[Sentinel Site.]
Nate wrinkled his nose. The coppery scent of blood hung in bunker, corpses of Brotherhood scribes, engineers, and soldiers lay strewn about, some simply shot, others mutilated beyond recognition.

But when you've cleared out Bunkers of Chinese soldiers with your bare hands and a combat knife, all on your own, sights like this are hardly impressive.

A loud Creak emerged from behind him as Catherine attempted to pull a warped door off it's hinges. She merely tired herself out at such a feat until Bray walked over and helped.

"Look Cassie, you almost maul a guy twice your size with your bare hands," The door fell with a clang. "But you can't pry open a doo-HOLY CHRIST!"

The floor was littered with Engineers, their corpses pulled apart and arranged in a mocking pattern, a lone body hanging by his feet and dangling in front of the doorway. A fleshy object that looked eerily similar to a heart wedged in his mouth.

Bray tightened the hose on his Mask while Catherine tried in vain to not throw up. Nate looked unimpressed, pulling out his 10mm. He brushed past the hanging body, pushing it aside like a tent flap. The heart fell to the floor.

Catherine threw up.

Nate swept the room and found no trace of a skirmish. "Bray?" He signaled.

"On it." The Courier's irises glowed brighter, basking his surroundings in a Crimson glow. His helmets computer scanned the room, detecting no life signs...or any evidence of an attack.

"No Bullet Holes, Laser Burns, or Plasma puddles." He repeated the information scrolling his HUD. "Whoever did this knows how to clean up their tracks...Or did this with their hands."

Catherine heaved, visibly shuddering. "Even I wouldn't go that low."

"Bullshit." Bray replied simply, walking away before she could respond.

Nate left the room and followed behind, he peered down the hall, noticing Brotherhood Soldiers gathering their deceased comrades.

"So." He turned to Catherine. "Are you okay?"

"What do you mean?" The Lone Wanderer asked, eyebrows raised.

"Don't give me your 'I don't know what your talking about' Bullshit." Nate chided. "I'm talking about your outburst about Elder Lyons."

She flinched at his usage of the Word 'Elder'.

"Honestly, I feel better with that off my chest." She admitted. "I really miss her."

Nate stared at her, eyes drifting in thought. "I know the feeling."

"Nate! Come check this out!" Bray called, Nate looked down the hall in surprise. He and Catherine sprinted after his voice. The Courier was standing outside a door.

"It's wielded shut." He said, jabbing a thumb towards it.

"Odd." Nate tilted his head towards the door, an eyebrow raised. "Wanna see what's inside?"

Bray smirked. "Hell Yeah."

and with that, all three kicked the door...Hard.

The Door snapped off the top two hinges, leaving it collapsed and tilted from the remaining bottom one. The trio entered the room, weapons drawn with Nate on point.

The room was a smaller version of the previous, with Camera Monitors and Terminals strewn about. There was a single Scribe inside, sitting in the computer chair slumped on the Desk. The Monitors in front of him splattered with blood, a 10mm in the floor beside him.

"Don't blame him, Desk work sucks." Bray snarked, scanning the corpse. "Wait a minute..."

Nate grabbed the corpse and hauled it up, exposing it's face...Or lack thereof.

"Not a Suicide, nor could a 10mm round do That much damage, especially from the Front." The General muttered, turning to Catherine. "Can you extract any fragments from him?"

She nodded, opening her satchel to get her scalpel and tweezers. Bray stood back and gave her room, using his systems to spot the bullet fragments.

Nate stepped back as she worked, lighting a cigarette. He really needed to stop smoking soon...

Just as he was about to walk out, he felt something beneath his boot. He looked down to see a casing on the floor. Frowning, he picked the discarded shell up, examining it.

"Got a piece." Catherine announced, handing it off to Bray who inspected it himself.

They both reached the same conclusion. ".44 Magnum, point blank." They said in unison.

Catherine wrinkled her nose. "Bad way to go."

Bray scoffed. "Says Miss 'Punch People's Faces off' over here."

Nate ignored them, focusing intently on the casing. The lined indent on the side...He had seen those long ago. He knew one man who could possibly have these.

"Hey, What's this?" Catherine asked, crouching next to the corpse. She pried his hand open, a small disk falling out. "A holotape...?"

Nate snatched it away from her, a label was taped on the side, marking it as a Video-Holotape. His Pip-Boy couldn't read those.

Just as some BOS soldiers walked in, Nate rushed past. "We're going to the Castle, Tell Maxson I'll keep in touch." He informed, they nodded quickly before tending to the corpse.

Nate spent the journey staring at the Holotape and Bullet Casing, while Bray and Catherine exchanged some light-hearted banter.

Upon landing at the Castle, they were greeted by Ada and Preston. Nate hurried past them and into the Castle, they followed.

Nate sat in the War Room, a custom room for planning battles and training regimes. He turned to the cloth-covered terminal in the Corner. He whipped the Fabric off and inserted the Holotape, setting the bullet casing on the Desk. By the Time Bray, Catherine, and co. entered, The Video began...

Except it wasn't a recording...

The Screen went Black, a figure shrouded in shadow was barely visible, their head an odd shape.

"Greeting, General Nate Logan." Their voice was Garbled and distorted, almost demonic. "It is nice to finally meet you."

Nate stared in confusion, a scowl on his face.

"Yes, this is a Live video. I can hear you, and you can hear me." The Figure chuckled. "The Wonders a Holotape can still accomplish."

The Figure stopped laughing and straighten up. "You must be wondering what we did with the Payloads from the Sentinel Site. I assure you, We've got what we need."

"You murdered all those people." Bray growled.

"I did warn him, Mr. Riley." The Figure rebuked him.

"It's Bray." The Courier replied annoyed.

"Irrelevant." He held up a detonator, sending signals in Nate, Catherine, and Bray's instincts. "Where is it!?" Nate yelled, slamming his fists on the Table. "Where's the Bomb, you bastard!"

"Oh, don't be rash, General." The figure sneered. "I would be more worried about Shaun right now..."

Nate froze, all feeling in his body disappearing as the words sunk in. "Oh yes, I'd be searching along the Coast about 30 miles north from here."

Nate's fist clenched so hard the knuckle turned white. His teeth gritted so tightly that they might've cracked.

"And don't worry, this is the smallest Payload we have, We'll test the bigger ones later...It'll be..." The Figure chuckled. "Quite the Spectacle." He pressed the button, a countdown of 10 seconds appeared on the remote before the Video shut off, leaving Nate in a daze.

"General?" Preston called to him warily. "Nate?"

Nate muttered something, standing up and running out of the room. They all followed, other Minutemen and Settlers noticing the General's distress and following him. They reached the top of the Castle Walls, facing East out into the Ocean, Spectacle Island lay on the Horizon.

They all watched in stunned silence, no sound except the wind blowing. Nate mentally counted for 10 seconds...But nothing happened.

"He was bluffing." Catherine sighed, scowling. "That little shi-"

FOOO-

Spectacle Island was engulfed in a blinding light, a shock wave rippling through the air and into the wall beneath their feet. Everyone struggled to stay standing, shielding their eyes from the bright light. Except Nate and Bray, who stared at it right in the core.

BOOOOOOM!

And Spectacle Island was no more...

"I was walking along, Minding my business...When out of the Orange Colored Sky..."

Am I seriously ending this on a Cliffhanger? You bet your ass I am. Cause I'm a dick and I love screwing with people. :3

Anywho, I've actually been working on the next Story for a while now. Chapter 1 when actually be out by Sunday with 2,000+ Words. :)

Coming Soon: "War-Torn South."