Wernher stomped through the streets of Uptown, his tribal power armor putting him head and shoulders above anyone he passed. Orion had taught him to use the armor before he had left, leaving the former Pitt slave in charge of the city. The Pitt had come a long way in the past ten years. The Trogs and Wildmen had been eradicated, except in the outer city where they continued to hide and breed, and thanks to the cure Orion had synthesised from Marie they could vaccinate everybody in the city against the horrific mutations. Where once slaves cowered as they walked, now the people of the Pitt stood tall, proud, and healthy. Most of the Pitt raiders had been killed during the rebellion. The only ones to survive were the Mill master Everett and the arena guard Faydra, both of whom had managed to get into Orion's good books before all hell broke loose, and Bone, who Orion had developed a semi-romantic connection with. Now, the former slaves were kitted out in the raider's armor and carrying their weapons. Robots worked the steelyard and the ruins of the old city, bringing back metal for the workers in the Mill to melt down and reshape into ammo. Downtown had essentially become the market district of the Pitt, with all of the city's traders and vendors plying their trades. Uptown had been converted into the residential district. Finally, the tower of Haven was the seat of power, and also the scientific base of the city. Haven was populated by Orion, before he had left, Wernher, Midea, Marie, now 11 years old, and a small number of scientists who had been enticed to the Pitt by Orion's promise of a cure for mutation.

Wielding a silenced assault rifle called "Perforator", Wernher patrolled the streets to make sure there was no trouble. The Lord of the Pitt himself had tasked him with maintaining order before disappearing down that train tunnel. Some citizens had been questioning the lack of democratic elections after Ashur had died, but given that everyone was free to come and go as they wished, and had access to food, water, and weaponry, few openly criticised Orion's rule. Wernher had always seen himself as the one who would overthrow Ashur and seize control, but the Lone Wanderer was simply too popular among the former slaves to try and stage a coup. Besides, given that Orion had spent most of his time in his lab in Haven, day-to-day management of the Pitt was left to Wernher anyway. He looked at it as having all of the power without any of the dangers of being the public leader. Suddenly, the radio built into his power armor crackled to life.

"Wernher, one of the lookouts spotted something in the outer city".

"It's probably just one of the scavenger robots".

"Scavbots don't leave a trail of dead Trogs heading towards Uptown".

"Alright, keep me posted".

The new information was worrying. The Scavbots were designed with a self-destruct mechanism, to take out whole packs of Trogs if they were attacked. A trail of dead Trogs meant that something else was lurking outside the safe districts, and whatever it was it was making its way towards the Pitt. Wernher turned around and made his way back towards Haven. If there was a threat on his doorstep, the city needed to prepare itself. Orion had picked a hell of a time to return to the Capital Wasteland.

.

Rivet City was quiet. Too quiet. The hulking airship carrier showed no signs of life as Orion and Jericho approached. Climbing the entrance tower, they soon found that the bridge to the city had been moved to block access. As they stood there, wondering what to do next, the nearby intercom turned on and a voice emanated from it.

"Turn around, there's nothing here for you"

Orion rushed over to the intercom and pressed the reply button.

"What happened here? Why is the bridge out of access?"

"We're trapped in the Tower. After the Brotherhood took the ship's power generator for their airship, we couldn't maintain the entire ship properly. Some of the bottom levels that we had reclaimed had to be abandoned again, and the mirelurks moved in. They took over most of the city and forced us up here. We can't get to the bridge controls at the main entrance".

"The clean water from the Purifier should have killed off all the Mirelurks by now" muttered Jericho.

"These ones are different" replied the voice, "They came from the sea, from the North we think. The big one set up in the broken bow, and they've just been multiplying ever since. I don't know who you are, but there may be a way for you to help us. Old Pinkerton says that before he moved back in here to head up the science department, he was working on a sonic weapon to repel Mirelurks. There should be a working prototype in his old lab in the broken bow. If you can activate it, it will get rid of all the lurks on the ship".

Orion turned to Doc and told him to stay. Then, he and Jericho made their way back down the tower and over to the walkway to the broken bow. The heavy door was still unlocked, luckily, and the two men entered the wreck, weapons at the ready. The moment they were inside they could hear the chattering of the Mirelurks infesting the bow. They creeped through the still irradiated water towards Pinkerton's old lab and suddenly found themselves inside a huge open space. The Mirelurks had clearly torn apart the ship to make a nest for themselves. Egg cluthes covered the floor and walls, and even the ceiling, and in the middle of the room stood a monstrous Mirelurk Queen.

"Guess that's the big one" joked Jericho.

At the sound of his voice the Mirelurk Queen roared and attacked, spraying acid that hit Orion in the left shoulder. Jericho let loose with his Chinese Assault Rifle, the bullets barely denting the creature's shell. Several of the surrounding eggs began to hatch, tiny mirelurks crawling out and swimming through the water towards Orion. The Wanderer pulled out his Novasurge pistol and blasted the hatchlings into tiny piles of goo, before dodging another acid attack from the Queen. He was really missing his power armor right about now. Without it, he couldn't get close enough to the Queen to pinpoint its weak spots. Just as he was about to take another shot, something knocked him to the ground. He recovered just in time to see another creature baring down on him. The Mirelurk king readied itself to hit him with a sonar attack, but was cut short by a burst of bullets from Jericho's rifle. The distraction allowed the Queen to knock Jericho aside with one of its long legs, and the old raider crumpled against a wall. Orion pulled himself to his feet and then saw, on a shelf beside him, an unarmed frag mine. He grabbed the mine and armed it, then using is pistol to get the Queen's attention, he flung the mine with all the strength in his robotic right arm. The mine spun through the air before landing in its target, the gaping maw of the Queen. The creature made the mistake of biting down, and an explosion tore the giant apart from the inside out.

Orion pulled Jericho to his feet and checked the wound on his own shoulder. Both men watched as the muscle and skin tissue rapidly repaired itself, until there was no trace of the acid attack left. One of Moira's experiments years ago had caused a mutation in Orion's DNA. While too much radiation would still make him sick, and possibly kill him, radiation exposure also caused his physical wounds to heal rapidly. Having taken a moment to catch their breath, the two men continued to make their way through the bow towards the lab, dispatching Mirelurks along the way. Eventually, just as Jericho had nearly run out of ammo, they reached the large room where Pinkerton had once exiled himself. Among the discarded medical equipment they found a black cylinder, about the length of a laser rifle, with small satellite dish on one end and a switch on the other.

"This must be it" said Orion.

He picked up the device and flicked the switch. Outside, they could hear the screams of the Mirelurks as the sonic attack commenced, forcing them to flee the nest they'd built in the ship and return to the sea.

In the Rivet city science lab, the city council of Harkness, Seagrave Homes and Pinkerton convened to thank Orion and Jericho. Much of the ship was still covered in mirelurk eggs, but the locals were using that to their advantage by turning the eggs into a food source. The sonic weapon had been placed on top of the Tower, to give it maximum coverage of the surrounding area and keep the Mirelurks as far away as possible.

"How can we thank you, Orion? After the Brotherhood robbed our fusion reactor, and then this mess, I thought Rivet City would become a thing of the past" exclaimed Harkness.

"There's no need to thank us, but if you want to help you can point me in the direction of Butch".

Before Harkness could speak, Pinkerton interrupted him.

"We'll send the greaser out to you, but he's no fitting reward. Even if it was my machine that did most of the work, you really saved our hides back there and I know just how to repay you. Those idiots in the Brotherhood think they're so great, but all they could do was shove a robot's voice box into your throat. I, on the other hand, can repair your neck and vocal chords".

Orion looked at the old man in stunned silence for a moment, not quite comprehending what he was saying.

"That's right, Wanderer. I can give you your voice back".