Chapter 26 “Victor X-ray. Actual."
Rain hammered down in the old forest. The sound barely registering after the eruptions of gunfire.
John stood between Rosie and the radiation ravaged ghoul he’d known as Virgil. Now revealed to be the inventor of the devices he and Rosie wore. The man behind the Vault the Brotherhood wanted. And they had him. On his knees and disarmed, literally.
“We’re close aren’t we.” Rosie looked electrified, breathing heavy, green eyes focused on her prey. “That’s why you took fucking shots at my family.” Rosie lurched forward, John’s forty five gripped tight in her gloved hands.
“Hey, take a breath.” John blocked her with his broad frame, gently breaking her pace. “Call it in. That’s s.o.p. right, get back up out here.” He tried to distract her, knowing she’d have to reach a clearing to get a signal. She held up her arms as if relenting, only to swerve round him.
“Where is it?!” Rosie demanded, ripping her axes from the legs of their attacker. The ghoul didn’t even flinch.
“Even if you find it, you’re never getting inside.” He rasped dismissively, angering Rosie further.
“If we can’t get in there’s no harm in telling us.” The ghoul laughed off Rosie’s crude attempt. “Wouldn’t be the first Vault door I opened.” She bragged.
“You know, I never did buy blue eyes as a coder.” The ghoul sneered. “You must be the brains of the organisation.” Virgil’s cruel laugh drew a shot fired past his head from Rosie. And crossed the line for John.
He all but picked her up , marching her back. “What are you doing?!” Rosie half yelled at him.
“You need to relax.” John put his hands on her shoulders and whispered. “I’m not going to let you kill him.” He knew how much Rosie hated ghouls, but this was Robco’s friend. John wouldn’t do anything that might hurt the man that took him in.
“John, I’m not going to kill him.” She whispered back. “I’m perfectly calm.” He could always tell when Rosie lied. He gave her the kiss he’d promised himself before the shooting started.
“You should call it in.” John wanted back up, and Rosie’s unit of Outcast Recon scouts were the only people they could call.
“I will, but I want to make sure it’s real first.” She kissed him this time. “I’ve got a plan.”
“Take us to the door. You do that and you walk.” Rosie sidestepped John and started pressing Virgil again.
“Go to Hell.” The ghoul rasped back.
“Fine.” Rosie casually thumbed back the hammer and stepped closer, holding the muzzle an inch from the thin scalp. He didn’t move. Rosie almost admired that, till she remembered these things were half dead anyway.
“Although,” She drew back and crouched, looking into the black eyes. “I’m guessing your skull is bulletproof too. You wore one of these didn’t you.” Rosie drummed her fingers on the device she loved. “And you cut off your arm to get rid of it.”
“You don’t know what you’re getting into here, Red.” Virgil sounded afraid, and not of her.
“I know I’m on my third core in as many months.” Rosie let slip the truth, hoping to reach whatever remained of the mind she admired. She saw the spark of realisation in the sunken black eyes.
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“You’re running the full system aren’t you.” Shame came over the skull like face. “Oh God, you crashed it to reboot it. You went without power.”
“Yes.” Even the memory of the pain hurt her.
“I never thought...it wasn’t supposed. I’m sorry.” Virgil’s apology caught her off guard. “Look, go live a quiet life, a standard core should last years.”
“No.” Rosie shot back firmly, almost insulted. “No one gets to tell me what I am ever again.” Rosie had felt more alive in the months above ground than all the years she lived below it. She wasn’t going to give up her gifts.
“That look. I’ve seen it before Red. You’re the run towards the gunfire type, ain’t you.” Virgil turned her look of disgust back at her. “You’d burn the world if they let you light the match. Find another addiction.” Rosie didn’t have an answer. John did.
“We want to make sure Vault X stays buried.” John stood at Rosie’s side. “We can make sure the Brotherhood doesn’t get inside.” John thought about what he knew of Virgil, trying to find a way of reaching a deal. Only with far higher stakes. “Robco told me you’ve been friends his whole life, like his father. Said you helped build Shadowtown with his grandfather before that.” He saw that register. He took Rosie’s hand. “He took us in, gave us a house right next to his. You know how we lived before, right?”
“Robco told me.” Virgil had a pitiful look that John hadn’t seen in a long time, and certainly hadn’t missed.
“So you know what that simple house means to us. As long as the Brotherhood is looking for this place we aren’t safe. Part of that is on me, and part of it is on you.” John pulled his wet and heavy leather duster off, rolled up his check shirt sleeve, to reveal the device he hated. “You built these things, we didn’t ask for them. But we’re asking for your help now.” John stood in the rain, the woman he loved at his side, hoping for a chance to fix his mistake. Offering Virgil a chance to do the same.
“Ultracite.” Virgil spoke after a long pause. “The devices were supposed to run on Ultracite cores.” He got to his feet, shrugging off the wounds. “I don’t know if there’s any left, or if they’re even viable.”
“You show us the door and we’ll do the rest.” Rosie seized the moment to strike a bargain.
“It ain’t that simple. Come on.” Virgil set off, walking like a man defeated.
“You go on, I’ll call it in.” Rosie hung back as they cleared the forest. John and Virgil pressed on up the gentle slope. John turned to look back and she gave the hand signal for eyes on enemy. Rosie didn’t trust the ghoul, and worried John did.
“Maelstrom, Tornado. How copy?” Rosie called Brandon using the internal comm in the pipboy.
“Solid copy Tornado. Any news?” Brandon sounded excited, playful almost. Like he expected to hear something.
“Victor X-ray. Actual.” She gave the coded response for finding Vault X. Brandon had walked out on his husband of ten years to make sure he got to the Vault before the Brotherhood. Commanded by his estranged husband. Now she, the most junior member of the team, had found it for him. Rosie never cared about the approval of anyone but John before she met Brandon. “How copy?”
“Solid copy. Maelstrom inbound.”
John trudged up the wet slope, alongside the hundred and fifty year old ghoul. “So listen, I don’t know if Robco told you…” He found himself unsure how to put it, so spoke plainly. “My last name is Blake.”
“I didn’t need him to tell me, kid.” The ghoul stopped, staring into his eyes. “Like looking in a fucking mirror.” John tried to imagine the full black eyes as blue as his. Virgil took a long drink from his flask, half chuckled, and passed it to John. “Bad news about your inheritance.” Virgil walked on. “All two point eight trillion of it went up in smoke.”
“Was that a lot?” John asked, only half joking.
“Yeah kid.” Virgil threw him a glance of amusement, becoming serious. “The only thing you inherited from me is that fucking thing on your arm.” Virgil sounded remorseful.
“For what it’s worth, this thing saved my life.” John hated the pipboy he couldn’t take off. Judging by the severed arm, so did Virgil. Still, he wouldn’t be here now without it. “Saved Rosie too.” He stopped short of saying thank you.
“Damn things are a curse.” Virgil took another heavy swig, and quickened his pace. John took the hint and hung back for Rosie to catch up.
“If he runs I’m putting a bullet in his leg.” Rosie patted the custom carbine slung across her chest. Housing sprayed green, custom scope and grip. “And I’m keeping this by the way.” Rosie claimed the carbine fired at her minutes earlier. John thought it fair enough.
“Brandon’s on his way, where should I tell him to land?” Rosie asked, reminding John why they were out here to begin with. He pressed his palm against his shirt pocket, feeling the sharp corners of the bejewelled ring. Rosie definitely noticed.
“There’s a lake up ahead, we’ll rv there.” He ignored Rosie’s stare and marched on.