Chapter 46 - Bunkerhood of Solitude & Swordsmen


"Welcome to the 188 Slop & Shop." Samuel Kerr, the trader running the 188 trading post, greeted the two new arrivals as they walked in. "Like our slogan says, "It's better than nothing"."

"This is new." Pyrrha noted, walking up to the man. "I don't remember this the last time I was in the Mojave..."

"Me and my daughter Michelle, we came here from Primm about a month past." Samuel answered easily, clapping his daughter on the back to introduce her to the pair. "Doesn't look like much, but it's one hell of a location."

"What happened at Primm?" Jaune asked.

"It went to hell, on account of the prison break north of there." Michelle Kerr answered bluntly. "Damn Powder Gangers..."

"Best decision we ever made." Samuel added cheerfully. "That new sheriff cleaned the town up a week ago, but business here is better anyway, with the 95 being the route the NCR uses to get to the Strip, ever since the 15 shut down."

Pyrrha nodded, seeing the wisdom behind the idea. Suckers heading to the Strip to win a fortune... and suckers returning from the strip with only the shirts on their back, willing to trade them away to avoid starving to death before they got back home.

"So, Arc, want anything?" Pyrrha asked, deciding to handle the bartering. The traders seemed smart and crafty, which meant that they'd definitely identify Jaune as an easy mark, and were probably already making plans to fleece him.

"No thanks, I'm good." Jaune shook his head, looking around the trading post with curiosity in his eyes. "I'll just take a look around the trading post, if you don't mind."

"Take care, Arc." Pyrrha nodded to him as he walked away, before turning back to the traders to find them sharing an amused look. She growled: "What?"

Jaune took a look around, before deciding to settle in a corner under the overpass, away from prying eyes (and the sun).

As he sat down and made himself comfortable, he pulled out his sack, and fished out the alien atomizer pistol he'd brought with him, wondering if he should tinker with it, try disassembling it and going through it's parts like the Courier had taught him.

On the one hand, as a piece of alien technology, he had no idea if her lessons on pistols would apply

On the other hand, if he accidentally broke it, well, he had spares on the ship anyway, and it wasn't like he needed it either.

Then again, it was an alien energy weapon. He remembered what happened when he'd accidentally destroyed that plasma rifle; it might have similarly... explosive effects, if he broke his alien pistol.

As he stared down at the sleek silvery weapon in his lap, wondering if he should risk it, his instincts and Aura suddenly screamed at him, and he quickly hid it as a shadow suddenly loomed down over him. Looking up, he saw a hooded brunette looking down at him, staring at his sword with undisguised interest in her dark brown eyes.

"Uh... can I help you?" Jaune shifted uncomfortably, forcibly relaxing his grip on his sword.

"Where'd you get that?" The woman enthusiastically replied. "And where'd you come from?"

"I'm..." Jaune paused. How in Oum's name was he supposed to answer that? A blacksmith made it from the bones of a dragon, and he came from a different dimension? "... not entirely sure, to be honest."

The woman raised an eyebrow at him, and he just shrugged.

She just sighed, and held out a hand, introducing herself: "Well, welcome to the 188, then. I'm Veronica. I live in a hole in the ground."

"Nice to meet you, Veronica." Jaune took the offered hand and shook it. "And... a hole in the ground?"

Veronica grinned, not missing the opportunity. "Well, a bunker, if you want to get technical. I think it sounds more interesting my way."

"It certainly does." Jaune agreed.

Veronica's grin only widened, before it fell, as she added: "But I'm not there much anymore. I'm usually out here picking up food and supplies for my family. Whatever they need."

"So your family just lets you go out while they stay in the bunker?" Jaune asked incredulously, remembering his travels through the Mojave. It seemed incredibly dangerous and irresponsible... and god, he sounded just like his parents then, didn't he?

"I can take care of myself." Veronica reassured him, showing him her power fist, and especially the pneumatic piston and ram. "And someone has to get the groceries, know what I mean?"

"I... guess I do..." Jaune relented, wondering why the power fist looked oddly familiar to him.

"And actually... these days I think they'd rather have me out here anyway." Veronica admitted, the grin on her face suddenly feeling forced, before she shook her head, and continued: "But that's a whole other story. So, listen, can I ask you something on the level?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"I had a run-in with this group calling themselves the Brotherhood of Steel." Veronica explained, trying to play it as cool as possible. "Pretty strange bunch. Do you know anything about them?"

Jaune blinked. "Did... did you say the Brotherhood of Steel?"

"I did, yes." Veronica replied, taken aback at the sudden change in his demeanor.

The kid had first gotten her attention when he'd dropped by with the Pyrrha Nikos, a person of interest to the Brotherhood for her former affiliation with the Divide, and she'd decided to approach him when she'd seen him slipping away. Her interest in him had only grown when she'd seen him with a sword and scabbard, completely different from anything she'd ever seen in the Wasteland, and she'd been planning on subtly asking more about it, perhaps trading for it to bring back to her "family".

Then she'd started talking to the boy, and he'd entertained her enough that she'd begun considering asking to go along with him (even if it meant travelling with the Pyrrha Nikos), if only to give her the chance to see the Wasteland with her own eyes, to help her finally choose between blind faith, and pragmatic loyalty.

Jaune's eyes widened, as his brain processed what she'd said, but just to be sure, he quickly confirmed: "Like, soldiers in power armor with laser rifles?"

"... yes?" Veronica nodded, still confused, wondering whether the idea she'd been hatching needed to be tossed immediately, since the Wastelander in front of her didn't seem all there in the head.

"Do..." Jaune couldn't help but hope, even though it couldn't possibly be true. "... do you happen to know if there's a "Capital Wasteland"?"

Veronica raised an eyebrow. That wasn't a question she'd been expecting; what did a city on the other side of the continent have to do with any of this? But she saw the look of apprehensive hope on his face, and decided to answer honestly: "Yeah, the Capital Wasteland, the ruins of DC, they're on the other side of the continent. Though, based on what I've been hearing from traders, they're thinking of dropping the "Wasteland" part of it, seeing as how they've been exporting purified water and survival guides like crazy for the past few years."

"Survival guides?"

"... you... haven't heard of the Wasteland Survival Guide?" Veronica asked incredulously, pulling out a copy. Honestly, even though the Brotherhood may have had the best training in the Wastes, the Wasteland Survival Guide had still managed to teach her a thing or two. "How?! It's basically a bestseller!"

Jaune gingerly grabbed the book, and flipped it open, before his eyes suddenly felt watery.

Written and Published by Moira Brown and Ruby Ironwood.

Warm pride filled his chest.

She'd actually gotten her survival guide made, hadn't she?

And it had become a bestseller, too...

His tears began falling as he read the foreword, and the dedication.

Dang it, Ruby, how had he jumped at the chance to help with the book?!

And why was he listed as a "Co-Lead Author and Subject Matter Expert"?

And she'd forgotten the second half of his motto, "unless they attack you or try to rob you first"!

And... and...

The waterworks were uncontrollable by now.

Seeing proof that Ruby was doing well, even if she was giving him too much credit, and that his sacrifice had made an actual difference...

He didn't know if he wanted to hug Ruby Ironwood and thank her for the gesture, or just make her a few dozen cookies.

But... why was the book he'd helped research here? He was in a different reality after he'd died, hadn't he?

... sacrifice?

All the details began slowly clicking into place.

The irradiated Post-War Wasteland.

The ghouls (though these could still think).

The guns.

He was still in the same dimension, wasn't he? Not some off-shoot dimension of the Capital Wasteland, but in a different part of the same world?

But how?!

He'd died again, hadn't he?

He'd seen the cloud, felt the heat as the light had washed over him...

... unless...

He'd started floating suddenly before the bombs had hit, hadn't he...

Could it be?

Had the aliens abducted him before he'd died, like the other abductees on the ship?

Had he somehow survived all this time?

But what was he doing here then?!

"Hey, are you okay?" Veronica asked in a concerned tone, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah..." Jaune sniffed, rubbing his eyes, as he returned the book. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just... just glad to see Ruby's done okay for herself."

"You knew her?" Veronica inquired skeptically.

Jaune considered telling her that Ruby had dedicated the book to him, but quickly decided against it, since that would raise too many questions that he didn't have the answers to (such as the fact he was supposed to be dead).

Instead he just smiled softly, and replied: "We've met. I... we were working with the Brotherhood of Steel, in the Capital Wasteland."

This time, Veronica's eyes widened. "Wait, you're from the Brotherhood of Steel too?!"

"I was." Jaune nodded, noting the "too". "I worked with the Lyons' Pride to win the war against the Enclave."

"The Lyons' Pride?" Veronica echoed, unfamiliar with the term. Then she realized what he'd just said. "Wait, what do you mean, the war against the Enclave?"

"The Enclave attacked the Capital Wasteland." Jaune repeated, like it should have been obvious. "Don't you know about it?"

"I haven't heard anything about the East Coast Chapter for years, since they had a civil war after the Elder went rogue!" Veronica exclaimed. "And I thought the Enclave were destroyed decades ago!"

"Yeah, that's what we thought, too. Also, what do you mean, Elder Lyons went rogue?"

"He prioritized helping the people of the Wasteland over his original mission." Veronica explained, trying to remember the rumors she'd heard. "Last I heard, that caused a schism in his chapter, leading to a civil war."

"Wait, you mean his original mission wasn't to protect the Wasteland and eradicate the Super Mutant menace?"

"God, I wish!" Veronica laughed. "The Brotherhood's mission has always been to control technology to protect humanity..."

"That seems pretty similar to what he was doing." Jaune commented.

"From themselves." Veronica clarified, her tone sounding exasperated. "We only protect people from themselves, and only in the sense that we don't let them have the really good Pre-War toys. And sometimes it's more like we protect ourselves from them and hope to outlive them and become humanity's sole heirs."

Jaune thought over her words, and compared them to Elder Lyons's actions of arming Wastelanders and openly helping activate the purifier with Liberty Prime. "That... seems like the exact opposite of what he was doing..."

"Now do you see why there was a schism?" Veronica asked, rolling her eyes. "We take our traditions very seriously."

"And what do your traditions say about outsiders?" Jaune wasn't liking what he was hearing, and was trying to reconcile it with the image of the Brotherhood he knew.

"A bunch of close-minded bullshit." Veronica spat, before reciting. "We do not help them, we do not let them in. We keep knowledge they must never have. To be a member of the Brotherhood, you have to be born into it."

"That doesn't sound sustainable in the long run." Jaune quipped, frowning. He tried to imagine that coupling that mentality with the enemies he'd faced in the Capital Wasteland, and could easily see why Elder Lyons had quickly discarded it.

"Well, we take our isolationism as seriously as our traditions." Veronica sighed, before griping: "That's why most of us are stuck hiding in a hole in the ground, our name little more than an urban myth to the Outside."

"They'd rather face extinction than change to survive, huh?" Jaune mused, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Pretty much." Veronica just sounded defeated. "I've tried to warn them, but they never listen, and now all I can do is dig for scrap metal and watch as more of my friends die in losing battles..."

"I'm sorry..."

"It's not your fault, and at least your stories about the Capital Wasteland have given me some hope that the Brotherhood of Steel might still live somewhere, that some of the Elders aren't complete idiots, and can actually change." Veronica smiled as she reassured him. Then she frowned, remembering what he'd said earlier, and added: "They are still alive, right? What happened with the Enclave?"

"Well, I... got separated from them during the Battle of Adams AFB." Jaune admitted. "But I'm pretty sure we won that one, and since Ruby managed to write her book, I'm guessing things turned out fine."

"Wait, how'd you get separated from them?" Veronica asked, raising an eyebrow. "What are you even doing here, if you're from the Capital Wasteland?"

"We blew up the Enclave's mobile base crawler at the end of the battle, and I got caught up in the blast." Jaune explained. He figured it was technically true, since he'd been on the crawler when it had been blown up.

"I'm guessing I was presumed dead."

Given as how Ruby had dedicated the book to him, it was a pretty safe guess.

"And I just woke up here two weeks ago."

More specifically, in an alien ship in orbit somewhere above "here".

"That's... a pretty wild story." Veronica looked at him, and found no trace of a lie. Then an idea struck her. He technically wasn't an Outsider, was he? "Hey, listen, you want to follow me back to my hole in the ground-"

"Arc." A cold voice cut in, interrupting her, and she and Jaune quickly turned around to see Courier Six standing there, looking at them with frosty gaze. "Let's go."

"Sure, just give me a second, Six!" Jaune called back, unaffected by her tone or expression. "Sorry, what were you saying Veronica?"

"It's... nothing." Veronica gulped, feeling an intense gaze burning a hole in her. Then she realized what he'd called the Pyrrha Nikos, and leaned in, whispering: "Hey, you know you're travelling with the Pyrrha Nikos, right?"

"I do." Jaune nodded, wondering whether Pyrrha's fame was a sort of multiversal constant.

Veronica blinked at his flippancy, before remembering that he'd said he'd only woken up two weeks ago. He must not know the story behind who he was travelling with!

Veronica briefly considered warning him, but as the Courier's gaze doubled in intensity, and chills began running down her spine, she figured that, since the kid had survived the Enclave, he'd probably be fine.

Instead, she said: "Well, see you around, kid."

"Wait, mind helping do me a favor?" Jaune asked. He knew it was a long shot, but after seeing the foreword Ruby had written... he at least owed it to her, to try reassuring her that he'd survived. He wanted to tell her in person, but since he was on the other side of the continent... "Could you help me send a message back to the Capital Wasteland, and to Ruby Ironwood?"

"Sure, once I'm done with my current assignment." Veronica promised. "What's the message?"

-PRIDE ONE, JEAN SKY DIVING, MOJAVE WASTELAND-

"Several unidentified aircraft were spotted flying over the REPCONN Test Site by a local crackpot. He spoke to a toy bear near one of our microphones. "It's ghouls, I tell you. Religious ghouls in rockets, looking for a land to call their own. Don't you laugh at me! I know a spell that'll make you show your true form! A cave rat taught it to me."

"Alright, I guess we can safely rule Novac as being a front for the local Brotherhood." Paladin Reddin sighed as she pulled away from Vertibird's communications equipment.

"Religious ghouls, eh?" Knight-Captain Dusk just shook her head, crossing out another name from the betting pool. Oh, Gallows was going to be pissed; the stealth expert put 500 caps on Novac, saying that the Brotherhood was probably hiding in plain sight (and ignoring everyone else's comments that a town between the Hoover Dam and the Mojave Outpost was probably too plain sight). "Friends of yours, Initiate Sydney?"

"Screw you, ma'am." Initiate Sydney, newest member of the Lyons' Pride, flipped off the older member, grumbling under her breath all the while. Just because she'd used to live in Underworld... "I knew I should've joined Reilly's Rangers instead..."

"Then you'd be stuck back in Camelot, getting trained by Artemis, Tristan, and Cross, instead of being in Vegas." Reddin pointed out with a shudder.

"Trust us, kid, this beats Cross by a long shot." Dusk agreed.

Sydney rolled her eyes, but she knew they were just hazing the rookie, rather than being actively malicious.

And she also knew they had a point.

Then again, after Sentinel Ironwood, the Lone Wanderer, had helped her get the Declaration of Independence from the National Archives, and single-handedly killed the Mutie army that had been infesting the building... well, when she'd been offered chance to join her hero's old unit, Sydney had seized it without any hesitation.

"You know, I've been wondering..." Sydney spoke up. "Why does the Brotherhood keep proposing to change the name of the Capital Wasteland to Camelot? And why do you guys call the Citadel "Camelot", too?"

Reddin and Dusk exchanged a look.

"Ah, right, this doesn't leave this room." Reddin whispered conspiratorially, tone uncharacteristically serious. "And it especially doesn't reach the Sentinel's ears... or the Elder's."

Sydney nodded and leaned forward despite herself, intrigued by the sudden secrecy.

Dusk rolled her eyes, and broke the mood in an instant: "It's nothing bad, kid. Those two just don't like to be reminded about him, that's all."

"Him?" Sydney echoed. "Who's-"

The door opened, before she could ask her question, and Knight-Captain Colvin came in, before pausing as he stared at all the faces looking at him. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Nah, we were just about to tell the Initiate about the Pendragon." Reddin huffed, irritated at how her story kept getting interrupted. "Also, Novac's out of the running."

Colvin winced. "Oh, Kodiak and Gallows are not going to be happy..."

"Kodiak?" Dusk raised an eyebrow.

"Yup." Colvin nodded at his fellow sharpshooter. "Just got a message from the Pitt. He put a thousand caps on whatever Gallows bet on."

Reddin let out a bark of laughter, delighted at the prospect of even more caps.

"Well, not like the big guy's short on caps." Dusk commented.

The Pride's melee specialist had all but retired from active duty after they'd liberated the Pitt, in favor of helping run the place of his birth as its new administrator. Under his guidance, the steel mills of the Pitt were churning out steel in quantities almost unheard of throughout the Wastes, which had been promptly sold to the Brotherhood to build Liberty Prime a new body, as well as the Prydwen.

"Anyway, what were you guys saying about Arc?" Colvin brought the subject back as he took a seat.

"Arc?" Sydney interjected. "Like, Jaune Arc, Sentinel Ironwood's former partner and the guy she dedicated the Wasteland Survival Guide to?"

"That's him, alright." Colvin nodded.

"He's the Pendragon." Dusk affirmed.

"Though he wasn't really Ironwood's partner..." Reddin chimed in, remembering the pair in action from GNR to Site R.

"Then what was he to the Lone Wanderer?" Sydney asked. "And why don't the Sentinel and the Elder like talking about him?"

The three veterans of the Brotherhood-Enclave war shared a look, before Reddin finally answered: "Jaune Arc was more than Ironwood's partner. He was her teacher, her mentor, and her best friend."

"The Lone Wanderer had a teacher?" Sydney asked in disbelief, remembering seeing the Sentinel in action a few times. She couldn't believe there was anyone else in the Wasteland who could pull off what Ironwood did.

"Oh yeah." Dusk nodded. "And Jaune Arc was a fucking monster in combat."

"Every move and technique used by the Sentinel, she learned by trying to copy the Pendragon." Colvin explained. "Heck, even her sword and her actions, are just her trying to emulate him."

"That guy's the only one with a kill count higher than Liberty fuckin' Prime." Reddin added. "The Enclave even had their own special little name for him by the end of the war; the Yellow Death, they used to call him."

"No way." Sydney firmly stated, having seen videos of the giant death robot. "I call bullshit. Even the Sentinel isn't that good. Where's all the footage, the files, the reports of him in action?"

"There aren't any on the Enclave's side, because he left basically no survivors in his battles against them." Dusk told her bluntly. "And the Elder sealed away all of our footage of him in action under the highest classification."

"Why? Why seal away the records of a war hero?"

"Because the current rumors, wild as they are, still don't come close to what he pulled off." Colvin could still see the walls of ice, and the sword of fire, frost, and electricity, that tore through power armor and flesh with equal ease.

"And, like Reddin said, the Elder doesn't like the reminder." Dusk reminded her.

"Did they not get along or something?" Sydney still felt confused, like there was something she was missing.

The three veterans burst into laughter, at the idea of Sarah Lyons not liking Jaune Arc.

"God, that's a good one." Reddin fought to catch her breath.

"It's the opposite problem, Initiate." Dusk helpfully informed her. "The Elder doesn't like to be reminded that her first love died."

Sydney's jaw dropped, at the idea that Elder Sarah Lyons had once had a first love.

"She'll never admit it, even if you could get her to talk." Dusk cautioned the rookie first. "And if anyone besides us old-timers brings it up to her, they'd be lucky to get latrine duty 'til the next Great War, but its pretty obvious there was something between them. How'd they first meet again, Reddin?"

"We stumbled into him and Ironwood on the way to GNR, when it was being attacked by the Frankensteins."

"I heard about that!" Sydney said excitedly. "That's when the Sentinel killed her first behemoth, right?"

"Yup, she blew the fucker up with a Fat Man, after it knocked me out." Reddin fought down a shudder, remembering the feeling of being tossed aside like a tin can. "But what you probably didn't hear is that Sarah was almost killed by the behemoth, before the Pendragon came in and went toe-to-toe with it with his sword and shield."

"No way..." Sydney breathed, unable to imagine a human going up against a behemoth with a sword and a shield.

"Then there was that time the Enclave captured the Elder at Vault 87, and sent her to Site R."

"What's Site R?"

"... you know the giant sinkhole, West of Fort Constantine?" Reddin asked.

"Yeah...?"

"That used to be the main Enclave headquarters, Initiate." Dusk told her. "Giant fortified Enclave bunker under a mountain."

"Oh, yeah, I remember it used to be a mountain..." Sydney murmured, before her eyes bugged out. "Wait, don't tell me..."

"It gets even better." Reddin's eyes shined with mirth. "Remember how he got in, Dusk?"

"Crazy motherfucker just strolled up to the entrance and knocked on the door." Dusk huffed.

"The Enclave put a platoon at the entrance just to stop him from walking in." Colvin remembered. "It didn't matter at all; he single-handedly fought his way in."

"What was it the Elder said, in her after-action report?" Reddin tried to recall the specific document. "Oh yeah, they were so scared of him they blew up the entirety of Site R, just to try and kill him."

"Jesus Christ..." Sydney couldn't imagine the Enclave being that terrified of a single person. "So, what happened to him? If he was such a monster, how'd he die?"

"Adams AFB." Colvin grimly answered. "A Hellfire Squad appeared when we were getting him and the Sentinel out, after they'd targeted the orbital barrage at the Mobile Base Crawler. He stayed behind to hold them off, while we pulled out. Last we saw, every Enclave in Adams was out for his blood."

"That's not even the craziest thing, rookie." Dusk added. "When we flew back in to find out what happened to him, we found a literal mountain of melted power-armored corpses, all bearing wounds from a sword. He probably survived and held out until the nukes hit."

There was a pregnant pause, as Sydney digested their tall tales. Then she realized something. "Wait, so what does all this have to do with calling the Citadel Camelot?"

"Oh, right..." Reddin snapped her fingers.

"Well, Jaune Arc spouted a lot of lofty ideals, the kind that Ironwood now spouts." Colvin explained. "And he has a sword that can cut through anything, and a scabbard that protects him from all harm (though getting four times the nukes Liberty Prime did was probably a bit much...), so half the Brotherhood's convinced he's actually King Arthur..."

"I'm telling you, it all makes sense when you look at it that way!" Reddin exclaimed, not liking his skeptical tone. "We just need to find out if he found that sword in a stone!"

Sydney gave Dusk a questioning look, and Dusk just nodded in exasperation.

"Yes, rookie, they really do think he is the literal King Arthur." Dusk whispered, as Reddin and Colvin began a familiar argument once more. "We don't talk about it much, because the Elder gets really upset when people remind her of Jaune, but there's even a small cult that thinks the "Once-And-Future King" somehow survived Adams AFB, and was just spirited away to Avalon to rest and heal, just like the original legend goes. They even use the fact that there was no body left behind as proof, though I'm personally sure that's because thirty six nukes don't leave much to find..."

Sydney just shook her head, wondering if the Brotherhood of Steel were all right in the head. "So, what, they want him to rule the Brotherhood? What about the original Brotherhood?"

"What about them?" Dusk scoffed. "Blind traditionalists, clinging desperately to their Codex even as it kills them off. Just look at the Mojave chapter; we're literally searching through every news broadcast we can intercept, trying to find any hints of their existence. They're irrelevant."

"But what if the Western Elders tell us to fall in line with the Outcasts and follow the Codex?"

"You think the Citadel's going to listen, rookie?" Dusk pointed out. "The only people who gave a damn about the Codex were the first generation Brotherhood, and those that did left to become the Outcasts. The second generation's mostly Wastelanders like Reddin who fought the Frankensteins and the Enclave, and you're third generation. Do you even know what the Codex says?"

"Uh... no?" Sydney admitted.

"Exactly." Dusk nodded in approval. "Our chapter's strength was built on the Lyons' Doctrine, the legend of the Lone Wanderer, and the myths of the Pendragon, rather than the Codex. I'm willing to bet, if the Western Elders order the Elder to return to the Codex, she'd take the chapter and split off from them, rather than dishonor Jaune's memory. And the Chapter would happily follow her... as would all the chapters from Texas to Chicago."

"But won't they be angry?"

"They're hiding from the NCR, while we have the Lone Wanderer, T-60fs, the Prydwen, and Liberty Prime." Dusk rolled her eyes. "How do you think they're going to enforce- hold on, another news broadcast's coming up."

"Scavengers report hulking individuals moving about Hidden Valley after dusk, but have unable to confirm their sightings due to low visibility. The preceding segment was sponsored by the Silver Rush. Silver Rush: feel the rush of a warm laser in your hand."

"Hulking individuals in Hidden Valley..." Dusk murmured.

Colvin was already checking the map Sarah had gotten them. "What a coincidence. There's a series of Pre-War government bunkers in Hidden Valley."

"Gear up, rookie." Reddin grinned, slapping her on the back. "Time for a scouting mission!"


Author's Note: One more chapter for the week, as Courier Six closes in on Vegas, Jaune (finally) realizes that he's still in the Fallout-verse, and the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel close in on the Mojave Chapter of the Bunkerhood of Solitude. Also, we get to see just how much the legend of the Lone Wanderer and Jaune have been twisted.

Veronica Santiago is going to have a fun time delivering that message, isn't she? She's already been glared at by the Courier, and now she's going to have to somehow send a message to the East Coast Chapter, who the West Coast Chapters are not in contact with... as far as she knows. To deliver a message to Ruby Ironwood, who's in the Capital Wasteland... as far as she knows.

The Lone Wanderer is a Wasteland-wide legend, though in the Capital Wasteland it's an open secret that she's also Sentinel Ironwood. But the exploits of the Pendragon, the Bane of the Enclave, the Yellow Death... those are essentially a Brotherhood tale, told to Initiates over campfires while they're out on training missions. And through four years of retellings have the tales been twisted and exaggerated to such ludicrous degrees... though none but the Lyons' Pride have seen him live in action. And footage of him in action do exist, namely from captured black boxes that survived Mobile Base Enclave, as well as from the security feeds of the Jefferson Memorial, but those were seized and classified by Sarah, just to try and limit the spread of the Cult of the Once-And-Future-King.

Also, the Lyons' Pride thinks Ruby Ironwood's too innocent and naive for things like love and romance, and believe that her relationship with her mentor was purely platonic, which is why they also think Sarah really should have just woman-ed up and told Jaune how she felt, rather than keeping quiet because she thought she couldn't compare to Ruby (note that this is what the Lyons' Pride believe, and may not necessarily be indicative of the truth. Just like how Jaune technically has a higher kill count than Liberty Prime... if you count Adams AFB and Site R as his kills as well).

How true is it? Well, they're the ones who started naming his sword Excalibur, so their version of events is probably slightly embellished...

And I also don't actually hate the Brotherhood. I mean, looking at the Think-Tank, the Institute, the Great War, the Enclave, the FEV, and the fact that the Courier can nuke the Long 15 and/or Dry Well in the Divide... they might actually have a point about humanity and technology, in the Fallout world. At the same time, though, they've grown arrogant from hundreds of years of being nearly unmatched thanks to their technology and training, which means that they've mostly forgotten about empathy or diplomacy or making allies. And by the time New Vegas happens... the Brotherhood on the West Coast have been all but forced into hiding by the NCR, who simply overwhelmed them with wave upon wave of conscripts (just like what the Legion does to the NCR at Hoover Dam, ironically). The problem is they never adapted, never realized the need for friends, and now they're little more than an urban myth.

Compare that with the regional power that is the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel, couple that with the fact that the traditionalists already split off to form the Outcasts, and you can probably see why the current Citadel of Camelot probably takes a very dim view of the Codex.