I looked at him and I nodded, "Hell I agree with that, we run," I said to him, moving with him. I looked at the insides of the robot as we got out of it, it was quite high tech indeed. I didn't know whether it'd been built by the Enclave or by our ancestors... I looked at Ed and said, "Ed, if we don't make it, which we sure as hell might not, I want you to know, you've been a great mate."

((OOC: I don't expect us to die, hope we don't, just a moment.))

Edward

"Considering it said Communist, I'd say its Pre-War, but the Enclave have upgraded it. By the way, I also told the robot to cloak when the nukes strike so the Enclave thinks its gone, so don't be surprised when it disappears. And don't worry about dying, I got it all planned out. You see that outpost over there? Its made of Iridium, I can tell. I have no idea how they got it, but its the strongest metal known to man, and its distance from the nukes target should keep us safe, maybe a little irradiated though. We have about 10 seconds left, sprint!" he yelled.

I nodded and took his advice, I sprinted for the Outpost. We had about 3 seconds as we made it to the terminal, I punched in the password that I'd seen the man put in for the Bunker and opened the door, we ran inside and I slammed the button on the inside. I heard the strike whistling to the ground, I watched the door start closing, everyone else would be far away but we were so close... I watched the door close and I heard the bombs explode...

Patrick had grabbed as much tech as he could carry and ran, well tried to the tech was heavy. He managed to get away luckily all the members of Cold Steel got away except for the Sentinels. Patrick was just about to run back when he saw the orbital strike rain down. The explosion was so intense it knocked him over. Patrick sat up his ears were ringing and even though he couldn't hear a thing he yelled through his radio.

"SHIELD, HARROWS DID YOU GUYS MAKE IT ARE YOU OK? WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE?"

I felt all the ground shake around me, I fell to the ground, I heard Ed fall behind me as well. I heard something crackle through my headset, "SHIELD, HARROWS DID YOU GUYS MAKE IT ARE YOU OK? WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE?" I managed to recognise the voice as Pat's. I brought my hand up to my ear, "Yeah, we're fine, we managed to get out, give us a sec, we probably need to get back a bit, radiation," I muttered, wincing at pain at every noise that I made.

I moved away from the door, I didn't trust it, it looked quite damaged but still sturdy. But I knew that radiation would leak through... I turned around and walked past Ed into the outpost. I went combing through the supplies trying to find any type of radiation chems or anything that could help us get out alive without dying of radiation poisoning. I didn't know how bad it was, but I couldn't take any chances myself...

I saw Ed standing nearby looking around the a cabinet, he looked quite powerful in his stance. I sighed, he was so young and so confident... I suddenly stopped, I had found some radiation chems that could get us through but that wasn't it. I knew that this might be it... I walked over to Ed and patted him on the shoulder, he turned around.

I took off my helmet and looked him directly in the eyes, "Ed, I don't expect to make it through this whole thing, don't say I definitely will because really I have nothing worth it anymore. My whole life has passed me by and theirs nothing else I can do. I don't want to sit and wait to die of disease or old age. So, my friend, I give you this," I said to him, handing him a holo-disc, "This is my last will, everything that I voice in this is yours, you hear me? Yours, I'm leaving everything to you, follow the directions and you'll find everything I mention. I've kept it hidden for years, use it well if I die."

I then smiled lightly, "Only listen to it if I die, now come on Ed, let's get out of here," I muttered, walking back to the cabinet and picking up the chems. Passing Ed's share to him and nodding at him, I then put my helmet back on.

(OOC: I'm still undecided but I might die towards the end, or at the end, I don't know, I'll see what happens.)

(OOC well you can't die yet not while Autumns is still alive)

Patrick heard the voice of Harrows he fell back down and lay there on the ground.

"Thank god"

There wasn't much anyone could do everyone was still recovering from the blast and they had no real protection from the radiation. All he could do was pray. Patrick wondered how they were going to get to the Colonel the elevator couldn't have survived the blast or could it Pat wasn't to know.

He radioed in "Don't you guys dare die on us we've still got Autumn to take down, just hurry a little radiation never killed anyone."

That was Patricks attempt at humour he hoped to lighten the mood.

Edward

Edward injected the chems into his arm and immediately felt the difference.

"Hey Pete," he said, "just wanted to tell you something. Your definetly going to live through this." he chuckled.

"Just can't do what I tell you to do, can you Ed?" laughed Pete.

"I wouldn't be much of a leader if I did." he smirked, "do you know why your not going to die? Cause I have never let a friend die when I am around, and I'm not about to start now, mate. I know you want to mess up my perfect record, but its not gonna happen, I'm too good." he laughed and Pete just rolled his eyes.

Edward noticed Pete had some dust on his armor, so he went to brush it off. Then he decided to give him a hug once he got close. "Your probably the best friend I've ever had Pete, I'm not going to lose you. Now lets go get that son of a gun. Autumn has it coming, and I'm gonna serve it up to him. He has avoided us at every turn, and I'm not going to lose him this time-"

Edward was interrupted by a voice coming through his earpiece, "This is Knight Culleham, we have a reading on a large vehicle leaving a massive tunnel a few kilometers south of here. The size of the vehicle is similar to that of the Enclave Mobile Crawler. We have picked up a radio signal coming through from it, I'm patching it through."

There was silence for a second and Pete and Edward shared grave looks. They didn't think they could board a moving EMC [Enclave Mobile Crawler] and the Enclave had a lot of troops on the top deck to prevent Vertibird landings. How could they take this one down before it nuked the Citadel?

Then the radio signal started coming through.

"Autumn Crawler to New Raven, Autumn Crawler to New Raven, we have gotten the crawler out safely and the robot distracted them as planned. The nukes struck and destroyed it, but the Sentinels survived, they are in a bunker outside of the base. We are en route to New Raven, but need assistance to fend off possible Brotherhood pursuers. Suggest a company of 20 Vertibirds. ETA to arrival in New Raven, 40 minut- *STATIC*"

"This is it. Its time to take Autumn down, and take the Robot for a test drive" Edward said to Pete, before starting to give out directives to the others, "Pat, prep Cold Steel for full on Massive Battle, they will be touching down on the EMC and destroying it from inside, load one of the nukes from the cache onto Big Bird too, you'll need it. Knight Culleham, plot out the course of the EMC and send 40 Vertibirds with full squads inside them, there from the Citadel, tell them if they don't the Citadel will be nuked. I don't care what you have to do, get it done. I want the cache taken and spread out between all our troops, we are going to need the resources. I also want the Initiates to get some of the tools from the cache and strip the metal from the inside of this outpost and attach it to Liberty Bravo, then paint it blue with 'Cold Steel' written on it."

"Pete, while they do that, we are going to look for their people following us. Come one."

^.^

This was it. The big battle. I had to stock up on any medical equipment I could. Once I could finish that, I could help the Initiates. No doubt many of them would be dying in my hands. In any case, I would be helpful. At last!
(OCC- Could this be a prolonged battle. I still need to have a hero moment. Plus, we need a sequel to give our characters more depth and action. Sorry for my out of sync posts. I live in England (time difference).)

(OOC: Yeah, its going to be a pretty long battle, with plenty of hero moments for everyone. I'd like to have a sequel to, if everyone else is up for one I'll make one after this story, so maybe you guys all should hold of crashing Vertibirds into the EMC *cough* Francois *cough* )

Edward

Edward dragged Pete to the other side of the outpost and quickly started digging through the supplies.

"What are you looking for?" asked Pete.

"Thermal Vision. They have men stalking us, we are going to find them.

He finally found what he was looking for and plugged the small unit into this Night Vision goggles, then activated them. He threw a unit to Pete before exiting the bunker via the stairs to the roof. He looked around and saw something strange in the air above him. It was bright red in the thermal vision yet very distant, meaning it was putting out a great amount of heat. He deactivated the Thermal Vision and zoomed in on it. It was similar to a Enclave Eyebot but had hover pads all over it and telescopes to, plus it was a bit larger.

The Enclave must have had this thing follow them to gain information on what they were doing. He grabbed his laser rifle and aimed, before firing. He missed, and fired again. That was a hit.

"Thats done, now lets get to the robot Pete."

(OOC: M'Heree, you can use my guy as an NPC since I'm not on here all the time, I'll post when I can)

John leaned up against a wall listening to all of what was going on, seeming perfectly calm, but those bombs had been to close. It shook him like a car exploding near by, only a hundred times that. He pushed himself off the wall, and checked his gatling laser. He had a feeling that the big gun was going to get alot more use. Knight Taylor hefted the weapon. "If there aren't any objections, I'll take point."

I looked at Ed and grinned, "God, you are definitely the right person to have picked for a leader, just remember, if anything happens, listen to that holo-disc," I said to him, smiling lightly, "You're probably my best friend as well Ed, almost like a son I guess," I chuckled, "Your right, let's take down that bastard, I'll show him what he gets for doing everything he's ever done..."

All of a sudden the thing that Ed had shot down seemed to fuzz and spaz out. I stared at it and a screen popped up, it looked almost straight at me, in the picture was Colonel Autumn, "Hello Peter, I have something to tell you," It fizzed out with a lot of static, I pulled up my gun and spat out, "Say it, you bastard," Ed put his hand on my shoulder. Then Autumn spoke up again, "I know you lost your family, so I have something to tell you, explaining what happened."

I glared and grumbled, "Continue."
"It all started with our very first scout group, they went out to the D.C ruins and were exploring when they came across your house. Inside we picked up some very high tech signals, so we went to grab it. Of course, we found your family, we wanted that tech whatever it was so we broke and entered your house. We slaughtered your family, but you managed to kill us, recently we actually went back and we found what it was. Inside a secret safe in the floor of the house, was something that your father left you."

I gasped, Ed gripped my shoulder harder and Autumn grinned, "He left you something that I now use, a weapon that he made for you. This pistol," He said, lifting a beautifuly crafted pistol into view, "It's quite good, I can't wait to kill you with it." He said, laughing, the robot blew up. I turned to Ed, "Ed, Autumn's mine, he's mine you hear me? I want to kill him slowly and painfully for what he's done."

I hoped Ed would bring me something better than my shotgun. I still loved it, but I needed something that could kill and Enclave Soldier, instead of just tickling him. Something like an Assualt Rifle.

(OCC- I'm going away for 4 days, so I need someone to take control of my character (with energy), preferably M'heree.

(OOC: Mmmk GruntBuster, I'll pass it on to him if he doesn't notice what you just posted, LOL, hopefully we can keep it going for 4 days so you can help us finish it off hey?)

This was it the moment everyone had been waiting for the battle to take down Colonel Autumn. Patrick looked at his brothers they were all tired and worn but ready. He looked to the sky and whispered.

"Brother watch over me."

He loaded his gun and performed a final check of his armor. He looked at everyone in Cold Steel they were his family, now he then announced.

"Brothers of Steel let us finish this fight and go down in history as heroes. Steel be with us all!"

John echoed the BoS battle cry. The situation with Peter might get complicated. Knight Taylor knew that revenege could swallow a person if they allowed it to happen. The former regulator would have to keep an eye on his brother in steel. He strode purposefully over to Aegus and reached for the plasma rifle he had policed from a fallen Enclave soldier. "No offence, but that shotgun isn't going to do much against the better conditioned power armor we'll see down here" said John, tossing the rifle to Aegus, along with a couple MF cells "This should cut through it like paper" The knight smirked as he thought to himself 'My gatling laser cuts through it like butter', patting his weapon. "So when're we moving out?"

I looked around me and I sighed, I did something that I hadn't done for years. I brang my hands together and I fell to the ground, "Mother, Father, I haven't asked you to help me, ever, all I ask is that, for once, you will bless me with a gift," I muttered, my voice went so quiet that I hardly even heard it myself, "I ask that you make sure Edward Shield doesn't die, if he does I will not forgive myself. He is the best friend I've ever had in the Wastes and he has his whole life ahead of him, it's all I ask."

(OOC: Hello!? Anybody still alive in this thread? *Walks over to someone and kicks them, violently* Wakey up! Time to start posting again! Unless M'heree is declaring this dead.)

(OOC I was waiting for M'Heree to continue the story.)

(OOC: Ugh, sorry guys, I've had exams this week and lots of assignments and stuff. I'm going to start it up again. Hopefully Cold Steel can survive!)

Edward

He noticed Pete praying and all of the others seemed prepared. He grabbed one of the pistols he had ordered from the Citadel the day before and walked over to Pete.

"Pete, you have saved my life more times than I can count. You have assisted me in leading the team. And most importantly, you are the best friend I've ever had" he said, trying to stay calm, "I had something made for us. One each. Very rare, customized .357 Magnums. They are made out of a special steel that is renown for its extreme coldness. It will never fail you in battle ever, and its bullet deals damage suitable for our needs. Penetrates Enclave PA in one shot. And, finally, the most special part, some writing I had engraved on the handle." he said before grabbing Petes hand a pulling him into a handshake, then another hug, leaving the pistol in his grasp.

He turned over his own pistol and read the writing. "May the steel you were born from never grow cold like this gun, for one cannot live without the other." was written on one side on both. He knew it was cheesy, but he under a lot of pressure at the time he had to think it up, and didn't put in as much effort as he should have into thinking it out into better words. But it was true, so its was fine.

He flipped the pistol to the other side and read it out. His said 'Pete' while Pete's gun said 'Edward'.

He smiled to Pete and chucked him a ton of ammo for the pistol, before sending out a transmission to the whole army he was commanding.

"This is Sentinel Shield. Move to your positions and prep for battle. Operation: Strong Steel is a go. Shield out."

I ripped out a fresh pack of Med-X. Some Jet would help, but I could'nt fit in my ready bag, the medic's vital tool. I had 2 ready bags. One for my MF cells, and one for my drugs. I saw Sentinel Shields lift his hand to his ear. Before I even processed what that meant. The roar of Vertibird rotors filled my ears, until my armour shut out the noise automatically. A heavily armoured V-bird set down only metres away from me. Sheerly by instinct, I ran towards the hold door, pulling out my weapon, and checking my ready bags. Everyone followed. However, Pete and Edward, carrying heavily customised .357 Magnums, boarded Liberty Bravo. 'Lets go cream some Enclave butt!' was the cry that resounded throughout the staging zone.

The Vertibirds whirled through the flak from the Crawler. A massive explosion ripped several from the sky. Big Bird went down. With the force of a raging elephant. The last thing I saw was my leg bent through a piece of metal.

(OCC- We are not dead. My plan is to get everybody together and attack the control centre. I can edit this post if it destroys the storyline.

(OOC: Um, yeah I'd appreciate if you did edit some bits. Pete and Ed are not on Big Bird, we are on Liberty Bravo, controlling it. And everything else is fine I guess =)

Edward

Edward and Pete were driving in Liberty Bravo behind the main vertibird force. Behind them was an army of 100 walking, power armor brothers, and behind them a few more Vertibirds covering the rear.

Big Bird was leading the main army and he saw several of the Vertibirds around it get hit and taken down, and he started to get nervous. His whole squad was on that bird, and he couldn't afford to lose them.

Then, he watched as one of the many Vertibirds buzzing around the Crawler fire some tracer round in the direction of Big Bird. He could only watch as the Vertbirds left engine was struck and it spun, out of control into the ground, crashing the [censored] pit straight into the ground. The pilots he had driving it must have been instantly killed, and though they were not part of Cold Steel he still felt bad for the loss. Pete destroyed the Vertibird that shot down Big Bird and Edward increased the speed towards the wreckage of the Vertibird, hoping to load survivors into the small cargo area of the giant robot.

He finally made it to the wreck and turned to Pete. "I need you to go down there and find all of the survivors and get them back onto the robot. Once they are on don't come back to the control room, I need you to lead them inside to take the control room while I stop the movement of the Crawler so the main army can catch up and board it. If I don't survive, I want you to lead Cold Steel on and destroy New Raven. If I die, you will become the leader of Cold Steel. Goodbye Pete. I'd say I'll see you later, but I have a feeling I won't. You've been everything I could have asked for and more in a friend. And I thank you for that, now go."

He knew that after he blew open a hole for the army to get through, and dropped off his squad on the deck, he only faced the impossible task of stopping the crawler. This task may likely be the end of him.

"Ha, what am I thinking, I'm too good to die" he said half heartedly, not really believing what he was saying.

I ripped open the ready bag. I had to tend to these wounds. Almost everyone was unconscious, and only the person who had handed me the Plasma Rifle looked as if he would get out of this unscarred. I knew that I had to break open the metal encompassing my leg armour. I reached down towards my leg, ripping the metal with my hands. As soon as I was free, I glanced around the wreckage for my ready bag. As soon as I found it, I ran towards the squad. I couldn't see Nick, but Justin and Max were sprawled against the same piece of shredded metal. Patrick was lying on a box of ammo, bent over it. I ran to Patrick first. He looked the worst. Pulling him off the crate, I noticed a large piece of shrapnel jammed in his left arm. I couldn't remove the shrapnel, it would cause too much blood loss. I injected a stim-pack into the arm, and sat him up against the crate.

The bird went down, hard, it was all so quick for Patrick he hardly had time to strap in properly. He was knocked unconscious when the bird crashed. Patrick awoke to find Knight Aegus sticking a stimpack into his arm. Patrick felt a sharp pain from his left arm, he looked down and saw a large piece of shrapnel sticking out. The pain was incredible although it became bearable with the help of the stimpack.

Patrick smiled "Thanks brother Aegus you've done well. I'm ok go help our other brothers I know you can help them. I will stay here and try to contact the sentinels. And Brother when we get home I'm going to recommend you for a heroes medal. Now go."

Patrick radioed in "Sentinel Shield and Harrows we are alive but in a bad way me and Aegus are the only ones conscious. I've been wounded and it's not looking to good but it's only in the arm. Knight Aegus is helping the rest of our men. What is our next move?"