Maxson hiked up the hill, hands behind his back. A Protectron head rolled down the ground as the battle commenced. He stopped to pick up a scrap of Eyebot and stared into it.

"Sir the Rust Devils have been pacified on the exterior. Shall we commence the pacification of the interior." A Knight asked.

"Proceed." Maxson stated curtly. He turned on his hill and stared out at the horizon. "We have endured time and time again adversity and difficulty. But we will be strong. We will endure. And when we regain our strength, the Outcasts will retake the Commonwealth."

-Preston-

"So no one's seen or heard them in weeks?" Piper asked. Preston paused working the rubble at the Castle. The Minutemen worked hard to rebuild the wall of the 600 year old fort. Never again will they be caught surprised. Preston sighed as he collected his thoughts.

"No." Preston sighed. Deacon materialized from the background. "You have to stop doing that."

"Good to see you too Preston." Deacon chirped. "But listen, Railroad's done some digging around like you asked. It's almost like the entire Enclave's up and disappeared. The Mobile Crawler's still undergoing repairs and they have a strong presence at Sanctuary but-"

"The safe houses have all been cleared out. Nothing's left." Nick Valentine said out of the blue.

"Is everyone meeting here?" Preston asked.

"Nick!" Piper exclaimed. "You mean to tell me you've been investigating this case too?"

"Yup." Nick replied as he fumbled in his pockets for a lighter. "Nothing around no more patrols, vehicles, nothing. At least no one from before. New guys are good, but you can tell they're green."

"Arcade must've been desperate if he felt he had to send them in." Preston reasoned. "Any word about the Courier?"

"Who?" Nick puffed with his not lit cigarette.

"Nothing. Seems like anybody in the vicinity of the Boston Airport suddenly disappeared." Deacon replied.

"So if they're all gone," Piper began.

"Where did they go?" Nick finished.

-Ash-

Ash woke startled from extreme shaking.

"Everybody up!" The CO shouted. Ash shit awake, banging his head on the top bunk.

"Ow!" Ash grumbled. A head stuck ducked down to Ash's bunk.

"You alright there, boot?" A voice asked. Ash rubbed his eyes and realized that the voice belonged to Yuri.

"Yuri?" He asked. Yuri jumped down from her bunk to the floor.

"Glad to hear you remember me, rook but you better get your gear on, by the looks of things, this ain't a drill." Yuri smiled before moving to strap on her combat armor.

"What the Hell is going on?" Ash asked.

"Get your gear on!" Another voice growled at him. Ash looked up into the face of his CO. James Hwang. The Lone Wanderer. "They're here."

"Who?" Ash asked. James looked back before opening the bulkhead door of the barracks.

"The Reds." James almost growled. "The Chinese, they've come to take Anchorage."

To be continued in Crimson Dragon