Stealth Boy and Girl

three

DEACON

I was more careful this time, following around Camilla. My usual tactics were too obvious for her. She was observant. I didn't even realize she noticed me. Her green eyes took in everything and gave you nothing. Those were the eyes I needed to see into the most. The other new-bee, the vault dweller, her eyes took in a lot too, but she couldn't mask her emotions quite like this one. I was good at reading who was lying and who was not, but Camilla was a complete blank.

I watched her as she followed the path to the old North Church. She had taken longer getting to it than I had liked. Apparently she found bringing supplies to a little settlement to be more important. I admired that. When she finally did get to the church, I snuck in the back and headed to greet everyone.

It was the usual dysfunctionality as always. Tom had badgered Des into another crazy idea to test. Carrington was being his usual nag self. Glory was bragging about a mission she had done, guns blazing or something. I was writing up a report about my latest juicy detail when Drummer Boy ran up to Desdemona, telling her some traveler had actually entered.

"This is the second one! What the hell?" Des exclaimed. Samantha had come up out of nowhere. I didn't really expect her, but I expected Camilla. Des gave the girl the same speech and I came up behind her, showing myself. Recognition was in her face.

"It's you!" She yelled and stepped forward. The men by Des bristled and tightened their fingers on the triggers.

I laughed. Des looked at me in shock. "You actually exposed yourself to her?"

"No. I didn't. She figured it out all on her own. She caught me at my most vulnerable, and she must have followed me here. No easy feat, since I used at least five stealth boys on the way," I lied.

"I can't believe that you'd be so careless to lead someone here, and I also can't believe that she could be that observant to recognize you in different disguises." The leader looked at me, anger in her eyes. I might have done this one more time this week than she liked. She turned back to Camilla. "Is what he said true? You recognized him, and followed him back, even though he used stealth boys?"

"I did recognize him, but he used a stealth boy and got away from me. I found this place on my own," she replied, honestly. I admired that as well.

Des was about to say something again, probably telling her that she'd only be a tourist like she did with Samantha. But I didn't want to waste even more talent like that. "This go around, I'd like to take her under my wing. A gift like hers doesn't need to be wasted."

"You want to teach her to be the next spy of the Railroad HQ?" Des was in even more disbelief than before.

"Yeah, why not? We need more than just me." I looked at Camilla from behind my sunglasses. She didn't give any emotion away in her eyes.

"Alright then. But first, you do know what the Railroad stands for, don't you?"

She nodded and shifted her weight. "Of course. You save synths. If I didn't find your cause noble, I wouldn't have went through all the hoops I did."

Desdemona seemed pleased with this answer and went straight to business. "Good. I'll let Deacon take to training you then. Oh, but one more thing. By tradition, we keep everything in the Railroad anonymous. Come up with a code name for yourself."

Camilla furrowed her brows. "Any suggestions then?"

"No, you pick it," she insisted.

Camilla thought for a moment and she looked almost troubled. "Vex."

"Alright. I am Desdemona. I'm sure Deacon can show you around the headquarters. You are his responsibility."

I walked down the steps to meet our new recruit. She watched as Des and the two others disappeared back through the door.

"Sorry for the unfriendly first meet. You aren't the only one who has shown up like this."

She raised an eyebrow at me. "I thought you had invited me here?" She produced the piece of paper I had given her.

"I might have forgotten to mention my little invite to the boss, but it'll be fine. I vouched for you, no one got shot."

For a second, I thought she would get angry. But she only shrugged and gestured forward. "Well, are we going to start my important training regimen or what, teacher?"

I couldn't help the grin that consumed my lips. "Alright. Let the fun begin."

I showed her around and introduced her to everyone. She gave Carrington one hell of a time. I couldn't help but laugh at it. She even humored Tinker Tom with his madness. She seemed to get along with everyone well enough. It wasn't as hard as everyone made it out to be. I started to explain to her how the organization worked. I primarily gathered Intel on the Commonwealth, checked up on some of the synths we thought were in danger, and just laid low for the most part. I rarely went to a dead drop to complete any task that Carrington or Des handed out. Those things were for Glory or the other new girl, who picked her name to be Whisper. I thought it was nice she picked it after Johnny Whispers. He deserved to be remembered in some way.

After that, Vex and I took to traveling in the Commonwealth. I showed her basic disguising techniques and how to get the most from your stealth boy. I didn't show her all my tricks though, that wouldn't be any fun. But she actually caught on to a lot on her own. We traveled for a few weeks, student and his aspiring, promising pupil. She caught on to my little white lies quicker than I would have liked, but she still made me laugh. I tried to tell her I was an undercover Brotherhood agent. She only laughed at

me and replied to my lie with one of her own. Said she was the Elder's mistress. The next thing I tried to tell her was that I was a synth. She instantly read my 'recall code' out loud, knowing I had lied. I had to give it to her, she could read me almost as well as I could read anyone else. After I tried to convince her I was a synth, I didn't try to lie like that to her again. She picked through my bluffs in seconds and it unnerved me almost. I didn't know how she made me feel like this. She was such a mystery to me.

We were out in Diamond City now though. She was dressed in ragged robes and a grey knit cap, concealing all of her hair. She didn't exactly like the idea of going under the knife quite yet, but that's what I was in the Green Jewel of the Commonwealth for. I thought I could get a crooked nose this time, only slightly off center. Make it look like I was in some rough bar fights. As I was with the surgeon, she went and gathered some rumors at the noodle stand. Later in the night, we both met at the Dugout Inn to compare notes in one of the dark corners of the bar.

"Well, hear of anything real juicy, young pupil?" I asked in a hushed tone.

She rolled her big, green eyes and leaned on the table with her elbows. "Agent Whisper was headed back to the HQ. We didn't talk, she doesn't even realize I'm in the Railroad."

"Let's keep it that way. We can't trust everyone so willingly." I said this quickly and leaned back in my chair.

She gave me a small smile and lifted her beer bottle that rested on the table. "You trust me?"

I felt the corner of my mouth twitch up. I thought about my answer for a short second, but I wouldn't lie to Vex this time. "No, I trust you the least out of everyone."

I saw something spark in her eyes, just for a second. It was gone too quickly to read what emotion played in them. It was frustrating. She took a drink from the bottle and asked "Then why travel with me and be my teacher?"

I laughed and stood. "I wanted the Railroad to have someone other than me. Des made the call to let you in."

She stood to follow suit with me. She dropped the subject and instead asked "Where are we going next boss?"

I turned my head and spoke over my shoulder quietly. "I am going back to HQ. You can go wherever you feel fit to gather Intel for us. Come back to HQ in three days. I'll be there to grade your first out of class assignment."

I left her there, with her arms crossed defiantly. But she didn't follow me, and I headed back to HQ the quickest way I knew how. I wanted Whisper to take me on her missions. Sure, I wanted to waste all my time on trying to figure out Vex, but the vault dweller, I'm sure, would take much less time.