"So, I heard that you are top of your class at Sigma Academy." James said as he rummaged through his duffel bag at his workshop in the Red Rocket Garage just outside Sanctuary Hills. "Care to comment?"
Marie was seated on a bar stool next to a broken refrigerator with the door ripped off. She paused to construct her next sentence carefully while she methodically studied the details of the workshop.
"Well, I guess top of the class is close enough." Marie said bashfully.
"What's that supposed to mean?" James asked as he tossed out a few spen Fusion Cells and carefully began laying his weapons down on a clean desk.
"I'm more like top 10 in the school." Marie said with a wince. James paused and looked carefully at the girl.
"Really?" James said with a smile. "And what exactly do you guys do at the Academy?"
"Well, lots of stuff." Marie said. She had now picked up a few pieces of scrap metal and circuitry and began to fiddle with it. She thought James couldn't see her, but a well-placed mirror next to the weapons rack helped him look without looking.
"Like what?" He asked.
"Mm, well Arcade says that a lot of what we learn in the school part comes straight from the Vaults." Marie said as she bent a piece of wire. James nodded as he began to sort his ammunition by type and caliber on the desk before him.
"Mhmm, go on."
"We really just learn a lot of what Arcade says Vault kids learned and that he added some extra history from Brotherhood records and Followers of the Apocalypse texts as well." Marie continued. "That's just the morning, then Boone and Brandis representing the Enclave and the Brotherhood respectively then go over extensive combat training."
"Which one gets more focus?" James asked, pausing all work. Marie sat still for a few moments before swinging her legs and answering.
"The combat training of course." Marie said happily. James nodded slowly.
"Right." He said solemnly. "Guess I'll have to go down there myself and have a little talk with them."
"Is Sigma Academy the only school for Enclave-Allied settlements, Marie?" James asked.
"No, there are multiple schools." Marie answered quickly. "But Enclave Officers travel to each settlement periodically to give out some kind of people test. Then whoever scores the highest are often encouraged to enroll in Sigma Academy." James grunted and turned around, finally finished sorting his ammunition.
"Is it optional?" James asked.
"Definitely." Marie nodded. "Better than that, it's also free! That's why I was able to enroll." James was taken aback. The Enclave still remembered some of his changes.
"I see, and where is Sigma Academy located?" James asked.
"Well, because there's so many students now, we actually rotate through various settlements, mainly for combat training and localization training. But the main campus is in Lexington." Marie answered hopefully.
"Lexington." James remarked. "It's cleared of ghouls?"
"Yeah, for about a year now." Marie replied casually.
"How?"
"Well, the way I hear it, Hancock and Nick Valentine joined up to herd the ferals over to the Slog where they roam a large fenced area." Marie said. "But that's about as much as Piper tells me. Being the Head Scribe for the Council must not be an easy job. She tells me that there's so much going on, but very little that she can really share." James thought about all this new information. Ghouls herded? Ferals given a roaming area, like livestock? Piper working for a government organization?
"The Piper I knew never would have given up her freedom to report on whatever she thought the public needed to know." James commented.
"Well, apparently she's found a compromise." Marie shrugged.
"Wait a minute, you know what compromise means?" James asked.
"I do go to school, you know." Marie said, bored.
"Right, my mistake." James said with a grin before starting the process of cleaning his weapons.
"So when are we going to get going?" Marie asked impetuously.
"I haven't decided yet." James responded without a thought. He lifted a pistol, checked it's sights before disassembling it quickly.
"You haven't decided yet?" Marie asked in disbelief.
"Nope."
"How?" she asked.
"Easy. I just didn't do it." James said as he tossed aside a rifle with a bent barrel.
"Don't you need to plan for things before you go on a trip? Especially across half the Commonwealth?" Marie asked.
"No, never did it before." James said cooly. "Besides" he said as he lifted his left wrist. "I got this."
"That Pip-Boy is just a crutch for you." Marie said.
"Well, lucky for me that I've got the sturdier model." James returned.
"So if there's no plan. What is that interests you now about the Commonwealth?" Marie asked. "I mean, if what Arcade teaches to be true in the Academy, isn't your job kind of done?" James paused and turned back. But not to look at Marie. He stared at the X-02 Command Power Armor. Badly damage from the Confrontation at Quincy. JAmes still hadn't found all the right parts to put it quite back together. Then he looked back at the girl.
"Maybe it finally is." James said with a small smile.
"You look disappointed." She commented.
"Maybe I am."
James looked back at his workshop and continued working again. Marie hopped off the chair and walked over to the radio and flipped it on. Travis's now much-smoother and suave voice then coaxed James into listening to The Ink Spots's "We'll Meet Again". And he didn't stop working until night had fallen.
"Come on, it's time to get up." James said, waking the Marie up.
"What?" she groaned as fatigue overtook her senses and body. "What time is it?"
"Doesn't matter. Now get up, we're moving." James hissed.
James snatched his freshly packed duffle bag from the ground and exited the garage. An Enclave Patrol passed him, with the power armored troopers waving acknowledgements. He waited for the girl to exit the garage as the night dragged on above him.
After what seemed like an hour, Marie trudged out of the garage and yawned loudly. James chuckled and shook her gently awake.
"Come on," he said. "We have a long day ahead of us."
"I'm soooo excited" Marie moaned as they began the long day's walk.
It was soon past midday, Lexington sat far off in the distance as James waved Marie forward.
"I don't know why you're being so cautious." She complained. "Things have really changed for the better now. You don't have to check over your shoulders every three seconds."
"Well, maybe so, but I like to do things the old fashioned way." James grinned. A gesture that was difficult to see in the early morning darkness. Suddenly a growling noise caught James attention. "Marie, don't move."
"What?" Marie asked, annoyed when suddenly behind her she saw a pack of feral dogs. James slowly raised his rifle at the dogs as they inched towards Marie. Theirs breaths left wisps in the cold air of the early morning.
"Don't freak out, kid." James said softly. "I'm right here." As he raised the rifle to aim, he spotted Marie reaching for a knife on her belt and he couldn't help but smile. Most kids even if they were teenagers would barely have the discipline not to run. James snapped the rifle to bear and unleashed a flurry of rounds in a quick succession. Aiming and firing before pulling the bolt of the rifle back and slamming another round into the chamber. With each successive round, another dog went down. Marie drew her knife but by then was left with just a pile of bodies around her. She snapped left and right as if ready to engage but was left disappointed as the threats had already been eliminated.
"So," James said amused as he approached Marie while simultaneously loading more rounds into his rifle. "Commonwealth isn't as bad as it used to be, huh?" Marie scoffed.
"That didn't count." She said sorely. James laughed and slung his rifle across his back.
"Right, and I didn't kill all those feral dogs." James said cooly and checked each body for some loot. Once satisfied that the dogs contained nothing of value, he stood up and continued walking.
"So where are we going?" Marie asked, trotting forward from her frozen position to catch up before matching pace.
"I'll know when we get there." James replied. Marie made a face.
"So when will I know?" she asked. James shrugged and continued walking. "I'm being serious!"
"So am I!" James said without looking back. Marie glared at him incredulously before reluctantly following along.