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Logan watches from the window as Chinese soldiers storm Tranquility Lane and kill Vault 112’s residents. Activating the fail safe and letting them truly die after centuries of Braun’s sadistic whims is an act of mercy.
He steps outside once they’re all dead, knowing the commandos are programmed only to notice the residents, and walks to the playground unharmed. His expression is detached but he takes great care not to look directly at the bodies.
“Do you know what you’ve done?!” Braun screams. It’s hard to take him seriously when he still looks like Betty.
“I put these people out of their fucking misery, you psychopath.”
They have a final conversation then Braun points him at the door not their earlier and tells him to go. Logan looks at ‘Doc the dog.’
“Come on, Dad.”
Logan blinks and he doesn’t remember where he’s at right away. As the pod opens, he realizes that’s a good thing because he would’ve freaked out in its claustrophobic confines. Then he scrambles out and watches his dad climb out of his.
Logan’s eyes fill with tears, he doesn’t believe his dad’s walking towards him. After all this time wishing and searching, his dad’s standing in front of him.
Logan,” James whispers.
He doesn’t know what to do, but his body reacts before his brain and he launches himself forward. James’ arms wrap tightly around him and Logan’s never felt more comforted by a hug. He doesn’t want to let go, afraid his dad will vanish instantly if he does. But then he’s pushing himself away and glaring at the man he thought would always love him.
“What the fuck, Dad?” he yells. “What the fuck!”
“Let me ex-”
“Do you have any idea what I had to do to find you?”
“You weren’t supposed to find me--though I’m grateful you did and rescued me from that evil man. But how did you get out of the vault?”
“I had no choice! I had no fucking choice!” His blood feels like it’s literally boiling in his veins and he feels ready to throw up all over the floor. He’s so relieved his dad is okay but he’s so, so angry. “Wally and Suzie’s demented brother killed Jonas and the overseer tried to get me. If not for Amata, I’d probably be dead too. How could you be okay with never seeing me again? I thought you loved me.”
“I do love you,” James says firmly, wiping at his eyes. “You are the most important thing in my life. If anything happened to you...I couldn’t bear it. I debated for a long time about whether or not to take you with me. I know the vault wasn’t perfect, I know you had problems, but at least you would’ve been safe.”
He shakes his head. “That sure as fuck didn’t happen.”
“No, it didn’t. I’m sorry you had to come out here alone. I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you like a father should. But Project Purity is important.”
Logan’s hands ball into fists. “More important than me? You can’t imagine what it was like? Well, let. Me. Tell. You. I went to Megaton and almost got killed by raiders my first day outside. I went to Galaxy News Radio and super mutants almost tore my body apart. I went to Rivet City and almost drowned in the Potomac and got skewered by mirelurks. I cleared Jefferson Memorial out. Twice! I got a concussion and a giant burn on my arm and enough nightmares to traumatize me for a lifetime. I had to kill a guard escaping the vault and I just killed a whole bunch of people on my way up here.” He grabs his head and grits his teeth. “It’s your fault!” he screams. “It’s your fault! You should’ve told me, you should’ve brought me!” His legs tremble and he collapses onto his knees. “We could’ve done this together...”
His entire body’s shaking when his dad drops to his knees too and crushes Logan against him.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he’s whispering as Logan sobs against his shoulder. “I’m sorry I lied to you and left you behind. If I’d known things would happen like this, I...” He stops talking, listens to his son cry as he rubs a hand over his back. “I knew leaving would cause you pain but I never meant for you to be hurt like this. I didn’t think of it as leaving forever. I wanted to come back for you when it was safer, when DC had water...”
Logan’s still crying heavily. “Did you miss me at all?”
“Of course. Leaving the vault without you was the hardest decision I’ve ever made. The thought of you has kept me going through all of this. I don’t know...I don’t know why I thought you’d stay put in the vault.”
He feels his dad try to pull away so he clings on tighter. James stops moving immediately.
“I’m sorry, Logan.”
He doesn’t know how to respond. Does he forgive him already? He doesn’t know. Logan pulls back only when he’s ready to. “Li told me the story but I want to hear it from you. Did Mom really die the way you said? I know Moriarty’s a filthy manipulative liar but ever since he first told me we weren’t from the vault, I’ve been sorting through every single thing you’ve ever told me, wondering what’s true and what’s a lie.”
“I understand why you’re questioning everything now. This isn’t how I wanted you to discover the truth. But where your mother’s concerned, I never lied to you about her. After she gave birth and was holding you, I was able to see our future together as a family. I was so happy in that moment, and so was she. But then the complications, she went into cardiac arrest.” His breath quivers. “We couldn’t save her. And it was so difficult. Project Purity was already falling apart and I refused to lose you too. A life on the surface, well you know now, it’s tough. So I left for Vault 101, the last safe place in DC. It wasn’t easy convincing the overseer but luckily for us, they needed a doctor.”
“Why didn’t you tell me when I was older?”
“I thought about it all the time. But you already wanted to leave and that would’ve been the final straw. I worried I’d wake up one day and you’d just be gone. And then I did the same exact thing to you.”
“All this for water?”
“Yes. It’s not like the vault. The water here is barely drinkable. This purifier would completely change the wasteland. This was your mom’s dream and I need to see it through.”
Logan looks at the the pods now filled with dead bodies. “Did you find what you needed here?”
“Sort of. I found notes on the GECK and it’s...incredible, even moreso than I originally thought. But with the way this vault is set up, they didn’t need one. Come on, let’s get off this floor.”
“It’s dark out by now. We should stay here for the night.”
They find Braun’s untouched quarters. The bathroom even has running water still.
“Where do we even start?” Logan asks.
“That’s the question, isn’t it? We should return to Rivet City first. I don’t think we can do this without Madison’s team.”
“She was worried you hadn’t come back yet but adamant about not rejoining the project.”
“Maybe between the two of us, we can convince her.”
Logan runs a hand through his greasy hair. “I should shower. I haven’t had the chance for days.”
“Okay. I’m going to explore the vault some more.”
The water hits his skin and almost immediately, Logan sees the grime start to wash down the drain. He’s afraid to go back out, thinking his dad might not be there. What if he leaves him again? What if this vault has its own hallucinogenic drugs and his dad was never here to begin with?
But he dries off, ties his new vault suit’s arms around his waist and throws on a relatively clean t-shirt, then steps outside. To his relief, his dad’s in the room. He’s standing at the desk where Logan put his belongings.
“Where on earth did you acquire a plasma rifle?” He turns around to look at his son.
“My...” How exactly does he describe Harkness? Has Logan ever actually dated anyone before? There was that brief thing with Chip, and his very sexual friendship with Freddie. He realizes he still hasn’t answered his dad. “My...sort of boyfriend. I say ‘sort of’ only because I’m not sure. I mean, I like him and I know he likes me and we’ve certainly seen each other enough times now...”
“You managed to find a boyfriend, huh? How did he get a plasma rifle?”
Logan sits down and tells him the story of Harkness and Zimmer.
“I ran into that old man,” James tells him. “He was trying to barge into the science lab. I’m stunned you got caught up in all that but at the same time I’m not surprised you wanted to help Harkness.”
“That’s not even the craziest thing. Well, actually, maybe it is. But a ton of other fucked up stuff has happened too.” He goes into detail about Super Duper Mart and Gob, Moira’s book, Grayditch and Bryan, Tenpenny Tower and Evergreen Mills.
“I never thought you shooting bbs at radroaches could ever lead to this. You’re more adept than people who’ve lived on the surface their entire lives.”
“I guess I had a strong motivating factor.”
James sits next to him and puts a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there alongside you.”
Now that Logan’s calmed down some since earlier, he can allow himself to believe his dad. “You’re going to be here from now on, right?”
“Yes. I swear. No more going at this alone.”
He rests his head against his dad. He missed him, he missed the comfort he’s always known how to provide Logan. “Since we’re not vault dwellers, where are you and Mom from really? What happened to your families? How were you able to crawl through DC and the memorial all alone?”
“Guess I have my own stories to tell, huh? From here on out, only the truth. I promise.”
Logan and his dad talk for hours and take the first steps towards repairing what’s happened between them.