Chapter 115: Chapter 111

The whole ‘Faceless’ incident deeply shocked Emma, and as more details became known, it was hard not to imagine the next group of newcomers harboring a hidden secret even to themselves that might cause another bloody outburst. Or worse, Danny and Carrie might stumble across something in the park or their backyard and get infected with a nightmarish body- and mind-altering disease.

It was a dark day for the Nexus, to have the peace so carefully nurtured and enjoyed be threatened in such a manner.

It didn’t help when orders came from the public hailers and eyebots flying over everyone’s head for everyone to look away from a particular direction. Emma watched as Sentinels actually swooped down to hover in front of people who were looking the wrong way, illuminating the people whose personal space they invaded with their many red eyes. Supposedly, some of the taller buildings had sheets smothering windows that were exposed to that forbidden direction, and even the soldiers in the training grounds had to turn away.

Emma tried not to think too hard on whatever it was that could elicit that response from the Nexus’ higher ups. Her nightmares already had to deal with the possibility of getting her and her children’s faces melted away, she couldn’t handle any further horrors.

Thankfully, Sev soon declared that the Faceless threat was over even as he joined the Nexus to mourn the loss of those who were afflicted. Like many of those who had been part of the Nexus from its birth, Emma found it hard to see their ruler looking so downcast. She was also among many who spoke out against the newer arrivals, the ignorant neighbors who dared, dared to say that Sev was just putting on a show, or that he was being overdramatic.

These were the first lives lost to violence within the Nexus. Everyone knew Sev did his best to protect the lands, to ensure everyone within could live happy, fulfilling lives. Of course such an incident would deal a blow to him and tarnish his reputation. Of course he would mourn the loss of lives he gave his all to protect.

Such notions were offensive enough that localized boycotts were made to some businesses owned by the wasteland hicks who voiced such opinions, or in several cases the empty-headed loudmouths were outright ostracized. If not for Nexus laws, Emma was sure that the foolish voices would end up lynched.

New announcements on the radio, television and terminals, exposed the dangers of ‘unnatural’ threats, and provided methods in identifying potential hazards to be avoided. And as usual, leave it to Sev to quickly come up with the means to identify potentially afflicted people and objects. Emma took in the new information and adapted to it with ease and without complaint. There was barely anything asked from her as a citizen, other than to be wary of unearthed objects or strange occurrences.

She remembered life before Sev and his Nexus, being wary like this is a fucking cakewalk in comparison.

According to the rumor mill, the ever reliable ruler of the Nexus had already set up devices to detect the new dangers, and counters were already being worked on. Emma put her faith in her ruler; Sev had beaten back the hordes of super mutants, had even banished the Atom. He would deal with whatever new nasties that might emerge. 

And if he couldn’t?

Emma was sure he would eventually find a way.

*****

Despite the many chains being the head of the new secretive research initiative put on her, Dr. Madison Li was more than happy to be a part of bringing the scientific method into exploring the occult. It was a brand new field of research that offered a glimpse into an aspect of existence once scoffed at.

To learn that magic and the supernatural were real was one thing, but to discover that it was more than just random mumbo jumbo? That there was an underlying rhyme and reason to it all, just like many previously unknown natural phenomena?

Madison was glad that Sev had considered her in his shortlist. After seeing the initial notes, she was also very grateful that he had filtered out what lines of research would be too dangerous to test until further knowledge could be gleaned.

The only thing she didn’t like about the whole thing was that the studies conducted only explained how things worked, but not why. The professor eventually understood how certain geometric shapes could divert and channel the flow of ambient energies, but she couldn’t for the life of her explain why those simple scratches on the ground or walls could cause such an effect.

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Madison had quickly learned the different effects in using different materials, like how bovine blood did better for fertility rituals while rodents like mole rats were good for sound dampening or tunneling. She couldn’t tell why, though, other than the possibility of the beliefs attached to the creatures.

That speculation didn’t work on a lot of the non-organic materials though. Marble was great to store various types of esoteric energies, obsidian was the best to convert one form of energy to another, while iron and lead took to damage enhancement rituals with the least amount of wasted energies. It made no sense, but that was how it was.

Crystals were on a whole, frustrating level. Anything with a crystal lattice structure, natural or artificially made, became ideal for practically anything. It didn’t matter if it was salt crystals or just plain ice, the esoteric rituals took root in them far better than any other material so far, to the point that Sev was adopting them as the preferred medium for any occult works. 

It frustrated Madison to no end being unable to decipher the reasons for all these seemingly arbitrary rules, but she grit her teeth and carried on with the research, hoping to eventually peel back the opaque veil and figure out the inner workings of the things once called ‘supernatural’.

*****

With things calming down after the Faceless outbreak, Nick Valentine was more than happy to be free from the Nexus’ forced employ and return to his life as a freelancer. Searching desperately for scraps of information was never an enjoyable experience, and having the NIN breathing down his neck proved to him that he was not a good team player.

The confidential information that he was allowed to bring home in his digital brain was troubling though; magic and voodoo and other fantastical things were real to a terrifying degree, and somehow the world had survived so far without waking up anything too dangerous.

He’d seen bits of not-too-classified information about rituals and some of their effects, and Nick was glad that all that nonsense was only now being discovered. Having raiders with magic, or super mutants sacrifice their captives for unnatural powers? It’d make the wasteland a far less survivable place for everyone involved.

What happened with the Faceless was bad, but it could have been far, far worse. Supposedly, Nick’s second-gen frame rendered him immune to subversion, but it would be a small consolation to being broken apart by a Faceless mob made up of the people he knew.

As many people around here was quick to say, ‘thank god for Sev’. Or as some of the more ardent fans preferred, ‘thanks Sev for Sev’.

Nick would be far from surprised if the ruler of the Nexus ever decided to finally give in and let people establish a church in his name. If anything, maybe that’d help with future eldritch threats. It’d do hell for democracy and the free state, but even Nick with his old world sensibilities could argue that the trade might be worthwhile.

Nora utterly hated it, obviously, and it was something new for his friend ranted about once she got a few drinks in during their weekly hangouts. The other old-worlders, ghouls the lot of them, were scattered across the spectrum about the possibility of the Nexus shifting from a benevolent dictatorship to a benevolent theocratic dictatorship. 

It was highly entertaining to Nick to see the fleshies argue from philosophical, ethical and pragmatic perspectives. And having Nora eventually go off (it’s eight for eight so far) with her disdain and very begrudging acceptance of Sev as a ruler always marked the end of the gathering. 

Now, back in his office with himself as the boss, Nick went through his missed calls and messages. 

Ugh, so many repeat messages and spam calls… He really had to hire an assistant to take care of all this.

In the end there were not too many exciting requests, but that’s a good thing. Getting paid to be shot at was not what he was in this line for. Nick eventually settled for a request from a worried husband to keep an eye on his wife. A boring task, but as he learned after the whole Faceless madness, boring was underappreciated.

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