"You want to go in? There might be some good shit in there, the way its been built up on." Cort and Charon were bellied up behind a huge chunk of concrete, looking at the Jefferson Memorial, the domed structure laced with dozens of pipes and scaffolding. Cort tapped her tongue on the front of her teeth, replying to his query a moment later.

"Hell no. It looks like it's crawling with Super Mutants even from the outside. That's the last place I want to go. Let's just drop the fuckers we can see and get the hell down to Rivet City." Charon shrugged and started throwing grenades as Cort lined up shots with her repeater, both of them hitting the dirt a minute later after hearing the whirr of a Mini-Gun warming up. "See? Last place I ever want to go. Clusterfuck waiting to happen. Probably die in there or something. Fucking boogers." Reloading as they waited for the mutant to run out of shells, dust from their shelter puffed around them, Charon flicking pebbles off of his chest as they came flying over from the far side.

"I think we can already classify this as a clusterfuck."

Cort spun around as the mutant's gun whirred to a stop and made her rifle sing out as the ghoul beside her pitched mines like frisbees, combat shotgun booming in his other hand. "Naaah. This is just fun." She grinned, Charon slowly matching her.

"Yeah."


They heard Rivet City before they saw it, a metallic groaning that almost sounded like a continuous booming sob. The carrier rose out of the landscape like a beached and broken rusting whale. Cort could see little figures on different parts of it like tiny barnacles. Slogging through the last part of the journey, they had run into another mutant encampment, blood-soaked girders streaking into the air like the teeth of some diseased animal breaking through the shattered earth. Cort had freed a captive Wastelander who had promptly run screaming back into the growing dark after Charon had appeared behind her.

"He's fucking toast." The ghoul snorted and spat to the side.

Cort shrugged and looked up at him. "Well, he was probably pretty dingy already anyway, what with all the gore bags and impaled parts."

Charon stared after the disappearing figure with a withering look on his face. "Like I give a shit."

Sighing, she flapped an arm at both her companions. "Come on, we're almost there."

Charon brought up the rear as Cort and Dogmeat trotted ahead towards the scaffolding rising up next to the ship on the riverbank. Rivet City was connected to the mainland by a rotating drawbridge which was currently closed, and he was considering how they were going to enter into the carrier when both the girl and dog took off running. Oh, what the flying fuck now. Jogging behind them he lifted his shotgun and then lowered it again just as quickly, puzzled as Cort shucked her pack and helmet to pick up speed, her repeater held at the base of the barrel. Whatever she was doing, it wasn't responding to an attack. Both figures skidded to a dust-kicking halt in front of a caravan swinging into his view, Cort crashing into the arms of a man who had braced himself for the onslaught.

"Crow!"

"Cort!"

Wrapping his arms around her, the merchant lifted Cort and spun her before putting her feet back on the ground and placing his hands on her shoulders. Dogmeat dancing around them both, she beamed up at him. " I missed you."

"And I you. It is good to see you again." Crow took in her forming tan and hardened figure and smiled. " I see you are adapting well. Have you found what you are looking for yet?"

Cort momentarily frowned. "Not yet, that's why we're here. Three Dog told me my father had come to Rivet City, so here I am. Oh! This is Charon." Turning to look for the ghoul, she found him standing over by Marion, both of them looking terminally bored. "Hi Marion."

"Yo."

Crow tipped the brim of his ball cap at Charon, smiling, then turned back to Cort. "I can't remain long, we're heading back out to the Wasteland with new stock from the carrier. I need to move past the mutant camp yonder while the dark remains. I do have time for supper, if the spirits are kind enough to have you tarry for a while before continuing?"

Cort grinned broadly and slid an arm around his waist as he draped one over her shoulders, heading back towards the pack Brahmin. "Well, about those mutants..."


Charon was ready to crawl up any available wall after spending half the night watching the two friends socializing. Some time after eating, both him and the caravan guard had wordlessly retreated to opposite corners and set a watch when it was clear neither party was going to be moving for a while, the ghoul's face in a perpetual scowl. Cort had called Dogmeat over to show the improvements she had made to the dog's armour, and then spent time animatedly trading stories and information with Crow. Finally breaking away after midnight, the merchant leaned in and reciprocated the farewell Cort had made the last time she had seen him in Megaton.

She looked up at him when he stopped, flushed and happy. Even if she wasn't going to allow herself to become involved with anyone anymore, the rare casual familiarity with the transient Crow was definitely nice. Oh, holy God it's nice. Safe, non-committal and nice. Cort considered she should be more depressed at the restrictions she had placed upon herself and the reasons for it, but was enjoying her current hormonal high too much to care. "Didn't forget that, huh?"

"Never. I'll see you when I see you, Cort." He smiled and tipped his hat, crouching to rub Dogmeat's ears, then signalled to Marion and slapped the Brahmin into motion.

"Back at you, Crow." Grinning like a fool, she watched the caravan disappear into the darkness and turned to Charon, who was making gagging motions. "Oh, grow up. Let's see if we can get into the city." Trudging their way slowly up the ramps and staircases, they climbed towards the top platform. Peering around, Cort found an intercom attached to a beam and started jabbing at the call button until it crackled to life.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" She flipped up her Pip-Boy.

"Tweellve forty-eight a.m., why?" After hearing what she was fairly certain were muffled profanities, a calmer voice came over the intercom.

"Welcome to Rivet City, please wait while the bridge extends." All three of them watched as the cabled walkway swung out towards them, shrieking, twanging and finally crashing into place. Cort slipped the cover back over her Pip-Boy and started walking for the other side, jerking to a halt at the far end when a sandy-haired man in security combat armour wielding an assault rifle yelled out to her.

"Hold it right there. State your business in Rivet City." Suppressing a desire to grab for her repeater, she called back.

"I'm here to see Doctor Li. I was told my father came here to see them, about three months ago. Please tell me, is he still here? His name is James. He's tall, bearded, wearing one of these." Cort ripped the cover off of her Pip-Boy again and held it up, heart in her throat.

"There was someone like that around the time you're asking about, but they left soon after getting into the city."

Cort listlessly dropped her arm back down, staring dully at him, her earlier optimism gone. Always the same answer. Always. "Do you know where he went?"

"Well, you'll have to ask Doctor Li for more information on that. You'll find her in the Science Lab, but they've probably all bedded down for the night, so I'd suggest heading to the hotel or the Common Room until morning. You'll find both on the way, just follow the signs." He holstered his rifle and waved them through to the left-hand door off the entryway. "Keep your nose clean while you're in my city, hear me?"

"Well, thank you, Mister...?"

"Harkness. I'm the security chief." He paused and looked down at Dogmeat, who was sniffing around his knees avidly, pressing his nose into the side of Harkness' leg. "Yours?"

"Yeah, sorry. He must smell something new on you, he's normally not so pushy. Dogmeat, come on." Reluctantly breaking away after a few more draughts of air, he clicked after Cort and Charon as they entered the ship. "Let's find the hotel, Charon. I don't want us to sleep in the open, and waking Doctor Li up will probably piss her off. She'll probably want me to go do something stupid anyway, it's fucking formulaic at this point, and jabbing at her in the middle of the night won't help."

Following the posted signs through the damp corridors, they came into a larger room with a circular desk manned by a Mister Handy, who spoke to them in a voice similar to Wadsworth's. "Good evening, how may I assist you?"

Cort dug out her cap bag. "I'd like a room, please." She looked up questioningly when the robot said nothing, only examining them carefully with all three eyestalks.

"Don't you think you and your...companion would be more comfortable in the Common Room, Madam?"

Face hardening, she slapped the bag down on the desk, the contents jouncing around. "I think I'd be comfortable asking whoever owns you whether or not they want my fucking money. Room. Please."

Of course, Madam. One hundred and twenty caps, door around the corner to the right."

Counting them out, Cort scattered them violently across the desk and headed for the room, slamming the door and locking it after both Charon and Dogmeat were through. "I should reprogram that thing to sing 'Daisy Bell' until it dies."

"I don't think that would fly over too fucking well." She watched Charon remove his pack and armour, then spread out his blanket next to the door.

"No, but it would be funny. People are assholes. Even not-people are assholes, and they shouldn't be."

He looked over and rolled his eyes. "It doesn't fucking matter what they are. Go to sleep, Cort."

"No. Not tired." Crossing her arms she backed against the wall and looked dejectedly at him, biting back a yawn or a sob, not being sure of which after the way her day had turned. Walking over Charon snaked an arm around her waist and yanked her towards him, then started pulling off her pack and armour, easily pushing her hands down when she fussed and tried to stop him.

"Yeah, you're not tired at all, noodle arms. Fucking liar." Unclipping the last piece, he slung her bodily onto the bed and then went to his own blanket. "Go to sleep, Cort."

Staring up at the dim grey ceiling, Cort gave in and pulled Dogmeat in tight when he jumped up next to her. Pushing at the subject wouldn't do anything but get the ghoul's back up, and there was nothing she could do to fix it right now. Listening to the ship groan around her, she instead considered what would be happening tomorrow. There was a good possibility that they would be staying in the carrier for the entire day, since one of Moira's tasks involved questioning the residents and she wanted to complete her obligations to the friendly, crazy woman. A book that could possibly help people out here was a good thing, considering the hell she herself had gone through after being thrust out of the Vault. Cort also wanted to visit the merchants and resupply. Crow had said there were multiple stores, including an arms dealer which she was particularly keen to investigate.

After talking to Doctor Li, she figured she would either be shortly reunited with her father, or sent haring off into the Capital Wasteland yet again. What the hell am I supposed to do when I find him? Aside from ask what the fuck he was thinking, and what this 'Project Purity' thing is that was apparently so damned important. We can't go back to 101, I'm never going back there. The Vault was a lie. My whole life was a lie. Cort closed her eyes and held her breath, listening for the even rasping of Charon's. After isolating it from the other myriad sounds around her, she let her own out to match up with his and resumed thinking. That's not a lie. Whatever happens, I have him. And Dogmeat. And Gob, Crow, Barrows, Carol, Winthrop, Graves, Tulip, even Moira. I have people. I won't be alone again even if I don't ever find Dad. Biting her lip, she rolled into the dog and pressed her hand against the hard spot under her chest, incredibly lonely and wishing for sleep.


Charon tilted his head to the side, finally hearing Cort begin to snore. About fucking time. Watching her deflate after talking to the security chief had left him sure that she would have another hard time of it trying to sleep, and the damned snotty robot hadn't shifted his opinion on the matter. He had taken the initiative to head off another suspected meltdown with the leeway he knew he had to direct her, and successfully deflected Cort into another, more productive objective. The girl had a tendency to be overly sensitive to the justifiably negative reactions to him; he was a monstrosity and he accepted it, and at some point she would have to grow a thicker skin in response to the barbs of others. Others were inconsequential and tiny, for him there was only his employer. His batshit, unstable, hideously annoying and somehow increasingly valuable employer.

Making a mental note to ensure Cort ate in the morning before flinging herself into a new series of idiotic pursuits, Charon turned his face back to the ceiling and slept.


Woo, thanks for the new reviews and faves!