Riley let out a disheartened groan as she shielded her eyes from the incoming sunlight. She didn't remember making her way back to her room in Hotel Rexford, but she did remember meeting her friend Simon, and she quickly connected the dots.
Simon, if that was him real name, which Riley suspected it wasn't, had met her a few weeks ago when she'd reluctantly freed him from a group of gunners. She'd originally thought that he must've been some next level of stupid to get caught by that group of raiders who she knew were notoriously dimwitted. She'd come to look for bottlecaps and instead she'd found a hostage. She wasn't going to leave him there, the wasteland hadn't changed her that much, but as soon as he made it known that he wanted to travel with her, she got cold feet.
She didn't have any friends in the Commonwealth, and there was a reason for that. Call it commitment issues, but Riley hated getting to close, waking up in a cryogenic pod to find out everyone she knew was dead could do that to a person.
In the end, Simon's charm and persistence won her over, and she was so glad that he'd come with her. She'd forgotten how it felt to have someone to watch your back.
Riley scrambled out of bed, her fingers quickly finding their way to her reflective aviators near her bed. She slowly opened her eyes and was glad for the aid that her sunglasses provided. She quickly grabbed her carry bag, and slung it over her shoulder.
Her hand flew to her head as it pulsed, a sign of an incoming headache.
I really have to stop getting into drinking games, She thought to herself as she pushed herself off the bed. In her experience, the best way to lose a hangover was to eat. Riley slowly walked to her door, opening it slowly as to reduce as much sound impossible. Her attempts went unnoticed as she was greeted with a loud voice.
"Well, if it isn't Sleeping Beauty arisen, how us feeling Sparks?"
Simon.
Riley recoiled at the booming voice in her ear and squinted up at her friend. She inwardly cringed at his nickname for her 'sparky, like a firecracker' as he'd put it.
"I'd be feeling better if there wasn't an obnoxious moron yelling in my face." Riley grumbled, pushing herself out the door.
Deacon clutched his hands over his chest.
"Ouch. You wound me." He was still grinning as he followed Riley down the hallway.
"You're hanging around unusually long, what gives?" Riley asked as she held the door for Deacon to walk out first, and she followed soon behind, wincing at the onslaught of sunlight.
"I have a proposition for you." He began, "you reading to go on a daring adventure with me, help a damsel in distress?" He finished dramatically.
"What's made this damsel so distressed?" Riley asked as she pulled out her worn down leather jacket, and pulled it around her shoulders.
Deacon inwardly sighed. She hadn't rejected the idea so far, a good sign.
"She's tryna get away from a bad situation, wants to start fresh." Deacon replied as he watched Riley intently. He couldn't see her eyes, but something told him there was a flicker of understanding in them.
"Ok, we help her. So where is she?" Riley said in a confident tone.
"In a safe house, a little west of Bunker Hill. She needs an escort to a group of caravan owners who are heading out to New Vegas." Deacon said softly as they made their way to the exit of Goodneighbour. Riley gave a small wave to the guard near the gate as the door opened up.
Twenty-four bloatflys, that had to be a personal best for one trip. Riley huffed as she blew a loose strand of chestnut hair from her face. She quickly put her laser rifle between her knees as she adjusted her shoulder length hair into a tighter ponytail.
They'd just gone past Bunker Hill, so the safe house couldn't be too far. She glanced down at the map on her Pip Boy. Not too far at all.
"So Simon, how'd you find out about this girl?" Riley said, breaking the companionable silence between them.
"Read it in a newspaper advert," he began before waving his hands in front of his face, "young girl seeking a dashing young escort." he finished dramatically.
His response elicited a small laugh from Riley.
"I'm sure she'll be disappointed when she sees what you had in mind."
Riley chose to dismiss the avoidance of her question. In her experience, Simon was a very guarded man who often used humour as a way to avoid the truth. She didn't mind it though, as she saw some of herself in him.
When she'd first come into the wasteland, she wasn't used to people hiding their emotions so easily, it was as if when the bombs had dropped, individual walls had also dropped from the sky, shielding people's emotions. Trust didn't come easily to wastelanders, and Riley had learned that the hard way. She smiled as she reminisced on one of her more colourful encounters she'd first had. She was fresh from the vault, a pretty young face with a naive little mind. She'd lost all of her belongings in one day when she'd foolishly trusted some drifters who were hanging around Goodneighbour. Simon was different though, she just felt comfortable around him. Sure, he was no angel, Riley could already tell he'd lied to her numerous times, and he was definitely hiding something, but she saw no malice, no ill intent behind his lies.
They ambled along the morbid landscape, scorching sun bearing down on them, in a comfortable silence until Deacon raised a hand, signalling for Riley to stop. She looked up ahead to where a small intact building stood with a single light on inside, and a strange sign written in white paint on the exterior of the door.
With a quick scan of the perimeter, Riley pulled out her lazy rifle and held it just below eye level as she crouched behind her friend.
"Alright Sparks, you know the drill."
Riley nodded and moved out ahead of Deacon, quickly making her way across the risky territory of open space between their positions and the safe house. Once she was safely across, Deacon followed.
He swung his carry bag around to his front, and began fishing for a key. Riley checks the perimeter once more as he quietly opened the door.
"He-hello?" A timid voice greeted them, and Riley was met with the sight of middle aged, dark skinned woman wearing an outfit that screamed farmer.
"Are you the agent sent to escort me?" The woman asked, and Riley could see that she had a pistol slightly aimed up, in her hand.
Agent? Riley wondered to herself.
"Yes ma'am, at your service... and you must be?" Deacon asked with deliberation, eagerly awaiting Riley's response to the answer.
"I'm G8-68, but I prefer Elise."
Surprise! Deacon thought.
Riley's eyes widened marginally in surprise as her heart rate increased. Her eyes darted cross to her companion, but she couldn't see anything behind those blasted sunglasses.
Riley knew what those numbers meant, everyone in the commonwealth did.
A synth? What the hell was Simon thinking? Confusion and anger coursed through Riley.
"Hold up. What?" Riley said incredulously. Synths were bad news, Riley had heard so many ghost stories about the horrors that synths and the Institute inflicted. Riley quickly swivelled and aimed her gun on Simon.
"You. You're not with the Institute are you?" She narrowed her eyes, this was serious business.
"With them? You couldn't be further from them. He's here to help me escape the Institute." The synth, Elise almost shrieked. She was heavily breathing now, clearly shocked by what had just played out.
Riley slowly lowered her gun, and was rewarded with a smirk from her companion.
"You really think so slowly of me Sparks? So, you gonna help or not?"
Riley looked from Simon to the synth. This was dangerous territory, and Riley was certainly no friend to synths. But e desperation the woman had showed resounded with something deep down in Riley. This synth, this woman, was in need, and if Riley could help, She would in any way possible.
She nodded once to her companion.
"Alright."
Deacon let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.
Nora sat alone on one of the decrepit chairs outside what remained of her old house. She nursed a cup of foul tasting coffee in her hands as she contemplated everything that had gone down so far.
Nate was dead.
Even just thinking about it brought new tears to her eyes. She wasn't used to not having stability in her life, and Nate had been her rock. She as going to kill the bastard who'd murdered her love.
Shaun was gone.
This hurt just as much, and Nora knew she would go to any lengths to hold her baby boy in her arms again.
Riley too.
Nora was mainly confused about this, she missed having the young girl with her, but there was no sign of her friend. Codsworth hadn't seen anyone pass through Sanctuary, but he'd suggested looking into her disappearance from the Vault in Diamond City.
She also had a group of settlers to deal with. The hopeful young man, Preston, seemed trustworthy, and he'd given her useful information, she really wasn't sure about this whole Minutemen thing though. She wasn't a natural leader, not like Nate had been and she'd rather put all her efforts into locating Shaun and Riley.
Tomorrow, she'd head to Diamond City and track down the detective who would help her find her son, but for now, she needed to lie down and rest. For a really long time.