Nora could hardly believe the level of devastation around her. Was this really what became of her beloved Boston. Her dismay only grew at the ruin state of Sanctuary Hills, as they crossed the small foot bridge headed into the once beautiful neighborhood. She was pleased to see at least some of the houses still standing including her own.
As they approached the front of her former home, they noticed the familiar floating figure of a mister handy unit. A small spark of hope lit in Nora as it turned once it noticed their approach.
Mister Handy: "As I live and breath, madam Nora, it's really you. And I see you've brought along the young sir Bishop. You look much better than the last time we met young sir."
Nora rushes forward in her joy at seeing a familiar face and awkwardly throws her arms around the beat up mister handy.
Nora: "Oh, Codsworth, it really is you! How did you survive all this time?"
Codsworth: "I dare say, we mister handys are made of quite strong stuff ma'am. I'm afraid the same can not be said for your home though. I fear master Nathan shall despair over the state of his car. Pray tell, where is your better half by the way."
Nora's shoulders sag as she re accounts the tale to Codsworth. He deserved to know the fate of their family and the dilemma she now faced.
Codsworth: "My word, what a terrible turn of eventys. As if being frozen for 210 years wasn't enough."
Bishop, who had been waiting quietly, is slightly alarmed by what Codsworth just said.
Bishop: "Hold on, 210 years. You mean 200 right. It is 2277, right?"
Codsworth turns his attention to Bishop.
Codsworth: "No sir. It is in fact 2287, though I see where you would be confused. Cryo stasis is a nasty business indeed. Your parents departed 10 years ago to dispatch those ruffians that caused your injuries."
Bishop felt faint as he processed this new information. 10 years. What had he missed? There were no NCR forces invading the Commonwealth so his parents must have defeated Carson and his forces, but where were they? At seeing his distress Codsworth speaks up.
Codsworth: "Do not fret young sir. Your mother left behind her fancy wrist watch and a holo tape. Surly they will provide some clue to their whereabouts. Ah, before I forget, master Nathan also left a holo tape for you ma'am. I believe he was going to present it as a gift."
Bishop numbly took the pip-boy and holo tape as Codsworth hands them to him. He pays little attention to Codsworth as he hand Nora her own holo tape. A million thoughts run through Bishop's head but, all lead back to the same question. Why didn't they come back? He reguarded the holo tape in his hand and a sense of dread settled over him. Codsworth breaks him out of his thoughts as he speaks once again.
Codsworth: "Sir perhaps you should sit down for a moment. You look quite unwell."
Bishop slightly turns to Nora and see she's wearing a look of concern. He jesters to the remains of her home.
Bishop: "Do you mind?"
Nora: "No, not at all."
Nora trails slightly behind him as they enter the ruined home through the doorway. Bishop sits heavily on one end of the couch still contemplating the items Codsworth gave him. He turns the pip-boy over in his hands a few times. It was defiantly his mother's. He gives out a sigh and strapes the pip-boy to his left arm.
Nora slowly makes her way father into the ruined home. On the counter of the bar island she notices one of Nate's old comics. She slightly tears up at the sight as she continues on toward the back rooms. She stops for a moment at the closed door to Shaun's nursery. She opens the door and is overwhelmed by the short memories the room brings. Other than the damage caused by the passage of time, the room was nearly as she and Nate had left it. She sits heavily in the armchair in the corner fingering the holo tape Codsworth gave her. She puts it into the holo player on the pip-boy and silently listens to Nate's voice and Shaun's cooing.
Bishop is still staring at his holo tape when Nora emerges from the back rooms. He quickly tucks the tape into a pouch on his body armor and stands to face her vowing to listen to it when he had the chance.
Nora: "So, what's the plan?"
Bishop: "Hmm, well the best thing to do is find some friendly people first and get an idea of what the Commonwealth is like. Then we can see about chasing down some leads on the guys that took your son."
Nora look confused at what he said shouldn't he be more concerned with finding his parents rather than helping her find Shaun. She was practically a stranger to him anyhow. Before she can comment on any of this Codsworth interjects.
Codsworth: "Madame sir, if I may suggest. There was a small group of settlers that took up residence in Concord a few months ago. They seem the sort in which you could make your inquires of."
Bishop: "Thanks for the tip Codsworth. The more we know about the area increases the likelyhood we'll find the guys who took your son."
Nora hesitates. On one hand she's desperate to find Shaun in this desolate world, and Bishop was her best chance at doing so. But on the other hand, was it really fair to involve him so deeply into her problems when he had similar one3s of his own. He should probably focus on finding his parents. As she thought about it, it was a bit odd at how he seemed to completely set it aside and focus on her problem, as if he was trying to avoid thinking about it. In the end she came to the rilization she shouldn't nlook a gifted horse in the mouth and nodds.
Nora: "Yeah, it's just a little south of here."
Bishop and Nora move to leave the house, but are stopped as Codsworth speaks again.
Codsworth: "But ma'am, what should I do?"
Nora stops and reguards Codsworth for a momaent. Her and Nate had only bought Codsworth a few months before the world ended, and although they had only had him those short months she considered him apart of the family. Although he was equipped with weapon like appendages the thought of something happening to him brought a sense of dread to her.
Nora: "Codsworth, I think you should probably stay here."
Codsworth: "But, ma'am, I could really assist in the search for young Shaun."
Sensing the impending argument, Bishop speaks up.
Bishop: "She's rifht Codsworth."
Codsworth: "But..."
Bishop: "Listen we're gonna need someplace to come back to so we can plan our next move. You should stay here and fix the place up a bit for us. I promise we will come back."
Codsworth: "Well, if your coming back..."
Nora: "We will Codsworth I promise too."
At both of them promising to return Codsworth's mood improves considerably.
Codsworth: "In that case I'll give the old place a quick sprucing up while you two are away and give the old neighborhood a once over. With any luck a hot meal will be waiting upon your return."
Nora: "Thanks pal. We'll be back as soon as posibale."
With that said Nora and Bishop set off toward Concord while Codsworth begins scouring Sanctuary for food and other useful items. As they trudge the road southwards , Nora contemplates her situation and her new found friend. Was it really fair to take advantage of his kindness? No, not really but what other choice did she really have in this new and dangerous world. At that thought she promised herself she'd find some way to repay him.
As they pass a derelict gass station, Nora is broken out of her thoughts at the sound of barking. On reflex Nora draws her pistol and Bishop draws his revolver. They both aim in the general direction the barking came from. They slowly relax their aim as a whimpering noise is heard and a German Shepard slowly emerges from the ruined gas station in the most non-threatening way it can manage.
Sensing their tension the dog lays down to show it is non-hostel. Nora and Bishop share a look, then a nod before deciding to holster their weapons. Nora cautiously approaches the dog. In response the dog begins to happily wags it's tail. Upon the positive reaction, Nora kneels down and pets his head.
Nora: "Hey there boy, how are you? Where's your owner?"
The dog gives out a sad whimper and lays his head back down.
Nora: "Aww your all alone. Do you have a name?"
She starts to check for a collar but is stopped as the dog jumps up and gives out a happy bark. He runes into the gas station and brings back a plastic dog bowl. Written in black marker on the side is the name Dogmeat. He lays the bowl down at Nora's feet, sits down and wags his tail happily. Nora picks the bowl up and inspects it.
Nora: "Dogmeat, is that you boy?"
Dogmeat gives an excited bark and turns in a circle in response to Nora's question. Nora gives a short laugh and takes that as a yes. Nora pets his head as Bishop comes over and kneels next to Nora stretching out his hand toward Dogmeat. Dogmeat gives his outreached hand a cautionary sniff before deciding Bishop is trustworthy and nudges his hand for more pets. Bishop gives Dogmeat's head a few quick pets and then stands.
Bishop: "We better get a move on to Concord."
At the word Concord, Dog meat lets out a series of excited barks and circles Nora and Bishop a few times before siting back down in front of Nora.
Nora: "Want to come with us boy? What do you think Bishop, can he come with us?"
Bishop gives Dogmeat a stern stare to evaluate his combat readiness. Dogmeat returns his stare with a puppy pout. It doesn't take Bishop long to cave.
Bishop: "Oh, alright. You can come, but you have to watch out for Nora."
Dogmeat gives a firm bark in response. Nora gives him one last pat of the head before standing as well.
Nora: "Alright now that's settled lets move on to Concord."
Bishop nods and they continue down the road to Concord. As they approach the town the sounds of gun fire fill the air. Nora draws her pistol, Bishop readies his rifle and Dogmeat lets out a series of warning growls as they turn onto the main strip that leads to the Museum of Freedom. A group of thugish looking people are shooting at a man that is on the museum's balcony. The man is bearlyy holding his own as he returns their fire with a laser type weapon.
Bishop: "Shit raiders. Looks like they have those settlers Codsworth mentioned trapped in the museum."
Nora: "What do we do?"
Bishop: "You take the two on the right. I'll take the four on the left. Get as close as you can before firing to maximize chance to hit them. If they spot you get into cover and let me handle it. That flimsy vault suit won't protect you from bullets."
Nora gives him a nervous nod. Bishop then turns to Dogmeat.
Bishop: "And you, watch her back. We don't know how many of these guys are mulling around, so make sure nobody gets the drop on her."
Dogmeat gives him a dutiful bark. Bishop gives them both a nod, then begins to quickly and quietly make his way down the left side of the street toward the museum. Nora lets out a breath, then mimics Bishop's moves down the opposite side of the road with Dogmeat trailing behind her.
The raiders are so focused on trying to shoot the man on the balcony, they don't notice Nora or Bishop as the sneak up behind their intended targets. Bishop waits until Nora is in position behind her targets before silently signaling for her to begin firing. Nora quickly downs the two raiders with three shots in each of their chest. At the same time Bishop quickly kills the four raiders near him with four head shots. A heavy silents falls over the two travelers for a moment. It is then broken by the man on the balcony yelling down to them.
Man: "Hey, up here. There's a group of settlers trapped in here. We barred up the door but the raiders are almost through. Grab that laser musket and help us, please!"
Bishop picks up the laser musket as Nora approaches. He hands the laser musket and spare energy cells over to her. He notices she is shaken up.
Bishop: "When we get in there you and Dogmeat stay close to the door. Barricade it closed once we're in so no one else can get in behind us. I'll take care of the ones inside and give you the all clear once I'm done, okay."
Nora nods as they enter the entrance hall of the museum. She looks around for something to block the door as Bishop moves off toward the hallway on the right. She finds a few sturdy boards and uses them to firmly bar the door. She then turns and takes up a defensive position behind a nearby pillar. Dogmeat takes position slightly behind her.
Bishop shoulders his rifle and draws his combat knife and his revolver, as he quietly makes his way down the hallway. As he reaches the end of the hall to the next part of the room a raider is conversing with other raiders in the other room. Bishop stealthily sneaks up behind the raider in the hallway.
He quickly reaches around and plants the knife in the raider's neck attracting the attention of the raiders in the other room he was talking to. Bishop quickly takes aim with his revolver and plants a bullet between the eyes of a raider across the room. Bishop quickly ducks back into the hallway as raiders on the upper floors open fire on the doorway he was previously in.
Nora hears the fire and begins to worry a bit. She leans out from behind the pillar to see what's going on. She takes note of the raiders on the upper floors firing down on the other side of the room. She calls out.
Nora: "Bishop, you okay!?"
Bishop: "Yeah, just a little set back. Can you get a clean shot on either of these guys?"
Nora takes another look around the pillar and notices she has the perfect view of the back of the raider on the second floor as he's firing in the opposite direction. Nora lets out a breath and readies her pistol. She recalls the words Nate would tell her when they would go to the shooting range.
Nate: "Now, what you want to do is concentrate. Take a deep breath and steady your aim and shoot as you exhale."
She carefully takes aim as she takes in a deep breath and shoots as she exhales. She rapidly shoots three rounds that find their mark in the raider's back. The raider cries out in pain as he falls from the walkway dead.
Nora quickly ducks back behind the pillar as the raider higher up sends a volley of bullets in her direction. Bishop quickly dispatches him with two shots in his side. Bishop yells out to Nora.
Bishop: "Nora, you okay over there?"
Nora lets out a shaky breath as she answers.
Nora: "Yeah, I'm fine."
Bishop: "Move up behind me and check for supplies. I'll move to the upper floors and clear them of raiders."
Bishop doesn't wait for an answer as he heads up the stairs to the next floor. Nora cautiously moves toward the hallway to the right as she hears more gun fire from the floor above her. She moves down the hallway and onto the next room. She stops short of a giant hole in the floor. She notices an eerie green light coming from the bottom of the hole. She carefully makes her way down to the eerie light curious of what it could be. Dogmeat lets out a whimper as he waits on the stairs to the second floor.
At the bottom of the hole is a gated storage area with a generator like structure within. Nora notices another terminal next to the door of the storage area. She activates the terminal and begins scrolling through the information. The strange generator was something called a power core charging station. Power cores were used to apparently operate power armor.
Nora: "Hmm, sounds like this could be useful."
She activates the command to unlock the door. She closes the terminal as the door clicks open, and heads inside to collect the power core.
Bishop killed two raiders on the second floor and continued on to the third. Once he reached the top of the stair way hes stopped at the sound of raiders angerly talking.
Raider: "Your dead once I get in there, you hear me! Every last one of you, dead!"
There's a pounding on a door as the raider tries to kick it in. Alarmed at the splintering sound the door is making due to the stress, Bishop quickly turns the corner. He fires two shots and the nearest raider goes down.
Raider: "What the hell!"
The raider that was kicking at the door turns in surprise. He draws a baseball bat from his back, raises it and charges at Bishop. Bishop hastily fires one shot from his revolver and then it clicks empty. Bishop cruses as the shot harmlessly grazes the raider but does little to slow him down. He quickly holsters the empty revolver and shifts the combat knife to his right hand in a reverse grip. The raider takes a wide vertical swing at Bishop. Acting quickly Bishop ducks under and to the left of the blow, cutting into the raider's ribs as he passes. Bishop turns and delivers a brutal stab to the right side of the raider's neck, with enough force to send the raider sailing over the railing. The raider lands with a loud thud on the 2nd floor walkway dead. At the thud Nora lets out a surprised streak. Alarmed at her streak Bishop leans over the rail and yells down to her.
Bishop: "Nora, are you okay!?"
Nora comes from the hole and back to the first floor and yells back to him.
Nora: "Yeah, just startled a little. Was that the last of them?"
Bishop: "Yeah, come on up. Just mind the bodies."
While Nora made her way up to the third floor, the door the raider was trying to kick in began to rattle. Bishop quickly ducks into an empty room and reloads his revolver. As the door finally rattles open Bishop turns the corner with his revolver ready to fire, but stops short as he sees the man from the balcony standing in the doorway. Bishop lets out a sigh and lowers his revolver.
Bishop: "Jeez man, great way to get shot."
Bishop holsters his revolver as Nora turns onto the walkway, with Dogmeat at his heels. Nora jesters to the man in the doorway.
Nora: "Is this the man who asked for help?"
Bishop: "Yeah. What's your name anyway?"
Nora and Bishop turn to the man in the doorway. The man gives a frustrated sigh. Nora and Bishop finally take note of the man's slightly panicked look. In a rushed tone he answers.
Man: "Garvey. Preston Garvey. We'll have to hold off on proper introductions until later. We have a situation growing out side."
He turns and walks back into the room behind him. Nora shares a look with Bishop and then follows him into the room. Bishop takes one last look over the rail to the lower floors and then also follows. There are four others in the room, a man and woman arguing in a corner, an old woman sitting on a couch and a man scrolling through information on a terminal. Dogmeat goes and lays down at the old woman's feet as if they were old friends. Preston jesters to the man tinkering with the terminal.
Preston: "This is Sturges. He's come up with a plan that'll hopefully get us out of here alive."
Bishop: "Wait, what situation are you talking about."
Preston: "Well, those raiders you took out on your way in here were just scouts. As soon as you entered the building a whole gang of em moved in."
Bishop: "Shit, can you tell how many?"
Preston: "About 30. You guys are good, but I doubt we'd last long against that many."
Sturges: "That's where my plan comes in. A while age some military group came through here and left behind a genuine suit of T-41 power armor. If that wasn't enough there's also a crashed vertibird on the roof that has a mini gun mounted on it."
Bishop: "I like where this is going. We get the power armor, we can get the mini gun."
Sturges: "Exactly, only one problem. The suit is out of juice, probably has been for years. But not to worry, there is a power core for it in this very building."
At the words power cor Nora's ears perk up. She pulls the strange battery object from her belt.
Nora: "You mean this?"
She hands the power core to Sturges.
Sturges: "Well, I'll be. That's exactly it miss. So we can get the armor moving, who's gonna operate it?"
Preston: "Don't look at me. I've stuck with you guys this long, it'll take more than a fancy suit of armor to tear me away. How about one of our new friends."
Bishop is surprised they'd trust two strangers with their safety. He thinks about who would benefit more in combat using the power armor. As much as he didn't like putting her in danger, Nora was going to have to help him if Preston wasn't willing. Stealth was more his style and power armor was anything but stealthy. With his mind made up he turns toward Nora.
Bishop: "Nora, would you feel comfortable using the power armor and mini gun?"
Nora was surprised that Bishop would trust her with something so powerful and that she basicly knew next to nothing about.
Nora: "Umm, are you sure? Nate used to talk about power armor, but I've never seen it, let alone used it."
Sturges: "Not to worry ma'am. It's all fairly simple. I'll explain to you."
Bishop shares a nod with Sturges.
Bishop: "I'll head down and see if I can thin out the crowd."
Nora: "All right. Be careful."
Bishop nods as he makes his way back through the museum. Nora turns to Sturges and urges him ti be quick about his explanation. Dogmeat stands to attention at Nora's heels. Nora bends down and pats his head.
Nora: "Sorry boy. You should probably sit this one out"
Dogmeat bows his head and gives out a sad whimper. He straightens up after a moment and gives an understanding bark and returns to his place at the old woman's feet. Nora lets out a breath and heads to the door that leads to the roof where the power armor and vertibird are.
As Bishop reaches the entrance door he removes the boards keeping it shut. He readies his rifle and kicks the door open. Noticing him, the raiders around the entrance begin to shout to one another. Before they can do much else, Bishop quickly guns them down and heads to a store front on the left corner. Before he can enter, however, tow more raiders come out and begin to shoot in his direction. He quickly side steps their rain of gun fire and takes cover behind the wall to the left of the ruined windows.
The raiders stop momentarily as they hear the sound of ripping metal. A raider somewhere above Bishop yells out.
Raider: "Hey! Somebody is up here!"
Nora drops from the roof in the power armor and carrying the mini gun. The raiders still in the street begin to shoot at Nora. The bullets fall harmlessly off as they impact the power armor. Nora quickly turns the mini gun toward the street full of raiders. As she sweeps the mini gun across the street the raiders fall easily to the hail of gun fire. Her rampage is interrupted as a molotov explodes very close to her.
Bishop notices that the molotov came from the upper floor of the store front he is hiding behind. Bishop quickly turns the corner into the store and guns down the two raiders on the first floor. He quickly makes his way up to the second floor, to see two more raiders. One raider is taking aim with a pipe rifle while the other is prepairing to throw another molotov. Bishop quickly takes aim and shoots the molotov before the raider can toss it to the street below. Flames consume both raiders causing them to begin to flail in a panicked frenzy. Bishop acts quickly and uses his rifle to bat them out of the ruined windows. They are dead before they hit the ground. Bishop goes to rejoin Nora in the street.
Noticing the horde of raiders moving down the street toward her once again, Nora reaims the mini gun and once again begins to rip through the gang of raiders. Her rampage is interrupted again, but this time it is at the sounds of a muffled roar. Everyone suddenly stops as the roar gives away to angry growling. The ground shakes slightly as something moves underground from under the museum off down the road to the civic entrance. A shriek pierces the air as the grate over the civic entrance is violently thrown off.
From the hole, out crawls the most horrifying creature of the wasteland, a deathclaw. The death claw lets out another roar as it searches for the biggest enemy on the field. Because of the power armor, Nora was the biggest looking enemy the deathclaw could see. With its target chosen it begins to charge toward her on all fours. Raider were brutally swatted aside as it paid them no mind. Bishop hangs in the doorway of the store front with a panicked look and shouts to Nora.
Bishop: "Nora, shot it!"
Nora quickly raises the mini gun and begins to unload on the horrific beast. The Bullets bearly seem to slow it down as it steadily draws closer to her. Once in range the deathclaw begins to slash at the metal armor with its wicked claws nocking her to the ground. Thinking quickly Bishop readies his rifle and charges at the beast before it can badly damage the power armor. Once close enough, Bishop begins to fire his rifle point blank range at the deathclaw's belly. The beast lets out an enraged scream and hits Bishop with a painful back handed slap that sends him sailing through the air and slamming into the wall of the store front. It begins stalking toward Bishop's fallen form not noticing Nora as she tries to raise to her feet again.
Bishop has to shake his head to clear the black spots from his vision before he notices the looming shadow of the deathclaw as it gets closer. He quickly turns toward the beast as it draws back its left arm to strike. Bishop manages to duck under the swipe and draws his combat knife into his right hand as the deathclaw begins to swipe again with its right arm. As it swings Bishop stops its arm by driving his knife into the deathclaw's open palm. This only serves to anger the beast as it closes its hand around Bishop's forearm, leaving bloodied scrapes due to its wicked claws. Bishop hisses as the enraged beast lifts him into the air and throws him past Nora. He sails through the air and crashes through the doors of the museum.
Finally up right, Nora winces at the sound of splintering wood as Bishop crashes into the doors. She rises the mini gun once again and fires into the wounded belly of the beast. Hundreds of bullets shred at the deathclaw's wounded belly, finally slowing it down. Nora is suddenly filled with dread as the mini gun clicks empty. She struggles to reload the mini gun as the bloody beast wobbly stalks toward her. The beast is looming over her as a final thought runs through her head.
Nora: "This is it. I'm sorry I couldn't find Shaun, Nate"
The beast suddenly howls as a bullet wizzes past Nora and lands in the bloody mess that was once its belly. Five more shots land consecutively before the fierce beast finally kills over. Nora turns toward the museum to see Bishop leaning heavily on the door frame he crashed through. She becomes alarmed as she watches him limp over to the dead beast. He gives it a good hard stare before kicking over its right hand and retrives his knife. He then limps over to the wall of the store front and retrives his rifle and then limps back to Nora. For a moment she's unsure of what to say at first, but settles on the obvious.
Nora: "How are.. are you okay?"
Bishop slightly winces at her question.
Bishop: "Well still alive. Not gonna lie, that could have gone better, but you know any fight nyou can walk away from right."
Nora is astonished by his bright attitude considering he almost died. Bishop jesters to the museum.
Bishop: "Lets see about those settlers."
Nora nods and begins to make her way to the museum with Bishop in towe.
Author Note
–-
So that's chapter 3 of 4 depending on how you'd like to look at it. And now I'd like a little in put.
If you've done the Brother quest line you know the possible endings for Blind Betrial. Considering how I'm trying to spin the story would any body be interested in a rebellious Danse. Also I'm thinking of adding a smige of romance any favorites for Nora?