Chapter 1: Beginnings

The warm winds of the Commonwealth that blew outside the tin roofed house made a moan not dissimilar to a caravan Brahmin. As the setting sun cast a shadow across the sleepy settlement of Sanctuary, a figure hurls himself through the front doorway, sprinting full speed towards the neighboring gas station that had a massive red rocket adorning the top. As the man reached the door of the building, he rapped the door hard repeatedly until he slouched to the ground, out of breath, his sweat prominently dark against the tan leather of his Minutemen hat. He stood up to knock again, when the door was suddenly opened by a woman with short red hair, who looked as though she had just fallen out of bed.

"What are ye doing, knockin' on our door at this time of day?", the woman said, obviously quite cross. The man took a step back to put some space between him and the woman.

"Sorry Cait," he said with a sheepish smile, "but its really important. I need to talk to the general and his advisors." Cait snorts and throws the door open, motioning for him to come inside. The inside of the building was the same as the outside...strange. There were numerous weapons hanging from the wall, each with their own plaques. One was a simple BB gun that was simply labled "boy's first radroach", while another was a huge bladed minigun hanging from the ceiling with a tag that read "Sasha" with a smilely face drawn next to it and the very clear image of a finger print painted on one of the barrels of the gun.

As Cait led him up the stairs, the man noticed different things hanging on the walls. They were now photos, taken in all forms. Painted, drawn or taken from a camera, each one seemed to depict a battle had happened and showed the victors standing proudly in the center. The victors numbers varied, but increased steadily until the man came upon a photo of himself taken not too long ago. It showed him and five other men standing in front of a police station, with a deathclaw dead at their feet. The plaque said "greatest welcome wagon ever!", and the man felt his eyes grow wet at the rembering of that event. He hurried to catch up with Cait, and did so just as she opened the door to the room at the end of the hall.

"Oi', get up off your arses, sorry lot! Preston wants a word with ye." Her shout was loud enough that Preston jumped in fear. He wasn't the only one. Two of the men jumped out of bed in fright, only to land on the floor in a crumpled mess. Two more, the ones closest to the door, jumped up with weapons drawn. Before Preston could speak, he was staring down the barrel of a gun that make a Yaou Guai howl for its momma, and Cait had a flaming sword stopped only inches from her throat. The only person who did not respond to the yell was the man in the bed directly in front of the door, who was now rubbing his eyes and groggily getting out of bed.

Cait turned and eyed down the affroed man who had his sword at her throat. "Git that away from me neck Lux, or else who knows where I might put it." Lux pulls away his sword, but keeps his eyes narrowed at her.

"Just to be sure your you," he growls at her, " What is your name?" At this Cait goes red in the face with rage.

"Her royal pain in the arse, Queen Fucking Elizabeth the Third!", she shouts, then turns and leaves the room. Preston looks from Cait to Lux.

"Is there something that I missed there?" He asked, looking around the room, expecting a answer. The man rubbing his eyes answered.

"They were doing arm westling contests yesterday, and everytime one of them lost, they accused the other of using Psycho." Lux just crosses his arms and sighs. "She's just a sore loser. Cause, y'know, she is one."

Preston just shakes his head and addresses the man on the bed. "General Arrow, we have received a disturbing update from the Castle. It seem like somewhere to the Northeast, a huge explosion has taken place. The way they describe it, it was on par with the detonations of the nukes. They request the presence of you and all other commanding officers to give it your consideration. Sir."

With this, Preston went into a snap salute and held the position, waiting for a reply. Arrow, with a grunt, heaved himself out of bed and shambled over to Preston. "Thank you for that update, Preston, and of course we will answer the summons", he said, which ilicited groans from the two pile on the floor, "but first, breakfast. You care stay? We found a shipment of cinnimon/chocolate swirl sugar bombs last week. Haven't tried them yet."

Preston shakes his head no vigarously. "No, Thats okay, really! I have to help with some repairs anyway, but thank you!" With that, Preston turns heel and exits.

Arrow cocks his head in confusion. "What do you suppose is wrong with him?" One of the piles on the raises its head.

"Maybe because the last time we gave him something, it was animal repelent that didn't work and he had Mole rats and Radroaches nipping at his heels all week?"

Arrow raises an eyebrow. "Who's this "we", Van?" At this, the pile lowers it's head and shimmies itself under the bed. Arrow laughs and walks toward the door, kicking the second pile on the floor by accident. "Sorry about that Oreo! You okay?"

The blankets gather together, revealing a man with brown hair in reinforced leather armor, who merely stands up, bows, picks up the blankets, and sits down on the bed, legs crossed. Arrow just shrugs and turns toward the last man, who was sleeping in a bed piled to the brim with ammunition, guns and parts, with he himself going through every part, cleaning them with meticulus attention to detail. Arrow leans on the bedpost, looking at the massive pile of clean parts vs the tiny pile of dirty parts. He looks at Verde face and see's massive blackmarks underneath his eyes. "Hey, Verde, are you okay? You don't look so good. Did you get any sleep?" Verde just ignores Arrow and keeps cleaning. Arrow sighs loudly and asks, "Can you at least tell me your progress?". Verde suddenly snaps out of his trance and stops cleaning his rifle.

He slowly turns his head toward Arrow, with a pained smile. "I would be a lot farther along if it wasn't for your goddamn automatic pistol! Do you have any idea how hard it is to clean that thing out?! It took me a hour and a half just for that one!" Verde was heaving heavy breaths by the end of this. Arrow flung his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, okay. I will clean my own gun from now on. Sorry." Arrow walks through the doorway and turns back. The veiw of the room reminds him of something. As he walks downstairs, he mumbled, "Welcome to the island of misfit toys." With a smile on his face, he walked outside to go for a run with Dogmeat.