Meeting his two new teammates at the Cambridge Police Station felt a lot like inviting over the neighbors you don't like too much for an afternoon tea. Awkward.

"So, you're my two new teammates, huh?" Nate said breaking the silence that Piper and the crew stewed in while they stood in the middle of the police station lobby, waiting for Danse who was setting up the beacon.

The man and the woman looked at each other briefly and the man said without a hint of emotion, "Yup."

"What are your names again?" Nate said awkwardly. "I know Danse said them, but I'm just horrible with these things, you know?"

"Rhys," the man said.

"Haylen," the woman said.

Nate put a hand on his chest as he said, "I'm—"

"Nate," Haylen said, "And that's Piper, our new landlord. We remembered."

"Oh." And the silence was back again. He took this time to study his new teammates. Rhys was a sturdy looking man with rather broad features. Easily the squarest jaw he ever saw and eyebrows almost as thick as… well… him. Not overweight, but certainly a filled-out man.

Haylen by contrast was a rather petite woman with features to match. An oval face with unassuming features that always displayed what she was feeling no matter how much she wanted to show them or not. And in that moment she was feeling unsure.

Their outfits were pretty interesting too. With Haylen in an industrial-looking turtleneck sweater with a cowl and a goggled hat on top. Rhys was in an orange and white leather jumpsuit, something that looked like what Nate saw peeks of what Danse was wearing under his armor.

"Are you done staring?" Rhys said, breaking Nate's trance.

"Sorry!" He said with hands up. "So… it was just the three of you on this recon mission, then?"

"Seven of us," Rhys said, "The others are dead."

"Oh yeah, I remember that. I listen to your distress signal." He looked to Haylen and awkwardly said, "Uh, you have, uh, a great speaking voice."

Haylen gave an odd look. "Thanks?"

Back to silence as they sat, stewing in an ambiguous animosity. He looked to Piper for some kind of support, but she clearly had as much to say as he did. Instead, she fiddled with her notepad, presumably writing down questions she would like to ask him for his big feature.

Nate said, "Tell me about your positions."

Haylen said, "Well, I'm a scribe and he's a knight."

"So, um… what exactly do those mean?" He grimaced. "I mean I technically know what a scribe and knight are, I just imagine in this context it involves less clay tablets and horses."

She let out a polite laugh. "A scribe is part of the civilian class of the Brotherhood and our job is acquiring, repairing and documenting technology as the preservers we are. We also keep track of the technology we have and just general record keeping just… not with clay tablets." She winked.

"I thought so."

"And Knights, like Rhys, are in charge of…"

"Kicking ass."

Nate was about to laugh, when he looked at Rhys and realized that it was much less of a joke and more an intimidation tactic. "Oh, that's nice."

Haylen elbowed him in the ribs. "You say that, but you're the one who needed me to take care of you for the last two days," Haylen said with a cocked head.

"That's only because I saved your ass from a ghoul taking a chunk of your flesh."

"Allegedly."

Rhys shook his head. "Ridiculous."

Haylen faced Nate again. "Knights aren't just ass-kickers. They're really the building blocks of The Brotherhood of Steel. They're medics, repairmen, armorers, gunsmiths but also occasionally ass-kickers."

Rhys went directly up to Nate, far too close for comfort. "How much do you actually know about The Brotherhood?"

"Um, a bit?" He leaned back a bit. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just trying to figure out why Danse suddenly decided to initiate a punk we didn't even know of a few hours ago." He narrowed his gaze. "And even more, why are you joining? You don't even seem to know that much about us. Makes me wonder if you'd be willing to sacrifice your life like the rest of us would."

Piper finally spoke. "Wow. You guys are just as fun as I imagined you to be."

Nate avoided his eyes as best as he could. "I don't know. It's you guys or wandering alone." He started to wonder—with Rhys's pungent breath down his collar—if he made the best decision.

Haylen came over and pulled him off. "Down boy, Rhys! You have to trust Paladin Danse on this one. If he trusts him, so should we."

"Yeah, sure." Rhys just went back to his seat and smirked. "I'm just happy we have someone who joined us out of convenience."

"Well, no, tha—" Nate went to defend himself, but was cut off.

"Enough, Rhys!" Paladin Danse came stomping down the stairs in his power armor and Rhys and Haylen stood at attention. "If it weren't for Nate, we'd likely be dead in the water right now waiting for help that would never come."

"Sorry, sir!" Rhys said, before sneaking some dagger eyes at Nate.

"I don't need you two to be best of friends, but I do need you to be civil because we are a team. We all have our reasons for being here and Nate has just as good of one as any of us."

Haylen perked up. "Are we all set with the transmitter?"

"Indeed," he said, "I also included a note where to find us when they do show up."

Nate raised a hand. "So when do you think they'll show up?"

"It's hard to say," Danse said, "They'll be eager to come as soon as they learn of The Institute's whereabouts, but getting the Prydwen here will be no easy task."

Piper butted in between them and said, "Are we ready to roll out?" Piper said with an impatient look. "I'd like to get to our first rest point before super mutant suppertime."

Nate had to admit that Piper made a fantastic tour guide as she took them on her self-described "only safe, no fighting route in and out of the heart of the city." And he got to see first hand the death and destruction that befell the city he once roamed, from alleyways to underpasses to main streets that Nora loved to shop at.

As a special requirement of her route, there were a number of "rest points," where they had to wait out a certain raider tribe's patrol route or waiting on some super mutants to move to a different spot.

Nate had only a few words when he saw his first super mutant: "WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS!" He screamed in his softest voice he could muster for his shock.

"Super-mutants, I guess I can assume you didn't have those back in the day?" Piper said.

He looked on from the fifth floor of a parking garage as he saw giant green men with giant orange hounds walking around. "Yeah, no. I mean we had the Jolly Green Giant, but I think that was the closest."

"Super mutants were brought about by man's greed in playing with the laws of nature to make the ultimate soldiers of war," Danse's face scrunched in a way that Nate hadn't seen before, it almost looked like he was as sad as he was angry. "And look what you wrought."

They continued on their way as the super mutants went on their way to banquet which they heard from their boisterous screams. Eventually leading to another rest point along the way. "Get comfortable," Piper said as they settled into an office building only a few blocks away from Fenway, "This is Gunner's territory and they don't leave cracks in their patrol." She smiled. "Well, not many."

Nate found himself a corner and decided to sit and think for a bit. He realized that he might have had a bit of an idealistic idea of how he was going to get along with The Brotherhood of Steel and suddenly he realized that perhaps his chipper pre-war attitude wasn't going to sit well with their wasteland attitudes. Maybe it wasn't going to be a great fit for him, but it wasn't like hundreds of people were begging to share his company. He just had to wonder if he was going to be okay.

"Hey, I think we got off on the wrong foot." He raised his head and saw Haylen was standing over him.

He moved over and patted the earth next to him. "It's okay. You definitely could have gotten off on a wronger foot," he said eyeing Rhys.

"Don't mind him, he's just a bit of a ruffian, y'know?" She said with a slanted smile, coming down next to him.

Nate could not help but glare. "I'm surprised The Brotherhood would accept his kind of attitude."

"Are you one to speak?"

"Touché." He let a defending finger fly. "But! They have time to kick me out once they realize what a horrible mistake they made. How long has Rhys been with the Brotherhood?"

"A good couple years, I'm pretty sure."

Nate raised his eyebrows. "Well, they're deep in bed with him at this point."

She had a bit of a confrontational, but joking tone as she said, "You sure have a lot of opinions about what it is to be a part of The Brotherhood for someone having been a part of it for less than three hours."

Nate hit himself on the forehead. "You're right, I'm sorry, I'm stepping out of line. My wife tells me I get this way whenever my competitive side comes out. I'm sure he's actually a really orderly, honest soldier and I caught him on a bad day."

"Oh no, he's anything but!" Haylen said with a laugh. "His rap sheet with The Brotherhood is like a laundry list: disorderly conduct after disorderly conduct."

"The sex must be amazing, then."

Haylen let out a boisterous laugh that even caught the eyes and shushes of the party in front of them. "Sorry," she said. "If he could have sex with the concept of The Brotherhood, I'm sure he would." She sighed, "I swear you won't find a more loyal person, though. I'm sure that's why The Brotherhood puts up with him."

"And the sex."

"And the sex, of course."

Piper leaned over the edge and with a handwave, said, "Here's our chance! Let's go!"

Through the thickets of the concrete jungle they were finally in front of the entrance to Fenway, or now known as Diamond City. A pavilion that was used to welcoming hundreds of spectators into its home was now barren with only the hum of turrets in its stead. He could practically still smell the hot dogs they had for sale… if it weren't for the overwhelming stench of rotting flesh.

"So, this is the famous Diamond City," Haylen said, "Gotta say, it lives up to the hype."

Blocking the entrance was a large metal shutter, presumably to keep out raiders. Piper went up beside it to a little intercom system.

She went up to the buzzer, pressed the button and proceeded to lean confidently on the it as she spoke. "Hey Danny, it's Piper, think you can open the gates?"

A non-confident groan came from the other end. "Ugh, sorry Piper, I'm afraid that's a no-can-do."

Piper suddenly caught the eyes of all four Brotherhood of Steel members. "Um, what?" Piper said with widened eyes. "What did you say, Danny?"

"I can't let you in, Piper, I'm sorry."

"This isn't the time for jokes, Danny! Just kind of sitting out here in the open waiting for a super mutant to come up and say, 'Hello, time to eat puny human body now!'"

"I'm sorry, Piper, I got direct orders from Mayor McDonough. He's officially deemed you a threat to the city after the last article you published."

She suddenly switched to a delicate, soothing tone. "Awww, Danny, you don't believe those things about me, do you? You know I'm only here to help the people."

"Well, you definitely spread chaos, Piper, that much is pretty indisputable. I'm not sure if people want your special brand of help anymore. Maybe this is for the best…"

The delicate tones immediately melted away to the angriest, softest tone she had. "Danny Franklin Sullivan, I swear to the high heavens that if you don't ope—"

"Piper, honestly, it doesn't matter what I think. I'm just doing my job, so if you'd make this easier for the both of us, just find another city to pester." Piper's anger was seething off of her, tangible to all. "We can send Nat out later, if you want."

Piper clenched her fists and took a deep breath. Danse was about to speak when Piper held up one finger and flashed a devilish smile. "Follow along," she whispered.

"Awww man, Danny, I really hoped it wouldn't come to this. But if you really want to make an enemy with The Brotherhood of Steel, I can't stop you."

"B-Brotherhood of Steel?"

"Yeah, Danny Boy, I made a few friends while I was out there. A dozen of them, to be accurate." Piper held up her finger to Danse again. "I was going to give them a fun little tour of the city, but you've made the executive decision to brand Diamond City as enemy to The Brotherhood." She shook her head. "Very bold."

"W-Well, j-just wait a minute, there!"

"Really, though… Doesn't the Brotherhood have a metal blimp, Danse?"

Danse spoke with disdain on his face, "I will not—"

Nate jumped in. "Yes, me, Danse! We sure do, Piper. Ten of them!" He quickly turned to Danse and quietly said, "Do you really have a metal blimp?" He just rolled his eyes.

"Wow, Danny! Can you believe that? Ten whole blimps. And quick question, what do you think will win. This metal wall you got here or ten blimps?" She leaned into the intercom and whispered. "I'll give you a hint… blimps can go over walls."

"Fine! J-just give me a minute…"

And suddenly, the metal door began to rise.

"Do not make major political threats on behalf of The Brotherhood, civilian!" Danse said.

She brushed him off. "It's called a bluff, calm your servos."

"Do not speak to our captain that way!" Rhys chimed in.

"Calm down, Rhys, I don't need you to stand up for me."

"Sorry, Captain."

As soon as the metal door rose, Danny came running out, "Hey! So, no hard feelings abo—" He stopped as he saw only the four of them. "This is less than a dozen people, Piper."

"Oh, did I say a dozen soldiers. I meant to say they fight with the fervor of a dozen soldiers." She pat Danny on the chest. "Thanks for the reentry, Danny."

Danny looked fully defeated as they strolled in one by one. "Mayor McDonough's going to have me killed…"

Reaching the opening to Diamond City, it was like walking into a whole new world. What was once a field was now covered in shacks, upon shacks upon lean-tos upon bungalows with a giant smokestack-looking restaurant in the middle. Partially broken stadium lights lit the area. It was a slum-town for sure (the smell wouldn't let him forget), but something did feel rather homey about it.

But this wasn't going to be the time to see it, as right upon going down the ramp leading into the city was a building with a Publick Occurrences sign on it.

A small girl stood in front, waving a newspaper over her head. "Read all about it! Is your neighbor being replaced by a synth! Find out more in this special edition!" she yelled. "Piper!" The small girl put her armful of newspapers down and came running up as soon as they came down from the entrance. "You're back!"

"Hey Nat, how's the paper selling," She bent down and received a hug from the girl.

"People are eating up the McDonough synth issue."

"Synth issue?" Danse said.

Nat got out of Piper's arms and looked at the four strangers following her sister. "Who are these people?" She met eyes with Piper. "Are you in trouble?"

Piper laughed. "This is Danse, Nate and…" she blanked as she stared at the other two.

"Rhys and Haylen," Danse said.

"Okay, to be fair, I didn't fight for my life through a synth-infested laboratory with you two." That didn't stop Rhys from glaring. "Anyways, these people are going to be staying with us."

Nat looked nervously back at their hovel. "Really?"

"Yeah, they're a part of the Brotherhood of Steel, so they're going to keep us safe when things get a little spicy here."

"We're not mercenaries, citizen, you do well remember that," Rhys said with a snarl.

Piper grunted and looked back. "You do protect the innocent, right? Well, here's two innocents who don't want to be brutally murdered in the night. Hmmmmmmmm?"

"I'm definitely innocent, I don't know about my big sister," Nat said.

Piper scoffed. "Cutthroat devotion to the truth even in my own home." Piper pretended to choke up. "I'm so proud."

Nat went up to all of them with an outstretched hand and said, "The name's Nat Wright, Publick Occurrences." She smiled warmly up to them. "Nice to meet you!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, civilian." Danse said, lightly shaking her hand with his power armored one.

"Charmed," Nate said as she went down the line.

"Thanks for sharing your home," Haylen said.

Rhys grunted when he shook her hand.

They made their way into the shack.

Entering the hovel, it became clear that Piper may have pumped up her place a bit as it really didn't seem all that fit for six people, hell, it was even shaky for two.

"Welcome home."

And what a house it was as they learned on Piper's tour. The living room was composed of a couch and a repurposed dishwasher as an armrest. At the far side was a terminal attached to a printing press, seemingly she used this set up to make the numerous copies of Publick Occurrences that littered the room (and presumably the whole city). Behind that was a makeshift wall made of cinderblocks with a mattress lying on the ground behind it.

He ventured up some stairs to find Piper's room. With a bed on a stand, a desk with a computer and a door leading out to the 'balcony.' At least that was how Piper described it, the correct term would be 'patchy-ass roof,' as Rhys put it.

"Hey! When the sun's setting over The Wall, the atomic breeze hits you just right and slightly tepid beer in hand. Baby, it feels like the balcony of some kind of hoity-toity mansion." Piper with a kiss of her fingers.

The tour ended back in the living room when all of soldiers looked at each other and the same thought appeared on all of their minds. Eventually Nate spoke up. "So, is there a hidden room with some extra beds?"

She sighed. "I thought you would say that." She went and sat on the couch, popping open the dishwasher to pick out a Nuka-Cola. "Okay, so it isn't the highest class place you've ever been, but…" She popped open her soda and drank slowly to give her time to think. "You don't have to take rests in turns?"

"Even the police station had beds," Rhys said.

"Oh, aren't you guys soldiers!" Piper scolded. "The most pampered soldiers I ever met." She looked around. "We can make do! Let's see…" She put a hand on her chin. "Nat can share a bed with me upstairs."

"What?!" Nat yelled. "That's not fair!"

"Oh, come on, just pretend like it's like when we were just starting out and can only afford one bed."

"I was a kid then!"

"This is going to blow your mind, but…" She leaned in and whispered. "You're still fully a child." Nat just pouted and stomped her foot. "And you're still acting like one too, it seems."

"Fine, whatever…" Nat said going behind the cinderblock wall, grabbing a few trinkets and moving up the stairs with them.

Piper yelled up, "Just think! When I'm gone, you get to have it all for yourself."

"I already do that!" They all heard yelled from upstairs.

Piper just shook her head. "Kids, huh?"

"So, we're all sharing that bed?" Haylen said, pointing to the alcove room.

"Well, one of you can take the couch. Which then leaves us with two of you bed-less."

"I can sleep in my power armor," Danse said.

Nate looked up at him. "You can?"

"It's something we learn in basic training. In case of emergency, a raider isn't going to politely wait for you to suit up in power armor while they ambush you in the night." He looked at Nate's perplexed face. "Besides, I find it more comfortable to be in it than out."

Piper clapped her hands. "Great! Just one left."

"Me and Rhys will share the bed," Haylen blurted out coolly. Rhys's head snapped to Haylen, she said, "Oh calm down. It's not like that. I just need to keep you from strangling the initiate in the night."

Rhys clammed up. "Whatever works." He eyed Nate. "Better company than some others."

Nate just sneered and rolled his eyes. "You'd be so lucky."

"Great! It's all settled!" She looked out a window and saw the afternoon soon turning to night. "Alright, I got to get to be before I head out tomorrow," she said.

Nat ran down from the upstairs. "Already?"

"Well, yeah, kiddo." She went over to the stairs and tousled her hair. "Apparently there's something big happening in Vault 81?"

"Vault 81? Which one is that?"

"It's the one northeast of here, remember?"

"Oh yeah! They're the one that's still up and running."

Piper rolled up her sleeves. "Yeah, but maybe not for long. Apparently there's a disease outbreak that the overseer is trying to cover up."

"Wow! What a story!"

"Exactly!"

"That kind of exposé could feed us for a month!"

"That's what I'm thinking. I'm sure the people of Diamond City will be happy to hear life is shitty for other people than them for once in a blue moon."

Danse raised a finger.

"I haven't forgotten about you, proud boy." She went over and sat by the terminal by the printing press. "I'll interview you tonight and rush out a piece about you before morning."

Danse raised his chin to her. "I'd prefer not a rush piece. The Brotherhood deserves care and attention."

"Hey, it might work out in your favor! Maybe I'll forget to include your organization's proclivity for extorting resources from underprivileged farmers in the wasteland." Piper displayed a proud smile while Nat laughed watching.

"I feel as if I'm going to regret this."

"I'm going to take a walk," Nate said hiding a smile, "If that's alright, Captain?"

"Go ahead."

"Be careful," Piper said, "We may not let raiders come in, but that won't stop someone slipping a hand in your back pocket if you're not careful."

"Noted!" And he slipped out.

All the sights he saw on his walk, it was all kind of crazy to him. He saw a two-headed cow being led through the narrow streets, security people wearing umpire's gear, a radio station with the wimpiest host he ever heard and even a Protectron robot stirring ramen up in the smokestack-looking restaurant.

It wasn't too long into his walk did night finally fall on Diamond City and the day was finally coming to a close. He finally made it through the day.

He found a small pond in the back corner of the city with a nifty boardwalk leading to a trailer sitting in the middle of it on stilts. At night, spotlights lit up the water, making it glow a beautiful cerulean. He leaned down and sat on the ledge, dangling his feet over the water.

Suddenly all of the weight of the day hit him all at once. He tried to stay as composed as possible throughout the day, but finally it just got to be too much and he started to sob. The floodgates were open and he just couldn't get them closed. He didn't care who saw him, he just needed to cry. Nora was gone. Shaun was gone. Everyone was gone. Everything he worked for his entire life was gone.

He just let his tears fall to the pool below as he heard the distant sound of a baby crying, only making him cry harder.

"Soldier," He heard from behind him.

He looked up and saw Danse standing over him out of his power armor. Nate went to get up and stand at attention, but Danse just put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and got down on the boardwalk with him.

Nate quickly wiped the tears from his eyes. "Sir!" he said shakily. "I haven't seen you out of your power armor before. It's weird."

"Scribe Haylen is doing touch-ups on it right now."

"How'd the interview go?" he said between sniffles.

"Fine. I tried to give her some constructive criticism on her article while she was writing it, but she decided to kick me out instead." Danse simply watched Nate as he pathetically tried to mask his crying. "Is this that aneurism that you were talking about."

Nate let out a sad chuckle. "Sorry, Captain."

"Don't be sorry." Danse rubbed his back. "Let it all out."

"Huh?" Nate gave the most perplexed look. "That is not what I was expecting you to say."

"And that is?"

"Soldiers in the Brotherhood don't cry! Soldiers are strong! There's a sniper who's been waiting for his shot and you just gave it to him!"

"Soldiers are people too. We feel just as anyone does. When my team lost Keane, Worwick, Brach, and Dawes I was devastated. I'll admit that I cried."

"Really?"

"Of course. But when I was all cried out, I just lifted my head and I marched on. Because I have to be strong for the ones I can still lose." He looked Nate directly in his eyes, even when Nate tried to hide them. "Isn't there someone you need to get back?"

"Shaun…"

"So, get it out now, because you can't risk getting it out later when someone is depending on you."

He felt a renewed determination welling up in him, but at the same time, a crushing depression just kept throwing it back down. "I can't just forget Nora…"

"You never forget the ones you lose. It's an impossible task. So, you just have to bring them along for the ride and let them look over you." Nate at him, almost confused, "I carry them around my neck," He brought out his comrades' holotags resting around his neck. "I guess you'll carry your wife on your finger."

Nate fiddled with the ring on his finger and he suddenly felt another wave of tears hitting him. Danse wrapped an arm around him and brought him closer. "Come on, just let it out."

"Thanks, Captain," he said, laughing and crying all together. It was then with Danse holding him close and calming him with dulcet words did he know that he was going to be alright. He finally saw that he wasn't in a dark cave descending to never-ending darkness, but a tunnel with a light at the end. Soon he would dry his tears and he would find his son, wherever he might be. But for now he just felt the heat from Danse's body as he let the night take some of the weight from his shoulders.

"When you feel like you can lift your head, I'll be there," Danse said letting Nate rest his head on his shoulder. "Always. That's my promise to my subordinates."

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Author's Note – Hey All, thanks for making it the beginning of my second arc. Thank you all for reading up to this point, it means a lot. I love feedback and love talking to people. Anyways, I have a lot planned for this series, so I hope you'll keep reading.