Shinji wakes up again but this time Asuka clinging onto him. She feels soft, almost like she was untouched by the wasteland around him. He takes comfort in this, a far cry away from the chaos and disorder that goes on in the Commonwealth. He lays on the bed for a moment while clutching Asuka against him. The lone wanderer herself...he hates to admit it, he kind of likes her. All those worries fade away when he's with her. Asuka begins to move a little signifying she's waking up. Asuka opens her eyes slowly and smiles at him.
"Good morning rookie." Asuka yawned and gets off of him. Shinji gets up and stretches, he's well rested now and is ready to take on the world...well, not like pull out a rifle and go on a shooting spree type. But ready to fight whatever is thrown at him. The door opens to reveal the crewmen of the Prydwen walking left and right while Taisuke out of the elder's quarters and yawning and scratching the back of his head. He looks like he had a nightmare before he woke up...Shinji could tell he's a troubled person, especially how drinks his sorrows away. Brotherhood soldiers are busy talking and checking out their laser rifles as Shinji passes by them. They enter the rather small mess hall of the ship to reveal the soldiers eating their meals and other food like noodles. Danse is also talking to knight Rhys as he shows off his new advanced power armor he got from the Midwest.
"Where are we supposed to be going now?" Shinji asks Asuka as she turns around. He's still in awe really, the airship is a little small but it feels large with soldiers running around.
"I suppose downstairs." Asuka replied and goes down the latter. Shinji follows her downstairs and heads towards the elder's room where Mari observes the Commonwealth from above. Inside is Mari doing exactly what the room was made for, watching over the Commonwealth. It appears Mari has awoken earlier than them.
"Elder Makinami." Shinji called thus getting her attention. The elder looks both intimidating but at the same time, gives a peaceful vibe to her too. Almost like a person who saw her mistakes in the past. A person who saw the worse and moved on or at least, scarred from her experience.
"I see you're fully rested. Now this might sound like another tenuous task to you but its time to begin your tour of the Prydwen by meeting her crewmen. I know you want to bring the fight to the Institute but its best to know the people who are helping you." Mari addressed and walks past them but stops suddenly and turns around.
"Since you are new here, I'll be your guide on board the ship." She said and heads to the latter to head upstairs. Shinji couldn't shake the feeling that the Brotherhood seems a little shady at the moment. Asuka walks forward.
"Um Asuka..." Shinji called causing her to turn around.
"Yeah?" Asuka replied.
"These Brotherhood guys...I know we worked with Touji and all and its clear they have good intentions but at the same time, they're a little extreme after what I just saw back there with the bombing..." He winced as he remembered how all of those raiders were annihilated. Asuka sighed and smiled remembering he's still a rookie.
"Don't worry baka, the Brotherhood maybe extreme but they all mean well unlike last time with Maxson, the old leader before Mari. So don't you fret now and plus, I have ties with the Brotherhood of Steel before I left for...personal reasons." Asuka replied and follows Mari upstairs. Shinji follows Asuka as the two women walk in the halls of the Prydwen. The first stop is proctor Quinlan's room as they stop there to see the proctor looking over some technical documents.
"This is proctor Quinlan, our lead field scribe." Mari introduced causing him to turn to them.
"Well I'll be, I never expected the lone wanderer to appear here in the Commonwealth. Really. I should be honored." The Brit walks towards them.
"As elder Makinami said, I lead the field scribes here on the Prydwen. Assigning them operations by collecting old world technology, but there's another thing I'm also interested in. The collection of technical documents for the Brotherhood to study." Quinlan informed.
"Nice to see people are interested in the old world rather than surviving." Shinji observed.
"Why yes indeed. I also heard you are from the old world too. I wouldn't mind interviewing some other time." Quinlan replied and smiled.
"And if you have any...Grognak the barbarian comics too." He added.
"I used to own a whole collection of them back at my home in Jen Hills. I can bring them if you want." Shinji said. The proctor's eyes light up in joy, most of his field scribes would bring a rare issue from the field but an entire collection!? He's already joyed as it is and is screaming inside at the announcement.
"Well, this might be the only time an initiate got my attention." Quinlan commented.
"Initiate?" Shinji asks.
"You are an initiate, right?" Quinlan asks.
"Shinji isn't a member of the Brotherhood of Steel, he's one of our associates in our war against the Institute." Mari corrected the proctor.
"Oh, never mind then. I do hope you join the Brotherhood one of these days." Quinlan goes back to his studies. Shinji takes a liking to the proctor, another fellow comic geek. Mari takes lead but this time to the room in front of Quinlan's. They enter the room to reveal its a medical room. A rather bald man is on the desk looking at some medical papers.
"This is knight-captain Cade, the Prydwen's medic." Mari introduced thus getting Cade's attention.
"Ah, an initiate I presume?" Cade asks her.
"No, an associate of the Brotherhood. His name is Shinji Ikari." Mari replied while rolling her eyes. She forgot to tell everyone about Shinji and now she has to introduce everyone by saying the same thing over and over.
"Then its a pleasure to meet you." Cade greeted Shinji. The knight-captain turns to Mari.
"Elder, if you don't mind, I wish to do a medical inspection on the associate. Just a few question and that's all it." He reasoned.
"Sure thing." Mari signals Asuka to come with her outside to give Shinji's some privacy. Cade pulls out a sheet to write down Shinji's medical records.
"Alright, I'm going to ask you a series of medical-related questions and I'd like you to answer me to the best of your ability." Cade informed. He flips to the first question.
"As a child, were you exposed to radiation sickness?" He asks.
"Never, I was in a vault." Shinji answered.
"You're from a vault? That means you're in peek physical condition! Okay, second question. Have you ever had or come in contact with a person confirmed to be carrying a communicable disease?" Cade asks.
"Never seriously sick in my entire life. I've been stuck in cryostasis for years."
"You saw the world before the bombs? Never mind, final and last question and be honest with it, have you ever had sexual relations with any species considered non-human?" Shinji blushes at the question which is a definite no.
"No." He simply answered while turning red.
"Alright, that is all . You may continue your tour on the Prydwen." Shinji gets out of the medical bay. Mari is leaning against the wall while Asuka is playing Red Menace on her pip-boy. Mari notices Shinji causing her to get off the wall.
"Now that you have seen knight captain Cade, its time for you to meet proctor Ingram. Follow me." Mari signals Shinji to follow her. They pass by the relatively small mess hall. Rhys is spotted showing off more of the features of the advanced Midwestern power armor he was given to Danse as the paladin rolls his eyes and crossing his arms. Shinji spots a woman wearing a power armor frame and repairing the stations nearby.
"Shinji, this is proctor Ingram." Mari introduced as Ingram turns to them. Shinji notices she's missing legs.
"Well, another vault dweller like Nora. You're in for a hell of a ride with the Brotherhood, just don't soil yourself." Ingram joked. Shinji gulps in slight fear since he saw a bombing run that almost killed him so this will be a ride.
"Thank you for the welcome." Shinji replied.
"If you need anything like a robot going crazy, the Prydwen going down, and other things that go haywire, come find me." Ingram informed. Mari leads the two again to this time, the armory. Inside the armory is a group of Brotherhood scribes setting up crates in the counter while a man with pulled back black hair and beard is busy checking out a pistol.
"Proctor Teagan." Mari called causing Teagan to turn to her.
"Just finished up the touches of your pistol, path of the righteous elder, next time check the receiver before it explodes again." Teagan warned as he gives it to her.
"Thank you proctor, an explosive pistol will always come in handy." Mari replied and checked the magazine revealing the rounds inside it.
"So, another recruit?" Teagan asks her.
"He's an associate who is willing to bring the fight against the Institute after what they've done." Mari answered. Teagan turns to Shinji, he reminded him of Rico in some way.
"If you need anything that'll help ya take out a super mutant behemoth, a pack of burned feral ghouls or anything, come find me." Teagan informed. Its time now, Mari turns to the two.
"Now, your mission. Follow me to the deck." Mari walks ahead. Shinji could feel a level of trust amongst the Brotherhood, Mari seems to be a good leader. Especially having three warships to bring the fight to the Institute. But to Asuka, she feels Mari has changed the Brotherhood way too much, sure they're still the tech hoarding jerks she remembered but this all reminds of her of Lyons in someway, except they put people first and technology second. Almost like the Minutemen in some ways. Touji did mention the ways of Lyons has returned which means they returned to helping people but still kept the traditional part. Still, Asuka isn't surprised that the ways Lyons returned either way, after seeing New Vegas burn, its hard not to change intentions when an entire city was burned to the ground.
Shinji picks up a laser rifle nearby and inserts the fusion cell but it falls out, he picks it up and tries to reinsert the fusion cell but it falls out again. Asuka sighs irritably and grabs the laser rifle and inserts the fusion cell back in and switches on the lock so it can hold it then turns off the safety on the gun right before handing it back to Shinji.
"T-Thanks." Shinji thanked. The two head towards the end of the hallway and go down the latter leading to the Prydwen command room and elder's deck then head outside to the vertibird deck that leads them to Mari who is overlooking fort strong. She turns around to them.
"I know you wish to bring the fight to the Institute but first, in order to find Brian Virgil, we're going to need something that will help us go through the glowing sea. The radiation clouds and mist is enough to blind all visuals. That's where fort strong comes in, inside the base is a specialized radar and thermal technology that will help us see through the glowing sea." Mari explained.
"I can see the bad part." Asuka commented.
"Wise as always wanderer, the base is filled to the brim with raiders and gunners who stocked up a last stand against the Brotherhood. They don't know they have the tech yet but once they do, they'll flee to the glowing sea and restock there since there is an unknown amount of technology stored within the confines of the ruins that litter the place." She replied. Asuka rolls her eyes, no matter what happens, there will always be raiders so no point in carpet bombing them.
"Now, its time to know how we work so this is a demo for you Shinji." Mari said.
"Get to the vertibird, it'll take you to the airport." She informed and salutes Shinji. Shinji gulps, it appears he forgot to tell Mari how he saw the bombing run on the raiders. But a vertibird ride isn't so bad...if he gets airsick of course. Asuka on the other hand, is kind of used to riding a vertibird since she worked with the Brotherhood before, especially with operation Broken Steel. The two head towards the vertibird nearby on deck with the pilot inside it, it takes off with Shinji looking at the view of the Commonwealth.
The vertibird lands on the landing pad of the airport, nearby is Taisuke wearing his typical armored vault suit and twirling his ranger Sequoia revolver and holstering it. Holstered on his back is the Gobi campaign sniper rifle he picked up back at the Mojave. Taisuke always preferred high damage weapons, helps him take out the enemy enemy quicker since he's always impatient. Nearby is his power armor. Asuka looks around to see if there's any power armor for her since she prefers the normal model rather than the T60 variant, it always made her slow while the other armor gave her more tactical advantages and make her faster.
A soldier with black armor walks towards them. He is wearing a black T51b power armor while accompanied by another soldier who is wearing T45 power armor, classic power armor, the armor Asuka prefers over the bulky T60 variant.
"The vertibird is docked at the crashed airplane, our forces are in front of the fort." The soldier informed. Asuka has a question.
"So you have any standard power armor? Like the normal kind at DC." Asuka asks the soldier.
"Yeah, we do. Its in logistic division." The soldier replied.
"Wait here." Asuka ordered the two. She goes the supply depot where knight-sergeant Gavil is alongside knight Lucia who still mourning the loss of Clarke. Asuka looks around and spots a suit of T51b power armor nearby. Asuka opens the hatch on the chest's back and puts it on then slips her leg into into the leg armor on the left and the right then the arms next. She puts on the helmet and grabs a minigun nearby and ammo backpack. Asuka goes upstairs to Shinji and Taisuke.
"Ready!" She informed.
"Jeez sis, can't you put on some T60? These suits are more powerful than the normal ones at DC and could withstand a freaking minigun barrage." Taisuke boasted since he takes great pride in the T60.
"Oh shut up you meatheaded drunk." Asuka spat back. The three walk towards the vertibird while Brotherhood initiates fire their laser rifles at the targets in front of them. Behind the targets is a vertibird armed with a minigun. On the bridge is Brotherhood forces making a blockade and making a way for the tanks to come in. Shinji is the first to get on the vertibird with Taisuke being second and Asuka last. The vertibird rises as Asuka gets in the minigun on the left and Taisuke on the right.
"There's a rocket launcher near the storage." The pilot informed prompting Shinji get up from his seat and open it to reveal a quad barreled rocket launcher. Shinji picks up the rocket launcher. The three spot the Brotherhood soldiers moving forward on the bridge as other vertibirds circling the fort and open fire at the raiders, this breaks the raider's concentration alongside the gunners causing them to become overwhelmed.
"Look at those degenerates panic! Ad Victorium!" The pilot cheered. There isn't much shooting really, just watching the whole thing go. The Brotherhood is efficient and quick, at least the three don't need to waste ammo on a couple of raiders and gunners. The vertibird lands with Brotherhood forces on the square of fort strong. Shinji gets out first to see the carnage. A raider slowly crawls back but a Brotherhood knight finishes him off.
"Ad Victorium." He saluted. The tanks provides a makeshift barrier as it opens fire at the retreating raiders and gunners who enter the fort. Shinji turns to Asuka looking around. She looks rather shocked...
"Your thoughts?" Shinji asks.
"Jeez, I always knew the Brotherhood was tough but not this tough. Though I guess this is the equivalent to shooting a rocket launcher at a person, it was made to destroy vehicles but someone ended up using it on people. But I did hear they suffered heavy losses in the second battle of New Vegas." Asuka replied. Taisuke whistles at the destruction.
"The Brotherhood means business but this is like practice to them for fighting the Institute. These raiders and psycho mercenaries are like playground bullies and the Brotherhood is the adult but the Institute comes in as the asshole adult that defends the bullies." Taisuke commented and loads a fusion core into his focused laser gatling gun. The Brotherhood soldiers lead the way.
"Hate to this but its good to get some extra help." Asuka said.
"This isn't a battle, this is a massacre." Taisuke added. Shinji follows the Brotherhood soldiers who head up to the hill. They stack up against the door as the knight upfront kicks it open...only for a barrage of minigun fire to hit him. The dead knight falls on the ground much to Shinji shock.
"I got this!" Asuka informed. She pulls out a nuka grenade she got from a Children of Atom member and throws it into the fort. The explosive goes off killing a majority of raiders inside it. All of the Brotherhood soldiers enter inside the fort, the team on the left goes to the left hallway and the team on the right goes on the right. Fort Strong used to be a super mutant hideout but after the Minutemen cleared the place at the cost of, ironically named, super mutant ally Strong. Asuka follows the Brotherhood team to the left with Shinji following.
They can see the messhall down the hall, it looks empty...a raider peers out of cover and opens fire at the Brotherhood team with his assault rifle. The bullets ping of Asuka's armor prompting her to open fire at the raider with her minigun thus knocking him down. A group of gunners throw a grenade at the team with Shinji in front of it. Asuka notices this and she pushes Shinji out of the way. Shinji tries to push the unconscious armored Asuka off of him but the power armor is too heavy, the Brotherhood team are taking cover at the moment as the raiders push them back. They seem not to know that he's not dead which gives Shinji an advantage. He loads his handgun and shoots the first raider in the head with his companions disregarding it as a shot coming from the Brotherhood team. Shinji tries to to move himself a little to get a clear shot at the raider upfront and peers over Asuka's unconscious body that's pinning him down, he shoots the raider in the chest thus reducing the raider team to just two people.
Asuka regains consciousness and gets off of Shinji. Shinji weakly gets up and staggers against the wall beside him as the Brotherhood team passes by them. Taisuke walks in and administers a stimpack into Shinji's arm which heals him quickly causing Shinji to get off the wall.
"Can you walk properly? I wouldn't be surprised you can't since you had the equivalent of the weight of a truck on you." Taisuke asks.
"I'll be fine." Shinji walks ahead. The Brotherhood has already cleared the upper level of fort strong with what remains of the gunner and raider teams surrendering. The only ones that remain are at the bottom as the team looks for the key to the basement downstairs. A Brotherhood knight checks on the dead high ranking raiders but finds nothing.
"Check the desks or file cabinets for the fort strong key." They look around the cabinets but find nothing in the process. Shinji joins in the search as well alongside Asuka and Taisuke.
"Hey Shinji, while your at it, check the general's room. They always keep stuff like there." Taisuke informed and finds what appears to be a mini-nuke causing him to gasp in excitement but only to find out that its just a model and not the real thing. He sighs and tosses it backwards which hits paladin Vargas in the head.
"Hey, watch it! I almost thought that was a real mini-nuke!" Vargas yelled behind his power armor. Shinji enters the general's room and looks around. There's a display of a mini-nuke in the destroyed display case and also a trifold American flag on the shelf on the left. There's a terminal on the desk too. Shinji opens the desk to reveal a key. He picks it up wondering if this is the key so he goes outside.
"Is this the one?" Shinji asks as Taisuke and Asuka peer out of the rooms they are in.
"Yep! Just insert it into that elevator, we'll let you guys get some action while we stay up here." Vargas informed knowing that Shinji is with the two most dangerous people who roamed the wasteland The three spot the elevator as Shinji inserts the key to the elevator causing it to open as he enters in it alongside his friends. The elevator goes down and opens to reveal a room containing fatman shells and other mini-nukes much to Shinji's shock. This shouldn't be in the hands of raiders...
Taisuke whistles at the sight and looks around if there is any mini-nukes which there is on the shelf. Its ten mini-nukes which means unlimited boom for him since he has a collection of mini-nukes for his fatman back home. Taisuke tries to take all of them but Asuka gets in the way.
"We'll split them." Asuka suggested.
"Oh come on sis! You must have a butt load of nukes, let the courier gets some more bang for his buck. These things are freakin rare in the Commonwealth ya'know." Taisuke replied.
"Too much of everything is a bad thing you idiot, try sharing instead of being a scumbag." Asuka replied and takes five mini-nukes with Taisuke rolling his eyes underneath his power armor helmet and takes five. He notices that the fusion core battery is running out so he needs to save some power and gets out of his power armor knowing that he forgot to bring more fusion cores.
"Crap." He hissed. Taisuke leads the group into the area where they are keeping the prototype vertibird thermal mods. The lights open to reveal a railing on the top and a generator in the center. A small group of raiders and gunners come out of their cover. Their leader is wearing a familiar set of shades...and beret. Taisuke knows who it belongs to and he'll be dammed to let some idiot dishonor that memory.
"You've got to be fucking kidding..." Taisuke growled.
"Oh we aren't! The names Oscar and you guys, are my hostages. Here's the deal-"
"Where did you those from? The shades and beret." The courier asks with silent anger.
"Really? I'm taking you guys hostage to get the Brotherhood of steel off of my ass and all you ask where did I get this NCR beret and shades from?" Oscar replied with a grin.
"I SAID WHERE DID YOU GET THAT!" Taisuke roared. That beret belongs to Craig Boone, hero, husband, and loving father.
"Off some dead sniper guy from the Mojave. Want it back?" Oscar taunted.
"Yeah and since I know how you raiders work, I bet these guys are your best men and I have to take them out as a challenge. So bring'em on!" Taisuke yelled. Shinji tries to assist but Asuka backs him away.
"I like your style courier. Get'em boys!" Oscar ordered. The first raider known as Urb walks up to Taisuke and aims his pipe submachine gun at him but Taisuke hits the rifle making him aim to the side causing Taisuke to go around him and grab him in the chokehold. Taisuke pulls out his ranger Sequoia revolver and shoots the first raider in front of him and the second in the head while a gunner takes cover behind a generator prompting Taisuke to shoot him in the foot which knocks him down. Taisuke lets go of the raider he has on a chokehold and throws him on the ground. The raider turns around but is shot in the head. The injured gunner nearby gets up but Taisuke shoots him in the throat next. Oscar's legs are quaking right now, this is the courier and he's no joke. The boy who cheated death.
Oscar slowly backs away from Taisuke and tries to make a break for it but Taisuke shoots him in the leg. The raider covers his injured leg and groans in pain as Taisuke picks up a double barreled shotgun from a dead raider nearby and shoots Oscar in the left arm and the right causing him to scream in agony. Taisuke takes the beret from the screaming raider and shades too. Asuka simply puts the raider out of his misery by shooting him in the face. Asuka always knew Taisuke was aggressive but not this aggressive. Taisuke walks away to get back to his power armor but Asuka grabs him by the shoulder and looks at him. Its hard to believe that Taisuke was born in the same vault as she was, he acts like a regular wastelander...but she sees a boy who clearly is suffering. Taisuke simply shrugs Asuka off and walks away as she thinks about the family she has left...
Her thoughts are interrupted by Shinji who throws up on the trash can nearby. Shinji at this point, has had enough, enough of death and destruction, of the madness that is the Commonwealth. Asuka places her hand on Shinji's back.
"I can't take it anymore, I can't take it anymore, I can't take it anymore..." He muttered. The Brotherhodo team enters the room as Asuka simply escorts Shinji out of the room towards the elevator.
Somewhere in the glowing sea, several power armored figures scout the place. They are looking for Brian Virgil, their power armor is almost unique thought, its the XO-1 power armor and its grey. Their lenses are colored yellow and are armed with miniguns. On the dome-like shoulder pad of the armor is a US flag but different though...its an E surrounded by stars.