Chapter 10: The House

Jane. Jane? Jane! Courier Six keeps testing out the name. It still sounds a little strange, but she is starting to accept it as hers. Strange how a person can suddenly become possessive of a word. Maybe it is less of a word and more of a title. That is likely why it feels strange, because it is the title of a woman who she does not remember and who may have been completely different from her.

Passed out in a nearby chair, the old man who revealed her name mummers and jerks about in his sleep. Half way through their talk he was taken by a seizure. His limbs started convulsing and his eyes rolled up into his head. The attack came out of nowhere and caught both Six and Raul off guard. Luther fell to the floor and was shaking violently before either of them acted. At first they tried to restrain him, but realized that they would likely only hurt him by doing so. Instead they removed all the furniture from around him and let the attack play out.

Foam started forming around Luther's mouth, sweat was soaking his clothes, and an indescribable sound was coming from him before he finally stopped shaking enough for either of them to lift him into a chair. Six told Raul to get over to Freeside and get Arcade, the best and frankly only doctor that Jane knows enough to trust with her life or the lives of others. As the ghoul departed, Luther sat bolt upright and screamed no. He drew the word out until he had no more breath before collapsing back into the chair and lying silent.

Since the attack Jane has been staying close. Every few minutes she checks his breathing and wipes the sweat from his face with a cool compress. He has been muttering things. Some words she can make out, like plane and void, others are just sounds. His eyes are closed, but she can see his pupils darting about beneath his eyelids. What is going on inside his head. What manner of nightmare is he experiencing? Six, Jane, wants to help. This man she barely knows has told her more about her past than she has ever learned on her own. Not even her trip into the Divide brought her answers about her full past.

That place, that sinkhole filled with lost souls, her legacy in the world. To see how harshly her actions could affect both people and the land was an eye opener. Ulysses was an eye opener. The whole time she hunted him through the Divide he taunted her. She wanted him dead, almost as much as she had wanted Benny, the guy who shot her in the head, dead. Only when she finally found him, when she finally spoke with him face to face? She could not do it. She could not pull the trigger on a person who was directly created by her actions. In a way, Ulysses was another part of her. She pitied him, more so than he was willing to accept. In the end they stood together, and both left the Divide changed.

Despite all that, she only learned a small amount about who she was. Ulysses had no answers about where she had been after her creation of the Divide, and she had no more desire to question him. The Divide may be her fault, but Vegas is her home.

Luther makes more noise and she crosses to his side. Gently she places a fresh compress on his head, removing the old one and dropping it into a bowl of cold water. His hand snaps up and latches onto her arm. The strength of his grip causes her to cry out. He jerks her close and stare into her with an intensity that makes her shiver. "You cannot stop him!" His words are a fevered whisper. "He will kill you all!"

Six tries to break away from him, but cannot. "Do you hear me?" He stands, forcing her to her knees. "He will burn all that is burnable! He will crush all that is not already crushed!" Six's hand scrabbles at her satchel. "He is the herald of another end!" She jabs a syringe of med-x into his leg and jerks her arm away. She crawls away from him until her back his the wall, chest heaving as she watches him in fear. Luther looks down at the syringe sticking out of his leg and then up at her. "I only wanted to warn you..."

Luther collapses to the floor. Jane exhales, her breathing labored. She has faced many foes, but none of them have had such a burning intensity in their gaze. This man, whoever he is, is on the verge of being broken.

Just as she stands up Raul and Arcade rush into the room. Arcade takes one look at her disheveled form and the unconscious man on the floor and makes a snap decision. "You are fine, what did you do to him?"

Jane looks at him in disbelief. "What did I do? He attacked me?"

Arcade lifts Luther back into the chair where he was before and begins to examine him. "Raul told me what happened. You should know better than to approach a seizure victim before they are properly examined." He takes some instruments out of his medical bag and starts preforming all sorts of tests. "You never know how they are going to act. Often they are far from in control of their actions."

With a huff Jane sits down on a couch and crosses her arms. "Well forgive me for not being a professional in the medical field of, what do you call it? Sitting around and staring into microscopes so that your back becomes hunched and your trigger finger becomes useless?" Arcade ignores the jab and continues to look over Luther.

Raul sits down next to Jane and pulls a pack of smokes out of his pocket. He takes two out and lights them both. One he places in his own mouth and the other he offers to Jane. She takes it and takes long drag. Smoking used to be a habit of hers. That is one thing that she knows about her past, she smoked. Hard to deny an addiction. Took her a few days to figure out why she had a craving for smoke. Technically she quite a few months ago, but technically she and Raul still need a way to relax, as long as Lily doesn't find out anyway. "So whats wrong with him?"

Arcade removes the stethoscope from his ears and stands with a puzzled expression. "Nothing psychical that I can find, but there may be something inside that I can't see without all of my equipment. If it isn't physical than it could be trauma from a past experience, like PTSD."

"Wait," Raul interrupts, "you are telling me that his problem could just be in his head? Like he imagined it or something?"

Arcade shakes his head. "Not really, but close. If it is mental then there is likely some past event that triggers the attacks. When he thinks of it, then bam, seizure. It can be anything, and not all people who suffer from such conditions have the same response. Some just shut down, some start to relive the moment as if it is happening right then, others have loose control of their body and retreat into their minds. These things are hard to deal with, but we get a lot of veterans and whatnot down at the fort." He packs up his tools and looks over at them. "What were you talking about before the attack?"

"We were discussing me?" Jane answers without being totally sure.

Arcade sighs and rubs his head, "Can you be any more unspecific?"

Jane smiles sweetly, "Sure, we were talking to each other about someone in this room? How was that?"

Raul snorts a laugh which earns him an angry look from Arcade. "What, you did ask her to be unspecific. What did you think would happen?"

Arcade crosses his arms and gives Jane a pointed look. "I expected, though I don't know why, that our intrepid leader would actually act like an adult for once instead of continuing to behave like she is a Juvenal child."

With another sweet smile Jane stands and hugs Arcade, which catches him off guard. "But I love you so much Arcade! When will you ever return your affection for me?" The doctor stiffly attempts to disentangle himself from her, but she holds on. "Oh, I see, you never loved me! Very well," She places a hand on her head dramatically, "I will look to another!"

Arcade finally manages to break away from her. "I would think you would be a little more worried about the man who likely could be insane sitting in your living room!" He starts to leave when something occurs to him, "Who is that guy anyway?"

Jane shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know. He says he knew me from before the bullet to the head incident. Some of the things he said made sense, actually all of it did. It also would explain why I have suddenly developed the desire to find out if there is someone following me all the time."

This is obviously news to Arcade. "You think you have a stalker?"

Clearly Raul is upset as well. "That is no good Boss. Anyone who isn't willing to just say how they feel about you, or if they are obsessed, is dangerous." Jane looks between the two men and can't help but feel a small surge of appreciation for them. At least they care, even if do hide it well.

"Look guys, that is not what I meant." She crosses to a window and looks down at Vegas. "I just have had this feeling that there is someone looking for me. I can't explain it, but I think they know who I am and can answer all my questions." She looks back at them. Raul is hiding his feelings behind his cig, but Arcades feelings are written all over his face. He thinks she is bullshitting him. "Look, I know it sounds weird, but out of the four of us here I don't think I am the craziest." Right on que Luther moans softly.

Arcade shakes his head and adjusts his glasses. "If his condition changes, let me know. And next time please tell me what the emergency is before you drag me all the way up here." His last words are pointed at Raul who totally ignores him. With a final sigh Arcade leaves Jane and Raul with the crazy man.

"I think you should talk to your boss, Boss." Raul drops the butt of his smoke into an ashtray and stands to leave, the bones in his knees cracking slightly as he stands. "Damn these old knees of mine. But seriously, I think he should know he has a loco running around in his tower."

Jane nods to herself as Raul leaves. Mr. House is going to want the report on hers and Boone's patrol, not to mention the crazy guy she has let loose in his home. She makes her way to the elevator. The door bings open and she walks into someone who was getting off.

Boone steadies her as she almost trips over her own feet in an attempt to avoid him. "When did you get back?" He almost sounds accusatory.

Jane feels blood run to her face. She sorta ditched him in Freeside when she met up with Luther. She got so caught up in the moment that she totally forgot that she was supposed to be waiting for him to return with some supplies of his. "Yeah, sorry about that, met an old friend who need some help." A moan comes from the lounge and Jane quickly switches their places. "Speaking of, he is probably very hungry and thirsty. Also he may be crazy, have fun." The elevator doors close on a very flustered Boone.

Victor greets her in Mr. House's suite. "Well howdy ma'am. Coming to speak with the boss man? Can't say I blame you. That bloke down there does not have all his sheep in to pasture if you catch my meaning." Six isn't surprised to learn that Victor already knows about Luther. The Securatron seems to know about everything that happens within the Lucky 38.

"He won't cause any more trouble. I left Boone with him." Victor makes an agreeing noise and leads her into the conference room. She remembers the first time she met with Mr. House. Needless to say she was disappointed at first. House never shows himself in person. Instead he communicates via a massive computer terminal that he has some sort of link to from wherever he is hiding.

Right now the screen is blank, and all but one of the terminals are shutdown. Victor rolls up to the one terminal that is active and presses a single button. "Sir, Ms. Courier is here to speak with you." Victor rolls backwards out of the room with a metaphorical tip of his hat. Six, Jane, she has to choose one, crosses her arms as the computers screens flicker to life. The humming of all the different computer terminals soon creates a distinct background noise, but there is still no sign of Mr. House's iconic mustached face on the viewing screens.

"I take it your patrol met with success?" House's voice comes through the speakers hidden in the room, making sound as if he is coming from every direction. "I expected you back yesterday."

Jane huffs, somehow he always sound condescending. "You sent us on a patrol along the entire front! Did you honestly expect us to get back within five days?" When his face finally appears on the screen it is the same as always. that raised eye look that always managed to match his tone without ever changing. Right now the expression seems disappointed.

"I expect more out of you."

Jane sighs and runs a hand through her messy hair. "I apologize for the delay. I came across a man in Freeside who had information on my past. As of right now I am leaning towards believing what he told me." She steps up closer to the monitors. "He claims that he met me along the east coast in an area he called the Capital Wasteland. He says that when I left from there it was in the company of on of his associates. That was the last time he saw me. It was almost five years ago according to him. Right after relaying the information to me he suffered from a seizure. He became incoherent and started thrashing about. I had Arcade Gannon take a look at him."

"Arcade claims that he may be suffering from a mental disorder brought on by trauma from his past. That is the only thing keeping me from completely accepting the story he has told me." She trails off and neither she nor Mr. House speak for a few moments. "He says my name is Jane."

"Your name is Jane. As to your meeting this person or traveling with anyone else I do not know."

Her head snaps up. "You knew!" Anger roars inside of her. "You know about my past and you have never thought to tell me!" If she could, she would grab him and shake him. "You fucking stuck up bastard!"

"Ms. Courier, your name nor your personal problems are of no matter. I hired you due to your skills and your ability to move about the Mojave un-hindered. As to withholding information, you never asked or made a point of wanting to know so I never felt the need to tell you." Jane fumes. She can't believe it. She can't believe he has been lying to her. What is worse is that what he just said is totally right. Her problems are nothing compared to what he has to deal with in the day to day running of Vegas. "If that is all," House continues, "you are dismissed. Do make a point to control yourself more thoroughly in the future."