Chapter 4: The Brotherhood of Steel - East Coast
Chapter 4: The Brotherhood of Steel - East Coast
“So what’s so special about these East Coast guys?” Gallus asked, popping some popcorn into his mouth. The group decided to pause it to get some snacks before continuing.
“Well, the narrator said that they were a disavowed chapter,” Sandbar reminded, “I wonder what they did to get that sort of treatment since they were going to the capital of America to save it from the Super Mutants.”
“Maybe they did something that the Brotherhood didn’t like?” Silverstream suggested.
“Yona want to see now! Let mysterious storyteller speak!”
The group activated the visual screen again as the wasteland appeared in all its sun shined glory. The way the wasteland was described by the narrator made it seem like the nation that had once been America was far bigger than any of the six expected from the sear size of it. It would take months from someone on the west coast to get to the east coast without transportation. It didn't even take that long to travel from one side of Equestria to the other as the other compared it to the map Sandbar had.
If anything, the United States Wasteland was as almost as big as the Dragon Lands, if not bigger. Of course, just like in their world, the humans used to have means of travel that could get you to your destination in a single day, but apparently, there wasn’t exactly a means to do that thanks to the war. The one thing that really interested them was something called “wireless communication” thanks to the works of “satellites.” It allowed you to talk to talk to people across the country, or even the world, without being there.
“Sounds a lot like fire mail,” Smolder said, “it’s our fastest communication method.”
“Can all dragons do it? LIke Spike?” Sandbar asked, tilting his head.
“Nah, it’s something only a few dragons are given by birth. Maybe it's the gods, maybe it's magic or just dumb luck, but you gotta be born with the gift. Dragons who do have it are often considered important because of it. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lord Ember wanted Spike to be her official messenger when he gets older.”
“I think it would be pretty neat to have a way to talk to your family from long distances. It takes forever to hear back from my folks back home,” Silverstream said.
“Yona like means to talk to yaks back at Yakyakistan!” Yona seconded.
“I guess it would be nice to talk to my little siblings once and awhile,” Ocellus agreed.
Gallus just bit his beak and turned away which Sandbar saw and quickly replied, “Uh, yeah. Let’s focus on the narrator. I think this sounds interesting.” He sent an apologetic smile to Gallus who just rolled his eyes.
“I wasn’t bothered by it..” whispered Gallus, but Sandbar’s knowing look made him sigh. “Okay, not that much.”
While most wastelanders didn’t move outside of the area they were born, there were always those who wanted to venture out and find out new sights. Organizations, like the Brotherhood of Steel, were some of those people. Seeking out new technology, the Brotherhood sent out a chapter out to the East Coast capital which had advanced military equipment and gear. Since the group remembered the goal of keeping such technology away from others to prevent another disaster like the Great War, this made sense. Interesting enough, the Brotherhood did send out expeditions before to places called “Chicago” and “Boston,” but those weren’t as important as this one.
The chosen leader was a paladin by the name of Owen Lyons, who the group was surprised to see was an elderly man in a steel made coat leading a group of younger looking humans in the standard Power Armor. They marched through mountains, hills, and rivers with Lyons never looking fatigued or worried during the entire journey. If anything, his expression spoke of determination and eagerness. Still, they faced challenges such as going through some kind of nightmare like a place called “The Pitt” which was once a city called “Pittsburg.”
“Wow, sounds like it was... quite the pits, huh?!” Silverstream said with an awkward laugh that got her five deadpan expressions. There as a moment of silence along with a chirping sound coming from Ocellus who transformed some cricket wings for herself. “Oh, I thought it was funny,” Silverstream pouted, folding her arms.
Apparently, the Pitt was so bad that Lyons led a scourging of the area and killed many in his path as evidenced by the Brotherhood members firing lasers into an enemy outside of view while taking cover behind some half-destroyed walls in the city. They also found something mysterious in that city, but only the Elder Lyons knew what it was. Yet, the one thing that opened up everyone’s ears was the fact that Lyons didn’t just go there to cause damage, he also saved innocent children.
While the Brotherhood would call it controversial, Lyons was seen approaching a scared looking human child with what many would call a grandfatherly face. He didn’t just save these kids though, he made them into initiates of the Brotherhood which went against the organization's principles as they were all the descendants from the original members and their families.
“I don’t care if he went against tradition, he did the right thing!” Sandbar shouted with his friends nodding in agreement. Their impression of Lyons only went more up as they saw him training them into full-on power wearing soldiers under his command.
After The Pitt, they entered a place called Maryland and fought raiders, slavers, and mutants until reaching the Capital at long last. Yet waiting for them were some of the biggest, badest, and worst Super Mutants since the days of The Master as evidence by two scouts of the BOS seeing a group of Super Mutants killing an innocent human.
“Aren’t these the Super Mutants that Vault-Tec created?” Smolder asked.
“So this all Vault-Tec fault?” Yona asked.
“I think it's safe to say that’s a yes,” Gallus replied as the narrator explained that the human settlements in the Capital Wasteland were too divided and apart to really help each other. They could barely keep the raiders and slavers at bay. Heck, they were stupid enough to build a town right were a ficken bomb was.
The Brotherhood was able to fight their way to the center of the city, hoping to find some hint of the old world government, but all they saw was mutants, mutants, and more mutants.
“Just how much of that FEV stuff was there?!” Ocellus asked, slowly turning pale by the size of the Super Mutant army and how numerous it was.
Lyons eventually found a building with five sides on it that used to be the home base of the military of the United States, but it was crumbling apart. Yet, they seemed to have struck gold as old war intel, weapons, machines, manufacturing equipment, and more were all found. The Brotherhood had found their lost tech at last.
Along with a big giant killer robot. His name? Liberty Prime. Designed to install fear into the hearts of America’s enemies. With iron stomping boots, death lasers from his eyes, and mini-nuke footballs? Even the Elements of Harmony would have a hard time taking it out.
“Holy smokes that thing is huge!” Gallus shouted in excitement, his eyes nearly bugling out of his sockets. The others were in just as shocked having seen this monster of a machine before, but the angle of it showing the Brotherhood just under the giant was breathtaking. Gallus even had a tear in his eye as he wiped it away and sighed, “It’s so beautiful. Never before have I wished for anything in my life more than that.”
“What is with you and robots anyway?” Smolder asked, eating a nearby candy bar. “You always go on about how things like this are normally nerdy so what’s the big deal?”
Gallus sighed before rubbing the back of his head. “Okay, look... you know I have no...f-family, right?” They nodded. “Well, I live in an orphanage whenever I’m not...here... it sucks with cold water, broken heater, broken toilet. It’s just horrible” The others were quiet now as they frowned realizing how bad their friend had it when he was back home alone. “But one of the things that we had were books... and comics. And one of my favorites was about this robot superhero who always saved the world, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. When I was young, I used to wish I was a robot so I could be like a superhero... and maybe not feel the pain of being a lonely griffin with no parents or siblings or anything...”
“Gallus...” Ocellus whispered tears in her eyes.
“But, hey, that was when I was a dumb kid. Let’s just continue watching,” Gallus replied before refocusing back on the screen. The others slowly did so, but they nodded to each other to talk later without Gallus.
While Liberty Prime didn’t get his great debut to fight against the “Commies” of the old world, it would get its chance to fight for the Brotherhood. Even if it only took twenty years to get it operational. While this was happening, Lyons and his followers fought against the Super Mutants, being the only ones strong enough to stand up to them. It was a long and brutal war as the groups saw the Brotherhood training hard, firing their green and red lasers at oncoming hordes of the green barbarian monsters, and fortify their new home. It also seems Lyons wasn’t done recruiting outsiders as he recruited those around them from the various settlements and build an army unlike anything in Washington since the Great War.
“Smart Lion-man. Need soldiers for war. Angry Green Giants hate humans. Get humans to fight together,” Yona applauded with a few stomps.
“I’m just glad he’s defending the innocent people in the wasteland, unlike his members back west,” Sandbar said, smiling. There was finally a man in his wasteland who was doing something for the sake of it being the right thing to do. While the Brotherhood wasn’t the worst he had seen so far, they didn’t exactly help others like ponies would do in this situation. Lyons, however, ignored his original goal and decided to help out those who needed help even when he didn’t need to. In Sandbar’s opinion, that made him the best human so far in this series.
However, it turned out that not every Brotherhood member under Lyons agreed with his crusade. They felt he had abandoned their original goal of getting pre-war technology and instead focused on matters not vital to the original mission. They formed a band of rebels who rejected Lyons beliefs and set out to do what they originally promised to do for the Brotherhood. The Outcasts took over a nearby military base, its equipment, robots, and changed their colors as a final insult to Lyons. They gathered technology from the wasteland as they watched the group march around in their shiny new colors and robots while shooting nearby humans who also had advanced weapons like them.
“If the original values of the Brotherhood are to just horde tech from innocent people and just use violence under the excuse ‘I know better’ then I think Lyons is the real hero and these guys the traitors,” Occelus growled.
“At least they take care of the raiders and Super Mutants too,” Smolder pointed out. “Granted, it's not for saving the day, but at least it's something.’
Yona spat in disgust before raising her head with a huff. “If Outcast yaks who deserted be hanged for treason.” The others just stared at Yona with wide eyes, even Gallus and Smolder looks shocked by such a brutal thing coming from their normally kind friend. “What?”
“Um, you hang yaks if they commit treason?” Sandbar said in disbelief. “And you’re okay with that?”
“It yak law. Since the day of Yak King Genyak Khan. Treason is betrayal of people. Worst of kind,” Yona firmly stated. The others just slowly nodded before turning away with learning something new they didn’t expect from their friend.
“You know, I gotta ask, what is the overall goal of the Brotherhood of Steel?” Silverstream asked, scratching her head. “You gather all this advanced technology and then do...what? Take over the world? Build a new country? What’s the end goal? What happens when you’ve gotten all the technology needed?”
“Maybe they don’t have one. Kinda stupid if that’s true,” Gallus said with a shrug as he watched the two groups, one black, and one silver, fight against one another while a group of wastelanders watched in horror.
To the average wastelander, they didn’t care who was who. To them, it was a bunch of scary guys in power armor with weapons of death. Politics didn’t matter, survival and trade mattered to them. That was especially true when the Enclave arrived.
“Who?” the group of six asked as some strange floating eye like robot started flying around with a jolly tune coming out of it.
It turned out they were another group in power armor with scary guns, but not quite like the Brotherhood of Steel, Lyons Brotherhood, or the Outcasts. However, they all knew who the Enclave, and it was clear that the two groups hated each other. The group gasped as another battle appeared on the screen. With the Brotherhood of Steel on one side of cover while coming towards them, defecting their ray guns, was another army in green power armor that was shaped differently and looked a lot more advanced. Their green energy weapons were blowing up small bits of cover and even turning the occasional soldier into goo. All while Liberty Prime was slowly making his way to the battlefield over a bridge.
“Who are these guys? They’ve given the Brotherhood a run for their money!” Sandbar asked.
Whoever the “Enclave” was, it was a story for another day.