Episode 6: By the Numbers

"To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's."

-Crime and Punishment

Tom

2282, July 17th

The day was almost done by the time he had returned to the quiet Trading Post down the 188 southwest of Vegas; the road north running past a haze of dust that muddled the afternoon scenery around him into something strange-like, the brown wrappings coming off his face as he saw souls before him then along the road running north. From past the small caravan full of refugees and brahmin; the lone brown-clad woman was sat by the barstool beside the road-shop. Veronica turned upon noticing him, smiling a bit as she finished her cup first, turning from Samuel, and came hurriedly towards him. Tom reached for her as she came in too deep just in time. Surprised, he was left wide-eyed, Samuel watching over and grinning like a fool. He just frowned back at the old lecher, coming off her and then trading awkward pleasantries once she had caught herself and tried to act cool afterward, "Hey...so...it's done?" She asked sheepishly later on after a tense pause, "Is he...gone?"

Tom saw her concerned, dark eyes set on him, waiting for his reply. He nodded to her, seeing her sigh and taking a deep breath, "Right, okay," she replied, going over something in her mind as her feet took her over to her knapsack by the table. She reached for it and came back, "Let's go, then?" She said, turning south.

Tom smiled, acquiescing lightly as he turned, asking her something first, "You think that it'll work?" Tom paused, "Detach Arcade from the failsafe?" He finished by asking, remembering what she had found hidden among House's lines of code.

"I think so, but not until you offload the main stuff...him basically." She ended, looking intently at him.

"Hmm, right, I see."

Vi brightened up, coming close, "Don't worry, I'm here." she said with a smile, her expression growing distant somehow then as she asked once they had walked a few paces south on their way to their destination, "So...how's your arm? Didn't see you a lot after the whole Van Graff situation" She spoke, trying to mask the concern in her voice. Tom only nodded back for a turn, expressionless, she didn't know about Rose, better it that way than the truth, Tom had felt back then. It hadn't been fair, she had confided in him about Christine, him coming back months later with quiet words about her first love and a doting teacher gone mad. She had been quiet after the truth, revealing little of what went on in her then, becoming distant somewhat after that, Tom remembered wistfully.

Reaching out his arm and showing her its many-layered architecture as he pulled the sleeves of his duster back up until his upper elbows where the mass sealed itself into the flesh at an even circle around his bicep. She looked on, wide-eyed, and paused, "Amazing, so...Arcade did this?" She asked, turning back to him.

"At his word, he was there the whole time, Arcade was the hands let's say," Tom said quietly.

"Ah…" She said, turning back from the odd piece of limbic augmentation, coming beside him then closer, "So, how does it feel?" She asked softly.

"Well, I don't mind it most times, I actually forget even losing an arm, well, sometimes." Tom had to admit at the other times the arm felt more than what had been before, much more.

"Really?" she asked, turning his way, "Common symptoms of limb dismemberment are phantom pains, are you saying you feel nothing like that?" She asked.

"No, not now at least," Tom remembered a time when he had; the darkened jail cell lining the damp corridors through which he had hunted the last of one sizable branch of the Van Graff family, he had felt it then for sure, And after all had been said and done; he had ultimately been too late, save him, Tom, he recalled, a distant memory he examined only as a stranger in his own mind.

They were about six hours out from the trading stop by the afternoon, the desert finally cooling off truly to give away to a full moon night, a gallery of stars above the eastern wastes they trekked through, mostly empty around these parts since the last time he'd been here, after a few minutes more by a familiar clearing Tom spoke up turning back to her, "We should stop, for tonight."

She nodded, quickly settling down as Tom looked about, going above a clearing from the eastern haunch over the river that ran and wove north to meet Hoover Dam. Here in the rocky banks of the northern edge of Fortification Hill the Courier quietly waited for the oncoming day, eying the old Follower's tent atop the hill and marking him for death.

Robert

2289, January 15th

He felt his arms first, down to the tips as he slowly touched each finger to his thumb, his mind racing inside as his digital consciousness quietly re-compiled itself into a biotic one all the while he took in the earthly sights and sounds around him. He was not ten minutes born yet and had already had to intimate himself with the many systems and subroutines in his control, a hundred sub-systems alone when it came to locomotion and directing the transmitter; the latter experience having taken much out of him under the moonlit night.

Like a newborn child, he mused, looking down over him; the gray Institute medical suit that came up to his ankles below naked feet on a gray rooftop. His mind all the while having to quickly discard or keep data stored for hundreds of years on the fly, making sure he didn't miss anything too important in the process. This was expected and Rob had trained for this, compressing memory very quickly was something he had perfected over the years in times of rare recreation.

He looked around the clear sky as a rounded horizon appeared around him, Medford's rooftop being the highest of any echelon around him, all other stone spires falling easily short compared to the tall building where the transmitter had dropped him off that night. Walking along the rooftops of the old medical building he saw a ruined Boston before him then, beyond the southern wastes that soon muddled into a yellowish haze of irradiated waste. They couldn't save her, he wondered sadly, or maybe the men below had not cared at all. Yes, that was more likely. He came to the corner of the building, sitting down as he reached for the edge, naked legs dangling over the heights as he turned around, finding the suitcase he had sent east centuries back

He smiled sadly over a youthful face in his early twenties, a light mustache, and well-kept hair cut short and sharp. The man reached inward the suitcase, the clasps clicking open familiarly as his mind went back to the Lucky 38, the bustle of the hotel and casino below an echo over the low chatter in the monitoring room, remembering the first of those blazing comets arrive that early morning sun out those bulletproof glasses, let it go, Rob. You couldn't save her, not all of her.

He reached for the suit with a strange look coming over him, remembering a young, fondling Jane doting over his belonging as he had gotten ready after a steamy shower that October morning more than two hundred years ago, his memories frozen in time, now remembering as he kept his times and experiences as an organic above all other tertiary data that was either discarded or inconclusively sequenced for later decryption.

The deep red tie rounding self around his fingers as a shirt had come over him first, the buttons up next as the dark coat came over him to shield him against the elements after, cream-colored trousers next after he stood up, tying his laces last. Rising he returned to the ruined Commonwealth, She can be so much more, he sighed, smiling as he brought out his right arm, a two of his fingers snapping and he was gone, the small buzz and hum and the enigmatic billionaire synth reborn who vanished from atop the stone spires of Medford Medical.

He was walking carefully down a dim and sparsely lit path somewhere deep in Diamond City, trying not to step on the puddles that riddled the narrow road running from what appeared to be Pipe Street from the signpost he had since after coming in; a narrow path that fed four intersections to the Cauldron, a path leading to the stands and the eastern and northern main roads in its totality. From here the dark alleys showed him many characters, shady and otherwise; whores and wastrels that skulked at his passing among the baseball padded guards that stalked the wetted routes, watching him with a keen eye for a second longer than was usual, it appeared.

Rob had his arms folded back, soon appearing before an establishment that was dug into the earth; some form of semi shelter that had been in the craze along with those horribly designed radiation booths over in the eastern seaboard back then. The door to the repurposed restaurant opened without a sound, the swift heat and the smell of ethanol hung heavy in the air, making Rob remember some of his bodily needs.

He probed further, walking towards the balding man who stood behind the counter table by the end of the wall opposite him. I'm more human than we had planned, he mused, wondering what he should have for dinner then, finding his almost sixty-year-old body famished after its long slumber post the fabrication process.

The man spoke up as Rob reached the counter, "Dobryy vecher, my friend." He smiled back quizzically at the cyricil speaking fellow, in dark jackets and of a stocky build who leaned in over his domain, a keen pair of eyes to his left by the rented quarters as well, watching him quietly from on a chair close by.

He only smiled in his reply, "Eto deystvitel'no" he said, and making the barkeep lose some of his composure as the strangely dressed man went on, "Food, my good man. What do we have?" Rob finally asked the man.

The proprietor only shrugged once having regained his usual swagger somewhat, "The general critter meat and broth, if you want it." he replied in his thick eastern accent, not really sure how to interact with the newly arrived prospect. Rob only nodded slowly, a wild palette, here it comes. Well, one can always begin somewhere…

He confirmed his order and took a seat by the corner table as he noticed the few patrons who still proffered the quiet halls deep into the night. A serving woman with dark blond hair eyed him secretly as she worked quietly inside the grim cast room, "So, what word from Goodneighbor? Heard they burnt down the den there," Rob heard a voice speak out, the last gathering of souls who sat together by the main lounge, gloomy talk in the air apparently as he quietly listened on.

"I heard those banshees came there too…" One of them trailed off, the mood of the conversation left behind not provoking much interaction. Their talks spoke hence about the Courier next then; getting away from the dreary stuff, Rob smiled lightly, Oh Tom, never were the quiet one, were you? he mused, hearing more about the fire that had ravaged the City the transmitter had ported him to next. A baseball stadium, this is what Boston has been reduced to, he told himself quietly, seeing the blond woman walk up to him with a rising smile, "Hello." She came, reaching the plate over to him, the meat a strange searing on one side of something indistinguishable beside a light viscous liquid by a pale, wooden bowl.

"Thank you." He said, seeing the thin women nod, and then walk away.

Oh well, let's hope Shaun put a strong stomach on this one, he quietly hoped as he dug in.

He was atop a low flat surface then, the transmitter now brought him to his third destination long after the day had finally ended yesterday, his first night of sleep had gone better than he had expected. It had been almost half a day since he had been alive then, the sky around him a strange hue of dawning orange. Apparently, these were the stops his friend over the wire would have taken him on, so then where are you now, old friend? He asked, remembering the quiet youth who had contacted him almost half a century ago now. There had been a different boss back then at first, the enigmatic group from the East had little to detail about them as Robert had later found out, low orbit satellites failing at allowing any inference to their methods of travel. It had not been until his bioengineering research had been frequented across the mainland continent during interaction with Big Mountain that he had gotten quick word back from his professors and peers down in their own vaults fashioned after the bombs had fallen.

Their collaboration had been fruitful, Rob had to admit. Being two power figures on the opposite sides of the foreseeable world meant there was little competition, knowledge and data flew across digital and analog channels for almost fifty years when they had been pushed forward science by half a millennia. They said war was the mother of all invention, it just seemed like invention had been taken off the breaks these past couple hundred years.

Moving over to the edge of the rooftop, this one low enough to allow him the vision of a familiar sight from his old memories atop his current vantage point, a broken-down version of the great lawn and cast of grass that ran on both sides of the long bricked path that had mostly weathered and pressed in or popped out altogether. The old CIT main hall grounds below him as he wistfully remembered younger days under the Banyan and Sacred Figs that had provided shade during days out under the sun in the University.

Rob's reverie was cut short when he heard a step come from behind him, revealing the third member who was supposed to join them here. The young Courier had kept his word, Rob noted, turning with a smile as he appeared slowly before him, that same old dreary duster now more mean and rugged over the years, hair went apparently as he looked on intensely through those blue eyes, Rob sensing the metal in him then, smiling as he came forward to meet an old friend.

Tom

The Courier walked along with the symmetrical floor marks that ran and stacked one atop the other, rising far into the ceiling from where he stood down below at its base. Slowly moving along the elevator as he came out and turned left, the housing quarters from here would lead him to Ren's room, the night past and the coming morning he was forced to start early, thanks to Orion, I've contacted Arcade, he'll be here shortly. He remembered the in-voice transmission that had arrived on his pip-boy, a personal line to the bald synth, having apparently set it up once coming down here, a line to Arcade as well, most likely. The man seemed energized in these alien halls like he was in his element, Tom felt, wondering how many of its secrets were privy to him in their totality.

Moving beyond the inner cafeteria chambers that were ghostly empty; he found the stairs that led to a case of spiral pairs going upward, moving across the empty hall and soon up the stairs as Ren's quarters came up to his left, the curved door to her room smoothly etched into the wall.

On his approach the door unceremoniously slid open, he saw red hair about her first; over white sheets and back to the ceiling as the woman slept quietly. Finding his chance, Tom moved to her quietly, stepping on his heels as he found her pale leg that had been bandaged last night; over the thigh and around as he revealed more of her skin to examine the healing. Undoing the binds revealed a darkened clot over her under the thigh, easier now since she was turned over. He saw two dark spots where his silenced 22 had neutralized her, it may have been crude but it had been quick.

"Feeling me out, are ya?" A husky voice sounded from within the sheets and pillows around the resting figure, she turned slowly folding her re-bounded leg back into those milk-white sheets as she turned to rise, the medical gown over her appearing wrinkled, molding itself around her as she smiled, "Morning", She said, wiping eyes as she tried her best to suppress a yawn.

She looked well enough, Tom figured. He hadn't let the wound fester, skin cool and unheated to the touch, which was good. "You sleep alright?" Tom asked, hands on his hips as he watched the woman turn towards him.

"Well enough, I suppose." She replied quietly, long before her feet were straight out before him, Tom sat on the bed's edge, turning her way as she asked, and "So, you just came to check up on that?"

"Basically," he replied, "Arcade's here, soon the Railroad will be too. I'll have to leave before that." Tom answered quietly.

"Won't that just incriminate you further?" Ren asked; arms folded before her and an arched eyebrow questioning his decisions, her concern coming through.

"No, I actually have a score to settle now, don't worry, I'll bring you his head." He said with a smile, a strange wildness in those crystal blues, hand turning over to a flip open a broad compass that looked worn by age, "We operate quid pro quo, it means-"

"You scratch his back and he starches yours," she said, looking pointedly at him.

Tom nodded after a bemused pause, turning to the table and sitting over on the other side of the narrow hallway that turned left to the bathroom, Ren spoke up once he had gotten quiet, his mind going over the events of the darkened night.

"Hey," she brought him back, making him turn, her hair was in a knot by then, faded red curls over her scar side cheek as she smiled, "You want me to tag along, then just ask," she said with a gesture of her head.

"No, it's fine." he quickly processed, "you should be here, Desdemona will want answers, and you to give them." Turning her way with a cock of his head, "Place will be packed soon enough, they're bound to miss you"

She watched him quietly, wondering at his revelation no doubt; only Dez and Orion had known about her secret sleuthing down after the three, she would not have expected Tom to have found out about the Matriarch's meddling down the old' Church, "Oh, don't worry. Arcade told me", he went on when he saw her rising frown.

Ren only nodded then, "Whatever you had to do, Tom." She reached for his hand, "Dez will understand, trust me." She said, her hand over his that made him turn to her, trying familiarly not to remember her in the process.

Tom rose, turning to her and nodding with a wave, "See you around, Ren."

She only nodded, reaching for a cigarette she had found out of somewhere, lighting it up as she leaned in, "Don't doubt it, kid."

Preston

The lone minuteman walked forward first, the children a few yards back watching as he scouted out the nearby scenery; a scant few trees shriveled up among rocks and irradiated puddles with dead, floating bloatflies. The road cracked and broke upward south from where they were, over the hill and finally leading them to Cambridge proper through it east.

Too quiet, the General brooded, wondering where the usual Brotherhood detail had gone off to, a silent scene of empty streets in the still dawning day under a warming sun. He had been here before in Cambridge; the streets would always be bustling, if not by the feeble civilians then the heavily equipped brotherhood stalking the roads to guard them. So then where is everyone?

He turned around and motioned to the two children, seeing Shaun nod and come over behind him along with the girl. She didn't have a name yet, apparently, she was still pondering over it, as Shaun had told him. He had only shaken his head, strange things were happening around him all the times these days it seemed, Sanctuary being rushed by an army of robots being the last shock he had received.

Soon there was a rustle behind him; turning at once he found the young ones recoiling at what came for them; a ghoulish beast on four feet that rushed at them from a corner at once. Preston ran forward, the rifle priming before him as a laser shot came out from behind him first, his one catching the beast in the arm, the beast not stopping one bit, Shaun's beam came up to its face, jerking its head but still virile and very much alive after the sure impact.

"Run!" Preston shouted. Shaun did as he ordered at once; taking the girl by her hand as Preston ran behind them then. The harrowing cries of the beast soon roused behind them like a summoning call, a few more cries off from the distance adding into the deathly choir. They made it past an ally, going over by the narrow pathways that Preston soon recognized and led the way through, for now having lost the beast that had stood dazed for a second.

"What was that, Mr. Preston?" Shaun asked, coming over once they quieted down their steps and were on the stalk again. He only looked down at the confused boy, shaking his head, seeing his chest rise and fall over the exertion.

"Don't know, son." He shook his head, hands on his knees as he turned back the narrow opening behind them, "But I'm sure Nate has some clue about what's going on here." He said, mostly to himself.

"Hey! You three, identify yourselves!" A voice rang out from a mechanized tone from behind Preston, off to where the alley ended and soon a road ran up to the Police Station; the large suit-wearing Paladin stood still, another Brotherhood soldier who came up with a laser rifle, having incapacitated all three of their weapons by then.

"That's right, drop it." She said coldly, eying him mostly, the children left mostly unwatched. Shaun did it at once, kicking it over to the sandy-haired woman who caught it sliding with her feet, looking down for a spell at it and then back at them, "Come on," she said tilting her head, rifle primed as the large suited Paladin held them down with his own armament of death further down the road. Realizing Preston had no choice, he was about to acquiesce when a shriek broke out above them on the rooftops, all four looking up at once to find the beast from before, now a small smudge over by the edge, soon leaping and coming forward, diving onto them.

The woman was assaulted at once, the beast ripping her arm apart from her with its jawed grip, eyes mad and pale white as Preston caught a glimpse for a second, moving back mostly in shock and fear, paralyzed by it. He saw Shaun then, a rifle in his hands again, priming and firing at the beast, missing the already bleeding and dead Brotherhood soldier. Preston saw he had dropped his own gun, the long plasma rifle of his rising beside him as Shaun took a shot at the gnawing beast with it. It howled, rising and turning to them when laser shots from behind started harassing it as well, the tall suited figure rushing up behind the beast that had suddenly been cornered. Standing still as stone, an emaciated man mostly rags down to his legs and arms. Limbs appearing hard, dry-looking sinew that runs along his taut torso and gaunt face.

The beast leaped then, running and diving off the opposing walls as it made its way up. He saw Shaun turn then, the rifle coming up before him as another shot hit the lanky beast as it made contact with the wall, the boy having anticipated the leaping step. It fell, the paladin coming at once and smashing its head to bits before it could rise once more, reaching down then for a shiny object among the gore of the brain and bits of skull that remained once its large metal feet came off.

Preston hid his shock, seeing the synth component up close as the Paladin reached it somewhere behind and then arms raised to grasp its helmet. The long folds of bound hair revealed another female as she looked on at the corpse lay dead before her. A quiet moment passed after which she turned to the boy, "Thanks, for saving what's left of her." She said, hunching down and reaching for her fallen comrade.

Shaun nodded, turning to Preston who then understood and spoke on, "What's happening here, soldier?" He asked authoritatively, the young grieving woman turned back with an eyebrow and some lip, only later recognizing him as the General for the Minutemen; Cambridge being a thin compromise among the two factions who had held down on the peace still.

"Yes, Sir," She said once he had shown her his mark, turning straighter she remorsefully told them about the recent Cambridge attacks, "They just kept coming, General." There's nothing we could do, just nothing" she paused, going on more worried later on, "Been holed up here for the past two days, the whole world's gone to shit since that Courier came." She ended bitterly, spotting something beside her.

Preston looked pointedly at her, recognizing the girl to be mumbling in grief. He nodded back with a straight face once she had unceremoniously finished getting the tags off her fallen friend, seeing her quiet up as she wordlessly moved on ahead, the group of three followed behind as they made their way out the side alley and into the main defense perimeter set outside the Police station.

Her friend held by those broad metal arms that carried the corpse effortlessly, soon a host of men appeared behind the defenses with guns at the ready, eyeing them keenly as their superior walked forward, allowing them three safe and unquestioned passages. The long doors opening wide as she geared up the short flight of stairs in her humongous suit, Preston following her in.

It was warm indoors; a few Scribes turned to and rushed to the Paladin, she gently handing over her dead friend to a pair of soldiers who took the corpse away to his right down a flight of stairs. She turned to him then, "Haylen." She called out, seeing the young scribe come up from the counter desk setup with odd gadgets and maps.

"Yes, Paladin Granger?" She asked, the plain-looking superior turned to her, "See that the General here gets what he needs, Knight-Paladin Brandis will be with us shortly." She paused, "I need to report this to Elder Maxim." the woman said, turning and smiling down at the younger Scribe, "Hold this place down for me, Hay," she said, a few more words exchanged about the events before the Paladin had decided to leave. Moving around the room as the rotors of a Vertibird started rousing above, nodding to her and then back at the General she walked off, moving up the stairs to the rooftop helipad.

"So, you're General Garvey." The woman named Haylen said, "Don't worry, Nate will be here soon, they went out to scout the nearby area after the attack" her smile lessened somewhat as she spoke no more.

"Has it been bad?" Preston asked, seeing her turn away from him without a reply, going over to her desk nearby where she pointed over to the map stuck to the wall, "Four sightings, plus the one you folks took down I guess." She took another pin, marking it right beside the Cambridge Police Station. Haylen turned back, seeing the children for the first time, it seemed, frowning a bit and then back at the General for answers.

Preston spoke up, walking quietly to the woman as he reached words for her ears only, "His son," the minutemen said quietly from below his brimmed hat, the woman wide-eyed for a bit but then slowly understanding. He knew her from Danse, his stories about her had been too many to recount, feeling some joy in seeing the young woman who gave the old veteran north hope to be doing well. Scribe Haylen nodded, slowly taking it all in as they talked on a bit more, her taking their entries in fake aliases for the children as she got the paperwork out the way, a silence once returning after the vertibird had taken off.

Haylen was about to ask more about the other child, seeing her shiver from behind him as a concerned look reached out to the shy girl behind him who wouldn't even meet the strange woman's eyes. Shaun, for now, looked over the map before the Scribe's table, watching the eastern shoreline run along the bay and up to where several colored pins had been marked, each a banshee incident of recent occurrence, apparently, "So who's the gi-"

The door behind them to their right, clicked open; a tall Paladin off his suit coming into the warm room as breath frosted before him, soon the man allowing passage for another who entered as well; the dark armor wrapping around a man who looked like he hadn't slept in days, eyes hollowed and face unkempt unlike before, Preston grimaced, seeing his old friend be ground down by the harsh wasteland.

"Nate," Preston said, making the tired man turn as he put an arm around the boy and smiled, Nate watching with a shocked expression as he looked on, turning to the youth. Preston saw him cry then, an emotion that had voided him after a failed marriage and even the death of his own real son. For now, tears fell freely, coming close as he hugged the boy, taking his son into his embrace, you see her in him too. Don't you, Nate? Preston wondered when he saw his friend, smiling happily for the man who had finally decided to accept what was before him all this time.

Tom

The path towards the inner halo hallways was quite still, the teleportation pads above remained silent for now, no doubt the Railroad would stalk about the Vault first during their excursion into the depths; take their sweet time in getting where they were. Nobody wanted to walk into something blind, especially here of all places. Tom walked to the first door on the left, the recombinant leg was still in fabrication, and the two circled dials turning at right angles at it orbited the skeletal frame. Finding the lit room empty he moved out, going deeper into the hallway then, Orion was no doubt over by that halo, the one he had used. Reaching the room after a few minutes he moved for the door, finding it to slide open at his coming, Orion and Arcade over by the console, backs turned to him as Tom stepped in, seeing his doctor friend turn around first.

"Hey," Arcade said quietly, "mornin'"

Tom gestured to the bald sage by his side, coming over and exchanging quick pleasantries with both of them before the elephant of the room had gotten too large to ignore, Arcade began first," So, it's done, huh?" Arcade asked, trying to find his eyes.

Tom walked past them, the console coming before him, the smooth grey lines running some kind of blue glow going down the sides and into the floor panels as he saw them pathing all the way to the halo beyond the railed enclosure, "Yeah, it is." He turned, "I put in Vi's stuff on later," he smiled, a weak one weary over the years, Victoria's sacrifice hadn't gone in vain, no matter what; he could be glad about that.

Arcade nodded, "I see…" He trailed off, "So, what's next?"

Tom turned to Orion, "Cait should be here soon, with the girl. You talk to Curie yet?" he asked.

The man nodded, "They are on their way together, they will arrive with the Railroad, unfortunately" he ended quietly, looking intently at him.

"Right." Tom breathed out, reaching behind his pocket and finding the compass next, revealing it to the first stranger outside the remaining pair among him and Arcade who knew its true purpose. The bald synth reached for the token, examining it closely as he fingered the clasp, his hands putting it still on the table as a circle of light came over the examining table. Deftly working off the tiny screws as the strange machinery of the old, weathered device showed itself within.

Both he and Arcade were on the simple garbed man's either side; watching him reach for the Chip out from under the table as he brought out the shiny disc into the halo of light. Tom saw Arcade stare at him for a second; eyes then back down at what the synth was doing. From the internal components inside the compass, Orion had found port channels to it, eyes focused below him on the table as he explained, "I can access the device; it's of similar architecture. No doubt early collaboration was in full swing during its fabrication before the bombs, usury patent lists had this dated to 2271."

"Dated what exactly?" Arcade asked.

Orion turned to him, "Oh, solid-state devices, a form of storage technology." He said, shaking his head, "a quiet breakthrough for humanity," he remarked, "you should wonder why your pip-boy is different, Tom." He said with a smile, turning to him for a second.

"So wait," Arcade brought the synth's attention to himself, "It's like a memory device, but only better?"

"Much better actually, my good doctor," he said, arms coming around him as his eyes went back to the thin wires connecting the golden token to a device that fed it to the console, he saw the chip holster slot over the halo console; one that had been specially designed a lifetime ago for Tom to use, Orion had torn off from the main console, remaking it unto a portable slot for the Chip to be interacted with, as he went on, "This here is a modified version of the 2277 chip, free-electron dating with entanglement charts were a pain last night, Arcade," he said with a knowing smile, "but I was able to date it, this chip is the same one from Sunnyvale. Only," he reached for it, dropping the chip into the slot and grasping for the fine wirings attached to the compass, "it has been modified again."

After a slow second during which Orion typed codes into the console terminal nearby, a second of stillness and then the dial spiked around from on the table, turning slowly as it slowly stopped completely once having swayed back and forth towards a fixed direction. Tom reached for the instrument, swung it around, and saw the direction it pointed to be fixed this time around. Tom looked up, "It's not pointing north." He said dryly.

"No, but I'm guessing you can imagine whom it is pointing to," he replied, watching Tom quietly. He nodded back, slowly realizing as he turned to the doctor who was quietly taking it all in. He gave Arcade a small nod and he understood most of it. Time to kill you, old man, he wondered grimly, for good this time. Remembering the brown-eyed girl that haunted his dreams then, remembering Hidden Valley turn into distant smoke and long cold rubble before their sand-ridden eyes, don't worry Vi, I'll find that bastard, he promised, looking down at the compass; the needle almost still now as it pointing south.

Piper

She was staring at the hazel-eyed woman, the older Matriarch down here where Piper sat, folding her arms around herself, and taking a drag off the cigarette between her fingers as she spoke, "Yes, you heard me right. The Institute has been deemed a necessity for requisition purposes. It's still a guarded secret mind you, the subordinates back at the hearing think they're going down to 118." She shook her head, "don't worry, we had guards posted there, just to be safe." she ended, wondering still.

"So that's how" she breathed, remembering those alien-looking prefabricated walls and panes that had come together so perfectly and hastily to set up the synth colony outside Goodneighbor. She took a puff off the burning stick by her lips, eyes cast downward at the short-hand she wrote before speaking, "Then, what about'' she began, bringing her writing hand up to her lips and taking the cigarette off, "the halos?" She asked, looking pointy her way.

The older woman shrugged dismissively, "A synth printer, basically." Dez said, rising as the woman reached for a file from a rack set opposite her bed in the red-bricked room they were in, her personal quarters deep into the night as both women discussed the events that had preceded them.

"So that's where they went, to help Whisper?" She asked, the woman turning and coming over to her, sitting beside her as she handed her the file. She reached it with thanks, finding long documentation on the machine and its functions. Pam had apparently decoded much of what had resided in the halls of the old CIT outfit.

"Yes, Orion knows the place like the back of his hand." Dez went on gently, pointing towards the wall to their west, "Where do you think all that teleportation hardware came from?" Piper listened and nodded slowly, writing none of this down, she wouldn't like that, Piper guessed.

"Right, this night just got very interesting." She jotted a few more lines regarding the hearings, Jo and Min's words next for the paper then.

"I don't doubt it," Dez went on, then more softly, "I hope you can be reticent with the sensitive stuff?" She asked casually.

Piper looked up, surprised, "Come on, Dez. You can trust me, you know that." She stood up, the woman examining her through those brown pools, "I'm still the same girl, you know." She said, meeting her eyes.

"That remains to be seen." She replied, turning to look down at her; seeing the ring then, still open and exposed on her. Not many still remembered the old matrimonial customs; Dez wasn't one of them "Still wearing that, huh?" She asked quietly.

"Let's not go there, not tonight." She reached for her small page of notes after replying, folding the thing over, slipping it under her hat as she finally straightened, " I have a lot of work, I should go '' she said, reaching for the door before turning one last time to enquire after Ren who had gone missing after the gathering.

Dez only shook her head, "No clue." She simply said. Piper nodded slowly, walking out of the room as she tried to find her way out into the night cast shroud over a sleeping Boston. She was off towards the way-out over by the brick stairs when someone approached her from one of the pillars ahead, the man looked up, his hat rising to reveal MacCready standing with a slim grin across his thin face.

The man motioned towards the door, "Lemme take ya back, roads, not safe past sundown these days, you can hear them every night." he warned mysteriously.

Piper nodded, wondering; being reminded of those ghoulish beasts the dead synths renamed into, "Fine, lead the way then." She replied with a small smile for the ex-Gunner who was now, what was he? She remembered; Ren being usually the one around whom he could be seen most of the time, from what she could tell. What are you planning, girl? She wondered, following the quiet steps off through the dialed door into the wall and towards the nocturnal streets above out the abandoned church.

"So hey," the man asked from before her, not turning as his rifle came up before him, primed and trigger finger on the ready. The man stalked the corners of every street as they passed quietly over the northern roads that would lead them east past the Commons and towards Goodneighbor from there on, "You, um, you saw Ren anywhere?" He asked resignedly, pausing a while before speaking again, head now to his right as he crouched, making Piper stand behind him, waiting for his motion, "She said she'd be out with you tonight." He quietly added on, turning the other way and scanning the darkness before him.

Piper wondered, "Did she now?" She said mostly to herself, not speaking more as the man probed no further; she still knew little of the strange man from the Capital Wastes, he had always been an outsider, a misfit, just like you and Ren.

"Well, if you don't know where she went", he turned around. Piper sighed, touching his back and pushing him forward once he rose, the man apparently wanted to talk right there and then in the dark.

"Dez obviously sent her on some work," She thought I wouldn't notice, Piper shook her head; the old woman was too circumspect for her own good sometimes. Well, at least Tom would be with her, she should be safe if worse came to the worst. Their path was quiet then, the man wordless as he guided her carefully through pathways across and then through where they would be well hidden. He could see his capped head turned up, watching the two roof edges above, and his rifle before him as they crept past the empty, narrow crossing.

They were down to the last roads that ran laterally, moving slowly forward as he looked on, the man stopped her with an arm suddenly. "Wait here, I'll go on ahead." He whispered quickly, nodding to her once as he left without waiting for her approval, soon disappearing around the corner to the right. The tall buildings casting a dark shadow over the shrouded street below as before her; the darkened mess of her guide moved some paces east, going over to the divider and flashing his torch at her for a split second.

Piper moved slowly and at once, trying to keep her head straight as she made it a few steps into the road, then suddenly something erred just behind her. Not looking back, she made her steps come quicker, a slow rustle and slobbering of something liquid like behind her just around the corner, ending once her last step had been found and she looked up in shock, MacCready reaching for her as she jerked up, finding her quietly shaking, turning around a few moments later.

What had that been? She wondered frightfully, the sweat on her back and face cooling now and leaving her chilled in the nightly air, the sight before her darkened and still. The man reached for her arm and looked the way from where they had come. Eying keenly as he moved slowly and took her through a thin alley that would lead them soon to the first street lamps patrolled by the Goodneighbor outfit past the nearest abandoned blocks through which they came.

Once on safer grounds, Piper asked, the memory of the slobbering behind her back still tormenting her mind, "You saw that?" She asked once a paired patrol had passed them, Piper saw MacCready stare and only shake his head as he walked on before her after having turned.

"No." he was quiet, now in the incandescent glare she could make out the rounded path that went north up to the gate, then he paused, coming beside her as they walked abreast, "But I felt something." Looking her way, shrugging as he grew quiet then, a frown over his usually calm face that seemed troubled, she didn't pry further, walking quietly along with him through the empty-looking gate that he nudged for them.

Shifting inward Piper turned to the paused man who didn't take more than a dozen steps into the quiet town porch, Piper gave him a word of thanks and saw him gesture with his hand and started to leave, "Where will you go?" She asked suddenly before he had taken more than a couple of steps, seeing him move towards the gate again.

He turned, surprised, "Oh, just get some air, you know?" He lied, Piper could tell, he's going after her, she realized. Stop him, her mind reminding her of that strange murmur and rustle to her back, right over the corner as something had approached them, barely missing the two.

"It's not safe, MacCready." She sighed when she didn't see him budge, "Look, I know when she went, okay? Come with me and I'll tell you." She couldn't think of another way, the man would no doubt slip out the moment he was allowed to and get himself foolishly killed; Piper could at least stop that, for Ren.

He considered her words for a moment, looking away and then nodding, "Fine, I'll listen." he finally surrendered, then started moving, "You better start making some damn sense, the whole town is going crazy these past few days. That guy, maybe he's a sign." he said moving pas her.

"You believe in that shit?" She walked up beside him, pushing open the door inward as the Crow building offered warmth and silence from the rustling winds outside. After acquiring the keys and getting an eyeful from the reception woman, she moved on. The man looked apologetically at her but she only brushed him off, her room coming up after a pair of flights of stairs as she reached the door.

Opening it revealed the small mess she had left behind, realizing that the bed had been untouched still. She really hadn't slept on anything soft since she had come here, she remembered, seeing MacCready give off a quiet whistle as the man walked in, one hand over his rifle strap as he slowly strode into her room, looking about and then out the window slits as was probably habit, "Hey," she folded her arms before calling out to him, seeing him turn around and take a seat by the table, "Ren's down in the Institute vault." She simply said, watching his expression stay the same, a small nod as he smiled, sitting up and looking away past the window slits again.

"I know." he quietly said, "She told me, not a whole lot but Dez has been feeding her info for a couple of days now." he said, seeing her surprised expression and frowning, "You didn't know?" He asked.

And here you thought he was the outsider, Piper chided herself, shaking her head as she looked up, "So you know the way? How to get in there?" She asked internally, there would have to be a change of plans now, after having considered more of what the women down the church had said; she had to be there now, see it for herself. The man wondered for a while, telling her about the ways into the Vault, of course, just the road to it; the abandoned underground station was apparently their true destination, "You sure you're okay doing this?" She asked, wondering how Ren would feel about her crashing into one of her schemes, The man chuckled, getting spry as he got up on two feet livelier than before, turning to her.

"Don't worry, I'm not with the Railroad, you know." he said quietly, "Still a gunner to most of them." Piper nodded quietly, following the man who then wordlessly understood and started moving out, the door behind her closing to the hotel room door.

Tom

Walking along with the northern clearing that gave way to the old building down a few paces; the old Mutant haunt now mostly empty and only smelled bad. Tom saw the trail of smoke rising from an oncoming hill east, a blast of some kind? Smelling a hint of nitrate and sulfur in the air, the rotten taste of eggs on his pallet as he held his breath, stepping slowly around the boulders blocking the stairs up to the rooftop. They were back where they had begun in the morning, the whole experience having irritated him well and truly. He's teleporting all over, he grimaced, remembering how the young Mr. House had disappeared into thin air in a flash of light in that dark halo room, leaving him behind with the dead Courser synth.

Tom turned around, seeing Arcade who nodded when he pointed over by the low main building rooftop, the CIT ruins were mostly tall buildings with the main hall that connected most of them, a single-storied hall atop which stood the lone shaded figure they had been after all morning.

"House," Tom called out, making the young man turn, he was narrow-faced, with an angular nose and deep-set knowing eyes over hair cut short.

"Tom." he replied with a recognized pause, then smiling, "So good of you to come," he replied, walking towards the Courier now about six feet apart as both men looked to be of equal age, eyeing each other, the suited man had his hands clasped back, smiling mysteriously at him.

"What is this?" He asked, obviously meaning his face, Tom had not expected a young House, that had been the real surprise for him back in the hole down below them. The man looked surprised at first, quickly understanding as he brought out his palms before him, smiling as he looked up.

"Shaun had other ideas I suppose, I assure you I have no intentions to be aesthetically pleasing, I remember all the troubles and distractions it can bring." He said with a smile, seeing the stone-faced man not show a hint of mirth at their meeting.

"You know why I'm here, House," Tom spoke quietly, a death rattle that rarely left his lips, a slow rise from beside him as his metallic arm rose Mysha's barrel to his old master's head, a clear shot here and now and he could finally end it.

"Yes, straight to the point then," House said, getting harder, sighing as he turned around, "Look around you Tom, look what the Brotherhood instigated here, Vegas would have been no different." He rationalized but Tom had decided years ago not to listen.

"You don't know that"

"As it so happens, Tom, I actually do," he said turning back with a sad smile, "They didn't suffer Tom, th-"

"Stop," he whispered, face still impassive but voice the harbinger of death and fury itself, cocking the revolver and finger warming the narrow trigger in the cool morning. Mr. House stopped speaking, nodding as he looked down, a face saddened over how the interaction had gone, turning around as he looked east, the still blimp dark before the rising sun from the sea horizon.

"I suppose she didn't make it," he said quietly, looking down to his hands as he remembered out loud, "I had her spared, you know. Afterwards when she went back to her family," he trailed off, turning around, "Her exile was my design, Tom."

The Courier frowned a bit, remembering how a distraught Victoria had come to find him into the Strip, she had had no one then. Tom walked a few steps forward, closing ground to the man who had nowhere to run now, the edge ending a few inches off his shoes. The man stood straight, meeting the barrel he stared down without much fear. That was what irked Tom the most, he isn't scared, what is he planning?

"So you want to kill me." Mr. House spoke, "I can understand that but I think you'll find that process rather difficult." He smiled, turning down to the circular dais that stood at the center of the main porch that had once been a garden below them, "You are wasting your energy, my friend" he went on, "and this" he said turning and to gaze at his raised arm, "is but one copy."

"I'll blow up the entire fucking place then, how about that?"

The suited man looked on wordless, examining deep blues as Tom met the dark, narrow pools back. Then, after some moments of tense nothingness, the synth spoke, "Yes. I suppose you would, wouldn't you?" He asked, a low smile rising before the Courier, revealing a bit of the menace he had sworn to destroy, there you are.

He shot, but nothing came. His finger gripping the trigger hard, only, his hand felt frozen to the tips, arm soon losing volition as it stood straight out before him, the gun still pointed at the man who was smiling as he spoke, "You thought I wouldn't take precautions, Tom?" he asked quietly, his whole body shaking as his metallic hand had a new master then, one that he had provoked the suited man into action.

A moment passed in silence, and then Tom moved. His right hand coming up incredibly fast as one of those silvery blades protruded out as his sleeve and moved towards the still standing man. But his own metallic hand was faster, soon twisting around and shooting himself in the gut, he fell at once, taken by the kick-back of the heavy-chambered revolver, blood slowly pooling around him as he tried to rise from where he fell, the knife was off his hands then, his other arm still again, feeling like an alien parasite he had no control over.

His right hand reached for his other sleeve then, finding his second blade attached to the metallic arm that was no longer his; hooked the trigger loop into the silver steel and twisted his metallic hand soon free of the gun. So, it attacked him; a punch to his face came so fast he had not even been ready, feeling a chip of broken tooth shoot back of his throat as he fell back down. The metallic arm unrelentingly grabbed his throat, squeezing it tight and familiarly like that man from the alley before everything had gone to hell.

Through his slowly deteriorating sight, he saw House walk languidly around him, coming up to one side as he looked down on him, the hand then off his neck, letting him breathe as he gasped for air. The hand-raising him up by the collars like a puppet master with his strings, "I'm sorry Tom, but this is how it was supposed to end, where we would finally meet", he lowered his voice, "only Shaun is missing," he said, Tom hearing his voices over the ringing daze that the punch, the gun wound and his struggle for air left behind.

"You died in that cage, son." he said, crouching down, "now your deliberate existence can end. Rest Thomas," he said, reaching for the pip-boy that lit up on above him, the metallic arm showing House the screen as he reached for dial when-

"Stop" Tom heard Arcade; his own body was shuddering then, what was happening? He tried to focus but found his mind lost of energy and his focus fleeting, the world dizzy around him. Slowly, in the back of his mind, he understood. The gland receptor, the sneaky bastard was playing with his metabolism, he realized, cutting him off blood sugar and disabling him to the ground in a drool at an instant.

House rose from him, his arm coming down like a rock beside him, no sense in that alien thing still, "Arcade. So good of you to come, I see Tom here took my advice" he said hastily, a pause before he frowned back at the man, Tom slowly rose on one arm to turn towards the pair; seeing the synth unsure all of a sudden as a plasma pistol was pulled on him. Tom's working hand stopping the fast leaking blood out his wound as he looked on, "I see," House said as he turned back, "Suppose sparing the girl was a mistake, after all." he caught a glance at Tom.

Turning back to the doctor, having decided his next steps, he spoke, "Farewell, for now, gentlemen. It seems there has been a development" he smiled, "when we meet again, I hope we won't have to kill each other, at least not on sight." Turning to Tom before finally bringing his hand up, he beat you without raising an arm, Tom bitterly wondered, the blood loss finally catching up to him, finding his remaining blood to soon replenish itself of glucose as the figure looked keenly at him for a second, then flicked his fingers and disappearing in a familiar flash at once.

Cait

The road down the incline revealed a scenery of morning rays striking off the still pond at the center of an empty Boston Commons, a quiet clearing only a few blocks away from where death had passed her by so closely just two days ago. Feeling a chill down her spine she straightened herself, realizing Curie to be reaching for her arm. Cait turned and realized she was standing staring while the dozen or so agents from down under were carefully making their way into the subterranean stairwell that would lead them down to the depths where they were headed.

Dez was at its head, she saw, nodding to Curie next as Cait made and she made their way past a few Gauss rifle carrying fellows that eyed the two girls without a word. She frowned at them, making their surprised eyes turn away as they reached the hazel-eyed woman who was calling the shots.

Inside the tunnels where it got deathly cold she pulled her arms around herself, trying to fuel herself from the anger that woman had caused her, We can't take them, not yet, she remembered the Matriarch saying, We could be putting them in more risk, their bodies are stable for now, so we take it slow.

"Slow", she whispered, in the echoing tunnel she saw a bright-eyed Curie turn towards her, a questing gaze that she just answered only with a shake of her head, going on more softly and inquiring about how Dr. Amari was back at the camps. Cait saw her face visibly sadden at her words, trying to be strong and somewhat failed in the process. It didn't feel right, Cait had to admit, freezing a person's mind outside themselves, but what choice did they have?

"Have faith in him, " She tried to reassure her but she had none of the pizazz of the bald synth who she was referring to. Orion, someone who in a matter of months had become a key player in the happenings around the Commonwealth and her fate, Cait remembering the last time when someone like that had come into the fold, more than a year ago now.

Where are you, Nate? She asked inwardly, growing remorse clouding her thoughts, a bit of the cold exiting her when she reminded herself of the woman who was no doubt attached to him at this very moment, remembering Piper and her last, harsh words one more time, somehow unable to forget it no matter how close the chems brought her to edge.

"Hold." A voice called out, loud and from the woman who led the pack in front, Cait recognized. Walking aside and finding the woman standing before the large geared door standing with her back to it. It was then Cait saw what they all were looking at, working familiarly by a console beside the three-pronged device with dark arms that slanted and grew sharp along with a circular dias where soon one after the other, each of the agents disappeared into quickly as if it was all practiced.

Cait turned to Curie, seeing the girl as turned back with a sheepish smile as she pulled her aside, speaking quick words to her, "Don't worry, these are Dez's most trusted, they have always known." she said at the end, softly ending her words as those dark eyes were affixed to the device in the dark down a few steps with a strange expression. A flash of light for each person who vanished into thin air, and soon, it was their turn as the tunnel had suddenly grown very empty in minutes.

Moving on ahead she saw Dez by the counter still, it seemed the woman on the front would come in last. Curie nodded over to the woman and smiled back at Cait a bit, a second later her visage gone from before her in the darkened tunnel.

Cait was alone then, with the woman who had grilled Tom along with the strange blue-haired woman for hours on end yesterday, seeing her unarmed in her brown leathers and standing at ease with the relative stranger. She doesn't expect danger, none down there, Cait realized, seeing her arm motion towards the gray circle where she slowly stepped up to.

Before going down to the device Dez spoke up once, "I'd be careful if I were you, Caitlyn." She said, not looking up. Had she ever even talked to the woman? Cait really couldn't say she had, "the Lion" she began again, "Tom, has a history of dead lovers," she ended strangely, not meeting her questioning eyes, "some men are cursed, you know." she ended. Cait frowned, then looking on defiantly as Dez smiled up finally after some time, though not unkindly, a second of white flash, and she was gone.

The walls here were pristine, amazing Cait's eyes because of how clean and spotless everything seemed. Was this metal? She wondered, touching the smooth surface along the hallway as she walked alongside Curie, feeling the even smoothness and cool of material brushing past her fingertips, not a hint of rust or any imperfection along the long white halls that they walked through quietly as a pair.

Soon a curved glass door appeared before them, the hallway getting cramped as she saw an agent wait by for the last of the ones to arrive. Soon Dez joined them, the four of them entering the circle as the curved glass sealed them in, then, the floor moved.

Curie turned to her with a smile when she felt Cait's hand on her own, gripping tight in a second of alarm, she smiled back, a bit embarrassed as her preceding thoughts were soon washed away by the vista the Institute had to offer before her.

"She's a looker, ain't she?" Dez said softly with a lilt, lighting a cigarette through the descent, watching the layers pass down them as she familiarly looked over to one side, waiting eagerly for the door to open once they were steadily brought down to the floor. Cait was surprised to see no one there, other than the man who was with them there would be about ten more who had passed through from the tunnel back.

"Curie, come." Dez spoke once having stepped out the glass elevator, "I'm sure you'd like to meet Ren, as it so happens I would too." She took a drag, turning to Cait, "Orion can wait for now, but there is something I wish to know first." The woman ended, dropping the burnt-out stick down to the floor and stepping on it. Cait turned to her friend; seeing her companion bob her head made Cait wonder what spell she had over the younger, eager woman. Staring wordless for a second before seeing the three of them step along one of the four pathways that led into the many corridors beyond the large empty hall of the Institute and its elevator at the center.

She remembered that name, those intense eyes were hard to forget; the Captain of the Diamond City Guard was here? She shook her head, wondering what she had gotten herself caught into just then, following the three up along the flight of stairs. They were walking through low steps that ran through the floors once past the empty halls that Cait saw were a collection of spotless tables and counters set further back. Lights dimmed low here, the place lighting up slowly as they passed by, Cait was amazed to see it dim back once they had fully passed.

The last flight of stairs once conquered; the woman on the front led them to a door among the many similar that ran along the hallway. She really didn't catch what the woman did but the door slid open at once, her eyes soon finding the Captain of the guard resting in bed, looking back expectantly at the four of them as Cait saw the woman who was sitting beside her once they all moved in.

Piper was sat arms folded, soon finishing up whatever she had been doing with his hands as she got up, seeing Dez and nodding to her with a light smile, Dez did not seem amused from where she stood by the wall then, becoming someone invisible as was common.

"Piper," Dez began, then without an expression turning to the man who was on the other side of her, "I suppose this was your idea?"

She didn't know the man, lanky with a cap over his head and a heavy winter coat down to his ankles, one wrapped hand over his rifle strap, as he nodded, making the Matriarch sigh and then mutter to herself.

"Right." She turned then straight to her, shocking Cait somewhat, the woman gave her a practiced smile, "I'm sure you'd want to meet him." She said, turning to Curie beside her and whispering quick words.

Cait looked on, feeling the cool rage from Piper radiating without fail, ignoring the damn woman she found herself being coaxed aside, trying to resist as Cuire brought her to the door, telling her in whispers about Tom and Orion who were with the rest of the agents downstairs apparently.

Seeing the four pairs of eyes inside the room staring back at her she finally decided and turned back to her friend, saying no more as she wordlessly agreed. They no doubt didn't want her getting in on their plans, well, who cared? She just hoped they wouldn't get Tom too mixed up with all this as well, they had already gotten to Nate, she grimly remembered.