Chapter 4 – Maxson Down

Courier Six was beginning to think that walking across the country was not the best idea that he had ever had. The caps had been good, no denying that but he wasn't hard up for caps. He took the job because he thought it sounded fun… getting out and seeing the world a little more, a bit of adventure with his best friend at his side. It might broaden his horizons a bit.

He decided the night before that his horizons were plenty broad. There are some things that you just didn't need to know. He didn't need to know that someone had made a clone of him. He could have gone his whole life without knowing that and he would have been just fine with that.

If he hadn't come though, he wouldn't have seen the Commonwealth, probably the most stable area he had seen yet. He wouldn't have used a relay or seen CIT or been kissed by that stunner of a General. And he wouldn't have known that someone had made a clone of him, a synth. Was ignorance really bliss? And if he'd turned down the job for McNamara, Veronica would have done the 'look' thing that she did so well… with the puppy dog eyes and shaky lip. Damned emotional blackmail.

He was sitting outside the Visitors house just inside the gate of Sanctuary. His legs were stretched far out in front of him, crossed at the ankles, his arms crossed over his chest and his hat pulled down low over his eyes. With his sunglasses on, the passing settlers could be forgiven for thinking that he was asleep. But he was watching them.

Boone was up in the tower helping the perimeter guards. He had asked about it first thing in the morning, hitching up his rifle and stalking up to the man, Garvey and saying briefly and gruffly that he would be pitching in. He'd been up there all day. Courier would have to go up there and drag him down at some stage, otherwise he'd be up there all night as well.

Courier watched the people as they went about their day. Garvey was everywhere, talking to people, talking on the radio by the gate, up at the vault. He was a colonel, he had said. The Minutemen were a military organisation it seemed, though they all looked pretty 'down home' to the Courier. Some people held military ranks. He'd met colonels, majors and captains. He had ascertained the Sanctuary was like a staging area of sorts, an administrative camp? Or something? People and things came here to be distributed to other settlements. The main fort was over on the coast and was grandly called the Castle and was run by a colonel called Shaw… he'd met the old battle axe a couple of days ago. He'd gone there first, looking for the General.

Couriers eyes darted to the road. There was the General.

She was something else to look at. She was tall and moved with grace. She seemed a little flighty though. Seemed emotional. Kissed like a firecracker. He wondered how a pretty little thing like her became the leader of a Militia and struck up an alliance with the Brotherhood of Steel. Her people looked at her like she was some kind of Messiah. He wondered if she knew how to use that massive rifle on her back or if she just had it there for show.

Boone had acted weird the day before… when Courier had opened the door for the General. The Courier had been unceremoniously shoved aside and Boone had spoken to the woman… Bonne had never done anything like that before… not in the eight years he had known him had Boone been so overt. He glanced back up to the tower, he could see the unmistakable back of Boones head, his First Recon beret firmly in place.

"Excuse me, Mr Six?"

God damn, he hated that.

"Courier's fine." He grunted, and looked up at the brunette who had appeared by his side.

She smiled down at him and took a seat in the patio chair next to him.

"My name's Piper Wright and I'm a journalist. Publick Occurances. I was wondering if you'd be willing to do an interview with me… about you know, wandering the country and the things you've seen on the way to the Commonwealth and what things are like back West? My readers would find it fascinating." She spoke quickly, her eyes darting over him, taking in every little detail of his clothes, his weapons, the pipboy on his arm and the scar on his temple.

He grunted. NO. "Tell you what little lady, I'd love to indulge you… but I'm not going to." He stood up from his comfy spot and walked into the house shutting the door firmly behind him. He looked out through the window and watched the woman scribble some stuff down on a note pad and scurry off. She was stopped on the road by the General who looked like she was questioning what she was up to. She listened to the reply glanced over at the house and grinned. She patted the woman, Piper, on the cheek and said something like 'oh, too bad" and popped her bottom lip out.

Courier smiled, he liked the General… she was alright.

As he was watching, Colonel Garvey ran up to the General and started talking to her urgently. Oh crap, something was up. The smile slid from the General lips and she motored towards the gate, taking up the radio and talking into it. Courier went back outside and strode over to the gate, catching the end of the conversation.

"… only coordinates I know are inside Arthurs quarters. I'll be there in a minute." She looked up at Courier as he approached, his face curious.

"Courier? Can I borrow your sniper? I'll pay for his time." She was pale and looked worried.

"If it's OK with Boone, it's OK with me. You want me to come along as well… what's happened?"

"Do you know anything about sniping?" She asked.

"A little." He shrugged.

"Then come." She raised her voice. "Craig Boone. We're gonna relay in a minute"

Boone peered over the edge of the tower and nodded.

"What's happened." The Courier asked again.

"Elder Maxson has been shot." She replied shortly, before tapping at her pipboy and disappearing in a flash.

They were met at the relay by a young guy, that the General called RJ. He had a nice looking .308 rifle strapped to his back with a high tech looking recon scope on it. He nodded at the two men and the three of them relayed out again. This time appearing in what looked like someones bedroom.

Courier marvelled at it, within a few minutes they were on the other side of the Commonwealth. Tech like this could make him and his kind redundant.

They were met at the door of the room by a Brotherhood of Steel officer.

"General…" He greeted her, a pall over his dark skin.

"Where is he? Is he OK?" she asked urgently.

"Cade has him in surgery. We'll know more shortly."

"Kells, show me where it happened." She ordered, forgetting that she was not actually in charge of the Brotherhood. Apparently, Kells forgot as well, nodding and leading her to the Command Deck.

"He was shot here?" She uttered in disbelief. This was where Maxson stood almost every day looking out over the Commonwealth through the huge plate glass windows. She even knew the exact spot on the floor that he occupied. Max saw the large hole in the glass and a whistling breeze pulled through it, adding an eerie feel to the already tainted deck. Blood splattered the metal floor and pooled in the spot where Maxson fell.

Max knelt down and examined the hole in the window. She stood and took a few steps back until she was in the spot that Maxson customarily stood. She stood up tall, planted her feet and clasped her hands together in the small of her back, mimicking his usual stance.

"I need to know exactly where on his body he was hit." She said peering out at the Commonwealth below. "I need to know where the bullet hit him, how far it penetrated and get me some string." Kells nodded and sent a runner to the infirmary.

Boone came forward and looked at the hole in the glass as well.

"Big Round…I'd say .50cal." He grunted. He took his own modified rifle off his shoulder and raised the scope to his eye scanning the area for possible hides. "I could've taken him down from anywhere." He muttered.

Max nodded absently, her mind racing.

The Courier stood back and watched them all. He didn't really know why he had come other than to keep an eye on his friend. He saw now why she was the leader. She was calm, reasonable and took control when other lost their heads. The runner came back and he had another guy with him. A guy that glared at the General with undisguised malice. He had a white dot painted on his jump suit, just left of center in his chest.

"Paladin Rhys." She greeted him coolly. She took his arm and placed him where she had been standing and then arranged him into the same posture. "You're the same height?" She asked. The paladin nodded shortly, keeping the pose.

"RJ, Boone, the string please." She ordered. RJ stood at the window holding one end of the string at the hole and Boone held the other end to the dot on the Paladins chest. Max pulled her rifle off her shoulder and lined it up with the string peering through it at the City of Boston beyond.

She muttered indistinctly. "Hotel… Boone take this… the roof, floor below?"

She took Boones place hold the string and Boone hefted her rifle and raised the scope to his eye. He adjusted the sights and nodded.

"With me" she ordered. "Rhys, give your Pipboy to Boone."

The Courier had hung back, there was nothing for him to do but when the General and Boone vanished all eyes turned to him and he silently swore to himself. Well shit… looks like the General never got around to telling the Brotherhood that he looked like their dead Paladin.

The other Sniper, RJ MacCready came up to him, ignoring the open mouthed stares of the Brotherhood soldiers.

"Hey, you must be the Courier. Sorry, I wasn't around to meet you last night at CIT… I was sleepy." He grinned.

The Courier smiled back noting the very unnerving look he was getting from the Paladin known as Rhys. He hated to guess what that look meant. The glowering paladin, was rubbing at his naked wrist, where a pipboy had been a few minutes ago. How many people had pipboys? He thought about it hard. Garvey had one and MacCready, he glanced down at RJ's left wrist adorned with his one.

"We should probably get you out of here before these folks turn hostile." MacCready said softly, "Your face is causing quite a stir and without Max here…" RJ bobbed his head at Kells and Kells lead them out of the Command Deck to wait for Max and Boone to return.

"Textbook shot." Boone muttered.

Max had to agree. They found the snipers nest on the penthouse floor of a dilapidated hotel less than a mile from the Prydwen. They found a sleeping bag, some empty tins and the tell tale spent shell. Boone was on one knee leaning into his scope aiming at the Prydwens glass faced command deck.

"Perfect conditions, sun behind him, not a breath of wind. Been here a few days by the looks, heaps of time to track Maxsons movements." Max slammed her fist into the crumbling wall, stepping back quickly as it rained dust down on her.

She didn't really need the sniper with her, but it was nice to have someone competent to confirm her theories. MacCready didn't quite have the know how, being self taught. He was crack shot but she wasn't sure how he was with actually calculating the really long shots.

There was nothing else in the nest to identify the shooter, they looked around carefully, tracking the escape route and trying to find anything to tell them who had tried to kill the Elder. The area was clean.

"Tidy." She mumbled under her breath. Fuck it.

Boone set his rifle down and stood up. "Good prep." He grunted.

"Yep, all planned out, but they didn't kill him." She hoped they hadn't kill him. "Let's get back, there's nothing here accept the spent shell."

Boone nodded and looked down at the unfamiliar Pipboy on his wrist, fiddling with the dials to tune into the tether signal like she had shown him.

"Thanks, Boone."

He looked over at her, peering over the rims of his aviators. "No problem, didn't do much good."

"Thanks all the same." She smiled and disappeared.