Chapter 6
Ember analyzed the ship towering in front of her. She was curious as to how it could be ripped in half so cleanly. Charon walked closely behind her, which wasn't normal, but she appreciated it. The night before he held her and washed away all of her doubts. He didn't say anything now, but he didn't need to, Ember was completely content.
Charon's normal intimidating aura returned and doubled. Knowing she also had an attachment to him motivated him to protect her. He wouldn't let anything near her.
"Rivet City, Miss." He said calmly.
Ember turned to face him and smiled, nodding slightly. They walked along a metal bridge stretching from the land onto the deck and entered the door to the left. After asking around for Dr. Li, they arrived at the science lab in Rivet City. A thin Asian woman wearing a pressed white lab coat could be seen. Ember jogged to her excitedly.
"Excuse me, are you Dr. Li?"
The woman turned around and nodded confidently. "That's me."
Ember beamed and said, "M-my father! He's here isn't he? James, where is he?"
Dr. Li's eyes were wide. "Ember? My have you grown. No, I'm sorry. James left here a few days ago. He headed over to the Jefferson Memorial to resume research on Project Purity."
Ember's heart dropped in her chest. She wanted to find him already. She wanted to find him and make him tell her why he abandoned her like that. She missed him, and every time someone told her those all too familiar words, "He was just here, but he's not anymore", she got more and more discouraged. She regained her composure and kept mentally telling herself she was almost there, that she was so close to finding him.
"Project Purity?" She said after picking herself back up emotionally.
Dr. Li nearly scoffed. "Hasn't he told you about it? Project Purity. The water purification plan your parents and other scientists, including me, were researching before the tragic loss of your mother."
Charon's eyebrows raised slightly. He hadn't learned much about Ember's past. He just knew that she had a burning intent on finding her father.
"No...I've never heard of it.." Ember said, with a slightly offended tone.
"Oh..Well the plan was to build a facility that could purify all the water in the Tidal Basin at once. No radiation, no muck, just clean water."
Ember drifted into a distant memory of her childhood.
"Revelation 21:6: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end. I shall give unto him who is athirst the fountain of the waters of life freely."
Ember giggled and clapped her toddler sized hands together, smiling at her dad. "What's that Daddy?"
James knelt in front of his only child and put his hands on her petite shoulders. He smiled, but his eyes were sad.
"That was your mother's favorite scripture from the Bible. I always remember it when I miss her."
He moved one of his hands onto Ember's head and ruffled her hair slightly. "You can remember it when you miss her too, sweetie."
Ember's large, childlike eyes stared at her father with concern, and she hugged him. The gate to her play pen closed as he walked slowly, sadly, away from her nursery.
Her heart ached as she realized the inspiration for her father's research. "Where is he again?"
"Jefferson Memorial, it's not that far from here actually."
Ember nodded and smiled in appreciation. "Thanks for your help Doc."
Without another word she ran from the science lab, out of Rivet City, and across the metal bridge. She bent over and held her chest.
"That...that research project. Project Purity... It was for my mother." She said between breaths.
Charon stayed beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Miss.."
Ember went on. "Revelation 21:6: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end. I shall give unto him who is athirst the fountain of the waters of life freely."
She took a few seconds to catch her breath and stood up straight. "It was my mother's favorite scripture. She died giving birth to me."
"Miss, we don't have to talk about thi-"
"He loved her so much, Charon, with everything he had. I never really forgave myself for taking her away from him. We need to find him. We need to find him right now, Charon. Right now."
He nodded and signaled to the Jefferson Memorial, only a few hundred feet away from the ship. Ember ran with her entire heart and soul urging her on. She thought about those years he went on, tortured and lonely from his loss. It motivated her to run faster than she had ever before. I'm so sorry Dad..I'm so sorry for taking Mom from you..
She ran blindly until she felt Charon pull on her shirt from behind. She came to an abrupt stop and turned to him.
"Super mutants, Miss, around the building."
Ember was devastated. "What?" She said horrified. Her dad was in there! How could there be super mutants there too? She yanked out her rifle and signaled to Charon.
He nodded and they advanced towards the building. A super mutant spotted them and howled to his companions, signaling intruders. Ember shut him up viciously by delivering a head shot. A combination of anger and adrenaline coursed through her.
She took down several super mutants effortlessly, and Charon hardly needed to help. He smirked while gripping his shotgun, impressed with her sudden skills of combat. Ember, the coal of a dying fire that refuses to be extinguished.
With hardly any bullets wasted, and many corpses of super mutants, they had fought their way to the Rotunda of the Jefferson Memorial; well, mostly Ember.
"Dad?" She called out while scanning the area for any more threats. There was no answer. She walked up the stairs and shot a super mutant brute who came running at her. He wasn't in here. She screamed in disappointment and her voice echoed off of the walls. She ran up the rest of the stairs and into a circular room located in the middle. She saw a holotape on one of the tables and hesistantly slipped it into her Pip-Boy. There was a faint vibration coming from it as the holotape began to play.
"I'm off to Vault 112 to search for anything of Braun's that might help me get this purifier up and running. All I know is that it's West of some place called "Evergreen Mills," and it's well hidden in some sort of garage. But I'll find it, I have to. It's so close, but that's the story of Project Purity, isn't it? An eternity of "almost there's". Let's see if Braun has the missing puzzle piece."
Her Pip-Boy went silent and Ember nearly cried. "God dammit Dad!" She sunk to the floor and sighed. Charon knelt next to her, slipping his shotgun back into its holster. Her eyes were downcast and she immediately got up and walked the same way they came.
Strolling through the quiet, abandoned Jefferson Memorial, Ember grumbled under her breath, occasionally turning to Charon for support.
"Stupid super mutants and their stupid hunting rifles. Stupid Moira and distracting me from finding Dad. Stupid me for getting distracted!" She turned her head to Charon while walking "Wasn't this just a huge waste of precious damn time?" He simply nodded, happy to see her as her old self again.
He stayed only slightly over a foot behind her, generally enjoying her company. She tripped over the leg of a flipped metal table and completely exploded.
"Gah! What the hell, table?! Screw you too!" She kicked the table and, realizing it was completely metal, clinged to her foot in pain.
Charon couldn't help but smile. He adored this girl. She recovered and walked angrily through the rest of the building, swearing up a storm.
Maybe they should have named her Inferno, the endless fire. He thought to himself and chuckled softly.
