"Veronica!"

The hooded scribe looked up from the book she was reading, squinting into the sunrise. She spotted the courier moving toward her, smiling a little and getting to her feet. "Took you long enough," she teased. "I finished an entire book. Twice."

"Pack up," Artemis yelled as she hurried closer. "We gotta move!"

The courier's voice was frantic, and Veronica sobered, kicking some dirt on the remains of her campfire. "What's up? Are you okay?" she asked as her companion came closer, noticing that the courier was carrying a person on her back.

"I'm fine. We've got to get to a doctor," Artemis said, jerking her chin westward. "Doc Mitchell's the best I've found in the Mojave, so c'mon." She didn't break stride, shifting the weight of the person on her back and moving past the scribe.

Veronica frowned, packing up her things and slinging the bag onto her shoulder. She turned and took a few jogging steps to catch up. "Nice to see you, too," she muttered, glancing at the scarred head resting against the courier's shoulder as she took the courier's bag to lighten her load. "What happened?"

"A crazy old bastard happened," Artemis huffed, turning her head a little to check on the woman on her back. "Got any stimpaks?"

"A few, I think," Veronica answered, trying to see what had happened to Artemis' charge that was so terrible.

"Good, we're going to need them."

"Is it bad?" Veronica asked, trotting around to get a glimpse of the woman's face. Artemis' answer went unheard as Veronica froze, unable to process what she'd just seen. Her feet stopped moving and she paused, her head feeling abnormally light.

A few feet ahead, Artemis stopped and turned, frowning back at Veronica. "Veronica?"

Veronica tried to say something, but no words came out of her mouth. She gave the courier a helpless look, gesturing toward the unconscious woman.

Artemis looked worried momentarily, but cringed a second later. "Damn it. It is her, isn't it?"

"What... How did you..." Veronica's voice sounded strangled. "Christine?"

Artemis nodded slowly, giving Veronica a careful look. "You okay?"

Veronica looked at Christine uncertainly. "Is that her? Is it really her?"

The courier nodded again. "Yeah. I'm sorry."

"What happened?" Veronica asked again, trying to blink tears out of her eyes.

Artemis opened her mouth, seemed to consider her response, then sighed. "It's... a long story. Look, I promise, I'll tell you everything as soon as I can. But she's hurt, Veronica. She needs a doctor, and a good one." She gave the scribe a pleading look. "I know this is a shitty thing to surprise you with, but we have to move if we want to save her."

"Is she going to make it?" Veronica's voice caught on the words, and her eyes were wide with concern.

Artemis allowed a sigh to be her answer. "I hope so." Without anything else to say, she started west, the scribe following behind her pensively.

"Where are we headed?" Veronica asked at length, having vaguely noticed that New Vegas didn't appear to be their destination. Her brain was feeling fuzzy, and she couldn't remember if the courier had mentioned it yet or not.

"Goodsprings," Artemis repeated impatiently. "We don't have the caps to get help anywhere near Vegas, and Doc Mitchell's good and will probably help for free."

Veronica went quiet again, pondering what could have happened. She conjured up all sorts of deathclaw or gecko attacks, her brain too shocked to remember what the courier had offered as an answer. Christine had always been capable in a fight, so something must have gone terribly wrong, but before the scribe could begin to imagine what, she was distracted when Artemis swore in front of her.

"Vipers," the courier muttered, crouching a little and leading Veronica over behind an outcropping. "Shit, this is gonna be tricky." She hummed thoughtfully, studying the gang members. After a moment, she made a thoughtful noise. "Do you still have that stealth boy you found last time we went scavving?"

Veronica pulled her pack off her shoulder and dug through it, locating the little device a few seconds later. "Yeah."

"Can you rig it to put off a big enough field to cover all three of us?"

The scribe studied the tech in her palm, all the lessons she'd learned from Elijah coming back to her. After a few moments, she wired a spare energy cell to the device and hooked it on her own wrist. With a flick of the switch, she disappeared from view, and when the scribe reached out and grabbed the courier's arm, the other two women disappeared as well.

"Awesome," the courier exclaimed quietly, trying not to draw attention to their position. "Great job, Veronica. That's why I keep you around." There was a note of teasing in her voice, hidden under what was mostly a mix of pride and relief.

Normally Veronica would have responded with some dry remark, but she said nothing, nudging the courier forward. She wasn't sure how long her jury-rigged stealth field would last, and she didn't really feel up to kidding around either.

Artemis crept forward as quickly as she could, stepping out from behind the rocks. There was a large, dry lake for them to cross, and the faster they could make it, the better. The sun was burning down on them, but there was no wind to kick up dust. Artemis made a grateful comment under her breath, skirting as far away from a fire ant mound as she could.

The trip across the lake bed took an agonizingly long time, what with them moving slowly to avoid detection, and the idea that time was slipping through their fingers didn't help matters at all.

They'd made it most of the way across the dry bed when the stealth boy began making a high-pitched whine. Veronica felt it heating up against her wrist, scowling a little. She ripped off the energy cell to ease the strain on the stealth boy, and slid the device off her arm and onto the courier's. The whining noise stopped and the two stayed invisible, but Veronica could see herself once again. She was momentarily grateful that she was wearing her brown traveling robes, knowing that she could blend in a little better that way.

The still-overheated energy cell began burning her hand and she flung it away, toward the Vipers, only realizing that she'd done so when the energy cell exploded and a shout came from the gang members.

"Veronica!" Artemis hissed, sounding aggravated.

The stealth field enveloping the two women shimmered slightly, and Veronica nudged the courier again. "Go!"

Gunfire came from the direction of the Vipers, but they were too far away to hit their target.

The courier stood and started running, Veronica right behind her. The scribe maneuvered herself so that she'd shield Christine from any wayward bullets, hoping the gangsters would give up the chase.

Instead, the Vipers ran after them, catching up quickly since they had no unconscious woman to weigh them down.

"Crap," Veronica groaned, hand clenching inside her power fist. By the time they got close enough to punch, they would have shot and killed her. She knew that since she was the only one visible, she could sacrifice herself as a diversion to allow the courier to escape with Christine, but that wasn't an appealing option. "Now what?"

"There's a scoped rifle in my bag," Artemis called from in front of the scribe. "If you want to try it, go for it."

Veronica pulled the courier's bag off her shoulder and started digging through it, her fingers quickly finding the rifle. She pulled it out and checked to see if it was loaded, relieved to find that it was. As uncomfortable as she was with anything other than a power fist, Veronica paused and took aim, lining up the crosshairs with the nearest Viper's head with skill taught to her long ago by the woman hidden on Artemis' back.

"Aim for the left hip," Artemis cautioned breathlessly. "That thing kicks like an angry bighorner on Psycho."

The hooded woman adjusted her aim accordingly, squeezing the trigger. The blast sent her reeling backward, and she caught herself with her elbow, looking up to see if she'd succeeded.

The other gangsters had stopped and were staring at their dead counterpart, who was sprawled on the dirt with half his skull missing. They glanced between each other, obviously unsure of whether or not to give chase.

Veronica was momentarily sickened by the sight, scrambling to grab the gun and go. She followed the sound of Artemis' voice and they ran for the mountains. The stealth boy wore out completely a few minutes later, and Veronica glanced over her shoulder to make sure they were alone.

Much to her surprise, the Vipers hadn't come after them, and they were alone in the big lake bed. The scribe turned to tell the courier, but found that she was still moving forward.

There was sweat pouring down the courier's face and her breathing was getting heavier. They had made good time; the skyscrapers of Vegas shot into the sky in the north, and mountains rose up in front of them.

"We've gotta stop," Artemis announced, her pace slowing as she scanned their surroundings. "There's a little sheltered spot over there. Let's go."

Veronica followed the courier obediently, still quiet. The danger gone, her emotions came flooding back. Every time her eyes fell on Christine, she swallowed hard, blinking away tears.

When they reached the alcove Artemis had spotted, the courier eased herself to the ground and lowered Christine to the dirt as gently as she could. In the process, the angry wounds peppered across the bald woman's front were exposed, and a quiet whimper came from the hooded scribe.

Artemis' face was lined with concerned, but she dug in her pack for some stimpaks, carefully injecting them into Christine's body. The unconscious woman didn't so much as twitch.

When the courier seemed satisfied that Christine was stable for the moment, she sat back on her heels and released a heavy sigh.

Artemis stretched a little, her back cracking in a few places. She looked around, nodding to herself when she saw the sun's position in the sky. "We've still got some time before the heat of the day. Are you up for it?"

Veronica nodded, knowing how urgent the situation was. She was still abnormally quiet, her bubbly persona dampened beneath her worry.

Artemis reached for her bag, pawing around in it for a bottle of water. She drank a little, pulling a face at the taste before turning her attention back to Christine. The courier carefully dribbled some of the water into her mouth, plugging her nose and forcing Christine's swallowing reflex. Artemis repeated the action a few more times, managing to get the bald woman to drink about a third of the bottle. Artemis finished the bottle off, crushing it and tossing it away.

Veronica watched as the courier stretched again before moving to grab Christine. "I can do it," she interjected, startling the courier. At Artemis' quizzical look, she continued. "If you're tired, I can carry her."

There was gratitude on Artemis' face for a split second, quickly overtaken by concern. "Are you sure? I know you're freaked out..."

"Let me help," Veronica said, sounding surprisingly firm.

Artemis didn't protest, moving aside and grabbing a few of Veronica's things to lighten the load.

The scribe went over to the woman, kneeling beside her and grabbing her gently. She maneuvered Christine onto her back, getting to her feet slowly, doing her best not to cause further harm to the injured woman. She staggered a little under the extra weight, but stayed standing.

"Ready," she said, giving the courier a determined glance. "Let's get going."

Artemis gave her another uncertain look before heading off.

Veronica remained quiet as they walked across the Mojave, her steps measured and careful so she wouldn't jostle the woman on her back.

"There's a pass through here, I think," Artemis said as they approached the mountains. "It's a little steep, but it saves us going all the way around and down past Sloan past all those deathclaw." She gave the scribe a questioning look. "Do you want to try it?"

"Is it faster?"

The courier nodded. "It'd shave a good six hours off."

Veronica eyed the mountains, giving the courier another determined stare. "Let's do it."

Artemis gave her companion a little grin, turning her attention to the Pipboy on her wrist. She twisted a few knobs and dials, looking up to study the steep rock formations. Finally, she nodded, directing herself and Veronica toward a particular spot on the mountain.

Though her muscles were crying out in distress, Veronica didn't falter, knowing Christine's life quite literally rested on her shoulders. She had never hated Christine for leaving, and the thought of her dying now was too terrifying for the scribe to think about.

"This way," the courier called, pulling Veronica out of her thoughts as they started up the incline.

A few dead radscorpions were scattered along the path, and the courier heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank God we don't have to deal with them. This climb is gonna be tough at first anyway."

True to Artemis' words, the ground sloped sharply upward, and Veronica had trouble keeping herself upright.

The courier scouted ahead for a few minutes, and Veronica stopped to catch her breath. She realized she couldn't tell if Christine was still breathing over the sound of her own panting and held her breath for a few moments, ears straining to hear anything other than her own pounding heart.

She nearly melted with relief when she heard a shallow breath come from the bald woman. Veronica turned her head slightly, resting her cheek against Christine's head in what was as close to an embrace as she could manage. "Keep pushing," she murmured, more to herself than Christine, though the encouragement was aimed at the injured woman on her back.

When Artemis returned, she patiently helped the scribe up the hill, stumbling a little herself. They paused as the ground leveled out, gasping for breath. Artemis offered Veronica a drink, giving her a little grin.

"That was the hardest part. It's mostly flat from here."

Veronica nodded a little, blinking sweat out of her eyes. "Let's go."

Artemis got a revolver ready just in case and they started through the narrow passageway. Their little pass turned into a deep ravine, and the ground was littered with rocks and bones. Before long, the flat gulch bottom turned into more steep hills, and Veronica stumbled a few more time.

"Okay, I lied, sorry," Artemis said, holstering her gun and reaching out to steady the scribe. "I'll take her for a while."

Veronica didn't complain, trading Christine for the two bags filled with gear. After a quick break, the courier continued through the ravine, the scribe hot on her heels.