Hello everyone, hope you are all doing well. Please enjoy this chapter.
"I was right about Braun and the G.E.C.K., James said. "If we can find one, then we can adapt it to the purifier."
Damian noticed the puzzled looks from the other scientists. The stars in Doctor Li's eyes had disappeared. She turned to her companions and addressed them.
"Excuse us for a moment."
She left the table and invited James and Damian to follow her. She led them into an empty room, dimly lit by a small yellow bulb on a wall. Madison Li closed the door behind them and looked James in the eye. She sighed deeply.
"I'd like to believe you James, I really would... But this is all so... So sudden."
"Madison!" James cried. "I'm telling you it's okay! I talked to Braun himself and he confirmed it! It's what we've been waiting for all along!"
Damian had never seen his father so enthusiastic. He grabbed the wad of papers he'd taken from Braun's office and showed them to the scientist. The Doctor Li seemed more skeptical and reserved. Any trace of the happiness that had lit up his face at the sight of James had evaporated.
"Wait, what do you mean you talked to Braun in person?" she asked.
"I don't have time to go into all the details, Madison, but simply put, he was still alive in a Vault-Tec facility, and he confirmed all my hypotheses. See for yourself!"
"I don't know, James," sighed the scientist after quickly reading Braun's notes. "That was so many years ago, and I don't know if it's still worth a try."
"Of course, it's worth a try!" James objected. "We finally have an opportunity to improve the lives of people in the Wastes!"
The Doctor Li let out a slight sigh. She smiled and looked into James' eyes.
"You haven't lost your passion, have you James?"
"It's still important to me, Madison, and I know it's important to you, too. Your lab is proof of that. You've dedicated the last few years to providing safe, radiation-free food to the people of Rivet City and turning it into a beacon of hope for the people of the Capital Wasteland. What is the difference between your work here and Project Purity?"
"James, here, I work on a much smaller and more achievable scale than Project Purity, and even if what you say is true, we don't have a G.E.C.K. and we don't know where to find one."
"I know," sighed James. "I've been thinking about it. But if we can get the Purity Project site up and running again and show to a small team some computer simulations, then I think they'll believe us."
Damian listened to them talk for a few more minutes, one making arguments, quickly refuted by the other. At the end, Madison Li sighed and shook her head. She smiled at James before she spoke.
"You know that if anyone else asks me that, I'll have him chased out of Rivet City."
"And you know I wouldn't be here if I wasn't sure it could work."
The Doctor Li remained silent for a moment before giving her decision. Damian noticed that his father seemed very anxious about being turned down.
"When this is all over, you owe me a drink," said the scientist, smiling broadly at James.
James let out a sigh of relief and a big smile appeared on his face. Damian couldn't remember seeing his father so happy.
"Let's hurry," he said. "We need to get to Jefferson Memorial and get the facility up and running as soon as possible."
"Slow down, James," said Doctor Li. "I'm willing to help you, but I need some time to gather the team and it's going to be dark soon, security will never let us leave the ship until tomorrow morning."
"She's right, Dad." Damian said. "I know you care about this thing but, look at you. How long has it been since you've slept or eaten? We've just walked halfway across the Wasteland from this garage to here and I'm tired from all the walking too. Let's get some rest and we'll start tomorrow, okay?"
James hesitated for a few seconds but the insistent looks of his son and Doctor Li brought him to his senses. Waiting one more night, after leaving a twenty-year hiatus, wasn't going to make much difference.
They left the cabin. Madison Li walked to the hotel and turned around to address James.
"I'll talk to the team and tell them to be ready for tomorrow morning," she said.
She seemed to want to add something else but settled for a smile. She turned around and walked away into the hallway, her heels resonating against the metal floor of the passageway.
Damian and James had rented a room at the hotel, the same one Damian had slept in when he first came to Rivet City. James was laying on the bed and mumbled things that Damian couldn't grasp, while reading and rereading the notes he had found in Braun's office. Damian, on the other hand, was sitting at the desk with his bag at his feet and his armor and rifle stowed within reach and had just started to take inventory of his belongings. He had removed his Pip-Boy and had turned on the radio and was listening with a distracted ear to the rock tune that was sputtering from the Pip-Boy's speakers. He became a little more attentive when the song ended and when Three Dog began to talk.
"Threeeeeeeee Dog! Haha! How's it going, kids? If you've just joined us, you're listening to GNR, THE post-apocalypse radio where peace, prosperity and joy of life have given way to death, destruction and radiation! Life is beautiful, isn't it?"
Damian couldn't help but smile at the eternal spirit of the host and his rather peculiar humor.
"Tonight, children, I have some news that I think you'll find interesting. After several days without any news, the Reilly's Rangers are back in their D.C. ruins headquarters, ready to kick some ass. But where in the world have the Rangers been, you may ask...? Well, I've learned from a reliable source that Reilly and her men were trapped on the roof of a hotel in downtown D.C., surrounded by our beloved Frankensteins. But thanks to the remarkable work of 101, Reilly and her gang were able to return home, despite the loss of a brave soldier named Theo. My condolences, Reilly. Oh, and 101? Good job, kid!"
"Now I know where you got your armor."
Damian turned to his father. James had put a bottle of Scotch and a small glass on the bedside table and every once in a while, he would take a sip or refill the glass when it was empty. Damian also had a glass with Nuka-Cola inside (his father had not let him touch or approach the bottle) on the desk next to an empty bowl. He had gone to get a bowl of noodles for each of them. After his experience in Andale, he would not look the food and meat sellers in the region with the same eye.
"How did you stumble on the Rangers anyway?" James asked.
"Well, I had to help Three Dog, so that he would tell me were you went after paying him a visit, since asking you to leave a small white pebbles trail behind you was too much to ask."
James smiled and apologized to his son before letting him continue his story.
"Three Dog wanted me to repair the broadcast relay of his radio on the Mall, and when I got there, I ended up in the middle of fight between the Brotherhood and some Super Mutants. I took shelter inside the Museum of History and discovered a city of ghouls."
"I've heard rumors about it but had no idea it was in one of the most dangerous places of D.C.," James said.
"It's not exactly hidden in plain sight, but anyway, I entered Underworld and while I waited for the fight outside to be over, I ran into that girl, Reilly. She was wounded and after she explained to me what had happened, she asked me to help her get her men out of Vernon Square."
"Why did you help her?" asked James while filling his drink.
Damian gave a slight nonchalant look to his father and gently shook his head.
"Well, you are the one who spend his life helping the others, so I guess I got that habit from you, so thank you, for making me jump headfirst into trouble," Damian smiled sarcastically.
James laughed before staring at the blank for a moment.
"Actually, you got that from your mother," he said. "She… She was always ready to help the others and… I guess I got it too after…"
James stared at the blank again.
"Uh… Have you… Have you thought about how to get you hand on a G.E.C.K.?" Damian asked to change the subject.
"Not yet," James admitted, taking a sip of Scotch. "Our only chance is to be able to find the location of all the Vaults in the D.C. region and hope that one of them has been equipped with a G.E.C.K. before the Great War. I was really lucky to come across this paper mentioning Vault 112."
"Don't you think maybe we should focus on that before we restart Project Purity? As I understand it, it was the lack of a G.E.C.K. that caused the whole thing to fall apart 20 years ago."
"We'd better not spread ourselves too thin. If we can already prove that Project Purity can work with a G.E.C.K., then we've taken a big step forward and we can focus on acquiring the missing piece."
The rest of the evening was spent in silence. Damian's eyes were focused on his father. He was afraid that if he took his eyes off him for even a second, he would disappear again. His thoughts turned to Vault 101 and Amata. Although he was convinced that making so much effort to change the Wasteland was not worth it, considering the ever increasing number of degenerates and monsters he could meet, a part of him wished that Project Purity would become a reality, whether it was to allow Amata to finally free herself from the Vault and especially to see his father live again, he who had always kept the realization of Project Purity in a corner of his mind.
Damian finished his drink and grabbed the picture of Amata in his armor. He looked at it for a moment before putting it back in his breastplate and laying on a one of the bed and falling asleep.
The next morning, at dawn, Damian and James found a small group of about ten people at the entrance of the ship. In addition to the two of them, and Doctor Li, Damian noticed two other women in lab coats that he had already seen in the laboratory, a man in his thirties, also in lab coat, and two other men. The first was the man named Garza they saw in the lab and the second was a man in his forties wearing a pale blue suit stained with oil. The rest of the group were Rivet City guards in their black battle armor.
"All right, everyone's here," said Doctor Li, looking at the small crowd. "Before we set off, I'd like to thank the security of Rivet City who will accompany us to the Jefferson Memorial. Once on site, James and I will take charge of the operations."
A slight murmur of approval rose, quickly muffled by the creaking of the hatch leading to the boarding platform. The grey clouds of the previous day had given way to a sparse blue sky with small white clouds. The boarding pontoon, asphalt and building facades were still wet from the storm that had struck during the night.
The small group, led by the Rivet City Guards, set out for the Jefferson Memorial. During the trip, Damian got to know the rest of the group better. Garza was a courteous man but with whom it was impossible to have a discussion. All Damian knew about Garza was that he helped Doctor Li to lift and move things that were too heavy for the team.
The man in the blue suit was named Daniel Agincourt. When Damian tried to strike up a conversation with him, he received only a scornful glance and Daniel simply spit out the contempt he felt for him and James.
Alex Dargon was just the opposite. A polite man who seemed to admire and respect James and Doctor Li, arguing that they were probably the two most intelligent people in the Wasteland, if not the entire Earth.
The two women who completed the group of scientists were Anna Holt and Janice Kaplinski.
Anna was a woman in her fifties, very haughty. She was the one that Damian had spoken to, the first time that he entered the lab. Anna Holt was the opposite of Janice, a reserved and polite young woman in her thirties. She had a real admiration for Doctor Li, and it was a good bet that if she asked her to jump off a bridge, Janice would do so without hesitating.
The small group arrived in front of the Jefferson Memorial entrance. Damian had felt a slight sense of pride as the eyes turned to him as they passed the bodies of the Super Mutants on the scaffolding.
Inside, everyone began to get busy. As James, Doctor Li and Janice walked towards the rotunda, Daniel Agincourt rushed to inspect the computer equipment, whispering at Damian, blaming him for most of the broken or smashed computers.
For their part, Anna Holt and Alex Dargon began to make an inventory of the machines and gathered everything that had ever been used at Project Purity, while Damian, the few members of Rivet City's security and Garza pulled the bodies of the Super Mutants outside.
Once finished, Damian returned inside the museum and joined his father in the rotunda. James was facing the ice containing the statue surrounded by water. Damian approached, seeing from the corner of his eye Li and Janice having a great discussion in front of a computer console.
"Here we are. Where it all began," James said without taking his eyes off the statue.
He turned to Damian.
"Do you remember your mother's favorite quote from the Bible?"
"'Revelation 21:6. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end'," Damian answered. "Of course I remember it, why?"
"'I shall give unto him who is athirst the fountain of the waters of life freely.' It's all there. This is the water of life," James continued, pointing to the computers and the pipes that surrounded them. This is your mother's dream.
James lost his gaze in the blank, probably thinking about Catherine.
"Well, I guess as long as I'm here, I might as well help a little," Damian said.
"Yes, there's a lot to be done, indeed. Things have deteriorated since we left twenty years ago, and parts of the basement are flooded. You'd have to get to the control pumps to get the water out. Putting the mainframe back on before would be useless and we'd risk blowing up the whole thing."
"Okay, and where do I have to go?" asked Damian.
"The basement. You'll have to use the access tunnels to get to the pumps. You should be able to get a map of the basement down there, but if you need directions, use the intercom system."
James moved to a small table. A general plan of the building was engraved on it and small blisters the size of thumbnails were placed in various places.
"Theoretically, when the power is on and someone uses an intercom, a small light comes on and indicates where the person is. Since there is no power, I will only know where you are if you describe a little bit about your surroundings or point out a sign beforehand."
"Okay, and once I activate the pumps?" Damian asked.
"Stay by the intercom, I'll tell you what to do next."
Damian nodded. He left the rotunda and headed for the door leading to the basement. On the way, he met Daniel's still scornful gaze, but he didn't pay attention. The basement was as he had left it, minus the dead bodies of Super Mutants. Near the stairs, he noticed an intercom. He approached and pressed the button.
"Dad, are you there?"
"Yeah, how's it going down there? Need directions?" said James' voice through the intercom.
"Yeah, I'm at the basement entrance, where do I go?"
"You're on the security level, there should be a fenced well on your left and a stairway right next to you. Go down and then head to the room with a big generator and a switch."
Damian cut the communication and walked down the steps. He followed the signs on the walls and arrived in the room described by his father. On a wall, right next to an intercom, he noticed a switch. Damian activated the switch and heard a rumbling sound in the walls and throughout the Memorial. The shaking lasted only a few seconds and then he heard his father's voice in the intercom.
"Well, the pumps have started, come back to me, I have another task for you."
Damian turned back and went back to his father. In the rotunda, someone had plugged in a radio and Three Dog's voice was piercing through the tired speakers of the station. He announced a new news flash and talked about Megaton and the bomb Damian had defused.
"Is it true?" James asked, turning to his son.
"Yes, I did that."
A smile lit up James' face.
"I'm very proud of you Damian, even though you took a big risk. Few people would be willing to try to disarm a device that could turn them to dust with everything around them within a radius of several kilometers."
"You said you had something else for me to do," Damian said, changing the subject.
"Yes. With the flooding, some of the fuse boxes in the basement were short-circuited, including the ones managing the automatic doors leading to the central computer."
James grabbed a small cardboard box and gave it to Damian who opened the box and poured the contents into the palm of his hand. Inside were several small fuses, identical to those in Vault 101.
"The box you need to replace is located near the East end of the basement. Do you know how to change a fuse?"
"I'll have you know that I passed my G.O.A.T. and went to work in maintenance, so yes."
"Good for you. You won't be able to replace the fuses until we're sure there's no more water in the rooms. Daniel and Garza will take care of it, and it should take a couple of hours, in the meantime you can go see if Madison needs help, but knowing her, she'll want to handle everything on her own. Once you replace the fuses, you can get to the mainframe, I'll let you know more then."
Damian wandered around the museum, asking Alex Dargon if he needed any help, but the scientist just combed his little moustache and drowned Damian in a flood of scientific theories.
Damian left the laboratory and climbed the scaffolding surrounding the Memorial. There he observed the ruins of D.C., the Citadel and the mountains that stretched north into the Wasteland. Next to him, he heard the guards of Rivet City talking and pointing a direction into the ruins. Looking closer, Damian saw that they were talking about one of those little flying robots that were flying in the ruins, broadcasting the military marches and the voice of this President Eden.
The robot was on a small square with benches and telephone booths that overlooked the basin that supplied the Project Purity with water. Damian observed the little robot for a few moments. The robot did not move and seemed to fix a precise point in the water.
Damian tried to imagine the colossal amount of work that had gone into installing and erecting these pipes between the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial. As he looked at the water, he saw several small air bubbles rising and bursting to the surface.
"What's that?" he asked one of the guards, pointing to the column of air bubbles.
The Rivet City guard looked in the direction Damian was pointing and shrugged his shoulders.
"Must be a Mirelurk. Look, there's one on the opposite bank."
Damian looked at the bank but saw nothing but mud and silt. That's when he spotted a tiny movement. Brown in color, with a solid round shell covering its entire back, several legs and large claws, the mutant crab was burrowing underground, probably to rest.
The Rivet City guards engaged in a big discussion about the best way to cook a Mirelurk and Damian walked away after taking one last look at the mutated crab, which had become almost invisible, and the little robot that had disappeared.
Two hours later, Damian returned to the basement. He searched for a few minutes for the fuse box and found the ones he needed to replace. He looked for an intercom and called his father.
"Dad?"
"Yeah, you got the fuses wired up?"
"Yes, it's done."
"You should be able to access the mainframe room. Remember that well at the basement entrance? You'll see a big sliding door next to it. The computer's right behind it."
Damian left the room he was in and went up the stairs. He saw the big door James mentioned and opened it. The locks disengaged and the door split into several parts, sinking into the walls or the floor. Behind it was a large room occupied only by consoles and screens that were switched off. Damian approached one of the consoles that looked a lot like the one in Tranquility Lane. He typed a random key on the keyboard, but nothing happened. He looked around and saw a big switch on a wall. He flipped the lever and the computers came on one after the other. At the same time, the lights came on again.
"All right, we can start working on our side." echoed James' voice through the room's intercom system.
"Need some help?" Damian asked.
"There are a few things to fix here in the control room and Daniel is already busy restarting the test computers in the museum. Why don't you come up and give me a hand?"
"No problem. I'm on my way."
"Wait a minute, Damian."
Damian remained silent for a few seconds until his father's voice was heard again.
"Janice just told me that one of the intake pipes is clogged. Forget the repairs, I'll deal with it with Janice. You go back up to the museum level and call me when you get there."
Damian left the basement. The level of the museum was much less gloomy now that the lights had come back on. He passed Doctor Li talking to Anna Holt, Alex Dargon, and Daniel near a machine. Damian found an intercom and called his father.
"I'm in the museum. Where do I go?"
"Head for the entrance, but instead of taking a left to get out, go right. You'll see a gate and an intercom."
Damian followed his father's directions and found himself in front of the mentioned gate, It was sixed in the ground and seemed to lead to a large pipe.
"I'm there," Damian said, speaking through the intercom.
"Well, you have to go inside and use the manual controls to empty the hose, it will break up the debris and the filters will work properly again." Explained James.
"Wait, you don't want me to go swimming in one of those pipes, do you?" Damian asked a little worried.
"No," replied James.
Damian could imagine the smile that must have been on his father's face.
"The pipes are empty, so you won't have to wade through radioactive water, don't worry. You'll just turn on a tap, it's as simple as that."
"All right, I'm going in."
"One more thing, Damian. Once you're in the pipe, I won't be able to communicate with you. To get out, follow the direction of the tanks, you'll land in the basement of the museum and you can reach me again."
"You got it. See you on the other side, Dad."
Damian approached the gate. He lifted it in a long squeak and managed to tip it over. He lit his Pip-Boy and lit the hole in front of him. The pipe dipped into the depths for about two meters before it became straight again. There were no ladders or rungs for Damian to climb down, he would have to jump. He pulled out his rifle and wrapped the strap around it, so that it wouldn't get stuck on something as he descended. He sat down on the edge of the pipe and let himself slide down.
The pipe was smaller than he had imagined, and Damian had crouch slightly so that he wouldn't hit his head against the metal sheaths and power cables running along the ceiling. He finally arrived at another grille that opened to the outside.
The pipe had been punctured in places, and some grating had been attached as a makeshift repair to prevent animals from entering. Damian looked up. The sky had changed again and had become darker. He could see the scaffolding surrounding the Jefferson Memorial. He noticed a valve protruding from the fence that was connected to a pipe that was sinking into the ground.
Damian put his hands on the valve and began to turn. He had to go over it several times to make the valve turn completely because of rust. He heard a small rumbling sound, a sign that the pipes must have unclogged and that everything must be working. The rumbling continued and grew louder and louder and Damian noticed that it wasn't coming from the pipes. He looked up to the sky.
Several black vehicles drove over him in a deafening roar. The vehicle looked like an airplane with a tail, a cockpit and two wings with two huge propellers. To Damian's surprise, the wings pivoted and one of the planes began to slow down before landing vertically. A door slid down the side of the aircraft and Damian saw several people in black armor or grey uniforms rushing outside, weapons in hand.
"Secure the perimeter and take over the place!" shouted one of the newcomers.
Damian stood in the shadow of the pipe and watched the thirty or so people running towards the Jefferson Memorial. At first, he thought it was the Brotherhood of Steel, but noticed that their armor was quite different. They were black and not grey, and the helmets made them look like nightmare creatures.
The guards of Rivet City offered no resistance, and when the men in black armor came towards them, they threw down their weapons and raised their hands in the air.
Something serious was happening. Damian had to go back to his father. He continued to advance in the pipe, sliding down the walls when the slope was too steep. He finally reached the end. The pipe had led him into the well in the basement. Damian approached cautiously and heard heavy footsteps and voices distorted by microphones.
"Authority, this is Delta 2, we have entered the basement of the Memorial. Beginning the search."
"I thought there would have been more people. They just found the few guys outside, these two women and the guy in the vault suit."
"All the more reason to be careful. The rest of their team must have holed up here."
Damian stepped further to the edge of the pipe. The two men who were talking were advancing towards the well, their guns raised in front of them, ready to fire. They were wearing these big black armors. The eye caps were illuminated with red. Damian heard a creaking sound under his feet and felt the pipe wall give way under his weight. He tumbled towards the pools in a din of metal and sheet metal and hit the ground.
As he got up, he saw the two men in armor leaning towards him, their laser guns pointed at his head.
"Disarm him and tie his hands."
"Shall we take him to Vertibird?"
"No, take him to the Lieutenant, I'll finish securing this place."
Damian felt lifted off the ground. He had his hands tied in front of him by old handcuffs and felt the barrel of the laser rifle against his back. He could hear one of the two men talking on the radio built into his helmet.
While he was being taken away, he was trying to understand the situation. Who were these men and what did they want? They were talking like soldiers and looked way to organized to be a simple Raider gang. Damian walked into the museum and they walked towards the Memorial Rotunda. He looked around but saw no members of the team. The museum was entirely occupied by these soldiers in black armor and others wearing grey uniforms and black military caps who looked like they were in command.
Damian entered the rotunda. He climbed the steps leading to the control room. The Doctor Li was there, next to a man in a grey uniform. He turned to Damian and his jailer. Inside the control room, James and Janice were there, guarded by two of these black armored soldiers.
When he saw his son, James gave him a reassuring smile and nodded slightly his head, meaning that everything would be all right but Damian could see concern in his eyes.
"Sir, we found this man in the basement," said the man's voice through his helmet. "He appears to be paramilitary."
"Thank you, Corporal. Hand over his weapons and leave the prisoner here. The Colonel will take care of them."
The soldier returned to the museum. The officer put Damian's rifle on his back and grabbed his pistol and holster before turning his attention to what was going on inside the control room.
"What's going on?" Damian whispered to Doctor Li.
She was about to answer when they heard the rotunda door open. A man in his fifties, with short grey hair, clean-shaven and wearing a black outfit under a long beige raincoat entered, escorted by two other soldiers in armor. Upon his arrival, the officer and the two soldiers in the control room stood at attention.
He went up the stairs and stopped next to the officer.
"Report, Lieutenant," he said coldly and authoritatively.
"Colonel Autumn, Sir. We have gathered part of the scientific team and this man who appears to be a mercenary. The man in the vault suit is the leader of the project."
The Colonel Autumn looked down briefly at Damian and his Pip-Boy. He ignored Madison Li and turned to his subordinate.
"Tell your men to continue securing the site and keep the prisoners here. I'll interrogate them later."
The officer stood at attention again. Autumn entered the control room. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the two soldiers already present. He turned to James and gave him a condescending look.
"I am Colonel Augustus Autumn of the Enclave. By order of the President, this site, and all personnel attached to it, is now under the authority of the United States Government. Please hand over immediately all documents pertaining to this project."
"That's impossible," replied James. "This is a private project. The Enclave has no rights over it. I am obliged to ask you to leave immediately and to release these people."
The Colonel Autumn remained silent for a moment. He folded his hands behind his back. Damian could not believe his eyes and ears. The Enclave, the mysterious Government he had heard about on the radio from this little flying robot, did exist and it had an army capable of rivaling the Brotherhood of Steel. But why come out of the shadows now and take an interest in Project Purity?
"Sir," Autumn says. "Please hand over the files on that purifier immediately."
"I'm sorry, but..."
"Moreover," continued Autumn, who had not listened to James' objection. "You will help the Enclave science personnel to take control of the administration and implementation of this site."
James took a brief look at Doctor Li and Damian.
"Colonel... Is that "Colonel"? I'm sorry, but this site is not operational and never has been. I'm afraid you and your men are wasting your time."
"Sir, for the last time," replied Autumn with a clenched jaw. "Submit and hand over control of this facility to us."
"Colonel, I can assure you that this site will not work. We've never been able to duplicate the results of our tests and..."
Autumn plunged his hand into his raincoat and pulled out a 10mm polished and glossy pistol. By the time James realized what was happening, Autumn had raised the gun to Janice and pulled the trigger. A loud bang resounded in the rotunda. Janice was jolted as the bullet penetrated her forehead and exploded the back of her skull. She collapsed on her back, blood slowly flowing from the back of her head onto the metal floor.
James looked at the young scientist's dead body, speechless and shocked. Damian felt his jaw drop slightly and heard Madison. Li scream and put her hands in front of her mouth.
The Colonel Autumn then turned his gun on James.
"Give me the papers for this project," Autumn shouted. "Now!"
James raised his hands and nodded. He glanced at his son. Damian thought he saw a nod and a smile. James turned to one of the consoles. He started typing on the keyboard.
"So?" Autumn asked. "I'm waiting"
"Just one more minute."
Damian saw the doors to the control room close, locking his father, Autumn and the two soldiers inside. Immediately afterwards, an explosion sounded in the control room and an alarm began to sound. Damian heard the Geiger counter on his Pip-Boy sizzling. He saw the officer who was watching him jump on the door and try to open it. He jumped on him and grabbed the gun he was carrying on his belt. The officer turned around and found himself facing the barrel of his gun. Damian pulled the trigger. A small fluorescent green projectile spurted out of the gun and pierced the man's face, which turned into a greenish, slimy goo. Damian rushed to the door.
On the other side of the glass, he could see Colonel Autumn writhing in pain on the floor while the two soldiers in armor were convulsing. The Geiger counter on his Pip-Boy started to panic again.
James was on his knees facing the door. He put his hand on the glass and raised his head to his son. Damian started banging his fists against the glass.
"Dad! Dad! Open the fucking door! Dad!"
"Damian...," James managed to say. "You must go, now…"
He grabbed his chest and clenched his jaws and seemed to be in agony.
"Open the fucking door! Dad!"
Damian could feel the tears running down his cheeks. He kept banging on the glass. He felt Doctor Li's hand grab his arm.
"Let go of me!" Damian shouted as he freed himself.
He threw himself to the door, crying and calling for his father.
"Madison...," James whispered. "Get him out of there..."
He started to cough, and a spat of blood came out of his mouth.
"Dad! I'm not leaving without you! Open that fucking door!" kept shouting Damian.
James smiled at his son before collapsing to the ground.
"No! No, no, no, no, no!"
"We have to get out of here now! They're coming for us!" yelled Madison Li.
"I'm not leaving without my father!"
The Doctor Li grabbed Damian's arm and showed him his Pip-Boy.
"There's nothing more you can do for him! Look at your Pip-Boy, the radiation level inside is lethal! If you go in, you'll die, just like him!"
With his hands still tied, Damian raised them to his forehead and shook his head.
"Hurry for God's sake!"
Damian grabbed his assault rifle, pistol, and belt from the body of the Enclave officer and after one last look at his father, got up and followed Doctor Li out of the rotunda.
I always found the Enclave arrival at Project Purity was nicely done, witnessing the Vertibird land and the assault troop storming the place. It just felt a little strange that when you walk back to the control room, you just run into 4-5 guys instead of a full assault team. Anyway, hope you enjoyed and untill next time.
