Soul Eater: New Vegas

By Vivalarapture

Authors note- I swear to you, this isn't just the Fallout plot line with Soul Eater characters. This is going to be completely different. I promise, I promise, I promise. There are twisty plot wiggles up ahead, just stay with me here. Keep your pants on and enjoy the buckets of blood flying all up in this chapter.

Oh and once again, thank you so much for reviewing! sen whitefox mako red demon you are so awesome. (: and LoveTheSun I appreciate your constructive criticism.

Chapter 11, Come Fly With Me

Pushing away all thoughts of the beast laying dead beside me, I aim and continuously pull the trigger. One after the other, feral ghouls fall to the floor. "Reload!" Soul shouts, and, even though he hadn't taught me what that means, I think quickly and cover him while he restocks his pistol.

This is a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. I've never had to think about where OX was in battle before, I usually just shoot until everything is dead. I had covered for Jackie before, but she was so much better than me, that it was usually her covering me. This is the most enemies I've encountered so far, so despite the change in routine, at least I have another gun at my side.

The feral ghouls keep coming, one after the other, sporadically trying to obtain the warm flesh they've been longing to devour for who knows how long. They worm their way closer and closer as Soul loads his gun. "Hurry up! I'm almost out!" I yell, fear raising the pitch of my voice.

"Ready!" Soul shouts and begins firing, stepping in front of me. "Reload!" I call out, scrambling to dig the ammo from my pack. The ghouls start to lessen in numbers as my shaky fingers fight with my pistol. I immediately feel safer as OX puts burning holes in the last few ghouls running towards us.

I manage to get the ammo inserted and smash the cylinder back into place. The force of the cylinder being slammed makes the gun tumble from my hands. Without hesitation I run towards it, turning my back on the fight.

"Girl! What are you doing?!" Soul shouts as a few more ghouls find their way into the entry room. I reach for the gun but one of the creatures tackled me to the floor, sending me flying forward.

I shriek as it scratches into my arm and flings its head forward for a bite. A bright, red laser plows into its skull, splashing blood onto my face. A few gun shots fill the room and Soul runs over to help me up. He places his hands under my arms, and throws me upward onto my feet.

"You can't do shit like that!" He grinds out, his voice furious.

"I'm sorry, I just-" My train of thoughts derail as a ghoul shuffles towards Soul. "Get down!" I shout, pulling the trigger and dropping the ghoul to the ground. We stand back to back and scan the room for anymore strays. OX releases a contented beep, informing us that everything is all clear.

I sigh, wiping sweat from my forehead, "Well, that was-"

"What the hell was that?!" Soul interrupts, turning around to face me. "You're going to get yourself killed! How in the hell did you ever survive without me here?"

I scowl, denial and contempt building inside me, "I survived just fine! I'm sorry, okay? I dropped my weapon! What was I supposed to do?"

He groans, throwing his hands up in the air, "I don't know! Get behind me, warn OX, pull the damn rifle off of your shoulder and use that?!"

I blink a few times before my hand moves of its own accord to touch the rifle on my shoulder. I had totally forgotten about my hunting rifle. I bring a hand up to my mouth, my eyes wide. Soul shakes his head knowingly, sighing at me. "Girl, you need to get it together."

I grumble at him, pulling the rifle off my back and into my hands. I turn to the side and nearly jump out of my skin when I see the big blue creature on the ground again. I kneel down next to it and poke the side of its brown hooded head.

It lolls to the side and I jump back, eyeing it suspiciously. I turn to Soul, my well of information in this confusing world, "What is this thing?" He kneels down next to me, taking a quick sweep of the front room to see if there are any ghouls left.

"It's a Nightkin. A super mutant that uses something called a stealth boy to become invisible."

He reaches into the Nightkins pocket and pulls out a small device with a tiny satellite dish on it. "This is a stealth boy. These guys are addicted to them and it made them go crazy from overuse. It has a chemical in it that turns your blood black, and these guys are totally overpowered and insane because of it."

I look in awe at the enormous creature laid out in front of me. At the thought of more of these guys lurking around and us like sitting ducks here, I stand up quickly, pulling Soul with me. "Let's get going. Who knows how many more of these things there are. I don't want to be caught off guard."

Soul nods and we head east towards a corridor. Heading toward a doorway, Soul places his hand on my shoulder to stop me and motions to the floor. What in the world is he stopping for? Oh.. A bear trap is lying precariously on the floor right where I was about to place my boot. I struggle to force a laugh at my own stupidity and Soul shakes his head, chuckling a little more naturally than I had.

Slowly approaching the new room, Soul peers his gun inside, pulling his body in after it.

"Clear," he chimes, his tone changing to the practiced lilt he gets whenever he speaks in military jargon. The area, what looks like a common room, is bathed in blood. A lit up vending machine is lying on its side on the floor, the front casing cracked and speckled with blood. Soul kicks the side of the vending machine, reaching down to grab two of the bottles that tumble out. He pops the top off of one of the bottles with the muzzle of his gun and holds one out towards me.

I take it gladly, nodding my thanks, "I love sarsaparillas. I don't really like alcohol, so I would drink these every day." I smile fondly at the memory, ignoring the harsh sting in my throat at the image of Jackie.

Soul wipes his mouth after guzzling down most of the soda, "I could have guessed that, honestly." He points at me, a wry smile pulling at his lips, "You're too small to drink alcohol anyway, you'd be passed out after half a beer!"

I glare and shove his finger out of my face, "Oh, shut up. I could hold my drink just fine, I just don't like the taste!"

Soul chuckles, and sets his empty bottle down on the floor, "Sure you can. You want to head to New Vegas after this, right? I'll hold you to that challenge when we get there."

The nerve of this man. I can't decide if I want to punch him or laugh. Maybe I'll do both, "You're on, jerk. Now let's get this place cleared out already."

I finish off my sarsaparilla and place it next to Soul's empty bottle on the ground. I turn to move out of the room when I see a smirk spread across his face, and even OX looks nervous.

Soul raises his weapon at the wall and pulls the trigger. A loud bang echoes through the halls. I snatch my pistol from my waistband and swing it around madly, "Nothing is even there! What the hell was that for?!"

He shrugs, the self satisfied smirk still present on his face, "You said we should hurry, right? I'm just trying to even out the score. If anything was around they would have heard that right?" I shake my head in mild frustration and trudge forward, pistol poised in my hands.

"Yes, yes, you're hilarious. I think poor OX almost had a circuit board attack."

Soul chuckles as we walk along the corridors, eyes sharp for any enemies coming from the sound of his gunshot. The next few rooms are surprisingly bare of any enemies, and I let my guard down just a little.

We come across a destroyed room with cubicles and computers spread about. I walk over to one of the terminals and a light flashes on as I tap on the keyboard. My eyes light up nearly as bright as the monitors glow as I realize it is still in working order.

Something about these run down terminals almost makes me feel at home. I click a few buttons and the mechanisms inside begin to whir noisily.

"What are you doing?" Soul asks, walking up behind me. I smile up at him, going through the old emails of the person this terminal used to belong to. "I'm just looking." He grunts lightly, poking me in the back of the head, "We don't need any of this information, we just need to get to the big metal staircase."

I slap his hand away and turn my head back to the monitor, "I don't care, I think it's great these things still run."

I can hear him grumbling behind me, but I'm too focused on the terminal. My eyes scan over the screen and I click happily on any link I can find. I can't explain it, but information makes me happy. It's not anything particularly interesting, some emails about a mans retirement, a woman complaining about a kitchen that needs to be cleaned.

I absorb the information like a sponge, a happy grin on my face.

Soul taps me on the shoulder again, his face confused and in disbelief. "I can't find any sign of ghouls, no enemies what so ever, actually."

I turn away from the computer, pressing a button to power it down. "That's strange.. I guess they've already been taken care of."

Soul shrugs, still keeping a tight grip on one of the pistols I gave him. "I guess. I don't like it though. That means someone was in here before us, but I haven't seen anyone."

I start walking, checking my compass to make sure we were still going east. "Well then someone took care of them for us. Isn't that a good thing?"

Soul shakes his head and OX lets out a negative sounding low beep. "No, Girl. That means someone is hiding from us. Usually someone who hides is bad news."

I step over a large piece of debris, checking my footing on the rickety flooring, "We'll be prepared if we meet them and they end up being enemies. But who knows? Maybe the ghouls just left. There were a lot outside of the building, maybe they escaped and we killed all of them already?"

Soul gives me a skeptical look and runs a hand through his hair, moving the maroon headband back into place, "Your optimism is endearing, really."

I giggle and hop over a hole in the floor, coming up to a destroyed door leading up to a staircase. I put a hand on the rickety wood, pushing lightly. The door creaks and proceeds to fall off of the hinges. Soul bursts out laughing and walks forward, stepping over the destroyed wood. "Good job, Girl."

I puff out my cheeks, huffing at him, "S'not my fault this place is falling apart."

OX lets out a few amused beeps, following behind me as we walk up the stairs. There's blood flung up on the wall and ghoul bodies littered the concrete stairs. I look towards Soul and know he's thinking the same thing as I am. This blood looks fresh.

This massacre was recent.

We walk through a hallway and towards a room with red carpet and fancy gold picture frames lining the walls. I raise an eyebrow, brushing my hand against the dusty circular desk. Soul snorts and walks over to a safe on the other side of the room, "Well it looks like someone was pretty pretentious."

I nod, walking over to his side, "Scoot over." He growls at me as I push him out of the way, "What are you going to do?"

I shrug and let my fingers fly across the keypad. I can feel Soul looking at me strangely, but everything is kind of tuned out as the flurry of my fingers do their business.

I step back and relish the delicious hissing sound the door makes when it pops open. Soul points incredulously at me, his mouth agape, "What the hell did you do?!" I chuckle and proceed to empty the large sum of caps and weird green paper items into my pack, "Oh nothing."

He hums in the back of his throat and turns back towards the hallway we came from, "You're full of surprises, Girl."

I follow behind him, a proud grin on my face. OX buzzes near another door at the end of the hallway. I look through a hole in the door, taking in the sight of a large metal staircase leading downwards.

"This place is like a maze." Soul mutters, kicking a ghoul body out of his pathway. I nod, walking into another room at the bottom of the stairs. There are beds lining the walls, with lockers near each set of beds. I walk over to the lockers and started pawing through them, looking for anything useful.

Soul chuckles, following my lead, "You're a dirty scavver, aren't you?." I glare in his direction, throwing a tattered book from the locker at his head. The book bounces off his skull and onto the floor.

"What the hell was that for?!"

I smirk, but don't justify his question with an answer. He rubs his head and mutters a swear under his breath as he walks towards the end of the room. I join him at the door, looking mildly nervous in front of the huge piece of steel. Soul pushes down on the handle, the door creaking with the effort of opening.

I help push the door open and we both gape at the room before us. There is a huge metal staircase trailing all the way up to the massive ceiling, jagged pieces of steel jutting from the ground. There are carcasses of brahmin strewn across the ground, ripped apart and then left to rot. I flinch as I notice another Nightkin dead on the ground, black blood pooling along its body.

OX beeps suddenly, flying past my head and letting out a stream of lasers in front of us. I pull my rifle off my back and quickly search the room for what OX is shooting at. The growling gives them away as a group of ghouls tumble towards us.

I glare and cock my rifle, shooting haphazardly as they increased their pace. My eyes widen with fear, and Soul must have noticed the same thing as he starts running up the stairs. These ghouls are much faster than the others. Soul calls my name, and I fling my head to the side to see him motioning for me to follow him up the staircase.

I bolt from my spot and barrel up the stairs, shooting behind me every chance I get. OX floats as fast as he can behind us, his lasers finding their mark less and less as time goes on. I stop and pivot around on the balls of my feet, attempting to help out OX, only to be tackled by a ghoul who is way too quick to be real.

The creature hisses and swipes a hand over my chest, chomping towards my face. I shove my arms up, heaving as hard as I can, trying to get it off of me. I push my feet up to its abdomen, jerking my knees straight and throwing the ghoul backwards a few feet. I scramble up, aiming my rifle at its head. The thing screams and pounces forwards, making my bullet miss its mark. I curse as I dance to the side, barely avoiding its sharp nails again.

I wipe a hand across my face, trying to clean up the blood flowing down the scrapes on my cheeks. The ghoul races closer, its rancid breath burning my eyes. I hear Soul curse and call my name in anger before the ghouls head shatters, pieces of its skull layering my already blood spattered attire.

I wince as blood trickles in my eyes and I rub my hand furiously over my face. I blink a few times, trying to clear my eyesight before I bolt up the stairs once again. OX is in front of me, frantically spewing out lasers at the ghouls hot on my trail. I jump across the stretch of space between the staircases, landing on another part of the stairs.

I shoot towards a ghoul rabidly attempting to get over to where I am. The bullet digs itself into its neck, severing the muscle half way. Its head lolls to the side, dangling from a tendon. I balk at the grotesque sight and step back quickly as it launches its body towards me. It misses the mark and I watch it tumble down for a moment. We are only about 20 feet up, but the impact jars its head completely from its body.

I shake my head and tear my gaze from its twitching corpse, looking around for OX and Soul. Soul is halfway hidden between two metal beams, about 50 feet up with his sniper. I vault over the railing and fly up the stairs when I notice Soul trying to free OX from a ghoul gnawing on his antennas.

I snarl and swing my legs over the metal, balancing easily on the small railing. I run forwards, my feet barely making a noise as I push my legs as fast as they will go. I brace myself before kicking my leg out, my calf making impact with the head of the ghoul.

OX is wrenched out of the creature's hands, falling a few feet before shuddering with the effort to right himself and hover back up. I twirl my pistol around my pinkie as I pull it out of my waistband and finish the ghoul off with two shots to the eye sockets.

I push the gun back into my pants and pull my rifle off my shoulder, aiming at the ghoul stumbling up the stairs to my left. Three shots and the ghoul is down; One bullet in his forehead via Soul, one bullet from my rifle through his jaw, and a steaming hole in his chest from OX.

Gazing around the room, my heart is pounding in my chest as I search for any left over ghouls. I don't see anything else, so I turn my attention to OX, who is making a low buzzing noise. His antenna is sparking from where the ghoul ripped him open, and I lay my hands gently on the side of his faceplate.

I coo gently at him, my hands running over his metal body to try and find anywhere else the ghoul had gotten him. He has a few scrapes along his side, but the antenna seems to be the worse injury. I furrow my eyebrows as I dig through my bag, hoping to find something to keep the wires from flickering and lighting on fire.

I hear Soul call out and start jogging towards us, most likely wondering what happened with OX. I pull out a roll of tape and notice OX visibly tremble and scoot backwards. I chuckle quietly, pulling him forwards,

"I know, I know, tape is not what should be on a great robot such as yourself; but we need to make do with what we have."

Soul stands by and watches, his hand in his pockets, as I wrap OXs antenna in tape. I pat his head when I finish, smiling softly, "There you go, buddy."

Soul walks closer, tipping his head to inspect my face. I wince as I remember the scratches across my cheek.

"You might want to clean those up. Ghoul scratches can get infected really easy." He leans back on his heels, smirking lazily, "We wouldn't want that pretty face getting ruined, would we?"

I flush slightly as I wrench some antiseptic and gauze from my pack, choosing to ignore his remark. I force myself not to wince as I pat the alcohol soaked gauze onto my wounds.

Soul gives me one last glance before making his way up the rest of the stairs. I follow behind him, OX humming sadly and bringing up the rear. We get to the top of the stairs, a cockpit looking area with a big metal door at the end. Soul pushes the button on the intercom to our right, waiting to hear what the mysterious man wants.

"You actually made it? I'm surprised. Last time we were down there, there were more feral's than I could count. I'm going to open up the door, but you'd better watch yourself."

Soul takes a step closer to me, his shoulder brushing against my own. I roll my eyes at his over protective behavior, I can obviously take care of myself. The metal door creaks as it's pulled open, revealing a tall man with tan skin and a balding head. I take the first step in, holding out my hand for him to shake.

Before I can get a word out, the man raises his upper lip, backing away slightly, "Man, you're ugly. Go talk to Justin before I throw up just by looking at you, smoothskin."

Soul absolutely howls in laughter at the mans remark, holding his stomach and bending over. I scowl at Soul before turning back to the man and giving him my best death glare, "Excuse me?! I don't know who you're calling 'smoothskin', because your skin looks pretty 'smooth' to me."

The man shakes his head, turning away and waving a hand at me, "Your pranks won't work on me. Go waste Justin's time, not mine. He's upstairs."

The man continues into the room, starting to converse with one of the ghouls by a computer. I smack Soul over the head to get him to stop laughing and mutter, "Traitor.. You're supposed to be on my side."

Soul sucks in a big breath and wipes a tear from his eye still trying to hold back his laughter, "That.. That man just called you ugly. We just risked out lives down there and the first thing he says.. He.. He calls you ugly!"

OX beeps a few high notes, imitating laughter and I swing my glare over to the robot, "You're a traitor too! See if I dote on you next time you get hurt!"

I stick my nose in the air and stomp up the stairs towards this Justin guy I'm supposed to me. Those bastards can die from laughing for all I care.

I force my way past a few ghouls before my anger subsides a bit and I inspected them a little closer. I realize they are wearing the garb some of the dead ghouls from downstairs were wearing. Brown and green robes with brown trousers with a small insignia on the corner.

I bite the inside of my cheek, thinking about how many of those bodies were downstairs. Soul and OX appear behind me, both quiet and their humor finally under control. I throw a scowl over my shoulder and Soul smiles sheepishly, pulling his headband further down over his forehead.

I roll my eyes and take in the surroundings as we walk up the stairs. There are huge computers all over, with laboratory equipment lining the walls. We step up onto the platform, and there's a tall ghoul waiting for us with his arms opened wide. He has tuffs of blond hair poking out of the irradiated skin on his head and he's wearing different robes than the others, black and white with a large cross around his chest. He smiled at us, lifting his hands toward the ceiling.

"Hello, wanderers. My name is Justin Law. Please forgive these humble surroundings. Our true home is waiting for us beyond The Great Journey."

Soul raises an eyebrow and snorts, obviously not impressed. I smack him lightly on the shoulder, knowing we should at least listen to this man, "The Great Journey?"

Justin grins, bringing his hands down to his side, "We wish to escape this barbarian Wasteland. The creator, the God of Death himself, has promised my flock a paradise. The preparations were nearly complete when the demons came."

I tip my head, "Demons?"

He nods, glancing towards the other ghouls in brown robes working on computers around him, "Yes. They appeared out of nowhere. They are invisible, shimmering like sunlight on water. My flock fought bravely, but many were lost. We retreated here, and progress has come to a standstill. You are a human sent by the creator to help us complete this insurmountable obstacle. Will you help us clear the basement of these demons?"

I turn over his words in my head for a moment, contemplating what we should do. Kilik did say he wanted RepConn cleaned out, and if these nightkin have killed so many of Justin's people, they would be a threat to Novac as well.

I sigh, raising my hands in defeat, "Who am I to interfere with God himself, eh?"

Soul chokes, putting a hand on my shoulder, "What are you doing?!"

I turn to him, smiling lightly, "We came here to get rid of the feral ghouls, right? But there aren't just feral ghouls here, there are also Nightkin. So it's our job to get rid of them. We're also helping these people out, so it's a win-win situation."

Soul groans in frustration, but steps back, allowing me to continue. I turn back to Justin, nodding, "We'll take care of the demons for you."

Justin raises his hands again, grinning brightly, "Oh, praise Lord Death! Bless you! Soon we will be able to make our journey!"

I smile and nod, liking the light feeling swelling in my chest. Jackie did always say that helping others was the best way to live your life. Soul points a thumb towards the other ghouls downstairs, frowning, "What's with that human guy we first talked to? Why does he think he's a ghoul?"

Justin frowns, "Oh, you mean Clay? We tried to explain that to him when he first came here as well, but he thinks he's a ghoul. He was brought here by the creator and he is integral to the success of our journey."

Soul nod slowly and rolls his eyes, "Riiiiight. The creator. Sure."

I pull Soul by the collar and start to drag him down the stairs before he insults the leader of this ghoul cult. He grumbles, but follows me down the steps after lightly slapping my hand away. OX buzzes above our heads as we head through the upper floor. We ignore the curious stares of ghouls as we head out the door to the big metal staircase. I can't help but feel anxious, and as I glace over at Soul, I can feel the apprehension flowing off him in waves.

I hop over the body of a ghoul at the bottom of the stairs and Soul puts a hand on my shoulder to stop me before I get to the metal door to the basement. He looks serious, his tone gravely with worry, "This won't be like the other times, Girl. These Nightkin are ferocious. We need to be very careful."

I smile despite my nerves and pat him on the head, making him shake his head in annoyance, "We'll be fine. I always am, and now that I have you, it'll be even better."

Soul grumbles something about false optimism, but I don't listen. Enemies are just creatures to be killed, and we will be just fine. Right?