Danny finally got the caps to come by. Darla's parents were given the news about their daughter and that the detective had done everything he could. Since Phantom joined only in the end, without participating in the rest of the case, he got a quarter of the earnings. Fifty caps were enough for him, so the half ghost didn't complain. He could purchase a map and, of course, a bowl of noodles from the local master. It tasted really good, actually, if you don't count the occasional drops of machine oil in the food.

Nick thanked Danny before the latter left the city. They separated on good terms and Phantom thought that that wasn't the last time they meet.

Phantom examined the crude piece of paper once he was on the small square near Diamond City. There were several markings on the map. For example, Boston airport, which was to the North-East, was circled with red marker and signed as 'Brotherhood of Steel'. The same marking was made around the Police department about two miles to the North. Danny didn't have any intention to cross with the guys yet, but Phantom had an intention to go further to the North. The reason was quite simple.

Danny wanted an army, but he couldn't get one at the moment. But, when he was in the city, the half ghost heard that there was an organization named 'The Minutemen'. It was obviously a reference to the American war for independence. They served as a kind of voluntary militia, led by their general. So, they must had had good intentions in their minds - to maintain order in the Commonwealth. However, the Gunners slaughtered them in Quincy. Those who remained scattered, and the ones who managed to get out of there went West.

All puzzle pieces were in place. Desperation, loss of the strict leadership and the bloodthirsty organization breathing down their neck. Everything they needed was combined in one person who was already tracking them down. Danny had an experience no one in the Wasteland could have: the knowledge of logistics, strategic maneuvers and tactical tricks. Phantom hoped that there was enough minutemen to make future advances.

Yet the most comfortable way to get there was through Lexington. The Brotherhood was a few hundred meters away from there, so Danny needed to be careful. He didn't want any extra attention just yet. Furthermore, to make everyone stop noting that he was walking unarmed, Phantom was carrying a half empty Tommy-gun with him. The half ghost also found a black jacket in one of the old shops. Synthetic leather, no radioactive insect would want to eat it. The jacket looked quite neat, and Danny looked like a casual wastelander. Well, maybe he was cleaner than most.

Lexington was completely empty. And it concerned the half ghost, because the place seemed peaceful at the first glance. He entered the small square. There were several abandoned shops, including the magazine one. Too sad that all journals were burnt off, Danny could use some entertainment. While he was rummaging through the boxes, trying to find at least one issue of Grognac the Barbarian or maybe Silver Shroud, Cujo barked.

Danny looked up from the box. "What is it, pal?"

The puppy growled at one of the corpses out of the tiny building. It was dressed in dirty rags. Phantom raised his eyebrow.

"This guy is dead, boy, probably radiation got him."

Suddenly what he had assumed was a corpse slowly rose on the feet in a zombie-like fashion. Its skin had rotten away long ago, and its eyes were bright yellow. Danny's ice blue eyes widened in surprise. The creature then lunged at him with a neck breaking speed. Phantom didn't pull the gun from his back. Instead he charged a blast and fired, effectively ending the zombie before it could get to him. Danny stared at the thing.

"Zombie. A freaking zombie," he muttered. "Shouldn't it obey me, though?" Danny looked down at his dog.

Cujo barked.

"Yeah, then what can it be if that's not zombie?"

Then Phantom recalled that beings from the Glowing Sea. They looked alike, but this one looked more feral. It seemed that that was some kind of mutation, and in this case it was more severe. So, the radiation didn't bring the dead to life, good to know. Or he hoped his assumption was correct. After that incident Danny became more careful while passing the corpses. Because now he knew that each of them was ready to tear him apart.

They finally reached the northern edge of the city. Danny calmly unwrapped the map and looked at it. He started thinking. Quinsy was to the west, the people said that the Minutemen had gone north. There were two settlements to the North-west, first was an elite living district Sanctuary Hills, another was a small village of Concord. They must have been in one of them. So, still with an upbeat mood, Danny and Cujo went there.

The road, as usual, was beaten up like hell. If only one of that cars left there was operational. The road was thankfully clean of any foreign beings. Soon they got to what looked like a stereotypical diner. There were two people, a man and a woman, standing in front of the place and shouting something.

"We had a deal, you old hag! It's his fault he doesn't want to pay!" The man wearing a black jacket said.

"Get lost, Wolfgang, don't you see what that junk has done to my son?" The old woman exclaimed from the inside. Danny decided to approach them, slowly taking out a machine gun.

"He knew what he was going for, my deed is to offer...Woah, wait there, scavenger," Wolfgang suddenly turned around and pointed his rusty gun at Danny, who didn't give a shit. "That doesn't concern you."

"If you wave your gun in front of every bypasser, that doesn't speak well of you."

"Yeah, look, sorry man, just let us do our job," the raven, but greasy haired man moved the weapon away, and so did his companion.

"You mean robbing the old woman?"

"We are not robbing her!" Wolfgang groaned. "Her kid didn't pay for the last portion of junk. It is a threat to my business."

"Oh, one kid is a threat? It must be shitty business. You should have known better than to sell the drugs to the kid who lives in a tight diner with his mother."

The man's lips thinned. This guy got a point. "Fine, but I won't sell a single jet to him anymore."

Wolfgang and his dark skinned companion walked off. Danny meanwhile turned around and went inside the diner. The old woman in a gray shirt smiled at him.

"Thank you, young man. Look at how they turned tails," she laughed. "Here, take this."

The woman gave him a small purse, which let a sound of ringing caps. Danny didn't make a sign of taking it.

"Keep them," he smiled. "Just food will be fine. I've been walking all night."

The woman blinked. "I never thought I'd see the day. Are you sure?"

"Yep. Whiskey to me and my dog, please."

She blinked. Danny chuckled. "Just kidding. Do you have bacon or something?"

"Look, kid, I don't know where you came from, but we don't do that here," the woman then smiled. "I can give you the brahmin steak, though."

"Eat the remnants of the mutated cow? Sure."

Trudy had never seen such a weird person before. Not that she complained, but it was nice that such people were still out there. Danny patiently waited until the steak was ready. While waiting, he notoced a young man around his physical age sitting on the floor, hugging his knees. So that was the kid Wolfgang had been talking about. Phantom expected him to be younger, but nevertheless, he didn't seem to be eager for the conversation, unlike his mother.

Once Trudy put the plate on the table, Danny put the piece of meat in his mouth. It was really tasty. She started to speak.

"What could bring such a young man out to the wasteland?" Trudy asked.

"Well, I'm traveling. It is a nice change from how I am used to live."

"Don't you have a family?"

Danny stopped cutting the piece of meat. He looked up at her, and the woman never saw a look like this.

"My family has been dead for a long time," the raven haired man commented.

"I'm sorry."

"You didn't know," Danny went back to eating. "Anyway, have you seen any minutemen by any chance?"

"What could you possibly want with them?"

"Join them, of course," Phantom beamed. "I want to help people."

"You are a bit late, boy. They are mostly killed off."

"So..."

"Yes, I have seen them, went to Concord."

After finishing his food, and after Cujo chewed the bone, the two continued their path. Same boring road awaited them. But soon a settlement, consisting mostly of the wooden houses, came into view. They walked through the narrow streets, past the white crumbled church. Suddenly Danny heard shooting sounds. Immediately he leaped towards its source, while being careful, looking out for flying bullets. Phantom got to the central street.

In its end was a big building, and on the balcony stood a strange dark skinned guy, who was wearing the uniform out of XVIII century. His weapon was even more weird, but despite the peculiar construction, it was a laser weapon, meaning it was quite advanced. More than that of his attackers - a gang of raiders. Just on Danny's eyes another guy in the uniform was shot near the front entrance. Phantom decided to intervene. While everyone was firing at the balcony shooter, Danny pulled the strange weapon from the corpse, it slid across the ground and jumped into his hand.

Phantom examined the gun. It looked like a musket, with several pieces from the green laser carbine, along with the glass tube in the middle, connected to the handle. Raising his eyebrow, Danny made a spin. The red energy was concentrated in the tube, making Phantom grin widely. He phased through the nearest wall and ran upstairs for the better firing position. He used to command the squadrons, he knew what to do. Once on the second floor, Danny peaked out of the window slightly, before pulling the trigger. A red beam jumped from inside the musket, blowing up the raider's head after the impact.

"Up there!" Someone shouted, firing at his spot.

Danny hid behind the wall. No need to show the surprise just yet. He wanted to keep things interesting. Phantom grinned and became invisible. He flew to another end of the street, and from there he shot another raider. He had a good laugh when they thought that they were being ambushed. He noticed that one of them managed to get inside the building.

"Take care of him, Cujo," Danny said calmly, shooting another raider.

Cujo nodded and ran off. The guy on the balcony seemed to appreciate the disorder in the gang as he shot and killed even more bandits.

Phantom heard a scream from downstairs and smirked.

"Good boy."

He then repeated his trick, but now he landed behind the car on the street. He put the musket on the ground and took the machine gun from his back. Damn, he loved this wasteland! Danny removed the fuse and stood up.

"Hey, assholes!" He shouted, causing all raiders to look at him.

He pressed the trigger and unleashed the torrent of bullets. Their reaction was priceless. Danny was out of ammo, but he still put the gun on his back. Cujo ran next to him.

"You down there!" the man from the balcony shouted. "We've got the settlers here, some of the raiders broke inside, help us, please!"

Danny looked down at Cujo and shrugged. After picking up the musket, he ran inside the building, on his way he read the name 'Independence museum'. Breaking through the doors, Phantom looked around. The entrance hall was huge, with a large panoramic picture of the Independence war above the wide and straight staircase. He saw raiders on the second floor, and, deciding to have little fun, Phantom used telekinesis to pull the bandits over the edge, since the railings had been broken long ago. With loud cries they fell. It never stopped being amusing. Danny shook his head and continued his path.

The entance gates were closed, but he simply phased through. Then up the stairs, around the corner, shooting another raider there. Through the multiple museum exhibitions, starting from the first colonists, who had given Danny unpleasant memories, ending with the famous declaration, fake one, of course. After killing some more raiders, he put the musket aside and knocked on the locked door on the third floor. No one opened.

"Ya know, it's rude to keep your savior outside," he called.

The lock immediately turned and the door was opened. Danny went into the room. It was a small office which had probably belonged to the director. Maybe that skeleton in the corner used to be him. There were only five people. There were two Asians, the male seemed like a nervous wreck, while the woman was pacing around angrily. There was also an elderly woman in a bathrobe and the fluffy slippers. Near the terminal was a man dressed in a blue working jumpsuit, with spiky hair. Everyone looked at the entrance, and the dark skinned guy approached Danny.

"Damn, I don't know who you are, but it was impressive."

"Thank you," Phantom responded curtly, not quite sure about how to proceed.

"Preston Garvey, Commonwealth minuteman," Preston outstretched his hand for a handshake.

Danny flipped the musket in his left hand and shook Garvey's right one. "Danny Fenton...So...are these your comrades or...."

"No, I'm afraid," Garvey's look saddened. "I'm the only minuteman left."

Phantom's lips thinned. "And here I hoped to join you. Oh, well, better than nothing."

"While this is good and all," the man in plumber suit called. "These weren't the last raiders."

"Yeah," Preston said grimly. "We have a plan, though, Sturges, tell him."

"There is a vertibird on the roof. Old, Pre-war, and there is a suit of power armor, accompanied by a minigun."

Danny whistled. "A pile of rusty junk? I start to doubt that the raiders are so tough as you are imagining."

"Are you serious right now?"

"Precisely. But the minigun may be useful...Oh my god, is this the RobCo Fun issue number 13? I never had this one."

Everyone froze in surprise when Danny diverted his attention to the magazine on one of the tables. He also found another blondie bobble-head. His collection was expanding! Once Phantom realized he was being watched, he regained his composure and fixed the nonexistent tie, coughing awkwardly.

"Anyways, let's get started."

"How are you going to lift a heavy weapon without the power armor?" Sturges asked.

"I'm stronger than I look," Danny waved his hand nonchalantly, walking out of the room.

He found the stairs leading to the outside. When half of the building is destroyed, this half becomes the outside. There was a crashed vehicle, reminiscent of the helicopter, but with two propellers to the left and right. Danny looked at the power armor. It was in acceptable condition, someone else could wear it, Phantom never liked those. The minigun was inside the vertibird. Danny picked it up with no effort, examining its condition. With a whir it started to spin. Well, it just worked.

Suddenly Phantom heard the shooting. He needed to get to the place where all the fun was. In a few jumps over the pieces of debris, Danny got to the roof, while still holding the minigun. Oh, it was going to be fun. Phantom saw one of the raiders on the roof across the street. Once he pressed the trigger, the weapon started to spin. And the whirring caught the attention, but the bandit didn't have time to react as about ten 5-mm bullets flew through him.

Danny then jumped to the ground. There was a certain pressure on his legs, but nothing he couldn't manage. No one noticed him landing, that's why his appearance was a surprise. Phantom almost was falling deaf from the constant shooting of the minigun. He used his ice powers to cool the metal, which was becoming pale from the heat. It was a pure inferno: bullets, Garvey's laser shots, Molotov cocktails were flying around, but to no avail, minor nuclear explosions occurred after these projectiles hit the cars' fuel tanks. Danny remained unscathed as he cornered the last raider.

"Any last words?" He asked with a wicked smirk.

The bandit was shaking, as he had previously dropped his gun. He looked behind the half ghost and his skin became white.

"The Deathclaw!" He exclaimed.

Now Danny heard the metal rumbling as well. He glanced back and saw that something was coming out of the sewers. And that were not ninja turtles, that was the beast the scouting corps had encountered. While Phantom was distracted, the raider ran off as fast as he could. Danny turned around completely, looking at the three meters tall creature. Without any preparation, the Deathclaw lunged forward, swinging its clawed hands.

Phantom jumped aside, on two meters, unbelievable distance for someone carrying forty kilos. He opened fire, but the beast shrugged them off. Danny had to drop the weapon, for the magazine was empty. It was time to stretch his ectoplasm-filled muscles. When the Deathclaw swiped its hand again, Phantom turned intangible in order to get closer. Then he elbowed the beast in its belly, sending it backwards for a few steps.

"Alright, you overgrown chameleon, let's see who is stronger," Danny cracked his knuckles, before noticing a cut on his jacket and hand, which was dripping with ectoplasm.

The Deathclaw ran forward, but suddenly it was pinned to the ground. By a gargantuan green dog not a tiniest bit smaller than the creature. The lizard threw its hand and pushed Cujo off, not able to use its claws. In one swift motion the beast got on its legs. But then it was hit by a green beam. The Deathclaw roared in pain, before the ghost dog got on top of it. The previous action would have been repeated, if Danny didn't suddenly grab one of the creature's horns and snapped it like a toothpick. The broken horn was a perfect weapon for stabbing. And it was used properly, Phantom stabbed the beast's head. It was dead.

Sighing and wiping the nonexistent sweat, Danny grinned.

"Good job, boy, down," he said to the huge dog, which then barked loudly, dripping saliva around, shrinking to the size of the puppy. He jumped into Danny's arms, licking his master's cheek. Phantom laughed and scratched behind Cujo's ear. "Alright, let's go."

They returned to the Independence museum. There, in the main hall, Danny saw the group, along with Preston. The dark skinned man looked at the entrance and his look turned into something between fear and awe.

"I have a lot of questions, but I'll ask only one," Garvey approached the man, who was much older than him. "What are you?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You just wrestled with a goddamn Deathclaw! And everything you've got is this scratch, which, by the way, is leaking NOT blood."

Danny looked away. "And here I hoped that it's going to be less obvious. Probably shouldn't have used my power so actively. Well, I am the King of the Dead, a ghost, nice to meet you.

Preston narrowed his eyes. "I need the truth."

Danny narrowed his blue ones. And the look actually gave them shivers. "You demand too much from someone who has saved your ungrateful butts."

Garvey's look softened and he actually seemed ashamed. "You are right, sorry. It's your skeleton in the closet. Anyways, you have mentioned something about joining the minutemen?"

"Well, that was before I learned that you are the only guy around. But...my intention stands."

"Oh, yes, a kind unselfish goodie-two-shoes," The Asian woman said venomously.

"Add to that the wittiest and the cleanest man in the wasteland," Danny grinned innocently, not showing any sign of being offended.

Now everyone noticed that he was really cleaner than anyone in the room. Of course he was, a bottle with shampoo was in his bag. Speaking of, he really needed to recall where he had left it. Phantom then sighed and looked at Garvey.

"Look, I just want to make this world better. That's what I've been doing for the most of my life."

Preston beamed. "Of course! You can join, sometimes it is good to be the only one left. No one to question your decision."

"Such thoughts lead to tyranny, Preston," Danny said, taking a wise-crack tone. He may look young, but he had centuries of experience behind his back. Not that the others believed him, but Garvey's look became thoughtful.

"Anyways, what's the course of action?" Phantom asked.

"Well, Mama Murphy said that there is a settlement to the North-west," Sturges put in.

"You mean what she saw once she was freaking high?"

"Jesus, girl, weren't you spanked enough in your childhood?" Danny asked in annoyance.

"Girl?! I'm twice older than you!"

"Hey, hey, let's not argue," Sturges interrupted. "Marcy, do you have a better option?"

No response. "No? Then let's get going. You coming, newbie?"

Danny grinned. "Sure thing."