The Fallout of War

Chapter 19, Revelations

The viewing slot on the steel door slid open then slid shut. He heard the lock double checked then the guard's footsteps recede. Merc rolled away from the cell wall and sat up. Step one accomplished. The guards had no more than glanced in the room and moved on.

It was the next step of his plan that he was going to hate, because of the embarrassment it was going to heap on him. He'd been racking his brain for some other way unsuccessfully, how else would he explain a man beaten half to death and a girl had over powered him. He couldn't even claim drunkenness because Kellogg had been here. He had to make part of the truth the lie.

He leaned back against the wall and chuckled to himself. Danse was gonna get a good laugh out of this one. He might actually crack a smile. He went over the plan again and smiled thinking of Tanna's part in the lie, then he frowned deeply. On second thought, Danse might not find it laughable. I think I'll keep this one to myself after all.

It's probably dawn now, not much longer before Ayo will send guards for the prisoners. He removed Danse's Bomber jacket and hesitated, then cursing under his breath he stripped himself naked and lay down.

He stared at the floor beneath him a moment, took a deep breath, This ones for you Tanna. then smacked his forehead into the floor which brought another stream of epitaphs flooding from his lips. Waiting for the pain to ease a bit he felt the lump that immediately sprung up and satisfied closed his eyes and waited.

Dawn's light began to spread though the windows of my living area where I paced impatiently. Preston and MacCready had ushered me out of the bedroom on Doctor's orders who complained I was hindering his examination more than helping.

It had been only a few short minutes before I had rushed back in hearing Danse bellowing my name to find Doc Jacobs trying to hold Danse down in the bed which wasn't that difficult since apparently only his head injuries had been dealt with so far. To Doctor Jacobs relief, Danse settled the moment he saw me in the doorway where Preston and MacCready had managed to halt me.

"See. I told you she was here and just fine." Jacobs chastised his patient who ignored him as his eyes locked with mine. The Doctor gave a nod toward Preston and MacCready resulting in the door closing once more and I was returned to a chair in the living area.

Every loud grunt or groan that seeped through the bedroom door had me jumping out of the chair and pacing since Preston and MacCready had taken permanent positions up blocking the door. Cait placed an arm around my shoulders as I stood giving both door guards baleful stares after a particularly loud groan from the other room.

I turned to Cait, my frustration and concern evident, "He's suppose to be healing him, not hurting him." "Ye know he has to set the bones a right before he kin heal them Tanna." Cait steered me back to the chair.

Minutes ticked by at what seemed like a snail's pace before the bedroom door opened and closed behind Dr. Jacobs. I rose quickly from the chair as did most of the occupants seated in the living area. "He's gonna be fine and mulish as an over burdened Brahmin." A collective sigh went up around the room. Nodding toward me he informed, "You can go in now." Starting to step past him toward the door, he stopped me.

"I've healed the worst of the injuries, but I couldn't risk any more stempaks & meds at this time. A man's heart can only take so much adrenaline before you risk bursting it. He still has some minor fractures and minor injuries. I'll be back this afternoon to take care of those."

"Thanks Jacobs." I started past him again, but he still blocked my way. "He is not to get out of that bed General nor..." he gave me a knowing look, "over exert himself in any way." I felt my cheeks burn red, but nodded understanding.

He then turned his attention to the room at large, "He will need rest now, so everyone out." This brought a lot of disgruntled comments, but the group of friends started heading for the front door while offering their thanks to the Jacobs as he followed them out.

Closing the door quietly behind me, I paused there to study him. His eyes were closed and I noted his face and body still held some bruises, but the swelling in his face was gone. His ribs were wrapped and his right wrist and hand.

Moving to the side of the bed I had no more time than to gasp as his hand shot out grabbing mine and pulling me down next to him though it caused him to wince. Cupping my face in his hands he brought my lips to his in a tender and deep kiss. It was a couple minutes later that his voice, low and husky mumbled against my lips, "I feel like being close to you."

With regret and a lot of self control, I pulled back, my own voice breathless, "Close we can be, but not that close. Doctor's orders."

Danse growled, but wrapped his arms around me. "I seem to remember you not following orders so well recently." His raised eyebrow was a significant reminder of the prior night's events.

"If I hadn't, you wouldn't be here now."

"No, but you would be and..." his voice trailed off as his brows dropped. "Any word from Merc?"

I shook my head sadly, "No. Nothing."

Danse tightened his hold on me, "Don't worry. Merc is resourceful and I have no intention of leaving him there if he can't extract himself."

We were both silent a moment thinking of Merc. "So will you tell me now about you and Merc?"

"I suppose there is no reason not to now." Danse's thoughts returned to that day almost a year ago.

"It was about a month after my exile from the Brotherhood. You were off running some Squire mission for the Brotherhood. I had just finished one for the Sommerville settlement. They were starting to run low on their food supply waiting for a caravan so I thought I'd do a little radstag hunting for them. The Brotherhood wasn't known to be in that area so I left my power armor with them. You can't hunt quietly in power armor. I was following a stag trail I found, rounded this boulder and there he was."

Danse's eyes had lost focus as he relived that meeting.

"We just stood there staring at each other. I'm not even sure how long we just stood there. The shock of suddenly coming face to face with yourself. I was to stunned to move. I had been living for the past month with the belief I was a Synth. My first thoughts were, I was staring into the face of the real Danse."

I watched the play of emotions that swept over his features and were reflected in his light brown eyes. His telling also stirred an old memory, a time when I was in south Cambridge and had come across two men fighting. I had been surprised at finding them identical even in clothing. After some confusion at them calling each other by the same name, I finally concluded Twins. I had thought to break them up, but they ignored me so intent on each other. Finally I moved on and forgot the incident. Danse's next words brought my attention back to him.

"I remember thinking, if I'm the Synth, he deserved to live not me, then I thought of you and knew I didn't want to die."

"Oh Danse." I tightened my arms around him.

"That's when the howl of a mutant hound broke us both from our shock. A hound leaped through the brush nearby, latched onto the leg of Merc's power armor. I shot it in the head. We looked up to see a small party of Super Mutants firing at us and moving our way fast. There was no hesitation as we stood as one against them."

Danse's eyes were alight with fire as they always were when he thought of Super Mutants.

"When it was over, we were standing there, dead mutants around us and I'm not sure why, but I looked over at him and said, "For Cutler." He nodded back and repeated, "For Cutler."

"He said he had a camp not to far off and led me there. We sat and talked for hours. It was like sharing your life with a brother who'd been in and out of life's scrapes with you. Important of all was he knew he was a Synth. He knew it! I could hardly grasp what it meant for me. He was talking of his escape from the Institute and his first impulse was to go to the Brotherhood, but after getting attacked by a patrol that he had escaped from, he'd been hiding out since, just wanting revenge on the institute."

"Poor Merc. But didn't you realize that he could have been your redemption with the Brotherhood?"

"Of course I did, but call it having learned what love is..." Danse glanced down at me tenderly, "or having lived as a Synth for a month, I understood what it was like and the Brotherhood had turned their back on me already even if I understood their reasons. No. I wasn't going to kill Merc or use him, we were brothers."

"I'm glad Danse and I'm proud of you."

"So we ran missions together when we could, hunted mutants, the institute, attempted to discover who the mole was in the Brotherhood and Merc would watch over you sometimes when we were apart."

"What?!"

He gave her a squeeze, "It was only cause I care about you soldier girl."

I grumbled back, "I think I want to hear more about that later, for now continue."

"One day Merc and I came up against a Courser. Tough fight, but afterward Merc said he remembered something from his time in the Institute. He was going to head north find someone named Harkness. I didn't see him again for a couple months. Next time I did, he was in the persona of Merc. He explained he found this Harkness and met a Doctor Pinkerton. It's when he became a Mercenary, but he didn't want to forget his past or the institute. Supposedly this Pinkerton was a genius, he wanted to try something knew if Merc was willing."

"What was that?"

"A second recall code. Hidden within the first code. If the first recall was used, the second would restore him in the same manner as the first one would."

"And that's what you did in the vault!"

Danse nodded. "When Merc didn't recognize me as brother, I knew. It was our customary greeting."

"But why one about Cutler? I thought that was a secret, off the record."

"Exactly. No one knew I killed Cutler. The reports I turned in to the Brotherhood said Cutler died with his men, fighting and defending them. I couldn't bring myself to end his career and image as an abomination that had to be put down. No one knew the truth, but you and I."

"And Merc."

"Danse shook his head, "That's the thing. Merc didn't know the truth. I think that's when it really hit me that I wasn't a Synth. Merc thought Cutler died the way my report to the Brotherhood read. Which also told me the Brotherhood had a mole. It was proof that Merc's memories came from my personal records and Brotherhood reports. Someone had to give those reports and my DNA to the Institute, someone with access to both."

"Danse! You should have told me!"

"I couldn't. It would have meant explaining Merc and we swore an oath. If either of us were taken and they wanted to know who else knew..."

I fully understood his oath, but I felt hurt so my stubbornness kicked in and I was angry that he didn't trust me with this, "I don't care. I'm a Paladin and I know damn well you still feel the Brotherhood is your family. I have an oath also to defend the Brotherhood and Maxson. That mole puts him and others in danger. I'm a soldier and I know that means taking risks!"

"And if you started snooping around without knowing who it is, you could get a bullet in your back!" Danse shot back then groaned loudly. "You aren't going to yell at an injured soldier are you?" He groaned again.

I was alarmed, "Are you in pain?"

"Yes."

I sat up quickly, ready to run for Doc Jacobs. "Where?"

Danse tapped his lips.

"Oooo! You big rutting Brahmin!" but I kissed him anyway.

Merc slouched lazily in the chair seated in the Overseer's office and before Zimmerman who was hitting him with a barrage of condemnation. He barely listened knowing it would last only a couple minutes. After all Zimmerman was just expelling frustration with himself, because he felt above wasting his time disciplining a machine.

There in lie Zimmerman's errors that would be his downfall. His pride for one was what had led him so many years ago to hunt down Harkness, his prized Courser who had escaped him. Merc had spent weeks trying to track Zimmerman down in the Capitol Wasteland which had eventually led him back to the Commonwealth.

Second was Zimmerman's over confidence in controlling Synths, in this instance, Merc. It was why Merc wasn't worried about the consequences of Danse and Tanna's escape. The Overseer wasn't by any means dimwitted, he was just blind to the fact Synths were anything but obedient machines and any mistakes were simply due to programming or malfunctions.

Covertly glancing sideways at the man sitting in the chair next to him was where the real danger lay. Conrad Kellogg was not only dangerous, he was very discerning and distrustful of everyone. The man would not view this as a loss for the Institute nor for Zimmerman. He would see it as a loss of his just revenge and you didn't cross Kellogg without expecting repercussions.

Merc knew Conrad had been watching him, listening while he explained what happened. Kellogg had studied his every inflection, body language and features and still wasn't wholly convinced.

Zimmerman's tirade had turned now into voicing his thoughts aloud, "Perhaps a simple modification in the sexual programming aspect is all that's needed." Merc jerked up right in his seat, "Like hell!" The Overseer ignored him of course since he was a machine and would have no say, as he continued the discussion with himself. "The damn scientists will spend a week just discussing it before they even determine if modifications are necessary and what ones if so." Zimmerman seemed exasperated over the whole idea, which brought his attention back to Merc as the blame.

"Really Merc. A girl and half beaten man... Your a Synth!" Zimmerman seemed to think that still needed further explanation. Merc took a deep breath, This is the part that I am going to hate, but will clench it. He mumbled out his words deliberately low.

"What was that?" Zimmerman asked and Kellogg edged forward on the edge of his seat. Merc gritted his teeth as he spoke, "Let's just say, I was caught off guard during a... moment of weakness." Color suffused Merc's face. He really didn't give a damn what any of these people thought, but it was still damn embarrassing to admit, even if not true.

The Overseer dropped back into his seat with a disgusted sound, his eyes rolling heavenward. Then he heard Kellogg burst out laughing. Merc slouched deeper in his chair crossing his arms over his chest and just wanted to ignore them both and get the hell out of there.

Zimmerman sat glancing between the two men as if attempting to make a decision, "Seems I must go now with the lesser of two evils. Merc you will retrieve the girl once more and this time keep your hands off her." "Yes Overseer." Merc answered in a dutifully chagrined tone.

"Now Conrad, I'm assuming we're ready to proceed with our operations?"

Kellogg's laughter had ebbed to snickers, but he turned serious now, "Everything can be put into motion within a couple hours notice. The men are all present and educated on the power armor usage. No one will guess they aren't Brotherhood soldiers and Railroad heavies when attacked. All we need are our targets."

"Good. Then you will hit the Railroad's safe house at Mirkwater in the south, the two Brotherhood check points northwest of Lexington and Starlight to draw out the Minutemen. These men can then join the main force in east Boston. When Maxson sends out his forces to retaliate, we attack. Our inside man will take care of Maxson."

Zimmerman focused his eyes once more on Merc. "That means you have til dawn tomorrow to have Tanna Steel back in your control. We'll worry about the Paladin later. You're both dismissed."