Ferdinand was charging again. He was running in the direction he wanted, and Marian was running after him begging him to return. As Nick watched from inside the decrepit bus, he was torn between laughing and feeling sorry for Marian. He pulled out a cigarette, now would be a good time to smoke. Nick would be able to finish a full pack before Marian either figured out how to control the animal she wanted to have as part of her disguise or give up on her suicidal plan altogether. Maybe he would even succeed at covering the smell of ferals that he had to kill to move into the bus.
He looked down at the white stick in his hand, he wondered if the frustration he was feeling every time he tried to enjoy a cigarette was anything like what Marian was feeling with her new pet brahmin. He did promise to not smoke for the remainder of the case, yet muscle memory, of maybe metal memory, kept him trying to light one up. Now would be a bad time anyway. He did agree to stay hidden and let her try her hand at undercover work. The smoke could give his hiding spot away and cause them to lose their chances of finding anything, or even bring attackers down on him.
Nick put the cigarette back in his coat pocket in time to hear Marian screaming in frustration. The synth looked up to see Marian grabbing one of Ferdinand’s harnesses and trying to pull back as the brahmin was running full speed towards Idiot. Nick may be bored waiting for Marian to get her plan started, but at least that stupid animal was preventing her from getting killed by her stupid plan. He decided to buy some corn to reward Ferdinand later.
“No-no-no-no-no!” Marian screamed.
“Hey! Watch it!” Doc Weathers shouted back as her brahmin approached his.
“Hey, wastelander, don’t eye the brahmin,” one of Weather’s caravan guards threatened.
Ferdinand was now behind Idiot, and still trying to get closer.
“I’m trying to prevent brahmies!” Marian cried back as she struggled to pull on the halter and stay on the ground while Ferdinand was showing impressive technique in lifting his upper body.
Nick was starting to worry. It was one thing if all she did was run around the wasteland chasing a worthless animal, but Nick wasn’t sure how to explain to Hancock or Ellie that Marian was crushed by a rutting brahmin.
He was about to fulfill his promise of ending the plan when Weather’s other caravan guard grabbed Marian. “Let go!” the guard ordered before pulling Marian away from the horny animals.
Nick would have to thank her later for saving Marian. The two women got away from the brahmin in time for Ferdinand to bump into the luggage on Idiot’s back, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. He let out a piercing scream of pain and frustration as he tried to right himself. Idiot ran off screaming in fear and indignation.
“What’s going on here?” Weathers asked as he approached Marian. “You have a new outfit; did you give up on the bodyguard thing.”
Marian looked uncomfortable; Nick wondered how she was going to own what she was doing to someone who knew her. “I was getting tired of being hungry all the time,” she told him. “So, I thought I might do better in trade than as a bodyguard.” She lowered her blue eyes like she was embarrassed that she couldn't stay hungry, but chose to change her career path that didn't require running into danger and may even provide for her basic needs.
“You might do better if you charged people,” the male guard grumbled.
“I see that,” Weathers replied to Marian. “What about your clothes and gun?”
“Had to sell them,” she told him. “Brahmins don’t come cheap. I’m paying enough by getting the cheapest one I could.”
She gestured down at Ferdinand who was still screaming for help as he kept trying to roll onto his back. Every rock was stopped prematurely by the luggage on his back, forcing him to continue rocking helplessly back and forth while kicking his legs dangerously and screaming out for help.
Marian went towards the bull, but the female guard stopped her. “I grew up around these things. Trust me, you don’t want to do that. It will trample you without realizing it if you do.”
“He needs help,” Marian pleaded.
Just as she said it, Ferdinand managed to get his legs under him and was standing up again. One of his heads snorted at Marian, while the other one was looking around, probably for Idiot.
“They are smarter than they seem,” the guard finally told Marian. “It looks like you’re having trouble controlling yours.”
“He won’t go where he’s supposed to,” Marian complained. “He just wants to run around everywhere.”
“Let me show you a trick,” the guard said.
She walked up to Ferdinand who had started wandering again. She grabbed the halter to one of his harnesses and pulled him so that he was forced to look at her. Then she reached back and punched him. The brahmin turned his other head towards her and snorted.
“You want a piece of me?” she said.
Ferdinand turned his free head away from her.
“Sometimes you have to show them who’s boss,” the guard said returning to her team. “Now just walk around, it’ll follow. When you start getting a regular route, it’ll learn it and often anticipate it, so you won’t have to worry about being separated from it.”
“Thanks,” Marian said.
“I owed you one.”
“So, we’re even?”
“No.”
Nick was shocked that the guard wanted her debt to Marian to be bigger than Marian wanted it to be. He wondered how many people in the Commonwealth owed Marian a favor. How big were these favors as well? Rumors and gossip were starting to make Marian sound like another legendary vault dweller. Nick had dismissed them, legendary vault dwellers were rare, and they almost never helped the same region another one had helped. Legendary vault dwellers were also more capable than Marian. Still, it was becoming obvious that she was helping people. Even if her pockets were never as full as any vault dweller who ever lived.
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Weathers and his group started walking away, following Idiot’s path toward Finch Farm. Marian turned and started walking the other way towards the National Guard Training Yard. Nick was impressed to see that Ferdinand was following her placidly. Marian passed by the yard and barely glanced at the bus as she walked to County Crossing.
As she entered the settlement, Nick moved in a wide arc to the abandoned power plant across the street. He could stay in the radiation without fear, making it a safe hiding spot.
Ferdinand stopped at the trough and started enjoying a free meal. Marian went to the food shop and exchanged caps for a bag of mutfruit. She approached Ferdinand and placed the bag into the trunk on his back before walking away. The brahmin abandoned his meal to follow her.
Nick watched her walk towards the bridge. He hoped she knew about the fact there was almost always something hostile there. He didn’t think it would help her if she got killed before having to deal with who was attacking Good Neighbor. Still, if she got injured badly enough, maybe he could talk her out of this foolish plan and do things his way.
No such luck, Marian walked past a herd of docile radstag. The ones she approached too closely scattered, while the others ignored her completely. As she crossed the bridge, Nick hurried into the water and swam across the river as quickly and quietly as he could. He hated the water, and he hated swimming. He knew his cigarettes were ruined by the water. Maybe it would be easier for him to keep his promise to her now.
After pulling himself out of the water, Nick looked to see that Marian was barely halfway across the bridge with Ferdinand following dutifully behind her. She seemed to be taking her time in her traveling, probably trying to make it easier for Nick to keep an eye on her and stay hidden himself. As she walked down the streets in the ruined city, he moved around some buildings following in alleys and back streets. The whole time he prayed to the god who listens to synths prayers that he would not stumble into the expected ambush himself.
As he continued to follow her around the US Savings and Loan which now housed an empty ship, he saw they were approaching another bridge. Nick was preparing himself for another swim when he saw a piece of paper. Stray papers were not unusual in the Commonwealth, but this one caught his eye. It was fresh enough to look as if it had recently been discarded. Nick picked it up and moved to a location where he felt he would be safe from unwanted eyes. He held the paper and looked down at it. He barely had time to begin reading it when the gunfire started. Nick pocketed the page in question and hurried to where he could see the fight without anyone seeing him.
Marian was surrounded. She was shooting in seemingly random directions with her pipe pistol while bleeding from several holes in her own body. Ferdinand was fighting with another raider himself and seeming to do a better job than Marian’s gun. Nick wanted to join her in her fight. He pulled out his revolver and held it ready. He knew this was part of the plan, but every wire in him sung with the desire to end the plan for her sake.
One of the raiders who was on the ground ran up to Marian and hit her over the head with a tire iron. Before the bodyguard could fall, the iron hit her arm, causing her to drop her pistol. The raider hit Marian again under the chin, causing her to fall backwards. Nick had to stop himself from running to help her. He turned around, pressing his back to the wall of the building he was hiding behind, trying to focus on why he couldn’t stop what was happening.
Nick forced himself to look again and watch what was happening. Marian was now being held up by two raiders. She was struggling, but it was obvious that it cost her. Finally, a third raider, perhaps the leader of the group, walked up to her and pointed a 10mm pistol at her head.
“Keep fighting, and I’ll end you,” the raider threatened.
Marian let herself go slack between the two other raiders. It seemed that even Ferdinand knew the fight was over and became as docile as his mistress. Three more raiders had moved from their hiding spots closer to her. Nick knew it was too late to do anything to save her now. He had to let this suicidal act play out.
The six raiders dragged a complaint Marian away, with Ferdinand following dutifully behind them. Nick watched helplessly from a distance, trying to remain out of everyone’s line of sight. As they rounded a corner, Nick followed as close as he dared, hoping that some of his famous luck had rubbed off on his partner.
He followed them through the streets of what had once been Boston. He wanted to romanticize the past. He wished he could tell himself this sort of thing would never have happened before the bombs dropped, but he wasn’t naïve enough to convince himself of that. He had memories from before The War, and he saw the worst of people who were around then. The only difference was you disappeared before being dragged around then.
The trip took forever. Every time a raider turned their head, or any noise came from Nick’s general location, the synth was convinced that he was going to get caught. He had done missions like this before, and it never scared him this much. Even when he was captured by Skinny Malone, he wasn’t this scared. But things were always different.
The difference was that he usually worked alone. The difference was that no one else would get hurt who didn’t deserve to get hurt. The difference was being dragged through Boston with an arm which may or may not be broken. The difference was her.
Nick watched as the band turned a corner that made his fluid pump drop. He could feel the rush of lubricants through him as he came to the conclusion that there truly was no god who answered the prayers of a synth. He approached the corner that led to the ally, hoping he was wrong, hoping the seven of them would continue on. Instead, he had to watch as Marian was dragged up the steps with the word “HulluciGen” between two sets of stairs.
“Take this thing to the back door,” the leader ordered the three remaining members of her gang. “Let Cookie know we are having steak tonight.”
Nick risked watching Marian disappear into the building before he could let himself back away. He watched the raiders pass within inches of him. He was glad he didn’t need to breath, or else he was sure they would have caught him by smelling his breath. Ferdinand even had the indignity to snort right at him.
Nick silently said “goodbye” to Marian’s pet as he watched the raiders lead him quietly to the slaughter. The synth was too busy praying that it was only the brahmin who was going to be slaughtered as he quietly forced himself to move away from the building which held the butchers.
When he was a block away from the HulluciGen building, Nick finally allowed himself a moment to look at the offending paper which he picked up shortly before the fight. He pulled it out of his pocked and looked down to read it.
With my blood, I swear my life to my Father. May I be as obedient as a good child should be, and may I protect my brothers and sisters as I would like for them to protect me. Or else may they torture me to death as I deserve.
The wording was too similar for there to be a coincidence. Zeller’s body may be rotting in East Boston Preparatory School, but that doesn’t mean that he did not leave a legacy. Copycats for someone like Zeller was nothing new. Yet this one seemed to be mixing Zeller’s cruelty with a religious bent. The paper had to have been dropped by one of the raiders Marian had fought. Marian had just been sacrificed to someone who may be as bad as Judge Zeller.
“Damn,” Nick said under his breath. He wanted to scream it to the sky, but he was terrified of what would happen to Marian if he did.
Nick ran as fast as he could to Goodneighbor. He remembered hearing stories about how Zeller converted caravans to raiders. Hot irons to feet, starving his prisoners, even threating to feed them to rats while they were still alive. The man’s techniques were medieval, which was almost fitting in this modern setting. No one cried when Nate killed him on Kessler’s request.
Nick knew he wouldn’t be able to save Marian by himself. He needed Hancock and the others to help him. If there was a god who listened to the prayers of a broken-down synth who had long outlived his warranty, Nick hoped that He would keep Marian alive long enough for him to be able to save her.