Chapter Four: Guiding Star


"Has anyone ever told you that you look like Killian Jones?" The synthesized voice asked, making him go completely still.

Killian Jones? No, it wasn't possible, it simply wasn't possible. It's been over two hundred and ten years. There was only one person in the whole of time and space that could possibly have known that name, but she was dead…she died when the bombs fell. Walks through time but is untouched by it. That's what Mama Murphy said. Did he dare to hope, to dream, to yearn, to wish… was it true? Please lord let it be true because his heart would not survive if it wasn't.

The figure removed the ruined mask to reveal a woman with short and shaggy white hair and the bluest blue eyes he had ever seen. What happened to her hair? It was crimson red before the bombs fell and her eyes were more green than blue as well. Not that he was complaining, she was still utterly gorgeous and apparently a complete and total badass.

Upon first glance, her outfit of choice made her appear as a man, but take away the coat and she was clearly a woman. The top was a mixture of black leather and a see through mesh. Her midsection was covered with a black leather corset which flowed into the cloth of the black pants she wore seamlessly.

She wore leather straps around her waist and hips that attached to the holsters on her thighs and several pouches were littered across her body. The sleeves of her unusual top were solid and seemed to be made of slippery cloth. She wore black gloves and black leather boots. All in all, she was absolutely breathtaking and he bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from groaning as he became aware of an uncomfortable pressure in his lower region.

"Liam Kincaid, meet Artz Lanaria, King of the Nuka World raiders and the General of the Minutemen." Preston introduced.

"And here I thought you hated me, considering you did just shoot me in the face. Good thing I don't heal like normal folk or I'd be sporting a mighty impressive scar on my lovely face. " She commented with a fair bit of sarcasm and bite.

"A normal person would be dead after taking a laser blast to the face, so they wouldn't be worried about their appearance. Look, I may not like the fact that you're the overboss of the largest group of raiders currently in the Commonwealth, but I can't deny the fact that you're keeping them in line." The Minuteman responded with a sigh.

Her eyes softened, seeming so much older and more tired. Just how much has this woman endured, just how much suffering has she lived through, and more importantly, how was she still sane after living in a post apocalyptic wasteland for over two hundred years?

"I heard about Quincy and came as soon as I could. The Pack decided to wipe out the Gunners that started squatting there and the Operators have restored the trade routes in the area." She informed.

"Wait, you mean…" Preston started, hope springing to his eyes.

"It took some convincing, but both the Pack and the Operators have officially joined the Minutemen." Artz stated proudly with a smirk.

The dark skinned man picked her up in a hug and spun her around in celebration. He set her back down as she laughed at the silly grin on his face.

"What about the other gang…um, the Disciples?" Preston questioned, suddenly remembering that there was a third faction.

"They didn't like how I was running things, so they tried to take over the power plant. I had to wipe out Nisha and most of their senior members. Unfortunately, the remaining members of the gang ran straight to the Commonwealth, so I doubt that we've seen the last of them." The snowy haired woman answered, her head snapping up as Dogmeat barked sharply.

She pushed the Minuteman to the ground just as a barrage of bullets collided with her back. She turned around, the bullets falling out of her clothes and onto the roof. Liam knelt down and glanced around the street. These raiders were different from the others. They were more organized, better protected, and packing some serious heat.

"I should have known they would follow me here. Fucking Disciples. They waited until I was distracted so they could kill someone I cared about. I shouldn't have come here." Artz muttered, glaring at the idiots still shooting at her.

Liam snuck backwards and climbed into the power armor. He grunted from the extra weight and it was a little difficult to move at first, but he managed to make it into the vertibird, grabbed the minigun from its mount, and then proceeded to jump off the damn roof. He could hear the woman that was his heart out cursing a sailor at his supposed recklessness.

He ignored her and started spraying bullets at the bastards that dared to harm his Guiding Star. Even while fighting these assholes, he was going over his encounter with the woman that had stolen his heart over two hundred years ago. One thing was perfectly clear, she didn't remember him. There was no recognition in her eyes, no sense of familiarity, and that made his heart ache a little.

The pain was minimal however because it was dwarfed by the overwhelming relief and joy of her simply being alive. Over two hundred years and she had obviously changed but she was alive and still a sassy little shit. She was still trying to help and his heart was soaring. Perhaps he could convince her to stay on as a companion. Maybe they could work together to find Shaun, stop the Institute and the Brotherhood, and remake the Commonwealth into something better for everyone.

He spotted Dogmeat ripping a raider's leg apart and he realized something. The canine had recognized Artz's voice from the holotape and ran off to seek her out. That dog was definitely a lot smarter than your average spook and he could not be happier. His canine friend had returned his heart to him. That dog deserved to live in luxury for this though he doubted Dogmeat would ever stay still.

He was suddenly ejected from the suit of power armor and he heard a buzzing noise before it clicked off. He looked around and saw a furious Artz holding some kind of tube device in her right hand. She placed it in her inner left jacket pocket before stomping up to him. She slapped him upside the head and he actually winced. Bloody hell, the wench certainly knew how to hit hard, even with an open palm slap.

"You idiot! What the hell were you thinking? Jumping off a three story building in barely functioning power armor and an untested minigun? Doing a stunt like that will get you killed in the wasteland, do you understand me?! No more unnecessary risks! You only have one life to live, don't waste it!" Artz yelled, looking pretty damn upset.

He was surprised by just how strongly she reacted to him emotionally, considering that as of right now he was nothing more than a stranger to her.

"No more dangerous than taking on that creature from the sewers." He retorted, loving how her face morphed closer to indignation.

"I'll have you know that taking down a deathclaw is easy once you know how to do it and can actually pull off the moves necessary for the take down. That's not to say that I wasn't scared because I bloody was. Deathclaws are some of the most fiercest creatures I've ever encountered. They're right up there with Mirelurks and don't get me started on the fucking Mirelurk Queen.

The Mirelurk Kings are a bit easier to take down so long as you don't get stunned by their screeches. Admittedly, I dropped into a church full of ghouls once and those assholes swarmed me. I think I died like two dozen times before I managed to wipe them all out. We've been having some problems with robots lately, so I'll need to track down the Mechanist and give her a stern talking to.

Still got to go to Far Harbor and meet DiMa, preferably with a certain detective in tow. Then there's the Brotherhood of Steel and the fucking Institute. Need to talk to Deacon about Nuka World…ugh, I can hear Desdemona complaining already. Got to swing by the police station to assist Danse, the Combat Zone for Cait, Trinity Tower for Strong, shit…still got to talk to Kent about the Silver Shroud thing.

Speaking of Goodneighbor, I need to go chat up John and let him know about Bobbi No Nose and her fucking tunnel. I'd really hate to have to blow everybody up with a mini nuke. That takes forever to recover from, not to mention I'll lose a month or more of memory due to the length of the recovery process. Having fragmented memories from the last two hundred years is fucking annoying." The snowy haired woman rambled, just talking up a storm.

A literal storm at that, the sky filled with lightning and turned a putrid yellowish green. His vision began to swim and he swayed a bit. His pip boy started going off from the increase in radiation and he realized rather belatedly that this wasn't a thunderstorm, it was a radiation storm. He tried to get some Rad-X from his inventory, but he fell over instead.

Artz caught him and looked at him with such concern. Here she was in the midst of a radioactive thunderstorm and yet she was totally fine. Just how immune to radiation was she?

"Have you never been in a rad storm before? I mean, they're quite common in the Commonwealth. I know you're wearing a vault suit and all, but are you an actual vault dweller?" She asked, obviously confused.

To his knowledge, he didn't look like the default version of Nate from the game, so he could understand her confusion.

"111." He replied, trying to focus on only her.

"The sole survivor? Shit…sorry!" She replied, a syringe appearing in her hand.

She injected him with the contents through his neck and his vision cleared. The nausea disappeared and his equilibrium was restored. He sat up properly and looked up at the sky, marveling at the sight.

"For something so deadly, it's rather beautiful, isn't it?" She commented, smiling at him.

He turned to look at her, a soft smile of his own on his lips.

"Yes, you are." He replied simply.

He was pleased to see the light blush come to her cheeks and her eyes dilating slightly from physical attraction. Preston called to them, beckoning them into the building to get out of the storm. Artz hopped into the power armor as Dogmeat ran inside the museum. Once all of them were back indoors, she exited the suit of power armor and wandered over to Mama Murphy.

"Well hey there, how's my favorite psychic? Remember that project I was working on…well, I've done it. Jet, but without all those nasty side effects and it doesn't matter how much you take either. You'll never overdose and it won't kill you, but I'm not sure if it will trigger your sight or not." She revealed, making him frown.

He remembered her telling him about the drugs the player encountered in the earlier games. One of these drugs was called Jet, highly addictive and usually fatal after extended usage. Jet was a powerful methamphetamine that stimulated the central nervous system. The initial euphoric rush rarely lasted more than a few minutes, but during that time, the user was filled with a rush of energy and strength.

There was a fifty percent chance of getting addicted from a single dosage. Did she actually find a way to allow only the beneficial effects of the drug without the addicting and fatal consequences? Was that truly possible for such a potent drug?

"Artz, you're not using Mama Murphy as a test subject. Just because it works on you doesn't mean it will work on other people." Preston shot down, firmly against the idea.

"I'll try it." Liam volunteered, surprising both the last Minuteman and the woman that was his heart.

"You do realize that this drug is experimental, right?" The dark skinned man asked, doubting his resolve or perhaps his sanity.

"I'm certain the wench has succeeded in her endeavor." He replied, turning his attention to the snowy haired woman, "My life in your hands, love."

She handed him what appeared to be a puffer with a pale pink liquid in the capsule. He placed it to his lips and inhaled the full dosage. Strength and Perception were increased, according to the pip boy and everything around him seemed to slow down. After about twenty seconds, time seemed to resume at its normal speed. He checked the pip boy and the strength and Perception boost was going to last for another nineteen minutes.

"We'll have to wait another nineteen minutes for the effects to fully wear off, but for about twenty seconds, time seemed to slow down. Was that supposed to happen?" He inquired, already knowing the answer.

She beamed at him, beyond happy with the results. She launched into an explanation about the effects of Jet which included the time dilation effect and the increases to strength and Perception, originally the time dilation was to be ten seconds and the Stat increases were only to last for about five minutes. In short, she improved the effectiveness of the drug while eliminating the negative side effects.

Mama Murphy insisted on trying this new drug, despite Preston's protests and it worked marvelously. It activated her sight and allowed her to see more with greater clarity. The sight still wasn't perfect, but it was at least more refined now. The psychic insisted that Artz and Liam would be traveling together and that they would transform the Commonwealth, perhaps even the world.

They decided to let the woman rest and Preston asked to speak with Liam alone while Artz spoke animatedly to Sturges, who seemed pretty damn bemused by the snowy haired woman.

"I have to say that was a pretty amazing display. I'm just glad you're on our side. Can never have too many friends, not in the Commonwealth. Listen…when we first met, you said you wished you had gotten here sooner, you helped us and we owe you our lives. So here, it ain't much but it's the best way I can say thank you." The last Minuteman stated while handing him a hundred caps and fifty fusion cells.

He accepted them and placed them into his inventory, but he did need to set the record straight.

"I didn't do it for the money, Preston. I did it because it was right." Liam corrected with an earnest expression on his face.

"Sorry, didn't mean to offend. I'm used to people usually being more focused on themselves than others. Anyways, I have two favors to ask. The first is that we're heading towards a place Mama Murphy knows about. It's called Sanctuary and I was hoping you might come along with us." Preston replied, essentially offering him an escort mission.

"I was actually going to offer to take you there since that's where I live, but what's the second favor?" He retorted, wanting to know why there was another deviation to the main script of the game.

"Well…it has to do with the General. She may come across as a sarcastic badass, but she's actually a lot more sensitive than you'd expect from someone that's lived for over two hundred years. I mean she's traveled from the east coast to the west and back again. She's taken on all sorts of crazy shit; raiders, Gunners, the Enclave, the Brotherhood, deathclaws, giant geckos, radscorpions, ghouls, whole armies, robots, super mutants and even aliens.

She's died so many times and in so many ways, yet still keeps on helping, keeps on saving. I've known her since I was a kid. She was the reason why I joined the Minutemen. I may not always agree with her methods, but I can't argue with her results. Still, I worry about her…constantly.

She's always traveling on her own. Rarely does she have any sort of companion. She's taken Dogmeat a few times but for the most part, she travels alone. I think it's because of the not staying dead thing. She's able to travel to more dangerous areas that would be considered suicidal otherwise, but two hundred years is a long time to be alone.

My favor is that you take her with you on your travels like Mama Murphy was talking about, but also look after her. She's smiled more in the last hour than she has in the last decade, hell probably the last century. There's something about you that's different, something that calls to her and she responds to that, so please take care of her. She deserves some happiness." The dark skinned man requested, both honest and sincere.

"Come with me, mate. There's something you need to hear." Liam replied ambiguously.

The duo headed further in and out of hearing distance of the others, especially Artz. Liam pulled a tape from his inventory. It was one that Artz had created for each companion should they be successfully recruited.

"Hello, Preston. My name is Artz Lanaria and I'm from a parallel world where your world is a work of fiction, a series of immersive games called Fallout. The events that include you are from a game called Fallout 4. What does this have anything to do with anything?

Well, it has to do with the fact that I'm guiding Liam via holotapes to try and make a better future for the Commonwealth, considering there is a very good chance that I'm dead whether by nuclear fire or a malfunction in the cryo pods of Vault 111. Liam is a good man, the best I've ever known, and I need you to watch out for him.

The wasteland is an unforgiving place, you know this, Preston, because you've lived it. Liam is precious to me, more than he knows, and he's alone. I know you don't know me, but please take care of him. Don't be afraid to place your faith in him. He'll do right by you, I promise. Just remember that not all things are black and white.

Sometimes you do have to compromise so long as it doesn't violate your core beliefs. For if you don't bend a little, you'll end up snapping like a twig. To effect change, you must be malleable yet firm. I know it's a bit tricky to strike such a precarious balance, but it's not about can or can't, some things in life you just do. Good luck, Preston, and thank you. Thank you for being you." The tape ended and he placed it back into his inventory.

"How…" Preston asked, looking up at the man in bewilderment.

"She and I were friends over two hundred years ago. I was forced to leave her behind to enter Vault 111 where they lied to us. We thought we were entering decontamination pods but were in fact cryostasis pods. I woke up a couple of days ago. Everyone else is dead, my son was taken before the pods malfunctioned, and I have no idea where he is.

Up until a short while ago, I believed that the woman I loved more than life itself was dead, that I abandoned her to die by the fallout of a nuclear bomb. She's alive but she does not remember me. She looks at me and she looks right through me. It shouldn't kill me but it does. Still, she's alive and I swear I will never leave her again." Liam answered, his voice chock full of emotion.

"That's why she reacts to you so strongly. Her mind doesn't remember but her heart does. On some level, she does remember you, Liam. Though I have to admit that this sure does explain a lot. Why she never gave up on me because she knew me, knew what I would become. Alright, Liam…we get settled in Sanctuary and you got yourself another gun." The last Minuteman declared with a smile.

"How about a friend instead?" Liam countered, offering his hand to shake.

Preston nodded his head as he took the sole survivor's hand and shook it before releasing it. The duo made their way back to the others. Liam saw the snowy haired woman and how subdued she had become in their brief absence. She was leaning against the wall, arms and legs crossed. Her eyes were dull and distant like she was a million miles away.

He cleared his throat to announce their return, making everyone look their way. The snowy haired woman's eyes snapped to his and her entire demeanor changed. She stood up from the wall, uncrossing her limbs. Her eyes filled with emotion as a brilliant smile graced her lips. His heart fluttered at the sight and he didn't miss the smug look on Mama Murphy's face.

He walked over to the snowy haired woman and looked directly into her eyes. The smile on her face dropped into a smirk, mischief dancing in her eyes. He was wondering what she could possibly be thinking about. Knowing her, it could be positively anything. Her imagination was quite vast after all.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and brought his head down to whisper something into his ear. He went willingly, more than happy to entertain her. The last thing he expected was for her to change course and press her lips against his. Before he could control his reaction, he had her pinned against the wall and assaulted her mouth with his own. He was completely drunk with her presence and his only focus was kissing the woman that was his heart.

Unfortunately, there was a need to breathe which forced them apart slightly to catch their breath. She managed to slip out of his arms and he turned to look at her, wondering why she had left his embrace so quickly. He saw the look of guilt and regret on her face. He reached for her but she retreated from him. She then turned and ran out the front entrance of the museum, right into the rad storm still raging outside.

"Artz! Bloody minded wench!" He yelled, racing over to the power armor.

He opened it and climbed inside, the armor closing behind him. Preston was by his side in an instant, worry on his face.

"Don't worry, Preston. I'll find her." Liam vowed before looking to Dogmeat.

The canine was already standing by the door with a look that said hurry up and let's go already.

"Don't worry about Dogmeat, he's immune to radiation and can track anyone even across the country." Mama Murphy spoke up, assuaging his fears about the dog's safety.


Being in a radiation storm wasn't so bad when one possessed a full suit of power armor, but it did reduce visibility quite a lot. He honestly had no idea how Dogmeat was able to track anything in these kinds of conditions. They had completely left Concord and were now somewhere in the woods.

Didn't that nutter live out this way? It was the bloke that believed that the new radio tower built nearby was some kind of conspiracy to control people's minds. What was the chap's name…Gorski, that was it. Perhaps, Artz went to the cabin to wait out the storm. He hoped that she was alright.

She may be immune to radiation and unable to stay dead, but her heart was still human and it could still be broken. Dogmeat barked and bolted towards a small cabin nearby. He clawed at the door, whining to be let in. The door opened and there was Artz. Liam entered the room then exited the power armor. He felt a prick in his neck and noticed that she had injected him with something again.

"Sorry about running off before. I shouldn't have kissed you like that. You're the sole survivor, meaning that you have recently lost your wife and your son is missing. I should not have taken advantage…" She rambled but he interrupted her.

He pinned her to the wall, his eyes bleeding into mirrored obsidian. Her eyes widened at the sight, but also dilated with desire.

"If I did not want to kiss you, wench, then I would not have responded the way I did. Yes, my wife is dead and my son is gone, but I am not so foolish to turn away the advances of a woman I am genuinely interested in." He stated, firmly.

He pressed his body fully against hers, letting her feel his arousal pressing against her womanly parts.

"Let's make one thing perfectly clear, Liam Kincaid. I don't want a relationship, you can't romance me, but I have no problem with doing the horizontal tango with you all night." Artz replied with a smirk.

"Give me some time to win you over, wench, because one day I'm gonna marry you." Liam retorted, confident in his declaration of intent.

"Go ahead, knock yourself out, because I'm not the marrying type." She snapped lightly, the challenge clear in her eyes and tone.

"You will be." He countered, pushing her down onto a nearby mattress, "But until then…let's dance."

He kissed her again, pouring all of his passion and love into that single kiss. The clothes came off pretty quickly after that. Neither of them noticed how Dogmeat went to lay behind the broken dresser, covering his eyes with his paws. They only saw each other as the storm continued to rage outside.

The storm eventually passed and Liam did freak out a little because Artz was no longer in the cabin with him. He quickly got dressed and was about to jump into the power armor to go look for her when she strolled in with blood splattered clothes. She systematically brought out items from thin air, including some kind of venison and all the accruetraments for cooking some kind of stew.

"Radstag, it's a mutated deer with two heads and is probably the best tasting meat you're going to find in the wasteland. Sure as hell better than brahmin which is a two headed cow…go figure. Though fried gecko isn't too bad, so long as the meat comes from a golden gecko. Regular geckos are too stringy and quite fatty while the golden gecko is more lean but it's a bitch to take down and even harder to skin.

Those hides are worth a small fortune though, so every time I ran across a batch of geckos, I pretty much exterminated them. The regular gecko hides sold for a lot less since they were so common, but I wasn't going to complain since I could just store them in my inventory. Come to think of it, I actually need to do a run through of my inventory, see what I actually have in there. It's been a while since I took stock of everything.

Anyways, back to my original thought track. I've tried everything I could think of to season radroach meat, but there is no season, spice, or condiment that could ever make that shit actually edible. Mole rat meat is surprisingly bitter and a bit on the tough side. Now deathclaw meat, that's a tricky one. If cooked correctly and seasoned just right, it's like eating a fucking steak.

The problem is getting the meat from said deathclaw and most people can't get it. Sometimes they can get an egg but it's not worth it because deathclaws can track their eggs anywhere and are brutally violent towards anything that gets in their way. Best to just kill them and snatch the eggs. They make a pretty good omelet.

Radstag is one of the easier meats to come by since so many deer wander the less developed areas of the Commonwealth. I got lucky and managed to bag three of them nearby with Dogmeat's assistance. Before you ask, Dogmeat is not your traditional canine. He's cybernetically augmented and he's been with me since I infiltrated an Enclave base on the West Coast.

His former designation is K-9, but ever since Mama Murphy called him Dogmeat, he's gone by that name ever since. I removed his outward modifications since they kept getting damaged, they slowed him down and actually limited him in many ways, and I improved his internal augmentations though doing the upgrades was a little tricky, but there wasn't much I could do for the vocal synthesizer. He had his throat ripped out by a particularly vicious Yao Gui, but I was able to save his life.

That's not to say that anything else was damaged. Seriously, he can still understand everything that's going, he just can't actually form words verbally anymore which is a shame because he was such a great conversationalist to have around other people, so much snark and sarcasm." She rambled, receiving a playful bark from the cyber hound.

"I knew that there was something different about that dog." Liam commented, shaking his head in a fond manner, "About last night…"

"It can be a one time only thing if you prefer, but I won't say no to an encore or multiple encores. Whichever you prefer, I shall abide by. Just no romance." She replied, offering him the choice.

Admittedly, he should not have made love to her so soon because now he was craving her touch even more than before. She was not ready for a romantic relationship, but he knew full well that he would not be able to keep his hands off her. He already lost her once, he wasn't about to let her go now.

He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her neck. He was lucky the blood on her clothes had dried or he would have to wear a soiled vault suit all the way back to Sanctuary Hills.

"I'm not so easily sated, wench, and neither are you, so don't be surprised when I pin you to the closest flat surface and have my merry way with you." He responded, nipping her neck lightly.

"I look forward to it." She replied, trying to focus on cooking their stew.

"I'll make certain to remember it well." He countered with a smirk.

She turned to look at him, surprise written across her features. He had deliberately said that to get that kind of reaction. He wanted her to think, to work it out, to come to the realization that they had met before. It was a bloody miracle that she hadn't noticed the blue box hanging around his neck last night, though he had been distracting her quite thoroughly at the time.

He placed a kiss to her lips and pressed her back against the table, deftly turning off the stew so it wouldn't burn. He refused to relinquish her, worshipping her body yet again. It wasn't quite as vigorous as the previous night, both of them were still pretty exhausted. Still, it was quite the experience. So long has he wanted to make love to the woman that was his heart and he found it more addicting than any kind of drug or alcohol in existence.

They did eventually get around to eating breakfast, but he didn't get around to asking how she made things appear and disappear like magic. Why because she got a call on the radio from Porter Gage, her second in command at Nuka World.

"Damn it, Porter. I only just got back to the bloody Commonwealth. What could possibly be so important that it couldn't bloody wait?!" Artz snapped hotly.

She was wearing a headset and the microphone was near her mouth. She was pissed like properly pissed and he had a feeling that it had more to do with him than with her second in command.

"The Disciples took over one of the parks, slaughtered everyone in it and barred the entrances." Gage informed.

"Which park?" She questioned.

"Safari Zone." The raider answered and she started swearing in several languages, some he recognized and others he didn't.

"Alright, I'm on my way. Make certain the Quantum armor is fully upgraded and ready to use upon my arrival." She ordered.

"May I ask why, boss? You don't use power armor as a general rule." Gage inquired.

The snowy haired woman glanced his way and he understood why she wanted the power armor. He nodded his head with a smirk and she smiled in relief.

"That's because I'm bringing a friend and I want him outfitted with the best that Nuka World can provide. Tell the Operators to spare no expense. We're putting down the Disciples once and for all." She answered firmly.

"Roger that, boss. I'll have everything ready for ya by the time you get here." The raider replied, disconnecting the call.

She vanished the headset and sighed.

"Sorry for dragging you into this mess, but the Disciples know me, know how I think. You're an unknown, meaning that we can throw them into disarray. Might not be that much of a surprise, but I'll take any advantage I can get.

The reason why I decided to go ahead and go back to Nuka World is due to the Safari Zone. During my first exploration, I discovered some kind of DNA replication device. A scientist used this machine to create creatures by mixing the DNA of a chameleon, an alligator, and a super mutant.

It created the Gatorclaw, but something went wrong and it started mass producing these creatures. I managed to fight my way through the place and shut down this genetic cloning machine, clearing the park of all the preexisting critters roaming about the place." The snowy haired woman stated, placing a hand on her hip.

"And now these Disciples have taken over the park and has possible access to a cloning device that could mass produce an army of creatures, killing us all and possibly the Commonwealth. Let's swing by Sanctuary so I can drop off this power armor and let Preston know where we're heading. " He suggested.

"No need." She replied pulling out that same tube device as before.

The buzzing sound was coming from the device and he was suddenly ejected from the power armor again. The suit vanished into thin air and she placed the tube like device back into her inner left jacket pocket.

"What the bloody hell is that thing and why does it make such a racket when you use it?" Liam asked, his curiosity getting the better of himself.

"It's called a sonic screwdriver and it's a device that utilizes sonic emissions to perform a variety of tasks commonly having to do with locks, terminals, and anything technological in nature. It does mess with some biological stuff, but only when it comes to hearing. I'm still working on the whole wood thing, just a few bugs to work out with the process speed." She answered, smiling at him.

"And how do you make things appear and disappear? It's not like the digitization process of the pip boy." He pointed out as they began their trek towards the Nuka World transit station.

"It's a kind of magic…well, more like a combination of dimensional science, light sensitivity, runic formulas, a bit of radiation, nanotechnology, and teleportation, along with a visual interface that I use through thought manipulation." She attempted to explain.

"So you mixed magic and science together to achieve the seemingly impossible." He summed up.

"Exactly." She concurred, pulling out a second headset.

The first headset had been a bright red color with the Nuka World logo on the back of the speaker, but this one was your basic blue with a white star on the speaker. She tapped the speaker and he heard a quiet click.

"Preston? Preston, do you copy?" Artz asked, waiting for a reply.

He heard a second click and the last Minuteman's voice came through the speaker grill.

"General! Good to hear your voice. Is Liam with you and Dogmeat?" He asked.

"Liam is with me as is Dogmeat. Sorry for running off yesterday. Have you reached Sanctuary yet?" She countered, trying to bypass the emotional bits.

"Yeah, we have. What's wrong, General? You wouldn't have used the headset unless something happened. What's going on?" He questioned further.

"The attack yesterday with the Disciples, it was a distraction. They've taken over one of the parks in Nuka World, the Safari Zone. I've got to go back and clear them out before they figure out how to use the cloning machine in the Welcome Center. Otherwise, we'll have an army of the alligator version of the deathclaw swarming across the Commonwealth." She explained, scowling at the ground.

"Perhaps you should send Dogmeat to Sanctuary and take Liam with you. He seems pretty decent in a fight, better than me at the very least. He could help you with this." Preston suggested, sounding hopeful and a little pushy.

The snowy haired woman actually let out a soft laugh, making the sole survivor of Vault 111 smile at the sound. He would never tire of hearing her voice or basking in her warmth.

"You heard him Dogmeat. Head to Sanctuary, boy. As for Liam, he's already agreed to accompany me to Nuka World. I'm going to outfit him with the best power armor Nuka World has to offer and we're going to take back the Safari Zone.

Preston, focus on making Sanctuary habitable, set up traps if you need to, and when I get back, I'll deck out the settlement Artz style and make it more defensible than the fucking Castle. Just hold down the fort until I get this finished, alright?" She ordered, coming off as incredibly inspiring.

"I'm on it, General! Just leave everything to me. I won't let you down." Preston replied and Liam was sure that he was saluting.

She vanished the headset and sighed softly. They continued walking through the desolate land, and it was clear that she was deeply thinking about something, most likely what the game plan would be to take back the park from the renegade raiders. She pulled out a black and white headset with a splash of luminescent green on the back of the speaker.

"Oswald, Oswald can you hear me?" She spoke after tapping the speaker.

"Loud and clear, pink skin." A gravelly voice responded with a bit of cheek.

"The Disciples have taken over the Safari Zone and sealed off the main entrances. I need a way inside for me and a man in power armor. Think you can find it, Oswald the Outrageous. It's the place with the cloning machine, might help with Rachel's research. If you decide to help, track down Cito and his family and tell them that his former home has been invaded. The choice is yours, my friend." Artz spoke before turning off the headset and vanishing it.

"Oswald and Cito?" He inquired, curious about these people.

He probably had holotapes about them in his inventory, but he wouldn't be able to listen to them while she's within earshot.

"Oh sorry. Forgot you didn't know. Anyways, Oswald was a magician that used to work for Nuka World before the bombs fell, stage name being Oswald the Outrageous. Anyways, after the bombs fell he had his friends slowly became ghouls due to the radiation storms. He became a glowing one, meaning that he now possesses the ability to resurrect and command feral ghouls.

His lover, Rachel, believes that the feral state was something that could be cured like an infection or a disease. Radiation eventually and supposedly rots the brain, thus making them feral monsters that attack anything that gets close, sometimes each other. In order to clear out another park in Nuka World, Kiddie Kingdom, I had to face off against Oswald and a shit load of feral ghouls covered in a variety of paint colors.

Yeah, I died several times during that jaunt. I couldn't take Porter with me because the sprayers were flooding the air with radioactive mist and he'd have been dead before we even trekked through a quarter of the park. I explored the tunnels, the rides, random buildings, the Fun House, and eventually the Castle which contained the theater where Oswald used to perform.

He eventually invited me up to the clock tower within the castle for a final confrontation. Luck was on my side, however, because Rachel had seen me enter the theater. She rushed in between us and begged Oswald to stop. You see, I had saved Rachel from some assholes about a year prior and she recognized me. When Oswald learned that I had saved his girl, he agreed to leave Kiddie Kingdom with Rachel and the ghouls.

As for Cito, he was a boy that lost his family at an early age and was raised by ghoulish gorillas. I took down a Gatorclaw near the entrance and he asked for my help to get rid of the monsters. Took almost three days to clear the place out after turning off the machine. There had been four times as many Gatorclaws than I'd thought there would be.

I thought there would be anywhere between fifteen to twenty of those things, turns out there were eighty four. How the hell Cito and has family remained alive for so many years is beyond me because that was a fucking nightmare within a fucking nightmare. That's how I know how to take down a deathclaw. Before the Safari Zone, I either used a minigun with armor piercing rounds or a fucking mini nuke launcher.

Heaven knows what sort of resistance we're about to walk into. By the time we get there, they'll be fully entrenched; fortifications, sentries, turrets, traps, mines, snipers…pretty much a veritable gauntlet and I already went through one gauntlet just to end up as overboss of the Nuka World raiders.

Worse still, they know I'm coming and that I'm coming for blood. They tried to kill my friends, along with innocent people. I gave them the chance to walk away peacefully and they spurned it. I was willing to let it slide when they seemingly fled to the Commonwealth, but going after Preston Garvey, there will be no mercy this time, so they're preparing for the ultimate war because they know I won't stop until they are all dead." She explained, her eyes burning with rage.

That was a feeling that he could understand. After waking up and discovering the truth about the vaults, he wanted to go on a bloody rampage. Even before the bombs fell, he had been willing to spill the blood of dozens if not hundreds of people, leaving a trail of corpses in his wake if it meant protecting her and keeping her free.

His eyes shifted to mirror obsidian and he had forgotten to put the sunglasses back on. He was going to prove to the wench that she was making the right choice in having him along. He wanted to banish any and all doubts in her mind to convince her to stay by his side in the post apocalyptic world. It was time to resurrect the soldier from long ago, the man that would be a weapon, and for her, he would make the waters of the world run red just so that he would never lose her again.