The mess hall was silent as the grave. It was almost unheard of for things to be this quiet, especially given how many soldiers were currently in there, sitting at tables with uneaten food in front of them, but Lieutenant Simpson supposed that it was only to be expected under the circumstances.

Today had been a difficult day, in more ways than one. The memorial service for the soldiers that had fallen in defence of the satellite uplink station had finished about twenty minutes ago. That alone had been somber enough, but the actions of the Enclave's higher ups had set everyone on edge.

It was traditional for the President and members of Congress to preside over Enclave memorial services where possible, along with all available high-ranking military officers when the service was for fallen soldiers. Even in hard times, such as the current struggle with the Brotherhood of Steel, the brass would come out in force to pay their respects to the dead.

Lieutenant Colonel Strong had flown in specially to perform the eulogy as head of the Enclave military. Senator Lily and Senator Devall had been present, too, along with Doctors Shoichet and Strong, all of whom had come in with the Lieutenant Colonel, and even the notoriously recalcitrant Senator Prince had said a few words.

Neither Acheson nor Major Owens had turned up.

The blatant lack of respect was beyond insulting. Worse, the sheer indifference to the grief of the fallen's families, while still demanding that even more soldiers sacrifice their lives in their precious war, was galling in the extreme.

Lieutenant Simpson was loyal to the Enclave. He, and each and every soldier under his command, would gladly lay down their lives in defence of their country, their government, and their values; but when the brass began publicly spitting on the very values they were meant to uphold, that was when the problems started.

It probably wouldn't have been such an issue if knowledge of the growing rift in the Enclave's leadership wasn't so widespread. Every single person in the Enclave knew about the power struggle going on between the Exodus team and Acheson's cronies. Everyone also knew how Acheson, Lily, and Owens had been the driving force behind rejecting the Brotherhood's offer of a peace treaty.

There were plenty of people in the Enclave who agreed with the war, but now that Lily had thrown her support behind the Exodus team, public opinion was beginning to shift. The fact that the Exodus leaders were the only ones to show up to the memorial was bound to shift things even more.

Footsteps rang out across the hall. Simpson looked up just in time to see Felton, one of the Vertibird pilots, halt in front of him, his eyes red and his cheeks streaked with tears. "Where were they?" He asked tightly.

"Where were who?" Simpson asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Don't bullshit me," Felton hissed. "Acheson and Owens. Where the fuck were they?"

Simpson swallowed his sigh. He had known that someone would crack, and as the highest ranked soldier in the room, he would be the one who had to deal with it. Keeping his tone calm and respectful, Simpson looked Felton in this eye and explained, "I'm sure that they would have wanted to be there, but they are both probably extremely busy with-"

Felton slammed a fist on the table. "I said don't give me that shit! I lost my son at Project Purity, I lost my cousin at the skirmish at Raven Rock, and now I've lost my brother at that fucking station! All of the damned Exodus were at the memorial, so Owens and that goat-fucking egghead have got no fucking excuse!"

Murmurs and whispers of agreement filled the air as the other soldiers quietly weighed in. Simpson fought the urge to swallow. The room was a powder keg and Felton was in the process of lighting a match. Simpson knew that he should probably stop him, but he couldn't even begin to think of how. Hell, he wasn't even sure that he wanted to.

The sound of the door creaking open grabbed everyone's attention. Simpson silently gave thanks for the temporary reprieve, only to feel his heart leap into his throat as Doctor Shoichet stepped into the mess hall, carrying three tiny glass cases.

Every single person in the room held their breath as she looked around, paused when she spotted Felton, and walked over to them. "Major Felton?"

"That's me. What do you want?" Felton asked roughly.

"We received a package from the Brotherhood of Steel shortly before we flew out for the service. I'm helping the Lieutenant Colonel deliver the contents to the kin of the fallen." Doctor Shoichet held the cases out to Felton. He took them almost mechanically, his eyes widening as he looked at them. A single holo-tag was nearly displayed inside each of the cases. It didn't take a genius to work out that they had once belonged to Felton's deceased relatives.

"I'm afraid that's all I have for now," Doctor Shoichet said quietly. "The remains of the fallen have been cremated, but the Brotherhood is keeping their ashes safe until they can be returned to their families when the war finally ends. Until then, I hope that these can at least bring you some closure."

Felton sniffed loudly. He tried to open his mouth to say something, but instead of words, he choked back a sob, his throat bobbing as he closed his mouth again, fresh tears dripping off his chin.

Simpson stared at the pair, utterly gobsmacked. There was clearly a vast amount that the Doctor wasn't saying, starting with how she had a line of communication with the Brotherhood of Steel, but he couldn't deny that the Brotherhood's gesture was a political masterstroke.

A quick glance around the room showed that the rest of the soldiers were just as shocked as Simpson was, and many of them had reached exactly the same conclusion: If their enemies could show such respect for the dead, then why couldn't their leaders? If their foes clearly weren't the savage knuckle-draggers that the history books claimed them to be, then why were they even fighting?

Lieutenant Simpson was loyal to the Enclave. He knew that he should keep his head down and let his superiors sort out their differences themselves; they were his superiors, after all. But he also knew that sometimes, someone had to draw a line in the sand.

Right now, that someone was him.

Simpson pushed his chair back and stepped out from it, drawing every eye in the room. He faced Doctor Shoichet, took a deep breath, and looked her in the eye. His boots clicked loudly as he snapped a crisp salute.

Silence reigned for a second, then the room was filled with the loud scraping of chairs, followed by the synchronized stomp of boots as every single soldier present followed Simpson's example.

---

A smoky haze filled the Olney Sewers. Both the ladder leading to the surface around it and the ground around it were smouldering with little pink flames. Sunset was curled up in a ball on the floor, just out of the range of the fire, but she didn't dare move a muscle. Not while the Deathclaw was still up there.

A rumbling growl reverberated from the manhole above, followed by a loud snort and the sound of immense footfalls moving away.

The beast had gone.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief as the sound faded into the distance. A Pip-Boy and a helmet flashlight blinked into life, illuminating the dank sewer walls.

"Are you okay?" Sunset uncurled and looked up to see Fluttershy standing over her, offering a hand. "You didn't get burned, did you?"

Sunset shook her head. "Nah, I'm good." She let Fluttershy help her up, then hissed and almost fell back over as her left knee buckled underneath her. "Ow, fuck! Okay, not good."

"What's wrong?" Fluttershy asked.

"My knee." Sunset bent to rub the offending joint, immediately regretting it as pain lanced through her knee again. "I think I've done something to it."

Fluttershy knelt down and pulled up Sunset's pant leg, gingerly checking the knee over. A bruise was already forming around it. "I don't think it's broken. I could have you bend it and listen out for any grinding, but if it really is broken that won't do you any favors." She pulled the pant leg back down and reached into her nursing kit. "Thankfully, the Deathclaws can't fit down here, so I'll give you some painkillers and you can rest here while Adam and I go on ahead. Pinkie? Will you wait wi-"

A hiss echoed through the sewer tunnels, instantly silencing the girls.

"Deathclaws can't fit, huh?" Pinkie said with a grimace. "Sounds like one of them didn't get the memo."

"There must be another entrance somewhere," Adam muttered.

Fluttershy glanced down the tunnel the sound came from, then stuffed her hand back into her nursing kit and pulled out a stimpak and a set of what looked like leather restraints with metal buckles. "New plan. I'll give you a stimpak, stick this brace on your knee, hope moving doesn't damage it any more, and we'll all move together."

"I like that plan," Sunset replied. She barely felt the sting of the stimpak sinking into her arm, but even with the painkillers and stimulants flowing through her bloodstream, having the brace tightened around her knee hurt. Still, at least it meant that Sunset could put weight on the leg without collapsing. She just hoped she wouldn't have to run anytime soon.

Once the brace was on, Sunset thanked Fluttershy and switched her Pip-Boy light on, using it to look around at their surroundings. The sewer was cold and damp but, mercifully, the ground wasn't slimy or covered in anything worse than ordinary dirt. At least, so Sunset hoped. The smell was appalling, but not much worse than the surface had been.

The tunnels led away from the ladder in two directions. One headed off into the darkness, the other ended in a huge metal gate after a few yards. "Which way should we go?" Adam asked.

"I think we should take the direction we didn't hear a Deathclaw from," Pinkie suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Sunset agreed. "It's not like we have any idea which way the Powerworks are, anyway, so we may as well take the route that's less obviously dangerous." She nodded at Pinkie's Party Cannon. "Keep that thing loaded."

"Roger, Roger," Pinkie replied.

Sunset found the control panel for the gate and, once Fluttershy gave the all clear, opened it up. On the other side was some sort of maintenance room with a small door to an access corridor in the corner.

"Hold on." Fluttershy crept to the entrance of the corridor and peeked in. She gestured for the others to wait quietly, then went on ahead, alone.

"I don't like this," Adam grumbled.

"Neither do I," Sunset admitted. "Then again, she's much better suited to this than any of us. Hell, Fluttershy probably has more chance of getting out of here on her own than the three of us do together."

Adam agreed with a begrudging nod. There wasn't much he could do about it either way. If Fluttershy wanted them to wait, then she almost certainly had good reason. Ignoring her request would just be taking unnecessary risks.

Thankfully, Fluttershy returned before long. "There's nothing but dead ends that way. A Deathclaw has made a nest in one dead end, but I found this in another room." She held up a Brotherhood of Steel holo-tag. "It belonged to a medic. He's in a room back there with a few wastelanders. They're… well… we can't give them a proper burial, so I made sure that the room is locked."

"Good idea," Adam said as Fluttershy tucked the holo-tag into her nursing kit.

Sunset glanced towards the corridor. "What was a Brotherhood of Steel medic doing with a bunch of wastelanders way out here in a place like this?"

"He must have been on a mission to see if this place could be settled, or maybe he was on a humanitarian mission," Fluttershy replied. "Elder Lyons did mention that a Knight had gone missing around here, along with an old power armor prototype. That must be the Knight he meant."

"We'll let the Elder know when we get back to the Citadel," Pinkie put in. "He can send someone to retrieve the medic and the wastelanders when this horrible war is over."

Sunset nodded. "I think that's our only real option. Speaking of only options; are you sure that we can't get any further that way?"

"Positive," Fluttershy replied sadly.

A sinking feeling settled in Sunset's stomach at that. "I guess that just leaves the other way, where we heard more Deathclaws…"

"I should stay up front with Fluttershy," Adam suggested. "My armor will be a bit harder for them to chew through than your combat suits."

"Alright, but be careful. We've already seen how easily Deathclaws can deal with power armor," Sunset said.

Without any other options, the team headed back through the gate. Moving slowly, as much for Sunset's benefit as for the sake of stealth, the four made their way through the sewer tunnels. The path was far from straight; the tunnels twisted and turned every few meters, forcing Sunset to constantly mark their way on her Pip-Boy to avoid getting lost. Every sound echoed weirdly through the darkness. Fluttershy led the way, her incredible senses and night-vision once again making her the perfect vanguard.

Despite their worries, the group didn't encounter any Deathclaws. They heard them, or Fluttershy did, but they were careful to avoid any tunnels with obvious Deathclaw activity, hoping that they were heading in the right direction.

As they turned down into one long tunnel, Sunset spotted some debris up ahead against the side of the tunnel. It was bulky, easily twice the length of a person, and as she got closer she saw that it was made of some shiny black material.

Fluttershy and Adam walked past it without any concern, so Sunset assumed that it wasn't anything to worry about, though she did wonder what it was and where it came from. As Sunset and Pinkie stepped over a thick pipe that stuck out from the debris, Fluttershy suddenly froze in place. Her wings twitched, and she jerkily turned her head to look at the debris, her eyes wide with terror.

The reason for her fear became abundantly clear as the pile of debris let out a hiss. Sunset saw what she had thought was a pipe move out of the corner of her eye, and she realized with dawning horror that it was actually a long thick tail, tipped with a dagger-like stinger.

Another hiss echoed through the tunnels. Sunset didn't dare move as the creature shifted. What she had thought were broken pipes or rebar were actually chimney-like growths sprouting from the creature's back. Black lips peeled back to reveal shiny silver teeth that glimmered in the light, each dripping with slimy ichor.

Sunset had just enough time to register that it was another mutated Deathclaw before the beast blurred into motion.

The creature swept its tail around as it lunged at Adam, knocking Pinkie and Sunset off their feet and sending them sprawling. Pinkie's Party Cannon clattered loudly across the tunnel as her head smacked against the hard floor with an awful crack. Sunset scrambled to her feet, torn between checking on Pinkie and helping the others, but the decision was taken out of her hands as a solid black limb, she had no idea which, slammed into her chest and launched her into the air.

The world lurched as Sunset flew through the darkness. Pain lanced through her body as she struck a solid surface and her surroundings spun like a top as she rolled across the ground, finally coming to a stop in a crumpled heap.

Sunset tried to get back to her feet, but her vision swam and her legs wobbled as if she were drunk. Just as her eyes managed to focus, something heavy crashed to the ground next to her, startling her. It took her a moment to realize that it was Adam.

A feral snarl echoed through the tunnel a second later, sending a terrified chill down Sunset's spine. Looking back towards the monster, she saw the Deathclaw rearing up, its horns scraping the ceiling. With a jolt, Sunset realized that it completely lacked any eyes; there was just a blank expanse where they should have been, marred by claw marks that dripped with faintly glowing crimson blood.

Before the creature stood Fluttershy. Her wings were flared and her arms thrown wide as she unleashed another bone-chilling snarl, one echoed by the Deathclaw a moment later. The two were clearly communicating, but this was no friendly chat; this was a challenge.

Sunset watched, terrified, as the two apex predators squared off, each trying to intimidate the other, neither willing to back down. There was only one way this could end.

Just as Sunset thought that things couldn't get any worse, she heard feral growls coming from behind. Two unmutated Deathclaws stalked around the corner, evidently drawn by the sounds of conflict. They roared with animal fury when they saw the group.

"Shit." Adam clambered to his feet and raised his rifle. Sunset followed suit, though her heart sank even as she did so. She couldn't see any way out of this. It wouldn't stop her from fighting, but the certainty that she had led her friends to their deaths weighed on her like nothing she had ever felt before.

"Enough!" Sunset and Adam whipped around to see Pinkie hefting her pickaxe. Blood covered half of her face, and the head of her pickaxe left a trail of pink sparkles in its wake, the air full of cracks and pops as dust motes detonated on contact with the magic. Pinkie looked around at the Deathclaws and spun the pickaxe's head, then raised it high above her own. "If you hurt my friends, I'll bring this whole fucking sewer down, now let us go!"

All three of the Deathclaws snarled, but, incredibly, impossibly, each of them slowly backed away. Sunset could hardly believe what she was seeing.

Panting hard, Pinkie thrust the pickaxe towards the mutated Deathclaw. "Fluttershy, ask that thing where the entrance to the Olney Underground is, then tell it to get the hell out of our way."

Fluttershy cringed away from the crackling pickaxe, but did as she was told. The Deathclaw hissed, clearly unimpressed, but pressed itself against the side of the tunnel, pointing into the darkness with its tail.

Stunned by the sudden turn of events, but willing to take the chance while it was there, Sunset stumbled forward. Adam picked up the Party Cannon as he followed, and together the four warily made their way down the tunnel. The Deathclaw hissed again as they passed, but Pinkie kept it at bay with her pickaxe, her gaze shifting constantly between it and the other two as she brought up the rear.

The Deathclaws stalked the group as they walked, but didn't dare to get too close to Pinkie. Walking in silence, Sunset only resisting the urge to run because her injured leg wouldn't cooperate, the group finally came to a ladder leading upwards. Adam climbed up first. The rungs creaked and bent under the weight of his armor, but he shoved the manhole cover open and clambered through without issue.

Sunset went up next. She slung her plasma rifle over her shoulder and tried to climb as quickly as she could, but her arms were shaking so badly she could barely lift herself, and her injured knee was so stiff and sore at this point that she couldn't use it at all. Thankfully, once she had dragged herself halfway up, Adam reached down and pulled her the rest of the way through. As soon as Sunset was up she collapsed into a heap on the floor, utterly spent.

Turning back to the others, Adam helped Fluttershy up, then finally it was Pinkie's turn. The Deathclaws hissed and snarled the second Pinkie was out of their line of sight, but Adam slammed the manhole shut with an echoing clang.

Next Chapter: Chapter 96 - Olney Underground Estimated time remaining: 23 Hours, 32 Minutes