A/N: First fanfic, other than the old KOTOR fanfic I have been trying post, is the first new fanfic I have written in years. I am only too happy my writing bug is once again back in business.

Also this will be the first non-BioWare fanfic I have ever written.

Another issue is because a lot of people I know have not finish this downloadable content, I could not find anyone to Beta my work. Apology in advance if some of them seem a little odd for you.

James O'Malley exclusively belong to me. All the rest belong to Bethesda.

Enjoy.

1

The sound of foghorn echoed through the fog.

One could hardly see anything beyond the end of the pier, occupied only one boat. The water quietly splashed against the Radbarnacle infested wood. Fire in the brazier hissed softly in the chilling air.

It was resonated with the Fog Condensers, erecting just outside the Hull around the small harbor township. At the distance, once lively forest rustled in the night wind. All was quiet and calm and appeared to be rather peaceful.

Except it was never peaceful.

Hell no, a night like this would never be peaceful.

It was another one of the deadly nightmares.

Standing on the top of the Hull walkway, James O'Malley looked over the small harbor nestled at the east side of the Island. His striking profile was evident in the dim light. Just like most of the fellow Harborman, he appeared to be tall and bulky, with a raggedy beard covered majority of his jaw. His long hair was pulled up and roughly tied into a bum on the top of his head, revealing his sharp cheekbones. Garbed in thick coat made of Radstag and Gulper hide, the only prominent part of him would be his piercing blue eyes. His calloused hands, hidden mostly under the worn fingerless gloves, were holding a Lever-action rifle, slightly modified to suit his personal taste and purpose. His stance was tense, just like everyone else, regardless of whether they were on guarding duty each night.

"Avery. Not sure why she reckons there is a need to still sound that thing." Snort sounded from his side, grumpy and hoarse. Without even turning his head, he knew procisely who the person was. They had fought side by side since retreating to this forsaken place, the last piece of land that was still free of being tainted by the Fog, for so long that any of them were able to tell who the person was by voice only. Allen Lee, another residence, the owner of the local gunshop and the unofficial co-leader of the militia who protected the town. Sporting a beanie hat in the shade between deep forest green and grey, the man trained his eyes on the rippling waters beneath them as he carried out his chatter.

"Well, we still have visitors coming." Remarked James casually. It was almost a common knowledge the disaggreement between him and their leader and like most of the rest he did not really wish to pick side.

"Mainlanders?" Another snort: "They can swim here for all I care. Why do we even bother to make their life easier when they don't even care if we are alive or dead?"

"Well..."

"I do not give a Mole Rat's arse if they have a smooth journey here or not," Allen continued to grumble: "...Wasting our precious power to generate that thing. Madness. Total Madness."

James shifted his weight from one boot feet to another, unsure if he should say anything. In truth, he personally thought the visit from the Mainland is crucial, not just to keep everyone in Far Harbor

alive, but also raise the possibility to get them out of the current situation with the others on the

island. But he knew the merchant hated such a notion and would chew his ears off for even have such a thought. At the end he thought it was best to keep them to himself, and pray things would come out the way he had hoped sometimes in the future with no more residence of this place dying.

"That and the whole Children of Atom thing-" The older Harborman was on a roll and was about to launch more of his complain speech when he was interrupted by the stern female voice below: "Lee!"

Both men looked down from their high walkway and on the old and short woman stood at the cracked cobblestone below. Back straight, Captain Avery had a full head of short silvery hair a look of worry on her weathered face. Her auburn eyes were bright. Her clothing was just the same as a few Far Harbor townsfolk. Yet somehow the air of leadership made her stand out. James heard Allen cursed under his breath and answered to her call. Apparently there was someone coming, a rarity considering their last visitor was only here a little over a week ago. The two Harbormen exchanged a wordless amused look before the merchant decided to go down and joined their leader to welcome the newcomer.

That left only him and on other Harborman guarding the gate. Knowing he must kept his attention vigilant while the rest of the townsfolk's attentions were at the dock to see the visitor, he did not dare to turn to look at the arrival. Soon he heard the sound of engine approaching through the murkiness of thick fog, then it was the sound of Captain Avery talking. A female's voice replied her greeting, and Allen's. There was also a male's voice that sounded a lot like one of those voices spoken through a speaker or a radio. A Synth? Really? So openly in the public? Frowning to his scope, he shook his head to himself before something moving in the rolling white mist beyond the Fog Condensers.

Shifting shadows, but bulky mass. Hair on the back of his head stood up. Hell had sent their minons.

"THEY ARE COMING!" He growled out as loud as he could.

X X X

It all happened at the blink of an eye. One minute Riley Pascal and Nick Valentine were standing by the dockside, in the middle of what could be the thickest fog she had encountered in her lifetime (both before and after the Vault 111), trying to unravel as much as they could about this case they had been working on, the case about the disappearance of a young girl named Kasumi, next minute a yelp from the shadows of the buildings behind the pier, bolted through the mist, send everyone into some form of panic frenzy. Both Captain Avery the local leader, and Allen Lee, who she assumed was some kind of representative, looked positively pale and alarm after hearing that warning shout. There were even a hint of fear on their faces, which she had no doubt could be seen on everyone else's', should she took a quick trip about the town to have a giddy look. It wasn't all that unusual to her-she had seen that same looks on the settlers' faces when their settlements were under attack. The problem was what was coming.

Almost without thinking, the blonde reached for the modified hunting rifle, Reba II, on her back. Beside her, right on cue, the Synth detective did the same, drawing out weapon from his long coat. The two of them followed the local leader up several flight of stairs , one long stretch of wooden walkway built along the top of the high wall surrounding the seaside township, and found themselves overlooking the small square right outside the main gate. At the edge of the square, makeshift lampposts emitted in a ghastly and eerie blue light stood erect. She noticed they were placed there for strategic reason more than lighting purposes. For the fog seemed to be stopped just beyond those lights' beam and unable to move forward.

"...Interesting device," Commented her companion under his breath.

Below and on the ground, Allen Lee leaded a few other Harbormen out of the gate, but not venture too close to those lampposts. All of them holding some form of weapons or guns in their hands. Their eyes trained to the stirring and tumbling dense fog.

The Fog is alive.

The thought hit her like a rock bolder. It was a rather surprising notion but there was no other way to describe it. It was as if the whole mass of those thick veils of mist there was some kind of creature, circling around the parameter of this town, weighing its best way to attack. Was that even possible? She knew after going through what she had gone through since opening her eyes inside that cryogenic tube, nothing was impossible. But something in a wasp of floating smoke form? Wouldn't that be a bit too far fetch?

There was no time to dwell on that. Blurry movements behind the veil became clearer. Something was, or were, approaching. Riley removed the safety of her rifle and trained her magazine at the approaching grey mass, her heart in throat. Everything was quiet for one second and next, before anyone managed to even blink, a large creature looked a lot like Enlarged version of Salamander burst through the smog. Shouts called and some of the men started to fire. They barely had time to register this one when another creature leaped into the small cobblestone square, again one of those large slimy things.

"Gulper!" Captian Avery barked from the walkway, making her jump. She had forgotten for a moment that the leader was with her on the top, a vantage point enabled for her to see everything. The grey hair woman raised her rifle and fired, promptly blown up the body of the Radroache that just crawled in. Keen to lend those men below a hand, the blonde also took aim at the Gulper below and pulled the trigger. Reba II made a loud bang and the bullet penetrated the skin of the being easily.

"Watch it!"

"More is coming!"

Locals on the ground fended off the intruders, while warning each others with such a expertise, Riley suspected they might had done this more often than she realised. With only a few second to catch breath, another monster came through the fog. This time it looked like one of those deep sea fish she had read about in the book before, except it had arms and legs. A little similar to Deathclaws, its claws were sharp enough to leave marks on the stone ground.

"Angler!"

The Angler were able to spew blue glowy energy balls much similar to the flames those lamppost emitting. People below knew it and started to dive out of its way, while the ones on the wall like Riley, Captain Avery and Nick fired their shots from a safe distance. Gnawing her lower lip, the long hair blonde executed more than one shot to successfully gun down the horrific looking beast. When it was done, more than one dead creatures' body spawned on the square and almost everyone have more than one kind of blood and bits of flesh on their face, hair or armour.

"Oh, well, guess this is part of the welcome party." Captain Avery leaned against the tall pole beside her, letting out a long sigh. The older woman was back to that wearied look Riley saw a moment ago, back on the pier when she and Nick arrived.

"It was quite a party." She could not help but chuckled, too. Beside her, the Synth detective carefully put his gun away.

It was when she noticed the person beside the local leader. A pair of eye with the same piercing blue hue like those lamppost below. She frowned, and watched the man grinned behind his unruly beard.

"Welcome to Far Harbor." She heard Captain Avery said.