A/N: This is a short story that has been kicking around on my hard drive for the last couple of years, I decided to spend the last week or two polishing it up and putting it up. I hope you enjoy!

At the End
~~~~~~~~~

The headlamp blinked as Nora awkwardly fumbled for the hatch handle. On the other side, assuming she had counted correctly, should be her way into the Institute. An awkward creak echoed through the pipe and she froze. Silence greeted her. 'Goodness knows how old these old pipes are,'she thought, breathing a sigh of relief. With no small number of further echoes made, she found the handle. Unholstering her weapon, she waited, then opened the hatch to find the room she had been looking for. No one in sight. Carefully she climbed out and made her way into the room.

Nothing had changed in the room since she had been up here. The clipboard that she had moved remained where she left it. A low hum of electricity and a faint echo from the main area, same as when she arrived. As quietly as she could, she snuck into the back storage area. Heading through the pipes had taken less time than either she or Preston had expected, and she took a moment to change out of the clothes she'd worn through the sewers- "If this were 2077, they would have been burned," she muttered to herself- and into something better smelling.

Normally she would not have gone with the Minuteman Outfit, but Ronnie had been quite insistent. "Let the idiots down there know they messed with the wrong people," the grizzled veteran had said, "and let them know who they shouldn'ta messed with." Nora had to admit Ronnie had a point she would have agreed with back before the war. That still didn't make Nora feel that much better about the uniform, but at least it didn't smell like sewer.

After changing, Nora headed back to the console. Slipping the holotape in the slot, she waited for the program to load up. In the far corner, she spotted a pristine looking camera and a lightbulb. Without hesitation, she crossed the room and grabbed them, adding them to a newly emptied backpack. This was probably her best chance to get any of this, as she was sure the Institute were the only people making them since the bombs fell.

A click brought her attention back to the console, where a bright green "REMOTE ACCESS READY" was displayed. This quickly changed to "RELAYING." She looked up as figures started materializing from the blue lightning indicative of the Institute relays. First one out was Sturges, followed closely by Garvey, then another handful of Minutemen. "Man, that was something else! Must still be in one piece. Everybody else made it? Good."

Preston looked around. "So this is the Institute. They could have just held out down here forever. Why'd they need to come mess with us?"

"Because their leader thinks that they are the future of mankind, and that anyone who gets in their way is fair game to squish like an ant."

Preston nodded, though he was pretty sure Nora was thinking of a pre-war ant. Probably hadn't seen what ants looked like now. "In any case, here we are now. No turning back."

Preston continued, "You're gonna need this. It's a Fusion Pulse Charge. Once it's attached to the reactor, it can be detonated remotely." He handed Nora a dense metal box with what appeared to be a radioactive warning on it. "You get that on the reactor, and we can trigger an explosion that will destroy everything the Institute has ever built. Just make sure we give the civilians a chance to escape before we blow the place. We're not here to commit mass murder."

Nora briefly looked at the detonator. It seemed too clean for post-war technology, at least when compared to everything else. Much like the camera from earlier, she stored it safely in her bag.

"We'd better hurry. They're going to realize what's going on before too long." As if on cue, alarms started sounding through the Institute. "There goes the stealthy approach. Sturges, you'd better get to work on this teleporter of theirs. We need that thing running as soon as possible."

Nora motioned to two of the Minutemen who had come through. "Keep an eye out for him; I want Sturges able to focus on our escape route."

Preston added, "Sturges, pull us back up when we give the signal. Anyone from the Institute wants out, let them out, as long as they aren't shooting at you."

Three more thunderclaps followed, with three more Minutemen coming through. "Teleporter will be back up when you need it. Now get going!" Within a moment of that command, Sturges was typing away like a pre-war secretary.

Nora led the group out and down the stairs, towards the elevator. The button gave, but there was no indication that the elevator responded. 'That was expected.' Motioning to the following group, she waved them over towards the old robotics section- she had found it in her escape from the Institute, as one of the maintenance workers had the idea to lock down the elevator in her escape.

A couple sets of mechanical footsteps greeted the group as they entered the old robotics labs, but none of the trademark beeping of the turrets. 'Someone hadn't replaced them?' Nora peeked out from behind cover. Her reward was turrets rapidly firing a pair of laser bolts at her. 'No, of course. They improved their weaponry.' She was beginning to regret telling the directorate to focus more on weaponry already.

Out of the bag came a mininuke, then her favorite weapon. Hoping nobody saw the name on the weapon- painted on while drunk- she turned and rapidly launched the small radioactive payload towards the center of the room. First the nuke exploded, followed by several smaller synth ones. Dropping the launcher, she whipped out her pistol and fired a bolt into each of the turrets, causing each to explode. Grabbing the launcher and holstering it- again, so her drunken naming scheme wouldn't be seen- she led the group down the stairs.

"Mister Splodey-Rad?" whispered one of the younger Minutemen to another at the back. Nora winced but led the group on. The group went through a hallway and then a computer lab.

"Spread out in the next area and watch out for gorillas." The group followed through into the Bioscience area. Before they had even gotten through the door, they were met with a maelstrom of laser fire. So much so that no one else heard the lone Minuteman at the back ask, 'What's a Gorilla?'

While the others were finishing off the synths in Bioscience, Nora tapped Preston on the shoulder. "Buy me some time." Preston nodded.

Nora felt like she had just encased herself in a freezer, typical for a Stealth Boy. Quietly, she snuck through the commons of the Institute, passing by a handful of Scientists, Coursers, and Synths who were watching the Bioscience door intently. Luckily no one had fired a shot at the door opening.

The second time the door opened, they started firing, though maybe that was more due to Preston leading the group in a charge into the commons. With the others grabbing the attention of the Institute's forces, Nora broke into a run until she reached the stairs leading up to Shaun's- Father's, she corrected herself. At that moment, she took a breath, her first since she closed the Bioscience door. Looking back, she wished that she had taken a headcount of the troops before they entered battle and felt a pang of guilt for not thinking of it sooner in her somewhat anger-induced retaliation order.

Oddly, there was only a single synth stationed at Father's door, which was dispatched rather quickly. Entering Father's quarters, she noticed that Shaun- the synth child, not the 60-something dying of a pre-war condition- was not in the small room that he had been in when she first arrived. Looking out at the lasers firing across the darkened atrium, she silently prayed that the young synth wasn't among the fighters or in the crossfire.

Continuing her nigh-silent mission, she ascended the stairs to the second level of the Directorate's quarters. The room was much the same as when she had last been in here- still sterile, walls too pristine. Father was the only sign that anyone lived in these quarters. If he had noticed Nora, he had yet to show it. He seemed far more focused on watching the deadly lightshow from the floors below.

Nora cautiously took a step towards her son. He may have become older than her through what she would have dismissed as mad science in her youth- but he was still her flesh and blood, her son, the last living reminder of Nate. After spending much of her time out of cryostasis looking for the boy- er, man- she hadn't stopped caring about him.

Her heart stopped as her shoe caught the too-perfect floor for a small squeak. She had hoped that he hadn't heard, but-

"I didn't expect to see you again." he hadn't turned towards the squeak yet. "You had me fooled. I really believed you were on our side."

Nora deactivated her Stealth Boy, but Father had not turned towards her yet. "I was. Up until that moment." A lump seemed to form in her throat. Was this the last she was going to say to her own flesh and blood?

Father sighed, looking at Nora, but with no warmth in his eyes. "This is not the world you were born into. You fight on behalf of a diseased people, a dying race. A race struggling to maintain the small corners of the world they once dominated." He scowled, anger flashing across his face as he continued, "I thought that you, of all people, could understand."

Nora took a step back. "Why would you think that? Why me, out of everyone in this desert?"

"You were smart. Smart enough to get a law degree, though we weren't able to find any court records..." Father shrugged. "Difficulties of looking for history, the pieces don't always fit."

Nora looked over the fighting below, slightly worried, as laser fire seemed to be more Institute-blue than Minuteman-red. A quick look revealed a lot of discarded Minuteman weapons, as the group picked weaponry off of fallen Institute defenders.

Nora turned back to Father. "I hope you realize this place will blow up." She held out her hand, "You were born out there-"

"Then I will die right here." Father looked to Nora, a cold look in his eyes. "Take good care of them all." He turned away from Nora before speaking again, "If you truly cared, you would not let our losses have been in vain, mother. Leave me."

Nora sighed. "Goodbye Shaun." She thought for a moment, then kissed the now old child on the forehead, as she had done before the bombs fell. With tears in her eyes, she turned away from the child she'd hoped to save and left his quarters.

Nora exited the Director's Quarters to a much quieter commons area. Any scientists and synths left seemed to be streaming towards exits, or rapidly packing things up. Had she cared to, she might have been able to blend in and lose herself in the crowd. That wasn't what she was going for here, though, as they had one last stop. Across the way, she noticed Preston pointing to her. A subtle jerk of the head and the Minutemen began making their way through the disorder of the atrium.

Preston was immediately at her side. "We took minimal losses. Nothing we won't be able to fix with the supplies we'll be seizing." Preston noticed the tears in her eyes. "Everything alright?"

Nora nodded. "I'll be fine." She wiped her eyes, then looked around the atrium. "Shaun?" She called out, seeking the diminutive synth. "Shaun?"

She noticed a small head poke out from behind a plant, then come running at her. Preston aimed his rifle at the synth out of instinct, but relaxed as he saw the boy appeared unarmed. Shaun wrapped Nora in a hug. "Mom. I was worried."

Nora looked at Shaun. "Why do you call me that?"

"Father said I should go with you. I thought it'd be okay to call you Mom… since, well…"

Nora stopped the young synth, smiling. She didn't need to hear the rest. "Sure, Shaun. Let's go home." She patted the young synth on the back, before motioning him and Garvey to head on.

Her smile faltered as she looked up at the director's quarters, before whispering, "For what it's worth, Shaun, I'm sorry." She then turned away from the quarters, walking away with the rest of the Minutemen and Shaun back towards the harsh and unforgiving wastes that lay outside.