<><><><>3rdPOV-Reina<><><><>
The boat had finally made it to its destination after leaving Acheron. Reina Walker looked over her division as the boat touched the shore of the Charles River near Cambridge.
Reina was especially excited. She had always dreamed of the world outside her vault. She had spent her entire life under the thumb of the vault scientists, just like everyone else.
But living in captivity, as she and everyone else had, had not stifled her curiosity.
Reina had always been the type of person who was fascinated by technology. She used to sneak out of Hestia to collect scrap from Hermes as frequently as she safely could.
She spent her days tinkering with small homemade machines, often little more than toys, and fiddling with the working terminals in Hestia.
Even without a formal education due to the state of the vault, she had become a self-taught talent when it came to electronics.
And after Frankie Winter liberated the residents of the vault, he had also begun occasionally teaching her what he knew about technology.
Hacking and programming, robotics, chemistry, etc... She took to it all like a fish to water.
She had originally joined up just so she could satisfy her curiosity about the surface, but she ended up becoming a devoted soldier for her new boss.
This mission... The one he had personally assigned to her and the people she now had under her command... She took it very seriously.
After all, he had trusted her, someone who did very poorly when it came to combat-related activities, to command her own division.
She was deeply touched by his consideration. She was, after all, the nerd among the vault residents, often being teased or scolded by others for wasting time on 'useless pursuits.'
But now she was leading her fellow cadets into a pre-war ruin to recover technology for the sake of humanity's future... She felt that success would mean she actually meant something. That she was important.
And failure? To her, that was a road that only led to irrelevance.
She adjusted her glasses as she finished looking through the mission folder again. She had read it front to back, back to front, sideways even...
The file her Commander had given her detailed Division 3's assignment.
They were to take the Charles River to Cambridge and then find and enter Cambridge Polymer Labs. After that, they were to finish an experiment left behind by pre-war researchers and then strip the place of every scrap of data they could find.
The mission was supposedly ranked D by the Commander, but Reina didn't quite understand how that scaled with other mission rankings just yet.
"Okay, tie the boat down," she ordered as her boots crunched over the rocky soil. "Jackson and Monroe, you two will stay and protect the boat. The rest of us will move to the objective."
"Coast is clear, Captain," a cadet relayed to Reina.
"Good, let's move out," she commanded and began walking up a path that led to Cambridge.
"Affirmative," the two Assaultrons responded as they fell into step with her.
The other five cadets followed along, appearing both excited and nervous in equal measure.
These cadets had all shown an affinity for the sciences and had done fairly well during combat training.
They were alert and ready to respond to any threats, as they had been trained to do.
Reina followed the map on her Pip-Boy as the crew made their way through the ruins.
Frankie had intentionally given them vague instructions and directions, but he had also left advice on the best place to land the boat, making the actual distance to the lab quite short.
Cambridge was in a very bad state, just like everywhere else. But its ruins were still very easy to navigate compared to downtown Boston. Not that they had to actually go through it, since the lab was near the river to begin with.
"Here. This is it," Reina said as they approached Cambridge Polymer Labs. The place was right off the Charles River, making the walk take only a few minutes.
The building was relatively small, having only two floors and a basement where the actual lab was located. Reina didn't know exactly what she was walking into, but she had faith that her Commander would not send her and her team here if he didn't think they could succeed.
A cadet opened the double doors, and the team walked in.
<><><><>3rdPOV-Markus<><><><>
Markus Cole thumbed through the assignment that had been given to Division 2.
Their assignment was to make their way to the target location and clear it of hostiles. Once that was done, they were to install a transmitter at the highest point.
Markus and his crew landed their boat and tied it down. The landing point was on the south side of the Charles River, near an amphitheater that had been built next to the river, the Charles View Amphitheater.
"Captain Cole! We have ferals!" one of the cadets shouted as three feral ghouls emerged from a nearby alleyway and began to charge them.
Markus and the cadets raised their laser rifles and reduced them to piles of burnt flesh and ash.
"Stay alert!" Markus ordered as they pushed into downtown Boston to reach their objective.
For Markus, this mission was important. He had spent his life scared, and this mission represented how far he had come.
His parents had died from illness, and his older sister had been chosen for the lottery and taken away.
It was at that moment, when she was taken by the Overseer's robots and he couldn't do a thing to stop it, that he began to despise himself.
He believed himself a coward for not being able to step forward and save his sister from being taken. He had kept his head down and remained obedient like the rest, despite growing into a very strong young man.
And when he saw Jonny leaving with those outsiders to go fight the Overseer, and when they came back victorious, Markus had been burning with envy and self-loathing.
Why couldn't he have done that? Why didn't he volunteer to go fight and avenge his sister? He was bigger and stronger than Jonny. He was far more athletic than Jonny was in general. So why couldn't he move his damn feet forward?!
It was one of the vault's weakest boys who went, while he stood back in the safety of Hestia.
He envied Jonny... but he didn't hate him. He simply wanted to have that same courage. The courage to move, to take even a single step forward when it counted, and not falter.
So when Jonny went around saying the new Overseer was looking for people to do things outside, basically to become soldiers, Markus finally stepped forward and promised himself he would become the man he was destined to be.
He felt he owed that not just to his sister... but to himself.
He pushed himself hard during training. He tried his hardest to improve and succeed, no matter what.
And he did. Commander Winter saw his drive and gave him a leadership position. Captain of Division 2.
He was Captain Markus Cole. He had subordinates now and a mission that would serve as proof that he was no longer a coward.
And he was going to make sure that mission succeeded without issues.
Division 2 pushed into the downtown area. This was where the highest concentration of feral ghouls in Boston was currently located.
The ferals were easily put down by the concentrated fire of the group of future marines as they approached their objective.
"Clear!" the cadet in front exclaimed after checking around the next corner.
Markus looked down at his Pip-Boy and then up at the tower in front of them.
Trinity Tower, 30 floors high and the tallest building in the city...
Markus looked up to the top and smiled. He thought to himself, 'I am not a coward!'
<><><><>3rdPOV-Jonny<><><><>
The boat came to a halt on the Charles River, just like the other divisions' boats.
Jonny's assignment had two objectives. One was to acquire a cache of pre-war assets located in the ruins of downtown Boston.
The other was to bypass security in an old facility and take samples of a dangerous chemical, as well as any data regarding it.
Since no one in Division 1 currently had any tech skills to write home about, they would simply remove the hard drives from any terminals that might contain the right data and bring them back for analysis.
One of them had a novice understanding of hacking, which was supposed to be enough to complete the mission.
Jonny and his cadets made landfall near HalluciGen, Inc., not far from where Division 2 had landed.
He looked over his people and thought about how his Boss would handle this mission.
Ever since he went with Frankie Winter to kill the Overseer, Jonny had transformed into someone else completely.
He had once been the runt of his age group. He wasn't bullied or anything, but he also only had one or two flimsy friendships.
He had also spent most of his time before that wallowing in his loss, wishing he could do something about it.
Then he did.
It was hard, dangerous... thrilling...
His Boss was a shining example of the man he wanted to be. Fearless, strong, capable.
He found himself constantly thinking, 'What would Boss do?' 'How would the Boss handle this situation?'
In short, Jonny had begun to emulate the person he looked up to.
He became confident. He pushed himself to the limit, honing his talents, which he had discovered and was very proud of.
He was the stealthy type. The kind of person you wouldn't likely notice before it was too late.
Jonny practiced with pistols to be like Frankie, and he got pretty good in a short time, but his true talent ended up being his proficiency with scoped rifles.
He just had a natural talent for precision shooting and could consistently hit even the farthest target on the range with ease.
With the basic stealth training he received directly from his Boss, combined with his own talent, Jonny had become exactly what Frankie wanted in an operative.
But now he had a choice to make.
He had two objectives, and there were seven cadets, including himself.
After thinking it over, he decided that his Boss would probably divide the labor based on need. So Jonny split the group.
"Jackson, you are now the secondary squad leader. Take Mac and Danny and head to the location on your Pip-Boy labeled 'Hub 360.' The details of what you are looking for are in the files. Remember, do your best not to be seen, and you will need to take the cutting torch with you."
Jonny then turned to the others. "Sandy, George, and Carl, you're with me. We will be handling the infiltration of that building right there, HalluciGen, Inc. Sandy, you will be responsible for hacking any terminals we need to access. If you can't do it, we will use explosives to open our paths when necessary.
Any questions?"
Jonny looked everyone over and found that they were all ready, shaking their heads.
"Good! Then get moving. We need to be upriver by nightfall to rendezvous with the others. So move!"
At his command, the second squad began their trek further inland to reach Hub 360, which was a multipurpose building several blocks southeast of where they had docked.
Jonny smirked as he approached the doors to HalluciGen, Inc. His Boss had promised the cadets would have access to something good after all this...
And so... the three cadet divisions of Cerberus each moved to complete their objectives. This wasn't the training yard. This was the real thing.
And in the wasteland of former America... anything could happen...