Fallout: Fury Blood

Chapter 133: Of Red And Clay

"So sorry to cut this short, sirs and ma'ams."

Kelly was shaking the hands of the ranking officers at the coast guard pier with a thuggish haste. "But you know what the Elder's like. He expects to be greeted with full honors, all the bells and whistles, you know? I really must attend to his unexpected visit."

Sirs and ma'ams? What the fuck is wrong with me?

Stumped, the officers could only stand in a line and watch as the General fled for her vertibird at the first sight of the Prydwen.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Scouting vertibirds were breaking off from the vanguard of the airship and gushing for the city in a wide arc, sweeping low for visuals.

"They'll see us," Preston said as everyone climbed aboard. "No way we can sneak anywhere now. What's the plan, General?"

"The fuck should I know?! I had all my caps on making it to the Institute before the hairy bastard showed up!"

"Simmer down," Nick warned, earning himself her special brand of malcontent. "Let's just get back to the Castle where we can hash out a game plan."

"I can't go back there. It's the first place he'll look. He'll fucking skin me alive!"

"Sheesh. What was it you did to the man again?" MacCready asked, apparently amused by all the drama.

Preston bestowed him without hesitation. "She drugged him."

"Ah, right. That'll do it."

Kelly was hysterical. "Have you had your head up your ass this whole time, MacCready?!"

He thought that was amusing too, as he chortled before answering. "Hey, look, keeping up with you is a full-time job."

Valentine had to shout over the noise of the twin rotors getting them airborne. "We have some time. Maxson will dock at the airport first. It'll be too risky parking the Prydwen somewhere as unprotected as the Castle. We don't have the infrastructure to resupply the airship's power source, and we don't have the level of defenses they do to defend it in the case of a sudden Institute attack. As angry as he might be, he'll put the safety of his people first."

"You don't know him like I do." Kelly's eyes were fixated on the Prydwen's threatening progress toward them, like her personal cloud of doom. She could imagine Maxson stood at the viewport, thirsting for vengeance, a primal devilry in his eye.

Nick made a thoughtful sound. "Well, think of it this way. If he's willing to cast aside reason and the good of his people for his personal grievances, then he has no place as Elder. You'll have that over him."

She finally pulled her eyes from the Prydwen to face Nick. "Well he's here, isn't he?" He must have seen the sheer, unmitigated terror in her eyes, because his expression promptly softened.

"He's got other reasons to show up. Political instability being chief among them."

Allayed by that, Kelly settled down. Panic released it's grip on her mind and allowed a ravelment of productive thoughts to flow together. To gain entry back into the Institute, she had to meet with the contact Shaun had given her, back before she decided to relinquish her involvement with the Institute. For that to happen, she had to leave the Castle undetected and go incognito. And for that to happen, she had to dodge Maxson entirely or risk never escaping again.

Two Brotherhood vertibirds scrambled to intercept Richter as he careened for the Castle. "They may be under orders to shoot."

Kelly lifted herself from the troop hold and staggered to the helm, using the overhead support struts for balance. "Keep going. Even if they threaten to open fire."