Adam arrived in the room he was brought to and found a space almost more luxurious than the 1000 caps per night hotel he visited in Midway. It was all one room, the spaces separated by silk tapestries strung up on the ceiling. The bed was a king plus sized bed with a red silk canopy and there was a gold plated bathtub large enough for him and Pearl to use at the same time without it being uncomfortable off to the side. Not that he would, of course. Everything in the space screamed luxury and while it was a little overwhelming the bed looked incredibly inviting.
Adam wasted no time and disrobed and headed right for bed. He was far more exhausted than he had thought but as soon as his head hit the pillow he was out like a light.
The next morning came when the light filtered in through the window and gently licked Adam's face on the satin sheets. He had slept hard, but well. So as he began his morning, taking a nice bath in the oversized tub, he thought through his next steps.
Eventually he emerged from his luxurious room and was met with a sultry grin from Madam Aquamarine as she lounged on a nearby couch.
"Sleep well?" She asked with a soft and silken tone.
"I did, thank you." Adam said with a polite nod.
"Wonderful~." She sat up. "I have already sent word to fulfill your request to me, I assume you will be on your way so I suppose all I can say now is, don't die. It would be a shame to let such a handsome face perish." She smiled dangerously while her words remained dripping with honey. Adam chuckled.
"I will do my best, Madam." He then looked around. "Where, might I ask, is my companion, Pearl?"
"Do not worry, your friend is by your car outside, waiting for you. I made sure no one touched your vehicle while you slept, in fact I stationed extra guards outside to ensure it remained undamaged." Adam nodded gratefully at her again.
"Thank you for everything." Adam said before he turned to leave.
"I hope to see you again soon, Adam~." She finished with a sultry tone as Adam left the room and headed for his APC.
On his way he stopped by a food stall selling sandwiches and bought two for himself along with a bottle of water. 24 caps total. It would be his breakfast for the day, he wanted to get moving immediately.
Once outside, like Madam Aquamarine said, Pearl was waiting by the APC, and furthermore there were 6 guards outside keeping an eye on things.
"You taking off?" One of the guards said to Adam as he walked over to his car, opening the back up for Pearl.
"Yeah, I have a few more destinations to go before I prepare for the fight ahead." The guard nodded.
"I'll be seeing you there, I ain't a hunter in name only. Killing ferals? That I can do." He grinned. Perhaps Adam should stop referring to these men as guards, they all called themselves hunters, so perhaps that was the more accurate term? Regardless, Adam smiled back.
"Glad to know I'll have some reliable folks at my back."
"Safe travels, and happy hunting."
Adam then hopped back into the APC and hit the road; he had more places he wanted to get to before he would return to the Vault to meet with the others.
His trip this time took a while, not because it was far, though it was certainly not just down the road. But Adam had never been to this place before, the paths were unknown to him and the roads themselves were clearly not maintained with a military APC in mind. He had to double back and reroute multiple times. However Adam realized that he could just leave the door to the back area open and be able to talk with Pearl from the front. It did require a bit of shouting but it was better than sitting in silence, or with just the radio on. Besides in all this madness he had hardly shared conversations with her, and he felt it only right to chat.
"Hey Pearl, how you doing back there?" He asked after they were driving for a little while.
"Pearl is doing okay, Pearl likes watching out tiny windows as things go by fast." She said, turning around now to look towards Adam instead of out the port windows. Adam chuckled.
"How are you holding up? I mean it was only yesterday that you were still at the Federal Ration Stockpile as a prisoner. Things are moving very fast even for me, I'd imagine it can't be very easy for you either." Adam guessed.
"Pearl does not understand what human is doing, but Pearl understands this is important to human and that is good enough for Pearl."
"Adam." Adam added at the end. "My name. It's Adam."
"Pearl Understands. This is important to Adam." She said again. Adam nodded, even though she wouldn't be able to see him nodding from her angle.
"I just don't want you to think I'm not thinking of your needs or wishes, I know I'm dragging you all over the place but this just sort of fell on my lap. I promise when this is over things will be more normal." He chuckled.
"What is normal?" Pearl asked. Adam paused.
"I… don't really know." He laughed softly again. "But it won't always be like this. And if you are planning on sticking around with us then I will help you fit in and ensure you get whatever you need."
"Pearl does not need much. But Pearl like fluffy bed, much better than hard ground."
"Well I'll certainly make sure you can sleep on a nice big bed. I might need to get one from outside since I doubt the Vault has any bed big enough for you, but I promise I will put that on my todo list.
"Pearl does not mind ground sleeping. Pearl is happy to simply be needed." Adam smiled warmly, though again she couldn't have seen it.
"Well I promise I will always need your help, Pearl. And who knows, give it some time, you may find some goals for yourself too! I've heard of super mutants who became poets, you have endless possibilities before you."
"Why does Adam try to do all this, what is Adam's goals?" Pearl asked. The question itself pulled out a far more introspective line of thought out of Adam than he expected. He remained silent for a few moments while he processed.
"I am just… trying to carve a place out for myself in this world, make a home I feel happy with, and if I can help others along the way all the better." Adam said after a bit.
"Pearl remembers home. Pearl remembers it was warm place." She said back.
"Pearl, what do you remember? From before you became a super mutant I mean." Adam asked, curious.
"Pearl remembers… being shorter, having little human in hands…" She put her arms out as if she was cradling a baby. "Pearl remembers home and being with humans. But Pearl not remember much else. Pearl's head fuzzy. Pearl no like fuzzy head." Adam nodded.
"That's fine, you don't need to try to think of it anymore. I was just curious."
"Pearl wonders…" She continued, disregarding Adam's comment. "What Pearl was like before she was super mutant… was Pearl ever not super mutant? Pearl not know." She then seemed to trail off into a bit of introspection herself and Adam let the conversation stop there. He didn't want to push her. But now he was curious if all super mutants had some memories of being human or if Pearl was unique. Unique just like him… in fact many of his group were unique.
Salvatore the pre-war ghoul mercenary, Deccanus possibly the last surviving member of a long dead empire, Eve a fully sentient Assaultron, Rae a partially sentient Robobrain, and now Pearl, a super mutant that remembers part of her past life. And then of course there was Adam, the clone of a pre-war soldier. What an eclectic group. The only 'normal ones' were Buddy and the construction robot who were nothing more than simple protectrons.
Adam let the silence ride for a little while longer as he slowly turned on the radio station and continued his drive to his next destination.