Five weeks later


Many things happened after the death of the mighty Caesar.

With Benny dead and with the platinum chip in her possession, Sandra had no solid destination anymore. Yes Man had suggested that she 'get to know' the various tribes in the region, the factions that she'd spent the last four years ignoring. It was something that she absolutely needed to do if she were to eventually seize power in the Mojave. After all, Sandra spent all her time in the Mojave thus far pretending that the politics and the wars around her didn't exist. There was definitely a lot to catch up on if she wanted to construct a decent future for New Vegas. She didn't have any excuse for turning a blind eye to the world anymore.

As far as Mr. House knew, Sandra was doing his dirty work only for the money. He couldn't have known about her devious plot to overthrow him, but she and Arcade had already agreed that Mr. House didn't belong in a prospering Vegas. He'd done nothing to help the poor and starving in Freeside, and often bragged about how he exploited the allure of 'giving your money to the rich' to sustain his power, in Arcade's words. If any real change was to be expected, Mr. House would need to be removed. It would happen in good time. For now, Sandra and her companions focused on traveling and learning everything they could about the factions that they would later need to work with, or deal with.

For the first two weeks following Caesar's death, Sandra decided to give Arcade, Boone, and Niner a break. She ordered them to stay put in the Lucky 38 and relax (Niner didn't object to this; he had a blast on the strip, stealing change out of the water fountains and occasionally trying to steal from the office safes in Gomorrah). While they were on the strip, Sandra followed a broadcast that led her to a place called the Northern Passage, where she served as a gun for hire for a group of travelers called the Happy Trails Caravan. After having a thrilling adventure in Utah involving a few tribes (and meeting the legendary Joshua Graham, who she enjoyed informing about Caesar's death), she headed home with a shiny new 45 pistol. Once she finally returned to Nevada, Sandra thought she'd head straight back to the strip, but a series of mysterious broadcasts appearing on her Pip-Boy effectively sidetracked her. Somehow, she discovered an old Casino called the Sierra Madre, a crater filled with old forgotten labs that contained numerous scientific discoveries and inventions, and last but not least, a place called the Divide, where she met an ex-Legion courier named Ulysses. When she finally got around to returning to Vegas, her crimson bangs had grown at least an inch, and she was wearing her satchel over her back with two stolen gold bars weighing it down, as well as a sleeveless duster decorated with the old world flag on the back. Arcade almost didn't recognize her when she returned.

Despite having been home for weeks now, Sandra still wasn't done telling stories about her lonesome adventures. As the four of them walked down the road leading towards Sloan, intent on finding the fabled Hidden Valley and learning about the Brotherhood of Steel, Sandra let her Pip-Boy play Radio New Vegas for a short time before resuming her story about the Divide. She wouldn't get to finish the story.

"... and it's not known how Caesar's assailant was able to make it in and out alive." Mr. New Vegas's voice spoke from the Pip-Boy.

Sandra switched it over to Black Mountain Radio.

"They won't shut up about Caesar dying." She said. "It's been a month and a half. Geez, how long are they gonna talk about it?"

"Well, it's kind of a big deal, you see..." Arcade snarked. "The west's most notorious dictator apart from President Kimball gets assassinated by an unknown party? I'm surprised the other radio stations aren't talking about it more."

"Heh..." Boone smirked, rubbing his rifle with a polishing rag as they walked. "Watching his head explode was totally worth the walk. Whatever happens from here on out, we killed that sonofabitch right in the middle of his own fortress."

Sandra smiled.

"Ahahahah! And we were all detective-like in there, man, had the scoop and everything!" Niner laughed.

Sandra almost responded, but she was interrupted by a monstrous voice on her Pip-Boy's radio.

"Ahah! Now Rhonda, we turn our attention away from Moe to have an exclusive interview with our own Raul Tejada! Now, is it Raul, or should we call you amigo?"

The voice was overwhelmingly raspy and deep.

"That sounds like a super mutant..." Arcade whispered.

They all stopped in the middle of the road and gathered around the Pip-Boy, listening to the broadcast closely.

"Uh... either one works." Another voice spoke, this one sounding completely human with a very subtle Mexican accent.

"Today you die, Raul! I command it!" The monstrous voice shouted.

"Ohh, Supreme Tabitha says you're sentenced to death, Raul!" Another throaty voice said. "How do you react?"

"I'll obey Supreme Tabitha. Her word is law." The person named Raul replied. "Just... I feel so bad, I'll die before I can fix her special robot."

The one called Tabitha let out a thick growl of displeasure.

Suddenly, the station began to play It's A Sin, ending the live broadcast.

Sandra, Niner, Arcade, and Boone all glimpsed at each other.

Sandra and Arcade seemed to lock on one another.

"No..." Arcade said, noticing the glimmer in her eyes. "Sandra, now, don't do anything crazy..."

"That sounded like a cry for help. We might have just gotten a rescue mission." Sandra sneered.

"Sandra..."

"We can't just ignore that."

"But we..."

"Come on, it sounds like the guy needs help."

"I know that, but the four of us..."

"We've taken on worse than supermutants, 'aven't we?" Niner grinned, sliding a bottle of whiskey from his bag and taking a few swigs. "I say we storm in there, take over the place, and stomp them muties outta existence."

"Yeah. I agree with Needles." Boone commented, taking the bottle from Niner and gulping down the rest of its contents. "We've fought giant ants, radscorpions, and even cazadors. I think we can take the muties too."

"The 'muties' are armed. Plus, they're a lot more thick skinned than any of those bugs we've gone up against." Arcade argued. "I'm not against the idea, but we can't be reckless about this."

"That LAER rips opponents apart. That's why I brought it back from Big Mountain." Sandra told him. "I gave you that laser weapon for a reason. You're damn good with it."

"Don't you ever count on my fighting skills to help us in a predicament." Arcade said, only partly joking. "That kind of planning will get us killed."

Sandra headed towards the mountain with the satellite dish on top. The others followed her.

Thankfully, fighting through the supermutants wasn't as difficult as they expected.

Along the road that winded up the side of the mountain, the supermutants stood at the fences. When they spotted the courier and her companions, they opened fire, but their precision left something to be desired. Their aim, thankfully, was terrible. Sandra, Niner, Arcade, and Boone mowed down all of the supermutants in their way as they headed further and further up the mountain. 45 bullets, blue laser fire, 308 rounds, and whatever Niner's tommygun spat flew wildly through the air as the four of them kept on. Eventually, they reached the top of the mountain, where the nightkin stood with their stealthboys activated, though it was very obvious where they were. They were hardly invisible, with their gigantic bodies distorting the air like shimmering water.

"Ah man, this is TOO easy!" Niner exclaimed.

Boone gave Niner a highfive.

"Yeah yeah, we're doing fine so far. But luck's been on our side this whole time. Can't count on that forever. Don't get cocky." Arcade said.

Sandra marched past the dead supermutants and nightkin, towards a dome-shaped building. Inside were crates of bottlecaps and ammunition, and a table containing a radio. Sandra fiddled with the radio, interrupting the song that was playing and making the broadcast go silent for a moment.

"Hey! You interrupt my broadcast, dumb-dumb! Now there had better be a good reason! What is it!" The growling voice of Tabitha demanded from the radio.

"Just came for an autograph. Make it out to 'the last person you'll ever see,' alright?" Sandra replied.

"Intruder! HUMAN INTRUDER! KILL THE HUMANS!" Tabitha roared just before the connection cut out.

Boone and Niner were chuckling, but Arcade didn't seem pleased.

"Now you've done it." Arcade said. "We really don't need to antagonize them..."

"Woooo! Antagonizers! We're the ultimate friggin' antagonizers!" Niner cheered, holding an inhaler to his face and taking in a puff of jet. Then, he tossed the inhaler to Sandra, who sucked up the rest of the drug all by herself.

"Yeah, and about the jet habit..." Arcade started, but the others were already heading for the exit, hoping to breach Black Mountain's headquarters.

Arcade sighed and followed them.

Niner and Sandra reloaded their guns and began firing at the nightkin.

"Look!" Arcade grasped Boone's shoulder and pointed towards the broadcasting tower. "RPG, twelve o'clock!"

On the balcony of the tower was a supermutant carrying a missile launcher. Boone aligned his sniper rifle with the mutant's head-

BANG.

The missile sniper fell limb over the balcony's fence, it's head exploding into pulp.

With the RPG sniper out of commission, it was easy for them to overrun the place. Sandra led them towards the closest building. They all rushed into the shack with haste, and once they were all inside, Arcade slammed the door shut and locked it.

Boone and Niner were reloading their guns again. Sandra tried to open another door, only to find that it was locked, so she began typing on a nearby terminal in the hopes of unlocking it.

Arcade massaged his temples and attempted to slow his breath. He seemed to be the only one who realized that they were getting through this battle on only nerve and luck, and that they were taking their victory for granted.

"Got it." Sandra said, stepping away from the terminal. "Hey. Anybody in there?"

She knocked on the door twice before pushing it open. Inside, there were shelves of tools and other items, and across the room, a ghoul in a green jumpsuit sat at a desk. The ghoul turned his head to face Sandra, his milky blue eyes squinting at her oddly.

"Took you long enough." The ghoul said. "So, can I go now?"

Sandra recognized that voice. It was Raul Tejada, the man she heard on the radio.

"Damn right." Sandra responded. "You can leave now. We came to bust you out."

"Heh... alrighty then." Raul stood from his seat. "I'll just head out. Alone. By myself. Into the dangerous wastes."

"No you won't. Come with us." Sandra said. "Let's get the hell out of here."

"Tch. You just fought past a hoard of supermutants all by yourselves. Ain't like I'm gonna question anything at this point." Raul replied. "I'm right behind you."

"NOOO!" Tabitha's howling voice screamed from the radio on the desk. "I WON'T LET YOU HAVE MY RAUL!"

"Right, so... I'm thinking we should stay in here." Arcade commented. "At least until we make a plan for breaking back out of this place."

"Nah, we can shoot our way outta here, just like we did breaking in." Niner said.

"We've got better odds than we did when we breached the place. Getting out should be no problem." Boone added.

"Now, come on, this is ridiculous." Arcade tried to convince them, appearing to be at a loss. "Tabitha just ordered all of them to come after us over the radio, and you think our odds are better now? That couldn't be further from the truth. Just listen to me, you guys. Sandra..."

Arcade gave Sandra a pleading look.

Sandra thought about it. She wanted to get out of the place as soon as possible, but Arcade had never been wrong about these types of things before. Despite being the most pacifistic one out of all of them, his battle sense was probably the best out of the whole group. Unlike Niner, Boone, or Sandra herself, Arcade didn't have a strong sense of pride affecting his judgment. It was something that made him extremely valuable.

"Yeah... yeah, you're right." Sandra agreed. "We'll stay here for a while. It's not like they can get in here. We'll wait for them to wander off. Eventually, they'll get board and think that we left or something. We'll wait for the right opportunity to slip away. They're all looking for us right now. Now's not the time."

Arcade exhaled a breath of relief. Niner and Boone sat against the wall and tended to their guns, and Raul reclaimed his chair beside the desk, attempting to finish his bowl of noodles.

The sunset faded into nighttime, and miles away, a camp of NCR Rangers met their deaths. While the rangers were sleeping, four crimson-clad soldiers snuck up on them and slit each of their throats before they could have hoped to fight back. The leader of the Legion spies stood upright, kicking the body of the NCR Ranger away in disgust. He slid the goggles off his face and wiped the blood from his cheek, his blue eyes glaring forward with a determination that would have rivaled Lord Caesar himself.

"Won't be long now." Vulpes uttered. "Keep moving, men. We're hot on their tail. They can't be too far now."