Sunset couldn’t repress a shudder as she and the rest of the Rainbooms made their way down the road from Rivet City. The dark clouds above, coupled with the torrential downpour and the general lateness of the day, conspired to reduce visibility to barely a few yards. The girls could barely even hear their own footsteps over the sound of the rain. It lent the area a decidedly eerie atmosphere and made seeing where they were going effectively impossible. As it was, they were forced to rely on their Pip-Boys to make sure they were heading in the right direction, taking turns checking every few minutes.

Fortunately, the road was well-built and had remained reasonably intact over the years since the war. The piles of debris that did exist were easy enough to navigate or simply climb over.

The river was markedly more dangerous. The road quickly descended to run alongside it with little more than a few small rocks marking the banks. In the dim light of the waning day the water was entirely pitch black. If it weren’t for the fact that the rain had turned it into a churning turbid mass, the girls could have easily fallen in with a few errant steps.

Suddenly, a metal ramp materialized out of the darkness ahead. As the girls approached, a huge round concrete building slowly came into view a little further on. The steps led up to a walkway that circled a section of the building’s circumference.

“This must be it, then,” Applejack said just loud enough to be heard over the surrounding din, “the Jefferson Memorial.”

Pinkie shivered and rubbed her arms to try and warm them up, “So, we just have to follow the walkway around to the gift shop entrance?”

Sunset nodded, “That’s what Chief Harkness said.”

“I do hope it’s not far,” Rarity huffed, her arms still held above her head to maintain their cover, “I’m starting to get a little sore, and all of this splashing rain is getting my legs wet!” Her words were punctuated by a rumble of thunder directly overhead.

Sunset looked up reflexively, even though her view was obscured by the floating gemstone. She was starting to reconsider the wisdom of staying under such cover during a thunderstorm, but thankfully there hadn’t been any lightning, as of yet.

Huddling closer together, the girls continued on their way along the walkway, trudging along in silence. The eagerness and excitement they’d all felt when they left Rivet City had been thoroughly dashed by this point. All any of them wanted to do was get inside and warm themselves up.

Trudging along dejectedly, Sunset idly wondered just what that doctor had wanted on the bridge; she hoped it was nothing important. Realizing that she was getting lost in her thoughts again, Sunset sighed and gave herself a shake, trying to keep herself alert. Just because the weather was terrible didn’t mean the various dangers of the wastes had all disappeared. Glancing at the path up ahead, a chill ran down her spine that had nothing to do with the rain.

A dead super mutant was sprawled across the walkway. It was impossible to tell how long it had lain there, but the body showed clear signs of having been picked at by wild animals. Gingerly stepping around it, the girls were dismayed to see more mutant corpses lying ahead of them, clumped next to another ramp leading down.

“Looks like someone shoved them out of the way,” Applejack noted.

“What do you think killed them in the first place?” Pinkie asked.

“Maybe it was the science team?” Twilight suggested.

Rainbow shook her head, “Nah, it’s gotta be Adam. We all saw what he did to that Behemoth.”

“Some of us are trying to forget,” Rarity said pointedly.

“I don’t really care who did it, I’m just glad we don’t have to deal with them,” Sunset cut in. “Come on, it can’t be much farther.”

“It’s not, the entrance is right by there!” Pinkie answered immediately, pointing through the railings to a door and a sign marked ‘Gift Shop’.

Invigorated by their proximity to a dry haven, the group hurried down the ramp and through the door, breathing a sigh of relief as Rarity allowed her gemstone to fade and closed the door behind them. Looking around, the girls saw that they were in a short corridor that descended for a short way before reaching an intersection.

A man rounded the corner just as the girls were taking stock of their surroundings. Twilight grinned and waved as she recognised him, “Hey, Garza!”

“Oh, hey, girls!” Garza called back, raising a hand in greeting, “we weren’t expecting you here until some time tomorrow, given the weather. How did you manage to get here without getting soaked?”

“Trade secret, darling,” Rarity replied, confidently giving her dry hair a quick toss.

Garza just chuckled and turned away, gesturing for the girls to follow, “Come on in, I’ll take you straight to James.”

“He’s definitely here, then?” Sunset asked eagerly.

“He sure is,” Garza replied brightly, “hell, he’s adamant he’ll get Project Purity working this time, if it’s the last thing he does.”

The girls all grinned at each other as they hurried to catch up. Their grins faded somewhat as Garza led them out of the corridor and through a series of rooms that had evidently been the site of a ferocious battle. Blood was splattered liberally across almost every surface, sandbag stacks and flipped equipment had been riddled with bullet-holes, and the walls and floor bore the unmistakable scars of explosive blasts. The whole area reeked of death.

“What in the heck happened here?” Applejack asked, wafting her face with her hat.

Garza sighed and kicked an empty bullet casing out of his way, “Super mutants. Apparently, they set up a camp here after we left, nearly twenty years ago. We’ve managed to gather their bodies for now, we’ll take them outside and burn them tomorrow, but getting this placed cleaned up is going to have to wait until James and the others have figured out how much of the equipment needs repairing or replacing.”

“What equipment?” Twilight asked.

“And, what exactly is Project Purity?” Sunset added, grimacing at a particularly large blood trail.

“It’ll probably be best if you ask James to explain everything, he’s just in here with Doctor Li.” Garza stopped to open a door marked ‘Rotunda’. “Right, I’d better get back to work. I’ll see you all later.”

The girls thanked him as he left. Then, with more than a little trepidation, now that they were so close to their goal, headed through the door. All of them gasped as they saw what lay inside.

A metal walkway ringed a large pool of murky green water. Rising out of the pool was a colossal pillar-shaped water tank constructed of steel and glass, stretching almost all the way up to the domed ceiling of the building, dozens of feet overhead. Around a quarter of the way up was an enclosed catwalk, with a short staircase leading up to it and several narrow pipes full of brightly glowing radioactive water poking out in various places.

Guessing that that was where they would find James, the Rainbooms cautiously made their way up the stairs and through a little airlock, their anticipation rising steadily with every step.

The enclosed area was lined with offline computers and odd machines whose purpose eluded each of the girls save Twilight, with the huge water tank rising through the floor in the middle and back out through the ceiling. Bizarrely, the tank also contained what looked like an ancient statue, though the group could hardly make out any details due to the filth in the water.

Walking slowly around the tank, the girls stopped dead as they spotted two people bent over a rusty computer console. The first was Doctor Li, ponied up once again. The other was an older man. His lab coat was missing, his Vault-issue overalls were tattered and filthy, and both his hair and beard were in desperate need of a wash and a trim, but the Rainbooms still recognized him instantly.

Sunset took a hesitant step forward, half afraid he was a hallucination of some sort, “James?”

The two scientists looked up, their eyes widening in surprise as they spotted the Rainbooms.

“Oh, girls! You’re early, we weren’t expecting you until tomorrow,” James said brightly, smiling as he turned to face them. “It’s good to see y-”

Sunset interrupted him by taking another step forward and ramming her knee into his groin with all the force she could muster. The doctor collapsed to the floor with an agonized wheeze, curling up into a fetal position as he hit the deck. Dimly aware that her own injury was throbbing in protest, she clenched her fists and glared down at James, shaking with a fury that was as sudden as it was potent.

Doctor Li gasped in shock, “Sunset!? What are you-”

“Asshole,” Sunset hissed, then she pointed a damning finger at James as she yelled, “you asshole! Nearly a month we’ve spent trying to find you after you abandoned us with those lunatics in the Vault,” she paused to catch her breath, “and you have the gall to say we’re early? What in Tartarus is wrong with you?!”

“Sunset, pleas-”

“Do you have any idea what we’ve been through out there? We nearly died because of you! We’ve had to kill just to survive while we were trying to find you! Do you get that? We’ve had to fight our way through super mutants, feral ghouls, even people!”

Sunset’s voice broke on the last word, leaving a ringing silence in its wake. She turned and sagged against the wall, her hands unclenching and her shoulders slumping as the burning rage drained from her as quickly as it had came. “I… I killed people…” she mumbled quietly, her own words bringing the pain and guilt of that terrible moment flooding back.

The others, initially stunned by Sunset’s outburst, quickly moved to try and comfort her, but were hindered by the lack of space. Pinkie got there first, leaning on the wall next to her and throwing an arm around to gently pull Sunset’s head onto her shoulder.

James looked up slowly, still clutching his bruised tenders. “I… nngg… I’m sorry,” he ground out, then paused to retch, “I know that must… ugh… must have… been hard for you.”

“Yeah, things have been a little rough,” Applejack replied gruffly.

Doctor Li just kept glancing from Sunset to James and back again, her pony ears twitching. Finally she turned and grabbed a little first aid kit from beside one of the computers, “Do you, uh, want any painkillers?” she asked tentatively.

“Please,” James and Sunset replied weakly and in unison.

Fluttershy looked up anxiously at Sunset, “Your stitches?” Sunset just nodded. “I’ll take a look.”

“Stitches?” James winced as Doctor Li slowly helped him into a sitting position.

Applejack nodded with a grimace, “Ah did say things have been a little rough.”

“Don’t worry, I can handle this,” Fluttershy said softly, kneeling and getting Sunset to lift her top so she could get a better look at the injury.

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes as Doctor Li and Fluttershy fussed over their respective patients. Li gradually managed to get James standing, providing pain lozenges and helping him with breathing exercises as soon as he was straight legged.

“I’d give you an ice pack but somehow after nearly twenty years with super mutants I doubt the freezer is working,” Doctor Li teased the man as he tried to straighten his back with little luck.

“It’s alright. Thank you, Madison,” James said quietly. He glanced over at Fluttershy, “How’s Sunset, are her stitches alright?”

“They’re fine, I think she just pulled them a little,” Fluttershy replied as she pulled clean bandages out of her nursing kit, “I’ll redress it then I’ll give her some pain medication.”

James frowned as he caught a glimpse of the stitches on Sunset’s abdomen. “I’d suggest using a stimpak, it’ll help the wound heal and deal with any swelling too.” Fluttershy nodded and reached back into her kit. “That looks like it was a serious injury, what exactly happened to you girls?”

Rarity scowled and folded her arms, “First of all, I think you owe us an explanation, perhaps a reason for why you decided to abandon us halfway through helping us find a way home?”

James nodded grimly, “Fair enough. ” He sighed and leaned against a computer console, wincing slightly as he did so, “I've never told you about Adam’s mother, have I?”

The Rainbooms shared an uneasy look. They’d wondered why Adam’s mother wasn’t in the Vault with her husband and son, but hadn’t wanted to pry.

“I, uh, don’t think you’ve mentioned her before,” Twilight replied warily.

James sighed again and folded his arms, “Her name was Catherine. She was an incredible woman; intelligent, witty with a single-minded focus you wouldn’t believe.” He smiled at the recollection. “All of this starts with her. You see, she used to enjoy reading the Bible.”

“What’s that?” Pinkie asked.

“It’s an old religious text, from before the war,” Doctor Li supplied. “Most people in the wastes abandoned Christianity after the bombs fell. It’s hard to believe that any benevolent deity would allow such global devastation, but there are still a few people who have faith. The Church of Saint Monica back in Rivet City is one such example.”

“Catherine found faith as well,” James continued, “she was hardly devout, but she did enjoy reading the Bible. Her favourite passage was always Revelation 21:6; ‘I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life, freely,’” He gestured at the water tank, “that’s where the idea for Project Purity came from.”

The girls all stared at it. “It just looks like a regular old water purifier to me,” Applejack said flatly.

Doctor Li nodded, “That’s exactly what it is. But where most purifiers can only handle a dozen or so gallons an hour, at most; Project Purity has the capacity to purify all of the water in the tidal basin at once. That’s millions of gallons a day.”

Sunset blinked in surprise, “That could provide clean water for just about everyone in the Capital Wasteland!”

James grinned, “That was exactly the point. Clean, potable water, free of charge, for everyone who wants it. To that end we came here to set up our laboratory, the Brotherhood of Steel provided protection and technological resources, and we got to work on trying to make our dream a reality.”

“I don’t get it,” Rainbow cut in, “if this project was so awesome, why’d you ditch it?”

James and Doctor Li shared a somber look. “There were a lot of problems we had to overcome,” Li said. “Purifying water in small amounts is one thing, but doing it on this sort of scale had never been done before. The science involved is whole orders of magnitude more difficult.”

“Progress was slow,” James added, “our initial experiments with small volumes of water were promising, but making it work on larger quantities was nearly impossible. Eventually Catherine hit on a breakthrough that allowed us to operate at full capacity, but it was horribly inefficient and we couldn’t sustain it for long.”

Doctor Li nodded slowly, “Our work stalled after that. No matter what we tried we just couldn’t crack it. To make matters worse, we were faced with ever-increasing numbers of super mutant attacks, plus rising threats elsewhere in the wasteland forced the Brotherhood to keep reducing the amount of resources and troops they sent us.”

James sighed heavily and hung his head, “Adam was the final nail in the coffin.”

“Your own son?” Applejack spat incredulously.

James looked up, a bleak expression on his face, “Catherine died giving birth.”

Most of the Rainbooms gasped in surprise, Rarity clasping her hands to her mouth. Fluttershy just closed her eyes for a moment, breathed in deeply through her nose, then opened them again and finished dressing Sunset’s injury before packing her kit away.

“James… I’m so, so sorry,” Twilight half-whispered.

“It’s alright,” James replied gruffly. He cleared his throat before continuing, “I know it was selfish of me, but between losing Catherine and having to look after a newborn, I’m ashamed to say that I just couldn’t handle the pressure of working on Project Purity as well.”

“You’d lost family,” Applejack said softly, pulling her hat low so it covered her eyes, “ain’t nothing shameful or selfish about struggling after something like that.” The rest of the Rainbooms gave her sympathetic looks, and she didn’t protest when Rarity gently pulled her in for a hug.

“What happened next?” Pinkie asked, hoping to move away from such a depressing topic before someone broke down in tears.

James ran a hand through his hair, “After Catherine passed, all I cared about was Adam’s safety. I’d heard that Vault 101 was still functioning, so I decided to try and convince them to let us in. Thankfully, the Vault didn’t have any trained medical professionals, so they agreed to allow us sanctuary on the condition that I kept our past a secret from the younger residents.”

“The Brotherhood of Steel agreed to provide him with an escort, but as soon as he was gone they finally pulled all support for Project Purity,” Doctor Li huffed. “We were out of resources and defenseless, so the remaining members of the team relocated to Rivet City.”

“Incidentally, it was on the journey to the Vault that I discovered the piece of equipment that facilitated your arrival in this world,” James added.

“Where did you find it?” Twilight demanded.

James frowned and scratched his beard as he thought back, “It was in an old raider camp in the ruins a few miles from here. I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” he said quickly, seeing the eagerness in the girls’ eyes, “Paladin Cross searched the area thoroughly and didn’t find anything else even remotely like it. The raiders must have looted it from somewhere.”

Twilight sighed sadly, “It was worth a shot.”

Sunset opened her mouth to ask a question, then snapped it shut and looked around warily as several of the computers suddenly started humming and beeping rapidly.

“It’s alright, it’s just the mainframe coming back online,” Doctor Li explained.

An intercom next to one of the computers suddenly crackled into life, “Hey, I’ve switched the power back on down here, how’s it looking?”

James sprang off the computer he was leaning on, wincing as his new injury twinged, and jabbed a button to reply, “Yes, good work, it’s… er…”

“Hey, it looks like Adam got- oh, hey girls! You’re here earlier than we expected! ” Doctor Kaplinski called as she jogged into the room. She grinned and looked over at James, “It looks like Adam got the power back on.”

“Yes, we’d established that,” James smirked, then turned back to the intercom, “Things are looking good so far, but there’s still a few minor repairs to be done up here, why don’t you come ba-”

“Hold on a second, the flow’s not coming through right. It looks like there’s a blockage in the intake pipes,” Janice cut in, frowning at one of the computers.

James heaved a sigh and pressed the intercom again, “Janice says there’s a blockage in the intake pipes. It’s back up on the museum level, can you clear that out for us? Buzz me on the intercom when you get there then head back up here once it’s done. Some people have arrived that I think you’ll be happy to see.”

“Sure thing, dad,” Adam replied. “Who is it?”

James stared blankly at the intercom, “Well… who were we expecting?”

“…have you got a message through to the Brotherhood of Steel already?”

Sunset raised an eyebrow as everyone else chuckled, “Is he being serious?”

James just hung his head and sighed again, looking like a man seriously evaluating his life choices, “The Rainbooms are here, Adam.”

“Oh, really? Groovy! I’ll be right up!” Adam said brightly.

“And the intake pipes?” James prodded.

“Right, yeah, the intake pipes. I’ll do that first. See you soon!”

Silence reigned for a few moments. Finally James shook his head slowly, “I swear, that boy.”

Sunset tried hard not to laugh, “He seems a little… distracted?”

“Scatterbrained, you mean,” James snorted.

“He’s like that most of the time,” Fluttershy giggled softly, “At least until he gets focused on something.”

James nodded, “He’s like his mother in that regard, once he sets his mind on something, he sees it through to the end, no matter what.”

“Like tracking you down, you mean?” Applejack said pointedly.

James had the good grace to look embarrassed, “Yes. I must admit I hoped that between the Overseer, Amata, and his feelings for, er, I mean, his friendship with… you… girls.” He coughed unconvincingly as the others exchanged startled glances, “Anyway, I was hoping that all of that would be enough to keep him in the Vault.”

“Are you saying Adam has a crush on one of us?” Rarity asked gleefully, ever eager to pounce on juicy gossip.

Applejack rolled her eyes, “Ah think we’ve got more important things to worry about at the moment,” she folded her arms and looked meaningfully at James, “like why you decided to leave Vault 101 and come back here after all this time. Y’all couldn’t get Project Purity working before, what makes you think you can do it this time? What changed?”

James smiled sadly and resumed leaning against the computer, grunting in discomfort as his injury protested slightly, “I went to Vault 101 purely for Adam’s sake. The Vault was far from perfect, as you girls will attest, but it was safe. I knew that as long as Adam stayed there he would never have to struggle just to survive from one day to the next, like so many of us out here in the wastes have to.”

He glanced wistfully at the water tank. “But, I never forgot about Catherine’s dream. I kept working on our hypotheses in secret with Jonas, hoping that we could figure it out and, one day, when Adam was a grown man and could look after himself, make my way back out here and finish what we started all those years ago.”

“So, you managed to do it?” Fluttershy asked.

“Not quite,” James replied. “I spent years trying to figure it out, but never made any real progress. In the end I snapped, got drunk, and broke into the overseer’s office when he was asleep.”

“Why in the heck would you do that!?” Applejack shot.

James just shrugged, “The Vaults were one of the pinnacles of pre-war technology. I hoped the overseer’s personal terminal would give me a clue to some old technology that might hold the key to getting Project Purity working.” He rolled his eyes, “Most of it was garbage, just old exploration reports and dossiers on the Vault residents, but then I found something.”

“What was it?” Pinkie asked.

James grinned, “A miracle. Shortly before the end, a Doctor named Stanislaus Braun invented something called a G.E.C.K, a terraforming device, capable of transforming dead and irradiated dirt into fertile soil. I always believed it was a myth, but the overseer’s terminal proved that the G.E.C.K really did exist, it even mentioned that Braun had been accepted into another Vault in the Capital Wasteland, Vault 112.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow, “So, that’s why you left Vault 101, to find a G.E.C.K.?”

“Yes and no,” James replied, “I believed that if I could find Doctor Braun’s notes, then I could find out whether or not a G.E.C.K would be enough to get Project Purity running at full capacity and, more importantly, maybe even find where one is.” His expression darkened suddenly, “I found Vault 112. I’d rather not talk about what happened down there, but I did find proof that a G.E.C.K would be enough to get Project Purity up and running.”

“We don’t have a G.E.C.K yet,” Doctor Li supplied, “so we’re going to get things set up as much as we can before we send a message to the Brotherhood of Steel. Now that we have definitive proof that we can make Project Purity work, they’re bound to lend us their aid once more.”

James nodded, “And with their help, we can finally, finally, turn Catherine’s dream from a fantasy, into a reality.”

The Rainbooms stared in awe at the two scientists. “Woah,” Applejack said finally.

“That’s… actually pretty awesome,” Rainbow admitted.

“Why didn’t you tell us about any of this before?” Twilight asked.

James shook his head, “It was too risky, the overseer in Vault 101 was already suspicious of us. As long as he believed that you girls were focused on getting yourselves home above all else, he was content to leave you alone.”

Sunset scowled at him, “You could have at least told us you were leaving instead of just abandoning us. And how exactly were we supposed to get home without you?”

“You didn’t get my note?”

The girls just gave him blank stares. “What note?” Sunset asked flatly.

James raised an eyebrow, “I left two separate notes for you.” He scratched his neck awkwardly and said quietly, “Adam told me about what happened to Jonas, so I’m not surprised you didn’t get the more personal one I left with him.” James cleared his throat before continuing, “But I also left a report with the overseer containing all of my thoughts on the best way to get you home. Didn’t he tell you?”

“Far from it, darling,” Rarity scoffed.

“He had… other ideas,” Pinkie said darkly.

Doctor Li tilted her head quizzically, “Other ideas? From what I’ve heard I’d have assumed he would take any opportunity to get rid of you?”

Rainbow snorted, “Yeah, right, more like the opposite.”

“What do you mean?” James asked.

Fluttershy shuddered at the memory, “Well, um, he saw your report that said we didn’t have any genetic abnormalities, and, well, you know how concerned he was with the, um, genetic stability of the Vault, so…”

Janice’s head whipped around at that, her face a picture of disgust, “Wait a minute, you’re not saying…?”

Applejack nodded grimly, “Yep. He wanted to keep us as extra breeding stock.”

“We told him we were leaving the moment he suggested it,” Twilight supplied.

“He weren’t happy about that,” Applejack added, “he sent two of his security goons to try and kill us. If it weren’t for Gomez, Ah don’t think we would’ve gotten out of there in one piece.”

James swore under his breath, “I’m so sorry girls, I never imagined he would even consider something like that.”

Sunset shrugged, “That still doesn’t explain how you thought we’d be able to get home without you.”

“Oh really?” James smirked, “Twilight, just how much help was I to you in finding a way home? What exactly did I contribute to our experiments?”

Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise, “You contributed lots! You helped me set up the experiments, you helped me put the equipment together properly, you-”

“How much did I help you with ideas, hm?” James interrupted, “Or with the science of it? The equations?”

“I… but…” Twilight frowned as she thought back. “That can’t be right…”

James laughed humorlessly, “You don’t need me, you never did, and that’s exactly what I wrote in my report to the overseer. The note I left with Jonas was just a more personalized version of the same letter.”

Twilight’s mouth dropped open, “B-but that’s crazy! I know I’m smart, but I’m not that smart.”

“You’re joking, right?” Doctor Li cut in incredulously, “Twilight, in two weeks you learned enough about nuclear physics to single-handedly speed up our progress on portable fusion generators by months. You’re a goddamned prodigy.” She narrowed her eyes and glanced sidelong at James, “Having said that, that’s an awful lot of pressure to just dump on such a young woman out of nowhere.”

Janice nodded slowly, “I hate to say it, but I agree with Doctor Li here. That was a dick move.”

“Totally,” Rainbow agreed.

James cowered under the combined scorn, “Er, right. I… I’m sorry girls. I can see I made a mistake in not explaining things to you properly beforehand.”

“Darn right you did,” Applejack muttered.

“You have my sincerest apologies,” James sighed heavily, “I give you my word, as soon as we’ve gotten Project Purity working, I will do everything in my power to help you girls get home safely.”

The Rainbooms stared at him in silence for several long seconds, silence broken only by quiet humming of vacuum tubes and sloshing water. Finally they relented, smiling vaguely at each other.

“Can’t say fairer than that, Ah suppose,” Applejack stepped forward and rolled her shoulders, “Alright, what can we do to help?”

Janice blinked in surprise, “Really? You’re going to help us?”

“We may as well,” Sunset replied. “The sooner we get this thing working; the sooner we can go home, right?”

James smiled at her, “As much as I appreciate the offer, right now I think you should all take a much needed rest, there’s nothing major to be done until we can get a message to the Brotherhood of Steel tomorrow. We can discuss things further when Adam gets up here. I know he’s particularly interested in hearing exactly what you girls have been up to since you left the Vault.” He chuckled softly, “I wish I’d seen his reaction when he heard Three-Dog’s first broadcast about you. The revelation about your magic damn near blew Adam's mind.”

Doctor Li looked at the girls appraisingly, “Speaking of magic, I hope you girls are still happy to help me figure out exactly what is happening to me?” She flopped her lime-green pony ears emphatically.

Twilight and Sunset glanced at each other, then nodded. “We’ll see what we can do,” Twilight said brightly.

As Twilight wandered over to Doctor Li and started asking questions, the rest of the Rainbooms sat on the floor or leaned against the walls and consoles. Sunset breathed in deeply, held it for a moment, and let it back out slowly, feeling some of the tension drain from her body.

“Are you okay,?” Pinkie asked softly.

Sunset just nodded. There was still a lot to do, and she was still more than a little mad at James, but for the first time since the girls arrived in this world, she felt like they were finally getting closer to finding a way home.

Colonel Autumn fumed as he stared out of the window of the Vertibird.

President Eden had contacted him via radio just after he’d departed with the rest of the Jefferson Taskforce, revealing that the Rainbooms were almost certainly going to be present at the Jefferson Memorial and gave orders to bring them in unharmed. That little revelation had forced the Colonel to change the original plan of engagement on the fly. Fortunately, quick thinking was a talent of his and he’d quickly come up with a revised method of securing the site.

The original plan had been simple; most of the Taskforce would move to establish a wide perimeter around the Memorial and make sure that no denizens of the wasteland could get in or out.

Once the perimeter was secure, Colonel Autumn would accompany a squad of soldiers into the monument through the primary entrance. This squad would separate into predetermined fire-teams and proceed through the building, relying on the sheer mass and strength of their power armor to intimidate the small contingent of scientists within. A second squad would enter through the secret tunnels underneath the monument, to round up any of the scientists that had the presence of mind to flee. Classic shock and awe tactics.

The presence of the Rainbooms threw a wrench in those plans.

Colonel Autumn was no fool, he hadn’t managed to uncover exactly what the Rainbooms were capable of since the President had gone to extreme lengths to keep all pertinent information on them secret, but he knew that they had some connection with the sudden revival of Project Exodus. The President had also admitted that the girls were potentially extremely dangerous. As if the fact that he’d assigned Squad Sigma to keep them contained wasn’t proof enough of that already.

In light of all of that, Colonel Autumn had abandoned shock and awe in favor of a swift and brutal suppression. A full platoon would storm the Memorial with several additional fire-teams using breaching charges at designated areas to facilitate entry while avoiding sensitive infrastructure Two full squads would enter through the tunnels to corral anyone who tried to escape as the final nail in their coffin.

“We’re coming up on the target now, sir, ETA, sixty seconds,” the pilot announced.

“Excellent,” Colonel Autumn leaned forward and pressed a few buttons on the radio, opening a connection to the receiver in each and every soldiers’ power armor. “This is Colonel Autumn. You have your revised orders. Remember, your primary objective is to secure Project Purity and the lead scientists. The Rainbooms are also to be brought in peacefully, if possible. If they engage in hostilities you are to subdue them using non-lethal means only.”

The Jefferson Memorial slowly came into view through the rain. The other Vertibirds of the Taskforce spread out and quickly moved to set points around the monument, hovering twenty feet above the ground. Squads of soldiers rapidly disembarked, dropping to the ground and dashing to their assigned positions, the ground cracking and churning under their heavy tread.

Several minutes passed while the pilots checked their Vertibird systems and the squads moved, until finally the comms clicked. “Squad Gamma, in position.”

“Squad Beta, in position.”

“Squad Alpha, in position.”

“Squad Delta, in position.”

“This is Lieutenant Simpson, all squads are in position, sir,” a squad commander announced to the Colonel.

Colonel Autumn nodded, “Confirmed. Lieutenant Simpson, you have a go.”

Simpson nodded to his comrade. “Understood. All squads, on my mark,” he held up three fingers and lowered them one by one, then shouted the words that changed everything. “Breach! Breach! Breach!”

Another chapter for you!

Next time:

Shit. Hits. Fan.

Major thanks again to my two editors Night-Quill and Mocha Star

Comments and Criticisms are welcome and, as always, thanks for reading.