Chapter 2

Nora held her head and took a breather from the constant tasks that she and Preston had to deal with. She'd been fixing up Sanctuary Hill's for the past 2 days, with barely any sleep. The settlers were scared, their crops had been destroyed along with the water purifier, and they had lost a couple of loved ones during the fight. The stress was overbearing and MacCready constantly under medical, watch made it worse. She laid back on her bed and closed her eyes. It felt like someone was squeezing her head from the inside. It wasn't long until she heard a knock at her bedroom door.

"Hey pal, mind if I come in?" Deacon asked. Nora's eyes flashed open and she sat up with a jolt.

"Sure Deek, come on in. Got a seat for you, right here," Nora said, a smile plastered on her face. Deacon entered the room, two Whiskey bottles in hand. He sat down, on the bed next to Nora and handed her a bottle.

"Thank you, Deacon, I really needed this," Nora said. She popped the cap off, added it to the thousand of caps she already had. Deacon lifted his bottle up, Nora smiled, "Cheers!" She said, they both clanked their bottles together and took a swig of the age old Whiskey.

"So, you've been busy the last couple of days. Like, way more than usual. How are you holding up?" Deacon asked. He saw the little spark in her eye fade just a tad and her phony smile disappear. He new something was up.

"You know Deek, to be honest, you already know the answer to that question."

"You're right, I do. Because, right now, I can read you like an open book. I know you and MacCready are an item, as Nick would put it. I'd bet you'd wanna be right by his side now and, believe me, I totally get it. But, Nora, if I can read you this easily the others can too. Your people need you to be strong right now. It's gonna give them hope," Deacon said.

"Heh, Deacon, you always know just what to say," Nora took another swig of her Whiskey, "Wait a second, where were you during that entire fight?"

"That, my friend, was the weirdest thing. When that vertibird came in I was like 'look it's the goddamn brotherhood of steel' but it surprised the hell out of me when it started shooting. The only cover I had was a bush, so I dove straight into it. But, here's the catch; instead of stopping perfectly safe behind the best damn defense anyone has ever seen, I start rolling down a fairly large hill and find myself in the stream at the bottom," Deacon said, smiling from cheek to cheek.

"Oh good god," Nora chuckled.

"Yep, that was about the time where a group of 5 people started firing shotguns, pistols, a fricken minigun. Ok, maybe minus the minigun. But, boy, did I ever get myself into a jam."

"Wow, talk about a whole 'fish outta water' ordeal," Nora snorted.

"Ah, the time honored tradition of puns. How could you not love it?" Deacon smirked. Nora was starting to feel the burn from giggling too hard. It took a while for the story to stop being funny and awkward silence to fall throughout the room. Deacon's smile had disappeared, it soon became clear to Nora that something else was still on his mind. "Nora?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna head back over to HQ, get them well informed of what just happened here. Our Heavys and Caretakers need to know they have something to new look out for before anything gets too bloody."

"Good idea, as if they didn't have enough people to deal with."

"Hey, keep preaching to the quire, it's annoying as hell," Deacon said. He finished off the last of his whiskey and stood up. "Well, I gotta get going."

"Wait, already? We could still use your help here," Nora said, she stood up in between him and the door.

"Trust me when I say this, I really do want to help out. It's just, I don't know what hit us, Nora, that was pretty bizarre. They tore right through your defenses, the ones that were basically 'don't even think about it' capacity," Deacon frowned. Nora sighed and dove right in for a hug. Deacon stumbled his words in surprise, "Uh, wha-what?" He felt stiff and dragged down, he had to fight to just hug back.

"Promise me you'll be back soon?" Nora asked, tears were threatening to escape her eyes. Deacon lowered his head and hugged her tighter.

"Sure, pal, sure."

The rebuilding of Sanctuary Hills was going superbly well. Houses were being fixed up, the destroyed houses were being replaced with a new shack, and the defenses were getting a serious beef up. Now all they had to do was figure out who attacked them in the first place.

The guy that surrendered was having trouble getting comfortable in his new quarters. Maybe it had something to do with the specially made cage for him. Hancock had been in charge of watching the creep, he was enjoying it.

"I work for very powerful people, if you hold me any longer they are going to send an even bigger group of soldiers to get me back!" Jace yelled, loud enough for everybody to hear within an earshot.

"Now, now, let's not get too hasty. If these guys are as powerful as you say they are, then I highly doubt they'd worry about a little pawn like you. Who ever they are, they have bigger fish to fry than you Mr. "High-n'-Mighty. You feel me?" Hancock shot back.

"You'll be sorr-"

"Hancock! How's the fish food business coming along?" Nora interrupted.

"I don't think words could describe how annoying this little a-hole is," Hancock said. Nora laughed.

"You ready to send him to the grill?" Nora said. She peered at the guy and made sure he thought she was crazy. Nora swore she could hear his heartbeat.

"With pleasure," Hancock said. Rubbing his hands together he approached the cage and got eye level with him. Got real up close, to show off his handsome ghoul face. So close, that the guy could tell what Hancock had for breakfast. "Here's the situation, you dig? You're here with us, right now and nobody knows you're still alive. The only way this is going to go smoothly, for you, is if you tell us what we want to know. You feel me?" The guy's brown eyes widened in horror.

"How about we start off with an easy question? What's your name?" Nora asked. His grip got tighter around the bars of the cage, he tilted his head so his dirty blond hair covered most of his face. He had been stripped of all armor and all of his belongings and stored somewhere far far away. The military figurines where all he had on his person.

"Chase."

"See, that wasn't so hard now was it?" Hancock said, his grin was terrifying. Hancock new something wasn't right about this guy, it seemed off.

"Ok, Chase, who do you work for?" Nora asked, leaning in.

"It's complicated, you wouldn't understand."

"Chase, buddy, pal; the nice lady asked you a question. We happen to be very pissed off that your guys shot one of my best pals and her romantic interest. So, it would be good for your health to answer the damn question," Hancock said. Chase sighed and gritted his teeth.

"I can't tell you," he said. Peering into Nora's eyes, an angry grimace on his face.

"Aww, what a shame," Hancock said, pulling out a syringer rifle. He loaded it with a Berserk Syringe and aimed it at Chase, "You ever had one of these babies launched into your blood system? I've tried every drug known to man and this one isn't made for a "feel good" reaction."

"Who are you working for?" Nora asked, a harsh snarl on appeared on her face.

"Woah, Woah, ok, Christ. I'll tell you everything just put down the weapon," Chase said, hands in front of him like they would stop a bullet.

"That's what I like to hear Chase," Hancock said, lowering the rifle.

"I'm… I'm from a vault. Vault D94."

"What, D94? Vault Tec doesn't number they're vaults like that!" Nora said, trying to call bullshit.

"It wasn't made by vault tec, but by the government in secret. Hell, even the President didn't know of its existence."

"Keep talking," Nora said, folding her arms.

"It was made for all the top Generals and their families, it also had one of the C.I.T's best scientist flew in when they first predicted doomsday."

"Where is the vault located?" Nora asked.

"In Mount Mitchell, North Carolina."

"Damn, where the hell is North Carolina?" Hancock asked.

"North of South Carolina," Nora joked, "Yeah, they did shut that park down for a good 3 or 4 years and claimed that there was too much trash everywhere. Did a government pickup of the place. Guess they lied about that too."

"So, why come here? To the Commonwealth of all places?" Hancock asked.

"We were communicating with the Institute, sharing scientific ideas and marvels. But then the place went dark because you blew it up," Chase said, hate in his voice.

"Damn, so you were going for some ol' fashioned revenge? Guess what, news flash they were a bunch of assholes. Stuck up and selfish. Just what kind of bullshit were you working on with the Institute?"

"I already told you too much." Chase lowered his head in defeat and folded his arms. Leaning against the bar, he slid down and sat there.

"Well, I'll be damned," Hancock exclaimed.

""I'll tell you one more thing, the guy in charge is really pissed off. He want's your head mounted to a wall," Chase said, looking up at Nora with beady eyes.

"Hancock, come with me, I'll put Danse on watch duty. You've done enough for one day."

"Alright, if that's what you want," Hancock said as he followed her on the route to her house. She told Danse to watch the prisoner and walked over to Preston. She explained to him the situation.

"Is it just me, or does the Institute have some sort of immortal juice somewhere. Because this is getting ridiculous!" Hancock exclaimed.

"At this point, I think that might be true," Preston said, "But, he could be lying. You think he's telling the truth?"

"I do, that's what my gut tells me," Nora said, "Good thing Deacon left when he did, so that The Railroad is hopefully on high alert," Nora crossed her arms, "these people are mighty angry and might have their own opinions about what kind of work they do."

"Yeah, not to mention all the pre war tech that was preloaded into that Vault they were in. My guess is, it would give the Brotherhood a run for their money," Hancock added.

"If they're Vault was in North Carolina, why waste the fuel to get over here in the first place?" Preston asked.

"They must have a base stationed somewhere," Hancock said, adjusting his hat.

"Guess we have another question for our guest!" Nora said, rubbing her hands together. "Shall w-" Nora was cut off from her sentence when she saw a settler running towards her. A look of concern appeared on Nora's face. Hancock followed Nora's locked on gaze and his eyes widened in horror. It was the doctor that Curie was training, due to Curie's absence she was in charge of the folks who got injured during the attack. Including MacCready. Nora didn't know what would come next. The Doctor approached them, stopping for a second to catch her breath before delivering the news she painstakingly ran so urgently for.

"Hey, General, good news: MacCready's awake… he want's to see you." Nora was so happy, she could almost literally jump for joy. She made eye contact with Hancock, who had a cheek to cheek smile and nodded.

"Let's go then, questioning the fish food can wait," Nora said as she took off, full sprint towards the house that they named as, The Hospital. It was where all the injured settlers, from the attack, were placed so they'd be under constant medical supervision as they recovered. She blasted through the door and straight into MacCready's hospital room. There he was. Sitting up right, a weak smile on his face, his hat on the night stand next to him, and sweaty hair matted to his forehead.

"You are awake!" Nora gasped. Hancock followed her in through the doorway and was pleased to see MacCready.

"Ah, MacCready, welcome back to the land of the living," Hancock said, leaning against the doorway.

"Good to be back," MacCready said, weakly. Nora walked over to the side of his bed and kneeled down grabbing his hand.

"I was so worried," Nora said, squeezing his hand tight.

"It's ok, I'm gonna be fine," MacCready said, "Hell, I survived a ton of bricks falling onto me in Little Lamplight, a gunshot wound is a piece of cake."

"You know MacCready, it's a wonder how you haven't died yet," said Hancock with a smirk.

"Only one person keeping me alive right now and that's Nora. Without her, I'd probably be dead in a ditch somewhere already," MacCready said.

"You're goddamn right! If I had a cap for every time I had to kick someone's ass before they kick yours, I'd already have myself a pony," Nora said with a grin.

"Speaking of shooting people before they shoot me. Who were those guys who attacked us?" MacCready asked. Nora stood up, an angry look on her face.

"Those assholes were working with the Institute and they got kind of a grudge against us at the moment," Hancock said.

"They are descendants from the top guys in the United States military, raised in a Vault. A secret government vault that the President of the United States didn't know existed," Nora said, "we managed to grab one of their own after the fight."

"Well, I'll be darned," MacCready said.

"Just another day in the Commonwealth, huh MacCready?" Hancock said.

"Yeah, never know when someone who's been frozen in a Vault for 200 years would come knocking on my door in need of an extra gun."

"Yep, that's me. A walking, freshly thawed, frozen banana and boy oh boy did I ever get into some mischief!" Nora joked. MacCready chuckled, then his wound started hurting which caused him to grab it and wince in pain.

"Ah, I totally forgot for a second," MacCready said.

"Hey, if you could go a second without there being a painful reminder, it's a good sign," Hancock said.

"General!" Nora snapped her head to the window and saw Preston standing near one of her street lights. How did it get dark so fast? She asked herself.

"Go ahead, I'm not going anywhere," MacCready smiled. Nora gave him a kiss on the cheek before she and Hancock went to go investigate. Upon exiting the house, she noticed a new face standing with Preston.

"Hey, Garvey, who's this?" Nora asked, motioning towards the lady that stood next to Preston. She was in a flannel shirt and a pair of jeans. Sturn, dark, and baggy brown eyes and dark hair.

"I don't know," he said, "she kept asking me if I had a Geiger Counter. I don't know if she needs help or what." Hancock and Nora looked at eachother for a moment, Nora's face was twisted with worry.

"Miss, could we possibly speak in private," the lady asked. Nora nodded and beckoned her to follow her. Nora took the lady to her house, where they sat down in the living room; all doors and windows were shut. "Do you have a geiger counter?" The Railroad agent asked.

"Mine is in the shop."

"Good, listen, I got a telegram from HQ. Something about a dead drop gone wrong and I should go get you right away."

"What do you mean a dead drop gone wrong?"

"It was never picked up."