Fallout 3 - Beautiful Stranger

Chapter 22 Part 2

Vincent picked up the pieces of his .45 and left the room in silence, leaving Patience, Valrie and Gia staring at each other. Patience hated having to do what she did. She needed to prove a point and it became clear that talking did not have the effect she hoped for. If she was honest with herself, it didn't seem like violence worked, either.

She leaned her head back against the railing upright, digging her fingernails into her scalp. In the back of her mind, she knew, and understood, the soldier's perspective. That ingrained need to follow orders. Individual thinking got hammered out of a soldier before leaving bootcamp. Only when their individuality had become overwhelmed by the chain of command did the process of building it back up again begin, but only under the auspices of respecting their superiors' authority.

Follow orders. The only time orders could be disobeyed were in those times the orders could be deemed illegal. Yet, Patience had no idea what was legal or illegal in this devastated world. She didn't know if anything was illegal and that boiled everything down to following orders, no matter what those orders may be. Vincent was a soldier. He had orders and those orders must be followed. His moral code, if he had one anymore, was irrelevant.

"Am I the only one that thought that got a little intense?" Gia, as usual, broke the pregnant silence and, as usual, added little.

"You don't fucking say. Was it the blistering argument or the fucking bitch-slapping he got from her that gave it away?" Valrie spoke to Gia, but continued watching Patience. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know." Patience chewed on a fingernail, glancing at the main terminal. "Every instinct in me says I should kill him. Right here, before things get worse."

"But?" Patting her coat's many pockets, Valrie reached in and took out her cigarettes, lighting one and staring at Patience through the smoke she released.

"But, I can't. I can't kill him if I can at all help it." She held out her hand, bending her fingers a couple of times, urging Valrie to pass the cigarette. She took it and drew in a deep draw of smoke, passing the cigarette back. "He thinks he's doing the right thing. He's wrong. Very wrong. But that's what he thinks. I can't kill him for that."

"Which, and I'm no expert, just brings you back to what you're going to do about it?" Gia, for once, made sense. It was a circular reasoning. "And, for the record, I'm okay with the killing thing. I like him, but I don't think he's going do what you want."

"Neither do I." With a sigh, Patience dragged herself back to her feet. Putting her hands on her hips, she turned back to the main terminal. "You two go make sure he hasn't disappeared. I'm going to finish copying all my files onto my Pip-Boy. And Diana's."

Gia seemed to be about to protest having to leave, but Valrie grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her out of the room, leaving Patience with her thoughts. She reconnected her Pip-Boy and began the transfer of all her files. The documents, the videos, the reports, everything. She did the same for Sara's wife, Diana. Patience felt no connection to the woman, but it was possible, some time in the future, that her memory could return and Sara would want those files. The woman Patience used to be would need to know the Vault-Tec people had lied to her. Her wife had not died. She paused and then began transferring all the files about the secret vaults.

Once the copying completed, she reached into one of her ammo pouches, pulling out one of the slabs of explosive she and Vincent had disarmed. Attaching it to the main terminal's cabinet, she backed out of the room, taking out her sidearm. Half-closing the door, she took careful aim, fired and closed the door, ducking to the side.

The explosion buckled the reinforced door. She didn't try to open it and check her work. It didn't look like the door would be opening any time soon. Instead, she holstered her sidearm and set off back through the snaking corridors. Not finding Valrie, Gia and Vincent anywhere, she retraced her steps through the building, moving faster and faster as she passed each floor without any sign of the others.

Finally, she burst through the doors to the outside and there she found her three companions.

Vincent held Valrie and Gia at gunpoint, around twenty feet apart.

"It didn't have to come to this, Patience. If you'd just toed the line, I was going to tell Moriarty I killed you and we'd all be happy." He held the gun steady, keeping Valrie and Gia at his periphery while he focussed on Patience. "We still can. All you have to do, is let me go. Let me take the information to the Brotherhood and then Moriarty. You go find your answers, I do my job. But you won't, will you?"

"Nope." Patience held her hands up in a non-aggressive stance. "That information is dangerous. Those people, people like me, are dangerous. I can't let those people loose in an already shitty mess of a world."

"If it's already shitty and a mess, what difference does it make?" Patience could see the sweat beading on Vincent's temple. "Come on, Patience! Why are you making this so hard? Why can't you just let it go?"

"Because I have hope." She could see it now, the desperation in his voice, the wavering of the .45 pointed towards Valrie and Gia. The battle between orders and what his own thoughts told him. "I have to. I have to hope this world can be better. I have to hope that this, this is as bad as it can get. Why make it worse, Vincent? Share my hope."

"God damn it, Patience. I like you, I really do. I like all of you." He cycled a round into the chamber. If Patience had known, she would have shot him already. "But I can't disobey orders. I ... I just can't. I'm sorry."

"Just shoot the fucking asshole, Patience!" Valrie stepped in front of Gia, pushing the younger girl behind her. "He can only get one of us before you kill him and I'm okay with it being me. Seems a fair fucking trade."

"Will you, please, for the love of fucking god, shut the fuck up, Valrie!" Vincent's eyes flickered towards Valrie.

And that gave Patience all the opening she needed. Everything seemed to turn into slow motion. Even from here, she could see Vincent's finger release the tiniest amount of pressure from the trigger of his .45. Like swimming through syrup, her hand moved downwards, instinct and practice, decades worth of practice she knew now, dropping to the grip of her sidearm.

Unlike Vincent, she always kept a round chambered. All Patience had to do was turn off the safety as she raised her weapon that had no hammer to pull back. Still moving in slow motion, or so it seemed to her, Vincent had seen her hand moving. Now it was a race to see who could bring their weapon to bear first.

Vincent's weapon swung across. Patience's weapon swung upwards. It was going to be close and Patience couldn't be certain who would catch the other in their sights first. Only inches remained. Patience began squeezing her trigger.

It was in the corner of her eye that she saw it incoming, faster than she could move. Faster than her hands or body could react. The smoke trail landed almost directly between them all and the explosion rippled outwards, sending everyone sprawling, flying. She felt herself thrown backwards, crashing through the doors of Vault-Tec HQ, landing on her back. The last thing she heard as the ringing in her ears threatened to overwhelm her and the sweet dark embrace of unconsciousness took her were two words.

"Stupid humans."