Well, I am surprised this did as well as it did. Considering that I did this in the course of one evening.
Anyways since it did fairly well I thought I'd do a quick edit whilst I worked on the other chapter seeing as I feel I didn't cover details well enough. It was kind of a rough draft that I put out quickly because I didn't want to work on it anymore.
The second chapter should be out sometime soon.
May as well answer some reviews since I'm here.
MelkorSon: Well thanks for the review, there is most likely not going to be any lemons early on.
Perseus12: OK. I am working on it.
General der Wolfe: I can't stop and I won't stop.
PrisonDictator: I do agree that does sound funny.
StelarToe6133: That last bit was the only part that I didn't change during the course of writing.
Lilbird04: Well the story so far consists of a man falling into a building and shooting someone.
SilentXD7: Well hopefully I do well to convey how the Courier reacts to the world and in regards to companions I decided I was gonna bring maybe one or two in from Fallout and maybe design a few myself from Kuroinu.
"The Courier isn't the messenger, he is the message."
- The first line of 'Courier Six' section of the popular wasteland book 'Legends of Wasteland'.
How many people have I killed and yet remained as the hero?
How long had it been since anyone hadn't called me some variation of 'The Courier'?
How long had it been since I'd slept?
Who knew. I sure as hell didn't.
It had been a struggle to get even a minutes rest since I found since it had ended.
Ever since the second battle of Hoover Dam I'd made my way through my past. I'd checked up on old towns like Primm, Sheriff Meyers had taken good care of the town, even managed to get a few of the powder gangers to work as deputies for him. Even checked up on Red Rock Canyon, since the Khans cleared out some of the fiends took to hiding there. The night I found them I made sure to clear them out.
And now I was at the place it all began, the town which gave birth to the man I became. Goodsprings, A quiet little trading town in the western part of Mojave desert. Where the 'Ghost-town gunfight' was hosted.
I stood outside the prospector's saloon, it was the middle of the night and the only source of light came from the moon. The sky was filled with grey clouds that seemed to shift around me.
Never understood why but I would never question it.
When I first woke up I had nothing to my name but a 9mm pistol, a delivery manifest and a vault 21 jumpsuit. Now I was one of the most dangerous men in the wastes with some of the best weapons to ever grace this desert and a suit of Elite Riot Gear from the divide that had seen it's fair share of upgrades from the Think Tank.
No-one outside of Goodsprings ever connected the tales of the 'Goodsprings Ghost' and those of 'Courier Six'.
My name was long gone. Lost to two 9mm rounds to the skull, fucking Benny. Even Ulysses didn't know my true name. Instead, I was just 'The Courier' or 'Courier Six' or to some just 'Six'. Personally, I preferred Six.
Bullets flew over my head, one managing to clip my hat. 6 shots, that's how many were fired before the shooter stopped. I twisted on my heels and turned to face the would-be assassin.
It was a man in his early 30's with greying hair and tanned flesh. He was wearing a grey patchwork suit with a grey fedora atop his skull. In his hand, he held a .357 calibre revolver. A familiar brand of whiskey was held in the other, the bottle was half empty.
See kids, this is why you don't get pissed up before trying to kill someone. Especially when that person has a habit of wiping out legionary assassination parties.
"How the fuck did I miss?" I head the gunman mutter in confusion. I had to stifle a laugh at the sad look crossed his face, he looked like a sad drunk who lost a bet. Probably did.
That moment of joy did nothing to save his life, faster than he could react I had drawn the Ranger Sequoia, one of my personal favourites, and fired. One round was all it took to kill him. His skull exploded outwards like a meat covered grenade, that was a really poor metaphor.
Another round materialised in my hand from the Pip-Boy on my wrist, I loaded it into the revolving chambers before reholstering it.
A question remained in the back of mind whilst I did this, who was that guy?
Maybe it was one of the gamblers who I bankrupted at the strip? Maybe, but why would they follow me all the way out here?
Maybe it was an undercover legion operative? Nope, not disciplined enough.
Just a random wastelander? No, no-one who actually travels the wastes wears a suit.
It was hard to come up with ideas right now, it was even harder for me to figure out why someone would come after me in Goodsprings.
My eyes stung like someone had let tear gas go off again, my head felt like it was being crushed in a vice. I was fucking shattered and I could barely function yet I still was standing.
I desperately needed sleep. I couldn't hold it off any longer.
I holstered the Ranger Sequoia and opened the inventory of my Pip-Boy 3000.
The Big Mountain Transportalponder materialised in my hand. As I pulled the trigger my vision was overwhelmed by a bright yellow light.
Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I noted that the flash that usually came was bright blue.
A sudden sensation of weightlessness was what usually followed activation of the Transportalponder before I reformed on the balcony and made my way to The Sink.
Instead what followed was a sudden plummeting sensation followed by the wind whipping around me and dragging through my jacket.
Oh fuck I didn't form on the balcony.
"SHIT!SHIT!SHIT!SHIT!" I kept shouting out various other obscenities as I fell through the air like a brick, my panicked flailing resulting in my body twisting to look at the ground.
Instead of concrete or bare dirt, I was falling towards what looked like the roof of a house.
Based on my mass and how fast I was falling I was gonna go right thro-
"Mother-" I yelled out as the wooden beams and tiles on the roof shattered beneath the force of a plummeting jackass. A floor constructed of wooden planks drew closer. "-Fucking-" The floor promptly collapsed as myself and debris from the roof. I grit my teeth in pain as I fell towards another floor. This one was coated in carpets and was slightly softer to be smashed through, not so much the stone brick floor beneath that one in the basement though. "-Cock sucker." I groaned as my hand shot to my sides.
I would be surprised if I managed to walk my ass out of this before I passed out. I could feel blood trickle out through my teeth and out from my lips.
Any thoughts about crawling out of here promptly died up at the exit from the basement. It was a small wooden door up a small flight of wooden stairs, it was covered in barrels and various furniture as a makeshift barricade. Not that it was doing much, I could large cracks and breaks forming from an assault on the other side. I checked my side right leg quickly, my revolver was still holstered and ready to be used. 5 shots were loaded, 5 shots were all I would need.
An almost silent whimpering drew my attention away from the door and into the furthest corner of the room.
"Oh fuck me," I grumbled almost silently, even phrases like that hurt to get out. In the corner of the room was a woman with chocolate brown tanned skin and long beautiful black hair. Pools of azure stared out at me, frightened at my presence. She had a figure most women would kill for, with magnificent curves and bountiful breasts.
Clutched between those magnificent mounds was a small girl, maybe 9 or 10. She was much smaller than the women holding on to her in such a protective way. Both were dresses, the girls a white spring dress that added to the air of innocence around her whilst the woman was a more risque purple dress with a long slit down the middle that stopped just past her navel.
But the most confusing part about them was the pointed ears that rested on either side of their heads.
Shit, I just smashed through these peoples house and scared the shit out of them. Any attempt to bleed out an apology was cut off as the barricade that reinforced the door shattered into a mass of splinters.
About 5 Green giants walked through that door, with big square heads that carried receding black hairlines. Their eyes were a dark, almost black, shade of red and were coated in rags that barely covered their torsos.
These weren't super mutants.
Super mutants were all muscle, these were fat. Super mutants skin was a yellowy-green whilst these looked like an almost brown shade of green. Each one had gross yellow teeth and most looked like they struggled to even walk straight.
No, these were not mutants.
"Seize the women, deal with the man." The largest of the group ordered. The runt of the group was shoved in my direction, his face concocted into a massive scowl.
"You lot are so fucked." I managed to wheeze out. The runt seized me by the neck and slammed me into the stone wall, I could some of my ribs crack from the force of the impact. His hand tightened around my throat and air struggled to flow through my body.
My hand began desperately gripping for my revolver as the runt turned his head to watch what his compatriots. My hand locked around the grip and I fired as darkness began to ensare the edges of my vision.
His grip loosened and I dropped like a brick again, it hurt like hell to fall and land on the cold stone floor but I still had business to deal with.
The woman was being held up by one of the Faux super mutants, her dress lay on the floor having been torn open, whilst the largest stood in front of her clutching his...
Jesus fuck. You could bludgeon someone to death with that damn thing.
His hands gripped her hips and he looked ready to thrust forward. The pointy-eared lady was trying her hardest to shake her attackers off but she needed help. I had help in the form of a .45-70 gov't round.
A bullet bored through the side of his thick skull and blew a large exit hole out the other end. His body collapsed shortly after like a puppet without its strings.
His friend dropped the women and made a move for a large metal club. I fired again, this bullet tunnelled through the bastard's throat and tore its own exit out of the fleshy prison I sent it into. He dropped to the floor, his hand clawing away at his throat in a desperate attempt to catch his breath.
My vision shifted to the last two.
Both stood were reaching for their weapons, a large double-headed axe and a greatsword.
The one who held the child died first. A bullet through the heart knocked him down and softened the impact on the little girl. The girl screamed as she fell with the F.S.M.
The last one made it across the room as I lined up on him. His axe swung down at me in a blind rage, I shifted slightly at the last second with the blade just missing me. I point blanked the bastard with one shot straight between the eyes. A neat smoking hole was blown straight through his head.
5 targets down, 0 bullets left.
More bullets appeared in my hands and I began loading them into the R.S. My ammunition pool for this was limited but I needed it loaded.
As soon as I was done I reholstered it and drew an old favourite out.
This Machine, an old-fashioned M1 Grand from before the great war. It was a gift from a soldier at Camp Mccarren for disclosing another soldier for his illegal activities.
It was fully loaded, 8 .308 calibre rounds were in its magazine and I was carrying enough ammunition for this that I could go another couple of months before restocking.
"Told them they were fucked," I mumbled as I began shifting along the wall, closer to the woman. She had once again resumed the position of comforting the child. I had to make a conscious effort to avoid staring at her nude form, didn't exactly want to ruin my reputation.
"It's okay baby, it's okay. The strange man killed them all." I heard her coo comfortingly into the child's ear.
I took mild offence to being called strange. I didn't really want to interrupt but I needed answers. Thankfully she began the conversation.
"Thank you." She stated in a genuinely appreciative tone. She was smiling slightly but I could tell that she was still scared.
"No problem." I was going through my equipment list on my Pip-Boy to try and find my stimpacks. I could feel the PHOENIX Monocyte Breeder chip working overtime to heel my bruised and battered body but that's gonna take too long. Finally, I found them and a bundle of syringes appeared in my hand.
The lady flinched away as I stabbed over a half dozen of those things into my leg.
The sudden rush was great. I could feel the soreness fade from my battered limbs and I could feel the bones in my body shift and reconnect with each other. A sigh of relief was released and I finally felt like could stand under my own power.
"Hey, can I ask you a question?" I asked in a polite manner. She nodded, staring at the rifle that lay in my lap. "Okay, what's your name?"
"Lyrah. Lyrah Gray." She said almost immediately.
"Okay Lyrah, can you tell me what's going on?" I wasn't sure what was actually going on here. I mean there were the super mutant rejects, weird pointy ears and...
Well, there isn't a third thing I can complain about yet but I'll find something soon.
"An orc war-tribe has invaded the town and is kidnapping and raping every woman they come across." She answered I noted her hands were over her child's ears as she was talking. So a band of raping and pillaging invader? Sounds like legion handwork.
Wait, Orcs?
"Sorry did you just say Orcs?"
"Yes, Orcs. You know, the things you just killed." She said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. Oh god, this sounds like a Grognak the Barbarian comic. I knew those pointed ears looked familiar.
"Let me guess, you're an Elf?" I joked, I seriously hoped that she wasn't one. Oh god please don't let her be one.
"Dark elf." She stated, her tone carrying slight annoyance as though she was used to pointing out the difference.
Oh god, she is an elf.
I sprang up to my feet, my hands locking around my head as I paced around.
"Fuck. Fuck. FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!" This was wrong. This was wrong. I had to be concussed or something. She leapt back in fright at my sudden outburst.
Maybe the Think Tank was doing an experiment with food or-or-or...
No, this was real.
I forced myself to stop and to take a deep breath. Panicking won't do me any good right now. I had to deal with this war-tribe, then I was allowed to panic.
"Okay, let's just get things straight. How many Orcs are there?"
"I don't know. I hid with Alice as soon as they breached the wall." Oh for fuck's sake. Great, so we've got who knows how many of these fat pricks in the town.
"Okay, so you don't know that. Alright, what defences do you have that we can use against them?" If I didn't have the numerical advantage then I might need tactical positioning.
"We had a militia but they got overwhelmed pretty early on. There was a wall but that got broken down. We're just a little town, we don't have the defences of the others." Well fuck.
"Okay, what are the chances of any reinforcements?" I had to ask, just to make sure I wasn't completely fucked.
"Geofu is two days away by horseback, so it'd be a couple of days before any knights were sent to help." Oh, fuck me sideways. How do these people defend their homes?
"So in summary, I am most likely outnumbered, have no clue what strategies they'd use if there are any good positions to hold my ground in and have no chance of backup." I stopped pacing and released a roar of laughter. "Just like how it was it the beginning." I grinned beneath my helmet as I made my way to the stairs.
"Are you okay?" I heard Lyrah ask from behind me.
"I'll be fine. Just going to deal with the problem." I answered happily. It was good to be back in business. As I made my way up the stairs each one creaked and cracked like it was about to give out under my weight. With all my gear I nearly weighed 400lb's.
"Who are you?" She asked as I reached the top of the stairs. I stopped, unaware of how to answer without sounding like an idiot.
"I'm The Courier but people usually call me Six," I stated before finally stepping through the doorway. Then I poked my head back around the door as another thought popped into my head. "Oh, and you might want to put some clothes on whilst I'm gone." I did take some enjoyment out of seeing her flush bright red in embarrassment.
"That bastard." I heard her say from downstairs, which launched me into full-blown hysterics.