In an old airship plodding slowly across the sky, still advertising some carnival in Virginia in faded paint where it doesn't now say FLYING TRADER - GUNS AMMO MEDS JUNK CAPS - RADIO 101.3, a scruffy and tired-looking man peers over his map. High above the dangers of the wasteland, the raiders, ghouls, mutants, lunatics, mutated wildlife, and miscellaneous other dangers, staring down in relative safety.

Note to self: Don't try and scavenge near Jefferson Memorial. He hasn't been to Washington proper in a while. Rivet City is still there, that's good. Somewhere near there could be his first stop.

(He surveys places with his telescope and tries to figure out if the Brotherhood of Steel is in the area. They're some of the only ones who could shoot him down if they felt like it, and the ones who might decide they felt like it.)

The surrounds of Rivet City are as desolate as usual, and nothing (for once) fires at him. 

There is a buzz on the radio, someone from the city is hailing him.

Adjust antenna and, "Flying trader here. Guns ammo meds junk caps and reasonable rates. Good morning."

"Welcome back. This is Harkin, head of Rivet City security, informing you that you are welcome to land at the entrance. Will you be requiring additional security at this point?"

"Oh, you guys remember me after all this time! How kind. If you don't mind me deploying turrets and Mr. Gutsys pointing down the approach, I won't be needing additional security."

"Not a problem. Just remember the distance you need to keep, yadda yadda. You know the drill."

The radio cuts off.

He stretches, eats something that is meat and he doesn't want to know beyond that, and then broadcasts on a general line that he's landing at Rivet City in 6 hours and will stay until midnight. Today's specials are (relatively) unmutated potatoes all the way from North Dakota and a special formulation of Jet that should last slightly longer.

If he pays attention below, the bridge to Rivet City swings across to the wrecked ship, to welcome the group of people massing at the entrance.

Probably something going on down there. He doesn't care: More customers when he does land. He'll just float there for now, though, tidying up and organizing the storefront part of his ship.

The mass of people makes their way across the bridge, all noticeably human, and all looking like traders. They look expectantly at Nick's zeppelin, but none are carrying weapons.

Harkin made sure of that.

He lands at appointed time and place. He has the ship drop turrets and robots, looking down away from Rivet City, and puts on that politely bored trader look that seems to work so well.

He does, indeed, have guns, ammo, meds, junk, and caps.

The traders from Rivet City swarm him, but all have good quality stock to sell themselves.

Nick stands to make a few caps today.

How productive. He will buy up some of their stuff - having lots of variety is how you get ahead as a trader, in his opinion. He'll also pay a few caps for random junk and spent ammo, especially spent energy weapon ammo, if anyone brings him those.

The day goes on, the crowd thinning bit by bit. Towards sunset, two things happen. 

Two men, one balding and in a suit, charge across the bridge to Rivet City, the suited one looking ready to murder. 

The other is a ghoul appears, seemingly holding someone up. 

The man does not look well.

A ghoul. (Does he recognize that ghoul?)

Harkin will no doubt handle the suits. Anyway, he shouts to the other pair, "You look like you're in the market for stimpaks! Or perhaps a lift to the local doctor?"

The man mutters something. 

The ghoul groans. “Yes, I know, you have to get to Madison, but you’re barely conscious as it is! One second isn’t going to make Madison any less inside Rivet City.”

To Nick: “Stimpak would be great, thanks.” She digs around in her pocket to produce some caps. 

"Fifteen each. Twelve if you buy ten or more." He types something on a terminal in his shop and a robot picks up a stimpak and starts floating over.

“Cheers.”

She takes one stimpak, gives the robot the amount without haggling, and promptly stabs it into the man’s shoulder. 

“Agh! ...you’re supposed to clean the area first.”

“And you weren’t supposed to run off and get shot. We don’t always get what we want.” 

She discards the empty syringe, pulls James back up, and the two keep heading towards Rivet City. 

“Thanks Nick! See you around sometime,” she calls back to the trader. 

"So I do know you. From somewhere."

...Well, he has Mr. Inventory pick up the empty syringe, since she clearly doesn't want it anymore. He can clean and refill it later.

“You don’t remember? You sent me into that vault a year and a half ago? With the endless clones of a guy named Gary?”

"...Ah. That mess. I'm pretty sure some of the Garys survived, by the way."

“Well, fuck. As long as no one goes back down there, we should be safe from them.”

"To be fair I'm a bit skeptical the equipment is still intact enough to use after what I had Mr. Incendiary do to it."

“Probably the right option, who knows what kind of brain matter I left splattered all over it.”

"Vaults."

“Vaults.”

"...Your friend going to be alright? Sounded like he's the sort to keep charging into trouble. Sounded like he could use some more stimpaks. Armor. Maybe grenades."

“I just need to see Madison,” the man grumbles. 

“Can you, just...wait? For two seconds. You have more bullet holes than unmarked skin.”

To Nick: “He is that sort. On a mission from God,” she says, mockingly.

“I never said that.”

“You non-stop quoted the Bible at me the whole. Way. Here.”

"In Old World history, Venetian merchants were what made the crusade to retake the holy land possible at all."

He doesn't mention that all the Crusades failed, rather spectacularly.

"I do honestly recommend seeing a doctor, however."

“I am a doctor.”

“Prove it. Actually take care of yourself for once.”

Nick doesn’t need to tell her the Crusades failed. She actually remembers parts of her high school history class. 

"I admit to being an unapolagetic coward, but surely you see that if you keel over you'll never see Madison?"

“Listen to that! Someone finally making sense around here.”

He looks helplessly at Rivet City. His goal is so close, but he is a doctor. He knows how badly hurt he is. 

“Fine,” he concedes. “Just a moment though, I have to speak to her.”

“Finally, some sense out of you.” She helps him sit. 

“Madison isn’t going anywhere, and neither is the Memorial. You’re no good to anyone dead.”

"Would this happen to be the Memorial that is rumored to be swarming with Super Mutants?"

“Yep. Thanks Three Dog, for drawing everyone’s attention to it.”

“What do you care about the Memorial?” The man sounds weirdly possessive. 

"I care to avoid it because it sounds dangerous. But that reaction is interesting. I wonder if there's something valuable there?"

“Nothing you can make use of.”

“No one can, James. Or did you forget the reason you tore off across the Wasteland, catching bullets?”

"You might be surprised what I can make use of. I got this hunk of junk back in the air."

"I can assure you, a mere zeppelin pales in comparison to the work you'd have to do on-"

"James. Shut up." She kicks him lightly. 

"Don't mind him. He's had a long week."

"As you say. However, this is not a mere zeppelin. Not anymore."

“It’s certainly...upgraded, since last time.”

"Oh, so you noticed all the guns?" He says without any trace of sarcasm. "Actually, I found an advanced reactor thing, for emergencies. I could be in the New California Republic in thirty-six hours - if I wanted to spray radiation behind me the whole way."

“Well, you can’t make things any worse,” Amy smirks, gesturing at the Waste around her. She notices James attempting to get up, and sighs. 

“What time are you heading off this time?”

"Midnight. Or the arrival of hostile parties. Whichever is first."

Amy laughs. “Yeah, fair point well made. Well, if you can fend off the hoards, I have a favour to ask on behalf of-“ She nods over at James. 

"Hm. Well, it's always about the risk versus the reward. I'm not saying no, I'm saying if there's something you don't want to fight alone it'd better be a nice reward."

“Oh, I wouldn’t do anything without promising a reward. After all, I’m not doing it for free.”

She turns to head back to James, looping an arm back around his waist to help him up. She calls over to Nick. “You more of a beer guy or a whisky guy?

"I am not an alcohol guy. Chems are the mind-killer. If other people want to buy 'em, more power to 'em, but not me."

“All the power to ya, and more for me.” She salutes him and then they too head inside Rivet City. 

A few hours go by and Amy re-emerges. The sun has well and truly set.

Nick is doing things to a robot. Most everyone who wants to trade has come and gone already.

Amy takes a swig from a bottle of brown liquid as she heads over to Nick, stopping a little ways from him to search for something. 

Something shimmers towards her, like someone using a Stealth Boy. 

Amy smiles, and seemingly pats the air. She then goes all the way back to Nick. 

“What variety of macabre is this going to be?” She asks, frowning at the robot. 

"You have a shadow. I recommend the shadow backs off."

“You remember my little pal, Edward, don’t you?”

The shadow makes a nasal gurgle. 

Sigh. "Yes. And since you asked, I'm making space for a rocket launcher."

“Oh, wow. That is so cool.” She leans over to get a better look. “Much easier than carrying it yourself.”

"That is the point of using robots. They're incredibly stupid, though. The hard part is making sure it doesn't blow up its friends."

“That may be true for robots, but it’s also very true for humans as well. Raiders. So dumb.”

Shrug.

He picks his saw back up and bends over the 'bot again.

Amy watches Nick work for a few minutes, taking swigs of bourbon and occaisionally patting the stealthed centaur behind her. 

“So,” She starts, breaking the silence. “The favour I was gonna ask.”

"Do explain what you want my 'bots to shoot."

“You ever heard of a GECK?”

"...Serious business you're talking about, there. Maybe more serious than atom bombs."

(He's clearly intrigued, though.)

“James, the half-dead man I dragged past you earlier, needs one to finish Project Purity. It’s this thing he’s built inside the Jefferson Memorial like...nineteen years ago.”

She takes another swig. “It’s gonna purify all the water in the Potomac. Free, clean water for all. Nice thought, isn’t it?”

"If the world's ever gonna be like it was pre-war..." Sigh. "Yeah. Nice thought. Nice thoughts don't pay bills. If we cleaned up the world, wouldn't someone just blow it up again eventually?"

“Ha, yeah, I said the same thing to James. His response was ‘does that mean we shouldn’t try anyway?’” Amy puts on a gruff, idealistic voice. She then laughs. 

“I told him it was stupid. All of us are gonna be ghouls in few more years and by then no one’s gonna care about radiation.”

Something in her face hardens a bit. “Then he promised me a way to take down the Brotherhood, and a girl has to take that chance when she gets it.”

"I'm not saying 'no'. And maybe we won't blow it up again eventually. One can hope." He doesn't comment on ghoulishness. If he ever gets he fill of rads there's probably places in Canada or the empty Pacific he can go. The oceans are goddamn huge and surely aren't all radioactive.

“One can hope,” she agrees. 

She drains the last of her bottle, and throws it behind her. She hears it smash against a rock. 

“Here’s the deal. You help me find what Vault around here has a GECK, and I’ll plunder whatever else you want me to out of it. Tech, parts, whatever.”

"Well, I did get something usable out of the Gary fiasco... With the caveat that I will bug out - and try to get you too - if it gets too hot, and I won't go straight up against the Brotherhood for pretty much any reason, I think I can work with that."

“Can’t argue with that logic.” She holds out a hand to shake. “Won’t promise I won’t try and go toe-to-toe with the Power-Armoured jackasses but I won’t drag your zeppelin into it.”

"I appreciate it."

“Also, no shooting at Edward. He’s very peaceful. And I don’t want his new shirt getting holes.”

"If he doesn't do anything the 'bots decide is a threat, he won't get shot."

“He never has or will.”

She stares pointedly at the way in. “Welcoming me aboard, captain?”

"I don't have anything that could be considered accommodations. If you two are okay with sleeping in a corner of the hold you can come aboard."

She shrugs. “We’ve slept on worse.”

Gurgle of agreement. 

"Get in, then. I'm going to call it a day now. We can go where we need to shoot tomorrow."

"Sounds good!" Amy leads her stealthed companion to the door and lets them both in, reaching to a pocket of space to switch something.

Edward materialises, now wearing what appears to be a Christmas sweater, with a utility belt around his waist. One thing clipped to it is a Stealth Boy. 

He shakes his body, mouth-tentacles flapping wildly, and then bounces excitedly on his feet-hands.

Amy laughs, and reaches up to rub his head. 

"Any where off limits?" She asks Nick.

Gross.

"The doors will be locked and alarmed if so. Refrain from bothering me during takeoff preparations, if you please."

He unlocks the door from the terminal.

Amy salutes, then leads Edward inside, to a bare patch of floor big enough for Edward to lay down comfortably. She swings her pack off, leans it agains the wall. 

She settles against Edward, watching Nick.

He tidies up, sets things to guard mode, and retreats to other parts of the ship expeditiously.

Amy cuddles into Edward, flicks her Pip-Boy on and starts to read something.

Edward leans into the wall to get as comfortable as he can, and it's not long before he's making soft, nasal sighs in his sleep.

The ship lifts off remarkably gently, a low nuclear thrum somewhere behind the walls. It stays airborne, going out over the sea, until morning.

Amy is awake first, and while she is sorely tempted to go picking through Nick's stuff, she is also very aware of the bots in the room with her. 

Plus, Nick's useful. She doesn't want to piss him off. Right now, anyway. 

So she stays where she is, playing a game on her Pip-Boy.

The bots are definitely watching her. They notice she's awake and wake up Nick.

Half an hour or so later his voice comes through an intercom. "Good morning, sunshine. Where am I dropping you off, again?"

"God? Is that you?"

Edward startles to life, gurgling worriedly.

His eyes then wide in wonder, and he gets up to shuffle over to the nearest window, making very excited noises.

Amy laughs, and follows him over, watching fondly as he bounces.

"Well, we've got two options. Either you can help me out and go into the Citadel to bargain with the Brotherhood for information, or you could take me to the Vault-Tec headquarters. That's in DC."

They've over the ocean. The coast is visible in the distance.

"DC it is. I told you yesterday, I do not want to remind the Brotherhood I exist. I'll come get you to point it out more exactly in two hours."

Intercom clicks off. Zeppelin starts to turn.

"Either do I," she mutters quietly. Not that it really matters, everyone who knew her was probably dead by this point. "Just thought you might like to make my part easier," she says to Nick.

"No. I don't go up against the Brotherhood, the Enclave, NCR, or any other organization with the power and reach to squish me if they care too much, without an extremely good reason. The thing you're looking for information on, which may or may not actually exist, is not a good enough reason yet."

She would love to argue the validity and existence of the information, but Nick hasn’t been around as long as she has. He hasn’t delved into Vault-tec history like her. So why would he know? 

“Smart way to be, especially with the way the Enclave seems to be mowing down settlements.”

"Well, you know me. If I don't have four different ways to get the hell out of dodge I start getting anxious."

"And that's probably why you've lived this long and will outlive us all," Amy laughs.

"It's a contributing factor."

“Yes, the chem-free lifestyle. You’ll tell me you’re vegan next.”

"Red meat is a cancer risk factor."

Amy throws her head back and laughs. “Yep, cancer. The number one risk out there.”

She looks out to the wasteland. “Don’t worry about that too much, you got free chemo anytime you go near a detonation site.”

"I have a lead suit. And scrubbers, and rad-away."

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much. The wildlife is more likely to kill you than a tumour.” 

She strokes Edward’s head, as if to say sorry. 

"It might well be heart disease or stroke or pneumonia or me cutting my hand off by accident, going by the incredibly boring actuarial tables I got out of a New York skyscraper once."

New York. Wow. She hasn’t thought about that place for a while. 

“You do get around,” she says. 

"I have a blimp, what do you expect me to do, putter around the same fifty miles of coastline forever?"

“You’re speaking to someone without that privilege. Takes me a lot longer than 36 hours to get to California.”

And why would she leave the Capital? It has the only safe and hidden ghoul sanctuary she knows of.

"Speaking of which, I'm assuming Vault-Tec HQ is pretty obvious from the air? Going in from the roof might be an option, depending on things."

“I can’t really be sure what it looks like from the air, but it did have a huge sign out the front, with the symbol. That might be visible?”

She looks out the window, squinting, as if trying to see how close it is. “It’s just outside DC, in a kind of...industrial area? As close as you can get to one that close to the President’s house.”

"Office park? Industrial park? Whatever it's called... Yeah, I think I see it on my map, I'll poke you when we're there."

"I'll keep enjoying the view!" 

She and Edward crowd against a window, watching the world roll by beneath them.

That's Washington, alright.

Some bots are assembling into line and spouting macho lines. "Objective: Retake building. Those commies won't stand a chance!"

Amy salutes them merrily. “We’ll get those Reds, fellas!”

Edwards tries to shrink behind Amy, making worried huffs.

"No need to worry, I have their threat detection well and truly hacked. Though if nothing has to shoot anything that's always less risky, of course. ETA two minutes and there's a clear spot on the top of the tower, thank you for flying Scrapheap Airways."

Amy laughs. “Your company was a pleasure, as always,” She jokes to the intercom. 

In the two minutes before they land, she checks both her pistols. Then considers her pack, she could leave it here, though if he takes off without her, that’s all her belongings gone. Might be taking trust a bit too far. 

Instead, she gives it to Edward, tying the straps over his chest. 

He bounces excitedly with his new responsibility. 

"The bots know what kinds of scavenge I want. I'll be keeping station above and relaying commands to them. Prepare for deboarding."

The zeppelin scrapes and clatters into place. "Also, it's not a crash if you can fly away after."

Robots file out, brandishing weapons.

“Flawless logic.”

Amy files out with the bots, Edward following behind. “See you in a few hours!”

Zeppelin takes off.

One of the combat robots reminds her, "Loaded for bear and ready for orders, sarge!"

“All right boys, full sweep. Anything moves or shakes, we take it down. Unless it’s human and talks first,” Amy says, holding in a laugh. 

She heads for the nearest entry point. It’s locked, and she could pick it, but why do that when you are accompanied by a living battering ram? 

“Edward? Little help, bud?”

Edward sizes up the door, then throws his entire body against it. It only takes two tries before the door splinters apart. 

He makes a triumphant sigh. 

"Good breach. Let's move out! Orders from top say to recover stuff for the eggheads!" Robots start through the door.

Amy follows them in, Edward squeezing in behind her. The staircase only heads down one floor, and lets out into what seems to be offices. A few still have plaques on the doors displaying who used to own them. 

“Hmmm. We need someone relatively high up...” she muses to herself. The first few offices seem to be for management or admin, neither of which will tell her which Vault has a GECK. She keeps heading along. 

The first floor looks out to the ground floor, ostensibly a showroom for Vault-tec. 

According to schematics for the building, there is a basement floor. 

"Hey, sarge, command says they've got some gizmo to see through the floor if we need it."

No luck on this floor. She gets to the end of the row and finds herself in sales of all things. She turns back, heading for the stairwell.

“We’ll need it, soldier. Ground floor it is.”

"Supply run boys, let's go! L-Z is on the roof!"

About half the bots head back upstairs without her.

Amy heads downstairs, leading the way to the show room. Maybe the boys will be able to tunnel down, if there’s no obvious way down. 

As soon as Amy emerges onto the main floor, there’s a murderous, joyful scream. 

“HUUUUUUMAAAAAAANS!”

“Aw, hell.”

Amy unholsters her pistols. 

Nick's robots have rather a lot of firepower to unleash.

They start to fan out aggressively for a few seconds, then shift tactics as one.

"Fire and maneuver! Drop incendiaries and let the reds walk into hell!"

“KILL THE HUMAN!” 

There’s at least ten of them, four rushing at Amy with what looks like iron bars. There’s still lumps of concrete attached to them. 

The rest are firing at the group from the walls. 

Amy starts firing, but is more than confident that the bots will get to them quicker than she will. 

“Edward, back upstairs!” She calls behind her, and hears an affirmative, nasal response as Edward clambers back up the stairs.

Robots follow Amy and Edward back up the stairs, shooting back all the way, and throw a bunch of grenades down.

One of the super mutants near the outside windows suddenly turns into paste with a loud explosion, a smoke trail leading into the sky.

The grenades go off on two more super mutants!

The last two melee-weapon-wielding super mutants get close enough to take swings at the bots in front of Amy. 

The bots have zappy things and shout insults! They're hardened, they can take a hit or two, even from super mutants. Probably. Their friends keep shooting.

As the bots take the hits, Amy fires twice into each of the super mutant's heads. 

They go down.

There's still four left on the far wall, though they seem to be trying to find out where the rocket came from, screaming furiously.

Where the rocket came from is happy to send one more their way, at a particularly still-looking Super Mutant.

A few of the bots take damage, none completely go down. "For freedom!" They shout, "CHAAARGE!"

The last three super mutants left let out their own scream, and start charging towards the bots.

Amy moves forward with them, only far enough to take cover behind what seems to be a vault door demonstration, and takes quick shots at the super mutants. 

The bots seem able to do the heavy lifting for her, this fight anyway.

They're good at hitting big, charging targets on open ground with automatic fire, yeah.

The last super mutant goes down, screaming incoherently.

Amy sticks her head out, scanning around for any additional mutants, but can see nothing. That's enough to convince her, who's ever heard of a stealthy super mutant?

"Good job boys, that'll make the commies think twice about coming back!" She calls out to the bots.

"Area cleared, good job squad!"

"The reds'll think twice before trying to take back this building!"

"Aww, I didn't get to use my flamethrower."

"Yeah, please don't use that in here," Amy remarks. "We got that device yet? I wanna see what's in Vault-tec's basement."

She pokes around the room, looting the mutants for ammo and junk to sell in the meantime.

"Almost here."

"Uhh, hey lady, command says that enough ammo and cash to replace what we shot is ours."

Amy gestures around the room. "Have at, guys. Though if you find any fusion cells, let me know."

The robots loot! And start looking over the showroom pieces for any that are particularly not-plastic-models.

The scanny device arrives.

Amy is poking through the systems of what looks like a pod of some sort when it arrives.

"All right, let's see what's hiding below." 

Robot points the scanny thing at various things!

"Hope the egghead can make sense of these numbers because I sure can't!"

Amy snorts. 

She follows the bots around, keeping an eye on the data until-

"Hold up, we got something." Amy takes a closer look, then grins. "Yep, we've got a huge space below. Now we just need a way down."

A red-and-orange striped robot holds up a bundle of red, duct-taped sticks and declares, "I have bombs!"

"Hold up tiger," the one with chevrons says. "This is a salvage mission. Bombs destroy salvage."

"Yes...also we want the building intact. Won't do us much good to be buried by rubble."

Amy taps a finger on her chin, thinking. "We need a floor layout. A proper one. I'll head back upstairs and see if any of the admin computers will give us any joy."

"A squad, escort detail on the intel officer! B squad, scan the walls and equipment!"

Amy salutes the bot. "Back up we go."

She leads the way, Edward joining them, back into the office floor. She heads back to the far end, to the closed off offices. She stops in front of one, squinting to read the plaque, but can only make out 'manager'. "Hopefully that's not janitorial manager," she mutters, and sets to work picking the lock. Once it's open, she slips inside.

She boots up the computer, and plugs her Pip-boy into the side, hacking her way through in seconds, before pulling up files. She goes through them quickly, finding a decent amount of information on the placement of Vaults, though nothing on what was inside them, but finally manages to find the floor plan. "All right. Fellas! Back downstairs."

(Bots loot random junk, as long as there's nothing else going on.)

"Roger roger."

Amy hands over a small piece of tech, salvaged from the computer. "This is for command. Something easily yanked by someone who knows how." 

She leads them back downstairs, using the floor plan to locate the secret elevator. Once she does, she presses the V on the Vault-tec, and the wall slides neatly away. "Nice to see some things still work."

Sarge and the bot crew follow her in. "This thing is a choke point if anything is still alive down there..."

Luckily for them, the elevator is a cargo one, built for bringing supplies up and down, though how they did that and kept it secret is anyone's guess.

"Good point. Try to stay on either side of the doors when they open. Hopefully we'll just find relics down there," Amy says as she pushes the one button, marked L-1.

The elevator shudders, then closes, taking them down below.

Once the elevator stops, Amy presses herself against the wall, bracing herself. The doors ding, a metallic voice announces "Floor Negative One", and then the elevator opens. 

Nothing. 

Amy pokes her head out, but can see or hear no enemies. "All right. Fan out. There could be anything down here."

"Stay frosty, boys. Nobody move without someone covering you."

As they move around the room, there's several scraping noises, as if something in here is pushing furniture out of its way.

Edward whimpers.

Bots point guns at any sounds but refrain from talking or shooting.

Amy shines her torch behind every shadow, trying to find the source of the sound. 

It seems to be coming from the wall to the right, heading closer all the while. If it's a feral, she needs to be ready.

It is not a feral ghoul. 

A half-finished synth drags itself across the floor, head jolting back and forth, wires inside the metal casing sparking.

SYNTH! Open fire!

"WAIT! Wait, wait!" Amy yells. "We want it intact for command!"

...Fine, cease fire. Flamethrower bot whacks a wall frustratedly and puts out his pilot light.

Amy goes through her pack (Edward lowers himself a little so she can reach) and pulls out a small blue energy cell. She attaches it to her pistol, lets it integrate into the systems, and then fires once into the synth's head. It goes motionless, head hitting the concrete floor with a clang.

"All right. Someone grab that, and we'll start heading further in."

Once one of the bots has the synth, Amy starts heading further down the row, the rest of the bots spreading out in the room. It seems to have a similar layout to the office floor, but much larger, and half the room is empty except for a few glass cells. Amy inspects one, and finds some sort of residue at the bottom. She can't tell exactly what it is, but it makes her uneasy. It makes her wonder if they were used to test the experiments that they would eventually inflict on Vaults.

She backs away, shoving that thought aside. Nothing she can do about that for now.

Amy heads back to the rows of computers, sliding into the seat in front of a random one. She boots it up, and plugs in her Pip-boy.

From there, it's a simple case of hacking through security to get to the files. She blanches at the list of Vaults, there are so many. She also knows that most of these will not be 'control' vaults, left to just live, survive. Most of them, the much larger percent will have tortured their inhabitants. There's a Vault-tec mug on the desk.

Amy picks it up, stands, and throws it as hard and as far as she can, and feels better for hearing it smash.

She then gets to work narrowing down the list of Vaults that could contain the GECK.

Well, there's nothing for the bots to shoot. Nick is looking through their cameras over her shoulder, though.

His voice comes through one. "Evil sods. Selling tickets wasn't enough, that had to go back on it and do science, too... As if it was even going to matter after the bombs fell."

"There's a theory amongst us who lived Before that it was Vault-tec that started the bombing. So that they would definitely get their test subjects, no ifs or buts about it. No one really knows for certain. Not any more."

"What a goddamn short-sighted stupid thing to so. I never saw the world before the war but by god the bombs are the biggest waste in all of history. Who even invented nukes?"

"The good ol' US of A. And then bombed themselves into oblivion. Smart of them, hey?"

Sigh. "Well, once you have some tech you surely won't decide to go back to not having it. Especially once the reds have their own nukes. And they lasted, what, at least a hundred years with 'em?"

"Things were good, for a while. I don't remember much, it's been too long, but I remember not being frightened of the bombs. Knowing they weren't actually going to be used. That they were...deterrents. But once you've built a big, powerful weapon, you want to see what it does, after all."

She narrows the list down to the Vaults in the area, marking off the ones James had checked and the ones Amy had plundered. That left her with plenty to go through, but she'd do that back in Rivet City with James. She doesn't want to be down here anymore.

"All right, I've got my list, you've got a new toy to play with, I'm calling this a success. Heading back to you now."

"Right. Right... Stay sharp. It's not a success until we're in the sky."

"True that." 

Amy leads the bots and Edward back to the elevator, and then back up the way they came without incident. She does pause on the showroom floor for the bots, if they would like to loot through the tech on display.

Looting ensues. The bots find a few nuclear batteries in some of the display pieces!

They stay alert on the way back to the roof.

Nothing else attacks them on the way back, and they make it back upstairs and onto the roof without further incident. 

"We're home! Open up!" Amy calls once they get back to Nick's zeppelin.

Bots push the pair in and pile themselves in after and the zeppelin thunders into the sky before the door is even closed behind them.

"Woah- Jesus." Amy stumbles into the room, and grabs onto the closest fixed object to steady herself.

Edward falls into the wall, and just stays there. He does whimper slightly, but settles once the zeppelin slows.

"Rather speedy exit there. We got something on our tail I don't know about?"

"Raiders taking potshots at me every couple of minutes. Nothing heavy, but they could get lucky. Thus the hurry."

"Fair point."

Amy heads over to Edward and slumps next to him, already going through the information gleaned from Vault-tec. There's a few different Vaults she could try in the area, but she'd rather go back over this with James. He might have a better idea of where to start.

"Yep... There will be some turbulence as we avoid a radiation storm over New York. Aside from that, estimated travel time for Scrapheap Airlines flight zero zero one to Rivet City is five hours twenty minutes."

"Excellent. I will be recommending your service to my friends, which largely consist of Edward and that's probably it."

She retrieves some food from her pack, and after helping Edward eat some, she settles back down with her share.

The flight is quiet.

A robot drags the disabled synth into the workshop section at some point.

The synth is remarkably intact, it still has all of its plastic coverings. It would be easy to assume that the insides worked just fine still too. 

The mystery is, why did the secret Vault-tec basement lab have a synth?

Presumably because the goddamn Institute found the place and was using it for something or other. Or something. The secret basement wasn't that hard to find.

Maybe Vault-Tec invented synths, it wouldn't really surprise him at this point.

Anyway, he's here for the tech first and info second. But info is easier to get before you disassemble everything. He plugs in a terminal disconnected from other systems - security! - to try and pick apart the synth's memory.

The synth is reluctant to give up its secrets at first, firewalls slamming down with each hacking attempt, but it is an old enough model that persistent was enough to crack it. 

Once it has its secrets bared, Nick can note two major things. 1) that the synth was made in the last 30 years and 2) it ran away of its volition, from a shadowy organisation known only as the Institute. 

Yep, the Institute. There's only room for so many shadowy organizations, isn't there? Someone might pay for the information, though that's always tricky business. Still, one managed to rebel? Hmm... 

(Go away, squishy feelings.)

...He tries to see if the brain is irretrievably fried or if he could possibly disconnect the limb controls and boot it back up. He'd like to know more about that disabling cartridge Amy has anyway and an analysis will provide clues.

As he breaks through another firewall, some more snippets of information can be gleaned.
1) that it escaped just a week prior to Amy and the bots discovering it
2) that it wanted to be called 'Chester' and use male pronouns
3) it has a map of Boston hidden away, with a lantern symbol over one particular building

As for analysis of systems, Amy's weapon has fried the systems so they overloaded and the synth 'died', but all are intact and can be rebooted. Nick can try for a clean reboot to bring 'Chester' back, or wipe the memories away and be rewarded with a new bot to play with.

Hideout? Institute location? Treasure cache? Lantern: Possible Underground Railroad reference. Not enough information. And he's reluctant to throw himself into involvement with all this Institute stuff anyway.

New bots are always nice, but synths are creepy. And Chester here is already badly damaged.

He'll leave the brain for now, indecisive as usual, and play with some of the parts, trying to non-destructively glean any shiny tech secrets they might hold. He investigates the doodads from the rest of the building while he's at it.

They approach Rivet City.

The synth has no objections to tinkering. It is, after all, 'dead'.

Amy and Edward have moved to by the window, Amy sitting on the nearest bench, scrolling through her Pip-boy, with a furrow in her brow, but she seems quite content.

He doesn't even use the intercom this time! He comes through the bay door and says, "That electro-shock round or whatever it was is a nice toy, left that synth completely intact. I could probably even wake him up. Don't suppose I can buy some?"

"Thought you might like that. Very handy against bots, though the sentrybots can take a few rounds to go down." 

She slides off the workbench, and goes through her pack, pulling out a blue cartridge. "I'll give it to you in exchange for a favour," she says. She sounds like she already knows what she's going to ask for.

She's not one to underestimate or dismiss, he's learned that much. "The exchange rate on favors can get pretty bad, though our little expedition went well. Do expand on the services requested."

"Help James get Project Purity started again. You've got heaps of engineering expertise, we need that. James and Madison need all the help they can get. I know shit all about this stuff. I'm here to shoot at things that come too close."

She tosses the cartridge between her hands without looking.

"I do have heaps of engineering expertise. The problem with that favor, however, is that it is a very big favor, and one I have no way of knowing exactly how big it even is. I have no proper idea how difficult completing this project will be, what my prospective coworkers are like beyond a quick look at James, what opposition or interest I will attract - by the way, have you heard of The Institute?"

(Speaking in capital letters is an occasionally useful skill.)

"I get that you put your own skin first, Nick, I do. God knows I've had to do it a few times myself. But this is bigger than us. Bigger than anyone. This is a small step to making people better. Healthier. But if you don't want to, I won't stop you. You're right. I don't know what sort of opposition we will have. I guess I'm just willing to hope that people will see the value of this and leave us alone. I know it's naive, you don't have to tell me that."

She frowns. "I've heard of them, but they're whispered about like the bogeyman in Boston. Aside from that, no."

"I am now three standard deviations confident that they exist and are a credible threat if they decide to dislike you. They make synths, apparently. Are making, as of a couple weeks ago. Boston was mentioned a lot in those records."

"No wonder the people of Boston are afraid of them. I don't think I'd be ecstatic to have murderous robots being made in my city. Do you know where in the city they're coming from?" 

"I do not. I did find out that not all Synths are perfect slaves, apparently, and a potential location of interest. But all this is something for later, is it not? We're getting close to Rivet City again."

Amy runs a hand over her head, clenching her fist on the top, as if she was gathering a handful of hair that she no longer has. 

“Yeah, seems that way. I’m looking forward to a drink.”

She replaces the blue cartridge back into her pack.

"And such a big favor for only a few rounds is a bad deal anyway. I'm gonna go start the final approach now."

“Oh, I didn’t mention James invented them and could give you instruction on how to make them yourself? How silly of me,” Amy says, leaning against the wall.

"Hmph. Then perhaps I should be making a deal with James directly. At any rate, it's time to land. Fasten your seatbelts. Oh wait..."

Out he goes. Zeppelin turns and descends.

Of course he wants to deal with the smoothskin. She should've seen that coming. 

Once the zeppelin lands, she switches Edward's Stealth-boy on. "You coming, Nick?"

"They won't let me bring my bots in. But I might stretch my legs some anyway."

"Come on, then." She exits the zeppelin, heading for the bit of ruin that holds the intercom to Rivet City.

He follows. Subtly armored and an energy weapon in a holster.

Amy presses the intercom button. "Hiya Harkin. I'm back!"

"Don't push your luck, zombie."

The bridge to Rivet City slowly swings around.

"He loves me, really," Amy says to Nick.

"'Zombie' isn't even technically accurate. You're not mindless and I'm pretty sure you don't want to eat human flesh. I mean, ferals, maybe, but not sane ghouls."

"You'll find most people equate me to my feral fellows. I'm ticking time bomb, apparently."

The bridge settles into place and Amy starts across.

"I think it's sort of like they used to be to the Negros in the civil war. Naturally violent. Not trustworthy. Bah. People are idiots."

"True. You hear one rumour that someone different turned violent and suddenly every single one is a violent threat."

"It's 'cause we're all bloody-minded social animals running off stone-age survival heuristics like 'guy from other tribe wants to steal my food!' until you actually think about things."

"Thinking is definitely not a well-used commodity these days."

She offers Harkin a smirk as they go past, letting herself into the ship.

Harkin curses under his breath, but the word "...feral-to-be jackass."

"Yep. Good old civilization."

“You get used to it after long enough,” Amy comments with an eye roll. 

She heads down the stairwell, going down two flights of stairs. 

Nick follows. Market visit can come later, he may as well see what she's up to until she tells him to bugger off.

She opens another door and leads Nick down a corridor, and then one more door and then Rivet City’s lab is sprawled our before them. 

“Honey, I’m hooooome!” Amy calls.

James looks up from his experiment to grin at Amy. “I hope your hunt was successful!” He calls back.

He catches sight of Nick and frowns, looking concerned. 

"She might be super mutant food right now if not for some firepower, lent, you know. It would have been a much closer fight, at any rate."

"Then thank you. It doesn't explain what you're doing here, however."

"James, play nice." She gives him a quick hug once she reaches him.

He hugs her back (though he lingers a little once she starts to pull away).

"Nick is here because he wants to find out how you made the EMP cells, and also because if you do that he might help out with the Project. He knows a lot of engineering. He could help."

"It does sound like a very noble project. Clean water for all is step one of actual civilization, even if a real government would be able to levy taxes to maintain it. I think I want to invite you for a tour of my workshop to show just how I could help. It's just... Attracting the attention of powerful enemies could be bad for my health."

"I can guarantee that contaminated water is worse."

"I mean, if you're offering tours of your workshop I'd be interested," Amy pipes up.

"Well, I have water purifiers. Powerful enemies are more dangerous to me. Workshop tours I can do though."

"This is about more than purifying a bottle at a time. This is instantaneous, immediate purification. Of all water in the Potomac. If Amy is right about you, I don't need proof. If she's wrong, well. Both of us are pretty good shots."

"It's times like this I miss Catherine. You need to calm down, Amy's not wrong about people." A Chinese woman in her late thirties emerges from behind a large...instrument. She holds out a hand to shake. "Madison Lee. You'll be working mostly with me."

"Aha, so this project isn't just two bickering wastelanders. The more hands, the better, for big things like this." Handshake.

"You'll find it's a group of bickering wastelanders, actually," Madison says warmly. 

She gestures at a few other white-coat wearing people. "The rest of the group."

"As long as someone calls shots, bickering wastelanders can accomplish impressive things. Is there a technical specification I should read somewhere?"

"No, no blueprints here. It's all at the Memorial. We didn't trust anyone outside us to keep it safe. The obvious problem being we now don't have them. We need to clear out the squatters first."

"What kind of squatters?"

"Super mutants, remember? They've decided to be scientists. Or just enjoy living in the shadow of the past."

"We can't clear them on our own. We need-"

"No."

"I don't actually recall you mentioning super mutants off the top of my head. They won't be scared or shooed out, I bet. But my little army can, in all likelihood, deal with super mutants. I'd just need some ammo or junk to make up for what I spend on 'em."

"We're well supplied, thanks to Rivet City, you will be resupplied."

"I'll show you how to make the EMP cells as well."

"Now, that's a compelling offer. Any combatants want to come along for the ride other than Miss Amy, here?"

"Count me in."

"Are you sure? We want you intact, the Project is your baby after all."

"I'm sure. Some things you have to see for yourself."

"If I change my former answer to yes, will you stay behind?" Amy can't look him in the eye.

"No," James says, and gently grips her shoulder.

Personal history. Who cares. Nick doesn't. "All aboard that's coming aboard by five PM."

Amy sighs. "Why wait? We're all here now. Let's get started."

"I have shopping and tinkering to do first. Going to put that enhanced targeting chip we found on my rocket launcher."

"See you at 5, then." She goes to look at what Madison is doing.

James watches her go a little forlornly. 

He then turns to Nick. "Need a hand?"

"I can probably handle it, but it's as good a time as any to show you my workshop and see if anything looks useful for the project. Sure."

"Excellent. Lead the way."

Out they go. Here's a quick tour of his very nice zeppelin. He's made a lot of minor improvements and a few major ones over the years. And here's his workshop. The synth is still hooked up to his terminal, but he heads over to another bench where the rocket launcher and a lot of circuitry is laid out.

"Hello, what have we here?" James goes over to look at the synth. "Very curious. Haven't seen one this intact before. They usually stick to the Boston wasteland."

"Don't touch that. I'm still deciding what to do with him."

James lifts his hands above his shoulders. "Cross my heart. What decision is there to be made?"

"Turns out this one... Rebelled or something. Could be interesting to see what he thinks. Maybe figure out a way to make more of them rebel and weaken the Institute a whole lot."

"You're deciding whether to revive him or not?" James asks the question like the answer should be obvious.

"Correct."

"Lots of bots, not a lot of humans. You enjoy playing God."

"Bots aren't people. I wrote half their brains and they're incredibly stupid. Synths, though..." Shrug. "I'm not quite sure. But if you're going to insult me to my face you can get out of my ship. Right now."

James raises his hands again. "Amy says we need you. I trust her. I don't have to like you. You don't have to like me either."

He turns away from the synth, seemingly ready to lay their disagreement aside.

"...Fair enough."

Rocket launcher! The targeting chip is a neat predictive aiming package. Getting it to talk to the ship's scanners will make it even more effective.

James, while not hugely familiar with weaponry, knows plenty enough about circuitry to be a significant help.

"Some of this pre-war tech is pretty amazing. Looks like it has a way to talk to missiles, too, if I made missiles that will listen. Seems expensive for single-use weapons though. Maybe if you put a mini-nuke on them it'd be worth it."

"If I never see a mini-nuke again, it'll be too soon. How the Enclave got their hands on some I'll never know."

"...Ouch. I mean, slightly-less-mini nukes are not hard to make if you get your hands on enough quality nuclear material. Just kind of incredibly dangerous, which is why I don't touch it."

"Plus messing around with technology we weren't ready for is exactly how this-" He gestures to the wastelands, "-happened."

"Right. All in all, I'm going to ignore that feature."

"Probably for the best. We won't need it for the Memorial any how. Too close quarters."

"Yep, SMGs and lasers all the way for that one. Minimal impact on the heavy scientific gear - if they haven't destroyed it all already."

“We locked the door pretty securely. And we had turrets in the main room set up, should anyone breach the door. Though you’re right, nineteen years is a long time.”

"We'll see..."

Tinkering continues. Eventually, he lifts off and heads towards the memorial.

Amy and Edward join them at 5, and over the short flight to the Memorial, Amy and James exchange quiet words in a corner.

"Let the bots take hits whenever possible. I can fix 'em with the supply you promised me. Meat doesn't fix as easily."

He'll earn more in the long run if his employers live to see tomorrow.

"Agreed," Amy says to James.

James gives her a very sad look.

"Hmph. ETA, 8 minutes."

The zeppelin turns.

Amy takes apart her pistols, fits them with red energy cells, inspects the parts, and puts them back together.

James simply looks out the window, tapping his thigh with one finger.

Edward bounces nervously.

"Robots lead the way!" They stream out of the airship as soon as it lands, holding fire until they're noticed. If that's immediately, they're equipped to disembark buns blazing.

The few super mutants hanging around outside take shots at the zeppelin as it approaches, and then let out guttural screams and charge once they spot the robots.

"Stay here, Edward. James." Amy charges her pistols and exits with the robots.

Edward wraps a slimy tentacle around James's arm to keep him in the zeppelin.

The bots aren't as good at aiming as a human, but super mutants are big targets and they are spending a prodigious amount of ammo, very fast.

"I'm gonna take off and get the hell out of here if I see explosives or a minigun or something like that, by the way."

"They're not smart enough to use that. Besides, the bots and Amy are smart enough to take them down."

He's looking rather forlornly at the fight.

"The bots aren't that smart, the performance you're seeing is me making on-the-fly corrections over here."

The stream of reinforcing super mutants continues to run into bullets and lasers and Flamethrower Bot's exultant scream at finally using his weapon on something.

The super mutants finally lay dead, the ones outside the Memorial at least.

"We're heading in, we'll signal once its clear," Amy says to a bot, knowing Nick is listening.

"Roger that. Give us thirty seconds to reload everything first."

The bots follow her in when that time is up.

Inside the Memorial are high, but not very wide rooms and hallways. The main room has the turrets set up, as James said, but they are defunct. The main door to the purifier is still firmly closed. 

Between them and the door, however, are some very angry enemies.

And their pets.

The bots freeze for one and a half seconds, then concentrate fire on the super mutants and ignore the centaurs.

The centaurs don't take kindly to their masters being shot at. With high, gurgling streaks they approach in that slow, menacing, sickly way, tentacles slapping at bots, trying to get firm holds to drag them to the ground.

Amy focuses on them, managing to drop one, even as her heart clenches to think of Edward.

Okay then. Nick misjudged. Or something.

As soon as she starts firing at the centaurs the bots return to normal firing pattern: FIRE EVERYTHING AT EVERYTHING.

The centaurs don't flinch at all, and only stop attacking when they die.

The super mutants howl in fury to see the centaurs fall, and a small group charge forward, swinging sledgehammers of various kinds.

Amy lobs a grenade at the ones who stay back. The explosion relieves two of a leg, and the rest are knocked down.

The robots fall back while firing, trading ground for time. Flamethrower Bot stays, pouring fire over it all, playing a high-pitched laugh on a loop, and then the sledgehammer-wielders are upon it.

Amy nearly doesn’t see what’s about to happen, but catches it just as she downs another centaur, and dives back behind a wall, putting distance between her and the bot. 

“Godspeed, soldier,” she murmurs. 

Flamethrower Bot gets hit twice, three times, there's a gash in his fuel tank and chemicals are gushing out, catching on fire. The fire trails back up to the big tank and-

WHOOOOM. The fireball covers the entire hall, reaching almost to the top of the narrow room. A wave of heat and concussive force washes over everything.

That seems to be the end of the super mutants.

Amy braces herself as the wall she’s behind becomes almost unbearably hot. 

A few moments later, the fire dims, and the roar dies away. Amy gets up and heads back into the main room, saluting the pieces of the bot. “Your sacrifice is noted, and we are grateful, soldier.” 

“All right, the rest of you spread out. We need to double check this place before your boss can come through.”

Sarge Bot comments, "He'll get a medal for that show of courageous stupidity. Double-check that they're all dead!"

Amy heads over to the door and checks that all the seals are in place. It's remarkably solid for having withstood for nineteen years. 

"How's it looking?" Amy asks one of the bots once they start filing back into the main room.

"No further hostiles in area. Starting loot- Er, acquisitions detail. From the mutants only."

"Go for it. Let your boss know it's all clear."

"Looks like the loud and dangerous parts are over, bud. I lost a bot but his personality consisted of 'I like fire', so I can rebuild him."

“Is Amy all right?”

Edward seems to want an answer to that too. At least, his gurgles seem worried. 

"Maybe a bit singed, but walking and talking just fine. And there's no more super mutants. Go on in."

“You’re not coming?”

"Maybe in a few minutes. Leave my ship unattended except by a large number of turrets, in the wasteland? Bah. Call me paranoid, I don't mind."

“No, I’d say that’s fair. Prize of thing, this zeppelin.” He almost sounds approving. 

He goes to join Amy, Edward following. 

"I can talk through the bots though," a bot tells James on his way in.

"Yes, I hear that," James says with a half-laugh. He heads deeper into the Memorial.

"Heya," Amy says from by the purifier's door.

"Hiya. Good job," he replies, gesturing at the bodies of vaguely char-grilled super mutants.

"Can't take the credit for that one. Did you pop a Rad-X?"

"You know me, ever prepared." 

He inspects the door. "Locked tight, seemingly since we left. Impressive for pre-war tec."

"Well, super mutants aren't very smart. A very big lock can hold 'em off for a while."

“Let’s crack them open.” He grins at Amy.

Amy grins back, and plugs her Pip-boy into one receptacle. 

James plugs his into the other one, and the door starts to churn, and slowly the doors open. 

“Home sweet home.”

The robots with lots of guns and battle damage stay outside. Only one follows them in. "Swanky place."

It’s run down, James will be the first to admit, but he’s surprised by how much it hurts that it is. 

“She needs a lot of work.”

Amy, poking around in a desk, pockets a tape she finds when no one is looking. 

Beep.

(Robots beep sometimes, right? It's probably a coincidence. Especially since Nick is talking tech with James through this 'bot.)

"Want me to send in some heavy lifters to help?"

“Yes, thank you. And send a message to Madison that it’s clear, please.”

Amy is now poking around in the systems of the purifier, curiously. She’s not too good at this kind of engineering. Or any good at all. 

Edward settles at the foot of the stairs, staring curiously at everything. 

"Will do, I have the codes."

Some robots outside start gathering up shattered fragments of Flamethrower Bot.

James joins Amy in inspecting the inner workings until the bots are done. 

The man himself walks inside cautiously, once most of his army is out by the blimp again. "I can't say I'm a fan of what the super mutants did with the decor. Impressive gear, though."

"Only purifier of it's kind in all the Wasteland. Once we get it running, that's free and clean water for all."

James pauses, his hand on the glass staring into the muddied water. "One step forward to normalcy."

"Sounds too good to be true."

"All good things take time."

He turns to Nick. "All right. Come with me, we'll look through the control systems."