Rehabilitation [Fallout 4, Another Way Series Pt 1]

Chapter 5

"I don't know how but scouts found us and they're coming right fucking now!" Drummer tried to catch his breath while leaning on the round, stone table at the center of the main room.

Glory and Danse jumped to their feet. Desdemona rushed from Tinker Tom's corner and started clapping her hands together. "Glory, Deacon, and Drummer, I want you with me! Carrington, you and Tom lead the rest of the agents through the back entrance!"

Deacon pulled Nora onto her feet and cursed about ten times in a few seconds as he dashed to his mattress in the main room. He took a laser pistol from under his straw pillow and checked its fusion cell count. Nora scrambled for the rifle she had stored on a shelf in the hallway, then ran out into the main room.

"What about me and Danse?" She belayed his new name in her distress.

"Will you fight?" Dez demanded as agents rushed past her and out the back tunnel.

"I will," Nora confirmed. "But—" She didn't have to finish. Dez and Deacon both knew Danse was not reliable in this situation.

"Michael, follow Carrington," Deacon said for Desdemona, who didn't seem to mind as she readied her own weapon.

"No," said Nora in a panic. The Railroad agents looked to her in question. She ran to Danse's side. "Come with me? You don't have to fight but maybe they'll see reason."

"Everyone in the Brotherhood reflects Elder Maxson's ideals. I will go with you, not to raise a hand against my brothers or sisters, and not to convince them of anything, but to protect you, if that's what you want. I am only here today because of you and my life is yours to use."

Nora wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. She wanted him out of harm's way but he wished the same for her. They would have to face the Brotherhood together, by whatever means.

The tunnels were dead quiet. Desdemona had told Glory to tread lightly through the crypts so they might have the element of surprise. Glory called her associates cowards for letting Deacon take the lead through stealth. He and Nora crept along the passageways to the stairs leading into the church. Danse waited on the steps, hugging the wall with one arm behind him and holding his weapon in the other.

Deacon quietly snuck into the church, peering around and waving for Nora to follow after he knew the coast was clear. He managed to climb up a collapsed balcony and pulled her up after him. In their movement, a burnt Bible fell from its place on a pew and Nora jumped, grabbing Deacon's arm. "Easy," he said. She apologized and released him. He didn't mind at all.

They moved to the front of the church where a large window gave them a view over the courtyard outside. To their horror, three Knights and a Paladin stood in power armor, along with several obscured Knights in combat armor and— "Scribe Haylen!" Nora said in relieved surprise.

She clambered away from the window and back down the balcony. Deacon quickly followed, trying to offer her help down but Nora managed alone and skidded into the stairwell leading to the crypt. She ran into Danse, who caught her up in his large arms to prevent her from tripping. "Haylen is here!"

"Scribe Haylen?"

As Deacon approached the landing, a creak above them resounded throughout the near-silent building. Nora tightened her grip around Danse's arms. Deacon leered at the ceiling and readied his gun. They stood perfectly still, breathing, waiting.

Two sets of footsteps started towards the stairs. Nora's eyes were panicked. Danse pulled her tight against himself with his left arm and pointed his laser pistol up the stairwell.

Tiny feet appeared at the top of the stairs. A slim figure froze as her eyes adjusted and she saw the two men aiming guns at her. She had a gun of her own, propped against her shoulder in anticipation of someone having been there around the corner. She had hoped she wouldn't be the one to find the Railroad. The first person to find the enemy was often the recipient of the first shot that gave away their position. But after a long silence, she whispered, "Nora? Danse?" The latter had been nearly unrecognizable without the orange uniform and hood he frequently wore, nevermind the power armor he had left behind at the listening post.

Nora's eyes pleaded with every ounce of desperation she could muster. Danse loosened his grip to let her step away and clasp her hands in a begging gesture. "Haylen," she mouthed. "Please."

"You're alive," she said at Danse, tears beginning to well. She lowered her gun. "Thank you," she mouthed to Nora, for having crossed Maxson after all. She had been unsure but imagined the Paladin and Knight had managed to kill each other. The relief that flooded over her was immense.

Deacon's gun remained tight in his hands, his finger on its trigger. Haylen looked to him before her head shot towards a sound at the stairwell entrance. Footsteps scuffed along, heavier than hers. "Knight Rhys," she said. "Just a dead end here." Rhys ignored her words and approached to see for himself.

He stopped dead, his eyes more serious than they usually were. His lips parted to bare his teeth. The sight of Danse brought a crashing wave of disgust over him. He placed his rifle against his shoulder and looked down the barrel at Danse. Deacon stepped in front of the synth and pointed his pistol at the stranger.

"You were already a disgrace to the Brotherhood," Rhys said, "but now you're a fucking traitor too?"

"Rhys, please," Haylen began.

He glared at the Scribe to silence her. Haylen had known Rhys's cruelness from all angles but begged in her mind that a shred of his humanity would pull through.

Danse put a hand on Deacon's shoulder and gently moved him aside. He moved up the steps, stopping at the second-to-last one, tall enough to meet Rhys's eyes there. He took the barrel of the Knight's gun in his hand and pulled it against his chest. "You have your orders." Hearing Danse's voice after so long made Rhys's ears perk. "But you have a right to choose, just as she did." Danse motioned to Nora whose eyes were as wide and full of fear as Haylen's.

Deacon wished he had the upper hand here or that he could at least comfort Nora while her friend stood with a gun to his heart. He made no movement.

Booming steps above crossed the pulpit in the church. Rhys grinded his teeth and shoved Danse back with the barrel of his gun. Danse moved down one step and placed a fist against the wall to catch his balance, focused eyes never leaving the Knight's.

Deacon looked to Nora. He could not have moved to comfort her but he knew she was in no danger at the moment all along. Rhys's hesitation ensured that.

A voice distorted through a power armor helmet called out for Rhys and Haylen. "We're over here," called Rhys, looking out the hall door. Nora's throat tightened. "Stairwell's caved beyond here." He gave Danse a sharp look then walked away back into the church. Haylen's sad eyes looked from Nora to her former Paladin then she followed Rhys out.

It would be the last time Haylen saw Danse's face this way—maybe the last time they ever saw each other at all. When he had held Haylen in his arms so long ago, and when she had kissed him, he was confused. He had never known a woman's touch in any context. He would since stay awake some nights, replaying the peck on the cheek over and over, willing it to have been reciprocated, but his imagination would not allow it. He didn't care for her in that way and was unsure if he could for anyone.

Poor Haylen, Nora thought. The Scribe had tried to give herself to these two men to no avail due to their dedication to the cause. She had only wanted to see the world and instead of travel partners who loved campfire tales and reminiscing their adventures, she got emotional rejection and indifference. Nora sympathized.

"Getting cozy in the collapsed tunnel of love, eh?" the Knight in power armor jested to Rhys.

"Fuck off, Anderson," Rhys retorted and shoved the soldier who didn't falter thanks to the metal suit.

"Let's try back here," another Knight suggested, moving towards the back of the church.

Deacon finally released the breath he had been holding for a while. "Let's get out of here," he said quietly, moving down the steps. As they turned to walk away, Nora took Danse's right arm. He looked down at her hands around the crook of his elbow. When they had reached the main tunnel, Danse placed his free hand over hers.