One Woman Army

Cambridge Police Station

"...received communications from HQ."

I sat down with my back against the wall, half listening to the conversation around me as I dug through my pack. The black leather duster I was wearing gave me some cushion against the hard wood floors of the Cambridge Police station, but as long as it was dry on the ground it didn't bother me. I pulled out a pack of Fancy Lads Snack cakes, and it sparked a thought across my mind, making me chuckle.

The room around me went silent, and the voice of my Brotherhood superior cut through the silence.

"Something amusing, Soldier?" A couple weeks ago I might have thought he was getting ready to give me a lecture, but I've picked up on the subtle cues in Paladin Danse's brusque manner of speech.

I shook my head with a slight grin, the memory nostalgic now.

"Sorry, Paladin. Just had an odd thought..."

My voice seemed oddly loud in the near silence of the evening, the four of us, myself, Paladin Danse, Knight Rhys and Scribe Haylen taking time for food before bedding down with the Paladin taking first watch. I didn't usually join them, but I needed to stop for the night, my armor parked in the garage of a Red Rocket a couple blocks away. I hated running low on fusion cores but I needed enough juice to get the X-01 to one of my caches, and I wasn't quite ready to unveil my armor until I was sure I needed to.

"Really, -Initiate-?" Rhys spoke up from where he was sitting on his bedroll, speaking to Paladin Danse, his tone sarcastic, stressing my rank in the Brotherhood. "Why don't you share then, because from this side it appears you were mocking the Brotherhood just now."

Rhys' voice fairly dripped venom, and I was really getting tired of his attitude.

This asshole...

I ground my teeth as a glance at Haylen and the disapproving frown from Danse backed up Rhys' statement, making me bite back the sarcasm wanting to strangle the Knight. I shook my head, pushing the story I was going to give to the side, deciding the truth was more fantastic than fiction anyway.

"We used to joke that these things would never go bad..." I took out a snack cake and handed the box to Haylen next to me. "I just find it funny that I'm eating them over 200 years later. My Staff-sergeant woulda laughed his ass off about it." I grimaced just a bit remembering Sgt. Lyons.

Haylen took the box kinda by rote taking a cake and passing the box when I motioned for her to share the treat, her intelligent eyes looking at me curiously.

"I thought you said you were a vault-dweller..." Danse's voice went accusatory, under the impression that I lied to him. In my usual passive-aggressive way, I switched to sarcasm.

"Oh, Have you come across many vault-dwellers?"

"Watch your tone, Initiate." Rhys practically growled at me.

"You know Rhys...you ever think that maybe the reason I don't officially join the Brotherhood is because you're an asshole?" My tone was saccharine sweet, my smile blankly pleasant.

"Don't change the subject." Paladin Danse sounded a bit irritated, and it did make me think a little.

"I'm not." I looked over at the Recon team for the Brotherhood of Steel and decided to share a little knowledge. "If you remember, I did mention that people have a misconception about vault dwellers. In case you haven't yet discovered it for yourselves, Vault-Tec was exactly the type of Pre-war company the Brotherhood fights against. Vault-Tec used the people in their vaults as their own personal test subjects, completely without knowledge or consent. My vault ended up being a cryo-facility. I thawed out about...9 months ago I think it was." I paused eating a bite of my snack cake. "I was the sole survivor of Vault 111."