Chapter 30

The three men sit at the bar in silence. Beside them Three Dog speaks over the radio. "You heard it right Kitties, the Enclave is finally gone! Its been six weeks! Six weeks since our friends in the Brotherhood kicked those Enclave bastards out of Project Purity and started that baby chugging. Thats right, the caravans are coming, fresh and clean water for all! But isn't all, oh no, the Brothers and Sisters in Power Armor did one better and hunted those Enclave fools down to their last holdout at Adam's Air Force Base, and gave them their walking papers. Who could have done all this you ask? None other than that crazy guy from the vault, now know to us as the Wastelands one true hero!"

One of the men at the bar chuckles. He is wearing mismatched and worn combat armor over top a beat up leather jacket. His head is wrapped in a red bandanna and covered with a wide brim hat similar to what the regulators wear. A pair of dark aviators covers his eyes and at his feet is a large black and grey hound. "The Wasteland Hero? Odd title for someone to have, don't you think?"

The man sitting next to him nods his head. "I agree, I would have gone for something like the Seeker, or the neutral." This man is clad in a long duster with many holes and patches in it. The duster has many pockets, in which the man could store nearly everything he would ever need. Across the mans back is a long bolt action rifle with a new scope on it. The man's hair and beard are ragged and unkempt, as if he cuts it with a rusty knife. "Hero sound way to righteous."

The final man scoffs, "It is fucking well deserved all right? The Hero did do all the tings Three Dog says he did, he just had some help is all." This man is clad in heavy metal armor with leather padding underneath. His hair is thin and his face appears slightly ghoulish. His voice has a slight rasp, making him seem even more like a ghoul. "Sometimes the best people need some help, and trust me, when this, 'hero', first showed up, he really needed some help."

The first man nods his head, "I agree, he didn't know a pistol from a revolver."

The second man shakes his head, "Your sudden fascination with older modeled weapons still doesn't make any sense to me."

The first turns to the second, "So says the mercenary who refuses to part with a weapon that needs almost constant attention."

The third man scoffs again, "Neither one of you know anything about weapons, you have to have a scatter gun if you want to do any real fighting."

The three of them descend into a light argument about the fundamentals of combat. The other patrons of the bar mostly ignore them. The ghoul bartender continuously fills all three of their glasses, but the second man drinks considerably less than the other two. Just when it looks like their argument is going to get physical, a woman dressed in a grey flannel and jeans walks in. The three men stop arguing and the first stands to greet here. "Hey Jane, how did that delivery go?"

The woman similes at him, "Good, no problems outside of the usual. You know, raider clans fighting for control of bathrooms and Supermutants trying to beat me in a game of chess, the normal run down. How is your farewell party going Nick?"

Nick smiles at the woman and looks over his shoulder at the other two men. Luther flashes him a rare genuine smile that is actually warm instead of terrifying, and Tyler nods his head. "Good so far, Luther is actually having a few drinks without torturing himself about it and Tyler is somehow still sober." All four laugh, but there is a slight note of sadness in the sound.

"So," Jane says, "you ready to hit the road?"

Nick looks at Luther and Tyler, "Yeah, time for me to move on." He shakes hands with both of the other men, doing his absolute best not to show too much emotion around them. "Take care of yourselves, will you?"

Tyler laughs softly, "When have we ever done anything else?"

Luther takes Nicks shoulders, "You don't actually have to go you know, you could easily stay, live off the royalties from being a hero."

Nick shakes his head. "You know better than that. You two managed to fly under Three Dog's radar because you didn't have a story that would make his show sound mysterious, I do. I don't want to be the center of attention. Besides, I stick around too long I will end up fat and lazy and with a contract on my head. I have made one to many enemies here in way to short of a time. I need to get away, let people forget me for a while, the maybe I can come back."

Tyler shakes his head. "You are a fool if you think you can go anywhere and fly under the radar forever. Trouble and danger are attracted to you like flies are attracted to a pile of brahmin shit. You can't escape it. But I get where you are coming from."

Nick nods and turns back to Jane, "Right then, lets get going, shall we?" He whistles and Dogmeat picks himself up off the floor and trots alongside him as they leave Megaton. Jane turns west and Nick follows her lead. "So," he starts after a while, curious about his new partner and the life she leads as a courier, "where exactly are we headed, boss?"

Jane looks over her shoulder and flashes him a smile, "West. I want to show you the Mojave, I think you will fit in there, what with that hat and those shinny new revolvers of yours."

Nick pats the weapons and smiles, "Hey, got to look the part." As he walks, he thinks back to the speech Luther gave him last night before they started their celebration. The way war is fought may change. The people who fight wars may change. But war itself never changes. It is ever present, ever ready. All it takes is a small spark to ignite the fires of war. Yet you always have a choice. You choose who you fight for, where you stand. At the end of the day, that is what you have to hold on to. That is what is worth fighting a war for. Your power to choose. Nick smiles as he leaves the Capital Wasteland, he is ready for his next war.

There it is, it is finally over. It has taken almost a year, but is done. I really hope you all enjoyed this and you can expect the beginning of a sequel soon. Leave a review, let me know what I need to improve and what you liked. Thank you for reading this far, you freaking rock!