July 28th, 2258, Capital Wasteland
James Lopez. The mind behind Project Purity. The waters of life. A dream that had been born out of Vault 21 when he first gazed upon Lake Mead with Catherine, before they journeyed west with the Followers to seek out new life and new adventures.
Now that dream was dead along with his wife. But in the process of that lost, he gained his son, his little Adrian. A mop of black hair covered the precious two week old, tucked safely in his arms. The last reminder of his wife, his project, his dream.
The dream you abandoned. The dream that lead to your wife's demise. Do you think she would want you to leave it all just because she died? An inner voice raged at him, demanding answers.
She would have wanted me to keep our son safe. Safe from the hazards of the wasteland. A life that isn't filled with desolation, despair, and death. Another voice, a calming presence, soothed the other. The inner angry dissipated and he found himself unclenching his fists.
The wasteland was quiet, the wind blowing slightly to the east.
"Doctor Lopez, we're almost to Megaton," the smooth voice of Star Paladin Cross broke through his inner thoughts. The four others, the Knights and Paladins who had volunteered to escort him to his destination were arranged around him, two in the back and two in the front, while Cross was next to him.
Vault 101.
He had stopped there, when they had first arrived in the Capital Wasteland. Months of traveling, dodging raider gangs and losing members almost daily. The Overseer had been reluctant, but had struck a deal with the young and naive doctor from the Mojave. If whatever James was looking for did not work out, then James could come into the Vault. After all, James was a Vault Dweller himself.
He never told him that Catherine had been a Follower of the Apocalypse from California.
"Thank you Star Paladin," he said with the utmost gratefulness. We would have never made it this far without you."
"No, you wouldn't," she acknowledged through her montone speakers in her T-45d power armor helmet. "The offer still stands. The Brotherhood needs doctors and scientists."
James let out a long sigh. "Lydia...you know I can't. I'm sorry, but my greatest priority is my son. And I will not let him grow up surrounded by death and struggle. Away from the wastes and the monsters."
He knew that it was a tempting offer. The Brotherhood was the most technologically advanced faction in the Capital Wasteland. The Citadel, their imposing fortress, where technological wonders were being worked on by the scribes. Protected. Safe.
But what about Adrian? There was no guarantee that he would be protected and safe once he grew up. That one day he would venture out into the ruins of downtown D.C to fight against Super Mutants. To be exposed to the cruel realities of this world.
"I...I can't," he repeated again as if repeating it would strengthen his case. "Adrian needs to be safe. Even the Citadel cannot guarantee my son's safety one hundred percent."
Cross nodded, though James could feel the frustration radiating from her. He was one of the few learned minds left anywhere in the United States and knowledge, just like water, power, and ammunition, was power. But the memories of Catherine were too strongly associated with the Brotherhood. And the thought of joining the Brotherhood after abandoning Project Purity would be like a slap to the face to her memory.
And Madison.
He shuddered, remembering how Madison had ranted and raved at him when he had first told her. How he was leaving them to doom since he was the best they had. Leaving her. He understood that Madison had feelings for him, the glances she gave, but she never acted on it. He was a married man during the time they worked on the Project and a grieving widow with a son when Catherine died.
"We'll be staying in Megaton for a couple of days, if you change your mind," Cross relayed though deep down must have known James would have never joined them.
They continued, the bleak atmosphere of the surrounding land doing nothing to elevate their moods. The Brotherhood escort dispatched a roving raider death squad with ease in front of a Super-Duper Mart before they reached a hill that overlooked Megaton. The giant metal structure jutting out of the wasteland was a welcome sign.
Then, it paused. James could hear a slight whirring sound, like blades chopping through the air. The Knights and Paladins quickly spotted the source of the sound. A small gray dot in the horizon, bathing in the moon's light.
"Damnit," Cross gritted her teeth before turning to a Knight. "Jenkins, get the good doctor into cover behind that rock. Williams, Jones, covering fire if necessary. Dawes, you're with me."
A Knight with a R91 assault rifle gently grabbed James and started to guide him to a rock covering that provided a view of the other Brotherhood soldiers. The Knight clicked the safety off of his rifle.
"Stay down and don't move," he ordered sternly before looking over the rock. The dot was more visible and much larger. Whatever it was, it had spooked the Brotherhood.
"What's going on?" James asked, trying to soothe his son who was beginning to stir from all the rapid motion.
"I don't know, but I think that's an Enclave Vertibird. It's been almost two decades since anyone at seen them. Though we got rid of them all at Navarro."
The Enclave? James had heard stories about them, how they had wanted to wipe out the inhabitants of the old United States just because they were 'mutated.' He drew his son even closer, almost clutching him to his chest, and tried to soothe the infant back to sleep. The whirring sound was getting louder and louder, drowning out anything. He could barely hear what the Knight had to say.
Then the sounds of battle began. Laser fire, -the slow methodic fire from a laser rifle and soon rapid overlapping flashes of red energy- began to volley at each other. James tilted his head up to see that the strange flying machine had a gatling laser attached to the nose, firing hot flashes of red energy where Cross and the rest of her team was. He watched with horror as one of the flashes hit a Knight in the arm, burning through his armor and making him yelp in pain.
The flying machine did another turn above them before hovering just a few dozen feet away from them. Out of the back of the machine emerged six black armored shapes, horns jutting out of their helmets and devilish yellow eyes glaring menacing at them. Their weapons were a mixture of the laser rifles and a green energy based weapon James could not help but admire. The green energy was spinning and no doubt deadly.
One of the Knights, the one who had been hit in the arm, fired a burst from his R91 automatic rifle. The 5.56 rounds were deadly to unarmored raiders and could even do damage to a Super Mutant if put in the right place. It impacted on the chest of one of the black armored men, who was armed with a laser rifle, and did absolutely nothing.
The others started to fire back. Cross leaned out from a rock and let loose with her laser rifle. One of the red beams slashed into the shoulder of one of the Enclave soldiers, making him stumble. But he recovered quickly and fired back with his energy weapon, ripping apart rock and gravel with what seemed like slow moving plasma. The rocks gurgled as they melted and soon Cross was forced to retreat to another.
All around them the Brotherhood did battle with the Enclave. But they were outmatched and outnumbered. A Knight, the same one who had been hit, leaned out from cover once more and was hit in the helmet by several plasma blasts that distorted his power armor and melted his armor, killing him almost instantly.
This is madness, James thought wildly as the Vertibird made another pass, unleashing volley after volley from the gatling laser towards the Star Paladin. Cross was no fool though; she stayed in cover and allowed for the rocks to absorb the onslaught. A Paladin, armed with a missile launcher, aimed and achieved lock on the hovering air vehicle.
"Clear backblast!" he shouted over his radio and he fired, the missile tracking and then streaking towards the Vertibird. The Enclave pilot expertly flew his vehicle, switching from hovering to straight up flying, flew faster, heading north away from the battle. Soon, what seemed like several dozen flares was emitted from the rear of the Vertibird and the missile was fooled into following them. A second later, it exploded, showering Springvale with shrapnel.
As the Paladin was reloading the missile launcher, a sonic boom echoed through the night and the Paladin's head disappeared in a flash of blood and gore. His missile launcher dropped to the ground, though thankfully the missile he was loading didn't detonate and take Cross with him.
"Goddamn it!" Jenkins, the Knight who was huddling near him, cursed. He shot wildly, 5.56 rounds impacting on the dirt near the Enclave soldiers. It was a foolish thing to do, but James could see that it had a purpose. He was a distraction; Cross had laid her laser rifle on the ground and wielded the super sledge A.R.M and she started to charge the group of Enclave soldiers.
The other Paladin started to fire, hoping to suppress the Enclave with his minigun. 5mm rounds chewed the ground up while some bounced off the jet black armor, barely denting it. They took cover, sending potshots towards him, green plasma flying over his position. The Paladin continued to fire, the minigun spitting out more rounds.
The rotating barrels glowed hot as they stopped spinning and the Paladin had to shove another box of ammunition into the gun. As he did so, Cross had crossed the distance between the Brotherhood and the Enclave. The first Enclave soldier she met had his helmet caved in by her super sledge, his armor doing little to protect him from the enhanced strength behind Cross's blow. However, this caught the attention of the other Enclave soldiers and she was soon hit by a barrage of lasers and plasma fire, which penetrated her armor and made her gasp in pain. James only watched in horror as a plasma blast disintegrated her arm and she fell to the ground, her super sledge falling with a thud.
This can be happening. All I wanted was a life for my son. A life away from this danger. Adrian started to wail, his cries adding to the cacophony of fire and death in the Capital Wasteland. Cross breathed and then stopped. James looked and then tucked Adrian even closer. Another friend. Another person, dead because of me.
"I'm done to my last box of 5mm Jenkins," the other Brotherhood Paladin conveyed to the Knight protecting James. They seemed to be making a decision. They were outnumbered two to one, the Enclave had a flying machine that was coming back, and their leader was dead. There was no escape from this. No hope left in their voices, no convoluted way of escaping anywhere int he distance.
James looked into the eyes of his son. As the sounds of battle died down, so did his son's wails. He was sobbing a little, but was otherwise unharmed. He watched his son breath in and out, two weeks old. His black hair, his light brown eyes that reminded him of Catherine. Very strapping, his wife had said before she went into cardiac arrest.
There was nothing left to do but wait.
The Knight and the Paladin glanced at each other. Their only options were to surrender and their charge into the hands of the Enclave and present them with a fate that was uncertain. Or to go down fighting, burning into their legacy as the first casualties of the new war that would be raged against the genocidal maniacs that was the Enclave.
The two leveled their weapons and fired. A torrent of 5mm bullets was unleashed, tearing into the Enclave's cover. 5.56mm soon joined the symphony and soon, the night was alive with the sounds of battle once more. Tracers lept and stabbed at the Enclave but it was not enough.
A moment later their weapons ran dry. And the Enclave responded.
Brilliant flashes of green and red were sent in reply. Disciplined fire tore into the Knight and Paladin, armor burnt and twisted. Power armor, the greatest asset in the Brotherhood's arsenal, proved not to be enough to counter these Enclave soldiers. They fell to the ground as Cross did, dead.
James resisted the urge to vomit. He had seen death. Raider gangs, super mutants, desperate people killing each other for a scrap of food or a bottle of dirty water...but there was something rather destructive and elegant about energy weapons that gave it even more of an impact.
He could only hope that his death would be quick.
He was soon approached by the black armored devils who had killed Cross and her team. Their weapons were lowered but not sheathed and were lead by a man in tan fatigues and a fitted cap on his head. But they weren't firing at him. Was he not a threat? A dirty wastelander who plagued the Earth with his mutated genes?
"Citizen," he heard a gruff voice say with a slight accent and he looked to see the man in the tan fatigues looking down at him with a sneer on his face and a 10mm pistol pointed towards him. "Are you James Lopez?"
The surrounding Enclave soldiers made him ponder for a moment. If he told the truth, would he be killed? He didn't think so, considering that they had completed obliterated a Brotherhood squad with minimum casualties. He unconsciously held Adrian a little closer, the bundle of clothes that he was in concealing his presence.
"Yes. I am James Lopez," he breathed out, silently praying to a God he no longer believed in.
To his surprise, the officer seemed rather pleased and holstered his pistol.
"Good, good! President Eden will pleased and might even put a smile on Colonel Autumn for once," the officer said brightly. "Williams, Whitley, bring him to the Vertibird. Unscathed if you would be so kind to do so."
James didn't struggle, but he did get up on his own. His hands still on the bundle, the officer noticed it.
"Stop. Mr. Lopez, what is that in your arms?" the officer asked warily and the black armored soldiers trained their weapons at him.
James hesitated. He was alive, but would they allow his son to live as well?
A giggle answered the officer, who leaned over to remove one of the clothing that James had used to cover his son. A smiling infant, barely two weeks old. Adrian.
"Ah...how rather...unexpected. Williams, radio Command that we are bringing back two additions to the Enclave," he ordered with a rather pleased expression on his face. "Whitley, please escort the good doctor to the Vertibird if you will."
James could not help but look in awe as they herded him onto the Vertibird. It was more spacious than he imagined, with enough room to hold at least ten people. The remaining Enclave soldiers filed in, the corpse of their fallen brother laid on the ground, his head twisted and his helmet caved in from the impact from Cross's super sledge.
The doctor looked with a grim look in his face. Cross was dead -there was no way that anybody would be recovering from that barrage of fire- but she had brought down one of the black armored devils by herself. They were by no means unkillable.
He clenched one of his fists, careful not to crush Adrian in it. Cross, his friend and protector for nearly an entire year, had been killed by the Enclave. Righteous anger surged through him, but he soon squashed it. Cross, Lydia, was dead because of him. Why the Enclave wanted him, he didn't know but she had died for it. For him.
The Vertibird lifted up in the air, hovering for a brief second. The officer, the man who had spared his life, sat across from him, allowing James to analyze his features. He was thin, bones sticking out from his face, making seem more like a ghost than a man. He was around James's age and was also extremely pale, much paler than any white man ought to be. The officer seemed like he could be knocked out with one punch, even from James admittedly scrawny frame.
But what haunted James was the man's eyes. A sense purpose yes...the same sense of purpose that James used to have. But behind that purpose was a fanatic drive...a drive to accomplish whatever the Enclave wished him to do. A hint of brutality and death hidden behind a veel of humanity.
"I understand that this may all be new to you doctor," the officer said, breaking through the monotonicity of silence. "Questions you might have. Such as why we killed your escorts and took you on our Vertibird."
"Yes," James answered carefully. "All I know is that you're the Enclave and nothing more."
"I am Captain Augustus of the Enclave Armed Forces. We are the last remnant of the pre-war government, the last bastion of humanity outside of the vaults and the scattered settlements that dot the wasteland. The last of the pure humans."
"So why choose me? I am no pure human," he said, wary of revealing too much. "I've lived in the wasteland my entire life."
"You'll find that we are not too strict on who we recruit when it comes to genetic purity," the Enclave officer informed him. "Almost twenty years ago, the last President made the mistake of believing every human besides pure humanity should be wiped out...but that is a tale for a later time."
James could not believe what he had heard from the officer's mouth. Everything he had heard from the Enclave, genocidal maniacs who wanted to wipe out humanity, was true. But evidently, they had learned from their mistakes or at least weren't too strict on the definition of humanity as they once were. The good captain seemed content to treat him with some humanity and respect.
It was much more than he could have hoped for.
"Where are we heading?" he asked.
"An installation called Raven Rock," the officer responded. "You will be given a room and your son will be put with the other infants. Rest assured good doctor, you will be allowed to spend the ample time needed for a child to bond with their father. Once you and your son have settled in, you will be instructed on your new duties."
Maybe...well maybe this was for the best? He still didn't like that they had killed Lydia and the rest of them, along with robbing them of the opportunity to live in the vault, but the Enclave seemed well-equipped and technologically advanced. Their weapons, after all, were much more advanced than the laser weaponry favored by the Brotherhood.
He would have to wait and see. Wait and see.
AN: Hey ya'll this is your boy The Best of Luck. So I stumbled upon a story called Divergence by Straight Up Elf and loved the first chapter. However, I was disheartened to see that it wasn't updated for nearly three years. So, I decided to take upon myself to redo the first chapter and then write it up myself!
Hopefully you like it. Second chapter will come soon.