Denouement
(A Fallout/Borderlands Crossover)
- Chapter 8 : Atom -
MacCready didn't spend a lot of time standing still, vouching instead to clear out what remained of the tunnel. Fiona couldn't do much with that leg so he'd advised her to stay behind and take care of Dogmeat - which she did, pulling the massive German Shepherd into her lap and stroking her every time she cried. But with each bullet fired off from MacCready's sniper rifle, her mouth twitched. She would much rather be doing something productive.
Perhaps it was better this way. The fire in MacCready's eyes before he disappeared into their subterranean hideaway made it clear nothing that got in his way was going to survive. It was so fierce that Fiona flinched backwards, frowning to cover the fact that he'd intimidated her.
And all for that Pip-Boy? No ... for the woman who wore it. Nora. With one hand resting on Dogmeat's mottled skull, Fiona used the other to pull the strange machine to her. The dog's nose twitched, leaned in close to get a whiff off it, and she whined.
"It's okay, girl," thrummed Fiona in as comforting a tone as she could muster. Her fingers fiddled with each button until the Pip-Boy's screen hummed to life. A garbled series of letters and numbers greeted her, none of them making a lick of sense. It was too bad Sasha and Rhys weren't here. She never outwardly gave the programmer much credit beforehand but had to admit that, if he'd been there now, whatever the Pip-Boy was hiding would be exposed in a matter of seconds.
Pryce mentioned something about the Children of Atom. She didn't know who they were or what their agenda was, but when the term 'fanatics' was thrown into the mix, she assumed it was a cult of some kind. Hell, the name rang similar to the Children of Helios - would they be considered a religious faction, too?
She remembered the decapitated statue of Handsome Jack and how Rhys had gushed at the prospect of being considered a 'god'. After being back-stabbed by practically everyone from Hyperion and stepped on by several Pandorans, he'd eaten up all the adoration he could from his devoted 'fans'. Fiona called him a douchebag for it but really, if the statue had her name scrawled on it ... she would have done the same.
Fiona flipped the Pip-Boy over. Scrawled on the inside in very professional engraving was 'Vault 111'. Another one? That's right ... Nora was in a cryogenic facility. How many Vaults are there? With that word continuously flipping through her mind, Fiona found herself longing to be back on Pandora. All that Vault Hunter training, wasted here on Earth ... She wondered what Athena was up to and grinned at the idea of Janey boring her to death with wedding plans. Fiona stared off into the distance, laughing to herself until Dogmeat's pained whimpers brought her back to reality. She administered another stimpack and watched more of the pooch's wounds heal.
What would they do when MacCready got back? There was still the matter of a lost Deathclaw egg ... and with the RadStorm kicking in full force overhead, they weren't going to be leaving any time soon. She wondered if Rhys and Sasha saw it coming and found shelter, if they remembered to take their Rad-X and if they -
"You worry too much." MacCready - she wasn't used to referring to him as RJ, it felt too weird - slunk in like a shadow: completely unheard despite his heavy boots and flapping coat. His rifle was slung across his back and he favored his right arm a little, a palm covering his shoulder. Is that blood? A steady stream of it slipped between his fingers. "You keep frowning like that and you'll get some crazy old-lady-wrinkles. I mean, you'll still be hot but you'll look like a cougar." By way of excusing himself from the verbal assault Fiona was about to launch upon him, he added with a grin and a twinkle in his eye, "I'd still dig ya, though."
That was ballsy, but MacCready wasn't a coward. Fiona cackled in pleasant surprise, gently removing Dogmeat from her lap.
"You laughed. I'm off the hook."
"You're only off the hook when I say you are," she countered with a dangerous wag of her finger. "And you're definitely not, so consider that strike one."
He strode beside her and sat with a pained grunt. Without asking his permission or waiting to see what he would do, Fiona pried his bloody fingers, jacket, and shirt away to inspect the injury. "Ah - ah! Easy!"
"Don't be such a wuss." But she whistled at the damage. It wasn't a terrible gunshot wound. Yeah, it was big and it went deep, but it hadn't passed through to the other side and at least it wasn't buckshot. Fiona could see a glint of metal embedded in the flesh and pulled their rucksack closer to hunt for tweezers. "You should've let me come with you."
"Not with your ankle like that. Don't take this the wrong way, but you'd be slowing me down. And they would've dropped you once they saw you were hurt." MacCready hissed as the Vault Hunter dug through ripped muscle, but he didn't scream or whimper. Fiona realized he probably had to do this to himself more than once. "The other side of the tunnel was packed. They set up shop with barricades and watchtowers outside. Had to pick 'em off one-by-one. 'Sides, it helped me blow off steam."
She stopped moving her hands and glimpsed Pryce's bloody corpse. Initially Fiona thought it was overkill. But if it'd been Sasha that was missing, she would have done much worse. "You're definitely calmer than what you were." Fiona twitched the tweezers and plucked the bullet out. She held a bottle of water up and nodded (with a wiggle of her eyebrows and a suggestive little smile) for MacCready to remove his clothes.
He did so without complaint. Fiona was expecting him to be a little more built than what he was, but for somebody who slipped to and fro virtually undetected, his wiry frame suited him. He definitely had muscles where it counted. "My face is up here," came his smug retort, and he was smirking when she lifted her eyes to meet his. "Don't want you getting lost in my glorious pecs."
Fiona snorted. "Glorious, sure," sarcasm-laced words dripped as she rinsed off the bullet hole.
MacCready winced, though she couldn't tell it it was real and out of pain, or fake and in response to her comment. "Ooooh, knock a guy down, will ya? Alright, Miss Crow's Feet - "
"That's strike two."
"What do I get on strike three?"
Fiona didn't answer and returned with a stimpack, quickly jamming it under the clavicle nearest the injury. Dogmeat made a pitiful sound. MacCready rubbed underneath her chin, turning to the Vault Hunter when she'd returned to her spot and pointing to her ankle. Fiona held it out with a groan.
"Don't get me wrong," he told her while gently removing her shoe and sock before rolling up her pant leg, "I'm freakin' out on the inside. This is the closest we've ever gotten to finding Nora in two years. It's actually pointing to where she might've been taken - because this stinks of abduction, yeah?" Fiona's ankle was swollen and red, but not deformed. They lacked splints. All he could do was wrap it tightly with gauze and feed her some Med-X-spiked-Hydra. "It's been so long and a lot of things could've happened to her. I'm really hoping there's a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow."
A thought presented itself to Fiona and, though she didn't shift uncomfortably or anything like that, her eyes averted themselves in shame of what crossed her mind. MacCready was observant, however, and caught on fast.
"She's basically my sister," he added, setting her belongings to the side. Fiona's demeanor brightened a little. Dogmeat crawled into his lap. MacCready started feeding her scraps again, watching the canine remorsefully. "Well, her hired gun really ... She took me on back in Goodneighbor and helped me settle some scores with the Gunners."
"You had beef with them?" Fiona asked, not surprised. "Those two assholes definitely knew who you were."
"I used to run with them." Okay, she wasn't expecting that. "Used to. But they were ... unsavory. Shot at anything that moved if the caps were right. It wore on me after a while and I bolted. Started taking up some odd jobs - mercenary work, as you know - and two of 'em tried extorting me under threat of death, claiming I was 'hunting in their territory'. So, Nora and I did some hunting of our own." He didn't need to spell it out for her, but he did fire a finger gun twice with added sound effects. "After that I just kinda ... felt like I owed it to her to keep her safe. It was my job, and then she goes and disappears. That was my responsibility. I was supposed to watch the boss' back."
"She sounds like she was pretty tough, Mac. I'm sure she's okay."
His worrisome expression told her he obviously felt otherwise. "If the Children of Atom have her, I seriously wonder about that ... "
That name again ... "Who are they?"
"A group of dumbas - ugh - idiots that think the nuclear apocalypse was a sign from a god they call 'Atom'. They literally worship nukes. There was this city up in the Capital Wasteland called Megaton. Has a huge bomb in the middle of it that dropped but never detonated - never will, 'cause some guy came by many years ago and defused it, but the Children of Atom would gather around and pray to it. Buncha morons." He grumbled painfully because Fiona was using the gauze roll he'd found to cover and wrap his own injury. "They'll yap and yap about how, 'Atom is going to return and bestow the glow upon everybody,' or whatever. Up in D.C. they were harmless, something like monks. Here in the Commonwealth they're vicious as hell. If you don't believe in what they believe in, you're an enemy of their faith and need to die."
"So they just kinda spread out?" Fiona inquired, rinsing MacCready's blood off her hands. "No headquarters?"
"Nooooo-ho-ho, they have one. But you need a damn good HAZMAT suit to get there. Their HQ's in a bomb crater to the south. I don't know how they managed to survive in the Glowing Sea without becoming ghoulified. And they've got gamma guns ... "
"Gamma guns?"
"They blast you with radiation."
"Holy shit."
"With that much exposure, by all rights they should be dead." He eyed the Pip-Boy, tilting his head when he saw it'd been turned on. Fiona sheepishly rubbed the back of her scalp.
"Yeaaah, I got curious."
"Hell, I was gonna turn it on anyway," he chuckled, plucking it from her side. The aggravated grumble in his throat made it clear MacCready was not happy with what he was looking at. "Damn it, encryption ... I can't hack for crap, so uh ... " He didn't need to speak his thoughts for her to understand where his mind went. Until they got back to Vault 81 or bumped into Rhys, the hunt for Nora was going to be put on hold.
Wait. This hadn't originally been a hunt for -
"Goddammit," Fiona cursed and MacCready's head snapped her way. She wished she could stand and pace angrily. "The fucking Deathclaw egg. We forgot about it."
But the merc was calm. He slowly smiled. "Done."
"Done?" she repeated, perplexed.
MacCready reached for his coat and pulled a large mottled brown-and-black egg from one of its many pockets. "One of the guys outside had it. Must've not trusted these two dumbbells."
The thing wasn't much larger than a medium-sized book. "You'd think it'd be bigger, coming from something like Savage ... "
"The little ones that hatch are so small they're kinda cute," he admitted, smiling. He tucked it safely back where he'd gotten it from. "They're nothing like their adult counterparts. Then they grow up and get all gangly and toothy and clawy ... "
Fiona beamed. "So, do you have any baby pictures?"
"I - what?" One could smell smoke from the cogs straining to spin in his skull. Then he sneered. "Oh-ho-ho, she's got jokes! I'll remember that when you're begging for your heart medication, Granny."
Fiona proudly held up three fingers. "And that's the third strike."
He raised his hands in faint protest. "Oh no," his bargaining was dull and unconvincing, "please, don't, whatever you do ... Wait a sec, you instigated that last one."
"It still counts," she cheekily replied, scooting closer to him. The way he fluttered her eyes made MacCready stop protesting immediately. His lips slipped into a sly smile.
"Okay, so what are you gonna do 'bout it?" Her face loomed closer to his until their noses were touching. The merc was clearly not having any problems with this. Fiona's hand lifted to his chest, resting there as she drew her lips to his -
PING!
"AGHH! What the hell?!" MacCready sprung backwards with Dogmeat in tow, rubbing where her hand had been a second ago. Fiona held her hand up victoriously, several long brown chest hairs caught between her fingers.
"We've only known each other for three days, tiger," Fiona jeered with a grin and a wink. "What did you think I was gonna do, seduce you?"
MacCready was nothing if not honest. "Well ... yeah ... "
"Maybe later ... "
He puffed out his lower lip, pouting. "You're as evil as your sister."
"MacCready, I taught my sister."
Laying naked on a couch in a tangle of giggles and kisses was a plethora of vulnerable and decidedly pleasant sensations neither of them had dreamed was going to become a reality. If they thought they were comfortable with each other beforehand, it was evolving to a whole new level now. Rhys used the word 'nirvana' to describe it, then promptly blamed MacCready for planting the word in his brain, with Sasha laughing as he explained his panic earlier that morning, the raiding of the coffee maker and the unusual heart-to-heart he and the mercenary had.
Their laughter gradually settled into nestling within each other's embrace, neither willing to move. Sasha pulled his robotic hand closer to her, tracing her fingers up the long metallic digits. The Atlas variant was much smoother than the black-and-yellow Hyperion arm he wielded beforehand. Rhys flexed his hands under her touch.
"What happened up there, Rhys? When Jack got loose," she asked, and felt him tense underneath her. She placated this by kissing his chest.
So he recounted everything to her - from the moment Jack forced him into uploading his AI into Helios to the near evisceration that almost took place when he tried to force an endoskeleton into Rhys' body - the very same one that Loader Bot toted back on Pandora. He talked about attacking Helios' power core to shake Jack's hold of the station, inadvertently venting several hundreds of innocent people into space and destroying the system keeping Helios from crashing into the planet below. Though Sasha could not see his face in the dark, Rhys' voice became so overladen with grief at the notion of forcibly becoming a mass murderer that she pulled her face to his and tried to kiss it away.
She wasn't sure if it worked or not, but Rhys demonstrated his appreciation of the attempt by pulling her closer and burying his head into her neck. He was quiet for a long while. When the silence broke, Rhys described the final confrontation with Handsome Jack at the crashed Helios site, the self-mutilation it took to finally break free of him, and how he crushed the last artifact that contained any trace of the self-proclaimed Hyperion 'hero'. When Rhys finally came to - having passed out from a combination of shock, blood loss, and pain - he found the deed for Atlas and made the painstakingly long walk back to the biodome, not knowing where else to go.
"I still don't know what to do with Atlas," thrummed Rhys as Sasha started planting kisses along his jawline. She could feel his mouth lift, finally, into a smile. "Maliwan, Dahl, Torgue, and Hyperion wound up becoming shield, gun, and grenade manufacturers and that always winds up leading to conflict and ... really, Pandora's got enough of that, don't you think?"
"A lot of people remember Atlas for the Crimson Lance," Sasha agreed, resting her head thoughtfully on his rising-and-falling chest. "It's got a long and bloody past. That's probably not the route you wanna go."
"But they made Gortys and a couple of nifty little gadgets and, uh ... well honestly I'd like to do something to make Pandora better." His words pricked at Sasha's ears. "Or ... uh ... crap, I dunno. There's a lot of stupid little ideas I've got. Maybe being on Earth will help me figure it out." He squeezed her, running a free hand through her air and speaking cheesily, "Enough about me, what about you?"
Sasha giggled. Another bad one-liner ... but when entertaining the question, she was left feeling a little lost. "I don't know," she mused quietly. "I've always been big on guns but that was mostly bred out of needing to survive. I'm definitely kicking the con-artist gig but ... I never really had crazy big aspirations. I used to ... watch Felix tinker with his inventions a lot when I was a kid, before I got real heavy into conning. So I dunno, that might be something?"
Rhys quirked his head to the side. "You could help me?"
"Mmmm, you just want to be around me all the time, is it?" she teased.
"That too," he crooned and tickled his fingers against her back for the sake of making her squeal. "But you can see things where I can't, and you're smart and brave and moral and beautiful and - "
"You've already won me over, Rhys," chuckled Sasha. "Keep that up an we'll be inseparable."
He found her mouth with his own and whispered, "That's the plan."
She felt an intense heat rise to her face and bashfully snuggled into his chest for the umpteenth time. "I'm in. Does that mean I have to call you 'boss'?"
His whole body shuddered and he shook his head fervently as Sasha burst into a fit of good humor. "Oh, that was weird. Let's never call me that again."
At some point or another they caved to the inexplicable chill that came with the Commonwealth's evening, donning their clothes and strutting aimlessly about the cabin. The rain and thunder never did let up and they surmised it as going to be until daybreak before the storm finally broke. Rhys dared to try the bed once more, this time going the extra mile to look for a sheet or something to throw over the dusty mattress. His efforts were rewarded upon discovering a thick blanket in the bedroom's closet, as well as a gray furball of a cat that appeared from nowhere to rub against his legs, scare the living shit out of him, and run away.
It was nice to flop down on an actual bed for the first time in several days. For the first fifteen minutes they stretched across it at all angles - Rhys finding that his legs very nearly extended over the mattress' edge - to get kinks out of their muscles and bones before curling up with one another. Sleep came easily, but it never stayed for long.
Throughout the night they both stirred to the sounds of wildlife calling back and forth to one another in the ongoing torrent and both felt uneasy slipping back off to dreamland. Only once did one of them burst awake from something other than what lingered outside, and that was Rhys, panting and sweating from a wretched nightmare that left his limbs shaking. Sasha made several attempts to sooth him, in the end lovingly crawling atop him to find another way to ease his tensions.
Making love to Rhys was unike any other experience she'd had with another man. He was ridiclously sensual, eliciting earthquake-level responses from every feathery caress his hands inflicted upon her body. And his endeavors grew bolder with each encounter they'd shared. Sasha was glad for the rip-roaring cacophony of thunder outside because it was impossible to restrain her vocalizations of pleasure - and Rhys, really, was no different.
He was tedious around Sasha's neck, commenting that Fiona would probably castrate him if she found out what they were up to. He wound up accidentally leaving a mark during their throes anyway and was sent into a dead panic while hunting for something to cover it up with. Sasha continued to jest with him about it throughout the night, amused at how much the thought of her angry older sister could terrify Rhys enough to jump out of his own skin and convince it to walk for him.
They found a scarf ... thing ... eventually and Rhys virtually collapsed with relief.
"Because it totally won't be considered odd when I go to bed with it on, or come out of the shower with it on or - " The CEO squeaked into the mattress and Sasha guffawed, pouncing on him. "She'll understand. We're adults, dude."
"I'll try to remember that when she adds my Synth implant to her eyeball collection," he wept.
With predawn came the tapering of thunder, lightning, and wild animals. Sunlight and silence greeted them when morning came - or rather, it greeted Sasha. Rhys finally fell victim to three days' worth of disturbed sleep patterns and snored soundly. When he finally clambered off the mattress a little later, he found Sasha in the living room with nothing on but her underwear and his unbuttoned dress shirt and promptly carried her, squealing with laughter, back into the bedroom.
"How long has it been for you?" Sasha jeered in the aftermath as Rhys rested his head on her chest, eyes closed with a smile curled wide over his facial features: a milk-fed feline resting in a sunbeam. Holding true to his growing reputation as the Black Cat, he almost purred while she stroked his hair.
"You, uh, might've cut loose a few moths," came the somewhat shy reply. When she eyed at him with a raised brow, he added, "A few dozen."
By early afternoon they'd repacked and were on the move - though Sasha stopped first to kick the very dead Radscorpion. It was Rhys' idea to backtrack to Relay Tower 1DL-109 and hit up the radio, assuming that Fiona and MacCready might have made a detour because of the storm. His hypothesis was spot on.
"Mac got in touch with us sometime before midnight," Deacon's voice rattled off to them. He sounded like he was just waking up. "Savage did a roundabout to the outside of Boston so they'll be coming back from the opposite direction. So hey! Ma Summerset made some pie for you guys. Come on home."
The very last word Deacon uttered took Rhys aback. He appeared dazed during their trek downhill and, when Sasha asked him what was wrong, he asked her, "Is it weird that I haven't really considered any place home for a while?"
"Not really," she grinned as he roped an arm around her waist, pulling her to him. "I'm right there with you."
"But you've got Pandora and Hollow Point."
"I was born on Pandora, but it never really felt like home to me."
His ears burned bright red. "So I just thought of a million cheesy things to say and one of them was, 'Home is where you are.'"
"You are such a nerd." She poked his ribs playfully. "Look at you brimming with confidence. I could get used to this."
"I feel kinda like ... ," Rhys hesitated, using a free hand to scratch one of his blossoming cheeks. "Like ... everything's finally setting in place."
"It does." Sasha leaned into him, beaming. "Hey Rhys?"
"Mmm?"
"That whole 'home is where you are' thing? I feel that way too."
Bucket, damn it. BUCKET.
MacCready made it a point to have them sneak out of Boston instead of barging their way out. It made little sense, after all, to be exceptionally boisterous in dangerous territory considering the precious cargo they were hauling. He insisted she place the Deathclaw egg in the rucksack while he hefted Dogmeat over his shoulder. The canine was still too weak to walk, though she definitely appeared a little healthier than she had the day before.
At least now Fiona would be able to safeguard them, the Hydra having worked wonders on her twisted ankle ... but she wasn't so bold as to claim she could win a fight against several Super Mutants. There were tons of them out there patrolling the streets with mutated mutts that had jaws for faces. Every time they came upon their calling cards - hanging bags of mangled flesh strung upon old streetlamps or littering the broken pavement - MacCready and her made a detour.
There were other beasts that had to be dealt with. At least five ghouls went out of their way to stalk them and Fiona put them down with Roshambo's incendiary rounds. It was a real spectacle when one of them landed in a pool of gasoline. Some Radroaches crept out from under cars to annoy them with wing flaps and chomping mandibles, but all those insects needed to get sent to the grave was a heavy stomp. No Radroaches, no psycho robots, and no raiders ... although they stumbled upon a base or two and managed to avoid detection by quietly slipping around the searchlights and turrets.
All the ghostly maneuvering cost the an extra hour or two, but gradually they made their way out of the ruined city. Chestnut Hillock Reservoir wasn't as far from the city's outskirts as Fiona originally thought. In almost no time at all they were within sight of the Vault and Fluffy's cave.
"They must've taken shelter by the relay tower overnight," MacCready spoke. Fiona jerked her head up. Beyond the cave, approaching from the opposing direction, were two figures with arms wrapped tightly about each other. The merc grinned, plucking his beard. "Looks like he took my advice."
"Advice?" Fiona shot MacCready a glare. "What advice?"
It was at this point he realized he might have spoken out of turn. Ah well, too late to turn back now ... "Your bro was a real mess the other night. Wanted to proclaim his love to Sasha and whatnot. I just gave him the nudge he needed." He felt her venom-riddled stare and countered with an innocent smile. "Oh c'mon, they look happy."
She couldn't argue that. Fiona hadn't seen Sasha shining like that since they made their first real score together. It was a definite contrast to the darker aura she emanated when Rhys went AWOL. She sighed resignedly. "I did kind of give him my blessing." Truthfully, she was just glad they were okay, though upon closer inspection they did seem a little scuffed up.
"Then be glad for 'em."
And she was. Really, she was. But that didn't mean Rhys was out of the fire pit because Sasha never wore a scarf and the CEO's forehead was clearly forming nervous beads of sweat the longer Fiona stared at it. Sasha stepped in to save his hide before her sister could overreact to anything, giving Rhys a gentle squeeze and approaching Fiona with a conversational, "Soooo where did you guys wind up camping out?"
"That's one hell of an afterglow, man," MacCready chuckled once Fiona was out of earshot. He clapped Rhys on the shoulder.
The taller man laughed anxiously. "Uh, well ... " His natural and artificial eye spied the weakened German Shepherd and gained all the attentiveness of a young child seeing his first dog. Rhys uttered a garbled coo and was scratching behind her ears in an instant. The dog panted happily in response, tail flapping with a little bit of life. "Aww, puppy. What happened to it?"
"Her," corrected MacCready. "Rhys, meet Dogmeat. Yes, that's her name and it's a long story so don't ask. This is Nora's pooch."
"Nora's?" Rhys looked from him to the dog quizzically. Hearing the name, Dogmeat whimpered, guilting the Atlas CEO into giving her several more scratches and rubs. "So wait, does that mean you found her?"
Defeated, the former Gunner shook his head. "Nah ... but this is something. I mean, we're closer to finding her now than we have been for the last two years. We actually found her old Pip-Boy, too. We're gonna need Nick or you to take a look at it once we get to the Vault, if you're cool with that. The thing's got some kind of encryption on it."
Rhys looked a little too excited. "A Pip-Boy? Hell yeah, I'll have a look."
" ... Do you even know what one is?"
"Nick gave me this Wasteland Survival Guide holodisk. It went into detail about them and everybody at 81's got one so ... yeah."
"Well," MacCready giggled, Dogmeat attacking his face with several cheerful licks, "let Nick have a look at it first. It's an honor thing, you know, because those two were tighter than any of us. If he doesn't have any luck we'll let you have a crack at it. Sound good?"
Rhys nodded. He jumped back several feet when the earth shook. Fluffy, alerted by the noise of several people within his territory and familiar scents, removed himself from the cave mouth. The massive Deathclaw leered in their direction, huffing deeply, and advanced eagerly ... but it was not towards Fiona and the egg as everybody might have suspected. Rather, the Alpha Male towered over Dogmeat, lowering his snout to touch the canine's muzzle tip.
"You remember her, don't ya?" MacCready whispered. Fluffy exhaled carbon forcefully into the dog's face. Dogmeat responded by tickling the reptilian snout with her very giddy tongue. "Yeah you do."
The three Pandorans all 'Awwww'-ed at the sight. "That's so fucking cute," crowed Fiona.
"Hey Fi." MacCready nodded towards the rucksack. Fiona didn't need him to specify what he was indicating.
"Right." She placed the brown bag on the ground and thrust painted fingertips into its depths, producing the egg that was way too small to belong to a Deathclaw. Catching it's smell, Fluffy pulled his cranium back, watching Fiona approach the nest and set it carefully down. The Alpha wasted no time in covering it with a thin layer of arid dirt. He settled next to it, supporting himself on his belly with a satisfied grunt. "He looks content ... "
"Savage should be making her way here once she notices the egg's scent isn't at the tunnel anymore," stated MacCready. "She's probably still PO'd and stomping around."
"Th-that sounds like a good enough reason to get back inside," stammered Rhys, visibly disturbed at the thought of an angry mother Deathclaw returning to her nest and finding several strangers standing way too close. His eyes happened to slip a glance at the stone he'd been slammed into at their first arrival and his skin turned pale.
Sasha grabbed his hand and winked reassuringly. "The sooner we get in, the sooner Dogmeat can get looked at. Besides, Deacon said there was pie." She wasn't going to admit it in front of everyone, but she was starving. Rhys wasn't the only one put off by decades-old boxed foods and those Mole Rat Chunks only went but so far.
MacCready perked considerably. "Pie? Like, mutfruit pie?"
"I ... guess? He didn't really say ... ?"
"Oh. My. God." He waved a free hand to Fluffy and hastily strode towards Vault 81.
"Mac, it's just pie," quipped Fiona, racing to catch up. Poor Dogmeat looked like she didn't know what the hell was going on.
"You don't understand. That pie is a masterpiece. It's like ... like an orgasm in your mouth."
Fiona and Sasha made disgusted noises at the resulting visual and Rhys slapped his forehead with a groan. "Appetite, gone."
MacCready demanded a doctor as soon as they walked in through the Vault's giant gear door. Forsythe and Carrington were both full of complaints, annoyed that they would have to perform medical tasks on an animal when they could be using the highly-demanded medicines on their human population instead ... up until they saw what animal exactly they were treating. Dogmeat was whisked away like a VIP and the Pandorans had to wonder at the impact Nora must have had on the people here and everywhere else. Speaking her name was like announcing the presence of a deity. Granted, Desdemona and the others already explained her trials to them, but this level of dedication was ... surprising.
When Nick and Piper found out, they were on MacCready's heels, pestering him for information. The Publick Occurrences reporter didn't linger for long. She asked a few choice questions and then disappeared to keep watch on the wounded pooch. Deacon popped up before any of the Vault officials did, listening almost tearfully as the mercenary answered each and every one of Valentine's queries.
"You should send word to the others," Nick told Deacon, his human voice's emotion betraying the metallic make of his body. "Hancock, Preston ... everybody. They're going to want to hear about it. Even if it's nothing. Even if it leads us to a dead end, they're going to want to know."
"Hancock was part of your crew, too?" Sasha found herself asking while Deacon's sunglass-wearing form slipped around the corner and down the hall.
"Crude as he was to you," Nick's words containing hints of dry humor, "that ghoul is the mayor of Goodneighbor and loyal to the core. He's a chem genius, if a bit stab-happy and grudging." He stared longingly at Fiona's rucksack, then placed a hand on Rhys' shoulder. "Nice work with that satellite, rookie."
"Hope you're ready to relinquish your throne, old man," the cyborg riposted.
"Now now, let's not get ahead of ourselves."
Miss Summerset was all-too happy to greet them at the Sunshine Diner, presenting them with exactly what Deacon promised and what MacCready praised. The mercenary hadn't lied one bit and carefully swindled the last slice when nobody was looking, only to have Fiona swipe it out from under his nose.
"I'll remember that," he threatened when she snapped up the very last spoonful, and she raspberried him.
Overseer McNamara and Desdemona were both at the table within the hour and MacCready unveiled the Pip-Boy for Nick's examination. The Synth detective ran metallic claws over the dirty-yellow computer, examining every nick and scratch with stark and sad attentiveness. "Nora was never really good at maintaining her equipment," he mulled sullenly.
"She made some awesome things," agreed MacCready, sipping a Nuka Cola. "But she could never be bothered with running some soap and water over 'em. It used to drive Codsworth up the wall, poor guy. The only thing I ever saw her really keep in good shape was that electric sword and the Silver Shroud outfit. So ... what do you think, Nick? Can you break it?"
"It's intricate," Valentine commented, tapping the screen. "Whoever put the code on - and honestly, it doesn't look like Nora's handiwork - didn't want the common raider to crack it." He hunched over the device and Rhys had to admit, the Synth wasn't lying when he called himself the Master Hacker for Earth. The robot's hands were quick as lightning, switching between screens and buttons at an obscene speed. "It's going to be tough. Give me a few minutes."
"What's the next step to finding her?" Fiona asked, surprisingly invested in the ordeal despite her wish to return back home. "You already said the Children of Atom live in that crater down south, right? Wouldn't that be the best bet?"
"Let's go by what's on the Pip-Boy first. They have a built-in GPS and if we're lucky, it'll have her last destination marked on there. If we're lucky." Finally realizing what Fiona said, he blinked rapidly at her with mock surprise. "So wait, does this mean you're thinking of staying?"
"It's not like we can get off this rock anyway, Mac. Besides, maybe it'll lead us to ... whatever it is we're supposed to get to. Like maybe this is the reason we were sent here."
Sasha thought back to the littlest Siren and frowned to herself. She'd been really harsh to that child and an overwhelming sensation of guilt flooded her. "Maybe it'll lead us to that little girl somehow, but, ah ... " Her eyes drifted to something distant in the back of her mind. Rhys noticed this and bumped her affectionately on the shoulder, bringing her back to the with a smile.
"Whatever help you need," he found himself telling MacCready and Nick, suddenly interested in his own fidgeting hands and the burning sensation of his ears as Sasha leaned her chin on his arm. Fiona looked like she wanted to say anything, but decided against it with a sharp look from MacCready. "You've kind done everything to help us, so ... uh ... Atlas is on the case?"
"Lead the way, boss." Sasha laughed at his shivering reaction to the title.
"Wait, boss?" Fiona looked between them, watching Rhys become increasingly unsettled.
"Partner," Rhys corrected firmly, his raging blush distracting from whatever serious vocalization he was attempting to make.
"I'm gonna help him out with Atlas. Don't give me that look." Sasha challenged Fiona's scornful growl with an assertive glower of her own. "I don't want to con anymore. And you'll be doing your Vault Hunting so ... it'll give me a chance to figure out who I am, grow a little. i used to watch ... Felix ... when he'd make some inventions. It might be something I can get into."
There was clearly no arguing there. And working for Atlas was considerably safer than becoming a Vault Hunter. Still ... "Don't get her dragged into some crazy scheme, Rhys," she warned with a dangerous edge to her voice. "That whole Handsome Jack fiasco almost got us killed. If you let her get hurt - "
She was astonished as the awkwardness vanished from his expression, his eyes locking unwaveringly with her's. "I wouldn't dream of it," he said resolutely.
"He saved me from a giant scorpion yesterday," Sasha bleated, rubbing her neck and recalling how much coming that close to death had bothered her. "It came out of nowhere."
"WHOAH, wait, a Giant Radscorpion?" MacCready blurted out, wide-eyed focusing on Rhys. "Those are right up there with Deathclaws, man. How'd you drop it without a gun?"
Rhys was modest if nothing else, contritely smiling. "I, ah, pushed a Nuka Cola machine on it."
"Crunchified," Sasha elaborated, bringing the crimson back to Rhys' cheeks by boasting his heroics.
"Resourceful," MacCready nodded his approval and Fiona sat back, awestruck. "Impressive."
"I'm sold," Fiona had to relinquish her pride as the protective older sister. Maybe Rhys wasn't such a bad choice for Sasha. That glint that sparked in his eyes at the notion of her being in dangerous spoke several thousand emotions that couldn't be placed into words.
Piper returned with good news from Doctor Forsythe. "Dogmeat'll be fine," she announced with a chipper voice and a spring to her step. "She's malnourished and has a few broken bones, but you guys found her in the nick of time and those stimpacks you gave really helped. It'll take a while for her to be up and running like she used to."
"She might be able to sniff Nora out when she recovers. It worked when we were looking for Kellogg." Nick's hand skimmed across a few more buttons. He tapped the last one with triumphant gusto. "And I'm in." They all looked over his shoulder as the Pip-Boy's screen became clear. There were several categories on the top. "These things are useful for cataloging your inventory, storing information and recording map locations. And ... see, she still had Buzzkill equipped." He chortled. "And the Silver Shroud outfit."
"What's 'Buzzkill'?" Sasha asked.
"A serrated Chinese military sword she found. Nora modified it with a battery so it had an electrical charge. She really favored electricity ... and the sword. I rarely saw her use a gun, not that she needed it. I've never seen anybody manhandle a Yao Guai at close quarters with a sword before."
"She thought it made her look more like a proper general," MacCready chimed in. He pointed his forefinger to Sasha. "I kinda forced her into learning to use a sniper rifle and she modded the hell out of that thing, too. Nicknamed it 'Ghost'. If yer really gonna get into tinkering, she's probably gonna be the one you'll want to learn from."
Sasha noted that. She pointed to another menu title. "What's this?"
Nick scrolled to 'Radio' and selected the Diamond City broadcast. A soft tune began to play.
"I don't want to set the world on fire,
I just want to start a flame in your heart.
In my heart I have but one desire,
And that one is you, no other will do."
"It can pick up radio signals," butted in Piper. "Let me tell you how interesting it is to be crawling through a Mirelurk-infested drainpipe with Frank Sinatra as your backdrop."
Fiona and Sasha began humming the tune. Rhys pointed to something else. "How about 'Data'?"
"It will record holotapes and documents." Nick flipped it over and stopped dead in his tracks, staring hard at the screen. "Well, that's unusual."
"I've lost all ambition
For worldly acclaim.
I just want to be the one you love."
MacCready leaned so far over Nick's shoulder he was practically laying on him. "What is it?"
"That's an unusual name for a file ... " It was a series of numbers and letters. Nick was hesitant as he scrolled down to the document labeled 'A7868DNA490' ...
"And with your admission
That you feel the same - "
... and opened it.
The screen fizzled and went blank, the radio station distorting so badly that one might think it was playing a record backwards in slow motion. The Vault suddenly darkened and went completely silent. Nick's head dropped, unconscious, onto the table and Rhys recoiled, his hand flying to his head port as he lost balance and hit the ground hard. A flurry of activity surrounded them - from surprised hollers down the hall to the clattering of metal as several Mister Handies broken down wherever they were floating. MacCready and Piper went to try and revive Nick Valentine.
"What the hell was that?" Desdemona snapped. Deacon was on the scene, slipping past her to assist with Nick.
Sasha and Fiona both helped Rhys back to his feet. The eyelid around his now non-glowing Synth eye was fluttering and his robotic arm hung limply. "It looks like an EMP," Fiona guessed, remembering Rhys' reaction when they unleashed one on him during the Vault Key deal.
"Not this crap again," grumbled Rhys, hissing at the burning sensation in his head and the throbbing that accompanied it. "I can't see out of my ... no wait ... There it goes." The yellow glow returned to his artificial ocular, steel fingers began to twitch. Around them, the lights blinked back on one-by-one. Robots came out of stasis and Nick, groaning, returned slowly to consciousness.
"My first nap ever," he murmured, "and I never want another one."
Diamond City's broadcast slowly returned, the sultry voice resuming his pre-recorded singing.
" - I'll have reached the goal I'm dreaming of,
Believe me."
Piper's shaking fingers found the Pip-Boy. Her eyes widened and she pointed to it while calling, "Hey guys ... "
On the screen was a single blinking line: 'WITH REGARDS FROM ATOM.'
And below it: 00:30:00.
"I don't want to set the world on fire ... "
