The Long Walk V
"Morrigan, what the fuck happened!?" Was the outraged response that Hank Morrigan got when he and the remaining soldiers filed into view.
The soliders in town had seen the smoke stacks and heard the shots, their first thought being a run in with Powder Gangers. But seeing the bodies all piled up in the cart had only drove the knife of dread right through his Morrigans body completely.
"They ambushed us. They started firing, we shot back. There was definitely something going on there." Morrigan explained using a half truth.
"What, seriously!?" The officer looked flabbergasted, wildly looking between the surviving soldiers, all of whom had a far off look in their eyes. Only a select few could maintain even looking in his general direction. Wind could topple these soldiers with how they carried themselves.
"Yes seriously, do the dead and injured not tell you that? We defended ourselves, plain and simple. We took the first casualty after all." He said gesturing the bodies on the pile in the cart.
A few heads swiveled, and more than a few lips twitched with the truth he guessed, but it never escaped.
"I… Jesus Morrigan! Do you have any idea what you've done!?" Mcgee continued yelling, but it was obvious it wasn't just anger now. It was fear. Any rational military personal would naturally be terrified by the implications.
It was telling for Morrigan himself that he felt those emotions rather but muted compared to the increasingly mortified sergeant before him. "Killed hostiles? As you can see, it wasn't exactly easy for us. We have strong reason to believe one of them was indeed with the Lost. She ran off into the wastes though. She might have gone towards Sloan, we need to radio them as soon as possible."
Mcgee viciously shook his head, glaring at Morrigan."Be that as it may, we can't afford this shit right now! Fuck's sake, this is just like Bitter Springs all over again." Mcgee's words trailed off into mutter. Behind him, the people of Primm were gathering, the commotion not going unnoticed.
Mcgee put his head in his hands, likely cradling a Grand Canyon sized headache.
Morrigan knew it was best to wait just a bit before he pressed forward with his own goals.
Mcgee took a deep breath before speaking, and even then his voice was quiet. "… Put the bodies, on the ground would you? Put some blankets over them or something. Ah fuck…" He removed his helmet and ran his fingers through his short military haircut in a feverish pitch of worry.
Morrigan did as was told, owing it to the lives lost to at least get them respectable. That didn't ebb the feeling of revulsion of handling them. Many of them were fairly young in their twenties, some he was sure were just eighteen or nineteen. Lives cut short, letters to family soon to follow offering half-hearted apologies for dead kids.
Because of you. An airy voice whispered in his ear, snaking through his mind. He didn't deny it at all.
Heh… This mess was not the first of its kind. Or even high in body count compared to last time. Perhaps matched in consequences. Even as he worked, he could feel as if a nuclear bomb had dropped from the sky and was just sitting in the town of Primm. He felt the judging stares of the townsfolk, and if he had to guess, between Mcgee's running of the town and now Goodsprings being a smoke stack in the sky... well there was no avoiding fallout in the metaphorical sense was their? This was going to be a shit-show, and the gods of chaos were squatting right over them.
As the last of the bodies were laid out, and respectfully covered, Morrigan finally returned to Mcgee.
"I understand this doesn't look good, but I have reason to suspect that girl who ran off was with the Lost. I was told she came from the West, from the area those soldiers were killed. Her arrival matches up with reports. A single pair of tracks leading from the sight and into the town. One of them said she wandered in from the desert, it fits. She ran off into the desert, towards Sloan, but we had to retreat from a Deathclaw. You need to radio Sloan, and ask if they saw her so we can pursue. And I think people should know of her already. Bright pink hair trailing behind as she ran off, same as those radio stories we heard pop up around the same time. That's gotta be enough for reasonable suspicion?" He queried.
There was harsh words lingering on Mcgee's lips, but he shoved them down his throat like a ball of spit. He sighed, suddenly looking close to retirement age."…Alright. I'll get on the horn and get Sloan on the line. After I report to Command about this. Now we have to catch her, I hope you realize that? What you did…. You know the NCR isn't popular. Do you have any idea what this is going to do for us? We've already had enough fuck ups with the Powder Gangers. Goddammit… Just… I hope you can deal with the shit that's gonna come from this. Your reputation might not protect you from this. The entirety of Bitter Springs is coming again, and it's gonna rest right on your head." Mcgee said, staring at him with intensity, before stalking off to the radio.
Nothing Morrigan hadn't come to himself.
He kept going through the events in his head. The pink hair trailing behind her as she fled, leaving the town and it's people behind. He wasn't judging though. Not in the slightest. He'd be such a hypocritical shitbag, he'd have a chance for any political spot he'd wanted. He'd judge her for a few things, but running away wasn't one of them. Even though abandoned her friends in the process, you wouldn't find him throwing stones from up high. The mountain he was standing on was having Divide tremors anyway. He simply couldn't. It wasn't anything even anything personal against her, just business now.
He would have to ask about that girl in due time. The traders only had one place to stop now after all. And wouldn't that be just fun?
He didn't want to write the letters though. There was enough dishonest bullshit without him adding to it. For now, he had to get as much info on that girl as he could. See if any bullets or fists would come his way as well.
...
Louise stood, the pain in her head stretching its tendrils down her neck. She felt a throbbing welt where she was struck in the head. Joe helped her to her feet, and the pup braced himself against her legs, looking at her with concern. She scratched his head soothingly, noting where his cute-ugly face was struck, making her grimace. It also took that opportunity to lick away the remaining blood by its mouth. It wasn't hard to ignore that thankfully, her own pain overwhelming any desire to be freaked out by the puppy's bloody maws.
The throbbing welt wasn't her only distraction. She could feel various cuts on her face from the pebbles impacting it. If it weren't for the googles, those could easily have gone into her eyes. Well, she decided to keep that personal promise to herself.
"Thank you." She said. She was just a little wobbly but she could remain standing nonetheless.
Joe nodded in response, quickly moving on to another relevant topic. "Your Pip Boy told me you didn't suffer a concussion, oddly enough, and it said 'Unknown Readings.'" By the tone of his voice, it didn't sound exactly 'unknown' to him.
"That… what does that mean?"
"I have a pretty good guess actually. But we should get our 'friend' into a more secure position. We need to find someplace to hole up. Sun's going down, and whoever they were fighting may still be in the area. I'll tell you then." Well, that more or less confirmed her thoughts. She was surprised when he held out a bottle of alcohol, some bandages, and a rag.
"Here, let me clean those wounds. If you are more susceptible to radiation, your immune system is probably a bit weaker as well. And any cut, no matter how small, you report them to me." He said.
She didn't argue and let him get to work. None of her cuts were very deep, really just flesh wounds, but the sting of alcohol was still there. The alcoholic fumes mixed with her throbbing head and nauseated her. Soon, she felt some basic coverings on her face, her cuts all patched up in very little time. With a simple gesture for her to follow, he took off towards the captive.
Feeling a tad spurned at once again getting delayed answers, the setting sun backed Joe's urgency. Her discomfort would just have to be toughed out.
On still wobbly legs, she and the pup followed him to their new 'guest' but her eyes were drawn to the man sprawled out next to the bound one. From her distance, she knew something was deeply wrong with him, and as she got closer, she could see in more detail exactly what was wrong.
The man's eyes were surrounded by angry red flesh, as if he had cried an entire day's worth of tears, but that was nothing compared to the eyes themselves. They appeared to be heavily damaged, almost corroded. Something certainly had gotten into him that shouldn't have. They were heavily bloodshot, and still tearing up, the pain radiating like a fire off of his face.
And yet, Louise could only describe a feeling of bliss emanating from him as he lay in the sand. A smile was on his lips, even as his terrifying bloodshot eyes continued watering.
"Hey, ya mind shutting up over there? I'm trying to get lost here…." He said slowly, glancing at Louise, for what good his eyes were in their current state. Honestly, the state of his eyes made Louise worry that they might melt right out of their sockets.
"W-What? I didn't say anything."
"Oh... ya sure? I'm pretty sure you just said that twice. What do you mean 'what am I talking about'? Ain't it obvious? Heheh..." He giggled. A convicted criminal actually giggled at her like one of her classmates finding out something scandalous.
"You're not going to get anything else from him. His brains are fried." The bound man explained. His voice was laced with venom as he stared at her from the ground. "You might as well just fucking shoot him. It'll be better than what's coming. For him and you." The man continued, craning his neck to look at the older man. He knitted his brows together and his voice softened. "…Can you do that at least?"
The reply was blunt. "No. He'll be a good distraction." Joe said.
Louise turned on him with an uneasy expression. "Distraction?"
He nodded. "I'm not betting on whomever these guys were fighting aren't that far away. Better they waste time coming for, and eventually securing him. Less eyes and man power on us." He reasoned.
The drugged man mumbled, his eerie voice drawing everyone's attention. "I can smell through my mind… feel warm embraces… cold slaps of mockery." He rambled. "I smell fire, a burning woman reaching, failures following me. Embers of rage..." He giggled more, his limbs not even moving correctly. Louise noted the beginnings of spasms.
She heard a very loud curse directed at both of them. "You're just gonna leave him for the freaks!? Fucks sake just kill hi-" The bound mas was cut off by a balled up sock and forced in his mouth then summarily taped shut.
"Yes we are. And once we find a place to settle down for the night, you're gonna tell us just who these 'freaks' are." It disturbed her just how matter of fact and downright routine the situation seemed to Joe. There were certain traits she noticed, when one had lived long enough. Like the gradual grooves in a wand and sword sheaths, there was something unnervingly well-worn about her companion.
A bit like her mother in some regards. She noticed some small ticks for her as well, always eating with her back to the wall, practiced movements, a gaze that Louise understood was always in the back of her mind coming up with plans, ambush spots. She spent her whole life around it, and she got a sudden vibe from Joe that was exactly that. And considering the subject...
"Louise, you might want to put your Pip Boy on him. It can take medical scans. I want to know what's wrong with him."
She blinked in surprise. But did so nonetheless, and waited for the thing to readjust to the new subject. The screen flickered back on, and Louise entered the commands for a medical diagnosis. And as the information began piling in—
"Unknown Venom. Extreme psychotropics. Brain damage... all from snake venom?" Joe mused at the list of ailments.
"Why is it odd?" Granted, she had a rough idea of why it might be, but it was better to hear it from someone more experienced in these matters.
"It's odd because that's not how venom usually works. It's meant to weaken prey, and while some do cause hallucinations, they are purely psychological. But never on the brain. Sure it's causing some hallucinations by the look of it, but it's also actively damaged it... from just one dose. It usually takes months or years for the brain to get that irreversibly damaged from something like Jet and Psycho, but this? I've never seen anything like this before." He took off the Pip Boy from the drugged man, and gave it back to Louise. As she put it back on, he slung the man over his shoulder, and began walking.
"Come, we must get set up before sunset. I don't want to end up like him." He ordered. Taking one last look at the defenseless man they were leaving exposed, she followed him.
….
They eventually set up camp about quarter hour later, according to her Pip Boy. Joe found an area with natural rocks for defenses, creating a choke point if they were attacked. Good as they would get on such short notice. Joe grumbled that that he couldn't chance scouting the area in case he was spotted.
Nonetheless, he set up bear traps, and spread dried sticks the camp. Louise didn't say a single word the entire trip. Her own physical and mental pains hampering any thoughts of conversation, even as her head gradually cleared. As pressing as the current situation was, she had not let recent events slip past her.
Those images… she could not truly shake them just yet. She could vividly imagine the terrible noise of Deathclaw flesh slushing off its bones plopping to the ground with wet impacts. And then there was the flaming hands, reaching to her.
She shivered every time she recounted it.
And… the pup's memories. There was no explanation that came to her in the travel time. It just made sense. What else could it be? A random Night Stalker pup with another conveniently wounded mother? No. It was his. And that carried implications as to how she was able to tame him so easily.
The pup sensed her discomfort, and did his best to help her. He rubbed against her legs in a placating her mood, helping sooth her nerves. She looked at him, his blue eyes looking at her with literal puppy-coyote-snake hybrid eyes. She couldn't resist and returned his affection, scratching the little monstrosity's head.
Their prisoner was surprisingly compliant. He hadn't struggled much, if at all during the trip. Though she was tasked to watch him, he hadn't shown much incentive to try and run. Fine by her. The pup showed more 'assertiveness' during guarding. Puffing out his chest, and never once letting his gaze falter.
When Joe was done securing their camp, he dropped his pack to the ground, and let out a sigh of relief. Even with minor breaks, carrying the prisoner over this distance was visibly taxing on him. He took a moment to shake off his fatigue, rolling his shoulders, and the unshakable man returned, standing straighter, alertness shining brightly in his stance. He stepped to their captive Powder Ganger and crouched down.
"Alright, here's how I would like this to work. I'm going to remove the sock from your mouth, and we're just going to have a nice quiet chat about the things I want to know. If your voice reaches shouting levels, our pup here will have another snack."
The prisoner's eyes flicked to the Night Stalker by Louise's legs. The tiny monster idly scratched his left ear with a hind paw. Clearly, the pup was the epithet of doom.
"If you can show your cooperation, then nothing bad will happen during the questioning. I hope you make the right choice." He said as he roughly pulled the drool-soaked sock out of the prisoner's mouth. The ganger coughed for a few seconds and then glared at Joe.
"I ain't gonna fucking yell. Only the freaks would hear me, and being bound… well, I'd rather die than be carried off by them. Still, watching them shoot you might be worth it. What the fuck did we do to you?" He demanded, true to his word, it was below a yell, but the harsh tone bordered on too loud for Louise's liking.
"Your group has a reputation I'm afraid. Shooting on sight, little mercy, rapists, I saw that woman from the Crimson Caravan, and being generally unwilling to work out deals. That's dumb. Leads to situations like the one we all found ourselves in not too long ago. I didn't think it would be wise to reveal ourselves to you. You really should work on building more connections." Joe lectured with a scolding tone. Louise was reminded of her teachers lecturing misbehaving students.
"What, you giving advice on how to run a fucking gang?"
He shrugged. "Just saying, there are more productive ways to act. Tolls for one thing. Just take a little bit here and there, build it up… ah but I'm getting sidetracked. Just answer me this. Who were those 'freaks' you were fighting?"
Louise shot him a look. Odd thing to be distracted by Joe. She thought to herself.
The prisoner grumbled, but responded. "Well, the NCR called them the Vipers. What they call themselves though is different I think, if they're muttering is anything to go by. Doesn't matter to me what they're called. They fucking do something to you. And I don't think a gang is what you fucking call them. A cult more like. They like to wear a bunch of snake skin, weapons made from bones. We sneaked up on some, and they talked really weird, kept mentioning 'the Great Snake'.
"Is that why your friend is acted strangely?" Louise asked, the memory of the other man sending a chill down her spine. If recent events hadn't warranted her unsteadiness, she would have thought herself cursed.
He sighed, his anger deflating, and some despondency seeped in. "Yeah… that's right. They got something in his eyes, whatever drug they use."
"So they're like the Fiends then?" Joe questioned. Louise heard that name before. Another pack of raiders giving the NCR trouble, serves them right in her book.
"Sorta, but not really. What the Fiends do, as vicious and crazy motherfuckers that they are, they do for drugs, their next fix. These guys though… they're not just drugged out gang bangers, you've seen what that guy was babbling about. What kinda drug does that, and how the hell did these whacks get it? And not even the Fiends began worshiping some fucking snake god."
"How do you know? How do you know they really aren't just druggies?"
"Cause, we killed some of our old friends who were with them. Wearing snake skins and all, that good enough for you!?" He snapped, glaring at Joe with muted fury.
The captive let out a long sigh, no longer looking Joe in the eyes, but off to the side. "I heard stories about them too. One night, Sam goes to take a piss, leaving his post, gone for what… About three minutes? He comes back, and the three guys at the post were gone. Vanished. Went on like that for a while, sometimes, people vanish, sometimes they managed to get shots off, even wound the fuckers, but they were always quick. It doesn't take much for that drug to start fucking your mind into their twisted ideas. We've been trying to find their hideout for a while now. We've narrowed it down to an old cave system that used to be a scavenger base. It's theirs by the looks of it."
"You found their base?" Joe asked, surprised that the gangers managed it.
"Yeah. They stole a lot of our dynamite too. That helped. We were scouting by the mountains when we felt the rumbles. You work with it long enough you learn those tremors come from underground explosions. I guess that's why they wanted some of us alive." He said, a dark look washing over his features.
"And before you ask. No I don't know why precisely why they were mining out a mountain, and I don't particularly give a fuck. I just wanted them dead. Those fucking freaks deserved nothing less. Got my chance today to kill some of them! Hollow victory, considering, two of them used to be my friends." He explained and he seemed to recoil at the next memories he was bringing up, a far off look in his eyes. His tone was quiet, and there was a muted horror in his voice. Telling this tale around a campfire would be more apt.
"They didn't recognize us, or just didn't care in their fucked up heads. Heard them muttering the same words as the rest of the Vipers, screaming at us, sometimes demanding us to just surrender, and give in to the 'Great Snake'. No matter how many times I tried, yelling back at them, they weren't having it. Fuck… I was doing them a favor by killing them. Kept going on about their fucking salvation. Don't think much of their old selves survived whatever the Vipers did to them. It barely counted as killing them when my bullets passed through their heads, as far as I'm concerned."
"Is that related to why you were able to sense her? Her Psyker abilities became amplified for him?"
"What?" Louise asked surprised. While she was having exceedingly strong suspicions about such things for a while, between Jodie, the vision and now the dreams, being said outright surprised her somewhat. Although, 'Psyker' was a new term. She stared at Joe, waiting for him to expand on it, but he still had business with the prisoner.
"It must be. He sure as shit didn't show any motherfucking psychic crap before."
"Hmm. That is odd. A drug that that makes people go crazy, and instantly develop psychic abilities? Even just receiving? I've never heard of that before, and knowing about that kind of stuff was my specialty. But a group simply preying on other gang members shouldn't be that big. Not enough to warrant digging out more caves. How do they have so many people?" Joe asked. As he did, Louise's mind was already heading in a likely direction and she had to suppress a gasp of realization.
"Well… we think Nipton might be helping them somehow." He said, Louise's ears perking at the mention of the town.
"How so?"
"Nothing concrete but we've had a few guesses from some of the boys who spend the most time there. I think they've been kidnapping people, and giving them to the Vipers. You're right. There's no way just the remnants are this strong. The NCR broke their backs a long time ago. And you must have heard about the disappearances around there. They're the only other group in this area. Who else could it be? It wasn't us, I can tell you that."
"It's not out of the question…" Joe muttered, stroking his beard in thought.
"Wait, you mean to tell me that town has been giving people to those lunatics? And you were taking me there?!" Louise hissed at him.
He sighed as if some old crow was nagging at him for something other than a town full of kidnappers. "I didn't know about these events. I'm guessing this is going to make staying there difficult?" He asked, already knowing the answer, if his sigh was any indication.
"If you mean, I'm not staying there, then you're damn right it is." She replied, but her voice betrayed the uncertainty rising within it. Nipton had been her only refuge in sight, and now she found out that it was involved with an insane cult that brainwashed people into joining them. So pardon her, if maybe, she was having some second thoughts about staying in Nipton.
"Fair enough, another headache for us to deal with." He grumbled. "Anything else you can tell these Vipers?"
"Nothing. They're crazy, determined to convert anyone and everyone, even kids. They really aren't all that discriminating in who gets converted. I think I overheard one of them say, they caught a little girl who traveled with the caravans. Her and her father."
At that, Louise swore she heard her mind grind to a screeching halt as those words were processed. At the very least, she was sure it had dropped in temperature and was in great danger of shattering. "W-what did you just say?" Louise asked.
"Just what I said. When we were sneaking up on them, one of them questioned whether or not the 'child would be worth it'. The other replied 'it is not our place to decide. We are the messenger, and any who are strong enough to answer the call, no matter their age, we will accept them.' What else could that mean? Kids ain't off their recruitment drive. "
"Oh... oh fuck!" Louise swore, the implications hitting her full force.
"Someone you know?" Joe asked.
She was pacing back and forth now, needing to move to have any control over the situation before it boil over, drowning her in anguish. "Yes! Harvey and Dani. It has to be. No one else would've taken a child on a caravan! Oh Founder, when were they taken? How long ago?"
"I don't know. Recent from the sound of it. Probably long enough for them to drug 'em up by now. They're probably not doing any better than Mark is right now. Could be they're getting shot up right now, if by some way they haven't already. If I were you, I'd just leave 'em."
Under normal circumstances, Louise wouldn't have been so vicious in her retorts, but with this revelation being another brick thrown in her face, lashing out was inevitable. "You don't know that. They could still be saved! I'm going to try. They're worth more than wandering murderous scum like you, you goblins." She sneered.
"Wha, are for you real? Says the fucking bitch and old man who shot at us first!"
"I think Goodsprings warrants that." Louise said bitterly. "I've heard stories of your attempted sacking of it, my home. Like Joe here said, you've made your bed."
"Wait, Goodsprings? You mean you came from there? What's the deal with that anyway? We've seen the smoke even out here, who hit it?"
While Louise may have disliked these miscreants, she loathed the NCR and had no problems sharing its misdeeds far and wide. She was going to do so eventually, might as well get started now. "NCR happened. They came in and slaughtered the whole town."
Much to her annoyance, though surprised, he just seemed to chuckle. "Damn. Didn't think they'd have the balls to do something like that. Well, whatever. Serves the pricks right for killing our friends."
Louise felt her hand twitch, and the pup growled nearly as loud as her hiss did at that sentence. "You are nothing but a worthless bandit. Your life is worthless next to the people who lived there, and that goes for your friends too."
He sneered at her, unimpressed. "Yeah well fuck you too, you pinked haired bitch. I don't even care anymore. I know I'm not walking away from this." He said, though with a defiant glint in his eyes.
"Smart man. Louise, you remember what we discussed earlier?"
And just like that, her hot anger and bravado evaporated, replaced with the cooling realization of what he meant. "...We can't let them report about me..."
"Yep. Don't suppose you would keep quiet about her, would you?" He asked, the answer pretty much known to him already.
"Fuck. You. That's my answer."
She... really wasn't comfortable with this. Those words from before were just that, words. She was mad, but looking at the bound defeated man he turned and their eyes connected. He had no way to truly fight back... she couldn't deny the rancid feeling settling in her stomach. "Wait, Joe... we only had to leave no witnesses because I was staying in Nipton. I'm not anymore. Do-do we really have to kill him?" She pointed out. She hardly had any desire to stay in that shithole after this evening's revelations.
"Do you have other suggestions then? Would you prefer us leave him here to be eaten by a predator, or abducted by the Vipers?"
"You can do whatever the fuck you want. I don't care anymore. But you're damn right I'm gonna tell everyone back at the prison about you, you bastards! You keep forgetting the fact that you shot first!"
"And as I said, that was your own fault. Your group developed a reputation as being unwilling to negotiate, and being general bastards. You needed to be pragmatic with your violence, not shooting every person you see. If the Legion can manage that, I think you can too."
"Hmpf. You sound like some of the older guys. Always did get to us to act smarter. I kinda agreed actually. I knew it was stupid to go picking that many fights at once. I was just happy to be a free man again. Well, for a time at least. Even NCR didn't put me on Death Row."
"You were still locked up for a reason, and even when free you still turned to criminal activities. How many innocents have you killed huh? Or robbed, or tried to rob?" Louise retorted.
"I'd do it all again if it meant keeping my buddies alive." He replied, looking at Louise with an intense fiery gaze. It actually gave her pause. He... was not what she was expecting from a bandit. She always pictured them to be soulless monsters, constantly sneering, always talking about how they were going to ravish a maiden or what. She wasn't expecting someone so... human, for lack of a better word. He hadn't mentioned those things once, and only cared for the perceived injustice laid out on him and his friends. It was laughable coming from a bandit obviously, but still... it did give her pause.
"You knew those men well? Your personal friends?" Joe asked, surprising Louise. There was a touch of... something in his voice. Sympathy? Understanding? She couldn't quite tell.
He looked like he wanted to snap at him for a brief moment, but her just sighed. (I'd wager his thoughts went along the lines of, "Pretty fucking dense there, you fucking blockheads.") "Yeah... some of them. Carlos was afraid of the dark, fucking city boy. Never could stand desert nights, always looked like he was gonna piss himself at every little sound. He said, in the city all the dangerous noises are washed out by lesser normal sounds.
"Tom had two pups waiting for him back at the prison. Adopted them after their parents blew up in one of our mines. Let himself go hungry a couple of times so he could feed them. Ethan, saved my life during the prison outbreak, bout to have my neck broken, when he jams a table leg through the guards throat. Heh." Louise felt her eyes wander in the direction of her own adoption for a few seconds.
"Didn't know Mark all that well, but fuck I know he didn't deserve to be left, and have his mind rot. Fuckers..." He said, turning to glare at them.
"Look, if you're done moralizing me like a fucking Nun, I know where the base is. If you want to try and rescue someone, I can point you in the right direction."
"Really. Why would we ever-" Joe began, not sounding up to the task of journeying to the literal Viper den.
"We are." Louise however, was something else entirely. And the convict could see that in her.
Joe turned to face her, an annoyed look on his face. "Louise... do I need to tell you why that's a bad idea? There's two of us, plus one pup, against an unknown number of hostiles, with potent venom that can drive people mad. And we're going in on their home turf."
"I don't care. We have to try. If Harvey and Dani could still be alive, we have to try!" She raised her voice slightly and it cracked.
"Louise, really think about this. We're talking about invading someone else's home, not knowing the layout."
"I know! But I can't just... do nothing. I can't just sit by while they're alive but in need of help and just do nothing. That's what I did during Goodpsrings. I lost everything because I was too stupid and cowardly to act! My friends died right before my eyes, and I just... laid there! The people who took me in, saved my life, and I couldn't even muster the courage to help them. Not this time... I'm not leaving people who helped me to die again." She declared. She barely noticed that she had perspiration on her forehead, that her fingernails dug painfully in her hands as she clenched her fists. Joe gave her form a once over, getting a peculiar look.
"Do you even know them that well? If they were traders, they don't sound like someone you spent that much time with, not like the townsfolk."
"Yeah, well, I don't care! They need help! We have to try, they helped me and my town when they didn't need to. I can't just leave them without even trying."
"Louise-"
"No! I don't want to hear it! They need help! I won't ask you. Our agreement was getting me to Nipton. Since that is void now, you can do whatever you wish, but I am going to try and secure them. With or without you." The pup rubbed against her leg, and looked just as determined as she did.
They stared each other down, their eyes locked in a duel. Louise though, she wasn't backing down. If she just, left them, just focused on saving herself for the second time today... She wasn't sure she could face the next. She really wasn't. She was determined to make up for her past failures. It was that determination that carried her through a staring contest with a wasteland veteran as she was sure he was. Minutes ticked by, their blinking controlled and few.
Finally, Joe sighed, shaking his head at the stupidity he was throwing himself into. "Oh, for... Alright, I'll help, good thing I don't have any other plans. Might as well help you. Well, at the very least, your Psyker powers should help us."
"Psyker?" She asked. More in question to the term than anything.
"Yes. I've had experience with them. It-" A throat clearing brought both of their attention back to the bound Ganger, who had temporarily been forgotten, much to his annoyance.
"Well, that was entertaining spiel, and by entertaining I was wishing you could hurry up and kill me, you don't even know where their main base is. Now, since your interested in getting there, I can tell you where it likely is."
"Why would you tell us where it is anyway? I thought you hated us?"
"Well, either way two groups of people I hate are going to take a hit. I'm sure you old man will be able to kill some, and then they'll kill one of you likely. My bets are on you getting captured, he'll probably put up too much a fight. Well, I hope they manage to take you both alive, but eh, I'll take what I can get. In short, I hope you fucking die or suffer in their hell. But please do remember to kill some while you're at it. It works out for me in the end."
Joe actually seemed to chuckle at the man's murderous intent. "Well at least you're honest. Now, the location?"
"It's in a cave, it used to be a scavenger base from what I overheard. The Prospectors Den I think it was."
"Really? Huh. I know that place. I delivered a few packages there. Here, let me..." He said, reaching for her Pip Boy. He brought up the map, and marked a location on it, a small blip on her screen now lingering on the very edge, pointing in a direction.
"They really took it over?"
"As far as I can tell. It was a cave, and I know for certain those quakes we felt were from underground explosions. Only reason they would steal our dynamite like I said. That's your best bet to finding their base."
Joe nodded. "Thank you. And you understand this isn't personal. You seem like an okay kid. But we gotta look after ourselves. Sorry for the trouble."
There was a resigned bitterness as he closed his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Just get it over with, I'm tired of fucking listening to you speak..."
"Joe wait-" But before she could do so much as bring her hand up, the courier deftly took a knife, and slit their captive's throat, blood spilling from the wound, making Louise gag at the sudden violence.
"Oh Founder!" Louise cried, looking away from the fatal neck wound. She heard a wet gurgling and sand shifting as the man spasmed. The terrible noise continued.
"Joe, what the fuck!" She swore again, as the death rattles ended, and the two of them were left alone with the body. Louise, holding back hot bile, tried to star at the still bleeding corpse. Blood oozed not only from his throat, but mouth and nose.
"You knew that was coming. We got what we needed and he was a threat, or at least a hindrance to us. Not our problem anymore."
"You could have just let him go. We were heading into a literal snake den, he would not have been able to follow us anyway! And you gave him your word nothing would happen to him!"
"I said nothing would happen to him during questioning. And yeah I could have. But he also could have brought a posse to wait for us when we get out of their lair.
"You—"
"Louise, seriously, do you want to waste time talking about this? Your traders need help, and the scent of blood is going to attract predators. We don't have time to argue this. We need a plan if we're going to stand a chance. We can save the debates for later. If you still want your radiation medicine to last until you get to a new home, I suggest moving on to more practical problems."
She wanted to drill him on this issue, this was unacceptable! Bandit or not... you don't just kill people like that. The sheer callousness was genuinely staggering to Louise. She wasn't naive, she knew a few in Goosprings who killed people as well.
But it was just... seeing Joe coldly execute a defenseless man like that, after what she went through. Stopping her thoughts, she took a breath. She wasn't about to indulge in the hypocrisy of killing. But, she couldn't deny Joe's pragmatic reasoning.
"Alright..." she said, her voice starting out as a whisper. "We are going to talk about this. Later."
"Fair enough. Now, as I was trying to say before, you're a Psyker. What it means is you have abilities that can help us, even if you're clearly a novice in using them."
"You mean like, mental abilities? I was already suspecting that to be honest. Wait, wait, how do you even know what a 'Psyker' is?"
"I was with a... group a long while back. One of them had abilities like this. Similar to you in fact. I've spent enough time around one to notice some signs at least."
"So this person... he had mental powers?"
"More or less. We mainly used him to help sense if anybody was sneaking up on us, sensing people laying in ambush for us, where people were in firefights. Just like how they got their friend of theirs to do that for them, for how brief they could. I knew there was something off about that fight."
"Of course, that does raise one problem: That means all the Vipers will be able to sense you. I think that guy was picking up on your own thoughts. Sounded like even sub conscience.
"But how? If their brains are so damaged by the venom, how can they do such a thing?"
"Think of it like this. Addicts have things that make them more vulnerable to Psykers. For one, their addiction gives the Psyker an easier time gaining influence because their will tends to be low and their mind is physically and mentally already controlled. Like a nice handle to grab onto. As for how they can sense you, well that's to be expected right now. You haven't learned to control your abilities yet, so you're sending out your thoughts and feelings like a campfire at night. That's why I was pushing as hard I was to focus on calming you during taming the pup. I'll need you to learn to exercise that a more frequently, and this little rescue operation is a perfect example why."
Louise was silent as he explained at least some of her, 'Psyker' traits. She... believed him. She had seen enough evidence to support his claims of her powers. Mitchell proposing her own magical abilities were mutating was her personal take on this. She was warned of still having adverse effects even with her Radaway and this looked to be it.
She was thinking that maybe, it was also related to typical mage abilities. The ability to control animals through runes after all was a mages trademark. If she could do that without said runes... well, she had time to fully digest the implications of her essentially becoming a mutant. The urgency of getting to Harvey and Dani helped mute her personal unease and horror at her mutations.
How were they going to rescue them though? Joe was right. This wasn't going to be easy. Maybe she could control them? Joe seemed to notice her contemplative look.
"I don't think you'll be able to control them though. Sounds like they just became really receptive to your own abilities. They can hear your thoughts, which means it'll be damn near impossible to really sneak up on them. They constantly hear something, not to mention, I don't think you would even know how to control them to begin with. But... they're insane compared to a usual addict going crazy. We might be able to fool them if we play our cards right... I wonder." He ran his fingers through his chin hair, putting thought into their predicament.
He looked at the pup, then at Louise, his aging face betraying some sort of thought process.
"Hmm... snake dog for a snake den. I have an idea..."
...
Well, this took a fucking long time didn't it? Blame my overconfidence in writing this chapter. (And the editor ~Editor.) I just find that, if I have to improvise a bit during writing, it helps me. Whereas if I have a solid idea on what I want, it takes longer. Weird...
But anyway, the Vipers! Yeah, I'm not making that stuff up about them by the way. Cut content that I thought was interesting.
And, thank my new computer troubles for delaying this as well. Resolved now, but eh. I should have the next chapter out sometime next week.
A Thank you again to Quaver Ava for betaing.
Edit: Also, I would like to apologize to whoever that guest was. I should not have responded that way, as it is a valid complaint and you do raise a good point.
I'm going to clean house on my old AN's. The guest is right, they really are me being full of myself and acting like a douche. And then I get snippy when I get called out on it... Again, I apologize for acting that way.