Chapter 19 - The Codex Dilemma
Dr. Binet leveled his gaze at the synth detective. His steepled fingers touched the top of his lips.
"Something like this has never been done before." He replied.
"So it's impossible?"
Dr. Binet shook his head. "Nothing is impossible, but I want to approach this with the right amount of cautious optimism. Are you sure you want to do this? I can't stop the process once it begins."
"I'm sure." Nick replied.
"And you've told Nora about this?"
The synth glanced at the floor. His brows furrowed in worry and shame. "She's not to know unless it's necessary. This is a backup plan right now. If it turns out I don't need it, then I'd rather not worry her for nothing."
"She has a right to know." Dr. Binet said. There was clear disapproval in his voice.
"I'll tell her if it works. If it doesn't … well you'll just load me back up into this ol' jalopy anyway. Right?"
The scientist nodded, "All of your memories, data, ect. are backed up onto a private server. I also gave DiMA a physical copy before he left. The worst thing that could happen is that we've just wasted time. The risk to you is minimal."
"Fime." Nick said. "Let's get this over with."
Nick settled back in the medical chair and rested his head against the plastic padding. Binet wheeled a console nearby and attached metal leads to his temples and his forehead. He felt a faint vibrating sensation across the sensor net in his face and he almost felt like sneezing. Then Binet slipped a blood pressure cuff over his arm and pumped up the bulb until the cuff was pressing uncomfortably on the tubing that ran through his inner arm. Lastly, the doctor brought over a stainless steel tray on wheels. Atop the tray sat a severed synth hand. Wires, coolant tubing, and titanium alloy bone stuck out of the appendage like a steampunk version of a slaughterhouse. Nick's stomach churned.
"I want you to put yourself into a low-power hibernation mode." Dr. Binet said. "The only area that should have power should be your brain and your memory drives. Once the procedure is done, I'll manually boot you back up with a low voltage charge to your heart."
"I'm trusting you, doc." Nick slurred as he shut his body down.
His eye lights flickered off, his body became stiff, and his head lolled forward. Nick's last thought was of Nora.
"Paladin Meyers, do a headcount of the survivors! Paladin Rhys, assemble a team and head out to The Castle. I want you to make an example of everyone there."
"Yes sir!" The soldiers answered Elder Maxson in near unison.
Thick black smoke billowed up into the morning sky. It took almost all of their soldiers to put out the worst of the flames as the ceiling of the Boston Airport collapsed. Maxson considered it a small victory that Liberty Prime's construction was finished. They might've been hit, but they would still have steel to their teeth when they attacked. First the Institute would fall, then he'd set his sight on the disobedient rebels called the Minutemen.
Just then, the jaunty and melodic sounds of violins echoed through the acrid cloud of burning diesel and oil. The sounds grew louder and louder as an eyebot flew over Maxson's head playing music. As the song came to an end, a baritone voice came on over the radio broadcast and said, "This is Radio Freedom, broadcasting all day, all across the Commonwealth."
Then a woman's gravely alto voice interrupted the broadcast, "All right, listen up Maxson. You don't know me, and right about now, you probably want to kill me. But that artillery blast was a courtesy warning. If you keep sending your thugs to our settlements to loot and pillage food under the guise of taxation, you can bet that my second artillery round is gonna be at your blimp. You've been warned."
A jubilant tinny folk tune came on before the same baritone voice took over again. "It's 9:46am in the Commonwealth. Stay safe out —"
The eyebot exploded into a pile of shrapnel and melted metal. Its hull and internal workings clattered on the ground as Maxson lowered his laser pistol with a furious snarl.
The mood was somber in the Memory Den. Kent's Silver Shroud radio broadcast wasn't playing and Irma wasn't lounging on the red chaise while listening to the new and improved Diamond City Radio. In fact, the entire building seemed empty.
"Where is everyone?" Nora murmured to Hancock.
"With the influx of new synths, the Railroad has recruited some extra helpers to get them all to safe houses and settlements." he replied.
His hand was warm on her mid-back and he gently but firmly guided her towards the staircase that led to Dr. Amari's lab. It felt as though Hancock was trying to ensure that she wouldn't run away or balk at the idea of seeing Madison's body.
Nora stepped into Dr. Amari's laboratory and the woman glanced up at them. Her dark eyes were hard and the deep bags that framed them spoke of sleepless nights and constant worry.
"Nora!" She let out a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad you're alright."
The woman engulfed Nora in a hug. Despite her waifishness, Dr. Amari was wiry and strong and the hug she gave Nora crushed her lungs.
"I — I'm okay." she choked out. "T-thanks."
Dr. Amari pulled away. "I'm sorry Nora. I just —" she sighed. "The last that I heard about you was that you were shot out of the sky in a vertibird. If Deacon hadn't reported back with the news that you were alive, well I would've — I just thought that …"
She cleared her throat and shook her head to regain composure. "I'm sorry. You're alive and safe. That's what matters right now."
"Nora's on a tight schedule Doc." Hancock said. "We're here to pay our respects to her friend before we move on."
"Uh … of course." she replied. "Dr. Virgil is with her right now. I'll go and relieve him. Just one moment please."
Dr. Amari went around the corner and ducked behind a blue medical partition. She murmured something to Dr. Virgil who responded in his own unintelligible basso rumble. A few seconds later, Virgil emerged and he stalked over to the cot that was tucked away in the corner. His shoulders were stooped and his hair was unkempt. His good eye shone with tears and faint lines of moisture dried on his cheek. His other eye was covered with a black eye patch.
The springs squeaked in protest as he sat on the comically small bed and rested his head in his hands. His dark hair stuck through his large fingers like black grass climbing through cobblestone. He looked like a lesson in grief and Nora figured it was wise to let him grieve in peace.
"Are you ready Nora?" Dr. Amari asked.
She gestured to the partition with an open hand and Nora approached the hospital gurney like she was trying to sneak up on a sleeping deathclaw.
The doctor peeled back the sheet and rested it over the woman's chest. Madison Li laid there. Her eyes were closed. Her lips were turned down into her usual small scowl. Her salt and pepper hair started to curl around her wild and unkempt, so unlike the severe bun she always wore. Her skin was unnaturally pale and her lips, the corners of her eyes, and the tips of her ears were blue. The ocean water must've been just above freezing so if the fall hadn't killed her instantly, then the combination of the shock, hypothermia, and drowning did.
"Was it quick?"
Dr. Amari sighed and she pursed her lips. "Yes, but it was not painless. There were no signs that she died by drowning which meant that her cause of death was blunt force trauma to her vital organs. She broke several ribs, lacerated her liver, spleen, and left lung, and a fragment of her broken rib speared her through the heart. Death happened within seconds of her hitting the water."
Nora sank into a nearby chair. "I'm sorry." she whispered to nobody in particular. "I'm so sorry."
Dr. Amari gripped Nora's shoulder and squeezed. "No Nora. There's nothing for which you should be sorry. I didn't know her but Dr. Virgil did. He said that out of all the people he has met, Dr. Li was the one who was the most principled and strong-willed that he's worked with. She made this decision. You didn't."
Nora shook her head and she gently touched Madison's hand. Her skin was ice cold but dry. Coolant stains and minor abrasions marred her fingers and her knuckles. The wounds looked fresh.
"We did find something interesting." Dr. Amari said. "She had the foresight to wrap this in plastic and stitch it into her Brotherhood uniform which makes me think that she had suicide on her mind for a while."
The woman passed Nora a thick booklet wrapped in the same plastic that industrial companies used to package bulk items for delivery. The parcel smelled of salt and fish, but otherwise, the booklet was unharmed.
Nora tore open the plastic and unfolded the small multi-page pamphlet. It actually looked like the pocket brochures that the Pre-War evangelical churches started handing out when the riots started. The cover had the Brotherhood of Steel's emblem stamped on in black ink. There was no title or by-line so Nora opened the first page and read the typed information aloud:
"Article I: Through discourse, we gain the strength of our Brothers' minds. Learn from each other and share information readily among your fellow Brothers. Withholding intel or misrepresenting, obscuring, or falsifying information hurts your Brother and thus hurts us all. Strength exists in unity. Failure is the result of selfishness in both thoughts and actions."
"Article II: Give way your suspicions to the wisdom of thine Elder. Where he shows trust, so shall you. Our success is dependent upon our Elder. He is the welded steel link forged in fire and blood who does not yield under stress and pressure. The crucible that would burn lesser men alive is what forges great Elders."
"What the hell is this?" Hancock asked.
"I think it's the Brotherhood's Code of Conduct or something." Nora replied.
Dr. Amari pursed her lips. "It sounds like the Brotherhood's Codex. It's the central document that details expected conduct, but it also lays out policies, procedures, expectations, and consequences for infractions."
"Okay…then why would Dr. Li bother smuggling this out?" Nora asked.
Dr. Virgil's tone was cold. "Because there is a way to depose the Elder. Dr. Li kept telling Father that the Brotherhood of Steel was a threat. She told us this when she first arrived as an exile from the Citadel, and she tried to remind us year after year that it was only a matter of time before the Brotherhood came to Boston. I suspect that Madison was working on something behind-the-scenes to try and mitigate the Brotherhood threat."
"Infighting or disloyalty among their ranks would be the most efficient way to weaken a group like that." Dr. Amari replied, approval colored her tone.
"And maybe that's what Dr. Li was trying to do." Nora said.
The other three looked skeptical, but Nora shook her head and started pacing across the laboratory floor as she worked everything out.
"Just hear me out. When I was captured by the Brotherhood, I heard people whispering about Maxson's totalitarian rule. At first, I thought I was just hearing voices in my head or something but sound carries in a metal hull. There are some soldiers who are dissatisfied with Maxson's leadership, but none of them would ever dare to speak out against him."
"None except maybe the two degenerates that have graced my doorstep." Hancock growled.
Dr. Amari's eyes flashed to Hancock's and she frowned, "You have two Brotherhood of Steel soldiers imprisoned here?"
He glared at her, "I got one imprisoned and the other under house arrest at the Rexford. They came to me lookin' for asylum and I gave it to them. Ain't no place safer for tin cans like them then under my watchful eye."
"Shit." Nora looked at Dr. Virgil. "Did Madison ever help Dr. Ayo or Dr. Binet with the synth program? Like did she ever create a synth herself?"
Virgil's face contorted into a half-snarl, "Ayo was more keen to work with her than she was with him. Apparently she knew Dr. Zimmer in the Capital Wasteland and Ayo thought that Dr. Li knew the particulars behind his absence and that he could … seduce it from her."
"She was on better terms with Dr. Binet. I advised her against it but she allowed Binet to scan her brain and put copies of her memories, her experiences in Rivet City, and her general scientific and engineering aptitude into the program that Binet uses to implant consciousnesses into Gen-3 synths. She was the only scientist at the Institute who allowed him intimate access to her memories."
"So her memories of the Capital Wasteland could have been implanted into a Gen-3 synth?" Nora clarified.
"I suppose so." Dr. Virgil replied. "Typically Binet avoids one-to-one memory transfers because they increase the likelihood of psychosis among the synths. It's like experiencing one long moment of deja vu. Synths need a variety of memories to construct their own narrative. One-to-one memory uploads fail to hide the fact that the memories aren't organic. Eventually synths will start to realize that they're not human."
Nora felt her stomach tighten in disgust. "And what happens when they realize it?"
"Some run away." Dr. Virgil replied. "Once they leave the Institute, all of their knowledge about us is erased from their memories. The unfortunate few still struggle with the idea that they're not human. They know they're a synth even if they're not sure what that means. Eventually the stories about the Commonwealth Boogeyman reach them and they take their own life."
"And what about the fortunate ones?" Hancock growled. "They just replace people and live as them, masquerading as them, until people finally start questioning if their brother or their father is actually one of them?"
Virgil shook his head. "Ideally, the fortunate ones never realize that they're synths at all. They live their lives as normally as possible. They assimilate into society."
"And …" Nora murmured. "They sometimes join the Brotherhood of Steel."
"So who is the synth? The mouthy chick or crew cut?" Hancock's question held an air of contempt for the whole situation.
"Danse is a synth." Nora said. "That's why he attacked me in the State House. He blames me for what the Institute did to him."
"But you didn't make him." Amari pointed out. "His creation had to be ten years ago, at least."
Nora stared at Dr. Li's body. Tears slid down her cheeks and she didn't bother brushing them away. She did create Danse, in a way. She issued his recall code so she could escape. She took away the failsafe that stopped him from remembering just who and what he was. She destroyed this man's life so she could keep her own.
"I need to talk to Danse." Nora said.
"Nora. He ain't gonna be up to talkin'. If he's even conscious at all." Hancock replied. "Besides, that asshole attacked you. I ain't gonna let you —"
"— I wasn't asking your fucking permission." Nora snapped. "And don't treat me like I'm some damsel in distress. I can handle myself."
Everyone else in the room tried to avoid eye contact with the other. The morose atmosphere now had a layer of underlying tension and Nora needed to get out of there.
She walked over to Madison's side and squeezed the woman's hand one last time.
"Thank you for caring for Madison's body." She told Dr. Amari.
"Of course." The woman replied. "Virgil has advised that we cremate her remains. Apparently that is customary at the Institute. I imagine she'd want that rather than a traditional burial in the Commonwealth."
Nora nodded. "I think she'd prefer cremation too." Then Nora turned to Dr. Virgil and offered him her hand. "I'm sorry for your loss. I know that you and her were close."
Virgil shook Nora's hand. "Madison and I were workplace associates, but in that environment, she was as close as I got to a friend. I am just sorry that everything turned out this way."
"Me too." Nora murmured as she glanced once more at Madison's body.
The walk back to the State House was silent. Hancock lagged a full stride behind Nora and she could almost smell the surly stubbornness of his wounded male ego.
He stopped outside the whitewashed door to the State House but Nora kept on walking.
"Sunshine…" he said softly.
Nora stopped but she didn't turn around.
"I'm sorry." he said. "If I would've ever talked to Fahrenheit that way, she would've kicked my fuckin' teeth in … again. You don't need my permission to do anything. Just … just know that whatever you choose to do, I'll have your back."
Nora's heart broke. The pain in Hancock's voice was raw and untarnished by his typical bluster, but when she turned around to respond, the door to the State House clicked shut.
Nora watched Scribe Haylen's eyes flit across the Codex and the diagram of the Prydwen that Madison smuggled to Nora when she was Maxson's captive. The scribe rapidly came to the same conclusions that Nora had.
"You bitch!" She snarled. "There are children aboard the Prydwen! And you're going to blow it out of the sky?"
Nora's expression remained stony. "If I was planning that, why would I clue you in on that plan?I'm telling you this as an act of faith and trust between us. There are innocent children and families in the Institute as well, and your Elder is going to unleash a murder robot armed with nuclear weaponry to blow them out of the ground. Don't you see? Your Brotherhood and … my Institute … are quite similar."
She hated how easily the words my Institute rolled off her tongue. She didn't want it. She never wanted it, but now that Nora's made decisions that will impact everyone there, she felt that taking ownership was the right thing to do.
"Elder Maxon wont bend." Haylen said. "He won't negotiate. He is single-minded in his determination which is what makes him an effective leader."
"Or a dictator." Nora replied.
Haylen glowered but she didn't bother correcting her.
"He won't change his mind about the Institute. Period." Haylen said. "Ever since he caught word that the Institute was sending synths out into the wasteland, he made it his mission to come to Boston and stop it. He thinks he's the Commonwealth's savior. He is going to stop Boston from becoming a toxic wasteland like D.C."
Nora sighed. "I am the Institute's Director. I've already told you that the Gen-3 synth program is shut down. We're not making any more Gen-3s, nor are we sending them out to the wasteland or replacing people with synths. The Commonwealth Boogeyman is dead. Now I'm trying to clean up the damage that my predecessors created. I don't want Boston to turn into a wasteland anymore than Maxson does."
"That still doesn't change the fact that he's the Elder." Haylen said. "And it doesn't change the fact that Danse and I are prisoners of war right now, not to mention exiles. Why the hell would we help you?"
Nora gestured to the Codex. "I can't help you, but I think you both can help yourselves."
Haylen's glare softened slightly. Something like hope crept into her eyes.
"Danse knows he's a synth, but that doesn't take away the fact that he is a Brotherhood soldier first and foremost. A factory reset code is not a memory wipe. The Danse you know hasn't changed."
The smaller woman swallowed the complex lump of emotions that rose to her throat. She was and would always be a Brotherhood of Steel soldier, but she did assault a fellow Brotherhood member. Her exile was warranted, but Danse … Danse had done nothing but serve the Brotherhood with honor and dignity. He rose to the rank of Paladin because of his hard work, honor, and bravery. His synth-ness had very little to do with that.
Haylen sighed, "If you can get me outta this shitty hotel and bring me to Danse, then I'll try and convince him to invoke the Codex."
Nora nodded. "We have a deal."
She held out her hand to the woman. After a moment of hesitation Haylen nodded and shook her hand.
"We have a deal." She agreed.
Danse laid on his side in the dirty jail cell. Whatever sedative they gave him had worn off, but he was still too tired to rise to his feet. Or maybe he just didn't care to. He wasn't a man. He was a machine. Machines didn't need to be comfortable, or clean, or safe. Machines didn't feel.
Just then, the door opened at the other end of the hallway and a pair of footsteps descended the stairs. Both silhouettes looked feminine and as they approached his cell, Danse saw Haylen walking behind the Vault Dweller, and both women looked like they had struck an uneasy alliance.
Danse sat up and then he pulled himself to his feet. The bullet wound in his leg still hurt but the medicine the zombie gave him managed to stave off an infection.
"Haylen." He croaked. "Are you okay?"
She nodded. "Yeah I'm fine. The ghoul had me locked in some old hotel room and then the Vault Dweller freed me."
Danse eyed the other woman suspiciously, "Why would you do that?"
"I did it because I'm here to make an alliance with you." Nora replied. "I don't want to destroy the Brotherhood. I've never wanted that."
"Bullshit." He snapped. "You've been a security threat ever since we heard reports of you emerging from that Vault two years ago. Vault Dwellers cannot be trusted. None of you can."
Nora pulled up an old beer crate and set it in front of the cell bars. She stepped around it and then she sat down. Haylen stepped forward as though she was lending moral support to the other woman, but she turned her gaze to Danse instead.
"Please Danse. Just listen to her." Haylen begged. "We only have Elder Maxson's word to go on, and frankly, she's done nothing to warrant our suspicion or our distrust."
"She's part of the Institute." He snarled.
"And so were you!" Haylen exclaimed. Then she added in a softer, somewhat unsure voice, "Or … at least you were at first."
"I might've been made at the Institute but I am not one of them." He snarled.
"No you're not." Haylen agreed. "But neither is Nora. Just listen to what she has to say first. I think we've all jumped to conclusions that are otherwise unfounded."
Danse's upper lip curled into a defiant and stubborn snarl. He exhaled his anger out his nose in a heavy plume of lightly frosted air and leaned his back against the wall to take pressure off his leg.
"Fine."
Nora reached into her jacket and passed Haylen a folded piece of paper. The woman opened it, her eyes widened in terrified astonishment, and then she passed the paper through the bars to Danse.
"That sheet was recovered by one of our agents. You had an Institute scientist there by the name of Dr. Madison Li. She was building Liberty Prime for you, but she was also working reconnaissance for us."
Cold fire seemed to glow in Danse's dark eyes. He shook his head in disgust and disbelief. His voice was as hard as steel, "You were going to commit genocide?"
"No." Nora replied. "I am trying to stop it from happening. The floor plan of your airship and the information about the hydrogen ballasts were seen by Dr. Li and myself. I haven't shared this information with anyone else, not even the Institute. I am passing this information onto you as a gesture of good will. I do not want this information to fall into the wrong hands. This is a fight between Elder Maxson and myself. The innocent people — my scientists and your soldiers — do not need to die."
Danse swallowed which made his Adam's apple bob in his throat. He shook his head again and gave Haylen a pleading look.
"Sir, you were the one who told me that war is never about winning or losing. It's about preparing the way for the rest of the world to rebuild and thrive. That's what Nora is trying to do as well. She isn't the megalomaniacal leader that Maxson thinks she is. Most of the Institute's sins fall on her predecessors' shoulders, not hers."
"The Institute is a threat." Danse echoed weakly. "They represent everything bad that happens when science is allowed to run unrestrained and unchecked." He winced and it looked as though these next words were physically painful for him to say. "I'm proof of that."
"Are you though?" Nora asked. "From the little that I know about you Paladin, you seem to be an example of how the Brotherhood of Steel can help others. Haylen shared with me that you, her, and another soldier were fighting off plagues of feral ghouls at the Cambridge Police Station for a full month before Elder Maxson sent a team to get you out of there. Haylen owes her life to you Danse, as do I."
Danse's expression soured, "You're alive because you hijacked my suit of power armor. For all I know, the Institute is dismantling it as we speak so you can learn even more about the Brotherhood's superior technology."
Nora bit her lip to conceal the truth of what actually happened to Danse's power armor. The only things possibly dismantling it were mirelurks or extremely brave scavvers.
Danse sighed, "I'm not your commanding officer any more Haylen. I'm turning this decision over to you."
"I want to go home Danse. I'll accept whatever punishment that awaits me for assaulting Proctor Quinlan, but I just want to go home."
"How are you gonna convince the ghoul to let us go?" Danse asked.
Nora smirked and produced a large ring of keys from her pocket. Whomever Hancock had stationed to be guard wasn't at his post which made grabbing the keys all too easy.
"I don't need to convince him if he doesn't know." Nora smirked.
After escorting Danse and Haylen back through the front gates in Goodneighbor, she trudged up the three flights of stairs and opened Hancock's office door without knocking.
The ghoul was sitting at his desk writing something down in a large leather bound account book. A cigarette sat smoldering in the ashtray and the room smelled vaguely of marijuana.
Nora approached Hancock and tossed the dungeon keys on his desk. "Your guard wasn't at his post which made stealing from you rather anticlimactic."
Hancock stopped writing and he eyed the keys. His expression was unreadable. Eventually he started writing again.
"You let them go." Hancock stated.
"I let them go." Nora repeated.
"And Reno wasn't there to stop you." It was another statement and this time there was a dangerous edge in Hancock's tone.
"No he wasn't."
Hancock rose from his chair and closed the ledger. His dark eyes were alert. He picked up the dying cigarette from the ashtray, lightly blew on the end so the ember continued to burn, and took a long drag from the filter.
He exhaled and the scent of marijuana got stronger. Nora's eyes widened in surprise and grew even wider when he offered the joint to her.
"I thought Amari had you on some sort of drug cessation medication to help with your amnesia." Nora said.
Hancock smirked defiantly. "She does but that shit only works on the hard stuff. Daisy's been growin' pot in some little apartment she squats in when she needs a break from the Goodneighbor crowd. She gave me some as a birthday gift. This is the last of it."
"Birthday gift? When was your birthday?"
"January 1st. Too fuckin' bad I didn't remember that until two days later on account of the brain damage."
Nora took the joint from Hancock and inhaled. It made her lungs tingle a little, unlike tobacco, and she exhaled the nearly invisible smoke out the corner of her mouth.
"Happy belated birthday." Nora said, slightly more hoarse than usual.
Hancock leaned up against his desk and held out his hand. Nora took it and she let him pull her closer.
"How long have you got before they teleport you outta here?"
Nora checked her watch. "An hour and a half or so. At five p.m. I turn into a pumpkin."
"What's a pumpkin?" Hancock asked straight-faced.
She smiled and nuzzled her forehead against his chest. "Fuck … I don't like being mad at you."
"Then don't be." He said.
Nora sighed, "That's not how it works."
"I know, sunshine." He said sincerely. "I ain't got nothin to say 'cept that I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too." She said. "If the townsfolk get pissed at you because I let those Brotherhood soldiers go, go ahead and throw me under the bus. I can take it."
Hancock set the joint back in the ashtray and cupped Nora's face in his hands. His hands felt warm and she leaned into his touch.
"I ain't throwin' you under any bus. If anyone in Goodneighbor has a problem with how I run things, then they can come and confront me about it. I told ya I'd stand by whatever you decided."
"Thank you."
Nora kissed him. He sighed against her mouth and pushed his tongue past her lips to meet hers. His lips were textured, just like the majority of him, and she laved the tip of her tongue along his upper lip tasting the Nuka Cola he had with dinner and the earthy notes of the marijuana.
She hadn't smoked pot since her rebellious phase in high school, and even then, that stuff was mostly low quality shit that dealers cut with oregano. The stuff that Daisy had was potent. Nora felt like she was floating or like the entire room was gently rolling on ocean waves.
"How ya feelin' sunshine?" Hancock purred as he nipped at her earlobe.
She moaned. It was a breathy, insubstantial sound that aroused the both of them.
"One hit of that and I'm already stoned." She said flatly. "I haven't smoked since high school. I — I forgot what it felt like to feel … calm."
"Pretty fuckin' nice, huh?" He asked.
Nora nodded. "So fuckin' nice."
Hancock picked Nora up, and although they were roughly the same height, Nora's body felt loose and boneless in Hancock's strong arms. She giggled against his shoulder as he carried her towards the bed.
Instead of plopping her down, Hancock laid her out gently and kissed her once again. Nora's insides felt like jelly and she knew that she was wet. Hancock's kisses became all consuming and they both broke away at different times for a greedy gasp of air before diving back in again.
Hancock broke away first and snuck his hands beneath her flannel traveling shirt to cup her breasts. His hands were warm and the calluses on his palms and the mottled flesh along his fingers only served to heighten her arousal. Nora worked at the knotted flag belt at his waist while he unbuttoned her shirt. Soon it turned into a race to see which could get the other naked first. Hancock won.
Nora moan was guttural when she felt his mouth on her sex. His breath seemed to scorch her and yet drive her to another level of arousal. His tongue was the only thing on his body that wasn't textured in some way, and it felt heavenly. Nick's oral talents were enthusiastic, but Hancock knew what he was doing.
He alternated the pressure and around the bundle of nerves instead of right on it. He built her up just so he could tear her down by denying her climax not once but twice.
"Hancock…" She whined.
He ran his tongue up her abdomen and sucked a hickey just below her right breast.
"I wanna hear you say my name, sunshine." He whispered. "My real name."
"John…" Nora panted. "Please John, let me cum."
"How d'ya want it?"
"Your cock." Nora panted. Her head spun from the sex and the joint. "I need you John. Please fuck me."
Hancock flipped Nora over onto her stomach and palmed her ass before delivering a light slap to her creamy flesh. He slicked his cock with her natural lubrication and then thrust into her hot core. They both moaned. Hancock laced his fingers through Nora's and held her against him as he slowly rocked against her.
He planted kisses along her neck and then he used his tongue to trace the freckles that dusted her left shoulder. Nora moved beneath him rolling and rocking her hips upward to slake the fire that threatened to consume her.
Nora lost herself in John. She fell into the pleasure and the ecstasy, but she also languished in his earnest, gentle touches and his soft growls of encouragement whenever his touch drew a new response from her. When she was with Hancock, she almost forgot about her pain and fear, the upcoming battle, and the lives that might be lost. She sought escape in Hancock's arms and for one blissful moment, Nora got it.
Hancock rolled with Nora so he was spooning her from behind. He hooked his arm beneath her left leg and angled himself ever so slightly upward that each thrust hit her G-spot.
"John…hmm…fuck." she purred. "How are you so good at this?"
"Practice makes perfect, sunshine." Nora heard the smug smile in his voice without having to turn and see his face. "And, you ain't too bad yourself."
Nora's laugh turned into another moan as Hancock teased his fingers along her labia. He stopped thrusting into her core, and instead, he let her sit on the precipice of tortured desire. Nora wanted to scream. Her vagina clenched around his firm cock in semi-rhythmic pulses as though she could milk the pleasure from him.
"You want me to let you come?" Hancock growled in her ear.
Nora nodded. "Yes…fuck yes. Please. I can't take this. Help me come. Please John, let me come."
Hancock growled in pleasure. "I don't get to hear you beg that often. I kinda like it."
"Fuck…I'll beg more if you want, but I —"
She never finished her thought. Between Hancock's talented fingers and the effects of the weed, Nora lost herself in the aftermath. She came so hard that tears pricked her eyes and her voice grew a little hoarse. Time stood still. She almost forgot to breathe. Hancock groaned and bit her shoulder as he came after her.
"Fuck…I love you, sunshine."
Nora smiled. "It doesn't count when you say that during sex…but thanks." She reached back and took Hancock's hand and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I just can't remember if I told you that yet." Hancock replied. "And if I haven't, then I wanted to let you know. And you don't gotta say it back now. I ain't that kinda guy, but —"
Nora rolled over to face him. She cupped his cheek and drew him in for a kiss.
Nora's heart ached. This was nearly the same thing he said to her when they went out on an impromptu date together. He had killed a man for her — in defense of her — and Ayo had threatened Nora's life in a message that he sent to Hancock. The ghoul's admission of love held the same cautious optimism that was masked with self-deprecating good-humor.
"I love you John." she whispered against his lips. "Whatever happens in the next twenty-four hours will not change that. Even if I —"
No. Nora couldn't bring herself to say it but Hancock picked up on the message anyway.
"Nothin's gonna happen to ya." he promised. "You got me watchin' your back. Ya feel me?"
"Yeah, I feel ya." Nora replied.