Mira sighed softly and looked around again, making sure they were not being followed before continuing.
"The Master was a human once who believed they could help humanity survive the nuclear wastes by utilizing an old US military experiment."
"FEV." Adam said with a serious tone. Mira nodded.
"Mutated by the FEV himself he took upon himself to forcefully turn all humans into super mutants for the sake of better surviving the new world. He almost succeeded." She said darkly. "It was only thanks to a lone Vault Dweller infiltrating his compound along with the sacrifice of many people that we were able to stop his plans."
"And this is a guy these people are worshipping?!" Adam said with serious shock.
"You don't understand. He was a transhumanist. He promised visions of the future. Of change. And his methods worked… albeit even if it wasn't a choice for those who became super mutants. For some he did represent a sort of messiah. Even during that time he had a cult who worshipped him. We thought we wiped out all traces of his cult but in this world never say never."
"So these people believe in… what? That they can become super mutants too?" Mira shakes her head.
"No, or at least I don't think so. Based on what we saw and heard I think they are pursuing the same research that the FEV was designed for. To create superhumans able to survive nuclear war." She said with a tone that indicated dark omens. "If they wanted to become super mutants themselves they could have done it easily themselves already. That vat of FEV was more than enough to turn their entire cult into them. But there's no point in becoming a super mutant if you don't keep your mind. And that is incredibly rare. So I suppose they might be working to try to find a middle ground." Adam nodded slowly.
"And to that end they are kidnapping people and running experiments to find the middle ground."
"All supposition, of course." She sighed. "What is not supposition is that they are taking people against their will and conducting inhumane experiments." Adam sighed loudly.
"We have to stop them." He said with a resigned tone.
"Yes, if you plan to keep getting involved with the fate of Chicago and not just staying inside the Vault then they have to be stopped." Adam nodded.
"I mean I knew they were a cult but…" He said before he stopped and turned to Mira and then changed the topic to something else that had been bothering him for a while. "And what about you?"
"What about me?" She asked, almost accusatorially.
"When I saw you again, after the confessor took you looked-" Adam began before noticing the expression on Mira's face looking terrified again, her eyes wide and her entire movement stopped. "Mira?" Adam asked, softly.
"I'm fine I just…" She began before she hugged herself and then squatted down seemingly in momentary shock.
"Mira!" Adam said as he knelt down next to her hand on her shoulder.
"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine." She said almost as if she was trying to convince herself she was fine, not Adam. She said it like a mantra.
Adam gave her a few moments to recompose herself, feeling bad about asking something that was so sensitive. In retrospect it should have been obvious but he wanted to know what was on her mind.
"I'm fine… I promise." She said after a few moments to recompose herself. "Just… bad memories." Adam nodded slowly.
"You don't need to talk about it any more than you feel comfortable. I'm sorry for asking." Adam said as he slowly moved to stand up but was stopped by her putting her hand on his arm and gently holding on.
"No, I want to air it out.." She said softly. Adam was surprised but understanding, took a knee next to her again and looked on gently giving her the time to speak.
"When we split up I was with all the other women who were enamoured with the Confessor. He took all of us into a separate room attached to the auditorium. It was built like a shrine, though the details of the room are not important. Then we all knelt down to pray in silence. I was fine up until then however then he… Disrobed…" She said with a hand over her mouth. "It was… hard keeping my nerves together. I was terrified that he would…" She trailed off and then took a long deep breath, steeled herself again and then looked at Adam, ready to continue.
"He walked over to one of the women in the group… a woman next to me, actually and then pulled her robe off her too. She seemed happy to accept it but I was scared he would…" She said looking about to fall into panic again, Adam was swift to take her hands into his.
"Hey hey, deep breaths, relax, you are okay now. You are no longer in that room with him." Adam said slowly and reassuringly.
"It's not him…" She said quietly as she stared at the ground.Her eyes slowly drifted to look at Adam's again. "It's the other men… the raiders or… no… I'm not sure if I'm scared of men altogether now or…" Adam nodded slowly and then gently let go over his hands.
"I can give you distance if that would make you feel better." He said slowly and understandingly.
"No." She said quickly gripping onto his robe. "You don't scare me. I can't tell you why but you don't…" She then shook her head. "I'm fine, I promise." She said as she stood up again. Adam stood up with her.
"You sure? I am more than happy to hear you out." Adam offered softly. She turned and gave Adam a soft sad smile.
"You are a very sweet man, thank you. But no, I would rather focus on our task right now, this is me just being frivolous. If I want to panic I can do that in the comfort of the Vault. I want to get a move on instead." She said more resolutely again. Adam decided to honor her resolve and simply nodded.
"Alright, then lets move, we have more ground to cover to get back to Rae and the APC. Just know that I'm always here for you, if you need to talk. You are my friend too, Mira." She lets off a soft exhale.
"You know you really are so-" She started with a smile before cutting herself off and then simply started walking again. Adam walked with her, letting whatever she was going to say go unspoken. However, her expression turned serious.
"However I think it's only fair of me to tell you about a potential danger." She said seriously.
"What sort of Danger?" Adam said back.
"That liquid that came from the ceiling from the sprinklers? That was FEV. There's a possibility we are infected."