Diamond city was bustling and moving, trade followed in and out as the city made more and more caps. In recent years they had accepted a Minutemen Garrison in town, through they still had their own security force through it had diminished. A couple of old power armor suits were carrying supplies back and forth, T-45 armor painted with Minutemen colors meaning that they could be stored in the Minutemen armory. Mostly they were used for construction or hauling heavy objects, they hadn't really been upgraded at all.

Colonel Carter had just set up in the noodle stand, the robot their was still serving and the noodles as always were the best. He bought a bowl for the merc's that would listen, telling them about the mission they would get caps for the job of course or a place in the Minutemen. Nearby his Lieutenant, Sarah Wright was keeping a list of those who signed on and taking up a count of weapons. Currently the city Garrison was under his command, of course they couldn't come with him he'd only been given two extra hands. Sergeant George Wright was throwing a baseball around with some kids, the big guy was imposing and could probably throw a Mininuke clean over the wall and into the city but he had a good heart.

Ordering himself a bowl of noodles he eyed the townsfolk, over the past couple of days more and more had been heading south. Taking the route around the glowing sea and heading for other towns, many leaving to start up their. The young Colonel ordered himself some noodles and waited, a few more sign ups and they could get on the road. They had to find out what the hell the Enclave were up to.

Adamine stretched out on her back, her shoulder blades pressing uncomfortably into the biting metal grate that surrounded the old water tower, her rifle lay at her side as did Ghost who had his head tilted to watch the Wastelands below them, his tongue lolling both to help stave off the heat and to better catch the scents that blew in from the occasional gust. Sitting up Ada directs her gaze toward the ruins of the city where Diamond City nestled among the rubble, she'd told her people she was off scavenging for fuel and precious parts, it was a lie she used rather often. If it was any other Atom Cat that wanted to search the garbage for parts they wouldn't bat an eye, but it was her, the whole group had practically raised her, to say the least they had a concern for her safety, she just found it annoying, she was an adult, she didn't need babysitting.
Blowing out an irritated breath Adamine rises to her feet, pulls her hood over her eyes and lifts up her gun and slinging it over her shoulder she drops down into the dirt below, Ghost jumped down beside her and gave a huff as she moved toward Diamond City.
Moving cautiously through the streets Adamine relaxes once she passes the Diamond City Guard, Ghost tried to look friendly rather than the big bulky pit he was, he was really leggy for a pit, on the tall side, but what shocked Ada was the amount of sheer rock solid muscle the dog had, he was built like a tank. Moving through the gates Adamine elegantly walked toward the food stall which not only sat practically in the center of the city but also looked to serve noodles, she was in Diamond City to help the Minutemen deal with the Enclave, she didn't plan on returning to her dull mundane life building and fixing power armor.

"Diamond City, the green jewel of the Commonwealth. What a load of bullshit." A raspy voice said, its tone practically dripping with pure distain. The sour words belonged to that of a Ghoul who's expression seemed just as displeased as his statement, though with a Ghoul it is hard to read any expression on what is left of their face. The zombie resembling fellow was just making his way pass the main gate of the former baseball field and he was already getting dirty looks and timid side glances. Some that were a bit more obvious were from a group of rather bratty looking children, they couldn't of been more than ten years old. They were pointing at the Ghoul and snickering to each other as they whispered what could be nothing else but stupid racial jokes about Ghouls they over heard from their parents. The Ghoul noticed this as he passed the group which in response he stopped, faced the group, grew a blood curdling sneer, and let out a low growl that was as smooth as ground up glass. The group's childish giggling stopped and was replaced with the sounds of their feet pounding against the ground as they ran away. "Damn smoothskin brats." The Ghoul said with a shake of his head as he continued his stroll deeper into the city.

It wasn't too long ago that Ghouls were banned out right from entering Diamond City and would of been run off by an angry mob if not gunned down by the city guard altogether. Now here was not only a Ghoul strolling through the door, but a Glowing One no less, guess when people need their asses saved they will accept help from anyone. This and many other thoughts had crossed the glowing Ghoul's mind as he made his way into the market place of the city. His black eyes scanned over the faces that were scurrying about him before they settled on a group of people who were talking by the noodle stand. It was obvious by their gear that most of these guys were mercs and the guy in the center had to be the one recruiting, the guy the large Ghoul was looking for. Making his way through the crowd the Ghoul wasted no time to walk up to this Minuteman recruiter. "You this Colonel I'm suppose to find?" The radioactive walking corpse said in his dry voice. The Ghoul clearly wanted to get down to business as fast as possible, Rampage didn't do patience too well.

Colonel Carter slowly stood up, he spotted something he had only seen rarely, Atom Cats stood out like a sore thumb next to the average waster. He was just about to walk over to her when a ghoul appeared walked up to him, a glowing one if he wasn't mistaken, rare to find one who wasn't insane. "Yes, I'm Colonel Carter, I just need a name and..." He trailed off when he heard a noise, one that he was familiar with, a Vertibird. He reached for his laser musket as it paused in the air, he could just barely make it out against the sun but it bore no colors. "It's Enclave! Everyone inside their homes, now!" He dropped to a knee as the other two soldiers with him began to fire and crank.

They jumped from it, two people, wearing suits of power armor that looked much more like the T-51 or T-60 yet different, new alloys and sleeker design. They both carried Plasma rifle's aiming them at the Minutemen. "We are messengers from the Enclave, Diamond city has four days to surrender and subject all citizens to screening and testing. If it does not, we will march in force to seize and take the city." With that, they used jet packs to fly back up to the Vertibird. Most of the town, mumbling staring at the Minutemen, the mayor stared out from his spot in the bleachers. More than likely having pissed himself and planning to turn the town over then run back hoping for protection.

The Colonel walked over looking at the two old suits of power armor. "Sarah were gonna these bad boys up and running with some upgrades and reinforcement. As well as better armor for our people." He told the Lieutenant who began to take notes and began to figure out requisitions. "Ask that girl over their dressed like Atom Cat if she is one pay her double and get her to work on the armor." He patted the blonde shoulder, she nodded never speaking.

Moving to his Sergeant next his eyes flicked over to the armory. "George, we need explosives and heavy munitions, lasers and guns aren't going to cut it, that armor is going to be a bitch to get through. So we rattle them around and cause trauma in the suits. Start training the guards to use explosives, get them able to throw and ready missiles, then get on the horn let Elder Lyons and the General know what were doing. You and your sister are staying here while the Merc's and I scout Salem.

Turning back to the Ghoul the Minutemen extended his hand. "I don't need anything from you now, just a promise you'll fight and accompany and you'll get five hundred cap's on the spot. Two thousand if you survive the battle's and we drive them out." He said to the ghoul before him.

Carter smirked and looked around the town. "That's right, a Ghoul is the first person to leap to your defense Diamond city. The same people you once banned from here, maybe the Garrison should be protecting Goodneighbor instead they seemed much more grateful. Perhaps some donations to the cause to get our people better weapons and armor?" He smiled sure enough they were soon collecting up caps and passing them around, Sarah collecting the pot. "Thank you very kindly." He waved to them, quite a few began to mumble about the young Colonel and some women eyed the uniformed man.

His eyes went back to the Ghoul and he tossed him three hundred more caps. "That's for being the bravest son of bitch I've met all day and also scoring us some extra funds. You wanna buy anything or catch a meal over at the noodle stand your more then welcome to, anyone gives you trouble let know and I'll shoot them... Politely." Finished the Colonel before returning to his post by the stand. Tuning his Pipboy to radio Freedom he hummed softly along with the violin that played.

Alec was propped up high on one of the frames of Diamond City's walls, his back pressed against one metal beam and his feet on another to keep him from falling, and Maud in his lap. He'd been looking out over the wasteland for a bit but now he had drifted off, that was until the distinct sound of the minuteman's laser muskets picked up as a vertibird approached. The sound started Maud who pounced up onto a higher beam and woke Alec from his slumber. He watched the figures from on high as they jumped from the craft, though he couldn't hear what they were saying from up on his perch. When the two power armored soldiers returned to the vertibird he watched as it flew away for a moment before picking up his rifle from where it lay on a beam next to him and let himself slide down, Maud following by hopping down from beam to beam. He slipped the rifle onto his back when he finally made it to the ground and walked over to the Colonel, giving a nod at the ghoul that was next to him. "so the Enclave have sent someone already? Should I follow after that Vertibird, Colonel?" Maud found his way up onto Alec's shoulder as he awaited a response.

Carter hummed the tune 'Atom Bomb Baby' to himself fairly loudly as he walked towards the entrance to the great Diamond city. It had taken Carter quite a lot of caps and time to make it here but he was more than happy to give every cap he had just to get a chance at going toe to toe with the Enclave. The Ghoul now had a strong dislike for the Enclave for he believed that these men and women were simply husks of what the organization once was and he had now come to know that the original wasn't very good to begin with.

With a quick jerking motion, Carter drew his crossbow and loaded a shot just in time to see the Enclave vertibird fly off to which he shot a poorly aimed shot at. "Missed all the fun!" Carter exclaimed to himself through his helmet's speaker. He quickly rushed into town hoping that his suit and helmet wouldn't give up his Ghoulish nature to the local residents. As he ran into town he spotted the only person who looked relatively like what he thought a Minuteman would look like and quickly approached him. "Excuse me! Are you by chance the Colonel lad whom's rounding up fighters for hire?" the ghoul asked as he got within speaking distance of the man.

Adamine had rolled to cover when the vertibird had flown into sight, standing up and brushing herself off she went to talk to the colonel until she was approached by a blonde lady asking if she'd for extra pay of course would help repair and upgrade the power suits, with a deep sigh Adamine resigned back to the work she'd escaped from. "What ever I can do to help, do you have the necessary parts or do I need to go scavanging, unless you wanna pay the Atom Cats directly for hire in which I could use our supplies, but it could be rather expensive" crossing her arms behind her head she glanced around noting the various outsiders coming to help Diamond City and the Minutemen get rid of their Enclave suppresors.

Colonel Carter looked at Alec first. "No, but get yourself ready were going to go soon. My officers are going to stay here, wait for Brotherhood and Minutemen Reinforcements." He said sighing as he moved the strap on his gun. Looking to new arrival dressed in a radiation suit of some sort. He could understand why some folks did that it could get pretty toasted out their.

"Yes Colonel Jack Carter of the Minutemen from Vault 81 on loan to Diamond city." Jack said nodding to Carter. "You can all call me Jack or Colonel, we are going to be leaving pretty soon." With that he nodded his hat and walked over towards the Atom Cats girl he'd seen before.

She'd started work on the power armor it seemed. He crouched down beside her rolling up his sleeve's. "I'm rather good with machines and we've got plenty of salvage you can use in the armory. Caps if you need more specialty components, your an Atom Cat right?" He got out some of the steel they had scrapped. "I repaired a suit of T-60 before... 45 is a smaller version correct, T-51 is more survivable." He smiled. "If you can pilot, I've got a suit going spare on the trip, these bad boys are coming with us to Salem. Even let you use the Minigun in the armory." He told Adamine as he set to work upgrade the plates to higher class.

Adamine began by replacing demolished plates on the suits right leg when the colonel walked up and began to help, concentrating on her hands she takes a moment to respond "Yeah I'm an Atom Cat, my names Adamine and that's Ghost" she nodded to the white pit bull panting in the shade behind her, hearing his name he perks up his ears and gives a small huff that looks more like a laugh with his mouth wide open. "Also I can pilot but it's not much my style, I just repair these bad boys, I guess I'm kinda claustrophobic, I'd rather be on my feet with my rifle" she glanced at the gun that lay at her side before looking at the colonel then back to the power suit, she grabbed a few parts and after a moment had upgraded the fusion core to last a lot longer.

Well that was the easiest money Rampage had ever made and all he had to do was be at the right place at the right time. The scene that unfolded in front of him after he walked up to Colonel may have appeared like chaos to others, but to Rampage it was as expected as radiation in the Glowing Sea. Despite the big show the Enclave puts on they are creatures of habit, so a singular vertibird showing up out of no where with no backup had to be messengers. And his thought was right, two Enclave soldiers demanding the surrender of the city where in and out before any real trouble could start. Then the Colonel went on some sort of rallying call, even using Rampage as some sort of poster boy of tolerance. The Ghoul didn't like the idea of him being used to milk more money out of people, but he had to admit it was a good idea. Just like that he was handed a pretty hefty amount of caps and told that there were more where that came from as long as he survived the mission. "Hmm not the worst start of a job I ever had.." Rampage thought out loud as he looked over his newly obtained caps.

Alec nodded "Alright, I'll be by the entrance" He turned and made his way out, heading just outside the gate to the city. Maud jumped off of his shoulder and onto a table. Alec checked the cat's things, making sure the distress pulsar was tuned in case he needed it and of course checking on the small artifact kept under a small cloth. He pet Maud's head "it's probably time to take it again hmm". He reached over and grabbed two small vials from the strap and laid them on the table. He took one injected it into his arm, then he took the other and put a hand on Maud "Now hold still Maud, i know it can sting" other than squirming a bit Maud stayed good for his injection. "there, done" He pat the cat's head and sat down to wait for the others, Maud jumping into his lap.

The Colonel slowly stood. "Adamine your a welcome addition to the team, if can get both of these things in good shape we can use them to fight Enclave suits. Or at least not get destroyed by them."

He stood up looking back over the others. "I need an extra pilot, someone to work the spare suit of power armor." With that had climbed into they had already serviced checking all the systems. "You can hear the rest of the plan on the road." He stated as he started towards the gate.

Both the officers watched him go. George looked towards the one's still in town. "Watch his back and he'll watch yours, Colonels a good man, smart to. Just do the having lifting and let him do the talking, he's damn near evil with that charm of his." The gruff soldier responded as he moved a two Mini-nuke launcher out of the armory hefting them both with one hand. As he sat them down his sister walked over and tinkered with her laser pistol, they were Travis's best friends yet he had put enough faith in the people he'd hired to leave them behind.

The Colonel drew out bags of five hundred caps throwing them each the bags. "Here's your signing pay, theirs muskets and few other weapons in the armory. Ammo too, but pack light." He stated as he picked up a large medical bag. "Hopefully we won't need these." With that he shouldered his laser musket.

Carter inspected the remaining power armour with half curiosity and half greed. He had been taught to use the mighty power armour back in his Enclave days but never anything this old. He assumed it would be mostly the same as the X-01 series to pilot but he didn't know wether alerting the others to his armour training would be the best idea at this point. Carter didn't know how they would react to having an ex-Enclave in their midst and a ghoul no doubt. He decided he would keep his training close to his heart until or if it became nessacery to reveal. When the caps began being handed out, the Enclave deserter felt somewhat guilty for taking the caps as he would have been more then willing to give caps just to be in this fight but he figured that if they were going to pay him to do something he would have done anyway then there wasn't much use in arguing.

Adamine nodded to the Colonel and moved to finish the last suit, replacing damaged armor plates and wiring the fusion cell to last longer she dusted off her hands then wiped the grease on her pants, giving a shrill whistle to Ghost she picked up her rifle and moved toward the gate, there was no doubt in her mind that she was gonna go and help the Brotherhood of Steel and the Minutemen. Tossing her high caliber sniper rifle over her shoulder she approached the Colonel from the side
Excuse me Colonel, that last suit is finished, I upped the fusion power time, should last a little longer Ghost stood attentive beside her as she relayed the news about the power armor.

"Well were short a pilot so I guess I'll be the only one taking a suit. Anyone's welcome to it I know power armor training is pretty rare in the waste's." He said as picked up the Minigun sitting by the spare suit of armor. "As for the mission were to recon numbers, tech, and weapons. Also we should attempt to retrieve one of those suits of armor for the boys back home to work on." Colonel explained as he walked towards the gate, occasionally glancing up at thee sky. "If things go south we have a fall back in the museum of witchcraft. Use the radio to message the Brotherhood they will send in a Vertibird for pickup."

He took his helmet off lighting a cigarette, taking a long drag on it as they walked along. "So, how about we all give each our names, you all know me but I'd like to know the people I've hired on to this little expedition." He said as his eyes locked onto an old freeway up the road. He offered the pack of smokes around to the others. "Should be a little village we reach by night fall, we rest up their for the night we gear up do some recon then we try to steal armor and intel tomorrow night. Afterwords we go back to Diamond city, we hold it from the Enclave then I buy you all drink till livers fall out." He laughed pulling his helmet back on.

Jessica saw the large city in the distance, thinking nothing of the vertibird heading the opposite direction than the way she came from. "Um, lover?" Clover asked from behind her. Jessica spun and smirked, pulling out her chinese machine gun. Not far from them were a trio of radscorpions. Clover pulled out her combat shotgun as Jessica began firing. Once both radscorpions were down, Jessica took to removing their poison glands and some meat for both women to eat. "I wonder what Eulogy's doing." Clover said, finishing her scorpion meat. "I don't care." Jessica replied. "Let's go." She stood and dusted herself off before beginning to head to the city, Clover behind her in her pink dress. "I'm bored." Clover complained upon arriving at the gate. "Shut up!" Jessica spun, yelling loud. "Damn! I wouldn't have bought you if I'd know you were so annoying!" She sighed and collected herself before grabbing Clover's metal collar and pulling her into the town. She saw a small group of people, one of which was offering cigarettes, another of which was a ghoul, and approached with a frown. "Can you help me?" she asked, sighing. "I need a place to sell stuff and buy food." She pulled out a pack of cigarettes herself, lighting up. "I've had a long walk and I'm low on caps.

"Diamond city is that way." Answered the Colonel pausing at the strange new girl who had arrived. "You a slaver?" He asked looking to the girl that was traveling with her carefully. "Because the city doesn't allow slaver's or those who keep slaves." He said from inside the power armor. "Were just heading out, got an Enclave problem up by Salem. Though I'd recommend you'd lose the slave, the Minutemen and Brotherhood are the law up here. I'm supposed to shoot anyone taking slaves or keeping them." He finished looking at the girl.

Looking back at the others behind he rolled his eyes. "Come on then lets get going. I don't want those caps I paid you all going to waste." He said as the started to walk along again, hoping they could reach the campsite by nightfall or at least somewhere they could sleep in proper beds rather than ratty mattresses on the ground or worse the ground itself. He wished they had picked up some more merc's but what they had would have to due, at least they all seemed competent.

Jessica looked to Clover with a sigh. "Go wait back in that last town at the bar. Sell anything you think is useless. She passed her pack to the woman in the pink dress before pulling out her rifle and spinning it around, and taking aim at a tin can by the gate. She shot at it, hitting it on the third try. "Room for one more?" she smirked, sliding her rifle back to her back. "I got a beef with the enclave too." She took another drag from her cigarette as she went closer to the group. "And how much you paying?"

Adamine moved up behind the Colonel and slung her rifle over her shoulders and relaxed her arms over her gun, she raised an eyebrow at the slaver female then rolled her gun off her shoulders and brought the sniper rifle up to aim down the scope at a similair tin can by the gate, flashing a grin she took only a second to aim then shot the tin can through it's center, drawing back the bolt and kicking out the shell the Atom Cat rolls the rifle back up across her shoulder blades with a smirk and crosses her arms lazily over the gun "what can you offer the team that we don't already have?" she glanced side long at Carter hoping she wasn't over stepping any bounds.

Alec hadn't been paying much attention to what was going on, he'd been petting Maud the whole time. It wasn't until a gunshot rang out that he looked up, seeing Colonel Carter talking to a new girl, who was trying to show off her marksmanship. He stood up and made his way over to the other as Adamine came over to show up the other girl. He walked up behind Carter and peeked out from around his armored figure at the girl. He didn't say anything, he just waited for the colonel's decision on her joining so they could move out. Meanwhile Maud walked up next to the colonel's ankle and meowed.