Veronica sat on her knees outside the ruins of the Brotherhood Bunker in Hidden Valley silently struggling to hold back tears. Under her lay the bodies of the only family she ever knew and she had to live with the guilt of knowing their demise was her fault. It was weeks ago but she remembered like it was yesterday. She was sad, vulnerable and alone in the 188 and was looking for purpose outside the Brotherhood. Then he came into her life like a wrecking ball and lied through his crooked fucking teeth. She kicked herself every day for letting herself fall under his influence. Stories of his brutality already flooded the Wastes; forming The Divide, slaughtering Goodsprings and fighting off a NCR assault on the Powder Gangers just to name a few. When she saw him however he knew just what to say to make her believe that the stories were just blown out of proportion. She had her doubts but when he got her that dress just like he asked….she felt stupid for ever trusting him. Every time he did something evil he would immediately have an excuse "For the greater good" was his favorite. She heard someone step on a twig behind her and leapt to her feet. In front of her stood the distinct profile of The Terror of the Wastes, Crusher of Enemies and Slayer of Civilizations...the Courier.

"I knew I would find you here." he said tenderly

"Shut the fuck up monster!" Veronica shouted at him. He stopped a few dozen feet from her and put his hands in the pocket of his duster. On the back was a blood stain allegedly from when he decapitated Mr House with a straight razor. He chuckled.

"You always were a fierce one." he said

"Leave me alone! Please, what else can you take from me!" Veronica asked angrily, her voice breaking as she did.

"I...i'm dying Veronica. Got hit during a duel with a NCR Ranger a few days back. Its infected and...im not gonna make it. I just want to...I don't know." the Courier said sadly. Vernoica eased a fraction as he fell to his knees.

"I look back on my life and what do I have to be proud of? I have no friends, no family, nothing but empty power." he said. Veronica gulped.

"I-I-I don't believe you." she said

"I'm not asking for you to. Hell, I don't know what I am asking you. Just...i dont know. Im so sorry." he said "For everything."

"So? I don't forgive you. Leave." Veronica said

"And go where? Vegas? For what? To have Sal kiss my ass some more? I just want someone to tell me I was wrong." the Courier said. He sat on his butt and put his arms around his knees. He looked almost...pathetic.

"You were wrong Courier! You saved Vegas by drowning it in blood. Everywhere you went Death followed close behind! Your worse than Caesar or Legate Lanius could have ever hoped to be." Veronica said as sadness was replaced by anger.

"Sometimes at night I lay in bed and look at Lanius's mask and see my own reflection in the polished metal. This is not how I wanted things to end Veronica you gotta believe me! I wanted what I thought was best! War is messy and I wasn't helping matters. Thats why...thats why I think I am here. Im dying and I want you to take over Vegas after me." he said

"M-me?"

"Yes. Your the sweetest, purest, ball of joy this Waste has seen in a long time. Get the old gang back together and save Vegas from wallowing in its own filth. Do what I couldn't." The Courier asked. Veronica finally let her powerfists fall to her sides as she walked towards the Courier and sat next to him. There was a small silence before the Courier spoke again.

"I regret what I made you do to your family. At the time they seemed like such a threat but...well I guess its to late for buts." he said quietly as he looked at the ruins in front of them.

Veronica sighed and nodded. Then in an instant she brought up her powerfist to block a swipe of a knife. She looked over to see the Courier sitting next to her, smiling as he stared at her scared expression.

"Clever girl." he said silently. He then lunged at Veronica and pushed her onto her back as she began to cry out in fear.

"What? No! Please no! What about what you just said?" she asked as the Courier pinned her to the ground. He laughed the familiar evil laugh that turned blood ice cold from Shady Sands to Two Sun.

"You really fucking believed that? God I thought you were smarter than that Vee. The NCR hasn't sent a Ranger this far West in a decade and even if they did do you really think I would duel them? This isn't a fucking Old World holodisk you dumb slut!" he said.

In a burst of adrenaline Veronica pulled up a arm and slammed a powerfist into the Courier's face. There was a sickening crack as the Courier tumbled off her and to the left a few feet by the hit. Veronica panted as she shakily rose to her feet and observed the unmoving body of the Courier. Was...was it over?

Her question was answered when the Courier's laugh assaulted her ears once more and he got to his feet. He cracked his jaw back into place and looked hungrily at Veronica's terrified face.

"The Big MT changed me Vee, i'll never die!" he said with a demonic smile. He quickly pulled a .50 pistol and opened fire on her. Veronica dashed away, zig zagging to keep him from focusing his aim. She hadn't got forty feet however before a shooting pain shot through her leg and lower half and she fell to the ground. She screamed and grasped at her leg to find a large hole where her femur once was. She began to hyperventilate as he calmly approached her, his smile dying into the cold calculation of his mind.

"W-What did I ever do to you?" Vee asked as her life began to flash before her eyes "I agreed to leave New Vegas after Hoover Dam! I haven't done anything to challenge you for years! Please tell me!"

She looked up at the Courier as he holstered his gun and knelt next to her "You lived." he said simply

Veronica then watched him pull out a large Bowie knife and plunge it into her throat. She tried to scream but nothing came out but air and blood as both began to fill her throat. The Courier watched emotionless as Vee flailed her arms around for a second before gripping the knife and began to tug at it. The Courier shushed her with a slight smirk and removed her hands from the knife.

"You take it out it'll only make it worse." he said. He then lit a cigar and laid next to her and watched the sky above him. Vee looked at him panicked, thousands of thoughts rushing through her dying brain as the last synapses fired for the last time as finally the last of her lifeblood flooded out of the wound and onto the ground. She lay still as the Courier finished his cigar and flicked it onto her body. He left without another word as the coyotes howled in the distance.