Chapter 8 – Not-so-Good Neighbour
Max had warned them to keep their prejudices in check, but Recon Squad Gladius had no idea what they were walking into as they stepped through the gate. Goodneighbour was their worst nightmare. Rhys' face was nearly purple with rage as he glared furiously around the town. It was den of Ghouls, Robots and Chemheads.
Max strolled through the gate with her new team behind her. Danse had chaffed a bit at her, with what he had seen as a demotion by the elder, but he kept it to himself. He looked around with distaste but remained professional. Haylen just looked about with interest, taking it all in.
Max was rushed at the gate, taken up in a big bear hug by a blur of ghoul. She heard the rasp of his voice in her ear and laughed out loud.
"I knew you couldn't keep away from me, beautiful," John Hancock leered into her ear. "You can't resist my charms." He gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek and set her down. He leaped back from her suddenly and Max turned to her team, all three of them had their weapons drawn and trained on the Mayor of Goodneighbour.
"Geez Guys, Relax." She sighed and turned back to Hancock, "John, this is the Brotherhood of Steel, they overreact to stuff." She introduced as the soldiers reluctantly lowered their laser rifles.
"How's it been going?" She asked ignoring her shadows as she and Hancock started walking deeper into the town, trusting her guards and allies to follow her. Max waved at several people hailing her as she walked on, Daisy and KLEO.
"The triggermen have fucked off, No-nose is dead and MacCready no longer lives here. Things have never been better." He grinned at her.
"You miss RJ, admit it." She chuckled at him, knowing full well that he and MacCready were near as best friends.
"What's he up to anyway? I haven't had word in ages." Hancock asked looking a little hurt.
"He's at Sanctuary trying to get into Curies pants." She supplied.
"Ahh right. Is he having any luck?" Hancock nodded knowingly, a small smile gracing his ghoulish face.
"No." She said with a wide smirk. Hancock laughed raspily.
"Hey Deacon" She spoke to an inconspicuous looking drifter leaning nonchalantly against a wall.
"I'm not Deacon." He replied, looking sheepish.
She just smiled. "I see everything." She said to him before they moved on.
"Have you seen Nick today?" She asked Hancock finally, getting to the point of her visit.
"Yeah, He was at the Rail earlier, I think he's in the Rexford now."
"I've got stuff to do right now, but we'll catch up soon?" She said by way of farewell. Hancock nodded and gave her arm a quick squeeze and casting an indecipherable look at the following Brotherhood soldiers, before walking back to his office past a group of neighbourhood watchmen.
She didn't need to go to the Rexford, as the gumshoes voice called out to her.
"Hey kid, glad you made it." Nick was watching her silent guards warily from his spot just off the road. Nick was just finishing a cigarette, leaning up against a streetlamp, his fedora covering his eyes. The image reminded her of the cover of an old crime novel.
"Thanks for this Nick." She replied, grateful for his help despite the crap he had had to put up with from her new allies.
"Anything for you kid, let's just hope this pans out for you." He replied dropping his cigarette to the ground and stubbing it out with the toe of his shoe, before pushing off and walking towards the group.
He led her to the Memory Den, an old repurposed theatre and opened the door for her to enter and then let the door close behind him before the Brotherhood could come through.
Max had been here before a few months previously, to help Curie acquire the humanoid body that she craved. She greeted Irma warmly as she reclined gracefully on her chaise, looking for all the world like a blonde bombshell from the movies. Danse joined them, out of his power armour and he glared at Nicks back. Rhys and Haylen must have been set to watch outside. Max hoped that Rhys could behave himself while unattended by his superior.
They proceeded to troop down the stairs into Dr Amaris private clinic. Amari didn't look too impressed to see Max. Sometimes Maxs mouth had that effect on people. She had made some inappropriate, though highly amusing comments the last time she had been here. Max smiled cheerily at the doctor who sighed and gave a slight grimace in response.
Danse could see that Max had a similar effect on this Doctor that she had on him to begin with, he could see the womans jaw clenching in frustration at every quip that Max made as they conversed. He didn't understand everything that they were saying but it seemed like they were going to plug the mercenarys cybernetic implant into Nick to see if it could be read.
Did Nick just say they needed this to find Max's son? What else was going on here?
He watched as Nick was plugged into the lounger but something was wrong... typical, the robot didn't have the clout to help them. His processing must be deficient, Danse thought spitefully to himself.
"The encryption is too strong for a single mind, but what if we used two… "The doctor theorised. "We load both you and Mr Valentine into the memory loungers and run your cognitive functions in parallel. He'll act as a host while your consciousness drives through whatever memories we can find."
"Any idea what I'll see in there?" Max asked cautiously.
"Not a clue, but considering what we have to work with, I doubt it will be cohesive." The Doctor replied uncertainly.
"As long as I don't see Nick in any compromising positions..." She leered at the grizzled old synth, as Nick gave her a reserved and condescending look in response.
"Let's do it." Max decided, moving towards one of the loungers.
"Now, wait one minute" Danse interjected, coming forward to grab Maxs arm. "Are there risks? Are you even going to bother to ask?"
"The risks are worth it, it doesn't matter what they are." Max shrugged indifferently peeling Danses fingers from her arm. "Just keep watch, if anything does happen, you'll be able to see everything that I see and you can report it back to Arthur." She indicated towards a small view screen and continued to clamber into the lounger as Danse looked on anxiously.
"I know how much you adore your reports." She chuckled as the lounger sealed around her in preparation for her going under, he could hear her ask incredulously "What, No popcorn?" She gave Danse a wink and a grin.
He shook his head in exasperation and stepped up to the view screen. Watching closely as the process began. It was working, images began to fill the little screen, jumbled at first but they soon condensed into organised narratives.
He watched as Nick and Max sifted through the man Kellogg's memories as Dr Amari monitored their progress, helping them traverse the neural pathways of the dead merc. He watched as a child became a man and a man became a killer. It was fascinating, like he imagined a moving picture show from the prewar world would be like. He watched the mercs first introduction to the Institute with interest, taking careful note of the conversation.
The next memory though, gave him a chill as he watched it and he flicked a glance at Max as she lay in repose. Her fingers had started to twitch, her forehead wrinkled and a small gasp escaped her lips as the man, Kellogg walked down a row of pods, a hazmat suited woman walking in front of him looking at the pods left and right. He saw in the monitor, Max awake but trapped in one of those pods, groggy and confused. He watched enthralled and with no small amount of dread as the intruders opened a mans pod, shot him in the head and wrest a crying baby from his limp arms. He looked sharply at Max who let loose a raw and agonised cry from the lounger, her face contorted with… what? Rage? Horror? Grief? A combination of all three and more? He looked back at the screen in time to see the memory of Max screaming and thrashing silently within her pod, pounding on the glass until her fists were bloodied, her beautiful face streaked with tears. Kellogg called her a Back-up.
Her Husband… Her Son.
"You have to stop this." He grated harshly at the Doctor, his heart pounding for Max. "Look what it's doing to her."
He left the screen and hovered over her lounger wanting to tear the door off and free her of her sudden nightmare. A single tear trailed its way down her cheek.
"Wait." said the Doctor hesitantly, "There's one more, just one, let's see what it is otherwise it's been for nothing"
Max was calming again in her lounger, leaving the memory of her husbands murder and her sons kidnapping behind. She began to breathe normally again and the frown lines eased on her forehead. Danse hurried back to the view screen and watched intently. Please don't be a bad memory… please make it worth what she just had to see… he silently implored.
The image condensed into a little boy, about ten years old reading comics on the floor of a darkened room. He looked back at Max, was that her son? Had it been that long?
He watched in disbelief as a man in black appeared in the memory, as if from a bolt of lightening into the shadow of a room and after a brief exchange with the Merc, took the boy, disappearing by the same method. Teleportation? Was that possible? He looked back at Max, her face was serene again.
As he looked back to the screen the memories slowly faded and the monitor went blank. Danse took a deep shuddering breath and looked to Max. If it had been that tense for him, he could only imagine what she was feeling, living it through mind of her enemy. He strode to her side and hunkered down by the lounger, watching for signs of her waking, ready to comfort her if needed, the way she had for him.
He was vaguely aware of Nick exiting his pod and he and Dr Amari speaking quietly behind him. He watched her, she wasn't waking.
"Why isn't she waking?" He asked with concern.
"It will take a moment for her to wake." The doctor replied from somewhere behind him. "Her vitals are fine, she's fine."
Slowly Max began to stir and the lounger cracked open, Danse ducked under the door and bent over her and softly touched her cheek, wiping away that stray tear as her eyes flickered open.
He looked into her eyes, a trace of anguish lingered in them.
"Well," She spoke unsteadily, "That sucked balls."
He said nothing, but helped her rise shakily out of the lounger. She stumbled a little and he held her for a moment until she regained her equilibrium.
"Where's Nick?" She asked, looking for her friend.
Danse had not seen him go, Mr Amari answered. "He has gone back upstairs and is waiting for you there."
"Thanks Doc," Max said sincerely. "I think we got what we needed… you're a real smart cookie you know that?"
The doctor accepted the compliment graciously and bid them farewell. Max walked on her own having stepped away from Danse and made her way upstairs back into the Den and in search of Nick. Danse followed her closely uncertain of weather or not he should say anything about what he had seen. She seemed intent on her task, he chose to wait.
She approached Nick with a smile, he looked up from the faded sofa that he was resting on.
"Hope you got what you were looking for inside my head," it wasn't Nicks gruff voice coming out of his mouth, it was Kellogg's in that taunting, patronising tone that she remembered when she met him at Fort Hagan… and killed him. "Ha ha, I was right, I should have killed you when you were on ice"
"You wanna try for round two asshole, Let's go." Max was suddenly in a rage, stepping towards Nick threateningly with Danse at her back, shock written on both of their faces.
"W-what?" Nick stuttered, his own voice returning "What are you talking about?"
"Wait, were you just playing a joke on me?" Max asked, becoming calm and friendly as fast as she had gotten angry.
"I guess that's for you to wonder and for me and Kelloggs memories to know for sure." He said a little sadly, "Anyway I feel fine now. Doc said there might be some Mnemonic Impressions..."
He stood up and adjusted his coat, searching his pockets for his cigarettes.
"So, you're off to the Glowing Sea then." Nick continued, placing a stick in the corner of his mouth and looking for his flip lighter "to find the mysterious Dr Virgil?"
Danse looked confused. Had he missed something?
"It's the best lead I think." She replied, "If he managed to escape the Institute then it stands to reason he would know a way in again… that's if Kellogg didn't get to him first." She mused.
"Nicky, I'm taking the team with me." She said pointedly.
Nick nodded. "I'll go back to Diamond City then, I wouldn't want to toss a spanner in the works." He glanced at Danse briefly, "Let me know how it goes?"
"Sure thing." She gave him quick fierce hug. "Thanks."
