Reroll back the time to where Preston Charlie Team retreat while Sarah and team 404 pinned by Enemy snipers.
Wind screamed past the rusted rooftop antennas as the Vertibird descended hard, its rotors kicking up ash and shredded tarp. Searchlights swept over the battlefield — a scorched concrete rooftop riddled with shell casings, burst sandbags, and the bodies of synths and retreating Minutemen.
Sarah stood at the edge, with her headset crackling, coat whipping in the backwash. She raised her arm in signal.
Sarah (shouting into comms):
"Echo-Two, execute rappel for AR Team! Mark targets and suppress rooftop nests!"
With a clatter of locking gear, black ropes unfurled from the side of the Vertibird. The Anti-Rain Team deployed in speed— sleek, fluid with lethal.
ST AR-15 and M16A1 dropped first, boots hitting hard. They moved in sync — rifles sweeping as they cleared the rooftop. with precision timing the UMP sisters lob all their remaining stun and smoke grenades to lower enemy attack on AR team and vertibirds
SOPMOD II hit the platform with a whoop, flipping midair and firing bursts toward a rooftop antenna where sniper flashes blinked while laughing maniacally.
M4A1 landed beside her, much more reserved — already moving to provide overwatch. Her targeting HUD glowed blue against the dusk.
From a nearby elevated sandbag nest, HK416 ducked under fire as a sniper round clipped her shoulder. G11, sluggish but determined, fed rounds into her rifle behind cover, her aim less precise now.
HK416 (grim):
"Taking enemy sniper fire from the clinic rooftop — distance 310 meters. Suppression fire ineffective!"
Sarah (snapping):
"M4, SOPMOD — move to flank and return fire! It should give G11 and 416 some breathing room!"
SOPMOD II (cheerful):
"Boom! boom! boom! — I got it, Commander! more FIREPOWER~"
She vaulted over debris, firing wildly but each shots she pull landing hits on enemies. M4A1 followed close behind, her fire more calculated — tapping out controlled burst shots that forced the clinic snipers to duck.
Sarah moved toward a vented stairwell, eyes on the steel hatch leading to Fort Hagen's upper corridors.
Sarah (to comms):
"AR Team, breach from above. Push in, link with Nate. Clear the command floor!"
ST AR-15 set detcord around the rooftop access. M16A1 primed her plasma launcher, crouched beside the sealed door.
Sarah:
"Three. Two. One. Breach."
The hatch blew inward — smoke, fire, and fragmented steel.
ST AR-15 and M16A1 vanished into the breach.
Moments later, intense gunfire echoed from below.
Commander Sarah ducked back behind a burnt-out AC unit, watching the tide turn.
SOPMOD II:
"Oh~~~They're breaking!"
HK416 (wincing):
"Confirmed — multiple synth signatures retreating. Sangvis Ferri pulling with them. Looks like a coordinated fallback."
Sarah (grim):
"So They weren't here to just to kill us, .....stall us to buy time for kellog to escape?"
G11 (dazed):
"Ughhh… can I stall my neural processor now?"
Sarah knelt beside her, doing a quick field scan. Minor damage — noncritical. HK416's armor was scorched but intact.
Sarah (calm but firm):
"Hold position. M4, SOPMOD — you girls cover south ridge. I want to create a kill zone in case they regroup again. G11, 416 — you're on support mode, no more heroics for now."
The rooftop quieted, only the smoke and distant thuds of final retreat fire lingering.
Sarah (to comms):
"Command to all teams — rooftop secured. Enemy disengaging. AR breach successful. Awaiting Nate's status."
Gunfire had long ceased.
Smoke drifted lazily across the shattered rooftop, lit only by the final amber light of the setting sun and the faint hum of Vertibird turbines idling above. Minutemen wounded were being tended to, and SOPMOD II was crouched over HK416, patching her arm with surgical tape — humming tunelessly.
The rusted rooftop access hatch creaked open.
Sarah turned sharply, rifle half-raised.
Out stepped Nate, shoulders hunched, his coat and armor scorched from close-quarters hellfire. Nick Valentine followed — trench coat torn, fedora missing, synth servos twitching slightly under strain. Behind them came ST AR-15 and M16A1, weapons lowered but alert, their boots dragging ash and synth grease with them.
Sarah (lowering her weapon):"Report."
Nate:"Kellogg's dead."
Nick (quiet):"Half his brain's still running. Long enough for answers."
M16A1:"We neutralized the command node. Synth relay signals in the area are offline. But this isn't over."
ST AR-15 (checking her rifle's chamber):"We breached their outer shell. They'll adapt. And they'll retaliate."
Sarah gave a slow nod, her expression unreadable.
Sarah:"So Any sign of your son Shaun?"
Nate (grim):"No. But Kellogg confirmed it. Shaun's alive. And he's in the Institute."
Nick (handing Sarah a data chip):"I pulled memory fragments from the cybernetics in Kellogg's head. If your techs can decrypt it, we might get a way inside."
Sarah accepted the chip, her gloved fingers curling around it like it was the last hope left.
Sarah (taking it, cautious):"We'll get this to Z11. SHD node can start the decrypt—"
Nick (cutting in):"No offense, but I doubt even your fancy Division box can crack this alone. Kellogg's hardware? That's Institute-grade encryption… it could laced with dead ends, false echoes, and memory traps."
Sarah frowned.Even M4A1 leaned in slightly through comms from a rooftop overwatch.
M4A1 (dry):"Memory traps. Lovely. Just what we need. More problems"
Nick:"There's a memory tech in Goodneighbor. Name's Doctor Amari. She runs a memory lounge — don't ask. If anyone can possible dig into Kellogg's rotten synapses in these commenwealth, it's her."
Nate (quiet, eyes locked on the chip):"Then that's where I'm going."
Sarah handed the chip back to Nick, as she nodding once."Go. I'll redeploy to Graygarden and assess our wounded with curie station there. We'll keep pressure off your flank."
M16A1 (scanning the skyline):"No new synth signals. They're pulling back... or they might regrouping."
ST AR-15 (reloading with a click):"Which means they're planning something worse."
Nick lit a cigarette, exhaling slowly."Heh...as They always does."
Sarah (firm):"Stay in contact. General, If Goodneighbor has what we need… we have to move fast. So in next time, we will bring the war to their doorstep."
Nate notice a loud rottry noise as he looked toward the horizon of the west.
It was a blot of steel in the sky, engines rumbling like distant thunder. Spotlights swept the Commonwealth's dusk in wide arcs. A flying fortress: the Prydwen had arrived. As PA system of it blare up "People of the Commenwealth, Do not Interfere, Our Intention are peaceful, WE ARE THE BROTHERHOOD OF STEEL."
Commander Sarah narrowed her eyes, wind tugging at her coat as the massive airship loomed above Fort Hagen.
Sarah (quietly, cold):"So… they've arrived."