15
Patience awoke as the Brotherhood night patrol returned, falling onto their cots fully clothed and exhausted. She suspected that they would have slept in their power armour if they could. Valrie and Gia remained fast asleep in their cots, Valrie curled into a fetal ball, mumbling in her sleep, and Gia, all arms and legs, stretched out with her covers dripping down to the floor.
She wandered down to the canteen, still in her underclothes, barefooted and grabbed herself a mug of something hot and brown that could have been coffee, if coffee tasted like machine oil. Ignoring her own grimace at the taste, she continued her wanderings, passing by the aid station, where several of the Brotherhood soldiers still received medical attention from the battle the day before.
Finding the armoury, she located her Chinese assault rifle and a maintenance kit and began to break the weapon down. She checked, cleaned and oiled everything, testing the spring for tension, checking the rifling of the barrel, before putting it all back together again and testing the action. She did the same for her sidearm. She began to sharpen the knife she had taken from the raider, back at Girdershade, when she felt a tap on her arm.
"They'll already have done all that. SOP, even for 'guests' weapons." Vincent looked worn out as he reached over for his own rifle. "But I get it. You check your weapon yourself, only you're to blame if it fails."
"'They'?" Patience spat on the whetstone and began circling the blade. "Seems like 'they' is you, too. You kept that quiet, 'Brother' Vincent."
Vincent dropped his eyes as he began breaking down his rifle. His movements came across as precisely practiced. Every step of the maintenance as if he had performed it a million times, yet even in that, Patience knew on an instinctive level that she was better than him, which caused her to wonder about her hidden past once more.
"I can't talk about it. It's classified." He blew into the barrel and looked through it. "All I can say is that it's for the good of the whole of the Capital Wasteland. I'm not the bad guy, here."
"Seems to me you're deep undercover. It's something to do with Moriarty and I'd bet good money it's to do with the information he wants from Vault-Tec HQ." She continued sharpening the knife, slow, circular sweeps shaving the blade razor sharp. "I looked into that man's eyes. I know the kind of creature he is. Before he took you on, you had to prove yourself."
"It's not like that." Vincent paused putting his rifle back together, leaning on the workshop counter. "Sometimes you have to ..."
"Sometimes you have to kill someone to prove yourself?" She glanced up and saw an almost pleading expression on his face. "Because I'm pretty fucking certain that's the kind of man Moriarty is. You may be doing something good, Vincent, but I'm also pretty fucking certain you'll do anything to keep that cover, including killing me, Valrie, Gia, for that monster. My warning still stands. Anything happens to Valrie, or me, or Gia, and I'll kill you before you even think about blinking."
Patience looked down at her handiwork. All her weapons looked almost new, laid out in precise positions, ready to take up again. She didn't look at Vincent as she left and he didn't try to stop her. She was glad of that. Being part of the Brotherhood of Steel didn't make her trust him any more than she already did.
She was certain he thought he was doing the right thing. That there had to be a good reason for him working for Moriarty, but it changed nothing. It didn't make finding out about her past any easier. It didn't make her stop checking every single person she passed and mentally targeting all their weak points. Or stop her from thinking Vincent couldn't be trusted. It only meant that she had two reasons not to trust him.
Finding herself back at the canteen, she refilled her mug of faux-ffee, turned and bumped into Valrie. Patience always found it strange to see Valrie without that football helmet, hair all knotted and clumped, grey seeping into the fiery red. It seemed odd. Valrie looked her up and down, shaking her head.
"Put some fucking clothes on, for Christ's sake." Valrie grabbed a mug, poured out the dark liquid and drank it in one gulp, before pouring more out. "That's fucking disgusting muck. Who makes this shit?"
"I think it's gun oil mixed with dirt. Wakes you up, though." Patience smiled into her mug, thankful to be talking about something more light-hearted.
"So does a fucking siren in your ear. Don't mean I want that either." She gulped down another mouthful. "So, how long we staying here? Shit beverages aside, it's not so bad here."
"I'm thinking we move out today. I don't trust anyone here." Patience didn't even try to whisper it. She wanted them all to know.
"Not even Three Dog?" The older woman raised an eyebrow and Patience hesitated.
"Well, I might not distrust him, but he wants more from me than I can give." She remembered his talk about fighting the Good Fight. That wasn't her problem. "I think it's best. You can stay. I can handle Vincent if I need to."
"No fucking way, sister!" Valrie tried pouring more beverage into her mug, but she'd emptied the pot. She slammed the pot on the counter in disgust. "I'm staying with you. You don't have eyes in the back of your head and 'Brother' Vincent won't get the drop on you while I'm around."
"Woohoo! Why do you tease me so?" Patience felt a sharp slap on her backside and spun around to glare at Gia. "Hey, if you're gonna parade around half-undressed, I'm gonna take advantage."
"I'm going to get dressed." As she passed Gia, she lifted a warning finger and faked an angry look. "We're heading out within the hour. Tell Vincent."
She couldn't find it within herself to be angry at Gia, even though the backside slap was not asked for. The girl made Patience smile and there were precious few things in the Capital Wasteland that could do that. Now, she only had thoughts for finding Vault-Tec HQ and her past.
Somehow, Vincent persuaded the Brotherhood of Steel to give them a hefty resupply of ammunition, despite it being a precious resource. Now dressed, Patience made sure everything was in its place and packed in balance. Her ammo pouches now full, her backpack filled with essentials like food and water. She checked the magazines in her rifle and sidearm. A habit that she didn't mind feeding.
Valrie had, in all likelihood, refilled her pockets with a number of objects that had not appeared in her original inventory, but Patience wouldn't be the one to tell the power armoured soldiers lining the halls of the GNR building. Gia, having snagged a holster for her laser pistol, tried to put on an air of seriousness incongruous to the itch of grinning at everything.
Vincent surprised Patience by not upgrading his weapons from the Brotherhood armoury. Most like because he didn't want to explain to his 'boss', Moriarty, where he had found them. Although the scratch received from the ghouls in the Metro tunnels had now received stitches and dressing.
"Ready when you are." Vincent seemed a little cowed, almost apologetic.
"Just a second." Patience checked Gia's pistol while she waited for one last person before leaving.
He soon arrived. Three Dog strolled up to them like he had all the time in the world, hands in his pockets, a blue beanie hat on his head instead of the grey one from the day before. He gave a lazy salute to the soldiers manning the entrance hall, but none returned the greeting. Reaching the group, he stood before them, taking them all in in silence for a second.
"I hope you've given what I said some thought. You don't have to be a hero, so long as the people think you are. It's important." He reached behind his back, unclipping a handheld two-way radio. "Take this. Keep in touch. Tell me how things go? It's only short range, but it should work almost anywhere in the city."
He offered the radio to Patience, but she looked at it then returned her eyes to Three Dog.
"I'll take it!" Gia reached for the radio, only for Valrie to slap her hand away.
"I'll fucking do it." Valrie took the radio and spirited it away into her coat. "Fight the Good Fight, right?"
"That's right." Three Dog held out his hand and Valrie shook it. He offered it to Patience and she only hesitated a second before shaking the man's hand. Gia jumped into Three Dog's arms, hugging him until he coughed to catch his breath before releasing him. "You all take care. Come back in one piece and don't feed the Yao Guai."
"Yao Guai?" Patience screwed up her forehead, raising her eyebrow.
"It's just something I say on the radio. There are no Yao Guai in the city." He winked at Gia. "At least I don't think so."
With that, Three Dog turned and left the entrance area, patting Vincent on the shoulder as he passed. Patience felt a pang of guilt for being stand-offish with the man, but she couldn't get past his expectations of her. He kept mentioning this 'Lone Wanderer' as if they were something to aspire to, to emulate. Only because she also came from a vault (at least she and everyone else assumed so), didn't mean she was the same as her near mythical predecessor.
"If he wasn't, like, five hundred years older than me, I'd have done him. Right here, in front of everybody. He is so hot!" Gia flinched as Valrie's hand swatted the back of her head. "Hey! I was just saying!"
Patience took one last look at the entrance area of the GNR building, replete with sandbag barricades, heavy weapons and power armoured soldiers. She didn't think she'd ever get used to this world. Her eyes fell upon her three companions, all watching her, waiting for her command. She smiled at Valrie and Gia and turned toward the outer doors.
Outside, the sun carved lazy fingers of light through the ever-present haze. The yellow-ish colouring making the ruins look grim and foreboding. Patience didn't like the idea of passing through the school again, with the awful, tiny skeletons, but she steeled herself, keeping her head down as she walked.
On the way towards the next Metro station, they passed a couple of Brotherhood patrols, their power armour stomping along on the broken and crumbling roads and sidewalks. None of them acknowledged the group this time, only watching in silence as they passed each other.
"As far as I can find out, no-one's been back into the next station since me and my patrol cleared it out months ago." Vincent walked beside Patience, cradling his rifle in his arms. "I don't expect more feral ghouls to have moved in, but best to be prepared. Just in case."
"I'll assume the worst and feel pleasantly surprised if it doesn't come to it." They reached the alleyway leading back to Tenleytown station and, even though Brotherhood patrols seemed regular, Patience cleared the corner, sweeping her rifle around. "Gia, how much of the area do you know?"
"Some. I once went to that place with all the ghouls. The museum place." She saw Patience's questioning look. "Oh, no! Not feral ghouls. The other kind that don't try to eat you. Some of them are quite sweet."
"I couldn't even imagine." Patience led the way through the alley, remaining on alert. "So, you've never been near Vault-Tec HQ?"
"If I had, I'd have said. Why all the questions?" As they reached another corner, Patience paused to check the way forward again.
"Sorry. I just didn't want it to be silent." Patience urged Vincent to turn the corner. "It's either talk to you, or 'Brother' Vincent, or listen to Valrie's cursing every other word."
"Hey! Fuck you!" Valrie poked a playful finger in Patience's ribs. "I don't curse every other fucking word. It's every three or four fucking words. You don't want it silent? Turn on your fucking radio."
"Now you're just cursing for the hell of it." Vincent looked over his shoulder and grinned at Valrie.
"You just keep your fucking head forward, 'Brother' Vacant." Despite the words, Patience got the impression the animosity towards Vincent had diminished a little bit from Valrie.
They had turned the corner, now, returning to the square with the Metro station entrance, the globe sculpture and the building with angel statues attached. Patience lifted her arm, switched on the Pip-Boy and started the radio, leaving it on low volume. She had taken to disliking the eerie silence of the city.
Apart from the occasional gunfire in the far distance, there were no other sounds. No traffic noise, no murmur of voices, not even the flapping of pigeon wings, scared into flight by errant footsteps. The city was ghost and they were trespassing in nightmare.
"We all remember the Lone Wanderer. They came into our lives looking for their father and ended up leaving the Wasteland a better place than when they found it.
They didn't set out to be a hero, only someone, little more than a child, desperately seeking their father.
As they searched the Wasteland, they came into contact with people and gave a helping hand when they could and where they could. They became the hero we needed, but never thought themselves a hero.
Now another vault dweller has left the safety of their underground home. This time, searching for their past. The Beautiful Stranger searches the Wasteland helping out when she can and where she can.
Sound familiar?
She doesn't think she's a hero. I respect that. But it's not the person that decides if they are a hero or not, it's the people they save. It's the people they help. It's the people who see them perform unimaginable things. They're the people who decide whether someone is a hero or not. They're the people that look upon that person and see hope and a chance for life to be better because of that person they see as a hero.
The Beautiful Stranger, our Avenging Angel, has just left the GNR building. She's heading out to find that past of hers and, maybe, she'll end up helping other people out along the way. Maybe she won't.
But, to this humble DJ, she's a hero already. There are people alive today that wouldn't be if it hadn't been for her. Whatever she does, wherever she goes, that can never be taken away from her and we will always remember the good she has done.
Good luck out there, Stranger. I hope you find what you're looking for but, forgive me if that hope extends to you helping out more of the people that need it, too.
This is Three Dog, watching from the sidelines and hoping. Always hoping."
The entrance to the next Metro station stood almost two blocks from where they had almost found themselves overrun by feral ghouls. Set in a small square, with half-ruined buildings looming over the covering canopy, the slope to the rusted gates of the station gave a gentle introduction to the darkness ahead.
Vincent said this station, as of a few months ago, no longer had any feral ghoul infestation, but Patience never took anything for granted. She opened the gates, slow and steady, keeping the jangling and screeching to a minimum as the aged metal ground against the dust encrusted rail holding the gates in place. She saw Valrie's cringing face and knew that the noise was louder than she hoped.
"Stay close, watch every step and don't panic if anything happens." She looked each of her companions in the eye, but held Gia's for longer. "And no fiddling around with machines."
"In my defence, that was just once ..." Valrie slapped the back of Gia's head, although the slaps seemed to be getting lighter, now. "Stop doing that!"
"I'll stop hitting you when you stop doing and saying stupid fucking things!" Valrie gave a smug nod to Patience, indicating that she was ready even if no-one else was.
"Vincent. Take point." Patience shifted to the side, aiming her rifle into the gloom of the station.
Vincent slipped through the open gate, sweeping his rifle towards the shadows and crumbling rubble that could hide potential enemies. Patience tapped Gia's shoulder for her to follow, then Valrie's. Once Valrie passed through the gate, Patience followed.
She considered closing the gate again, despite the noise it would make, but she felt having an accessible escape route to be more important than stopping anyone, or thing, coming at them from behind. Besides, they had seen the aggressive way the Brotherhood of Steel cleared the surroundings. It was unlikely there were many enemies left to follow them from this direction.
This station, though following a similar design, was different from the first one they entered. Patience couldn't see any offices or bathroom doors, no ticket barriers, only an easy turn to the right and a gradual descent towards the concourse. Even from this distance, she could tell this station had suffered worse from the nuclear devastation.
Moving onto the concourse, Patience saw a huge pile of rubble sloping up from the twisted and bent rails at the ground up to a gaping hole in the roof, some thirty feet above. Two tunnels led off to the right. The first blocked be a crumpled, broken Metro carriage stuck between both walls of the tunnel.
The second tunnel appeared clear and Patience gave Vincent the go ahead to proceed. This tunnel branched off on a tight turn on their left and it was this direction that Vincent took. There were no carriages on this section of the track leaving them with little cover, only able to hug the wall close and hope they wouldn't meet anything that could shoot at them.
Vincent stopped, crouching down, holding up his hand to halt the others. It didn't appear to be an immediate threat. His rifle, still at the ready, was not aiming at anything coming their way. Instead, he cocked his head to the side and appeared to be listening.
"Trouble?" Patience caught up to Vincent and kept her rifle aiming down the tunnel. In the distance she could see feint lights flickering in the dark.
Somehow, lights still seemed to receive power. How that could happen, two hundred years after the nuclear holocaust, she couldn't imagine, but it was a fact. These lights, however, she couldn't tell from this distance whether they were still powered or from some kind of flame. Fire based lights could mean trouble.
Vincent put his finger to his lips then pointed to his ear and then down the tunnel. Patience dipped her head and turned it to the side to hear better. There was something making a noise, that was certain. What was less certain was what was making the noise. Or who. Patience urged them onwards, keeping low.
They soon reached the end of the tunnel finding themselves in a concourse much like the first one. A mezzanine level covered part of the concourse and, further down on the lower level, Patience could see a set of large, double-doors leading to the outside. That was their destination in this underground section.
The noises, however, were louder here. It sounded like people were fighting.
"I know that sound." Gia, of course, ran towards a set of stairs leading up to the mezzanine level, taking two steps at a time.
Patience held in a furious growl and chased after Gia, Vincent and Valrie close behind. She bounded up the stairs. Reaching the top, she found Gia hiding behind an upturned table, reinforced with ripped, mouldy sandbags. Gia covered her mouth, holding in a laugh and pointed over the makeshift barrier.
There, on a filthy mattress, were two people clearly having sex.