Diamond City
May the 14th, 2288
16:09

A hobby she often felt went underappreciated, the organising, labelling, filing, and printing of materials for Valentine's Detective Agency was one of the most calming activities to the well known detective's secretary.

Humming to herself, she laid the newest version of the agency's business card out on her desk. She then smiled, proud of the almost shiny gold words, nearly calligraphic in script, and so freshly printed onto the cardstock for the boxes she gingerly placed each one in to be warm from the cards being ejected from the printer. Valentine's Detective Agency, Nicholas Julius Valentine and Eleanor Marie Perkins, Diamond City, Massachusetts Commonwealth. Hearing the tinkling sounds of glass and metal brushing against each other on the windchimes of the door to the agency, she looked up, a bit surprised by visitors in the mid afternoon during quite the slow week. Nevertheless, when she saw who entered, she smiled and waved them inside. To no surprise, Piper stepped in first, a look in her eyes that said everything about why she had stopped by. Always wanting to know what Nick's doing, don't you? Can't say I blame you, we wouldn't have gone to the trouble of setting up the long range radio communications system if we weren't going to use it to communicate during his longer cases. No more than a few seconds after her sister, Nat came in too, nearly slamming into the door. Once she reoriented herself, she all but ran over to see if any case files were out. Pulling open some of the file cabinets, Nat's eyes went wide, thumbing through the folders as quickly as possible, looking for something interesting. Seeing one on top of Nick's desk, however, distracted the teenager, and she immediately began paging through it. Too quick for her to argue, her sister plucked the file out of her hands and handed it over to the detective's secretary, barely able to resist her own curiosity.

"I get the feeling losing any pages of this would be…bad to say the very least," Piper said, sending her sister a pointed look when she scowled at her. "Have you heard much from Nick? You know, since you guys set up a working…radio system or something like that? I could have sworn Vadim was –"

"He was one of the ones who fixed it up. He and Emmett, actually, were the ones to get it running. You and Lissy can say what you will about her brother, but he's brilliant," Ellie said, rolling her eyes. "Nick said it wasn't necessary, but I think he's at least accepted we need it after what happened with Skinny. Or, at least, I need it."

"So, you've been talking with Nick?" Nat said, hopping onto a spinning chair and skidding across the floor on it towards her sister and the detective's secretary. "What's he had to say?"

"Not much," Ellie said, reaching for the file and flipping it open and shut. "I suppose the good thing is I know where he is this time, relatively speaking. They had to take shelter in an old subway station around the Cambridge area, College Square I think it was. Nick had been worried about ferals but, surprisingly, the old station there – and the area itself, for the most part – was clean of ferals."

Piper shuddered. "Last time I went to that area, I had to shoot, stomp, and kick my way through some ferals that seemed to just come out of nowhere. Although I have heard the Cambridge area has been creepily quiet lately. How'd they end up there?"

"They're trying track Kellogg by scent, using some of the things the bastard left behind," Ellie said, taking her hair out of its tight bun and letting it flow down to her shoulders. "He wasn't too eager to talk about it, but it sounds like they got lost. He was trying to be very quiet when we were speaking…I think he was trying to let Nora and Cait sleep. But that terrible storm last week? It was why they had to detour and take shelter in the old subway station. If you ask me, I think they got lost because of it."

"Lost?" Nat said, stopping her spinning for a moment. "Are they still lost?"

"I don't really know what to call it, but lost I think suits it best," Ellie shook her head. "From what I understand, they're currently west from there and a bit south, but had…they went through what looked like a small town that's been completely torn to pieces. Nick is convinced at least some of them were killed by Kellogg. The only thing that seems clear is Dogmeat is taking them west. But he seems to keep going north, then south, and then…well, I can't make much sense of it."

"That's not good," Piper said, glancing towards the radio on the secretary's desk. "So…do you just sit here all day and wait for him to check in?"

"I'm still taking and processing case requests, but, yes," Ellie said, adjusting the radio to ensure she hadn't turned the sound volume off accidentally. "It's not too bad, and Nick knows I take a break every day from two in the afternoon until five, so we've had no communication issues. I'm more so worried about, well, Cait."

"Why?" Nat eyed her strangely. "Cait can do pretty much anything. I once saw her kick a man in the head and break his jaw like it was nothing!"

"She's good at fighting, but it's the chems I'm worried about. I don't think I'd even be alive if I did even half the drugs she's done in the twenty seven years of her life so far," Ellie paused a second. "Cait's reckless under the best circumstances and trying to hunt down someone as…I suppose, to put it lightly, extremely wicked as Conrad Kellogg..."

"Extremely wicked, shockingly evil, and vile," Piper counted off. "There's a lot of negative words you could use to describe him, and they'd all be accurate."

"They would," Ellie said, standing up to stretch her legs. "I've been putting off going through the files Nick deemed important about him, the ones they found in his old home, because of it. After reading just two of them I felt sick. I don't know how anyone can live with themselves after doing even a little bit of what he has, and we've come across some pretty disturbing people in this job."

Nat snickered. "Like when Piper almost got executed?"

"Not funny, Natalie!" Piper scowled at her little sister. "You really think the Children Of Atom wouldn't have killed me if I hadn't convinced them I had a vision?"

"I remember Nick nearly lost it when you stepped back into Diamond City wearing their clothes," Ellie said, trying not to laugh. "You left wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a beat up jacket and came back in a matching torn up shirt and leggings, with electrical wire and tape tying a colander to your chest!"

"I still have those, if you want them," Piper dryly replied. "God, I can't tell you how much I missed clean, running water, electricity…I sat in the shower until it got cold just because I was relieved I could. Didn't help they were setting up like they owned the place in the sewers under Bunker Hill."

"You used up all of our shampoo and body wash within the span of an hour," Nat said, her nose wrinkling at the memory. "I'm still mad at you for not leaving any warm water or the nice shampoo for me. I had to use bar soap, and it crumbled in my hands!"

"Nat, how many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" Piper said though she soon started laughing. "I was seventeen and very, very stupid. At least they bought it when I told them Atom revealed himself to me…and it probably helped I strung them along that until I was able to escape. They really thought I had a revelation from Atom after I said Atom told me about the holiest event, and they believed me when I told them 'if the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendour of the mighty one.'"

"That's an odd thing to say," Ellie said, lost in thought for a second. "I could have sworn I'd heard Nick say something along those lines before when talking about the War."

"I'd actually learnt the quote from him," Piper said with a shrug. "We were talking about history one day, and he asked me what I knew about the bombs, which at the time wasn't much. Apparently the first bomb had been tested over a hundred years before the War, and one of the scientists who created it said that at the sight. Although I didn't tell the Children the rest of what he said, which was 'now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,' since they think the bombs created millions of universes or some shit."

"I've heard Nick say that part before," Ellie noted. "First time I heard him say it was the year I started working for him. The day of the anniversary of the War, he was looking through case files and then turned to me and said that, before wondering aloud if that's what the people who caused the War intended. Caught me off guard…but the more I think about it, the more true it feels. Maybe that's why Nora's been so…well, according to Nick, angry the past few days. Coming from the world she knew…I wonder if that's what she sees, and, just as much, I can't help but wonder what she's going to do about it, especially if they do manage to find Kellogg."

The Institute
May the 15th, 2288
11:11

"I apologise for calling the both of you to such a sudden meeting in the middle of the morning, but something rather…unexpected and concerning has come up."

Nearly the moment Dr. Allison Filmore and Dr. Evan Watson stepped into the Directorate's primary conference room to find only Shaun awaiting them, it became apparent something was wrong. Taken aback by his friend and close colleague's unusually irritable demeanour, Dr. Watson stood almost perfectly still in near silence before flinching at the noise of the doors to the room being shut and locked behind him by Dr. Filmore. For her part, though exhausted and a bit annoyed about being called out and having to delay analysing the most recent report from members of her Division, Dr. Filmore was much less startled by the Director's demeanour and, instead, curious. Typically a relatively reserved and calm man, the sharp tone in Shaun's voice, alongside the way he frowned at the file he had set onto and opened on the table made his irritation more than apparent. Once he sat down, Dr. Watson was quick to follow suit, taking the seat on the left side closest to the Director, while Dr. Filmore took the seat closest to the Director on the right. A moment passed with no words exchanged. The sound of paper being flipped through by the Director became the only sound in the room other than the perpetual hum of the Institute's internal climate control system. Then, satisfied he had in hand what he needed to present to two of his most valued scientists, Shaun began to speak.

"This is a matter I've not yet come to a decision on, at least in when and how the news will be revealed to the rest of the Institute," He began, narrowly looking between Dr. Allison Filmore and Dr. Evan Watson. "As such, I expect you will both keep this sensitive information to yourselves."

"Of course," Allie said. "What exactly is going on? I assume it has to do with things topside."

"It does, though not within the Commonwealth," Shaun said, attempting to restrain his anger towards the matter. "As you and the Institute at large are well aware, Dr. Zimmer has spent the last decade supervising the reclamation process of high profile synth units which have escaped the Institute, primarily to the Capital Wasteland. Unfortunately, that operation has come to a rather unpleasant closure."

"Unpleasant closure?" Evan repeated, his brow furrowing. "That could mean anything from his Courser escort turning on him to him passing away unexpectedly…although, considering his age and how much time he's spent above ground, that wouldn't be too terribly surprising."

"As it were, either one of those options would be better than the reality," Shaun said, letting out an irritated sigh. "Though our liaison for Zimmer typically does not give us any information beyond what he has sent back to us, his liaison returned to the Commonwealth – to the Institute – in the early hours of last Tuesday. While I am pleased to say he has returned to his usual work in wiping the minds of escaped units in the SRB after proper debriefing, what he had to inform me of was quite disturbing."

Allie raised an eyebrow. "Disturbing?"

"Yes," Shaun said. "I'll be quite blunt: Dr. Zimmer and S3-47 were taken by the Brotherhood Of Steel and have since been killed by them. This information was confirmed following the brief dispatch of a Courser to the area, and it has, with it now impossible for Dr. Zimmer to return, and with highly sophisticated Institute technology having entered the hands of the Brotherhood, left quite a few…open issues. The one I require your immediate consideration on is regarding the question of leadership of the SRB."

"What?" Allie eyed him strangely. "With all due respect, sir, why are you asking us about this instead of bringing it to the attention of the entire Directorate? Bar Dr. Ayo, of course."

"I am bringing the matter to your attention, and Dr. Watson's, because the two of you are the most level headed members of the Institute's upper leadership," Shaun shook his head. "I am already well aware of what Dr. Li and Dr. Binet would have to say on the matter, just as I am with what Dr. Ayo would have to say about it. I'm requesting your input because of the gravity of the matter, and with the knowledge the two of you are capable of objectivity in matters where others often aren't."

"Well, that's very complimentary," Allie said, pausing briefly in thought. "Still, with the Brotherhood having their hands on one of our most sophisticated and advanced machines, it seems the Directorate as a whole ought to be aware of it."

"The stealing and, no doubt, dissection of S3-47 by the Brotherhood will be announced to the rest of the Directorate later this week," Shaun explained. "It is only Dr. Zimmer's death at the hands of the Brotherhood that will be kept quiet, for now, until I have come to a decision on who will take his place permanently. Which, of course, is part of why I called yourself and Dr. Watson to this meeting. So, I pose the question: should Dr. Ayo become the official head of the SRB?"

"Considering both his insistence in meddling with the other Divisions and his, at this point, incompetence in preventing synth escapes, I would be inclined to say no," Allie frowned. "Though both of those issues are only scratching the surface. His intentional omissions on how much power the SRB consumes are a significant problem, not the least of which because of the most recent incident, where he sent up three Coursers while giving no reason or proper logging, which was a major contributing factor to our most recent blackout."

"There's also the matter of his…refusal to compromise," Evan added. "Though Dr. Li and I frequently disagree, the fact she only recently requested and received permission to restrict his access to Advanced Systems as a whole and her laboratory and office in particular suggests to me she tried to put up with and find a way to come to, at the very least, an impasse for quite a long time. Since this started several years ago, upon her appointment and instatement as the head of Advanced Systems, I believe she's far less the problem in the hostilities between Advanced Systems and the SRB than Ayo."

"Yes, though Dr. Li can certainly have moments of little patience, she is by and large a reasonable if somewhat paranoid person," Shaun agreed. "Her concerns about Dr. Ayo's tendency towards aggressive action and assumption of his own correctness are valid, and also concerns other members of the Directorate have also raised in recent months."

"To be completely transparent, this is a subject, I'm sure, all of us have thought about before," Evan said, continuing when Shaun did not attempt to stop him. "I, for instance, had been expecting Dr. Ayo to face some form of reprimanding on the basis of the matters Dr. Filmore noted alone. My assumption, as I believe was the same as many others in the Institute, was, upon Zimmer's return, he would go back to being the head of the SRB, Dr. Secord would remain second in seniority, and Dr. Ayo would be pushed down to third."

"So, if you're looking for a concise answer to the question of the SRB's leadership going forward, I would suggest making Dr. Secord the Division Head and Dr. Ayo just below her," Allie summarised. "With that in mind, when should we expect the decision to be made and announced to the Directorate as a whole?"

"Soon, but not immediately," Shaun replied. "Until we are on the verge of completing Phase Three, which I understand is likely to come within the next few months, making such a…drastic announcement would be too much of a distraction from such a crucial project. This is especially true, considering the other bit of news regarding the Brotherhood."

"There's more?" Allie said, taken aback. "Was the information obtained during the debriefing?"

"Yes, it was," Shaun turned to Evan. "Dr. Watson, thank you for your input. See to it you keep the information to yourself, but I will likely take your and Dr. Filmore's suggestion to promote Dr. Secord in the coming months. Unfortunately, this next matter is one only the Directorate may be aware of, at the moment, and thus I must ask you to leave."

"Of course," Evan said politely, standing up and leaving the room. "Thank you for trusting our counsel on such a…shocking and critical matter."

Almost as if he were never there, the doors shut nearly the second Dr. Evan Watson passed through them. A bit concerned, Dr. Allison Filmore sighed, tired, but ready to hear whatever other information had been obtained in the confirmation of Zimmer's death and S3-47's destruction.

"As you are well aware, the Brotherhood Of Steel have a sizable army, and are preparing to leave for the Commonwealth any day, now," Shaun finally said, a grim tone entering his voice. "What is most concerning about their movements is it appears they will be bringing the parts to reconstruct a pre-War, highly dangerous weapons project known as Liberty Prime. Amongst the robot's many capabilities…one of its primary weapons is the nuclear bomb."

"What?" Allie frowned. "How did this slip past our intelligence operations? I doubt they could keep something so dangerous hidden."

"That matter has yet to be determined, though we believed it had been destroyed after they used it on the so-called Enclave," Shaun said. "What I am asking you to do is simple: I need you and Dr. Li to figure a way to destroy it beyond repair before the Brotherhood can turn it on anyone, but especially us."

Goodneighbour
May the 17th, 2288
22:39

"Got confirmation the Brotherhood are coming to the Commonwealth," Hancock said, twirling a disturbingly long pull of the bubblegum in his mouth around his left index finger. "You know, the goddamned Brotherhood Of Steel? Don't ask me how, but I got friends just about everywhere. You know where Maryland is? They're around there now, leaving the former Capital."

Seeing the horrified look on his favourite former gunner's face, Hancock grimly nodded and, deciding the flavour had gone away and he was bored of twirling, ripped the remaining bubblegum out of his mouth, flicked it off his fingers and onto the ground, and then waved for the unnerved Robert Joseph MacCready to follow him. The day having already been long enough in Diamond City, the twenty three year old briefly took off his hat to run a hand through his hair and then down his face, his eyes feeling heavy and his body aching. Less than jovial, Hancock slowed his pace to let the younger man catch up to him before, finally, the two of them stepped through the doors into what the eccentric mayor was sure to be his favourite store in his town. Kill Or Be Killed. Alert the moment the faintest hint of movement at the door was felt, the former assaultron turned robotic woman turned to face the door, letting out a dark laugh once her sensors registered the men entering as the mayor and 'Little Bird.' Finishing organising and laying out the new stock for the coming morning, Kleo paid no mind to either of the men who entered until they approached her counter. Swaggering up to counter and tapping his hands on it to get the former assaultron's attention, Hancock grinned when Kleo turned to him, waiting for either him or MacCready to say something.

"Can I interest you in my arsenal of death, destruction, and disintegration?" Kleo said, focusing on Hancock though briefly turning to MacCready. "If you're going to light that in my shop, don't try to hide it and risk setting any of my inventory on fire. I'd hate to see your pretty face get blown off with your head because of a preventable accident."

"Thanks for the nightmares, Kleo," MacCready said, setting his hat back on his head before, properly, lighting a cig. "And, before you ask, I don't know why we're here. That's all Hancock."

"It is," The eccentric mayor said, clasping his hands together almost excitedly. "But, in all seriousness," He sighed. "You got the information I had Fahrenheit send you, right? About the assholes from the former Capital?"

"Yes. I was displeased to hear it," Kleo said with a sinister note to her voice. "They are likely to want to find people to provide a variety of security related tasks for their take on the modern military man. I resent that. They're quite like my makers, and I won't work for the man when I can work for myself."

"You ain't got shit to worry about," Hancock reassured her with a wave of his hand. "You have my full permission to incinerate them if they try to break into Goodneighbour."

"I'll accept that as permission to do with them what I will," Kleo said with another dark laugh. "I'll remain a fully independent, small time business owner who runs a store that sells very large guns, and they'll learn not to go places they aren't welcome. Now, is there anything else you need?"

"You got any ideas off the top of your systems about how to deal with them?" Hancock replied. "My Little Bird here and I need to start planning early. The assholes are already on the move from their base according to my contacts."

"Upstairs, my computer terminal," Kleo said, almost bored. "Password is 'sensuality.' And MacCready?" She added as the former gunner began to follow the mayor up the stairs. "Use the ash tray. I'd rather not have to sweep up after you."

"Got it, Kleo, thanks," He said, taking a long draw on his cig when he reached the top of the stairs. "She may got some of the best weapons I've ever bought, but she scares me."

Hancock snickered. "Didn't think much scared you," He said, hopping onto the chair in front of the computer terminal. "Now, let's see what she's got in the way of ideas…"

"Probably some dark ones," MacCready said dryly. "Kleo isn't exactly the warmest person."

Hancock shrugged. "True, true, but, humour me. Kleo strike you as the embodiment of the Commonwealth, you know, what you expected after you first came here?"

"Nope, that goes to Vadim," MacCready said, watching the man fuss with the computer. "Before I…well, before I ended up here with Duncan, I'd visited the Commonwealth, once. With his mother, actually. We were sixteen, only really stopped in Diamond City, but spent a few days getting into trouble at the Dugout Inn with Vadim before heading back."

"Vadim," Hancock grinned. "Love that guy. He's one of the good ones. Got to make my way down there, to finalise plans to sell his moonshine in the Third Rail and, of course, fight with my ass of a brother."

"Figures," MacCready said, eyeing him strangely when he let out a victorious war whoop upon logging into the computer terminal. "You know you didn't hack into this thing, right?"

"Sure I do," Hancock said, chuckling to himself before humming as he began to open files. "But that's neither here nor there. Anyways, first two months with the pretty doctor lady going good?" Hancock smirked when MacCready startled, almost burning his coat with his cig. "I'm going to take that as a yes."

"She…Annette's lovely," MacCready said, tapping off the excess ash from his cig into the tray. "And having her along for jobs is a lot better than wandering the Commonwealth alone. She's also…well…"

"Helping your kid?" Hancock surmised. "That's what I overheard Daisy talking about with Magnolia the other day. Sounds like he's getting a little better, isn't he?"

"He is, I just…" MacCready fell silent, and took another, anxious draw on his cig. "I'm scared he's going to get worse again. He's…he's gone through times when he's gotten better, just a bit, and then gotten worse, and I…if…"

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Hancock turned around to give the man a serious, pointed look. "You care a lot about him, he's your kid. If you need to take some time off to help him, I'm happy to keep you paid during that. Duncan's a good kid."

"He is," MacCready sighed. "You don't have to do that, Hancock. If I have to, I'll let you know. Duncan is…well, honestly, I don't know if I'd…if I'll be able to cope if I lose him. He's the most important thing in the world to me, and, yeah, he's just a little kid but…at the same time, he…"

"I really like her," Duncan had yawned, laughing when his dad fluffed his hair one last time with the towel to make sure it was dry now he was dressed for sleeping after his bath. "She's pretty. And nice. Like momma."

"What?" MacCready had paused, startled. "Have you…" He had gently begun. "Have you been thinking a lot about Lucy, lately?"

Duncan had nodded. "Momma always said happy. Happy. It was her word. She wanted us happy. Annette makes you happy, like momma. You smile a lot when she's here. Momma's gone…but she wanted happy. She wanted us happy."

"You okay?" Hancock suddenly clicked his fingers in front of the former gunner's face, grimacing when MacCready nearly burnt his coat again. "Seemed a bit lost in the void."

"I'm…it's fine," MacCready said, finally stubbing out his cig in the ash tray. "But…you sure this is what we're looking for? I don't think 'Have A Plan To Kill Everyone You Meet' is…"

"Damn," Hancock let out a low whistle. "You know what? Her plan for me is fucking brilliant. Take a look!"

MacCready eyed him strangely but, nevertheless, leaned forward to take the computer mouse and scroll through the document.

Daisy Calderwall - laser shot at long range; she's too close to home for outright assault to be viable without suspicion.

Mayor Hancock – kill bodyguard first, strangulation while she sleeps. Load all doses of chems in the Old State House with poisons. Collateral damage possible, but loses acceptable without too much disruption to the business.

Bobbi No Nose – sensors picked up digging sounds recently, workers and guards being hired at high rates. Wait until night, sneak into hideout, dismantle lights, then kill one by one.

Whitechapel Charlie – pay off one of his associates, good help is hard to hold onto these days.

Lynda Magnolia Carter, Robert Joseph MacCready, Duncan Robert MacCready – she's a fellow working girl, deserves a chance. He's a hell of a gun to have at your back, and his kid is cute. Burn down Third Rail as a warning but leave all three alive.

"What am I supposed to make of this?" MacCready said, turning back to Hancock. "I'm not sure if I should be flattered or disturbed by her entry about –"

"She thinks ahead," Hancock said, leaning back in the chair and cracking his knuckles. "And some of these ideas are pretty fucking solid. I'll let her know to use the plan for Bobbi as one of the first go tos if the Brotherhood shows up here while we figure something more solid out. Now…let's come up with a few ideas of our own for dealing with those assholes."

The Commonwealth
May the 20th, 2288
19:23

The awful odour and sweltering heat of the former Saugus Ironworks were bad enough from the outside, and, after several days of standoff between the raiders occupying the facility, it was almost unbearable for the Minutemen once they finally made it inside.

Getting past the raiders still within the facility was easier than they had expected. Pulling the filter of his scarf over his face, looping around his ears and covering his nose and mouth, Derek Branson paused at the top of the stairs to the upper level of the facility for Preston, Sturges, and a few other Minutemen who had travelled to the Ironworks with them. From the top of the stairs and farther away from the molten metal scattered precariously across the facility, the heat felt a little less oppressive, if only due to the physical distance from the vats littered below them. Hearing the telltale hum of turrets ahead and the putrid scent of burning skin filling his lungs, Preston, too, pulled the filter of his scarf over his face to cover his nose and mouth before reaching the base of another set of stairs. Looking up, he cocked and then fired his laser musket at the turrets whose noises were no more a hum but a grinding whirr. Sturges, Derek, and the others close on his heel began to shoot at the turrets in close succession as they continued to make their way up the stairs. When only the reverberation of their gun shots remained, the group took a moment to catch their breath and breathe.

The heat was bad enough on its own. Fighting in and through it made it feel like hell.

After a minute, all of them evened out, the group took a cursory look around the room. From just about the top of the facility, looking down and being able to see where not only the vats of molten metal were still exuding their pungent fumes but where the raiders they had fought through to reach the top laid allowed the brief opportunity for reprieve. Only a few metres away from them was another, albeit significantly shorter, set of stairs leading to a singular door plainly labelled Roof Access. It was the set of doors across from it, however, that were of interest. Even through the thick metal of the doors, voices could be heard shouting and arguing on the other side. A plaque beside it read Saugus Blast Furnace. Grim as it were, with everything they had learnt of the so called Forged in their surveillance of the area prior to breaching the facility, Preston knew, the moment he saw the plaque, the room on the other side of the doors was where whomever these raiders called their leader was waiting. Guns drawn and expecting fire to be opened on them immediately, the group walked up to the doors, pushed them open, and entered the room.

A sword was swung, and a man fell into a vat of molten metal with his head severed from his body.

Standing on the platform above the vat, the man who had killed him laughed, still amused until he met the horrified and disgusted gazes of the Minutemen.

"You must be pretty strong to make it here," The man said with a deranged smile. "And I thought them gunners had finally done away with you people. What a shame."

"Well, as you can see, the Minutemen are still here," Preston replied, pulling down the filter despite the heat to fully look at the man. A man. He's just a man, like any of us. "And we're taking back the Commonwealth from the raiders and killers."

The man rolled his eyes. "That so?" He almost absentmindedly swung the sword around as Preston started up the stairs up to the platform where the man stood. "Do you know who we are? We are the Forged, and I'm Slag, our leader," He paused and pointed the sword at the trembling young man below, the only one who was not restrained nor had come in with the Minutemen. "Idealistic morons or not, they got up here. See this, Jake? Here's some people who might actually be worth my time, unlike you."

Jake stared up at him, swallowing hard. "But…but I brought everything you asked for!"

"Stealing things from your family farm doesn't prove your strength, boy," Slag sneered. "Though this wonderful sword you brought does put me in the mood to give you one last chance to prove your worth. Kill one of the prisoners, and prove you aren't completely useless."

"You said we'd be raiding outside of the Commonwealth!" Jake gaped at him in horror. "These people aren't even a threat to us!"

"Prove to me you can kill!" Slag spat, swinging the sword around again. "It's him or you."

"Oh God…" Jake wavered, reaching for his gun. "I –"

"Walk away, Jake," Derek said, stepping forward and pulling the young man back before sternly setting his hands on his shoulders. "You don't have to do this. Do not do it."

Jake shook. "I don't want...but if…if I don't, they'll kill me."

"You have your whole life left to live, kid, you're only nineteen," Derek shook his head, letting the boy go. "You have the choice, the chance, to leave. Don't throw it away."

"I…" Jake glanced between him, the hostage, and Slag. "I just wanted to provide for my family."

"This isn't the way," Sturges said, extending his hand to the teenager while Derek started up the stairs to where Preston already was, just a few feet away from Slag. "Jake," Sturges said firmly. "If this is about your family, think about them. Is this what your mother would want for you? Is this really what you think your brother would do? Is this the choice Abraham would want you to make?"

Jake's grip on his gun slackened. "I thought he hated me," He said, eyes wide. "Did...did he send you here to find me?"

"Not exactly," Sturges said. "But there's still time to turn this around."

"You don't need them, they make you weak," Slag said, laughing when Derek and Preston stood side by side before him. "But either way, this is your last chance, Jake. If you don't kill one of the prisoners before I count to three, it's over."

"I…I just can't ever manage to live up to his expectations," Jake whimpered, slowly approaching Sturges and his still extended hand as Slag's counting rang out in threat around him. "But I…I –"

A gunshot shouting out, Jake screamed and grabbed Sturges' hand, dropping his gun and running for the door. Two of the other Minutemen ran forward to free the hostages. Slag ordered the men nearest him to open fire on Jake, Sturges, and the hostages and the Minutemen trying to free them. His men making their way down from the platform from both the left and the right, Slag turned to Preston and Derek and snorted before swinging the sword in an attempt to stab or at least knock one or both of the men down into the large vat of molten metal ten feet down from the platform on which they stood. Quick on his feet and a ringing in his ears he tried not to remember hearing all too often a decade earlier, Derek Branson ducked under Slag's next swing of the sword and managed to get to the man's right side. Still on the man's left side, and seeing the other Minutemen had pulled the hostages away from the edge of the vat and towards the doors where Sturges was with Jake, Preston holstered his laser musket and reached for Slag's left arm. Taken by surprise, he dropped the sword on the platform and let out a violent shout followed by curses when Derek grabbed his right arm. Sharing a resolute look, the both of them with a strong grip on each of the raider boss' arms, Preston and Derek steadied themselves and, with all of their might, pushed Slag off the platform.

In a matter of seconds, the man fell into the vat of molten metal.

Derek nearly slipped grabbing the sword, and was pulled to safety by Preston before he could fall or be hit by any of the molten metal splashing up.

The remaining Forged shoved their way out of the room.

Jake let out startled shriek.

And, then, there was silence.

"Is he…" Jake said, slowly approaching Preston and Derek as they made their way down the stairs and back to the floor. "Is he dead?"

"Don't think even a psychopathic raider can climb out of molten metal once they're enveloped in it, so I'm going to say yes," Sturges said, dusting his hands off as he followed just behind the teenager. "What were you thinking, running off to join these maniacs?"

"Raiding seemed like easy money," He said, rubbing his arm and bowing his head when he saw Derek was holding the sword. "We don't have much, and I thought this would give me the…chance to fix that. I thought giving him my granddad's sword would be enough but…"

"What's done is done," Preston said, taking off his hat, beginning to sweat badly from the heat. "You might not want to believe it, but your family does want you home, Jake."

"If…look I…know I've got no right to ask but…" The teenager looked between the three men, his hands anxiously twitching. "I got to go home…try to make amends, but I think, if you're there to help explain, things with my dad would go…easier. And I bet if you bring the sword, he'll make it worth your while! He always tries to deal fair with people."

"We're happy to accompany you home," Preston said, tucking his hat under his arm. "But I hope you've learnt your lesson. There's nothing in the world worth this…no matter what they offer you, raiding ain't going to do anything good. Not for you, not for your family. Not for anyone. All it's going to do is tear people apart, and, unfortunately, the world seems to do enough of that on its own already."

University Point
May the 23rd, 2288
13:31

With no November Man or the hardened and grizzled mercenary known as Conrad Kellogg near, the safety of his daughter was something he knew he ought not worry about.

Yet, so much as he tried, Gerald Spencer could not shake the fear of the Brotherhood Of Steel returning, a Courser posted at the town for security or not.

Seeing the smile of his daughter when she stepped back into her home, the woman who mentored her no more than a few steps behind, Gerald felt the worries and fears briefly leave his body and mind. Just as she always had since she was little, Jacqueline skipped across the room to him and tightly embraced her father. Though she tried not to show it, seeing the excitement and happiness in the teenager's step and voice was a comfort to Dr. Madison Li, sure, at least, something was being done right. Ensuring the door was closed and locked behind them, she stood in wait, only taking a moment to remove her blazer and drape it over her shoulders, the apartment warmer than she had anticipated. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. It's not as though everywhere in the Commonwealth has nearly as good indoor climate control as the Institute. Glancing around the apartment from where she stood near the door, arms crossed, she found herself more relieved than she would ever be comfortable with at realising things were in just about the same state they had been when she had been there last. Between that, the regular and so far clear reports from X6-88, and the lack of the usual, almost jumpy composure of her protégé's father, it seemed things were back to normal. An eyebrow raised when Jacqueline waved her over to join them at the third chair at the kitchen table, herself and her father in the other two, Madison tentatively started towards and, finally, joined them with a tense smile.

"Jacqueline has made some rather incredible progress on a few projects, lately," Madison said, only continuing when neither of them said anything. "I was rather impressed by how quickly and, more to the point, accurately, she was able to design a prototype interface for quicker…status updates for a few of our projects."

"That's my girl," Gerald said, reaching across the table to bump fists with his daughter. "Have things been well outside of work? Or is work all she's been up to?"

"I think she's more equipped to answer that than I am," Madison said pointedly. "Especially considering she's your daughter."

"Oh, yes, I…" Gerald laughed nervously, turning back to Jacqueline. "I'm sorry, Jacq. I think I've gotten a bit too used to having to ask about you rather than seeing you."

"It's alright," She said with a smile. "I'm just glad to be here. Rosalind and I have had a few girls' nights, just me, her, and a few of the girls around our age from the other Divisions, it's not just us Advanced Systems girls. We've been spending most of them at Rosalind's apartment, mainly so we don't get in anyone's way. Oh! And Allie had her baby a few days ago! Her name is Lillian, and she's really cute. I think Quentin likes her, too!"

"Well, hopefully he's learnt how to be a big brother from you," Gerald said with a half serious look. "I'm sure you've been a good…adoptive older sister to him, at least from everything I've heard and from what you've had to say about him. Now…promise me you aren't getting into trouble with Rosalind."

"I'm not," Jacqueline cheerfully replied. "Worst thing we've done is tell Brenden he's not allowed to join us because it's girls' night, and he's not a girl."

"Good to know you're having fun and not causing any form of a crisis for me to have to smooth out," Gerald said before laughing. "I can't do everything on my own up here, you know."

"Don't worry, I do," Jacq said, falling silent when she caught a glimpse of the worry in her father's eyes. "Is something wrong? They…they didn't come back, did they?"

"The…those Brotherhood people?" Gerald said, flinching. "Oh, no, they…they haven't come back."

"If they had," Madison sharply added. "You would know about it, and most likely wouldn't be here."

"Oh, thank goodness," Jacqueline breathed a sigh of relief. "Whatever it is they want, I hope they stay away from here…and, pretty much, everywhere, really."

"I'm sure we'll be taken care of by our…mutual friends," Gerald said, suddenly standing up. "Wait here a moment, Jacq. I forgot I left your birthday present in my room. I'll be right back with it."

Jacqueline nodded, turning a bit in her chair to watch her father until he disappeared down the hall. She then turned back to Madison, and smiled, happy to see her mentor give her a small smile in return. She didn't notice, after she turned to stare out the window at the birds and the trees swaying from the early summer wind outside, how quickly the woman's face fell. More disconcerted by the mention of the Brotherhood than she would let either Jacqueline or her father know, she began to go through what she and the Directorate knew already, hoping by reminding herself they were not in the dark would calm her down. Their movements towards the Commonwealth have significantly picked up in the last week, and reports suggest they should reach at least Pennsylvania by the first of June if not New York. Their leadership is surprisingly well organised and reinvigorated, apparently the work of the new Elder who, by all accounts, rose to the position when he was only sixteen. Arthur Maxson. Never thought I'd see the day where I missed Lyons and his approach of appeasement. Hearing the shuffled and startled footsteps coming from down the hall, Madison tensed, only to feel annoyed with herself when she realised a split second later it was only Gerald, likely having tripped on something. She sighed. So much as she had no desire to dwell on it, the heavy feeling of anxiety and anger that had returned to her since learning the Brotherhood were closer to the Commonwealth every day made her feel almost sick.

The most damning revelation about their coming to the Commonwealth had only underscored the feeling.

"The Brotherhood Of Steel are notorious for their hoarding of and self righteous attitude towards technology," Shaun had said, standing up to insert a holotape projection to present to the Directorate, all of whom were taken by surprise when the projection loaded. "The most concerning aspect of this for us, in the immediate, is the fact they are in possession of the parts of a pre-War weaponry project by the US military known as 'Liberty Prime,' which is one of if not the most dangerous trick in their arsenal."

Liberty Prime. The Brotherhood's once best kept secret had been one they left to rust and fall apart after the war with the Enclave concluded. It had seemed apparent they had no more use for it or, at the very least, had no more uses for it capable of justifying the resources and time it would take to put the damned thing back together. Startled once more when she heard footsteps only to remember, yet again, it was only Gerald returning from down the hall, Madison frowned. Lyons may have let me go, but enough of the others in the ranks, I'm sure, still think I know too much. If they have Prime, then they'll be looking for me, either to kill me for what I know about it or to force me to reconstruct it. The thought both disgusting and unsettling to her, she instead reached into the pocket of her dress pants and pulled out her old, small, fraying notebook and began flipping through the pages. Years of her work, information on historical events, reminders of the nightmares of the Brotherhood flashed before her until she, much to her surprise, came across two pages which gave her pause, two pages focused on one event just over one hundred and thirty two years before the War, the one event changing everything. The Trinity Test. Taking in a deep breath to calm herself, Madison only glanced up from the pages when Gerald all but ran back into the room, a box in his hands and a smile on his face. The words she had been snagged on, however, did not leave her mind, and the voice of the man who had said them then rang out in her mind, the man whose work had inspired her to pursue science in the first place.

If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendour of the mighty one. Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.

Madison closed the notebook and looked up to see Jacqueline excitedly waiting for her father to rejoin them, grinning when he did and handed her the large, albeit fraying, velvet box.

Will the words of Julius Oppenheimer become mine if the Brotherhood manage to find me, if they force me to fix their damn robot?

"Now you're nearly an adult, I think you're old enough to have this," Gerald said when Jacqueline gasped upon opening the box. "I'm sure, knowing how much you've accomplished, your mother would feel the same. She had this necklace made for you when you were a baby…and I only wish she were here to see me give it to you now, too."

Jacqueline delicately closed the box before slipping it into her coat pocket. "I…thanks, dad," She said, blinking back tears. "I hope she'd be proud of me too."

"I can't speak for her, but I imagine she would," Gerald assured her. "I know I am, and I suspect Dr. Li and Dr. Filmore are too."

"She's doing quite well," Madison agreed, standing up from the table. "I'll let you have time as a family. There are…a few things I need to ensure are done."

"Of course," Gerald said, reaching over to shake her hand. "And, once again, thank you for everything, Dr. Li. I'll see you again later this afternoon?"

"Yes," She said, starting towards the door. "I'll be back in a few hours."

It's all too familiar and I hope to God neither he or Jacqueline will ever have to know the extent to which the Brotherhood are capable of tearing lives apart. They have more than enough to worry about as it is. We all do.