Chapter 12

A/N: Huzzah! Tis I, back with another installment in my happy little series. This time, our favorite Doom Slayer finds himself in the dangerous post-apocalyptic world of "Fallout". And our hero is finna drop some bombs! Remember, yours truly owns absolutely nothing.

Proctor Ingram looked down from the vertibird as they began their descent. As far as first impressions went, there didn't seem to be anything extraordinary about their destination. All that stood here was what appeared to be an old shipping outpost. Or at least, that's what it had been before the bombs dropped. Shipping containers lay in a haphazard formation around the small building, which Ingram guessed must have been the administration office once upon a time. All in all, it was nothing she hadn't seen before.

So why had her sensors in this area lit up like a Christmas tree a few minutes ago?

The scanners themselves had been a joint operation between Ingram and Senior Scribe Neriah. Neriah's studies into the Commonwealth's ecosystem had delved further than she had originally planned for, and that meant she needed to collect more data on the environment to further her studies. She had brought her ideas for placing sensors around the landscape to Ingram, and next thing they knew, Elder Maxon had approved their idea. Ingram herself had been toying with the thought of deploying some external sensors around the Prydwen as sort of an early warning system, so the Brotherhood of Steel's interests were definitely being served.

Elder Maxon had only one condition: All sensory equipment could only be installed within visual range of the Prydwen. Any attempts to set them up farther than that would stretch their resources too thin.

At first, Neriah had been annoyed at the range limit, but she soon realized just how wide the Prydwen's view extended, and her mood improved.

After erecting the sensors, there had originally been nothing out of the ordinary on the readouts. The scanners took information on the climate, the rad levels, and the life signs of any nearby flora and fauna, and for the first few months there had been nothing unusual.

That had changed as of half an hour ago. Ingram had been in the power armor bay when Neriah had burst onto the deck, excited and out of breath. The two of them had rushed back to the terminal that had been hooked up remotely to their sensors, and to their astonishment, there had been a massive fluctuation in…well…nearly everything. That is, before they went dead shortly after.

The temperature had suddenly exceeded 100˚ Celsius, which had been enough to boil off any moisture that had been in the air, so the humidity had flatlined.

Similar to the climate readouts, the rad levels were bizarre. Usually the rads sat at a pretty standard low value. The level usually expected of the Commonwealth. But now, the readings had dropped completely to zero. No rads whatsoever. That was completely unheard of, as nothing in the wasteland was completely without rads. Even the vaults had a small amount of residual radiation within them.

None of that had been as puzzling as the bio-readings though. Before the scanners died, they had picked up a single life sign. The readings depicted something extraordinary. It read as human, but it was as though it had been amplified several times over. Pulse readouts, heartbeat, neurological activity…everything was to the extreme. It defied logic.

Less than ten minutes after picking up the readings, Ingram and Neriah were both on a vertibird, en route to the site with a squad of ten Knights in power armor, ready for anything.

Ingram squinted as the vertibird kicked up dust and debris as it touched down on solid ground. Neriah yelled something from next to her, but Ingram couldn't pick it up over the roar of the engines. She motioned to her ear and shook her head, and Neriah nodded once before hopping down onto solid ground. Ingram and the Knights followed suit.

Ingram felt the reverberations through her suit. When on missions, she attached armored sections to her usual power armor frame. It made it heavier than what she was used to, but the extra protection was worth it.

Once the team was clear from the vertibird, the engines whirred back up and it took to the skies. One of the knights had stayed behind to man the door gunner position in case the ground team needed support. Ingram watched as they climbed a bit higher into the sky, then turned her attention to the scanner nearby. Neriah was already examining it.

At first glance, it looked as though something had taken a large bite out of the machinery carving a massive, yet shallow crescent from the side. The rest of the sensory equipment was mostly intact, so only one side of the machinery had been damaged. Initially, Ingram had a haunting vision of a massive beast chomping out the side of their sensors.

Neriah seemed to pick up on her thoughts.

"This wasn't something organic," she said, gesturing to the missing metal.

Upon closer inspection, Ingram saw that she was correct. Teeth would have ripped and torn the casing, yet the gouge looked as though it had been done with a blowtorch. This confused Ingram, as this meant that something intelligent had tampered with their scanners. But even with all that narrowed down, it didn't explain the unorthodox gouge in their equipment. Why not just unscrew the panels for easier access? If they had a blowtorch as their disposal, certainly they had a screwdriver. It also still failed to explain the unusual readings they had recorded. Certainly, something else was lying around that could tell them what was going on here.

A loud explosion came from behind the building, and Ingram was instantly on alert. The Knights heard it too, and the group quickly moved to the source of the noise, Ingram leading the pack. As she rounded the corner, a massive super mutant Behemoth came into view. Not good.

Behemoths were some of the most fearsome beasts the Commonwealth had to offer. They were enormous, standing at least four meters tall, and armed to the teeth with massive boulders to throw at their enemies from a distance. In addition, they also carried a massive club that was the size of at least two humans stacked on top of each other. Not even power armor could stand up to that.

Ingram immediately backed up in the hope that the Behemoth hadn't seen her. The Knights quickly stopped short as well. Ingram motioned for them to be quiet, then peeked around the corner slowly.

The behemoth came into view again, and Ingram frowned as she realized that it was just standing there. It was facing her yet was making no attempt to move. It stood completely still.

Then, to Ingram's surprise, the behemoth fell to its knees, dropping its massive fire-hydrant club to the ground. It then completely fell forward onto its face with a booming thud, falling still once more.

Ingram frowned, then she saw something on its back.

It was a person, or at least Ingram assumed it was a person. The ambiguity came from the fact that the figure was completely covered by a suit of dark green armor. It was far less bulky than the power armor that Ingram was accustomed to, but she still was drawn to the fine craftsmanship and sturdy-looking design of it. The armor itself matched no style or description of any armor Ingram had seen or read about before. It was intricate and extremely well-made, and Ingram briefly considered the possibility of it coming from the Enclave, but she quickly ruled that out too. It didn't match, and there was no way that the Enclave was bold enough to come out here. As she watched, the figure wrenched what appeared to be a chainsaw from the behemoth's corpse, then jumped down onto the ground in front of it. It then checked its surroundings, and its gaze halted right on Ingram. It had seen her in less than a second.

Figuring that stealth was no longer an option, Ingram slowly came around the corner, gesturing for the Knights to follow. Their rifles were raised, which Ingram took comfort in. There was still no telling where this stranger's allegiance lied. Neriah watched from a distance.

Proctor Ingram halted a few meters away from the stranger. The Knights fanned out on either side of her, their laser rifles still trained on the figure in green armor.

"I am Proctor Ingram of the Brotherhood of Steel," Ingram said in an authoritative tone. The figure said nothing.

"Who are you? Identify," Ingram said. The air suddenly became very tense. The figure said nothing still. Its gaze was locked on Ingram through its visor. She couldn't see its face, but she still felt like holes being bored into her skull. The Knights seemed to grow apprehensive.

"Answer her!" another Knight shouted. The figure still remained silent.

"Well then," Ingram said, surprised at how her voice suddenly faltered. "Since we can't confirm your intent, we have no choice but to take you into custody. Knights, hail the vertibird and place…"

A loud shot rang out.

It wasn't until after the fact that Ingram realized that one of the Knights had accidently squeezed the trigger on their rifle and fired a shot at the stranger. But at that moment, all hell broke loose.

The stranger immediately jumped into action. Faster than Ingram thought possible, it ran to the Knight that had fired and threw its armored elbow hard into his midsection, there was a loud crumpling of metal, and the Knight cried out in pain and flew backwards and landed hard in the dirt. Proctor Ingram was stunned. Even in power armor, humans didn't possess that kind of strength. Only one type of being possessed that much power in a relatively small frame.

Coursers.

"Fall back!" She yelled as the Knight struggled to get up. The stranger fell upon him again.

"Get to cover, it's a courser!"

"What!?" another Knight yelled as they regrouped and rounded the shed. "That's impossible!"

Ingram disagreed. Yes, the Institute had been destroyed over a month ago, but reports of synth activity still came from the Commonwealth, despite the destruction of their manufacturing plant. It made sense that a courser still might be out there despite the odds of finding one. Not only that, but this one was armored too. How had she gotten so lucky to run into one of the most dangerous things in the Commonwealth?

As the group ran behind the building for cover, Ingram heard the whirr of the vertibird's engines overhead. The minigun on the side door burst to life, and a hail of bullets rained down on the courser, who quickly jumped away from the Knight lying still on the ground. The Knight's fusion core was in its hand. Ingram had no idea if the Knight was injured or not, but even if he wasn't, he wouldn't have been able to move the power armor without the fusion core.

Ingram was also shocked. Coursers didn't usually bother with disabling power armor since they were more than capable of killing their enemies through it. Something was off about this one.

Her attention quickly turned back to the courser as it pulled out a rocket launcher seemingly from nowhere and mounted it on its shoulder.

"Return fire!" Ingram yelled to the other Knights, who were already firing back at the courser. Unfortunately, the Courser didn't seem to notice, and took aim with the launcher. With a burst of smoke and fire, a rocket burst forth on a path directly toward the vertibird. The warhead exploded against the tail, and the vertibird lurched from the impact. Black smoke billowed from the impact point, and the vertibird made a valiant effort to stabilize itself before quickly losing altitude and crashing hard into the dirt.

…

Elder Maxson saw the vertibird go down from the command deck of the Prydwen. Lancer Captain Kells stood beside him.

"Sir," Kells said. "We have received the distress call from Proctor Ingram. Reports of a new form of courser have been made. I strongly recommend sending reinforcements."

"No," Maxson said. Kells turned to him questioningly.

"I won't risk any more lives on this so-called reinforced courser. Send him in."

"With all due respect, sir," Kells said. "That seems a bit…"

"I'm sure," Maxson said, turning to face Kells. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "A weapon unused is a useless weapon, Captain. And I don't want to put any more lives at stake."

Kells paused for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

"I'll send word immediately."

…

Ingram pulled her head down as dirt and gravel rained down on her. The vertibird had kicked up a massive amount of earth when it had crashed into the ground, momentarily dazing both her and the Brotherhood Knights. As the dust cleared, she slowly peeked over her cover to see the courser running full-tilt toward the downed vertibird, which was currently laying in its side in a crumpled and flaming heap.

Reaching the hull at record-breaking speeds, the courser ripped the side of the vertibird away. The metal screeched and groaned in protest, but the armored synth appeared to have no issue moving the metal aside. Smoke billowed out from the hole the courser made in the vehicle, partially blocking Ingram's view of it. After ripping a gap wide enough to fit through, the courser rushed into the confines of the vertibird's metal hull, and Ingram lost sight of it in the smoke. The actions of the synth confused her. There was nothing of tactical value inside the vertibird, yet the courser had broken off their engagement to pursue something it deemed more important than fighting her and the other Knights.

Ingram decided to take advantage of the courser's momentary deviation to regroup with the other Knights. Quickly taking a head count, Ingram saw that nine of the Knights were still in fighting shape. The one Knight that had the courser had engaged was still laying in the dirt. Ingram squinted and saw his fingers slowly curl, as though he was straining to lift himself off the ground. He was alright, for now.

Ingram turned back to the wreckage of the vertibird to see the courser emerging from the hole it had made not a few moments ago. It was dragging two items behind it, and Ingram recognized them as the pilot and door gunner. They both were unconscious. As with the hull, the Courser appeared to move the two armored humans with little to no difficulty. It dragged them clear of the wreckage and set them down next to the downed Knight before turning again to the building that Ingram, Neriah, and the other Knights were taking cover behind.

Ingram frowned in confusion as the courser began walking over to them. Its gait was non-threatening, but its fists were clenched at its sides, displaying a level of annoyance that Ingram thought was impossible for a synth. Ingram didn't know what to think as the courser drew closer.

"Ma'am? What are your orders?" asked one of the Knights. Ingram could feel their anxiety, as she struggled with her decision. Did she order them to stand down, or continue in their attempt to destroy this synth?

On one hand, the courser had attacked and disabled one of the Knights. It had also shot down a vertibird carrying two Brotherhood personnel. That was definitely classified as hostile activity. On the other hand, it had also saved those two Brotherhood Knights from the burning wreckage of the vertibird. So, in actuality, no one had died yet. That didn't add up.

Ingram's interaction with coursers had been limited, but she had attended a number of briefings on coursers and how to survive contact with one. The first and foremost thing that she had learned was that above all else, coursers were efficient. Efficient at tracking, efficient at hunting, and most unfortunately, efficient at killing. Most reports of engagements with coursers did not last long, considering that either the courser was killed or had killed its opponent in less than five minutes. And yet, this one was vastly different. It had far better armor and far superior weaponry to that of anything they could've seen before, yet this battle had gone on for at least ten minutes and no one was dead. Something wasn't right.

"Orders, ma'am?" the Knight asked again, panic seeping into his tone.

Ingram looked back to the courser to see that it had stopped walking, and now stood exactly halfway between them and the downed vertibird. Its gaze was now focused on something else. Something behind Ingram and the rest of the Knights. She frowned yet again.

Wha-?

A bright light and a massive boom overloaded Ingram's senses. She squeezed her eyes shut against the light and was forced backward a second later by the shockwave. For half a second, her mind struggled to comprehend. Then, it hit her.

The courser had just been nuked. And not by somebody wielding a Fat Man. No, that blast had been much larger than anything a mini nuke could dish out. Ingram could feel the heat on her face to prove it. No, there was only one thing that possessed destructive power of that magnitude…

"COMMUNIST DETECTED ON AMERICAN SOIL. LETHAL FORCE ENGAGED."

Ingram turned to the sound of thundering footfalls behind her. Approaching fast was none other than the Brotherhood of Steel's very own forty-foot-tall, heavily armored trump card.

Liberty Prime had entered the battlefield.

Ingram felt relief wash over her at the sight of the armored juggernaut. With Liberty Prime around, there wasn't much else to be afraid of. That is, if he was on your side.

The giant metal man continued his approach, drawing another nuke from the reserve strapped to his back.

"EMBRACE DEMOCRACY, OR BE ERADICATED."

Ingram's eyes widened and whirled back around. The area that Liberty Prime had initially nuked was reduced to a shallow crater in the dirt. The smoke began to clear, and Ingram's eyes widened as she saw a silhouette begin to emerge from the cloud.

"No way…" One of the Knights said. Ingram agreed. Not even a courser could survive a point-blank impact from a Mark 28 Tactical Nuke.

Ingram involuntarily gulped as she saw the figure step out of the haze. Apart from a bit of dirt and streaks smeared onto its armor. The "courser" appeared to have sustained no damage. And now, it was holding its rocket launcher again.

"Get down!" Ingram screamed to the other Knights as she dove to the ground. Time seemed to slow as Ingram threw her legs out from under her in a frantic race to get to cover. About halfway into her descent, Ingram saw Liberty Prime wind up and throw the warhead at the "courser", who fired its rocket launcher at that exact same moment. A millisecond later, Ingram was thrown the rest of the way to the dirt as the rocket and warhead collided in midair above them. The shockwave from the blast pressed her hard into the dirt, and she squeezed her eyes shut as dirt and metal were kicked up around her.

When she opened them again, she saw Liberty Prime regaining his balance. The front of his chest plate was charred black. The rocket had collided with the warhead shortly after leaving his hand, and therefore, he had taken the brunt of the resulting explosion.

Ingram shifted her attention back to the "courser", and she noticed that its body language had changed. It seemed almost…eager?

…

Elder Maxson watched the fight escalate from the observation deck. The nuke that Prime had thrown had detonated in midair, and the resulting blast had done damage to Prime's armor. As Elder Maxson watched, a series of smaller explosions exploded against Prime's metallic hull. The force was not nearly as powerful as the nuke had been, but the giant metal man was still buffeted by the attacks.

Maxson frowned. He would never show it, but he was worried. Whatever was down there had proven itself to be more than a threat to anything else the Brotherhood had seen before. Certainly, a threat of this caliber couldn't have been due to a single courser, no matter how advanced they were. Brief images of the Enclave appeared in his mind, but Maxson discarded them as an impossibility. The Enclave had been all but eviscerated some years ago. Maxson had seen the destruction himself. No, this was something else. More explosions appeared in the distance, and Maxson quickly reached a decision. Without a second thought, he turned on his heel and strode to the hanger bay.

…

Ingram grit her teeth as another shockwave rattled her bones. Neriah crouched in the dirt behind her, trying her best to hide behind Ingram's Power Armor, but not even Power Armor held up well against the constant barrage from the battle. All things considered, Ingram finally came to the conclusion that this wasn't a courser that they were dealing with. That didn't provide her with any sense of relief, however, as it certainly wasn't human either. The strange…thing had been fighting with Liberty Prime for the past five minutes, and during that time, Prime had used six Mark 28's and fired his optic beam at least ten times. And yet, this metal suit…this force, hadn't sustained even a scratch on its armor. Ingram shook her head in disbelief. This thing was nigh indestructible.

The Brotherhood Knights had managed to move the three downed personnel to a safe position and were currently assessing them for injuries. Upon receiving their report amidst the destruction that rained down around them, Ingram was surprised to learn that none of them had sustained serious injuries, and that they were all currently conscious and cognizant of the situation. At least something was going right.

Despite the stranger taking virtually no damage during the altercation, Liberty Prime had been quite the opposite. Dents and char coated his exoskeleton, and sparks sprouted from numerous spots where his wiring had been exposed.

"WARNING: NUCLEAR WEAPON PAYLOAD DAMAGED. PROBABILITY OF MISSION HINDRANCE: 65 PERCENT."

Ingram's blood ran cold. Glancing to the pack on Prime's back, she saw that the metal had been distorted and warped, clamping the warhead delivery system tight. With the delivery system clamped, there was no way for prime to access his arsenal. Without his nuclear payload, Liberty Prime lost a significant amount of lethality. And as far as she knew, those warheads were the only thing capable of even slowing down this armored adversary, as all Prime's optic beam seemed to do was annoy it.

Her eyes widened as the armored being then pulled out a weapon she had never seen before. At first, it looked as though it was from another planet. The forked design, bright red glow, and whirring parts all reminded her of something out of a science-fiction novel. But as she looked closer, Ingram saw that the weapon was actually akin to some designs she had seen for a rail gun. Although it was impossibly small than was feasible for such a weapon, the parts were all arranged perfectly for magnetic acceleration, and had it not been for the circumstances, Ingram would have been ecstatic to see such a technological marvel.

Unfortunately for her, the wielder of said rail gun choose to fire the weapon at that time, and Ingram flinched as a bright red beam erupted from the forked machine and struck Prime directly on the bulk of his right leg. The blast threw the giant off balance, but the worst damage came as a haunting surprise when Ingram saw the impact point. The magnetically accelerated slug had punched a hole in Prime's leg, which was to be expected. But as Ingram watched Liberty Prime stagger from the impact, the metal around the hole began to wither. It wasn't as though it was melting or rusting. No, it just…decayed. The hole grew wider and wider, and Prime fell onto his right knee as the decaying metal refused to support his massive bulk.

"WARNING: HULL INTEGRITY COMPROMISED. MOBILITY REDUCED BY 75 PERCENT."

Ingram should have felt a sense of dread at the sight Liberty Prime being slowly destroyed by an enemy they knew nothing about, but instead she felt a stab of confusion. The stranger wielding the railgun obviously knew of its destructive capabilities, as it showed no surprised reaction to the decaying metal on Prime's leg. So why hadn't it gone for the head?

The creature could have made that shot with no issue form what Ingram had seen. Every time it aimed, it hit its mark. Hell, it had shot a damn nuke out of the air with a damn rocket launcher. Hitting Prime in the head should've been as easy as hitting the broad side of a barn after a feat like that.

On top of that, the stranger had used non-lethal force on the Brotherhood Knights. Sure, it had shot down a vertibird, but it had then pulled the pilot and the door gunner from the wreckage immediately after. With a start, Ingram realized that this strange being wasn't trying to kill them. In fact, it had only ever acted in self-defense since they had first come into contact with it.

"DEFEAT IS NOT AN OPTION."

Liberty Prime had raised his head to look at the stranger, and Ingram saw his optic beam charging for another attack. The figure raised its railgun again threateningly. It's red glow and slow whirring added to its ominous presence.

"Wait! Liberty Prime, stand down!" Ingram yelled as loud as she could.

The was a brief moment of pause.

"ACKNOWLEDGED."

Ingram breathed a sigh of relief as the giant iron patriot ceased his assault and waited in an immobile state. He was still down on one knee.

The stranger watched Liberty Prime for a moment before turning its attention to Ingram again. It lowered its rail gun.

"Knights stand down as well!" Ingram barked as she stood up from her cover, Neriah rising uncertainly behind her.

"Ingram? What are you doing?" she whispered warily, as the two of them strode towards the stranger.

"It's not trying to kill us, or it would have by now," Ingram said back. "I think we can reason with it."

Neriah seemed hesitant, but she nodded and followed Ingram's lead.

The two of them stopped when they stood about ten feet from the figure. All around them, the shipping outpost had been reduced to nothing more than craters and mangled shipping containers. At one point during the battle, the figure had picked up a container with its massive strength and had hurled it at Liberty Prime. It and numerous others now lay scattered like leaves.

Seeing the figure up close again, Ingram had reason to chuckle. Despite its destructive capabilities, it only stood at a little over six feet tall. Ingram had to look down to make eye contact. Well, visor contact. She didn't even know if this thing had eyes.

Its railgun was still lowered, so Ingram took that as a good sign. So she tried talking to it.

"From what we've seen here, you aren't a courser, and you aren't from the Institute."

The figure tilted its head in a sarcastic manner. The gesture seemed to say: 'No shit.'

"But given what you've demonstrated here, you certainly aren't human," Ingram said, gesturing to the destruction around them.

The figure glanced once at Liberty Prime and the ruined shipping containers, then shrugged.

"I suppose it doesn't matter what you are, in the end. Even though- "

Ingram was cut off by a distant rumbling. Initially, she frowned at the noise. Then one of the Knights clambered up a nearby hill and yelled down.

"Proctor Ingram! Feral ghouls approaching, fast! There…there's hundreds of them!"

Damn it. Ingram cursed herself for not considering the ghouls sooner. It was well-known that feral ghouls were often attracted by loud noises, explosions, and all other kinds of commotion. And the battle between Liberty Prime and the stranger had been the loudest thing to occur in the Commonwealth since blowing up the Institute.

Ingram assessed the situation, which looked about as bleak as it could get. It would be her, Neriah, Liberty Prime, and the Knights against the largest horde of ghouls they had ever seen. The Knights had managed to get their tenth member out of his power armor, but one extra hand didn't help all that much against hundreds of ghouls.

Even if they had the help of this stranger, Ingram doubted that they'd survive the onslaught. There was little higher ground position on, and they couldn't run away or call in a vertibird in time to come get them. On top of that, they hadn't brought enough ammunition to fight these ghouls, and eventually, they'd be overrun. It was the end of the line.

Ingram sighed and turned to the figure. She didn't know how, but she knew that it was coming to the same conclusion.

"With or without your help, we can't fight them all. I know we don't deserve to ask, but if we can eliminate more ghouls now, the less there will be later."

The figure stared at her for a second, then glanced up to Liberty Prime. It seemed to be considering something. After a few more moments, the figure put the rail gun away and walked over to Liberty Prime. Without hesitation, it began climbing up Prime's massive leg.

"UNIDENTIFIED PERSONNEL DETECTED. RECOMMEND USE OF LETHAL FORCE."

"Negative, Liberty Prime," Ingram said. "Personnel identified as friendly."

"ACKNOWLEDGED. PERSONNEL NOW CLASSIFIED: ALLY TO FREEDOM."

The figure had worked its way onto Liberty Prime's back and was now examining the damaged nuclear payload system.

"What's it doing?" Neriah asked, frowning. Ingram watched it closely.

"I think—I think it's trying to fix him," Ingram said.

Her theory was soon proven true as the figure pulled and molded the metal back into its original position. With the same strength it had used to tear open the vertibird, it moved the metal back into shape with a loud grinding.

When it had finished, it jumped back down to the ground before turning and nodding to Ingram.

"Liberty Prime," she called out. "Run systems test."

"SYSTEM DIAGNOSTICS: INITIALIZED."

Liberty Prime then attempted to stand, balancing his weight on his minimally damaged foot while keeping less pressure on the decayed one. Looking closer, Ingram saw that the rail gun round had eaten through about a quarter of the bulk of his leg, making it weaker to be sure, but not unusable.

"RIGHT LEG INTEGRITY COMPROMISED. WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION: 75 PERCENT RIGHT; 25 PERCENT LEFT."

Liberty Prime then reached behind his back. When he brought his hand forward, there was a Mark 28 Tactical Nuclear Warhead in his hand.

"NUCLEAR PAYLOAD SYSTEM REPAIRED. PROBABILITY OF RED CHINEASE VICTORY: IMPOSSIBLE."

Ingram cracked a smile. At least someone had a chance to make it home today. Looking over to the squad of Knights, she tried to think of something to say to boost their morale in the face of death. But nothing came to mind. For some reason, the weight of their doom bearing down on them had left her with nothing to say to comfort them. She was still trying to think of something when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

It was the stranger. With its head, it gestured to one of the shipping containers that had been minimally damaged during the fight, and Ingram was confused at first at what it was trying to say, but then she realized what it wanted.

It wanted her to get inside the container.

It could work. All of them except Prime could fit inside of the container. If they were lucky, the ghouls wouldn't discover where they were. They could wait it out until help arrived. It wasn't much, but it was their only chance.

"Knights! Gather the injured and get into the container!" Ingram shouted, pointing to the giant metal box.

The thought of living to see another day roused the Brotherhood soldiers, and they quickly sprang into action and began moving into the container. Ingram directed them inside, and soon, everyone was packed into the container. It was cramped, but it was preferable to death.

Ingram and the stranger stood at the entrance, and Ingram quickly realized the problem. Someone had to close the doors to the container from the outside. Someone had to remain.

She figured it out a millisecond before she was roughly pushed forward into the container. The doors slammed shut behind her, and there was a metallic clang as the crossbar fell into place. They were sealed inside.

"Damn it!" Ingram yelled as she slammed her armored fist against the door of the container. Even though they had tried to kill this stranger not half an hour ago, it was now going to sacrifice itself to save them. That left a foul taste in Ingram's mouth. She had joined up with the brotherhood to make the world a better place, and that meant saving people. And now THEY were the ones needing saved. Ingram hated it.

The container fell silent as the rumbling outside grew louder. Ingram tried to pick out individual noises from the ambience, but it soon became difficult to hear anything as the rumbling grew louder and louder.

"COMMUNIST FORCES DETECTED. ERADICATION SUBROUTINES INITIALIZED."

Liberty Prime's voice boomed from outside, and a few of the Knights whispered, "Ad Victorium." Prime always had a way with words.

Then, the explosions and gunfire began. Soon, nothing couldd be heard over the screams and yowls of ghouls mixed with nuclear explosions and weapons fire.

"GLORY IS THE REWARD OF VALOR."

The sounds of carnage continued to penetrate the walls of the container, rising to a deafening pitch as ghouls swarmed in droves. Only occasionally could they hear Liberty Prime, and everyone in the container waited anxiously for the next time they could hear his voice. As long as he was alive, there was still hope.

"AMERICA WILL NEVER FALL TO COMMUNISM. THE RED MENACE WILL BE ANNIHILATED."

The fighting continued for at least a few minutes more before the noise began to decline. Slowly but surely, the number of ghouls began to dwindle. Soon, all fell silent outside the container. Then, Liberty Prime's voice boomed.

"RED CHINEASE FORCES: ELIMINATED. DEMOCRACY REIGNS SUPREME."

Shouts of "Ad Victorium" and cheering filled the container. Ingram heard the crossbar lift from outside, then the doors opened, and light spilled into the container.

Framed against the light of day stood the stranger. Ingram couldn't see its face, but she was certain that it was smirking behind the visor. The Knights cheered and raised their rifles in salute to their armored savior.

The figure stepped back and everyone stepped back out into the Commonwealth.

Ingram couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the carnage. There were so many bodies.

Hundreds of bodies.

So many bodies littered the ground that the dirt was completely covered in some areas. There were piles of ghouls stacked twice as high as Ingram was tall. Liberty Prime stood nearby.

"Dear God," Neriah whispered next to her.

Ingram agreed. In addition to all the bodies, numerous other shipping containers had been destroyed. The administration building also sat in ruin.

"This is the one," she said to Neriah pointing to the stranger, who turned to them in response.

"You are the one that our scanners picked up. The one without any rads. You're not even from this planet, are you?"

The stranger nodded.

Ingram lowered her hand. She needed time to process the events that had just occurred.

Her attention was quickly diverted again as a vertibird approached from the distance. Within minutes, the helicopter touched down, and none other than Elder Maxson stepped out onto the ground. He strode over to the group.

"Proctor Ingram, I'm glad to see that you're all still in one piece. Is everyone alright?"

"We're all green, Elder Maxson," Ingram responded. "Thanks to our new friend here."

Elder Maxson turned to the stranger, and the two stared at each other for a few moments. Then Maxson held out his hand.

"You have my thanks for looking after my people," he said. "I've never seen the make of your armor before."

"We believe that it is from another planet, sir," Ingram said. "It can't talk but appears to understand English."

Maxson nodded and was about to say more before a loud noise came from behind one of the piles of ghouls.

The Knights instantly held their rifles at the ready.

"Who's there?" Maxson demanded. "Show yourself!" He had drawn his pistol from its holster, and had it trained on the pile of bodies.

Nothing happened for a few moments, then a lone synth stepped out from behind the pile. The synth was dressed in a long and faded trench coat along with a worn and beaten fedora. He looked something like a private eye. Ingram recognized him immediately. It was Nick Valentine, the resident detective of Diamond City.

"Elder Maxson," Valentine said, throwing his hands up in mock surrender. "Looking xenophobic as usual."

"You're a long way from Diamond City, synth," Maxson said back. He spat out the word "synth."

"Hard not to be out here with all that noise you guys are making out here," Valentine replied. "From the looks of it, you've been busy."

Valentine stepped around the body of a dead ghoul. Ingram stood still, but the rest of the Knights still had their rifles trained on him.

"Diamond City may tolerate abominations like you, but we see the truth. And now, you've reached the end of the line," Maxson said. His voice was dripping with contempt.

"Knights, fi—"

The stranger stepped out in front of Nick, standing between the laser rifles trained on the synth and Nick himself.

"Stand aside," Elder Maxson ordered. "This does not concern you."

The stranger tilted its head down slightly, making it seem even more intimidating, which Ingram didn't even think was possible.

"You want to risk your life for a synth?" Maxson asked. "You will both die."

"Sir," Ingram said in a low tone. "With all due respect, it saved us from—"

"If it chooses to align with a synth, then it is an enemy of the Brotherhood," Maxson said forcefully.

"This is the one that nearly destroyed Liberty Prime," Ingram persisted. "We can't win this, sir."

Maxson grit his teeth but didn't put down his pistol.

"Listen well, Valentine!" he spat through gritted teeth. "If you are ever seen again by any Brotherhood forces, you will be fired upon immediately. Now, I would suggest you get out of my sight, before I change my mind."

"Ah, so merciful. Many thanks, oh wise elder," Valentine said, before addressing the stranger.

"I appreciate you having my back, there. If you're ever in Diamond City, look me up."

The stranger nodded once to Valentine.

"Well, I better get lost before the Elder blows a gasket," Valentine said. The synth then turned on his heel and walked away. Elder Maxson stared the stranger down. The stranger stared back.

The moment suddenly grew uncomfortably tense. Insanely so. Finally, Elder Maxson spoke.

"The mission of the Brotherhood of Steel is to protect humanity," he spoke slowly, trying to restrain his anger. "Synths propose an unarguable threat to the future of the human race, and therefore must be eliminated."

The figure said nothing.

"And if your interests do not align with ours, then it would be best if we choose not to associate. You saved the lives of my soldiers, and I was indebted to you for that, but consider us even now," he said, gesturing to the profile of Nick Valentine as he disappeared over the horizon.

The stranger took one last look to make sure Valentine was far enough away, then glared at Maxson for a few moments more. Finally, Ingram saw movement in its right hand and a bright blue light engulfed it followed by a loud bang. Ingram blinked her eyes rapidly to clear her vision, and when she looked again, the stranger was gone.

Elder Maxson took a deep breath, then addressed Ingram.

"Get the wounded on board the vertibird, I'll expect your report back on the Prydwen."

Ingram nodded once then turned to take charge of the squad. She was eager to get back to the Prydwen and to some semblance of normalcy. Today had gone on long enough.

A/N: Boom! Another chapter in the books! I must take this time to apologize for leaving my readers handing for so long between chapters, but I must insist that it was not my intention to do so. For some reason, writer's block hit me with a 10-foot-long pole and refused to stop. Hopefully I can get over that now and keep writing! Always remember to drop a review to keep me posted on how well/terrible the story is going. Until next time!

-ImpulsiveWeaver