If you had told Arcade a few months ago that he would be following a troubled seventeen year old and a mentally stressed sniper around the desert, he would have laughed. Well, maybe not laughed. Probably more like an amused grunt before turning back to his mind-numbing mix of busy work and dead-end research.

He had joined Six out of a sense of responsibility more than anything else. Six was smart. Very smart. But, at the same time….. If you asked Arcade, he would probably say something polite, like "spontaneous."

But what he really was, was fucking insane.

He needed somebody to watch him, to point out when something was obviously stupid. Boone had managed that with mild success until Arcade came along, but he had his own issues. Arcade usually had to boss him around as well.

Arcade was basically the mom.

"Arcade?"

The thin blonde shifted and winced, his eyes still shut tightly. Six wondered grimly if he was ever going to wake. What if he didn't? What if that knock over the head totally scrambled his brain? What would he do without him?

…. Who else would wash his underwear? Boone sure as hell wouldn't.

Six scooted clumsily over to Arcade. Both men had their arms and legs bound.

Fucking Powder Gangers.

"Arcade!" Six hissed again. The doctor's face twitched as he eyes slowly opened. He looked around, dazed and confused. It seemed to take him a few seconds to meet Six's eyes, even though the teenager was right in front of him.

"S-Six? Where are we?"

Arcade's watery blue eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when he realized he was bound. He rolled over onto his side and moaned as pain jolted through his head. He flexed his face and felt the stiffness of dried blood.

Suddenly it all came back to him.

Arcade craned his neck and gave Six an annoyed look. The younger male shrugged as he struggled fruitlessly with his binds, causing dust to come up from the concrete floor they were lying on.

"Arcy, if we get out of this I swear to god we'll never go treasure hunting in abandoned buildings again."

Arcade fought back a growl. He didn't like being called "Arcy." The fact they had been captured by Powder Gangers and were now tied up in the dark wasn't helping his disposition much either.

"Where's Boone?"

Six visibly flinched.

"I-I don't know. They dragged him away a few minutes ago. He left swearing like a champ though, I didn't even know "fuck basket" was an insult. Apparently if you take away his beret, you also let his insanity lose."

Arcade took in a deep breath, making his chest strain against his binds.

"Don't worry Six; I'm sure he's fine. We will be too."

"I'm not worried."

"Of course you are."

"There's nothing to be worried about," Six bit his bottom lip "is there?"

His question seemed to be answered by the door at the end of the room suddenly bursting open. In walked a middle aged man, his dress composed of the usual Powder Ganger shirt and vest. He walked before his captives and grinned as mostly toothless grin.

There aren't many dentists in the Mojave Wasteland, obviously.

"Where's Boone you fucking ass-clown?" Six demanded, his voice drenched in rage. Arcade let out an un-approving grunt, but kept his mouth shut. The only way to quite Six was physically, which wasn't possible at the moment.

The Powder Ganger gave one, almost rusty seeming laugh.

"The bald guy? In the back. NCR get the special treatment around here, kiddo."

Six gritted his teeth.

"Call me kiddo again and ill cut your balls off and feed them to a feral ghoul you piece of-"

Arcade dragged himself over a few inches with his legs and kicked Six in the ankle, warning him. The toothless ganger raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"You gotta' mouth on you, eh shrimp?"

He stepped forward and reached over his shoulder, pulling out an oversized sledge hammer. He let the top heavy weapon lay loosely in his hands.

"Which one of you want to lose your-"

Though Six was small, he was a lot stronger than he looked. Nothing proved his more than when in a surge of movement he kicked is legs, knocking the ganger over. The older man hit the ground just as Six jabbed forward, the toes of his Steele-toed boots hitting the man right in the crotch. He let out a less than manly scream and back peddled, getting himself a safe distance from the tied up seventeen year old.

"Ooooh, you're so fuckin' getting it!"

He retrieved is dropped weapon and approached once again, fuming. Six jabbed again, but missed by inches. Arcade sat up and tried a similar attack, but the ganger planted a well-aimed boot onto his chest, almost knocking the wind out of him as well as flat on his back.

In one swift motion the hammer was brought up.

And an even swifter motion as it was brought down on Six's right leg, breaking the bone.

Arcade winced as Six let out a blood curtailing scream and curled up in a ball. Tears formed in his eyes as he let out every swear the English language offered, and even a few in what seemed to Arcade to be some foreign language.

Then then the crackling of breaking wood as the door was kicked in.

Then one gunshot.

The Powder Gangers head exploded in a shower of crimson gore.

Arcade thought he may have screamed, but wasn't quite sure. The deafening mix of Six's cursing and the gunshot disoriented him.

Before the bloody corpse seemed to even hit the floor Boone was at Arcade's side, cutting through his binds with a switchblade he had managed to conceal. Once the blonde was free he sprang up, only stumbling once from his stiff limbs before reaching Six's side.

He wanted to question the sniper on his escape, but that had to wait.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Six roared as Boone accidently brushed his leg while cutting his binds. Once he was free he instantly sat up and gripped his leg at the knee, gritting his teeth and fighting back tears. Before Arcade could even get close to his leg the teenager screamed in blind anger, swearing if anybody touched it they would meet a very unpleasant death.

Arcade wrapped an arm around his thin shoulders, trying is best to hold him in place. It was all he could do without any type of first-aid.

"Go look around," The doctor ordered, his voice a lot calmer than it should have been "our packs should be around somewhere. We need my medical bag."

Boone nodded, reloading the revolver he had stolen from a dead guard before heading back out of the room. Arcade tightened his grip around Six as the smaller man's body went slightly limp.

"It's okay Six, it's okay."

"FUCK YOU!"

"…. Okay then."

Boone returned a minute later, his beret and glasses in hand along with everyone's packs. He set down the equipment and approached the two on the floor, carrying a small fabric bundle.

"They used all the chems we were going to sell along with all our stimpacks," He announced gruffly. He had to raise his voice to match Six's hoarse screaming. "But I found these."

He untied the bundle, revealing four doses of Med-X. He knelt down next to Arcade, giving Six a slightly un-nerved glance before locking eyes with the blonde doctor. Arcade nodded and reluctantly took one of the dosses from the fabric. The sight of the needle seemed to make Six even more restless, so Arcade quickly and skillfully injected the chem into the courier's limb.

Six instantly quieted down, and within a few seconds was totally silent. He leaned is head weakly against Arcades chest, his own heaving.

"Thanks." He muttered, his eyes only half open. Arcade stroked his hair gently, whispering for him to stay calm.

He was so high anything but calm was impossible at the moment.

Once Boone confirmed there were absolutely no more medical supplies left, he checked the map on a now half asleep Six's Pip-Boy.

"Only a few miles from Goodsprings." He grunted "We should move."

Arcade nodded and looked down to Six, who looked at him with groggy concern. The blonde smiled gently.

"It's a good thing you're light kid. I won't have to drag you."

"W-whaaa?"

Arcade grabbed Six's arm and swiftly pulled him over his shoulder. Instantly Six yelped and weakly struggled, his numb limb hanging like a dead weight.

"Arcade! Put me the fuck down!"

"No can do, unless you want to walk."

Six sighed heavily and went limp, his arms hanging down past the seat of Arcade's pants.

"If you fart Arcy, I will fucking kill you."

"Don't tempt me."