Chapter 3: Chapter 3

I stared blankly at Piper as the young teen shrugged off her night dress. The light outside leaking from the windows illuminated and highlighted her nervous body as she took cautious steps towards me but I was more drawn to her eyes.

They were pleading and filled with desperation, like staying here was hell compared to offering herself up to a stranger.

“Please Sev…?”

Ah fuck. Her voice, she sounded so scared. I blinked and drew in breath of my own, trying to silence the not-so-good voices in me. She’s a vulnerable girl and I’m not that kind of scumbag.

“You don’t have to-” I started, but she took another step closer and I saw her eyes wet with tears forming, and the forced and obviously fake smile she propped up.

“I promise to do whatever you want me to. I can learn to be good. We can start now if you want. I’ll do anything.-”

I placed my hands on her shoulders. Self control, don’t fail me now.

“Stop.” I did my best to be stern without being harsh. “You don’t have to do this.”

She looked up at me, looking like she was about to fall apart. I knelt down in front of her, giving a smile I hoped was reassuring.

“I was planning on asking if you’d like me to take you to Diamond City or something anyway.”

Why that sentence terrified her I don’t know, but Piper shook her head frantically. “Please let us come with you. Don’t leave us, please. Please don’t leave us alone...” She seemed at the verge of breaking into hysterics.

I wanted to say it was dangerous, and that I wasn’t confident in keeping them safe in my travels, but then I remembered I didn’t have a single clue on where I was going to start with. There was no destination, no goal in mind. Maybe I could settle in someplace and take the sisters along? It would take a lot of work to make a safe haven, considering the psychotic shitstorm that Boston would get hit with years from now.

“Sev?”

Shit, I was thinking too much. I looked at Piper, still putting on her brave face. My gaze started going down her naked body and I realised how warm her shoulders felt.

Why the fuck am I so pathetic?

I shook my head and let go of her with a sigh. “I’ll take you along with me, but I’m telling you now I don’t know where I’m going and I can’t be sure it will be safe travels.”

Piper brightened up considerably, the smile genuinely happy now as she dove in to hug me. “Thank you, thank you, thank you…” She kept repeating those two words for a bit more before breaking the hug.

She bit her lip (argh, stop perving on her) as she seemed to ponder something for a moment. “S-So… So how do you want to-”

“No.” I used the last of my willpower to stop her right there. “I won’t...you don’t have to offer yourself. Actually, let’s make that part of the deal. I’ll keep you and your sister safe, but you have to stop doing…” I gulped softly, trying to figure out the right word to use. I failed. “This.”

Piper’s smile faltered a bit. “Am I… You don’t like me?”

Fuck.

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I straightened a bit, looking her dead in the eyes. “It’s not like that. You’re in a rough spot now and it’s wrong if I took advantage of you.” I gave another sigh. “Look, I’m doing my best to be a good person here.”

Piper answered without hesitation. “You are a good person. You saved Nat and the town.”

Being cramped in armor was starting to hurt my crotch. Fuck was I weak.

My hands gently rested on her shoulders again, and I leaned in towards her. Piper closed her eyes, and I gently kissed her on her forehead before standing up and waddling uncomfortably back to my spot in the hallway.

“Put your dress on and get some sleep. We’ll leave tomorrow.”

*****

The next day rolled in and Piper woke up feeling much more relieved, despite the small disappointment. He didn’t do anything to her last night, though he clearly wanted to. She saw his eyes darken and his body go weirdly stiff when he looked at her naked body. Still, Sev had agreed to bring her and Nat along and they could stick with him as long as they wanted. Maybe things will be alright now.

She smiled remembering him complaining as she went back to bed, muttering nonsensical things to himself, like raviolis and lollipops.

Nat took the news of leaving home rather well, just as happy as Piper to join Sev. After breakfast, they packed up, mostly just clothes and some tools. Sev said he had food and water settled.

There wasn’t much fanfare as they made to leave, just some townsfolk gathered around trying to convince Sev to stick around longer. He politely refused them all, saying something about needing to make up for her and Nat tagging along. She didn’t think it was true though, and when someone said something she couldn’t hear he stared angrily at them and abruptly led both Wright girls out the town gate.

Hand in hand, Piper and Nat followed their new protector down the worn road. It was barely a mile from town when he stopped by a massive heap of metal that used to be a tank. He looked around cautiously, then turned his attention to them.

“Okay, another part of the deal. Any weird stuff I do? Don’t tell anyone. You can ask me about it, but I probably won’t give you an answer yet.”

“Weird stuff?”

Sev gave a small grin. “Yeah, weird stuff.” He tapped the dead vehicle and stared blankly at it for a moment. The tank gave a loud creak and flakes of rust fell off it. Sev climbed onto it and opened a hatch.

“Stay here for a bit, shout if you see anything.” With those words he slipped inside, muted echoes escaping from the hatch as Sev talked to himself. It was barely a minute and he resurfaced with a self-satisfied smirk. “Right then girls, climb in.”

He helped them up and into the tank. Despite the stale, iron-tinged air, the interior was quite spacious, especially for just a man and two girls. Sev slipped into the front seat while Piper and Nat took the seats in the tank’s turret. Some soft cursing and fiddling at the controls and toggles and gear sticks, and the tank shuddered and roared to life.

The hatch closed by itself as cool, filtered air whooshed inside and the interior was lit up in cold white light. Piper joined her sister’s laughs of delight as the tank started to move. She smiled at the back of a cackling Sev, and promised herself to do whatever it took to be his.

*****

As I used the console to navigate the intricacies of driving an atompunk tank, a notification popped up in clear English, right in the center of my view.

[Piper is now following you.]

Well, at least they made it readable.

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