revelation 21:6

Everything became static to her.

It was an odd feeling for the Lone Wanderer, she was always calculating something, analyzing the situation, hyper aware of what was around her; now, it all felt fuzzy. She swore she could hear a voice at the back of her head gently reminding her that she can’t let her father’s death be in vain; that she couldn’t run away anymore. Jay caught bits and pieces of the briefing coming from the Brotherhood Knight’s mouth. She could gather the gist of it, and that was all she needed to know.

Before they headed out, Butch stopped Jay from heading out the door behind the Lyons Pride. She knew her face must have been twisted into something dark when she saw her fellow Tunnel Snake visibly jump when she whipped her head to the side to face him. She saw him say something, but she couldn’t process it.

Disregarding whatever he said, she coldly turned away from him and mumbled for him to stay behind.

Once they started out toward the Jefferson Memorial, Jay had just gone through the motions⎼ follow the robot, shoot any Enclave asshole who tries to get in their way. The trek felt like mere moments to her, as if they were at the citadel one moment and then staring at the door leading into the entrance leading into the Memorial.

Slowly coming back to herself, Jay heard Sarah give the go-ahead to lead them in. Before Jay did anything, she let out a shaky breath she wasn’t aware she was holding in.

Cautiously, Jay pushed the gift store door open, whipping her head around before leading the Pride further into the building. Sarah followed closely behind her, constantly looking over her shoulder. The Lone Wanderer, however, kept her focus straight ahead; never diverting her gaze from the set of double doors that would lead into the lab outside of the rotunda.

Lyons had insisted that she open the doors first, as a safety measure. Jay allowed her, ruling it as a logical plan of action; Jay couldn’t afford to leave the situation this early on.

Once the doors were open wide, the Pride was met with a whole squad of heavily armored Enclave soldiers, ready to fire as if they were in a shooting gallery. Luckily most of the Pride had the reflexes to dodge out of the way while they waited for opportune moments to return fire. The vault girl had also taken cover at the side of the doorway, but she quickly spotted the red door leading to the rotunda.

 

She didn’t miss a beat once she had a chance to slip into the lab, rushing toward the door like a man on a mission. Jay had heard Sarah’s surprised gasp and her shouts to get back to safety, but she was already hyperfocused on her path to the door.

Jay felt like a moving wall as she forced her way through the barrage of blood and bullets. She was too focused on getting to the rotunda. She had to.

. At some point, Jay had started crawling on the ground to avoid any bullets that might have caught her. Whatever remained of the warriors following behind her covered her slow crawl to that damn red door. She couldn’t tell if she had been shot or not,everything else felt like static. Dodging the gunfire that seemed to never cease, she forced her way through the door leading into the rotunda.

When she opened that door, there was a proud figure looming over her; foot tapping, as if they had been waiting a little too long for the Lone Wanderer’s arrival. Jay saw red as she lifted herself up to meet the eyes staring down at her as if she was little more than a radroach.

Colonel Autumn.

This piece of

He seemed damn near proud of himself as he stood tall and rigid, hands tucked behind his back and his eyes condescendingly peering down at the fuming vault girl whose trigger finger was twitching violently. Autumn had started some glorifying spiel about the Enclave that Jay couldn’t give half a shit about; all that she heard was the gunshots from the Lyons’ Pride as they cleared out the remaining Enclave soldiers and gurble from Autumn's mouth. After a beat, The colonel’s mouth stopped and he looked expectantly at Jay.

She could’ve laughed at that. He assumed that she would engage in a conversation with him.

However she assumed that the buckshot she placed between his eyes was a response enough.

The girl stared at the bloody mess on the floor, fighting urge to spit on the insufferable man. She wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but she stopped herself. There was still work to be done.

When she snapped back to reality, Sarah had just taken down some Enclave brute that was just white noise to her.

"Took care of Autumn, huh?"

Jay ignored Lyons' quip and stepped up to the airlock. That weary voice in the back of her head had reminded her that she needed to start it up. Her feet shifted impatiently as Sarah did one last sweep of the rotunda.

Jay was acutely aware that her behavior to the knight had been less than optimal and her father was probably rolling in his grave, however, she felt like his grave would cause a full-on earthquake if they didn't start the purifier. She made a mental reminder to give Sarah a proper apology once they were finished.

Sarah hopped up next to Jay and gave her a curt nod. "Area's secure."
Before Jay could respond the intercom crackled beside her, Doctor Li's panicked voice blasting out.

"Hello? Is anyone there? Pick up goddammit, there isn't much time, you need to start the purifier and you need to start it NOW."

Sarah was quick to answer the doctor. "Hold on, what's the situation, what's wrong?"

"That thing is about to explode, it's-it's unstable. The facility has undergone severe damage during the fighting⎼ some of it looks accidental, some of it looks like sabotage. There’s pressure building up in the holding tank, it needs to be released now or the whole facility will explode. To release the pressure, the purifier has to be turned on⎼ do you understand me? It has to be turned on now." Madison took a shaky breath. “If I’m reading this right, I’m afraid there are lethal levels of radiation inside the chamber… I’m sorry. I wish there was some other way, but the purifier must be turned on now or the result will be catastrophic.”

Madison's voice crackled out of coherency until the intercom silenced altogether. Sarah turned to discuss with Jay, but was quickly interrupted.

"I'll go start it."

She couldn't just force someone else to die for something that was probably her own responsibility than anything. This solution would ensure no more unnecessary casualties. This solution wouldn’t let her parents’ life work go to waste. This solution would ensure pure water for everyone. This solution was the most logical.

Jay didn't even wait for Lyons to respond, stepping to the airlock as the knight opened her mouth to say something. She had blocked out the woman fitted in power armor completely, hyperfocusing only at the floor directly in front of her. The Lone Wanderer could almost see her father sliding down the glass door, his voice echoing through her head, demanding her leave while she had the chance-- to get to safety.

The door opened up and the image of her father dissipated. She wasn't going to run this time.

"Quickly, we don't have much time," she heard Sarah push, her voice laced with panic. "I hope you know what you're doing."

Again, Jay ignored her and stepped into the control room. The radiation hit her like a brick wall, she could feel herself nearly trip as she stumbled to the console. The numbers on the keypad stared into her, burning into her mind as the radiation burned into her body at an alarming rate.

Nobody knew the passcode accept her father. Even what she had in mind was a shot in the dark, but goddammit, if it wasn't what she was thinking then there wasn't a passcode at all.
Her fingers dug into the console as she recited her mother's favorite bible verse.

2.

1.

The purifier whirred to life as she pressed 6 and hit enter, Jay lurched forward and onto the floor.
She hadn’t bothered with getting up as she contemplated the final word in the verse. The radiation was worsening as it continued to seep into her body, she tried her best to ignore the burn, but she couldn't help the tears that managed to slip. It had been a while since she last recited it-- the last time was in sync with her father's voice.

She swore it was on the tip of her tongue as she reached up and pulled the goggles her father had gifted her after their reunion. Jay clenched it, becoming frustrated with everything at the moment; the radiation, her stupid body that made it difficult to suppress her crying, the seconds that seemed like hours, and that damned word she couldn't remember from her mother's favorite verse⎼ the one time she slips up on reciting a quote and it’s the one she grew up seeing every day of her life.

Jay could feel her grip loosening from her goggles, the thought of that last word the only thing keeping her conscious at that point.

When the word hit her, she let a sharp breath out, almost saying "I’m a fucking idiot."

And then there was white.

It was always that blinding white that pierced her vision throughout her life; her tenth birthday party, her father’s penlight as it scanned her eyes for anything out of the ordinary, the first time she stepped out into daylight. At this point, it didn’t even bother her as it had previous times before. She came to accept them as turning points in her life⎼ something important.

When she could see clearly, there he was, among the vast expanse of white and emptiness.

The first and original Doctor James Hanson himself, tired smile and all. Instead of adorning a vault suit and lab coat, he was in a simple button-up shirt with slacks and shoes that looked like they had seen better days but still cared for.

Jay couldn’t contain herself after the initial shock, the steel dam that she had built up around her emotions for years immediately breaking down as she tearfully embraced her father. James welcomed her whole-heartedly into his arms, clinging tightly to her as his daughter’s grip on his shirt tightened. He soothed Jay the best he could, loosening his hands to gently rub her shaking form as she sobbed into his shirt, hands balled into it as if he would disappear again in a second.

After a few minutes, Jay managed to calm her sobs, but still keeping her grip on James’ shirt. James smoothed out her frazzled hair to the best of his abilities and flashed her a gentle smile. “You did good out there, sweetheart.”

His daughter merely gave him a weak nod in response.

“What do you want to do now, Jay?” His voice was just as tired as she’d expect, but it held a gentleness to it that the girl hadn’t heard in years.

She let out a sigh and looked up at her father, her voice rasping and matched the tiredness of her father’s. “I still have work to do, dad.”

James flashed her a small smile and nodded, pulling her in for one more tight hug. Jay was more than happy to return it. They kept each other for seconds that felt like hours⎼ days even⎼ before pulling away. James let out a breath and ruined his work of Jay’s hair by ruffling it, his daughter huffed out a quiet laugh in response.

“You’ll do great, Blue Jay.”

⎼

Then the white faded away.

An aged, concrete ceiling greeted tired eyes, blinking lights threatening to darken the room was just out of her peripherals. Slowly, Jay could feel the ache traveling up her body as she was brought to consciousness. She could also feel a weight on her chest and something squeezing her hand.

For a split second, in her semi-conscious state, she thought that it was her father next to her. When she looked down, however, she was greeted by the familiar mess of greased hair. She was close to not recognizing it due to its current state⎼ yes, product had gone into it, but it was as if Butch had given up on even trying to style it. Jay found it strange and uncharacteristic of her companion.

Her hand twitched under his, struggling to slip free with the intention of shaking the delinquent awake. However, just as she had managed to slide her palm from his grasp, she felt it tighten around her fingers. Inwardly sighing, she watched as Butch groggily picked his head off of her chest. The man mumbled something that she ruled out as unintelligible gibberish while he blinked the sleep from his eyes and looked down at Jay.

The Lone Wanderer met his gaze with an unimpressed look that she wore almost everywhere. In an instant, Jay could see Butch’s second of surprise melt into relief.

“Pipsqueak, holy shit.”

It was Jay’s turn to be surprised as Butch pulled her into a hug so fast she got whiplash. The dull ache in her body seemed to intensify at the quick motion, making Jay grunt as she was squeezed by Butch. Her noise of discomfort fell on deaf ears, feeling him nuzzle into her shoulder. She let out a tired sigh and opened her mouth to vocally nudge him off. Before she could announce her pain to Butch, Elder Lyons had stepped into her view, clearing his throat behind the Tunnel Snake.

The man’s sudden appearance managed to get Butch off of Jay, quickly coughing nonchalantly and moving to smooth his disheveled hair out. He spared a glance to Jay before turning his eyes to nowhere in particular.

Jay found his flustered state amusing and left a mental note to laugh at him later.

she turned to Elder Lyons.

“Good to see you’re up. It’s a good sign that at least one of you managed to make a full recovery,” Lyons started. He looked over his shoulder, Jay following it to find Sarah⎼ lying motionless in a cot. She could see the gentle rise and fall of her chest, indicating she was still breathing, but just barely.

A twinge of guilt surged through Jay’s spine, recalling her behavior towards the knight up until the start up of the purifier. She wasn’t entirely sure if her shift in mood was a bit less subtle than usual as Elder Lyons put a hand on her shoulder.

“We’ve been coming down to visit the both of you every day since Project Purity’s success. You’re both lucky that we got down just in time⎼ the most you’ve suffered were a few burns. Your recovery gives us hope that Sarah will come to eventually.” The man’s voice cracked a bit as he spoke about his daughter, Jay noticed.

“I’m… Sorry about Sarah. She’ll make a full recovery. I’m certain,” Jay’s voice rasped as it came out, weak from lack of use. She knew it was bad when she saw Butch wince from his side of the room.

Butch let out a strange sound that was between a short grunt and a cough, perhaps, when he turned his attention back to Jay. Either to get more comfortable or to just look cool, she watched Butch stand up in his chair and turn it around so he could rest his arms on the back. While he got settled in he muttered, “Two weeks will do it to ya, huh?”

“Two weeks? That’s how long I’ve been out?”

Elder Lyons nodded his head, eager for a distraction. “Once the purifier started, the Brotherhood got to organizing work immediately. Now the Tidal Basin is full of pure water and we’re seeing the water be distributed to the Wasteland.”

“Yeah, it’s crazy out there Pipsqueak, you’re some kinda hero now,” Butch added, his appraisal almost sounding like smugness.

Jay gave a short confirming grunt⎼ she was just glad that everything had worked out. However, the mention of the Brotherhood taking over the Project made her mind reel just a bit. If there was one thing that she and Doctor Li had agreed on⎼ it was their subtle distaste for the Brotherhood of Steel. Militarizing the Project hadn’t been either of their ideas for it to turn out, but there wasn’t a lot she could do at this point. The most she was capable of was at least trying to get a foot in the operation and aide it as much as she could. Until things stabilize in the Capitol, she would have to put off her other plans for the future.

Before Elder Lyons made his exit, he offered Jay a place in the Brotherhood. He mentioned that there were still a few Enclave stragglers that needed to be taken care of. As much as Jay would’ve liked to stick it to a few leftovers, she decided that Project Purity was her first priority, but thanked him for the offer.

Butch eyed Jay after Lyons stepped out, telling the pair that they could stay as long as they needed to. She looked down at her hands, deep in thought⎼ planning out their next moves. She’d have to visit the Jefferson Memorial to scope out the kind of operation is being run, who’s in charge, and what they need assistance with. Next would be to check in with Rivet City and Megaton. After everything is settled, she’d have to find a way into more of her father’s research⎼ dig up some files and plans that he had, maybe check in with a few people from the science team, perhaps she could also recruit Moira for assistance if she really needed it.

“...You in there, Hanson?”

Jay blinked and brought her attention back to the room she was in. She looked up at Butch and muttered a brief apology, asking him to repeat what he was saying. If it was important.

Butch rubbed the back of his neck. “I was just sayin’ how it’s funny how you’re the one in the stretcher and I’m the one lookin’ out to see if you’re still breathing.”

The girl made no sound in reply, looking unamused to his attempt at a small crack.

The delinquent’s head and hand went slack after realizing that the little joke either went over her head or she just didn’t find it as amusing as he did. He sighed, moving the hand from behind his head to his chin and looking to the floor, “What I mean is uh, I’m glad. That you’re okay n’ stuff, you had me kinda worried, ya know.”

Jay also looked at the floor, noting the concrete that matched the rest of the room. “I’m… Sorry about all that. I just really⎼ I needed to⎼ “

“It’s all cool, Pipsqueak, I know you had’ta do what you had’ta do⎼ just, glad that you’re all good,” he took a pause. “So… uhh, what’re we gonna do now? I know you’re cookin’ up somethin’ ⎼ I can see it,” Butch leaned in and poked Jay’s nose to punctuate. Of course he was quick to change the topic, Jay noticed that he preferred not to dwell on one thing for too long and apparently showing genuine care was one of those things. And she thought she was the emotionally repressed one.

Jay took Butch’s hand away from her face and shot him a look that almost looked amused. “If you must know, I’m thinking about Project Purity’s future.” Her calloused hand began fidgeting with his, her eyes gleaming over every detail, as if she had to do something with her hands as she spoke. She also noticed a few new scars on her own hand⎼ red and mangled in a few patches. Burn scars, she diagnosed mentally. “Once everything is settled here, I want to expand it.”

Butch looked back up at her and found her looking right at him, with nothing but a sparkle of determination in her eyes. He found that her grip tightened.

“Really? How’re you gonna go about that?”

“If I get the time, resources and the research together, I’ll have the knowledge to build another purifier. The hard part will be getting started and where to go next,” Jay spoke confidently. She knew with just a little work and effort, she could bring clean waters to places that needed it. “I’ll need your help too, of course.”

Butch was taken aback by the sudden information, then pointed to himself, as if to say “me?”

Jay just nodded. “I’ll need a trusted partner to help me.”

Butch’s face broke into its signature smirk, and pulled Jay in for another embrace. Although it brought back a small pain through her body, she appreciated the gesture. Somehow, she thought, this delinquent had become essential to her. Although she had noticed this some time ago, she hadn’t fully grasped the weight of the sentiment. Contently, she sighed and sunk into Butch until he let go.

“Alright, then boss, what’s first?”

Grunting as she struggled to push herself to her feet, Jay nearly toppled over from their disuse if Butch hadn’t caught her. She quietly thanked him before correcting herself, keeping her footing steady thanks to Butch’s support.

The pair stumbled toward the exit, Jay muttering, “First I need some goddamn water.”