Author's Note

I do apologize for taking such a long break from this story, but I am in a summer class that eats all my free time. However, it will be finishing up soon enough and I should have updates more frequently. As always don't be afraid to tell me what you liked and didn't like about this chapter and the story in general.

Chapter 11: Intervention and Introspection

July 7th, 2283

Mojave-South of Nipton

Ulysses knelt on one knee atop a hill to the south of the field where Lia was making her stand against the raider gang. He observed the scene with mild interest through the scope of his DKS-501 sniper rifle. The young woman was not faring well, but he had not expected she would, after all this was not her test.

It was with disappointment that he disengaged the safety and lined up his first target. Mobius had disappointed him this time, probably busy with some useless experiment as always, never the less he needed this girl to live. Just as he was about to bury a .308 caliber bolt of lead into the head of the Jackal closest to Lia, a flash of green light interrupted his concentration. Standing alone in the center of the field was a single man, sporting a set of strange grey armor.

Ulysses relaxed his grip on the weapon and lowered the barrel. He smiled as he switched from the gun to a pair of scouting binoculars—perhaps the doctor hadn't failed him after all.

The sudden burst of sunlight was a stark contrast to the pale green light of the forbidden zone dome, and the quick change caught Neu by surprise. He stumbled about aimlessly for a few seconds and tripped over the metal body of a destroyed car. A pair of hands grabbed his left arm and shoulder and quickly pulled him over the hood of the vehicle, where he landed with a thump on the ground.

Quickly following his landing were the Ping!'s of 9mm bullets striking the side of the car. Neu's vision returned to him and he looked to his left to see a young woman, with brilliant red hair that fell to just above her shoulders and wearing light leather armor over her pale skin, sitting with her back against the metal barrier. In her hand was an old-fashioned colt style revolver which, while fancy looking, looked to be of little use in a fight.

Neu's soldier instincts took over at that point and he pushed aside the questions of where he was and who the woman whom he assumed pulled him to cover was, and for that matter why it was she was being attacked. All that mattered was someone had taken shots at him with the intent to kill, and that would simply not be tolerated.

He swiftly unholstered his assault rifle and grabbed a frag grenade from the loops on his belt. He tossed the grenade over the car towards the sound of the raiders, who were cackling at the sight of their prey cowering. The laughs of delight turned to yelps of panic and a small explosion rocked the Drive-in.

Without hesitation Neu took advantage of the distraction to stand and locate the remaining enemies. 20 yards in front of him three gang members stood, weapons drawn. Beside them were the miscellaneous body parts of their former partners, strewn about by the blast in a bloody mess.

Neu raised his gun and let out two short volleys of fire. Two of the thugs dropped to the ground, dead or soon to be, while the third turned tail and ran. The cowardly criminal even dropped his weapon in his panic.

Neu would have liked to give chase but he decided that the woman, who'd likely saved him at the very least a great deal of pain by dragging him to cover, was more deserving of his attention than some thug.

Ulysses watched all of this go on from his hilltop view. He was pleased with the quick thinking and combat prowess of the young soldier. Perhaps they had a chance in this after all he thought as he raised his own rifle. A muffled blast was the only sound that was made as he took off the head of the final Jackal in fine red mist.

The strange man put away the weapon and turned away from the scene, back to the East to continue his search.

July 10th, 2283

Camp McCarran

Jim stood out in the fields enjoying the last of the sun's rays before it would disappear over the horizon. He was happy out here on his family's ranch, tilling the soil and caring for their livestock. Any visitor from the Mojave would be astounded by the farm.

Instead of the arid, irradiated sands of Nevada here in Shady sands the ground was fertile and yielded bountiful harvests. Everything was far from perfect, as it would be anywhere. But in comparison to the bleak outlook of life in the east, the west's minute problems of the occasional small gang of raiders or brood of rad scorpions didn't seem nearly as bad.

Jim dug into the soil, enjoying the feeling of the earth moving as he slid the blade of his hoe through it. He'd always liked to farm, but he had grown restless in the past year. The safety was great, but he felt trapped, confined to a life of farming and monotony.

So earlier that month he'd volunteered to help the cause out west, to help fight with the NCR against the "Devils of the East" as the locals had taken to calling them. Jim wasn't entirely clear on who those devils were, but if it meant seeing more of the world than these fields and the Shady Shores market then he would do it.

He sighed as he looked over the land one last time then, as the last of the light disappeared over the mountains in the west, he walked back towards his family's small country house.

"Is he awake?"

"No, he'll be out for a while longer."

Jim could hear two voices talking, though he was in no condition to look up to find out to whom they belonged. Agony filled his body, radiating from the leg he'd broken in the fight with Cook-cook. The voices came back to him again, fading in like a faint radio station, and he caught a few more bits of the conversation.

"…Only one who came back…"

"...Nephi and Cook-cook…"

"…Whole squad of Securitrons…"

Jim decided to leave the conversationalists to their talk and let himself fade back into a drugged oblivion.

8:00 PM July 7th, 2283

Wolfhorn Ranch

Lia stretched herself out on the lone mattress in the small metal shack, having just woken up from a short nap. Light from the stars outside shone in from the holes in the thin roof, and she was glad that rain was a rare occurrence in the Mojave. She looked around the dingy cabin for any sign of her traveling partner, but he was not in the building, though the guns and armor piled into one of the rusty lockers in the far corner suggested he was still nearby. She slowly pulled herself off the bed to her feet, the springs complaining as her weight shifted, and headed out the door.

Outside Neu was crouched down around a fire pit, above which he'd constructed a makeshift cooking rack. Hanging from the rack were skewers of vegetables, cooking over a bed of smoldering coals. He'd set all of this up at the bottom of a steep hill on which the shack stood.

In front of her was a walkway, constructed of metal piping, old frayed ropes, and bits of wood and metal sheeting that Lia supposed was meant to serve as a walkway down the relatively steep face. However she was mistrustful of the rickety construction and chose to take the shallower slope down the hill to the far right. It detour was a bit of a hike, but well worth the assurance of not suffering from a broken bone or other such injury.

Along the bottom of the hill to the east of Neu's setup were the dried up remains of a garden. Soil boxes, now filled with dust and the decayed husks and trunks of various wasteland plants littered ground. Closer to the fire was a large water pump that looked as if it might still run, but Lia had no experience with such a thing and choose to let it be.

Neu made no indication of acknowledgement to her presence even as she took a seat across from him at the fire. The vegetables were giving off an enticing aroma and Lia realized she'd not eaten anything since breakfast that day. Her partner continued to stare at the fire, lost in his own thoughts.

"Did you build all this?" She asked, trying to coax any sort of conversation from the pale man. He didn't respond, which was about what she was expecting. In their short time of traveling together the only time he'd addressed her was to ask if she was alright following their shootout with the Vipers. And even then he'd kept his speaking to a minimum. She only knew his name, Neu, and that he was looking for Ulysses.

She had of course recognized the name immediately, something she thought he'd been happy to hear but couldn't quite tell. The only other communication she'd received from him was a furious shaking of his head when she told him that she was going to head south, and a slight nod when asked if he would like to travel with her back north to New Vegas, where he could try to find what he was looking for.

"Why go south." Neu said in a voice so quiet Lia barely heard it over the crackling of the coals. He repeated the question to her, staring intently into her eyes. "Why do you want to go south?"

"I, well, I guess it just seemed like the thing to do. There is no home up north, not anymore." She answered. Neu's gaze never broke and he continued to stare at her expectantly. She reluctantly continued he was after all heavily armed and much more skillful a fighter than she. "Well, alright I'll tell you. There are rumors around about a crater in the mountains between here and California; travelers call it the Big Empty. Supposedly inside is enough Pre-war tech to make 20 men richer and more powerful than House ever was."

There was silence and Neu broke his stare, much to Lia's relief. The strange man stared into the coals for a while longer before speaking again.

"That place exists. It is hell, do not go there."

"You've been there?"

"Yes. Barely made it out. Better no one ever goes there." He said all this in a grave tone, again staring he in the eyes. This time however he seemed to be staring past her, lost in his memories.

"What about the tech, is it really there?" Lia questioned excitedly. "Surely nothing can be much worse than the Mojave. And the price on all that pre-war technology is…"

She finished trailing off for effect. Her question earned her a glare from Neu.

"It is Hell. Coyotes twice the size of a grey wolf, with the fangs and venom of a rattlesnake, hornets larger than a man and just as vicious as they were before, and metal scorpions that appear out of nothing and attack in hordes. Those are just the horrors on the surface." He said. It was the most Lia had ever heard him speak at one time. "If you wish to throw away your life then you may, but I refuse to help you. I will leave at sunup for Las Vegas, with or without you."

And with that final sentence he grabbed a skewer off of the rack with one gloved hand and stormed back up the hill. Lia did not follow him, instead she contemplated his words. He'd described Nightstalkers and Cazadors pretty damned well, though it was as if he'd never seen them before.

Lia continued to muse over the strange situation as she ate the vegetables off of the remaining skewers. By the time the fire had burnt itself out she still had not drawn an answer to whether she should continue with him, or find her own way to the Big Empty and the treasures it stored. Vowing to sleep on it she backtracked around the path to the shanty house.

When she opened the door she expected to find Neu asleep on the bed, but instead found herself alone in the cabin. Neu's armor was still in the locker, but his rifle was missing as well as the belt of ammunition and grenades he kept with him. She shrugged it off and fell asleep almost immediately, oblivious to the world.

Lia woke with a start, unsure of what had broken her slumber. Light was just beginning to peak in through the small holes in the ceiling, but the room was still quite dark. She flicked on the lamp and its one incandescent bulb flickered a bit before steadying into a dim glow.

The light was illuminating enough for her to see that Neu's armor was missing from the locker. Perhaps his departure had caused her to wake, she mused. Regardless she searched the storage space for any sign that he may not have left. All the found was a single Stealth Boy in the back corner of the locker.

While Lia had never used, or even seen such an object this close before she did recognize it. Mercenaries often used the rare devices and would sell them for much more than she could ever afford to pay. So she pocketed the device, think at the least she'd make enough off of it for a month's worth of food and water. Seeing no point in staying Lia stepped outside the shack into the early morning air.

Outside the air was a dry as always, and quiet; strangely so in fact. Lia walked around the bend towards the shallow sloping hill to the makeshift camp ground below, and further down the hill the road that lead to Novac in the west. Then she saw something that stopped her mid stride.

Lying on his back in a long abandoned sentry tower, perched on a hill even further up that the shack was a long figure dressed in a metallic suit. Her heart raced and she felt relief; from the second she realized his things were gone she'd made up her mind that she wanted to travel with the man. He was a great fighter and if her expertly realigned shoulder was any indication at least a capable medic.

Lia bounded up the hill towards him, thinking him asleep, wanting to surprise him and perhaps get him to converse a bit while he was off-balance. However when she reached the sentry tower entrance something completely different happened.

The Asian man was not asleep at all and reached up and dragged her to the ground on top of him with lightning quick speed. Lia was shocked and confused for a moment at the sudden gesture. Then his reasoning became apparent a half-second latter when three bullets slammed into the sandbags that provided the walls of their structure. Sand began to pour out slowly to the floor and Neu cursed in a language Lia had never heard.

He gave her a glance and she rolled off of him and lay down on the ground beside him. She pulled out Lucky, her .357 Magnum Revolver, from the holster Neu had given her the previous day. It was meant for a larger gun, but would hold the weapon securely enough. As she was pulling out the weapon there was a clatter of metal on metal. Both Lia and Neu looked towards the source of the sound and saw the Stealth Boy she'd pick up only minutes before.

Neu's eyes widened and the first sign of happiness he'd displaced so far broke across his face in the shape of a sly smile. She paced the device to him and he inserted it into a slot on the chest of his suit.

The action confused Lia, who hoped that his improved demeanor was a good sign rather than an indication that he'd simply lost his mind. Her mind started to lean towards the latter when he pushed his Assault Rifle into her arms and pointed over the bags.

"More Vipers. Four of them. Heavy armed, 10mm auto's at the least." He explained hastily, also pointing towards the direction of their attackers. Not that Lia needed the last bit of information; the cackles of sadistic laughter coming from the south-east were unmistakable. She attempted to hand him the rifle back, but he shook his head and pointed to the gun, her, then back out towards the insane gang of raiders. "I will flank them. When I leave count to three, then let out a few burst of fire towards the yelling. After that wait. And keep you damn head down!"

Lia nodded that she understood his plan. However, she thought that he was insane. If he left those bandits would tear him to ribbons within seconds, armor or not. Still if that was what he wanted then she would do it. She turned away for a second to position herself and when she turned back to wish him good luck Neu had disappeared. Suddenly his plan dawned on her; of course, the Stealth Boy!

After waiting a few seconds she raised the rifle above the line of sand bags and fired blindly towards the sound of the Vipers. Bullets roared out of the weapon with much more speed and fire than she would have imagined and Lia almost dropped the weapon. Managing to secure the firearm at the last second she leaned up against the bags, waiting for any of them try to enter her bunker.

The gleeful cheering had turned into panicked yelping for a moment when Lia discharged the rifle, but after the hail of bullets failed to land a blow anywhere near the gang they reverted to the maniac sounds, with even more gusto than before. They were close now, enough that she could hear the click of magazine cartridges locking into place. Her grip on Neu's weapon tightened as she tried to calm her nerves.

Before the gang of killers could come into her line of fire four small blasts rang out. Lia recognized them as pistol shots and shortly after the blasts came the sound of bodies hitting the ground. She poked her head over the sandbags just in time to see Neu reappear holding a 9mm Berretta hand pistol. He gave him a smile, to which he simply nodded, and walked down the ramp towards so they could plan their next move.