Vi had no clothes suitable for a date, so she opted to just wear her usual drab army green uniform and combat boots. She had made sure to take extra care during her shower earlier to get rid of the dirt under her nails and behind her ears, and as she sat on her bunk in silence waiting for Maxson to retrieve her like he said he would, she flipped through an old comic. It was tattered and fragile and some pages were missing, but the plot seemed to revolve around an alien race coming to Earth and stealing the bodies of humans to take their places. It felt a little ironic, what with how the Commonwealth was constantly abuzz with fear about that very thing.
She heard footsteps approaching and sat her book down, a smile creeping across her face. Vi had been unsure about the date at first but the more she thought about it, the more she grew to like the idea.
"Did you know?" Maxson appeared in the doorway, face twisted in anger. She balked.
"Know what?"
"About Danse!" He punched a fist into his open palm and she flinched, then slowly shook her head in confusion.
"I find it hard to believe that you two, being as close as you were, never discussed the fact that he is a fucking synth,"
Vi's heart somehow stopped, jumped and did a barrel roll all at the same time. That didn't make any sense.
"I-I don't understand,"
"The scribes just found a perfect DNA match for him in the archives we got from the Railroad. He's a fucking synth. A traitor," he spat, "And then he has the nerve to run? I've already sent Paula after him. This needs to be dealt with, Vi. I need you to go after her in case he puts up a fight."
She was instantly on her feet, stomach roiling. In case he puts up a fight? What the fuck did that mean?
"You can't mean-"
"I realize what an asset he has been, but we cannot go soft now. He is the enemy, like it or not. I want you to put aside whatever feelings you may have for him and follow orders. Paladin Danse must be the example, not the exception,"
She lowered her brows and stared at Maxson for a second, anger bubbling up inside her. For a second she had allowed herself to become infatuated with him, and that'd made her forget just who he was, the leader of a group that was against her very existence. It had gone far enough. It was time for the fantasy to end; Vi was not and never would be a Brotherhood soldier, not really.
"I'll see to it that...that justice is served. Do we have coordinates?"
Maxson looked pleased as he pointed out the spot on the map that Danse had been suspected to be hiding at. Listening Post Bravo, some little prewar bunker out in the wastes that she had never heard of. She briefly wondered why he had chosen that place before taking her leave from Maxson, no longer seeing him with rose colored lenses. He may have been attractive, but his ideals made her stomach roil in disgust when she gave him a final glance as she walked past him to board a vertibird. For the very last time, she realized. Something in her wanted to stop and take it all in for a second so she wouldn't forget what the Prydwen looked like, with all its creaking metal panels and the constant hum of the engines, but this wasn't home if she really thought about it. Where home actually was, she wasn't sure, but this den of hatred wasn't something that deserved remembering.
She had time to work herself into a near frenzy during the time it took to follow the map to the listening post. Tears dried on her cheeks hours ago and her eyes were red and sore, but also forever scanning for Paula's tiny footprints. She wondered if the bitch actually planned to kill Danse. Knowing her doglike loyalty to whoever was higher in rank than her, Vi thought she knew the answer.
Bravo was a tiny, nondescript stone building set into the side of a hill and well out of sight. It had an empty doorway, positively cluttered with debris and a plethora of fresh footprints, and further back a terminal that led to a locked door. A familiar blue shape stood in front of the computer with a hip cocked and, presumably, a stupid look on her face.
"Paula?" Vi said, carefully picking through the mess. Paula spun to face her and looked relieved.
"Thank goodness you finally showed up. I'm like, not so great with these computers,"
Vi was taken aback, how could she be so nonchalant?
"Y-yeah. You don't actually plan to...do what Maxson wants, do you? I mean, he's our friend. And I thought you guys…"
Paula smacked on a piece of bubblegum, looking annoyed for possibly the first time ever.
"Uh, duh? He's a synth, dummy. One of the bad guys? You know, I should have totally seen this coming. It makes sense now why he was so weird all the time,"
"I thought you guys were together, he must not have been too weird," Vi said.
"Not really. I mean, I tried to come onto him but he totally wasn't having it. I barely even got it in before he woke up and-"
Vi's face was reddening, "So you raped him and you're upset that he didn't like it?"
Paula rolled her eyes and her tone changed to one that you might use if speaking to a slow child. "If he didn't want me, he wouldn't have gotten hard. Duh! He's just a freak, and now we know why. So can you like, unlock that computer? It's way too hard for me," she said.
Vi's eyes drifted to the terminal flashing quietly on the wall, ears pounding with a heartbeat quickened by fury. She was an idiot. Why had she spent time being upset with Danse instead of just asking him about it after Paula had made that comment before? Coursers were supposed to be logical and cool-headed; so much for that, she thought. Her fingers itched to go to her pistol, her knife, anything, and blow this bitch's brains out. Or carve them out, maybe. She looked back to Paula's big blue eyes and realized she wasn't at all what she thought she was. Stupid and mild mannered as a milk cow, sure, but not at all a nice person. Before all this she'd seemed almost sickeningly pleasant and friendly, but now Vi wanted to puke on the woman's blue suit for a different reason.
"Hey, is that him?" She said, pointing quickly behind Paula. The idiot fell for it, spinning around with her laser pistol drawn and trigger finger twitching.
Vi was on her in a second, and didn't bother with a weapon at all. Her thick, muscular arms wrapped around the chubby blonde in a vicious choke hold and she tightened her grip so hard her muscles screamed with the effort. Paula choked out a scream, but her throat was quickly crushed closed and she was unable to draw in breath for another wail. The woman thrashed wildly and her small, soft hands flew to Vi's arms around her neck to claw at them. Vi hardly noticed the pain of her skin being scratched away over all the satisfaction of doing what she'd wanted to all along. Maybe a little less self restraint was a good thing after all.
Rivulets of blood trickled down her arms where Paula's nails had cut her flesh to ribbons, mixing with the soft blonde curls that hung prettily around the woman's purpling face.
Her struggling weakened after a few seconds as her blood flow to her brain was all but cut off, and Vi felt a surge of adrenaline when Paula's arms finally flopped uselessly to her sides, fingers covered in blood. Synth blood, Vi thought strangely. It wasn't real blood at all if you thought about it. She held the choke hold for another minute just to be sure, and to also burn the memory into her mind because unlike the Prydwen, this did bear remembering, and then she dropped the corpse unceremoniously to the floor.
Her mind was peacefully empty, though not in the same was as it had been before having her implants removed. This was an organic emptiness that allowed her to appreciate the moment. Every detail of the world was beautiful right then, the insects singing outside the bunker and the stuffy heat of the day that made it hard to breathe and the sight of the only person she had truly hated dead at her feet. Paula's face was purple still, somehow bloated looking, and caught in a scream. She'd died in fear, and Vi didn't feel sorry.
"W-what did you do?"
The voice was familiar and oh so welcome. With a choked sob, Vi looked up to see Danse standing in the doorway next to the terminal looking upset. His face was that of someone who'd been crying hard for several hours, and he only wore a white shirt and underwear. She'd rarely seen him outside his power armor and somehow it felt like a different version of the Danse she knew and loved.
So she ran to him, arms outstretched, and wrapped him in a vicelike hug not unlike the one she'd just used to murder in cold blood. Although this time the hug was not around the person's neck.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was angry at you, I'm sorry you're a synth. I'm sorry," she whispered into the shocked man's neck. He stood still for a moment, looking over her shoulder at the pitiful sight that was Paula, before allowing a hand to drift to her lower back in a cautious reciprocation of the hug.
"She was just following orders, Vi. Doing what needs to be done. Why?"
Vi stepped back and leveled a stare at Danse, "You are not going to die today. You're a person, no matter what fucking Maxson thinks."
He looked sickened, "I'm a synth, not a person. I need to be made an example of, no matter what you think-"
"I'm a synth too. Am I not a person?" She hadn't meant to say it, but the words tumbled out faster than she could catch them.
"What?"
She gave him the abridged version of the story. An escaped Institute courser who had decided to slip her bonds after meeting him, who had left everything she'd ever known and betrayed an immensely powerful group of people because she'd taken a shine to him and his group and his passion for their fucked up ideals.
"You're lying," he said, though his voice didn't sound like he was sure. His mouth was open, as if trying to form his next thoughts, when Danse's brown eyes grew wide and flitted behind her. She furrowed her brow, confused, before turning to see Maxson standing not far from the entrance to the bunker near some brush. How long he'd been hiding there and listening, he had no clue.
"You know, I was worried you might not be able to carry out your orders, Vi. But to murder a fellow soldier and then to admit to being a known synth as well? That's just incredible!"