The same stupid message had kept repeating itself for over a week now, setting Nora on edge at its annoyance. Someone calling themselves the Mechanist had unleashed an army of robots across the Commonwealth to try and curb the violence the war was causing but the robots proved to be a nuisance to both sides, attacking both Anderson's Marines and Nora's Gunners.

Following the attack on Spectacle Island Nora had begun waging her proxy war on Anderson's forces, striking at his Marines stationed on the Commonwealth's borders with mixed results. Shaun had forbidden her from taking military action with Institute forces, transferring control of the Stormtrooper Corps directly to himself and holding them within the Institute after he learned she had used them to take over Gunner Plaza, although he was unaware that she now controlled the Gunners. The Stormtroopers were still loyal to her however and patiently waited for her to make her next move.

Anderson hadn't committed any forces to stopping the Mechanist, his plate was full enough as it was fighting off Gunners and trying to rebuild the forces lost in the attack. Nora however found herself with much free time and decided to personally bring this Mechanist to their knees.

Shortly after starting her mission Nora had rescued an assaultron hybrid named Ada from the rogue robots and had agreed to let her tag along, against her better judgement. Fortunately, Ada had proved to be more reliable than Nora had initially thought, providing her with the locations of the Mechanists robobrains. Ada was even willing to have herself modified with the Mechanists hardware which would hopefully give them access to their lair, which is how she found herself currently in engaged in a firefight with several robots outside the RobCo sales & service center

"Stupid machines, just die already!" Nora shouted angrily as she reloaded her IAR behind cover. She quickly inserted the mag and slapped the bolt release before sighting in on the last remaining sentry bot, who had its back turned towards her and exposing its fusion core. The sentry paused to vent itself and Nora used the opportunity to fire at the exposed cores, sending the bot into its critical damaged state and self-destructing.

"Hate those things, come on Ada let's end this." Nora says to the robot as they enter the building. Once inside Ada leads them down into the basement where they find a heavy metal door. "Hmm, door looks too thick to blast through, must be a release somewhere." Nora mutters as she looks around for a way to open the door.

"Ma'am I believe this device is an access port." Ada informs Nora as she walks over to a circular piece of machinery sticking out of the wall.

"Good work, can you open it?"

"Of course, one moment Ma'am." Ada then utilizes the M-SAT device Nora installed on her to interface with the node and in no time the locks on the door start opening and a series of doors open further into the building. Nora cautiously steps through the doors and walks down another corridor coming across a group of robots passing through a decontamination area. She motions for Ada to stay put and waits for the robots to finish passing through before approaching the archways. Nora peeked her head in and spotted automated turrets above both ends of the arches. Not wanting to risk exposing herself yet she reached into one of the pouches on her armor and retrieved an EMP grenade and tossed it into the arches where it detonated and fried the turrets circuits. Nora smiled to herself and strolled through the arches with Ada and entered a small enclosed room. Looking around Nora spotted another access node and motioned for Ada to activate it.

As Ada started working the lights in the room suddenly shutoff and red emergency lights activated, startling Nora who swept her rifle across the room in search of enemies but the only thing that appeared was a lone eyebot.

"So you've managed to find my lair. No matter my robots are more than enough to handle the likes of you." Taunted the Mechanist through the eyebots speakers just before Nora sent a bullet through the machine.

"Well so much for stealth, Ada we're gonna have company."

"All weapons systems are primed and ready Ma'am."

The door then opened and the two proceeded to fight their way through the facility, battling multiple machines and automated defenses as they went. The Mechanist may have created an army of mismatched robots but they were no match for the Institutes top enforcer. As Nora fought her way forward the Mechanist dispatched more eyebots becoming more and more frantic the farther Nora progressed until she finally made her way into the control center and confronted the Mechanist.

"You've finally arrived scourge, now I can end your evil and restore peace to the Commonwealth." The Mechanist said as Nora and Ada walked in front of them.

"That so? Cause your if your little toys couldn't stop me what makes you think that you can?" Nora taunted.

"We'll see how long you last against my robots when you have nowhere to run fiend! Sparks lock the doors!" The Mechanist ordered.

The doors slammed shut and robots began to flood into the room, but Nora stood unfazed as she shouldered her weapon. She and Ada made short work of the first wave of junkbots, angering the Mechanist who ordered more eyebots to swarm them. Nora threw herself behind cover as the eyebots began self-destructing. The Mechanist peered through the glass separating them from Nora, trying to see her through the smoke and to their displeasure Nora and Ada remained standing.

"Rah! Sparks throw everything at her!" The Mechanist shouted angrily.

Soon lasers and gunfire filled the room as swarms of junkbots and eyebots raced in to finish the two off but Nora remained standing through it all. Eventually the constant flow of robots began to put strain on the systems power supply. After several more waves the power finally cutoff, shutting down all the robots in the room.

"What!? Sparks get the power back on!"

"It's over Mechanist, you've lost."

"No! This isn't over scourge! Just you wait!" The Mechanist yelled.

"For what? Do I need to break more of your pathetic toys?" Nora taunted smugly.

"Enough! I'll finish you myself!" The Mechanists shouted before rushing out of the protection of the command center.

Nora slung her rifle on her back as the Mechanist charged down the ramp and punched them in the chest, knocking them down with a dent in their armor. The Mechanist gasped for air as Nora kicked them in the faceplate.

"Pathetic, I expected more out of you." Nora taunted kneeling down and ripping the Mechanist's helmet off revealing a rather scared young woman. "Well look at you, a stupid kid playing hero huh? What did you think was gonna happen? That'd you'd save the Commonwealth from the Institute? Did you even know that your toys have been attacking the very people trying to stop me, so in a way you're no better than me, are you?" She mocked as the girl stared fearfully at her. "So what do you suppose we do to remedy that?"

"Pl please… just let me go…" The girl pleaded.

"Oh I wish I could dear, really I do, but you've been a pain in ass. Besides do you know what that would do to my reputation if people learned that I just let you go? They'd think I was going soft and that just won't do." Nora replied softly as she drew her pistol and placed the muzzle against the side of the girl's head and cocked the hammer back causing her eyes to widen in fear. "Shh, don't worry it'll be quick I promise dear." She soothed.

"No Plea…" The girl was suddenly cutoff as a bullet pierced her skull, killing her instantly.

"Hmm, shame really. She had potential don't you think Ada?"

"Agreed, but we couldn't let her continue to harm innocents Ma'am."

"Oh I wasn't concerned about that Ada; believe me I've done far worse than she ever did. Oh well, this facility is still impressive though. I'll have my Gunners setup shop here, get the place back up and running but we'll make better machines to supplement my forces. Ada remain here and see what you can do, I want this facility back up ASAP."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Hmm, I think it's time to accelerate my plans." Nora smiled to herself as she left the facility.

I really enjoy writing Nora, she just does whatever she wants with no regard for others. Don't get me wrong I still like writing Ryan's side of things but he's more controlled by the rules where as Nora makes her own. Things are going to start coming to a head soon as Nora continues to execute her plans and Ryan's going to be in for the toughest fight he's ever had when they meet again.

And yes Liberty Prime will be making an appearance later on.