Author's Note's "Trying to do better as always advice and ideas are appreciated let me know what y'all think. Since this chapter is out, I'm planning on a prologue chapter and patching 1 2, and 3.

Evan's armor clanked and groaned as he marched into the cold night. His visor lit up with warnings flashing red alarmed by his condition. He just ignored it and marched on. The rain poured from the sky with heavy thunder through the night. The rain seeped into holes in the armor he ignored it. His march continued and he bumped into someone. He grabbed it before it could get away. The creature's cloaking field disabled revealing a venomian soldier. The monkey pleaded for his life screaming and begging. Evan just grabbed him by the head and snapped his neck like a twig. He stripped the dead venomian of his heavy blaster and all of the power packs with it. Along with rations and med kits.

Evan continued into the Cornerian wilderness he thought to himself "Maybe I can make my home in a cave somewhere in the mountains."

After hours of marching, he found one of the mountain regions of Corneria. He hiked on careful not to fall. He stumbled on what he saw was a cave around 2,000 feet. He walked inside and saw two massive sliding doors. He grabbed one of the doors and with a screech and a grind it opened. Inside was ancient equipment and by the amount of dust and antiquated computers, no one has been here in centuries. He turned on his headlamp and looked around. He found a recharge bay full of small maintenance drones. He flicked the switch and they reactivated. The little drones hovered in the air and got to cleaning and repairing the base. Evan realized this must be an ancient Cornerian hangar.

One of the drones reactivated the base's power generator. One by one rows of lights came back on giving him a full view of the base. As expected, it was in a heavy state of disrepair. The wiring was intact which was good news but everything else was a mess that needed cleaning and repair. He eventually found the bunks. A drone cleaned one of the beds for him. He got out of his armor and went to sleep. When he woke up the drones were done cleaning and were scanning for damages. They began interfacing with these strange machines. The machines began printing new parts.

He looked with amazement as the drones began taking apart the corroded pipes threw them in a scrap bin and replaced them with new ones. When they were done, he now had running water warm showers, and clean latrines. With the drones taking care of everything he grabbed a nearby welder and began patching the holes and cracks in his armor. The T-45 looked a little better but Evan doubted his welding skills for all he knew in battle the patches could shatter on impact with any bullet or blaster bolt. When the welds cooled, he climbed back in and marched outside to see if anyone would need help sure he was trying to hide but his duty as a Minuteman. To protect the people at a minute's notice.

Meanwhile, Bill and his squad mates were sent looking for Evan some were in the air Bill and several others were on the ground. They followed the tracks in the mud his armor left. They previously found the body of the Venomian spy and now know Evan is armed with a blaster. The group continued their hike following his tracks. They continued on and split up looking on multiple trails as the rain had washed away some of the tracks further up. Bill slipped on a rock and grabbed the ledge almost plummeting to his death. He heard clanking and sprinting the ground was shaking. He felt a metal hand grab him and pull him to safety. He looked at Evan thankful for his rescue.

Evan moved him far away from the ledge. He made sure his translator was working. "Look I'm not going to blackmail you or hold you over the ledge I simply just want to help people."

Bill caught his breath "Pepper sent us to find you but why did you save me you could have just chunked me over the ledge?"

Evan let out an annoyed sigh "My duty as a Minuteman is to protect the people not kill them. I just want to fight for you. Look I'm scared that the doctors will chain me to a bed. I know I'm sick but if can't fight the people will be defenseless."

Bill couldn't help but asked, "So your plan is to take on armies upon armies of Andross by yourself alone?"

Evan answered, "You'd be surprised what one Minuteman in power can do."

Bill's left eye twitched "Well you got everyone Duke and Chara included terrified for you. You need to understand that they love you."

Evan replied "If they love me, they will let me fight for them. I am fully aware of my condition but I don't want Quincy to happen on Corneria."

The rest of Bill's squamates arrived Bill calmed them down. "Stand down he saved my life."

The squad looked with worry at Evan much to his annoyance. He spoke again "Look I'm not a helpless child I've made my decision and I shall fight whether you like it or not. The only question is will you get in my way or get out.?"

Bill calmly breathed "Ok we'll leave."

Evan gave them a salute before going back on his patrol searching for others in need of help, he said "One last thing if you can find me an old warbird or starfighter I can work on I'd appreciate it. You help me and I'll help you."

Bill said to his squad 'Keep quiet about this if Commander Fredendall finds out about Evan, he's going to make things worse the last thing I want to see is our brothers and sisters charge up the mountain only for Evan to cut them down. Besides the only one he killed was a Venomian spy if anything having him on guard would help us greatly."

Back at HQ they lied on Evan's behalf even going far as to literally cover his tracks. After some ranting from Fredendall, they got a distress call sent by R.O.B they found out about the shuttle falling overboard a rusted battleship.

Bill facepalmed "Let me guess Slippy forgot to turn on the magnets again?"

They got in their fighters and headed for the Great Fox. When they arrived R.O.B. gave them the location. Their starfighters nearly touched the water. Off the shore of Independence, USS Massachusetts guarded them. Using her massive 16-inch rifles for artillery support and her AA to keep bloatflys and bloodbugs at bay. Charlie and his crew had since officially joined the Minutemen Liberator promoted him to Admiral of the C.M.N with the Massachusetts as the flagship. Well, she's the only ship in the navy. When they saw Bill's squad coming in low and slow Charlie mistook them for torpedo bombers. Charlie believed they were the Venomians Fox warned him about but he didn't show him the difference between Cornerian or Venomian fighters.

Charlie shouted on the P. A "THIS IS ADMIRAL CHARLIE BANDITS IN THE AIR THIS NOT A DRILL I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A DRILL GIVE THEM EVERYTHING WE HAVE.

Despite their rusted appearance, the powder monkeys have kept their AA well-maintained flak and tracers filled the sky 20mm Oerlikon 40mm Bofors 5 inch. The main guns already loaded spun around hoping to get a shot at the low-flying starfighters. Bill's shields failed almost immediately as they were designed mainly to protect from energy weapons, not old-school lead. His left wing caught fire.

Fox got on the comms "CHARLIE CEASE FIRE THEIR FRIENDLY!"

Charlie nodded "THEIR FRIENDLIES CEASE FIRE!"

Bill landed his wounded warbird next to the Fort. Liberator helped Slippy hide in the tunnels so he wouldn't get shamed or chewed out. Bill didn't have a hazmat suit causing Vera to sprint handing him water and rad-x "Unless you want to become a ghoul like my General, I'd suggest you take some rad-x."

Bill took the pill and drank the water. He asked, "What do you mean your General?"

Liberator walked out helmet straps dangling in the wind. His voice was deep and ragged. "That would be me if you must know Vera here is my newest Minuteman and she's our combat medic."

Bill looked with shock he heard rumors of Liberator's voice and appearance but deep down he felt dread. When he saw Liberator's darkened eyes, he felt like he was staring into the eyes of death incarnate this creature of war and death if the rumors are true, he has been fighting for over two centuries. He also felt pity for he saw a dutiful soldier serving and fighting for his country. He noticed Liberator's massive muscles and saw his frail skin. His whole body had bits of flesh missing exposing the red muscle underneath. Even his face had some cheekbone exposed. He could tell he was in immense agony yet to Liberator it was normalcy.

The old ghoul let out a hoarse cackle "What's the matter boy do I scare you?"

Bill was even more petrified knowing he had to give him the news about Evan. Liberator gave him a pat on the back. "You don't have to be scared of me we're friends and allies. Fox bragged a lot about you and a friend of his is a friend of mine."

He felt a little better. "I have news on Evan he's gone AWOL."

To everyone's shock Liberator remained calm irritated but calm. "Please he's scared the doctors are going to cuff him to the bed and he's petrified that if he doesn't fight the Quincy Massacre will happen on Corneria."

Liberator lit a cigar. "I knew this would happen Evan has a lot of guilt. I'm not mad as much as I am worried. Tell him if he doesn't go back to the Spaniels, I'm going to paddle his ass myself. I would get onto him for not going to the hospital then again, I yanked Cody out."

Fox asked, "Why did you get him out you even gave him his bag full of chems?"

Liberator sighed "Bill could you step away for a moment I need a private conversation with Fox?"

Bill walked away.

Liberator answered "The main reason I pulled him out is he's a hardened veteran. With so many losses I need as many experienced soldiers as I can get. As for Evan, he is a rookie and he only joined the Minutemen after Quincy. He has lived almost all of his in safety and peace. Cody on the other hand war is all he knows killing scum since he was five. I am conflicted on my view when comes to child soldiers. On one side it's evil but in desperate cases necessary. On the other Cody has shown me child soldiers are the most loyal vicious devout soldiers one can ask for."

He continued "However I will not recruit anymore Cody himself is a broken wreck and I don't want more children to end up like that. The sad thing is there are hundreds of them since our near collapse the Commonwealth itself has become a warzone. As I said our ammunition is dangerously low not even bare minimal. Hell, some of my troops only have ten rounds left if they're lucky."

"I do have some good news nearby are some old cars I can scrap I can build us a smeltery and make basic tools like hammers and wrenches. It's small but a start. I also have molds down in the tunnels to make them. I'll show my troops how to make fire bricks. I know I'm getting ahead but as we retake the Commonwealth, I'm not going to let my people live in patched-up shacks and crumbling ruins we need to rebuild from scratch."

Bill overheard they were in bad shape but this was something else yet they had something many others lack hope and tenacity. Well, he called R.O.B. to send down their Arwings. Krystal sensed Cody was nearby. Then they heard the chatter of Cody's service rifle followed by screaming and sobbing a woman pleading for mercy. Both groups ran to investigate and saw Cody standing on top a female raider. His serrated bayonet held to her throat.

The young boy roared "YOU TRYING TO KILL MY FAMILY?"

The raider begged and sobbed "PLEASE I'LL GO YOU'LL NEVER SEE ME AGAIN!"

Cody said nothing and drew his blade across her throat. Blood gushed out like a waterfall then slowed to a trickle. The raider was dead within seconds. He spat on her and marched forward. He saluted his General. "Found them trying to sneak attack the Fort used my last rounds on five of them the last one you saw what happened."

Cody was out of breath blood dripping from his mouth and nose. Everyone noticed the hole in his chest. What made it more disturbing is that it was an exit wound. From the looks of it was a 308 from a sniper. The bullet went through his back his right lung and out his chest. Liberator facepalmed hard.

"Fox Krystal just get him back till I get something figured out before he drowns in his own blood."

Fox picked Cody up since he already bled on Krystal last time. Vera gave them several stimpacks to slow the bleeding. Before they left Fox gave Liberator a Communicator and the Great Fox deployed a satellite to keep in touch. Slippy gave them a battery so powerful it could power the entire Fort the transmitter and the water purifier at least until they can build and fuel generators.

Cody was rather quiet during his return to the Great Fox the team could tell he was embarrassed about getting heavily wounded again. Krystal's paws glowed while she tried to keep his blood in his veins and not oozing into his lungs. He injected three stimpacks and was still bleeding.

Krystal gave a comforting smile "There's nothing to be embarrassed of I'm just sickened that your General puts you on the frontlines it's bad enough you're a kit but in your condition, it's worse and you had to get shot on top of that."

Cody defended his General. "Little boys and girls foolish teens the elderly are all he has to work with. Liberator however didn't tell you about all our enemies. Please I need all of you here. Our worst enemy is not the Gunners nor Raiders it's the Insitute. They kidnap and kill people replacing them with synths. Please if I'm not there to protect my loved one you must take my stead some way. I bet every cap and chem I have left that there underneath the old C.I.T. building. I heard stories of raiders disappearing and super mutants appearing out of thin air."

Slippy got on the Great Fox's systems and used the powerful ground sonar. The hologram began mapping the entire Commonwealth. It got to the old C.I.T. building sure enough it revealed a massive underground complex. R.O.B. hacked the Insitute's systems and began downloading all their records. Over a century and a half of records were downloaded in mere minutes. They also used the jammer on the satellite locking down the teleporter until they see fit to unlock it. They enter warp space and began translating and decoding all the files.

When they reached Corneria Cody could already tell the doctors were not surprised to see him again. They were shocked it was his right lung this time. While that was going on Fox gave Pepper the code for Liberator's communicator allowing the two generals to talk with each other. Slippy gave the main scientist the data collected from the Insitute. Of course, with so much data it was going to take a while.

In the hospital Cody got his lung fixed but was ordered to stay for several weeks. Cody was in a deep sleep. He was back at the trenches of his old home Fort Zion. The headquarters Youth Battalion. However, it was dark and a blood-red moon lit up the sky. The artillery guns were silent as well the machine guns. He kept hearing marching. He walked into the trenches and began to panic. They were coming for him all those he could not protect. He heard whispering on all sides. "You did this you did this."

They're appearing in the distance was the shambling figures of his long-dead loved ones. There his father Rick appeared through the fog. His whole body was decayed his eye sockets empty. He pointed at Cody "You did this you did this."

Cody backed away terrified more and more of his fallen loved ones now joined in. Doing the same thing again their eye sockets empty as they marched. Cody bumped into someone behind him. He looked and saw a new face it was Kyle with a hole in his forehead. A tendril shot out of Kyle's forehead strangling Cody. Kyle just screamed like a banshee while Cody begged and gasped for air.

Krystal saw this and held Fox's paw. "He needs us come on."

Cody again struggled and gasped for breath terrified. A blast then sent him to the ground and blew the tendril off. There Fox and Krystal came to his aid. Both growled at the undead monsters that tortured him. Fox raised his blaster and Krystal her staff. Fox fired on one of the undead soldiers and it turned to ash. They both nodded and began tearing their way through the horde of monsters. Cody could sense they were actually there and not a figment of his mind. Kyle turned to ash Infront of him. Cody looked around but several tendrils snatched him.

Rick growled and screeched shouting "MY CHILD MINE MY SON!"

Krystal angrily retorted "He is not your son and you are not his father. All you are is a twisted memory of a long-dead man."

She fired a shot at Rick turning him to ash. The others turned to ash as well. Cody woke up alongside them shaking. Tears formed in his eyes and he began to sob. The two vulpines wrapped their arms around him. Mama Murphy's words echoed in his mind "A new mother and father one of orange and one of blue."

Fay took the ammo bayonet Springfield and Colt to the Phoenixes. Fara and her family were more than happy to arm and equip the Minutemen. They immediately put their fabricators to work. The automated machines had the blueprints entered and began making the parts then putting them together. The other machines got large amounts of lumber and started making the stocks and handles. The Phoenixes also have machines to make bullets despite ballistic weapons being frowned upon they still manufacture them including the ammunition in vast amounts. All they had to do was input the dimensions for 30 06 and 45acp the machines would adjust accordingly.

Liberator was hard at work making tools when three shuttles landed around the Fort. Cornerians in hazmat suits rolled out many crates. They saluted the Minutemen and left. When they opened the crates shouts of joy echoed. Fresh 1903 Springfields Colt New Service Revolvers bayonets but most important ammo. First were hundreds of boxes full of 45acp. The second had hundreds of five-round stripper clips of 30 06. This however was just the first batch.