Fallout New Vegas: The Two Brotherhoods

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Fallout New Vegas or Fallout Tactics so don't bother me about it.

Chapter 1

Set up…

( ): Thoughts

In a ravine…

"All right guys, let's get this place locked down and set up our home away from home."

The human was directing a band of humans and ghouls who were apparently taking what they could which comprised of crates and stocks of weapons as well. The group was also well armed and carrying themselves in a professional manner. The human leading them was carrying an M-16 and wore what appeared to be a special variant of Metal Armor and that seemed to be well made to boot. The others wore a mix of leather armor and metal armor and carried a number of weapons with them

Darien looked over their camp and was happy that at least they were able to salvage what they could from their scout group. They had encountered a band of Super Mutants only a few days ago and at least two Scout vehicles were lost and two of the scouting platoon that he was part of had been wounded and another killed before they eliminated their attackers. Once that was done they had to salvage what they could before setting up their outpost/base while a pair were sent back to meet with the main Brotherhood expedition force to give their report and mention them setting up a base of operations.

The ravine had at least a source of fresh water from possibly an underground spring so they would not have to worry about drinking water and there was only one entrance in and out which was soon going to be covered by some of the weapons they salvaged. The weapons in question was a Vindicator Mini-gun and a Gauss Rifle, both weapons were going to be manned at shifts by two of their combined team, one a former Tribal woman by the name Dana Black-robe, and a Ghoul by the name of Wheeze…on account of the wheezing breath and the others as well. The vehicles that were destroyed was salvaged and thankfully their engines were still usable and was used to power the radio they had to keep in contact with their fellow Brotherhood members though they had no idea if the group had managed to find a viable place to establish a bunker to serve as their base of operations in the Mojave. There were some make shift sleeping pallets and they made sure to take apart their vehicles to use the metal to serve as roofing to keep the rain away, and with some scattering of glue and sand with rocks, the shielding was good though they made sure to use some leather hides to make it less vulnerable to rain.

Once that was done, the supplies were stared away in a dark but cool niche in the canyon wall. There was food, stim packs or various kinds, First Aid Kits, Doctor's Bags, Paramedic's Bags, and some other medical supplies that dealt with fighting poison, radiation, and pain. Ammunition supplies were divided into another set of niches and would be stored in specially made heat retardant ammunition boxes to prevent possible cook off, and the same could be said for their weapons and these were going to be placed in niches for easy reach.

The middle of the ravine base would be the cooking area if they managed to find any food sources and with that done, the base was complete. Now they were going to have to move to the next phase of their work.

Darien and his friend, combat medic Garren were currently going to handle the outside recon while the others were going to stay there and help monitor the place and provide reports to the main Brotherhood force, the one handling the radio was young Garret who served as mechanic and tech expert of the scouting team. The others would be in the hands of combat medic Randi who was a former Tribal herself and would be busy in taking care of the wounded who could not be taken into the other vehicles.

As the two walked into the base, the young Knight spoke to his team as he knew that this was going to be their home until they got word from the main HQ that was going to be set up.

"All right, Garren and I will be going into the wasteland of the Mojave and do what we can to fill in any gaps in the reports given to us by the Scouts. We'll make routine stops here every now and then to get supplies though we'll try to get supplies from the merchants and companies here to make sure we have an idea who we can work with."

The others nodded and Darien reminded them of the rules for long range operations inside unknown territory outlined by the Brotherhood trainers, and even his own father. They were to remove anything that showed them to be members of the Brotherhood. They were to try and establish an idea also of the numbers and current status of the NCR and also to ascertain the status of the force known as Caesar's Legion. They were told that if the were to encounter hostile forces from the Legion, they were to engage and eliminate them but make sure to leave no trace of their presence to keep themselves from the radar.

That meant that they were going to have to bury the bodies or leave them in areas where predators might be moving to let the predators deal with them. They were also allowed to engage any hostile forces, human, animal, or mutant if they were attacked. If they were to spot any trace of the Mojave Brotherhood Chapter and if possible, encounter them, they were to keep their presence a secret until they were able to get on the good side of their wayward brethren.

Once that was done, Darien and Garren moved out and their first direction was going to check out the area around the 'city' of New Vegas. Darien was still wearing his Brotherhood issue Metal Armor Mark II while Garren wore the same thing, the former still carried his M-16 while Garren carried his MP5. This was not something that they could do and thus, they moved into the back and removed their armor to open a crate that had sets of clothing that had been bought by the Scouts deployed months before to serve as their disguises. These were sets of Leather Armor that seemed to be reinforced somewhat, befitting the name Leather Armor, Reinforced. Once they got the clothing on as well as their side-arms and Combat Knives, their disguises were complete and they were ready to move out.

Moving through the ravine and heading into the Mojave Wasteland, the two disguised Brotherhood of Steel members moved out to see what this land had to offer them. All the while, they were hoping to learn how the main force was doing, no doubt they had managed to find a good location for a bunker and were now setting up.

In the Mountain range a few days away from Darien's location…

"All right people, let's get those defense bunkers checked out!"

A figure wearing Power Armor was currently guiding through a number of men and women as well as Ghouls, robots, and Super Mutants who were hauling in supplies into several directions. The directions were going to be none other than defensive works that were going to serve as security checkpoints for the main bunker itself.

This Bunker was known as Mojave Bunker HQ was modeled in the same way Vault 0 but on a slightly smaller scale and this was powered by two underground nuclear reactors. The reactors had been established earlier when they found the large underground cave section and cleared it of the former residents and were following the design of the same reactors used in Vault 0 and the nuclear fuel was taken with them in a storage area of a Behemoth and was found in an old bunker that was found by accessing the Calculator's database. There was a mess hall which was going to serve as the main dining area for the base personnel. It was supplied by a kitchen which was going to be also served by a hydroponics station that had good soil brought in from the Mojave to grow plant food from the seeds that the scouts had brought back from their missions. The other was for raising animals for food and was at a location of the complex that had an opening to a secure field away from the eyes of others.

The Brotherhood had managed to send out hunting parties to locate any creatures that were viable for being raised for food and they had managed to rustle up some wild Brahmin from their trip to the Mojave along with securing these Bighorners that the scouts reported about. These animals were also going to be joined by Mole Rats to boot and those creatures were going to serve as good sources of protein for the soldiers in camp, along with the supplies that the Brotherhood had along with them.

Afterwards there was a medical facility where a large staff of well trained Scribes and a team of highly qualified medical officers to lead the Scribes in their work. The place would be stocked with fully constructed Auto-Docs as well as beds and medical machines to boot. The place was also armed with the same cryogenics labs as was in vault ) though these were much better designed as the Midwestern Brotherhood had no desire to redo the mistakes made in the past. These were to be used in the event of serious trauma and could serve to protect the patients of such trauma until a solution could be found.

There were no patients as of yet, but that was no excuse to let valuable technology and resources go to waste as work was done to get the place fully stocked and ready for use. The staff of the medical facility were also trained for the use of combat enhancement implant surgery though that was only to be issued for battle hardened squads and high ranking Paladins and only limited to humans since it was deemed impractical for Ghouls, Super Mutants, and Deathclaws who's abilities were far different from humans, and the implants in question only meant for human use.

There was naturally a massively stocked armory that was soon going to be added and was naturally overseen by a Quartermaster, several Scribes and also a number of Humanoid Robots and Super Mutants. The Scribes were to catalogue the supplies and weapons, while the Robots and the Super Mutants were to carry the supplies and weapons about in the hanger sized area. There were large containers and rows of weapons already being placed in and the Scribes were already working. There was some shouting which was to be expected since this was a very large armory, larger than the ones found in the bunkers of the Brotherhood that were back there in Chicago and also through the rest of the region.

Next was naturally a training range to make sure that the Brotherhood Initiates, Knights, Paladins, and even the officers were able to keep themselves at the top of their proverbial game. There would be some overseeing the training to make sure that if anyone was badly injured but could be saved would be able to keep their strength up as well as keep their edge on full until they were going to be given the chance to go into combat

The labor would have been difficult and would take months had it been done normally, but thanks to the robots that they had with them, labor was halved and for the most part, they had not been discovered yet by the residents of the Mojave, that was the last thing the Brotherhood needed. They were not going to be dealing with the natives for any reason until they were ready and prepared.

As the main command bunker was nearing completion, it was not long before the Brotherhood decided to set up their defensive bunkers, which was currently ongoing. Each Bunker would have a communications unit there so they can make sure to report to the main base if anything was going on and deal with anyone who might become a threat or might suddenly stumble into their location. They would also have several lockers that had ammunition and weapons that would be useful, along with medical supplies, food and drink.

The leaders of the expedition for the moment were busy looking at the maps that the scouts had of the Mojave. They knew that until they were set, and gained allies that they could trust, keeping them in the dark was their best chance of success. It also made sense that they had to switch to the preferred currency again and that was naturally bottle caps. Ring pulls might have been the currency of choice in the Midwest, but not here in the Mojave region, so adapting was key. The good news was that they could trade their goods for currency, just the stuff they could afford to sell though, none of the more complex materials.

They also knew that if they needed to be here long, they need something to help them gain an edge, and that was why they needed to send out not just procurement specialists, but also more of their own soldiers. But until they were fully settled in, they were not going to make their serious move just yet.

In the main command bunker…

The Scribes were busy getting everything set up and the Generals and Elders for this operation were looking at the holo-table. The images coming in were already giving them a good idea of the location they were going to be setting up in. The images showed New Vegas itself, or rather the Strip as it was reported to them by the scouts. The images that were there as well were the recorded settlements and areas of interest for the Brotherhood. And they also showed the location of the Legion on the other side of Hoover Dam. Many of the Elders and the Scribes were still awed by the fact that the massive dam was still very much intact and operational.

It was by all rights one of the few Old World marvels that was operational even after the nuclear war. They knew that strategic value of the place not just for power supply generation but also for the best route for any force coming in from the Eastern area of the Mojave. It had been difficult for them to get there, but this was very much worth it. Now they had to play their cards right and set up for the rest of their operations in the Mojave. The robots in their ranks were now moving around the command bunker, the Behemoths that were still there with them and operational were going to be only deployed for heavy combat and that might very well be only with the Legion. The massive war machines would be the proverbial ace in the hole to support a full advance should the Legion break through and move over the Damn.

And if they get lucky to have better relations with the NCR, the Behemoths could be used to pin down the Legion trying to cross the bridge along with their forces. The machines will not be of any help crossing but at least they will help cover a retreat if it came to that point. The other machines could move forward and layer covering fire under the direction of the Brotherhood command team in the Bunker and the rest of their battle hardened squads would move in and support a counter attack if it came to that.

Far away…

The town of Goodsprings had always been a simple town that served as a rest and re-supply hub for merchants making runs through the Mojave Wasteland and it was one of the best places to get access to meat and hides, from the domesticated Bighorners, to the wandering groups of Geckos and Coyotes. But at the moment, there was not much merchant traffic to stimulate the economy of the town, which was due to some problems along the roads which diverted the traders…and the presence of a band of recently escaped convicts.

But at that same time…only hours ago last night…someone was about to wake up.

Diana opened her eyes briefly, trying to get some semblance of what was going on in her head…she recalled what had happened to her last night. She had been resting ever since leaving the place where she had been given her package to take to New Vegas…but was suddenly attacked from the darkness in her camp.

She recalled being knocked out and woke up to find herself tied up and facing a guy…

A guy in a suit…talking to some others dressed up like they were in a gang of some sort…she heard words being spoke and then the man faced her.

She moved her head a bit and then that was when an elderly male voice spoke to her.

"You're awake…how about that?"

"Ugggg…where the hell am I?"

"You're in the town of Goodsprings Miss, namely in my clinic and home."

Diana turned a bit and saw a man who looked to be middle aged and wore what looked like the clothes a farmhand would wear and he was balding a bit. He carried the bedside manner of a doctor and that was something that was good.

"My name is Mitchell…most of the folks here call me Doc Mitchell so you can call me that."

"Okay."

Diana tried to rise up but that was not easy as her vision was still blurry and there was some aches in her body to boot. It was here that Mitchell got to her and helped her a bit.

"Easy there, you're recovering from surgery and you don't want to be injuring yourself."

As she was getting to her feet and moving a bit, she was happy that she could still walk but then looked to see herself only in her underwear and despite her grogginess, she felt embarrassment run through her, something that Doc Mitchell was quick to pick up on as he replied.

"Sorry about that, but whoever buried up in the grave took your clothing and tore it up so I did not have any chance to find your clothes, not to mention they might have taken everything from you. And don't you worry, I am a doctor so I have seen my fair share of naked people before, including women."

"Oh…sorry about that, I just did not expect to be alive after…well, never mind that."

She looked nearby and spotted what appeared to be some sort of 9mm submachine gun and decided to look at it later. For now she decided to get to moving about and see if she still had what it took to move around and get her bearings. There was some feeling of vertigo but it was quickly gone and she headed for the Vigor tester machine as mentioned by Doc Mitchell. She too the whole process carefully and was happy to see that all of her 'dogs' as the man said were still barking.

After some more tests, she finally got her things back, but was less than pleased to learn that she had lost her Armor. No doubt the bastard who had shot her twice in the head had taken it, no doubt as a trophy of sorts, and that angered her a great deal since that suit of Combat Armor was very hard to come by where she came from. Thankfully her gun and knife were still with her and so were the rest of her gear as well as some other supplies. That of which included a lighter version of Metal Armor and that was going to be worth it as at least she was getting good protection and not too much weight on her body at the same time.

She decided that she might as well get some answers from that robot that Mitchell mentioned had found him and dug him out. Plus if he was right, maybe she could get some help and also get some information on who were the bastards who had attacked her and taken her package. Though there was a part of him that wondered just what was so important about a chip that looked like the kind one used in a gambling hall. But she kept in mind that before the man placed that chip away, she saw that it was made from platinum.

(Who the hell makes a chip from platinum?)

She looked at the order once more and placed that aside and decided to do what she could to get some answers.

Elsewhere in the Mojave Wasteland…

Darien was moving ahead while Garren was right behind him and as far as they were able to see, the place was very much like what the Scouts had spoke of. At the moment, they were moving closer to some of the ruined buildings and they were keeping their eyes and ears open. The reports they had gained stated that they were going to be moving into areas that were routinely patrolled by the NCR, but with the strained state of the NCR in Mojave, the patrols would not be numerous, still they were going to be ready for anything.

It had been at least three days since they left their comrades and so far they had not encountered Legion or NCR, but they were not taking chance of letting their guard down.

The Brotherhood pair quickly stopped and Darien took out the pair of binoculars he had in his pack as he signaled for them to move to a nearby rock formation. Once they got there, he looked and spotted what appeared to be an NCR patrol.

"Looks like we have a patrol moving around, they seem to be a bunch of new recruits considering the fact that most of them don't seem to be that alert."

Garren got the binoculars and looked as Darien kept his eyes open on the off chance they were not alone in the area. He saw the patrol and agreed with his leader and spoke as well.

"I agree, and it seems that they don't have a medic with them, I could at least three men and two women, one of the men being the head officer of this patrol. The leader's armed with a Shotgun while the others are armed with Service Rifles."

Darien nodded but that spotted something a fair distance away, it looked like a…banner of sorts.

"Garren, hand me the binocs."

The medic did so and soon enough Darien saw what had gotten his attention…a number of Caesar's men moving forward. They were wearing armor that he did not fully recognize but he could tell that despite not being as impressive as the armor he normally wore, the armor was well made. That was proof that despite the lack of heavier technology, the Legion was hardly techno-phobic as some would have thought.

He tracked them and he already had a very accurate idea just what or rather who were the objectives of these men.

"Garren, I spot several of Caesar's Legion moving towards the NCR patrol, looks like an attack."

"I see, and with the NCR stretched as they are, this will weaken them more. Any plans Darien?"

"Nothing yet, but let's watch these groups first, we'll make a move when we can."

The two members of the Midwestern Brotherhood did not have to wait for long when the Legion attacked the NCR. The soldiers of the NCR aimed and began to fire but the Legion continued to advance and despite one of them dropping dead, he did manage to throw his spear and wound one of the soldiers right above the knee. The soldier screamed in pain and was soon knocked over by one of the Legion and then had his arm cut deeply by the machete and then was hit hard in the face. The other NCR soldiers continued to fight, but one was shot in the arm by a Legionnaire packing a Cowboy Repeater and soon died from what appeared to be a bullet to the throat and through the windpipe. The other soldier, a woman was suddenly hit in the arm as she tried to use her Service Rifle to block the attack. It worked but the Legionnaire managed to kick her in the chest and then slash again with the weapon, wounding her bad.

The officer among the patrol tried to resist even more but was soon hit by a spear in the stomach and had been cut down by the two Legionnaires, just as the last male in the NCR patrol was killed by their attackers. Darien saw all that and saw the surviving Legionnaires soon move in on the still wounded woman as her attempt to reach for her weapon was thwarted as the Legionnaire near her kicked her weapon away and hit her in the face with a back hand.

The two Midwestern Brotherhood members were far away, but even at this distance, they could already tell that the woman's fate was going to be sealed. They learned enough of what the Legion did to women from the reports of the scouts who had gone to the Mojave before them. And the fact that she was a member of the NCR meant that she was possibly going to be worse off than the slaves they already had. Darien looked through the binocs again and saw that his thoughts was right as the Legionnaires began to beat the wounded woman, one even kicked her wounded arm and they could hear her scream in pain.

But the woman was a fighter as she managed to land a blow to the Legionnaire's head even if her hand would be aching later due to the man's helmet. That did not sit well with her captors as they began to beat her again with kicks and punches. Once it was over, the men began to talk as the woman was out of it. They turned and soon began to advance on the still unconscious woman.

"I have seen enough of this."

Garren knew just where his friend was going and he agreed as they both made their move. Darien moved first as he quickly took aim and fired. His aim might not be the best but with all of those Legionnaires bunched up as they were, one of them got hit well enough. The target in question took a direct hit right in the side of the stomach and the round tore through the weakened part of his armor.

The man screamed in shock at the attack and all the Legion turned to see two men wearing metal armor coming right at them. They did not recognize them but they already knew the creed. Whoever attacks the Legion of Caesar must die. They roared and attacked with the one with the weapon firing first and the others, even the wounded one charging at them. But the two Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel members were already battle hardened themselves and knew what to do. Garren stayed put and took out his MP5 and took up a knelling position to improve his aim and also make his body profile a lot smaller and less of a target.

Darien did the same thing but his position was more elevated and he quickly flicked the burst fire option on his weapon and aimed at the Legionnaires coming at them. He quickly fired the first burst into the shooter, he aimed three rounds center mass into the area where the heart would be, with the man firing another burst into the head of the Legionnaire. The man quickly turned his attention to the next target and fired another burst right into the left thigh of the next Legionnaire.

Garren himself fired his MP5 and the burst rounds quickly plugged the Legionnaire coming at him in the chest, just as he stumbled from Darien's shots, The combat medic of the Midwestern Brotherhood quickly fired another burst right into the face as the man stopped as the bullets from the M16 shattered his thigh bones. The next and last one came as him and he quickly took out his Colt .45 Pistol and fired a burst of four rounds that bite deeply into the chest and the Legionnaire was soon hit also by Darien who took out his own 9mm Berretta Pistol and unloaded a three round burst into the Legionnaire.

The whole battle lasted at least a minute and the Legion team was wiped out by the two Brotherhood soldiers.

The two looked about and switched back to their primary weapons and looked about to see if there were other threats. One of the differences between the Midwestern Brotherhood and the NCR was that while they did not have the numbers to match the NCR, they had better training than the NCR since their recruitment process demanded only the strongest, toughest, and smartest from the villages and communities under their protection. Even then, the attrition rate in the training was fairly high and those who passed were trained even more before being deployed in the field.

There they also got even more experience in the field in battle as they learned new skills in the field and improved what they learned in training.. Thus what they lacked in numbers to the NCR or the Legion, they made due with superior firepower, training, discipline, combat skills, and superior soldiers in terms of physical and mental strength and toughness.

Darien and Garren moved in a leapfrog fashion until they checked the Legionnaires, to make sure that they were dead. Once they were absolutely sure that their enemies were confirmed dead, they moved to check on the NCR members. Once they were sure that they were indeed dead, they decided to check on the only survivor and saw that she was still breathing.

"Garren, see to her and let me deal with the bodies of the NCR and the Legion."

Garren nodded in agreement and went to treating the patient while he searched the NCR soldiers, he took their dog tags and checked their weapons, taking their ammunition since they will not be using them. The weapons they had were not bad but their guns were still in good condition so there was no need to the take the weapons of the slain troopers even though they had been trained to take the weapons of those who were dead. They however did recover the woman's Service rifle to let her have when she recovered enough.

Darien then moved to the bodies of the Legion and took what ammunition and supplies they had, even the coins of gold and silver that they had. This made him nod in appreciation as despite their actions, and their apparent wish not to rely on technology and other things according to the data given by the scouts, the Legion were well funded. No doubt they had control of gold and silver mines and had knowledge of how to mint coins if these were in the hands of their men, and these would fetch a good deal of caps if traded.

Once he pilfered their coins, he also checked the quality of the armor and found that their armor was not too bad and well constructed so they were also knowledgeable enough to make good armor. And their machetes were at least well sharpened and made to be tough even if the choice of material was not up to the standard. The men appeared to match the reports in terms of physical strength and endurance compared to the bodies of the NCR soldiers they had fought earlier. Coupled with their apparent willingness to fight to the death, the Legion did have good soldiers, but apparently they were not too well trained in other areas just yet.

Darien shook his head and began to drag the bodies of the Legion away and then found a ditch nearby and began to roll the bodies into the ditch. He decided to leave the bodies of the NCR there and focused on burying the bodies of the Legion. It was tiring work and even more so when he was alone, but he did not care as the bodies were soon out of sight. He also made sure to cover the trails of blood and flesh with more sand and dirt. The idea of leaving these NCR soldiers to be eaten by the predators here did not sit well with him, but it was better this way so to avoid suspicion.

He turned to his friend and asked him as he was done tending to the injured woman how she was doing as the Medic began to clean up his First Aid Kit and take it back into his backpack.

"How are her injuries?"

"Not too severe but she took a serious beating coupled with the blood loss from the wound which thankfully had not cut through the bones. I managed to give her some stimpacks for the healing and her unconscious state helped me use some antibiotics on the wound she has. But that also means that we cannot leave her here either since there's no telling when she will regain consciousness. We'll have to get her to a safe place for the night and then get her to where she can be safe and be found by the rest of the NCR. Carrying her is a bad idea so we're going to have to make a field stretcher of sorts."

"We got the supplies for that?"

Garren nodded to an extent and the two decided to get to work.

Garren located a pair of bone hard thick trees and managed to break down two of the branches and tested them. Once he was sure that he was done and the branches were good enough, he also gathered smaller and thicker branches to place them together. He then managed to find a good amount of leather that had been issued for general use for a medic. He got out also a good deal of hard cord and his knife and began to make a stretcher. The hard cord was used on the branches both long and short to make a sturdy frame. And when the frame was done, he began to use leather into making the middle support that would carry the still unconscious NCR female soldier. The whole matter took at least an hour or so, something that all Midwestern Brotherhood Medics had to do well in training and when it was done, he moved it to the woman. Darien had served as the security and when Garren called him over, he placed aside his M16 and held it on the strap and took the end of the stretcher and they tested it slowly. The stretcher seemed to hold and that was a good thing.

The last thing that they needed was the stretcher to break apart and injure the woman even more. They moved as best they could and decided to take the best route that they could without getting into a situation that would get them into a dangerous situation, or have to go on a route that could expose the woman to harm. To counter some of the danger, they took some rope and secured the woman as best they could. That way if they had to move down a steep area, she would not fall off and get in an even worse state than before

It was already midday after they had managed to gather a good deal of distance from the battle and they soon spotted an overhanging section of rock. On the way to the rock outcropping, they had made sure to stop every now and then to scan their surroundings for pursuers, it did not matter if the pursuers were of the human, animal, or mutant variety. They placed down the stretcher and quickly scanned the area by one hundred eighty degrees on their sides, once they were done and sure that they were not being tracked, they got back up and carried the stretcher once more. They headed for the shade there and placed the stretcher down and decided to get a change to rehydrate and some food. Once they were done they would get ready to move out and get into the area of New Vegas and hope that they could get this woman to a safer location.

There was no doubt in their minds that it was not long before those bodies would be found, by humans or not was anyone's guess. Once they felt ready and the temperature was cooler, they soon moved out. They had to hope that they were able to find a good enough place to settle in as darkness was coming over them.

Later…

They soon found themselves a good enough place to set camp for the night and Garren had decided to go out and hunt for food. Their supplies of food were still good but they needed to preserve the supplies that they had for the trip, so finding some native food source was in the menu. Darien stayed behind to secure the woman while Garren went ahead to hunt. There was still some time left before full night hit them so now was a good a time as any.

Darien looked at the wounded and unconscious NCR female Trooper and decided to see if she was still asleep. The shock of having her arm nearly sliced off, coupled with the abuse the Legionaries committed on her was enough to keep her in the grip of unconsciousness, and that was a good thing. He kept his eyes open and was pleased to finally see Garren come back with a good side of meat, and judging from the size, it was Bighorner meat. The Medic got the meat down off of his shoulder, unmindful of the blood as he quickly got the fire going with the Midwestern issues ferro-rods and soon a fire was burning as they began to roast the meat and boil the water they had.

The medic then took out his combat knife and cut some of the meat off of the roast as he planned to use the removed pieces to make soup to feed the woman once she recovered enough. The soup was good enough and would help her regain her strength. The standard issue stimpacks he had used on her plus the antibiotics he had in his First Aid Kit and the bandages would be enough until they got her to a location where she could be picked up by her forces.

She was still on the jury rigged stretcher that they had made hours before and was soon getting ready to wake up, no doubt due to the smell of food. They had made sure to take her weapon away to make sure that she did not try to shoot them in a possible hysterical state. She soon woke up and was naturally shocked when she realized that she was not alone and there were men there and she was tied up as well. She did react hysterically as she tried to get away even though she had been secured by the two on the gurney with ropes.

"Get away from me! You ain't going to turn me into a slave you skirt wearing bastards! And you are not going to use me as a goddamn one of your breeding stock! I'll fucking kill you first."

The woman was very much in pain though and Garren moved in and quickly restrained the woman and slapped her a bit on the cheek to get her to focus.

"Hey! We're not Legion!"

The woman shook her head and even tried to bite Garren and spit at him, Darien quickly came on the scene and helped his friend restrain her as he spoke.

"Listen up lady! We just saved your ass from a beating and possibly a gang rape so calm down!"

The woman looked at the two of them and began to realize that they were indeed not Legion, she was still in pain but her body began to recover a bit thanks to the stimpacks they had used on her earlier. Her eyes began to focus better and soon she began to speak to the two Brotherhood members.

"Who are you guys? I…I can tell that you guys…are not from the NCR or anyone else."

Darien did not say anything to reveal their true allegiance and spoke to the young woman.

"We're just a pair of guys who managed to help you out from a bad situation Miss, now get some food in yourself and get some sleep. We'll take you to a place where you can recover and be taken to a place that you can be picked up. The best place would have to be the New Vegas Clinic, sound all right with you?"

The woman nodded slowly, seeing that she had no choice and Garren moved forward to bring her the soup he had made along with the roasted meat. They fed their charge first and after bits of hot meat, and soup, the NCR soldier went to sleep but not before Darien gave her the dog tags of the slain NCR troopers. He then spoke to the woman before she slept.

"Once we get you to a place where you can be picked up by your fellow soldiers, we're leaving so get as much rest as you can."

And as soon as the woman was asleep, Darien then ate next with Garren doing security duty. Once he was done, Darien took over security duty and allowed his friend to eat. It was still going to be a while before they could move out, but they were going to make the most of the time that they had with them and get out before the Legion knew what was going on.

Even if they had buried the slain Legionnaires, they were not going to chance anything and also had rigged the bodies with a bomb just to be safe. Once it had reached several hours, Darien decided to get some sleep while Garren took over watch duty. The next day, they moved to getting the female NCR soldier to the New Vegas Clinic that they were told of in the scout's reports.

The Followers and the Brotherhood had some good ties though it was hardly warm and cordial between their respective groups. The Midwestern Brotherhood on the other hand had not made contact with them until now, so what they were doing was going to be a first. But until the Brotherhood was ready to reveal themselves, they were going to play the role of Good Samaritans until the higher ups gave them the go ahead to reveal just who they were what they were part of. It was not easy for them to take the woman to the clinic due to them being only two men, but it was worth it.

Elsewhere…

"Fucking assholes…"

Diana swore to herself as she took a look at the bandages that had been wrapped on her arm after being shot at by the pests. The Powder Gangers had been dealt with by her and the new militia she had helped form with the Goodsprings residents to defend themselves. The bastards had been a problem but at least she was able to salvage some useful gear for the trip to find the guy who shot her in the head, twice. Convincing the residents to fight back was a bit of a test but to her it was worth it and the fools had tried to use dynamite to kill the people, but she was happy that her dad had taught her to shoot well enough and she was taught to aim for the more dangerous targets.

The ones armed with the dynamite were the first to go and she shot them in the arms and the hands. The young Courier was able to shoot them in the face too for a better kill. After the battle, she and Mitchell were able to help heal the injured and though some were hurt, not everyone died.

Right now she was now heading off to Primm, in order to go to the Mojave Express office, she needed to know what was it that made that suit wearing rat bastard shoot her and take her packages. She was no stranger to the rules of caravanning that also applied to being a courier. You do not fuck the people who deliver the mail, and you most certainly do not fuck around with the people who helped set up your supply lines. Whoever this New Vegas guy was, he must have really been stupid to not make sure that she was actually dead and she had every intention to make him pay for it.

But she had been taught not to go into a situation without planning and backup moves, her parents always told her to be ready for anything, and to commit only if she had all the information and covered all the bases. There was the fact that the shooter was well dressed and that meant he was well connected and rich, attacking someone like that without any proper information and weapons was a bad idea. Another reason she was not going to go gunning for the bastard was that she needed to know who the bastard was, she could not very well barge into every casino and gambling hall in the Strip and demand the bastard to show himself. That would be a death sentence and after coming back from the grave by the skin of her teeth, she was not in the mood to get herself shot up too early.

The only way she was going to do that however was to find the ones who were with him, even though she had not fully recovered her memories, she knew that the bastard was not alone. She learned from Chet that the ones who were there were the Great Khans, and she knew of them well enough. They were tough as Deathclaws in a fight and were also the ones who had made a large number of chems used in the Mojave, and she knew of the ir past back in the NCR. The leaders there were possibly the two guys she had seen so they were the ones she was going to find.

It was risky, but she was going to make sure that she found them, and when she did, she was going to get some answers. She had gotten a night's sleep after the battle with Cobb and his band and managed to sell some of the gear she did not need while making sure to

She managed to get to cover when she spotted a pack of Powder Gangers and she had no doubt that when they saw her, they were going to attack. That meant that she was going to have to take them out and fast, she took out her Varmint Rifle and was happy for the repairs she had done on it and placed the new extended magazines, silencer, and night vision scope on the weapon. She took aim and managed to relax herself as she placed the targeting sights right on the head of one of the Powder Gangers.

And as soon as she felt ready, she pressed the trigger.

To be continued…

Author's Notes:

There, at least this story is finished and I am pleased that it is going to show that the story is far from dead. The Midwestern Brotherhood is currently located near the northwestern corner of the map but nowhere near Zion so there is no risk yet of their supply lines being hit by the White Legs. Their new base is similar to the Vault Zero complex that housed the Calculator in the final mission in Fallout Tactics though it's a lot larger than most.

I know that this was not expected, but since the story was mostly done, I decided to finish it as best I could and here is the result of the hard work that came into it. Since it had been a while since I played Fallout New Vegas I am a bit rusty in this story of mine so I have plans to review all my material and resurrect the pace that I made for this story in question.

Darien and Garren's location is deeper in the north but a fair distance from their current location, and one could say that it is located near where the NCR Ranger Station Bravo but not too deep into the territory held by the Super Mutants. Their team now control a small outpost which would be used as their area of operations to help keep an eye on things. And before you ask, there will be some encounters with the Super Mutants and the rest of the residents of the Mojave soon enough.

What I can say is that the Midwestern Brotherhood are still in their infancy but as soon as their bunker is fully built and ready for operations, you can bet they will make their presence felt. The plan I have for them is to convert a place that is the ranch there into a base of operations of their own. It would be a good place for them to gather supplies such as food, medicine, weapons, ammunition and the like. How that will be accomplished will soon be revealed at a much later date since I am still going to work on how to get this story up to speed after such a long time since I made this story.

And if you ask what will happen to the Nightkin that was there…well, you can guess that he will not be around soon in that place.

Now the rescue that Darien and Garren did for the NCR soldier was to be expected since they are not going to let this happen. The Midwestern Brotherhood is different from the Brotherhood since they are more altruistic and serious in helping others than the original Brotherhood since they have survived by overcoming differences and working together with others. And unlike the other Brotherhood chapters with the exception of the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel chapter, they have recruited Tribals, Super Mutants, Ghouls, Deathclaws, and Robots into their ranks and have outlawed discrimination of those who are not human in form and face.

There will not yet be any repercussions towards their actions since they have not revealed anything about themselves to the Legion so the Legion will not know of the attack just yet. The Legion WILL know that some of their soldiers were killed, but they will not know of them just yet since in the battle, the bodies hade been eaten by the predators that would be around in the area and would have smelled blood.

Anyway, I hope that this story is still alive and kicking for the readers.

See you all later then!