Two years just didn't seem long enough, since the last siege. Debatably, this one was worse, though the casualties were just a few drifters. Not that it makes it okay but there's always comfort in it not being someone you know or worse, someone you love.
Still, that monster got so close to the bomb, that it had moved it a few feet. How the hell were they going to beat an army, if a creature like that is leading the charge. Hardin hadn't seen one that big before, it was twice the size of the behemoth.
How many do they have? It took an entire round of the Alien Blaster to destroy the first of the Titans. That thing could turn a death claw to ash, in a single shot but this thing barely reacted to it, at least not for the first few shots.
"Hardin!" Jynx called, jogging to his back. He was ankle deep in dust at this point, wincing as it blew into his face. It occurred to him, that he had frozen, since he destroyed the beast, lost in a runaway train of thought.
He slowly turned back to her, eyeing the tanned Lamplighter as she doubled over, short on breath from the panic of facing a colossus.
"Sheriff!" Durga called out, a harshness in her tone.
"Durga, leave it!" Arthur whispered, frantically tugging at her arm.
"That weapon, you are holding is some very powerful tech, that could assist the Brotherhood in their effort to wipe the mutant threat out. I demand that you hand it over."
"Or what? Attacking me isn't going to go well for you, since this thing can turn a man to ash in a single shot." Hardin shrugged, his trigger finger slithering into place.
"Assuming you can hit me." Durga shrugged, folding her arms and glaring at the weapon.
"Who said I'd fire at you?"
"What!?" Arthur shuddered, seeming more than a little freaked out by that.
"He's bluffing." Jynx assured him, with a shrug.
"Want to test that theory?"
Hardin's eyes were fixated on Durga, with a bitter determination, as he got ready to fire a blue wave of alien energy into her face. As far as he was concerned, these people were trying to rob the sheriff, which made them fair game as far as shooting them in the goddamn face went.
"Can you two stop with the dick measuring contest for five minutes!? We just got attacked by a hoard of monsters, ain't that a more pressing issue, than your pathetic egos?" Jynx had to take a deep breath, after she was done shouting, due to her being low on it to begin with.
"Well, I'm trying to stop that hoard but your idiot sheriff is holding tight to the only thing that could possibly do the job!" Durga pointed out, gesturing to the thing.
"What, you haven't got a weapon like this?" Hardin shrugged.
"The big bad brotherhood can't even outdo a kid, with a plastic watergun?"
"It does look like a children's toy..." Arthur commented, a novice might even consider that to be an option but obviously the plastic would melt as soon as the thing fired, making it a twisted salad by the third shot.
"This thing isn't falling into the hands of a military organization, that's the one thing that the previous owner and I agree on."
Denis was the previous owner and he knew exactly why this thing was kept locked in a locker, behind a combination lock. The Enclave, the Brotherhood... Denis knew that they were all the same. He knew that a weapon, like this, shouldn't be in the hands of a group of mad tech hoarders, with fascist leanings.
Somehow, that didn't sound like something that would go very well.
"So what? You're just going to keep it, in your back pocket? Waiting for some Raider or Super Mutant to kill you and take it? To what end? How many lives would be destroyed by such a powerful weapon falling into the wrong hands?"
"You talk as if your Citadel can't be invaded. You say this, like Callaghan wasn't the difference between you assholes being wiped out, by the Enclave. I ain't buying this crap, you're trying to peddle. Everyone knows your Brotherhood is falling apart and the only thing protecting you, is those walls but if your old buddies, in the rusty armour or the Frankensteins get organized, you guys are going the way of the Enclave and then one of two nutjobs will have this thing.
No, it stays with me."
The Quarter Master wished that she could argue back but she couldn't... Faith in the Brotherhood was, justifiably, at an all time low.
"What if we take you then?" Arthur asked, as if it didn't even need considering.
"You come with us and the Outcasts to Vault 87 and after that, you can keep that thing away from the three of our groups combined."
"Are you crazy!? You can't seriously suggest that it's safe in this kid's hands!" Arthur was so incredibly Naive, it's a shame that Gunny wasn't allowed to beat it out of him, like he did the others.
"Why not? So long as we know it's here and we know that it's in the hands of a responsible man, in authority, then... What's the issue?"
"The Issue is..." In truth, Durga couldn't really argue, without bringing up the Codex and the Lyons chapter never really followed the Codex as closely as the others, due to it 'lacking compassion.'
"You know what? F* it! Since I'm the only one with some sense, I guess I'm outvoted, no matter what I say. Are we taking the boy sheriff, with his toy gun?"
"I haven't agreed to it, yet." Hardin shrugged.
"Though I will, on three conditions. The first will be that I keep this thing, at all times. Anyone tries to take if from me, you become a pile of ash.
The second will be that I take Jynx with me, maybe Kyu, if he's up for the job. I'm not sleeping, alone, with you two.
Third? I get a say in what shots are called, because you dickheads aren't in charge of me. Megaton has not, not will it ever bent its knee to the Brotherhood."
"Fair." Maxson shrugged, though he stopped to think on it.
"Does it have to be the mutant though? I mean, he is..."
"I'm what!?" Kyu grunted, his heavy boot prints lightly sounded off as he approached the young Squire from behind. Arthur found himself turning pale as he looked around, seeing how outmatched he would be in a fight.
"Well erm... Sir... You're kinda new and I don't know anything about you and..."
"I get it, you're racist." Kyu shrugged, not really caring at this point.
"I don't mind coming along, if you want. I wouldn't mind taking Shepard on, one on one, bare handed."
"You can also spy for us, which'll be useful."
"Sometimes, yeah." Kyu shrugged, thinking on it.
"I wouldn't count too much on that. If they see me travelling, with you guys, they'll just attack us all."
"What about your outcast buddies? Won't they try blowing a hole in him?" Jynx asked, getting a shrug from Durga.
"They're equally as likely to blow a hole in us as well."
"I figured Kyu could be our swingvote, if all four of our votes clash." Hardin added.
"I value his opinion more than some buckethead, anyway."
"Ain't that what the muties call them?" Kyu shrugged, finding it a bit juvenile, in truth.
"I dunno what to call 'em. Bucketheads covers it."
"We're losing daylight..." Durga sighed, looking back to the others.
"If you have everything that you need? I suggest you come with us."
"Hey, Hardin?" Maggie asked, jogging back over.
"M-Maybe I should go with you? Instead of Jynx? I think Garreth will need her here, in case the mutants come back for round two."
"Actually, I was going to say that you should stay here, in case they come back for Round 2. You're decent enough, with that gun but you need to be more than a good shot out there."
Maggie wasn't exactly happy but she understood . She'd never been outside the city walls before, she didn't know the first thing about avoiding predators or murderers. She didn't know much about the new factions outside or the new wave of mutants.
To be fair, Hardin didn't exactly venture out much but he at least knew what was going on, from the local runners and had ventured out as far as Rivet City before. He wasn't exactly Denis, when it came to surviving out there but he at least knew the basics and the sensitivities of Rivet City, The Republic of Dave and Tenpenny Tower.
Or the 'Kingdom of Tom' as it was now known as...
From what he understood, the Kingdom of Tom was worse than Dave's republic but Tom's people seemed happy. Hardin only went once, when one of Gareth's Caravans were held prisoner for insulting the King.
He didn't plan on going back...
"You and Gareth know this city well enough to defend it and rebuild, while I'm away."
Maggie nodded, she knew that he was right but it still didn't exactly make her feel good about it. It had been a while since the two of them had got to spend any time together. If only he could get out of his slump and go back to being how he was a few years back.
She used to like him a little more than a simple friend, back then but now? No... Not really. He had long since grown repulsive. Not just in his unkempt look, which she could look past but his surly nature and foul temper.
It felt wrong, given how much he'd been through but she'd lost Billy and she never resorted to... What he is now.
"You can... Count on us, Hardin." She assured him, knowing that he wasn't the biggest fan of leaving the city.
"Heh... Never doubted that." Hardin said, making sure that she was assuring him, just as much. He was content with leaving now, knowing that his town was in good... if not better hands.
The two Brotherhood warriors followed him out, with the Mutant and the Lamplighter. Nobody was exactly sure about any of this but what choice did they have? Megaton wasn't going to survive another attack and the Brotherhood would need assistance, if they were to wipe them out.
They walked the broken road, through Springvale, all the way up to Vault 101. Hardin found himself staring at the cave entrance as he found himself uneasy. There could be a whole new breed of Callaghans or Hamiltons down there.
It always disgusted him, the idea of Vaults. Hundreds of people, dressed in uniform, like some sort of cult. People who had never seen the sun. It wouldn't be so bad, if they just stayed down there but they always end up crawling up to the surface and raising hell.
He found himself concerned about those rumours about Denis returning. They were all way off and he wondered if it was another Vault Dweller or just fantasy entirely. Shame he was blacked out drunk, that time he came to Megaton.
Their first stop was Fort Independence, the home of the Outcasts. Christ, this felt like a bad idea... Those guys made the Brotherhood look like decent folk. In their rustic armour, lugging huge guns around and insulting anyone, who passes them by. God help anyone, who happens to be carrying a form of advanced technology...
Arthur wasn't anymore certain of his plan than Hardin was. The Outcasts were known to attack the Brotherhood on sight, however, they had been strangely reserved since the Lyons Dynasty ended. Almost like they were waiting and seeing as to whether or not the true Brotherhood would change in any way.
Most of the main players, of the Outcasts, were long since dead or missing. Denis cleared Fort Independence out, once or twice and their numbers were considerably fewer these days. They were still the size of a small army but it wasn't likely that they would be able to take on the Brotherhood, through sheer force, any time soon. Perhaps that was Callaghan's intention? To cull them, rather than try wiping them out completely.
They were a somewhat beneficial faction, to the general public. It didn't seem worth picking on them, when they were doing half of the Brotherhood's work, in the more dangerous areas anyway.
Durga had been working on what she was going to say, in her head. A means to get past the gate and not get shot. It wasn't like she could lie and say that they weren't Brothers of Steel. That was the whole point in them being there.
How sad was it that she had to bank on the Outcasts having enough decency in them to not just shoot her and the children? Was this what she had come to? Walking up to a group of known criminals and hoping that they don't open fire? The real brotherhood killed children, more than a few times in her lifetime. Usually for a just cause, of course, heavy mutations, child soldiers, the odd bit of collateral damage.
War was a rough business, not exactly for the feint of heart.
Fort Independence came, sooner than they were expecting. Much sooner... They were stood outside of the ruins of the old office block, within a heartbeat. The makeshift automated turrets locked onto them, clicking and whirring, like an animal, giving off a low growl.
If they didn't have military grade targetting systems in them, they would probably have gone off by now. However, they tended to register targets as enemies before doing that, which usually needed some kind of trigger to activate.
Just up ahead was one of the black and orange outcasts, looking for something to shoot. Probably just any excuse to pull the trigger, whatever was needed...
"Who goes there!?" She called out, raising her rifle and locking them in her sites.
"Identify yourselves!"
"Quarter Master Durga of the Brotherhood of Steel." The Quarter Master sighed, raising her hands.
"I'm escorting Arthur Maxson!"
As the Outcast looked over her, she immediately noticed the boy, standing by her side. He was older than any of the outcasts would have remembered him being but they could still see it.
As I live and breathe...
"W-What're you doing, having him out in the open!?"
It was typical that the Brotherhood couldn't even look after their most vital asset. Absolutely Goddamn typical.
"I ran away!" Arthur called out, stepping forward.
"So that I could come here and talk! I want... I want to make a deal, with your leader!"
Suspicions were already rising, the boy was old enough to fight and he'd been with the Lyons' Dynasty for so long, they could have easily have brainwashed him. He could be a trojan horse, a small sabotage group, an advanced guard even.
"We will turn over all of our weapons, save one as a gesture of good safe. The one we will keep, we will turn in all of the ammunition for!"
Hardin didn't exactly like that, especially given that he wasn't asked about any of this and was now surrendering his ammo to these nutjobs but this wasn't the worst way that this could've gone down.
"Lyons letting muties in now?" The Outcast asked, gesturing to Kyu, who lumbered over the others, seeming indifferent to everything at this point. None of this meant anything to him. Two days ago, he'd assume these assholes were the same Brotherhood as the ones at the Citadel.
"Kyu is assisting us, with the mutant crisis. He has valuable information and has offered to spy for us, he has more than earned his place among us."
"How do you know that he isn't spying for them?" The Outcast questioned, really not liking this merry band of misfits at this point. Everything about it stunk, it was either idiocy or deceit and both of them were more than she could be bothered with.
"A super mutant spy?" Hardin asked.
"Do you think the muties have spy masters now?"
"He's willing to spy for you, what makes you so sure that he isn't a double agent?" The Guard pointed out, keeping her weapon trained on him.
"Anyone, who can construct a sentence has no place in Vault 87." Ryu assured her.
"I practice martial arts and philosophy, what the hell am I going to get out of a world ruled by mutants?"
The Guard paused, thinking on it, he did have a good point. It seemed that they found a rare gem, out there in the wastes. Hopefully it wasn't too flawed...
The Guard leant over to the intercom and began to talk to her superior, having to re-iterate everything to someone who was not expecting this of all things, to happen today. The Maxson child had actually come to his senses... or perhaps he never had to and was right all along.
Arthur entered the Fort, finding himself disappointed in its lacking technological prowess. Though they had energy weapons, they were very pedestrian and they only had a handful, being passed around, like hang-me-downs.
The Outcasts really did look like deserters, huddled in the hollowed-out ruins of an office block, miles away from the main hive. It was tragic, more than anything, so much potential in these soldiers, lost as they chose to live in squalor.
But the real sad part? He could see this being the future for his Brotherhood as well...
As Jynx, Ryu and Dirga stumbled around him, eyeing everything, he found himself locked onto his train of thought. He thought about one thing and one thing only... How he'd convince this merry band of duty dodging cutthroats to join his cause.
He wasn't completely without a plan but he only had the one and phrasing was everything. Arthur was in a very fortunate position as both parties believed that he was on their side. The truth was that they were right, he was on their sides.
That's what he had to focus on, unity.
The dark, dingy, hollowed out remains of Fort Independence loomed over them, like some sort of spectre. Perhaps it was the peeling walls, the lack of lights or the dingy interiors but this place seemed to reflect the hopelessness of the inhabitants, quite nicely.
Hardin certainly felt it, since it was something that he recognized. A better time, lost to many years of anger, pride and resentment. Hopes and dreams, blocked off, by a past that cannot be reclaimed...
He still didn't like these purist assholes but he could certainly see where they came from.
"We'll take you through to the Commander, she'll be... interested to hear what you have to say." The Outcast guard dog informed them, which was a relief to Hardin as this would be the best time to reveal that they were going to betray and imprison them.
They were lead downstairs, lower levels of Fort Independence, where it more so resembled a military base. Down there, they did their research and stored the their ill-gotten tech.
At this point, Arthur found himself distracted by the mystery of who the commander could even be. How many outcasts had died? Killed, by Callaghan's hand alone...
He only left a couple alive as he dealt with them, to the point that leadership was somewhat ad-hoc for a while but over the past two years, they probably had some sort of permanent or semi permanent solution installed.
"Commander Olin!" The Outcast announced, entering the research room, to reveal a rather tired-looking blonde woman, in dark scribe robes. She was fully hunched over a terminal, like some sort of screen zombie, tentatively mashing buttons.
"This'd better be good, Hoffman, I'm..." At that point, the Commander lifted her head to see Arthur Maxson, a Super Mutant, a cowboy and a Recon Armoured Sister of Steel...
If this was a joke, she wouldn't even bother trying to guess the punchline.
"M-Maxson? You... You came to us." She said, breathlessly as the pieces in her head fit into place.
Maxson honestly found it beyond weird, being the center of attention, almost liking it as he finally wasn't being treated like a glass ornament.
"Commander Olin, I wish to speak with you about... The Supermutants."
Olin paused, taking a few deep breaths. She was the only Outcast that Denis Callaghan had left breathing, during his encounters. She reckoned that it was due to her being the victim of a dispute, between two halves of the outpost.
As a result, she had a bit more of a... lenient attitude to outsiders, appreciating that some of them are useful and even good people.
Though it didn't make her that much more hospitable than her xenophobic comrades.
"The Mutants aren't our problem, Arthur. We aren't like the Brotherhood, that you've been living with, our mission is..."
"To secure dangerous technology, to ensure that it isn't used by the local populace, who would surely misuse it, like those who came before us. I know. That's why I've come to you... Up until now, we haven't considered Supermutants to be such a misuse of technology but I believe that we should. I believe that the monsters at Vault 87 are a blight, created by misused tech and are growing stronger, every day.
They are almost the antithesis of everything that we stand for and we've left them unchecked for too long, now they are forming a tribal identity, threatening to destroy every settlement in the Wasteland, unless we strike them now.
The Brotherhood have failed the Wasteland, due to them being too wrapped up in internal politics. They care more about getting over on each other, than stopping this technological abomination from marching upon our land!
That is why I have come for you, so we may prove to them that we are still capable Brothers of Steel. I hope to return to the Citadel, holding the head of their strongest warrior, surrounded by you, loyal soldiers, rewarded with banishment.
I don't only intend to end the supermutant threat. I don't only intend to eradicate them off of the face of the earth but I also intend to end this era of rivalry in our chapter. To unite us to a common goal, under my leadership!
The Maxson Bloodline gave us life! I say it can do it again! For my soul was forged in eternal steel and it is that power and that strength that sets me my Calling.
Lyons' divisions will be put behind us. All of us and from this day onward? We will take back our place in the world. We will bring back our original mission and re-establish contact with the rest of the Country.
Those who join me? They will be re-instated. Those who fight alongside me, will be chronicled as heroes. Those who reject me?
You are no longer Brotherhood..."