Brian's POV

I have my Rifle in my hand as I walk up to the large building at the edge of town. In front of me is Hannah, and the two guys who are leading us. We stop just before the door and Hannah turns to me. "Are you sure you're good to do this?"

I nod, "I'm not leaving you to fight alone anymore."

She looks like she's about to say something when she stops and we continue into the building

We fight hard to get through to the master terminal. Hannah sits down and starts typing, "Cover me! this is gonna take a few minutes."

We form a barricade around her and we do our best to cover all sides. I hear a siren and I look over my shoulder at Hannah, "What the hell did you do?"

She shakes her head. "It's not me, there must be some sort of automatic system. it controls the...oh shit."

I yell back. "What?!"

She keeps typing, "It's too far along for me to stop it. it controls the robot assembly chambers. Get ready for a lot of company."

As if on cue, the two assembly chambers in front of us open. We immediately take out the Mister Handys inside. One of the other guys speaks up. "Is it too much to hope that those are the only two in this part of the building?"

I speak. "I sincerely doubt it. eyes open."

We take out the first few easily, but as more time passed, more and more protectrons and mister handy bared down on us. I call out, "I'm low! Hannah, how much longer?!"

She calls back, "A few more minutes!"

I check my pockets and realize I'm on my last three bullets. the guy on my right calls out that he's out and he takes a laser blast to the stomach and he falls to the floor. I shoot the robot that shot him. 3...

I see one aiming for Hannah and I take the shot on that one and it falls over deactivated. 2...

The guy to my left reaches for an ammo clip when he is shot by multiple robots by the time they stop his corpse falls to the ground in ashes. I kill the next one in my vision. 1... "I'm out! Get them deactivated now!"

She calls out, "Almost there!"

I take the pistol out of her holster and I take her bullet belt. I do my best to place my shots at critical points, killing one after the other before, all of a sudden, it goes dead silent.

I slide down against the wall, Hannah's gun still in my hand. I breathe out heavy breaths. "Fuck..."

The robots all go back to their housing units. I stand up. "Come on...Let's go. I'll talk to John about what happened."

We trudge back to town. I turn to Hannah, "Get into the church and pack up our stuff. I have a feeling that we'll be needing to leave in a hurry." She nods and I head into the decrepit diner to find John. I see him as busy as ever.

He turns to me. "Hello, my friend. Nice to see you up and about. Though I figured you'd be headed off by now."

I shake my head. "I wanted to talk to you, in private, if we can."

He nods and we head to an old office space where we both sit down. He starts, "What's this about?"

I look at him. "Last night, a couple of young men came up to us. they asked if Hannah really could decrypt hardcore software. They offered to come with us as our backup to try and shut down the bots."

He looks down. "Damn those boys. I should give them a thrashing even if y'all got the dammed things shut down."

I nod, "That's part of what I wanted to talk to you about. Hannah managed to shut down the program. But at great cost. both of your men are gone. they fought to the last bullet. I'm sorry."

He stays silent for what feels like an hour before finally speaking. "The rest of my town...they are safe now?" I nod without saying anything. He looks up at me. "Then we will honor their sacrifices. And we will give thanks to those who saved us. Go and get some medical attention. I saw you limping in here." I nod and he walks with me to the church. He goes up to Hannah. She looks as if she's bracing for a tornado to come through here. He sits down next to her. "What you did, you didn't have to do it. You could have left, said no to those boys, and gone off. But instead, you decided to save my town.

She looks at him confused, "So you're not..."

He cuts her off. "I am sad. Sad for those who loved those kids, for those that will miss them. But you could have died just as easily as they did. by going in there, you took on the same risks. I know you didn't mean for anyone to die and I don't resent you for it. you'll stay here and recover from any injuries either of you sustained. Then we will have a feast both in your honor and in the honor of those who did not make it."

She nods, "You don't have to honor me. I wouldn't have made it at all without everyone who stood beside me and in front of me."

He looks her in the eyes. "You still deserve thanks. and you'll get it whether you think you deserve it or not." He chuckles. She nods and musters a smile. "Go on, I'm sure you need some medical attention too. I'll come and see you later."

He walks past me and we both nod at each other. It is now that I notice my leg is hurting like a bitch. I sit on a bed and clench my knee. Hannah walks up to me. "What's wrong?"

I look at her, "feels like my lower leg is on fire.". She nods and gestures for me to get on the bed and lay down. every time she tries to roll up my pants leg my leg flinches as if it has a mind of its own.

She frowns and takes out her pocket knife, "Sorry about this." She cuts my pants leg off just below the knee and carefully slips it off. "Shit... Well, the good news is that I've seen a few wounds like this."

I look up at her, "And the bad news?"

She looks sympathetically at me. "It won't heal fast. I have some of this salve that the brotherhood uses to treat burns like this. I need to apply it twice every day for the next three weeks. even then, you'll be recovering overall for more than a month."

I nod. "It's ok." She starts to speak but I cut her off. "It is ok. You have a mystery that needs to be solved before your transfer. I'll stay here, heal up.

She looks at me in the eyes. "We won't ever see each other again."

I chuckle, "Never say never, but yeah, that's most likely the case."

She smiles through tears that are starting to form. "But what will you do without me to give you direction?"

I wipe a tear from her cheek. "You know me, same old life. I'll probably just go back to wandering about."

She leans into my touch. "Alone?"

I nod, "For a bit. But if there is one thing you've taught me, it's that the road is less harsh with good company."

She looks away for a minute or so, in thought. "Which is why I'm not leaving you."

I look up at her, eyes wide. "No. come on, you have to solve this thing."

She shakes her head, "The raiders arent going anywhere."

I nod, "But the Brotherhood is. I'm not going to let you ruin your chance at a stable future for me."

She shakes her head. "And I am not going to let you wander alone ever again."

I sigh, "You are the single most stubborn person I've ever met." I am silent for several seconds. "Fine, it's your life, and I would hate to lose your company." She nods and takes out the salve. I look at it and sigh. "Don't bother counting this time. Just hit me with it."