Simon pressed himself against the wall and slowly leaned his head left, hoping the raiders wouldn't notice him. Sure as he expected, there were three of them, standing around talking, unaware of the infiltrator. They were still talking about whatever it was raiders talk about in their free time when the volley of shots rang out and all three fell to the floor. "Good night," said Simon aloud as he broke from his cover and began to search the bodies. Finding nothing of value, he set his eyes on a trunk in the corner. As he opened it up, he noticed something of particular interest. "What have we here?" he said, reaching for the item.

He was so focused on whatever had intrigued him that he failed to notice a fourth raider he had clearly missed. The raider had realized he had forgotten his gun before he left the building and had returned to retrieve it, only to discover most of the gang dead and someone rooting through their stash. The raider looked nervously around before deciding to attack. The intruder looked pretty well-equipped, and everyone else was dead. If he could get the drop on and kill the guy, he'd be set - he'd finally have what he needed to leave the gang, to get out someplace far away and survive. The raider noticed a loose board nearby. It was crude, but it just might be enough.

Simon was pretty sure the item was a combat mask of some kind - supposedly rare on the East Coast - but he didn't get time to verify as out of the shadows came a fourth raider, screaming and wildly swinging a board at him. Simon rolled away quick enough to avoid being clubbed over the head, but not quick enough to not get hit at all. With a mighty crack, the board collided into his shoulder. Simon screamed in pain and violently kicked out at the attacker, staggering him. Pressing the advantage, Simon barreled towards the man and tackled him to the ground, before bringing his elbow down on the man's windpipe. It was enough. Taking no precautions, in case some miracle happened to save him, Simon carefully withdrew his pistol and fired one round into the man's throat. The pistol kicked out of Simon's one hand and he cursed as he went to retrieve it. "The shoulder… it's always the goddamn shoulder," he said through gritted teeth as he applied a Stimpak with his one good arm. As the pain slowly subsided, Simon finished looting the trunk and left the building, unsatisfied. Sure, there was the cool mask, but he hadn't found any scrap components or anything that was needed back at Sanctuary. Everyone back there would not be too happy about that.

"Can you see him?" "Hang on, switching magnification. There. I have a confirmed visual. Leaving a hardware store." "Keep an eye on him. See where he returns to." "Yes sir. Anything else?" "Negative, Scout. Keep up the good work. Over and out." "Copy sir. Over and out."

The walk from the hardware store back to Sanctuary was not a short one, so Simon had plenty of time to think as his footsteps echoed across the Commonwealth. It had been almost three months since his self-imposed, however now fully enforced, exile from the Brotherhood. Maxson was none too pleased about his best Sentinel telling everyone who asked him about his negative experiences, and had wasted three three-man squads in attempted captures, or if it came to it, assassinations. Simon was pretty damn convinced Maxson wasn't about to waste a fourth. Despite his disillusionment with the Brotherhood, he did not hate its soldiers, or even Maxson himself. Simon would've been more than content to simply live and let live, with he and the Brotherhood going their separate ways. The Brotherhood, or more accurately, Maxson, believed that if their most decorated and published soldier suddenly started spouting off about how awful the Brotherhood is, it would turn public opinion against them, which was already very low. Sometimes he wondered if he had made the wrong decision, or acted too hastily. Ultimately he believed though it may have been a hasty decision at the time, it had been a long time coming. Willful blindness was a powerful thing when you needed it to.

Above and ahead of Simon, a fleet of Vertibirds flew towards their destination. "Which one of you swapped my plasma cartridges for fusion cells and thought I wouldn't notice!?" The only response was howls of laughter from one of the other men in the Vertibird. "It's not funny! I can't use anything but my pistol now!" The soldiers' commander silenced the chatter. "Oh, pipe down," he laughed, tossing him a spare cartridge. "Better make those shots count, rookie." The rookie only looked at his boots, saying no more. Unbeknownst to him, the cartridge was empty. The rook would pull the trigger and not a wisp would appear. Hazing rituals weren't supposed to be done on missions, but the squad was in need of some laughs - it didn't matter if it were at someone else's expense. And besides, it had happened to them all at some point.

Sanctuary. Its name had proven true. It was well-known by survivors and Commonwealth residents that the community to the Northwest was a place of refuge, where those injured or lost or simply in need could stay. There were rumours that some were invited to be permanent residents if the leaders liked them enough. It had humble beginnings, but over time it grew to become a veritable safe zone. A high concrete wall extended around the perimeter where previously had only been wire fencing. There were still issues with finding enough power to run electric fencing, so right now the citizens were forced to be content with switch-operated gates and armed guard towers as perimeter defense. As Simon approached Concord, his thoughts began to drift about everything that needed to be done back home. To top things off there was the issue of outposts brought to him by one of the citizens. Sure, having other safe houses across the Commonwealth wasn't a bad idea, but it was only a matter of time until someone else planted their flag there, or one of the settlers decided they didn't want to come back to Sanctuary and would rather go it with the safehouse so graciously provided by Simon and the Sanctuary residents. Simon knew he would have to deal with this issue and many others. Tonight he would call a general meeting.

The residents of Sanctuary were first the original five members of the Minutemen Simon had saved what seemed like forever ago. Since then, the community had grown, accepting new people as needs allowed. Eventually, the number settled around a nice even fifty people. After a gruelling debate between the council members (originally consisting of Simon, Sturges, Preston, and later, the doctor and head merchant), the decision was reached to close the community, except where all the leaders allowed them in. It was this decision that had attracted the attention of some pretty powerful players in the Commonwealth. It was Preston who first noticed the three Vertibirds slowly hovering over the walls. They lowered themselves, and twelve soldiers clad in full Power Armor and carrying plasma rifles hopped out and began walking up the street to what seemed to be the centre of town. By this point a large crowd had started to gather. When most people were staring down the soldiers, one of them, presumably the leader, stepped forward and spoke.

"Squad Alpha. Fan out and check the buildings. Squad Beta, run a search of the perimeter. Squad Gamma, stay here. Crowd control." With the orders out of the way, the squads dispatched and began performing their duties. A couple residents ran after them towards the buildings, but were kept at bay by Squad Gamma. The leader spoke again. "Attention residents of Sanctuary. The Brotherhood of Steel has come to you with a request. We are looking to increase our range of operation in the Commonwealth and your community is a prime candidate for a forward operating base. Are your leaders present? Whoever they are please step forward so we may discuss this." Four of the five leaders stepped forward, with the fifth leader currently on his way, to arrive shortly. The leader surveyed the four and then made a quiet radio back to his commander, in a whisper. "He's not here. Orders?" Upon hearing the response he turned to face the four. "Well? Are you all willing to discuss?"

"We aren't willing to discuss anything until all the council is present," spoke one of them.

The leader's radio buzzed sharply. "What?" he whisper-yelled. "Sir, with all due respect, if there's a chance we can do this… fine. Yes sir. I understand. Over and out." His tone was grave. "Unfortunately I am going to have to ask you to cooperate. As of this moment everything within the walls now belongs to the Brotherhood of Steel. Please, do the smart thing and do not try to fight us." His words were not far out of his mouth before the fight started.

Simon was just outside the Sanctuary gate when he heard the sounds coming from within. The gate was closed, and he tried to signal whoever was up in the guard tower. From inside he could hear screams, and gunfire - both ballistic and energy. Suddenly, he remembered another way in. He sprinted around the left side of the compound and ran down by the riverbank. There was a medium-sized rock nestled into the side of the hill next to the river. With all his might, Simon pushed the rock out of the way, revealing a small tunnel leading in towards Sanctuary. He crawled through the tunnel and entered into a small underground storage area. Someone had tried to improvise a fallout shelter, likely unable to get into Vault 111. Simon clambered up the ladder to the exit, carefully opened one side of the hatch slightly, and discovering the area clear, hopped out. Above ground, the citizens were all taking cover in the various buildings, engaged in a firefight. If the Brotherhood soldiers were to storm the buildings, they would stand an even chance of taking down the civilians, but at the same time there might be enough civilians to overwhelm the soldiers. Despite that, Simon didn't like their odds. Pulling out his rifle, he took aim and fired at one of the soldiers.

"I have eyes on target, I repeat, I have eyes on target. He has just exited a root cellar and is now engaged in a firefight with Brotherhood soldiers at Sanctuary Hills. I repeat, firefight at Sanctuary Hills. Orders, sir?" "Intervene. They stand a solid chance of capturing him. Keep him alive until we can get there." "Yes sir. Deploying Vertibird flare. Over and out."

The rookie of the platoon recoiled. Three bullets had struck him, hard, from behind. He wheeled around and saw a figure pointing a high-powered rifle at him. He had to strike fast. In one swift motion, he swung his plasma rifle around, aimed and fired. The shot would have struck the figure dead centre, critically injuring him… had the rookie not fallen victim to the prank from earlier. The rifle was completely empty. Frantically, the soldier scrambled for his pistol as the fourth shot rang out. The bullet struck him in the neck and the rookie fell to the ground, dead. The two other soldiers next to him suddenly turned around and noticed their fallen comrade and his killer. One stayed with the fallen soldier, the other gave chase.

Simon turned and ran, in hot pursuit by the Brotherhood soldier. He ran through the backyards, almost halfway around the perimeter, before he noticed more Vertibirds in the sky, coming to land in the open field they had. More power armored soldiers hopped out and quickly began to fan out. An explosion rang out in the distance as a bullet struck Simon in his combat armor as he was running. He lost his balance and fell to the ground, landing on his injured arm. Simon tried to stagger to his feet as two Brotherhood soldiers began moving towards him, before more shots rang out and they retreated to cover. One of the new soldiers, wearing a kind of power armor Simon had never seen before, began to drag him back towards the Vertibird. Simon tried to kick and struggle but had lost all the energy. His vision began to swim as the Vertibird lurched up into the air. He saw the Brotherhood soldiers storming buildings and more shots ringing out. He tried to scream and found no air in his lungs. One of the soldiers spoke to him. "It's okay. You're going to be okay," was all Simon heard before he slipped into unconsciousness.