The Sunday morning after Carla returned was the day they were to depart for Hoover Dam. Everybody was required to have a full night of sleep, so the suite was full of sleeping bodies in random places throughout. Arcade used to sleep beside Boone, but since he started openly staying in Carla's room he refused to sleep beside Raul, so the ghoul slept on the couch in the lounge with a deactivated ED-E on the floor beside him. Cass and Veronica became something of an item, so they were accustomed to sleeping together in the same bed. Lily slept on the kitchen floor, claiming all the cushions from throughout the suite as what she called her piecey bed. Boone slept with Carla, and Rex was at the foot of the bed. Never once before was the presidential suite at the Lucky 38 completely asleep.

They all left in the wee hours of the morning, everybody completely prepared for the bloody battle that waited for them in the next couple of hours. All of them were prepared to die to prevent the Legion from claiming the Mojave.


"Let's head to Novac before going to the Dam." The courier announced to her entourage.

Everyone else besides Boone and Carla were underprepared regarding weapons and weren't wearing appropriate armour.

They followed their young leader into the suite closest to the gate on the second floor of the motel, and all of them were shocked at what they found inside of the room. Weapons lined the walls, a mountain of caps sat on the bed, alcohol tightly populated the shelves of the room, tools and fancy clothes were neatly arranged in the room.

"Everybody grab a set of reinforced leather armour, except for you Lily, and I'll give you the weapons I want you to take and gear you up myself." Courier clapped her hands and beckoned for Lily to follow her to the bathroom.

Cass piped up. "What is this place, Courier?" Even after months of knowing her name, Cass still refused to call her by it. Carla didn't mind though, it was comforting in fact.

She murmured forwardly as she was focussed with the task at hand. "After the battle I'm going to let you all take whatever you want from here." She pulled out some thick metal plating from the bathroom that were warped enough to be used as armour. Carla began suiting up Lily as everybody else put their armour on.

"Boone, grab that Anti-Materiel Rifle and take whatever you can from the box labelled .50. There are explosive, incendiary and armour piercing rounds in there." Boone did as he was told, and found that even he was impressed with what she managed to get a hold of.

"Now grab that broad machete, Boone."

She finished suiting up Lily and then pulled a rebar club out of the bathroom. "This is called the Nuka-Breaker, Lily."

"How creative Jimmy. Leo likes it a lot."

"Raul grab that fire axe and the .45 on the table. That gun is very special. Cass take that brush gun and take a machete. Aracde, you get a machete as well and uh..." She had trouble finding her next words, "...there's a weird lookin' blaster in the dresser."

Arcade opened the drawer she pointed to, and inside there were laser pistols, plasma pistols and plasma defenders, as well as a few pistol-style energy weapons he couldn't name. But one of them looked very different than the rest and even emanated a strange mist about it. He pulled it out with pinched fingers, looking confused and unsure while holding it far away from his body.

"What is this?" He quizzically asked.

"I dunno. I think aliens made it." Carla smiled childishly, but in all truth she had no idea what the weapon really was either.

"So you're sending me to fight with an... alien blaster?"

"Yeah."

Arcade rolled his eyes and holstered the strangely designed weapon. The courier grabbed one more thing from the bathroom and handed it to Veronica. It was a displacer glove.

"A displacer glove?" Veronica looked stunned as she poked around at the weapon.

"Just like Caesar's. Only better." Carla winked cheekily before grabbing stimpacks from the numerous first aid kits.

"Everybody gets about five stimpacks. Arcade and I will carry extra if anybody needs more or gets hurt. We're splitting into two groups. Boone and I will be the leaders. While I think up your groups, take your ammo and reload your weapons."

Boone flinched, but it was to be expected that he would be placed with the responsibility of group leader. Travelling in a large group would end in tragedy anyways, and it would be very inefficient against a large foe, especially in the narrow corridors of the dam.

"Raul and Veronica will come with me. I'll be taking Rex, while Boone takes Lily, Arcade, Cass and ED-E. Everybody stick together the best you can. We'll split up in the lower dam, and avoid the surface because the boomers will be carpet bombing the place for me." Everyone moved into their according group, then shortly after they departed for the dam.


Upon arrival, the dam was bustling with fighting energy. Khans flooded in through the south, taking punishment from NCR and Legion alike until not a single one was standing; it was a painful sight. Veteran legionaries with their decanus leaders strut over NCR trooper bodies, slicing their throats to ensure they were dead, while the Lady in the Water pelted the dam with explosives.

Through his scope, Boone could see that the NCR was having trouble holding them off on the other side of the dam. Carla's group went first to his dismay, and he wasn't alone on that feeling. Raul and Veronica looked as if they were marching to their deaths with the young courier leading them to a oneway route to the gallows, but they looked more determined than he had ever seen.

Courier brought a unique carbine with her for the attack, along with a super sledge that Raul was sure she couldn't handle correctly. Boone began picking off legionaries blocking the entrance to the dam, and Cass assisted him in doing so.

They entered the building, which was Boone's group's cue to leave the vantage point. Lily ran ahead with Arcade and ED-E, while Boone and Cass stuck together.

"Why can't I go with Arcade? You're a tough guy." Cass grumbled. She hadn't gotten over how he carried her all the way to Novac.

"You're a woman. If Lily and Arcade can't protect you, you'll be taken as a slave." Boone coldly said.

Cass withdrew and began to reload, rolling her eyes. He looked at her from the corner of his shades with a smirk.

"Plus, I need some cover."

Cass' expression lightened up. They followed the rest of their group from a distance. In the lobby, there was a group of dead legionaries on the ground, their bodies picked clean of anything of value. A trademark for that courier, but they lacked every other sign that she killed them. Their wounds didn't have the signature bite marks Carla enjoyed so much, instead their skulls were crushed and their bodies had extreme hemorrhaging. None of the troops or rangers in the area had such a large weapon and they all looked stunned.

"It looks like they were killed with a super sledge." Arcade matter-of-a-factly said. He looked as puzzled as the rest of them did.

"None of these troopers have super sledges. Only Carla took a blunt weapon." He pushed up his glasses as everybody besides Lily exchanged bewildered glances. Lily just looked smug and proud of her Jimmy.

"What the fuck." Cass nonchalantly said.

"Let's go." Boone beckoned for them to follow him to the lower levels.

On the balcony overlooking the dam's lower area, the group had a great view of the bloodshed that was happening below. Beheaded NCR rangers lay on the floor, while dead legionary bodies resembled bloody swiss cheese. More and more troops on both sides flooded in, passionately fighting for their beliefs.

"Arcade, Lily, take the robot and head downstairs. Look for Carla if you can. Cass and I will cover you once you get down there." Boone instructed as he began picking off legionaries once again. He wondered what the courier was doing as Cass buckled down beside him, keeping an eye on both the doors if the enemy decided to flank them.


Carla was wondering what Boone was doing. A part of her wanted him to see what she was doing, but he was the second most skilled in her entourage. He had to lead the other group, plus he had the other red beret. It was only suitable. Raul and Veronica were stunned at the amount of skill she accumulated in the past two months. They only fought together on rare occasions, and even they couldn't get over how unskilled and clumsy she was. Now she was doing all the work and rushing ahead of everyone, senselessly barging into battle like she was untouchable.

And she was. She swung the super sledge with a fierce might that Veronica and Raul had never witnessed with her before. Before the legionaries could get close, she smashed their machetes right out of their hands and broke their arms in the progress. The legionaries with guns were the only ones Raul had to deal with, and anybody who fled felt the wrath of the displacer fist Veronica was given.

"You make me feel old, Boss." Raul called out after he shot a legionary before he could raise his varmint rifle. "I can't believe you're doing this."

"Let's just say I went through some intense training when I was gone." As she wiped the soft, bruised flesh off her chest plate, Carla regrouped with her companions. Rex was busy making sure the legionaries were dead. Veronica adjusted her hood and Raul rubbed at a gunshot wound on his bicep.

"After we patch you up, let's head for the next area. I don't think they're coming here anymore." The courier took a scalpel out of her pack and dug the slug out of his arm, then wrapped it up and injected him with a stimpack.

"Gee Boss, is there anything you can't do?"

"No. I'm pretty good at everything now." She winked and Veronica chuckled at her remark.

They headed to the next area, where Carla had planned to flush out the legionaries in the turbines to cripple their assault on the dam. They fought off anybody on their way to the terminal, and the courier instructed Raul and Veronica to block the staircase and cover her as she activated the system.

But as she reached the top of the staircase, a Centurion stood in front of the destroyed terminal. He was armed with a bumper sword, and he was much taller than most people she knew. He callously turned to face her and had a sickening grin plastered across his face.

"Well, well, well. Looks like we were one step ahead of the non-commissioned NCR asset." He jested as he pulled his bumper sword off his back.

"That just means my friends and I can annihilate more of you bastards face to face." She tightened her grip on the super sledge and prepared to charge at him as he advanced on her. Shots were being fired in her direction and she could hear the distinct pop of Raul's .45 frantically trying to advert their attention to him.

A bullet dug into her side, but Carla kept going. She swung at him, but he didn't even stumble when her blow landed. She jumped back and braced herself for his blow, and as the bumper sword came plummeting down to smack her, she could barely keep her footing when it made impact.

She grunted and the Centurion began to laugh as he swung at her again from the side, this time the impact drove her into the wall and down to her knees.

'Fuck.'

Before he could hit her again, the courier whipped out a switchblade from her chest sheath and swiftly jammed it into an exposed area beneath his knee. He yowled, but the bumper sword continued making it's way down at her. The blunt blade hit her side once again, knocking the wind out of her and she started to bleed. The knife served as an appropriate diversion, because he stumbled backwards and his blow was a lot less forceful than before. She slid out of the way and against the wall to regain her bearings, and readied her weapon once again.

Veronica was already running to help her out while Raul was finishing off the last of this wave with Rex running into the battle, making sure their foes were dead by tearing at their throats.

Veronica pulled her fist back and charged it into his lower back, the blue sparks of energy rendering him crippled on contact. He sank to the floor, sputtering blood and spewing blasphemy with his last breaths.

"It's too late... Hoover Dam is ours. Your efforts were in... vain..! You will be executed in the most pai..nful of matters! You are... You are already dead!" The Centurion choked out his last words as he sank to the ground, and Carla raised the super sledge high above her head, then drove it down to the floor to end his banter.

"This is probably the best weapon I've ever used." Veronica enthusiastically mused after the execution.

Raul read the troubled expression easily on her face while Veronica seemed oblivious. "What's bothering you, Boss? You hurt?"

"Yeah, I got shot." She furrowed her brow. "But that's not what's bothering me," Carla pointed at the destroyed terminal, "that's the terminal I was supposed to use to destroy the majority of the legion forces," she pointed at the dead Centurion, whose brains were scattered across the metal platform, "he blew it up before we got here."

Raul and Veronica's demeanour shifted to a pessimistic outlook, and Rex folded his ears back.

"We can do this. Boone and the others are good at killing things." Veronica tried to lighten the situation. "How much of them could there be, anyways?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Come on, let's go find some NCR troops to help out." The courier felt uneasy as she led them to another area. The ground shook as the Boomers began their strike, and she began to feel reassured.

'I have a lot of help. Everything will be fine.'


Boone and Cass killed off the final few legionaries that the rest of their group couldn't reach. The three of them stood together in the middle of the room, and Boone called out to them.

"We're coming down now. Wait there."

When they regrouped, Cass greedily grabbed Arcade's arm and inspected his weapon.

"What the hell is this freaky thing?"

"I don't know, and I don't feel very safe using it. But if it works I guess I can't complain." Arcade pulled the weapon away from her and tucked it into the leather armour's holster.

The ground began to rumble and everything started to shake with the accompanying sound of explosions on the surface of the dam. The surviving NCR troopers began to leave the area, and Boone started following them.

"Legionaries are coming in massive amounts through the waterway. They can't be stopped." Hopeless NCR troops murmured amongst themselves as they advanced through the dam. Boone cringed at the pessimism, then realized how much his courier companion had rubbed off on him. He let out a soft, low snicker beneath his breath as he checked out the anti-materiel rifle Carla gave to him. Arcade noticed the slight laugh and made a quiet exclamation.

Cass was walking with Lily, while Arcade stuck close to Boone for a sense of security. ED-E hung around the middle of the group, making whirrs and the odd clunk as it hovered. Though the eyebot was repaired and upgraded, it was still broken in some parts and some work still had to be done.

Before they knew it, the shooting began and they were once again plummeted into battle.

Boone pulled out the rifle and took cover at the doorway into the next area. ED-E stuck close to him while everybody else went into the turbine room, giving their best against the next wave of legionaries.

But there seemed to be more than expected this time, and no matter how much NCR troops there were helping them, the group was outnumbered.

'No. We can do this.' Boone thought, disregarding the safety of those trusted to him.

He loaded the explosive rounds and began aiming for the high ranked legionaries. Centurions, Vexillarius, Primes, Decanus, he aimed to destroy formation and scatter the lowly ranked cattle for the slaughter. Lily charged in swinging violently, overpowering and knocking down everything and every legionary that came in her vicinity, leaving bruised and broken forms crumpled on the cement floor. The nightkin was clearing them out with ease, and the plates of metal Carla tied to her seemed to be more efficient than expected.

Arcade and Cass stood against a wall, shooting wildly at anybody Boone or Lily didn't get to. Their support fire was useful, but they seemed to be the least skilled of the group. They were better than Carla in the beginning though, and that was what counted. ED-E supplied Boone with useful cover from threats that aimed for him.

As much as they wanted to believe that they were winning, the bodies of NCR troops piled upon the bodies of legionaries as more legionaries poured in through the tunnels. Lily was being surrounded and shot at relentlessly as she gathered most of the attention from the opposition, while Cass seemed to be struggling a lot more than before. Arcade wore a concerned grimace as he shot away. They were terribly outnumbered, and Boone decided something he didn't want to.

"Fall back! I don't want any of you dying on my watch!"

Usually he was foolhardy as a deathclaw, but watching the others struggle was a sign they had to stop. The sniper attempted to clear a way for Lily to escape through as he motioned for Cass and Arcade to come in through the door.

Cass was wounded badly upon closer inspection. The armour around her stomach was pierced by a shotgun blast and she was limping. Arcade helped her with walking and Boone noticed that Lily hadn't noticed his call to retreat.

He began shooting more frantically before the super mutant turned to the door and started to shout at them.

"Grandma Lily can handle this. Make sure Jimmy is safe, kids."

Boone nodded and closed the door, accepting Lily's request for them to escape. The last glimpse he caught of Lily was her batting away at the legionaries, and her weapon fell out of her grasp as their attack became more vicious. He shuddered and pulled himself away from the door. He wasn't going to let her sacrifice be in vain. Arcade and Cass were running ahead and Boone followed them, taking note of the trail of blood Cass was leaving behind.

They ran through several different corridors before Cass couldn't handle the exertion anymore. The trail of blood could lead anybody to them, and Boone felt that she was weighing him down.

"Where's Lily?" Arcade asked, but it was obvious he knew the answer, so Boone didn't respond. Cass began to sulk and Arcade's expression sank into hopelessness.

"Shit. I need a drink." Cass leaned against Arcade, heaving for air. Arcade didn't seem to be faring well either, but he seemed to be more mentally damaged than anything. With the woman bleeding out slowly in his arms, Boone cruelly decided they were both unfit to help him out.

"Gannon, do you think you can carry her somewhere safe so you can patch her up?" Boone crossed his arms, looking Cass over.

"She can't go any longer. She's done for if she does."

Arcade replied, "Yeah. I can take her somewhere to hide."

"Make sure there's no blood or else their mongrels will sniff you out." Boone rested his rifle on his shoulder as Arcade scooped up the curvy woman with trouble. She scoffed in a daze induced from her injuries.

"More carrying, huh? Shoulda seen it coming."

"What about you, Boone?" Arcade asked as he adjusted her body in his arms.

"I'm going to find Carla. Take the robot, it'll only blow my cover and you'll need it more than me."

Arcade nodded. "Good luck."

Boone returned the gesture and left them to find the courier.

As he silently jogged through the corridors, Boone followed the sounds of gunshots as stealthily as he could. He couldn't afford to be caught, he had to be as sneaky as possible or else he would be surrounded and share the same fate as Lily. He felt on edge and nearly naked in the battle on his own, with only his skill and intuition to keep him from being completely vulnerable. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and unsheathed the broad machete Carla let him use.

He crouched and began the hunt.

A single legionary was holding an area, callously jingling the dogtags of fallen troops by his hand. Contempt grew inside of him as he crept up behind the legionary and rage was released when Boone cupped his hand around their mouth and slid the thick, blackened blade across their abdomen. The only sound was the splatter of viscera on the plated floor.

Boone glared into the legionary's eyes as the last signs of life escaped him and felt nothing as the life of another fleeted away in his arms.

Nothing was a good feeling.

He continued picking them off, mercilessly slicing away at their crimson until their stifled screams for help diminished to gasps for mercy. Boone took no trophies for his kills, the numb satisfaction was enough for him to enjoy. He did not defile their bodies after death because his savage approach on slaying them already left their corpses unrecognizable. He held a very strong vendetta against the Legion, which only grew stronger after witnessing what they had done to the courier named Carla at Bitter Springs.

He got so caught up in stealthily picking off the legionaries he came across that he didn't notice he was being tracked by somebody. With his hands covered in blood, both figuratively and literally, Boone became blissfully ignorant to anything but finding and killing legionary troops until he found his young companion. His pursuer followed just as cautiously as Boone proceeded, keeping an eye out and making sure they weren't discovered. The man in the red beret was crouched around a corner when he heard creaky shuffling from the way he came, so he readied his blade with vicious intent.

Crack

Boone whipped around the corner with the blade raised high above his head. He stared down at the person who had been following him, taking deep, heavy breaths from the excitement of the kill. Milky blue eyes stared up at him, and the moustached man flinched in utter fear.

The man instinctively whispered, "Calme mi amigo!"

Raul held his hands up to show he was no threat to Boone, and the ex-first recon sniper lowered his blade. He crouched down and beckoned Raul to follow him back to a room where he disposed of a body. They closed the door behind them.

"What are you doing here?" Boone wiped his hands on the leather armour he was wearing.

Raul avoided looking at him. "We couldn't flush out the Legion through the piping because the terminal was broken."

Boone waited for the rest because Raul appeared to be shaken.

"Boss led us to a maintenance tunnel so we could get to the Legate's camp faster. But before we got there some son of a bitch threw a flash grenade at us."

A heavy feeling started to build up in Boone's gut. He began to feel nauseated because he already knew the rest of what Raul had to say.

"They took her and Veronica to the Legate's camp. They killed Rex right in front of her and they made her watch or else they'd shoot me."

"Why did they let you go?" Boone got up and sheathed the machete.

"They told me to find you and take you to the legate."

"Were you followed?"

"No. When they let me go I killed as much of them as I could then made a run for it." Raul slowly stood up and stepped beside Boone. "What are we gonna do?"

"We're going to rescue her." Said Boone.