Radiance Ch. 102

"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.