\111/

Sanctuary Hills was as Meathead and Nate described it, even from above. seeing the Vault Entrance and shack, Thunderstruck saw the Mr. Handy watering the lawn in front of Nate's house, the only painted teal-blue home and green lawn.

While the rest of the neighborhood looked neat, and trimmed, there were piles all about the culdesac, one was a burn pile, another was boards, shingles, nails, pipes, most of the houses were gutted to the frame. These were the stacks of building materials all laid out and ready to go. Codsworth was working around the clock now that he was able to roam where he wanted to.

Thunderstruck from her lofty overhead aerial view signaled to the caravan to follow her, and as they came across the wooden bridge to the neighborhood of Sanctuary Hills, Thunderstruck was the first to approach Codsworth while the rest of the caravan still made their way into the neighborhood.

“Good Afternoon Madam, how may I be of assistance?” He asked.

“We have a caravan with a doctor Curie coming,” Thunderstruck replied.

Codsworth perked up “Ah, Madam Curie! I hope her learning expedition has learned her well? Are you her current traveling companion?”

“Yes, I'm Thunderstruck. Nate sent me to keep an eye on things. Curie's outfitted herself with an X-ray camera, we've got some medical journals and books, and she downloaded some files from an Auto-Doc in Boston for surgery, she's our go to doctor for now until we get more trained up or find someone else.”

“Fantastic news. On my end, I've been puttering around Sanctuary Hills attending to things here and there, there are five lots available for construction. As for the DeLuca siblings, both made excellent progress in expanding Vault 111's capabilities and rewiring old power cables. They've been running new lines for days, so it's much brighter in the Vault now than before.”

“There is an issue of roaming attack robots following us, Codsworth. Have any robots come through here?”

“Not in the last few months, Miss. I usually take my reprieve and am never bothered by tourists. Are you and your group interested in relocating here to Sanctuary Hills?”

“Yes. We need to hide Curie, you, and one other before these robots show up again. They may also attack humans. They were playing a message on repeat about being sent by a person named the Mechanist, and from what Jackson the caravan merchant said, is that they've been attacked every day for the last three days now, and another group may show up as early as tomorrow.”

“Well, sounds like another project for the list. A merchant's house for rest and recovery and a staging ground for caravans, as well as a outward facing security checkpoint by the river. I've been instructed to show new arrivals building materials and guide them in reconstruction of houses to fit Sanctuary Hills,”

“Miss Thunderstruck, along with organizing a line of defense, these Mechanist machines may be a menace to the neighborhood. In lue of having everyone show up without much time for everyone to get to know each other, I believe the first order of business would be to two options, stage a line of pre-emptive strike and then hunker down to wait. Might I direct your attention to the suburban layout?” Codsworth asked, pointing over the houses across the street from them, down towards the entrance to the neighborhood.

“To get to Sanctuary Hills, we are in a suburban area, an only a single road comes out to this neighborhood alone, followed by some foot paths through marshes or light thickets and sparsly-wooded areas. A robot wouldn't be programmed to follow these old trails unless it knew about them, otherwise most robots will stick to the main roads. There are multiple choke points from the bridge that crosses a stream into the neighborhood, or there is the Red Rocket coolant station down the road. The reason many pre-war buildings are still standing is because they've been programmed not to enter them unless provoked or ordered to. Many schools, factories, and businesses such as the Red-Rocket for that reason do not fall under their purview necessary threat. of Once you've decided what to do with the incoming threat, hide and let them pass by to trick them, or use the opportunity to attack them, either way, the second order of businesses would be to escort everyone unable or too essential to fight into Vault 111.”

“Is it alright if we stay in that house?”

“That is up for Master Nate to decide. Although, I'm sure he wouldn't mind since you asked. Permanent housings will be built and maintained by any residents of Sanctuary Hills. Otherwise, there are sleeping accommodations in Vault 111 readily available for now until the rest of the houses in Sanctuary Hills are up to code for permanent residence. I am available for restoration and building planning, as it appears that the rest of your group is arriving and will need places to stay.”

Thunderstruck and Codsworth welcomed everyone into Sanctuary Hills, with Codsworth asking if Curie was going to stay a little longer this time around. While the attempts at flirting were remarkable, Curie insisted she was only staying long enough for Nora's surgery and recovery.

With everyone only coming together in the last two weeks, facing most days thinking about survival, they hadn't been able to properly express interest in their roles or what they would be doing. As each pony discussed their talent, how they might be able to contribute best, it was something that developed over the days spent together, only now becoming relevant.

Occupying the houses adjacent to the left and across from Nate and Nora's home, everyone unceremoniously dumped their packs and stretched out after carrying the weight all the way from Boston. Sorting everything into relevant groups, and deciding where to put things as they were needed until they were more established lead everyone to see what they brought, and what they could do with that they had.

They quickly went around and announced what they were good with, or at least experienced with.

Hollow Point was proficient with weapons and ammo crafting, shooting, targets, guns, she spent plenty of time around them and handling them.

Golden Grain knew how to farm and work the soil, he knew good water from bad water, and knew about dozens of plants and fungus that grew in the Commonwealth.

Dart was handy with tools, fixing guns, and had spent months with the Gunners as a watchdog and basic workhorse for them. Building, digging, being their gopher, as much as he hated it, that's what he knew.

Cherry Fizz said she knew how to read, write, and make basic medicines, drinks, and salves from herbs and animal fats, and then after the raiders took over, she was forced to make chems for raiders before being sold to Libertalia.

Warner and Serin Copper both knew how to build, that they could put together a shelter in no time at all, with Warner spending more time around wood, hammering and cobbling things together while Serin Copper spent more time around welders. Hammering things together, making metal pieces line up, even riveting.

Thunderstruck knew most about the vision Nate and Meathead had for Sanctuary Hills, and was ready to go gather the supplies Curie requested for Nora's surgery, along with knowing more about the area surrounding Sanctuary Hills, Concord, and knowing which groups were around them, to be wary of, or deal with, making her the defacto leader of the group. She knew of Red's Stockpile Raiders to the South of them, along with the territories around them that were all now in a state of flux. This would be the best time to expand and land grab, but they hadn't stopped long enough to set up their beds yet.

The ponies, along with Jackson and his group of Zoe, Ada, and Hertz quickly decided that they would stay to have the strength in numbers, salvage what they could, and then make a second decision on staying or leaving after the next batch of Mechanist's robots rolled through.

As much as they wanted to disengage and go straight to rest, they all needed to take care of setting up a perimeter or a barrier to ward off the next wave.

That lead all of them to work around the clock, leaving little time for breaks or eating, which two of the ponies eventually broke away after it was getting dark since they all agreed that it was better that someone start working on food for the rest of them. Thunderstruck told Cherry and Dart to get with Codsworth to help make food for the rest of them, where they first met the DeLuca twins in Vault 111.

They were like that way until they all slowly succumbed to exhaustion from traveling all day, and working all night. They managed to get traps into place and set up meager defenses that would at least cluster the robots closer together to make easer to catch in a cross-fire and pen in together. Some ponies ate, other's left a cold bowl of food out for them to dig through at their own pace when they weren't busy, but it was far into the next day that eventually everyone fell asleep and was roused again to face the coming threat of Mechanist Robots.

While most ponies took shelter in the houses around Nate's, simply because they didn't want to move their packs again, most of the ponies went up to Vault 111, while only Thunderstruck went to Nate's front door late at night.

It was almost alien as she walked onto his grass lawn and nearly recoiled at the touch of the thousands of tiny plant blades. The smell was surreal as well, pacifying almost. The porch lights were on, and she could see into the living room, where a fireplace was built in the mantle, providing warmth to the whole house. Codsworth greeted her at the door, welcomed her in and offered her a cup of dandelion tea and offered her a seat by the fire.

"Ah, Miss Thunderstruck, I'm happy you've finally retired for the night. Please come in, enjoy the warmth, as you're looking rather tired from the road. Please have a seat in the living room while I bring you a warm herbal tea. I've remedied a solution to the water heater tank, and shall draw hot water for your bath now. Please, enjoy yourself and relax and I shall fetch you once everything is ready."

"I'd actually just like to lie down,"

"I completely understand, madam. However, if you grant me an extended measure of dependance, I shall provide the utmost service to you to ensure you are well rested and cared for in the coming future."

Her haunches dropped, something in the way Codsworth spoke that made it feel like he was only looking out for her best made her relax and she say "I'd like that," guided into the house and shown the living room on the right, the darkened kitchen didn't offer too much interest for her at the time.

"Please, madam, have a seat where ever you'd like while I bring you some tea."

Thunderstruck sat infront of the fireplace in the living room, taking Meathead's place on the floor, happy to stretch out and let her eyes doze off. To the right was a darkened television, with a similar holotape console player that stood infront of the bay windows looking out into the neighborhood.

Nate and Nora's Corvega wasn't looking any better, but the tires had been replaced. This was the only servicable feature the second upgrade from the General Atomics Galleria Codsworth was allowed to provide to vehicles, special auto mechanic features were yet another upgrade offered separately. It was a slow start, but Thunderstruck felt in awe of the past for a moment, feeling the carpet, feeling its textures, her eyes kept on getting pulled back into the fire Codsworth built.

Codsworth offered her a cup of tea with steam rising from the top and she accepted the warm porcelain. Taking a sip, she set it off to the side and looked out the window again. Codsworth hovered off, leaving her to bask in the warmth of the firepit.

Thunderstruck couldn't shake the feeling of leaving others without, so she got up, and went through the neighborhood to track down and offer a place by the fire as well to any other person, but none of them wanted to move again after it being so late.

When mentioning Nate's house, the fire, Codsworth, they seemed resistant to the offer, or hesitant towards being around yet another robot, regardless of how nice it may seem. Even when she described the warm fireplace and setting, they couldn't bother to be roused for any more action that evening.

Thunderstruck returned, finished her tea, was brought more, and by then, she was nearly asleep on the floor when Codsworth told her it was time to get washed before bed.

Being guided up to her hooves, there was something in her mind that wanted to know what it meant to be like a human before all this happened, and that this was some play-pretend to engage in some small part of it. Now that she was alone, and knowing that no one else would be intruding on her until first light, it felt freeing to disengage from the rest of the group.

Codsworth guided her into the washroom, and she honestly didn't know what to do. Without hesitation, Codsworth offered to show her, instruct her how to use it, and then offered to wash and bath her himself.

She replied yes please, and let the robot clean her as she sat there under the warm water and soap lathered into her mane and coat. Rubbed in, combed out, conditioned and rinsed out, she was leaning against the robot, tears in her eyes from trying not to fall asleep on him. It was nice having someone reach the spots she couldn't normally herself.

The robot had afforded twenty minutes of hot water before it started to cool, which was far from acceptable by his standards. Thunderstruck remembered being cleaned by Meathead and Nate, or the weird sensation of being pulled from the Changeling pod like she got laid as an egg. Emerging from a steamy bathroom, with Codsworth gently guiding her to Nate and Nora's master bedroom.

"I can't take his bed,"

"It's quite alright, you asked permission, and you said Master Nate told you to keep an eye on things, didn't he? I'll have new sheets ready in the morning and something for you as well Miss. I've noted the change in temperature dropping is astounding these last few days. We're sure due for a cold snap and perhaps some snow here soon! Anyway, Master Nate and Madam Nora are away on business, as I understand, and as such, the phrase Mi Casa es Su Casa applies."

"What's that mean?"

"My home, is your home. Please, Miss Thunderstruck, allow me to draw back the covers."

Crawling into bed, Thunderstruck had to wonder briefly where the robot was able to find an unsoiled mattress, and clean sheets, but was reminded of Vault 111. On the nightstand was a Vault-Tec pin. Codsworth closed the door behind him, leaving the mare alone to examine, look around, see a bit of Nate's old life.

Head resting on the pillow, she thought, 'What is this feeling Nate is fighting for?' She asked herself, laying there in his bed. Looking out into the darkened neighborhood, the moon was brightly shining down. Thunderstruck curled up, and slipped into unconsciousness.

\111/

"Madam Thunderstruck,-" Thunderstruck bolted upright, tense as a rod, heart already hammering the moment after Codsworth finished speaking, "-I've prepared your breakfast and garments for today."

She was staring at him, trying to hear the words, "The what now?" Throwing off the blanket, she stepped down from the master bed,

"Oats and Honey, with dried preserved cranberries mixed in, and your garment."

"My garment?"

"Of course, I prepared it last evening after I was able to gain measurements from you during your bath, after you retired for the evening."

"I felt like I was going to fall asleep in the tub last night,"

"You did nod off a few times, Miss." Codsworth chuckled, "I can also bring you more tea if you'd like, something to wet your whistle this morning. I shall retrieve it for you now, Madam. Please, have a good morning."

Thunderstruck's needed to fight her instincts and flared out wings from waking up in a place she didn't recognize, by an unfamiliar voice. All the events of the last two days rushed up to meet her, and Thunderstruck dropped her rear down onto the bed and sat there quietly, senses going out the windows and into the neighborhood.

She must've been the first one up, as it was still dark out. Clouds making exceptionally dark blue, almost black, but the first light of dawn had shifted and would be turning to morning grey within minutes. It was riveting, as she shivered a few times, sensing that the house took on a certain chill, but certainly not as cold or as open as the other houses, or sealed as Vault 111. Her mind rested on the thought of why nobody wanted to join her last evening, and figured it was from her pushing everyone so hard the day before. Now when it came for their first time to relax, they all wanted to get away from each other to decompress before getting back together again.

Immensely gratful for Nate having a working kitchen, bathroom, Thunderstruck poked her head into the baby's room and stood there at the doorway for a solid twenty seconds, wondering and trying to recall any mention of Nate having a kid. The pantry where Codsworth accumulated his own resources and power supply station was also next to the Washer, Dryer, and water tank.

Sitting on the kitchen table was her oatmeal and cranberries, sweetened with honey, and dutifully enough Codsworth floated over more tea, this time a Madrona and dried orange peel, making it extremely bitter and citric for the morning, but what she needed to face the day. "Thank you, Codsworth."

"Absolutely, and for the Madam, I've also had this prepared."

She saw it on the way in, the blue vault suit sitting on the kitchen island counter. "I took note of your wings, and was able to fashion a vest that covers your torso and back, but doesn't restrict your rotator cuffs movement for the joints."

Codsworth held up the Vault 111 vest for Thunderstruck, and she suddenly felt overwhelmed. No one had been this nice to her, except for Nate, and Meathead. It was making her nervous about how generous these three were, how she didn't want to say no, but felt that this was all excessive and that she should be giving more stock and worry to those around her and the rest of her community, but Codsworth must've noticed and set the vest back down.

"It's alright, Madam. You did what you could for everyone, and you know you can say you did your best. Let your thoughts go of them, and let's help with making sure that you are your strongest right now, so when you go out there in ten minutes...half an hour...hour...tomorrow...next week, you can stay as long as you want, but when you leave here, I want you to be your best, Madam Thunderstruck. So there's no crying, or tears, and no give-backs, this is a gift for you. Tis the season, anyway, isn't it? Only 7 weeks until Christmas. Oh, now that Master Nate's home, I suppose I'll have to dig out the Christmas decorations this year...and find a suitable tree..." Codsworth said and then began to ramble on. Thunderstruck accepted the gift and poked her wings through the back, zipping up the front, she shuddered, feeling the heat get trapped around her body as her wings fluttered and hung at her side.

"Huh, booby pocket," Thunderstruck said, checking out all the pouches and pockets, one on the left side directly above her breast, over her heart. Feeling the material and how she felt wearing it, she was overjoyed to be wearing something that would keep her top and barrel warm, especially with the wall of winter storms bearing down on them.

It'd been the type of Summer and Fall, that Thunderstruck knew it was going to be a long, cold, winter. A dry winter, one that didn't snow much, but every little droplet of moisture already on the ground would freeze and be picked up and swirled around by howling winds. That meant it was going to be icy and biting cold within a month, but Nate and Nora's home felt insulated from that.

Washed, fed, dressed, and watered, Thunderstruck was absolutely jovial leaving Nate's house that morning, but after taking one step out the door, she realized it was still early morning light. She felt completely revitalized and was the first one up out of anyone besides Codsworth, who surely worked through the night. The early wake-up call, made her gratful for how coordinated Codsworth was in making sure she had everything she needed for the next day.

This feeling of compassion and warmth, Thunderstruck chirped at the process of being cared for and attended to like that. She felt like she was with a caretaker that could provide for all her needs. She didn't want to be the only one to partake in that experience, and tried to share it last night, so listening to Codsworth, she let those thoughts go. A small selfish part of her didn't want to share the unique, peaceful quiet time she had being tended to like a freshly born chick. Now that she floated on that cloud of ideas, sinking into the membrane of feeling things she hadn't touched on since her childhood, Thunderstruck had an inkling of an idea for why Nate missed the past.

She at least felt like she had a better understanding of him. That Nate was used to a certain level of treatment, and offered the same amount of respect in return, but when the bottom fell out of society, people end up taking more than they need or know what to do with. She could see why Sanctuary Hills is valuable to a person like Nate, and while there may be better off suburbs and neighborhoods around, with similar Codsworths and Mr. Handies...this one was here and real, one they had found and didn't need to keep spend time searching for imaginary paradises. This was one they could rebuild their own.

As Thunderstruck went from house to house that morning, she was the one who explored the whole suburb from street and sky level before being satisfied with what she saw. Ponies rising up from their sacks or bedding were slow to move, like sifting through concrete. At this point she didn't want or feel the express need to tell others that she had already been up for half an hour, clean, and fed, full of energy, while everyone else was still digging the crust from their eyes.

"Time to get up." She said, "We've got six hours until the Mechanists Robots arrive. Time to get moving."

\111/

Six more people arrived over the course of the next day, in addition to the six menacing robots churned out by the factory. While the group of four from South Boston University wouldn't arrive until later after all the commotion and fighting with the robots settled down, they would find themselves integrating much more smoothly, and with a much better welcoming committee than the first two who arrived a few hours before.

These two who arrived early, Cait and Leighla were able to provide Sanctuary Hills with extra firepower, and that the plan of attack went off more than smoothly.

Leighla was sporting a painful wing, barely flapping in time, but still enough to keep her airborne. What was really throwing off her form was the massive gut from devouring half the Mirelurks population of South Boston and their Queen at Fort Independance. The feast was making her aerodynamic as a dish of flying jello. The fullness from the feast was only just enough to drown out the bruises, burns and cuts as she plowed on forward to the promise of a warm place to rest. Leighla figured a few more hours, and she would be back to normal, even after devouring enough Buffout and eggs to steroid and protein-load comparable to an extremely muscular elephant. If anything, she was finally feeling back to normal after her long night of getting shot up and shot at.

Cait was antsy, she didn't like the thought of having to meet a bunch of new people, let alone watch them, but that was their new job and role. To guard a bunch of weak ponies who she would have to fight Leighla off to get a fair share of the meat for, and the lack of stability for anything long term Cait to reach out and grab was making her reach for Leighla.

In the transit from South Boston shoreline to Concord, it was one of the longest, furthest trips Cait had taken in years, and most of the time she was forced to be with her thoughts or observe the surroundings.

She knew a handful of landmarks, the Corvega factory, the Museum in Concord, finally between the two of them, they were able to find their way to powerlines that ran North and eventually intersected and branched off with Sanctuary Hills.

But, that didn't matter what she thought, she knew that, all that mattered was that no one else mess with them, unless they were asking for trouble. As they all appeared at different times over November 8^th, the ponies were alerted to a cawwing screech as Leighla landed with Cait,

“Alright! You sorry sacks, Nate put us in charge of keeping the rest of you safe. To make sure you survive the week! You hear that? Now, I was promised a hot shower, bed, and some food, so where's it at?”

Codsworth was first to approach, “Allow me to introduce myself, Madam, I am Codsworth, Master Nate's personal assistant. He instr-”

“Master Nate?!” Cait's mind latched onto the word an anger rising in her chest, head growing red hot. “Who get's off on being called Master?! So who's in charge around here when the Master's away?”

Thunderstruck landed bearing her flaming sword, gripped in between her teeth she caught the new arrival's attention and made Cait jerk her head back. She was wearing a vault suit top with holes cut out and hemmed for her wings to fit through.

Cait sniffed the air, the scent of clean mane and fur, suddenly aware of how terrible she and Leighla smelled. Leighla was far worse, having devoured hundreds of Mirelurk crabs hours before, but the giant gryphoness was still immune to her own stench. While the wind as they rode wafted away most of the scent, as they stood there it was overpowering.

“That-” Thunderstruck slammed down into the ground, wielding her flaming Shishkabab sword. “-Would be me.” She saw from a distance Codsworth's gentle approach didn't work, how some people needed a little heavier handling.

“Easy there, I get you're tired and hungry, but you're wrong on one account. You've got no right to be this angry, and I'm telling you the first thing you and your giant friend take a good look around you and tell me what you see.”

“I see a run down bunch a houses, with the exception of that fancy one over there that looks like it might have a nice bed for me to lay down in, or is that just being hallucinations from the lack of me caring?”

“Nevermind the houses, we all just got here in the last day. We worked through the night readying an ambush and defenses for an enemy we know is coming, let alone roll out any welcoming committee you were expecting.”

“Then what is there?” Leighla asked, “We're...not sure what this place is.”

“Excuse the robot, he addresses everyone as Master or Madam. That's how he talks, he's an old robot. He even called you Madam in place of Master because you're a woman and that's what he does. How about you tell us your name first, and how you managed to find your way here, and we start talking to each other like actual adults?” Thunderstruck said. “None of us know where you came from, so how about you start there?”

The gryphon let silence speak for herself until Cait spoke up, sharing silent glances between each other until Cait turned her her head back to Thunderstruck.

“The Combat Zone,” Leighla said.

“From the cages of the Combat Zone,” Cait corrected her, “Nate promised a lot of things, but all I see are empty lots and not much to live off.”

“Nate.” Thunderstruck said, “Nate gave us lists of instructions on what to do with Sancturary Hills to turn it into a fast homestead and getting the outside ready. Winter's going to come bearing down on us pretty quick, so we're divided up into teams right now. A handful of us are inside Vault 111, and the other are trying to get foundations up before it snows. Long story short, we only arrived the day before, Cait. We're only settling in ourselves, and already we've got a lot of issues to worry about before we even get to houses and shelter.”

“And what about that house? It looks all spiffy and ready,” Cait inquired.

“Codsworth put in the effort to make it ready for the Overseer as soon as she recovers from her surgery. As for food, we're working on big indoor gardens capable of feeding everyone. With you, Leighla, we'll see about getting even more proteins around here. For the first winter however, we're going to have to go larger on beans, lentils, rice, and potato portions until we can get a better meat supply going. Storing it will be easy in Vault 111.”

“And I thought Nate was the Overseer?” Leighla asked, “What's this about a surgery?”

“Until Nate comes back, his wife Nora is our number one concern. She's unconscious, and is probably the main reason why Nate sent you two here to protect her. Now that we've got that covered, In exchange for letting us use Vault 111 as a shelter, we get to build up Sanctuary ourselves.”

“Yes. Could spared some of the details, though.” Cait said.

“Alright then, how about yourselves? How did you end up coming here?”

“Nate broke some robot-human lookalikes out, sprung us too in all the hub-bub,” Cait said, crossing her arms to survey Sanctuary Hills.

“And Nate saved me from overdosing on Buffout. He offered us the food, water, and shelter in exchange for keeping an eye on the place.” Leighla explained, feeling a tight squeeze in her chest when she mentioned herself. It was such a horrid feeling that crept up and washed over her, spots in her eyes, like she couldn't breathe. Then it all quickly went away.

Was this Nate or Meathead, Thunderstruck didn't know, but she needed to find a place for them to fit in their community.

“All of that is available. Food, a bed, a hot shower and a job keeping invaders out and keeping this place safe. After you've gotten a look over from Curie, you'll introduce yourself to the rest of the community here and explain that you were put in charge of security. From what I see, it appears like you two are the toughest fighters here, and I can see why Nate would want you around.” Thunderstruck said, playing to their ego. She saw instantly it was the right choice from Cait's response.

“Darn right we're the toughest. Over 300 fights in the cage and I'm still kicking. My Leighla's got more muscle than she knows what to do with. She ate a Mirelurk Queen down to the shell. This Nate feller's strong, but is he tough enough to take down Queen on an off-day? Now 'tis a question I'd like to see answered.”

“Speaking of which, how's the food situation around here look?” Lieghla inquired.

“I'd need to speak with the two ponies in the kitchen, but, as for security, get some rest now, because we already know something's coming our way, and should be here in less than 3 hours. Depending on if these killer robots come rolling through, or run into anything along the way, same as the last four days, then we should have until 2 o'clock this afternoon before we hear the Mechanist's robots come patrolling our way, looking to kill us.”

“Killer robots?” Leighla asked, frowning at their metal shells, they always left black spark marks every time she tore them apart, and stung at her claws. Her talons could easily gouge through the metal, but fighting them was always a chore. With a animal, you rip off its head, or peck out its heart and the creature was dead. Robots had to be dismembered and ripped apart, otherwise they still might move in a dangerous fashion.

“Yep, the plan of attack is to ambush them at the Red-Rocket station just down the road to avoid them from coming up here and spreading the fighting around the houses. We arm ourselves up, wait for them to roll in, and then blast them. That would buy us 24 hours and then another 2-3 hours for them to make it here. In that time, we need to head straight back to the source, and pull the plug on these tin cans. After you get rested, I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew in the ambush.”

\111/

The only people humans who weren't sure if they would be staying long, were Jackson and Zoe, with their brahmin, Daisy, and pony, Hertz, and Assaultron, Ada to protect them.

Jackson needed a day to recuperate since he wasn't in any shape to mount an ambush or fight in a penned-in situation. Zoe was not looking forwards to a fourth interaction with the Mechanist's robots, but when joined with a large enough group all sufficiently armed and waiting to ambush them, it made for an easier time convincing when listening from Thunderstruck. The pony Hertz trained by Jackson was about ready to drag Jackson out of the Commonwealth on his back, while he and Zoe high-tailed it to safer scavenging grounds. Hertz wanted nothing to do with anybody except his own little group. Ada was the only one vocal about her worries of the robots arriving again, and said that the only solution would be to take the fight to the Mechanist themselves.

Ada's worries were met by Thunderstruck who reasoned that if the robots were tracking them, and they were expected to arrive sometime in the afternoon, based on the deduction they were coming from a factory in East Boston. Destroying them didn't end the attacks, only reset the clock.

\111/

Curie examined Nora. Her chamber was devoid of cryogenic tubes, the twins set to dismantling most of them, leaving only a few remainders for emergencies. With plenty of coolant, she composed a scenario in her head for an operating room that would allow her to work and keep Nora cold for the duration of the surgery.

All she would need are the supplies from the Switchboard in Lexington, that Thunderstruck and Jackson's caravan would retrieve after testing Sanctuary's first line of defense.

“Oh, mon coeur, it weeps for thee,” Curie said to Nora, “I'll put it back together, and hope for the best. Put a smile on that face, and a I-shape scar on your chest.” Drawing a smiley face on Nora's pod, she knew that everything would turn out all right with the surgery.

\111/

When the Mechanist's robots came for the fourth time in four days, Jackson and his caravan of Zoe, Hertz, and his Brahmin had less than twenty-one hours since arriving with Thunderstruck and the ponies in Sanctuary Hills to organize themselves.

With Cait and Leighla arriving around 10 in the morning, the Mechanists robots arrived four hours later, clearly visible, easy to hear.

Thanks to Codsworth's input, and Thunderstruck guiding the group to spring an ambush, knowing which way the Mechanists robots were coming, and how many, their lineup, and where they were going, it was easy to lay out traps, tripwires, and coordinate a defense that targeted the tankbot and assaultron's first, to take out the hardest hitting robots, before the eye-bot, protectron, Mr. Handy, and junker bots could coordinate. By picking off the tank and assaultron, their next target was the eye-bot to cut off any visuals and stop them from sending back any more information about their staging ground.

Assaultrons were equipped and programmed to get back up when tripped, they would know how to push themselves off the ground and get right back up. So the trick to tripping them up permanently, was to lay out not one trip-wire, but dozens. The robots wouldn't feel a single line pressing against them, and would continue moving down a street unhindered. But, with dozens of lines wrapped around the front of the torso, legs, around the hips, and then wrapped up in the arms as well, the assaultron looked like it was covered with streamers before the ponies finally pulled the strings tight to get it all caught in their trap.

The tank bot was a lumbering, slow rolling machine with two arms carrying massive weapons off either side.

Thunderstruck told them all night that this would require expert timing to do this fast, and with the least amount of pushback or chance for the robots to resist and go on the offensive. This meant that the tank bot would needed to be dealt with first, otherwise it would take control of the battlefield and make it difficult for anyone to get close to it.

Nate was able to prove that it was possible to sneak up to one of these tank bots, and even climb on it without tripping the sensors, but you needed to be fast and agile too. Thunderstruck saw Leighla and Cait's arrival as a gift from Meathead that he sent both of them to her, and able to understand their attitudes and intentions, even coming to understand why Meathead chose them to be their security guards.

It didn't take long to decide to put Leighla on the first assault team that would strike against the robots. Her role was to dive-bomb the tank bot, and rip off one or both of its arms or appendages. This just turns the tank into a battering ram that can be avoided with heavy precaution and then dealt with without worry of the robot shooting back. That would be the first move against the Mechanist robots, however, Thunderstruck told Leighla not to strike until the Assaultron walked into their trap. The Assaultron was easily the fastest responding and most deadly, since it could easily turn invisible and fire lasers from its head, it was best if they took this robot out from long range before anyone else got anywhere close to the Mechanist's robots.

Like wrapped up in a ball of string, the Assaultron couldn't move or struggle, let alone push itself off the ground, making it an easy target to get crushed and done in at anytime. Since it never registered any threat either, it was taking its time pushing itself off the ground, trying to figure out why it couldn't move as the residents of Sanctuary Hills descended on the other four robots.

With the two most dangerous robots immobilized, the other four were easy enough to overwhelm with sheer numbers and superior firepower. With their 12 against the robots, leading up to the four minutes of them shooting everything like crazy, unloading dozens of rounds to turn the remaining robots into cheese-graters and shot scrap, their was a quiet silence after the shooting stopped and then they all started to cheer.

Crab Cake, Sea Shell, Poppy Cake, and Tin Hut arrived twenty minutes later, they were walking up the road, seeing fresh destruction on either sides of the road, signs that an accident and battles only recently occurred. They had heard the noises farther back and away, but remained cautious on the approach. Having walked from South Boston University, they were hours behind Cait and Leighla, but they managed to arrive after a big fight which put the new community's defenses to the test right off the bat.

Brought together by the community defense, Thunderstruck brought Jackson, Zoe, Ada, and Hertz to scrap down the busted robots for anything worthwhile. Here, Ada told her human companions again that this wasn't the end, especially with four repeat instances to confirm this. She said that the only way to deal with this threat would be to fight against the Mechanist, and this time Jackson agreed. Only, Jackson and Zoe weren't the fighters capable of tanking on this kind of threat every single day, and Ada told them to stay behind and gather resources to make it easier to leave the Commonwealth and go find other areas to scrap and salvage in.

Next came the hard part, as much as they were feeling congratulatory about fending off the first attack on their community, the countdown was on again. Twenty-six hours before the next batch, and this time they would be without Thunderstuck, Ada, Cait and Leighla, While they were up four, and down four, with more empasis on trying to avoid the fight altogether and converse resources.

This meant the rest of them went with Codsworth's plan of hiding. This time tomorrow, they would keep an eye and ear out for any robots coming, and once they got a signal, they would all hide and wait for trouble to pass.

\111/

As the pile of freshly printed newspapers grew to 100 copies, Piper stopped to pack the essentials, fearing the next round of transgressions from Diamond City guards under McDonnough's orders, or something worse from the Institute themselves

This was big news, but any person who read even less than a tenth of the article would be blasting away at the birds without a care or regard to others in the world. Things found a way of falling back on her, from what she wrote to how everyone took it, the good and bad news landed right back on her doorstep.

As she reread the words on the written page, she smirked, 'At least it's better than calling people calling their neighbor a synth.' Which was a step forward, rather than the two steps back she had with McDonnough, this time she had tangible proof, rather than just observations.

In the week Nate and Meathead left for the Glowing Sea, handfuls of reports from merchants were coming in that things were turning downright nasty out in the Commonwealth. More ghouls than a person could swing a stick at, mutant bands moving all over the place, roving groups of attack robots striking at caravans, and now she was about to add more fuel to the fire by saying the Institute was watching their every move through synthetic birds.

Her mind turned the stone of Meathead's announcement that McDonnough was a synth over and over in her mind, he was the only one so far to be able to confirm on a whim. She would find another connection to him and the Institute, she just needed to see it from a different perspective.

\111/

Three miles from Quincy, a fantastic white-limestone quarry was excavated and occupied by Slough and his raiders. A handful of lookouts up near the surface or by the road heard or even saw some of the explosions echoing out. While their own decision on what to do when it came to observing Meathead and the Atom Cat's shootout with the Gunners,

It was early that next morning that a skinny man wearing nothing but shoes and carrying a pea-shooter of a pistol sent to go check Quincy out. He poked around, saw the Atom Cats, the lack of Gunners, and nearly tripped, arms and legs all spread-eagle, onto a landmine while doing a lap around the town.

He tripped.

Landing face to face with an explosive that would've blown him to smithereens before running off back to base.

Next Chapter: Ch. 85 Jamaica Plain Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 39 Minutes