Sara had to leave at some point, while Arthur was reluctant to do so. He knew this would only be temporary. Again last thing he really wanted was the ship to start spreading rumors. Everyone knew everything about everyone. There were no secrets in the Brotherhood. But for right now, he wanted to keep this to himself for as long as he could. The last piece of something real he never had before. He looks to his bookshelf to see his handcuffs, he'll never quiet see them the same way again and hoped he got the chance to show her how deeply he really felt. Sara makes her way to her footlocker and pulls out her laser riffle. "That's an interesting weapon there Knight." She turns to see Danse, he had been patrolling the area when he caught sight of her. He wasn't sure what Arthur was up to, but if his old friend was happy he wasn't going to question it. Sara just smiles up at him as she shows him her prize. "I found it while i was with Paladin Floss, I believe it's a prototype, Elder Maxson let me keep it since I was the one to find it." Back to normal, he was the boss and she would show him the respect he deserved. She knew Danse would respect that as well. She was right, he looked down right pleased. "I see, it's quiet interesting..mind if?" She nods and lets him take a look. "I have the blue prints for it, the Elder has them. I'm hoping to try and learn how to mod it, so it has a better kick to it before I go back out in the field." Danse nods at this as he hands over the weapon back. "I can help if you wish." She just smiles at him a bit more brightly. "That would be wonderful, because truth be told, I just don't trust myself..."
Maxson was waiting for her to return. He shouldn't be to surprised to see Paladin Danse behind her when she came back. "The good Paladin is going to try and help me figure this out.." Try being the word, she still wasn't sure if she really understood all of this just yet. "If I could have that blue print I found sir?" Maxson nods as he goes into his desk and hands them over to her. "I would still use cation, this weapon is old. But you already made improvements when you fixed it. Paladin Danse knows well how to tend to these weapons even if it's outdated.." She just relaxes, but remains as professional about this as she could. "Of course, I mean it does still work, I think once it's modified, it'll be the perfect weapon. After all we still need to find those nukes right?" Danse stands a bit higher at that, since he was in his power armor, he towered over her. "Ingram is close to a location. She might be onto the right location of a sentinel sight in the Glowing Sea. She just needs to make sure we'll be heading in the right direction when we fly out there." Maxson nods his head at this. "Good work, when Ingram does pinpoint the location, I trust you'll go and secure that location for us Knight." Sara blinks at this as she nods, saluting him. "Of course, I look forward to helping out the cause.." He just gives her a knowing smile as he turns and and goes back to his work, dismissing them as they head for the work station near the back of the ship. She was a bit surprised Maxson was going to let her go. But maybe she should be all that surprised since he had come to rely on her to get things done. That or he was up to something, either way.
She smiles slightly when Nate joins and and for the rest of the day they help modify her weapon. She was thankful for the added help, because, she really needed it. They had dinner and most of everyone went to bed. She ended up staying up the whole night and well into the next day. It wasn't long before Ingram finally announced she had found the right location of the sentinel site. She had already gave word to a Vertibird to take the three of them to a outpost Waypoint Echo. She felt nervous, so this was it, she knew what would happen once they finished this mission. She really hoped it didn't turn out as badly, but one could never be sure. There wasn't much she could do, so she got into her power armor and followed after the two men. It was no surprise to see Maxson there, giving them a final run down of their mission. Danse salutes Maxson and Nate and Sara follow suit. "Ad Victoriam." Maxson salutes them back as they head for the waiting Vertibird. She gives him one last look. He doesn't say anything of course, but that look alone spoke of a silent plea to return safely. She gives him a short nod as she turns and gets into the waiting aircraft. She holds on tight as it jerks and takes off to the south to get them to the Waypoint. Maxson wasn't sure how long he stood there, but he lets out a deep sigh as he turns back to the ship. No time like the present to return to work. It didn't take to long for them to reach the Waypoint. Danse jumps down and Nate and Sara follow after as a female Scribe runs up to him. "Paladin Danse, it's good to see you again sir." He removes his helmet to look at her. "Scribe Haylen, good to see you again as well, I take it they didn't need you at the police station any longer seeing your out here."
The woman just smiles at that and nods. "Yeah, Knight Rhys has been relocated to the ship while I'm out here. Anyways, back to business, hello Knight Thomson, good to see you as well, mind if I see your Pip-Boy?" Nate nods as he holds out his arm. He often forgot about the thing half the time. She activates the map and sets a signal to where they needed to go. "There, just follow your map and you'll find the site, once you locate the nukes, use this." She hands over a small devise. "That's a distress pulser, we can use that to pinpoint your location and sweep in. I don't think I have to remind you to be careful, there's no telling what might be in there, waiting.." Oh Sara had a good idea, Feral's, and lots of them. Haylen turns to her, the other Brotherhood soldiers standing behind her. "Who's this, someone new?" Sara turns her head as she removes her helmet. "Name's Sara, nice to met you." Danse lets out a low cough as she rolls her eyes. "Knight Sara, and does she really have to call me by my last name?" Danse lets out another sound. "Fine, Knight Hagen, at your service." Haylen just giggles softly at this. "Nice to meet you Knight, stay safe, and keep your eyes open, Ad Victoriam. Danse salutes her as they turn and head for the Glowing Sea. She was just happy they had a good stuck of Rad-X, RadAway, and Stimpaks. Once could never be to careful out here. Nate lead the way, keeping his arm out as he followed the map on his Pip-Boy. All the while the Geiger counter in her suite was clicking away silently. It wasn't to bad, the armor did protect them from most of the radiation.
Sara keeps her weapon out. With any luck the work she put into it made it stronger now. She was going to need the firepower while out here. She knew this place was crawling with all sorts of nasty beast. She just hoped they didn't run into a Deathclaw, or worse a glowing one. Those things were massive. They keep a good pace as Nate looks up. "We're here." It took a few hours of walking, but they could see the outline of a large concrete pyramid. Sara lowers her gun a bit as they get closer and find the door to get in. It was so quiet, it was so rare to find a place this quiet and it unnerved her just a touch. "Keep your eyes open." Danse turns to her as she nods. "Yes sir." The minute they enter they find themselves in a rather tall room that looked like a missile silo with some catwalks going through it. Most of the path had broken away, forcing them only one way.they could get far however, most of the door locked to them. She rises her gun, she knew what to look out for as she sees something move. "Feral's.." Danse and Nate follow her lead as they fire at the fast pace zombies. The place was a lot bigger then she thought it would be. She had no idea how much time had past, but they finally reached the point where they were able to override the site and open all the doors. They had to work their way down, keeping her eyes open for anything of note. It wasn't long before they started running into more Feral's, no surprise there as she picks up her weapon and fires. They way they moved, made it hard to aim. So she waited at just the right moment to take out the things leg. She watches the creature fall forward as another takes its place and she does the same thing.
Once she was sure the Feral's were grounded she fires a shot into their heads and most turn to ash thanks to her laser riffle. Danse gives her a nod. "Good work." Nate slowly joins them after taking care of his own hoard. "Yeah, you a natural, I'm glad you came with.." She was thankful for the helmet, because she was blushing. "Just happy to help, besides it's kind of nice to get out and do some real work for a chance." She didn't mind helping Ingram, but after awhile it was nice to be out and moving. Meanwhile Maxson was catching up on his work just as he hears a small knock at his door. He rises his brow at this as he looks up. "Enter." He was caught off guard to see Quinlan standing there, papers in his hands as he walks in and closes the door behind him. "Sorry to interrupt, but I found something rather...unheard of." Maxson stands as he walks over to the senior officer. "What did you find?" Quinlan shuffles as he fixes his glasses. "I was looking into the list of known Synths given to use through the holotape, as per your request. However, according to their list, there is a Synth I found that looked remarkably like Paladin Danse. So I ran the DNA the Institute had against the Paladin, and it's a match...we've been harboring a Synth this whole time sir.." Maxson stood there for the longest time, somewhere crossed between absolute furry, and fear. He just send his two best soldiers out, to a known military facility, with a Synth. "I do believe that this, M7-97 and Danse are one in the same..." Maxson feels his fist tighten at this. A part of him wondering if Nate knew about this and decided to keep his mouth shut. After all the Knight spent enough time with that thing he had to know something.
However his thoughts quickly turn to her and hoped he could get her safely away before it did anything. He would never forgive himself for being so blind. "Quinlan, you don't speak a word of this, to anyone, last thing I need is panic to sweep through the ship.." The officer nods at this. "We need to take damage control, question Danse's recon team to make sure he didn't force them to keep his...no it's little secret." The fact this bit of information had been kept from him, was slowly driving him past the point of pure anger. Just how long had Danse been a Synth, had he always been that way? He needed answers, but right now he wasn't going to get anywhere. "That thing, is still in the site, with those nukes..." Quinlan looks up at this as his eyes go wide. "I'll keep my eyes open sir." He turns and quickly leaves the room. He gets a hold of Ingram and just tells her if she sees Nate, to send him his way. There was a lot of hell to pay for. Meanwhile, back at the site, they had finally hit the pay load and found the large storage area that contained the nukes. Danse was going to stay behind so Nate sets the distress beacon. They find a lift to take them back up and Sara quickly rises her weapon, knowing what would be on said lift. Nate wasn't sure what she was doing, until the lift had lowered a Glowing One right to them and they both open fire on the thing. Feral's was one thing, but this thing was just pure hell to deal with. This thing took far to many hits and just leaked radiation poison.
The whole time they were shooting at this thing, she was just screaming 's**t' the whole time as she made sure to keep away from it. Once it was dead she catches her breath as Nate chuckles deeply. She gives him a shove as they ride the lift back up so they could get the hell out of there. It wasn't long before a Vertibird showed up, it got as close as it could to pick them up and get them back to base. Nate was dropped off at the airport so he could report to Ingram, while she just stayed and returned to the ship. The whole thing had taken most of the day and she was beat. She ditches her power armor at it's station and shakes herself off. Quinlan finds her. "You return, I believe Elder Maxson is waiting for you in the command deck." She feels her heart sink as she nods her head and gets moving. She finds him in said spot, arms behind his back, his hard set eyes pointed out the window. She had been dreading this moment. "Stay calm.." "Elder sir, you wanted to see me?" He jolts at her voice, and she could see relief flood through him. He looks her over, making sure she was okay before he returns to his more natural look. "Where is Knight Thomson?" She tilts her head to the side. "Reporting in with Ingram, we found the nukes, Elder is something....wrong?" He paces a bit as he moves closer to her. "Proctor Quinlan had informed me, the information we have gotten from the Institute, points Danse out as one of their Synths.." Her eyes widen at this, trying to act as surprised as she could. "Are you sure about that..I mean I know the newer models are hard to spot...but..." He shakes his head at this. "There is no mistake, the DNA we have matches the information on the holotape, Danse is a Synth known as M7-97..."
The ball was in her court, so to speak. What she said now might have a way to change how this all played out. But she doesn't get the chance since Nate had showed up just at that moment. "You wanted to see me sir..?" She sees the anger roll in, his eyes taking a stormy look. "Yes...Knight." He turns to her. "You are dismissed, but do not leave the ship..." All she could do was nod and salute him as she turns and walks away. "Is there anything you wish to tell me, Knight?" Nate shifts in his spot, wondering what could had made the Elder this angry. "Not at all sir, I have nothing to hide..." Maxson keeps his eyes on him, judging his reactions. "I find that very hard to believe. Proctor Quinlan completed the decryption of the data you retrieved from the Institute." He starts to pace again as he works his way closer to Nate. He just keeps his eyes on the Elder, still not understanding. "A portion of his findings included a list of synths that went missing or escaped from their underground facility. After careful analysis of the information, we've discovered something...unprecedented." His eyes harden as he keeps his gaze on Nate. "Paladin Danse is a perfect match for one of the synths on that list." Nate jumps at this, his eyes going wide at this information. "Danse is a Synth, how is that possible?" He shakes his head slowly at this. "That's not possible..." Maxson turns his body just slightly. "I'm afraid not. The evidence is quite damning. The data you brought back included a record of each subject's DNA. We keep the same information on file for all of our soldiers."
Nate holds his ground however, Maxson had to be wrong. "The date must be faulty then.." Maxson lets out a tired sigh. "Proctor Quinlan validated the information numerous times. I can assure you, his results are accurate. Paladin Danse's DNA is a perfect match for a synth they called M7-97." Nate was floored by this, he had no idea what to do. He had nothing against Synths, not after how Nick had helped him. But he knew how the Brotherhood viewed them. "To make matters worse, he's gone AWOL. Disappeared without a trace. His sudden absence simply reinforces our conclusion that M7-97 and Paladin Danse are one in the same. I'm finding it difficult to believe that he never confided in you and then swore you to secrecy." Nate looks slightly horrified. "I never knew, you have to believe me, hell I don't think he knows!" Maxson takes a slow breath at this and slowly nods. "Hm. Your sincerity in this matter has been rather surprising. Apparently I've misjudged you." He shakes his head slowly. "However, that doesn't absolve you of your duty. Danse is a synth. He represents everything we hate...a monstrosity of technology. Our mission in the Commonwealth is clear. The Institute and its creations need to be destroyed in order to preserve our future. Which leaves me facing the most difficult order I've ever given." Nate feels his blood go cold, he couldn't do this. "I'm ordering you to hunt down Danse and execute him." Nate flinches at the order, what was he going to do?
