Two
"A little love letter I carry with me..."
Deacon took a long drag from the cigarette he had lit and held the burning, scratching, smoke in his lungs. She was there, she was ten feet from him, watching that nuisance reporter and the definite Synth Mayor of Diamond City bicker. Her black bangs barely covered her delicate eyebrows. Her hazel blue eyes were covered in shadows behind a pair of old glasses as she watched on patiently, waiting for a time to butt in and ask about Nick Valentine. This was as close as Deacon had even been to her after she left the vault and he ran for the hills, literally. He was pissed off at himself for acting like he had. There were so many ways he could have handled the situation better, he could have just brought her back to HQ, instead of having to drop hints for her everywhere. He could have been there for her in the vault, instead of stalking her around the Commonwealth.
Deacon exhaled before he began to choke, feeling his head start to spin from the lack of oxygen. The cigarette was already working for him, however. Calming him down and stopping him from shaking underneath his Diamond City Guard disguise. He backed his way towards the staircase as the mayor left in a huff and Piper talked Artemis into doing an interview after she went to find Nick. Deacon already knew he wasn't in, but had also double checked that the two citizens were waiting for her by his door like he payed them to be, hoping they could sound legit when arguing about the Railroad.
"Excuse me," Piper said, pushing past him and bringing him back to reality. She might as well have shouted "Move!" at him by the way she walked past. He shook his head, looking back to Artemis who followed behind her.
"Hi," she said, making her way past as well, and Deacon's cool had completely vanished from the simple two letter word.
"Welcome to the, uh, Great Green Jewel. You'll totally love it here," he blurted out in a near panic and then mentally kicked himself in the ass. He would have slapped himself if Artemis wasn't watching him, an eyebrow quirked.
Deacon had never lost his cool like that, never. Artemis wasn't even trying to talk to him, she was just being polite.
"Thanks," she half smiled despite his awkward greeting and she walked past him into the city.
"What?" Desdemona's voice sounded thought the catacombs. "Somebody's actually at the door? You mean they actually followed the freedom trail?" Deacon looked up from the desk he was at, pretending to work. He felt her eyes burning holes into his sunglasses and he simply shrugged.
"That's what we're thinking. Tom's tracked them for a while, but we didn't think she'd get past the mutants at Fenuil Hall," Drummer Boy advised Des.
"Deacon, what do you know about this?" She asked him and he shrugged again, smiling cheekily.
Des shook her head at him. "I want you out there with me, Glory, and Drummer Boy when she gets inside."
"If she gets inside, boss. Let me finish this and I'll head out there," Deacon told her, managing to look calm while his insides were lighting fire and melting together.
"Look at him, this has to be Project Wanderer, right?" Glory asked Des and Drummer Boy. "All this hard work and now he doesn't want the payoff."
"Project Wanderer is a myth!" He shouted as the three headed out, staring at the random papers he had strewn on the desk, his hand beginning to shake as he held the pen he was using to doodle with.
After a few minutes of agonizing silence the overhead lights flickered, meaning that Artemis had actually made it inside. He let go of a breath he wasn't aware he was holding and stood up, wiping his sweaty palms off on the white shirt he had on.
"Okay, Deacon, okay," he breathed to himself, making his way out to the entrance.
"Who told you how to contact us?" He heard Des interrogating Artemis as he rounded the corner, walking slowly into the conversation.
"I helped Karl out of a jam. He knows a guy, who knows a guy, and they hooked me up with a lead," he heard Artemis answer, not faltering in her words or pacing. Deacon was impressed. He figured that she would be able to catch a lie, but not weave one as well. Especially not to Desdemona.
"We'll look into that. I'm Desdemona, and I'm the leader of the Railroad. And you..." Des seemingly bought the lie and Deacon was even more impressed, almost forgetting his nerves. He purposefully kicked a rock once he was near enough and Des whipped around. "Deacon, where've you been?"
"You're having a party. What gives with my invitation?" He smiled at her, noting that Glory rolled her eyes and Drummer Boy shook his head with a slight smile.
"I need intel. Who is this?" Des asked him, completely ignoring the fact that she had been the one who told him to come along.
"Well, she's got to be someone. She made it down here, right? Normal people just don't do that," he tried to stress, failing to come up with anything noteworthy about Artemis besides being well over two centuries old and having a better education than anyone in the room, even if she was only a junior in college when the world went to hell. In reality, this whole "Follow the Freedom Trail" was designed by Deacon for her specifically.
"What's the big deal?" Artemis asked him, cocking her head slightly. Only then did he realize that pesky reporter was with her, Piper. God. Damn. It.
"Either you figured how to slip by bad guys, ghouls, et al, so you're smart," Deacon continued, trying to forget about Piper for the time being. "Or you blasted a path straight through. In which case, tough. Either way, kind of impressive." He still spoke directly to Artemis, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses that only showed Artemis her reflection, Deacon focusing only on her.
"What? Normal people can't figure out your decoder ring out front?" Artemis sarcastically asked him, a smile forming and he wanted to burst out laughing, forgetting how nervous he was before. Instead he remained cool.
"These days, being able to spell 'Railroad' is cause for celebration." Artemis and Piper glanced at one another and Piper shrugged with a small nod.
"So you got nothing? She's a complete unknown?" Des asked him. He started to worry then maybe he was playing this all too well, he thought for sure she'd know this was "Project Wanderer".
"What are our options?" He asked, looking from his boss to Glory and Drummer Boy, "Shoot them? We need friends, Des. Now more than ever. And I got a real good feeling about her." Maybe he had laid it on a little too think now.
"What? Are you vouching for her?" Des asked, fully turning to him.
"Yes," he didn't hesitate. "Definitely."
"Project Wanderer," Glory mouthed to to him and Drummer Boy shook his head again, chuckling quietly in amusement. So this was it, Deacon's "little" project was out.
"Fine," Des sighed. "That changes things," she looked back to Artemis and Piper. Deacon himself made his way down to their level, done with his part of the plan for now. "I don't know what, if anything, you've heard out there about us. You know what a Synth is, right?"
"Yeah," Artemis answered, placing a hand on her hip. "I know about them."
"Good. The Institute treats Synths like property, like tools."
"Do you know why?" Artemis asked Des, and Deacon couldn't keep his eyes off her, it was so strange to see her alive and speaking in front of him. She was actually here in the flesh, all because of him.
"They're playing God! Tinkering with things they don't fully understand. From that lofty vantage its easy to deny their creation's very humanity."
"That... Sounds like slavery," Artemis said with a realization.
"Exactly," Desdemona's face lit up (despite actually being lit up), "So we seek to free the Synths from their bondage. Give them a chance, at a real life... I have a question. The only question that matters. Would you risk your life for you fellow man? Even if that man was a Synth?"
"I risk my life for people every day, it makes no difference if they're a man or a Synth," Artemis responded and Deacon clenched his jaw to keep from beaming. This was perfect. Artemis was perfect.
"Well said. Deacon was right about us, we do need more 'friends', but..." Desdemona began and Deacon spun around to look at her. No no no, this was perfect what's going wrong now? "Right now, we don't have the time to train up a new agent. There are however, other valuable ways, you can contribute. See Deacon for details. You're free to go."
Artemis watched Desdemona walk away, leaving Glory and Drummer Boy behind, before making her way to Deacon. He was not expecting the twist Des threw at him, but was able to keep calm, finally, around Artemis.
"Hope you didn't mind the reception," he smiled at her, "When you tangle with the Institute, you've got to be careful when someone new gets on the dance floor."
Artemis didn't look too peeved, unlike her companion. "Your leader was just being cautions," she smiled with understanding and Deacon felt a thousand times more relieved.
"I'll take hurt feelings over becoming the Institute's play thing any day," Piper agreed with a nod, Deacon still doing his best to try and ignore her.
"Exactly," Deacon nodded in agreement. "Kind of killed our chance at a friendly first impression though. But it's all good now. I vouched for you, nobody got shot... Still, I would consider it a close personal favor if you didn't sell us out to the Institute. Thanks." Deacon suddenly realized he couldn't stop smiling at her.
"So... Tell me. Why did you vouch for me?" Artemis pried, Deacon was prepared for this but honestly hadn't expected it.
"In our little outfit, it's my job to know things. And with everything you've done, it's clear you're capable. A dangerous enemy. And, I'm betting, a valuable ally," he danced around the words, barely saying anything.
"But why the trust? You can't be taking it all on faith?" She continued, but Deacon's demeanor didn't falter.
"I don't know if we can trust you, but I hope we can. We just survived a hell of a crisis. So we may be just a teeny weeny bit desperate for new members. If everything was sunshine and bottle caps, we'd probably play a longer 'get to know you' game. But we don't have that luxury." Everything he said was the truth, just not the answer to her question.
Artemis realized this. "Really? Is that all?" Her head cocked slightly and her hand went back to her hip.
"You just don't give up," he smirked at her, "Alright, I have a short list of people I think would be a good fit for our family. You piqued my interest, so maybe I asked around," Deacon explained. That's as far as he could go. "I stalked you for twelve years while you were frozen" definitely wouldn't play into his hand. "I did my homework. If you hadn't found us, there's a chance I would have found you instead. Thanks for saving me a trip." He made a quick transition before Artemis could question him further. "So Des wants me to make you a Tourist... That's what we call someone who helps out with the odd job here and there. What a waste. I'm just gonna come out and say this: The Railroad needs you," he stressed to her.
"You sure you need me?" Artemis crossed her arms. "Desdemona didn't seem to care."
About now, strangling Des sounded delightfully pleasant. "She's just thinking of the time and manpower it would take to train you. And if you were some hick from the burbs that didn't know your ass from a rocket launcher, she'd be right." Artemis actually laughed at that stupid joke, causing warmth to bloom in his chest and spread to his limbs. He could tell the sound was addictive and he had only heard it once.
"I'm just willing to bet you need a few pointers and a target," Deacon's mouth plowed on despite his body's reaction to her. "Look, I'll tell you the game plan, then you decide. I've got a job, too big for me, just perfect for the two of us," he stressed the number while glancing from Artemis to Piper and back. "You help me out, we turn a few heads, then Des invites you into the fold."
"So what's the job?" Artemis asked, he figured she would.
"Upfront, the only thing I'll say is it's going to be a wild and dangerous ride. But probably nothing new for someone like you."
Artemis was silent for a moment before glancing to Piper. "Don't ask me," she told Artemis, before looking to Deacon and saying, "No comment," in a slightly dumb voice. Deacon shrugged, ignoring Piper's mocking statement.
"Sign me up then," Artemis agreed and Deacon felt relief wash over him.
"Perfecto. Lets meet up at the old freeway outside Lexington. Two days, I'll fill you in then." Artemis didn't verbally respond, but glanced up to Glory, still aiming her minigun, before backing out of the room with Piper.
"Still have to shove that in their faces after Des made her a tourist, huh?" Deacon asked her as he made his way back into HQ. The smile he had was finally gone completely from his lips.
"So how long did it take you to get her through the front door again? Twelve years?" Glory asked him right back.