"Piper, come with us. We have a machine to get. And I need as much help as I can get for this."
She smiled.
"Right. I bet it'll make a good story too. Let me get my stuff, and we can hit the road."
I waited outside the newly built house with Deacon while Piper got ready.
"A reporter? Really?"
I nodded, checking my gun.
"She's good in a fight."
I replied simply.
"Whatever you say."
He didn't look too stoked about my choice of companions, but I didn't really care. I trusted my gut.
Piper walked back out, carrying a small bag.
"Ready, Blue. Got some food and water for the trip."
I nodded, and glanced at Deacon, who rolled his shoulders and looked at me.
"Following your lead."
I opened the map on my Pip-Boy, and looked for the closest place to the Slocum Joe's. I set the building next door as the destination, and fast travelled there.
...
As soon as we got there, I immediately crouched and held up my gun. Piper and Deacon did the same. I made my way up the stairs to the top of the building and used V.A.T.S. to find any synths that were guarding the safehouse. I aimed at three of them, and shot them down. They didn't even know what hit them. Another synth rounded the corner with a pistol up, looking for me. I shot the machine several times in the chest, killing it. I jumped off the building, falling three stories to the ground. I leaned down to pick up items off the synths, and Deacon crouched nearby.
"That was a pretty big fall. Are you big on adrenaline rushes?"
I snickered at his comment.
"Considering I spend my time getting shot at for a few caps, I think it's fairly obvious."
I stuffed the other pistols in my bag and stood up. I searched the ground for mines, and found some. I quickly deactivated them and picked them up.
Deacon pushed through some boxes, and found a hole in the wall.
"Found the back door. That sounded dirtier than I meant."
I rolled my eyes and walked into the tunnel.
Deacon chuckled, and Piper followed right behind me.
Soon we walked into a room with metal walkways, and lots of tools laying around. I started picking up all the tools I could find, which caused my companions to complain.
"You're gonna break your back carrying all that worthless scrap."
"Thanks for your input, Deacon."
I replied to him as I kept putting duct tape and tools in my bag.
"You sure you need all that?"
I sighed, and nodded.
"Yeah. I'm gonna sell it. Get more ammo or something."
Piper frowned but agreed to my plan.
I finished putting things in my bag, and continued on with the plan to get the device back. I checked corners, holding my gun steady. Deacon decided I was going too slow, so he went ahead of me and killed synths that appeared. He got hit with some lasers and complained.
"Ow. Ow!"
I shot the synth that got him, and rolled my eyes.
"And that is why we stick together. To keep from getting shot."
He rubbed his arm and pouted.
"Will do."
I kept walking through the tunnel, and came to a room with a computer and other machinery.
"Piper, check out the computer. See what's on it."
I opened a trunk that caught my eye, and found the drive that I was sent to find. I picked it up.
"See? No problem. We could have handled that ourselves."
I put the drive in my pocket, and shrugged.
"And we could have been caught off guard by a small army of synths. Better to be prepared."
We started making our way back to the hole in the wall.