the back" Dr. Amari says, and the two follow without a word.
When they reach the back room, Dr. Amari looks at Curie expectantly.
"Hello Dr. Amari. We have a favor to ask. It is for Mayor Hancock. "
Dr. Amari looks concerned, "Go on"
"Well, to be blunt, he is in a coma, and the only person that can save his life will only do so if we can prove to her that Mayor Hancock didn't murder her family. So we need to take this person into his memories so that she can see for herself what happened. Can you do that, Dr. Amari?"
Dr. Amari's mouth is agape, looking at the sincere face of the synth she helped create. "As long as he is simply in a coma his brain should still be alive, that should be enough to connect his memories to the system so that we can send someone else in."
Curie smiles the hugest heartfelt smile, grateful that her plan has worked, and they will be able to help Hancock, and turns to Danse. He looks at her smile, and can't help but smile a little at her utter sincerity. "I will radio Nora to tell her the good news, and then you and I have a gh-…Mayor to go get."
Curies smile drops a little, but the look in her eyes does not, as she gives him a small nod. She turns to Dr. Amari. "We will go back and bring Mayor Hancock here. Nora will meet us here with the Doctor who will help him."
She nods, understanding the plan, but still worried, knowing that what this doctor finds in Hancock's mind is not going to be facts on a paper, she will see the events through him. Feel what he felt. And there is always the chance that this doctor won't be happy with what she finds.
Nick & Nora approach the colonial house once again. Nora knocks on the door. She then hears some stumbling, glass breaking, and then the door opens. Dora is standing there, still the same outfit as the last time they met. She is holding an almost empty vodka bottle in her hand. It is the same outfit. Except now it reeks of alcohol. Has she been drinking since we left?
"Well, I wasn't really expecting you to come back, especially not this fast. Whatever, give me your proof" Dora said, extra raspy, and a bit slurred.
"Are you drunk?" Nora asked.
"Not drunk enough, obviously." And takes another drink.
"We need you to come with us to Goodneighbor. We have arranged for you to go into Hancock's memories and see for yourself what happened."
Dora raises her eyebrows and chuckles, "So, wait. You are taking me for a trip down memory lane?" She giggles "Literally?"
Nick nods at her.
"Okay, maybe I am drunk enough." She sits the bottle on the floor. "Come on in, I have to go put on some travellin' clothes." The drunk doctor disappears upstairs.
Nick and Nora look at each other. "That was shockingly simple." Nick says.
"I know. Makes me feel like it is about to get a lot more difficult."
Hancock was laying in the chair, hooked up to Dr. Amari's machines. Curie diligently watching him; checking his vital signs. Danse, Piper, MacCready, & Dr. Amari were just standing near the walls. Waiting.
The door slowly opened, and Nick and Nora stepped in, being followed by a small woman, the group was shocked, this was not what they were expecting. Dora's eyes looked around the room, but froze when they met the eyes of Danse, they then fell to the Brotherhood emblem on his armor.
"Shit! Fuck! No!" Dora yelled and then spun on her heel to run from the room. Nick grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"Let go of me, Synth!" She hissed.
"He is not with the Brotherhood anymore. He can be trusted."
"Listen, I know better than anyone you can't just Leave The Brotherhood." She Grimaced at him, then at Danse.
Danse spoke up, "You are right, they tried to have me killed. They still want me dead." He looked into her eyes, unnaturally bright blue. "Wait, you can't be Sentinel Scott, are you?" Her eyes got large. Everyone else in the room looked at each other, very confused at the conversation across the floor.
He began to laugh. "They use you as a horror story. To use an example for why we have to be careful when recruiting. They tell us about your eyes, 'If it doesn't look human it probably isn't'. But they also told us that they found you and killed you. I guess if you can evade them this long, I can too."
He then noticed all of the confused faces. "Sentinel Scott was a woman who infiltrated the Brotherhood, rose to the rank of Sentinel, the highest rank of Paladin, before she released all of the prisoners, and used them to break into the medical store room. She took every chemical and medical device w-THEY had and then disappeared without a trace." I should probably leave out the fact that this story is over a hundred years old. Synth technology wasn't that great then. But a human should not look this young after 100 years. What is she?
Dora relaxed, and Nick let go of her arm. "Well. It's kind of nice to know that I am a boogeyman to the Brotherhood. That's great." She laughed.
There is so much to this doctor that we know absolutely nothing about. Nora thought.
"We need to get back to the mission at hand. This …man needs your help." What she is, isn't important. Right now, finishing the mission is the most important thing.
Dr. Amari steps forward, "If you will, please come with me." Dora hands her bag to Nora.
"Just remember, you don't know how to use any of this without me." Nora nods. And Dorothy follows Dr. Amari.
"Who are we looking for memories of, Dr. Scott?"
"Lydia." Dora cringes. Her sisters name like poison on her lips.
"I am seeing two memories of Lydia that carry great emotional weight for Hancock. I will send you to both."
"Thank you." Two? Why are there two?
The scene is blurry at first but it is clearing up, she hears voices. She hears Lydia's voice.
"John, I am not giving you anymore. You have had enough, you are going to end up killing yourself."
"Why do you even care? As long as you make a sale, why does it matter?" John clenches his fist.
"Oh come on John. You know you are more to me than someone who buys drugs from me. You have had dinner with my family. You have played dolls with my children. John, you are my friend.
"Sister, you are delusional. You are just my drug dealer."
Dora can feel his words. He doesn't mean them. He is trying to push her away.
"You know, you should meet my sister, you are just like her! You two let people get close to you, and then you freak out and try to push them away so you can run away to wallow in your own sadness. She has been alone too long. I am not going to let you follow her path."
Her words sting into him like daggers. She is completely right, but he doesn't want to hear it. He wants to run. He needs to run. No attachments. Just numbness.
"You think you know everything, don't you Lydia. Well you don't I am fine on my own. I am happy!"
"Happy people wouldn't be in my kitchen begging for drugs, John."
"Fuck you!"
"Oh, Yeah, fuck me right? I am just trying to be your friend."
"I don't need a friend, I need a dealer who won't question me."
"Fine John. I hear Goodneighbor is great for that sort of thing. You may also get murdered, but I get the feeling that is probably a bonus to you, right?"
He storms out of the room. Slamming the door behind him. The memory fades away. Another memory begins to form in front of Dora's eyes. It's John and his brother.
"You can't do this! They are good people, you can't just kick them out of the city."
"I can't disappoint my voters, John"
"That is bullshit and you know it!"
"If they are such good people why are they trying to get their revenge against us?"
"Us? What do you mean, us? This is all you."
"The people don't know that. They are trying to get to us, any way they can. Through our friends."
"You don't fucking have friends. And neither do I?"
"Oh? I thought you were close to that Lydia woman. So did everyone else."
John ran from the office without a word. Fear. Worry…guilt. He ran to Lydia's house. He went to knock on the door, but it just swung open. He stepped inside. "Lydia? Nathan?" He rounded the corner slowly and froze. His boot touched blood. Her blood. He looked down at Lydia, laying in a pool of her own blood. He glanced up and saw Nathan and Ryan, and Natalie. All in blood. Eyes still open. Looking at him.
He fell to his knees, right in front of Lydia. He can feel her blood seeping through his pants and onto his legs. He pulled her lifeless body into his arms and began to rock back and forth. Crying. Sobbing. "I am so sorry. This is my fault. My fault. I should have been here. I should have listened to you. I should have stayed." Then he just started repeating. "So…sorry…my…fault…" in between sobs and gasps for air.
Dora couldn't stand anymore. She couldn't bear to see her sister like this. Couldn't bear to see Hancock like this. She began to fight the memory, and it began to fade. She opened her eyes and was back in the room. Back in reality. She began to pull the tubes and wires from her body and leapt out of the pod. She was sitting on her knees on the hard tile of the Memory Den back room. She put her hands on her face and started crying. Completely oblivious to all the people still in the room. Watching her in horror.
Nora moved to sit in front of her, "Dora, are you okay? What did you see?" She put her hands on Dora's wrists and moved her hands so she could see her face.
"He…he framed his own brother. He wanted to be able to blame someone else if someone started asking questions. And I fell for it. I tried to murder an innocent man." She sobbed even harder. "He was Lydia's friend. She loved him. He blamed himself for her death. And I tried to kill him for it"
"Who am I? WHAT am I?" She closed her eyes, tears cascading down her face.
"Hey, pull it together. You didn't know. And you have the opportunity to make it right. He is laying right over there and you can save his life. You can make it all right again."
She opened her eyes to look at Nora, "I…". Nora stood up and extended her hand downward for Dora. She took it and stood up. She then walked over to the cot where Hancock was laying. Lifeless body and shallow breaths. She looked down at his face. Ruined skin, because of her. She touched his face, rubbing her thumb across his cheek. I am so, so sorry. You have no idea. She took in a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Okay. We need to get him somewhere he can stay. This isn't going to be a quick fix. It is going to take some time."
"We can take him to his office. He will be safe there." Nora stated, she looked at Dr. Amari, "Thank you for doing this."
"Anything for the Mayor."
NOTES::
The truth is revealed! Hope you are liking it still. Thank you for reading and for all of your follows/reviews/favorites. It makes me happy to know that you like reading it.
love -Jumb