Piper woke to find Ryan sitting at the counter eating, the bear she had found for him seated on the counter next to him. Upon hearing her stir Ryan turned to greet her.

"Bout time you woke up."

"Morning Blue, sleep well?"

Ryan shrugged his shoulders. "Somewhat, care to join me?" He asked, pulling out the chair next to him. Piper got up from the couch and sat down next to Ryan as he poured her a bowl of Sugar Bombs. Piper thanked Ryan before gesturing to the bear next to him.

"I see you've got that bear I found last night."

"Yeah, thanks for bringing him to me, Mr. Bear was one of Shaun's favorite toys. I was in such a rush to get started that I forgot to grab keepsakes."

"Hey that's what friends are for, right?"

"Speaking of that, I have something for you. Wait here." Ryan got up from the counter and walked into his bedroom, Piper could hear him going through things until he reappeared in the hallway carrying a small wooden box in his arms. Ryan returned to the living room and placed the box down in front of Piper. The box had an Eagle, Globe, and Anchor with the words Semper Fidelis carved onto the lid and Piper recognized the symbol as the same one stitched onto Ryan's uniform. Upon opening the box, Piper found a tan colored pistol resembling an old Colt .45 semi-automatic and the letters USMC were stamped onto the pistol's slide. Piper picked up the pistol and admired it in her hand.

"I noticed how you prefer pistols over other weapons, and seeing how we had to sell that Thompson we found I figured you could use something better than that old N99 you carry around. That's an M45A1, they became standard issue just before the Anchorage Campaign. This particular one was mine and it served me well over there, treat her right and she'll do the same for you."

"I appreciate it Blue, but I don't think I can accept such a gift, I mean don't you need it?" Piper asked, trying to hand the weapon back to Ryan.

Ryan pressed the weapon back into her hands insistently. "I'm just fine with my M4. Besides I wanted to show my appreciation for your friendship with something more than words."

"If you're sure, I'll take good care of it Blue." Piper told him as she removed her old N99 from its holster and placed the M45 in its place.

"I'm sure, now let's get a move on. Preston stopped by while you were out, wanted to talk about helping out some settlements."

"Ready whenever you are."

Ryan and Piper made their way from the counter towards the door and out into the neighborhood. Ryan turned around and took a last look at his old house and then glanced at the stuffed bear he held in his hand. "Don't worry Mr. Bear, we'll find Shaun together." He said to the bear before stuffing it in his cargo pocket.

One Month Later

Ryan, Piper, MacCready, and Preston had worked for the better part of a month aiding settlements across the Commonwealth and gaining support for the Minutemen. It came as no surprise to Ryan that Preston would ask him to lead the Minutemen with his military background and combat experience he was the perfect choice, or so Preston had thought. What he didn't expect was for Ryan to initially decline the leadership position, stating that his job was to follow orders, not give them. It took some convincing but Piper was eventually able to get Ryan to lead the Minutemen after telling him how having a standing Army under his control would not only be beneficial to the Commonwealth but could also help in locating the Institute. The four had been gaining allies ever since.

After a month of aiding settlements the Minutemen had grown larger and needed a more secure base than Sanctuary. Preston told them about the Castle, the Minutemen's base of operations before they fell apart, and suggested they retake it for the Minutemen. Ryan's group met with Preston and a squad of Minutemen Soldiers and begun their attack on the mirelurks that had infested the Castle.

Ryan fired a final burst from his M4 into a mirelurk's face and watched the creature fall. There had been many of the creatures but his people had been able to kill them without taking casualties.

"MacCready, Piper search for supplies while Preston and I secure the Castle walls."

"On it boss." MacCready replied as he and Piper walked across the courtyard.

Ryan and Preston Walked to the upper levels of the Castle and watched the Minutemen Soldiers burn the mirelurk nests.

"Hard to believe that we were driven out by these things, we pushed them back so easily." Preston commented.

"Yeah no kidding but we have the Castle and that's all that matters."

As soon as Ryan finished talking a loud groan came from the bay. Ryan and Preston looked at each other and back to the bay. "What the hell was that?" Ryan asked as he and Preston readied their weapons.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it doesn't sound good." Suddenly a giant mirelurk rose from the water with several normal mirelurks and headed towards the exposed portion of the wall.

"Not good, not good. Open fire!" Ryan yelled as he fired burst after burst into the monster. MacCready and Piper ran back to the courtyard after hearing the shooting start and found the mirelurk Queen and her servants climbing over the rubble into the Castle. The two saw Ryan and Preston fighting off mirelurks on the Castles wall and raced to join them while the Minutemen Soldiers focused their fire on the Queen.

"Blue what's the plan!?" Asked Piper once she and MacCready reached him and Preston.

"We need heavier firepower, rifles aren't doing shit!" He yelled back. MacCready looked over the Castle with his sniper rifle and spotted an old M2 .50 CAL mounted on the opposite side of the Castle.

"Boss, there's a heavy MG on the wall across from us!" He yelled at Ryan. Ryan saw the machine gun and nodded towards MacCready.

"Piper we're going to that MG, MacCready, Preston cover us while we move!" Ryan and Piper waited until MacCready and Preston began firing to sprint to the opposite wall and the MG. Piper looked at the gun and doubted the rust covered weapon would work.

"Blue this things covered in rust!" She told him as Ryan opened the guns feed tray cover and loaded a belt of ammo on the feed way.

"These things are more durable than you think, just spit on it, I bet it still works!" he exclaimed as he spat on the weapons trigger group. Piper groaned in disgust before she spat on the weapons charging lever. Ryan grabbed the lever and racked it back twice, satisfied when the weapon actually chambered a round to Piper's surprise. Turning the gun towards the fight Ryan saw the Minutemen being pushed back by mirelurks. Piper covered her ears as Ryan opened up with the .50 CAL, shredding the mirelurks that surrounded the Minutemen before turning the weapon on the Queen. The Queen roared in pain as her armor was penetrated by the .50 CAL's API rounds and she turned her attack on the offending weapon. Piper's eyes widened as the Queen's acid narrowly missed her and Ryan.

"We need to end this fast Blue!" She cried.

"I'm working on it!" He yelled back as he focused his fire on the Queen's face. Unknown to them the Queen had released a clutch of hatchlings that scurried towards the pair. Ryan stopped his firing when he heard Piper cry out in pain and turned to see her throw a hatchling off her back before shooting it with her M45.

"Piper take this!" He told her as he threw her his M4. Piper caught the carbine and flicked the safety off before shooting the remaining hatchlings. Once the hatchlings were dealt with Piper turned back to the Queen and sighted in on her face. Thinking quickly, Piper lined up the sights with what she guessed to be the Queen's eyes and pulled the trigger. The Queen roared in anger and spat acid in every direction once her sight was removed and the Minutemen were quick to take the advantage. With guns firing on her face from every direction the Queen gave out one final roar before toppling over after being struck in the face for a final time by Ryan's MG. The Minutemen cheered as the beast died and expressed their joy by firing at the beast's corpse.

"Holy shit, I can't believe we killed that thing!" Piper exclaimed as she handed Ryan back his Carbine.

"It's thanks to you blinding it that we gained the upper hand, we owe this victory to you!" Ryan praised as he and the Minutemen raised their weapons in the air and cheered in celebration.

Unknown to the Minutemen their victory did not go unnoticed as a man in a black coat and sunglasses observed and photographed the whole battle from the roof of one of the buildings across from the castle. X6-88 had been following this man and his companions since they had killed Kellogg at Fort Hagen. He recognized the reporter, Piper Wright, and the Minutemen, Preston Garvey from the Institutes database. Information on the one they called MacCready was sparse but it was known he was a mercenary. Finally there was Ryan, X6 didn't know anything about the man other than he was a very skilled combatant. With his Intel gathered he readied himself to return to his superior for debrief and to receive his new assignment.