Ash yawned as the vertibird shook in the air.

"Minor turbulence." Arcade muttered to himself as he flipped a few switches. "Correcting now."

Ash scanned the personnel bay of the vehicle. A hulking brute of man named Glade sat the in the middle, snoring away. Dusk and Colvin flanked him on either side. Both asleep as well. Ash sat just behind the pilot seat, adjacent to the left bay door. James sat on the floor of the vertibird, just beside the turret, one leg hanging out of the door. The turret stood unmanned, facing outward, ever vigilant as it faced the bright, white, full moon. Ash thought back to when they were on the Mobile Carrier.

"You did good today, rook." James said, patting Ash on the back. His strength caused Ash to flinch from the pat as if it were an actual hit. James laughed. Ash looked at Yuri's prone form as Glade and Kodiak wheeled her out of the second vertibird. Deck crew and medics rushed to help stabilize her. Gallows exited the vertibird limping and clutching his arm. It was clearly broken or dislocated as it swayed uncontrollably in the wind. A medic rushed to help him, but Gallows waved him off. Next was Sam in another stretcher and that was it.

"Are they going to be okay?" Ash asked.

"Worried about your friend?" James asked nodding at Yuri. Ash didn't respond. "She'll be fine. We take care of our own."

"One guy did all this." Dusk muttered as she walked past James and Ash, brushing James's shoulder. Ash stared wide-eyed at Dusk as she stomped into the mobile carrier.

"Don't worry about her either." James said softly. "She's just worried about Gallows."

"oh." Ash muttered.

"Well, rook." James began as he turned to face Ash. It was now evident to Ash that James was big in his own way. While not the hulking beast like Glade, he was tall. Ash was considered farily tall standing at five eleven. But James stood almost a full head above Ash. The light made it difficult to see James's expression but James placed a hand on Ash's shoulder. "In light of today's events. I'd like to grant you a promotion to Corporal."

"Wow." Ash muttered. "Thank you, sir." He managed this time more enthusiastically. James smiled and started towards the Mobile Carrier. "By the way rook."

"Yes, sir?"

"Welcome to the Pride."

James sat staring out at the rocky mountains below. Herds of Bighorners stampede around, still active late into the night. James looked into the personnel bay and smiled at his squad members getting some rest. They had a long day. James pulled his leg into the vehicle and righted himself. He groaned as he attempted to make himself more comfortable. He thought back to the briefing on the carrier.

"Where's the rook?" Dusk asked as James walked in. He couldn't help but smile.

"Why?" James asked playfully. Dusk paused.

"No reason."

"Okay."

"Everyone get seated!" James shouted into the room. He waited for all the Pride members to shuffle into their seats. Morales ran into the room, late yet again, dropping a few folders and a tablet. James picked up the tablet and dusted it off. He handed it back to Morales, who smiled awkwardly and placed the pbjects on the table. Arcade entered the room and James nodded at him.

"This is the result of our analysis on the data recovered from Fort Hagen." Arcade said bringing up a long list of characters and names. The blue holographic image materialized itself in the middle of the room with the room darkening to allow an easier time reading. A hand shot up in the darkness. It belonged to Kodiak.

"What is this list for?" he asked. James looked over at Aracade, who maintained a very serious expression. Rare for Arcade to be so focused and serious.

"It's a list of all the synths that have gone missing from the Institute." He announced. The room was quiet.

"So what?" Glade asked after what seemed like hours.

"It means the Institute has known about their missing synths for a long time." Arcade responded. "That means that they're playing us. They're playing the Railroad."

"Figures." Vargas muttered.

"I thought this was about our mission to New Vegas, sir." Dusk said. "All due respect of course."

"Yes this is." Arcade responded. "There are just two names I wanted to highlight for you all."

A bright white light isolated two names from long list of names.

ASH GRAYSON – TR-08.

DANSE – M7-97.