Thanks for the new reviews guys! On with the show.
Anyone who had thought of harassing the girl further abandoned the idea immediately after seeing the size of the ghoul looming over her, chalked out eyes latching onto those stupid enough to keep looking in her direction, and Cort finished her business in Rivet City on a pleasant high note with Flak and Shrapnel. After stocking up on supplies and ammo and getting rid of their surplus materials, they headed outside to meet up with James and the rest of the scientists.
"Finally, there you are. Wha...honey, what happened to your face?"
Damn. Thought the helmet might kinda hide that, at least an eensy bit. "I got in a fistfight. I won. Jefferson?" Giving his daughter a long look that implied the conversation was only paused and not over, they set out towards the remains of Project Purity, James leading and Cort and her two spread out around the sides of the six scientists. Thank Christ this is a short trip. These people look completely useless out of doors. All of them were in their regular clothing of lab coats or Wastelander gear, and while they were laden with various bits of equipment, she didn't see a single weapon among them. Her suspicions were confirmed when a stray Centaur appeared out of the rubble from her side, driving the entire group into a screeching mass with the exception of Doctor Li and Garza. Blowing its head off, Cort then exchanged an eyeroll with Charon. Not even half a year out here and I'm more competent than these scrubs. Pathetic.
Making it to the Memorial entrance without further incident, James stood to one side and motioned Cort over. "All right honey, I'll stay out here with Madison and her staff, if you can make sure the rest of the building is still clear." Frowning internally at the continued first name familiarity, she tipped off a lazy salute and motioned to her companions, proceeding inside. They made it as far as the entrance to the lower levels before Dogmeat started snarling softly. Charon looked over to her from the other side of the door, letting out a raspy whisper.
"How do you want to clear the fuckbags out, grenades? Or your favoured tactic of 'run in like a fucking idiot'?" Cort continued listening, pensive.
"No, no telling where they are down there, and I don't feel like getting shot up, I'm tired. How many mines do you have?"
"With me? Ten."
"Okay, put like, three of them down around the door. I've got an idea."
He started placing the devices as she retreated with Dogmeat, continuing to gripe quietly. "Oh fucking fabulous. This isn't going to work unless we make noise, and that'll scream trap like a bastard."
Cort grinned. "Not if they don't expect what's coming. Trust me, I've done this before, and this time I can't get toasted by exploding public transit." She looked over to the dog. "Remember the car tunnel honey? Today's kinda sucked, so let's have some fun." Waiting for the ghoul to join them behind a pile of sandbags, she switched out for her Chinese assault rifle and aimed for the door, Charon still looking at her oddly. She had never bothered to explain the details around losing her hair, finding it personally humiliating. Winking at him, she tilted her head back, expanded her chest and then howled, Dogmeat grinning at her and starting to bark a second later as voices started floating up from below.
"DOGS? DOGS INSIDE?"
"STUPID, YOU LEFT DOOR THING OPEN."
"I NOT STUPID, YOU STUPID. GO KILL DOGS."
"ME NOT STUPID, AND YOU KILL DOGS, YOU LEFT DOOR THING OPEN!"
Cort broke off howling to mutter, exasperated. "Jesus, come kill us, just stop fucking talking. My ears are going to start bleeding."
"Just keep fucking doing that shit, they're coming." Charon rolled his eyes as she grinned and started barking at him, making a surprisingly passable imitation, before turning back to the door as the stomping and inane chatter got louder. Both ducked at the sight of one of the massive freaks emerging from the doorway, a rapid series of concussions blasting out as the mines went off, echoing around the enclosed space. Once the pattering impact of shrapnel had stopped, they strafed the remaining mutant from the cover of the sandbags until it was nothing more than a pulp.
"Okay, let's see if there's any more of those boogers left down there."
Gratifyingly, the two that had come up the stairs were the only mutants who had encroached back into the building in the intervening days they had been away, and Cort quickly returned upstairs to give her father and the waiting scientists the all clear. James gave her a quick hug and a smile before striding back into project Purity, hauling his Vault suit out of his pack and starting to strip his combat armour off. "Excellent, sweetheart. Now we can finally get back to work."
Cort felt neglected and frustrated. The extent to which her father required her help seemed to be limited entirely to guard duty after being used as a mule to help clear debris during the initial clean out. While more than bright enough to do the work, the particular systems that made up Project Purity were like nothing that her father had taught her about, and any efforts she had made towards receiving instruction on how they operated were met with 'later' or 'speed is needed' or 'not right now, why don't you make sure everything outside is still secure?'. Not helping was the fact that none of them, outside of James, Li, and for some reason Garza, were particularly excited by the presence of the ghoul, and Daniel Agincourt was proving to be exceptionally nasty to her whenever the opportunity presented itself. After a week, Cort finally gave up and spent most of her time walking the scaffolding outside the Memorial with Charon and Dogmeat, breaking down enough out of boredom to keep GNR playing near constantly when there wasn't anything around to shoot. Feet dangling over the edge of the walkway, she leaned against one of the railing bars, crossing her arms on it and sighing.
"You need to get the fuck out and go kill something." The ghoul dropped down to sit to the right of her as 'Easy Living' finished playing for the umpteenth time, working one hand into her hair and nuzzling his face into the top of it after removing her helmet. While decidedly more affectionate, there had been little opportunity to see how far the man was now willing to go, what with seven other people jammed into the living spaces of the Memorial and running around at all hours of the night. Catching on to some of the nastier looks from the less tolerant members of the team, Charon had also started refraining from touching her when anyone else was around, which was only adding to her mounting frustration. There's always someone the fuck around. Usually telling me to get out of the way or go patrol. Cort snorted as Three Dog came back on.
"Grab your hankies, children, cause I've got a heart-warming tale to tell. It's about a little girl's search for her daddy. Waaaahh! You see, the kid from Vault 101 has been looking for her dad, a very nice man named James, who left his daughter behind in the vault when he took off. What kind of dad leaves his kid in an underground bunker? Children, I just don't know. It ain't for Three Dog to judge, and you shouldn't either. But none of that matters now! Father and daughter were spotted walkin' and talkin' together out there in the Wastes, and heading back to some long-forgotten dream called Project Purity. Here's hoping they can hold onto each other this time around, and get that big machine working again, whatev-"
Violently jabbing at the buttons and cutting the DJ off, she leaned into the ghoul and wrapped an arm around his waist, wishing she could do more. "Can I get the fuck out and go kill that?"
"I won't fucking argue. Fuck, I'll shove a grenade up his ass if you ask. The amount of shit that pours out of him, it'll fucking fit for sure." Cort barked out a laugh in response to his offer and he smiled, moving his hand down to stroke her neck.
"No, that's fine. You're right though, I'm going nuts here. I really thought helping Dad out would involve, you know, actual helping. Not babysitting these jerks. Or getting put down by them 24/7."
"So tell them to go fuck themselves. There's been what, two fuckwad raiders and one mutant in the last week? Your father got the turrets back online, and he's not a complete moron with a gun, so let's go fuck off for a while. Go to Underworld, you can see those scrubs you like so much, or go fuck up someplace new."
"You actually want to go somewhere new? What happened to hating my idiot ideas?"
"You're unhappy, and I'm fucking bored out of my shitting tree. Neither of us was made to sit the fuck around. I hate sitting the fuck around. Reminds me of that fucking bar."
Cort stared out across the river as he rubbed behind her clipped ear, his other hand pressing against her stomach. "Yeah, why not? There's stuff of my own I need to do anyway. Stuff I miss, too."
It was easier than Cort thought it would be to wrangle her father into letting her go off for a few days to address other responsibilities she had acquired, a fact which somehow made her feel even worse, though she was dying to get out of the rut she had been shunted into. Briefly considering that she may have turned into an adrenaline junkie after excitedly thinking about killing more mercs, she got a rather distracted hug from James and then started back out towards the ghoul city by way of Anacostia Crossing Station.
The Metro had refilled with an assortment of ferals, raiders and the ever-present squads of Talon Company, and Cort felt better every time she killed something. Part of it was due to the fact that Charon was taking any left-over aggression and directing it into increasingly adept bouts of kissing the living daylights out of her, fueled by a week of being restricted by others. By the time they emerged out of the Museum Metro around mid-afternoon she felt like she was practically melting her armour off, while the ghoul was showing nothing more than a reserved air of satisfaction, pleased he was successfully mastering the new skill.
"So are you just going to keep torturing the hell out of me with that or move on to other stuff?" She flushed again as he smirked at her.
"Eventually, when I'm ready. Torturing you is fun." He sobered after a moment. "I'm-I'm not sure..."
"Don't worry about it, you'll figure it out, and I meant it, however fast or slow you want to go, I'll be set." I'm set NOW, oh holy jumping Jesus. If he starts doing that without the plating in the way I'm going to lose it entirely. She waved to Willow from across the courtyard, getting a nod in return, then entered back into the ghoul city, relaxing in the cool interior. Pausing once she had passed through the inner doors and into the concourse, she sniffed discretely. The building didn't have nearly as strong a scent this time, although she correctly chalked that up as a result of having been in such close contact with Charon. Running her tongue over her lips she suppressed a pleasant shudder. He even tastes like leather and copper. I wonder what the rest of him- Cort shook out of her salacious reverie when Winthrop came over to her, smiling hopefully.
"Cort! Long time no see. Got any scrap metal? I'm dying here. Charon." Winthrop gave the massive ghoul floating behind the girl a small nod before returning to look at her, his smile returning.
She grinned back, unslinging her pack. "I think I got a few pieces kicking around somewhere. How's things?" The caretaker shrugged at her nonchalantly.
"Oh, same shit, different day. I finally got over to junction AC22, and the damned thing was on fire. Nearly lost what's left of my hair putting it out. And AC88 is missing parts, specifically all of them, so I need all the scrap I can get." Cort pulled out a few clumps of jagged metal and assorted parts and handed them over, Winthrop eagerly taking them one by one and stuffing them into the pockets of his faded coveralls.
"Ever find out where that stench was coming from?"
"Molerat. I just up and left it there, thing's practically soup. Moving it would stink up the place even worse, so I'll just have to wait for it to dry up and then scrape it off."
"You've got such a wonderful job, Winthrop."
"I know, it's the height of glamour. Stop by before you go again, okay?"
"Sure thing, I need to ask you about something later anyway." Cort waved happily to him as he left and then turned back to Charon, walking down the long hall with him. "Okay, I need to go speak to Barrows about some things, so if you can just wait out here for a minute please? I'll be right out."
"What things?" Charon narrowed his eyes, not wanting to be separated no matter who was involved. Particularly since this who had previously taken pieces off of her.
"Girl things, that's what. Just wait by the statue again, please."
"You fucking better not come out with parts missing." Charon picked her up with one long arm and hugged her, ignoring the gapes from the ghouls around them.
"I won't, don't worry. Now put me down, I want to go visiting." I also want to ask Barrows some detailed questions you don't need to know about. He complied after squeezing her harder for a moment, then went to go stand where she had directed. Cort took a moment to watch him go before heading into the Chop Shop, Dogmeat heading to his favourite place beneath one of the gurneys. "Hey Doc, hey Nurse Graves."
"Hello Cort!" She smiled as the pink-haired ghoul came over and gave her a friendly hug while Barrows glanced up from the clipboard he was scribbling on, standing next to Meat and Ethel's enclosure.
"Cort. What part of yourself have you screwed up this time?"
"Hey! I'm perfectly fine at the moment, thank you. I just wanted to see you guys and uh, ask some questions." Barrows grinned dryly at her affronted response and flipped to a new page.
"Well, go ahead. It's not about the...matter we discussed the last time you were here, is it?" He looked over at Graves' back, the nurse having returned to the terminal she usually occupied during the day.
"No, not that, I've kinda come to terms with that. I sort of need, uh, relationship advice."
Barrows raised a ruined eyebrow at her before returning to his scribbling, shooting a dirty look in Graves' direction when she made what sounded suspiciously like a giggle.
"I wouldn't say I'm the best person for you to come to, Cort. You should really ask your father about something like that, I heard that you found him on the radio."
"Weeell he doesn't really have the field of expertise I'm looking for. See, uh, I'm involved with Charon."
Barrows jerked and let go of his clipboard, the thin wood clattering against the floor as his head came up, the doctor staring at her full on.
Graves spun around to talk to her as the other ghoul slowly bent over to retrieve his dropped item, not taking his eyes off her. "Charon?"
Instantly on the defensive, Cort straightened up and faced the nurse. "Yes, Charon. Why, what's wrong with that?"
"In the first place, it's just rather...startling for a smoothskin to, well. And Charon? Really?"
"Yes, really." Cort started rubbing the back of her right arm, fidgeting under the woman's scrutiny and shooting looks at Barrows, who had tossed the clipboard onto a work table, now looking at her speculatively. Fuck does everyone have to act weird about this? She winced as Graves continued and started to back up towards the door. This had been a distinctly bad idea.
"He's just so...so...really now, Charon?"
Barrows cleared his throat, glaring at the nurse. "Graves, isn't there work you're supposed to be doing instead of making the girl feel uncomfortable about herself? Really now."
Chastised, the woman turned back to the terminal as he beckoned to Cort with one hand. "Come on over and let's find out what you need to know and if I can answer it." She followed him to the other end of the room, still fidgeting self-consciously.
"It's not really a relationship thing, more a question about physiology."
Barrows mouth briefly quirked and he looked amused before falling back into his accustomed clinical expression. "Well if you're worried about that, sentient ghouls are fully functional in that regard."
Cort flushed. "No, that's not what I'm worried about. Look, I already know that if I manage to live as long as I'm supposed to, I'm still going to die first. I try not to think about it. What I am worried about is him going...feral before that. Or at all. I don't know how it works and I want to know how to prevent it."
Barrows barked out a sour laugh. "If I knew that it would certainly solve a lot of problems. All I can give you is theories." Barrows hauled a stool out from under a table and kicked it over towards Cort before sitting down on one of his own. "'Ferocious post-necrotic dystrophy', as I call it, or 'going feral' for the layman, happens when the reasoning and critical thinking portions of a ghoul's brain deteriorate. All that remains is the most basic instinct to feed, generally directed towards anything that moves. Considering the amount of bite marks you've managed to come in here with, I'd say you've most likely had more than enough experience with that."
Cort grimaced, placing her hand over the knotted scar on her right wrist. "Yes."
"There could be multiple factors, or only a few, or one. There's the possibility that every ghoul could end up succumbing to it, but that is very unlikely considering there are more than a few of us in Underworld alone who have been around since before the Great War, myself included. Carol is another excellent example. It's also possible that along with whatever factor makes a person able to turn into a ghoul sometimes comes with another that means they will degenerate, although non-social ghouls seem to be more prone to the condition. Those who have not been exposed to an obscene amount of severe radiation seem to make out better as well. I wouldn't worry too much about Charon in regards to the latter, considering there was never much of an opportunity for him to be exposed to outrageous levels of it, at least not since he came here. Even if it is a factor, it would probably require long-term exposure, again at critically high levels. I would say the small amounts you yourself can normally handle would not be an issue for him, so don't be too concerned with trying to avoid all of it, it's still physically beneficial for both of you. As for the former, your mouth should run enough to stave it off, as long as you don't drive him crazy on your own."
She looked at him, worry still painted over her features. "Gee, thanks so much." Barrows reached over and clumsily patted her on the shoulder.
"Don't worry Cort. I would say you have an exceptionally long time before you would have to, if at all. Contrary to popular belief, Charon never struck me as being particularly dense whenever he ended up in here over whatever new stupidity Ahzrukhal had managed to put him up to, which will help. You getting a hold of him is also probably the best thing that could have happened in terms of keeping him socialized. Considering how...unconventional you are, I wouldn't be surprised if you've already noticed positive behavioural changes in him." He looked at her speculatively as she nodded, expression brightening, then quickly mixing with suspicion as he continued talking. "And speaking of it, there was one particular sample I was looking for to help with that facet of my research."
"Whaaat do you want to do to me now." Barrows rubbed his hands together and smiled as she slumped.
