(remember that time i accidentally turned nick into a radio? because that’s literally all i could think about when I saw today’s prompt)
"... is that - do you hear that music?" Kate frowned, straightening up and looking around.
There was no radio. Why would there be, out in the ruined streets.
But she was certain she could hear a tune in the air.
Nick stopped, several paces behind her. "I thought that was your pip-boy. It's been goin' for a bit now."
"Mm-mmm. Nope. Look -" Katherine stepped closer, holding up her pip-boy so the detective could see the screen - the device wasn't tuned to any known station. The radio module wasn't even turned on.
She stopped before she could finish her thought, though, and straightened up. The confusion on her face deepened. "Wait. I can - hold on. Yeah. It's clearer?" An observation, and a question. Kate was certain she heard it, and now that she was focused on it, she was sure she knew where it was coming from - as little sense as that location made.
She leaned in and placed a hand on Nick's shoulder and pressed her ear against his chest.
"...You're kidding, right?" To say that Valentine was skeptical would have been putting it lightly.
It did sound awful close by, though...
"Oh my god. It totally is."
"Is what?"
"Is you!" Kate only just barely managed to stifle her laughter. "I didn't know you could do that!"
"Neither did I." was Nick's bemused response. "How on earth...?"
Kate shook her head. "Woke up with your wires crossed, maybe?" She had quite the grin on her face. "Oh that's too funny. Hey, if we head over towards Goodneighbor, think we can pick up Kent's Silver Shroud broadcasts?"
She laughed as Nick gave her a playful nudge away from his chest.
"Oh no, Diamond City Radio's bad enough. Don't saddle me with playing back your radio shows."
"Aw, I'm just teasing, sorry." She tilted her head a bit. "Where IS that coming from, though?"
"If it doesn't stop soon, you're gonna have to figure that out."
(beets head bad, write words no picture. scene in my head proved too much work to shoot)
It had been nothing more than a stroke of good luck - and everyone involved knew that.
But it didn't change their gratitude.
The minutemen stationed at Nordhagen had sent out a desperate radio call - the location's proximity to Libertalia meant it saw occasional raider activity, but today... today, something had changed, and the men bearing down on them had torn through the barricades.
There was nothing left but fear and desperation.
And it was only chance that tipped the scales that day.
The sand, shifting under steel steps, masked the sound of the power armor's steps.
But the whine and clatter of the gatling laser spinning up caught everyone's attention.
Not soon enough.
The flash of rapid laser fire pierced through the fog - and through the raiders. It took only a few minutes of sustained fire to break the siege, and as the last surviving raiders scattered, the air fell silent once again.
And Kate stood on the coast, at the end of it all, helmet in her hand as she spoke with the settlers.
No one said the what-ifs. What if she hadn't been near. What if their radio tower has been taken out. What if the raiders came at night, in silence.
They were all keenly aware of every other way this day could have played out.
"It's heavy," Katherine murmured, one hand laid across the metal on her arm. "It hurts."
"Just gimmie a sec here." Sturges spoke behind her, tugging at the leather straps wrapped around her chest. "Once we get this all fitted right, it'll be loads better."
"Yeah, yeah." She shifted, tilting her head forward to keep her hair out of the way - not that there was much to get in the way, but it was habit.
The brace had been cut down from a damaged power armor frame, welded and reshaped to be used on its own. It was still a weighty piece, even with the reductions; hence the chestpiece. Stabilization, weight distribution.
Today was the first time it all came together.
"Do you have the -"
"Microfusion cell? Yeah, of course. This oughta last for ages in that. A whole fusion core'd be overkill."
"Yeah. And - oh!" She felt when the power source was connected - servos engaged, motors hummed, and the weight lifted.
Katherine let out the breath she had been holding. This just might work.
He caught himself staring, as much as he knew he shouldn't.
Kate had heard him enter, glanced over her shoulder, mumbled... something. She hadn't expected him to come in - thought it was just a question he needed answered through the door. So now she stood, turned away, arms wrapped around herself and shoulders drawn in.
Nick had seen her scars, of course. Everyone had.
But not all of them.
Her entire right side was blanketed by the burns, skin gnarled and warped by scar tissue that crept over her back. Though the wounds had healed, the scars, the skin surrounding them, was all still flushed a rosy red.
And Valentine found himself surprised by the extent of the damage, despite what he had seen that day. A blackened and melted vault suit, scorched, blistering flesh.
He closed his eyes and sighed, resting his hand on her left shoulder. She didn't pull away, but he felt her twitch under his touch.
An unconscious reaction.
"Kate..." his voice was gentle, as he so often was with her.
She shifted her weight, gone quiet. Nick had seen this reaction before. She was overwhelmed. Didn't know what to do.
His hand brushed across her neck, his fingers combing through her hair.
She didn't know what to do and he didn't know what to say.
It was a moment or two before he brought his other hand up, running a cautious finger along her scars.
She turned under his touch - it was the tiniest movement, almost beyond notice.
"Does it hurt?" Was it the flesh that was still tender, or the sharp, pointed edges of metal fingers that made her pull away?
Neither, it seemed.
"It's just... a reminder. Not one I really need... and not one you need, either." Katherine's words were unsteady. She reached a hand up to take Nick's. " 'm sorry. I just..." She sighed, wrapping her fingers around his, unable to find her words.
"You don't have anything to apologize for."
"I know, I know. It's just... habit. Can't shake it."
She took a step forward, scooped the button up shirt off her bed, and shrugged into it. It hung loose across her shoulders, still unbuttoned, as she turned and sat on the ancient mattress, head in her hands.
"There's a lot I can't shake, really." Katherine didn't elaborate. She didn't need to.
Valentine knelt before her, down on one knee, and placed his hands over here, gently pulling them down. "Hey. Look at me."
And she did.
"No one should have gone through that." Nick cupped her face - the right side. A deliberate choice, of course. He ran his thumb over her cheek.
"But you made it out the other side. And I count myself damn lucky you did." He smiled, and Kate's cheeks flushed.
"Wish it didn't weigh on you so much. I wish I could take that away."
Katherine shook her head slowly. "No, no. You've got enough going on. You don't need my problems, too."
Kate ran her thumb across his chin, up to the scratch at the corner of his mouth. It was deep, yes, but it hadn't broken through his skin. That made her feel a little better. "You should know by now that I absolutely will worry." She sighed and gently repeated herself. "What happened?"
"Raider got the drop on me. Nothin' serious." He declined to mention that he got his face slammed into the cement. He didn't hear anything break, after all. It was fine.
"How did you even notice?" He raised an eyebrow as Katherine fussed briefly, before her hand fell away. It was such a small scrape; he thought it would surely just get lost amongst everything else.
"Oh Nick, please. I spend enough time with your face. You think I wouldn't see?"
Valentine's other eyebrow joined the raised one, and he smirked as Kate went a little red in the cheeks.
"I, um - You know what I mean." She stammered.
"I sure do." Nick hooked a finger under her chin and pulled her in for a kiss before she could protest.
“You know, I used to have this feeling now and then, that - that people were moving on without me, back in the old world. And it always hurt. It always hit me so hard. Like everyone's happy to move on to other, better things. Better company. That they'd just leave me behind.”
...
“And I look out in the ruins some days, and I realize that it's truer than ever, now. But it's more than the people. The whole world moved on without me, and I don't think I can catch up. Not that I ever could. It's just... more clear, today. “
wow these screenshots are so old. do you know why i’ve been sitting on them for so long? because i wanted to finish the writing about this mission before I posted them
AND I DID. Check it out on AO3 or under the readmore.
“These robots were assaulted by institute synths.”
Katherine scrunched up her face and shielded her eyes as she looked up at Danse , who insisted on keeping his headlamp on.
“Um, sorry, I - I gotta ask… what are… synths?” and what’s the institute, for that matter, she thought to herself, but one question at a time.
“Technological abominations created by the institute, and let loose to run rampant throughout the commonwealth.” Danse’s voice was heavy with disgust, even through the buzzy modulation of his power armor.
“Danse. That’s… I get that you don’t like them, but what are they?” Katherine pleaded. “Just… in simple terms? Please?”
He scoffed. “I would have thought you familiar with them. Most in the Commonwealth seem to be.”
Katherine deflated, shoulders sinking. “Well… just… I’m out of the loop. Let’s leave it at that.”
The blank stare of the T-60’s helmet concealed Danse’s puzzlement. Regardless, he provided explanation. “Robots, built in the shape of man. A mannequin brought to life by machinery. They’re a mockery of humankind at best, and a blight upon this world at worst.”
Katherine bit her tongue, and suppressed her curiosity. As much as she wanted to know more, it was obvious Danse was biased. “I guess things have come a long way from the Mr. Handy, huh.” There was still a little bit of awe in her voice - she very much wanted to see these synths. Truly humanoid robots had always been a lofty goal of the industry… she had heard of RobCo’s Assaultrons, but they were still miles away.
Danse scoffed. “Unfortunately. Keep your eyes open as we move deeper into the facility. It’s highly likely that the Institute’s forces still have a presence here.” The paladin was already moving on, and Katherine was quick to follow.
“Mmm-hmm.” She wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Part of her was brimming with curiosity about these synths… and part of her knew that if they could take down those protectrons, they could take down her.
“This place has really been trashed, huh? What do you think it was like back in the day?”
“Filled with men making poor decisions, I’m certain.”
Katherine pressed her lips. So much for small talk. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before the hallways opened up into another room. Two dust coated windows framed a sliding door, which Danse was quick to investigate.
“This is the way forwards, but it seems to be locked tight. There’s no apparent way to open it from here.”
Katherine straightened up, and holstered her 10mm. “Oh, if there’s no visible controls on the door, they’re likely wired into a local terminal. It’s technically required for them have a way to bypass the lock through the hardware, in case of emergency, but they never make it easy. Security stuff. Uh…” she trailed off for a moment, glancing around the room. There were a few desks still standing on the opposite wall, terminals still intact. “Um, give me a moment.” She kicked a toppled chair away from the desk, and bent over the keyboard. “Mmm, this one’s still logged in. I guess there’s not really time to properly disconnect from your workstation when they’re bombing the city.” she muttered as she scrolled through the inbox.
“Any luck over there?” Danse inquired.
“I’ve got access to the internal mail system, uh, lots of reminders about security protocols and - ah-heh. Automated password change reminder. Looks like it’s for the lab access?” Katherine had a gnawing feeling in her gut that she was over-explaining things. Surely the paladin didn’t care about the specifics.
“That’s where we’re headed.”
“Great, yeah, uh.” She scanned the room again and scampered to the other still functional terminal. “Let’s hope…” she trailed off.
Danse took a few steps away from the laboratory door, turning to watch Katherine with mild curiosity, hidden behind the power armor helmet. She seemed quite at home amongst the terminals and technology. An unusual trait, compared to most of the wastelanders he met. Though he was initially skeptical of her claim to being a Vault Dweller - the Brotherhood had no record of a Vault 111, after all - he wondered if perhaps there was some truth to her statement.
“Hey!” Kate’s head popped up over the top of the terminal. “Got it.”
“Excellent. Let’s not waste any more time. If you could open the door?”
“Oh! Yeah, yeah.” A swift keystroke and the door opened with the whnk-hsss of pneumatics.
Paladin Danse formed around, set once again to lead the way onward, through the facility - but the incandescent blue laser bolt that buzzed his power armor brought those plans to a standstill.
“Hostile detected.” The matter-of-fact statement and computerized voice carried no overt aggression, a sharp contrast to the flurry of laser fire passing through the now opened doorway.
“Synths! Take cover!”
Katherine didn’t need to be told - she dove for cover behind a fallen file cabinet the instant she caught sight of the laser’s flash. Her grip tightened around her pistol as she heard Danse shout - a cautious glimpse revealed that the synths - that’s what he said they were? - were prioritizing the Paladin as a target, paying no attention to her. She wasn’t sure if they had even noticed her.
A dozen thoughts all raced through her head, tangling together as she stared at the machines. Mannequins was the comparison Danse had drawn. He wasn’t too far off. They were battered, damaged, rubber skin torn to reveal steel skeletons and plastic components. Only a moment had passed before one of them turned its gaze to Kate. The faint yellow glow of its eyes and the exposed grimace of its metal skull was an eerie sight - and one that quickly exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel.
Danse had taken it out with a single headshot.
The moment was enough to jolt her back into action, and she followed up by returning fire. Her 10mm pistol wasn’t nearly as effective as the AER-9 laser rifle Danse carried, but it did the job.
“Hmph. Sent them to the scrap heap.” He noted the laser weaponry carried by the synths, and had a realization. He glanced at the pistol carried by his current associate, and offered her the backup laser rifle he had brought. “Take this. I’m certain there’ll be more of them, and they’ll be carrying microfusion cells. Energy will be more effective than a weapon of a ballistic nature.” The Paladin tossed the rifle towards Katherine, who caught it with a startled yelp. She turned the weapon over in her hands. She had a passing familiarity with the AER-9 - though she had never personally handled one, she understood the basic mechanisms, and microfusion cells were something she was well acquainted with.
She fastened her 10mm pistol to her belt and kept the laser in hand. Danse had already stepped over the smoldering wrecks of the synths, but her curiosity was too strong. She stopped in the middle of the room, and crouched down over one of the robots.
They had been shooting at me only minutes ago, she thought, and there was still part of her that was worried they might spring back to life. Yet despite that lurking fear, she had to get a closer look.
The situation struck her as a little morbid, perhaps. Moreso than examining a broken-down Mr. Handy, at least.
It was the faces, she thought. The eyes.
The Institute. That’s where Danse said they had come from. Katherine had seen how the world was torn apart, still ruined from the bombs dropped so long ago. But it seemed that somewhere out there, something had not just survived, but thrived. Moved on past the limits of the world she knew, developed things that General Atomics could only have dreamed of.
A weight settled somewhere deep in her chest as she turned one over. An aching sort of sadness.
She didn’t have a chance to process those feelings, to figure out the why behind them.
“What are you doing? Hurry up. We can’t waste any more time.” Danse snapped, irritated by what he saw as Kate’s dawdling.
“Oh.” Katherine’s response was quiet. She got to her feet, gaze lingering on the remains of the synths, before turning away to follow Danse once again, through the ruins of ArcJet.
Katherine was worn down by the repeated encounters with the institute synths - after the first firefight she stuck closer than ever to the paladin - and stayed behind him, too. The power armor could take a laser much better than she could.
She was sure Danse was scowling at her cowardice, under his helmet.
“This way leads to the engine core. We’ll have to pass through here to reach the location where they’ve likely stored the transmitter.”
Danse looked back to find Kate dragging her fingers through the dust on a long abandoned desk, staring at a box of long faded files and folders.
“Everything here stopped so suddenly… how many people do you think made it out?”
He hesitated. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“When… the bombs dropped.” Katherine clarified, her voice tinged with sadness.
Danse cocked his head. “I couldn’t tell you, and I doubt anyone in the commonwealth has that information, given how many years have passed since those events.” He scoffed. “Regardless, I would suggest against concerning yourself with the people of the past. Their actions brought the war upon themselves.”
Her only response to Danse’s declaration was to go very quiet.
The elevator ride that took them to the engine core was awkward; Katherine pressed herself into the back corner of the car and wondered how much a suit of T-60 power armor weighed. Every time the elevator creaked, or groaned, she flinched. The thought that it had gone two centuries without maintenance scared her.
Kate’s knuckles went white as she clutched the pitted railing, just leaning barely enough over to stare down to the depths of the room. Her eyes followed the length of the rocket booster back up, and turned to look back at Danse, whose attention was drawn upwards, assessing the staircase - and the massive gap where it had broken away over the past two centuries.
It wasn’t filling Katherine with confidence, that was for sure.
–
It was only a short few flights to the floor of the test chamber, thankfully. The ash crunched under Katherine’s feet, and she walked a line around the edge of the room, idly looking over the footprints she left.
Danse placed an armored hand on the cowl of the engine, which had laid dormant for over two centuries. He wondered briefly if the brotherhood would have a use for it.
Maybe if it were smaller. As it stood, there was no way to transport the thing.
“See if you can find a way to turn the power back on. Perhaps redirect it from other parts of the facility.”
“Yeah - yeah sure.” There were only two ways out of the room, aside from the stairs. An elevator, unpowered and unusable, and a set of heavy steel double doors, halfway open and leading to what looked like a maintenance hall, judging by the wires and pipes running along the concrete. Seemed promising - or so she hoped.
There was a… she supposed it was some sort of control room, judging by all the consoles and buttons present, but she didn’t pay much attention to it - another doorway at the rear of the room exposed a fusion generator, and that was much more promising when it came to potential power systems.
Not just one fusion generator, but two - and a terminal at the back of the room. She nudged the chair away from the desk, wheels leaving a trail in the dust. As she settled in, Kate’s fingers ran across the terminal keys. There was no elaborate security down here in the depths. It didn’t surprise her. But it did make her current task easier - and she was glad. She tapped her way through various options, scanning every choice and setting .
Ah. There we go. Auxiliary power. A few confirmations and…
She could hear the power systems coming to life in the walls around her, the faint buzz of electricity through wires, and the hum of mechanical systems powering up. That should have done it, if everything was still connected.
The fusion generators she had passed has turned quiet, and her gaze lingered on the fusion core left inside. Well… if that was no longer connected, no longer needed.
Push, turn, and a click as it disconnected, slipped into her pocket on the way out.
It was the sound of gunfire that made Katherine snap to attention once again. Or, more accurately, laser fire. Flashes of blue and red through the reinforced glass window of the control room.
The paladin’s shouts confirmed her assumption.
“Synths!”
She froze up, eyes darting across the room, tracking the barrage of blue bolts in front of her.
It felt like hours before Danse called out again, directed at her. “Do something, Vance! Don’t just - urgh - stand there!”
It was enough to jolt her into action.
She slammed her open palm down on the big red button on the console in front of her.
The sounds of laser fire weren’t enough to obscure the pre-recorded countdown that initiated.
“Command accepted. Test fire commencing in five… four…”
Katherine’s heart was doing backflips in her chest. “Test fi- oh god oh no job on that’s not -” She pounded on the window. “Danse!”
“Three… two…”
Danse didn’t have time to muster a response, under the onslaught of synths.“
"One. Engine firing.”
The roar of the engine was deafening, and Katherine’s immediate reaction was to cover her ears. The sound was matched in intensity by the engine’s output - even here behind the safety of the blast shield, she still felt the wave of heat.
Danse dropped to one knee, arm raised to shield his face. The steel of his power armor picked up a faint red glow around the edges under the engine’s flames.
The synths weren’t nearly as durable. Any of them immediately under the test engine were swiftly reduced to ash, and those with a little more distance crumpled to the floor within moments.
“Test firing completed with an efficiency rating of ninety-six point seven percent.”
Katherine was already at the blast doors by the time they swung open. Her footsteps crackled in the ash as she ran to Danse.
He hadn’t moved since going down, and that made her fearful.
But as she approached, he groaned, reaching for the laser rifle he had dropped.
“Danse? Oh my god I’m - shit, shit I’m sorry I didn’t know - I didn’t think - *are you okay?!” She was on the verge of panic.
“I’m fine.” Danse grunted, getting to his feet with a little more effort than usual.“Thanks to my power armor. Without it I would have fared no better than those damn synths.”
Katherine reached a hand out, a gesture of support, but as she placed it on his arm…
“Ouch!” She yelped, flinching backwards. The metal still held quite a bit of heat. She shook her hand - that was gonna leave a mark.
“I’m… I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Maybe it wasn’t the wisest decision, but the results are acceptable enough.” The paladin gestured toward the elevator, where the call buttons were now lit up. “I strongly suggest we keep moving on. I don’t know how many more synths are in this building, or if they’re on their way to us again, and I’d rather not stand around to learn the answer.”
Perhaps it was more of a command than a suggestion, as he didn’t wait for a reply before heading towards the elevator.
“Um…” Kate hurried after him, still worried, though now for a different reason. “How much does that power armor weigh…? Is that going to be within the weight limit? I don’t - that elevator is two hundred years old and I know it hasn’t had regular maintenance, what if it -”
Danse turned around to look at Katherine. Even with his helmet obscuring his expression, she could sense his disapproval.
“Sorry.” She offered lamely, before going quiet and squeezing into the elevator car beside him.
It was a tight fit.
“All the information I’ve gathered indicates that the deep range transmitter is most likely stored in this control room,” Danse explained, “and there’s almost no evidence of scavenger activity in these parts of the facility.”
“What about the synths?”
“They arrived not long before we did, from the looks of things. If the deep range transmitter isn’t in the control room, one of the synths may have taken it. If that’s the case, we should hope they haven’t yet left the facility - if they’re still here, recovering the transmitter will be a simple task.”
“… more gunfights?”
“Very likely.”
Katherine clutched her laser rifle just a little tighter as they made their way towards the control room.
She was very conscious of her choice to keep behind Danse. The power armor protected him - and anyone behind him.
The tinny statement of “Hostile detected.” was the first sign of synths ahead, followed by the pchew of laser fire overhead.
“Contact!” Danse was the superior marksman between them and was quick to take out a trio of synths. They crumpled to the ground in rapid succession, and the third found its plastic skin burnt to ash as it fell.
Katherine was quick to offer fire against the last two synths as Danse reloaded - though none of her shots missed, she was far less accurate. It took more than twice as many shots for her to take them down.
“Well done.”
“Oh - um. Thank- thank you.” She never was great at handling praise, and was quick to scamper off in search of the transmitter, investigating the destroyed synths while Danse searched the room.
A few recovered microfusion cells found their way into her pockets, before a larger item caught her eye. She nudged the synth aside with her boot, uncovering… well, she wasn’t certain it was the deep range transmitter but it did have the look of a very complicated and very expensive piece of technology.
Katherine made her way back to Danse with the device slung under her arm. “Hey - I found this and um. Is this what you’re after?”
“That would be it, yes. Excellent! And it doesn’t appear to have sustained any damage.”
“Yeah, that’s good news.”
“There should be a way to exit the facility from here, so there won’t be any need to backtrack. Follow me.”
Danse wasn’t one to loiter - Katherine found it hard to keep up with him.
“… oh, another elevator.”
The service elevator led to an exit behind the ArcJet building, up a hill, sheltered inside a concrete structure. The commonwealth was quiet - there were no signs of any synths lingering outside. They were both equally relieved by this.
Danse took a few steps past the aged, rusting fence, and turned back to face Katherine. With his rifle holstered he reached up to remove his helmet, tucking it under one arm as he spoke. “well, I’m certain that could have gone smoother, but mission accomplished.”
Kate winced. She really had no frame of reference here. “I’m - I’m sorry. I didn’t…” She trailed off, deflating.
“While the operation was flawed, your contributions were still invaluable. Without your assistance I would certainly have been overwhelmed on multiple occasions. I’m not certain I could have retrieved the transmitter on my own.”
“Oh…!” There was surprise in Kate’s exclamation. She shuffled her feet a bit, awkward. “I’m… glad to hear that. I think.”
The paladin continued onward. “With that said, I believe we have two important matters to discuss. First and foremost is the deep range transmitter. If you’ll hand it to me, I’d like to compensate you for your assistance during this operation.”
“Yeah, yeah okay, here, this is, um. This is yours.” Kate offered Danse the device, which was swiftly packed away and secured.
He unholstered the rifle at his side, presenting it to Katherine. “Here. You clearly have an aptitude with technology - and with energy weapons. I think you’ll benefit from this; It’s my own personal modification to the standard issue AER9 laser rifle.”
“…really? Don’t you need this?” Katherine gingerly accepted the weapon, scanning it. She could see evidence of tinkering - and, of course, the brotherhood’s symbol stencilled along the barrel. She ran a thumb across the paint.
“It’s not the only weapon at my disposal. Besides, I believe in paying my debts.”
“Well then… thank you.”
“You’re welcome, civilian. Now, onto the second matter.”
Kate bit her tongue, unsure of what to expect.
“I wanted to make you a proposal. We had a lot thrown at us back there, and for the most part, you handled yourself exceptionally.”
She found herself wanting to disagree, but said nothing.
“Our op could have ended in disaster, but your determination kept that from happening. I believe that with a bit of training, you could be a valuable asset to the Brotherhood.”
“Erm.” Was she being recruited? She would have flunked out of the pre-war military almost instantly.
“The way I see it, you’ve got a choice. You could spend the rest of your life wandering the commonwealth, scrounging for supplies and trading your skills for a meager reward. Or, you could join the Brotherhood of Steel and make your mark on the world.” Danse shifted his weight, grip tightening on the helmet he still held.
“So, what do you say?”
Kate bit her lip. “The Brotherhood of Steel, huh? You guys are… aren’t you military?”
“Essentially, yes.”
Her hesitation was obvious. “Is this something I can think about? I don’t think I know enough here to, uh. to make a decision so quickly.”
“Of course. It’s a big decision. The offer still stands, and when you’ve made up your mind, you know where to find me.” Danse took a moment to put his helmet on once again, and his voice crackled out from within. “With all that said, I need to return to the police station. The deep range transmitter ought to be installed sooner, rather than later, so we can get in contact with the rest of the Brotherhood. Thank you again for your assistance, Vance. I wish you the best.”
Katherine found herself staring after Danse as he turned and left, heavy footsteps echoing off the hills around them. She shook her head as if to clear it. This whole thing had taken her off track, and she sighed. She had always been praised for her willingness to help, but so often that kept her away from her own tasks.
She certainly wasn’t going to make it to Diamond City today, she realized - the sky was still light, but she knew that wasn’t going to last much longer.
There weren’t enough hours in the day. That had been true two hundred years ago, and it was still true now.
She wasn’t looking forward to setting up camp for the night.
