The Lone Wanderer stared at the machine sitting at a desk on the far side of the room. She was sitting in Ellie's chair, turned to face it...him. What did one call the memories of a man being used as the basis for the actions of a machine? Or the machine which used the memories of a man to base its actions on? Then on top of that, the synth seemed to be able to react as if he was three steps ahead of her but never actually be ahead of her.
Nick Valentine was infuriating.
"You seem to be really serious about the concept that the Brotherhood of Steel did not send a nuclear bomb at the Commonwealth.", he gruffed out.
"That's because they didn't. They couldn't have.", she replied.
"Hm.", he considered. The machine used a screwdriver and set about adjusting the hand that was not covered in a foam she didn't recognize. "And that's because of what you've heard down in the Commonwealth?"
"No. Again.", she confirmed. "I know, not just because the Elder and the Sentinel told me. I know because I've been to all of their bases and they don't have the ability. Edwards Airforce base doesn't have that type of missile technology; and even if it did, it would have been used in building the Prydwyn. The Citadel doesn't have any long range attack capacity whatsoever. Or at least theatre to theatre attack capacity."
"Oh - like the Pacific and European theatres in the big one. Or what should have been the big one.", Nick understood.
So maybe the machine did have pre-war memories.
"Look, doll. I'm gonna get personal for a moment. And if you don't like it, you can walk. But know this - satisfy me and I'm hired. Disappoint me and we're straight over to the Minutemen." Nick paused a moment. "Sorry, I didn't want to have that sound like it did."
The Lone Wanderer scoffed.
"Give me your hand."
She reached out.
"No glove. And I'll need the wrist as well."
Well, the machine seemed to know everything already. Not only did the Lone Wanderer take off the trader's glove, she shimmied her arm out of the coat and then the synthetic body suit underneath. Nick noted that she wore a sports bra, much more substantial than the common underwear of the Commonwealth. Her bare arms wiggled her fingers at him.
Cold, metallic digits surrounded her own. Bright yellow eyes stared into hers. "Try not to blink."
"What's your name?", he asked.
She told him.
"Which vault did you grow up in?"
"101."
"Are you from the Commonwealth."
"No. Vault 101 is under the Capital Wastes."
"How tall are you?"
She told him.
"Tell me that my eyes are blue."
Her nose wrinkled in confusion but only for a moment. "Oh, falsehoods. Sure. Your eyes are blue."
"Why are you green?"
"Because I ate a leprechaun."
The detective chuckled. "Okay, now the big one kid. Is there any chance that the Brotherhood of Steel launched a nuclear missile at the Commonwealth?"
"No. There is no possibility of that being true."
Nick didn't move for a moment. The Lone Wanderer tried to stay still but she was human: her blood was circulated by her heart, she didn't hold her breath. Nick however - Nick was as still as the desk behind her.
"Let's say I believed you.", Nick offered. "Why should I?"
"Because Old Man Stockton already briefed you when he sent us your way.", she answered.
The synth's ill repair made the robotic poker face even more effective. There was still some use in the Lone Wanderer not knowing that the only thing he knew about Old Man Stockton was the notice of a reward for retrieving his missing daughter. "But so much time has passed since I last spoke to him.", he bluffed.
The Lone Wanderer nodded. "Yeah, if he was down in the Capital Wastes to recruit us then he probably couldn't get a message ahead of us to you about us.
"He told us about what he suspects the Institute did to you. And that you hate them as much as he does. And that the General allying herself with the Institute can't sit well with you.", she leveraged.
Nick sat back. "I think it's less allying and more like trying to ride a tiger. But I thought Old Man Stockton...you know...?"
"What?", the Lone Wanderer asked. "Gave up being Railroad?"
And there he had it. "Well, yeah.", Nick covered. "You stop getting messages and you assume your contacts are out of the game."
"Maybe the people who are still acting against the Institute have to play it closer to the chest since the Railroad is working for the General now?", the Lone Wanderer offered.
"If we assume that the Brotherhood of Steel did not fire that nuke, then who could have?", Nick digressed. "Even now rogue elements of that are traditionalist Railroad would have targeted the Institute, not the Gunners - and there's no evidence of the two working together."
"And I've read the reports of your Piper Wright.", the Lone Wanderer. "Was she lying about searching every community?"
"Piper doesn't lie in her reporting, ever.", the detective informed. "Every Minuteman settlement, every represented town... the General even cleared the two nuclear submarines in the fleet and the Hubologists of all people. Like some religious zealots in the middle of a desert...
"The Children of the Atom."
"I thought Piper reported that the capture of your second nuclear submarine coincided with the searching of the Children's headquarters.", the Lone Wanderer stated.
"No, not those.", Nick replied. "Out in the Glowing Sea. There's a settlement of Children of the Atom that have the...mutation, or blessing, or whatever you want to call it in order to survive its radiation. And they're close enough to Sentinel..."
"I'm sorry?", the Lone Wanderer interrupted. "Sentinel? I thought I had convinced you that the Brotherhood hadn't done this."
"First, no - you've convinced me that you don't believe they done this and you should know whether or not they did.", Nick started. "Second - the Glowing Sea is a stretch that's too irradiated to cross let alone attempt to survive in. Even trade caravans are forced to take routes around it despite those areas being marshes or infested with monsters and what have you. Out in it, there was a store of nuclear weapons that I think only I and the General know about because we had to chase down a rogue Institute scientist when she was...well, questing...to find her child.
"When we found it, there were corpses of the Children of Atom in there. They were killed by feral ghouls. But the General...well, let's just say I would never want to be on the wrong end of her barrel. So with a religious cult able to survive where no one else can, obsessed with radiation and a source of nuclear weaponry newly made safe for approach-"
The Lone Wanderer stood up and clapped her hands together. "So you do believe that the Brotherhood of Steel didn't launch this attack." Then she slowed. "But that would mean she honestly believes that the Brotherhood did commit this atrocity and she's just...mistaken?"
Nick leaned back in his seat. "I don't believe anything yet. But there's the possibility of finding evidence. If you wanted to investigate, we'd start there."
"We?", the Lone Wanderer asked.
Valentine nodded. "We. But...um...I think you'd need something a bit more suitable for stepping out into such an exclusive club."
She smiled. "You mean like Enclave issue Hellfire power armor?"
The synth tilted his head. "Well, that would do."
