A/N: This entire chapter is set in the past so I didn't bother with italics.

10: Assault on the Enclave –Faith's Story: Part One

The Capital Wasteland, 2278

Faith could only stare at Elder Lyons, wondering if he had lost his damn mind. She didn't have to voice her thoughts because her husband was doing it for her.

"You cannot be serious. You are, aren't you?" Mark was not a very happy retired mercenary and it showed. His muscles flexed dangerously as he regarded the leader of the Brotherhood of Steel, eyes narrowed. "Lyons, she just fucking came out of a goddamn coma! She's already helped you sons of bitches, she's paid you back for the help!"

Mark was referring to her very recent, as in right out of the coma, venture to an Enclave base where she helped the Brotherhood infiltrate and subdue. Somewhat. Liberty Prime had been taken out by the Enclave via some sort of satellite command, it had been… scary, actually. But she had retrieved intelligence for the Brotherhood, intelligence that Scribe Rothchild had deciphered and Lyons had just repeated to her.

She wasn't going to lie, she wasn't overly thrilled with the prospect of venturing into a fucking Enclave controlled air base. Nor was she thrilled with the fact that she was supposed to venture aboard some type of command mobile unit and fucking blow the thing up.

Eventually, she was going to have to die, she just preferred it to not be at those bastard's hands.

Lyons was ignoring Mark, his attention firmly fastened on the young woman before him. She was so young, not even twenty years old yet, but she had done more since leaving the Vault, not even a full year out, than the majority of his Brotherhood combined. She had accomplished so much already, he knew deep down she could do this as well. He would have sent his own daughter, Sarah, in if he thought she could do it; and if she hadn't still been in a coma.

She could do it, she would do it, he already knew that. He also knew the odds of even her, with her strange luck, surviving was… well, less than her odds of surviving Project Purity had been. But Project Purity, the incident at the Memorial, had taught him one thing about Faith: even facing certain death, even while dying, she didn't give up. She would get the job done.

"Faith… you know the risks involved and I won't lie to you, this is a suicide mission. I am asking you to go alone into the largest assembly of Enclave any of us have ever encountered." He said gravely, aware that the Lyons Pride were the only reason Mark hadn't attacked him yet, they were all training their weapons at the behemoth. "All their remaining forces are gathered on this base, and they'll have a massive artillery at their disposal, but you also know the consequences if nothing is done."

"Why her?" Mark interrupted, glancing at his wife and felt his heart clenching violently at the expression on her face.

"Because she is the best."

"No, she's not. She just has fucking great luck! This woman would be dead a thousand times over if not for me or Kane!"

Even Faith would acknowledge this was true.

"She is the one who brought down Raven Rock without yours or Kane's assistance, she is also the one who managed to activate the Purifier." Lyons reminded in neutral tones.

Faith stepped in front of Mark when she seen the tic just beneath his eye, placing both hands on his chest to stop him from lunging. She could feel his muscles tensed beneath her palms and sighed quietly. "If I don't go Mark, the Enclave could use that orbital strike against the Citadel, or the Purifier… or… anywhere. They could take out Rivet City, or Megaton, I can't let that happen."

"Goddamn it Faith, no, no! You are not responsible for these people, fucking let them die."

She recoiled at that, shaking her head. "You already know I can't, I won't."

"Don't do this."

Faith tensed, her head dropping forward at the pleading note in Mark's tone. He had stormed out of the meeting room after she had told him she wasn't going to let anyone die, not if she could stop it. She hadn't seen hide or hair from him in two days. She had spent those two days reviewing all the information the Brotherhood could provide, and stocking up on supplies, training with Paladin Tristan, and basically wondering if she was going to be able to do this without dying of a heart attack.

"Faith, please… God, I almost lost you once, don't…" He whispered, approaching her when she didn't turn around. He slid his hands on her shoulders, squeezing gently. "Don't go."

"I have too, you already know I do. I'm not going to risk everything we've accomplished, my mother and father's work, when it comes to the Enclave." She whispered back to him, feeling a wave of guilt rolling through her. He was begging her not to go; and she knew he had gone through hell and back several times since Jefferson. Here she was, asking him to make the trip yet again.

"Faith…"

"I have too."

"This is stupid."

Faith ignored the Ghoul's less than polite remark, hearing the 'you're being retarded, again' tone in his words. She was reviewing the reports Paladin Tristan had given her concerning her 'mission'. She was going to have to take the utility tunnel from the White House to Adams Air Force Base, where the Enclave seemed to be operating from since the destruction of Raven Rock.

"You can't go alone."

"No offense Kane, but you're a Ghoul, I'm pretty sure they'd notice you, your freakish height aside." She said dryly, finally turning away from the table to look at him. "Where is he?"

He being Mark.

"No idea. He took off." Kane shrugged his massive shoulders carelessly. Even though Faith had shredded his contract and 'freed' him, he had still stayed on as her protector. She needed him, everyone else besides him and her husband seemed to think she was seven foot tall and bulletproof, he knew better. He would never forget seeing her come flying out of the hangar at Raven Rock only to land with a very final, deadly thud on the ground below.

By all rights, this woman should have been dead.

He had a feeling this time around, she would be.