Trio
XXXXX
Nora panted, her grip tight on the 10 mm pistol in her hand. She was in the middle of a barren wasteland, nothing but devastation, burning fires, and piles of corpses as far as she could see. An old man was kneeling on the ground in front of her, her pistol pressed against his forehead. He was looking up at her, and there was nothing less that pure hatred on his face. His body was frail, coated in blood, and his breathing was heavy, but it did nothing to wipe the hatred from him.
"This is what the Commonwealth does to people," he said, his voice raspy yet firm. "It turns learned men and women into savages that are only capable of destroying. Over a hundred years of work gone forever, countless generations of scientific innovation destroyed, and all because of you. To say nothing of the hundreds you've killed. After all that, what's one more body to the pile."
Nora didn't say anything. She couldn't move her hand to lower the pistol, but she couldn't pull the trigger either. She was stuck in limbo. And then Nate was there. Standing behind the old man, blood leaking freely from the hole that Kellogg's .44 had left in his skull. "Nora? What's going on? After all I did to keep you and Shaun safe?"
"Wasteland savages can't create anything," the old man said. "They can't build, they can't innovate, they can't stabilize. All they can do is kill." And as he spoke, Nora felt her grip on the pistol's trigger tighten. There was a bang. A corpse fell to the ground.
With a scream and a violent thrashing that was just barely hampered by blankets, Nora found herself in a two person bed, half dangling over the edge? "Blue? The hell is going on?" A light flared in the darkness. Piper was sitting up on the other side of the bed, rubbing sleep out of her eyes after flicking a lamp on. Her eyes were narrowed in a combination of sleepiness and annoyance, but both quickly vanished as she looked down at Nora. "Bad dreams again?"
Nora nodded silently as she untangled herself from the sheets and lay down on her back, staring at the ceiling. "Want to talk about it?" Piper asked softly.
"It's the same thing," Nora said, not looking at Piper, but instead the ceiling. "Shaun was there, and so was Nate. The things that they said…about how this was all my fault. About how I had done nothing but destroy his life's work."
"Hey," Piper said, snuggling up to Nora and wrapping her arms around her. "We've been over this. The Institute was evil. For all their talk about being humanity's future, they didn't really have much in the way of a plan. All they did was kidnap people and replace them with synths that were slightly more advanced than the last one. How is that humanity's future? And your son…the son that Nate died for isn't Father. He'd understand."
"I hope so," Nora whispered, squeezing Piper's hand tightly. "Every day I think about what he'd say. About if he would've done something different if the situations were reversed. And I just don't know. I new him Piper, but I knew the Pre-War him. I have no idea if the Post-War him would've been different."
"I think he would've been the same," Piper said. "I mean, how different would I have been if I had been born Pre-War?"
Looking down at the shorter woman, Nora couldn't help but give a smile. "Well, for starters, you strike me as the type that would've been the reporter who was desperate to get interviews with movie stars instead of publishing breaking news. Granted you probably still would've been shot at." Her cheek earned her a hat thrown at her face.
"Careful Blue, I still hold the right of couch banishment," Piper said playfully. Nora let out a laugh. The nightmares had been plaguing her ever since she had woken up in this barren and violent world. They had gotten worst ever since the Institute had been dealt with and she had learned the horrible truth about her son. She had a nasty feeling that they would be plaguing her until the day that she died. But Piper made things easier. Tolerable. Even enjoyable.
Kissing Piper gently on the forehead, Nora got out of bed. The commander's quarters in the Castle were only luxurious by the standards of the Commonwealth, and half of that came from Nora having managed to find a queen sized bed for it. Still, it was the place that Nora had come to call home with Piper. "We've got a few hours before the Brotherhood arrives for negotiations," Nora said, giving a quick wink at Piper. "After I do the daily rounds, maybe we can sneak a little private time in."
"Uh, um," Piper said, her face going bright red. Nora loved that about Piper. For all her confidence and bravado, Piper blushed like a school girl and got tongue tied at the slightest bit of flirting. "Sure? I mean, I wish we could actually find a way to take a bath afterwards, but I'm ok with it." God, if that wasn't something Nora missed above all from the old world. She had taken to sleeping in the bright blue jumpsuit that she had worn when she had exited Vault 111 with very few other clothes to wear. All of them were dirty anyway, and she rarely, if ever, got a chance to clean them. She had gotten used to the smell after a couple of years, but still wished that she could at least shower every now and then.
"It's a date," Nora said, picking up the pieces of her bright green combat armor and slapping them on. She had just slid the helmet on when the door burst open and Preston came running in. "Preston," Nora said, frowning. "A knock would be nice. You didn't know if we were-" but she trailed off as she saw the Minuteman panting. "What's wrong?"
"Brotherhood's early," he gasped. "Something's wrong. They're staying outside the Castle, shouting at each other. Some other people are there too. Didn't get a good look at them. But they all have guns and I think they may start pointing them at each other."
Nora stiffened as she felt for the grip of her laser rifle. "Get everyone that you can on standby and have the artily manned just in case, but make it clear they're just on stand by. No one is to fire or even take aim without my permission." With that, she cleared the doorway to the bedroom, Piper right behind her.
When the Minutemen had attacked the headquarters of the Institute and singlehandedly destroyed it, and had done a lot to earn the organization support and respect. Enough support and respect that they were able to negotiate with the Brotherhood of Steel and Railroad as equals, to some degree at least. Over the last couple of years, the Minutemen had kept an award peace in the Commonwealth. The threats of the wasteland still lurked around the fringes of society, but there was no war between the Brotherhood and the Railroad, and all three factions worked to some degree to eliminate the common threats they all faced. Even though the Railroad noticeably did less than the other two.
The Minutemen had also managed to act as a buffer between the Railroad and the Brotherhood, keeping them from coming to blows. Nora was glad of this, because she had a very bad feeling that a Railroad/Brotherhood war would be a very short affair that would end with a few dead knights and the Railroad wiped off of the face of the Earth. That was why she had one of her three weekly appointments with the Brotherhood today, to keep that fragile peace going. And now some wild card was throwing everything out of synchronization.
She skidding into the courtyard of the Castle, careful not to damage any of the many crops that were growing in the soil. The walls of the Castle hadn't exactly been repaired, but they had been filled in. Heaps of scrap metal and piles of rock had been stacked to fill the gaps, leaving only the front entrance as a way in and out. Said entranced had also been fortified on the sides, making it a very narrow chokepoint. Half a dozen Minutemen were manning said chokepoint, while a few dozen more were up on the ramparts, a couple with heavy weapons on the ground by their side. Thankfully, none of them were aiming their weapons at the Brotherhood, whose voices Nora could now hear. Not breaking stride, she stepping through the front entrance and outside of the Castle.
"You had no right to make those decisions! I am the Elder of the Brotherhood, and if you fail to recognize that, perhaps we need to consider your dismissal!" Nora's eyes fell on a mob of about fifty people. Half of them were wearing power armor, while the other half were in a strange khaki colored uniform, a few of them wearing gas masks with red tinted eye slots, all of them heavily armed. Two men in the middle were roaring at each other. One Nora recognized as Elder Maxson, while the other, a man in old and badly damaged T45-d power armor, was a stranger to her. He had bright blonde hair and looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties. He also looked absolutely livid, as if he would reach for the laser rifle on his back at any moment.
"You sent me off to die-oh I'm sorry, to handle the Brotherhood's western affairs," the unknown man said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "So that left it up to me to ratify any treaties that we made with other nations. Ergo, I was acting within the orders that you gave me. Maybe you should've thought this through a little more and made sure your orders were what you actually wanted."
"You will speak to me with more respect than that," Maxson said in a dangerous voice. "I've said it before, I am-"
"You're a jumped up little puppet is what you are," the unknown man said scathingly. "I mean you'll forgive me if some of the stories around you and why you're such a great leader stink of bullshit. You killed a Deathclaw at the age of thirteen?" He looked around at the other power armor clad figures, the majority of which were crowed behind Maxson. "You all buy this? I mean, were any of you actually there? Anyone see the miracle thirteen year old kill the predator that can tank anti-material rounds to the head?"
At this point, Nora couldn't help but noticed that the smaller group behind the man looked worse for wear. Mason's men had clean armor that shone in the light, looking almost brand new. The man's men had badly damaged armor, riddled with bullet holes, burn marks, and many of them having mismatched parts. Unless she was seeing things, there were also cuts that made it look like someone had tried to kill them with blades weapons. One even had a nasty such cut in his side, one that would've no doubt been fatal if power armor had not been there to take the blow.
"You claim that our organization is built on lies?" Mason asked, his voice growing low and dangerous. "You claim that I am a fraud?"
"I claim that this is all rather hard to swallow," the man said. "There's also the little fact that the west coast branch full heartedly supports you being leader here, when it was rather open that they hated Lyons and everything that he stood for. You're not exactly betraying everything he stood for, but you clearly are moving away from his policies and back to the old way. I find it rather telling is all."
"You speak rather highly of your opinion of the situation for a man that has been away for years," Maxson said coldly. "I've done much in your absence, built the Brotherhood to be larger and greater than even the West Coast has managed. What have you done?"
"Oh, you know, stopping a rapacious army of murderers and warlords with Lyon's Pride, the green boys and girls you gave me and nothing else. You know, nothing special," the man said. Nora couldn't help but notice that the man sounded frustrated at Maxson bringing up his accomplishments with the Brotherhood. As if he wanted to defame the Elder, but couldn't.
Piper shot her a nervous glance at this point, and Nora knew exactly what she was thinking. Broking peace between the Brotherhood and another faction was one thing. It was tough, but it was possible. Sorting out the inner politics of the Brotherhood was another matter all together, not one she was particularly well equipped for. That being said, she could hardly let a civil war break out on her doorstep.
"Look, Maxson," Nora said, attempting to keep her tone level, but a bit of bitterness managing to sneak its way in. "I don't know who this is, nor what the history between you two is. This is Minutemen territory, you two look like you're about to start shooting at each other, and if you do, we're going to have a problem."
The two men looked at her. Mason looked irritated at the interruption, much to Nora's annoyance, but she was glad to see that the other man looked rather ashamed of his actions, at least to some minor degree. "You're rather early Maxson, so is this about today's later matters, or is it just a courtesy call?"
"As a matter of fact, me and my companion came here looking for you. Mason, came here looking for us." A woman stepped forward from the crowd behind the unknown man. Dressed in combat armor not unlike Nora's, she had a noticeable pair of pins above her breast. One of a golden branch, the other of a two headed bare. The woman was noticeably older than the man. Streaks of gray were in her hair, and lines were staring to form on her face. She had a carbine slung over her back and a magnum at her side.
Reaching Nora, she held out her hand. "Christina Foley, ambassador of the New California Republic," she said politely. "The NCR has been reaching out to chart the Post-War United States, to seek out any other major civilizations that have been formed. We've already made contact with the Brotherhood of Steel and the areas under their direct control, making you and the Minutemen the next on our list of probities."
"Pardon me," Maxson said sternly. "You have not consulted with me, the head of the Brotherhood, on the matter of any treaty. Huber commands a special forces unit, not the Brotherhood as a whole."
Christina glanced at Maxson over her shoulder. "William and I have discussed the matter in depth. I have even studied your Codex. A person of his position and authority is well within this right to sign and ratify a treaty on behalf of the Brotherhood, particularly when there is no way for the Elder to be reached." She had the same distain to Maxson that William dead. The main difference was that William passionately hated Maxson, while Christina treated him with little more than cold dismissal.
"Might I ask whose interpretation of the Codex lead you to believe that?" Maxson asked. "You may say that, but on the other hand, Eldar Lyon's actions could technically adhering to the Codex, yet he nearly drove the Brotherhood into the ground."
"Show some damn respect," William growled.
Maxson turned is attention back to the other man, his eyes alight. Nora had a bad feeling that William and just given him an opening, despite his attention to do otherwise. "Do you deny that, when you first met us, we had been reduced from a powerful organization, to a militia band that just happened to have access to more advanced technology? That had happened under Lyons leadership."
"I seem to recall the West Coast branch leaving him out to dry," William retorted. "Call me crazy, I think that might have played a role."
"As I was saying, the lettering in the Codex was quite clear and the Treaty of Nashville has been signed," Christine said. "I assure you, it was quite favorable in your regard. Large swathes of territory were left open for you to expand to. But the NCR is expanding as well, and I see no reason as to why we should suffer for your gain. An equal divide seems perfectly reasonable to me."
Maxson didn't seem to have any retort to this, but glared at William nonetheless. Nora had a nagging feeling that this Treaty of Nashvile, whatever it was, was not the source of Maxson's anger. It seemed to be less the contents of the treaty, which he most likely would've signed himself, but rather that William had gone behind his back to do it. Nora had to admit, it wasn't exactly an invalid reason to be mad.
"I do believe that this is an issue that can be resolved at a later date," Christina said firmly. Her eyes darted back and forth between the man, presumably NCR soldiers, that she had brought with her. Quite a few of them, mainly the ones wearing gas masks, were carrying anti-material rifles and LMGs, weapons, that Nora couldn't help but notice, would have a chance of punching through power armor. Doubly so if they had been equipped with armor piercing rounds. They all seemed to be tensely gripping their weapons, something mimicked by the Knights and Paladins glared at them.
"Elder Maxson, I trust you'll be able to keep your latter appointment?" Nora asked. "I really shouldn't turn away someone who has traveled all the way from California to be here." She still wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she badly wanted to avoid things turning violent, and separating Maxson from the people who were infuriating Maxson so badly seemed to be a good way to do it.
"Of course," Maxson said, his words not hostile for the first time that day. This quickly fell away as he turned his attention to William. "We're not done here."
"You're goddamn right we're not," William replied.
"I'll have to ask you to leave the majority of your men outside, for security reasons of course," Nora said, not liking the idea of there being too many heavily armored strangers inside the Minutemen's base of operations.
"Of course," Christina said, gesturing to a pair of men in gas masks, who fell in step behind her as she marched towards the front gate, William doing the same with a pair of Paladins. Turning on the spot, Nora headed back instead, leading her unexpected guests.
"Never a dull day, huh Blue?" Piper whispered in her ears as she went. "So what do you think the headline for this to be? Power struggle within Brotherhood of Steel? Or just Minutemen General playing favoritism?"
Nora let out a small laugh, but couldn't help but feel a queazy feeling in her stomach. Keeping the Commonwealth at peace was such a fragile juggling act that the last thing that she needed was for it to be thought that she was favoring someone else within the Brotherhood, other than the Elder. All of this was assuming that William didn't attempt to start something if she didn't support him in whatever it was he wanted, something he might rely on the NCR to help push. She had heard about the NCR, a fairly powerful nation on the West Coast that had actually been able to beat the local Brotherhood of Steel. Nora had a bad sensation that she had just walked into the middle of a very old feud.
Piper noticed. "Hey, come on," she said, leaning in a little bit closer. "You've gotten into worse situations than this and managed to come out on top. You can handle two guys measuring dicks." Nora let out a much louder laugh. She was pretty sure this was why she had ended up falling for Piper. The main reason at least, the other reasons being her refusal to give up and desire to do good. But the main reason was the way that, despite it all, she managed to keep smiling. When Nora had first emerged into this bleak and desolate world, she had needed that smile to keep her going.
"I apologize for that," William said from behind her. He sounded like he truly meant it, but Nora still couldn't help but feel cautious. "Maxson and I have a…history."
"Understatement of the century," Piper muttered. "Right up there with Super Mutants aren't that bright and the Institute are meanies."
"Nonetheless, I hope you don't mind me intruding on your talks with Christine. I've more knowledge of the East Cost than she does and I'd make an effective bridge between you two." William sounded rather odd, as if he felt he was out of place.
"I don't see why that would be an issue," Nora said, privately thinking that she should talk to him, just to hear who he was and what was going on within the Brotherhood. If only to better prepare herself for any potential fallout. "This way." Leading her companions through the courtyard, she ducked into the wall and into a room she had turned into a makeshift office. Maps of the Commonwealth dotted the way, and a charred and burned desk she had was covered with sketches and reports from the settlements aligned with the Minutemen. She took a seat behind the desk, Piper lingering behind her, while William and Christina stood on the other side. Their soldiers slowly milled out, idling just beyond the door frame.
"I think proper introductions are in order," Christine said. "Christine Foley. Mainly a courier, though acting ambassador for the NCR, born and raised in the Mojave Wasteland. My friend here is William Huber, former inhabitant of Vault 101 in the Capital Wasteland, Paladin of the Brotherhood of Steel and acting command of Lyon's Pride."
Nora let out a snort before she could stop herself. "Lyon's pride? Isn't that a little on the nose?"
William shot her a grin. "I can promise you, whatever jokes you're thinking of, we've thought of better."
"That sounds like a challenge," Piper said. Nora could hear the gears grinding in her head, no doubt cooking up some sort of lion related pun.
"A challenge that can no doubt wait until later. But I have to ask, Vault 101? You lived in a Vault your entire life?" Nora asked. She hadn't expected to run into another Vault dweller in the Brotherhood.
"Kinda," William said. "I was actually born outside the Vault, but my father managed to gain access to it when I was a baby. It was one of the lucky Vaults from what I've seen. The control group that was actually meant for repopulation and not twisted experiments." He looked disgusted. "An Overseer with a bit of a god complex and no contact with the outside world seem tame compared to what went on in the other Vaults."
"No argument from me," Nora said. "I was in Vault 111. A few of us were put into cryo while the rest were only left with six months of supplies. It didn't end well." She hesitated. Bad memories of Kellogg were flooding back into her mind. She pushed them out. The son of a bitch was dead now. He had had it coming.
"So, the rumors of you being from Pre-War are true," William said, sounding interested. "You just might be the only person from that time period alive. That isn't a Ghoul or Super Mutant that is."
Nora nodded. "Six months of supplies though…have either of you seen a Vault crueler than that?"
"Yes," Christine said without any hesitation. "Vault 11." Nora felt startled at how blunt the statement was and at the shockingly dark look that was now coating Christine's face.
"Do I want to know?" Nora asked hesitantly.
Christine waited a moment before she responded, clearly thinking it over. "Some other time, maybe. But not right now. I'm not ready to relive it today. But let me just say that you'll be wondering who the bigger monster is. The people who built that Vault, or the ones who lived inside it."
Confused by the cryptic comments, Nora decided to move on. "Anyway, we really should get back on topic. What's brought the NCR this far out east?"
"War, to be perfectly blunt," Christine said. "We've been fighting a war band known as Caesar's Legion, it was nearly as big as the NCR and was damn tough to take down. Even after their leader died, they just ended up running east, sacking and looting as they went. We couldn't let them do as they pleased, so a few thousand troops were sent after them."
"And they ran into me and whatever men Maxson had seen fit to give me at around Tennessee," William said, sounding bitter. "We had been given an undersized task force and sent out west to deal with any threats to humanity we found that way. Well, we found a big one. We would've been overwhelmed by sheer numbers if we hadn't been able to pincer them with the NCR. By sheer accident I might add, we had no idea that the NCR was chasing the Legion."
Christine let out a laugh. "I know, you thought I was an agent of the Legion."
It was the first time the woman had smiled since Nora had met her. William promptly returned it. "Can't say that you did much better. What, did you think that because I had needed to ditch my power armor, I automatically had to be with the Legion?" Still smiling, Christine shook her head. "Anyway," William continued, "A couple of years after that we finally managed to crush the last of the Legion and sign the Treaty of Nashville. Then we started heading back east to establish contact with the main Brotherhood and, well, I think you saw how that went."
"Bad blood from the war out west?" Nora asked.
"You heard about that, huh?" Christina said. "Yeah. We managed to broker a peace with the Mojave branch, but things are still icy with the core branch, even if we've gotten along far enough that we aren't actively shooting each other. But it's more like a ceasefire than a peace. I was hoping that the East Coast branch would be easier to work with." She threw her arms up in frustration. "I guess I was wrong."
"You wouldn't have been if you had managed to get here while Lyons was still in charge," William said, a sour look crossing his face. "But a lot of shit happened there. A lot of shit I feel like I haven't uncovered yet."
"What? Like blackmail? Bribery? Threats?" Nora asked. The moment she had spoken, however, she knew the truth would be much more extreme than any of her suggestions. And she was right.
"Let me put it this way. Elder Lyons dies. Not a huge surprise, he's extremely old and even the wealthiest person Post-War only has access to so much medicine. But then his daughter takes control, and she's young, strong and bright. And she falls in the line of duty. That's all it says on the entry chronicling her death. That she died in battle. It doesn't say when, it doesn't say where, it doesn't say who she was fighting, and it doesn't even say what the cause of death is. And right after, a sixteen year old kid gets put in charge and I shunted off to the west. Something is wrong here." His hand gripped in anger. Christine's hand reached out and took it, giving it a gentle squeeze. Understanding flowed through Nora, and she felt she understood why two people from opposite sides of North America were sticking by each other so readily. She knew that kind of grip. It was the same grip that she had given Nate. That Piper gave her.
"You think it was murder," Nora said bluntly. William nodded. "I'm…I'm so sorry," Nora said. It was odd. You would think losing the most important person in your life would make you more prepared to help comfort others who had experienced loss. It didn't. If anything, it just made you realize how hollow your words sounded. "Was she important to you?"
"She kept me alive," William said. "I was a nineteen year old kid in a wasteland I had never seen before. Never held a gun in my life. I had wanted to be a doctor like my dad. I would've been gunned down by Super Mutants if it wasn't for her. She taught me how not to be a hopeless idiot. When it comes to all the combat capable people in my life, she's easily in the top five. And she got killed in some minor skirmish by an unknown enemy? Bull fucking shit."
Nora fought the urge to squirm uncomfortably. If William was telling the truth, something about this did feel wrong. She had heard the members of the Brotherhood talking about how foolish Elder Lyons would be, they hadn't seemed like the type that would have a problem with a power shift away from him and his legacy. "So. What are you going to do if it's true?" Nora asked. "Someone hurt someone I cared about too. He's not alive anymore."
"I need to work on the if first," William said, his voice hardening. "I'm not going to act until I get absolute proof that it's true. But if I can prove it, heads are going to roll."
"I've got some experience when it comes to digging up dirty laundry," Piper added helpfully. "Give me a call if you ever need me."
William gave a grim smile. "I just might take you up on that."
"I agree that should be looked into, but I feel that it should remain a mostly internal affair. There'd be war between the NCR and the Brotherhood if I got involved. You're one thing, but I'm another" Christine said. "Potential power struggle within the Brotherhood aside, I was hoping that we could work out a rough draft of a treaty between the NCR and the Minutemen. They do, after all, seem to represent the majority of the Commonwealth's population."
"We could do that," Nora said. "It might take a few hours, but we could do that. You both strike me as people that I would like to get to know better." She let out a slightly sour laugh. "Let's just hope that this doesn't make things with the Brotherhood go sour. I have no idea how they're going to react."
She shook her head. "Christ. We get something vaguely resembling stability and now I'm going to work
Christine gave her second smile of the day and held out her arm, on which there was a Pip-Boy. "I heard radio broadcast a long time ago of someone long gone. I made a recording of it. It always manages to give me a pick me up." Reaching into her pocket, she slid out a holotape, which she placed in the Pip-Boy. A soft female voice began to speak.
"Wait a moment, before you go. I... we... hope you've enjoyed your stay. Farewells can be a time of sadness. Letting go, difficult. As a guest of the Sierra Madre you know that truth more than anyone. Frederick Sinclair believed that one's life could be made anew every day. That fortunes were more than the wealth in your hands. Love. Life. Family. Those to care for and those who will care for you. To those who know these joys, the Sierra Madre holds little they don't already have. Out in the world, beyond these walls, that is your chance to begin again. I hope that you will return in happier times. Until then the Sierra Madre, and I, will hold you in our hearts."
Christine's smile widened. "The three of us have done a lot to help pull something resembling order back into this world. Trust me. We're not going to just let it slip away." Nora returned the smile. She had just met the woman, but she believed her.
"Maybe one day we'll have ironed things out so much that all of us on the East Coast will be united in a nation like the NCR," Nora joked.
"That'll be the day," William said.
XXXXX
Author's Note: I have serious mixed feelings on Maxson, in case you can't tell. On the one hand, he really did make the East Coast Brotherhood the juggernaut it is in Fallout 4. On the other hand, he made the East Coast branch fall back into some bad habit that had been plaguing the Brotherhood from its inception. Plus, and while this isn't anything that's 100% confirmed, there's something fishy about his rise to power. Him taking on a Deathclaw at age 13 just reeks of BS propaganda, (Seriously, when I read that, all I can think of is when I had Roger Andrews 1v1 a Deathclaw and have him walk away with one eye and five fingers. If he killed one at the age of thirteen, it was probably an old, crippled and sick one. Either that or a baby.) and Sarah Lyons just happening to die right after she takes up her father's mantle smells of foul play.
It's no secret that the West Coast branch didn't exactly like Lyons or his policies, and everything about Maxson is so utterly Mary Sueish that either Bethesda is trying to go for a character like Legate Lanius or Joshua Graham (and it didn't work) or we were supposed to notice that we were only told about all these great accomplishments of his. We never actually see any of them. Even then, Star Paladin Cross was supposed to take over after Sarah died, so the bullshit hole goes pretty freaking deep here.
This is all assuming that the guy is actually Arthur Maxson. I mean, Maxson is supposed to be twenty, and the guy calling himself that looks a hell of a lot older than that.
One way or another, I don't see the Lone Wanderer being happy with this change of events at all, doubly so considering his friendship with Charon and Fawkes.
Also I don't find Kellogg to be a particularly tragic character just because his parents were abusive and he had a wife and kid who what got killed. He's still just an asshole gun for hire who jumps to blasting a man/woman in the face instead of just prying a baby out of their obviously weakened arms.
Also, is it just me or does Fallout 4 rely on dead spouses a little too much? Main character's spouse? Dead. Deacon's wife? Dead. MacCready's wife? Dead. Kellogg's wife? Dead. Nick's wife? Dead…kinda. It's complicated. Apparently even one of the DLC (haven't played it, it looks like it's not worth the cash) lost a wife. If you don't pick a female main character it's mainly wives bitting the dust if I stop and think about it. Yeah see, stuff like this is why I consider Fallout 4's writing to be overall lesser than New Vegas. New Vegas had one person with a dead wife, and they did a freaking LOT with it (Maybe two if you count Raul.) In 4 it's more along the lines of "YOU get a dead wife! And YOU get a dead wife!" And they just don't DO anything with it. It just feels like a token tragic backstory half of the time, because it's Fallout and you can't have a person who had a happy life.
Sorry if I'm rambling. I actually hadn't finished Fallout 4 when I got the prompt for this story, so I had to put Persona 5 down to speed run it, and overall I found the game to be long as hell, threw way too many enemies at me, and rather underwhelming in the story department. Yeah, but of a step down from New Vegas. Can Bethesda please had Obsidian work on another Fallout game? And not fuck them over on their bonuses because of arbitrary Metacritic bullshit?
Anyway, I just needed to vent about Fallout 4 and how I feel about it. And I'm officially two years late to the party.
And I just slipped in that message from Dead Money at the end A. because it's goddamn beautiful and B. because I feel like it covers the themes of Fallout a lot. The old world failed and self destructed. Humanity, as a whole, fell down. Now it's time to get up again. To get up and build something better.