The Human Condition - Fallout 4 | OC x Danse |

3 - flame in your heart

└── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──┘

The walk was mostly silent. Danse had commented about how we were headed west and that we were taking a backroad to avoid the packs of ferals that infested the city. I nodded and affirmed his takes, doing my best to be as orderly as possible. He seemed to respond best when I wasn't trying to joke around about serious topics.

"Traveling this far from the police station is a risk, but... getting that transmitter up and running needs to be our top priority," the Paladin declared, glancing back at me briefly. "If it were up to me, I'd relocate my team... but Scribe Haylen has detected some disturbing energy readings in the area."

"What kind of readings?" I looked up quizzically, stepping over the half-rotted body of a Brahmin on the road.

"We don't know much about them, but that they are short-lived and have a frequency that's only attainable with high-level technology." He paused as he moved around a large pothole on the road, making sure I got across okay before continuing — his strides were considerably bigger than mine in that armor. "We're concerned, but whoever — whatever — is creating those readings could be a potential threat. So it's our job to investigate."

"...Could it be the Institute? They certainly could be capable of high-tech frequencies," I mused. Sure, I didn't know much about them — but any organization that could terrorize nearly every settlement in the Commonwealth, create extremely humanlike robots, and capture a child for their own twisted purposes probably had a lot of tools in their belts.

There was a heartbeat of thought as Danse hesitated. "...Yes. Those were my first thoughts as well."

"Are you guys prepared to handle a threat like the Institute?" I asked it genuinely and curiously, but quickly added, "...because they're sorta like the boogeyman of the Commonwealth from all that I hear. People disappearing and being replaced with synths 'n all that..."

Danse sighed. "That, I... don't know. I'm confident that my brothers and I will be able to attack them soon , but that can be properly assessed once we reunite with the Prydwen. That's the Brotherhood's headquarters — a large ship," he added, turning to me. I shut my mouth, my question already answered.

We were quiet through the rest of the journey, Dogmeat trailing behind me with flattened ears. Once he started suddenly barking, both Danse and I moved into action, firing upon two attack dogs that suddenly rushed at us. They were quickly followed by raiders, clad in obscene armor and smeared face paint.

We made quick work of them, particularly because Danse could eat up bullets no problem in that armor, taking the brunt of the hits. Besides that, with a few quick callouts, we bounced off each other seamlessly and took out the threat.

He waited patiently for me while I scurried to and from the bodies, quickly pocketing their caps and unspent rounds. One of them had two stimpaks on him, so I gratefully tucked those away into my backpack. Healing items were pretty difficult to come by unless you were constantly looting, and I wasn't much for scouring dilapidated buildings every other day on my own.

We continued the brisk pace, the looming building of ArcJet Systems eventually coming into view. I pulled my pistol and shotgun out, making sure they were strapped tightly, yet quickly accessible.

Danse glanced over at me as we began approaching the building. "Have you... seen one? A synth?"

"Yes. One," I admitted. "He's, ah... set up in Diamond City, believe it or not. They all hate synths, but love him."

"I see." Danse narrowed his eyes. "Does he look... human?"

"Not really... well, besides structural resemblance, no." I threw the bag over my shoulder, taking time to readjust my armor in the process. "But it's because he's a Gen 2, a discarded prototype of the infused personalities I hear they're putting into the new ones. They didn't like how he turned out, so they tossed him."