The Legend of the Courier
Chapter 20: Fates Intertwined
"Dammit!" the Courier shouted as one of the bullets sailed into his arm as he gripped Veronica's hand to be hauled into the vertibird mid flight.
"You okay!" Veronica yelled in concern over the sound of the air rapidly escaping through the now closing door.
"I'll be okay." the Courier said calmly before switching to panic and turning to the pilot, "What about the other bird!? Did Boone and Cass make it?!"
"We can't know with the radio silence." the young Boomer calmly responded, "There was a lot of missile fire, but without any lock on those weapons systems they had a decent shot. Honestly, we won't know till the rendezvous."
"They'll be okay." Veronica calmly said as she unhooked the latches on her power armor.
"I hope so." the Courier said as he looked out the window as the city exploded with violence below them.
24 Hours Earlier...
The vertibirds came to as soft of a landing as they possibly could. The Courier walked down the steps as soon as they unfolded. He looked out at the desolated city. People bustled about the ruined landscape, like children pretending that their surroundings were more than they are. Los Angeles was one of the greatest cities the Old World had, but it also represented man's folly... and now man's hope. The skeletal remains of the ruined skyscrapers jutted out of the ground like mournful bodies left after the bombs, thus giving it the name Boneyard. Despite the desolation, the NCR was working to repair a few of the skyscrapers and several other buildings. The works projects were funded mainly by brahmin barons and other economic titans of the NCR who had come to make their home in the heart of the city.
Cass fought to recover her balance after the long flight while Boone and Veronica unloaded the gear and supplies. They stopped for a moment and noticed that the Courier was talking with the young Boomer pilots while showing them something on his Pip-Boy. The pilots nodded and crawled back into the vertibirds as the Courier picked up some bags and walked past the group without a word. The others looked at each other and then simply followed him as he wandered into the heart of the Boneyard.
"We still have a day before the meeting." the Courier mentioned as he looked at his Pip-Boy "Let's go rent some rooms and get something to eat."
"We're staying the night?" Boone said with some alarm.
"Of course." the Courier responded in an uncharacteristically cynical tone.
"By the way, what the hell was with you and the Boomers?" Cass brashly questioned.
"A contingency." the Courier said after a moment of thought.
"I don't know if I should feel better or worse now." Veronica groaned as she pointed her face at the ground.
"This shit don't set right with me Courier." Cass chimed in with an increasing anger "These bastards tried to have you killed and now you're going to sleep in their bed."
"They would have had me killed by now if they wanted me dead." the Courier said with a smile.
"It's the same old song and dance." Veronica said as she quickly faded into an exaggerated and pompous voice "Join me, or us, or so and so whatever in our completely insane cause that we have rationalized in our god-complex addled brain. If you do not, we will have you ripped apart by rabid mole rats."
"That's my guess as well." Boone responded to the odd performance.
"Which means we're going to be running for the hills after this meeting goes to shit." Cass added.
"No, their leader knows I won't join them, at least not at this point." the Courier stated in response.
"The hell are you talking about?" Cass questioned, "How do you know?"
"I know who their leader is and exactly what they've brought me here for."
"Who gave that intel to you?" Boone added to the questioning.
"No one." the Courier swiftly mentioned.
Veronica grabbed the Courier by the shoulders and began shaking him "Quit..beating...around...the...bush...old...man!"
"S-s-t-o-o-o-p!" the Courier shouted as Veronica released her grip "The clues were left for me since we left Crying Rock."
"Then what do they want from you?" Veronica asked with exasperation.
"To do my job as a Courier." he answered "They want me to deliver a message."
Veronica looked at the Courier and realized that they would know in time what he meant and Cass made an order to the rest of the group keep moving. Moments later a long dark car pulled up beside them. The very back door opened up and a ghoul in a dress stepped out.
"Who the hell are you?" Cass asked with a snappy tone, "And what's with the limo?"
"What's a limo?" Boone quietly asked Veronica who in turn responded with a shrug.
"It's been a while Courier." the ghoul stated as she lit a cigarette.
"Calamity?" the Courier said as he dredged his memory.
"Well, it's actually it's Claire now." she said as she went to shake the Courier's hand, "I'm a sales rep for the Gun Runners now and needed something a bit more...professional."
"What happened with Jacobstown?" the Courier asked as Boone, Veronica, and Cass all looked at each other and grimaced, "Oh damn, that's not good."
"I'll explain on the way." the ghoul formerly known as Calamity said as she ushered the four into the back of the limo.
"We would have told you if we had known you didn't know." Veronica apologized.
"So, what the hell happened to them?" the Courier asked with an increasing worry.
"Political bullshit." Claire stated as she lit another cigarette, "After you killed the whack job Tabitha, Marcus took over Black Mountain. He set it up as a community for the super mutants and night kin that had 'recovered' at Jacobstown. He wanted it to be a jumping off point for super mutants and humans to peacefully coexist."
"I remember him mentioning that before I left." the Courier mentioned.
"Well after about three years, Cassidy over there used her new company to open up trade. It took a lot of time after that, but super mutants were allowed, not only on the strip, but in the casinos as well. They were getting jobs and buying property as far west as here. It took over a decade, and there was no shortage of assholes trying to stop it, but super mutants had their foot in the door."
"What happened?" the Courier asked, almost knowing the answer.
"Our favorite general slammed the door?" Boone answered.
"Hart." the Courier said as he clenched his fist.
"Yeah, that's the one." Claire said as she crushed her cigarette into the ashtray, "He's got a lot of sticks up his ass and I guess one of them is for anything mutated. When he became the Mojave's commander he discharged the few super mutants and most of the ghouls under his command. He also placed a kill order on all super mutants, which went largely ignored. About a year before his heart gave out, Dr. Henry and completed the night kin medication. There was a small team of Followers doctors who were helping us produce the medicine for distribution as well. A few years later, Marcus left Keene in charge of Jacobstown while he went to go find mutants out east."
"Keene?!" the Courier asked in shock.
"The medicine had really helped him calm down and become a capable leader." she explained, "Don't get me wrong, he was still an ass, just not a homicidal ass. Anyway, it was me a the Followers team that was there when the general sicked a battalion on Jacobstown and Black Mountain. It lasted for five days, the trooper were choked up in the pass but had slowly whittled down our numbers. We didn't have a lot of ammo, so on the third day Keene sent out a melee charge that knocked 'em so hard they spent day four licking their wounds."
"Lily?" the Courier said quietly as he braced for an answer.
"She took well over sixty with her." Claire said as she put her hand on the Courier's shoulder, "With the new medicine and time she had some vivid memories of her old life, and would tell us stories some nights. She went into that battle with a clear mind."
"Thank you." the Courier said with a heavy heart.
"Before the last night, almost as if he knew, Keene told me, the doctors, and a couple of bodyguards to escape over the mountains and go west." she said as she rolled down a window and set her arm out in the sun, "We did, and we were the only survivors. Hart set up Jacobstown as his personal headquarters, and Black Mountain set up as a propaganda radio post. He assumed people would just stand behind him on his decision, and all Marcus had done would disappear. Didn't happen that away though. A few reporters who had had dealing with Marcus and other similar mutants wrote about the attack as a massacre, and the super mutant community rose up along with many Core Region citizens, people who lost family in the attack, and soldiers who saw the attack as unjustified. Three years ago, super mutants and ghouls got the right to vote, as long as they pay taxes, and a token representation in government."
"Thanks for the story and the ride Cala...Claire." the Courier said plainly as he took the info in.
"Where are we going?" Boone asked to prevent an uncomfortable silence.
"Between the Courier's hero status and Cass giving up gun sales, the Gun Runners thought it'd be nice to set friends of the company up at a nice hotel."
Veronica let out a small squeal as she pumped her fist. Cass looked out the window at the run down neighborhood and concern came over her face, "This place has really gone down hill since I was last here."
"This area has. Don't worry though, we'll be in the area walled off from Dust Town." Claire said as she rolled up her window.
"That's not what I was worried about." Cass said under her breath.
The limo pulled through a checkpoint were heavily armed security waved them through. Once on the other side, cars became a more common appearance, people wore clean suits, and the buildings looked like they were being officially renovated. They stopped at what would normally be a tall building, but was being dwarfed by the other skyscrapers. A super mutant opened the trunk and began taking bags out of the back as the five exited the vehicle.
"What's he doing?!" Veronica asked in an oncoming panic.
"Taking your stuff to your rooms. Here's their number." Claire said as she handed a slip of paper to the mutant, "It's called service. This is what civilization was like."
"Don't worry ma'am." the super mutant said in a clear voice as he hoisted an armor case and two bags, "I'm always careful."
"Oh...okay." Veronica mumbled in a stunned but sheepish tone.
"Here are your keys." Claire said as she handed the Courier and Cass a couple of keys, "Enjoy your stay, I've gotta go talk some section head into buying a shipment of assault rifles."
They nervously took an elevator to the 40th floor and walked down the elaborately decorated hallway, even more so the the Ultra Luxe, and came to some ornate doors. The Courier gave a serious look at Cass as Boone and Veronica went in to different suites. As the day went on Cass and Veronica settled into their rooms and later went out on the town. Boone discovered and ordered room service and spent the rest of the day in a bedroom cleaning and maintaining weapons. The Courier simply grabbed a few bottles of whiskey and sat down on the balcony at sunset. He sat in thought till long after the sun went down. The door opened quietly and Cass sat down across the small table from the Courier and moved her chair to also face the edge of the balcony. Without a word the Courier poured his old friend a drink, and the old red headed lush picked up the glass as soon as the Courier lifted the bottle to pour his own drink.
"Seeing the Boneyard make you think on some things?" Cass asked after she took her first long sip.
"How long has it been like this here?" the Courier asked as he stared across the street at another hotel.
"This bad. A few years." she guessed as she stared at her glass, "But I suppose things were goin' to shit long before that."
"I had been wondering why the central point of a revolution would be in the Core Region." he said as he poured another drink and walked to the railing, "Now I see why though."
"Because these are people that are supposed to feel safe, but now they have a boot on their neck." Cass responded as she joined him. The breeze cooled the night air, rumblings of a night life could be heard below, smells off nearby restaurants drifted by.
"For every one of them in the city, there are almost twenty that are suffering", the Courier said as he pointed his drink down at the street.
"That's life though Courier." Cass said as she leaned her back against the railing and took another swig, "Some thrive while many more just fight to survive."
"But why is it every time someone gets rich they make sure to crush everyone who has less than them." the Courier said as he slammed back the rest of his drink and casually tossed the glass over the railing, "They're assholes. All of them."
"Every wealthy person is an asshole, huh?" Cass asked as her eyes narrowed.
"It seems like-" the Courier was suddenly interrupted by Cass winging the whiskey bottle's cap between his eyes, "What the hell."
"Do you remember that I own Hoover Dam Caravans, the largest damn caravaning service in the NCR?" Cass brashly stated, "How the hell do you think we could afford to spend half a damn year looking for and then traveling with your sorry ass? It certainly wasn't volunteer Veronica or pension Boone, was it? You usually don't just blanket groups of people like that. What the hell man!?"
"Sorry, it's just after going from the wastes, and then seeing what Vegas and Navarro became-."
"You couldn't grasp such disparity and you got lost in the idea that the government let it get this bad so close to home."
"Yeah...that's it." the Courier said with a sigh.
"Navarro and towns like that aren't burdened with being industrial or commercial centers. They get to have simple lives with simple comforts people don't get in the wastes. A lot of what is beyond that wall is what that is, just people living their lives. They could rise up and take down this plush fortress if they wanted to but,-"
"None them wants to be the one that gets hurt in the process, and it's what these guys bank on."
"I thought you wanted to help the government?" Cass questioned.
"No, I want to help the people of the NCR."
"You can't do it alone, who are you behind?"
"I guess I'll find out tomorrow." the Courier said as he looked down at the street.
"I'm behind you no matter what." Cass said as she gripped the Courier's shoulder, "That goes for the other two you insist on dragging around, and many more than you'd think. Good night dick head."
Cass punched him in the shoulder and as she walked to the door, she grabbed a bottle of whiskey, opened the door, paused, grabbed another bottle, and went inside.
"Is this why you brought me here? To see this?" the Courier said as he looked over the wall.