It was 5:34am but Kayla was wide awake, sitting in her apartment. She was watching TV, but not paying attention to it...Her mind was on Tai. The numbers of death and wounded was staggering, the worst it's been since the last mutant attack years ago. She took a drag of her cigarette and rested her head back on the head rest of her recliner. "...Fuck."
Kayla turned her head to her door as she heard someone knocking. "Come in, it's unlocked."
The door opened and Yates walked in. Kayla didn't see Yates much as their shifts were always opposite, but this was a surprise. "Sorry to bother you Kayla." He said as he took a seat on her couch near her chair.
"N-no problem Yates, what's up?" She replied as she looked at him. Yates was a pretty handsome fellow, sporting shaggy blonde hair and deep blue eyes. He was a lean built man, but right now he was concerned about something that had to do with Kayla.
"...I don't know how to say this, but..." Yates sighed. "I helped that boy get away..."
Kayla's eyes grew wide. "What? You helped him?"
"Not intentionally and it wasn't my idea in the first place." He defended as he looked at Kayla. "Kaz ran off with him..."
Kayla's mind tried to wrap around what was being said, but she couldn't understand. "But...But he killed our men...Kaz wouldn't just run off with the enemy."
"That's the thing Kayla...I don't think this boy is our enemy, because he would have killed Kaz...Not run off with him. I was covering Kaz from a distance, but still that boy was able to see my scope reflection. Him and Kaz started talking, but other snipers were up on them in no time. Still...that boy seems to always be five moves ahead. He used IR smoke to cover his position and pretty much disappeared. Him, Kaz and that girl..."
"...Kaz...What are you thinking?" Kayla said as she took another drag.
"Still, we can get in contact with him. He's using a coded feq on his suit's com."
Kayla looked at Yates. "Well let's get in contact!"
"Not yet..." Yates said cutting her off. "The base is on high alert and I'm sure they are looking for signals between the base and him, even on a coded feq they won't know what's being said they can pick up some form of suspicious transmitting."
"So what do we do? We can't just leave him out there..."
"Well I have a friend a ways from here...There's just one thing..."
"...And that is...?"
"...He's a raider..."
"...Seriously? You're gonna go into a raider camp and use their radio?"
"We are..."
"...Oh my god Yates you are fucking crazy."
"Hear me out here." Yates pleaded. "He's the leader of them and we go back...I once was a part of his gang before I joined, so we are welcomed."
"You used to be a raider?"
Yates sighed. "I had...a rough past...The leader's name is Glenn Sandridge. Me and him grew up together in Uniontown, but we lost our parents to disease. It was me and him...robbing caravans. Soon we met up with others and it was history from then. Fourteen years of survival."
"Well...what made you leave?"
"...I couldn't kill for any reason anymore. Glenn was always colder than me given his warm demeanor...Hell I still have nightmares of seeing the people I killed. He understood, but I couldn't stay even though he wanted me to. So I joined the Brotherhood, but I still keep in touch."
"Well I'm off duty until ordered so I take it they are giving me the three day medical recovery days for minimal injuries. We'll go around noon. Where are they located?"
"Freeport area, right now they're getting money, food and other supplies from one of the Freeport villages for protection."
"Pay raiders for protection?"
"They are cheaper than mercs and usually have connections with other raiders around the area so they do help. It makes it easier to live and less violent, something I think Glenn wanted."
"Well we'll have to take a buggy out there." Kayla took another drag of her cigarette before putting it out in a Nuka-Cola bottle. "I'll pull a favor from Nardy at the sallyport for one of his MG buggies and a decent outfit of weapons and supplies. We can't take the turnpike as we aren't on leave."
"Let's just hope I got some say in that area still…"
xxxx
Tai pulled up to a patched up building on the riverside of the Alleghany River. It was just getting light outside as he turned off the truck and stepped out with Lily and Kaz.
"Where are we?" Lily asked as she stepped around the truck to Tai.
"Oakmont, this is my friend Rex's place."
"And how can he help us?" Kaz asked.
"He has some equipment that we could use."
"To do what? Take on the whole Brotherhood of Steel?"
"They need us alive…or me at least." Tai said as he made his way to the front door of the building.
"I need some answers…" Kaz said sternly as he followed.
"And answers you'll get in time." Tai responded as he knocked on the door.
A brief moment passed before a voice called out from the other side. "Who is it at this time in the mornin'?" A voice called out from behind the door.
"Rex, its Tai Mason." Tai called back.
"Well I'll be…" The door opened to a young African American man in greased stained dickies and a dingy beater. "Tai! What brings you to my doorstep at this time of the mornin'?
Tai stepped in, bringin in his company with him. "I need some help."
Rex checked out Kaz and Lily. "You know it's not like of you to have friends besides me…" Rex closed the door and walked over to his kitchen. "What's this about?"
"It's about the key…" Tai said as he sat down on a stool and looked at Rex as Rex's face turned serious.
"The key? H-how did they find you?"
"Mutant attack and I get wounded and Lily over here drags me to this guy's house and I make the dumb move of giving them my name." Tai sighed. "Next thing you know I'm getting interrogated about the key…"
"Well I guess it was only a matter of time before they found you…"
"What's this key you're talkin' about?" Kaz asked as he looked at Tai.
"Rex." Tai said as he looked at Rex.
Rex looked at Kaz as he pulled his coffee off the coffee maker. "The key is just what it is, a key, but this key is special. It's the key to an underground silo bunker that contains the secrets of the bombs that created this hell we live in today; the key to atomic energy."
"And that means?"
"Come on, don't be dense." Tai scolded Kaz. "You think you're little Brotherhood is all so righteous and honorable? They would take this knowledge just like the people before us and sooner or later destroy this world over again and this time…we might not bounce back as a species."
"D-do you really think the Brotherhood would do something so horrible?" Lily asked.
"It's not just the Brotherhood, its man himself that tends to use power to suppress or destroy." Rex answered.
"That and I believe the Enclave still lives on in the ranks of the Brotherhood."
"Enclave?" Kaz questioned in shock.
"Enclave?" Lily asked as she looked at Kaz.
"They are the Brotherhood of Steel's sworn enemy, but we haven't seen a soldier of theirs or any activity of them in decades…"
"That's because they have seeded themselves in your organization and took key positions. They decided to wait awhile and prove themselves to gain power and rank. My father found this out, but then found that he could do nothing about it. It was too corrupt by the time he knew of the key players and assassination was impossible. So he did what he knew would be best and steal the key to be a place they call XS-1 and disappeared right under their noses."
"Well if that is true…then what do you do about it?"
"I'm gonna find this silo and make sure it's destroyed. Catch is…It's in the middle of the dead States, Nebraska to be exact, but there is an underground tunnel from New York to the silo."
"And you know all of this from where?"
"My dad was the master of stealth and recon, so he secured all the info that he knew before stealing the key." Tai looked at Kaz. "So know that you know…" Tai aimed his 9mm at Kaz. "You can't go back…alive at least."
"Tai!" Lily yelled as she stepped in front of Kaz. "He took you in when you needed help!"
"That doesn't matter, my life doesn't matter. It's about the key and now that he knows, he's either with us or dead." Tai cocked the hammer back. "And don't think that I won't shoot you too…"
"Tai…no…"
The moment was tense as nothing was said and Tai's finger slowly pulled. The hammer snapped forward and hit, but no shot was heard…the gun didn't fire.
"…Tryin' to bluff us?" Kaz said as he grinned.
Tai looked at his gun in confusion as he checked the clip to see all the bullets. He cocked the gun, ejecting a misfired round. "No…I keep this thing in perfect condition…It misfired."
"…What the fuck…You were going to shoot…" Kaz was taken back from the attempt and looked at Lily. "You're the luckiest girl alive right now."
Tai slammed the clip back in and cocked it once more. "Misfires don't happen twice in a row." He took aim. "Take this as a time to reconsider Kaz…"
"I got you…I guess I'm in." Kaz said as he stepped from behind Lily. "But have fun trying to get to New York with hardly any gas for your truck and gas is a very valuable thing around nowadays."
"Yeah, well we need to figure something out." Tai said as he looked at Rex who was drinking his coffee. "Any ideas Rex?"
"Well," Rex began as he set his cup down. "Could guys could help out a few of the locals around here. Fox Chapel is the best place for gas. For now, you guys rest up and you two," Rex pointed at Lily and Tai. "Take a shower, you both smell like wasteland."
xxxx
It was another hot morning as Yates checked the 44. Browning MG on the buggy as Mighty Mighty Man by Roy Brown blared on the radio. "Yesss, I'm a real young man, a brand new twenty-five! Yeeeessss, I'm a real young man, a brand new twenty-five! Whoooa I'm willing, I'm able, I'm frantic, much alive!" He sang along as Kayla walked up with ammo.
"Favorite song?" She asked with a smile as she loaded the ammo into the ammo pouches.
"Roy Brown, one of my favorite artists of the pre-war era. The new music coming out now-a-days isn't some of my favorite…"
"What do you expect of people that come from nothing?"
"Well the MG looks good." Yates said as he took a swig of water. "Do we got everything?"
"Six gallons of water, six gallons of gas, enough rations for a few days and more than enough ammo for us. All that is just in case purposes, plus I got us an extra day off of duty."
"You sure do have some connections around here." Yates said as he lit up a cigarette.
"Yeah, well when you have this thing called a vagina it seems to work out to your benefit." Kayla said as she tucked her rifle in the holder next to the driver seat. She stepped inside of the single seat buggy and turned the engine over. The buggy sputtered to life as she gave it some gas.
Kayla pulled off down the road and out of the checkpoint area. "So what's the way again?" Kayla called out over the loud engine.
"We take route 22 to 66 and from 66 to 356 and that should take us right to Freeport!" Yates said with a puff as he looks at the barren hills.
"Okay!"
"So do you think Kaz is alright?"
"He's not your average Knight. He can handle damn near anything the wastes throw at him." Still Tai racked her mind with questions about what he was hiding and why the Brotherhood wanted it so bad. The commander was acting in a manner she had never seen before as well.
The road became a bit bumpy as the suspension on the buggy handled the cracked pavement well. A crunch and splat were heard as a radroach was smashed under the tires. "Oooo…Shit, I think I got some radroach guts on my pants." Yates called out.
Kayla laughed as she looked over and saw a few dead corpses on the side of the road. "Poor guys…" The wasteland was still a hostile place, even as the human civilization bounced back from the brink of extinction and fought countless battles against the new world and each other, the wastes were still more than enough to take a few weary lives. Even with the population increasing, war is inevitable.
It was a forty-five minute drive down 22 until they came to the turn onto 66. They came up to the turn, but found it blocked by a group of raiders who took notice to them coming. They had locked down the run down gas station on the corner "Great…" Kayla said as she slowed up to them.
"Now that there is a nice buggy…" One of the bigger raiders with a dusty pump shotgun said as he looked at Kayla and saw her armor and then looks at Yates. "Well I don't believe what I'm seein." Other raiders came up behind him. "It's Kevin Yates…the raider turned Knight."
"Let us through Hoss." Yates asked calmly.
"What's yer' business out here?"
"I'm visiting Glenn. I need a favor."
"Now why would Glenn do anything for someone who left him?"
"I'm not arguing with you about it, Hoss."
"Oh yea?" Hoss yelled. "Well I don't like how we let Brotherhood trash walk all over our territory like they damn well own it." Hoss pulled up his shotgun and aimed at Yates, but was met with the barrel of the 44.
"Don't do this Hoss…" Yates warned as more guns turned on him and Kayla.
"Stop!" Called out a female voice from the inside of the gas station. A woman emerged from the doorway as men dropped their aim on the two. The woman was a Latina and wore a stylish men's suit with black hair waving in the wind. "Kevin Yates can walk on our turf anytime with a nickname as legendary as 'sudden death'."
"Catalina," Yates said with a smile. "Long time no see."
"As to you my darling." Catalina said as she walked up. "Hoss, you need to understand that people like Yates are people that you strive to be…Sadly for you, you're too stupid to even talk to Glenn." The raiders laughed as Hoss looked down in embarrassment. "Now what is it that you are doing here hmmm?" She eyed Yates. "Miss me?"
Yates chuckled. "Ahhh, I do miss you, but I'm here on business. Some things went down and we need a favor from Glenn. It's something serious so I can't give details."
"Well I'll be back in Freeport by tonight. I'll radio ahead and let the other check points know you're coming." She looked at Hoss. "Hoss, open the gate. Then after that I want you to fetch us some food from the supermarket."
"B-But that place is crawling with radscorpions!"
"You have to earn a nickname better than John 'The Oaf' Hoss' if you wanna be respected around here." Catalina ordered as she looked at him. "Being big means nothing, you have to be smart and have skills to survive out here in the wastes because it can eat even the biggest of men."
"…Yes ma'am…" Hoss said as he walked off.
"Mackeral,"
Another raider stepped up. "Yes ma'am?"
"Go with Hoss, make sure he doesn't get himself killed."
"Yes ma'am!" The raider said as he left to catch up with Hoss.
"I see your position as commander hasn't changed." Yates said with a smile as he checked out her body.
"You know it." Catalina winked at him as the gate opened. "You're free to go."
"Thanks babe." Yates replied as Kayla pulled off onto 66 North.
Kayla was surprised to see that Yates had such connections. "Sudden Death?"
"I'm known throughout the raider society around here as that because I took out my targets from so far away, they never heard the shot. Groups of people would just see their buddy fall to the ground dead and not know what happened until another one dropped."
"I knew you were good, but geez Yates."
"It's about respect amongst us out here. That's why we can set up camp and hold a route down like 66 north off of 22 and be that close to the brotherhood. Sure we never did like them, but they didn't try to kick us out or mess with us, so there wasn't a problem." Yate's looked at the road he knew all too well. "You had to stand out as a unique survivalist around here to be a commander."
"And Catalina back there?"
"That girl is more dangerous than she looks." Yates remembered seeing her for the first time. "Catalina 'The Tommy" Lopez, quick, agile, intelligent, and deadly with her Thompson; she's the best female raider we have."
"So who are you guys under? Major raider clan that is."
"We're self-sustaining and we had offers, but Glenn turned them down. We live a semi-righteous life out here."
"You're still raiders."
"Exactly."
xxxx
Kaz tasted the fine coffee as he looked at Rex. Rex was a young, thin, greasy black male, but seemed very intelligent. "So how did you meet Tai?"
Rex was fixing his TV as he listened to the question. "Ahh…My father and his father were good friends. Tai's dad used to come over to get additions to his Stealth Armor."
"Recon Armor?"
Rex chuckled. "Only the regular Knights get Recon Armor, this Armor was meant for continuous stealth until disengaged. The Armor had the best cloaking tech and the nanofiber would consistently change the outside of the suit's temperature to keep it hidden from thermal."
"So what ammo type is it weak against?"
"That's was its only flaw." Rex said as he looked at Kaz. "It was weak against all weapons."
"What's the point of it then?"
"You don't understand that position of that Paladin." Rex said as he continued to work on the TV. "Tai's dad was the master of stealth and recon. Have fun tryin' to even put a bullet in him when you can't see him and can't find him and when you do find him, you're already dead."
"He was that good?"
"Duhhh….Master of stealth and recon? Paladin? Is any of this clickin' in that head of yours?" Rex lit up a cigarette. "What's your trade in the Brotherhood?"
"Demo specialist."
"There's one better than you that's a Paladin." Rex said with a puff. "Number seven, Paladin Jove is his name. He works with every explosive you can think of in ways you couldn't think of."
"I've heard of him…detonated a nuke in Ohio, taking out the Flatlanders. No one knows how he survived, but he did."
The TV suddenly clicked on and fuzzed to life to a redhead girl talking about the news from around the area. "And the brotherhood has offered a reward of 250,000 new dollars for information to the capture of a one Tai Mason. He is extremely dangerous and shouldn't be approached. If you see him please contact your nearest Brotherhood of Steel checkpoint."
Rex whistled as he started putting the TV back together. "That's a lot of money, but not enough for that key. Nothing is enough for that key."
Upstairs Lily watched the news report in worry. A quarter million of new dollars from the Brotherhood on Tai's head would make things a bit complicated, but they didn't have a picture of him so it's not like people knows what he looks like.
The guest room was surprising to Lily as it held a queen size bed with its own bathroom. Things were pretty clean around the large house like building. She was amazed that one man could live on his own with no visible protection, but then again she did meet Tai who survived well on his own.
The bathroom door opened with Tai walking out drying his hair. Lily looked at him and her eyes fell onto his naked body. He was perfectly built to her liking, but she turned around in embarrassment. "H-Hey! You don't just walk into a room naked with a girl in it!"
"You act like you've never seen another man naked…" Tai said as he walked over to the closet.
"And what if I haven't?" She said with a slight peek at his body.
"Then this is what it looks like." He said as he pulled out underwear and cargo pants.
"The news said there's a bounty of a quarter million new dollars out on your head."
"They'll just kill the person that knows anything about me for security reasons." Tai said as he slipped into the cargo pants and pulled out a long sleeve button up.
"Aren't you worried?"
"About what?"
"Rex…?"
Tai looked at Lily as if she were stupid. "Rex is a family friend of mine and knows that a quarter million or any amount of money isn't worth the rest of the world going through another atomic fallout."
"I-I'm…sorry…" Lily said as she looked down. "I didn't mean to…"
"Shut up already…" Tai said as he closed the closet. "You're safe now. I'm going into Fox Chapel today and I'm sure the town there will take you in."
"…Okay…"
Tai looked over and saw how his words hurt her and felt a sting of guilt inside. He sighed deeply "I'm sorry…" He said as she looked at him. "I'm used to being alone and I don't do well with people that I just meet. I only knew my parents, Rex and his father before he passed." Tai looked out the window at the river. "Staying with us is dangerous…Hell I almost killed you earlier."
"You were protecting something important. I understand." Lily thought of her brother. "My brother…I was important to him…"
"Well you'll be safe when we get to Fox Chapel and you can put this all behind you."
"…What if I want to stay here?"
"Not your call."
"Maybe I can help?"
Tai looked at her once again as if she was stupid. "You can't shoot a gun, you can't fight hand to hand, you have no explosives training, you can't repair anything, you have no skills with computers and you have zero survival skills. If anything up to this point all you have shown me is that you are extremely lucky."
"I have no one!"
"I know what that's like…" Tai said as he walked over to a table where his equipment sat. "Life becomes full of questions and meaningless thoughts. The only thing that matters is that you live on and maybe you'll find people in this town."
"What if I already like the people I found?"
Tai looked back at her. "But we're-"
"Amazing people." Lily said cutting him off. "I don't believe that fate has it for me to leave you. I feel like I'm here for a reason."
"So far you've caused me to lose my home, get captured…"
"You shouldn't have told them your story first of all and second I saved you back there by helping you escape."
Tai was stuck and Lily was right. All the training wasn't just to survive, hell Tai could have survived knowing half of the things he knew. His father knew that the day would come when the Brotherhood would find out and this was it. "Maybe you're right…" Tai turned his attention back to his equipment. "But I don't wanna see you get caught up in this. You could get killed."
"I faced death countless times…" Lily said as she looked down. "For some reason, I don't die or get hurt."
"I should take you to New Vegas. With your luck we could run the town."
Lily smiled as she looked at the doorway as Kaz entered. He was wearing his fatigues and smoking a cigarette. "Hello Kaz."
Kaz smiled at Lily. "Hey Lily." He turned his attention to Tai. "So what are we gonna call you, now that your name is all over the TV?"
"Richard, my father's name." Tai said as he adjusted the sight on his 9mm.
"Alright well that works."
"Where's your armor?"
"Your buddy Rex is making improvements on it. For him to know so much about our armors, he had to be part of the brotherhood…"
"His father was a slaver in the Pitt and as you know the Brotherhood of Steel has a nice pact with the slavers that allows them to keep slavery for the production and pay of making the armor you need. So Rex's father, being the mechanical wiz that he was started working on the armors. Rex was born there to a slave his father was fond of."
"So he learned from the core of it all."
"Yep and he's damn good at it too."
"So tell me, why don't you have any armor?"
"I'm not the one to wear the stuff." Tai said as he looked at Kaz. "All the maintenance with guns and other stuff that I had was enough. Add armor and I would be over worked. Hell I don't even use a pipboy."
"Armors do have their uses."
"True, but everything I do doesn't require armor. That and they do have their weaknesses as you can tell I can use to my advantage. Relying on your armor to what too many of you Knights make the mistake of doing."
Kaz sighed in knowing that Tai was right as he looked at Lily. "So what are we gonna do with you?"
"I'm staying." Lily replied.
"You know this is dangerous right?"
"Tai already went over it with me."
"Yeah man," Tai added. "She's insisting she stays."
Kaz shrugged his shoulders giving up on arguing with Lily as well. "Alrighty then."
xxxx
Kayla and Yates pulled up to the gates of Freeport after a forty minute drive. It seemed to be a well-guarded town as guards with sniper rifles aimed at them as they stopped to a group of raiders.
One of the raiders walked up and looked at Yates. "Glenn is expecting you." The raider looked back at the towers. "Let em' in!" He called out as the gates slowly opened with a rusty creek noise.
Kayla pulled into the town and was surprised to see so many rebuilt buildings and people. "Wow, I haven't been this far north of Pa…This is amazing."
"Yep." Yates said proudly. "From raiders to protection…mostly."
"Still raiders to me."
Children ran inside as they saw the two drive down the road. Looks from windows and porches told them enough that they weren't trusted by the locals. They soon pulled up to a large house that was guarded by two large raiders. Kayla killed the engine as she hopped out of the buggy with Yates.
Yates took the lead as they walked up. "Kevin Yates, I'm here to see Glenn." He said as the guards looked at each other and moved aside, letting them in.
The inside of the house was cool, nicely refurbished and full of guards and women all laughing and drunk. Cigarette smoke and jet could be smelled in the air as they walked up the stairs into a large study.
A silver haired young man sat on a comfy couch with his arms relaxed around two beautiful women. His blue eyes lit up as he saw Yates. "Well isn't it the devil himself!"
Yates smiled. "Still haven't changed one bit haven't you Glenn?"
"Ahhhh, but that I have dear friend! We don't have to rely on raiding that much anymore as this town has enough caps and new dollars moving around in it to have a self-sustaining economy!"
"That's why this place is booming." Kayla added.
"Ahhh and what is your name my dear?" Glenn asked as his eyes fell on Kayla.
"Kayla, Kayla Rose."
"And as beautiful as one." Glenn said with a smile.
"Cut the bullshit flattery." Kayla growled.
"And with the thorns to match."
"Easy Kayla." Yates said with a grin.
"Yeah…Just get what we need…" Kayla said as she walked off.
Glenn watched as she left. "Geez, are all female Knights up tight like that?"
Yates laughed. "Hahaha…ahhh…No, Kayla is just a very duty driven girl."
"I see." Glenn nodded at the table in front of him with drugs, cigarettes and booze on it. "You want anything to take the edge off bro? You know you don't have to pay."
Yates waved it off. "No thanks, I gave up the chems a while ago."
"Well what did you come for?"
"I need to use your com radio."
Glenn laughed. "That's it? Geez, I thought I had to kill someone or give you some money or something, but my radio? Alright then." Glenn stood up. "We got a com room right around the corner. Follow me." Glenn said as he walked out the room with Yates trailing. As they turned the corner Glenn saw Kayla and winked at her.
"Fuck. Off." Kayla growled.
"I'll be right back Kayla, don't kill anybody." Yates said as he walked past.
"Be quick or I just might…"
"Soooo…Yates." Glenn began. "How's the 'Knight life' treatin' ya?"
"Well it got a lot more interesting as of late."
"Which brought you here."
"In which it did."
"You know, I could use you back here Yates." Glenn said as he looked over his shoulder at Yates. "There's more money here and I'm sure I can cut you in on more than you make in Monroeville."
"I'll consider it. I've got two years left on my contract."
They stepped into a small room with com equipment and a few raiders. "Here we are. Have at it Yates."
Yates took a seat and placed thick headphones over his ears as he began to find Kaz's frequency.
xxxx
Rex was adding a faster processor into the computer system of Kaz's Recon Armor as the com started to catch a feed. "…What the hell?"
"…K…Kaz….Kaz this is Yates are you there? Over."
"Must be the Brotherhood…" Rex said as he took a puff of his cigarette. "Hey Kaz! You might wanna come down here!" He yelled up stairs.
"Kaz, this is Yates are you there? Over."
Kaz made his way down stairs quickly and over to Rex. "What's up? Somethin' wrong?"
"Someone named Yates is trying to raise you on your com."
"Yates!" Kaz quickly grabbed his com and responded. "This is Kaz, Yates where are you! You know the Brotherhood can find you!"
"I'm using a coded freq from a friend's radio, so don't worry. What I am worried about is you. What the fuck is going on?"
"Well…I don't know where to start…Let's just say the Enclave isn't dead according to Tai."
"What? That makes no sense! How can you trust that kid? He killed a ton of Knights!"
"With good reason, even though I hate to say that. He was defending himself and trying to get away. He says the Enclave have deeply rooted themselves in our ranks, ranks higher than us." Kaz lit up a cigarette. "He has a key…To some atomic silo underground filled with atomic weapons."
"…Holy shit…"
"Yeah, that's the reason the Brotherhood has such a high bounty on his head. Do they know about me?"
"I'm not sure, I mean you were on shift today and didn't show up so I'm guessing they are calling you M.I.A."
"And you?"
"Well I'm with Kayla and we are off duty for the next four days."
"Well…then you have a decision to make. Both of you."
"And that is…?"
"Join us or stay with the Brotherhood."
The silence was tense between them as Yates didn't respond for a few seconds.
"…That's heavy man…"
"Well you have four days. I'll keep my com on me."
"…Right…Yates out."
xxxx
Yates slowly took off the headset and set it down. A hard look set on his face as he looked at the floor. "You…okay buddy?" Glenn asked as he sat down next to him.
"I've got a friend in some deep shit…"
"Well I can help."
"Trust me…" Yates looked at Glenn. "This is bigger than anything you can fathom." Yates stood up as Glenn handed him a cigarette. "Thanks."
Glenn stood up as well, lighting Yates cigarette. "Look, I'll do what I can for you bro. You know we're friends no matter what."
Yates grinned. "It's good to know I got someone like you backin' me up."
"You stupid bitch!" A voice called out from the hallway. Yates and Glenn rushed out to see in the short distance a raider trying to wake up another raider whose noses was broken and another raider aiming his assault rifle at Kayla who returned with her 9mm to his forehead.
"WHOA! STOP!" Glenn yelled as he rushed down to the scene.
"Kayla! Back down!" Yates yelled as he followed Glenn.
They both stepped in between facing their respective comrades. "I told that fuckin' prick I wasn't interested and I don't like repeating myself." Kayla sneered.
"Fuck that bitch! No one does that to the Free Riders!" The enraged raider yelled over Glenn.
"Feel free to ride on this fuck face!" Kayla yelled back, flipping him off.
"Back off Gordon, that's an order." Glenn said as he looked into the raiders eyes. "Now…"
"…Fine." The raider said as he helped the other raider with their downed comrade.
Yates looked back and then at Kayla. "Kayla, you're here under my name, don't fuck it up!" Kayla crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. Yates looked back at Glenn. "Sorry about that."
"It's cool; she's just a tough chick. Take her down to Billy's bar for a drink or two, tell him throw it on my tab."
"Thanks Glenn." Yates said as he looked at Kayla. "Come on Kayla…We got some business to talk about."
xxxx
"Alright Tai, I'll order some weapons from a friend of mine, but this is all I got for now." Rex said as he lugged a bag onto a table in the living room.
Tai opened the bag and pulled out a pump shotgun, assault rifle and an SMG with a few grenades. A couple boxes of ammo were at the bottom, a couple for each respected weapon. "Not bad, it'll do for now." Tai said as he took the shotgun and tossed Kaz the rifle. "Hope the Knights are trained like Marines were."
"Marines?" Kaz said in confusion as he looked at Tai.
"United States Marines were a pre-war military branch that were the spearhead attackers of the U.S. Armed Forces. They were elite infantry and every single one of them before they were anything else, were riflemen first and foremost."
"Meaning…?"
Tai looked at Kaz. "Every last one of them was extremely accurate with a rifle." Tai tossed Lily the SMG which she barely caught. "Since you'll be with us, you'll need that."
"Uh….I-I don't know how to use this…" Lily timidly said as she had never used a gun before.
Tai sighed as he forgot she was green when it came to things of violence and war. He walked over with the clip and took the gun from her. "It's simple." He showed her the side of the gun. "See this switch?"
"Uh huh…"
Tai flipped the switch. "See the red dot? That means it's ready to fire. This is the safety. Always have it on and remember to disengage it when we are headed into danger or danger hits us. You put the clip in this way…" He placed the clip in the gun. "You'll hear and feel it click into place and then you cock the weapon." Tai pulled the cocking handle and let it snap back into place as he looked at her. "Rules of gun equate are; when dealing with your weapon you keep the barrel away from friendlies such as me, Kaz or Rex. Never look into the barrel, ever and when you point this at someone or something be ready to shoot to kill. Got it?"
"Y-Yeah…I'll try."
"I don't like trying…"
"…I will."
"Better." Tai said as he looked at Rex. "Alright then Rex, we're headed to Fox Chapel. Anything we should watch out for?"
"Well," Rex began with a pull of his cigarette. "The Hulton Bridge is where you wanna cross to get to Freeport road, the thing this that the bridge is guarded by raiders. They aren't friendly either…"
"How many do you think?" Kaz asked.
"Ten at most they have down there at a time, give or take a few men."
Kaz looked at Tai. "That's a lot of men."
"That ain't shit. We'll make it over no problem."
Lily's heart dropped into her stomach. "I…I think I should s-stay here…"
Tai looked at her. "Hey princess you wanted to stay with us, that means you have to fight as well…or at least draw their fire."
"So I'll just be a decoy?" She yelled back at Tai who cracked a smile.
"I'm just trying to make you useful, haha."
"That's not funny!" Lily scowled.
Rex tossed some gear at Lily's feet. "That's a tactical vest with a bullet proof coating on the inside that should be able to stop a 9mm, anything else…It might slow it down enough to prevent you from dying, but that's only if you're lucky. There are also some pants that should fit and some boots."
"T-Thanks…" Lily said as she picked the gear up and headed upstairs to get ready.
Tai made his way outside to his truck with Kaz and Rex behind him. "I hope that we get enough gas to get the hell outta here soon."
"And not catch the attention of the Brotherhood while we're at it..." Rex added as he looked at Kaz. "Welcome to the resistance."
xxxx
Commander Watson sat in his office going over papers of activity around the base. He had found out that it was Kaz that disappeared, probably helping the boy escape. "That boy might know about us, but it's too late for anyone to do anything…" Watson said to himself as he had yet to hear from Elder Azure.
Watson looked up as a man walked into his office dressed in mercenary gear and a rifle on his shoulder. Behind him followed three more mercs, two females and one male. "Ahhh, I've been expecting you McDevitt."
Ryan McDevitt was a 6'1 toned white male with long hair and blue eyes. His face held a look of rugged experience. "You mean to tell me that you have a small army at your disposal and you need us?"
"I need your expertise in a delicate matter involving a highly skilled boy and a demo expert of ours that has turned on us."
"Tai Mason right?" The brown skinned woman asked as Watson looked at her. She was a Samoan woman with beautiful hair and a perfect figure.
"That is right…uh…"
"Vale."
"Yes, Vale that is right. He's extremely dangerous even if unarmed."
"Well then that must mean the pay is good." An Italian man proclaimed. "And when the pay is good, Frankie Caputo don't mess around."
A smaller girl next to Frankie looked away shyly as Watson looked at her. "And what is your name?" He asked the timid girl. She was cute with a short haircut and small stature.
"R-Rin…" She replied softly.
"Randy Little," Ryan said proudly. "Or Lil Rin as we call her. She's the best marksman we've got."
Watson looked at her visor glasses. "Those are the 4.0 V.A.T.S., perfect for snipers." He looked at Ryan. "Well for now I have two possible connections to Tai's location through these two." Watson pushed forward on his desk two folders that Ryan grabbed up. "Their names are Kayla Rose and Kevin Yates. They were last seen heading east on 22. Reports indicate Yates used to be with a group of Raiders out that way."
"The Freeport Raiders." Vale said as she looked at the file in Ryan's hands. "They've been building Freeport up to be a substantial town around here. Glenn Sandridge leads that group and they aren't part of any large raider fraction, but still they pose a decent threat."
"Well we aren't just going to be able to walk right up in there." Ryan said as he flipped through the file of Kayla.
"I'll send a strike platoon of men to shake them up while you dig out the two. We need them alive to find out if they know anything on Tai."
"Then after that?" Frankie asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Eliminate them."
"Done." Ryan said as he put the folders down.
So an attack on Freeport was in the making with one of the best mercenary groups around PA going up against Glenn's raiders, Yates and Kayla. The future wasn't looking bright for them…