"In your work with the Brotherhood did you hear of a battle they fought here?" Ashur asked Jack as he steered Jack round another corner,
"Yeah" Jack replied "They called it the Scourge, met one of the kids they took from here actually, became a Brotherhood Knight as a matter of fact."
"An admirable achievement for the lad, though I doubt even he knows all of what occurred here. Such an act as was committed would never be permitted to stain the honour of the Brotherhood's archive. You see, as I am about to prove to you, the Brotherhood may hide behind power armour and laser rifles but when you trip these away and look at their actions in a fresh light you realise that they are nothing more than a gang albeit one that is only concerned with technology. I've seen it in the West, they are prepared to watch the world burn around them…as long as the old world technology is in their greedy hands." Ashur deep voice echoed off the walls and down the pristine corridors, his armoured fists tightening painfully into Jack's shoulder as he spoke angrily about the Brotherhood.
A final turn led to a large room, decorative columns soaring up high to hold ceiling up, paintings, sculptures and other artwork adorned the simple white walls adding a sense of vibrancy and colour that had not been present in the empty, emotionless corridors that Jack just left. Ashur left him no to examine the new room, shoving him across the room towards a large pair of large varnished wooden doors.
"Behold the face that the Brotherhood hides behind their helmets" Ashur declared grandly, flinging the doors open to reveal a small balcony overlooking a large plaza. Following Ashur's prompts, Jack stepped forward expecting some minor crime the Brotherhood had committed during the battle to be showcased to him by Ashur, who clearly was not all there in the sanity department. His eyes widened as he looked down upon the plaza, the horrible spectacle that lay before him causing bile to rise, Jack had forcibly swallow to stop himself from retching. He had seen dead bodies before, he had even seen mass graves where Raiders would dump the bullet ridden bodies or their victims in the nearest hole, too lazy to burn or bury them. But the sight before him was so much worse, perhaps because it just seemed to cold, so callous or perhaps it was the sheer number of victims.
Their shrivelled burned husks covered the plaza, which was walled in by a makeshift stockade made from scrap metal and parts of buildings that surrounded the square. Jack could not even see the floor of the large plaza, which was equal in size to the Citadel's bailey, so covered was it in burnt bodies and grey ash which clung to every surface. The bodies were in piles near the gates and walls, obviously the people had desperately tried to escape, climbing atop each other as they struggled to save themselves from the fire that rained down upon them. Jack's fists clenched tightly, his knuckles turning white and his nails digging painfully into his palm as he realised the implications of this. They had been burned alive, they had been penned in like brahmin and then they had not even been killed quickly, they had been burned alive. He couldn't even imagine the screams and panic that must have raged through the crowd like a plague as the first people began to burn, the rest realising the terrible fate that awaited them.
"A sight that's apt to make you retch and cry out with disbelief" Ashur intoned, uncharacteristically quiet as he leaned on the grey stone balcony wall, staring outwards towards the gruesome sight.
"It's fucking barbaric" Jack swore angrily
"The Brotherhood were the ones who first discovered what we now call Troglodyte Degeneration Contagion during the Scourge. When the extent of the disease was found it was decided that such an infestation could be not left unchecked. The commanders were worried enough about the Super Mutants that our scouts had discovered in D.C so it was deemed necessary to wipe out the infestation and prevent any threats to our rear and leave a viable lien of retreat if we were forced back West." He shook his head sadly before turning away from the gruesome scene, leaning on the small wall he faced the doors they had come through, Jack found himself unable to look away, his eyes firmly fixed on the black, shrivelled bodies below as Ashur continued to speak. "Only the experienced were chosen, men who killed and would have no problem with the slaughter that was expected. The children and non-combatants were escorted a few miles down the road by the rest, far enough way that they would not be able to hear the laser fire or the screams. We went in at the dead of night, squads peeling off street by street to search the houses for survivors to march down to this plaza. I pulled children from the beds, shot parents who tried to protect their families from the strange metal men who burst into their homes in the dead of night." Ashur lapsed into silence, his voice had become hoarse as regret overwhelmed him. "The Brotherhood thought they knew everything about the Pitt, despite only being in the damn city for three fucking days. The robes thought it was some kind of virus at the time, so Lyons ordered that the bodies were to be burned so any trace of the 'virus' would be eradicated. Only the 'diseased barbarians' put up more of a fight than command expected so we were fucking low on damn ammo by the time we managed to round everyone up and lock them away. The whole damn regiment was low anyway never mind the force we had in the Pitt. So the stupid bastards up the chain got all worried, they didn't want us walking the couple of miles to the camp without ammo as they worried what would happen if we were attacked. So we weren't allowed to give the poor sods a quick, merciful death, no sir, orders came down that we were ordered to burn them alive. What can I say we were soldiers and like good goddamned soldiers we swallowed any misgivings, any complaints and we carried out our orders to the fucking letter. I still hear the screams every night, every time I see a fire burning, every time there's damn silence" Ashur shuddered as his spoke, his eyes crazed as they bored into Jack who groped around behind for any type of weapon, convinced that Ashur was about to lash with those wicked spiked fists, he settled for a fist sized rock as he eyed Ashur warily, putting as much distance as was possible on the small balcony between him and Ashur.
The rage faded from Ashur's rapidly, a hopeful, wide eyed stare replacing it, "So now you know the truth about the Brotherhood. After I was I injured I found survivors, I knew it was sign, a chance to redeem myself so I made myself their leader. Sure I spilled blood, made examples of those who opposed me but everything I did was to save them, to protect them from those who would seek to finish the Brotherhood's work." He spoke pleadingly, his eyes beseeching Jack to agree that his actions had indeed been for the greater good of the Pitt.
"What proof do you have that it was the Brotherhood who did this?" Jack deflected, partly to avoid Ashur's pleading look and partly because he couldn't believe that members of the same organisation that he had shed blood beside could commit an atrocity such as the one that stretched out into the distance before him. It was especially difficult for him to believe that Sarah's father was the one who had given the orders that led to brutal deaths for innocent civilians, that would definitely throw a spanner into the works of a good friendship, albeit one Jack was hoping would develop into something more.
"Proof?" Ashur boomed angrily "I've told you things only a Brotherhood knight could know, if you don't trust that ask the rest of your damn Brotherhood when you get back, watch the reactions on the older men's faces when you mention the plaza massacre to them."
"Trust me the Brotherhood will have some questions to answer about the Scourge when I return" Jack replied grimly, his tone seemed to mollify Ashur who nodded emphatically in agreement.
"Good…good." A smile lit up his face, showing yellow teeth "Now that I have shown you that I saved the Pitt, that the Pitt is safest under my leadership, I have something very important to show you, for I have done what no one else has been able to do. Cure the Troglodyte Degeneration Contagion." With that echoing pronouncement he turned smartly upon his heel and marched back into the building, leaving Jack to hurry in his wake, relieved that he would finally get what he came here for. In his opinion the sooner he was out of the erratic warlord's company the better.
Jack blinked in surprise he followed Ashur into the room, he had heard the beeping of medical equipment and the whirring of computer fans from down the hall, a sound he grown used to from when he visited his Dad in his clinic but he had not expected the sight which greeted him as he stepped into the room itself. He rubbed his eyes furiously before glancing back up, no, he thought bewilderedly, there was still a damn baby sitting in a cot smack dab in the middle of the room. Ashur, now cooing to the baby who gripped one of his outstretched fingers with a tiny fist, could obviously see it which meant that this wasn't a product of the radiation he had managed to soak up over the past year. Jack swore silently as he watched the surreal sight of a scarred, crazy warlord playing with a baby, apparently life in the goddamn Pitt had just got a whole more complicated.