The Wicked and the Weary

"The child synth can't age, you know."

Quinn stopped dead in her tracks.

Part of her wanted to turn and look at the Institute scientist who had just spoken, but experience had taught her that if she did that, they might not continue. Instead, she busied herself, leaning on a nearby wall and looking out onto the gleaming plaza below, praying she hadn't given herself away by her abrupt change of course.

Thankfully, the years of isolation seemed to have dulled any perceptiveness the Institute's inhabitants may have had, and neither scientist so much as glanced at Quinn as they continued their conversation.

"Really? Where did you hear that?"

"Doctor Li. Apparently Father hasn't requested it to age like the standard Gen 3s. Odd, really. I would have thought he'd want to test the capabilities of the aging process and see how far it goes."

Quinn's ears pricked up at the mention of Doctor Li's name, but the concept of an eternal child pushed her mission aside as concern swept over her.

The synth of child Shaun would never grow up?

Maxson's orders were to go and fetch Doctor Li. She had told Danse - promised Danse - that she would be in and out of the Institute with no delays. But the mere idea of a synth locked in childhood disturbed her to her core. It wasn't right. It was...it was…

What the hell was Shaun playing at? Bad enough that he experimented with synths in the first place, but this was a step too far.

Quinn clenched her fists as the scientists droned on behind her, their words lost in the midst of her turmoil. Seeing Shaun again was the last thing she wanted.

She couldn't do it. She couldn't face him.

You have to, she thought to herself. You have to. Do it for Shaun. Do it for both of them.

A low moan of anguish sounded in her throat. Later. She would do it later. She needed to find Li first. Taking a deep breath, Quinn set off again.

"Who is that?"

"Father's parent. Frozen in a vault for over two-hundred years."

"Fascinating. No wonder she looks so...shabby."

Quinn gritted her teeth. A brief thought crossed her mind, telling her to ignore them, not to rise up to it. Danse would want her to keep her cool.

Danse isn't here.

"Y'know," Quinn snapped, whirling around, "if I was gonna talk shit about the Director's mother, I would at least wait until she was out of earshot."

She glared at them, one of them blushing furiously while the other looked scandalised, and then added, "You morons."

With that, Quinn marched off, leaving them to splutter in her wake as she made her way towards the stairwell that led down to the plaza.

By the time Quinn had made it to her goal, she had managed to calm down, but she still felt unsettled.

This is an evil place.

"Excuse me, Doctor Li?"

Doctor Li glanced up from her work, glaring. She was the queen of the Institute's Advanced Systems, and held her title like a sword, her demeanour sour as Quinn trespassed into her kingdom. She had met Doctor Li briefly when she had taken her initial tour of the Institute, and the woman's attitude hadn't changed one bit.

"You again? What do you want now?" she said sharply.

Before Quinn could answer, another voice spoke.

"Doctor Li?"

Both women turned around to see a small boy dressed in Institute clothes staring at them curiously.

"Who is that, Doctor Li?" he asked.

"This is-" Doctor Li began, glancing back at Quinn, before hesitating and frowning.

The moment the boy synth had entered the room, Quinn had felt her insides freeze up, her body stepping back of its own accord until she was pressed as far into the nearest wall as she could go. Her chest was heaving, heart racing, sweat forming across her palms and forehead as cold shivers raced down her spine, the words of the scientists echoing in her head.

"The child synth can't age, you know."

Doctor Li paused, and then returned her attention to the synth, her voice taking on a gentleness that Quinn had never heard from her before. "Shaun, why don't you go into the other room for a bit? I need to have a private talk."

The synth looked as if he wanted to argue, but then nodded, pouting a little. "Okay."

He left, and Doctor Li strode over to the door, sealing it behind him.

"You alright?" she said to Quinn. Her tone was abrupt, but not unkind, and there was a glimmer of concern under her hard exterior.

"Can we leave, please?" Quinn whispered, unable to take her gaze off the synth, still visible through the glass walls of his cell.

Doctor Li nodded, gesturing for Quinn to go first. With the greatest effort, she dragged her eyes from the boy and forced her lead-filled legs to take her away. The doctor followed, again shutting the door after them. The second Quinn heard the clunk, she let out a long, whooshing breath, and leaned over a nearby console, shaking.

Li bustled around and a few seconds later, a cup of water was held under Quinn's nose. Quinn took it with murmured thanks and downed it in one, not caring that she spilt half of it all over herself. Li took the cup off her and put it on the side, and then stared at her, analysing her.

"I'm sorry that happened," Li said eventually, "but my original question still stands. What do you want?"

Trying to regain some of her composure, Quinn stood back from the console and held up her hands in mock surrender. "Any reason for the hostility, doctor?"

She knew she was supposed to be winning the scientist over, but like hell she was just going to lie down and take Li's crap for Maxson. She sounded more confident than she felt, at any rate.

"Well let's see," Li said, putting down her clipboard with a clatter. "A Brotherhood of Steel airship arrives in the Commonwealth, you find a way to intercept our teleport signal, and now you show up at my door. I knew it was just a matter of time before your people would track me down. I've been looking over my shoulder for almost a decade, waiting for them to send someone like you here to kill me."

A jolt of panic shot through Quinn, and she glanced around, checking who was listening. Thankfully, the lab was empty. It seemed Li liked to work later than her staff.

"Yes," Li continued, her scowl deepening. "I know you're Brotherhood. Father may not have picked up on it, but I have."

"If you know, why haven't you told him?"

"Because I wasn't sure until just now. The way you carry yourself, the fact you've gone out of your way to talk to me on more than one occasion."

"Then call security if it bothers you so much."

"Maybe I will." She did not move, however. "But if you've made it in this far, others will follow. I'm simply putting off the inevitable."

Quinn shook her head. "I'm not here to kill you, Doctor. The Brotherhood wants your help, not your head."

Now that statement brought out a peculiar reaction. Doctor Li blinked, her hand jerking slightly and knocking the clipboard off the console. She stooped down to pick it up, giving Quinn a suspicious look as she did so.

"Wants my help?" she asked, straightening up and holding the clipboard like a shield. "Why? They seemed to have everything under control when I left."

Quinn shrugged. "Things change."

"You're not exactly filling me with confidence," Li replied, rolling her eyes. "Why on earth would I go crawling back to them? Why would I throw away everything I have here?"

Now that was a killer question. Maxson hadn't given her a lot to go on with this discussion. Either that had been an oversight on his part, or he had more faith in her ability to persuade people than she thought.

An idea occurred to Quinn.

"Maxson - I mean - Elder Maxson told me that you were against-"

"Elder Maxson?" Li interrupted, her eyes widening. "Not that little snot-nosed boy who had to be reprimanded by Elder Lyons for trying to make friends with a Brotherhood war machine?"

Quinn couldn't help herself. She started to laugh. Doctor blinked in surprise at her, and then smiled herself, Quinn's giggles apparently relaxing her.

Once she had settled herself down, Quinn tried again. "Elder Maxson…" She grinned at Li. "...told me that you were against Brotherhood presence in the wasteland after the war with the Enclave was over. I'm guessing that was a moral conflict on your part?"

Doctor Li nodded. "People should be free to make their own way in life. I didn't agree with their continued military presence. It was unnecessary after Project Purity was completed."

"Project Purity?"

"We brought clean water to the wasteland, with the aim of making the water clean and available to all."

Aha, thought Quinn. I've got you.

Out loud, she said, "I find it strange that you'd put so much concern into the common man, and then work for a place like the Institute."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You're not a stupid woman, Doctor Li," said Quinn. "And while I'm not a scientist, neither am I. We both know that something isn't right with this place, that there's something sinister underneath it all. Father doesn't tell you the truth, does he?"

"Whatever makes you think that?" she replied, though she sounded strained.

"I did my own digging the last time I was here. I found out about some of the experiments. Some of the bullshit the Institute does. At first I thought you were all bad people, but talking to you now…" Quinn shrugged. "I think most of you aren't aware of what goes on."

Doctor Li looked troubled. "I confess, there are times when I feel like Father is hiding things from me, but…" She shook her head. "I don't go by feelings. I go by facts. Evidence. And you have none."

"You're wrong." It was a flash of sudden inspiration, and Quinn praised her damn luck that she had kept hold of Virgil's set of holotapes. Without waiting for a response, Quinn pulled out the relevant tapes and played them to her on her Pip-Boy, taking care to stash away Nate's holotape safely first.

"What we're doing... it's not right. It needs to stop. If anyone should find this after... after I'm gone... know that I never wanted to hurt anyone. Anyone!"

Li's face went pale.

"You're helping to hurt people," Quinn said, when the tapes had finished, taking out Virgil's last recording and replacing it with Nate's once again. It felt safer in the Pip-Boy than on her person. "Snatching wastelanders, turning them into mutants, and then releasing them back out? How many people have died from this shit, Doctor?"

"That wasn't my branch," Li replied, but she looked horrified.

"Maybe not, but you wouldn't work for the Brotherhood because they chose to stay in the Capital Wasteland. They've never murdered people, though. Never experimented on them. Never made creatures that eat people and then let them loose just to see what happened. Never lied to you to keep you cooperative."

She looked faint. "What do you want with me?"

Quinn shrugged. "I only received a minimal amount of information, but what I was told was that Elder Maxson needs your expertise, and would like you to help the Brotherhood again. We aren't the bad guys here, Doctor. You're already working for them."

Quinn waited. Finally, the doctor spoke.

"Fine. I'll go to the Brotherhood and hear Maxson out for myself. I'll make my own way there, though. Father will be suspicious if we go together." She narrowed her eyes. "Now unless there's anything else, I think you better leave."

Quinn nodded. "Pleasure speaking with you, Doctor."

Doctor Li did not respond.

Shaun.

The climb up was torturous, every second an aeon as each step added to the pit of dread in her core. She had hoped never to see him again, the living, breathing reminder of all that had been stolen from her. Now she was willingly walking to him.

Reaching the door that led to his office, Quinn paused at the threshold, her throat painfully tight. Then she knocked, and it slid open with a clunk.

There, sitting at his desk under the unnatural fluorescent lighting, was Shaun.

She still couldn't get used to the sight of him, an old man, older than her by far. But there was something else, too. A haggard quality that hadn't been there before, his face gaunt, deep shadows lurking under his eyes.

Shaun looked up from his computer, astonished, and Quinn suspected he had thought she would never come back. In any other circumstance, he would have been right.

He smiled, and in his features, Quinn saw Nate. She felt her lips tremble, tears spiking her eyes, but then her resolve hardened and she folded her arms. Now was not the time for sentiment.

"The boy," she said. "The boy synth. I heard he can't age."

Shaun frowned, and the warmth left him as an iciness filled the room. After a few beats, he said, "You are correct. But where did you learn such a thing?"

"Your people have loose lips in the corridors. Either they trust me, or they're shit at keeping secrets."

He winced as she swore, looking annoyed, and then stood up slowly, pain written across his face as his joints clicked. The disconnect Quinn felt increased. He was so old.

"I'll have to speak with the heads of the departments. I hadn't realised my staff had become...chatty." Straightening his lab coat, he moved around his desk, his expression becoming blank. "In all honesty, I hadn't considered the lack of aging to be an issue. He's a prototype after all, and we're still experimenting on him."

"It is a damn issue, Shaun," Quinn snapped. "It's not right to leave him as a child forever."

"Why?"

The question caught her by surprise, and she blinked at him. "W-why? What do you mean, why?"

"I'm curious to hear your reasoning," Shaun said, stepping towards her, his voice calm and even. "He is a synth with no real connection to you and yet you want him to age like a human. Why?"

Quinn recoiled as he approached, but then held her ground, noting the hurt in Shaun's eyes at her flinch. "Because he should be given the opportunity to grow and learn like everyone else, experiments be damned. A synth is a person, not a toy."

There was a long silence, a strange expression flickering over Shaun's face. "You would treat him like a human being?"

"Of course I would." Quinn meant it. If Nick was anything to go by, the boy was just as capable of feelings as any human. "As far as I'm concerned, he is human. He's...he's just been made differently than us."

Again, the strange look crossed his features, but this time he nodded and didn't comment.

An emptiness filled the room as they stared at each other, and Quinn felt the familiar pangs of grief as she stood opposite her aged son. She licked her lips, wanting to banish the quiet. There were so many questions, things she had been unable to ask him the last time she had been here. Things she wasn't even sure she wanted the answer to. The uncertainty was a blessing, allowing her to ignore the likely truth and fill the gaps with her own fancies. But this lack of conclusion was eating her away from the inside.

Quinn had to find the truth. She had to.

"There's so much I don't know about you," she blurted out, before hesitating. "Can you...can you tell me about your childhood? What was it like? Who looked after you?"

Shaun's brow furrowed. "I thought I already spoke of this. Are you feeling well?"

"You don't understand," Quinn replied. It was strange. She had thought about this a few times when she had been alone on the Prydwen, but had quickly banished it away. Now the notion was rattling around her head, demanding to be addressed. "I know you were raised by Kellogg and the facility, but who took care of you? Who gave you toys and picked out your clothes and read you bedtime stories and made you meals? Who loved you?"

The quiet came back, and Shaun looked uneasy.

"I…" He made a helpless gesture. "I had playthings and clothes from the facility, and meals were taken in the canteen with the other children. But aside from when I was needed to participate in experiments, I was left to my own devices. I received a quality education, and the Director often assessed me to make sure my happiness was at a suitable level, and-"

"Who loved you?" Quinn repeated, more urgently now, hating the pleading note in her voice.

Shaun paused.

"No one," he said finally.

Tears dripped down her cheeks as she activated her Pip-Boy. It whirred as the holotape clicked into place, and the recording filtered out, echoing in the gleaming, clinical office. The colour drained from Shaun's face at the sound of his father's voice, his eyes fixed on the device on Quinn's wrist as Nate's precious tape played.

She hadn't listened to it since before she had gone to the Institute; every second was torture, ripping open the old wound so that her heart bled.

"Now say goodbye, Shaun. Bye bye. Say bye bye! Bye, honey. We love you."

Silence.

Quinn sniffed as she stood rooted to the spot, her vision blurred with tears, Shaun now nothing but an indistinguishable smear amongst the fuzzy whites and greys. When he spoke, however, his voice was clear, though his tone was hoarse.

"That was my father?"

She nodded, wiping her eyes until her son came back into view. He looked as if he had aged another ten years, swaying on the spot as his fists clenched.

"I read the reports," he said after a few moments. "But I'd never heard his…" Shaun cleared his throat, traces of anger in his expression. Then it passed, and he simply said, "I am glad Kellogg is dead."

Quinn shivered. His voice was flat, emotionless, more like the Gen 2 synths he made than anything human. But it didn't matter. She was his mother. Wiping her eyes again, she walked towards him, hesitated, and then hugged him.

He went rigid in her arms, and for a second, Quinn thought he would pull away. Then he awkwardly patted her on the back, before dropping his hands back to his sides. Sensing his discomfort, Quinn let go, but she gave him a watery smile, which he half returned.

"Your father loved you," she said, holding her son at arm's length. "I love you, Shaun. No matter what happens, I will always love you, and that will never change. I'm just sorry so much time passed us by."

"I…" Shaun seemed lost for words. But then he nodded. "I'm sorry we lost that time, too."

There was a pause, and Shaun coughed. With some bitter relief, Quinn saw the conversation was coming to a close.

"I have to head back to the wasteland," she said, making a vague gesture towards the door.

"And I need to get back to my work. But…" He coughed again, deeper this time. "If you want to talk at a later date, I will be here."

Quinn nodded, forcing a smile as she took her leave, knowing she was betraying him with every comforting gesture, every second she withheld the Brotherhood's plans from him. Unless Maxson sent her back here, she had no intention of returning. She may never see her son again.

"I...I love you," Quinn repeated, and then hurried away before Shaun could answer.

God help me, she thought, the splinters of their talk digging into her heart while her footsteps echoed through the corridors.

God help me.

Time and space bent its way around Quinn as she forced herself through them, and then suddenly she was staggering forward, tripping over her own feet and falling to her knees. The grit of the wasteland rubbed against her fingers, and all at once she felt relieved to be back in the filth of the real world, away from the suffocating, gleaming halls of the Institute.

Hands grabbed at her, patting her down, and she opened her eyes to see Knight-Captain Cade and Casey Shingler looming over her.

"I'm fine," Quinn said, but Cade waved away her insistences.

"You'll be fine when I tell you you're fine." He pulled her to her feet and led her towards a waiting vertibird. "And I'll only tell you that when I've had a chance to give you a full examination."

Quinn glanced around and saw a sea of faces, the soldiers assigned to Boston Airport all stopping and staring at her. She couldn't blame them. It must have been one hell of a light show. And given that she had told Danse to tell Maxson she would try to return back to this place when she was done, it was inevitable that the entire Brotherhood would find out about it.

No, what surprised her the most was that Cade and Casey had been waiting for her at all. Either Maxson had wanted someone there to make sure she was alright, or Cade had taken it upon himself to check on her.

Or, said a nasty voice in her head, they're making sure the Institute hasn't sent back a synth.

Quinn shivered. It was a possibility after all. Thankfully, she'd already talked at length with Nick about synths, and read documents in the Institute about their sleeper agents. The Institute synths knew they were synths. And like the Railroad had told her when she had visited them with Nick, the only ones that didn't had had their memories wiped and gone on to lead new lives.

Shaking her head, Quinn felt her paranoia leave her. She was being stupid. The talk with Shaun about the child synth had shook her up, that was all.

"Are you alright?" said Cade as he helped her onto the vertibird.

Quinn nodded. "Yeah. Just...teleportation is a weird experience."

"I don't doubt it," Cade replied with a smile, climbing into the aircraft with Casey and signalling for the pilot to take off.

As they shot up into the air, Quinn stared out over the Commonwealth, her thoughts turning to the wastelanders who had lived under the fear of synth replacement for decades. She had the luxury of knowing Nick and learning of the Institute's tactics. But for the ordinary people, they had no such reprieve.

How many wastelanders had had that same worry and been unable to quell it? How many had acted on their paranoia, killing friends and family, or even themselves?

She dreaded to think.

And then there was another question. How many synths were out there that didn't know what they were?

The question stayed in her mind all the way through Cade's examinations, and was only banished when he turned to her, smiling.

"Everything looks in order. Elder Maxson requested your presence when your medical was completed. I suggest you go see him now. I believe Paladin Danse is with him."

Quinn nodded, and gave her thanks to both Cade and Casey, and then left, wandering through the Prydwen, the whispers of the other soldiers following her. It didn't take long to reach Maxson, and to her relief, she found Danse waiting for her, his expression unreadable. He coughed, and Maxson turned around.

"I've received word that Doctor Li has returned to us," he said, looking her up and down as he spoke. "How cooperative do you think she'll be?"

Straight to business then, Quinn thought. Out loud she said, "I managed to persuade her that the Institute is the enemy, not the Brotherhood. So hopefully pretty cooperative."

"Well done, Knight." He paused. "We've already interrogated her aboard the Prydwen. She's been under the Institute's influence for the last decade, and we couldn't afford to take any chances. As it stands, we've decided she's safe to work with."

Quinn worked hard to conceal her frown, trying not to jump to conclusions. Had he tortured her?

Maxson seemed to sense her discomfort, and he shook his head. "Interrogate may be the wrong word. She wasn't harmed, and nor did we bully her. It was merely a way to assess who her loyalties lay with, and whether she could be trusted. But onto other matters."

He nodded to Danse, and Danse returned the gesture, clearly holding back a smile. All at once, Quinn suspected the paladin may have been fighting her corner while she was away. Maxson's next words confirmed it.

"Thanks to the success of your reconnaissance efforts, it's time to advance our operations to the next phase. I want you to report to Proctor Ingram at the airport. She has a special project that requires your immediate attention."

At the words 'special project,' an odd expression of boyish delight flickered over Maxson's face, but it disappeared so quickly, Quinn wasn't sure she'd seen it at all.

"Once again, Knight," he continued, "you don't fail to impress. Dismissed."

Both Danse and Quinn saluted, and then left, walking across towards the exit that led to the main outside deck. She could tell he was dying to ask her questions from the way he kept glancing at her, and as the cold, bracing air hit them, she turned to him to tell him how the mission had gone.

"Are you alright?" he asked, before she could open her mouth.

Quinn blinked, caught off guard, and then sighed. "I think so. It was...it was difficult in there. But I…" She stopped, feeling tears prick her eyes. "Can we talk about something else, please?"

Danse nodded and gestured towards the waiting vertibird.

As they walked towards it, Quinn asked, "Elder Maxson seems to have warmed up more towards me since I left. Enough to include me on this 'special project' anyway. What did you say to him?"

"What did I say to him?" Danse replied, not quite meeting her eye.

"Yeah, I'm not an idiot, Danse. I didn't go to law school without learning how to read people."

"What's law school?" Danse said, frowning. "Was that where the police did their training?"

"No it's—don't change the subject."

Danse shrugged. "Yes, I spoke with him. I told him you could be trusted, and that if there was anyone I would choose to work with me on this project, it would be you."

"And what did he say to that?"

"That he didn't doubt it."

Quinn raised an eyebrow, but Danse had gone pink in the cheeks and didn't say any more. She half wondered whether or not to push the subject, but then remembered Rachel and Carson's advice.

"You can't help how you feel about a person, but you can control how you respond to it."

"So," said Quinn, awkwardly skimming around the obvious, "what's this special project, then?"

Danse seemed grateful for the escape, and he grinned at her as they climbed into the vertibird. "You'll see."

"A huge goddamn robot?"

Proctor Ingram rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "If you want to put it that way, then yes."

Next to her, Danse looked mortified. Quinn ignored him.

"What do you need me to do, then?" she said, and then added, "I don't understand the science stuff behind it, so better keep it simple, ma'am."

Ingram gave an amused snort. "Fair enough. You're going to be doing the legwork while my scribes repair Prime. Problem is, he's banged up pretty bad. The first issue we're having is his CPU. It's fragile, and every time we try to feed power to it, it blows itself out."

I said keep it simple.

"But you can fix that, right?" Quinn asked, not understanding a word Ingram had just said.

"I wish it was that easy," Ingram said with a sigh, before rattling out a list of solutions that Quinn also didn't understand, before moving onto the topic of Doctor Li. "I've already spoken to her, but she's reluctant to work on Prime, for some reason. If you could get her down here to lend a hand with his power system, we can get the big guy moving."

"Sure thing, ma'am. Where is she?"

"On the Prydwen."

Quinn saluted Proctor Ingram and left, marching back towards the vertibird they had just evacuated. Danse caught up with her.

"They could have told me this before I hauled my ass down here," Quinn grumbled. "And why do I have to be the one to convince her anyway? What am I, a family counsellor?"

"Let's pretend for a moment I know what that is," Danse said, shooting her a disapproving look, "and move onto your complaints. You're doing work for a secret project, assigned to you personally by Elder Maxson. As a knight, that is a huge honour. I would have expected this to be given to a knight-sergeant at least. Elder Maxson and Proctor Ingram are placing a lot of trust in you. As am I."

"Oh, don't give me that," Quinn snapped, feeling too annoyed to accept the compliment. "I know you trust me. And you know I trust you. But don't expect me to feel appreciative at having to bend to the demands of a self-important scientist with a cactus stuck up her ass."

"Cactus?"

"Prickly pre-war plant." Quinn stopped at the vertibird and rubbed her forehead. "Look...sorry. I shouldn't have been so ratty with you just now. It's been a difficult day, and all of this is just…I don't feel honoured for what I'm doing to my son."

Danse's expression softened. "Do you want me to talk to her instead?"

"You?" Quinn smirked. "We both know your powers of persuasion leave a lot to be desired."

He laughed, and she joined in, before giving him a light punch in the arm, regretting it immediately as her knuckles clunked against his armour.

"Come on. Let's go lean on the old bat."

"If you're here to talk me into working on Liberty Prime, you can forget it."

Li's sharp tone cut through the air like a knife, but it didn't sting as much as her disgusted expression, her arms folded and drawn close to her chest as she looked Quinn up and down.

Quinn sighed. "You said you'd help. Change your mind now that you're out of the Institute?"

"You neglected to mention that I'd be asked to work on Liberty Prime," replied Li in a hard voice.

Quinn shrugged. "In all honesty, doctor, I only found out about the robot fifteen minutes ago."

A deep scowl surfaced on Li's face. "And I'm supposed to believe that? They wouldn't send you to the Institute without telling you why they wanted me."

"Oh, no, they did exactly that. I wasn't best pleased, let me tell you."

Doctor Li looked uncertain, but her hesitancy disappeared quickly as she shook her head. "I originally left the Brotherhood because I was tired of being stepped on. I'm not about to allow my creations to be used by you again. I was forced to help design Liberty Prime, and my work was made into a weapon of war."

"Your work was made into a weapon to reclaim a facility you lost after you asked us to help you get it back," Danse said, his eyes narrowing.

"Help us protect the Commonwealth," Quinn said, giving him a glance that said 'shut up' while Li glared at him. The doctor had a soft spot for the vulnerable, and she intended to exploit it. But she couldn't do that if he started aggravating her. She turned back to Doctor Li and said, "Look at all the good you've done in the past. The water purification project-"

"Which you took control of," Li interrupted.

"And the contents of which we helped distribute," Danse shot back.

"What?"

"Your project was slow to start with, even after it was completed," he said, glaring so fiercely at her, Quinn was surprised Li wasn't shaking. "We took the purified water and we distributed it out to the people of the Capital Wasteland. Not only that, but we took the purifier back after the Enclave tried to use it to poison all the water in D.C." He pointed to a scar on the left side of his face. "I bled for your project. Some of my friends died for it. So don't tell me that we took control of it, as if it was purely for personal gain. If we hadn't, it wouldn't have lasted the damn week without being sabotaged by someone else."

Doctor Li opened her mouth to argue, but Quinn quickly stepped between them.

"Doctor," she said. "Please. Everything the Brotherhood has done has been with the best intentions. I don't know what happened with that purifier, because I wasn't there. But surely you can see that the Institute does not have the same ethics that the Brotherhood does. They are perfectly happy to kill people and destroy lives to complete their experiments, and have no intention of helping those that are on the surface. Doesn't that bother you?"

The doctor paused, wearing a pained expression. "All those people dying while I was surrounded by food, medicine, and comfort. All those experiments…" Her eyes turned to the floor, and then she looked back at Quinn, her face resigned. She sighed. "You really know how to push my buttons, don't you? Tell Proctor Ingram to get her scribes ready. It's going to take a hell of a lot of work to get Liberty Prime back online, but we'll get it done."

She pushed past them without another word, her shoes clicking on the metal decking as she walked away. Danse gave Li an ugly look as he watched her go, and then shook his head, turning to Quinn.

"She has a very skewed view of what happened ten years ago," he said quietly. "Naive, too. She wanted us to leave the Jefferson Memorial after the purifier was activated, because it was supposed to be free water for everyone. What she failed to realise - and still can't see - is that if we had left, the purifier would have been taken over by raiders or the Enclave, or some other group that would have kept the water for themselves. We took the purifier back from enemy hands, we kept it safe, and we escorted all the merchants who took water out to every settlement in D.C. And we still guard that damn purifier, even to this day."

Danse breathed out heavily through his nose.

"Where did you get the scar?" Quinn asked.

"At the Jefferson Memorial. We fought alongside Liberty Prime, stormed the building, and did our best to push back against the Enclave while Sarah Lyons and the vault dweller from 101 stopped the purifier from self-destructing. I took a bad hit to the head, and my helmet cracked inwards, slicing open my face."

"You have absolutely no luck with helmets, do you?" she said, grinning. "Another vault dweller, though?"

Danse shrugged. "I never knew her. Never even saw her. To me, she was just someone who helped us reclaim the purifier, and who also fought at Adams Air Force Base, too. But credit where it's due, she was a hell of a fighter, and the Brotherhood wouldn't have succeeded without her. She had a knack for getting things done...a lot like you, really."

He smiled at her, and Quinn felt her stomach flip.

She smiled back, and nodded in the direction of where Doctor Li had gone. "I suppose we should find out what Ingram has in store for us. Then maybe we can take a break before we head back out again."

Danse shook his head, looking tired. "I doubt it. No rest for the weary."

A/N: Usual thanks to my wonderful beta, waiting4morning. She's amazing. :D

And sorry again that I haven't been replying to reviewss lately. I've been super busy with work to the point that when I was doing my final proofread last night, I fell asleep. That's why the chapter is out today and not yesterday. So sorry for that, too. -_-

The immortal child synth thing is something I wanted to address, because that conversation does actually appear in the game, and it's never actually a thing you can talk with Father about. That and I wanted to talk about synth aging as well, since it's heavily debated in the Fallout fandom. I am of the mind that Gen 3 synths CAN age, because what good is a sleeper agent for infiltration if it stays eternally young?

Also, I wanted to talk a lil' bit about Father in general. He's a dick, but...well. I'm not without sympathy for him. The same way I think of Maxson. Generally, I hate black and white characters. They are boring. Every character needs a little bit of grey in them, whether they're the villain, the protagonist, or somewhere in-between.

Except for Carson. He is pure and good and can do no wrong.

:D