Quote: "I know who you are. You are walking death, a plague in human form. Where you step, blood flows like a river"
The two following days consisted of him observing his cell trying to find any flaws in their security. So far he had found a sad amount of them.
His cell consisted of a small room with a not very comfortable mattress lying on the ground, a sink through which only flowed a stream of poorly tasting water that at least had no rads. The room also had a toilet that was about as clean as it smelled.
So far he had only seen that the sink could be moved a bit.
At 2 PM they would go to what was like a gym of sorts in a big room. The gym was surrounded by a fence and behind that fence were many guards, all armed with rifles, and some even with machine guns. On the way there, the prisoners were being watched by at least 20 guards all armed with rifles and carbines.
On the gym, there were only prisoners inside. The fence had many signs saying things about how the guards are armed with live ammunition and they had orders to fire if riots or fights happened. The Courier felt overwhelmed with hospitality.
Inside were many tools one could use to shape their bodies to be more efficient. The Courier was ashamed of how much he would use these machines to get himself into fighting order.
Some of the convicts wondered who that man was, with a back filled by a big tribal tattoo, with an eye on its center, then branching off to many other smaller tattoos. They talked about stealing from him, and maybe "Having a bit of fun with him". The Courier would just eavesdrop and wait for them to try something. The Courier was starting to get bored.
On the seventh day though, something unusual happened. After eating his crappy lunch given to him in his cell, a guard approached his cell and said:
"Get up, sunshine! You have a visitor, and this one is a Captain in the NCR, so watch your mouth!"
The Courier had no idea who it could be. Maybe those NCR pigs wanted information to help them with the annexation of Vegas?
As he walked to the room, he couldn't help but notice how unguarded the way to the room was. Finally a flaw in the security, even if it was a small one like that, it already gave a small hope. Something that the Courier had started to lose fast.
He entered a small room with only a table, a couple of chairs and a bottle of purified water.
The guard told him to sit in one of the chairs and cuffed his feet and hands to to the chair he sat on. The Courier could still move his hands to the table, but not much more. As the guard left the room, he informed that the Captain had gone to the Men's room and would be back soon.
The Captain arrived a minute after the guard left.
He had a tissue wrap covering half his face, but the Courier felt like he was somewhat familiar. Maybe he had shot him once?
He said "Hi" and offered his hand for a handshake.
The Courier didn't shake it.
The Captain let out a smile and a small laugh. Then he removed his face wrap.
"You never did tell me your real name." As the Captain removed his face wrap. The Courier realized why he felt that familiarity. Boone.
The Courier didn't know what to feel. He felt so many things. Betrayed, angry, like he should leave him in the middle of a cazador nest or just skip the trouble and shoot him right there. But the feeling that most scared the Courier was that of feeling happy that Boone was ok.
" You never asked me. Besides, I only give it to people I can really trust. You didn't stick with me for long enough for me to trust you." The Courier answered.
"I'm asking you now."
The Courier stayed quiet for a while, wondering what to answer.
" Courier Six" he finally said.
" That name I already know, everybody does. I want your real name."
"That's my real name. My last one belongs to someone else."
"What's your old name then"
"My old name? Nash told it to me when I asked him how I was before I got shot. It was Rob. They used to call me Robbie."
"Just Rob? No surname? Don't know the name your parents gave you?"
"It was Rob... something, don't really remember, don't really care. I have no idea who they are. I can't remember their names. I wish I did, but I don't." Rob said
"Really? And you don't try to find out who you used to be?" Boone asked
"You just said it, its who I used to be, not who I am now. The person I was before? I don't know him. I don't remember him. As for my past, I remember some fragments. No names, no dates, no specifics. Just some memories, the kind that don't leave your head, no matter how many times I get shot."
"Like what?"
"I can describe the day I left my tribe to become a Courier like it was happening right now. The feeling of sadness, my family saying goodbye, as proud to see their youngest kid leave the house as they were sad." Rob said, showing deep sadness.
"You were a tribal? Is that why you have that tattoo?" Boone said surprised.
"Yes, my tribe had some of the best scouts and hunters in this continent. They had been taught to speak English and to fight by the New Caananites. The tribe's symbol weapon was the Fire Axe. This tatoo, its my tribe's symbol, the eye symbolized our great scouting techniques. The stuff branching out was like badges, or trophies for doing something specially dangerous and helpful to the tribe."
Boone wondered what some of those branchings meant, one of them resembled a pistol, the other one a deathclaw, another of an Axe. He had about twenty of those smaller tattoos.
Boone was then reminded of how the Courier always carried the Gobi campaign rifle and an Axe he had nicknamed Knock-Knock, using the first to weaken the enemies and finishing them up with the latter. With deadly efficacy. Sometimes he didn't even use the Gobi rifle and just charged with Knock-Knock.
It was a scary sight to see him charging into a group of raider.
Seeing him survive was even scarier.
Then, the two ended up thinking about the times when they were traveling together. First just hunting down Benny, then they set out to try and help the people of the Mojave.
Giving Primm its required sheriff, exploring Vault 34, helping Reyes with her communications problem and finding out and convincing Chief Hanlon to stop altering reports, helping Novac with its ghoul problem... Those had been some easier times.
"So... Captain?" Rob finally said
"Yeah, after I left you, I traveled to some of the NCR's cities more West. There, people got frequently raided and mugged, so I set up a task force of some of the retired veterans to help secure our city and its supply lines. We couldn't do much, but what we could, we did well. The NCR saw our good work and gave us a promotion and started talking about securing their territory. They probably wont, but it felt good to be saving people and helping other, after seeing what the Mojave suffered. I heard you tried to do the same, but for the people of the Mojave, too bad it didn't work out."
"Didn't work out? What do you mean?"
"We heard reports, on how some settlements were suffering so much after you took over the Dam, some even starved."
"What? None of that happened. I used all the favors I still had by that point and some of House's resources, but we were prospering. Freeside and Westside were actually good places to live in now. We had secure trading routes, from the Mojave Outpost all the way to Nellis Airport. The Boomers started trading with outsiders! I don't know who told you that, but they were lies."
Boone stared at him for a second. Was he actually telling the truth or was this one of his sad attempts at showing how the NCR is evil and all that stuff?
"You know, you don't have to lie to me about the NCR anymore. I'm the only person that is going to be talking to you while your here, you should probably start being sincere about it. And explaining some stuff. Like, where did you when you disappeared for weeks or even months?" he concluded it was probably the second option
The Courier felt angry when he realized that Boone still didn't realize what the NCR would do to their enemies or anybody who didn't allow them to annex them or their territory.
But that last phrase, that gave him shivers and cold sweats just from remembering...
"And why every time I mention it, you make a look that you don't even do when you face deathclaws" Boone continued, noticing Rob's expression.
...Sierra Madre and the Divide. Rob thought to himself. There wasn't much in this world that would scare the Courier, but these places were definitely places that did. He hid those memories in the darker corner of his brain, trying to forget them. Places that had scarred him. The mere thought of the words "Let Go" or "Begin Again" could make him have nightmares and cold sweats.
"I'll think about that proposal, I might tell you about one of those times. The time I left and returned with the .45 Pistol I so dearly love. If I ever gain enough trust, I might tell you about the others, but you will need to gain A LOT of trust before I even consider doing that. " The Courier said.
"I would also like to know what made you decide not to side with the House, or the NCR, or even the Caesar's Legion. None of that bullshit about them being stretched too thin, or being corrupt, those are not the real reasons and both of us know it."
"Do you really want to know? The real reasons?"
"Yes, yes I do. I want to know why you do what you do to those poor Troopers you tortured." Boone said, feeling disgusted at the memory of that Trooper he once saw.
Almost every bone in its body had been broken, then he was left, not being able to move, frying on the sun of the Mojave, while he was eaten alive by Ravens.
" Then I will tell you, it will take more than one visitation though" The Courier completed.
"Good, because I need to get moving. Next visit?" Boone said, as he looked at his wrist watch.
"Sure, just be warned, you might lose a bit of faith on your loved nation." Rob answered, with an evil smile on his lips.
Then he left the visitation room and was escorted to his cell, where he passed by prisoners who were leaving the gym, because the gym hour had ended.
"Hey, you are the mighty Courier right?" One of the prisoners asked, the way he said 'mighty' showed a lot of hate.
"Depends" The Courier asked
"Well this is a message from Lanius" the prisoner said as he delivered a punch in the Courier's jaw.
The Courier reached one of the nearby guard's police baton and gave the prisoner a very, very painful hit on his right temple and was about to give him another swing when a guard intervened and took the baton of his hand and quickly zip tied his hands.
"Tell him he needs to put a leash on his messengers." the Courier mocked, grinning. Then he spat on the Legion soldier. Then he looked at the other convicts in their eyes, and said: "Try me again, and i wont be as merciful".
(A/N: Thanks to the guys that subscribed, means a lot, really inspired me to make this chapter fast.
Also, this chapter's quote was by Father Lasher, from Fallout 1. Please remember to give me a review so i can improve!
Now i will be showing a bit of the Courier's past, and that big tatoo he has.)