After a few days of rest and relaxation at Bunker Hill Marieke and her girlfriend Emily are on their way to County Crossing. Emily's contacts from Diamond city told her that the people there have some information for the article she is writing for Piper.
"It's strange how quickly Publick Occurrences has grown the past year since you came along, Blue." Emily sighs as they exit the main gate of the settlement. "Now I am with you, the woman I love, helping people and writing reports on what is going outside of Boston."
"That is true, that report on the destruction of the Institute gave the Publick a massive boost." Marieke replied as she gives her girlfriend a kiss on the head. After a share of affection, the pair leave the city towards their destination. The women approach the bridge and of course they encounter a raider party who immediately open fire on them.
"GOD DAMMIT BLUE!" Emily screams as she takes her gun out of its holster. "Why do these assholes appear all the time?!"
"I don't know! It is an excellent opportunity to try this new rifle I bought from Vault 81!" Marieke replies as she takes cover from the hailstorm of lead. She takes aim for one of the raiders at the front and pulls the trigger. The bullet hits its target with ease and passes through the raider's head into the car behind him. The others stare at their killed friend and immediately start shooting at Marieke instead of Emily who in turn throws a fragmentation grenade she found a while ago.
"Blue! Grenade away!" She yells as she takes cover to which her girlfriend does the same. The grenade lands close to a car and takes out a bunch of raiders, leaving only a few alive thanks to the armor they were wearing. Still stunned from the explosion, they fail to notice the rapid deterioration of the car's reactor caused by the explosion, and are flung off the bridge when it detonates in nuclear fire.
"That's one way to clear a bridge." Marieke chuckles while holstering her weapon. "Let's move on."
As they cross the bridge the women pick anything useful off the bodies still on the bridge to sell later on. The rest of the walk to County Crossing is uneventful besides the occasional bloatfly or feral dog. After a short walk towards the farm they see Albert Helgert tending to his crop of mutfruit. Two farm hands are carrying the harvest to a caravan who is patiently waiting for them to finish.
Emily waves to the farmer.
He returns the gesture with a friendly smile and a wave back. "Hello Emily!" He dusts off his clothes. "Great that you could come so quickly."
"Hello Emily!" Mr Helgert greets the women as he dusts off his clothes. "Great that you could come so quickly."
"No problem. What's up?"
"Remember those groups of robots that have been attacking caravans and settlements lately?" He asks with worry in his voice. "I think I know where they are coming from…"
He pauses as he seems to think twice for what he is about to say.
"One of the caravan guards saw them coming from the general direction of the Brotherhood of Steel at the airport. I hope they are not responsible for those robots."
"We'll check it out, Mr Helgert." Marieke says with determination in her voice. "I know Elder Maxon is sometimes a bigoted asshole, but he is not one to send out robots to kill everything."
"Fair enough," Mr Helgert sighs. "If you would be so kind to check up on them or the source of those robots, that would me much appreciated."
"We will check it out. Don't worry," Emily says with determination, eager to get the bottom of this story.
They bid the man a farewell and leave toward Boston Airport where the Brotherhood of Steel have set up their base. After a few hours walking the women arrive are immediately stopped by a Knight in power armor.
"Halt! What is your business here?" The Knight asks as she aims her minigun at the other women. "This is a military base under control by the Brotherhood of Steel!"
"Sentinel Marieke requesting to see Elder Maxon." Marieke announces to the Knight while standing straight, even though her figure is dwarfed by the woman in power armor.
"My apologies Sentinel! You may pass," The soldier says as she lowers her weapon. "Who is your companion?"
"This is my girlfriend and partner and we are going to have a problem if she is not allowed entrance," Marieke says with a stern voice. "Are we going to have a problem?"
"No, ma'am, no problems." The Knight stands attention obviously trying to not anger her superior officer. She moves aside and lets the women pass.
"Are these people always this rude?" Emily asks as they cross the main courtyard into the terminal. "Because that woman was rude."
"She is probably new on the Boston B.O.S. Chapter and therefore didn't recognize me. She's just doing her job." Marieke shrugs while walking down towards a vertibird but before she can board she is stopped by Emily. "What was the name of the guy we were supposed to meet? Mason?"
"You mean Elder MAXON?"
"Yeah, him! I overheard someone mention his name and that they saw him walk to somewhere, but I couldn't hear to where."
"Where was this?"
"Back in the terminal with the storage area." Emily points at the main depot of the Brotherhood.
"I know a guy who may have seen him too, follow me!" Marieke heads towards the building and as they enter Emily sees all kinds of people scurry around with stacks of folders, boxes and other means of storage. Just before they can come close to the tall racks they are stopped by a man in combat armor.
"I was hoping I wouldn't see your face here again." The man says gruffly, with obvious resentment in his voice.
Marieke crosses her arms over chest and addresses him sternly. "You show proper respect for your superiors Knight."
"My apologies Sentinel. What can I do for you?"
"Have you seen Elder Maxon walk around here somewhere?"
"I have seen him enter the elevator of the old control tower with Proctor Ingram and Teagan."
"Any idea what they were doing there?"
"No, ma'am. They did not brief me on their intentions." The Knight says with clenched teeth. "Was there anything else I can do for you.
"That is all." Marieke grins, obviously enjoying her power over the proud officer who doesn't say anything besides an annoyed grunt as he turns around.
"Friendly as usual here I see?" Emily notes.
"They distrust outsiders and many still see me as an outsider. Only me and Ingram actually get along pretty well within the ranks of the Brotherhood."
Marieke explains to her partner, while heading towards the former control tower, how she and Proctor Ingram have become friends. She tells her that Ingram taught her to operate her first suit of power armor because she had some issues with the one in Concord. Later on, they would train together, and she would help Ingram with her missing legs and maintaining the frame she is in now.
While talking the women pass along several knights, initiates and scribes talking, working, training and other general activities, ignoring the women completely.
They take the elevator to the top of the tower and hear Maxon, Ingram and Teagan bicker about some sort of mission to one of the islands far up north. Marieke makes her presence known by lightly clearing her throat, immediately earning the attention of the three.
"What can we do for you Sentinel?" Elder Maxon asks, slightly annoyed that the meeting has been interrupted. "Since you already barged in, you might as well tell us now and it better be urgent."
"Sir, it is indeed urgent. Innocent lives are at stake and we need to take action!" Marieke gets right to the point, earning the attention of all three.
"What is the crisis." Ingram asks quickly, obviously annoyed by the interruption."
"Citizens of Boston have been attacked by hostile robots and they suspect that the Brotherhood is sending them out to clear sites. There have already been several civilian casualties."
"We didn't send out those robots since, as you should know Sentinel, we do not have the resources to undertake such missions."
"I have heard a knight speak about that old Robco sales center where that Mechanist holed up a few months ago." Teagan reports.
"I know where that is!" Emily claps in her hands. "Isabel used to use that as a base back when she was the Mechanist!"
"Well, maybe the machines are back in operation and started producing robots with her flawed programming again. We need to put a stop to that, again." Marieke sighs. "I don't really like that place. The experiments there were just too fucked up, even for me, and I have seen a lot of shit in my time here in the Commonwealth."
"If that base is still operational it needs to be deactivated so we can do a sweep and retrieve." Maxon says, getting up from his chair. "I want you to check out that base. Clear out any hostiles in the area."
"We were planning to go to that area anyway since it is another item on our list."
"Then we have a mutual agreement." Maxon dismisses the women and returns to his previous activities.
They turn to leave, and after another boring ride in the elevator Marieke and Emily head towards the Robco Sales and Service center. After a short but uneventful trek the women arrive at the decrepit building.
"Are you ready?" Marieke unholsters her weapon as she looks at her girlfriend next to her.
"Yes, let's put this story to print." The reporter cocks her gun. Marieke opens the door and they step into the dark and dusty building.