Teaching a Robot to Love

-Notes-

Sorry this chapter took so long… I've been going through a lot of stress because I just love overloading my life with things I don't have time for. It's hard to write the later on in the semester it gets. Just remember that I am not a disaster relief fund. Crying in my PMs or comments isn't going to make me upload any faster.

Rearranging dialogue again (bad me) but only because I think the game should have included some reactions after the broadcast. I had some major writers block with the second half of this chapter so it'll probably come off not as fantastic.

Chapter 16: Friends

"Miss Sole, I think that if you bothered to listen you could-"

"No" Sole interrupted as X9 tried for the hundredth time to convince her of his plan to take out the residents of Sanctuary Hills while they slept.

The synth and the survivor walked briskly towards the ammo merchant. X9 had proven much more difficult to shake than she had originally thought. At least X6 would give her space and seemed to have the need to do things on his own. X9 however seemed contented with watching over her every move with scrutiny. Sole had thought that perhaps the deadpan stoicism was perhaps also a favored trait that would be shared amongst all coursers but oh no. X9 was so very different. Although he could be classified as seemingly "emotionless" he was a lot more… radical, than the other coursers Sole had met. There was something about his beady eyes and long face that was so unsettling but Sole couldn't place it.

"As an embodiment of the Institute's ideals, you must be ready to make sacrifices if it is in the best nature of our organization" he said condescendingly as he leaned up against the wall.

Sole exchanged caps with the gen-2 synth and swiped the ammo boxes, pointing one at X9.

"Listen you. Us humans have these things called friends. Say it with me. Friiieeeennndsss. And we don't kill friends just because some privileged eggheads say so" she retorted.

He turned away from her but Sole could have sworn he rolled his eyes. At her. Douche. Anyway, his attitude was the least of her worries at the moment. What she was really preoccupied with was when the stupid scientists would finish "charging" X6's little spy device so she could be rid of this radical. She was already sick of the Institute. It seemed so small once you knew all the corridors. It felt confined and cramped compared to the vast open world up above. However she couldn't run the risk of X9 trying to kill the very people she was going to have to convince she wasn't going to kill after all. He would be a terrible asset for that motivational speech.

Thankfully she didn't have to wait long. It was only hours after X9 following her around like an insipid duckling that one Ayo came up and informed her that X6 was all ready to go. Thanking him, she dismissed both Ayo and X9 as she returned to her room expectantly to wait. She saw X9 puff up behind her. She wondered what his angle was. Why did he want to be around her so badly? What did he gain from it? All of her suspicions vanished as soon as X6's tall figure stepped through the door. She rushed up to hug him but he held his hand out.

"Ma'am, please. You know what will happen if you do that" he groaned just as gloriously monotone as she remembered.

"Right. Sorry" she apologized, returning her hands to her sides. "Hey so remember when I said I had a plan to help? Well I think I found someone that can get that thing out of you."

X6 cocked his head inquisitively to the side as he folded his shiny leather coated arms.

"Instead of trying to circumvent the rules, you might see this as a lesson. Perhaps we should just lay low and continue our mission instead of trying disobey them."

"Oh pish posh" she waved her hand dismissively. "Wait. You don't think the Institute like… rigged it to explode if it's taken out do you?"

X6 smirked. "No ma'am, if they wanted to kill me then I would already be dead. They wouldn't go through such convoluted means."

"That's true. Well I still think our plan will work. I just hope Curie found an acceptable alternative for putting your monitor."

X6's face immediately dropped. "Curie… As in designation G5-19 whose consciousness was implanted from a Mr. Handy model? You were planning on doing this on the surface? Ma'am do you have any idea how serious an infection from squalid dull tools could be? I do not believe she is ready to perform a surgery not to mention a transplant."

Sole rolled her eyes as she pushed past him, raising her pip boy. "Oh my god, I forgot how much of a princess you were."

With that, Sole pressed the button that beamed her away to Sanctuary.

The warm yellow sun of the late afternoon bathed the land in gold just behind her neighborhood. A radcrow cawed and Sole grabbed X6, quickly leading him to the bushes. A great number of the birds flying around were watcher synths for the Institute. It was how they knew what was going on up in the Commonwealth. In any case, she needed to make sure they were out of sight. If they found out what she was doing… She looked at X6's serious face as he monitored the sky as well. Well, she'd rather not think of that.

Taking the same path as before, Sole led X6 to Curie's house and they ducked into the open widow.

"Curie" Sole hissed.

No answer. She turned down the hallway when she came face to face with the surprised Piper. Shit. Piper pushed Sole hard against the wall and made a break for the entrance of the house. No! Sole stumbled to run after her. This would ruin everything!

Luckily, X6 had not followed Sole through the same window she came in but rather came through the back entrance, allowing him to swiftly grab Piper by the wrist and mouth and drag her back inside. Muffled yells were blotted by his large hand as she kicked and struggled against his grasp. Crap.

X6 dragged her all the way back to the far bedroom, away from any prying eyes that could possibly look in. Sole reluctantly followed, guilt seeping into her conscience. Piper was glaring at them with such wild hateful eyes and she didn't blame her. So she just stood there, waiting for her to calm down. She knew X6 wasn't going to let go of her until she gave the signal. Once she stopped struggling as much Sole nodded to X6 who released her.

With a gasp Piper spat, "How could you! We all trusted you and then… the broadcast. How could you even think of siding with them?" She cast a quick spiteful glance to X6.

There was no point in apologizing. What was done was done and Sole was going to become the next director of the Institute whether Piper liked it or not. She just really hoped that she could manage to convince her that she was in it for change. Sole took in a shaky breath. "Why are you so mad?"

"Why?" She asked incredulously, throwing her arms up and gritting her teeth. "You know what this means right? It means people getting snatched in the night. Neighbors turning on each other. And no one left to stop them. Do you really think that's what the Commonwealth needs?"

"Is there anything I can say to convince you that this was the right choice?" Sole asked. Her legs were shaking and her heart was pounding. This confrontation thing was harder than she thought it was going to be.

"I seriously doubt it" Piper breathed and for a split second Sole swore she saw a shred of sympathy in her hazel eyes. Piper continued, "because this new world you're creating, I'm not sure what kind of chance it's got."

Piper cast her head down sadly as if the realization that her world was coming to an end just hit her. Sole lowered herself to her knees and grabbed Piper's hands in hers. Piper looked up to meet her eyes. She was scared, Sole could see it.

"Piper. You may not believe me when I say this and I don't blame you. But when I say that the Institute is mankind's future, I mean it. Not in the way that they want it to mean. How long have you known me? I know what it's like up here, I'm not blind. I'm not going to let all of you be decimated just because a living fragment of my memory tells me so."

Piper cast her eyes down, still scrunched up in a confused mix of anger and emotion. "I-I thought you really betrayed us. I thought that you had joined the bad guys and were going to kill us all." Her voice was breaking.

Sole squeezed her hands. "I want to create change Piper. Up here, life is hard. People are dying every day from preventable dangers and illnesses that the Institute has the answer for. The thing about science and technology was that it was never meant to be hoarded. Even if no one understands this, dammit I'm going to try!"

Piper took a second, quickly wiping the corner of her eye with the back of her fingerless gloves and eventually smiled.

"Well… You might have to do some explaining to Nick about that but pretty much no one else seems to care. You really made some good friends here Sole" she sniffed.

Sole's face darkened. "What about Paladin Danse?" She made sure not to affiliate Deacon with any factions since X6 was around.

Piper shook her head. "Danse took off days ago, getting some nukes or something in the glowing sea. No one's seen him since."

"Okay" Sole breathed, running a hand through her hair. "Well who I really need most is Curie. Do you know where she is?"

Piper nodded and pointed towards the chemistry station at the far end of Sanctuary. Sole took a deep breath. Okay. She was going to do it. To hell is anyone saw her. This sneaking around was bullshit.

Sole nodded to X6 who promptly stood up without so much as a glance in Piper's direction and got the door for Sole. Big breath.

So basically it wasn't as bad as she thought. In her head, Sole had made it out to be a lot worse than it actually was. Other than some of the smack talk Hancock gave her or the endless "traitor" jokes from Deacon, everyone else didn't really care. Some of them didn't even listen to the radio at all so they had no idea what was going on. Fascinating the amount of catastrophizing one can do when a thought dwells in the brain for long enough.

Nick Valentine understood way easier than Sole thought he was going to. He said that if anyone would be the one to change the Institute, it was going to be her. All the positive feedback warmed Sole's heart. She loved this place. Sanctuary was not only where she lived before the war, it was her home; it was where all of her friends who loved her very much congregated; it was where she came back to relax after a long journey.

A settler passed by, giving her and X6 a warm smile. The cul-de-sac was bathed in a golden glow and the warm afternoon tingled her skin. If there was any reason to protect the Commonwealth, it was this.

This was home.

Just as she was making her astounding mental revelations, she caught the perky brusque walk of Curie in the corner of her eye. Sole grabbed X6's hand and ran after Curie.

"Curie! We're here. I've got X6 here. You've got all the equipment now, are you ready?" Sole panted, all of a sudden nervous.

She briefly glanced down at Sole and X6's interlocked fingers but didn't comment. "Yes. Unfortunately I thought zat we could possibly procure an inactive gen-3 synth then we could easily do ze transplant but eh… it hasn't worked out so well. I apologize."

Sole's heart fell as she glanced at X6 who showed no emotion at the news. She turned her attention back to Curie. "Well, can't we just input it in a robobrain or something? They have biological organs and are captive enough."

"No I don't think zat would fool them. You said it transmits information back to ze mainframe yes? They would know if ze monitor was attached to a brain and not a heart."

X6 cleared his throat. "Curie. As a side note, the monitor is not directly attached to any of my organs. It resides as a patch on directly on top of the skin where my heart is."

Sole's eyes bulged. What?

"What? You told me that they surgically implanted it in you. Now you're telling me that we don't even need all these fancy lab equipment I've painstakingly collected over the past few days just for your special surgery? What the hell X6? Are you seriously that much of a princess that you needed me to worry about you for that long?" She cast aside his hand like a filthy rag and raised her voice.

"Yes. It was a joke. Ha ha" he said completely monotone.

Sole was going to kill him. About to blow her lid, she thought about punching his stupid calmly smirking face but Curie held her hands out to separate them.

"One moment mademoiselle. X6, I was under ze impression zat this surgical device could also hear vibrations from inside ze body or so Miss Sole told me. Is zis not correct?"

Sole was going to kill him.

"That is only half correct. While it is true that the device is sensitive enough to pick up vibrations from the voice box, it was also not surgically implanted anywhere in my body" he explained.

Sole was going to kill him.

"Oh! Then zis will be easier than I thought! May I see it for a moment?" Curie clasped her hands together, excited to be able to be introduced to new technology.

X6 zipped himself out of his jacket, refusing to look at Sole, and lifted his body-hugging shirt over his head. Ugh, he gave a new meaning to the word ripped. Sole hated how sexually attracted she was to this man. Plus, she still wanted to punch him.

A small, thin device about the size of a post-it note lay on his chest. On the small panel, a number kept flickering up and down. That must be the heart rate. X6 quickly redressed himself.

"Oh! How marvelous! Zis will be easier than I thought. Come with me" Curie exclaimed, turning about face and leading them to the newly built shack at the corner of Sanctuary. She continued to rattle on about the logistics and time parameters needed to perform this efficiently without the Institute noticing anything. Sole noticed X6 tried to walk ahead of her because he totally knew she was pissed.

"Hey X6" Sole said in a low voice so that Curie wouldn't hear.

X6-88 froze for a moment before turning about. He opened his mouth to ask her what she wanted but he was cut off by a fist to the stomach. He let out a low grunt as Sole passed him without as much as a word.

The shack was bigger inside than Sole had originally thought. Two operating tables lay side by side and tables lined the walls of the room, all with medical equipment lined up neatly next to one another.

"Okay Mister X, zis is where we will do ze procedure however… There is still one matter we need to address. Who are we going to put ze monitor on?" Curie inquired once they were all inside.

Sole folded her arms, thinking. "Hmm it has to be someone that will never set off the heart monitor. If goes off andX6 gets beamed back, they're going to know we took it off."

"We need someone who is calm and collected zen. Someone who can adhere to ze word phrase zat Mister X cannot say. Someone"

"Someone who is patient in the face of absolute adversity."

"Someone with a strong sense of duty."

"Someone like-"

"Heeeey Preston. How 'ya doing?" Sole nodded, leaning up against the nearby pole as Preston hammered away at the foundation to a house.

"Hey there General. Or I can't call you that anymore can I? Director was it? Ha ha." He chided.

"General is fine. So hey here's the thing… we kind of need you for this thing. Think of it like training." Sole chose her words carefully.

Preston put down his hammer and wiped the sweat from his brow. He stood up so that he could face Sole. "What do you mean?"

"Well. You want to be the kind of leader that uses words instead of violence, calm but effective right?" she asked

"Of course. I think that is the most admirable quality in any leader." He nodded in agreement, wiping the grease off his hands on the hem of his jacket.

"Well then, do we got the job for you! You see back at the Institute, they put this sort of device on X6 that is proving to be problematic. It's just a simple heart rate monitor, no biggie" Sole shrugged trying to pass off her big fat lie as nothing but an annoyance. "Anyway, the whole point of it is that you can't let your heart rate get too high or else it starts beeping. I think it will be good training for you because it will be a reminder to stay calm in situations where you might get upset."

Preston's head was slowly nodding with her words. Good sign.

Sole continued, "the bad news is that the technology belongs to the Institute so we need to take it of X6 and put it on you before they notice that he's either dead, or we took it off. What do you say?"

Preston scratched the back of his head. "Gee, I don't know General. I don't think parading around in Institute tech is such a good idea. But I do understand what you're saying. It does sound like an interesting prospect. Like a self-goal."

"It wouldn't be for very long. Just until I become director, then you can take it off. It should only take about a month or so hopefully. Think of it like a trial period" Sole added.

Preston moved his hands to his chin in pensive thought. A bead of sweat rolled down Sole's forehead, afraid he might say no.

"Hm… okay General. I trust what you're saying. I think like that doesn't sound like a bad idea. I mean, we're not expecting something big to happen any time soon, let along some trader caravans coming through, so I think it should be no problem. My answer is yes."

Sole let out a sigh of relief and threw her hands around Preston in an appreciative hug. "Thank you Preston! Thank you so much! You have no idea how much this means to me."

He laughed and patted her back in return. "Okay okay, I got it already."

Subject secured. Sole led Preston over to Curie's shack and she spent the next hour debriefing them on what was going to happen. Apparently they were going to start with some breathing exercise to sync up the cadence of their heart beats hopefully. Through all the fancy wording, Sole was able to understand 'take patch of person A' and 'place patch on person B' and 'go fast.' It seemed pretty cut and dry.

Sole started spacing out until the two men before her starting taking off their shirts. She snapped to attention real quick. Jesus… Both men were very good looking but man, X6 could make someone sweat with his ridiculously ripped abdominals. He had the most athletic build of out anyone she'd ever seen. He was a tower of solid muscle. She must have been ogling for too long because Preston awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Um General? I'm here too you know?"

"Right, sorry of course" Sole shook her head, cheeks burning with embarrassment. X6 seemed unfazed, completely oblivious to what had just occurred.

Curie snapped on some blue rubber gloves and instructed the men to lay down next to one another.

"Alright. Let's begin."