34. Signal: A new quest sends Nora off once more!
"General," Preston appeared at the front of the structure she and Sturges were building.
Nora twisted around to look at him, rusted, crooked nails sticking out of her mouth, "uh huh?" She called out.
"The radio picked something up and," Preston frowned, "well, you should just come hear it."
Nora looked at Sturges who held out his gloved hand. Nora let the nails drop into his palm, "Thanks, bud."
"No problem." Sturges absentmindedly called back. As Nora followed Preston back to the radio hut set up next to the community house. Inside, all the radios (each one playing a different station) were turned off...except for one. One that Nora hadn't heard since she and Preston first started getting serious about rebuilding the Minutemen. Back when she was still fresh out of the vault and trying to get a trade route set up, Nora and Preston found a radio station that was playing the familiar tune coming out of the radio now. But that was impossible because it was a complete and total failure of a mission. All outside contact had been cut off, the radio had been dead silent for over a year. Almost two years, actually.
"What if there was a place with all the zip of Nuka Cola? Wouldn't that be the cheer-cheer-cheeriest place in all the world? Where the river's made of Quantum! And the mountain tops are fizz! With fun and games and rides for all the moms and pops and kids!"
Nora could see Preston gauging her reaction out of the corner of her eye. But she was too paralyzed by the music coming out of the radio. If the radio was back up, did that mean someone went and took out the raiders? Nora highly doubted any one person could take out three gangs by themselves. Which meant the Brotherhood or even the Institute had gotten a hold of it.
Preston seemed to think so too, for he said, "I tried getting a scout to check it out, but he had heard what happened there and well—"
Nora let out a single chuckle, "I don't blame the kid."
"Blame what kid for what?" Hancock walked in, his boots clicking on the wooden floor. "What the hell is that god awful screeching?" He asked.
"Nuka World." Preston answered.
"Nuka what?" Hancock asked incredulously.
"Nuka World." Preston repeated.
"What's Nuka World?" Hancock asked.
Preston glanced at Nora. She was transfixed on the radio. "Our first failed mission." He turned back to Hancock. Nora could almost see the puzzlement on Hancock's face, even though her back was still turned to him. "Nora emerged from the vault in October two years ago. We started working together in November. December we built up Sanctuary and she left and found Nick Valentine. January rolled around and we tried to rebuild the Minutemen and our old trade routes. We sent a team to Nuka World to make contact with the traders there and…" Preston trailed off.
"One of five came back." Nora finished.
"Fuck, Sunshine, I—I'm sorry...I—"
Nora wasn't done, "They sent him back with a warning. 'Nuka World belongs to the raiders now'. Sent him back with the parts of his team they didn't completely obliterate."
"You mean like—?"
Preston spoke up, "mostly ears, fingers, and eyeballs."
"The radio went dark after that." Nora nodded to the radio still blasting the old Nuka World jingle.
"So who turned it on?" Hancock asked.
And like that, Nora sprung into action. She had tied her old vault suit around her waist to beat the mid autumn heatwave, but was now untying it as she marched across the street to her house. "Preston, I want every able-bodied Minutemen at Sunshine Tidings in no less than three days. I want them to come armed and ready for a battle." She instructed, knowing that he and Hancock had followed her. Nora kicked her beaten up casual shoes off her feet and stripped the vault suit off her sweaty body.
"General!" Preston scrambled to turn around.
Nora rolled her eyes, walked back to her room, and fished through her old dresser as she continued to give orders. "I want every settler in that settlement to come here, and I want everyone here to prep for—" She continued as she pulled out her General's uniform.
"Whoa, you're not thinking what I think you're thinking," Hancock stopped Nora as she looped her belt around her pants, "are you?"
"Hancock, if those raiders are gone it means someone with the gun power to get rid of them has a hold of Nuka World." Nora explained.
"So what?"
"So what?" Nora repeated and Preston called from the living room. "Hancock, if the Brotherhood of Steel has Nuka World they could have a whole army of easily programmable robots. And if The Institute has Nuka World they'll have enough scrap and supply to keep their boogie man operation up indefinitely, not to mention a foothold on the edge of the Commonwealth AND control over all of the Nuka—which is somehow STILL the most popular drink of choice." Nora yanked the belt out of Hancock's hands and went to her closet where her chest armor sat. Hancock came over instinctively and helped her put it on, strapping the front and back together.
"Or maybe the raiders got bored, left, some wandering sap turned the radio on, and now you, the Brotherhood, and The Institute will descend on that place at the same time." Hancock pointed out.
"Unlikely." Preston called from the living room."
"Thank you!" "Not helping!" Nora and Hancock shouted at the same time.
Hancock sighed, "look, I am all for checking this place out for possible survivors or anything, and I am all for going and whooping some ass, but—"
"I'll be fine." Nora reassured Hancock as she slipped on her coat. "I've been back for months now. I won't stay cooped up here, when I could be out there doing some good."
"Fine, but we're going to do this—why are you giving me that look?" Hancock narrowed his eyes at her.
"I'm going to check it out alone." Nora winced.
"Like hell—"
"I need you and Preston to rally the Minutemen on my signal." Nora quickly explained as Hancock began to throw his hands up in a fit. Nora grabbed them and pulled them down, she pushed him to sit on the bed and straddled his lap. Now Hancock's eyes were wide. Nora wrapped her arms around his neck, "Hancock, hun, listen."
"That's very hard to do right now."
Nora ignored him, "The Minutemen trust you. Probably more than they trust me right now. Yes, I see the looks they still give me. And keeping me locked away from everyone isn't going to help anyone's opinion of me. Preston isn't a leader, but you are. He can get them there, and you can lead them."
"And what exactly will you be doing inside this death trap?" Hancock picked his jaw up from the shock of her boldness and laid his hands on her hips to hold her on his lap.
"Making sure it isn't a deathtrap, and if it is, coming straight back here to get you and fix it." Nora insisted, planting a soft kiss on Hancock's forehead.
Hancock hated this idea.
Unfortunately, Nora could be very persuasive when she wanted to be. And so, she was gone before sundown.
Killing the gunners outside the Nuka World monorail station had been easy, even with their numbers and their modified assaultron. Nothing stood in her way once she pulled out her trusty gauss rifle.
Harvey, however, was a shock.
When she entered the station she could hear a man groaning. Sinking low, she crept down the broken escalators along the wall so as to remain hidden. She took a deep breath at the bottom, took off her hat, and peeked around the corner. A man was leaning against a trash can and a pile of rubble, he was clutching his side where blood had stained his dirty white shirt. He also had blood on his collar, blood trailing down from a broken nose and his busted lip, and that wasn't all, he also had a black eye, several scratches on his arms, cuts that had torn open his jeans, and a large bruise around his neck.
"Oh my God," Nora put her hat back on as she scrambled around the corner and kneeled at the man's side. "Are you okay?" She began to look over his injuries, trying to find the worst one, aside from the obvious bullet hole in his side that he was holding.
"Me?" The man wheezed and nodded weakly, "oh yeah, I'm fine, it's my family I'm concerned about." He coughed.
"Your family?" Nora fished through her pockets, "what happened?"
"Raiders. Caught us and locked us up." The man winced as he shifted, "I escaped, but my wife and son...god, I can't imagine what's happening to them." He closed his eyes, and a few tears wet his cheeks.
"Raiders still have Nuka World?" Nora pulled out a stimpack.
She went to jam it into his skin when he suddenly stood up and waved his hands. "No no! Don't waste those on me!" He shouted. Nora looked at the man in shock and slowly his eyes widened. "Shit."
Nora stood up, gauss rifle raised, "start talking!" She barked.
"Okay okay!" The man held up his hands, "my name is Harvey. I'm bait for poor suckers...I tell my sob story, say I turned the radio on as a beacon, and turned the monorail off to sell it...I..I'm real sorry."
Nora narrowed her eyes at him, "the beatings?" She eyed him up and down.
"Oh no," Harvey smiled sadly as he lightly touched his neck, "those are almost all real. Gotta wear collars in Nuka World."
"What?" Nora lowered her rifle.
"We used to be a trading post, but now, we're slaves to the raiders…" he explained.
"What's your name?" Nora asked.
"Harvey," he answered.
"Harvey." Nora laid a hand on his shoulders, "I'm going to free your sorry ass, so you better get me into that park asap."
"Okay okay!" Harvey held his hands up in defense, "Here," he gave her a scrap of paper, "It's the code to get the monorail started back up." Nora nodded as she swiped it from him, "Oh and, stranger," she turned back to him, "you'll be lit up like an irradiated candle if you go in looking like a minutemen."
Nora narrowed her eyes at him for a moment before raising an eyebrow, she debated telling him that she was the General, but if he followed her into the park word could get out that the Minutemen were headed their way. "Alright." Was all she said to Harvey as she walked to the control center. She rifled through her bag, looking for the spare clothes she had packed. As she found the armored Atom Cats jacket, Nora paused. She should make sure the code was correct before she began undressing near a total stranger. Granted her waving her rifle under his chin probably scared him enough to leave her be, it wasn't a risk Nora was willing to take. She sat down at the control center and clicked onto the power system. Nora hesitated as her fingers hovered over the keys to the control panel. She should just go back, grab Hancock and Preston, and take Nuka World by surprise. She didn't need to prove anything to anyone. Except maybe herself.