In a land far away, there was a place where projects of a long-dead nation still thrived. It was a terrible place as few ever entered the perimeter of the Big Empty, fewer ever left. To the courier, it was one of many terrible places she had endured, but this land of scientific nightmares could never compare to her time in Hopeville. Nothing could compare, but the Big Empty was quite close to it.

Angelique traveled through the dangerous land, but she was in all sorts of pain. Her body survived gunshots, jagged blades, and sharp claws, but it could never erase the pain of the scars that came across her body. The surgical removal of her brain, heart, and spine had demoralized her ever since she waked up from her coma. If she tried to leave the perimeter, death would be certain and trying to get into Doctor Mobius' hideout was quite dangerous as it was. His roboscorpions were quite a hassle whenever she had completed the goal of getting the equipment to deal with him.

The company was even worse. There were five floating brains that talked to her through television screens and each of them had their own eccentricities. Hell, one didn't even speak compete English, but communicated with some kind of soundwave frequency. However, he was the least weird of the five and was quite helpful in some regards. The rest of his compatriots, on the other hand, gave her more incentive to do what she can to leave this hellhole.

While she walked through the valleys of dead projects, she considered the possibility of bringing the NCR's attention towards this particular location. Maybe try to get the help of her Russian friends if they were willing to go so far as to help with the republic's relations with others, especially these pre-war survivors.

She walked around the corner of a valley floor to find a roboscorpion turn its attention towards her. "I'm getting tired of this shit." At this point, she had every right be using such vulgar language. Her hand reached into her pockets and injected a dose of Med-X into her system. Better to feel less pain when dealing with these damn things. Bringing her plasma rifle to bear, streams of superheated projectiles crashed into the robot's case, melting away its systems by sheer heat alone. Before, she would have no qualms about walking past damaged robots, but Doctor Mobius' had installed a program that she hated to deal with. The fallen roboscorpion exploded with electronic debris flying across the area.

After killing the unit, Angelique noted a doorway on her left. Her Pip-Boy's map had full access to the maps across the Big Empty and this appeared to be the entrance into the lair of Doctor Mobius. The NCR ranger approached the door and found its systems opening for her upon arrival. Her finger reached for the trigger as she became uncomfortable about the lack of security around these parts. During her stay at this accursed place, she had stumbled upon the belongings of Christine and her recordings. Since she listened to her experiences, this place demanded caution as Angelique entered the facility.

When she was past the entrance and within the confines of the facility, Angelique found herself confronted by an enormous roboscorpion staring straight back at her. There was no doubt that she was going to die to this thing. After all, she only came with enough to take on a small platoon, not an entire walking weapon. If this is what Doctor Mobius had in store for the rest of the wasteland, she had to stop him.

The menacing of voice Doctor Mobius had come to life. "So I see that the Think Tank sent their emissary to deal with me. Good, this is a conversation I've been waiting to have for a long time. Alright, turn off the systems."

The monster that she was facing had stayed where it was, reducing its display of power before the loud echo of lights were shut on. Upon her right, she saw a large set of stairs leading up to a small platform high above. "You're not going to shoot me?"

"Shoot you? No, I have other plans in mind and I hope you're willing to cooperate." His voice was calm, far calmer than her previous experiences with the brain of the scientist. Just what was he up to?

"Great, I'm going to have to talk to one more mad scientist."

"I may have a sight problem, but I am not mad like those lunatics at the Think Tank. Come now, I haven't had a guest in my home for a very long time."

Angelique hurried with haste as she looked at the surrounding testing ground to see various turrets and controls throughout the place. It would have been an interesting fight against Doctor Mobius if things did become sour. After arriving on the platform and opening the mysterious door where he might be, she was met with a layout similar to the Think Tank's design. Unlike the clean an untainted walls of computers, there was a level of disrepair with no lights whatsoever save for the computer screens. Off in the distance, she saw the floating mechanical body of the menace who dared to confront her.

Doctor Mobius was accompanied by a pack of roboscorpions as he eagerly approached her. His right tv screen was smashed while his other eye scanned her body. "Somehow, I can see you at one point, but don't see you at another point. If only I knew what had occurred with my FOV cone. Could you move to the right or the left? I'm having a hard time getting a good look at you."

"Okay?" This was perhaps one of the strangest meetings she ever had in her journey. She scooted from side-to-side, hoping the small adjustments would be helpful for the insane doctor… well… one of the more insane ones to be precise. "Am I doing that right?"

"Ah, yes. Finally, I get a good look at you. Tell me, is there anything wrong with me that I can't see so well."

"Well, your right eye is all smashed up. I'd try to help you, but doesn't look like it can be repaired."

"A pity. I've been keen on regaining my full vision ever since the previous visitor had arrived at Big Mountain."

Was he referring to Christine and that other man? "For someone named Doctor Mobius, you're not exactly the type of person I was expecting."

"Just what where you expecting?" He asked. "Do you want a mentat?"

"Um? Sure." Her reluctant reply was met when one of the roboscorpions ejected a pack of mentats in her direction. She caught it and slipped it into her pockets. He might have done something with them if she tried to swallow one. "I was actually expecting a menacing mad scientist trying to raise an army to deal with the Think Tank and expand elsewhere. Not a scientist with his own little quirks."

"I suppose… I got too carried away with the psycho when I broadcasted to the Think Tank, but I do believe the chems have served their purpose." That was an answer worth noting. Was it more than simply a scare tactic? "It had to be something about ethics or whatever that went on."

"Ethics? You have an army of projects running amok throughout the Big Empty-" She was interrupted by a far more stone cold tone of Doctor Mobius.

"Big Mountain." He corrected. "This place is called Big Mountain. Just because one of those scientists decided to blow up the mountain with their artillery piece, doesn't mean the name changes. It will and always be Big Mountain to me." Now that was the Doctor Mobius she was waiting to see. "Now I remember about that thing about ethics. Those scientists at the Think Tank are my friends, but their minds… deteriorated. Best to limit their insanity here, where my broadcasts would have made them consider leaving Big Mountain."

Angelique found the information hard to believe. "Hold up! You're telling me that you're the good guy. The scientist with the name of Doctor Mobius is trying to spare the world of the bad side of scientific research."

"Yes."

"So why did you take away my brain? I came all this way to get my brain back and you could have told me along the way."

The scientist's eyes hardened. "It was a precaution. The Think Tank needed to believe I was so much of a threat to their research that they wouldn't leave Big Mountain. However, they interacted with people outside of this location and it made them establish a hypothesis about their preconceptions of a world. You were the third person they discovered and now they're trying to break out."

"How? They wouldn't get a mile in those floating machines without taking gunfire from some random bandit."

"They understood that," Mobius answered. "Then you came into their lives and gave them a solution to their problem. Extract whatever information that was in your head and steal your body."

Angelique's eyes widened with surprise. "That's their plan? Now that makes everything worse."

"Indeed. They cope with their mental state by experimenting which could be good or bad, but the point is that they would cause chaos wherever they went. No one beyond Big Mountain would be spared. So that is why I needed to hold a conversation with you, because you're helping them get what the need to get out under the guise of stopping."

"Shit."

To her surprise, there appeared to be another waiting to speak, but it mattered on who was speaking. "Doctor Mobius, do you want to have another meaningful conversation with me then that neanderthal in front of you."

The scientist rotated away from the courier and addressed a small container on the other side of the room. "I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss her. She has an important role to play just as much as you do."

"Please." The emanating voice replied. "I am far more sophisticated than whatever she's capable of."

"Now, now. There is a reason why humans have a brain, a heart, and a spine. Neither of you can deal with the Think Tank alone."

Curious, Angelique lowered her weapon and took a closer look, only to find a brain floating inside. "Doctor, is that my brain?"

"Yes. That is your brain. He's quite a peculiar one. Given that I rarely get any visitors, the technology that allowed my continued existence was applied to your brain in the interim until I could hold a conversation with you."

"So what exactly are we going to do?"

"Well, we could pretend that I injected my brain into your body and pretend that I have infiltrated the Think Tank with the other scientists at my mercy. You can act all menacing and I don't have to worry about my friends breaking to turn the world into their playground."

"Hello? I'm right here. Just because I can't move doesn't mean my soundwave software can't hear you." The brain commented.

Then the Ranger walked up to where her brain was contained in. "Look, you're going back into my head and we're going to solve this."

"How about no?"

She was taken aback by 'his' response. "Excuse me, what the fuck? You don't have a say in this at all."

"Actually, I do. Do you know what's it like to sit in your head, to deal with all the trauma, and nonsense throughout your crazy adventures? How many times did you ignore my pleas to run away? Too many to count. You don't even take a shower. Your emotional state doesn't even address the fact that you don't have to be this way if you talked with your father about those issues."

"What do you know about my emotional issues? You're just my subconscious that makes me think before I act. What the hell do you know what I feel?"

"I'm your goddamn brain - the center of your nerve control! I have to make note of everything you do whether you know it or not!"

The walls of computers alerted everyone in the room as Doctor Mobius swiftly floated towards the computer nearest to him. "This is new."

"What's wrong?"

"This alert… There's broadcast from Massachusets." He answered. "Why did they break operational silence after all of these years?"

A transmission was raised as a voice from the Think Tank echoed throughout the room. "Lobotomite, wherever you are Dr. Klein and the rest of our colleagues really need your help. Like, now! Seriously, we really don't know how to fight."

Another voice joined him. "Zero, stop the transmission and get your vivisectors!"

Troops flowed through the NCR border with the Mojave at their backs. This was a disheartening sight for Senator Richmond with his Vertiberd waiting for him. All of the political efforts of investing in the region was about to go to waste and he was hear to hold a conversation with General Oliver about is lack of a spine. He watched as the general directed the troops from the side of the road, trying to appear like he had any honor left as a soldier. Now that was going to go in tatters as many of the troopers standing or passing by had paused to note the senator approaching him. "General Oliver, just what the hell are you doing?"

The high-ranking commander turned around with surprise on his face. "Senator Richmond, I could be asking you the same question. I'm merely directing my boys out of the Mojave. The Legion has broken through the Colorado River."

"Then stand your ground and hold the line! There's a reason why you have the stars on your shoulders." The senator replied.

"You weren't there, the Legion broke through. It's only a matter of time before they come here and deal with us at this very checkpoint. I'm merely preparing our boys to dig in."

"Like how you dug in at the Hoover Dam?" His reply was venomous that many of the surrounding staff officers were taken aback by his words. "You had the same idea and it totally failed because you didn't think the enemy would cross the river with that large of a force. Are you truly a buffoon to consider that they wouldn't adapt to a battle they lost the last time we had a major battle with them?"

Oliver crushed the dirt beneath his shoes. "Careful Richmond, you may be a senator of the republic, but you are no soldier."

A fist was thrown as an angry man towered over the general. "I spent my years fighting the Enclave. Old as I may be, it's pitiful that our mighty military has been brought down so low because of you. Hell, those goddamn Russians have more balls than you do and they have no stake in this war of ours!" Then he looked at the soldiers around him. "Get me a radio, I got to call to make with the Senate."

Author's Note: I just wanted to break away from the usual stuff about Artyom and company. While it could have been better, I needed to cement something in for a later date.

Aren serathy: Indeed.