James stared hard at the old man's face. Lost. Utterly and completely broken. The one thing he was not, was scared.

"Paladin Brandis." James began.

"No need, Paladin." Brandis said abruptly. "No need for the formalities. I remember who you are."

"You do?" James asked. Brandis only nodded.

"I hardly recognized you. You've grown up quite a bit since we last met."

"We've met before?"

"Oh yes, thought I am unsure if you recognized me. We took that satellite tower together."

"Where Prime went down?"

"Where Prime went down."

"Then I am sorry to say that I didn't recognize you." James said gently. "That was one Hell of a battle." Brandis chuckled softly.

"That it was." Brandis smiled.

"What are you doing in the Commonwealth, brother?" Brandis coughed and shifted in his seat. He was inside and improvised cell fashioned out of an old washroom. A naked lightbulb dangled above Brandis's head.

"We were on a routine recon mission. Things went well until we got to West-Tek."

"Feral ghouls get you?"

"Oh yes the commotion attracted a hell of a lot of 'em."

"What happened then?"

"We fought best we could, then some of them Gunners started showing up." James stayed silent. He was getting somewhere with the old man. "Hit us hard. That's when Varham primed a pulse grenade before taking one to the head." Brandis sighed heavily.

"You don't have to continue if you don't want to." James said gently.

"No, I… I need this." Brandis said quietly. James shifted in his chair. Katherine walked over and stepped beside James, placing her hand on his right shoulder. He looked up at her.

"Preston just got back." She whispered. He nodded and gestured for her to leave. To James's surprise, she stayed.

"The pulse grenade detonated and our fusion cores." Brandis continued reluctantly. "We ejected out of our armors. I gave to order to detonate the armors."

"That's when you went for the training yard?"

"Yes. We secured the first building. Astlin assured me she'd be fine alone to secure herself and barricade the location. She insisted we investigate the satellite array. She… We promised to only be gone for a few hours." Brandis said.

"It's okay. We don't have to do this."

"I lost Faris at the array. We were separated. He took a gunshot to the leg and I left him at one of the raider structures. That was when we both received the distress signal from Astlin. I had to choose, do you understand?" James nodded slowly. "I had to choose which of my soldiers was going to live and which was going to die."

"It's okay. I understand."

"I chose Astlin. I was too late. I tried to go back to the array, but some super mutants had then decided to assault the raiders at the array. There were too many… I was low on ammo… I did what I thought was best. I went for the bunker."

"And that's where you've been for the past couple months?"

"Yes."

"And when Katherine found you?" James asked. Brandis looked up and saw Katherine. Then shifted his gaze back to the floor as he fiddled with his fingers.

"I activated my old emergency distress pulse. It's different."

"How?"

"Military-grade encryption. Only the Brotherhood can listen in on it."

"So why all the firepower?" James asked. Brandis cracked his knuckles and looked around the room.

"Insurance."

"Insurance?"

"After the Citadel was destroyed, Maxson decided if the Brotherhood couldn't hold on to its tech then it ought to be destroyed. That's why the new suits are set to detonate after the switch is pulled."

"What about the operators that just arrived? When they die why don't they blow up the suits?"

"Only works when a Paladin is around. Needs to be authorized by Kells and Maxson."

"Why all the cloak and dagger stuff?" Brandis shrugged.

"No idea." Brandis responded. "Been out of the loop for a long time. If anyone knows, it's probably Danse."

"Danse and I aren't really on speaking terms right now." Brandis chuckled.

"Yeah, no shit." Brandis muttered. "Anyways, when your friend barged into my bunker I feared the worst. Activated the damn thing. I was told that a tactical nuke would be deployed from the Prydwyn and it'd destroy my location."

"But the sent a contigent for you. Why?"

"Beats me."

"Maybe you know something Maxson doesn't want anyone else to."

"Maybe."

"You know what that could be?"

"Nope."

"So how can you be useful to me then?"

"Well, way I see it, Brotherhood's got no love for me."

"At least not enough to spare you. So what can you offer to the Enclave?"

"I dunno." Brandis responded. "I remember the Enclave. Never thought you of all people would end up leading them."

"It's not just me."

"Don't matter." Brandis stood up from his chair and walked in front of the cell door. James stood to meet him. "I wanna know if the Enclave's different from the one we fought."

"It is." James responded. Brandis glared hard into James's eyes for a long time. Then he looked down, sighed and went back to his chair.

"The only thing I know how to do is fight, James." Brandis sighed. "There really isn't anything I can offer you outside of combat."

"I understand."

"So if you need another guard or something sure. But I won't fight the Brotherhood for you. Too many brothers and sisters in there that I don't care to fight."

"Don't worry. I'd never ask you to do that." James stood up and dusted off his jeans and sighed as he thought of a job that he could offer to Brandis. "I really wish I could think of something for you, old timer."

"Well, I guess I'll be here 'till you do then."

"Sorry, brother. There anything I can get you?"

"Some coffee wouldn't too bad. Maybe a cigar."

"Aren't you told old to be smoking?" James asked in disbelief.

"Maybe." Brandish shrugged. "Maybe not."

"Alright, I'll see what I can-" James began.

"-How about training?" Katherine interjected.

"What?" Brandis asked.

"Well, you said the only thing you can really do is fight. But you won't fight the Brotherhood. And some of the guys around here aren't ready to see you on guard duty with a gun anytime soon. What if you helped us to train the Minutemen?"

"Why?"

"The Minutemen are citizen soliders." Katherine began. "Barely know how to handle a weapon adeptly." Brandis stared at her and then looked at James. James shrugged and Katherine continued. "Quite frankly, they're not the Enclave troopers that Arcade is bringing in soon. And they're not going to be able engage the Brotherhood in any way, shape or form. But they're all we have."

"Hmm. Why should I help you?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"The Brotherhood abandoned you. No one in the Commonwealth knows who you are or what you do." James looked at her, she suddenly had taken the offensive on Brandis. "You're a nobody here. But you could be a somebody here. At Sanctuary doing what you love. You could…"

"Enough." Brandis said suddenly. "When do I start?"