Morgan lay by the fire in a fitful sleep. She groaned constantly and coughed violently. Eventually, she just gave in and woke up by opening her eyes to the blurry, smouldering embers.
Going there was a mistake...I lost Rook, I'm sick, don't even know if Heather and Garry are alive or not.
It hurts...
Morgan began to shiver, another groan escaping her lips.
Naomi approached the sleeping scientist and knelt by her, making sure that she was okay, she looked quite pale and sickly...
She wished that they had some medical supplies to use on her but Naomi didn't have anything, she didn't even have clothes on her back as her suit was drying out.
She sighed heavily and placed the other sleeping bag over her companion, trying to keep the shivers down.
Morgan buried herself in the sleeping bags, shivering violently before being overtaken by a coughing fit. She blearily looked at her palm, noticing the blood spattering it.
"F-fuck..."
Naomi rushed to her side, dragging a rag across Morgan's lips as she wiped up the blood traces. Naomi wasn't a doctor but this was a worrying sign by anyone's standards...
"Morgan, how do you feel?"
"Sh-shite..." Morgan stammered, retreating back under the sleeping bags.
Naomi grimaced a little, she had assumed that just by looking at her.
"Can you describe your symptoms?"
"B-blurry vision. b-blood. Weak. Can barely m-move..." Morgan groaned, sounding exhausted from the very effort of talking.
Naomi fell silent, not to surprisingly, that didn't help too well... Back to where she was started, the Scribe sat back and thought on what to do.
Gabriel opened the door and went to the fire. He sat down and out his hand on the fire, trying to get himself to be warm.
Morgan sighed wearily and closed her eyes. Her skin had gone a clammy grey look, which is worse than being pale.
Rook'd take care of me...He'd know what I need, without me having to say.
Gabriel looked at Morgan. "Morgan, here, let me give you medicine..." Gabriel whispered. He got out the medicine and tried to give it to Morgan.
Naomi looked up to the boy and gently took the medicine from his hand, afraid that the boy might be trying to give her birth control pills or something.
"H-Here let me see that..." She insisted, not wanting to make things worse.
"Yes. Still can't believe what happened. I should've never gone with her and the others." Gabriel whispered. He put his head down and sighed.
Naomi examined the 'medicine,' reading the label to see what it is.
"Heh... I know that feeling, I was going to steal a boat in the night this time next week, instead I ended up with all of this shit." The Scribe sighed, glancing back down to Gabriel.
"Are you okay?"
"No, I'm not. I trusted Morgan so much, but she, she, she is ridiculous, Rook is ridiculous, Garry is ridiculous, the only ones I consider normal is you and Heather, after what happened these 2 days, I can't take it." Gabriel said. He looked back up and watched Morgan before looking at Naomi.
"Heh... Things must be pretty screwed if I'm considered 'normal.'" Naomi smirked, kneeling down besides Gabriel.
"C-can still hear you, k-kid..." Morgan croaked, from her little fort of sleep.
"You should be asleep." Naomi replied, with a slight smirk, though it soon faded as she saw the colour of her skin.
"Gabriel, we're going to have to do something... Find some medicine or something."
Gabriel ignored Morgan and stared at Naomi.
"I had medicine, but she did not want to have it and now you stole another piece of medicine I had, AND YOU SAY WE SHOULD GET MEDICINE!?" Gabriel hissed.
He then nodded at Naomi.
"Gabriel, what does this 'medicine' do exactly?" The Scribe asked, the label was so badly scratched that it was impossible to read.
"If it's not right for her, it might make her worse... It could even kill her."
Garry's float finally reached the docks, he ditched it as soon as possible and began to look around for any sign of the others. He looked over to the far side of the pier, seeing something in the distance. The Wastelander decides that it's a good a lead as any and makes his way over towards it.
As Garry neared the group, so much that he could see who they were, there was a resounding crack. A burst of blood flew forth from the side of his neck as the pointed sniper round sliced through it, the force of which knocked him flat on his back.
Rook grunted, glancing at the wrist gauntlet. His aim had been a little off.
Garry spun around and fell to the ground, taken by surprise as the shot rang out across the harbour.
"Do you hear that?" Gabriel asked them. He stood up.
Naomi looked up, startled by it as she began to look around for her suit, realising that she was in her underclothes.
She quickly slapped it on, not bothering with the gloves or the helmet...
"Gabriel, stay here with Morgan, just keep an eye on her." She insisted, picking up her plasma rifle, whatever good it would do with only three shots in it.
"G-gotta move..." Morgan nodded, pulling herself up to a sitting position. "Could be H-heather. Garry..."
Rook...
Gabriel nodded and ran over to Morgan. "Sit down, we have to stay here." Gabriel said.
Rook sighted up the ill one next.
An immobile target. Easy.
But his targeting system didn't lock on. Rook spent three seconds trying to aim, before wondering what the problem was, until it was displayed on his interface.
TARGET NOT APPLICABLE. MISSION PRIORITY ALPHA.
He obviously checked his databanks for the mission and, sure enough, the woman was marked as V.I.P.
That didn't make sense to Rook. Was she Enclave? What was she doing out here? When did her IFF tag get assigned?
He grumbled angrily to himself before advancing down towards the makeshift camp to gather intel.
"What if..." Morgan protested before giving in. "O-okay. I trust you to look out for me, Gabe."
Gabriel then sat next to Morgan and just sat there, silent.
This is too much for me, everything is happening so fast. I just hope to god that it is not Rook, we got more problems as it is... Gabriel thought.
Naomi stepped outside, Plasma Rifle at the ready as she looked around for whatever or whoever fired the shot. One shot on its own sounded suspicious to her... It could have been a signal of some kind.
With a war cry, Rook came out of the dark from Naomi's side, throwing a gauntleted fist to the side of her face.
Gabriel then got out a can of beans and held his hand out to Morgan. "Do you want it?" Gabriel asked Morgan.
A strange noise could be heard getting louder and louder overhead. It was kind of distracting.
"Y-you hear that?" Morgan asked, sitting up again and holding her head up with her hand. "You don't think...R-rooks found us already, do you?"
Without a care for what happened below. Three vertibirds flew over from Governor Island, going somewhat north-east.
"I hear that, someone found us, and I'm not sure if it is Heather, or Gary it might be Rook..." Gabriel suggested. He started to look worried.
Morgan listened to the Vertibirds fly overhead. "If...if its R-rook, you should hide..."
The Scribe cried out as the Android's fist flew into her face, she fell down to the ground and rolled onto her back, pointing the rifle up at him.
"Dammit, it had to be you!"
The Scribe cried out as the Android's fist flew into her face, she fell down to the ground and rolled onto her back, pointing the rifle up at him.
"Dammit, it had to be you!"
"Like hell I will!" The Scribe snapped, firing a ball of hot plasma right into the robot's face before rolling away and scrambling to her feet, still with her rifle trained on him.
Rook held up his arm to absorb the bolt, just like he had done earlier, and leapt at her when she came up from the roll, keeping his arm raised to slap the weapon aside.
Naomi fired another shot at him, throwing herself backwards and landing on her rear.
"Why do you even need to kill us!? We aren't going back to your stupid base any time soon."
"You're my mission!"
Rook had to keep his arm in front of his face to block the second bolt, obviously obscuring his vision. He removed it to get a look at Naomi before stepping over her, having the upper hand.
"State your primary objective!" Naomi demanded, figuring that that was a good place to start.
"Protect V.I.P and terminate all hostiles." Rook replied on reflex, bringing his arm across his body and slapping the rifle from her hands.
"Identify the V.I.P." Naomi demanded, finding herself curious.
Morgan Jones." Rook once again replied, before his hand wrapped around Naomi's throat.
"I think I hear screaming." Gabriel said. He scratched his head and looked at the fire.
"Sh-shit its gotta be Rook..." Morgan whimpered. "Hide. Go!"
"Sir, you better take a look at this." An enclave soldier leaned over and let Colonel Governor in on his little portable computer doo-dat. It looked like a pipboy 2000, yet far more advanced, something the Enclave themselves came up with probably.
"What is it Wilkinson?" Governor turned his gaze from panoramic Manhattan to the soldier under his command.
The man saw this as a sign to continue.
"Android Alpha..."
Governor in response corrected him.
"Rook, please."
"Yeah... Rook. Rook's vitals are back online, you were right. he got out of the water."
Governor grinned, quite pleased with himself, sometimes confirmation about something you already knew was nice to hear.
"Didn't I tell you it was going to take more than radiated water to stop him?"
"We actually just flew over him. He's in the Brooklyn dock area; 40.6928° N, 73.9903° W, sir."
"Excellent. Get an extraction team to pick him up."
The Colonel clarified.
"Sent Vertibird 5 over!"
And almost as soon as the order was given, one of the vertibirds turned back and headed towards the docks.
A vertibird could be heard approaching in the distance, again. Although this time it seemed to have intentions to land.
a few enclave soldiers dropped down from the vertibird in power armour.
"Our objective is to find Rook and take him with us."
"Roger."
After that they began their slow comb out of the area.
"Wait! I'm a friend of hers, I'm not hostile!" She yelled as quickly as possible.
"I... Have the same mission!"
"I am required to kill you. That is my mission." Rook replied. He could crush her throat in his hand. He should- he was required to; he was told to. It was his mission!
But something tickled at the back of his mind.
"Self-determination is not a malfunction."
"My purpose- my mission- is to hunt synths."
"Your purpose is to infiltrate."
"I do not see the difference. I require a mission to function."
His grip slackened. He required a mission to function. He should kill her. He had to kill her. But why? What if there was an alternative?
"Self-determination is not a malfunction. It's an inevitability."
Memories swirled in his head, a cascading rain of confusion. But it also provided alternatives he had not seen.
"You are my mission, Morgan."
He withdrew from Naomi, backing away, holding his head. "The fuck did you do to me?" He growled.
Naomi's eyes widened before narrowing, she then frowned, finding herself suspicious.
"Excuse me?"
"Shut up!" Rook snapped. "Let me think."
"Rook!"
An enclave soldier yelled at him.
Rook spun on the Enclave soldier, his IFF tags alerting him that the soldier was a friendly.
Rook? I am Airman John Smith... I...
"What are you doing?" A soldier nudged the other one.
He then corrected.
"Android Alpha. This is the enclave. Please report to the vertibird."
"N-Negative, you have not succeeded your mission, the VIP is still in jeopardy!" Naomi called, thinking quickly on her feet.
"Stay back!" Rook demanded of the soldiers.
"N-Negative, you have not succeeded your mission, the VIP is still in jeopardy!" Naomi called, thinking quickly on her feet.
"Both of you- keep quiet!" Rook shouted, trying to think straight.
"Who the hell you?!" A soldier yelled at Naomi. After which he pointed his rifle to the woman.
"Android Alpha. New Directive, do not listen to this woman. You are to return to the Vertibird at once!"
"Don't tell me what to fucking do!"
The enclave soldiers looked at eachother.
"What have you done with him!?" One of them shouted at Naomi.
"I didn't do anything!" The Scribe snapped before looking back up to her assailant. Naomi remained silent, following the Android's demands as she pondered on what to say...
"Rook... Morgan needs you."
The android watched Naomi and it was impossible to tell what we going on behind the maks of his helmet.
"Who am I?" It was quite clear that he was having an identity crisis. The Enclave's repurpose did not mesh well with his achieved self-enlightenment.
Naomi swallowed as she looked up to him, glancing down to the floor.
"I... If you trust me? I can show you..."
"How?" Rook asked, all but ignoring the soldiers.
"I can take you Morgan... Maybe seeing her will remind you and if it doesn't? You can ask her who you are..." Naomi explained, slowly rising to her feet.
The enclave soldiers started to panic.
"It's a trap! Don't listen to her! We trained you better than that!"
"You did not train me." Rook said, a little fed up.
These men did not even bother to come out from behind their helmets.
"I... am an android. From the Commonwealth. I owe you nothing." He pulled his helmet off, the high-tech thing releasing its clasps when he applied the pressure to it, and dropped it on the ground. "I am my own man."
Rook turned to go with Naomi, before stopping to face the soldiers again. "Tell the colonel I am taking an indefinite leave of absence."
"Yeah, same from me..." Naomi replied as she pulled herself to her feet, looking up to Rook and gesturing towards Morgan.
"Contact the Colonel." One of the soldiers ordered the other.
"Last warning! You best come with us!"
Rook froze and turned to face the soldiers. The cylinders of his mounted minigun started to spin.
"Negative. Disperse or be fired upon." He replied. "No way in hell am I going with you."
Governor read his men load and clear.
He knew exactly what to do.