Chapter 11: Operation Knightfall
The Citadel, Ring B
Years of combat and life in the Wasteland meant that Peter was no stranger to injuries, but he was uncomfortably aware of just how badly he'd gotten mangled in the previous fight. Med-X, hydra, and stimpaks did little to distract from the fact that he was covered in contusions, chunks of missing flesh, burns, and probably a few fractured bones. While Peter was no stranger to such injuries, the sheer quantity of them still caught him off guard. The fact that he could move at all was a miracle, and mercifully, he could still wield his alien blaster in his dominant hand. His gatling laser had sadly been rendered inoperable, not that it mattered, as he would've been able to use it anyway.
Veronica didn't look much better off than he did, and was limping badly, forcing all three of them to slow down. Going forwards unarmored was suicide, and so he and Veronica hasily suited up in damaged suits of T-45d that they scavenged from the dead. Even if it was even harder to move within them while injured, it was better than getting killed by a stray round, of which there were many zipping through the air and punching through the surrounding drywall.
Lucy took the lead as they proceeded through the Citadel, killing anything that stood in their way like the demon that he now knew her to be. He'd known that she was a good fighter before, but he'd never watched anybody go toe-to-toe with an entire platoon of Brotherhood Knights, and not only live, but win. Of course, he and Veronica had helped, but they were still thoroughly outclassed by their cyborg menace of a friend.
The acrid smoke hung in the air, suffocating the Citadel and making breathing a challenge, in addition to all of the burns and sores on his chest. It also made it incredibly difficult to see, which meant that they had no warning when they came face-to-face with a squad of Brotherhood Knights, led by one man in custom T-45d Power Armor with orange detailing. Inscribed on his breastplate was a name, Knight Captain Danse.
For a brief moment, Peter was sure that they'd inadvertently wandered into their death, before the Knights unexpectedly lowered their weapons and stood aside to let them through.
"If you're looking for Elder Maxson, he's in the Laboratory." The man said, gesturing behind him.
Peter immediately felt a great deal of relief, not just because they'd avoided a fight, but because of the direct evidence that Sarah's plan had worked. At the very least, somebody had heeded her message.
"Thanks." Peter replied. "Any bodyguards?"
"A full squad." Danse answered. "My team and I would join you, but we need to stop Maxson's forces from detonating the Citadel's reactors."
Peter nodded, he knew that some of Colonel Autumn's men had been given that task, but he figured they could use the backup. "If you see Enclave soldiers down there, don't shoot them."
Danse hesitated for a moment, before nodding. "Good luck, Wanderer."
He and his squad carried onwards, while Peter, Veronica, and Lucy were left momentarily stunned.
"I guess Sarah's message really worked." Veronica said, sounding positively giddy in spite of her injuries.
"Somehow I doubt Maxson's had a change of heart." Lucy said. "Now come on, we've got to stop this before it gets any worse!"
The din of battle all around them seemed to get even louder as they progressed forward. At one point, Peter heard an absolutely gargantuan explosion from the bailey, larger than a mini-nuke, although he had no idea what it might have been.
As they reached a three-way intersection, they found an even more unexpected sight, Sarah Lyons, accompanied by Paladin Tristain. The rest of the Lyons' Pride was nowhere to be seen, although Peter didn't need to ask to know where they were; they would never abandon their leader if they had any other choice, they idolized Sarah. His heart panged at the loss of so many of his friends, but he buried the feeling, they had no time to grieve.
"Glad to see you still in one piece, mostly." Sarah said, sounding utterly exhausted, but completely undeterred. "Did you seriously go through the Ring B barracks?"
"Didn't have much choice." Peter weakly argued. "Maxson's in the Laboratory."
Sarah reloaded her laser rifle with malicious intent. "Then let's put an end to this."
With the Citadel in a total state of chaos, and now with two more guns by their side, making headway was much easier. At one point, they even came across a group of Tunnel Snakes, moving through the Citadel with combat shotguns and power fists.
At last, they arrived at the door to the Laboratory, which was expectedly locked. One plasma grenade in the locking mechanism changed with a brilliant display of green light followed by a rush of hot wind., The obstacle removed, the five-man team rushed through the door and onto the catwalk that surrounded the Laboratory.
On the lower floor, in plain sight, was a squad of Paladins led by a short man in customized Hellfire Power Armor and wielding a Gatling Laser, Elder Maxson. Both sides leveled their weapons at one another, but neither immediately opened fire. Instead, Maxson seemed to realize who he was looking at, and even though he was wearing a full helmet, Peter could still feel the anger that radiated off of him.
"You!" Maxson spat. "Do you realize what you've done, how many of our Brothers and Sisters you've killed today?!"
Sarah, ever quick on her feet, replied in kind. Unlike Maxson, she was calm, collected, but there was still a cold fury with every word she spoke. "What's happened here today is on your hands, Arthur, not mine. The Brotherhood used to mean something. We were more than murderers… and we will be again, or I'm not a Lyons. "
Maxson didn't budge. "You and your damned father never seemed to grasp the world that we lived in, you could never do what was truly necessary. Even now, centuries after the apocalypse, Humanity rests on a knife edge! We stand to lose everything the old world made, and thanks to you, we very well might!"
Peter stood in silence, stunned by what he was hearing. He already knew that Arthur was truly lost, that he wasn't the little boy that had been so optimistic and excited about the future anymore, but hearing it from his own mouth was something else entirely. It was like listening to an entirely different person.
"You and your father never understood the principles of our Brotherhood, never understood the Codex! You let yourselves be turned into nannies and chaperones for Wastelanders who hate us, who always will!" Maxson shouted. "I can't believe I ever looked up to you, that I ever believed either of you could be the leader the Brotherhood needed. You lack the resolve!"
Surprising everyone in the room, it was Veronica who spoke, no, screamed to intervene. "What a load of bullshit!"
Maxson seemed to have been caught just as off-guard as the rest of them. "How dare-"
"Shut up, just shut up!" Veronica spat. "I've seen more of this crappy wasteland than you will ever know! I've seen Brotherhood chapters from coast to coast, and you are the perfect example of everything that is wrong with us! You make the same argument every tyrant from here to Shady Sands has, that you're only doing what's necessary; well guess what, none of this was necessary!"
Whereas Sarah and Maxson had spoken with fury, Veronica poured every bit of frustration, anger, and sadness she'd ever felt into her voice.
"Elder Lyons showed the wasteland what we were capable of, what we could do for them; not what we would take from them! They loved you, because of men like him; people fear us, because of men like you! We're the boogeymen hiding in the dark, waiting for the chance to steal the technology the desperate need to survive! We're no better than raiders, we just hide it with some Codex and self imposed mission." Veronica shouted. "If you-"
She was cut off, as on the opposite side of the catwalk, another door was blown open, and through it poured Knight Captain Danse, accompanied by a few Enclave Soldiers and Tunnel Snakes. All of them lined up on the catwalk and took aim at Maxson and his men.
"Stand down Maxson!" Danse commanded.
Maxson turned to face him down with outright hatred. "What is this?! Treason, from you, Danse?!"
"Elder Lyons is right." Danse spoke with a cool calmness that, after Veronica's rant, felt very strange. "You've turned the Brotherhood into everything that we once fought. You've turned our Brothers and Sisters against each other, I- we won't stand for it."
There was a moment of extremely tense silence as Maxson stared them all down, and Peter was sure that he was about to open fire with his Gatling Laser. Then, unexpectedly, he lowered it and glared back at Sarah. "Very well, Lyons. If you want to challenge my authority as Elder, we will settle this as it was written in the litany, a trial by combat."
Peter opened his mouth to object, as did Veronica, but Sarah was faster than both of them. "Fine. But first, we call off our men, stop this bloodbath from getting any worse."
"...Agreed." Maxson replied. "There's an intercom down here, it should still have power."
Sarah turned to head for the stairs, but Peter put his hand on her shoulder. "You're not seriously considering this, are you?"
She nodded. "I'm doing it, I have to. If there's a chance that I can stop this battle before anyone else gets killed, I'm taking it."
"You really trust Maxson to not just shoot you in the back?!" Veronica asked, more than a little incredulous.
"He's a bastard, but he's not about to give up his traditions now, he knows he'd lose the loyalty of his men if he did that." Sarah answered.
Peter looked back towards Maxson down below. No matter what he thought of the man, he was a member of the Brotherhood. He had been trained from a young age and he had sparred with the best of them; even Peter on one or two occasions. He was skilled. Sarah was too, but that did little to smooth over his worries.
"Let me fight in your place." Peter turned back towards her. "I'm a member of the Brotherhood, same as you. Let me put an end to this."
"Always the knight in shining armor, huh?" Sarah smiled sadly. "Not this time I'm afraid. You're hurt, I won't risk your life as well. I've already lost too many people I care about. Besides… This is my fight. For victory, or defeat."
Peter gritted his teeth, but eventually had to concede her logic was sound, even if he personally disagreed with her. "Fine, but if this is a trick, I'm killing every last one of these bastards."
"Ditto." Lucy added.
Sarah descended the stairs and joined Maxson by the intercom.
"All forces, cease fire, I say again, cease fire! This is a direct order!" Maxson said. "Sarah Lyons and I have reached an agreement. We will settle this matter in a trial by combat in the bailey."
"This is Sarah Lyons, all forces, cease fire!" Sarah added.
Slowly but steadily, the sounds of combat around the Citadel settled down, before stopping outright. There was still the odd popping of small explosions and the crackle of fires, but the killing had, for the moment, stopped.
I really hope you know what you're doing, Sarah. Peter thought as they all made their way to the Bailey. One way or another, things were about to be settled.
The Citadel, Bailey
The large open courtyard of the Citadel, once filled with training courses and places for the members of the Brotherhood of Steel to relax, had been transformed into a cratered hell. On more than one occasion, Peter had to stand away from certain craters that set off his Geiger Counter. The massive crane that had once loomed over the Citadel was destroyed, its remains scattered across the building.
While Paladins and Enclave Soldiers alike tried to put out the fires around the Citadel, Peter watched as Maxson and Sarah prepared for their duel. Each of them held a Ripper on their hip, the weapons they would use for what would inevitably be a savage battle. All around them stood combatants from both sides, Tunnel Snakes, Maxson's loyalists, Enclave Soldiers, and even a few NCR Rangers, who looked almost comically out of place.
Peter, Lucy, and Veronica took their place behind Sarah, and were joined by Colonel Autumn, who received looks of bewilderment and glares of hatred from more or less everyone in the courtyard as he casually strolled up to them. Still, nobody thought to break the shaky ceasefire by shooting him, so it could've been worse.
"Just to be clear, I find this absolutely ridiculous." Autumn stated as he stood beside them. "At the same time, I won't complain if it means that I get to bring more of my soldiers home."
"You and I both." Peter echoed the sentiment.
Veronica was very displeased as well. "Sarah's going into this tired and with damaged armor, Maxson's still fresh. It's hardly a fair fight."
"It's nothing Sarah can't handle." Peter said, although whether he was trying to reassure Veronica or himself, he wasn't sure.
After minutes of waiting, the time for the fight came, and Sarah and Maxson squared off with one another. The motors of their rippers whirred as the razor-sharp teeth on the chains glistened with the light of the fires around them. There were no words, not from Sarah or Maxson, not from any of the spectators, not a word.
Maxson lunged forward first, hoping to push aside Sarah's guard and strike at the joints and seals in her armor, but she caught the blade with her own and drove a harsh metal gauntlet into the side of Maxson's helmet. He recoiled, but was on the attack again in moments.
They drove their blades against one another again and again, blocking and dodging each other's strikes like some kind of dangerous, deadly dance. Their audience watched in equal parts horror and fascination as Maxson scored the first true hit, scoring a nasty gash on Sarah's left inner-elbow, which was unprotected by the plates. For a moment she stumbled, but recovered before Maxson could deliver a more meaningful strike.
She might actually lose this. Peter realized, as he silently and slowly came to rest his hand on the Alien Blaster on his hip.
Only Veronica noticed and gave him a nod, as the two of them came to a silent understanding. Honor and the Brotherhood Codex be damned, if Sarah was on the verge of losing, they'd intervene to save her.
Sarah did have one major advantage over Maxson, experience. Sarah had just as much time in battle as Maxson had in training, and a lot of that training had been given to him by Sarah. In many ways, she was able to predict his motions, as she did when he tried to decapitate her, only for her to calmly lean backwards and slash a number of his fingers off.
Maxson howled and swore as Sarah pushed the advantage, but he was able to get the ripper into his other hand, ensuring the fight would continue. From there, they both managed to score a couple more minor hits on one another, until they were both exhausted and bleeding profusely.
"Just give up goddamnit!" Sarah shouted. "Do you really want to die here?!"
Maxson tore off his helmet, which Sarah had already badly damaged, and spat blood on the ground. "I'd rather die than let you lead us to ruin!"
They both lunged again, Maxson aiming for a decapitation, while Sarah went for the legs. In a stunning display of dexterity, especially considering how wounded she was, Sarah deflected Maxson's ripper away from her with her shoulderplate, and drove her ripper into the weak point where Maxson's left leg connected to his hip. Armor and flesh alike were rended, and with a roar of agony, Maxson fell to the ground, defeated.
The crowd looked on as Sarah took a moment to catch her breath and Maxson reeled in pain, before Sarah walked over and kicked his ripper away. "It's over."
Maxson faced her and spat at her feet. "Kill me now, I will not kneel before you!"
For the briefest of moments, Sarah paused, and looked at the whirring ripper in her hands. Then, she spared a glance at Peter, almost as if asking what to do. He offered her a silent nod, which she returned, before gripping her weapon tightly and plunging it downward.
The battle was over.