Crawlout Through the Fallout - Ch. 03

The growling of my stomach woke me. A quick glance at the clock told me I had a bit over an hour before we were supposed to meet Nick, so I decided to hit the market and see if I could find something to eat. I remembered that crabby, suspicious woman Myrna stocked a variety of food, as had one or two others. If nothing else, I could get another noodle cup from that vendortron robot in the center of town. It only said one phrase, that was either gibberish or a language I didn't understand, but the noodles sure were good.

Myrna was as unpleasant as she had been the other day but I spent Nick's voucher and purchased enough non-perishables to last a week. I picked up the purchases, turned to head back to my apartment--and ran right into Nat, Piper's little sister from the newspaper.

Nat gripped a pad of paper in one hand and a pencil poised over said pad in the other. She stared at me with keen eyes. "Beth Arnaut, right?"

"Uh, yes?"

"Any truth to the rumors that the Valentine Detective Agency was involved in the recent shootout at University Point?"

Good grief, that just happened last night. Word spreads fast around here. I stared at the girl, growing increasingly sure by the second that Nick wouldn't want me talking about an ongoing investigation. "You will have to talk to Nick or Ellie about that."

She peered at me. "So you have no comment on the message received by the mayor's office this morning from the Brotherhood of Steel?"

A chill ran across my skin. If the Brotherhood was sending messages to Diamond City...

I need to get to Nick.

"I don't know anything about that. Excuse me." I pushed past her.

"All right, is there any truth to the rumor that you and David Thompson are hooking up?"

Christ, was this kid with me in my back pocket last night and I never knew? I forced a smile onto my face. "Sorry, Nat. We're just coworkers."

Her face fell. "All right. God, I can't ever come up with a good story."

I relaxed a little at that. She'd probably heard about the first two items from Piper but maybe with the last, she'd just seen two young people together a lot and jumped to conclusions. I patted her on the shoulder. "Keep at it, you will."

I hurried to my room, stashed my food, then headed to the office. Nick wasn't there but Ellie and David were. Ellie must have seen the look on my face; no sooner had I got the door shut than she said, "You heard?"

"About the Brotherhood's message? Yeah, Nat cornered me in the market and asked me about it. No, I didn't say a word about us going to the Point or about the case. But if you know what's happening, help me catch up."

"Not yet," Ellie said. "Nick is up at the mayor's office. He'll fill us in when he gets back."

"All right." I took a deep breath and looked around for a magazine or something to read.

Nick returned a short time later. "Good, you're all here."

We waited.

He sat. "I don't know how but the Brotherhood got wind that we were the ones who cleared The Point last night. Maybe security cameras we overlooked or something. Anyway, they delivered a message to Piper this morning, requesting that we three be handed over for interfering with their operations. She's stalling them."

"A request?" I asked.

"For now. It will turn into a demand soon enough."

David popped his knuckles. "What happens if we're not handed over."

"They won't attack Diamond City," Nick said. "The Brotherhood are strong but they were never numerous. I don't think there are more than fifty of them left in the Commonwealth. Most of them--hundreds--were killed when their airship was shot down. That lack of members is probably why they're recruiting new Initiates, like Charlene Baxter, which is how we got roped into this in the first place."

I chewed my nail, waiting for the bad news.

Nick stood. "Unfortunately, even that small number can be an issue. They have several vertibirds and a lot of heavy equipment. They can impede convoys and otherwise harass the city. If the Vault Dweller was here, I'd appeal to her. Under her leadership, there are almost five hundred of the Minutemen now. They could hunt down the Brotherhood remnants easily, and I think she would have ordered it if the events in Far Harbor hadn't pulled her away right after they shot down the airship. Unfortunately, she's still out of town."

"What about Colonel Garvey?" Ellie suggested.

I looked at David. He said, "The Vault Dweller's second in command in the Minutemen."

"Preston's out on some mission as well." Nick wiggled the fingers of his new hand. It appeared as good as new. "I haven't been able to raise him."

"Okay," I said, "so what do we do now?"

"We're going to finish this before they give Piper an ultimatum." Nick returned to his seat. His standing and sitting seemed unusual for a machine but maybe his creators programmed nervous energy into his personality. He continued. "DeLaurier's computer at University Point was a gold mine. We had the right of it back in the beginning: he's working with the Brotherhood to power up his transmitter, that will allow him to take control, all at once, of all remaining first, second, and third generation synths across the entire Commonwealth. The Brotherhood helped him assemble the resources and gave him access to research salvaged from the wreck of their airship. The Brotherhood expects him to simply deactivate the entire mess of us, permanently, and irrevocably." He chuckled. "You know, help them rid the Commonwealth of monsters and mistakes of science, and whatever else they call us."

I blanched. I imagined Nick, Magnolia--and who knows who else that I knew--falling over without a sound at the moment of deactivation. For all intents and purposes, they would be instantly killed.

Despite that he was discussing his potential eradication, Nick was unflappable as ever. "But as I dug into his own files, I found that DeLaurier has his own plans. He's going to shut down the first and second generation synths. However, he's going to also activate hidden programming buried in the third gen models. There's latent code in every in their implants that will turn them into obedient killing machines--essentially turning them into coursers. And they would only answer to him."

I glanced at Ellie and David. Their expressions were equally as appalled and frightened as I imagined mine was.

Ellie was the first of us to recover their voice. "How many synths are we talking about, Nick?"

"According to DeLaurier's files, eight hundred and forty-seven, over three hundred of which are third generation."

David grimaced. "Oh, we have to stop this."

"That's what we're doing, kid. The files tell me DeLaurier and Initiate Baxter went to Poseidon Energy, down to the south. He got the data he needed from University Point to set-up his reactor and he's going to modify the generators and solar panels at Poseidon to kick-start the reactor, and from there, power the transmitter. Baxter is going as his liaison with the Brotherhood and taking a unit of Knights with her, though DeLaurier wrote that he is concerned that Lance-Captain Kells may show up and usurp the operation."

A sense of futility assailed me. "DeLaurier has a huge head start on us. Can we get there in time?"

"I hope so. His plans said it would take him at least two weeks to set up the reactor and get it online, and his last entry at the Point was a week ago. But if he has a breakthrough..." Nick held up his hands. "We will just have to do the best we can."

"Even if we get there in time, Nick, can we bust through a unit of Knights?" The idea of trying to charge down entrenched foes in power armor, armed with powerful weapons--heavy rifles, the massive guns with the rotating barrels, and those destructive missile launchers--seemed like the very concept of suicide.

"I think so," Nick said, "but we're going to need help."

"What kind of help?"

He glanced at Ellie, whose eyes widened and jaw dropped. She whispered, "Nick, you can't be serious."

"I am."

"He'll tear your arms off. In fact, he said he was going to do that very thing."

My boss leaned back in his chair. "I don't see that we have a whole lot of choice at this point--plus, he has a Fat Man we can use."

"You're assuming--"

Nick held up a hand. "Ellie, please."

David cleared his throat. "You want to let me and Beth in on this? Because it sounds like we're not going to like it."

"You're not." Nick got up and paced around for a moment. "There's someone who lives in downtown Boston in Trinity Tower, who can help us. He has a store of heavy weapons, including one called a Fat Man. What's more, he hates the Brotherhood with a passion."

"What's a Fat Man?"

"It's a mini-nuke launcher."

My blood went cold. Pops's words echoed through my head, that the explosive force of the cars rivaled a mini-nuke. I instantly recalled the chain detonation of the cars and the massive concussive force. The thought of turning that into a weapon and holding it in my hand made my fingers quiver.

Nick either didn't notice me trembling or didn't care. "It launches a bomb the size of a melon that explodes with the force of the sun, though over a small area--maybe twenty yards across. It will annihilate anything caught in its blast. If we can put one or two of those into the Brotherhood's entrenched positions, then power armor or no, they'll be vaporized. That might be enough for us to turn the tide."

I swallowed and wiped my hands on my pants legs. "Okay some muscle to help us, and the power of the sun in our hands. What's the catch with our helper?"

"The catch, Beth, is that he's a super mutant."

I gasped. David cursed.

Nick nodded. "Yeah, exactly. His name is Strong and though he detests the Brotherhood, he dislikes all humans in general. I know more than one person he's eaten. And he'd not fond of me, since the last time we were in the same room, I shot him in the face."

"And this guy's going to help us?" I laughed at the incredulity of it.

"Maybe. For all his anger toward me, he is fond of and loyal to the Vault Dweller. If I can convince him she would want him to help us, Strong will. He's powerful even by super mutant standards, nearly invincible, and immune to radiation. If we can use the Fat Man to clear the front line of defense, Strong can charge through the impact zone and cleanup the rest of the Brotherhood, leaving us a straight shot at DeLaurier."

I swallowed hard. "W-what are the odds you can convince him?"

"Fifty-fifty," Nick said. "If I can't, he'll probably kill us all on the spot. But at this point, I'm not sure we have any other options."

To be concluded...

#

Thanks for reading!

Fallout Note One: Anytime a player has Nick Valentine with them as their companion, Nick will hack computer terminals for the player's benefit, which I bridged to his data download listed here.

Fallout Note Two: The Brotherhood of Steel presents an interesting conundrum for the player. One the one hand, as a faction, they are fanatic, intolerant bigots and general jerks, even if some individuals are less so. But they have some of the best toys (most reliable access to excellent power armor) and in my opinion, the best set of faction quests in the game. One wonders if this dichotomy--of being less palatable allies but more rewarding--was set up on purpose.

Fallout Note Three: For the purists, I am aware there is no Fat Man found in Trinity Tower in the game. Improvisation!