"How big is this place?" Ash asked as he observed the huge cavern that the service tunnel in Fort Hagen led to.
"Only one way to find out." Dusk said.
"Shouldn't we find the rest of the team first, ma'am?" Ash asked. Dusk seemed to ignore him and began to climb down a ladder.
"I want to know what's down here." She said. "C'mon rook, let's get going." Ash rolled his eyes and followed her down the ladder.
"My name's Ash." He said as he neared the bottom.
"Is it?" Dusk asked, uninterested. "I think I like rook better."
"I figured you would." Ash muttered. Dusk kneeled by the an image on the floor.
"What was that?" She asked, clearly transfixed with the image on the floor over their conversation.
"Nothing." Ash responded. He looked around the room. Tiled in a drab green, it resembled a run-down hospital. "What are you looking at?" he asked.
"Take a look for yourself rook." Dusk said as she stood from her crouch position. It was a man standing with six arms. Ash felt it to be very familiar. "It's not that hard to figure out."
"The Institute." Ash murmured. Dusk made a dinging sound like a bell.
"We got a winner over here!" She said playfully.
"You are very different from what I expected." Ash said. Dusk gestured for him to follow down the hall that she decided would be her way of travel.
"And what did you expect?" she asked.
"Well, you are part of Alpha Squad." Ash began. "And there's the other name that circulates around the barracks. The Pri-"
"The Pride. Yes." Dusk said happily. "I am a member of the Lyons Pride."
"Wasn't that Brotherhood though?"
"All lot of the senior staff used to be."
"Then why?"
"Because we all know the General is a good person. If he says Maxson's gone over the line, then we have to stop and think. Is Maxson really betraying the ideal of Sarah Lyons."
"Wait, Sarah Lyons?"
"One of the Elders that all Brotherhood members look up to. Her father was probably a better Elder but no one could have been a better leader."
"What happened to her?"
"She was murdered."
Yuri eyed the room carefully. Niko fidgeted with his large machine gun.
"Almost done here." Gallows said quietly.
"Something doesn't feel right." Niko said.
"Oh shut up with your superstitious shit." Sam responded.
"It's not a superstition Autumn!" Niko shot back. "It's religion."
"It's a bunch of bullshit to me."
"Fact of the matter is something's not right." Niko insisted. "Captain Dusk has not returned yet."
"She's part of Alpha." Sam began. "She can handle herself."
"But Ash is with her." Yuri shot quietly. "He's a rookie."
"Yeah, but he's a rookie with an Alpha team leader." Sam said. "There's nothing to be worried about." The lights started turning off.
"What was that?" Gallows asked. At the end of the hallway the lighst illuminating the stairway shut off. Then the one next to it. And the next. And the next. They all started turning off in a line until a single light remained over a man clad in a white synth uniform. He had dark eyes, black hair and a hardened expression he held a bloody machete in his hand. Yuri raised her weapon at him.
"Contact rear!" She shouted. Then that light too, shut off.
Ash flipped his headlight on.
"Huh. That's weird." Dusk commented. "The lights turned off, they were working fine a minute ago." Then she shrugged and continued on her way. "No matter, that's what our kit is for."
"How can you be so nonchalant about everything?" Ash asked. "I thought all you rankers are all blood and guts. No-nonsense type people."
"Hey! I am all for blood and guts." Dusk protested. "But that doesn't mean I have to be a hard-ass about everything."
"Aren't you in the slightest bit worried about Team 2?" Ash asked.
"Nope. They have Gallows with them."
"Major Gallows?"
"Yup. He's probably the best Alpha member we have. Besides maybe the General himself."
"If you say so."
"R… Run!" Gallows croaked. The man held Gallows' throat so tightly that Gallows' eyes appeared to bulge slightly out of its socket.
"Yuri, go!" Sam shouted. Niko laid limp beside Gallows. Yuri felt frozen to the ground. She couldn't move.
"Now!" Gallows choked. Sam grabbed Yuri by the arm and rushed her out the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" the man asked. He threw Gallows across the room. Sam turned and saw Gallows three-hundred pound body at Yuri and himself. He pushed Yuri away allowing her to see the mass collide with Sam. Sam fell against the doorframe resulting in a terrible crack. Both men stayed limp and were no longer moving.
"Sam?" Yuri attempted. Her voice trembled.
"Yuri." A voice whispered. Yuri looked over and saw Niko. He lay on his back and she saw what the man had done to him. There was along horizontal gash running across his cheek and there was a red blot in the shape of a handprint on Niko's neck. "Run." He croaked. Then a flsh of white led to the man planting his knee on Niko's neck.
"No!" Yuri mumbled. She struggled to her feet and felt something stab her. She looked down and saw the tip of the machete jut out of her chest. Strangely, it didn't hurt. Yuri touched it and turned around. The man was still in the form of throwing the machete. Yuri's legs trembled before failing her. She fell to the ground and leaned against the door frame. She looked over at Sam. He was still unconscious. She reached out to him.
"I am really sorry for all this. I don't like to hit women." A voice said. Yuri struggled to breathe and realized that it was blood that restricted her from doing so. The man kneeled in front of her. Yuri's vision was blurring. He stabbed a stim-pak into her leg and slapped an strange ointment on Yuri's chest. "You're not going to go just yet. I need you to tell me everything you know about the Enclave."
"Who…" Yuri grunted. Her chest was feeling lighter. She was actually able to breath. She noticed the hole in her chest was closing. She wondered when the machete was taken out of her in the first place.
"You've been in and out for an hour." He said. "Like I said. I'm sorry for all of this. My name is Nathan Warner. You can call me Nate. But before I treat you and your friends. You're going to tell me everything you know about this Enclave. No one messes with my family."