Hello everyone, hope you are doing well.

Today, Damian learn a bit more about Pitt

Glad to see some of you are enjoying the story. I have everything fully written and almost fully translated just making a few modifications here and there

To answer a review from Mokoloco, yes, I have plans for other Fallout fanfictions. Don't know if it will a some kind sequel, to this, some small ones or if I put everything in one big story. Been throwing ideas on papers for a while now, but first, let's focus on Damian and this story.

Please enjoy.


"Come in."

Damian pushed the door to Lyons' office and walked in. The old Elder was sitting at his desk and finished putting away a mission report. Damian closed the door behind him.

Damian felt like a schoolboy, summoned to the principal's office after doing something stupid.

During the trip back to the Citadel, she had cried a lot and only Paladin Tristan was able to calm her.

Damian and the other Brotherhood members had watched, stunned, the old Paladin rock the little baby, sing her a lullaby and feed her.

"What? I'm one of the oldest Brotherhood members of our chapter," Tristan had said. "I've seen my loads of babies."

As soon as they had reached the Citadel, Damian and Marie had been directed to the infirmary, where a Mister Gutsy had examined both of them.

To Damian's relief, the little baby was healthy and the Mister Gutsy had not seen any problem, apart the fact that his infirmary was turning into a nursery.

In the infirmary, they had met Scribe Hood, who had come for a check-up on her leg.

The Mister Gutsy, nicknamed Sawbones had then examined Damian.

"All right soldier, get your ass on that table and stand still."

"I tell you I'm fine," Damian had protested.

"You'll be fine when I'll decide it, maggot. Now sit your ass on the table!"

The Mister Gutsy in charge of the Citadel infirmary, had tapped its claw on the table.

"All right, maggot, stand still and don't be a pansy."

Damian had felt the unpleasant sensation of the cold metallic claws of the robot on his arms, legs, chest and head.

Damian had a thick stain of dried blood on his head and temple. He also had faint skin lesions on his arms and chest, and the buckshot he had received had left little bruise on his chest and stomach. It seemed that his ribs were intact, but he could feel an unease every time he breathed.

While the robot was examining him, Damian had noticed that Hood was staring at him and seemed worried.

"I'm…"

"If you ever dare say that you're fine, I'll shove my foot so far up your ass, you'll cough boot polish for the rest of your sorry life!" had barked the robot.

A few minutes later, Lyons had joined them. He had watched Damian from head to toe and had asked Damian to join him in his office when we would be done.

Just before leaving, the Elder had asked Tristan to come with him. The Paladin had then given Marie to Hood who had looked at the baby girl like it was some kind of weird thing.

And so, Damian was in Lyons office, with Tristan.

Lyons crossed his hands in front of his face and stared at Damian. With a sign, he invited him to take a seat in front of him. Damian pulled out the metal chair and sat. The Elder stared at him for a few more seconds before speaking.

"When Knight Danse informed us that you and the Super Mutant had gone North to investigate a mysterious radio message, at first, I thought it was an Enclave position unknown to our Intelligence services. But when we tried to contact you, and it was your... Companion, who responded and explained the situation to us, I dispatched a team of volunteers."

He got up and walked to a large map of the East Coast, which was on the wall. Damian noticed small pencil or felt markings on the map but was too far away to make them out clearly and see what they referred to.

Lyons turned to Damian. He looked at him for a few seconds before he put a kind smile on his wrinkled face.

"I can tell by your expression that you expect a punishment or a reprimand from me," said the old Elder. "Since you are not exactly a member of the Brotherhood, I cannot sanction you, and between you and me, I do not really see what I could sanction. Nevertheless, the Paladin Tristan and I, are rather curious about this story."

Lyons returned to his seat and looked into Damian's eyes.

"When Knight Danse returned to the Citadel, alone, with the Tesla Coil, he mentioned that you had gone to inspect a radio message, is that right?"

Damian nodded silently.

"At first, we thought it was an old recording, accidentally triggered by a scavenger. After twenty-four hours, seeing that you were not coming back, I decided to contact your friend Super Mutant, and after his explanation, I sent Tristan and some soldiers to meet you as backup. There are a few things I'd like to clear up. If you could tell me everything from the beginning."

Damian took a deep breath. He swept the desk with his eyes before he spoke.

"Shortly after meeting the man Tristan sent to Old Olney, we actually picked up a radio message. Going back to the source, near an old radio tower, I discovered that the message was from a man being chased by Raiders. After helping him, he told me that he had escaped from a place in the Northwest to seek help. He... He explained to me that his people were being enslaved in a place called Pitt."

Damian noticed that Lyons' and Tristan's eyes wrinkled slightly when he mentioned the name of the town. With a nod, the Elder invited Damian to continue.

Damian told him all about his adventure in Pitt, down to the smallest details.

"The man who controlled Pitt was called Ashur, and..."

"Ashur, you say?"

Tristan had just cut Damian out of his story and was staring at him with a concerned look.

"Ishmael Ashur?" the Paladin asked.

"Yes... How did you...?"

Lyons and Tristan exchanged a glance. The Elder opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a folder. The folder was quite old, and the papers in it were all yellowed. He put the file in front of him and looked at it.

"I guess you know the Brotherhood of Steel is not native of the Capital Wasteland but from a place called Lost Hills on the West Coast." Lyons said. "And that we were sent here to retrieve all the pre-war technology we could find."

"Yes, my father told me about it vaguely and I had a chance to discuss it with Sarah during a training session," Damian answered.

"My superiors in Lost Hills had also given me two other tasks. Initially, we were to travel to the Midwest and re-establish contact with a Chapter of our Order that had gone rogue, before going to Washington. Once there, we were to confirm reports from our scouts that Super Mutants were present in the ruins of the former capital of the United States, before we moved in and searched the city for pre-war technology."

Lyons paused slightly, with his eyes still on the matter in front of him.

"As contact with our Brothers in the Midwest was unsuccessful, I took the decision to move on to our second objective. When we arrived at Pitt, Lyons took over. We discovered a dead town, ravaged by radiation, disease and inhabited by Raiders, savages, mutants and cannibals. I ordered my men to purge the town."

Damian finally understood what had brought the Brotherhood to Pittsburgh on its expedition from the West.

"There were not many of us, and the Raiders and Slavers there had more firepower than we had and outnumbered us, but the chaos in that town allowed us to wipe out most of the Raiders who lived there, as well as a large number of mutants. In passing, we picked up several children, whom we took with us, some of whom later joined our ranks, like Paladin Kodiak from the Pride."

Damian know understood why the Bear Brothers and Kodiak looked alike and he suddenly felt guilty.

Lyons opened the file in front of him. Damian managed to read the first lines: "Mission Report: Pittsburg Raid, Pennsylvania, October 2255".

"This raid was a resounding success for us. We were able to save several civilians, recover some technology, and annihilate a good number of mutants and Raiders, all with only one casualty. The Paladin Ishmael Ashur."

Damian was speechless. He opened his mouth without uttering a word and tried to assimilate what Lyons had just told him.

"Wait ... It's impossible…" said Damian. "The Ashur I met was alive and well!"

Lyons turned over a few pages of the file. He stopped in front of one that looked like an information sheet from one of the members of the Brotherhood. He turned the file over and presented it to Damian.

"Is this the man?" Lyons asked.

Damian looked at the little picture pinned to the card. The man in the picture was Paladin Ashur. Although he was younger and his face was not yet covered in the dirt and lesions of the Lord of Pitt, his features and his gaze were the same as those of the man Damian had met in Pitt.

Damian nodded his head in silence. He heard Lyons sigh sadly.

"The Paladin Ashur was a very good soldier and a scholar. During the raid on Pitt, he was separated from his unit by a collapse in an industrial building and was presumed dead. I'm glad to hear that he survived, but the revelations you bring me are deeply saddening."

"When I first saw him," said Damian. "He was wearing an old T-45 power armor, patched up and decorated with animal or human skulls. I didn't imagine for a moment that it could be one of yours."

"Tell me about him," said Lyons.

Damian explained to the old Elder everything he knew about Ishmael Ashur. His obsession with Pitt, his role as a warlord and slaver, his search for a cure for the disease Trog and his daughter, Marie.

"I see," Lyons said as Damian finished his story. "I understand where this little baby girl comes from."

"As much as I thought these slaves all deserved to be free and that Ashur and his men should die for what they had done, I couldn't bring myself to hurt this baby."

Lyons remained silent. The old Elder made no judgment or comment on Damian's actions at Pitt.

"Thank you for your explanations," he said, putting the file of the attack on Pitt in his office. "I'll be able to tell the scribes that Paladin Ashur is dead. Now that this story is over, I'd like to return to the subject that concerns us all. Initiate?"

The office door opened, and a young woman entered and stood at attention.

"Please tell Scribe Rothchild that I need to see him in my office."

The young woman nodded and left the office, closing the door behind her. An awkward silence settled in the room, quickly broken by someone knocking on the door.

"Come in," Lyons said.

The young initiate entered, followed by Rothchild.

"Thank you, initiate."

The young woman stood at attention and left the office and Rothchild took seat in front of Lyons.

"Before we begin, I wish to inform you that Mr. Franklin… Absence was the result of a contest of circumstance which brought him to the city of Pittsburgh."

Rothchild turned to Damian and stared at him.

"Mr. Franklin informed me that our Brother, the Paladin Ashur, had survived our raid on the city twenty years ago and had taken command of an army of Raiders and slavers.

"Ashur? Then he was alive?" Rothchild asked. "How?"

"I don't know," Damian answered. "But I can assure you it was him."

"We'll discuss this another time," Lyons cut in. "Reginald, what's the status of the data decryption?"

The scribe gave Damian one last interrogative look before clearing his throat.

"My scribes are still working on the decryption," Rothchild replied. "As for the weapon, I think we'll have developed a prototype capable of being tested in the field at the same time we decipher the data."

"Do as best you can," said Lyons. "And about this orbital weapon?"

"There's always the risk that the Enclave will launch an orbital strike against us," Tristan said. "Their main target being the Citadel, but… I think it's pretty unlikely."

"Why that?" asked Rothchild.

"I agree with Paladin Tristan," Damian said. "That's pretty unlikely that they'll use it against the Citadel, at least for now."

"If you would like to enlighten us on your opinion," Lyons said calmly.

Tristan and Damian looked at each other. They had talked about it a little while on the way back, mainly so that Damian could get the images of Marie bathing in blood, out of his mind. Tristan nodded to Damian to invite him to talk.

"The Enclave has the ability to launch an orbital strike anywhere in the Capital Wastelands. It did so against Prime, probably with the intent of destroying us, the relay station and burying any intelligence we may find inside. Prime was the only thing that gave us the upper hand in the Battle of Project Purity. He caused the Enclave to suffer heavy casualties within two weeks of the capture of Jefferson Memorial. If they still have the ability to hit us from space, I think they'll keep that ace in their sleeve for the moment."

"What makes you say that?" Lyons asked.

"The Enclave prides itself on being the last remnants of the United States Government and the US Army. Before the Great War, the Pentagon was the American military site par excellence, and I'm ready to bet anything that they will want to safeguard this relic of the old world and all the information it contains. Besides, the Brotherhood forces are scattered all around the Capital Wasteland and every day, new recruits join your ranks. If I had such a weapon at my disposal, I'd wait for all my enemy's troop to be gathered at the same place and wipe them out in one single blow."

Damian instantly thought about the fact that, in a way, he did have such power in his hand, in the form of a giant Death Ray on the spaceship. Using it to find the Enclave base, would, like their satellite, be a wild-goose chase and using the Death Ray, would attract an unwanted attention on him by the Brotherhood.

"Our friend here is right, Elder Lyons," Tristan said. "And even if they destroy the Citadel, our troops would still hold a great majority of the D.C. area and would still be a threat to them."

"It's a theory that makes sense," said Lyons, scratching his chin. "It would have been wiser for them to annihilate us right after they destroyed Prime, or during the assault on the Memorial using that orbital weapon against the Citadel, which is what I would have done if I were them."

"They may only have one of those satellites left in orbit," said Rothchild. "If that's the case, then they'll want to use it at the last moment, or as a last resort. And even if the Citadel were to be hit, I doubt that this orbital weapon would succeed in destroying the place and killing all its occupants. After all, it is a weapon far less powerful than an atomic bomb."

"I wouldn't bet too much on that, Rothchild," said the Paladin with concern. "This satellite doesn't have the destructive power of an atomic weapon, but it's best to avoid being underneath it when it fires, trust me."

There was silence in the office as Damian and the Brotherhood members pondered and analyzed what had just been said.

Damian noticed that Rothchild was glaring at the ceiling, as if he hoped to see through it and detect the Enclave weapon above their heads.

"Gentlemen," Lyons said as he rose from his chair. "I thank you. Reginald, inform me as soon as the data is deciphered, and the weapon is completed. Paladin Tristan, I want your men standing by as soon as the scribes are finished."

Rothchild, Damian and Tristan left Lyons' office. The scribe returned directly to the laboratory.

"What do you plan to do when Rothchild has located the base of the Enclave?" Damian asked.

"Elder Lyons already has a plan of attack, but I still don't know what it is or what role you and I are going to play in it. All I hope is that your hypothesis about the Enclave satellite is true. I don't feel like taking an orbital strike on the head again."

Damian and the Paladin walked down the corridor, greeting any soldiers or scribes they came across.

"What… What will happen to Marie?" Damian asked.

"Well, right now, she is with Scribe Hood. The Citadel is not a place for a baby. Ashur was a good friend of mine, you know. I'm saddened to hear that he became a warlord and slaver, but, if this baby girl is his daughter, then we will treat her as Brotherhood. Besides, it's not the first baby we see in the Citadel," he added with a slight smile to Damian.

"What will you tell her about her parents?"

"The truth. That they were slavers and Raiders, and that they loved her. You don't get to choose your family, but you get to choose who you'll become in life. We will raise her as one of ours, and, when she'll be old enough, we will let her choose her way in life. I guess that's the right thing to do."

They walked a little longer, until they reached the mess hall, a large room with wooden tables. Brotherhood soldiers, initiates and scribes were gathered in the mess hall, waiting in line with a plate to be served food by a small team of cooks.

Damian and Tristan waited in line. Damian noticed Fawkes, sitting at a table and surrounded by Brotherhood soldiers. All were looking at him in disbelief, as he used knife and fork properly, like any normal human being and Damian tried not to laugh at the soldiers' amazed faces.

"Hope seeing me, and the strike team back there did not make you feel like you were being stalked or that we came to arrest you."

"It did, kind of," Damian admitted.

"Well, sorry about that, but learning that one of our best assets, has gone missing alerted us. When Fawkes told us, you went to Pitt, I assembled a team to go and get you out of there. Unfortunately, our nearest outposts around the train tunnel were engaged by hostiles troops, so impossible to send anyone before the end of the skirmishes. We had just arrived at the tunnel when you came out."

"Sorry I made you worried," Damian said.

"Can't really blame you on going in for helping these people," answered Tristan. "But next time you decide to go on an adventure, don't go at the end of that damn desert. And warn us before coming back with a baby."

Tristan went to sit with other high-ranking officers while Damian sat next to Fawkes who had finished eating and was now reading a book.

"'Grognak the Barbarian in the Lair of the Virgin Eater'," read Damian on the cover. "I didn't know you were a comic-book fan."

Fawkes turned to Damian and looked at the book in his hands.

"I don't know if the me from before the transformation liked these kinds of stories," said the Super Mutant. "But I'm glad I was able to find this copy."

"Where did you get it?"

"During your coma, your friends from the Brotherhood began searching the ruins and Paladin Tristan asked me to accompany them on a mission. We searched a building that was full of such books, but I'm afraid I could only collect the only copy that was still readable."

"Too bad," said Damian, who would have loved to visit a comic book shop in the ruins of D.C.

Damian started to eat. He had no idea what was in his plate, but after eating the dog back at the Pitt and having to cook a Radroach in the train tunnel, this meal was the best he had ever ate.

"Tell me, Fawkes, how do you find the stories of Grognak?"

Damian and Fawkes had been talking for maybe an hour when a Brotherhood scribe entered the mess hall.

"Paladin Tristan! Knight Franklin! We've deciphered the data from the relay station."

Damian jumped from his seat and followed the scribe into the lab, followed by all the Brotherhood members in the mess hall. Lyons, Rothchild, members of the Pride and other Brotherhood officers were gathered in front of one of the lab computers. Damian noticed the young scribe Hood bent over one of the screens. She had probably given Marie to someone else.

"That's it!" she cried.

She typed a command on the computer and two lines of text and numbers appeared on the screen.

"All unit Enclave units, order given to regroup on Secondary Site AAFB

MG 529854"

All eyes turned to Hood who frowned and banged on the computer, in case the machine had broken.

"That's all?" said one of the soldiers of the Pride. "Two poor lines of text with numbers?"

"This thing brings up even more questions," sighed a man next to Damian.

Hood repeated in a low voice the two lines that appeared on the screen, as if pronouncing them would give them meaning.

"Wait," cried Tristan. "Could these be map coordinates?"

"It's possible," replied the young scribe.

"Can you put a map on the screen?"

Hood jumped to another computer and displayed a military map on the big monitor. She entered the coordinates and the map showed the D.C. area just before zooming in on a specific point, Southeast of the ruined capital.

The screen zoomed again and displayed a large area of land, where several buildings were indicated by squares or rectangles. In the center, what looked like a wide road crossed the terrain for several hundred meters.

"What's that?" Damian asked.

"It looks like... An airport," Tristan commented.

"Scribe Hood," said Lyons. "Check to see if the term "AAFB" appears in the Citadel's databases."

The young scribe nodded and started typing on the computer. After a few minutes, she found a file and opened it.

"Sir, this is an old Air Force facility, Adams Air Force Base."

"Pretty logical, said Colvin, the Lyons' Pride sniper. "If the Enclave employs that many Vertibird, it needs an open ground big enough to land, refuel and maintain them, and an old Air Force Base is the perfect place to do that."

All turned to Lyons, who had his eyes riveted on the map.

"Rothchild, get me everything you've got on this air base from the Citadel archives. Tristan, I want you to form a reconnaissance team. We need to know if this base is the last stronghold of the Enclave and what to expect. Notify me as soon as they are ready to leave."

Everyone began to get to work. Damian watched them quietly.

"How long does it take to go to that base from here?" asked Damian.

"I don't know," admitted Hood. "I'd say, a few days, hard to tell."

She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair and Damian could hear her mumble while she stared at the screen. Seeing this, Damian thought back at when she was talking to herself in the Wastes when she had realized that they could access Vault 87 through the Lamplight caves. He too had the tendency of doing it in some occasion, but the only person apart Hood he knew to do it like this, was Amata.

"What?" the young woman asked after she noticed Damian's smile.

"No, nothing. It's just that seeing you mumble to yourself like this, made me think to a friend of mine. She too has the habit of doing so every time she faces a problem."

"Well, you should tell her to watch out. I know from experience people hate it when I do it."

Damian chuckled. He clearly remembered how some of the other kids in the Vault where annoyed to hear Amata mumble and think out loud at every test in the Vault classroom and he also could imagine the young scribe do it.

"You know," said Hood after a silence. "I never really had to opportunity to thank you for helping me in the caves."

"How is your leg doing?"

"Not bad, not terrible," she answered in a bitter smile. "Good thing is I'm exempted of any field mission for at least a couple days more. You probably saved my life back there."

"You would have done the same."

"No, I wouldn't," sighed the young scribe.

Damian looked at her, raising his eyebrows.

"I… I didn't mean it that way!" replied the young woman, visibly embarrassed. "What I wanted to say was that I would have certainly panic and do anything but help you, if it had happened. You and the others, you make it look so easy."

"It's not easy," Damian sighed. "First time I saw someone who needed medical assistance, I just froze."

As he spoke, Damian was remembering the time when one of his vault-coworker had severed one of his fingers during a maintenance procedure.

"Yeah, well, I still don't know why Scribe Rothchild asked me to be part of the mission. All I did was to look scare."

"Don't be too hard on yourself. Without your help, we would have probably never figured the possibility to enter Vault 87 by the caves. You did a good job in Paradise Falls. While I wanted to blast all the slavers, you played your part perfectly."

"Still, I can't get out of my head that if only I could have unlocked that terminal, then…"

She stopped and stared at the blank. Damian had no trouble guessing she was thinking about Berry.

"Where is Marie?" Damian asked to change the subject and hopefully cheer up the young woman. "Tristan told me you where taking care of her."

"The baby? Oh, right now she is with another scribe. There is no dedicated personnel for children in the Citadel, so I guess we are going to take turn taking care of her."

Hood paused and smiled.

"She's so cute," she said. "She spent an hour playing with my holotags before I had to leave her and come here."

Damian briefly looked at her and saw that she was touching her chest where her holotags where. He remembered that he had the Brotherhood soldier's ID-holotags in his pocket. He grabbed the small necklace and looked at it. The holotags belonged to a man named Wu.

"I found some Brotherhood holotag in Old Olney, what should I do with them?" he asked.

Hood looked at them and then looked in the laboratory.

"You should give them to Scribe Jameson. I think you can find her in the Citadel's A-ring. Just look for the room with the most computers in it."

She looked at the computer screen, still displaying the map and the Enclave possible base.

"That place looks huge," commented Damian.

"Just imagine how many of them there can be…" whispered Hood. "And how many of us we will lose when we attack."

She tightened her grip on her robe were her holotags were.

"Scribe Hood?" Damian said.

"Uh? Yes, what?"

"Scribe Rothchild, is asking for you," Damian said, pointing at the direction of the Head Scribe of the Brotherhood.

"Oh, uh, sorry…"

She cleared her throat and gave Damian one last look before heading to Rothchild. Damian could not help but feel sympathy for the young woman. He left the lab and headed for the A-ring of the Citadel.

There, in a large room full of computer, he found several scribes. He approached, one, a woman with blond hair, and asked her where he could find Scribe Jameson.

"Well, you are talking to her," said the woman. "What can I do for you,"

Damian handed her the holotag. Jameson's face displayed an expression of sadness as she gently took the holotag. She then headed to a computer and inserted the holotag in a slid.

"'Initiate Wu", she read out loud. "Now I can put the information in the scrolls and announce the bad news to the rest of his unit."

She removed the holotag and gave them to another scribe.

"Thank you," Jameson said. "Finding these holotag is always a painful and unpleasant job, but its necessary."

"Any idea what he was doing in Old Olney?" Damian asked.

The scribe shook her head.

"I heard his unit was to retrieve a pre-war power armor prototype, but that's all I know. Did you notice anything unusual?"

Damian thought for a moment. The dead soldier was wearing a power armor, but it looked like any regular T-45 power armor Damian had seen in the Wastes. For him, power armor all looked the same, and he had very little interest in them. They were supposed to provide good ballistic protection, although Damian had been proved otherwise numerous times, and for him these thick and giant armor, where more a way to look like a giant tin can than anything else.

"No, nothing," Damian answered.

She thanked Damian again and returned to her work.

Damian left the building. Outside. In the courtyard, he stopped and looked at the different Brotherhood soldiers. Paladin Gunny was still yelling at his recruits and a group of scribes were tinkering around the stolen Vertibird.

"If you want to go home, don't worry about me," said Fawkes. I know your human friends from Megaton will be afraid to see me.

"You don't mind, do you?"

The Super Mutant shook his head.

"Not at all," he said, imitating what looked like a smile. "I can understand that it's... Difficult for your kind to see someone like me and contain their fear."

"And what do you intend to do in the meantime?"

"I heard some of your friends in the Brotherhood mention a place, full of books. I would very much like to go there."

Damian and Fawkes arrived in front of Arlington Library. The last time Damian had been there was when he and his father were on their way to Rivet City, after almost being killed by a group of cannibals living in a small-town further West. Damian had the impression that this event was already several years old, when, only a little more than a month had passed.

Following the destruction of Prime, some minor Brotherhood positions in the ruins or Capital Wasteland had seen their numbers of soldiers reduced.

The Arlington Library was no exception. On his last visit, Damian had noticed several soldiers standing guard outside the doors of the building. Today, only a sentry in grey combat armor and fatigue, stamped with the symbol of the Brotherhood, stood guard with a laser rifle.

The proximity of the Citadel meant that few people came to snoop around and the fact that a Brotherhood contingent, no matter how small, was occupying a building or a district of D.C. was supposed to make even the most reckless Raider groups think twice before attacking. Although they had salvaged old power armor to use some parts, they were not foolish enough, or stupid enough, to take on an entire squad of seasoned soldiers with an arsenal capable of disintegrating anyone who offered the slightest resistance. That was the theory and, exceptions were not uncommon, and Damian had repeatedly heard discussions between Brotherhood soldiers, laughing at Raiders too drunk or drugged to understand that attacking a squad in T-45 was not the best idea in the world.

Fawkes was watching the big building, and Damian could see a small glimmer of excitement in the Super Mutant's eyes. He, too, must have had the same look when he entered the History Museum on the Mall and saw the many wings and corridors that the building contained. Unfortunately for him, most of them were blocked by collapses, when they were not infested with feral ghouls or simply destroyed.

"Do you think there are still legible books inside?" Damian asked.

"I hope so," replied the Super Mutant.

Damian wasn't sure what kind of books the Super Mutant was looking for, but he suspected that he wanted to find books on philosophy. When he had found Fawkes outside Raven Rock and walked to steal the Vertibird, Damian had noticed that his new companion was an extremely cultured being, and he often liked to quote from the few books he had read while he was held prisoner in Vault 87.

The sentry cast a curious look at Damian and the Super Mutant and let them in. The entrance hall was a large room, with a double staircase in the back. Just in front of the front door was a large information counter where registration forms, book loans and returns forms, and terminals for the Library staff were still stacked. Several soldiers of the Brotherhood were busy in front of boxes full of books, and Damian noticed several scribes sorting them out. Some of the scribes saw Fawkes and moved back slightly. Their faces showed curiosity when they saw the Super Mutant pick up a book and quickly flip through it before lingering on a page.

One of the scribes approached the Super Mutant and began to strike up a conversation, somewhat timidly. Fawkes began a philosophical subject that would have given Damian a real headache if he had had to discuss it in Mr. Brotch's class. The scribe answered one of Fawkes' questions, and then embarked on an even more philosophical subject.

Damian looked at them for a few moments and could not help smiling at the unlikely scene of a Super Mutant and a Brotherhood of Steel scribe debating philosophy in the ruins of a library while sorting through centuries-old books.

He remembered the great discussions he had with his father in their quarters at Vault 101, or the many conversations with Amata in the cafeteria. These discussions were often interrupted by a security guard who made Damian understand that his presence with the Overseer's daughter was not desired.

For a moment, Damian tried to imagine what the first thing he would say to Amata would be if he returned to the Vault. He imagined himself chatting with her in the cafeteria over a piece of pie and a Nuka Cola, as they had done many times before. Could he just tell her about what he had seen and done in Wasteland? Could he ever return to Vault 101? Damian wondered if he still had a place in the Vault. The outside world had changed him, for good or ill, and he was beginning to doubt that he would ever be able to return to the normal life he had known in the Vault before he was forced to flee, and if Amata would still be friend with the man he had become.

He looked one last time at the Library lobby and slipped out without anyone noticing.


My first draft for Pitt, was to basically kill Marie. Things would have happen basically the same way as in last chapter, but Marie would have died in the process. I change my mind, mainly because I thought it would have been better to make her the "last survivor" of Pitt, instead of just making everyone die.

Hope you enjoyed and until next time.