Jack Parsons and the Hastily Improvised Surgery
Jack Parsons found himself in the "lobby" of Publick Occurences, holding a bloodied cybernetic brain augmenter in one hand and his pistol in the other. The past 24 hours of his life had been nothing short of insane. Looking behind him, he saw a well-worn couch. He decided it would do. He sank in to it and drifted off. His last thoughts before falling asleep were about Preston Garvey, and whether or not he was going to be okay.
He was awoken a couple hours later by Nick Valentine and Piper Wright whispering back and forth. They appeared to be making some sort of plans.
"You can't do that, Nick. First of all, the guy's been through enough as it is. Second, you have no idea how the procedure could affect you. What if the Institute takes over your mind?"
"I'll be fine, Piper. Nothing a beat-up old detective can't handle. As for our friend here, he's awake. Let him decide."
Then Jack saw both Piper and Nick look over at him, expectantly. Clearly they were making some sort of plan to use Kellog's "brain" to track down Shaun and the Institute. That was all well and good, but not as important to him right now.
"Where's Preston? Is he alright?" Jack asked, anxiety rising in his voice.
"He's going to be fine, kid. Doctor Sun took him as soon as you two stumbled into town. I'm not clear on all of the medical mumbo-jumbo, but the Doc said he's stable. How are you doing?" Nick asked.
Jack took a breath. He hadn't stopped to consider it. Once he did though, the pain started flooding in. He had received a couple grazings from Institute rifles, resulting in laser burns on the shoulder and leg. He winced in pain. Though the Synths he and Preston encountered at the Fort weren't accurate, the bastards were persistent.
"I don't know how I'm doing. My entire world has changed. My closest friend, who I met a week ago, just took a bullet for me. I'm nursing burns that I gained at the hands of a robot that I never thought was possible. And apparently I have a pet dog. It's… a lot to take in," Jack confessed.
"Oh Jack, I'm so sorry," said Piper. "The truth is, we have no idea what you're going through. Things must be rough for you. What can we do to help?" she asked.
"I don't know," Jack responded. Every time that woman talked, she got a bit less irritating. However, she was still pretty annoying to him.
"Look, you two clearly have a plan for the piece of Kellogg's brain, or whatever. I'd love to hear about it, just a bit later. I need a minute."
He rose with some effort, and made his way out into the city. He thought about going to visit Preston Garvey, but first he stopped by Chem-I-Care.
The Chem-I-Care was a stand that sold all sorts of medicine and narcotics, with a man named Solomon as the sole proprietor. He seemed to be extremely easygoing, but he also ran one of the most profitable businesses in the Commonwealth. In the world before the war, it would not be anything close to legal. However, after the war, chem vendors became an essential fixture of society. Jack stepped up, feeling like a kid in a chemical candy store.
"Solomon. I need something for pain."
"You got it, my man. Physical or emotional?"
"Yes."
They had gone to track down Kellogg in one of the far corners of the Commonwealth, with a little bit of help from a canine with an incredible sense of smell. Turns out that he was out on some mission or other for the Institute, and was not too surprised to find Jack Parsons coming in, hot on his trail. The showdown happened at Fort Hagen, which before the war was a location owned and operated by Uncle Sam. Jack had never been there, but he knew what it was used for before the planet had exploded. It had housed an armored division of the United States Military, including vehicles and Power Armor units. 200 years later, it was housing an army of a different kind. When Preston and Jack got there, the whole place was crawling with Synths.
They were relatively easy to dispatch, and not well-versed on tactics, but that didn't stop them from scoring a few lucky hits here and there. However, at that point, nothing was going to stop the soldiers from reaching their target.
Jack Parsons met Kellogg in the command center, amidst desks and computers. It was not every day that you came face to face with a killer, much less the killer of your wife, and kidnapper of your son. Jack thought he would perhaps have something to say or do to Kellogg to inspire remorse. To torture or maim him before killing him. Or at least to give him a stern talking-to. However, when the moment finally arrived, the men didn't have much to say to each other.
"I'm surprised you made it this far," remarked Kellogg. Apparently the grizzled merc thought that the grizzled special operative didn't have it in him.
"Yeah, well, I did," came the response.
A moment of silence passed.
"Look, this is kind of awkward," said Jack. "Can we just skip the bullshit? You and I are both smart enough to realize that the situation dictates that one of us needs to die. You're not going to give me the information I need unless it is pried from your cold dead hands, right? And for you, anything short of my demise would be considered a failure by your employer."
"I mean, that's the long and short of it," agreed Kellogg.
"So, how are we doing this? Are we going to take ten paces, turn and shoot, or what?" asked Jack.
However, in the blink of an eye, Kellogg's pistol was out and pointed at the soldier. Preston saw what was coming and jumped in the way, taking a bullet to the shoulder in the process.
Jack seized the opportunity to draw his own piece and plug the mercenary with a couple of new belly buttons and a new nostril. A well-placed pulse grenade took care of the Synth bodyguards who had so politely let the two men have their conversation, just a few moments before.
A survey of the Kellogg-shaped corpse revealed rather quickly that he was cybernetically enhanced, and well, one thing led to another. Soon, Jack Parsons was carrying both the unconscious body of Preston Garvey and a robotic piece of Kellogg's brain back in the direction of Diamond City. Our hero had his revenge, which felt kinda nice. But in his mind, he was just getting started.