Afire Love- Paladin Danse x Reader (COMPLETE)

call to arms

"Okay," Danse said, snapping me to attention. "Here's the target. ArcJet systems. Inside, there's a deep range transmitter. It'll allow us to get in contact with our superiors at the Boston Airport."
"Okay," you said, "where's ArcJet?"
"It's a short hike from here. Tell me when you're ready, and we'll head out."
I should stock up on supplies, first.
"I'll be ready in a minute. Just gotta grab a few things first."
You head deeper into the police station, into a supply room. You take as many fusion cells as you can carry. A few stimpaks. Rad-X and Radaway.
"All right, I'm ready," you tell Danse, drawing your laser musket. Haylen and Rhys had entered the room while you were away.
"Great. Let's head out."
"Wait," Haylen interrupted. "Please. Be careful. We can't lose you, either of you."
"Don't worry, we'll make it out of there with the transmitter," Danse reassured her. Haylen gave him a hug and saluted. "Ad victoriam, Paladin."

"Let's take the back way," the paladin said. "It's longer, but there's even more ghouls holed up at College Square."
"Shouldn't we deal with them?" You asked. "If we don't, they might decide to attack the station."
"That's good thinking, but too risky right now. Once we get the transmitter up and running, we'll have backup and that can help us take them out," he explained. "There it is. That's ArcJet."
At the end of the road stood an old facility painted grey and yellow. ArcJet Systems, said the sign. "There's no exterior defenses. We'll just go through the front. Inside, be prepared for anything."
You nodded, cranking up your laser musket.
"Also, we're doing this quick and clean. No heroics, by the book. And do check your fire. I don't want to be hit by stay bullets."
"Yes, sir..."
Danse pushed open the doors and the two of you walked in. "Hmm... nothing suspicious."
"That's a bit suspicious," you added. He nodded in agreement. "Facilities like this put the last nail in the coffin for mankind. Pocketing the cash and leaving the mess for someone else to clean up."
You followed him through a corridor that led to a small room. Four protectrons lay dead on the floor. "What the hell happened here?" You asked.
"We're not the only ones looking for the transmitter," Danse said. "Look at this. Not a drop of blood, not a spent ammunition casing."
"What does that mean?"
"This facility isn't under assault by any normal person. It's being attacked by Institute Synths."
You thought hard. What the hell's a synth? Danse stared at you, looking for a reaction. The silence became awkward.
Finally, you asked. "What's a synth?"
"I was waiting for you to ask. A synth is a piece of technology gone too far. A machine that thinks it's a person. They Institute mass produced them. They're dangerous. They need to be destroyed."
"Wow, okay. I guess you guys have strong opinions about them."
"We do. The Institute thinks the Commonwealth can't make it on it's own. They're trying to hijack our lives. But the Commonwealth needs to be independent. It's the Brotherhood of Steel's job to make sure that happens."
You nodded in agreement.
"Now, lets get moving. We've wasted too much time talking."
You proceeded down the narrow hallway with him until you reached a small lab. A pair of security doors at the other side of the room were locked tight, closing you off from the rest of the building.
Across from the doors was a table where a terminal sat. "I'll try and unlock that teminal," you told your companion.
"Good idea. I'll look for a way around." He walked out of the room and left you alone.
You sat at the desk and clicked at the screen.
Enter passcode, it said. You began typing the keys, trying to break into it. You tried password after password, but nothing was working. Just when you were about to give up, the terminal made a small Ding!
"Yesss," you mumbled to yourself, selecting the option to open the door. The gates sprung open, giving you full access to ArcJet.
You where about to call out Danse's name, but then you heard an automated voice.
"Tar-get... lost."
A protectron? No. You would have heard its heavy footsteps. No, it was what Danse was talking about. A synth.
You held your musket with one arm, and readied a grenade in the other. You pulled out the key and threw it through the doors. A loud blast followed, and a mechanical leg flew through the air. You heard Danse's heavy footsteps in the hallway. His weapon was drawn, his finger on the trigger. He aimed his gun, ready to shoot whatever moved. You peeked your head over the desk and aimed down your sight. The two of you waited like that, waited for something to happen.
Then, something did. A person poked its head out from behind a table. Except it wasn't a person. It had huge amber eyes, gray fabric for skin. It looked thrown together, like a thing you would only see in the movies. You were so in shock, you couldn't pull the trigger.
Danse delivered a headshot to the thing, killing instantly. "Hey, civilian, head out of the clouds!" He yelled.
You snapped out of it and moved farther into the new room, blasting the synths until the room was clear. "What happened?" He asked. "Why didn't you pull the trigger?"
"Sorry. It was just kind of... shocking. Not what I expected."
"All right. Just stay focused from now on."
The two of you went deeper and deeper in, shooting down whatever moved.
"Here we are. That elevator down there should take us up to the transmitter," he said when you reached a huge room. It looked a lot like a launching site.
You descended the stairs with him to went toward the elevator. Danse pressed the button. Nothing happened. He pressed it again, and again, and again. Finally he slammed his fist into the wall. "The power's out. There should be a way to turn it on. Start looking around."
"Got it," you said as you went through a set of security doors. The hallway lead to another set of doors and to a large room. There has to be something in here, you thought. There was a red button protected by a glass case. A window, looking out into the launch room. You saw Danse standing at the elevator, still jamming the button.
Behind you was a fusion generator hooked up to a terminal. That must be it.
You walked over to the terminal. It was password protected, of course. You started feeding it passwords until it let you in. A few options popped up on the screen. You clicked on Restore Power. Suddenly, the lights flickered on. You smiled to yourself. You were getting good at this.
"Y/N!"
The sound of Danse screaming your name pulled you back to the window, where you saw that he was being attacked by a swarm of synths.
"Do something! Anything!" He yelled.
You didn't know what to do. You looked around, taking in everything. Your eyes landed on the red button, whose glass cover had sprung up.
You knew from your childhood not the press red buttons. But Danse said to do anything. He could die if you didn't.
You shut your eyes tight and slammed down on the button.
The security doors flew shut and locked.
A countdown began on the intercom.
5.
The synths were surrounding Danse, backing him into a corner.
4.
He couldn't shoot fast enough to keep them all off him.
3.
You noticed a bright light on the ceiling, a warm orange color. Like fire, almost.
2.
You were sure it was fire now, the orange was getting deeper and deeper, and the flame got bigger and bigger.
1.
You couldn't hear Danse's screams now. The noise from that thing was drowning them out.
0.
The roaring sound was deafening. Suddenly, the whole room was on fire. You couldn't see a thing through the flames.
No, no, no, he can't be dead, please, don't let him be dead...
The flames cleared and revealed piles and piles of ashes surrounding Paladin Danse, who had fallen to his knees.
You let out a sigh of relief and opened the doors. You sprinted to him.
"Oh, god, Danse, are you okay?" You asked, falling to your knees.
"Yeah, I'm... okay. Thank god for my power armor." He stood back up, looking strong as ever.
"God, I thought you were... dead..." you trailed off.
"I'll be okay. What matters is that the elevator is powered up. Great work." He pressed the button. This time, it did work, and the lift arrived to take you up.
"There's going to be more synths up there, I know it. Be ready," the paladin told you.
The elevator stopped to let the two of you off. You snuck down the corridor to the control room, which was, like Danse said, overrun by synths. You were about the shoot, but Danse charged in and opened fire, so you followed suit. In a moment's notice the room was clear.
"The transmitter should be around here somewhere. Maybe one of those damn synths picked it up."
You started looting the bodies. Fusion cells, Institute pistols, and on one of them, you found a device that almost looked like a distress pulser. "Hey, is this it?" You called to him from across the room.
"That? Yeah... yeah, that's it!" He said happily. "Come on, time to get out of here. Let's take the maintenance elevator down."
The two of you got in the elevator at the far side of the room and rode it down to ground level.

Just as you were about to leave the grounds of the facility, Danse stopped you.
"I wanted to tell you, great job in there. I underestimated you. You're not some run-of-the-mill wastelander. You're... different." He looked over you with care for a moment, but then snapped back to his regular demeanor. "I feel like you're more than ready to join us."
"Really?" You asked.
"Of course. You handled yourself a hell of a lot better than some people I know. And I'd be honored to be your sponsor."
"Of course, I'll join you!"
"That's great news. Welcome to the Brotherhood, soldier."