Layla liked to dress for the occasion. After a safe place to sleep, running hot water and more than enough food to survive, having a wardrobe was one of the nicest perks that came with her current situation. When she was younger, she usually had a ratty, pieced together excuse for armor, and, if she was lucky, a pair of pants and a shirt to change into. Now she had an outfit for every situation she could think of.
She finished strapping on the chest plate of her assassin suit. The rangers were due to pick her up in a few minutes. With a heavily-armed, well-trained escort, she usually wouldn't bother with her good armor, but she'd decided to honor her promise to Cass and better defend herself… at least away from the Strip. It'd be a cold day in hell when she willingly stopped wearing her arsenal of cocktail dresses.
Shaking the thought away, she bent down to her weapon chest and started digging through her ammunition. Layla had sent a courier to Utah with her normal shopping list: .45 ammo, tequila and datura for antivenom. Hopefully the courier would return soon; she was starting to run low on ammo for her snake-gripped .45.
She'd also sent a very emotional letter to Joshua about the rotten article written about her. Looking back, she wished she hadn't; Joshua had been a constant source of advice for months, but she was embarrassed she'd poured her heart out over that article.
Just as she finished double checking her bag, a securitron's voice rang out from the hallway.
"There are visitors waiting in the lobby!"
"Thank you, I'll be there in a minute!" she called as she strapped her bag on. "ED-E, time to go!"
The robot zoomed over with a cheery beep, and they departed together in the elevator. A few moments later, the Courier stepped out into the lobby.
"Merritt!" Layla called, delighted as she recognized one of the two rangers waiting for her. The ranger turned a broad smile in her direction as she approached.
"Miss Granville," he said in greeting. "It's good to see you." He looked at the other ranger with him. "I don't know if you remember-"
"Oh… hello, Ranger Keller," Layla said to the other man, who grinned.
"I'm sure it's hard to forget our first meeting," Keller said. "I'm sure it's hard to forget the guy who nearly arrested you for running drugs."
Layla felt the blood start rushing to her face at the thought.
Merritt gave her an understanding look. "Well, she did a lot better on my mission."
"I saw the report on that one," Keller said. "She managed to kill everyone before getting any information."
"I didn't kill everyone," Layla retorted. "And I wasn't about to sit around and let them torture my sniper."
Keller shook his head. "Merritt, you have a knack for setting up terrible teams."
"… that get results," the other ranger added with a grin. He turned back to Layla.
"Chief Hanlon's expecting us. We should get going."
"Don't want him to worry, huh?" Layla said as they all exited the casino. "Do you guys have anything specific about someone trying to kill me?"
Keller and Merritt looked at each other, and Keller sighed.
"The Chief was right about couriers being a bunch of busybodies," he said with a snort. "We don't have anything specific. Yet."
"But if all this chaos is supposed to upset NCR interests, killing you would certainly do that," Merritt explained.
"This meeting isn't some kind of trap to lock me in Camp Golf until things blow over… right?"
Keller laughed. "I can't imagine what kind of hell keeping you against your will would be. No. Chief just has some information on the Followers Outpost shooting."
"Ah," Layla said. "And did he decide to send reminders of my best and worst undercover operations on purpose?"
"No," Merritt answered. "Ranger Keller and I needed to speak before Keller moved on to his next mission. I had already volunteered to pick you up, so he came along."
"And it always helps to get fresh perspective while we're at it," Keller said thoughtfully. "I heard you've got a knack for picking things out." He saw the girl nod and continued. "We've got a problem with raiders in the area."
"Can't imagine there's many left around here," Layla said, "after the Brotherhood started patrolling and the Powder Gangers getting all but wiped out."
"Our problem has been with the Vipers."
"Vipers?" Layla scoffed. "Unless they get the jump on you, they're not that big a deal."
"Normally, we'd agree with you," Merritt said, "but this group is led by River Jack. How much do you know about the Vipers?"
"I know they're raiders, and they used to be a real problem… but that's about it," Layla admitted.
"You know how the founders of the NCR originally came out of Vault 15?"
"Yeah," Layla answered, "so did the Great Khans."
"Very good," Merritt said with a smile. "The groups that would become the Jackals and the Vipers also came from Vault 15."
"Really?" Layla gaped. "I didn't know that… how overcrowded was that Vault?"
"Fairly," Merritt said with a laugh. "At any rate, the Vipers were just normal raiders for a long time. The story goes that one day, their leader fell into a nest of pit vipers. They're gigantic snakes."
Layla nodded as she managed to keep herself from shuddering; she hated regular snakes; big ones wouldn't be any better. She noted the bored look on Keller's face as Merritt continued.
"He survived the many snake bites he received. And when he found his clan again, he converted them to a cult base off the snakes and his 'rebirth.'"
"That's what the Vipers are?" Layla asked, amazed. "All I've ever seen of them is shabby raiding."
"That's what they were," Merritt corrected. "About forty years ago, they killed a prominent member of the Brotherhood of Steel in California. The Brotherhood all but wiped them out in retaliation."
Layla frowned as that reminded her of the current problem. She briefly wondered how Veronica was doing at Hidden Valley. Letting go of the thought, she focused on Merritt again.
"The groups you see around here are just Vipers in name; remnants that don't really follow any of the old ways," he continued. "That is, until River Jack showed up."
"And who's he?" the Courier asked.
"He's the son of one of the last real leaders of the cult," Merritt explained. "I doubt he's been able to follow the 'old ways' as there aren't any pit vipers around here. He's kept a tight lid on his group, though; they've given up raiding and moved on to mercenary work."
"Ah," Layla said. "So that's it. You guys think they're causing some of the chaos going on."
"Word is, if you're looking to have someone put down in the Mojave, you go find River Jack," Keller said. "So I get to go look for him and find out what he's been up to."
"Well, that sounds unpleasant," Layla said. "Be careful."
"What kind of life would an undercover ranger live if he was careful about anything?" Keller laughed.
*.*.*
"No, we don't think you killed Crocker," Hanlon said dismissively.
"Oh?" Layla said, sagging in relief. She had parted ways with Keller and Merritt and found the old man on his balcony. She hadn't come out directly and asked the Chief if she was still a suspect, but he'd guessed all the same.
She frowned a moment later and couldn't help asking, "How do you know, exactly?"
"Well, besides our apparently renown gut-instinct," the old man answered, "we like to rely on evidence. Ranger Thanes found proof of your innocence pretty early in her investigation."
"What was it?" Layla asked, now thoroughly intrigued.
"Trajectory. You'd have to be about a foot taller to fire the shots that killed both Liza O'Malley and Crocker."
"You can tell that?" the Courier gaped, impressed.
"It's a real boring and mathematical process, but yes. Little nitpicking things like that are Thanes' specialty. There's also the matter of no motive, and we've got quite a few eyewitnesses that saw you on the Strip unarmed with no blood stains."
"Ah… well, it's good to know I'm cleared."
"I'm sure someone'll put out a searing report about you murdering your way through the NCR," Hanlon said, and Layla felt her cheeks turn red.
"You saw the article, then?"
"Everyone in the Mojave has by now, kiddo."
The Courier groaned as she rubbed her forehead. She heard the old man laugh.
"Don't let tabloids get to you," Hanlon said sagely. "They'll only get worse if you resist them."
"That's just great," Layla sighed. Shaking her head, she decided on rapidly changing the subject. "Have you heard back about the Followers Outpost shooting?" she asked, which dimmed the smile on the old man's face.
"I've got a report we should probably go over," Hanlon answered, "but first, let's get some lunch. You hungry?"
"Oh." Layla wanted to argue for getting to that report right away, but her stomach grumbled. "Yeah, I guess…" she said reluctantly. Hanlon laughed as he got out of his seat.
"Let's go, then. Maybe we can get someone to break out the steaks again."
"Pity steak sound good," Layla agreed as they left the balcony. Hanlon closed the door and hesitated for a moment.
"I'm retiring," he said simply as he turned back to Layla. The girl gaped at him.
"You… When?" she managed to squeak.
"It was going to be the end of the month… but I guess I'd better see this mess through." He sighed, "I'm getting too old for this. Want to get out before my mind goes."
Layla was about to argue about the state of the man's mind when Hanlon held up a hand.
"Did you hear-" He was cut off by the sound of an explosion.
Wherever it had been, it was close; Layla was knocked back into the railing of the upper floor. Something crashed into her, and then she couldn't see anything.
It wasn't until a couple helmeted veteran rangers pulled the fallen door off her that she realized the explosion had affected her hearing. She saw their heads move, but couldn't begin to understand if they were saying anything to her. They looked at each other, and one leaned over to pull her to her feet.
Still shocked, Layla looked down at herself to see if she'd been wounded. She saw no blood on her armor.
Hanlon came into her view. He hadn't fared as well; there was a cut down his cheek that was bleeding pretty badly. She couldn't hear him any better, but could at least make out some of what he was saying by his lip movements.
She thought he said someone was coming, but before she could process it, the rangers were hustling her into one of the bedrooms.
"Lock this door. We'll go back up the chief," came the muffled voice of the ranger to her right as her hearing started to return.
"Wait!" Layla cried. "I can help."
"Honey, you're probably the target," the other ranger said.
"I-"
"We don't have time to argue, princess; you're getting locked up in the tower."
With that, they closed the door. Layla gaped it for a moment, then tried the knob. She at first thought it had been locked, but looking closer, she found the rangers had broken the mechanism. This door wouldn't open unless someone knocked it down.
Extreme irritation rolled over her. Readying her shotgun, she backed up a pace and threw herself into the door. It didn't budge.
"God DAMN it," she cried, trying again. The old resort had been made well; the solid wood door wasn't coming down by her power alone.
She kicked the door in frustration, she thought for a moment to call for ED-E, who hadn't been locked in with her. But he wouldn't be able to get the door down either. Grimacing, she moved to look out the window. NCR personnel scrambled around the courtyard. There were no enemies that she could see.
As she was trying to determine the best way down, a loud thud came from the door.
The moment of relief that one of the rangers had come to free her was short-lived; they would have warned her away from the door. The thought had barely registered before the door was knocked in. Two men barged in, both in heavy armor.
They clearly weren't rangers, so Layla opened fire. One man went down with a gargle, but the other one gave her a shocked look. She'd expected the man to shoot at her, but instead he turned and ran out of the room.
Layla chased after him, slightly confused. She followed him out into the hallway and down the stairs. She saw him put his hand to his mouth and make a loud, shrill noise, like a bird call. Before she could figure it out, she ducked down as someone started firing an automatic rifle.
"It's suppressing fire," she heard one of the rangers holler. "They're retreating!"
"Don't let them get away!" someone else yelled.
"Too late," the first called back. That was followed by a surge of loud swears.
*.*.*
In the end, three of the attackers had been killed, and none captured. There was no sign of the survivors or even how many there'd been.
"What kind of horseshit is this!" Hanlon cried. "Fucking God-damned HORSESHIT!"
He turned to yell at the ranger closest to him to question the troopers in the courtyard and found Layla Granville giving him a wide-eyed stare, her robot hovering just above her.
"Who let you out of that room?" he bellowed. The Courier's eyes narrowed.
"The guys attacking the place," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "There's another body in the room. Thanks for locking me away like a New Vegas virgin."
"Listen, kiddo, I've got the NCR brass demanding to keep you in one piece, never mind a whole unit of snipers."
Granville groaned at that, then looked like she was about to make a retort when Ranger Bellamy approached.
"Sorry, Chief, I don't think Layla was the target," he said, handing Hanlon a pile of scorched fabric and machinery.
"What is it?" the Courier asked.
"An exploded satchel charge," Bellamy answered. "You didn't tell anyone else about your meeting today, right?"
"Only Merritt and Keller," Hanlon said. "You didn't say anything, right?" he asked Layla, who shook her head.
Bellamy nodded. "This was thrown up on your balcony, Chief. They were after you."
Hanlon had been convinced this life couldn't throw him any more surprises, but he hadn't been expecting that.
"Now why would anyone want to kill an old codger like me?" he said out loud. "Could be they saw Granville on the balcony and threw the charge too late."
"I don't think so," Layla said. "They retreated after they saw me."
"What?" Hanlon said. "Are you sure?"
"They didn't attack me," she explained. "I shot one when they broke down the door, but the other ran as soon as he saw me and sounded the retreat."
"Huh…" Hanlon let that roll around his head for a moment. He noticed the bewildered look that had come over the Courier's face.
"Why would they run?" she asked thoughtfully. The adrenaline in her system must be wearing off. She looked at the chief. "What does it mean?"
"Hell if I know, kiddo," Hanlon answered. "But I aim to find out. Looks like retirement's gonna have to wait.
Thanks for reading, I hope you all have been enjoying the story! I'm going to start adding covers for all the stories, but it'll probably take some time. Anyway, thanks again, and have a good rest of the weekend!