8. Let's go to Rivet
After several hours of negotiations, Elaine, Quinn and Fawkes decided to go to Rivet city, since Fawkes knew where to find Pinkerton's hideout. He knew as well how equipped his lab was.
They hoped that they could connect to the colonel's terminal. But in addition there was another reason around their decision. Fawkes also told them earlier, that when he was with the Lone Wanderer in Rivet city's market, that the kid sold a scribe clothing to Flak, what he borrowed from the Citadel. Fawkes said that the dress size is just fine for Elaine. And if the dress is there, they can get in much easier into the Citadel.
Charon was not interested in this adventure, and anyway Elaine didn't had his contract, so he remained in the Underworld.
In fact he wasn't impressed about the fact that they trusts in the stranger who openly agrees with Enclave ideas, who has an Eyebot, she knows the Colonel, and yet she turns against her own people. So he decided to remain out of this situation. He wanted not to become the next bad person about whom Three Dog will speak in the future, if things will not go as planned…
At sunrise the little group went through the subway tunnel to the coast, where Rivet city's ship stationed. Though Quinn has done everything to mislead the feral ghouls, and probably it wouldn't be any problem, if just he and Fawkes would have been walking there, but with Elaine's presence this mission was impossible, not to mention Renegade's buzzing, what was very striking as well. So they used up a few storage of ammunition before they reached out to the surface.
Down below there was only the ghoul's presence what meant danger, but outside they faced a new danger, the super mutants. They also consumed more ammunition, and Fawkes's hands also hurt a lot from the slashes with his Sledgehammer.
Elaine's comment, that with a Behemoth's appearance they would refill their ammo storage did not hit an undivided success through the two other members of the team.
Fortunately they didn't meet this kind of opponent along the way, just with a couple of Raiders. They weren't a serious threat, and were targeting at mostly Renegade, although their actions were understandable, because a few hours earlier Enclave soldiers chased them away from their hiding place.
So they were no match for the group, but before total defeat they managed to destroy the machine's cooling system. This caused Renegade to move much more louder and required correction, as soon as they reached the city.
In her not so short lifetime, this occasion was the very first when she's been in Rivet city. She surely would let outside Renegade, if the machine wouldn't required repair, but she had the only tools available in the city.
To avoid attention, Fawkes took the little owl under his arm. Renegade expressed its displeasure with unremitting beeping. This caused Harkness to turn towards them then he said: "Somebody tell the Eyebot to stop the cursing, or switch that thing off!"
Hearing this, Fawkes and Quinn looked at each other, but the one who answered to this was Elaine.
"I'm sorry, sir, we found this peace shot in the wastes. We just want to look through a bit…"
"You can find a workbench to your right by the stairs. You can examine that thing there. But for God's sake, first shut down the thing! It's bad to even hear what it is saying!"
"Strange…" replied Quinn "I didn't hear anything".
Elaine was the one who replied to this: "The Eyebots are using Morse code signals. Probably the: "..-...-.-.-.- -.-..-" is just too disturbing for the gentleman".
"After the first "…-…" (SOS) I'll shoot the thing to pieces!"
Harkness's threat was understandable at that moment, but Renegade wasn't afraid, he continued to beep regardless of the officer's opinion. He shut up only when Fawkes placed him at the bench. Elaine took a few tools from her backpack and she shortly fixed the machine.
"See, you made such a ruckus over this nothing!" said Quinn flicking one of Renegade's protruding antenna. "I'm sure it wasn't as bad as a tooth extraction".
"Renegade has no feeling imitating sensors." responded Elaine to this. "It has only a rudimentary A.I. program, of which my Sweet-E is really proud and exploits it properly! It can be really hysterical sometimes."
"Just like it's ma…" Fawkes almost said out loud his opinion, but got to his senses in time, and without finalizing his sentence he cleared his throat. "Um… Well, then now we have to ask around about that scribe uniform, for what we came for!"
The rest of the team shared his opinion. They turned back and looked around the bustling crowd, and then all of a sudden, all of them jumped in front of the bench, covering Renegade, who was still held on it. They were covering the Eyebot from an Enclave soldier, who, according to his age, it was just a trainee, but he wore an Enclave Powerarmor, so he was one of them, that for certain… And they all were informed about the infamous white Eyebot!
Quinn seeing that the guy is approaching them snatched out his coat and draped it over the Eyebot. Elaine took off her hat and put over the coat as well. Now it looked as they wanted to leave their equipment there temporarily. Especially that Elaine put her backpack next to the coat.
As the soldier was looking permanently in another direction, Elaine and Fawkes decided to leave Quinn next to their clothes, while they went to Flak and his partner's shop.
The bad-looking guy with a mustache wasn't there, only his brown-haired partner, who had also a bad temper. He was sitting on the coach, smoking a cigarette.
His eyes opened just widely, after the supermutant's shadow felt over him, than he looked up. He heard the news about the friendly mutant, who was seen time to time with the Lone Wanderer, but this was the first time when they met in person.
"Hello!" greeted him Elaine, but Shrapnel was paying attention only to the supermutant's dimensions. He swallowed bitterly as he imagined what a big slap could, he get from the goliath, if he loses his temper.
"Oh… Hey there, at Flak 'N Shrapnel's!"
"You're Shrapnel, if I'm right!"
"Yes, ma'am! How may I help you?"
"A friend of mine" said Elaine, looking towards Fawkes "told me that a friend of his sold a Scribe's uniform, used by the Brotherhood of Steel to your partner".
Shrapnel leaned forward in his chair, he than smiled, and after that he threw away the cigarette, what he was smoking.
He sniffed from the cigarette odor one last time, he than stood up, and raised the seat of the worn couch on which he was sitting.
He took out the item from under the mattress. The clothing was clean, neatly folded, just ready for sale.
"You're speaking about this?" he asked her, smiling.
Seeing this, Elaine looked at the supermutant, waiting for his answer. Fawkes nodded with approval.
Seeing this, Elaine looked toward Shrapnel: "Yes, this is it! What is its price?"
"Let's see… It's in excellent condition, clean, and not to forget that it's a special attire wore by none others but the Brotherhood of Steel, so… Three hundred caps is its price!"
"This isn't right!" said Fawkes. "Flak bought it with only 52 caps!"
"You know, my friend how big is the inflation!" Shrapnel smiled with a greedy smile on his face. "So do you want it, or not?"
"Of course we want!" Elaine said while she counted down the requested amount of sum.
After finishing the exchange, they said goodbye, and wanted to walk out of the place, but they almost ran into an Enclave recruit, who just arrived to Seagraves' stand, just beside the shop, they were standing at.
Fawkes was slightly annoyed by the expensive purchase, Elaine however was more occupied with the review of the red dress's material.
Fawkes was angry, but he observed the power armored soldier just in time, and grabbed the dress from Elaine's hand and got the thing into his sleeves.
Elaine was shocked, seeing how the big mutant wriggled the dress, but when she observed the guy, she realized the man's motives.
The guy wearing the power armor stepped in front of Shrapnel. As it turned out, the merchant was dealing with guns, and not with sensor modules or other components.
Following the negative answer he sadly sighed then looked back one last time to the market, but he was aware that he will not receive anything there.
He knew that if he couldn't find the component in the marketplace, he have to go into treasure hunt in the nearby ruins. There he will save his money, but he risked his very life for that small, little thing. But he had no choice he had an order to fulfill, so he headed for the exit.
As he walked towards the gate, he heard a feminine voice behind him.
"Did I hear correct? You're looking for a sensor module?"
"Yes…" he faced Elaine.
"I can give you one for three hundred caps."
The boy's eyes lit up, and just like in Elaine's case with the dress, he didn't bargain. So he left Rivet City's marketplace with less then three hundred caps, but with a tiny, black piece part.
Behind him, Quinn's face began to play colors, but against him, Elaine was counting the newly acquired caps, while Fawkes began to understand Charon's choice…
Now, that one of the problems has been checked came another, what necessitated solution. To this, they left the city, to walk along the beach until they reached the Jefferson Memorial, what momentarily was occupied by the Enclave.
Before the left the Underworld, Charon told them, that Pinkerton has a secret hideout entrance, which is accessible from the shore. Roughly the specified location, they found the metal sheets, what led to the unknown side of the ship, just like a bridge.
Renegade opened the very hard lock in seconds, and with Fawkes' lead, they all entered the dark, mildew smell emanating cabin.
Hearing the noises, Pinkerton also appeared with a gun in his hands, which he immediately raised at Fawkes.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Elaine shouted. "Pinkerton, it's me, Lisa!"
"Lisa…" repeated the name Pinkerton. "Lisa McGee? Holy shit! That's really you!"
Elaine smiled, than took off the blindfold covering her face, while Pinkerton lowered his gun. After so many years, they finally met again, and almost none of them changed in appearance.