Chapter 37

When Boone opened his eyes it was bright and sunny outside his windows. His head held a deep throbbing ache and his mouth was incredibly dry. He reached for the whiskey bottle on his nightstand but it wasn't there. Boone scowled and sat up, looking around his freshly cleaned bedroom.

The lack of trash confused his alcohol withdrawn mind. That confusion tripled when he caught the scent of coffee in the air and the giggles of girls.

Boone's scowl deepened and pulled on a pair of pants along with his sunglasses, heading out into the main room to find out what the hell was going on. His front door was open and he blearily wiped crusty crap from his eyes.

Charon was sitting on the stoop nursing a cup of coffee looking tired. The sight of the ghoul brought everything from the night before back to the forefront his mind. Boone quietly helped himself to the coffee pot on the stove before he stiffly shuffled to the door to join the ghoul. They grunt something akin to a good morning in the language of anti-social men and gazed out at the scene before them.

"What?" Boone asked, flicking a finger between the three women chasing each other around the hard packed dirt of Novac.

"I don't know." the ghoul sighed, cracking his neck.

Rachel, Six, and a third woman were running back and forth playing what looked like a rough game of tag. Apparently Rachel was "it" at the moment and she was running full speed after a dark haired girl wearing a hood. Six veered in close and darted up the motel stairs. Rachel swerved after her but the other girl had a good lead.

Six hit the ground at the bottom of the opposite steps and Rachel jumped the railing. Charon couldn't stop the sharp inhale of breath and he growled when she rolled and caught Six by the ankle. The ginger girl fell face first into the dirt, laughing like they didn't have a care in the world.

Rachel rolled onto her back and jumped to her feet, running away from Six yelling, "Veronica run! Six is it!"

"She's going to break her neck." Charon growled behind his coffee cup.

"How long have they been at this?" Boone grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose under his sunglasses. After months sitting in a dark silent room the shrill laughter of the women was doubling his hangover headache.

"Hours," Charon groaned, sounding just as exhausted. "The other one showed up at dawn. I don't think any of them have slept at all."

"That's not good for us." Boone murmured.

Charon nodded, "Not at all."

Rachel skidded to a halt and pointed at them. The delight on her face sending a chill down Charon's spine. "Hey! Boone and Charon are awake!"

"Christ," Boone growled, stiffening. "We've been spotted."

"Retreat." Charon growled, getting to his feet.

Boone nodded and followed the big ghoul inside, shutting the door in the girl's faces.

It didn't stop them.

Rachel had the lock picked in thirty seconds and then the women were in the house. Veronica had disappeared but the other two were chattering at a speed that only caffeine high women could chatter.

"We've been infiltrated." Boone muttered to Charon, holding his coffee mug close to his chest like shield.

"Charon let's go play with Claws! Six is gonna love Claws!" Rachel bounced, snatching a mug off the table and heading for the coffee pot.

"I think you should get some sleep. You're loopy," Charon told her, catching her by the back of her shirt and hauling her away from the coffee.

"Who is Claws?" Boone asked getting an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. "What is Claws?"

Rachel grinned, words tumbling out of her mouth while she ticked events off on her fingers. "Like I told you, I've tempted fate a lot since I've been away. I disarmed a live nuke. I burned a slaver town to the ground. I pissed off and got kidnapped buy a crazed ghoul chem lord. That was bad but Charon saved me. I'll explain more about that later. I made Charon follow me into a vault filled with violently insane clones all named Gary and I adopted a baby deathclaw. Not in that order though. So what have you been up too Boone?"

"You adopted a deathclaw?" Boone asked slowly with raised eyebrows. "How?"

"Well, I found him hiding under the body of his mother. He was so scared and small and hungry. Definitely a runt of the litter. Anyway I fed him, guess I was trying to give him one more day before the wasteland got him but he took a shine to me, started following me around."

Boone glanced at Charon who nodded a confirmation.

Boone scowled at him. "You allowed that?"

"That one was before we met." Charon told the other man. "I accepted a long time ago that she's insane."

Boone nodded and reluctantly followed the girls out into the sun. Even through his sunglasses the light hurt his head. He hadn't been outside in the daylight in a long damn time. The people who were awake looked curiously at the group walking through town but nobody had the courage to stop and talk to them.

Rachel and Six took up the lead, guns out but chattering away about nothing at all as far as Charon could make out. Rachel led the way out away from the town of Novac. She took their group around towards the back of the town too so that they couldn't be seen from the snipers nest.

Rachel spun on her heel and smiled, not seeing anything around that would cause trouble. "This is a good spot."

Rachel whistled sharply and giggled, her eyes scanning the Mojave. A smile even tugged at the corner of Charon's lips. Not because they were showing off their deadly pet but because it was good to see his smoothskin so happy. She'd been so tense for so long.

They felt Claws before they saw him. They could all feel the deep vibrations from his footsteps pulsing from the dirt beneath their boots. Instinctively everyone but Rachel and Charon reached for their weapons. Claws appeared from around a bluff, running full speed straight at them.

Six brought her gun up in the same second Boone did but Rachel grabbed both barrels and forced them down.

Claws slowed as he got closer and cocked his head, looking at the new people with his good eye.

"That is not a runty little thing." Boone growled, his knuckles white as he gripped his rifle.

"Well he isn't anymore. He's two years old now." Rachel told her farther, stepping up to Claws. The deathclaw lowered his head to hers and sniffed her over, licking her face when he found her unharmed.

Rachel scratched under his chin and turned. "Claws. This is Boone and Six." She pointed them out as she said their names. "They're friends."

It was all the permission he needed. Claws went down to all fours and approached Boone first, sniffing him from his boots to NCR beret. Boone stood stock still and Rachel could swear he looked a few shades lighter under his tan.

Claw's turned his attention to Six and repeated the process. When he got to her face she giggled and he licked her, his tail slashing back and forth abruptly. The sudden movement sent dust and rocks showering over them all. Claws butted his head against her chest effectively knocking her on her backside while he licked her face.

Six's giggles echoed across the desert and Rachel joined in. "I knew you'd love him!"

Six pushed claws off of her and got back to her feet, wiping pink tinted saliva from her face with her sleeve. "He's amazing! And probably the biggest deathclaw I've ever seen! Is he an alpha?"

Rachel took half a step back and looked him over. Claws drew himself up to his full height and cocked his head at her. He was big but he was a deathclaw. He'd certainly been bigger than the Mother they'd encountered but she hadn't seen him in comparison to a regular adult deathclaw.

"I don't know."

"He might be, is he any good in a fight?" Six asked, looking up at him in awe.

"Amazing! We even have had armor made for him. He looks very handsome in it too, if I do say so myself." Rachel was grinning like any proud mother bragging about her child.

"An armored deathclaw…" Six murmured. "What I wouldn't give to have one of those at my back when I kill Caesar."

Charon cocked an eyebrow, not sure who Caesar was but Boone and Rachel were both staring at the petite girl.

"Say that again?" Boone asked quietly.

Six blushed a little but nodded. "I am going to kill Caesar. I've been to Fortification Hill and I wasn't impressed with what I saw. His treatment of woman especially."

Boone bristled, suddenly incredibly suspicious of the strange girl. "How did you get to fortification hill?"

"Through Cottonwood Cove." She answered easily although Charon noticed how her hand had shifted on her hip so that it rested on her combat knife. "When I was on The Strip one on his spies found me and gave me a special medallion to get through there alive. Caesar wanted me to work for him but I have since declined."

"Caesar doesn't allow women in his army. Why would he make an exception for you?" Boone asked, his grip still tight on his gun.

"It's all because of this big Platinum poker Chip I was supposed to deliver to Mr. House. It's why all this shit happened to me. Why I got shot in the head and why now have everyone and their fuckin' brothers after me to work for them. Right now I'm siding with the NCR but I personally think it would be better if Vegas stayed independent. The NCR has it's perks but sometimes I feel like too many people will get lost in the shuffle for long term government. The Mojave deservers better than being a number on a profit report."

They all blinked at her a few times and Rachel blew out a long sigh. "So wait…did you meet Mr. House too?"

"Yes," Six nodded her head and then blushed a little. "I actually kinda live in the Lucky 38."

"What!" Rachel and Boone both chirped. Charon just watched, he had no idea what they were talking about.

Six blushed a little brighter and nodded. "Yeah, I guess it's kinda a big deal. You said you were planning on visiting The Strip right? You can stay with me if you want. So long as you don't mind being around all my other friends too."

Rachel clapped her hands and bounced in place. "Yes! We accept! I've always wanted to know what it was like inside the Lucky 38 and to kill Caesar you can absolutely ride Claws into battle. The legion boys will be wetting themselves when they see him!"

"You ride him?!" Six squeaked, eyes widening.

"Yes, it's so much fun! You want too?" Rachel offered.

"Yes!"

Claws obediently sank to the ground when Rachel asked him too and she gave Six a quick crash course in how to control him without the reins they'd left back in town. Six was grinning like a fool when she clucked her tongue and Claws rose up to his feet.

Six nudged him with her heel and told him to charge. Claws took a hesitant step back and looked at Rachel but when she nodded he snorted and he lunged forward. Six held on for dear life while they sped across the desert. It was only a few seconds before they disappeared around a bluff.

Boone shifted uncomfortably. "How far will it take her?"

Charon cracked his fingers. "He'll run until she turns him around or one of us whistles for him. It's a handy trick when she gets trashed," he jerked his head towards Rachel, "and takes off on him. The first time she did it he'd never even been ridden. She snuck out with a friend and they climbed up on his back. Gave me a damn near heart attack."

Rachel raised her chin proudly, not even bothering to glare. "I regret nothing."

"Where's Six?" a female voice demanded behind them.

Three heads turned to stare at two more women. The girl from the earlier, Veronica and a red headed woman in washed out jeans and a rifle in her hands.

Charon instinctively shifted so Rachel was half hidden from view. She rolled her eyes and pushed pasted him. "Six is fine, I let her ride my deathclaw. They should be back soon. Claws won't go too far with a stranger…I don't think…"

The older woman scowled, "Do I look like I was born yesterday? I don't believe a word of that. She's riding your deathclaw. Sure. And I'm the fucking queen of New Vegas. Where is she really?"

Charon whistled sharply and gave the two strange girls a smug stare. "You can see for yourself."

Claws reappeared as quickly as he'd disappeared and he skidded to a halt in front of Charon. How he could tell Rachel and Charon's whistle apart from so far away was a mystery but so far he always went to who had called him. Claws did over shoot a little and had to drop his head to the ground to keep from crashing into the ghoul.

Six was flung over his horns and she rolled in the dust onto Charon's boots laughing like an insane woman.

Rachel laughed and pointed, "Charon look! In New Vegas you have women falling at your feet! I can't wait to see you in action on The Strip."

Six's friends had gone pale and their mouths were hanging open. Six blinked up at them a gasped, she'd had the wind knocked out of her. "You guys gotta' try that!"

New Vegas was a beacon of light on the horizon. Charon looked at all the new faces in what probably now counted as a caravan. Mostly of women who at present were fawning over Claws like a fluffy new puppy.

Rachel had put on his "boots" and head plate before they headed out to discourage the odd sniper they might pass by. It would take a very big bullet to take Claws down anywhere other than his head in one shot so they hadn't bothered with the rest of the heavy metal.

Claws, of course, was lapping up the new found attention. He stayed on all fours and walked with his head low so they could give him affection while they all walked together.

Charon shook his head and glanced over at Rachel's scowling farther. He was here because she'd made him come. The man had had no interest at all in hoofing it across the wasteland on what he described as a "pointless waste of caps" but Rachel had badgered him about needing a change of scenery until finally he'd agreed.

They were on the road when it happened. Five people, a giant ghoul and a deathclaw were walking towards the lights of New Vegas, it sounded like the start of a bad joke. How the NCR patrol had snuck up on them Charon would really like to know.

He suspected it was because there were so many new people for him to mistrust around his smoothskin that he wasn't as focused on their surrounding as he should have been. It was a mistake that could cost them their lives.

One second they were walking down the road and the next second they had five soldiers aiming at them. Charon cursed under his breath and drew his own gun as did Cass. Rachel flipped her NCR beret onto her head and she and Six both stepped forward, hands up.

"Who are you and what's your business?" an important looking woman in NCR armor demanded.

Rachel opened her mouth to answer but Six spoke up first. "We're friends of the NCR, headin' to New Vegas on business." the bubbly little girl they'd met evaporated and Six turned into the kind of woman that had the air of any five star general. "I've walked this road a dozen times over the last few weeks and you've never stopped me or my people before so why don't you tell me who you are and what's your business with us?"

The woman hesitated, surprised by the small girl's authority and she lowered her weapon. Her men didn't but she did answer Six.

"I am Lieutenant Commander Haggerty. The reason we've stopped you here today is for security purposes. A group of this size and…um…assortment cannot be allowed to simply walk by with the amount of legion raiding parties in this area."

Six looked at their group. It was obvious the lieutenant was worried about the deathclaw. Both she and her men were staring at him but Six was annoyed with the woman's attitude so gave a little right back.

"Do we look like legion?" Six demanded, propping her fist on her hips. "Cause last I checked they don't take in women or ghouls. The only one of us Caesar would even consider would be chuckles here behind me," she jerk her thumb over her shoulder at Boone who went ridged with anger at the thought "And he's retired First Recon so you can trust me when I say we are in no way a threat to local NCR operations."

Lt. Haggerty cleared her throat and motioned to Claws. "What about that? Everyone knows deathclaws are the most dangerous thing out here. I should order my men to put it down before it breaks from whatever mind control you people are using on it and it kills everything in sight."

Rachel scowled and pushed in front of Six, leaning in close to Haggerty with murder flashing in her golden eyes. "Lieutenant, Claws may be a deathclaw," she said very quietly, "but the most dangerous thing out here is me when my family is being threatened. Claw is as free as any of us and he's been at my heel for a long damn time. If he wanted you dead you would have been the moment your men trained their weapons on us. The only reason you're still breathing is because he doesn't believe you're a threat to me or my partner."

Lt. Haggerty tore her startled eyes from Rachel's unnerving ones and let them drift up to her First Recon beret. Then her eyes traveled to Boone's, over Six and the other women. They slid over the giant ghoul that looked like he could kill a half dozen men without breaking a swet and then to the giant deathclaw on all fours. The beast's head was cocking back and forth with interest but no immediate malice that she could tell. This was not how she'd envisioned her day going.

Haggerty sighed and signaled her men to drop their weapons. Really the girls were right. She hadn't had any real reason to intercept their group beyond the fact that they were traveling with a freakin' deathclaw.

"I," she hesitated, "I apologize. In my defense, when my scout came back with reports of people traveling with a deathclaw all I could think of were the controlled ones the Enclave had before their collapse. I thought perhaps it was a similar situation but yours' doesn't have the head device."

Rachel put a hand on Claws' curved horn and rubbed it affectionately. "Usually we have him follow us at a further distance out to avoid unnecessary concern with the locals so I apologize too. I wasn't paying attention to where we were."

A young man on the Lieutenant's right hand shifted, saying, "He is impressive. How did you tame him?"

"I didn't. We kinda adopted each other. He thinks I'm his mama." She looked over her son and nodded towards the solids just because she could. "Claws, say hello."

Veronica and Six shifted out of the way so Claws could stretch his head out towards the man who'd spoken, inhaling the kids scent. The man had turned white under his tan and stood stock still. Rachel fought not to laugh.

The Lt. Commander was more adventurous and she reached out a hand to Claws, offering it without toughing him. Claw sniffed her hand and touched his nose to it. She actually giggled, it was a nervous reaction but Claws took it as permission and licked the whole side of her face in true Claws fashion.

The commander squeaked and this time Rachel did laugh along with all the other girls in their group. "He likes you, he's an excellent judge of character."

A little puff of air that could hardly pass as a breeze brushed across the Mojave as the commander wiped her face with her sleeve. "That's just a little gross."

"Be happy he hadn't just eaten." Charon rumbled and Rachel grinned at the ghoul.

Claws lifted his nose and sniffed, his lips pulling up into a snarl and a growl rumbling out of his chest. Immediately all NCR gun where pointed at him but he ignored them, picking himself up to his full height and looking east, scenting the air.

Rachel and Charon both had their weapons up and cocked before the soldiers had even reacted to the sound, all good feelings were gone while they scanned the desert east of them down their sights.

"What?" Six asked, picking up her weapon.

"If Claws thinks there's trouble then there will be." Rachel whispered.

Lt. Haggerty gave a hand signal for her men to fan out. They had only just started to move when a team of legion assassins appeared from behind an over turned eighteen-wheeler and all hell broke loose.