Jack squirmed up the small hill on his belly, rifle cradled in his arms as he made his way up the hill, cursing occasionally as his knee smashed into an errant rock. At least, he comforted himself it was dry day with a cool wind to accompany it, this was always a hell of lot more unpleasant when you had to crawl through mud, the warmth being leeched out of you and the feeling that you mud made you weigh twice as much as you did before. As he neared the crest of the hill he noticed a clump of thorn bushes up ahead on his right, he shifted direction towards them, reasoning that they would provide cover and break up his body's outline as he stared through his binoculars towards Vault 101.
He muttered and cursed grumpily as he forced his way into the prickly bush, each moment agonizingly slow as he crawled in carefully, trying to minimize any movement in the bushes branches that could give away his position to any lookouts or snipers that could be lurking out near the vault. His arms, hands and legs stung maddeningly from all the scratches. Laying his rifle close to hand, jack dug around in his webbing for his binoculars, yanking them from the pocket where they had been hurriedly stuffed. He blinked for a few moments as his eyes fell on the familiar landscape, he had used to go out of his way to pass it sometimes, just so that he could remember that surreal life when he had been happy, safe and his greatest worries were what the Overseer would do if he found out about him and Amata.
Jack stared for a few moments more before he dragged his attention back to his task, scouring the hills with his binoculars meticulously as he searched for any hint of an enemy sentry. There was a lot of open terrain between him and the entrance to the cave where Vault 101 resided, if he missed a sniper there would be a lot of dead bodies littering the desolate plain before night fell. Minutes ticked by, behind him Jack could hear the sounds of his strike force getting restless but Jack continued to scrutinize the craggy hills opposite him. He hadn't found anyone, that's what bothered him, surely whoever was currently occupying the vault would not have neglected to put at least one sentry above to ground, it was basic military strategy. About a dozen or so yards to his left and right Jack had Gallows and Glade performing the same task as him, it was inconceivable that the experienced Brotherhood soldiers had both failed to find the sentry as well but Jack's gut insisted that that must be the case. From what he had learnt over the past two months whoever his opponent was, they were meticulous, paranoid and extremely cunning, there was no way that that person would allow such a ridiculous mistake as having no sentry posted.
His attention was diverted by the sound of another body crawling up the hill behind him, a metallic clank telling him that whoever it was, they were wearing a suit of power armour, which narrowed done the list of possible people down to one. Sarah Lyons smiled happily at him as she settled own beside him, laying her own laser rifle down next to Jack's hunting rifle.
"Still not found him yet, I think you're losing your touch." She teased Jack as she nudged him in the ribs with her elbow. Jack smiled back despite his worry
"You think you can find him?" He shot back
"Not even going to try" Sarah retorted, sticking her tongue out at him "Just here to stop you getting bored out of your skull."
"Is it me that's getting bored or you?" Jack asked sceptically, lowering the binoculars to stare at her, smirking as a tell tale blush appeared
"I sorted out your strike force ages ago, for loc…uh I mean for civilians they definitely know what they're doing."
"Oh my, praise from the high and mighty Brotherhood sentinel" Jack teased her playfully "You should be congratulating the Sheriff any way; he somehow managed to find a dozen men who were willing and able to fight."
"What and ruin my reputation, why would you want me to do that?" Sarah asked in mock severity. Jack smiled in reply but his gaze returned to stare at the hills worriedly. He was very aware that he was responsible for the lives of Sarah, Glade, Gallows and the rest of the force, he hated being in that position. If it hadn't been necessary he would have gone in alone, he preferred just holding his own life in his hands. In his experience when ever he held others in them, he always seemed to drop them no matter how hard he tried to hold on. His father, Charon, Dogmeat, Fawkes, the list went on with each name getting more painful than the last. It was his curse, he decided bitterly, that he could walk into hell and stroll out unscathed while those closest to him died around him. That was probably why he had let Sarah take that damn set of pristine T-51b power armour, why he'd insisted that for once she wore the damn helmet when they started fighting.
"Hey" Sarah pulled his binoculars away from his eyes, forcing him to turn and look at her "You need to stop doing that, getting lost in your thoughts. You can drive yourself crazy just bottling up the past; everyone needs to talk at some point." She settled herself more comfortably on the dry ground "So while we wait forthe very capable Gallows to find your missing sentry, you can tell me the rest of what happened in the Pitt."
"So you heard…earlier?" Jack mumbled "Look it's not that…"
"Look" Sarah's voice was still friendly but now an edge of steel laced it, a warning to Jack that this wasn't a subject he was going to be able to dodge around. "I know it will be uncomfortable, for both us, but I need to know what got you so angry that you would cut me and the rest of the Brotherhood out of your life as soon as you got back. So just tell me, I promise I won't hit you…more than once…during the story."
"Fine" Jack huffed "But no interruptions, I just want get this over with before you get angry again. I'm going to say some things I'll doubt you'll like, if you want the truth I'm afraid you're just going to have wait until the end before you get mad, we clear?"
"Clear" Sarah grumbled though her eye's never left Jack's, he could see the curiosity blazing behind her sapphire eyes. He swore in his head that she had heard his damn story, damn Glade for asking, damn himself for telling the fucking story. He should have had the good sense to keep it locked away in his head, he didn't want to hurt Sarah, to shake her faith in the Brotherhood but by telling the story that was just what he was going to do if he told her what he had found out in the Pitt.
"You're no damn slave" Ashur chuckled as he lead Jack through a maze of white marbled corridors "Don't worry, you're a fighter like me, you proved that in the Hole and I always have a use for men who can fight well and fight smart. You here for the cure?" He had been speaking in friendly tones up until that final sentence, but all joviality vanished as he spoke about the cure. Instead he whirled around and stared intently at Jack, his scarred face and milky white left eye only making the deadly look etched upon his face that much more vicious. Staring back defiantly, Jack struggled to maintain a cool, unconcerned posture as he leaned nonchalantly on the wall. He knew that if he gave the wrong answer here, he would be dead soon after, unarmed and faced with those power armoured fists he knew that he would be ripped apart limb by limb in a fight.
He had known that Ashur was not an everyday, run of mill raider warlord when he seen how the man had moved in his power armour. Ashur did not seem to weighed down by it, in fact he moved smoothly, gracefully even as if the bulky armour was a second skin. Jack had only met two groups of people that were able to use power armour like that, the Enclave and the Brotherhood of Steel. Judging by the fact that he knew that the Brotherhood had been through the Pitt and the scratches that covered where the Brotherhood knights usually proudly wore the Brotherhood's symbol, Jack guessed that Ashur had been part of the latter.
"I'm here for the cure" Jack spoke bluntly though his eyes couldn't help but flick between the barely restrained anger that lurked behind Ashur's eyes and the rapidly clenching and unclenching fists that stood stiffly by his sides. "The resistance here asked me to take it, to give it to the slaves so that they cure themselves." He held up his hands in a supplicating gesture, continuing hurriedly as he saw that Ashur was losing what little self control he had left. "But I've learnt the hard way that you never make a decision without hearing both sides of the story so I'm not going to do anything rash just yet."
Though he maintained his calm exterior, Jack's muscles were tensed as he prepared to run for life if his little speech hadn't appeased Ashur, the man seemed to be unnaturally protective of this cure.
"You're a cocky one" Ashur's face broke out into a smile, the anger fading just as suddenly as it appeared. "I like your attitude, am attitude like that could go far in my little organisation"
"And what's an ex-Brotherhood soldier doing running a band of petty raiders?" Jack asked figuring he might as well push what little luck he had left. "I've worked with them quite a bit, enough to learn two things. One, the Brotherhood of Steel and raiders don't mix well, hell they don't mix at all. Two, no one just leaves the Brotherhood with a full set of power armour, they're very protective about technology like that."
Once again Jack found that he was the recipient of another viper like stare, the thought that he had pushed a little bit too far racing to the front of his mind as he prepared to strike out with the small pen knife that he had hidden in his belt, he couldn't win a fight, he knew that for certain. But he could feint a strike at Ashur's one remaining eye. Men always moved to protect their eyes, Jack figured that would go double for a man who only had one eye left. The move might buy him enough time to get out of the reach of those spiked fists. These plans where driven to the back of Jack's mind when Ashur burst in laughter, his deep voice causing the sound to echo through the empty hallways.
"You've got a set of balls lad, I'll give you that. Yeah I used to be part of the Brotherhood, have to admit I'm surprised they worked with you, must be getting desperate if they let one of the 'local wildlife', as they call you, work with them. The Brotherhood must be getting desperate." He fell silent for few seconds, a thoughtful expression upon his face. He stayed like that for a few moments, finger and thumb rubbing his patchy stubble before he shook his head dismissing whatever thoughts had been running through his head.
"Where was I? Oh yes, I was a member of the Brotherhood, before they left me behind, wounded and alone in this cesspool. You think it's bad now?" He boomed, his passionate tones ringing in Jack's ears "You should have seen this place before I took, I saved this place, I saved the people that the Brotherhood left behind me" He was yelling by the end, his one eye daring Jack to dispute his claim, who had enough sense not to provoke the very volatile warlord. "Ah but you doubt me." Ashur's voice returned to it's normal charming tone. "After all you have served with the oh so noble Brotherhood, well let me show you the true face of the Brotherhood of Steel." Placing a firm hand on Jack's shoulder, Ashur steered Jack down the maze of corridors, clearly intent on showing Jack something that he believed would bring Jack around to his way of thinking.