The Sharp Claws of the Bear

War…War never changes…

February 27, 2307; 3:00pm

Capital Wasteland, Jefferson Memorial (The Purifier):

"GET DOWN!" shouted a Brotherhood of Steel Paladin towards a group of armed wastelanders as a missile narrowly misses them

"We're getting outgunned here!" Shouted an armed male wastelander "I think we should retreat!"

"Negative!" the Paladin replied "We have to hold the Purifier!"

"Ah shit!" a female wastelander said "We got more vertibirds landing! At this rate, we're gonna get overwhelmed!"

"Hold steady!" the Paladin replied "We can do this!"

As the brave soldiers fight to defend The Purifier from their enemy, a Brotherhood Knight approaches the Paladin

"Paladin Vasquez!" the Knight said "Enemy forces have breached the 2nd defensive line! They're going to breach the main door soon!"

"Shit!" Vasquez shouted "Any word on reinforcements?"

"No Sir!" the Knight replied "We couldn't get a hold on the Citadel! Last transmission stated that they're under attack too!"

Vasquez, seeing how grim the situation was, looked around…

The combined forces of the Brotherhood and the wastelanders were being overwhelmed by the enemy forces… One by one, each soldier would fall prey to the superior weapons and numbers of the enemy…

A normal commander would simply surrender but not Paladin Vasquez… The word, surrender, was never registered in his dictionary and despite the grim situation; he rallied the surviving squads and said

"We fight till the last man!"

He and his soldiers then give a loud battle cry as they valiantly fight against the enemy

7:21pm:

After all the dust had settled, the enemy forces stood triumphant over the Brotherhood… But not all were killed in the attack, fortunately, the enemy allowed the capture of several soldiers and commanders…

And with that, the Flag of the two-headed bear rose over the Purifier…

As the soldiers begin to occupy their new base, the commander arrives.

Smoking a cigarette, he scours the devastation caused by the battle… Twisted metal, pieces of meat, blood… Name it, it was everywhere…

He puffed a smoke and said "Well… They sure put up a fight…"

He then brings out a radio and says "What's the status on Point Zero?"

"Point Zero is secured, sir!" The soldier responded "Elder Lyons of the Brotherhood of Steel has been detained! Awaiting orders, sir!"

"Good… What a hefty prize we got here…" the Commander said as he stares at the Jefferson Memorial.

Flashback:

2277:

The Lone Wanderer from Vault 101 emerges in search for his father… He would later contribute to so many things that would change the Capital wasteland forever… And after his disappearance, the Capital Wasteland continued to thrive:

With its atomic bomb diffused, the small town of Megaton grew and became the central trading town in the entire wasteland… Any trader would be stupid to not come to Megaton to trade.

Rivet City grew larger, expanding the city limits to outside the ship it was originally built in… Now, Rivet City has 2 main districts: The Lower and Upper Districts.

The Brotherhood of Steel, along with the regulators and several other volunteer groups, gave law to the land and successfully ended slavery after Paradise Falls was destroyed by the Lone Wanderer. Raiders and Slavers were no longer a major threat but some still persist with varying degrees of success…

The Super Mutants from Vault 87 were nearly wiped out after a Brotherhood purge, led by the Lone Wanderer himself, destroyed the very source of the Super Mutants. Although some still remain, they no longer pose as big of a threat as before.

With law restored, small towns such as Arefu, Gindershade and Big town grew and flourished.

Some districts in the D.C. Ruins such as Pennsylvania Avenue and Takoma Park became settlements themselves.

Years after the Lone Wanderer disappeared to parts unknown, the Capital Wasteland experience a 'Golden Age' where people could live freely and happy without worrying much about the dangers of the wasteland. However, this was not meant to last…

2305:

The year that would mark the end of the Golden Years for the Capital Wasteland…

Without warning, the New California Republic, after their failed conquest of New Vegas, set their sights on taking control of the Capital Wasteland. It started when they rebuilt the former Enclave Headquarters in Raven Rock and began to expand from there…

The occupation was strongly opposed by the Brotherhood of Steel as they saw the arrival of the NCR as a sign of war.

Arriving on Raven Rock a month after the NCR arrived, the Brotherhood attempted to ease the tensions but learning from their failures in New Vegas, the NCR declared war upon the Brotherhood and killed one of the delegates. This would begin a war that would not only test the resolve of the New Capital Wasteland but it would decide its fate as well…

2307:

By the end of February, the NCR had almost total domination of the Capital Wasteland… It seemed that the Brotherhood had lost… as they experienced one set back after another… And now, the NCR's flag rises over the ruins of the Citadel and the Purifier… It would seem that the Capital Wasteland would become another territory of the New California Republic…

Back in the Present:

D.C. Ruins (Near Tepid Sewers):

The next day, a small group of captured wastelanders were being transported to a NCR prison camp somewhere near the Bethesda Ruins…

Among the prisoners was a woman… a volunteer who survived the failed defense of the Purifier…

"NCR scum…" a male prisoner said in a low voice "… we were doing just fine without you…"

"No use complaining like that…" the woman replied in a low voice "You'll just make it worse if any of these boneheads hear you…"

As the convoy marches towards the prison camp, they were suddenly attacked by a group of super mutants. The NCR guards responded accordingly and began to fight the super mutants.

Seeing an opportunity, the woman manages to untie the rope tied to her wrists and free the other prisoners.

"Ok" she said "Let's get outta here while these goons are busy with the mutants!"

But before they could get far, a NCR guard spots them and a small squad, composing of 3 men, chase after the prisoners.

"Stop!" the NCR guard shouts "Stop or We'll shoot!"

One of the prisoners turns around and shouts "Fuck you assholes!"

Upon saying that, he gets shot in the head by one of the guards

"Dumbass" the woman said as the guards begin to open fire on them

A few minutes later:

The escaped prisoners' luck ran out when they encountered a NCR checkpoint near the Super Duper Mart. Surrounded and with no means of escape, many of the escaped prisoners began to panic as they take cover behind some debris in the bridge.

"What do we do!?" a panicked Male prisoner said "What do we do!?"

"It's over…" said another male prisoner "… We're gonna die…"

"Why does this keep happening to me!?" shouted a female prisoner

"Shut up, you retards!"

The panicking prisoners immediately stopped and stared at the woman.

"All of you will get a grip!" she said "Or so help me, I'll kill you all myself! Understand!"

"Y-yes" the group said nervously

"Good!" the woman said "Now, since we can't outrun these bastards, we only have one option…"

As she said this, the woman points down towards the river below…

"You mean we're gonna jump!?" a male prisoner said in a panicked tone

"You got a better idea?" the woman replied

"But we'll be easy targets!" the female prisoner replied

"So you'd rather sit here and beg for mercy is that it?" the woman replied

Everyone was silent for a while but soon, the sound of gunfire woke them from their daze and they all agreed to jump into the river.

"Ok" the woman said "Grab whatever you can and start throwing! Distract those bastards while we each jump! Got it?"

"Y-yeah!" the prisoners replied

With that, the prisoners grabbed whatever objects they could find and started hurling it towards thee NCR soldiers.

They were lucky as some of the things they threw actually managed to injure a few of them thus, buying them time to escape…

When it was time for the woman to make the jump, there was no one left to cover her and thus, the NCR soldiers began to fire on her.

"Don't let her escape!" they shouted

"See you bitches!" she said as she jumps

But as she leapt from the edge of the bridge, she was shot in the stomach and she fell into the river below…

The NCR soldiers look on as they see her body float and presume her dead… With that, the NCR soldiers left and began to hunt for the remaining escaped prisoners as the woman's body slowly drifted…

Some time later:

The woman wakes up inside a room… It looked like the room was made of old scrapped parts…

"Where am I…?" she wondered

As she tried to get up, she felt a pain in her stomach and she remembered what had happened.

"That's right!" she said "I was shot! Oh shit!"

She then quickly looked at her stomach and she was surprised to see that it was bandaged… She doesn't remember applying anything to the wound… So how did this get here?

"What happened…?" she wondered

"Want me to explain?"

She quickly looks towards the direction of the voice and sees a man wearing leather armor.

"Don't be alarmed…" he said "I saved your ass…"

"Huh?" She wondered

"I found you washed up by the side of the river and saw you bleeding…" he said "so I decided to patch you up as best I could"

"So where am I?" the woman asked

"You're in Megaton" the man replied "The clinic to be exact"

"How long was I out?" she asked

"3 days…" the man replied

The woman then stayed silent, trying to absorb everything that had happened… and said "Well… Thank you for patching me up…"

"No problem…" the man replied "It's what I do… Anyway, mind if I ask your name?"

The woman was caught off guard with that request… She stayed silent for a while and said "Ellie… My name is Ellie… I'm a mercenary"

"Merc huh…" the man replied "interesting… So what's a merc doing washed up and bleeding by the river?"

Upon asking the question, Ellie experienced flashbacks of the failed battle… She began to hyperventilate

"Hey" the man said "You alright?"

But Ellie quickly regained her composure and said "I was part of a group of mercs trying to defend the purifier from the NCR…"

"Oh so you're part of that outfit…" the man replied

"Yes… We managed to keep the NCR at bay for several days but… they eventually managed to overpower us…"

"That right…" the man replied in a serious tone

Ellie looks at the man sees his face… His face was brimming with silent anger…

"I have to go…" the man said "Take some rest… You're not fully healed yet…"

"Wait" Ellie said "Where are you going? Who are you?"

"They call me Rufus…" the man replied "And where I'm headed… Well, I can't tell you that… See ya, Ellie and I hope we meet again…"

He then gives Ellie a 9mm pistol and some ammunition.

"What's this for" Ellie asked

"The wasteland's become dangerous again because of this war…" Rufus replied "Better safe than sorry"

As he said this, he left.

Ellie, while lying in her bed, reminiscence the past few days…

A few days ago, she was defending The Purifier from the NCR and the next; she becomes a prisoner, gets shot and wakes up inside a clinic's bed days later…

As she does this, she quickly remembers her pendant… She wasn't wearing it! In a panic, she quickly gets out of bed.

Despite the pain, she searches for her missing pendant… Seeing her walk, the doctor quickly reprimanded her

"My pendant…" she said

"Your pendant?" the doctor replied "If you're talking about your stuff, its right here!"

The doctor then points out to a case. Opening it, Ellie sees her pendant. It was a circular pendant with an eagle as an insignia.

"Is that thing so important for you to risk your health over?" the doctor asked

"Yes…" Ellie replied "yes it is…"

She then returned to her bed and stared at the pendant…

A few days later:

Ellie's wounds were fully healed and she was well enough to leave the clinic… Stepping outside the clinic, she stares at the blue sky and went on her way…