The Danse Dilemma

30. The Nuclear Option

With Paladin Brandis being the last one to jump in, we all regroup inside. "The mission is proceeding as planned, everyone. Well done. Our next target is the reactor. If anything tries to slow us down, I'm ordering you to destroy it... man or machine. Once we reach our target, you'll need this. It's a Fusion Pulse Charge. Attach it to the reactor, and it can be detonated remotely from a safe distance. It will be more than enough to annihilate the Institute in it's entirety." Danse hands me the device and I pocket it. "Ingram, you're to remain here and teleport us out when the job is done. Can you get that thing working?" Danse asks the red head.

"Don't worry; I'll make sure this teleporter is working by the time you need it." Ingram says with a smile.

Seeing that the elevator I took on my first visit here was shut down, Danse follows me close behind through the Old Robotics wing. This area I never seen before so we will see where it leads. This place looks well abandoned for some time now. "This is the Institute? I'm disappointed. I expected more from them." Danse comments. It still housed a few synths, nothing but a few bullets to take them out of the equation. After we make our way through the corridors, we jumped through a hatch in the floor that led us right into the Bioscience wing of the Institute. I would be lost if I never been to this place before. "Now this... This is what I had feared." Danse says looking at all the greenery in the room. To me, it was a beautiful sight to see, compared to the cold, dead, radiated ground that is known as the Commonwealth.

We make it the main chamber part of the Institute, taking down anything and anyone that shot at us, being very aware of our surroundings. Now is not the time for any screw ups. I look at Danse, always checking his back, having no problem taking out his own kind and the creators that made him. After killing everything that was a threat, Ingram's voice came on over the intercoms. "Paladin, we've located the reactor. It's accessible through the Advanced Systems Division. Only... you can't reach it. The security override can only come from the Director's terminal. You'll need to access his quarters." Father's quarters... my son's room. I look up and see Danse and the two other Brotherhood soldiers, one being Paladin Brandis in his power armor and a small Scribe, not paying me any mind. I slowly slip into the elevator in the center and slam my fist on the button. I drew Danse's attention when the elevator descended. "Paladin?" Danse sees me disappear into the floor and immediately runs at the elevator. "Y/N!"

The elevator takes me down into a hallway just like my first visit. Deja vu carried me through the halls and elevators until I walked into the room where young Shaun was housed. He was no where in sight. In fact, I didn't see anyone so I looked around for Shaun's terminal. There was no terminal on the bottom floor so I made my way upstairs, immediately seeing Shau-Father, lying in a bed to the right of me and the terminal I need to access behind him. "I didn't expect to see you again. Come to see the reactor, have you? We got it working without you." He says shaking his head.

"What's happened to you? Are you sick?" My motherly instincts kicking in.

"Don't pretend to care now. You had your chance to help me, and cast me aside instead. It's not enough that I lay here, dying... Now you plan on what, destroying everything? Tell me, then. Under what righteous pretense have you justified this atrocity?" He asks with anger in his eyes.

"It's for the greater good. The Commonwealth deserves to determine it's own fate."

"Spare me. You've spent time up there. You know as well as I that it's doomed. Well, none of it matters now, I suppose." Father sigjs. "You'll accomplish your task, and ruin humanity's best hope for the future. The only question left, then, is why you're standing here. Is it regret, or did you just come to gloat?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Shaun, if you help me, fewer people will die. Will you?" I asked, hoping I can change his mind.

"Why would I ever consider helping you?"