Life on the road back to the castle would have been silent if not for the near constant interruptions. Not five minutes from the Listening Post, Radio Freedom was lit up like the Fourth of July, talking about how three different settlements were currently under attack from Raiders. Instantly going into her new combination of Brotherhood Elder and Minutemen General, she ordered Danse to go around the nearest of the three settlements and scope out the action. He followed orders and quickly ran off, clutching his bolt-action rifle close to his chest.
While initially favouring laser weaponry, Alexei had crafted him a 50. Calibar Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle. While he was surprised by the gift at first, telling her that he preferred the Brotherhood's lasers, with the addition of a suppressor, it had saved him countless times when he needed to get away. It has not left his shoulder since. Outside of Alexei herself, there is nothing in this life he treasured more. Within a few minutes, he reached a position on the hill outside Greentop Nursery. Lying prone, he looked through his recon scope, the advanced targeting computer seeming foreign atop the rifle.
"Hello? Alexei? Can you hear me?" He spoke into the radio he had positioned on his wrist. Only static answered for a while, until Alexei's familiar voice came through.
"Loud and Clear! So, what are we dealing with? It's Raiders, isn't it. It's always the damned Raiders" She asked. Danse resumed scanning the farmhouse. It was definitely Raiders, but they seemed different. Almost new.
"It's raiders alright, but they seem to be a new group. Definitely no one I've had the pleasure of killing. They're focused on the farmhouse, but they have a perimeter watch as well. I'd recommend being very careful." He said, eyes not leaving the scope.
"I'm always careful. Anyway I'm over to the North, positioned behind a rusting wreck of a pick-up. Anyone nearby?" She asked.
Danse, looking over towards her position, activated the night vision scanner. Each and every one of them lit up the farmhouse like some kind of deranged set of string lights. He focused and observed.
"There's one by your position, leaning against the side of the house. Seems to have his back turned towards you. If you're going to engage him, do it now and do so silently." He warned her.
He heard no reply and began to worry. He knew that it was pointless though when he heard the familiar thud of a corpse and looked over to see the silhouette that as previously leaning against the house was now laying on the floor, slowly turning blue. He admired her skill, then proceeded to call her again over the radio.
"Don't worry Danse. This ain't my first rodeo, you know." She said.
He presumed that she probably had a smirk on her face after that remark. He definitely knew how she carried herself through a fight though, because recently he found that he can't take his eyes off the woman. Her presence screams fear to her enemies and hope to her allies. Even in dire situations, she moves with elegance and grace, slicing through her foes without a single strand of hair going out of place. She was beautiful and he would protect her till the end of his days. He came out of his daydream when he heard the sound of a shotgun being cocked. Snapping back to attention, he heard the whole thing.
"Look at what we have here boys! The famous General of the minutemen, the Commonwealth's saviour, The 'woman outta time'! The fucking bitch got Billy and Vince. How about we repay the favour? We could all take a piece of her back to the hideout as a trophy.." He heard one say.
All of a sudden, his blood began to boil. He felt a harsh contraction in his chest and he felt as though he should charge the group, to hell with tactics. His brain said stay, while his heart said charge. He decided though, to take his brains advice and he wiped a lone tear from his cheek. He felt useless and it tore him up inside. Suddenly he regained his focus when he heard a single word. Guardian.
When they had first started travelling together, they would often help each other get out of tricky situations. There was one such occasion when they had made a crucial rule between them. If a specific word is ever mentioned and the other is able to help, it is a live fire situation and that the other person is in dire need of help. They decided on Guardian because that is essentially what either person is when it comes down to it.
He targeted the head of the bastard that had himself positioned over Alexei, watching as he lightly dragged his knife across her face, and beginning to trail it down her arms.
"Rest in hell, you bastard!" He said, as he pulled the trigger, sending the large calibar bullet sailing through the sky, completely obliterating the first Raiders head.
He heard exclamations of mass confusion, followed by shots ringing out into the hillside. While he easily dodged their offensive, he could only hope that Alexei was ok. Then the shots into the hillside stopped and he looked down to see Alexei standing over the raiders clutching a sawn-off Shotgun, heaving deeply. Danse stood up and walked towards her. It was only when he got close that the shotgun feel from her arms and she collapsed. He ran to her, holding her pale body in his arms. He rummaged around her pack but of course she had no stimpaks with her. He grabbed her flare gun and fired it into the air, hoping that there was some settlement nearby that would help. He would have asked the settlement that they had just saved for help, but upon quick inspection, he saw that the raiders had already killed the settlers. Observing her wounds, he deduced that the knife marks must be deeper than he thought because they had yet to cease bleeding. Beginning to really panic, he removed the t-shirt he was wearing and ripped it down the middle. Wrapping and tying the strands at the top of her arm, he tied them tight, making them into tourniquets. He held her close to preserve her body temperature. He didn't realise when he had started again, but he sobbed silently as he awaited aid. Leaning in closely, he whispered
"Please be ok. I love you, you know... I Love you!"