1
"Yep, that's a FATMAN.", Sydney agreed, peering at the base of the Washington Monument through her BINOCULARS.
MacCready clenched his eyes. "These idiots can't keep from nuking just everything that moves, can they?
"Alright, look alive.", he began. "We can't do this in a couple ways. No air support, close fire might bring down the obelisk. No sniping their power cores, that many fusion explosions and all we're picking up is the armor after the obelisk falls. So any ideas on how to bring down an entrenched position of Brotherhood of Steel power armor?"
Emaline cocked her head. "You mean besides run in there and shoot everything until it stops moving?"
"Something that keeps us from getting shot until we stop moving, as well.", the man answered.
She put her finger to her chin. "How about hiring Reilly's Rangers to run in there and shoot everything until it stops moving?"
"Mercenary work is illegal, that's why we joined this outfit.", Sydney reminded.
Emaline nodded. "I know. Would make a good excuse to arrest them."
MacCready looked at her slack jawed. "First, that's dirty. Second, let's see if we can come up with something else and keep that in our back pocket when we have the caps to tempt them."
One of the Far Harbour people spoke up. "There's always the ring trick."
2
A BOTTLE broke against a Brotherhood of Steel power armor. The knight noticed the message note that had been in the bottle. She read aloud, "We have you surrounded. Step out of your suits and disarm. We remind you that we have air superiority, we've won every engagement in the Capital Wastes, and again - you are surrounded."
Another Brotherhood member looked to the skies. "I don't see any vertibirds."
"Would you see any of those supersonic jets before they bombed us?", another asked.
"Alright, keep a look out.", was the reply. "Now where did this BOTTLE come from?"
"I think over that way."
"Everyone, weapons up. Come over here.", he ordered.
The Brotherhood of Steel guarding the Washington Monument all gathered along the fence. And that's when a hurling of mines and grenades landed right on top of them.
From a throw away, in one of the trenches either the supermutants or the Brotherhood had dug, stood MacCready's special forces. The man from Far Harbour held out a hand which held the ring to a grenade pin. "See, that's the ring trick."
Sydney reminded them, "You do remember that they have a Fatman."
"Everybody scatter.", the major ordered.
One of the surviving Brotherhood of Steel members made their injured way back to that very weapon and armed it with a very nuclear bomb. And he came under fire immediately. From every direction. And like the religious zealots the Minutemen had taken them to be, not a single knight even seemed to consider surrendering their position. Just cries of "ad Victorium" and trying to reach a nuclear weapon in a nuclear apocalypse as if that was salvation.
MacCready let out a breath. "We're going to very carefully check for survivors because we're going to very carefully not fall for anyone faking it. Once we've seperated Brotherhood from power armor, we're going to call the vertibirds that have the equipment and Marines to hold this place."
