Lyons' Pride
Vault 112 Entrance; 3 days later:
Twisted metal, broken glass, body parts, blood… It was all over the place…
The sound of whistling bullets wakes the young mercenary from her deep thought.
The rebels, about 8 of them including Ellie, are pinned down just behind the Vault's main door as squads of NCR Rangers flood the area and begin hammering on their position!
"I'm seeing about 4 squads of Rangers out there!" a Lyons' Pride trooper, armed with a hunting rifle, said as she returns fire "How the hell did they get through!?"
"The area's compromised!" another female trooper, armed with a Assault Carbine, said "We need to evacuate!"
"How!?" A female trooper, armed with a R91 Assault Rifle, said "There's only 1 entrance!"
"The overseer's office!" the commander replied "Come on! It's better than sitting here! Kodiak, Coby, cover fire! Let's move Pride!"
"Right!" Everyone shouted as Kodiak and Coby open fire with their respective miniguns while slowly walking back.
Overseer's Room (a few minutes later):
The rebels fortify their position by the Overseer's room, which only contained a single simulation pod, inside of which is the body of an old man.
"So how do we get outta here?" Ellie asked
"Like this" the commander said as he pushes a loose tile on the wall, revealing a secret hallway.
"Wow…" Ellie said "…Didn't know there was a secret passage here… Where does this lead?"
"Freedom" the commander said "Let's move! That door won't hold forever! We need to seal the door so Elysse, explosives! Let's go!"
"Right!" Elysse replied as she prepares her explosives
As the rebels evacuate, Elysse and the commander plant C4 around the secret door. Once the deed was done, both soldiers close the door and proceed to a safe distance before detonating the explosives, causing part of the tunnel to cave in, sealing the door.
"You sure there's a way outta here?" a male trooper asked "Cuz I don't wanna die in a depressing place like this"
"Don't worry" the commander said "I already explored these tunnels"
Having no other option, the soldiers make their way deeper into the vault's secret passageway.
All the while, Ellie was deep in thought.
"How did it come to this…?" the young mercenary thought to herself…
Flashback; the day after the incident at Big Town
Jury Street Metro Station:
Ellie opens here eyes and sees a mole rat sniffing at her head. Taken by surprise, the young mercenary quickly rises from her makeshift bed. The Animal wasn't hostile at all, in fact, it was very friendly as it sat there and stared at the young mercenary.
Curious, the young mercenary pulls up a stick of iguana bits and offers it to the creature. The animal happily eats the offered food.
Ellie smiles as she thinks to herself how fascinating this is…
Remembering her mission, she packs up and continues her journey to Vault 112, leaving the Mole Rat alone in the subway station.
Charnel House; 8:45am:
The young mercenary arrives at the remains of a pre-War home… She stared at it for a while and began to see vivid images once again… Again, she is experiencing those visions… The sounds of screams, gunfire, explosions… Feeling as though gravity is pulling her down, the young mercenary desperately walks inside the charred house and tries to find a place to sit. Unfortunately, she collapses into the house's floor before she could reach a nearby bed…
Vision:
"Over there!" a soldier wearing power armor shouted "Open fire!"
The soldiers then open fire with a variety of weapons, ranging from G11s to Plasma Rifles.
The young mercenary finds herself wearing the unfamiliar power armor she saw in a previous vision. Only this time, they are inside a vault and seem to be attacking the vault dwellers.
"This again?" she thought to herself "What the hell am I doing here?"
Another event she doesn't remember… What the hell is happening to her? She ponders over this as she sees the events that were unfolding… Apparently, she and a squad of soldiers were killing the vault dwellers, who were armed with 10mm pistols and were fighting a futile battle. One by one, the vault dwellers would be gunned down and even if their pistols hit their target, the rounds would simply leave a small dent on the power armor…
"W-What am I doing...?" Ellie thought in horror
As she says these words in her head, she finds herself staring down the face of a dead Vault dweller. You could see how terrified he was… She then notices a dweller crawling away from her and the other soldiers. He was bleeding and was desperately crawling away…
Ellie slowly walks up to him as he begins to hyperventilate while trying to crawl faster. Reaching the man, Ellie steps on his back. The man screams in pain as Ellie picks him up and puts him against the wall. He was shot in the stomach but was still alive. With a terrified look in his face, Ellie points her plasma pistol at the man's head and without mercy, pulls the trigger.
The young mercenary couldn't believe her eyes… She had just killed an innocent person, without a hint of mercy and to top it all off, his body melted into a puddle of green goo…
"No…No…" She thought to herself, trying to deny what she just saw
Her attention was then grabbed by a roar in the distance.
"There they are!" one of the soldiers said as he points his plasma rifle and begins to open fire.
Without hesitation, Ellie cocks her plasma rifle and proceeds to the source of the gunfight…
Some time later:
Ellie finds herself in an unfamiliar room… Looks like she's inside a vault…
"How did I get here?" she thought
"Awake I see?"
Looking at the direction of the voice, the young mercenary notices a young woman wearing a Brotherhood Power Armor. Looking closely, the Brotherhood Insignia has a picture of a lion placed in the middle.
A thought suddenly came to her head as she asks "Are you from the Lyons' Pride?"
"Yes we are" the woman replied "and judging from your armor, you're part of the Sons of Liberty"
"Yeah…" Ellie answered
"Nice" she said as she gives the mercenary a thumbs up "the name's Dallas, Field Medic"
"Hey Dallas, what's the status on-" a man with a deep voice said as he enters the room "Oh. Looks like our guest is awake"
"Yep" she replied "She's stable… Looks like she just collapsed"
"Collapsed?" Ellie wondered
"Yeah" The man replied "Me, Vyse and Kodiak were in the area when we came across your unconscious body. After seeing the insignia, we knew we had to take you inside the vault."
"Really?"
"Yeah! That's the Sons of Liberty insignia right?" the man asked
"Uh…yeah…" Ellie replied
"We heard quite a lot about you guys" the man said "Oh right, my name is Maxson. Sentinel Arthur Maxson, leader of the Lyons' Pride."
"Maxson, huh…" Ellie said "Why does that ring a bell?"
"I guess it's because I'm the last descendant of the Maxson line, the founders of the Brotherhood of Steel" Arthur said "When I was a kid, a lot of people would say how 'great' my bloodline was and all that shit but I don't believe that. I'm only great because of the people around me"
Ellie smiles at the sight of this man's humility.
Pod room:
An hour later:
Ellie and the members of Lyons' Pride, a total of 8 people, gather in the room for a meeting.
"Alright guys" Arthur said "I'd like to introduce Ellie. A member of the Sons of Liberty. She came here to connect our ragtag group with the rest of the rebel groups and together, we'll kick some serious NCR ass!"
"Is she now?" a female member, holding an Assault Carbine, said "Arthur, how sure are you she's not a NCR spy?"
"Don't worry about that" Arthur said "I know how to tell the difference between friend and foe"
"That's not an answer" she replied "But I'll play along. If she does anything suspicious though, hope you don't mind but I'll land a bullet to her head, no questions asked."
"Go ahead" Arthur said with an upbeat tone
"Huh!?" Ellie uttered with a surprised look in her face
"Anyway, let me introduce to you the members of Lyons' Pride" Arthur said
Lyons' Pride Bio:
Knight Dallas: Female, 27 years old, Caucasian, main weapon: R91 Assault Rifle. Our Field medic, a genius when it comes to anything concerning the human or even a ghoul's body.
Knight Marina: Female, 22 years old, Asian, main weapon: customized Hunting Rifle with a silencer. A skilled sniper. She has the eyes of a hawk and once she zeroes in on you, you better have a shit load of luck to escape her bullet.
Knight Coby: Male, 30 years old, Asian. Heavy Weapons expert. Armed with his own customized minigun, he's a force to be reckoned with especially if he decides to start spraying bullets on ya!
Knight Sergeant Vyse: Male, 26 years old, Hispanic, main weapon: customized laser rifle. A gung-ho sharpshooter. You can depend on him on any situation! I tell ya, this guy delivers quite a punch when he's in the mood!
Star Paladin Elysse: Female, 36 years old, Caucasian, main weapon: Assault carbine with under barrel grenade launcher. Demolitions expert, enough said. Oh and she's also the second-in-command.
Star Paladin Kodiak: Male, 57 years old, African-American. One of two members of the original Pride that are still alive. He's a jack-of-all-trades soldier and is good at a wide range of weapons and can take on any role! But he mostly prefers to use his minigun to do the talking.
Knight Captain Gusurg: Male, 38 years old, Caucasian, main weapon: customized Service Rifle. He's our tech specialist. A good hacker and a great repairman too. He helped us gain access to the vault and managed to modify part of the system so we could monitor activities inside and outside of the vault.
And of course, there's me, Sentinel Maxson, squad leader and a skilled marksman, if I do say so myself.
"And that's everyone from Lyons' Pride" Arthur said
Ellie nodded and said "I'm Ellie, rebel under the Sons of Liberty"
Despite the remarks of Elysse, the other members were quite friendly towards the mercenary.
"Alright then" Arthur said "time for the next agenda!"
"Agenda?" Ellie wondered
"We were supposed to attack a NCR slaver camp not far from here" Arthur explained "When we found you, we just finished scouting the area."
Ellie's puts up a serious face as she asks "Where is this slaver camp?"
"Paradise Falls…" Arthur said
"When do we leave?" Ellie asks
"8pm" Arthur replied "We'll raid that place and free as many slaves as we can"
"Count me in" Ellie said
Arthur smiles as he says "Welcome aboard"
A few minutes later:
Ellie was tinkering with the squad's only radio while Arthur and Elysse looked on. It didn't take long for her to establish contact with Johannes.
"Good work Blade" Johannes said "Also, I have good news of my own"
"What is it?" Ellie asked
"Big Town's pledged their support to the rebellion" Johannes said with an upbeat tone "Slowly but surely, our rebellion's growing strong!"
"Nice!" Ellie said "Keep me posted for anything new!"
"Wilco" Johannes replied "You better do the same!"
"Roger that, Blade out" Ellie said
There was silence for a few minutes… Arthur could see the serious look in the young mercenary's face…
Breaking the silence, Ellie says "So… Tell me more about Paradise Falls"
"Decades ago, that place used to be a large slaver camp" Arthur answered "Slavers from that area would go around the wasteland, enslaving anyone unlucky enough to be considered 'valuable' in their eyes… This persisted until 2278, when the Brotherhood attacked Paradise Falls and basically, kicked all of the slavers out. It was the end of slavery for the region… That is until the NCR came… After losing the Purifier, the NCR reorganized the slavers and here we have the problem of slavery once again…"
"I thought the NCR was a democracy and all that shit?" Ellie said with disgust "Why would they support slavery?"
"Although they claim to be a democratic republic" Arthur answered "Their leaders aren't really above using slavery to further their goals… They're hypocrites if you ask me"
Annoyed with what she had just heard, the young mercenary could only utter "Trash… all of them"
Vicinity of Paradise Falls; 7:55pm:
The rebels hide behind a destroyed building just a few meters away from the entrance, which was guarded by 2 troopers armed with Service Rifles.
"What's the plan?" Ellie asked
Arthur simply signals the other members as Marina moves forward and goes prone by the roadside. With her scoped hunting rifle, she took the time to carefully aim at the trooper standing by the gate. The second the other trooper turns around to patrol the right side of the gate, Marina makes her shot and hits the trooper in the head without arousing the suspicion of the other trooper. Taking advantage of the situation, the sniper quickly zeroes in on the other trooper. Before he could notice his dead comrade, Marina fires another shot and hits his head.
"All clear" she said
"Whoah..." Ellie said in amazement "...Pretty good..."
"Good work, Marina" Arthur said "Ok, we go in. Silenced and melee weapons only. Quick and fast. Don't let the enemy notice any of their dead and take out any threats as quickly as possible, understand me?"
"Yes!" the other members responded as the squad makes their way into Paradise Falls.
Paradise Falls; Main Entrance:
As they neared the door to the main entrance, the squad notices 2 NCR troopers wearing salvaged power armor.
"This is gonna be tough…" Marina said "I don't have any AP bullets on me"
"Guess we're gonna have to do this the old fashion way" Vyse said as he looks at Kodiak who simply nods
The two then slowly crept their way towards the two NCR troopers. However, the area where the two troopers were is lighted, which meant that stepping into the light will compromise their position.
Surprisingly, Vyse emerges from the shadows, revealing himself to the troopers.
"Hey!" one of the troopers said "You're a Brotherhood soldier!"
"Right you are my dead troopers" Vyse replied in a taunting manner
Before the NCR troopers could raise their weapons, Kodiak shot both of them multiple times in the head with his silenced .45 auto pistol. It didn't kill the soldiers but it was enough to disorient them which prompted Vyse to grab one of them and throw him into the floor like how a judo teacher throws his students. When the trooper hits the floor, Vyse quickly plunges his knife into the gap between the helmet and the armor, stabbing the neck area and killing the trooper instantly.
The other trooper tried to shoot his rifle despite still being disoriented by the hits to his helmet. But the Knight Sergeant was able to grab his helmet and push it sideways, revealing the gap. Acting quickly, Vyse plunges his knife on the side of the trooper's neck. The trooper, despite being stabbed in the neck, tried to resist but was eventually, choking in his own blood before finally falling to the ground, dead.
With the area clear, the other soldiers converge on the site of the dead troopers and subsequently hid the bodies of the 4 dead troopers.
"Impressive" Ellie said with a smile "Didn't know you were handy with knives"
"Well" Vyse replied "We're all trained to be good at melee combat; it's just that most of us choose to use firearms over knives. Me, I like to keep things balanced."
"Right" Ellie said "Good to see someone else who's good with CQC"
"Maybe we can spar when we have the time" Vyse said with a smile
"Yeah, we should" Ellie said as she comically smacks Vyse's shoulder.
"Enough chitchat" Arthur said "We're about to enter the slave pens. Be alert and remember, we're freeing slaves not slaughtering NCR soldiers. Neutralize only those who would compromise our mission got it?"
"Right!" everyone said
Paradise Falls; Near the Slave Pens:
Upon entering the area, the squad quickly notices the snipers on the roofs of each building. Marina wasted no time in neutralizing each sniper, while making sure noone suspects a thing.
With the snipers neutralized, the squad slowly moves forward and ahead of them, are 5 NCR troopers standing by a campfire, behind them is a building (Which was the office of the late Eulogy Jones)
Vyse then pats Ellie's shoulder and says "Wanna take this with me?"
Ellie smiles and says "Why not?"
"Most kills wins?" Vyse said with a playful tone
"Is that a challenge?" Ellie said with a smile
"Maybe" Vyse replied
"Stop flirting you two" Elysse said "We've got a timetable to keep!"
"We're not flirting!" Ellie said with a flustered face "Fine, let's go!"
With that, the mercenary and the Brotherhood soldier slowly crept closer to the group. Ellie hid behind some crates while Vyse circled around and hid behind the barricade the leads towards the slave pens. With the sight of Vyse's knife, Ellie took that as a signal and quickly leapt from her position and with her hidden blades, eliminated the two troopers in her immediate front. Acting quickly, she uses her dual hidden blades to slash the throat of the trooper to her left and turning to her next target, she uses her right hand to grab the trooper's right arm and with her left hidden blade, she plunges the blade into the trooper's face. Then she hears the sound of a gun cocking. Looking at her left, she sees the NCR trooper was about to fire his weapon. Fortunately, Vyse sneaks up on him. Covering the trooper's mouth, Vyse slits his throat.
"I guess I win" Ellie said triumphantly
"Yeah, yeah" Vyse said with a lazy tone "You got more kills but I saved your life so there"
Ellie chuckled and said "Such a sore loser"
"Shut up!" Vyse replied with a flustered face
The other squad members then converge on the area.
"Good work" Arthur said "Now let's free those slaves!"
"Roger!" Everyone said
That night, over 80 slaves, composing of men, women and even children, were freed and the remaining NCR soldiers woke up to a gruesome sight the next morning.
Vault 112, Pod room; the next day:
"Nice work Pride!" Arthur said as he addresses the squad "We dealt a major blow into the NCR's slavery operation!"
"So what do we do now?" Gusurg asked
"Once we have enough intel and supplies" Arthur answered "We'll strike the NCR forward base at Evergreen Mills"
"Evergreen Mills?" Vyse wondered
"Striking Evergreen Mills" Elysse explained "Will cripple the NCR's supply line in the south and also their ability to organize proper operations the area"
"So what's the news on the intel?" Coby asked
"We already have a few recon reports that Marina and Vyse did a few days ago" Arthur said "At best, we can raid that camp by tomorrow night"
"Wow" Ellie said "You guys don't waste time"
"Of course we don't!" Arthur said proudly "The more time we waste, the more lives the NCR destroys! We gotta end their tyranny as quickly as possible!"
"I agree with you there…" Ellie said
"So get well rested everyone!" Arthur said "Check your weapon's conditions and your ammo. Be ready for tomorrow's operation!"
"YEAH!" Everyone said with high spirits.
The next day:
It was the day of the raid. Ellie was so excited that she began to run maintenance on her rifle, pistol and hidden blades… for the 20th time…
"Well aren't we so caring about our weapons"
Looking behind her, Ellie sees Vyse
"Vyse?" Ellie said "What's up?"
"Nothing really" he replied "Just finished my weapon maintenance and got bored so I came to check on ya!"
"Oh really?" Ellie said
"Yeah so" Vyse said "You really hate the NCR with a passion huh…?"
"Of course I do" Ellie replied "The NCR destroyed the peace of this land, not only that, they ruined a lot of lives! Don't you hate them just as much?"
"Of course I do" Vyse said "But I make sure that I think about the people around me first"
"Huh?" Ellie wondered
"Despite what the NCR's been doing" Vyse said "I still give myself time to think about how my actions affect other people, especially towards my squadmates… I also make sure that I only kill those who are a threat to our mission. Killing NCR soldiers that pose no threat is a big no-no for me…"
"Why?" Ellie asked as she did not understand Vyse's reasoning
"Those troopers are just soldiers following orders" Vyse said "They have their own set of beliefs and their own sense of justice… Can't kill them all because we don't agree in some of them…"
"But the things they did…" Ellie said
Vyse simply shook his head and said "You know I heard this story about the Brotherhood once"
"What is it?" Ellie asked
"Back in 2276, a splinter group of Brotherhood soldiers was formed" Vyse said "This caused a civil war between, supposedly, brothers that would last for more than 10 years…"
"What happened?" Ellie asked
"When the Brotherhood first came here, our original objective was to collect pre-War tech, nothing more, nothing less…" Vyse continued "But the Elder that time realized how the people here desperately needed help and he opted to stay here and protect the people instead of collecting pre-War tech… The main branch in California didn't like this at all and severed all contact with us… Over the years, a group of Brotherhood soldiers began to question the Elder's decision and eventually left, the group called themselves the Outcasts… The war pitted brother against brother and it was horrible… Good thing I wasn't there when the whole civil war was happening…"
"How did it end?" Ellie asked
"After more than a decade, the outcasts left the region along with any pre-War tech they obtained…" Vyse said
"An interesting story" Ellie said "But what does that have to do with the NCR?"
Vyse simply smiles and says "If you were a member of the brotherhood before the civil war and eventually, witness the civil war itself, would you still say 'I want to kill all those outcasts?"
Ellie stayed silent for a while, trying to figure out what Vyse meant… But she couldn't understand… What does that mean?
But before Ellie could utter a word, she feels the Vault shake and the sound of gunfire echoes throughout the place.
"We have a problem!" Dallas said as she comes running into the room
"What is it, Dallas?" Vyse asked
"N-NCR troops are attacking the vault!" Dallas said
"WHAT!?" Ellie and Vyse said in unison
Back to the present:
As the group stops to rest, they notice that one of them is missing…
"Where's Gusurg?" Arthur asked
"Dunno…" Vyse said "…Haven't even seen him come in with us…"
"Oh shit…" Arthur said as he looks behind him "Gusurg, I'm sorry…"
A few minutes later, the squad continues their trek and eventually emerge near the Charnel House.
Charnel House; 12:15pm:
As the squad emerges from the underground tunnels, they could see the NCR flood the garage from their current position.
"How did they know we were hidden there?" Dallas asked
"I dunno…" Coby answered
"Could we have been followed?" Marina said
"Impossible" Kodiak said "I made sure the NCR wouldn't know where we were…"
As the squad ponders on how the events unfolded, they are suddenly greeted by someone, "Hey guys"
Looking behind them, the squad sees Gusurg, alive and well.
"Gusurg?" Elysse said with a curious tone "How did you get here?"
"It was quite simple actually" Gusurg said with a taunting tone
With a serious face, Arthur says "What do you mean?"
Gusurg simply smiles as a squad of NCR soldiers deactivate their stealth armor.
"Gusurg you traitor!" Vyse said angrily as he cocks his rifle only to stop when he feels the muzzle of a gun behind his head...
"Sorry guys…" Gusurg said "Nothing personal, it's just that I'm more inclined to the NCR's cause…"
"After all that we've been through…" Arthur said "You've been planning this from the very beginning!?"
Gusurg simply smiles and says "Take them away"
As the NCR troopers restrain the soldiers of Lyons' Pride, Ellie could only stare at the traitor with eyes consumed by fury.
"You'll regret this you son of a bitch…" Ellie said as the troopers take away her equipment and proceed to tie her up.