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Dakota Michelson
A Fallout 4 Fan Fiction
Chapter 16: FEV and Dr. Li
I walk into the door labeled BIOSCIENCE. The first thing I notice is the smell of the plants in the room. It's comforting. I look over and see two men talking. "Those people are the last remnants of a dying past. It's best not to dwell on the subject," one of them says. I already don't like this guy. The other man says, "They're still people, and they're suffering. We can at least admit that it's regrettable." I'm glad there are some people who care even a little bit in here. He continues, "After all, how can we hope to redefine mankind if we can't even hold on to our own humanity?" The arrogant one replies, "Well, that's a question best left to our colleagues in the Robotics division." When the time comes, he might just be the first person I shoot.
The arrogant man sees me and walks over. "Welcome! So good to have you here. Doctor Clayton Holdren, head of the BioScience division." Great. Of course he is the guy I'm supposed to meet with. "I can't wait for you to see the work we're doing. It's truly amazing." "I'm very interested to learn more about it," I respond. With any luck, he may lead me right to Virgil's cure.
"Great! As the name implies, the BioScience division specializes in fields of study such as botany, genetics, and medicine." He begins to walk around, giving me a tour I guess. "Our most important directive is to ensure the health and well-being of everyone in the Institute. To that end, we cultivate highly specialized breeds of flora for use in food and medicine." All I can think about when he says this is how badly the Commonwealth needs food and medicine. As we walk around, I keep an eye open for a serum of some sort. But I don't see anything. "We've even started to explore the idea of synthetic animal life." We walk over to a window to a room containing two gorillas. "The gorillas are synths?" I ask. "They are indeed. They're really just a pet project at this point, but the potential is exciting nonetheless." A woman approaches us and says, "Doctor Holdren?" He looks over to her. "Yes?" "Can I have a word with you?" she asks. Holdren looks at me and excuses himself.
I look over to the right and see a dark hallway with blue lasers barring the entrance. I wonder what that is. I walk over to the terminal next to it. There's a large wall behind me which provides the perfect cover for me to investigate. The terminal appears to be locked pretty tightly, but I unlock it quickly. The terminal reads "The FEV Laboratory is a potential biohazard area and has been sealed. Access to this section of the facility is prohibited. Requests for more information can be sent in triplicate to our records department." I continue to hack the terminal and find that it is directly linked to the laser grid. They made this too easy! The lasers disappear and I quickly sneak on the other side. There's a terminal in the short hallway that I use to turn the lasers back on to avoid suspicion.
I head in and see large green vats containing super mutants. "What the hell?" I say. Is the Institute responsible for the creation of super mutants? Or maybe they were just trying to cure it? I look around the room and find several shelves, chairs, and other objects fallen over. Virgil escaping must have caused quite a scene. I found a holotape on one of the consoles. I look around for a terminal and sure enough there is one. I power it on and see that it was once Virgil's computer. I insert the holotape and it begins to play.
"This is Doctor Elliott, reporting for the BioScience division. March 2224. We just received another batch of… subjects… but as my previous report stated, we're at an impasse here. More of the same won't help. The two most promising strains of FEV have been adapted to an ideal state, but we're still missing something. I am officially echoing the team's position: the most like progress for our research on synthetic organics requires new avenues of exploration. Additional Commonwealth subjects will not help. It's the same problem across the board: exposure to too much radiation. We need something–someone new. There's a proposal we'll be putting forward. I am not entirely comfortable with it, but it seems the best course."
This would explain the kidnappings in the Commonwealth. How horrible! They must have been turning them into super mutants for their synth program.
There's another holotape right next to the terminal, so I plug that one in also.
"Personal record, Dr. Brian Virgil. This will likely be my last recording." He sounds human here. "My requests to shut down the FEV program have repeatedly been denied. We've learned nothing useful in the last 10 years. Why does Father insist on continuing it? If he won't see reason, then I have to take matters into my own hands. What we're doing… it's not right. It needs to stop. If anyone should find this after… after I'm gone… know that I never wanted to hurt anyone. Anyone! Do you understand me? I'm going to make sure the whole program is shut down. If not for good, then at least for years to come. After that… I know what I'm about to do will be seen as betrayal. Treason, he'll probably call it. So… I'm leaving. I have a plan… and if it works, I'll be somewhere safe. Somewhere not even the Coursers can find me. Everything that we've done, the lives we've taken… if there is a god, may he have mercy on us all."
"Wow," I say to myself. Virgil sacrificed his humanity, left the safety and comfort of the Institute to make sure this program was shut down. I look around the room and see that pretty much everything has been trashed. But there is one counter that still has intact equipment on top. Inside the large vile is some sort of serum. This must be Virgil's cure. I take it and stuff it in my bag. I've been gone for long enough and there may even be people looking for me. I need to sneak out of here.
I get out, deactivate the laser grid and then reactivate it from the other side quickly. No one is around here. Good. I see Holdren is inside another room with a window. But he is looking away. Now is my chance.
I head out into the main room of the Institute. I'm surprised by the lack of security in the BioScience department and wonder if it will be this easy to sneak around here.
Now for the real mission: Doctor Li. According to Father, she is in the Advanced Systems lab. I walk in and two scientists are looking at a room through a window. "She's been at it for over two hours. What is she even testing?" one of them says. "Nothing. At this point, she is just doing it for fun." I look over to the right and see a woman in the next room. I walk in and she says, "Oh, it's you. You're not authorized to be here." "I… didn't know I needed authorization." I say. "Hm! Father may have given you the keys to the castle, but this is still my laboratory," she says. "If you plan to stay down here with us, you need to learn how things work." "I can talk with you another time if you'd like," I say. She retorts, "So you can interrupt me twice? No thanks." "What a bitch!" I think to myself. "Well you're obviously here for reason and you've already spoiled my experiment, so you might as well spit it out."
"I was sent by a certain group that would like to ask for your expertise." I say. "Stop beating around the bush. It's obvious that you're from the Brotherhood of Steel. I knew it was just a matter of time before your people would track me down. I've been looking over my shoulder from almost a decade, waiting for them to send someone like you to kill me."
"What? No!" I said. "Why would we want you dead?" She says, "I did some pretty sensitive work for the Brotherhood of Steel. Even though Lyons let me go, there were a few others in the ranks that thought I knew too much. That's why I came to the Institute. It was the only place that I thought I'd be out of the Brotherhood's reach and still be able to do my research. Since Father trusts you, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt. I might not agree with everything he says, but I know he'd never allow harm to come my way. So say what you came here to say, and then leave me alone."
I get the impression that she may be more like Virgil as far as Father's plans are concerned. "I get the sense you and Father have some issues. Are you unhappy here?" She chuckles and walks over to the door and closes it. "You'd think being surrounded by cutting edge laboratory equipment and some of the greatest minds the world's ever known would be enough. Only problem is the lack of transparency. I don't think we get the full story on everything that occurs down here. What does that have to do with why we're talking?"
"The Brotherhood needs your help, Doctor." I say. "Needs my help?" she asks. "Why? They seemed to have everything under control when I left." "Did you have any unfinished work you left behind?" I ask her. "You should know better than to ask me that," she says. "If they didn't tell you what I was working on, they didn't want you to know. Tell me something. Why would I possibly want to come crawling back to the Brotherhood and throw away everything I've accomplished here?"
"You know just as well as I do that the Institute is up to something. I know that because I know Doctor Virgil," I say. "How is that even possible?" she said. "I also found this in his lab," I say as I give her the holotape I found earlier.
"Well," she says. "You know more than I thought you knew then. He didn't agree with Father's continuation of the FEV project and so he sabotaged it and left. The official report said he was killed in a lab accident and Father had the lab sealed due to contamination. I wanted to help with the investigation, for appearances, but Father had the laboratory sealed saying that it was contaminated. Father lied to us all. But I knew the truth. All these years of loyalty has been for nothing." I say, "Father doesn't deserve to have you here. The Brotherhood needs you."
"I came to the Institute to get away from the Brotherhood… from the whole world. I just wanted to do my research in peace. Father took me in and gave me access to cutting edge technology that I only dreamed existed. I became jaded. I thought the Institute cared. That they wanted to better mankind. Maybe in their own twisted way, they still do. But if you can't trust the people you're working for, then it's all pointless. Who knows what else they've been lying about. Or what their plans are for my work. Meet me in here tonight at midnight." She walks over to a drawer and pulls out a round contraption. "Here", she says and takes my arm. She slides the contraption on and buckles it. "It's a Pip-Boy. An old friend from before had it, until he died. It's been modified to be able to relay in and out of the Institute at will. We will leave together at that time. I'm trusting that the Brotherhood will protect me if the Institute decides to send a Courser after me, you understand?" "Of course," I say.
She has a faint smile on her face and says, "The Brotherhood of Steel has just regained the services of Doctor Madison Li."
