After hearing the explosion and seeing all the dust come flying off the shelves and raining down from the ceiling, it was hard not to wonder what caused the massive bang. The Prydwen parked less than a mile away, the Brotherhood armored Pegasus scouts on their lonesome already poking around, determining if their factory was a viable location worth acquiring; the first thing on Thunderstruck's mind was that the Brotherhood would eventually make their way here and start asking for the robots and production line they controlled.

Spending the whole day, night, and through the next morning willing magic into her horn and blasting at disabled tank-bots, between the machinery noise and trying to figure out how to use magic with no previous instruction, whipping them around, flinging them with enough force to flatten them into discs. It was a long evening of training, but the newfound adrenaline and excitement from becoming an Alicorn hadn't worn off yet. Once she saw the first sign of the Brotherhood of Steel, the wheels and gears turning in her mind went into overdrive.

"Like hell they will," She said, after hearing Sparks and Isabel's plight from the Brotherhood of Steel, and her limited knowledge of Sola and Firelance, Thunderstruck could sense that her new neighbors were going to come knocking soon. The m-28 firework that just went off in their faces was the reason enough that would send them here. Instructing Isabel and Sparks to lock down the factory, and set as many spare robots they had available to patrol the perimeter and interior as possible. Formulating a plan of attack in her head, she didn't want to lose the greatest asset in defending the Commonwealth from exact threat the Brotherhood of Steel embodied. With all the assemblies available, she was quick to ask the duo about a tesla-bot or weapon capable of firing electricity, similar to what she had done with Sparks in their battle. Isabel created one years ago and had since then scaled up many times over with different models.

Finding out from eye-bots that the Brotherhood of Steel went to Fort Strong and attacked the Super Mutants there. Going back days, weeks, the eye-bots roaming around Fort Strong spotted Athena breifly in a video, and knowing who planted the bomb was enough to turn this situation to her advantage.

After recovering her Shishkebab, and laying the trap, Thunderstruck could only tell herself it was time to meet the new neighbors.

With her new appearance, she intrinsically wondered if she would, or already grew taller. Taking on new poise, she reminded herself that quiet reservation was a card she could play until getting a better understanding of the Brotherhood. But, once she thought it through, she knew they were here for the Institute, and playing quiet is what she had spent most of her life doing. They wouldn't just go away because she asked them to. If anything, they would be asking for her capabilities, her status as an Alicorn to support them and more, expecting her to deliver them the sun if she didn't display an aura of power and strength.

Thinking of what Nate and Meathead would do, sitting in on their conversations, what words to say when it came to a beast this hard to pin down. One that was already dealt a blow and still recovering. Her instinct was telling her to drive the blade home and gut out the beast's heart.

Not one inch.

Don't let them have a single inch, not a single grain of rice, a single grain of salt, a single scale of a fish, kick them out now, or forever feed their greed. Don't let them build with a single grain of sand that is not theirs, otherwise their pillars will be planted solely on the single molecule given to them which they will build an empire a dozen miles tall.

With memories flooding in from the weeks leading up to September 2277, the collapse of Nuka-World, and the raiders drawing closer every day. Her resolve felt like it was being sharpened to a knife's edge. She saw firsthand what raiders would do, what they did, and how they would go about doing it, and how their arrival was the beginning of a new end for the Commonwealth.

Like with Nuka-World, she refused to let it happen a second time. All this was were more raiders under a different banner, she knew what she needed to do.

Practically growling through her teeth as she worked, she went to defend her territory by confronting the Brotherhood of Steel head on.

\111/

Meathead and Danse were spared no expense in being interrogated separately and mercilessly for the destruction at Fort Strong. Meathead was under more scrutiny and felt the misguided anger and feelings of hurt from most of the Brotherhood being directed at him and Paladin Danse for surviving. The unspoken contempt and feelings of betrayal that they were aware of the threat, and were able to survive the explosion made the rumor of them working for the enemy all the more likely.

After being held for hours, their interrogators left. They were discharged and allowed to roam the Prydwen, waiting for more orders. Meathead could feel something different in the interrogation rooms, the microphones in the walls, the buzz of activity moving through the Prydwen took on different forms over the night as everyone tried to figure out what was wrong and how to prevent another threat like that from happening again. The suddenness of the explosion on the strike team's first mission, which was hailed as something to be an easy win and drive forward for establishing a foothold in the Commonwealth ended with complete disaster. Strike Team Nero being slain and the loss of a vertibird did not look good in the first new step in taking over the Commonwealth.

After being confronted by Elder Maxson personally, feeling all the anger that needed to be pinned on someone, or something else, was when Meathead was positive that their time with the Brotherhood was at its end.

It took great restraint, but Meathead could tell Elder Maxson was furious at the loss of Fort Strong, and when hearing about the lack of mini-nukes, and the planted explosive, the drive to find the culprit was palpable.

Lying under oath, swearing up and down that he was outside when the explosion happened, which was true, that they'd sent him up to the surface to make sure Fort Strong was clear, also true, and to then radio the Prydwen, truth as well, his heartbeat didn't even stammer. He could practically hear the heart-beat monitors scribbling lines across their pages, not detecting a shred of lies.

He couldn't say the same for Paladin Danse, bearing the weight of his lost Recon squad, the truth about his synth nature, the Elder's declaration that all synths were abominations, and the devestation at Fort Strong, Paladin Danse was at his breaking point for being able to keep lying about what actually happened.

"The last thing I heard from Strike Team Nero was that there was a live bomb in the basement... and then I was buried under rubble, pinned down and barely able to move.

Heart already beating out of his chest, his facial expressions were betraying him and he could feel it no matter how much he wanted to deaden the nerves in his face. Part of him wanted the Brotherhood to find out, even though he knew it meant his death, but a fraction of hope said that he would survive better off if his brother's knew he was a synth. It was crushing that fraction of hope and disillusionment that kept him alive, strangling that voice in his head that wanted to lay everything out on the table and let him be exposed for what he truly was. He wanted to survive, but he also wanted the Brotherhood of Steel.

He couldn't have both, and as his ears burned, face flushed, neck tightened, he knew that he had to choose one or the other. It was only by the saving grace that a Knight reported to Elder Maxson and Paladin Danse during their hours long 'discussion', that an Alicorn was spotted on its way to the Airport, and that it wanted to speak with him.

By getting ahold of one of the Pegasus scouts, she bewildered one into stopping mid-flight, telling them that they wanted to speak with their leader, and would arrive at the Boston Airport tarmac within the hour.

The Arrivals and Departure area of the Boston Airport was an open area, the terminal lined with ticket booths and counters for the airlines that used to service the area were now converted into a first line of defense, as most the windows were gone or cracked apart.

After prepping all through the night, keeping both Sparks and Isabel up all through the morning, part of Thunderstruck felt the urge to sleep, but the pattering of her heart and newfound ambition kept her awake.

"I want to meet this Elder of yours down here, I won't be here longer than it takes to deliver my message to them." Thunderstruck said, escorted through the gates onto the tarmac, she had a clear view of the Boston Skyline. Told to wait, the vertibird carrying Elder Maxson and four guards, two scribes, and the magic casters from Fourth Deck, Thunderstruck held still with one hoof on Shishkebab.

"I welcome you to leave now, and you'll save yourselves from destruction of the tides of time," Thunderstruck offered.

"What sort of welcome is this?" Elder Maxson replied,

"The Commonwealth does not welcome you at all, Maxson of the Brotherhood of Steel. Leave while you still can. This army of yours will only drain the Commonwealth of all its resources moving into the winter months. There is no excess to be found here, only enough to get by, and even that goes to the raider gangs and merchants who need it more to move through the Commonwealth unhindered." Thunderstruck drew her blade, even as over a dozen guns were suddenly pointed at her. "My message is simple enough that even super mutants can comprehend it. The destruction that occurred at Fort Strong was because those who live and breathe in the Commonwealth will not allow even a single grain of salt to be given to the Brotherhood of Steel. Leave now, or forever let it be known, that you had the opportunity to leave and never return."

Elder Maxson scoffed at this, shaking his head and about to reply but was cut off by Thunderstruck, "Instead of choosing to spend the lives of humans and ponies alike like currency, and buy yourselves only funeral pyres to burn the bodies in. There will be no Brotherhood of Steel graves, only unmarked soil in which the bodies fertilize the ground. There will be no contracts signed or piety given to the Brotherhood of Steel, because no one here recognizes your authority of foreign government. The ground will be salted, the farms barren, the water wells filled with oil. The people who toiled and sweated in the fields you want to reap will only offer dust. You will not subject your will on the Commonwealth, for unlike Steel, the Commonwealth will not bend when beaten upon."

This was a direct insult to the Brotherhood of Steel, making the Elder rise to the bait of showing his true control of emotion, he bared his teeth, ready to bite back. "You dare tread upon the Commonwealth, and I shall walk you naked through the Glowing Embrace of Atom. I warn you now, unless you want the eruption of Fort Strong being repeated from inside the hull of your ship, leave with nothing, and you will remain as whole as you are. Stay, and time itself will be the cause of erasing the Brotherhood of Steel from all traces except what shadows of memories I possess a thousand years from now. No one will remember the names of those who died in a fight no one even knew occurred. There will be no trace of this war, your name, your titles, your honor, and courage, this skirmish, or even the words of this confrontation, it is condemned to be forgotten in the annals of history, that is unless you leave here now. Stay, and everything your glorious pursuit will amount to nothing. Make the smart choice, and go bury your dead somewhere else. My name is Thunderstruck, and I am the Alicorn of Intelligence, swear fealty to me and hand over control of the Brotherhood of Steel to me, and I'll allow you to stay conditionally."

"You have no power behind you, you have no armies. You have nothing! You are only one Alicorn, fresh into this world that no one knows! The Brotherhood is here to purge the Institute of it's abominations it's unleashed on the Commonwealth, and harness its savage technology to be used for good! You can't say the same that your goals are no different?"

"Your goal is to produce abominations even more terrifying branded with your sword and gears. Yes, I'm aware of the story that's been told before. Of Proctor Quinlain's contracts already being distributed throughout the Commonwealth, of farms you mean to take endlessly from and leave the farmers barren on the precipice of winter. The moment the synths bear the sword and gears, they're no longer abominations, abhorrent condemned monstrosities made of machine minds, and machine's blood with no soul, doomed to die for a godless heathen. The moment they bear the mark of sword and gears of your Brotherhood of Steel, then, and only then are they Glorious Machinatations Divined by Imperitive design and creed Bestowed with Everlasting Purpose for the sake of Your Cause! Take your preaching and save it for the blind and deaf, the starving in compassion, and those lacking wisdom and grace. You've already stolen from me and every living creature here the time you've spent. Leave now and never return. No expeditions, no scouting parties, no spies and insubordinates distributing Brotherhood propoganda and finding supporters willing to die for your cause. Abandon everything you've already unpacked, and run. I will not allow even a second more to pass while you disgrace yourselves and the people of the Commonwealth with your presence. Relinquish control and your egos, or Go. Now! Those are my terms, have I made myself clear?"

"You think you're special? Because you've got a horn and wings? You're no smarter or special than the ferals sniped for target practice from the bridge of the Prydwen as we came here! You can't defeat an entire army alone! You have no one! You are making an enemy of yourself of all of the Brotherhood!"

"I'm warning you to leave before you kill yourselves! It won't be my hoof or magic that does you in, but your own incompetence! The Commonwealth cannot support the drain of hundreds of soldiers eating their fill, starvation is already happening because of winter! It's already past the first snow, and there is nothing to begin growing until March! There is no food, no water to be found here either! Fly South for winter while you still can!"

"The Brotherhood of Steel will not be threatened, nor deterred from its goal! Leave this place, now! Or be destroyed along with the rest of genetic diseases the impure wreck upon mankind!"

"At least I never called you impure or inbred! Tell your Paladins that I'm leaving today to free my friends from raiders like yourselves! You will not rule or take a single bit of data from the Institute, because it's not your decision to make! We will not allow it!" Thunderstruck held out her right wing, a ribbon tied to the tips. Igniting her sword the signal was clear across from the top deck of the U.S.S. Constitution that had its newest aerial scout Sparks watching from.

"Men! Shoot this mockery of nature! Shoot this Institute sympathizer!"

'Adam the Ant, I swear I will be pissed if you're wrong!'

While Thunderstruck was aimed at, bullets racing at her, she took off to the skies, retreating back as she gasped and screamed at the first bullets stinging her flesh like angry hornets with inch-long stingers, laser wounds searing holes in her side like miniature hot-irons pressed against her skin. While her face was twisted with the expression of being shot, her skin and muscles were much more endurant and capable than they were the previous day before. Shot several times, the bore marks left divots and bruises and her skin and fur, particularly deep welts that drew blood, but otherwise, it would take a lot more than a handful of bullets to kill Thunderstruck now. Within ten seconds she was already out of the best shooters sights as they quickly tried to aim up their shots again. Twenty seconds after that, she was already half a mile away to the North, and even as the bullets still came from sharpshooters, the Brotherhood Knights were suddenly struck unaware from behind.

She was bleeding well, shot several times in the chest and side, a few deep marks against her skull, and the hollow reminder from Adam the Ant of pushing his limits when he was still a young Alicorn. She hoped it wouldn't leave too much of a scar, and fade with time, even so, everything hurt to move and she felt like she bucked a hornets nest with her backside exposed.

\111/

"Captain Ironsides, have the cannons all been loaded and aimed at the blimp located at Boston Airport?"

"Yes, Second Scout, Sparks."

"Then Fire at will."

Across the Bay of Boston, at a height of 460 feet off the ground, the cannons at the Prydwen and fired. The cannonballs sailed in high arcs, blasting into the side of the Prydwen a distance of 3000 feet, normally unable to at ground level, but with the whole ship cantilevered to the starboard thanks to the anchor, the extra angle was able to project the cannonballs almost a mile. The instant threat of war bearing down on them, and letting the Brotherhood know they were not going to be allowed even a single inch of land to rest on until they left. Thunderstruck made herself clear.

The first volley of eight cannonballs, followed by a second volley two minutes later, and then a third two minutes after that. Repeating itself twelve times until the whole financial district was blanketed with thick black smoke from all the gunpowder burnt off in the air blanketing the skyscrapers in a dense sulfuric fog. Sparks was coughing from all the smoke in the air, hardly able to breathe as the robots reloaded and fired again and again.

The ninety-six cannonballs either struck or bounced off the hull of the Prydwen, bashing through the metal exterior, cracking steel plates inward. Giant cracks appeared in the port side of the Prydwen, as the cannonballs glanced downwards into the Boston Airport landing strip below. As the forces braced for impact or set their defenses to the port, six groups of Mechanist patrols all rolled down from the General Atomics Factory, Six Tank bots, six assaultrons, six eyebots, six protectrons, six mr. gutsys, and six swarm bots all rolled into the Departure/Arrival area of the Boston Terminal and began blasting everything in sight. Deeming everything hostile, the whole landing strip and airport terminal was a battlefield.

As metal-bound plated pegasus were the first to take off and cross the bay to attack the U.S.S. Constitution, Sparks had to only listen, devoid of any metal, and armed with a tesla coil powered by the generators below deck, the first squadron of armored pegasus from the Prydwen were suddenly daisychain electrocuted across the sky.

"Thanks for wearing metal," Sparks said, rubbing her own chest from where she was still sore from the day before. The arc reactor spat bolts of electricity and plasma out into the sky, making anything trying to get near the U.S.S. Consitution a target. When one Vertibird came racing across the sky, oblivious to their own armored troops getting shocked mid-flight, the angry pilots blew past their falling comrads and right into range of the arc-reactor.

With twenty-thousand watts coursing through the hull of the vertibird, all its on-board systems were fried, everyone on board zapped into decommission, sending the vertibird careening down thirty stories where it crashed meters away from the Old North Church.

Stationed below was Liberty from the Railroad, she and five others maintaining a ghost-crew to make the old Headquarters seem active, even as they dealt with synth-crows and seagulls. Lulled to the surface to see the fireball burning near their frontsteps, the Brotherhood ship, and the cannonballs flying across the sky, they quickly checked to see if anyone wearing power armor survived.

Where the vertibird had plenty of momentum behind it to be crashed onto land, the winged division of armored pegasus were either vaporized by the fusion cores overloading and exploding on their back, or rendered inoperable and plunged into the Charles Bay, sinking instantly. Several were able to quickly eject, but beams of light bearing through the sky as lasers targeted them from executive suites of the Weatherby tower where more robots were stationed.

Shrouded in smoke, Sparks flew around the ship to contain the sphere, keeping the Constitution in a smokescreen bubble as the unarmored-unequipped pegasus were forced to turn back for weapons. Those that did survive the tesla coil blast or eject themselves were suddenly made aware of the situation at the Boston Airport behind them. In the process of ejecting themselves from their suits, they had to let go of their weapons, as most were attached to the saddles and firing mechanisms connected to the rest of the power armor. The whole battlefield of robots overwhelming the ground forces as the Knights were quickly clustering up to stage defenses around the gantry of Liberty Prime and the Control Tower where Scribes were rushing up the stairs to reach the gangway at the top back to the Prydwen.

"Scout Sparks, we only have enough cannonballs for four more volleys before we need to assemble more. Of which the time will take another 6 hours before we can produce more for a single blast."

"Aim at the control tower!" She instructed, relaying messages that Thunderstruck gave her.

As the first eight cannonballs blasted across the bay at the Control Tower, the stairwell was exposed and ripped apart. the Elevator shaft breached and control room wiped clean. While the mooring cables remained taught and anchors still tied into the frame of the tower, the two centuries of exposure and errosion on the seaward side was quickly and ominously swaying with the breeze.

On the third volley, the Control Tower suddenly shifted sideways, the rusted supports and centuries of salt air working in tandem with the new destruction finally sheering off the structure.

"Again!"

With the final volley, no amount of sympathy given, the cannonballs now on their descent were brought down with the help of gravity and punched holes into the nose and port side sections of the Prydwen as Lancer Captain Kells fought to level out the ship. The entire control tower crumbled, dragging the anchors down three hundred feet to the tarmac, yanking the nose of the Prydwen down with it.

Dumping ballast, regaining levelness at the cost of being unable to remain stationary. The Captain brought the tail end of the Prydwen down to the ground with a ferocious bang of metal that completely warped the entire flight deck section and the six vertibirds docked within.

Dropping three hundred feet as the nose dived because of the mooring lines attached to the control tower, everything inside the Prydwen was thrown forward, then as the stern came crashing down with tremendous force. The entire Brotherhood Army was now grounded onto the Boston Airport landing tarmac. Soldiers inside grabbed what they could, whether it was a rifle, or armor, and fighting to the exit, they suddenly outnumbered the Mechanist forces and fought to hone in groups of robots.

There were still six more vertibirds on the ground, as only four with the lancer pilots were able to take off with larger crews suddenly scrambling to pile on, split between going after the U.S.S. Constitution, their orders came screaming back to take care of the ground forces swarming the Boston Airport.

Hailstorms of minigun bullets were rained down at the robots, even as missiles were launched back up by tank-bots.

One Vertibird was shot out of the sky, an explosion on the tail rudder making it spin out of control and come slamming back down to the tarmac in a blazing fireball.

\111/

Elder Maxson and his troops barricaded themselves in the cargo and luggage sorting area, with plenty of metal and cover, they were able to move into safety and then blast their way back out onto the tarmac, directing ground forces to head for the terminal. Even as some escaped the destruction by running for abandoned airplanes along the tarmac. All the destruction and noise caused a movement of mirelurks to the surface. The plummeting control tower and volley of cannonballs brought dozens of mirelurks from the Charles Bay up, even a Mirelurk Queen that felt the ground vibrating disturbance. Soldiers and Knights on the tarmac looking to escape the Mechanists robots were now overwhelmed and swarmed by mirelurks. The Mirelurk Queen crawling across the landing strip suddenly became the focal point of attention for the Vertibirds, as the trio of pilots and their gunners blasted away at the Queen. One vertibird simply ran out of ammo rendering it useless, and the second was forced to land quickly after taking off due to lack of fuel. The Third vertibird did large sweeps over the whole airport, circling around and around, shooting at the remaining robots and mirelurks crawling all over their base.

Meathead and Danse were already close together, after the Prydwen was grounded, Meathead announced to Danse that it was now or never. There would be no coming back after this, the fury that Elder Maxson was feeling would burn all of Boston to the ground level with emotions running wild like bonfires set ablaze.

"Is this Athena?!" Danse shouted,

"<These are cannonballs! It's the U.S.S. Constitution!>" Meathead replied, listening to them bash into the floating derigable, Meathead wondered how many it would take to puncture a hole in this floating balloon.

"Why is the Constitution firing at us!? I thought you and Nate were in control of it!...Is NATE Doing this!?"

"<...>" Meathead opened his mouth, but shook as if a blast of cold water suddenly washed over him. "<I don't know! Good Question! Who hates the Brotherhood the most right now?>" Recalling feeling Thunderstruck's emotion close by. It was North of them, and yesterday he, Danse, and Brandis passed her by, coming within spitting distance of each other as he passed the General Atomics Factory. It'd stuck with him and been present in his mind, but how something dramatic had changed with her emotions. She wasn't scared in the slightest anymore, this was solid determination, and pity. She didn't hate the Brotherhood, not even a shred of disdain, she just didn't care for them. Even though he didn't reach out to her, he could feel her close by.

"What?" Paladin Danse asked, not understanding Meathead's answer,

"<Something's happened, I don't know what, but we need to get out of here.>"

The sirens and emergency signals blared as the commanders on deck fought furiously to bring the whole airship stable again. Without the mooring cables keeping it tethered to the control tower, the Prydwen was forced to land. While it could maintain its position, the decision to ground the Prydwen came at a hefty cost of pride to the whole Brotherhood fleet. Seeing their airship suddenly grounded, all the scouts on patrol were suddenly recalled back to the Boston Airport.

"<Alright, time's up, we need to bail. Now. This is only gonna end badly if we stay. Elder Maxson's going to need to make an example out of someone, or somethings, once this is done, and those things are going to be US if we don't fucking leave, right fucking now, Danse!>"

"If we run, they'll hunt us down for insubordination and desertion!"

"<If we stay, they'll hunt us down and accuse us of being spies, and then we'll both be killed! They'll make an example out of us as a warning so Elder Maxson can tighten his grip over the Brotherhood, and use us as an excuse to go to war with the rest of the Commonwealth! If we leave, he's seen as a weak leader, but when he finds out what we both know, he'll use that to level Boston to get to the Institute first! Which is worse, him being seen as a weak leader, or us wearing blindfolds in the iron sites of a firing squad!?>"

Rushing from the second Deck down the gantry ways where other Knights were rushing to take up arms and return fire on their invaders, they quickly realized that the Brotherhood outnumbered the Mechanists bots, but lost all command and were shooting at whatever they deemed a threat.

With the blitz attack on the Brotherhood, once Knights came spilling out of the Prydwen, the Equestrians in particular weren't deemed a threat by the Mechanists robots until shot at with a clear line of sight, making the Equestrian squads more of a threat to the robots. A threat and fact that made itself clear to the other Brotherhood squads quickly, the Equestrians only numbered in 90 to the other 300 humans. With only ten being Knights within the Brotherhood, the others on patrol, or away from the battle before it happened, the others were scribes, or initiates, serving lower ranks in the chain of command, less than a dozen were truly a threat in a fight. Instincts did the most work, defending themselves, but making themselves targets as well.

\111/

While not devestating to the Brotherhood's numbers, the attack started by Thunderstruck, Sparks, and the Mechanist's bots, the winged Pegasus Knights were down by half, the others were now scared of getting close to the skyscrapers in Boston again, unsure of what else might be training their iron-sights on them, or hidden in the upper floors. The humans on the ground when the attack happened suffered the most, 19 Brotherhood Knights and crew were killed by the Mechanists bots before the circling vertibirds and Elder Maxson coordinating from inside the terminal were able to control and direct their forces into a unified attack and repel the invaders. Seven Brothers were killed by Mirelurks, and three were killed by the Mirelurk Queen before being the main target from dozens of weapons all shooting at the largest target on the battlefield. No one aboard the Prydwen was severely hurt when the bow was yanked down by the control tower collapsing. Six Scribes in the Control tower either fell to their death or were crushed as it collapsed, two of which were struck by the cannonballs blasting through the outer wall at the Control tower's staircase and supports.

The most damage was to all their equipment, of the 24 vertibirds that escorted and were part of the Prydwen fleet, the six in the flight deck were completely crippled and bashed into place, rendered inoperational. With one lost during the attack on Fort Strong, and now a second crash landed into the North End, with a third hit by a Mechanist Tank Bot missile. the Vertibird fleet was down by over 1/3rd of their original strength in the 24 hours from arriving in the Commonwealth. Three totaled, and the other six needing repairs. The mechanism allowing the vertibirds to retract and fold up to be stored within were broken beyond repair and would need to be fully replaced. They would need to be disassembled, taken out of their moorings, then reassembled on land before being able to repair the flight deck. While the Prydwen was still operational, and could float and fly, the belly and port side was completely hammered and battered. Loosing the mooring cables and anchors meant that they would need to stay grounded until being rebuilt and bolted back into place, along with the cables themselves replaced after being stretched beyond their tension limit.

The Interior of the Prydwen was stable, but in utter disarray from being jerked around, one of the four reactors was bearing a large crack in the housing bolts that kept it in place. That appeared when the belly hit the ground, with the whole vibration rattling up through the interior of the ship. Otherwise, all four were still contained and operational, but everything turned out of proper alignment, and was now grinding. More than 10 milimeters out of alignment, entire shafts would need to be readjusted and reassembled. That meant unbolting, welding, and reattaching everything. A repair job that would take weeks to accomplish for a single part.

Proctor Ingrams power armor bay looked like a hurricane came through and blew everything around, the kitchen's stove stacks were now laying on the floor, and the ashes were now smoking up the kitchen and dining area. The doctors office and examination rooms were completely trashed, the only deck to have suffered the least amount of damage was the Fourth Deck, containing the data for all the recorded transcripts and logs of conversations taking place around the Prydwen, and the magician's anti-relay teleportation shield.

The Observation deck next to the captains quarters and Elder Maxson's room was now cracked and the glass was spidered out in all directions, but still in place.

The only thing untouched was the Liberty Prime gantry that wasn't directly under the Prydwen when it came down, and the ground barracks built for the scribes reassembling the massive warbot. The crane was still mostly intact, but everything around it would need to be replaced as the Flight deck was built around the crane, and would need to come off anyway. Losing air superiority was a massive blow to the Brotherhood, more damaging than any setback they could've imagined. Their entire strategy was based around air-superiority, along with heavy ground troops and support to allow for movement.

Now they would need to rely solely on ground-troops with an extremely reduced amount of air-support moving forward for the rest of their time in the Commonwealth.

Morale was utterly capped, with the confusion of Fort Strong still not quite fully explained and communication not fully spread through the ranks as to what happened with the loss of Strike Team Nero, now with the Prydwen grounded for the time being, it would be up to Elder Maxson's vengeful charisma stoking the rage and passion of the Brotherhood army to bring everything back to be reforged into a new point of attack. How this damage was exactly what he meant when he declared it would be a costly campaign, and that not just the Institute, but the abomination called Alicorns would be their target for their fury. They would get payback, revenge, no cost was now too great, as every soldier and Knight would now be paying with their lies to fight for the Brotherhood to reclaim its glory and stature.

Meathead took Paladin Danse and vanished, Paladin Brandis thought to look for either of them, but expected they would both be long gone by now. After less than a day back with the main Brotherhood chapter, his thoughts were quickly turning back to his shack at lake Quanapowitt, or even to joining a smaller group seeing as how ever since he landed back in Cambridge, things were turning for the worse everywhere he went.

He was never formally under Elder Maxson's command, and even though he was part of the Brotherhood, he was technically part of the Capital Wasteland Chapter, Maxson was in control of the Philidelphia chapter. Leaving now would mean turning his back on them, but at the same time, after seeing the whole situation blow up in the Brotherhood's face, he didn't want this to be his problem as well.

\111/

Paladin Brandis went looking for Elder Maxson, having relocated temporarily to the Flight Lounges in the Boston Terminal.

"Want to explain to me what the Alicorn meant when she said she's leaving today to go free her friends from raiders like us?" Elder Maxson demanded to know.

"I don't know any Alicorn, does she have a name?"

"Thunderstruck, and seeing as how you and Paladin Danse were the only Paladins in this entire part of the country before our arrival, I have to assume she was referring to you and the deserter Paladin Danse."

Brandis looked around, out at the tarmac as forces were recollecting themselves, and then to Elder Maxson, "You lost a tenth of your men and a third of your flight capabilities in the first twenty-four hours of being here in the Commonwealth. Is the campaign costly enough for you yet? That's what you said on the flight deck, that this would be a costly campaign."

"I don't need to have my own words repeated back at me, I need to know what the Alicorn meant when she said she's leaving."

Chewing the inside of his cheek, "Thunderstruck said this?"

"Right before she launched an attack on our defenses, we instigated no fight with her before hand, and she strikes at us before we've even had a moments rest. There are men here who haven't slept since before arriving, and have yet to sleep!"

Brandis didn't want to mention that he had seen and been told that Elder Maxson ordered the Brotherhood to shoot first. That she warned them to leave.

"Then what it means, Elder, is that you need to pack up your crew before the Alicorn comes back with a real army, and makes good on her promise to turn this stretch of airport into a longer runway."

Elder Maxson noticed the choice of words, "My crew? You're part of the Brotherhood, we need you."

"What you need is to leave, come back with the full might of the Brotherhood, and maybe you'll stand a chance. Otherwise, I see this ending for you badly, Elder Maxson. You'll be walking the same paths of lonely isolation and reflection that both Paladin Danse and myself have walked extensively since coming here to the Commonwealth. Maybe in two years you'll realize how to live with the Commonwealth, instead of fighting against it. I shudder to think of what comes tomorrow if the Brotherhood is still here..."

"You still haven't told me what her message means, and where do you think you're going?"

"I'm walking back to Philidelphia, if need be. There's a caravan leaving in a week down to Providence, and then from Providence down to New York, New York to Philidelphia. The prospect as always frightened me to go alone, but to stay here is suicide."

"You're not going anywhere, now tell me what she meant!"

"Of Course I'm NOT going! I'm staying here to fix this utter mess! I won't turn my back on a WEAK and utterly defenseless Brotherhood Chapter from the Pitt! It looks like I'll have to resort to the old method of Elder Lyon and help those in need, as much as you detest such an idea of asking for help!" Paladin Brandis said, borderline treason as far as Elder Maxson could care for what he was hearing, but he needed Brandis' experience now more than ever, "As for the Alicorn, She's going to be rallying the largest bunch of the worst, most despicable, cannibal-driven, feral minded, wildest brigands and raiders you've ever had the displeasure of imagining, and bringing them all here to stamp out all traces of the Brotherhood! Less than 20 miles from here is a little shit-hole called Nuka-World. I've had the displeasure of hearing stories about this place, and by God, if even a tenth of the stories are actually true, then there are over 500 raiders in a day's march from here, two days by walk. A caravan train that could line themselves end-to-end to stretch half that long of Equestrian and human slaves bringing all the food, water, guns, and ammo they would need to turn this steaming pile of shit called the Commonwealth, into a flaming, smoldering pile of shit. Only instead of being open about it and warning us, I imagine they'll come for us in the dead of night, crossing the damn bay because that's the last thing we would be able to defend from, and attacking from the water's edge. Irradiated sea-water be damned, that's a morning bath to those who actually bathe when they're not busy inbreeding or sodomizing deathclaws over there. There's a slave train that comes down from the North once a month, twenty people in a whack, with guards from Nuka-World. These are the most skeesiest, drug-addled, tempermental, raiders you've never seen or ever gotten to know. They buy and take more chems than the hardest of drug users, making addicts in D.C. and the Pitt hooked on psychojet look like mid-wives with a sore throat. The only way they'll come here, is because they've been bought off. And Once they've been bought off, you will be looking at the cheapest group of sell-swords you've ever had to fight. If Thunderstruck said she's going there to free her friends...I'd say you have two weeks before you start seeing Nuka-World's first caravans marching over those hills...from then...seeing as how there wasn't any warning before this attack, I'd expect even less warning between now and then."

"Paladin Brandis, we need your expertise and experience here in the Commonwealth to mount an offensive and help defend the Brotherhood."

"No." Brandis replied, setting his branded armor down, "The only way to survive, is to not go to war. Fighting will only draw more attention, and be the Brotherhood's downfall. You're going up against enemies who are drawn to the call of the fight like the Brotherhood, that is why I had to grind my Brotherhood insignia off because I knew it was only a target. I had to scrub my tattoo off with a wire brush to hide the truth from any merchant wanting to know where I came from. That is how I survived for the last three years. "

"And is that what you're doing now? Abandoning the Brotherhood? Turning your back and showing your cowardly side again?"

"Maxson, I'm going to Diamond City, and then to Nuka-World. Am I happy that this happened? No. But can I understand why this happened? Absolutely. I'm leaving to negotiate, talk, and to convince Thunderstruck that what she did here doesn't need to be repeated again. But Thunderstruck isn't the one you need to worry about...What you should've been focusing on, ever since the day you arrived, who's been keeping us from sending messages back to the Brotherhood? Who speaks for the Equestrian Caravans? Who controls the airwaves? Who is it that planted the Bomb in Fort Strong? I warned you once, and you let the information coalesce, and now your eye has already been blackened, so I'll warn you one last time so the memory comes to the surface. There exists in the Commonwealth a mare determined to see us spread across the wasteland like fruit-preserve across pilot-bread. All to bring Sola and Firelance to the front line where this mare intents to kill them. Of Which, I'm most convinced that she has the capabilities to do so. She is an armchair general capable of moving forces far beyond her which already culminated in pitting an Alicorn against us, and to get pieces to move on this grand chessboard of life, is extremely impressive, her name is Athena. I see now that Thunderstruck is the benign-caring touch, as she was the one who warned us of what would happen if we didn't leave, Athena is the cold, calculating side touch of death, the side that doesn't warn us. The side that will stab us in our sleep just to paint a blood-red sunset on the Brotherhood's downfall. Two sides of the same coin. I'd hate to face those odds again. Now...should you chose to ignore my advice, flip the coin of fate again, and continue this fight. Call them. Call Sola and Firelance and tell them what's happened, they will come. They will come, and everyone will die, You. Me. The Institute, the raiders from Nuka-World, and the Brotherhood you brought here will be shattered across the whole countryside as it will never reach its strength again like it was when you first arrived. It will crumble from the inside like the Minute Men of the Commonwealth...but the Alicorns...? They're Special. I see that now. The sun will dawn on them and set for us. Seeing this world end and rid itself of all wars is something they were born to do and created for that exact purpose...and you can't fight purpose," Paladin Brandis warned.

"We're not calling them, they abandoned the Brotherhood, just like you are doing so now! Stay here and fight for the Brotherhood. We need you!"

"I still fight for the Brotherhood, Maxson. But you don't even know who to aim your weapon at now, while I am fighting to see that the Brotherhood survives another day. Now I'm going out to secure resources and supplies; New recruits, and allies. maybe even a few locals who are willing to build up defenses around the airport. This is something the Brotherhood is in desperate need of in both manpower and defenses now. I'll be back... and Ad Victorium..."

I just got a letter from one of our trusted caravans' folks, and I...I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, but it's a contract that the Brotherhood of Steel is putting out...! There's a rumor already floating around that the Brotherhood of Steel has a caps machine press making caps...which means...well...that with them bringing in all this money...they could buy everything out, but then there would be an excess of caps and no supplies."

"Well; The most laughable person is a person who can be bought off with money...and the last thing serious people will take from you and call their own is an unserious joke. Until then..."

"Keep on Smiling, Diamond City. Just keep on Smiling, and things will be alright. Take it away...Louie."