» Fri May 13, 2011 6:48 am
Right, a break from New Vegas means an update to Marie's journey!
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Chapter 12: Hope's Citadel
Marie could barely keep pace with the immense strides of the metal-clad figure, as he made his way across the National Mall. To the east, beyond the great obelisk, stretched cultivated rows of corn set before a rectangular building. To the west, a dome covered in scaffolds dominated the skyline. As always, she was full of questions.
"You grow things here?"
"Birth of Freedom's fields," Charon replied. "We trade with them occasionally. We share a common cause."
"Birth of Freedom? What kind of a name is that?"
"They took it from the inscriptions in the monument. My former employer helped establish the settlement. Long ago, when I was in the employ of a corrupt bartender and this place was known only as the Capital Wasteland, he went there and eliminated its previous occupants, slavers from Paradise Falls. The people there now revere him as The Great Emancipator."
"Did you go with him to The Pitt? None of our histories mention you...and I think you'd be quite memorable."
"Hmph. No."
"Why not?"
"The only means of transportation precluded my presence. Not an unusual occurrence. Out of boredom more than anything, my former employer loved to travel."
"Ah, the old train tunnel. What do you know of The Pitt?"
"My former employer told me that, much like The Capital Wasteland, it was infested by degenerates. Slavers, raiders, murderers. He said that he missed my presence when he culled the unrighteous. The Regulators rewarded him handsomely for that work."
"Did he ever mention a man named Ashur?"
"Ashur? Paladin Ishmael Ashur? Yes."
"Wait - what did you call him?"
"Paladin Ishmael Ashur. During the Scourge of the Pitt, the Brotherhood of Steel considered him Missing in Action. My former employer found his fallen brother. He has now been stricken from the Great Codex."
"The Great Codex?"
"A Brotherhood record. Ask my former employer about it. Before he released me from service I was contractually obliged to aid him and his allies, but frankly I never took much notice of their nonsense. Enough questions. We're here."
Marie found herself before a great structure, reinforced by rusting steel, a crane moving girders about. Before the gate, an immense tower reminiscent of the mobile MIND device she had seen in Old Dominion, only far taller. Men armoured in a similar manner to her guide milled about, blue emblems emblazoned on their chests depicting cogs and sword intertwined.
"Charon," nodded one of the guards at the gate in a respectful tone. "Sentinel Blood is in the Lyons Den. Who is the outsider?"
"She wishes to see Sentinel Blood, and the scribes. Doctor Barrows thinks you will be very interested in some of his findings relating to her."
"Really? The scribes have their hands full at the moment, but Sentinel Blood always has time for you. Proceed. Outsider," he turned to Marie, "You enter our home. Behave yourself."
Marie nodded, heading through a cleared out passageway into a great courtyard. She followed Charon across the courtyard, down into the heart of the building.
"Who the hell is Sentinel Blood? I want to see The Lone Wanderer," she whispered. "Another one of his nicknames?"
"His Brotherhood rank and codename," scolded Charon.
"Sentinel Blood...what kind of codename is that?"
"Shortly before I left his service, during the Next Obstacle, we made a sport of hunting Super Mutants. He holds the record for the number of Super Mutant blood vials turned in. I'd avoid the subject of Super Mutants around him, though. Here."
Having made their way through endless corridors, she found herself in a circular room, tables arranged in parallel to the walls and chairs set in regular order. A single figure sat opposite the entrance, in front of a computer terminal. Marie's mind instantly went back to her friend in The Commonwealth. The same long face and nose, deep set eyes hidden behind sunglasses and long hair swept back. A deep and ugly scar wound its way across his right cheek, disfiguring his already unhandsome face. He wore a similar set of armour as Charon, although far lighter coloured and in somewhat better condition. The cog and sword motif had been emblazoned across his chest, another detail missing from Charon's suit. He looked up from the terminal, ceasing his typing.
"Charon brought you here," he coughed. "Must be someone important. My work is important, so make it quick, outsider."
Marie fixed his gaze, just visible behind his glasses. She narrowed her own eyes, gritting her teeth as she chose her words.
"I didn't think you'd recognise me," Marie spoke in a controlled monotone. "But I've come a long way to find you."
The Lone Wanderer removed his glasses, a shaky hand placing them carefully on the desk. "And who might you be?"
"My name is Marie Ashur. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
Marie grabbed the slaver's 9mm pistol from her longcoat pocket, aiming it carefully at the Wanderer's unarmoured head. In an instant, she felt a white hot spark grip her hand, sending the pistol flying worthlessly across the floor. The Wanderer pointed an absurd looking pistol at her.
"You cannot outdraw me, girl," he spat. "I have twenty years of combat experience and cybernetics that would but The Commonwealth to shame. I don't know who you are, and I don't know who your father was. If I killed him, he was probably some raider or slaver scum."
"Allow me to refresh your memory," she hissed back, reaching for the sawn-off shotgun. "The Pitt. Twenty years ago. The baby girl you kidnapped."
The Wanderer continued to fix her gaze, a look of sudden realisation coming across his face. He ran his gloved hand through his dusty hair, holstering his pistol as he sat back down.
"My God," he spoke after a long silence. "It's you. The little girl. Tiny Marie...I knew this day would come."
"You remember now?"
"Forgive me. I am too preoccupied with my work, I didn't recognise your name...or face. You're the spit of your mother...Sarah? Sandra?"
"My mother? Did you kill her too?"
"Look...I don't know what you've heard from Wehrner, but you deserve the truth."
"Wehrner's dead, or worse. I've had to piece together my past myself. I know you killed my father."
"You don't, because I didn't. Trogs killed your father, as he was about to kill me. Haven. After the lights went out, the Trogs wiped out the ruling slaver class. Saved me a lot of bullets and the slaves a lot of blood. Your mother...I had no choice. I'm sorry. White labcoat and a .44 Magnum, the fury of a mother who has had a baby stolen. She would have hit you, and I could not have allowed that."
"Why did you kidnap me? Why not leave me with my parents?"
"I didn't know, at first. Wehrner told me of a cure for the sickness that plagued The Pitt. I didn't know it would be a baby. Later he said I would have whined about it, and he was a man who wanted action immediately. Living in that place, I didn't blame him."
"You didn't answer my question."
"I had to make a choice," shouted the Lone Wanderer, slamming his palms on the desk. "People were dying in the streets to give me the opportunity, and I couldn't let them die in vain. Your father and his goon squad rushed outside to deal with the slave uprising, leaving me with a few raiders, your mother, and you. I had to choose a side there and then."
"And you chose Wehrner?"
"I chose the people of The Pitt, not just the ruling elite. Your father may have come up with a cure. But it would have been used for his ilk, and to control the slave population. Do you seriously think that a man who had built his small empire on the backs of slaves, who fashioned himself Lord of The Pitt would give all that up? Never."
"How do you know that?"
"I've seen his kind before. Results at all costs. Any cost, including our humanity. We can't sacrifice that, Marie. In a world like this, it's all we have left. He wasn't doing evil for evil's sake like his underlings, but evil must be punished. The strong must stand up for the weak."
"Sounds like you. Doing evil for a greater good, kidnapping children and murdering in the name of humanity? Are you so different from my father, building on the backs of slaves in the name of progress?"
"Don't you dare compare us. We both served the Brotherhood, but our similarities end there. Your father saw weakness and sensed an opportunity for himself. I saw weakness and stood up for them. You know nothing of me, of my accomplishments. While you lived in a free city, thanks to my actions alone, I was fighting for the people of this wasteland, because nobody else could. Because nobody else was strong enough."
"Another parallel to my father. You do what you do simply because you are the strongest, because nobody else can resist you. Thanks to you, I never knew my parents. Thanks to your strength."
"Enough of this. I knew your father, and am nothing like him. I am sorry about your mother, truly I am. I never knew my mother either, and know the pain of growing up without a father. But I will not apologise for doing the right thing, however distasteful. I cannot allow you to interrupt my work. If you try to kill me, you're impeding the progress of The District, and I cannot allow that. Make your choice. Live, your petty vengeance unfulfilled, or die content that you at least attempted it."
Marie dropped her shotgun with a pvssyr on the floor, collapsing into a seat.
"I...don't know what to do. My parents, unrepentant slavers to the end. Their murderer, too strong to bring to justice. And me, caught in the middle of it all."
"I have something for you," The Wanderer said, pressing buttons on his wrist device. I took away your father and mother, but before I left The Pitt I acquired some holotapes from your father, meant for you. I kept them, if you were ever to track me down."
A clear and determined voice emanated from the device. The Wanderer played four recordings in succession, from the Lord of The Pitt to his daughter. He told her how he came to The Pitt with the Brotherhood, how he nearly died, how he became a god-king and how he rebuilt The Pitt using slaves, and the cure inside her.
"...by the time you're old enough to hear this, you'll already be a hero," ended the tape. "Congratulations, Marie. You've already saved us all. I knew you would."
A long silence followed. Marie broke it.
"He was right. The Pitt has been saved, but not the way he would have imagined it."
"That's why I did what I did, Marie. We were after the same thing, but I tried to serve the greater good."
"Judging by his words, so was he."
"Indeed. But I cannot forgive slavery. It is an evil that should be annihilated, as it represents regression into barbarism, not progression."
"Even after hearing that...I have to admit I couldn't agree with him. Picturing Midea, Nola and the others as slaves...I don't think I could take that."
"I knew I couldn't. I don't expect you to forgive me for what happened to your parents, but at least hoped you'd understand, especially after hearing your father's words. We lost contact with The Pitt when the tunnel collapsed. What is it like today?"
"People work, hard, to make better lives for themselves. But we are free, and most of us are healthy."
"And your cure?"
"Worked. Well, worked for women."
"Hmm. Didn't see that coming. At least it's better than it was. Just like The District, which used to be ravaged by slavers and raiders. We're still beset by Super Mutants, from here and those ignorants in Old Dominion..."
"I've been to Old Dominion," replied Marie. "They don't like you much either."
"Really? You might have seen the Mark III, we sent him down there to recover a MIND unit. They're playing with fire."
"Howso? You wiped out a Vault and your Brothers take what they can find from the locals."
"For the greater good. To stop mutant attacks on innocent people. But the selfish people of 75 didn't see that, erased their computer. We got most of what we wanted, though."
"I knew the engineer from that Vault. He says that you wiped out the Vault population?"
"He said what? No, no. They dispersed into the wastes, merging with other settlements. A lot found themselves in Megaton, not far north of here. We found from databases here that MIND was just the beginning of the Vault 75 experiment. We realised we could win the war against the rampaging Super Mutants without firing another shot."
"By brainwashing them, like Old Dominion?"
"By using them. We've just started to rebuild. How useful would a mutant army be, in tilling our fields, lifting the stonework. Real progress, without any threats."
"You know this thing works on ghouls? They'd be slaves."
"Which is why we're researching how to tune it to the brainwave frequencies of Super Mutants only. That's what the thing outside is. Liberty Prime Mark III brought us the last remaining MIND unit we need. The device is the MasterMIND, a MIND unit powerful enough to control all the Super Mutants in The District and beyond. This war has cost us enough already. While you were safe in a free city, my brothers and I were fighting and dying to destroy the source of these monsters."
"The source?"
"A vault. We waded in there with our power armour and gatling lasers, evacuating nearby settlements as we went. The mutants fought ferociously. We lost a lot of good people destroying that evil place. A lot of good people. Poor Sarah...But, it made the Brotherhood ultimately stronger. Under Elder Maxson's guidance, we were reunified once again. But, as you've seen, it isn't enough."
"If you destroyed the source, wouldn't they die out naturally?"
"You'd think. I'm convinced they have amassed a second source of their Forced Evolutionary Virus somewhere. But after the bloodbath in Vault 87 Elder Maxson is unwilling to devote further Brotherhood resources to find it. Instead, we invested in MasterMIND."
"And what of Zen?"
"Ah, the pet project of Fawkes and Leo. To be blunt, we don't know. There's no way to predict if the self-styled Meta Humans will be affected. But it's a risk we should be willing to take. What is the fate of one town, compared to that of the entire wasteland?"
"I think there is another way. You know Doctor Barrows?"
"The ghoul doctor? Always chasing his pipe dream, but a good man."
"With me, and your MasterMIND...we could cure this wasteland."
Marie handed him Barrow's research notes, along with the last remaining vial of the cure. The Wanderer studied them for what seemed like an eternity, while Marie looked on.
"This must get to the scribes immediately. If you've given up on killing me, get some food and rest in the B-ring."
An eventful day had taken its toll on Marie, and she willingly followed the Sentinel's orders. Hours turned into days, but the Paladins and Knights were respectful, and she had plenty of food and water, as well as access to the Citadel archives. Reading about the Scourge of The Pitt deep into the night, she drifted into sleep, and a dream of her home as it had been. When she awoke a blue-robed figure was standing over her, red robed figures at his flank.
"F-forgive me for waking you," he stuttered, adjusting a thick pair of glasses. "I am Elder Maxson, head of the D.C. detachment of the Brotherhood. My scribes, Sentinel Blood and myself have spent the week anolysing the research you brought us. Lyons Doctrine dictates we aid the wasteland in our quest for technology, and this research enables us to do both. Paladin Casdin has said that MasterMIND is nearly ready, but using this research...there's another way. Decades ago, before we fought another great war with a group the Enclave, the man who would become Sentinel Blood gave us a modified version of the Forced Evolutionary Virus, the virus which causes Super Mutants. Only this strain proved fatal to any living thing with a mutation. We stored in the Citadel's vault, studying it intensely. There was no way to further modify it. But, with Barrow's research, the Enclave's FEV, MasterMIND and your unique genetic code...you can redeem your father's name in the Great Codex."
Marie blinked at the gangly figure, with thinning hair. He seemed far too young to be called 'Elder' of anything.
"But there's a problem. The Codex forbids us from demanding the same sacrifices from outsides that we can expect from our brothers in steel."
"Sacrifices?"
"The vial you gave us was useful in determining the applicability of your cure and how we can integrate it successfully with the modified FEV. But we will need more in order to make its application practical and combat the initial FEV infection in Super Mutants."
"It'll hurt," said the Wanderer as he walked in the room. "Or worse. You may not survive the process."
"Taking more of the cure may kill me?"
"Yes," Maxson nodded. "The Sentinel will preside over the operation. But the rewards. We will use MasterMIND to call docile Super Mutants into one area, then distribute the modified FEV among them using Project Purity, our mass water purifier. Ordinarily, the modified FEV would kill them. With your cure integrated into the virus, it will reassert the initial genetic code of the Super Mutant."
"In short," added the Wanderer, "The waters of life will restore humanity to mutant and ghoul alike. They will be who they were before they were taken, before their humanity was stolen from them. We've contacted the District Congress. Megaton and Rivet City have pledged that these... rehabilitants will be protected as any human, under District law."
"Won't the water harm ordinary humans?"
"Other than removing mutations, no," explained the Wanderer. "I doubt the people of the District will miss their extra toes and brain tumours. But, as our Elder has said, the choice is yours."
"I have been told from birth that my purpose is to cure people," Marie whispered to herself. "I'll do it."
"Excellent," replied the Wanderer. "We'll prep you for surgery immediately. If you should die in the service of the wasteland, know that at the end of your long road, you have embraced the greatest virtue. Sacrifice. My father died for the good of the people, and should you follow in his footsteps and sacrifice life itself for the greater good of mankind...you will be remembered not only as the Hero of The Pitt, but as The Saviour of The District."
I have theories but I'd prefer to keep silent about them and see where Lorca is taking this. 
He probably would be nearly as dangerous as the LW when he grew up and had to leave for Big Town. 
oo: (In the Fan-Fiction Section of Fallout That Is)
...........Mostly.....
