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Several feelings warred for supremacy in Judy's head as she looked through the old desks inside Fort Hagen's command center. On one hand, she was overjoyed; the bastard that had stolen Nick's son from him was now nothing more than a few meaty chunks from the neck up, so he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else.
On the other hand, Judy was still saddened that they still hadn't found Nick's son. She had hoped that after all they'd been through these past couple of days they would at least be rewarded with something, a location to go by if nothing else. But the issue was they now knew where Shaun was, but they didn't know exactly how to get there. Nobody in the Commonwealth knew where the Institute really was, or... at least no one alive did. Kellogg probably knew, but it was highly unlikely he would be talking much now.
Another feeling lingered inside Judy, but she couldn't tell exactly what it was. Hatred? The need for revenge? It was a feeling unfamiliar to the rabbit, something dark and primal. Judy had never really hated anything, even the raiders that scourged the Commonwealth she kept a small amount of sympathy for, but this … this stirred a dark part of her she wasn't really aware she had.
Whatever it was, hearing that the Institute was involved in all this made her even more determined to help Nick. Of all the mammals she'd ever met, Nick was the most real to her, which was surprising considering how surreal the situation was for him. She really cared a lot about him, though she wasn't quite sure why. But, at the very least, going after the Institute might mean she could get some answers about what happened to her brother all those years ago.
Judy was still pondering how to bring that up to Nick. She did want to tell him, since he already revealed so much about himself to her. It only seemed fair. She wanted him to know that she would be with him on this one hundred percent.
She took a glance over her shoulder and saw Nick sitting in the chair next to Kellogg's personal terminal, his head low and eyes distant. Valentine was behind him, looking through all of the small crates and boxes near the weasel's desk, hoping to find anything that would give them a clue as to what to do next. Hawthorne - ever the opportunist - was on the other side of the room, trying to find the best scrap that he could so he could make a few more extra caps once he got back to Diamond City.
The rest were all off doing their own things, but only Judy was concerned about Nick. He'd gone through hell these past couple days, and his son was still nowhere within his grasp. They were making progress, but having the Institute getting mixed up in all this probably didn't help his mood.
She could tell he needed to talk to someone about this, even if he didn't really want to. She always had a knack for knowing when one of her brothers or sisters was like this, and she hadn't lost that skill during her time as a Minuteman. Nick needed someone, and Judy was going to be there for him.
Gathering the scrap she'd managed to find, Judy moved over to where Nick was sitting.
"Nick." she said, causing him to snap his head towards her. "We've learned quite a lot here…. You wanna talk about any of it?" she asked in a calm, reassuring voice.
"I mean… I…" the fox started, but stopped and briefly looked over at Kellogg's corpse, a now headless mass of flesh, lying on the floor several meters away.
"I don't know how I'm supposed to feel right now. I couldn't have been more thrilled seeing you give that bastard exactly what he deserved... But Shaun is still out there, and now that these Institute guys have him… I'm just not sure what we're supposed to do now." Nick said. Judy would've responded, had it not been for their synth companion speaking up from behind them.
"Well first things first, we gotta see if anything in here can give us a clue as to what to do next. There's no telling what kind of data all this Institute tech might hold." Valentine said, still rummaging through the boxes.
"You really think Kellogg left a map to the damn place just lying around here?" Nick asked.
"Not in the slightest, but my gut tells me that something somewhere in this room is the key to keeping this investigation going. No way this all ends here."
Judy had to agree with that. The past few days had been eventful, even compared to the rest of the month, with losing Quincy, moving from place to place, and just trying to survive. For things to have ended now would just feel wrong.
Judy gave a nod to the detective, who moved Nick aside so that he could get access to Kellogg's terminal and see if anything of importance could be found inside.
"Let's see… Got some notes here. Says Shaun was successfully delivered back to the Institute. Hmm… Looks like our weasel was about to go after some renegade, whatever that means... He also mentions something about… Huh? Come take a look at this." Valentine said, gesturing over to the terminal.
Nick and Judy each took a look at the circular screen on top of the desk, reading the entry in question.
Might need to get another touch-up next time I'm in the Institute. I keep swearing that someone is tailing me. Always catching something out of the corner of my eye out on the road.
Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Now that the kid's dad finally made it out of the fridge, I keep wondering if he's gonna come after me, try to get the kid back. Heh, not fucking likely. Moron was born before the war. He probably won't even make it to Diamond City.
Either way, I gotta keep my eyes open. I coulda sworn a goddamn bunny was giving me the evil-eye in the market the other day. Might have to start sleeping with two eyes open soon enough.
Valentine clicked to the next entry.
Saw the bunny again. Striped. It was from a long distance, but I don't believe in coincidences. I'm being tracked.
And to make matters worse, I heard that the fridge fox made it to Diamond City. Was poking around my old place. I really don't get paid enough for this shit.
Judy and Nick shared a glance. Someone else was tracking down Kellogg. Valentine said the guy had no enemies on account of the merc killing them all, but it looks like one managed to slip through the cracks.
"That leaves us with a lot more questions than answers." Judy said. "Does it say anywhere about who this 'renegade' is and where we could find them?"
Valentine looked through the rest of the entries in the terminal, scanning over them briefly and shaking his head at each one.
"Nope. Nothin' in here's gonna tell us where to head to. I'll keep looking around. You found anything over there, Hawthorne?" the synth asked across the room.
"Not anything of use to you guys. Unless a bunch of old junk is what you're looking for! Y'all need tin cans? Wonderglue? I got some good circuitry if you need a few upgrades, Valentine." the wolf said.
"Hey, save a little of that for Nick! Poor guy has only a few caps left to his name." Judy said teasingly, but looked over to see the fox still looking distant.
"Nick?" she asked.
The fox started, and then looked up at her again, shaking his head as he realized he was losing focus.
"Sorry, Carrots. This is a lot to take in. I've been thinking… this sounds like it's gonna get pretty dangerous, what with these Institute guys being involved. You've already helped me so much, so maybe… you could head back to Sanctuary if you wanted to. Valentine's a good detective, and the guys back there could really…"
"No." she said, interrupting him before he could speak further. No way she'd let the fox leave her on the sidelines.
"I'm being serious here, Carrots. You've done so much already, and I don't want you to get mixed up in this when I've already got help."
"Well if I remember correctly, our agreement was that I'd help you find your son. Doesn't look like we've found him yet, now does it? And besides, if it's going to be so dangerous, someone has to look out for the poor Vault Dweller now, don't they? I mean ... you don't know a bloodbug from a stingwing, now do you?"
"I mean, we ran into a couple bloodbugs yesterday. I could probably tell the difference. But, I guess I see your point. I will defer to your judgement, even if it's from a dumb bunny." he said, his face curving into a sly smile.
'There we go.' Judy thought. This was the Nick she liked.
"Oh, I'm the dumb one? Weren't you the one that just suggested taking on the Institute alone?" she said with a chuckle.
"I told you I wouldn't be alone. Valentine's got my back, isn't that right Nicky?"
"Nicky? What are you, my mother? I thought we agreed to never call each other by our first names, makes things confusing for everyone else." the synth said as he closed down the terminal. "Anyway, I got nothing else from in there. It might be a bit hard to stomach, but Kellogg might've had some kinda clue on his person. Lucky for me I don't have a stomach."
Valentine moved over the weasel's body, inspecting his pockets for anything that could be of help. He only found a small bag of caps, a few .44 bullets, and a couple of San Francisco Sunlights.
"Dammit. Looks like the trail has ran cold… Huh, what do we have here?" The detective said, leaning over an unusually shaped chunk of Kellogg's head.
The piece he pulled up was not what one would normally expect to come out of someone's brain. Several bits of metal poking out of the flesh, some with wires connected to the ends, others without.
"Would you look at that. This sure is one interesting gizmo. Looks a bit like the kind of tech you'd find in my head. Hmm..." the synth said as he looked intensely at the small device.
"Think it could help us out?" Judy said.
"Hard to say. Never seen anything like this in someone's brain before… wait a minute… We might've just won the lottery with this."
"Uh, you're talking crazy there, Valentine. Don't tell me getting turned into a computer muddled your mind in some way." Nick said.
"More than you know Wilde, But that's neither here nor there. Look, this is some kind of neural augmentation. I bet you our perp has a few such widgets implanted here and there."
The synth brushed a few chunks of grey matter free from the strange looking device he'd extracted from the former weasel's head.
"There's a place in Goodneighbor called the Memory Den. You can relive the past moments in your mind clear as the day they happened. Organics can, anyway. If anyone could figure how to get this dead brain to sing, it'd be Doctor Amari, the mind behind the memories."
"So we've got a plan then?" Judy asked.
"Sounds like it, but wherever this Goodneighbor place is, we won't be making it there tonight. It's already 7:30." Nick said, pointing to the clock on his pip-boy.
"Dammit. It's probably already dark out there. You guys want to find somewhere else to stay the night? Sleeping in here wouldn't be a good idea. Never know if more of those synths might show up." Hawthorne said, joining the rest of the group with a backpack now full of junk to sell.
"Good idea. I spotted an old Red Rocket not too far down the main road. We could set up camp there." Judy said, moving to gather anything she might need.
"Alright, let's get moving people." Hawthorne said, gesturing to the open doors.
The group moved down the long hallway they once passed through, stepping over the jumbled synth remains as they made their way the elevator at the far end of the hall. They crowded inside, and Judy had to be thankful that none of them were any larger. Whoever designed this elevator clearly didn't do it with elephants in mind for potential occupants.
After they ascended, the doors opened to reveal a small empty room, except for a door and terminal mounted to a wall. The skylights above them revealed that the sun had indeed gone down long ago, giving way to a cold October night. Judy, and likely everyone except Valentine, were wishing that they'd been more prepared to camp out. But it was too late now, they just needed to get to the filling station. A faint hum could be heard over the otherwise silent night. Then two hums, then three.
'What's going on out there?' Judy wondered.
Valentine activated the terminal, opening the door to the outside world.
What they found outside was the last thing any of them expected.
Some sort of blimp, massive in size, with spotlights shining down to the ground and walkways leading across its underside. Large, mechanical arms held vertibirds in place along the walkways, and several more of the small aircraft were flying alongside the massive airship. The sound of a loudspeaker activating was heard coming from the colossal ship, and soon a voice spoke.
"People of the Commonwealth. Do not interfere. Our intentions are peaceful. We are the Brotherhood of Steel." the voice said before a loud click was heard, and the airship continued on its course, heading east towards the coast, launching several other vertibirds into the air as it flew.
Judy was in awe. The Brotherhood had managed to make that? She knew that they were supposed to be well equipped, but to have their own airship? They must've had more power than she thought. She wondered if even the Enclave at its peak had anything to rival this.
Her other party members were equally shocked. None of them said a word, just stared wide eyed as the massive blimp soared onwards.
After several seconds of silence, Valentine finally spoke up.
"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there... wondering… fearing…"
A moment of silence passed over them.
"Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before..."
Judy and Valentine both looked in mild surprise at Nick, who shrugged.
"What? Hasn't everyone read that?"
As Nick was quickly discovering, living out in the wasteland absolutely sucked. He'd quickly come to realise three things:
#1 - Finding food was difficult. If you didn't grow or hunt it yourself, you had to scavenge some of the old packaged food that was still lying around. As it would turn out, even with the food preservation technology they had back in the day, Cram tasted like complete garbage after 200 years … just like he remembered. Nick's face scrunched up as he continued to chew on the protein he just finished cooking over a small fire.
#2 - Finding a suitable place to rest was a challenge. The camp they'd set up inside the old Red Rocket gas station was not exactly the kind of place he wanted to be staying in for any long duration. The doors had fallen off at the hinge, letting anyone (or anything) that wanted to get inside easy access. Nick thought that the place was a death trap, just asking for a group of ghouls or Bloodbugs to come claim a fresh meal. But Judy and Hawthorne told him otherwise, saying that the building could easily be defended if they came under attack.
#3 - Staying safe for the night was all on you. No guards to keep you safe out here. If you were alone, you had to sleep with one eye open. Lucky for Nick, he had three companions that could keep their eyes open for him, one of which didn't even need to sleep, but it was likely that the fox would still have trouble falling asleep later on. He just didn't feel safe at all.
All of this helped reassure Nick that he needed to get a house in Diamond City as soon as possible. No way he was going to live out here with Shaun.
The fox took a break from chewing on his disgusting pre-war food, and looked around the small station. Valentine and Hawthorne were chatting behind the main counter, discussing any recent Diamond City news. Nick sat down next to the small fire they'd set up in the middle of the room, trying to soak in a bit more warmth. From his vantage, he could see Judy sitting in one of the small booths next to the window on high alert, her ears perked up high and nose twitching adorably. She was just being careful, making sure nothing was about to sneak up on them. Nick was yet again thankful for the rabbit's presence.
Letting out a yawn, Nick realized just how exhausted he really was. First, he finds Valentine of all mammals still alive, at least in some capacity. Next he finds out Shaun is around ten years old now, and being looked after by the same bastard who abducted him. Then he tracks down the aforementioned bastard and has Judy give him a nice lead-filled hello. Then it turns out the fucking Institute has Shaun, making everything about twenty thousand times more complicated. And to top it all off, the next thing he knows he's making plans to take a look at the memories of a dead mammal and a goddamn airship shows up in the sky.
He hoped things in the Commonwealth weren't usually this eventful, otherwise he'd soon die of exhaustion.
The fox pulled out a small sleeping bag from his pack and placed it on the floor, making sure to keep it a safe distance away from the fire. He needed to get some shut-eye. Or at the very least, try to.
Unfortunately, Valentine didn't seem to agree with him. After the synth finished up his conversation with Hawthorne, he walked over and took a seat next to Nick.
"How you doin', Wilde?" the detective asked.
"I'm not really in the mood for an interrogation right now Valentine, you've done that to me more than enough for one lifetime. I've had a long day." Nick said as he laid down on the sleeping bag.
"Who said anything about an interrogation? We're just having nice little chat, you and me. Catching up after 200 years and whatnot."
Nick let out an audible sigh, but figured he could manage staying awake for another few minutes.
"Alright, fine. What'd you wanna talk about?" Nick asked, sitting back up.
"Well, the young miss Hopps over there told me you've been having some… eh... issues as of late..." Valentine started.
"I thought this wasn't going to be an interrogation," replied the fox, dryly.
"Look Wilde, she made it sound like your moral compass has been on the fritz since you thawed out, even more so than usual. The past is best left in the past; despite our history, I actually want to make sure you're doing okay. So just tell me what's going on, would ya?"
Nick let out another sigh and stared out the window, relenting to the synths words. He shouldn't be so reluctant about this. Valentine was only trying to help.
"Back in Concord I had to, uh… kill some mammals to protect Judy and the rest of them. I didn't fully realize it until later that night, but…"
He turned to face the synth detective, his face a mask of confusion.
"I liked it."
"You… liked it? In what way?" Valentine asked.
"I just… I don't know, got a rush from it. I enjoyed that feeling."
"Ah, I see…" the synth said as he turned his head away from Nick.
'Great. The one person alive that you knew before the war and now he thinks you're a monster.'
"Look, I know that sounds bad, but believe me, I don't want to enjoy it. I want the damn feeling to go away."
"No, I get what you're saying. Let's just think about this for a second."
Nick peeked over to where Judy was sitting, taking note of her ear turning a bit more towards him than before. He didn't really care if she pried on the conversation. She was the one who asked Valentine about this in the first place. Plus, he could tease her about it later.
"Hmm … so back when we were fighting those synths, did you feel that rush?" Valentine asked.
"Yes." the fox replied.
"What about those ghouls back at the bridge?"
"Yeah."
"The Mirelurks on the train tracks?"
"A bit, yeah."
"Okay, okay. I'm starting to think that maybe you just enjoy a fight, Wilde."
Nick shook his head at the synth.
"No. I mean, that's what I thought at first… but I've gotten into fights before. A few street or pub brawls every once in awhile, and those never felt anything like this. It's just so… gripping… and powerful." Nick said.
"Powerful, eh? Maybe that's exactly what it is? Maybe you just enjoy feeling powerful," the tinman deduced.
"Maybe… but I never enjoyed power like that before. Having control over someone else. I liked having money, sure, but not that."
"Hmm… Well I'm no psychiatrist, so I don't really know what to say here, Wilde. Can't really pin it down on one thing down completely. But the good news is that it worries you. I'd be more concerned if it didn't."
"Hey, don't worry about it Valentine. This might be something I just have to work out on my own."
"Well just because you have to do it on your own doesn't mean you have to be alone. You ever need to talk to anyone about it, I'm all ears. I've seen this wasteland take too many good folks. I'd hate to see you among them."
Nick gave a smile to his once sworn enemy.
"Thanks, Valentine. I'll keep that in mind."
"Don't mention it. Now, I think it's about time all you non-synthetic mammals hit the hay. We've got quite the trek back to Diamond City tomorrow, and you all will need your energy." He turned around to face Judy. "That means let the guy that doesn't have to sleep take watch, Hopps."
"Oh, come on," she teased, "You've gotta get bored after doing nothing for eight hours, right?" Judy said, letting her ears relax and her eyes droop to a half-lidded state.
"Beyond belief, but I always manage. Get some sleep."
As Valentine set himself up on on one of the stools to keep watch, Hawthorne and Judy each set up their sleeping bags. The timberwolf set his up behind the front counter, while Judy walked over to Nick.
"You mind having a little company?" she asked, laying her sleeping bag down before he even had the chance to respond.
"Strange - I didn't hear any words come out of my mouth. You bunnies and your ears." Nick said mockingly, once again sitting up.
"Harr-harr." she said, sitting down next to him.
A few seconds of silence lingered between them, before Nick spoke up.
"Have I mentioned how crazy we all are for setting up camp in here?"
"Only about three times now." Judy responded.
"Well, let's make it four then. We're all crazy for setting up camp in here. A Deathclaw could wander up and nab us all up like little sardines."
"And I told you, we'll be fine. Just as long as our robot-slave does his job right."
"Easy now darlin', I might take offense." Valentine said playfully from across the station, causing Nick and Judy to each let out a chuckle.
"Anyway, you should stop worrying. I've been doing this stuff for years now." Judy said.
"Oh, I'm not worried. Just a little concerned. You wanna see me when I'm worried, you should've seen me when Clare first thought she was pregnant. I swear I made my claws dull when that happened."
"Uh, I'm a rabbit, Slick. If anyone learned the hard way about having kits when they aren't wanted, it's us. My parents told us stories upon stories about rabbits back in the day who couldn't… adjust to the new world, so they quickly ran out of food for everyone. Luckily that's something I've never had to be … concerned about."
"Oh come on, you've never even been with anyone?" Nick asked, perplexed.
She quickly shook her head.
"How old are you again?"
"Twenty-Five."
Nick let out a small laugh.
"Geez, Carrots. There are latecomers, and then there's you."
"Oh, and you think it'd be easy lugging a few kits around on patrols? Kits are the last thing I need right now."
"A rabbit that doesn't want to have children. It really is the end of the world." Nick said jokingly, his smirk growing. Judy batted him lightly on the arm.
"I didn't say I never wanted to have kits, they're just the last thing I need right now." she said, her nose starting to twitch from the annoyance.
"Calm down, Carrots. I gotcha."
They each laid down on their sleeping bags, and Nick tried once more to fall asleep, but Judy spoke up again.
"I just realized how weird that conversation was. How did we even get to that?" she asked.
"Beats me, Carrots. I'm too tired to remember anything right now."
"But I mean... really. Here we are, lying in what is essentially a bed, talking about that? Isn't one of us supposed to suggest we go make out behind the building or something?" Judy said with a chuckle.
'Oh, you're making this too easy, Carrots.'
Nick turned to face her, slapping on his sly smile, deliberately making his emerald eyes sparkle and readying the smoothest voice he could muster.
He leaned in ever so slightly closer to her.
"Only if you want me to," he drawled.
The look on her face assured him that his teasing had achieved its desired effect. Her eyes were as big as dinner plates, scanning his face to try and figure out if he was serious. Her mouth was slightly agape, struggling to hide the shock and embarrassment.
After a few more seconds of this, Nick could no longer hold himself back. He rolled onto his back, letting out loud laughs as he heard Judy let out a very audible sigh.
"That, was not funny." She said, crossing her arms over her chest as she laid her head back down.
"Oh, if you could've seen your face you would've thought so. Either of you guys get a chance to see her face? No?"
"Maybe you two should stop flirting and let poor Hawthorne get his rest." the synth spoke up from his stool, a lit cigarette in his metallic hand
"Do you try to ruin the fun in everything, Valentine?" Nick asked.
"Only when you're involved, Wilde. Get some rest."
Judy was jolted awake with the sudden realization that she was shaking. Not from any nightmare, but from the cold October night that was making its presence known. A small disadvantage of staying in the gas station was that due to the large open windows, they'd be much less protected from the elements. It wasn't anything major, as it was still leaps and bounds better than sleeping outside.
She wrapped her arms around herself to try and retain a little more warmth.
On particularly chilly nights back in Diamond City, Judy and all her siblings would all bundle up into one big pile of warmth in order to stave off the chills. Right now, however, she didn't have any brothers or sisters to bundle up with. She had a synth, who Judy noted was still sitting on the same stool. A wolf, who was completely out of sight behind the front counter, and a fox who was lying next to her - appearing to be in a similar situation to her own.
Nick was shivering as well, along with the occasion toss and turn as he tried to find a position to better maintain his warmth. Had any of them known that they'd be camping out for the night, they would've brought some thicker clothes, or at least some kind of blanket.
The thought crossed her mind that the two of them could cuddle up, making each other warmer through the night. That probably wouldn't be a good idea though, especially after their previous conversation.
Right as she began telling herself to forget the whole idea, a particularly strong gust of wind flowed through her sleeping bag, sending even more chills down her spine. She looked back to Nick, and with her keen hearing noticed that the fox was muttering something in his sleep. The rabbit listened intently, and very quickly realized that Nick was having a nightmare.
Whenever she or her siblings had a particularly nasty nightmare, they'd also bundle up into a big pile for the night. Come to think of it, rabbits solved a lot of problems that way.
'Ah, screw it.' Judy thought. It would benefit them both, and Nick wouldn't be awake to tease about it while he was asleep, so she gave in.
She climbed out of her own sleeping bag and found a gap in Nick's that she could easily climb into. Once she was fully engulfed, she wrapped her arms around his torso in order to get a larger spread of their body heat. She couldn't fully tell because of Nick's thick clothing, but what fur was exposed was very soft and warm. She wondered how he was even cold in the first place.
As she took in the fox's warmth, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her, pulling her close. Nick seemed to settle, and the rabbit felt the tension in the fox's body ease. With her head against Nick's chest, she was in a rare position to take in his scent. And to her surprise, he smelled phenomenal. Even though he hadn't bathed in a couple days, he still smelled better than any mammal in Diamond City. He had the usual smell of the road on him, and a musky scent that was clearly a fox's - but there was a subtle smell that Judy couldn't quite place. And then it dawned on her … that was probably the lingering smell of the soap he used 200 years ago. The day the bombs fell. That pre-war dedication to cleanliness really did wonders.
It was strange… to say the least - here she was wrapped up in this 200-plus-year-old fox's arms, just trying to keep warm on a cold night, and yet she couldn't feel any more relaxed if she tried. Something about it just felt right. And judging from the small smile on the sleeping fox's face, he felt the same way.
The comfort of the situation soon took its toll on the rabbit, and she eventually floated back down into unconsciousness.
A pair of glowing yellow eyes watched the sleeping pair. Valentine couldn't help but smile at the sight, before he felt a sudden pang of sorrow. Once upon a time he'd shared a warm bed with a mammal, something the synth knew was impossible now. And not because of his metallic chassis.
"Enjoy it while you've got it," the detective softly muttered.
He crushed out his cigarette and uttered a small sigh.
"I miss ya' Jen."