Eventually, after a few hours of driving and a big lesson on subterfuge and infiltration from Mira that made Adam’s head spin, they arrived at Mira’s hiding spot for the APC. A half destroyed parking garage with high ceiling clearance and obscured from view from most angles by a number of buildings reduced to rubble. Adam and Mira got out and Adam let Rae out of the back.
“Alright, Rae. We will be gone for a few days, while we are, it is your job to protect the APC from any people who would want to either steal it or damage it. Keep people away, by force if necessary. And, if we do not come back in…” Adam paused and then looked at Mira for a moment before looking at Rae again. “A week, return to the Vault and tell them what happened here, no sense in protecting this hunk of metal if no one is coming back for it.”
“Rae understands! Do not worry, Rae will protect the APC and fulfill your orders until you return Sergeant." Rae said with a salute and a chipper tone, as always. Adam had noticed that, despite owning a hat, Rae was not wearing the hat he got for them back on the highway, instead they left it in the vault. Perhaps not to let it get dirty? He could only guess.
“Alright then, we will be off, stay safe Rae.” Adam said as he turned around with Mira to start following her towards their destination, the center of all cultists, the Church of Salvation.
They walked for a while without saying anything, just going down the streets without encountering anyone or anything, which was for the best, Adam was not entirely convinced that he would be able to play the role of cultist yet, even with Mira’s crash course. Adam was okay with the silence, after all, a lot of marches, both in the army and after he woke up, have long stretches of nothing. Normally he would play music on his pip-boy during these times but he had to leave his pip-boy back in the APC since no cultist would own one. However despite Adam feeling comfortable with the silence Mira seemed to have something she wanted to say judging by the fact she kept glancing over at Adam. Eventually Adam was the one who spoke up.
“You have something on your mind.” Adam said as he slowly turned to look at her. “You don’t need to feel shy about speaking to me.” He said with a soft smile. Mira sighed softly and then shook her head a bit.
“I’m not shy, I just…” She started before stopping to change her comment. “I just… I realize now that I brought you out here rather forcibly and you just went along with it. In my mind, at the time, it made perfect sense to bring you along but you…” She turned to look at Adam now. “You don’t know anything about me.” She said with a soft expression.
“We’ve been over this.” Adam said warmly and slowly. “I don’t need to know where you come from. We all have secrets, some we don’t want to share. I get it. What I have seen is your actions, and those have told me the kind of person you are. The kind of person who is trustworthy.”
“Im not though…” Mira mumbled quietly under her breath, so quiet that Adam was not entirely sure he even heard her right. She then let off another big sigh. “And what if I don’t want my past to be a secret anymore? What if I want you to know about me?” She said, a hopeful tone in her voice.
“Then I will listen gladly. I would be happy to hear whatever you want to tell me. We are comrades, housemates, and, I hope, friends.” He smiled. “I have a pre-war ghoul friend, an assaultron friend, and a Legionaire friend. What difference does it make if you are from the Brotherhood?” Mira stared at Adam for a short while before she looked away and muttered something under her breath, this time Adam couldn’t hear her at all but the shy smile on her face spoke volumes about what it might have been about. After regaining her composure she looked back at Adam again.
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“Then I would like to tell you my story.”
“And I will gladly listen.” Adam said back warmly. Mira nodded and then took a deep breath, steeling herself for her story.
“Tell me… what do you know of the Brotherhood of Steel?” She asked.
“Honestly, not much, I’ve heard the name, of course, but I have been… cut off from outside knowledge for a long time. I had to learn everything from square one when I… left the Vault.” Adam said, choosing his words carefully. Mira nodded again.
“Then let's start there.” She gingerly put a hand on the place where the symbol on her chest would sit in her stealth suit. “The Brotherhood of Steel is an organization that was formed from the ashes of the old world. Their goal and mission is to protect humanity from ever having to endure another apocalyptic event like the one that ended the old world.” She paused and then glanced up at the sky, watching the clouds slowly move overhead.
“The primary mission of the Brotherhood of Steel is to collect, catalogue, and contain old world technology that could be dangerous and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. To that end the organization has scoured the old world for artifacts that could pose a threat to humanity and bring them under our control.” She paused and then looked at Adam. “Though the Brotherhood is not always… great at sticking to this mission.” She paused again. “Everyone has different ideas of how to save humanity, even within the Brotherhood. Some decided aggressive expansion was the way forward, some decided isolation, some threw us into wars, others…” She paused and then sighed. “But they were my family… my only family I’ve ever known. I grew up in the Brotherhood, and all my brothers and sisters were as important to me as any true family might be.” Adam continued to say nothing, just listen to the story he was being told.
“My story however begins with where I became something more than just Brotherhood of Steel. Not a scribe, not a knight, nor a Paladin. No, I am…” She started, then stopped as she considered the tense she was using and grew sad. “I was a member of the Circle of Steel.”
“The Circle of Steel?” Adam asked.
“Yes. We are the intelligence arm of the Brotherhood. On paper our job is to ensure that even in isolation the Brotherhood is not without information on potential threats. From growing powers to coming tides. However in practice we are more like… internal agents of the order. Ensuring the Chain that Binds is kept unbroken and that the efforts of the Brotherhood are not led astray.”
“The Chain that… Binds?” Adam asked, confused.
“Yes.” She nodded. “Its our most sacred precept, it is what allows so many different chapters of the Brotherhood of Steel to work together despite our vastly different regions and issues we handle. To put it simply, the Chain that Binds is like… the military hierarchy of the old world military.” She explained. Adam understood the analogy immediately so nodded along, showing he understood what she meant.
“Anyway, this means that members of the Circle of Steel are not always the most… popular among our number. We can be seen as bad omens.” She then shook her head. “But I am getting off track. The story of how I got here… living with you… in that Vault of yours is when I was deployed on a mission 9 years ago. To the Capital Wasteland.”
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