Chapter 20 – Secrets and Serum
It was another bright clear morning as the team left their subterranean hideout and headed towards the Cabot residence. Piper had been filling in the rest of the team with some of the history of this rather eccentric family. She didn't know much but she did explain that the current head of the family, Jack Cabot, was a scientist and owner of the Parsons State Insane Asylum, a relic from the nineteenth century, that was located just northwest of Salem. Leaving Boston Common, the team patrolled north, past the Massachusetts State House, past Vault Techs regional Headquarters and on up to the old Boston Bugle building. Nate made a mental note to come back and visit Vault Techs local HQ, as he was sure there would be an interesting haul in that ruin. The city was quiet, which was just the way he liked it.
Nate thought back to the talk he had with Cait the previous night, and the reactions of Piper and Curie when Cait had told them of what she was looking for. There would often be times, and this was one of them, when Nate would reflect on how things had turned out for him and his companions and would still be amazed. Less than six months previously, Nate had been despairing at all three of the girls and their rather haphazard and often dangerous style of combat. Fast forward six months, and the change had been dramatic. Then he was one of four individuals, each battling their way through this post-apocalyptic wasteland the best they could, scraping by on what they could find. Now he was the head of an effective and cohesive unit, whose skills and earning power were starting to get them noticed. And all brought about by the help of some good old fashioned over the knee discipline. He shook his head and smiled.
"Cap for your thoughts, Blue," Piper enquired.
"hmm?" Nate snapped out of his reverie, "Oh, nothing, just wondering what this Cabot chap has in store. I like Deegan, though. Very old fashioned."
"You reckon he was around before the war?" Piper moved up to walk beside Nate, who was taking point.
"Yeah, undoubtedly," Nate answered, "He has a real old school gangster vibe about him. I wouldn't be surprised if this family were organised crime before the bombs dropped."
"Ooh, a story." Pipers eyes lit up.
"Not so fast, missy," Nate scolded gently, "If we are taking their money then we are keeping their secrets, you know the drill." He smiled.
Piper pouted, "you do know how to take the fun out of life, don't ya, blue."
"Think of the caps," Nate grinned, "I am."
The silence of the city was then broken by a burst of machine gun fire coming from the next block. "That's close to the Cabot residence." Piper exclaimed. Nate and the team had weapons up and fanned out moving tactically, hugging the buildings on each side of the street. Alongside the machine gun burst there was the very distinct rumble of a Sentry Bot and its claw tracks, moving about.
Suddenly, darting across in front of them was a ghoul, running from a building to the teams right, disappearing down the road to their left. Nate gave the signal and the team stopped, all four of them taking to one knee and keeping their weapons trained on the street ahead. Slowly Curie and Cait, who were bringing up the rear, turned and began to scan the buildings behind them, ensuring the team were not surprised from the rear. Another feral growl and a second ghoul ran from right to left, leaping to attack the hidden target. Another burst of machine gun fire and the distinctive rumble of a sentry bot told Nate what target the ghouls were attacking. Nate signalled for the team to wait and within a few minutes the rumble of the sentry bot, slowly getting quieter as it moved away from their position, signalled to the team that they could continue. Nate carefully crept up to the end of the street and peered around the corner, looking down the road to his left.
Following the direction the sentry bot had just headed, Nate could see that the road formed one side of a huge square, a very imposing residence at the far end. Nate could also see that the sentry bot had come to a rest at the side of this impressive house. Nodding his head, he knew the house must be the Cabot residence and that robot was a sentry placed there by the owners.
"Right gang," Nate announced, "We are here."
"Don't like the look of that Sentry Bot," Cait looked over to the Cabot house.
"If it's owned by the Cabots then it should be friendly." Nate suggested.
"Well, I vote that you go forward to check that theory." Piper grinned.
"Yup, I second that," Cait jumped in.
"Since when is this a democracy?" Nate looked back to his companions. "If I ordered you two to walk up to that sentry bot, you would have to, we agreed." Nate smiled as he wasn't being at all serious.
"Listen Blue," responded Piper, "you could be stood here with that horrible paddle in your hand, threatening me with a hundred swats and I still wouldn't be moving an inch." She smiled back.
"I rather like the paddle," Curie spoke up, "I think it looks very pretty."
Piper looked despairingly at her blond-haired companion. "You can say that because you have never felt it against your backside," she rolled her eyes. Turning back to Nate she slapped him on the shoulder, "Nope, paddle away cowboy, but you are not getting my butt to move an inch."
"And," Cait held up her finger, "If you ask us to do something stupid, surely we get to punish you for that," She made a sign of rubbing her hands together in glee.
"You guys are scary with just how desperate you are to get something across my backside," Nate laughed.
"You have no idea…" chuckled Piper.
"Alright then." Nate said as he stood and began walking out into the middle of the square. "Hey!" he shouted over to the robot.
"Stay off the grass." The machine sounded an alarm and then started to move up to Nate's position. As it advanced, Nate could see it scan his face. It then announced "Threat analysis... green. Standing down." It then spun on its tracks and returned to its sentry position.
Nate turned to see the girls peering at him from around the side of the building. "See, nothing to it."
The girls broke from their cover and moved up to join Nate. Piper looked at Nate with a scowl, "You knew that was going to happen, didn't you?"
"Yeah," Nate said, nodding. "There was a note about the sentry robot in the map file Edward sent to my Pip Boy."
"That wasn't funny," Cait said, joining her teammate in aiming her scowl at Nate.
"It was a little funny," Nate grinned back.
They made their way to the front door of the residence and on ringing the intercom, Edward invited them in. The team entered into a fairly grand looking reception room which was immaculate, no signs of bomb damage or signs of ageing. The reception area had a crimson rug spread out over well polished floorboards. The walls were wood panelled and there was a grand set of double doors off to the left. Ahead there was a wide staircase with a smaller door underneath and suspended from the ceiling was a rather ornate chandelier.
Edward welcomed the team at the door. "Come on, lets go meet the boss." He said as he headed through the double doors and into the living room. Equally untouched by the ravages of war the huge living room contained a full sofa suite as well as a pool table. Nate could see, towards the back of the house, another set of double doors looking through to an equally large dining room. A set of stairs on the far wall lead up to a balcony and entrance into what Nate imagined were some of the bedrooms.
"Damn, clearly I will have to adjust the mixture" came a voice from one of the rooms on the balcony. "Hello, hello, welcome to Cabot house, I'm Jack Cabot." The man introduced himself as he came down the stairs to great the team.
"What is this place," Nate asked, impressed with the size and condition of the house.
"This is my ancestral home, the Cabot's have always lived here, since long before the great war." Jack explained. "If you're asking what we're still doing here, with Boston in its current sad state, well... that's a story for another time, perhaps."
"Pleased to meet you, Jack." Nate responded.
"And I am very pleased to meet you! Edward finds it tiresome, but I always like to know personally everyone who works for me. Please, have a seat. How about a drink?" He moved to one of the sofa chairs, "Edward, the good bourbon, eh?" He indicated for the team to sit. "Now, before we get down to business, I have a question I like to ask all my new employees."
"Is this really the time for…" Asked Deegan, jumping in.
"Don't interrupt, Edward." Jack snaped back, "The question is this: do you believe there is other intelligent life in the universe?"
Piper snorted and Nate answered sarcastically, "I'm not sure there's any intelligent life in the universe. At least not on this planet."
"You joke but make a good point." Jack smiled, "Say humans perish from the earth, as they seem intent upon doing. Say thousands of years from now, a new civilization arose. What would they know of us?"
"You're implying there was a lost alien civilisation on earth in prehistoric times," Piper asked, leaning forward on her seat to Nates left. "Wonder what they'd think to see us now." She said ironically.
"Yes, if by "alien" you mean a non-human precursor to the commonly understood founding cultures - Sumer, Egypt, Assyria."
"This is plain daft, is what it is!" murmured Cait under her breath. Curie was also shaking her head.
"Jack, can I tell the team what I need them to do?" Asked Edward, trying to get the conversation back to the reason Edward had hired Nate and his companions.
"I'm sorry Edward, I just get carried away sometimes. You are sending them to look for the missing shipment?" Jack confirmed.
"Yeah," was the slightly exasperated response from Deegan.
"Well, then. I'd better leave you to it." Jack responded as he got up from his seat and headed back up stairs.
Watching Jack Cabot disappear back up the stairs, Cait asked, "What was all that about?"
"Don't worry about that for now," Deegan responded. "That's part of the job, by the way. It's best to keep an open mind. Jack may be eccentric but he's definitely not crazy." Deegan looked back to Nate, "The job I've got for you is simple. Jack owns a … facility… north of the city. There's an important package that went missing between there and here. I need you to track it down and bring it back to me."
"For starters, what's the package I'm looking for?" Asked Nate.
"It's a metal case holding vials of serum." Edward responded. "You don't need to worry about what it is. Jack needs it for his research. That's all you need to know. You should start at Parsons State Insane Asylum. Don't let the name spook you, it's just a secure building that we're using. We think the courier got ambushed as he was leaving the place. The guards heard gunfire in the distance but don't know exactly what happened. Check in with Maria at Parsons. She's in charge of the security force there. She can point you in the right direction." Deegan indicated to the door and Nate took the hint, 'interview over' he thought to himself. As they reached the door, Deegan stopped and looked at the team, "You all set then?" he asked as he opened the door.
"Yep. I'll see you soon with the package." Nate confirmed and made his way outside.
Walking a little away from the house, Cait said "weird old coot, that Jack guy, don't you think?"
"Mysterious Serum, ooooh," Piper mocked, holding her hands up in a pantomime of a ghost.
"And that nonsense about ancient civilisations" Curie joined in, "If this was true then the scientific community would have investigated it thoroughly."
"Ok, hold up," Nate stopped walking. They had made their way through a back alley away from the house and were now standing next to the North Washington Street Bridge. "Yes, that chap is a bit strange," Nate stated, "and so is Deegan for that matter, but we have to remember our manners when talking to a paying client." Nate smiling as he knew he was sounding like a disappointed parent, "By all means be rude and dismissive, but please just not to their faces. I like the idea that we are getting paid for going north, even though we are going north anyway, but we cannot have any of you guys putting that extra money at risk, alright?" Nate continued to scold and had begun to wag a finger at the girls in front of him.
There was a pause and then, in unison, the girls burst out laughing.
"You look so funny," Curie touched Nate on the forearm.
Realising how ridiculous he looked, Nate tucked away him wagging finger and then began to act wounded at the girls not taking his telling off seriously. Reacting to his mock wounded expression, Piper and Cait tried hard to look contrite but failed miserably.
"So that's you told then," Nate nodded, acting as if their contrition was genuine.
"We are sorry," lied Cait badly.
"That didn't work, did it?" Nate looked at his smirking companions.
"No, sorry, not even a little bit." Piper looked sympathetically at Nate as she went to head over the bridge.
"Not even slightly intimidated?" Nate asked as he followed Piper.
"Nuh-uh" Cait shook her head.
"Mildly frightening?" Nate continued.
Piper rolled her eyes.
