Chapter 2: Sanctuary

"Sturges, mind giving me a hand with this?" Nora asked, holding up a small section of wall that she was using to repair the old yellow house across the street from her own. It had been two weeks since the firefight at Concord, and Nora was helping the settlers of Sanctuary Hills set up shop. Her engineering know-how was proving rather useful as they started repairing the houses.

They had managed to build enough beds for everyone, get a water pump set up, plant a few crops, and even herd a few Brahmin into pens. As they worked, a few settlers actually made their way into Sanctuary looking for a place to stay. In the matter of two weeks, Sanctuary had grown from six people to just under twenty. Once the settlers explained that they were Minutemen that had managed to escape Quincey or were simply refugees from settlements that had been attacked by Raiders, it all started to make a bit more sense. They were even lucky enough to have a doctor among the newcomers. Having all of the extra hands was certainly helpful.

Some of the handier settlers had even started laying the foundation for a defensive wall made of scrap metal and old car hulls, using the Brahmin to haul the wrecks into place. She was really amazed with what people could accomplish, even with so little.

"No problem, General." Sturges smirked, making reference to Nora's new promotion. After a few days of Nora helping out around Sanctuary, Preston had made the offer to re-form the Minutemen with her as its leader. It had taken some consideration, but she eventually accepted. It was a hell of an opportunity to actually help around here. She had even helped the settlers at Tenpines Bluff with their Raider problem, which actually turned out to be directly connected to the Raiders that had Preston pinned. Now, there were two settlements that were formally a part of the Minutemen.

Sturges made his way over, grabbing the nailgun from the ground and putting nails through the wood paneling as Nora held it up. After a dozen nails, they both stepped back and admired their work. They had even managed to paint it the same color as the rest of the house. "Lookin' good so far. At this rate, we'll have the whole neighborhood refurbished by the end of the month."

"Hopefully." Nora nodded. "Still gotta' start outfitting the patrols with better guns than that pipe rifle shit."

"Really taking your job to heart, huh?" Sturges smirked.

"We've got a lot of work to do before the Minutemen are anything even resembling a decent fighting force." Nora sighed. "Barely even at platoon-strength, outfitted with pipe guns, and no armor."

"If it's guns and armor you're lookin' for, Diamond City would probably be your best bet." Sturges explained. "Arturo's a good guy, he doesn't charge you too much for new gear. Should be willing to cut a deal for the new Minutemen."

"That'd be a good start." Nora nodded. "I was thinkin' about checking out the old National Guard Armory, might be some good stuff in there."

"Another good one." Sturges nodded. "Might even find some more suits of Power Armor. Damn things are real useful for heavy-lifting. If you want to head out looking, I'd be happy to watch over everyone with Preston… make sure the repairs are going right."

"Sounds good." Nora nodded. "I'll probably head out tomorrow, swing by the National Guard Armory, then head into Diamond City and sell off some of the junk."

"And I'll have the place lookin' real nice for ya' when you get back." Sturges smirked. "Might even have a generator up and running."

XXXXX

Nora sighed as she stepped into her old home. She and Codsworth had made some great progress on cleaning everything up. The windows had finally been boarded up, the holes in the floor had been patched with plywood as a stopgap, and the furniture had mostly been repaired. She even had a bed now, even if it was a bit stiff. "Welcome back, mum!" Codsworth greeted. "Busy working with the new neighbors?"

"Yep." Nora nodded, unbuttoning her old fatigue jacket and draping it over the back of the sofa. "At this rate, the place'll be livable in no time at all. Any word from that trader that came in today?"

"No word on that bald ruffian from the Vault, I'm afraid." Codsworth gave a synthesized sigh. "Don't worry, mum. He'll turn up soon enough."

"Here's hoping…" Nora nodded. "Well…" She sighed, pushing all of those thoughts out of her mind. "I'm gonna get some sleep, I'm heading out tomorrow. Let me know if Preston or Sturges need anything, alright?"

"Of course, mum." Codsworth affirmed.

Nora smiled, walking down the hall towards her bedroom. She was originally… apprehensive at the thought of having a Mr. Handy, but they were really useful robots. She stepped into her bedroom, removing her tank top and tossing it on top of the dresser as she flopped down on her mattress with a heavy sigh. It was all still setting in for her. She was the General of the Minutemen, and it was slowly growing. One of the settlers that had made their way in over the past two weeks had even offered to start running supplies between Sanctuary and Tenpines Bluff. With any luck, she'd be able to make her way to Diamond City tomorrow and finally see something akin to civilization outside of her old suburb.

XXXXX

"Oh… fuck yes!" Nora smiled, grabbing the old M16A2 from the rack on the wall of the National Guard Armory. It even had a reflex sight, foregrip, and a flashlight attached to it. Sadly, the reflex sight seemed to lack batteries, but she could always find some later. A rifle as familiar as this was simply too good to pass up. After clearing the Ghouls out from the main building, she was greeted with a plethora of supplies.

Ghouls might have freaked her out, but they were certainly useful. They tended to keep people away from certain areas, and it looked like nobody touched the National Guard Armory other than the Ghouls and her. She had already packed up a large duffel bag with the weapons she found, and now found herself wearing a familiar set of U.S. Army standard-issue combat armor. It wasn't quite the Marine Armor she was used to, but it was still better protection than scrap metal strapped down with leather.

In her duffel bag was a .308 combat rifle, two R-91 Assault Rifles, four 10mm pistols, and two 10mm SMGs. With all of the ammo, she almost arm the entire standing Minuteman force in Sanctuary. The only downside was that the bag was heavy.

She cleared the barracks building and found old fatigues, boots, more ammo, another M16A2, and some old OD-Green army helmets. She threw one of them over her head, then packed the rest of them into her bag. After sifting around through the CO's quarters, killing the Ghouls that now occupied the quarters, she almost let out a squeal of joy when she found the password to the dedicated armory building by the firing range outside.

Making her way out through the security door, she made her way towards the concrete bunker with Dogmeat walking alongside her. She activated the terminal, inputting the password, then stepped inside. Immediately, she saw a half-dozen laser tripwires protecting the armory, and an absolutely wonderful sight sitting behind a security door: a full suit of T-51b power armor along with a small charging station with all four slots for fusion cores occupied.

She set to work deactivating the tripwires, then made her way into the armory. She started clearing out the ammo, spare weapon parts, attachments, and other gear that she came across. With that suit of T-51 there, she didn't have to worry about the weight anymore. She found the door control terminal resting on a table, and input the same password. Thankfully, it granted her access and let her open the door to the power armor bay.

She gave the power armor a cursory inspection. Amazingly, the only piece that had any sort of wear-and-tear on it was the chest. Everything else was practically in mint condition. She placed her bag full of supplies on the ground, walked towards the charging station, and collected the four fusion cores. She tucked three of them away in the pack, and slotted the fourth into the slot in the back of the power armor.

Just as she was about to turn the valve on the power armor, a terminal caught her attention. Removing the fusion cores from the charging dock must have let the backup generators divert some power back to the computer system. Curiosity getting the better of her, she walked over to the terminal and cycled through a few menus. One sub-menu caught her attention almost immediately: Sentry-Bot Control. This terminal granted her unbridled access to the robot's system parameters, and she suddenly had a wonderfully overkill idea.

After racking her mind for the settings she had been briefed on in her time with the Marines, she reset enough of the robot's systems so it wouldn't obliterate Sanctuary on-sight. It would undoubtedly recognize her as U.S. Military, but she didn't want to take any chances with the settlers. At the very least, she'd accompany the robot back to the settlement, then head down to Diamond City. A find like this was just too good.

XXXXX

Nora smirked as she strode back up the hill towards Sanctuary. A few of the Minutemen patrolling the perimeter gawked as she approached the small town, Sentry-Bot in tow. "Sorry I'm back so soon, guys!" Nora shouted through her power armor's speaker system. "Haven't been to Diamond City yet, but I did bring some new toys!"

As Nora walked into the settlement proper, she was happy to see that the wall was coming along quite nicely. Sure, it was mostly just waist-high junk piles and scaffolding right now, but what it was right now didn't matter. It was what it could be that mattered. It being almost eleven at night, Preston stepped out of the blue house he had claimed as a barracks in a t-shirt and jeans. When he saw Nora approaching in a full suit of T-51, Sentry-Bot at her side and a full duffel bag of guns slung over her shoulder, he just about fainted. "Good God-damn, General… I uh… wasn't expecting that kinda' firepower."

Nora smirked beneath her helmet. "Couldn't just leave him at the armory. Sierra-Bravo over here thirsts for the blood of raiders."

"Is it… controlled?" Preston asked, looking to the missile launcher and minigun with a bit of concern. He knew damn well just how powerful these old machines were.

"Sure is." Nora nodded. "Got a whole list of verbal commands written down in the bag, he'll respond to anyone here at the settlement. Standing orders are to only fire if fired upon, so… watch your fire at the range."

"Well, that's… awesome." Preston sighed, admiring the massive war machine before him. "Shouldn't have to worry much about Raiders with this thing around."

"My thoughts exactly." Nora nodded, turning to the Sentry-Bot. "Sierra-Bravo Three-Three-Six, engage standard security protocol: Patrol."

"Acknowledged, General." The Sentry-Bot responded in its baritone, synthesized voice before rolling towards the perimeter of the settlement to start patrolling.

"Man…" Preston gave a sigh of amazement. "What did you do before the War again?"

"Combat Engineer." Nora smirked. "Lawyer for a bit, but that's the boring shit. C'mon, let's inventory the new equipment." She nodded towards the same blue house Preston had emerged from. "Fair warning, M16's mine." She half-joked.

XXXXX

Nora kept her head on a constant swivel as she approached the bridge that connected to Downtown Boston. As she neared the bridge, she brought the M16 up to her shoulder and peered through the ACOG sight, scanning over the barge that had been stuck under the bridge. She spotted a small raider gang walking around the barge and some wooden platforms that connected to the cargo it was tugging. Most of them were wearing the normal scrap-metal raider armor and leather clothes, but one was wearing a ramshackle suit of power armor that looked to be cobbled together from various junk and rebar. Luckily, the raider wearing the power armor didn't have a helmet.

She ducked behind the concrete safety barrier that kept pedestrians from falling into the river so many years ago, and rested her rifle atop it. When she did, she spotted a raider guard dog walking alongside the power-armored raider. She made a mental note of the number of raiders, then flicked the safety off. With a gentle squeeze of the trigger, a 5.56mm round slotted through the head of the power-armored raider, sending her to the ground in a heap. She adjusted her aim, settling her crosshairs on an unarmored raider that had spotted her. Two trigger-pulls later, and he collapsed into the river.

One of the raiders behind a sandbag wall returned fire with a pipe rifle, forcing Nora to duck down behind her cover for a moment as a .38 round skipped off the concrete guard rail just a few inches from her head. When the incoming fire ceased, she popped out of cover again and returned the favor. An unclear sight picture meant her first round missed, but the second didn't. The raider collapsed behind the sandbags, and Nora re-positioned.

The last two raiders were trying to get an elevated position from the barge's bridge, and the guard dog was slowly making its way up the makeshift staircase. She took a shot at the dog, putting it down rather cleanly with a center-mass hit. The last two raiders were of no issue, being armed with woefully inaccurate pipe pistols. When the tried to leave the bridge for a better position on the actual bridge, they were both dropped by a pair of rounds from Nora's M16.

She took a moment to scan the area, listening intently for any other raiders or guard dogs. After she was satisfied that the area was clear, she picked herself up and started walking towards the bridge again, replacing her half-spent magazine with a fresh one. She decided to look around the barge and its cargo for any supplies or caps, having some space in her pack for extra ammo or medical supplies.

She decided to simply toss the pipe weaponry into the river after removing the ammo, and patted down each of the raiders for any extra rounds or supplies. On the barge itself, she found two stimpacks, a dose of morphine, some pre-war foodstuffs, and a few open boxes of ammunition. When she moved to the cargo area, she was more than happy to relieve the power-armored raider of her Combat Rifle and spare ammunition, along with a single frag grenade.

Looking around a few of the open containers and an old APC, she found an old Thompson submachine gun, an old army helmet, some more rounds of .45, 5.56, and .308, along with a pair of fragmentation mines. After packing everything away in her backpack, she headed back on the road towards Fenway Park.

After helping a few of the local guards against a group of Super Mutants that had taken up residence in a bombed-out apartment complex, she rounded a corner and found a rather strange sight before her. A woman with black hair, wearing a red trench coat and press cap, seemed to be arguing with someone through an intercom. As she approached, it seemed she was catching the tail-end of their argument. "Ooh, keeping Diamond City safe by keeping me out, is that it? Oooh, look it's the scary reporter! Boo!"

"I'm sorry! Whole city's in a tizzy, Piper. Mayor's saying that article you wrote was all lies!"

The woman, who Nora now knew as Piper, growled. "You open this gate right now Danny Sullivan! I live here, you can't just… lock me out!" She huffed. She noticed Nora after her shouting match with the intercom, and her eyes lit up before her voice fell to a whisper. "Psst… you want into Diamond City, right?"

Nora really didn't want to get dragged into this, but the gate was closed and she didn't have many other options. "I just got here, but… yeah." She affirmed with a nod.

"Shh…" Piper beckoned with a quick gesture. "Play along." She cocked her head towards the intercom. "What's that? You said you're a trader up from Quincy? You've got enough supplies to keep the General Store stocked for a month?" She gave Nora a thumbs-up and a wink. "'Ya hear that, Danny? Are 'ya gonna open the gate and let us in, or are you gonna be the one talking to Crazy Myrna about missin' out on all this supply?"

There was a heavy sigh from the other end of the intercom. "Alright, Jesus! No need to make it personal, Piper… gimme a minute."

Piper turned back to Nora with a broad smile on her face. "We'd better head in quick before Danny catches onto the bluff." Thankfully, the grinding of the gate opening drowned out her words to the intercom.

"Uh… sounds good." Nora shrugged, cradling her M16 in her arms as she walked towards the entrance to her favorite ballpark with this strange woman.

Right when it seemed like they got away with it, Nora heard one of the most dreadful sounds she could think of: a politician. "Piper! Who let you back inside? I told Sullivan to keep that gate shut!" A rather pudgy man in a well-worn suit was standing in the entrance, seemingly waiting for Piper. "You devious, rabble-rousing slanderer… the level of dishonesty in that paper of yours! I'll have that printer scrapped for parts!"

"Ooh, that a statement McDonough?" Piper fired back. "'Tyrant mayor shuts down the press?!'" Nora practically winced as she heard Piper's next words. "Why don't we ask the newcomer? Do you support the news? 'Cause the Mayor's threatening to throw free speech in the dumpster!"

Seeing an opportunity to rip into a Suit, Nora couldn't help herself. "Always believed in freedom of the press. It's the foundation of a free society."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." McDonough placated, turning his attention to the woman carrying an M16 and clad in near-full Combat Armor. "I didn't mean to bring you into this argument, miss. If anything, you look just like Diamond City material!" Nora had to call upon her years of experience keeping straight-faced to not roll her eyes at such a… political response. "Welcome to the Great Green Jewel of the Commonwealth! Safe, happy, and a fine place to come settle down. Don't let this muckraker tell you otherwise." He gestured over to Piper, who looked like she was about to blow a gasket.

"I 'dunno, a closed gate isn't exactly the friendliest welcome." Nora deadpanned. "Where I'm from, that's basically painting a giant 'fuck off' on the wall."

Nora smirked a bit as McDonough sputtered for a moment. "A-erm… was there… anything you came to our great city for?"

"A little trading, and I'm hoping to file a missing person's report?"

"Looking for someone?" McDonough tried to pry a bit of information out of her, and she wasn't having any of it.

"Frankly, it's my business." Nora deadpanned.

"I don't blame you for keeping it quiet." Piper spoke up. "Yours isn't the first missing person's report to come through here, and Diamond City Security doesn't do a damn thing about it! I want the truth McDonough! What's the real reason Security never investigates these kidnappings?"

"I've had enough of this, Piper!" McDonough snapped back at her. "From now on, consider you and that little sister of yours on notice."

"Yeah, yeah, keep talkin'… that's all you're good for." Piper called back as the Mayor turned to leave.

Nora couldn't help but chuckle as McDonough walked off with his tail between his legs. Once he was out of earshot, Nora couldn't help but comment. "Man… what a prick."

Piper let out a soft laugh. "That's Diamond City for 'ya. Corrupt officials and brown-nosing citizens… but it's still home." After a short pause and fiddling with her gloves for a moment, Piper looked Nora up and down. "Look, I gotta go get settled in but… stop by my office later. I've got an idea for a story that you'd be perfect for."

Nora simply nodded. "No problem, I'll drop by after I off-load some of this gear."

XXXXX

Nora stepped through the door to Publick Occurrences, the local newspaper. It was stunning to see Fenway Park turned into a shanty town, but… it was at least better than an empty, bombed-out crater. At the very least, people were starting to rebuild. "Glad you stopped by." Nora practically jumped as Piper spoke up from a couch, tucked away in a small nook in the wall. "How're ya' holding up, Blue?"

"Blue?" Nora asked, confused.

"Because… you're a vault dweller?" Piper asked, as if it were simple. "C'mon, don't act so surprised. You've still got that fish-out-of-water look."

Nora shrugged. "Fair enough, still getting used to all this."

"Alright, so here's the deal." Piper began, smiling. "I want an interview, your life's story in print. It's time Diamond City had a little outside perspective on the Commonwealth." At Nora's nod, Piper continued. "Ya' do that, and… tell you what, I'll come with you. Watch your back while you get used to the world above-ground."

Nora was… a bit taken aback by the proposal. She had a sneaking suspicion that Piper was just using that as leverage for the interview, but she figured she'd at least humor her. "Alright, Piper… I'm in."

"Great!" Piper smiled broadly. "Let's get down to business…" She reached into her coat, producing a pencil and notepad. "So, I know you're from a Vault… how would you describe your time underground? What was it like?"

"Well…" Nora started, deciding to be honest with Piper. "My family and I were frozen… didn't spend too much time in the vault. Some kinda' new technology at the time."

"Wait, like… they just threw you in a freezer?" Piper asked. "Like, the whole time? Are you saying that… you were alive before the war?"

"Yeah… I'm technically over 200 years old." Nora nodded, letting a small smirk cross her face. "Not lookin' too bad for two centuries, either."

Piper, if she hadn't been so stunned by the fact that she was literally talking to a pre-war relic, definitely would've blushed at that. "Oh-ho my God… the Woman Out of Time." She shook herself out of her stupor, trying to continue the interview with a straight face. "So… you've seen the Commonwealth before and after the bombs… what do you think? How does it compare to your old life?"

Nora thought for a moment, but eventually shrugged. "I had my reservations about my favorite ballpark being a shanty town at first, but… it's good to see people rebuilding after the bombs fell. It gives me hope that we can actually build something better out of this mess."

"Wow… that's surprisingly inspired, Blue." Piper gawked. "Oh! I totally forgot! I never got your name!"

Nora chuckled, shaking her head. "I'm Nora, amateur time-traveler."

Piper cracked a smile at that. "So… you said you came to Diamond City looking for someone? Who would that be?"

"My erm… my son, Shaun." Nora answered, honestly. "He was kidnapped… not even a year old."

"A parent after the missing child, huh?" Piper asked rhetorically, sighing. "As heartbreaking today as it ever was…" Nora was amazed, those were genuine words coming from this scatterbrained reporter. "Do you think the Institute is involved?"

Nora thought for a moment, then let out a heavy sigh. "I… I don't know. I'm not ruling out the possibility."

"God… the idea that a baby isn't even safe from them." Piper scoffed. "And people wonder why I can't just look the other way." She sighed again, looking back down to her notebook. "Now… I want you to address Diamond City directly. The first thing that comes to mind."

Nora sucked in a deep breath. Truthfully, she was really bad at impromptu things like this. "All I can really say is… don't lose hope. It's all we've got. No matter how much you want to give up… don't."

"A strong note to end the interview on, Nora… thanks." Piper gave her a solemn smile. "Now… I just have a few personal questions, if you don't mind answering that is."

"No problem, Piper." Nora smiled. "Shoot."

"The world back then… what was it like?" Piper asked, preparing to jot down Nora's response.

Nora sighed. "Man… blue skies, green grass, clean streets, a bunch of stupid appliances, friendly neighbors, all that good stuff… it was good."

"And what did you do, before the War that is?" Piper asked.

"Well… people could do a lot of stuff back then." Nora shrugged. "I was in the Military for a few years, for one."

"You fought in the War?!" Piper asked, stunned. "Tell me.. what happened? What was it all about?"

Nora sighed. "I thought it was all about freedom, and protecting the American way of life… that was all bullshit, though."

"What do you mean?" Piper asked, confused.

"I didn't realize it until after I retired and settled into practicing law, but…" Nora took a moment to compose herself. She didn't need to vent on this random reporter of all people, but… she had a sneaking suspicion that she couldn't stop it even if she tried. "China might have fired the first shot, but we started that damn war. We had the fuckin' answer, we could've fixed everything, but the Suits in Washington weren't having any of that shit. All they cared about was keeping the war machine turning, and throwing more good men and women into the line of fire."

"I mean, we had nuclear-powered cars for God's sake, and the rest of the world was literally falling the fuck apart because we refused to export!" Nora exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "Every other country on Earth depended on oil, and we were running out! The U.S. had the last reserves of oil in Alaska and off the Californian coastline, and we didn't even export that! It landed us in a shitty war of attrition against the Chinese, with millions of good people getting thrown into the goddamn meat grinder, all because we were too fucking stupid to play nice with the rest of the damn planet!"

"Somewhere down the line, we stopped giving a fuck about the little guy in America." Nora continued venting. "The idiots in Washington used that damn war to justify stripping more and more constitutional rights, extend term limits on the President, and start throwing anyone who had the audacity to think differently in prison! Even the goddamn military wasn't safe from this! Jackasses like General Chase got thousands of good people killed, all so they could be the big goddam hero! He had the option to call in the Stingrays and wipe the Chinese command facility off the fuckin' map, but he didn't! He threw the entire 1st Marines at the fort, against dozens of MG nests and a goddamn minefield, all so he could get the glory of being the guy that got Jingwei! It was because of asshats like him that you'd come back to your buddies in the trenches, after taking a piss, and find them all in fucking pieces from a mortar or artillery shell!"

"For God's sake, we blew it! We went from being the country that mobilized to liberate a continent from the Nazis, rip Iwo Jima out of the Jap's hands, storm the beaches of Normandy under MG fire, and roll through Europe to cheering villages; to being the country that people needed liberating from! The dickheads in D.C. wouldn't stop going on and on about 'moving towards the future' and all that shit, but what we really needed was to take a giant leap back and re-fucking-start!"

Piper stood, positively stunned, as Nora finished her ranting vent. She had never heard someone speak with that kind of conviction, that kind of pure passion before. "Wow, Blue… that's… that's a lot to take in." She had stopped taking notes after the first few seconds, she couldn't even keep up.

Nora sighed, leaning back against the wall. "God… Sorry, Piper. You didn't need to hear all that."

"No… but you needed to get that off your chest." Piper offered, walking over and placing a gentle hand on Nora's shoulder. She let out a soft laugh. "What I wouldn't give to have someone like you running the show around her."

Nora couldn't help but smile. "Oh Hell no, I'd sooner suck-start a revolver than go into politics. I like having a soul." Piper laughed, and Nora couldn't help but join in.

After a few moments of silence, Piper spoke up again. "So… if it's any comfort, I'm done with the questions."

"Eh, I didn't have any problem with the questions… I just kinda poured my damn soul out at you." Nora smirked.

"Well… I agreed to come with you, didn't I? Watch your back?" Piper offered again.

"You were actually serious about that?" Nora asked, glancing over to Piper.

"After that, I'm definitely serious." Piper nodded.

"Alright… Fair warning, trouble tends to follow me around." Nora grinned.

"Well, I guess I'm trouble now." Piper joked, earning a laugh from Nora.

"Got that vibe when I first walked up." Nora jabbed back. "Before we head out, I wanted to talk with Valentine… see if he's got any leads on Shaun."

"No problem, Nick'll help you out. We go way back." Piper smiled. "Where to after that?"

"Sanctuary, up North." Nora answered. "Need to drop off some gear and help the others get set up."

"The others? More vault dwellers?" Piper asked.

"Minutemen." Nora answered, pushing off the wall and readjusting her M16 on its sling.

"Wait… you're with the Minutemen?" Piper asked, stunned. "I thought they got wiped out after Quincy!"

"We're coming back." Nora smiled. "We're still small time, having to send the General up to Diamond City for trading and all that."

Piper's eyes went wide. "No way…"

Author's Note:

Can't stop, won't stop.