***4 days ago***
"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Maya cursed under her breath while working furiously at her console. The alarms blaring all around her made it impossible to think clearly, "This isn't working!". The system had detected that Maya embedded an auto destruct command and had initiated base-wide evacuation protocols, unlocking all the doors and completely overriding her original commands that had ensured safe passage for her team. Although they were more than halfway to the surface, the guards had unrestricted access to chase them down.
"Think!" she muttered, her eyes scanning the map on the monitor, following the progress of McNamara and the others. Suddenly it came to her. She didn't need to get them all the way to the surface, if she could just re-direct them to the hangar…
"Ibsen! Nolan! If anyone can hear me, head to the hangar bay! It's two levels above you, take the staircase 50 feet away from you on the right!" she instructed over her walkie.
"Maya!" McNamara's crackling voice came through, "We're not leaving without you!"
She could hear gunfire on their end, "Don't argue with me! Just go! I'll find a way out for myself".
"You better! Otherwise Boone will shoot me when he comes to" McNamara added.
Despite her dire situation, his message made her smile, "I will… Now go! You've got ten minutes before the base blows!".
Taking her walkie with her, Maya leaped down the stairs and made a bee line for the stasis room below her. She was hoping she could find another way around this problem, but there was no alternative; terminal commands were no longer being accepted and she was left with only one option: merge her consciousness with the system. The last time this happened to her she was being tortured for information by the Founding Fathers.
She stormed inside the room and began de-activation procedure from the control panel of the first pod she ran into. One of the occupants, an unsavoury character she recognised by the name of William König, opened his eyes and gazed at her in terror.
"Ah, William, so nice to see you awake" she sneered, "I see you've put your paranoia to good use. Don't worry though, this isn't going to be painful… Which is more than I can say about the way you treated me".
Suddenly the panel she was inputting the codes into turned off and all access was denied.
"You will never succeed" he wheezed defiantly.
"There's more than one way to kill you" she spat coldly and started pulling the air filtration tubing out of the side of his pod, gleefully watching him panic. Finding the seam of the pod door, Maya began to pry it open. It was almost too easy with her power armour on. A shrill hiss told her that the containment of the pod was broken and, with a final mighty pull, the door flung open. Maya grabbed him by his withered and frail throat and crushed it, feeling a sickening crack as her power armour suit snapped his neck. Tossing his wasted body aside, she connected William's merging device to her temple and was instantly transported to the virtual world.
A sweet wind blew through her hair, warm sunshine on her skin, birds chirping cheerfully in the distance. Maya opened her eyes and was surrounded by lush beauty, a synthetic world untouched by nuclear war. She was standing just outside the gates to a large estate house, holding a newspaper. One of her hands was on the ornate iron wrought gate with delicate gold filigree just outside the house, as though she was in the middle of closing it. But it wasn't her hand…
When she looked down, it was very clearly a man's hand. Dropping the paper she was carrying, Maya held both hands up in front of her to examine them. In a panic, she walked up to the very expensive sports car in front of her and examined her features in the reflective glass.
"Fuck…" she whispered as she watched a much younger William staring back at her in bewilderment. It was her reflection…
'My consciousness was downloaded to the mainframe but with his physical appearance' she thought, 'Oh, this'll come in handy'.
Suddenly a panicked stout man in a houndstooth suit came running out of another estate house opposite hers and right up to her.
"William! Thank God, what the hell is going on out there?" he huffed, looking extremely concerned.
She smiled, trying to appear normal, "What do you mean?"
"God damn it William! This isn't a joke! I saw you phase out, what's going on?" the man persisted urgently. Maya tried to think of a reasonable response. Although she wanted nothing more than to do to him what she did to William, Maya needed to get the code from at least two of the Founders to stop the FEV from being dispersed.
"Power fluctuations. I was disconnected for a second" she replied confidently, "I'm going to need you and the others to go to your terminals and access the mainframe to shut down the FEV launch".
The man laughed, "You gotta be messing with me William".
"I wish I was" Maya lied, "But we've captured the infiltrators and we need to interrogate them before we proceed. Who knows what they did to sabotage our plans".
"You're right" the man nodded, looking convinced, "I'll round up the others".
"Good man. Say, I'll come with you in case anyone has questions" she added, following the stout man as he called up the other Founders. No one seemed to question her words and they all complied with the request. She also requested that they return terminal access for the others outside, which also went unchallenged.
'If I can get out in the next couple of minutes, I might just have enough time to reach the hangar' she thought optimistically.
"Alright, that's great. I'll go back to my own terminal and check the progress with our technicians" she said, clasping her hands together.
"Of course" one of the Founders answered, "Give us an update in an hour, we want to proceed with the final stage to monitor results before we expire".
The last remark made Maya's blood run cold.
'They're dying' she realised, 'And they'd rather watch the world burn than relinquish control'.
"Will do" Maya nodded, trying her best not to allow the disgust she was feeling inside to bubble to the surface.
Heading straight for William's house, Maya initiated the exit procedure and in a split second she was back in her own body in the real world.
"Got you now you sons of bitches" Maya panted, a searing hatred for everything these monsters stood for and their blatant disregard for all life fuelling her motives. Initiating the shutdown protocol for all the stasis pods, she effectively euthanized all the occupants before sprinting out of the room and through the hallway where she and her team had been through less than half an hour ago. She pressed the elevator button but the system was not responding.
"Shit!" she hissed, forcing the doors open and scanned for doors above her. She could just about see the base of the elevator at the top some 100 feet above. Immediately Maya started climbing up towards it, very much aware that she had less than 3 minutes to get to the surface before the auto destruct initiated. Climbing on top of the elevator, she managed to get inside through the access panel on the top and through the doors leading into the hallway. Thankfully there were no personnel on the floor she was in, apart from several bloody bodies of security personnel which she could only assume were the result of a skirmish with McNamara.
Following the map on her PipBoy, Maya sprinted for the hangar.
"Nolan! If you can hear me I'm on my way to the hangar!" she panted, but only heard static through her walkie, "Nolan?! Ibsen?! Can anyone hear me?".
Nothing…
"God damn it" she muttered, feeling a kick of adrenaline surge through her veins.
'I'm not going to die in here!' she said to herself, desperately trying to keep ahead of the ticking clock.
Just as she reached the hangar bay, she felt a deep rumble and the ground shaking from underneath. The autodestruct was initiated! Walls around the hangar began to crack and the ceiling was crumbling.
"Not yet! Not fucking yet!" she yelled, diving into the first aircraft she came across which looked very much like a cross between a VertiBird and a Black Hawk helicopter.
As the motors whined to life, gunshots ricocheted off Maya's power armour and the side of the craft. She turned to face in the direction where the bullets were coming from, spotting a couple of guards who hadn't managed to escape yet charging in her direction.
"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS SHIT!" she screamed at them, turning the turret controls in their direction and firing, watching in horror as the minigun mounted underneath the craft ripped through the men like they were made from butter. The floor started caving in and Maya forced the craft to take off. A high-pitched whine emanated from the engine as it fought against gravity to keep them in the air. One of the hangar doors on the ceiling came loose, crashing down into the abyss where she was standing not even a minute ago. The rumbling intensified, and secondary explosions started going off, launching debris and rubble at her, hitting the craft and catching one of the rotary blades as she was making her ascent.
Maya screamed as her craft lunged sideways. She was so close, she could see sunlight from outside.
"Just a bit…more" she exclaimed through gritted teeth, trying to keep control of her flight trajectory with a severely damaged tail propeller that threatened to send her spinning out of control.
Just as she had cleared the bay doors, the devastating blow of the explosion beneath her reached her craft and engulfed it in flames, like a beast out of the deepest recesses in the Earth came up to snatch her and drag her back down.
Alarms blaring, Maya tried to force the craft to gain altitude, but it was no use.
"Pull up! Pull up!" the alarm warned her as her craft was caught in a vortex of fire and the engines stalled. Maya felt her body leave her seat as she started to fall and the light above her was snuffed out…
***Present day***
Sitting on the edge of his bed in the med bay, Boone gently ran his index finger over the play button on Ibsen's PipBoy, wondering whether to play the message again… A pistol lying next to him on the covers.
He must have listened to Maya's final message at least a dozen times since he woke up an hour ago. It wasn't helping him anymore. Instead, listening to it was a brutal reminder that she wasn't there anymore. There was the familiar emptiness in his heart, the same one he experienced ten years ago… It made him wonder if it was even worth hanging around until the end of the day.
A gentle knock on his door roused him from his despair. Stashing his gun underneath the mattress, he opened the door only to find McNamara standing in front of him. He didn't have the energy to greet him, let alone speak.
"Hey Boone, mind if I come in?"
Boone nodded, letting McNamara come inside.
"I'm… I, uh…" the Elder began to speak, but found it difficult to choose the right words. A glint of light reflecting off a metal object under Boone's mattress caught his attention. He realised quickly that it was a pistol and what Boone's intentions were.
"I have a great idea, let's go get some breakfast" he said with an urgent feeling that he had to get him out of that room.
Though Boone protested at first, he was too tired and numb to argue, so he followed McNamara to the mess hall. The Elder loaded up their plates and they sat down together at a table in the empty hall. Boone looked at his plate, feeling no desire to tuck into his meal. He noticed that McNamara had given him a plate of Brahmin steak with instamash and steamed gourd and banana yucca chunks. Instantly his mind went back to what Maya said to him at McCarren after they rescued her from the Legionaries.
"I don't eat meat" he said numbly, pushing his plate slightly to one side.
McNamara looked at him in surprise, "Why not?"
"Maya stopped, so I said I would too…" he sighed, rubbing his sore eyes.
"Look…I know what you're going through, Boone…" McNamara began, "You can't just give up".
Boone exhaled in frustration, "You could never know what I'm going through" he said, his voice hoarse and exhausted.
"Yes, I do" he set aside his knife and fork and rested his elbows on the table as he began to recollect his own experience. "When my wife died at HELIOS-One, I thought my world ended" he continued, a mournful expression on his features that Boone had never seen before, "And…in a way…it did. But I didn't give up. I didn't let those thoughts consume me, because I had people counting on me. We have to carry on Craig."
Before Boone could retort, a message over the PA system notified the requested presence of the Elder. McNamara got up and made his way to the command centre, dragging a reluctant Boone with him.
"What's the word Ibsen?" he asked, surprised to find his command room so busy with activity, "What's going on?".
"You're not going to believe this!" the scribe answered happily.
"I take it it's good news?"
"Better!" Ibsen turned on McNamara's personal terminal.
"Hello Elder, how do you like your new base?" Daniel's voice came through the speakers clearly, just as if he were there in the room with them.
"Dr. Hadden?" McNamara asked astounded, "This is a swell surprise! The base is perfect, thank you for allowing us to have it. I take it you have made a full recovery?"
"Almost. But I'm not just calling to check in on you. I've received some encouraging information from my search and rescue teams in the Vault-Tec headquarters area".
Boone's heart skipped a beat.
"We found Maya…"
Boone was the first person to jump on the VertiBird Daniel had sent out to pick them up. He was overjoyed that Maya was still alive, but still fearful. Life and experience had taught him to expect the worst when it came to his hopes and desires. He kept going over in his mind what he would say to her when they got a chance to speak alone, but he was finding himself more inclined to imagine holding her tightly and never letting go.
The trip to Daniel's vault lasted an agonising 4-hour flight, even with Boone begging and cursing at the pilots to fly faster. When they entered the medical ward, they were forced to wait another couple of hours while Maya underwent surgery. Luckily Daniel came by to keep them company and tell them everything that had happened.
"Good to see you again you two" Daniel nodded at Boone and McNamara, "I'm sorry I didn't inform you of the news sooner. I had only just recovered from my ordeal less than 24 hours ago".
"You're looking rather well" McNamara exclaimed, shaking Daniel's hand, "From what White told us, I thought the worst had come to pass".
Daniel laughed, "For a while, so did I. But luckily, we have some of the best doctors on the face of the planet here. You wouldn't believe the number of surgeries I had to undergo. On the bright side, I have a brand-new spine! Sorted my back ache permanently" he chuckled.
"How is she?" Boone asked concerned.
Daniel shrugged, "Well… She's suffered third degree burns to 70% of her body, multiple lacerations, a concussion, several broken ribs and a broken ankle, but she'll recover a lot faster than I did", he smiled, placing a hand on Boone's shoulder, "She will be as good as new before you know it. Good thing she was wearing her new power armour as well. That old scrap she had before would never have survived".
Boone nodded, relieved that Maya was going to be okay. He sank back down into his seat, running his fingers through his hair. McNamara was more concerned though.
"Third degree burns to 70% of her body?!" he winced at the thought of how much pain she would have been in, but Daniel waved his worries away.
"We've got the best doctors working on her. They were able to regenerate her epidermis as good as new. Her hair though…" he cocked his head, "Well, I just hope she likes a pixie cut".
They spent the next several hours in the med ward visitor's room, waiting for the word from the doctors. At around 9 PM a nurse walked in and announced that she could have visitors. Boone sprang up and ran down the hall, into the room where Maya lay peacefully, connected to an array of medical equipment that were administering medicine and monitoring her health. Taking the seat next to her, he gently took her hand in his and squeezed it lightly.
Maya's brow furrowed, and she began to wake, slowly blinking her eyes.
"Craig?... That you?" she murmured, looking up at him in a daze.
Boone burst into tears of joy, with the biggest grin on his face she had ever seen. It was contagious, she felt the corners of her lips curve into a smile as well.
"Yeah" he sighed, feeling a bubble of laughter coming up, "It's me. McNamara's here too".
Maya smiled, "You didn't shoot him…. good".
Boone chuckled, pulling up her hand to his lips to kiss, "Not yet".
She laughed, wincing in pain, "Ow, ah! It hurts to laugh".
"From what the doc told us, you broke several ribs so that's not a surprise" he said, his brow wrinkled with concern that he caused her discomfort, "I'll try not to make too many jokes".
Seeing her alive, and smiling, made him want nothing more than to be by her side forever.
"Your hair got a bit singed though" he said, feigning regret. He thought it really suited her though.
"What?!" Maya asked, her eyes widening a bit, reaching with one hand to feel her hair, "Where? I don't see it".
"Well… you can't see it, you have a pixie cut now".
Maya gasped, petrified, "Hand me a mirror!" she tapped her head, horrified at the reduction in her hair length. She was growing those damn locks for years!
"Honestly Maya, after what you've just been through, you're worried about your hair?"
Taking a moment to think about it, Maya realised he was right. She lifted the neckline of her gown and peaked down at her chest. "Oh, thank God, the girls are still there".
Boone burst out laughing, burying his red face in his palms.
"I'll need you to check other bits and make sure they're all where they're supposed to be" she added, playing on his bashfulness and watching his ears turn a bright shade of magenta. She felt her own face blush as well as she figured how forward she was being with him. But after being alone for so long, not being able to rely on anyone except herself, to be back and re-united with the one she loved felt like a cure-for-all. And she never wanted to lose him again.
"I love you" she smiled and squeezed his arm, making his hands pull away from his face and his beautiful green eyes met hers.
"I love you too…"