As they awoke and looked towards the morning sun, Cass stood up and lit a cigarette.

"You really shouldn't smoke, it throws off the senses," said Boone.

"I got all the senses I need, sniper boy," retorted Cass

"Ugh, be quiet both of you, I've got a hangover…You know, it's 2284, you'd think they'd have a cure for that by now," the Wanderer said, arising from sleep.

"Back when I was in the Army, the other snipers used to take a cocktail of chems to cure hangovers."

"Fuck that, I'm not using any damned chems. Stimpacks and med-x are the farthest I'll go."

Cass and Boone nodded in agreement, and started to pack up their things.

"We're moving out soon, right?"

"Yeah…Let's see if anyone needs any work done at McCarran. …Fuck, I can't get that 'Lone Wanderer' guy off my mind."

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. C'mon, let's get going."

They arrived to Camp McCarran at about 11 am, and walk through the main doors.

"I'll go find Colonel Hsu, you guys wait here," said the Courier.

The Courier walked up the stairs, and into Hsu's office.

"Courier! Welcome, old friend. I haven't seen you in a while, how have you been?" said Hsu.

"I've been well. The gang and I are here to see if you've got any work for us," replied the Courier.

"Ah, well, we've been getting attacked by a gang or two of Fiends, nothing too big, no major injuries. But if you could, ah…clean them up, that'd be much appreciated. Does 500 caps sound about good?"

"That's perfect, sir. I'll be back within a few hours," The Courier shook Hsu's hand, and turned to walk out the door. As soon as he passed through the doorway, he turned around, to face the Colonel.

"Sir, I've got a question. Personal matter, really,"

"Shoot, son. I'll supply an answer if I can, best to my ability."

"Well…Do you know anything about 'The Lone Wanderer'?"

"The guy that fucked up the Enclave? Yeah, I've got a little bit of info on him, what do you need to know?"

"Just anything you can provide, sir."

"Hm. Well, he left his vault, Vault 101, at age 19, to go after his father, for some kind of purifier thing. His father also died protecting the thing. He disarmed a nuke in a D.C. city called "Megaton", saved the whole place from detonating. He's a Brotherhood of Steel Knight-"

"He's a fucking Brotherhood Knight?!"

"Yeah, they made him one after he pretty much single-handedly destroyed the Enclave, and saved the purifier. Risked his life for the thing, it was seriously over-radiated. It was a miracle he survived."

"That's fucking…wow. Anything else, sir?"

"Ah…Yeah actually, he was stopped a few days ago by a squad of Rangers." Hsu goes over to the report. "Yeah, he was stopped…somewhere, it doesn't say on here. Anyway, they stopped him because he looked 'suspicious'. Turns out he was carrying over 300 pounds of equipment. Huh. How the fuck can one guy carry that much weaponry? The guy must have his strength at 10…"

"Strength at 10, sir?"

"Oh, metaphorically. It's not like we have anything SPECIAL that can determine how we are. That'd be like having some kind of perks. Or like, a leveling system. How weird would that be?" Hsu said with a laugh.

"You've got quite an imagination and a sense of humor, colonel. But, whoo. Three hundred pounds? That's rather impressive… Did it look like he was pissed off?"

"Oh no, actually. The report said he was calm and compliant, actually stayed at the ranger station for a night, even helping keep watch."

"Alright, that's quite good."

"Any reason for you asking?"

"Not really. Just stuff I've been hearing lately. You ever have that situation happen where you learn about something, then it's all you hear about for a little while?"

"Yeah, actually. I know exactly what you're talking about."

"It's one of those situations. Anyway, I'd better be going, I've got some Fiends to take care of."

The Courier walked downstairs and faced Cass and Boone.

"Take you long enough? I could have field stripped my weapon at least twenty times in the time you were gone," said Boone/

"I got us a mission, we've got to take out a gang of Fiends. Pretty basic, 500 cap pay off. But I did get some good information on our friend The Lone Wanderer. I'll inform you guys on the way there. Let's head out.