Part 8: We are the order piercing forward...
Previous: Part 7: Always be a good boy, don't ever play with guns...

What is with the various groups of people around the Commonwealth trusting strangers at the drop of a hat? Frequently they'll hang a lampshade on their actions by saying something along the lines of "we never trust strangers but we're trusting YOU" as they hand Clara the keys to the bunker, the missile launch codes, the secret to longevity, or a great big gun. Individuals and organizations, clandestine or otherwise, always seem ready to trust Clara on short notice and without so much as a job interview. You'd think this kind of laissez-faire attitude would be relatively uncommon, and, eventually, self-correcting considering the sheer number of folks ready and willing to take advantage of any gullibility or lapses in security.

The fact that this derpy attitude works out for those who confide in and rely on Clara by no means invalidates my position. Just because Clara doesn't take advantage of other peoples naive and credulous attitudes doesn't mean everyone is so nice. But, it does work out for her, at least. First she becomes the General of the Minutemen, and then she gets a job offer to join a group of ostensibly-noble and upstanding soldiers based on her ability to commit murder.

Wandering south from Sanctuary, Clara's Pipboy starts emitting a radio signal from Cambridge, and she decides to investigate. At least she's consistent in her inconsistencies - she sets out to rescue her kidnapped child, and spends the next few months doing odd jobs for anyone who asks. And I can't fault her for following a strange radio signal to an unknown source that may be a trap, because she's set up several Recruitment Beacons of her own, and doing anything else would be hypocritical.

Once at Cambridge, after threading her way through minefields and hordes of feral ghouls, she runs across another horde of feral ghouls attacking a guy in power armor. Good timing, as usual. She and Garvey proceed to wipe out the ghouls with minimal assistance from the Iron Man wannabe, at which point he proceeds to interrogate her in a most abrupt and rude fashion. Rather than telling him to buzz off, which is what I would have done, Clara maintains her very polite demeanor and answers all of his questions honestly, including telling him that she is from a vault. He acts like this is some sort of dangerous admission, which leads me to the conclusion that maybe most vault dwellers aren't very nice. Then again, this guy, Paladin Danse, isn't very nice himself, so whatever.

Despite Garvey's obvious suspicions, the supercilious air that Danse puts on, and the rude manners of one of his squad, Clara agrees to go with Danse to find some gizmo that these guys, code-named the Brotherhood of Steel regardless of the fact that at least one of them is female, need to contact the rest of their group.

Clara and Garvey follow Danse down the road as he spouts an apparently endless stream of monologue, mostly either subtly or overtly dealing with how important and powerful the Brotherhood is, and how they protect humanity and defend the peace by raiding weaker groups for anything they want. Along the way they kill a bunch of raiders, some bloatflies, supermutants, mutant dogs, and a pair of radstags that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. At this point I'd just like to point out that since Clara first entered the general geographical location of these Brotherhood bozos, she's been fighting almost non-stop.

And the fighting continues. Once she reaches Arcjet Systems, Danse proceeds to order her about as if she's one of his little toy soldiers, and the three of them clean the place out of synths. This process includes char-broiling Danse with a large rocket engine, but he doesn't seem to mind much. I'd be a bit put out, not to mention melted, but apparently power armor is a tad more durable. I'm a little skeptical, considering that the last time Clara wore power armor it did jack shit against a deathclaw, but maybe it's just immune to massive amounts of heat but weak to rending claws.

Clara, Garvey, and Danse continue through the building, killing more Synths and finally finding the macguffin they've been looking for, and they take the elevator out. Neither Clara nor Garvey seem to find it odd that they had to go through the entire building to find this transmitter, when they could just have taken the elevator right to it.

Once outside, another of those radiation storms is brewing, but Clara ignores this deadly menace in favor of talking to Danse about, of all things, joining the Brotherhood of Steel. You'd think that he would be somewhat hesitant to offer, considering that she tried to cook him in his wrapper down there, but he does offer. And gives her his laser rifle, to boot.

Luckily for my sanity, she declines the offer, thereby undoubtedly skipping a good few weeks worth of sidequests in favor of trying to find her missing son, thank God. Maybe it's Danse's arrogant attitude and selfrighteous delusions of grandeur. Or, knowing Clara, it was probably that he didn't offer enough of a reward. Who knows? At any rate, Clara and Garvey both take the intelligent path, for once, and decline the offer to join the Brotherhood. I'm proud of her.

She trots on toward Diamond City, stopping only briefly to talk to a settler out in the middle of nowhere sitting at a cooking fire, who apparently has been poisoned by some canned meat. He gives her his leftover can as if he's sure that Clara is immune to the "poisoned" part. I mean, he's right of course, she eats stuff on a daily basis that would make a ravenous carrion crow say "whoa there," but how does he know?

Next: Part 9: For we who grew up tall and proud, in the shadow of the mushroom cloud...
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Author's note: Why didn't they pull inside the police station when the ghouls attacked? Why stand out in the middle of the courtyard and get assaulted from all sides, when there's a perfectly acceptable chokepoint right there? Maybe it's a point of honor. These people do seem to be the sort who would rather die than go against whatever tenets of their organization prescribe, regardless of how insane said tenets are.

Image: This is the local leader of the Brotherhood of Steel, Albert Wesker Paladin Danse. Note that "Paladin" is a rank, not his first name. I have no idea what his first name is, unless it's "Danse," in which case I have no idea what his last name is, unless it's "The Night Away" or "The Cha-Cha" or "Until You Drop."

Have a question or comment for Vault Suit? Write it on a scrap of paper, and deliver it to the back room of Big Bubba's Bar on a Thursday night. The password is "Allie sent me." Bubba will know what to do.