"Do you really think you could get it working?" Deacon asked.

"Of course I can." James responded instinctively. Truthfully, he wasn't sure if he could. He sat down beside the Lone Wanderer motorcycle that Deacon had picked out Concord. Deacon said he always wished he could try riding a motorcycle and James offered to repair one for him. He'd learned how to repair the vehicle back to relative working condition from Ashur, but he'd never done it on his own before.

"Oh man. That'd be wicked." Deacon said as he leaned against the wall of the Red Rocket Garage. The doors had been locked and the garage was sealed to prevent interruptions from Enclave and Minutemen personnel from walking in on Deacon and James's "secret" meeting. "Riding down the highway on one of these bad boys. That'd probably scare the shit out of some raiders."

"Yeah, well that's assuming I can get the thing to work."

"I have every confidence in you, man. I've heard about all the things you've done." Deacon whistled and paused for a moment. "If I had a week, I wouldn't be able to list all of the things you've done for people out in the wastes. You're a real hero!"

"No, nothing like that. Just a guy with a moral compass."

"Whatever you say, man." Deacon grabbed a mutfruit from a basket next to James's X-02 suit and munched on it. "Anyone who sets up the CPG and actually gets it to work is okay in my book." James paused and looked up at Deacon for a moment.

"Only okay?" He asked.

"Well, you know what I mean." Deacon complained.

"It wasn't my idea, you know. It was Kat's."

"Oh yeah, that lady friend of yours."

"I guess that one title of hers." James joked. "I've been hearing that a lot these days."

"I'm sure you have. The Commonwealth's chatting you two up thanks to Piper's story."

"What'd she write about us?"

"What?!" Deacon asked and stood up from where he was leaning. "You mean to tell me you don't know?!"

"No." James shrugged and wiped his sweat with his sleeve.

"The Power Couple of the Commonwealth!" Deacon read aloud from his copy of Piper's article.

"Like that takes anywhere outside of Diamond City."

"Oh, yeah, it's not like there's provisional government around investing in safe trade routes and united settlements or anything like that to prevent the spread news like this." Deacon said sarcastically.

"Why are we called that?" James inquired. "It's not uncommon for two wanderers to travel with one another."

"But it is uncommon for two vault dwellers to be travelling together."

"We're not even from the same vault?"

"Do you think anyone really cares about stuff like that?" Deacon asked. "It's gossip. Two important people who happen to have a lot of similarities with one another. News is bound to spread about that." James grunted as a response.

"Got it." James said as he stood away from the motorcycle.

"You fixed it?" Deacon asked. "Really?"

"Yeah." James responded. "It's yours on one condition."

"Oh dude, anything." Deacon responded as he ran his hand against the motorcycle's revving engine.

"Take this to Desdemona." James said quickly. "It's a Courser chip."

"No friggin way. You killed a Courser too?!"

"Yeah, no. Actually Katherine took the Pride to kill the Courser."

"Oh, so your girlfriend made the kill. Sweet, imagine the story when Piper hears about that."

"She's not my girlfriend." James began. "That's not important. But yeah she made the kill so tell Desdemona to get her involved with the Railroad too."

"Why her?" Deacon asked as he sat on the motorcycle. "Aren't you enough to represent the Enclave?"

"Yeah. But she'll represent the CPG and the Minutemen. Imagine the possibilities if you get a government to back you plus a paramilitary organization at your beck and call."

"Two actually, if we include the Minutemen."

"Two, hey the more the merrier. But get Kat in and I guarantee that the Railroad will want for nothing."

"Alright, I'll let her know."

"Good." Deacon shot James a smile, pushed up his sunglasses and revved the motorcycle. James opened the garage door and watched Deacon ride onto the road, turn right and drift off into the distance. An Enclave officer walked up to James and handed him a clipboard.

"Briefing on the Hangman's Alley attack, sir."

"Thank you, Linda. Anything on Zimonga and Nordhagen Beach?" he asked flipping through the pages of the various safehouses that had been raided in the past few weeks.

"Yes. Nordhagen was assaulted by raiders but repelled them with ease. Zimonga fought off a feral horde. They were surrounded for a few days but the Pride arrived and dispatched it."

"Good. When will the Crawler be arriving at Pendleton AFB?" James asked.

"They already have, sir. Lieutenant Colonel Arcade just called over the radio to confirm his position."

"Good, is it still on?"

"I believe so, sir." James nodded and handed the clipboard back to Linda. He walked out of the garage, grabbed a ceramic mug, a coffee pot, hotplate and walked over to the radio. He plugged in the hot plate and placed the pot over it. He tapped the microphone of the Ham radio.

"Arcade, you still there, brother?" James said. He turned to another officer and gestured for a chair. Linda quickly grabbed him a metal folding chair and handed it to him.

"Been here for a while, James. We've started setting up shop around here. I think there's going to be a change of plans though."

"Enlighten me."

"The Mobile Crawler needs a few minor repairs on the two forward treads, just a couple days."

"So what's the problem?"

"Eden's finished the calculations and the Crawler won't be able to sustain much damage. We recreated it from scrap metal all over the wasteland and simulated the heavy armor plating it originally had but the simple truth it won't be able to support from an offensive stance."

"Okay."

"I need time to design, manufacture, and apply a serious overhaul on the Crawler or we won't be able to provide much assistance in the long and short term."

"Alright then. Take however much time you need. How was New York?"

"It was quite all right. Much more civilized than I expected, but the whole city is run by a small number of gangs. It reminds me of the New Vegas Strip."

"Well that's to be expected with civilization. Few people holding most of the power."

"Eden seems to agree with you."

"Of course he does."

"Anyhow, this seriously delays our original plan to engage the Brotherhood. Will that be a problem?"

"None whatsoever. I've made sure to that." \

"Excellent. Also, I would like to propose that I send an expedition to New London to clear out and secure a submarine base."

"Where are you right now exactly?"

"New Haven. Pendleton is just outside of the city."

"Hmm. First clear out New Haven of raider gangs. Make the city safe and turn it into our fortress. I'd rather lay claim to that entire area for some security before you split up your team. After you secure New Haven send the expedition to New London. But I expect frequent status updates and mission reports."

"Understood. I'll have the men ready to go as soon as possible."

"Arcade."

"Yes, sir?"

"How many are with you on the Crawler?"

"Two thousand."

"We got that many recruits for the Enclave?"

"Oh yeah. More than that. These are just the most skilled recruits and initiates. I decided leave a good number of experienced Enclave soldiers back at Addams to begin undercover operations in the Capital."

"The ones we discussed?"

"The very same. Don't worry, nothing like the old Enclave."

"Okay. I didn't realize the crawler was that big."

"It wasn't we made some serious changes to the original design. It was too big to move through large portions of numerous cities. We had to carve our own path using some well-placed tactical nukes."

"So the stockpile was still full."

"Most definitely. The Brotherhood hadn't even begun the excavation process. We also found functioning machinery and the blueprints to manufacture more."

"How's the Enclave's finances coming along?"

"Thanks to Eden's algorithsm coupled with your pre-existing connections and numerous companies. We are doing very well. People in the Capital like security, they pay a lot for the security firm that you set up with your friend Jericho."

"He needed something to do. Butch cause any trouble?"

"Loads. Brings in some good money for Jericho."

"Sounds like that's working well. What about Project Purity?"

"We still have yet to purchase the remaining shares from Rivet City but the Enclaves owns the majority. We're distributing the water for a price, but the water itself is free."

"Good. How did talks with the TSC go?"

"Better than expected. They agree to assist us and will cooperate with our scientists on scientific ventures. Militarilry speaking we are to avoid each other, but are on friendly terms with one another. Their commander wishes to speak with you as soon as possible."

"I'll talk to him when I can."

"He's here now, sir."

"Greetings, Commander." Harkin's voice sparked the radio.

"Commodore Harkin!" James said. "It's been too long."

"For sure, Commander. We need you back aboard the Olympus, the council has been getting by with your absence but we need your say before we can go forward with most of the projects we've been holding off on."

"I understand Commodore, but I can't just be beamed up to Olympus right now. I'm quite simply too busy. It's not that I can't make time, but things are complicated here."

"Well they are up here as well, sir."

"Alright, send Tanaka down to my position so we can coordinate a TSC presence here at the Commonwealth."

"I will send word to her immediately sir." Harkin said. "And Commander?"

"Yes, Commodore?"

"There has been word that you plan on merging the Enclave with the TSC, is that true?"

"Yes. But perhaps not in the way you think, Commodore."

"Please explain, so I may relay it to the Council."

"The TSC will become a branch of the government I'm trying to build. From what I head from a man I met named Nathan, there are huge nations out in the West. All vying for free land and as much territory as possible. I want to protect my home, the Capital, from their prying hands."

"An honorable goal, Commander. But what good will a merger be between the Enclave and the TSC?"

"That will be discussed at the next council meeting. I'm hoping to arrange an invitation for a TSC ambassador at the next CPG meeting."

"Of course, sir. But what about our holdings in the Capital?"

"Cooperate with the Enclave. They will be gone for a long time, so you and the council will have free reign on the place. Keep it safe for me and we'll discuss what to do with the upcoming merger."

"Of course, sir."

"And that just about concludes the talks I had with them. Interesting folk, the TSC. All of the deserters from the Enclave."

"Yeah, they're good people with good ideas. But when I ran with them, we constantly ran out of funding. I helped them clear an underwater alien installation once, and they want to turn that into a city one day. We didn't do it because we didn't have enough funding. So I left to go get some."

"Aliens? So they're real?"

"Yeah. And it's a long story, but that's how they live in a spaceship."

"Hmm. I suppose one day I'll ask to be beamed up to see what it's like."

"Whatever. How long do you think all of this will take?"

"Easily over six months depending on how fast our caravans arrive." James rubbed his chin and thought about liquidating his assets and holdings in his properties and companies in New York. All of those things owned on technicality and paperwork, he wasn't sure if the New Yorkers respected such documents.

"All right, I have a bank in New York. Fly out there and tell them to purchase the local caravans in my name. I should have saved just enough caps there to pull this off."

"Hold on, did I hear you say you own a bank?"

"Two actually, but that's not important. If they don't have enough caps sell some properties. Just keep the one in Manhattan. That one's my favorite."

"Properties too? How have you travelled this much and have this many caps?!"

"Connections and quite a few hostile takeovers." James thought back to the times that Ashur taught him to "takeover" companies and caravans at gunpoint. He had always hated doing that. He felt like that was more stealing than anything but all those tricks had let him earn a name for himself while he stayed at New York for a year. "Oh and bootlegging helped too."

"Bootlegging? Who are you?"

"Didn't you hear? I'm the Lone Wanderer."

"Whatever." Linda walked up to James and held out a headset to him.

"Preston Garvey, requesting immediate assistance. Sizable Gunners force has taken Quincy. Minutemen currently pinned in the old church."

"Sorry, Arcade. Duty calls."

"Of course. I'll have Eden wire the rest of the stuff to your suit." James jogged to the power armor station in the garage. He tugged on the valve on its back and jumped into the frame as soon as it opened. He watched as the armor booted up and the HUD lit up the immediate area. He stomped over to the stairs that led to the roof of the gas station. A gunship variant of the VB-01 vertibird sat on a landing platform just waiting for him to take off.

"Where will we be headed today, sir?" Morales asked, standing at attention by the vertibird, hands behind his back.

"Quincy. Sounds like the Minutemen need our help."

"Does the Enclave really need to be the ones to help him?"

"No." James responded as he jumped into the gunship bay. "Just the Pride."