You're probably asking yourself "Tweak what the fuck why are you rewriting this and also why is the original still up?"

In the event that you didn't see the last update for the original Grimm Retreat, I looked over it again and realized my writing was fucking garbage, and the direction the plot was going (read; nowhere) was dumb, and I don't think I could have saved the original version of Grimm Retreat where I was previously taking it, so I decided the only way to continue was to rewrite the entire thing from the ground up. The basic gist of what's being changed is this:

-Courier 6 gets more of an introduction than in the original version

-JAMI will get a proper introduction instead of the hamfisted shit I did in the original

-Referential stuff will be dropped, I went way overboard on that stuff in the original

-Lorebreaking stuff will be toned down HEAVILY, like Six having a Mad Max'd DeLorean, that was exceptionally fucking dumb and was only a thing because I really liked the DeLorean for some reason.

-Generally, its going to be a lot less rushed and flow a lot better than the original did.

As for why I'm leaving the original still up even though I'm rewriting it, I'm keeping it for archival reasons so people can see my reasons for rewriting it.

We kosher?

Cool.


It was a calm, peaceful morning in New Vegas. The Strip was unusually quiet, and the only significant source of noise was Gomorrah, and the occasional gunshot coming from Freeside. The birds would be singing and chirping, too, if they were still alive.

Then, there was the unmistakable sound of a door being kicked off of its hinges, and in that moment, the peace was ruined.

"Where in the FUCK is Yes Man at?!" an obviously drunk Courier yelled out, while he stumbled out of his room, carrying a half empty bottle of an unholy vodka-whiskey-moonshine mix, completely unaware of the amount of strength he just conjured up to kick the door off of its hinges. The Courier was a caucasian male in his mid 20s, with black hair and a stubble, a large scar across his face, with an artificial right eye, and an eyepatch on his left eye, and, if you stripped the skin and muscle away, he had way more augmentations and cybernetics than should logically be possible for the human body to handle. He also wore a duster and cowboy hat, like practically everybody else in the Mojave. Six took another swig of his hell beverage, before he yelled again.

"I said, where the FUCK is that fucking robot at?!"

He stumbled through a second door that was open, and Six thankfully didn't need to be kick it down because he forgot how door handles worked.

Then, Six heard at least six guns being racked. Or was it five? Six couldn't really tell, since he was still smashed. He did, however, know what was coming next.

"Ah, hell." was all he said before being blasted by beanbag round after beanbag round, and knocked out cold.

"Right, he's down, move the drunken fool into the bathroom and waterboard him 'till he's sober. I'm going back to bed now." A very obviously groggy and tired Arcade said. Cass and Veronica went over to Six to pick him up and haul his sorry ass to the bathroom for waterboarding.

"Fuck, I know he's heavy and all, but I don't think I'll ever get used to how hard it is to move him, even with you helping me, V." Cass grunted out.

"Yeah, I know. Hauling him around unconscious is like carrying twenty pack Brahmin on your back on Highway 95. Let's just get this over and done with so I can go back to getting my beauty sleep." Veronica replied.


"Ah-no-gf-FUCK! Stop it, fuck, I'm sober now, Christ! Stop waterboarding me, holy shit!" Six yelled out as he struggled against his restraints.

"You sure? I think you're still a little drunk, I dunno, maybe we should waterboard you again." Veronica said sadistically.

"No no no no, I'm sober, don't fucking waterboard me again, fuck, please no." Six was practically begging at this point.

"Fine, my job here is done, then." Veronica said, and she dropped the bucket she was holding to waterboard Six with like it was dead weight, before heading out to get back to her beauty sleep. Cass had already finished unrestraining Six from the chair he was tied to, and was about to leave when Six called out.

"Hey, wait a sec Cass. I wanna ask you something." Six could barely focus on Cass, as his eye was still trying to dry itself off.

"What?" was all she said.

"Where's Yes Man at?"

"Same place as always, where do you think?", and with that, Cass left Six to his own devices.

"Fuck, great start to the day. Good job getting waterboarded, dumbass." Six said to himself, mentally kicking himself in the ass, before going to dry himself off and see Yes Man.

Six had barely stepped out of the elevator to the Penthouse floor when he already saw Yes Man's face on a Securitron.

"Hi there! I heard everything down there, I'd just like to remind you that every door you kick down costs 500 caps to repair! They aren't cheap!" The practically omnipresent, cheery robot said, with a hint of passive aggressiveness in his voice.

"Right, the money's in my trunk downstairs, whatever. Where's the weekly report at?" Six asked, completely apathetic to the whole situation that just transpired about an hour ago.

"Right over here! Follow me, please!" Yes Man said, before taking off towards the console where Mr. House's face used to be.

When Six saw the console, he couldn't help but think back to when he was still practically fresh-faced in Vegas, and he was helping Mr. House try to take over Hoover Dam. Oh, how times have changed.


"Your next assignment is to locate and destroy the remnants of the Brotherhood of Steel." Mr. House said, his voice unflinching.

"I'm sorry, what? I thought I heard you say you wanted me to destroy the Brotherhood of Steel." A slightly younger Courier asked the monitor.

"You heard correct. Every calculation I have run results in them being the biggest threat to New Vegas after the Battle at Hoover Dam, should they be left alone. They must be destroyed." House continued, completely apathetic to any emotions the Courier would be feeling.

"But that would mean betraying Veronica, then. I can't do that, there has to be another way to prevent the Brotherhood from being a threat." Six asked, pleading.

"Are you seriously putting your friendship with what basically amounts to a troglodyte with energy weapons and power armor, over the future of Humanity? There IS no other option, all paths lead to war with the Brotherhood." House said, with barely restrained anger towards Six being hesitant towards the assignment.

"I dunno, I'll have to think about this." Six said, unsure of himself.

"I'm sure you'll choose correctly, Courier." House said, with a significant amount of distrust in his voice.


Before he could reminisce any further, Six was interrupted by Yes Man handing him the weekly report.

"Here you go, sir! Your weekly report, as requested!" Yes Man said, ever cheerful.

"Right, thanks." was all the Courier said before starting to read over the report.

"...Westside and Freeside are having major shortages of water, illness rates shot up there too, somehow, and...wait, what the fuck?" Six stopped dead.

"...reported cult activity in Freeside? How the fuck did a cult get set up in Freeside?" Six questioned.

"I have absolutely no clue, but they are very, very mean! They shot some of those nice King guys in the name of their god, before retreating when my Securitrons arrived!" Yes Man said, his tone not changing to match his words.

"Christ, I bet they're fucking with the water in Freeside and Westside, that would explain why people are getting sick, and why there's a shortage." Six said, realizing the gravity of the situation. Freeside and Westside had mostly been cleaned up since the Battle of Hoover Dam, they were practically residential districts of New Vegas itself now, and most of the boarded up buildings have been refurbished and opened. They were barely recognizable from three years ago, and cult activity was very surprising considering the state of both of the two former shitholes. Six continued reading the report.

"'The Sink is requesting assistance with a major project?' The fuck does that even mean?" Six questioned again.

"I have no idea! They didn't tell me anything, just that they needed you for some big research project or something!" Yes Man responded.

"The Sink doing a 'big research project' usually means something is going to get fucked up. I'll check it out once I'm done fucking the cult up." Six casually responded, as if destroying cults was an everyday occurrence. He then handed the report in, as he was done with it.

"Well, I'm heading out, I'll be back in a few days." Six said, as he started towards the elevator to head to the armory.

"Goodbye!" Yes Man yelled cheerfully.


Well, that was a better first chapter than the original. Like I said, I'm taking this a lot slower than I did before, and generally putting more effort into it. Lemme know what you thought.

'Till next time.

-Tweak