First off, happy pie day! It's March 14th on my end.

Anyway… This is the longest chapter I've ever made for this fanfic. The last longest was chapter 3… Now this one is about twice that size, and it's so worth the effort and turmoil in my opinion. Whole lot of sweat went into this one!

Also there will likely be a good amount of grammar errors so I'll be editing this later after it's uploaded. Just FYI.

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The Lost Patrol Pt. 1

October 31st, 2287

The Commonwealth, Boston Massachusetts

Nathan "Nate" Shaw

Recon Squad Gladius

Brotherhood of Steel

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For the past four days, Nate, Codsworth and Dogmeat spent the time patrolling the Cambridge vicinity.

Rhys still gave Nate the bitter stink eye, and Nate was starting to feel irritated with the constant sharking. He's started to think there's more than just the shark attack method. It's like he has a grudge on Nate and they've only known each other for four days.

"Hey guys, who's hungry?"

Haylen arrived with a few rations for her and the two soldiers, and a treat for Dogmeat. Giving her a sign of gratitude from the dog. Haylen left Dogmeat with a scruffy pat on his furry head as she dug into her Cheese Tortellini in Tomato Sauce MRE.

With Rhys digging into his marinara and meatball flavored MRE, Nate handed him a canteen of clean water. He took a good mouthful of water down his gullet after his meal. He gave the bottle back to Nate and started to eat his preserved beef curry meal.

"Could use some hot sauce." Nate said between chews.

"It's still protein ain't it?" Rhys said with his mouth full.

"Yeah…" Nate finally finished his meal.

Elliot, Sally, Codsworth, Edna and the Storyteller finally arrived from out from the garage. They looked like they've been down in the pits of a racetrack like any regular grease monkey at a car shop.

"Well the good news is that we managed to extract some data from the UFO's mainframe."

"Any bad news?" Rhys muttered.

"Bad news is that the ice boxes are starting to run out of power. Those alien bodies are gonna stink through their ponchos." Elliot snared back at the garage.

"Okay, Elliot… Remind me, why did you have to dig up the alien bodies? And bring them here?" Rhys said. With his arms across his chest.

"Research for when reinforcements arrive… Besides their dead, they're not gonna complain about what we do with the bodies." Sally said rather strangely.

"The brotherhood will definitely complain with a stink like that." Rhys responded.

"I believe Sally here was referring to the alien corpses they killed. Since they're dead they can't complain… Because they're dead." The Storyteller jumped in on the chat.

"Dark… But touché." Nate had to finish that conversation quickly since he was still eating.

"I'll go power up the freezer, pops." Sally said walking towards the back of the station.

"You know it's Halloween today." The Storyteller mentions while popping his knuckles.

Edna responded with some binary beeps that only Codsworth.

"Oh my, mister Storyteller your eyebot definitely seems jumpy at the name of that holiday."

"Yeah I tend to tell interesting ghost stories from around the wasteland at this time of year."

"Do you?" Nate slyly grins, "You know back in the Army our unit would draw names on who would tell a scary story… We'd have so many stories we'd last till midnight." Nate says reminiscing about his past.

"Why don't we do that, now." Scribe Haylen suggested. In response, Edna floated back inside the police station.

"I'm game!" The Storyteller jumped to the idea.

"Rhys?" Nate asked over to the Knight.

"Heh, why the fuck not." Rhys sighed.

Right on cue with unexpected timing, Paladin Danse stepped out with an assignment.

"Rhys, Nate come down from there, I have an assignment for you two."

"Yessir!" Nate and Rhys both shouted.

Rhys and Nate fell in line in front of Danse to hear their mission.

"I'll make this brief for you, initiate. Over the years, the Brotherhood has sent several Recon Teams to the Commonwealth. The last squad went in three years ago. They never reported back. Officially, they're missing, presumed dead."

"Sorry to hear that. Sounds like we're going out to find them?" Nate answered.

"Correct, and don't be sorry. Everyone who signs up for a recon mission knows what to expect. Our lives depend on our training, and on each other. If we should fall, the Brotherhood will honor our memory. We have a responsibility to find out what happened to them, if we can."

"We won't let you down, Paladin." Rhys responded, still stiff as the soldier he is.

"Outstanding, their insertion point was in the hills near Malden. Nate, monitor your pipboy for distress signals. All recon teams are issued distress pulsers that put out a short-range homing beacon. Good luck you two. Ad victoriam." Danse was about to leave to go inside the station but Elliot stepped in on the last minute.

"Excuse me, Paladin. I don't mean to overstep, but could you use an extra hand?" Elliot volunteered.

"Sure… Initiate Nate, since you're the one with the PIpboy, i'm putting you in charge of the investigation, Knight Rhys you'll on point. Knight Elliot, cover their six. Are we all understood?"

"Yessir!" All three shouted.

"Alright, Nate, Elliot Malden is going to be a heavy hike from here. So pack up light; ammo, water, stims, anything that's essential and lightweight. We're moving out in ten minutes." Rhys spoke to the two.

Nate stepped inside the police station. Putting on a standard issue combat chest piece over his Brotherhood Uniform and helmet. He packed his rucksack with enough fusion cells and resources for the hike to Malden. Armed with his BLR-4 given by Danse, his combat knife, binoculars, and 9mm. He was ready to go.

Nate found Elliot in the same pants style uniform from the Brotherhood, but his selection of arms was different. Aside from the standard BLR-4 rifle, he had a pistol and baton that had peculiar alien designs.

"Old friend of mine back in DC gave me this blaster… I'd still be in cryo freezing in a UFO if not for him. I got the baton from one of those dead Zetans earlier."

"That 19 year old kid?" Nate asked.

"Yeah, he's probably nearing his 30's by now."

"When'd you last see him?"

"About eight or nine years ago. I added a little tweeks to this weapon over the years. I found a way for it to use fusion cells instead of those glowing pellet things."

"Nice. So this kid who spring you out from the… Zetans ice box, did he have a name?"

"Yeah, it was-"

"Cut the chatter. Let's get going ladies." Rhys barked in full combat armor and helmet. His laser rifle had a wide CQB lenses reflex sight and gyro quantum compensator for extra damage.

"Alright, let's go find our lost teammates." Elliot said popping in a new fusion cell.

"Dogmeat, Codsworth stay here and reinforce the station.

"Proud to serve, mister Nate." Codsworth saluted proudly as Dogmeat barked.

"Lets move out." Rhys took lead as Danse ordered.

"Malden is about a few miles northeast from here." Nate said bslased on the old Boston Massachusetts.

"Alright, Nate keep your ears on your pipboy. Let's move out."

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The Passing of the Torch

October 31st, 2287

Sanctuary Hills, Boston Massachusetts

Mike Daly

Sanctuary Hills Militia

Commonwealth Minutemen

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Gus the heavily upgraded sentry was single handedly patrolling the neighborhood. The new neighbor, Lucy Abernathy from the nearby farm. After receiving her sister's locket, she decided to move out and join the newly developing militia. From the ashes of the Minutemen a new form of protectors has risen.

At the main house across the street from Nate's old home, Charlie and Kat were coloring on some newly acquired paper with a couple of ice cold Nuka Cola's.

"How're those cold drinks, kids?" Sturges asked.

"How did you get these so cold?" Kat asked.

"Lucky for us, our friend Nate gave me this interesting ice making gun. After some tinkering I managed to make us this ice box." Sturges explained as easy as he could.

"That's so cool!" Charlie yipped.

"Anyway, girls. Any ideas on what to do for Halloween?"

"Dunno… We were thinking of collecting some of these pumpkin props around the neighborhood. Maybe draw some scary faces."

"That sounds fun, girls. Well have fun today." Sturges finally left the two.

"You know from what I remember, the kids long ago, would dress up as scary monsters and scare the adults into getting them candy." Charlie said to Kat.

"Really? I wonder what would be the most scary? What do you think?"

"I think the most scary costume would be a deathclaw. So big and tall… Always killing. What about you?"

"I think the most scary would be someone like me… I'd dress up in a super cute dress and have my big robot, Gus do all the scary work! He'd be like an overprotective daddy to me."

"That does sound scary. We could I be your robot daddy's… Maybe your twin sister."

"That does sound cool. Super scary too!"

Down at the gardens, Marcy and Jun were watching the two girls laugh together.

"I wish Kyle could see this… Thinking about him is getting a bit easier." Jun smiled a smidgen.

"Yeah, it is… Umm, how's that razorgrain coming along?" Marcy changed the subject quickly.

"It's doing good. Might be able to cook my old ramen bowl soon."

"That does sound nice."

Jun took another glance at the girl, Kat. If his memory serves, she said something about her parents being murdered by the Gunners as well. Just like Kyle.

For some reason, a moment inside him he felt his depression rising up from his thoughts. He looked back over at Marcy and saw the same angry scowl. Hoping his wife will make it through soon.

Leaving the girls, and Longs behind, Sturges left to go meet up with Mike Daly, Preston, Clinton and Lucy. Trashcan Carla stood beside the group.

Today the final details of the proclamation begins. With Staff Sergeant Michael Daly at the helm.

"So Preston, Sturges, Clinton, and now Lucy. I want you all to know that once we sign this the Minutemen are officially no more. The tricorns, and muskets stay behind all with the name. All that remains is the idea they fought for. Starting tomorrow the Minutemen will pass the torch to the New Commonwealth Army." Sergeant Daly pulled out a pen from his pocket and signed his own name under the document, "Once you guys sign this, there's no going back. Are you all ready?" Daly laid down the pen on the table for everyone else to follow.

The next person to sign the document was Preston Garvey himself, "I never thought signing a paper would be so difficult, but if this secures the future of the Commonwealth, I'm in."

"You haven't steered wrong from us so far, Preston." Sturges followed.

Clinton and Lucy signed with no comment.

"Alright… Carla, you remember your end of the bargain?"

"Yeah yeah, I got the uniforms right here. I managed to bring a few of the pistols you wanted. Not a lot of ammo to go around, but I did get the amount of machetes and knives you wanted." Carla brought over the gear she sold to the group.

"Excellent… This'll be enough. Sturges what's the condition of the APC down at the river?" Daly asked.

"Well long story short, the condition is fine… It's just empty on fuel. I don't suppose you know what kind of fuel it needs."

"I do… Alright, I've kept a stash of gear and supplies at the nearby robot junkyard. There's also a deactivated Sentry Bot there. Maybe we can get that thing back in working order while we're there. Sturges, Lucy you're with me to the scrap yard. Preston you and Clinton keep watch on the settlement."

"Let's get started, boss." Sturges smirked with a confident smile.

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The Lost Patrol Pt. 2

October 31st, 2287

The Commonwealth, Boston Massachusetts

Nathan "Nate" Shaw

Recon Squad Gladius

Brotherhood of Steel

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Passing the old Med-Tek facility with a pile of ferals that were recently slaughtered by the three soldiers of the brotherhood.

"Alright guys, the signal's getting stronger." Nate said while monitoring his pipboy.

"There's an impact crater in those ruins over there, passed the shrubbery." Elliot pointed out.

"Alright ladies, let's move out." Rhys hiked his way over.

Following the Knight, they found their missing recon team, "Ah shit." Rhys groaned in grief.

Nate and Elliot caught up with Rhys to find five power armored corpses with the Brotherhood insignias. All the armor is defective and inoperable.

"Alright we have five knights all confirmed, KIA. No sign of anyone else." Rhys observed, taking a few looks around the perimeter, "Nate, collect the tags, Elliot, go turn off the distress pulser."

Elliot went over to collect the pulser, and loot any loose weapons or signs of who or whatever did this to their men.

Nate snapped off each tag from the soldiers and spoke out their names, "Alright, we have… A Knight Parker, Knight Bednar, Knight Olds, ugh a Knight Burton, and… A Knight Varham. Oh hang on, Varham has a working holotape here."

"Ambushed on the road. We're outnumbered five to one! Varham, report!... Core's down to 5%!... We'll have to scuttle the armor. We can't let them have it-... Varham!... Dammit! Astlin, set the self-destructs! Faris, fall back! We'll head for the old military base, then try to make it to our holdout. The code will be our callsign. All right, move! Move! Move!" The holotape ended with a loud explosion abruptly.

"Rest in peace, brothers and sisters." Rhys tool a quick bow. Following Elliot and Nate.

"There's a National Guard Training Facility south east from here. Maybe we'll find more clues there." Nate suggested.

"Hold on, Nate… Look around." Elliot began searching around the explosion crater to find something rather peculiar. All right under the three soldiers noses.

"Five fully armed Brotherhood Knights… In T-60 power armor… There was a firefight." Rhys spoke out loud.

"Then why are there no other bodies from the hostiles?" Nate finalized the brief investigation.

Elliot took a look down on the ground for any tracks, signs or anything that can explain this anomaly.

"There's not a single track of anyone or anything else. All the knights were scattered in every direction. It's as if they were fighting in all directions."

"Institute Synths don't use ballistic weapons and they didn't leave blood." Nate added for help of some kind.

"No… That's just it, there are no footprints of anyone else around." Elliot finalized.

For a moment, Nate began to feel an old sense of déjà vu in this scenario. A sense of familiarity sparked inside him from his past… Back in Anchorage, Alaska.

"No… It can't be." Nate muttered under his breath.

"We need to report this to Danse ASAP." Rhys said, preparing to trek back to Cambridge.

"No Rhys, the military base is a shirt hike from here. We need to confirm the status of the rest of the team. At least three other soldiers out there that's MIA." Nate refused.

"It's been three years Nate. I think we can confirm their status by now." Rhys argued back speedily walking towards the Initiate.

"We're not confirming anything till we find evidence no less than bodies, Rhys." Nate stood his ground not losing eye contact.

"Dammit Initiate. We are going back to the police station. That's an order from your knight." Rhys struck the Initiate with a pointed finger tapping at his chest plate.

"And since when does a knight turn his back on his own brothers? Back in my day in the Army we confirmed our casualties." Nate remained stone planted.

"You mean the same Army who let our world burn from nuclear armageddon?" Rhys shivved both Nate and Elliot with those sharp poisoned words.

Nate perhaps took it the worst. The last straw was drawn and he was about to punch Rhys where he stood. Elliot on the other hand managed to tackle his former lieutenant before he could punch and turned his entire arm behind his back. Placing his foot over his neck to keep him still, Elliot held Rhys back with his knife drawn at him. Not as a threat but as a warning to keep his distance.

"Nate buddy, cool your jets. That's not gonna solve anything." Elliot spoke in a stern commanding time of voice.

"That's right Initiate." Rhys added.

"Hey shut your mouth! I didn't ask an amen from you so shut... The fuck… Up. No Rhys, don't respond, don't even nod your head for anything. Just turn around and survey the perimeter while I talk to him."

"Now listen… Lieutenant Nate. I'm gonna let you go now, brother. I want you take a breath count to four, exhale and repeat. Be sure to pick up your weapon." Elliot let go of his old commanding officer and he did what he was told. Nate's former private really has grown into a true soldier in the last ten years.

As Nate was catching his breath, Elliot turned over to Rhys, "Now Rhys, tell me, how long have you been a knight in the Brotherhood?"

"Three years." Rhys answered.

"Oh really… Well I've been a knight for the brotherhood for eight years. So if we're gonna pull rank here. Then as the senior knight of this search party, I'm ordering you to resume point and turn your ass to the southeast to the military base."

Rhys glared at Elliot in defeat and stood still frozen like a deer in headlights. Elliot walked closer till Rhys could feel Elliot's breath on his face.

"Now you shoulder your fucking rifle." Elliot wasn't going to ask again. Rhys could feel it in his glare.

Rhys took a quick breath through his nose and down into his stomach, and held his weapon close.

"Let's get going, team." Rhys breathed out, loud enough for the other two to hear.

Elliot held his weapon and let Nate go ahead of him so he could cover the rear as Danse ordered.

For a brief moment, Nate and Elliot thought they saw something whisk behind the rock in the distance. It looked like something red and tiny. Like the size of a mortar shell.

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The old National Guard Training yards looked as shitty as he expected. 210 years of grime, rust and decay swarmed over the barracks, and yet the building still stood tall. Making their way to the front door, Nate could see the defense turrets still operating. Must've been the missing brotherhood members doing. Approaching the front door, slowly. Rhys kept his weapon up front to the point he didn't think to look down to find a landmine he just triggered.

The alarm set off immediately, but not as fast as Rhys was pulled away and tackled down on the ground. The blast radius was just outside by a hair from their boots. Once the ringing in Rhys's ears settled and the dust cleared he looked up to see who threw him down on the ground. Nate picked himself up from the ground and offered Rhys a hand off the dirt.

"You alright knight?" Nate said as Rhys accepted his offer to help.

"Yeah…"

"Right… Well the beacon is coming from inside the base. I'll go in first. Rhys watch my back, Elliot cover our six." Nate ordered.

"Got it, Nate." Elliot turned his weapon to the wasteland.

Rhys followed Nate at the door. Nate cracked the door slowly to find the front room infested with feral ghouls and a collapsed ceiling. The ghouls hadn't noticed them so they still had the element of surprise.

"Four ferals, likely more throughout the building. Elliot, get ready, Rhys get the other door. Ready to breach on my go." Nate whispered.

The group stacked up at the front. Rhys and Nate were ready to break down the two front doors. Nate whispered the countdown at three… Two… One.

Rhys and Nate kicked down the front and the ferals were chewed up like gumdrops. In a quick precise line of laser shots all the ferals went down instantly. A few more followed from around the corners, and met the same fate.

"Room's clear. Move up." Rhys signaled.

A few more ferals arrived from the back room, but it was an easy cleanup to take care of. Making their way to the room, the signal was growing stronger. Nate found a woman in Brotherhood attire along with a few other dead ferals.

"Oh fuck no." Rhys walked up to his fallen sister, "Knight Astlin… She was the best sharpshooter I've ever seen." Rhys sighed with his head down low. Nate walked over to see her eyes were still open. Reaching to her face he closed her eyes to let her rest in peace. Reaching down her neck he ripped off her tags. Afterwards, Rhys found another holotape.

"Elliot, take care of the signal, Nate play this, maybe we can find another clue." Rhys said in a mellow tone. The loss is still hitting him hard.

"Knight Tara Astlin. Brotherhood of Steel Recon Team 429-Alpha. Serial number 3431. It's been three hours since I set my distress pulser. There's been no word from the Paladin or Faris. Their objective was a satellite array on the coast. They may be out of range. My orders were to hold this position at all costs. The entire site has been overrun. The door won't last much longer. Paladin Brandis, sir. It's been an honor, sir."

Nate and Elliot followed Rhys' glum expression. Then shortly after, Rhys pulled them out of their grief.

"On your feet, soldiers. We'll grieve once we check the Satellite array. The place she mentioned is not far from here. That's likely our best bet. It's just down the road." Nate said.

"Rhys… Nate… Go check outside the room and get what supplies you can carry. Ammo, rations, water, medical… Anything our pockets can fill. I'll take watch up front till you guys are ready." Elliot said while walking out to the front door.

Nate looked around the cooking station and found a foot locker filled with an exceptional amount of goodies.

"Ten manuals of the U.S. Covert Operations, a bag of MRE's, fusion cells, and… Holy shit!"

"What did you find?" Rhys asked while packing sealed water and stimpacks.

"An old book I used to read in basic training, Starship Troopers." Nate opened the pages to check if it's still good to read, "Seems to be in good condition too." Nate opened his rucksack and stowed all the supplies and readables from the foot locker.

"Alright, let's get going." Rhys said. Nate followed shortly after.

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The nearby satellite array was covered in decorated corpses and body bags of unknown gore. According to Rhys and Elliot this is Super Mutant territory. They tend to establish their grounds in crude body decor. Yet that's not the strangest thing they found. While the string of corpses was grotesque, the part that felt truly threatening in this particular place was…

"All these Super Mutants have been dead at least for over twenty four hours." Nate observed the signs on the corpses. Their smell of rotting flesh under the hot sun was just starting to develop.

"Wait guys, look." Elliot looked around the corpses, "It's the same MO as the brotherhood knights; no tracks, no signs, dead in all directions."

"And these muties died recently… Something's definitely off here." Nate looked around.

Rhys was feeling a sharp pain boiling in his stomach. A mix of acid in his stomach with the release of adrenaline and dopamine morphing into fear. His legs started to shake and fall to his knees. He started breathing out slowly to keep his head from spinning or hurling out dry heaves.

"Nate, go find the distress signal. I'll keep an eye on Rhys." Elliot said

"You got it." Nate responded.

Making his way up the satellite he found Scribe Farris and his distress pulser. His eyes were the same as Knight Astlin. So Nate closed his eyes just as he did for the Knight, ripped off his holotags and found his holotape. Turning off his pulser, Nate made his way down the satellite tower and noticed another sense of hidden eyes in the corner of his vision just past the fence. This time he saw debris rattle for a bit. Something tiny was hiding behind those rocks. Keeping his guard up, Nate resumed his way to Elliot and Rhys to play Scribe Ferris's last words.

"Here we go. This was from Scribe Ferris." Nate inserted the holotape and ohit play.

"It's been... two hours since the Paladin left. My leg... I can't staunch the bleeding. Bullet must've hit an artery. Brandis... if you get this... I hope you make it back to Astlin in time. There was nothing you could do for me. Get to the bunker up north. You'll survive. That's all that.. all that matters…"

The recording stopped.

"Any idea what bunker they went to?" Elliot asked.

"There's one bunker nearby, Listei Post Bravo."

"No… That can't be it. Our squad has been there already. We marked that place in case we ever lost the police station. There were no other signs of any of our brothers there." Rhys confirmed.

"Then the only other place could be Recon Bunker Theta. It's the only other place I can think of that's north from here. It's gonna be a hike to get there, but if this… Paladin Brandis could be there. It's worth the trip."

"Alright, let's get going…" Elliot noticed Rhys is not looking so well, "Nate, why don't you take point from here."

"Yeah." Nate agreed, "Also, Elliot I think you have something stuck under your boot. It's starting to get under mine and Rhys's."

What Nate meant to say was "We're being watched." Remembering that brief tangle of rolling pebbles down outside the fence. Using code words from back in their time in the Army.

Elliot looked under his boot and nodded, "Yeah we better keep clean that up soon." Elliot played along with the ruse.

Making their way North, Nate thought to himself of what he saw earlier at the satellite array. For a moment the idea hit him, "No… No that couldn't have been a liberator drone. It's been 210 years." Nate thought to himself while shrugging off that possibility.

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The sun started settling down to the west, and the stars were peaking over. They managed to make it to the bunker, and Nate started to open the terminal's keyboard.

"Alright the password should be the same, last I checked."

Punching the enter button with the old password, and the door opened as they were hoping.

Stepping inside the three found perhaps the impossible and then some.

"Freeze! One more step and I'll... I'll blow your damn head off! Who are you? Who sent you? How'd you get in here?"

The three soldiers instantly held their hands up.

Two elderly men in the standard red and black brotherhood uniforms were behind a makeshift barrier from a turned over table. The one at the helm of the table wore pieces of makeshift armor from scrap metal and held a laser pistol with a jittery trigger finger. The second had a shaved head and looked just as deranged as the other. Although he carried an average combat knife, his armor was in more cleaner condition though.

"Are you Paladin Brandis, sir?" Nate asked.

His gun was still steady, "What? Who are you? Where did you hear that name?"

"I'm Initiate Nate, this is Knight Rhys and Elliot. We're recon squad Gladius of the Brotherhood of Steel. We were sent to investigate your missing squad." Nate spoke slowly but fearfully. The two were on edge and would open fire with one wrong word.

"The Brotherhood? No, no, no, it can't be. They're… They're too far away. They wouldn't send you… Would they? Let's… Let's say I believe you three. How did you find me?"

"We followed the distress beacons left by your team. Their holotapes led us here." Nate explained with a little less tension in his voice since he's getting to the Paladins good side.

"The others! The others! What happened to them?"

"They're dead, Paladin. Confirmed KIA's, we recovered their tags."

"You... you did?"

Nate slowly reached for the tags in his backpacks side pockets. Brandis still had his gun trained on them but his hands are shaking less. Along with the other member's knife whose name they don't know, but he's been awfully quiet. Nate eventually showed the tags in full view of the Paladin. All signs of tension left the Paladin and other old soldiers faces in a snap. Nate slowly walked forward to give the old soldier the tags.

"Thank you. This... this really means a lot to me." Brandis finally lowered his gun and a look of relief was found on him, "I... I tried to go back for them, you know. There was nothing I could do, not alone. But... I had hoped… You've been through a lot to find me. I should... I should give you something. I've collected a lot over the years. Technology. Odds and ends. If you see anything you want, take it, take it."

"Alright, Paladin Brandis." Rhys was the first to speak up, "Don't suppose you can tell us who your partner here is?"

"Oh… You can see him too?" Brandis said rather dumbstruck.

"That's Scribe Rothchild…" Elliot finally put a name on the other old timer, "He used to be head Scribe of the Brotherhood back in DC. He left about seven years ago."

"Good to see you too, Elliot." Rothchild finally spoke, "This old paladin here thought I was a figment of his imagination. I figured I'd go with that idea so I can keep an eye on him. Sorry for the ruse paladin."

"It feels like my sanity has just returned all of a sudden." Brandis said.

"Paladin, Scribe. We have a base stationed in Cambridge, you should come with us. It's time you guys reported in." Nate said.

"I don't know it's been so long we'd be no use."

Rhys stepped in next to say his piece, "You guys were stuck together for three years. None of us know the Commonwealth better than you guys."

"I've been gone for almost ten years… They could take Brandis but they won't take me back… Would they?" Rothchild said.

Elliot stepped in "The Brotherhood needs all the help they can get right now. Rothchild… I left the brotherhood the same time as you, and they brought me back in all the same. You're more valuable than you know."

Nate finalized the deal, "And Brandis, the brotherhood will honor the memory of your team. Shouldn't you be the one to tell their story?"

"Rothchild, they're right… If we don't go back, their sacrifices, everything we've been through, it'll be forgotten. We can't let that happen."

Rothchild stayed still for a moment to process the Paladin's words. He eventually nodded in a determined mindset.

"You're right. Alright, kids we'll do it. Brandis let's go pack our things." Rothchild went over to his bunk.

"We'll wait outside for you two."

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Brandis packed his bag with his last holotape log, fusion core, and stealthboy. He turned off his pulser and gave it to Rothchild to carry.

Stepping outside the bunker the two were ready to travel.

Elliot and Nate were still having that sense of being watched somewhere. Rhys walked up to the two and started scrambling them to their designated points.

"Let's get going guys. It's a long hike to Cambridge… Guys… Guys!" Rhys shook the two pre war soldiers out of their daze, "The hell's with you guys?"

Nate and Elliot looked back up at the nearby woodlands.

"There's something out there watching us." Nate said quietly.

Elliot on the other went to Paladin Brandis to ask him a question.

"Paladin, you and your team were ambushed near Med-Tek… Who or what attacked you guys? There were no signs of enemy tracks and we saw the same thing at the revere satellite array for a group of super mutants."

"To be honest, son… That's the thing. Whatever attacked us, we couldn't see then. They were invisible. We thought they could be Nightkin but… They were taller, precise, agile and smart. It's like-"

Quickly from above a group of cloaked figures with long sharp weapons jumped down.

"Contacts!" Elliot shouted. One managed to snatch Brandis and Rothchild in both arms, but Elliot was tackled by another from behind.

Rhys and Nate couldn't fire their weapons not without hitting Brandis or Rothchild. Rhys was swept from his feet and was hit hard from behind. Another figure had them surrounded on both sides. Now in a daze, it was just Nate. He managed to lay a good amount of shots on the figure who struck Rhys. Enough to deactivate it's cloaking to show what's been tailing them and the last recon team for the past three years.

It was a dark blue skinned humanoid. about nine feet tall. It's build was more slender and less buff than any form of super mutant. It wore slim red colored kevlar across it's limbs, waist, shoulders and upper torso. The wired coils along the armors design was built to reinforce the cloaking and right at the center of it's chest plate was a symbol Nate knew all too well. What these things are, were still a mystery to him, but who they are and what they fight for was not.

These monsterous humanoids carry the red star shaped emblem of the People's Liberation of China's Republic.

Nate snapped himself out of his moment of realization and started shooting at it again, full auto. Shrugging off the lasers the beast snatched Nate from the collar bone and slammed him on the bunkers concrete wall. It pulled out a monstrous looking knife. It could actually be a dagger given the size. The knife started buzzing and hummed out sparks of electricity. The beast quickly lunged it's blade for Nate's heart but he was able to hold it back with his free hand. The strength of this thing was strong and Nate couldn't hold long. With his other hand he quickly went for his combat knife and hacked his hand halfway to the bone. He dropped Nate in the ground while gripping it's wound. A menacing growl roared at Nate but at the corner of it's eye was Rhys tackling it with a hard shove. Rhys quickly pulled out his pistol and shot the thing back to it's group.

"Huí dào xuéxiào" The beast roared to the others of his group.

The other two beasts decloaked for a moment and held Paladin Brandis, Scribe Rothchild and Knight Elliot as hostage. The one that took the most damage from Nate and Rhys swiped Elliot's rifle and kept Nate and Rhys at bay. One of the humanoids pulled out what looked like a concussive grenade and the moment the device hit the ground the whole scene went bright, and up in a quick daze on the ground. They saw the three beasts cloak and flee the bunker down south.

What felt like a moment later, Nate and Rhys found themselves jolting up from the dirt ground outside the bunker.

"What the Fuck were those things!?" Rhys spat in disbelief.

"I have no idea… But…" Nate began catching up on everything that just happened, "I think I know where they're going."

Nate picked up his weapon and checked to find his gear intact. Same with Rhys.

"That one… Thing we hurt. It said 'return to the school'."

"You're shitting me! That thing spoke more like gibberish."

"They were speaking chinese!" Nate immediately rebounded, "Those things had the red star of the chinese army on their armor."

Rhys took a hard sigh and started listening the initiate, "... What school do you think they went too?"

"I have a hunch. The only school that could be used as a base is Malden Elementary."

"What makes you think they'd go to that school?"

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Okay so there's a lot to unpack in this chapter that needs explaining.

Good thing Nate didn't go on this mission alone, right?

Also Daly seems to know what to do with the Minutemen. So proud! And he's whipping Preston into work! Good man!

So to start off, the chinese super mutant beasts was an idea I had for what China would do for a super soldier project. For the design of how they look I took inspiration from Halo's Sangheli "Elites" given how tall, agile, and dangerous they can be. I figured hard, quick and quiet would be how Chinese supersoldiers would fight in Fallout.

So as a personal retcon for the sake of this fanfic I figured a best scenario in Fallout's history for this would be this: If China was able to infiltrate the Mariposa facility in California, steal a sample of the FEV and copy down the research data on the supersoldier program that created the "super mutants" in Fallout. Maybe they'd use what they acquired and make their own super mutant soldiers. With America's research combined with China's own research and resources from the FEV. Perhaps they'd manage to perfect the FEV and make it an actual success.

Now I'm no savant to the lore of Fallout, but I know enough of it to branch out with my own ideas and connect the dots. I figured this would be the best scenario for why they exist.

Also it's a fanfiction… Anything and everything is possible here!

So in Fallout 4 there's a random encounter where you meet a scribe known only as "The Scribe" I figured since Rothchild's status is unknown, both him and the scribe share the same hair and eye color according to Fallout's Wikia. It might as well be him.

Here's to Creativity!