Ruby surveyed the surrounding area. Minutemen and civilians alike were running around the courtyard, doing various tasks. Weiss was helping a couple of them see to the wounded, while Yang and Blake were taking inventory. "Can we use those artillery guns?" Ruby pointed out to the four large cannons, each guarding a tower of the wall, motionless.

"Don't think, we haven't tried, kid," exclaimed a member of the minutemen who was helping out with medical side of things nearby. "Anyone that has tried to pop their head up over the wall gets quickly taken care of. We've already had a few casualties," Ruby looked down at the wounded man the minuteman was tending to. He didn't look much older than Ruby, but he had his fair share of scars. The wound in question looked like a gunshot straight through the meat of his shoulder. She prayed he would make a full recovery.

"What if we can draw the snipers away long enough to get some men on those guns? Maybe some snipers of our own?" She asked, forcing her gaze up the medic, stroking her chin thoughtfully.

"I mean…sure, but how we going to do that?" He finished seeing to his comrade's wound and finally turned to where Ruby and Preston were, wiping his hands clean with a bloody rag.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of that," Ruby smiled, straightening herself up. "Just have your men ready to run on my command," The minuteman frowned, and turned his head to Preston, who nodded his head once. Though he clearly still had his doubts, he called out to two men and jogged towards the armory. Ruby strode across the courtyard to where Yang and Blake were cleaning their weapons.

"Seriously though, what's your plan?" Preston asked, looking down at the redhead inquisitively.

"Cause a distraction," Ruby smiled mischievously. Preston followed her train of thought, and stopped her.

"Ruby, forget it. Anyone who steps out of those gates will get turned into minced meat." He placed one hand on her shoulder, stopping her, almost pleading. Ruby looked up at him, still smiling, but more cheerful than sly now.

"Don't worry, it's going to work out, trust me," She pushed Preston's hand off her shoulder, and then strode up towards Blake, who was cleaning the barrel of a silenced assault rifle. Preston's words played on her nerves, but she had faith in herself and her friend. She wouldn't ask Blake if she knew she couldn't do it.

"Blake, mind if I ask you something?"

Oo0oo

It had been an easy enough task for Blake to sneak out the Castle, and avoid the ever watching eyes of snipers and the other vigilant mercenaries. Avoiding being seen was a talent she had perfected her whole life.

However, it was a little trickier when she was carrying enough explosives to blast a Super Mutant Behemoth to the moon.

All this would prove to be a walk in the park compared to the next part of Ruby's plan.

"For fuck sake," Blake heard one of the nearby soldier's cursing, as she deposited C4 and grenades gently on the ground behind a wall, doing it ever so quietly. She quickly peeked her head round to see a sniper and his spotter casually chatting away. They were looking out towards the Castle, in Blake's opposite direction. She dared to creep a little closer, pulling a large combat knife out of her belt.

"What's the matter?" She heard his spotter reply, tilting his head slightly to the side. If the spotter caught her in the periphery of his vision, he could blow this whole plan. Blake lunged forward, slicing both of their throats in a single fluid motion. They fell to the ground, grasping at their throats, writhing for a few seconds, then twitched a couple of times, before finally laying still. Blake ignored the corpses and took the large rifle in her arms, quickly scanning the area below through the scape. Thankfully, the commotion didn't grab any attention from the patrolling soldiers below. Taking a deep breath, she took aim at one of the mercs, and fired.

Then all hell broke loose.

Oo0oo

"THAT'S THE SIGNAL! LET'S GO!" Ruby led a small squad and onto the wall of the castle. Four of the men had heavy combat armor - the best they could do since they couldn't use power armor on the cannons - while she, Weiss, and Yang wore power armor and carried heavy weapons. At first, she expected to have at least some sort of fire coming up towards them, but it seemed her gamble paid off, the mercenaries were way too preoccupied with Blake to look out to the Castle. The four men split off to each of the cannons, while Ruby, Weiss and Yang took up their positions, crouching on the edge of the wall.

"THIS IS GONNA BE CLOSE!" Ruby shouted out, popping the top of a flare and throwing it as hard as she could, satisfied when hers landed by the edge of mercenary's foot. His attention was quickly drawn to her, and he was about to fire at her, but a bullet coming from the opposite direction made sure it was his last mistake.

"WE'VE ONLY GOT SO MANY ROUNDS! MAKE THEM COUNT!" Yang announced as she set off her flare, tossing it by a squad hidden by some cars, before letting her minigun tear apart anything she pointed it at. The mercs were torn apart before they could see the smoke from the flare.

"THAT'S THE LAST FLARE!" Weiss then took her rifle, precisely picking off a few soldiers. This was finally enough to get the rest of the merc's attention, as their spread of fire was now split between the wall and Blake's position. A few shots tried to hit the gunners, but the cannons acted as shield from the attackers, only scraping the metal of the giant cylinders. "YOU SURE BLAKE WILL HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO GET OUT?" Weiss shouted over the thundering sound of gunfire.

"SHE'LL BE FINE! JUST FOCUS ON KNOCKING OUT THESE FUCKERS!" Yang commanded, as a bullet scraped by her helmet. Enraged, she pointed her fire towards a large group behind deteriorating cover. "YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME? THERE'S PLENTY TO GO AROUND!"

"AS SOON AS THE CANNONFIRE WIPES OUT THE MAJORITY, THE MINUTEMEN CAN MOP UP THE REST OF THEM!" Ruby said finally, as the first of the cannons fired.

Oo0oo

Blake sprinted out of the building as soon as she saw the first trail of red smoke, not stopping for anything. Her sniping point had been well covered enough to defend her from the mercenary's gunfire, but it would do little when hellfire came raining down. Additionally, the stockpile of explosives she stashed would be enough to take out the building and the remaining sniper's nests.

And her if she wasn't fast enough.

She cleared the building just as she heard one of the cannons go off.

Shit, she thought to herself. Panicking, she had only one option.

The back of the building was on the harbor.

Though it wasn't an option she fancied, she would have to leap into the water.

Fuck it. She threw her body into the water as the first cannonball exploded, causing a chain reaction and blowing up the building Blake was only seconds before. She felt a heat wave over her head before she splashed into the cold water. Kicking hard, she broke the surface again, and swam towards the Castle, not looking back once.

Way. Too. Close.

Oo0oo

"That's the last time I listen to one of your requests." Hissed Blake to Ruby, still wringing out water from her long dark hair. Ruby chuckled nervously, avoiding eye contact with her friend.

"Well, at least you got the job done," Preston spoke up, wanting to avoid any tense confrontation. "You helped us take the area back, thank you," Preston made a round of handshakes; each of the girls's returning their welcomes in their own way. The cleanup didn't take long as most of the mercs were shredded pieces of meat, and any working piece of equipment was taken in by the minutemen.

"You sure you don't want to stay a little longer?" Preston asked, speaking to Yang.

"We appreciate the offer," Yang said, considering for a moment, before speaking up again. "But I think we've had enough of the Commonwealth. We'll be back soon,"

And with that, as quickly as their chance encounter was when they first met, so to was their parting, Preston returning into the boundaries of the Castle, the girl's caravan travelling the opposite direction.

However, while all five thought this was the conclusion of this adventure, they were quite unaware of prying eyes watching them from a distance, as a single man with a freshly lit cigar watched them through binoculars and a small smirk on his face. Not bad ladies, not bad at all, he thought to himself.

Granted, Cinder would be furious at losing some of their forces and a potential new base of operations.

But she would be intrigued as to who was the cause of it.

(Notes: And thus we reach the conclusion of this story finally! Honestly, I had this typed up months ago, but then my laptop finally died on me…oh well, enough excuses. I also tried to make this conclusion action packed, instead of focusing the characters. Stay tuned, this is not the last time we'll see the girls in this fallout crossover. I hope you guys enjoy, and I am so sorry for keeping you guys waiting for so long. Thanks again and ADIOS!)