The Mojave Shadow

Chapter Eight: Where it Hits Home

As we walked up to the gate of the NCR Capital, I brought up my rifle and looked at the barrel again. The bullet was sticking out a bit, and I tried pulling it out and digging it out with my knife. But I knew that the barrel would need replacing. We stopped at the gate until the guard gave the 'okay' to have it open. "Welcome back, soldiers." The guard told us. "Good to be back." Replied Regi. As we walked into the city, Regi suggested that we all get drinks. I figure I might as well before going to Drew's to see if he could fix my gun.

We headed to the saloon where we were last time. Regi and I sat at the bar, while Ty and Joshua sat in one of the booths. We took off our helmets, Regi's hair was matted down, giving him the need of a new hair do. He simply shuffled his hair and it went back to normal. I didn't need to do such a thing since my hair was kept always at one inch. I looked to my left, there were two customers. They looked like they were having a drink off. The first guy looked to be about in his mid-thirties, a few grey hairs sprouting through his dominant black hair, he wore a grey one piece jumpsuit. The other guy looked as though he were homeless, but young. Figured he was an alcoholic. I watched them as Regi and I ordered our drinks, two whiskeys. The two having the contest were moving up the ladder of stronger drinks with every shot they knocked back. The guy next to me seemed unphased despite all the drinks he had, while the other guy was getting a little shifty. "Hey, Barry!" He said to the bartender. Barry looked up, "Jake Juice." The guy said with a cynical grin. "Aww, damn it Snake Eyes. This is the fifth guy this week." Snake Eyes laughed. "I just want to see if this one will make it." The bartender poured a shot of a clear liquid. "If you can shoot this back without passing out, I'll give you five-hundred dollars. I shit you not." Snake Eyes said, he reached into his pocket and fanned out five one-hundred dollar bills. The guy seemed reinvigorated. He took the glass and in three motions he; One: Knocked back the shot. Two: Face planted onto the bar at almost break-neck speed, and Three: Fell backwards hitting his head on the floor.

Snake Eyes was laughing hysterically right as the guy hit the ground. My eyes went wide, "Holy shit." Regi said as he watched the guy lie motionless on the floor. "Fuuuck, Snake Eyes. It's your fault that these guys never want to drink again." Barry said. "It's your fault that you have that shit for them to drink." He said as his laughter slowly faded. "Whew, its been fun. I gotta go." He got up and laid the cash down for all the shots, paying for the unconscious guy's tab as well. I looked down and saw a small list of places he planned on going all through today. I got a glimpse of his next stop, 'Drew's Final Resort'. Snake Eyes grabbed the list, even though I had all the info I needed. Down by his feet, he picked up a metal briefcase labeled 'supplies' next to the handle. I turned away as he walked out of the saloon.

"Regi, I have a bad feeling about that guy." I told him. "What do you mean? Guy seemed to just want to have a few drinks." Regi replied. "Yeah, but the list that was on the counter said he was going to Drew's place for whatever reason. Lets just check it out, to be sure everything is good, yeah?" I asked him. "Sure." Regi said uncertainly. I went up to Joshua and Ty, Joshua nudging the unconscious guy's head with his boot. "Regi and I are going to check out something, meet us back at the base, but don't talk to Alyas yet." I told them. Ty nodded and Joshua waved me away. I turned to Regi, "Lets go." We put on our helmets and followed Snake Eyes as night drew in. We hid among other NCR security guards, though they didn't question why we did. Snake Eyes seemed relaxed with whatever he planned on delivering to Drew, maybe this was just a goose chase. I eased up and relaxed. "I guess I was wrong." I muttered to Regi. "Well, we might as well go to get your gun fixed since we're headed there, right?" He replied.

We watched as Snake Eyes entered Drew's garage, then we went in a few seconds later. We looked around, no one was there. I figured that they went into the basement, so Regi and I headed downstairs. We got to the bottom and saw him and Drew talking. They used a handshake, most likely something between the two of them. Drew saw us and gave us a wave. Regi and I laid down our helmets and weapons on a table across the basement, then we went to the other side and gave the pistols on the wall a gander.

"So you still on Insta-Juice?" I heard Snake Eyes ask Drew. I was sure he was referring to buffout. I continued to listen as I looked through the guns, "Yeah, still got a bit of a sweet tooth for it." Drew confessed with a chuckle. "Well, I recently came across an abandoned raider camp and found this..." He said as he opened up the briefcase on the table. It had two boxes full of buffout. I glanced at the exchange, Drew's eyes widened in amazement as he picked up a bottle, opened it up and poured five of the pills into his hand. "Well, shit. How much you want for them?" He said with anticipation. "I'll cut you a deal, since we've known each other for so long. Five-hundred NCR dollars... and two boxes of ten-mil rounds." Snake Eyes offered. Drew looked slightly puzzled, by the look of it, Snake Eyes didn't have a 10mm-anything, but Drew wasn't going to turn down a bargain like this. He turned around and reached down under the table and pulled up a bottle of cold beer and a safety deposit box. He popped the pills and washed them down with a chug of the beer and then rummaged through the deposit box counting his cash for the transaction. Snake Eyes however, he took one of the boxes of 10mm rounds on the table and took out a single round, examining it closely. As he did, Snake Eyes looked down at a modded 10mm pistol on the table. "Got a pretty little set up you got here. Looks like you're doing alright." He said as he picked up the 10mm and loaded the round into the chamber. The small metallic CLACK was enough to get Drew's attention. "And little Eva, all grown up..." He pointed the gun at Drew as he turned to face him. Snake Eyes chuckled, "I could sell all this and live like a fucking king forever! As for little Eva over there, lets just say I'll go through with it this time." A raging fire erupted from Drew, "You motherfucker, Jordan. If you're going to do it, you better kill me dead. And do it right the first time." He said with an inferno burning in his eyes. I turned to watch this happen in seconds; Drew launched himself over the table and tackle Snake Eyes to the opposing wall. With his right arm, Drew pinned Snake Eyes against the wall. And with his left tried to wrench the pistol out of Snake Eyes hand. The gun went off, there was a scream, and Eva fell to the ground, wounded at the left shoulder. Regi turned right as he heard the shot and turned to see Eva fall. In unison, Regi and Drew screamed, "YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Drew reached around him, brought out a sawed-off shotgun and shoved both barrels into Snake Eyes' mouth. Regi grabbed the first pistol he saw, a 12.7mm, cocked it and ran up to Snake Eyes cork-screwing the gun into the top left of his forehead. Out of instinct, I too grabbed a pistol, a custom revolver, shoving the barrel into Snake Eyes forehead. I pulled back the hammer of the revolver, it gave a metallic hum, and two green light lit up on the left side. There was three seconds of silence. "Drew, Regi. Get Eva to the doctor, I'll take care of Jordan." They both hesitated, they lowered their weapons and went to Eva's aid. "You don't even know me and you're going to kill me?!" He yelled at me. "I don't have to know you to know that you're scum." I said calmly. "Now get out." Snake Eyes replied by spitting in my face. I wiped off the mucous from my face. "Bad move." I kneed him in the stomach, and as he fell, I flipped over the revolver and slammed the grip into the left side of his face. He spit up a stream of blood. "Drew, I hope you won't miss this guy." I said without turning to him. "He's planned this before, but never went through with it 'til now. He can burn in Hell." He told me as he picked up Eva with little effort. I reached into my back pocket and pulled up a stimpak, I handed it to Regi as they passed me and went upstairs. "Lets have a little talk, Jordan." I said as I gripped the back of his collar of his jumpsuit and dragged him up the stairs.

I tossed him against the dumpster behind the garage. "Was it worth it?" I asked him as I checked to make sure the gun was actually loaded. The gun had a motorized cylinder and crane for quicker shooting and reloading than a typical revolver. The gun was full, so I pressed the ejection lever again and it closed on its own. "Getting high on Rocket, and trying to rob my best friend with the added intention to rape his sister, only to be killed at the hands of an NCR Spook?" Snake Eyes said as he came to his senses. "No. No, it wasn't." I nodded. "Glad we figured it out." I said as I put the pistol to his head and fired.

I holstered the revolver and dumped Snake Eyes' corpse in the dumpster, then went into Drew's garage for anything flammable and some flame accellerant. I didn't find anything in the garage so I went down into the basement. I went through a large crate, in it was an abundance of low-grade napalm used for flamers. I grabbed all that I could carry, as well as the briefcase that Snake Eyes came with, and went back outside. I reached into the pockets of the jumpsuit making sure there wasn't anything worth while on it. "Nothing." I muttered. I then grabbed the first canister of napalm and doused the body with it. After the sixth canister, I figured it was enough. So, I lit up one of my cigs, I took a few puffs and flicked it into the dumpster. The napalm quickly ignited, and burned is if the gates of Hell were in it. I knelt and opened the briefcase, and looked through it. There was a 'Do It Yourself' manual on how to make 'Slasher', 'Rocket', and something called 'Blood Shield'. At the bottom were two stacks of NCR dollars, both held together with pre-war money clips. I flipped through them both and counted them up. "Fucking hell." I muttered as I counted a total of five-thousand dollars. This was too good to pass up, so I slid them both into my back pockets. The last thing in there was a holotape. I slipped it into my Pip-Boy. Nothing played, but it showed a point of interest on my map, in the squatter side of the city. I kept the tape for when I decided to go there. I tossed the 'DIY' manual in the fire. I didn't care if I got a huge pay-off from some drug lord if I handed it to them. I hated what drugs such as 'Jet' and 'Psycho' did to 'once great' people. As for the rest of the contents, I threw them into the fire as well, nothing of particular value. I tossed the briefcase in a random direction once everything in it was cleaned out.

I sighed heavily as I walked back to the front of the garage and sat on a broken and tipped over Nuka Cola machine. I lit another cig, with the intention of NOT wasting this one, and relaxed to enjoy the rest if it. I switched on the radio on my Pip-Boy and listened to the station that I found as we left for our previous job. "Alright people, you're listening to 'Radio Not Forgotten'. This is DJ Guardian, and you know, I've heard some crazy stories throughout my radio career. Like the group that killed five Enclave troopers a couple of days ago. So here's another story that goes into that group; For a while now there was a false prophet telling people to go into The Divide, and stare into 'The Divine Light', up until two days ago. Turns out the prophet was killed by a group of 'Vengeful spirits' under the control of a 'demon' that the former followers call 'The Mojave Shadow'. Crazy shit." I laughed a little and continued to listen. "Well," The DJ chuckled. "Who -or whatever- they are, they're okay in my book. This song goes out to them, where ever they are. This is DJ Guardian, signing off." More of the 'forgotten' pre-war music started up as Regi, Drew and Eva were back.

"Stakes!" Regi called out. I gave him a simple wave. "Eva alright?" I asked. She answered for herself, "I'm okay. The stimpak was enough after the bullet came out." I looked at her shoulder, it was cleanly wrapped in a couple of layers of bandages. I nodded, accepting the answer. "By the way Jace, Cryss says the girls miss you." Eva said. I chuckled in amusement. "Hey, uh, Stakes." Regi said, "Whats cooking?" I looked up, simply raising my eyebrow at him. After a second, Regi said, "Nevermind." I blew out the last of my smoke and flicked it. Drew, still a bit stressed, went into the garage, we followed.

Back down in the basement, Drew took the rest of the beer he never finished and downed it. "You want better stuff? 'Cause Regi and I know a good saloon." I offered. Drew chuckled, "Nah, that's all I needed now." He said with a sigh. "So, Drew. One last thing before Regi and I go. About this gun..." I said as I laid down the revolver on the table. "That Gun?" He asked and pointed. "Yeah, how much you want for it?" I said. "Well, since you cleaned my mess for me, I'll give you a discount." Drew said and pondered a price. "One thousand."

"Sounds fair, but what can you do about this?" I asked as I laid down my anti-materiel rifle. Drew picked it up with one hand, having no trouble doing so either. "Shit. This hurts looking at it." He said as he looked at the barrel. "How did a .50cal bullet manage to get wedged in the muzzle break?" Drew asked rhetorically. He tried and tugged to see if he could bend back the barrel, failing in the process. Drew laid down the rifle and walked to my left. He stopped at a cabinet and opened it. The left half had five marksman carbines, the right, four anti-materiel rifles. He picked one up and laid it down. "I assume you only want to replace just the barrel and not get a new one?" Drew asked. I nodded, "Yeah, I'm never letting go of this gun. It was my first gun I ever got." I told him. "Alright, also what I can do is reinforce the barrel, to make sure that this," He pointed to the bent barrel, "won't happen again." I nodded and grinned. "Alright, how long will it take?" I asked. "Give me twenty-four hours at the least. I'll have to craft some hardened plates and weld them to it." Drew told me. I nodded then flipped through my newly 'acquired' cash and laid down the necessary amount for the revolver. "So, Regi. You staying here?" I asked him. Regi seemed still a bit stressed from what happened a couple of hours ago, he only nodded without looking up. "Alright, I'll tell Alyas you got sick. Hopefully he'll buy it." I told Regi. "... Jace," Regi finally said as I turned to him. "Thanks for helping." I smiled. "Was no problem at all." I told him, "I'm sure you'll find a way to make us even, someday." I said. I put on my helmet, gave them a small wave, turned and left.

I began walking back to the base alone. During that time I began to observe the residents of the capital. If anyone else were to look at the city, they wouldn't have even known that the NCR were fighting Caesar's Legion for the Hoover Dam. Still though, the building were in shambles, barely holding up as they were. I must have taken a wrong turn, as I got lost and ended up at what seemed like a plaza. At the center was a statue, about fifteen feet high. As I approached it, I noticed that the figure was a vault Dweller. I stopped in front of it, and examined it. The figure was male with neatly combed black hair, and a manly chin. The number '13' was visible on the right side of his collar. He looked as a model vault dweller should. I looked down and read the Plaque;

"In memory of The Vault Dweller: Slayer of The Master. Savior of Shady Sands. Had it not have been for him, the New California Republic would have never been. -May 10, 2162"

I looked back up and stepped a few paces back. I had heard of The Vault Dweller as a child. I heard that he had never died, he only disappeared. I thought of him as just another legend that was easily boasted. But this statue was the evidence I needed to be sure that the stories were true. I looked back up at the statue once more and gave an appreciative nod, then I was on my way again.

I made it back to base without further distractions, and headed straight to Alyas' office. Joshua and Ty waited outside the Colonel's office, "The fuck have you been?" Josh said angrily. "Fuck you, Josh. I don't answer to you." I replied. "C'mon, let's get this over with." I told them as I walked into Alyas' office. We all saluted, Josh being better at it while Ty and I were still getting use to it. "Where is Mr. Aldren?" The Colonel asked. "He's running an errand under my orders." I lied to him. "Hmm. Very well. Lets begin the debriefing." Alyas said. "Yes, Sir." I said. "We confirmed that Licht Zal was behind the civilian casualties. As it turns out, he was hallucinating on homemade Jet made from rotten cazador eggs and laced with nightstalker Blood. And I think the followers were too. Regi found his personal terminal, revealing that he tricks people to go into The Divide and die. He then retrieves the bodies afterwards and takes their belongings. He was just another typical murderer. And as a precaution, we took him out." I told Alyas. The colonel nodded, "I heard a rather interesting report about what happened, I just needed you to clarify this." Alyas paused. "So. You're 'The Mojave Shadow'?" I gave a slight nod, despite my confusion. "Witnesses say that the killers responsible were just that, 'Shadows'." Alyas said and paused again. "Well, I have to say, this is likely one of the most cleanest and fastest jobs done by the NCR. I take it that the armor had no problems at all?" He said. "None at all, Sir." I replied. "Good. We will contact you when we have another assignment. Dismissed." Alyas said. We saluted and walked out.

I took my helmet off as I passed the base boundaries, and slipped on my old sunglasses. I bought the glasses from a crazy junk merchant found it perculiar that these glasses were in such great condition. From the looks of them, they seems as though they were crafted and privately customized, even if they were over two hundred years old. I shook my head and looked down at my Pipboy "12:00pm". I figured it had been later. I sighed lightly and headed into the market.

I was looking for a junk merchant for some paint, cloth and thread. I remember telling Alyas that I wanted some things added to my armor, but he never got around to it, so I figured I'd do it myself. I found a place about five minutes later called 'Callahan's Junk Pile'. As I walked in I noticed that the 'Junk' was rather neatly organized, set on shelves, almost completely symmetrical. I was too distracted by the junk to notice that someone came out from the back. "Well, hello! Welcome to Callahan's Junk Pile. We have the best of crap and the worst of luxury!" The person yelled out, which caught me by surprise and made me jump. "Shit!" I yelped. I took a breath, "Whew. Yeah. Uh, do you have some white cloth, thread, paint and a rigger brush?" I asked. "Well, that's quite a list there. Into arts and crafts?" He asked in return. "Family tradition." I lied.

I waited as the merchant to get my order together. After a few minutes he came back with a small brahmin hide bag with everything in it. "Alright, since this was a simple order, that'll be seventy-five caps." The merchant said. "I dunno," I began to say. "I think I could find a better deal for such simple junk, you know?" He frowned a little. "Listen here, friend. The only other way you'll find junk like this is if you rip off a tailor, and there ain't many of those here." The merchant said. "You saying I should find one?" I asked with a grin. We met eye to eye, after a moment he grinned back and chuckled. "I see where you're playing at. Alright fifty caps." As I laid down the caps another person came in, I thanked the merchant, but as I turned to walk to the door, I ran into the other person. She fell back onto her butt. "Sorry, miss." I said as I offered my hand to help her up. She had long and think brown hair. Her bangs covered her eyes partially. She took my hand and I pulled her up. I assumed by her height -and rather shy posture- she was younger than me. "Thank you, sir." She said and she brushed her hair from her eyes. I glanced at them, then back to them. 'Those emerald eyes. I know them.' I thought to myself as I took off my sunglasses. I paused, "Kat?" I asked. Her mouth hung open and asked, "...Jace?"