THE CHORNICLES OF MAVERICK: CHANGED LIVES

by hypn0s

War, war never changes, is a fact everyone has accepted, what can change however, is the life of a man, and the path he walks in life, he who was meant to reach a town never made it, but this deviation was just the beginning.

7. 6: Fearless

hello my readers, it is I, Hypn0s! with another chapter of the Chornicles of Maverick!

now i have been recieving good feedback of the story, it's nice to see this, especially considering that most people waqnt to see progress with other fics i have.

in any case i won't delay this any longer, here i give you chapter 6 of my story.

enjoy.

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CHAPTER 6: FEARLESS

Sarah slowly opened her eyes, her body felt heavy, remembering that she had went to bed with the ATHENA armor on, and sleeping with a power armor on is not exactly the best way to rest at all, even with a comfortable bed.

Sarah still found amazing that they had found several untouched beds or mattresses to rest, mostly for the children and Maverick, considering he had been the one who had been trashed around by Lanius during their escape.

The sentinel slowly stood up, cranking her neck until she head bones crack on her neck, with a satisfied smile she stood up and began to walk away of the make-shift room, but then returned, kneeling on the bed and pulling out of the bed her Tommy gun and Wally's pip-boy.

Scanning the pip-boy screen, she saw it was 7:30 AM, she slightly smiled at this, it was the very first time, ever since she became a sentinel that she has overslept she usually sleeps until 6:00 AM or doesn't sleeps at all.

With a slight smile she finally exited the room, going to the bridge of the mothership, all while noting the silence around, of course she did noted the hum of the alien machines, but overall the ship was dead, no sounds of anything alive.

When she reached the bridge however, the silence became a cacophony of sounds, mostly metal being bended and other things.

Looking she saw a trail of weapon pieces here and there, alien weapons stripped of anything useful, several empty epoxy syringes, she spotted Elliot overlooking a console, and Somah actually looking down, holding her weight on a rail, shaking her head in amusement.

"Those two" Somah said, seeing Sarah approach her, "Let me guess, Maverick and Sally" Somah nodded, "What they are doing now?" Sarah asked.

"Hell if I know, they took a bunch of weapons they found in storage, mostly broken pieces of guns and some heavy incinerators and .308 rounds, alongside alien rifles and two boxes of epoxy and electronic pieces, and started working on it as soon they woke up, might say they woke up at 4:00 AM, oh, and somehow also found paint" Somah said.

"I say they are working on another Twin Boom" Elliot said out loud, "After all the last one worked just fine, and they had just half an hour to work in it, they gathered the parts last night and have been working on it for over three hours" Elliot added, "Oh also Veronica is there, so who knows those three might do" he finalized, making Sarah sigh.

Veronica had shown that she could outdone any scribe on the field, she is a walking work bench, able to repair and assemble weapons and ammo on the spot, just as she said 'work benches are for novices'

Elliot had all the right to worry if those three were doing something down there, with a sigh Sarah began to descend the stairs that connected to a platform that allowed a more panoramic view of the space, once there she saw the trio actually painting something on a massive looking gun.

The gun looked like the big cousin of a minigun, the body, Sarah saw, was the one of a Enclave Heavy incinerator, only that the barrel had been removed and actually replaced by Gauss riffle barrels, coils included and mounted one over the other, at the base two thick cables were attached to the body, the six canisters that were used to fuel the incinerator were missing, instead two fission batteries now hung on the sides of the modified frame, albeit Sarah had seen them slightly before Maverick pulled a sheet of metal and blocked both batteries with it, the grip of the incinerator remained the same, but now, much to her shock, the weapon new source of ammo was a modified version of the individual clip used by a minigun that usually stored over 200 5mm rounds, under the body of the weapon, surely now it stored the same ammo capacity.

Oh and how she could miss the pair of wicked looking blades that were placed on the top and the bottom of the barrels, by the looks of it they had been recently been sharpened.

As for the colors, the main metal body was being painted black by the trio using a paint gun, how they found the painting was anyone's guess, and she would do better not knowing.

Soon the trio finished painting and stared at their creation in pride, "I think is our best work yet" Sally said, "Of course it is, we didn't rushed this one" Maverick stated, looking rather proud of the mean looking weapon.

"I can't leave you for a day can't I?" Sarah asked out loud, the duo just turned and gave her a smile for answer to her question, Veronica by her part was admiring the gun, or the parts from which it came to be.

"By the elders Sarah, this girl here is a certified genius, I swear we should present her to your father and let her have her wicked way with anything she comes across in the Citadel" Veronica said, "Maybe she'll become a head scribe, the youngest of her time" Sarah snorted at that.

"Rothchild would be green of envy I'm sure" Sarah said, knowing full well that Sally would easily usurp the position of head scribe out of Rothchild's hands, not to mention that the little girl would be the only person that could solve the critical glitches that kept Liberty Prime out of being deployed, maybe Rothchild and Doctor Li resolved the issues with Prime's energy output, but there was several glitches in the system, one that made Prime attack anything on sight, friend or foe that made it too dangerous to deploy, regardless of its power.

"How long it will take to the paint to dry itself" Sarah asked, "Fifteen minutes, Sally here added something that made it dry faster, don't ask me what, just that included Nuka-Cola, milk and turpentine" Sarah made a face at Maverick wondering if he was telling her the truth, apparently he was.

"Okay then, Maverick, Veronica, follow me, we'll start packing up, Sally, prepare the beacon, we leave in twenty" Sarah commanded, immediately Sally jumped of the floor and headed to the console that would allow the trio to leave the mothership without the need to land it or something like that.

As the trio walked away, Sarah noted something off on Maverick's clothes.

"You got bulkier" she noted, much to Maverick's slight shock, Veronica also noted this, but she believed maybe it was a side-effect of exerting his muscles too much after the fight with Lanius.

"You noticed?" Maverick questioned, "Well yeah, you're not exactly the bulkiest person I have ever met, you're average in muscle constitution" Sarah said, much to Maverick chagrin.

"Well you can blame the aliens for this" Maverick said, slightly pulling up the sleeve of the red shirt he wore, Sarah immediately noticed that instead of skin there was some sort of skin tight black material covering his arm, and the upper section of his forearm was covered by a black metal that seemed of alien origin.

"The hell is that?" Sarah asked, "Sally and I found an armor on the ship, of human origin she said, apparently this armor was used by elite Chinese forces during the anchorage campaign, their units were called the crimson dragoons, and used heavily advanced stealth units integrated on the suit, far more stable than stealth boys, or so she said" Maverick said.

"Yeah, I heard that abuse of the use of stealth boys causes paranoia and other mental illness that basically are not worth mentioning, suffice to say I have the pride prohibited the use of those things, the last thing I need is a paranoid unit" Sarah mentioned.

"Well, Sally said the same, the armor of course is safer to use than a stealth boy, all because is not a wristwatch device being used to cause the skin to be able to reflect the light, creating that water ripple effect, but is the suit as such, it doesn't touches the skin, so it's basically safer" Maverick said.

"And the plates?" Veronica asked, "Oh that? The aliens did it, apparently while they were able to make people become living stealth boys, like Wally, they were unable to replicate the same technology to mechanical use, in any case the armor intrigued them, so they modified the armor to have more protection, they added a metal only found in their planet, lightweight, yet as sturdy as Titanium, even more" Maverick mentioned.

"And you wear it down your clothes to avoid suspicions…smart" Sarah commented, slightly poking Maverick's chest and feeling the metal under the shirt's material, that could come on handy, she really doubted someone would believe she got abducted by aliens, even her father would have doubts, not to mention the rest of the pride, and considering Maverick's inhuman abilities that borderline to something out of a comic book, she would have to make up a history for his abilities.

It took them over ten minutes to gather all they needed on a backpack, food of course that Veronica would carry, considering that they would teleport near Rivet City, and from there they would head to the Citadel.

"I almost forgot" Sarah said, looking at Maverick as Veronica hefted the backpack over her shoulders and began to head back to the bridge.

"That alien dropship had vault dwellers inside, it had Amata inside, we should have used the mothership weapons and blast them off, if blowing their ship didn't kill them then the fall would surely will" Sarah stated to Maverick.

For his part Maverick sighed, looking at Sarah with some far-off look, "Don't worry, we already dealt with that, meaning me and Julia" Maverick said, making Sarah's curiosity to pike up.

"Really? How?" she demanded.

"This mothership somehow was linked to all dropships in the space-station, I made her scan for the only dropship that wasn't showing as destroyed, the dropship Amata and the others used, she tracked it and found it already on land, but empty, so we just decided to blow the ship apart, it was better that way, the Enclave wouldn't get their hands of it" Maverick reasoned, making Sarah nod at that, but it would have been better if the dwellers had been inside, less of those assholes to deal and worry off.

Soon the duo had made it back to the bridge; there they could see Veronica actually holding on her left hand another displacer glove, a matching set with the one on her right hand.

"Are you both ready?" Sally asked, looking at Maverick with a sad expression, Sarah could say that Sally had grown attached to Maverick, like a big brother, and so did Maverick, but the wasteland was currently too dangerous for a little girl like Sally, no matter her age, she would made a prime target for kid-nappers, the nickname slaver that dealt with children got.

Down there you would need to be on your guard, and truth to be told, Maverick had put his foot on letting the girl go, he was as concerned as Sarah for the safety of Sally.

Besides Sally was the only person who truly knew how the alien technology worked, their language, true her sister did too, but Sally truly knew the technology, both in and out, she had 200 years of experience under her belt, compared to the 25 years of her sister, if anything happened on the ship, Sally could fix it, she had proven to be a resourceful one, in both times of peace and crisis.

"We are Sally" Sarah said for Maverick, walking to the little girl and kneeling, "You listen here now, you're in charge here now, the people here are your responsibility, but remind them that together they can do more than alone, okay?" Sally nodded at that, a small smile on her lips, then she hugged Sarah by the neck, startling the sentinel that so far had only contact with two children in her life.

First being the last heir of the Maxson line, Arthur Maxson, who she had taught how to shoot before the war with the Enclave, and from which she has a slight scar of a shot he made to her by mistake, a flesh wound, but one that hurt like a bitch.

And the other, besides Sally, being the foulmouthed mayor of Little Lamplight, Mayor MacCready, perhaps the only person (besides Amata) who Sarah wanted to kill with his scarf for his high and mighty attitude, and his mouth, the kid swore much more than any other person or raider she had ever met, or killed.

In short, she hated the little bastard, but she had to admit he had balls, and actually cared for the residents of Little Lamplight, reason why he shot one of her knights during a patrol, their first meeting, and he didn't hold her account when she put a bullet on his shoulder, by mistake Sarah would mumble.

"You gave that displacer glove to Veronica didn't ya?" Sally nodded at Maverick's question, noting how Veronica inspected the glove with a happy look, "Okay, we are ready to go, I just need to pick the gun" Maverick said, descending the stairs and then stopping when he saw the gun, a small smile on his face.

Obviously Sally had decided to add a little extra to it, and actual leather strap so he can actually heft the weapon with his shoulder without the need to always hold it with his hands by the grip.

Also he noticed something written on the right side of the weapon, picking it up, Maverick saw what it was written in it and smiled.

'The Boomstick'

He had to smile, remembering a movie he had seen back in the vault, the hero of the movie had a shotgun who he had kindly nicknamed 'the boomstick'

He also smiled at the words or better said, the numbers written under it.

Revelation 21:6

During the construction of the boomstick, hell even before that, Sally had asked him a very peculiar question.

What was his favorite biblical passage?

Apparently Sally's mom had been a nurse, and a very religious devout, teaching Sally and Julia all about religion, of course Sally and Julia had tossed those teachings aside once the bombs fell and they spend the very first weeks of the aftermath of the bombs.

Maverick understood her question, one because she wanted to know something that not even Sarah knew of him, apparently Sally assumed Sarah and him were an item, true he would be the first to admit that the idea was not bad, Sarah is pretty, not to mention tough and modern, his kind of girl, reason why he never had a girlfriend back in the vault, all the girls were…too girly, to put it mildly, too lay back in the pre-war era, if he wanted a girl, he wanted one that could pull her weight, not being the stereotypic women of the pre-war era, Sarah fitted that role, the thing was that Sarah was still grieving for her dead fiancée, and wanted Amata dead, maybe when things cooled down.

Now for the favorite biblical passage, he did had one, and so his father, and so his mother, and it wasn't until he told her that he understood why his father loved the passage so much, and related it to Project purity.

"I am Alpha and Omega" he began, slinging the leather strap over his left shoulder, "The beginning and the end" he continued as he stood up, "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the waters of life freely" he murmured to himself, looking at the weapon and the message that it bore on the side, what it meant to his dad.

With renewed vigor, Maverick hoped onto the stairs, Sarah and Veronica already waiting, alongside Sally who looked at the trio with some apprehension.

"I wish I could join you guys" Sally moaned, "We talked about that Sally, you can't join, unless you want to end up as a slave" Sarah commented, making Sally pout and mutters god knows what under her breath.

"Listen, I really want you to join, trust me you would become an invaluable asset down there, but you are needed here, or you want your inexperienced sister to handle a ship armed to bear?" Sarah asked, earning an indignant yell of Julia.

"But right now things are too damn dangerous down there, is better you stay here, with the rest, safe, we will try to look for Oasis and the location Yew said so you all can settle in, in the meantime endure, be strong, you waited 200 years for freedom, I think you can bear some extra months here on space while we deal with the Enclave" Sarah said, making Sally sigh and harrumph angrily.

"(Sigh) tell you what, when we reach the Citadel, Maverick here will send a message to Jackie's pip-boy…that thing will reach here right?" Maverick nodded, albeit with some apprehension, "IN any case, when Jackie gets the message of Maverick, send a beacon to the Citadel, on the coordinates Maverick will give you, we'll be waiting, I think there is something in the citadel you will enjoy working on, and you'll also get so see Earth…or what's left of it anyway" Sarah said, that was enough for Sally.

"I'll hold you onto that" Sally said, motioning the trio to follow her out of the bridge, Elliot, Somah and Julia didn't bother to bid them farewell, or a goodbye, they would meet the trio once again once the war down there is over.

The trio followed Sally down several corridors, most of the time they crossed some escapees that were getting used to the mothership or were scavenging what they could of the storage area and waste disposal, some of them waved Maverick hello or goodbye when they observed that he was armed to bear and heading to the teleportation chambers, Solo, one of the NCR troopers who would leave with Michael as well, but to the Mojave Wasteland, had gave Maverick a trench knife, holster included, a just in case, sometimes a sharp knife does more than a fist, or so they say, besides the knuckle duster attached to the grip of the knife would surely help Maverick.

After tying the holster to his left thigh, Maverick, Sarah and Veronica finally reached the teleportation chambers, the room overall was hi-tech, round, with one single console on one end of the room and a rather big teleportation matrix in the middle of the room, big enough for a converga car.

"Okay then" Sally began, working on the console, not two seconds later a holographic display appeared before her, "Sarah I need you to point me the location where I will deploy the beacon" Sarah there gave it a good thought, she had two options that could help.

"Well, what are you waiting Sarah" Maverick said, "Is not that easy Maverick, I have two options, option one is the easiest, we set the beacon near Anacostia crossing, a metro entrance, and head straight to Rivet City, you want to find your father, and he worked on Project purity, my best guess is that Doctor Madison Li can tell you his location, on the other hand we can go here, Chevy Chase used to be a neighborhood that developed fast thanks to the metro entrances around it, but now is less than a killing ground for the ill prepared, and a shooting range for Dusk, usually the pride patrols that area and kills all the Super Mutants there, but they just keep popping back, like nothing, even if we take the weapons and ammo of the cadavers they somehow get more" Sarah said.

"Also Chevy Chase is the home of GNR, or Galaxy News Radio, right now the only residents inside are Three-Dog, the disk-jockey and his assistant, and four knights that defend the entrance, the plaza is mined so heavily that it would be practically suicide to enter, even to an Overlord or a behemoth" Sarah said.

"I feel a 'but' here" Veronica whispered to Maverick, "But" Veronica smiled sweetly at Maverick that, "Three-Dog has agents all over the wasteland, these people are the ones that gather news for him and use it for his radio show, there is a chance that he might have heard something about your father, hell there is a possibility that he might have talked with Three-Dog himself, after all if you want to know what is what in the wasteland is to tune GNR in a radio or go straight to the source, Three-Dog" Sarah concluded.

"So…we have to options, risks?" Maverick wondered, "Lot's, Anacostia Crossing is reported to be a small base for Talon Company, beyond that, like I told you the space between Rivet City and the Jefferson Memorial is basically a warzone, the brotherhood engages generally against the Enclave to gain terrain, so far it has been a fight of 'who pokes his head first and gets his brain splattered by a .308' which usually start hostilities" Sarah began.

"Chevy Chase is not better, that area is full of Super Mutants, ugly, dumb and above all numerous, I know the basic Super Mutant won't pose a problem to you Maverick, after all you have killed two Overlords barehanded, the true problem of course besides terrain is that had been reports that a behemoth has been spotted on the area, that alone speaks trouble" Sarah stated.

"Uh…what's a behemoth" Veronica asked, "I forgot you come of an area where Super Mutants actually speak coherent sentences and don't grow stronger with time, well, to put it in layman terms, a behemoth is a 20 feet tall Super Mutant that carries a hydrant and a piece of the pipe under the hydrant as a club and uses the hood of a car as a wrist shield, far more dangerous than a Deathclaw because they are as ugly and big as they are strong, usually we need five miniguns and two rocket launchers to topple one of those monsters, and when we are lucky we use a Fat Man to do the work fast" Veronica wisely kept her mouth shut at that description.

"So we have either Enclave snipers or Frankenstein ugly cousins…I say we take both" that caught Sarah off-guard, "Both? Are you mad Maverick?"

"No, we hit GNR first and ask Three-Dog about my dad, I have a gut feeling that he will direct us to Rivet City, then while we head there, if we deal with either Enclave or Super Mutants will do well to the cause right?" Sarah gave it a long thought, Maverick's reasoning was well founded, but it was based on the fact that both GNR and Rivet City would be linked by his father passing on those two areas.

But it didn't took the appeal of seeing the boomstick on action, especially against the Enclave and Super Mutants, and he was right, the Enclave and Super Mutants expected a well armed force to attack them from either side, they didn't surely expect a super human with a super weapon backed up by the leader of the pride and a scribe that liked to punch anything alive.

"Okay then" Sarah said, pressing her thumb on the location she wanted the beacon to be deployed, immediately the image changed to a zoomed, bird vision of Chevy Chase, seeing that it was actually a very precise way to send the beacon without alerting those around, Sarah pressed her thumb on a section of the image that showed her an isolated and secured position.

"Okay then, that is done, step into the matrix and I'll do the rest" Sally called, making the trio nod, albeit Maverick had to be pushed by Sarah and Veronica to the matrix, he still didn't trusted that thing, now less than ever considering that it would send his particles down to Earth, from space.

"Okay, deploying beacon" Sally said, the trio waited for a whole minute in silence until Sally looked up, a smile on her face, "The beacon has landed, is your turn guys" the trio nodded, Maverick keeping his eyes closed as the matrix powered up.

"Remember; push the button on the top of the beacon to send it back!" Sally yelled, "See you in a few months' guys, missing you already" Sally said, the yellow light of the matrix doing its magic and individually fragmenting the trio until nothing remained of them on the matrix.

Sally simply rested her elbows on the console, carefully of course, and then rested her chin on her cupped hands, a sad look on her face, "…Missing you already indeed" she said.

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The sensation of having your atoms and particles being disassembled, then reassembled after who knows how many kilometers long trip is not exactly a bad feeling, but is not necessarily a nice experience either.

Maverick of course had closed his eyes once again during the teleportation experience, and when he opened them, he was welcome with the sight of the carcass of the world, once again.

He sighed at this, it was quite a grim sight to see the remains of once tall, proud buildings that bristled with life, of silent streets with dead cars that rusted with time, dust accumulating alongside the crack on the pavement, trash here and there, alongside skeletons that littered the ground, all blackened and wearing charred clothes, a silent testament of the last moments of those who died that day.

No wonder Sally regarded those days as the darkest of her life.

"My god I was missing this" Sarah said, a look of slight contempt of her face, "You're already missing the mothership aren't ya" Maverick questioned, turning to Sarah, the sentinel simply gave Maverick a slight shake of her head before making her way to the hi-tech looking silver pin embedded to the ground, on the flat top of the beacon lay a single silver button with blue glowing corners.

Sarah didn't hesitated when she pressed the button, immediately the beacon began to defragment on the same yellow light that had allowed the trio to leave the mothership, and a second later it was gone.

"Well, there goes a story no one will believe" Veronica mussed, Sarah and Maverick nodded at that, no one would believe them that they had been kidnapped by aliens, no one, not even her father would believe what happened to them, but it had happened, Maverick's unnatural strength, endurance and beyond average guns, the dozen of epoxy needles she carried on her utility belt alongside the enhanced ATHENA armor, Wally's pip-boy loaded with valuable info and Veronica's displacer gloves were evidence of this however.

"Okay then, now where to?" Maverick asked, looking around and taking some hesitant steps on the damaged concrete.

"Let's see…there's the Pulowski preservation shelter, then it means we are close to the Early Dawn Elementary school, look there" Sarah said as she pointed to what seemed stairs going downwards, "That's Chevy Chase Metro entrance, another PPS is located near, we are on good path, just follow me and shoot anything that looks hostile" Sarah said, turning to Maverick and Veronica.

"Like that?" Maverick said, pointing at the far end, turning around and squinting her eyes, Sarah saw a pair of Super Mutants, seated on some ruble, using what used to be a building wall as coverage, and eating what seemed radroaches.

Both had their hunting rifles on the ground.

"Well how convenient, those two just offered themselves as test subjects, Maverick" Sarah commanded, Maverick understood what she meant and hefted the boomstick towards, lifting it up with ease.

"Let's see what you and Sally did, let it rip!" she bellowed, immediately Maverick pressed the trigger, the coils of the upper cannon coming to life, electricity traveling on the coils, then the bullet was fired.

Sarah took several steps back when she felt the inhuman recoil of the boomstick, and also of its effects on a target.

The Super Mutant who got the first shot never saw it coming or hear it, the bullet basically eradicated everything from the waist, basically ripping apart the Super Mutant in two and leaving a massive stain of blood on the wall, the Super Mutant was dead before it hit the ground.

The second Super Mutant stood up, startled, looking around and with a hunting rifle in hand, the last thing he saw was Maverick when he fired the Boomstick a second time, this time the chest was reduced to a pulp, arms and head flying around alongside the remains of whatever organs that survived the blast.

Sarah and Veronica stared at the handiwork of the boomstick, and then stared at Maverick who had been pushed at least two inches when he fired both rounds.

"…Good to know Sally and I put a slight shot damper, that was way overkill" Maverick muttered, Sarah and Veronica nodded at this, "Yeah, I recommend that for Behemoths and Deathclaws…and Enclave as well, one sole shot is more than enough to deter them of any kind of action against us" Sarah said, seeing how Maverick opened the left plaque of the boomstick, began to lower a crank, immediately the almost blinding glow of the boomstick magnetic coils lessened to a more bearable level.

"Is still a Gauss weapon, so I lowered to normal settings, like the one of a Gauss rifle…with a little extra kick" Maverick said, "Good enough" was all she said, the shot had been loud enough for anything alive to hear, scavengers inside the DC ruins would surely try to find a place to hide after hearing such an loud shot, Super Mutants must be alert now, and so any other patrol inside the ruins, be it raiders, Talon mercs, Enclave or brotherhood.

Soon Sarah began to mobilize, Maverick and Veronica following her, passing some ruins of a building, they could appreciate more closely what the boomstick at full power could do, Veronica made a face upon seeing the liquefied organs of the Super Mutants, and truth to be told she had seen worse in the Mojave Wasteland, but seeing a gun that shoots bullets and actually turn any living being hit by it into a red smear on the wall or the ground was something new.

Their walk was stopped suddenly when Sarah actually stopped, staring at a sight that neither Maverick nor Veronica expected.

Usually this alley was used by the Pride or other Brotherhood units to rest and reorganize, this was usually used by units with initiates on their last day as such and ready to be inducted as knights.

But now all what Sarah could see was corpse over corpse of either wastelanders or Super Mutants, and centaurs.

"Good lord what happened here?" Maverick asked, "Don't know, seems like an ambush of some sort" Sarah said, kneeling and picking an empty 10mm casket, "But who ambushed who?" Veronica wondered, a fair question Sarah summarized, it could have been some wastelanders trying to carve their own path onto more secluded areas of the DC area, relying on ambushing Super Mutants and raiders for supplies, or it could have been Super Mutants who cornered the wastelanders in the alley, but the result was obvious, no one won.

"Blood is already dry, whatever happened was over a week old, maybe more" Maverick said, "Yeah, I find odd that most weapons they have hadn't been looted, this is a goldmine for a scavenger" Veronica stated.

"This is D.C. Santangelo, I don't know how things run back in the Mojave, but to enter the D.C. ruins you have to be heavily prepared, assault rifles and ammo to spare, the Super Mutants are not picky on who they shoot" Sarah reminded Veronica.

"Well, we do have ruins of cities, well, most of towns, New Vegas is one of the few active cities, and I can say it's not as ruined as this place" Veronica stated.

"Is expected, The Mojave desert had few noticeable landmarks, Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam, and some towns that grew around the city that never sleeps, comparing Las Vegas to Washington is an insult, the capital is five times bigger than Las Vegas ever was" Maverick stated, Veronica nodded at that.

"Cut the chatter, we got uglies on the school" Sarah stated, her head poking on a corner, maybe back in the space-station she was out of place, but here, on the wasteland she was on her terrain, her turf.

Maverick immediately joined Sarah, taking off his Ushanka and poking his head also, spotting two Super Mutants on what used to be the second floor of a school; the terrain before them was an old playground, although one had to wonder what a car was doing on a playground.

"They got sniper rifles" Maverick pointed out, "Obviously they have improved their repertoire of soldiers, last time they only used hunting rifles, they must be brutes, or masters" Sarah muttered, Maverick by his part kept a vigil over the Super Mutants, then he panicked when he saw them shift their eyes to them, immediately he grabbed Sarah by the chest plate of her armor and removed her out of sight, yet the damage was done.

"What the …"

BANG!

Sarah recoiled when the corner her head once was turned into ash thanks to a .308 round, "They saw us" she hissed, thanking Maverick silently by pulling her away, "But they reacted slowly" he pointed out, something she nodded, "Maybe they are not used to sniper scopes, this is good" she stated.

"Think you can outrun them?" Veronica wondered, "I have something better in mind" Maverick said, cracking slightly his neck and smirking at Sarah, "Did I tell you this armor comes with voice command?" Sarah shook her head.

"Well, I do now, activate stealth mode" immediately Maverick whole body, weapon included vanished out of Sarah's and Veronica's eyes, "Hot damn, those Chinese really knew about stealth technology, I can hardly see your outline" Sarah said, her surprise became more evident when the only indication that Maverick had left was his footsteps, echoing on the alley, slowly vanishing.

"My guess, American stealth boys were stolen prototypes of the Chinese complete versions of their technology" Veronica muttered, at the same time she and Sarah poked their heads, slowly, the two Super Mutants saw their heads and were already aiming, then suddenly a shot came out of nowhere, sending the first Super Mutant sniper flying away with a gaping hole on its chest, the second Super Mutant didn't knew where the shot came, and never did because it's head was blown away.

Sarah smirked at that, it had been so easy that it was almost painful to watch, almost.

Motioning Veronica to follow her, the scribe and the sentinel reunited with Maverick near a damaged car, his form already visible.

"Nice work Maverick, two clean shots and those two were none the wiser" Sarah stated, "You got the makings of a member of the pride" she added, "Yeah, the pet" Veronica butted in, making Sarah giggle, Maverick by his part didn't found this funny at all.

"Let's just move" Maverick stated, already walking away, the two members of the brotherhood already following him, once inside the school, the trio spotted the two dead Super Mutants, immediately Maverick removed their sniper rifles of their hands alongside with ammo, albeit he found odd something he found on them.

"Hey Sarah, check this out" Maverick called, standing up and handing Sarah a pair of green neon glowing stimpaks, "This is new, any idea what these things might be?" she wondered.

"Not a clue, but they look brand new" Veronica butted in once again, this time with information that Maverick and Sarah took well, "Enclave doesn't use new stimpaks, they rather re-use the old ones, they just change the needles, but Veronica is right, these things are too new" Sarah said, handing the green neon stimpaks to Maverick who pocketed them.

"But I know where you can make new ones" Maverick stated, "A vault" Sarah hissed, "Great, now we have two of the greatest enemies working together against us" Sarah said.

"Not exactly, I think these mutants might be using a vault as base, after all Vault 101 is not the only vault in the Capital Wasteland" Maverick said.

"You're right, I'll let dad know about this once we make it to the citadel, this is big news" Maverick nodded at that.

Sarah kept leading them, walking around the ruined halls of the school, Veronica and Sarah didn't paid attention to this, however Maverick did, he was trying hard not to imagine what the kids in this particular school felt once the bombs felt, he really tried hard not to, but the small skeletons he found on a classroom made him hard not to.

"This place is crawling with ghosts of the past" Maverick muttered to the women, both girls gave him and odd look; he just looked at the classroom filled with children skeletons, charred skeletons.

Sarah didn't say nothing at that, and neither Veronica, both knew that Maverick could get sensible when it came to children, and seeing a classroom full of children skeletons must have perturbed him as much as the aisle filled with corpses back in the space-station.

As Maverick kept looking at the empty halls of the school, the two brotherhood members simply kept a gaze forward, Sarah especially, she found odd that there was no Super Mutants on the second floors, like six months ago when she guided the pride to deal with yet another Super Mutant invasion.

"I don't like this, is too quiet" Sarah stated, eyes darting around, "No shit Sarah, I expected more of a Super Mutant invaded DC ruins, like shots, shouts, and people dying screams, I still have yet to hear any of that" Maverick muttered tot hr sentinel.

"Don't worry, you will hear that soon enough" Sarah said, rounding a corner and spotting the exit of the school that connected to GNR plaza.

Once they exited the school, Sarah found herself staring in utter shock at the sight.

She knew that GNR plaza was one of the most heavily mined areas in the Capital Wasteland, stepping into this area without approval of the brotherhood is practically suicide, so it was quite a surprise when instead of the heavily mined area she found herself staring over corpses over corpses of mutilated Super Mutants, most missing legs, but one fact remained, the plaza was devoid of mines.

"Oh man, this is not good" Veronica muttered, to Sarah her statement was an understatement, this was beyond fucked…

"Oh god" Sarah said as she made a mad sprint to the entrance of GNR, Veronica and Maverick stared at each other and then followed her, once they caught up with her, they saw her pressing her thumb on the intercom nearby the entrance.

"Come on, answer! Anyone!" Sarah bellowed on the intercom, pressing the button in desperation, "Come on guys! I'm not being used by Super Mutants! Just answer the damn intercom!"

"Sarah" Maverick said worriedly by the sentinel, placing a hand on her armored shoulder, "If you want I can break the door and see if there is anyone inside" Sarah was desperate enough to take that offer, all things considering.

"Sentinel Lyons?" a female voice broke Sarah's idea of using Maverick as a living battering ram when she heard a very familiar voice.

"Dusk? Is that you?" Sarah asked to the intercom.

"Yeah…what's my first name" the woman in the other side of the intercom asked, "Well is Dawn, kinda ironic I say" Sarah said, not a second later the trio heard the door being unlocked.

"Okay Sarah, I'm gonna let you in, but you better keep that guy with the pip-boy on a short leash"

"Relax Dusk, he is friendly, as long you don't physically attack him, or berate his family you will live, if you do…well let's say Colvin will claim the position of best sniper in the pride" Sarah stated.

"…okay then, but he better behave, I got three miniguns ready to turn him into a bullet sponge if he breathes wrong"

"As if would help" Veronica said to Maverick, making him chuckle, Sarah gave them both a dirty look, just reaching for the door and opening it.

Once opened, Sarah was welcomed by the barrel of a sniper rifle too near of her face, Sarah didn't made a move at all, not even Maverick tried to remove the rifle of her face, Sarah didn't did nothing at all.

"Stone cold Sarah, stone cold" Dusk said, her helmet hiding the smirk/smile that she had, many had given Sarah as another casualty of the war against the Enclave, yet no body had been found, not even a trace, Gallows had been clearly concerned by the lack of tracks in Sarah's last know location.

But now it seemed that Sarah had been fine all along, and apparently in the company of a Vault Dweller, the pip-boy was a quick give-away of who he was, but why he was with Sarah she didn't knew, maybe he had captured her, and in the month Sarah was gone, had a change of heart, after all this Vault Dweller actually looked like a respectable human being, and not a fancy dressed raider, besides for all Dusk knew, this Vault Dweller and Sarah might had been on the same boat, kidnapped by god knows what and forced to work together to escape, forming a bond in that escape.

Oh how close she was of the truth.

Removing her sniper rifle of Sarah's face, Dusk was able to see the third member of the group, the robed girl with the backpack, she looked like brotherhood, the robes were once the old attire of wandering scribes, long before the main brotherhood back in Lost Hills began to send expeditions all over North-America.

"You look good, for someone who was reported dead" Sarah smirked at that, she knew better, no one was definitely dead until their dogtags were recovered and presented to the scribes, so they could close the chapter of that knight or paladin definitely.

"You look good for someone who held against an army of Super Mutants" Sarah said, Dusk just chuckled and shook her armored head, "The minefield saved us all, if for a day, I know the uglies will come, in greater numbers, they even had a behemoth around, but chose to withdraw when they saw we had a Fat-man around, but we don't have mini-nukes to use it" Dusk said, making Sarah sigh, then to turn to Maverick.

"Set that thing again to overkill" Sarah said, "Are behemoths that bad?" Maverick asked, much to the amusement of the knights present.

"Yes Maverick" Sarah began, "Their skin is rather thick, but your boomstick actually has the firepower to penetrate that skin with one shot, if we are lucky that shot will tear their organs apart and open a hole of the size of my torso once they exit, you don't know how much ammo is wasted on those things, one shot is more than enough" Sarah said, making Maverick nod, but with some apprehension as he hefted the massive gun and changed the setting, all while with one hand, many noticed.

"That thing is heavy, Vault Dwellers are not that strong, not even that Kendall girl" Dusk said, making Maverick perk up at that, "You have seen Christine?" he asked.

"Her name's Christine?" one of the knights asked to the other, "I always thought it was burned bitch" the other said, not missing the look Maverick gave them.

"Yeah I have, put at least a whole clip of my sidearm on her body and she didn't felt it, is like those burns on her body fucked her nerves" Dusk said, making Maverick frown, remembering what Amata had told him, Christine had been heavily burned while rescuing her sister of the fires, not the same luck with her mother of course.

"How do you know Kendall" Dusk wondered, keeping her sniper rifle close, "I grew with her, and I can say with the truth, she was rather fragile before, but taking a whole clip of a gun…man how things have changed" he said, noting how Dusk and the knights tensed up.

"So you are from Vault 101" Dusk hissed, taking deliberate steps towards Maverick, "What stops me from putting a bullet on your head?" Dusk asked, Sarah sighed at this, sometime she wonders if she was this bad before she met Maverick.

"One, I have the big gun" Maverick said, purposely exposing the Boomstick, and the deadly looking blades in it, "Two, Sarah is smitten to me"

"I am not Maverick, you are an incredible useful asset I am not willing to part off in a long time, that's what" Sarah snapped.

"And third" he hissed, Dusk eyes widened when his left hand shot fast; seizing her helmet, she was glad she wore it loose, otherwise he would have seize her wholly.

"I am far above anything you have fought before" he hissed, adding pressure to the helmet that instantly gave up under his hand, much to the onlookers shock, the Power Helmet became scrap under the iron like grip of Maverick.

Dusk, now exposed, could see with clarity that this guy was either an escaped Enclave experiment (no way a human could do that) or he was an Enclave spec op.

"Enough, both of you, you three lower your guns now!" Sarah commanded, stepping between Maverick and Dusk, "He is right Dusk, he is nothing like we have faced before, I can say that honestly, no Vault Dweller is that strong, good thing he is not with them" Sarah said with a smile, confusing Dusk.

"Excuse me? Vault Dwellers are all the same" Dusk replied, "Really, because I know this one isn't, he is yet to start spouting Enclave propaganda and calling us all mutants" Sarah said with a smirk, "Besides" Sarah added while crossing her arms, "Maverick here is not like them, for once he never met the Enclave until some days ago" Sarah said wisely, while she could reveal information of what had happened on the space-station, she, Maverick and Veronica had agreed that no one knew what had really, really transpired there, especially the all alien thing, better to people believe that Maverick had been experimented heavily because of his zero exposure to the wasteland and thus made him a pure stock to the scientists that made him a freak of nature, than to say he had been given experimental procedures by little green men on a gigantic space-station which he blew up.

"What is that suppose to mean?" Dusk wondered, "Simple" Veronica butted in, now Maverick and Sarah were slightly nervous of what might the scribe say.

"You see, Maverick here left the vault because his dad left the vault as well, six months ago, of course his luck ran out when he got caught once he got out by slavers, he got sold by some strange scientist guys who paid a lot of caps for him, they got a lot of guys being experimented, but all wastelanders, all mutated by the environment, all but Maverick here, he got experimented like the rest, and he lived to see the results of it, of course Sarah here got caught as well, and me? Well I kinda found my way there, you know being scribe and all that looking technology" Veronica said.

"I knew it, you are a wandering scribe, the robes were a quick give-away, what chapter?" Dusk asked, "Mojave chapter, but that doesn't matter, I kinda got lost in my way and ended up there, anyway what Maverick did is just a little peek of what he can really do, I saw him punch a hole in the stomach of a Super Mutant and actually push away a Deathclaw, that scar in his face is the only wound he got from the beast" Dusk actually stared, there was no living being, besides Behemoths that had engaged a Deathclaw on close combat and lived to tell the tale.

"And of course between these two, yours truly and other experimented people, we kinda paid the scientist all they did to us" Veronica ended, making Dusk nod, "So…six months ago…gotta say I'm surprised, yet it doesn't explain how he knows of the Enclave personally, unless the scientist were Enclave" Dusk said.

"Nah, they weren't, albeit they were supplied by them" Sarah said, "During our escape one of the Enclave officers send to check the experiments stumbled with Maverick, Amata Almodovar" Dusk eyes narrowed at that, "The bitch? No wonder no one has seen here in a while, so is she dead?"

"Hardly, apparently she had support, but Maverick made an everlasting impression on her" Sarah said, remembering that Maverick had told her that he had broken Amata's ribs with 'light' blows and had made her vomit blood, not to mention backslapped her, bitch style, that made her day.

Dusk seemed to take this in stride, not surprisingly for someone who knew the female sniper, after all Dusk and Sarah were the only females on the pride, with the exception of Star Paladin Cross, who time to time joined the pride on missions, on the request of elder Lyons.

"Okay then, I'll let him be just because Sarah seems to trust you" Dusk said, earning a raised eyebrow of Maverick, just for that?

"But one wrong move" she let the threat linger in the air, Maverick didn't care for this, "What? You will shoot me? Trust me on this, Amata did, twice, poini-blank, only helped in making me angry…and you don't want me angry" Maverick hissed, Dusk simply narrowed her eyes, "Killed a lot of angry Super Mutants, what makes you different than those blundering fools" she hissed.

"Easy…I will be the last thing you see in this world" he added as he pushed her away, Dusk simply tsk'ed at that, seeing how Sarah rubbed the bridge of her nose and followed Maverick, Veronica not far behind.

"We are going to see Three-dog, and then we will see if we can help you with the defense" Sarah said, Dusk and the knights nodded at that, seeing how the trio ascended the stairs and disappeared on the halls.

Once away of the knights, Sarah let a sigh escape her lips, a tired one, "They broke the pride to meet the defense numbers" she said, "Dusk has never been too far of a member of the pride, Gallows usually is her spotter and tell hers where are the targets" she added.

"Your father must had a good reason for it" Veronica mentioned, "Oh yeah, I know why, we are losing the war" Sarah said with the upmost serious stare she could muster in the moment, which was great all things considered, "I am away one month and the pride gets disbanded"

"I doubt is that" Maverick said suddenly, snapping Sarah of her revering, "My guess is that Dusk was send here alone to reinforce the defenses, temporally until they could send more people, then she would return back to the pride" Maverick reasoned.

"Whatever the case is, we have an objective, let's go upstairs and talk with Three-dog, gotta warn you thought, Three-dog can be…uhm, unique" Sarah said, hesitating in her last words.

"Is another way of saying crazy right?" Maverick wondered, "Sort off, I mean yes you have to be crazy to make a radio program in the middle of DC, but no one questions him when it comes to info, is 100% accurate, on time and punctual, but he is…eccentric, that's the word!" Sarah exclaimed, making Maverick sigh.

"Okay then, lead the way, you seem to know him well enough to know where to head to" Veronica muttered, Sarah took the cue and leaded the duo to the third floor, where Three-dog's studio was, there Maverick and Veronica were surprised by the amount of tech around, more Maverick when he spotted a stack of holotapes, going for one he smiled like a children on sugar high when he saw the names in it.

"Holy crap, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, oh man I always watched the video when those two sung together back in the 57, and then again in 64 when both sung 'my way' man I nearly cried when I heard it" Maverick said with a smile, Sarah just sighed, she sometimes forgot that Maverick grew on a pre-war environment, with commodities that others didn't had, such as a warm bed, warm food, pure water and actual entertainment.

"Uh, so you're a fan of the king and the voice" Maverick turned around, staring at a dark skinned man with a goatee, a headwrap around his head, tinted glasses, and holding a stack of holotapes in his hands.

"Yeah, always thought the tapes were gone in the war, don't you mind if I download this one?" Maverick said, brandishing his pip-boy and the holotape, the man didn't gave it a second thought and said yes, immediately Maverick was all over the holotape, downloading its 'precious' info, well to Maverick it was.

The dark skinned man was about to pull out his magnum when Sarah's hand grabbed his shoulder, "Sarah Lyons? Damn girl you're alive?" he asked.

"I am Three-dog, and I urge you, don't do it" she said, Three-dog was about to ask her why, but her gaze told him otherwise, it was the kind of gaze one would expect of a person who had hunted Deathclaws and was giving advice to someone to not do something.

He nodded at that, but he didn't like it at all, "Maverick get a move on!" Sarah exclaimed, "Don't rush me Sarah, this is better than I imagined, is the holotape of the missing duet of Frank and Elvis, a whole album was made with them singing their best songs back in 65, only one thousand copies were made, and when Frank Sinatra died in 1998 an auction was made with this record, one million pre-war dollars, for just one of the albums was made, the record was ten millions, so you can say I am holding a piece of history, so don't rush me and made me corrupt one of the songs or god help me I will rip your arm and bash your head with it" Maverick stated, making her roll her eyes.

"Maverick, not all problems in your life can be fixed by ripping your enemies arms off and beat them to death with their own limbs" Sarah sighed, then turned to Three-dog, "TD, please, by all means, don't berate his dad or try to attack him, or you will know what an overlord felt when facing Maverick" Sarah stated as she walked away.

Three-dog by his part looked at the seemingly innocent vault dweller that didn't look like one at all, then turned to Veronica, "And for the sake of knowing, what he did to an overlord?" he asked.

"Don't know, Sarah is being vague with their first face-off with one of them, but she said he went bat-shit crazy and ripped the Overlord apart, but I can say the second time they crossed one, Maverick punched a hole on the overlord's throat and then one in his stomach, and used the corpse to fence off a horde of ghouls" Veronica stated, finding a seat and sitting on it, Three-dog by his part just looked aghast by that information and actually didn't believe it.

But he was in the damn wasteland, weirder shit has happened before.

After a whole minute of waiting, Maverick was finally done with the holotape, and was now advancing at him, Three-dog immediately tensed up, having heard stories about vault dwellers, not nice stories about them.

"Three-dog, right?" the boy asked, Three-dog nodded, "Good, I'm Maverick" the boy extended his hand to him, Three-dog, by custom gave Maverick a handshake.

"I heard you're a man who know what is what around the wasteland" Maverick stated, that caught Three-dog's attention, "I need to know if you have heard about my father" Maverick said.

"I have heard stories about a lot of father's kid" Three-dog stated, "Then let me be more specific, a vault dweller dad, six months ago, before the war, middle-age man, brown hair with specks of grey on the sides, Caucasian, brown eyes, beard, clad in a vault jumpsuit or a vault jumpsuit with a white coat under it, has a slight taste for vodka and brandy" Maverick stated, that cleared Three-dog greatly, and made him go eye wide.

"Holy shit, you're James kid?" Maverick nodded enthusiastically, this was good, "Well I'll be, isn't this a small world, well yeah, your dad came here, talked a little" Three-dog began.

"How about five hours!" a female voice sounded form the back of the studio, "Margaret, keep sorting the holotapes!" Three-dog yelled back.

"That's Margaret, my assistant and girl, yeah six months ago we were all professional, but a lot of whiskey, a warm bed and yours truly can change a girl" Three-dog said, making Maverick chuckle, "Sure thing Casanova" he replied, making Three-dog laugh outright.

"Alright, now I see you're not like the rest, thank god for small miracles" Three-dog said, growing serious, "Listen kid, you want to find your father, alright, I see you're not like the other vault dwellers, all blinded by Eden's 'patriotic' speeches and the delusion of an old America, but you got to learn something here kid, all has some value, even info" Three-dog said, Maverick narrowed his eyes at that.

"I don't mean caps of course, I need you to make me a favor, a big one" Three-dog began, "You see GNR is like my baby, I feed it, nurture it, see it grow…problem is that no one can hear it cry and laugh" Three dog continued.

"You see the dish relay is placed on the tallest area on the Capital Wasteland, the Washington monument" Three-dog said, "That thing survived the war?, now that's a surprise" Maverick said, "Yeah it did, what didn't make it was the disk relay, funny thing about super mutants, they are like overgrown babies with weapons, one of them thought it would be funny to shoot the dish relay…now is Swiss cheese" Three-dog said.

"Because of that the signal has been shit lately, but I was able to find a replacement, well the brotherhood did, but thing is that the Washington monument is located in the middle of a DC hellhole, Super Mutants rule that area" the disk-jockey said.

"But I see you got a big gun, and the drive to do anything for your dad" Maverick nodded at that, "Okay then, here's the deal, you go to the mall, help the brothers there in killing every super mutant you come across and help them install the dish relay, then return and I'll help you with your dad, okay?"

"Three-dog" Sarah said, only to be silenced by Maverick rising his arm, "Okay Three-dog, I will, but you better live up to your part of the bargain or the capital wasteland will know what is to lack a proper disk-jockey" Maverick said, turning around and walking away, leaving Three-dog who just smirked.

"Maverick are you sure this is wise?" Veronica wondered, "I don't, but is the best way without recurring to violence" Maverick said out loud, "Maverick you could have scared Three-dog for the answers, punching a hole on one of the consoles, lifting him up by the neck, anything, even breaking some ribs" Sarah added.

"Sarah, that's unnecessary violence, it will serve nothing at all" Maverick stated, "This is the wasteland Maverick, things work different around here" Sarah declared.

"No wonder humanity is contending with monsters like super mutants, 200 years and nothing has changed" Maverick replied, Sarah was about to answer back when she locked eyes with Maverick, "Listen Sarah, if people don't change now, we are going to repeat the same mistakes that drove the world to nuclear Armageddon and humanity to the edge of extinction, we have to make a stand now, make a change or we won't last another 200 years" Maverick replied, pointing a finger at her.

"(Sigh) father has always tried to instruct me that, but what can we do? We are just a few, a handful, we can't make a difference, it's crazy" Sarah replied back.

"Tell that to George Washington, to Abraham Lincoln, to Gandhi, tell that to Napoleon Bonaparte and Alexander the Great and Albert Einstein, they were just individuals, but they became legends, part of human history, because they dared to do what other men didn't, when called crazy they scoffed and made a stand, they became legends, but most importantly, they didn't gave up, that's the difference Sarah, you don't have to be big to make it big" Maverick replied hotly.

Sarah by her part just stood there, a stone look on her face, "So you're saying this world, from the past and now, is to the bold, to those who dare to actually believe?" Maverick nodded, "Let's say true, how about those who doesn't want that, there are lot of people who don't want this to change, raiders, Talon Mercs, hell I heard rumors about a guy who orders the mercs themselves to kill people who try the things you say, what assures me you will be different, that this will be different" Sarah wondered, neither noticed that Three-dog was hearing on a corner of the room.

"Simple, because we dare, you and me Sarah, remember…a couple of problem solvers" Maverick said, Sarah remembered the oath they made back in the space-station, "Yeah…you and me Maverick" she sighed.

"Exactly, the thing is that you feel so overwhelmed with what is happening…let's take it step by step okay? Let's help Three-dog get his radio up and running, he'll help us, after that well, we are going to keep going forward Sarah, never back, forward" he stated, making her sigh at this.

"All right, but in this mission you're on your own, Veronica and I will remain here, making sure no Super Mutants overwhelm GNR" Sarah began, "There should be a back entrance that should lead you to one of the brotherhood outposts, from there you should follow the arrows until you reach the mall, but be careful, the metro lines are infested with feral ghouls" Sarah said.

"Great, any chance of seeing glowing ones?" Maverick wondered, "A lot, there are scattered reports of glowing ones with disproportionate bodies, and upon death actually explode, must be the radiation around the metro lines, some streets actually collapsed with a lot of nuclear waste during the bombing, so I would be careful with that" Sarah replied, making Maverick frown at that.

"Is not nice, but I'll have to bear with that" Maverick said, ready to leave, but then stopped, seemed to give it a good thought, then turned to her and unloaded the boomstick of his shoulders, handing it to her, Sarah just stared with a shocked look at the massive weapon offered by Maverick.

"You'll need it more than me, I'm just borrowing it of course, I want it back once I return" Maverick said, Sarah accepted the massive gun with hesitation, slinging the leather strap on her shoulder, she was glad Sally had tampered with the ATHENA strength output, no power armor would have been able to bear the massive weight of the boomstick.

"Don't worry about the recoil, the weapons' size compensates it, so you can fire it as much as you want, but remember you have only 196 rounds left, after that you have to replace it with another 5mm rounds" Maverick stated, that made Sarah raise an eyebrow.

"Minigun rounds? I thought you and Sally used .308 rounds" Sarah stated, "We tried, more punching power by length, but the rounds didn't fit in the magazine, and even if they did, we would have to built the boomstick from starch, remember we used minigun parts alongside sniper parts to ensure accuracy and stopping power, besides 5mm rounds allow us to fire more rounds, sure it takes some extra rounds compared to a .308, but we compensated that with the amount of rounds, 200, and the ability to not overheat like other guns built like this" Maverick stated, seeing Sarah basically eye the boomstick with something akin to reverence.

"Okay then, but I think you should carry it, the mall is thick with Super Mutants of all classes, not only the basic and Overlord class, Brutes, masters, some abominable, is a war zone back there, and practically suicide to go there" Sarah said.

"I know Sarah, but I don't care, my dad is out there, god knows where, I need to find him, find him before the Enclave does, find him before Amata does, if he left me just to complete Project Purity and he knows a way to end it, then I must help him, but not before I show him his actions had consequences" Maverick stated seriously, truth to be told Sarah didn't expect less of Maverick, after all his dad had left without even saying goodbye, had she been in his place she know the moment she finds her father the first thing she will do is punch him and then hug him until she hears bones groan.

"Besides the Boomstick is heavy, way too heavy, it will hinder me, don't you want to go to the citadel and see your dad, make him stop worry about you?" Sarah nodded at that, realizing that Maverick had admitted that the weapon made him slow, maybe not as much as holding a minigun, but still did.

"Besides I always wanted to see how fast I really am now, and That Gun is more than enough against Super Mutants, no matter how thick their skin is, headshot with a gauss propelled round is still deadly" Sarah nodded at his way of thinking.

"Okay then Maverick, but remember the golden rules, you keep what you kill, everything is hostile until proven otherwise, and by god duck when needed, I don't think you are missile proof" Sarah said, he simply grinded and walked away, opening a door on the back of Three-dog studio and closing it.

"…Good luck you crazy bastard" she muttered as she turned around and went to the entrance of GNR, she had a lot to talk with Dusk about, she had a lot of catching up to do.

---

Maverick opened the back door of GNR, immediately he was assaulted by the sun's glare, he slightly closed his eyes, allowing them to get used to the light, once he felt they got used to it, he opened them.

Looking around he saw that the back exit of the building was in fact the remains of an office room, at least three floors fall to the ground, he could make out a metro entrance at the far, alongside a picnic table and what seemed ammo boxes on top of it, beyond that buildings and what used to be a underground highway entrance, now that entrance was long covered in rubble of a building that collapsed under its weight, he could make some cars trapped under the rubble, a bus and a truck that somehow didn't got caught in the ruble because some cars crashed after the ruble and some figures moving down near the wreckage.

With a single leap, Maverick easily covered the gaps of the three floors, and landed loudly on the ground, lifting dust slightly when he landed, yet he didn't felt pain on his legs after that fall, or strain, in fact he felt fine.

Narrowing his eyes Maverick moved slowly to the metro entrance, along the way he could now see the figures on the wreckage were I fact ghouls, feral ghouls, the normal kind, three of them roaming around, the torn frame of a person visible on the ground.

Maverick simply made his way to the metro entrance, stopping when his Geiger counter began to tick, and saw that the entrance was actually flooded, cursing under his breath he made his way to the picnic table there he smiled when he saw at least three ammo boxes, a first aid kit, and a assault rifle, laying there, like nothing, opening the boxes, he there groaned when he saw that two of the three boxes where empty, the last one had four clips for the assault rifle he found, then he opened the first aid kit, seeing a simple aid pack.

Usually first aid kits came with three different kinds of aid packs, the first one was the more basic, bandages, a simple Med-X to numb the pain, a single Stimpak to aid in healing the wound and from 2067 to the current time, they came with a single bottle of Rad-X that contained fifty pills to increase the body ability to resist the radiation particles in small doses and to actually be able to prevent minor radiation sickness if presented.

The second aid pack contained a more buffed edition, while containing now more bandages an extra bottle of Rad-X, five stimpaks and three med-X, now it held two intravenous Radaway to those who were under the effects of radiation sickness and wanted to make sure to get better.

The third pack was rare, but the most valuable, this one, besides containing ten Stimpaks, ten Rad-X, five Radaway intravenous packs, ten med-x and bandages, this one also includes instruments like tweezers, scissors, two blood packs and a bottle of water, for dehydration.

Now Maverick is used to the first pack, the simple one, ad turns out this was the one he found, slightly disappointed he pulled the contents out, pocketing the med-x, the stimpacks and Rad-x together and then pocketing the bandages on his vest pocket, then he reached for the assault rifle, seeing if the current clip had ammo, seeing that it didn't had, he removed it and tossed it away, the clip hit one of the cars, immediately alerting the ghouls under, Maverick didn't care for this, simply replacing the empty clip for a fresh one and putting the other three on the back of his utility belt.

Making it to the edge of the street where he found the weapon, Maverick saw the three ghouls actually inspecting the noise the clip he tossed made. With a grin he took a few steps back, then he dashed forward, making a leap, the moment felt so surreal for anyone who made the jump, at least with Jet it would feel, and to anyone watching it would have been a suicide jump, but Maverick felt otherwise.

Landing loudly behind the ghouls, the loud 'thud' he made upon landing made the three ghouls turn to face him, Maverick had already the assault rifle aimed at the ghoul on his right, squeezing the trigger a burst of bullets came out, impacting the ghoul on the chest, the emaciated ghoul flesh had little to o against rifle rounds, and felt dead before it could do any kind of noise.

Making a quick advance, Maverick grabbed the rifle for the body, seeing how the ghoul on his left made a mad dash against him, faster than anyone could see Maverick had already hipped the gun against the gun, the wooden stock of the rifle impacting brutally against the skull of the ghoul, sending it flying away with a cracked skull.

The central ghoul was also making a dash against him, arm already rise to strike, Maverick simply kept advancing, then stopping abruptly, he rose his leg and rammed it against the advancing ghoul on the chest, the ribcage collapsed against such vicious strike and the ghoul was send flying towards the car, leaving a dent upon impact.

Maverick surveyed the three dead ghouls, then turned away, slightly jogging and spotting the body of the dead wastelander, there he noticed something, this guy was no wastelander.

"Enclave" he muttered, seeing the officer uniform on the remains of the man, a scared look on his face forever preserved by Rigor Mortis, kneeling he closed the eyes of the dead man, then checked the pockets of the man, finding two energy cells, looking around he found the remains of a laser pistol, clutched by the remains of an arm, the man's arm, taking the laser pistol he stripped with ease the broken gun of any salvagable component and pocketing them, then he rose up.

Looking around he saw what seemed the symbol of the brotherhood of steel painted near a door, and arrow painted and pointing at the door, the words 'to the mall' painted as well.

"Follow the yellow brick road Dorothy" he muttered, cracking slightly his neck and taking a deep breath, it was time to test his abilities at its fullest.

Maverick suddenly broke into a mad sprint against the door, with a cry he shoulder charged against the door, the hinges were unable to hold his inhuman strength and charge and the door was basically kicked away by him, the influx of light made several residents inside to screech in pain by the sudden light.

Maverick spotted at least a dozen of ferals around, all the normal kind, he changed his mind when he saw a Reaver on the very back of the horde, reaching for the rifle, Maverick changed the setting of full burst to one shot, then while charging, he took aim and activated V.A.T.S. in an instant he had every ghoul targeted, then he fired.

The ghouls began to drop like flies with a single round, soon all the twelve ghouls were dead in Maverick's passing, leaving the Reaver who charged at Maverick, loosing no time he against shoulder charged the Reaver, the bubbling ghoul had little way to defend itself when a human shaped train basically rammed it in the stomach and then against a wall, then basically force fed lead in the face by Maverick's assault rifle.

With the Reaver dead, Maverick turned to a blast door, jogging there he opened the door, and began to make a spring downwards, following the arrows left by Brotherhood soldiers.

Screeches of ghouls and gunshots echoed on the once lifeless metro halls for over half an hour.

Half an hour later…

Maverick dusted himself, emerging from a staircase that connected to the metro hub, the area where many people would wait for the metro wagons to arrive, now that area was mostly rubble, the tunnels where the trains came had collapsed a long time ago, and whoever was inside died as well.

Also those hubs, maintenance rooms and tunnels were crawling with ghouls and raiders, Sarah obviously forgot to tell him about the crazy, marauding and smelly people who shoot anyone on sight.

Ill equipped, ill armored, ill…in every aspect, raiders are, in Maverick's humble opinion, the cannon fodder of the wasteland, and also source of ammo, weapons, medicine and drugs, all but armor, he is not going to wear that, no matter how cool it looks.

Of course as crazy they are, they also became part of the proof of Maverick's growing abilities, and proof that anyone can get a lucky shot.

A female raider had nailed his assault rifle with a shotgun blast, damaging the weapon beyond repair, of course the pellets did little against Maverick's hardened skin and the armor underneath his clothes, the female raider in less than a second lay dead when he punched her in the face and caved his head off with the blow, and got himself a nice combat shotgun, similar to Somah riot shotgun, but a semi-automatic model, and unlike Somah's shotgun, he had to actually replace the drum of the gun or load the drum attached to the gun with an individual shell to reload it.

That gun, alongside his speed and no fear to get close to his opponents allowed him to use and abuse of the shotgun close-quarters overpowered stopping power against the ghouls, he felt kinda bad for them, but hey, they don't have minds anymore, they are in essence mindless zombies hell-bent on eating his flesh.

Looking around, Maverick spotted the last possible sign that showed him where the mall was located, this time he spotted the exit of the metro lines, with a smile he began to walk into it, opening the fence, Maverick stepped out of the metro lines, escalating the stairs and seeing what all the wastelanders called 'the mall'

The area had been once a bustling plaza, full of life that once held several landmarks on Washington, the Washington Monument, Lincoln's Memorial, the Museum of History and Technology and the Capitol.

Now however it had something else, trenches, lot's and lot's of trenches, Maverick blinked owlish at the sight of deep trenches carved on the ground, it was unsettling to see this, after all there was no record of this being made before.

"Disturbing, isn't it?" Maverick whipped around fast, aiming his shotgun at the source of the voice, then stopping and blinking owlish once again at the source of the voice.

The man stood over 6 feet tall, clad in a shady looking long overcoat over a pre-war man's clothes, alongside a hat that covered the man's eyes, on the man's lips he had a cigarette.

"uh…hi" Maverick said, the man slightly looked at him, "Hello to you, Vault Dweller" the man said, taking a drag of his cigarette, reaching for it and taking it out of his lips as he let smoke out of his mouth, "Uh…dumb question…how do you know I'm a vault dweller?" Maverick asked, feeling weary of the man.

"One, you confirmed it, two, only Vault dwellers wear pip-boys on their wrists, also there is not such a thing as dumb questions, never be afraid of asking anything" the man said, Maverick did felt annoyed at that, after all his father told him the same, but to do so with caution.

"Okay, so then what are you doing here? As I heard this place is a warzone" Maverick stated walking towards the stranger, the man didn't seem to be bothered by Maverick's statement.

"Does it sounds like a warzone?" the stranger asked, Maverick was about answer back, when it hit him, it was actually quiet, too quiet, for Sarah's description of the mall, the area should be a cacophony of shots, explosions and scream of rage and of those dying, instead, the soft rustle of the wind on the ground was all he heard, alongside the echo among the hollowed streets.

"…what is going on?" Maverick wondered, "They are waiting" the stranger replied, tossing the cigarette to the ground and stepping onto it, "The Super Mutants or the brotherhood" Maverick wondered.

"Both, one waits, swelling their forces until they are ready to storm in, the others wait, swelling their defenses for a last, desperate stand for survival" the stranger replied, making Maverick to frown, it didn't take a genius to know what he was referring to.

"Where?" Maverick questioned, "Where history is stored, it once as a city, but it lacked raw material for sustenance, and fell into disarray, they abandoned it, well most of its inhabitants did, some stayed, clinging into that little glimmer of safety they had" the stranger said.

"I see…thanks" Maverick said, slowly walking away towards the museum of history, "A word of warning beforehand" the stranger said, making Maverick stop, "Some people do not forgive that easily, and hold prejudice to everyone related to those who wronged them, threat with caution" the stranger said as he walked away, Maverick gave the man a long stare as he turned on a corner and vanished of sight.

"…what a mysterious stranger…hey, it has a nice ring" he said to himself as he made his way towards the trenches, not noticing how the stranger gave him a look on one of the corners, then smirked.

"You are late, nevertheless this situation will help more"

Maverick didn't hear the stranger said that, or whisper it, he simply made his way to the trenches, once there he saw what the stranger meant by ones hiding and others preparing to storm in.

Hiding on a sandbag, Maverick spotted at least a dozen of Super Mutants, all carrying heavy ordinance, from miniguns to Rocket launchers and heavy looking machineguns that looked like assault rifles on the big hands of the overlords that were parading with them.

What surprised and horrified Maverick were the other creatures that were being paraded with leashes on their necks by the overlords.

They seemed…in short words, butt ugly, the faces were in fact muscles stretched so badly that the skin had ruptured, exposing the cheekbones and lacking lips and eyelids, the skull was also visible, alongside some strange puss like clusters on the back of the head and near the base of the neck and Adam's apple, the torso was as heavily built as the one of an average Super Mutant, the arms were just deformed muscles overlapping torn skin and he could spot bones poking on some areas, what struck him scared was that while the right leg of the thing was muscle and skin, the left leg was in fact bones held by ligaments and by any means shouldn't hold at all, let alone move.

"Activate stealth mode" Maverick whispered, suddenly becoming invisible to the naked eye, the super mutants didn't notice him, neither those…abominable mistakes of nature, Maverick is sure that killing those things will be an act of good will.

Putting those thoughts aside, Maverick began to walk slowly into whatever area the mutants where heading, soon he reached what seemed to be another metro entrance, just this one was over the entrance of the museum of history, and the Super Mutants had actually set a killing field in the entrance, mines, two super mutants with miniguns making guard and in the entrance of the metro line, on the steps, what seemed a base made by the mutants, taking a gamble, Maverick got closer to the base, there he saw something that not even Gallows or any other member of the brotherhood had seen.

Two super mutants speaking.

"Soon we will crush puny humans, kill puny humans!" one of them spoke, it had what seemed pieces of a car attached to the body as an armor, surely it would stop minor caliber bullets, and with luck some rifle rounds.

"No killing humans! Capture humans!" the other super mutant said, this one, like the rest had car pieces as an armor, but had in his head what seemed an aviator hat, it make him look like a dork.

"Killing humans, pathetic, weak, eat them, kill them all!"

Maverick was even witness of an even weirder sight, a super mutant hitting another one in the back of the head, hard.

"NO! capture them! Destroy the dish!" the other mutant bellowed, walking away angrily, Maverick had an inkling of what might these mutants wanted, these guys didn't looked like blubbering fools and beasts like Sarah said, but actually an organized force, with an objective.

"They don't want Three-dog to keep broadcasting, but what they lose if the man keeps broadcasting a harmless radio station…unless…" Maverick began his line of thought, "Unless they fear him…no, not him…his message, whatever it may be…they fear he might rally the wastelanders against them" he thought, now truly believing the Super Mutants were worse, if not the same as the Enclave, albeit he had to wonder why they wanted prisoners.

"What about…the iron ones on…the big…pole" one of the mutants asked, that caught Maverick's attention, surely they were referring to the Washington memorial, but the iron ones…the brotherhood…

"WE call big brother, and destroy THEM!" the mutant with the aviator cap yelled, eliciting a maddening laugh of the other mutants.

Maverick had heard enough, slipping away he had a lot to think, obviously this 'big brother' had to be a behemoth, or something akin to a super mutant with a big weapon, a fat-man or something like that.

As he moved he caught movement on the corner of his eyes, it wasn't like those abominables, while their skins were pink, the things had human head and torsos, they lacked arms, out of the mouths of the things, what seemed three tentacles kept flaying around, the thing had also four legs, like some sort of mockery of a dog, holding its weight, there Maverick could see where the arms had went.

But soon Maverick eyes widened when the thing stopped, and turned to face him, actually face him, narrowing its multicolored eyes at him, then the thing gave a screech so loud that it echoed on the mall, and then pandemonium.

"Oh hell" Maverick muttered, seeing how the Super Mutants began to basically pour out of the woodwork, all snarling and looking around.

"That…centaur can see me, but not them, how nice" Maverick said, pulling That Gun and aiming it at the newly named Centaur, the thing seeing his every move, saw what Maverick was about to do, and attacked, the last thing the centaur did before a super-sonic rifle round opened a hole of the size of a human's head on its chest was to spit a brown solution that impacted the surprised Maverick on the leg.

Gagging at the sight of the brown spit, Maverick noticed how his Geiger counter began to tick, immediately this, alongside the fact the brown thing wasn't falling off, made the gaze of all the Super Mutants to zero on him.

"Shit!" he shouted, "Deactivate stealth mode!" he shouted as he rose That Gun at the same time his invisible cover was blown off, the first Super Mutant that spotted him fully was the first to fall, lacking the top of the head.

Two more mutants appeared to the left, immediately firing their assault rifles against Maverick, maybe in the space-station, with narrowed halls, Maverick's enhanced speed would be hindered, but here it was another story altogether.

The mutants were clearly surprised when they tried to hit something that moved as fast as a Deathclaw, perhaps even more, to Maverick it was something exhilarating, to move this fast, faster than the mutants could react, turn or aim, maybe he couldn't outrun bullets, but why want to outrun bullets when you can flank the assailant.

Zig-zag'ing around, Maverick gave a leap with the momentum he carried, he basically flew over the trenches, landing hard and in front of a super mutant, Maverick shoulder rammed the surprised mutant on the chest, sending it flying away, hard, then turning to his left he raised That Gun, letting a third shot meet a mutant, its arm being cleanly ripped of its elbow.

Suddenly Maverick eyes widened when out of nowhere he was lifted by a powerful blow to the chest, landing on one of the trenches, he saw an overlord, armed with what seemed a sledge made out entirely of metal, with padding on the striking ends of the weapon that seemed to glow slightly.

The overlord leaped down the trench, sledge already poised to strike Maverick down, but Maverick was faster, and he never released That Gun, rising his gun, he fired the last two shots at the falling mutants, in the eyes, the soft tissue was a perfect entry point for the bullets that opened twin holes on the back of the overlord's head.

Maverick rolled out of the way of the fallen mutant, holstering the spend That Gun he went for the body of the overlord, prying the sledge out of the hands of the dead mutant, then grinding, as if it wasn't enough with having super human strength, now he had a weapon that perhaps could withstand super human abuse.

Turning around he spotted a pair of centaurs, the things had already ratted him out, screaming all over the way, but he didn't care; he had a new toy, and a lot of space to maneuver.

With a roar he sprinted at both centaurs, noticing how mutants began to come around, glancing him as he rushed at the centaurs, super sledge in hand, then he swung…

---

Reilly didn't know what to think, she and some wastelanders that got stuck in Underworld have been basically holding for dear life and waiting the moment the Super Mutants would basically ram themselves down to them, and in great numbers.

The leader of the Reilly Rangers hefted her shogun close to her, now she knew what Butcher, Brick and Donovan felt when they made their stand in the roof of that hotel.

But then the shouting of the mutants, alongside the shooting made the think that this was not the case, either a wastelander had not been paying attention and got shot the hell up, or the brotherhood was finally staging a rescue operation.

This seemed to solidify once they heard the prolonged shots of the rifles of the mutants, alongside the screeches of the centaurs, their 'guard dogs' what got her worried of course was the sound of bullets basically traveling at super-sonic speed, a telltale of Gauss Rifles.

"I don't like this" she muttered, looking at one of her partners in this mess, she had came across with Sydney when she had awoken of her coma and had basically sprinted away of Underworld, on her way she had passed in front of the National Archives, and saw Sydney basically running away of two centaurs, limping like crazy and holding a backpack with something inside it, later she would learn this document was the original declaration of independence.

In any case Reilly helped her with the centaurs, after all the danger they really posed was of guard dogs near Super Mutants, and there were none nearby, by sheer luck, Sydney thanked Reilly by her rescue by joining her in going to the Statesman Hotel and helping her with the other rangers, when they arrived, they found out a lot of super mutant corpses, the trek had been long and perilous, and when they arrived they found out that the three rangers had survived out of a miracle, well most of them anyway, Butcher lost sight on his right eye, Donovan lost his left ear and had half of his face burned, and Brick stopped talking altogether, limping also.

After that, Sydney had become part of the group, the new Quartermaster, replacing Theo, and also was able to provide the unit with ammo; she had a lot of connections, that allowed them to have the edge over Talon Company for a while, that was until the Vault Dwellers came and basically put everything upside-down, well they made the wasteland a worse place to live, a real accomplishment.

"Is too quiet" Sydney muttered, Reilly agreed with her, suddenly the grand battle had gotten quiet; such silence was nothing good in her book.

"Brick, ready Eugene, I want anything that comes inside turn into Swiss cheese" Reilly commanded to the silent heavy weapons specialist of her group, Brick nodded at her vantage point on the stairs, not only her, Donovan and Butcher also hefted their guns and aimed it, the members of Reilly rangers were ready once again to make another desperate stand against the odds.

Soon they heard it, doors breaking, the Super Mutants had finally broke in, shots accompanying the heavy steps of the large mutants…

"DIE HUMAAAANNGGGHHHH!"

"I WILL SPALTTER YOUR-"

BAMM!

"STAY STILL! PUNNY HUMAN!"

CRACK!

This and many more disturbing noises emerged out of the main hall that connected the museum of history to Underworld, the shooting kept its frantic pace, and so the sounds of broken furniture, bones and the screams of pain of the Super Mutants.

Then it stopped altogether, again.

Reilly held her shotgun high, aiming it at the door, the silence allowed her to hear heavy steps, a telltale of a Super Mutant nearby, not only that, she could hear that something else was in the room, currently fighting the mutants.

"Do you think is the Enclave?" Sydney asked to Reilly, "I really hope not, we don't have the kinds of weapons to deal with them" Reilly confessed, knowing that the Brotherhood of Steel were the only capable of dealing with the Enclave on a battle.

"PUNY HUMAN! I'LL CRUSH YOU!"

"Oh shut up!"

BAMM!

CRASH!

Reilly and her rangers were startled when the main door was basically reduced to kindling as a Super Mutant master was thrown into them, skidding on the ground and stopping when it's head hit the makeshift sandbag cover.

Reilly lost no time and aimed her shotgun at the fallen thing, only to realize that it was already dead, its neck in an awkward position.

"What the hell!" Reilly muttered, looking up she took a gamble, retiring herself of the covering of the sandbags, she advanced towards the lobby where the T-Rex skeleton lay, once there she saw something that she swore would never see in a million years.

There stood a Vault Dweller, clad in what seemed the remains of a wastelander clothes, exposing what seemed a black armor underneath the clothes, a bandoleer slung over his shoulder and chest, alongside a holster on his chest, a super sledge on his feet alongside a broken shotgun, fighting and actually winning a fist fight against another master super mutant, around them a line of corpses of mutants of all classes, centaurs included.

She saw how the Vault Dweller ducked another swing of the weakened master mutant, retaliating with a devastating uppercut to the ribs that upon impact shattered the ribs of the mutant, the thing screamed in pain and took several steps back, that seemed a mistake the dweller capitalized as it tackled the beast, hard, bringing it to the ground.

On the ground, the dweller began to viciously hit the mutant in the face; the Super Mutant had little to do against those attacks, and tried in desperation to hit the dweller on top of him, but without success, two hard blows caved the mutant's skull, killing it instantly.

Reilly could only gape at this scene; it looked similar to massacres led by the Enclave to wastelanders and raiders, but seeing a lone dweller do this to Super Mutants, creatures that could kill power armored opponents with ease, made her…edgy.

Raising her shotgun, she took aim to the dweller, when he turned to look at her, she found herself surprised to see someone younger than her, hell he was perhaps the youngest vault dweller she had seen, and by the looks the first one that hasn't attacked her on sight, she attributes her survival to those encounters to sheer luck.

"Hey" the dweller said, she noted he didn't call her 'mutant' or 'scum' in fact he seemed…friendly, god forbids her thoughts.

"By any chance do you have…a dish relay with Three-dog's name on it?" the dweller asked, looking at Reilly in the eyes.

The leader of the rangers gave him a long look, trying to measure him, then slowly nodded, "Wait here" was all she said, she walked like a zombie towards the entrance of Underworld, once there, she looked at her rangers, her unit, then looked around, Underworld had become sort off their home after their former base was attacked by Talon Company, she was certain the Super Mutants the dweller killed where hunting them and the dish relay Three-dog had paid them to get, it seemed that he was done waiting and had send someone to retrieve it and place it on the Washington Monument, not realizing that he surely drew a lot of attention from the Brotherhood, the Talon Company now occupying the Capitol and the slavers in the Lincoln Memorial.

"Guys, pack everything, we are leaving this place" she said, she could see that no one wanted to comply with her orders.

"We have a dweller outside, he killed every single mutant attacking him…apparently barehanded" that drew some looks to her, "I know Talon Company will take this chance to attack us, and slavers are not picky on who they capture, besides we need a new base of operations, one that is not being attacked 24/7 by those three at the same time" Reilly replied, "Besides…I have a feeling with this guy" she said, a small smirk adorning her face.

No one questioned her on that, they didn't questioned her when she said the same about Sydney, about Butcher, Donovan or Brick.

Without a second glance the Reilly Rangers began to pack up, weapons, ammo, radios and computer hard drives were removed for transportation, Reilly looked this with a smile.

Walking away she went outside Underworld one more time, this time spotting the Vault dweller looking at the green glowing stimpaks with a frown on his face, "All the mutants carry it kid, don't know why, but they do" she stated, walking towards the dweller with some hesitation.

"You did well" she commented, looking at the carnage around them, it was just crazy to think a single kid did all this, yet every single mutant around them was dead, brutally she might add, she could see one of the mutants with a hole of the size of a human fist on the chest.

"Name's Reilly, of Reilly Rangers, my unit is packing up to mobilize; your little stun will surely draw the attention of Talon Company and the slavers positioned here, so before we move to the monument, I want to know the name of the guy who stirred the ant's nest, so I can curse it when they start shooting us" Reilly said, the dweller simply snorted at that, albeit good-naturedly, not mockingly.

"…My name is Maverick, nice to meet you Reilly" he said.

In the following days, she would learn that his name would carry a lot of things for all factions in the wasteland, many would fear it, and many would love it.

She? Well she would have the 'honor' of seeing first-hand why people would fear and love the name of Maverick.

---

and there you have it people, another chapter, like it? hate it? let me know about it.

now for somehting else, I have been installing a lot of mods for my fallout 3 game, and mos tof them have geive me a solid idea of what to do regarding my story, hell some mods even cover huge gaps on the base game, so if you see that i added somehting of a mod to the story, don't be afraid to let me know, maybe you guys have an even better idea to improve that idea.

until a next time, this is Hypn0s! saying to you all rerad, review and live well!