Two months later....
Two months since that attack on the great bear of the west. It was a massacre....

Hundreds died that day. The "Commanders" would say that it was a success, but there are hundreds of souls that won't be returning to the north to kiss their sons and daughters as they drift off to sleep, hundreds of husbands and wives that won't be making love to their spouse. A pure. Fucking. Massacre...and I missed the whole thing.

I was knocked out, captured by...somebody. Can't even remember the phrase she said to me. Woke up a kilometer away from the battle, drunk as shit and not able to breathe until I dislodged the wet towel on my head. I had dragged myself back only to find the remnants of the battle. The NCR had done a lot of damage. The airport was destroyed. Completely fucking useless. They knew about the attack ahead of time. An informant in the ranks telling them of troop formations, weaponry, how to counter it. A mole. Bombers had come in and dropped missiles and bombs, everything short of a damn nuke. Ancient weaponry was destroyed, any NCR inside the airport was wiped out. The buildings demolished. Parts of the squad made it underground, but a couple didn't make it.

Golem, Winter, Wraith. Gone. Command just brushed aside the pieces and put in new ones. Pah. Didn't do anything to fill the hole. Said that they had recovered Winter and was keeping him alive, but that was a lie to Andrew's ears. Wraith had sacrificed herself to save more lives, stealing the Lewiston base commander's private chopper and flying into battle, missles and lasers creating a lightshow in the sky as she personally chased down the bombers. They weren't able to defend themselves, they hadn't anticipated air-to-air combat.

The last bomber knew he was going to die, so he baited her into a near loop and turned his engines off, dropped the last of his armament to the base below, and Colided in mid air with wraith, turning the black sky orange for a few minutes. Fucking Golem though...the guy was vaporized saving Archangel, ran out and shoved her down a flight of stairs as she was being ran over by her own fellow soldiers running for cover. The second she hit the bottom the stairs, she had looked up, a broken arm and leg from the fall, and watched him be enveloped in light as he tried to run down the stairs. All that was left was his shield. Anybody that was above ground when the rest of the bombs hit was vaporized. Complete mission failure.

As for Andrew, something happened to him when he was out. He found out after he made it back to base and debriefed with the commanders that his skin didn't react to touch anymore. No rash, no itching, no need for a suit anymore. 

Over the last two months, strange things had been happening. It's like he had gone through strength training all over again, he was stronger, a little faster, a better shot. Hell, he'd been able to use a damn assault rifle without it hitting him in the face. It was glorious.

As for the others, well, he wasn't sure. The deaths of Golem, Winter, and Wraith took their tolls. Everybody could admit that. If Phoenix's death wasn't enough for them to fear death, theirs definitely was. Golem was thought to be damn near invincible, but that idea was shoved out the door. Whisper hadn't been herself, she wasn't really worthy of "Whisper" anymore, she was more talkative and friendly lately. She tried to support the others on her back, metaphorically. Offering what little advice she could and being a friend. The uppers didn't like her being friendly, but she showed them her favorite finger and did it anyway. Andrew had to admit, it was admirable. The second he tried to fight against the uppers he'd get shot in the head.

He sat in the cafeteria, Eagle claw camp still a wintery, cold, tit of a base. Blizzard smashing the mountain on the outside and the heat of the fire was his only companion on the inside. It was nice. He felt at home. Leinhart came in through the double doors, Bear and Whisper with him. Coming for evening chow. Rumors were flying about the base about an incoming mission, their first in nearly half a month. Showing the rookies the ropes of an actual combat mission. They had to throw in newbies to try and fill the ranks a bit. The secret of Eagle claw leaked out and now new cadets from all over with armfulls of combat experience came to try their hand. Not many made it through, but it was nice seeing fresh faces around here.