Authors Note: Okay, this is the first of my stories I've chosen to release. I've been a member of this site for a while and I now feel comfortable letting people violate my imagination (Be gentle please!) I would like to know your honest opinion as well (If it's good enough to keep you interested!!!) Now I must go listen to The Beatles for more inspiration for the next chapter!
Like John Lennon once wrote "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together."
They morning was long gone, sun high up in the sky and beating down on Isaac as he did his 22nd set of push-ups. This was normal though, the instructors are always this hard on initiates but Isaac had it a little easier than others. He was what they called a "pure" strain of humanity. He was born within the Brotherhood of Steel which meant that, by Brotherhood standards, he was virtually untouched by the Wasteland and the dangers within it.
"Ninety-five… ninety-six… ninety-seven… ninety-eight… ninety-nine…" He strained the final one "…One-hundred." Isaac slowly got up, wiping the sweat off his brow and panting heavily. He quickly reached for the bottle of purified water that had been sitting out in the sun all morning and desperately gulped it down. As the water slid down his throat, he cringed as he could feel the effects the sun had on it as it stung his tongue and the back of his throat "You seem pretty thirsty Isaac." He spit up the water and looked behind him; Le Ann was standing there, arms crossed as she laughed. Isaac smirked as water dripped down his chin "Hey Le Ann, you scared the hell out of me. What's up sweetie?" She pulled her shoulder-length, shiny, brown hair back, ready to put it into a ponytail "Do you have anything planned for later on tonight?" He stood up straight and turned around to talk to her "Well, no, no not really. Why, did you want to do something?"
Le Ann looked down at the ground then back up at Isaac; his wild brown hair was damp with sweat and in his eyes "Umm… me and some of the other initiates are going on a long range recon mission to the Anacostia Crossing metro station and we all agreed; we want you to be our temporary squad leader. With Esther being unconscious and all. So, what do you say Isaac?" Isaac smiled brightly as he jokingly asked "You asking me out on a date Le Ann?" She blushed a little as she playfully pushed him "come on Isaac, be serious. I promise you'll have fun." Isaac stared at her for a moment, deep in thought.
Finally, he took a deep breath and smiled "If we split up into teams at any point, it's me and you because your friend Emilee is obsessed with me and Kobe is always being a dickhead to me." Le Ann giggled at this as she wrapped her arms around his neck "Thank you Isaac, you're the best! Come pick me up around 6:30." Isaac smiled once more "So it IS a date." Le Ann pulled away and glared at him "Isaac, seriously." Isaacs smile faded as he saw the serious look she had on her face "Alright Le Ann, 6:30."Her smile returned as she began to back away "Okay Isaac, I'll see you soon then. So, bye for now." Isaac smiled and merely nodded his head. Le Ann nodded in return before turning around and colliding with Paladin Gunny.
Le Ann fall off balance and landed on her buttocks, Gunny looking down at her with anger and aggravation burning in his eyes "You've got a lot of nerve initiate." Le Ann quickly scrambled to her feet and stood up straight "Um… Paladin Gunny… sir, I uh… um…" Gunny cut her off "I don't want to hear your excuses initiate, I want three sets of two-hundred, now!" Isaac noticed the situation and quickly ran over to Le Ann's side "Paladin Gunny, sir." Gunny shot him a dirty look "Move along initiate, I'm a little busy right now." Isaac looked down at the ground, trying not to make direct eye contact with him "No, sir I should be the one taking the fall for this, I was distracting her and I was screwing around and, it was a whole misunderstanding. Please sir." Le Ann looked at him with a bit of shock in her eyes as she whispered "Isaac you don't have to do this for me." Isaac looked at her and merely smiled, Le Ann nodded. Gunny looked at Le Ann and motioned for her to move along. She acknowledged, kissed Isaac on the cheek and whispered 'Thank you.' Before heading off to the citadels' A ring.
Gunny looked back at Isaac, not saying a word, but Isaac could tell what he was thinking and quickly dropped to the ground. Gunny smiled happily at the site of a hard working initiate and walked away. As Isaac continued his first set of pushups, Le Ann's voice ran through his mind. He has always had feelings for Le Ann since the first moment he saved her life and saw her tear- stained face two years ago…
Isaac moaned as he baked inside his new 350 lbs. power armor "Finley are we done yet? I feel like I could pass out at any second now." Finley ignored Isaac's bickering and continued on their route back to the Citadel. He looked back at Isaac who was dragging his laser rifle through the dirt "Nice job today initiate, I'll put a good word to Gunny and you'll be one step closer to becoming a Knight and getting your holotags." Isaac panted heavily, slouched over and continuing to drag his laser rifle lazily through the dirt "Right now…. Some water…. Would be better than stupid holotags." He tiredly said between pants. Finley laughed "Don't like the new suit?" Isaac pulled off his helmet, his face gleaming in the sun and soaking with sweat "If the damn suit had ventilation I might be more comfortable wearing it! It's like ninety-nine degrees out here and this armor sticks so close to my skin it suffocates me!"
Finley laughed once more, reaching behind himself and pulling out a bottle of water before tossing it to Isaac. Isaac caught and violently unscrewed the cap, dumping the water on his face and through his hair, letting some of it slid into his mouth and down his throat. Finley turned back and continued walking; Isaac tossed the empty bottle carelessly on the ground not caring wear it landed and fallowed close behind "Hey Finley, sir?" Finley said nothing and merely nodded; Isaac continued "Why is it that when I get assigned to a mission I always seem to get the most dangerous ones. Do you guys WANT to kill me?"
Finley sighed in frustration "Isaac, your mother and father were some of the best paladins this division of the brotherhood had to offer, and you are their son and that puts the idea in Elder Lyons head that "You can do great things for the Wasteland and its people."." He said the last part almost in a sarcastic tone.
Isaac looked up at the sky, deep in thought as he asked, "So you guys send me on suicide missions to excel further in the art of war?"
Finley laughed a bit "Well son of a bitch, you DO have half a brain!" He said jokingly, though Isaac didn't find it as funny as he did.
They continued on towards the Citadel, silent. Isaac finally saw the Citadel on the horizon but was more alert at the fact that Finley had raised his rifle, ready to fire. Isaac did the same, pulling his laser rifle from behind his back and looking down his sights for any sign of danger.
Finley looked up towards a mountain of rubble "Did you hear that?" he whispered loudly, Isaac shook his head from side to side "No, what was it?"Finley motioned for Isaac to move towards the rubble, Isaac nodded and slowly did as he was told, trying not to step too hard as to break any fragile rubble and alert any surrounding enemies in the area.
Isaac slowly pulled out a bio-gas canister and looked at Finley, he nodded in approval. Without a word Isaac activated it and quickly tossed it over the rubble wall, hearing it hiss and release as it disappeared over the wall. Finley laughed as he heard the surprised cries of the super mutants fallowed by gagging and coughing. He then motioned for Isaac to climb up and over the wall. Isaac nodded and turned to the slope; but as the commands actually registered Isaac quickly looked back at Finley with a faint look of confusion on his face as he asked "Wait what? Why? They're going to die anyway." Finley said nothing and gave the order once more.
Isaac sighed as he began to walk up the water-stained wall of a fallen building followed by another which was cracked slightly in the middle. He continued his way up and went prone as he neared the top. He slowly holstered his laser rifle and pulled out his sniper rifle. He looked through the scope to the ground below; he could see the mutants by a makeshift, camp one dead already the other on his knees with his hands around his neck as he coughed uncontrollably. He looked around a bit more and became wide-eyed at the sight of a young girl of about 14 on her knees with a rope tying her hands together and digging into her wrists.
Without a moment's hesitation, Isaac holstered his rifle and slid down the slope, rolling when he hit the bottom. He ran over to the young, scared girl "are you okay?" She looked up at him, her dark, flowing, brown hair was matted with blood and knotty, her pale face stained with tears and dirt, her arms and face were accompanied by small cuts and her vibrant, forest green eyes were bloodshot; she had obviously suffered from their abuse and was in a state of shock.
She said nothing, but Isaac didn't care at the moment as he was already on one knee, beginning untying the rough knot on the rope. He slowly unwrapped the sharp, bristly rope making sure not to damage her wrists further. Once off he threw the blood stained bit of rope to the side and put his hands on her shoulders; her whole body was shaking uncontrollably, he could tell she was terrified so he pulled her close to his chest and embraced her in an effort to comfort her, bring her back to reality. He felt her tense muscles relax as she slowly brought her arms over his poulderons and around his neck, her body limp against his. "What's your name?" He asked quietly.
She began to strain out words; her voice sounding like it had been deprived of water for day. "My- my name is Le A- Le Ann," she pulled away just enough to take off his helmet and look him in the face. She smiled faintly and whispered "Thank you…" before passing out and falling into his arms.
Isaac wrapped a possessive arm around her back and his other under her buttocks. Once he had her he slowly got off his knee and called out Finley's name. Moments later, Finley came over the slope sliding down with his laser rifle ready.
He looked in the direction of the dead muties and slowly lowered his rifle. He then looked in the direction of Isaac and jumped slightly at the sight of the girl in his arms "Isaac what the hell happened?!"
Isaac looked up at Finley, a faint smile on his face "I found her here. I think she's okay, but we have to get her back to the Citadel."
Finley nodded in agreement "You're right. Let's go." Isaac looked down at Le Ann once more and smiled as he whispered "Don't worry, everything will be alright. You're safe now." Her eyes opened slightly and she smiled faintly as she shouted "Isaac, get up!" He now had a look of confusion on his face as he asked "What do you mean get up?" He gasped as he suddenly found himself being thrown to the ground by an unseen explosion.
He quickly snapped back to reality when he felt a sharp pain shoot through his back, he had been thrown against the wall by something. He looked around to see he was back in the Citadel again; he began rubbing the back of his head with his fingers and soon pulled them away when he felt them getting wet. Blood was smeared on the tips; Le Ann rushed to his side and knelt down beside him "Isaac are you okay? Oh my god, I thought I was going to lose you!" She pulled him close to her chest and held him in an embrace.
He began to laugh a little "Le Ann I'm okay. Just a little head injury. What the hell was that? What happened?"
She pulled away just enough to talk to him, she had newly created tear stains on her cheeks and that oddly made Isaac smile a bit more, comforted him to know how desperately she cared about him and his well being.
"You were hit by a mini nuke blast." She said with a hint of shakiness in her voice. Isaac's smile began to dissipate "I survived the blast?!" Tears began to glaze her eyes as she pulled him into another embrace "Isaac, you scared the living hell out of me. Are you okay, any injuries?" Isaac put his fingers to the crack on the back of his head and lightly wiped some of the blood away.
Le Ann slowly pulled away and looked at his fingers which were just slightly drenched in blood but Isaac managed to sneak a faint smile in to all the seriousness "Just a small bump on the head."
Le Ann smiled and placed her forehead against his, tears streaming down her face as she lightly whispered "Isaac, I love you."
He felt something in his chest swell up as her words entered in through his ears but he managed to swallow it as he whispered "I- I, love you too Le Ann."