A/N: Almost posted this chapter the day before, but I re-read it, and just absolutely hated it. So I re-wrote it overnight, and it's much better- makes me glad I took the time to evaluate it again, or else I would've been super unhappy with it.
Nora held her breath as she made her way to the front and lead her combined team forward. She was a mix of nervous and anxiety, but her confidence had already gotten them this far; she had to take them further. She had to end this.
It was hard to imagine how every single person Nora had with her right now, Preston, Desdemona and Piper included, had been living in this Commonwealth; they had been living in this Post-Post-Apocalyptic state for far longer than Nora had. The only world any of them ever knew was this one; this dust-covered, radiated world of shit- a far cry, a shadow of the world she had once loved.
And now they were here, every single one of them, taking careful steps into the Institute- a place so many had considered unreachable, maybe even non-existent.
Here they were, soon to come face-to-face with the monster that had haunted their dreams and disturbed their lives since birth.
But this time... they would get to end it.
They would get to pull the trigger and blow out the heart of the boogeyman.
And she would see to it that they did.
Making her way down the three steps, Nora entered the next room and headed to the only door on her left. She shouldered it open and waited as her eyes did a quick scan of the desolate-looking room. There wasn't much to it aside from what looked to be an abandoned office space of some kind. Maybe even an observation sort of area considering the open window to her right that took up much of the wall space, and the discarded terminal next to it.
Her Pip-Boy would supposingly be taking them through the old Robotics Wing, which was the only way to infiltrate the Institute without the use of the primary elevator.
Which was just fine with Nora... She didn't want to get back into that thing anyways.
Not when she knew who it would lead her to.
She wanted- no, she needed time to prepare herself for that eventual confrontation.
"Keep your eyes open," Preston spoke quietly, as everyone slowly began to file in after her one by one.
Don't let your nerves get to you.
Inching herself forward, eyes sharp on any piece of dust that so much as fell from the ceiling, Nora worked her way towards the small terminal by the broken window. Its keyboard was layered in dust- hinting that no one had been down here in a long, long time. Which seemed about right judging from the environment it was in. Shouldering her shotgun for the time being, Nora tapped heavily on the stuck keys; she was barely able to hack through the commands, let alone actually see the access menu through the grime. She could only make out a few words- and only one of them was important to her.
Turrets.
Of fucking course.
At the very least, her annoying habit of checking every single terminal seemed to be coming in handy for once.
"Watch yourselves," Nora whispered, watching as two Minutemen and one Railroad agent peeked down the staircase to her left- leading down into the dark room below. Her fingers were quick to deactivate the still functioning turrets, which only added more questions to this already strange ordeal. Why have active turrets in an abandoned sector of the Institute? Especially when this place was considered inaccessible to anyone but Institute personnel. What were they afraid of?
She watched as the trio nodded, before they slowly descended.
"No offense, but this place looks like shit," Piper whispered, coming up behind Nora as she peeked at the terminal screen. "Any goodies on there?"
"Nothing but security," Nora answered, before she armed herself with her shotgun once more and headed towards the stairs. "You handling yourself okay?"
"Don't you worry about me, Blue."
She liked Piper's confidence, even in the eye of the storm- in the belly of the beast.
Then again, this was probably like a walk in the park for the woman.
"We're good down here, General!" one of her Minutemen called from the foot of the stairs- straining to keep his voice low, but loud enough for everyone to hear.
Good. This was a good start.
Nora made her way down the rickety stairs that swayed slightly under her heavy footsteps. Part of her felt like she should've been a little more careful, a little quieter- maybe even slower. But time was of the essence right now, and she had to get everyone through this as quick as possible; they had to maintain their ambush advantage here.
No one at the Institute manned the relay, because no one unauthorized was allowed to use it. That was why she was able to secure the room so easily, and how they were all still alive now.
... Father wouldn't know what hit him.
She would ensure that.
Hitting the foot of the stairs, Nora watched as the trio kept separate posts around the room- nodding to let her know it was secure. There was only one exit out... and it lead straight into what looked to be a narrow walkway overlooking an assembly station below. The machinery was pre-war, Nora could see that. Most of it looked to be in good condition, but the layer of dust said a working hand hadn't touched it in a long time.
Maybe this was where they had previously constructed the Gen-1 and Gen-2 Synths from metal.
And later abandoned for the synthetic flesh of the Gen-3's.
It was a nice theory anyways.
Standing on the catwalk, looking down at the work station below, Nora found herself with only one temporary question. With no plausible way down, via staircase, or even a ladder... How the hell were they supposed to move forward?
... On second thought, it didn't look to be too bad of a fall- certainly not the worst she had jumped before. It wouldn't result in any limb damage at least, unless the floor suddenly decided to cave out from underneath her.
Okay, so a simple jump wouldn't stop her.
Sliding her shotgun to her back, Nora placed her hands on the railing and started to hoist herself up- managing to swing one leg over so that she slightly straddled it.
"Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" Preston questioned as he walked in. His tone hinted that he already knew the answer- and with how she was positioned, it couldn't have been hard to guess either.
"Got a better idea?" she asked instead.
"No other exits, not so much as another door asides from this one... As questionable as it is, I'll trust your judgment."
Nora shot him a sheepish sort of grin, before she swung her other leg over and caught her feet on the edge of the catwalk- briefly suspending herself for now. She did a second judging on the fall distance, and picked out which place she wanted to land when she inevitably jumped.
... If the situation wasn't as tense, or as serious as it needed to be, she probably would've shouted something to the likes of 'long live the King' before she leapt. But she somehow got the feeling that it wouldn't go over so well with everyone else.
Eh, Piper would've enjoyed it though.
Or Deacon. Come to think of it, where was that asshole?
Holding her breath, Nora jumped down and landed heavy on the balls of her feet- which ended up forcing her to go into a recovery roll.
"For the love of- are you alright, Charmer?!"
Nora recognized the exasperated tone, and had a brief laugh to herself.
Desdemona must've walked in just in time to see her famous jump- what a sight to see in the Institute.
"I'm good-" Nora started, barely getting to her feet before she heard a faint buzzing sound just in front of her. She looked up in time to see the other side of the room light up with red dots, before she heard the ever familiar buzz of Institute rifles taking fire. The flooring just a foot in front of her was quickly peppered with laser rounds, and Nora had to throw herself backwards to avoid a few more accurate shots.
It was a mess of hands and feet as she slipped on the dust-covered floor, before she barely scrambled to get behind a nearby assembly machine for cover.
Shaking hands ripped her shotgun free as Nora waited for the bullet storm to cease.
She could hear the familiar metallic clang of Synths as they rushed into the room with her.
Shit! How did they get found out so quickly?!
This was supposed to be an abandoned sector- no Synth was supposed to be here!
No, this was fine.
They could still recover.
They could still do this.
Nora jumped slightly as she heard a hailstorm of bullets rain down from above her- making it sound like a God-given chorus in the echoes of the abandoned work station. She looked up to see the smoking guns on the walkway above, and listened to the sounds of the synthetic guards getting blown apart.
For once, they were the ones who had the numbers, and the bullets.
Then again, Nora wondered if the Institute guards had solely just focused on her when she dropped down- and somehow completely failed to notice the small arsenal of people just above them.
While there was no sense of physical cover on the walkway, asides from the person next to you, the higher ground advantage was all they needed.
Nora held her breath and waited for it to be over- trying to ignore the sound of ringing and her own blood pumping in her ears.
It didn't take long for the room to slowly settle back into silence thankfully.
"You're good to go, General!"
Sighing, Nora let out her breath and gave a nod of thanks before she picked herself back up. She stepped out from her cover and did a quick sweep of the room- ensuring that every Synth here had been blown back into its basic components around her feet. Okay, first lesson learned- she need to be more careful, more observant before she jumped into the fire. She could've gotten blasted to pieces right then, and then what?
The siege could've hit a standstill. It could've been over.
Not to say that she didn't think everyone else could carry the mission forward, but-
No, not important.
Not anymore.
"You're good to go," Nora announced, as she walked back towards the walkway. "Thanks for watching my back, everyone."
"You almost got your ass blown off," Piper replied, provoking some quiet, scattered laughter from the people around her.
Nora chuckled herself. "Well then, me leading the front wouldn't be so fun," she retorted. "Now then, who wants to jump first? I promise that I'll try to catch you- but I do not guarantee success on my behalf."
"I think I'll pass, General," Preston spoke, before he handed his laser musket over to Desdemona, and worked himself over the railing just as Nora had moments before. There seemed to be a little hesitation on his part before he jumped- and he did a much better job at sticking the landing than she had.
Desdemona tossed his musket back down to him, to which he set it aside on one of the assembly belts, before he caught the Railway Rifle she tossed afterwards; he grunted slightly at the heavy weight that came down with it.
Everyone worked in rotation.
Those on the catwalk tossed their weapons to the people below just before they jumped- ensuring that no one's gun took damage in the fall. It might've been a short, and easy leap, but there was no sense in taking any unnecessary risk here.
Being down a single gun could've been all it took to end their siege.
Nora waited with nervous hands as everyone eventually made their way down to the same floor as her. There was no going back now; they could only move forward from this point onward.
... While waiting for everyone to regroup, it might've been the first time Nora realized that there was twelve of them in total. There was her, Preston, Desdemona, Piper, as well as four Railroad Heavies, and four Minutemen. It was a nice, solid number, but... would it be enough to take down the Institute with? Of course, they still had Glory tucked away for the time being, so if they got into a tight spot, she would be a nice wild card to reveal.
Continuing forward, Nora followed her Pip-Boy, which lead them through the rest of the assembly room, and into a short hallway to her right. Her device highlighted a spot on the map, right where a circular hatch sat at her feet. She wanted to doubt it at first, but the hatch opened automatically as soon as she got close to it- revealing another room underneath them.
"Are you sure this is the right way?" Piper questioned.
Nora was almost certain that Piper was just asking the one question that no one else wanted to.
After all, what they had seen so far of the Institute didn't appear to be anything like the monster everyone had imagined- although the Synth guards confirmed that they were in the right place.
"I'm positive," Nora assured- and as an act of such, she forced herself down through the hatch.
Was she really all that positive? No.
She had never been here- if only for twenty minutes at most, maybe. And even then, she only stayed confined to that one room. She had never been down here- never been down this far into the belly of the beast. Hell, if she didn't have the map she had snagged from the computer, she wouldn't even know where the hell she was right now.
But did she have to let everyone else know that?
No.
Slowly navigating the narrow, rundown corridor that came next, Nora listened to each person coming down the hatch; and she only picked up her pace when everyone had gone through. The walls around them were stripped down to loose wires and cables sticking free. Old boxes lined the walls, and a few of them had to be slightly kicked out of the way in order for her to move forward.
Somehow she didn't imagine the Institute looking this rundown- even in an abandoned sector.
Either way, they just needed to use this place long enough to get to where they needed to be.
For instance, to the door that was now in front of her.
Her Pip-Boy revealed that it would lead them into the BioScience wing.
And the reports she had pulled on BioScience said that there were nearly half a dozen scientists currently working in this wing alone.
Nora waited until everyone had caught up to her- taking the time to catch her breath while she was at it. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she would be ignorant to try and ignore the feeling of constant fear creeping up the back of her neck. Her palms were getting a little sweater now, and she could feel a tight knot forming in her throat. Her nerves were winding up and knotting themselves underneath her skin.
No one else had to know about that though.
"Alright everyone... this is the real show now," Nora spoke, keeping her voice low; it was easier to control the shaking that way. "Mind your bullets, count them, and watch your head, alright?"
A quiet chorus of muttered agreements were whispered behind her.
No doubt everyone else was feeling the same kind of anxiety that she was.
"Good. Anything else that needs to be said before we go in there?" she questioned.
"We all know what we're here for, what we're doing here," Preston started. "Do not raise your gun at anyone who isn't shooting back at you. If someone wants to run, let them run. We're not monsters- and we're not going to be monsters. The Institute doesn't share that kind of mindset, but it doesn't mean that we have to play the same games that they do. Whether or not you believe it, there are innocent people here. And they deserve the chance to escape- safely, and with their lives."
Another small chorus of agreements- and an appreciative nod from Desdemona.
Nora brushed her hand against his arm, before she squeezed it out of reassurance- and as a way to say thanks.
This was the Institute, the Commonwealth's boogeyman.
Most people wouldn't even think to not treat these scientists as anything less than the monsters they made themselves out to be.
But then again, most people weren't like Preston.
When everyone gave the go ahead, Nora quietly counted down from three, before she pushed through the BioScience door.
It was much cleaner on this side- no doubt because it was still functional to the Institute.
A speck-white office full of terminals and desks greeted them. It was a far cry sight from the bomb-torn office buildings that laid scattered across the Commonwealth- dust covered, with small remains of its previous attendants; a small homage to the world that once was.
Nora kept her steps quiet- rolling her feet to keep her boots from squeaking against the white-tiled floor. Slowly working her way through the room, she kept her body low and motioned for everyone else to do the same. She could hear faint talking from the next room over, and knew that they were just barely out of the sight of the scientists; the slightest of noises could give away their positions right now.
Motioning for everyone to stay back, Nora worked up to the open doorway nearby and took the opportunity to scope out the next room. She briefly peeked out and winced at the blinding lights that filled the large lab; she had to blink a few times before her eyes adjusted to them. As far as she could tell, there were just a lot of plants, with a few scientists tending to each one separately.
She could only spot two Synth guards for the time being, but she got a feeling that they weren't the only ones around.
Glancing up, Nora figured she would see if there were any camera or anything of the sort that would give them away- only to regrettably notice the turrets that lined all along the ceiling.
Great.
"We got two guards, but mostly turrets in here," Nora whispered back to everyone. "Anyone with a rifle, or long-ranged gun, aim at the ceiling and get those turrets down, alright? The rest of us will handle the ground units. And again, we have scientists in here- watch your aim."
"You got it, General."
"Heard you loud, Charmer."
"Hoo-Rah, Blue."
Nora shook her head and rolled her eyes at Piper's quiet enthusiasm to join in- and heard the woman giggle quietly behind her.
"Look, all I'm saying is that the dirt from the Warwick farm is just- look, the results aren't matching up to ours. Are we positive that these are the right samples? And are we positive that the samples didn't get mixed up?"
"Are you accusing me of being sloppy?!"
"What? No, I'm just asking. I understand it could have just been a simple mistake-"
Nora interrupted the conversation as she walked into the room- shotgun drawn forward with a finger locked onto the trigger. She caught the momentary look of confusion the two men shared, before it quickly melted down into utter fear and panic as everyone else flooded into the room with her. Her riflemen immediately began to spread out behind her, and started taking aim at the turrets above them.
"GUARDS!"
The first Synth guard to raise its gun was immediately blown apart by three different weapons.
And a chorus of bullets began to ring out as the turrets along the ceiling began exploding one by one- long before they were even activated to attack.
Nora watched as the scientists stumbled around, before they raced to get out of the room- pushing their way through the Synth guards who stayed behind to cover them. She counted steps and buckshots as she shot her way through the guards, forcing her way towards the front of the wing. A multitude of other bullets echoed out behind her, telling her that everyone was spreading out now- working their way clear around the lab in its entirety.
She watched as more guards began to run in- and found herself impressed with their response time.
"Slow and steady," Preston warned over the roar of gunfire, before he took cover behind one of the planting tables. Most of the Minutemen following him did the same as the new Synth guards began firing at them.
It was loud and getting more and more dangerous as bullets ricocheted all around her.
Nora had to be deathly careful with the spread on her shotgun.
Pressing her shoulder against one of the tables, she kept her head down and breathing steady as laser rounds bounced off around her. She anticipated this. This was only the first step, and it would only get worse from here; they had to survive this in order to get anywhere from this point forward.
"Oh shit! We got company!" Piper called out, as she suddenly scrambled out from her hiding spot- putting herself into the direct line of fire. By some miracle, she somehow avoided taking any shots from the guards, let alone the remaining turrets. Woman always did claim she was damn lucky. "Hairy, four-legged, angry company!"
Nora turned at the odd callout, wondering just what the hell Piper was going on about.
Only to watch as what appeared to be two Silverback gorillas running at them.
Now that was a sight that was rare to see even before the war- let alone two hundred years later.
Two miles underground.
In the Institute.
Nora swore she felt one of the gorillas lock its red eyes onto her and watched as it charged towards her direction. This wasn't exactly a situation she had planned for- let alone even imagined, but she certainly had to think of something for it now. Pushing herself up, Nora ran towards one of the planting stations nearby; she figured it would be sturdy enough to hold the gorilla back just long enough for her to take a shot. It should go down in a buckshot or two, unless it was engineered with metal skin. And bones. And its body was completely impenetrable to bullets.
She barely a few steps out from behind the table she had been using before she felt hot pain spread across her right shoulder. A lucky shot from one of the remaining turrets. The damn thing must've been tracking her- waiting for her to reveal her position. And it damn well got what it wanted.
Stumbling slightly, Nora pushed on and slid behind the planting station- turning just in time to see her previous barricade get smashed into splinters by the gorilla's large fists. She just barely got out of that one.
Pushing herself up, she took aim and fired once; her buckshot peppering the gorilla's thick chest with pellets.
Didn't seem to slow the damn thing down though- if anything, she only managed to successfully piss it off.
It charged towards her once more as she readied a second shot.
Only to watch as a heavy spike impaled itself through the back of the gorilla's neck- killing it instantly. Its hefty body toppled forward, revealing the classic silverback that earned the gorilla it's name.
Nora took the brief still moment to collect her breath, and to realize what had just happened.
She just got attacked by a giant Silverback gorilla in the middle of the Institute.
A synthetic one more than likely- but still!
"You all right there, Charmer?" Desdemona called out to her, reloading her rifle as the last of the laser turrets and Synth guards went down around her.
Her Railroad Heavies had circled around the back and come up from the right side- sandwiching the guards between two lines of fire. There was a slow, settling silence, implying that BioScience would not be getting any more reinforcements for the time being.
Smart move.
For now, the wing was secured in their favor.
"Didn't realize that you were a hunter, Desdemona," Nora spoke, trying to mask the shaking in her voice with a little humor as she pushed herself to her feet. One hand dusted herself off, before she checked on her injured shoulder. Her armor had blocked a majority of the shot, thankfully, but the skin just underneath it had been stripped and then cauterized by the heat of the laser. A little blood, a little pain- nothing new.
Not enough to slow her down anyways.
"I'll be honest. I don't normally shoot large wildlife in my free time," the woman replied.
Nora managed a quiet laugh, before something once more dawned on her. It felt sloppy to ask such a question now, considering that it should've been covered beforehand, but... she had been in such a rush. And while she was knee-deep in rotting ocean water, everyone else was going over last minute plans in Sanctuary. "Where's Deacon at anyways? Did he decide not to come along for the ride?"
"Deacon wanted to wait on the other side and keep things stable from that end," Desdemona answered. "We needed a guy in Sanctuary anyways, so he was needed there- whether he wanted to stay back or not. And before you ask, Dogmeat stayed back with Carrington. Not sure why, or what the old dog sees in the old man, but he didn't budge when I left earlier.
That sounded about right.
For both Deacon and Dogmeat.
Giving the BioScience lab one more look over, Nora watched as everyone slowly came back together and regrouped- looking a little more nervous and on edge now. "Everyone good? We got any injured?" she asked, although she could probably guess the answer. Everyone just shook their heads and muttered out a brief answer. No one looked deathly injured, which was good.
"I might've pissed myself a little back there," Piper replied, giving a nervous laugh as she rubbed at the back of her neck.
"You get used to it," Nora spoke.
"Don't be gross, Blue."
"Well, if there are no further objections... I'd say we're good to keep going forward," Desdemona announced.
Good.
Step one completed.
Onto step two.
Nora followed her Pip-Boy as she made her way forward and into a narrow corridor at the front of the labs. The door at the end seemed to be the only way out of BioScience- which could prove to be... dangerous if there was someone waiting on the other side for them. By some saving grace, the retreating scientists didn't think to lock the door behind them, which was odd; it was something Nora certainly would've done.
Opening the door, she stepped through and into what might be the heart of the Institute.
It was a large atrium-looking place; no doubt the circular structure allowed easy access to all of the wings of the Institute. She could see another wing right across from them- the Advanced Systems wing.
It looked like a scene out of one of those old futuristic movies she used to stay up and watch when she was a kid- always laughing at the gaudiness of the future. And yet, here it was right in front of her. Stark-white floors and tiles that reflect every bit of the bright lights that hung above her. The center of the atrium dipped down into a small circular ring, where a small lounge area resided; the small gardening plots around made it seem a little more natural. There was water running underneath her feet, covered by glass, before it ran towards the gardening area and formed small waterfalls around the center of the atrium.
The sound of quiet, running water was almost soothing when in comparison to the gunfight they had just gotten out of.
How could something like this exist just underneath the feet of the Commonwealth?
...
Any little moment of peace was immediately penetrated by the yelling of scientists and Institute personnel who were still escaping.
And the moment was further ruined by the arrival of more synthetic guards who rushed in to defend them.
"Spread out! Give them multiple targets!" Nora called, as everyone ducked for cover against the pillars nearby. "Railroad go left! Minutemen go right!" They waited for the first wave of laser rounds to end before both factions separated and took off. As far as she could tell, it looked like the corridors would circle back around to one another- which would hopefully pin the Synth guards between two walls of fire.
With hope, all of the personnel would be out of the way before then.
As for her... she preferred to rush down the middle while it was opened- while her men pulled the guards attention to them.
Nora shot her way through the few guards in front of her- feeling heat and metal chassis bouncing off around her with each successful shot. Taking down three of the guards, she ducked behind a nearby wall and crushed a few plants underfoot in doing so. Shaky hands rushed to reload her shotgun, as she ejected her empty stock and hooked it onto her belt, before she grabbed her full one. No sense in tossing the empty stock aside- those things were damn hard to find, and damn expensive to buy. Two was usually all she needed, and even then, they had costed her an arm and a leg to get ahold of.
... About that time, with a mess of packed bullets and grease in her hands, Nora heard the familiar hum of a Courser teleporting in.
Gritting her teeth, she cursed and fumbled to get the stock properly in place before she looked up as the Courser appeared a few feet in front of her. His gun was already locked and aimed on her- and there was no hesitation in his hands.
He got the first shot.
And the bullet struck her in the abdomen, where her armor just barely held together underneath the hefty blow.
She felt the force of it though, and wheezed as the hard shot knocked the air out of her, before a dull sense of pain flooded her lower torso.
But she heard the successful click of her stock snapping into place now, and cocked her gun before she began unloading as many shells as she could into the Courser. She ran the full risk of jamming her shotgun, but right now she needed to be pulling the trigger as quickly as she could. Or at least, faster than him.
Each shot blew away at the Courser's thick, protective uniform.
It took three shots before she managed to break through the material, before she started doing actual damage on the Courser himself. Keeping her back tight against the wall, Nora dug her heels into the soft dirt underneath her as she kept firing until the Synth collapsed in front of her.
Her head and her ears were ringing something righteous.
Her bones ached from being so tense, and her fingers were practically numb- and her stomach was aching something raw too.
... The mess of blood and tissue that laid out before her left a sickening feeling in the pit of her gut.
These were the things that the Institute sent into University Point.
These were the monsters that tore through all of those innocent people- that trapped and shot those settlers to death with no sense of mercy.
Her body ached at the fear that the girl, Jacqueline, must've felt as she remained trapped and alone in that room, listening to the Synths tear through the building.
The guilt of knowing that the Institute was only there because of her.
...
But just the same... Nora thought of Glory, who was no different from these Coursers. All blood and bone the same. All Gen-3 Synths made to look like humans- just so long as they didn't act, nor feel like them. Created for a purpose, but refused the possession of humanity.
Nora thought of H2-22, who was relived, yet terrified at having escaped the Institute- terrified that a Courser would soon be deployed after him. She remembered the look of relief on his face when she spoke to him, when she promised safety, and a better future. When she promised him a sense of humanity, and new life as a human.
Anger mixed with guilt, and for a second, Nora didn't want to be here.
She didn't want to be at the Institute, surrounding by all of this madness.
... Just a second though, and the feeling quickly passed on.
A mere blink of the eye, before she reloaded some extra shells and moved on.
Stepping into the atrium herself, Nora picked off the Synth guards who were too busy shooting at her own men, before she joined Desdemona and Preston to take down the remaining Courser.
So far, so good on clearing the place out.
They had to keep moving forward though- they couldn't risk getting stuck here.
"Hey boss, we got a problem."
Nora stopped as the radio on her belt buzzed to life, before she tugged it free. At the very least, the fight was over with for now, so she could take a few seconds to answer and pray that it wasn't serious. "Don't tell me that, Sturges," she replied, mind racing as to what the issue could be. Did the teleporter fail? Could they not actually get these people out of here?
"I know, but look, I found where the reactor is, and I know you know where it is too... And you know that you'll need to get yourself to the Advanced Systems area in order to get to it," Sturges spoke, before the radio picked up on his hefty sigh. "Well... it's locked. And Tom and I can't override it from here. From what we can see, it looks like that command can only come from the Director's personal terminal. So if you want that reactor, you're gonna need to get access to that terminal somehow and lift the lock."
...
Nora felt her body run cold at the words.
The Director's personal terminal...
Shaun's personal terminal, he meant.
Was she ready for that? Was she ready to go head-to-head with her own son?
... At this point, she didn't really have a choice anymore. She needed the wing open, she needed that reactor... and she needed to end this. And if she had to look into Shaun's eyes and tell him that she was going to destroy his entire life's work, than so be it.
"I'll get the access," Nora spoke, before she set her radio down- although nervous fingers nearly dropped it instead. It felt like she could feel everyone's eyes drawn to her, no doubt having overheard the conversation... She couldn't bring herself to look back at them; she didn't want to see how they would be looking at her, perceiving her. "Maintain this position until I get back... I'm going to speak with my son."
"Charmer," Desdemona started, her skin flushed from the battle, with the catch of blood on one cheek. "I know there's nothing I can say that will make this easier for you."
"Don't you worry about me," Nora tried to assure, before she looked back to the elevator in the middle of the atrium. It was like the damn thing was waiting for her- calling for her, because it also knew where she would have to go.
With shaky legs, she walked over and stepped inside of it- hearing the faint hum of the cylinder closing around her, before it began to descend.
It felt like her heart and stomach were in her throat as she tried to ignore the solemn looks everyone gave her just before she disappeared.
Everyone knew...
And everyone knew that this could only end one way.
Hitting the bottom of the elevator shaft, Nora found herself traveling down a corridor that was vaguely familiar, before she stepped into a second elevator. And continued her journey downward. The anticipation alone felt like it was choking her- knotting itself in her throat, and squeezing the air out of her heavy lungs. Every second she spent trapped in that elevator felt like death.
Still, she continued onward.
Nora continued on through more familiar corridors, retracing old steps, before she entered the holding room where she had first witnessed the Synth-version of her son. And she felt herself stumble over her own feet at the memory. She felt her chest and throat tighten as her stomach sank into itself.
How cruel it had been to hold him in front of her like that.
To tease and bait her with the false image of her own son...
Nora held onto that hurt, onto that anger, as she headed into the next room and stormed up the staircase to her right.
She expected to find more guards, more Coursers- more panicked scientists at least.
But instead, she just saw him.
She saw Shaun, sitting at his terminal as though he knew that she would come for it, rather than him.
"I didn't expect to see you again."