I'd spent June of 2288 on what was increasingly feeling like a wild goose chase. First we'd gone to Cambridge looking for an MRI machine, but that had turned into a protracted expedition that looked like it was going to take Susan Cain and her team weeks before they got any results. Then I'd met the Brotherhood of Steel's leadership and hammered out what I hoped would be a framework for coexistence... maybe. I knew that this was an important accomplishment, but I still felt very ambivalent about cooperating with the Brotherhood. Part of me felt that I was only delaying an inevitable confrontation - and giving them time to grow stronger in the meanwhile.

 

After these first two escapades left me no closer to understanding my health condition, or to finding my son, I'd traveled to Diamond City to check in with Nick and Piper. Nick was out of town and Piper... had unexpectedly disappeared. I spent the rest of the month chasing her half way across the Commonwealth, only to discover that Mayor McDonough had been keeping her locked up in the Diamond City jail the whole time. I got Piper released, and I got some concessions from McDonough by way of apology, but again: no progress. It was only at the very end of the month that I finally got something to work with.

 

Brian Virgil was a scientist - a member of the Institute - who, for some reason, had chosen to flee from their hidden base. And if he knew a way out, surely he knew a way in. Unfortunately, it seemed that no one knew where Virgil had gone after his escape. Well, almost no one. Piper told me about a shadowy group called the Railroad. Supposedly, they had helped many Synths escape from the Institute. It was a long shot, but if anyone knew where an Institute escapee was hiding out, it would be them. Of course, that raised some challenges: I'd have to convince the Railroad to divulge this information to me, for one thing, and before that I'd have to find them.

 

Heather had already warned me about the dangers of approaching the Railroad. They lived and died by their secrecy - if they were exposed, the Institute would surely wipe them out. And consequently, they also killed for their secrecy. When I got back to Cambridge, Susan Cain offered a similar warning, albeit from a different perspective. While Heather was out of earshot, she explained that the Railroad had a shoot on sight policy for agents of the Institute; she also explained that if we showed up unannounced and unexpected, they would assume we were in league with the Institute.

 

 

"So are you saying that they're going to shoot me on sight, or that they probably already shot Virgil on sight and that's why no one can find him."

 

Cain led me down into the residential section of her camp while we talked. She'd gotten out of her power suit at some point, and I noticed that she'd gone back to wearing heels at some point. I also noticed, following a bit behind her, that she was still wearing the butt plug from her suit.

 

"Either or both," she explained. "I didn't know Virgil personally, but... well, you saw what happened to me when I ventured out in the the wasteland. Maybe we're a little naive about how things are out here, and he might have walked right into a trap if he sought them out."

 

"Hmm," I mumbled, thinking over what she was saying. "So is this whole thing a waste of time?"

 

Cain paused, then shook her head. "No, maybe not. The situation with the Railroad is... complicated. I don't know how much I can even really tell you without stepping out of bounds, but they're not maniacs. They're not raiders, either. They are, however, terribly misguided, deadly serious, and very dangerous. You need to approach them with caution."

 

"Sounds like Winter and I need to trade places on who's using the power suit."

 

"That's a good start," Cain agreed. "I'd tell you to bring that power armor of yours, but that might do more harm than good. Arousing panic by showing up in a walking tank is the last thing you want to do."

 

I chuckled at that. "Speaking of arousal, I see you kept one piece of your power suit on you."

 

 

Cain looked back to me, grinning. "You like it?"

 

"It does draw the eye to your cute rear end," I admitted.

 

"I'm glad. I imagine the high heels help, too - they do great things for the shape of my legs, I think."

 

"True," I agreed. "So is it just a fashion choice?"

 

Cain shrugged. "To tell you the truth, I've been spending a lot of time in the suit lately, and it just felt weird walking around unplugged. Like the sides of my asshole were rubbing together with each stride." Then she added, "it wasn't like I was incontinent or anything. But I've got accustomed to the feel of the plug, and so I've taken to wearing it when I'm not visiting the latrine. I hope that's not a violation of the dress code."

 

I thought about that for a second. I knew she was just teasing me, but it did raise a valid question... were embellishments like that something I'd allowed? I'd dissuaded the scavver back at BADTFL from wearing stockings in my territory; was this different?

 

"Honestly, I hadn't thought about I," I said. "I can see it both ways. If I open the door for one kind of ornament, does that just start us back on the slope to using clothing to denote privilege or separate people into groups?"

 

"Hmm, I was just joking, but you're not wrong. That said - and I know I'm biased by my own preferred outcome - but I think you maybe should start with a lenient posture and then tighten up if people abuse it. Maybe with your magic healing powers you'll just snap back to normal every time you get out of your suit, but Winter might feel differently if she keeps going the long haul in it. And in the future..." she trailed off.

 

Not long after, we reached the mess area and one of the Rangers helped Cain fill up a plate. "Come on," she said, "let's continue this talk over dinner. I'm sure you're hungry."

 

 

"I'm kind of curious what you were about to say when you dropped off in mid-sentence," I said.

 

Cain answered me while she started to slice up a cut of meat. "Well, I don't want to set any unreasonable expectations, but I'd like, some day, to actually make a real power suit. Not digging up mothballed units or stitching together scrap, but really making a new one - or a lot of new ones. I know it sounds like a tall order, but with the right resources and a lot of perseverance I think we can do it."

 

I had a feeling that this was one of Cain's 'come up with a big idea and don't worry about a realistic plan to get there' moments, but the idea interested me.

 

"What would you need to accomplish this? Other than perseverance, that is," I asked.

 

Cain started slow, but the tempo of her speech picked up as she got more excited. "The first thing we need is more samples - ideally, one that I can completely take apart. I know, I know, that's the toughest part. But if there was one sitting in someone's cellar, then there have to be other undamaged samples."

 

"It might have just been dumb luck that I found this one," I pointed out.

 

"Sure, but that's not the most likely example," Cain countered, "I think more likely there was some sort of trade between the Euros and the old U.S. military. Maybe official... maybe not. But if we can trace back the distribution channels, maybe we can find... something - a warehouse, a smuggler's stash, who knows."

 

"I wish Nick was here," I admitted, "this sounds like a job for him."

 

Cain nodded, "I do agree, he seems like the right Synth for the job. Hmmm." She held that last sound long enough for me to guess it was significant.

 

"Eureka moment, doc?" Piper asked. She and Winter had caught up with us, and they slid into the booth. I shifted over to Cain's side of the table and let them take the opposite.

 

Cain shrugged. "I don't know. Didn't you mention there was a deactivated Synth in the basement where you found the power suit? Maybe if we can figure out Kellogg's implant, we can use the same technique to read the Synth's memory."

 

"Anything's possible," was about the most I was willing to commit to, and the mention of Kellogg reminded me why I'd come here in the first place. "Speaking of that implant. I need to take it off your hands. If we find Virgil, I'm hoping he can help us with the implant."

 

"That makes sense," Cain said. "I'll fetch it for you before you leave."

 

"So what else do you need to make a new power suit?" I asked.

 

"I need Jake to make a lot of progress with the ASAM sensors. There are plans in the database for manufacturing systems, including some rather advanced military and robotics models. We'll need several different sets of machinery to fabricate all the parts, and then we'll also need another for assembly. But we can't build most of the manufacturing systems yet."

 

"I thought his bootleg control system got around the DRM?" Winter interjected.

 

"It did, sort of. But we're missing a lot of data on the manufacturing branch of the system. He has some ideas about how to recover it, but it'll be a process."

 

"Speaking in manufacturing parts," I said, remembering something just then, "I have something I want you to look at." I rummaged through my pack and pulled out the Tesla magazine we'd found at BADTFL.

 

"What's this?" Cain asked, looking down at the cover.

 

 

"It's an article about the European's space suits. It looks like they're based on the power suit technology, and," I opened the magazine and flipped forward to the part about Emilio Hartmann, "it sounds like the ESA was able to modify the biofeedback technology to work for someone like me."

 

"Interesting," Cain whispered as she skimmed through the article. "Well, not exactly like you. Hartmann was Stage 5. You're more like Stage 2, but I see how the technology might help. The problem is that unless you have an ESA data bank or Hartmann's unique suit, I don't know how we'd replicate this short of completely reinventing the wheel."

 

"Isn't that what you were just talking about with making more suits" Piper countered.

 

"Hmm, I suppose so. Alright, I'll add this feature to my plans. And in the meantime, if you find any crashed space ships, make sure you carefully investigate them."

 

"Wait, there's a crashed space ship?" said Heather as she joined us. "Where?"

 

"Sorry Heather," Winter said, "we haven't found one yet. And I think we need to let Susan finish her dinner. Let's the rest of us figure out our plan for finding the Railroad."

 

"Ugh, I was hoping she'd talked you out of it," Heather admitted. "I still think poking around in the Railroad's business is a bad idea."

 

"I appreciate that," I said, "but it's our only lead. I'm going to take the power suit back from Winter for the extra protection. I wish I could drag Susan with us too, but she needs to keep working here."

 

Winter frowned at that. "I hope you're not planning on leaving me behind."

 

My face settled a bit as I thought on that. "It might not be a bad idea," I said. "In fact, I'm thinking of just taking Heather."

 

Almost as one, everyone clearly and loudly told me that was a terrible idea.

 

"Charley, you need my investigative skills," said Piper.

 

"Charley, you need me in case the suit breaks down," said Winter.

 

"And you need me for my knowledge of the ruins," Heather said.

 

"So we're all coming," Winter finished.

 

I groaned. "The whole point of me taking the suit from you is to be protected in case the Railroad get trigger happy. I don't have spare suits for the rest of you."

 

"We can take care of ourselves," Winter plowed on, crossing her arms defiantly.

 

 

"Fine," I relented, sighing, "all three of you are coming, I guess."

 

They all responded with some form of pointed affirmation.

 

"I think the next question is where we start," I said, trying to get back on topic. "The Freedom Trail ran from Boston Common in an arc through town and ended at Bunker Hill. Do we start from the North or the South?"

 

Heather chewed on that a bit before answering, "the Common isn't safe, and if you're going northeast from there you'll be going into some of the more dangerous parts of the city. I think starting in Bunker Hill sounds like a good idea. We'll start looking in a relatively safe part of the ruins, and we can fall back and use Bunker Hill as a base if we need to regroup or if we just need a place to rest."

 

"Winter, Piper, what do you think?"

 

Piper chewed her lip a bit, before saying, "I wish I could say if we started on the south end we could use Diamond City as a base, but I don't like the idea of having Swan's Pond at our backs, especially if something bad happened. I'm with Heather on Bunker Hill."

 

I couldn't see Winter's face behind the power suit's mask but she seemed to be mulling something over in her head. At length she asked, "what about Cabot House?"

 

"Fuck, I forgot about that," Heather whispered. "We never did go see him."

 

"There's parts of the Freedom Trail north of the Charles," I said, "I don't know if Cabot House would make a great alternative to Bunker Hill... not right away at least. Unless you're thinking the Railroad is definitely on the south side of the river?"

 

"No, that's not what I meant. The ghoul we met at Bunker Hill said that Jack Cabot could open doors for us if we got into his good graces. Do you think that he could help us make introductions with the Railroad? Maybe avoid the whole 'shoot first, ask questions later' business?"

 

Piper looked a little confused, asking, "hold on, what's going on with Jack Cabot?"

 

 

"We met a ghoul in Bunker Hill," I explained. "If I'm remembering right, he said his name was Edward Deegan."

 

Heather nodded in confirmation.

 

"Anyway, Deegan said he works for Jack Cabot, and that his boss wants to meet me. He invited me to come down and talk to him at Cabot House."

 

"Fuck, Charley, then you need to go to Cabot House. Like, yesterday. Nobody gets invited to Cabot House, and they definitely don't say no when they are."

 

I thought on that for a while, then said, "north side it is, then. We'll head out to Bunker Hill in the morning, then we'll work our way down to Cabot House and then see where that goes. Does that sound about right?"

 

The three of them all quickly agreed. 

 

"Then let's get some sleep, we've got a long hike once the sun's up."

 

Before we set about sleeping, however, we got Winter out of the power suit. Between me and Piper we got that accomplished fairly quickly, and then we hauled Winter over to the nearest bed for some play. We got Winter on her hands and knees, and while I slid the strap-on into her waiting ass - still gaping a bit from the suit's butt plug - Piper held her head steady while she received a thorough licking.

 

 

We kept this up for a while, but after the fourth time my strap on slipped out of Winter's distended anus, I decided to try something else instead. 

 

"Piper," I said, "while our lovely wife cleans off my strap-on, why don't you get out of your suit. I think we need something large to fill Winter up."

 

I made sure Winter had her mouth well filled before she could protest, and Piper quickly peeled out of her vault suit without any questions. Once she was undressed, I told her, "alright, while Winter finishes giving this cock a thorough cleaning, I want you to put your hand in her ass."

 

Piper seemed a little hesitant. "Really?" she said.

 

"Trust me, after wearing that huge butt plug as long as she has, you'll have no problem."

 

"Isn't it going to make a mess?" she pressed.

 

I shrugged, pulling the strap-on half way out of Winter's lips to examine it. "Probably," I admitted, "but if she can clean up our toys, I'm sure she can give you a tongue bath too if she needs to."

 

Apparently that was all the reassurance Piper needed, because she settled in behind Winter and started gently probing her rear.

 

 

Winter shuddered and I slowly started working my strap-on loose from her suddenly very tight lips. The last thing I wanted was for my wife to bite off the end of our long-serving toy, after all. It didn't take Piper long to get four of her fingers in, and with a bit of back and forth movement she slowly worked past the resistance and I saw her suddenly disappear up to her wrist in Winter's rear.

 

I took that as my sign to fully withdraw the strap-on, and I looked Winter in the eyes while I asked, "do you like that, my love?"

 

Winter seemed stunned for just a moment before mouthing a silent yes. 

 

"Do you want Piper to go deeper?" 

 

Winter nodded.

 

In the end, Piper didn't go too much deeper, maybe just a couple more inches. Once she got up to the top of Winter's rectum she had some trouble finding her way up into the sigmoid colon, and none of us wanted to force things. Still, from Winter's sighs and the smile on her face, she was enjoying the in-and-out motion. Heather was also enjoying our play quite a bit, peering with undisguised fascination from a chair a few feet away.

 

"Do you want to try this too, Heather?" I asked. The engagement caused her to jerk her hand away from her crotch, where she'd been rubbing herself with increasing urgency as she watched us play.

 

"I... I don't think I could handle it," she admitted.

 

I grinned at that. "Plenty of time to practice," I promised. "But for now, you just watch and enjoy."

 

Piper kept her thrusting up for a while, and I wished I was better positioned to help out. I concluded that next time we decide on doing fisting, the bottom needs to be on her back so one of us can give her some oral attention... or sit on her face and demand it for ourselves. Still, I'm pretty confident Winter had fun, so I count the night's play as a win. 

 

Gradually the tempo of the action slowed down, and eventually Piper started working her wrist back out of Winter's ass. Based on the muffled gasps from behind me, I think Heather came right at the moment Piper's hand finally came all the way out. I'm not going to lie - it was indeed pretty messy. Another lesson learned was that a thorough enema needed to precede this sort of play.

 

Winter flopped down on the mattress, looking like she was about to pass out, but Piper walked around to her front and held her messy fingers under our mutual wife's nose. "Clean-up time, Winter," she whispered.

 

"mmmm, mmmmm," Winter weakly denied, shaking her head.

 

"I'm just pulling your leg," Piper admitted, "but you do need a wash. Let's the two of us clean up before we get some sleep."

 

After the two of them had wandered off in the direction of the showers, I walked over to where Heather was sitting. She rose before I could tell her to stay seated, and I thought I could see a little tension in her posture.

 

 

"Did you have fun?" I asked.

 

Here eye's flicked away from mine for a moment, before she returned to my gaze. "Yeah, I did. Thanks, Charley, thanks for... thanks for..."

 

"For letting you watch?"

 

"Well, yeah," she conceded, "but what I really mean is, thanks for including me. Thanks for not keeping me on the outside. I know I'm working for you, I'm not part of your family, but you always make me feel like I belong with you. I appreciate it."

 

"You're welcome," I said. "I'm glad we hired you - you're fun to have around and you know your stuff. And we had some fun when you played with me and Winter back at County Crossing... do you want us to include you more often?"

 

Heather seemed to give that a good thinking-over before she said, "maybe every now and then, but I think mostly I just like to watch. But... do you have some more of those dirty magazines you can read when we're trying to go to bed? The night we, ah, fucked... it was that story you read us that got me really heated up."

 

"OK, I think we can accommodate you on that," I said. "But for tonight, I'm ready to get some sleep. Let's bed down and then maybe we can do some bedtime reading tomorrow."

 

That sleep ended up more fleeting than I'd expected; when I laid down on the mattress I took a quick look at my Pip-Boy and discovered that it was already almost 3 in the morning. Clearly, Winter's hungry ass had eaten up more than just Piper's wrist - it had eaten up a good part of the night. I still managed to get about six hours of sleep, and when I awoke, I found Winter appraising me eagerly.

 

"I hope you're looking forward to having your asshole stretched," Winter said, "because it's time for you to suit up, and I owe you some payback for last night."

 

And it was some rough payback indeed. Winter didn't waste any time fully inserting the rectal connector into my ass, and even with a light coating of lubricant my anus protested at how quickly it was asked to stretch. The rest of the connectors all went in with similar vigor, and I have to admit I was feeling a little winded by the time it was all hooked up.

 

"Hah," I gasped, "someone's feeling a little rough this morning."

 

"Just getting you warmed up," she said, maybe a little too quickly.

 

"Uh oh, what are you up to?" I asked. Then I turned to Piper and repeated, "what's she up to?"

 

"Ready to join the 800 ml club?" Winter asked.

 

I was very much not sure that I was ready to join that club, but I was pretty sure that nothing I said was going to change her mind. And yes, I understand that this isn't a healthy way to handle consent in a relationship. What can I say? We're not perfect. In any event, I'm pretty sure Winter was expecting me to try and talk her out of it, maybe even to struggle, and I decided to do the opposite. I stretched out, drew my legs back, and tried to take up a posture that would give my bladder the most room to expand.

 

 

"Is 800 all you've got?" I asked, playfully. 

 

"Oh, so that's how you're going to play it?" Winter asked, faux-affront in her voice. "Hey Heather, you better drink that coffee fast. I'm going to need more piss pronto."

 

I heard Heather in the distance complain, "it's too hot, give me a few minutes."

 

I didn't have much time to contemplate on that since Winter wasted no time connecting the collection bag to my suit. She made like she was going to go with the more gentle gravity method at first, but well before the pressure had equalized she started to squeeze down on the bag, accelerating the filling process considerably. Before long, I was squirming and groaning, and I felt a cramping pain in my abdomen.

 

"Ow, too fast, too fast!" I said. To give credit where credit's due, Winter slowed down, but she didn't completely stop.

 

"Getting a little full in there, honey?" she asked. "We're not even at the 725 you put in me back at the brewery. Better loosen up, because you've got a ways further to go."

 

I don't know how I did it, but I somehow survived Winter's attentions and formally joined the 800 ml club at 9:32 AM on July 1st, 2288. I know this because Piper was keeping time. I knew at least that the worst was behind me now - with this much volume in my bladder, the suit would start draining it back to its maintenance level almost immediately. To distract myself until then, I waddled over to where Heather was nursing her coffee.

 

 

"You don't need to rush that," I told her. "I can't hold another drop."

 

Behind me, Winter added, "don't listen to her Heather, her suit's already draining her. We can top her off again in no time."

 

"You two are extremely weird," Heather observed. She took an experimental sip at her mug before sighing happily. "Finally. If you'll excuse me, I need some caffeine."

 

"Hmm," Winter mused. "Piper, I don't know if we've put enough in Charley's ass yet. How much coffee's left in the pot? Maybe we should help her wake up with a nice coffee enema."

 

"Jesus Christ," I swore, "get your mind out of my ass for a second and finish getting ready to leave. I want to get to Bunker Hill before nightfall."