Campfire Outside Vault 81
The fire crackled low. Ash swirled in the rising dawn light. A heavy silence hung between them—Nick silent, Preston wary, Team 404 listening nearby.
Nate: "You've got synths or i should call them dolls in your command. Tech that no one's seen since before the bombs. You drop from the sky with drones and gear that even the Brotherhood can't explain. So I need to ask…"
He turned to Sarah fully, gaze sharp.
Nate: "Are you working with the Institute?"
Sarah didn't flinch. She stood still, arms folded.
Sarah (calmly): "No. I've never been part of them."
Nate's eyes narrowed. "Then why do people still whisper when you pass? Even Nick with Pre War memory never encounter so called these so called Division."
Sarah looked past him—for a moment, not at the soldier but at the pain behind his question.
Sarah: "Because people don't trust what they don't understand. That didn't start neither with you nor the Institute. As Division activated and Joint Task with known police and military affliation full coorperation"
She stepped closer to the fire, letting the shadows play across her face.
Sarah: "The first time I heard the name 'Institute' was in Diamond City. Fifteen years ago. A synth walked in—looked human, acted human... until it didn't."
Nick tilted his head, recognizing the reference.
Nick: "The Broken Mask incident. all the fuzz just because lousy noodles"
Sarah nodded slowly.
Sarah: "One man dead. Two wounded. And for the first time, the Commonwealth realized its nightmares had their faces that looked just like them."
She met Nate's gaze.
Sarah: "I arrived three days later. Division tags. Advanced tech. No aging. They looked at me and saw the same thing they feared. The Previous Mayor tried to cover it, but words still spread. Paranoia doesn't need facts. Just some whispers enough to spread like firestorm."
Preston looked down, ashamed.
Sarah: "I wasn't there when the formation taken shape into the Commonwealth Provisional Government. They tried to unify settlements and they progressing even tho with dialouge and some disagreement, But the Broken Mask was too fresh. And when the Provisional collapsed... they blamed me too."
Nate: "Even the Minutemen?"
Sarah's voice dipped.
Sarah: "Most of the Mid and low ranks. But thanksfully not all. General Becker... and Some Colonel. They backed me up. They said the aid i provided saved more people than the rest combined. But when Becker died... the trust went with him."
Nick leaned forward.
Nick: "And that's why she works through the Division. Why she stays on the edge of every faction. Close enough to help. Never close enough to belong. Not a bad plan."
Sarah looked at Nate again, this time with something softer beneath the calm.
Sarah: "You've seen what I fight for. Ask your people if I've ever turned them away by deny their weapon purchase. Ask Dogmeat if I'm the enemy. You want to doubt me—fine. But please don't confuse fear with truth."
A long silence followed.
Finally, Nate nodded once, slowly.
Nate: "Fair enough."
The fire crackled low, casting flickering shadows across the gravel. Nate leaned forward, eyes fixed on the flames.
Nate:"I've hearing whispers… about the Railroad. Synths smuggled out under the Institute's nose. Are they still out there?"
Sarah didn't answer immediately. Her gaze drifted toward the north horizon — toward ruins, silence, and memory.
Sarah (quietly):"No. Not anymore. I heard they were wiped out. Removed. By the Institute."
Nate's brows drew together.
Sarah (continuing):"I was fortifying the northern supply route a few weeks back — old checkpoints, caravans, cutting through the worst parts of the hills. Found one of their safehouse up north of Vermont, a lone survivor who barely made it out of The Switchboard during the purge. That's Mayling — the woman you already met in Sanctuary."
Nate (quietly):"And she was Railroad?"
Sarah:"She was. But not anymore. Like me who lost her group who belong to. And yet she still fights in her own way by helping my logistic support."