"Put your hands up, local. You play nice and we might let you go with some spare parts from these things." A Knight said as he shoved James into the wrecked house.

"James?" Katherine whispered. She stood behind Preston, who glared at the soldiers in power armor not too far from where they were imprisoned.

"Don't worry." James said. "Help is on the way."

"The Minutemen's been scattered, there's no one who could help." Preston cut in.

"I've got something a little better than the Minutemen."

"And what could that be?"

"People with power armor."

"Another private army? Hasn't the Brotherhood already proved that an elitist group holding all the cards are bad enough?"

"I'm not sure I would compare power armor to cards."

"You know what I mean, damn you."

"These guys are with me. I know them, they're good people."

"Hmm." Preston grunted. James stared out at the men and women he once called brothers. He fought with the Brotherhood for years and while he was at the Pitt he always patrolled the streets in his Lyons Pride T-45 suit of power armor. The power armor was what scared the raiders and slavers the most, but the symbol of the Brotherhood of Steel appealed to the slaves. The suit symbolized the struggle of a slave fighting his way to freedom. Luckily, with James's help, Ashur was able to do away with the slave system by 2080 but there was still much work to be done. Werhner organized a second slave revolt that James was tasked to put down. Then the former slavers organized an invasion to retake the Pitt to be their slave capital. James once again was tasked to destroy their "revolution" as well. But through everything he went through at the Pitt, the suit given to him by Sentinel Lyons kept him safe and helped to inspire former slaves to rise up against their would-be masters. He hated to see the Lyons legacy be wasted on the new generation of Brotherhood soldiers.

"Didn't you say you were a Paladin for the Brotherhood, James? Can't you order them to stand down?" Katherine asked.

"You were what?" Preston cut in.

"Not any more. These guys must be new, they don't recognize me." James responded. "And Maxson and I aren't really on the best of terms since the Citadel was destroyed and they abandoned the Capital Wasteland."

"You used to be a part of this group?" Preston shouted as he grabbed James by the collar and shoved him against the wall. "You know what they've been doing to the Minutemen ever since they arrived?!"

"No, I've been gone trying to save your ass from the Institute, remember?" James responded calmly.

"The Institute?" Preston asked as he let James go. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Kellogg told me that the Institute sacked Sanctuary and split up the survivors at various Institute safehouses. They were going to ransom everybody."

"Man, you ain't from around here. That's not how the Institute operates. They want someone gone, they're gone." Preston responded. "Sure a couple synths came sniffing by Sancturay, but the Minutemen were more than ready for them."

"So what happened then?"

"Kellogg must've been working with old intel." Preston speculated. "Maybe that's what the synths were up to. I'd been gathering as many Minutemen at Sanctuary. The Railroad reached out to me and told me that they'd gotten intel about a huge attack on Sanctuary."

"What?"

"Yeah, Deacon came to Sanctuary and warned about some big attack coming for the settlement. He told me we should pack up and go to the Castle for safety."

"The Castle?"

"Yeah, a place that Katherine and I cleared out for the Minutemen while you were gone on one of those trade runs of yours."

"So why didn't you head there?"

"Just cause we cleared the place doesn't mean it's safe. It's much more dangerous there than it is here. Besides, I didn't have enough fighters at Sanctuary to help me keep all of the settlers safe the whole trip down to the Castle."

"How many settlers were living in Sanctuary by the time Kat and I left for the Capital Wasteland?"

"I'd guess about fifty settlers. Only fifteen of them knew how to shoot well enough to be considered guards."

"Were they all armed?"

"No. One of the rules was that they had to store all of their weapons in a centralized armory. Sturges and I converted one of the houses into a makeshift armory and we had Connor look after the weapons."

"So what did happen at Sanctuary?" Katherine cut in. James looked at her. He had forgotten she was standing behind him, listening to the whole conversation.

"The synths teleported in and began shooting. The Minutemen were all armed and ready for them. We must've fought for hours, we were holding our own when the Brotherhood veritibirds came in."

"Vertibirds?" Katherine asked.

"Yeah it was night and practically pitch black. They started blasting at everything with their guns of theirs. When the shooting finally died down they took prisoners. Each vertibird took a family or a few people and then flew off to God knows where."

"They took the settlers?"

"Dunno. They loaded all the children onto one vertibird and flew off in another direction. The took me and some other Minutemen. We were being held at Outpost Zimonga when the synths teleported in. During the confusion Connor helped me escape and told me to hide here, he didn't make it out."

"Well, you can thank Connor for us meeting you here. We found his note telling others that you were here."

"You! Come here." A Knight shouted, pointing at James.

"All right." James sighed as he stepped towards them.

"What is your name, wastelander?" the Knight asked, his voice muffled by his T-60 helmet.

"James."

"That your real name?"

"Sure."

"What were you doing here?"

"Just scaving, y'know looking for junk to sell with one of the trade caravans."

"So far away from the trade routes? What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was just wandering, sir. Scaving doesn't need a lot of thinking."

"I'm not surprised, you wastelanders don't think too much, do you?"

"I guess not."

"Well, these things are called synths. You know what they are?"

"Of course."

"I'm surprised, you do have half a brain. Well they are the property of the Institute and I was hoping you could tell me more about them."

"Well, no one really knows for sure."

"Hmm. This complicates things." The knight held out a laser pistol to James's head. "If you don't have any useful information for me, I'm under orders to eliminate any witnesses who are useless to the Brotherhood."

"And who issued those orders Knight?"

"So you know Brotherhood ranks. Why should I tell you?"

"Why don't you check this?" James said with a smirk as he tossed his brotherhood holotags at the Knight.

"You're a Paladin." The Knight commented. "Forgive me, sir. I had no idea. What are you doing here? Don't you know all Paladins have been recalled to the Prydwyn?"

"Let's say I've been out of comms with Maxson for some time."

"Well, that is unacceptable, sir. You know the punishment for such disregard of protocol. You'll have to come with me so I can report this."

"You still have that gun aimed at my head, Knight. If you're going to point a weapon at me, you'd better be ready to shoot."

"Sorry sir." The knight lowered his pistol. "But my orders still stand. I'm placing you under arrest for abandoning your post."

"General?" Morales's voice chirped from the Pip-Boy.

"What is that sound?" The Knight asked.

"Alpha has arrived."

"Hit the deck!" James shouted at Preston and Katherine. James leapt to the side before the Knight could react. James looked up and watched the Brotherhood vertibirds blasted out of the air by two P-80 jets.

"What the hell?" The knight shouted. James drew his shotgun and fired at the Knight. The knight reacted quickly and shifted his head in an attempt to avoid the shot.

"Damn it. Open fire at those things!" The knight ordered. James blasted a few shells to cause the unarmored members of the Brotherhood to find any sort of cover. A black vertibird flew into view, replacing the shiny silver ones that now whirled to the earth below. A flash of blue darted from the side of the vertibird and the Knight's head exploded.

"Armor down, go!" Captain Dusk's voice came from James's Pip-Boy. Two sleek suits of X-02 power armor suits leapt from the sides of the Vertibird and landed on the hill. The weight of the two suits shook the dirt and caused some members of the Brotherhood squad to stumble.

"Armor, use the pulse grenades!" A Brotherhood soldier shouted. James picked up the dead knight's pistol and tossed it to Preston. Preston caught it and started blasting at the Brotherhood soldiers who weren't already hiding out in the shed.

"Take cover, sir. We'll take it from here." Kodiak's voice came from one of the black suits. A picture of a roaring grizzly was painted on the armor's chest and helmet.

"Colvin, hit that building with the gun!" Kodiak ordered. "Glade, get ready to flank it." James shifted the Knight's body to retrieve the laser rifle magnetized onto the armor's back. He wrenched it from the armor and handed it to Katherine.

"You all right?"

"For now." She responded quietly. "The Institute has Marie."

"I know. But she'll be safe for now."

"What?"

"I never told you this, but she's special. She's somehow been born with a mutation that makes her immune from any kind of known mutation. If the Institute's as much the scientists I've heard they are. They'll be looking into that before thinking of harming her."

"How can you be sure that she will be safe with them?"

"I heard an old doctor friend of mine made her way into the Institute. I'm hoping she'll recognize Marie."

"And hoping she'll be there?"

"Well, that too." James turned and watched as the two P-80 jets circled around for a strafing run at the shed. "When did Arcade get the jets working?" James shouted.

"I don't know the details but apparently they've been working since the Enclave first retook the station. But old holotapes some Scribes left behind indicate that the Brotherhood never figured out how to power the planes for long. Arcade found a way to circumvent the problem I guess."

"Or he found a source of fuel."

"Like what?"

"Well, I heard from this one traveler that the Enclave once used an oil rig as their home and base of operations."

"What? That's ridiculous."

"I don't know, this guy seemed like he knew a lot." James shifted his head to avoid a stray bolt of laser. He squeezed a burst from the Knight's laser rifle. Several streams of laser rocketed from the barrel of the rifle in quick succession, forcing the brotherhood soldiers to take cover. Katherine took cover in the house and retrieved her sniper rifle. She loaded a .50 caliber round into the chamber and took her aim. She saw a Brotherhood scribe prime a pulse grenade. She had heard Nate's stories of power armored soldiers coming into contact with Chinese pulse fields. She didn't want to witness what her husband was forced to experience. She carefully aimed and fired quickly. Katherine had aimed for the Scribe's arm, but missed and hit the grenade instead. She witnessed the effects of the pulse grenades on the remaining Brotherhood suits rather than Jame's Enclave.

"Nice shot." Preston shouted.

"Perimeter secured, sir." Kodiak said, his voice amplified by his helmet. He stomped over to James and handed him something that resembled headphones and a neck choker.

"Radio, sir." Kodiak explained. "The techs back at Addams have established long distance comms and these old Enclave radios will help Enclave operatives without power armor to maintain contact with HQ."

"Huh, that'll be handy. Anything else Arcade managed to figure out without me?" Kodiak chuckled.

"Nothing that I understand sir. There'll be a debriefing back at Sanctuary. The Officers have all completed their assignments and are on their way back. What's next from here, sir?" James looked at the bodies around him and saw that a Scribe was still alive, breathing heavily and unable to move.

"War." James whispered to himself.