Courier, Phantom and Paladin approached the Enclave compound, each having come up with a different plan to get in. The fence wasn't the only obstacle. They would have to get past the fence, a minefield, several turrets of different kinds, an encampment of super-mutants, and finally, just outside the main building, some humans in Enclave Power Armor. Courier decided to go first. He approached the fence, but then stopped. There would be no cutting it if it was electrified. He thought for a moment, but Paladin beat him to it. He lifted his Pip-Boy, fidgeted a little bit, and began speaking into it.
"I have two Enclave officers trapped in between fences here, send a vertibird immediately." He said. Within a few minutes, a veritbird did take flight, and landed near them. Phantom dropped into the long grass, remaining out of sight, and crept toward it. Paladin lowered his rifle and approached cautiously, and Courier simply pulled his revolver from its holster and hid it against his leg. Soon, the door in the side of the aircraft opened, and a man in power armor stepped out.
"I thought you said you were officers...?" he cocked his head and lifted his plasma rifle. Phantom was faster, though, and the armored man was stabbed in the back of the neck. Two more men jumped out of the plane, one the pilot, and both were shot in the throat by Courier. Phantom leaned the one he had killed against the plane and turned the wheel on the back of his armor. The soldier fell out of the armor as it opened, and Phantom took his place. Courier and Paladin did the same, but Courier had to leave his hat and steel ace. All three men picked up their energy weapons. Phantom's was the plasma rifle, Courier, in all his luck got a laser pistol, and Paladin picked up a laser rifle. They stored their other weapons in the back of the vertibird, except for what could be concealed. Phantom got to keep his combat knife, hiding it under a shoulder plate, and Courier hid one of his revolvers in an empty ammunition pouch on the outside of his power armor. Paladin was at home in the power armor, even though it was a X-01 model armor, and he was used to T-60 model power armor. His Deathclaw gauntlet, which was a Deathclaw hand with a padded inside, a handle and some straps, and his rifle were to large to conceal, so he was left with an unfamiliar weapon, but he was still comfortable in the armor. He hopped into the cockpit of the vertibird, and Courier and Phantom got in the back. They flew over all of the obstacles and onto the top of the compound, and got out. There was an officer waiting for them.
"Well?" the officer asked. "Where are they?"
Courier spoke. "False alarm. Some kid got hold of a Pip-Boy. Said he looted it off a Paladin with the Brotherhood."
Paladin asserted himself. "Yes," he said, "and I'm going to kill you." The officer looked confused until Paladin's armored hand was over his mouth. His other hand came up to the back of the officer's head, and his neck was snapped. Two other officers were behind the man, but they were shot before they could even speak. The three men exited their power armor, and put the three officers into it. It took both Courier and Paladin, but they moved each armored officer, one by one, to the edge of the building. There, they put the men in a position that looked like they were guarding, and spoke to the power armor.
"Lock armor." When they were done, the three dead men stood stock-still in their locked armor, holding their weapons and seeming to look out for any threats. Courier, Paladin and Phantom retrieved their own weapons and found an elevator. They rode it to the top floor, deciding by unspoken consent to work down from the top. When the elevator doors opened, Phantom found himself face-to-face with an officer. Phantom's reflexes were far superior, so he managed to silently stab the man in the throat and hide him in a large trash can. The three men had emerged in a short hallway with a turn at the end. They walked down it and found that there was only one door, all the way at the end of the turn. The three men crept silently down the hall and read the door.
Paladin Chyng, Enclave Director
Courier opened the door and barraged Paladin Chyng with an immediate stream of questions. The director was caught off-guard, and it gave Courier the opportunity to step forward and behead the man with his machete. Courier started back toward the door, and his eyes widened when he saw what was at the end of the hall. Four officers, all on their radios, warning the entire building of the threat.
"Director Chyng is dead! Send everyone to the top floor, immediately!" Paladin and Phantom turned around. Phantom drew his pistol, firing three bullets, and Paladin fired his rifle once. The four shots echoed through the hallway, as did the sound of falling men. Phantom then leaped toward the ceiling, grabbing hold of a pipe a dozen feet off the ground. He pulled himself up to where he wouldn't be in anyone's casual line of sight. Courier drew two pistols and crouched, ready to move. Paladin jumped over Chyng's desk and aimed his rifle down the hall. And there they waited.
"Top floor." A robotic female voice said. There was a ding, and the tramp of several pairs of feet, clad both in officer's uniforms and power armor. The first man to come around the corner was an officer with a plasma pistol. He saw only Courier at first, and therefore didn't know who shot him in the head. Three armored men rounded the corner at the same time, and Courier shot two of them in the throat. The third was shot through the eye by Paladin. The last set of footsteps were heavy as well. The armored man didn't round the corner, though. He stopped, and stuck the barrel of his plasma rifle around the corner of the hallway. Courier ducked behind the doorway. Phantom then dropped in front of the man, stabbed him in the throat, and ran back to Chyng's office.
"Paladin!" Phantom said. "Is there a tunnel under the desk? A button? A switch? We may not be trapped." Paladin looked down, and pressed the button he saw. Instantly, there was a trapdoor opened in the ground, and the desk slid aside. "Okay." Phantom seemed satisfied. The three men ran down the stairs and found themselves in an office space, with steel desks and hardwood cubicles. The area would be pretty defensible. They were on the second floor to the top now, and the secret staircase and door were closed behind them. An officer, the only one remaining in the area, yelled, not even into his radio.
"They're on the next floor down! Come back!" Courier shot him, but it was too late. Now they were trapped.