Teaching a Robot to Love

-Notes-

It's spring break~ Hurray I'm done with midterms and have a week to breathe before thrown back into the tempest. Admittedly I was excited to get back to writing especially due to all the phenomenally positive feedback I've been getting. I'm an attention whore. I am. But I digress; I think I've teased you long enough with the drama and seriousness so finally you'll get to see what X6 has been thinking the whole time, plus a more light hearted air than the last few chapters. This is like the only story I update, I've kinda weaned off my other ones but oh well. The reception here is great 3

Chapter 15: Put That Thing Back Where It Came From or So Help Me

"So… you're in time out?" Asked a very confounded Sole as she stared back at X6-88 through the lighted bars of his laser prison

"They prefer the term 'retention,' but essentially yes" X6 replied as he sat on the only metal bench in the room.

X6 watched Sole's expression change from confusion to understanding to frustration to confusion once again. He might have even uttered a small laugh had decorum allowed it but the situation in totality was rather demeaning for him so he just sat and stared.

"Well for how long?" she asked.

"In increasing increments each time. I suspect that currently they are recharging the monitor on my watch. It was undoubtedly beneficial for them to have me back. They underestimated the amount of resources they needed to allocate to have my vitals constantly streaming information back to the mainframe" he explained.

"I didn't know your watch doubled as a heart monitor."

"It doesn't. It serves as a transmitter. Robotics surgically installed a sensor inside of my chest. My vitals get transmitted back via my watch which communicates to the sensor."

"So it only goes off when your heart beats quickly?"

"Unfortunately."

Sole made a face at him, no doubt recounting the past couple of days they had spent together. The kiss. "You fucker, you did feel something"

"I was trying not to. You make it… difficult."

She fidgeted in her spot, most likely embarrassed. He could read her reactions almost impeccably now having spent so much time together.

"I don't get it. Why didn't you just tell me back then? I would have backed off" she suddenly blurted.

X6 sighed, "I could not tell you because the aforementioned sensor it more complicated than that. Robotics has been working on vocal recognition technology as well through vibrations. It is still in the premature phases of development but they made sure to get the sequence of vibrations for certain words. If any of the rules are broken, my watch is automatically programmed to beam me back here. The only reason why I can explain this now is because it is switched off."

Sole irritably groaned and paced in front of his laser cell.

"Shit this had to happen now? We need to get that thing out of you" she remarked, racking her brain for some plan.

"Easier said than done."

"Right. Especially since everyone I know that could is up on the surface where we, oh yeah I forgot, told them I was basically the leader of the most hated organization in the Commonwealth."

X6 didn't say anything as she paced back and forth in front of him, running her hands through her hair. Then after a few more minutes she stopped in her tracks, almost tripping over herself.

"Hey wait… I might have an idea. Wait here!"

"I literally have nowhere to go ma'am."

With that, Sole took off, leaving X6 alone in his cell. It was a dark room in the back of the SRB. Usually rogue synths were kept here temporarily for repurposing. He had been in here many times to throw them in cells. In the history of the Institute, not a single courser had been on the other side of the laser bars. How insulting.

X6 leaned back against the cool wall, taking no pleasure in the absence of Sole's presence. As much as he hated to admit it, he didn't blame the Institute for what they had done. Some small part of him expected it for the way he was acting.

Irritating.

It wasn't so much he disliked the way Sole made him feel. It was more like he hated that he didn't dislike the way she made him feel. It was a way that he was taught synths shouldn't be like. She made him feel human.

He stared at the cell across from him where a deactivated gen-3 synth was standing limply in place like a doll. At any moment that could be him. Whenever the Institute felt like he would no longer be of use to them he would be deactivated and then most likely repurposed. He knew what it was like. This was a fact that he had accepted. Never once had he felt uncertain about it.

Until now.

When he was mandated for a job, he would get it done. There were no emotions. There was no attachment. But Sole never treated him like everyone else in the Institute. Sole wanted to be close to him like the humans wanted to be close to one another. First he couldn't fathom her inability to distinguish between them, but now he couldn't fathom why he didn't mind it. He liked it. With Sole there were memories he couldn't stop replaying. Even the thought of them now sent his mind reeling back to that day in the Glowing Sea.

As the head of her small hand caressed his face he knew he shouldn't be enjoying it. But he was. He knew he shouldn't have indulged in the want to touch her. But he did. He knew that a courser and a director should not be leaning in to kiss one another. But they did. His body shouldn't have reacted the way it did as she sat on his pelvis. But it did. He knew that he definitely shouldn't be thinking about ripping their clothes off as he caressed every curve of her battle-toned body. But he thought. Oh he thought.

Every time he gave in to a whim he knew he shouldn't, a confusing mélange of guilt and pleasure would overcome him. On one hand he was property of the Institute, his home. He was a trained agent and loyal servant. On the other, he was an equal to Sole, his companion; Allowed to feel like he had never felt before. It was entirely inappropriate.

The thoughts continued to haunt him, even when he knew they shouldn't. Valuing his position too highly, he tried to deny himself the pleasure of his increasing want for her. But every day it became increasingly more difficult not to keep glancing over at her during battle. It was hard not to notice how she skillfully maneuvered around creatures with mathematically timed shots and not find her beautiful. He was smart enough to realize that acting carelessly would jeopardize his work so he repressed his urges.

At the very least, he should have backed off once he figured out they were on to him, which was pretty obvious. There was no way the Institute would accept synth-human relations, not to mention the fact that Sole was Father's mother. He did not expect X9-27 to replace him however. Just his luck. X9 had come to gloat about his transgressions and how he would be the next protégée after he was disassembled. X6 knew he wasn't going to be disassembled. Binet told him everything. If X6 was anything like what he was before meeting Sole, he would have reported Binet for insubordination in a heartbeat. How things have changed.

When the monitor was forcibly installed in his chest, he knew that they were watching him for mistakes now. More than ever before. If he wanted to keep being by Sole's side then he was going to have to abstain from ever indulging in his desire for her ever again. But when she kissed him…

It had caught him off guard. Logically it didn't make sense. He had done everything in his power to push her away and yet she still showed him affection. In that moment, almost like a glitch, he had forgotten about everything but her. The moment her soft lips touched his, everything came rushing back at once with ferocity: the want to run his fingers through her hair and pull her closer, the overwhelming intoxication of her smell, the distinct heat and presence of her small body compared to his. He enjoyed it. Hell, he loved it.

That was his mistake. Reality came back to remind him of his position as he was whisked away from that tender moment with a flash of blue. Well… at least while he was sitting there with nothing to do, he was going to indulge his thoughts one last time before his watch was returned to him. Every little raw emotion he felt started appearing because of Sole. She made him feel human. Even this selfish need to accumulate pleasurable feelings was entirely a human characteristic. He sighed again. He was specifically trained to be a calculating killer. Emotions were unnecessary and only got in the way. Perhaps the Institute was right; anything extraneous to the task at hand was futile. Although that didn't seem so clear anymore.

Synths shouldn't fall in love.

But he had.

Sole crammed as many items as she could into her pack as she scurried about the room. Clothes, medication, ammo, junk (definitely not stolen), etc. She had an idea. Although, she wasn't sure if she could pull it off. Only a person with an intricate knowledge about medicine and the human body would be able to take that device out of X6's chest. Sole could only think of one person that fit that description: Curie.

The problem was, well with her being a gen-3 now and all, that Sole had literally declared herself the director of the Institute who occasionally liked to kidnap their "escaped property" in the middle of the night. Yeah… she had no idea how she was taking the news. Nor did she think convincing Curie to help her was going to be easy. But she couldn't trust anyone in the Institute. This was going to be her only shot.

Sole checked her pip boy. 10:53pm. Perfect. Sole pulled a dark cap over her hair and slung her shoulder. Just as she turned around to leave the doors to her room swished open. A dark figure entered the room.

"Hello ma'am. Designation X9-"

"Oh goddammit not you again."

Sole pushed past him and made her way to the elevator. The courser followed.

"Ma'am, although you may not like it, I have been assigned as your escort for your escapades on the surface. I am to accompany you while-"

"Yeah, yeah, just don't get in my way." Sole snapped back. Well shit, this was going to be harder than she thought.

With a sneer at her new 'companion,' Sole pressed the button on her pip boy and away she went.

The night blanketed the scenery in a pitch black when she and X9-27 landed just outside Sanctuary Hills at the little bridge towards the north end of the town. Quickly she hurried X9 into the bushes as a stray settler walked past. Sole placed her hand on the tip of X9's gun (which he had already taken out) and pointed it down towards the ground.

"We're not killing them. This is an…. Infiltration of sorts" she informed in a hushed whisper.

X9 nodded. "We are trained in all forms of infiltration. If we are going to reclaim a synth, it is an easy task."

Hmm, she was going to need him to distract him with something while she was searching around. Just the thought of him simply laying eyes on Nick sent shivers down her spine. She never got the chills from X6. This courser was different, bloodthirsty. Sole drummed her fingers against her crouched thigh.

"Actually it will be easier if I do this alone. What I really need you to do is to survey the perimeter. These… settlers tend to set up patrols and numerous landmines that will send everyone scuttling to attack us if triggered. I need you to go find them and take out the dangerous traps. Should be easy for you since you're so good at finding things." She was lying through her teeth but at least it would send him scavenging for a while.

Thankfully X9 took the bait as he switched on a stealth boy and left her presence. Okay time to work.

Sole knew that Curie liked to sleep in her next door neighbor's house to the right so that's where she had to go. Figuring it would be easier to jump over fences and stray chairs rather than to skirt the perimeter where X9 may or may not be she made her way through the backyards of her neighbors. In the distance she heard Nick Valentine and Piper's voices talking. They were probably on night patrols. Shit, there couldn't have been a more Institute-hating pair surveying that night. Then she heard the lackadaisical gravelly chuckle of Hancock joining them. Shit, forgot about him. Okay if she valued her life, she would need to avoid them.

One more house to go. Just as Sole was scaling the last picket fence to the house Curie was in, her jumpsuit snagged on a stray splintering wood piece which launched her forward into a bunch of stray junk with a huge crash. She heard the surprised gasp of Curie's dainty voice inside.

Shit. Damn. Fuck.

Quickly scrambling to get up, Sole pushed off all the extra crap as fast as she could and darted to the wall in order to hide but she wasn't quick enough. Curie's surprised face poked out of the uncovered window and she locked eye contact with Sole. They both froze. Oh crap...

"Madem-mmmf!" Curie began to say when Sole quickly covered her mouth with her hand. Sole climbed through the window railing and pushed Curie inside. Her eyes were as wide as saucers as she backed up in shock. Well that didn't go according to plan.

"Curie!" Sole hissed quietly, eyes darting around to make sure they were alone. "I need your help. Please!"

"M-mademoiselle, where have you been? You've been missing for days and zen we hear ze radio with you and we assumed ze worst! What has happened?" Curie began, fiddling her fingers nervously. "You aren't really…. Allying with ze Institute are you?"

Sole ran a hand through her hair. "It's more complicated than that. I… I had no choice. But please, you have to believe me when I say that I would never hurt you or anyone else here."

Curie paused, looking into Sole's eyes. She hoped they looked as truthful as she felt. After an agonizing minute, Curie slowly nodded and let out a little breath.

"I believe you. But… well, it was wise to come to me first. Zere are some others here zat mmm, aren't so happy about your transmission. What is it you need me for?"

Curie guided them over to a small dilapidated table with two rickety stools for them to sit. Curie always reminded her of the friends she preferred back during the pre-war times. It was hard enough back then finding people who were innocent, sweet, and open-minded.

"It's X6. Now I know that he wasn't everyone's favorite and he didn't really treat others nicely… and he may have threatened a few of you from time to time… but he is in trouble now and you're the only one that can help. He has this thing, right here-" Sole motioned to her heart. "-that tracks his heartbeat and something about vibrations. Basically, he was turned into a pawn in order for Fa-Shaun to spy on me. Now every time we get even a little bit friendly, it zaps him away."

"So… My apologies. I am still a bit confused as to what you would like me to do." Curie shook her head.

Sole gritted her teeth. "I need you to… surgically remove the thing." Dammit she should have paid more attention to the technical bit X6 was talking about.

"And zen do what? I assume you do not want ze Institute finding out no? Ozerwise why would you be coming to me? Zey will know zat something is wrong when zey no longer hear a heartbeat."

Crap she hadn't thought of that. She was so concerned with removing it she forgot about what to do afterwards.

"Well… can we put it somewhere else?"

"Mon dieu, I'm afraid not unless it is in a living person."

Sole ran her hands repeatedly through her hair. Man she was going to go gray with all this stress. No one in their right mind would agree to have an Institute spy device surgically implanted in their chest! Well… shit…

"Okay forget it… I'll just think of another way" Sole sighed with exasperation.

Curie shook her head, "Oh non! Zat is not what I meant! It is entirely possible. If it reads heartbeat zen it will need to very quickly be put back into someone else. We have many options but… with ze equipment available at Sanctuary, I am unable to do such a procedure."

"Well what do you need? The Institute has tons of free and clean equipment. Well not necessarily free. Free to me. Not necessarily free to me either. I just kinda… take it. But never mind me! What was it you needed?"

Curie got up, looked around frantically for something, and eventually came back with a scrap of paper and a pencil. She began scribbling down a bullet point list of medical supplies she was going to need. Sole never had seen a cuter looking theft request. Curie handed the paper to Sole.

Scanning the list, it didn't look like the supplies she needed would be very difficult to get. Almost all of them could easily be swiped from Bioscience or storage cabinets without alerting a single soul. Okay! Maybe this could work.

A sinking feeling gripped Sole's stomach as she just remembered X9. Shit he was out there somewhere and probably looking for her. As she stood to get up, Curie grabbed her wrist.

"Sole. Zis was once your home. You are a good person, don't forget zat. I'm sure zat if you explain what happened zen everyone would understand" she insisted with the sweetest voice possible.

Sole smiled, warmth rising to her cheeks. The Institute was so cold she almost forgot what it was like to be around people you love. People that make you happy. People that you want to fight for. People like X6.

Now it was time to save the one she loved.