The Courier sat in the driver's seat of the pick-up truck with Roxie, three Chinese Soldiers and Boone, followed by a squad of twelve Securitrons and several heavily armed super-mutants. They were heading to an old pre-war hospital to scavenge for supplies. The Courier' Securitrons didn't need medicine, but the NYPD, Mutants, Ghouls and dogs all did. It momentarily occurred to the Courier that his NVM was mostly non-humans except for the NYPD, but he didn't particularly care. The truck stopped outside the hospital, and the Chinese Soldiers climbed out, carrying empty duffel bags and assault rifles. One of them stayed behind and turned to the Courier.
"I would like to thank you for granting us our lives. We did not realize the madness of Commander Shí's plans until we actually left isolation and got to talk to the wastelanders."
"Thanks, Private Ling."
The Courier grabbed his magnum and a duffel bag. He walked through the front door, where one of the soldiers was picking the lock on a safe, another was smashing open a medicine cabinet to get the chems inside, and Private Ling began collecting the medical equipment from the surgery ward. The Courier started walking around through the rooms, grabbing any first aid kits and taking the stimpaks and rad-aways from them. He got through several rooms before he found a stash of Med-X, Buffout, Jet and Steady on several dozen nurse's trays, and put them into the bag. He stepped over a burnt skeleton and found the canteen, and decided to see what was there. He cleared out two fridges of their pre-war food and filled his bag. He started munching on a Mirelurk Cake. He heard gunfire, so he crammed the Mirelurk Cake into his mouth and drew his gun. He found two of the Chinese Soldiers tossing several dead giants ants into a pile.
"Sorry Commander. There were several large ants infesting a room so we had to kill them. The Courier noticed his duffel bag was nearly full, so he tossed it into the back of the pick-up and retrieved a spare back-pack."
The Elevator opened, and a large super-mutant stepped out.
"The middle floors are heavily irradiated. Leave them to us. The top three and bottom three floors aren't irradiated, so the human scavengers should stick to there."
The Courier nodded, and pressed the button for the second elevator, and stepped in, followed by Private Ling. They went up to the top floor, and started searching for any medicine they could find. There were several Mister Handsy's there, which Private Ling sent down the elevator to be sent back to the Courier's territory to work as medics. The Courier went up to the roof, where Boone was perched.
"Any hostiles in sight?"
"Yeah. This area is what's known as gang territory. There's several small groups of raiders here fighting for control of the local chem labs, and they're in too far from the NYPD to be wiped out and too far from the Exiles to be indoctrinated. Two Gangsters went out taking pot-shots at a mad Brahmin, but they got killed by a sniper who's couldn't even hit the building with the aim he's got, even if he was inside it."
"Chem Labs? We need to send some guys out and capture the chems for anything that might help the fight, and wipe out some scum while doing it."
"We can radio in with the NYPD to find out which gangs manufacture the chems we could use like Med-X, and we'll take them out"
OOO
Sarah Lyons looked was leading several squads of Paladins into gang territory. The Lone Wanderer had ordered her to take control of a local hospital to expand BoS Control, and wipe out the gangs from there. She led her men along the roads, ready for the veteran criminals to ambush her in a quick, brutal yet silent manner that the Enclave did. She knew they'd use stealth to pick them off, never appearing from their hidden spots.
"Hey! Who the hell is leading some assholes into my turf!?" A Voice yelled.
Maybe they wouldn't be the stealthy and deadly foes she feared.
"Who the hell are they?"
Six men came out of an alleyway, brandishing assault rifles, baseball bats and a light machine gun. The leader, a man wearing faded jeans and a leather jacket without sleeves appeared, holding a 10mm pistol and a machete.
"Look who's here! Who sent you, huh? Trent? Malcom? Blue? 'Cause if I told them some asshole lieutenant of his was walkin' around my block, they'd give me his head? Or hers, in this case."
"We're the Brotherhood of Steel. Head back to your homes if you don't want there to be an issue."
"Issue? When I have a no good bitch coming into my territory, there's an issue! Get the hell out of here!"
Sarah Lyons looked at him, confused.
"You see the fact that you're outnumbered, outgunned and we have better armour, right? Do you understand that?"
The leader's face went red, and he drew his pistol and shot Lyons in the chest. The bullet harmlessly bounced off, and Sarah looked at him.
"I'll give you one last chance to get the hell out of here."
The Leader paused, before slashing his blade. Sarah ducked, and aimed her laser rifle at his head and fired. The Leader collapsed, and the light machine gunner fired at them. A Paladin stepped forward and knocked him to the ground, before firing a plasma blast at his stomach and turning him into green gloop. The other gangsters fired and ran back into their houses, but three more fell due to the mini-guns, and the rest either dropped their weapons and surrendered, or were taken out as they peered out of cover.
"Let's press on. The hospitals at the end of this street."
They jogged together for a minute, before Sarah heard the unmistakable crack of a gun firing.
"What was…?"
A paladin's helmet cracked open as a sniper bullet ripped through her head.
"Sniper! On the hospital roof." A Paladin said.
Sarah peaked out of cover and saw a muzzle flash. She yelped as a bullet landed inches away from her, and fired several shots.
"I see more men. There's NVM scattered all over the building!"
"Radio the Lone Wanderer! Tell him to bring some men and a Vertibird!"
OOO
Ronald sat at a bench, working over a science set along with nine of his fellow workers. They were in a small apartment, with several benches around tables filled with the chem manufacturing equipment. The apartment had no windows, and the only way in and out was a large heavy steel door. They all wore rebreathers to deal with the constant gases spewed into the air, and overalls. Rock music blared out of the radio, and two guards holding 10mm submachine guns walked around, wearing leather armour.
"Hurry up. We need to get this shipment out onto the streets. Emmett said there were some psychopaths going around wearing power armour and invading his turf. If we don't get this shit out before we get the order to lockdown, I'll…"
There was a gentle tap on the door. The guard opened a small viewing slit in the door and looked through.
"We're not selling."
"Open the door, please."
The guard chuckled.
"Get your ass out of here, crack head."
"I'll give you one more chance before I kill my way in here."
The Guard's eyes narrowed.
"I'm gonna break your legs if you're still here in five seconds."
The Guard closed the slit, and started counting to five aloud. He opened the sit after five seconds, and swore.
"They…"
The door exploded, and a large robot rolled in on one wheel and a monitor showing a soldier's head. A Cowboy stepped through after, and smiled.
"It's been five seconds. My legs aren't broken. I guess you were wrong."
The Guard lay on the ground, the door on top of him. The Cowboy shot him through the head, and killed the other guard when he tried to fire.
"Street urchins, bums and various vagabonds!" The Cowboy said loudly. "I am the Courier. This is the fifth chem lab I've hit, and the last for today, so you should know I've dealt with a lot of junkies, and I'm shit sick of it.. Tell me where the chems are, and clear out."
None of them moved. The Courier placed a pistol on the table.
"If anyone wishes to fight, go ahead and take it."
Two workers actually dived for it, but the Courier shot them both.
"Anyone else?"
Ronald pointed to the footlocker to the side. The Courier opened it, and presumably saw the Med-X and jet that filled it.
"Perfect." He said, smiling. He tied the footlocker to the back of the robot, and left the building. "You should get the hell out of there!"
The workers filed out, and the robot fired several missiles inside the lab. It exploded in a fireball, turning Ronald's former workplace into a bonfire.
"Well, you should probably clear off." The Cowboy said.
The Cowboy smiled, and walked off with his four robots.
OOO
The Lone Wanderer released several rope ladders from the Vertibird, and the soldiers climbed aboard. Lyons came last, and smiled at him.
"Thank for the assist. The Courier's taken control of the hospital. We need to take control of the roof, and fight our way down."
The Lone Wanderer smiled.
"Let's do it."
OOO
Boone took another shot. He watched through his scope as the blond girl climbed the rope ladder. He fired again, but missed. He watched to see where the Vertibird would retreat to, and sighed. They were attacking. The Vertibird was heading straight towards him. Its guns fired on him, lasers hitting all around him. Boone grabbed a rope, and tied it around a metal bar in the elevator shaft. The elevator was at the bottom floor, and he didn't have time to call it up, and the stairs were too heavily irradiated for him to survive. He tied himself to the rope, fastening it around his armpits. He took a deep breath and started to lower him down the shaft to the bottom floor. After a few minutes, he heard the Vertibird land. A Paladin peered down the shaft, and spotted him. The Paladin fired a few plasma blasts, but Boone was already enough floors down to be past the irradiated zone, and simply opened an elevator door, untied himself and stepped through. He grabbed his radio, and found the Courier's emergency frequency.
"We have a problem. Brotherhood, on the roof."
"I'll be there in a minute. Try not to die, my friend."
"No promises."
OOO
"It's irradiated in the lower floors." Sarah Lyons said to the Lone Wanderer. "Take your Rad-X, make sure you're helmets secure and head down.
The Lone Wanderer nodded, and dry swallowed several Rad-X pills, before putting on his power armour. He nodded, and headed towards the stairwell. He loaded his rifle, and went down the stairs. He moved down a flight of stairs, where three paladins were stacking up at the door. One of the paladins kicked open the door, but was knocked back by minigun fire until he smacked into the wall, and fell to the ground. The Lone Wanderer waited until the gunner stopped firing and charged forward, firing his rifle. The Gunner, a super-mutant, ran forward and launched a kick. The Lone Wanderer rolled under the kick and pointed the gun at the super-mutants head and fired, exploding the monster's skull. Another ran out of cover with a shotgun and fired. The Lone Wanderer dodged the main blast, but several pellets thudded into his armour. The Lone Wanderer fired into the mutant's side until it fell apart into ashes. A Paladin moved forward with a Laser Minigun, firing it down the stairwell and killing another super-mutant. The Paladin walked forward, but exploded in a mist of blood, chunks of flesh and bits of metal as he stepped on a bottle cap mine. A Securitron appeared, charging up the stairs. The Lone Wanderer ducked under its machine gun fire and smashed its monitor with the butt of the rifle, and shoved it onto it's back. He fired several shots into the body, and kicked it down the stair as it exploded. He reloaded, and headed down another flight of stairs.
OOO
"They're in the irradiated zone. We'll fight them there, because it doesn't affect anyone here but me."
The Courier took some Rad-X, put some Zion Cave Fungus in his mouth to chew during the fight and fixed on his rebreather.
"Just follow my orders and we'll win this."
They nodded, and headed upstairs. They ran up the stairs together until they reached an area where a fight was taking place. The Courier fired a few shots at an incoming security bot with the Uptown Heights logo on the side. Its circuitry exploded, and it stopped moving. The Courier dodged a bullet from a large super-mutant holding a hunting rifle in one hand and a soldier in the other, and realized it was from the Republic of Dave due to its uniform. A Securitron rammed into it and it collapsed, and the Courier stood over it and fired his All-American at full blast into its skull. He checked the soldier the super-mutant was holding, and turned it over to see a familiar face.
"I found Boone! I was wondering where you were, buddy!" The Courier said.
"Thanks. I tried to hold off a group of approaching soldiers before they got to the lower floors, but the damn mutant snuck up on me 'cause I thought it was one of ours."
He called over one of the Hospital Mr Handsy's, and it picked up Boone and took him down to the safety of the lower floors. Three more Security Bots headed towards him, and the Courier aimed and took several shots. One of the bot's combat initiator exploded, and it turned on opened fire on the second one. It destroyed the second, and was killed by the Third. A Securitron fired a grenade at it, and it exploded in a hiss of sparks. The Courier grabbed a piece of dynamite from his coat, lit it and tossed it towards a Paladin who came down the stairs, blowing the Paladin up and sending chunks of him down the stairs, leaving only his severed feet standing on the stairs. The Courier moved to go up the stairs, but saw a dozen paladins marching down, armed to the teeth.
"Goddamnit, we need to retreat. Get whatever supplies we have, get out of here and send in a barrage of missiles to destroy anything usable here, especially the area that specialises in removing rads, to make them feel the bite of the radiation poisoning they'll be getting." The Courier said to a Securitron. "Relay the order to everyone else. I'll hold them off."
The Courier drew several more pieces of dynamite and bound them together. He lit a fuse, and launched it up the stairs, where it went off. The Courier aimed and fired up the stairs, until the smoke cleared and the paladins started firing back. The Courier took out some long-fuse pieces of dynamite and lit them. He dropped them along the floor, before falling back with the rest of his men.
OOO
The Courier sat in the back of his truck as a Mister Handsy fixed his with Rad-Away. The Securitrons fired a barrage of missiles into the hospital until they were out of missiles, and turned to retreat. The Courier looked through his binoculars and side of the building explode. Chunks of concrete and glass fell to the ground, and the Courier even saw a few paladins fall ouf of the building. The missiles stayed on target and hit the areas with supplies. The Courier nodded to the Securitrons, and ordered a retreat. Boone started the engine and started to drive. The Courier took a sip of scotch and sighed.
"We lost today, boys, but we got a lot of good meds today, and took out a lot of the Brotherhood. In the next battle, we'll win and capture something worthwhile."
The Courier shook his head sadly. They had lost, but next time they would win, and force the Brotherhood back out of New York.
OOO
The Lone Wanderer charged down the stairs aiming his rifle, but found it was empty. The NVM must have been retreating. He smiled, and slung his rifle over his shoulder. He smiled happily. Then, the room exploded. Dust filled the air, and he struggled to breath. He felt warm blood running down the side of his head, and felt a small piece of metal in his shoulder, and grabbed it. He pulled, ripping out the shrapnel and threw it aside. He saw Sarah Lyons and another paladin hanging from the edge of the floor, which had mostly fallen away in the room they were at. The Lone Wanderer dived forward and grabbed Lyons hand, but the other paladin yelped as the wire he was holding onto snapped off and he plummeted down two floors and smacked into a chunk of concrete, snapping his back.
"Jesus! I didn't even know the Securitrons had missiles." The Lone Wanderer said.
"They're retreating. We need to set up defences, deal with the wounded and the irradiated and repair the Security Bots and Vertibirds"
"We're in a hospital. Dealing with wounded isn't going to be an issue."
"A lot of supplies have been looted."
"There'll be hidden caches of medical supplies everywhere. Repairing the bots will be harder, but we'll get it done. Still, we're the victors. You might as well bask in a bit of the glory."
The Lone Wanderer smiled. He had achieved victory today.