"Got bored. His Turn." - Anonymous graffiti found on a sign near a dead raider hanging from a lamp post in Fairfax ruins

Chapter 2 : Killer's Edge

Fitts tinkered with his helmet radio as the squad neared Fort Independence. For hours on end he and his men had been listening in on Enclave radio. Partly for intelligence, but mainly to get some amusement out of that wack job President Eden.

"... Criminals, who have had the audacity to claim this country's most important military installation, the Pentagon, as their own personal club house...don't be fooled America, those who have left the Brotherhood of Steel, branded Outcasts, are just as dangerous. Even more so, being in exile." Damn straight, Fitts chuckled, coming from the Enclave, the most heavily armed group in the wastelands, that was a compliment.

As they reached the entrance, the rusty chain link gates squeaked open and Fitts led his rag tag squad back to the Outcast HQ. Above the Bridge, defender Rococo Rockfowl nodded a silent greeting to the team as they passed beneath the automatic defense turrets. Fitts had always wondered about the story behind Rockfowl's interesting name, but he knew better than to bring it up in front of him while he was wielding a gatling laser.

Fort Independence itself was a fort in name only. He did not know what purpose it served pre-war, perhaps an office building, or a tech warehouse, but it was certainly was not as heavily fortified or defensible as its name suggested. It was like a shack compared to the steel girder fortifications of the Citadel. Casdin and the rest of the Outcasts had a field day converting it into a semi-defendable fortress, with piled rubble and steel to block unnecessary entrances, while automated turrets and robots kept a watchful eye. Despite all the precautions, it was still vulnerable to attacks from Raiders operating in Fairfax, which was part of the reason Fitts suspected Casdin wanted to finally attempt to retake the town ruins for the Outcasts.

And now, gathered today in the courtyard of Fort Independence, were about thirty well trained power armored soldiers. This accounted for almost all of the attack power of the Outcasts in one courtyard, one well placed Fat Man would have wiped them off the face of the earth. It was a miracle too, considering how much ground they had to cover together. Fitts also noticed a few missing faces among the tragic few that stood to attention in the courtyard. With such a small group of friends and comrades, it was all too easy to know who had fallen in battle.

The hydraulics of Fitt's power helmet hissed as he took it off, revealing his short beard and semi-ragged features, evidence of the weeks of work and recon they did in the field. He and his men would have to get themselves cleaned up after this operation.

"Well, look at what the wastes spat out." A irritating guttural voice sounded from one of the Outcasts. Fitts turned and saw Defender Sibley, a middle-aged, African American Outcast with a regular army issue buzz cut, and a healthy reputation for being the obligatory company asshole.

"Thought some Yao Guai might have eaten you and your crew up, well you can worry no longer, me and my boys are here now to save your sorry hides."

Fitts sighed inwardly. The Outcasts as a whole were a close, tight knit unit, almost like family, Sibley was just the person in these kinds of groups who always enjoyed starting a conflict to prove who was the alpha male, only Henry Casdin was able to fully bring him into line, and even then it was pushing it.

While many others would not bother getting into knocking heads with the likes of Sibley, preferring to just remain quiet and hope he would go away, Fitts was not going to sit back and take the insult to his squad.

Fitts turned around, shouting at Defender Colt who was still across the street before the Bridge entrance.

"Hey Colt, Defender Sibley says we shouldn't worry now that he's here." he lifted his hand up to his ear, feigning interest. "What's that? You don't give a flying fuck either? Neither do I, nor the rest out the Squad."

The creases on Defender Sibley's face formed ridges that could have been compared to the grand canyon, without uttering another word, the Defender went off to join his own squad.

"Never a dull moment Protector Fitts?" Fitts turned to see Protect Henry Casdin extend his hand to him. The Outcast leader was a heavy-set man, noticable even in power armor. This was also one of the rare times he did not wear his power armor, revealing a middle aged bald face, hardened and scarred by years of combat experience in the desert. Fitts however instinctively stood at attention, saluting the Outcast leader.

"All in a day's work sir." Fitts smirked inside his power helmet, saluting the Protector. Technically Casdin was the same rank as Fitts, being a protector himself, and that was one aspect of the Outcasts he liked, that all squad leaders were equals. The Brotherhood had so many formalized bureaucratic ranks of Knights, Paladins, and Initiates and orders, that it was easy to forget the most basic asset of a team, trust and respect. Casdin was a Protector, just like his fellow squad leaders, but they trusted him to lead them in battle, in the dirt along with the lowest soldier, and he in turn, trusted his own men with his life. Elder Lyons may command that level of respect and awe amongst some of his soldiers, but Casdin had that for every man in his unit.

"At ease soldier," Casdin waved down Fitt's and his squad's salutes. "Good to see you all here in one piece. Report, how did the mission to Fort Constantine go?"

Fitts shook his head slightly just as he saw the rest of his squad pull up next to him. Farsight carrying the rusty minigun that she pulled off the dead mutant on the way here. "Not good sir, we found the place abandoned save for an army of Sentry bots, Gutsys and Robobrains. To be honest sir, we didn't have the firepower to infiltrate the fort, we fought our way to the personnel offices but the bomb storage bunker was sealed shut, several levels of security and reinforced doors. We barely managed to fight our way there before we heard the signal broadcast."

Casdin took the report in briefly, two salvage missions that came up with nothing in a week was hardly good news, but that would have to wait, right now they had more pressing issues. "You did good Fitts, more than I could ever ask of you and your men. I would much rather prefer having your squad intact than having you risk your lives in a needless battle. We all knew what we were getting into when we started this operation a year ago, we always knew first steps are always the hardest, but it will all pay off. For now, let's focus on the matter at hand."

Henry began to brief him up on the situation. And before Fitts knew it, all the major squad leaders of the Outcasts had gathered to where they were standing. Morrill, McGraw, Morgan, and Rockfowl.

"This is about the Raiders I presume sir?" Fitts gestured his squad to stand at ease, and Farsight, Colt and Kesler took the opportunity to mingle in with the other outcasts in the courtyard.

Casdin then nodded at his fellow squad leaders respectively, even as Casdin continued the briefing.

"Their attacks are getting worse. Rockfowl had to chase a few raiders back across the bridge yesterday. We've managed to capture a prisoner and interrogate him, but he gave us nothing in terms of intel. Still, all signs point to them mounting a full scale attack within the next few days."

"It's about time we moved against them I think." Rockfowl replied. "We've tolerated them setting up shop next to us for far too long."

"Agreed," Defender Morgan offered her appraisal of the situation. "As long as we leave them alone, it'll be a breeding ground for those animals. They have the numbers though, my scouting parties estimate we're facing maybe fifty or more, including the ones holing up inside the utility tunnels of the old subway."

Casdin took a while to digest the information in. "Well armed?"

"Antiquated rifles and handguns, but we've seen some equipped with old rocket launchers and flamers. Caution is advisable." Rockfowl spouted off the facts as though he had been running this battle through his head the past week, not letting a single detail escape. Fitts liked that about the defender, aside from being a good leader, he was a professional soldier through and through.

"What do you think they are after?" Fitts asked.

"No clue," Casdin remarked. "Perhaps they saw our numbers and our tech and got greedy. We've also caught a few raiders try to infiltrate the Fort; Fact that they're still trying seems to indicate an intelligence leak, or they've been scouting us for some time." Casdin said the last part distinctly, as though he contemplated the former theory but tossed that aside. None of his men would stoop so low as to sell them out to these rejects of humanity.

"Regardless, our number one priority is to protect the research team. I'll detail a third of our men to base defense while the rest of the squads begin the occupation of Fairfax. Morgan, you're in charge of independence. Take J.T's team and set up a defensive perimeter. I want our scientists and specialists kept in the bunker during our operations."

"Yes, Protector." Morgan nodded.

"I'll have the Wraiths clear out the Utility tunnels and metro. Four squads to occupy the surface fortifications. Fitts, McGraw, Morrill and Rockfowl. That'll give us sixteen operating on the surface, four below. Understand? I want this to be a thorough sweep. Leave no raider alive. We move in tonight."

That got the rest of the leaders' attentions. They were expecting an attack one or two days later, but to move so quickly, before they had time to fully prep the men, but each of them understood Casdin's reasoning. With so many numbers against them, the element of surprise didn't work. It was obvious the raiders were expecting some kind of heavy activity in the next few days, they sure as well did not expect an attack within the next few hours, in the blackness of night.

"Get to work people, we're moving out in four hours." Casdin nodded to his men,the hiss of hydraulics and clicking machinery sounded off as his face became obscured once again by the power armor helmet.

"In Steel's name." The rest of the outcasts saluted Casdin, then went off to their separate squads.

Hours passed as the sun vanished over the horizon, turning the sky from an ominous crimson red to the chilled black of night. Distant roars and guttural screeches in the distance meant that the Yao Guai and Deathclaws were on the hunt, eager to devour any fools dumb enough to venture the wastes. It was this time when the inhabitants of the Capital Wasteland would huddle in their squalid shelters. Megaton would close its iron gates, their residents nervously sliding into bed, thanking god that the dangers of the wasteland were beyond them. Even far away Rivet City, a trader colony set up on the ruins of an old aircraft carrier, would shut down completely, save for a detail of guards that kept a vigilant watch on the only overland access bridge into town.

In the ruins of Fairfax, among the dozens of scrapped cars and deserted, decaying office buildings, the sounds of laughter, metal scrapping on metal, and the occasional screams filled the air, which were all normal occurences at any raider camp. Although the night was chilled, the raider encampment was warmed by the dozens of flaming barrels, the heat offering some reprieve from the harshness of the wastelands, while light served for tonight's entertainment.

"Don't flinch you coward!" The first raider yelled, pummeling the new recruit with a bloodied baseball bat. A sickening crack resounded, and a splash of blood landed on the street as the raider, stripped to his underwear, tried valiantly to get back up again. Surrounding him, were at least five other raiders, each one carrying a melee weapon in varying degrees of sharpness and bluntness.

The beaten raider wailed, something stuck between a cry for mercy and a hysterical laugh. He was bleeding profusely from his face, his nose already broken, but the jet had taken effect, and he laughed, even as every bone in his body was nearing the breaking point.

"Are you gonna cry? Come on! Cry for me!" Another raider stepped forward, wearing painspike armor and wielding a lead pipe. Just as the hazed raider sloppily got to his feet, another swing of the arm sent the bruised and battered recruit tumbling back down to the floor.

"Love the pain, embrace the pain!" The lead pipe wielding raider slapped his knees, laughing hysterically before passing it off to another raider wielding a nail board. Another slap of metal on flesh brought more hysterical laughters from the group.

Two other raiders sat quietly in front of the cruel display, huddling by the barrel fire.

"Mmmmmmm, whaddaya think Mikey? This one too weak?" The female raider, sporting a scantily clad type of armor, cuddled next to the ringleader, whilst running her fingers up and down his thigh, both had crude tattoos of snakes on their shoulders.

"It won't matter a bit tomorrow Tala." The raider leader smirked. "We'll need all the bodies we can throw against the damn Brotherhood." Mikey, clad in heavy metal armor, tossed another piece of molerat meat into the fire. He had been planning the battle for some time now, sending out gangs of men to round up any able bodied raider or mercenary they could find. Soon, his Vipers would be able to set up a permanent base in Fairfax, even give the dumbasses at Evergreen Mills or that prick Eulogy Jones a run for his money.

"Of course...but once we get all the tech that the Brotherhood has been hiding away. No one will be able to stop our gang, no one will be able to stop us..." Tala smiled seductively, leaning her head against his shoulder. Mikey sighed, having grown bored of the girl already. He made a mental note to 'replace' her once he and the Vipers set up shop in the Brotherhood base.

Mikey grunted to the visitor in front of him, a grim faced but well built man in black combat armor, A white raven's claw etched on his torso.

"You just make sure your Talons are up to the job Clifton, remember the bargain." Mikey said.

"Right, you get the supplies, weapons and ammo, but we get the power armor." Sergeant Clifton said as he took another bite out of his mole rat meat. God knows why Commander Jabsco sent them out to cooperate with these animals, but he supposed having more meat to throw into the grinder wouldn't hurt. There were three factions in the Capital Wasteland that had power armor. The Brotherhood of Steel, who were too powerful to confront in their Citadel. The Enclave, who had even more advanced technology than the Brotherhood, and thus were more dangerous, and the outnumbered and outgunned Outcasts. The choice was obvious. He had secretly been feeding the raiders information on the Brotherhood base in the area, some real, some pure imagination, saying it was full of weapons that could help them dominate the area. He had been hoping goad these idiots into an attack, so far it worked beyond all expectations.

"We attack as planned?" Mikey grunted.

"Yes," Sergeant Clifton nodded. "Your guys attack head on in the morning, while my Talons circle around back and infiltrate their defenses." He had brought a company of fifteen men with him on this mission, at least three times the size of a normal Talon patrol, but when dealing with the Brotherhood, having extra guns was a necessity.

"Good, just as planned." The raider laughed, tossing a bottle of beer towards the Talon. "Now let's get-"

A faint rumble erupted from the distance, followed by ground shaking tremors as several explosions shattered the raider encampment. Pre-war cars were thrown into the air, along with bodies and burning debris. Seconds later, a wall of bullets, explosives and laser fire erupted from the west entrances, cutting down and frying the unfortunate raiders that stood guard.

"What the fuck?" Mikey quickly stood up, while Sergeant Clifton quickly picked up an assault rifle, while the raiders around town quickly stirred.

"Fire! Fire!" Dozens of raiders ran in every direction to battle, while the night quickly became bathed in the eerie light of gunfire.

"Outcasts! Advance and purify!" Defender Morrill shouted as his squad broke cover and advanced. Black armored shapes emerged from the bridge leading to Fort Independence and the surrounding highway, their legs pumping under the power armor and fingers gripped tightly on their weapons. The raiders let loss a barrage of defensive fire from their ragged shelters, a combination of assault rifles and pistols. Slabs of concrete and asphalt shot up as bullets ricocheted around them, some shots hit the outcasts, bouncing off their power armor with a harmless 'ping' at that distance.

"Come on you Brotherhood bastards!" The raider shouted hysterically as he fired off his assault rifle, fear rampant in his voice. "Come get so-" A volley of gatling laser fire ripped apart the man's body, as well as the car three other raiders were hiding behind. The ground shook as the microfusion cell within the vehicle exploded, pulverizing the raiders into sacks of bloody gore. The bodies barely had time to hit the ground before the Outcasts moved again. They were doing the job methodically, moving in four teams of three man squads, each one covering the last as they slipped ahead, only stopping once they reached appropriate cover.

It was a good call, he thought, that Casdin had ordered the attack, forcing the Outcasts on the offensive. The raider's weren't expecting a full scale attack this early, let alone at night.

Morrill paused as he and his squad ducked behind the entrance way to Fairfax, a small uphill road flanked by metal shelters and two overlooking ledges. Explosions shook the ground as the raiders used grenades whilst firing from the makeshift barricade. Morrill found himself thrown back as a raider grenade exploded just feet in front of him, his power armor took the brunt of it, being riddled with shrapnel and concrete bits but it still felt like being thrown clear by a hit from a truck.

"This is Morrill." Morrill grunted through the pain, some blood dripping from his side but otherwise he was fine. He instinctively flinched as an assault rifle round pierced the concrete slab just inches from his face, causing him to quickly crouched down. "We're at the entrance way but we're pinned down."

"This is Casdin, i'm bringing up the rest of the pack. Casualty report?"

Morrill took a quick look at his two other troops, their power armor battle scarred with bullet holes and dents, but they nodded quietly.

"A few light wounds. But we'll manage."

"Good" Casdin remarked through the radio as he shot a downed raider in the skull, ending the man's final agonies. "I'm bringing Fitts and Rockfowl up. We'll take them in the flank."

Casdin himself was armed with a pre-war assault rifle, that was one of the reasons he was so respected. He could have opted for the gatling lasers or microfusion cell laser rifles, but Casdin would die first before he would shortchanged one of his own men of life saving equipment.

Casdin and his men paused at the intersection, scanning the raider positions up ahead. He frowned as he saw the display of cadavers hanging from the street lamp posts and doorways. The stench of putrid rotting flesh hung in the air.

At least a dozen raiders were taking shelter on the ledges overlooking the main entrance into fairfax. He suspected there were more in the tunnels, and he had already located the entrance way to the underground complex, an old pre-war sewer drain. He quickly turned to his right, where the four man specials ops squad waited. The Outcast "Wraiths" were known for their special operations skills, able to sneak in an infiltrate behind enemy lines. Each Wraith squad member had a tattered black cloak on top of their crimson and black power armor, to act as both camouflage for night operations, but to also denote them as a special elite within the Outcasts.

"Kesler, I'm detaching you from Fitt's squad for now. Take the Wraiths to the metro tunnels and clear it out. Spare no one."

"Sir." Defender Kesler nodded, sheathing his combat knife before bringing his infiltrator assault rifle to bear. It was a scoped, pre-war silenced assault rifle, perfect for covert operations behind enemy lines. Within seconds, he and his four man squad vanished into the utility tunnels.

Seconds after they were gone, Casdin saw movement, and he turned to see a raider in painspike armor aiming a combat shotgun his way. The man died quickly as he was scythed down by laser fire from Casdin's men. More raiders burst from the houses and alleyways, suicidally charging the Outcasts with antiquated Chinese pistols and swords.

Casdin quickly realized his squad was surrounded, and he dropped to one knee, aiming his rifle at the nearest raider while his fireteams' rifles blazed with laser and gun fire. Spouts of earth shot up and plaster and concrete slabs were chipped while raiders screamed and died. Some even went down laughing, hopped on Jet, Psycho and other hallucinagens. Casdin even saw that some of them were using needles full of epinephrine, pure adrenaline, able to keep their hearts pumping long after they've taken enough shots to be declared clinically dead. That meant they were in for a tougher fight then anticipated. Henry then let loose another burst of assault fire into the buildings, throwing on raider back in a fountain of blood.

Two more raiders were dragging a buddy back from the gunfire in an alleyway, accompanied by several Talon company mercs. The alley had been converted into a type of mini-hospital, already holding half a dozen wounded. Just as they were preparing to head out again, a black armored soldier smashed through one of the doorways, reducing it to splinters within seconds and appearing with a lit up flame nozzle.

"Need a light?"

Before the raiders could even drop their buddy and make a run for it. The entire alleyway lit up clear as day, flames danced, melting centuries old pre-war concrete and glass. Garbage cans became distorted and bent, the stinging screams of men being burned alive mixed in fluidly with the sweet smell of human flesh as the raiders and talons found their leather and metal armor literally melting into their burning bodies.

The Outcast took one second to appreciate his work, before proceeding to fill an entire house full of raiders with flame. Screams erupted from the shattered structure as the old woodwork collapsed, several burning bodies jumped out the window, shattering bones and skulls.

"Talons! Regroup!" Sergeant Clifton yelled furiously as his five remaining men quickly abandoned their position on the battle line. Five had already been burnt to death in that deathtrap of an alleyway. The other five dead, shot up in defending the northern approaches of the town. As the flames consumed the two story house, lighting up Fairfax almost clear as day, Clifton took time to assess the situation amidst the blazing gunfire that echoed in the night. Mikey had run off somewhere, good riddance, his raiders were turning out to be the perfect distraction. He had come here to procure some power armor, and in this confusion, all he needed was just one careless Brotherhood soldier. Bidding his time, he and his talons quickly vanished into the shadows.

More raiders ran down the street, some with weapons, others badly wounded but still in the fight. They fought with a courage that came only from desperation, knowing that if they surrendered, they would be killed, if they retreated, they would be hunted down and slaughtered. A squad of Outcasts, armed with miniguns, simply walked towards the Raider position, oblivious to the small arms fire that the raiders retaliated with. The miniguns lit up, scything down the raiders as it reduced the thin metal shelters they were hiding behind into Swiss cheese.

Fire shot from one of the buildings, and the Outcasts vanished in a cloud of flame as a rocket launcher landed right in the middle of the squad. One outcast was thrown back ten feet, plastering himself against a concrete wall. His visor shattered, letting loose a mixture of blood and machine oil.

The remaining raiders roared in celebration. Casdin's features hardened beneath his power helmet, and he grabbed one of the fallen Outcasts rifles.

The raider who fired the rocket gave the Outcasts in the street a one fingered salute. "You'll never take us alive! You'll-"

An armor piercing round quickly tore the raider's head off his shoulder, sending his body flying back several feet.

"Outcasts! on me! I want that intersection cleared now!"

"For Casdin!" The remaining eight outcasts in the intersection, including McGraw and Rockfowl, yelled as they charged once again into the intersection, gatling laser and rifles blazing. The dozen or so raiders remaining simply dropped their weapons and ran, almost all of them being shot down like rabbits.

Fitts and his squad were dumbfounded. They had just taken out a raider patrol and a company of Talon mercs on the Northern entrance into town, all of them shredded to pieces by Defender Colt's minigun. But one raider survived, crazed and frenzied by the Jet he had taken. Instead of running away for cover like any sane person, the half naked man simply laughed.

"What the fuck is that idiot doing?" Farsight whispered through the radio as she watched the idiot raider challenging an entire Outcast squad with only a chinese pistol. Whenever the raider managed a hit, the 10mm rounds simply bounced harmlessly off the chest plates of the squads armor. Farsight's fingers began tightening on the trigger, as though she were ready to end the moron.

"Aw, that guy is cute." Colt smirked as he brought up his rocket launcher, pressing a button that made a beeping sound. After that, A laser guided missile lanced out of the launcher tube, and the raider had barely a second to react before the entire section of the road he stood on lighted up, the explosion setting off several pre-war microfusion cars. The ground shook violently as the roar of the explosion shattered windows, blew off shack roofs and even knocked several raiders several feet back. The raider with the pistol simply vaporized on the spot.

Absolutely fucking beautiful.

Though Casdin may say it was a waste of ammunition, the rest of the squad quietly nodded their appreciation of the fact that Colt managed a direct hit on an individual target with an unwieldy missile launcher.

"Let's go." Fitts nodded, and soon, the rest of his squad took the raiders in the rear. More screams and gunshots echoed through the night.

Kesler and his three other men quietly crawled their way through the utility tunnels, a series of old pre-war metallic corridors. Steam pipes and metal latches littered the walls, along with several doors leading into a series of rooms.

Although he rarely looked forward to anything, he was enjoying this. Out of all the dangers in the Capital Wasteland, he had despised raiders the most. Though he had no love for Super Mutants , they were at least monsters, and he respected that fact. But raiders were human, human beings who were supposed to work together to survive in the harsh wastes. Instead, they chose to make the lives of everyone around them miserable, hunting down the weak, preying on the innocent, all to get to some sick twisted high. They were weak, cruel and cowardly. And he was going to make every one of them pay.

The professional in Kesler quickly took over as they heard voices nearby. Lifting his hand up, Kesler gestured his fingers towards the doors. Two of the Outcasts nodded, opening the door and quickly filling it with silenced gunshots. Seconds later, he heard sounds of bodies slumping and dropping onto the ground. Kesler repeated the same, opening the door where he heard two raiders chatting, a man and woman. As he opened the door, he caught the two raiders on a bed, eyes wide in surprise as they saw the power armored wraith standing before them. Two silenced bullets through their brains ensured that they saw nothing more and Kesler moved to clear the next few rooms with his squad.

As they moved down the corridor, Kesler raised his hand, signaling the squad to stop. Hidden underneath some rubbish, he spotted an old fragmentation mine. The raiders were smarter than he gave them credit for.

It took him a few minutes to disarm the trap, before the squad moved on.

Two more raiders were standing guard near the metro underground, one armed with an assault rifle and and the other with an axe.

They died swiftly and quietly. Kesler slipped behind the one with the rifle, crushing his jaw with a power armored fist as he dug the combat knife under the man's armpit, twisting it to cut the artery of veins just next to his heart. Kesler let the man slump down as he felt the warm wetness trickle down his fingers. The man with the axe barely had time to comprehend why the floor was rushing up so fast to meet his face.

The Wraiths continued onward towards the raider hideout, soon the metro tunnels were begiinning to brighten as they got closer to the flames.

Covered in black tattered cloaks and in their dark power armor in the darkness, they were literally invisible. The only light in the chamber came from the lit up barrels of fire from the Raider's main underground encampment. Nothing disturbed the tunnels, save for the quiet low rumbles of the battle taking place on the surface, loosing dust and silt from the ceiling.

"I'm tellin' ya Mikey! It's over! We gotta get out of here while we can!" A female voice echoed through the chamber.

"And I'm tellin' you to shut your trap you stupid whore! No way we're giving up this piece of real estate after all we've done to build it up. We still got them outnumbered. Me and the boys can hole up in here and fight them off. They have one entrance to squeeze through, and we've rigged it to blow." Though Mikey tried to hide it, Kesler caught a bit of panic in the leader's voice. He also made a quick note about what he mentioned about the tunnels.

Kesler and his men shuffled slowly, easing their way behind the raider barricades where they were well hidden from enemy eyes.

"That asshole Clifton disappeared on us too, but no need, if we're in luck, he and his men are eating up the Brotherhood's bullets." Mikey grinned as he cocked his combat shotgun, ten more raiders remained in the chamber, what the raider leader didn't know was that ten more were lying dead in the utilty tunnels behind them. Everyone was so busy preparing that none of them noticed the distinct clicking of a grenade pin being pulled.

An explosion shook the tunnels, and Mikey watched as one of his men simply disintegrated into bloody pieces. Two more were thrown back, impaled onto the metal spikes and barricades that they were using as cover. Before anyone else in the room could move, four black cloaked power armored figures emerged from the scrap heap inside their hideout.

Mikey's heart skipped a beat. "Brotherhood! Kill the-"

A laser shot lanced his shoulders, and Mikey spun around, falling into a pile of trash. The rest of the raiders opened fire, but they were quickly scythed down by Kesler's infiltrator. The raiders were essentially firing blind, since the silencers did not fire tracer rounds or blazed like a normal assault rifle. While every time the raiders fired, they revealed their positions.

Screams, bursts of light, and shadows of crumpled bodies filled the chamber.

"Fuck this!" One of the raiders yelled, dropping his rifle and making a bee line for the entrance.

"No you idiot! Come ba-" Both raiders vanished as the fleeing raider set off the trip wires, detonating the batch of grenades set above the entrance. The remaining raiders went down hard, Kesler blowing the brains out of another one who had tried to rush him with a lead pipe.

It was over in under a minute. The raider defense was soon reduced to a clump of corpses. Others were screaming, clutching their shot off legs and arms in pure agony.

The Outcasts slowly swept the room, shooting the raiders mercifully in the head and securing the area.

Kesler stopped as he saw another raider, a girl huddled up in a corner scantily-clad in painspike armor. A look of pure fear in her eyes. Even in the dark, Kesler noticed that she was shivering, already dropping the pistol helplessly on her side.

"Please...I surrender! Don't hurt me! I'm beggin ya! See? I'm not even armed" She threw her pistol at the Outcast's feet, staring pleadingly at the emotionless power armored devil standing before her. Unlike other Brotherhood soldiers, this one was painted black, head to toe, like some revenant of death.

The tall soldier did not move, even though Tala had already thrown him her weapons.

"Look, I'll do anything...? Take them! I'll even fuck you! You Brotherhood guys get off on that right? Please, anything... just let me go!" Tala whimpered as she went on her hands and knees, tears of desperation and fear flowing from her eyes.

She was quite attractive for a raider, Kesler thought, almost pathetically pitiful. By Casdin's orders, he was to shoot her. He stared at her quietly, even as she was stripping off her armor and trying pathetically to 'undo' his power armor.

There was another Paladin, this one in full power armor, already saluting him. He had passed the supreme test of a Brotherhood Warrior, and now, he had to finish the fight. He had hesitated before and was punished severely, but this time...there would be no mistakes.

"Remember, the wasteland rewards cunning, strength and victory. This girl is trying to be cunning with you, initiate. A tactic you are supposed to be well versed in, and yet you can not seem to notice it. If you comply with her, not only will you have failed this test, but you are a failure of the Brotherhood, and thus, to be disposed of."

The Paladin passed Kesler the pistol. The girl's voice too soft to hear, but her pleading eyes said it all.

"The fit survive, the unfit are culled. You are the scythe."

"Sir."

Kesler gripped the girls head, and she yelped in sheer terror as he pushed her back against the wall. He raised his rifle.

"I am the scythe." Kesler whispered softly, pulling the trigger and sending the girl into oblivion..

Morning rose on Fairfax, revealing a pile of smoking ruins, burning cars and debris. Raider and Talon company corpses littered the streets, some in humanly impossible angles and others in pieces.

Protector Henry Casdin slowly limped his way back towards Fort Independence, leaving Rockfowl's squad to clean up. They had lost two men that night, and it was two too many. Each death was literally a weight on his soul, since it was his decision to make them outcasts, to put them in harms way. He could only pray that their sacrifices would be justified, and that he had made the right choice.

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Defender Morrill meanwhile, began releasing the hydraulic locks on the helmet one of his Outcast soldiers. He looked at the mangled face of the man with horrified recognition, before saying a few quiet words, and stripping him of his holotag. Even though he died an Outcast, his name would be included in the annals of the Brotherhood, he swore it.

.

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Two blocks away, Kesler and his squad of Wraith Outcasts emerged from the metro tunnels. Defenders Farsight and Colt greeted them, cheering their fellow comrades on, but Kesler walked by everyone, without uttering a single word.

.

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Several hundred meters away, by an irradiated stream of the Potomac river, Mikey had crawled his way out of a drainage pipe. His shoulder burned clean through by laser fire, but he was very much alive. He swore incomprehensibly as he recalled the dead bodies of his men. Those Brotherhood scumbags were going to pay.

.

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Sergeant Clifton and his five remaining survivors slowly made their way northward, though they had lost more than two thirds of their squad, they had succeeded. Clifton watched with satisfaction as they dragged the dead Outcast behind them. It would be hours before they would notice the missing body, and with that thought in mind, he urged his men to move more quickly. Fort Bannister was a long ways away.

.

.

Fitts stood at Fort Independence bridge, in awe of how much destruction they had caused to an already ruined city. A fresh gust of wind blew the smell of burning debris and flesh his way, but by then he had already fitted on his helmet. War, he thought sadly, never changes.

It was a new day in the Capital Wasteland, and there was much work to be done.