“You’re telling me, the Courser caught you.” Duncan narrowed his eyes on his companion rather than focusing on their surroundings. The ruins of Boston towered and fell around them. His companion hissed, a sound to alert him of his inattention. As she whispered a reply, without turning to look at him, the slurring chug of an auto turret echoed through the alley.
“Please pay attention,” she asked, moving past him so her answer to his question was nearly lost. It was a new emotion, this embarrassment, over what? Getting caught? Coursers were driven creatures, the weapons of the Institute’s right hand. It occurred to her that perhaps she had been meant for the Institute’s left hand. She would never let that happen. Never. Never. “Yes. At the top of the Greentech Genetics building. Not far from here. We need to be careful. There will be more.”
“You were caught. By a Courser.” He began to laugh, none too quietly. Even his dog, who seemed as loyal to Duncan as any synth to the Father, whined for quiet. Duncan immediately stifled his glee, but it was there. A flash in his dark eyes. “Tell me, A5-14…,” he began but was cut off by another hiss. “Ashoken. I am Ashoken,” she corrected, warned. She risked a glance at him.
He grinned. “Tell me, Ashoken, why aren’t you on an Institute slab right now?”
She slowed her pace as a Brotherhood of Steel vertibird roared above and cloaked them in its shadow. “Because,” she hesitated. It happened so quickly. The Courser ordering her to his side and her, full of noncompliance, pulling the rifle’s trigger. “I did not want to go.”
He laughed again, confident the vertibird’s rotors would hide his mirth. The shooting intensified ahead. All they needed to do was round the corner to find the BoS troopers and the latest nest of Super Mutants at it. The battle was in their way. Their only way. The dead drop that was their goal just beyond.
“Extraordinary,” he exclaimed to her back as she took point once more and violent conflict took over.
—
Ducan and his dog Echo belong to the fabulous @charomiami without whom Ashoken in Fallout 4 would not exist. ❤
Smug Duncan is Smug but thank god for the others making all the noise or he’s probably have split his side holding in snark and laughter. Maybe he’ll let her live it down, Maybe he’ll use it as a striking point when something important comes up. Or maybe just never say anything and let it hang there… BWAHAHAH
CharoMiami 