So from now on I will be mostly keeping each chapter to one specific person. The reason being that previously I wanted to show how each of my main characters reacted and where they were at specific times during the story. Now that they have reunited, at least for now, I can bring it back down to just one character for most of a chapter. There will still be some switching, but considerably less often. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 13

Luther ducks out of the way as first a bullet passes his head from one direction followed instantly by a laser bolt from the opposite direction. He curses inwardly, not wanting to give away his position. He is unsure who wants to kill him more, the Supermutants, or Sarah Lyons. He looks at her position a few feet behind him as she continues to blast away at the Muties with her lasers. She notices and manages to shoot him an angry glance before disintegrating another nearby Mutie. Despite himself, he swallows hard. There are very few people left in the wasteland who cause him any worry, she is one of them.

Nearby a Mutie roars and makes to charge past his position. He waits until the last second before throwing out his foot and tripping the massive yellow beast. He dispatches it with two quick shots to the head from his rifle. Bullets pepper the wall around him from an opening in the floor above and he rolls out of the way, but not before one of the bullets tear through his arm. He grits his teeth against the pain and leans out. One bullet is fired, flying right through the left eye of the Mutie and causing it to drop through he hole it had been shooting at him through. Slinging his rifle across his back, he rolls out into the open and scoops up the Mutie's assault rifle. Turning on his heel he assaults the defensive position the Mutants had taken up ahead.

His attack only kill one Mutant, but the others quickly take cover. Without having to be told the Lyons Pride presses the attack, leaping into the fray and making quick work of the remaining Supermutants. Luther starts to move forward, but a Mutant leaps down upon him from the same hole as the one he previously killed was attacking from. The heavily muscled beast easily pins him to the ground with its bulk and lifts a huge chuck of cement above its head, intending to squash Luther with it. He struggles to get loose, but the Mutie has his arms pinned. The thing laughs triumphantly and raises the cement even higher. The things brains explode out the side of its head and its body falls to the side. Luther scrambles to his feet as Tyler moves up beside him. "You should stick with the group! Otherwise who is going to save your life?"

Luther grunts, and then promptly shoves Tyler out of the way and kills the Mutie that had charged him from behind with a nail board. "Now we are even." The two of them move up through the ruins. It is easy enough to find the others, all they have to do is follow the trail of Mutie copses. "Damn," Luther mutters, "the Pride sure as hell knows how to deal with these bastards." When their group joined up withe the Pride after their confrontation with Sarah, they picked up one other Paladin Named Colvin, who acted like some sort of priest, and then quickly moved into the ruins to confront the Muties. Even without their help, Luther knows that he Pride would have done fine on their own.

"Yep," Tyler agrees while lifting his shotgun to kill a charging Mutie, "I trained them well." Luther watches as he pulls the trigger and blows a hole into the Mutant's chest. Stepping over the corpse he reloads his rifle. They are coming up on the others. He can already hear Clover's sadistic laughing. Picking up the pace, they soon join the fray. Luther quickly slams the stock of his rifle into the nearest Supermutant, but the attack barely even phases the large creature. It slams him with a powerful punch that forces him against a wall. He lifts his rifle and fires once, wounding the Mutant's arm. He fire a second time and the left side of the things head vanishes in a spray of blood, skull, and brains.

He lifts his rifle, ready for more, but a Supermutant, slightly larger than the other, appears toting a minigun. The thing roars gleefully and opens up with the weapon, spraying hot lead in every direction. The bullets deflect off of the knights power armor, but the rest of them are not so lucky. Luther stares in horror as the Mutant turns its gun to Nick. "Nick!" Luther screams as the kid goes down under a barrage of bullets, turning himself so as to protect the dog he is still carrying in his arms! "No!" he roars as he charges the Mutant without thinking! The beast sees him and turns the gun in his direction! Bullets fly through the air, and he is sure he is hit by most of them, but he pushes through it! He tackles the Mutant, knocking it backwards through the weakened wall behind it! He doesn't know how fall they fall, or how many floors they crash through, but as soon as they land he starts bashing in the Mutant's head with his rifle!

More bullets tear into him, and he looks up to realize he is in the GNR building plaza. There are several mutants assault the building itself, but two have broken off to deal with him. He roars like some craze animal and grabs the minigun from the dead Mutants hands. He nearly breaks the mechanism as he pulls down the trigger with enough force to snap bones! The Mutants in the plaza have no chance! Seconds later he is joined on all sides by the Pride and his own group! Letting loose a wall of bullets, curses, and laser! Luther does not stop shooting, not until the gun sputters and comes to a stop. The barrels smoking and red hot from all the friction. He tosses aside the weapon and whirls on the others. His eyes search the group until he spots Nick being supported by Clover and Tyler. He shoves aside a Knight standing in his way and grabs Nick's shirt. "How bad?" he demands.

"Luther," Nick grumbles, "lay off."

Luther growls deep in his throat and brings his face close, "How bad?" The dog in Nick's arms growls weakly, but Luther ignores it. Nick shakes free of Tyler and Clover and glares at Luther for a second before starting to walk towards the GNR building. The kid makes it all of five steps, before collapsing to his knees. Luther is immediately at his side, helping him to his feet. "Come on," he says as he lifts the kid up, seeing that he is still somehow clinging to the dog, "we have to get you inside." They never make it that far.

Just as they pass a dry fountain in the Plazas center, a Supermutant Behemoth crashes through the ruins! Luther lifts Nick over into the side of the fountain, trying to keep him as safe as possible, before turning to face the massive monster not attacking. All around the members of the Pride are scattered and desperately attempting to bring the thing down. The Behemoth lifts its arm, swatting at the lasers and bullets that do hardly any damage to it. Luther shouts and jumps to the side as the monster slams a water pump it must have torn out of the ground down right where he had been standing. Scrambling to his feet he only just manages to leap behind a wall of sandbags as the beast swings again, narrowly avoiding being decapitated.

He sits up and fires twice. His shots, like all the others, only seem to make the beast even madder. It throws up its arms and roars with a volume that is almost deafening! Luther ducks, covering his ears. Somehow he manages to hear someone shout, "Reddin, no!" He looks up in time to see a Knight charge at the Behemoth's legs. The beast sees the Knight as well and reaching down, grabs the power armored Knight in one massive hand! Everyone watches in a dazed horror as the beast considers the struggling Knight in its hand, before letting out another roar and squeezing! The Knight shrieks in pain, before going silent! The Behemoth tosses aside the crushed body of the Knight, which lands feet away from Luther. He stares at the crumbled, blood soaked, armor, not believing what his eyes are seeing. Sarah Lyon's voice breaks through his haze. "No," she screams, drawing out the word as she too charges the beast.

Luther jumps up and grabs the back of her armor, pulling her to the ground. She moves to slam a fist into his face, but he avoids it and shakes her, "Sarah, the Pride needs you alive!" She does not hear him and shoves him off of her. She stands and again goes for the Behemoth.

"Everyone down!" Luther looks to see Nick sitting up with a launcher on his shoulder. His eyes go wide as he recognizes the weapon. He leaps to his feet and charges after Sarah. Without heavy power armor, he soon catches her and attempt to drag her back. She fights him, trying to get at the Behemoth in a blood haze. Tyler appears at his side and he too helps pull her back. Seconds later the mini nuke explodes against the Behemoths side. Everyone in the Plaza is forced to the ground from the impact of the explosive. The radioactive mushroom cloud expands upward into the air, and the corpse of the Behemoth falls to the ground, most of its left side burned away into bloody chunks. An eerie silence falls over the plaza, no one daring to move. Sarah breaks free of his and Tyler's hold and runs to Reddin's mangled corpse. Soon the silence is filled with the Paladin's soft sobs.

Luther and Tyler stand. They look at each other and nod, each understanding what the other is going to do. Luther turns and moves towards where Nick has collapsed into the fountain. He grunts, the pain from all the bullets he took starting to grow, as he lifts both Nick and the dog into his arms and crosses the plaza to the GNR building. The others, Clover and Bryan, follow behind him. He passes Tyler, who is speaking softly to Sarah along with another Paladin. He gives them a second's glance, but keeps moving. He ascends the stairs to GNR's entrance and a Knight intercepts him with a raised rifle. Without speaking Luther glares at him. Even though he cannot see the Knight's face, he knows that the man swallows in fear before stepping out of the way. Once inside a surgeon appears and takes both Nick and the dog from him.

All around there are injured Brothers and Sisters. All of them are staring at the ragged group before them. Luther has to admit, they must seem a strange bunch. A man in a ragged coat, a woman in a bloodstained evening dress, and a small child. Luther rolls his neck, fighting to remain standing, and makes to follow after the surgeon who took Nick. A Paladin suddenly is standing in his way. This man isn't wearing the power armor's helmet, and Luther recognizes him. "Vargas." he says darkly. The Paladin sneers and grabs him roughly by the arm, purposely digging his hand into a bullet wound. Luther takes in a sharp breath and Clover steps forward, reaching for her knife. Luther holds out is other hand to stop her, giving her a look that says, let me handle this. Clover nods and moves past them, shooing Bryan in front of her.

Paladin Vargas unceremoniously drags him towards a set of stairs. "Your type does not belong here." the Paladin sneers. "You are lucky I don't shoot you now, save us the trouble of you having the chance to kill us all while we are sleeping." Luther does not respond, he just allows himself to be dragged. Normally he would say something back, but he is far too outnumbered to risk being snide. "What is this? Cat got your tongue, Major?" The mention of his old rank causes Luther to bristle. Vargas notices and smiles, "Of course, if it were up to me, I would have tossed you out with the garbage as well, Major."

Luther gives not other warning before jerking out of Vargas's grip and drawing his knife. In the same motion he pushes the Paladin against the wall and presses the sharp blade against his throat. "Listen," he growls as Vargas holds up a hand to stop a nearby Knight who had lifted his rifle, "we just saved the lives of all of your people here. That calls for a little more respect than what you are providing. Now tell me where you were taking me and I will go myself!"

Vargas sneers again. Luther presses the blade against his throat a little harder, drawing a small amount of blood. "Three Dog," the Paladin finally spits, "he wants to speak with you. In private." Luther steps back, sheathing his knife and proceeding towards Three Dog's quarters. "One day," Vargas calls after him, "I am going to kill you!"

Luther opens the door leading up to Three Dog's studio and looks back at him, "One day," he says with a blank expression, "I hope you try." He steps through and gently closes the door behind him. He walks up the short set of stairs to Three Dog's radio studio and he can already hear the man speaking over the broadcast.

"...and remember kitties, the wasteland is a hard place, the brothers and sisters of the Brotherhood of Steel continue to fight, the good fight folks. So the next time you see one of the heroes in power armor, give em some thanks, or even better, some ammo!" With that the DJ flips a switch and a classical pre-war song starts to play. It is one of Luther's personal favorites, 'I don't want to set the world on fire' by some group from before the war. He wraps his knuckles against the door frame leading into Three Dog's studio and the man swivels in his seat. The DJ smiles big and stands in greeting when he sees Luther. "Hey psycho, hows it going?"

Luther shrugs his shoulder and ignores the hand Three Dog offers. "Your, heroes, are threatening to kill me. So nothing out of the ordinary."

Three Dog chuckles and leads the way into his quarters where he pouts two drinks of scotch. "Heh, let me guess, Vargas right?" Luther nods. "Should'a known, that man has quite the temper. Not that he doesn't have a reason not to distrust you, he does, seeing where you came from and all." He offers Luther a glass and Luther takes it, out of courtesy, but does not drink. "By the way, where is that junkie friend of yours, still cursing the Brothers for throwing him out?"

Luther rolls his eyes and sets the drink down on the counter. "You know very well that he is here. Nothing goes on in the Capital without you hearing of it. Which is part of the reason I am here." Three Dog nods and throws back his drink in one swallow. He sits down on a nearby couch and motions for Luther to continue. "There is a young child here with us, from Greyditch, his family was apparently killed off by giant fire breathing ants. We have promised to take him to his family, but all he knows is that they life in a place his father called a big tub, any ideas where he is talking about?"

Three Dog nods, "I would guess Rivet City. I am pretty sure that people used to call boats tubs from time to time. So Greyditch was attacked by mutant ants? I had heard that the settlement had gone quiet. I also heard that a group of three mercs deactivated the bomb in Megaton, and that the same three wiped out a group of raiders near the city before vanishing for a few weeks, that wasn't you was it?"

Luther crosses his arms and shrugs, "Megaton is a trading hub, lots of mercs go through there. Could've been anybody. What is it to you?"

"Cause I have it on good word that one of those three mercs was from the nearby vault 101. If so, then I really need to speak with him, about his father."

He lies curled up on the bed at his new Master's feet. He growls at everyone who comes near, making it clear that if they hurt him, they will hurt. Despite the cast wrapped around his front leg and all the bandages on his body, most of the people around give him and his new Master plenty of room. The only two legs that he does not send away with a snarl and a showing of his teeth is the strange woman who smells of blood and the small child who smells of burned things. Those two are seated in chairs near his new Masters head, watching over the Master, just like he is.

He was so lucky to have found his new Master when he did. The big yellow two legs had found and chased him through some broken buildings for a long time, shouting that they were going to eat him. He hid in the tunnels, until his Master and the people with him arrived. He is unsure why he chose this specific two legs as his Master, especially when the other two adult two legs seem to be in charge, but he did choose this one, and he is glade that he did. When they were running from the two legs that should have given in to the hurt but have not, he was ready to die, but his new Master scooped him up and carried him! Never had a Master ever shown such care for him, and the Master had barely known him for a minute!

Then there was the fight afterwards, when the new Masters pack sided with the pack of metal two legs to fight the big yellow two legs. During that entire ordeal, never had his master abandoned him! The Master carried him the whole way there, before one of the adult two legs pushed him and his Master into the big empty bowl when the giant yellow two legs appeared. It was then that he saw the big gun near his Master and pushed it towards him, allowing his Master to kill the giant! He had been so proud, even being carried by the same adult two legs as before didn't shame him!

Then the people in the white coats had appeared and started fixing his hurts! Then they did something to the Master and he though they were causing the hurt. He tried to stop them, but the Master reached out and rubbed his head, saying that it was okay, that they were helping. He calmed down, for his Master's sake, but refused to leave his side and growled softly whenever the white coats came near.

So now he sits here, still guarding his new Master, watching all the other two legs move around. He notes the other two legs from their pack, the male who is like an angry alpha but is not the alpha. This two legs is with a metal two legs who has the face of female two legs. The two look remarkably similar in their faces, save the difference in gender and age, with the male being older. He watches as the male not alpha from their pack hugs the female, talking to her with soft words. The female does not seem to like what he says and shoves him away, storming off with water leaking from here eyes. The not alpha shakes his head and comes over to the rest of the pack. He watches as the not alpha looks at the Master and then at him, reaching out slowly, but stopping and looking him in the eyes for permission. He hesitates, not sure what the not alpha wants, but he does not growl. The not alpha take that for permission and rubs his ears gently. He finds that he likes the sensation. "I can't help but shake the feeling that despite everything Luther and I have done, you are the one the kid here really needs. Look after him."

He knows that the not alpha is worried about the master. Though he cannot speak, he barks once, a low sound, not loud and menacing. Without words to speak, that is the best way of commnuicating what he feels and thinks. The not alpha gives him a grateful look, "Good boy."

And there it is, not much to say here, onward to Chapter 14!