The Cure For Curie (Complete!)

A Promise Broken

Curie was overwhelmed. The people rushing into the small encampment were too many. Besides herself, there were three other medics and a handful of clinic stand practioners. It was not enough for the hundreds of people pushing into the gate.

She had set up a triage line were they used to grow crops at Hangman's Alley. A small little patch of asphalt that had been dug up for farming. The land now barren, had filled with patients with a wide range of injuries. From bruised heads, super mutant hound bites, radiation poisioning, broken bones, mole rat scratches, and even pipe rifle shots. She was doing the best her programming would allow, but she was on the verge of cracking.

Preston Garvey was being pushed to his limits as well, she knew, but he refused to show it. He ran from one end of the camp and back again, over and over. Guiding the settlers to where they needed to be, whether it was triage, supply table, or at the other gate to be lead away by the Minutemen patrols. If it weren't for him, this place would have been chaos. She was more than thankful to have him here and she was saddened when it came his time to leave.

After John had delivered his speech to the Brotherhood of Steel, only minutes ago, Garvey made his way to Castle. He was to greet the coming soldiers and help to organize the rebuilding efforts that they would take part in. Curie had been put on edge by the speech. She worried it wouldn't go over as well as John had thought it would. She feared the soldiers would head to Castle to launch an attack in retaliation.

The whole camp had shifted to a building tension, waiting for the General's grand finale. It would shake the city for miles, they knew, and they waited with heavy hearts and minds that now were on edge for the big explosion. The minutes seemed to click by as if they were hours as Hangman's Alley waited with held breath.

Curie did her best to not think about it. She busied herself with the patients in the worst condition. Some, she knew, would not be able to leave with the patrols today. A few of the former city residents would need to stay for close observation. She had a unit set up, with a few sleeping bags, where those few would stay until they could move on their own or be moved by the Minutemen. It wasn't the safest option, keeping them here, but she had no other choice.

A large sound filled the air suddenly. Curie could only describe it as a twisting of metal. It rang through the downtown area, followed by a hard thud. That couldn't be the Prydwen, she had thought. It would have been much louder. She saw one of the guards scurry up to the rooftops to get a better look.

She raced up the fire escape after the man, anxious to see what had happened. So many things needed to go right for this plan to work. If just one thing went wrong though. Curie shook her head, not wanting to think about it.

"What is it?" She asked as she reached the top.

"I'm not sure, ma'am. There is smoke rising from Diamond City but it could just be the radio tower fire. I don't see much out of place. Even the Brotherhood soldiers seemed to have cleared the area."

Curie checked the roads in front of Diamond City, only to find that the man had told the truth. The ground was littered with rifles, guns, and other various weaponery. That gave her some hope. Whatever the Brotherhood of Steel had chosen, it seemed that things had ended peacefully.  They had seen reason, just as John had predicted.

She shifted her eyes toward the Prydwen next. Nothing seemed out of place to her, but it also didn't look quite right. She thought hard as she tried to put her finger on it. The vertibird. It wasn't there anymore. If that was the case, the Prydwen was due to blow up any minute now.

She used her robotic eyes to zoom in on Trinity Towers across the way. She could see that the signal fire Rhys had lit still blazed hot on the rooftop. She checked down a couple floors until she found the hole in the side that doubled as a garage for large helicopters. She was confused to see it empty.

"The vertibird is missing." She said aloud, pointing to the Prydwen. The guard moved his binoculars to check.

"Yes ma'am. Isn't it supposed to land at the tower?"

"Yes, but it is not there either. Something must be wrong."

"That could be, or maybe they had technical difficulties and needed to land the plane somewhere else?"

She nodded at the man. She supposed he could be right. It didn't feel that way though. Something picked, nagged, in the back of her mind. She had to know for sure. She spotted another building off to the right that was higher than where she stood. She wondered, as she ran towards it over the rooftops, if she would be high enough to see into Diamond City from there.

She sprinted across the roof, hopping onto the ledge. She zoomed into the city, focusing as best she could. The wall around Diamond City blocked most of her view, but she could see enough. Her heart sank. There, in a heaping, broken, smoking pile lay the vertibird that John was to use to escape.

Panic rose in her throat, threatening to force her legs to run off the ledge of this building and race to the city. It had all gone horribly wrong. Damn him. He had promised not to scare her this way. Promised this would all work out. Promised that they would live out their days together. She saw all her dreams crushed like the broken machine laying in the center of Diamond City.

She needed to get down there. She shouted to the guard to ready patrols to the city. After he swore to see it done, she found the fire escape that led all the way to the streets below. She ran as fast as her synthetic legs could carry her. She ran past all of it.

She ducked through alleyways and hopped fences. She took corners at breakneck speeds, not caring what lay around the bend. She bolted past raider camps, outrunning the gun shots behind her. She needed to get to John. She could see the signs marking Diamond City ahead. Almost there.

She could see the gate in front of her. Without thinking, she went towards it. She felt the explosion in the ground before her ears registered it happening. The blast was so loud that her body felt like it would fall apart. She tried to huddle down away from it, but the blow back was too strong. The force from the explosion threw her into a nearby building.

She struggled to get up, to sit, pushing herself up on her hands. She watched in horror as the Prydwen fell in a swirling inferno of metal, debris, and smoke. Her overwhelming sadness snuffed out the light in her heart as she wished more than anything that she could do the same to the carnage in front of her.