Cort walked confidently into the Rotunda with her companions behind her, feeling happy and wanted as she ran up the stairs and into the Control Room, James smiling at them from where he stood with Janice Kaplinski. Pulling his lab coat off and handing it to the other woman, he wrapped a large number of huge fuses up in it before passing the bundle to his daughter.

"All right sweetie, ready to start making history? I need to you take these down to the Fuse Access A1 panel downstairs, you remember where that is?"

"Yes, at the very end of the basement."

"Good girl. Now be careful with those, they're the only replacement fuses we have at the moment. Pull the blown ones out and replace them with those, then push the intercom. We can't move to the next step until we've confirmed your repairs have worked."

Trotting back down the stairs, she grinned back at Li as the woman smiled at her, then passed back out into the rest of the Memorial. Heading back into the basement and rapidly descending to the location James had directed her to, she hummed to herself happily. Definitely starting to like the asian woman more as it had become apparent that her father was interested in only his work and her own well-being, Cort was feeling more secure than she had in months. I can live with this. This life can work. I've got everything I've ever wanted, more or less even if it's all in bizarro-world. Making her way to the panel, she handed the bundle of fuses to Charon, who carefully held them out as she swapped themwith the damaged ones. Clapping lightly as all of the lights in the basement flickered and then brightened, she then leaned over to punch the intercom next to the access panel. "Okay Dad, we've got the damaged fuses replaced, are you getting anything?" Taking her father's lab coat back, she rolled it up and knotted the sleeves around her waist as he responded.

"Yes sweetheart, we're good up here. Next I'm going to need you to boot up the Mainframe, with the power back on you should be able to open the security door."

"Roger dodger!" Letting go of the button, she turned to go back to the upper levels of the basement, Charon and Dogmeat following behind. The Mainframe was the third of the tasks her father had outlined for her, the first being turning off power to the Flood Control Pump, easy enough since it was in the room they had been sleeping in. James had buzzed down while they were putting their armour on, and she had quickly completed the little job after they had dressed. Pelting up the stairs and skidding into the next designated area, Cort grinned at the green light now burning brightly next to the massive flanged security door sealing off the Mainframe. Twisting the dial on the door, it retracted immediately and she darted in, looking for the control switch. Charon walked in a moment later, in a rather more sedate fashion.

"So what's after this one?" He watched as she spun in place, quickly moving to pull down a massive breaker on the wall when she spotted it. Grunting as she tried to shift it, she glanced over towards him.

"Come help, this thing is stiff as hell. I think this is all of it before we need to go grab our guns and stuff and play plumber outside." She moved aside as the ghoul came over and grabbed the handle, flipping it down in one easy motion as she crossed her arms and stared at him haughtily. "Yeah well, I loosened it."

"The only thing you ever get loose are screws." Ducking as he swatted at her playfully, Cort stuck her tongue out and moved back to reach for another intercom.

"Okay Dad, it's up!"

"Excellent! There are a few minor repairs that still need to be made up here in the Control Room, why don't you come up and give me a hand? Wait. What Janice?" Cort waited, listening to her father mumbling to one of the other scientists. "Damnit. All right. Cort honey, there's apparently a blockage in one of the intake pipes, I'm going to need you to go clear it out before we can get started."

"Okay, shoot."

"Go to the entrance to the Memorial and back up the other end, there's a grate there, set into the floor. I need you to head down into it and open the valve down there, it will be right after the first gate once you make it inside, red handle next to a rusted out hole. Don't worry about being in the pipes when you turn it on, nothing runs through that section anymore and it's sealed off from the outside. You'll know the valve is completely open when the sign over the far gate in there switches to green. You'll have to go for a little swim at the end, but you'll come out next to your sleeping area, so you two can change before coming back up."

"Got it." Trotting out of the room, she resealed it as soon as Charon and Dogmeat came out, then trotted up the stairs as the ghoul griped behind her.

"A little swim? What the fuck does he mean a little swim?"

She groaned happily back. "Yeeeah, probably into the overflow pool down at the bottom of the basement, there's a huge pipe coming out of the ceiling above it. I'm not complaining, I need a bath. I smell."

He frowned to himself, following after her. "I like the way you smell." Making their way back to the ground level and coming up the corridor at the far end of the Memorial entrance, Charon looked down apprehensively as Cort hauled the grating set into the floor out of the way, exposing a dead black hole. "That is not a good idea."

"What?" Sliding through after snapping her Pip-Boy light on, she dropped down into the rusty drainage pipe with a dull clanging sound, then caught the dog as he jumped into her arms. "Oof! Heavy boy. Come on Charon, pitter patter, let's get at 'er. What are you waiting for?" She looked around, sneezing as dust rose up from the dirt accumulated in the bottom. The pipe extended out beyond the wall of the Memorial, cabling running along the ceiling and lights depending from cords at even locations along it, giving off a dim glow.

"It's like a fucking tin can in there."

"So? We've walked through tunnels." Both her and Dogmeat looked up at him with the exact same questioning expression as he stared back, exasperated.

"So I'm huge, if you haven't noticed. The Metro tunnels are different, I'm going to be bent up all to hell crawling in that thing."

"Oh trust me, I noticed. Look, there's tons of room, I just have to crouch a little and my head doesn't even touch." She waggled her right hand over her helmeted head, a grin starting to break out on her face. Grumbling, the ghoul dropped down next to her, swearing as he banged into the top of the pipe when he tried to stand.

"Fucking stupid...how long are we down here for, I hate tight spaces."

Rubbing the sides of her legs to ease the tensed muscles, she smiled wider and reached out to grab one of his hands, softening the scowl on his face when she did. "What about when I'm in them with you?"

"Distinctly more agreeable than normal."

"What about my own?" His expression mellowed further as she intertwined her fingers with his, and he pulled her hand up to kiss the back of it before letting go.

"Definitely agreeable."

Wiggling happily, she turned and started down the drainage pipe, Charon finding the view adequate compensation for the occasional light bulb whacking him in the face as she absently batted them out of the way.

Coming up to a sealed gate, Cort pushed the latch and entered the section they had been looking for, weak sunlight streaming in through a rotted section next to the valve James had sent them after. "Ooh, sun. Sun is good." She turned to close the gate behind her as Charon edged past to sit next to the gaping hole, grabbing at the chain link fencing wrapped over it from the outside after banging his helmet against the twin loudspeakers mounted into the ceiling.

"Shit! Sun, air, all of it. It'll be better than good when I'm not clocking the hell out of myself every five fucking seconds."

Watching the lighted sign over the gate change from a pleasant green 'UNLOCKED' to a red 'LOCKED', Cort turned to complete her task. Scrambling over to grab the valve, she wrapped both hands around it and wrenched it to the left, the metal squealing in protest as she turned it as far as it would go. "There. Now we can just relax for a few minutes before we-" She was cut off by the sound of an enormous explosion outside, the flames billowing up in the distance just visible through the scaffolding around the front of the Memorial. "Or not." Glancing down the pipe, she swore as she saw both doors were still sealed, then jerked her head back to the hole as a vibration built up in the metal and air around her. "Charon, what the fuck is that?"

The ghoul had turned around to face the outside completely, peering up and yelling as the sound became deafening. "I don't know, I've never heard it before." Both of them ducked down as a green aircraft with twin rotors hovered into sight like a giant metal bloatfly, descending to land on the platform in front of them. He stared out at it, baffled. "It looks like one of the wrecks back on the deck of the carrier."

Comprehension dawned on Cort's face as she stared out at it, dredging up the name from history holotapes she had watched back in the Vault. "Vertibird! It's a Vertibird!" She yelled louder as a group of people spilled out of it, dressed in black power armour and grey uniforms. "Hey! Who the hell a-" She squeaked as a hand was suddenly slapped over her mouth. Charon hissed at her as he yanked her lower and out of sight, chalky eyes watching the group streaming into the Memorial.

"Do not yell at the heavily armed assholes we do not know while we're in a fucking makeshift shooting gallery." He released her as the aircraft took off again, grabbing for his shotgun and swearing when his searching hand didn't find it, both of them having left their guns behind in Pump Control with their packs. Easy, lazy day. We won't need to shoot at anything. Suuure. I'm going back to fucking sleeping with my shotgun after whatever this shit is is over with. He swore again as the loudspeakers above them crackled to life, James' voice issuing from them. "Fuck!" Cort looked up and strained to hear over the receding noise as the far gate's sign finally changed to green.

"Everyone, it seems we have some visitors. I don't know who they are or what they want. Please, everyone remain in your assigned areas until we get this sorted out. For anyone who has gone outside of them, return immediately and be careful."

"Come on we have to go, go now, gogogo!" Bolting for the far end of the pipe, Cort ripped the gate open and scrambled through into the next section, which rapidly sloped into a vertical drop swathed in black. Feet hitting a grate halfway across the side, she jumped off of it, stopping abruptly when Charon's hand grabbed the rim of her armour and pulled her back. Flailing, she screeched and twisted around to face him, plating rucking up around her neck. "Lemmie go!"

"Shine your damn light down there first before you break a fucking leg."

Jamming her left arm down into the hole and rotating it, she saw a succession of corroded grates spaced out down along the pipe. "There, see, no breaking legs, leggo!" Pulling loose from his grip as it relaxed, she quickly turned and jumped down to the lower grate, turning to catch Dogmeat as he dropped and then holding him as she leapt to the next one, the metal squealing as she hit it. Letting him go, she watched the dog scramble down to the last two, then whipped her face back up. "Come on, I can see it leveling out, get moving!" Whatever was happening, she needed to get back to her father, the different scenarios of what could be going on running through her head and starting to drive her into a panic. I'm not going to lose him again, I'll lose it if I lose him again.


Reaching down, he shook the first grating, frowning when rust flaked off from the bolts set into the metal. "Get to the bottom first and out of the way. And wait for me." His reservations about the platforms proved to be correct when the third one collapsed under the impact of his weight, dumping him to the bottom of the drop. Skidding through the mess in the bottom of the pipe, he crashed directly into Cort, kicking up a cloud of filth over both of them. "Fuck! Are you all right?" Charon had a brief moment to hug her to him before she roughly shoved him away and started loping down the pipe, dropping into a swinging gait to pick up speed, hands smacking hollowly against the metal sides.

"Fine, now come on and move your ass!" Swearing, he followed her, trying to keep her in sight as she hared around the curves, the dog hot on her heels. He stopped abruptly as Cort slammed into another gate, ripping it open and piling through, only to be driven back into the previous section by a volley of laser fire. Scrabbling in the rust and dirt drifted up in the bottom of the pipe, she sneezed violently as she kicked the gate shut, the scent of seared flesh and burnt cloth reaching him as it rose off of her right side. "It's two of the ones in power armour. I was right, pipe empties out down into the pool next to Pump Control." Crawling up beside her, Charon worked his hand into one of hers as she heaved against the side of the pipe. "We're pinned, and we need something better than our Goddamned combat knives and Dogmeat's pistol to get past those assholes, if they're shooting at me God only knows what they're doing to everyone else. I need to get to Dad, I need to get there now, nownownow!"

As Dogmeat crawled over to nudge at her face the ghoul remembered something, and he squeezed her hand brutally to cut her off as her voice started scaling up into a shriek. "We've got something. Scoped .44. That fucking cannibal's Magnum is on the mutt's right side, I left it where James put it back in Andale."

"Brilliant, you're brilliant." Hauling the dog over, she ripped the massive gun out of its pocket and turned back to the gate, Charon deftly plucking it out of her hand a second later.

"No. It kicks like a Brahmin, and you can't brace it like your repeater. Take the mutt's pistol and stay behind me." He snapped at her when she hesitated, looking rebellious. "Do it, Cort, I can fucking smell where they cooked you, they're not going to do it again. And turn off that damn light." Glaring at him she complied, the ghoul got a perverse feeling of satisfaction out of her obedience before moving to the gate and feeling for the edge of it in the darkness, nudging it open. Leveling the .44 in both hands and staring through the scope, he drew a bead on the head of one of the figures and squeezed the trigger. The gun roared, muzzle flash illuminating his face as he snarled, the bullet slamming into one of the helmet's shielded eye holes and blowing it apart. Charon rapidly repeated the action as his second target darted into his line of sight, then moved out into the last of the pipe before the body had hit the floor, scanning the rest of the visible area as he reached the edge. Cort skidded up next to him a second later, 10mm held out in front of her as she incredulously looked around.

"How the hell did you DO that? You use a fucking shotgun for Christ's sake!"

"I like the fucking shotgun. I am a fucking sniper." He watched a disturbing range of emotions dance over her face before it blanked completely and she turned back to the drop, tilting her head.

"Well whatever, gotta go, gotta go." She suddenly flung herself past him, arms circling as she crashed into the water below, Dogmeat instantly leaping out once she had swum out of the way.

"Cort!" Swearing, he jumped out after her, his weight carrying him to the bottom of the deep pool as he plunged into it. Kicking his long legs out against the base, he burst back out into the air in time to see her bolting for their sleeping area, water flying everywhere as she ran. Pulling himself out onto the floor, he pounded after her, coming into the room just in time to catch her before she could run back out with her repeater. "Hold it, get your pack."

"No, no no we have to get upstairs, there's more of them." He moved his hands to her arms and gave her a violent shake, finally getting her eyes to move back to his own as he dug his fingers into her flesh. Pushing down the urge to submit to the bald outrage in them at the rough treatment, he shook her again to drive his next words home, hoping she wouldn't remember that she could control him completely if she wished.

"Which means we're going to need the grenades and the medical shit, so get your pack, Cort!" Shrieking intelligibly, she turned back and ripped it on over her back as Charon pulled his own on and jammed the .44 back into Dogmeat's armour as the dog paced past him, growling and snapping at nothing. Whatever was happening, the ghoul already felt like they were already on bad footing. With her father threatened and having no way to know what was happening to him, Cort's self control had degenerated entirely, and the dog was clearly being affected by it. He thrust his arm out to grab her again as she ran for the door and shoved her back, not daring to let her take point in this condition. "No, you stay behind me, you're acting like an idiot and you won't help your father by killing yourself. Now!" Staring at him murderously and twisting her hands around her rifle, he glared back as she slowly obeyed, and he quickly moved out out of the room before the thin control he had over her broke completely. A week earlier and the big man wouldn't have had a chance, the new dynamics of their relationship the only thing holding her in place. He looked down as Dogmeat trotted beside him and snarled. "And you keep your fucking head. I don't need you going nuts on top of everything else."

They encountered three more opponents as they moved upstairs, one in the basement and two in the top level of the Memorial, Cort literally slamming herself into the last one. Charon had finished the man off by driving his knife into the gap under his helmet, unable to get a shot off as she punched at the armoured head, screaming as the downed figure jammed a laser pistol into her left thigh and fired. Letting go the instant the corpse stopped twitching she streaked towards the Rotunda, ripping the door open and tearing through it, the ghoul only able to catch up to her again when her leg gave out. Coming up behind them, Dogmeat quietly paused at the threshold and waited. There were too many new people for him to decide what to do on his own.