Chapter 100: Chapter 96

When the Nexus came to Quincy, it was one of those happy cases where the gates were wide open and the mayor was just about bursting to hand over the place to us. A bit too enthusiastic, but better than having than drawn out negotiations to clear up misconceptions.

Little surprise that after the official welcome party was over, I had a request for a meeting with Mama Murphy.

“She might seem a bit…eccentric, but she’s steered us clear through hard times,” Mayor Jackson had tried to reassure me. Not that I needed it, she’s a familiar face from the game after all. It’s just that I kinda forgot about her since I had modded to skip that intro bit.

Meeting the woman in her private little apartment made it very clear that she was a proper junkie. Holy crap was her pad littered with spent vials, bent needles and the stench of chemicals. Mama Murphy herself didn’t seem as worn out as the other druggies I’ve come across though. She was far less ailing as her game incarnation, and was sitting comfortably on her couch that was stained with…stuff.

The console stats on her was not too notable, her having the ‘Psychic=True’ was expected after all. And Mama Murphy would be the fourth psychic the Nexus has encountered so far, though of course it’s sort of impressive that she’s likely the only one that’s active.

Of the other three, two were citizens who showed no signs or history of being even aware of their abilities, and from what I could tell their latent powers had atrophied to nothing due to the lack of use. The other one was a raider we took prisoner, just as powerless as the other two. Experimenting gave us nothing in trying to figure psychics out, other than finding slight deformations in certain areas of his brain, and attempts at replicating the deformations artificially didn’t do squat.

“It’s good to finally meet the Benevolent Cheat,” the aging woman opened, which drew raised eyebrows from Piper and Curie who were with me. Cait was off chasing a fleeing slaver’s caravan with Sarah and a few trainees.

“That’s an interesting title…” I cautiously replied.

“It fits,” she half-coughed. “An outsider that molds and trims the laws of this world to serve not only your needs, but those you take in. You have carved and tunneled a new path that wrote new tragedies and joys to those around you.”

Yeah, not too surprising I guess. “I suppose you’ve seen this?” I inquired lightly, while the girls were clearly trying to bite back their doubts.

Mama Murphy gave a…defeated?...grin as she sat up straight. “Hah, it’s because I can’t, that’s why I’m sure.” Her hands began gesturing wildly and her eyes took on a faraway look. “I watched the haze disappear and leave nothing behind… Occasionally new puffs of smoke show up, just as cloudy to look into, but…”

She slumped into her seat and sighed, her attention returning to the room and focused on me once more with a faint smile. “You’ve shattered our future, everyone’s.”

Huh. “Isn’t that a bad thing?” I checked, and Mama Murphy shook her head.

“It should, but for all the lives you’ve already saved, and will save…”

Curie interrupted suddenly. “Wait, if the future’s broken, how can you be sure of that?”

“Shattered, not broken. Still catch glimpses sometimes, of what might be, what hasn’t...and what won’t.”

So…yay screwing with the timeline? It’s probably the best endorsement I’m ever gonna get.

Piper now took her turn to voice up. “I’m gonna guess you’re the reason why Quincy’s more than eager to join the Nexus?”

Our host shrugged. “Nah, Jackson and the others already eager after you sent your people to clear the ruins around us. He just asked me if there’d be any problems joining.” Mama Murphy's grin became a bit more unsettling as she tried to land the punchline. “Turns out, his biggest problem after this would be finding a new job. And mine would be getting used to a clean life while working with your lab coats.”

Ah, guess clairvoyance does save some time at least. “Glad to you know you’ll be accepting the request for joining our research then,” I simply gave, no point in pretending to be surprised after all.

“It’ll take a long while to reach the end of it,” she warned before she slowly stood up with the groan of old bones. “But…it’ll be worth it. More kids will thank you for it. The poor stand-in goons won’t though.”

Huh, now I’m not sure how optimistic I should be.

We watched Mama Murphy grab her (pre-packed) suitcase and escorted her out. She’d be given addictol before the visit to the healing arches, and then assigned a place near Ix.

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*****

It was hard taking everything around her as the new normal, even after this long, but Nat was adjusting to not just the comforts and luxury Sev had given, but the fact that she was also seen as a very important person to a lot of people who joined Sev’s Nexus.

Sure, it was nice being treated so well, but it also meant that some people, especially the adults, wanted to be friends with her just because she knew Sev. Nat learned quickly to politely turn those creeps away.

Piper said it was okay to use bad words on them, but Sev was proud of her when Nat told him about it, so it meant that her actions were correct enough.

At least no one was stupid enough to do anything funny to her. Even Nat knew that Sev’s name carried a lot of respect and fear, and everyone did not want to mess with the guy who ruled the Nexus, or his friends. Also, she was sure that there was at least one stealthed Sentinel nearby her most of the time. Or had it changed to a Strigoi?

Being one of Sev’s closest friends also meant that Nat got to enjoy lots of benefits though, like joining 1st Company in training, and when they hunted raiders and super mutants. She liked all of them there, they were nice to her because they wanted to, not because they wanted to get something from Sev.

Not like the other troopers in 2nd and 3rd, who seemed scared of her for some reason, or were creeps.

Nat also enjoyed dealing with less homework, since Curie was a really good tutor after school. The girl was well beyond her grade thanks to the former robot’s tutelage, and had managed to wrangle out an agreement that as long as her grades remained good, there’d be no need for homework.

It gave her a lot of free time, which resulted in Nat becoming a regular sight in the new studios, either lending her voice or full on acting, or just watching how things went behind the scenes. Being a close friend of Sev meant that she could go practically anywhere she wanted without anyone stopping her.

She didn’t bother peeking into the porn studios though. Curie had already explained biology to her and Nat had a pretty good idea of what was going on with Sev and her sister as well as Sev and Cait, Curie, and all of 1st Company. And that’s just the better views of the subject. A number of Nat’s friends were rescued by Sev after all, and the stories they told about sex were far more…unpleasant.

Like she would gladly slowly tickle those slaver bastards with Glossu if she could, type of unpleasant. Or practice her shooting on them…badly.

Nat was glad that Sev saved so many people from being sex slaves. And while she herself didn’t see the appeal, she was glad that some of those people were enjoying themselves again thanks to Sev.

Sev was not normal, Nat remembered Curie saying once, not that it was a surprise to her, ever since that time long ago where Sev had made her and Piper strong enough to be tickled by tank treads. But still, something about Sev made the whole sex thing feel so great to the people who were so damaged by it before, enough that Nat had heard more than one of the 1st Company troopers wishing to be Sev’s slave.

Or overhearing Piper and Cait joking once (she hoped) that it’d be great if Sev would just leash them to his bed to be nothing but his sex slave. It was disturbing, but it also showed how much everyone liked sex with Sev, and how nice he was that he didn’t just turn people into his slaves.

Nat preferred having friends that were free to hangout with, not tied to beds and… Ugh, she didn’t like remembering what the boys and girls in 1st had said about their ‘fun’ nights.

Anyway, Sev had also made it clear early on that he didn’t expect Nat to follow in her sister’s footsteps, and she was free to find her own boyfriend (or girlfriend). It was weird having that talk, especially since Nat knew the topic was important to him but it didn’t carry that much weight to her. She had years to go before worrying about such things, after all. Supposedly.

But when she took the time to think about it, Nat found that she would end up rejecting the freedom Sev had offered her. After all, 1st Company were always eager for Sev’s time, and nevermind Piper, but Cait and Curie were also ‘his girls’. So Sev must really have something going for him, right?

And Piper said that she’d saved a slot for Nat when the time came, so it must be both good and a much wanted thing. Which meant that the girl’s curiosity on the topic of Sev and sex was piqued.

But not enough to be wanting to be thirteen already. Things were nice and enjoyable as they currently were, and sex or not, Sev was still spoiling her and caved in to her requests if she put on the right voice and gave the right, wide-eyed look.

She’d be putting that to good use today, too. 1st Company was doing some quick raider cleaning, and she was allowed to join in. But it’d be nice if she could bring her friends along. And after all, it was some time since Glossu went out for a drive, right?

Nat knocked on the office door politely and waited for the all clear before entering. “Uh, Sev?” She peeked her head in and tuned her voice to the right amount of innocent sweetness, plastering on a smile that had proven to work. “Remember 1st Company going out tomorrow…”

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