Crawl Out Through The Fallout (Fo4 Fanfic)

10

The air laid thick and stagnant with a heavy silence. Piper and Nick stood across from Erin and I. The two had looks of anticipation, that for some reason made me unreasonably annoyed. I knew I had to tell them I killed him, I had only hoped they let me spare the details. The feeling of Erin's eyes burning through the back of my skull didn't much help my nerves. "So where's your brother? What happened?" Nick finally spoke. I awkwardly shifted, leaning on my heels. "You were right, Nick. Kellogg took him. But that wasn't all. He was working with the institute. He...he gave them Shaun..." "The institute? Hoo boy..." Piper chimed in. "I'm sorry, friend. Truly. That makes things... Considerably more complicated." It was as if I could even see empathy in his mechanical eyes. "He ain't kidding. Heck, Nick's a synth, and he doesn't even know how to get in." "No synth does. Security protocols strip those memories out. " I sighed and turned my gaze to the ground. "I need to find a way." Piper sighed, "I've been investigating those creeps for over a year now. The Commonwealths Boogeyman. Feared and hated by everyone." "True enough." Nick chimed in. "Sometimes they snatch people in the middle of the night. And sometimes they leave old synths behind to remind us that they're out there. But to this day, theres one thing nobody really knows..." Piper paused "where the institute is. Or how to get in" Nick continued. "Exactly. But there's one person who must know, right? The guy who handed them Shaun." "Kellogg. Huh..." Thoughts aligned in my head, he's dead, but he definitely had a way... "Kellogg definitely had a way in and out. No doubt about it." Erin spoke. Which startled me a bit, he had been so quiet I nearly forgot he was there.
"Yeah, but I'm guessing he wasn't the "surrender and talk" type, was he?" Nick knew. My skin crawled remembering the fiasco of a situation it was. "He's dead, Nick." I masked my emotions, I didn't want to seem weak in front of these three hard individuals. "So a murderer and a kidnapper gets his brains blown out by an avenging sister. It would be a great ending
If we didn't still have the biggest mystery in the Commonwealth to solve." Piper sighed. "Brains blown out. Bit of an understatement Piper." Erin said, with the creepy smile he gets when talking about gory shit. Piper just looked at him blankly. I shook my head in annoyance. "He wasn't going to talk. Even if I had a way of bringing him alive." I sighed crossing my arms.
"Gets his brains blown out...huh. his brains. You know we may not need the man at all." "You're talking crazy Nick. Got a fault in the ole' subroutines?" Piper joked. I was growing tired of this conversation. I just wanted food and a nap at this point. This new world is so exhausting, everything moves so fast, I haven't had time yet to sit and think about everything.
"Look, there's a place in Goodneighbor called the Memory Den. Relive the past moments in your mind as clear as the day it happened. If anyone can get a dead brain to sing it'll be Doctor Amari, the mind behind the memories." Goodneighbor? I wonder what part of Boston they renamed this time. "Ok weird, but I hope you're right, Nick." I answered, unsure but hopeful. "Let's see... I guess we're going to need a piece of Kellogg's brain. Enough gray matter to bring to Amari and find out if this is going to work..." Nick pondered. "Jesus, Nick...Gross! Seriously?" Piper cringed. My nose scrunched in disgust. "I know is Grisly, but what choice do we have? We got no leads. Nothing. That old mercs brain just might have all the secrets we need to know." He answered in defense.
"Nick-" I was cut off by Erin dramatically gripping my shoulders. "Oh no, I guess little Shaun's lost forever! You just splattered poor Kellogg's brains to mush, nothing salvageable!" My heart dropped. I turned to look at him, who still had that shitty grin. Piper and Nick had the same look of disgust. "Kidding." He flicked my forehead, before handing me a slimy piece of metal. There's seriously something wrong with this man. "What the Fuck, Erin. One time you crack a joke you gotta make her cry?" Piper scolded. "She's not crying." I was in fact crying.
"Kellogg had this... Thing attached to his head." Erin resumed his normal robotic tone, pointing to the piece in my hands. "Cybernetics, huh? We may have Just won the lottery." Nick nodded. "Wether were riding this crazy brain train or not, we can't all go running across the Commonwealth. So, who's coming with you?" Piper asked. "I have to go to the Memory Den either way, if I'm gonna introduce you to Amari. But if you want to head there together, just say so." Nick spoke.
Piper, Erin, and Nick all looked at me. After what Erin just said I really didn't want to travel with him. Come to think of it hes been acting off since last night, can imagine why, it's just uncomfortable. However, Piper has a little sister too look after, I wouldn't want to take her away from that. And Nick is cool but I genuinely cannot think of how good he would be in combat, what if it rains and he short circuits or something? I was starting to get comfortable with Erin anyway. I sighed, looking up. "We'll meet you there Nick." I pocketed the cybernetic and grabbed Erin's shirt pulling him along with me.
"What's crawled up your ass and died?" "I'm tired, hungry, and my brothers missing. We've been through this." "You'll get used to it." "Mhm how reassuring of you..."