July 3rd, 2280

23:15

188 Trading Post

The 188 Trading Post provided a meager respite from the pace Knox was setting. Even the Courier needed a break eventually. Boone and Raul were just glad he decided to take it before they reached New Vegas. The sniper's shirt was stuck to his chest with so much sweat that even the cool night air couldn't provide relief. Raul practically collapsed in the dirt as soon as Knox had stopped walking. The old ghoul was mumbling something unhappy in Spanish as his eyes drifted shut.

"I guess he'll enjoy his nap," Knox said, his voice hushed as he took a seat on the ground next to where Raul had fallen. He had several cans of purified water clasped in his hands that he'd purchased. He held one aloft to Boone. "Drink up."

Boone took the water and unslung his pack and rifle, letting them fall to the dirt before he too joined them. Opening the can, he took a deep drink and sighed as the cool liquid soothed his parched and dust covered throat. He took another smaller sip before resealing the can and setting it down next to him.

Across from him, Knox shifted his body, so the light of the Trading Post spilled over his lap. He slid his journal out of his satchel and cracked it open and began to scrawl away in it. Boone watched in silence just listening to the scratching of the pencil on paper. Without looking up from his notes, Knox said, "You can go to sleep if you like. I doubt we need a watch, but I'll take first anyway."

Without answering Boone nodded, but he made no move to lie down. He seemed to be hesitating like he wanted to say something, but was having trouble phrasing it. After a several seconds of silence Knox sighed and looked up from his journal. "You've got something to say?" he surmised.

"We need to talk."

"No we don't."

Boone was startled at how final Knox's answer was. Shutting down the conversation without even letting him say what he wanted to talk about. Apparently, Knox could read what he was thinking off his face. "I know what you want to say and it's not something we need to discuss."

"You let one of the frumentarii into New Vegas knowingly!"

The accusation floated in the air and filled the conversation with a pregnant pause. Boone hadn't meant it to sound so harsh, but he didn't know of any other way to say what he meant. Knox shook his head and closed his journal with a sharp snap.

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" he asked. Boone didn't reply. He didn't need to. With a sigh, Knox pulled his hat from his head and flipped it over and over in his hands. "Alright. Fine. Yes. I needed some way to contact the Legion when I couldn't make my way to any of their camps," he explained. "I created an exploit in the Strip security. The Legion fell for it and planted a man within easy reach."

Shaking his head and not accepting the answer, Boone continued to argue. "You let one of the frumentarii in, Knox! The frumentarii. You've put one of those monsters in our home."

The hat stopped its spinning and Knox looked up from it to fix Boone with a hard eyed glare. "I know you blame the frumentarii for arranging the deal that ended with your wife a slave," Boone stiffened as Knox spoke, "But you need to drop this. If I decided to let some Legion spy stooge chase false leads, so I can squeeze real info from him that's my business."

Boone took a deep frustrated breath. He flexed his fingers angrily, wishing he had something in them to wrench and tear. A Legionaries neck would have been perfect. But his ever present anger was wrestling with Knox's words. Tactically, Knox had a point. Taking another deep breath, Boone forced himself to relax. His eyes flicked up to Knox. "Just some stooge?"

Knox cracked a small smirk at him. "Think the Misfits, but in red. I promise."

Snorting softly, Boone returned the smirk before pulling his pack behind him and reclining back onto it. Within moments his eyes were closed and his breath evened out as he fell asleep, leaving Knox to his journal and the silence of the night.


July 4th, 2280

07:00

The Old Mormon Fort

The morning hadn't exactly found Arcade in a better mood than the night before, but he had relented and allowed Ava to interview his patients for information on the attack. Not that they'd been particularly forthcoming either. The old man, Roy, had tried to stonewall her at first, refusing to talk until he'd noticed Rex sniffing around the tent.

Apparently, the cyberdog had quite the amount of sway in Freeside. With his appearance, Roy had been more helpful. Even though the extent of his help had only been to point Ava towards another one of the victims, Wayne.

Wayne had been… reticent to help at a minimum. When Roy had recognized Rex, Wayne whirled on Ava with an accusatory finger jab, "That true?" he'd asked brusquely, making a motion to poke Ava in the chest. The boy was young, but still a half foot taller than Ava. And still quite suspicious. "Did the King really send you?"

Ava caught his finger with a firm grip and began slowly twisting it while she answered. "Why else would I be here asking questions?" By the time she finished her retort, Wayne was twisted over on his knees, trying to contort his body in a way to take the pressure off his trapped finger.

"Alright! Alright, jeez, just let me go, lady!" he cried from his position on his knees. Ava released his finger and he toppled over backwards onto his ass. He glared ruefully up at her, but buckled almost immediately when she planted one fist into the palm of her other head. "Ok, fine! I already got my ass kicked once, don't need it again!"

Twisting her hands fluidly from menacing to clasped together and bowing slightly, Ava smiled at him. "Wonderful. Every bit helps. Thanks."

He sneered back at her sarcasm, but did start talking. "I don't really know what else I can add," he said, nodding at Roy. "They were a bunch of guys. Better dressed than most Freesiders, I guess. That help?"

Ava sighed and took a knee so she was speaking on the same level as Wayne. "Better dressed like Strip better dressed?" Wayne shook his head eliciting another sigh from Ava. "Could you be a bit more descriptive? Like a color maybe?"

Wayne's eyes brightened and he nodded eagerly. "Yeah, yeah! That, uh, what's it called… boring green?"

Keeping her face a stiff mask of patience, Ava resisted the urge to hit the guy just for the sheer waves of stupidity he forcing over her. "Olive drab?"

"Right, yeah. Olive drab," Wayne repeated, blushing madly. He scratched the tip of his nose and refused to meet her gaze. Behind him, Roy gave Ava an apologetic shrug.

Olive drab was a pretty big signifier of a guilty party. The only group of people who would have the time and resources to dye clothing a military green would be the NCR. Not even looters would scavenge clothing of that color for fear of the NCR taking retribution. Or worse… the Legion. However, it would also be an excellent tactic to frame them in Ava's opinion.

"Anything else, Wayne?"

Still avoiding her gaze, Wayne started to shake his head, but he stopped and his brow furrowed. "Yeah! I just remembered something. I might of heard one of the guys that attacked us call another by name." Ava's face turned alert. She noticed Roy was listening more carefully as well. Apparently this was news to him as well. "We had just about had it when one them said 'Hey Lou, we gotta go.'" Wayne explained. He shrugged. "At least I think he said Lou. It might have been something else."

Ava threw her head back and stood up again. This interrogation was going in circles. The kid was all over the place. She started to turn, but Wayne's nodding caught her attention again.

"Now that I think of it, he said Lou-something. Something with a 'T'." He trailed off, focusing hard and trying to remember. Ava watched, praying that it was on the tip of his tongue. Her prayers were answered as his face brightened. "Tenant! That's what he called him. Lou Tenant!"

Wayne smiled proudly and looked around to Roy who just gave him a look of disbelief. Ava's hand smacked into her face and she turned to walk out. Behind her she could hear Roy admonish, "Wayne, sometimes you are dumber than a super mutant. Lieutenant. Not Lou Tenant."

Despite Wayne's lack of general intelligence or possible undiagnosed head injury, the questioning had in fact led somewhere. While 'olive drab' wouldn't be more than a hunch, when coupled with 'lieutenant' it was enough to go on. Now she just had to find some NCR to talk to… which was the next stopping block.

The only particular experience she'd ever had with the NCR in Freeside was the riot she'd seen her first day in the town. And frankly she'd had other things to focus on that day. Like meeting Veronica. Beyond that she wasn't even too familiar with Freeside. She almost always just passed straight through to and from the Strip. Having a guide around would definitely be helpful. At least one more vocal than Rex, she thought as she lightly scratched around his brain case. Maybe she could ask Arcade, but she doubted that he'd be any more pleasant to deal with than he was earlier that morning. Damn it all, if only there was someone else around that could…

And then she saw it. That oh so familiar hood standing up and stretching beyond a stack of crates. "Speak of the devil," Ava murmured and made her way over.

Veronica was cracking her back after being huddled over the innards of a rusted old Auto-Doc. Parts littered the ground around her feet and her hands were positively caked in grease and oil. She let out a small shriek as Ava snuck up behind her and yanked her hood down in order to press a kiss to her cheek. She threw her arms over Veronica's shoulders and pulled her into a hug from behind. "And what are you doing, beautiful?"

"Ava!" Veronica squealed as she was startled. She craned her neck back to look at Ava who was grinning like a loon. "I'll have you know that I'm fixing a very delicate, and very complex, piece of machinery," she said, utterly failing at the stern tone she was trying to affect.

Casting a quick critical eye over the inner workings of the Auto-Doc which was largely comprised of parts Ava didn't recognize, Ava nodded in agreement. "Delicate is right. Those ribbon connectors between the circuits have certainly seen better days. Does the computer on this piece of junk even work?"

"Not particularly. Which is why I would appreciate it if you kept your brand new 'mutt' out of it!" Veronica tried to escape Ava's bear hug to shoo Rex away as the cyberdog stuck his entire head into the exposed opening of the Auto-Doc's interior, but Ava tightened her grip, refusing to let Veronica loose. She whistled sharply and Rex extracted his head from the machine, his snout now caked in grease. Ava raised her eyebrows at him, but the cyberdog's only reply was to run his long tongue up and down his snout a few times in a vain effort to groom himself.

"That's the King's dog isn't it?" a voice called from the other side of the Auto-Doc. Ava, Veronica, and Rex all looked over in unison to the Follower's doctor standing there. Ava had virtually ignored her as she sneaked up on Veronica, but seeing the female doctor now widened her smile even further.

"Nice hair. And yes! That's Rex. Do you like him?" she answered, her eyes fixed on the impressive ridge of spikes the doctor had gelled her hair into.

Veronica lightly elbowed her in the ribs and said, "Introduce yourself before you start shamelessly flirting!" Ava opened her mouth to argue that she wasn't flirting, but Veronica elbowed her again harder.

Nudging her head against Veronica's, Ava looked over to the doctor. "I'm Ava. Hi."

The woman gave her a small smile and nodded her greeting. "Julie Farkas. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Ava raised her eyebrows in surprise and looked down at where she still had Veronica pinned in her arms. Julie's smile grew a fraction and she took pity on the Brotherhood Scribe. "Veronica hasn't told us that much about you asides the fact that you exist."

"What? You don't like talking about me?" Ava asked with a mischievous grin.

"You don't like talking about you," Veronica retorted. "I'd feel bad doing it in your stead." Ava snorted, but couldn't do much other than agree. Grasping her wrists in an effort to extricate herself, Veronica asked, "Now do you mind releasing me, so I can finish?" Ava hmmed for a moment, but relented and let go of her.

Veronica started back for her tools and the machinery, but Julie waved her off. "Don't worry about that now Vee. You can finish up later." She pointed at Ava. "Why don't you take a break?"

Nodding her thanks, Veronica grabbed her bag and threw some of her personal tools into it before pulling the strings shut and throwing it over one shoulder. "Thanks, Julie!" she said brightly. "I'll make sure I get you at least a parts list for this thing by the end of the day. Maybe I can get someone to help," she said with a non-subtle jerk of her thumb towards Ava who shook her head and held her hands up.

"Oh no. You're much more better with the tech stuff than me."

"Yes, but you're a doctor," Veronica fired back.

"A doctor?" Julie asked, a look of interest on her face which was compounded by Ava vigorously shaking her head no.

"I am definitely not a doctor," Ava asserted. "I'm way too comfortable creating injuries to practice medicine."

With that proclamation the conversation ground to a halt. Julie's entire demeanor changed to be tinged by sadness. Veronica made an apologetic face to her and quickly grabbed ahold of both Rex and Ava and began to drag them away both making indignant yelps and dragging their feet in the dirt as they went.

"Way to make a good impression," Veronica chided when they away from the Old Mormon Fort. Ava paused to look at Veronica as she bought some suspicious grilled food from Genaro to feed to Rex. Veronica sighed and clarified, "With Julie?"

Ava immediately straightened up and rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh! Yeah… Sorry about that." It was obvious she didn't know what she was apologizing for.

Veronica rolled her eyes, but didn't hold it against her. Holding social faux pas against Ava was unfair at best. "Julie is a pacifist," she explained and watched understanding dawn on Ava's face before turning into immediate guilt. "She leads the Followers of the Apocalypse who are…"

"All about helping people. Not hurting," Ava finished. She was still holding the squirrel on a stick she'd bought from Genaro and Rex was nosing at it insistently. She released it to the cyberdog and awkwardly rung her hands. "Did I fuck that up?" she asked. "Is she like not gonna pay you now or something?"

With a smile, Veronica shook her head and took Ava's hand so they could keep walking. "Don't worry about that. Julie's not the sort of person to renege over a personal disagreement. And besides I do all my work for the Followers pro bono."

"Really?" Ava asked curiously. "I didn't know you liked the Followers so much. I just figured since Arcade was a prick they all had to be."

Veronica laughed aloud at that. She had to press her hand against her mouth as a group of passerby looked over at them. After regaining control of herself. "Well, I like helping people, so lending a hand to the Followers just seemed to make since. I've always kind of admired the Followers of the Apocalypse," she said as Ava listened. "They do so much with so little. And every advancement they discover they share with the Wasteland so people can better their lives. Unlike some people I know," she muttered darkly at the end.

She didn't have to say it, but Ava knew she was talking about the Brotherhood of Steel. Her family's cloister-ish nature was a constant point of contention. Ava didn't even know the last time she'd been back home only that her and Knox had been trying to change the Mojave Elder's thinking for a long time now. With little to show for it. Ava could certainly see how the Followers of the Apocalypse would appeal after living with the Brotherhood and watching them horde away lifesaving technologies.

"But forget about that," Veronica said, snapping Ava's attention back to her. "I know you don't want to hear me complain about me family."

"I'd listen to you complain about anything."

"Flatterer," Veronica returned. "But seriously. Tell me about your day. Why were you at the Mormon Fort? And why do you have the King's dog? He's not dead is he!?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Ava inquired, a look of utter consternation on her face. "The King is fine! I'm just working with him! Rex is a bonus!" Hearing his name, Rex barked his affirmative, earning an affectionate pat from Ava.

With a relieved smile, Veronica asked, "What sort of work then?"

"As Mr. House's chosen diplomat," Ava began with flourish, "I have struck a bargain with the King. The NCR is up to something and he wants me to put an end to it."

Veronica giggled at her girlfriend's antics. "And what do we get out of this? Besides the dog."

Ava's face split open in self-satisfied grin. "I get the Kings', and by extension Freeside's, loyalty to New Vegas." One of her hands dropped to her hip and her fingers fluttered awkwardly once before falling all the way to her side. Veronica could tell that it if she'd had Clarity on her belt, Ava would have been happily drumming her fingers on its hilt as she talked. "If I close this quickly, I can even shove Knox's face into it. Show him who's too broken to handle shit."

She was startled from basking in vindictive glee as Veronica punched her in the shoulder rather hard. Ava looked at her with a shocked and hurt expression, but was thrown off by just how upset Veronica looked.

"Don't call yourself broken!" she snapped, her mouth turned down in a sharp frown. "If Knox is going to be a jerk that's his problem. But don't you go saying it too. Because you're not!"

Her frown sharpened as Ava just bashfully shrugged and said, "I kind of am." Ava looked at her in alarm as it appeared as if Veronica was about to do something even more violent. "Well, it's true!" she said defensively. "I'm not going to deny it. I've been through enough shit to tear anyone to pieces. The Pitt was enough let alone the next several years after."

"You're not the broken one," Veronica argued. "They're the broken ones! The ones who did all that to you are the broken ones and if everyone would stop trying to fix you they'd see that! You don't need fixing! Because you're not BROKEN!"

The last word was shouted by Veronica. She stood opposite Ava, Rex in between them unsure who to look it, his head kept flicking backwards and forwards. While Veronica's eyes were angry and passionate, Ava was doing everything in her power not to meet them. She looked decidedly uncomfortable and clearly did not want to be having this discussion.

"Veronica… I get a physical high from killing people. And I have a rather addictive personality. That's pretty fucked up."

Veronica threw her hands in the air, the motion sending her hood spilling back and flinging a few stray locks of hair over her forehead. "The Wasteland is a fucked up place! One of my top five favorite things is punching people. Including the times when it's necessary to punch their heads clean off!" She stopped yelling with an angry pant. She blew one of the errant locks out of her face with an irritated gust of air. "You're just more efficient than me." Ava blushed, but still didn't look at Veronica, until she literally grabbed her chin and turned her head to face her.

"I don't like when people call you broken because that implies you're somehow less. And you're not. You will always be more. Because despite all the reasons people like to list that are 'wrong' with you like stopping a bunch of cannibals or saving Knox's ass from a bunch of two bit cannibals, all of those reasons! Despite all that and everything else you've ever told me, you remain one of the kindest, most steadfast, and most heroic people I've ever met." The angry, manic passion remained in her eyes even as she smiled and cupped Ava's face in her hands. "I thought that when I met you and I still think that now! So 'broken' my fucking ass!"

"And a very cute ass at that," Ava replied. Veronica rolled her eyes as Ava steamrolled over the moment, but she couldn't help, but share a smile.

"Come on, you," she chided, looping an arm in Ava's and pulling her into motion again. "Enough of this. I think I have an idea where you can talk to some NCR citizens."

"I don't know… I think I'd like to hear more about your ass."

"Later."


A/N: More chapters! Yayyyy! And things are gonna be getting tense soon! Not quite Battle of Hoover Dam tense yet, but some lines are going to be drawn that's for sure. Oh and an answer to a question. Sorry for the update on April Fool's Day. It was not my intention to suggest that Dogmeat and Rex could in anyway be the same. Rex is his very own monster of science. And besides. Dogmeat has to somehow be over in Boston in 10 years. Not to suggest that I'm in any way going to be writing a fic taking place during Fallout 4 or anything. At least... not until I finish "The Unspoken". Hint hint.