To Save a Soul

Chapter 12 The Brotherhood of Steel

Weeks went by without incident. Katherine and Danse were living happily in their comfortable little blue house in Sanctuary. Danse seemed to be growing more comfortable around Katherine and she was grateful. He was something constant in her life, something that she didn't think she'd ever have again.
"General!" Katherine heard Preston calling after her as she stepped out of her front door. Preston was a pleasant man and Danse had taken an odd stance against him, he didn't like him and he 'wasn't sure why'.
"What is it Preston?" Katherine asked as she met him in the street. Settlers milled about here and there. The weather had grown cold and dark. Sturges had informed her that she was about to experience her first nuclear winter. It sounded just about as unpleasant as everything else in the wasteland.
"Listen General, I think you're in danger here...and the Paladin too. Sturges made a run to Concord for supplies. A handful of Brotherhood soldiers stopped him there." Preston told her quietly so that others passing by wouldn't hear. Katherine tugged at the ends of her sleeves anxiously. They just couldn't catch a break.
"They could have just been doing the same thing, looking for supplies." she suggested. She knew that that was simply wishful thinking. Preston looked at her with regret in his brown eyes, she knew he was right and that Sturges had been right about what he had seen.
"Yeah, that's probably not what they were doing." she said when Preston didn't speak.
"We can do our best to strengthen our defenses here, but Concord is close." Preston told her and Katherine instantly shook her head.
"No. Too many will die if they come here. Danse won't go willingly. Innocent lives can't be lost because of decisions we have made." Katherine said grimly. She glanced back over her shoulder at her house, subconsciously checking to make sure that Danse wasn't watching in one of the windows. She didn't want him to know about this.
"Elder Maxson wants me more than he wants Danse. At least that's what I'd be willing to bet on. Let me go and meet his soldiers near Concord." Katherine said finally. Deep down she knew that she just couldn't let them get to Danse. Not after everything he had been through already. He wouldn't rest easier knowing that she was captive but alive rather than shot down with a dozen others.
"But, General, you can't do that. You don't know what they'll do to you. What if they have orders to shoot you on sight?" Preston asked as he grew more concerned. Katherine just shook her head again.
"They don't. I have to do this. For Sanctuary, for my conscious, and for him. Just do me a favor Preston... give me a head start. Don't tell him, but when you do tell him, tell him that I found out they were close and that I went of my own volition and that if he comes after me he will have made my choice a choice I made in vain. Tell him I love him." Katherine told Preston, who gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder, before she began walking stiffly down the street towards the old bridge.
    The air was chilly and the tears streaming down her cheeks felt like small droplets of ice. Every step she took she had to remind herself that she was doing this for Danse. Katherine had left in such a hurry that she hadn't bothered to prepare herself. She had no weapon, no armor to speak of. Just her black jeans, boots, and a long sleeve red flannel. Katherine was freezing, even the puddles of irradiated water on the ground had frozen. By the time she reached Concord she was trembling violently from the cold. She felt vulnerable out in the open but she knew she was being watched. Up ahead, just as she had expected, an enormous figured in power armor stepped out to block her path.
"You're coming with us." the soldier said, a man. All Katherine could do was nod. She was too cold and drained to fight. The soldier and two others escorted her to the roof of one of the only intact building left in Concord where a vertibird was waiting.
    The flight to the Prydwen was an anxious one for Katherine. No one spoke to her and she didn't speak to them. Was she afraid? Of course she was, she would be stupid not to be. Once aboard the airship she was paraded across the flight deck and inside. The soldiers that recognized her glared. She was still freezing, still shaking, and still frightened. A soldier shoved her into the command center and she gasped as her knees hit the floor hard, causing her to hunch forward even further in pain. The heavy metal door slammed shut behind her. This was it, she was in the place she had been determined to avoid. Katherine glared up at Maxson through thick lashes, tears still welled up in her eyes.
"Don't cry. I am simply saving you from your delusion." he said, his deep voice too loud in the steel room.
"It's not a delusion. Danse is not a synth." she stated harshly.
"You know that he is, but perhaps I can forgive you for your mistakes.You were a rather new recruit." he spat vehemently. Arthur Maxson knelt down before Katherine and she looked up into his dark eyes. For a moment she was reminded of the times they had spoken and she had thought he was kind. Only for a moment.
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    Katherine had gone outside to feed Dogmeat, that had been almost an hour ago. Danse had been half asleep and hadn't realized that something was wrong right away. What had made him notice had been Preston. Preston had been pounding on the front door.
"What?" Danse asked as he yanked the door open, the hinges screaming in protest.
"It's Katherine." Preston said as he took his hat off and stepped past Danse and into his home.
"What do you mean?" Danse asked in confusion, feeling his chest tighten uncomfortably.
"Sit down." Preston said as he took a seat on one of the barstools.
"Sit down Danse." Preston said a little more firmly when all he had done was stare at Preston like a fool. Danse sat down tensely on the couch, every worst case scenario running through his mind. The Paladin was growing more impatient by the second.
"This morning she received news that there were Brotherhood soldiers in Concord looking for you and for her. She told me to tell you that she couldn't lead them here and destroy this place and it's people. That they would want her more than they would want you. She told me to tell you not to follow her and that she loves you, but frankly Danse the Minutemen need their General and you're the only person that may be able to help us find her." Preston explained. Danse flew to his feet, his hands clenched into fists, starling Preston.
"And you just let her go?" Danse roared. He was absolutely irate.
"I-I couldn't stop her." Preston stammered. Danse ignored him and ran to the bedroom where he set to preparing himself. He would have to get onto the Prydwen and he knew just how he was going to do it.
    Danse dug through the dresser Katherine had so neatly organized and tore through the suitcases in the closet that she had carefully placed. She had called this kind of behavior her 'wifely duties' teasingly. He found what he was looking for in the bottom suitcase, his Brotherhood flight suit. He quickly dressed himself in the familiar orange flight suit, laced up his boots, and swung his rifle over his shoulder.
"You better hope she's alive." Danse snarled at Preston as he stormed out of the house. Without a vertibird it would take him days to reach the Prydwen and somewhere along the way he planned to find a Brotherhood soldier and kill him for his power armor. The plan was to then wear the power armor aboard the Prydwen, find Katherine, and get the hell out. All he could do was hope and pray that she could hold out that long. He didn't know what he'd do if she couldn't. This was just one of the many reasons that he should have died that day at Listening Post Bravo.
    Meanwhile on the Prydwen Katherine had been cowering, wrapped in a blanket, on the floor beside the Elder's bed. Maxson had brought her to his room and locked her inside. There weren't any personal items other than his clothes in the room. It was mostly a collection alcohol bottles and Brotherhood paperwork. She only straightened up when the Elder himself returned, locking the door behind him. Katherine took a deep breath and stood up, the blanket still wrapped tight around her.
"I don't mean to frighten you, but you've given me no choice. You denied direct orders. After everything I had done for you to help you find your son." Maxson told her.
"You had ulterior motives for helping me find my son." Katherine sneered. He paced the room with his hands behind his back.
"As in?" he asked. Katherine took a deep breath.
"As in you knew I'd be more motivated to infiltrate the Institute if it was for my son. As in I am a different breed of woman than what you have in this hell hole and you can't accept what you can't have." she said bravely. The slap Elder Maxson landed across her face was a hard one. The sound deafening and the handprint already a vivid crimson. Katherine staggered back, a hand clasped to her cheek.
"This is not the world that you came from. If I, the leader of the Brotherhood, have chosen you then that is all that there is to it. You will do as I say and you will do what you need to do for the Brotherhood. You will learn to obey me." he shouted at her.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? This is not how you treat a woman you want to marry! Keep that in mind when you find a bitch stupid enough to want you!" Katherine shouted back at him. For a moment she thought he was going to hit her again. Katherine stood fuming thinking of how Danse would never lay a hand on her violently, not ever, not for any reason.
    Days went by and Katherine continued to deny the Elder's advances and ideas and she continued to fight him. At this point she had been shoved, slapped, barely fed, and had remained locked in a room. Sometimes Maxson would come back drunk and she'd push him away, but she couldn't shake the feeling that one day things would escalate and she didn't want to know what he was capable of or what he would do to her. Little did Katherine know, Danse had already killed a Brotherhood soldier and was at the airport.
    It felt good to be back inside a suit of power armor. That was one thing Danse couldn't deny about the Brotherhood. Danse strode confidently through the airport to the vertibird pad, where he stood amongst a few other fresh recruits in their power armor. There wasn't a single face he had recognized yet and none of the voices sounded familiar coming from the armored soldiers around him. He listened for clues as to where he might find Katherine, but heard none. The jolt of the vertibird docking caused Danse to wince in pain from a small burn wound he had sustained in his right for the power armor. It didn't matter, he had a pretty good hunch as to where he would find her. It was later in the afternoon and most of the Brotherhood's soldiers would be eating their dinners in the cafeteria by now. Danse was relieved to see Maxson speaking with a handful of squires in the command center as he quickly passed by. That meant that Maxson's room wouldn't be occupied. Not by him at least.
Danse knew the Prydwen like the back of his hand and it took him no time at all to reach the barracks. He had seen Knight Rhys in passing. It had proven difficult to stop himself from asking the Knight how he was and how Scribe Haylen was holding up, but those simple words would likely compromise his mission. That was something that he could not allow. Katherine's life depended on him getting to her in time. Hell, his life might as well depend on it since he had already decided that there was nothing left for him to live for if she wasn't with him. That was a weakness that he told himself he'd never admit to another living person, maybe not even Katherine. Danse approached the door that he recognized so uncomfortably as the Elder's quarters and took a deep breath. There was no knowing what awaited him. Danse opened the door and took a quick step inside, closing it behind him.
Just like that his heart broke. If he was a synth why did seeing the broken woman before him hurt so badly? Why had she done this... in the end it had been him that had ultimately let her down. There she was sitting on the floor staring up at the man in power armor with bloodshot eyes. She had a fat lip, a black eye, and bruises on her throat and arms. Her long white hair hung to her waist messily. Danse's blood ran cold. He would kill Arthur. Danse took a step towards her and was caught off guard when she scrambled out of his grasp. She didn't know it was him. Seeing her act like a wounded animal hurt him even more than he would have ever thought it could. The Paladin let out a defeated gasp and with a hiss of the armor, stepped out of it. Realization flashed through her steel eyes. Before she could say anything Danse had swept her up into his arms, his chin resting atop her head.
"What were you thinking?" He growled into her hair.
"What are you doing here? They'll kill you. That's why I'm here. They were too close to Sanctuary." She said as she took a step back. Danse was shaking his head.
"What happened? You're bleeding." Katherine said, staring at the bloodstain slowly seeping through the fabric of his suit on his bicep.
"It's nothing." the Paladin said quietly as he surveyed the room around them.
"You can't get me out of here unseen." she spoke the words aloud that had been brewing in his mind. Paladin Danse clenched his fists in anger again. Katherine had seen the man angry before but never this furious. The man before her was ready to kill.
"Just go." She muttered in defeat.
"Put your hair up. Put your hood on and keep close with your head down." Danse instructed Katherine.
    Danse watched as Katherine did so. As she lifted shaky hands and pulled her hair back into a tight knot, she revealed more bruising and scratches than had originally been visible. It was in that moment that time seemed to slow and Danse realized that he was going to lose the control that he worked so hard to maintain at all times.
"What did he do to you Katherine?" Danse demanded. Katherine was taken aback by his tone. It was almost as if he was mad at her.
"Well as you can see he beat the shit out of me every time he came back drunk and I told him that no I wouldn't sleep with him and no I would never have anything with him." she sneered defensively. Katherine didn't understand why Danse was acting...jealous? In such a situation it seemed to be an almost inappropriate reaction.
"What's wrong with you? Do you think he raped me and I'm not telling you?" she snapped. Katherine jumped as Danse turned and punched the wall beside him. She'd never seen him so angry.
"Danse!" she hissed, he was scaring her. she waited for him to turn back to her but he wouldn't.
"He'll be back soon, you know that right?" she whispered as audible footsteps passed outside. Finally the Paladin looked back at her.
"Do as I told you. Stay close. Let me do the talking if it comes to it." he told her and she watched him climb back into the stolen suit of power armor.
    Paladin Danse watched as she tugged her hood down with a shaky hand. Of course she was nervous, she should be. They were far from being in the clear but Danse expected that they'd likely make it out unnoticed fairly easily. One of Maxson's many faults that Danse had recently noticed was that no one on the Prydwen had been trained to ever so much as suspect intruders or enemies aboard. Katherine's heart beat wildly as they both froze at the sounds of footsteps again. She gazed up at Danse with a look of pure horror in her big eyes.
"We took too long. Fuck. Hide! Do something!" she whispered harshly. In the suit of armor...there was nowhere to hide. The Elder's quarters were the only private quarters that included a private bathroom. Katherine hadn't even thought of it in her raw panic but Danse did. He knew better than to make a move in the power armor. They would be heard for sure. Danse hurried out of it and crept to the bathroom, hiding in the shadows. Danse watched Katherine panic from his spot in the darkness. She crossed yanked her hood off and firmly crossed her arms across her chest as she backed away from the door a few steps. The anger and hurt in her eyes was hard to miss. Hell, she wasn't trying to hide it anymore.
    The door creaked open and for a moment it was as if Arthur had already known that something was amiss. The door opened at the perfect angle to obscure the Elder's line of sight, he wouldn't see the power armor till he had already entered the room. Danse prayed silently that Katherine would somehow convince him the it was there not of malicious intent.
"Elder." Katherine muttered grimly and that was all it took. Arthur shoved his way past her and into the room, his gaze instantly finding the suit of power armor.
"Where did you get this? How did you get out to get this?" he snarled. Katherine took another step back, her hands clenched into trembling fists at her sides now. It took every remaining ounce of control that Danse had to remain in the shadows.
"You forgot to lock the door." Katherine said and it came out more violently than she had thought it would, angering Arthur.
"You're lying!" he roared as both of his enormous hands connected with her, shoving her to the floor where Danse watched both of her hands fly up instinctively to protect her face. That was the Paladin's breaking point.
    Paladin Danse moved swiftly and expertly from the dark doorway to Elder Arthur Maxson. Danse caught Maxson by surprise, turned him around and landed a solid punch to his temple. Maxson went down hard as Danse yanked Katherine off of the ground. Danse may have knocked Maxson unconscious but the Elder would remember that it was him. She responded by letting out a yelp and bolting out the door, Danse close behind her in the power armor now. Danse caught up to her and caught her arm in a tight grip, slowing her down. Things were getting out of hand and quickly. He was beyond pissed and she was more frightened than he had ever seen her before. Danse had told her to keep her head down, yet here they were, him in power armor dragging her out of the barracks. Every now and then a sob would rip it's way out of her and the Paladin would tug her a bit closer. They were catching odd looks from some of the passing soldiers.
    Danse slowed his pace and let go of Katherine as they strolled down the flight deck tensely. Katherine didn't know what his plan was or how long they had before Maxson came rampaging out of his unconscious state. Danse climbed into a vertibird that was docked at the end of the flight deck. He looked back and motioned for her to get on board. Katherine only hesitated for a moment. She knew she didn't have another choice.
"Hurry." she told him frantically as he anchored the now empty suit of armor to the wall. Katherine took a deep breath as she took in the sight of the man that had saved her yet again. His skin was paler than usual and she attributed that to the bleeding wound on his bicep. She could see the anger in his eyes still. The jolt of the vertibird leaving the dock arrived simultaneously with the sound of the heavy metal flight deck door colliding with the wall and shouting. Katherine got what she had hoped would be the last look at Maxson she'd ever have.
"GO!" she cried out as she clutched the sides of her seat with her eyes shut tight.
"We will only have a small head start. They're going to come after us ten times harder now. We have to be on point." Danse said roughly.
    Danse noticed Katherine shake her head in his peripheral. Once again she was in danger and it was because of him. Maxson would surely kill her at this point if not chain her to the wall back on the Prydwen.
"God Damnit!" Danse grumbled as he smacked the dash of the vertibird violently causing the small woman beside him to jump. He cursed himself silently again. He didn't know what was wrong with himself, what had gotten to him so badly. He wasn't the Paladin that had been devoted to the Brotherhood of Steel anymore. He was the man devoted to the white haired woman beside him now and the fear he had for her was real and shook him to his core. His synthetic core, he reminded himself harshly. Katherine's head snapped up, waves of shining white hair rocking backwards in the sunlight. Despite her fear of the heights, she whipped around in her seat to stare out the open side doors of the vertibird.
"Oh my God! Danse! They're shooting at us!" she wailed, turning to look at him with wide doe eyes.
"Close the doors." Danse ordered and she looked at him as if he were crazy.
"I know you're afraid but you have to do this. I can't. You can't fly this and I can't leave the controls and for the love of God be careful." he told her firmly. There was no debate on whether or not he was right because he was. With a few muttered curses Katherine got up and hurried to the first door on trembling legs. Using all of her weight she pulled the first door shut then the second before allowing herself to collapse onto the cold metal floor.
"Katherine, talk to me." she heard Danse call out from the cockpit. There was no mistaking the concern in his voice. He heard her suck in a deep breath.
"They're shut." she told him.
"They're shooting but they're out of range." he said in a poor attempt to comfort her.
"What are we going to do?" Danse heard her small voice ask from behind him somewhere. The guilt was gnawing at him again.
"We're going to land near Taffington boathouse then we are going to run."