CHAPTER 8: THE PERSON UNDERNEATH.
"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." -Ralph Waldo Emerson.
"What do you mean...you're a Generation 4 Synth? I thought they only went up to Generation 3." Doug asked her.
Chloe removed the cloth from her head and quickly patched it with a small medical pad and tape from one of her survival pouches before answering them, although she was very hesitant in doing so. "Remember when I said I was raised by a scientist? How he was like a father to me? Well, he kinda was my father. He literally made me from the ground up."
"But I thought the Institute wasn't making anymore Synths. And what makes you different from the others?" Louis asked as he tied Alec's hands to the rails with some rope.
Chloe leaned against the rails. "For starters, I don't have a metal plate in my head. My entire skeleton is made of metal."
"Made of metal? How the hell is that possible?" Joe asked in disbelief.
"My father, Henry Barlow, was an Institute scientist. And a very talent and brilliant one. But the leaders of the Institute felt he was pushing his experiments too far. By the time they perfected Generation 3 Synths, he already had the plans made to start making Generation 4. Which is what I am." Chloe continued.
"I've heard there's been Generation 3 Synths for quite a few decades. There was even some incident in a place called Diamond City in the year 2229. A Gen 3 Synth killed a lot of people, and that caused everyone to fear the Institute." Louis questioned next.
"Those probes from your Vault are real nosy..." Doug commented a little disapprovingly.
"The Institute has greatly improved on their Gen 3s since then. At least that's what my father told me." Chloe began again. "And ever since he was a child, he proved to be quite a prodigy. Nobody in the Institute would ever say it, but he really was a genius, even for them."
"So when do you come into this story?" Joe asked next.
"Around the year 2272, my father knew the Institute was going too far with the Generation 3 Synths. He realized the other scientists would never treat them as equals. That's why he decided to leave them." Chloe started back up. "A Gen 3 Synth is a lot like a normal person, except they don't age, gain or lose weight, and can't conceive or give birth."
"And you said you're a Generation 4 Synth, does that mean..." Victoria began to say.
"Yes. I can age like a normal person, and although I don't gain or lose weight as fast. I'm almost as human as human can be." Chloe placed a hand over her stomach. "I'm the only one of my kind. As normal as they come for the most part."
"But what about your metal skeleton?" Louis asked as he gave Alec a light kick.
"When my father left the Institute, he managed to take a lot of their lab equipment with some old model Synths. Including the plans to make Gen 3s and got several cities away from Boston and continued his research on making Gen 4s for the next few years." Chloe raised her hand and tapped the side of her head. "And as for this, he found a prewar army base that was actually researching ways to put metal skeletons into their soldiers if you can believe it! It was codename Adama-something. I don't remember, a lot of the files were corrupted. The entire project was scrapped because they couldn't figure out how to replace normal bones. But he managed to find a perfectly intact female skeleton."
"There's a difference between men and women skeletons?" Doug asked with a raised brow.
"For starters, I believe it has something to do with the pelvis." Louis informed while pointing at his hips.
"Anyway, he took the skeleton and grew my body around it. I'm still amazed he was able to bond the blood veins, ligaments, and tendons to the skeleton. The process took a few months to put together before fully creating me, he had to use a lot of old equipment. I am now twenty-one years of age, which is when I will start aging naturally. This is pretty much how I looked when I was 'born'." Chloe looked to the old equipment. "A lot of this stuff reminds me of my father and his research. We spent fourteen years together before he died seven years ago. And it still hurts that he was taken from me so soon. He was the only person I knew and cared about, he taught me everything I know and treated me as his own daughter. Not just another lab experiment." tears started to form at her eyes.
"Well, look at that. It actually learned to cry." Alec suddenly spoke and laughed with a wheeze.
Everyone turned their attention to him, he had regained consciousness. "You shut your goddamn mouth!" Doug sternly warned and kicked him in the side of his stomach.
Alec yelled in pain, but he still continued to speak, despite the warning. "I heard just about everything. Including Dr. Barlow! That's right, I knew about him too!" he managed to move himself into a sitting position. "But tell me, did you know this? Did you know part of the reason he left the Institute was because he felt they were responsible for the death of his wife!"
Chloe stomped over to him and grabbed his collar. "What the hell are you talking about?!"
"Oh, it was terrible. There was a leak in one of the containment reactors, and his wife was in charge of that section. But instead of leaving, she stayed behind to stabilize it. Unfortunately, the leak spread faster than anticipated and she died." Alec grinned wide. "And here's the worst part, she was about...three months pregnant if I'm not mistaken. And I heard...it was gonna be a girl. So in short, you're nothing but a imitation of a baby that never got a chance to live!" he started laughing at her.
Chloe yelled and slugged him in the face and let him go. She stood back up and stormed towards the rails and grabbed on. "No! He's lying! That's not true at all! Henry wouldn't do that! He would have never..." she slumped down with tears quietly falling from her eyes.
Victoria went over to comfort and calm her. Louis stormed over to Alec and picked him up from the floor, his hands still tied to the rails. "Alright, ass licker, you better tell me how to shut down the Synths outside before I find a way to have them pull your guts out from your asshole!" he warned menacingly.
"Does that include shutting her down? Gonna be a bit difficult with metal bones!" Alec laughed, which earned him a punch in the stomach.
"I'm not kidding around! Talk before I get rid of you and figure it out myself with that Institute tech!" Louis shook him hard.
"Don't be an idiot! Just because you came from a Vault doesn't mean you can figure out our advanced and sophisticated technology! It's beyond even you!" Alec sneered.
Louis threw him back down to the floor. "We'll see about that. You forget, my Vault was made by Vault-Tec, and their technology was bizarre on a normal day. My Pip-Boy alone is its own unique model! So let's see if I can't figure out your stuff!" he walked over to the main terminal and started typing on the keyboard and pulled the cable out from under his Pip-Boy and plugged it in. Data started flowing across the screen. "See? My Pip-Boy is already getting into your system!"
"I'll keep an eye on him." Joe looked to Alec. "Try anything, and I'll shoot your balls off."
Chloe finally calmed down, Victoria still stood beside her as Doug walked over to her. "You can't let that shithead get to you. He'll say anything to screw with us."
"But what if he's right? What if Henry just made me as a means to replace the family he lost?" Chloe sighed and looked to her hands. "Maybe I am just another Synth meant for the Institute's uses. I mean, I have a fucking metal skeleton! It was meant for warfare anyway!"
"There must be a reason for everything. You told us he took care and raised you, somebody who saw you as an experiment would never put all that time and effort into it." Victoria said to comfort her.
"It still doesn't change that I'm a Synth. Henry always told me he had something special in mind for me, but now that he's gone, and I'll never know what it is..." Chloe reached into her back pouch and pulled something out. "He left me this, it's kinda like his last will or something. I found it under his pillow after he died."
"That's a holotape." Doug looked at it. "You haven't listen to it?"
"I've wanted to, but...well, it's kinda foolish. I was afraid because it's the last time I'll ever hear any form of his voice. Even if it's just a recording." Chloe looked it over once more in her hands.
"Hey, Louis' Pip-Boy could play it. Just ask him and he'll play it." Doug said to her.
"The point is, you need to listen to it. Our you'll regret it for the rest of your life." Victoria placed a hand on her shoulder.
Chloe thought it over for a moment. "I suppose. What else do I got to lose?"
"Your lives, for starters!" Alec shouted to them.
"Hey, mad scientist cliche! Shut your fucking mouth!" Joe kicked him hard in the legs.
"Listen, I'm giving you all one last chance to let me go before I make you all curse the days you all were born!" Alec struggled against his restraints. "Except for her that is. But of course that goes without saying..."
Louis just kept his eyes on the screen. "Will someone please shut him up?"
Doug turned to the scientist and frowned deeply. "There's nothing you can do! So just shut the hell up!"
"Actually, there is..." Alec took in a deep breath and yelled. "Activate! Protocol X-0-E!"
His call echoed throughout the factory floor. The Synths below suddenly activated to the command, their eyes flipped open and started moving their bodies around. They turned their heads up in unison to the shanty lab above and started marching towards the supports.
"Guys...I hate to point out the obvious, but we got trouble!" Doug shouted as the Synths started climbing up.
"I'm almost in! You guys distract the Synths, I can send a signal that will shut them all down!" Louis typed faster on the keyboard.
Victoria grabbed her 12.7mm SMG and loaded it. "Chloe, we need your help! Please!"
The young mercenary's face turned serious and nodded to her before putting the holotape away. Chloe took out her Institute rifle and started shooting over the rails with her. Three Synths were almost over the rail before Doug, Victoria and Chloe put a few shots into them and sent them falling over the rails, bringing a few down with them. Doug then switched to his 9mm and placed several shots into another Synth's chest and kicked it back over. Another climbed over and met the end of Victoria's SMG, bullets filled its body before malfunctioning and collapsed to the floor. A Synth grabbed the rails and started climbing up, but Chloe spotted it and shot its hands with two blasts. The plasma melted the hands to green slag and sent the Synth falling back to the ground.
"It's over! You guys are going to die here! Torn to pieces by my Synths!" Alec mocked before receiving the butt of Joe's hunting rifle upside his head, knocking him out cold.
"Joe!..." Victoria looked to him disapprovingly.
"What?!" Joe shrugged before shooting a Synth that was about to come over the rails. "He was never gonna shut them down anyway."
One Synth came over the side near the terminals where Louis was, his eyes never leaving the screen.
Doug shot a Synth in the face as he saw the Synth coming after the Vault dweller. "Hey, Louis!..." he called to him.
Louis pulled out his Desert Eagle and shot the Synth in the chest at point blank range. "Yes, Doug?..." he asked, still not taking his eyes off the screen.
"Never mind..." Doug rolled his eyes and reloaded.
Victoria loaded a new clip into her 12.7mm and fired down at the Synths again. The bullets helped slow them down as Chloe came to shoot with burning plasma at the shoulders and arms to disable them from climbing and falling back to the ground. Joe flipped his combat shotgun downward, blasting buckshot all over the place to help slow them down too. But more and more Synths were coming in and climbing the supports at a faster pace.
Doug reloaded his sawed-off shotgun as a Synth poked its head up near him. "Hostile detected..." it said before receiving a face full of buckshot and fell.
"You're fucking right I am!" Doug retorted as he fired at another.
The Synths were gaining the edge, they started to spill over and onto the lab floor. Their ammo was running out, the Synths had their arms outstretched, ready to grab them and tear the group to pieces. Louis cracked the code that took control of the satellite on the roof and put in the final commands. The other monitors showed various points of view from the Synths outside, the images kept changing to different views. And on each monitor, it showed that the mercenaries weren't fairing well. They were either dying or being surrounded and pinned down by the Synths.
"Not much time! I just hope this works!" Louis glanced up at the monitors. "Those idiots won't last much longer!"
"We can't hold out much longer either, Louis!" Victoria called as a Synth grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards it.
Doug was tackled harshly to the ground as Joe got grabbed from behind. Chloe's Institute rifle was pulled out of her hands by a few Synths before being restrained.
Several of the Synths made their way towards Louis as he uploaded the final commands. "This is it! Not only will the Synths shut down, I'll see to it that they never activate again!" he hit the enter key as a Synth grabbed him tightly by the neck.
The terminal uploaded the commands, the satellite dish on top of the factory sent the signal. The Synths outside suddenly stopped moving and dropped their weapons. Electricity surged all over their bodies where the power cells were, shorting them out for good before collapsing. The mercenaries all over stood stunned by the Synth's sudden deactivation before cheering and firing their guns in victory. Inside the factory the Synths attacking the group also collapsed to the floor and twitched for a few moments before going limp.
Louis removed the hands from his neck. "We did it! They're down and out for good!" he coughed a little and unplugged the Pip-Boy cable.
Doug roughly pushed the Synth off his body. "I need a drink. Now..."
Joe sat down near Alec and sighed, thinking of having a cigarette. "That sucked. We better collect every damn Synth head there is."
Alec managed to stir awake again and looked around in horror. "What the...my Synths! What have you bastards done?! You'll pay for this, all of you! I'll-"
Joe slugged him in the face again, knocking him out cold once more. "I heard constant unconsciousness can be super bad for you." he chuckled with a grin.
Chloe picked up her Institute rifle and looked at the Synths. "Well, let's get to it. We have some heads to collect."
The five started chopping off the Synth's head and threw them into the bags they carried. They managed to stuff about a hundred heads in all as Joe slung Alec over his shoulders after binding his writs and ankles. The group left the factory and soon spotted the other mercenary groups packing up their gear and gathering heads. Although they had to leave a lot behind to help their wounded get back. They passed the group that they tried to ask for help, the mercenaries suffered heavy loss and the four wanderers just left them behind. The four and Chloe made their way back to Safe Trail as Doug took his turn to carry Alec for a little bit. The sun was starting to set before they finally arrived, along with a number of other mercs that decided to retreat with very few Synth heads in tow.
Keith and several other people, who looked like Minutemen came up to the group. "I heard that the mercenaries sustained heavy casualties! How did you all survive with such a small group? And who's that over your shoulder?" he pointed to the scientist.
Louis slung Alec off and laid him on the ground. "This man is a former Institute scientist. He became very distraught when the factions of Boston made peace and shut down his research. So he stole a bunch of their equipment and took control of any old Synths and made his way out here. He planned on making that old town a new settlement of his own. Personally, I think he went a little nuts being out here alone for a long time with nothing but androids for company."
"This might be a problem. If people hear an Institute scientist was the cause of those Synth attacks, then this could undo the trust the four factions have struggled to build." said the Minutemen leader of the group.
"Maybe you guys can take him back quietly. At least until people know it was the work of one lone scientist." Doug suggested to them.
"He's right. Don't let the unity you guys built be torn apart by one man and his actions." Victoria nodded in agreement.
The Minutemen leader sighed and thought it over. "You all may have a point. This is already tense enough with the Synths. We'll start transporting him back to Boston in the morning. You people have done us a great service, I think you've earned a bonus on your pay." he said as two of his men came to pick Alec up.
"If you people are going to the town, that guy's lab was set up in an old factory. Just look for the one that has a bunch of Synths around it." Joe spoke to them.
Chloe pointed to him. "Yeah, this Vault dweller is the one that shut them down by hacking the terminal."
"The equipment can still be salvaged. All you have to do is go down there and get it." Louis informed them.
"Thank you. Now come on, you guys have earned your pay." Keith waved for them to follow.
With a hundred Synth heads, the group was given five thousand caps and a thousand more for their troubles. The group divided their pay and decided to hit up the nearby bar. The four wanderers and Chloe sat at a table in the corner, eating and drinking and having a good time. The other mercenaries either turned in or left the settlement, their loses and injuries were really high and a bit embarrassing to their reputations.
"All's well that ends well. Right, guys?" Joe asked as he poured another shot of gin.
"I think you've had a little too much to drink, Joe..." Victoria chuckled before downing her drink.
Joe hiccuped. "Are you kidding? I haven't had enough."
Chloe slowly finished her drink and placed the glass back on the table. "So what's next for you all?"
Louis swallowed a big piece of steak before answering. "We're on our way to the state border. From there we will move through upstate New York. We're moving through one state at a time, depending on the direction of the signal."
"Sounds fun." Chloe commented. "I hope you guys find what you're looking for and stop it if it's dangerous."
"What's next for you? Now that the job here is done." Doug asked her.
"What else is there for a mercenary but to look for the next job?" Chloe answered while looking down at her drink. "Besides, what more can I be?"
"Hold on, you still have that holotape. Don't you want to listen to it?" Louis asked her.
"I don't know. It might be best not to hear it after everything I learned." Chloe was about to get up from her seat.
"You'll regret it if you don't hear it. You owe it to Henry to hear his last words." Victoria said to her.
Chloe's face turned to a frown. "You said your Pip-Boy would shutdown if you take it off, and I prefer I hear it in private." she turned to the Vault dweller.
Louis just grinned. "Well...that's not entirely true. I can set it to shut off in certain ways. Like after that holotape is done." he started twisting the knobs on the Pip-Boy before opening the slot for the holotape and taking it off. "As soon as you put the holotape in, it should start playing. It will shut off after it's done." he handed it over to her.
Chloe looked over the Vault device for a moment. "You know, if I was just a run of the mill merc, I could run off with this and sell it for a lot caps. I've even heard some would pay tens of thousands for one of these."
Louis chuckled before taking another drink. "Then I guess it's a good thing you're not that kind of person."
"I'll take this to my hotel room. I'll bring it back as soon as I'm done." Chloe left her pay on the table and walked out the bar.
She entered her room and sat down on the old bed. She looked at the holotape one more time, part of her didn't want to hear what was on it, but yet she wanted to hear her father's voice one more time. So before she decided against it, she put the tape into the slot and closed it. The Pip-Boy started up and played it, a few long seconds passed until a voice started talking from the speaker.
"My dear Chloe. If you are hearing this, then I have passed. My only regret is that we didn't have more time together. The truth is, there was one part of my life that I didn't tell you. As you know, I came from the Institute, what I didn't tell you is that I was also married and expecting a child. The baby would have been a girl. There was...an accident, and they both died. The pain was...horribly unbearable. And the worst part of it, they expected me to continue my work, despite my loss. I couldn't take it, I decided to leave and continue my work my own way. And as it hurts me to say, a part of me wanted to make you as a way to reclaim what I lost..."
Chloe gasped at that last part, tears started to form at her eyes as she gripped the Pip-Boy tight.
"...But you are not a replacement for my lost family. I quickly realized that, but I still loved you as my own flesh and blood. You are your own person. You have your own wants and desires, your will to live and survive. Feelings, emotions, good days and bad days. All of that is you from the moment you took your first breath. You grew right before my eyes into the person you are now, I am proud to call you my daughter. There's no point in dwelling on the past, you must look forward to the future. That is why I taught you how to use weapons and give you an almost unbreakable skeleton. I felt it would have been wasted rotting away in that old military base anyway. So please, Chloe, no matter what you do, promise me that you live your own life to the fullest, help who you can and make your own future. Free from the evils of the Wasteland and the Institute's control. That is what it means to be alive. To be a person, a human being. I love you, my one and only Chloe. Never forget that, my daughter..."
The holotape stopped and the Pip-Boy ejected the tape. She pulled it out and placed the items on the table next to her bed and laid down with tears of joy falling from her eyes. Happy that her father's final words showed how much she meant to him before sleep took her.
March 4/2296
The sun rose on another day and the four Wanderers came out from their rented rooms. "I'm telling you, Louis, she ran off with your Pip-Boy." Joe said to him.
"Does she look like kind of person to steal things?" Louis looked to him.
"No. She looks like the kind of person that wants to make a profit." Joe retorted.
The group then saw Chloe coming to them holding out the Pip-Boy. "I'm really sorry for not bringing it back sooner. I kinda fell asleep after hearing what was on it."
Louis happily took it and put it back on, the Pip-Boy reactivated. "Thank you very much. I gotta be honest, I felt kinda naked without it."
"Damn. Looks like I owe Victoria thirty caps..." Joe sighed with a grumbled.
"Is everything okay? What did the holotape say?" Victoria asked her.
"Let's just say...I know what I should have known from the beginning." Chloe smiled from the recording. "And on that note, I'd like to join you guys on your journey. If you would have me."
They all smiled in surprise. "Of course we would have you. But...I don't think we have the caps to keep paying you." Louis spoke to her.
Chloe chuckled and answered. "That's alright. We'll do odd jobs here and there for caps. And since the place we're going to might be from before the war, that means it's most likely filled with prewar goods. I'll take that as my payment."
"Sounds fair enough." Louis turned and started walking. "Let's say goodbye to Massachusetts and head to upstate New York!" he pointed forward.
"We still got a way to go, Louis!" Doug reminded him.
"So, Chloe, why did you want to come with us?" Victoria asked.
"Let's just say...my father gave me one last piece of good advice." Chloe answered.
The four wanderers were now five. A young woman, a synthetic lifeform now began her real journey into the Wasteland to carve out her own way in life. The group headed towards the sunrise with pride, knowing that Safe Trail was free from the old model Synths. The trip across the country still had a long way to go, but now they were one more person stronger.
