Stiffly, Leith nodded and continued, "It was built specifically against the safety codes and requirements. At first, there were only mundane issues. A food dispenser would break, but we had a couple of mechanics who could fix it; it wasn't that much of a problem, and we'd expected it to happen eventually. We ignored it. But then, there were greater issues. Medical equipment would just cease to function. There would be cracks in the ceiling. Then, after a couple of years, there were...the air vents didn't work. Radiation began to seep in. There were leaks. The ceiling collapsed in certain areas. The reactors would malfunction, they would explode. People would be caught in it, and would die. More radiation. No power. We had to depend on the light of flashlights, candles, and our Pip-Boys. Our Pip-Boys were our lifelines because they were the only things that didn't break."

Kaye felt tears brimming her eyes as she listened to the the story in silence. She hadn't expected something so intentionally despicable. For awhile she couldn't find her voice and settled with leaning over until her head rested on his shoulder before hugging him gently.
"I'm so sorry, Leith..."

Leith barely heard or felt her, instead forcing himself to continue, "Eventually, there came the time that the current overseer--we'd gone through so many at that point--proposed that we just leave. We were trapped down there, after all, and we'd die eventually if we didn't at least try to escape. That was when she showed us the vault's secret. Five...five G.E.C.K.s; she explained to us what it stood for--Garden of Eden Creation Kit, and that they were supposed to terraform and purify even the most highly irradiated territories. We'd needed a miracle. Despite the lies and deceit, we latched onto it. And we left. We opened the door after suffering down there for ten years."
He bit what remained of his lip. "Our baby girl didn't make it, though. Once the radiation leaks began, it didn't take long. She was...she was six, when she passed away."

Kaye gripped his shirt tightly in her fists while continuing to hug him, wringing the fabric of his shirt in her hands. Although she was sad about the news of his daughter, the word "G.E.C.K." kept ringing in her ears like church bells on a Sunday morning. Five G.E.C.K.'s. There had been five of them in Leith's vault and yet it still didn't manage to save them at all. It didn't save his family or Leith's sanity and it made her feel even more depressed.
"If there were so many G.E.C.K.'s, then why didn't they work?" She finally released her hold on him when she realized what she was doing and held her head up to stare at him. "Were they purposely broken, too?"

Leith nodded. "We started with just one, considering that we initially thought that'd be enough to save our area. We decided to preserve the other four, so that we could take them elsewhere to work their scientific magic." He tapped his fingers against his knees, but then stopped when he picked up the story again. "We had seven scientists left; the vault had many bright minds in there, I suppose for this purpose. I wasn't one of them, mind you. At that point, all that I cared about was Christina. Anyhow, we weren't prepared, to say the least. It'd only been a decade since the bombs fell, after all, so if you think radiation is bad today...you've got no idea, sweetheart. Half-life works wonders, when given the time to do it."

Kaye fell silent for a long time. She was hesitant to ask the next question, for she didn't want to upset him or act as if it was the only thing she cared about...because it wasn't. She would give her life for Leith if she had to, but perhaps with this information they could save even more people than each other.
"Leith...where are the other G.E.C.K.'s?" She finally lifted her head and released her hold on him.

Leith clenched his fists, and said, "They won't work, Kaye. They weren't designed like the others, not like the one that was used for Project Purity because, you know what, that one was actually designed to save people, not to deliberately malfunction and kill hundreds of people!" He abruptly stood up, barely refraining from hitting the wall; instead, he settled to place his fist against it, glaring at the ground as if it was his mortal enemy. He pressed his face into his other hand, teeth gritted as he managed, albeit muffled, "We tried so hard, for so many damn years. And that's what they gave us. If I wasn't certain that every one of those damn Vault-Tec scientists was already dead at this point, I'd hunt them down myself."

Kaye winced slightly at Leith's sudden spike of anger. When he stood up, she did so as well and a little too quickly. Without realizing where she was, she hit her head on the corner of a windowsill that had been screwed shut long ago.
"Oww!" She yelled, clenching her head with in the palm of her hands. She let out a stream of curses before kicking the wall that was the source of her misery. "Damn thing. Couldn't you have picked a more comfortable place to sit?"

Leith looked down at her, and sighed. "I'm sorry. I was...looking for someplace private. Are you okay?" He knelt down by her.

With a moment's hesitation, she slowly released her hold on her head when Leith tried to look at it. As she did so, a thought suddenly popped into her mind and she widened her eyes in surprise at her moment of brilliance. "Leith...I just came up with a bloody brilliant idea, and I'm not talking about the blood spewing from the back of my head." She looked over at him, grinning brightly. "The G.E.C.K.'s may not be functional right now, but I know how we could get them to work." She whipped around and grabbed hold of his shoulder's, shaking him a little in excitement. "That Brotherhood woman...she can help us. They know how to get the things working or she wouldn't have been on a mission to get one in the first place!"

Leith stared at her in shock, but then slowly shook his head. "No, Kaye, that's just the concussion telling you bad things. We're not getting help from the Brotherhood." After making sure that she was just exaggerating her injury, he straightened up once again. "All they do is horde the technology that they find--they don't actually use it to help anybody. It's just their philosophy. Humans aren't to be trusted with science, and they see it as their duty to hide it from us."

Kaye felt taken aback when he refused her plan and shot it to pieces like he would a yao guai. She fell silent for a moment, staring over at him. "They must be using them for something. They have bunkers hidden all throughout the wasteland and I bet they are attempting to make a new one as we speak. Meaning, they must have scientists who know what they are doing with the G.E.C.K.'s. If we can just somehow get one of them to look at it and show us what they're doing with it..." She sighed and started pacing the length of the small alleyway. "We would only need to take one and hide the rest, so they wouldn't take them all away from us."

Leith shook his head and replied, "Kaye, that's just not how the Brotherhood operates. More often than not, you have to be born into their ranks; it's rare that they accept an outsider. Otherwise, you're nothing more than a dumb civilian to them. You heard how that Brotherhood woman spoke to us. Like we were savages. Plus, to them, I really am an 'abomination,' being a ghoul--just a reminder of how humanity went wrong two centuries ago and why they need to hide technology from the world even more diligently."

Kaye sighed heavily and threw her hands up in defeat. "Then do you have any suggestions? If you know where some are, then you can't honestly just expect to hide them away from the world when there is the slightest off chance that there is hope it can help everyone, Leith. That's just selfish!" She crossed her arms.

Leith was rendered speechless, but then sighed and responded, "You're right, Kaye, but..." He leaned against the wall, folding his arms over his chest. "Before everything died off, excluding me, of course, those scientists had gone through about five years' worth of research. After the first G.E.C.K. failed, they tore the second apart and attempted to reverse-engineer its...properties or technology, whatever it is that it'd be considered. Through this, they were able to develop medicine and the sort. It extended our expiration dates for a while longer, but it was nothing monumental. But there should still be three left, unless they were hiding stuff from us, too. If we go back there, we may be able to find that old research and use it. Basil is smart. Perhaps he'd understand what they were doing or trying to do, at least. Then, if we're fortunate, then we won't have to depend on finding these things anymore because we can just make more. We can make enough for the entire wasteland or...look, it's a long-shot, I know, but I've heard crazier ideas before."

"That's even crazier than my idea," Kaye said, staring at him wide-eyed. She fell into a short silence before a large grin crossed her features. "But you know I'm crazy, anyways, so I'm in!" Without warning, she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a tight hug. "So does this mean you want to stay with Basil and Jace and become allies?"

Leith winced when Kaye grabbed him so fiercely into a hug, but embraced her back, albeit awkwardly. "We still don't know if Jace and Basil even want to be allies. But for this plan to work, Basil is definitely our best bet. We'll just have to see what he thinks of it--hell, it may not even be possible."

"This is exactly what they were out looking for. Of course they would agree to this." Kaye pulled back and looked up at Leith, still smiling. "At least Basil may agree to it. Even Jace might be eager to as well, considering how he almost got us all killed by that Brotherhood chick." She fell silent for a moment, pondering on another thought. "I think we should only give them one, though, at least to start with. Just in case they decide to take it all for themselves and disappear with it one day."

Leith was quiet, but then asked, "So we lie and claim that there's only one left?"

"Well when you say it like that it sounds bad," Kaye said, crossing her arms over her chest. "We're not lying. Just being cautious. Like you said earlier, you don't know if you can trust them. But tell me something...why the sudden change in heart? Why are you so willing to risk this for them when not even an hour ago you were convinced one of them was a psychopath?"