"From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some transAtlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia...could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we will live forever or die by suicide." -Abraham Lincoln.

Advancing into the light, seven soldiers surveyed their surroundings. Antiquated armour covered in post-war symbols reflected the bounty arrayed before them. Rifles and weapons, pre-war stockpiles. Mothballed weapons and vehicles rendered obsolete before the war were now tactical boons in the post war world. The real prize however, was sealed behind a large blast door emblazoned with a pre-war logo. Vault-tec had owned this particular stockpile, and the Brotherhood was grateful for their paranoia.

"Get these doors open, Knight"

"Right away, Paladin"

A single figure approached the door, and began to crack into systems secured against foreign invaders or rioting civilians. They were no match for the brotherhood's expertise. A siren blared and the door ground inwards, while the other six soldiers raised their rifles in preparation for whatever may lie within the vault.

The door shuddered to a halt.

"Lights on, Move in Knights" Boomed the Paladin over their short-range radio systems.

The squad advanced through the doorway, and into a long corridor with windows dotted along the walls every ten feet.

"Knights Brian, Jason, and Scott, get eyes on whatever is behind those windows. The rest of you, advance to the end of the hall and figure out what is at the end of it."

The squad split into two groups, three sprinting forward as quickly as their armour would allow, while the others attempted to see through the darkened windows.

"Sir!"

"Report."

"I can see robots, Paladin"

"What model?"

"I'm not sure, sir. But there are at least a few dozen that I can see"

"I can see more on the other side as well" Confirmed a second Knight.

"Alright, let's catch up with second squad then. Move out!"

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The Master was pleased by recent developments. The human advance had stalled six levels above his predicted areas, and the Nightkin had begun preparing a vessel to carry itself away from this wretched hole. After all, what was a God without his house of worship?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

For the hundredth time that day, Sergeant Troth wished he hadn't volunteered to be a line breaker. Fighting mutants was bad enough, but only the insane or suicidal willingly walked into the tunnels beneath Mariposa to try and find them.

"Contact!"

His squadmates fired as a group of mutants burst around the corner, their slave creatures acting as meatshields and absorbing most of the fire from their las-rifles.

Then the mutants were upon them. Two soldiers died from having their chest cavities destroyed by super sledge wielding mutants. Troth fired until his Tri-las ran out of charge, and swiftly retreated around the corner. He could smell charred flesh, and scrambled to reload his rifle. The solar cells were worse than useless in a facility without lights, so the old microfusion cell stockpiles had been broken into. Thoth stepped around the corner and was instantly gratified by the sight of four dead mutants. His squad was down to himself and one other trooper who had gone to ground when the Mutants rounded the corner.

"Get up, soldier."

"Sir! I respectfully request to get the hell out of here!"

"Request denied. Our objective is the same as before, and we only have one more level to make it through."

"You're insane! The mutants will kill us before we get halfway there!"

"They will if you don't shut up and stop complaining like a mother-loving Commie! Do you love America, son?"

"Of course I do sir, but…"

"Well we don't have the luxury of being at the top of the heap anymore. If you ever want to live like we did before, you need to earn it. We need to earn it. Now get your ass in gear, and get moving. One more level and you can go back home and become a settler for all I care. I'll take point."

"O-okay sir."

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The President had, for once in his tenure as shepherd of the human race, decided he did not need a drink.

"Charlotte, send in the Alaskan emissary please."

"Yes Sir!"

A man in a dark suit walked into the room, hair slicked back and carrying a stack of papers.

"Good Morning !" He declared in a voice too chipper to be anything but an act.

"What is all this then?"

"These are our formal colonization requests from the last month! Sixteen towns surrounding Anchorage have asked to become part of the United States again, and if the transition goes smoothly, we may be able to convince seven more as well!"

It was nice to know that even nuclear annihilation couldn't stop the bureaucrats.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A group of screens lit up inside a darkened room, the only decoration being a tattered american flag and a faintly glowing cigarette.

"The brotherhood has accessed the stockpile in Colorado"

"Which one?"

"Zero"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"YOU ALLOWED THEM ACCESS TO ZERO?!"

"No, they stumbled across it while occupying the other Vaults"

"I knew we should have sent them to texas instead. At least there we would only need to deal with them having access to our electrical weapons"

"You know they would kill everyone inside and hate us once they saw the F.E.V labs. It's why they deserted in the first place"

"Regardless, we Cannot let them activate that damned A.I"

"Is there anything we can do to stop them? They've been inside for a few hours now"

"Shit."

"We need to be ready then"

"How can we be?"

"Push up our efforts in Berlin. Once we retake the city, we can shelter any affected members until they can be relocated"

"I don't like this."

"None of us will."

The string of excuses I could give would be longer than the story right now, just be warned that if I drop the story for a while again, it's for good reason.

EDIT: I have no idea how I confused Colorado for illinois. Derp Derp.