A Spark By The River - Chapter 9: Red And Blue
“Jesus, Blue. You look like hell.”
“Thanks.”
River chuckled as she sniffled. She had dark bags under her eyes, her skin was pale, hair dishevelled and a red nose.
River and Piper had met up a few streets away from Diamond City. After a rough night, River and Nick decided to split up to try and find a fusion core. Nick would look in the more irradiated places and River would go with Piper to try and find one amongst the ruins of the city. Nick still wasn’t comfortable letting River go alone and while he didn’t exactly trust Piper with the details of the case, Codsworth was busy helping make Sanctuary more comfortable for the settlers there and Preston was busy trying to set up some sort of line of communication.
Once Piper heard that there was a chance she could get herself in the story, she didn’t hesitate to grab her bag. River was concerned about Nat but Piper assured her she would be fine on her own for a bit. And if she needed anything, Arturo was only around the corner. He didn’t always agree with Piper but he couldn’t say no to helping a kid.
Piper nudged River with her elbow as the two began to walk.
“I didn’t get much sleep.” River admitted with a shrug. She had tried but it just felt… Wrong. Knowing she would wake up and Jack wouldn’t be beside her… She couldn’t. Not yet.
“Nick keeping you up with all his nagging?” Piper joked, using her hand as a puppet and pretending to talk.
River giggled, shaking her head. “He’s been nagging me to get some sleep."
"I remember when he used to do that with me.” Piper thought back.
As they navigated through the streets, River noticed that Piper was less careful than Nick, only occasionally ducking behind something when a noise was heard. Whether that was because of River or just their normal strategies, River didn’t know.
Footsteps sounded. They were slow. River quickly ducked into an alleyway, pulling Piper beside her. The footsteps became quicker. River could guess it was an animal by the sound of two feet hitting the ground at once. A blur of green whizzed past. Piper recoiled.
“Mutants.” Piper whispered to herself.
“Those big green men?” River questioned.
“If they have a hound out, there’s probably one close by.” She explained.
“They have dogs?!” River exclaimed in a quiet voice. More things she didn’t know about them, great!
“You can get a zoology lesson later, we need to go.” Piper turned around. Upon looking down the alleyway, it branching off at the bottom, she groaned.
“I should really scout out this area more.”
“Is there anywhere specifically we need to go?” River questioned walking down the alleyway.
Piper followed her, trying to come up with a solution in her head. “West would probably be best but I don’t know which path-”
“That one.” River said, pointing to the one on the right.
“But won’t that take us back the way we came?” Piper asked, looking down it.
“For a bit.” River nodded. “But it will make a ‘U’ shape taking us back up. The alley ahead leads to a dead end and the one on the left goes back to the same road.”
Piper blinked in astonishment.
River smiled sheepishly as she began to walk down the alley.
“Hey, you spend hours navigating alleys with Nick.” River chuckled.
“Okay, maybe a little nagging from Nick is okay.” Piper admitted with a defeated shrug. “But don’t tell sixteen year old me that.”
It was River’s turn to be astonished. “You knew Nick at sixteen?"
Piper raised an eyebrow. "How long do you think Nick’s been in Diamond City?"
River shrugged as she carefully stepped over a fallen trash can. Piper and her had to hold their noses at the putrid stench of it’s rotten contents. When they were a good enough distance away, River responded.
"I don’t know.” River shrugged. “I know he was there when the Mayor’s daughter went missing…”
Piper’s face lit up. “He told you the 'beep’ story?"
River laughed, nodding. "Can you imagine it?"
"Oh I would give anything to have been there at the time.” Piper grinned. “That was about two mayors ago.”
“Oh wow. A long time then.” River stated.
The two made their way around a corner, spotting a small playground just ahead. The two looked at each other before walking ahead.
“Ugh I hate these places.” Piper shivered as she opened the, surprisingly still working, gate and walked into the park. “How did kids used to play here?"
"Believe it or not, not everywhere used to be an apocalyptic Wasteland full of raiders and green feral dogs.” River joked, walking up to a climbing frame that looked like a spaceship. She poked her head inside.
“Well it was also full of weird space monkeys.” Piper shrugged.
River tried to pull her head out of the spaceship but she accidently hit it on the top, not realising how small the entrance actually was. She let out a pained yelp as she held her head, carefully pulling it away. She rubbed her head as she turned to Piper who was stifling a laugh.
“Space monkey?” River said through her winces. She then realised what Piper meant. “Oh! Jangles the moon monkey!” She exclaimed. She double checked her hand to see if there was any blood. Couldn’t be too careful.
Piper snickered as she raised an eyebrow. “Jangles? Moon Monkey?"
"Yeah, he was a TV show character, I think. There’s toys of him, too. I was thinking of getting Shaun one but their faces are just…” River cringed. “Besides, they cost thirty dollars."
"So… He wasn’t an actual space monkey?” Piper questioned, leaning against an old slide, hearing sticks and leaves crunch under her feet.
“Moon monkey.” River reminded. “And no. He’s just a character.”
“And I thought I had pre war times all figured out…” Piper shook her head with a sigh. A thought suddenly hit her as she looked back up at River.
“You know a lot about pre war times, right?” Piper asked, a grin beginning to form on her face.
“I did live there all my life.” River said plainly. This wasn’t new information to Piper. Seeing Piper’s full grin was a big give away of what was going through her mind.
“Another paper?” River chuckled.
“Perhaps…” Piper said suspiciously. “The ghouls I manage to talk to don’t really go into detail. Besides… you’re relatively fresh.”
River smiled, giving Piper a side glance, seeing the reporter smirk.
“If you’ve seen any old posters, probably like that.” River simply told her.
“So… Space monkeys?” Piper teased with a laugh.
River gently pushed Piper, not helping herself as she giggled along. Once Piper reegainedd her composure, she took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m sorry. But seriously, what was it like?” Piper genuinely asked.
“Well… ever hear of the ‘American Dream’?” River began walking towards the swings.
“Kinda. I’ve seen a few pictures with that on. But I don’t get it. They’re all just families having dinner.“
“That’s kind of the point.” River examined the swing, checking if it could take her weight. She continued.
“Families being happy, just living their life. No worries, no stress. Everyone has equal opportunities and has the same value of life.”
“Sure sounds like a dream.” Piper rolled her eyes, sitting on the swing, not checking if it was safe herself. “How did people possibly believe that could happen?”
River shrugged, carefully sitting on the swing. She gently began to swing back and forth. “It was a way to distract people from the war. So much was going on. Everyone was clinging to what was left of our country. And that was the American Dream.” River sighed. “Maybe if we all weren’t so focused on a pretend picture perfect life, we could’ve been more prepared…” River clenched her fists. She quickly relaxed, softening her facial expression.
“Sorry… I guess my husband’s feelings on this rubbed off on me…” River chuckled. “He was a military man.”
“Like the Brotherhood?” Piper asked.
River hesitated. “Kind of…”
“But without the super mutant and ghoul bloodlust.” Piper added. “Oh, and don’t forget the ‘will literally kill people for technology’ mentality.” She shook her head. “Anyway, got any specific details? Like your life?” Piper asked.
“My life?” River raised an eyebrow as she stopped swinging.
“Well, yeah. We still don’t know each other that well.” Piper explained. "Promise this one’s not going in the paper.”
“Well I was kinda middle to high class, I would say.” River thought back to her childhood. “Had a loving dad, a money obsessed mom and a boy crazy little sister.”
“You had a little sister?” Piper questioned, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah. The age gap wasn’t as big as you and Nat though. We only had four years between us.” River began to gently swing once more.
“Were you close?”
River chuckled. “Sometimes. One minute we would be laughing and close as ever then the next we would be at each other’s throats.” She then sighed, a look of shock suddenly appearing on her face. “God… the last thing we did before the bombs was fight…” She stopped on the swing, it now fully sinking in. “Shit…”
“You didn’t know.” Piper leaned over and put her hand on River’s shoulder.
“I just hope that she got to her vault in time…” River leaned back.
Though, that may have been worse for her, considering what the Vault had done to River. Maybe Jane’s vault was better…
She looked back to Piper who looked back, expectantly. River continued. “Anyway, yeah. Born and raised in Boston. Went to D.B Technical High School where I met my husband, went to college, university and eventually married. I had just given birth to Shaun a few months before the war. He kind of occupied most of my time.” She explained.
“I’ll bet.” Piper chuckled. “Harder than growing up with a little sister.”
“But before Shaun, I practised law.” River smiled, thinking back to her law degree that had managed to survive the nuclear war.
She wanted to wait until she had time to examine and fix her house but as her foot nudged the cracked glass encasing the degree, she couldn’t help but proudly place it back on display.
“A lawyer, huh?” Piper thought. “And… what was justice like back then?” She hoped it was even a slither better than what McDonough was 'enforcing’.
“It was a bunch of power hungry bastards locking up anyone they didn’t like or who got in their way.” River replied with an annoyed huff.
“Shit.” Piper chuckled. She knew it would be too good to be true. “So, not much has changed then.”
River defended herself. “I made sure everyone got a fair trial. They didn’t get rolled over by the system.”
Piper smirked. “Guardian of the downtrodden, huh?”
“That sounds like a new title for a paper.”
“Maybe.”
River laughed, getting up from the swing. She pretended to swing a sword.
“Trial by combat. I rocked up thirty kills in my day.” She grinned. Of course, she had done many more court cases but who was counting?
“Huh. Always wondered why pre-war courthouses had all that gladiator equipment just lying around.” Piper stood up herself.
“It doesn’t matter now, though. The American penal code burned up along with most of Boston…” River tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“I have an idea.” Piper said, beginning to walk.
River followed, not knowing what to expect.“Oh God, what?”
“You know all about law.” Piper began.
“Where is this going?” River cautiously questioned.
“Diamond City is pretty bad when it comes to managing the law. Maybe next election you could… you know…”
River shot her a look.
“Y’know… after you find your son, of course.” Piper haphazardly added.
River carefully stepped around the fallen pieces of gate on the opposite side of the miniature park. “Where will you get your source of satire without McDonough then?”
“I’ll probably find some scandalous secret you want to keep buried.” Piper shrugged, moving on ahead. “Maybe you’re hiding some dirty little dungeon.”
“Ha ha.” River rolled her eyes. “So, any idea where we can find a fusion core?” She asked, looking around. The tall, decrepit apartments toward over the two as they gazed up.
Piper had a thought. “Fusion cores are pretty rare… we can either spend days searching every single building which are probably full of ghouls or we look in the only place that you can be certain to find them…” She groaned at her conclusion. “The Brotherhood. Well, we can’t exactly waltz onto their ship and politely ask for one of their precious fusion cores like squatters.”
River sighed, walking on. Everything was quiet. Eerily quiet.
“You okay if I put some music on? Shouldn’t be too loud.” River asked, holding up her pip boy.
Piper nodded.
River was about to select the Diamond City Radio but she noticed a new radio channel present on her pip boy.
“Military Frequency AF95.”
Piper walked behind River and peeked over her shoulder, her curiosity evident.
“-s Scribe Haylen of Reconnaissance Squad Gladius to any unit in transmission range. Authorization Arx. Ferrum. Nine. Five. Our unit has sustained casualties and we’re running low on supplies. We’re requesting support or evac from our position at Cambridge Police Station.”
“That sounds bad.” River said, tuning out the channel.
Piper nodded her head, agreeing. “Speak of the devil.” River raised her eyebrow in confusion. “She said she was… Scribe? Yeah. That’s a rank in the Brotherhood. Just leave it. They’ll be fine on their own.”
River rolled her eyes, checking her map. They weren’t that far away…
“Brotherhood or not, they need help.”
Piper watched as River continued to walk well into the city.
“Blue! You can’t just- They- Ugh!” Piper finally gave in, reluctantly chasing after River.
River navigated the streets of Boston carefully. Piper groaned as she squeezed herself in between a truck and a brick wall, sucking in her stomach as she tried to keep up with River.
“Nick warned me you were a runaway, but I didn’t think you were-” She took a deep breath as she moved away from the truck, following River up the main road which happened to lead into a large, open area. “-This bad.”
River chuckled, turned around. She rested a hand on her hip with a smirk. “What can I say? I’m-”
Piper glanced to the side as she heard growling. “Feral!” She pounced forward, pushing River down as a ghoul flew past them.
River yelled in pain as her head hit concrete. She looked ahead and saw Piper over her, smiling nervously.
“Sorry.”
River opened her mouth to respond but quickly stopped, pushing Piper away, raising her pistol and shooting a ghoul looming over her.
“Apologize later!”
Piper quickly stood up, while River scrambled to her feet, readying themselves. A few more ghouls were beginning to surround them as they had decided to check out where the loud noises were coming from.
“So much for being careful…” River muttered to herself. It was still going to take her a while to get used to safely navigating the city, no matter how much she had already learned.
The ghouls began to run. River and Piper backed up quickly. River looked around, spotting a nearby diner.
“Up there!”
River climbed onto a rusted old car, making sure Piper was following. She carefully balanced herself as she walked across a fallen lamppost. From the way they pounced carelessly and stumbled round, River could guess that they wouldn’t be elegant or coordinated enough to follow them. She managed to hop on top of the diner, thankful that it had managed to hold her weight. Piper was close behind, but so were the ghouls. She was only a couple feet away from the diner when a feral ghoul from below had jumped up, clawing at Piper. It caught her foot, causing her to lose her balance and fall off.
“Blue!”
River lunged forward and grabbed Piper’s arm, using all of her strength to try and pull her up. The ghoul was strong, however, it’s claw saught on Piper’s coat. Piper swung her foot, trying to shake or kick the ghoul off of her. River reached for her gun only to realise she forgot to holster it. She glanced behind her and saw it a few feet away, just out of reach.
“Dammit.”
She turned back to Piper, thoughts and decisions flying through her head.
“Piper, do you trust me?”
“What?”
“Do you trust me?”
“Why?”
“Sorry!”
River quickly let go of Piper, letting the woman fall with a short scream. She dived for her pistol, quickly grabbing it. She scrambled to the edge of the diner roof, spotting Piper trying to fight off a snarling, snapping ghoul. She winced, holding out what looked like the bumper of the car they had climbed on top of. She pressed it against the ghouls chest, keeping it in place, futilely swinging at her. River readied her weapon, took aim and then fired, piercing the ghoul’s head.
The gunshot alerted the couple other ghouls who were still trying to figure out how to reach their dinner on the rooftop. Not only that, but even more ghouls had started to emerge from the different buildings surrounding them. Piper chuckled nervously as she watched the dead eyes glare at her. She waved.
“Nice fer-”
River grabbed Piper’s raised arm, trying her best to hoist Piper up. Piper climbed onto the lamp post once she was high enough, letting River relax. Piper cautiously joined her. There was a moment of brief peace for the two before Piper reeled back, punching River in the shoulder.
“Ow!”
“I could’ve died!” Piper growled.
There was a pause. “But you… didn’t?” she shrugged. River had to admit her plan was absurd. Guess she was starting to get used to wastelander ways.
Piper opened her mouth to argue back but stopped herself, folding her arms.
“God, I see why Nick wanted to split for a bit.”
River let out a breathless chuckle, still panting. Piper raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
River took deep breaths. Piper gasped.
“I’m not that heavy!”
River finally gained her breath back and laughed. “Come on, let’s check our bullets and see if we can pick the rest of them off…”
After the two killed the rest of the ghouls, they carefully climbed down from the diner. They both cringed at the smell. Seemed like even people who were used to this could never get over the smell.
Piper covered her nose as she carefully made her way around the ghoul corpses. She took in her surroundings. “College Square. Explains why it stinks this much.”
River tilted her head slightly, confused. “Because of all the teenagers?” She chuckled to herself before realising Piper might not get the joke.
Piper raised her eyebrow at her before pointing away from them, her expression now serious. “No, because of that.”
River turned to where Piper was pointing and gasped.
During their fight, she didn’t notice… The dozens of decaying human corpses strewn about. A lot had been half eaten. And they had clearly been dead for a while.
River took a few steps back, feeling sick to her stomach. This was a massacre. Piper continued on her way, face screwing up as the smell became too much.
River quickly followed her. “All those people…” She mumbled.
“Raiders.” Piper stated. “You can tell by the gear.”
“Those ferals couldn’t have killed that many people.” River only counted about ten feral ghouls. She understood they could be vicious but no way they could cause that much carnage.
“The rest must’ve gone into the city.” Piper said in agreement. “I know they’re evil people who did horrible things but being eaten alive by ferals?” A shiver ran down her spine. “I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”
River nodded. “Yeah.”
As they neared the exit of College Square, they could hear gunshots. They carefully approached, seeing more ferals rushing towards a barricaded police station.
“That must be it.” River pointed out.
“Yeah, the Brotherhood look like they’ve got it all under co- Blue?” Piper looked beside her to see River gone. She turned back to see River had moved ahead, hiding behind a wall before taking shots at the ghouls.
Piper groaned. “Nick, you owe me big time for this…”
It seemed like the majority of ghouls were dead. A few bodies were around the station with the others obviously back in College Square. That explained why there weren’t that many the two had to deal with.
Piper ran forward but nearly tripped up when something grabbed her leg. She whipped her head around and yelped, seeing a legless ghoul clinging onto her. It wasn’t long before a bullet pierced it’s skull. Piper shook the arm off and ran towards River who was being surrounded by a small group of three ghouls. She stood there, watching them. And just before they were about the pounce, she quickly moved out of the way, letting the three ghouls attack each other. However, she wasn’t aware of her surroundings and ended up tripping over some debris from a nearby building. She fell to the ground only to be rushed at by another feral ghoul. She stuck her leg out, letting the ghoul run into it. She kept the ghoul at bay as it swung for her. She tried reaching for her pistol-
It was gone.
River groaned as she spotted it practically right underneath the tangle of ghouls just ahead of her. She really needed a bigger gun she wouldn’t lose.
She could hear Piper dealing with her own set of ghouls and it didn’t seem like the Brotherhood were going to leave their fortress.
The feral attacked whatever it could, scratching and sinking its nails into River’s leg. She bit back a scream as she desperately felt around for something- anything!
She didn’t take her eyes off the ghoul. Her leg made sure it’s head couldn’t reach down to bite her but that didn’t make her any less terrified.
She wasn’t going to end up like those raiders.
River eventually felt something sharp stab her hand. She gripped it tightly and let her leg drop for one second as she plunged the sharp thing into the ghoul’s head. It struggled for a moment more before falling limp. River took a deep and shaky breath, looking at the small, jagged pipe she had used as her weapon, sticking out of the now dead ghoul’s head. She stood up only to wince in pain as she put weight on her left leg. The battle seemed to be dying down but it wasn’t over. Luckily, the trio of ghouls she had previously escaped from seemed to be dead so River could quickly snatch her pistol back up. It took a few shots but eventually it seemed like the ghouls were all down.
River panted, her leg feeling weak. Piper jogged over.
“Blue!”
“Please tell me a scratch isn’t going to turn me into one.” River said, slightly limping as she approached Piper.
Piper shook her head. “No, but you should definitely get that looked at.”
“First, let’s make sure the Brotherhood people are okay.”
“Oh yeah, I’m sure they’re all struggling in their impenetrable tin can suits and their fortified base.” Piper said with an eye roll. River shot her a displeased look. The two then made their way into the barricade.
There were three people outside the police station. A man wearing power armor covered in grime, a woman who was giving medical attention and the man she was giving it to.
“Are you guys okay?” River asked.
The man in the power armor turned to her. She would never get used to the height and sheer power that radiated from the suit alone, let alone the hardened soldiers that wore it. He reloaded his weapon.
“We appreciate the assistance, civilians. But what’s your business here?"
"We heard your distress signal.” River explained with a small smile. “We were close by so we thought we should help.”
“Don’t drag me into this.” Piper whispered under her breath.
The man raised an eyebrow. “Close by? You’re not from a settlement, are you?”
“Don’t answer that.” Piper quickly spoke to River.
River looked back at the woman then to the soldier. She wanted to help but she also had to be cautious. “Why do you want to know?”
He didn’t answer.
“We’ve done our good deed, let’s go.” Piper whispered, trying to rush River.
River sighed. “I’m from up north west. I… came out of a vault. Vault 111.”
“A vault Dweller? Most people wouldn’t admit that.” He finally spoke.
“Now can you tell me what you’re doing in the area? Not everyday you see someone wearing mint condition t-60 power armor.” River looked the man up and down. Even her suit wasn’t as clean. The Brotherhood didn’t seem like any other group in the Commonwealth.
“You know about power armor?” The man said, shocked. Most wastelanders had never even heard of power armor, let alone pick out a specific model.
River hesitated for a moment. “My husband was around power armor a lot while he was in the line of duty.”
The man smiled for the first time. “Ah, it’s good to know we have the assistance from an ally of the Brotherhood of Steel.”
“Well, not-” River tried to explain.
“If I appear suspicious it’s because our mission here has been difficult. Since the moment we arrived in the Commonwealth, we’ve been constantly under fire.” He looked to River, smiling. “If you want to continue pitching in, we could use an extra gun on our side.”
Piper was slowly shaking her head, eyes narrowed. River sighed, trying to ignore her objections.
“I want to help but I don’t like the secrecy. Who are you?"
"Very well.” The man stood, proud. “I’m paladin danse.” He gestured to the two other people behind him. “Over there is Scribe Haylen and Knight Rhys. We’re on recon duty, but I’m down a man and our supplies are running low. I’ve been trying to send a distress call to my superiors, but the signal’s too weak to reach them.”
“The distress call we found.”
“Correct.”
An unsure voice made River turn her attention to the woman, Scribe Haylen. “Sir, if I may?"
"Proceed, Haylen.”
“I’ve modified the radio tower on the roof of the police station, but I’m afraid it just isn’t enough. What we need is something that will boost the signal.” She explained. Her eyes then fixated on River’s leg. “You’ve been injured!"
River looked down at her leg before looking up at Scribe Haylen. "Just feral ghoul scratches, it only really hurts when I walk.”
“Despicable creatures.” Danse spat. “Haylen, take her inside. See what you can do.”
“Yes sir.”
“What about me?” The other man who hadn’t yet spoke loud enough for River to hear cried.
“I’ve done all I can, now you need to rest.” Haylen told him. “Come on.” She gestured for River to follow her.
“We’ll tell you about our mission once we’re inside.” Danse explained, walking to the entrance of the police station. He helped Rhys up before taking him inside.
Before River could move, Piper grabbed her shoulder and whispered.
“Blue, this is crazy!”
“I know, what I’ve heard of the Brotherhood isn’t good but this is my chance to get a fusion core.” River explained. “You said it yourself: we either spend what could be days going through every ghoul filled apartment or we can get one straight from the Brotherhood.”
“What do you even need this core for?!” Piper questioned.
River paused, confused. “Nick didn’t tell you?"
Piper threw her hands up in the air with a groan. "No! Do you think he tells me anything about his cases?!”
River sighed. She thought for a moment. She didn’t want the Institute to get a whiff of their plan…
But she did kind of owe Piper for dropping her in front of a feral ghoul.
“I need to use power armor to go into the Glowing Sea.” River began.
“The Glow- Why?!"
"There’s an Institute scientist who went rogue. He can help me find a way in.”
Piper’s confusion and annoyance turned into a child-like glee as her mouth stretched into a grin.
“You’re going to talk to. An Institute. Scientist?” She asked slowly.
“You can’t tell anyone.” River warned. “I can’t let the Institute get to him first.”
“My lips are sealed.” Piper 'zipped’ her lips shut to emphasise her point.
“Also I’m kind of bleeding out a little so I need them to patch me up.” River pointed out with a shrug.
“Come on.” Piper pulled River’s arm over her shoulder and started to walk, making sure she didn’t put much weight on her leg. “Let’s get you a fusion core.”