"Hey!" One of the settlers shouted over the hail of gunfire and bullets ricocheting off the metal walls outside, hope evident in his voice. "The minigun stopped!"

"Yeah, that's great!" Nick Valentine retorted back. An audible boom coming from his revolver as he fired. "But we still have these knuckleheads outside to deal with!"

Piper couldn't have agreed more as she fired random shots over her shoulder, hoping it would luckily hit any of the Raiders outside. They were pinned down with no other options as the Raiders constantly fired at them with what they got. The Raiders weren't giving them a chance to pop out of cover and retaliate. The last time Piper tried to brave the hail of bullets, she ended up getting shot in the arm for her attempt. She, Nick, Preston, Curie, Codsworth, and Deacon managed to hole themselves in the safehouse with the remaining settlers that survived the initial ambush. Not all came out of it unscathed but their injuries weren't too severe, at least. Curie was busy checking on the settlers and tending to the injured. Mama Murphy, Codsworth, and some of the parents had hid themselves in the attic.

Deep down, however; Piper feared the worse as she thought about the minigun and that it had stopped shooting. The last time she had seen Cait, Hancock, and MacCready they were defending the entrance with other settlers who had at least knew how to aim and shoot a weapon.

Were Cait and the others gunned down?

"Fuck! She's ba - agh!"

The sound of a shotgun being fired cut through her train of thought.

Boom! Boom!

Cait's enraged voice was audible as new sets of gunfire entered the fray. "Not so tough now, ya' fuckers!"

Piper blinked, instantly peeking her head out of cover. Through the shattered and shredded remains of the window, Cait had kicked over one of the patio tables and used it as her cover. Hancock and MacCready had done the same to one of the long tables they would use whenever the weather was good enough to eat outside. What truly caught Piper's attention was the flash of dark, blonde hair cutting through the forces. Jayd was nothing more than flurry of movements. She dodged a lunge from a Raider wielding machete only to jab her combat knife deep into their skull and used their corpse as her shield, brandishing her pistol and firing at the Raiders closest to her. Her aim as true as three of them collapsed with indisputable bullet holes on their foreheads. A series of threatening barks was also heard amidst the surprised exclamations coming from Raiders as they scrambled to find cover. Dogmeat made quick work of anyone who was too slow.

"The General's back!"

Piper looked over her shoulder, spotting Preston rallying to the other Minutemen members. He raised his musket rifle in the air and gestured towards the stairs, leading to the first floor of the safehouse. There was nothing but fury in his eyes and Piper knew he was berating himself for not being able to protect the other settlers who couldn't make it to the safehouse with them.

"To the General!"

The several members who survived the initial ambush let out a chorused war cry as they followed Preston, charging down the stairs with their weapons at hand. The sound of a door being burst open followed a moment later and the chaos outside got worse. Piper glanced over to where Nick was crouched behind a neighboring window. The detective let out a short chuckle before standing up and gesturing to follow the others.

"Come on, let's make sure they don't do anything stupid."

"I'll go up to the balcony and cover you guys," Deacon said, walking past them with a sniper rifle in his hand. He ran up the stairs leading to the third floor without another word.

Curie approached the trio, giving them a warm smile, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Be careful, monsieur Valentine and mademoiselle Piper. I will stay here and protect the civilians."

"It's probably better if you and the rest of the settlers go up to the attic too, Curie," Nick said, popping the chamber of his revolver and refilling it with bullets. "I don't know how things will play out at this point, but hopefully we'll all come out of this alive."

Curie looked towards the window, faith glimmering in her eyes. "Mademoiselle Jayd is with us now. We will surely win."

Piper let out a soft chuckle, slamming another magazine into her handgun. She pulled back the slide, hearing the satisfying click that indicated the gun was locked and loaded. "I'm sure she'll appreciate the vote of confidence, Curie."

Once Curie had instructed the settlers to head up to the attic, she and Nick headed for the stairs. Reaching the first floor, they simultaneously situated themselves on either side of the front door, their weapons at hand. Piper peeked an eye out of the corner to assess the current situation of the battlefield. The gunfight had evolved into an all around street brawl. Minutemen and Raiders were at each other's necks; swinging at each other with fists (power fisted or knuckles), their weapons, or a variety of bladed weapons. Apparently the Minutemen had decided to follow their General's lead and start bashing some heads in instead of shooting them. Piper could hear Cait's familiar maniacal laughter in the midst of the fists and metal meeting skin and flesh.

"This is what I call a good fightin'!" The fiery redhead swung a wooden bat, squarely smashing it into the face of a Raider.

"For a Combat Zone lady, I ain't surprised!" Hancock quipped, slashing his knife across his opponent's neck.

Not too far away, Dogmeat had his teeth around a screaming and struggling Raider's leg while one of the Minutemen smashed their head in with the butt of their musket rifle.

"Shit! This ain't worth it!"

A gunshot rang through the air and Piper saw as one of the Raiders trying to escape dropped dead on the ground. Deacon's handiwork.

"Sorry! Running away is not an option this time!"

Where's Jayd? Piper thought, her eyes frantically searching for any signs of a green button down. It was the only shirt the Vault Dweller would always wear once it was clean enough. She spotted the person she was looking for a few moments later: Jayd shoved the muzzle of her pistol under a grimy Raider's chin, their life ending with one pull of the trigger. On the other hand was her combat knife, which was soaked in blood. Piper felt as if her heart leap up to her throat as Jayd was tackled down by another grungy looking Raider. Without a second thought, the reporter ran out the door and straight into the squabble.

"Piper!" Nick called after her.

She ignored him, dodging and weaving her way to where she had last seen Jayd. It wasn't as easy as she had thought it would be. Piper narrowly ducked under a flying fist head straight for her. She felt the air above her whoosh by as her hat was caught in the collision. Turning around, she slammed her foot as hard as she could into the back of the Raider's knee. They howled in pain, their hands instinctively latching onto their injured knee as they doubled over. Piper followed it up with a pistol whip across the back of their skull. She heard an audible crunch before they fell onto the ground limp. Piper didn't wasted any time finishing them off, someone else would have to do the job for her.

"Blue!"

Piper finally found her. She was held down by the same Raider and with the tip of a knife just inches away from her eye.


Jayd grunted, using every amount of strength she could muster. The tip of a knife's blade just inches from stabbing into her eye. The Raider cackled above her, grinning down at her with a dirtied, toothy grin. She saw nothing but murder mixed with crazy in his eyes.

"I'm gonna enjoy mountin' yer head on a pike, General."

The standstill seemed to last forever. Jayd could already feel her arms straining in her effort to keep the knife from being buried into her head. The Raider's grin grew wider as he watched her slowly losing the struggle.

"Hey, asshole!"

Bang!

The Raider's eyes seemed to bulged out of their sockets as one of his hands released the handle of the knife, latching onto the bullet wound from his neck. Jayd pushed him off of her, relief washing over her. He would choke on his own blood within seconds. She rolled onto her hands and knees, her heart pounding against her chest, gasping in a mouthful of air.

Damn, that was too close.

"Blue."

Jayd looked up, knowing who that familiar voice belonged to. She couldn't help but smile, taking Piper's offered hand, and pulling herself off the ground. Those hazel eyes looked at her with nothing but relieved and loving affection. It had been weeks since they last saw each other and she knew the reporter would constantly worry about her if Jayd went off somewhere without her. Yet, their reunion was short lived when she spotted something moving over Piper's head and it was approaching them fast.

What happened next was more out of instinctive resolve to protect Piper than being heroic.

Jayd pushed her out of the way of oncoming Raider in Power Armor, but she wasn't quick enough to get out of its way herself. It felt as if a semi-truck had slammed right into her at full speed. She felt her breath being knocked right out of her body as she sailed through the air. Her body felt lighter, nearing the sensation of her floating in the air almost. But the world wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Jayd yelped in pain as she landed back onto the asphalt -hard.

"Jayd!"

"Oh, shite!"

"Somebody get the fuckin' tin can!"

"General!"

"Ah, shit!"

Jayd coughed, tasting nothing but salt and iron in her tongue. When she tried to move, an unbearable pain shot through her entire body. The ringing in her head also muffled out anymore sounds of the Minutemen fighting against the Raiders. It rendered her useless as she was splayed on the street with the world nothing but a blurred vision. A hulking, rusted orange figure stood before her. She heard muffled shouting - angry and panicked voices - followed by gunshots. The rusted metal silhouette suddenly disappeared, only to be replaced by a blurred color of red. She coughed once more and Jayd tasted her own blood in her mouth.

"Blue! Stay with me!" It was Piper's voice. "Oh, god - you're bleeding! Keep your eyes open for me, please! Please, don't - "

The world vanished into a dark void.