Just a oneshot I had saved, hope you enjoy - PepoClap

Also, context, Fallout 3 Vertibirds are referred to as the 'gunship' variety. Whilst the Fallout 4 ones are tactical some somethings, you'll know it when you see it.

And Sarah isn't dead, she and Maxson both are Elders, but for their seperate Wastelands, to do anything substantial, they have to agree.

Edit! We got some updates to this chapter, and it's now at 4K words! Yay. Expect more updates, and a chapter. ~PepoClap

The Vertibird soared, propellers slashing the air. Alex sighed. Despite the fact that he was one of the first people to ride a Vertibird frequently, the experience didn't get better. He did like the fact that they were riding in the first Vertibird liberated. What'd he name it? Ophanim. When Scribe Rothchild asked him as to why the name, his brain brought him back to the Vault days.

Simpler times. His father read him the Bible and in it, mentioned a class of Angels. Ophanim, were there to protect the throne of God. Fitting to have the Vertibird protecting their skies named after the holy guardians. Rothchild, slightly disappointed nodded. As he passed, Alex could hear, "NCR get Bear Force One, and we get a class of Angels. We are in the Pentagon and we can't have a Air Force One?"

A loud creak emitted from his radio in his helmet. He opened his eyes, HUD popping into his vision. In his bottom left corner, a call. Elder Lyons popped into a box in his top right corner. His ammo count moved to the bottom right corner.

"I've got a feeling that Maxson is up to something, something… Do you think he wants to attack the people here? Sometimes I get the idea that he's adopted the views of the Outcast, more about collecting technology, than protecting the people of the Wastes. I played a hand in raising him, we were like his parents you know? I just don't want him to do anything that goes against what we taught him." Sarah spoke.

Despite the fact that they were in the same Vertibird, she didn't make a move to the cockpit. Alex muttered, "I don't think he'd go against anything you'd say. I think he liked you when I first met him. Even when we started dating."

Alex remembered the fourteen year old, as if it was yesterday. God I'm getting old.

Alex spoke again, "Flying over Gunner territory now, you strapped in? Might get rough. Kinda hoped Maxson cleared this area for us already."

Tapping into the squad channel he let out a string of info, "Gunner territory, it looks slightly flooded, trenches lining the front lines and then we've got a mix of concrete and wood ramparts. This place used to be a dock. Eyes open."

Gunners standing on the ramparts of their junk fortress had only seen a Vertibird once. They were in possession of one. A tactical variant, with sliding doors and a minigun on both sides of the cabin. One of them grunted, and they raised their rifles.

"Vargas get on the turret controls! We need to clear this place out before they get their explosives out!" Sarah barked. She turned around, grabbing her laser rifle, "Seraphim" from it's spot clipped on her seat. "Gallows, open the doors now! Me and you are gonna drop!"

Alex kicked the cockpit doors open, "Me and Colvin can't keep the Vertibird in the air with all of those guns hitting us! Get 'em off us!"

Sarah nodded, she grabbed a grenade, popped the pin and threw it onto the Gunners below. She took a jogging start and jumped off the Vertibird. She landed, creating a shockwave from her T45-D Modified Power Armor. She switched her Laser Rifle on and started laying bursts of red light into the Gunners positions. She swiftly walked forward and slammed her stock into the head of a cowering private. "Night-night."

She continued on. The pangs of the weak guns simply scratching her armor. She raised her rifle and mowed down another three. One crept to her right and she slammed her Powered Fist into his skull, and she felt it cave in, instantly dismembering his frontal lobe.

She tossed her empty cell out of the chamber of her rifle, slid in a new one and fired at a cocky gunner. As he turned to dust, she turned to the Vertibird, waiting for her fireteam partner.

Gallows dropped, he had his Plasma Rifle in his right hand, Stealth Boy in the other. As he jumped, he became invisible. Sarah could hear a light thud and a grunt next to her. Why wasn't he wearing Power Armor? She could see Gallows's outline on her hud, she spoke through her comms, "Flank right side! I'm gonna draw their attention towards me, then you go in and kill 'em with their pants down." She got up from behind a concrete wall and fired away. She pulled out a Pulse grenade and threw it in the air. It landed onto a barrel. Fourteen eyes widened. After the blast rang out, Fourteen closed.

Alex gripped the throttle, bringing the Vertibird upwards. His eyes widened, he saw a Gunner wearing crude Power Armor. In his hands was a Fatman. "Colvin pull away, pull away!" Alex got up leaving Colvin behind to control the Vertibird. "Vargas, target that Gunner before he takes us down!"

He ran towards the radio station near the gunship controls. He powered it on, he sent out a distress beacon and tried calling their sister Gunship, "Virtue." That gunship contained the rest of the Lyons' Pride. "Kodiak we need assistance, we are gonna go down if we don't get some backup!"

Colvin shouted from the cockpit. Alex got up, when flames erupted from the hull. Alex, confused stepped on the flames, immediately perishing. How? The hull can take most of these rifles. Unless. He shouted into his comms. The squad channel blew up with his voice. "They got Laser Rifles too! Watch out!" The ramp, which had been closed after Gallows had dropped was hanging wide open. Alex stepped back, looking at the melted hinges.

This time, a rocket head buried itself into the ramp, just missing the entrance into the gunship. The ramp was torn in two and the Gunship started to sway. Alex stumbled forwards and slammed his body into a seat, taking it out of it's bolted spot on the floor. It flipped in half, and flew out of the cabin. Alex's gripped another seat, desperately trying to keep himself inside. He screamed over the gunfire,"Keep us up Colvin!"

Alex grabbed his Laser Rifle from it's resting place on the rack on the wall. The 'Bird shook and he stumbled, but he caught himself and reached into his Magnetic Backpack. He pulled out a micro-fusion cell and slid it into the chamber. He flipped the switch on his AER-9 "Archangel" and stood up over the edge. He grabbed a railing on the side to steady himself, the winds rippling against his Lyons' Pride Power Armor. With his left hand still gripping tight on the railing, he brought his Laser Rifle to his eyeline, aiming. He slipped his finger into the trigger guard, he tugged onto the trigger and beams of scorching light tore at a Gunner's throat.

He felt several bullets hit his armor but ricochet off. A Hunting Rifle sounded and a moment later he felt something tear his side. He stumbled backwards. The Vertibird tilted forwards and with Alex not holding anything, he slid forwards. He began gaining momentum before hitting the seats. He held onto Gallows' chair and with his other hand, pulled himself up.

Sarah saw beams of light hit the Vertibird repeatedly. She didn't have much time to register the decaying hull. Two Gunners had pushed forward and fired at her. She felt two hits from a G3 hit her chest. Her plating stopped both shots from piercing her skin, but she could feel the tips of the bullets near her ribs. She fired at one of the Gunners with her rifle. The other responded by laying another burst, this time it hit her arm, where less plating was there to stop the hit. Three hit, two grazing her forearm. The other was more fortunate, it pierced her forearm and embedded itself in her flesh. She let out a cry of pain, but pulled out her 10MM Pistol with her left hand and fired twice. The Gunner hit the floor with a sickening slosh. She let out a groan of pain, before clutching her arm.

She fell back, she felt the gears in her armor move and a second later she felt the tip of the stimpack pierce her right arm. She sighed, pain leaving almost instantly. She quickly dropped in another cell and got up. She let out a volley of Laser beams. Three assailants fell to the floor, each missing a head. She ducked behind cover before their returning 5.56 fire could take her out. Her gloved hand grazed over her stun grenade. She had an idea. She through it as high as she could into the air, and as it was coming down she blew it up with her rifle. The Gunners eyes were clothed in white. She pulled herself up and aimed. A beam hit a Gunner in the jaw, melting through the bone and hitting his brain. She took aim at the other one. She aimed down her sights, lining him up. A single squeeze and he turned to warm dust.

She heard a distinct crackle from a weapon about 100 feet away from her. A Fatman. She saw the mini nuke soar through the sky. Time slowed. Her comms lit up, "Sarah! We are gonna go down!" Colvin screamed into her head.

The warhead hit the tail of the Vertibird. She felt herself get pushed by the shockwave of the hit. Then she realized no, that wasn't a gust of wind. That was her trying to move. Her body realized the tail rotor was going to hit her. She pushed herself onto her feet. As she stumbled she could sense the rotor was about to hit something. Time flew forward. A split second and a crash took her off her feet. She slammed into a metal railing, taking it cleanly off and she was submerged in water.

Colvin was pinned. The Vertibird had fell on it's side and the other seat in the cockpit had fell. Several extra pounds were added when the control system and scraps of metal fell from the impact. Clad only in recon armor, he could do nothing but call for help.

"VARGAS! Alex? Somebody get me out of here!"

Nobody responded.

Colvin tried moving, but he was stuck. He cut see the cockpit slowly shift, groan and slowly crumble closer to him.

Vargas opened his eyes. He looked around. The sky hit his visor. He looked around. He wasn't in the Vertibird. He got to his feet, He squeezed his left hand. Opening the paneling on his left arm. On the forearm, a blue display screen lit up. His HUD wasn't working. He went to reach for the display with his right hand, but when the arm pierced his vision, he couldn't stifle the incoming scream.

His right arm was mangled to the point of resembling more of a corpse than an arm. He forearm was shatter in two spots. His bone perforated from his forearm and his elbow was pointing the opposite way. His right arm ligaments were laying on the floor next to him. Three torn veins were curled around his steel grey arm, painting it a vivid red.

He reached for the locks on his helmet with his left arm, but when he felt the helmet, he realized how lucky he was to be alive.

The back of his helmet ceased to exist. Nothing of it left. The only part of his helmet that was left was one of his ventilation pipes and his visor. Which as he took a second glance at, was peppered in scratches. Nothing was protecting his mouth, and his visor hung over his eyes like a pair of goggles.

He spotted, Sarah and trudged his way over to her.

Gallows was covered in blood. Not his own. He pulled the Ripper out of the side of the Gunner's neck. He'd gotten the guy holding the Fatman. But not in time. All he had left was the Ripper, a Laser Pistol and satchel filled with about 4 stimpacks. There were probably more Gunners heading towards the crash. He was in no position to get his squad members out.

He looked at the bodies, his plasma rifle lay discarded. It's barrel bent, from where he used it as a bat to kill a Gunner who knocked his Ripper to the floor. He pulled a M4A1 from the hands of a body. He checked the clip. About twenty or so shots. He had worn recon armor for this OP, so he had no HUD, his teammates exact locations and statuses remained unknown to him. He tried his radio.

"Sarah? Alex? Vargas are you guys still intact.? Colvin what's your SITREP?"

Nothing. He flicked off the safety and started jogging towards the smoke.

Sarah woke, "Sarah," piercing her dead comms. She was in murky water. She swam towards a piece of rebar and hefted herself up. The bar snapped in half after she got off, but it served it's purpose.

She gauged her situation, her Laser Rifle was still magnetically clipped to her backpack. She had about another handful of microfusion cells. So give or take 110 shots. Strapped to her thigh was her pistol, that had another clip. Her helmet still worked, it saved her from drowning. She tried her comms. "Gallows, you there?"

Static hit her ears, but was cut through by her familiar friend's voice. "Yeah, I'm heading to the crash, probably more Gunners on the way. Virtue is coming, let's get to them so we can get the hell outta here. Gallows out."

"New orders, just get to the site, I'll be there as soon as possible. God, I hope they made it."

Gallows laughed, "Those are some tough SOBs, I doubt they are dead. Alex on the other hand? I haven't really gotten to know him. All I know is that we had a drink battle and he passed out before I started to slip away. Barely even had a buzz."

Sarah chuckled, her lover was not a drinker. "Probably used to drinking clean water and eating uncontaminated food, anything that's got a bit of punch will probably knock him out."

"Last time I checked, you passed out at the same time Alex did. We gotta get you guys drinking. I can't have you guys pass out on shot five."

Sarah sighed. Gallows had sounded off in her ear about the crash site. "God damn it. Sarah, the Vertibird looks recoverable, but uh. Colvin is in there screaming his head off. I gotta check it out."

Sarah started sprinting. Metallic feet slamming into the mud, she could hear the ground groan as the Power Armor tore through the grass. She had her rifle out. Alex had gifted her it. I hope you like it. I named it after the most powerful class of angels. Reminds me of you. Powerful, angelic and fucking badass.

She'd gifted him "Archangel" a rifle similar to hers, AER-9s with the finest modifications the think tanks at the Citadel could make. She smiled, reminiscing over how she'd managed to get Rothschild, the scribe who always blew her off, always doing "more important tasks," cornered. She'd gotten her wish, and both of their rifles were the last things any enemy of the Brotherhood see, before they were turned to dust.

Her heart stopped when she got to the crash site. The Vertibird had landed on it's side, but hadn't broken into several pieces. The crushed right wing was crumpled, scraped and had a fire on it, but they could fix it. Give it a little while and they'd have the gunship up and running, They had gotten the Prydwen up and running in mere months after all.

She gripped the stock of the AER-9 tighter and glanced at the battered cabin. She could see Gallows pulling parts of the decayed ramp so he could get inside.

She was about to join him when she heard several steps behind her. She snapped around, a gun in each hand. Vargas had walked over to her, blankly staring at the sky. His right arm was horribly misshapen. Vargas fell to the floor. He hit the ground with a thump and sat there. Sarah couldn't see the lights upstairs working. She spoke softly. "Vargas? Are you here with me?"

Sarah turned pale when the scream hit her ears. It wasn't Vargas, it wasn't Colvin.

Alex.

Alex woke up. His body battered. He looked around the broken interior. He tried moving from the wall he landed on, but he was stuck. He looked down, ready for the horror that he was about to look straight into the eyes.

His right arm he knew, was already fractured. Not that horrible, he had worse. But he was impaled. It pierced his left side. It punctured the bottom rib, and blood had started flowing around the piece of metal, but not too horribly. His eyes continued traveling downwards. Both of his legs broken. His armor no longer housed his injuries, all of the plating lay on the floor. He was only clad in his under armour.

Then the pain hit him. Shock wore off and his body couldn't push the pain away and keep him numb. He'd fought and killed many with his bare hands. He'd killed a behemoth was he'd encountered in Downtown D.C near the Washington Monument and killed it with just a 10MM Pistol. It hit him once. A swipe to his leg. It'd shattered his foot, but he managed to get it angry enough to swing his makeshift bat in his right hand. Made partially of a column it'd had gotten from god knows where and a sharpened wing from a 747. It hit a building, tearing through the walls and landing near him, but he'd managed to dodge it.

The building tumbled on top of the mutant. Burying it under tons of steel, metal and concrete. He winced as he saw the exposed rebar plunge into his neck. Veins the size of his arms exploded, nearly drowning him in blood that wasn't his.

Here. he felt as if the bat had hit him. The sharp edge cutting through each of his limbs with pain so bad he suppressed the need to puke. Then, the impaling let out it's own pain onto his body. This, was equivalent to the rebar tearing into the mutant. The icing on the cake was injury to his legs.

His legs sent out bullets traveling up his body and into his head. He couldn't suppress it anymore, he let out a screech of pain, as life started to exit out of his body, he let his pain overtake him.

He fell in and out of consciousness. "Stay with me 'Lex! Virtue is landing!" Sarah had shouted at him. He responded by pouring more blood out of himself.

His eyes had opened later, revealing Sarah with bloodshot eyes. His eyes glassy and partially covered in tears, scanned the interior. Gunship. Knight Captain Dusk looked over at him, she spoke something to Sarah who'd grabbed his hand and let a squeeze. He registered Sarah speaking, "Hold on…. We are gonna make you better and we are gonna live like a happy family okay?"

Alex closed his eyes.

His head jutted with pain, he'd bumped into something. His eyes shot open, he wasn't numb anymore, the pain had shot back. He writhed on the stretcher. Screaming.

Squadron Foxtrot looked over. Even their C.O, Knight Lieutenant Mattias looked visibly shaken. There was the Brotherhood's poster boy, whithering, crying and covered in so much blood. Surrounded by several scribes and the Lyons' Pride, all looking visible saddened. But to the witnesses, seeing their idol, their Messiah in their eyes stripped down to a fragment, that was scary. He was untouchable and seeing him with pain clearly shone on his features terrified even the most confident initiates.

Mattias scanned the Pride, looking for her. Sarah. Alex's SO, his wife. He couldn't feel her pain, he didn't quite get the hurt that shone in her bloodshot eyes. He couldn't understand what the bags under her eyes really meant. Sarah's pain was unreadable, Mattias couldn't understand how someone looked so internally dead. So broken.

He took off at a quick pace, walking over to Dusk. She simply shrugged him off and kept walking. Mattias persisted. "Dawn. God damn. What-" she turned to him and grabbed him by the helmet and pulled him to look her in her flaming eyes. "Look. I don't want to keep things away from you, but let this is something I won't, can't talk about right now."

Sarah looked at the door to the infirmary again. She tried willing the door to open and have her Wanderer be perfectly normal, but he had to go through some Physical Therapy.

The door cracked open a sliver, then as Doc held the door open for her Sentinel to hobble his way out. She was surprised he wasn't in a wheel chair, when Dusk was trying to keep him stable, she told her that both of his legs were shattered from the knee down. Truth be told, she was surprise he wasn't dead.

Alex crutched his way over to where she was sitting. His eyes were bright, his hazel eyes looking as innocent as when she first met him. As intoxicating as the same time she layed eyes on him ten years ago. Really, Sarah? Swooning over him like you were twenty one? She stifled that thought to the back of her mind. She let herself get caught in the net of Alex.

She pulled him into a hug, she heard him whisper, "Missed you, Sarah."

She pulled away slightly, so that he could face her. He leaned downwards to met her shorter frame. She gripped his face and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Time slowed. He mummered something inaudible against her lips. As they both pulled away, she swung her left arm around his neck, bringing him closer to her. With her right hand, well.

A crack rang through the air, Alex recoiled from the hit, He nearly tumbled, but Sarah pulled him into a kiss.

"You ever, EVER do that to me again and I will personally kick your ass."

Alex laughed, "I don't plan on leaving you, Sarah. God knows you'd find me in death and still beat my ass."

Alex gave Sarah a warm embrace. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna die. I've been through Hell defending the wastes, I'm not gonna go down now."

Mmm. Hopefully you enjoyed, 'cause this is probably some of my best work. Ever. That being said, I also just recently just picked up writing to share. Uh, but if you like this, updates should come biweekly, or so. But I do have some handfuls of oneshots for these characters in my Universe, and Afterlife, If you like Bioshock Infinite, another one of my favorite games.

~PepoClap