"This is a bomb control device." Formerly Scribe Haylen said. "The Brotherhood picked up some of these in the DC area, cataloged from the Citadel when they moved in."
"Aren't bomb collars generally those heavy, clunky things?" Piper asked.
"Experimental tech. Pre-War." Haylen explained. "This one seems a little more advanced than those. I think whoever you got this from has been tinkering."
"We're still doing interrogations." Andrew said. "A few of them have spoken of something called 'the Enclave'."
"The what?!" Haylen's eyes went wide as she looked to the General.
"The Enclave?" Andrew asked, raising a brow. "What's the big deal?"
"Are... are you joking? Please tell me that you're joking." Haylen said, a look of abject fear clear in her eyes.
"That's what they said." Andrew said. "Why?"
"I was only a kid when they first showed up in the Capital Wasteland, but I remember the Enclave. Those vertibirds, that Mark Two Power Armor, plasma rifles... and absolute cruelty." Haylen said. "If it weren't for the Brotherhood, the Enclave would have taken Project Purity and that would have been bad for all of us."
"You mean that water treatment facility in D.C.?" Andrew asked. When Haylen looked surprised, he elaborated. "Deacon told me about it."
"That would be the one, yes. Out of the old Jefferson Memorial." Haylen said. "But the Enclave are very bad. They sought to subjugate and control the Wasteland, based around Pre-War ideals taken to terrifying extremes."
"Sounds like a loveable bunch." Piper said dryly.
"And it explains the bomb collars." Andrew said. "Wait, you said the Brotherhood defeated them in D.C., right? If that's so, why are they still around? The Brotherhood doesn't really do things by half-measures."
"If I remember correctly, some of their forces escaped the Battle of Adams Air Force Base," Haylen said, "but they were so small in number that the Elder at the time, Lyons, didn't believe that they were worth the resources to pursue."
"And so, twelve years later, here we are." Andrew said. "But why come to the Boston Commonwealth? We don't have anything like Project Purity here."
"I don't know." Haylen shook her head. "But if they're willing to implant bombs into their own people, what else are they willing to do?"
"Anything!"
"Madame President, I-"
"Anything!" Holt was having her first meeting with her cabinet since the Enclave's move into Federal Surveillance Center K-21B.
"The strikes on Somerville and Murkwater were a tactic-"
"I'm not talking about Somerville or Murkwater!" Holt shouted. "I could care less about some clods of dirt being held together by backwards wastelanders! I want the damn Wanderer!"
"... you what?"
"Did I stutter?" Holt asked. "The Wanderer. I want his smoking ashes at my feet. This takes top priority."
"Madame President," One of her advisors peered at her as he nervously tapped his fingers against the table top, "We have seen no evidence that Doctor Howard is responsible for the attack on Retrieval Team Orion or is even in the Boston Commonwea-" His response was cut off by the blasts of a laser pistol, and the direct shot atomized him within nanoseconds, leaving only a pile of ash and a sickening burning smell.
"Jordan Howard is here." Anna Holt stared down the rest of the table as she slipped her pistol back into her holster. "He has shown to be a consistent threat to Enclave operations and he must be stopped. Anything apart from this is irrelevant."
"Madame President, please-"
"Careful..." She was already grasping the grip of her pistol once more.
"-I... I... we aren't even sure where to begin looking for him. We have no idea as to where he might be!"
"Ugh..."
Twelve years and a great deal of wandering didn't make you feel any particular fondness for stun grenades, Howard could very much attest. Not that he cared for most of the ways that the wasteland would try to kill its inhabitants, but c'est la vie as the Pre-War phrase went.
His vision swam as he opened his eyes. After a few moments, his eyes adjusted and he found himself facing a set of metal bars that looked out toward a faded, yellow railing and another set of bars across a gap between the two sets of railings. Cages, he realized and he realized he was in one as well.
"Great..." He muttered, sitting up and getting a better view of his surroundings. He'd had his belongings taken, not a situation he was at all unfamiliar with, and had nothing but his armored Vault suit on his back. He got to his feet, finding himself not to be restrained by any chains or anything of the like. He had a feeling that his captors didn't believe that he needed them, more so when he saw their sigil printed on one of the far walls.
The Brotherhood of Steel, he started to remember.
Jordan sighed as he grasped one of the bars as he got to his feet. A few other prisoners were in the cells, who knew what they were in here for? No Paladins or Knights lurking about to try and look menacing in their T-60s, at least not until two of them did stomp forward with laser rifles in hand.
"The Elder wants to see you now." The paladin said.
"Tell him to take a number. I'm busy." Jordan snorted in derision at the man. The door clamored loudly as it swung open, the paladin menacingly gripping his rifle.
"Now." The Lone Wanderer sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Fine." He stepped out of the cell, keeping his hands to his sides as he was led away by another Paladin. He was led into a larger antechamber from the prison. It looked heavily beaten down, a Pre-War structure of some kind, but with several Brotherhood of Steel insignia scattered about. It seemed that the Elder had continued the Brotherhood's standards of overbearing iconography. He was nudged forward into what looked like a command center, and found himself face to face with someone he hadn't seen in just over ten years.
"Paladin Howard."
"Hello, Arthur." Jordan looked over the man. It seemed the Brotherhood had fallen on some hard times indeed, all things considered. No more obvious was this than in the appearance of their Elder. Arthur looked worn down. His hair was shaggy and unkempt. His scarred face was a great deal more so, he could tell that more than a little medical treatment for injuries. An explosive burst, by the look of the scarring. Grenade? Rocket? He could only speculate.
"You will address the Elder by his proper title!" One of the Paladins who had brought him up snapped at him.
"Be silent!" Maxson barked at him, which seemed to cow the soldier as he visibly backed away from the Elder. Maxson turned his attentions back on their 'guest'. "You hurt a lot of people when you abandoned your post, soldier. Myself included."
"You were a boy. I don't expect you to understand." Jordan replied curtly.
"I understand that you had a duty to the Brotherhood and you abandoned it." Maxson replied, unsympathetic.
"And you know why I did what I did!" Jordan snapped back at him. "What Quinlan and his little band of upstarts did to muscle me out?"
"That was never pro-" Maxson started.
"Don't you even try that with me!" Jordan cut him off immediately. "You were a child! You weren't there! You didn't see it!"
"What happened to Sarah was... unfortunate..." Maxson began.
"They murdered her, Arthur!" The Lone Wanderer glared at him. "I had to see her body when they brought it back out of that Super Mutant nest! They murdered her! They murdered our chi-"
"The Super Mutants-"
"I should have put a bullet in Quinlan's head." Jordan gritted his teeth, eyes not breaking from Arthur. "I should have done it then. Where is he, anyway? Didn't survive your airship's little deflation?"
"No, Proctor Quinlan did not." Arthur said.
"Good. Hope the bastard rots in Hell." Jordan snorted.
"You would dare-?!" One of the paladins advanced on him.
"Hold your ground!" Arthur Maxson gave the order half a second too slow. By the time the last syllables had left his lips, Jordan had already tackled toward the paladin. While he had no chance of knocking the man in a full suit of T-60 armor over, he did enough to loosen the man's grip and grabbing the AER9 from his hands.
"I'd suggest you act real calm or you're going to be looking for a new Elder." Jordan said, the newly-acquired rifle pointed squarely at Maxson's head. Maxson looked to the remaining armed Paladin and nodded. The man hesitantly lowered his weapon. "Goodie... now...Arthur, you and I are going to talk... and then I'm going to get my equipment back and walk out of here."
"If you're sure." Maxson said. "But I think you'll be interested to hear what I want to propose..."
"I don't want to hear anything from you-"
"Not even a chance to destroy the Enclave once and for all?"
"..."
"I'm serious, Jordan."
"...I need to see proof." Maxson smiled.
"I'll show you..."
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