"So, how does a disgraced Paladin end up working with the Midwesterners?"
Danse looked up and to the man addressing him from the other side of the APC. Knight Captain Larsen. No, Paladin Commander Larsen now. He'd earned promotions since Danse had last seen him. The two bobbled around as the vehicle hit potholes and bumps, but neither broke eye contact with the other.
"Couldn't stop fighting" Danse said after a long pause.
"So those synths on the eastern front are with you?" Larsen asked.
"Yes" Danse responded.
"Saving all your words for Maxson?"
"Running out of questions?"
Larsen looked up at the roof. Heavy rain could be heard pouring down on them. The one thing Midwestern Brotherhood mechanics feared, Danse thought. They may have gotten all those old vehicles to work, and keep working for over a century, but one bad storm? Mudslides and floods could take out people and buildings sure, but more could be made, not cars and trucks. Every vehicle the Brotherhood lost was a permanent blow to their power. He once thought the Brotherhood should put resources into building new power armor, but in his years with the Midwestern brothers he had begun to think landcraft was a much better idea. Airships and vertibirds were fine elsewhere, but the Midwest had fierce storms. Nothing in the air was safe, likely the reason Maxson had left the Prydwen behind in the Capital, Danse figured.
The APC screeched to a halt. Danse began to stand but Larsen motioned him to sit.
"Checkpoint" he said. Danse sat back down. "We had some reports of synths up north, in Maine"
"I'm aware. A friend of mine has.... family living there" Danse said, thinking back to the old chainsmoking robot he'd gotten to know back east.
"There was some talk of sending a squad to deal with them, I was supposed to lead, but Paladin Nate insisted they weren't a problem. Maxson questioned it of course, after what happened with you being exiled, but with the CPG growing he couldn't publicly disrespect him. Maxson began to care for what the people there thought of us, and staying on the Minutemen's good side was how we'd keep doing our jobs up there to keep threats in check"
"Good"
"If you don't mind me asking, why do you think this meeting with the Elder will end how you think it will?"
"Do you know how I think it will end?"
"You think Maxson will agree to end the war, help fight these mutants, and then be on his way"
"I don't actually. I think it will fail, but I hope it won't. And I learned hope is a powerful thing"
The APC screeched to a halt again. Danse looked to Larsen, and the Paladin Commander nodded. He stood and hit the button on the side of the cabin, the door shot down to act as a ramp and both soldiers climbed out.
Danse attempted to get a view of the land. The sky was pitch black but all around was well lit with spotlights. He was standing in a well-enforced camp, barricades and raised lookouts on all sides. Lancers hurried to clean their vertibirds while Scribes scurried about with papers and Paladins stood menacingly besides mounted guns or door entrances. The second APC carrying some of the released East Coast soldiers pulled up alongside them.
Larsen tapped Danse on the arm, "This way" he said.
Danse followed the Paladin Commander to a pre-war building at the center of the camp, but he saw it was more accurate to say the camp was centered around the building: a stone, sand-colored, rectangular structure. While pieces of the roof were missing, it was largely still intact. As they walked through the front door he noticed the words "Old City Building" etched into the stones overhead. The two navigated through halls and rooms, and though the Brotherhood had presumably moved most of them, a few scattered pieces of old weapons and clothing pointed to this at one point being a museum. They had eventually reached a room with double-sided doors and Larsen stopped in front of them.
"No going back" he said.
"Go" Danse muttered.
The Paladin Commander opened the doors and the two proceeded through, into a long rectangular room with seats and tables arranged to leave space in the center for a pedestal. A bearded man sat on the far side at a desk, engrossed in a book.
"One moment" he said.
The voice was one Danse hadn't heard in a decade, one he hadn't thought he'd hear again.
"My message from the checkpoint said Paladin Commander Larsen was bringing a member of the Midwestern Counc-" Maxson looked up and saw Danse standing before him.
"Greetings Elder Maxson. It's been awhile" Danse said, not being able to hold back a smile.
"Danse...." Maxson's look of surprise quickly turned to anger. "What in hell are you doing here?"
"Elder, before you-"
"Larsen. Why did you not tell me the person being brought was ex-Paladin Danse?"
"I thought it best you found out yourself, sir" Larsen said, surprisingly calm.
"Get out, and don't let me see your face anytime soon"
Larsen saluted and turned, walking out of the room and closing the door behind him. Maxson stared at Danse for a few moments before opening a drawer and pulling out a bottle of whiskey. The Elder took several swigs of it and then slammed it down, shaking the desk.
"Those coursers that have been harassing my patrols near that town, Simulacrum, they're your's?" Maxson asked.
"Yes, Hemlock and Raven. They wanted to get out of the Commonwealth after the Institute fell. I convinced them to help me see the synths I took under my defense to get to safety. They've stayed beside me since, and Haylen as well" Danse answered.
Maxson let out a sigh. "Give me one reason that I shouldn't honor my promise to kill you"
"Sir, if you'd call Paladin Commander Larsen back in he could better ex-"
"No Danse, I asked you"
"I suppose I should begin at... well, the beginning"
"The beginning of what?"
"The attacks. A year ago the squad assigned to my posting found a dead mutant. It had multiple limbs growing from it's back, looked like it was screaming. We thought it was just a random fluke. Some poor soul the Wasteland picked up and spat out. Then a month later we found several more, living. Another month later? An entire horde of them infesting a building. Since then we've had run-ins with other types of mutants, scorpions with acid to melt metal, Ferals growing black, bulletproof scales, a lizard the size of one of our trucks. They've been attacking some of our outposts on the border, but yesterday they assaulted one of our bunkers, Bunker Sigma... at the same time your forces were attacking"
"While I sympathize with the loss of life, of my own men and your's, what does this have to do with me?"
"These mutants don't care about sides, they're mindless by all accounts so far. I propose a truce, the Brotherhoods can work to deal with this menace. Fighting the same enemies, together, just like you proposed when you first arrived in the Midwest"
"Yes Danse, when I first arrived in the Midwest. Before I was told to fuck off by that Enclave man you put in charge and started a war"
"Arthur, none of that will matter if we're all dead"
"This problem appears to only be directly affecting your people, so again, why should I care?"
"Because you never asked where these things are coming from" Danse unslung the pack he carried on his shoulder and opened it. Sorting through the supplies and equipment, he found the folder Hyde had Conrad deliver to him and grabbed it, laying it out on Maxson's desk.
"What is this?" Maxson asked.
"All the information we've gathered on the mutants" Danse pointed at the folder. "Open it to the third paper"
Maxson hesitantly opened it to the page Danse told him to, and took out a folded piece of heavy paper. Unfolding it, it revealed a map of the Great Midwest Commonwealth. On it were lines drawn through Chicago and much of the surrounding area.
"What is this?" Maxson asked.
"When the Brotherhood first stopped the Calculator, they pulled thousands of documents worth of information from Vault 0's computers. One of them was this, an underground facility Vault-Tec built for West-Tek. Miles upon miles of tunnels and rooms going throughout the region. Supposed to hold 20,000 people to start, and room to grow. Took years for them to find it referenced in files, and when they did they didn't know what to make of it. Whether it was just a proposed Vault, or something real" Danse answered.
"And you think this is where you're worried the mutants are coming from?"
"I do sir, and this is why you should be worried too"
Danse leaned over the desk and laid his hand on a city labelled "Fort Wayne". "I counted how long it took to get here. This is where we are?"
Maxson looked at where Danse's hand lay.
"Yes, Fort Wayne is where I've centered my forces"
Danse nodded and took his hand off of where Fort Wayne laid on the map. A dozen lines ran through it, connected to the wider arrangement that covered the area. Maxson gaped as he looked down to the ground, realizing what laid beneath both men's feet.