Chapter Twenty-Three
The Road to Freedom, Part 2

I coughed, looking around. It was almost completely dark, save for a small space between two large rocks out of the ones that now took up the entire exit.

"Danse? You alright?" I asked and stopped to cough. The damn powder was getting into my throat.

He nodded his head, pressing a hand to his mouth, coughing too. He threw that caution to the wind, though, as soon as he saw the way out entrance was blocked now, by the huge mass of stone material that lay on top of the already existing debris.

"No, not my power armor," he despaired. "Proctor Ingram will have my head!"

"Oh yeah," I snorted. "Because you survived, but that's not what's important. Oh no. It's the power armor that counts."

He glared at me, but instead of a comeback, he settled for an "It's cold in here."

"All the more reason for us to go.'' I pressed myself to the rubble. "You guys still out there?!"

"You're alive, right?! Both of you?!" Piper asked.

"Yeah," I shouted back absently, looking around the dark dungeon. "Listen, we'll try to find some other way out! This tunnel has to lead somewhere!"

"Right," MacCready said. "We'll see you outside! Just don't get killed!"

"We'll try," I muttered. I glanced at Danse. "This would be a good time to make use of that Pip-Boy lamp of yours."

He pressed something on the Pip-Boy and soon enough, we were bathed in a weak, green glow.

I took off my backpack and started going through it until I found a flashlight. I turned it on - it was a much stronger source of light that the Pip-Boy.

"Come on," I said. There was no response. "Danse?"

He didn't react, looking intently at something on the screen of his Pip-Boy.

"Paladin?" I shook him gently. "Sir!"

He shuddered.

"I'm... right behind you, Nora," he said unsurely. "I've simply got a bad feeling about this."

"Well," I pointed my flashlight at the corridor ahead, "you're not the only one."

We set off.

I looked around the dungeon, but there was little I could make out from the darkness on my either side, so I soon gave up. It was cold, dark and the air was unpleasantly humid. I could feel myself getting sick.

After a while, we began finding the ferals. Dead, every single one. I found a body severed and bolted to the wall by some great force.

"Do you know any weapon that could do this?" I asked quietly.

"No, and I don't like it." Danse tried to pull something from the dead ghoul's body. He furrowed his brows in that way he always did when he didn't understand something. "Are those railway spikes?"

"Good ammo idea," I noticed. "Sharp and rife."

"This doesn't make me feel any better about facing our enemies."

"Hey, why do you assume they're enemies?" I asked as we rounded another corner. That place was a goddamn labirynth. "We don't know who did this. At least they shot down all those ghouls."

Danse deadpanned. "Nora, these people live in old sewers beneath a church." He almost walked into me. "...Why have you stopped?"

"End of the line," I said. There was only solid wall in front of us. I shone the flashlight in every direction, but there was no continuation to the tunnel anywhere. "Well, this is it - there's no way out. We're gonna die here."

"May I?" Danse took the flashlight away from me (which left me with an uncomfortable feeling of not being in control). He shone at the wall where a bronze Boston Freedom Trail seal was embedded into the concrete. "Look. This is wired to something."

And the wires ran down and disappeared under the wall. "Which means there's something on the other side," I realized.

"Exactly." Danse was all game now. He pushed the light into my hands and went to inspect the seal. "It spins," he noticed. There was a small arrow, currently pointing to the letter S in BOSTON. He experimentally spun it around. I could swear I'd seen that before...

I had seen that before. If I could only recall... There had been some sort of code on the other seals. Cait and I had spent a good deal of time examining them. If I could only...

Something clicked and I jolted my head up at Danse. "What did you do?" I asked.

"It seems to work like a safe," he said. "Only bigger and less complicated. Something in the mechanism jumped into place when I aligned the arrow with an R," he explained.

"So it starts with R," I grinned. "All right!"

"...What does?"

"The password," said quickly. "I thought it was some kind of code before, but now I think it's more like a word. You just need to input it into this mechanism and something'll happen. Cait and I checked out three more of those, along the Freedom Trail. 3-I, 7-A, and 5-R. This wasn't a code, those were coordinates. Letters in this word. It's like a crossword puzzle! We just need a word that begins with R and has I, R, and D in it. Like... Raiders!" I exclaimed.

Danse raised an eyebrow. "Or maybe Railroad?"

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Yeah, that... That works too."

He just shook his head at me and input the letters AILROAD into the mechanism. There was no effect.

"Told you, it's Raiders," I said. Something witihin the mechanism clicked.

"Are you so sure about that now?" Danse asked pointedly when a large section of the wall slid up, revealing yet another dark tunnel.

"Why does everyone have secret passages?" I complained. "I want one too."

"Look alive, Nora, this isn't a time or place for jokes," Danse noticed. He shone the flashlight into the newly-opened tunnel, but it ended not far ahead, turning into a large room. "Shall we?"

"Ladies first," I said, and entered the tunnel.

Before I had the chance to register what was going on, we had a spotlight pointed straight at us, Danse quickly pushed me behind himself, I heard the click of a gun and we were suddenly surrounded by several heavily armed people.

"Stop right there," a woman said in a voice that was so calm and commanding at the same time that I actually lowered the pistol I had just readied.

She stepped forward into the light. She was the only person who seemingly didn't have a gun on her, though I knew appearances like that were deceptive. It was clear she was in charge here.

"Drop your weapons," she said.

"We don't have any," I spoke before thinking. "We're farmers, from a local settlement. We found these catacombs by accident."

"Of course. And you just happened to guess the password to our secret door."

"Fine," I growled. I glared at the people. "You win."

I took my laser pistol and threw it on the ground in front of me, then did the same with my revolver. That pile was soon largened by Danse's laser rifle and assault rifle.

"All your weapons?" The woman asked, clearly unconvinced.

I sighed, pulled out my combat knife, and threw it on the pile. Danse hesitantly put a sheaf of pulse grenades nearby.

"Drummer Boy, check them, will you?" she ordered. One of the people holding guns at us, a young man still in his teens, put away his weapon and walked up to us.

He didn't have to search for long, because Danse's jacket turned out to be full of all sorts of dangerous objects. The pile of weapons in front of us was soon joined by a shock baton, two laser pistols, a taser, a sheaf of frag grenades, and two knives.

"Is that all?" the woman asked, clearly amused.

Danse wrinkled his nose, but he parted with his jackknife too.

"Well, I see how you're just farmers," she laughed.

I glared at her.

"We did what you wanted. There you have us, harmless." I crossed my arms. "I deserve an explanation, then."

"Well, forgive me for being overly cautious. I'm sure you went through a lot of effort to arrange this meeting. But it doesn't mean you'll get to dictate conditions. Down here, your word doesn't matter." She looked down at me. "And I ask the questions. What brought you here?"

"We were looking for the Railroad," Danse answered calmly. "And if I'm right to believe so, we've found it."

"That's cocky, but not far from the truth." She smiled. "You're right. I'm Desdemona, and I'm the leader of the Railroad. Now, what I'm interested is in who you are."

The leader of the Railroad. This was gonna be fun.

"Look, there's no point keeping you alive if you don't speak. How did you find us? Are you in league with the Institute..." She drifted off to sigh with reprobate as one particularly late Railroad agent ran into the room. "Deacon! Where the hell have you been?"

"Sorry. Got held up, a couple of scavvers were snooping around the church." Piper and MacCready! Deacon looked around and only then seemed to notice us. He acted surprised. "Oh, you're setting up a party! What gives my invitation?" he asked with a cocky grin.

"Be serious," Desdemona glared at him. "Care to explain how come someone's managed to find us?"

He looked at me from over his sunglasses (why wear sunglasses under the ground?) and grinned. Impossibly, I recognized the junkie from Goodneighbor and the trader from Diamond City.

"You," I said through gritted teeth.

"And nice to see you again."

"You know each other?" Desdemona and Danse said it at the same time - which was kind of funny, looking at it objectively. Except I was not objective.

"I can't say that we've met personally," Deacon smiled widely. "But if you all seriously don't know who this is, you should get out more. This girl is kinda a big deal up there."

"Oh," I smiled. "Cute. Sounds like I have a stalker."

"Just doing my job. And to be honest, you haven't been exactly subtle on your adventures across the Commonwealth."

"Subtle," I said honestly, though trying to seem more confident than I was, "is not my style."

"Who's she?" Desdemona demanded. "Stop playing around, Deacon."

"Gee. Fine, fine. That there's Knight-Sergeant Nora of the Brotherhood of Steel - she's also the Second General of the Minutemen, if that doesn't sound impressive enough. The guy with her is Paladin Danse, also from the Brotherhood of Steel. They've been doing stuff all over the Commonwealth for the last like two weeks, from actually launching that ship from the building to clearing out a Deathclaw colony... And if they're here, I have a pretty good guess what they want."

"What do you want?" She asked us.

We exchanged glances.

"We want to take war to the Institute," I said evenly. "We need a way inside."

"And you think we have one?" The woman laughed. "If we did, we wouldn't need to hide in places like this."

"We've obtained a Courser chip," Danse said hesitantly. "People say only you can get it decoded."

He probably didn't want to mention that the Brotherhood's specialists weren't able to do it.

"You." Desdemona looked at us. "Fought a Courser. And survived."

"I told you, they are a big deal."

"Shut up, Deacon." She crossed her arms. "Alright. It's a deal - as long as one of you stays here as deposit."

I didn't like it - it reminded me too much of what had gone down in Covenant.

We looked at each other. I hung my head.

"Well, just go," I said. "You're the boss, you should negotiate."

"No, you should go," he disagreed. I looked up. "The Institute is your matter, not mine - both personally and professionally. You just deserve to know, Nora. It is your son, after all."

"Thank you." I knit my eyebrows, unable to fight a smile. "And, Danse?"

"...Yes?"

"Did you shield me with your body back there?"

"Yes, I..." He ran a hand through his hair with what looked like a blush. "I suppose I did, yes."

"You really don't have to do that. I can take care of myself, on my own." Damn it, Nora, someone is being nice to you for a change and you just shut them out. Great job.

I quickly set off, not waiting for him to talk back. Actually, I was afraid he would.

He did - in just a whisper, barely audible to me as I walked away from him. "I know you can."

I followed Desdemona deeper into the catacombs, painfully aware of the two Railroad agents escorting me with their guns drawn.

She stopped once we reached a door that was certainly newer than the rest of the tunnels. She put her hand on the knob, but didn't open it.

"Before we go any further, I need you to tell me something," she said.

I held my head up high. "Don't you people know everything already?"

"Deacon is... a very specific person. It is his job in this outfit to know things, but not necessarily to share everything with everyone. I know about you about as much as he just said. That's why I have to know... On whose behalf are you here?"

"Huh." I crossed my arms. "Good question, lady. Very good. Look, I don't know if your little spy-"

"I'm not a spy," Deacon protested.

"-told you, but I'm not that easily classified. I'm a soldied in the Brotherhood of Steel. I'm an officer in the Minutemen. I'm a detective in the Valentine Detective Agency. I'm something you people apparently call a Vault dweller. I'm a honorary guard in Mayor Hancock's Neighborhood Watch. I'm also a mercenary sometimes, when it suits me." I raised my eyebrows at her. "You ask on whose behalf I'm here. Puzzler."

"I don't think that's an answer that-" Deacon began, but I shot him a look. He shut up.

"If you wanna know, I'm here on my own behalf. I'm a mother. My husband is dead, and my son's been kidnapped. Getting the data from this chip decrypted is my only chance for seeing him again." I took a step back. "So there you have it. That's all I have to say."

Desdemona exhaled slowly. She pushed the door open.

"That's a good answer," she said quietly.

The catacombs had been redesigned into a rather state-of-the-art (for Wasteland conditions) base of operations, a large tomb in the middle of the chamber serving as a table, with the map of Boston and surrounding areas spread on it. Several workbenches and bunk beds were lined along the walls, and I could spot a crude shooting range in the corner. There were also some people there, but not many.

"I'm just gonna run this by our tech specialist," Desdemona said. "Will you...?"

I reached into my pocket and fished out the chip. Before handing it to her, I hesitated. "Hold on... What do you get out of this?" If there was one thing I had learned about the Wasteland, it was that people never did things just out of their good will. Even those I considered my closest friends were like that. "You're not doing this for free."

"I'm glad you asked." She was clearly doing her best to sound friendly, but once I'd become suspicious, it was hard to throw me off that. "We've been waiting for an opportunity like this for years. Even if this isn't a way to enter the Institute, the data on this chip is very valuable. All I want in return for decoding it is to keep the original."

"No way," I said without thinking. "Deal's off."

"No chip, no data. It's as simple as that." Desdemona held the same pose stance as me. "I'm not negotiating. This is how it is."

I really wanted to ask Piper or Danse for advice, but, of course, I was alone.

Why is there always no one there when I have to make these decisions?!

"God, you're glad I've no choice! There." I pushed the chip into her hand. "Just take it."

She nodded, smiling lightly. That really took years off her face. "We'll try to be as quick as we can."

I didn't even pretend I was happy with that, but I truly had no choice. They had taken away all my weapons and practically taken a hostage and I was only here on their hospitality.

An unwanted thought crossed my mind that they could just kill us both and take all that Institute data without any hassle.

"This could take a while."

I almost jumped up in fear. "God Almighty!"

"Yeah." Deacon crossed his arms. "Anyway, this could take a while... I could show you around, but this is supposed to be our secret base, so you know. If you could just maybe hang around one place, that'd be great. I gotta go check some things now."

"Wait, uh... Those people looking around the church. A boy and a girl, around twenty years old, maybe?"

"Dunno. I think it was that reporter from Diamond City."

"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of," I said. "They're with me. Try not to, you know..."

He nodded. "Got it."

He walked away, leaving me standing there on my own, among all those strangers... Okay, to be fair, there couldn't be more than ten people in there. But still, the Railroad. Wow. I had been back and forth concerning them, with phases of not even believing they existed... But yet here I was. This was real and tangible and... Well, I hoped they wouldn't find out we'd ruined their entrance anytime soon, and that they had some back door.

"Hi there." A woman with dark skin and bright hair leaned on the wall next to me. She seemed friendly enough - despite the many, many weapons holstered on her back. "So you're that outsider Deacon's been talking about. You're glad to be alive. Not many people get to see HQ and live." If this was a threat, it didn't sound so. "So, what do you think?"

"Honestly?" I asked, silently wondering if it was good sense to fraternize with these people. We might end up being enemies soon. "Impressed. There are... few of you. Fewer than I'd thought."

She waved a hand. "Oh, what you see here is just the inner circle. Plenty of people who help us out lead normal lives up on the surface." She offered me a handshake. "The name's Glory, by the way."

"I'm Nora." I shook her hand. "So, Glory. That's a beautiful name."

"Thanks. Chose it myself," she smirked. "The angel of death. Behold, the poster-child of a liberated synth."

"You're a synth?" I asked. Suddenly, I felt a whole lot less safe.

"That's what the 'Made in the Institute' stamp on my ass says," Glory joked.

I looked around nervously. Just a few seconds ago, I'd been surprised by how few of them there were. Now, I was scared. How many of those people weren't actually human? Possibly many.

But, on the other hand, this was my perfect chance to learn something. Get intel on the enemy. And all things considered, the real enemy wasn't the Railroad.

"Can you... tell me about the Institute?" I asked. "About synths? I have so many questions."

"So does everyone," she noticed. "You all think I may know some top-secret info, but all the time in the Institute... Well, all I was for them was a thinking, feeling hammer. I helped them make more synths. 'Synth Development', they called it."

"How- How do they make synths?"

"Hell if I know," Glory shrugged. She was approaching this so calmly... "The machines are... massive. Complicated. Unlike anything I've seen up here." She sighed. "Listen here, Nora. I don't know who the hell you are or what your business is. But since you're not involved with the Railroad, I'll give you something to live by." She looked around. "Despite what Dez and the others might say, synths ain't human. We're assembled bone by bone, muscle by muscle. I've seen it first-hand." She leaned her head back, looking at the ceiling. "Keep that in mind next time you meet one of my kind."

She clenched her fists. "I think I'll hit the range. I need to shoot something. Now."

She quickly walked away. I stared after her, shaken to the core. If she hadn't said...

There was no way I would have been able to tell she wasn't human.

"You got a Courser chip?!" Before I knew what was going on, someone had their arms around me. I firmly pushed the man away, but he kept talking without pause. "And you managed to kill one of those babies? Good riddance! For the Institute, of course. But are you sure they didn't just let you take it? The Institute have all sorts of ways to get what they want out there, honest. I mean, you gotta be careful with everything in the Wasteland, everything! You're safe here, sure... Or so they would have you think! The tests all lie. I swear, nothing you can be sure about in the Commonwealth!" He hyperventilated and paused for almost a second. "Now, this is important: have you eaten anything out there? Because if you have, they got you!"

"I've eaten food..." I said unsurely.

"Oh no, that's what I was afraid of. The Institute has these tiny microscopic robots in the food - and they report back! So if you ever find a-"

"Well, I see you've met Tom," Desdemona thankfully interrupted that living ball of Jet before he could talk me to death. And I'd thought Piper was paranoid. "He's our best technology expert. If anyone can crack this code, it's him."

I gave him a weak smile, a bit overwhelmed. "Hi."

"Decoding a Courser chip is a very delicate operation," Desdemona said. "A million things can go wrong - the least of which is losing the data. Not to be too grim, but-"

"Oh, it'll be alright!" Tom grinned, starting up a crudely rigged computer terminal. "All right, little Courser chip. Let's have the circuit analyzer have a crack at you."

He started typing on the keyboard with lightning speed, the fastest I've ever seen a person go. A long string of numbers and letters that didn't really make sense to me was displayed on the screen, but the hacker did his job well - he evaded all the traps in the system, was overjoyed when he found out they used 'the same logarithmic function as the base generator' and eventually gave a cry of joy.

"Job done!" he exclaimed. "Got that data. Let me load that onto a holotape for you."

I crossed my arms, a bit surprised. That had gone fast.

"Good work, Tom," Desdemona smiled.

He shrugged, still working on the terminal. "Not sure our luck will hold up next time, Dez."

"And you." She turned to me. "I want to be clear; if you use this data and discover something about the Institute, you share it with us. Otherwise, our relationship will be in jeopardy."

Great. The last thing I needed was another enemy. Or potentially an enemy. Still, I took that holotape, hid in my pocket, and let them escort me out. Danse and I gathered all our things under the watchful eyes of the Railroad agents and I was feeling unwelcome again. The moment was over. I was an intruder again.

"We're gonna have you out through the back entrance," Glory said, motioning at us to go with her minigun (a minigun!). "But one condition: you're blindfolded. We can't have you know how to get here."

"Cover our eyes so that we can't resist?" Danse asked. "Do you think we're going to agree?"

"Hey," I said with an encouraging smile, "you can trust me on this. It'll be fine."

"Yes, and if I get killed now, I want my gravestone to say 'He trusted his partner'," he murmured.

I put my hands on his shoulders.

"I don't know who taught you sarcasm," I said, "but you need to stop."

We let them guide us out through some tunnel with many twists and turns on the way. Eventually, there was a ladder. We had to climb that blindfolded too, which was something of a hassle in my case. Then, when I could finally feel the air around me, they still took us away from the place where we surfaced - I suspect that was what they really wanted to hide.

I reluctantly took off my blindfold, noticing that Danse was doing the same.

One of the Railroad's agents, Deacon, had stayed and was observing us with his arms crossed across his chest. I reached for my gun, but he pointed a finger at me.

"Nonono," he tutted. "None of that just yet." He put a hand on his hip. "You two behave, alright? You got your stupid combination and data, now you leave." He looked at me in a way that said the opposite thing.

Deacon cocked his head, as if judging us. He grabbed Danse's wrist and pulled him very close, their faces just an inch apart.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Danse exclaimed, breaking free and jumping back to stand beside me.

Deacon laughed. "Oh, this is rich," he exclaimed. We stared at him, but he didn't pay it much mind. He did a two-fingered salute in Danse's direction. "We'll see each other again. Cross my heart."

He then just pushed his hands into his pockets and walked away.

"Why do I get the idea that he was a lot more interested in you than me?" I complained. I patted my chest pocket. "Doesn't matter. We've got the data, that's what matters."

It didn't take us long to get back to the church, where we found MacCready and Piper, waiting by a campfire.

"What happened?!" Piper asked. I winced at her tone.

"Well, in good news, we've found the Railroad," I said.

"I knew it!" She exclaimed.

"And they kinda hate us."

"Well, couldn't you be nicer?" she exclaimed. "Great job, Blue! Now all I know is they're out there."

"Piper..." MacCready put his hands on her shoulders. She relaxed a bit.

"Right. Sorry, Blue. I'm glad you guys made it out okay." She looked at me. "What now? We got the data, what do we do with it?"

oooOOO***OOOooo

"What do I do with this now?"

Virgil stared at me. "You're still alive," he said. "Last time I saw you, I was sending you to fight a Courser. I usually don't expect people to come back from something like that. Although I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised, given you're the one who ended Kellogg." He shook his head. "How did you get it decoded?"

"The Railroad helped me," I said without hesitation, using a name he couldn't even know.

"Oh my god. Those kooks?" Virgil's expression was indescribable. "I would have thought they're too busy trying to liberate vending machines or setting toasters free."

So that's how fighting for synth rights looked for normal people. Huh.

Virgil rubbed his forehead. "Sorry, they just have something of a reputation. But on another note, I think I have good news for you. I'll have you know," he opened a drawer and pulled out a stack of papers, "you're not the only one who's been busy."

He handed the papers to me.

"I did what I could, from memory and things I've overheard through the years. I managed to come up with some schematics for you, though it wasn't easy - these hands are ridiculous. Fine motor skills have gone to shit."

"Schematics, cool," I said, flipping through the pages. They resembled more a child's drawings than serious scientific plans. "What are these for?"

"I'll give you the simple explanation. You'll have to build a device that will hijack the signal the Institute uses to molecularly relay Coursers, and have it send you instead."

"So, basically, a teleporter," I summed up. "Kinda crazy."

"You haven't heard the best part yet. Know that classical music station? That's the carrier signal for the relay." He chuckled at my shocked expression. "I know. All the data's encrypted on harmonic frequencies. You've all been listening to it all along."

"That's just cruel," I complained. I knew the Wasteland hated me, but this was almost ironic. Classical Radio was my favorite radio station. "Is there anything else?"

Virgil nervously cleared his throat. "I wanna be clear; this is... very far from my area of expertise. I was in Bioscience, not Advanced Systems or Engineering or anything like that."

"...That's good enough," I said, but I was unsure. So there was literally no certainty this would even work.

"For the record, I haven't made any promises."

I laughed bitterly. "Rest assured, I'm not gonna nag you about it if I die."

"Fair enough." He remained serious. "If you do manage to build the device and use that code, you should be able to override the signal from the Institute's relay. Can you?" He blinked. "Can you do it, I mean. This is too much for one person to handle, even someone like you. I hope you've got friends that can help you."

Friends? That was the one thing I was sure I had. The Brotherhood, the Minutemen... They would help me. I knew they would.

I grinned.

"Do not worry. I have it all covered."

oooOOO***OOOooo

"I have it all covered," I mocked myself angrily. "Why'd I have to go saying that? Why? Why? Ugh!" I flicked myself. "Of course I don't have it covered!"

I had friends. Of course I had.

In fact, lately it had seemed I had too many friends.

Because now I was facing a very grave choice: which of my friends would be the best choice for this venture. Clearly, all those groups I was involved with weren't especially keen on working together. If they didn't want to work together, some of them would just have to bear with not working at all. As to who to go to now... Well.

My first thought was, obviously, the Brotherhood of Steel. If there was anyone in the Wasteland technologically advanced enough to stand up to the Institute, it was the Brotherhood. And the amount of work and supplies something like that would take was too much for a small group of people. But could I be sure that Elder Maxson would approve of my plan? It was pretty risky, after all.

Then there were the Minutemen. If I needed help, they would help. I was sure of that. But they were barely organized enough to maintain order in the Commonwealth, much less build an actual teleporter. Maybe I was being overly skeptical, but I didn't feel comfortable trusting them with something that big.

The Railroad were the only ones who knew how the Institute's technology worked, but I was under the impression they pretty much hated me now that I had made my loyalty to the Brotherhood so clear. But I didn't want that. I didn't want my relationship with them to be entirely dependent on my relationship with the Brotherhood of Steel. Maybe I could do something about that.

The Railroad... Just two weeks ago, I wouldn't have even considered teaming up with the likes of them. Not only the whole covert-secrecy-spying operating, but helping out synths, too. Those had all been things that didn't agree with my nature. Or they had been so several days ago. Now?

Well, I'd gone through a lot in the last few days.

Who would have thought I'd actually venture into the Glowing Sea all by myself? Not me, that's for sure. But for now, that was how it was. Danse was back at the Prydwen giving a status report to Elder Maxson (finally, we had something to report!), Piper and MacCready had gone to Diamond City due to some political stirrings regarding synths and Piper, being Piper, had to be right in the middle of it all, Preston was trying to rile up the Minutemen's mojo after the whole Cambridge fiasco... Who else? Hancock couldn't leave Goodneighbor at a time like this. (Not again, at least - last time around, we'd gotten into a week-long mess.) Nick Valentine was engaged in the Winter case and I didn't want to disturb him...

All my other friends were dead now.

Just on the edge of the Glowing Sea, I encountered a group of raiders holed up in a pre-war fallout shelter. I wasn't afraid of charging into combat without backup - I had my power armor, after all. That stuff was amazing.

I knew I was terrible at shooting, and even more miserable with melee weapons, but that additional protection was all I needed. Plus, they were raiders, let's face it - poorly-equipped junkies with a hierarchy based on strength and brutality doesn't add up to very dangerous opponents.

I tried not to kill them all, satisfied with just having them retreat into their base. They had attacked me, not the other way around, after all. I didn't have time for this.

As I turned to leave, I caught a glimpse of the name of that fallout shelter - Vault 95.

Vault 95. This place had been Cait's only hope of getting clean.

Cait.

I gritted my teeth. Oh, those Institute bastards were getting it. They would pay. They would pay for everything they had done, to me and to everyone else. And the sooner, the better. I would get there and kick their asses, no discussion.

My choice was clear now.

It had always been.

oooOOO***OOOooo

"I have a way to infiltrate the Institute," I said, "using a device called the signal interceptor."

Proctor Ingram regarded my serious expression for a long moment. "Elder Maxson mentioned you have an idea," she said finally. "Alright. Tell me what your miracle device does."

"I'm not really sure," I admitted reluctantly. "Ask Paladin Danse, he'll explain all the science behind it - all I know is it's teleportation, using the Institute's own technology."

"Teleportation?" she exclaimed. "That's pretty sci-fi, if you ask me."

I handed her Virgil's schematics. "I've got some blueprints."

She flipped through the pages and her eyes grew wider by the second. "Molecular transmission via encrypted RF ways?" She laughed like a small child that's been given a toy. "Okay, even I have to admit that's genius. Oh! This explains why we've been picking up anomalous energy readings all over the Commonwealth! Not to mention how they manage to get their tin soldiers out of damn walls. And this little beauty," she poked the plans with a finger, "allows you to literally hijack a return signal. Instead of grabbing the intended target, it grabs you instead. Impressive."

"Please, spare me the jargon. I work with Paladin Danse, for God's sakes. Don't you think I hear enough scientific mumbo-jumbo from that geek?" I rolled my eyes. "What matters is, do you think your team can build it?"

Ingram pointed at the Prydwen. "I can keep that flying pile of junk in the air," she laughed, "which means I already can work miracles. But here... It's difficult to make out the details, this looks like it's been drawn by a kid... Whoa, we're gonna need a massive power source to keep the signal interceptor running." She suddenly looked worried. "I'll run this by Maxson. Dana?" She stopped a Scribe who was walking past us.

"Yes, ma'am?" Dana asked with a smile.

"I'm gonna need as many tech experts as we can spare. Can you go up to the Prydwen and ask for... let's see, Proctor Taegan... Paladin Hudson... Star Paladin Havoc... Proctor Quinlan, Paladin Danse, Paladin Tristan, and Scribe Neriah."

Scribe Dana nodded and walked away in the direction of the airport proper. Ingram looked at me. "And you. You should go report to Elder Maxson. Or better yet, come with me now."

We took a vertibird to the Prydwen and found the team assembled by Scribe Dana already at the bridge. Ingram and I explained to the Elder and the officers who weren't yet familiar with the idea, and waited for them to take in the idea.

"Teleportation." Maxson's eyes were dark like a sky before the storm as he looked out the window, absently stroking his beard. "It sounds improbable at the very least." He sighed and turned around to face the rest of us. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. I will allow this proposition. Proctor Ingram, Proctor Taegan, I hope your teams are up for the task."

"They are," Taegan assured him.

"And Paladin Hudson, your endeavor in the Glowing Sea?"

"I'm... stepping along, sir." Paladin Hudson was a bit reluctant to report.

"In that case, you're dismissed. I don't think you're needed for this project to proceed." Maxson turned to me. "The same goes for you. However this sounds, there is literally nothing I have for you to do right now." He crossed his arms. "You've earned this, Sergeant. Take a few days off. It will be a while before we manage to build this, ah..."

"Reflector platform," Proctor Ingram suggested mercifully.

"Reflector platform," Elder Maxson nodded. "And all the other parts."

"Quantum harmonizer, photon emitter, a few relay dishes," Danse counted aloud. "That might actually take a while." He looked at the Elder. "Are you certain you don't want us to look for scrap parts? This might require some specialized materials."

"Well, I didn't mean to, but since you're volunteering..."

Danse blinked. "Wait."

"Very well, I'll only relieve Nora off duty. Thank you so much, Paladin." He managed to keep it all in a joking undertone, but I had a strange feeling he was being serious at the same time. I giggled. Ingram had to cover her smirk, too. Maxson looked at me. "Unless you're not happy with that, either."

"Oh no," I assured him, "I'm not complaining. Not in the slightest."

Oh, I sure as hell wasn't complaining about this. In a way, this was all I could possibly wish for. This is just perfect.

oooOOO***OOOooo

I looked around nervously. I had made sure I wasn't being followed at least a hundred times, and yet I was still feeling uneasy.

The sewers underneath Boston were much like I should expect from eighteenth-century sewers after centuries and centuries and then an apocalypse - dirty, dark, damp, and all around unpleasant. Still, I was determined to make it through. I had been looking in underground tunnels all over Old North End for the past few hours and I'd had enough. But this was the only way of contacting the Railroad I knew of.

Funnily enough, they'd seemed to contact me without a hassle before. Now, when I actually wanted to find them, it was all impossible.

I didn't even have a watch to see what time it was. I'd been here for a while now, and the sun had already set when I'd entered the underground. No better place to spend the night than some questionable tunnels, right?

At least it was getting a tad less dark in here. There were some candles standing by the wall. I still didn't want to turn out my flashlight, though. I had a bad feeling about this whole place. Even if not the Railroad, something was lurking in this darkness just outside my field of vision and...

Someone pressed me against the wall.

"Hey!" I cried out before a hand was roughly pressed against my mouth. I took a look at the attacker and immediately recognized Deacon, the trademark sunglasses on his nose even though we were underground. He looked around before slowly letting go of me.

"You have to be more stealthy than that," he complained. "Or else you won't make the cut."

I stared at him. "But how-" I looked around, but there was noplace he could have hidden. "Where did you come from?! I didn't see a thing!"

He put a finger on my lips. "Tone down." I nodded.

"But you- I swear you weren't here!"

"It's a professional secret. Maybe I'll tell you one day." He looked around. "Is your boyfriend coming, by the way?"

"Danse is not my boyfriend."

Deacon raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. "I don't see it." He shrugged. "Either way. So he's not coming, and from the looks of it, no one else is coming. You're here alone, so it probably means you didn't sell us out to the Institute. Thanks!" He smiled.

"Um... No problem," I said semi-nervously. "Listen, can I please talk to your boss? I've been thinking a lot about what she said before and..."

"You wanna join."

"No," I said quickly. "I mean, yes. Yes and no. It's... I don't know yet."

Deacon slowly nodded his head. "Oh kay," he said in the most patronizing voice ever. He motioned at me to follow him. "Keep up now if you wanna get to HQ. Thanks for destroying our main entrance, by the way. Do you have any idea how much hassle that was?"

"Sorry," I said quietly.

A few more tunnels and doors, and we ended up getting to Railroad HQ through some kind of back entrance. I tried to remember how to get there, just in case.

"Well, you were right, Dez," Deacon called out from the very entrance. "She did come back!"

Desdemona looked at him, looking as tired as a person could. She reluctantly left her place behind a table. It dawned on me that it was the middle of the night. Pun... not intended.

"Deacon?" She cleared her throat.

"Yeah."

"Why aren't you letting my people sleep in peace?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Tone down. A lot."

"Gotcha, boss. And look what I brought!" He motioned towards me.

"Deacon. Lower decibel. Please."

"Yeah, 'course." He paid no mind to any of that. "Shoot. You guys were trying to sleep here?" He looked around theatrically.

"Where trying is the key word," Glory mumbled, sitting up angrily. "Hi, Deacon. Whatcha got there?"

"Nora here wants to join our cause," Deacon said proudly, as if it were his doing.

"I'm considering," I corrected him. "Look, I really didn't mean to barge in here in the middle of the night. It's just that I've been trying to get in contact with you people for days now... Look, I know we didn't meet on the best of terms. But hey! Who gives a shit about first impressions?"

They exchanged glances. I sighed, dropped my shoulders, stared at the ground.

"It's stupid, I know. Synths. Humans. It's all wrong." I took in a breath. "But I really want to work with you to try to make it right."

Deacon nodded, clearly satisfied, but he didn't say a word. Desdemona looked at me.

"Don't think of us as desperate," she said. "You've already proven you would be a dangerous enemy... and a valuable ally, I'm certain. In truth, this is all politics. The world's gone to hell, people are more political now than ever before. You must know, working with the Brotherhood of Steel."

I nodded. "So does this mean you'll take me in?" I asked.

She slowly exhaled. "I've only got one question for you. The only question that matters. Would you put your life on the line to save a fellow man... Even if that man was a synth?"

That was all they wanted to know?

"It depends on the circumstances," I said honestly. I would put my life on the line for Nick Valentine, but I had left that woman to die a week ago. "Every situation is different."

Desdemona shook her head.

"There's no in between. You're either a friend of the synths or an enemy."

"There is an in between. A wise man once said that you can't expect morality to work in the same in every case, because then morality would be useless."

They looked at me without a word.

"I don't believe that the very existence of synths is a good thing," I said quietly. "Humans shouldn't be allowed to tamper with nature. To play God. But... Neither do I believe those synths should be killed for simply being. They were created, and that's wrong, but killing them is killing sentient, thinking people. It's wrong too."

No one said anything.

"I know it doesn't exactly agree with your agenda," I admitted. "But I do believe - I firmly believe - that there's a golden mean between you and the Brotherhood. You're both wrong in some aspects." I bit my lip, unsure if I should go on. "But maybe if you somehow learned to work together...?"

I had gone too far.

"I just want to know if you're with us or the Brotherhood of Steel," Desdemona said warily. "Because I might have second thoughts about letting you in here. Who are you with?"

"Neither," I said quickly. "Both. I don't know. I already joined the Brotherhood, I can't exactly leave without it being seen as desertion. But I wanna help out you guys too. Is that wrong?" I was talking a bit too quickly now, but I went on. "I don't think that's wrong. I wanna fight the Institute because they destroyed my life, what's wrong with that? Everyone understands what revenge is. Why do people get so worked up when I start talking about ideology? I share many ideals with the Brotherhood of Steel, that's why I joined up. But you don't seem like bad people either, so I thought I might join you too-"

"Fine, fine." Desdemona waved a hand. "Just... Stop talking. Or slow down at least."

I was glad to shut up.

"My only question is why we should even trust you. Your devotion to the Brotherhood of Steel is quite obvious."

I shot her a glare.

"I came here, for one," I pointed out. "In the middle of the night, secretly, without telling folks from the Brotherhood. That alone smells like treason to me."

"Fair point," Glory noticed.

Desdemona looked at her, then at me. "You can help out," she said finally. "I hope not to regret this. You can help with trafficking synths on the surface, especially given your connections. You can-"

"You want to make her a tourist?" Deacon looked at the ground with a pained expression. "What a waste."

"If you're so touched, what would you do?"

"What would I do?" He repeated. "I'd make her an agent right away! An inside contact in the Brotherhood of Steel, Dez. That doesn't happen often. And she's involved with the Minutemen too! It's kinda unfair that we would be left out."

"Okay, no," I protested, "see, now it's as though I'm some kind of special treat or something. I'm not special!" I looked around at all the people who were looking at me. "I'm not, I swear. I can't even shoot a gun, I'm terrible at sneaking, I have no social skills, I don't know my way around machines or..."

"She took out a Courser," Deacon interrupted me. "Talked herself into the Neighborhood Watch and the Brotherhood of Steel. She's managed to convince the current General of the Minutemen to become thus much. Sure, she may not be some special ops agent, but man, oh man, can this woman talk!"

He put a hand to his forehead. "Look, I'm vouching for Nora. She's got what it takes and besides, she actually wants to help synths! She's it, Dez. Take my word for it."

"You're vouching for her," Desdemona raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"So you're fine with the responsibility. If she goes down, you go down together."

Deacon looked at her without blinking. (At least so I assumed, as he was wearing the dark sunglasses.) "She won't."

"And you," she turned to me. "You need to accept all the risks of this line of work. The Railroad isn't some child's play. It's serious, dangerous business. We're helping those who generally aren't helped, which brings some antagonism from society. You need to accept that." She crossed her arms. "Furthermore. Everything that happens here, the location of HQ, the names of the people here, it's all top secret. We're here protecting our agents' identities. You need a codename, like everyone else here. We have Deacon and Glory. We had Whispers, Bishop, Emerald, Bullseye, Lucky, Trench, Ocelot..."

I suddenly realized why the Railroad were so few. There had been more - they were all just dead.

"Codename?" I repeated, my throat somehow dry as I thought about all those dead agents. Somehow, joining the Railroad felt like I was putting my own name on that list.

"You don't have to use a codename," Glory said. "It's just for safety reasons. Or if you really hate your real name."

Deacon glared at her. "Shut up."

Safety reasons. So this couldn't be anything Brotherhood of Steel-related. Although I could call myself Paladin, that would be fun. Or Maverick - didn't Piper refer to Danse that way once?

Piper.

I grinned as all of a sudden, it hit me. The perfect codename. One that I was sure belonged to me.

"You can call me Blue."

oooOOO***OOOooo

If I had thought partnering up with Danse was weird, I clearly hadn't had a good measure. Because Deacon took it to the next level.

He started off with this weird talk about partnering up and having someone watch your back, and all that, then went on to disprove exactly every single thing he had said.

He would avoid travelling together with me and preferred to meet up at a rendezvous point instead, he would say some seriously confusing stuff (like the very concerning fact that he was a synth too), or some stuff that I was sure was just downright nonsense. He would show up when and where I least expected him, always in a completely different outfit. I found out that Elvis hair of his was a wig, like many more I soon got used to seeing him in.

Deacon was a perfect actor - when it came to camouflage, at least - and his costumes never ceased to amaze me. A Diamond City guard was probably the most impressive. Although I got pretty startled when I was running some errand for one of the settlements allied with the Minutemen and he showed up in a perfect Minuteman's outfit, complete with a militia hat.

What was angering me was that I couldn't put my finger on the man. We worked very closely together, so you'd think we became friends soon or something, but he was about as much of a mystery as anyone could be. He showered me with so much information that I didn't even know what to believe, if any of it.

With enough hard work, Preston and I managed to pull the Minutemen from the ground. So far we were good, but that stagger had made us realize just how unstable our situation was.

Sturges was the one who came up with the idea of the radio and I have got to admit, I hadn't given him enough credit before. It was ingenious. Besides, the calm violin music we transmitted over what was now called Radio Freedom was a welcome change from the poorly-conducted Diamond City Radio and the Institute-conducted Classical Radio.

Radio Freedom was like a beacon for the Commonwealth. It helped unite the Minutemen and boost up the people's morale. Our situation was finally stable.

The Brotherhood of Steel, on the other hand, was struggling with the challenge of building the molecular relay. Proctor Ingram had warned me it would take at least a month, but I was still growing frustrated. We were so close, at last, and yet again some stupid setback was keeping me from the Institute.

I clenched my fist, opened it, flexed my fingers... Amazing how this world could turn around. I'd never thought I was wondering the kind of person who just...

I sighed.

"Heads up," Deacon said absently as he entered the room, pressing something on a wrist-worn device. "We gotta go."

I looked up at him.

"That's a Pip-Boy," I noticed. "I used to have one of those, before I gave it to a friend. Are you a Vault dweller?"

"What?" Deacon laughed, as if that idea was completely ridiculous. He looked at me very intensely. "Hell, I might be," he said evenly. "Sure. Why not. But, uh... Bottom line - this here is the most useful thing in the world." He tapped on the Pip-Boy.

"That's what my friend said too. That's why I gave it to him."

"Huh." He crossed his arms. "Generous of you, Blue." I still couldn't get over the fact that Piper wasn't the only one who called me that. "Either way. I was being serious when I said we gotta go. Dez wants you back at HQ."

"What for?" I asked, quickly packing my things into my Brotherhood of Steel backpack. Funnily enough, I hadn't worn my Brotherhood uniform for weeks. I now got around in some clothes I'd bought at the Fallon's Basement in Diamond City and my leather jacket.

"She didn't say. But from what Stockton's told me, it's pretty serious."

We quickly walked through the alleys of Bunker Hill in the direction of Old North End. I skipped a broken sidewalk tile.

"So Desdemona wants just me to report?" I asked. "Why not you?"

Deacon laughed good-heartedly. "Hey. She's not the boss of me." He stopped, making me do the same a few steps later. "Wanna know a secret?"

I honestly wasn't sure. I had had enough secrecy for one lifetime. "I don't know," I said. "Do I?"

Deacon fixed his eyes on the horizon. "You've been in this mess long enough and we've had some close shots... Might as well tell you." He cleared his throat. "The Railroad? I'm in charge of it. Sure, Dez acts all important and all, but that's only a facade."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Honest!" He raised his hands. "Just look at your situation: they were all ready to kill you, with guns and all that, but enter Deacon and voilà! Honestly, a few words from me and Dez lets you inside HQ. What remains is, I'm the real leader of the Railroad. No shit."

I stared at him, not really sure if he actually expected me to believe that.

"You're lying," I said. "And that's not the first time. You've told me plenty of that stuff already. Bull. Shit."

"Okay. You got me. But you go out there, people are gonna feed you the exact same bullshit on daily basis. You've got to look at not the golden-laced words someone speaks, but at what they're doing, and only then deal out judgement. There's plenty of groups in the Commonwealth who would wanna use you to get what they want." He took off his sunglasses and nervously wiped them with his shirt. "Your job is to really know who you can trust and who you can't."

"Can I trust you?" I asked. "You haven't exactly been honest with me."

"I wanted to make sure you learned this lesson, Nora. It's... hella important. You're gonna go out there, you're gonna meet people, and you'll have to make your own opinion on them."

"And what's your opinion?" I asked. "On all those groups in the Commonwealth, I mean. Who would you trust?"

"I don't think my opinion is... Aw, hell." He put the sunglasses back on. "I won't get started on the Railroad. The Minutemen? I love the idea, and they've been doing some good stuff lately, but... I don't really believe they have any military strength at all. Then, there are the Gunners. Better stay clear. The Brotherhood of Steel... Well, I had a run in with them in the Capital Wasteland a couple years back and I was honestly impressed. Some of the best people I've met. But now, with Elder Maxson in charge? I'm not a fan." He laughed a bit. "Goodneighbor's a cool place to hang out for everyone more or less shady. Diamond City - good place to hang out, not a good place if you're looking for help. They're just out for themselves, and security does little. Then, there's the Institute. You can probably guess what my opinion is."

"The same as mine. They can go to hell."

"The same as everyone's, then." Deacon frowned. "But the thing is... It doesn't really matter what I think. What really matters is your opinion, even if you haven't made up your mind yet. Because.. at the end of the day, you'll have to make a decision. All I'm saying is... just make sure it's the right one."

"I hate making decisions."

"You can't live the way you are now: Brotherhood of Steel as a day job, Railroad as a night job, and part-time Minutemen. And not just because it's gonna exhaust you physically. You just can't keep having all those secrets around." He sighed. "Trust me, I would know."

I looked down, but Deacon lifted my chin, a smile on his face.

"Look, I don't wanna give you advice, but I know you've been running with the Brotherhood for a whole lotta time before you met with us, and I know you're probably already engaged in all of that... I just... Just don't feel guilty for your decision. Whatever it is."

"Thank you, but why are you saying all of that?" I raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be trying to get me on your side?"

"Don't confuse me with your other friends, Nora. I just... I want you to not feel guilty, whatever you decide. That's what I want. Can you please do that for me?"

I felt a lump in my throat.

"...Yeah," I said eventually. My voice felt almost alien to me. "I'll... I'll do that. Thanks, Deacon."

oooOOO***OOOooo

I exhaled slowly. It was gonna be fine. I was gonna be fine. Truthfully, I wasn't nearly as nervous talking to Desdemona as I was talking to Elder Maxson. There definitely was a friendlier atmosphere in the Railroad than in the Brotherhood of Steel or even the Minutemen. That was probably part of the reason I had adapted so quickly. They were my kind of people.

"So, you make up your mind yet?" Glory came up to me.

I cocked my head to the side. "What about?"

"Your big great speech about the morals of synths. You know, what you said about the Brotherhood of Steel and the Railroad." She crossed her arms. "Nora, I believe you have the best of intentions, but that's never gonna work."

"So you say," I corrected her. "Gotta have faith. As to synths... I don't know how to say this. Deacon's been..." I scratched my head. "He's hard to describe. He told me he's a synth, too. It's... It's weird."

"Deacon says a lot of things," Glory said, looking at me carefully. "Some of them are true. Some of them ain't. Is he a synth? We have a little poll around here. I'm pretty sure he is, though. He wouldn't be saying something like that otherwise. In the wrong circles, it can get you killed."

I nodded. "You're right. But that's still not enough to convince me. I think... I think nothing ever will. Synths? You should never have existed in the first place."

Glory crossed her arms, but she looked somewhat uneasy now (although I had to admit, she was one of the most cool-headed people I knew.)

"Don't get me wrong, Glory, I would not have killed you. But your existence is wrong. Your life was artificially created by people attempting to play God and tinker with what isn't theirs to control."

She looked at me without a word, waiting for the rest.

"But this life, however indecorously created, is still a life. And it should be protected, no matter what." I smiled. After all this time, I finally understood what had been wrong with my beliefs all this time. I had been blindly following what the Brotherhood of Steel had taught me, and so I hadn't realized there was one big flaw in their logic. "Synths are people too."

New Rank: Railroad Agent - you have been accepted into the ranks of the Railroad. From now on, your sneak attacks do a permanent +10% damage and StealthBoys last 10% longer. Silenced weapons do 15% more damage and have a bigger chance for killing instantly.
Level up.
New Perk: Hardened - your bone structure is now stronger, making it harder for you to cripple or break your limbs.

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