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Sico stood alone for a moment, the sound of wind and distant gunfire returning to his ears. He looked up at the flag flapping above them. They had taken the first step. But the real war was just beginning.
Sico stood for a while longer on the rooftop of Greenetech, letting the echoes of Nora's visit settle in the stillness. Her sudden departure left behind a tension, not the anxious kind, but the sharpened readiness of someone who knew the tides were about to shift. He exhaled through his nose, slowly, watching the horizon. The sun was dipping westward now, casting orange rays across the battle-scarred skyline. In the distance, old pre-War towers jutted like broken teeth into the sky.
His fingers instinctively went to the radio clipped to his belt.
He pulled it up, adjusted the frequency dials, and pressed the transmit button. His voice was low but firm.
"Preston, this is Sico. Come in."
There was a slight crackle, then the familiar calm of Preston Garvey answered. "Go ahead, General."
"We've got Greenetech. The Institute knows we're onto them. I want Sanctuary on alert. Double patrols around the outer wall. I don't care how quiet it seems—assume they're watching. Assume they're listening."
"You got it," Preston replied without hesitation. "I'll get the Sentinel tanks repositioned along the western ridge and make sure we've got teams at the radio tower, the river bridge, and the main road. Sanctuary won't be caught off guard."
"Good. Make sure anyone moving between here and there travels with a convoy. No lone runners. We can't afford surprises."
"Understood. I'll handle it."
Sico nodded slightly to himself and flipped the dial to the next frequency. There was a brief pause as the signal stabilized.
"Cait, you there?"
A short burst of static came first, followed by Cait's unmistakable brogue.
"'Bout bloody time. Thought you forgot I existed out here."
Sico smirked faintly. "Not likely. Minutemen Plaza needs to tighten up. If the Institute makes a move, that's one of their first likely targets. Too close to their surface relays."
"They'd be daft to try it, but yeah, I get you. I'll double the rooftop gunners, reinforce the gates. Might even dig out a few of the old missile turrets we've got in storage."
"Do it," Sico said. "And keep the new recruits inside the inner perimeter. Until Mel's scanner upgrades are fully deployed, we can't risk stray synth infiltrators."
"You think they'll send spies?"
"I think they already have," Sico said darkly. "I just don't know how many yet."
Cait went quiet for a moment. "Alright then. I'll keep our people in check. Nobody gets in or out without a face scan and an old-fashioned background check. This place'll be tighter than a vault door."
"Appreciate it. Stay sharp."
"Always."
With a breath, Sico turned the dial again, this time to a more secure frequency—one known only to top Minutemen command.
"Ronnie, report."
The familiar rasp of Ronnie Shaw's voice crackled in, calm and confident. "Castle's secure. We just finished reinforcing the south wall and doubling the spotters on the parapets. What's the word, General?"
"The Institute's rattled. We hit Greenetech hard enough to wake their leadership, and now they know we've got intel from inside. I want the Castle locked down. Use the tunnels, keep surveillance eyes watching the water and the skies. If they try anything, it might be something we won't see coming."
Ronnie didn't hesitate. "I've got artillery drills scheduled anyway. I'll expand the rotation and make sure the operators are live and ready day and night. Anyone looking to pick a fight with the Castle won't last long."
"That's what I'm counting on," Sico said.
Ronnie's voice dropped a note lower. "You think they'll retaliate soon?"
"They're going to try," he replied. "But they're also scared. That makes them unpredictable. We've got one advantage—Nora's still feeding us. But if they catch wind of her…"
Ronnie didn't need him to finish. "We'll be ready."
Sico nodded again, even though no one could see him. "Good. Keep all units on code amber. I'll check in again within the day. Shaw out."
He let go of the transmit button and looked at the radio, thinking. The wind carried the distant echo of drills continuing in the floors below, the dull thump of steel-toed boots, the metallic clatter of reloaded magazines, barked commands echoing off the concrete walls.
The Minutemen were moving like a machine now. More organized than ever. But they were still human—still vulnerable to complacency, exhaustion, fear. That was what the Institute would prey on. And the only way to win now was to stay three steps ahead, every step of the way.
He turned and walked back down into Greenetech's upper levels, where Mel had set up a temporary lab amid the stripped and powered-down synth components. Sico passed commando squads doing recon sweeps of the building's remaining sublevels. The walls bore burn marks from plasma and laser discharges, and some of the upper stairwells were still clogged with rubble. But it was theirs now.
He found Mel crouched over a bench, surrounded by toolboxes, wires, and the innards of a Gen-3 sensor array. A half-built synth head sat beside him, its faceplate open, mechanical internals glittering under the floodlights.
"Any luck with the stealth mod?" Sico asked.
Mel looked up, squinting through his goggles. "Some. I've tuned the Mark II scanner to block active tagging by relay surveillance drones. It scrambles the feedback just enough to make us invisible to their long-range optics. But the closer they get, the trickier it gets."
"What's the effective range?"
"Two kilometers with full coverage—if we mount relays in Sanctuary, the Castle, and the Plaza. Greenetech too, now that we hold it."
"Get it done," Sico said. "Every minute we keep them blind is a minute we can act."
Mel gave him a tight nod. "You got it."
Before he turned away, he added, "Make a portable version. Nora might need one soon."
Mel paused. "You think they're closing in on her?"
"I think it's only a matter of time."
As he left him to his work, Sico made his way toward the field command center. Sarah was inside, coordinating logistics—rebuilding the comms infrastructure around Greenetech to reconnect it with the wider Minutemen network. She looked up from her table as Sico entered.
Sarah looked up as Sico stepped into the room, her brow furrowed in concentration as she traced lines across a battered map of the Commonwealth. A soft glow from the terminals behind her flickered across her face, giving her features a warm edge beneath the overhead lights.
"We've begun reconnecting the channel to the Minutemen network," she said, straight to the point, but her voice carried the weight of someone who hadn't slept in a day and didn't plan to until this place was running like clockwork. "Main tower's stable. We've got a clean link to Sanctuary and the Castle. Plaza's bouncing between static and patchy, but it's holding more often than not. MacCready's team should have the booster antenna deployed within the hour."
Sico moved to the edge of the table and leaned over, scanning the notes and schematics she'd laid out—hand-drawn overlays on top of a pre-War city grid. "Signal integrity?"
"Good enough for encrypted command lines. Once we fully restore the uplink node here, we'll be able to patch into the satellite dish on the roof for wider relays. We'll have a full command backbone running in less than two days—if the Institute doesn't come knocking."
Sico gave a nod of approval, his eyes flicking toward the reinforced walls and the sandbagged corridors beyond. "Good work, Sarah. Once it's up, keep the backup systems warm. Redundant power, alternate routing paths… I want this place able to take a hit and keep running."
"You're preaching to the choir, boss," she said, offering a tired smile. "Already have Mel splicing backup lines along the elevator shaft and into the old fusion conduits downstairs. Even if they EMP blast the rooftop, we'll still have localized signal control."
Sico allowed himself a brief smirk. This was why he trusted her. There weren't many people who could think three steps ahead the way she did—and in a fight against the Institute, that kind of foresight was gold.
He stepped back and took a breath. "When's the last time you slept?"
Sarah raised an eyebrow at him. "When's the last time you did?"
Touché. He gave her a look, half amused, half chastising. "At least try to grab a nap once the Plaza signal stabilizes. We'll rotate coverage."
She waved him off. "I'll sleep when this place is more than a ruin with WiFi."
Just then, the door creaked open behind them and Robert stepped in, his armor smeared with grime and scorch marks. "Recon sweep of the south wing's done. No more hostiles, just a couple of busted turrets and a mangled Mr. Gutsy. We're sealing the exits and setting up chokepoints with portable barriers."
Sico turned toward him. "Any sign of Institute cleanup crews?"
"Nothing so far. Either they're licking their wounds, or they're waiting for us to relax."
"We won't give them the chance," Sico said. "Keep sweeps going through the night. I want every corner of this place under our watch. If even one synth makes it through undetected, we'll lose everything we've gained."
Robert nodded. "Understood."
He hesitated for a moment, then added, "By the way—Commando Bravo recovered a black box from one of the synth leaders. Mel's working on cracking it, but they think it might contain command routines or location relays. Possibly a list of nearby nodes."
That grabbed Sico's attention.
"A list?"
Robert shrugged. "Could be nothing. Could be our next strike zone."
Sico's jaw tightened slightly, and his eyes drifted toward the darkened corner of the room where Mel had set up another bench of tech salvage. It wasn't just about defending now—it was about hitting back. And if that black box could give them the next target…
"Tell Mel to prioritize it," he said. "If it gives us a window, even a small one—we take it."
Robert gave a crisp nod and stepped out.
Sarah watched him go, then looked back at Sico. "You think we can keep this momentum? Hold all these places without thinning ourselves too much?"
Sico didn't answer right away. He walked over to the reinforced windows and looked out over the skyline again. Night was falling now, the sky bleeding into a deep rust-red behind the twisted silhouettes of Boston's wreckage. Somewhere far off, a Vertibird rumbled in the distance. Not close—but not far enough to ignore.
"We don't have a choice," he said eventually. "They're not going to stop. The only way this ends is if we force it to."
Sarah came to stand beside him. "And Nora? You still trust her?"
Sico looked down, fingers tightening around the edge of the window sill.
"I trust her," he said. "But the Institute's not stupid. They'll be watching her closer after this. She's walking a tightrope, and I don't know how long it'll hold."
They stood in silence for a moment, watching the flickering lights of Greenetech flicker to life one by one as backup generators hummed into full operation. Teams below moved like shadows—hauling gear, reinforcing entry points, checking weapons. Despite the scars, despite the rubble, it felt alive now. Not just a battlefield. A foothold.
Sarah nudged his shoulder gently. "You should grab some food. Mel said the commando cooks found an old kitchen on sublevel two that still works."
Sico raised a brow. "Did they test it for radiation first?"
"They said the stew only glows a little."
He snorted quietly. "Great. Dinner and a mutation."
Sarah smiled again and turned back to her map. "Go on. I've got this."
He lingered a moment longer, then gave her a firm nod before stepping out into the corridor.
The halls of Greenetech had begun to shift. The dust and blood of the battle still clung to the walls, but now they were flanked by work lights, Minutemen banners hastily hung from support beams, and even a few whiteboards with patrol rotations. It was becoming a command center in truth, not just a victory monument.
On his way down, Sico passed by a group of recruits getting field-briefed by a hardened Sergeant from Sanctuary. Their eyes followed him, a few of them nodding as he passed. The new faces carried both awe and uncertainty—young fighters who'd grown up hearing about the Minutemen's collapse and rise, and now found themselves part of something much bigger.
He eventually reached sublevel two, where the faint smell of something—possibly edible—wafted down the corridor. In what must have once been a break room, a few soldiers had commandeered the kitchen and were stirring a pot over an open flame cobbled from salvaged heating coils.
"Evenin', General," one of them greeted him with a lopsided grin. "Care for some Tactical Stew?"
Sico looked into the pot, noted the vaguely greenish hue, and shrugged. "If I sprout a second head, I'll name it after you."
He grabbed a dented metal bowl, ladled some in, and found a seat by a cracked window. For a few minutes, he simply ate. No radio, no command channels, no battle plans. Just food and silence.
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• Name: Sico
• Stats :
S: 8,44
P: 7,44
E: 8,44
C: 8,44
I: 9,44
A: 7,45
L: 7
• Skills: advance Mechanic, Science, and Shooting skills, intermediate Medical, Hand to Hand Combat, Lockpicking, Hacking, Persuasion, and Drawing Skills
• Inventory: 53.280 caps, 10mm Pistol, 1500 10mm rounds, 22 mole rats meat, 17 mole rats teeth, 1 fragmentation grenade, 6 stimpak, 1 rad x, 6 fusion core, computer blueprint, modern TV blueprint, camera recorder blueprint, 1 set of combat armor, Automatic Assault Rifle, 1.500 5.56mm rounds, power armor T51 blueprint, Electric Motorcycle blueprint, T-45 power armor, Minigun, 1.000 5mm rounds, Cryolator, 200 cryo cell, Machine Gun Turret Mk1 blueprint, electric car blueprint, Kellogg gun, Righteous Authority, Ashmaker, Furious Power Fist, Full set combat armor blueprint, M240 7.62mm machine guns blueprint, Automatic Assault Rifle blueprint, and Humvee blueprint.
• Active Quest:-