The next day when the Courier and Nomad had gotten back to Ranger Station Echo, Boone and Arcade were asking them all about what happened but of course the Courier wouldn't divulge on any details. He told them about Caesar and what he did Benny by way of revenge neither Boone nor Arcade had the slightest judgment in their eyes. Well, maybe Arcade did a little bit.
Nomad had watched the Courier talk about it and there was something he obviously wasn't telling them. What had happened in that underground bunker was a mystery only the Courier knew the answer to and it began to eat away at Nomad's sanity. The Courier hadn't even told Arcade about it as far as Nomad knew which meant that it had to be something big. What was down in that bunker that the Courier had to keep to himself?
The Courier was visibly on edge and they all could see it in the way he spoke and gestured as he read the meeting with Caesar like a script. They way he explained the crucified people and how the women were treated poorly, he seemed... traumatized. There was a haunted look in his eyes and Nomad knew that the Courier had seen hell. He had seen hell in the eyes of all the innocents left to die under the sun. He had seen hell in the eyes of Benny. He had seen the devil in Caesar.
Nomad knew that look all too well and even though Arcade didn't seem like the type to notice it, he knew that Boone could smell the fear coming from the kid. Boone and Nomad were soldiers and now the Courier was becoming one as well, taking Arcade with him. By the time all this bullshit was over they'd all have the thousand yard stare and a good dose of PTSD.
Je should've heard it coming a mile away but Nomad was surprised to hear the Courier suggest that they split up. After it was said a wave of flabbergasted stares had suddenly become customary for the conversation at hand. Arcade looked the most hurt and even Boone had to admit he was unsure about that decision, but Nomad knew the Courier wouldn't leave him.
"Are you serious?" Arcade asked disbelieving, brows furrowing under the rim of his glasses. Nomad could've sworn he saw tears welling up in his eyes but it could just be glare. "Why do you want us to split up?"
"There's going to be a war soon and if we don't prepare for it-"
"But you have the Platinum Chip now," Arcade cut off hastily, getting worried even more by the Courier's use of the word war. "We have no business in the NCR's or the Legion's affairs anymore."
"You said it yourself, Arcade. Back in New Vegas, right before we set out for this quest. We're apart of this war. It is our business now," said the Courier, grasping Arcade by the shoulders and holding him close enough to make eye contact. "We all are," he confirmed, looking around at Boone and Nomad. "Everyone. We all knew it from the start."
"But we didn't have to be," Arcade whispered, sad and frustrated all in a single bound. He had to fight back the tears.
"We had no choice," Boone agreed, looking at the Courier then to Arcade.
"We always had a choice!" Arcade yelled helplessly, backing away from all the others.
Arcade was frightened and he didn't want to believe any of the men cornering him into the side of the cliff as they continued to try and convince him otherwise. Both Boone and the Courier were working him over with words he didn't want to hear, words that shouldn't be true but were. His back hit the jagged wall of rock behind him and he closed his eyes as his last defense.
"No," Nomad said matter-of-factly, "We didn't. We had no more say than the NCR and Legion combined. We have no more say than the Brotherhood, or the Followers, or a new born baby. We're all apart of this world and it makes us all responsible for what will and has happened to it. No excuses."
The doctor still wanted to refuse but he knew he couldn't keep up the facade anymore than he could stop the sun from shining or the the sky from being blue. It was pointless to resist something he knew deep down inside was true and he hated it. It wasn't fair. Arcade wasn't a coward, he just didn't particularly enjoy watching loved ones die.
Okay," Arcade conceded, opening his tear filled eyes to gaze around at the three men. "Alright. If that's what you guys want to hear... Okay."
"Yeah, that's what I want to hear, Arcade," the Courier scoffed sarcastically. He walked up to his friend and wrapped his arms around him affectionately, knowing both he and Arcade needed the reassurance and comfort. "I never wanted this to happen either," the Courier whispered softly into Arcade's hair. "I promise nothing will happen."
The Courier disentangled himself from Arcade and Arcade sniffled, nodding in understanding as he tried to give the Courier a hopeful smile. The redhead's hand smoothed down the side of Arcade's wet face and he smiled as his heart broke just slightly. The Courier retracted his hand and looked over at Boone and Nomad.
"Boone, I want you and Arcade to round up as many people as you can who are willing to fight."
"Why not just join forces with the NCR?" Boone asked curiously.
"Because we're not on their side," said the Courier. "We won't hurt them but we'll be indirectly helping them. We're fighting for the people of New Vegas and that's what we'll remain to be. No sides. Just us."
"What are you going to do?" Boone asked.
"I need to see Mr. House about some loose ends," the Courier said cryptically. "I'll be taking Nomad with me." The Courier walked over to his pack and hoisted it up on his narrow shoulders, adjusting it to his size. "We all meet at Ranger Station Delta in one week."
"Is that going to be enough time?" Boone rasped questioningly.
"Let's hope so."
It was two days later when the Courier and Nomad found themselves at the gates of New Vegas. Both men were surprised that they made it back so fast, but then again they were on a mission to save the Mojave. They had only been gone for nearly a week and a half but it felt like longer, it felt foreign and distant but so familiar. It felt like home.
The Courier and Nomad were exhausted and their feet throbbed from a walk they thought would never end. They staggered into the gates of New Vegas and suddenly the once scary and dangerous streets felt warm and safe. The Courier took a deep breath, exhaling slowly to savor the irradiated air of the place he called home.
Nomad smiled at the Courier, finding his behavior to be odd but cute because he understood what he was doing. He can't remember the last time he's felt that. Nomad doesn't think he's ever felt that since he's been on the road, traveling from waste to waste in hopes of finding something, anything, to call his own. He believes that he's found that with the Courier.
Even though he knows nothing about the kid, especially his name, Nomad knows that one day he'll be able to share new memories with the Courier. Nomad would help the Courier re-learn himself all over again and maybe one day he'd have a name all for himself. After all, Nomad couldn't call him kiddo forever. The Courier didn't seem to be much younger than him anyway.
They soon reached the Lucky 38 and soon they'd be face to face with the dictator more commonly known as, Mr. House. For the longest time the Courier just stood outside the building, looking at it as if he was contemplating whether or not to go through with ever he was going to do.
The Courier looked at Nomad, his pale young face unreadable, shadowed slightly by the swoop of his punked red hair. He looked like a soldier about to go into battle and it dawned on Nomad that, that's what he was preparing for. The Courier was gathering his wits because he was going to go in there guns blazing.
Nomad nodded, telling the Courier with just his eyes that he knew the plan and that he had his back. The Courier strode forward briskly, walking past Victor and ignoring him completely as he opened the big doors to the Lucky 38. There was no turning back now, he was already making a B-line towards the elevator and hitting the button to go up to the penthouse where Mr. House was.
You could say that the ghoul was a little unnerved but if the Courier was about to go into that room all by himself guarded by securitrons with nothing but a Plasma Defender, he'd be damned if he let the Courier go it alone. But despite his jitters, Nomad was ready. He had his own customized Paladin Toaster equipped and a Riot Shotgun on standby if things got hairy fast.
But Nomad knew he'd be attacked the moment he stepped foot in that room because only the Courier was allowed in the penthouse, so when the elevator reached it's floor he stepped out quietly and hid until he was needed. The Courier gave Nomad one last fleeting glance and proceeded down the stairs to speak with Mr. House. The Courier's hand went idly to the Platinum Chip in his pocket and he ran a thumb across it as Mr. House's screen flickered.
Nomad circled around so that he was underneath the staircase, watching, waiting patiently for the barrage of bullets to tear through the air with the intent to kill the target. He poked his head out around the side and noticed the picture upon the big screen and Nomad couldn't help but feel a little speechless at the sight.
Déjà-fucking-vu.
Were all dictators computers these days?
"I take it that Benny's been dealt with? Did your revenge feel good?" Mr. House asked, waiting for a response. A reaction. But the Courier said nothing to him. "I believe you have something for me? The Platinum Chip?" Mr. House inquired.
"Yes," the Courier replied with no emotion whatsoever, "I have."
"Well come on, let's see it!" Mr. House gushed hastily, having waited too long for this moment. The moment when he'd finally have his beloved Chip back to do with as he pleased.
"I'm afraid I can't let you have it, Mr. House," said the Courier dryly, defiance in his tone like before, when Mr. House had requested his help to retrieve it.
"Hmm... How shall I put this?" Mr. House droned in his old world tone. "Delivery of the Platinum Chip is non-negotiable."
The Courier huffed out a laugh. "I'm not negotiating. I'm telling."
"I implore you to reconsider and think carefully about what you do next. You, standing here before me alone. With my heavily armed securitron guards..." Mr. House warned.
"Attack me and you'll risk destroying the Platinum Chip," the Courier spoke swiftly, hoping to get a rise out of the entrepreneur.
"Do you really think I'd let some little upstart come into my home and ransom my property to me?!" Mr. House exclaimed sternly, letting the Courier's words get to him. "I've spent two centuries searching for the Platinum Chip. It's my invention, my property! Mine! Now be a good courier and deliver it!"
That was the last nail in the coffin and the Courier knew it. Nomad knew it. Mr. House had went off the deep end and there was no doubt in the Courier's mind that Mr. House would let the Chip back by any means necessary. Mr. House's screen flickered again and the Courier couldn't help but give the computer a smirk. He had defeated Mr. House at his own game and the real challenge would soon follow.
"No," defied the Courier smugly. "New Vegas isn't your's anymore and neither is the Platinum Chip. If you want it, you'll have to kill me first. Just know that I'm not afraid of you."
"What a pity.. But you needn't be afraid of me, Courier, because it's my securitrons that are going to kill you!" Mr. House barked out as his final command.
The connection on the big screen was lost and as soon as this registered the securitrons turned red, beginning to search for hostiles to eliminate. Nomad came out ready to take down securitrons but he noticed a terminal on the wall. Him and the Courier ran towards it with hopeful brisk steps, opening it up to see if anything could be done. It gave them the option to open up the hidden door and as soon as it opened they rushed inside to get as far away as they could from the hostile securitrons.
They could here the wheels and robotic pre-programmed voices of the securitrons and it made adrenaline pump through their veins, scrabbling for anything they could use to their advantage. Nomad ran over to the next terminal and he realized what it was for. The Courier braced himself against a pillar beside Nomad and glanced over at the ghoul skeptically.
"What is it?" The Courier rushed out in one breath, nerves on fire. A securitron rolled into the room and began firing at them, bullet casings hitting the ground with heavy clinks.
"It's a terminal to reboot the securitrons," Nomad yelled back over the sound of ammunition pumping out, cringing away from the gunfire. "It's locked up pretty good though."
"Can you hack it?" The Courier asked, pulling out his Plasma Defender.
"I can try," Nomad said weakly, looking terrified and thinking that this could be the end for them both. It wasn't a very good answer but it was the best Nomad could manage in this particular situation. "Try and keep them off of our backs."
The Courier nodded once and took a deep breath knowing that it could be his last and he spun around with his gun at the ready, pointing it at the securitron that had found them. He stared down the sights and pulled the trigger back, biting his lip hard as he unloaded round after round at his enemy.
It staggered back on it's wheel slightly but the securitron soon regained strength and open fired at the Courier, spraying bullets across the room to decorate the walls with holes. The Courier grunted and dove back into safety with his arms covering his head as debris fell all around him. The shooting stopped, letting the Courier do some return fire as the securitron needed to reload his built-in weapons.
Nomad's fingers clicked away at the keyboard and he was sweating profusely, too damn nervous to concentrate clearly. He was cringing everytime he heard or felt a bullet whiz by him through the air and he tried to focus on hacking the terminal with having to break away from it. There were too many possibilities and the codes were long. Nomad needed a miracle, a sign.
One securitron was down and more were on the way as the Courier reloaded his Plasma Defender, cursing when he fumbled the energy cell with shaky hands. The pack clicked into place and he sighed a breath of relief, back planted firmly to the mostly destroyed pillar. It was their only cover and soon it'd be gone entirely. Nomad needed time they couldn't afford.
"How's it coming along, Nomad?" The Courier panted out nervously, irritation heavy in his voice.
"I'm getting there!" Nomad argued back with a snap.
The next securitron made it's way into the room and when the Courier jumped out from behind his enclosure it pelted the room with bullets. He didn't raise his gun in time which in turn got him shot in the arm. The Courier shrieked out a pained scream and the force of the bullet caused his back step to falter, making him fall backwards onto the ground.
He clutched helplessly at his fresh bullet wound, moaning in agony at the searing pain shooting up and down his arm. The Courier was hyperventilating because he was too worked up, panicking with dread as the securitron inched closer to him with intent to kill. His eyes went wide with fear as he stared up the mini-gun barrels and all he could see for a split second was the red of the securitron's screen.
Paralyzed with terror, the Courier's heart stopped as he began to accept that he was about to die point blank like he should have all along. He closed his eyes tightly. The Courier couldn't bare to watch himself die this time around and curled up in a ball, trying to be invincible in this pose. But it was pointless.
The barrels of the mini-guns started up but before any rounds could be dispensed upon the helpless Courier's body, Nomad had lunged forward with his fist. Nomad's Paladin Toaster connected with the securitron's screen, sparking with electricity as it made the robot burst from the inside out. Fragments of broken glass was showered on the man on the ground and his eyes snapped open to see what happened.
Nomad stood protectively in front of him with his fist up as if waiting to see if the securitron would try attacking again, but it didn't. The others were still scanning the area for them but thankfully they had enough time. Nomad extended a hand to the Courier to help him to his feet, winking with a subtly smile. There was no time to see if the Courier's arm was alright...
So Nomad returned to the terminal hastily typing away, analyzing each keystroke and code to find the right one. He clicked faster, knowing the password was right in front of his eyes but still not seeing it. Then something beeped and when the rest of the securitrons rolled into the room their screens were no longer red and they weren't hostile anymore. The word that saved their lives was "Revolution". The irony...
All the securitrons were back online and functioning properly, giving the Courier and Nomad a chance to catch their breaths. The Courier noticed an elevator he had no idea was there and looked to Nomad curiously. They both approached and climbed in, taking all the way down to the lower depths of the Lucky 38.
"Well, the bullet only grazed your bicep. I'm no doctor, but I think you'll be alright, kiddo," Nomad smiled happily as he inspected the wound on the Courier's left arm.
The Courier didn't speak for a moment, just stared off into space as his arm was wrapped up securely in a bandage. He was sitting cross legged on his bed in the presidential suite, relishing the soft cushion of the mattress like he's never felt anything like it before. The Courier just wanted to lay down and sleep until this damn war was over. Too many people were dying just because mankind was greedy and sick and twisted.
"I can't believe it," the Courier spoke softly, addressing Nomad but not looking at him directly. "I can't believe this is actually happening. I'm beginning to question if I did the right thing or not. Do you ever feel that way? Like you have no control over what happens and you just have to let fate take the wheel?"
"Everyday," Nomad whispered, dropping his hands from the Courier's arm to place them in his lap. "Every goddamn day."
The Courier looked Nomad in the eyes and tried to feel everything the ghoul was feeling, trying to feel that regret, loneliness, and anger. Wishing he could take all their negative emotions and dump them into a big bile of radiation, never to be heard from again. But he knew he couldn't. Not now, not ever.
"There's something you need to know, kiddo. But before I tell you, you must understand that I had my reasons for keeping it to myself," Nomad said cryptically as he inched closer to the Courier.
"I'll understand," assured the Courier, giving Nomad a smile before he closed the space between so that their knees were touching ever so slightly. They were so close to eachother. "I promise."
Nomad had no choice but to take the Courier's word which was no big deal, but even the most understanding and faithful could turn their back on you in the blink of an eye. It was a risk and a gamble but this was Vegas, a risky bet had to happen some time, right? So why not now?
"I lied about my life," Nomad gushed. "I wasn't born in a place called Megaton and I didn't work at Craterside Supply with my father either." The Courier only stared, not judging in the slightest so Nomad took that as a sign to continue. "And I didn't become a ghoul from an atomic bomb either."
The Courier was speechless and perhaps a little hurt, but if Nomad was coming clean that's all that mattered to him. At least he wouldn't be keeping secrets anymore. The Courier thought it was very admirable of him to tell the truth and the fact that Nomad chose now to do so was kind of perfect.
"Tell me. Tell me your real story," the Courier said, leaning closer with a glint of rapture making his eyes twinkle with wonder.
"I was born in Vault 101. My mother, Katherine, died while giving birth to me and I was left to grow up with just my father, James," Nomad recited as if it were yesterday and the Courier just sat there captivated by the story already. "I got my first Pipboy when I was ten and on my birthday my father taught me to shoot radroaches in the basement."
The Courier giggled and smiled, seeming to forget the pain in his arm for just a few minutes so he could enjoy the story of someone else's life. He liked hearing true stories because he had none of his own to ponder. It gave him things to imagine while he dreamt, wondering what his life could've been like before his head injury.
"But when I got older my father became more distant and the reality of my world started to crumble until finally shattering when my dad escaped from the vault." And there was a slight twinge of anger and sadness in Nomad's voice now. "My father left me all alone in a vault with no knowledge of where he was going or why. But I couldn't accept that."
"So you left?" The Courier asked as if he had no clue.
"Yeah. With no knowledge of the outside world," Nomad chuckled shortly. "I remember leaving the vault and seeing nothing but light. Sunlight. I never saw the actual sun before. And I remember feeling scared for the first time in my life. Scared about the world... My father."
The Courier could see tears welling up in Nomad's foggy green eyes and he suddenly knew why he had lied, because the truth hurt too much and uncertainty was it's estranged cousin. He could relate with that fear and hurt because the Courier had been there, was still there, regardless of his revenge.
"Long story short, my father had been out of Vault 101 before and he was involved with a water purification project. But the wrong people found out about it and wanted to use it to their advantage."
"What did they want to do?" The Courier asked worriedly, gnawing at his bottom lip.
"President John Henry Eden and Colonel Augustus Autumn wanted to infect the water supply to kill off all the mutants, sparing the regular human's life. But they didn't feel the need to spare my father's," Nomad smirked bitterly, rueful of the memory itself.
"But they didn't win, did they?" The Courier beamed like a little kid at storytime, pushing for a hopeful ending.
"No," Nomad grinned warmly. "Because the Brotherhood of Steel had something the Enclave didn't..." And here Nomad paused for dramatic effect. "Liberty Prime. A robot as tall as the sky and he took down every last one of them."
"Then what happened?"
Nomad paused for a long time, trying to conjure up the right words but failing. He finally decided on this:
"I made my father proud," Nomad whispered, a single tear spilling out the corner of one of his foggy green eyes. "I did what he didn't have the chance to do."
"You saved the world," the Courier murmured, holding Nomad in a tight embrace now, almost crying himself. "You're a hero."
"It was only the Capital Wasteland," Nomad brushed off shyly, not wanting too much credit.
The Courier smiled into the juncture where Nomad's shoulder met his neck and shook his head fondly. There seemed to be a huge weight taken off Nomad's chest and it showed in the way he clung to the Courier's body. There was one thing that went unexplained though...
"How did you become a ghoul?" The Courier asked lightly, hoping to not offend the wanderer.
"The chamber I had to be in to purify the water was irradiated. Anyone who went in there would've died. It was a suicide mission."
"But you survived," the Courier commented with a gleeful expression. "You refused to die."
"Just like you," Nomad finished, because he knew it was what the Courier was going to say and it made him hold on tighter.
"Given the circumstances and all the shit that happened today... I think we deserve a little R and R," grinned the Courier as he pulled back from Nomad.
"What'd you have in mind?" Nomad asked amused.
"Well, we're all alone," the Courier stated.
"True."
"I distinctly remembering you promising to make me scream," the Courier husked lowly, licking his lips predatorily.
"I did, didn't I?"
"Mmm-hmm," the Courier nodded, biting his lip with a smirk.
They both sat there and when the reflection of themselves were caught in their locked eyes, they bent forward and kissed eachother openly and freely without any worry or discrimination. Nomad pushed the Courier into the bed and climbed on top of him, not once breaking the kiss. The Courier moaned and everything about him opened up willingly.
Clothes were ripped away from bodies, with the exception of the Courier's shirt, and they were tossed carelessly away to be forgotten on the ground until they were through with eachother. Their naked bodies were pressed together and writhing as smooth skin battled it out with rough skin. And neither man was insecure or judging of the other. They were both equal.
Despite what most people would find revolting, the Courier had found Nomad to be beautiful in every sense of the word. Both on the inside and outside. The Courier could get past the fact that Nomad was a ghoul and that he looked like a corpse because that's not what was important to him.
He marveled at Nomad's naked form, exploring as much as his body as he could before Nomad got self conscience and retreated away. Nomad's body was so different and bizarre that it had begun grown on the Courier, making him actually prefer a ghoul over a regular human any day. It excited the Courier beyond belief.
And when Nomad had entered his body and caressed his pale skin, he lost it. Thrashing against the mattress and screaming out obscenities as Nomad thrusted in and out of him fast and hard at a relentless pace. The Courier had kept his eyes open the whole time, not wanting to miss any emotion that crossed Nomad's face.
The Courier had gripped his hands all over Nomad's body to anchor himself to reality as he came hard against their joined bodies. Nomad was hitting the Courier's prostate on every in thrust and even when the Courier had went sensitive, he continued to moan and scream all for the benefit of Nomad until the ghoul came inside him with a shout.
It was the Courier's first time, as far as he knew, and it had been with a ghoul, it was also the first time the Courier ever felt really loved by another being. He didn't know if he could say the same for Nomad, but it was clear that they had something worth salvaging and neither of them should pass up the opportunity to make it something more. They knew they were perfect for eachother.
But it would have to wait, because the Courier was already fast asleep.