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Sico stepped out into the hallway, his boots echoing through the concrete corridors of the Army HQ, purpose humming through his chest like a second heartbeat.
The next morning arrived on Sanctuary's horizon with that soft kind of haze that made the settlement look gentler than it ever actually was. Pale gold sunlight filtered through the thin mist drifting over the northern watchtower, casting long, lazy shadows across the dirt roads and the metal-plated walkways. The air had that early-morning crispness, the type that stung the nose but not unpleasantly, just enough to remind you that the day had begun whether you were ready or not.
Sico was ready.
He had woken before sunrise, his mind too heavy with responsibility to stay in bed more than a few restless hours. His boots hit the floor like he had somewhere to be and which he did then after splashing cold water on his face, he headed straight to the Army HQ.
By the time he reached the concrete steps leading to the building, he saw movement inside. Shadows of people. Many people.
They were early.
Good.
Sico pushed open the heavy HQ door, letting it creak on its hinges as the familiar scent of old paint, metal, chalk dust, and the faint stale hint of old coffee hit him.
Inside, the large briefing room was already full.
Thirty-five soldiers.
All handpicked by Preston and Sarah.
Not the loud ones. Not the ones who bragged in the bars. Not the ones who ran their mouths during shifts.
These were the quiet ones, the seasoned ones, the ones who had shadows behind their eyes that showing not weakness, but memory. The kind of people who had lived through enough to understand that silence was sometimes the strongest weapon you could carry.
They stood in near perfect formation in front of the long table, lit by the overhead lamps. Their uniforms were clean, their armor fastened neatly, their rifles slung against their shoulders with discipline instead of showmanship. Some were older, grizzled and steady. Some were younger but hardened by experience. A few looked like they had walked straight out of the wastes and decided Sanctuary would be their last stand if it came to that.
Preston stood at the front, hat tucked under his arm, posture firm. Sarah stood beside him, arms crossed but with that focused expression she always wore when she was about to reshape the path of the entire Republic.
Both turned when Sico entered.
Thirty five heads followed.
And just like that, silence filled the room that clean, sharp, and respectful.
Sico gave a short nod, acknowledging them without needing to speak yet.
Preston took the cue and stepped forward.
"Alright," Preston said, voice steady but loud enough to reach the back of the room. "Listen up. We're starting."
Every soldier stiffened to attention.
Sarah stepped up next to him, thumbs hooked into her belt, her expression carved from stone.
"You thirty five were chosen for a reason," she began, voice cutting through the quiet like a blade. "Not because you shoot the straightest, or because you're the strongest…" She paused, glancing across the room, "…but because you know how to stay silent. Because you don't gossip. Because when the Republic needs something kept locked down, you lock it down."
A low murmur of acknowledgment rippled through the ranks that's not disruptive, just understanding.
Preston picked up the explanation where Sarah left off.
"You're here for a top secret mission," he said, letting the weight of each word sink in. "And I mean top secret. No one outside this room hears a damn thing about any of it. Not your friends. Not your partners. Not your drinking buddies. Not the other guards on duty. Hell, I don't care if your own mama asks you as you don't say a word."
Several soldiers straightened subtly, accepting orders with silent professionalism.
Sarah stepped forward again.
"You're going to be guarding the hospital," she said. "Not because of the supplies we brought back yesterday, not exactly. You'll be guarding something much more important."
She glanced toward Sico. He gave a slight nod, allowing her to continue.
"Curie," Sarah said, voice unwavering. "You're guarding Curie."
The room went utterly still.
Sarah didn't soften it.
"You're guarding her. Her lab. Her work. Her safety. Her everything."
Preston nodded firmly, adding, "Curie is beginning critical research for the Freemasons Republic, a research that may change everything for us. For Sanctuary. For everyone in the Commonwealth under our protection. She's going to try and create something we've never been able to create before."
The soldiers leaned in slightly as they not moving from their stance, but drawn by the importance in Preston's tone.
Sarah stepped closer to the front row. "She's researching how to make our own medical supply and she start with Rad-X."
A few subtle shifts of posture, but not disbelief—this group didn't disbelieve. They processed.
Medical Supply
Rad-X.
Real, pre-war grade radiation protection.
Not diluted caps from traders.
Not counterfeit chem-lab junk.
Actual Rad-X.
A miracle in pill form.
But if word got out…
Sico stepped forward at that moment.
He didn't bark.
He didn't shout.
He didn't need to.
His voice alone pulled the attention of every soul in the room.
"You were chosen," Sico began, slow and deliberate, "because I trust you. Because Preston trusts you. Because Sarah trusts you. And trust is the only thing that matters right now."
He walked along the front of the formation, boots thudding softly against the concrete floor. Every soldier tracked him with their eyes, respectful and alert.
"Curie's research," Sico continued, "cannot be interrupted. It cannot be sabotaged. It cannot be overheard. There are people in the wasteland who would kill for Rad X. People who would raid, spy, infiltrate, torture, or burn down what we've built if they learned we were close to making it ourselves."
He stopped in the middle of the room.
"You are her shield."
He let the words sit, heavy.
"If someone tries to extract information, you stop them. If someone tries to sneak into the hospital, you stop them. If someone tries to flirt their way in, talk their way in, or bullshit their way in, you stop them."
His eyes swept the room slowly.
"And if someone tries to hurt Curie…" His voice dropped, lethal in its calm. "…you lay down your life before you let that happen."
Not a single soldier flinched.
Not one.
Preston took a step forward, tone softer but no less serious. "Each of you will rotate in shifts. Two outside the hospital, two inside the lobby, two in the back corridor, two at the supply entrance, and two by Curie's lab."
Sarah added, "And two always positioned where Curie is physically closest to. If she moves, you move."
Sico nodded. "And no one and I mean no one, gets inside without clearance from me, Curie, Preston, or Sarah. I don't care who they are. I don't care what rank they hold. I don't care if they throw a tantrum."
A few soldiers nodded sharply.
"This," Sico finished, "is one of the most important missions the Freemasons Republic has ever assigned. You succeed, Curie succeeds. And if Curie succeeds… we change the future of the Commonwealth."
Silence followed.
Not the empty kind.
The kind filled with commitment.
Sarah finally broke it.
"Alright," she said. "Form two lines. Preston and I will assign the first shift schedule."
The soldiers moved with clean precision, splitting into two even rows.
The briefing room gradually emptied behind Sico as he stepped out into the hallway, leaving Preston and Sarah in the midst of assigning the final shift rotations to the thirty five handpicked soldiers. Their low voices drifted through the doorway with steady, confident, already leaning into the seriousness of the mission ahead. The soft scrape of boots, the muted shuffle of armor, and the occasional clipped "Yes, ma'am," or "Understood, sir," blended into a rhythm that felt like the heartbeat of a rising nation.
The Freemasons Republic.
Their Republic.
And this morning, it felt more alive than ever.
Sico took that feeling with him as he made his way down the hallway, adjusting the collar of his uniform as he exhaled a long breath he hadn't realized he was holding. The hospital guards were set. The mission was underway. Curie would be safe, for now.
But safety wasn't the only thing Curie needed.
Resources…
Caps…
Support…
And that meant there was one more person he needed to see before the day spiraled away from him.
Magnolia.
The Freemasons Republic treasurer, economic strategist, bookkeeper, headache manager, and arguably one of the sharpest minds Sanctuary had ever gained. While most wastelanders scraped by with whatever they could find or trade, Magnolia lived buried in ledgers and number sheets and trade manifests, a pen behind her ear and calculations racing faster than a mini-nuke shockwave.
If Curie's research was the future…
Then Magnolia was the wallet that made that future possible.
And wallets, as Sico knew all too well, didn't like being stretched too far too fast.
He crossed the courtyard between Army HQ and Freemasons HQ, boots crunching over gravel and dirt as the settlement around him slowly came to life. Farmers were heading to the fields, traders unlocking their stalls, whispering about new arrivals set to come today, and mechanics began arguing before breakfast that means everything was normal.
Sico didn't break stride.
The Freemasons HQ was a tall, reinforced structure refurbished from an old pre war municipal building. Its exterior walls were plated in steel sheets scavenged from old truck hulls and derelict aircraft parts.
He pushed the door open.
Inside, the air smelled faintly of old books, ink, and something sweet which Magnolia's tea, probably. She drank it religiously, the same brew every morning, as though it kept her grounded amid the numbers she wrestled daily.
Sico walked through the short lobby, greeting a few passing clerks with a nod before heading upstairs to Magnolia's office.
Her door was open that always open, unless she was yelling at someone.
She wasn't yelling now, but she looked like she was about to.
Magnolia sat at her desk surrounded by stacks of reports that resembled walls around her. Her dark hair was tied back hastily, strands falling loose around her glasses. She had that unmistakable look of someone who'd been awake for hours and had already run out of patience.
When she saw Sico step inside, she didn't brighten.
But she did lean back in her chair with a sigh that meant: Finally. You better have answers.
"Sico," she said, arms crossing. "I assume you're here for the same thing I've been preparing to talk to you about."
He closed the door behind him. "Curie's budget."
Magnolia made a tight face, half grimace, half exhaustion. "Yes. Curie's budget."
Sico approached her desk, resting both hands on the surface as he leaned forward slightly that casual, but present. "Alright, tell me how bad it is."
Magnolia pushed one of the ledgers toward him with two fingers, almost as if the book weighed more than it appeared.
"You want the short version or the honest one?" she asked.
"The honest one," Sico said. "I don't need it sugar-coated."
Magnolia exhaled again through her nose. Then she tapped the open ledger.
"Curie asked for five thousand caps worth of ingredients."
Sico nodded slowly. "I heard."
"She didn't ask for five thousand caps worth of medicine," Magnolia clarified. "She asked for five thousand caps worth of raw components. Chemicals. Clean water. Filter strips. Irradiated plant tissue samples. Stabilizers. Glassware. Metal equipment that wasn't rusted. Some herbs. A few vials of things I couldn't even pronounce."
She rubbed her forehead. "Five thousand caps for just the beginning. The first batch. The first attempt."
Sico remained still, watching her not with surprise, but understanding.
"I know," he said.
Magnolia scoffed, exasperated. "Sico… you do realize that if this is the starting point, the next order might be double? Ten thousand caps? Maybe more if something goes wrong in her first trial." She pushed her glasses up her nose. "And that's not including the hospital repairs, the equipment upgrades, the reinforced lab doors she ordered, or the extra supply channels Preston established last week."
Sico didn't interrupt.
Magnolia continued, her voice rising with her anxiety, "Five thousand caps doesn't ruin us and not even close, but it's not pocket change either. The Treasury doesn't magically refill itself. We have to account for trade routes, repair services, salaries for the engineering teams, the hydroponics expansion—"
"I know," Sico said again, but gentler this time.
Magnolia glared softly at him. "And if the next batch really costs ten thousand caps?"
"It might," Sico admitted. "We both know it might."
Magnolia threw her hands up. "So you do know! Then what? What do you expect me to do? Pull caps out of thin air? Ask raiders for spare change?"
"No," Sico said, finally allowing a small smile to emerge, soft and steady. "I expect you to trust Curie."
Magnolia froze mid gesture.
Sico stepped around her desk, coming to stand beside her instead of across from her, lowering his voice so it softened the air between them.
"You know what she's doing is important as it was more important than the caps, more important than the numbers on those ledgers."
Magnolia looked up at him, her expression wavering.
Sico continued, "If Curie succeeds, if she pulls off what she's trying to do… Sanctuary will have something no settlement in the Commonwealth has. Not the Brotherhood. Not the previous Railroad. Not the previous Gunners. Not the Institute."
Magnolia swallowed, her voice quieter now. "Real Rad-X."
"Real Rad-X," Sico confirmed. "Our own supply. Homegrown. Stable. Effective. Pure."
He leaned one hand against the desk, bracing himself. "Think of it, Magnolia as how many people die every month from radiation exposure? How many scavengers, traders, or settlers come to our gates begging for Rad-X, only to be told the caravans won't have more for weeks?"
Magnolia closed her eyes briefly.
Sico pressed on, "Think about our own soldiers at the Glowing Sea posts, or the engineers repairing power lines near irradiated zones. Right now, they risk their lives because we can't give them enough protection."
Magnolia's breath hitched, ever so slightly.
"And think," Sico said softly, "of how much stronger Sanctuary becomes and how much stronger the Republic becomes, when we don't rely on outsiders for something so essential."
Magnolia opened her eyes again, staring up at him with something more vulnerable than frustration.
"Caps can be earned again," Sico said, almost whispering now. "Trade can be rebuilt. Supplies can be bought. But a breakthrough like this? You can't buy it. You can't trade for it. You can only build it yourself. That's what Curie is doing."
A long silence fell between them.
A thoughtful one.
Magnolia leaned back in her chair, shoulders softening at last as she let out a long slow exhale.
"I know," she murmured. "Of course I know." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I just needed you to say it directly."
Sico sat down across from her again, elbows propped on his knees.
"You worry about the numbers," he said, not unkindly. "That's your job. And you do it better than anyone. But I worry about the future. And Curie… she's building a future none of us thought possible."
Magnolia huffed out a small, tired laugh. "She really is something, isn't she?"
"One of a kind," Sico agreed.
Magnolia pushed her ledger farther away. "Alright. Fine. Five thousand caps for the first batch is approved. And if she needs ten thousand for the next one, or fifteen, or whatever absurd number she throws at me…" Magnolia sighed dramatically, "…I'll approve that too."
Sico gave her a grateful nod. "Thank you, Magnolia."
"No," she said, shaking her head. "Thank her. Because if this works, all my complaining will look ridiculous in hindsight."
Sico chuckled. "I'll remind you of that."
Magnolia pointed at him with mock severity. "You do, and I'll raise taxes on your house alone."
He smirked. "Noted."
But Magnolia's expression sobered again quickly that not anxious now, but introspective.
"Sico," she said quietly, "just promise me something."
He leaned forward a little. "What is it?"
Magnolia hesitated before speaking. "Promise me we're not rushing Curie. Promise me we're not pushing her too hard, too fast, just because we're desperate."
Sico held her gaze.
He knew exactly why she asked.
Curie wasn't like the others. She didn't complain about long hours. She didn't admit when she was tired. She didn't measure her worth in caps or rewards. She worked until her hands shook, until her voice went hoarse, until the sun went down and came back up again.
She cared.
Sometimes too much.
"I won't let her burn herself out," Sico said firmly. "And I won't push her harder than she can handle."
Magnolia nodded slowly, accepting that answer.
The two of them sat in silence for a moment, the soft ticking of the office clock filling the room like a calm heartbeat.
Then Magnolia reached across the desk and closed the ledger with a decisive thump.
"Alright," she said. "Curie gets what she needs."
Sico smiled softly. "Good."
Magnolia raised an eyebrow. "Now go tell her before she thinks I'm abandoning her project."
Sico chuckled again. "I'm heading there next."
He stood, stretching his back slightly.
Magnolia gathered her papers into a more organized stack, muttering something about recalculating the treasury projections for the month. Sico watched her for a moment as this woman who carried Freemasons Republic finances on her shoulders and felt a swell of appreciation for her too.
Without people like Magnolia, the Republic wouldn't last a week.
Without Curie, it wouldn't have a chance at a safer future.
And without Sico…
The two of them, Curie and Magnolia would burn themselves out trying to carry burdens they weren't meant to carry alone.
He headed to the door.
"Sico," Magnolia said suddenly.
He turned back. "Yeah?"
Her voice softened. "Thank you for reminding me why we're doing this."
He nodded once, slow and respectful.
Then he stepped out into the hallway, letting the office door fall shut behind him.
The door clicked softly behind Sico as he stepped out of Magnolia's office, and for a moment he let himself linger in the hallway, breathing in the quieter air. The tension from Treasury talk still clung faintly to his shoulders, like dust he hadn't brushed off yet, but it wasn't heavy anymore. Magnolia had agreed, Curie would get what she needed, the project would live another day and maybe more than a day, maybe the beginning of something big enough to change everything.
He inhaled once, exhaled slow.
Curie.
He needed to see her. Not later. Not after a meal or a meeting. Now.
Because every hour mattered.
Every experiment mattered.
Every step she took toward real Rad-X mattered more than anything else he could have done this morning.
Sico started toward the stairs, boots tapping against the reinforced metal as he descended. The building hummed around him with clerks flipping pages, strategists murmuring with radios in hand, the quiet bustle of a headquarters shaping a Republic still in its adolescence.
When he crossed back into the main courtyard, sunlight washed over him again. The morning had fully settled now from traders calling out greetings, brahmin caravans shuffling through the west gate, construction teams arguing cheerfully about how to reinforce a wall someone swore was already perfectly reinforced yesterday. It was all so alive. Chaotic, messy, hopeful.
And at its center, like a heart beating at the core of Sanctuary, stood the hospital.
Not a pre-war hospital. No polished white floors or chrome instruments. But it was theirs that clean, fortified, expanding, with new glass, new walls, new generators humming against the wind. A monument to what Sanctuary wanted to be: not just another settlement struggling to survive, but a home capable of healing.
Sico walked toward it with purpose.
Two guards at the entrance nodded sharply as he passed. One of them looked young, but he held his rifle steady, shoulders squared, eyes alert. The other was older, a veteran of the Quincy massacre, a man who had seen too much but kept moving anyway.
Sico gave them both a nod of approval as he entered the hospital.
Inside, the atmosphere was different. Cooler. Quieter. Filled with the faint scent of antiseptic and boiled water, with the distant echoes of footsteps down long halls, with hushed voices and the soft clink of glass.
The guards he had assigned earlier were already taking up their new positions. He saw six of them at least with two stationed at the main hallway junction, one near the emergency wing door, another watching the stairwell leading to the restricted floors. They all straightened slightly when they saw him, some nodding, some offering quick greetings, none of them losing focus.
It made him feel… steadier. Like pieces of a plan were clicking into place.
Curie's lab was on the second floor, far enough from the main patient rooms to give her quiet, but close enough to be reached quickly in emergencies. He followed the familiar hallway that past the office where Harrow kept his paperwork, past the storage room still half-filled with temporary shelving, past the window overlooking the courtyard.
He found her lab door open.
Of course it was open.
Curie never closed her door unless she was distilling something explosive.
The soft, rhythmic clinking of glass greeted him before anything else. Then her voice with low, humming some tune she must have learned from an old holotape. The lab smelled faintly of herbs, alcohol, and sterilized metal.
She stood with her back to him, her hair tied loosely behind her head, her coat slightly frayed at the edges but clean. On the main table beside her were at least eight different jars of plant samples, two microscopes, several vials of bright green liquid, and a set of tools so meticulously arranged it looked almost ceremonial.
"Curie," Sico said, stepping into the doorway.
She startled slightly which not in fear, more in that way she always did when she was so deep into her work the world fell away.
She turned, eyes bright, cheeks flushed with the quiet intensity she carried everywhere.
"Sico!" she exclaimed with that warm, musical voice of hers. "Bonjour! You are earlier than I expected."
"I wanted to check on you," he said. "First day of research. Thought I'd see how it's going."
She pushed her goggles up onto her forehead, leaving a clean stripe across her brow where dust hadn't touched. "Ah! Then you may see everything, though I must warn you, mon ami, the progress is… how you say… minimal, oui."
Sico smiled slightly. "It's the first day. Results aren't the point yet."
Curie turned back to her table, gesturing at the carefully arranged samples with a flourish of her fingers.
"I have begun with the base compounds," she explained. "Examining cellular resistance, absorption rates, and potential stabilizing reactions between the natural plant extracts and the synthetic agents." She paused, pushing her glasses up again. "But I must find the perfect balance — one that neutralizes radiation absorption without harming the cells themselves."
She tapped the edge of one of the vials with a faintly glowing green substance swirling like liquid jade.
"This one was a failure," she said casually. "It melted the sample tray."
Sico blinked. "Melted… the tray?"
"Oui," she said, picking up another vial. "But! That is progress too, no?"
"You melted a tray," Sico repeated, deadpan.
Curie tilted her head. "It only melted one. The others simply exploded."
Sico stared at her.
Curie smiled sweetly.
He sighed. "Curie…"
"What?" she asked innocently. "Science is messy."
He rubbed his hand over his face but then lowered it, expression softening again. "Alright. Let me actually ask what I came here to ask. How are you feeling about the research so far? Truly."
Curie paused in the middle of reaching for a notebook.
Then she placed it down gently, fingers lingering on the cover.
"I am…" She breathed out softly. "Excited. Very excited. But also…" She lowered her gaze. "It is much to do. And much to risk. The more I work, the more I understand why real Rad-X was so difficult to perfect. It is not that other scientists failed, but that they lacked the stability or resources."
She lifted her gaze again, her eyes finding his.
"But I do not lack those things anymore. I have you, Sico. I have the Republic." She smiled gently. "And now today, I have something else. I have guards."
She gestured around her, and Sico turned to see two soldiers positioned in the hallway just outside her door — rifles ready, armor newly polished, posture alert.
They looked… nervous. Unsure of how to guard a scientist instead of a battlefield. But they were there. They were present. And they were trying.
Sico nodded approvingly. "Good. They'll keep watch on this hallway and the stairs. No one enters this floor without their clearance."
Curie's smile softened even further. "This is… comforting, Sico. Truly."
He approached her table, glancing at her scattered notes from pages filled with formulas, sketches of molecules, plant diagrams, lists of chemical reactions she wanted to test.
"You're really diving into this headfirst," he murmured.
She laughed softly. "But of course. I have waited so long for this work. Years, Sico. Years of studying pre-war formulas, of dissecting corrupted samples, of observing how Rad-X breaks down." Her hand hovered over the notes like she was afraid of smudging them. "To finally have a chance to create something new… oh, it fills my heart."
Sico leaned against the table gently, mindful not to touch anything breakable.
"I talked to Magnolia," he said quietly.
Curie froze.
Her fingers closed around her notes just a little too tightly.
"And?" she asked, voice stretching thin for a second.
"She approved everything."
Curie's eyes widened, her breath catching. "Everything?"
"Everything," Sico confirmed. "Five thousand caps for your first round. And if you need ten thousand for the next? You'll get it."
Curie covered her mouth with her hands, eyes shimmering faintly.
"Oh…" she whispered. "Sico… mon dieu… that is…"
She didn't finish the sentence.
She stepped forward abruptly and wrapped her arms around him in a sudden, tight embrace.
Sico stiffened in surprise as Curie hugged like she lived, wholeheartedly, with no hesitation whatsoever, but after a heartbeat he relaxed, letting one hand rest lightly between her shoulder blades.
She pulled back after only a moment, wiping her eyes quickly with her sleeve.
"Merci," she said softly. "Thank you, Sico. You have no idea what this means."
"I do," he said. "That's why I fought for it."
Curie sniffed once, turning away to gather herself. She picked up one of her notebooks, flipping it open with renewed determination.
"Then I must begin the real work immediately," she said.
"You already started."
"Yes, but that was preliminary!" she insisted, waving her hands. "Surface level observations, stability tests, structural analysis. Now that I know the budget is stable, I may proceed with full-spectrum synthesis trials."
"Curie," Sico said gently, "I also need you to take breaks."
She froze again.
"Breaks…" she echoed quietly, as if the word was foreign.
"Yes," he said. "Breaks. Rest. Food. Sleep."
"Sico…" she replied earnestly, "I will rest when the Commonwealth can stand outside without dying."
"That's going to take more than a weekend."
Curie tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Then perhaps I rest on Monday."
He sighed.
She grinned.
A soft knock came from the doorway, and one of the guards stepped inside just enough to speak without crossing the lab threshold.
"Sir," the guard said to Sico, "the rest of the detail is taking positions as ordered. East stairwell is secure. West hall is secure. Third floor is clear. No unusual activity reported."
"Good," Sico said. "You stay sharp. This lab is priority-one."
"Yes, sir."
The guard withdrew, resuming his post.
Curie looked almost embarrassed as she watched them.
"I feel like an important person," she confessed in a whisper.
"You are an important person," Sico replied.
Curie blushed faintly, ducking her head. "It is strange to think people would guard me."
"They're not guarding you," Sico said. "They're guarding what you're about to create."
Curie's smile warmed the room.
She turned back to her work, picking up a pipette with steady hands — steadier than they had been an hour earlier.
"And you, Sico?" she asked while adjusting a scale. "Are you satisfied? With the guard arrangements? With the lab?"
"For now," he said. "But I'll be checking in throughout the day."
"Ah, you worry too much."
"That's my job."
She laughed again, soft and bright like water catching sunlight. "Then I suppose we make a good team, oui? You worry. I work."
"That's not the deal," Sico said, stepping closer. "The deal is: you work, and I make sure you live long enough to finish."
Curie's smile faltered.
Then deepened.
She lowered her goggles again.
"Then let us begin," she said quietly. "Day one of the Rad-X Revolution."
Sico exhaled slowly, feeling that same blooming hope Magnolia had stirred earlier.
It wasn't caps that built a Republic.
It wasn't soldiers.
It wasn't walls or guns or alliances.
It was people like Curie that stubborn, brilliant, relentless, hopeful beyond reason.
He stepped back to the doorway, giving her space but not distance.
"I'll check in again soon," he said.
"I will be here," Curie replied, carefully mixing a new solution with delicate, precise movements. "Do not worry. I will not blow anything up today."
"Today?"
"Tomorrow, maybe."
He shook his head but found himself smiling anyway.
The guards outside straightened as he stepped into the hallway again.
He paused, giving them a firm nod with a silent reminder that what they guarded here was no less important than guarding a battlefield.
Then he walked down the hall, the scent of chemicals fading behind him, replaced by the crisp sterility of the hospital corridors.
As he reached the stairs, he glanced back once.
Curie was already hunched over her microscope, goggles on, shoulders relaxed but focused, hands moving with purpose.
The first day had begun.
The first step of something bigger.
The stairwell felt colder than the rest of the hospital as Sico descended, the hum of generators vibrating faintly through the metal handrails. Maybe it was the way the concrete walls trapped the chill. Maybe it was just the sudden quiet after Curie's warm, bubbling presence. Or maybe it was the shift as leaving a room filled with delicate scientific hope and stepping back into the harsher, heavier world where responsibility waited for him at every turn.
He reached the first floor, boots tapping against polished linoleum, and exhaled slowly. Curie had everything she needed. For now.
But "for now" was a dangerous phrase in the Commonwealth.
He needed to make sure her security wasn't just handled, but reinforced. Set in stone. Untouchable.
And for that, he needed Sturges.
Sanctuary's mess hall sat near the center of the HQ district with a solid, metal-reinforced building repurposed from an old warehouse shell Preston's team had cleared months ago. As Sico crossed the courtyard, the smell of simmering stew drifted through the air, mixing with the smoky scent of brahmin fat frying somewhere near the back. Early lunch preparations had begun, and the comforting aroma of food softened the clipped military chatter echoing from the training yard nearby.
A group of young recruits passed by, saluting awkwardly that too stiff, too eager and Sico nodded in return. They whispered to each other as soon as they'd walked past him. His name, probably. His reputation. Rumors. Speculation about what mission the 35 selected soldiers were being sent on.
Good.
Let them guess.
Let them not know.
The fewer people who understood Curie's importance, the safer she would be.
He stepped inside the mess hall.
And the noise hit him like a warm wave.
Chairs scraping, spoons clanking on metal bowls, the low rumble of tired voices, a burst of laughter from the table in the far corner. Two radios crackled with competing music with one with a soft blues tune, one with some pre-war swing melody that kept skipping on scratches.
But even with all that noise, he saw Sturges immediately.
You always knew where Sturges was in a room.
Not because he was loud but because he had this way of filling the space around him. He leaned back in his chair, boots crossed at the ankles, a half-eaten bowl of stew in front of him while he animatedly explained something to his crew.
Sico approached, arms crossed loosely, watching the scene unfold.
"…and I'm telling you," Sturges said, waving a fork for emphasis, "if you keep tightening that bolt without checking the counterpressure first, you're gonna blow that generator faster than a raider with a death wish."
One of his techs groaned. "Sturges, it was one time—"
"Yeah, and it was one time too many!" Sturges flung his hands up dramatically. "You're lucky we didn't end up cooking half the power grid."
The table burst into chuckles.
Sturges was mid-sip of his drink when he finally noticed Sico standing there.
He froze.
Then grinned like a kid caught doing something harmlessly mischievous.
"Well hey there, big man," Sturges said, setting his cup down. "Didn't expect to see you in the land of the living this early."
Sico gave him a look. "You awake enough for work?"
"Ain't that the tragedy of leadership?" Sturges sighed theatrically, patting his stomach. "Can't even finish my lunch 'fore someone needs something upgraded, fixed, replaced, or rebuilt."
His team snickered behind him.
Sico didn't smile, but his eyes warmed slightly. "I do need something."
Sturges straightened, interest sharpening. "Oh? What kind of something?"
"Security," Sico said.
And just like that, the mood at the table shifted. Sturges sat forward, the easy grin softening into genuine focus.
"For who?" he asked quietly. "Curie?"
Sico nodded.
A beat passed.
Sturges exhaled. "Alright. What's happened?"
"Nothing," Sico said. "And that's exactly how I want it to stay."
Sturges rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay… let's hear it."
Sico pulled over a chair, but didn't sit instead leaning his hands against the back of it like grounding himself in the moment.
"I want you to upgrade Curie's lab security at the hospital," he said. "Not the kind of upgrade you'd do for storage or basic equipment. I'm talking the highest level we can manage with what we have."
Sturges whistled low. "Sounds serious."
"It is."
Sico paused, glancing briefly at the techs around Sturges.
They were good people that loyal, hardworking, trusted, but they weren't cleared for this. Not yet.
Sturges noticed.
He turned to his team. "Break's over, folks. Head back to the workshop. I'll catch up."
There were no complaints, only nods. They gathered their things and filed out quickly.
When they were gone, Sturges leaned back again, crossing his arms.
"Alright," he said. "Now tell me everything."
Sico lowered his voice.
"Curie is beginning new medical research. High-value. High-risk. World-changing, if she succeeds."
Sturges blinked. "You mean like—"
"Yes," Sico cut in. "That exactly. And because of that, the hospital needs reinforcements."
Sturges let out a long whistle and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Damn… okay. Alright. So what do you need exactly?"
Sico didn't hesitate.
"First," he said, "I want the windows in Curie's lab reinforced."
Sturges nodded slowly. "What kind of reinforcement are we talkin'? Steel plating? Bulletproofing? Radiation shielding? Or do you want something more subtle?"
"Not plating," Sico replied. "If raiders see steel plates over a window, they think something valuable is inside. And the hospital is a civilian area as no one should feel like they're walking into a bunker."
"Fair," Sturges murmured. "So tempered glass layers with internal metal mesh? That'd stop knives, bullets, rocks, hell… maybe even a pissed-off super mutant if he's not swinging too hard."
"That's the idea."
Sturges leaned back again, nodding slowly as he mentally calculated materials, time, manpower.
"And second?" he asked.
Sico took a breath.
"I want a keycard system installed on her lab door."
Sturges raised both eyebrows. "A keycard system? You mean like pre-war access control with digital authentication?"
"Yes."
Sturges let out a short laugh, not mocking and just impressed. "Now that's a tall order. You know most working pre-war tech like that's rare as hell, right?"
Sico didn't flinch. "I know. And I also know we found two unused card readers in that old robotics warehouse south of Lexington."
Sturges froze.
Then groaned. "Damn it… I knew you'd remember those."
"Of course I remember everything Worth keeping," Sico said calmly.
Sturges threw up his hands. "Fine, fine. You got me. Yes, they're functional. Yes, I can retrofit them. And yes, I've already been putting off deciding where they should go because I knew they'd end up somewhere important."
"Curie is important."
Sturges sobered instantly.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "She is."
He rubbed his temples, thinking through the logistics.
"So what's the access? How many cards?"
"Three," Sico said. "Only three."
Sturges blinked. "Just three?"
"Just three," Sico repeated firmly. "One for Curie. One for me. One for you."
Sturges stared at him for a moment like he was evaluating whether Sico had truly thought this through.
"You trust me with that level of access?" he asked softly.
Sico didn't hesitate. Not even for a second.
"Yes," he said. "Because if something goes wrong inside that lab that chemically, structurally, medically, you're the only person who can fix the tech fast enough to save her."
Sturges swallowed.
His voice dropped.
"Well… hell," he murmured. "You didn't have to say it like that. You're gonna make a mechanic get emotional."
"It's not emotions," Sico replied. "It's realism. You're the best we have. And Curie is too important for anything less."
A long pause settled between them that not awkward, not heavy just honest.
Then Sturges slapped his hands on the table and stood up.
"Alright then," he said, rolling his shoulders and grabbing his tool belt. "Let's get to work."
He started moving as he spoke, pacing around the table with growing excitement.
"I'll need to inspect the window frames, measure the sill widths, check how much load-bearing the wall can handle before reinforcement begins…"
He mumbled to himself as he mentally added notes.
"…and I'll need to calibrate the keycard reader to the newer power grid. That might take a bit as these old systems are finicky as hell, but I can make it work."
Sico watched him with steady approval.
Sturges was many things: messy, improvisational, a self-proclaimed genius with a liking for duct tape solutions. But when it came to serious projects, he could turn razor-focused in a heartbeat.
Sturges pulled out a notepad from his tool belt and started writing quickly.
"Okay, so keycard system means we need three cards to encode. One for Curie, one for you, one for me." He tapped his pencil against the paper. "I can set the system to reject unauthorized duplication. And if anybody tries to brute-force the electronic lock, it'll jam and alert the guards."
"Good," Sico said.
"Bad news?" Sturges muttered. "Installing the system means I'll have to reroute part of the hospital's auxiliary grid into the lab. It'll flicker for maybe… twenty minutes. People will complain."
"They'll live," Sico answered.
Sturges shrugged. "Fair."
He tucked the pencil behind his ear.
Then looked Sico in the eyes.
"When do you want me to start?"
"Now."
Sturges grinned. "Knew you'd say that."
He slung his tool belt over his shoulder.
"You coming with me?" he asked.
"For part of it," Sico said. "I want to walk you through the layout, show you where the guards will be stationed, and confirm you understand how serious this is."
Sturges smirked playfully. "Sico, my friend, when you use the word serious, I pay attention. Usually means someone's life is riding on something."
"It is."
That wiped the smirk entirely.
Sturges gave a single, solemn nod.
"Then let's get moving."
The mess hall doors swung behind them as they stepped back into the sunlight. Sturges carried a heavy toolkit in one hand and a portable meter in the other, grumbling about how he should've brought a bigger bag but also insisting he could fix anything with the tools he had on him as they walk together toward the hospital.
________________________________________________
• Name: Sico
• Stats :
S: 8,44
P: 7,44
E: 8,44
C: 8,44
I: 9,44
A: 7,45
L: 7
• Skills: advance Mechanic, Science, and Shooting skills, intermediate Medical, Hand to Hand Combat, Lockpicking, Hacking, Persuasion, and Drawing Skills
• Inventory: 53.280 caps, 10mm Pistol, 1500 10mm rounds, 22 mole rats meat, 17 mole rats teeth, 1 fragmentation grenade, 6 stimpak, 1 rad x, 6 fusion core, computer blueprint, modern TV blueprint, camera recorder blueprint, 1 set of combat armor, Automatic Assault Rifle, 1.500 5.56mm rounds, power armor T51 blueprint, Electric Motorcycle blueprint, T-45 power armor, Minigun, 1.000 5mm rounds, Cryolator, 200 cryo cell, Machine Gun Turret Mk1 blueprint, electric car blueprint, Kellogg gun, Righteous Authority, Ashmaker, Furious Power Fist, Full set combat armor blueprint, M240 7.62mm machine guns blueprint, Automatic Assault Rifle blueprint, and Humvee blueprint.
• Active Quest:-