Radstorms were a constant in the south-west. Once they were past the Mass Fusion Disposal Site, the air tasted sour and electricity buzzed around them. They couldn't properly tell the time of day here. Nora told her that it would take six hours to reach the crater by foot. Shiloh already felt like she was melting in the heavy lead power armor. Answers aside, she really wasn't sure about this.
But Nora had done this before. She assured her that the journey was worse than the destination and that it would be over sooner than she thought. Shiloh really didn't know if that was true. "Be careful," Nora told her as the reached the edge of the barren land, "the radiation out here can warp your mind."
They slowly made their way into the Glowing Sea, with naught but radscorpions to meet them. The quiet was deafening; Nora didn't trust the area to openly play the radio. Not that Shiloh particularly minded. Nora had told her he was a nice enough guy, but she couldn't stand Travis Lonely-Miles repeating the same wasteland news over and over again. At least the songs were nice, but they were replaced by the buzzing radstorms during their trek.
Many hours and another dose of rad-x later, they passed the sad remnants of a Pentecostal church surrounded in radiation-wet, broken ground. Nora steered them away from the area, claiming it was a hive for feral ghouls. Their power armor was invaluable here. They were able to destroy any bloatflies with ease and the radscorpions who landed a blow barely dented their armor. Shiloh silently thanked Danse for his handiwork every time a stinger barely scratched the paint on her chestplate.
Lead-lined armor aside, the radiation was at insane levels here. The unwelcome taste in the air was enough to make Shiloh feel sick. Nora had barely commented on it the whole trip. She was uncharacteristically quiet, but Shiloh didn't want to bother her with questions. However, Nora's demeanor changed as soon as they crossed the mountainous path to the crater.
"Listen," the older woman turned to her, "let me do the talking. Please. We're on their turf here and I can't predict them. Mother Isolde has been tolerant with me before. That's all I have to go on."
Shiloh nodded, "I'll follow your lead."
The crater was more populated than either woman had expected. While the sad shells of people Shiloh was more familiar with were worshiping near the crater's liquid middle, Mother Isolde stood beneath a shack built overlooking the area. She was surrounded by unfamiliar armored troops, to Nora's surprise.
"Brotherhood," Mother Isolde appeared from the shack, staring at them with hard eyes, "you are unwelcome here." The guards behind her readied their guns.
Nora held up her hands, "I am Nora James. We've met before on my search for Brian Virgil."
"His presence is no bother to us. You have done us no favors. And now you appear here in Brotherhood armor. I have no words to speak to you."
"I come to you as a Child of Atom. I was inducted under Grand Zealot Richter and High Confessor Tektus. Please, I beg of you to speak to me." Behind Nora, Shiloh stiffened.
Mother Isolde raised an eyebrow, "I was told you mentioned Richtor to one of my zealots. I was also told you refused to give up the Lone Wanderer. Tell me, Child of Atom, how can we trust you when you appear on holy ground in Brotherhood armor?"
Before Nora spoke, Shiloh did, "Because she brought me to you." To Nora's horror, Shiloh immediately exited the power armor. Her senses had dulled a little from exposure, but she felt the crackle of radiation in the air as she stepped towards Mother Isolde.
Nora held up a hand towards her, "Shiloh-"
"The Child of Atom has brought me to you." Shiloh ignored Nora's protest and spoke to the Mother. Her guards had their weapons lifted now, prepared to down Shiloh if she took a step closer. One guard approached, perhaps to hold Shiloh back from stepping closer. She quickly head butted him as he grabbed at her. He reeled back, nose broken from the exchange. Shiloh felt a small trickle of blood from cutting open her forehead on his nose, but she stared defiantly at the Mother. Nora was holding her breath, waiting for retaliation, but the Child of Atom retreated to the shack, bleeding and cursing. No others moved towards them.
Mother Isolde looked almost amused, "We've had many visions of you, Lone Wanderer. I must say I'm surprised you would speak to me face to face. You've defied Atom's will multiple times now."
"I've come here for answers. One of your followers handed me to someone instead of dealing with me himself."
Mother Isolde's eyes were sharp, "What stops my men from shooting you instead of giving you answers?"
Nore interjected, "because High Confessor Tektus has proclaimed that Atom calls for peace. I have given your people, our people, peace in the north. I have brought her here as both a Child and a Brotherhood soldier to broker peace once again." Nora's confidence was shaky at best, but her words captured Mother Isolde's attention. The women looked at each other, momentarily ignoring Shiloh.
Shiloh took another step forward, prompting a guard to aim his gun directly at her head. She ignored the threat, only looking at Mother Isolde. The older woman spoke to Nora, "We've heard of this peace agreement. Word travels fast among the Children. You can promise that the Brotherhood will stay out of our territory?"
"I've already spoke to the Elder. Your crater has nothing for them. They've raided the bomb shelters already. They have no interest in coming to the Glowing Sea."
Mother Isolde looked thoughtful, "I will speak to Brother Griffith privately. You will stay here in the meantime. You," she pointed to Shiloh, "remain out of the armor. Atom has willed it many times to kill you. You are now on his holy ground. If he desires you to succumb to the radiation while we speak, then we will know how this conversation ends."
Nora protested, "Shiloh get back in your armor."
Shiloh stood her ground, "No."
"That's an order, Paladin."
She turned to Mother Isolde, "I will remain here."
"Defying Atom, defying the Children, and defying your Brotherhood. Seems you do better alone." Mother Isolde retreated to her shack to speak to a man in the back. They couldn't hear the words exchanged. Nora continued glaring through her helmet, but she was ignored by the younger woman.
Shiloh's breathing was heavy and she began to sweat by the time Mother Isolde exited the shack, "The radiation seeps off of your bones. Let's hope it stays there. I've spoken to the others and they agree with Confessor Tektus's interpretation. Brother Griffith has also heard of your actions in the north, Sole Survivor. For the price of peace we will let you both leave here alive. And because the radiation hasn't taken you, I will answer your questions. Though you will be disappointed to find that most of your answers lie with one of your own."
Shiloh straightened despite the heaviness in her bones, "What?"
"I was given a full report on what my zealots did with you many years ago. Brother Griffith, in fact, was one of them. I will have you know that you will get no retaliation against them. They were to give you as Atom willed it. I would have had you suffer. I would have had the radiation wash over you and melt you from the inside. But Atom willed a worse punishment, something we did not have the means to provide. The Institute did and we discussed handing you over to them for experimentation. They were trying to find the secret to how we withstand the radiation. We already told them many times it was Atom's will but they continued their ways; living underground and not fearing Atom. The slow radiation torture they were to subject you to was a more satisfying punishment than we could give you. That experimentation is the reason I suspect you're still alive before me now."
"One of my own, you said one of my own has the answers." Shiloh's mouth felt dry.
"One of your soldiers. A man with the knight rank led you to us. He can answer your questions, if you can find him. Now," she turned her back on them, "it is Atom's will you survive your visit here. But you both must pass the test of his holy ground. We will take your supplies. May Atom's mercy be upon you, Child of Atom, Lone Wanderer."
She retreated back into her shack as the soldiers took their packs by gun point. Nora fought them at first, but power armor was only so strong and she was facing soldiers in the dozens. "You're giving us a death sentence!" she called towards Mother Isolde, but no reply came.
Shiloh silently climbed back into her power armor. Its heaviness was more prominent now and she felt no relief from the radiation when their rad-away was now in the Childrens' hands. The two women climbed uphill silently away from the crater. The silence was tense, with neither of them in the right mind to continue it any longer.
Nora whirled on Shiloh, anger prominent in her tone, "You said you would follow my lead. You ignored a direct order."
"I don't follow orders from a Child of Atom!" Shiloh snarled, "You're one of them. You came to broker peace with the people who ruined my life and you brought me to them like bait. They could have just shot me right then and there."
"My actions in the north prevented the detonation of another nuclear bomb. I had to join them to save lives. That was my plan. I haven't endangered you more than you've endangered yourself by leaving your armor in the crater of a nuclear blast. Do you have no self-preservation?"
"You're judging my actions when they were the only reason I got answers. What is your method of self-preservation? Join up with every faction you come across? You're with the Brotherhood when you don't care at all about them. Danse mentioned the Railroad, are you with the Railroad? Tell me, what have you done to preserve yourself? That," Shiloh jabbed a finger back towards the crater, "that was my self-preservation back there. Those answers were all I have. You don't understand because you have a family and you have people that love you. You don't understand my desperation. And I don't understand where your fucking loyalty lies!"
Nora was yelling something back at her, ferocity in her voice and a shaking in her actions. Shiloh would have paid more attention if the growling hadn't distracted her. Nora was still screaming when Shiloh shrieked her name, silencing her. Shiloh's breath was still heavy when she twisted around, searching for the source of the noise. Nora heard it now too, silently scanning the distance.
Through her blurry vision, Shiloh spotted the glowing alpha deathclaw approaching them through the haze of the Glowing Sea. She glanced quickly at Nora. Nora, who was loved by so many people. Nora, who was loved by Danse. Who came to the Glowing Sea to find answers for her. She moved quicker than she expected her own body to manage under high radiation stress. Nora yelled after her as she went right for the deathclaw as it charged.
"Shoot it!" Shiloh managed as the animal hit her, bashing a heavy arm against her chest plate. The power armor let out an alarm that rang in her ears, letting her know that both the leg parts were breaking under the weight of the animal. Shiloh distantly heard the sound of laser fire and the deathclaw's shriek as it struck it.
Before the creature could lunge at Nora, Shiloh grabbed at its arms with all her might. It turned its attention back to her, yanking its arms free. It smashed the armor on Shiloh's shoulder, satisfied with her choked gasp. Just as it looked up, Nora released a storm of laser shots right into its skull. The assault on the injured animal did the trick, as it fell with a thud directly onto Shiloh's body.
It's full weight caused her to gasp and struggle as the chest plates of her armor caved in, suffocating her. Nora scrambled towards the bodies, roughly shoving the corpse off Shiloh after a moment of struggling. She quickly fretted over the younger woman, holding Shiloh's helmet between her hands.
"Can you hear me?"
"I…" Shiloh gasped, "yes."
"Shit, shit, I don't have any stimpacks," Nora roughly kicked the dead deathclaw before fretting again over Shiloh, "listen to me, stay with me. Can you get up?"
Shiloh shakily turned over, her chest screaming in pain, "Fuck…"
"We have no choice, we've got to get you out of here. Stay with me," she helped Shiloh to her feet despite her protesting and screaming in pain, "don't speak. Focus on your breathing."
Nora slung Shiloh's good arm over hers, half-carrying her in the direction they came from hours before. Three or four times, Nora had to roughly shake her awake. It was hard for her to breathe and her brain couldn't focus on anything with all the radiation sickness. Nora was constantly tuning her radio to the Brotherhood's frequency, cursing as the radstorm kept it out of range until they finally, finally, came to the edge and the sky cleared. Nora gingerly laid her on the ground, guarding her as she radioed her mayday to the Boston airport.
Shiloh distantly heard Nora talking to someone, tears in her voice as she struggled with the words. Without the other woman's jolting her awake, Shiloh's body gave in to the sleep overwhelming her.
-0-
The vertibird landed to find two unconscious vault dwellers. Nora collapsed from exhaustion after confirming her location to the Boston airport. They relayed the mayday to the Prydwen, where the order for the nearest vertibird to find them was executed.
The vertibird with Haylen on board was unleashing hell fire onto a group of super mutants when they received the call. All soldiers save for the scribe were noticeably annoyed at having to do a pick up until they came upon the scene. A knight was able to rouse Nora and she weakly climbed into the vertibird only to pass out again. Haylen was called over to assist with the other woman.
Shiloh had to be released from the metal trap that once was her power armor. The knights carried the broken pieces and frame into the vertibird as Haylen examined the damage on Shiloh's body. She was alive, but her breathing was labored and she was clearly suffering the effects of radiation sickness. She only mumbled incoherently when Haylen tried to ask her if she knew her own name.
Haylen administered rad-away through an IV in Shiloh's arm and they transferred her damaged body to a stretcher. The scribe hoped that the flight wasn't too rough with how bruised Shiloh's body was. They tried to ask Nora what had happened, but she was out cold from exhaustion and mild radiation sickness. Both women would need to be seen by Cade immediately. They charted the fastest route to the Prydwen.
Haylen coaxed Nora out of the power armor and briefly examined the barely-conscious woman. Luckily, Nora wasn't damaged physically and would make a full recovery after much rest and rad-away. Shiloh...Haylen wasn't so sure. Her head was bleeding, her shoulder looked dislocated, and her torso was heavily bruised, possibly broken in a few places. Her breathing was heavy, but steady enough that she might get away without a punctured lung. Haylen could only tell so much.
If she weren't in the field, she might have cried at the scene of two women she admired looking so broken. But Haylen's resolve was the only hope they had of making this flight and she knew that Nora would need to be calmed when she woke up. She was no Danse, or Rhys, but she could be strong for these women despite her fears and her worries.
Haylen tended to them, feeling relief wash over her when she saw the Prydwen. Cade was with the team that helped Shiloh and Nora off the vertibird. He looked overwhelmed as he approached Haylen, "I need all the help I can get with this one." He nodded towards Shiloh's unconscious state.
Haylen nodded, "Anything you need."