Authors Notes: Alright, here it is Chapter 10. Hope you guys are enjoying the story. The Pitt will be starting soon, so I put a little teaser at the bottom. Thanks for all the views you guys! :) and please leave a review, let me know how I can improve this story. Anything you say helps me alot. Enjoy!

Maybe I should apologize to Sarah... John sat in the conference room of the Citadel in deep thought, waiting for the remaining representatives to arrive. Elder Lyons was in the middle of a conversation with Rothchild, discussing resource management among the scribes. Looking ahead he could see Lucas Simms in a discussion with Pinkerton just beyond the steel doors. Red and Evan king had not yet arrived, Ernest Roe appeared to be busy scribbling something onto a note pad he brought with him. Ever since he had left Sarah in the mess hall, John had been split over telling her the truth or not. Part of him wanted to get out his concealed feelings over the events that took place there, but another part just wanted to forget it all. Goddamn it Amata…. He balled his hands up, still furious and hurt over their final conversation.

"I'm sorry…You're a hero….and you have to leave…."

He took a deep breath and relaxed. He needed to let it go, he shouldn't have turned on Sarah like that. If anything he should have told her more, she was really the only one he could still talk to now. Lucy West of Megaton had tried before, and John completely shut her down when she had tried getting to close, after he had saved her brother. He was the 'Lone Wanderer' for a reason, but did the wasteland even need that persona anymore? What about him? While he was off being the Wanderer, John Stryker was slowly dying inside. For almost a year, all he had done was kill, and kill, and kill. Now that there was no Enclave, no mutants, not even any raiders now for him to take his frustrations out on, what was he going to do? He was a killing machine with no purpose left. He thought briefly about heading out west, taking out whoever got in his way, but something kept him here. He was brought of his thoughts as Elder Lyons started the opening, apparently the last two representatives had arrived.

"Now that we are all here, we can now start. I know the last time we gathered, it ended rather…poorly."

At that Lyons made a motion towards John.

"So to help with this, I have requested the Wanderer to join us in this meeting."

John nodded towards the representatives, he could see two Brotherhood paladins were standing guard at the back of the room. Clearing his throat, the Wanderer started to speak.

"It has come to my attention that there are some issues that need to be addressed as of right now."

He shoot a hard look at Red, who sat just across from him.

"Big Town Representative, it would be very wise to not reattempt your little stunt from last session. Do you understand?"

He saw the young woman shake a little under his gaze before stuttering out a reply.

"Y-yes sir."

Knowing that he had addressed one issue, John moved onto the next matter at hand.

"So, I know that some of you have never meet before. I also understand that there are issues with trusting one another with resources, so does anyone have a proposal to solve this matter?"

Only silence followed after that, John sighed. This is going to take a while….

"You got to be…oh, come on…."

Sarah sighed as she attempted once again to reconnect the beam splitter of her laser rifle, only to have the piece slide off the moment she tried to connect it. Knowing that at this rate she would only break it, Lyons stopped. She never had issues with disassembling her weapon, not even as an initiate. Frustrated, she sat on her bunk and laid down, staring at the ceiling. Come on Lyons, your losing your edge.

She felt uncomfortable, uneasy in her own room. Was it the isolation, maybe the claustrophobic environment? No, it was more than that. Sarah knew exactly what it was, and it only served to irritate her further. Stuck in the Citadel with none of her squad mates and surrounded by people that were waiting at her beck and call. This was the reality of her future. It was probably why her father had her stationed in Rivet City, wanting to give a taste of what was coming. She felt conflicted. If she didn't take up her father's mantle, did that mean she didn't believe in the cause? Wouldn't such an act only serve to divide the Citadel?
Now she felt even more frustrated. Was this all she had to look forward to? Sighing once again she let her hair down, frowning as she encountered numerous knots as she ran her fingers through her blonde locks. Maybe a quick was will clear my head. Sitting up on the bed, she removed her clothing and proceeded into her small bathroom. Shutting the door behind her, she turned the faucet on and watched as her bathtub filled with pure, clean water. Lowering herself into it, the water felt just a tad cold, but Sarah didn't care. Letting the water wash over her, she breathed out a sigh of relief; she forgot just how much she enjoyed these little things. Taking a bath like this years ago had been a hassle, only a select few could earn the luxury, as the purification process for just a few dozen gallons took a month. Submerging her head below the waterline, Sarah's thoughts wandered to the meeting John and her father were attending. I wonder how that's going.

John was getting irritated now, he had been sitting here for six hours now as they began to draft trading pacts between the towns. It seemed no matter how they phrased or agreed on the exchanges, one person was not happy with it, causing them to rewrite the entire thing over again. Throughout the entire time, John had to keep all representatives under control, fortunately Simms had helped as well, as Evan King and Pinkerton had come close to trading blows at one point. Thankfully, Ernest Roe had been writing up such an agreement for the past few weeks, a fact he hide from everyone else in the room.

John had almost exploded on the man for keeping it a secret, but just let it go. In the end, Rivet city offered Murlurk meat and ammo, Megaton offered scrap and spare electronic parts, Arefu offered Brahmin milk and meats, and Big Town offered the medical supplies they had acquired after Paradise Falls was taken out. Each settlement would assemble a caravan made of volunteers, and deliveries would be carried out twice a month; with protection being provided by Canterbury Commons. After taking a few minutes to review and recite it, it seemed they had all agreed on something they liked. Rothchild had just finished reading off the list, John could tell he was exhausted from the last fifteen drafts the scribe had to write out.

"So, is everyone satisfied with this agreement?"

John shot a glare over to Pinkerton, he was not in the mood to hear any more of the man's snide comments. Seeing that no one had any objections, a sigh of relief came from most of the room. Standing up, Elder Lyons nodded to John and Rothchild before ending the meeting.

"Since we have reached an accord, we shall take a month leave and see how this new agreement plays out. You may leave when you are ready."

As the room began to clear, John caught up with Simms before he left.

"Sheriff, may I have a word with you?"

The Megaton Representative turned around and flashed him a smile.

"Well now, it's been some time since we just talked, hasn't it?'

Simms lifted his hat and scratched his head.

"What can I do for you son?"

The Wanderer smiled faintly, he had always respected Lucas. He was also the first person he had met in the outside world, well friendly person that is. Before he had found Megaton, John had nearly been killed when a group of jetted up raiders found him. When he limped into Megaton, he would have died if it wasn't for Simms paying Doc Church to take care of him.

"Are you leaving for Megaton today? I was going to tag along, haven't been home in months now."

The former Regulator only smiled.

"Hell boy, you know you're welcome to tag along with me anytime. Unfortunately, I'll be here a little longer than I'd like, seems Bigsley forgot a few barrels on the last delivery. We're fine for now, but if this keeps up it could cause some issues."

John nodded.

"Alright, well if you have any problems let me know. I guess I'll see you in town."

Simms put his hat back on and made his way to the laboratory of the Citadel, giving him two finger salute as he walked away.

"Until next time 'Wanderer' stick around town a little while, I want to hear more about your crazy antics. Oh, and let my son know I'll be home soon."

"Understood, take care now Simms."

With that the two parted ways. John made his way to the training yard. Now I just need to find Sarah. He thought.

Sarah lined up the sights of the pistol with her target, a sandbag that was decorated to look like a super mutant. It was only twenty five feet away, initiates could hit this so should have no problem. She pulled back on the trigger and swore as the laser missed by a hair, scorching the wall directly behind it. Son of a bitch…. This was supposed to be helping her relax, she always came to the shooting range when she felt frustrated. Now she was missing chip shots like this? First she had broken her rifle, now she couldn't hit the broadside of a behemoth. Despite the handful of initiates milling about the training yard, not a single on one them approached the obviously irritated sentinel. The sun was starting to set, Sarah guessed it was around four now. Taking a deep breath she repeated the process. Line up the shot, steady the aim…now. Once again, a clear miss. She sighed. She knew what was bugging her; it was this place. She knew that once her father passed, she'd be trapped here for the rest of her days. She was a soldier damn it, not a desk jockey. Taking a glance around, she noticed that all of the initiates that were crowding the area were now gone, she had the entire level to herself. What is wrong with me? A familiar voice broke her from her thoughts.

"Sarah."

She spun around and found John standing just a few feet away from her. He had his recon armor on still, his Gauss rifle slung over his left shoulder. She scowled at him and turned back towards the shooting range.

"You haven't left yet?"

Sarah heard him sigh.

"I wanted to apologize for earlier, my actions were inappropriate."

That made her smile slightly. Feeling better than she had all day, she turned back towards him.

"I am too, I shouldn't be pressing you so much."

He only shook his head and looked at the ground.

"No, its alright, I just, its something I don't want to discuss."

Feeling uneasy, Sarah rubbed her arm.

"Was that all you wanted?"

The young man's eyes looked back up at her.

"Actually, I wanted to ask something. I need to check on my house in Megaton, and I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me. I kinda cut your time off short, right?"

Sarah's smile widened, at least she had a little more freedom before getting slotted back into desk work.

"Of course, I mean…definitely I just need to get permission from the elder, then-"

"I already cleared it with him, go get packed we'll be gone for a while."

Sarah was taken aback by that, but quickly recovered.

"Alright, one moment and I'll be right back."

Sarah retreated back to her room. She felt a weight being lifted off her shoulders at the prospect of heading outside once again. It's probably just stress being relieved. She reasoned.

Asher couldn't see anything. His temples were throbbing, someone had shoved a rag in his mouth and put a bag over his head. He felt that someone was holding him up, the foul smell of the Pitt's air filled his lungs. Last thing he could recall was some bastard in horned power armor had charged at him. He had never seen anything like these guys in his life. They wore power armor, but it was strange, it resemble the Enclave armor the Wanderer had shown him. Just it looked worn, some pieces were rusted and the shoulder pads jutted out. He could have sworn that he saw the Brotherhood emblem painted onto one of his attackers. I hope Midea made it alright. The invaders had shown up a week ago in armored vehicles, and had made a brief attempt to communicate with them. Then small groups began to swarm the Pitt without mercy, blasting through the troggs as if they were nothing. To Asher's amazement, he saw armored mutants and ghouls mixed in with squads of these armored warriors. Based on his assessment, Asher estimated they had roughly fifty to sixty men inside his city. They had managed to keep them out of the plaza for a time, but then a small squad of this mysterious enemy had disabled the turret defenses. Before they knew it he was surrounded. He managed to send a few of his citizens out through the train yard, hoping maybe they could bring the Wanderer to assist them. He had watched as his warriors and citizens were gunned down left and right by the enemies advanced weaponry. Suddenly, He felt hot air all around him, they had brought him into the steelworks. He then felt himself be dropped onto his knees, they impacting on the hard metal floor. He heard a man's voice through the bag on his head.

"Take it off soldier."

At once the bag was removed as Asher came to face to face with a rugged and fatigued looking old man in power armor. He had a black cloak draped over his left shoulder, which was held in place by a chain. His skin looked as if it was made of leather, and numerous scars decorated his worn face, his hair was thinning and was almost the color of silver. He looked Asher over, as the Pitt leader was held firmly in place. Unable to speak due to the gag, the former paladin glared at this stranger, letting him know that the Pitt King still wanted to fight. Seeming satisfied the old man pulled back and stroked his chin.

"Interesting…I see you wear the old power armor from the west. This is rather unfortunate. I'm Paladin General Cyrus of the Brotherhood of Steel, and this area is now under Brotherhood jurisdiction. "

Authors Notes: I know Fallout Tactics is a lesser known game among the Fallout Franchise, and alot of people hate it. I have a soft spot for that game, and while I find the depiction of talking deathclaws, super mutants. and ghouls completely ridiculous in that game, I found the idea of a dictator like Brotherhood state who is forced to take in whoever they can get their hands on. For those of you who have never seen the armor in game here is a link.

. /fallout/images/6/61/Ft_power_ /revision/latest?cb=20110120184205

Hope you all enjoyed!