A/N: Gonna include a bunch of mods, IRL stuff, and a few minor lore changes to make the story work better... especially when it comes to the guns. The list of stuff referenced, included, or changed will be in the worldbuilding notes at the end of each chapter.

-000-

'I was there when the world ended.' John thought to himself.

His mind wandered as he sat on a lawn chair, in front of his ruined house, surrounded by what was left of Sanctuary.

'I was there when the world ended.' He thought to himself again.

It had felt like a few hours, but in truth it was close to 300 years. He and his wife, Nora, evacuated to the shelter expecting to restart their lives and raise their child underground. But that's not what happened.

'I was there when the world ended.' He kept thinking to himself, balling his fist as a fire burned within him.

His world had been torn apart... his family, torn apart. His son was kidnapped by a a mysterious group of people... people who nearly killed his wife... who was now missing.

Yes, perhaps that was the only thing keeping him from breaking down and falling apart, as strange as it sounded. His wife was missing. She was not in her cryo pod when he thawed out. She was out there. She was alive.

'I was there when the world ended... but I'm still here.' John then thought to himself.

'I'm still here.' John now thought. 'I live. It's time to take action.'

With determination returning to his body, John stood up from the lawn chair he had been sitting on. He sent out a silent prayer, hoping against all hope that his wife, his Nora was out there, alive, and that she could survive for a while longer. He walked towards his ruined home's garage, picked up a shovel, and then began digging in his back yard. There was something buried there, a backup plan Nora didn't know about, for her own protection. A stash of items. Canned food, medicine, supplies... and illegally obtained weapons and ammo. He carefully dug until he found the old safe, preserved and spared the ravages of time by being burried there.

Inside it were a combat knife, a couple boxes of 10mm rounds... and most importantly, a weapon and its ammo. An old M16A2 Service Rifle and several boxes of 5.56 rifle rounds. He had bribed the quartermaster of the base he was stationed in quite handsomely to get his hands on this antique rifle... which was ancient even by the standards of the 2070s. Late production M16s and M4s tended to have wood furniture due to the resource droughts, so the fact that John had one with polymer furnishing really spoke to how old this one was. This particular rifle and the ammo boxes buried with it were supposed to be transferred to the National Guard, but John pulled a lot of strings to get his hands on it.

He set himself up, preparing a holster for the 10mm pistol he picked up in the Vault and creating a rudimentary strap for his rifle. John then slung a sack onto his back in lieu of a proper bag. The sack was filled with the supplies he had stashed long ago, and he hoped it would keep him alive. The last part of his ad hoc kit was the protective vest he looted from the Vault. He sincerely doubted it could stop any round more powerful than .45 ACP, but having some protection was better than not having any at all.

John set out from the remains of his ruined home. He wasn't sure when he would return... if he would return... but he looked back one last time and reminisced before heading out.

"Codsworth, hold the fort while I'm gone, alright?" He told the robot.

"Of course sir! You count on me!" Codsworth responded.

A wry smile crept its way to John's face, who shook his head and bade the Mister Handy farewell.

-000-

She woke up with a start, bolting up, breathing heavily. It's been over a week since she somehow made her way out of the vault. She looked out the window and saw that the sun was slowly rising. Wiping off the sweat off her forehead, she was about to head downstairs when a young woman came up to check on her.

"Miss Nora, are you alright?" One of her hosts asked her. "You were yelling in your sleep."

Nora rubbed her eyes and shook her head.

"It's just a nightmare, Mary... just a nightmare." She reassured the younger woman.

"Oh, alright then, but if you ever want to talk about it..."

"You'll be the first one to know." Nora said with a wry smile.

The former vault dweller rose from the mattress she slept on and started preparing for the day.

It was two weeks now. Two weeks since she stumbled her way out of the vault. She wandered for the whole day before she found this place. A farm built around an old power line ran by the Abernathy family. So much had happened, it was hard to process. The world was so different from what she knew. Civilization as she knew it was gone, nature was running rampant and reclaiming so much of the cityscape, nothing was the same. Even the people living were different. The Abernathy family had taken her in, ignoring the fact that she was of a certain... Asian heritage. Values and priorities have certainly shifted. China and communism didn't matter anymore. Her family shame didn't matter anymore. It certainly was a strange feeling.

Though perhaps the thing that truly bothered her was what to do next. She remembered what happened in the vault. Someone broke into the facility. Someone defrosted her. Someone took her son. Every fiber of her being screamed at her to go find him. To venture out into the Commonwealth and search for her son... but the pragmatic and realist side of her kept her paralyzed. What was she going to do? She went to law school to be a prosecutor. Nora Horner was not someone cut out to survive a post-nuclear America... not like her Husband was.

Nora felt a pit of unease grow in her gut, and she fidgeted with her marriage band to try and calm herself.

John was still in his pod. She left him there. Maybe she could have thawed him out, but she wasn't sure she could. The entire vault was dead already and she wasn't going to risk her husband's life... not when she had already lost so much.

She sighed as she finished preparing herself. Perhaps she'll train herself to try and survive out there. Maybe then she could try to find Shaun. Her thoughts kept running in her head until loud voices from outside the Abernathy home alerted her.

"We ain't s'posed to be here, Ricky!" A harsh voice yelled out. "Gristle wants us to watch the north side of the town while the rest clean up those stupid Minutemen!"

"Yeah, but I'm bored as shit." The one who was supposedly named Ricky complained. "I mean, the gang has everything covered. Let's have some fun with these guys. What could go wrong?"

Nora's eyes widened slightly in worry. Blake and Connie told her about these kinds of people.

Raiders. Killers with no conscience, who use their strength to bully and intimidate others into submission. The vault survivor's mind raced as she thought about what to do. Should she intervene? Should she hide? Her heart threatened to leap out of her chest and her breath started getting heavy. Nora debated in her mind endlessly, unable to think of what to so... until she heard a different voice. It was Mary. She went out to confront the pair of raiders.

Oh God, she only had a baseball bat with her. At least one of those raiders had guns. This wasn't good. She needed to take action. Her old world sense of justice had won the battle in her mind, compelling her to move.

Nora took the 10mm Pistol she brought from the vault, quickly checked to see if it was ready to go, then ran downstairs. The raiders and Mary had gotten into a yelling match and it was getting heated. One of the raiders now threatened Mary, pulling out an improvised axe made from a tire iron, and the other had drawn a .38 revolver. He was going to shoot at the eldest Abernathy daughter. Time was running out.

The blue clad woman kicked the door open raised her pistol, took aim... and then time slowed to a crawl. She couldn't understand what was going on at first, but then she saw that everyone in front of her... the four Abernathies and the two raiders were highlighted in green. Nora aimed her pistol at the general direction of the raider with the pistol and saw a percentage counter rise the more she aligned her gun on her target.

Was this the work of the VATS system? She had heard of it before, back before the war. It was marketed to security personnel and was available as an upgrade package for pip-boys. Nora had picked up one such pip-boy from the vault's armory before leaving, and it would make sense that Vault security officers had VATS installed on their pip-boys by default.

Regardless, VATS helped Nora narrow down her shot. She carefully aimed at the revolver armed goon who was only now starting to react to her presence. With the counter topping out at 79%, the former vault dweller squeezed the trigger on her pistol. The 10mm round she shot landed right on the raider's left shoulder. Nora fired again, this time hitting the raider square in the chest. The revolver wielding raider fell backwards, reflexively clutching his chest as he hit the ground.

Next, Nora turned to the axe wielding raider. He was closer, and the counter said she had an 84% chance of hitting. It was good enough. She shot for a third time and hit the raider right in the gut. With that, the last raider let go of his axe and fell to his knees. The shock got to him quickly, and he passed out from the blood loss and flopped forward. The pip-boy told Nora she had exhausted her action points and that VATS needed to recharge. Time sped up back to normal afterwards.

The Abernathies were bewildered. Their guest had somehow nailed those three shots within a few short seconds. While Connie and Blake tended to Mary, it was Lucy who came up to Nora to check in on her.

"Miss Horner... I can't believe you just did that! That was amazing!" The youngest Abernathy said.

Nora was honestly also surprised. She was a good shot before, being one of the top members of the girl's shooting club when she was at high school... but this was something else. VATS made her even better.

Honestly, it was kind of scary. She killed those two raiders so easily. It would probably disturbed her even more, were it not for the fact she had already killed someone before... but no, that was a lifetime ago. She couldn't dwell on that any further, not when she was in the here and now.

"I didn't think I could pull it off either." Nora said, shaking her head to dismiss her doubts. She shot those raiders to defend Mary. It was perfectly justified.

"Well, I'm not saying putting down those raiders were a bad thing..." Blake said. "but their buddies are gonna be wondering where these two went. If they find out... they'll be coming after us."

Oh, right. That. Nora clenched her jaw a bit as she started thinking about how she could get the Abernathies out of this little rut.

"I... is there anybody we could ask for help?" Nora suggested. "Raiders like these, they must've made enemies out there."

"Used to be we called on the Minutemen for help." Connie responded, shaking her head. "But they're not around anymore."

Minutemen... there was that word again. The raiders were talking about it earlier, about taking care of some of them in the nearby town, which if her memory served her right should be Concord.

"These Minutemen... who are... were they?" Nora asked. These Minutemen might be what the Abernathy family needs, but she needs to know why Connie and the rest seem to be talking about them in past tense.

"They were a volunteer militia, way back when." Blake started explaining. "Policed the Commonwealth, protected settlements, all at a minute's notice... at least that's how it was supposed to be. Not quite sure what happened, but they've been through a lot of trouble these past few years and there's barely any of them left."

Ah, that explains that... but those raiders mentioned about Minutemen holding out in Concord. Maybe... she could do something about getting their help.

"Those two raiders said they had a group of Minutemen pinned down in a nearby town." Nora said. "I could try and get them to help you."

"But Miss Horner, that's too dangerous! What if you get killed!" Mary exclaimed, shaking her head. "You can't go!"

"It's a long shot, but if we can make it work you won't have to worry about the raiders for a while." Nora responded.

"And if your plan doesn't work?" Lucy now asked.

Truth be told, Nora still hadn't planned that far ahead. There was so much about the post-war Commonwealth she didn't know yet. Mary was right, her going was incredibly risky and dangerous. However, Nora wouldn't have any of the Abernathies go. She won't let another family get torn apart if she can do anything about it.

"If it doesn't work... then we'll have to bunker down, reinforce the farm and expect an attack." Nora said, after finally figuring out a vague idea for a backup plan. "I'll scout out Concord, check if I can call on the Minutemen for help. If for whatever reason I can't get their assistance, I'll double back here. We'll figure out something then."

-000-

John hunkered down behind a dumpster as a hail of bullets passed right where his head was a few seconds earlier. The sounds of a firefight drew him to investigate at first, but it's when one side started shooting at him too that things started shooting at him as well that things got messy. The original plan was to observe and gather intel. The current plan is to get to the Museum of Freedom and link up with the sharpshooter singlehandedly holding back these... raiders, for lack of better terms. It wasn't a very good plan. John didn't know what kind of guy this sharpshooter was going to be, but there were times when the guy could've blown John's head off... and yet he didn't. That was a major step up from these raiders actively trying to kill him.

Another laser shot was heard, followed by the agonized death screams of one of the raiders. The bullets suppressing John subsided for a moment, allowing the veteran to pop out of cover and retaliate. As he raised his Service Rife, time slowed to a crawl. He aimed down the sights of his weapon, right at a raider which had been highlighted in green. The percentage counter gave him a 79% chance of hitting, so John fired. With his weapon set to burst mode, three 5.56 rounds left the barrel in quick succession, with two landing on closest raider's chest. The bastard fell to the ground, the submachinegun he was holding clattering on the ground.

Now to the next raider, who currently had her back to John and was looking at the sharpshooter.

That was a mistake.

John saw the counter read 67%. It was a significant step down, but it was worth the shot. He pulled the trigger again, and landed three clean hits on the raider. Two shots landed on her lower back, the third on the nape of her neck. She was dead before she even hit the ground.

After deactivating VATS, John made a dead sprint from the dumpster he was hiding behind to a derelict pickup truck. The raiders were too busy scattering and looking for cover to try and shoot him, as both John and the sharpshooter were hitting them from opposite angles. A hail of laser bolts hit the pickup, keeping the vault dweller behind cover.

"So those bastards have a Laser Tommy?" John cursed under his breath.

He shouldn't be too surprised though. Laser RCWs were being rolled out en masse in the last years of the war, especially for the National Guard and rear echelon troops. It's not entirely impossible that they'd still be around after all this time.

Regardless, he still had to make it into the museum. He blindly fired a few shots towards the raider's general direction and then made a break for a nearby store. The windows were broken, so he jumped through there and took cover behind a wall. This was a good spot, he had flanked the two raiders still left, and they haven't moved due to the sharpshooter's overwatch. John got out of cover and activated VATS. He took aim at the raider with the Laser RCW and fired a burst at him. Two shots missed, but one nailed him in the right shoulder. With him neutralized for now, he turned to the other raider, who was holding an M3 Grease Gun. He fired two bursts at that one, with 3 shots landing cleanly, and another two merely grazing the raider. That was enough to put the bastard down. Deactivating VATS, he now aimed at the raider with the injured shoulder. A single burst killed the bastard for good.

With the fight subsiding for now, John reloaded his weapon and emerged from cover. He looked to the museum's porch and saw the sharpshooter. John gave him a wave and a thumbs up. The vault dweller next checked on some of the neutralized raiders. A few were writhing on the ground, not quite dead yet. He kicked their weapons away, but decided not to waste the bullets finishing them off. He pilfered some of their gear, picking up the Grease Gun, the Laser RCW, and their corresponding ammo types. He also found stimpaks, drinking water, and the likes. As he kept looking through the downed raiders, the sharpshooter finally called out.

"Hey, if you're done scavenging out there, we could really use some help!" He said. "I've got a group of settlers inside, and the raiders are trying to break through. You can hit them from the rear while I hold them off!"

John gave him a thumbs up and jogged towards the Museum's entrance. Before he got in, he took off the crude sling he attacked to his Service Rifle, then put it on his new Laser RCW. A shorter weapon like that was much more useful in a CQB environment. That its ammo was more compact was also a neat plus. He then stashed the long rifle in his carrying sack, alongside the Grease Gun and all the other stuff with him.

The Laser Tommy that John pilfered was a late model RCW. Instead of the rotating drum like assembly loaded with Electron Charge Packs used by the earlier model, the later model RCW simply took Fusion Cells as though they were a standard magazine.

For whatever reason, the RCW's previous owner had opted to detach its stock. While there was hardly kick to each shot, the lack of a butt stock still made it a hassle to aim right. John made a mental note to cobble together a stock for this thing later.

Now, the vault dweller entered the museum proper, and before he proceeded inwards he decided to bar the entrance. Wouldn't want anymore raiders coming in, after all. Once that was done, he quietly made his way through the lobby, watching the raiders in the upper floors try and fail to break into the room. That's where his objective is. John was going to have to find a way up there. His memory of it was sketchy, but John remembered the general layout of the museum from back when he visited as a student, before the war was a shadow in the horizon.

John swiftly moved through the lobby and through some of the exhibits as he made his way towards the upper floors. One raider was posted at the ground floor, but he wasn't doing a good job at keeping watch. The former soldier easily snuck up to the bastard, before whacking him hard at the back of the head. The raider hit the ground hard, then before he could recover John brought his boot down right at the raider's head. A sickly crunch was heard, and blood started pooling around the now deceased enemy.

A quick search of this dead raider revealed a handful of chems in his person.

"Getting high on the job?" John mused to himself. "Very sloppy."

Now the vault dweller continued upwards. He followed his admittedly hazy memory found himself in a room with a large mural that had survived the ravages of time. The mural depicted the history of the United States, from the Revolution all the way to what John recognized to be the Sea of Tranquility conflict that was fought at the Moon itself. He ws about to reminisce, but two raiders interrupted him. Just before they entered the room, John quickly duck to cover and waited for the time to strike.

"I'm tellin' ya, this whole plan's gone to shit." One of the raiders whined. "We should bail while we can."

"No way, dipshit, if the goody-goody doesn't snipe us with his laser gun while we try to run, Gristle sure as hell will." The second countered, shaking his head.

"Yeah, well someone out there's also gunning down our guys." The first raider said again. "I don't like our chances Frank. If we try and make a run for it at least we-"

Before the raider could finish, John popped out of cover, activated VATS, and let loose a hail of laser bolts from his RCW. The first burst landed 5 out of 7 bolts on the closer raider, mostly hitting the chest and upper torso. He died before he hit the ground. Second burst landed 3 out of 7, with two hitting the chest and one cutting into the left shoulder. That shoulder was blasted off, the wound cauterized as the entire arm was dismembered. This raider was still screaming as he hit the ground writhing in pain. A quick laser bolt to the face silenced him permanently.

John didn't bother looting these raiders. He was close to the top floor now, and by the sounds of it the bastards up top are trying to break down the door the settlers were hiding behind.

The Horner rushed upstairs, kicked open the door to the main atrium, then whirled towards the raiders. They were so preoccupied with the door, they couldn't react to John's appearance in time. A barrage of laser bolts showered the three raiders trying to break down the door. They didn't even get the chance to fight back.

Once the raiders were dead, the door opened slightly. A dark skinned man wearing a shabby, worn long coat and armed with an improvised laser rifle peaked outside to make sure the coast was clear.

"Get in here, quick!" The man said once he was sure it was safe.

John nodded and quickly got inside the room. Inside, he finally got to see the group of settlers hunkering down here. Aside from the man in the long coat, there were four others. Two women, one being quite old now while the other being middle aged. The other two were men, one wearing overalls and tinkering with a terminal, while the other was pacing around the room nervously.

"Man, I don't know who you are, but your timing's impeccable." The man in the long coat said. "Preston Garvey, with the Commonwealth Minutemen."

Preston offered his hand out, but John was mulling his thoughts while he processed what he just learned.

"Minutemen?" He quietly said to himself. "Am I traveling back through time now?"

He shook his head and banished those thoughts though. A lot could've happened in 270 years, and he had more pressing matters to attend to.

John shook Preston's hand and introduced himself.

"John Horner. I... just... came out of my vault." He said after stumbling on his words a bit.

This explanation would have to do for now. The fact that he was alive from long before the war didn't really matter right now... and John wasn't even sure if he wanted people to know he's been around for that long. That would be a bit of information he'd have to play close to his chest for now.

"Vault dweller, huh? That explains the get up." Preston said, nodding as he took stock of the man who had come to their rescue.

"So, Preston... what are your Minutemen doing holed up here?"

"We're the last group of survivors from the Quincy massacre... or at least I think we are." Preston started explaining, but then stopped himself. "Since you're from a Vault, I assume you've got no clue what's been going on out here... am I right?"

John nodded.

"Alright then, take a seat." The last Minuteman said, gesturing to an old office chair. "It's going to be a long story."

-000-

Worldbuilding notes:

Late/Early model Laser RCW: This was inspired by Another One's Laser RCW mod which introduced different versions of the Laser RCW that didn't have the rotating drum magazine but took basic fusion cells as if they were stick magazines.

M3 Grease Gun: These were cheap and easy to produce and some are still used by various militaries today IRL. I honestly think it's possible for post-war gunsmiths to bring back the Grease Gun design because of how simple it is to make. If I mention SMGs without mentioning a specific model, assume I mean it's a Grease Gun.

AR-15 type rifles: M16s and AR-15s were made before the Fallout timeline diverged from ours. Given how popular they are IRL, I thought it was fair to have them show up in this story. It'll be a common weapon in the Commonwealth.

Laser Musket: In this story, the Laser Muskets do not require fusion cells to fire. The Minutemen (from what I've gathered) aren't actually very well organized and aside from the Castle, there doesn't seem to be a very good supply/logistics train. I think that Laser Muskets would make more sense for the Minutemen if they generated the energy to fire through the crank system as opposed to actually needing fusion cells.

Nora's "Asian" heritage will be explored further down the line, so don't drag me to the canon chopping block yet.