They said you shouldn't hang out with your ex. But what did they know? They hadn't been through the shitshow Talia had, and they probably died in the war anyway. Why should 'they' make the rules anymore?
Talia had asked around about Dr. Li, even finding herself unable to resist breaking into her cabin to snoop. Just out of curiosity. As it turned out, the woman was only on the city council too, and she seemed fairly influential. Because of her the city had a limited source of clean food and water, and she leant the considerable weight of her opinion to its hitherto successful leadership. In twenty years she had done a lot to 'change the world' as she said, even if only one small corner of it.
James had created a glorified janitor. Talia didn't understand why he couldn't have stayed on the surface, lived in the city, continued investigating Purity while creating real change elsewhere at the same time. They might have had a harder life, but it could have been happier. And she couldn't help feeling the burden of matching Li's contribution to science lay partially on her shoulders, whether James thought so or not.
And that was why she was spending her nights at The Muddy Rudder with someone who didn't care about any of that- Butch.
"Butch, I wanna thank you- oh, whoops," she righted the beer bottle she knocked over as she gestured across the table. "You were the only one from the Vault who didn't- hic- blame me for everything, or use me for something." She swigged from her bottle, wondering how Amata was faring without her to take the flak. She scrunched her nose and put the bottle back down, searching for one that wasn't empty.
Butch paused his in attempts to catch a peanut in his mouth. "Blame you? Are you crazy? I'd never be out here if it wasn't for your dad in the first place."
"Whoa," she stopped to bask in the revelation. "That's so true. Is this like… fate? We never figured out how to get out did we? Oh my God, he kinda saved the Vault, right?" She shook herself out of it and picked a fresh beer from the pile in front of them. "No, no, I'm meant to be mad at him.
"Hey, I should be mad at you." She spilled some beer pointing at Butch with the bottle neck.
"Me? What did I do?"
"You? You- hic- you used me. Ugh, why am I even talking to you?"
He leant in. "Maybe you can't help it. I know I'm irresistible, don't worry about it."
"I will throw this drink over you again, I swear to God." She brandished her beer and angled herself away from him.
"Alright, geez, calm down. You didn't have to cover me in Nuka in front of everyone you know."
Talia remembered with satisfaction drenching Butch in the cafeteria after she found the details of their failed relationship all over the grapevine. "Well you didn't have to talk about me. Or be such a shithead."
"Babe, it wasn't like that… I just didn't know how-"
"Leave it out Butch, you're a bad liar. And I'm not your babe." She sighed. Mistaking his interest for genuine feeling had just made the rest of it that much more humiliating. "Don't pretend. Just be yourself, it's fine. I know we're both a little bit heartless. Maybe that's why we were pretty good, for about ten minutes huh?"
She raised her beer and drank without waiting for him. So much had happened since they were seventeen. She couldn't be bothered to hold a grudge any longer, and she wouldn't see any of their peers again anyway. What was the point in saving face anymore? To be honest she hadn't the energy to keep hating him. Not since Burke. Funny how she hadn't really known love until she had something to compare to. She gazed into the distance as she thought of him, wondering whether she was repeating the same mistake.
Butch's cocksure tones soon drew her attention again. "You were pretty cool for a girl, Tali."
Talia snorted. "'Were'? What happened? Did I lose my cool? Or grow a-?"
Butch smirked as she paused. "A what?" Talia sniggered as she searched for a word. "Come on, say it. I know you wanna talk dirty."
Talia threw a handful of peanuts at him. "I do not. Ugh, I swear you still think with your… tunnel snake." They collapsed in a fit of drunken giggles, forgetting what they had been talking about. Or were they arguing? All Talia could think about was that stupid gang name.
"What was I saying?" she appealed when she regained some composure.
"That depends. Before or after you started talking about my-"
"Butch!" she interrupted, snickering again. "Be quiet. You're so gross."
"Ooh, someone's uptight nowadays," Butch teased.
Talia rolled her eyes. "No. I just don't- hic- want to talk about that, okay?"
He shrugged and drank while she racked her brain for what it was she'd felt compelled to tell him.
"Oh, right, yeah." She sprawled across the table reaching just short of his leather Tunnel Snakes jacket. "I was saying thank you. Though fuck knows if I should. But you're not all judgmental or crazy. You're just here to- hic- get drunk, and I appreciate that."
"Hell yeah babe, always." He raised his beer in toast and Talia realised she'd lost hers again, when an almighty crash erupted from across the room.
The pair looked around to see a burly man upturning chairs and tables with his girth as he pursued Dogmeat around the bar, yelling something about stolen jerky. Dogmeat led him on a merry chase, deftly weaving between the tables and the other patrons' legs. There was a cheer as the man tripped. He got up and immediately punched the first person he saw. There was a bigger cheer when that person punched back.
A crowd formed around the fight and Talia led Butch along the top of the tables to get a better view. She laughed and steadied herself on his shoulder as Brock, the bar's bouncer, crashed past their table and elbowed his way through the crowd, throwing himself into the brawl to a raucous ovation.
Burke swore his vision was turning grey as Mrs. Cheng droned on about her husband in the Federalist Lounge. Something about a stupid man, wishing he'd fall from the mezzanine and land on the memo spike on Gustavo's desk.
"Don't you think you're overreacting a little, Mrs. Cheng?"
The elderly woman, a neighbour in one of the penthouse suites, laughed bitterly. "Ha! You try being married to him for five minutes. I dare you!"
Burke had had enough. This was not how he saw his evening panning out when he came down for a drink. "Then why don't you stop talking about it and just kill him?"
Cheng blinked several times. "Oh, my, well, I didn't really mean… just that I wouldn't mind, you know. Besides, I'd never get away with it. I wouldn't know how to make it look accidental!" She laughed nervously.
"I won't tell anyone, Mrs. Cheng." His face was deadpan. Albeit mainly due to being bored half to death, but it had the pleasing effect of unsettling the old windbag.
"Oh… well I… no, I couldn't. But you would, wouldn't you? You could use that gun of yours and no one would know?"
He debated whether she might complain more or less if he actually did it. He could do with some stress relief. "Whatever gave you that idea?" he questioned glibly.
She shifted, probably bewildered at finding herself complaining to someone who could actually give her what she said she wanted. "Oh, I don't know… silly stories, er…"
He wasn't really in the mood for this. "Why don't you just have another drink and figure it out later?"
She relaxed and chuckled. "No amount of drink is going to make my husband less stupid. But it'll certainly help me forget about him, won't it?"
"I hope so, or I might just go kill myself," Burke muttered under his breath.
"What?" she asked, turning her ear toward him as the old and deaf tended to.
"I said I'll go get you a refill myself," he answered loudly through a charming smile. He left the old woman swiftly, heading out to the lobby for a break. This was the problem with residents who didn't need to work.
Gustavo was wrapping up at his desk. "Could this kill a man, Gustavo?" Burke pondered, ambling over to the spindle that held a pile of notes.
"It wouldn't do him any good… why?"
"Just thinking about throwing myself off the staircase."
"I don't follow you."
Burke shook his head. "It's like God's waiting room in there. Is that what I've got to look forward to?"
Gustavo chuckled at the sudden outburst. "How do you mean?"
Burke sighed wearily. He didn't particularly care that it was his birthday, but neither did he want to spend it with the geriatrics who propped up the bar early in the week. "Oh, I think I've just been shown a vision of the future. I'm fifty next year. That's it isn't it? It's all downhill to becoming-" he grimaced, "one of them."
Gustavo laughed a little too much for Burke's liking. "Come on, leave a little hope for the rest of us."
"I'd love to, my friend. But I fear it's contagious. Or genetic."
"What?"
"Being an interminable bore."
Gustavo chuckled again. "I think it's one of those things that will happen, unless you make sure it doesn't. You'll be alright, you've got a sharp mind."
"Not after that conversation," Burke quipped.
"Ha! Well, you're more likely to end up like Tenpenny if you ask me."
"What makes you say that?"
Gustavo cocked his head to one side. "Well: VIP, you're already shunning the company of the residents, you've been drinking as much as him lately…"
Burke glanced down at his drink. "That's a lie. It's not humanly possible." All the same, he put the glass on the desk, thirst suddenly waning. "I think you're onto something there though. I need to take measures now."
"See. Not just a pretty face."
"Christ, I wouldn't want to meet you in a dark alley if you weren't even that."
Gustavo laughed. Burke could tell he was in a good mood; he was almost impossible to annoy when he was seeing his secret widow.
"What you gonna do?"
Burke ran a hand over his jaw. "Preventative measures, Gustavo. The committee should be well into planning the Christmas party now. I'll make sure it's like one from the early days."
Gustavo nodded, contradicting his tone. "You think you can manage that?"
Burke glared. "I might be a year older, Gustavo, but I'm not falling apart yet."
Gustavo held up his hands. "That's not what I meant. I'm just sayin'... you don't scream party person lately. A few weeks ago you were a different man."
Burke knew what he was getting at. He had to admit he didn't know why he was trying to enjoy the bar when Talia wasn't around.
Gustavo continued. "Well it'll be good for you to get your teeth into something other than the glass you put them in before bed."
Burke couldn't help but laugh a little. "Been working on that one all day?"
"Actually thought it up just now."
"Impressive. You'll be needing a lie down then."
"Early night, for sure. You need a rescue from that bar?"
"No, I've gone off the idea of any more drink for some reason. Besides, I think you have somewhere to be." Burke raised an eyebrow.
"Me? Nowhere," Gustavo lied. "So if you're not drinking…do I stand more or less chance of winning at poker on Friday?"
Burke waved him off. "Moot point. You lose every year," he called over his shoulder as he left him to his evening, more than a little envious.
"Only because it'd be rude to beat you on your birthday," Gustavo returned as Burke entered the elevator.
He entered his suite, lighting a cigarette. A quiet evening was better than a dull one, and it seemed there were plenty more of those to come. He wondered what Talia was doing. His man had sent word she had indeed made it to Rivet City. What had her negligent father planned for them? He'd learned that Talia now suspected there was more to his sudden disappearance than she first thought after discovering his whereabouts. Second hand information again, much to Burke's chagrin. Why was she so open with Gustavo? He thought he knew her better than anybody, at least since she began her life on the surface. But she wouldn't even tell him what she intended to do out there.
A brief gust of hostility crossed him as he wondered why Gustavo held her confidence. But no, the man treated her more like one of his soldiers, and he was well occupied with his current woman. But if everything she'd told the Chief were true, why had she even left? Stubborn girl. He seethed all over again at how she'd blanked him on her way out. All she had to do was sit pretty in the tower, sulk if she must, and she'd have had what she apparently wanted by now.
And so would he. He replayed several junctures in his mind, combing for any way he could have played it differently so that he would still have an associate sleeping next door. But that was it, he wasn't sure he could have her as an associate and for himself. She had pushed back at his orders already, how could he ever demand more and retain her affections? Yet he still wondered what if, why hadn't he ended their careful dance already. He shook himself out of it. Right now he had neither, so the whole exercise was pointless and of no solace.
She was supposed to be working for him and yet there she was, not in person, but in his head, dominating his every waking moment. He cursed her under his breath. He cursed Gustavo for letting her leave. He cursed Littlehorn for demanding she work alone before it was time. What did he know of his plans? He was little more than a penpusher with a reputation and eerily little need to sleep. Without his interference everything would have been going to plan. He imagined ending the miserable toad's life with his own damned fountain pen, making him sign his idiotic orders in his own blood.
But there were some things even Burke would only dream about. It couldn't be done, and it made him furious. To add insult to injury, he could see the old bastard's face contorted in amusement as his employee's eccentric plan crumbled. Even if Talia showed at the office after her current business concluded, he already knew the man would somehow have all the details of the recent hitch. He would be unconvinced the system could be relied upon. She would have to work twice as hard to prove she really was in, despite everything she had done. Despite everything Burke had shown to be possible. He held no appreciation of what the project required, he would derail it and destroy what Burke had created out of a desire for speed or a simple wish to see a neutral mark, as he had once labelled her, suffer.
The thought provoked a roiling heat in his belly. He would not hand her over to that contemptible fool. She was his girl, he would not see even his ghoulish, lecherous gaze touch her, boss or no. To Littlehorn she was a tool, just as he was. To Burke… she was a headache, a dream, a pain in the neck and a near constant emptiness in his stomach.
He lit another cigarette and sank deeper into his chair. His eyes passed over the phone in the corner. It had been damnably quiet for a week and he knew it would not be ringing any time tonight either.
Talia held her sore head in one hand as she slouched over a desk in the science lab. "Do we have to go today? It sounds big, surely it wouldn't hurt to spend one more day going over things?"
James scowled. "No. The team is all here and we've prepared as much as we can. It's time, hangover or not. I thought you'd have a little more sense than that now Talia."
Talia would have rolled her eyes, but the room was doing enough of that for her. "I'm not hungover. I told you this ship gives me a headache. It's all the noise and the rust, and I swear it was a bit rocky last night.
"Does anyone have any more painkillers?" she called out generally. "I mean this is a lab."
James dismissed her with pursed lips. He didn't believe her and didn't care, or more likely just cared more about his stupid water.
Janice Kaplinski, Dr. Li's Chief Botanist, sat down next to Talia. "A lab for plants. But you're in luck," she smiled, sliding over a tub of pills.
"Oh you lifesaver," Talia gushed, washing a few down with her Nuka Cola.
Janice was ten years older than Talia and had been with Dr. Li about as long. When she'd heard she was Chief Botanist, Talia expected a full metal nerd type with a thing for plants because she had it rough when she was a kid or something. But Janice just needed a job when Li needed help, and here she was. She had become an expert, not that there was much competition, but she wasn't any more attached to fruits and vegetables than she needed to be as a scientist protecting her results. Talia kept her own story quiet despite the parallels, if one could even compare apples and assassins.
"Don't go anywhere til you can walk straight, huh? Can't have you trashing the place. These vegetables are more valuable to us than you right now," Janice joked.
"Ugh, and more use. I swear the… rust here is really strong."
"Or really cheap," Janice winked knowingly.
"Right," Talia agreed, noticing her pockets didn't really feel any lighter. But then she hadn't really had to put her hand in them all night. "You should've come down. It was wild."
"Oh I bet it was. I've been there plenty, but I can't deal with the hangovers now. Besides, this is kind of exciting isn't it? I've heard Doctor Li talk about Project Purity, but I never thought I'd be going there. I didn't want to get kicked off the team for not making it in today."
Janice clearly looked up to Li as both a saviour and a brilliant mind. Talia could see why. "I guess," she agreed tiredly. After days of seeing more real scientists turn up at the lab, all of them excited about her dad's lost project, after feeling the mounting sense of anticipation amongst them, Talia had to admit that maybe he was actually kind of smart after all. She was curious to see what he had built before she was born, and to see more of him in this world where he was… somebody.
"Talia, can I speak to you a moment," James stated rather than asked.
"Fine," Talia groaned, heaving herself up.
"I need your help, honey." He spoke quietly, leading her away from the others. "I took a look at the lab last night. It's in the Jefferson Memorial just outside of town. I'm afraid it looks like mutants have moved in."
"What? But weren't you there in the summer with no problem?"
"Yes. Perhaps they saw my movements and it got them interested again. Or maybe I left a window open," he laughed, and Talia wondered what he thought was so funny. "We're going to need to clear them out before we take the team down there."
Talia breathed a sigh of relief. Moving in was going to be delayed.
"Get yourself together, and we'll head down there as soon as you're feeling better."
Talia blinked sluggishly. "We?"
"Yes," James said quietly. "Madison and her team are scientists, not fighters. From what I've seen, you've learned to handle yourself very well, and anyway you're the most trained one here. Together we managed alright, and I can't ask you to go alone. We're our only chance. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't absolutely necessary."
Talia swallowed a bout of nausea as she thought about getting close to more of those green giants on purpose. Or maybe she just got up too quickly. "Couldn't we hire someone to do that? We're not exactly experts."
James shook his head. "The Brotherhood won't even speak to us. I've tried."
"What about mercs?"
"Do you know any?"
Talia closed her eyes in thought, and realised that though she knew Burke hired them all the time, she never learned the details. Not even an outfit name, let alone where to find them or how much they'd cost. "No," she sighed.
"Well then. You'd better go get something to eat. Come find me when you're ready."
James led Talia out of the city, skirting the river down toward the twentieth century monument on the bank. He and his team had previously turned the chambers below into a live-in experimental facility. It contained the purifier itself, though the focus right now, he said, was the old computers they used to work on. One of them may contain information on where they could find a G.E.C.K. They needed to get the power back online in order to check them out, which basically meant powering up the entire project. In for a penny, in for a pound, she thought.
"So," he chatted as they walked. "Quite a turn up finding Butch here, isn't it?"
"I thought so, but I guess everyone hears about the city. Good place to stay while you figure everything out."
"Yes, it's been a bastion of civilisation in the wasteland as long as I can remember."
"So why didn't you go live there? Instead of the Vault?"
"Because... Your mother and I discussed what to do when you were born… It's one of the safest places, but not the safest. Plus, spending time there long term, all that rust… you can suffer a lot worse than your, ahem, headache, believe me."
"I see." Talia didn't press further.
James tried to break the silence. "So, you've been spending time with him. Are you two… you know, again?"
Talia cringed. "Oh..! No. No it's not like that."
"I see. Well that's… good. Don't let him mistreat you. It's very mature you can be friends though, sweetheart."
"Sure." Talia winced through his weak and late attempts at fatherly advice. "Bit late Dad."
"Oh." He sounded wounded, and she offered him a candy from the bag in her pocket. They were a pitiful pair. He accepted and continued. "I just wondered how you're getting on. My daughter has been out here for four months all on her own, and I find she's become quite the wasteland adventurer. I thought maybe there's someone who sees what a smart, beautiful young woman you are, as I do?"
"Er… that sounds a bit weird, Dad."
"Oh, you know what I mean. I'm just trying to compliment you, you don't have to be so hostile. I know you think I deserve it, and maybe I do, but I'm just excited to have you by my side for this, sweetheart. This project is so important, it was so important to your mother, I'm glad you can be here for it."
Talia's voice softened a little. "Oh… well, thanks. For not treating me like a kid anymore, I guess."
"Well, you've proven you're not. So?" He pressured brightly.
Talia winced again. She hadn't talked about anything like this with him ever, really. Jonas, sometimes. "Well… I guess there's someone… from the tower."
"You don't sound very sure. Early days?"
"I don't know. Not really. Sort of."
James just cleared his throat.
"I don't know if he likes me like that, you know? I thought so, but we had a fight…"
"Well people tend to fight with anyone over things they care about, or over silly things with people they care about."
Talia tried to get her muddy head around that one, giving up and scoffing another candy. "So, was it Butch or my sweetroll that I cared more about at my tenth birthday?"
James laughed. "If my memory serves correctly, you definitely preferred that sweetroll. I hope you're not still punching boys you like. "
"Huh? No! I didn't like him then," she grimaced. "I hated him for taking my food. I remember writing it in my diary."
James chuckled. "I mean now. You'd knock them out, from what I've seen."
"Oh... No! No, that was just an argument." She looked at her boots as she trod through the dust. She couldn't decide if it was a stupid argument or not. She could only remember the feel of his hand grasping her arm, her shock, resentment, the burning in her cheeks, yet wanting to kiss him so badly, and the conflicting thrill when he pushed her to her bed. She thought about that a lot. She tried to force the thought from her mind in present company.
"I'm sure he's forgotten all about it," James assured her. "Offer an olive branch when you're back and I'm sure it will work out."
She wasn't sure what she could offer, given the price of making his acquaintance to begin with. But she supposed she could count on him to have it worked out to the cent by now. She hoped she was worthy of that, at least. She was surprised he let her walk, that he left after almost convincing her she was going to suffer up in her suite. It had rang of indifference to her ears. But Gustavo was so sure she was wrong, and he knew the man well. Maybe even her dad was right on this one.
"We're almost there. Let's be careful," James warned, causing Talia to sharpen up her attention. He stopped and pulled out one of his drawings of the facility layout. "There are some sentry guns in there- here. If we can get to those and they still have power, they'll do a lot of the work for us."
"That sounds like a plan," Talia agreed, relieved he seemed to have thought this through. If Li hadn't forced him to wait, she wasn't sure he'd have even scouted the place first. She studied the map. "So if they cover these areas, we can move to… here, and here, while still covered. Maybe lure them into this zone. I don't fancy playing hide and seek with these guys. If we have to, we can go along… here, and nothing should be able to sneak up behind us. How far is it to the guns?"
"I'm offended. I drew this to scale, Tali."
She looked again. "Of course you did. Okay. Maybe two minutes. We can cover each other that far, I'm sure. What?" James was smiling in a way she'd never seen before. Slightly maniacally, if she was honest.
"You're very good at this. I was wrong to coop you up, wasn't I?"
She felt a warmth bloom in her chest. "Well, yes. But I only learned about sneaking around corridors and stuff because of the Vault, so I guess it's not so black and white. You seem a bit excited about this?"
He took the map back and stuffed it into his pocket, clearing his throat. "Well, I've been cooped up too." He stopped as though keeping the rest of his thoughts to himself.
Talia checked her magazine was full, stifling a smile as she did so. It wasn't usual father daughter activity, not by the Vault's standards anyway, but she couldn't help having a good time. She'd already accepted she was a little crazy when she took up Burke on his offer in Megaton. In the Vault, hunt-the-mutant was a tasteless kids' game. In the wasteland it was basically a community service.
"You should keep the shotgun since it's simpler to use and I'm a better shot. The spread will make up for that."
James scoffed in mock offence. "I see. I'm glad you have such confidence in your old man."
"Well it's a lot more fun than this, so I'll take it if you want," she offered her assault rifle only to see him shake his head. "As I thought," she mocked back. "As I said, the spread's big, and the mutants are huge, so really just make sure you're facing the right way up the corridor and you can't go wrong.
"Okay. Against all common sense, are you ready to go hunt some mutants?"
James set his sights on the marble dome structure that housed their goal. Huge intake pipes fed between the columns that held up the roof. Water would be coursing through them again soon, and this time it would come out clean. "Let's go get my purifier back."