Chapter 7: Get it Out
They followed Dogmeat all the way to Fort Hagen where he let out a sad whimper at a barricaded door, scratching at it incessantly, until Natalie stopped him. "It's ok, boy. Good job," she thanked him as she patted his head. Nate stared at the door, a dark look in his eyes. It was nighttime so she couldn't see his exact expression, but she felt a nervousness stir in her as she watched him.
"I think we can handle it from here, Dogmeat." Nick said as he dropped his cigarette on the dirt. "We should find a way in."
Nate didn't say anything, simply nodding as he began to walk around the building. They followed behind him quietly while Dogmeat ran home. They took out a few turrets as they continued to search for an entrance that wasn't blocked off. They eventually went into the parking garage, hoping to find an entrance through there. Nick tried to make small talk as they walked through the garage. "I'm guessing you don't know much about the Institute and their synths, seeing as you've basically walked into this world a few days ago."
"You're the first synth we've seen out here." Natalie said as she tucked her hair behind her ear, making sure her gun had enough ammunition.
"Well, let me tell you. Those other guys out here that might look like me, they can't be reasoned with. They're programmed to attack whoever the Institute tells them to, which is practically everyone."
"Why are you different?" Nate questioned.
"Not sure why, but the institute threw me away. I'm not programmed the same way that other synths are, which may be why they tossed me." He tilted his head down, pulling his gun from his pocket as they approached a door.
Natalie swallowed hard, her heart beginning to beat fast. "Do you think there'll be a lot of them?" She was nervous about fighting. She wondered if that feeling would ever go away.
"Definitely," Nick nodded, Nate hesitated to open the door for a moment. "Keep your eyes peeled."
After a moment he swung the door open, keeping his gun aimed the entire time, ready to open fire when needed. It was dead silent, they roamed through the broken walls. Nate relaxed a little, peeking around a corner "Are they more stealth-based?" He whispered in a low voice.
Nick's eyes swept around the room. "I'm not sure… but they don't give warning—" As if on cue, a red laser travelled through the air, barely missing Nate as he pulled from around the corner. "Damn!" Nick opened fire, shooting the synth that opened fire on him.
"Behind us!" Natalie turned quickly, barely hitting a synth that was walking in through one of the torn down walls.
"Movement detected. Curious." A robotic voice echoed.
"Spread out, take them down!" Nate ordered as he walked out from behind the wall, firing some bullets at enemies Natalie and Nick couldn't see.
"I don't think that's such a good idea!" Natalie shouted at him but he continued to walk away. Damn it… she thought to herself with a groan. She didn't want to be left alone, especially not in the middle of a fight.
"I've got your back, kid." Nick reassured her. She smiled at him, nervousness written all over her face. He gave a small chuckle as they prepared for more gunfire.
Nate continued through the building. He shot all the synths he saw, a rage building deep inside him as he thought of the man who stole his wife's life and his child from him. He wanted to destroy them all, turn them in to nothing. He wanted to make Kellogg suffer for everything he did. Avenge his family for all the wrong that was done. Before he knew it, he was standing at an elevator. He held his breath before venturing further, leaving his partners behind. They'll catch up…
He walked through the corridors, stepping over tripwires every now and then. There were a few synths, but he took them down easily with minimal damage. He walked downstairs, but stopped when he heard a voice over an intercom. "If it isn't my old friend, the frozen T.V. dinner." Nate looked around for a moment, listening to the voice. Kellogg… he clenched his jaw, moving forward down the hall as the voice continued to speak.
"Last time we met you were cozying up to the peas and the apple cobbler." Nate rushed through a door that released a tripwire, setting off an electrical trap. He grunted at the burning sensation that enveloped him. He swore under his breath, hurrying to move out of the area being affected by the electrical current.
He pressed forward, heading deeper into the building. He took out a turret propped up in a corner. "I'm sorry your house has been wrecked for two hundred years, but I don't need a roommate. Leave." Kellogg said in a half-joking, half-serious tone.
"Fuck you…" Nate mumbled under his breath. Now he was eager. Excited to see the face of the man who mocked him as he struggled through various different traps to find him. Excited to see the color drain from his face as he killed him.
He reached a hallway with more synths inside, they immediately began shooting at him. He returned the fire with extreme accuracy, blowing the head off one of the machines. Two more continued to shoot at him. His gun clicked, the magazine was empty. He ran over to the machines, enduring the searing pain of the lasers as he rammed into one machine, knocking it on the ground. He reached for the weapon of the other synth, slamming his fist into its face. It buzzed some generic phrase as it released the laser rifle from its grasp. He immediately began to shoot the rifle at the synth trying to recover from the fall, the lasers causing sparks to fly off his metallic body. "Systems shutting down." The synth hummed electronically as Nate gave it the last two shots in the magazine. He threw the weapon on the floor as he spun around, his fist grinding into the face of the synth for the second time. "Hostiles dete-" He punched again, this time slamming the back of its head into the wall in the hallway. He reached for an exposed wire, ripping it out. "Ocular sensors offline." It buzzed and then the power completely shut off in the body, causing the machine to go limp.
He looked at the oil that covered his hand as the intercom came back on, Kellogg taunting him more. He didn't hear it as he reloaded his gun and picked up the laser rifle he dropped earlier. He quickly grabbed the ammo he found on the synths before moving on.
"Looks like he got most of the," Nick said as he kicked a limp mechanical body sprawled on the floor. He watched Natalie as she looked through the bodies for any supplies. She had a few burns from the lasers on her, but she didn't seem to be phased by the damage. "Tell me, kid, how long have you two been travelling together?"
"I think it's been three days… Maybe four… I'm not really keeping track…" She mumbled as she grabbed a laser rifle and placed it in her backpack.
"Hmmph…" He walked around the room, picking up some ammo himself. "Hopefully he'll learn to keep his anger in check, it's not good for someone to leave their partner behind."
"Yea, this is the first time it's happened." She walked over to a desk, looking through the drawers, pushing her hair behind her ear. "I know he's used to all the combat, but… I'm new to all this."
"You're doing a pretty damn good job, then." He smirked a little. "Surviving even one day out there, I don't think I would have done it if I wasn't built the way I am." He paused a moment, watching her cross the room to another desk. "Something you're looking for?"
"I need something to tie my hair back…" She huffed as she tried to pull a desk drawer open. "It keeps getting in the way when I'm trying to shoot."
"Here," Nick handed her a hair clip from his pocket "you can borrow this. Take care of it, though. It's important to me."
She looked at him with a slight questioning behind her eyes, but grabbed the clip anyways. "Thanks, I will…" She pulled most of her hair back, leaving her bangs tracing her brows. "Kind of a strange thing to hold sentimental value."
"Well, for some people a pile of dirt could hold sentimental value, given the right circumstances." He began to move forward. "Come on, we don't want to take too long."
They tried to move quickly, which was easy, considering all the synths, turrets, and most of the tripwires had been taken care of along the way. They ended up reaching what looked to be Kellogg's personal quarters. Everything was trashed, they could only assume Nate had thrown everything around. "Was he looking for something?" Natalie questioned as she stepped into the center of the room.
"Doesn't look like it…" Nick cleared his throat a little. There was muffled shouting down a hall leading outside of the room.
"Where is my son!?" When they walked into the room, Nate was on top of Kellogg, throwing punches. "Tell me where my son is you motherfucker!"
Kellogg smiled up at him through bloody teeth, "You can die knowing your son was in a better place." He gave a small laugh, blood spluttering out. "A little older than you expected, but-" Nate threw another punch, making Kellogg groan in pain.
"Stop, Nate!" Natalie ran over to him, a horrified expression on her face.
"He might have answers he can give us!" Nick shouted to him, looking over all the battered synths lying across the floor.
"No! He took my family from me!" Nate was preparing another slug when Natalie grabbed at his arm. "He deserves to die…" Nate trailed off, beginning to feel a heat sweep over his face. I won't cry… Not in front of this bastard… Stop it.
"Please, calm down. We need to at least interrogate him or something…" Natalie looked over Kellogg's face for a moment. His face was battered where Nate landed a couple hits on him. "Nate, come on…" She tried to tug at his arm to make him stand up.
Nate slammed his fist on the ground one last time, his jaw clenched in anger. "He won't talk…" He stood up slowly, his body feeling sore from all the physical abuse. He turned to face Nick, "What do you know about The Institute?" He tightened his fists, staring at Nick intensely.
"Not much," He shrugged a little. "Except that they're one big secret in its own."
"Bullshit…" Nate began to stalk over to Nick, who was reaching for his pistol slowly. Natalie stepped towards them, Nick put his hand up, signaling her to stand back.
"Calm down, Nate." He warned. "What's going through your head right now?"
"Kellogg said the institute took my boy… You're a synth, you have to know how to get in there." He held eye contact with Nick. "You better not be holding out on me…"
"I'm not… and unfortunately, the few things I do remember involve them pulling me apart and putting me back together. They tried to wipe my memories of that place…" His gaze was serious. He's telling the truth. Nate thought. "Now relax… I can get put back together, but you can't…"
Kellogg rolled onto his side, coughing as he let out a laugh. "The… Institute can't be found…" He groaned, reaching for his pistol. "Like I said… The Institute finds you…" He leaned on an elbow, attempting to scoot away. "Now… I'm going to… get out of here…" He spit at the ground, blood-covered saliva.
"No, you're not." Nate began to make his way back towards Kellogg, ready to start hitting him in a split second. Kellogg quickly pulled out his pistol, pressing the gun to Nate's abdomen as he hunched over him.
"I already told you, this only ends one way…" a loud, deafening gunshot immediately followed. Nate flinched, everything feeling numb for a moment. He waited for the sensation of pain to creep over him. From the corner of his eye, he saw Natalie pull out her gun, firing a couple rounds into Kellogg. Kellogg's gun went off again, missing Nate.
Nick was running towards him, his mouth moved, but Nate couldn't hear any of the words he was saying, his ears still ringing from the bullet. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. The pain began to ache over his side. He looked down, blood beginning to smear across his vault suit. The bullet didn't hit anything vital, barely an inch from the outer edge of his abdomen. He turned to face Natalie, her face was an almost deathly pale white. "Hey…" He could hear his own voice, the sound returning to his ears. "I'm fine…" He groaned to Nick before he could register everything that was going on.
Then he saw it, the blood that was pouring from Natalie's abdomen. Nick ran to her, placing his hand over the area, "Natalie, focus!" She looked around with glazed eyes, a pained expression on her face. "Nate! Hey, did he get you too? Nate!"
He stared at Natalie, not responding to Nick. All he could see was Nora. That same pained expression as the blood poured from her body. The same look in her eyes as she experienced that unbearable pain. She never knew what it was like to be hurt that way, not before Kellogg gave her that pain and took her life. Nate felt a sadness wash over him. Everything was beginning to hit him all at once, the fear, the anger, the melancholy. Stop it.
"Use a stimpak." Nick ordered as he grabbed a couple stimpaks from his pocket and tossed them to Nate.
Nate immediately jabbed one into his muscle, watching the wound begin to close. "Here, we need to get it near the wound." He leaned Natalie backwards, she let out a yelp of pain as her core stretched out, causing the wound to spout more blood. "I'm sorry." He whispered as he tugged at the zipper of her vault suit, pulling it slightly past her wound. He stuck the needle near the wound, the muscle underneath it twitched as he did so.
Natalie threw her head back, swearing loudly as she felt the sensation of heated pain turn to a cool, sharp sting. Nick looked worriedly down at her. "She may have lost too much blood."
"Is there anywhere nearby we can go to?" Nate pulled up his pip boy map.
"With a doctor? Our best bet would be to head back to Diamond City." Nick zipped her suit back up.
"Do you think she'll make it?" Nate looked over her face intensely, tears streaming down her face. "Natalie, look at me?"
Her eyes slowly moved to him, her head staying still. She gave a small smile to him.
"Hey, are you ok? How do you feel?" Nate pushed her bangs out the way, she felt cold and sweaty.
She closed her eyes a little, her mouths lightly open as she mumbled the words. "I'm fine… It's ok, hon…"
Nick looked at him with urgency. "We need to hurry. Give her this Med-X." He frowned a little. "Normally I don't condone drug use, but this should help her with the pain. It should also keep her from bleeding more."
Nate carried her the entire trek back to Diamond City, trying to keep her awake as best as he could. "Keep talking to me, Natalie…" He huffed as he tried to ignore the soreness in his own side.
"Remember when… we… uh, went to… the lake…" She mumbled in a giddy haze of drug use crossed with blood loss. "We had sex under that big tree…"
"Let's talk about something else…" Nate felt himself slightly embarrassed to be hearing her secrets, but anything that kept her talking.
"Then you… proposed under those stars…" She slurred, her head leaning back in Nate's arms as walked hurriedly with her. "Like those." She pointed her finger weakly at the sky. "You said as many… stars… you'd love me as long as there were as many stars…" She smirked a little. "It's… two hundred damn years… two goddamn years." She let her eyes close slowly. "You… still…"
"Natalie, don't go to sleep." Nate shook her a little bit. She groaned in pain.
"We don't have too much longer," Nick told him.
"I think she's passed out." They moved swiftly past Hangman's Alley, cutting in between buildings to avoid enemies. They finally reached the gates of Diamond City.
"Open the gates, Danny!" Nick shouted. The gates shifted open. Nick ran ahead of them, Nate's arms were beginning to get sore. Luckily, Natalie wasn't very heavy. Her light frame made her easy to carry, but the hike had started taking its toll on Nate.
Nick returned to Nate as he was halfway to the medical center. He grabbed Natalie quickly, Doctor Sun already had his lab coat on and blood bags ready. About an hour passed before they heard anything from the doctor. Nate waited at Takahashi's noodle stand, staring at the lights around the city. Nick approached him, lighting a cigarette. "She's gonna be ok. Weak for a couple days, but mostly fine. I rented you a room at the Dugout Inn. You can stay there, Doc is gonna keep an eye on her overnight."
"Thanks, Nick." Nate rubbed his eyes. Thankfully, the pain from his gunshot wound had already disappeared.
"Let me ask you a question," Nick said as he lit a cigarette, "this anger you've got in you, have you always had it?"
"If you were in my situation, how would you feel?" Nate didn't mean to retort. He couldn't help but be defensive. "I had my whole family taken away from me, my entire life stripped away."
"Well, I haven't been in your exact situation, but…" He took a drag from his cigarette. "Well, I'm not exactly a normal person. You see, I was taken as a copy of the old world Nick. The original Nick."
"You mean you're from my time?" Nate raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Not exactly. My memories are, but this body I'm in. The Institute created it. They gave me Nick's memories, thoughts… feelings." He sat in the barstool next to Nate. "And for the longest time, after I found out what I was. I had this anger. Angry at the Institute. Angry at myself, even. My entire existence was a lie, I was created in some lab for god-knows-what to do god-knows-who."
"I see…" Nate intertwined his fingers as he propped his arms on the counter. "You seem like you're doing pretty well off, despite all you've been through."
"Well I learned that there's no point in just being angry all the damn time. I decided to try and do some good with my life, instead of trying to get revenge on those who ruined it. What I'm trying to say is… Just be careful." He looked genuinely worried. "You've got people depending on you, and if you let that anger guide you, you might hurt them more than you think."
Nate nodded his head slowly, letting Nick's words sink in. He couldn't help it at times. His rage. It was mostly due to the bottled up emotions he had, but he couldn't just let them out… He would appear weak. How could he support anyone if they thought he couldn't handle his emotions? Maybe Natalie wouldn't have been hurt. Maybe they could have found out more information if he hadn't ran ahead. He let out a deep sigh.
