Twenty-Six Years Ago
Darcy was paused at the toddler's crib, regarding the child's sleeping form when the vault door to the lower infirmary opened. She ignored the creeping hand along the small of her back, and gave a terse sigh as it began to wander under the folds of her lab coat.
"Liam, I'm working," she said curtly, continuing her procession of notes on her Pip-Boy.
A reluctant withdrawal was given, and her fellow survivor and scientist of the past four years leaned over the edge of the crib to view her current distraction. "You like this one."
Darcy gave a murderous glare to the man. "I do not like any of them. They are simply data, nothing more."
Liam raised an eyebrow at her hostility. "Then why do you smile at this one?" She whipped her face to him with an accusing expression, and he merely gave a low chuckle. He reached for her hand, stealing her fingertips away from her notes, and gave a soft kiss to her knuckles. "Your secret is safe with me."
As much as she hated the recognition of it, her heart always gave a soft flutter from his affections.
He slowly guided her away from the toddler's bedside. "I think we should compare notes, don't you agree? Your place, or mine?"
Her face drew stoic. "You know I hate that expression."
"But it's so cheesy, how can it not melt your cold, cold heart?" Liam gave a handsome smile, but her face remained passive. "Oh, you absolutely wound me, Darcy."
Footsteps clambered down the hall, and they found their hands returned to their sides before a brunette woman entered the room. "We have a problem."
They made their way to Sector Five, where David was standing before an empty containment chamber. The rooms and hallway were splattered in an array of blood and ripped flesh. He turned to the company as they drew near.
"I thought we were past the exploding phase," Liam commented dryly as he looked around.
"We were." David crossed his arms, and his sister stood at his side. "They killed each other."
Darcy blinked. "How-"
David turned, pointing to a vault door that had been torn through from the inside. "X-11. I watched on the monitor in the control room- it burst through, and then proceeded to kill everything in its path, including itself. We also lost two sentry bots."
"My God."
"That isn't even the worst of it- all of the subjects from Sector 3 were also on this floor. All of that data is gone."
Darcy licked her lips. "We knew the older subjects were unstable; we are lucky this happened the way it did with no casualties."
David gave a thoughtful look to his sister. "I suppose you are right…but we still have trial courses to run, and we need adult subjects…" He gave a stroke of his chin. "I believe we need to have another discussion as to scouting the surface-"
Liam folded his lab coat open as he set his hands on his hips. "That discussion is moot, David, the radiation levels are still too-"
"How do you purpose we test the latest batches, then?" David snapped at his colleague. "We cannot afford to lose Sector 1, they are the most promising candidates, and I'll be damned if we risk the chance of success just because of some possible radiation-"
"I'll go."
Both men gave a pause and turned to the brunette woman, and she shakily took a breath.
"I'm the least qualified on the team, so it will be no great loss," Carol breathed. "I'll go."
The Present
"You are making the right choice. There is no disgrace in wanting to learn the truth." David told her as the reinforced door closed behind them. "I believe you would like your clothes?" He led her into a room where she quietly dressed into her leathers and continued to follow him.
A few minutes passed before she licked her lips. "Where are we going?"
He didn't bother turning to look at her. "Boston."
"What's there?"
Now his eyes flit over to meet hers. "Some old colleagues of mine." A door was opened. "Shall we?"
Cross shook his shoulders as he gave a brief pause in the experimental hallway, turning to stare at a creature fixated on his movements. He gave an ugly, mean glare in return, before moving on and spinning circles at a four-way intersection. A gloved fingertip flicked the brim of his hat back, and he scratched puzzlingly at his forehead.
"Hey!" he rasped at the nearest, blinking camera. "Which way?" He waved his arms at the silent lens. "I know you're watchin' me up there, ya damn, glowin' fu-"
The sound of static crackled. "They took a left, I think."
It was Penny's voice, and he gave her a mock salute as he began to trudge down.
"No, no, sorry, your other left."
"Jesus," Cross muttered under his breath, and he could be seen on the display monitors above crossing back through the intersection to proceed the right (left) way.
If Evelyn was seriously contemplating on leaving him to go with that fuck, especially after dragging his leathery ass all the way back here- he was probably going to strangle her to death when he finally got a hold of her.
Thomas…whatever, he had as much control of her past relationships as she did his own.
Charon's confessed love for her- whatever, the merc knew better, and just didn't want to admit it to himself at the time. That was going to be one hell of a discussion they were going to have, and he was not looking forward to it. If the fates smiled down upon him, for just once, then maybe that blue ghoul and bot would take care of his future problems-
Who was he kidding, this was the damn ferryman, and that poor fucking soul that crossed his path probably had his brains splattered all over the floor by now.
Charon blinked in surprise as the ghoul evaded the gunshot- for his size, he was fucking fast.
The sentry bot took the blow instead, and the ferryman was grateful he had reequipped his normal stock for some specially crafted rounds he himself had devised over a year ago. His brief, contracted service to Moira Brown had its perks. There was a hiss as the acidic-based components of his rounds began to eat away at the metal plating of the sentry bot, and smoke began to curl from internal circuitry damage. Another gunshot blew, this one aimed for the head, and the bot began to operate erratically.
"System-H-H-Hostile-"
Roman dodged a sudden laser fire from the fitful bot, keeping low to the ground in a half-crouch as the sound of shotgun blasts rang out. The sentry bot was quickly rendered useless- a pile of blown gears and fumes. The crimson ghoul unloaded the empty stock to the floor with a clatter. A click, and a gun was being raised at his chest with a finger ghosting the trigger, waiting for the chance at a clean shot.
Fing! The empty stock was propelled at rapid speed from the toe of Charon's boot, and it flew past the ghoul's head by a mere inch. Roman's eyes grew wide at the unexpected projectile, and his flinching reaction to the side was enough bought time for the ferryman to bump in his reloaded stock.
Bang bang! Charon gave his signature two-tap, his first shot blowing through the ghoul's right shoulder and his second missing entirely. The blue ghoul had dropped the gun- his right arm was rendered useless- and ducked to burst into a sprint straight towards his contracted counterpart.
He was really fucking fast.
Charon gave a grunt as he quickly snapped his head back, a blade already equipped in Roman's left hand that came to be in the space where his jugular previously was. He sucked in the air between his teeth as the blue ghoul quickly took a step to the side, dodging the kick that was aimed at his kneecap. Charon raised the barrel of his gun again, but miscalculated the timing as Roman already recovered his stance, and sunk the blade to its hilt into the crimson ghoul's shoulder muscle, missing its intended mark of the carotid artery.
Bam!
The blue ghoul flinched from the missed shot made from behind the ferryman. He sidestepped swiftly to the right, drawing back into the hallway and closing the door.
Charon gave a muttered curse under his breath as his fingers wrapped around the hilt and yanked the blade free from his exposed muscle and charred flesh. He then turned around to view his surprising backup, and Penny gave him a rather stiff smile.
"Should we give chase?" she rasped upward at him, and he shook his head.
"He is not my concern." As much as he wanted to feel the ghoul's dying pulse under his bare hands, the priority of Evelyn's safety was both a contracted obligation and his internal wish to be fulfilled. The combat knife was sheathed, and he rotated his arm in its socket, ignoring the lance of pain and flow of blood.
He's fared worse.
Well, he was sure he found the right door- the silent hum of the sentry bots around the corner told him as much. The merc groaned in his hands and rubbed at his eyes vexingly with the heel of his palms. He didn't have enough rounds to take them both, and there was no way in hell he was going to successfully deactivate them when they were positioned side by side in a narrow hallway. The bots didn't have good aim, but they didn't need it- their large spray pattern was enough.
He clasped his hands behind himself and paced the corridor for a few minutes, ignoring the whir of the camera as it tracked his movements. A sudden thought then occurred to him as the spying surveillance gave him an idea, and he darkly realized that Evelyn must have rubbed off on him more than he cared for.
His palm was soon hovering over a button, and a voice filtered down from above.
"You must be insane," Thomas growled from the control room. "Are you-"
The merc just gave a wide grin and a shrug.
Before his hand could make contact with the control for the door, an alarm began to blare. Everyone on every level was engulfed in an inky blackness as the power momentarily shut off, and then the red fluorescents of emergency lighting clicked on. There was the loud venting sound of steam, and every door opened.
Cross spun around in the experimental hallway. "Oh fuck."
"Damn, what'd you do?!" The wiry mercenary spun around as their monitors along the wall turned black, and the door to the room opened.
Lydia already had her hands raised in the air, a horrified look on her face. "It wasn't me- I swear!"
"It's David." Everyone snapped to the ghoul scientist writhing in her spot. She appeared genuinely terrified, her widened eyes black in the crimson lighting. "He has activated the failsafe from his personal control room- no one will be able to leave, now."
"How do we override it?" Thomas was rubbing at his brow, still internally aggravated that his second lieutenant had left despite his order to stand down.
"Procedure calls for a six-digit code to counteract the protocol, to which only David knows…"
Thomas sighed wearily. "What are those things, down there? Can they be killed?"
A barking laugh was let loose from her nonexistent lips, and Campbell came to Lydia's side as she was furiously typing away. "Can you hack it?"
Her luminous, red-tinted eyes were full of shame, and she slowly shook her head. "It-it's way out of my league…sorry."
He shifted the weight of his gun in his callused palms. "Well, let's hope those bots can take care of those things before they make their way up here."
"What the fuck?!" Evelyn growled, blinking through the dim, crimson lighting.
David had an air of indifference as he finished downloading data from his personal terminal to his Pip-Boy, and then proceeded to purge the system. "We cannot risk for them to follow-urck!"
A fist was driven through his chest and ripped straight back out. A dazzling burst of blood misted over the terminal. There was a choked gasp, and he slumped in a lifeless heap over his desk.
"You're just as much as a fuck as the rest of them," Evelyn muttered crossly to herself, taking the end of his lab coat and wiping the gore from her arm.
Something snagged on the fabric, and she nabbed at it with her fingers. A piece of electrical wiring was entwined over the leather of her arm, and she inspected it curiously. Her eyes flit to the corpse, and she turned him over to face upright. Dangling from his open chest were circuits and machinery, and her eyes widened at the realization. She had heard of synths…but had never actually believed in their existence.
Quickly, she unstrapped his Pip-Boy and latched it to her forearm. There was sure to be a plethora of information on it. David's body- was it really David?- was slid off to the side, and she began to rifle through his desk. There were so many files that made absolutely no sense to her and she bit her lip, turning back to the synth at her feet. A groping search through his pockets, and she procured a crinkled, flimsy piece of paper that was instantly familiar.
A grin cracked on her lips, and she proceeded out of the room.
Roman heard the alarm, automatically performing a 180 swivel on his heel to run down the hall. It signaled the failsafe protocol, to which his previous assigned order meant an automatic failure, and there was no use in its completion now. He took a left and jumped down a stairwell, his boots making a rather loud smack against the landing, and he groaned as his wounded shoulder jarred. Bypassing around the Experiment section would add a few minutes of time to his route, but it was either that, or the chance of dismemberment upon meeting one of the few rejected trials.
"Whoawhoawhoawhoa-!" A rasped, shouting voice drew his attention down the other hallway. He snapped his head to the sound, and he spied the bounty hunter making a leap over some fallen equipment, narrowly dodging the massive, snapping jaws at his heels. "Get the fuck away from me!"
They both disappeared down another stairwell, and the blue ghoul turned in a different direction. If they were already this far through the vault, then he would perhaps be safest making past the infirmary. His right arm was as good as useless until he sought aid, and he did not wish to draw himself into an unnecessary fight that would cost him his life.
Holyfu- The grey ghoul skidded around a corner. A snap in the space where his head just was. He didn't dare look back, if he were to slip up for even just a split second-
A whish of air, followed by a squeal as a disfigured sentry bot went flying and crashed head-on into the creature's skull. Bits of bone and brain matter spattered in a small radius, and the monster gave a few shudders before lying completely still.
Evelyn clapped her hands together and proceeded to give him a murderous glare.
"Oof!" She was immediately pushed against the wall; a tongue was already down her throat.
She squeaked; her palms cupped around the ghoul's chin and pushed him back. His hands halted in their action; one was cupping a breast under her shirt, and he had his other dipped into her underwear. "-what the fuck- no, hello?!"
A shrug. "Thought this was hello." He leaned forward to kiss her again. "Ow." Her flushed face and solid punch to his gut gave him an answer and he groaned. "I think you cracked a fuckin' rib."
"Good. You're a lying fuck," she tearfully growled. "I should just crack your entire fucking ribcage, you fucking-"
"Nononono-" The merc held up one hand in a sign of surrender, holding onto his side with the other. It fucking hurt. "You'll fuckin kill me."
"I should." Regardless to her threat, she was inspecting him suspiciously, before finally reaching under his shirt and pinching him, earning a muffled 'ouch'.
"I didn't hit you that hard," she hissed. "Big fucking baby."
An impatient sigh. "Can we fuck, and then talk?"
An exasperated, weary laugh. "Can we talk, and then fuck?"
A pause. "We fuck, talk, then fuck again. Everyone's a winner."
She squirmed underneath him; her body was screaming at them to continue. "Fine-" Cross began to unbuckle the straps at his waist. "-uh- here, now?!"
"What?" Another shrug of indifference as he glanced down the somewhat empty hallway. "Good enough place as any."
"Seriously-!"
A roll of his eyes, and he grabbed at her blood-stained hand and dragged her into the first suitable room he could find.
"Wait." Charon immediately banded an arm out, halting the rosy ghoul from advancing.
THUD THUD THUD
One of those things was sluggishly roving down the next hallway, dripping thick, hot blood from where its lower mandible was ripped off.
Slowly, the duo backed away quietly, turning into a room as they waited for the thing to pass.
THUD THUD THUD
Charon finally gave a nod as he peered out to observe the cleared area. They proceeded stealthily and came down a section where they heard the most explicit noises.
"F-fuck!"
Penny was so lightheaded from embarrassment she was sure she wanted nothing more than to die in her spot.
"Ah-!"
There was a loud grunt, and a sultry whimper. A menacing growl erupted from Charon's throat, and quite suddenly, he turned the corner and stepped inside the open room.
"CHARON!" There was a tumult of shouting. "GET THE FUCK OUT! CROSS, WAIT-NONONO-!"
A bang! A shot had been let off, and it ripped through a wall somewhere in the room, startling the rosy ghoul. A naked, grey figure was then thrown out into the hallway, crashing against the wall in a slump.
"Ugh-shit." Cross coughed as he was reminded of his broken ribs, clutching a hand against his side as he rose off the floor.
"Charon- NO!" Evelyn's equally bare body drew flush against the frontside of the ferryman as she halted his advancement; his shotgun was raised and pointed directly at the merc's head. "Don't!"
A growl, and he glanced down at her.
"Please." She nearly cried at him, and his shotgun clattered to the floor as he scooped her up and held her tightly to his chest. "Guh! Charon!"
A garbled hiss, and Penny blinked back to the bounty hunter. A spit of blood was hacked to the floor, and the merc gave her an awkward, small wave of his hand. "Hey, Penny."
"Are you hurt?" Charon's eyes began to flit over her bare skin, and she bloomed a dark shade under the filtered lighting and crossed her arms over her breasts.
"N-no!" she sputtered at him. "I-uhm-we-" Her eyes went wide at the sight of his wound. "You're bleeding."
"It is fine. It is not safe here- we need to leave." The ferryman ushered her back inside, and began to hand her articles of clothing after setting her down gently. "Where is the man that was with you?"
She tucked a tumble of hair behind one ear, pulling up her underwear. "…I killed him." She nabbed at the merc's pants and threw them at him. "He was a synth."
Cross snapped his head up at her. "A synth?"
A nod of her head. "He…he said he was going to take me to Boston." She clasped her bra behind her back, sniffling. The backside of her hand went across her eyes, wiping at the fresh tears.
"Fuck's wrong?"
"I'm sorry." She drew in a shaky breath. "I-I was going to-"
Those gray fingers cupped around the sides of her face, and Cross was busily kissing her all over as she hiccupped and mewled her last tears. His lips were then on hers, and he began to kiss her for so long she started to fidget in her spot.
"We are goin' to make this up every, single, day." Another kiss, and their breathing was beginning to grow heavy and hot. "Jesus fuck." A laugh: it was rough. "Holy fuckin' hell." He loosened his grip, but did not remove his hands from her. Gray fingertips stroked across her lips, and gently traced the curves of her face. "You are never leavin' me, ever, you hear me? You're goin' to be mine, forever, whether you want to or not, so get used to it."
A shaky nod, and her shuddering breath was hitching in her chest. There was a garbled hum in his throat as they continued their oral fixation on each other, and he was groping her chest.
An aggravated sigh to their side, and she blinked through her wet lashes at the annoyed ghoul peering down at them.
"This is not the place," Charon growled. "Come."
The merc firmly grabbed her chin and planted a kiss on her forehead. "I was about to until you fuckin' interrupted."
Penny gave a garbled gasp outside the room from where she was granting them privacy.
Evelyn immediately grew flustered at the merc's blunt statement. "Y-you can't just say that!"
"What?" He shrugged at her, giving a wince. "I'm over here, a chest full of fuckin' broken ribs, railin' your brains out, got you twice-"
Her face was now a furnace, and she angrily squeaked. "OhmyGod-!"
"-got fuckin' monsters chasin' my ass, gettin' shot at, listenin' to Thomas just fuckin' talk-"
"Cross!"
"-and I don't even get the satisfaction of blowin' a load in ya." He slapped his hands at his sides. "If that ain't the damn icin' on the fuckin' cake-"
Gunshots rang out.
