The man begging for purified water in front of Rivet City nearly cried when James gave him a few bottles. Gloria scoffed and rolled her eyes; he was probably trying to get on her good side.
It wasn't like she was mad at him. Yeah, she was irritated that he left, but she found him again so she should be happy, right?
No, no, she was wrong. She was angrier than ever.
Whether it was from resentment or normal teenage angst she never grew out of, she couldn't forgive him.
He never hurt her with words or physical violence, but this selfish act reminded her of… herself.
It was frustrating because they were so alike. To his very core, leaving her and going off to fuck knows where, he was selfish.
And so was she. But she was proud of her nature. She never tried to hide it. Unlike her father who tries to be some kind of Saint to the wasteland. He wasn't anything special.
Back in the Vault, it was his job to be accepting and help her through hard times. Accepting she was a lesbian and giving her medication and therapy was what he was supposed to do.
She thinks back to Jonas and sighs. He didn't deserve to die because of her father's selfishness. He should have been alive now, happy. It wasn't fair; so many people died because of him—because of both of them. She couldn't place all the blame on him.
Harkness looked surprised to see James and Gloria walk through the bridge into the main ship. Word had probably gotten around that Gloria was looking for him; no one was sure if they would return.
She wished she hadn't, but that was a thought for another time.
Li looked even more surprised that James found his way back to Rivet City. She briefly wrapped her arms around him, pulling away and then slapping him across the face. Gloria tried to suppress a snicker as the other scientists looked on in shock.
"I guess I deserved that," James said, rubbing his cheek to quell the stinging pain. Li also shook her hand and said, "You're damn right you did. What were you thinking! You put yourself and your own daughter in danger!"
"I didn't expect her to escape the Vault-"
"Hey," Gloria interrupted, giving them both a mean look, "I'm right here. Now's not the time to argue."
"You're right. Did you find what you were looking for?" Li asked. James nodded, "We can use a G.E.C.K. to use with the purifiers."
"And so you have one?"
"Well, no. There wasn't one in 101 or in 12. We use a computer in the Jefferson Memorial to locate one, though."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Li looked between James and Gloria; the latter shrugged, "I already cleared it of Super Mutants. Should be fine."
James looked proud. Gloria couldn't care less.
The walk to the Memorial was uneventful; James had spent the majority of it tell Madison about his time in Vault 101, how Gloria turned out (much to her displeasure) and then finally asked Gloria about her hair. She had almost forgotten it'd been shaved off.
It had been 4 months since she left the Vault. So much had happened that she didn't have time to sit and think. She replied with "I wanted change. Then there was too much change."
James stopped his daughter, encouraging everyone to go on without them. He placed his hands on Gloria's shoulders, a feeling of guilt bubbling inside his chest as he felt how much weight she'd lost. "I'm sorry I left."
"You say that a lot, but are you really?"
James stayed quiet; she didn't need to hear anymore. "Whatever. Let's get this over with."
After getting settled in, James pulled Gloria aside to talk to her some more. He looked around with pride in his eyes and happiness and nostalgia in his heart. "Here we are. Where it all began. You remember your mother's favorite passage?"
"Yeah, Revelations 21:6. I've seen it everywhere."
"Don't you see? This is what it all means. The water, the purifier. This is the water of life. Your mother's dream. No point in wasting time. Let's get to work. There's much to be done."
"All right, what do you want?" Gloria sighed. She knew he'd be too busy or incompetent to do whatever she had to do.
"The Project was abandoned shortly after you were born. Things have deteriorated here since then, and there's been some flooding. I'll need you to her to the Flood Control Pumps and activate them so we can clear out the water and reach the mainframe."
"What? Why me? Can't someone else do it?" She was getting pretty tired of running around doing things for people.
"In a word? No. Everyone else has specific tasks to complete as the power comes back online. Don't worry. I'll guide you along the best I can using the intercom system. You'll do just fine."
"Whatever. Where do I need to go?"
All she really had to do was turn on a pump and plug in a few fuses. When she returned to her father, he looked impressed for some reason.
"I've been hearing good things about you. Is it true? Did you really disarm the bomb in Megaton?"
"Yeah, but... why do you care?"
"I just wanted to say that I'm very proud of you, Gloria. That's all."
"Thanks." She didn't mean it. Would she really trust him after what he'd done?
Running around the memorial, she found some tapes and audio diaries that belonged to James. Some were happy, one was downright uncomfortable, and some were- No. They weren't sad. The one about her mother's death made her heart ache. She didn't know or have any emotional attachment to her, but the way James talked about her was saddening. When the tape ended, she ejected it and threw it back where she found it. There was no use listening to it again.
She continued on with her work, flipping switches and killing more Super Mutants when they appeared out of nowhere. Her last assignment was to turn a valve in a pipe so water could flow through. She sighed and did as she told.
With a little hard work, the valve managed to turn and had begun to go back to the rotunda, when a strange noise approached. Looking through a hold in the pipe, a few helicopter-like objects decended and an alarm started to sound.
"Gloria Hill get back to the rotunda right now," James used his "Dad Voice" on her, and she sprinted back to where he was.
Something bad was happening, and she needed to find out what.
"By authority of the President, this facility is now under United States government control. The person in charge is to step forward immediately, and turn over all materials related to this project."
Gloria stopped at the glass separating her from her father and some other soldiers in power armor and a man in a tan jacket. She assumed she was the one in charge.
James glanced at her, then stepped forward, clenching and unclenching his fists.
That idiot was going to die.
Gloria's heartrate was through the roof as she tried to open the door through the console next to her, then she lifted her rifle above her head to smash the glass, when Li grabbed her arms and held onto her tightly.
James and the man in charge, Colonel Autumn, argued for a little; the purifier was not going to work, and James had no idea how to fix it.
He refused to give up his project to the Enclave, until Autumn killed the other scientist in the control room. Li gasped in shock and her jolt caused Gloria to lean back onto her, then she rebalanced herself. James finally agreed to help him. He turned around and typed in the code to start the purifier, and waited a while.
Then there was a burst of radiation. The geiger counter of Gloria's Pip-Boy was ticking wildly, and she screamed when her dad stumbled over to the glass pane.
"Run... run..." He said before falling onto his knees and slumping to the ground.
Gloria stared at him even as Li shook her, yelling, "We have to get out of here. They'll be coming for us next. We've got to evacuate now!"
"I'm not leaving my dad in there!" Gloria screamed, tears spilling out of her eyes. Her throat felt tight and her heart felt like someone punched a hole through it.
"There's nothing we can do for him now. The radiation levels in there are lethal. You'd die the same way he did."
Gloria didn't say anything. She didn't even remember leaving the memorial and arriving at the Citadel, where Li was yelling at the Brotherhood of Steel to let her and her team inside.