Chapter 7: A Phantom's Pain

AN: Okay, no story progress is made this chapter, it mainly focuses on character building. I hope that everyone is enjoying everything so far, and I hope you don't mind what I'm doing here. As a note, this story will maintain a T-rating (unless everyone really wants it to get pushed up) but I may end up trying to write some smutty scene and placing it in a separate story, although I'm sure my girlfriend will kill me for doing so. This chapter may or may not fill you with emotions, be sure to tell me what emotions you felt and why you felt them. If you would also review, that'd be very appreciated. Big thanks to Paladin Bailey and Tweeden97 for both reviewing and following, and thanks to HayabusaDragonForce for following. I know that Hayabusa was the first follower, and that Bailey was the first reviewer, but I wanted to wait a bit to properly thank all of you, so that way it seemed more genuine.

With my blind rage subsided and a particularly gruesome reward existing in a bag made from scrap legion armor, we make our way back to Mojave Outpost. The trip itself is uninteresting, and we pass the time by explaining our goals to each other. I talk mostly about my hatred for the legion, and my desire to deliver Caesar's head to General Oliver. Delilah talks about her medical training and her desire to find various books across the wasteland. Ashley mentions that she doesn't really have anything in mind, beyond helping her town, and mentions that she might decide to just stay there after all is said and done. Willow says that she just likes to travel and meet new people, hoping to find someone to settle down with and a place to call her own, she shyly mentions that she likes to collect things and doesn't reveal what or anything else about it. We decide not to push the matter too much further, and Delilah mentions my getting shot in the head. I re-iterate that I am not looking for revenge, answers and my package yes, but not revenge. I do however mention that I may shoot the man, but that's just because I'd probably shoot anyone if they gave me good enough reason to.

Upon arriving at Mojave Outpost we are immediately stopped by a woman in Ranger attire with very pale skin. "What happened at Nipton?" She asks bluntly.

"Legion burned the place to the ground, a party lead by Vulpes Inculta. He wanted me to deliver a message." I then pull out his head. "I don't know what he wanted me to say, so I'll deliver a message that says: Vulpes Inculta is dead, feel free to celebrate and thank your friendly neighborhood legion slaying mailman."

"That's… wow. I'm impressed." She says, showing a look of surprise on her face. "What about the rest of the force?"

"Sharing a similar fate, although they might still have their heads attached to their bodies. No promises on that though." I say.

"I could kiss you right now, that raiding party is far enough west to give us some worry, but you just took down one of their top commanders, that'll deal more of a blow than losing ten squads to us." She says, before radioing Jackson and Knight to come to us. They arrive a moment later. "That, is the head of Vulpes Inculta. This man deserves a fantastic reward."

"As impressive as that is, trooper, put that in one of the Cryo storage boxes so we can send it to McCarren, I can't authorize any reward."

"Knight, you can authorize any singular military personnel of a rank lower than sergeant to a position can't you?" Ghost asks, turning to the Major.

"Yes, I can, what of it?" He says, looking confusedly at the Ranger.

"Ranger Paige 'Ghost' Oliver, requesting reassignment as guard position for former NCR Trooper Angelo Michaels, on grounds of him recently becoming a high-priority target for the legion due to the murder of Vulpes Inculta." She says. I'm beginning to regret my decisions. One woman is confusing enough, two is crazy to think about. Three is suicide, but four? I've pissed off some powerful deity.

"Assignment approved, your new C.O. is M.A. Michaels." Knight says, shaking her hand.

"First off, don't I get a say in this? Secondly, M.A?" I say exasperated and confused.

"You have been declared as a military asset or at least will be once I radio in to McCarren, you've got the approval of three high ranking members of the NCR military forces: Myself, Ranger Jackson, and Lieutenant Hayes. This means that insuring your survival is a priority, lower than holding our positions in the Mojave, but high enough that we can assign a ranger to keep you alive, and with her official request, you disrespect her by denying it, which you haven't done so yet. And fair warning, she may look somewhat dainty, but that woman scares every single person here, well besides Cassidy, but nothing scares her." Knight says looking very serious.

"Fine, I accept." I say, I'm pretty sure I figured out why I survived being shot in the head. Someone wants me to go crazy before I die.

"Good. As of now you are my C.O. which does mean I have to follow your orders, I will however not hesitate to beat your ass to the ground if you give me good enough reason to." She says, putting up a front of stone cold bad-ass, whether or not it's genuine, I've no intention of finding out. "I do however genuinely want to thank you, that Vulpes killed my brother, and while I'm mad I didn't get to put a bullet in him myself, the fact I got to hold his severed head in my hands is enough to satiate me."

"Well then, I hope I don't make you mad." I say, something about her statement about Vulpes killing her brother just doesn't sit quite right with me, although I've got no right to ask her anything about it. Maybe she'll open up later, I seem to be good at making that happen, but I won't push her.

"Well, since you seem to be the newest let's set up the ground rules regarding this thick skulled moron." Delilah says, poking me in the side of the head. I'm not sure why she calls me a moron, according to Vault-Tec and RobCo, I'm on the same league of raw intellectual prowess as Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla. I find my ears covered by a set of firing range ear protectors, which haven't seen much use since before the war. One of the biggest advancements in pre-war weapons technology was the ability to make the discharging of firearms much quieter, apparently before, if you discharged a shotgun without proper ear protection you'd run the risk of permanent hearing damage. They eventually found a way to create a substance like traditional gunpowder that actually managed to muffle the sound of an explosion by redirecting the vibrations that create sound into the actual bullet, which in turn also made bullets travel faster, this allows for 'completely' silent weapons like the .22 pistol I have to exist, that the only sound they make is the firing pin making contact with the bullet, and the whooshing sound of the bullet leaving the gun.

(An: This conversation between these author's notes is not heard by Angelo, and exists as both a practice in me trying to write in a different style, and to give you more information as to the thought processes of the other characters. Angelo also doesn't hear this as they don't want him to.)

"First off, if you decide to try to 'get' with Angelo, be it romantically or intimately, you've got competition. I've been trying since I met the guy, and I'm pretty sure he's not taken any hints." Delilah says, shaking her head lightly.

"Yeah, I'm honestly kind of interested in him as well, we only really met today, but he's definitely someone worth getting to know, not to mention, he's a nice hunk of man meat." Willow adds, glancing over at Angelo, she drags his eyes over his body slowly, as though drinking in his visage.

It's at this moment that Ghost actually takes her first long look at Angelo, and honestly she's impressed with what she sees. He's obviously in pretty good shape, given all the travelling he does, but he's built more like a swimmer than a marathon runner. His legs are obviously pretty well defined, from what she can tell from the holes in the denim pants he's wearing, and he is well chiseled in the chest as well, she can see from the white t-shirt he's wearing, having taken off his jacket and tactical vest to properly deal with the heat that he's experiencing. The shirt clings to his body, sticking to the sweat that comes from doing nearly anything in this desert heat, and it also draws her attention to his arms, which are nice and muscular, but not 'jacked' like some of the legion men she'd seen are. His face is very masculine and angular, with a sharp jawline and pointed nose. His eyes are a striking periwinkle, and seem to be fixated on something in the distance. His hair sits on his head in a bizarre way, with a blond section at the top with darker shaved sections on the side. It seems to have been spiked, but wearing his helmet seems to have flattened it slightly. She notices the breathing apparatus on his neck and raises an eyebrow, unseen by her current company due to her large aviator glasses.

"What's with the respirator?" Ghost asks, turning to her new travelling companions.

"From what we can figure he's got some breathing condition, he needs that if he's around smoke or large amounts of dust." Delilah answers, before adding, "If you've got a smoking habit consider yourself stopping it as of right now, not only does it affect him negatively, but I hate the smell."

"Yeah, I'm not a fan either, I notice he keeps picking up boxes of cigarettes though, not sure why." Willow adds, before deciding that she can take the ear-defenders off of Angelo's head.

(AN: Angelo can hear now, back to his head!)

With my hearing returning to me I realize that I'd been lost in thought, trying to figure out the best plan to get into NCRCF. I turn to the girls and ask: "What were you guys discussing that I couldn't be privy to?"

"Girl stuff that comes with travelling, I'm sure you want to hear all about monthly cycles and feminine hygiene while being on the road right?" Delilah says. I'm extremely grateful that my ears were covered if that's true. "Just before we took your ear protectors off there was a question, why do you keep picking up cigarettes if you can't smoke them or stand anyone smoking them?"

"As much as I hate it, pretty much anyone will pay a good price for these, and they make good trade fodder, a pack of these is pretty much equivalent to about 20 10mm rounds." I say, I've also discovered that in extreme emergency situations, I can use them as a makeshift air filter, it's probably worse for me than just using a cloth, but it's something.

"Fair enough, I've got to gather some things for the road. It's getting late anyway. You guys should bunk here for the night and we'll leave in the morning." Ghost says, before making her way to the barracks. We follow behind her, trusting her judgement, and feeling slight amounts of exhaustion.

It turns out, that the rangers and higher ranking soldiers have their own sleeping quarters separate from the troopers here, the only ones who sleep in here at the moment are Jackson, Ghost, and Knight, but there are extra beds available for us. As we go about our evening routines and prepare for bed, we explain ourselves to Ghost as best we can, and she responds in kind, giving us a few bits of information that I file under the 'useful/interesting' category. Her second cousin is General Lee Oliver, but she made sure no one knew that until after she made ranger, not wanting to be promoted due to family ties instead of skill. She also makes mention of her albinism, saying that it doesn't affect her eyesight as much as it does others, she mentions needing contact lenses to see as well as she needs to for her sniper duties, but says that being in the Military provides her with the means to get those. Jackson and Knight show up eventually as well, and inform me that I have officially been declared an NCR asset, and that the legion has put an exceptionally large bounty on my head, equivalent to 10,000 caps. That fills me with just a small amount of pride that that legion is willing to spend so much money just to see me killed, and that puts a smile to my face thinking of all the legion assassins that I'm going to get to kill.

As happy as I am at my opportunity to shed more legion blood, sleep eventually takes over me and I drift off into a pleasant slumber. That is, until I was awoken. Ghost is rather lucky that I had made sure to not sleep with a weapon under my pillow, because she would've received a new set of lead teeth for waking me up so violently. She makes a motion for me to be quiet and follow her. Despite how little I know her, she's given me no reason so far not to trust her, so I decide it is in my best interest to follow anyway. She leads me to the top of the barracks, where she typically mans the road watch, but there is currently no one there. In fact, no one is really out and about at this time. Ghost speaks up eventually.

"I really do have to thank you for slaying Vulpes, he was a big problem for the NCR, but I feel you need to know why he truly meant so much to me." She pulls out a photo, two pale skinned, white-haired children are sitting on a brahmin, a man with dark hair stands behind them, giving them bunny ears. Everyone is smiling brightly. "I say he killed my brother, but that's not entirely true. Vulpes Inculta killed Peyton Oliver, but you ended the life of the one who was born alongside me." She says, looking particularly downtrodden.

"Vulpes was born Peyton, your brother. Yet he joined Caesar's legion and you two ended up on opposite sides of this war." I observe, trying to wrap my head around this situation.

"Don't get me wrong, that bastard wasn't my brother anymore, but regardless of what they do, you still can't help but love family. I would've personal put the bastard down, but it wouldn't have been easy. For saving me that, I thank you." She leans up and kisses me, before taking my hands and placing them upon her breasts, which are much larger under her uniform then they appear. "From now on, I'm yours, do with me what you want, as you've done more for me than I could ever repay." She leans in for another kiss, but I push her away.

"I'm absolutely clueless when it comes to women, but I do know one thing. What we were about to do isn't something that should be done lightly, it might be sometimes, but it shouldn't." I say, before gathering my thoughts for a moment. "I'm aware of how Delilah and Willow talk, I don't know if they are genuine in actually having feelings for me, or they just enjoy seeing me get flustered about it, but they are wonderful girls that I'd risk my life for. You could join that club as well, given time, but there is one issue. Call me old fashioned, but I want one day to settle down, raise a family. When I do that I want someone that loves me by my side, not that feels they owe it to me. I'm sorry you had to lose a family member, I know that it is arguably one of the most painful experiences anyone can ever go through. Even if you are glad that he's gone, you shared a connection with him that you will never share with anyone else. This is not a proper way to grieve. You can still travel with us if you want, we would love to have you along, and if one day you really want this, we can try. But I want you to want this for you, not out of some sense of obligation. I'm sure you're a wonderful woman Paige, and that you've got a bright future ahead of you, don't sully it by putting a debt you don't owe before your own happiness." I hug her, and turn to walk away, before she grabs my hand.

"I'm going to sleep up here, under the stars, stay with me?" She asks, shyly. I turn to look at her and see the look of defenselessness on her face.

"I'd be happy to." I say, before we lie down and look up at the stars. "Do you know anything about astronomy?"

"No, what's that?" She asks, turning to look at me.

"Astronomy was the study of the stars and planets. It was arguably the first science to ever gain wide-spread popularity, as it was one of the first stepping stones for all of science to discover. Before we had compasses, people determined direction by the placement of the stars in the sky, that one right there," I say pointing a particularly bright star, "Is Polaris, the north star, it was oddly enough, used to point north. It is connected to two constellations, Ursa Major and the Big Dipper, which are formed from the same stars for the most part. Ursa Major is named for its resemblance to a bear, albeit with only one head, and the Big Dipper was named as people thought it looked like a ladle."

"Wow, that's interesting. Where'd you learn this?" Ghost asks, taking an interest.

"I've always loved to learn, I'd read anything I could get my hands on, when I was doing Courier work, I had a policy up front that if I was transporting books of any description, unless they were personal things like journals or logs, I would read them. Most clients were okay with this, since they were mostly sending them off for someone to read anyway. I had one frequent client who ran a library further to the south, he always sent me off with a few books, and said that they weren't expected to be anywhere for well over the time it would take me to travel to wherever I was going. He was a kind old ghoul, had a passion for learning, was a teacher pre-war, though I can't remember exactly what he taught. He eventually was killed by some raiders who thought that a copy of 'Treasure Island' he owned was an actual map to treasure. When I heard of that I told everyone that my deliveries would be late and I hunted down every single one of the bastards who dared to hurt my friend." I say, remembering him fondly.

"You haven't had it easy have you?" Ghost asks, seeming concerned.

"No one has it easy in this world, you simply take the hand you're dealt and roll with it as best you can. Currently, I'm in the process of bluffing my opponents to make them fold." I say, smiling.

"I'll keep your secret what are you holding?" She asks, laughing at my analogy.

"Two of Hearts, Three of Clubs, Six of Diamonds, and a card from a different game entirely." I joke, and we both have a laugh.

"You've never really told me, what exactly do you plan to do once we leave here?"

"Immediately after we leave we are heading to Primm, making sure that Hayes has his troops and that the town is still okay. After that it's north to NCRCF, to try and free that sheriff and get him to take over law in Primm, we escort him back if he chooses to do so, then we head back down this way, head to Novac, I'm hoping there I'll find some more information about the guy who shot me in the head, maybe figure out why he wanted my package so bad. I figure that the man himself is in Vegas, but I don't have any actual proof that that is the case." I say, having reinforced this plan many times in my head.

"What do you want with him? You don't seem like the blind revenge type. Justice yes, revenge no." She asks. I hear some footsteps come up the planks, and see Delilah and Willow's heads peek over the edge of the rooftop.

"Come on up you two, we're just planning out what's happening. As for what I plan to do when I see him, ask him questions mostly, get my package back by any means necessary and deliver it to proper recipient. The pay at this point is trivial but I will collect it, and from there I really don't know. I know I'm done with carrying letters, but I'll probably take any job that lands in my lap. I guess what I want to do more than anything is just help people. I want to make life in the wasteland as easy as possible for everyone. I heard these stories about a few people who have had similar ideals, and the things that they've done. Call it inspiration if you will, but I hope to be able to do at least a tenth of what they've done." I say, gesturing for Delilah and Willow to lie down with us.

"Who are they?" Willow asks, before yawning, obviously tired.

"There are three in particular I've heard of over the years: The Vault Dweller, who stopped the Master's army, The Chosen One, who took down the Enclave at the oil rig, and The Lone Wanderer, who apparently purified all the water in the Capital Wasteland, and destroyed the remnants of the Enclave that existed there." I say, recalling the stories I'd heard.

"I'm sure you'll manage, and I'll be there to help you every step of the way!" Delilah says, before taking a spot on my left and curling into my side.

"As will I, I promised didn't I?" Willows says, before she decides to lay on my chest.

"Guess I'm getting dragged into this too." Ghost says, beforetaking a spot to my right and scooting herself slightly closer to me.

You know, maybe this won't be so bad, travelling with these girls. I think, before drifting off to sleep.