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.

8. 7: A Message

Hello everyone, this is Hypn0s, retunring to you all with yet another chapter of the Chronicles of Maverick, this one has been long, just like the other chapters of my other stories to publish, I apologize in advance for this, but aparetnly inspiration just decided to hit me today, at night, so i worked without rest to get you this chapter, I hope you all enjoy it, and give me your feedback for it, i really need it to improve the nbext chapters even more.

without any delay I give you chapter 7, enjoy.

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CHAPTER 7: A MESSAGE

Fifteen minutes later…

Gray had been surveying the battle ever since it started, and suffice to say he was scared the shit out of what he had seen.

To see a man, one as slightly skinny as the one he saw, basically laying a brutal beatdown to the Super Mutants, without mercy, using their own weapons and that overpowered handcannon that basically opened holes on the mutants with ease, was enough to put the fear of god on anyone.

The slaver thanked of course this battle, it seemed every Super Mutant was drawn to this man who had butchered them all with inhuman ease, this has allowed the slavers in the Lincoln Memorial to finally fortify their position around the monument, all while making sure to not approach the brotherhood controlled monument.

Of course Talon Mercs also moved as well, and had fortified their position outside the Capitol, which meant that a confrontation was imminent between Talon and the Brotherhood, and the survivors of course would be sold as slaves by them, the ever opportunists ones, in the wasteland those smart enough to see the big picture and seize the moment will always win.

So there he was, armed with a 10mm pistol and the standard slaver equipment, the Mesmetron, alongside a slave collar, he was hesitant of course to try and approach that guy, after what he did against the Super Mutants, he wasn't too keen on trying to mess him, especially considering that there was a chance that any target mezzed with the Mesmetron could not be affected at all, no submission, no rage, hence the reason of the 10mm handgun, or his head blowing up like if someone had jammed a grenade up their throats.

With a skill inborn for years of doing the same, tailing his prey and then attacking when they less expect it, Gray was already entering the damaged entrance of the Museum of History, seeing that the battle between the lone guy and the Super Mutants had dragged beyond the entrance, up to the very entrance of Underworld, once the home of the ghouls, or zombies as many called them, and apparently now the home of a group of mercenaries, yet he had to shake his head at the sight of so many dead Super Mutants, all of them presented the same horrible blunts traumas that caused their deaths.

Shaking his head, Gray kneeled and spotted his target, now at a closer range, he could see how the guy was dressed, or more precisely what he had under his clothes, he seemed to have a skin tight armor underneath, covered by normal clothes, a super sledge lay around, several super mutants dead and a pile of weapons on the feet of the guy, alongside ammo, also he spotted those green stimpaks the mutants used once in a while.

That didn't mattered anyway, he had a prime target, his Mesmetron aimed at the back of the man, and he only had to make the man look at him and the fire the Mesmetron in the face, then wait if the man became a slave or an aggressive corpse.

"Hey" he whispered, that single word always made people turn to look at him, human curiosity, it was his greatest weapon…

"UGGGHHH"

And it had failed him, the moment he said that, the man's arm had shot to him, the angle had reduced the force, but still it was enough, the man's arm had hit Gray in the face, sending him skidding to the ground, Gray by his part lost his grip of the Mesmetron as his back crashed some nearby debris.

Rubbing his sore jaw, Gray saw how the man stood up, slowly, there he saw in great detail one little thing he had missed.

The man had a pip-boy.

"Oh fuck" Gray whispered, in haste he reached for his 10mm and pull it out, aiming it at the vault dweller, "Get the fuck away from me vault dweller!" Gray demanded, the dweller didn't seem intimidated by the sight of the 10mm.

"I swear it; I'll blow your freaking head off!" Gray shouted in panic, his shouts causing other people to take notice of his presence, as he realized when he saw five people emerging out of Underworld, they recognized him immediately.

"Maverick that's a slaver!" Reilly screamed, that act scared Gray, making him pull the trigger of his gun.

The shot rang with great intensity on the hall, Maverick too several steps back, head thrown back, Gray let a small grin caress his lips, of course that grin vanished once he saw, like the rest, how Maverick regained footing, and he looked back at Gray, his forehead sporting a blackened spot, looking down, Gray spotted the flattened 10mm round.

"…That hurt" Maverick stated plainly, Gray let a yelp and aimed the gun at Maverick again, only for the former vault dweller to catch the gun in his hands, and then squeezed, the gun was unable to withstand the inhuman press and gave in under Maverick's hand, much to the shock of the slaver.

With a yell the slaver launched himself at Maverick, intending to escape, using his charge as a surprise for the dweller and pushing him away, only to be shocked when Maverick actually held him in position and tossed him away like a ragdoll towards a wall, the back of his head impacted the wall, and knocked him out immediately.

"The hell!" Maverick snapped, "First raiders, now slavers? God this place is a nuthouse!" he exclaimed, much to the surprise of the rangers, "You're the one to talk, you got shot in the face and you didn't even flinch" Butcher exclaimed, kneeling slowly and picking the 10mm round that was flattened.

Maverick by his part looked uncomfortable by this, especially considering the rangers and the slaver saw what happened, he had survived and impossible, a shot to the face, point-blank.

"…Things…were done to me" Maverick said slowly, flashes of what the aliens really did to him popping once in a while on his head, horrible things, things that would haunt his dreams.

"Stop" Reilly said, advancing to him, "I don't know you, true to be told I'm itching to order my squad to shoot you, you vault dwellers are more of a problem that you're worth" she stated, making Maverick scowl at her.

"But I can see you're different than them, for once you didn't killed that slaver…or even recognized it, so it means you are a different breed of dweller" she added.

"I left the vault six months ago while looking for my dad, got kidnapped and experimented, so excuse me if I don't every known faction in the Capital Wasteland" Maverick snapped to Reilly, making her raise an eyebrow, "Six months, this means he wasn't inside the vault when the Enclave actually rolled inside, and experimentation can account for that freaky steel hard skin and inhuman strength…yet" Reilly thought as she stared at the many dead mutants.

"You got the relay dish?" Maverick asked, snapping Reilly of her thoughts, "Yeah, but we got another problem in our hands" Reilly began, "While you did killed every single mutant that was present at the mall, maybe by them trying to hunt you, we still have two other problems, the slavers back at the Lincoln Memorial and Talon Mercs back at the Capitol, none of them hold love for Three-dog's show, they could take this chance to destroy the relay dish if planted, like last time, and finding another one will be nigh impossible, so we are going to pull something here, Sydney, you stay here, guard the dish by any means necessary, while, me, Butcher, Donovan and Brick deal with the slavers, that can be our new base" Reilly said, then turning to Maverick.

"As for you, I see you can handle an army well enough, so you can hit Talon Company back in the Capitol, they are ruthless and despicable, they would put a bullet on their own mother's head if paid, they are more beasts than man, but they have enough equipment to take an army, you take them down and you're free to take any weapon they have, ammo and armors, stimulants, anything, just be careful, Talon is known for being allied with the Enclave, so be prepared for anything" she warned, Maverick knew this already, Sarah had already told him who were allied with who in this war.

Maverick simply nodded at this, walking towards the fallen weapon of the slaver and picking it up, "That's a Mesmetron" Butcher spoke initially, seeing Maverick's interest in the weapon, "It's a standard slaver weapon, basically it scrambles the brain signals, making the target in theory, docile, but there are side-effects, the Mesmetron can frenzy a person to a level of madness never seen before, or worse, make their heads explode" Maverick actually blinked at that bit of info, looking at the weapon on his hands, then having an idea.

"Reilly, is there any chance there are robots on the Capitol?" Maverick wondered, checking the Mesmetron, "Of course, Sentry Bots mostly, heavy armored machines, miniguns and rocket launchers for arms, if I have learned something is that robot beats super mutant by a long shot, unless is a protectron, I swear those things are made of glass" Reilly muttered, seeing how Maverick opened the Mesmetron and began to tinker with it.

"I see…okay, move this cable…no rip this panel, place this node here, set this cable here, invert the polarities, there" Maverick said as he held the Mesmetron on his hand, now the front of the gun, instead of emitting a slight blue glow, was emitting a green one.

"What did you did to that thing?" Donovan wondered as he held his SMG on his hands, "I just inverted the polarities, the human brain works on electric impulses, each one transported to the body at blinding speed, nearly at the speed of light, the same could be said about robots, but they work with a CPU and a mainframe acting as a brain and nervous system, in short I made this gun capable of doing the same, but for robots only" Maverick said, "Although, I really don't wanna be close if this actually makes them blow, fission batteries are not exactly friendly in explosions" he stated.

Reilly, like the rest could only stare at him in disbelieve, like all vault dwellers, he was well versed on many arts, mechanics, medicine, history, pre-war warfare, mathematics, you name it a vault dweller knew it, but Maverick seemed more the kind of dweller who liked to work both mind and hands, and was resourceful, something not seen on many dwellers.

But one thing altogether different was seeing a dweller actually modifying a device that enslaved people, and turn it into something that could, in his words, enslave robots, or make them blow up, either case worked for them just fine.

"Hmm, Sydney, get me the scope of that damaged rifle" Reilly commanded, not a second later Sydney had pulled something out of her pockets, what seemed the scope of a sniper rifle, handing it to Reilly, the leaders of the rangers walked towards Maverick, handing him the scope.

"We don't have binoculars, so we use scopes of sniper rifles instead, I hope it helps you" she said, "Watch out for heavy gunners, I heard they have avenger miniguns and RPG's, I even heard they have a browning M2 and a 20mm autocannon, you can say that place is heavily defended"

"I've seen worse" Maverick stated, pulling That Gun and checking it, then holstering it back, "Besides they are human too, behind all those weapons an armors, they are humans, the can bleed…so they can die, just like everyone else" he stated, "Besides I think that after seeing someone getting shot and shrugging the shots like nothing is going to make them really…scared of me" he added, a small smirk on his lips.

"I guess" Reilly acknowledged, turning to the rangers, "Okay guys, hustle up, we are going to reclaim the mall" she said, looking at Maverick, then letting a small smile grace her lips, "Is time the Enclave and those bastards of Talon Company learn a hard lesson about manners"

---

"You say the son of James lives?" Coronel August Autumn stated, truth to be told he actually didn't expected this news, the body of the son of James, yes, but not this, apparently the boy was more resilient than the other dwellers let believe before.

Besides most if not all the vault dwellers had been trained beforehand by Enclave soldiers for survival, this kid hasn't and yet he had been able to put Amata on a pinch.

Regarding the woman, he stared with impassive eyes how the woman tried to explain herself out of the failure of taking down Jackie, apparently no one expected the girl to be helped by Maverick of all people.

"…yes" Amata said humbly, lowering her head off, Autumn hummed as he thought of the options, by one hand now they knew with certainty that the son of James, Maverick was alive, this would help in their plan to capture James, the man prove to be quite crafty in covering his tracks, at least for Enclave agents and Talon mercs, but also he had to think of the moral boost the news of a rogue Vault Dweller travelling with Sentinel Sarah Lyons would give to the BOS.

Even more considering what Amata told him, Maverick was experimented, by what she didn't elaborated, neither she nor the survivors of the mission said, only that Maverick was the human equivalent of a Super Mutant Behemoth mixed with a Deathclaw, bad enough facing one, but both at the same time, also she said that Maverick also had the Diamond sub-dermal Implant on him, which coupled with the inhuman strength Amata reported, made him a deadly adversary, one of care if he came along to train himself.

The coronel gave Amata a simple gaze, maybe the Enclave in the past had used Vault Dwellers as experiments, as records of an incident with residents of Vault 13 could attest to, but that turned out to be a bad mistake, maybe in the past they could afford this, but both President Eden and Autumn knew this was not the case anymore, they were lacking numbers, in the west NCR were hunting the remnants like animals, and here this war had already thinned their minimal numbers.

In these cases, desperate measures for desperate situations, and allying themselves with Talon mercs and inducting the vault dwellers of vault 101 were desperate enough.

There were benefits from this of course, the already pure gene pool was diversified even more, and they had access to the pre-war installations of Vault 101 and Vault 108…

"SIR!" Autumn and Amata were basically thrown out of guard by the scream in Autumn's intercom, yet the man showed annoyance by this.

"What is it, I'm on the middle of a reunion" Autumn snapped back at the intercom.

"I am sorry sir, but we just received a distress signal of the Capitol along with security footage…sir you got so see this" whoever was on the other side didn't elaborated, but the message was clear to Autumn and Amata.

"Dammit, what is going on did our scientists came across the FEV vat?" he asked.

"No sir, someone is attacking them, he breached the outer defenses and eliminated all the troopers inside"

"Wait…did you say…him?" Autumn asked, "Yes sir, the reports are sketchy at best, but they report a male Hispanic with jet black hair and brown eyes, with remains of clothes hiding what seems an armor underneath it, with inhuman strength and reflexes, not to mention invulnerability, they report that shooting him only makes him angry…they also say he has a pip-boy"

"Maverick" Amata hissed, this didn't went unnoticed by the good coronel, he was surprised by the level of resentment the woman held over Maverick, all about a boyfriend of hers being found dead after crossing Maverick's path.

Truth to be told he didn't care, but he couldn't deny that Amata was motivated, of course he had to ensure that her motivation wouldn't end up killing Maverick, the boy was more valuable now alive, even more with the experiments that gave him his inhuman strength.

"Send the hellfires, if what I have heard is true, then our intruder can take a lot of punishment, I want him down, but not dead, he is too valuable to us now" Coronel Autumn snapped to the intercom, "I'll be on the war room in five minutes" he added as he closed the line with the intercom, Amata by her part didn't like this at all, and made it known to the coronel.

"Maverick is too dangerous coronel, I know it, I barely survived him, I shot him two times, point-blank, the bullets simply bounced off his skin like nothing, I say kill him" she stated.

"Whatever history you had with Maverick, including resentment must be put to rest, he is an asset, he will find us his father, if we play our cards right" August stated.

"He knows what we want, thanks to that whore Sarah, he won't help us" Amata stated, only to Autumn to smirk, "He doesn't need to, ignorance is a bliss, after all" he said as he stood up and motioned her to follow him.

"Now let's go to the war room, I want to see first-hand what Maverick can really do"

Ten minutes before, the Capitol building…

Maverick slightly pocked his head out, using the scope handed by Reilly as binoculars, and using one of the trenches as cover, he was able to see the entrance to the Capitol, the stairs that once were used by senators and other important politic figures of the United States now were crawling with Talon Mercs, he easily recognized them, armor as black as their souls, with a white talon emblem on their chest plates, or so Sarah said to him before.

He spotted at least twenty of them, along with two Sentry bots, just like he believed, yet he didn't spotted turrets of any kind outside, it seemed that Talon Company believed in the old saying of 'safety in numbers' as the amount of weapons they carried, big guns, surely to deter Super Mutants of attacking.

This didn't worried him at all, he just took two dozens of green skinned 7 foot tall goliaths with bad attitude with a freaking sledge, Talon Company would prove to be the same.

Maverick slightly felt himself sick for thinking of killing people, but had to remind himself of something, these people were the bad guys, they killed, raped and pillaged if possible, they were no better than raiders, just better armed and armored.

Now the question was how to approach this situation, quietly or guns blazin—

BANG!

"DAMMIT" Maverick swore as he ducked and several rounds zipped over his head, all sniper rounds, while he knows his skin is as hard as steel, and the alien material over the stealth armor he wore would stop bullets dead on their tracks, his head was still a vulnerable spot.

"So much for stealth" he muttered, pulling That Gun out and readying himself, taking a deep breath, Maverick jumped into action, vaulting the cover and basically rushing at the Capitol.

This caused many mercs to smirk as they saw the foolish dweller rush at them, that of course became worry when they saw him approach faster than any other person know, the mercs raised their guns at the same time the sentry bots did and began to fire, to their utter dismay, only a handful of their rounds actually made contact, and even that didn't stopped the dweller.

Soon Maverick was a foot away of the stairs, there he ducked and suddenly jumped to the left when several explosions forced him to do so, on his right knee he saw a Talon merc hefting what seemed a minigun, but this one had three big barrels placed in a triangular manner and what seemed a shield, every time it fired, what seemed grenades came out, impacting the ground and blowing a chunk of it.

Raising That Gun, Maverick fired at the merc, the shield did little to stop the round that tore through it and his combat armor, sending him flying and loosing the autocannon.

With that obstacle out, Maverick pulled the Mesmetron and aimed it at the closest sentry bot as he scaled the stairs, firing the first shot, the Sentry bot went stiff when the green energy impacted on it, one of the mercs actually looked at the bot oddly…

BOOM!

Just to fly away in pain as the sentry bot exploited, sending shrapnel all over the area, seeing that the Mesmetron worked well with the machine he aimed at the other bot, just to see how the Mesmetron was shot of his left hand, looking around he spotted two mercs armed with revolvers with scopes, smirking at him, with a growl Maverick turned and fired That Gun, the two mercs died with surprised smirks on their faces.

Bolting to his right he aimed the last round at the last Sentry Bot, the round, once fired easily tore the heavy plate of the robot, disabling it.

Maverick's victory was short-lived as several round impacted him on the chest and left arm, making him stagger a little, the metal plate and his unnatural resistance allowed him to remain standing after that barrage, Maverick there began to ran, easily outrunning the shooters aim who tried to hit him, then he launched himself at the destroyed Sentry Bot, using the plating of the robot for cover, once there he allowed himself some breathe space and reloaded That Gun, replacing the alien battery as well with a new one, once done he spotted the damage done to his clothes, and marveled at the alien metal plating of the armor, Sally was right, harder than Titanium, lighter than a feather.

With the gun reloaded, Maverick holstered it and grabbed the Sentry Bot's body, then he began to use it as a mobile shield, blocking the rounds fired at him, once he positioned himself, he grabbed the bot by the waist and lifted him up over his head, the mercs there could only see with astonished eyes how Maverick rose the heavy bot with ease, and then toss it at them with equal ease.

One merc was not as lucky or fast as the rest as the bot crashed over him and crushed him.

With that distraction Maverick moved to the corpse of the fallen mercs, picking their revolvers, and noting that this were in fact magnums, scoped magnums.

"God, hand cannons with scopes, this can't get better!" he said, picking both guns and ammo, then turning to the mercs, a smirk on his face, then advanced, V.A.T.S. already active.

Each shot he made while advancing met it's mark, the intense firing began to dwindle as he un-loaded the twelve shots on the mercs bodies, once done he tossed both guns and turned to the close autocannon, picking it up he saw it still had ammo, enough to deal with anything, even under fire Maverick had time to set the thing for semi-automatic, he didn't want to waist ammo.

Looking up he saw just two mercs, the others long abandoned them and entered the Capitol, with a smirk he aimed the autocannon and fired two rounds at the still fighting mercs, neither had a change against the explosive rounds, their bits flying all over the capitol stairs.

Now on top of the stairs, Maverick looked to both sides, spotting to his left a vertibird, one with the Enclave logo walking to it, he saw the machine was empty, and apparently it had been this way for over a week or so, no one had used it, upon further inspection he saw why, the left rotor was full of bullet holes, making it useless for use.

With a sigh upon seeing a possible escape vehicle already disabled, Maverick walked towards the entrance, once there he hefted the autocannon and gripped it tightly, then he rose his feet and rammed it at the door, feeling rather bad that he was desecrating the entrance of a very old and important building.

But once inside he stopped feeling bad once he saw its occupants.

He knew that Sarah had bad blood with the Enclave, the brotherhood in general considering that the Enclave was better armed and armored, not to say trained, and while Sarah's ATHENA armor was by far the most advanced piece of Power Armor technology know so far, made by humans hands and slightly modified by Sally and the aliens, the Mark II armors the Enclave troopers wear are still a sight to behold and be intimidated with.

But the fact the two troopers had their laser rifles smoking, and the escaping mercs on the ground, surprised looks on their faces.

Realizing the troopers were going to shoot him next, Maverick hefted the autocannon and fired first, each round impacted on the troopers armor with a loud 'clang' and made them stagger, that allowed Maverick some time to realize how sturdy a Power Armor truly was to resist this kind of punishment.

Soon he ran out of rounds for the autocannon, seeing how the two troopers began to recover, Maverick tossed the heavy gun with all he had at the first trooper, if it wasn't for the armor, the trooper would have died in the spot after such thing being launched with such strength, yet he was send flying with the momentum of the gun towards a wall.

The second trooper saw this with shocked eyes, but was able to raise his gun and fire a single laser at Maverick chest, the surprise was for the trooper when he saw Maverick didn't even flinch at the hit, and saw that under the burned clothes was some sort of plate that absorbed the laser beam with ease.

Seeing the shock of the trooper, Maverick pulled That Gun and aimed it at the trooper's head, then fired, the head was the less armored part of any armor, so it was no surprise when the super-sonic bullet ripped a clean hole on the helmet, and the trooper dropped dead on the ground after such impact.

Maverick holstered That Gun as he approached the dead trooper, kneeling and picking the laser rifle, then aimed it when he saw the other trooper trying to stand up, only to not groan and then fall unconscious on the ground once again, the autocannon still over him.

With a slight snort, Maverick gripped the laser rifle on his hands, then looked around, spotting a door he advanced at it, and opened it, looking inside, he saw that the room he entered was mostly deserted, damaged, only ruins, fallen walls and dried blood, alongside discharged Microfusion cells and EC packs, not to mention the empty casings of guns, many of assault rifles, even more of bigger caliber.

What caught his attention was the amount of blood around, it was scary to a level to see so many blood pools, dried blood pools around, stains on the walls as well, most of them showed a recent gunfight, or something close, he could see several super sledges around, and sledgehammers, meaning super mutants were around here before, after all their strength allowed them to use any blunt object of such weight with effective power, besides him and humans in power armors.

The halls remained abysmally quiet, not even rats, or their post-apocalyptic and mutated versions could be heard scampering around, surely because the Capitol, while a prime area for breeding animals, lacked one important thing, a source of food.

It was when he made it to the Capitol rotunda, the one located on the west wing of it that he saw the presence of the Enclave and Talon mercs increase, albeit in weapons and material, not in people.

But the massive corpse of a super mutant did catch his attention.

"My god, so this is a behemoth" Maverick told to himself, looking at the massive beast that was over twenty feet high, his best and rough estimation, heavily muscled, with thick skin befitting a creature of such stature, uglier than anything he had seen, and that went far considering the aliens, the Deathclaws, the ferals and the overlords.

Running a hand near the arm of the beast, Maverick suddenly stopped, then rammed his fist at the arm, seeing how it easily sank on the heavy muscle and skin, pulling his right arm off, he cleaned the coagulated blood out of his arm.

"Rigor Mortis hasn't set yet" Maverick stated, "And probably never will" Maverick turned fast, aiming the laser rifle at the face of the surprised scientist that rose her arms in the air in panic, eyes wide at the reaction time, "Amazing, inhuman strength, inhuman endurance and reflexes, wearing an armor underneath clothes, yet is not power armor, wearing pip-boy, a vault dweller" the woman said, clad in what seemed a white radiation suit with an orange visor that nearly covered most of her head, if put on of course.

"I assume you're Enclave?" Maverick asked, the woman nodded, but slightly, "I am with the Enclave, but before I was an independent scientist, lacked resources for experiments, fatal flaw for scientists here on the Capital Wasteland, the Enclave heard of me, recruited me and here I am, running my experiments, just that, no soldier, you'll notice I'm unarmed" she stated, Maverick did noted that.

"Yet you're with them, I have heard of the Enclave, your reputation don't help you guys at all" Maverick said, rifle still aimed at her face, "Agreed, and the fact you are here means you killed everything opposing you, meaning you are an enemy, but knowledge has to be shared, and I see you are a cultured dweller, one that at least holds knowledge close" she said as she walked near the dead behemoth and slightly touched the hole Maverick made.

"The Super Mutant Behemoth, the highest setoff evolution of the Super Mutant line here on the Capital Wasteland, unlike other Super Mutants the Enclave has encountered, this batch is actually cleaner, lacking mutilations or cybernetics, odd enough they actually show signs of growing older, as normal creatures, this Behemoths is old, the older they get, the bigger they become, but also they become senile" the scientist added, making Maverick narrow his eyes.

"Overlords still talk fluid sentences" he stated, "Indeed, senility seems to take full hold between the Overlord and Behemoth stage, yet they are able to distinguish friends from foes, they are not feral" the scientist stated, "Skin, muscle and bones hard enough to deflect minor caliber rounds, armor piercing rounds and explosive rounds most effective way to end a behemoth, in extreme occasions using a fat-man works as well" she said, turning to Maverick, "And so does inhuman brute strength" she added, slowly putting her helmet on, "In two minutes they will be a roll call, and the officers you killed will not report, raising alarms, they will send their best against you, I would escape if I were you" she said, making Maverick raise an eyebrow.

"I don't think, I am valuable to them" Maverick stated, "Yes, the purifier" the scientist said, making him look at her, demanding her for answers.

"I don't know exactly what they want with it, besides the incredible asset it will be, people will be drawn to the purifier, whoever holds it holds the fate of the wasteland in his or her hands, beyond that I don't know, my field is zoology, mutated but still zoology" the scientist said, slightly looking at the other side of the rotunda, Maverick also caught it as well, his sharp ears allowing him to hear heavy footsteps, frantic, metallic.

"They are here" the scientist said, basically vanishing out of sight there Maverick realized that she had used a stealth boy to walk away, and just in time as at least five power armored individuals stormed into the room from one of the halls opposing his, holding what seemed hi-tech rifles that had green glowing barrels,, transparent, he could see several wires inside the barrels, spark sometimes running on the wires.

The moment the troopers saw him, Maverick was already sprinting and dodging with ease the green bolts that were being shot at him, unlike laser shots, which are in essence, light, and nothing alive can outrun light, these bolts were slow in comparison to bullets, he actually knew he could stand and actually dodge them without running around, but the moment he saw some of the bolts hit the flesh of the behemoth, and saw how some small patches of skin and muscle began to melt into a green goo substance, he realized that the troopers were armed with plasma based weapons, a technical advancement for humans, especially in the post-apocalyptic world, but he wasn't going to risk getting hit, maybe his skin can take bullets, maybe some explosions and perhaps a laser shot, but plasma shots could basically scramble his entire molecular system, and could perhaps bypass his armor, so he wouldn't take that risk.

On his improvised cover, Maverick could hear them approach, he couldn't see them, but he could hear them, that was enough for him, "Activate stealth mode" he whispered, immediately vanishing out of the spot, five seconds later two troopers had already flanked the position Maverick was, and had their weapons pointed at the location, only to see nothing, not even an evidence of the presence of Maverick before.

"The hell!" one of the troopers exclaimed loudly, Maverick resisted the urge to laugh at this, "Dammit, this is why we should have confiscated all stealth boys, that guy used one" the other trooper stated, closing in to the last position of Maverick, he moved out of the way of the trooper, knowing that where eyes failed, tact would succeed.

"I know he is here, he is using a stealth boy, just walk around and if you bump into something, shoot wildly, but don't shoot at me!" the trooper said, Maverick soon noticed that the rest of the enclave soldiers began to pour in, all wearing power armors, this one's however where more intimidating, the entire armored torso and back seemed like the one of a hunchback, with a fan attached to the back, surely these armors worked with more power, and by default needed a way to vent out the excess of heat generated by it.

They were getting awfully close, Maverick noted, but they were also edgy, scared, he could hear their hard breathing, swallow, how they slightly shook under their armors.

One of the troopers was so close that Maverick could hear him mutter "Where are you" under his breath, so close, assessing the situation, Maverick saw this was the moment to strike.

"Disable" he stated loud enough for the trooper near him to hear him, if the helmet wasn't on, then Maverick would have seen the horror stricken face of the enclave trooper, and then the one of pain as Maverick chopped him on the throat with all his might, the sickening crack of a broken windpipe caught the attention of the other four soldiers as they saw one of their own drop on the ground like a rock, unmoving.

Their reaction was fast after this, but not enough to match Maverick's unnatural speed, covering the distance between one of them, Maverick back-punched the plasma rifle out of the hands of the trooper, then pushed him with both hands with all enough strength to leave more than a dent on the armor, the trooper went flying with twin imprint of hands on his chest plate, to the shocked look of his fellow soldiers.

The third trooper rose his rifle and let out a single bolt of plasma, Maverick received the bolt on the left shoulder, yet it did little to stop him, pulling That Gun out, he aimed it at the trooper, letting two shots at near point-blank distance, the first pierced the armored gut of the trooper who screamed in pain, the second shot met the plasma rifle, which was send flying on a pile of scrap.

As the third trooper fell, Maverick's attention was instantly caught by the fourth one that forgo using his plasma rifle and favored trying to tackle Maverick down, the dweller simply grunted at this, only pushed a little back because he was caught off guard by the attempt, but then regained footing, suddenly ramming his left elbow to the back of the trooper, making the guy stagger but no relinquish his hold on Maverick.

"Attention all units, we have an intruder, level Omega!" the fifth trooper suddenly called, his right hand held over his mouthpiece.

With a snarl of anger, Maverick rose That Gun and fired it at the fifth trooper at the same time he slammed his left fist at the exposed fan of the fourth one, as the fifth trooper dropped like a sack of rocks, missing his head, Maverick's fist easily pierced the metal of the fan and made several pieces of shrapnel to basically be forcibly inserted on the back of the fourth trooper, the trooper simply screamed in pain at this, falling to his knees and trying to reach for his back, only to meet Maverick's feet on his armored face and being send to a wall where he broke his neck upon impact.

Yet the damage was done, instantly claxons began to sound all over the Capitol, alarms that made Maverick cringe, "Oh hell" Maverick said, holstering That Gun and pulling the laser rifle out, instantly Maverick opened the cover on the sides of the barrel of the rifle, removing several pieces that were fundamental to the controlled shots the rifle was famed for.

The AER9 laser rifle, unlike other models of rifles, like the far more powerful AER12 rifle, or the Wattz 2000 laser rifle, was mass produced for economy and facility of acquiring parts, unlike the AER12, which actually used gold as an important component, and the Wattz 2000, in essence was a sniper laser rifle, so very few of them were made.

What made valuable the AER9 was the ability to actually being able to shoot one focused, and continued laser beam if properly set, at the expense of burning the rifle internal components for the lack of a proper cooling method for them, and also if not dropped quickly enough, can actually burn the skin of the person holding it.

Maverick knew this, lasers of this kind were used extensively on the vault to cut or melt metal, and if well calibrated, can made a perfect incision on human skin, something his dad has done before, and no one has mimicked before, sure as hell beats using a rotating saw or a scalpel.

But what he had done went far beyond, usually this kind of continued laser beams could be fired five times, for five seconds, excluding the lasers used for medical procedures, which could be used indefinitely, but had to be fired very close at human skin.

Maverick took a gamble and was about to see if it paid off, aiming the modified laser rifle, Maverick focused his sights on the biggest entrance to the rotunda, opposed to the one he used, immediately the wooden and damaged doors were kicked open, letting in, to Maverick's surprise, a pair of Super Mutants, what surprised Maverick, besides their sudden appearance was also what was they were using for armor.

Instead of scarps of cars for armor, they were using Power Armors, custom made to fit their large frames, helmets included, the only reason he knew they were Super Mutants was for their skin color and standard 8-feet tall height.

The two armored mutants looked at Maverick, instantly, out of their armored forearms, what seemed five inch long curved blades came out, "Holy shit!" Maverick swore, raising the rifle and firing it, an intense and fine line of light came out, burning red, because he fired it without aiming properly, the effect was less than Maverick expected, yet slicing the whole arm off the body of an Power armored Super Mutant and the remains of a pillar still attached to the roof alongside part of a wall was enough for him, his modification had worked.

With a hiss Maverick tossed the now useless laser rifle aside, side-effect of modifying the rifle was that he had set it for just one, accurate and deadly beam, three seconds of pure cutting power, after that, the weapon would burn.

The armless super Mutant simply looked at its severed arm, and then charged at Maverick, the surprise of the enhanced vault dweller was great when he saw the thing shrug the damage and charge at him without any regard, this boded both well and bad for Maverick, for once he could engage the thing up front, on the other hand it had him slightly on the edge the fact the Super Mutant didn't screamed in pain.

Steeling himself, Maverick raised his arms and met the charging mutant head on, but to his surprise he was unable to stop the mutant instantly, instead of that he was tossed away like a ragdoll onto a nearby pillar, blinking in surprise, Maverick picked himself up and rolled away of the pillar as the second mutant tried to behead him with the large wristblade, only to meet the pillar, and seeing how the knife, added with the mutant's strength, neatly carved its way up to the middle of the pillar.

"Dammit, I forgot power armors enhance natural strength and agility, how could I forgot that!" Maverick scolded himself for this mistake, while the armor did little to enhance the strength of a human, due to the limited strength they have alongside agility, to Maverick, who was enhanced beyond human limits on those levels, thought little of a power armored human, now a super mutant, a monster capable of fighting him on even grounds, if backed up by other mutants, with a power armor enhancing their already prodigious strength, that was bad news for any person without armor-piercing ammo, or a really big gun.

"Okay, playtime is over" Maverick hissed, suddenly taking a charge against the mutant with all he got, just like with Lanius, just that unlike Lanius, the second super mutant was unable to stop Maverick's full charge, just like he was unable before, with a roar he lifted the armored mutant, slamming it then on the ground, hard, causing cracks to form around the beast.

The first mutant, upon seeing Maverick attack and take down the second, charged at him, bladed arm ready to cleavage Maverick in two, Maverick reacted at the charging mutant, pulling That Gun he fire a single shot at the chest of the mutant, the impact made the mutant to stagger and leaver an opening on its guard, Maverick holstered That Gun and rushed at the staggered mutant, once close enough he grabbed the arm of the mutant and swung him to the left, sending it flying towards the corpse of the behemoth.

The second mutant, already recovered, began to advancer at Maverick, once close enough it thrusts its left arm, ready to impale Maverick, only for the wanderer to move aside, then grab the arm, twist it until the elbow was facing him, and them ramming his own elbow with all he got at the exposed section.

The sound of bones breaking alongside bending metal was overshadowed by the sound or skin and muscle being separated violently as Maverick decided not to waste more ammo and time with the overgrown mutants, using the mutant back as leverage he pulled the arm off the mutant's socket, blood poured freely as the limb was separated and some bone pocked out of the end Maverick ripped, yet he wasn't interested in this, turning the limb so the blade was facing opposing to him, Maverick swung the bladed arm with all he got, aimed at the legs of the mutant, his inhuman strength allowed him to cut neatly the legs from the knees upwards, causing the mutant to fall with a cry of pain, now on the ground Maverick impaled the blade on the back of the mutant, right on the heart, instantly killing the mutant, regardless of the armor.

the armless mutant, now recovered, rushed at Maverick, only for him to turn and brutally punt the mutant on the stomach, slightly lifting the mutant of the ground, there he retaliated with several high speed punches to the torso of the mutant, each blow dented the armor a little and stunned the mutant with each blow, after blow number 20th he uppercutted the mutant on the chin, then jumped, ramming his elbow on the mutant's face, making it fall on the ground, there Maverick kneeled, grabbed the mutant by the head, and twisted, breaking the neck of the mutant easily.

Slightly panting, Maverick stared at the dead mutant, a cold feeling running on his cybernetic spine, down to every inch of his body as his blood enhanced with nanobots could reach.

"…God…what I am really becoming?" he wondered, he knew that in time he would become the strongest human to date, not to mention the most skilled one to fight, but the fact that he was being able to kill trained soldiers and overpowered mutants with ease actually scared him, he didn't knew what the aliens wanted with him, and he rather not to find out, and also he didn't want to find if he had a limit to his strength, he really didn't.

Shaking his head; Maverick focused his sights where the mutants had entered the room, reloading That Gun, Maverick made his way towards the entrance, not noticing the camera that followed his every move.

---

"Did you see what he did to those enforcers?"

"I can't believe he tweaked that rifle that fast?"

"He killed them bare-handed"

Coronel Autumn narrowed his eyes at this and many more exclamations of those who had seen the footage of the 'battle' if you could call what had happened a fight, more like a massacre.

While the footage of the dead of the first five troopers had been recorded previously, the fight against the mutants had been transmitted live, straight to the war room and to the president's office, god only knew what the man might be thinking after seeing this unfold.

"Surely thinking how to make Maverick move to our side" August thought, looking at his left, he saw the pale face of Amata, he couldn't blame her, apparently she can count herself lucky enough to not be brutalized by Maverick in the way the troopers and the enforcers had been.

"That armor underneath…it interest me" August mussed, "Corporal, I want footage of the cameras outside the Capitol" in an instant, on one of the screens on the walls, pre-recorded images of the battle prior to Maverick's entrance to the Capitol were displayed, the sight of several high-trained Talon mercs and heavy sentry bots being decimated was not too comforting to anyone on the room.

"God he killed them all" one of the corporals said, "Yeah, yet he looked at one of our vertibirds, why?" another one asked.

"Means of escaping with our tech, means of transportation, whatever was the case he abandoned it once he saw the damage, or perhaps simple curiosity, after all he seems someone who had never seen a vertibird before" Coronel Autumn replied.

"He hasn't Coronel, but I have learned that Maverick is someone full of surprises, when he escaped the vault, the guards assumed that he didn't knew how to shoot, well the well aimed shots to their chests when he was on the entrance say otherwise, they were lucky they were wearing bulletproof vests" Amata said, remembering that day well enough.

"Indeed, ETA of the hellfires?" Coronel Autumn asked, "ETA minus two minutes Coronel, they are already prepped and ready for dropping, should I tell them to be cautious?" a corporal asked, "No, tell them to treat the target with priority omega" the people of the room actually gave him a long shocked look, priority omega was given only to targets that are in extreme dangerous, like Deathclaws, in this case Omega means 'shoot, keep shooting, and while its down shoot a little more'

"The target is on the pens" one of the technicians stated, making everyone focus on the cameras following Maverick to the pens, "He is looking for survivors" one said, "Is a lost cause, that place is filled with ferals"

They all saw how Maverick looked at the pens, suddenly taking several steps back and turning his head with a grim look on his face as several emaciated hands and arms emerged out of the bars, trying to reach him with desperation, or hunger.

"He has always been a softy, he surely doesn't know we used wastelanders to feed the ferals on the pens" Amata said, looking how Maverick's face suddenly changed of grim to angry, shifting his sights around, spotting a terminal and making a beeline to it, everyone noticed the scientist near, slowly raising his laser gun at Maverick and firing it three times, not even stopping the former vault dweller, and everyone winced when with one punch, Maverick send the scientist head first to a wall, the orange plastic helmet doing little to protect his skull of the brutal impact and doing nothing to hide the pool of blood and some brain matter that emerged out of the fractured head.

As Maverick worked on the terminal, alarms began to flare out around the war room, "Sir, he is trying to break into the server!"

"Raise the firewalls!" Amata snapped, "We are trying, but he is actually delaying us…oh god he is downloading our maps!" August eyes widened at this, "How he can do that from that terminal!" he asked.

"The terminal is connected to the main server, so it could relay the info on the experiments directly to us"

"Disconnect it!" August bellowed, "We can't sir, he put a firewall on the terminal!"

"Damn clever mutant" Amata snapped, seeing how Maverick finished in the terminal, a smug look on his face, raising his head and facing the camera that had been following his every move, with a smirk he raised his pip-boy, a cocky grin on his lips, then pressed a key on the terminal, immediately after all the cells erupted in flames, alongside blood and gore.

"Hmm…he surely doesn't choke on making decisions, question is of course, can he do it with lives at stake, human lives?" Autumn wondered out loud, noticing the looks of several members of the unit around him, they were used to hear him muss like this, out loud, it had become something natural of him, and what he had mussed he had carried it out.

But it was wise to try the same with a man that could easily rip your spine off, then flail anyone around with so said spine?

Apparently Autumn and Amata believe so, the others, not so much.

---

The double doors of the Capitol once again were violently opened; this time part of the door was reduced to less than kindling as another part was cleanly ripped out of the hinges.

Maverick stepped out of the Capitol just in time to see an Enclave vertibird pass overhead, its rotors basically alerting every single living thing on the mall where it was.

He knew he didn't had the kind of firepower to bring that thing down, true That Gun had power enough to put a hole on the damn thing, but he had only five shots and then reload, five shots and reload again, to down something that big he needed something with a little more bullets.

With a slight growl, Maverick made his way back into the Capitol, spotting immediately several boxes that were surely filled with weapons, going to a stack of three of them, he ripped the cover of one of them spotting immediately a stack of laser rifles with several MF cells placed near them as well, he grinded, picking one of the rifles and ripping the cover apart, doing the same he had done to the other rifle before, this time however he would aim.

Once done he was outside, just seeing how the vertibird began its descend, "We can't have that now can't we?" he asked to himself, hoisting the modified Laser Rifle, rising, taking aim without some sort of iron sights on the dammed thing, and fired.

Properly aimed, the modified Laser Rifle worked like a charm, and beyond expectations, the concentrated beam sliced clean one of the rotors of the vertibird, causing the ship to lose both stability and altitude, for a transport that required both in control this was a recipe for disaster, yet Maverick wasn't satisfied with this, with the laser still on, he aimed the beam at the falling vertibird, the laser last moments were spend on slicing the back of the vertibird, exposing to Maverick at least five Power Armor clad individuals, surely special commandos of the Enclave send against him, their armors differed greatly in terms of bulk, it looked, more human looking, less to intimidate, rather more to withstand punishment.

Before he could make any more assessments, the vertibird fell to the ground, violently, rising dust and pieces of metal falling around and it began to make tumbles around, apparently trying to make a vertical crash-landing while spinning around is really bad, especially when all power to keep stability is devoted to a lateral rotor.

As the vertibird crashed and rolled around, he saw two of the commandos fly away of the hole he had made, one crashing head first on the ground, the way the head twisted indicated the man or woman inside was pretty much dead, the other had been lucky, it only landed on his left leg, the momentum made the leg bend from where the joints were exposed the most, meaning the knee and everything around it, the scream he emitted was not enough to drown the explosion of the vertibird, the once possible way to travel safely around the ruins of DC was now a piece of junk, its occupants surely burned or blown apart.

Shaking his head and wondering why everything he saw suddenly was enveloped in flames, Maverick tossed the now useless Laser Rifle and made his way towards the only survivor of the crash he had provoked, looking around he saw two more individuals, fast approaching, he easily identified the T-45d Power Armors they wore, and marked them as Brotherhood immediately.

He had to approach this carefully, he knew the BOS back in Galaxy News Radio knew he wasn't hostile to them, but that didn't meant the rest did, for all they knew, he was just another Vault Dweller clad in wastelander clothes to divert attention of himself.

Once he reached the fallen Enclave commando, he took a good look at the armor he had, it was not as stylish as the other armors he had seen on Enclave soldiers, this was more bulkier, plane, lacking the smooth curves the others hand, it was crude, effective, heavy looking, the helmet looked like a giant breather.

"Classy" Maverick muttered to himself as he heard the familiar sound of energy guns being powered up, "Freeze vault scum!" he heard, looking to his left he saw one of the two Brotherhood soldiers that were supposedly guarding the monument.

"Aren't you guys supposed to guard a monument so the mutants don't turn it into another breeding ground?" Maverick asked off-handy, shifting his sights at the gun the Brotherhood soldier had.

"A laser Gatling gun? They actually have of those here?" Maverick asked in shock, of all the things he had expected, a laser, laser mind you, Gatling gun was the last of them.

"You sound surprised" Maverick hissed, his eyes slightly turning behind him, spotting another Brotherhood soldier behind him, with a sniper rifle pressed on the back of his head, "You know, for a man wearing a collection of metal and bolts, you're quite silent" Maverick stated.

"So I have been told" the man said, slightly moving to Maverick's line of sight, there Maverick spotted a symbol he had seen before on Dusk's armor before, a symbol Sarah had explained its meaning.

"Lyons Pride" Maverick muttered, "You know of me, yet I don't know of you Vault Dweller, you are certainly a face I haven't crossed and match with them" the man said, "I'm not with them, I have been…out for six months" Maverick stated, looking then at the fallen Enclave Commando, slowly stirring up.

"Six months…that's the time this damn war began" the man said, "So I have been told…" Maverick muttered, then narrowed his eyes, "Well, sleeping beauty finally decided to wake up" Maverick said, advancing to the fallen commando, feeling the guns of both BOS soldiers trailing him, "You got answers to my questions, you better start talking" Maverick added, looking down at the fallen commando.

Not a second later the commando had whipped out a plasma pistol and fired a single round, the two BOS were shocked when Maverick didn't recoiled by the point-blank shot to his chest, instead slapping the gun away, the hi-tech weapon turning into scrap long before it reached the ground, then lifted the commando by the chest plate with one hand, just to slam him to the ground, hard, the armor groaned after such impact and stress generated against its frame.

"That wasn't smart, let's try again, why you people want my dad's project?" Maverick asked, when the commando didn't answered his question, Maverick backslapped him, with the helmet still on, the fact he backslapped the helmet out of the head of the commando was enough to shock the two Brotherhood soldiers behind him.

"I'm running out of patience asshole; tell me what relates my father with Project Purity? What makes him so important?" Maverick asked, the commando seemed to catch on who he really was, and actually grinded.

"I'm just a grunt boy; you think I hold the answers? I am below the food chain, I'm ordered to bring you to Coronel Autumn and President Eden" the commando said, making Maverick sneer at him.

"Coronel…president…does those two know that the old world and its governments were burned?" Maverick asked, "The Enclave endures, the old world died, but not the leaders" the commando said.

"America is burned to a husk; there is no United States anymore, no more government, no more borders of flags, no more gods or masters" Maverick snapped, releasing the commando of his grip, hard, the commando's body actually rose a little in the air by the force before landing again on the dust.

"The Enclave is America, it is all America should be, the communists are gone, but now mutants are around, in our land, this is a chance to make things right, your father will be the first step towards rebuilding our great nation, clean of you freaks" the commando hissed, only to blink in fear when Maverick pulled That Gun and aimed it at his head, eyes narrowed, just to grunt and tuck the gun away.

"You're not worth the shot" Maverick said as he turned to the Brotherhood soldiers, then focused his sights on the Washington monument, to be more precise the tip of it, spotting a round object placed on the top of it.

"Looks like she went against orders" Maverick stated, "Yeah, a girl with green combat armor identified herself as part of Reilly Rangers, she was carrying a relay dish with her, now this place has again a strategic value" the Gatling laser wielding knight said.

"Yeah, and since the mutants are dead…" Maverick trailed off, "Don't fool yourself kid, damn Frankenstein's are like radroaches, just uglier, they will come back, but they will be cautious, somehow they always know that someone killed a unit, and always send something bigger to deal with it, I would be cautious if I were you" the other knight stated, lowering his gun and keeping it in hand.

"But that means they must have a base, a place where they gather troops, those mutants are not born naturally, they are most like…made" Maverick stated, "They are, we don't know where they live, but when we do…oh when we do" the knight with the sniper rifle said with eagerness.

Maverick just shook his head, holstering That Gun and gazing at the Washington Monument, looking at the base and seeing some green figures there.

"Well, you can have him, I don't care, he knows nothing" Maverick exclaimed, surprising both knights, "I have some things to talk with the rangers" With that he began to walk away.

"Wait" the sniper wielding knight said, making Maverick stop, "yeah?"

"You know of the Pride, yet we know nothing of you or how you know about us, speak" the man commanded, Maverick just shook his head, "I'll answer this with a small riddle, who is the key member who has been missing on your group?" with that Maverick walked away, this time not stopping.

For his part, knight Gallows, once the spec ops specialist of Lyons Pride and expert tracker could only stare dumbly behind his helmet as he saw Maverick leave, leaving him with a piece of information that would bring life back to Elder Lyons, and to the Brotherhood of Steel in general.

"Sarah's alive…she is alive" blinking several times, seeing how Maverick had become a single dot on the distance, "Knight Corral, call in the Citadel, request a vertibird to the GNR plaza, priority one, we found Sarah"

For his part, Maverick easily made his way to the entrance of the monument, there he saw the assembled rangers, reloading their guns, and apparently having found a stash of guns and ammo, alongside of pieces of a combat armor around, overall they looked rather pleased with each other.

"Gotta say Maverick, you handle yourself pretty well" Reilly began, reloading her Magnum and then holstering it, her smile was playful, but her eyes were dead serious, a quite offset.

"I never knew Vault Dwellers were this strong" she admitted, "They aren't, is just me" Maverick admitted, looking at the loot in front of him, "I assume it all went well in the Lincoln monument" Maverick said.

"Is just slavers, they are the boogieman of children and small towns, but they are not soldiers, they barely can lift a gun to fight, true they might look tough to slaves, but that's about it, I bet you could have deal with them with just a switchblade" Reilly admitted.

"Beyond that, you prove you are not with the Enclave, you shot one of their Vertibirds, and those knights didn't shot ya, so I can say you're one of us, in a way of speaking" Reilly said, making Maverick blink, "In a way?" he asked.

"You are strong, too strong, even for human or Super Mutant standards, people are going to be afraid of you, if not for your Vault Dweller status it will be for your strength…and some things we have seen at nights" Reilly began, that seemed the cue for Donovan to make her place.

"About a month ago several shades have been seen at night, near the Yao Guai caves, that terrain is highly irregular, filled with slopes, caves and small mountain formation, perfect ambush spots, survivors tell tales of men dress in red and black, carrying spears and machetes…"

"That look like sport gear jury rigged with leather and metal instead of military combat armor?" Donovan nodded, making Maverick narrow his eyes, "Legion" was all Maverick muttered, making the rangers blink at him.

"Listen guys, whatever you do don't go those ways, I think I know what lies there, and is not Yao Guai, whatever the hell those things are" the rangers actually looked at him oddly, not believing he didn't know what a Yao Guai was.

"Try to warn other settlements, tell them to not venture themselves at night, keep an eye on anything that might come of those areas" Reilly was about to ask him why until he cut her off, "During my time out, I found a group of people matching the description you gave me" he said to Donovan.

"They call themselves Caesar Legion, led by a man called Caesar, I don't know much beyond what a friend told me but they are a very organized raider tribe taking roots on the former Roman Empire, long before even the bombs were a single dream, they are bad, and numerous, but ill equipped, spears and knifes do little against firearms, but do be careful, what they lack in equipment they have it on loyalty to the Caesar and numbers to overwhelm almost anything" Maverick informed them, kneeling in front of the pieces of the combat armor, and started to pick some pieces.

"You say they are raiders, what do they want?" Butcher asked, "Veronica said to me they are a very slaver organization, their entire empire is based on slaving people, crushing tribal tribes and assimilating them, I guess the Capital Wasteland is a prime place to pick slaves to swell their numbers, considering we are not as organized as their sworn enemies, the New California Republic" Maverick added.

"We keep that in mind" Reilly said, "Besides that, you can prove to be that something to tip the balance against the Enclave" Reilly said, "Pick any gun you want and the armor pieces you want, think of it as thank you for helping us" Reilly said, to her surprise Maverick just picked two 5.56mm ammo clips and the remains of the combat armor that looked that could be salvageable and actually could protect something, then took a backpack, one that they had taken of the slaver camp in the monument and he began to pack the armor pieces, also packing the ammo and actually taking only one gun, a single 9mm handgun, a rare thing to see in the Capital Wasteland, considering that 9mm ammo is both rare and weak, it might work to scare off unarmored opponents and shoot down dogs, radroaches, molerats and actually could put a feral ghoul out of their misery, but beyond that it worked for shit against the rest.

"I think I might be able to pull out the potential of this bad boy" Maverick said, packing the handgun and swinging the backpack to his back.

"Okay then…I guess thank you and goodbye?" Reilly actually smirked at that, "Hardly, if things turn out as I think, then we will see each other next time, just remember the Reilly rangers are watching you, don't mess up" Reilly said cryptly, making Maverick roll his eyes, "Apparently everyone has spies looking over me" Maverick muttered under his breath, walking away in the same direction he had taken upon making his way into the Mall, something Reilly noted, but someone else voiced it.

"Hey kid" a raspy voice, female, made every ranger freeze, looking behind they saw Brick, the heavy guns specialist who had gone mute after her ordeal on the hotel, actually speaking, the trauma, according to Butcher, had left her without voice, that and screaming out-loud "Die Motherfuckers, die, die, die!" while firing Eugene.

Of course that was what Reilly knew and was able to get out of Butcher, in reality, Brick got nearly mauled by a Super Mutant Master, her screams and the fact the mutant had been straddling her the moment it was about to cave her head in with its meaty fist made her believe he was going to kill her, then rape her body, that kind of trauma got even the most crazy, chem. Addicted and brain fucked female raiders screaming their lungs out.

And while there was no real professional in the wasteland that could actually take Brick out of her silence, apparently seeing the line of dead super mutants, most of them brutally mauled by what Donovan kindly called 'a Deathclaw on buffout and Physco' had finally snapped her of her funk, and had made her see, apparently that there was something far worse out in the Capital Wasteland, and fortunately it was out to kill her or the Reilly Rangers.

"That's a one way road" Brick began, "No stairs, or ladder" she added, knowing like the rest that he was taking off to GNR, and usually the only way to make it back to GNR was going through the feral ghoul filled metro or try their luck on the Super Mutant infested streets to reach a more direct road.

"Stairs?" Maverick asked, a mocking smile on his lips, "For me they are overrated" with that he took off at an impressive speed, suddenly jumping and vanishing onto the entrance to the metro lines he had emerged, just for his head to pop up a second later.

"OH! ALMOST FORGOT, REGULARY DRINK WATER OR A NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINK SO YOUR THROAT GETS WELL, DORCTOR ORDERS!" with that he vanished, this time for good.

"…well that was random" Sydney muttered to Butcher who could only nod, then to growl, "Doctor's orders my ass, I'm the only doctor around"

"Let it go Butcher, he did a lot to help us" Reilly said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Okay people, let's start packing, the Lincoln memorial is about to become our new base" she said, walking away of the Washington memorial, seeing how the brotherhood knights also made their way to the memorial, surely to guard it, this time for good.

"Good luck out there kid" she muttered, a small smile on her face.

---

Sarah glanced at Veronica, the brotherhood scribe simply rose an eyebrow, pointing at Three-dog, the man was apparently jumping on a leg, a happy grin on his face, it didn't take a genius to know what had happened.

"Looks like Maverick got the relay dish" Sarah said, "And in record time, you know when all this blows over, I might suggest him to become a courier, he is fast an efficient" Veronica stated.

Sarah simply smiled, knowing that Veronica was just trying to strike a conversation with her, the other knights didn't want to talk with Veronica, maybe because Veronica was too talkative, something odd among knights but not so much for scribes, or maybe because the slight grudge among scribes and knights, one fights, the others built, it is inevitable that the ones fighting break something the others built, or maybe they found Veronica a stranger in a place she didn't belong to.

Whatever the case veronica had pretty much gave up trying to talk the knights and had settled on seeing what kind of upgrades Sally and Maverick might have added to her displacer gloves, Sarah of course found odd that a girl like Veronica, a scribe no less liked to go physical with almost anything in front of her, most scribes used ranged weapons rather than risk a fist fight, mostly because of their weak body constitution, this was not the case with Veronica apparently.

"Maverick is taking too long" Sarah muttered to Veronica, she expected that with the open space, Maverick would move far faster than the narrowed aisles of the space-station, which apparently wasn't the case.

"Maybe he's having a romp with a wasteland chick" Veronica said, making Sarah to nearly lose the grip of the Boomstick, which would have landed on her foot, and would have her scream bloody murder, and actually murder Veronica for that.

"Well, unless he might swing for the other team" Veronica suggested, this time drawing a horrified look of Sarah, "Good lord no" Sarah snapped, making Veronica smirk, "And how do you know this?" Veronica asked.

"Simple, he watched my butt…I walked into that one didn't I?" Veronica nodded with a satisfied smile, "Don't worry about Maverick, I bet he is fine and…"

"Ah, the hero of the wasteland returns!" the jovial voice of Three-dog made Sarah and Veronica sigh, "And has returned…from where he exited GNR in the first place" Sarah muttered, earning her a look of Veronica.

"Well, the station was rather cramped, we don't know if his speed and strength is also added to his jumping ability" Veronica said, dusting herself and heading to Three-dog's studio, Sarah doing the same, albeit a little slower, she would have gone far if it wasn't for Dusk suddenly grabbing her arm.

"Sarah, can I have a word with you?" Sarah nodded, following her former sniper specialist to a secluded spot, there she saw Dusk slowly taking a seat, grimacing along the way, something Sarah noted and Dusk clarified immediately.

"I got shot, a week after you vanished, armor piercing rounds shot by an assault rifle, wound is healing slowly, NCR is here" Dusk said, making Sarah raise an eyebrow.

"We don't know why they are here Sarah, as far I know, NCR and the brotherhood had never been on friendly terms due to technology handling, I don wonder what they are doing here, and how they made it of the other side of the country without crossing the wasteland and made it here" Dusk said.

"Maybe they have boats Dusk, remember that vertibirds are not the only means of transportation, besides NCR have more resources than the brotherhood will ever have, that and people, a lot of people" Sarah reminded, remembering the info the scribes had told her about the New California Republic, the fact Veronica came of an area with a heavier presence of NCR personnel made their presence of the Capital Wasteland ever so more strange, not worrisome.

Besides if Michael and Solo were led to believe, NCR had enough problems in New Vegas with the Legion and a man called Mr. House.

"Maybe they are just a recon unit, is nothing to worry about" Sarah brushed that off, only to hear Dusk to scoff, "Don't be so sure Sarah, I spotted them, they spotted me, I saw them first hand, NCR First Recon Snipers" that did brought some worry to Sarah, usually First Recon was deployed against high sensitive targets, very sensitive ones, what the hell a group of the best marksman NCR had to offer would do in the Capital Wasteland?

Unless…

"Project Purity" Sarah hissed trough teeth, earning a look of Dusk, "They found out about Project Purity, they want it" Sarah concluded, and Dusk had to agree, even NCR valued water, pure water and non-irradiated food as primordial, without them the NCR would fall, it made sense the NCR would come all this way to see if the rumors about a massive water purifier just inches of a river that was fed by the ocean was true, such amount of water would bring prosperity to anyone, anyone.

"We need to find Maverick's father" Sarah stated, turning away, "He is the only one who knows how Project Purity works, he can help us" Sarah stated, "Or he can kill us, he is a vault dweller, just like his son" Sarah harrumphed angrily at that, "Maverick is not going to turn on us Dawn, get over your hate" Sarah said, "Sarah…" Dusk began, really worried by Sarah.

"Listen to me Dusk, Maverick can be trusted, he saved my life several times, dammit he helped me escape that hole I was in, he actually killed two vault dwellers, people he grew with, one he tossed it with a grenade in hand, the other he smeared his thoughts all over the wall with That Gun, he also fought Amata, he is different" Sarah said, earning a look of Dusk, "Yeah, a freak" Dusk muttered.

"I'll make like I didn't heard that Knight, but I expect you to work with the Vault Dweller from now on, is that clear?" Sarah commanded, Dusk simply hissed, not believing Sarah would pull rank just so she would behave with the freak of 101.

"Yes, Sentinel" Dusk hissed, "Good" Sarah sighed at that, she was about to say something else, but then shook her head, walking away towards Three-dog's studio, but then stopped, "Don't think I haven't forgotten what the dwellers of vault 101 have done to us Knight Dusk, don't think I haven't forgotten Dan" Sarah chocked on that name, the name of her former fiancé.

"They will pay for all they have done" she said with conviction, "The fact two of their own will be the keystones to do so makes the wait to that day even more worth" Sarah added, finally walking away, making Dusk rub her temple with her fingers, realizing that Sarah was not done with her revenge, but now she had the means to do so.

As Sarah left the room Dusk had guided her, she slightly let a tired sigh, she was right, Maverick and his father would cause the fall of the Enclave, and also the fall of the vault dwellers, the thing was that Maverick would not try to kill them, he had a past with them, one that made him soft against them, oh he would disable them, beat them, but not kill them unlike he did against the Legion soldiers and surely he did against Enclave troopers back in the Mall, if Dusk was led to believe about their presence there, but against the people he grew with, true he shot Paul Jr and tossed Wally before he blew himself up, but both had been during extenuating reasons.

That's why she would be near him when that happened, she was going to make sure that the job was done completely; she would do what Maverick dared not.

"THE HELL YOU MEAN!"

Sarah snapped her head up, the scream of Maverick made her react immediately, sprinting to the studio, just like the rest of the knights, once inside they found themselves staring at a very pissed Maverick, his fist trough a wall, Veronica looking rather pale, and a upset and sad Three-dog, tiring his best to calm the super strong vault dweller.

"How it happened" Maverick asked, pulling his fist of the wall, his eyes demanding to the DJ to talk or else, but of what Sarah didn't knew.

"It happened a…week ago" Three-dog began hesitation on his voice, "We don't know how it happened, but one minute, The Enclave and Rivet City is engaged on a battle, and the next…the next…Rivet City goes boom" Three-dog said, the magnitude of his words made Sarah to blanch on her spot, "…Say what" Sarah asked, making herself know.

"Is like I tell you girl, one minute is all battle, the next is like God decided to spit on Rivet City, boom" Three-dog said, nervous by the looks Sarah was giving him, "It can't be…it just can't…do they really have orbital strike capabilities?" Maverick wondered out loud, running his hand on his hair.

"Maybe, they are part of the old government, many of the secrets of the government of that era must be theirs, including weapon stashes" Three-dog said, Sarah just grunted, making her way to the DJ and grabbing him by the shirt, lifting him up easily.

"Are you telling me that the Enclave has a satellite that can shoot us from space at any moment?" Three-dog nodded, but with hesitation, with a yell she released the man, and then began to pace around.

"Enclave forces, Brotherhood forces, mercenaries, citizens, no one was spared of that attack, the survivors of that attack were few, they say four…fireballs fell out of the sky, first a small boom that split the clouds, then a bigger boom, that split River City apart, three out of the four fireballs met the ship, the last one met the battleground, killing many Enclave soldiers and Brotherhood knights" Three-dog said.

"Fuck!" Sarah exclaimed loudly tossing the boomstick and pacing around, anger etched on her face, "Bastards! More of my brothers dead!" she exclaimed, then stopped her pacing and took several deep breaths, shuddering as she tried to control her emotions.

"Was Doctor Madison Li inside Rivet City?" she suddenly asked.

"No, she is on the Citadel currently, working on something, whatever the hell she is working" Three-dog answered, there Sarah seemed to perk up, "Liberty Prime" Sarah muttered, making all the knights to perk up at the mention of the name.

"Maverick" Sarah began, "Try to contact Sally, tell her to set the weapons to any satellite that has some sort of orbital strike capability that is currently lined to us at the moment, I don't care if she burns everything on the sky, I want that satellite in pieces" Sarah said, suddenly stopping, and thinking something over, "Better yet, tell her to hack the satellite once she finds it, they want to play dirty, then we'll play dirty" Sarah said, walking away of the studio.

Maverick looked at Sarah worriedly, then followed her, everyone was wondering what might this Sally might have that could actually take down a satellite currently orbiting the Capital Wasteland, Veronica knew, and she wasn't going to tell in that moment.

"Sarah, Sarah!" Maverick exclaimed, following Sarah to the plaza of GNR, there he found her, sitting on a bench in front of the fountain, her hands on her knees, tears on her eyes.

"Fuck! Dammit!" she exclaimed, trying hard to stop her tears but no avail, looking up she saw Maverick, just standing there, Sarah tried hard to keep the tears, so many lives lost, and for what? For what? The delusions of a man who believed himself to be a president and able to rise back an old nation that was already dead and buried, its carcass already picked of every piece of meat, leaving just bones, just bones.

People were dying for bones.

"War…war…fucking sucks" Sarah chocked, rubbing her face and trying to dry her tears with the padding of her armored gloves.

"Is not fair Maverick, is just not fair" she stated, "There were children, elderly, my brothers and sisters, a whole city…just…just blown apart" Sarah said, rubbing her face, "What can we do against people like that, who are willing to kill their own men and kill innocent people just to win a position" Sarah asked, Maverick by his part just seated at her side, and placed a hand at her armored shoulder, she saw him try to fight for words, try to say something to her, some encouragement, anything, but what he could say after finding out an entire city, its people, and both brotherhood knights and Enclave soldiers had been killed in an attempt to take control of a place that was so close to Project Purity, that lives were wantonly destroyed by just the whim of a man.

Maverick didn't know what to say, he just toyed with his Pip-boy for a while, then seemed to stop, and continued his vigil of Sarah, for five minutes.

"Maverick, Maverick!" Sarah suddenly perked up when she heard sally's voice emanate from Maverick pip-boy, realizing just now that he had just send a message to the girl genius, surely stating their current situation.

"I'm here Sally, and so is Sarah, did you find it?" he asked softly, his pip-boy close to his mouth, "Yeah, according to specifications I hacked of this satellite, is more of an orbital platform rather than a satellite, Bradley-Hercules is the name given" Sally began, Sarah took several deep breaths, glad to know that Sally had control of the orbital platform now.

"According to specifications here, propulsion systems are offline, so in order to target something, it has to wait until the rotation and translation of Earth, alongside its orbit can allow a targeting solution, then it can fire its payload, eight ARES class warheads, it already fired four of them…I'm sorry about Rivet City by the way" Sally said, Sarah simply smiled, knowing now that Maverick must had send more than just a message with their situation to Sally.

"Okay…right now the Enclave doesn't know I have control of their little toy, and the mothership has two warheads of its own for orbital assaults, according to Maverick's pip-boy map info, which I hacked after he send the message" Maverick gave his pip-boy a look of utter shock, Sarah believed he was trying to relay that shock to Sally.

"So I can do this, in five minutes the platform will be just right under Raven's Rock, Jackie told me that's the Enclave's base of operation, a base under a mountain, the four warheads won't do much, unless I soft them with the warheads we got here" Sally suggested, Sarah grinded at that, an eye for an eye.

"Do so Sally…and thanks" Sarah said, she could hear the slight sigh of Sally at that, and apparently she wasn't over with the transmission.

"Hey, I have been getting a lot of radio signals here, most of them are music of all the world, meaning we are not the only ones alive, thankfully, I isolated the ones that are on a loop, and are over 100 years old, I tell you is quite a number" Sally stated.

"Getting into topic, I also got the Enclave's radio signal, more specifically, their radio program" That drew Sarah's attention.

"So…I got this little wicked idea" and to Sarah and Maverick, Sally's wicked idea was, in layman terms, rubbing salt on an open wound, with a piece of rusted metal.

Raven's Rock had always been the center of the Encla

---

ve operation, at least in this part of North-America, once in a time, The Poseidon Oilrig had been their base of operation, far, secure, and only accessible to them, that ended when a tanker docked with the Oilrig, with it the so called Chosen One, Grandson of the Vault Dweller, the man who killed the Master, and had basically with his presence and actions, lay the foundations that later would be the New California Republic, it was no mystery to the soldiers why there was a statue of the man who did things 'his way'

The Oilrig didn't last much against the Chosen One and his companions, not even the super soldier Frank Horrigan was a match to the boy, and then he blew the Oilrig, alongside with the president of that time, at least his body.

The Enclave was far from over of course, but their base at Navarro was seized by both NCR and the Brotherhood, there they realized that the Chosen One had dealt a crippling blow, one that had yet to recover from, even to this days.

Anyway, the outside of the base, as usual, was bustling with life, soldiers doing rounds, or training, or in the open fire-range, one with living targets, mostly ghouls, and the occasional vertibird leaving trough the exposed hangars inside the mountain slopes.

That seemingly calm died out the moment two blue ball of energy suddenly impacted on the mountain, the shockwave caused dust to rise, and any living being close enough to the epicenter to be killed by sheer kinetic force alone, their organs turned into less than jelly by the concussive waves.

Those were the lucky ones, the unlucky ones, the ones alive saw how the dust settled, and saw the now red hot mountain rock, melted and softened by the attacks.

Then they turned their heads at the sky, as four soft 'booms' spilt the clouds, and then their world turned dark and violent as four warheads fell of the sky and tore Raven Rock apart.

---

Creatures and wastelanders alike looked upon the rising mushroom cloud that rose on the horizon, just like it did on Rivet City a week ago, but the fact remained, there was no settlements on those areas, it was Enclave territory, not to say Yao Guai, Deathclaw and Radscorpions land, basically suicide to settle there.

The shock came when the usual Yankee Doodle song that played on the Enclave radio station was suddenly interrupted by static, and then by a voice.

"Uh, is this working? Did we hijacked their signal?"

It was male obviously, young, it didn't had that tone of someone who had been born on the wasteland, surely a vault dweller, many wastelanders, even raiders were able to identify the dwellers by voice alone, not to say looks, they were far cleaner than the average wastelander.

"Yes it is, now speak dammit"

This time a female voice cut trough, this one had the telltales of a wastelander trough and trough, harsh, sharp, to the point.

"Okay, okay, sheez woman don't bite my head off"

"Dammit Maverick"

Many wastelanders and raiders, slavers and slaves included were drawn by this odd exchange, something too bizarre, even for the Capital wasteland standard.

"Okay, where to start…well as Sarah plainly put it, my name is Maverick" the male voice began, no one recognized his name, but many did recognized her name, especially those inside the Citadel, Elder Lyons and Star Paladin Cross looked shocked upon hearing her voice, because apparently, the transmission was not only limited to the Enclave radio signal, it went also to the GNR signal.

"First of all, I apologize for breaking in, but we kinda have a little message, one for the Enclave" many eyes were focused on the radio, and then shifted to the now vanishing mushroom cloud on the horizon.

"By now many surely saw a massive mushroom cloud in the distance, many more might think it was another town attacked by the Enclave in the same fashion as Rivet City" the voice held contempt once it began to speak, anger for the Enclave many noticed.

"Well, fear not, that…was just a taste of their own medicine"

On the very lower levels of the once proud base of the Enclave, many soldiers held their breaths, not believing that someone had actually turned their own weapons against them, in such a short notice, Amata in particular was glaring at the speaker attached to a wall, fist clenched so hard that knuckles turned white and her palms began to bleed.

"They think they can do whatever they want, whenever they want, kill anyone they want with impunity, like if they were the good guys, just because their line trace back to the old world"

On a set of caves, several Legion recruits stared at the radio with something akin to fear, they had seen the sky split open as six balls of fire rained, and this man was telling them all that he was responsible of it, even more, that the Enclave had it coming, the Centurion with them simply rose an eyebrow, this Caesar had to know.

"Plainly said, they are a mere ghost of a corrupted state that choked on itself back in those days, and grew petty and prideful of a force they don't have"

Reloading his Anti-Materiel rifle, a lone first recon soldier and his spotter glanced at each other, huddled on a small ravine, taking pop-shots at Deathclaws, and hiding after seeing a large concentration of Super Mutants of all sizes basically made it back to a heavily irradiated zone that not even the feared Deathclaws dared to enter.

"Worse yet, they attack with impunity our people, your people, your families, your children, doing them god knows what, brainwashing them to believe stupidities of an old era that brought Armageddon, and now doing the unthinkable, killing them, our future"

On a small classroom, on Vault 101, Mr. Brotch's hand trembled upon hearing the voice of Maverick, recognizing the voice of his star pupil, once believed lost, now hearing his voice, he glanced at his small students, and he could see Monica, Jimmy and Lily pale complexion, once friends of Maverick, now they feared the boogieman of Vault 101, and hearing his voice once again made them fear, and surely to remain awake for weeks to come.

"They attack us, branding us as mutants, they believed themselves to be pure, superior, they are not that, they will never be that, they are human, like us, flawed, like everything on this planet"

One lone purple eye narrowed at that, this Maverick was wrong, the humans might be flawed, but, they, they were superior, perfect, unique, equal, soon this human would learn, yet he could not pull himself out of this radio, he wanted to hear, to engrave each word of this maverick, of this unbranded, surely a story to tell in times to come.

"They even have the gall to send assassins, send cowards to do their job, because they don't have the balls to do so, Talon Mercs are pussies, I saw real mercenaries at work today, and whoever works with them, whoever employs them is a bigger pussy"

Mr. Burke simply glared at the radio, his eyes trying to burn a hole to whoever was on the other side, apparently with no success, Daniel Littlehorn would see it that this Maverick to die a very horrible death, if only both men knew that the men they would send would never return, and if they did return, they would do so really, really traumatized.

"Well, this ends today, my dad once told me, the only thing evil needs to triumph is to good men do nothing, well I'm done with it, I am a newcomer yes, my name is Maverick, I was born in the wasteland, like everyone of you, but I was raised in Vault 101"

Lucas Simms choked on his drink, Gob actually taking a spit take on Nova, as Moira and Billy stared at the radio with a incredulous look, Maggie and Harden actually looking at the radio on awe as they petted their dog, Dogmeat, who kept a lone eye open, aimed to the radio and the people who had saved it of a life of loneliness.

"Six months ago I left the vault, just to be taken away as a slave and experimented like a rat, returning here, seeing this…mess the Enclave and the people I knew, the people I grew with have made, just for a man, one John Henry Eden, the so called President of the Enclave"

Coronel Autumn gave his personal radio a weird look, never in his many years serving in the Enclave he imagined he would be living a 'Chosen One' scenario, another lone person, declaring an army superior in both numbers and weapons to be basically trash, and would kick their asses, Eden would not be pleased.

"This is just the beginning, they want war, well, they got it, the attack on Rivet City was the last straw, how many people died there? How many innocent died for selfish reasons? They even sacrificed their own men, they are not the future, they will just kill us all!"

On his office, darkened of course, John Henry Eden sat, his eyes focused on the lone radio on his desk, his finger interlaced, anyone who entered might think this was normal, however the glow on his irises said otherwise, he was angry, a single person, a mutant, even worse a vault dweller outcast was declaring war on the Enclave minutes after this attack on their own base, Eden would ensure that the son of James would suffer greatly after his capture.

"My name is Maverick, the vault dweller of Vault 101, a wastelander, I left the safety of the vault to search for my father, and I will find him…as soon as I deal with these murderous sociopaths, marks my words, you don't have enough men to rally against me"

Amata growled at this, a pool of blood forming on her feet, emanating from her palms.

"There is no gun in this world big enough to kill me"

Alphonse Almodovar gazed fearfully at the speakers on his office, not believing that the son of James was alive, and apparently ready to wage war, alone if needed.

"There is no one in this world that can stop me"

Sitting on a small cottage, beyond the once capital of the old nation, a dark skinned man stared at the radio, then at the flag pole resting near his bed, nightmares of the Divide coming to haunt him over and over, and so his duty to Caesar, he never imagined that this far of the so called Capital Wasteland he would hear a voice…so full of conviction, so sure of his ideals, of his goals, it was like the old world was talking to him, telling him to take a more direct approach, to not falter.

The Courier would sink her feet on the old world ash she created, and so to the maverick of vault 101, it was just a matter of time and of how.

"Bring it on you bastards, I got a lot of bones to pick with you, and so my friend, Sarah Lyons"

That was the straw that broke the camel for many, for Elder Lyons it was like a rush of life given to him, he immediately ordered a vertibird to be send to GNR, surely the location Sarah was to pick her up and the person with her, this Maverick fellow had declared himself an enemy of the Enclave, and apparently had the means to hit them as hard as possible, he would make a most excellent ally.

For President Eden, this was not tolerable, he immediately deployed every single trooper near the Washington monument, he had seen what Maverick could do, and he didn't care, he wanted GNR and Maverick burned.

To Daniel Littlehorn this was not tolerable, he was not going to have the balance he created to be torn asunder by a mere child, especially if Sarah Lyons was with him, assassins that same day received the order, Maverick and Sarah's head on a plate, 5000 caps, each.

For the wastelanders, this was welcomed, the legendary Sarah Lyons, believed dead, was in fact alive, that had been her voice all along, the female voice, and she somehow had recruited a lone vault dweller, a lone wanderer of so said vault to join her in the fight.

The day was not over by a long shot, but at least it had allowed many to get something many had forgotten.

Hope.

---

And there it is, another chapter long and gone, I recieved a lot of feedback about me mixing the fallout 3 and New Vegas storylines, very positive ones, taht encourage me to keep going, and trust me on this, familiar faces on both ends will collide, and have a more intertwined story than the one of New Vegas and some vague references, I give you my word on that.

Until a next time this is Hypn0s! AAAAUUUHHHH! enjoy the day my friends, and this story as well.