Update 5/10/17: I realized that I had made an error and some things didn't line up as well as I liked them.
The council room of the Citadel had a body in each of its twelve seats. Elder Owyn Lyons sat at the head, to his right sat his old friend Head Scribe Reginald Rothchild, and to his left Star Paladin Cross. Before him were Sheriff Lucas Simms of Megaton, a woman who went by the name of "Red" from Big Town, Ernest Roe of Canterbury Commons, Horace Pinkerton of Rivet City, and Evan King of Arefu. Pinkerton and Simms seemed to be the only two that were at ease with the situation. The remaining wasters traded looks of suspicion, between the Brotherhood leaders and one another.
Behind them Paladin's Vegas and Hoss stood on watch over the proceedings. A newly wielded steel door had been installed at the entrance of the room keeping the conversation away from eavesdroppers. The elder glanced over at his long time friend, and received a nod in reply. Lyons smiled weakly as he cleared his throat.
"I'd like to thank all of you for coming today, I know the Brotherhood has not always been trusted, but this meeting is to a mere stepping stone towards a greater future. I know that you have all struggled greatly in the past few years, but seeing as the wasteland has been purged of both the Enclave and the Super Mutants, I ask that we begin to forge a union from one settlement to another as we take the first steps in reestablishing society."
The Brotherhood elder look around the room, trying to see if anyone of these individuals had grasped the meaning of what he had just purposed. Sheriff Simms removed his hat as he shot a look towards Lyons.
"With all due respect Elder Lyons, I really appreciate the work you and your men have done for all of us in Megaton. I'm afraid I can't say I can trust any of the folks in this room with the lives of my people. If you catch my drift."
With that he sat back in his chair and placed his hat back on his head. Owyn couldn't see it but the Megaton sheriff's eyes were trained directly on Pinkerton.
Ernest Roe stood up and looked around the room cautiously, before speaking aloud.
"To be honest I'd feel more comfortable if the Wanderer was here Elder. He was the only reason I actually agreed to come."
At that a stream of murmurs began to go about the room. Red spoke out next.
"If it weren't for him our settlement would have been wiped out by the mutants months ago. Meanwhile, you Brotherhood assholes stayed locked up in your fortress and barely sent us any of your damn water!"
This seemed to set off Evan King.
"You watch your damn mouth little lady. If it weren't for the Brotherhood you wouldn't even be alive. They saved our asses more times than I care to count, and they deserve your utmost respect."
The Big Town Representative was not amused. Red stood up, only to quickly draw a .32 caliber revolver seemingly out of no where.
"You can shut your damn mouth old man! You don't know half of the shit I've been through!"
Vargas and Hoss both pointed their laser rifles at the armed woman. Simms stood up from his chair and moved to intervene.
"Easy there Red, no need for anyone to get hurt now."
The two paladins exchanged glances with one another before Vargas barked out a demand.
"Ma'am put your weapon down!"
Vargas swore mentally, he could have sworn that they screened everyone that had come in.
Lyons attempted to calm the situation down. "People please, let's try to be civil here."
Red glanced over at the two paladins who had their slights trained on her, then to Simms before sighing. She lowered the gun, which Simms snatched away from her instantly.
"Congratulations, you just made the smartest decision of your life."
As he made his way back to his seat, Simms thumbed the safety on and tossed the handgun to Hoss, who snatched it out of the air.
"Next time check the boot straps, little trick we wasters pick up."
As the Megaton protector sat down both Lyons and Rothchild breathed a sigh of relief. Lyons had barely stopped Cross from lunging up at the young armed woman. He was also now painfully aware of the awkward silence that hovered through the room. Which was only broken when Pinkerton stood up and began to walk out the door. Rothchild attempted to halt him.
"Rivet City Representative, this meeting isn't over yet. Please return to your seat."
Pinkerton merely look back at him and scoffed.
"My apologies, but I can tell right now, there's not a damn thing getting done today. I'll be in my quarters once everyone's done acting like children."
With that Pinkerton stepped out of the room. Leaving the others to bask in the awkward silence for a few moments longer.
Lyons noticed Cross seemed to tense up at the mans words as he put a calming hand upon her shoulder. The Brotherhood elder sighed.
"This meeting is ajorn-"
Owyn was cut short by a coughing fit, he grabbed his handkerchief from within his robes and covered his mouth with it. Rothchild seeing his friend in such a condition put a reaffirming hand on his back.
"This meeting is adjourned we shall continue this discussion at a latter date."
Looks of confusion were all about the room as one by one the representatives cleared out. After a moment the coughing subsided, Elder Lyons was seated back in his chair by Paladin Cross. Vargas and Hoss simply nodded to the Star Paladin before taking posts outside the room. Lyons' trembling hand dropped the small cloth, Rothchild picked it up and was distraught to find it smeared with blood. "Owyn this is madness, why won't you let Sarah handle this. I told you already, you can't handle the stress with your body as weak as it is. The cancer can be treated, but you need to rest."
The elder raised his hand to silence his friend, taking a moment to regain his breath.
"No, I refuse to deprive my daughter of anymore of her time….. All she has known her entire life is fighting, and that is no life to live. This is the first real peace she has experienced in her entire life. No….this was my dream and I will not force my child to live it out for my sake."
Rothchild sighed. "At least go through with the treatments, I'm begging you Owyn. If we lose you, our entire operation will be in shambles. Please, just do it for your friend."
The scribe watched as his dearest and oldest friend seemed to sag as the words fell upon his ears.
"Reginald, I need sometime to think on it. I also need to tell Sarah, she deserves to know. Cross would you mind helping me to my quarters?"
The Cyborg woman replied automatically as she drew his arm over her shoulder and gave him support.
"Of course Elder Lyons, anything else you require?"
Lyons shook his head. "No, no that's all I require."
Lyons said one final word to Rothchild as he was lead away. "Ask for the Wanderer, we need him here."
After what felt like hours the Wanderer finally came to a stop in front battered old cabin, its door old and worn. Sarah breathed a sigh of relief, she was still not one hundred percent after so much time stuffed up in an office. The once familiar bulk of her armor felt strange to her, which was not a good sign, she had a lot of catching up to do. She had no clue how long they had been traveling, only knew that it was noon when they had departed Rivet City, and that the sun had set a few hours ago.
"We'll camp here for tonight, I'll set up."
The Wander said plainly. He drew a key out from within his armors chest slot and unlocked the door, before reaching out and pushing on the aged wood. It creaked softly as it opened up. He made his way inside and tossed a duffel bag on the rough floorboards of the shack. Sarah followed soon after and shut the door behind her, making sure to lock it. For a moment she was in pitch blackness before the Wanderer lite a lantern that sat in the middle of the room in a rather exotic looking jar. The Sentinel was surprised at how spacious the building actually was.
It was about a twenty by twenty-five foot room, with two double beds line up at the end of the room and a set of lockers on the along the right back corner. A lone table set off to the right front corner of the cabin, with three chairs surrounding it. A reloading bunch was pushed off to the middle left side of the room, with a drawer that had various labels attached to each drawer. Sarah made her way to one of the beds at the end of the room and began to remove the plating of her armor. She heard the Wanderer mumble something about 'slobs' and mention some woman named Shannon before reorganizing the messy workbench. After a moment he brought his bag over and set it beside one of the beds.
There was eerie silence about the room, which was occasionally broken by the hollowing of the wind or the creaking of wood. Sarah was getting tired out the silence, at least with the Pride she had some kind of feedback from her squad mates. She watched as he unfastened his helmet and began to remove his armor, taking time to rest his rifle beside his bed.
"Did you build this place yourself?"
He looked up at her before replying.
"Well, yes and no. I had help. Made it little by little the two months out of what was left of the raider forts I took over." Sarah froze as she glanced down at the seemingly clean mattress.
"Except for the beds, got these from a guy I know."
The blonde breathed a sigh of relief knowing that. She was still curious about a few things though. For the longest time she had wanted to know just who the Wanderer was. All she knew about him after almost a year consisted of a small list: He was an excellent shooter, a Knight Commander within the Brotherhood, damn good at hand to hand, his father had created Project Purity, he came from one of the local vaults, and that he was a one tough bastard to put down.
"Has my father made you a paladin yet?"
"No, mostly because Dusk would cause a shit storm if I made Paladin before her. Not that I care to be honest."
Sarah chuckled at that. Dusk was a good soldier, a damn good shot too. Lyons would be kidding herself, however, if she said the young woman wasn't a pain in the ass from time to time.
"I'm surprised, you have enough skill to beat most the paladin's one on one. I'm guessing you don't care for promotions though, seeing as how busy you are." She smirked, taking a moment to remove her breastplate. She heard the Wanderer sigh.
"Well, I don't really fit in with the Brotherhood. You know that already."
Sarah removed the leg plates of the suit now, her mind analyzing the Wanderers' words.
"Doesn't mean you can't try, right?"
She turned away from him, storing the pieces of her armor away.
"Trust me, it wouldn't work. I'm not a people person."
"Well, what kind of person are you?" Sarah asked, as she took her laser rifle and set it on her lap, as she began fiddling around with the power settings; never could be too careful with the feedback loops after all.
Sarah was surprised at how long it took him to respond. She had just put the casing back on her rifle when the Wanderer finally answered.
"I...I couldn't tell you to be honest."
Sarah paused at that and sighed. She propped her gun up against the side of her bed. She turned back and looked at the Wanderer.
"Fight me."
She made sure her expression wasn't going to be taken as a joke. The Wanderer seemed to think it was.
"Sentinel?"
Lyons' raised an eyebrow at him.
"Was I not clear enough, knight commander? I said, fight me."
The Wanderer blinked once, then twice, before speaking.
"No, I heard that. I am asking why."
Sarah shook her head.
"Well...I don't know if you can tell, but you can learn a lot in how a person holds themselves. Right foot forward, arms at eye level suggest eagerness to engage. Right foot back with hands at chest level suggest a more defensive outlook at a situation. The way you throw punches, elbows, kicks. There's little bits of personality that people carry with them, and it all comes out in physically fighting."
The Wanderer let out a sigh.
"Let me guess, even if I refuse, you're going to order me to."
Sarah smiled and stiffened a laugh.
"You're damn right. Now quit your mopping, or you can keep mopping and I'll just kick your ass. Up to you really."
"This is ridiculous."
"Excuse me?"
"This is ridiculous, Sentinel Lyons."
"Much better."
Authors Notes: Wow already at chapter three, thank you to everyone who has been reading. I plan to update regularly if my schedule allows me. Please review and let me know if there are any characters you want to see or any thing you think needs improvement. Until next time. :)