Chapter 5

"Bullseye!" Said Cody who managed to hit a target dead center with .32 pistol. Knight Captain Dusk was observing Cody's shooting and she felt putting him in place. She approached Cody and said to him. "Anyone with decent eyes can hit that mark. Question is can you hit a moving target, kid?" A short time later, a makeshift target shooter was made which basically was a rock with a wooden plank on top, a tin can on one side and a Initiate on the other acting as the launcher.

Dusk shouted. "Pull!" and the Initiate stomped on the plank as hard he could, sending it very high in the sky. She pulled out 10mm pistol and shot two times. When the can landed, one of the Brotherhood soldiers walked to it, examined, and shouted. "Two shots in the can!" Everyone was impressed by her performance. "Nice." Complimented Cody.

It was Cody's turn and he stepped forward. Cody shouted. "Pull!" and the Initiate stomped once again on the plank. Cody let the can fly until it reached a distance that would be nearly impossible to hit it with a .32 pistol. Cody raised his weapon and fired three quick shots at the still airborne can. When it landed, a Brotherhood soldier went to the can to examine it. Everyone at first seemed a bit skeptical about whether he actually hit the can or not. The Soldier who was retrieving the can came back to them, raised the can in the air and said. "Three shots in the can!"

Everyone was more impressed by Cody's shooting display and Dusk, reluctantly admitting his skills, said to him. "Not bad for a beginner kid. I just hope you have the nerve in a gun fight."

"Good to see everyone's getting along." Said James who just entered the bailey. He told Dusk the arrangement Owyn made, and after a short discussion, Dusk walked away. James walked to Cody and said to him. "Mind if I ask a few questions about this so called Queen?" Cody nodded. "Sure, why not? First thing you need to know is that she talks to spirits."

"Spirits?" asked James.

"Yeah, spirits." said Cody. "From what I heard from the other Khans, she gets herself high and is able into the future because she talks to spirits that, supposedly, show her the future."

There was a time where James wouldn't have believe that. But after delivering a book called Krivbeknih to the Dunwich building, let's just the experience taught him to be more open minded.

Cody continued. "Apparently her predictions are pretty accurate, because she once figured out an secret exit from the Institute. Now she has it guarded tight so no one can use the entrance." James thought to himself. "Secret entrance huh? Could be useful..."

Cody added. "Another thing you should know about is her Enforcers."

"Enforcers?" asked James. "Remember the five people Ben mentioned? Those are the enforcers." said Cody. "They're the strongest of the Khans, aside from their Queen of course, who're keeping an close eye on anything that's going on in Hope. They stop any caravans that try to trade with the Institute, prevent the townsfolk from owning weapons, make us give them some of the crops and brahmin meat we make. Whatever she says, they make sure it happens."

Suddenly a Vertibird landed in middle of the bailey with Sarah, Owyn, Ben and Jenny entering the area. "Cody! James!" shouted Ben. "We're leaving!" Cody and James made their way to the Vertibird. Owyn then asked James with slightly worried tone. "How long do you plan to stay in Commonwealth? So I know when to expect you and Sarah to return from your venture."

James raised two of his fingers and said. "Two weeks." Sarah and the others looked at him in confusion. "Give us two weeks. By then, me and Sarah have made results, for better or worse. I'd also like to add that as soon as we arrive, the Vertibird will return to the Citadel and within two weeks, you'll send another with a small recon team to investigate if the issue has been resolved."

"I think I understand what you're planning." said Sarah. "If we're to leave the Vertibird in the open, the Khans would get the idea of destroying it, removing our way back if something goes wrong." Owyn was silent for a bit, then said. "Very well. I trust your judgement on this. Just please, come back alive you two."

Sarah hugged Owyn and said. "Don't worry, we'll be fine." Owyn then whispered to Sarah. "I will also hope that your relationship with him will improve in the next two weeks."

"I'll try." Sarah whispered back. When everyone was inside the Vertibird, it rose up to the sky's and began to fly to Commonwealth. The pilot's we're checking their coordinates and one of them said. "Coordinates entered. ETA 5 hours." then the pilot turned on the radio, where Three Dog was just making his announcements.

"Three Doooog! That's me kids! Coming to you live from my fortified bunker in middle of a DC hell hole! Like Grant... We interrupt this program for some news."

"Is he always like that?" Asked Jenny about the host. "He is." James replied.

"Not too long ago, three people was seen entering Megaton. One was a young lad carrying a sniper rifle and a over sized knife strapped to his back. Another, a cranky old man armed with an assault rifle and wearing combat armor that looked like it was going to fall apart any minute. Third, a red head girl who looked cute as hell. Now ya'll asking. 'Why the fuck I'm you telling this?' I'm getting there kids, Jesus. Not long after they entered, they left Megaton WITH mister vault 101 and they we're last seen going to the DC ruins. So who are these three mystery people? Citizens looking for help? Assassins planning to jump on him? Fans of Lone Wanderer and wanted to show him their fan club? Hey, if there's one, sign me in. Today's weather unusually calm with minimal mutant and raider activity. And now, the ink spots and I don't want set the world on fire."

"Do I really look cranky?" asked Ben. "Yes." said Jenny and Cody in unison. Radio quickly turned to static, indicating they already left the Capital area. James sang what was left of the song and others listened him sing. As they listened, Jenny noticed how Sarah was looking at James. She seemed to be in her own world as she listened James and was letting a small smile. As James finished singing, he then said. "By the way Sarah, earlier you tried to say something to me. 'I like.' is all I managed to hear so I'm a little curious what did you try to say."

"Well, I... you see I..." Sarah was stuck with her words. She didn't expect James would remember, let alone ask, what she tried to say. Sarah got into a panic, not wanting to say those words in front of other people, so she had to make something up. "Your hair!" James looked at Sarah a bit, then said. "My hair?" Sarah continued. "Yes! I don't know have I said it, but I really like the color of your hair."

"No, you haven't said it before." said James who was a bit confused of what Sarah said. "I've been meaning to ask about that." said Jenny. "At first I thought you simply dyed your hair, but I don't see any dark roots which means that you either did it recently or it's your natural hair color." James chuckled. "Well, there's a funny story to it." Sarah said to James. "No it's not funny James. You could've really died at the purifier." Ben joined the conversation. "Owyn told me about that. Your old man made a big purifier that could make fresh, clean water from the river. You needed the G.E.C.K in order for it to work." Jenny's eyes widened. "The G.E.C.K exists? And it truly works? But what does it have to with his hair color"

After Sarah and James told them the events that happened at the purifier, James then finished by saying. "After that, Sarah and I were unconscious for two weeks. I woke up first and at some point I realized the exposure from the purifier had somehow whitened my hair." Cody simply said. "Damn." Jenny said. "I did hear that G.E.C.K's technology was unstable, but quite an fascinating incident." She then looked at Sarah and said. "Sarah looks fine though, so it seems that it wasn't harmful." James added. "It may not look like much, but Sarah's hair got a bit more brighter after the blast. Which, in my opinion, looks good on her." The last comment from James made Sarah a bit happy.

A few hours passed, Jenny and Cody were sleeping peacefully. The radio was kept on, despite the static. As Ben was smoking a cigarette, Sarah said to him. "Mind if ask you why the Elders exiled you?" Ben took the cigarette out of his mouth, blew out smoke and replied. "You see kid, Owyn and I have known each other for a long time. So off course I was pissed when I heard that they cut off all support just because he had the balls to actually help people instead of following some rules that have gone old decades ago."

"Sounds like you've already had your opinion about the brotherhood." said James

"Yeah, I did." sighed Ben. "While I do believe that we need preserve technology and stuff, but I don't believe that we should keep it to our selves. I've had these thoughts because I've had many missions that involved going to the Wasteland so I had plenty of opportunities see all kinds of people and the challenges they have to face. Whenever I saw a sick person, a kid who's parent's were killed by raiders, ghouls gunned down like animals just because they look like corpses. It disgusted me because all that was happening just next to the bunker and the Brotherhood didn't give a shit about it."

"My father did tell me how the Brotherhood on Lost Hills was but I didn't realize it was that bad." said Sarah.

"After your Owyn decided he likes people, that's when shit hit the fan. When they cut off support, I went straight to the Elders and told them how they were stuck on old ideas that would kills us all in the end. How they were afraid of the outside world and how they were no different to Enclave. No surprise that they got so pissed about it they decided to exile me. Not that it made a difference because I was planning leave the Brotherhood anyway. I left my armor, told them to shove my holotag where the sun doesn't shine, and never looked back."

"That's when you ended up in Hope." said James.

"It was a miracle when I first saw it. It basically shows what can be achieved if technology was shared. If the Brotherhood would offer the tech what the people needed, and the Brotherhood supervising, a lot would be accomplished."

Suddenly the Crew Cuts Sh-boom started play in the radio, waking up Jenny and Cody. "That song." said Cody. "We're home!" said Jenny in excited manner. James walked next to one of the pilot's and said. "Drop us off. Well go on foot from here." the pilot nodded and began to land.

As soon as the others exited the Vertibird, Sarah said to the pilots. "See you in 2 weeks."

"You sure you're gonna be okay ma'am?" said the pilot on the right. "Don't worry, I have the Messiah with me. Can't have a better companion than that." replied Sarah. Sarah left the Vertibird it made it's way back to the Capital. "You do know I hate that title, right?" said James to Sarah who was slightly annoyed. Sarah then replied. "I know." while having a small smirk on her face. When they began to make their way to Hope on foot, James was humming the song he heard from the radio. "Looks like you like the song." said Cody.

"I'll admit, it sounded very catchy." said James. He was silent for a moment and then asked. "Is it possible to have recording of it?"

As James and Cody were talking to each other, Jenny asked Sarah. "So? What do you think of him?"

"Huh?" said Sarah in surprise. "You know... him?" said Jenny while pointing her head towards James. "What do you think of James?"

"Well, he's honest and loyal to the Brotherhood. He's a bit cocky but not arrogant. He's strong, caring, and a great fighter. He's also a good friend."

"And really dense?"

Sarah got slightly flustered. "W-what are you talking about?"

"I saw how you looked at him in the Vertibird. Not to mention how you began to describe him. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out."

Sarah started to blush.

"But I'm more amazed how he didn't notice. To me, that means he's really dense." Jenny got closer to Sarah and whispered. "Although I can see why you're interested in him. He's handsome, confident, well built, reliable. And if you don't mind me saying, I think his voice is very sexy." Sarah stared at Jenny with serious intent in her eyes. Jenny said nervously. "Calm down, I won't go after him or anything, considering what sort rival I'll get if I do." some distance away from them, a male Khan member with a mohawk was in his makeshift camp on a top of a hill, looking through his binoculars while sitting on a lawn chair. "Holy shit." said the Khan in shock. He then grabbed his walkie-talkie and spoke to it. "Dust to camp, Dust to camp, come in camp, over."

After a brief silence, he received a reply. "Camp to Dust, what's your status? Over."

He quickly answered. "Camp, you're not gonna believe this. A man has just passed through the valley, his hair is completely white and he's wearing some kinda army uniform that's white as well. A female Brotherhood member is with him, along with three people that escaped from town, over."

"You're shitting me?"

"You heard me, she was right, her prediction was right. They're making their way to Hope as we speak."

"Damn it, then that means her warnings about the white guy are possibly true."

"Inform the others, I'll continue observing them, over."

"Understood. Over and out."

"I got a bad feeling about this." said Dust when he put down his walkie-talkie and continued observing them with his binoculars. After a few hours of going on foot they began to see ruins of the Commonwealth. "We're almost there." said Ben to Sarah and James. Suddenly somewhere around the ruins came out a man's voice screaming for help. James instinctively went straight to the direction where the voice came and Sarah, Jenny, Cody and Ben followed. Around the corner there was a pack brahmin surrounded by three tattooed Khans with leather jackets and one was harassing a travelling merchant. "Don't cry old man. No one's gonna save ya." said the Khan to the merchant in threatening tone. "Foul raider!" shouted the merchant. "Know that your actions will affect your life and someday you will face the consequences of your actions!" the Khan member laughed like it was joke to them and he pulled out his knife, raising it up in the air, attempting to kill the merchant. "Never heard of picking someone of your own size?" said James casually while walking slowly to the raider. The Khan member stopped and turned to James with a baffled looked on his face, giving the merchant a chance crawl away and run to safety. The Khan's look turned to an devilish smile. "Look, boys! We got ourselves a motherfucking hero!" he shouted to his friends.

He placed his knife against James' throat and said to him. "Who the fuck you think you are whitey? Do you have any fucking idea who you're messing with?" when this was going on, the merchant reached to Sarah and the others and spoke to them. "Young ones! Please help that brave soul who's risked his life to save this feeble old man!" Sarah put her finger on the merchant's lips and said. "Don't worry. He eats punks like them for dinner."

James slightly glanced the Khans knife and said to him very calmly. "You might want to put that away."

"Or what whitey?" said the Khan.

James replied. "Or this." then in blink of an eye, James used his right hand to grab the Khans wrist and punched below the side of his elbow, dislodging it. The Khan dropped his knife and started to shriek in pain while one of his friends pulled out 9mm pistol and pointed towards James. In quick motion, James kicked the knife from the ground and threw it to the Khans throat. James then pulled out his 44. Magnum and fired two shots at the third Khan, finally finishing off last one by twisting his neck. "Hot damn." said Cody. The merchant approached James and joyfully said. "Praise the lord! God has answered my prays and he delivered a heavenly angel to my rescue." Jenny giggled at the merchant's words and Sarah was smiling when she saw James was being slightly embarrassed.

The merchant started to speak in form of a prayer "God, you have finally answered the call of your lost flock and delivered not one, but five angels to this forsaken land, and granting your children salvation." Jenny asked him. "You okay, sir?" The merchant put his hand gently on Jenny's shoulders. "I am more than okay. I feel revived. I can feel how my hope is restored after seeing such a righteous display. I can see it, not only from you miss, but from all of you. I can see it from you faces that you have arrived here so the plague that haunts these lands can be removed once and for all." James asked the merchant. "You sure you're okay there?"

The merchant calmed down and said. "I highly apologize for that. Lately I've been losing faith in humanity, so I was overjoyed to see such a good deed in a long time." he wiped off the dust from his clothing and introduced himself. "I am Christopher Alphonse Holloway. 3rd generation merchant and priest, at your service." Christopher pointed to James. "You good sir, deserve a fine reward for your efforts. Wait right there." he went behind of his pack brahmin and started to go through his inventory. "That's not necessary." said James.

"Nonsense!" said Christopher loudly with his hand appearing behind the brahmin. "No matter how brave one is, it never hurts for him, or her, to be well armed when delivering divine punishment." Sarah looked at James while spinning her finger around her ear with James nodding in agreement. After Christopher was done, he pulled out a massive rifle from his brahmin and the way he carried it indicated that it was really heavy. "Wow." said James when he saw the weapon. "This is what people call anti-materiel rifle." replied Christopher.

"I've heard of it." said Cody. "I hear it can tear a deathclaw in two."

"Indeed it does." replied Christopher. "This rifle uses 50. caliber bullets and it can deal massive amount damage to just about anything you can think of." he handed the rifle to James then let off a relieved sigh. "As you can probably tell, it is also very heavy." James lifted the weapon with one hand with ease and said. "Yeah it does feel a little heavy." James then decided to test the weapon and started to look for anything to shoot through the scope. He finally noticed an empty nuka cola bottle sitting on a ruined wall and fired at it. The rifle let off a massive boom as if something exploded and was followed by an echo that surrounded the area. "Holy shit." said Cody. "Sounded like a bomb went off." added Ben. "Guess you got yourself a new toy." said Sarah jokingly while Jenny simply speechless of the weapon.

James slowly lowered the rifle and let off a small smile to his face. "I like it."

Back at the hill, Dust continued his observation of the group. "This doesn't look good." he said to himself. Suddenly a woman's voice came from the walkie-talkie. "Dust, report."

he lowered his binoculars, grabbed the walkie-talkie, and answered. "Dust reporting."

"What's the situation with our guests?"

"That white guy, he... just took out some our boys, boss."

"They didn't know what they were up against. It's only natural" said the woman. She then said. "Let them enter. I want to see what he can do."