"How 'bout bullets? Faith shield ya against those, too?"
Old Longfellow was having himself a drink at the Last Plank. He had long grey hair to go with his moniker and a muttonchop beard-mustache combo.
"Captain Avery said you can get me to Acadia," he opened with.
"Heard there was a scuffle out there," Longfellow replied. "You get your hands dirty? Hmph. I'm done leadin' people to their deaths in the Fog. Last fella couldn't keep up. Didn't last five minutes."
"We're not that fella," he said. "We've been hired to track down a missing daughter, who left evidence behind that she planned to go to Acadia."
"If someone's headed for Acadia, there's always a story. Yours worth dying over? Eh?"
"I've done a whole lot more for a whole lot less."
"Clever with words, are ya? I can get you to Acadia, but you've got to listen to me. Go where I say. When I say it. Still won't be easy. You stock up on your necessities, Rad-X and the like. Then the real work can begin."
"Already got all that. We're ready to go now, if you are."
"Follow me, then." Longfellow stood up and made for the door. Outside he said, "Acadia's above the Fog line on the mountain. It's a bit of a hike. You might want to take this for the road. Tastes as foul as sin, but it'll help."
Tsuna took the mirelurk jerky with a moue of distaste, and shifted it out as he mimed placing it into his pocket.
"We need to move through the main drag. Old mountain trail is where we're headed," Longfellow said as he readied his gun. "The Fog ain't like nothin' you've seen in the Commonwealth. Mainlanders think a dose of RadAway's all you need." He chuckled, the sound of it as gritty as his voice. "See, the Fog can do a number on you. Gets you all turned around. Does somethin' to your brain. Trappers were mean to begin with, but now…"
They were almost to the hotel north of Far Harbor, at what looked like a gatehouse, when Longfellow started talking again. "Here's the mountain trail. We stick to this and we'll make it to Acadia. You like them puppies? We grow everything extra mean on the island."
Puppies? The hell is he talking about? We've encountered wolves around, but…
"Still got a ways to go."
Part way up the winding road they heard a … sound. A growl of sorts, almost like someone's stomach was complaining of hunger, but much louder, hollow, and echoing.
"Hear that? Crawler. They usually stick to the Deep Fog. Best we steer clear. But you never know. …When I was a young lad, no higher than your knee, whole island was covered in Fog. The Fog eventually rolled back. People resettled, but they got comfortable. Started takin' things for granted. Folks got short memories, all this has happened before."
They reached a plateau of sorts, with the road going one way, and a dirt path heading off to the northeast, relatively speaking. Longfellow kept to the road, though they had to pause to deal with gulpers and mirelurks looking for a meal.
"Gulpers got a fondness for fresh water. A small gulper, like the ones in these parts, is a fair challenge. Now, the big ones, they can grow two, three times the size of a man. Good thing you don't see too many of them around."
There was another pause to deal with some feral ghouls that crawled out of the undergrowth or piles of decaying leaves. Farther up was a grouping of nuclear waste barrels, which made it likely a Child of Atom was nearby, and sure enough, it wasn't but another ten yards or so that he heard a woman say imperiously, "Hold there. Stringing more souls to their damnation, old man?"
She was a real sight, dressed in rags, blackened eyes, and barely any hair left on her head.
"Well, what have we here?" Longfellow drawled. "Another rad-worshipin' lunatic, that's what."
"Your barbs do not harm me. I am shielded by my faith."
"How 'bout bullets? Faith shield ya against those, too?"
"You," the woman said, angling her head toward Tsuna. "I suggest you go no farther. Acadia is a nest of snakes. Beasts that subvert the will of Atom."
"And what's Acadia done to make you say that?"
"They supply Far Harbor with the means to turn back Atom's holy fog. You would do well to avoid such creatures and instead seek the only true master of this land."
"Yeah, no, don't think so."
"Watch yourself, outsider," she said sharply. "You walk through Atom's kingdom now."
"And you're nothing more than a zealot."
"If you're done wastin' time with the fanatic," Longfellow said, "let's move on. Up ahead, the air's clean. No Fog. Acadia's not too far now."
And indeed, the sky above was becoming markedly clearer, the grip the Fog had on the island melting away. He could see a huge wind turbine off to the left, an outbuilding of some kind, and the dome of what had once been a functioning observatory.
The road leveled out as a gatehouse appeared on the right, and he could more clearly see that the usual bashed-together-from-scrap fence surrounded the observatory. Once inside it he could see guard posts, other outbuildings, and storage areas.
"And we've arrived. Acadia's already been watchin' us for a good spell. If you want to talk with them just go inside. They'll be waiting for you. You need my help again, you come see me. Got a cabin just outside of Far Harbor. Good place to tool up your gear, get some rest, or get stinkin' drunk. Just make sure if you're bringin' a bottle of somethin' strong, there's enough to share."
"Perhaps later, Longfellow."
"All right, but I'm serious about the offer. You ever want to hunt the forests and waters of the island together, I could think of worse things to do." Longfellow stalked off down the road again and out of sight.
Tsuna shook his head slightly, wondering if he should at some point do Longfellow the dubious favor of revamping his cabin, then headed on inside.
"You know, when I first climbed this mountain, above the fog, I thought to myself: now here is a metaphor worth taking in." The voice came from a figure at the end of the hall, standing next to a red emergency light on the wall. Due to the overall dimness of the interior, it made it difficult to see properly who was speaking.
But then, Tsuna already knew who it was. Tsuna strolled forward as DiMA stepped into a pool of light, revealing the figure to be a battered Gen-2 synth, legs wrapped in some dark material, and bits and pieces sticking out of his head and shoulders.
"You've entered a place of clarity. Understanding. Peace. While you're here in Acadia, synth-kind welcomes you, as long as you welcome us."
Tsuna nodded. "We are here in search of a young girl by the name of Kasumi Nakano."
"Really? I'm impressed." DiMA had a voice somewhat similar to Valentine's, but far more flat, with no Bogart, almost as if he'd been drugged. "Few would brave the kind of journey you've had for the sake of someone else. Kasumi is here. She's safe and unharmed, and you're free to see her, if you'd like. Before you do, though, tell me: Do you think Kasumi is a synth?"
"We're not answering any questions until you play straight with us," Valentine said. "Just who the hell are you, really? There's only one synth with that kind of face and a mind of his own, and I only see him when I look in a mirror."
"Nick!?" DiMA said in surprise, though given how apathetic his voice was, the sound of it fell flat. "It … it can't be you…"
"Don't give me that. What are you trying to pull? I've never seen you before in my life."
"Please. If you're willing to give me a chance, I can explain."
He moved back a little, so he could stand shoulder to shoulder with Valentine. "We're listening."
"Let me tell you what I know, and you can judge for yourself."
Tsuna wondered just how well DiMA could even see. His eyes were clouded, as if he had cataracts, unlike Valentine's glowing yellow rings on black.
"We were prototypes, Nick. The first synths capable of independent thinking and judgment."
"Keep talking," Valentine said warily.
"One of the Institute's experiments had to do with how our brains could process personality. If we could handle individualized feelings and behaviors. I was allowed to develop mine based on experience. But with you, they wanted to try transferring an entire personality into you. It took several attempts before the personality imprint worked. I saw you wake up not knowing who or what you were so many times… I couldn't let them do it to you anymore. We were the only two prototypes they made. I literally saw myself in you… You were my brother, Nick. I helped you escape the Institute. We left together."
"If I were your brother, I'd remember!"
"That's where you'd be wrong. This happened over a century ago. There's … there's only so much memory that can fit into the prototype brains we have."
Valentine scoffed. "I've heard enough." To Tsuna, in a much lower voice, he said, "I think you and I need to talk about this. Maybe not now, though…"
He nodded and faced DiMA. "We need to get back to why we're here. Kasumi Nakano."
"Nick, I don't need you to believe me. I'm just glad to see you again. Whenever you're ready, I'll be here. Now, about young Kasumi… It's important that you understand exactly why she's here. I asked you before if you think she's really a synth. If you could indulge me with an answer…"
"My answer? My answer is that I don't care either way. Who or what she is isn't important."
"But it is," DiMA said. "It's everything. Imagine just looking at your own hands and having to wonder: Was I born with these, or were they manufactured? None of us take this transition lightly. She's facing the possibility of her entire life being a lie. That someone stripped her very identity away from her and made her into something she isn't. I want you to understand that before you see her. She has a chance to live as a synth. Not hiding. Not pretending to be something else."
"Yeah, no, I get that. I'm not an idiot. What I care about is that she has two very worried parents who are desperate to know what's happened to their daughter. Synth or human, it's irrelevant in the face of those family bonds."
"…One more question, if you'll indulge me. You're here for Kasumi, but I suspect there could be another reason you came to us. Tell me: Are you a synth?"
"No, but if I squint real hard in the mirror, sometimes I look like someone else."
DiMA chuckled. At least he had something of a sense of humor. "I'm afraid when I try that trick, nothing really changes. I know it might seem impossible that you could be a synth, but tell me, what's the first thing you remember?"
Tsuna rolled his eyes. "That's a ridiculous question and you must know that. If I were a synth, I would have been implanted with a full set of memories. Me remembering when I was five years old and my mother calling for me to wash up because breakfast is ready means nothing. Nor does anything else I could share—and trust me, I remember a whole lot of things. All of that could easily be the result of memory implantation. So unless you feel like opening my skull and rooting around for a synth component, you may as well drop it."
"Okay… You're not ready to have this conversation."
Tsuna rolled his eyes again. "You sound like a cult leader trying to bring another lamb into the fold."
"Whatever you believe, we will accept you for who you are. Synth or human."
"That's just lovely."
"Acadia is open to you. Feel free to walk the grounds. Introduce yourself to my co-founders, Faraday and Chase. Kasumi is usually working down below, whenever you wish to see her. Is there anything else you'd like to discuss before you go?"
He hummed. "I suppose I should mention—since I doubt you get Diamond City radio this far out—that the Institute has been destroyed."
"What!? It's … over? No more Courser hunts? No more slavery? But … that also means the technology to make the synths is lost. Our origins have been buried. Not to mention, the loss of human life… Sorry. I'm not going to judge the actions of someone who's wiped out a great evil. You have our gratitude."
"You assume too much," he said. "You'd be right in one respect, as I did work with the Railroad on taking down the Institute, but you'd be wrong to assume as much loss of human life. Those who failed to heed the evacuation order, sure. But the rest? They made it out. All the Gen-3 synths, the children, many of the personnel."
"…Really? I don't understand why a group dedicated to helping synths would convince them, through fear, that their only option is to hide. Yes, they 'volunteer' for the memory wipe. Yes, not knowing you're a synth makes it harder for the Institute to find you. But the cost… I know how frightening it is, the risk of capture. But sacrificing what you are, avoiding the true struggle to be accepted as our own form of life…"
He heaved a sigh and shook his head slightly. "You won't get an argument from me on that score. I personally think it's cowardly to agree to the memwipe. It's death of a different kind, rather than having the courage to face things, to face life, with all its inherent hardships. Those synths developed self awareness, they became more than just puppets, and then they threw it away due to fear. They had the courage to escape, as you did, but not the courage to see it through. In that respect? They're not much different than a human being."
"I'm … sorry," DiMA said. "It's easy for me to worry about our ideals while I'm so far away from the Commonwealth, in relative safety. …Can I help you with anything else?"
He shook his head and started to turn away, only to hear a voice issuing from a speaker to the right.
"You were in there a long time … are you feeling all right?"
"I'm fine," DiMA said as he walked over to stand nearer to a section of the wall showing an observation room. "You worry too much."
"Sometimes I feel like you don't worry enough. You know we blew three more relays this week. I'm coming in. You stay right there."
Lab-Coat appeared from the hallway and skittered over to DiMA as Tsuna gazed upward to take in the telescope.
"I was having a hard enough time keeping up with repairs before all this nonsense with the Atom lunatics."
"They're nothing you need to be concerned about," DiMA said, seemingly unaware that he had yet to even introduce himself. Tsuna supposed in that regard he could excuse his own lack of manners.
"It's not them. I'm concerned about you, DiMA. You can't solve all the world's problems, certainly not all at once."
"Dearest Faraday… Relax. All will be fine."
That was his cue to wander off in Kasumi's direction. Speaking to Faraday and Chase could wait a little. They were halfway down the first flight of stairs when Valentine absentmindedly bumped into him.
"What? Oh, sorry. Just got my head full of what DiMA was talking about. It's a … bit of a shock. What do you think? Is he … family?"
"Before I answer, are you okay?"
"I'll keep. Don't worry. Just need to figure this all out."
"I don't know quite what to think, not yet," he said. "There's not enough data. The similarities are obvious, but it takes more than just being … born … brothers to be brothers, if that makes sense. My family, they're not my blood. They are family, though, more so than any blood family ever has been—with one exception. So maybe he is, but maybe he isn't. I find myself grateful he got you out of there, if that's actually what happened, because you have a life, you have Ellie, your agency—you have friends and respect. And we've had the pleasure of knowing you."
Valentine smiled briefly. "I spent a long time wondering if the Institute had made any other prototypes. If I was just a … failure, or they gave up, or just plain got bored. I always thought I was just more of their discarded trash. Never thought of the possibility that someone wanted me out. Helped me escape. There's gotta be some kind of proof out there. What really happened between me and DiMA. I'd appreciate it if we could keep an eye out."
"Of course, Valentine. And between us all, that's a lot of eyes to be looking."
"Thanks. I know we don't have much to go on. Just keep it in mind, chase down any rabbits connected to DiMA and Acadia."
He nodded. "Let's go find Kasumi, then."
She was on the lowest level, working on some big piece of machinery that Tsuna didn't even try to make sense of. As they got closer to the marker he was following he heard her sigh and say, "Circuitry is completely fried…" The voice matched the one on the holotapes, which was good.
"Excuse me," he said. "Are you Kasumi Nakano?"
"Sorry, I'm right in the middle of something."
"Yes, I see that. However, I was hired to find you."
At that she stood up and turned around. "You … what? You came all this way … for me?"
"You left without telling your folks why," Valentine said. "You must've known they'd be worried."
"Look, my mom and dad… I mean, those people that were taking care of me. They wouldn't want me back. Not if they knew the truth. I thought if I just left it would be easier for them. How would that conversation have gone, anyway? 'I've been lying to you this whole time? Your real daughter is dead, and I replaced her?' "
"They're already aware you think you're a synth, and practically shoved a boat at us so we could come find you. They're very worried. Your parents must be incredibly good actors then to have fooled us with that show of worry and love and fear for your sake, that you could be hurt, or dying, or dead. I know you won't want to hear it, but you're young. You have doubts about who you are. We all go through it, it's just a part of life. Whether you're a synth or not, they're still your parents, and they very much want you home."
"I… I really wish that were true. If I wasn't a synth, things would be so much simpler." Kasumi sighed. "Acadia isn't what I thought it was. There's more going on here than just the refuge. But I can't leave until I've gotten to the bottom of it. I've been running long enough."
"Valentine here is a damn good detective, and I partner up with him on some of his cases. Tell us what's happening. We can help you."
"…It's a long story, but… What if I told you that there's a secret. A big secret. Here, on this island. Something way more important that just one lost girl? You saw all those computers that DiMA's hooked up to, right? They hold his memories or offload data from his brain. Maybe some combination of both? Well, Faraday asked me to help do some repairs on them.
"And, you know, I got curious. There's like a century's worth of life experiences in there. And that's when I see it. Data models DiMA has been making. One was the Fog taking over Far Harbor. Another was a nuclear detonation on the island. Plus death counts. What if DiMA was so open and welcoming because he's actually hiding something from us? A plan to wipe out the rest of the island?"
"We should get to the bottom of this," Valentine said. "If DiMA is putting on an act, we need to know."
Tsuna nodded, hoping they could bunk off to storage soon to have a shower, a meal, and relax a bit. "Any ideas on how to do that digging? I mean, is he holding super secret meetings with people? Something we can spy on?"
"Oh, yes. I keep seeing DiMA, Faraday, and Chase head into the laboratory at the other end of the hall. Then they come out later, looking like they've been arguing. There's actually a storage space right next to there. It'd be a perfect spot to hide and eavesdrop, but it's been locked up. I've also tried breaking into Faraday's terminal, since he and DiMA are so close, but the security on it is crazy."
"Since it's just down the hall, we'll try eavesdropping first. If that's not enough we can hack the terminal. And if that fails? We get blunt."
"Okay," Kasumi said agreeably. "Good luck, and come back as soon as you've found anything."
"From one case to a new one," Valentine said. "It's never easy for us, is it?"
"Uh, easy is boring?" he replied as he started for the hallway. Of course, by the time they got out of earshot he added, "Though it would be so much simpler to get her home and then investigate."
"I hear you."
Sin picked the lock and they all slipped inside, Ken closing the door as he was the last one through. It was terribly convenient that there was a window wall in there, facing the "laboratory", high enough up that they could easily sit under it and listen in. It was simply a question of how long they would need to wait before another meeting happened.
xXx
A woman entered the laboratory, alerting them to a meeting about to take place. She (presumably Chase) was followed by Faraday a few moments later, and then DiMA. It begged the question of why they bothered to go all the way down to hold these meetings, when they could have as easily done so upstairs in Faraday's workroom, as there hadn't been any other synths on that level to overhear. And in any case, they could simply have kept their voices down.
"We need to accomplish this without bloodshed. Far Harbor and the Children of Atom have a right to exist on this island. The same as us," DiMA opened the meeting with.
"They're going to kill each other, DiMA," Chase said. "There's no stopping it. We need to pick a side now."
"Haven't we already picked a side?" Faraday said. "Building the fog condensers around Far Harbor wasn't exactly a neutral act."
"We couldn't stand by and let the people of this island die to the Fog," DiMA said.
"Just like you couldn't leave the Cult of Atom without a home?" Chase accused. "Giving them the submarine base was a mistake. The 'Nucleus', as they're calling it, is basically one big fortified position."
"Far Harbor had cast them out. They have strange beliefs, but they have always accepted us for what we are. And Confessor Martin was a friend."
"Well the new confessor isn't. 'High Confessor' Tektus is an unstable megalomaniac and he's going to keep threatening us as long as we're helping Far Harbor," Chase rebutted.
"Guys. Can we talk about the elephant in the room?" Faraday said. "We keep dancing around it."
"My old memory banks in the submarine base."
"I can't believe you never told me about those," Chase said. Interestingly, she was still garbed in Courser gear. "I have to wait until they become a security risk."
"I know how it looks in hindsight, but at the time, it was an act of trust. I was honestly more worried they'd accidentally trip the prewar security and get hurt. Giving the Children my old home. Allowing them to safeguard my old memories. I thought our people would be working together."
Chase heaved a sigh. "Just how secure are the banks? How long do we have? And what's in them?"
"I've gone over this before, Chase. I don't know what's in them. That's how it works. It's as close to 'forgetting' something as I have. But I've run some projections of … worst-case scenarios. If we do nothing, and the wrong knowledge falls into the wrong hands—"
"So send me over there. I'll be in and out in a day."
"We can't risk it. They know you're from Acadia. If you're caught or even seen, then it's war."
"We should at least prepare her to go in. We're running out of options. I say we tell her how to crack into the memory banks."
"You've been working on this without me?" Chase asked in disbelief.
"It … came up in a private moment, Chase. But yes, we've been writing a program that will let you access and download my memories. It's not going to be like a normal hack. You'll be breaking through a version of my own mental network. It'll consider you to be an intruder. I've loaded the program with some instructions I've recorded that will help guide you through it. I'm afraid it's difficult to explain without seeing it for yourself."
"I'm finishing up some tweaks to the program right now," Faraday said. "I'll leave a copy of it for you on my desk when I'm done."
"Get the program. Use it to break into the memory banks. Got it."
"Hopefully you won't have to," DiMA said. "We'll keep monitoring the situation. I only want you going in if we have no other choice."
The three of them apparently decided nonverbally that the conversation was over, and exited the room.
"So DiMA's got his fingers everywhere on this island. And whatever's in his memories isn't something we can wait for someone else to find."
"Agreed. Someone please get a window on Faraday's desk, so we can grab that holotape once he leaves it out."
Xeul nodded.
"Let's go update Kasumi, and then we can check to see if Faraday or Chase have any tasks they could use some help with."
xXx
"Turns out DiMA's earliest memories are in the hands of the Children of Atom and he's afraid of them attempting to figure out what they are, or what they might find."
"So is that what those death projections were about? It wasn't DiMA planning to destroy the island. He's worried the Children of Atom will? Or, is he still hiding something? What could be in those memories that he would leave them behind? Is there really something in them that's … dangerous? Do you have a way in? Into his memories? Assuming you can get past the Children of Atom, of course…"
"I will have, as soon as Faraday finishes it. It will help us to access those memory banks, obtain copies of any memories he left there."
"Really? How would that work? When I was taking a peek in the computers he has here, DiMA was hooked up to his chair. I was just tapping into it. I wonder if you'll need to, you know, connect to the old banks the way he does? Some kind of connection between your head and the computer. I bet that's it! And then Faraday's program would be translating DiMA's thoughts and data. Helping you through any security guarding it. I'm sorry, I'm making assumptions. It's just … well, it's a little exciting, isn't it? You'll let me know what you find? I'll keep an eye on things here."
"Yeah. Once we have them, we can talk about where to go from there."
"Good luck," Kasumi said, then wandered off to do whatever it was she did there. Tinkering with more machines, presumably.
"Time for Faraday and Chase, then?" Hayato asked.
"And then I think a break. It's almost dark according to my watch, and I want to shower, eat, and do something like watch a silly movie. Something not serious."
xXx
Chase was leaning against a railing on the top level. "Did you need something?"
"Just checking to see if you needed help with anything."
"Actually… As a matter of fact, there is. If you're serious about contributing … well, we've got a situation I need someone to look into. You've had some experience traveling around the island, so you may be decently equipped to handle it."
"Details?"
"We were expecting a new synth to arrive, and he should have been here by now. There's been no sign of him, and I'm concerned that he might have become lost on the way here."
"Okay. Any leads on where to begin the search?"
"Yes. You should start by talking to Brooks in Far Harbor. He's one of us, a synth. He's the one who meets new arrivals and gets them started on the journey here. Of course, he's not likely to tell you anything without proof that you're working for me. If he doesn't cooperate, tell him that his designation is L7-92. That should convince him. That's as much help as I can give you for now. Please, hurry. If that synth is out there alone, he won't last long."
Faraday, when approached, said, "So, you've talked to DiMA. You know why we're here. I certainly hope that you'll consider helping us. DiMA's vision is worth fighting for."
"I agree, it's a good cause. Synths deserve to be safe just like everyone else."
"It's so good to hear that. Very encouraging. Please make sure DiMA knows that as well. He's put so much of himself into this… All his time and energy, devoted to helping others. He never stops to think of himself. Sometimes I worry about… Well, if I wasn't here to make sure his equipment is all functional… And that's not even mentioning maintaining the fog condensers… So many things to keep track of."
"You do all this work yourself?"
"Mostly, yes. I get help from the others when I can, but no one else really understands DiMA the way I do."
"Well, if there's anything you need help with…?"
"If you're determined to help, there is something you could do. It's likely somewhat dangerous, though, so I understand if you'd rather not. There's a boat along the coast of the island. It was transporting some hardware we need. Storage drives. The boat never finished the trip, you see. So the drives are still out there. I could really use them here, for extra parts if nothing else. My understanding is that the boat wrecked somewhere southeast of here. So, does this sound like something you could handle?"
"Do you know what happened to the boat?"
"I'm not entirely sure, to be honest," Faraday said. "Trappers, fog crawlers … there's no end to what's out there. And what might still be out there."
Anyone who uses the phrase "to be honest" is usually hiding something, Hayato commented.
"The point is that we already lost someone once. I don't want to see that happen again. So, are you up for it?"
"Sure, shouldn't be a problem."
"Thank you. I really do appreciate it."
"While I'm here, can you tell me about the fog condensers?"
"Oh, those? DiMA and I designed them when it became clear the fog was only getting worse. They're effective, but have such a limited range. DiMA insisted we provide them to the people of Far Harbor, and I'm so glad we did. Without the condensers, I'm not sure they'd have anywhere left."
"And you? What of you?"
"Me? I don't know why you'd care," Faraday said, with just the barest emphasis on "you'd". "I escaped the Institute, just like the others here. Never had my mind wiped, thankfully. I like to think I came along right when DiMA needed me. I found him before all this, before Acadia. He needed my help, though he refused to admit it. He's always been stubborn like that. Anyway, I've been by his side ever since, making sure he has everything he needs."
"Are you willing to talk about the work that's been done on DiMA? It looks like quite a lot."
"Well, that's certainly an understatement. Between the two of us, we've made so many modifications. He was just a prototype, never built for all this. It took a lot to overcome the limitations of the original design and expand his memory. It really is remarkable, isn't it? He's overcome so much… He's become so much more than he once was. And all he thinks of is others."
Tsuna nodded and said, "Thank you, for being willing to help me understand a few things. I'll be heading out to take care of these two tasks, then."
Faraday nodded, so Tsuna wandered off toward the exit. As soon as they were in a safe enough place they prepared to shift. On the off chance Acadia had cameras out that they could not see… Clones were formed around all of them before they shifted to storage.
"Right," he said as they began passing through the decontamination arch. "Consider ideas for a meal, and we'll meet in the kitchen."
xXx
"Is it just me," Chikusa said, "or is Faraday in love with DiMA?"
"Certainly seemed that way to me," Ken said, sliding plates of Kung Pao chicken onto the table.
Tsuna slid more plates onto the table and took a seat, then picked up his hashi so he could enjoy the meal. He had to wonder just how this Nick Valentine would end up reacting to what would come out about DiMA. The same or similar? Even if not, he would know in the end how it was he ended up in that pile of trash, so it was one question he'd been gnawing on for decades which would be answered.
Daemon pinned him with a look, an unspoken question.
"Eh… I don't think we're going to like what we'll find," he said and had a bite of his food. It wasn't just prior knowledge of the game. Being there, standing in front of DiMA, in a "real" world… He felt an underlying sense of uneasiness. "For the record, though, I also think Faraday is in love with DiMA. Just the way he talks, that he's the only one who truly understands the man? Huh… Chase seems more level-headed, straightforward, and practical."
"DiMA seems to be wearing a set of self-imposed blinders," Hayato said. "He helped the people of Far Harbor with the fog condensers, even knowing how the Children of Atom would react? And yet he doesn't think he's taking a side? And he's stuck on his friendship with the previous confessor, rather than facing the reality of who currently holds that position? The same person who is presumably advocating the destruction of Far Harbor?"
"That chick we met on the way up to Acadia certainly didn't win any prizes when it came to diplomacy," Ken said. "Nor, presumably, the preacher who visited Far Harbor and ticked off Allen so much that he killed him."
"DiMA seems to be blind to the idea that the Children may want them both out of the picture," Xeul said. "Acadia for helping the heathens, and Far Harbor for being heathens. Still, for the synths of Acadia, well, that's something I can get behind. They're at least there, fully aware of their … race, as it were. I do wonder how the fog condensers and spare parts are getting to Far Harbor, though. Do they bring them down, or does someone like Longfellow go up?"
"We should probably hunt down this Nucleus," Daemon said. "We might not get to it for a day, depending on how long it takes to handle the tasks for Chase and Faraday, but knowing where it is means we have a window on it."
"Have your maps been updating the way mine has?" Tsuna asked.
Sin checked his Pip-Boy and nodded. "Yes, apparently. How about we split, then? Some for Chase, some for Faraday, and one to track down the Nucleus to get a window on it?"
"I'll take the Nucleus, then," Daemon said. "It's not as if I have to be seen at any point, and if I can get a window inside, well. That just makes things simpler. The only other options I see are going in guns blazing, or pretending to want to join the cult, and neither of those appeal. Besides, most cults have a tendency to politely demand you strip down and turn over all your worldly goods before handing over a uniform for you to wear so you can blend in with the herd."
"That's fine," he said, then had another bite of his meal. Daemon, get inside and go to the far end. Basically, straight ahead from where you enter. Then up. There's a door up top on the far, narrow wall, guarded by a single Child, but it's in an alcove of sorts. If you can get a window on that spot I can harmonize through the door. Or, you Mist-fuck the Child to not notice when you open that door, so you can get a visual on the interior.
"So Xeul and I should be on separate teams," Mukuro said.
Tsuna hummed. "Me, Xeul, Sin, and Valentine. We can go after those drives. Should just be a fairly quick jaunt south and a bit west from Acadia. We'll just have to shift over invisibly, so we don't catch anyone's eyes. I don't know if Longfellow meant that those on guard duty were keeping eyes on the approach or what, but they don't need to know we can shift."
"I think we should watch a comedy tonight," Sin said, eyeing Tsuna.
"I'm for it," he said with a slight smile. "Suggestions?"
"Since part of our quest here on the island involves the military, however peripherally, I say something with the military in it," Daemon said.
"Evolution," was Ken's suggestion.
"Periscope Down," was Chikusa's.
"Sgt Bilko," was Hayato's.
Mukuro and Sin immediately weighed in for Sgt Bilko, and it ended up winning the vote.
xXx
Tsuna's team went invisible and shifted over to Acadia, then skittered down the side of the cliff the observatory perched on and once down headed toward the quest marker he could see. It was slightly odd, he realized, that Valentine had never once questioned how he always seemed to know where to go. Then again, most of the time, the residents of the Commonwealth, Nuka-World, and Far Harbor seemed incapable of noticing the entirety of his family standing right there.
The wreck was indeed on the coast, right outside Southwest Harbor. The water was slicked with some kind of fuel, burning, sending up gouts of black smoke. Across the water was the Vim! Pop Factory, but he saw no reason to go there just yet. A handful of Trappers needed to be relieved of life before they could investigate the wreck.
One drive was inside a blue shipping container, while a second was just outside it. The container also had one of those displays as seen in the observatory, the ones with the funny round monitors. There was a steamer trunk also present, to the right of where the second drive had rested, but he already knew—or assumed based on the game—that it required a key and contained something he wasn't particularly interested in.
He did check the rest of the boat, after a token attempt at the trunk, and instead opened the steamer trunk inside the cabin, which held some ammunition, a few weapons, and some caps.
"Should we haul this trunk along?" Xeul asked. "I mean, if it was on this boat, it might have been intended for Acadia."
"We could. We'd have to make it look good, dragging it up the road, because—well, no idea how heavy it is."
Xeul went over and hauled it up, then set it back down. "Not too bad, but certainly not thrilling. We could manage it, though."
Tsuna hummed. "All right. Let's bring it along. We can leave it with Faraday. Maybe he has the key. For all we know there's another drive in there. Let's shift to that gatehouse at the bottom of the road up to Acadia. One of us can always drag an illusion, so we're not wearing ourselves out, and just replace it with the real thing at the last minute."
A window unglossed and Mukuro said, "We can meet you at the gatehouse, darling. We're just handling a tiny bit of clean up and then we'll be done." Given the sounds of gunfire in the background, he knew exactly what choice they had made when confronted with the synth's fate.
"All right. We'll wait for you there. See you shortly."
The window reglossed, so he took Valentine's arm, waited for Sin and Xeul to be ready, then shifted to the gatehouse. The trunk served as a place to sit down.
"Considering that there were only a few Trappers there," Valentine said.
"I suppose, given the nature of the sanctuary, that focus on combat abilities is not pushed," Sin said. "Synths having escaped the Institute and found their way here, well, I imagine they would need some combat ability, and certainly stealth."
"Then again, people don't have our advantages," he said. "They could use Stealth Boys, but I'm not certain those even work properly against creatures. Some might be able to smell you coming, or sense heat signatures."
Valentine hummed. "And there aren't all that many synths there. I can understand why they would be reluctant to risk more if one has already been lost."
Mukuro, Chikusa, Ken, and Hayato all shifted in, so Tsuna got up and prepared to walk. Xeul and Ken grabbed the trunk and hefted it up, and with that they proceeded up the road, Mukuro's team filling them in on the fate of that poor synth.
xXx
"Unfortunately, your missing synth was jumped by cannibal Trappers," he informed Chase. "He did not survive the encounter."
"That poor bastard," Chase said mournfully. "That synth came here to live in peace, and we failed him in the worst way possible. It's my fault. I should have gone out there to meet him. Damn it all. …I'm glad we were able to bring some closure to the matter. You deserve this, and … shall we say two hundred caps?"
Tsuna nodded, and was handed a CIT laser pistol with a mod to improve damage dealt, if the user was aiming at the time, rather than shooting from the hip.
Faraday was doing his usual tech stuff, which meant it was more or less incomprehensible to Tsuna, and uttered a distracted, "Yes?" when approached.
"We retrieved those storage drives you asked for."
"Oh, that's great!" Faraday said, turning toward him so he could accept the two they found. "Thank you… Uh… Just the two? Really? I somehow thought there were three…"
"Ah, well, there was this locked trunk we also noticed," he said, nodding his head at the thing. "Maybe the last one is in there? It needs a key, so we couldn't open it. Brought it along instead, figuring you might have it."
"Chest? Key?" Faraday eyed the trunk. His expression was a peculiar mixture, but deciphering it was next to impossible given the low light conditions, and Tsuna did not think he'd appreciate having a Pip-Boy light shined into his face.
"I'm afraid I don't know… I, uh… You know what, this is fine. Just these two is fine. Well, you did your part, so I'll do mine. Thank you for recovering these."
He nodded. "We also saw one of these monitor sets, without the casing, but that was far too heavy for us to bring that distance, unlike the trunk."
"Ah, yes, I imagine it would be." Faraday handed over a pouch, presumably full of caps, and trundled off with the storage drives.
Hell, Tsuna didn't even know if the things were functional considering where they were found. One good storm…
That out of the way, only one remaining Far Harbor quest remained in his quest log: Best Left Forgotten. And for that they needed to wait until Faraday completed his tweaks to the program and left a holotape for Chase.
xXx
"Hang on," Daemon said, "a speech is starting up. Let's listen in, shall we?"
Tsuna diverted his attention from their game to the window Daemon brought into focus. The interior of the Nucleus was very dim, lit only by glass bottles and bulbs filled with a glowing, yellow, (presumably) radioactive liquid, the vessels hanging here and there within the base, as well as green-glowing fungi found in many places on the outside.
A man in an elaborate headdress stood atop the submarine in there, hands outstretched like a bizarro Jesus, as he addressed the faithful.
"They are doomed, brothers and sisters. And they know it. The people of Far Harbor need only peer out their windows to look upon the face of Atom himself, given form in holy Fog! Yet no matter how inevitable Atom's reign in this land may be, they deny it. Scoff at us behind their condensers, kill our missionaries, slay those who only wish to bring them the Light! No longer. After years of skulking in the shadows like whipped dogs, our purpose is clear.
"And I know the key to our victory lies within the Nucleus itself. We will claim the secrets hidden away by that accursed robot and with them, we will wipe Far Harbor from the island! Atom's veil will roll down its streets, holy Fog cleansing the land of their heresy! And when we are finally granted Division, it will be as heroes! A new day dawns, brothers and sisters! Glory to Atom!"
"Glory to Atom!" many voices called out in chorus.
Tsuna shook his head. "These people frighten me. But, I suppose any zealot would. They're like the worst aspects of organized religion, wrapped up in a cult. I can't help but see them as defects."
"The set in the Glowing Sea wasn't too bad," Sin said.
"No, but they might be the exception," Xeul said. "Or maybe it's just a crapshoot."
"Well, yeah," Hayato said. "The Glowing Sea bunch wasn't so bad, though wary. Kingsport were all bugnuts, this bunch is crazy—but the previous confessor sounded like an okay guy if DiMA is to be believed. Trying to think where else we've run across them…"
"More importantly, we've just heard it from the horse's mouth, as it were," Chikusa said. "They intend to not only obtain those memories, but to use that information to wipe out both Acadia and Far Harbor."
"I don't see how we can just sit here and watch as they murder a bunch of good people," Ken said, shaking his head. "And it would negate what we've done to clear areas for people to settle at, making all of that pointless and a waste of time. True, the defenses we've set up at each would more than likely shred any incursions, and they only have so many cultists to deploy, but still."
"Much as I hate the idea of just…" Valentine trailed off, his expression uncertain. "They do present a clear and present danger to people just trying to live their lives. They have a legitimate beef with that Allen fellow, but that alone isn't justification for planning a massacre of largely innocent people."
Tsuna rubbed his face in contemplation. He had toyed with the idea of convincing their leader to use the launch key once found, to "divide", but that would mean playing along long enough to get into their good graces as a Child of Atom, and he wasn't about to do their little test. His family would likely flip out at the idea of him deliberately drinking highly irradiated water, for one thing.
"We can easily enough quietly remove them," he said. "Right now their leader is geared toward getting those memories, expecting they will provide him with the means to carry out those plans. We get them first, obviously. And on a side note, when that holotape is ready, I suggest we grab it long enough to copy it onto a new holotape. That way Faraday will never know it's been acquired.
"But as for the Nucleus… Let's get the memories and find out just what's in them. Then we sit down and discuss this. It may just be we use the usual tactics. Tag all of them, take them out quietly, no fuss, no fanfare. Then sweep through like a plague of locusts, scrapping everything to be recycled. If there's even a remote chance that place could blow … well."
His family all nodded.
xXx
Daemon smirked as he handed over a brand new holotape. "Darling."
"Thank you, brother. How far into the command center did you get? Just the entrance, or…?"
Daemon kept right on smirking. "Oh, I got all the way to the end, using a window to bypass all the defenses. There's a caged area at the back. You know, maglock doors, terminals, metal mesh walls protecting it all. We can step right in. There's a suspicious door in there, though, with one of those warning lights above it. I suspect an Assaultron or Sentry Bot will pop out if the right trigger is tripped. At the center of the caged area is a series of consoles—well, just look."
Daemon opened a large window on the area in question. At the center was a U-shaped series of consoles, with the very center showing a terminal. Above it was a peculiar thing, like a glass or plastic hemisphere with sticky-outy bits on it, and which Tsuna knew was an interface. Behind all that was a U-shaped caged area, with security doors at each narrow end. Trash and debris was everywhere, along with crates, toolboxes, ammunition cases, desks, and so forth.
"All right, let's get in there. No doubt we will end up triggering that bot, so I want some of you prepared to blast it the second that door opens," he said, then took Valentine's arm.
The terminal did not have adequate power. At the very center back there, between banks of powered-down monitor/storage things seen at Acadia, was an auxiliary power switch that sparked, bringing attention to it despite the darkness.
"You ready?" he called.
"Yep!"
"Throwing this switch," he said, then flipped it. As expected, not only did the monitors come on and show code or data streaming by, but the warning light above the switchbox activated, as well as the one over by the maglock door, which he could see through the mesh walls . An audible alarm began to sound, and then that door popped open and an Assaultron surged out.
It only had time to say, "Engaging!" before it was shredded, one of his family having decided to use Earth Flames to detach its arms, legs, and head from the torso before opening fire with more conventional weapons.
The central neural interface slowly dropped down to be more at head height. It glowed a bluish-purple. Honestly, it reminded Tsuna of that time he had installed a mod and the textures were missing, except it was transparent rather than opaque.
"Awesome," he said. "Time to go memory diving." He jacked in the copy of Faraday's holotape and, after logging in, saw:
Welcome to ROBCO Industries (TM) Termlink
ICE-Breaker Program Loaded...
Long-Term Memory Storage
[Memory 0V-9AX0]
[Memory 0J-2NN8 - LOCKED]
[Memory 0H-3X0P - LOCKED]
[Memory 0Z-7A4K - LOCKED]
[Memory 0Y-8K7D - LOCKED]
He chose the first one and felt the neural interface settle on his head, and was whisked away to a VR simulation. Glowing blue blocks were everywhere, each with gently-rounded corners and a distinctly 8-bit pattern on them. They were below, to the sides, and above him. He could see a large, red wall of blocks, though only the edges of each block were opaque. The interiors were clear. One block in particular was edged in black rather than red. There was a second red wall, perpendicular to the first, set a ways away.
A glowing green device was on one "wall" (ahead and to his left) and from it issued a glowing green tube of light. To his right, across a gap, was a column of amber light, rising upward. In front of him, on the "floor", were five green … bugs. They were stymied by a gap in the floor, and could go no farther. In the distance he could see a red and black sphere floating around. There were others like it, in various locations.
A message was displayed to his sight, left side and centered vertically, which read: Retrieve Memory 0V-9AX0 (0%).
"If you are listening to this, then you made it inside my memory banks. Take a moment, I know it's a lot at once." It was DiMA's voice. Much larger blue blocks rose and fell in the gap between his position and the upward-reaching column of light.
"The architecture you're seeing is data. My data. When I'm plugged into the chair, this is what I see. You're using an earlier version of that technology, a brainwave scanner instead of a direct neural wire. Look around. Do you see that yellow column in the distance?"
"It's more orange than yellow," he muttered.
"That's long-term memory storage; that's your goal. But you can't just retrieve that data yourself. One of the programs loaded in that holotape is called the Indexers. They're represented by the friendly green sprites milling around. Do you see them? The Indexers have one purpose—to get the data in the yellow column and bring it back to the memory access point."
That would be the blue column of light Tsuna had arrived in.
"You need to help them get there and back safely. Once they've recovered all the data in the memory, the program will translate it into something you can understand. If you ever need to leave the simulation, then don't worry. Nothing gets reset. You can keep going from wherever you left off.
"First things first. The blue blocks you're standing on are called code blocks. Some of them can be repurposed. See if you can grab one of the lighter coloured blocks. Use them to fill in any gaps along the path for your Indexers to cross."
He sighed and did so, filling in several gaps to where that horizontal green beam was. The beam itself was blocked by another of the lighter blue code blocks, and the obvious solution was obvious.
"Good. You're across the gap. But now you have to deal with the security systems. That red firewall is blocking you and your Indexers from reaching the data. Do you see that green beam of light? That's a decoder beam; it can destroy the firewall. You just need to direct the beam to its vulnerable spot."
He rolled his eyes and grabbed the block, moving it aside. The green beam hit the black-edged cube in the firewall, causing the entire wall to slowly dissipate. He then used the block to fill in the gap ahead, so the Indexers could continue.
The beam extended all the way to the next corner area, and was diverted by another blue block—in the wrong direction, as the next firewall was to the right, whereas the beam was sent left. The obvious solution was again quite obvious, so he headed forward.
"Good. You're across the gap. But now you have to deal with the security systems. That red firewall is blocking you and your Indexers from reaching the data. Do you see that green beam of light? That's a decoder beam; it can destroy the firewall. You just need to direct the beam to its vulnerable spot."
"I really fucking hate this place," he muttered. The redirection block had a green pyramid of sorts on the side, presumably to indicate which face of it an incoming beam would exit through. The center of the block, mostly clear, had a cube at the center with a pyramid at the top and bottom, which the beam passed through.
Tsuna picked it up, turned it twice, and set it back down. The beam was redirected at the vulnerable spot, which caused the firewall to vanish.
"Good. Now you just need to create a path to the data with code blocks, and your Indexers can get to work."
"Because I couldn't fucking see that for myself," he groused, then grabbed nearby blocks to fill in the final gap. The Indexers scurried across and entered the column of light, paused, and started the journey back.
"The system has been alerted to your presence. Now things will get hairier."
Indeed, the red and black spheres were lancing the sprites with red lasers, rendering them inoperable.
"You'll need to deploy defense constructs against the system's active countermeasures. The system's sentries will do everything they can to stop your Indexers from returning to the access point with the data."
Tsuna was able to place bubble turrets at that point, which happily enough shot down the sentries. He placed two at each corner of the U-shaped path, and one at the center. Even when an Indexer was disabled and flickered out of existence, a new one was deployed from the origin, but with the turrets in place, they could more easily get to the data, retrieve a portion of it, and deliver it.
"First data block recovered. Good. Just keep doing what you're doing."
"Sentry initiating erasure of intrusive Indexer," a female voice announced, rather belatedly in Tsuna's opinion.
He continued to shift blocks around to make the paths easier for the Indexers to navigate, as there was precious little else he could do at that point.
"Intrusive Indexer detected. Beginning attrition of intrusive program."
Then he ran out of blocks he could shuffle around and simply waited by the access point.
"Unauthorized Indexer erased."
The status visible to his vision kept incrementing the percentage as the Indexers managed to bring more data blocks back, but it was a slow process, as just as many Indexers were destroyed as were able to make it back. Tsuna was a bit miffed he was limited by the system to a mere five turrets deployed.
It was incredibly frustrating to have no agency, to sit there and wait, bored out of his mind, while Indexers scuttled, were destroyed, or paused as if confused, only eventually making it back. When the final block was delivered he heard, "Verifying memory file. One hundred percent. We're done here. We now have an access point into the next memory. Just step in the data stream where this memory was stored."
The previously "yellow" column was now a match in colour to his origin point.
"Memory file identification: 0V-9AX0, converted to audio transcription. Beginning playback," announced a female voice.
"Things are not going well with Far Harbor," DiMA could be heard saying. "Several of my people have been assaulted, spat at, interrogated for no reason. This is getting out of control, but there's still a chance they can learn to trust us. We just need one of their own who's on our side. I can't let anyone know what I'm about to do. I'll need to set up the equipment far away from Acadia. It'll double as a place to bury the evidence."
"Additional location data appended. A make-shift medical facility underneath the Vim! Pop Factory. Coordinates downloaded."
Tsuna moved onto the next memory, then the next, then the next, then the final, then exited the simulation. The terminal had created holotapes of each memory, so he could play them back for the benefit of his family, as they would not have been able to hear them as he had.
"Hey, when you were in DiMA's memories, did you find anything?" Valentine asked. "Any proof about what really happened between us?"
"Yes," he said, "but let's listen to what I've retrieved. There are five memories."
"Well, all right, then."
He played the first audio transcription and was pleased that his family immediately cottoned on to the implications.
"So at least one person in Far Harbor is an unknowing synth," Hayato said, "a replacement of a human."
"DiMA did the exact same fucking thing the Institute was doing?" Ken said. "Hello? Hypocrisy or what? All that talk about the distastefulness of memwipes was just talk?"
"And we need to find this medical facility he hid away," Sin said.
"Next," he said when it seemed like there would be no more commentary.
"Memory file identification: 0J-2NN8, converted to audio transcription. Beginning playback."
"I'm offloading this memory. I cannot bear lying to Confessor Martin and his Children of Atom any longer. Better to just forget. I found it. The location of the launch key to fire the nuclear missile inside the submarine. Confessor Martin believes it can bring his people into Division. Destruction at the hands of an atomic blast. He struggles with how literal his interpretation of that precept should be. I can't risk him deciding to find the key and use it. His people were the first to … accept me for what I am. The thought of them being gone fills me with nothing but pain."
"Additional data appended. Location: The Harbor Grand Hotel Safe Room. Keycode: 485130."
"Selfish much?" Ken muttered.
"We are not using that launch key," Xeul said.
"No, we're not," he replied. "If we do remove their threat, it won't be by blowing this place sky high and spewing yet more waste into the air."
Valentine had taken to slowly shaking his head, as if in utter disbelief and disappointment.
"Okay, moving on."
"Memory file identification: 0H-3X0P, converted to audio transcription. Beginning playback."
"I've made a contingency plan in case Far Harbor discovers the truth, or gives in to their xenophobia despite all my efforts. I've isolated the wind turbines powering Far Harbor's fog condensers. A kill switch command will leave them defenseless from the Fog and its creatures. But now that it's done, am I really capable of this? This … massacre, that I've engineered… I'm going to remove the command code from my memories. I'll bury a hardcopy if I need to use it, but I can't keep it close to me. It makes me sick…"
"Additional location data appended. Coordinates to the Kill Switch Command Code and the Wind Farm Maintenance Building."
"Words fail me," Chikusa whispered.
"This is someone who displays all the negative traits of a human being, but can't bear to remember it," Daemon said. "So he cuts portions of his own memories out, hides them, hides the evidence, and continues on his saintly way? He is willing, even if he doesn't remember it, to wipe out Far Harbor if they don't behave for him? And yet he blinds himself to the behavior of the Children, out of sentiment. He's so biased in such a contradictory way it makes my head hurt."
Valentine had hunched in on himself slightly.
When no one else seemed inclined to comment he moved on to the next memory.
"Memory file identification: 0Z-7A4K, converted to audio transcription. Beginning playback."
"Get away from me! What the hell are you?" said Valentine's voice, which caused Valentine's head to snap up. "It's me! We escaped the Institute together. You're my brother!" "I don't have a brother! The name's Nick Valentine, and no one in my family tree is a plastic-skinned freak!" "You're just confused, let me help—" The sounds of a struggle could be heard. "Stay away from me!" And more struggling. "I don't want to hurt you!" And yet more struggling. Then, the sound of someone breathing heavily, which honestly made no sense, as they were listening to two Gen-2.5 synths who technically did not need to breath to begin with. "Good-bye … brother…"
"End playback."
"So DiMA really did help me escape the Institute?" Valentine said. "I wasn't just tossed out by them with the garbage. But why can't I remember any of this!?"
"Valentine," he said, "people forget things. You know this. We all forget things. Especially after a traumatic experience, such as the one we just heard. You said yourself you woke up in a trash heap not knowing why you were there, how you got there, with memories that didn't match the body you inhabited. Clearly, whatever method he used to knock you out caused a few memories to get deleted."
"I suppose he offloaded the memory because it was another thing he couldn't bear to remember," Sin said. "That he was driven to do you harm, someone he considered a brother. That he felt he had to abandon you. He couldn't face up to it. Odd that he seemingly isn't aware of the gap, though, between escaping and what came after, incurious as to why or how you two got separated."
"I… I can't even begin to know how to feel about this," Valentine said. "In a way, he is my brother, as prototypes. He did get us out of there, but… All this, these memories. He's not a nice person. He's a manipulator, a liar, a murderer, and a hypocrite. And not in a good way."
Tsuna smiled briefly. After all, Samsara was all those things at times. "I think," he said carefully, "that it's possible to appreciate the good he's done for you, to be grateful, and even acknowledge the form of kinship, but not feel forced or obligated to simply accept everything else. You can love someone and still be angry with them, disappointed. To me it seems as if DiMA is just as much human as the rest of us, but instead of facing his thoughts and actions, he hides from them, pretends none of it happened, that he didn't think those things. He's lying to himself as much as he does to others."
"Got any anecdotal evidence, have you?" Valentine's voice was a bit more gravelly then usual, and almost sarcastic in inflection.
"I do, I suppose. My own mother and father," he said. "They gave me life. I'm grateful for that life, that I exist. But those two? I loathe them, for so many reasons. I wouldn't bat an eyelash if they were to be murdered right in front of me. I have yet to run across versions of my parents I would want to claim as family, they're just that loathsome."
That seemed to startle Valentine out of his funk a bit. "Seriously?"
"Very seriously. I want as little to do with them as possible. When I'm forced to interact, well… There's a reason I became such a good actor over time. I would project some memories, but unless you understand Japanese…"
Valentine shook his head.
"My mother was more neglectful than outright abusive. She was oblivious to anything she didn't want to see. She failed to see all those times I would come home in those earlier lives, black eyes, busted lip, bruised all over. I was just … clumsy, see?
"My father? I was supposed to be his clone, his carbon copy, with no independent thought. Or I was supposed to be his cute and adorable little tuna fish, helpless and rather stupid. And goodness no, his family should never ever find out that he was in the mafia. Because all those assassins who came after me were clearly a figment of my overactive imagination, and the blood was just red paint.
"I am grateful for being given life, appreciative of that and of being provided the basic necessities of food, shelter, clothing, and an education. Those two are my blood—usually, as I'm not always born to that line—but they are not family."
Valentine shook his head again, but he seemed … lighter, almost. "You said five memories?"
He nodded. "The last one is… Well, I suppose I can see why he offloaded it, but there's nothing really peculiar about it." He jacked the holotape in and hit play.
"Memory file identification: 0Y-8K7D, converted to audio transcription. Beginning playback."
"I've discovered a curious record inside the pre-war data files of this submarine base. The marines here were equipped with an advanced model of combat armor. There are several suits already in the base, in various states of deterioration. But there were more shipments of armor on its way to the base, the day the bombs fell. They could be in prime condition if the sealants have held. I have no use for them, but you never know. Maybe they'll be worth digging up one day."
"Additional data appended. 'Armor shipments tracking information.' Coordinates downloaded."
"And that's all of them," he said. "So… Let's discuss how we're going to react."