Diamond City
August the 24th, 2288
17:22

Having spent the better part of fifteen years working as the personal secretary to one Nicholas Julius Valentine, Eleanor Perkins knew full well she would often be asked to find or procure strange things.

Information on the Glowing Sea, however, was not one she had ever anticipated; not after being asked to find an unusual type of alcohol (which Solomon and Vadim ultimately helped her find), not after being asked if she knew how to light a stove (which she did), and not even after being asked if she could fix up a coat with a metal toothpick for a sewing needle (which went better than expected). After spending two weeks trying to find a map of the Glowing Sea and finding nothing, she asked (read: begged) Myrna to find her a detailed map of the Commonwealth from before the War. Though not thrilled about it, when given a hundred caps, Myrna did find and bring her a set of maps of the pre-War Commonwealth before grouchily telling her to leave her be. Staring at them now, taped down to her desk and taped onto the walls, she collapsed into her desk chair, staring up at the ceiling for a few minutes. Nick on one side and Nora on the other, she awkwardly smiled at them when she sat back up. It was becoming almost a routine. Satisfied she was alright, Nick walked over to one of his many overflowing filing cabinets and began looking for what little information he had managed to nab over the years about the Commonwealth's most inhospitable locale. Nora, frustrated by staring at the same maps for the better part of three days, instead sat down on the stairs going up into the apartments, tiredly resting her head in her hands.

It all, she worried, was beginning to feel nearly hopeless and, therefore, pointless.

"Wish the Railroad had been able to help you two more with this," Ellie hesitantly said, standing up to take a closer look at the map on her desk. "You'd think they'd know if an Institute scientist left, wouldn't they? If only because they'd want to talk to them, without letting them know they're part of the Railroad, of course."

"They knew a decent bit about the Institute," Nora said, shaking out her hair. "But I…I agree. All of them apart from Hadley were…I have no idea if they want to help me or just help themselves. Hadley seemed terrified of saying some things in front of them, too, and terrified of something happening to her kids and Piper if they knew about the Railroad and her involvement. But honestly? I'm glad she didn't tell me about them from the offset. I either wouldn't have believed it or been even more suspicious of it."

"Hadley is certainly the most concerned for you, which is good," Nick noted. "I was taken aback by her demeanour, though. She's always been a bit paranoid but the way she seemed desperate not to let on how much she's going to help you even if it breaks their protocols? And it also seems she's got something else tormenting her these days. Derek is going to be worried sick when he finds out she's started smoking. But that's neither here nor there. For us, the issue of finding Virgil remains."

"No kidding," Nora swore under her breath. "How are we supposed to find one person in near hell when the only thing we know is they went there?"

"How is a question I'm still stuck on too. All of this, it's far from ideal," Nick said, continuing to thumb through file after file. "Not to mention the amount of planning necessary for something this dangerous. I don't even have to worry about radiation and it makes me nervous. Guess the Institute making me a synth is good for a few more things than I thought."

Ellie glanced at him, almost amused. "You keep laughing at death in the face, one of these days, death is going to laugh back."

"Don't worry about me," Nick said, turning to her with a smile. "This is partially a waiting game, too," He said, his face falling at the thought. "Not to say the Glowing Sea is ever…safe, long term, without a lot of luck and good shelter, but it gets a lot easier to navigate after mid-October."

"So we have to keep hoping, until then, we learn something?" Nora said, biting back annoyance. "I can't believe this, any of it," She muttered. "Or, at least, I don't want to."

"Can't blame you," Nick shook his head. "I don't like we'll have to wait, either, but it might be for the best. Figuring out where we're going is only half the battle. The other half is figuring out how we're going to keep you safe."

Nora sighed. "Another thing to worry about. Fuck."

"From what I know about the history of it, the Glowing Sea was where the bomb aimed for Boston hit after it was gunned down by the US military," Nick said, stepping away from the filing cabinet and over towards the map on his secretary's desk. "The bomb, if I remember correctly, ended up hitting a little ways off Providence in Rhode Island, really only a couple miles off hitting Massachusetts."

Nora raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean for the…lingering impact?"

"The main result of it is the majority of Massachusetts was left damaged but liveable" Nick said, waving her over and taking out a marker, beginning to circle part of the map. "From what I've learnt over the years, the Glowing Sea starts around Attleboro, goes as far west as Scituate, as far east as Rehoboth, as far south as Bristol, and as far north as North Attleboro."

"So those are the…points in the circle where, roughly, the impact was the largest?" Nora fell silent when she took a closer look at the map. "The…I grew up only half an hour, give or take, from Providence," She said quietly. "A little less than twenty miles away. My grandparents lived in downtown Providence, which was why we moved to Plainville from Mattapoisett in the first place. I was maybe two or three when we moved and lived there until I left to study in Boston."

"Oh dear," Ellie said, reaching over to sympathetically set a hand to her shoulder. "I'm so sorry," She said a bit awkwardly. "I…don't really know what to say. It must feel a lot more recent, having been –"

"I wasn't even sure how long I'd been in there, how long any of us had been in there," Nora said, her voice unsteady. "When I…when I was leaving Concord to…after I'd met the Minutemen and we decided to head to…to where I'd been living before the War in Sanctuary a couple miles north of Concord, Preston and I started talking. I…I broke down when he told me it was 2287 and was confused about how I hadn't…how I hadn't known…"

"Went to sleep in one century, woke up in another," Nick said, capping and setting down the marker. "A raw deal, to put it lightly."

"To put it very lightly," Nora said bitterly. "It feels as though it's only been just shy of a year, but it's been what? Almost two hundred and eleven years? And Shaun…he's…he's turned ten without me, maybe eleven? All because of Kellogg, because he –"

"Nora –" Nick calmly began.

"The hell am I supposed to do?" She shakily snapped. "I'm his mother! I had one responsibility, one thing I had to do, and I couldn't even manage it! I should have been able to protect him, even if his father had to…even if Nate…"

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Nora leaned forward a bit, her hands gripping the edge of the secretary's desk. She closed her eyes, for a minute, trying to calm her breathing but couldn't. When her eyes opened again, the first thing she saw was her wedding ring, glinting against the light from one of the lamps hanging from the ceiling. Her heartrate spiking, the air feeling harder and harder to breathe, she slowly let go of the desk, her hands trembling. The ring glinted against the light again and, her chest hurting and her head throbbing, she all but tore it off and threw it across the room. Unable to stop herself from crying anymore, Nora stumbled back a little, her back sliding down against the wall until she collapsed into herself on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. Still trembling, she wrapped her arms around her legs, holding them tightly against her chest and burying her face into her knees. Or, if not, I'll kill you the same way I killed your husband. Kellogg. His coarse voice, his hollow laugh, his smug demeanour, and his taunting smile lunged at her. He had won. Nate was gone, drugged, and then later killed; all so Kellogg could play games as her son's surrogate father from time to time. And Shaun…he was gone, too, handed over to the Institute, out of reach.

"Why?" Nora whispered, wiping tears away from her eyes when she looked up, taken aback when she realised Nick had knelt down in front of her, staring at her, brow furrowed in worry. "My son is still gone, and I'm no closer to having him back. We're grasping at straws, and if…if Virgil is dead, too, or if he's…if he's left the Commonwealth, isn't where he's supposed to…"

"We'll figure things out from there," Nick reassuringly said. "But I think Amari is right, about Virgil. He wouldn't go there from the Institute if he didn't know he could survive out there."

"Even so, it doesn't tell us where Virgil went in there," She said, still struggling to stop crying. "There's about a hundred different places he could be in there, and –"

"Nora, please," Nick hesitantly cut in, reaching over to set a fatherly hand to each of her shoulders. "Take a step back, for the time being, while we wait for it to be a bit…easier out there. I'll do my best to figure more out before we go looking for him but trying to go on like this…it's not good for you."

"Maybe it's not," She quietly agreed. "But what other choice do I have? I have to find him. Shaun isn't just some missing kid, he's my son."

"Which is why we have to plan this and plan it carefully. It's not going to do him any good if you get yourself hurt or die trying to find him," Nick said gently. "Until we know what we're going to do with this…is there anything I can do to make things easier for you?"

"Just promise me you'll find Shaun," Nora said, struggling to find any words. "This can't be for nothing."

"It won't be," Nick promised, helping her stand up when she slowly stopped shaking. "We'll find your son. No matter how long it takes."

The Prydwen
 September the 1st, 2288
11:09

"Under normal circumstances, I'd be much more annoyed with you for keeping an operation secret from me. However, with the information your team retrieved in consideration, I'll let it go. Since I'll have to plan a future operation with the others later regardless, I'd rather hear what your team learnt from you personally, as you're here now as it is."

"Thank you, Elder. I assure you what we've learnt will be immensely useful."

Albeit a little nervous, Paladin Jackson Danse sat down at the small table in the Elder's quarters, where he had been summoned. Looking up from the book she had been reading, Karissa Maxson smiled when her husband, after closing and locking the door, returned to join them. Restrained as ever even with a close friend, Arthur Maxson briefly took his wife's hand before sitting down, letting it go quickly though not without an affectionate squeeze under the table. Quite used to informal discussions, even about official business, Danse found himself confused by his own unease but, almost as soon as the feeling came, brushed it off as being because of the knowledge he had stepped out of line. If this operation hadn't panned out, this would be much worse. He shoved the thought away. What was done was done, and it had gone as intended. Reaching into his bag, he first removed the set of holotapes his best Scribe and Knight had recorded during their operation. Then came the written report and file, and, finally, the photographs, a piece of evidence even he had been stunned to receive. When he handed all of the documentation to Maxson, he expected to see no change in the demeanour of one of his few friends. Much to his surprise, Maxson lifted up the photograph, studying it closely before setting it down on the table.

"How recently was this taken?" He said, taken by surprise. "Your initial report stated Scribe Haylen and Knight Rhys began their undercover operation in late July."

"They returned a little less than two weeks ago," Danse replied. "My understanding is those photographs are from shortly before they left. By getting visual evidence and confirmation, they made the correct decision to return to the Cambridge Police Station and surrender the evidence to me. Scribe Haylen developed the photographs in the evidence processing laboratory in the basement of the Cambridge Police Station. To say I was shocked to receive these would be an understatement."

"Understandably," Maxson said, glancing between him and the photographs. "What I find most surprising in these is the posturing of Dr. Li and the girl. Both of them appear to be rather at ease."

"I can't explain it," Danse said, frustration at the edge of his voice. "From what I can tell, both she and the girl – whose name, I can now confirm, is indeed Jacqueline Spencer – come to allow the girl to spend time with her father. What's strange about it is the fact they willingly return to the Institute."

"Did Haylen and Rhys, by chance, figure out how Dr. Li and the girl come and go from the Institute?" Karissa's face fell when he shook his head. "Well, that's rather unfortunate."

"They left the same day they came, but neither Haylen nor Rhys were able to discover how," Danse told her. "They attempted to follow after them when a strange man accompanied them out of town but lost their trail soon after. Haylen believes there's a chance they may have been spotted as shadowing them, and as such were deliberately misled."

"Unfortunate as it is they couldn't learn how Dr. Li and the girl get to and from the Institute, it won't be necessary for them to continue to shadow them," Maxson said, looking over the photographs again. "It's more than enough to know they come and go. Now, we need to figure out how to get Dr. Li to come with us."

"She may resist, at first," Karissa cautioned. "While I imagine her and the girl appearing at ease is an act to remain in the Institute's good graces, Dr. Li may be shocked to learn the Brotherhood not only want her back but want to do so for her own good."

"True and, somewhat related to the point, I also think we should bring the girl with her," Danse said. "I doubt she wants to be forced to go back to the Institute and removing her from the situation will keep her safe from them, until we are able to return her home following the Institute's defeat."

"A good point. I wouldn't know where to begin, when it comes to considering what she must be going through," Maxson shook his head. "I don't understand how the town has done nothing but accept this. They're putting a young girl in mortal danger, and the fact they seem to not be bothered by it is appalling."

"Haylen and Rhys noted, after their first interaction with him, her father seemed to be the only person uncomfortable with the arrangement," Danse explained. "The rest of the town, from what they understood then, were relieved to have her gone. They believe it remains the case her father is resigned to the situation but upset by it, and the rest of the town are simply relieved to have her gone because it means the Institute no longer have any reason to harm the town."

"But for how long?" Maxson said, irritated by the notion. "Their lack of thought is astounding. The Institute take whatever they want from the Commonwealth, whenever they want it, and they think trusting the Institute is a good idea all because they let a girl visit her father every so often?"

"It's an atrocity," Karissa said, miffed. "I have to put some blame on the girl's father for this, too. He of all people should know better than to allow this."

"Yes, he absolutely is partially to blame," Maxson said, worriedly looking to her, for a minute. "Speaking of, are you feeling alright?"

Karissa smiled. "I am. Perhaps a bit judgemental as we're soon to be parents ourselves, but perfectly alright."

"Good," He said, briefly smiling himself before turning back to Danse. "Were Haylen and Rhys at all able to determine how often they visit the town?"

"Unfortunately, no," Danse sombrely replied. "If we knew that, it would make things a great deal simpler."

"It would," Maxson frowned. "Having them stay there indefinitely on the off chance of being able to intercept Dr. Li and the girl would be a waste of their time and take away from their usual work in the field. At the same time, we need to intercept them as soon as possible."

"As well as before the Institute realises we're watching them," Danse added. "We'll only have a few chances to make this work before the Institute catches on, and we'll have to use them wisely."

"Yes, we will," Maxson said, opening the file of notes from the Scribe and the Knight. "I'll have to discuss this in more detail with Kells, Cade, and the Proctors. This will end up being a delicate operation whenever we get the opportunity to enact it."

"It also has far more moving pieces than I'd like," Danse said, pausing to think. "The first issue is figuring out when they'll be there, followed by determining a way to discreetly remove them from the location before the Institute can intervene. We'll also have to plan for retaliation by the Institute, which will no doubt be an attempt to damage our operations in the Commonwealth as a whole. The airport would be an unlikely target because we would easily overrun them, but Cambridge may be at risk."

"The distance from the Prydwen would make the Cambridge Police Station a better target," Maxson agreed. "However, I suspect, even if they did attack, they would reveal more about themselves than they would want to out in the open. I have no doubt they will attempt to take Dr. Li and the girl back to the Institute by force, but they most likely wouldn't respond immediately."

"From a purely tactical standpoint, it would be near suicide," Danse said mildly. "Which is why I doubt they would attempt to get them back unless we presented them with a far too easy way to do so, something we won't do. Even they must have some limits, hence why I believe they'll retaliate by going after our smaller outposts."

"Whatever the case, this has left me with a great deal to consider," Maxson said, glancing at him with a hint of a smile. "Let's hope we can figure out a strong, viable approach as soon as possible."

Diamond City
September the 5th, 2288
13:27

"Feeling any better? If not, I'm going to keep trying."

When Cait all but dropped a small basket of fries, a plate of toast, and a couple of bottles varying from beer to moonshine to water onto the table, Nora found it almost impossible not to laugh a little. Cait grinned and sat down across from her, and Nora smiled, reaching over to and twisting the cap off the water bottle. She nearly spilt it on herself when shouts came from the other end of the bar, only to begin laughing with Cait when the two of them saw it was Vadim cheering on a small fight, getting shouted at by Yefim to put an end to the fight. For a few minutes, they simply watched the fight, one of the women breaking a barstool over her companion's head. Cait affectionately swatted at Nora's arm when she picked up the toast before winking at her when she let her go and Nora began to slowly eat the toast. She only set it down briefly when she realised it was the first time she had eaten much of anything in the past few days. When the thought left her, she started eating the toast again, taking a few sips of water. The dizzy, hazy feeling she had thought inescapable seemed to be lightening every so often, and it occurred to her she had almost stopped eating entirely shortly after returning to Diamond City following the meeting with the Railroad. She tried not to dwell on it and, when she finished her toast, started laughing a little, again, when she saw Cait was popping the caps off bottles of beer, moonshine, and whiskey with her new favourite knife.

"Good to know pulling you away from all those maps and shite is helping perk you up," Cait said, playfully waving her knife around. "Besides, I don't have much to do these days. I've been so bloody bored, so I'm glad to now have something to do."

"Keeping an eye on me?" Nora half jokingly said. "Or is there another reason you're dragging me around Diamond City?"

"Well, I happen to like being around you, you sweet lass," Cait said, sheathing her knife. "And it ain't keeping an eye on you. Piper said me being around you keeps me out of trouble so it might as well be a win win, if I do say so me self."

"I appreciate it," Nora said, pausing to take another few sips of the water. "But, really," She went on. "I like having you around too, Cait."

"Glad to hear it," She winked. "So…" She said, a bit nervously. "Are things…going alright with figuring out where the Institute scientist disappeared to in the Glowing Sea?"

"Glowing Sea? Institute? You two can't honestly be having a party without me!"

Turning to see Rowdy standing in front of them, hands on her hips and a dramatic pout on her face, Nora and Cait stared at her, for a minute, taken aback. All surprise left them, however, when Rowdy pushed herself into the booth next to Nora and leaned over to grab the bottle of beer and a handful of fries. Waiting for them to keep talking, Rowdy took a few swigs on the beer with a faint smirk before munching on the fries in her free hand. She slammed the beer bottle onto the table to get their attention when they began glancing between each other, and clicked her fingers, smiling all the while. When they still seemed a bit hesitant to begin talking again, Rowdy started humming to herself. To get Cait's attention, she teasingly waved the last few fries in her hands in front of her face, which worked. The former cage fighter swiftly pulled two of the fries out of her hands and twirled them around before eating them with a smirk. Satisfied she had the former cage fighter's attention, Rowdy turned her sights on Nora. To get the former lawyer's attention, she swiped up one of the bottle caps on the table, flipped it up and caught it between her right forefinger and thumb mere centimetres from the former lawyer's face, smiling when, as intended, she got Nora's full attention.

"Came to bother people, was happy to find you two, and here I am," Rowdy cheerfully said, setting the bottle cap back on the table. "Now, tell me about this Institute guy and the Glowing Sea."

Nora eyed her strangely. "You really have the weirdest timing in the world, don't you?"

"I like to wander in and out of places, and happened to be in town because Zekey wants more…shall we say big arms to show the Brotherhood who's who at the old airport we've used as a scrapyard for our turf for years and years now," Rowdy shrugged. "I also happen to be curious and don't have no filter, girly, you know?"

Cait shrugged. "Not as if I've got much room to talk," She said, awkwardly picking up and sipping on the moonshine. "Since, you know…"

Nora sighed. "It's a mess," She said, brushing a hand through her hair. "But the son of a bitch who took my son? He gave him to the Institute, and I need to find…an Institute scientist – at least, we're pretty sure – who left and went into the Glowing Sea."

Rowdy let out a long, low whistle. "So, what you're saying is you need to get your hands on the man to wrangle out how to get into the Institute from him?"

"Essentially, yes," Nora said, falling silent. "There's the question of where to even begin looking for him in that hell but, honestly, I can't even…how the fuck am I supposed to go in there and come back out alive? There are the environmental hazards, of course, and the rads but…but it's all too close to home."

"Close to home?" Rowdy repeated, confused. "Do you mean literally? Physically?"

"I do," Nora said. Her hands shaking a little, she twined them together, trying to calm them to little avail. "The…one of the towns on the very edge of the…the town I grew up in is near where the Glowing Sea begins, and only…only about twenty miles away from where the bomb fell in Providence."

"Is it still there?" Rowdy said, reaching over to comfortingly pat the former lawyer's knee. "Or do you not know?"

"It might be. I…I hope it is," Nora said, her voice wavering. "It has to be. I need to…I need to go home one last time, even though I won't…even though my parents, my family…even though they're gone."

"Most of us would," Rowdy said, shocked by the gentleness of her voice. "And, hey," She went on when Nora looked over at her through increasingly bleary eyes. "Whatever the case, it'll be okay, and, awful as the circumstances are, you'll find the man you're after, and you'll get your son back. You've got serious fucking guts."

"Enough to be in their gang, I'm betting," Cait eagerly added with a teasing smile. "In a few years, you might be strutting around in power armour with them."

Nora looked up at her suddenly. "Power armour…" She paused, stunned. "Cait, you…that might be a piece to the –"

"How'd I forget?" Rowdy exclaimed, a bit more excitedly than she had meant to. "Nora, if you can fix the shit out of a suit of power armour, the amount of protection it'd give you against the rads that close to where the bomb hit would be immense, almost mitigating it entirely, provided you can find a place to take shelter in at night or during storms!"

"And between that, a strong, heavy duty hazmat suit underneath it, and anti-radiation and general medical supplies, it'll be a lot more doable," Nora mused, eyes widening and looking between Rowdy and Cait. "I have to let Nick know. He's the one taking me…we're planning –"

"The question is, though, do you have access to any power armour?" Rowdy said, reaching for some more fries. "Because I can help you soup it up, but we need a suit first."

"I…I do, actually," Nora said, managing a smile when Rowdy pumped her fists in excitement. "When I…the Minutemen and I found a suit in Concord, one we brought back to Sanctuary Hills after it was safe to do so. I'll have to ask them to bring the suit with them the next time I see them."

"I'll do some work on it for you, then," Rowdy said, jovially elbowing her. "If the Minutemen want to do some of their own, then they can have at it, but I've been dying to get my hands on another suit of power armour to fix up."

"Sounds like a riot," Cait said, smirking when Rowdy munched down on the fries in her hands. "You keep taking me food, I'm going to take yours one day."

Rowdy grinned. "Have at it."

"You two are a mess," Nora laughed a little behind her hands. "I appreciate it. Really…you two are great. I'm glad to have you around."

"Trust me, Nora," Cait said with a flirtatious smile. "I'd be crazy to not love having you around too, pretty baby."

Nora flushed, her pale skin blooming pink. "I…" She flustered. "Sweet of you, really, it's…"

Why does she make me feel so warm, and why do I want to go around the table to curl up next to her?

Goodneighbour
September the 11th, 2288
21:10

Catching his son before he tried to go dumpster diving, Robert Joseph MacCready couldn't help but laugh when he lifted the five year old up and into his arms, his son grinning the whole time.

After years of worrying the day Duncan would be able to run around again would never come, seeing him happy, energetic, and even a little mischievous was more of a relief than he could ever put into words. Shaking out his messy, shoulder length hair, Duncan reached up to grab his father's hat, tugging it off and setting it onto his own head. Keeping one hand on the hat and the other wrapping his free arm around his father, Duncan curled up against his father, yawning while they walked back to their apartment. Turning the corner and towards Daisy's shop, above which they lived, MacCready hummed to himself, shifting to keep his son secure in his arms. Duncan happily babbled, playing with his father's hat, still on his own head. Deciding he was wearing his father's hat the way he wanted to, Duncan then reached up to ruffle and fluff up his dad's hair, already messy and a bit matted from being under his hat all day. When they walked through the door into Daisy's store, MacCready smiled when he saw Annette talking with Daisy. Duncan waved at her, and started giggling when his father turned a bit pink while asking Annette if she wanted to come up with them. She nodded and followed them up the stairs to the apartment, brushing her near knee length, stick straight, thin hair over her shoulder, neatly braided. The second he was back on his feet on the floor, his father unlocking and opening the door to the apartment, Duncan hugged his father, then Annette, startling her, before skipping into the apartment and down the hall to his room.

After seeing him happily turn the corner towards his room, MacCready turned to Annette, holding the door open for her with a smile. She smiled faintly back, and stepped into the apartment, lingering near the door while he stepped in, too, before closing and locking the door again.

"You doing alright?" He said, taking off his jacket. "You seemed out of it earlier."

"I probably was," Annette said, looking down at her feet in shame. "I'm sorry, Bobby. I didn't mean to worry you."

"Hey," MacCready said, gently cupping her cheek. "Don't apologise. You're allowed to feel things."

She sighed. "It's often easier to pretend not to, and I haven't…it's been a long time since I haven't tried to remain detached, even a bit…cold or haughty with nearly everyone."

"I feel that more than I'd like to," MacCready said, his hand falling to her shoulder. "Netta, is –"

"I hate this day," She said quietly. "There are a handful of days every year I hate, but there's no day of the year I detest more than damned September the 11th."

MacCready hesitated. "Do you…" He slowly said, stepping over to and sitting down on the couch, her sitting down beside him no more than a few seconds after him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's not pretty," She cautioned him, glancing between him and her hands for a minute. "It's been ten years," She finally said. "Since my father died, that is."

MacCready stared at her, taken aback. "You two were pretty close, weren't you?" He said. "From what you've told me, anyways."

"We were. He was the one who taught me much of what I know about medicine, and he was the only parent I ever knew. My mother died shortly after I was born. She was severely…severely anorexic," Annette softly spoke, blinking back tears. "Without her, my entire life, he was my rock. We fought sometimes – like all kids do with their parents – but were still close. I made the mistake of trusting the Brotherhood and signing their damned contract because I was desperate to reunite with him. They did find him, and we reunited while I was still bound to the Brotherhood and the Citadel."

MacCready reached over, taking her hands in his. "I take it…" He paused, reassuringly squeezing her hands. "I take it didn't last long?"

"He died less than a year after I finally was able to see him again. He was murdered," Annette's voice darkened, her hands trembling. "By one of the Enclave's leaders. Colonel Augustus Autumn. He was trying to take control of the water purification project the Brotherhood put me, dad, and Dr. Li on. After killing one of the scientists on Dr. Li's team, he approached dad, snatched him by the collar of his shirt, holding a gun to his head asking if he believed in God. Dad said yes. And Autumn shot him dead."

"What?" MacCready said, horrified when she nodded. "And you…you had to see it?"

"Me, Dr. Li, and a few others," Annette bitterly replied, biting back more tears, almost embarrassed by herself. "And, a few weeks later, I found out the Brotherhood hadn't taken the security risks seriously, knew the Enclave might be able to breach the facility, and did nothing. They could have prevented all of it, and they didn't."

"Annette, I'm so…" MacCready shifted to hold her loosely in his arms when she broke down sobbing. "I shouldn't have asked," He eventually said, letting her sob into his chest. "What he did to your father is…it's fucking atrocious."

"Never heard you use that word before," She weakly got out. "I thought –"

"There's not another word to describe it," MacCready gently put in, trying to keep her steady. "And knowing the Brotherhood could have made sure it never would have happened? It's the only word for it. Is there…anything I can do to try and make you feel better?"

"I don't know," Annette said, abashed. "How…" She stumbled over her words, trying to calm herself, her skin flushing pink rather than its usual milky paleness. "I think Duncan said, a few days ago, you're going to teach him how to shoot soon. He seems excited."

MacCready laughed, a little, smiling a bit when he saw he had made her smile. "What?" He half teasingly said. "He tell you something hard to believe?"

"No, I…" Annette said, brushing aside tears when she looked at him, nearly dropping her glasses when she pulled them out to put them on, hoping they would help clear her vision. "I like your laugh," She said with a weak smile.

"Good to know, then," MacCready said, affectionately kissing her cheek. "I think I'm looking forward to teaching him how to shoot even more than he's looking forward to learning. I'm going to start him off small, though. Have to keep reminding myself he's only five and…not me."

Annette raised an eyebrow. "Alright, then. When did you start learning to shoot?"

"Picked up a sniper rifle when I was ten and I never looked back," MacCready said with a wink. "I've learnt how to use other types of guns since, but I've always felt most comfortable with a sniper. Probably because I'm completely self taught and because I've always thought it's smarter to hit my targets at long range rather than take chances. No one questioned my authority as mayor after I got good at shooting. Not sure who took over after I left but hopefully things are alright there, now. I left a year earlier than I had to, actually."

"You did?" She said, surprised. "Things get too difficult?"

"No, it was actually for a good reason," MacCready said, going quiet for a minute. "Duncan's mother, Lucy, was a year older than me. Kind of the town's medic. When she had to leave at sixteen, I left with her. Never left her side after we left, not until…well, not until she was killed."

"You loved her desperately," Annette softly surmised. "I felt the same towards Amata."

"Hard to forget your first love," MacCready quietly agreed, glancing at her and seeing her fidgeting with a ring she was rolling back and forth in the palms of her hands. "I'll never forget the day she told me she was pregnant with Duncan. It was shortly before we got married. I was seventeen, she was eighteen, and…things were great. Happy. Even more so after he was born. Probably wouldn't have been if I'd told her what I had started doing for a living, and…and I'm not sure I did the right thing never telling her. Heck, I'm not even sure how I'm going to explain it to Duncan."

"I can only imagine," She said, staring at the ring. "I was going to wear this after marrying Amata," She said when she realised he was eyeing her curiously. "It's all I have of my mother. And makes me wish I were better. As a person, as –"

"Neither of us are who we were then. Not you when you were with Amata, and not me when I was with Lucy," MacCready said, curling her hand over the ring. "Whether it's for better or worse, it's true. And you know something? Learning to be alright like this, doing whatever I can for Duncan, has reminded me to not hold onto things I can't control. Letting control go feels awful, at first…but, so far, it's been more than worth it."

The Institute
September the 16th, 2288
18:41

"Dr. Li? Dr. Filmore? I think I found something you'll be interested in."

A little nervously, Dr. Rosalind Orman, a tablet in one hand and a thin file in the other, poked her head into the office of Dr. Madison Li who, to her surprise, waved her in. Closing the door behind her, Rosalind awkwardly waved at Dr. Allison Filmore and Dr. Evan Watson. Bobbing back and forth on her toes for a minute, Rosalind tried to keep herself calm, handing the file to Madison, who raised an eyebrow but took it nonetheless. If I'm wrong and this won't be able to help with getting Phase Three ahead of schedule, I'm going to be so embarrassed, and Dr. Watson will probably lecture me for wasting their time, for… Realising they were all staring at her, Rosalind took a small step back, and, remembering she had it, began to pull up additional information on her tablet. Looking back at the file, Madison sighed, and began paging through it. When she found it was, much to her surprise, largely pre-War records, she paused, glancing between the file and the still anxious Rosalind before handing the file to Allie. Just as surprised, she flipped past the first few pages before pausing on copies of a set of reactor design schematics.

"Where did you find these?" Allie said, looking up at the young woman in surprise. "Even I didn't know Mass Fusion had been working on something so advanced."

"I went digging through the records of pre-War nuclear projects, after hearing Phase Three had been bumped up to top priority a few weeks ago, just like Dr. Watson asked me to!" Rosalind said, trying to hide her excitement. "I almost couldn't believe it, but I've checked over and over again. It looks like Mass Fusion really did come close to or just barely completed an experimental reactor project we could adapt parts of for Phase Three!"

"Given the objective of Phase Three is to activate the new and, hopefully, improved fusion reactor to take strain off of our current, primary fusion reactor…" Evan trailed off in thought, glimpsing at the schematics. "The first concern I have with this, however, is the use of beryllium. It's far from the most dangerous or even the most toxic element, but the toxicity of the element is still a concern, as I don't trust a pre-War company to have handled and stored it safely and without contamination."

"Retrieving a beryllium agitator would be incredibly risky, not because of the beryllium itself but because we have no idea of what its condition is in the reactor it was made for and, presumably, still in," Madison said, taking the file from Allie and setting it down on her desk. "At the same time, if we are able to retrieve it, adjusting the current, experimental, secondary reactor to work with it could push Phase Three through to completion quicker."

"How long would it take for Advanced Systems to adjust the current secondary reactor if we were able to retrieve this?" Allie said, taking out her tablet to start jotting down notes. "Provided it's still there and not in the possession of the Brotherhood, of course."

"Until we have it and are able to study it, I have no idea," Madison paused, reaching for a pen on her desk and circling part of the reactor on the schematics. "This looks similar to what we've already built, which was similar enough to the current, primary reactor. If I were to guess, I'd say it would only take a few months at most to make adjustments but being able to do so hinges on retrieving this agitator in the first place."

"A beryllium agitator could, for lack of a better phrase, 'jump start' our secondary nuclear reactor," Evan mildly commented. "Given its structuring."

"Not to mention, since one of beryllium's properties is being a nuclear reflector, it'll more evenly distribute neutrons! And it's got the fantastic property where, when the alpha particles produced in a nuclear reaction hit the beryllium, they cause it to emit neutrons, neutrons which will help fuel the reaction when they hit the unstable atoms in the nuclear reactions!" Rosalind bubbly added in, unable to hide her excitement any longer. "It also has got a high melting point which makes it useful in nuclear work to begin with, can slow fast neutrons, and –"

"Rosalind, we know," Madison said, raising a hand to silence her. "Please, calm down."

"Sorry!" She exclaimed, nervously bobbing back and forth on her feet again. "It's just, the more I've thought about it, and the possibilities, I really hoped – I mean, really thought – I might have found something useful!"

"In abject seriousness, you have," Evan told her, watching her as she slowly calmed down. "I certainly wouldn't have had the time to go through all of the information I allotted myself to get through at nearly the speed you have. Hence why I asked you to take a look through. The fact you were able to find anything of potential use is good."

"If there's anything else I can do, I'm happy to help," Rosalind took a deep breath and hesitantly smiled, wringing her hands together, in and out, behind her back. "I know this is all incredibly important."

"It is. Either Allie or I will let you know if you're needed," Madison said, sending her a pointed look. "For now, get back to your usual work. You've done more than enough for now."

Still a bit antsy, Rosalind nodded and quickly left the office of Advanced Systems' Division Head. Shortly after the doors shut behind her, seeing a new notification on his tablet, Evan soon left the room, too, muttering to himself about needing to lecture some of the younger members of the Division, some of them, likely, year tens and elevens. Stepping around from behind her desk, Madison took her ID out from in her pocket and swiped it to close off access to her office again. Between Rosalind and Jacqueline alone, there's more than enough eagerness and anxiety to go around. I'll have to go over their report from this week again. They said they were nearing completion on one of their projects, so, hopefully… Slipping her ID back into her pocket, Madison returned to her desk, where Allie was flipping through some of the additional information attached to the schematics. Humming lightly to herself, Allie picked up a few key pages and set them onto the scanner in the other corner of the room. When they uploaded to the Institute's internal network, she loaded them onto her tablet and gave the physical copies back to Madison, who took down another few notes on the pages before, finally, looking up from the file again.

"This is going to be a nightmare to plan for, but, from at least a cursory glance, the benefits of retrieving the device would outweigh the costs, even if it can't be implemented into the secondary reactor," She said, letting out a tired sigh. "How we're going to justify even proposing retrieving it, however, is a separate issue."

"Once we have a better handle on the information, drafting up a plan to retrieve it and proposing doing so will be easier," Allie replied, zooming in on one of the design schematics on her tablet. "Considering how badly recent…events have upset our timetable, and with getting the reactor online being our number one priority, it shouldn't be too difficult to convince the rest of the Directorate to authorise a retrieval. They know as well as we do the secondary reactor needs to running, well, yesterday."

"And we certainly don't want the Brotherhood – assuming they know about it, which I hope they don't – to get it before we do," Madison frowned. "I'll have to ask Dr. Secord to send watchers to the area of Mass Fusion. Did I read the top of the file correctly? About the experimental Mass Fusion reactor and its beryllium agitator being in the sublevels of the Mass Fusion Global Headquarters?"

"Yes," Allie confirmed, looking up from the schematics. "As I said, we need to get a better handle on all of the information available about the agitator and Mass Fusion's experimental reactor, but they are noted as being in the sublevels."

"With some luck, then, we'll figure out the details of a retrieval plan more quickly with the location narrowed down," Madison said, glancing between her and the file. "Ideally, I'd like to have a decent understanding of what we'll be working with, too, but, so long as we'll be able to make a safe retrieval of the agitator from Mass Fusion's experimental reactor, the details of the agitator's implementation can wait."

"Absolutely," Allie agreed, writing down a few notes before saving the documents and putting her tablet into sleep mode. "I suppose it's a good thing Nathan is taking most nights off to take care of Lily. I hate to put more on him, but there's almost too much needing to be done in Facilities, especially now."

"Though not quite the same, I'm in a similar position," Madison said, setting the file aside. "You'd think the amount of progress we've made in the last few weeks would ease things, but it hasn't."

Allie tiredly nodded. "You're right, it hasn't," She said wearily. "It really hasn't."