I would've put author notes in the last story but didn't know how. Now then, the stories in this series will contain large amounts of blood and gore, strong language and some may contain sex references. Sorry if the quality of writing isn't that good but this is my first fan fiction story so positive reviews will be appreciated.
Play Nice
Layla had a pet hate. This wasn't some idle hate, like people who hate birds who crap on their heads. They don't feel the need to go out and kill every bird of that species, then revel in their agony. Layla's hate was that kind of hate however. It was like a white hot, burning hatred that filled her body and threatened to corrupt her very being. This hate was directed not at a person, a place, or a creature, it was aimed at a group. And not just any group, the biggest group in the Mojave: the New California Republic.
Layla didn't just hate the organisation as an entity, she hated every single person who formed that entity. It didn't matter who they were, male or female, young or old, Layla hated them. Just being around a member of the NCR caused her to shake with rage, and usually ended up with her standing over said NCR member's corpse. This is why it was incredibly difficult for Layla to resupply at the Mojave Outpost.
She was fairly wounded, her armour and weapons were in need of repair and she was running dangerously low on supplies, and the only place she could restock on everything she needed was at the Outpost. To Layla, this felt like she was asking the NCR for help, and she was greatly opposed to doing that. She would rather walk naked into a radscorpion nest than beg the NCR for assistance. Seeing as it was either that or die however, Layla reluctantly conceded and walked up the hill to the Outpost. Once there, she found a giant statue showing off the NCR's ego, a base full of boring, stuck up idiots, and one particularly annoying soldier who would repair her things, but for a staggeringly large price.
So all in all, it wasn't the most fun visit ever, especially since Layla had to exercise an immense amount of self control to avoid going into a blind frenzy and beating all the soldiers to death with her shovel. The only real fun she had on the base was chatting with a young woman named Cass in the base's bar. They sat there late into the night, drinking whiskey and talking about why the NCR was shit. Layla woke up the next morning with a mild hangover, but with a smile on her face, which was about as rare as snow in the Mojave. One other interesting thing happened there however though; she met the Legion. Caesar's Legion to be exact.
Feeling quite bored after waking up she somewhat reluctantly accepted a job from an NCR lackey named Ranger Ghost. Ghost asked Layla to investigate the nearby town of Nipton, because apparently Ghost couldn't be arsed to do it herself. The option of a cash reward had convinced Layla, and she ventured to Nipton with a pair of binoculars she'd stolen from the Outpost. Once there, she'd seen smoke, burning buildings, crucified Powder Gangers, and an ungodly amount of burning corpses. As she walked through what remained of the town gate, scanning the area with her binoculars, she wondered what kind of force of nature could do something like this. Then she saw it. A single red banner, blowing in the breeze, and adorned with the image of a bull. She instantly recognised it as the flag of the infamous Caesar's Legion. Most people would have fled right then, running back to Ranger Ghost with their tail between their legs. Layla was not most people.
She'd walked further into Nipton, towards the Town Hall. That's when she met Vulpes Inculta. She had found herself immediately attracted to Vulpes, which was rare for her as usually her permanently burning NCR hatred dominated her mind, preventing any other emotions from getting through. Vulpes' confidence, the power that radiated from him, and his decisive manner of speaking enraptured her. She found herself agreeing with everything he said, and agreeing to spread word of the Legion's deeds. When he left she felt like slapping herself. As she walked back to the outpost, she criticised herself for behaving like a horny school girl. When she got back though, she realised that she did actually agree with Vulpes' philosophy. It wasn't just infatuation, what he'd said actually meant sense. He had claimed that the people of Nipton were degenerates, and deserved to die. He had dispensed brutal justice to punish them for their sins. If the rest of the Legion felt this way, she could see herself joining. Layla quickly passed on word of the destruction to Ranger Ghost, then left the outpost. That's when she came along.
Layla now found herself walking down the hill leading out of the Outpost. Finding herself low on caps, she quickly attacked and killed several traders who were leaving the Mojave Outpost. She surprise attacked them at the bottom of the large hill, and they stood no chance. Before the bodies even got cold, Layla heard footsteps approaching. She turned around, shovel at the ready, to find herself face to face with two NCR rangers. The first was a man of average height who had no real distinguishing features. He wore the standard ranger attire of a grey shirt with tan pants, cowboy boots, a thigh holster and a bandoleer around the chest. This man was of no interest however. He clearly wasn't in charge. That privilege belonged to the second ranger. The second ranger was a woman of average height but with an air of authority and power around her that put Layla on edge. The woman wore NCR ranger patrol armour, and had a ranger cowboy hat on her head. Her eyes were hidden by dark, aviator sunglasses. Though the eyes were invisible, Layla knew that the woman was looking at her with a hard, determined gaze.
"Well well, what do we have here?" The woman asked in an annoyingly confident voice. "It would seem these traders had a bit of an 'accident'. You wouldn't have happened to see the cause of this 'accident', would you?"
"No." Layla replied in a monotone voice.
"Really? Then, do you mind if I ask you some other questions?" Taking Layla's silence as a no, the woman carried on. "It seems that several NCR personal have suffered similar 'accidents', as these traders. Soldiers posted near Primm, and soldiers that were sent to attack the NCR Correctional Facility, have all suffered what seems to be the same unfortunate set of circumstances. These 'accidents' all have three things in common. 1) They are seemingly spontaneous and unprovoked. 2) They all seemed to have been caused by a blunt instrument, most likely a shovel." The woman looked at the shovel in Layla's hands, the tip of it coated with blood, both fresh from the recent kill, and more dried blood from other kills. The ranger sneered at Layla for a second, then carried on talking.
"3) There have been no witnesses to any of these 'accidents' but several sources have reported seeing a young woman with long red hair nearby shortly before each of the 'accidents' took place." The woman looked at Layla's shoulder length, blood red hair, and sneered again. "You wouldn't have any idea what caused these bizarre 'accidents', would you?"
"Why don't you just get to the point?" Layla snapped, anger seeping into her voice.
"Alright fine." The woman dropped all civil pretences, and began to talk slowly and seriously. "We've been searching for you for a long time Courier. We know you killed two soldiers at the NCR camp outside Primm, and we know you've been aiding the Powder Gangers. We also know you killed several NCR soldiers during their attempt to reclaim the Correctional Facility from the Gangers." Damn Layla though to herself, backing away every so slightly. This could be a problem.
"The NCR's only goal missy, is to bring law and order to the Mojave." The ranger (Who Layla had nicknamed: The Bitch) continued speaking, her voice sounding more and more smug by the second. "If you play nice with the NCR, we'll protect you. You however, don't like to play nice with the NCR do you? We're out there fighting raiders and the Legion, and you feel the need to kill our soldiers. Now that's not very nice at all."
"I thought you were going to get to the damn point." Layla's grip tightened on her shovel. She considered taking a swing at The Bitch, and the rage building up tried to convince her this was the way to go. There was still some part of her speaking clearly however, and that part noted that the male ranger had a caravan shotgun on his back, and was standing away from his boss. If Layla took a swing at The Bitch, the male ranger would get out his shotgun and blow her brains out before she could react. There was no cover nearby, so if a shootout broke out the Rangers would almost undoubtedly win. If it came to that, Layla would go down fighting however.
"So impatient aren't you? Alright, here's the deal. Our job is to go out and kill those who threaten the Republic. Basically, we get paid for putting bullets in the bad guys' heads, and now we've been sent to put a bullet in your head." Someone beat you to it.Layla thought bitterly, remembering the man in the chequered coat. "This is a warning. In three days we'll be coming after you again. If the NCR still hate you by then, we'll kill you. If however, you manage to clean up your act and become buddies with the NCR by the time we come back, then we'll let you live, and hopefully we'll never see each other again. The long and short of it is, either you clean up your act in three days, or you'll be worm food." With that, The Bitch and her partner turned and started to walk back up to the Mojave Outpost. "Remember, three days!" The woman called out as she walked.
Layla would've taken a shot right then and there, but the fact that there was a base full of NCR soldiers close enough to hear a gunshot gave her pause. She had no intention of making nice with the NCR. Just being in that base and pretending to be friendly had made her nauseous. If Caesar's Legion regularly killed people like that woman, then joining them was beginning to seem like an extremely attractive prospect. For now however, she had to deal with the ranger Bitch. She would be back in three days, and since Layla had no intention of cleaning up her act, they'd end up in a fight to the death. I'll be prepared. Layla thought as she followed the road to Novac. And when I'm done with that bitch, two more NCR lackeys will have suffered 'accidents'.
Layla spent the next two days travelling to Novac. On the way she helped some legionaries deal with a few NCR grunts, found a combat knife to replace her rusty old shovel, and ran into The Bitch two more times. Each time she taunted Layla, reminding her to 'enjoy her last few days on Earth', and advising her to 'play nice with the NCR'. The only thing Layla was planning to play with any time soon was her knife when she slit that bitch's throat. She spent the last few minutes of the second day looking around Novac, buying herself a room and preparing for her confrontation with The Bitch tomorrow.
As the sun rose over the Mojave on the morning of the third day, Layla stood on the bridge leading west out of Novac. Following the path across the bridge would lead you to Nelson, but Layla stayed on the bridge, waiting for The Bitch to play her hand.
"Hello again." A familiar voice said, coming from behind her. Consider her hand played. Layla spun around to see the female ranger and her sidekick standing on the other end of the bridge, their backs to the road leading to Nelson. Layla stood ready, her back to Novac. She was wearing leather armour, had stocked up on medical supplies, ammo, and chems, and was ready to kick ass. She had a bandanna wrapped around her head, and wore a look of determination on her face. Her pale eyes stared defiantly at The Bitch, daring her to make the first move. "You couldn't play nice with the NCR could you? In fact, you had to take it one step further. We know a former NCR ranger named Andy has had an 'accident' recently. Though it was different to the other 'accidents' that you've been a part of, we know that this 'accident' happened over the last three days. Just for that, I'm going to make your death slow and painful. Tsk tsk, what a shame." She quickly drew a cowboy repeater rifle, while her sidekick drew his caravan shotgun.
"Sorry to disappoint." Layla said confidently, backing away and pulling out a stick of dynamite as she did so. "But I don't really play well with others." The Bitch and her sidekick hesitated for a second when they saw the dynamite. If even one bullet hit the dynamite they'd be blown to kingdom come. While they hesitated, Layla pulled out a lighter with one hand, holding the dynamite in the other hand.
"Don't you dare." The Bitch warned, all cockiness having left her voice.
"I told you…" A sinister grin appeared on Layla's face. "…I don't play well with others." With that she lit the dynamite, and quickly threw it, before leaping off the bridge. Layla didn't see how The Bitch and her sidekick reacted; she was too busy falling to the road beneath the bridge. Time seemed to slow down as she fell, and the explosion of the dynamite that she heard a second later almost seemed to be in slow motion. As the road shot up to meet her she prepared herself for impact. She managed to land on her feet, though a dagger of pain shot up her right leg as she did. She fell to her knees, and checked her Pip Boy to see that she had damaged her leg on impact, and quickly administered a stimpak. As the pain started to fade away, she remembered The Bitch. She looked up to the bridge, and saw that the explosion had blown a sizeable chunk out of it. She could just see the corpse of The Bitch's sidekick hanging off the side of the bridge, but no sign of The Bitch herself.
Layla had chosen the bridge as their battleground for the sole reason that there was a massive amount of cover on the bridge's underside. Several large support beams stood beneath the bridge in a straight line, with concrete barricades on either side of them that stretched for a fair distance. There were plenty of places for her to take cover, and the only two entry points were the right and left side of the bridge. Layla could easily watch both entrances, so there was no chance of The Bitch sneaking up on her. Diving behind one of the concrete barricades, she drew her own cowboy repeater. She took a quick dose of buffout, instantly feeling the strength fill her body, and waited.
She didn't have to wait long. Crouching behind the concrete barricade, she heard a gunshot and quickly went prone. She heard the bullet fly over her head, and risked a glance over the barricade to see The Bitch, calmly walking towards Layla, her cowboy repeater smoking from the shot she just fired. The Bitch was coming from the right side of the bridge, and wasn't even bothering to get into cover. Layla quickly leaned over the barricade before firing her own cowboy repeater in The Bitch's direction. The shot hit her square in the chest, but recoiled off her armour. The bitch laughed before firing back. Layla quickly crouched down again to dodge, swearing under her breath. With that damn armour it'll take a headshot to drop that bitch! She thought angrily.
The Bitch strode confidently over to the barricade that Layla hid behind, occasionally firing at the barricade to keep Layla pinned down. After firing 5 shots, she stopped walking to reload. Layla heard the gunfire stop, and quickly leaned over the barricade to seize the initiative. The Bitch was still fairly far away, but Layla was confident she could get a headshot from this distance. She fired a single shot at The Bitch's face, but her target quickly rolled to the side. Despite that armour, she was surprisingly quick. She rolled behind one of the pillars supporting the bridge and used it for cover. Layla swore again as The Bitch leaned out and fired another shot, having finished reloading before rolling into cover. Layla crouched down but the bullet hit her left arm. The leather armour Layla wore didn't have a left sleeve, so the arm was defenceless. Fortunately the bullet didn't impact directly, but simply flew past the arm, leaving a bloody scratch as it went. As she crouched behind cover, Layla examined the wound.
It was a bloody gash of medium size, that extended from her forearm to her bicep. It didn't look too serious, but she bandaged it using the medical supplies in her bag just in case. While she was doing this, the sound of footsteps told her that The Bitch was closing in. Thanks to the extra endurance offered by the buffout Layla took earlier, she was able to ignore the pain of the wound, and reached into her bag to look for a more effective weapon to use against her foe. Finding none, she readied her cowboy repeater, and prepared to fire again.
"I'll tell you what. If you give up now, I'll put you in a cell for the rest of your life instead of killing you. How's that sound?" The Bitch shouted before laughing to herself. Layla's rage boiled to breaking point. The Bitch's complete and utter arrogance enraged Layla, and she decided to capitalise on the rage by taking a dose of psycho. For Layla, psycho had the added effect of increasing her rage to the point that she became a mindless killing machine. She didn't know if this was a natural effect of a drug or because of her violent personality, but whatever the reason, a mindless killing machine sounded like it would be just what she needed in this situation. Layla took some psycho out of her bag and pressed the needle to her skin. Thanks to the buffout, she barely felt the pain as the needle pierced her skin. She pressed the plunger on the end of the needle, and a few seconds later felt the drug fill her system. The effect was instantaneous.
The rage she felt grew, filling her body and mind. The rage rose to a white hot intensity, until all Layla knew was rage. Her vision turned red, and all her thoughts fused together to fuse one overpowering thought. That bitch is going to fucking die!
Layla leaped over the barricade, obsessed with killing her foe. The Bitch was surprised by Layla's actions, and caught off guard as Layla charged. Layla fired madly with the cowboy repeater as she charged, and The Bitch rolled behind another pillar to dodge the bullets, then leaned out to fire shots of her own. Layla continued to run, not even bothering to dodge The Bitch's shots. The Bitch's first shot missed, and she was forced to load another bullet as Layla quickly closed the distance between them. The second shot was more accurate. It flew straight into Layla's stomach, and flew out the other side. Despite this effective shot however, Layla didn't slow down in the slightest. The combined effects of the buffout and psycho pushed her onwards, made her ignore the pain, and focus only on her rage. The Bitch quickly loaded another bullet, a cold sweat now running down her head, and leaned out to fire. Instead of firing however, she was tackled to the floor as Layla reached her.
Layla tackled The Bitch to the floor, both of them dropping their cowboy repeaters as she did so. Layla didn't slow down for a second, quickly drawing her combat knife and driving it into The Bitch's throat. The Bitch grabbed the oncoming blade, and tried to push it back. She was strong no doubt, a strength probably formed from years of NCR training. Layla was strong too however, and the chems in her veins pushed her onward. She was focused on one thing, and one thing only. Nothing else mattered. If the ground itself had opened up, Layla wouldn't have loosened her grip in the slightest. The Bitch pushed back, but the knife didn't move an inch. Then, ever so slowly, it began to descend. The Bitch pushed back with all the strength she could muster. The muscles in her arms cried out in protest as she pushed them to her limits. She was now covered in sweat, and a mask of fear covered her face. Layla gritted her teeth, and with one last effort she pushed the knife down. The Bitch's grip was broken, and the knife shot into her neck with no resistance. The knife stabbed into The Bitch's jugular, and straight through the bone out the other side of her neck, where it embedded itself in the road beneath her.
The Bitch looked down at her in horror, blood beginning to pour out of her mouth. Layla ripped the knife out of The Bitch's neck with all the strength she had left, and blood began to spurt out of it. The Bitch gurgled something, then went silent. Blood began to pool around her corpse, and Layla was soaked with it. She yelled to the sky in triumph. Her joy was short lived however, as her vision, coloured red by the psycho she'd taken, began to go hazy. Her head started spinning, and she began to feel nauseous. Before she had time to register any of this, she fell forward onto the corpse and everything went dark.
As Layla's eyes opened, she felt a deep nausea build up inside her. She quickly got to her feet, ran away from the corpse, and threw up onto the road. After emptying her stomach contents, she tried to compose herself, a difficult task since her head was spinning. She suddenly realised that it was dark. How long have I been unconscious? She checked the clock on her Pip Boy and saw that she'd been out for several hours. Her nausea chose this moment to rise up once again, causing her to vomit on the roar again. Note to self: Never mix buffout and psycho again. It was then that she realised that her casual use of highly addictive performance enhancers wasn't the reason she was feeling like crap. The reason for that was that there was a bullet hole in her stomach.
She looked at the hole and suddenly felt a need to throw up again. She suppressed it, and examined the wound. It seemed the bullet had penetrated her so called 'armour', went through her abdomen and clean out of her back. On further examination, it seemed that bullet had amazingly missed any and all major organs. How that had happened Layla had no idea, but she was glad for it. The reason that she had been feeling so sick was because her blood was pouring all over the road. She had no idea how much blood she'd lost since she'd fallen unconscious, so she knew that she needed to head to the female doctor back in Novac. Layla couldn't remember her name, but knew that she at least dressed like a doctor, so that was a start.
That wasn't the only think Layla had trouble remembering however. She had no idea how she'd gotten the wound. After she'd taken the psycho, everything was a blur, the only thing she could remember was a burning rage. She looked over at The Bitch's corpse and immediately knew what her rage had been directed at. At least I won. She thought to herself as she slowly walked over to The Bitch's corpse. Though I don't think I'll try the kamikaze strategy again anytime soon.
Upon further inspection of the corpse, it was clear that The Bitch was well and truly dead. There was a large knife wound that completely pierced her neck, and she was currently soaked with her own blood. So am I for that matter.Layla thought absentmindedly. Layla quickly searched the body for anything useful, and besides The Bitch's cowboy repeater, which could be used to repair her own, there was nothing of much use. On a whim, Layla took The Bitch's aviator sunglasses, and saw that The Bitch had died with her eyes open. Said eyes stared blankly upwards, and the face was stuck in an expression of horror. Layla smiled a little inside, knowing that The Bitch had died in agony. With that, she put The Bitch's cowboy repeater in her bag, picked up her own repeater, and made her way back to Novac.
She got some strange looks as she walked into Novac, a hole in her stomach, a gash on her arm, covered with blood and vomit, but she ignored the idiotic stares she received and made her way to the doctor whose name she couldn't remember. Doctor ? didn't seem very capable yet to both Layla's and the doc's surprise, she was able to treat the wound. Layla's gash was stitched up, her wound was taken care of, and she was sent home with a large amount of painkillers.
Layla lay in bed in her hotel room that night, painkillers doing their job, with a smile of satisfaction on her face. She had killed 2 rangers (3 if you counted Ranger Andy), but that wasn't what she was satisfied about. No, the satisfaction she felt was due to the fact that she had resisted the NCR. She had rebelled against them, and survived. The way Layla saw it, the NCR were trying to take over the Mojave, and make everything and everyone a part of their precious 'republic'. Anyone who resisted was arrested or 'dealt with' by rangers like The Bitch. Layla had showed the NCR that she would not blindly follow them like everyone else, and with any luck she had showed them true fear by killing their rangers. She knew for a fact that The Bitch and her sidekick weren't the last rangers that would be sent after her, but she didn't care. She wasn't scared of the NCR, and she knew for a fact that they couldn't stop her. Soon I'll make them pay. Was the only thought on her mind as she drifted off to sleep, feeling happy for the first time in a long time.
I hope you enjoyed it. Also, bear in mind that the character mentioned in the description (Not the courier, the other character) will make an appearance in the next chapter. P.S: I don't think I've ever wrote the word 'bitch' so many times in one story. :)