Chapter 10: We Finally Head That-A-Way
AN: Sorry for taking so long to write this, this part of the game is just really boring, and I feel it's too early to introduce a new plotline yet. The actual delay for this is both life and writers block as to what to write for this, this story is very purposefully taking a good deal of time between important events to try and show that Angelo really isn't in a rush, he's more enjoying his travels than just pressing on, and he isn't rushed by thoughts of revenge, since that's not what he's after anyway.
After staying in Goodsprings for a few days we continue on our journey, with everyone sorting out their supplies as need be. Chet had actually managed to acquire a Nickel-Plated Colt M4A1, and traded it for mine, since I thought the weapon was gorgeous. Gone was the plastic body of the previous weapon, and in came the solid, and very shiny, nickel-plated body of this new one, while it was heavier, it felt more durable, and that was something I enjoyed.
Or at least that's what I told myself was the reason I took it besides that it was pretty.
I also acquired a Remington 870 shotgun, which takes a different shell than my old one. I thought having a pump-action rather than a double-barrel would be more useful for me, and it has a larger ammo capacity so I don't need to reload as often in a panic.
We also managed to sort out some more proper armor for everyone, and make sure that everything fit properly. Willow, as it turns out, is a bit of a seamstress, and was able to make the proper modifications to all of our clothes. My gear changed little, I still wear a white t-shirt and beige/tan cargo shorts, but Willow had fastened this shirt out of what she called "Ballistic Fiber", saying it was a pre-war material that was light-weight and bullet resistant. It was heavier than my old cotton shirt, but something that made me less likely to die was nice. I also added a tactical harness and bandoleer to my get-up. The harness had a flashlight embedded in the shoulder that I could control through my Pip-Boy, and therefore my head, and the bandoleer had pockets and pouches for things that I'd need to be able to access quickly, such as a knife or my rebreather, which was removed from my dogtags. I ditched my MP helmet, as it gave the wrong impression of me, and found a pair of dark tinted glasses that still helped my vision. My Sig Sauer keeps its place at my hip, and my knife enjoys it's new home in my bandoleer holster.
Delilah found a new look for herself, and is deciding to stick with it. She found this black corset, and Willow made her a ballistic weave tank top, with a nice set of dark jeans and black boots to cap off the ensemble, she looks both amazingly gorgeous and deadly. Sticking with her position as team medic, she's traded in her old traveling backpack for an emergency first aid kit, filled with everything either of us could need to handle wounds and illnesses occurred on our journey. She has taken my old machete, and placed it on her lower back parallel to the ground. Her revolver has taken its place at her hip, and on the other sits a messenger bag, filled with literature and notebooks.
Ghost has arguably changed the least, keeping her old hat and glasses on her face. Her vest was swapped with a ballistic weave one, and she now has a knife holster on her calf. Across her back is slung a scoped rifle, and on her hip is a Colt 6520.
Willow has, at my suggestion, gotten rid of her hat, mainly because I like seeing her hair, and also done away with her gecko-skin jacket, though she did keep the shoulder pads. She now wears a very thin open ballistic vest with her shoulder pads added over top of it, with a white tank top underneath. Her pants were mainly unchanged, and are still dark jeans, with cowgirl boots to complete her image. Strung on her back is her lever-action rifle, Beauty, and the old shotgun I used to carry. On her hip is Shorty, her 9mm pistol. She has taken a very specific set of items with her that she calls 'her cooking kit'. She has recently taken to cooking all of our meals and when asked why, she responded that she loves to cook and that none of the rest of us can worth shit.
She's honestly probably right about that last one.
ED-E was left at the gas-station, to act as a guard for both our things, and the town. He is given orders to listen to Sunny Smiles, and to help maintain as friendly an atmosphere as possible. Sunny had radioed in on out journey saying that the farmers were thankful, since ED-E would play radio broadcasts for them while they tended their crops and livestock.
The two-day journey from Goodsprings to Nipton went without incident, beyond being thanked by settlers and soldiers for helping to secure the area. Arriving in Nipton we see that it hasn't been cleaned up yet, and that no one seems to have moved back in. I make a note to come back and try to help set up a new town here, there aren't that many truly safe places out in the wastes, and Nipton would be relatively easy to defend.
The map on my Pip-Boy has us take Highway-95 all the way from here through Novac and the 188 to Vegas, so we follow the road and attempt to make the most of our trip.
We barely make it twenty feet out of Novac before we are attacked by gang members. I've honestly been dealing with these guys so much lately that I can't even distinguish which group they belong to anymore. The girls and I make quick work of them, and loot the bodies to find nothing worth mentioning beyond guns to sell, not even an item for my collection.
The trip along the road has us attacked by gang members once more, and they are dealt with as quickly and with as much ease as the previous group. I then see a comm-tower and look to my Pip-Boy and find that we are at Ranger Station Charlie. It is getting dark by this point and we decide to ask if we can bunk here for the night. Entering the main building we are immediately stopped.
"McCarren doesn't like it when civilians walk into military bases, either state your reason for being here, or leave. Failure to comply will result in immediate resonse of death." A man in ranger uniform says, standing from his seat to look at the door.
"I'm an NCR M.A. I was wondering if my group and I could bunk here for the night." I say, showing him my tags. When we travelled through Primm, Lieutenant Hayes stopped me and gave me an additional dogtag, saying it would identify me as an asset, the girls were also given similar ones.
"That's fine, though there are no extra bunks here in the main building, there are a few in some of the scattered trailers." The ranger says, before taking back his seat.
"Why do you speak so robotically?" Willow asks, stunning us with how forward she was with the question.
"I was injured in duty, head wound, only way to save my life was to graph some robot bits to my brain that I don't understand. Upon awakening from my surgery, my speech pattern had changed. I am unable to change it back, but my clear concise word choice has made me very useful as a comm officer." He says, at this point I manage to catch a glimpse of his tags, they read Joseph H. Stepinac
"Well, it was a pleasure to meet you Stepinac." I say, before I walk out quickly. Something about this place gives me the heebie-geebies, but I don't know what.
The girls follow me and we find a secluded trailer in the back corner of the station to call ours for the night. I pull a thick sheet out of Pip-Boy storage and nail it over the entrance, that should hopefully keep the radscorpions out. After a quick meal that was prepared by our lovely cook Willow, we all fall asleep.
Being the light sleeper I am, upon hearing a noise I immediately awake. Looking out the window of the trailer I'm in I see several legionaries entering camp. I quickly wake the girls and inform them of the situation. I then begin to sneak my way outside of the trailer and try to take a position to where I can see the entirety of the ranger station.
I find a place that is surrounded by sandbags, and pull out my M4A1. I then begin firing upon the legionaires. A single shot takes out a legion recruit and scatters them, effectively ruining whatever plan they had before.
Delilah emerges from our trailer and fires her revolver straight into the face of a legionnaire, while Ghost sticks her rifle out of the window and fires at a legionnaire separating his head from his shoulders.
This was a small party, only consisting of seven legionnaires, and my group deals with them effectively. Upon dispatching the final one, I make my way to the main building and make sure everyone is okay.
"You! You are working with those legion scum! You brought them to us and got them to try and kill us!" Stepinac says, pointing a shotgun at my face. I'm surprisingly used to this, and remain calm.
"Tell that to the seven legionnaires my group and I just killed outside, I was just traveling on the road to Novac and found this place, I stayed here because it was about to be dark and I didn't want to make my way to Novac in the dark. I didn't bring any legion here." I say, keeping my hands up and trying to convince him that I'm not trying to kill him, though he is making it rather tempting right now.
"Bethany, go check his story." Stepinac says, referring to a trooper that is in the room. She leaves for a moment and comes back in, confirming my story. Stepinac lowers the shotgun from my face. "I suppose an apology is in order, but that timing was too suspicious."
"I suppose it's possible I inadvertently brought them here, as I am a high priority target for them, but I would never bring them intentionally." I say, accepting his rather terrible apology.
"Well, I doubt they'll launch another attack anytime soon, so we should all probably go back to sleep." Stepinac says, relocating himself to the other room.
The girls and I make our way back to our trailer, where Delilah insists on looking me over for wounds, however, I'm fairly certain she just took this as an excuse to feel me up, as she spent an extended period of time checking my legs. She also had Willow help in examining me, which lends credence to my previous thoughts.
After managing to 'convince' them that I'm fine, mainly by forcing them to let me sleep, we do manage to go back to sleep and wake up just after dawn. After stepping outside and ensuring that everything is still fine, we make our way to the main building and bid the troops farewell as we continue on our path to Novac.
We take notice of the large dinosaur as soon as we exit the small canyon we were in, and Willow squeals about how cute it is. As we continued north towards the artificial lizard, we make notice of a saloon off to our east, and mark it on the map as something to check out in the future. Willow then mentions how she remembers hearing about a Repconn Site nearby, and that her old traveling companion was heading there to look for someone, she mentions she'd like to see if he's there, and I say that we'll check it out.
Entering the town proper, we are immediately surprised at how busy it is, Goodsprings is a nice town, but it's rather quiet. Novac however, is a bustling center of caravan commerce and business. There are a few traders set up relaxing, with some of their wares on display. While we find nothing of particular interest, we do manage to offload some of our acquired gear and make a hefty profit. Given that we need to stay in the area for a bit, Willow suggests we see about renting one of the bungalows, saying that this place reminds her of home.
We enter the main office of what appears to be the hotel and we are immediately greeted by an outrageously friendly woman. "Welcome to Novac travelers! I'm Jeannie May Crawford, and I run the hotel here, would you like to rent a room?" She asks, with a large beaming smile on her face. This woman reminds me of my 'grandma' back NCR way, the woman who adopted me, and that warms my heart just a bit.
"Yes, is one of the bungalows open for rent?" I ask, being as polite as possible.
"Yessir, 150 caps and it's yours 'til we get real busy." She says, holding a key in front of her. I pay her the caps and she hands it to me with a smile. On the key is a keyring, with a miniature dinosaur dangling from it. Undoubtedly, Willow is planning to steal it to attach to her belt or backpack as I examine it.
"Thanks a lot ma'am, now, I'm looking for a man in a checkered suit with black hair, have you seen anyone like that in a while?" I ask, trying to get some information on the guy.
"I reckon' I did, he went to talk to Manny Vargas, one of our two snipers in the Dino Mouth, you can find Manny there during the day, but I'd steer clear at night, that's when Boone is out, and he's not exactly the friendliest guy." Jeannie says.
"What's wrong with Boone?" I ask, I remember during my time in training they were considering me for First Recon, said I was a good enough shot, and I remember Manny Vargas and a Craig Boone being among their ranks, it'd make sense that they'd end up someplace together upon retirement.
"He thinks someone kidnapped his wife, although I'm not convinced that she didn't just walk off herself." Jeannie says, there is something in her eyes, I can't tell what it is, but it's there.
"Well, I think I'll speak to him, I know what it's like to lose a loved one, and sometimes you do need help to heal." I say, gauging her reaction, she seems flustered by my response, as though she was expecting me to just blindly believe her.
"Well, okay then, enjoy your stay in Novac!" Jeannie says. We step outside and make our way to the bungalow that matches the number on our key. Upon entering we are surprised to see that it is rather spacious, with three rooms, one of which being a bathroom. On one side is a small kitchen, with a fridge and stove, along with cabinet space and a coffee machine. Next to that is a series of lockers, undoubtedly for storage, and also a nice workspace.
"Woah! Fancy! I love it here!" Willow says, before running around the bungalow and gasping over every small sight.
"Well, you said this place reminded you of home, what'd you mean by that?" I ask, taking a seat on the couch that is present in the room.
"You know that I grew up in Klamath, and my family ran a hotel there, Dad and my brothers would handle the maintenance and hunting, while me and mom would deal with cooking and cleaning. I loved it there!" Willow says, taking a stroll down memory lane.
"That seems rather sexist, making the women do housework while the men did all the outside stuff." Ghost says, true to her name she is rather quiet, and tends to not speak much unless she does have something to add.
"That was by choice, I love to cook and clean, I wasn't made to do it, and while I also like hunting I couldn't do both, so I decided to do 'house wife' duties, I think that's what they called them pre-war." Willow says. She always did strike me as a 'girly girl' as the texts from before the war called it.
"Didn't you have anything else you wanted to do? Is that all you wanted out of life?" Delilah asks, voicing my thoughts.
"I did want to travel, that's why I'm here now, but as far as an endgame for my life, I just want to settle down and raise kids, maybe run a hotel or store in my spare time, but I really want to just be a mommy." Willow says, scooping up a pillow and cradling it like a child.
"That's something I've never heard anyone say before, my sister always wanted to be a bounty hunter, said she 'was going to be the biggest badass since Chuck Norris'." I say, remembering my family.
"Who's Chuck Norris?" Delilah asks, and Ghost and Willow echo her statement.
"He was a movie star in the late 20th century and early 21st. He was famous for being an incredibly good fighter and all around tough guy." I say, hoping to give them an idea of the legend I'd seen on old holotapes.
"Your sister musta been one hell of a girl." Delilah says, before taking a seat somewhere else in the living room.
"She was, but let's rest up here for a bit and just relax, I want to speak to this night sniper, something about what Jeannie says doesn't sit right with me." I say, before leaning back and placing my hands behind my head.
This will definitely be an interesting conversation.