Entering the raider compound just behind the other members of the group, Nememiah felt a mixture of horror and exhilaration at the corpses strewn about the ground. As he walked, he felt countless spent cartridges and shells under his feet. He slowly walked through the battleground like a tourist, carefully taking in the sites, not wanting to miss anything. He found the blood-stained ground thrilling, the death and devastation stimulating. He was well aware that the wasteland was corrupting him, turning him into a bloodthirsty vigilante, but he no longer cared. Death was the only cure for evil.

Snapping out of his blood-lust, Nememiah scanned the area for survivors. His heart skipped a beat as he spotted three figures standing amongst the destruction - a strange juxtaposition, to see three people speaking so casually to one another in such an anarchic setting. Maybe it was the others. But he couldn't be sure.

Checking to see his companions were still behind him, Nememiah raised his rifle, pointing it in the direction of the mysterious silhouettes. "Hey! Drop your weapons, there's no need for any more bloodshed!"

Edward heard Nememiah's proclamation said, "Nememiah, is that you?" He then walked over to Nememiah and the others. He said, "You look suprised." referring to the amount of dead Raiders and spent casings on the ground. He continued, "Well, long story short is that working together the four of us were able to kill all these psychos you see before you, but Rice was captured by Raiders working for the Enclave and taken to what we believe is an arena. We were trying to sort out who was going to be acting leader and the rescue plan when you guys showed up. So, you guys ready to do this thing and rescue these two?"

Taylor walked over with a small smile on his face. "Good to see you guys again, now we don't need a leader." He could see that most the group was a bit worse for the wear, especially Andy who looked like he had taken a bullet in the skull. He also noticed a new guy who had not been with them before "I see we picked up a straggler. Hope you know what your in for." Taylor once again pulled out the map and layed it against the hood of a bullet strewn car. He pointed to a place north west of the raider compound. "That's the direction they dragged Rice off to. Heavily armored raiders took him, better trained than the rest. I expect those Enclave [censored]s had involvement in this, probably using them for their ruthlessness without having to care if they bite a bullet out here" he said, nodding in the direction of the armored raider he downed, lying unceremoniously in the dirt. "So, time to bounce around some plans. I say we hit 'em hard and fast get Rice, and Alfons if he's still there, and get out of there." said Taylor, waiting for responces to his plan.

Nememiah lowered his rifle and laughed. "It's good to see you!" He gripped Ed in an embrace, before proceeding to greet Taylor and Sam in the same fashion. Two days ago he had never met these people - now he felt closer to them and the others than he had to anyone for a long while.

"Wait -" he said, Edward's words starting to sink in. "They took Rice as well?" His heart sank. "We need to get them back, as soon as possible." He checked his ammunition. Still plenty left. "We should go together. Splitting up hasn't worked - Rice got taken, and Andy here is lucky to be alive. We'll be safer together. Less stealthy, perhaps. But stealth can only last so long - security is a timeless necessity." His feeling of well being had now completely dispersed, to be replaced by an anticipation of combat and determination to succeed. He was no longer scared or nervous - the situation was far too important to warrant such trivial emotions.

Nememiah listened as Taylor explained his plan, nodding. "Stealth is certainly going to be difficult in such a large group, speed is our only option. If we can get in and out before they've had time to co-ordinate a response, their advantage of numbers is lessened."

Jordan

After he listened to the others make their plans he went up and introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you guys. Jordan King, Ex-Brotherhood. These guys killed the muties I was following so I thought I'd stick around, I had nothing better to do. Looks like you guys will need my help to."

He was thinking over their plans, wait had they said they wanted to break into the Enclave base?

"So you guys want to take out the Enclave base up north eh? Damn, we got a task ahead of us. I did Recon on that place awhile back for Elder Lyons, and it was pretty big, tons of troops too. I also know the only weak point in their whole defense system. They have hidden turrets and land mines for about a mile around the base, very powerful ones too. There is only two ways we can get past those, take out the front hangar, which is outside of the defense systems range, and also which stores some of their Vertibirds and the controls to the system, or we find a hidden entrance somewhere. Some locals once told me about it, but I could never find it. They said it was used by Enclave "Wolves" too bring in prisoners. I'm guessing they are the people who took Rice, they were just trying to look like Wastelanders."

Edward said, "Yeah, a lightning quick commando-style raid would probably work best for taking out the outpost and saving Rice and Alfons." He then said to Jordan, "Ok, show us the way." Edward then started walking in the direction of the outpost.

Sam leaned against a rock and wiped her bloody knife on the shirt of a dead raider as the others talked, listening in. She looked up at the mention of the large group. "Uh... Guys I'm about as useful with a gun than the dog." She shifted awkwardly. "I won't be much use..." She looked at the knives and then at the ground.

Taylor heard this and walked over to the man he had downed. He flipped him over and searched his body, eventually finding an Enclave identification tag, as well as some orders on a tape. He pressed the button and listened to the recording. They were orders to pick amongst the raiders and find the strongest of them. At the end, they added that if they found anyone special, they would be compensated. "Well, I guess Rice was something extra. I'll bet Alfons was the pre-determined target." Taylor stood and dusted himself off. "We'll, we might as well get going. Once we get there, we should wait 'till night, if our new friend Jordan here can naviagte us to that gap in the security in the dark." He paused and walked over to Sam after her comment. "Sam, your skilled up close. You don't need a gun for that. I've seen you fight. You go to them, and they don't have a chance in hell. If you feel you need to use a gun," Taylor said, bending down and picking up a .32 pistol and putting it in her hand "Point and Shoot. You'll be fine" He smiled at her and walked off after Ed.

I just sighed, thinking about what the hell all these people were thinking. Chasing after people to an Enclave base? I might have grown some sympathy, but not that much. I grimaced, thinking about what to do. I sighed, realising that they were right, without the other two men we'd be sunk, we just didn't have enough man-power without them. I started thinking, all the others were muttering so I walked over to James. "What do you think we should do? If you want to run, I'm fine with that, if you want to help save them, I'm fine with that too," I muttered in his ear, wondering what he'd want to do. I'd see if he still had a soul out here.. Really, I hoped he would.

Jordan

The Enclave. Ever since the attack on the Purifier had occurred the Brotherhood had been fighting them at every turn, and the losses on both sides were massive. Jordan had been one of the few soldiers who didn't fear the Enclave, or think of them as an animals. No, they weren't sub-human, and he didn't think of them as scary.

He respected them.

As an enemy, they were the only thing that posed a serious threat to Jordan's skills and equipment. Though, that didn't mean he didn't have any problem killing them, it just meant he didn't spit on their bodies after killing them.

There was something else he knew about the base that he hadn't told them. It held experiments. The captives were forced to fight to the death in a arena, and only the fittest survived. Those few 'winners' were taken to an a Lab were they were tested on and exterminated via new Enclave prototype tech. The reason they made them fight was that they just wanted to test their stuff on the fittest waste landers.

Jordan had been one of the ones who had been captured. He had survived the arena, and when taken to the Lab he had grabbed a Micro Nuke and used it to blow up and escape route. The kidnapped members of the group had about maybe a day or two more, if they didn't die in the arena, before they were taken to the Lab.

And there was no way he would just let these people die, so he couldn't leave them. Though he was no longer in the Brotherhood, he still believed he had a responsibility to protect these guys. And taking down this base may just be his ticket back to the Citadel.

There was no way these people would be able to charge the compound and live if they were just using guns and knives. Unless....

Unless they had a distraction.

What could they use to distract the Enclave? Maybe if they bombed the hangar? The hangar... The Hangar!

"Is anyone apposed to flying in?" he asked with a grin.

I looked up at Jordan, he had just given me a brain wave. "Err, Jordan, your suggesting we...?" I started, but I definitely knew what he was meaning, I actually grinned, "Kid, I don't care if you don't trust me with this, but I'm with you, but on one condition, I fly, I've read a lot of different manuals on flying and the old technology, I think those vertibirds wouldn't be much different," I said to him, wondering if he'd agree with me. I hoped he would, I'd prove that even a ghoul could be trusted.

Nememiah couldn't help but smile at Andy's enthusiasm. Flying had always seemed alien to him, but it had also fascintated him to see the wastelands birds duck and soar far, far above his head. "It's not up to me who flies, but if you think you can handle it, I would have no objections."

I grinned at James, I was glad that he was definitely my friend. I waited to see what everyone else would think about a ghoul flying, I chuckled, I doubted they'd agree with it. But if needs be, I'd just hijack the vertibird and fly off, or maybe just let them fly off and crash. I laughed, I wondered if anyone else had even had any contact with a moving vehicle. I remembered the day I'd had contact with an Enclave patrol... I actually remembered a memory that I never thought I would, back when I was on the West Coast. I'd hijacked a vertibird, that's how I got to the East Coast... I perked up, thinking about telling them, but I stopped, I couldn't be bothered.

Edward thought that using a Vertibird was a good idea but wondered, "How are we going to get a Vertibird to fly into the hangar?"

Jordan

He thought about the Ghouls proposition to fly the vertibird. It was true, Jordan knew nothing about vehicles, and Andy was the oldest and probably the wisest of all of them.

"Alright Andy, you can fly, but only if I can control the guns. I have a good shot on me, and trust me when I say that we'll need it" he replied to the Ghoul.

"How are we going to get a Vertibird to fly into the hangar?" asked Edward.

"We don't" replied Jordan, "there is several Vertibirds in the hangar, so we'll storm the place, take a vertibird, fly over the defense system and land on top of the Enclave Base before finding a service hatch into the base, then we'll rescue the guys and try to get back to the bird. Anyone got a problem with the plan?"

Taylor crossed his arms, thinking. "I would assume the hangar would have a defence system as well" he said "and it would be guarded, we can't just stroll in, take the keys, and fly out." Taylor walked over to Andy and clapped a hand on his shoulder, smiling "If we can get our hands on a vertibird, rest assured, you'll be flying it" He walked over and sat on top of a rock "We should probably split up, again" said Taylor, verbalizing his grave thoughts to the others "One group to go for the bird, and another to distract the entire base" He stressed the last words. "So, I'll voulenteer for the distraction part, who's with me?"

Edward walked up and said, "I'll go with Taylor as part of the diversionary team."

Jordan

He pondered whether he should go into the base on the Vertibird or be part of the distraction team. Being on the distraction team would be suicide if there was Vertibirds around, so the Vertibird team would have to take out the others in the hangar, and to do that they would need charges. Charges were something Jordan could do. Plus, he had requested to be shooting on the Vertibird to, and he knew the base better than any of them.

"The Vertibird team will need charges to take out the other Vertibirds for the distraction team, so I'll go with them, because I'm pretty damn good with explosives. I also know the inside of the base the best, and we need to be quick, plus I'll be shooting on the bird. We need to leave now guys, we don't have much time before the demise of the kidnapped guys is upon us, so we will discuss the rest of our tactics on the way their. But first, what team are the rest of you guys going on?"

I bowed my head, I really wanted to be on the distraction team, but that wasn't really a choice. "I'm flying, so I can't be on the distraction team can I? Oh well, Jordan, we're covering them, I hope your a good shot," I grinned at him, then looked at James, keeping my eyes on him, "Okay, who else is going where?"

Jordan

"Yeah Andy, you'll have to stick with us if you want to fly" Jordan chuckled, "Jake, if you wouldn't mind maybe you should stick with the distraction team, so we can try to keep the guys with good equipment on either side. Nememiah, you and Andy seem pretty close, are you two sticking together?"

Jordan sat down and started cleaning his Dragonuv. He loved this gun. It was powerful, steady and strong, and he was pretty sure there was not another gun like it in the Wastes. He had named it "The Russian" when he found it while searching a museum in the mall. It was buried underneath a pile of rubble and he had been out of ammo for his other guns when he found it. The muties in the Museum had killed his squad and forced him into cover, plus he only had sniper ammo left and his sniper had been shot from his hands. When he tried to dig into the rubble to gain better cover his hand had landed right on the handle, as if it was built to fit his power armored hand. Since then he had never left it behind when on a mission or journey.

It looked like his old friend wouldn't be able to help him in this fight though, because of the short nature of the inner base. He pulled out a custom laser rifle he had built which spurted out tiny beams in different directions for a short range, just like a normal, ballistic using shotgun, but with lasers. This would invaluable inside the base. He started to clean it instead.

"Sure, I'll help you two steal the vertibird. It makes more sense to have a medic on each team, rather than me and Taylor going together." replied Nememiah.

I sighed with relief, if James/Nememiah had ended up going on the other team I wouldn't have been able to take it very well. I wondered what everyone else would do, actually, I thought that everyone might've already made their choice, I couldn't tell. I just stood there, waiting to hear any more voices that might want to talk.

Jordan
"Ok, thats everyone but Sam. I think you should come with us Sam, because the base is pretty well suited to close combat, so you could help a lot there. Everything is set now apart from leaders. Each group should decided their own. Andy, Nememiah, Sam I'm nominating myself for leader, but I'm fine if you also want Nememiah or Andy to do it. Sorry Sam, I just don't know you well enough in a fight or your leadership abilities to trust you, and a soldier who doesn't trust his leader isn't a good leader. Which is also the reason I understand Andy might not want me to lead." he pulled Andy aside from the others to talk to him, "Andy, I know you don't trust me and I understand why, but if we are going to make it through this you will have to, and I'll have to trust you. I know the base the best, so it would be easier if I could tell everyone where to go without having to question the leader first, so it would help if I could lead. But, I'd rather have to ask another person for permission than have a soldier that does not trust me. So you tell me what its going to be. Trust me or don't?"

This was the moment he had been nervous about, if he could gain the old ghouls trust, the chances they would survive the base would be a lot greater, but if he didn't trust him, then there chances to survive just got a lot dimmer.

I looked at Jordan in the eyes, I didn't know what to say, I just couldn't wrap my head around it, "Kid, I trust you, but only if you understand these words," I started, "I'm still a human, sure, I know I look like a corpse, but remember, I still have feelings, cut me and I'll bleed, I hope you understand this," I looked at him differently, I moved closer to him, whispering in his ear, "Jordan, I don't expect that anyone will make it through this whole thing alive, so I ask you, that if I die, you will keep an eye on Nememiah, that's all I ask. He doesn't deserve to really be here, he should be out living his life, not tossing it away," I stepped back from him, looking him hard in the eye, "Even if you say no, I do trust you, you are the best suited to lead us here, so lead on."

Jordan

He was honored. No, maybe he was shocked. Excited? Maybe there was no way to describe how Jordan felt as he listened to Andy. He had gained the ghouls trust, and had even been placed in the position of leading these men to either their deaths or through hell and back. Not only that, but he had started to get over the racism towards Ghouls he had ingrained in his mind from his father.

Andy truly was not just some corpse if he could get through the extreme racism his father had educated upon him.

"Andy, your not going to die, trust me. I've got your back, and I've never let one of my friends die. But, there is a first time for everything, and if you do, I'll make sure i get Nememiah outta there and I'll take him away in the bird if I have to force him on by the hair" he said in a low voice to Andy, then turned back to the rest of his group, "Guys, I know the base the best and Andy and I have discussed it, so I'm leading us. We are also leaving now, so Andy, Nememiah and Sam, follow me. I suggest you others pick your leader fast, and follow us up, because once we are in position to raid the base we will have to wait for your distraction."

He chucked some C4 and a chunky radio to the other group and said "Take these, you may want them for your distraction. I also kept an old 2 way radio I found when I was with the Brotherhood, take one and use it to communicate with us and give us the sign to move in. We are Team Alpha your Beta, keep Radio communication to a minimum to avoid Enclave detection." His training was really starting to kick in and he loved the feeling of knowing what to do.

"Alpha, move out." he said as he started walking towards the direction of the base. Then he realized no one was following him, he looked around to see a lot of confused faces and a smirk on Andy's as he looked back at Jordan, sensing his distress over the fact no one understood him.

"Andy, James, Sam, follow me." he sighed as he continued moving.