A Cure for Schizophrenia

Companions are, rationally speaking, a pain in the ass. I move much faster and quieter without a gaggle of people following me around. I can ride my hoverbike without anyone grabbing me from behind. I also don't have to share any loot with anyone. But the truth is I'm always happy to have companions for sentimental reasons. As Willow tenderly and nervously detached the straightjacket from Mr. Plinski's backside I felt a sense of relief I had three companions with me in case Mr. Plinski decided revenge was the agenda for the day.

Merriweather was gone, talking with Marcus and taking a tour of the facility. Arcade had gone with Rex to see this Dr. Henry. It was just Me, Niner, Willow and Veronica watching over Mr. Plinski and a supermutant named Todd, who was Jacobstown's "tailor." Luckily for Mr. Plinski, FEV gives every supermutant the same rough dimensions and shape, meaning a pair of pants that would fit him wasn't hard to come by.

We were still by the cars, just outside of the Jacobstown perimeter. Marcus had thought it indecent for Plinski to have to parade around butt naked in a straightjacket with only duct tape to spare him some dignity.

"You don't have to do that," said Plinski looking at me, then to my companions.

"What?" Asked Niner.

"You don't have to have your weapons out ready to shoot me. I'm not going to do anything."

"Yeah, says the guy that just ate a guy, am I right Six?"

"Technically," I said as evenly as I could.

Willow had gotten the sleeves loose for the back and Plinski's arms fell by his side with the long sleeves hanging down past his feet. From here, Plinski started to wiggle out of the straightjacket, finally getting it over his head and dropping it on the grass.

He looked at Todd, who except for the thick mat of black hair and green skin was almost identical to Plinski and said "You sure there's no underwear? I, I like support under there."

Todd laughed, "What are you, a human?" He continued laughing "What next, you want a shirt?"

Plinski scowled at him, "Yeah, I kinda am a human. And I'd like a Vaultsuit that fits me. And real boots. I feel kinda naked actually."

Todd roared with laughter. "You Nightkin are too funny!"

"I'm, I'm not a Nightkin, I'm from Vault 17, and I'm an incineration specialist."

Todd laughed more.

"You were human once." Plinski scowled at the other mutant.

"Yes, and once I got stung by a pack of radscorpions until I couldn't feel anything below my waist. I don't miss either experience."

Plinski's face flashed with rage; lips puckered, eyes widened, and though it was slight, his cheekbones when from blue to powder blue. He was livid with rage. "Just give me the pants…please."

The pants, much like the cloth boots, were roughhewn material. They didn't look comfortable in the least, but I'd seen them on countless Supermutants and none of them ever complained. Plinski swiped them out of Todd's hands, Todd laughed a bit in reaction, and sauntered off a ways, showing us all his big blue buttocks. This wasn't an insult; as soon as he stopped walking he ripped off the duct tape bikini I'd fashioned for him with a yelp and a growl, and put the pants on.

He walked back to us very differently. He did his best to stand up as straight as he could, and in so gained a foot over Todd. He groaned. "Let's get this over with," and started walking towards the lodge.

I holstered my 45, and everyone holstered their weapons in turn except Veronica, because you can't holster a powerfist. Plinski was very uncomfortable the second we got into the stockade; Mutants were all around, some sunning themselves, other tending to little garden plots, some looked like they were just wandering around. Most were green, but a few were blue. Plinski took several deep breaths, and took long straight strides that marked him very differently from the other mutants. He was even trying, with fair success, to keep a ramrod straight back, which made him look significantly taller than the other mutants.

The 'log cabin' looking lodge was in great shape structurally, which to my eye meant there was less wood in that structure than a car seat, although there was heavily treated wood that could work that well, but it was expensive. I asked myself if I'd ever been to this ski lodge before the war, and honestly I couldn't remember. The last time I'd been skiing Rivera was president and that was before the Resource Wars. It didn't mean I hadn't been here later, because ski lodges are great for all kinds of things, but I was drawing a complete blank.

The wooden looking sign in front of and above the lodge had a black tarp over it with the word 'Jacobstown' hand written in neat fontless letters. There was a dry fountain in front of the driveway leading to the front entrance but otherwise the picture was lively and vibrant. I could hear off on my right some construction project going on with the pounds of things being pounded in and wood being cut.

A slight gust blew through us as we walked to the main doors. I saw Niner shiver and say "Man it's freezing up here."

"You don't have a jacket," said Willow. I kept walking forward but saw movement from her. She came just into my field of vision and draped her gecko-skin jacket around Niner's bare shoulder.

"Uh thanks Will."

She teased "Niner, that's a guy's name! My name is Willow."

"Uh OK, how about Wills?"

She sighed uncomfortably, "Yeah, yeah I deal with Wills."

"Hey, that's great!"

I looked over to Plinski and said "We've all just met on the road to Vegas."

"Uh….yeah," he said.

"The road's fucked up and we had to take the long way around. That's what Merriweather wants out of you. Help her clear the road."

"I see."

"Not much for conversation."

"I'm a bit overwhelmed to be honest"

"And it can't be comfortably keeping a straight back like that."

"People aren't supposed to slouch."

"Eh, duly noted."

The lodge itself smelled clean and well ventilated. There was a good cross ventilation from open windows on either side of the lodge to our right and left. I looked around to see if I could see the windows, something I knew was futile the moment I started doing it. As we were in the lobby, the front doors were behind us, and they, linked together, closed behind us. That wasn't right.

"Boo!" said a deep voice with confidence. In the half second I needed to steady myself, to register it was supposed to be a prank, I balled my fist and did a cross-body hammer blow on the nightkin's face, which because of the height difference meant right on his jaw.

Pain shot through my hand and wrist as my arm bounced off the side of the mutant's face. I gasped in pain, and cradled my arm in my still good left hand, and rubbed it tenderly. The mutant, seeing this laughed good and hearty.

"Heh heh heh, paranoid much human?"

"God! Don't, don't sneak up on me like that! I got fucking enemies!"

The mutant then roared with laughter. "Puny human! What do you know of enemies? What do you know of being hunted like a dog?" This was less friendly and more accusatory.

I shook my head, "If you must know, the Fiends want me alive, there's a Syndicate in Reno I have a detente with, which means they stopped sending hitmen after me and I haven't taken a sentry bot or three to Reno, and I have a crazy stalker who plans to lure my into the Divide because he blames me for blowing the place up."

The mutant laughed some more "You're so full of shit human."

"All right, fine, I just made that stuff up. I am a courier for the Mojave Express though and people have tried many, many times to rob me."

He grunted. "I am Keene. I represent the Nightkin here. Marcus may lead this town, but the Nightkin listen to what I have to say. That doesn't mean I don't respect Marcus for what he's trying to do. However, he doesn't truly understand the difficulties of being a Nightkin."

"That's pretty defensive there," Veronica whispered in my ear.

"I can hear you very well human, or other human!" said Keene. "In our last settlement we had a problem with….Nightkin who didn't want to work with Marcus. I am not Tabitha, and I will not tolerate any Nightkin who tries to lord over other supermutants. Besides, we need Marcus' help."

"What for?" I asked him.

"The Stealth Boys we use have cumulative, adverse effects on our minds. Jacobstown was supposed to be a sanctuary, a place to find a cure. Instead, we wait and wait. I'm sick of waiting. So sick in fact, that I was looking for you, to identify this Nightkin with you. Now, come here, you there."

Plinski was relatively close to me, so I saw no reason for him to move, and apparently, neither did he.

Keene got angry and shouted, "I said COME HERE!"

Plinski looked at me, wide eyed, and I shrugged made a slight motion with my hand to move. Plinski stepped forward and Keene got in very close and took a long whiff. "I told you to go and never come back Plindar!" He smacked Plinski and knocked him to the ground.

Plinski tired to speak but I shouted over him "I wiped his memory!"

This was a very bad thing to say to Keene, and his grimace left no doubt in my mind. "What did you say?!" He took a menacing step forward.

I heard a gun being cycled. I turned and saw it was Willow with a steely look about her. Niner also had his submachine gun out.

"Not so fast blue," said Niner, "One more step and we're all gonna see how many bullets to the head a mutie can take."

Keene took that step back, "Very well, just stop, that!"

"Stop what?" asked Willow.

"Stop staring! Humans are always staring at things. We Nightkin don't like being stared at. It makes us….uncomfortable."

Niner raised his eyebrows at this, then stared intently at Keene.

"Stop it Niner," I ordered. "Now put the guns away."

"You got it Six."

I heard the clanging of guns being put back on mag lock and turned my attention to Keene, "So yeah, he was violent, he'd already killed three people, and whatever he was hearing in his head was telling him to do it. So erased his memory to get rid of the voice."

Supermtuants can go livid. On a Nightkin it's a powered blue. "That was a cruel thing to do."

"I could have shot him head and been done with it."

"Typical human," he spat, "But in this case Plindar was no loss. He didn't know how to take orders. He lacked the discipline of the elite of the Master's Army. Always wanted to go off alone, drinking and hunting and spying. And now he's gone and killed people. How very unsurprising"

"Fuck the Master" said Plinski.

"Hmmm….it seems you didn't get rid of Plindar entirely."

"My name is Jeremy Plinski, I'm from Vault 17. The Master destroyed my home and made me this. So fuck him."

"The Master gave you a priceless gift Plindar! He gave you rebirth, purpose, a vision! Made you better than merely human, gave you immortality!"

Plinski coked his head at this. "Fuck the Master."

"You want to be a human, fine. Be human somewhere else."

I could hear the sneer in Plinski's voice "Got any suggestions?"

"Yes, Dr. Henry is in that room." He pointed towards the door on the far right, "If you don't like that, bother someone else. I don't want anything to do with you."

"Thank you," said Plinski.

"Finally," and Keene walked off, almost stomping his feet, and looking very pissed off in the shoulders.

I summoned the companions and tried to go inside the room where I could hear this Dr. Henry and Arcade talking. But we were turned away by a Ghoul in a lab coat. This one was hideously ugly; all Ghouls are missing noses and ears, some have scarring, this one had clumps of hair like she was taking chemotherapy and large chunks of the hairline had fallen out. In my experience this meant the skin was so weak, it would tear if shaved. The ones that slough off skin like molting were always the worst effected ones, and the hardest to look at.

She was calling herself Calamity; it's not unusual for Ghouls to change their names every decade or so. They treat it as a game, that or they pissed off the wrong people and want to disappear. Calamity claimed it was voluntary, but I wasn't sure I believed her. Not having much else to do, all of us had a conversation that was mostly me and Calamity about science, how she was the one to trade goods in the valley. I gave her the name of plastic surgeon in Vault City who I'd brainwashed into thinking he'd done work on me. Real surgeon, really treats Ghouls for a living. Creating a paper trail, forging medical documents, establishing cover stories: I've not been a vampire since Obama was president and I'm still doing vampire shit. It makes me nauseous, but the alternative is to be dead or possibly dissected in a lab so the work is worth it.

Finally Calamity looked back and we heard the old man give an all clear, so we entered. Dr, Henry looked way more worn than wrinkled, though he wasn't aging well for a primed human. He wore thick glasses and had thin but not bald hair on top. He was kneeling down by Rex with some instrument scanning Rex's metal chest plating. Arcade was standing but looking intensely at Dr. Henry.

"So, what's the diagnosis?" I asked.

Dr. Henry spoke to me as he moved back onto his feet. "It's neural degradation. Bio med gel can only preserve a living brain for so long, so you'll need to find a replacement. The dog also needs some important cybernetic work that needs to be done, and frankly I don't have time right now."

I groaned, "What are you working on and can I help in any way?"

"You don't sound very enthusiastic," said Dr. Henry in a bored tone, not all that happy with me for sounding like a kid about to be assigned chores.

"I already wrangled a Nightkin this morning" I pointed at Plinski, "That one to be precise."

"You? You 'wrangled' a Nightkin?"

Plinski waved "Hi," he said without enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I wiped his memory because his invisible friend needed my blood."

"I see, then you have an idea of how important my work here is."

Plinski asked, "You're a scientist?"

Niner craned his neck over to Plainski's face and said "Dah, weren't you paying attention when Six was talking to that Ghoul chick?"

Plinski glared at Niner "I'm sorry, but nothing's…really clear right now. It's a lot of new information to take in."

"Yeah Niner, he's going to be not all here for some time because of the memory wipe. Just give him the benefit of the doubt."

Dr, Henry seemed unfazed "Getting back to your question: yes. Specializing in neuroscience, both human and canine. Of course, this lab is nothing compared to what I had when I was with the Enclave."

"And, Dr. Henry, what is the Enclave?"

"Bad people," I said. Willow seconded it.

"Yes," continued Dr. Henry, "but the leadership and I didn't see eye to eye, so I left. It was the right decision, since the Enclave's oil rig was destroyed not long after."

"And, you're working on curing this schiso…."

"Schizophrenia, and yes. The Nightkin have varying degrees of mental instability due their addiction to Stealth Boy use. I've been trying to come up with a cure."

"Is…is there a cure for being a Supermutant?"

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but FEV is not my specialty. It's not even in my fields of training, and I've got a few. As far as I'm aware there is no cure for FEV exposure and most Supermutants wouldn't want one."

Plinski groaned. "I'm going to die like this, aren't I?"

"I….no one can tell you that for sure."

"OK," I said, "I'm here in the capacity of the Followers of the Apocalypse, just like Arcade. I don't think I can help you with the science, but I and my companions can do other things."

"And actually, I do need help with other things. The Nightkin have varying degrees of mental instability due their addiction to Stealth Boy use. I've been trying to come up with a cure. I'm currently investigating the local Nightstalker population since they seem to have developed a natural stealth field. I've also gotten my hands on a working Stealth Boy Mark II prototype, but that experiment is riskier. I'd rather not pursue that research just yet."

"OK, so you want us to find and kill some Nightstalkers?"

"Well, if you can bring some in alive, that would be better. I could run more tests on a live brain then a dead one."

"OK, just look into the mutations?"

Thank you. I strongly suspect that the source of the mutation is artificial, but the Super Mutants found nothing. Your fresh eyes may do better."

"No they won't," I said, "I can't tell you how I know this, but I know those cloaking Nightstalkers were genetically engineered. The Nightstalker is artificial top to bottom, man-made."

"Why on earth would anyone deliberately engineer a Nightstalker?"

"Because that man was an asshole. He also made Cazadors. On a bet. And then his friend lobotomized him because he was an asshole."

"That's not remotely responsible," muttered Dr. Henry.

"I know! Right? I totally get it, but apparently back in the pre-war days only mad scientists got government funding. And they got a lot of it."

Dr. Henry groaned "I don't want to talk about it anymore. In any case, I'm not claiming that Nightstalkers are running around wearing Stealth Boys, mind you. But I've compared the brain chemistry of a Nightkin to one of the local Nightstalkers we killed. They both exhibit similar neurochemical changes. I just don't think it's all a coincidence."

"Do you have any Nightstalker….muzzles or anything?" I asked.

"Yes, Yes I just got some in for this very purpose. I was about to ask Lilly to see about getting me a live sample in the next few days. Lily might be interested in coming with you - she's lost a few of her Bighorners to Nightstalker attacks and would enjoy a little revenge."

"Who's Lilly?" I asked.

"Oh, she's a Nightkin here. Tends to Big Horners. She's eccentric, but harmless….insofar as a Nightkin can be harmless of course."

"I'd like to come" said Plinski.

"I'll have to ask Merriweather," I said. "You probably don't know what Nightstalker is do you?"

"No," said Plinski, "But I'm not expecting to fight one either. I figure whatever it is, you'll need someone to carry it back. I'm big, I'm strong, I can help."

"Aren't you a little, I dunno, punch drunk at the moment?" I asked.

"I…I want to help while I can. Merriweather told me the schizophrenia would come back. I need to be as useful as I can so I don't end up being executed."

Fair enough. I set off to find Merriweather. She was still with Marcus taking a tour of the grounds. Both she and Marcus were surprised that things were moving along so quickly but both agreed to come over and hear Dr. Henry out.

He gave them the same spiel. Then it was Marcus how had good information. He told us about a cave where the Nightstalkers made a den. Said he wanted it cleared out once and for all, and with a gaggle of adventurers, one in power armor, this was a golden opportunity. Merriweather disagreed.

"With all due respect Mr. Marcus, Nightstalker venom is easily fatal to humans."

"I understand, but we have no armor that will stand up to Nightstalker bites. Nightstalker poison won't kill my people, but a pack of Nightstalkers can and will rip them to pieces."

"That's why I don't want anyone going into that cave but me. Nightstalkers aren't going to do anything but break their teeth on my armor. So I want this Lilly and Mr. Plinski to act as porters. Theresa will come with us. I'll knock out and tag the Nightstalkers, Theresa can track the tags on her PipBoy and lead the mutants to them."

"Do you have a stun weapon?" I asked.

"No, but you do," said Merriweather "You always have a stun setting put on your recharger rifles. I'll need to borrow it."

"And leave me with a 45 against Nightstalkers?"

"Oh don't be a baby Theresa. You have two Nightkin watching your back."

"Fine." I wasn't overly thrilled, but I wasn't being left in the open.

"One more thing," said Arcade, "Dr. Henry, once we do this for you, then you'll operate on Rex?"

"I have some experiments to run, but I will make time if I can get help with the cybernetics work. As for a brain, I'll need a healthy dog, not too old, and I'll have to do the vivisection myself. I this is an organ transplant, and I need the brain as fresh as possible. Now I haven't left Jacobstown in years, but there was one woman in Novac... Gibson? I remember her living with a pack of hounds. Aside from her, I know that the Fiends and Caesar's Legion fight alongside dogs. There could be viable specimens among them, if you can get to them.

"Nope!" I cried, "Nope, I buy a dog off of Old Lady Gibson and that will be the end of the matter. Sides, I still have business in Novac."

"All right then, I can help," said Arcade.

"And so can I," volunteered Veronica. "Sounds very interesting."

"Arcade I know," said Dr, Henry with suspicion, "Are you qualified?"

"Are you kidding doctor? Yeah. I've been taking things apart and putting them back together since before I said my first word. You want to build something, talk to me, and we can do it right there on the spot. Workbenches are for novices."

Dr. Henry looked around and took in a deep breath through his nostrils. "All right. If I've talent I've been promised, the cybernetic work will only take a couple of hours and we can get started while the other team gets me my Nightstalkers. It's not like I'm doing much else in the meantime."

"All right!" exclaimed Veronica and she put up her hand in a high five. Dr. henry looked at her, and almost left her hanging, but finally gently tapped her hand with his palm. She then turned to me for a high five. I was much faster in finishing it. "See, I told you it would be worth your while to take me with you!"

I nodded And took a step towards a table on my left. I wasn't sure why, I think it was because I saw a stealthboy on the table, but I might have noticed the stealthboy after I took that step. I wish I hadn't done that because I felt my legs give out under me and I was falling like felled timber. My forehead crashed right into the table edge, gashing my head and flipping the table on top of me. I was unconscious before I felt the table fall on my back and shoulders.