Fallout 3 - Beautiful Stranger

Chapter 19 Part 2

They found the second floor in poor shape compared to the reception area on the first floor. Doors opened into rooms where floors had fallen in, others where the ceilings had collapsed down upon desks and work stations. Computer terminals, filing cabinets, chairs, all covered in large amounts of rubble and detritus.

More robots littered the second floor, immobile and without any signs of working. Some had bullet holes in them. Others simply dormant, as if someone had switched them off. More Robobrains, some Protectrons and military Sentry Bots. Even a couple of the military version of Mister Handys, the Mister Gutsys. And all through the floor, they found empty shell casings.

"Someone has definitely been here before us and they had a lot of ammunition." Vincent entered another room, sweeping his rifle around.

"Maybe we're not the only ones who need information from here?" Patience took the next room to sweep clean.

"Pretty fucking popular place, huh?" Valrie was desperate to loot everything she could from the place, Patience could tell. Every time they cleared a room, Valrie would look in and make a mental catalogue of the contents.

"Patience?" Gia tugged on Patience's arm and made an innocent look for her benefit. "When this is all over, can we live here?"

"Why the fuck would you want to live here?" Valrie questioned, raising her eyebrows at the ex-raider.

"Well, those couches were real comfy and, I don't know, it's kind of nice and there's lots of room." Gia shrugged towards Valrie.

"I'm sure there are better places to live than here." Patience caught the amused look from Vincent. "And besides, I don't know what I'll do after. I don't even know if I'll even make it through this."

"Of course you'll make it through this." Gia gave Patience a hug. "You're a hero. Heroes don't die."

Patience wasn't too sure. She had come this far on the basis of finding out who she was, where she had come from. She was here to find answers and that was it. But those words from her fever dream continued to run around in her mind. Now that she had concluded the Super Mutants were preparing for war, she wasn't so certain about her future.

Something in her mind compelled her. It happened back at Girdershade. It happened again at the ruins before reaching Megaton and it happened again upon finding those humans captured by the Super Mutants. Something innate clicked her mind every time and she, somehow, knew she had to help those people.

It was almost as if she lost control of her body and something else took over. Someone else. Guiding her hand. And now she felt it again. The urge to do something about the coming war. The itch at the back if her mind, irritating her until she set off and moved against the Super Mutant threat on the horizon.

Right now, she was fine. She had the mission. The purpose. But once that mission became completed, she didn't know if she could stop herself from heading out to meet the Super Mutant King head-on and, if the last battle between her and Super Mutants were anything to go by, it would not end well for her. She had barely survived two of the hulking creatures, let alone an army and their enhanced leader.

And the idea of settling down somewhere, with Gia as her ersatz daughter and Valrie as a stand-in grandma? She couldn't see it. Maybe it was something Gia could imagine in her mind, still drawn out on the brain frazzling Mentats, but Patience, herself, couldn't even begin to imagine. It did not compute.

"Well, let's reach this mainframe, get out of the D.C. ruins alive and reach some kind of safety first, before we start talking about the future." Patience pointed Vincent towards a set of stairs leading up to the third floor. "How many more floors?"