They woke up to the delightful sound of rustic patriotic music echoing throughout the Castle. Nora yawned and stretched her arms up over her head. "Good, they got the power working," she said. She smiled down at Piper, who smiled back, before standing up (being sure to give her a little tease with the positioning of her skirt before walking off).

"You know, Blue, I think you forgot to wear underwear," Piper remarked, blushing.

"I didn't forget shit," Nora countered. She wrapped up her blanket, put the flag back on the wall, and put her backpack back on. "Come on, let's go see what Preston thinks."

Preston was out in the courtyard, next to the radio guy. He approached Nora, a smile on his face. "We really did it!" he said, excited. "I've been watching the Minutemen fall to pieces for so long, I just…" He paused, briefly overcome with emotion. "…This is really something. Now we've got to pay off on what we've started. Bring the whole Commonwealth together, and make it last this time."

Nora smiled. "I'm glad things are going well for us, Preston. Especially for your sake."

He nodded. "So… back to business. With Radio Freedom up and running, we can broadcast alerts to you anywhere, anytime."

"Shit," Nora swore. "I knew there was a fucking catch to this business."

"I thought the catch was the mirelurk queen that almost killed you," Piper said.

Nora's eyes widened. "Shit! That big fucker!" She ran past Preston to the carcass, warming in the morning sun, and proceeded to whip out a knife and begin to butcher it. "Gotta get that meat!"

Preston watched her go, while Piper shrugged and followed her. "I'll let you know if I hear of any settlements that need our help!" he called after her.

"Blue!" Piper called to Nora. "Try not to get any cuts of meat that you soaked in piss, alright?"

XXX

They were headed west on the road away from the Castle when Nora stopped and checked her Pip Boy. "Hang on, Piper, I think I have an errand to run in this area!" she said, excited.

"What might that be?" Piper asked.

Nora started screaming in joy. "YES! YES YES YES!" She waved her Pip Boy in Piper's face. "MOTHERFUCKING CHINESE STEALTH ARMOR!"

Piper blinked in surprise. Nora's outbursts were typically… quieter. "I'm guessing it's stealth armor from China?"

Nora nodded enthusiastically. "Imagine a stealth boy, but it never fucking runs out of energy. It's so insanely overpowered, I'm about to shit myself!"

"That sounds really useful," Piper admitted. "How did you hear about it in the first place?"

Nora's grin turned into chagrin. "Well… you won't like it…" she admitted.

"Oh God, it's another one of those 'I woke up with the knowledge baked into my brain' things again, isn't it?" Piper asked, frustrated. She started walking, then turned back to Nora. "Well, are we gonna go get it, or what?"

"You actually believe it's there?" Nora asked.

Piper nodded grimly. "Blue, there's something really fucking wacky going on in that head of yours, but it hasn't actually led us wrong, not yet. If you said that eating fusion cores would make you live forever, I'd seriously consider doing it."

Nora started getting misty eyed. "That's so sweet!" she gushed. She ran forward and embraced Piper hard, who returned the hug after a moment's startle. "I promise you that I'll never do anything to abuse your trust!"

Piper smiled. "I never imagined you would, but I'm glad to hear you come out and say it," she said.

Their destination, a place called the South Boston Military Checkpoint, was a short walk away. There was a small presence of Gunners there, but Nora and Piper managed to make quick work of them. The armor itself was located inside an unlocked chest within the main checkpoint building. "Hell fucking yes," Nora muttered, as she once again began hucking off her clothing. She noticed Piper taking peeks at her and smiled approvingly, before finally sliding the advanced piece of hardware on. "Okay, here goes nothing," she said, before crouching down. The suit detected the Stealth Posture and immediately engaged cloaking mode.

"Holy shit!" Piper said as Nora vanished from sight. "What's it like, being invisible?" She waited, but no response came. "Blue, you still there? You alright?" She then let out an undignified shriek as a hand firmly squeezed her butt. She whirled around, saw nobody there, and crossed her arms. "Okay, Blue, very funny. Hilarious, even."

"I know, right?" Nora said, standing back up and shimmering back into view as the cloaking field disengaged. "This is going to make murder so much more fun," she said.

They left the building and Nora went around to the side, to check for any last little bit of loot. "Piper!" Nora cried out. "Piper, get your squishy ass over here!"

Piper jogged around the corner, ready to start zapping away with her laser, only to stop short at the sight of the caged power armor. "Holy shit, Blue, and it's just sitting here?"

"Yep," Nora said, admiring the hardware. "Good ol' T-51. Nate wore this model for most of his stay in Alaska, and it saved his life on more than one occasion." She began working the lock.

Piper pursed her lips. "Hey Blue, that's a pretty significant piece of gear. Wouldn't someone have popped open that door by now, if they could? I mean, this has been sitting here for —"

The door's lock clicked and Nora swung it open. "I'm sorry, Piper, could you repeat that?" Nora asked. "I couldn't hear you over the sound of the door opening up."

"Wiseass," Piper grumbled.

Nora walked into the cage, gave the power armor a cursory front and back inspection, verified that it had a fusion core loaded into the fuel nook, then walked back out and patted Piper on the shoulder. "You're up, Piper," she said.

"M-me? What? Why?" Piper asked, surprised at being offered the chance to roam around in power armor some more.

"Well, I have this here stealth armor, and truth be told, I don't think I need a big heavy metal suit on top of it. Kind of defeats the whole 'stealth' thing," Nora explained. "Besides, these things are almost easier to use than your own legs. The only way you could fuck it up is if you somehow accidentally ejected the core, then immediately stepped on it."

"Okay, when you put it that way…" Piper went to the power armor's rear, opened the hatch, and let herself in. She walked out of the cage slowly, gave Nora a salute, and walked a few more steps. "Hey, what happens if you're stuck in one of these things and you have to pee?" Piper asked.

"Well, the suits have a mechanism that lets you slide a catheter into your peehole. It actually filters the water, so you stretch out your water reserves a bit more."

"…What about if you have to shit?" Piper asked, torn between wanting to know and not wanting to know.

"You know, Nate never mentioned that part of it," Nora said. "But I will say one thing: after Shaun was born, the man demonstrated a curious affinity with diapers." She laughed aloud.

They started walking back to Diamond City, Piper gradually increasing her pace as she grew more comfortable with the armor. "Hey Blue, how do you know how to use power armor? I always heard it required some kind of specialized training."

"Oh yeah, that's a fun story," Nora said, smiling. "It was just about a month or so before the end of the world…"

XXX

Nate's car pulled into the parking lot, his headlights sweeping over the edifice of the National Guard Training Yard. "Are we there yet?" Nora asked, sitting in the passenger seat, a blindfold covering her eyes.

"Yeah, you can look now, honey," he said, turning off the ignition. She took off the blindfold, and her face fell. "The National Guard Training Yard. Yay. My husband took me on a surprise date to enlist with the National Guard."

"Hey, this date really appeals to your sensibilities," Nate assured her, kissing her cheek. "Promise."

Nora gave him a playful glare, before both of them got out of the car. "I don't mean to be a killjoy, hon, but unless the plan is to have a picnic here in the incredibly breathtaking and scenic parking lot, won't you get arrested for smuggling a civilian onto this base?"

"Me? Arrested? After being taken here by my wife, a deep-cover Chinese spy, under threat of torture? Hardly," Nate said, flashing Nora a cheeky grin.

Nora stewed. "Better watch it, mister, or I really will be the only one deep under the covers, since your ass will be sleeping on the couch."

"Oof, and there's the threat of torture!" Nick bantered. "But no, there's only one guy on duty tonight, and he owes me a big favor. 'Willing to risk court martial' big. I promised I wouldn't tell anybody."

"Hmm," Nora surmised. "He either got the clap from a girl in Alaska, or knocked up a girl in Alaska, and the missus would be irate if she found out."

"Close!" Nate said. "He got the clap from a girl in Alaska who turned around and repeated their idle pillow talk to the Chinese fellow she got the clap from. I had to pull more than a few tricks to keep him from being drummed out of the Army, and I'm calling in that favor tonight."

"Shit, how big is this favor? Are we stealing weapons?" Nora got excited. "Is it one of those gauss rifle thingies you told me about?"

Nate gave Nora a look. "Honey, I love you, but I'm not about to steal a weapon which doesn't even officially exist yet just to give it to you as a gift. That's the kind of thing that nets you a summary execution without a trial these days." They reached the armory, at the rear of the training yard. Nate took a key out of his pocket and unlocked it. "However, temporarily borrowing another weapon, one which is highly visible in the public eye and thus not a national secret, is a much less risky proposition."

"No way," Nora said, unbelieving. She followed Nate into the armory building, watching while he turned off the security and opened a sealed door. "No FUCKING way!" She giggled like a hyperactive schoolgirl as Nate led her to the bright, shiny new suit of T-51 power armor. "Nate, after this, you can call me a submarine for a week straight," she uttered.

"Promise?" Nate said, voice husky as he goosed his wife.

"Every last drop," she confirmed, voice equally husky.

XXX

"A submarine?" Piper furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't get it." Nora leaned in and whispered into her ear for a few seconds. "Oh, that's fucking sick!" Piper commented, looking vaguely nauseated.

"Do you want to hear this story or not?" Nora asked, crossing her arms.

"…Go on," Piper finally said.

XXX

"That's it, sweetheart," Nate said, reassuring, as Nora made her way out of the armory. "Just take slow, careful steps. Imagine you're in a stream, waist deep, and you're walking against the fast current. There you go, sweetheart, you're a real natural." He kissed the T-51's helmet, possibly the first person in history to do so. "Alright, when you're ready, let's start with a few laps through the obstacle course. If you do really good there, then maybe we can squeeze in some range time."

"Oh Nate, I'm gonna fuck you harder than when you got discharged," Nora groaned out in pleasure. She got into position, then at Nate's signal, began navigating the obstacle course. After running a few laps through it, she stopped and stood in front of Nate. "So, how'd I do, 'drill sergeant'?" she asked, in a petulant, smutty tone. "Did I do good, or do you want me to give you a few more…" She made a hissing sound while audibly flicking her tongue, to remove any ambiguity from: "…laps?" (It didn't occur to Nora that any facial expressions she was making was lost on Nate, given that her helmet completely hid it from view).

Nate gave her a smoldering grin. "Babe, I think you set a new course record. This isn't sex talk, I think you genuinely beat the course record."

Nora leapt into the air to maximize the force of her fist pump; Nate was almost knocked off his feet by the force of her hitting the earth. "Fuck yeah! Fuck you, actual soldiers! Who's the best? A fucking civilian is the best!" She began to thrust her hips forward, and Nate was tempted to join in, but for the fact that she was wearing power armor, and if she slammed her hips into his in that, he'd likely need multiple reconstructive surgeries.

Nate chuckled at his wife's celebration. "Okay, hon, you ready to try out the minigun?"

"You fuckin' bet I am!" she said, pumped. "Time to set some fucking range records!" She clapped her hands together, sending a loud metal clink echoing over the obstacle course.

Nate led her to the shooting range, instructed her on how to hold and fire the minigun, then activated the switch to bring the targets up. (Oh, and naturally he put on hearing protection too). Nora spun up the minigun, gave a few experimental BRAAPs, then let all hell loose with a BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP, sweeping the minigun back and forth, blowing targets to pieces left and right. "DIE, YOU COMMIE BASTARDS!" Nora bellowed. "THE ONLY PART OF AMERICA THAT'LL BE RED IS THE STREETS, AFTER I COVER IT IN YOUR BLOOD! GOD BLESS AMERICA, AND NO PLACE ELSE!"

Nate had a huge grin on his face as his wife re-enacted one of the more ridiculous scenes from Attack Anchorage, a movie that had come out several weeks prior, another turd in the propaganda parade being put on by Hollywood. Once her ammunition had run dry, Nate took off his ear protection muffs. "Okay, we should wrap —"

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF SAM FUCKIN HILL IS GOING ON HERE, SOLDIER?!" Nate spun around, white as a ghost, and his eyes grew huge when he saw who it was. He practically gave himself a concussion with how hard he slammed his hand against his forehead saluting. "Now what in the name of God's great green Earth are you doing out here this late, Captain Jones? And who the hell is this maggot?!" The new arrival turned to match eyes with the T-51, and Nora barely had the presence of mind to salute as well.

"G-General Chase, sir!" Nate said, trying to mask his nervousness. "Well, sir, I was, uh…" He sighed and took a gamble. "Sir, I confess to violating regulations, sir! My cousin is in town, sir, and wanted to get a heads up on how we kill Reds, sir!"

Nora spoke in a low voice, hoping that she passed for a man. "It's true, sir! I'm gonna enlist when I turn 18 later this year, and I wanna know how to kill as many of those godless Commies as possible so I can join our boys on the front, sir!"

General Chase stood there for a few moments longer, glaring at the two people in front of him as if deciding which one he was going to kill first, before he finally burst out laughing. "Cousin, huh? Well, if only Uncle Sam had had a few more Jones men in the army in the first place, those fucking (Author's note: General Chase uttered a racial slur here, but I ain't gonna actually write it) would never have set one fucking toe on American soil!" He clapped Nate on the shoulder, who forced out a grin. "Look up to your cousin, Jones! You've got some big damn shoes to fill!"

"Connie, are you done out there?" came a breathy, feminine voice from the main building's back entrance. "I want to salute your flagpole!" She giggled, one of those high-pitched titters that can only be achieved by someone who's only an adult on paper, and just barely, at that. Nora wondered if she was just soaking Chase as a sugar daddy, or if she was an actual Chinese spy, like Nate had been cracking wise about earlier.

General Chase glanced nervously towards the voice, then cleared his throat and let out a nervous chuckle. "My, ah, personal secretary. We're going around the base and making sure the flagpoles are clean enough to run our flags up and salute them tomorrow morning."

Nate nodded. "I understand, sir," he said, relaxing. "As you well remember, I made good use of the local flagpole cleaners while we were in Anchorage." He gave Nora a sly wink — thank god for their understanding!

General Chase grinned at the memory. "Jones," he said, again referring to Nate's 'cousin'. "Follow in your cousin's footsteps, and you'll end up drowning in pussy just as much as we were!" he said with a laugh. "How many times did you catch the clap, Captain? Three times? Four? About the same as me, heh."

"Six, sir," Nate said, smiling with pride. Nora just rolled her eyes — she had both of them beat, combined.

General Chase laughed again. "Hope you can join us soon, Jones. The cunts in Alaska are mostly dried up now — fucking bitches should be more grateful we saved them from Red slavery — but there'll be a whole crop of Peking poon just waiting for your dick to fuck some freedom into them! And you know the best part?" General Chase smiled, a look which made both Nate and Nora's blood run cold. "Since they don't speak English, they can't say no!" He roared with laughter and slapped his knee, like it was the funniest joke told since God created man.

Nora seriously, seriously entertained the idea of just reaching out and crushing Chase's windpipe. Or maybe just punching him in the face as hard as she could. Would it just break his skull, or was the T-51 capable of exploding a man's noggin? Or, she could shove him over and slowly lower her armored foot down onto his junk — she wouldn't get to feel his testes pop like ripe grapes, not the way she could if it was her bare foot, but it would still be just as satisfying.

General Chase clapped his hand on Nora's armored shoulder. "It was great to meet you, Jones. Can't wait to see you in basic in a few weeks! For now, though, put away your toys — after all, they belong to Uncle Sam, and he looks mightily down on someone playing with his toys without permission. Lucky for you your war hero cousin knows a guy, huh?" He winked, turned to Nate and said, "Oh, Captain, don't forget your appointment with me at VSS later this week about you-know-what." He then left to attend to casual sex with a woman who was not his wife. (He and his wife most assuredly did not have an agreement).

Nate and Nora both let out a deep sigh of relief. "Come on, Nora. Let's go home."

"I came really close to crushing his skull, babe," Nora admitted.

"Yeah, join the club," Nate said, feeling tired. "I love you, and I love Shaun, but that fucking maniac is the number one reason on the very long list of reasons I chose not to re-enlist. I only hope that by working with him at VSS, I can get enough evidence to really bust his ass on something serious."

"Still don't want to tell me what that's all about?" Nora inquired.

Nate shook his head. "Sorry, doll, the stuff they're doing over there really is hush-hush, even more so than stuff I have told you."

"Okay, dear," Nora said. They made it to the armory, where Nora parked the power armor back where she'd got it from. She activated the control to open the rear hatch, fidgeted around a little, then called out. "Nate, dear, I seem to be stuck. Could you be a sweetie and come help me?"

Nate wondered what could have her stuck… then made it to the rear of the power armor and understood. Nora's fidgeting had been to shimmy out of her slacks and underwear, exposing her ass. "Soldier, you're out of uniform," he growled, his anger at General Chase forgotten in an instant.

"Is… is that serious?" Nora asked, faux horrified. "Will there be… stiff… penalties?"

"Only the stiffest, Nate agreed. "And some, ah, very firm discipline will be involved too," he admitted.

"I'm ready to be filled with your firm discipline, sir!" Nora cried out. They proceeded to do something else in power armor that nobody had ever done before.

XXX

"Damn, he sounds like he was as big of a freak as you," Piper commented.

"Yeah," Nora said, smiling wistfully. "I miss that man."

"I'm guessing that General Chase never got to face justice, huh?" Piper asked.

Nora's face grew hard. "Not in this lifetime, I suspect. I hope when the end came, it was slow and agonizing. The bomb knocked down his house or crushed his office or something, but he managed to survive in an air pocket, bellowing for help like an injured cow. Until the radiation slowly seeping in through the cracks and holes of the rubble began to do its work — making his hair fall out, his teeth fall out, cover his skin in sores, liquefying his internal organs, until finally he's mostly vegetative, leaking waste out both ends of his digestive tract." She thought on it for a moment. "And that's when ghoulification takes him, and he gets to live in mindless agony forevermore, trapped forever in his own personal hell."

"Holy shit, Blue!" Piper said, shocked at the intensity of the revenge fantasy. "I've said this before, but remind me to never, ever piss you off!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Chinese Stealth Armor is another piece of CC that introduces the belovedly overpowered-as-fuck Chinese stealth armor from the Operation Anchorage DLC in Fallout 3. Now, that thing was broken as hell. You could have your Pip Boy light on and run around and explode people with your power fist (that you probably stole from the simulation so it has damn near infinite durability), and not once will the stealth meter dip into 'Caution' mode. Todd Howard, in his infinite wisdom, decided that this was a bit too overpowered, and decided a good way to balance this was to make the visual and audio effects that play whenever you enter stealth as PHYSICALLY FUCKING PAINFUL AS POSSIBLE. I mean, it's not at the same eyeball-searing intensity that Night Person rank 2 is, but I strenuously object to the notion that playing a stealth character should just give you nonstop migraines. Fuck you, Todd Howard! (Or, well, whoever created that particular cancerous mole of a design decision).

You can indeed accidentally eject the core, if you take that one perk that just…lets you. (I imagine any scenario in which you willingly take that perk involves Todd Howard strung out on a case of expired Bawls from the F:BOS days breaking into your house and threatening your loved ones with the jagged end of an empty bottle of Bawls). Fun fact: In the test game I have laying around with a cheated-to-level-50-and-all-perks-Nora that I use to check stuff for this fic, I was testing out how well a pure punch character goes with power armor specced specifically for punching (spoiler alert: don't bother), and discovered that the melee power attack button is the same as the "Eject fusion core" button. My character expired about two seconds before I discovered this, and I'll let you guess how.

Fallout 3 and New Vegas required you to earn a special perk before letting you run around with power armor. (Which, to be honest, is kind of mid in those games, since you have Chinese stealth armor in 3 and Ulysses' duster and Boone's beret in New Vegas, and crit chance is king). There's no such requirement in Fallout 4, so I figured why not explain how a housewife who's never seen a day of combat is able to walk out of the Vault and suit up like nobody's business on day one?

Does anything in the flashback sound familiar? Tell you what, I'll save you the brainpower and tell you to go back and check chapter 12.

No, before you ask, Nora is not Sharon Stone's cousin.

General Chase shows up briefly in Fallout 3's Operation Anchorage, where he congratulates you for finishing the simulation. I had a lot of fun (if you can call it that, haha) really painting him as an utter bastard.

VSS is… classified, hahaha. (Well, you could probably Google it if you're curious enough, anyway!)