Fallout 1. Welcome to the Wasteland

"The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty." – Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States of America

~*~

The baby wailed as it emerged into the world, screaming and failing weakly. The infant's eye's opened as it looked into the eyes of his father, who smiled down with the love and care only a true father can purvey with his eyes. James smiled as he cradled his son, leaning his arms down so his wife could see. "It's a boy, Catherine! We have a son!"

The woman reached out a weak hand as she breathed gently and stroked his forehead. Her heart rate pinged as her hand made contact with the babe's soft skin, quelling the baby's cries. "Oh my God, James…He's perfect..." The baby reached out its small hand and grabbed a hold of his mothers, acknowledging this new presence with wonder.

James cradled his new son as it looked back up at him, "Look at those eyes…So curious, so full of courage…"

"He'll be a brave one," Said Catherine weakly, "Just like his father….But what should we name him?"

James laughed gently as he sat down next to his wife's bed. "That's right," He addressed the babe in his arms, "You're going to need a name, aren't you?" He thought for a moment, as Catherine stroked the baby again.

"Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children," She said weakly, "Ezekiel 25:17." She laughed quietly, as James smiled down at their child. "

Sheppard. That'll be your name, my boy…Sheppard."

~*~

"Sheppard," Called out a much older James into the room as he knocked on the door of his 10-year-old's room, "Let's go! It's time for lunch, and Stanley said he had something new to show you!" Only silence met the father's answer. He frowned and picked up a nearly baseball bat. God Help the Radroaches if they had gotten to his boy. He opened the door and stepped inside his son's room, bat in hand, and looked around. The room was empty, save for a Grognak the Barbarian comic book open on his bed. James walked over to it and looked at the page it was open to. The largest panel had Grognak's hand reaching out from under a cart to grab the leg of an unsuspecting bandit and catch him off guard. Then it hit him. The doctor groaned. "Oh, dear," He knew what was coming next.

The hand of his child reached out from under the bed and grabbed his father around the ankle and gave it a tug. "Whoa!" James hollered as he fell down, laughing as his son slipped out from under the bed, his own bat in hand, facing down as he stood on his dad's stomach. "Ha HA!" His son hollered, wielding the bat like a club and brushing some of his brown hair out of his face, "The great Grognak fells another monstrosity! The hero prevails once agai-AH!"

His father picked him up and put him in a headlock. "Good shall ne'er prevail over the power of The God of Darkness!"

"Grrr! Curse you and your demonkin! I shall annihilate your kind!" He slipped from his father's grasp; just as he did every other time they played like this, "For Great Justice!" Sheppard tackled James around the middle, and father and son fell to the ground, laughing. After a few minutes, James and his boy stood from the ground and walked out the door, Sheppard marching proudly in before his father.

"The Mighty Grognak is triumphant! Justice wins the day!" James sighed as put his hands in his lab coat and followed his son down the hallway leading to the diner, where a surprise party for his son was waiting for him.

"Son, why do you always try to be Grognak?"

"Well," said Sheppard, "Grognak is the great and powerful hero! I want to be a hero someday too!"

"That's not what I meant," Said James, stopping. His son turned around, surprised at his father's sad look, "I meant that you're always trying to be Grognak the Barbarian, not Sheppard the Hero."

"Sheppard the Hero," His son put a hand to his chin as he contemplated the name, "I like it, but I don't think I can be a hero. I'm too weak, too small."

James placed a hand on his son's head and rubbed it gently as his son smiled. "You'll be a hero someday, Sheppard. Just like your mother."

The boy giggled. "And just like my Dad!"

James smiled with pride. "Thank you, son. Now come on, I have a surprise for you." He walked up to the door of the diner and opened it.

"SURPRISE!"

~*~

"Surprise, Dirtbag!" With a hefty whack, Officer Mack tumbled to the floor as a police baton connected with the back of his head. Alphonse barely had time to react before it caught him across the jaw and sent him sprawling to the ground. The blood had already begun to pool around Mack's head. He was good and dead, now. The overseer went for his gun before a large boot stomped on his wrist, breaking it. He looked up with a furious glare into the shadowed face of the bane of his life since the boy was 10. "God Damn you, you infernal brat!"

"The name is Sheppard, _Overseer_," Said the man, spitting the last word as he raised the pistol, "and you just got fired." The shot rang trough the halls, with a shudder from Amata as her father lay dead on the floor, a new hole in his head. The boy turned around and looked at her with his deep blue eyes, and Amata realized how much her Hero had grown. Sheppard now boasted a goatee and a style of hair he called the "Unsettler", his reddish brown hair glistening in the light of the vault. He reached down and un-cuffed her and grabbed her by the hand. "Come on, Amata," he said with a strong voice, that still bore a bit of fear and regret at what he had just done, "It's time to go." Amata tore her hand away from his and looked back at her Father's body.

"Shep…Why?" He sighed as he looked back at her.

"You saw. He had lost his mind. The power was poisoning him," He pleaded with her, that legendary silver tongue of his coming into play. Amata closed her eyes as the tears dripped from her eyes, looking away from him.

"Just go, hero. You've already saved me-But this is where I belong." His hand clasped her shoulder and turned her around. She had barely enough time to blink before his lips met hers in a kiss that sent her reeling back years to when she had first felt those telltale signs of growing up, when she first heard the loud booming voice of the self-proclaimed 'Hero' and the glow he set a blaze in her heart. She returned it before pushing him away. "Go, Sheppard," She said as she sat down in the chair, "Go save the world." Her hero gave her one final grin as he took the lap coat from Jonas' corpse, placed it gently over her like a blanket. She gripped it tightly and closed her eyes, sobbing as the boots of Sheppard vanished and more footsteps came. She heard Gomez give a deep 'Holy God,' before he went to Amata.

"Amata, what happened?"

She gave one last sob before looking up at Gomez. "He saved me."

~*~

"He saved me," Reddin growled as Jennings gave one final shuddering breath and died, his blood staining the mattress, "He saved me, and took the shot himself…I'm gonna kill those FUCKING MUTIES!" Never one to let her soldiers make rash choices, Sarah Lyons grabbed Reddin by the handle of her armor and shook her a little.

"FOCUS, Initiate, Focus!" She said sharply, "It's a pair of Super Mutants, not some random half-naked feral." She hefted her rifle and loaded it, "We hit them with everything. Colvin, you stay here and hold the line. We'll be just around the corner." Colvin nodded before returning to taking out the mutants with patient fire. Sarah led her squad around the corner to face the Super Mutants, but then she heard a rather loud yell.

"HA HA! COME AND FACE YOUR DOOM, YOU PUNY ORANGE WEAKLINGS!"

As they turned the corner, Sarah gaped. 'What in the name of Maxson?' There was a man standing there, dressed in what looked like an armored vault suit, hefting a rather shiny…Was that a JAPANESE sword? Where in the hell did he get that? This new stranger was standing at the entrance to the subway, a Dog behind him growling at the super Mutants. There was a gleam in the man's eyes that seemed to stun the super mutants-They had never seen such a confident fire in a human's eyes. The man hefted his blade and charged the mutants, boots pounding on the pavement.

"FOR GREAT JUSTICE!!!" The mutants were totally blindsided. The blade caught one in the neck, its head rolling away into a ditch, while the second's leg was crippled by the furious fangs of the dog. It yowled in pain before the blade of the yet unnamed vault dweller cut his head open like a melon. The beast fell to it' knees and then toppled to the ground, it's unholy blood tainting the earth. The new person sighed and sheathed his blade before taking a hunting rifle off one of the corpses. "Hmm…Not as heroic as my blade," he brought it close to his nose and gave it a whiff, "Blech. Gonna have to do something about that stench." The Dog sniffed the air and turned, throwing a bark in the direction of the still stunned soldiers. The man looked up and waved at the onlookers, his new rifle on his shoulder. "Oh, hey! Sorry, were these yours?"

Enter the awkward pause. The vault man blinked at the silence and then, when no reaction was present, he crossed the small chasm to the Paladins. Sarah was the first one to speak. "Nicely done."

The man gave a majestic bow as the dog began to sniff the hands of the armored knights. "It's the job of a Hero to be awesome!"

Sarah rolled her eyes, "Right. I'm Sentinel Sarah Lyons," she said, making the first introductions, "This is Paladin Vargas and Initiate Reddin." Sarah extended a hand, "We're with the Brotherhood of Steel."

A pleased grin washed over the man;s face as he shook her hand, "Oh, so YOU'RE the Brotherhood of Steel I've heard so much about. Well," He said taking a step back, "I am the mighty Sheppard of Vault 101, the greatest Hero this world has ever seen! And this here," Sheppard gave the dog a scratch behind the ear, "is Dogmeat, my trusty, fuzzy sidekick."

Reddin gave a derisive snicker. "What kind of name is 'Sheppard'?"

"What kind of name is 'Reddin'?" Sheppard responded with a glare. Reddin took a step forward and the forehead of the two collided like bulls, each trying to push the other back.

"You makin' fun of my name?"

"I sure as hell ain't making fun of your mother, but gimmie time-I'll ge to her next!"

"You want a piece of me, Vaultie!?"

"I don't need to be a Hero to take you down!!"

"ENOUGH," snapped Sarah, the two stopping their face-off and looking at her, "We have to keep going. The GNR garrison is waiting for us, and-"

"Whoa, hold up there," said Sheppard, trading looks with Dogmeat and looking back up at Sarah, "Did you say GNR?"

"Yeah, why?"

"That's where I'm headed!" The group traded a surprised look as he continued, "I heard that Three Dog might know something about the whereabouts of someone I'm looking for."

"Oh, yeah?" Snapped Reddin, "Who?"

"My dad." Sheppard said with a challenging tone at Reddin, who was silenced immediately. Sarah raised a blonde eyebrow. This guy was more than your usual Wastelander.

"Alright," She said with finality, "You can tag along. But you take care of yourself, got it? I've got a squad to protect." Sheppard gave a grin and cocked the rifle. It was a grin she would remember for ever. It sent a shiver down her spine and set a fire in her heart. She felt…Protected. Unstoppable.

Vargas smiled. "This ought to be entertaining. I've never seen a dog do all the fighting before."

Sheppard glowered and walked around the corner, "Ah, Shut up."

~*~

"Ah, SHUT UP!" The buzz of the laser rifle rang out as Reddin put the yowling Super Mutant out of it's misery, it's limbs all gone from several clean smipes from Sheppard's blade, "Geez, that was AWESOME!" She said as she raised her hand for a high-five from the Lone Wanderer, who complied.

"Man, Did you see that one shot you got?? Between the beams and through a hole in the roof!"

"You should talk!" The Initiate said with a laugh, "I've never seen anyone dismember a Brute like that!"

"Excuse me," Vargas said, tapping his boot on the pavement, the two groaning like a pair of teenagers do when interrupted by an adult, "But I need Reddin to secure the perimeter. If we're done with the Oh my Gawd-fest, that is."

Reddin groaned and walked away to the pile of cars, Dogmeat dashing by her, sniffing at the cars. "Come on, boy!" called Shep, "It's time to visit Three Dog!...Hey!" He said, now worried as the dog began to bark at the wall of cars, "What's the problem, boy??"

Boom.

Sarah stopped in her tracks. Simultaneously, everyone who remained turned their guns and heads to the sound of crushing footsteps. Reddin shivered as Dogmeat barked next to her. "DOGMEAT! REDDIN!" Sheppard shouted in fear, "GET BACK HERE! NOW!"

A roar sent a rush of fear through Sarah's veins as she saw the familiar mountain-like outline of the biggest thing to ruin anyone's day. "BEHEMOTH!" The wall of cars exploded, sending two black outlines flying. They were both dead before they hit the ground, the Behemoth charging into the square.

"SOMEONE GET THAT FAT MAN!" Vargas called out as the monstrosity charged the group. Sheppard, roaring with fury, ran to the fountain and grabbed the launcher, whirling on the spot, pulling the trigger,- -Just in time for the fire hydrant to collide with his chest. The hero went flying backwards into a car, his Pip-Boy beeping that his ribs were broken as the nuke went wide, sailing into a building behind the station. He sat up and looked at the launcher. It had been broken by the Behemoth's strike. Shep snarled and turned his gaze to the creature. Now what to do? He looked from the Mini Nuke in the Fat Man.

…Could that work? Hell, he was a Hero, he had to try.

Grabbing the nuke in his hands, he ran pell-mell at the Behemoth, his roars of fury overpowering the pain that cursed through his chest. The creature raised it's club and brought it down. Shep jumped onto it, running up the arm and jamming the Nuke between the tombstone-teeth of the giant Super Mutant. It reached up and grasped his body in its massive ham-size fingers and threw him into the water of the fountain.

"SHEPPARD!" Sarah screamed as she shot at the Behemoth's legs, trying to take it down. Then the one thing she didn't expect to hear came from the fountain. A cackle. A laugh that shook her in her shoes.

Hero one-oh-one, ugly!" Sheppard grinned as he raised a 10 mm pistol, the same he had used to kill the Overseer, and aimed at the nuke between the Behemoth's teeth, "Never kill the Hero's dog." He pulled the trigger. Vargas and Sarah had just enough time to get down on the ground.

The world changed to slow-motion and the sounds of the ensuing event came one at a time: The whip of the bullet in the air, the 'ding' it made as it connected with the Nuke, and the following, final, deafening boom that shook the plaza. They looked back up at the Behemoth as it fell backward on the ground; a bloody rain falling on the plaza for a few short seconds as it came crashing down.

They looked back at the Hero as he smiled and gave them a thumbs-up and then passed out against the fountain. Sarah smiled. 'Hero 101, Shepherd of the Wastes…Whatever we're going to call him, he's earned it."The Sentinel looked up as a group of medics ran out of the building as she stood up and began barking orders at the medics. She gave a soft look at the stretcher that carried Sheppard as they ran into the building. Only one sentence escaped her lips, and it was only quiet enough for her to hear.

"Welcome to the Wasteland, Hero."


	2. The Purifier

"For he hears the lambs innocent call. / And he hears the ewes tender reply. / He is watchful while they are in peace. / For they know when their Shepherd is nigh."

–William Blake

~*~

Three Dog couldn't help but let a laugh run from his lips followed by a gang of its kin. It was sooo rude, but…this was hilarious. Shep was bent over awkwardly on a medical table while a medic patched up the injury. He had changed his attire since last they met to the outfit of a Merc Cruiser. The hero sent a glare at the radio host. "It's not funny, man!"

"No, no," The disc jockey said through barrels of laughter, "It's HILARIOUS." He shook his head as the medic tsked at Shep.

"You should know better than to try something that stupid, Outsider Sheppard. Even WE try to avoid Paradise Falls."

The Hero winced and turned his glare to the medic, "They had kids captive there, man! KIDS!"

"I know, man, I know," Three dog said, his laughter picking up again, "But it's just so _you_ to get shot in the ass, LITERALLY, as you utterly obliterate the Slaver capital of the Wasteland."

Pulling his pants back up as the Medic finished his work, Sheppard groaned and rubbed his tender buttocks. "I can't believe he snuck up on me. He wears friggin' PINK and I let him sneak up on me."

"Heard you broke his neck for that," the Medic mentioned as he packed his materials and washed his hands, "So is Paradise Falls done for good?"

"Every slaver there is dead," The hero said as he placed his blade on his side again, "There will still be some slavers running around from the Pitt, but I made sure they know never to mess with the people of a hero again."

"Oh?" Now, Three Dog was curious. Sheppard usually never left a calling card (save for the dead bodies with severed head and limbs from that mysterious sword of his), so they must have REALLY made the Sheppard of the Wastes upset. "What was it?"

A grin spread over the Hero's face. "I used a slaver collar to hang Eulogy's body at the entrance and planted a few frag grenades on it. If they try to get him down, they'll get a big of a surprise." Three Dog laughed again.

"Now, THAT'S a 'No Trespassing' sign if there ever was one."

~*~

"Now, that's a 'No Trespassing' sign if there ever was one," Sheppard said to Amata as he strode past a celebrating Butch. He smiled at her and she felt her heart grow heavy, even as it spun happily upon gazing on that smile.

"They're saying," She said cautiously, "That I should be the new overseer; even the people who supported Mack are clamoring for me."

A huge smile lit up the world around her and made her heart sink even further as it spread over Shep's face. It was only now she noticed how dirty he looked, but it seemed impossible to see. He looked as warm and welcoming as a fire in the night, blazing forever without the slightest weakening to rain or snow. "That's fantastic!" He said, reaching out to embrace her in happiness, "Terrific!" Then the light paused. Amata placed a hand in front of her to stop him.

"They're also saying that you're a hero…But that you're too dangerous to keep here."

"Amata, what-"

"You've saved us, but you had to kill one of us to do it," Amata said, closing her eyes and turning away, the feeling in her stomach increasing in weight, "I can't just let that go."

She could almost feel the pain in his voice. "But, Amata-"

"No buts, Sheppard," She said, the regret seeping into her voice, but keeping strong in her conviction. This was painful to do, but, she kept telling herself, 'It's the right thing to do.' "I'm sorry, but you're a hero, Shep-A true hero…And you have to leave."

There was silence. She could feel the eyes of the others on her, but the eyes that gave her the most pain were the baby blues what were no doubt still staring at her in pained shock. "Amata, I-"

"Just go, Hero. Go save the world."

She felt his hand rest on her shoulder, and she tensed. Sheppard withdrew his hand, and she heard the sound of his fading footsteps. As his footsteps faded, she ran into her room and grabbed the coat he had left with her the first time he left. Wrapping her self in it, she sat down on her bed and wept.

"Goddamit, Sheppard," she sobbed.

~*~

"God-DAMMIT, Sheppard!" Sarah said loudly as she ran forward to grab Shepard as he toppled to the ground. A few Initaites ran forward to help her turn him over. He grinned up at her and coughed up some blood. The Sentinel glared up at the people who had followed him. The lady, no doubt Madison Li of Rivet City was snapping at her father while the other three looked oddly out of place, trying to get a good look at their savior.

"Look what I found," he said weakly, nodding at the refugees, before coughing up even more blood on his hand.

"It's alright, Hero, we got you," one of the Initiates said before he began organizing his brethren, "We'll get you patched up in no time." He snapped at one of the other Initiates and they took off down into the Citadel.

"What's his condition?" Elder Lyons had joined the small group around Shep, the Paladin he once was appearing once more. His eyes were focused on the various wounds as his hands traveled the body, finally getting a reaction as they crossed the spine. "Good god, a plasma shot straight to the spine," A falre of anger crossed his gaze, "The Enclave?"

Sheppard nodded. "Madison tripped and one of them aimed at her. Dad would've done it too."

"Would've?"

"He's dead. Dad killed himself to keep the Enclave from getting Project Purity to work."

Owyn lowered his head and sighed. When he raised it again, it was the Elder, aged and wise, and just a bit fatherly. "Rest, my boy," He said, crossing his hand over the Hero's face as he passed out, "You've earned it."

Sarah wiped something from her check, something wet. She gave a good look at it sat on her black glove.

A tear?

She looked back down as Sawbones arrived and began his work, wondering just how much this hero meant to her. She sighed and took a hold of his hand, which unconsciously grabbed back.

"BEGINNING OPERATION-ALL EXTRA PERSONNEL STAY CLEAR."

~*~

"BEGINNING OPERATION," The voice of the mighty Liberty Prime boomed as he began to cross the bridge to the purifier, his huge footsteps shaking the earth beneath him.  
"ALL EXTRA PERSONNEL STAY CLEAR." Sheppard was running cover for him along with the rest of the Pride, cutting a swath through any Enclave S.O.B. that got in his way.

Sarah had a fearsome growl on her face as she opened fire on a Tesla Trooper who got to close to Prime. The plasma grenade in his hand rolled to a stop in front of her.

She was hit by a train, and then the grenade exploded. Sheppard had charged her, his Winterized T-51 B power Armor giving off a clang as it collided with its lesser counterpart, knocking her out of the way. He looked down just in time to see a flash of green as the grenade exploded at his feet.

The body went flying back into a car, and didn't get up.

Sheppard breathed heavily. So this was death. It wasn't so bad, he supposed, at least we'll win the day. Then a hand took his and he looked up as his father smiled down at him. "Rise and shine, son." The boy grinned.

"I can't, Dad. I did my best, but I couldn't do it." The scientist smiled.

"Let's ask someone who knows, shall we?" He looked behind him as a tall, black woman in a along lap coat walked up, her gentle hands caressing his gloved hand. Sheppard was shocked. She was more beautiful than the pictures showed.

Catherine smiled down at her son the way an angel smiles at a new baby. She gently caressed his cheek and let a tear drip from her eye. "Hello, son. It's time to get up."

"I can't, Mom, I can't." he felt like a child again, saying such things. He felt another pair of hands behind him as he saw Butch, who had died in a fight in a bar in Rivet City, try to lift him up by the shoulders.

"Come on, He-ro," he said in a mocking time, "Time to prove how tough us Tunnel Snakes are!"

"Woof!" Shep looked down to see Dogmeat pushing on his thigh. He looked around at the faces of his family…and his grin crossed his face.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

Almost everyone on the bridge, even Liberty Prime, turned as a knight in shining power armor stood and drew his sword. He cackled madly and charged, The Enclave in shock and the Brotherhood cheering. Hero 101 made a motion to liberty prime, who reached down and threw the Sheppard of the Wastes over the wall of energy. The shocked Enclave could only watch as the hero landed in their midst, crashing to the ground with his infamous war cry.

"FOR GREAT JUSTICE!!!"

Sarah felt her heart swell and let loose the same cry as she led the Pride through the gates, watching with shock and awe as the sword she had first seen in the hands of a vault dweller in the middle of warzone with his faithful dog cut through armor, steel, and bone. His massive boot kicked the door of the Purifier open and he charged into the building, the screams of the Enclave echoing along with his challenging cries.

She wasn't sure what happened inside. All she knew is that when she got there, Colonel Autumn lay dead on the ground, the fabled Sheppard's Sword in his heart.

Shep felt his heart skip as the door shut, and heard Sarah cry. He looked through the window as she pressed the button in a panic.

"Hey there," he said with a weak smile and wave, echoing their first meeting as he waved at the fallen Enclave around him, the Purifier chugging to life and the room flooding with radiation, "Sorry, were these yours?"

All she saw after that was the Hero falling near the spot his father had laid, and as her own vision began to blur, she could've sworn she saw a dog, a greaser, and the proudest mother and father in the world surrounding Sheppard, looking down at him with only the care and admiration you can give a hero whose part of your family.


	3. A Sheppard and His Flock

"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." – The Bible

~*~

Gob looked up from the glass he was washing as the imfamous Hero 101 stumbled in, dirty and bruised, with what looked like a new bullet hole in his cruiser outfit. He sat down at a stool in the front of the bar and then his head toppled down with a groan.

The ghoul blinked and tapped Shep's head. All he heard was a groan. Gob placed the glass down and sighed. "Let me guess," he said as the young man clutched his head, "That whole Quantum thing from Girdershade was a really bad idea?"

"THIRTY," moaned the boy as he sat up, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "Thirty goddamn Nuka-Cola Quantums. And all I got was some schematics on how to make, get this," Shep yanked a blueprint out of his pocket and slammed it on the table, " A NUKA GRENDADE."

Gob eyed a long scratch on Shep's before facepalming. "You didn't."

"Hey, shipping logs confirmed it-There was some Quantum shipped to Old Olney Grocery."

"You went to Deathclaw Central to get some _soda_?"

The young man rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling. "Yeah, well, the truck crashed a mile away. That scratch his from a combat knife." He groaned as he eyed it, "Friggin' Talon Company again."

A grim smile stretched over the flaky face of the Ghoul. He grabbed a beer from the freezer and slammed it on the counter in front of Sheppard, who looked up surprised. "On the house," The raspy voice said with a smile. There was a pause and 'The Grin' took over the visage of the boy.

"Someone better not have said the Unholy Three Words out there," Came Moriarty's voice from the back.

"No, sir!" The Ghoul said before growling and returning to cleaning his glass, "Asshole."

~*~

"Asshole!"

"Shut up!" The smack of the butt of a gun on the side of a face echoed in front of Fort Independence as the Outcast slammed the rear of her Laser Rifle into the cheek of Hero 101. The boy spit, wiped his mouth and stood back up. The two Brotherhood paladins behind him watched this carefully. One was holding the other up, blood leaking from a hole in the knee of his armor. These were a pair of new initiates on their first patrol. They had accidentally strolled by Independence and the Outcasts opened fire. They were quite lucky Shep had been walking by on his way towards Tenpenny Tower.

"Bitch," he snarled as he got back up, his gun still in his holster, "What did they ever do to you??"

"I said, SHUT UP!" The woman in armor snapped again as she raised her rifle a second time. A hand came up and stopped her and all faces toward to the newcomer. An Asian man, tall and weathered in outcast colors, looked down in a calculating glare at the bruised hero. Sheppard only glared back, his hand now resting on his sword. The Knights tensed. If he drew his sword, there was no telling how messy this could get.

"What is your name?" Asked the man.

The hero spit again, blood spraying the ground. "Sheppard. I already know you, Casdin." The knights looked back up at the man. This was Casdin? The leader of the Outcasts? The man who had lead the Outcasts away from the Brotherhood?

Casdin's glare returned to the outcast, whom he released. "Inventory duty," He said briefly, "Now." The Outcast merely looked back and Sheppard before turning around and walking back into the fort. This was nothing compared to what happened next. Casdin stretched out a hand to help the Hero up. Shep took it and the Protector pulled him to his feet. Sheppard and Casdin looked each other over as the elder crossed his arms. "Word from my soldiers says that things have gotten an awful lot quieter sine you walked out of that hole you've been living in. Enclave gone, Talon Company in hiding, and the Super Mutants are keeping to themselves out here."

Sheppard didn't break eye contact with Casdin. Not once. This, the knight supposed, was the watchful eye of the Sheppard. The eyes would stare through your surface into your soul, seeing what you really were thinking. "Just keeping my flock safe from the wolves. You may not be wolves, but the next time this sort of thing happens-"

"Save your breath," The Protector spoke in a calm, quick voice, "They're free to go. Just keep the traitors to their ruins and we'll mind our business." He gave him another look, "You know, kid, you're actually proof of the Outcasts idea that the Wasteland doesn't need our help. So far you've done more for this land than Lyon's did in his twenty years of his little humanitarian mission." With that, he turned around and walked back into the Fort. Sheppard turned and grabbed the knight's other arm.

"H-how…" The wounded one tried to say, but the Sheppard merely smiled.

"It's what I do."

~*~

"It's what I do," Shep said, the door of the Vertibird hissing shut and The Grin crossing over his face. Sarah felt her stomach do a flip that was totally related to the Vertibird taking off. And nothing else. Outside, the sky rained fire down on the Enclave base, obliterating all traces of it. Inside the Vertibird, the conquering heroes flew home, Fawkes and Shep in the two seats across from Sarah, Kodiak, and Cross.

"Still, you've really done a fantastic job," Sarah said, motioning out the front window, "The Wasteland has a few less things to worry about with you around." A look crossed Sheppard's face and he closed his eyes.

"But what about when I'm gone?" The passengers all turned to give him a puzzled look. "I've gotten pretty lucky so far, and I've had some damn good folks watching my back, but that doesn't make me invincible."

Cross smiled. "Try telling that to the Wastelanders, Son of James. They view you as a true hero-A demigod of salvation."

"Yeah," Shep said with a sigh, "but there's only so much I can do." He held his Pip-Boy and flipped to the notes section. Kodiak leaned over and his eyes went wide.

"The Pitt?? You're going to The PITT!?" Shep nodded.

"I got a distress call from some guy named Wherner the other day. Then this business about Point Lookout," he groaned, "This hero is getting tired pretty fast."

The Vertibird was quiet, save for the thrumming of the engine and the chop of the rotors.

"I GOT IT!" The helicopter swerved as everyone jumped at Shep's outburst. The Grin had taken over his face again and a blaze was in his eyes. "If we need more of me, then that's what we'll do!"

Sarah gave her friend an odd look that said 'What, what?' "Shep, what are you-"

"Sheppard's Flock," He said with a fiery smile, "I'm starting a new organization right here, right now! We'll be the shepherd's of the Wasteland, guarding our post-apocalyptic flocks against the wolves that seek to feed on them!" He raised his fist into the air, "Whose with me!?" Fawkes raised a large orange hand, but everyone else was silent. Shep looked around with a sad look. "I thought this is what you all wanted to do."

"We do," Kodiak began, "but we have a duty to the Brotherhood. We can't just throw that away."

Sarah gave Sheppard a sad smile. "He's right. But I'm sure you can find some other people to join." The hero sighed.

"We need a base. A big, big base." He groaned and rubbed his head, "I would use Raven Rock if I hadn't wasted it."

Fawkes placed a large hand on Shep's shoulder. "True, friend, but we will find a home soon enough."

Shep grinned and looked out on the horizon. A new Organization, dedicated to the safety of the Wastelanders and the preservation of their home. He placed a hand to his rough beard and began to stroke it.

Now to think of a wicked awesome logo...


End file.

Fallout, Adventure, Romance