1
"We're all dead.", the synth stated as he looked into the sky. Nick continued, "You. Me. Your Brotherhood. Hell, the eastern seaboard if an inch. It's all dead. And you were too late."
Reilly's Rangers stared into the sky with him. They had all fallen out of Sentinel Site to see an event that no one should ever have witnessed. Not just because of its horror, but because it should never have happened.
And if the Lone Wanderer was anyone else, she would have agreed with Nick. Maybe she'd just rather die wrong instead of giving up.
2
The pilot of the vertibird announced that they were approaching the drop point. Lizzie Wyath, Proctor of Potions smiled inside her Brotherhood of Steel issued power armor. Her plan was coming together as perfectly as possible. Most of it was even on mission and fully authorized by the Brotherhood. Now for the part that was not.
"Climb another 2000 feet.", the chemist ordered.
"That's too high.", the pilot replied. "We'd overheat the engines trying to maintain that height."
"First off, I'm smarter than all of you. You were supposed to be told this when you were assigned to me. Second, I'm in command and we're in the Brotherhood of Steel, soldier. So if I say we go higher, all you concern yourself with is the accuracy of the altitude. Third-"
And with that, she shoved the arms of her power armor to either side. The other two members of their crew fell to the depths of the Glowing Sea. Sure, even a power armor's underlying frame was rated for terminal velocity. And the T-60 plates could withstand a boxing match with a Deathclaw. But the point was made.
"And fourth, if you don't do exactly how I say, then I'm going to activate the EMP pulses I've taped along your power armor and we will see what we will see."
The pilot swallowed. "You're bluffing."
A swift series of sparks later and his suit was immobilized. "I do not have time for a series of 'buts'. 'But I would have felt your placing them...through the power armor?' 'But you can't do this...like I couldn't throw two men to their death not half a minute ago.?'"
There was no response from the static soldier. Lizzie nodded to herself and smiled even more. Then she looked at the vertibird controls.
The woman struggled with the task, but managed to pull the helmet from the immobilized power armor. Immediately, the man knight screamed. "Are you crazy, woman? We're in the clouds of the Glowing Sea. The air is toxic."
"No, it's carcinogenic.", Lizzie reminded. "And I don't mind you calling me crazy - if it makes you more obedient. Now am I going to have to make you more obedient or are you going to tell me how to fly this vertibird before we both crash into the Glowing Sea. Where the actually toxic ground is going to pair up with the completely deadly impact."
"Okay, grab the stick.", the pilot instructed.
"And pull back like this to increase altitude?", the ever brilliant scientist, gangster, and terrorist confirmed.
"Why do you want to fly so high?"
She leaned toward the trapped man. "Oh, it's not me. It's the calculations. The real ones. Not the half measure ones I could get Jameson to sign off on."
"You know, I don't get you people. You're willing to let me off the chain as long as you can tell yourselves that you have me on a leash. The reason you put a chain on a mad bitch like me is because mad bitches can chew right through leather. I'm smarter than all of you put together. I'm obviously about doing whatever the fuck I want to do and damned be the bodies in my way. And I originally came to you with an offer to put the Overboss and her entire stinking Commonwealth in the ground where she belonged for killing everyone I ganged up with. Yet you thought you could give me that half-minded half-hearted policy without even attempting to indoctrinate me. And when I showed I wouldn't be tamed, you locked me up. Then you let me loose as if I was placated by your incarceration. Knowing full well you'd have executed me like any sane minded coward would if you wouldn't ever need me again.
"Well, it's mysteries that make scientists."
Lizzie checked the altimeter. Satisfied with its progress, she reached for the radio. As she tuned it, the Brotherhood of Steel pilot started screaming for help. "I haven't even activated the transmitting yet, fool. And I didn't want my last taste to be someone else' brains in my mouth - oh wait, I'm in power armor so I don't have to." And with that, she drew the man's weapon and ended his life at point blank range.
Then she turned on the transmitter. "Hey, Commonwealth...and especially you Overboss. This is Proctor of Potions, Lizzie Wyath of the Brotherhood of Steel. I'd say you can check the official records but hey - you two are in a spot of not exactly seeing eye to eye. Which led them to hiring me to give them the ultimate bio-terror weapon. And believe you me, I cooked up a doozy of a death knell for you. Overboss. All of you will burn.
"Revenge is a dish best served."
And with that, the Brotherhood of Steel vertibird exploded. The metal fell away. What was left was a cloud of invented vapors. And those vapors mixed in with the glowing clouds that normally would ever7 so often carry a vicious storm of radiation from the Glowing Sea to the greater Commonwealth. Only this time, there the sky cracked. Wyath had managed to engineer something that was truly new. A pale blue canopy, unknown for over two centuries, finally shown on the Glowing Sea. Because it's permanent cloud cover was set adrift, seeded to rain all of their radioactive content. A disaster like rarely before was set upon the many communities of the Commonwealth.
1
"We need to get back inside.", the Lone Wanderer declared.
"We need to get this information back to the Commonwealth as soon as possible.", Reilly countered.
"Firstly, Nick is right.", the Lone Wanderer realized. "Hellfire armor or not, we're not going to survive that. Anyone without shelter isn't going to survive that level of radioactive rain. Not me, not Charon, not Valentine. Either we get back inside Sentinel Site or our mission ends here.
"Second, it doesn't matter any more. Brotherhood colors just actually performed a catastrophic attack on the Commonwealth as a whole. Not their enemies, not their territory - them. If any of it survives, then what remains is not going to even let the General be moved to a peace settlement. We're done here."
