"Help, or Mayday, whatever one says on the radio. My name is Rex Goodman, I'm being held prisoner atop Trinity Tower by mutants, and I think they plan on eating me soon...I'm setting this to repeat..."

Paladin Danse, Paladin Brandis, and Knight Rhys all lead the assault on Trinity Tower, coming in from the North down past Diamond City. With Scribe Halen and Verne bringing up the rear with heavy weapons, they all were wearing salvaged power armor and were equipped with enough explosives to collapse the whole tower. While their initial goal was to sever the Emergency Broadcast, they needed all hands-on deck to make it to the control rooms on the higher floors of Trinity Tower.

After spending the last three days gathering weapons, loading up, and packing, the Brotherhood Recon Squad moved South out of Cambridge Police station into Boston. All five of them wore armor, with fresh power cores fully charged and more ready to swap out at a moments notice, they knew that they would complete their mission, or die trying.

Loaded down with a laser mini-gun, Knight Rhys was the heavy of the group, with Paladin Brandis carrying an assault rifle with a grenade launcher attachment, and his Vector SMG on a sling, he and Paladin Danse with a Fat Man launcher and four mini-nukes, blasted the bottom floors of Trinity tower wide open.

The Super Mutants around Trinity Plaza, Trinity Church, and the Fens district heard the noise, then the blast as Danse lead the charge. The surprise attack bewildered and shocked the mutants before they could react to push back the Brotherhood assault team, as they all charged into the foyer lobby, guns blazing, shooting their way and taking bullets themselves as their goal for the first initial phase of the attack was to get to the stairwells or elevators and then fight their way up.

\111/

"Brandis, stay here and secure our exit route. We may be leaving in a hurry and I don't want to come down to a swarm of Super Mutants blocking our only way out. I want our exit strategy to be clear, if all else fails, we run to the closest settlement, Diamond City, and from there, back to Cambridge station. I expect more resistance higher up."

"Clear." Knight Rhys said

"Understood." Paladin Brandis said, he felt his lone survivor instincts kicking in already, looking for the path of least resistance out of the Back Bay District of Boston. Three days wasn't much time to familiarize with the other members of the Brotherhood team, and it was decided that being the odd-man out, he would remain on the ground, keeping an eye out for any more groups of Super Mutants, and if need be, blast an escape route out as the rest of Recon Squad Gladius moved up through Trinity Tower. Left with the Fat Man launcher, Paladin Brandis was ready to keep any groups of mutants at bay.

\111/

There was real momentum as they made it up the first four floors of the building, the surprise attack and blitz of destruction working for the Brotherhood of Steel members as Knight Rhys shot his way up, Paladin Danse leaving the Fat Man launcher with Paladin Brandis as a means to blow an escape route and keep any groupings of Super Mutants from getting any bright ideas on coming closer to the tower.

When they reached the higher floors that weren't destroyed by the first mini-nuke, the interior mutants were trying to come down as they went up, forcing tight quarters gunfire where the power-armor made the difference between being torn apart by bullets, and being shot apart. Scout Verne and Scribe Halen stayed together, supporting fire to keep Paladin Danse and
Knight Rhys covered. With all the mutants clustered along the stairs, spilling out into the hallways and offices, they had to storm through as one stairwell was blocked, meaning they needed to get higher another way.

Laying waste to floor after floor, the fifth and sixth floors were blasted to smithereens, Knight Rhys laying down on his laser mini-gun to unleash a near continuous stream of searing hot bolts that ripped through the walls and mutant bodies.

With all the explosions rocking the tower, the noise of gunfire traveling upwards, the mutants higher up took to barricading doorways and paths, trying to block their attackers from moving further into the building. Staying quietly dormant until they came up to face them.

Paladin Danse and Knight Rhys could see the ceiling above them bending and flexing with the mutants moving above their heads, and shot upwards through the floors. Debris rained down as mutants fell through the collapsed floors, eviscerated bodies and mutants suddenly trying to aim down and shoot at the Brotherhood attack force moving up.

The same thing occured when they reached the middle of the tower too, stairways blocked, doors barricaded, the only unhindered path leading to an elevator was the only way up, but they knew whatever was waiting for them would be ready to fire at whatever came out. They took this time to lay out explosives, far away from support pillars, and with the only intention of collapsing the non-essential areas, they blasted their way up from the safety of the stairwells, bringing down entire rooms and shuddering Trinity Tower again as it creaked ominously and swayed with the violent explosions.

Their reprieve came as they climbed higher and encountered less mutants, but they didn't stay to sweep the building floor by floor, they were on a mad-dash to the top. They were more organized, better defended. On the 20th floor there was a machine gun nest aimed straight down a hallway right at the stairwell doors, pinning them down. It took a lobbed explosive from Verne guiding his magic to fling the ordinance close enough to their nest to blast them back and allow them to continue.

Only when they finally came to the 26th floor did they need to find another way up, as the whole stairwell leading higher was gone. Completely eroded away, missing and collapsed, the only way up from that floor was the elevator.

The bay area had two elevator doors, one which still worked and had power. After checking the perimeter of the 26th floor, to make sure there wasn't any other way, they reconvened at the elevators and pressed the button to summon the cable car.

Far below the a mini-nuke exploded, Paladin Danse was closest to the windows and checked for signs of activity. Crawling across Trinity Plaza were dozens of mutants coming from Trinity Church, Boston Library, and a whole pack coming in from the Fens from the West. Like giant green ants, they were swarming for the tower in a giant group, coming across Trinity Plaza in a horde. Perfect for Brandis, as he lined up his next shot and aimed right at the mass of the group.

A second mini-nuke was launched by Paladin Brandis, scattering the horde of mutants and sending them scurrying for cover. As quickly as the group formed, they all disappeared off the street in an instant.

"We don't have long before they send Omega's to feel out how many mini-nukes Brandis has left. Verne, Halen, I need that transmitter shut off NOW."

Their referral to Omegas was to indicate the super mutant's command structure, any Alpha dogs, those with leadership skills, would send the runts, the weakest or least skilled in first to feel out and probe for weaknesses in defenses. Paladin Brandis knew that they would come in slowly at first, spread out and trying to keep their distance, it was up to him to keep a careful balance of the battlefield down below and make it appear as if he had an endless supply of mini-nukes at his disposal, even though he only had two remaining.

Coming up from the 25th floor and beyond were smarter mutants who hid or remained behind closed offices that in their haste to reach the summit of Trinity Tower, were overlooked. Knight Rhys fired volleys of laser blasts at the pack of mutants, and Paladin Danse ordered him to get Verne and Halen up to the top while he held off mutants here.

If this was their only way back down, he wanted to be sure they wouldn't all be walking into a trap on their way back down.
While the power-armor had built in compression springs and hydraulic stabilizers to assist with drop-ins, and falling from large heights, with their luck and condition of power-armor, he didn't want their escape route to involve jumping to their potential death.

As Verne and Halen entered the elevator, Knight Rhys continued firing a final volley to assist Paladin Danse until he saw only three mutants left and saw that Danse was loaded again and ready to fire.

With the cramped elevator full, it dipped a little before ascending. Paladin Danse crossed the floor to the elevator bay, rapidly pressing the button, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, trying to summon it back down as quickly as possible.

In the few moments of darkness, only illuminated by their helmet lights, Knight Rhys reloaded his mini laser-gun, having to tip the barrel up towards the ceiling to make enough room for all of them. Cycling another pack in, he told the others he would take point and be the first to lay down a line of fire the moment they stepped out through the doors.

\111/

Athena was waiting, horn glowing as the two elevator doors parted open, she blasted the insides of the elevator car with an intense burst of fire and magic, the fireball incinerated the interior of the elevator and with such force the cables snapped and broke.

Plunging 30 stories down, Knight Rhys, Verne, Scribe Halen all fell to their death in an out of control elevator car. The force of the entire container crushing upwards around them as the metal smashed inwards compacted the three bodies together in a mangled burning heap.

Paladin Danse heard their screams as the car raced past and down, bashing through the interior of Trinity Tower, as it landed on the ground floor, blowing out a massive blast of dirt and dust. Brandis suddenly felt overwhelming fear as what he thought was all of Recon Squad Gladius being eliminated in a single stroke.

Athena inhaled and sighed, bringing a smile to her face "Oh Brotherhood...Where Art Thou?" Warping down four floors, she caught Paladin Danse recovering from his shock and pinned him against the wall in her magenta magic.

"I take great joy in killing you and your companions, the cancerous tumor you proudly die for growing and spreading across the wastes will happily crush you under heel like a hammer to a nail. Here I am, Paladin. Your reckoning. My name is Athena."

Athena's magic crimped down on the exterior of Paladin Danse' suit, compacting it in tighter, the power armor frame pinched all around his limbs, like the T-45 Iron Maidens, the tightness and restrictive movements was crushing him from all sides.

"I want to hear you choke. I want to hear your lungs gasp for air, it's the bark of a human. The humans barking like dogs, whimpering like canines, the feral clutch of a final breath. I want to hear you break, Paladin! I. Will. Hear. You. Give. Up! GIVE UP! Let me see your face as you realize that you are worthless! Let's see it! Let me see! Show me!" Athena ripped off Paladin Danse' helmet and saw the bulging blood-shot eyes, throbbing veins around his neck and face, the struggling Adam's apple, lips gaping like a fish,

Athena inhaled through her nose and then opened her mouth wide, slowly exhaling a loud breath into Danse' face, "Ah...that's it...That's it," She smiled through grit teeth, outpouring all her anger and resentment onto Danse. "I love the expression you're making. Let's see those eyes..." Horn glowing brighter, eyes burning holes right through him, Athena tilted her head to keep herself in Danse' line of sight, "That's it. Eyes getting hazy, face purple, you're almost there...And..."

As Danse lost focus, she released the magic chokehold, he fell to the ground, wheezing and gasping for breath, painfully coughing and heaving, almost a scream to bring the air back into his starved lungs.

"Now you know you can't beat me. Soon the whole Brotherhood will feel exactly what you're feeling now. Defeat. That you...Lost."

Paladin Danse was swallowing unable to find his voice yet, "Get up." She commanded.

"I said, UP!" All of Danse' power armor was stripped and ripped away from around him. Yanked out of his shell, he was forced back into a standing postion. "I had plans, Paladin, but every time I seem to make one, something always ends up happening that skews my life in a completely different direction. I wanted this conversation we're having to happen at a much later date, but you forced my hoof. If only, if only you had bothered to check the radio this morning before setting out. Time for Plan B then, taking a blank mold and shaping it just right to fit my needs. Sometimes I don't even know why I bother making plans, teaching people what I know." She reasoned, "It's much more enjoyable endowing enemies with the hope of survival, then ripping it away from them again and again until they turn the tools of life on themselves and end it."

"You're a psychopath."

"Oh! I'm FAR from perfect, Paladin. I realized that a LONG time ago. I wake up every day with a smile and renewed purpose to bring the Brotherhood to its knees like you are now. I could do it the hard way, negotiating, playing nice, talking with humans to get what I want, but watching you squirm and beg is much easier and less grating on my eardrums and nerves. All while you and your scientists breed and blend together all DNA in the world to create stronger ponies, gryphons, kirin, piggybacking off Enclaves captivating work, and leave the abominations burned to cinders in the grow tanks along with all the deathclaws the Brotherhood grows in captivity. I will put you in your place and slap a label on you. For Sale. CHEAP."

"I'm not- part of that."

"Oh but you are, you've got the sword and steel gears tattooed on your body, you've marked yourself, I see no difference between you and every other Sword swinger that tries to come down with a righteousness and cleanse this land. You don't want peace. You want guns. You want bombs, you want the synths and the technology the Institute's been crafting for centuries, and just so you know, I know the Brotherhood wants to get the Fat Man mini-nuke production line in Fort Strong here in Boston as well."

Athena produced a list, the secondary goals and trirtiary goals of all the valuable targets the Brotherhood Scout Force was meant to assess and locate items of interest. "You don't want to get along an play nice with others, so save your breath instead of lying to me. No other tone of pitch or voice is more annoying and infuriating to me than a person who says 'Cannae we all ge' along?'... No...That ends now, Paladin. Mark my words, the day I get my hooves on your leader, I will lash him to a breeding mount, and run a ten-mile-long train of stallions on him as the remnants are forced to watch."

Forcing Danse around like a giant doll, he could only resist so much before his legs bent and balance came undone. He was forced to move or fall over.

"Know this, you killing yourself is the only way out of this...which is why I'm going to give you that hope of surviving again and again, starting now."

Danse felt catapulted through the air as his body was ripped through space, upwards four floors to the Broadcast control room of Trinity Tower. The sonic boom snapped through the air, dumping the Paladin on the 30th floor.

\111/

Being forced ahead, Danse stumbled forward down a hallway to a small room not much bigger than a garage, but there were windows into all the offices. To his right, a human he had never seen before, sitting in a broadcasting booth with large headphones over and a disinterested melancholy expression. He wouldn't even look towards Danse, while opposite to his right, was a Super Mutant staring with a burning intensity directly at Paladin Danse.

Strong raised his fist and set it against the glass.

Ahead of him was the Windigo Mona, and to her left was Fist. Super Mutant leader over the whole Commonwealth.

"And with this, Fist's time is done," Mona said.

Even as Fist turned his head to look up at Mona, pain shot through his chest and stomach. Ice spread through his veins, blood instantly chilled. Before Fist could even react, he was frozen to the spot.

"We could've used this opportunity to have all the mutants united under a single face, but as I said, I make plans for sunny days, and Chaos rains?" She said to Danse, "Mona, you should know this path only leads to super mutant genocide without a face for them to unite under."

"Good. The lack of engagement in the super mutant's pre-frontal cortex will lead them to be perpetually landed in uncertainty and fear. The longer they stay confused and frightful, the less active their brains will be, making learning skills and higher level thinking an impossibility. The only lessons the super mutants of the Commonwealth will come to learn is that any who dare rise up or show promise of intelligence get hedged. Any who fall too low, get plucked. Keeping them in those bounds are acceptable for me. It doesn't matter to me if the creatures of this planet wipe another species from existence, they've already been successful with so many in the past already. Even now humans are turning their unfounded fears towards magic and powers beyond their understanding...they'll come for you too, Athena. Just as they are coming for me. Their fear will one day become so irrational that they lash out, not caring who they strike. The bombs of the Great War created so much fear that it capped people's ability to grow and think rationally and critically, and only now generations later are creature's brains slowly filtering out the toxic fear.

Athena produced one sledgehammer, floating it out infront of her as she forced Danse ahead and off to one side of the office space while she swung the sledgehammer at Fist.

The ice crystal mutant shattered, crumbling into a bloody melted slush and cracked body parts.

"Do you know who this is?" Athena asked, pointing to Strong, using the sledgehammer to direct Danse' attention, he shook his head.

"No." He said, unsure of and looking down and away.

"Are you sure? Look again." Athena said forcefully, getting Danse to twist his head back up and observe the Super Mutant. She shoved the sledgehammer into Danse' hands, forcing him to take it.

Paladin Danse looked at the Super Mutant's features, his eyes, meeting them, looking at the angle of the nose, the color of his eyes, the eye sockets, the ears, lips, trying to pick out what exact detail Athena was trying to get him to see.

"I don't see it," He said.

Athena unlocked the office door with her magic, "Strong, my promise to you. Yourself. Paladin Danse; Meet Your Stronger Self. As Promised, the only way this will end for you Danse, is by you killing yourself."

\111/

Paladin Danse' heart sunk down and raced in his chest at Athena's implication.

As Strong emerges into the office space, the realization doesn't come willingly, his mind fights the connection, rejects it. Danse shakes his head and tries to say no to it, but he can't retreat.

Resting against the doorframe was a second sledgehammer. Knowingly grabbing it as he keeps his eyes locked on Paladin Danse the entire time, Strong raises the sledgehammer with one arm, completely level and pointing the head at Paladin Danse, he held it there to show his strength.

"The Ego of Danse is split, fractured. We are both, but cannot exist coinciding in nature, as water is to fire. The bonds of one must be broken down to consume the other, become one and grow from the corpse ashes of the other. If I win, I regain my sanity and my human kindness, my human face. An abomination that replaced me and took away all that I am. I am the human Danse, turned mutant, you are the synthetic son of the Institute. Well Old Man, I will tell you news of your son...Give me your blessing: Truth will come to light; Murder Cannot be hid long; a man's son may, but at the length Truth Will Out."

"When you die, Mona will grant me your form, our memories, and my life back. I am you, you are me, and Danse can't exist without both synth and mutant claiming they are human. If this is the life I must live, then so be it. If this is my purpose, so be it. If my will to live is all that remains after one of us is dead...then that is the truth of what is to come. I am Danse and you an imposter!" Strong raised his hammer ready to strike.

\111/

Mona turned her head down to Danse,

"The question remains. Who is superior? Not the human, that's for certain, otherwise you wouldn't be in this conflict I've manufactured. Between the two, a synth human, facing their mutant counterpart. Who would win? Who is Stronger?"

"I'm not a synth!"

"You are most definitely a synth, Paladin, and I'll prove it."

Mona's magic gripped hold of Paladin Danse, his power armor, unraveling it like a spool of thread being yanked off the spindle. Danse couldn't move, he couldn't feel pain or sensation as his body was pooled apart, clothes around his arms, then skin, muscle, and finally the machine skeleton supporting his frame. Mona went further, spreading his chest cavity apart, his head, his skull, eyes, lips, tongue, brain, showing the synth components within. He saw his own beating heart.

"While expanding the depth of human knowledge is an amusing past time, endowing creatures with intelligence and then ripping it away is far more entertaining. Across all the time I've been alive, I see that all my power, and all of my greatest enemies come about due to a battle of wills...An entirely uncontrollable element no matter the programming nor brainwashing, influence, or propaganda, religion or creed, faith nor curse can compare to an indominatable individuals will to live and survive. A brainless bastard with the stronger will to live is my greatest enemy one that bullets cannot pierce, sun cannot burn, ice cannot freeze, a will to survive is another person's greater will to be whole. This is why I'm giving both of you a gift, a chance, an opportunity to prove your will is greater than your own desire to die..."

"Oh my God," The words fell from Danse' mouth, being put back together and feeling removed from his body entirely.

"Vanta Bega, " Athena said.

"What does that mean? I don't understand..." Paladin Danse asked, trying to think of the translation.

"It means, Fuck Your God," Athena replied.

The horrifying reality choked Paladin Danse, a scream that wanted to strangle his voice box and shout away the world around him. As tears filled his eyes, reality burning neurons into his brain, his life was flashing before his eyes as memories jerked his head left and right. Shaking violently, he struggled to remember when or how he could've been abducted without realizing, or any of his team coming to the same conclusion that their captain was a synth waging war against the creator of synths.

\111/

Strong looked at his counterpart with a mix of anger and pity, that he was robbed of months...years of his life because of the Institute capturing his human self, and creating the two outcomes. Splitting him apart, he returned to the Commonwealth without incident and as mindless as the others, the only one who could read into him and see the DNA down to the bonds holding him together was Mona.

It took weeks for him to relearn how to think and speak again, being filled with knowledge from the only other human in the entire tower, kidnapped by Fist to operate and maintain the controls and equipment inside Trinity Tower, Rex Goodman.

The man wasn't looking so well after spending months in Mona's presence, hounded by Fist, and threatened with death on a daily basis, difficult to think about tomorrow, and only on doing enough to not get yelled at.

Talking with Strong was his only reprieve, the one voice among thousands that wasn't hurtful, that wanted to learn and grow. As Strong relearned how to live and accept the lack of memories that made him Danse, it became painful the more he learned that he was once a human, and that this was how he now appeared to the rest of the world.

Strong hated it, hated how he looked, how other Super Mutants treated him for learning and growing smarter, it was a burden to suddenly have to defend Rex Goodman and have no other mutants around treating him like he was part of their own kind. This hate he had for the Institute for creating thousands of mutants, turned the fear of being the victim; Of being attacked, into rage that all he wanted to do now was strike back.

Memories were hard to retrace, but Mona, and Athena both guided his anger towards elevating himself to a position where he could undo the damage done against him. All it took, was his counterpart. With Mona's special ability to weave, the Windigo enjoyed the passionate rage Strong felt, the burning desire for revenge against the Institute, and Athena quietly enjoyed turning a Brotherhood Mutant against a Brotherhood Synth, created from the same person.

Rex Goodman thought that was the true Greek Tradgedy. A man turned into a monster, while his doppleganger went on living his normal life, and the promise from a monster to return him back to his former self if he slayed the clone.

With months passing, and Rex's own thoughts of survival turning to 'this is what life is,' and with Strong's growing passion guided by Mona, he and Strong became disconnected from each other, distant in conversation, and he felt that whatever connection he formed, was largely overshadowed by the Windigo feeding Strong a false ambition, a goal that he was certain neither Mona nor Athena would ever let him reach.

Learning who Strong truly was, and seeing the proof of it, how he and every Super Mutant was once human, changed into monsters, made Strong's blood boil with anger. Not at humans, as so many unempathetic mutants laid their blame on, but at the Institute and all its creations. Good, bad, advances in technology, it mattered little to the Super Mutant, only that he was denied what was his, and robbed of his identity, and expected not to react. The ostracization, the expediency that Fist held over brutalizing anyone he saw fit only added to the rage Strong held in check.

\111/

Paladin Danse was boxed in, hands gripping tightly, his palms were sweating and slid along the grip of the sledgehammer thrust into his hands by Athena.

There was no getting hit, as Strong charged at Danse with a wide overhead swing that came down, Danse dodge and ran to his right. The sledgehammer pounded down into the floor, dislodging and impacting the wood flooring, creating a hole in the ground. Strong swung again, Danse's whole body jerked backwards like he was electrically shocked. With no armor, just a underlining garb with shirt and pants, the 30th floor air blowing through and Mona's chilling presence made the whole building feel like it was a ice box. Breaths were coming out in hot steam, his jaw was shaking, teeth clattering, he had to clench his jaw shut keep from thinking about it.

Strong swung at Danse' arms, trying to get the Paladin to drop his sledgehammer. Stepping back, Danse touched the office wall, and felt his left arm get clipped by the edge of the hammer's head, slamming into his bicep and making him cry out as he recoiled and jumped away.

It'd been far too long since Danse fought a Super Mutant in one on one combat like this, without protection, without his power armor, and almost always it had been settled with him wielding a gun.

With Strong's height advantage, muscles, and speed to cross the office space on in only a few paces, there wasn't much room for Danse to run to for long. His mind snapped back into the present, thoughts clicking into place and suddenly heart pounding so hard he could feel the veins in his arms coursing and shaking as he stumbled over rubble on the office floor, he turned and swung his sledgehammer down low and struck the top of Strong's left foot.

The force of the blow smashed the bones, fracturing them instantly. Where the bigger they are, the harder they fell, Danse applied that saving bit of knowledge to go for the supports keeping Strong moving. The recourse for getting so close, and for Strong to completely ignore the pain and deny that his foot was broken, he swung hard at Danse's side.

Danse nearly dropped his sledgehammer, feeling it slip from his grasp as he shoved his whole body up into the air, feeling the sledgehammer connect with his lower ribs and side. The blow knocked the breath from him, he let go with his left hand, but dragged the hammer along with his right as he skipped to the other side of the office ring he was pinned in. "ARGAAH!" He screamed, moaning as he escaped Strong's range.

Standing on the balls of his feet, hips swinging back and forth, he watched as Strong came at him again, limping along, ignoring the pain in his foot. Ready to jump either way, "I want my life back!" Strong yelled at Danse.

Swinging across chest level, Danse rose his sledgehammer and deflected it agaist the crossbar, his whole body lurching backwards as the momentum rocked both of his arms. Slamming the sledgehammer down on Strong's other foot, it wasn't enough to cripple it, but it did make him shriek out in pain.

"You FUCKING SYNTH!" Strong yelled.

Danse was too close, Strong brought his hammer down as Danse tried getting away, connecting with his back and shouler. Danse cried out, tripping and rolling down to the ground. It felt like his lungs were going to pop from that blow against his back, scrambling to get to his feet and face Strong again, he shakily felt his whole left arm going numb then intensely hot needles pricking along his spine and neck,

Danse gripped the end of the sledgehammer's stock, swinging it once around then twice to build up speed he flung it at Strong's head. The instincts to block his face were too strong, Danse charged at Strong as he brought up his hands and tried to protect his face. Knocking into him, right shoulder down, slamming his whole body weight into Strong the mutant fell backwards and lost grip on his own hammer. Danse was already on it, claiming the weapon for himself as Strong rolled to his side and stood up, yelling in pain as the bones in his fractured left foot shot wires of pain up through his nervous system. Danse brought the sledgehammer down on Strong's right ankle this time, dislocating it and smashing the foot apart.

The anger and denial was too great, Strong wrapped one fist around Danse leg and pulled him in close, flipping him onto his back as the mutant yanked at him. Danse was suddenly held in Strong's arms as the mutant tried to pull him into a headlock, suffocate him, twisting at his neck, he tilted his head down and bit at Strong's fingers.

Strong bashed the back of Danse' head, reaching around with his free right arm, he punched at Danse' face, his ears, his cheeks, bloodying Danse nose and lip. Biting into the thumb, Strong headbutted Danse from behind. Danse bit harder, severing the mutant's thumb and finally getting Strong to let go from the pain.

Shoving himself away, Danse rolled up onto his feet as Strong used the walls to climb back onto his own broken stubs. The anger was far too great for him to acknowledge the broken bones as he lunged at Danse again.

His gait was thrown off, wincing in pain with every step, Danse could track his movements and keep back. Both sledgehammers were laying on the ground, behind or next to Strong.

Eyeing them, the mutant saw this and kept his ground, keeping Danse away from the hammers, but found it incredibly difficult to bend down and grab one himself.

Keeping an eye on Danse, the Paladin looked around the office space for anything he else he could use. Broken ceiling tiles, shattered desks, bits of glass, bent chairs, Strong grabbed a sledgehammer off the ground, taking to one knee as he did so. Danse's eyes combed the whole room, meeting the spectator's gaze for only a moment.

Mona and Athena were both silently observing, Athena seemed pleased at the gladiators dueling for their lives. Rex Goodman and Danse eyes met for only a moment, but with his pupils leading the way, Rex looked down at a jagged piece of aisle runner laying on the ground.

Danse picked it up, feeling how flimsy and rotten it was, knowing this would only be a feint, he heaved it at Strong who swatted it out of the air, missing his balance, he stepped out too far and fell to his knees again, unable to stand up right. Danse blew past Strong as he tried to trip him, stumbling for the other sledgehammer as Strong swung, connecting with Danse' right femur.

"Auugh!" The deep welling impact bruised the bone, paralyizing his right leg as he took one more step on his left leg then threw himself towards the sledgehammer.

Falling to the ground, Danse wrapped his fingers around the sledgehammer again as Strong grabbed ahold of his legs and clawed at him, dragging Danse back towards him.

Danse was on his back, with Strong at his feet, from his laying position, the sledgehammer was at his head, swinging it up in and arc then down at Strong's head, it connected with the back of Strong's skull, bashing the bone in with a bloody snap.

Strong's head only dipped down for a second then back into Danse eyes with a furious bloody stare, "BWAGHHH!!" Strong bellowed, on top of Danse he pummeled Danse in the chest, the ribs, slaming his fists down into Danse' body.

Curling up, Danse could barely breath as he force his legs between him and Strong's fist, kneeing Strong in the crotch, he pushed upwards with his legs, pressing the mutant up and away as Strong gripped at Danse' hair,

Pulling at the roots, it pained Danse as he felt his scalp being torn off, fingers driving into his skull. "Get...OFF!" Danse kicked, punching at Strong's face it did nothing. The mutant fell on top of him, pressing his full weight down on Danse, so he reached up behind the mutant's skull and felt the bleeding skull and pressed his fingers down against the skull cap into the brain.

Strong screamed again into Danse face. Danse was terrified, his fingers were getting cut on the bone as he curled his fingers in and pressed deeper, wrapping around an edge he pressed and gripped the back of Strong's skull and yanked he mutant's skull apart. The blinding pain was too much as Strong roared, hands going to his head and skull, rolling off and thrashing against the ground.

Danse felt the cold air fill his lungs again as he pushed off the ground and to the sledgehammer, turning around he brought it down on Strong's chest. Then again on Strong's head.

Then again impacting the face entirely, and a final time to crush the skull completely as the brains and blood splattered across the floor and back at Danse.

Danse dropped the sledgehammer immediately as his whole body suddenly felt ice-cold, shivering and unable to stand like he was dipped in liquid nitrogen, he couldn't stop shaking and frozen to the spot. He couldn't feel any warmth anywhere in his body, rubbing his arms, curling up into a ball he gasped and moaned. "Fucking Hell, what did you do to me!?"

All the pain crashing into him at once, the shock and adrenalin keeping the worst at bay, he could only see blankets of spots and haze fill his vision as colors mismatched and faded into grey.

He was so cold it was painful, gasping like he was dying there on the floor.

"Aghh...ah....agh....ahh...gahh..." His neck was sore and purple with bruises, swollen from Strong trying to suffocate him, along with Athena before that, that was the first place he felt any sort of circulation and blood. His hands went to his throat, massaging and gripping his pained esophagus, he let himself sink down and close his eyes to the world around him as he fought all the negative thoughts threatening to make his own brain split open.

Fighting for that first swallow was like choking down a gallon of sand, his throat was so scratchy and sore it pained him to regain control of his breath.

Blood poured from his nose, and trying to clear his nostrils only left a bloody iron taste in his mouth. Spitting, and then wiping his face off, he couldn't stand and felt the rising need to get back on his feet, but a voice told him to stay down.

"To the Victor, go the Spoils," Mona said. All around Danse, the mutant Strong and Danse slowly unraveled,

"No... Please no..." Undoing Danse, stretching him out into fine threads, she took pieces of Strong, removed parts of Danse, and put him back together as she saw fit.

He lost sight of himself and reality for a few moments, coming back together as cold air filled his lungs, his right arm went to his heart, beating in his chest. He still was beaten, but couldn't figure out what Mona just did to him.

"Rex, take care of him."

The silent DJ emerged from his booth, carrying a stimpak and asking Danse where it hurt the most first.

"Everywhere..." Danse choked out, but his hands kept going back to his swollen throat, and from where Rex observed, the whole neck area was the first place to receive a stimpak.

The pain was etherial, everywhere and coming in waves, it hurt, and then it didn't as Danse tried to shift his body into a position that didn't aggravate the rest of his injuries.

He laid there for five minutes, rolling to his side, he felt a second syringe of stims enter his shoulder blades, easing the pain in his back and chest. He suddenly felt a warm breath of air deep within his lungs as he breathed deeply.

Finally able to stop shivering, he laid there until he was able to look up.

\111/

"Excellent work, Athena. All the mutants I requested to be slain are now dead. Congratulations, Paladin Danse. You are endowed with purpose."

"Pur-pose?!" He spat, "What purpose?"

"Look there, on the horizon. Your Oblivion. Here they come, the next group to be endowed." Mona said, her eyes were out on the Western Horizon. Out beyond the walls of Trinity Tower, Danse yelled as he sat upright, working himself up to be able to take in his surroundings again.

"Please, it's just shock," Athena said dismissively. "But it will be interesting to see what happens when the Brotherhood discovers you're a synth. Why...I believe they would treat you... just as you treated your other self here. Bashed in and bloody, without remorse, all in the name of survival and safety. You better hope they don't get wind of what's happened here today...otherwise... like cigarettes, they'll shorten your life in a puff of smoke, dragging you along the whole time."

Paladin Danse didn't want to turn his attention away from his enemy, thinking that it was a ruse, but Mona and Athena turned their backs to him, moving past and gesturing to the West.

Over the hills, far away they could see the silver reflecting sheen of a massive metal air dirigible floating over the highlands towards Boston.

The Brotherhood of Steel was arriving in the Commonwealth, Danse realized, but he looked back towards Rex Goodman and the Broadcasting equipment, Athena looked up at Danse and smiled.

"Here I thought you would've known by now, the Brotherhood got wind of a dead Windigo four days ago, and ten hours ago the Emergency Broadcast beacon was shut off remotely from the Governors office in the Massachusetts State House. If you had bothered to check before coming on your little campaign of righteousness, you would've realized that coming to Trinity Tower was moot, and your friends lives would've been spared. Or do you truly believe that there would've been a better outcome against an enemy you know nothing about?"

"What do you want?" Danse spat, understanding how Athena worked and talked, she was metaphorically twisting the knife, enjoying every second of this.

"Give me Sola and Firelance, and I'll leave you to die in peace."

"They're not part of the Brotherhood of Steel anymore, they don't answer to us."

"I know, but the screams and warmth of the Brotherhood of Steel going down in flames will draw them here, same as the cries of a recon squad lost their way...that's all you need to do, Paladin. Bitching and moaning for help; Just keep doing what you've been doing ever since you arrive in the Commonwealth, and they will come."

"Fuck you," Danse said, "You've been planning this. You knew we would come,"

"I knew the Brotherhood would come again once they lost all forms of communication with Recon Squad Artimis three years ago, that's why I sent raiders after them. Separate them and beak their spirit. I felt it was just a matter of time...all I had to do was be patient. And I am nothing, if not patient. I learned my lesson, have you learned yours? Just remember, Danse. Ten. Miles. Long." Without breaking eye contact with Paladin Danse, she spoke again, "Rex, you're free to go. You're done here. Show the synth the way out."

Rex nodded solemnly, reaching down to the floor, he picked up a piece of Strong's skull, the eye socket, with still the eye vein wobbling and sticking out, he carried the piece of with him. Looking at the bulging eyeball fondly, he ignored Danse's stare.

\111/

"Fucking instigator..." Danse said, unable to shake his thoughts from focusing on Athena.

Stepping across the lobby foyer, Danse couldn't hear any noise except for the quiet breathing of Rex guiding him to the front door. Paladin Brandis was nowhere to be found, yet the super mutants seemed to have all vanished as well. Far above, Mona reveled in the power she held, turning minds and swaying opinions and emotions. Spreading fear, not even the mutants wanted to approach any more after witnessing the Brotherhood blow out their stronghold.

Brandis' survivor instincts kicked in as he felt an evil foreign presence weigh down on him like a wet blanket. Something terrible happened up above, and he hadn't seen or heard any trace of Paladin Danse since the mutants pulled back completely. His own throat kept closing up, like some chilling ghost was trying to strangle him where he stood. It was too much, too powerful of an influence that after hearing the elevator crash, Mona was playing on his fear and apprehension, even from far away. Brandis was only waiting as long as he could, weary for any signs of life. He looked to the open roads and clear shot all the way to Diamond City and took his opportunity to run.

Taking the Fat Man with him, it was a reassuring weight on his shoulders to know he could demolish half a city block and anything else in the direction the launcher was aimed at.

By the time Rex and Paladin Danse made it to the ground floor, the whole Back Bay was quieter than a cemetery.

"Paladin," Rex Goodman said, turning to face Danse, he extended his arm for a handshake and cracked a genuine smile, "Good luck out there."

"Where are you going?"

"Home. And no one is going to stop me." Holding up the eye socket, letting it catch the light reflecting off the buildings, Rex walked off without a weapon, smiling and chin up towards the sky. As Rex Goodman walked off, he started speaking out loud to himself, leaving Danse standing there in Trinity Plaza all alone. Danse was about to call after him, and ask him one last thing, but Rex was standing tall, shoulders back, head up he looked twice size the man he was only moments ago.

Every step he took away from Trinity Tower, Rex Goodman seemed to grow taller and taller, louder and louder with every footstep like a giant lumbering through the streets. Holding up the eye socket and staring into the eye of Strong,

Rex shouted, "Alas! Poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: A fellow of infinite jest!
Of most excellent fancy: he hath
borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rims at it.
Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know
not how oft. Where be your gibes now? Your
gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of merriment,
that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one
now, to mock your own grinning? Quite chap-fallen?..."

Walking off as he orated Shakespear, Rex Goodman's voice resonated as loud as a booming megaphone, off the buildings and echoing through the silent city, the man was unstoppable and walking with such confidence and demeanor that no horrid sight or threat impeded his stride. Devoid of fear, unfraid of death, any super mutants or creatures hearing Rex Goodman quote Hamlet thought that this human was crazy, insane, and needed to be avoided at all cost.

As Rex passed the trio Nate, Deacon, and Hancock all pulled their heads back in amazement at the man walking through Back Bay with an inferno in his chest, a hidden storm cloud booming out thunderous words that rattled windowpanes and threatened to topple skyscrapers, he walked on unimpeded. Most creatures spotting Rex holding Strong's eyesocket thought he was holding a grenade, or some other explosive device in his hands, and were afraid to get near the DJ.

The empty streets were as nearly threatening as loud bustling roads were, as the Trio wearing power armor spotted Paladin Danse, seeing that he was rattled, and worse for wear, Nate was the first to recognize him without the power-armor on.

Nate thought about the man walking past them, but Rex was in his own world, and couldn't be slowed down or persuaded otherwise.

"Oh, well...Danse!" Nate shouted, calling out to him.

"Nate, this guy is kind-of ix-nay on the houl-gay." Hancock said.

"...And the Ailroad-ray," Deacon said, trying to tack on a last word.

"Nah, I've seen that look before. Let me talk to him," Nate said, brushing off Deacon and Hancock's worries.

"What...? Nate...?" This was the first time Paladin Danse saw Nate, his eyes lingered on the deathclaw arm, but then back to focus. "What are you doing here?"

"Never mind that, me and the boys are on our way to the pub. Interested?"

Danse shook his head, "Nate...I really don't drink..." Looking up to the sun and then back down, "And it's too early anyways."

"Nonsense, it's never too early in the day to be an alcoholic, and it's never too late in life to become one. Come on, first rounds are on me."

"I just lost my whole team, I'm really not in the mood right now."

"We'll pour one out for your friends and comrads. How 'bout it?"

"I really don't feel like talking to anyone right now. Thanks for your support anyways," Before Danse could turn away, Nate got his attention.

A loud buzzing cut through the air, faintly at first, but as the group walked along, Diamond City in sight, the roar of engines was plain to hear as Nate turned his head towards the sky looking for the source of the noise.

Spotting the entire air derigable and ship flying over Fenway Park, Vertibirds were breaking off from the main ship, over a dozen flying in a wall-formation, Nate was impressed with the sight of the blimp, but his elation wore off quickly as he heard loud-speakers broadcast a message across Boston as it descended.

"People of the Commonwealth! Do Not Interfere! Our intentions are peaceful! We are the Brotherhood of Steel."

"Well Hoo...oly Shit," Nate said bittertly, a sentiment that all four of them shared, regardless of them being vocal about it or not. "I don't like the sound of that." Watching Danse' reaction, he studied his face, instead of elation that his calvary had arrived, the expression was more apt with someone who just lost everything, and that he wouldn't be able to face the consequences without a proper drink to steady his nerves first.

"Danse, you're wrong. I'm not here to offer you my support, or sympathies. I'm here to offer the opposite of that. Anti-support. I'm telling you to make a bad decision and come drink with us. No talking, just quiet rumination. If you want support, go find your Brotherhood buddies. I'm offering you escapism to distract from all the terrible shit happening around us. Now, do I need to invite you along formally? Danse, please come with us."

Danse tittered, nodding slowly then more agreeably, "Fine, yes. I'll join you."

"They won't let me into Diamond City," Hancock said,

"Ignore them. You're with me, we're going in."

"I really don't feel all that comfortable traveling with a ghoul..." Danse said,

"And?" Nate asked. "I want you to take all the thoughts...and all the words you're thinking about saying...and stuff it down with some brown. Let all that marinade for a few hours. Then, once we have that send off for your team, tell me how you really feel."

"Brown what?"

"Whiskey, Bourbon, Brandy, Whisky with or without the E, or XO Rum, or Anejo Tequila. We'll figure out what your poison is when we get there...Until then, how 'bout them Chiefs? We were on our way to take care of Fist who's supposed to be the head honcho of the mutants here in the Commonwealth...based out of Trinity Tower..." Nate said, seeing barely any response or indication he was getting through to Danse, he tilted his head back and up to look at the outside of the tower, seeing that it was fractured and split. "A Unicorn named Athena had me running around, saying she was going to kill me unless I did her dirty wet-work."

That seemed to snap Danse out of his stupor as a dark grim look of resentment and hurt-anger flushed behind his cheeks and eyes. "Tell me what you know about Athena," Danse said. Nate grinned, turning back to nod at Deacon and Hancock.

"Looks like we got another man for the table," Nate said, "You ever play the card game 10's?"

Danse shook his head, "No...can't say that I have."

"It's easy, I'll show you how to play once we get to the Taphouse. When we get there...it'll be a quick drink and power-lunch, and then back on the road, Boys. Looks like we're back on the clock." Nate looked up to the passing tail of the blimp as it kept sailing towards East Boston and the Boston Airport, the most suitable landing strip for the ship to land and dock.

Nate extended both arms out, wrapping them around Deacon on his right, Danse on his left, the Paladin's eyes went wide at seeing the massive Deathclaw hand resting on his shoulder. Nate gripped them both in a side-hug embrace, then patted them on the back, "Exciting stuff, huh?" Flicking two fingers up towards the passing vertibirds, he sensed their immense discomfort, but Nate only stood up straighter and spoke deeply, letting them go as he took the lead with great strides. Pointing to the top of the Prydwin Blimp, Nate spoke, "Thar She Blows, Boys...! Thar She Blows... it be Moby Dick!"

\111/