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    "Angel..." Valentine said quietly, his robotic voice quivering with the imitating humanity inside. His mind blurred. This can't be... Can it? Angel isn't like this... She wouldn't... Control me...
     "Silence," she said, dropping all innocence but not being hateful.
    "Mnph-" Valentine's mouth locked. His vocal cords stopped.
    Angel...
    "You're obviously wondering why I decided to control you, right?"
    "Yyyyes-" Valentine sparked at the last letter, trying to fight the control of whatever was in his head.
    "Well, Valentine, you're my little... Test subject."
    "T-GAH!" Valentine was shocked violently throughout his entire core from his head to his feet. He fell to the ground with a clank.
    "Yes, test subject. I want to test your mentality along with your physical endurance. After all, you're an old model synth... With my own touches, right?"
    Valentine very reluctantly nodded, trying to get up.
    "Stay down."
     "Ngh.." Valentine slammed into the floor with his own force.
     "There's always been something about you, Nicky, that I was never quite able to crack. How can you... I dunno, how can you hunt people down so easily, hm? How can you aim so well, shoot so accuratly... Kill so..."
     Nick tried to get up again and failed.
    "Cleanly..."
     "I don't know," he said, willingly going with the control as he really didn't know himself. "Most of my memories are under tight lock and key, you know that..."
     "I knoooow, and that's SOOO BOOORRING!" she said, acting like her usual, innocent self.
    "Anyways, WhiteHair should be here soon, so I'll let you free...for now" she said, crossing her leg over the other and lighting a long cigar. The girl looks only to be seventeen, when in reality she is twenty-one. Her bouncy curls swayed as she sat back a bit, dragging the cigar. She let out a slow breath of smoke and it danced tauntingly above Valentine's helpless state. "Wouldn't want her finding out, would we?"
    "N-no..." Nick said. He slowly picked himself up and walked out of the room, feeling as if his bolts were tightened in his joints.
    "Sticky feeling, Hun?" Angel said, curiously and concerned - like.
    "Uncomfortably sticky..."
    "That should wear off. Have fun with WhiteHair."

Nick couldn't get out of Diamond City faster. He began the trail leading back to the meeting spot where the Vertibird always dropped WhiteHair to. She was best friends with an Appalachian scribe named Sammy (the sole survivor from a troop sent to Apalachia's Weztech facility) and got some special perks from it. Her own Vertibird was one of them. Granted, it was a very, very old model but it flew just as good. Calvin, WhiteHair's closest friend, piloted it and did repairs when necessary. He felt the vibrations from the Vertibird above as it shook the buildings. He grabbed his hat as it came close to the ground and dropped a girl in power armor to the ground. It rumbled and opened after a second. The Vertibird flew off and WhiteHair, whose hair is indeed white, walked up to Valentine.
    "Valentine!" she exclaimed happily and hugged him. He smiled and returned the gesture, wishing it was more than a friendly hug. "How are you? It's been weeks!" she stepped back and smiled at him. Her green eyes glistened in the dim light.
    "I've been doing pretty well," he said, not completely lying. "I'm doing a lot better now that my best partner is here" he said as he ruffled her hair playfully. She laughed.
    "Well, got any good cases for us to solve together?"
    "The Minutemen have told me there's been a number of disappearances in Starlight Drive-In's settlement. I figured you'd like to check it out."
    "Sure!"
    Valentine smiled to that. God, this girl is something special. Whatever it is, he doesn't know, and it's not the fact that she's immune to even the highest amounts of radiation. She began walking towards the drive in, her hand on her 10mm V. A. T. S. enhanced pistol and her mind on her shotgun.
    As they passed by Swan she gave it a few nervous glances. That beast... She wasn't sure how the hell anything could ever kill it. Nick was just as uneasy. Once he had accidentally woken it and almost came out of it as a tin can. They began passing by Goodneighbor and Nick placed a hand on WhiteHair's shoulder.
   "You alright, Nick?" she said as she looked at him.
   "Yeah... But, WhiteHair, I just want you to know that... I've been on the fritz lately and... I might do or say things a little unordinary... Alright?"
    "Mmmmokay" she said and continued walking. Valentine knew that his plan would work, WhiteHair would suspect something is up and ask Angel to fix it... And then find out what she's done to his mind. He'd just have to wait until then.
   After heading across the bridge and through all of the newly flourishing farmland of the Commonwealth, they arrived at the Starlight Drivein. As always, WhiteHair simply ignores the giant pond of radiation and walks right by it, confusing and, lets face it, scary to a few people. Nick walked up to the leader, Caswell, a long time friend that helped him close the Eddie Winter case a few months back.
    "Caswell!" Nick exclaimed as he slapped his hand into his comrades and shook it. "Good ta' see ya!"
    "Good to see you, too, Nick, but I wish it was under better circumstances. You know me by now, Nick, I'll handle any problem myself wether or not I should, from Deathclaws to Bohemoths... But, this time I have no blasted idea what the problem is."
    "No idea, aye? This sure is a case to solve then... What exactly has been goin' on?"
    "Well," Caswell started as he sat down on an old crate. "It started last month around the time I returned that girl's cat. I came here and Venus told me that one of the settlers went hunting for Radstag and just... Didn't come back. We sent out a search party and only two of the seven came back... They said that everyone else had just... Disappeared. No sound, no trace, nothing. We sent them before dusk and they came back just before it fell. The hunter had left early morning. Then last night... Venus went missing." Caswell gripped his pantleg tightly, fighting back fear in his voice. "She-" he quavered "She screamed for me and I was too late"
    Caswell grabbed his face and exhaled shakily. His dark hair fell over his face.
    WhiteHair put her hand on his shoulder. "Caswell," she said, smiling. "Don't worry. I know your wife, she's strong, and she's resilient. She isn't going to die out there"
   "You... You don't get it though.." he said quietly as he looked up at her. "She... She's pregnant..."
    WhiteHair's color drained from her face.
    "How long?" Nick said, determination in his voice.
    "Three months..."
    "Don't worry, Caswell, we're gonna get her back. Come with us, we'll probably need the extra hand."
     "I-I don't know, that... Thing might come back. I'll stay here... Keep everyone else safe..."
     "Alright," Nick said, tipping his head a bit. "We'll bring back your girl, Caswell. I swear."
     "Thanks, Nick... You're a real good friend..." Caswell smiled and headed off to the group of settlers to tell them the news. Nick and WhiteHair set off into the countryside to find the blonde and the missing people.
 
     "Well, Nicky" Angel said to an intercom "You're a damn good person, I'll give ya that."
     She smiled and closed her portable terminal she built herself and turned to the wall, closing her eyes and drifting off.

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⏰ Last updated: Jun 16, 2019 ⏰

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