The scene that greeted them was initially relieving: no dead scientists littering the floor, no troop of armored soldiers waiting for them, no smoking pile of wreckage where the purifier was supposed to be. They spotted Dr. Li at the glass bulkhead doors and ran to her. She turned, eyes wide and face drawn in anxiety. Her usual professional demeanor was completely shattered and she looked like she was barely staying conscious.

Lee grabbed her arm. "Are you okay? What's happening? Who is that?"

She shook her head, unable to answer and turned back to the strange man in a long coat standing inside the glass partition. Janice and James were also inside the central chamber being covered by two more Enclave soldiers holding huge energy weapons. The voices were muffled and quiet on the other side of the window, but could be faintly heard. The man in front of James and Janice noticed the new arrivals and slightly turned his head to look at them, an ugly sneer on his face.

"As I was saying, I am Colonel Augustus Autumn, representing the Enclave forces here. We are taking over this facility, and you will immediately activate this purifier and transfer all relevant data to my experts. If you resist we will be forced to use... extreme measures to ensure your assistance."

James' face was pale, but determined. Lee could see he was terrified... and furious. Lee tapped the bulkhead release button on the nearby pedestal, but of course, nothing happened. The thing was completely bulletproof, and there was no other way in. Lee hated the helpless feeling that was creeping over him.

"You have no jurisdiction here, I refuse. This building houses a private project and I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Without warning, Autumn drew a pistol from his coat and calmly shot Janice in the stomach. Lee yelled in surprised anguish and put his hands on the glass in front of him. Janice was bleeding heavily and fell to the floor, dead or unconscious. Both James and Lee looked back at Colonel Autumn, eyes blazing with anger.

Autumn spoke quietly, "I trust I can count on your cooperation now to avoid any further unpleasantness. I am not a patient man."

"Alright," James answered. "Just don't hurt anyone else." He was alone in the chamber now with Autumn and his two bodyguards. James glanced at Lee, an unreadable expression on his face, and turned around to type something out on the purifier console. What is he doing? He can't activate it without the GECK... Oh, no. Before Lee could complete the thought, James punched the enter key and a bright flare of light shot out from the middle of the room.

Behind him he could hear Madison's horrified voice, "The radiation purge! He's going to kill them all!"

The machinery below the platform cycled up with a deep, thrumming whong whong whong sound. The light pulsed in time with the sound as the engine got up to speed. The soldiers and Autumn collapsed to the floor, and James with them, falling over the console and sinking to his knees. Lee screamed out and pounded his fists against the glass, feeling his stomach burn and twist from the ambient radiation. "Dad!" There was nothing in his mind but the flashing light and nothing in his ears but the beat of the machine. He's dead.

Dead.

A pair of hands grabbed him by the arms and spun him around. Before he could register who it was or what was happening, he threw out a fist and cracked the person in the face. Charon stumbled back, hand going to his spouting nose; blood already dripping down his face and off his jaw. His eyes darkened, but he shouted over the revving machine, "Come on! We have to get out before this whole place is flooded! Everyone will die!"

The machine wasn't stopping, it continued to cycle up, the rhythm now starting to falter as if an axle somewhere was off-kilter. If it went on much longer it would probably tear itself apart.

Lee glanced back into the chamber once more, the yellow numbers on his dad's jumpsuit glaring out at him. He clenched his fists and turned away from the sight. "Go then."

All three of them dashed out into the hall and spotted a small cluster of the remains of the Project Purity team. They joined up with them and Dr. Li led the way to a hidden manhole cover on the far side of the building. The group descended the ladder and ran forward while Dr. Li shouted out directions. There were a few Enclave soldiers along the way that were taken care of by Charon. Lee was completely useless for a fight right now, and just ran along behind the ghoul, eyes on his back and mind whirling. He could hear nothing but the pound of his blood in his ears and felt detached from his body, like he was just floating along for the ride. It was an eternity, running through the dark underground. Endless halls, endless stairways, endless running. Running away from his dad.

They wound up at the Citadel, and were grudgingly admitted into the interior. Dr. Li and company split off to their own dormitories, and Charon and Lee were taken to a secluded room in the corner of one of the underground levels. Their Brotherhood initiate escort gave the blank-eyed human and blood-soaked ghoul a curious glance, but quickly scurried off to attend to his regular duties. Charon watched Lee stumble around the small room before sitting on one of the cots and letting his head hang forward, staring at the tiled floor. Speaking quietly he asked, "You gonna be okay for a little while?"

Not looking up, Lee flopped a hand out and nodded his head.

Charon left him alone for a bit, finding a bathroom and washing the dried blood from his face and clothes as best he could. He removed the outer plates of his armor to scrub them off, being partly successful. So many nicks and scratches in the surface made it hard to really get the leather clean. He raised his head and looked in the mirror above the sink. The fluorescent lighting harshly illuminated every scratch and crag on his face, and made his already pale eyes look like they were glowing. He bared his teeth and made a silent snarl at the silvery surface before picking up his armor pieces and tossing them over his shoulder as he headed out the door. A feeling of vague despair clung to him as he walked; watching James and Janice, two people he actually liked, die right in front of him was appalling. His body ached, his face throbbed, and he still had the slimy metallic taste of blood in the back of his throat. My kingdom for some Aspirin. He found Dr. Li and her team in their room, and stopped in the doorway and raised a hand to Madison. She raised hers back in acknowledgement, having almost the same wide, unfocused gaze that Lee did. Charon wandered the base for a while, garnering plenty of stares. He laughed resentfully on the inside, when was the last time a ghoul was in the Citadel?

He arrived back at their room to find Lee in the same position he'd left him: elbows on knees, head leaned forward, and a dark shag of hair covering his face. He announced his presence with a quiet cough, and went ahead and dumped his armor and gun in the corner. Feeling apprehensive, he sat next to Lee on the bed and gently wrapped an arm around the trembling shoulder. James' death hadn't hit him as hard as it had Lee, which was to be expected, but seeing Lee so lost and distraught wrenched at his heart a little. Uncertainly, in a low tone he said, "I'm terrible at this, but I'm here. For anything you need."

Lee let out a shaky, guttural sigh and put his arms around Charon, leaning his head on a shoulder. He felt his eyes burn and throat constricting, and gulped in a breath of air. Damnit. Charon eased his free arm under Lee's legs and picked him up, cradling him in his lap. In a miserable, watery voice Lee said, "Shit. What a goddamn mess."

Lee's arms tightened on him in a spasm and he shook with silent sobs. Charon just held him, running a hand across his back, and feeling the warm damp patch on his shirt spread where Lee was burying his face.

Lee kept replaying the events in the purifier in his mind: Janice keeling over after being shot, the strange last look his father had given him, the realization of what would happen when the enter button was pressed, the bright flare of light, and everyone in the chamber sinking down to the floor. He cried until he felt empty and the tears wouldn't come anymore. He armed the last tears off his face and took a deep breath. Charon leaned back and looked down at him. Hair hanging in limp straggles and eyes red and puffy, Lee said, "Sorry about hitting you."

Charon snorted at the unexpected statement and answered, "It's okay, I've had worse." He freed his left hand and gingerly wiggled the short remains of the bridge of his nose back and forth, wincing at the still sharp pain. "...but not much worse."

Lee hiccupped a laugh and sighed, scooting off Charon and standing up to stretch. He felt exhausted and his train of thought struggled to keep going as he eyed the bed and the clean sheets. We need to go find that GECK, I'm not letting him die for nothing. Rest if we need to, but we're going to get that thing as soon as possible. Goddamn Enclave. "Charon."

Charon looked up.

"We're going to the vault to get that GECK. Then we're taking Dr. Li back and she's going to complete it. Everything was ready except that final piece." He looked across the room, right into Charon's eyes. "I need to see Project Purity activated."

Charon nodded. Completing the project felt like something they owed to James.

"This place is fine and all, but I'd like to get out of here pretty soon. Brotherhood makes me nervous. I'm about to fall asleep on my feet, so I'm gonna go to bed now." He shook his head and muttered, "Fuck."

Charon took a chair by the door and watched Lee fall into bed and go to sleep almost right away. Ghouls weren't on the best of terms with the Brotherhood and he felt slightly uneasy as well, but they were protected here, for now. He thought back on the short conversation with James about where to find the GECK. They had the location of the vault, a warning, and nothing else. Anything could be waiting for them there, and they didn't even know how to actually get inside. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck back and forth. Bring lots of stims and worry about it when we get there.