For the most uncomfortably long while, McNamara drifted in and out of consciousness. The brief glimpses of bright light he caught when his eyes peered open hurt him, like needles drilling into his skull forcing him to drift back into the darkness. Time and reality were strange concepts in his drugged and blood deprived state that part of him wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and not think or worry about waking up again; but that was a luxury he couldn't afford. He forced himself to wake out of a dreamless state, pushing past invisible restraints until he started to feel a throbbing pain.

"Urngh" he groaned as his eyes strained open. He tried to move but the best he could do was feel around with his fingers. Luckily there was no bright light to sting his eyes this time, instead the air around him seemed to be enveloped in a serene light orange hue coming from several nearby windows.

'A sunset, maybe?' he thought, trying to grasp reality again. Grabbing a handful of soft material, he forced himself to move up a bit until his efforts were thwarted when his head connected with the cold, rigid headboard. He forced his eyes open now, blinking away the crust that had formed around them, to look around and get his bearings. He was in a medical ward, with several other injured individuals scattered around. They were wearing NCR uniforms. Suddenly, everything came flooding back. The power cut, flashing emergency lights, yelling, a rumbling sound in the distance…

He had to save them. Had to get them out!

"Help!" he croaked, feeling his heart race as adrenaline coursed through his body. His throat was so parched that his voice didn't carry far. He called out again until a doctor walking past the hallway took notice and rushed to him.

"Sir, you're alright, you're at the McCarran Airbase infirmary".

"Where are they?!" McNamara groaned urgently, trying to force himself to a sitting position.

"Please! Do not move or you will injure yourself further!" the doctor pressed.

McNamara wasn't in a listening mood. He pushed the doctor to the floor and flung the covers off, pulling himself to the edge of the bed in a semi delusional state. Throwing caution to the wind, he tried to stand up and walk, but as soon as he did so his body hit the cold tiled floor.

"Mother fucker" he growled as he felt something rip and pain shoot through his raw nerves with a vengeance. He cursed his body for failing him; it wasn't until he looked down that he realised in horror why it did.

"I need some help here!" the doctor yelled for reinforcements, and suddenly the room was buzzing with action. Several alarmed nurses and another doctor ran in, gently pulling the shocked McNamara back up onto the bed and the unfortunate doctor on his feet again.

"Hey! What's going on?!" a familiar voice called behind them. It was Ramos.

"It seems our patient tried to get up again" the second doctor responded, fussing over McNamara's ripped stitches, "This time he succeeded".

"What happened?" McNamara asked, a dazed look on his face, "The others?"

"Most of us made it out. We lost over a dozen good men and women, but if it wasn't for you, Knight Barlow and Paladin Fulton, we would have suffered heavier casualties". The Security Chief's eyes fell on McNamara's leg for a brief second, making him hesitate, "We almost lost you too, Sir".

The room fell quiet at the mention of Brotherhood ranks, with some of the injured soldiers sharing intrigued and questioning looks. Ramos waited in silence as the medical staff finished patching his Elder up before moving to sit on the chair next to McNamara.

"I'm not sure that was wise" he said in a hushed voice, giving his Security Chief an urgent glance.

"Doesn't matter", Ramos shook his head, "We're not enemies anymore. We're welcomed guests. General Hsu saw to that".

McNamara looked up at him questioningly, "What do you mean?"

"Hsu has openly welcomed us into the NCR", Ramos replied, "He has declared that any bad blood our two factions had in the past be absolved. Despite our conflict with them in the past, and the losses we suffered thereof, it would be hard to argue Hsu's decision in the current state we are in".

The fighter in McNamara had a few words to share about that, but the diplomat in him won over. He nodded, swallowing his bitterness, and some pride. The irony of their situation was not lost on him. It was less than a week ago that McNamara was going over Hsu's merger proposal with an air of scepticism and superiority. How the tables have turned.

"How long was I unconscious?"

"5 days", Ramos poured a glass of water for his Elder and helped him take a drink, "The first three were touch and go; you lost a lot of blood and doctors weren't sure you were going to pull through".

Taking a sip of cool clean water made him feel somewhat alive again, "Where are the others?"

"They're close by. Hsu managed to allocate some temporary housing for our people", Ramos answered, "It's a bit cramped, but it will do until we figure out what's going on at Hidden Valley. Ibsen was able to gather some information from the main computer before we evacuated and is examining it right now".

"Good", McNamara nodded, reclining back onto the bed with a pained grimace, "That's our top priority. We need to figure out what went wrong. Maybe contact Daniel, see if he would be gracious enough to offer us his expertise".

"He's already on it", Ramos nodded, "I contacted him the second we evacuated. His Vertibird picked you up and got you to McCarran".

McNamara appeared stunned for a moment, "I don't remember any of that". He tried to recall his last memory before blacking out, but everything seemed blurry and jumbled.

"You were barely hanging on to life when they brought you in. Not surprising that you don't remember", Ramos stood back up wearily, "I should let you get some rest".

McNamara seemed dismayed by his Security officer's decision but bowed his head in agreement. "Any chance Maya's around? Haven't seen her in a while and… well… to be honest, now that I'm awake I wouldn't mind the company".

Ramos pursed his lips as if deciding whether or not to burden his Elder with more bad news. But, if the news didn't come from him, McNamara would find out through other means. Eventually.

"I'm afraid Maya's not… here" he began, his gaze shifting as he tried to find the best way to word the news without adding more stress, "There was an incident at McCarran the same day you were brought in"

"Is she alright?" McNamara asked, trying to sit up again, "What happened?"

"There were no casualties, but Maya has gone missing", Ramos answered, "There's no need to worry, Daniel and Craig have taken a search team to find her".

"So… This happened five days ago?" McNamara's voice almost broke with concern.

"Yes", Ramos exhaled wearily, "Look, I know what Maya means to you. My advice is not to give it any more thought", he rested a reassuring hand on his Elder's shoulder, "We've been through worse situations, they will find her. But one thing at a time. Right now, you must focus on healing and getting back on your feet; everything else will fall in line after that".

Taking a deep breath to steady a shiver travelling up his spine, McNamara shifted back down to a more comfortable position. It was hard to think about what was going on and not being physically able to do anything about it.

"If the doctors give the okay and you're feeling up for it tomorrow, we can have a talk with Hsu. Get you back up to speed?"

McNamara grinned and nodded, giving Ramos an assuring tap on the arm.


Six sat in the First NCR Recon tent, taking small sips of hot black coffee with Betsy. They sat together, neither one of them speaking more than a few words. After the attack on the base, she and the rest of the Brotherhood, along with the dark and handsome stranger, made their way to McCarran. Those who were not injured and could walk made the trip on foot, the rest were picked up by several Vertibirds that were called in by a mysterious ally. Although the emergency response team that was called in arrived in Vertibirds, the people themselves did not look like Brotherhood or wear the typical Brotherhood uniforms. She wondered what kind of faction had the resources, let alone knew of McNamara and his Brotherhood in Hidden Valley, to arrive so quickly at such short notice.

Betsy shifted in her seat, crossing her legs as she carried on reading a copy of Grognak the Barbarian with a disgusted smirk on her face.

"Pah! … Pathetic", she commented under her breath.

"Another damsel in distress?" Six asked, cupping her hot drink in her hands and savouring the slight pain she experienced as her skin connected with the hot metal cup followed by a slow relief as her body adjusted to the stimulus.

"For once I'd like to read one of these where the woman doesn't need saving", Betsy finished the comic book and chucked it to the couch on her left, "It gets old very quickly. And it's not like women can't sort their own problems out without a man butting in to save the day".

Six smiled in acknowledgement. She and Betsy were hard evidence of that.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Six asked absentmindedly.

"Nothing much to do other than sort through the rubble" Betsy answered, "I still can't imagine how a bomb got past us. Hsu almost had a fit when we said we didn't find any evidence of who did it. Though, I have to say that we were lucky".

"How so?" Six asked somewhat bemused. A destroyed aircraft hangar was hardly a definition of "lucky".

"No one got killed", Betsy chuckled drily, "A bomb of that magnitude and no one, not one casualty. Sure, we had injuries, but no one died. Whoever did it is a pretty lousy terrorist. And if I ever find them, they'll wish they had shoved that bomb up their ass".

'Or it was their plan all along' Six thought, playing with the idea in her head. Although the aircraft weren't in use, most of them were restored to working condition before the bomb went off. Granted no test flights were done to make sure that they were still airworthy, but this was a definite blow to the NCR. Flight would have given the Republic a much larger range of influence; now that option was taken away from them.

"Maybe that was their intention", Six voiced her thoughts, "They didn't kill anyone, but they crippled any chance of the NCR having an air force".

Betsy looked at Six in an expression of impression and doubt, "Yeah but it's not like we had a lot of aircraft" she shrugged, taking a swig of her bottle of Sunset Sarsparilla.

"Boone's girl, Maya, disappears that same night too", Six mused, "And the Brotherhood at Hidden Valley suffer a devastating attack, only a few hours apart... There has to be some connection", she finished her coffee and stood up, making a move to leave the tent and left Betsy with a confused and dismayed look on her face.

After everything that had happened, Hsu had to listen to her now. This was it, the chance she'd been waiting for to get back to HELIOS One and activate Archimedes 2!


"Six, I appreciate the history lesson, but how does this help us?" Hsu gave her an annoyed glance. He'd gone the past couple of days without sleep and wasn't in the mood for a history recap of the HELIOS One power plant.

"General, HELIOS One is more than just a power station. It's a weapon" Six replied, "With the computer systems in the plant, we can shunt power to the Archimedes 2 orbital laser and eliminate any threats we encounter".

"Our scientists have been over there are haven't found anything to suggest the existence of such a weapon" Hsu shook his head and turned his attention back to his communication device. He couldn't believe he delayed his call with the president for this.

"Because they didn't know where to look!" Six was becoming more frustrated, her window of opportunity closing in on her, "General, I'm on your side. All I'm asking is permission to enter the power station and bring the evidence to you".

Hsu stopped and scrutinised the Courier. Although she did seem earnest, past experience of her actions had taught him to be cautious. If there was a weapon in the power plant that his people couldn't find but the Courier did, it would be in their best interest to obtain it as quickly as possible. Then again, if there was nothing, then they didn't lose anything. He made a mental note to speak with McNamara about the subject. A Brotherhood of Steel Elder, especially one who was present in the battle for HELIOS One, would know more about the old-world tech.

"Very well", Hsu relented, "But Gorobets will accompany you. Understood?"

Six nodded enthusiastically, "Perfectly! We'll set out tonight!"


"So, let me get this straight: there's a satellite in orbit with a laser weapon, and it's still operational after all this time?" Gorobets asked, "How did you find this out?"

They had made it to HELIOS One about half an hour ago and were in the belly of the station at the power distribution terminal. Gorobets wasn't sure what they were looking for but he kept a close eye on her.

"Purely by accident", Six confessed, busying herself at the power terminal checking the status of the power outputs to determine how much she could divert to Archimedes, "I was attempting to access one of the terminals controlling the power system when I encountered a security lock. After hacking it I found the information on Archimedes and that it was still fully operational. It's been sitting there for over two hundred years".

Gorobets scrutinised her as she worked, realising why General Hsu was wary of her. She had known about this weapon for a long time yet refused to come forward with it when the NCR was facing off with Caesar's Legion and suffering heavy casualties. He wondered how many lives could have been saved if only she'd shared her information.

"Alright, we're good to go here", Six smiled, picking up her backpack and headed through one of the corridors.

"Now what?" Gorobets asked, following her through.

"Now we need to head over to Old Lady Gibson".

Making the short trek to Gibson's shack was thankfully uneventful. Rounding the corner at the fence, they were greeted by a pack of dogs which all seemed friendly enough, and at the door was an old woman sat on her chair reading an old world technical manual. As soon as she saw them she focused her attention on the Courier and a smile crossed her lips.

"Well hello there! Good to see you again", she chirped, "I'd about thought you skipped town".

Six smiled back at her, "Not yet Mrs. Gibson. You still got my box?"

"Oh yes!" Gibson chuckled, "Help me up and I'll take you to it. My bones are achin' something fierce".

Six shouldered her weight and helped her up onto her feet, "You still not been to see the doctor?"

"Bah!" Gibson waved her question away, "There ain't no cure for old age". She hobbled inside her house followed by Six, Gorobets, and her entire pack, and knelt next to her bed with a pained groan.

"Give us a hand with this", she asked, tapping on the bed. Gorobets and Six moved to the head and the end of the bed, picked it up and moved it out of the way revealing a floor safe. Gibson unlocked the safe and peered in, moving some things out of the way before procuring a worn steel safe box. She handed it to Six who took out a small key from the inside pocket of her armour vest.

"What's in there?" Gorobets inched closer, keeping an eye on the box.

"The targeting device", Six answered, "This is the last piece we need for any of this to work".

With a click, the locking mechanism pulled away and the box opened.

It was empty.

"Where's the device?" Gorobets examined the case in confusion.

Six stared at the box in confusion. There was only one person who had the key to this box and that was her. The only way someone could have opened it was if they were an expert lock picker.

"Gibson, did you happen to open this?" she asked, hoping that this was all a misunderstanding.

"No, I haven't moved it since you gave it to me years ago" Gibson shook her head looking perplexed.

"Did you tell anyone about it?"

A hurt and angry look crossed her eyes, "I know better than to go around telling folk I keep a safe in my home".

Six felt like she was going to be sick. There was nothing she could do now. Taking a moment to compose herself, she spoke with Gorobets and Gibson to figure out where to go from here.

"Did you notice anything unusual at any time?" Gorobets asked, "Any strangers passing through? Have any other denizens complained of missing items?"

Gibson considered the question seriously but shook her head, "This is a popular through pass for traders and travellers. And living next to Novac certainly brings with it its own bag of crazy". She hobbled to a chair and took a seat, her eyes darting to and fro as she tried to recall anything that might help them. "I don't like to think about it but... there may have been an...unwanted visitor, several years ago. I haven't been able to confirm it as nothing was missing or moved".

"What happened?" Six took a seat next to her, listening intently in the hopes of obtaining some answers.

"Basura and Audaz woke me up one night. Something spooked them, and when I woke I could hear shuffling outside, like someone was scouring the area. This happened several nights in a row, lasting until sunrise. At first I thought nothing of it, could have been a gecko picking scraps Then one night I got fed up of listening helplessly behind my locked doors; I took my shotgun and barged outside, threatening whoever it was to leave unless they were lookin' to get killed. Didn't find anything or anyone outside. It was a full moon, so I had a look around in the junk yard in case someone was hiding, but didn't find anyone. I gave up and went back inside, thinking no more of it. It wasn't until morning when I let the dogs out for a roam that I found faded human foot prints around my house", a cold shiver ran up her spine as she made the recollection, "Freaked me out pretty good. Locked myself inside the shack for almost three days straight after that".

Six exhaled defeatedly, looking to Gorobets for advice.

"Was there anything else that you noticed Mrs. Gibson?" Gorobets pressed, "Anything at all? It would greatly help us in tracking down the item".

"No, sorry", Gibson shook her head, "That was the only event that stuck out at me that might be related. I was out for only a couple of minutes, so if whoever it was that stalking my shack somehow managed to get inside, unlock the floor safe, the box and put everything back the way it was, they must have been moving fast".

With nothing left to do, Six and Gorobets left Old Lady Gibson's shack, hanging around close to Novac while they decided what to do next.

"What do you want to do?" Gorobets asked, scanning the area with his eyes.

Six shook her head, pacing back and forth as she tried to come up with a plan, "I can't go back to Hsu empty handed, not after I promised him this weapon".

"Do you want to keep looking?"

"We don't even have a clue where to start", Six stopped pacing and looked up at Gorobets with weary eyes, "It could be anywhere, anyone could have taken it".

Gorobets moved closer to Six, keeping his eyes on her, "Maybe we should move to a different location, we're being watched".

"What?"

Gorobets cocked his head in the direction of Novac, towards the houses. Without moving, Six took a peek in the direction and noticed movement around an old dilapidated shack, catching a glimpse of silver white hair. It was No Bark.

'Maybe he saw something?' she thought with a spark of hope and began walking towards him, Gorobets following right behind with a hand lightly resting on his combat dagger in case they needed it.

"Hey. No Bark, right?" she asked when she approached, "Remember me?"

"Stay back!" No Bark warned, procuring a shiv from his ragged clothes and pointing it at them, "Or I'll gut you like a mole rat!"

Six held up her arms in surrender, "No need for that, friend. Don't you remember me?"

No Bark eyed her and Gorobets suspiciously, refusing to answer.

"It's me, the Courier. We met a long time ago. You helped me find out what was happening with McBride's brahmin. Led me to the Chupacabras. Remember?" Six looked at him hopefully.

No Bark hesitated, giving her words some thought, "Mmm… hmm… Yes…. Yes, Chupacabras".

Six nodded, "That's right, and I took care of them, remember?"

No Bark nodded hesitantly, lowering his shiv.

"I need your help No Bark. Someone stole something from Old Lady Gibson and we need to find it, did you see anything suspi- "

"Goblins!" No Bark interrupted, "Goblins! In the middle of the night!"

"What do you mean goblins?"

"Invisible goblins. They came into my shack! Tried to steal my Nuka Cola bottles!"

Gorobets shook his head, a look of disgust on his face, "We're wasting time here", but Six ignored his comment and allowed No Bark to continue. Although she knew well that No Bark was not quite all there in the head, her gut was telling her to keep talking to him. After all, he did help her with solving the brahmin case for the McBrides, and Carla's kidnappers.

"What happened?"

"I fought 'em off! Almost got one in the belly!" No Bark answered gleefully, "They never bothered me after that again. But one night I caught one sneaking off to the shack down the road. Couldn't see 'em, but followed their foot prints".

"Where did they go?"

No Bark pointed to the East of Repconn, up to one of the overhanging cliffs, "Up. To an invisible cave!"

'This is going to be a long night' Six thought, dreading the idea of climbing up there in darkness. She thanked No Bark for the information, vague though it was, and started the climb to the top.

"I can't believe you took the word of a mad man", Gorobets complained behind her, "Invisible goblins in their invisible cave. Sounds like the ravings of a lunatic".

Instead of wasting time and energy responding to his quip, Six focused all her energy into climbing. It was already nearing sundown; they didn't have much time before night set in and Six didn't want to be stranded somewhere half way up the cliff, especially knowing the area was a popular breeding ground for night stalkers and sometimes roaming ghouls would stumble down from there. As quickly as she could, with Gorobets keeping up behind her, she traversed the rough and steep terrain. Just as the edge of the sun touched the horizon, they both made it to the top dripping in sweat and panting from their exertion. They found what looked like to be a very well concealed mouth of a cave. It was a small and tight squeeze, with barely enough room to breathe.

"Is this a bad time to confess I'm terrified of tight spaces?" Gorobets asked, his voice strained.

"I thought the red berets aren't afraid of anything", Six grunted, pulling herself out into an opening inside.

Gorobets chuckled nervously as Six grabbed his arm and pulled him out, "That's mostly true… except for tight spaces". With a final push and the sound of ripping fabric, he made it out.

"Damn it!" he spat, patting his backside.

"What?"

"I ripped my pants!" he answered angrily, twisting round to examine the damage.

"Let me see", Six insisted, turning him around. With only the light from the glowing fungus around them, it was too dark to see anything, so using her finger tips she tried to feel for the damage.

"Leave it alone", Gorobets protested, "Let's just find whatever it is we're here for and go!"

Relenting to his wishes, Six took the lead, crouching down to keep her head safe from the low ceiling. About fifty feet ahead they came to a large opening, the heart of the cave. They were surrounded by glowing fungus, which illuminated the space in a sickly green colour. At the furthest part of the cave lay the remains of a human, picked clean by whatever animals and creepy crawlies found their way inside, with what looked like a chewed up stealth boy next to them and…

"There it is", Six pointed to the Euclid C-finder.

Gorobets breathed a sigh of relief and moved to go get the item, when a shimmering veil caught Six's eye.

"Stop!" she hissed, making Gorobets bump into her.

"What?!"

There was a faint hissing and rattling sound, as a shimmering veil approached them.

"Night stalker!" Six mouthed, their eyes connecting. Even in the dim light she could see the colour drain from his face.

Knowing more about handling Wasteland creatures, Six insisted on being the one to grab the item while Gorobets provided support from the entrance, aiming his sights at the shimmering light ready to make the kill in case it made any aggressive movements. Taking a non-aggressive stance in a kneeling position and averting her eyes from the shimmer, she started making high pitched whimpering noises in an attempt to mimic the noises she once heard night stalker pups make. It seemed to be working. Though she couldn't see the animal, the noises it was making were less aggressive. It was hovering close by, a couple of feet to her left. One wrong move and she would join the other unfortunate occupant. Taking her time, she inched her way to the device, grabbed it and slowly secured it in her shoulder bag.

"Six", she heard Gorobets whisper behind her. When she turned, the shimmer was right on top of her. Her skin crawled as she felt a leathery, wet nose on her neck and felt puffs of air being expelled as the creature sniffed her. She dared not move; instead she allowed the creature to examine her for what felt like hours. Gorobets was still at the edge of the entrance, his rifle out and aimed slightly to Six's right side away from her head. Their eyes locked and although she was terrified, Gorobets' reassuring gaze helped to steady her. If she was taken down, he'd make sure the night stalker paid the same price with its life.

With a final deep inhale and several puffs of air as it exhaled, the night stalker turned around and lay down in its makeshift nest a couple of feet away from Six's legs. Taking a silent gasp of air, Six slowly crawled towards Gorobets and they quickly found their way back outside.

"That… that was close", Gorobets panted when they stepped outside the mouth of the cave. Six was shivering with fright, amazed that she had survived an encounter with a night stalker.

"That was probably a juvenile", she gulped, "We better scat before mom comes back". The sniper nodded and took the lead, carefully navigating their descent to level ground again. It wasn't until they were away from danger and perilous heights that Six noticed Gorobets' buttocks were visible. She burst out in a fit of laughter watching him walk in front of her. Her reaction made the sniper turn around in surprise, a dumbfounded look on his face.

"What?" he cocked his head to the side, "What's so funny?"

"You… Your", Six gasped, trying to catch her breath, "Your ass is hanging out!" she whooped.

Gorobets turned a vivid shade of red, glancing over his back and patting his combat trousers. When he found that the rip spanned across his entire buttocks, revealing a 'full moon', he couldn't help laughing either.

"I guess this was a bad day to go commando", he chuckled, sending Six over the edge. She collapsed on the floor clutching her sides, tears streaming down her face. Finally, the tension and anxiety that wound them up tight since they left McCarran was released.

After a hearty laugh, Gorobets helped Six back up on her feet.

"I haven't had a laugh like that in years", he chuckled.

"Neither have I" Six wiped tears out of her eyes, "Oh, I laughed so hard I cried".

"I'm glad I could amuse you", he smiled, "So, shall we head back to McCarran?"

Six nodded in agreement, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"I'm right behind you".


Of all the things that could have happened in his journey to the Mojave to meet with the Elder of Hidden Valley, this was by far the worst. Death? This topped death, though it would have been a close second. Not only was Danse stranded in the Mojave, he had witnessed the unthinkable: the NCR and Brotherhood brokering a peace treaty… And he was stuck here, with them. He was so engrossed in his own thoughts of the situation that he didn't notice one of the Scribes standing in front of him, head cocked to one side and an expression of pure boredom on his face.

"What?" Danse asked.

"Wondering when you're going to stop sulking", Ibsen replied.

Danse glared at him, "What I do, or don't do, is none of your concern".

The scribe shrugged and sat down next to him.

'Great, just what I needed', Danse thought, exasperated by the Scribe's determination to pester him.

"I know you're not from around here and this is probably a long shot, but I'm all out of ideas. I need a fresh pair of eyes. Have you ever seen something like this", the scribe loaded up a holotape with what looked like random bits of code and showed it to Danse.

"No", Danse answered automatically, wanting nothing more than for the scribe to go away, but as the Scribe sighed in frustration and got up to leave, Danse saw something on the screen that caught his eye.

"Wait!" he reached up at the PipBoy, pulling it back down to his eye level and focused intently on the familiar line of code that he and Nora had come across a couple of years ago when they were working to bring down the Institute, "This command is familiar. It was used by an insidious organisation in Boston that called themselves the Institute".

The scribe's expression turned to confusion, "The… Institute?"

"We need to take this to your Elder right away!" Danse stood up and made a bee line out of the cramped accommodations with the Scribe's PipBoy in hand and Ibsen following right behind.

For days he'd tried to reason with them, almost to the point of begging to take his vertibird and fly back to the Commonwealth to his own people, only to be denied, detained, and treated with even more suspicion. With this new evidence, they had to let him go. He was the only one with the knowledge and ability to help with whatever project this scribe was working on. They'd have to listen to him now.


"Manny… Manny! Wake up!" a woman's voice spoke urgently, "Come on God damn it!"

Manny tried to open his eyes. Somehow this one simple task seemed more difficult than it should be, but slowly his eyelids parted a few millimetres and his vision strained into focus. Although his vision was hazy, he could see a silhouette of a woman hovering over him and behind her a dark sky.

"Hey! Hey, stay with me, you hear?" she said, though it sounded more like an order. How did she know his name? Was she a field medic, an NCR soldier, or someone he had been familiar with before he was abducted? He tried to answer "Yes ma'am" but what came out was an unintelligible murmur. He felt something pierce the skin on his arm with a sharp sting, but didn't resist. There was something about her voice that sounded familiar. What happened next all seemed like a dream. He felt himself being lifted and propped on top of something. Whatever it was, it was alive, and it stank to high heavens. Drifting in and out of consciousness he could see only the dark sky, the light of the stars flickering down at him. He had been clinging on to dear life for so long, suffered physical and emotional trauma and torture, that now that he was saved by this woman he felt elated. His purpose was clear: he was going to get through this. He was going to get back on his feet and, when he did, he would find the son of a bitch that did this to him.