The Courier had to hand it to the Enclave, they had an impressive defense. He was staring at a forty foot high wall regularly studded with towers garrisoned with two mark VI turrets and ten Enclave troops a piece. The main gate itself had eight turrets, a couple sentry bots, and a dozen Tesla armored troops standing watch over it. Not much would get by the only remaining Enclave stronghold. The troops were intently watching the fog waiting for anything to come out and break the monotony of the day for them. The Courier felt his mouth twitch in what is the closest thing he came to a smile that day, turned on his sneak sight to give his helmet the glowing red eyes that helped intimidate those who threatened him as well as allowing him to see through the fog, and calmly walked toward the Enclave troops Anti-material rifle slung on his back and ballistic fist on his arm.
The moment the Courier came out of the fog he heard the clatter of twelve plasma rifles smacking into power armor as the Enclave troops aimed at him, no doubt to kill.
"Identify yourself," came the reply from the Leader of the Enclave squad.
The Courier slowly reached into his bag and pulled out a tube with a document inside. He held the tube in an out-stretched hand allowing the Enclave to open it and pull out a sheet of paper. The paper was a treaty asking for the Enclave, Brotherhood of Steel, and the NCR to meet on the table of peace and simply stop fighting. The other part of the treaty stated that if they refused they would face "prompt and udder destruction."
As the commander of the Enclave squad read it a sense of relief emanated from him. The NCR was the single biggest threat to the remains of the Enclave, and any chance to change that would be welcomed. They had lost to much fighting the brotherhood and the Lone wanderer to engage an actual trained military force; they no longer had the manpower or resources to do so.
"Sir we will need to contact our superiors about this," the sergeant said with an added formal tone to his voice, "who shall we tell them is coming?"
"Tell them it's the Courier. They will understand."
"Understood…..Sir!" The sergeant added with a mild delay, after all he had never referred to anyone outside of the Enclave as "Sir."
"Is there anything else you need?" Asked the Enclave sergeant, and after a moment adding, "Sir!"
"Just let my wagon in."
The enclave troops looked at each other at this odd request, "Alright Sir" was the only response the Courier got before walking toward the gate that started to swing outwards as he approached it.
In the Capital Wasteland
There was a sense of alarm was racing through the Citadel as three figures walked slowly towards the front gate. The two men and a supermutant that were slowly and carefully walking through the rubble strewn path represented all that had tried to destroy the Brotherhood.
A supermutant wielding a sword/gun combination,
A Man with a stoic demeanor and a red beret, New California Republic Ranger armor, a scoped hunting rifle on his back, and a Machete on his hip,
And the most terrifying a person with Mark II advanced Enclave power armor, Plasma defender on his hip, an advanced Plasma rifle slung on his back, and oddly a white tube, contrasting greatly with the insectoid black and yellow armor.
The Lone wanderer was at the battlements wearing his winterized T-51b power armor, the perforator in his hands following the head of the Enclave trooper.
Sarah Lyons was standing next to him hand raised ready to give the order for Dusk and Cloven to fire.
"What are we waiting for!" exclaimed a nervous knight, "let's take them out before they can harm anyone!"
Jason though for a moment, something felt off about this encounter to him, "Let them in. Dusk, Colvin, Gallows if they try anything kill them."
After he said this Sarah yelled, "Open the gate and tell the guards to stand down!"
Almost immediately the gate began to rise grinding and pulling its way out of the hole in the pentagon revealing the three figures standing outside with their eyes fixed at the guards, the NCR ranger analyzing them as if to find the quickest way to take them all out.
Jason walked toward them his T-51b almost shining compared to the older T-45d models the brotherhood knights wore. He raised his left hand, the one that was not holding the perforator, and gestured for them to come in.
"Greeted by a Paladin, if it wasn't for all the guns pointed at us I would almost feel welcome," Arcade muttered to Boone.
"Star-Paladin," Jason corrected. He wanted to let them know who they were dealing with.
"oh, we have something for you then," Gannon reached for the tube on his back and stopped as twenty laser and plasma rifles were leveled at his head, "Okay then, it's in the tube, just take it out," he muttered raising his hands into the air.
Jason nodded his head towards one of the knights and the man quickly ran forward taking the tube slowly off the Enclave armor and opened it unrolling the treaty inside.
"What is it," Jason asked as the man stared at the paper.
"No idea sir, I… I can't read," The man admitted sheepishly before handing the paper to the Lone wanderer.
Jason glanced at the man's armor and took note of his wasteland origin and made a mental note to add reading and writing to the training regimen as well as have all wasteland recruits take a few mandatory classes. Jason looked through the paper getting a very bad feeling about its implications that only worsened as he read through the paper.
He held the paper out, "Take this to Elder Lyons as fast as you can."
"What was it," Sarah asked curious as to what an enclave trooper would have on him that would give the Lone wanderer pause.
"A peace accord," Jason said quietly, "One not only for the Enclave but for a New California Republic."
"No!" Sarah practically shouted at him, drawing the eyes of a few of the less attentive knights
"What, why, this is a chance for peace," Jason said talking in a slightly hushed voice to avoid attracting further attention to the conversation, "besides we don't have a conflict with this New California Republic."
"The NCR almost wiped out the brotherhood; because of them we haven't had any contact from the west coast divisions." Sarah quickly, and this time quietly, explained.
Jason sighed, "I'll take it up with the elder."
Jason grumbled before turning and running towards the Elder's chambers.
Sarah turned to the Two captives, "Your fate is up the Elder now," she turned and walked away while doing so she raised her arm in the air, hand open, then closed her hand quickly. There were two resonating booms as Dusk and Cloven fired. There was only one thing they could have been shooting at.
"NO!" Arcade yelled and lunged forward a few feet before a Brotherhood knight smashed him in the back of his head with a plasma rifle, knocking him unconscious to the ground.
Boone looked at his feet and sighed as he was pushed to his knees before having his weapons torn away from him.
'Another friend lost,' he thought.
Back with the Courier
The Courier was waiting outside of the office of an Enclave general. Apparently they had a whole office for talking about peace treaties. Standing and waiting had never been the Couriers strong point; he was agitated walking back and forth thinking of ways to eliminate the guards and bust out kept his mind occupied. The General's secretary, a petite, shy, brown haired girl, walked out of the General's office, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience but the General does not have an opening today or tomorrow, however this Friday there is a three hour long free spot from one-o- clock to four if that is okay with you."
She pronounced her words quickly yet carefully saying what she needed to fast and in a way that allowed everyone to understand what she was saying with perfect clarity.
The Courier sighed before turning to face her, "I know how politicians work I could smash my way in there and place a gun against his head and he still would make me wait till Friday," The Courier muttered his face hidden behind his helmet, "Tell him I'll be there. Now where's the nearest entertainment."
The secretary released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding before giving her most disarming smile and saying, "There is a bar three streets down if you take a left out the front door, and a club for the more 'combat focused' individuals to watch a fight or two."
Cass hollered to the Courier and Veronica, "I'll be getting shitfaced, see y'all back at the hotel tonight!" Before shoving open the door and sliding down the banister to the sidewalk.
"A fight club, can you by chance fight in the club?" Veronica asked the secretary a smug sounding voice being filtered through her armors helmet.
"You can but it is not wise for patrons to engage in the 'competitions' without adequate hand- to-hand training."
Veronica smiled at the Courier, "I think that we are in for a fun night."
At the Club
The Courier watched with mild interest as the two overly muscular men in the octagon shaped ring struggled with each other on the ground trying to choke each other out with various holds and grips. Veronica was with a few other patrons smacking on the chain link fence separating the wrestlers from the crowd egging them on. From what the Courier had gathered there were two types of fights. normal, two people generally men trying to knock the other out with various holds and bars, and armored, were there were no hits that were forbidden and you could, of course, wear armor.
The Courier turned his attention back to the ring, and noticed one of the men was smacking his hand against the floor, just like that the fight ended and the tapper stood up before shaking hands with his opponent and walking out of the ring. An announcer called for combatants for an armored fight and two men walked up, one was a kid wearing some reinforced leather armor, and the other was an Enclave solider in his normal power armor. They walked in the center of the ring shook hands then the match began.
And ended in about five seconds, the kid threw a punch that the Soldier caught before twisting the kids arm bringing him to his knees and, with his left hand, smashing the kid in the face, knocking him out cold. After the poor boy was dragged out of the arena the Announcer called for a challenger making a dramatic show of looking around before pointing at Veronica saying, "How about you Sir, you would make a fair opponent!"
Veronica accepted with a nod and walked into the arena and up to the Soldier hand outstretched. The man took her hand and shook it his eye pieces aimed at hers. They both took three steps back before beginning to circle each other. The solider made the first move, a swift underhand cut that was easily deflected by Veronica. She retaliated with a feint towards the face followed by sweeping him off his legs with her feet.
She knelled on his chest, the crowd dead silent as she took down the power armored troop in a single hit.
"Another round?" she asked him.
"I'm good," the man said trying to get her off his chest.
Veronica hopped off and walked out of the ring giving the dumbstruck referee a pat on the back as she past him.
The announcer called out, "Can anyone even attempt to match such a display of strength and cunning? No, well then are you all too scared to attempt?" The enclave soldiers shuffled around a bit nervously wanting to prove their toughness without trying to trump Veronica.
"Practice a little," Veronica muttered to the Courier as she walked by.
In response the Courier stood up and walked to the cage, gently rapping his knuckles against the fence.
"A challenger!" The announcer yelled, his eyes flickering over the Courier, "And a brave one at that, who shall take on this shrouded opponent.
"Make it four." The Courier's quiet and deep voice was twisted by the Riot helmet creating a much more threatening voice come out of him.
"A brave and confident competitor, he has challenged for four people to meet him in single combat!" The Courier was starting to get annoyed by the announcer, and briefly debated smashing his head in, before turning to watch the crowd.
Four power armor clad Enclave came up to the other side of the octagon and stomped in.
'Recruits, this won't even be fair,' The Courier though as he adjusted his fighting stance, 'though after that fistfight with a Deathclaw I doubt anyone would count as fair.'
The Four charged him the moment the fight began, looking at their friends more than their target to make sure they weren't charging in alone.
The Courier shifted his weight to the balls of his feet and raised his hands in front of him, index and middle finger raised with the other two slightly curled.
The moment the first poor sap, the fastest one, got within the Courier's reach it was over for him.
The Courier slid to the side of the sloppily thrown punch by the rookie before quickly wrapping his hands around the Enclaves helmet, and with a jerk, pulling the man into the way of his friend's fist, a loud Crack! Echoing in the now silent room as the power-armored fist smashed into the poor kid's helmet.
The Enclave hit the ground like a hunk of dead meat, unconscious before he hit the floor, blood leaking out of his helmet from his broken nose. The collision had buckled the helmet in almost three inches, crushing the boy's nose in the steel.
The other three saw their friend on the ground with blood pooling on the ground below him and two of them charged. The third, the one who had hit the boy, was on the ground pulling off the dented helmet and calling out through the armor, "Tim? Tim? Common, wake up, get off the floor," trying to get one sign of life out of the boy.
The other two's assault only lasted a few seconds longer that the first boy's had, though they were much more careful when attacking.
The circled around the Courier, one in front one in the back, able to strike at the Courier without worry of a repeat of what happened to Tim.
The two lunged forward, the one in front aiming for a strike to the chest, the one behind him an overhead strike.
The Courier waited two seconds for them to get in range then jumped to the side and turned, grabbing their heads and smashing them together. There was a Clang as the steel helmets connected and an even larger thud as the two fell to the ground clutching their heads.
The Remaining Enclave was stood over the bloody one, arms raised in defense and visibly shaking.
"Pick your fights better in the future," the Courier said picking the two off the ground and throwing them next to the remaining one, "And he may need this." The Courier produced a Stim-Pac from one of his many coat pockets and tossed it to the Enclave, and make sure your boyfriend's not going to charge into an enemy so sloppily next time, if this were a real fight you all would be dead."
The girl injected the Stim into the boy's nose putting it back into place with a crunch as the medicine did its work.
"In a real fight we would have had guns!" the girl retorted trying to keep some sense of bravada, "We would have had the advantage then!"
The Courier chuckled, a cold creepy sound only made worse by his helmet, "Cute, you think the outcome would be different then. I guess you're partially right, you would be in pieces instead of concussed."
With that the Courier turned and walked out of the octagon, and out of the bar, pausing to put a few caps on the table he had been using to pay for Veronica's drinks.
There we go another chapter, I know this one took a while but I think the wait was justified, I'll be updating more often after this.
Stay awesome!