523. Nora Plan

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As the soldiers settled into guard shifts and medics worked to stabilize the wounded, Sico stood alone near the edge of the rooftop, watching the lights of the Commonwealth flicker in the distance.

The scene shifts, diving deep beneath the ruined earth of the Commonwealth, where the clean, white walls of the Institute remain untouched by time or conflict. The air is filtered, the light sterile. But beneath that calm surface, the tension is thick enough to cut with a scalpel.

Inside the Institute's central command chamber, the usual quiet hum of machines and idle research has given way to low murmurs and sharp whispers. The circular room, ringed with terminals and polished steel consoles, is packed with department heads—scientists, security officers, and key leaders—each one summoned without delay.

At the head of the room, Shaun stood tall behind the central console, the soft glow from the holomap lighting his features in a ghostly blue. His face was unreadable, but the silence that followed the end of his preliminary briefing said everything. Around him sat the people who ran the most advanced technological marvel in post-war America.

And they'd just suffered a humiliating defeat.

Greenetech Genetics was gone.

"We lost contact with the synth security detail at approximately 14:27 hours," Shaun said, voice calm, clinical. "By 15:03, all defensive protocols were terminated or overridden. The Minutemen captured the facility, secured the data core, and raised their flag."

A pause.

"Piper Wright is already broadcasting it across the Commonwealth. Public support is likely to spike in their favor."

He looked to his right, where Nora stood slightly behind him, arms folded, expression unreadable. Her dark eyes scanned the room as Shaun continued.

"I'd like to open the floor for analysis and suggestions. This is the first time since the war began that we've lost a facility. And not just any facility—Greenetech was one of our primary forward operations sites."

Dr. Ayo was the first to speak. The Head of SRB leaned forward, his tone sharp and bitter.

"This is unacceptable," he said. "We underestimated them. Again. I warned this council weeks ago—Sico is a tactician, not a reactionary. He's building momentum. And now, he's made his biggest move yet. We cannot allow this insult to go unanswered."

There was a tense silence. Dr. Zimmer shifted uncomfortably beside him. On the opposite end, Dr. Li furrowed her brow but said nothing.

Ayo didn't wait. "We hit them back. Hard. We know where their leadership congregates—Minutemen Plaza, the Castle, Sanctuary Hills. Hit one, hit all three. Make an example out of them. They can't protect everyone."

Nora's jaw tightened slightly, but she said nothing yet. Shaun raised an eyebrow.

"And what would you recommend, Justin? Covert strikes? Gen-3 infiltration?"

Ayo nodded. "Covert, surgical, and deniable. We plant bombs, eliminate leaders, instill fear. We don't need to hold territory—we need to remind the Commonwealth that the Institute is still the power behind the curtain."

Dr. Li finally spoke up.

"And risk open retaliation again? We've just been exposed. If we provoke them now, we risk full mobilization. The Minutemen aren't like the Brotherhood—they have the people on their side. Wipe out a leadership cell and ten more will rise up with pitchforks and artillery."

"Then we wipe those out too," Ayo shot back.

"You think that's a sustainable policy?" Li asked. "We've already miscalculated once. We need to understand how they managed this attack. How did they breach our jamming field? How did they locate the synth command core?"

Nora shifted, stepping slightly forward, and when she spoke, her voice was low but steady.

"They didn't just get lucky," she said. "This was planned. They knew where to hit and how hard. They had intel. Which means we have a leak… or someone smarter than we expected."

All eyes turned toward her.

Shaun nodded slowly. "You believe they have internal knowledge of our systems?"

"It's possible," Nora said. "More than possible. I've been reviewing older SRB activity logs. There were anomalies in our last recon drone sweeps—signals we dismissed as noise. We assumed our jamming was unbreakable. It's not."

"Then we adapt," Shaun replied. "We improve. But we still need to answer the core question: Do we retaliate?"

Ayo leaned forward again. "We cannot let this slide. If we do nothing, we embolden them. They'll hit C.I.T. next. Or Mass Fusion. Or worse, the Relay itself."

"I agree we need a response," Shaun said. "But it must be strategic."

He turned toward Nora. "Your thoughts?"

Nora took a deep breath.

"If we strike now, we play into their hands. They're expecting it. They're probably baiting us. Letting them capture Greenetech may have been a tactical loss—but now we have an opportunity. We let them get comfortable. Let them think they've won. And then we feed them false intel. We stage a controlled leak. We make them move where we want them to."

Dr. Zimmer raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You want to set a trap?"

"Exactly," Nora said. "We can turn this loss into an opportunity. But only if we're patient."

Ayo scoffed. "We don't have time for patience. You're suggesting we allow them to operate freely?"

"I'm suggesting we control the battlefield," Nora replied firmly. "They won Greenetech. Fine. Let them find data that leads them to a 'hidden' Institute stronghold. Make it real enough to convince them. Then we strike—with force and precision, when they're exposed."

There was a heavy pause.

Shaun looked around the room, weighing the silence.

"We need time to assess the damage," he said finally. "And time to prepare the trap. Nora, I want you to coordinate with SRB and Robotics. Identify a suitable site to use as bait. Ayo—begin drafting operational plans for rapid-response teams. I want strike packages ready for deployment."

"Yes, Father," Ayo said, stiffly.

Shaun's voice dropped slightly, more thoughtful. "We've grown used to operating in the shadows. But we're at war now. That means losses. It means sacrifice."

He looked around the room. "But we will not be defeated. The Minutemen want to play the game of open war. So be it. But we will dictate the rules. Not them."

The meeting broke up shortly afterward. Scientists filed out with subdued murmurs, security personnel walked briskly to relay new orders. Nora lingered behind, reviewing the holomap again, eyes drifting to the blinking red dot that still marked Greenetech.

Shaun approached her quietly.

"You handled that well, Mother." he said. "Even Ayo didn't push back too hard."

"I don't think we can afford another mistake," she said, softly. "If we go full force and fail again… we lose more than just a facility."

He nodded. "You're right. We walk a tightrope. But your strategy has merit."

Shaun lingered beside Nora as the last of the department heads filed out of the command chamber, their footsteps echoing against the sterile, white floors. The holomap still pulsed softly, displaying the red icon of Greenetech now under Minutemen control, as if mocking the Institute's once-untouchable dominance.

Nora stood still, arms folded, her eyes locked on the map but lost in thought.

Then she broke the silence.

"I'm going to SRB," she said quietly, but firmly.

Shaun blinked, taken aback. "To SRB? Why?"

She turned to face him, expression sharper than before. "Because something's wrong. This wasn't just an attack, Shaun. They knew too much. The jamming fields, the layout, the exact position of the synth command core. And more than that… they knew our plans."

He stiffened. "You think there's a mole?"

Nora gave a slow, grim nod.

Shaun's calm façade faltered. For just a second, his features betrayed genuine alarm. "Why do you think that, Mother?"

She met his eyes. "Because the Minutemen knew we were trying to provoke a war between them and the Brotherhood. That wasn't public knowledge—not even all of the department heads were briefed on that strategy."

Shaun inhaled sharply, as if the weight of her words had slammed into him. "That was classified. SRB-only. Even some in Robotics weren't in the loop."

"Exactly," she said. "And yet Sico knew. Not just that a war was coming—but that we were behind it. They acted preemptively. Declared war before we could finish the setup. And then, coordinated a large-scale strike right after. That's not coincidence. That's foresight."

Shaun rubbed his temples, the calm unraveling around the edges. "If you're right, then we've been compromised in the worst way."

"I am right," Nora said, her voice cold now, certain. "And if there's a traitor feeding information from inside the Institute, they won't stop at this. They'll keep helping the Minutemen. We'll be playing catch-up until we lose everything."

Shaun nodded slowly, his voice low. "Be careful. If there's a mole… they might already suspect you."

"I'm counting on that," she said.

And with that, she turned on her heel and left the room, her footsteps echoing with purpose. The tension in the air didn't dissipate—it clung to the walls like smoke.

Moments later, she stood in the Relay chamber. White light pulsed above her, the hum of power gathering as the technician input coordinates into the console. The moment she gave the signal, her figure was engulfed in light and sound—and vanished.

The world rematerialized around her in a storm of static light and bending air. When her boots touched the cracked, scorched rooftop of Greenetech Genetics, she took a breath of the raw, post-war Commonwealth air—a sharp contrast to the filtered perfection of the Institute.

She was greeted immediately by the sight of Minutemen soldiers moving through the building below—securing entrances, checking corridors, setting up forward command posts. The Minutemen flag now flew proudly atop the old tower, snapping in the wind like a challenge to the world.

Down below, standing near a makeshift command table set up on the second floor, Sico was mid-conversation with MacCready and Sarah. He turned the moment he heard the teleportation hum.

Nora stepped forward, cloak trailing behind her, face unreadable.

Sico's eyes narrowed slightly, though not with hostility—more with curiosity, knowing she wouldn't have come here without reason. He waved the others off.

She walked up to him, and for a moment, they simply stared at one another.

But she spoke first.

"I told them," she said, her voice low.

Sico arched an eyebrow. "Told them what?"

"That you knew," she replied. "That the Minutemen found out about the Institute's plan to start a war between you and the Brotherhood. And that someone inside the Institute must have leaked it."

There was a beat of silence between them, the weight of those words crashing down like a collapsed building.

Sico exhaled, nodding slowly. "So now you got they think that they've got a mole."

Nora glanced around. No one was nearby. The wind kicked up loose dust and ash. She lowered her voice even further.

"They're shaken. Shaun didn't expect that. Dr. Ayo wants blood—he's pushing for covert retaliation, bombings, assassinations. But Shaun's not convinced. I convinced him to hold back—for now. I gave him a better option. Told him we could set a trap. Feed you fake intel. Let you think you're winning."

Sico smiled faintly. "Clever. Using the truth to sell a lie."

"But I needed them to believe I was loyal," she said. "So I told them just enough to be useful. Not everything."

Sico leaned in slightly. "What did you leave out?"

"I didn't tell them how you knew. That I was the one who warned you."

She looked at him, her voice gentler now.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. They're going to start watching everyone. SRB is already running deeper scans. Surveillance will increase. They'll tighten everything down."

"We figured as much," Sico said. "And we're ready. But this—this changes things. If they're paranoid and divided, they'll start making mistakes."

"I need more time," she said. "But I also need to know—what's your next move?"

Sico looked past her, toward the Commonwealth skyline beyond the broken windows. "Now that we've taken Greenetech, the people are rallying. More settlements have reached out in the last 24 hours than in the last two months. But we're not pushing forward just yet. That's what they expect. Instead, we're going to dig in. Fortify what we have. Make them think we're content with the win."

"So you're baiting them."

"Exactly," he said. "Just like you said they'd try to bait us."

They both smirked, the irony not lost on either of them.

"I also have people working on isolating the Institute's surveillance tech," he added. "Mel's refining the scanner again. We're pretty sure we've figured out how to cloak movement across our major hubs. Once it's operational, we can move freely—without worrying about Gen-3 trackers."

"That'll tip the scales," Nora murmured.

Sico studied her face. "You sure you're okay in there? Being surrounded by people you can't trust?"

"I've been through worse," she said. But her voice carried the weariness of someone who'd been carrying too many secrets for too long.

"I should go," she added. "If I stay too long, they'll know something's up."

Sico nodded. "Thank you. For the warning. And for what you're risking."

Nora hesitated for a second. Then, without a word, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. He returned the embrace, holding her close for just a moment. The world felt still, even amid war.

Then she stepped back.

"I'll keep feeding you what I can." Nora said.

"Good, be carefull," Sico said, eyes calm but resolute.

She gave him one last look—intense, unreadable—then activated her Institute recall device. A flash of light consumed her, and then she was gone.

Sico stood alone for a moment, the sound of wind and distant gunfire returning to his ears. He looked up at the flag flapping above them. They had taken the first step. But the real war was just beginning.

________________________________________________

• Name: Sico

• Stats :

S: 8,44

P: 7,44

E: 8,44

C: 8,44

I: 9,44

A: 7,45

L: 7

• Skills: advance Mechanic, Science, and Shooting skills, intermediate Medical, Hand to Hand Combat, Lockpicking, Hacking, Persuasion, and Drawing Skills

• Inventory: 53.280 caps, 10mm Pistol, 1500 10mm rounds, 22 mole rats meat, 17 mole rats teeth, 1 fragmentation grenade, 6 stimpak, 1 rad x, 6 fusion core, computer blueprint, modern TV blueprint, camera recorder blueprint, 1 set of combat armor, Automatic Assault Rifle, 1.500 5.56mm rounds, power armor T51 blueprint, Electric Motorcycle blueprint, T-45 power armor, Minigun, 1.000 5mm rounds, Cryolator, 200 cryo cell, Machine Gun Turret Mk1 blueprint, electric car blueprint, Kellogg gun, Righteous Authority, Ashmaker, Furious Power Fist, Full set combat armor blueprint, M240 7.62mm machine guns blueprint, Automatic Assault Rifle blueprint, and Humvee blueprint.

• Active Quest:-