Now or Never: Elder Maxson x Reader - Part 2

18 - Heartaches by the Number

When the bright light resides, Uri is keeled over on the ground. The throbbing in her temple is unlike anything she has ever experienced - a mix between a migraine and intense nausea that has her dry-heaving as she curls in on herself. She needs to get up. If she is alive, then she is in the Institute... the most dangerous place in the Commonwealth. Having them put her down as she battles the after-effects of being pulled apart and put back together would be the worst.

Miraculously, she manages to battle her way onto her feet. The cold, hard press of the ground beneath her sweaty palms feels a lot like steel, which it is confirmed to be when her vision stops swimming enough for her to take in the pure, metallic grey. It dawns on her that there is not a speck of rust. Not even the Prydwen - which is a recent build in comparison to most - is this pristine.

She has arrived in a perfectly circular room. The walls are covered with towering machinery; the lights on which flash an array of orange and red. It's as though, somewhere, someone is being warned that the relay has gone horribly wrong - but there is no siren in her immediate vicinity. In fact, all she can hear is the soft thrum of engines.

There is not a being in sight. Human or synth.

There is, however, an open archway ahead of her, so she presses on. The warm hue of the other room is lost as bright, white lights beam down from the ceiling above, and she has to pause again to allow her eyes to adjust to the onslaught. This room is just as pristine as the last, though a control panel complete with a terminal sits before her. Remembering the tape, Uri quickly fumbles through her belt pockets until she finds it. The holotape clicks into place, and her job is made easier as she finds that the terminal has been left unlocked. There are a handful of entries regarding the use of the relay, but she ignores those in favour of running Quinlan's decryption programme. Once the scan request has been accepted, she is instructed to wait.

Uri takes this opportunity to drink in more of her surroundings. She can hardly believe how clean it is in here. And the technology... it's both familiar-yet-alien. It had never dawned on Uri that the Institute would have been able to hide away from the ruins of nuclear warfare; but here they are. She pauses at a nearby chest of drawers, eyeing the gleaming white medikit sat there. Have they developed better medicines they've not felt inclined to share, perhaps? Curious, she lifts a hand to the latch.

"Hello."

"Shit!" She yelps, drawing away from the box as though it's a live wire. Her gaze darts around the room, but she is still alone. It's not until the voice returns that she notices the speakers hanging at the edge of the room.

"I wondered if you might make it here. You're quite resourceful... I am known as Father; the Institute is under my guidance."

"I don't give a damn who you are!" Uri chokes. Her hands are shaking as she stumbles over to the terminal. The decryption is complete, so she fights to eject the tape as she speaks. "I want Shaun! Give me Shaun!"

"I would like to discuss things with you face-to-face," the voice says - noticeably old and male, and much calmer than her own. "Please, step in the elevator."

As soon as he politely commands her to do so, there is a hissing sound from somewhere in the room ahead. Stood at the back of this room is a cylindrical, glass elevator. The hiss she heard was clearly the door gliding open, beckoning her forward. Uri really doesn't like this. The man who calls himself Father has been expecting her? She makes another trip up the steps she came down to attempt to get back to the relay, but she arrives to find that the door is now closed. The Knight's heart pounds in her ears, but she has no other option than to do what the man tells her. Feeling like nothing more than a pawn, she finally steps into the elevator. That hissing sound returns as it encloses her - trapping her in a space far too small and oh God it's the vault all over again--