The Danse Dilemma

29. Ad Victoriam

Why is it so cold? Am I finally dead? I open my eyes, shivering non-stop from the intense cold. The all to familiar scene that I lived and always reminded me every night. The vault...

"Open it." That familiar male voice. Kellogg. Not again. Nate's pod opens with a hiss.

He coughs, trying to catch his breath, holding our baby boy in his arms. "Is it over? Are we okay?" He asks confused, as was I... at the time.

"Almost. Everything's going to be fine." Kellogg said while the Institute scientist tried taking Shaun from him.

"No, wait. No, I've got him!" Nate tried to keep him from the woman's greedy hands. If only I was stronger for Shaun, for Nate. Somehow get out of this god forsaken pod.

"Let the boy go." Kellogg says as he points his gun to Nate's chest. "I'm only gonna tell you once!"

"I'm not giving you Shaun!" I'm so sorry Nate that I wasn't strong enough. I'm so sorry I failed you. Failed as a wife and a mother. I covered my ears to the best to my ability, knowing what was coming next.

BANG

Baby Shaun immediately starts crying his eyes out. "Goddammit! Get the kid out of here, and let's go." Kellogg orders. I squeeze my eyes shut and let all the tears finally spill from my eyes. The tears was warm on my face and slowly warmed me up from the outside. Wait... If I'm not in the pod... I opened my eyes and just see Kellogg, standing a few feet away from me. Darkness surrounding us both. I had no words for the bastard, the tears just kept flowing.

He gives me a look over and then shakes his head before speaking. "The thing about happiness is... you only know you had it, till it's gone." He says then looks into my eyes. "And you make think to yourself that your happy but, uh... you don't really believe it. It's only looking back that you really understand, THAT'S... what happiness felt like."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I awoke with a pounding headache and bright lights blinding me. 'Not again' I tried to sit up but something, no... someone pushes me back down. "Whoa, easy Y/N. You took a nasty blow to the head." I know that voice. It was Danse, always by my side. I open my eyes and see Danse sitting on the side of the bed, Proctor Ingram and Cade in the room.

"Glad to see you're still in one piece." Ingram says with a smile. I smile and sit up in the bed, Danse carefully watching my every move.

"It was worth risking my neck to keep the Beryllium Agitator out of the Institute's hands." I say, looking at Danse.

Ingram clears her throat. "Would have been easier if you'd let me come with you, but at least you got the job done. Anyway, we should give these two some privacy... we've got a lot of work to do." She says as she pushes the Doctor out the door with her and shuts it. Not once did Danse look away from me. After a moment of silence, Danse quickly leans in for much needed hug.

"Danse... what's wrong?" I ask him, slightly terrified by the way he's acting.

Danse slowly parts away so he can look into my eyes. "I thought I almost lost you. If I was a second later... You could have... I wouldn't..." He struggles to say. I wrap my hand around the back of his head and pull his lips to mine. A kiss that felt like it was the last one we will ever share.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

After taking the day off for much needed rest and recovery, today was the day Liberty Prime will be activated. Before we headed down to the airport though, Danse was holding a meeting in the command center. "Today is the day. Today is the day we bring the Institute down. I'm proud of each and every one of you." Danse says as he scans the room at all the familiar, friendly faces. "And I thank you, for believing in me... human or not." Danse looks down but quickly holds his head high. "Once Liberty Prime is online, we move out. Paladin Y/N..." Danse looks to me. "I want you to be on the ground, with Liberty Prime and take Paladin Brandis with you. Secure a safe route to the C.I.T. ruins. I will be here and load up the Vertibird's with every spare soldier we can take to the ruins. I'll meet you there." He whispers the last part enough for me to hear. "Understood?" He asks everyone. Of course, everyone understands their orders and salutes before filing out of the command deck. I always stay behind and walk up to Danse, wrapping my arms around his neck for a much needed embrace. "War... war never changes."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

We stood before the iron giant. "Well... this is it. The moment of truth. We've pre-programmed Liberty Prime's battle coordinates into his navigational processor. As soon as he's under his own power, he'll head straight for the Institute. I've checked every wire and every bolt on the big guy. All we need to do is plug in the Agitator, start Prime's reactor... and cross our fingers." Proctor Ingram says.

"We don't need luck, Ingram. We've got you." Danse compliments.

"Thanks Elder. I didn't do it alone." She replies while looking over at me. "Just plug the Beryllium Agitator into his reactor port, then head back down here and press the transfer button." She says pointing up at the 40 foot tall robot.

I head up the catwalk to the top of the big tin can's back and plug in the Agitator. I can see all sorts of soldiers watching, standing by to watch Liberty Prime come to life. I head back down to the command center and push the big red button.

A loud hum could be heard and Liberty Prime was up and moving his hands. "Fusion core: reinitialized. Liberty Prime full system analysis. All systems: nominal. Weapons: hot." All the soldiers on the catwalk immediately climbed down, quickly joining the others on the ground to a safe distance. "Mission: the destruction of any and all Chinese communists. Probability of a Chinese victory: Impossible!" Liberty Prime takes a step forward, knocking the catwalk off the platform that was across his chest. Before I could even react, Prime was making his way down the road. "Proceeding to target coordinates."

I quickly turn and give Danse a quick peck on the lips before I chase after the giant wrecking ball. It's going to be quite a long walk from the Airport to the ruins, but with the big guy on our side, it should make quick work. Having Liberty Prime online seemed to attract all sorts of enemies of the Brotherhood. It seemed at every intersection in the road, synths would zap in around us, but with Liberty's nukes on his back and lasers for eyes, he made quick work of them. The big guy even managed to take a Behemoth down with no problem, practically made him his bitch.

We finally make it to the C.I.T. ruins and I can already see Vertibird's flying around, firing their mini guns as they flew by. A squad of Brotherhood soldiers on the ground fighting off the synths, and leading them was Danse, taking cover behind some barricades. Liberty Prime has finally arrived to help assist the Brotherhood. With our joined forces, the synths were no match for us now.

When the last synth was destroyed, Prime got to work in breaching the Institute underground. He scans the complete outside of the building, trying to find a weak point. His scanners pick up a potential weak spot in the soil and uses his lasers to drill a hole in the ground, right in front of the steps of the building, eventually hitting the underground structure. He stands up and chunks a fat man down the hole, creating a breaching point into the Institute.

We all gather around the created hole, looking into a little room below. I was the first to jump in.