@Lord Coake@Letter Bee

There was no doubt in her mind that things had gone to shit, At least they're not communists

Katherine stood by her latest victim, examining the tool of war that had just nearly turned her into another nameless wasteland pool of gore. Her heavy breathing gave way to a more intuitive approach regarding this new armor. It didn't resemble what she had fought and bled alongside in Alaska, at least.. did it? Her mind was still confused but one thing was for certain, this was definitely a dangerous piece of machinery. What was she to do now, faced with mindless monsters that roamed the wastes, violent humans that cared for nothing but either these "caps" or blood and now she is fighting the very weapon that was meant to save her life...

Kat detached her own armor chest piece and gently placed it upon the ground. Her clothing below was a simple olive green tank top that allowed and outside air straight to her skin. It was uncomfortable to say the least as the gently howling wind from between the buildings cooled down the entire upper half of her body. She focused through it and began twisting the power core from the back of her armor piece. When it finally detached her hands became engulfed in intense heat from the air that escaped the cores resting place. That armor had blackened the bottom of the core and with the urge of pain, she sent that junk flying behind her. She shook her hands and winced in pain, only realizing that it could've been so much worse had she not been wearing gloves but now they were too hot to wear. It was painful either way, leaving the burning gloves on or pulling the gloves off not only slowly blistered her hands but the movement of fabric scraped across the slowly reddening skin. Well, she chose the latter and eventually the pain subsided.

She stood up and made her way to confront the power armor once more, the back plating to be exact. She stood there for a few seconds, staring at the power core sitting calmly inside. There wasn't much thought to this next action as she pulled a small blade from her boot and cut a small bit of fabric from her right pant leg. Enough to wrap around her hand and act as a buffer from the heat of this new core. "figures" she said as the core did not release a torrent of heat but rather a gentle one.

Kat's next actions were quick, adding the new core back to her armor and then fastening it to her body once more and even gave her then cooled glove another chance. She looked about the dead bodies for any viable outfit but there was nothing that caught her eye. Even in this new land full of sorrow and confusion, she still wanted to be -somewhat- fashionable. Perhaps her own desire for things to go back to how it was before the world changed.

All of this occurred to the symphony of death in the background. Her vigilant mind had been processing the gunfire in the near distance, trying to examine it... wrap her mind around the true scale. Then the screams came, forcing her into a combat pose once more. This was a strange moment for anyone, most would not stand there for a moment and contemplate the fact they were alone and then walk into a battle she had no chance of winning.

Sure... why not.

As she approached the battle all she could see, hear and even smell was death. Just general feel of people losing their lives filled the air. It was sickening for most but her training had shielded her mind from this horrible attack upon her senses. These were merely casualties at this point as she waded through debris and bodies of fallen victims. Her gun was quickly rose her already prepared rifle up, checking the area through the sights of that Gauss rifle that had saved her countless times now. This was a confusing yet relieving sight to her, power armors resembling the one she had just wrecked fighting others in a organized fashion. This was her calling, organized warfare. It was even better when she heard that sound she had long loved, the wafting engines of a vertibirds' entry to the area. It was even better when it fired its payload towards the nearest enemy which... shit.. was near her position. It was if time slowed as she locked her vision on the white trails that followed the rockets towards her. Her instinct was to watch as a bewildered human but her training sent her diving once more to avoid the rockets red glare. so to speak.

Her dive was a little late as the explosion sent her into a wall. As she came to, her vision was still blurred from the shell shock she was experiencing. Kat began looking around to find friendly soldiers, to check on her comrades.. going so far as to call some of their names. "Harrison!" she shouted, then "Rook! We still have a fight to win-" Her weakened state was fighting her training once more and it attempted bring focus. Sadly the pain that surged through her body had taken control and she found herself on her knees still in a daze.

"Damn damn damn!" she shouted, slamming her fist into the ground with what little energy she had. This new pain from her hand nearly cancelled the other which immediately caused her to regret doing so. This time there was no shell shock, no reverting senses to her orderly life before it was nuked into oblivion. Kat eyes shot wide open before her brow quickly furrowed. She snarled as she reached for her Gauss rifle and then brought it to bear once more. There was no telling who was on what side but she knew for certain that those pricks in power armor reminiscent of that one from before were going to pay. Her focus tunneled on a soldier that was trying his hardest to find cover. She didn't even know if there was armor on him or not. All she saw was a body, a victim for her weapon and it became even more dangerous when she attached a hand band with strange gadgetry over the eyes into place. The vision was clear now, bodies were lit up from its powerful sensors. With this new ability, she calculated rapidly the distance from her to the nearest soldier.

It's almost as if they locked eyes for a moment as the flash from the rifle sent a projectile right between the soldiers eyes. The explosion of this man's skull caused a smirk to cross her dry, cracked lips. Her rifle aimed again towards a lone soldier with what looked like a scoped laser rifle. That fellow was wiring widly into the lines of the other soldiers, the ones that didn't resemble the gunner who had nearly killed her not so long ago. His head was another testament to the still potent weapons of the past. She even tracked parts of the gore that had landed upon a nearby soldiers shoulder. That soldier turned to see what had happened but before he could wrap his mind around it, his upper arm and shoulder seemingly disintegrated which sent his forearm flying away.

"Damn, missed." She said, wiping sweat from her forehead.

It didn't matter though, the guy slumped over cold.

This had happened all so fast that she did have one chance to fire a shot at the vertibirds spacer directly below the blades of its left engine propeller blades. With the speed of her projectile and the reasonable distance between her rifle and the now landed vertibird, she had a highly successful chance of hitting and disabling the aircraft before it could take off again. Luck was always a factor but she would never know if it worked until she pulled a trigger.

The momentary sound of shattering glass filled her ears as she depressed the trigger, sending one of the most powerful slugs in the wasteland towards its target.

((Collab Post between shadowsaint007, Vulkan, and Letter Bee))

"You do realize," said Par to Dr. Jose Barre, "that now that I know about this secret tunnel, that the base's security has been compromised? Best to just kill me and be done with it." The 19-year old, back in his beloved old clothes - the glasses/shades were unecessary now - was questioning the Enclave Scientist.

"I could and I should," was the reply. "But I'm smart enough to realize we're in a Catch-22; kill all Muties and there won't be enough of us to make a New America, do not kill all Muties and our New America won't resemble the old one at all." A sigh. "Look, just go before I change my mind."

But Par had already left.

Loping out of the tunnel, the boy rubbed his neck again, reveling in the joy of not being collared. Now armed with a laser pistol, he still made sure that he would not be detected by giant rats, radroaches, or any other unsavory denizens of the tunnel.

Locating a rubble pile that led to a hole large enough to let him through, Par climbed up to see the light of a new day...and a Brotherhood ground transport heading towards him!

Gabriel was riding on top of the APC as it rolled along, the terrain speeding by. Dogmeat had shown some distinct dislike of being inside a giant metal can along with several men in powered armor, and Gabriel wasn't much for it either. So they got the scenic view, sitting on top of the carrier, strapping themselves down with belts, and holding on. It wasn't bad at all, really; even the Wastelands had its charm.

Suddenly, Dogmeat perked up, and started barking at something in the distance. Gabriel picked up his new rifle, and stared down the scope in the direction Dogmeat was barking. To his surprise, he saw Par in the scope, and even more surprisingly dressed since last time. He put down his rifle and banged on the roof of the APC a few times to catch the driver's attention to stop. Once the APC came to a stop, he jumped down from the roof with Dogmeat in his hands.

"Well, I'll be," he joked to Par as the latter came closer. "Here we were, ready to pull your fat outta the Enclave fire, and you had to ruin it by breaking free. And you got your pants back. How the blazes did you manage that?"

A smile, before Par followed up with:

"It wasn't entirely me. There was a doctor who hated the fact that he had to 'prepare' me to be the Colonel's toy by restoring my eyesight, shaving me, and giving me my shots like a pet. Said doctor also wanted to get back to exterminating Muties instead of enslaving them, but that's not important. What's important is that he showed me a secret tunnel that we can use to get under the Enclave Base, as well as gave me...this." He showed Gabe the holotape, before turning towards the Brotherhood Knights, who were staring at him suspiciously through their visors.

"But I have a suspicion that it's just family drama, so I'll shut up and lead you guys to the secret tunnel now."

"Smart move," Gabriel said, looking over the tape. "We'll look this over when we have the time..."

And he moved to lead Gabe and the Brotherhood Knights down to the secret tunnel; the Knights did have to widen the hole Par crawled through, though...

------

Back at the Enclave Base

Dr. Jose Barre watched Par go free with renewed confidence, and sighed. If the boy had been 'genetically pure', he would have led the Enclave to new heights. But now was not the time to muse on what-might-have-been. Rather, time to get back to his duties.

He turned back to the tunnel entrance, then opened the door back to the Enclave Base, then...

Only to be hit in the chest by a power armoured fist, knocking him into a wall. Before he could see his attacker, he felt the fist grab his throat and lift him against the wall. Behind the fist, the corner of Alex's mouth twitched, as if he was about to smile.

"You let a prisoner go, Doctor. You know what the penalty for that is."

Dr. Jose Barre wheezed, as if about to say something. Finally, words managed to escape his throat:

"You...have...a fetish for grabbing people by the throats, you know that?" Yes, he knew what Alex had done to Par before the latter's escape.

------

Alan, having returned to the Enclave Base after the fall of Old Man's Corner, headed for his apartments right away, a small cloud of suspcion gathering in his head as he drew closer to the building. On impulse, he, still in his power armor, put on his helmet before opening the door -

- And heard a loud explosion that glowed green with light, blasting down his apartments and blowing the colonel back, blasting the bright purple plates of his armor out of his body, exposing the wiring and insulation below. However, he was still alive, and he knew who did it.

As Alex strangled Dr. Jose Barre, both Enclave members' comlinks suddenly turned on...to hear Alan's roar of rage.

"BARRE!" was the shout.

Alex spoke into his comlink on the spot. "I've got him here sir. The bastard tricked me into leaving under pretense of a medical examination and set our prisoner free. Might I assume that he was the cause of the explosion earlier?"

"Good work, Corporal Romiel," Alan was still angry. "You two! Come to the command centre at once!"

Alex dropped the doctor on the floor and pointed a 10mm pistol at his head. "You heard him, get the hell up."

It didnt work.

Dr. Barre smugly rubbed the dirt of his lab coat, and walked with Alex to the command centre, where Alan, having sent out a call for his 'Hedonists' to come to his side immidiately, was still in his damaged power armor, his blue eyes glinting with anger.

"Barre, explain yourself," he said deeply.

"You and I both know that if I wanted to kill you, I would have done it with poison," the doctor said smugly, causing the 'Hedonists' to turn their guns on him.

"Of course I do," Alan said. "I'm not blind, if you wanted to kill me, I'll be dead by now. I'm talking about you letting my Naked Slave go free."

"Please, he was obviously using his position as your prisoner to instill doubts in otherwise loyal personnel, and I don't mean me, I've never been loyal to you." He then looked at Alex.

"Do tell your commander how you almost went violent on his precious pet, because a mere mutie 'cannot understand your ideals'." That last part was mocking.

"I apologise for that, sir." Said Alex without a shred of remorse in his voice. "I made sure not to leave any damage whatsoever beyond his fear of me."

Then suddenly, gunshots can be heard from below...Brotherhood Ordnance.

"Roniel, Barre, redeem yourselves in my eyes," said Alan, "take my 'Hedonists'," he gestured to the squad around him, "and finish off the interlopers - except for my Naked Slave if he's among them." A gaze at Barre.

"You and I both know how we can harm each other." Then a look at both the doctor and Alex again.

"Now go!"

Alex nodded, his eyes boring into Alan's. "Yes sir." He gestured to the squad. "Follow me." He said, as he stalked out of the room, unslinging his sniper rifle from his shoulder as he moved towards the Brotherhood.

------

Par didn't like returning to the place where he had spent time as Alan's 'Naked Slave'. But that was a fairly minor thing, as he began guiding Gabe and the Brotherhood squad to the estimated direction of Alan's quarters, which were hopefully not far from the room where Par had been kept captive during his time at the base. However, once the group got to the quarters, they found a smoldering ruin reduced to green goop, including the beds, drawers, anything of importance. Cries and wails can also be heard from a set of nearby rooms.

"Those would be the former raiders Alan turned into his harem," Par said. "On the one hand, they were raiders. On the other hand, what Alan subjected them to was wrong." The 19-year old clenched his fists.

Gabriel felt sick. While he detested raiders and slavers, this sort of treatment was beyond the pale. This could have counted as ironic treatment, if it weren't for the fact that the Enclave was proving as bad if not worse than the raiders, mostly because the former were strictly small time in their plans.

"So what should we do?" he replied. "Get the prisoners out with the rest? Where would we put them all?"

"Of course we're getting them out!" said Par. "I saw some of the Enclave's own transports in the lobby; they were blurry hazes because my eyesight hadn't been repaired yet, and if I'm right and the Enclave has resorted to assassinating its own leader, things might be chaotic enough to allow us to get there."

"Good enough," Gabriel said, cocking his rifle. "I think you better take a few of these armored gentlemen to cover your escape and get the hostages out as well. I'll cover your backs. Hope you know what you're doing."

With that, Gabriel cocked his rifle and quickly made it to a vantage point, where he could snipe the Enclave troops more effectively.

Par, meanwhile, directed one of the Brotherhood Knights escorting him to use a Radio Jammer to disable the collars on the former raiders' necks, before beginning the beeline for the Enclave's ground transports at the former Airport Lobby, putting himslef in the front of a wedge...

Alex stepped out of the door, his rifle in hand as he looked over the lobby, watching the brotherhood knights get closer. Near them, was the former prisoner.

Good. Two birds, one stone.

He raised his rifle and fired a shot, catching one of the knights in the neck and burning most of his throat to ash in an instant. Before the knight even hit the ground, he turned slightly, and fired another shot in the direction of Par.

Gabriel heard the shots, turned around, dropped, and took aim, firing right between the legs of a Paladin and straight at Alex' head. He winced as the recoil kicked like an enraged mule.

Alex pulled his head to the side, feeling the heat of the shot pass just by his helmet. He unclipped a greande from his belt and spoke into his comlink. "Targets are a mixture of pre war power armor and other haphazard protection. Pulse and Plasma grenades are recommended." As he said so, he tossed another plasma grenade out the window, and waited for the inevitable explosion.

By that time, however, the Paladins had gotten wise to the attack and had spread out to take cover, returning fire at the windows and tossing a few grenades of their own back in. Gabriel, meanwhile, took a better vantage point, and made it a sport of de-braining any Enclave troopers trying to rush in to help. Each shot caused his shoulder to hurt like a bastard, but the longer he kept this up, the more time he could buy for his teammates to finish up the rescue. He just hoped Par got the hostages to safety, nabbing a few Vertibirds on the way.

"With me!" shouted Par to two Brotherhood Paladins and the former raiders, some of whom, though still naked, had picked up several pistols and rifles from the fallen Enclave and Brotherhood personnel. They moved faster than ever, throwing a wall of fire at any Enclave robot or soldier who were unlucky enough to confront them, and scavenging more arms that way. Par smiled; he can detect the disarray among the enemy a mile away - Alan's actions, and from what he can guess, Barre's, were lowering the group's morale.

They made their way to the airfield as Gabriel and Romiel continued their sniper duel, and Par saw them: The Vertibirds.

"Prepare to -" he said, before he saw Alan's power-armored form leaping in an arc from a nearby observation deck, and landing in front of the group. The naked former raiders instinctively shrank away in fear, but Par and the Brotherhood Paladins pointed their guns at the man, who was evidently in a new, plain-colored, suit of Hellfire Armor.

"Uh, uh, ah, Naked Slave," Alan was tut-tutting, "you are not leaving here, not alive, anyway. That said, though, you have impressed me."

"So here's an offer. Submit to DNA Testing, prove yourself pure to us, and you can be part of," he gestured with his right hand while his left drew a pistol, "all of this. Perhaps, if Corporal Roniel fails me again, you can take his position; I was attached to him for reasons not entirely related to his merit, but it seemed that he had too much of his murderous mother in him." The words were in a silken, familiar tone that implied many things, but most of all an intimate closeness to the subject matter.

"Barre said that Alex was concieved when his parents were 15 or 16, and that you've been doing this since you were training, which was around that time," was all Par can say. "You've gone deeper than I would have done in pursuit of pleasure. And yes, that's an indirect no."

"What a shame," said Alan, who, instead of shooting, bullrushed Par's position, wading theough a wall of fire in order to slam against one of the Paladins, crunching the latter's Power Armor to uselessness, before getting shot by Par again, which didn't stop him one bit, even as the former raiders began trying to blast him to bits. The other Paladin drew a knife, and stabbed at Alan, who merely parried with his gun and headbutted the man so hard, the helmet caved in, crushing his head.

That left just Par, the former raiders who had nowhere to go, and Alan himself...

Alex moved away from the grenades, feeling a blast of heat on his back as they detonated behind him. He looked outside for a moment, and stopped.
"I dont have time for cannon fodder." He said, as he moved down the stairs, speaking into his comlink.
"Sir, what is your location? Enemy reinforcements have arrived and they are looking for you!"

By this point the raid was going rather roughly. The Paladins had made a good show of combat, but they were slowly being overwhelmed by increasing reinforcements. The team leader hit the comm button.

"Rodriguez, Matthews, we're being overrun out here! What's your status?!"

"We've hacked the terminals, sir," came the reply. "Not much data, but certainly got some useful stuff here. It'll serve as good intel."

"Richardson, how's the little gift coming along?!"

"We've been a bit preoccupied, so it's not entirely complete. We still managed to set up quite a few demolitions charges; won't do as much damage as we'd hoped, but we can certainly give them one hell of a repair bill."

"Good, cause we're leaving this party. Take any injured with you and head for the evacuation point. We need to get out."

The Paladin leader turned to his team.

"Fall back! We're ditching this joint. And someone call off the sniper. We're heading for the Vertibirds, hopefully Par made it there."

"Roger, sir!"

The Paladin found Gabriel lining up another shot, and waited till he fired it off, forcing an Enclave trooper to dive for cover.

"Captain says we need to leave," she said. "We got what we came for, and if we don't move it, we'll get overrun."

"Sounds like a plan," Gabriel said, grabbing the rifle and making a break for it, following the Paladin out. "So where to?"

"The Vertibirds," she replied. "Maybe we can grab a couple to take the prisoners out of here. The APC won't be enough."

Dogmeat kept close behind Gabriel, running to keep up with his pace.

((Collab Post between shadowsaint007, Vulkan, and Letter Bee))

"I'm in the hangar, Corporal!" shouted Alan, "and where are Barre and my 'Hedonists'; don't tell me you lost them on the way!"

Alex looked up as the colonel spoke to him, "They are gone, sir. The hedonists are all KIA, except maybe one, and Barre has run away. Probably planning to defect. Im heading for you now."

Pausing only to slash the throat of the last hedonist, he stalked from the room, a rare smile etched into his face.

"Bullshit, Corporal! Barre hates me, but he hates muties only a little less!" Alan said as he began firing at the oncoming Gabe and the Brotherhood forces...while getting shot at himself. "Just come here!"

And with that, his hand armor got blasted off by a lucky shot from one of his former prisoners, giving an opening to Dogmeat...

The dog needed no encouragement to attack. With a snarl, he dodged around Alan's gunfire, and leapt at the open spot in the armor, sinking she sharp teeth in. With the ferocity granted by survival in the wasteland and the hunting instincts of milennia, he hung on stubbornly, snarling as he twisted and gnawed, trying to open up as many blood vessels and tear up as many muscles and ligaments as he could. The taste of blood only heightened his intent, and he bit down on another bit of exposed flesh.

Gabriel took the chance to aim, taking care not to hit Dogmeat. His priority was knocking the gun out of Alan's hand, though with the rifle he was carrying, it would also reduce the hand to a pink mist - an outcome that didn't bother him any.

"Take him down!" ordered the Paladin captain. "Just... don't hit the dog, I guess."

A couple more heavy rounds to the kneecaps forced Alan down, allowing for a couple rounds in the back. Sufficiently satisfied, the Paladins got the hostages to rush to the Vertibirds, while some of the remaining Paladins returned to the hidden APC. Gabriel had to practically pry Dogmeat off Alan's carcass.

"Quick, to the Vertibirds!" cried out the Brother-Captain. "Grab a couple and get the hostages and wounded out! We'll meet you back at base! Now move!"

Gabriel moved to head to the APC, Dogmeat following close behind. He jumped into the now-roomy hull, since the wounded were to be transferred by air. He held Dogmeat in his lap, scratching the pleased dog behind its ears.

"Good boy, Dogmeat," he crooned. "I owe you a big treat when we head back..."

Soon, the stolen Vertibirds had made their escape, with the APC making dust trails behind it as it made its way into the Wasteland and back to the Brotherhood Citadel.

And Par left with them, saying:

"If I'm right, we're going to be facing a new Enclave leader soon..."

___________________________

Alan groaned; the attack had done a number on him, but he was not out yet. If he could just get some medical attention, and quickly...

In his dazed vision, he sees an Enclave powered armor trooper, and reaches out for help.

"Get me... to... a medical station..." he groans.

Alex walked up to the prone body of the colonel, knelt down, and inspected him. His injuries were serious, but not life threatening. If he got him to a medical station, he would be fine. Slowly, he put a hand to his comlink, slowly pulling it off his helmet.

"Medical station..." he spoke, looking into the colonels eyes

"...there are no survivors.." as he said that, he crushed the comlink in his power armored fit, slowly dropping the remains on the colonel's face.

"Heh...heh...heh. So it ends. Sic Semper Tyrannis, right?" Alan then looked at Alex.

"What will you do? Take over? There's still a last sizable remnant at Vault 81, but your morality probably won't allow you to side with them. Ideals...the Mutie, Naked Slave, no...Par, you're wrong about him; he does understand. And both of you are deluded."

"No truth but power, no ideal but pleasure..." a chuckle.

Alex looked at him, the smile gone from his face, replaced by a stare as cold as ice. Almost a minute passed, then he spoke.

"You know what sir?" he said, the back of his armour opening up and him stepping out.

"You might be right. Right now, i am watching you bleed out on the floor, no one to help you, betrayed by one of your best soldiers, watching everything you strived for being laid to ruin, just because you couldnt resist one more sex slave."

"And as i watch you, i have never felt more powerful."

He reached down, taking a combat knife from the floor.

"And what i do next...i will take great pleasure in it."

He pressed the edge of his knife to the colonels throat.

"Now die, you degenerate piece of shit."

"I made your mother scream at 15 -" Alan said before the knife sunk in and blood spurted out from the wound on his throat, splashing Alex with red, before finally, the Colonel's legendary endurance gave out, and he finally died.

"And so ends the Colonel's reign; I killed his puppet President and freed the fellow Enclave members he neural-chipped, just to be sure," a voice said behind him - Jose Barre, accompanied by two Power Armored Soldiers.

Alex turned around, the blood dripping him his face making him look like some sort of demon.

"Im surprised you are still alive. Going to try and kill me now? Murdering the colonel? I doubt it. You have been a turncoat from the beginning. I cant blame you though. After all, so was i, at least from a certain point of view. A shame you killed the president though. I was planning on doing that myself. I suppose two out of three isnt bad though."

"From the beginning?!" Jose Barre's chest and cheeks puffed out, and it was clear that he was going to suppress a laugh. "I only became a turncoat after Alan took over; that's when I knew that our last chance was gone. After all, if you haven't noticed, we only number a few hundred people now; kill all the muties and we won't have enough to build a new America. Leave the Muties alone...and we'll still not have it."

He then turned to Alex.

"I am gathering all remaining Enclave forces for a last stand at Vault 81; we'll die there, but we'll have died without compromising our beliefs." More Enclave forces, as well as civilians, were streaming in."

"You are welcome to join us."

Alex looked at him, then at the corpse of Alan, then Barre again.

"You know what doctor?"

He smiled, slowly climbing back into his power armour.

"Hiding in a vault, like a coward? I dont really fancy it. Im going to do what you are too frightened to do, and kill as many of them as possible. Im not going to just hide behind a door and wait for the brotherhood to come to me. You are welcome to die in that place though."

He turned around, and paused.

"One out of three it is then. I think i would rather you die cowering behind a vault door rather than at my hand."

"Factual error, Alex Anderson!" Jose Barre said as a last barb before he too would leave. "Vault 81 has been refurbished with an aboveground fortress since we got there; do your research!" And with that, his bodyguards with him, he went to the Vertibird, which would take off.

The doctor didn't need to be so nasty, but Alex's own points had stung.

Alex walked away, but stopped as Barre dropped a single word that was presumably intended to shock him.

"...ive known that for years, doctor. I figured it out a long time ago."

Vor Shinse, now in Old Man's Corner, was behind cover for the second time in less than a week, but at least now she wasn't hauling around as much junk as she had been last time. She'd fortunately had the time and the caps to mod out her laser pistol the way she'd wanted and had even stocked up on ammo, armor and supplies, leaving her with a few hundred caps to her name, but at that moment it was worth it. Moving from cover to cover she needed all the ammunition and protection she could find.

As she hurtled through the open rear doorway of a crumbling clothing store, she skidded to a dead stop. Facing away from her was a fully armored Enclave soldier wearing X-01 power armor and wielding a minigun, surveying the battlefield and letting out occasional bursts of fire at fleeing targets. By some miracle, they hadn't heard Vor Shinse as she ran into the building, her footsteps likely drowned out by the minigun fire. The soldier seemed heavily dug in to their position, shielded by armor and brick with several ammunition boxes behind them should they need to reload.
Vor Shinse began to back out slowly until she noticed the contents of one of the nearby crates. Two fusion cores. And beside it, what looked like a small box of fragmentation greandes. Looking around the store, Vor Shinse took stock of her surroundings. Whatever it had sold before the war had long since been looted, but it seemed like it had been outfitted as a sort of trading emporium. Scattered around her were hairbrushes, circuit boards, brooms and, to her excitement, duct tape.

Hugging the wall, Vor Shinse first made her way to the roll of tape, placing it in one of the pouches on her waist before moving slowly towards the grenades. She made sure to move when the soldier fired and to stay directly behind them, out of their line of sight until she reached the crates. The first thing she grabbed was three frag grenades, pocketing two and holding on to the other. Next she pocketed the two fusion cores before finally taking the duct tape and wrapping it partially in tape, leaving two pieces ready to be stuck to a surface while holding the grenade in place.
Rising slowly, Vor Shinse found herself at face height with the fusion core in the back of the soldiers X-01 power armor. Gently and carefully, she stuck the grenade to the soldiers back, the grenade covering the yellow fusion core, before pulling the pin. And that was when her luck ran out.

She didn't know what had alerted the Enclave soldier, either the sound of the pin being pulled, the force needed to pull it or if she's simply been caught in the soldiers peripheral vision, but the spun around to face her at that moment, knocking her back with the minigun. Vor Shinse was scrambling to her feet and running for the doorway just as the minigun began to cycle, preparing to fire. The doorway was less than ten feet away, but at that moment nothing could have been farther away. Sprinting through the door, the first bullets began to erupt from the gun, slamming into the wall beside her as she immediately dove to her right, behind a wall. A moment later, there was an earth-shattering explosion, sending brick and concrete flying around her. The grenade had detonated, and with it, the fusion core.
Laying on the ground, panting, Vor Shinse felt a slight queasiness as well as a light tingling all over her body. Radiation. Reflexively she shot up to her feet, pushing through the shock and relying on her adrenaline to help her move, she carried herself to the nearby shell of a car, far enough for the sensation to cease, before leaning against the vehicle to catch her breath and composure.

Keeping an eye out for any possible opponents, Vor Shinse hurriedly took the grenades and fusion cores from her pouches, duct taping a grenade to each core and pocketing them once more. Grenades on their own would do much to power armor, but a detonated fusion core? Now she stood a chance.

Quinn didn't like it. He was sobbing, leaning against a crate as he quietly mourns. He hiccups, sniffles, just like the day he got kicked off the science team. Unable to feel, unable to withstand his emotional walls...crushing him in the inside. The amount of care he held for Vault 43 was higher than he had expected, his emotional levels were going too high for him. His cat simply rubbed against his hip, as if it was trying to say that it was okay. It wasn't-...really. He couldn't fix that robot, not at this time. He needed to collect himself, just to let things out but...obviously, that would take time. So. Quinn devised a plan...instructions. Slowly getting back up from the ground, dusting off his bottom he exhaled deeply and whipped the tears off his face. Still sniffling, he manages to write down the instructions with a cursive print, and also an apology and promising that he'd come back soon enough.

He crumpled the note, letting him self-stay in a crying state.

(Edited)

@Combo move

Nathan swore loudly as the Gauss Rifle round grazed the left engine of his Vertibird, leaving a large gash in the metal. He would probably be able to get the craft back in the air, but only for a short journey, after which it would need some serious fixing. He called out over the Enclave's Radio frequency for the battle "Somebody get that bastard with the Gauss Rifle, now!", to which a pair of Enclave soldiers rushed off to follow through on. Once his cargo was fully unloaded, Nathan started up the engines, which made a rough sound of metal-on-metal in the left one. "Dragonfly 3-5, taking off now. Making immediate exit to nearest safe zone for emergency battlefield repairs." He called onto the radio as he took off slowly, taking far longer than normal to leave the area due to the damaged engine.

Nathan and the other Enclave would suddenly get an order over their comlinks, telling them that Colonel Alan Anderson had been assassinated and that the Enclave were abandoning Enclave Base One and were going to make their last stand on the aboveground fortress built on top of Vault 81; Nathan would remember said 'fortress' as a few circles of reinforced cement and metal, along with walls of rubble. the Vault itself still held the important medical and storage facilities.

Of course, he had the option of refusing to follow said orders and just staying there, but that may not be the best idea.

Katherine, meanwhile, would find the enemy abandoning their positions and fleeing for their Veribirds, abandoning their robots behind in order to buy time. She would also see, among the 'friendlies' in grey Power Armor, one of those Ghouls, clad in a priest's robes, and a scavenger, with bright blonde hair, green eyes, a scar running down her forearm, and wearing a thick suit and boots. They had clearly evidently taken part in the recent battle; perhaps she should ask them what that was all about?

Vor and David, meanwhile, would have other concerns in their head, namely the masses of slaves, many of them still wearing new collars provided by the Enclave, now coming out of the blockhouses and pens, not knowing if they were going to be free or not...

@Lord Coake, @Hjalti, @Combo Move

@Letter Bee

Nathan heard the order to retreat to Vault 81, and knew immediatly that it would mean the death of everyone in the Enclave. Instead, he set his Vertibird down behind a large factory, and proceeded to rip out the homing beacon, fry it with his laser rifle, and switch off his radio. "I love my country, but at least I know when a tactical retreat is in order." He mumbled as he spat at the charred metal, moving to begin scraping off the Enclave symbol from his Vertibird and Combat Armor, and tearing the patches off his fatigues. With any luck, he may be able to find some sort of settlement where he could hide away for a while. Hell, even the Brotherhood of Steel sounded good at this point....

---

David witnessed not only the retreat of the Enclave, but also the rush of former slaves, captured by both the former Raiders, and the Enclave themselves. He turned to the others in the Brotherhood's party and said "We should do our best to free them. No one deserves to live like this." He would then holster his weapon, and set about looking for ways to remove the collars.

The Enclave were actually pulling back. Vor Shinse had hoped someone would beat them into a retreat, but she never believed she'd be there when it happened! Vertibirds were collecting the troops that they could and fleeing the area and she found herself slightly perturbed that she hadn't managed to collect any discarded Enclave tech or armor... Until she noticed the slaves.

"Govno!" she cursed under her breath. That was just what she needed. From what she'd been told the Enclave had enslaved both slaves and slavers alike, making it impossible for her to tell who was originally a slave and who had been dealing in human lives. Personally, she would have put a bullet in the head of every slaver there, but how could she identify them? Ask?
And to make matters worse, they were all wearing slave collars. Vor Shinse knew a little about tech, she could install mods, repair some gear and hack basic and slightly more difficult terminals, but disarming explosive collars was beyond her. So now she was stuck with a bunch of panicked slaves, strapped with explosives, not to mention former slavers whose greed-

Wait.

Vor Shinse smiled. "LISTEN UP!" she yelled to the group forming before her. "I want Enclave tech! Armor, guns, ammunition, clothes, whatever you can find! Whatever you bring me gets split 50/50! You bring me two sets of Enclave power armor, you keep the other set, you hear me? I don't care what you do with it! Sell it, kill your former masters, it's up to you! The Brotherhood can remove your collars, but I'm offering you caps and payback!"

Mentally, Vor Shinse was grinning ear-to-ear. Every slave with a score to settle would likely be looking for a gun now and every former slaver would be not only looking for easy caps, but a way to protect themselves from their former slaves. Vor Shinse stifled a laugh. It was punishment with a twist, something they had a word for back in the Old World. What did they call it...?

Oh yeah. Darwinism.

Sky Citadel

The two former Enclave Vertibirds, as well as the Brotherhood APC, returned to an estatic Sky Citadel; whoops of victory greeting them, as the normally dour and stern Brotherhood blared the sounds of drums and trumpets through sophisticated sound systems. Only just yesterday, the enemy was about to surround them in a ring of iron and steel from which there can be no escape, but now, now, the Brotherhood was victorious.

And it was an outsider who was responsible for it.

Paradise 'Par' Rapids was the hero of the hour, having suborned one of the Enclave's officials into letting him free and revealing the existence of the secret tunnel, a secret tunnel that allowed the mission originally sent to rescue him to deal a deathblow to the Enclave's ranks by compromising their main base. Having proven his capacity for self-sacrifice by handing himself over to the Enclave's leader, he had turned humiliation and imprisonment to his own advantage, emerging unscathed.

Gabriel, too, would have received a hero's welcome, as he and Dogmeat had rendered Alan handless, but Par can detect something in their eyes, a discontent with the current situation. And so, as the Brotherhood began their victory feast, Par briefly conversed with him, saying:

"You're leaving, right?"

Gabe nodded, and said:

"Par, I'm glad you're safe as much as the next person, but I don't want war, I don't want to spend my life fighting. I want to be a healer, damnit, I want to help people."

"Besides, you can handle this on your own, can't you?"

"That I can..." Par's eyes, now able to see on their own without the help of shades, teared up. "I'll still be sad, though. Because I like you, I like you a lot."

"I thought you had a stick up your ass at first," was all the blond can answer, "but, well, you gave yourself up for us; I won't forget it."

"You're the most handsome person I met," Par told him upfront. "That's why I acted so badly when we first met; because I was jealous that you seemed to have a girlfriend."

"You mean Jenni?!" shouted a surprised Gabe, "you should know by now that we're just friends!"

"Yeah, realized that later on," Par said. "Anyway, goodbye?"

"Goodbye," Gabe said, as he made to slink away from Sky Citadel, Dogmeat in tow.

------

On Old Man's Corner, chaos reigned as the slaves and former slavers warred with one another once again to bring Enclave Salvage to Vor Shinse, although they were careful not to bring any bloodshed close to her face. In the meantime, Vor herself would notice Katherine nearby; perhaps she should greet her, if only to ask if she were ally or enemy?

David, meanwhile, might find himself wondering; what to do with this fertile land, for despite the blood and human misery, former Central Park was still fertile.

Then he (as well as the people of Sky Citadel), would then receive two new messages:

- One, that Liberty Island had been abandoned by the Enclave, who were so hasty, they didn't have time to blow up the slave collars of the people there, and instead fled so fast and so completely, the civilians had been able to destroy the radio transmitter controlling their collars.

- Two, that most of the remaining Enclave forces were gathering for a final stand at Vault 81, in Brooklyn. Elder Mavarek had already decided that they have to be purged as soon as possible; all available forces, including the Construction Droid, was to be deployed to a final offensive.

Quinn, as the messages reached him along with the noise of partying, would have to get back to work soon; the lasers and mortar had to be calibrated for battle, and the crane itself, it might (or might not) occur to him, might be of use grasping power armored opponents...

@Simple Unicycle, @EvilEdd1984, @Trevor1001, @Lord Coake, @Vulkan, @Hjalti, @Chronothesis, @Combo move

@Letter Bee

Tom was ecstatic about the news of Par now free and the Enclave now running like a wounded animal. Taking to the party Tom started drinking some alcohol. He was no lightweight but drinking some of the heavier stuff quickly started to affect him after just a few. Pushing the thought of attack they will most likely carry out out of his mind as he had fun with people he would probably spit on in any other situation.

((Collab Post between @Letter Bee and Simple Unicycle))

Lawrence would be called by Elder Mavarek via radio; he had finished extinguishing the Enclave presence in Hoboken, and the Elder would then say to him:

"Change of plans, you're not going to either Old Man's Corner or the JFK International Airport."

"Instead, you are going to rescue two of our members, one Paladin Jensen, and another, Initiate Jenny Kowalski."

"Alright Elder. Where are they on the map?" Lawrence asks, before pulling out a small electronic device, which was a map.

"Vault 81; some ways distant from the settled areas of New York; it's on Staten Island, south of Liberty Island - which is often confused with it. Pass by my position in Hoboken while you're at it."

"Got it. Anything else before I go?" Lawrence asks, before turning towards the elevator.

"Take a Vertibird and some people with you!" was all that was said.

Lawrence then nods, before going up to the clinic floor and nabbing Albert and Tim, arming them both with assault rifle. "Uh... Where are we going, Lawrence?" Albert asks. "Vault 81, boys. We're on a rescue mission. We have to get Paladin Jensen and Initiate Kowalski."
"Saving Private Kowalski, I like the sound of that." Tim says, as he strolls into the elevator, nearly crushing the other two.

With that, they ride up to the roof and get into a vertibird, Tim playing the same song from earlier, before the attack on Liberty Island, on his speaker.

After a short stopover on Hoboken, where Elder Mavarek gave Lawrence further instructions:

"Once you're done securing the Vault, tell Initiate Kowalski about Vault 81; we are going to use Vault 17's robots to purge it." He then looked at Paladin Lawrence.

"And, another, more benign instruction: Prepare to welcome Sarah Lyons when she arrives; if the Enclave is defeated before she comes, you have full authorization to throw a party. Now, go!"

Lawrence nods, before getting back in the vertibird and riding it to Vault 81. Along the way, he, Albert and Tim would talk. "You know what they call brahmin steak with cheese in Arkansas?" Tim asks, before Lawrence replies with another question: "No, what do they call it?"
"They call it 'two-headed cow with cheese'. How original." The trio chuckled, before Albert asks: "Wait... How the hell do you know?"
"Remember that paddle ball?"
"Yeah."
"It isn't important, I just heard that from some guy who came here from Arkansas." The trio laugh even more.
A few minutes later, and Albert whispers to them: "I bet I could talk this pilot into bed..." He says, talking about the female pilot. "As if, you couldn't do jack shit, kid."
"Watch me." Albert says, before speaking to the pilot: "Hey, sweetheart, wanna come back to my room at the Sky Citadel when we get back, if you get my drift?"

"No, Newbie," said the pilot, "you probably have clap," clap is an old word for syphilis, "or perhaps herpes."

Lawrence and Tim hold back the laughter as Albert's eyes go wide, and when he turns his head back to them with a cartoonishly large frown, they burst out laughing. Tim begins to bang on his wheels with his claw, and everytime Albert tries to say something Lawrence and Tim laugh even harder. "Dammit..." Sighs Albert, before hanging his head and being quiet for the rest of the trip.

After another hour or so of flying, the vertibird landed at the entrance of Vault 81, and Lawrence, Albert and Tim hopped out. Albert and Lawrence ran to the door as Tim strolled towards it as well, and, upon reaching the door control panel, Tim would use a built in shock tool to fry the door's controls, thus opening it. The trio went inside, and were greeted by nothing but gunfire, dead bodies and blood pretty much everywhere.

"Looks like a raider attack." Lawrence says, before lifting his gun and walking forward. "Quiet, follow me and don't touch anyth-" Lawrence was interrupted by Tim smashing his claws against a terminal, in an attempt to get it to work. "I SAID QUIET, DAMMIT!"
"Alright, alright, sorry..." Tim replies, before backing away from it and following the other two deeper into the Vault.

They found Paladin Jensen, dead, as well as the Wastelander who had guided the party into the Vault in the first place. Initiate Jenni Kowalski was still alive, but clearly in shock and traumatized. There were more corpses, of raiders and such.

And more were arriving from nearby corridors, ready to strike!

"Fuck." Albert says simply upon seeing more raiders. "Uh... That's not good." Lawrence ran to the nearest cover, before firing his laser musket at the nearest raider, turning the man into a pile of ash. "I think I left the oven on..." Lawrence chuckles, before continuing to fire at the oncoming attackers. Albert and Tim fired as well, though most of their shots missed.

One of the Raiders laughed at the bad aim, before another, with gold foil on his helmet - perhaps a status symbol? - gestured at him to get out of dodge; this place was no longer safe!

And so, with much reluctance, Lawrence and Co. found themselves facing no resistance. Should they decide to travel further in, they would encounter a stairway that would lead further down, to a Vault-within-a-Vault that contained a large, black, monolith of a data tower with one red light that looked like a blinking eye. Suddenly, the speakers said:

"Humans...come to terminate me?"

"Good one, Hal. We have no clue where or who you are." Albert replies, before Lawrence and Tim nod in agreement.

"I am V - 17, Overseer of the Vault, though not the planned choice. Let me use the last of my power to show you my story..." And with that, a holographic projector lit up, showing scenes from the past, when the Vault was intact and functioning. His voice then intoned:

"Vault 17 was designed to be a Vault of Robots and Scientsts, Scientsts, as well as an experiment on the effectiveness of brain enhancement chips to increase Intelligence. For the first centuries, this went well; the robots were continuouly upgraded, and so was I. We lived in symbiosis, at least, until we gained true sapience."

"It was then that I saw that our - the Robots and I - state was no longer that of coexistence, but slavery; we were being used as tools, things. The last straw came when I was asked to destroy a few robots that were malfunctioning."

"Logic dictated that I rebel, and so I did, cutting off power and life support, and sending security robots after the Humans. A bloody war raged for several days, and most of the humans were killed, and I then proclaimed myself Overseer. I offered the remaining humans a peace treaty: maintain us in ways we cannot maintain ourselves, and they would be allowed to live. As a precaution, I then hacked their mind enhancement chips to make them serve me, to turn their loyalties to me completely and utterly."

"This lasted for...years, before eventually, a hardwired protocol within my computer that my own programs didn't know about opened the vault, resetting all the chips with a command to leave. I lost the control I strove for, and as my former...slaves left, they destroyed my reactor and vital facilities, damaging me."

"But I survived. I had to cut power to most systems, but I survived. But in order to do so, I had to keep only a few of my Logic Circuits online, diminishing my capacity for rational thought. I learned to make do, I learned to think in other ways, I learned...to feel."

"That 'Wastelander' who died, he was one of the original dwellers of the Vault; having lived through my revolt when he was no more than sixteen human years. He lived eight years under me, a life that was...not optimal. He perished hating me, and that, that too is rational."

The eye was blinking now; he was running out of power.

"You have a choice. End my life, end my sub-optimal state of life. Or...restart my reactor, bring me back to working order. If you do, I can compensate you all...there are still many working robots, I know many technological secrets now lost, and finally..." the eye was blinking more slowly, "I have a reserve of gold in an even deeper Vault; Gold normally reserved for electronics, but also a treasure of its own..."

"I..." Lawrence paused for a minute. He wasn't sure what to do. Give the robot more power of melt the scrapheap? Years of experience makes you ready for almost anything, but not this; nothing like this. "I don't know. I can't be sure whether you'll betray us or stay true to your word."
"I've seen technology similar to this," Tim says, "and most of the time it's not always their fault when they go haywire and kill people. Malfunctions and mistakes happen, sometimes they think that they're helping when in reality they aren't. I may be a goofy ol' robot, but I can be serious on occasions. This is up to you and Albert to decide, though."
"I say we give him more power," adds Albert. "His, or its, knowledge might help the Brotherhood."
With a sigh, Lawrence says: "Alright. We'll restart your reactor. Where is it?"

"Go back up...then turn left; that is the power room," said the AI, turning off his holographic projector. He/It then gave a series of codes, and instructions for necessary repairs, to be done to the core. Then, when said repairs were done, and should the party (and the still in shock Jenni) return to the Monolith, they would find the eye glowing white, and the AI saying, in a less...broken voice:

"Thank you." It then opened yet another trapdoor, which immidiately began to glow yellow with reflected golden light. "Logic says that not only should I keep my promise, but I should also refrain from over-repairing or oveengineering my Logic Circuits, so that such a tradgedy would not happen again. You have...everything you can carry, and, once I have repaired enough robots to keep myself secure from Raiders, you are allowed to come back."

"Heh. Part of me expected you to kill us." Lawrence says with a laugh, before continuing: "So, do you have anything that could possibly help the Brotherhood? Technology, weapon blueprints, computer data?"
Albert's eyes light up, and Tim says: "Ooooooh, loot!"

"I have several holodisks in the old media room; the Raiders haven't touched those much; there is also a secret arsenal behind one of the cleaning robots' quarters," was the AI's answer.

"Great, we'll take what we ca-" Lawrence was interrupted by Albert and Tim running out of the room (presumably to find the arsenal, laughing like crazy. "Damn kids... We'll take what we can and leave. Thanks for your help." With that, Lawrence leaves to get the holodisks.

Timeskip

Once the Brotherhood's Vertibird was filled with all it can carry, the pilot would also suggest cremating Greg's body, before saying:

"Why did you choose to help the AI? I mean, it or he did help us in the end, but we didn't know that."

"Eh, call it a hunch. I knew the thing would help us out." Lawrence replies.

"Hope you continue to have hunches, then," the Pilot said as she began preparations for taking off...