Chapter 102: Uncorking the Genie.
Fuller groaned loudly as he tried to centre his swimming head, he tried to sit up but swiftly realised something was holding him down due to the pressure he could feel across his chest and equally around his wrists which seemed to be above his head and around his ankles as well.
"About time you decided to rejoin us, I didn't hit you that hard," a very familiar voice said from somewhere near to him though the harmonics around him seemed off, echoing almost.
He opened his eyes and tried to focus them on a singular point and despite the darkness, all around him he was able to pick out a light source that he used to align his sight and senses, it belonged to a small battery-powered lantern that was sat on what looked like a bedside table.
At first glance he realised he was in some kind of military billet or bunk room by the bunk beds and the layout of the place, he also realised that he'd been secured to one of the beds by a set of handcuffs around his wrists and what felt like something similar around his ankles, but there was also what felt like a belt strap around his chest, it seemed number nine had gone to quite the lengths to ensure he wouldn't be going anywhere fast.
"It's not polite to ignore someone when they are speaking to you you know?" a feminine voice said from the shadows off to his left and Fuller turned his head to try and see her in the gloom but the light of the little lantern only stretched so far and all he got was a shadow-like figure in the darkness.
"Says the person who kidnapped someone and tied them to a bed, he under other circumstances I might even be flattered," Fuller said dryly.
There was a chuckle from the figure in the darkness, "It's good to see that death hasn't fucked up your sense of humour Fuller though I doubt the same can be said for the rest of the team now can it?" Nine said.
"Not my doing," he said and that's when there was a burst of movement before something struck him hard across the face and it took his rattled senses a moment to realise that he'd been slapped.
"Liar! I was fucking there at the base when you and those fucking pet Deathclaws of yours hit us!" she yelled into his face though in the darkness all he could see was a vague outline, though strangely the hit of adrenaline from the slap actually helped in realigning his senses faster than naturally waking up.
"Really? I could have sworn we got everyone, damn that Vertibird didn't half go up now did it?" Fuller said bating out the second slap that came a moment later though he was braced for it so all it did was sting.
The shadowy figure retreated from him a little way and then stood in the darkness, "Why did you do it Fuller? We thought you were really dead, why would you betray us like this?" Nine asked.
"What because we're such good friends that I owe you any kind of explanation? You're just another tool for the fucking Enclave to throw at the problem of getting everyone to fall in fucking line and do what they say," he said bitterly.
Nine actually laughed at this and by the hard bitter note to her voice, Fuler could tell that there was more to that laugh than met the eye so he simply waited patiently, "Let's just say that the Enclave and myself have had a parting of ways, call it a severance package if you will," she said.
"Let me guess you reported for duty like a good little soldier and the Luitenant pulled a gun on you and said sorry your service is no longer required," he said and the pause resonated the truth better than an admission ever could.
"You knew?" she asked in a hard but quiet voice.
"The order was relayed to all of us before you even signed on with us, we were told we'd be getting two of your number and that if you even showed signs of going rogue or that if the team got made and taken out the last remaining member was to liquidate you both to prevent your capture, welcome to the expendable nature of the Enclave operator kid, sucks Deathclaw dick doesn't it?" Fuller said.
Nine laughed bitterly, "Was it the same for you?" she asked softly.
"Similarly we told in no uncertain terms that if we got captured no rescue would be coming and that we'd be expected to take ourselves out and if we failed in that they'd do it for us, they implanted trackers in us that contained handy dandy little explosive cores so when someone higher us than we decided we were no longer useful or it wasn't worth the resources to retrieve us, pop goes the weasel, I had extras fitted into me because they gave me subdermal's to go with the tracker," he said.
There was another momentary pause, "Do I have those in me?' she asked a harder note creeping into her voice and Fuller wondered if he should tell her that he had no idea but before he could answer she rushed forwards and grabbed the scruff of his shirt.
"Tell me!!" she demanded.
"I have no idea, that sort of shit is needing to know and I don't remember?" he said.
"Did Seven and Three have them?" she demanded still holding onto his shirt collar.
"No idea I never asked them," he said realising that she had no idea that Seven wasn't present in Boston itself which was a little nugget of info to hold onto for later.
it seemed that this little revelation had Nine genuinely worried but she decided to shrug it off for the moment to concentrate on him, "Why did you do it Fuller? Why did you betray us?" she asked releasing his shirt and stepping back from him, he wondered if he should try spinning her a tale or simply tell her the truth?
"Answer me!!" Nine yelled and he saw a blue crackle pass through her hands like lightning arcing between rods that he swiftly realised were her fingers.
"Alright, you wanna know the truth? Well here it is, I realised it was a fucking lie, none of it was real, we're not trying to rebuild America or to make it great again, we're simply feeding into someone else's fantasy of control, these people don't give to fucking shits about the people under them, to them we're nothing more than fucking useful idiots to throw at any problem that stands in their way of total control over the people, like throwing meat into a fucking grinder until it clogs it shut and it took one of the very people we are supposed to fucking hate to make me realise it," Fuller said.
This seemed to pause Nine for a moment and she seemed to be contemplating what he had said, "Explain and don't fucking lie to me I got a real good nose for liars," she snarled in what Fuller guessed she thought was a menacing voice but honestly with her high pitched voice kinda made him think of a kitten growling.
He figured there was no real point in trying to hide the facts from her here, she was just as fucked as he was, the Enclave would show her no more mercy than him given that she was on the liquidate list thanks to the team being wiped out.
"I met someone, someone who showed me the truth, that the non-humans are not what we thought they were, that people like you are not what we thought they are," he said.
"Are you talking about that synthetic woman, Glory was it?" she asked and Fuller was surprised that the team had actually bothered to share those details with her but he nodded his head.
"Yeah that's her, she...fell in love with me and I fell for her too, it made me realise that she was no different from me really, yes she was built and grown rather than born but inside she was still a person, with the same wants, needs and feelings as me, as anyone, she's no different, she genuinly cared about me about my well being, about my happiness and that's the first time that anyone's ever given a real shit about me and they weren't even of my own kind, it made me see the real truth here, that if we continue to support the Enclave that her and everyone like here will be wiped out for simply daring to exisit, somthing that the last time I checked they had no say in, that doesn't sit right with me not one bit, so yeah i betrayed the team, I faked my death and I ran, I tricked her into helping me to remove my subdermals using those scientists in the Glowing sea and once they were out I overloaded my power armour leaving both her and them to belive I was dead so that I could find Seven and Three myself but not to take them down, but to warn them, because I realised somthing," he said.
"Oh and what was that?" she asked.
"That I was on the wrong side," he said.
"And what they just welcomed you with open arms?" Nine exclaimed sounding both bitter and surprised.
"Well, not open arms per se but they gave me the chance to prove both myself and my intentions to them, which I like to think I have done and now having walked with them for a while I can safely say that for the first time in my life, I am really doing something good for a chance because I've seen for myself what these people are all about, I've seen the truth of who and what they are and also what they represent, I also see why the Enclave is so fucking scared of them, scared enough to not only send an ESF team after them but the both of you as well," he said.
"Oh? And what do they represent?" Nine asked her voice more curious than bitter this time.
"The one thing that the Enclave fears almost as much as losing control," Fuller said.
"Well? Spit it fucking out!" Nine demanded sparking her hands again.
"Change, they represent change," Fuller said.
"I don't understand. How can they represent change, a change from what?' Nine asked thoughtfully.
"A change from the preprescribed order of things, they've shown that not only can humans and non-humans peacefully co-exist but that they are stronger together, human engenuity and cunning mixed with non-human muscle, determination and resiliance is a fucking potent mixture to say the least, they have outwitted and out fought both the Encalve at every turn and everything else this world throws at them and not only have they not faltered but they've grown stronger doing it and so have those who follow them, but they don't keep that power and strength to themselves they use it for the good of the ordinary people around them, i've seen it with my own eyes, I've seen them rescue teenage boys from a fucking death cult and return them home to their people simply because it was the right thing to do, I've seen them defend a city from a super mutant attack simply because they didn't want innocent people to get hurt, they have a set of rules and they not only live by them but they hold them up for others to see, for the first time in my life I'm actually proud of who am and what I stand for," Fuller said defiantly glaring at the shadow of Nine.
"B-B-But what about freeing America and returning it to the people, to making it democratic again and making it safe!?" she exclaimed and that's when Fuller figured something out here, he'd often wondered how the Enclave had gotten Eight and Nine as well as the others like them to do their bidding and now he was seeing it, it was a kind of conditioning bordering on if not fully including brainwashing.
If he played his card right here he might be able to snap her out of this propaganda-induced stupor that she was obviously trapped in, or he could push her so hard that she went off the deep end and went full postal on him and everyone else, which given her obvious abilities was not a pleasant thought but he had to try regardless.
"What and you think there's a place for people like me or you in this fantasy land of theirs do you?" he asked bluntly.
"Me and you? What do you have to do with this? You are a natural-born human?" she demanded.
"Who fell in love with and had consensual sex with a synthetic woman by complete choice, who has friends who routinely have consensual sex with species not their own, how do you believe I and those like me fit into fantasy land exactly?" he countered and Nine seemed too short circuit for a moment.
"Wait you mean to tell me that the Deathclaws with Seven and Three..." she began to say before he cut her off.
"Yes, they are people just like you and me, albeit different in the sense of asthetics and size not to mention strength but they walk like us they talk like us, they hurt and they fear like us and they dream as well as love like us too, plus they aren't the only ones, the spider creature we saw in the reports, well his name is Malakai and he's possibly the sweetest and most innocent man you'll ever meet, he's far more likely to knit you a sweater because he thought you were cold and needed it than to hurt you, the flying Claw that you undoubtably saw at our camp is called Passa and he's in love with a human woman called Shepherd he worships the very air she breathes and anyone with half a braincell could see she feels exactly the same about him just by watching her trying to feed him at dinner time, if the Encalve get their way all of them will be wiped out and I don't just mean killed i mean all record of their very existance let alone all the good they've done for people wiped clean, that includes you just so you know at best the only kind of life you can hope for is an enforcer of their will, sent to places to hunt down disenters and kill them just because they were not happy with their life living under the boot of the Enclave while it's leaders live it up in their protected bunkers," Fuller said flatly.
"N-No that can't be true it can't," Nine stammered.
Nine was obviously reeling, even though he couldn't see her face he could actually feel her trying to make sense of all this so he decided to push even harder, he got the feeling this was it, make or break, he would either get it to make sense to her or her fragile mind would break into a million pieces and he'd create a new fucking super villain, with literal emphasis on the super part.
"Think about it, if they cared about you at all, if you were such a pinnacle of their genius and ingenuity why were we all given kill orders for you? And these didn't just extend into the realmns of to avoid capture, if you so much as got twitchy or expressed and non-patriotic views in our presence these could be taken as an excuse to terminate you without any kind of real repocussion, they were that desperate not to have another Seven and Three on their hands, honestly I'm not even sure that the loopy doctor that made you knows these orders exist because acording to the Luitenant they came from within the ESF chain of command which last time I checked doesn't anwer to the science or bioweapons devisions, so yeah riddle me that one oh and while we're at it here's another fun nugget for you, if Seven and Three are so fucking dangerous why is no-one else hunting for them, not the Brotherhood, not the fucking Minutemen, hell unless your friend has twisted them up already not even the fucking Railroad are intrested in them, it's just the fucking Enclave, you'd think that if they were such a fucking danger to the region and it's stability that all the major power players would be after them like a begger after free chips now wouldn't you?" he said.
Nine faltered and he sensed it, "I-I-I..." she began but again he got in first.
"It's quite simple Nine it really is, you've been had, it's all a fucking lie and if you have to kill me to prove to yourself that you are right and I am wrong then so be it just don't expect a clean getaway because if there is one thing that I have learned from seven and Three it's the real meaning of loyalty, they will hunt you to the edge of the fucking earth to make you pay for it because for them there is nothing more important than how you treat your friends and your loved ones and there is nothing they will not do for them and for each other, it's part of their rules, their creed if you will and I have not ever seen them come close to breaking it," he said.
Nine broke down, it must have felt like there was a fucking tornado inside her skull right at that moment and Fuller knew it because it was how he'd felt when his world came crashing down around him and he hadn't experienced even a quarter of the indoctrination that she must have done to keep her in line.
"Raaaaahhhhhhh!!! All a fucking lie!!! My whole fucking life is a fucking lie!!?" she bellowed at the top of her lungs sending a bolt of lightning into a nearby table splintering it and sending flaming chunks of burning wood everywhere, though thankfully not near him or anything flammable.
"I know how you feel trust me," Fuller said and Nine spun around to glare at him now he could see her face thanks to the burning wood at her feet and her eyes were blazing like the fucking devil himself was pulling her strings.
"How the fuck can YOU know how I'm feeling!!?" she yelled.
"Because I been where you are now kid, granted I didn't go through a quarter of the shit you most likely did to become what you are so on that front I can only empathize but I do know that mixture of feelings bouncing around in your skull right now really well, anger, confusion, denial, betrayal, you're wondering if anything you've ever known is fucking real and if none of it was real then what is the truth and how does the truth actually feel, plus how will you even be able to recognise something as true if you have no experience with it," he said and by the shift in her eyes he knew he was on point so he continued.
"You're wondering where you go from here, what do you do, how do you make things make sense again right?" he said and rather than speak she simply nodded never taking her blazing eyes off of him.
"Well the answer is actually simple, come with us, join us, help us and in return we will show you that there is a different way, that you don't have to be what they want you to be that you can be who YOU want to be, no more lies, no more guns to your head, no more bullshit, just life pure and simple, now I'm not saying it gonna be easy and you sure as fucking hell gonna have a target the size of a fucking planet painted on your arse, but wouldn't you rather have someone watching it for you? To have someone who actually understands you and cares about what you think and feels at your side rather than just being a useful idiot and a super tool?" he said and Nine simply seemed to buckle under the weight of everything swirling around in her head, it was like the weight of her emotions turned into an actual lead and dragged her down to the floor where she rolled herself up into a ball and screamed into her own knees in frustration and rage but at least Fuller wasn't on fire so there was at least that.
Fuller simply lay there trying to look at the curled-up figure of Nine as she sobbed on the floor, he wondered about interrupting her but he figured it was probably for the best to simply let her blow out her rage and sorrow, he didn't know the extent that the poor excuses for scientists had messed with the poor girl's head over the years but he imagined it was going to be quite extensive so there was most likely going to be a whole world of pent up rage and confusion blowing through her that just needed to vent, especially because with power like she's on tap she could probably vaporise half a town or city if she truly blew up.
After about what felt like an hour though given he couldn't actually see his watch thanks to the position of his hands above his head he had no real-time frame reference Nine finally stopped sobbing, she continued to lay upon the floor for a little while longer before she seemed to gather herself up and rose to her feet again.
As he looked at her now he could see something very different in her eyes as she looked down at him, "How do I know that you're any different from them?" she asked flatly.
"What from the Enclave?" Fuller asked trying to understand the question.
"Yes from the fucking Enclave who fucking else? How do I know that if I decide to follow you guys you won't just fucking discard me the moment things get tough or I lose my usefulness or..." she said adding question upon question atop fear into the mix until Fuller stopped her dead.
"Because we are led by two of your kind," he said which seemed to stop her dead in her tracks and her mouth opened and closed a couple of times like a gasping fish as she tried to come up with a counter to that so Fuller pushed.
"Seven and Three who calls herself Wisp would not turn their backs on you, the pair of them are not like that, they look after their people I've seen it with my own eyes, I fucking felt it first hand, I've only been with them a short time but in that time I've come to realise that they are the real deal, they aren't just words and hollow promises hell think of it like this, I was once ESF a team whose sole missio nwas to hunt down and kill their entire team without mercy before capturing and returning them to the Enclave, yet the not only welcomed me into their ranks but when you flew off with me chased after me with a fury and vengence that I can tell you right now has not cooled off one bit, they will be hunting for me and they will not stop until they catch up and take me back from you because that's who they are, if I was meaningless to them then they'd have simply shot at you instead, what better opertunity could they have had to kill you than to blow you out of the sky when you were that close to them and trust me they have people who could easily fucking do it, I've seen that Gregory guy shoot the fucking wings off a moving bloatfly leaving the fucker walking, so yeah trust me if they'd have wanted you out of the air without a care as to my safety they'd have simply shot you down," he said.
Nine seemed to mull this over in her head and she began to pace up and down the length of the bed he was strapped to, "How do I know that if I release you that you won't just turn on me as they did?" she asked her voice actually starting to sound kinda desperate like she was searching for a reason not to believe him but everything he was saying and what she was seeing was arguing the contrary.
"What possible reason would I have to kill you now? I'm no different from you, I'm a rogue operative and a traitor to the Enclave, I'd get no more mercy from them even if I fucking turned you over to them, they'd still fucking execute me, maybe not right away they'd probably want to torture the fuck out of me for any intel I had regarding Seven and his people then maybe some more to be held up as an example to others as to what happens if you betray them before finally making a big fucking spectacle out of my execution, so yeah I have literally no reason to turn you in or betray you," he said softly.
Nine continued to pace for a few moments more before seemingly reaching a decision and one that really seemed to weigh on her by the way her slender shoulders were sagging under the weight of it.
She turned slowly to the bed and then reached down to his feet, there were a series of sharp clicks and Fulled glanced down to see her pulling the handcuffs from around his ankles before moving up the bed and doing the same to his wrists.
Fuller's numb arms slumped down to his sides but before he could even move to either thank her or try and pump some blood back into them she leaned forwards right into his face and grabbed his shirt scruff.
"I'm fucking trusting you again Fuller, you betrayed the team once and the only reason that I'm not turning you into a pile of ash is that I know why and I think you were right to do so, the Enclave is no fucking saviour for anyone, they simply want control over everything and everyone and they don't care who they trample over or sacrifice to get it, I don't want that, I'm not a fucking pawn in someone's fucking power play, but if you ever let me down again I'll make you regret it," she said menacingly though despite her obvious threat and power her kinda high pitched voice made it somewhat difficult to take the threat seriously, it was like someone threatening to cut you up while dosed up on helium.
But Fuller was smart enough to know a serious threat when he saw one, he'd seen a small taste of her power first hand and given what Wisp could do let alone Seven he knew better than to take them at anything less than their word.
He nodded in agreement, "Fair enough Nine, deal" he said and she slowly helped him to sit up which thanks to his arms seemingly being made out of jello at the moment was actually a great help.
Nine sat down on the bed right next to him, so close infact that her slender thigh was pressed against his own much larger one, it was kinda like looking at a before and after picture for steroid usage and given that Fuller wasn't exactly massive it really did go some to show how small Nine actually was.
"It's Yui," she said and Fuller looked at the young Japanese woman.
"Pardon?' he asked.
"It's Yui, my name, it's Yui and before you ask no it wasn't what I was called before I was Nine I have no idea if I even had a name before that or even if I even existed before the lab but I saw the name in a book and I liked it, so I decided that's what I wanted to be called, so please Fuller call me Yui," she said sounding so sad and deflated not to mention losing the Fuller couldn't help but feel sorry for her, her whole world had basically not just turned inside out but crumbled to dust in a matter of a day, everything she'd known as truth and believed in wholeheartedly was nothing more than a hollow lie, a phantasy.
"Alright Yui you got it, good choice by the way it kinda suits you," he said softly trying to make her feel at least somewhat better.
"I call Eight Phillip because he looks like a Phillip but I'm not sure if he likes it or not, he kept telling me to stop calling him it but he never really seemed to mind and even actually answered to it eventually, it just feels more natural than being called by a stupid fucking number, more personal more..." she said her voice trailing off at the end.
"Human," Fuller offered and she nodded glancing up at him.
"You ain't any more or less human than I am kiddo and don't let anyone ever tell you differently, yeah you're different sure but wait until you meet my new group, then you'll see what fucking different really is," Fuller said softly and Yui gave a weak smile.
"How do I know they won't just shoot me on sight, I kidnapped you after all?' she asked.
"You didn't hurt or kill anyone, so right now they have no reason to hurt you, not saying they gonna trust you right off the bat hell even I had to earn their trust but I did that and it can be the same for you, just give them a chance and let them show you how things can be," he said.
"Alright what have I got to lose anyway right?" she said and he nodded.
"Exactly, right then how are we getting back are you able to fly us?" he asked and Yui shook her head.
"My strength is still too low for that, too much risk of me running out of energy and just falling out of the sky," she said.
"Yeah let's not do that then didn't sign up for the paratroopers, let's get some food in you and get some rest and then go from there yeah?" he said and Yui nodded.
"You got my gun?" he asked and Yui pointed over to a small pile of equipment in the corner of the room.
"Well you didn't grab my pack so my rations are back at our camp so the way I see it we can either hunt through this place for some leftover food or go hunting," Fuller said.
"No food here I already looked while you were out for the count,' she said.
"Well then hunting it is, tell you what you get some wood together and build us a fire and I'll take care of the hunting part hows that sound?" he asked and yui seemed to hesitate before blowing out a deeply held breath, it seemed that she was deciding to test this trust of him out and nodded.
Once he'd gotten feelings back in his arms and legs Fuller retrieved his gun, fortunately, he had the smarts to keep spare magazines and batteries for it in his webbing on his body so that if he ever got separated from his pack like now, he still had the ability to use his weapon.
So once he'd checked it over he led the way out of the old military base that Yui had landed them in, "Jesus how far out did you bring us?' he asked looking around at the unfamiliar terrain all around them.
"Quite a ways, I had to really push myself to get clear of your people, they were pretty fucking determined and ruthless in following me," Yui explained.
"Yeah they are and I'm actually kinda amazed you managed to outpace Wisp hauling my fat arse about, she's pretty fucking fast in that cloud form of hers," Fuller joked and Yui actually smiled.
"Yeah, you are kinda heavy though from what I've seen it's not due to fat, it's most likely the two massive brass balls you swinging about for maybe the whole truckload of crazy your towing behind your arse for taking on the fucking Enclave of all people," she said making Fuller burst out laughing in surprise and he turned to grin at her.
"You're an alright kid you know that? You'd have made a fucking good soldier with a mind like that," he said giving her a grin.
"Yeah I don't think I got the thighs for it, all that fucking running is not my thing," she said patting her slender leg.
Fuller was surprised to see the sudden shift in her demeanour but he realised that she really needed to put her trust in someone and she was choosing him possibly only the second choice she had ever made for herself after her name, so this was a kinda big deal to her.
"Alright I'll go get us some meat you get us something to cook it with, you got a gun on you?" he asked pulling his sidearm from his thigh holster and offering it to her but she held up a hand and shook her head.
"Don't need one but thanks for the offer though it means a lot, more than you'll ever know," she said sending an arc of electricity dancing along her fingers to prove the point of why a gun was pointless in her hands, she basically was a gun.
After only an hour of hunting Fuller had brought down a radstag in the forest surrounding the base, fortunately there seemed to be quite a bit of wildlife wandering about the place so it really hadn't been all that difficult to pick up a trail and follow it until he came across a group of them wandering around grazing in the forest.
One single shot later the stag was on the ground and the rest of the herd had scattered, so taking out his knife Fuller put his field skills to good use and he gut and harvested the stag taking as much meat as he could carry but then leaving what was let for the carrion eaters that would be smelling this corpse from miles away so a win for them and for him so hopefully, they'd leave the pair of them alone while they were stuck here.
He carted the meat back to the base where he found Yui carrying in a large armful of dead branches that she was going to add to a pile that she had been creating just inside the large rusted hanging gates.
When she saw him she dropped the wood into the pile and gave him a wave, "Any luck?" she asked and he patted the tied-up canvas bag he was carrying.
"We're eating well tonight, we'll have you back to full strength in no time, think we've got enough wood there, now all we need is a pot or a grill to cook in and to build ourselves a fire, that building over there looks like it's got a chimney so I guess it has a stove or a fireplace for us to cook in, so let's go look there first," Fuller said pointing at the large building in the centre of the base.
"Yeah I looked in there when I was searing for food, it's some kind of officer's mess I think and there's a big fireplace in there with some old armchairs," Yui said.
"Big fucking surprise there, officers get a gentleman's club while the fucking rest of us get jammed into a fucking sardine can should have fucking guessed really," Fuller grumbled bitterly.
"Yeah tell me about it," Yui replied.
So Fuller led the way inside and just as she'd described it was like an old school smoking room decorated in wood with focusing paintings on the walls and large leather armchairs grouped around a large metal fireplace.
After checking and cleaning out the chimney with a large circular tipped sweep that was nearby Fuller got the fire going while Yui went in search of some pots and pans from the kitchens which after a brief wash were now set in place and the place was filled with the mouth-watering smell of cooking venison steaks now all they had to do was enjoy their meal and focus on getting Yui's strength back so they could return to his people.