Memories of You
By SardonicEffigy
Chapter I
Echoes
There were a great many things to say about the eastern coast of the former United States of America; in some ways, it had fared both better and worse than the western coast in the aftermath of the Great War. It hadn't been spared the nuclear assault that had ended the world, not with it hosting the largest portion of the country's population and most of the larger cities. Indeed, it had been hit harder than the rest of the country combined, but it was the centuries that came after that had been perhaps more kind.
There had never been a large Super Mutant Army to rise and threaten the east like there had been on the west coast. There were still Super Mutants, and a host of other horrifying creatures, but their threats were located mostly to the Capital Wasteland and its immediate vicinity. It had also benefited from more protection than the west coast, more bunkers, and more care given to the construction of safehouses due to the importance of the people living in them.
That wasn't to say that Vault Tec had refrained from their standard issue inhumane experimentation, far from it, but there had at least been more build up and developed infrastructure such as the transit systems that saved some people from the blasts and the war. That was the extent of their blessings; however, as for whatever reason, the east coast had yet to give rise to anything resembling the New California Republic, or even Caesar's Legion.
The closest thing to a formal government had been the Brotherhood of Steel, an organization that originated in the West and that had only come so far east by their own will. With the Brotherhood on the east coast still recovering from their civil war, however, there were simply too many threats for them to properly deal with. It was for that reason alone that Lucy had agreed to help out when and where she could.
However, the last thing that she expected to be doing was goddamn courier work.
"Here is everything I was able to download from the Vault's mainframe." Lucy handed over the custom data drive that had been made for her by Big Mountain. It used some kind of special biological tech that the Brains had cooked up, one of the few genuinely helpful pieces of technology that they made, and Lucy had been too afraid to ask how exactly it worked, for fear that they would tell her that it required a blood sacrifice to use, or something.
"Thank you." The Brotherhood Scribe took the device quickly, stopping only to look at the odd contraption in fascination before seeing the interface port that would allow it to connect directly into a holotape slot on any standard terminal. "I have never seen anything-"
"I'll have my people make another one for you all to crack open, but for now, I will need that one back." Lucy watched as the scribe downloaded the information into the Citadel's own memory banks.
The Scribes' eyes widened with shock as the transfer completed not only with great expediency, but at the amount of data that had been transferred. "Wait, that little thing held that much?!"
Lucy simply nodded, chuckling at the way that the Scribe's reaction mirrored her own when she had downloaded the data. Her pip-boy was a work of wonder, capable of storing incredible amounts of information, but even it hadn't been able to hold a candle to the sheer amount of information stored in the Vault mainframe. The device cooked up by the Think Tank hadn't even struggled, and it fit in her pocket.
"I also took the liberty of wiping the data so that no one else could get it." Lucy said. The data within Vault 112 was far from the worst secrets that had ever been kept in a Vault, but the information that had been collected there over the centuries had a number of applications that could cause a lot of harm in the wrong hands.
Why Peter hadn't seen fit to completely destroy the thing and kill Doctor Braun, she had no idea, but she had rectified both mistakes, and now there was no chance of that monster ever finding a way to escape. She just hoped that some good could come from data stored there. It was mostly psychological analysis of the poor people who had been kept in the Vault, but there was a good bit of information about the 'human condition' as he had called it. Ways to break people's minds, and then how to put them back together, usually so that they could be broken again.
"I left the data on there, I assume that you'll want your own people to look at it?" The Scribe handed it back to her. "I also put a bit of our own research into it, Elder Lyons' orders. I was going to give you one of our holotapes, but it seems like that won't be necessary."
"Couldn't hurt to have two groups look it over, be sure to tell Sarah I said thanks." Lucy nodded. "And I know how busy you guys are these days. I barely got to talk to Sarah and Peter for five minutes before they had to rush off and put out a fire somewhere."
The scribe chuckled tiredly. "Yeah, it's been a rough couple months." That fact was painfully obvious considering the amount of wounded and recovering personnel stationed at the Citadel, and the large influx of civilians camped right outside the main gate. Not to mention the worn out appearance of the scribe before her. Despite being a scribe, he didn't actually wear the traditional robes of one, but rather a more typical lab coat. Sarah had explained that it was a part of a larger effort to distance themselves from the Brotherhood that Maxson had created, a way of saying they were more of a government than a cult.
It was slow progress, but Lucy felt that it was working. The general attitude of the few locals she had interacted with was already improving, helped all the more by the fact that Peter, the legendary Lone Wanderer, had returned to help lead the Brotherhood in a more earnest, if unofficial fashion. Between Sarah and him, it was difficult to see the Brotherhood as anything less than gallant saviors trying to protect the people of the Wasteland. Most of the wounded had gotten that way because of the ongoing campaign that was being waged against Talon Company, one that they were finally winning, in small part because Lucy had offered to pick up some of the slack.
With her handling the less important missions such as data retrieval, the Knights, Paladins, and Scribes could be sent where they really needed to go. So even if she loathed being a glorified mailwoman, she would tolerate it in this case.
"I can stick around if you guys have anything else that you need done." Lucy offered before the Scribe could even start sifting through the data.
"No, you've done enough for us for now." The scribe smiled as brightly as he could, which given the rough state he was in wasn't particularly bright. "The Elders just want you to keep trying to get support from the west."
Lucy nodded, but personally thought that it was a doomed effort. With the Second Battle of Hoover Dam having ended so recently, the NCR was already overtasked with securing its newly annexed territory. She had spoken to Crocker personally about getting aid out to Sarah's Brotherhood in some form, be that manpower, weapons, or even just food, but he had stone walled her at just about every turn, saying that they needed those supplies for the Mojave. It was a frustrating point, but one that, while annoying, was something she couldn't disagree with. Still, she had made the effort on Sarah and Peter's behalf, and she would attempt to do so again.
"Guess I'll be off th-"
"Don't use that thing in here!" The scribe glared at her as she pulled out the Transdalportalponder. Normally, she tried to be a bit more discreet about using it, but most of the people around her already knew about Big Mountain, so it was hardly a secret anymore. "It took me three hours to scrub off the residue left behind last time! I don't know how it works, but it can't be healthy, and I want no part in it!"
Lucy laughed softly before stepping outside. There was a flash of light, and then she was standing back in the Sink. It was quite amazing honestly, and there were only a handful of people that had ever experienced the use of the human-devised teleporter, and far fewer still that had lived to tell about it. She was the only one who used it anymore, much to Veronica's dismay.
Speaking of. "Hey, you're back!"
"Hey V." Lucy greeted before she tossed the storage device at her friend. "Go ahead and take a look at that before you hand it over to the Brains downstairs." Raising her voice, she turned in the direction of the extra bedroom they had set up in the sink. "You too Christine, I want to make sure this isn't too much to handle for them."
She heard a door slide open in the next room over, along with the telltale sound of a shower running. "What?"
Lucy rolled her eyes and looked towards Veronica who nodded and started moving toward the room she shared with her girlfriend. "Don't worry, I'll tell her.".
"Thanks." Lucy moved over to her own room, opening the door before stopping in the doorway. She wasn't tired, despite the fact she hadn't actually slept for four days, and so turned around to head to the elevators that led downstairs.
"Where are you off to?" Veronica noticed where she was going. "Aren't you going to rest?"
Lucy shrugged. "Not tired."
Veronica was silent for a moment before sighing. "You do still need some sleep, even if it's just a little. You should get some rest."
"I will, just gonna do a quick check of the Radar Fence before-"
"It's solid." Veronica replied. "Just checked like fifteen minutes ago, that's why we are so dirty and why I'm about to join her in the shower."
Lucy groaned. "Veronica, way too much information."
"To clean up, not fuck, get your mind out of the gutter." Veronica replied quickly, perhaps a little too quickly, but she did a good job of hiding the blush. "And don't think you can distract me. Get to bed."
Lucy smiled lopsidedly. "Are you trying to send me to my room?"
"Lucy…"
"Ugh, you are so much more fun after a good f-"
"Bed. Now!" Veronica snapped back, though the growing blush on her face made it clear that there was no real threat being made.
Lucy chuckled softly as she turned and went back to her room. Her bedroom door shut behind her softly, the Sink's original sleeping quarters were suitable only really for a single person, maybe a second. When she'd finally reunited Veronica and Christine and brought them to Big Mountain, they had turned the room that had once contained her removed heart, spine, and, for a short while, her brain, into another bedroom for Veronica and Christine. Lucy had offered to just let them have the main room, because she could quite literally sleep anywhere, but the two girls had insisted and she hadn't managed to talk them down.
After a few weeks of renovations, the Sink had essentially turned into two combined apartments that met in the middle. They also had private bathrooms for both rooms, despite the fact that Lucy didn't sweat, and thus needed to take significantly less showers. They insisted that she get to keep all the amenities regular people needed, and she loved them for that. For all of the suffering that they had endured in their lives, they had good hearts, and that was something that couldn't be taken from them.
Taking her ranger patrol armor off was easy, even if it did have several layers that most people struggled with. She did so with a practiced, mechanical ease. Soon, she was down into nothing more than her undergarments, and she was laying in bed. Again, she didn't strictly need to, nor did she even need to slip under the covers as her body had cybernetics to both keep her warm and cold, but it brought her comfort to go through the motions. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to shut off for the night as she fell into a dreamless sleep.
"Lucy!" The knocking at the door woke her instantly, but the shout from Christine helped to remind her exactly where she was even before the familiar surroundings. Waking up was always strange, another side effect of her augmentation. There was no drowsiness or scattered moments of struggling to piece things together, instead it was just instant clarity, something that was honestly more jarring than the former.
"I'm up." Lucy moved for the door without thinking, opening it to see what the issue was. Christine's eyes darted downwards for a split second before she smirked and looked back up.
"Good morning to you too."
"Is she finally aw-Lucy! Put some damn clothes on!" Veronica came out from their room with a smile, only to quickly avert her eyes.
Lucy looked down in confusion before actually realizing the issue. Her shame hadn't ever been very prominent when it came to things like that, time spent out wandering the wastes had made her indifferent to that in a way that Veronica wasn't quite the same. The Brotherhood wasn't completely prudish, but they couldn't compete with Lucy's wasteland life… even if she couldn't actually remember it.
"Give me a minute." Stepping back into her room, though leaving the door open, she quickly set about getting dressed, bending over to grab her pants off of the chair beside her bed.
"I don't know what cybernetic helped make that, but Veronica, you have to get it-ow!" Christine yelped in pain. "What the hell was that for?!"
"Checking out my best friend! Now give her some privacy." Veronica moved over to close the door, only for Lucy to step out, dressed once more in her armor. "Always forget how quick you can do that. Uh, Think Tank came up with something that we think you'll find pretty cool."
"Well, they mostly came up with it, it was actually Veronica's idea after she took a look through that data you gave her." Christine beamed, even as Veronica seemed to fidget under the praise.
"It wasn't much, I'm sure they would have been able to think of it too, if they weren't batshit insane."
"That's a pretty big if." Lucy smirked. "Whats up?"
"Come take a look." Veronica moved over to the elevator quickly, Christine and Lucy following quickly after.
When they finally stepped out into the main room, Lucy had been expecting to see some man-made horror, considering the track record of the various 'scientists' that worked there, but instead she was greeted with a familiar looking pod that she had seen both in the Mojave Chapter of the Brotherhood bunker, as well as Vault 112.
"Isn't it great?" Veronica asked, nearly vibrating in place.
"Uh, a virtual reality pod?" Lucy stepped over to it.
Veronica wilted, and for a moment looked like she might actually collapse before Christine chuckled and stepped forward.
"Not quite, but close." She explained. "It uses a lot of similar technology, but the entire program is replaced by a more robust neurological scanning system. It's kind of like an MRI, only this one uses a more direct connection, rather than radiation."
"Oh…" Lucy looked at the pod with a newfound appreciation. "So it can read your mind?"
"No!" Veronica answered quickly before pausing. "...okay, technically, but it's so much more than that!"
"We can use it to relive memories." Christine continued to explain. "You could use it to speak with coma patients, help cure post-traumatic-stress, and address any host of mental issues."
"Or relive your kinkiest dreams, like, any of them." Veronica quickly added before stepping over to one of the many terminals attached to the machine. "The possibilities are endless!"
Lucy nodded softly. "That is useful, how did you guys build it overnight? This should have taken weeks."
Veronica and Christine shared a long look for a moment, before the former finally spoke. "You were asleep for about three days."
"What?!" Lucy turned on her in an instant. "You didn't wake me?!"
"You… needed the rest." Veronica said, the excitement in her voice notably diminished. "We were monitoring your vitals, and everything was perfectly safe, it's just… we knew how burnt out you were from the last couple months. You've been running yourself ragged and we thought that it was best that you recover like a normal person."
Christine nodded. "If anything, the fact you slept for thirty-six hours straight should be proof you needed it."
Lucy's mouth clicked shut. They had a point, but the fact remained. Anything could have gone wrong, three days was a long time. She shouldn't have even been capable of staying asleep for that long.
Shaking her head, she tried to focus on the moment. "So, how does it work?"
"The technology is a mix of the stuff from Vault 112, the training programs from our bunker in the Mojave, and a pod that Peter apparently found in the east. The actual mechanics are based on a design that was in the Think Tank's database, although ours is a little more… homebrew." Veronica answered.
"How do you use it?" Lucy asked.
"We… don't actually know." Veronica had the decency to look sheepish as Lucy fixed her with a rather unimpressed stare. "We only just finished it this morning, and the Brains are like, thirty percent sure there's a chance it fries a normal brain."
"Normal being the keyword." Christine responded before turning toward Lucy. "Your cybernetics would negate that risk."
"We could just plug you straight in, instead of having to bake your brain in potentially life threatening radiation." Veronica added. "Ain't that neat?"
Lucy sighed, taking off her hat and chest piece as she moved over to the pod. There wasn't really any question about whether or not she wanted to try it, not when the possibilities were both potentially helpful, and very intriguing. "What do I do?"
Veronica typed a few commands in and the pod opened. "Just hope on up." Lucy did as instructed, moving back to sit in the seat. "Normally, at least for the one at the Bunker, you would use a special suit for this, we have loads of them lying around but most don't work for much else besides decent body armor. Again, your cybernetics make that unnecessary."
Christine moved over to a terminal plugged into the machine. "We want to watch your vitals to make sure nothing goes wrong, and to see if it's safe for others to use."
As she finished speaking Veronica moved to stand beside her with a small cord in hand.
"This might sting a little." Lucy winced as Veronica plugged something directly into the small socket behind her ear. For the most part, she only used it at the auto-doc in the Sink when she had to run a diagnostic on her implants, but it also theoretically allowed her to interface with terminals given the right hardware. She rarely did so, because she was actually quite adept at using them, but the function was still there. "And with a press of this button, you sh-"
Memory Chamber Active
…
Status: Online
…
Host: Integrated
…
Initiating Program
…
Lucy stepped out onto the porch, shivering slightly and clutching her dad's jacket tightly. Winter had come a little bit earlier than expected this year, and the snow had already started falling. The farm was covered in a thin layer of white powder that was nearly an inch deep
"Lucy, don't stay out too long or you'll catch a cold!" Lucy's mom called out from the kitchen.
"I'm just going to fetch Dad!" Lucy replied, stepping off the porch and running out toward the barn.
Despite the weather, the skies had actually cleared for now, leaving the snow capped mountains that surrounded them visible in the frigid air. She hadn't ever actually gone up to any of them, despite how big and tall they were, her Dad insisted that they were miles and miles away, farther than she had ever been in her life, but she saw them and she dreamed of touching them.
A cold wind blew in and she shivered once more, hurrying in her run toward the barn where her dad had been working last. The red wood had long ago lost the paint that covered it, but there were still a few signs of Lucy's last attempt to repaint it, the mismatched colors of the few cans of paint her dad had been able to trade for hadn't been enough to cover it all, but he insisted he loved it, even if it only went six or so feet off of the ground, she hadn't been able to reach any higher without a stool to stand on, and she had quickly fallen from the one she stole form the house. Her knee was still cut from that, her mom called it a scar, but the pain wasn't there any more, and Lucy thought that it looked cool.
The small door that led to her dad's shop was hard to pull open, the heavy metal handle being too high for her to reach without standing on her tip-toes, but she managed it just fine. The door shut quickly behind her, having been caught in the wind and it slammed shut, startling Lucy and causing her to jump.
"Honey, is that you?" She heard her dad yell, though his voice was muffled telling her exactly where he was. She moved over to find him under his big red truck. The paint on that had faded too, but he hadn't let her paint it yet, insisting that they do it together when they had enough. He crawled out from under, black grease on his face and tool in hand. "Luce', sweetie, what are you doing out here? You'll catch a cold!"
"Mommy said dinner is ready." Lucy responded quickly. "We're having brahmin burgers again!"
Her dad smiled at her excitement, she loved them the way her mom cooked them, and the sooner that he got up to the house the sooner she could eat.
"Ahmm, maybe I should keep you waiting then." Her dad stepped over to her, holding a hand to his chin as he thought. "I do have a lot of work to do after all, and the sun isn't even down yet. Dinner could wait an hour or so…"
Lucy tried to glare at him the same way she saw her mom do sometimes, but rather than lower his head and apologize as he always did with her, he laughed and patted her head.
"We'll go in and eat…" Lucy was already turning, hurrying for the door so that she could wash her hands when he continued. "Say, did she make an extra one?" Lucy paused and turned, nodding her head quickly. "First one back to the house gets it?"
She was already out the door before he could finish, but even with her head start he quickly caught up and passed her. He was several steps ahead when he suddenly seemed to stumble and slow down, landing on the ground with an exaggerated crash. "Oh no~"
Lucy giggled as she ran past him, opening the door to the house and running for the kitchen. She arrived just as her mom pulled the burgers off the stove, she started to turn an-
Connection interrupted
…
Termination Sequence: Initiated
…
Lucy sat up with a start, gasping for air as she felt a hand grab her arm.
"Lucy! Are you okay?"
"Why did you pull me out!?" Lucy asked frantically, her words leaving her in a breathless shout as she struggled to regain her composure, she was sweating profusely, and as she turned to look at Veronica she felt her head nearly split open.
"Your vitals were off the charts!" Christine answered for her girlfriend as Veronica quickly started disconnecting things from the machines. "You were only hooked in for a few minutes but it was overloading the systems, you almost di-"
"I have to go back!" Lucy begged, her voice cracking. "Put me back in!"
"Lucy, you almost died!" Veronica finally moved over, pulling the cord from behind her ear. There was a faint static shock, but she barely even felt it over everything that was running through her mind. "Your body was overheating! Even your augmentations couldn't keep up!"
That would explain why her hand came away slick with sweat when she rubbed at her head to try and ease the pain there. Usually her cybernetics kept her body properly cooled, but in the theoretical event that they weren't enough, then good old biology would try to take over. Despite her inhibitions and mitigators, the pain in her head was still nauseating to feel, and she simply wanted to curl up and sleep, but the knowledge of what she had seen wouldn't leave her mind, nor that fact that, even now, she couldn't recall their faces.
What had been clear only a few seconds ago was already becoming hazy, her father's smiling face was turning to shadows but there was still something there where there hadn't been before. Her mother however…
"I have to go back, V." Lucy pleaded. "Please, it… I saw my family."
Veronica paused her work, looking up at her with sympathy in her eyes. "We'll figure something out Lucy, I promise, but not right now. Not yet."
Lucy made to complain, but the moment her mouth opened to do so she gagged, that small warning giving Veronica just enough time to step back before she vomited.
Author's Note: It has been a long while since I have had the chance to talk to Kyle's audience, for those of you who don't know me I am SardonicEffigy. Kyle and I edit each other's works, bounce ideas, etc. We are also good friends. We were brainstorming ideas one day about a Lucy centric story and this was one such idea. Unfortunately, it differed from his usual style and he wasn't quite sure how to go about it. As such, he brought me in as a Commissioned Writer.
There will be far more to come, and if you enjoy this story give me a look up. If you would like to commission me, feel free to DM me as well and we can talk. I primarily focus on RWBY stories but, as I hope will be seen with this story, that does not mean I am incapable of writing outside of that worldspace.
I hope you enjoy, and be sure to review.
Sincerely, SardonicEffigy
