I do not own anything.
'thought'
"Speech"
"Text via book or newspaper... when those are around..."
System Text

"Your information was correct." The man in front of me begins. "I would like to purchase some more information."

"What are you offering."

"..."

"A power armor frame we recovered from the Polymer labs."

My eyes widen slightly. "Seriously?! Oh damn. Alright."

"I should note. The armor itself seems to have a defect... it is highly inefficient in fusion core consumption. Having a drain rating of possible five or even ten times our own."

"Surely that power's going somewhere, right?" I question.

"Some of the system's in the suit are damaged. Regardless, it still will work at full capacity, just for a lot shorter."

"A power armor frame is worth a lot. Alright. Do you have a map or something?" I question.

"Haylen?"

"Yes sir." She nods as she reaches into her bag and retrieves a trifold map, sitting it on a table.

I slowly approach, looking over the map. "Let's see here..."

Paladin Danse stands beside the table, looking over the map.

"First thing first, we are roughly here. On one of these bridges leading south deeper into the city is a crashed ship. It is full of raiders. One of them even has a suit of power armor from what I've seen. Overall it's a pretty small group, but the power armor makes them notable."

"Towards the north, you have the Corvega assembly plant. I would recommend staying clear of it. The raider group inside numbers in the fifties. It is probably the largest raider group in the commonwealth and they've strewn landmines absolutely everywhere. Also... i have heard tales about a raider with power armor and a fatman up there... so unless you want to blow up... I would stay clear."

"Noted. What did this plant create?"

"From what I heard, cars... if you're so gung-ho about getting inside, I have a recommendation. There should be a tunnel towards the north of the building. A large sewer runoff pipe that has been blown open. It should lead into the basement of the facility without you being forced to take fire from the highly defensive position."

"I see. Haelyn, note that down."

"Yes sir." She salutes, then quickly begins writing down what I said.

"After that... towards the north west there's a train line. Not to far, there's a crashed train the trails. There was another suit of power armor on one of the train cars, locked in a box like the one at the military checkpoint. I'm unsure if it's still there, but it's possible. Then. Even further towards the north west is a town called Concord. That's where I saw the rusty T-45 on the roof of some sort of ancient museum. I doubt it's still there, though... the minigun as well. Further beyond that is a red rocket truck stop and a destroyed little neighborhood called Sanctuary. On the hill overlooking the town is a Vault. Might be some useful stuff inside."

"Noted."

"To the south, you have Diamond city. The largest settlement in the commonwealth. You probably already knew about it, though. Bit dangerous to get to it thanks to all the super mutants, ghouls, raiders and gunners in the city, though."

"As for potential threats..." I mutter to myself. "Ah! Right. Over here. Have you heard of fort strong?"

"Fort Strong?"

"It's, well, a fort. Somewhere around... here-ish. Covered in super mutants. One of the largest super mutant strongholds in the entire commonwealth. It's probably got some good stuff- if the supermutants haven't destroyed it- but I don't think you'll be able to take it with just seven people. Plus there's the crashed ships to the north of it full of raiders you'd need to worry about as well."

"We will keep away from it." Danse decides.

"There's an airport relatively close by as well... then to the south on one of these little outcroppings is a place called 'The Castle'. The minutemen used to stay there if I recall."

I draw a large circle with my finger.

"Basically everything south of the city isn't generally worth the effort." Towards the far south west, you have the crater of where one of the bombs dropped, and then closer you have gunner territory as far as the eye can see."

"Gunners?"

"Some say they're remnants of the Us military, others say they just liked the look and their ranking system and took it. Regardless. They are a well-armed, shockingly well-organized group of mercenaries who don't care about morality. If they got money to execute a bunch of children,
they'd do it. They're honestly no better than raiders. More dangerous too. It honestly wouldn't be such a stretch to compare their combat abilities to the brotherhood. They have a rigorous training regime, and regularly make use of power armor."

"I doubt they'd compare to our knights." The man frowns.

"Even if they don't, they've got hundreds of members. All it takes is one lucky shot from one of them." I shrug. "They could be a fourth as well trained and organized as the brotherhood, but with a scouting party, you'd stand no chance."

"They seem to operate out of two key bases. The first is something they named the 'Gunner's Plaza.' I don't know the exact location, but if I remember correctly, it's near the railway so... somewhere along this line to the south. The second base of operations would be Quincy. A large settlement they raided and destroyed. Roughly here on the waterfront."

"I will note, that close by, there's this strange... faction... of power armor wearers called the Atom Cats. They style themselves after pre-war greasers. Leather jackets, slicked back hair, they tend to modify power armor and race them. I've heard they're pretty skilled. I mean, they're operating so close to Quincy without being pushed out, so they must be doing something right. They likely have the largest collection of power armor in the commonwealth, but they don't seem to be bad people."

"Haylen. Make a note to stay out of the southern reaches of the Commonwealth until we get some additional support."

"Yes sir."

"Then, to the west... past this river here is a large satellite array called Fort Hagan. It's some sort of army facility. Mostly underground. Once more, I wouldn't really recommend there's another raider group operating out there. The ones in Corvega have numbers, but these have sheer technological superiority. They regularly go out and scrap then reprogram robots, leaving them with a sizable army of metallic shock troops. They regularly set traps with scavenged assaultron heads, and have several suits of power armor. The biggest worry, would be the modified sentry
bot 'Ahab' and then the leader of the group, a woman by the name of 'Ivey' who typically wears a suit of modified T-60 power armor."

"Modified Power Armor?"

"She put a bunch of tesla coils on it." I sigh. "Then, there's her weapon which throws lightning. She'd probably fry most of your power armor's systems with a couple direct hits with it. She's really dangerous. If I had a choice of who to fight between her group and the ones at Corvega. I'd
run headfirst into Corvega every time."

"Oh. And before I forget. Just past that area, following this road here you'll find the Nuka World transit center. Do not go here. It's a trap set by the raiders."

"A trap?" The Paladin questions. "What do you mean?"

"So, from a couple of raiders who have been out that way, I've heard that there are three groups in Nuka World. Three united raider groups who have taken over one of the many sections of the park. Kidnapping and enslaving traders and running this thing called 'the gauntlet'. Basically they send out a bunch of alerts over radio, drawing people towards the transit center where they have a man who is 'injured' and he waxes and wanes about how 'they took my family' and 'oh, I barely escaped and shut down the power'."

"Then, one thing leads to another, you repower the station and you're off to Nuka world, sat in a large train car that has only one destination. A large gauntlet of traps and at the end, there's the 'overboss' of the park to crush you with a modified suit of power armor that makes him almost invincible."

"Almost invincible?" The man questions. "How?!"

"No clue. From what I heard he's hooked up to a near constant stream of electricity that crackles over the surface of his armor wildly. I genuinely have no idea how that makes him 'invincible' but that's just what I've heard."

"How destroyed is the park?" The paladin questions.

"I've heard it's surprisingly intact. The main thing holding them back would be the fact the over boss has gotten complacent with just running the gauntlet. The raider groups are looking to replace him. If they got someone with more ambition, they'd probably be a serious threat to the
commonwealth. But at the moment, they're just sort of out of the way."

"is there anything else you can tell us?" The man questions as I stare down at the map, Haylen's pencil echoing out into the hall.

"Ah. Right. One final raider group I should mention. They're called the Forged. They operate out of a place called Saugus Ironworks in thiiiiis general area."

I gesture to the map. "They're apparently getting ore from a giant quarry somewhere to the north east of the ironworks themselves. I've heard they've got a few sets of power armor... but I've also heard of some weird culty nonsense going on in that quarry... like, I'm talking visions, deities, magic. I'm not sure how much weight those rumors hold, though. If you go to check it out be careful, though."

"Magic?" The man huffs. "Seriously?"

"There's tons of weird things in the wasteland. Sometimes a totally normal gun will shoot two bullets at once, sometimes a Tommy gun will just inexplicably shoot explosive bullets. Maybe a revolver will set things on fire. Or maybe you'll get a pistol which inexplicably does more damage to robots. I like to call these items 'Anomalous'."

"I see... is there any further information you can give us?"

"Uh... four more things, then I'm pretty much out. First things first. There's a cannery about here. The last owner was some guy who started putting ghoul meat into the cans. When I found out about it, he tried to kill me, so I killed him instead. It's been about a month so it's possible some raiders moved in or something. In the city, there's a spot roughly here called 'Swan's Pond'. There's a massive super mutant behemoth who lives there, but there should be a place nearby that leads to a vault underground. It's being used as a base of operations for a group called the triggermen. Most use tommy guns and instead of any actual armor, they tend to wear trench coats and suits. Very susceptible to bullets and a good source of .45 ammunition.

Then... ah... this is another rumor, but I heard that there's a submarine somewhere around the coast of the city.

"A submarine?!" Danse glowers.

"Yeah." I nod once. "I've heard tails of a 'monster' in the waters towards the east of Diamond city. Some gigantic grey figure under water that does move but sometimes sticks a 'head' up out of the water... a periscope."

"Then, the fourth thing... this... ah... might be a little personal... but there are destroyed brotherhood power armors roughly here." I reach forwards and tap the map.

"Destroyed power armors?" Danse echoes. "The lost scouting party... I see... Scribe, make a note of the area. We should at least give our brothers a burial when we have time."

"Yes sir." She nods.

"Is this everything?" Danse questions.

"Oh, wait. Final thing." I begin, lifting a finger. "Tell me. You heard of the institute?"

"We... have heard tales. They are some sort of hidden organization that creates artificial humans. They are an abomination. The greatest enemy to the commonwealth with their synths."

"They are." I agree with a single nod. "I've heard they're also responsible for the supermutants here. But that's probably just a rumor. Now. These guys are hidden away really well. You'll probably never find them for one sole reason."

"What's that?" Danse frowns.

"A while back... I saw a figure flanked by dozens of robotic skeleton looking things."

"Synths." He growls.

"Exactly." I nod. "Frankly, I was fucking terrified. They had just busted out of some old pre-war restaurant up in Lexington, I laid down and watched from a distance through the scope of my rifle here. It was... some sort of man with dark armor. He clearly held some sort of high rank because
those walking tin cans followed his orders. I watched them group up into a formation... then..."

"FLASH." *Snap* I snap my fingers. "They combust into blue light. It was like they were struck by lightning... then... when the bright light cleared, and I was finished blinking the spots out of my eyes they were just... gone. Completely."

"Gone?"

"Not even an arm or leg remained of them. Not even ash. Which has me believe that, well..."

"Teleportation..." Danse whispers. "That isn't possible-"

"Wait! Sir! Do you remember the sudden spikes on our sensors that have been happening since we got into the commonwealth?!" The scribe exclaims.

"Wait... that-" Danse begins.

He seems to pause, deciding what to do.

"Contact Scabbard." He demands. "The fact that we are only sensing those readings here in the commonwealth means one thing... there is a range limit on this... teleportation... The institute is here."

"If I had to guess where their base is..." I begin slowly, causing the two brotherhood soldiers to turn to me. "You know the C.I.T. Ruins nearby?"

"Wait- so close?!"

"C-I-T stands for Commonwealth Institute of Technology... they are likely under it with no doors thanks to their ability to teleport... but this is merely a wild guess."

"But... it's plausible." I hear Danse's voice whisper through the microphone of his armor. "it's roughly in the center of the commonwealth. If the theory about the range limit is correct... that would be the perfect location for it to be in order to have access to the entirety of the commonwealth."

"Scribe. Contact Scabbard. We are to submit our theory... then, you. Scavenger. Do you think you could take us to the location you saw? If the synths were raiding a restaurant... surely it must hold something that is a threat to the Institute."

"Alright, but the area is mined to hell and back. Watch where you step." I state.

I quietly march forwards, followed by a group of seven, six of which being in large, bulky suit of armor.

We pass a locked up set of T-45 power armor, on a train, all it was missing would be the head and a leg.

The knights seemed to note it for future retrieval.

"That's the place." I gesture towards a large doughnut in the distance. "That... Slocum's joe."

"You said that there were mines absolutely everywhere, correct?"

I pull out my rifle and crouch slightly, looking through the scope. "Yeah... I can see a couple... three... five... ten..."

I look to the paladin stood next to me. "It's safe to assume that for every one I saw, there's at least two or three that I didn't."

"I-"

I pause. "Hold on..."

I stand up, slowly approaching a large rusted pipe. I brush aside the hanging plant-life that has mostly obscured the exit.

There's a large door and a blaring red light on the other side.

Paladin Danse crouches down slightly, gazing over the door.

I glance over my shoulder to the coffee shop, then back to the door.

"That symbol right there..." I point towards a white painted house with little rays pointing off of it. "That's a Railroad Callsign."

"Railroad?" Paladin Danse echoes.

"Oh... they're a group that wants to free synths from the slavery of the institute."

"Free the synths?" One of the knights scoff. "Ridiculous. The only good synth is a dead synth."

"Eh. The way I see it is that If the institute is destroyed, Synths won't really be a problem... they still die. If no-one is making more of them or taking advantage of their existence, I see no real need to waste the effort to root out a bunch of Inhumans who are probably just going to die to a raider anyways."

"But. While the institute is around. You're right. The only good synth is a dead synth."

"I wasn't aware of such a group in the commonwealth." Danse frowns.

"Oh, I apologize. If I had known that I would have mentioned them. The reason I didn't is because, frankly, I don't really know where they reside... but... I can take a pretty good guess seeing this symbol here. This one means 'Safehouse'. And If I am correct... this door might loop around to
that little coffee shop down there."

"How do you know the Railroad callsigns?" The prick knight in the T-51 questions. "Are you one of those filthy synth lovers?"

"Hell no." I shake my head. "They just think they're soooo clever with their signs."

I roll my eyes. "It honestly wasn't that hard to figure out. The real thing you need to focus on would be the centermost icon. An arrow is an indicator. A plus sign typically means 'ally nearby', a house is, well, a safehouse and an X means danger. Honestly, with that last one, the only way
they could have been more obvious is if they used a skull as the symbol."

"I see." Danse mutters.

I approach the door, it is severely dented, the impact marks almost look...

"Huh... I think this is the spot the synths broke in."

"Why do you say that?" Danse questions, still outside the pipe.

"The door has a bunch of dents. Too small for power armor's fists. It's almost a perfect fit for my own, honestly, so no power fist either... so we're dealing with something with ludicrous strength hitting the door until it broke open."

"Danse. Are we going in?" One of the knights questions.

The man in question seems to ponder for a long moment. "Yes. Ready up your weapons."

"The Institute has likely left Synths behind." I nod slowly. "If not to catch any Railroad that didn't know what happened and are returning. Then to scavenge what they can from this place or figure out just how much the railroad knows about them."

"Yes. Those are my thoughts as well."

"Sir. Should we acquire the nearby T-45 for additional support?" One of the knights question.

"Scribe Haylen." Danse begins. "Do you have faith in your ability to pilot power armor?"

"Yes." She nods once.

"Then go and retrieve the armor. Keane, Brach, assist her."

"Yes sir." The three salutes, then quickly rush off a short two hundred feet away to where the armor sits.

"Should I join you all as well?" I question.

Danse turns to me. "I appreciate the gesture, but I will not risk the lives of any of my team to protect you. There is a good chance that you would die."

"Oh. I'm aware... and used to it. Regardless, I still want to help. Mainly to inconvenience the Institute, but as a scavenger, would you mind me collecting some bullets along the way, maybe a gun or two?" I question. "An extra gun could be of use... especially my own."

I draw a large revolver from the bag slung over my shoulder. "Remember those anomalous weapons I was talking about?"

"That is one of them?" Danse questions, looking over the revolver with intrigue.

"Yeah." I nod once. "It has flaming projectiles despite having no reason to have them."

"Hm... if you pull your weight, I see no issue with you tagging along." Danse notes. "An additional pair of hands could be of use against an army force of unknown scale... and you have proven trustworthy so far. But you must follow my orders. I will not have you endanger my team."

"Yes sir." I nod once.

It takes around ten minutes, but eventually the three return, the woman now being clad in incomplete armor.

"Let's go in." Danse decides. "This is a scouting recovery operation. The railroad has apparently been causing issues for the Institute for an unknown period of time. It is our duty to see if we can secure their methods and any potential supplies they might have left behind."

"Yes Sir." The group salutes.

The door creaks open slowly.

As the knights begin to file in.

"If you run without orders... I'll shoot you in the back." The T-51 prick growls as he steps past.

I step inside, followed by the scribe.

Eventually we come to a door that is locked tight.

"Scribe Haylen. Do you think you can get this door open?"

Her armor opens briefly as she steps out, tapping away at the computer for a moment.

"No. It's far beyond my ability." She shakes her head.

"Then the tried and true method, then." Danse states as he grabs the door and with a slight jerk manages to rip it off its hinges, holding it in one hand as he walks deeper, laser rifle in his other hand.

*BZZZEW*

He seems to shoot something.

"Contact." He calls back. "There are synths here."

The knights march forwards, fanning out slightly as we step over a body and past a destroyed turret.

We get to the other side of the room.

"Scavver. What does this symbol mean?" He asks.

I peer around the armor.

"A box? That means there's a cache nearby."

"WhAt Is ThAt NoIsE?" A robotic voice questions from around the corner.

One of the knights quickly make his way around the corner, falling to a kneel as he aims his assault rifle downwards.

*RATATATATA*

The other knights move forwards, supporting him.

"Threat neutralized." He informs.

I gaze back. "Cache found." I gesture to a little pannel in a nearby pipe that falls off revealing an ammo box and a large orange tool case.

"Is there anything useful?" Danse questions.

I crack open the ammobox. "Shotgun slugs, 5.56 Rounds, and it looks to be mostly .38 rounds beyond that. There is a pipe pistol in the toolbox."

"Bring the ammunition, leave the pistol." Danse declares as we begin to walk deeper in, my bag slightly weighted down.

"What is this?" The scribe questions quietly as she looks over a device in her hands. She has temporarily stepped out of her armor as we all stand guard around her.

Getting here was fairly difficult, but, in the end I feel like I did pretty good. Blasting a few synths in the face as they flanked the group. The Gainer is quite the useful little weapon I grabbed back when I was walking west from the cannery... and, I've grabbed another that the brotherhood agreed to let me have for my assistance in acquiring the thing the scribe is currently looking over.

The deliverer my beloved.

Though, I've noted some changes to the appearance of the Gainer... I wonder if anything changed about the Deliverer...

It functions like a Silenced weapon.

And... it didn't... before?

Like a silenced weapon in movies.

Oh... oh shit.

"Do you know what it is, Scribe?" Danse asks after a moment.

"It... appears to be some sort of modified stealth boy, but... I'm unsure. Clearly this is what this railroad agent was trying so hard to protect."

"Grab everything that looks valuable. We're retracing our steps back the way we came." Danse decides. "We are to fortify the police station in preparation for the brotherhood's arrival. We will likely use it as a staging ground for the Cambridge area. Haylen, continue to try and figure out
what that device does."

He turns to me. "Scavenger, your information was once more tremendously helpful. I thank you for the assistance."

"Now... I'd like to make you a proposal. We had a lot thrown at us here. Our operation here in the commonwealth could have ended in disaster, but thanks to you, we've bounced back. Even in battle you kept your cool and handled it like a soldier. I have no doubt in my mind you have what it takes."

"Sir... are you?" One of the knights mutters.

"Seriously?" Prick knight questions.

"Yes." He nods once. "I would like to extend an offer to join the brotherhood of steel."

"Hey, I agree." Another one of the knights shrug. "He's been of great help ever since we got here... I was personally seeing the downward spiral after Rhyss lost his armor. But now we've stabilized thanks to him."

That...

Huh...

Well, he's acquired a few weapons to assist him, first, the Gainer, a revolver that practically douses whoever is shot by it in napalm.
Then, an ACTUAL silenced weapon.
Plus he's really intwined himself in the brotherhood of steel. Some very useful metal clad meat-shields!
Damn that's a lot of bounties... huh... I've got to really work through all that. A lot of people wanted the gunners dead, and I agree. Our assassin here will be getting a new form of bounty next chapter.