[u][b][color=00aeef]The Institute - Concourse Elevator[/color][/b][/u] Dr. Xavier Morales eyed The Director of The Institute carefully as she strode down from the Advanced Systems lab towards him. Every step she took seemed to his mind to be laced with arrogance and pride. She felt superior to her colleagues in every manner not the least of which was intellect. She’d made little effort to hide these feelings even before she’d ascended to the Directorship, but now it was plain enough that even a child could see it on her face. Xavier despised her every move, her every word, but there was nothing he could do about that self-satisfied smug smile. Not yet anyway. Walking alongside Director Madison Li were her ‘bodyguards’ which consisted of a trio of heavily armed and armored Gen-2 Synths that escorted her nearly everywhere she went within The Institute and beyond. They were clad head to toe in heavy Synth armor that had been painted a dark shade of blue for recognition and armed with modified Institute rifles. The armor itself was some advanced composite alloy that had just come out of Advanced Systems research that hadn’t yet made its way into full production. What little documentation Xavier had come across coupled with hearsay from a source he had within the lab indicated the armor was significantly stronger than the current model and was highly resistant to laser and ballistic weaponry. Madison hadn’t yet approved it for full use and it seemed unlikely that she would in the near future. She no doubt wanted to keep that sort of research strictly controlled or worse yet….only send it to the surface. Xavier scoffed at the notion of some rag-tag farmer from The Commonwealth, a Minuteman, being clad in Institute military gear. On the face of it it’d be an amusing sight and would likely provide some valuable test data in live fire activities if nothing else. But the thought of what might come next was more harrowing, how long before Madison wanted every technology The Institute developed to be shared with those above ground? How long until The Institute was merely the research wing of a nation that strictly controlled and regulated them? How long before they were forced out of their home and up top to live amongst the monstrosities and misery of the wasteland? He shuddered. No, that would not happen. Madison approached him, no hint of a smile anywhere on her sullen face, “Dr. Morales, I received your intel report. Overall it was satisfactory. A little less speculation on your part would be appreciated. When I ask for what the SSIB has on a particular location, I’m not looking for your personal thoughts.” “Apologies Director,” Xavier replied, mustering up as much contrition as he could, “I’m afraid our pre-war archives are incomplete in this regard. I was able to turn up a number of references to the facility in military correspondence but unable to determine specifics as to the research and project goals.” “Then that’s all you need to say. I don’t care to read three pages of fluff on things you have no hard data for.” “Again, my apologies. I simply wanted to give you as wide a range of information as possible.” “Hmmph. Indeed.” Madison stepped into the spiral elevator along with the three Synths. “Anything I can assist with while you are on the surface Director?” Xavier asked, forcing a cheerful smile. “Continue all current monitoring operations and give me a summary of it when I return. In other words, do your job...and that’ll be enough.” “Of course Director, have a safe trip to the surface.” With that one of the synths pressed a button and the door to the elevator closed, and it swiftly began ascending up through The Institute and towards the molecular relay control room. Once Madison and her synths passed through the upper ceiling layer, Xavier’s face dropped to a snarl. “Speculation? If she had half the brain she thinks she does it’d be clear that my ‘speculation’ was based on reasonable inference and deduction. Hardly irrelevant.” He muttered, “Watch yourself you ungrateful…” Xavier stopped himself and looked around. There was no-one in sight in the Concourse thankfully, owing to the early hour no doubt, but he chastised himself none-the-less for allowing his emotions to get the better of him. He knew better than most that it was best never to assume that there was no-one watching. All it took was a single slip-up and he could wind up exiled. What use would he be then? Always polite, always dutiful. Always supportive of The Director. That’s who I am here. Remember. He thought, and walked away. [hr] [u][b][color=00a651]Diamond City - Council Chamber (Diamond City Mayor’s Office) [/color][/b][/u] Mayor Becky Fallon rode the lift up to her office within Diamond City. Although nowadays with the formation of the CPG, it was hardly just ‘her’ office anymore. The Commonwealth Provisional Government Council met inside what used to be the Mayor’s personal office, while she herself had moved the Diamond City Mayoral office to one of the back rooms that McDonough had outfitted for his living space. Seeing as how she wasn’t going to be living here at all but instead would remain at her old house inside her ‘Fallon’s Basement’ shop, that new arrangement suited her just fine. Becky stepped off the platform and strode up to the double doors leading to the Council chamber, she paused only a moment to adjust her dress suit and then opened them. As she’d expected, Madison Li was already seated with her Synth security detail fanned out around behind her. “Director Li..” Becky said simply as she took her seat. “Mayor Fallon..” Madison replied. The pair sat in silence for a few moments, with Becky desperately wishing she was somewhere else. Her and Li always had a tough time conversing when it was only the two of them, and neither was particularly interested in much other than the business at hand. Fortunately Becky didn’t have to wait long before the rest of the Council began to trickle in. The next to arrive was Kessler, leader of the Bunker Hill Caravaners, “Glad I’m not late, I should hope we can wrap this up before too long. I need to get back to the Hill.” “I’m not expecting a long meeting,” Li said, “Provided of course we don’t have unnecessary debate.” “I shouldn’t think so,” Becky added, eyeing Kessler. She knew full well it was Kessler who would likely be the primary opposition to what she assumed would be the wider Council opinion. The Caraveners had been some of the worst affected by The Mechanist’s rampage after all. Nothing less than the Mechanist’s head on a spike would probably convince them. Kesller ignored the comments directed towards her and took her seat. Within a few minutes both Wiseman and General Ronnie Shaw of The Minutemen arrived at the council room. Ronnie sat down in her usual gruff manner without a word while Wiseman gave up his usual niceties, “How’s everyone doing today?” Wiseman smiled broadly, “I think The Slog is going to have its largest crop of tarberries yet this….” “Gunners on the move again. Lost an entire patrol squad last night to an ambush. Found their heads lined up nice and neat on a fence post outside Quincy,” Ronnie interrupted as she lit up a cigarette, “So my morning hasn’t exactly been peachy Wiseman.” Wiseman’s smile immediately evaporated, “I’m...sorry to hear that.” “General Shaw, could you refrain from smoking in the Council chambers?” Dr. Li asked. “I could,” Ronnie replied. “Ronnie…” Becky chastised as she glared at The Minutemen General. “Fine,” Ronnie let the cigarette slip from her fingers and fall to the ground, where she promptly stomped it out, “Can we get started talking about this Mechanist then?” “Yes...I received an intel report on the location mentioned in the holotape…” Li began. “Director Li, not all members are present currently.” Becky interjected. Li furrowed her brow, “Oh yes of course...my mistake. We’ll have to wait until Val...Mr. Valentine arrives I suppose.” “No need,” Came a voice from the doorway, the Synth Detective entered the council chambers and removed his hat, placing it on the table in front of an empty seat, “Sorry for being tardy. I needed to stop by the office after I arrived back from Sanctuary this morning. It's doing well by the way.” “Good. Then we can officially begin,” Li continued, “As I was saying, I received an intel report on the location specified by the holotape: The Robco Sales and Service Center. Information on the facility is scant at best but aside from the obvious front of being a robotics shop, we’ve found references in pre-war military correspondence pointing to the location as holding some sort of Department of the Army research lab: likely a black site of some sort given the senior level of the communique we uncovered.” “So what were they doing down there, just creating killer bots?” Ronnie asked. “That’s unknown at the moment but...yes some variation of that.” Li replied. “I don’t suppose CIT was involved at all in this project was it?” Nick asked with an eye towards Dr. Li, “Natural to guess they might have been given the robotics angle.” “No,” Li said firmly, “We extensively searched The Institute’s pre-war databanks for any connection to the Commonwealth Institute of Technology: student and graduate files, faculty and staff correspondence etc. We even searched through old career center postings at the University. Nothing. It's not impossible of course that some CIT students or graduates were working within the lab, I’d even go so far as to say it's likely, but if that’s the case there was no direct partnership with the University itself. Our pre-war records for CIT are virtually complete so I have no reason to suspect that we may have missing or corrupted data on this: it simply doesn’t exist.” Nick sat back in his seat and folded his arms, “So, a hidden lab capable of building a literal army of murder-bots underneath a RobCo shop in Boston eh? Sounds like quite the mystery.” “So what are we going to do about it then? We’re not seriously considering allowing this Mechanist to go free are we?” Kessler interrupted. “Not free, no,” Becky said sternly, “Never free. I believe what this ‘Isabel’ girl says in that what she did was an accident, I truly do. She sounded genuine and indeed heartbroken that her actions caused so much death, and the robot attacks have ceased…” Becky paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, “But her actions are still inexcusable. Accident or not. She needs to face judgement in some manner.” “Agreed,” Wiseman nodded, “She needs to answer for her crimes. I lost a good friend to one of those attacks.” “I lost a lot more than that,” Kessler snapped, “I want her hanged.” “We’re not going to execute her,” Dr. Li said firmly, “Get over it. If her holotape is correct, then she’s too valuable to simply be made an example of. Let her serve her sentence in other ways.” “Like what exactly?” Ronnie raised an eyebrow. “She has access to a massive trove of data and information within that facility. And she is likely very intelligent, a veritable genius in fact, if she was able to repair and restart production within the facility on her own. If she truly is genuine in her confession of guilt and remorse….then let's put her to work. Let her help to repair the damage she’s done by giving back to The Commonwealth.” “I agree,” Nick said with a nod, “No need to kill her. She made a mistake, a massive one no doubt, but she had good intentions. We don’t need to string her up like a common criminal.” “Let's make sure that’s the case then,” Kessler said, “I want to speak with her myself and see if I believe her. Send someone to the Sales Center and put her under arrest.” “Fine. I’m not opposed to ensuring that she’s not going to cause further problems,” Li replied, “I propose we send a team to venture down into the lab and meet The Mechanist.” “No Synths,” Ronnie grumbled, “None of your scientists either.” “I wasn’t going to suggest it,” Li replied, “Instead my suggestion is that we send MacCready, a few Minutemen, and perhaps one of your people Kessler.” “I’d like to go as well,” Nick said piping up, “Or would I be excluded under that ‘no-synth’ rule of yours?” He looked to Ronnie with a sly grin. “Nah….guess I’ll make an exception in your case Detective.” “Agreed.” Li said, “Any objections?” The room was silent and Wiseman and Becky shook their heads in response, “One condition,” Kessler said, “I want to interview her, alone, when she’s brought back. If I’m granted that, I’ll agree.” Li nodded, “If that’s what it’ll take, I have no objections to that Kessler. Very well then, we’ve reached an accord. Let’s begin moving on this quickly, I want the team ready to go by tomorrow.”