"What are we going to do?!" Kip's voice boomed, filling the once quiet main office of the Vanguard. While normally it is filled with officers on break, a large contingent was responsible for providing security for the new Chief Executive Officer, Cole Harper.

"You don't need to yell, I'm standing right next to you!" Mei shouted in response.

The noise between the siblings was legendary among the Vanguard. After all, a small community of people who have dedicated significant portions of their lives to combat these kinds of big personalities are common. Even so, Reina found herself fuming at their constant bickering, especially when it happens in the main officer.

"SHUT YOUR TRAPS!" Reina exploded, dulling the noise from the siblings and causing the thin pane windsor to rattle. She collected herself before allowing herself to continue relaxing at the intelligence table. Her feet were kicked up over the desk, obscuring hand-written reports detailing Brotherhood patrol routes, habits, and key officers. Reina pulled the cigaerret from her lips and tapped it into a nearby ashtray. "My head is killing and your noise isn't helping!" she growled.

"Sorry, Chief." Kip murmured.

"Yeah my bad, too Chief." Mei joined her brother in apology. Reina eyed the two of them while taking a long puff from the cigarette. She shook her head.

"No, I shouldn't take out my irritations on you two." Reina mumbled herself, now cognizant of her momentary loss of temper. The ousting of her mentor, James Young had been hard on everyone in the Vanguard. Most of the revolutionaries had retired or taken advisory roles and replaced by people like Reina who were raised in the immediate after of the Revolution. That meant most of them were directly trained by James himself to survive the wastes and the urban jungle before Reina and her officers had pacified the city blocks they now called home. The unceremonious and callous attitudes that came from the Council angered her greatly and she had half a mind to storm into one of their meetings to make that clear but this was not right. Cooler heads needed to prevail now especially when people looked to the Vanguard for leadership. "Give me that paper. What's the problem now?"

Kip marched forward, his boots clumping against the cheap carpeting. He handed the report over to Reina who took and folded it.

"Kip," Reina growled.

"Yes, Chief?" he asked, unaware of his slight. She smacked the clump of papers against Kip's unprotected head.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO KEEP YOUR MUDDY BOOTS OFF MY CARPET?!" Reina roared once more.

"Sorry, sorry!" Kip yelped as he kicked off his boots. Mei handed him some cleaning materials and Kip got to work while Reina calmed herself. Sitting back down Reina began to read the report, silently knocking her foot against her desk as self-imposed punishment for her anger again.

"An official declaration of friendship and partnership with the Brotherhood of Steel." Reina read aloud. "The Vanguard is to redeploy into the Wildlands and secure resources for the New Economic Expansion…" Reina placed the papers down to collect her thoughts.

To date, the Vanguard had been responsible for providing security for the interior city and the the outskirts. It had done so efficiently and capably despite only having one hundred officers. Reina and her sister Maya had petitioned for more resources but James had declined many such proposals.

"If the city expands too fast without the right infrastructure, it will collapse in on itself. We need to be self-sufficient before we consider any drastic expansion in any direction." James had one explained to her. She didn't fully understand what he meant by that. What she did know was that the officers that James and Maya hand-picked ended up being extremely useful assets to Vanguard as an organization. Officers tended to not only be strong, capable fighters but also charismatic individuals who knew the city like the backs of their hands. There was a reason why such a small cadre could keep the peace for a city of 5000.

Even so, the full weight of Vanguard's influence as an institution lay in the direct and indirect support it received from James Young being the Chief Executive Officer. Without him, many have wondered if the Vanguard might up and leave with him. In fact, Reina herself has wondered if she wanted to continue leading Vanguard if it was subject to the whims of the same Council that ousted her mentor in the way it did.

"Vanguard now has the official directive to expand its ranks to 500 within the next three years and offer proposals to pacify and capture territories to be determined in future deliberations from the Council." Reina continued reading. In the meantime, work crews will now be escorted by Brotherhood personnel with key guard outposts to be transferred to Brotherhood crews and personnels. Stockpiles will also be shared with the Brotherhood to facilitate such operations."

"How are we going to expand while also sharing everything we have with the Brotherhood?" Mei expressed her frustration. "They have power armor and all kinds of tech, let them source their own equipment!" Reina simply grunted in agreement. She found herself watching Kip struggle to clean the muddy prints from the carpet while clad in armor. He was having difficulty moving as he tried to figure out precisely in what order should he apply the cleaning solution to best clean the carpet.

"The answer is we can't." Reina concluded. Mei raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Our hands are basically tied with these multiple directives. We can't move much as an organization while we try to handle this mess from Harper."

"Why would he do that to us?"

"I can't say if it's intentional on his part. Maybe he thinks it's a good idea to quickly win support of people but I think really the important thing is if James returns and decides to do something about the Council and the Brotherhood, it will be hard for our people to help him." Mei's eyes lit up as she realized the implications of the various directives.

"Vanguard will be too busy outside of the city to be here in time for any kind of action that James does against the Brotherhood!" Reina nodded hoping to let the conclusion sink into Mei's mind. Mei's eyes were glazed with excitement as she continued speculating. "The shortage of safehouses and supply stocks will mean that even if we were in the city we wouldn't be able to mount any kind of armed resistance if things get to that point. We have been de-toothed and the Brotherhood will have intel on our supplies to neutralize us quickly as a thought. This places us in Harper's sphere of control and also into the Brotherhood's." Mei looked back up at Reina as she finished.

"Good work." Reina smiled. "Of course, this is all speculation. Assuming the worst from our Chief Executive Officer isn't productive for anyone, least of all for the average citizen."

"What do we do then?" Kip asked. Reina shot him a look, noticing that he had stopped cleaning to listen. He immediately resumed before Reina allowed herself to relax again.

"Nothing." Reina shrugged. "Our hands are tied and you two saw James walk off into the tunnel. He's probably headed to the Capital Wasteland but there's really no telling if he'll be back and why he might want to."

"Isn't this his city?" Kip asked as he cleaned.

"Wrong, Kip. This is our city." Reina emphasized. "If he comes back with a plan, we'll see what he has to say but until then, we need to start coming up with our own." Reina took her feet off the desk and stood from her desk.

"Mei, follow me." Reina strode to the coat rack and threw own on her Vanguard issue winter coat and old army cap. "Kip, send out a courier to contact Maya. We need to pull together and figure out what to do."

"Roger that!" Kip saluted.

"And finish cleaning!" Reina shouted but this time with more amusement than anger. Mei quietly followed behind, having already put her own coat back on.

Mei closed the door behind them as Reina strode confidently into the cold outdoors.

"What are we going to do, Chief?" Mei asked. Having worked with Reina since her introduction into the Vanguard had come to understand Reina very well. While Kip and Mei were concerned about the future for the organization, Reina was excited for some reason. Like it was finally her chance to prove a point or if she had finally found the answer to a question that would not leave her mind.

"We're going to the library!" Reina smiled, looking back at Mei who was visibly confused.