I took no pleasure in the act. There is none to be had. A soldier is not to take pride in the lives he takes, but in the good that is supposed to come with it. But the souls will still haunt him. The souls of the innocent and the wicked. I wish I knew what had truly drove Paladin Sarah to sacrifice her life, but in the end, I can guess it was all that was left for her. If only things were different.

"Director," a synth spoke from behind me.

"Yes, Argit?"

"Dr. Filmore was informed of Scribe Blanchard and has requested her presence. After consulting with Dr. Li, she believes Blanchard will be of particular usefulness at the Airport."

"Very well." I turned to Miss Blanchard. "If you will kindly go with Argit, he will escort you to the Institute to begin your orientation."

"Understood. Can I ask a favor?"

"What can I do?"

"Can I have Sarah's tags? She was a good friend."

I walked over and carefully removed the tags before I placed them in Blanchard's hands. "I am sorry for what happened."

"Can I ask, what will happen to her now?"

"I will have her buried alongside her brother at Fort Strong. Where the bodies of all Brotherhood of Steel members are being buried. I will also have her name added to the memorial. They may have been enemy soldiers, but they were soldiers nonetheless and deserve the respect due."

"Thank you."

I turned away as she teleported away and I began organizing everything to have the scene taken care of. A few Minutemen came by via vertibird, at request, to ensure the transit of Sarah's remains to the fort. The synths took possession of the weapons on the ground and the power armor for study. We keep an accurate log of technological progression of the Brotherhood so as to be aware of their capabilities.

With the scene well underhand, Curie and I hopped back in our armors and walked to Graygarden with an eerie silence. After handing over the ArcJet control module to Supervisor White needed to repair Supervisor Greene, we teleported home to the Institute's primary complex, docked our power armors at the deployment stations, dressed into our clean institute clothing, and just relaxed on the sofa. As we sat there cuddled together, I thought on all the progress made since taking the reins as the Director.

In the past few years, I had the Institute begin construction of several other branch facilities. All of which are located below ground, isolated to reduce the chance of being invaded. I was able to recruit Virgil back and had him build one beneath the Glowing Sea. It was very hazardous but the construction was completed earlier this year. And more importantly, the work there is helping our research into ultimately filtering the Commonwealth of radiation. If it bodes well, we can filter the rest of the fractured country, and then the world.

Another was built near the airport and is currently our primary technology research facility. Dr. Li is there and currently heads the facility, trying to see if there are any recognizable parts of Liberty Prime remaining from the Prydwen's crash. But after three years of little progress, I doubt anything significant will show up. They also have the largest number of combat ready Gen-1 and 2 synths in case a full confrontation with the Brotherhood comes to pass.

Finally, I commissioned another outpost on the island to the north, not too far from the town of Far Harbor. The facility is merely a data warehouse with an active uplink with the other facilities. Its purpose is to ensure our research and technological progress is never truly lost, and with its more distant location from the Commonwealth, few are likely to just run into it out there. DiMa has agreed to watch over it so long as he and the other refugees in his care are left alone.

With the Institute's influence growing and spreading, most of my duties these days revolve around controlling it's rate of growth. Too fast and we risk causing long-term damage. Too slow and we can't react to problems appropriately as they arise. Raider and gunner groups still operate and are becoming more capable of evading us. In the end, if we aren't careful, the damage could become more serious than what recent people have seen. My greatest fear is the day another war is brought upon us. The Brotherhood will not take lightly to the transgressions against them. And they will expect compensation. I only hope, they do not expect for everyone to pay in blood.

Author's Note

I can't say I have any special reason for this other than to see how well I did representing a para-military organization and to get one more idea out of my head. I wanted to write more about the relationship between the Sole Survivor and Curie, but since the focus wasn't there, I chose not to chase that rabbit. Maybe another time. Either way, thank you all for reading and enjoy your days.