Everett was lying on his stomach in the sniper's nest above the bridge, staring out through the scope of his rifle in boredom as Marco sat behind him leafing through a mostly intact book about explosives Red had given him when he sighed and abandoned his gun to sit up.

"Nobody ever comes across the Bridge anymore anyway," he complained, leaning back against the rusted bars behind him. "I don't see why Wernher needs us to keep watch."

Marco shrugged and raised his gaze to scan the area below them to make up for Everett's lack of attention. "I might agree with you if DeLoria hadn't shown up last week."

The other man snorted and returned to his post with a huff. "Don't remind me."

"Jealous?" Marco teased, looking back up from the book again. Everett raised his hand and stuck up his middle finger by way of reply.

After finishing the section on the effects of a live mine placed in an enemy's pants, Marco closed the book and laced his hands behind his head, exhaling slowly as he stared across the Bridge. A flash of movement caught his eye at the same time that Everett tensed and he moved down from his chair to crouch beside the sniper.

"What is it?"

"I can't tell yet," Everett replied, squinting through the scope of his gun and chewing on his thumbnail. "Too big to be a dog. And there's…" He trailed off then lowered his finger to the trigger. "Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck." When he turned, his face had gone pale and he grabbed Marco by the collar of his shirt. "Listen carefully because I'm not going to repeat myself. Go get Red and Wernher, tell Midea to take Marie and hide and then gather as many people as you can find."

Marco nodded and scrambled over to the ladder before hesitating and looking back. "What do I tell them?"

Everett sighed and turned his gaze back to the far end of the Bridge. "We've got company..."

"WERNHER!" He recognized the voice as Marco's even before the engineer flung open the door and stood panting heavily in the doorway, though what could be so important as to disrupt his work, he wasn't sure.

Raising an eyebrow, he looked up from the papers in front of him and ground out his cigarette in the ashtray serving as a paperweight. "Yes?"

"Everett told me...tell you...company..."

Red and Wernher exchanged a look as their visitor tried to speak through gasps for air and the former stood up with a frown. "What?"

"Everett's up in the sniper's nest...on the Bridge."

Although Red was still as confused as before, Wernher immediately stood up, nearly knocking over his chair in his sudden haste and he quickly grabbed a box of .44 ammo and emptied it into his pocket. "Red, get your best gun and get ready to go."

Silently pulling her scoped assault rifle out of the footlocker by their bed and shouldering her auto-axe, she joined Wernher by the door and followed him as he took off across the Steelyard.

"Wernher, what's going on?"

"Raiders," he managed to reply before shouldering his way through the door to the Mill and yelling a general command to anyone within earshot to grab a weapon and get to the Bridge as soon as fucking possible.

When they got there, Everett was staring intently in the direction of the group of men carefully making their way through the rows of cars along the road and he only looked away when Wernher climbed the ladder and crouched down beside him.

"How many are we dealing with?"

"A couple dozen," Everett replied grimly, gratefully taking the cigarette Wernher offered with shaky fingers.

"Does it look like there's a leader?"

"I can't tell yet. Nobody stands out."

Wernher nodded and directed Butch and Faydra up the ladder before moving back down and climbing up on top of one of broken-down cars in the center of the road and pulling his pistol off his hip. "Make sure you're ready in case this all goes to hell. Red, get up here."

She obeyed the command, sitting down by his feet and draping her legs over the side of the car as she situated her assault rifle across her lap. "Has this happened before?"

"Yes," Wernher replied quietly. "But not in a long time. Not since Ashur." That alone said enough and they lapsed into a tense silence, waiting until their targets came closer.

When the Raider at the front of the group got close enough to see clearly, Wernher shot his pistol into the air then trained it at the man's chest.

"Don't come any closer or I swear to God I'll blow your fucking head right off."

Stopping, he put up his hands and his thin lips curved into an arrogant smirk.

"Gun."

It was removed from its holster, dropped, and kicked forward with an air of sickening confidence and the man spat at his feet before openly leering at Red's revealing metal and leather armor. Wernher followed his gaze and scowled, aiming his gun a little lower and squinting slightly.

"What's your name?"

"Ramsey." When he hooked his thumbs into his belt loops they rested lightly against the string of mutilated hands that hung loosely around his hips, some in various stages of decomposition and others that appeared to have just been cut from their owner's limbs. "Didn't think I'd see you again, doll." He grinned and then looked up at Wernher. "You the leader here?"

Red let out a small gasp of recognition and tightened her grip on her gun, shooting Wernher a worried look that he returned with confusion and unease.

"Yes."

A few of the Raiders snickered, but Red quieted them quickly enough when she casually moved her gun to point in their direction.

"How many men do you have?" Wernher's words were short and clipped, a sign of his growing anger.

Raising an eyebrow, the waster looked over his shoulder at his companions and shrugged. "I don't fuckin' know how to count. You tell me."

"Thirty," Butch offered from his spot in the sniper's nest. Wernher gave a small nod in response then narrowed his eye. "Why are you here?"

Ramsey shrugged slightly and his gaze moved back to the young redhead on the car. "There are a few things we need pretty fucking bad." He smirked and then added, "Mainly supplies. We're low on some shit that'd be nice to have."

"We don't have anything to trade," Wernher replied coolly. "But if you'll join our forces, we can offer you work and access to anything we may have in the city."

"City? That what you call this shithole?" He spat again and Wernher didn't fail to notice the marks up his arm. As a psycho addict, he recognized them all too well.

"Yeah," Red said, speaking up for the first time. "More of the city left than some places out in the Wasteland."

"You would know, wouldn't you, kitten? That's where we met after all."

She nodded tersely, and a few of the men behind Ramsey muttered amongst themselves, suddenly a bit wary. "Maybe you know me as the Lone Wanderer? That crazy Vault kid? Either will do, or just Red."

Wernher could tell that whatever the hell she had just said definitely meant something to the men and a few of them looked ready to take him up on his offer to join, so he asked again. "Any of you want to stay?"

About half of them took a step forward, but Ramsey raised a hand before they got too far. "These are still my men. They'll do what I say because they fucking know what I'll do if they don't." If the trophies he wore around his hips were any indication, it wouldn't be anything pleasant.

"If you're not staying, then I suggest you turn around and start walking."

"So you can shoot us in the back? Naw..." He grinned and pulled a serrated combat knife from his belt. "If we're gonna fight, it's gotta be fair."

Red tried her best not to look up at Wernher. He knew as well as she did that the odds weren't in their favor.

After a brief stare down, Wernher nodded curtly. "Alright. But I should warn you first: when you're done, you might want to think twice about raping the women."

Paling slightly, Red allowed herself a glance at Wernher, but he refused to meet her gaze. The hand holding his gun was trembling slightly.

"And why's that?"

"They're all infected." He gestured toward Faydra where she stood scowling beside Everett with her gun leveled at Ramsey's head. "Can't you tell?"

For the first time, the Raiders seemed to notice the still evident scars across the exposed skin of some of the former slaves and a few of the younger men retreated a few steps. Ramsey held his ground. "Infected with what? Your girl here looks healthy enough. Might be I'll fuck her first and give the rest a bullet through the brain."

Wernher ignored the latter comment and answered his question. "Level five radiation sickness."

A few more steps back were taken, but Ramsey just scoffed. "Rad sickness ain't something you can catch."

"No, you're right," Wernher admitted. "But it can be contracted fairly easily from exposure to extreme levels of radiation. Specifically, from the river we're standing over right now. You should begin to feel the effects shortly."

For the first time, their leader seemed to hesitate and Red could hear him ask the man to his right if they had any RadAway left. When the answer was negative, he swore and looked back in their direction.

"And you have RadAway in there?"

Wernher nodded, smiling to himself. He knew they wouldn't risk leaving without medical supplies. And if he got the chance to blow their brains out while they were trapped in the city, so much the better.

"Fuckin' bastard," Ramsey muttered, before putting away his knife and glaring up at the smugly triumphant leader of the Pitt, not stooping low enough to verbally admit his defeat.

Wernher grinned and holstered his pistol. "Welcome to the Pitt."

Wernher quietly watched as Red regained her senses, breathing heavily and still trembling slightly as he pressed a final kiss to the inside of her thigh. "So how did you know that asshole?"

Red raised an eyebrow, struggling to keep her eyes from closing. "Hm?"

"Ramsey. He said you'd met before."

"Oh." She nodded. "He was the slaver that sold Prosper to me outside the tunnel the day that you and I met. I guess he became a Raider when Eulogy lost his business from the Pitt." Wernher frowned, and she looked at him for a moment. "What would you have done if they'd decided to fight?"

"Mmm..." He hummed against the smooth expanse of her stomach and then shrugged. "I don't have a damn clue. I was scared shitless out there. Thirty to nine odds sure as hell weren't in our favor."

"Scared?" She pulled him up and kissed him slowly, enjoying the taste of herself on his lips. "I thought you were brave."

"Really?"

She nodded and looked up at him with a lazy smile. "I've always thought you were. First trying to overthrow Ashur and his army...then risking your life to get your radio broadcast out to the Wasteland..."

Wernher snorted. "I didn't have the time to be scared on those ones, sweetheart. Something had to be done before the whole Pitt went to hell."

"You should give yourself more credit." Red replied, tossing her hair out of her eyes and touching her nose to his.

"As should you."

"For what?" She asked with a laugh. "What I did was all under your orders."

Wernher shook his head and propped himself up on his elbows. "I don't mean here. I mean out there. Butch told me what you did. You and your father."

Her expression shifted momentarily and then she sighed and pushed him off of her, moving to sit on the edge of the bed and running a hand back through her hair.

"How much did he tell you?"

"Not much. Just that you're who they have to thank for Aqua Pura. That you sacrificed your life to get it to the Wastes. And almost died in the process. That the Brotherhood dragged you out of the purifier and nursed you back to health. That's about all I heard since you left for here after that."

"I didn't sacrifice anything," Red snapped bitterly. "They got me out alive. My father died trying to fulfill his dream. If I had like I was supposed to, at least I would've died for a good cause instead of getting shot in the head by some fuckin' bastard someday like I probably will. I didn't ask to get pulled out of there."

Wernher was silent for a moment. "But you're here now. Isn't that worth something?"

Her expression softening slightly, she turned back toward him and laced her fingers through his. "It's worth everything, but...I don't see why I lived. I didn't deserve a second chance. Dad and I had just been reunited when he..." She fought back the tears of frustration that threatened to fall and took a deep breath. "He deserved to live more than I ever did."

"Why?" Wernher asked gently, running his hand lightly over her thigh when she shifted her position.

"Everything he did, he did for Project Purity. I might not have liked him for all of it, but he did it for a reason. I...I don't live like that. I live for myself. I could be out there right now, helping Lyons and the Brotherhood to rebuild the Wastes, but instead I came back here. Because of what I needed." She sighed and looked back at Wernher. "I don't regret coming back to be with you, but sometimes I wonder if it was the right decision. For everyone else out there."

Shrugging, he pulled her down on top of him and kissed her throat. "What if we went back?"

"Back where?"

"To the Capital Wasteland. You and I."

Red pushed him away from his descent down her neck and narrowed her eyes. "Are you serious?"

He nodded. "I've thought about it."

"But what about the people here? They need your help. To get the cure out to all of them."

Wernher shrugged. "Midea and Nola can do that. They know what needs to be done and they could manage without me."

Red was about to object when Wernher sat up and nudged her out of his way with a sigh. "We can talk about this later. I've got to go make sure our new recruits know how to work steel. I'll be back tonight, alright?"

She nodded silently and watched him go, carefully considering the proposition he'd made. As much as she hated herself for leaving, she wasn't entirely sure if she was ready to go home.

"Red!" It was Butch at the door when she answered and she raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

He shook his head. "I'm not sure. Wernher just called for everyone to gather in the Courtyard over the radio. Midea told me to come get you."

Frowning, Red put aside her work and tucked a pistol at her hip before following him out. "Why wouldn't he come get me himself?"

Butch shrugged. "I'm not sure. Maybe it's some sort of…initiation for the new workers?" He gave her a pointed look and she felt a shiver run down her spine. So Wernher wasn't going to let them work. He was planning on killing them all before they could do what Ashur had done.

Red didn't reply and they walked the rest of the way in silence, slipping into the back of the crowd that had gathered at the same spot where she'd once volunteered to fight for her freedom in the Hole. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

Just as Ashur had, Wernher stepped onto the balcony above them and it took her a moment to realize what was wrong. She stood on her toes to whisper beside Butch's ear. "Look where we're standing." He glanced down at the ground beneath their feet then gave her a look. "No," she whispered. "Where we're standing."

He looked around and then frowned when he noticed the same thing she had a moment before. All of the workers were huddled in the center of a ring made by the raiders, all of whom had guns either in their hands or at their belts. Ramsey appeared a few seconds later, on the balcony, his gun pointed at Wernher's head.

"Nice to see you all here. As you know, me and my men were tricked into coming here. All we're asking for is enough RadAway for us all of us. If we don't get it within the hour," he cocked his pistol. "He's dead. Understood?"

Nola stepped forward and looked up at the two men standing above them. "I'm the doctor here. If you intend to keep your word and Wernher remains unharmed, you'll have our entire stock of RadAway."

Ramsey nodded. "I'll let him go once it's in our hands."

Nola ran off and Ramsey turned to go before hesitating and looking back at the crowd. "Oh, and one more thing." His eyes roamed the faces below him and then stopped when he found Red, a sadistic grin spreading across his features. "We'll take the girl, too."