Chapter 35

The Westside Merc

"Hello, Mr. Burke!"

Mr. Burke—who was rushing about in the presidential suite, adjusting his tie and the collar of his dark navy suit—suddenly skidded to a stop, pausing and seeing that Yes Man had arrived from the elevator.

"What is it, Yes Man? I don't have much time right now," Mr. Burke uttered, checking his watch and fixing his hat. "I have a meeting in the Tops and I cannot be late."

"Well—you instructed me to tell you if the courier returned to Vegas," Yes Man replied. "Victor just spotted her coming out of the NCR embassy. She's probably on her way here right now!"

"What?" Mr. Burke barked. "Oh, Christ. I have to go—I need to go before she sees me."

He rushed toward the elevator—young Melody leaning out of the nearest room, munching on a gecko kabob and waving him off.

"Goodbyeee, Mr. Burke!" Melody called after him.

"Goodbyeee, Melody," Mr. Burke said distractedly, hammering the elevator button and impatiently tapping his foot at the elevator's doors slowly began to close.

Melody meandered back into the bedroom after he left, plopping down on the bed and continuing to watch her favorite TV show about the Silver Shroud. Meanwhile—the elevator carried Mr. Burke down to the first floor, making a ding before the doors slid open.

And just as the elevator opened—two distant voices instantly met his ears.

Directly across from him—Mr. Burke spotted Sandra and Niner walking inside and conversing with each other, the door swinging shut behind them as the sunlight from outside vanished from sight.

Niner saw Mr. Burke—then grabbed Sandra, wheeling her around and forcing her to face him.

"Jesus—what?!" Sandra gasped, shooting him a bizarre look.

"I jus—I just—" Niner stammered, glimpsing over her shoulder and seeing that Mr. Burke was stealthily sliding out of the elevator, stepping around the corner and disappearing from sight. "Nothing, I just—thought I saw a spider on ya. S'gone now."

He brushed off her shoulder and released her. Sandra gave him another strange look before turning away, facing the elevator again and squinting oddly at it.

"Why's the elevator open already?" Sandra wondered, stepping inside it and eyeing the buttons.

"Iunno." Niner stepped in with her and shrugged. "Damn thing's old. Ain't seen a repairman in over two-hundred years."

Sandra made a sideways nod, pressing the button for the presidential suite as the doors began to close. "Well, yeah, fair point…"

The moment he heard the elevator close, Mr. Burke emerged from behind it, staring at it for a moment and releasing a relieved cloud of breath. He then checked his watch again, took a deep breath, and headed across the room, marching out of the Lucky 38.

Sandra and Niner stood in the elevator, gazing out the glass and watching the fantastic view of Vegas as they slowly ascended farther and farther above the city of sin. Niner glanced over at her, sighing and fidgeting with his belt loop.

"Hey… Six," he said. "You kinda seem like… you remember more now."

Sandra blinked and turned to him, then shrugged and nodded. "Yeah… I kinda do. Arcade helped me with that. I don't know how, but… he did."

"Huh." Niner scratched his soul patch, eyeing her again. "Y'know, you… I mean, if you can remember the whole genocide thing, then… you might be able to handle even more stuff from your past. Right?"

Sandra gave him an odd look. "I… guess so. Why?"

"Iunno. I'm just sayin', like…" Niner mumbled. "Like, if… if somethin' from your past suddenly came back… how d'you think you'd react?"

Sandra stared at him, somewhat confused. Then, her gaze ventured back to the view of Vegas down below, folding her arms and making another shrug.

"I guess… it depends on what it is," she figured. "I mean… it's not like any of my old enemies are gonna pop up. They're all dead. But… I'd like to know what happened to my friends. Especially if Maxson took over. Fuck, I hope they're okay…"

Niner observed her curiously. "You remember your old friends…?"

Sandra made a wincing sort of face, replying with a halfhearted nod. "Eeeh… I… kinda do. I know more now… but I don't know everything yet, if that makes sense. I remember… a supermutant. I think it was… Fox, or Fawkes, or something… anyway, I know he wandered off to do like… bodyguard work. I had a pet yao guai named Thrash, but… he started getting big when I left. He's probably out in the wild by now. And I know there was the Lyons Pride… and Sarah… yeah, her name was Sarah. Sarah Lyons. Yeah, she was awesome. Oh, man… me and Charon wandered into this town once, and the whole damn place was full of giant ants, but it wasn't like the ants here. Those freaking ants breathed fire. Heh—fuck, you would've lost your shit if you saw that. Me and Charon ended up saving this kid there—this kid, Bryan—and he stayed with us for a long time before he went off with Sarah to join the Brotherhood. Ohh, there's someone else… aaahm… shit, lemme think…"

Sandra snapped her fingers and waved her hand around, staring down and trying to think.

"Mr. Burke," she recalled, snapping again and thrusting her finger at Niner. "That's his name—yeah, he was a creepy fuck when I first met him. He was hired by some fat cat to try and blow up Megaton. Megaton was this town built around a big-ass bomb. Anyway, Mr. Burke tried to rope me into his little job, and I talked him out of it. Ohoho, dude—he started sending letters to my house, man! Sarah said he was in freaking love with me, but I didn't believe it. Not until I found Tenpenny Tower and he got me drunk in his bed—"

"Whoa, Six." Niner jerked back and planted his hands over his ears. "Eeeeh—you're like a sister to me now. I don't wanna hear that. Uuugh!"

"Oh my god, grow up—we didn't do anything," Sandra laughed at him. "Despite his best efforts. No—we just drank and talked, and he let me sleep it off in his room. Then I found him out in the wasteland sometime later, and I saved his ass from a deathclaw. It was awesome."

Niner slowly lowered his hands, surveying her intently.

"So you'd… you'd be happy if you saw them again," he uttered.

"Yeah," Sandra replied with a smile—a beaming, childlike smile, one reminiscent of the grins she wore five years ago, a sort of smile he'd almost certainly never seen on her before.

Niner slowly nodded, pocketing his hands as the elevator stopped at their destination.

"Good," he muttered, cracking a hint of a smirk. "Tha's good…"

The doors slid open, and the two of them stepped out.

"Did you forget something?" Melody called, peeking out of the bedroom.

"No—and if I did, I wouldn't have waited this long to come back for it," Sandra snickered, spotting Melody and moving toward her.

Melody's eyes lit up, revealing a brilliant grin as she leaped forward and snapped her arms around the courier. "Sandraaa!"

"Heeey… how have you been?" Sandra said, rustling her hair and returning the hug. "You lonely up here?"

"Nope!" Melody smiled brightly up at her. "Hey—Silver Shroud's on! Come watch with me!"

"I can't… I'm sorry," Sandra replied regretfully. "Arcade and Foxxy are waiting for us, and we have another job to go do. But I still wanted to come by and check on you."

A twittering beeping noise entered the room, and the round bot ED-E hovered in from the kitchen, its antennas twitching as it bobbed and floated hastily toward Sandra. She snatched the little bot from the air, giving it a hug and patting its metal shell before letting it go.

"Hey… how are they?" Melody wondered. "Arcade and Vulpes…"

"Oh… fine," Sandra answered. "Mostly. They haven't killed each other yet, so that's good."

Melody giggled and nodded. "I miss them. Will you tell them I'm old enough to come travel with you guys now?"

"No you're not…"

"Yuh-huh. I'm thirteen now."

"You are? What—we missed your birthday?"

"Yeah, but I don't care, I just wanna come with you guys."

"Melody…"

Sandra let out a deep sigh, resting her hand on the girl's shoulder and giving her a solemn stare.

"We're hunting bounties right now," she told her. "That's not even safe for us. It would be extra extra dangerous for you. You can come with us someday—just not right now, okay?"

Melody sighed and nodded with disappointment. "Okay…"

Sandra and Niner took turns giving Melody hugs and trading conversation with her. A short while later, Sandra and Niner stepped into the elevator after giving Melody and ED-E their goodbyes, the doors sliding shut and leaving the young girl alone once more.

After they were gone, Melody let out another sigh, wandering back into her bedroom and sitting on the edge of her bed. The Silver Shroud show was nearly over now, and she leaned over to the side, patting on the bed's frame and calling out to her hidden friend.

"They're gone," Melody said. "You can come out now."

A groaning noise echoed out from under the bed—and seconds after, Bryan began to crawl out, squeezing out from under the bed and sitting on the edge of it beside her, his sandy hairs messier than usual now.

"Sheesh," Bryan sighed. "How many times are you gonna hide me today…?"

"Sorry," Melody shrugged. "I didn't know Sandra was coming by today, and Mr. Burke still thinks you're with Sarah…"

"Well… the Brotherhood doesn't give me missions half as much as they do Sarah and Veronica, since I'm a kid," Bryan remarked. "I don't have to be there all the time like they do. I just don't want Burke getting on my case. If he knew I was coming here to see you all the time, he'd get all annoying and suffocating…"

Melody blinked and squinted at him. "Why…?"

Bryan faced her. "Well… y… you know."

Melody stared at him in confusion. "No… I don't. Whaddo you mean?"

Bryan sighed and rubbed his temples. "Well, it's like… like, you know… when a girl and a guy are left alone, it's like… well, everyone would think we're…"

"Oooh—no, no way," Melody scoffed with a laugh. "We're not even dating—why would they think that?"

"'Cause we're both teenagers… and we're alone," Bryan shrugged. "That's just what everyone thinks teenagers do when they're alone."

Melody made a caustic face. "All we do is watch TV."

Bryan laughed. "I know, right? They're all stupid."

The two of them fell silent, enjoying the remainder of their favorite show together.

When Sandra and Niner returned to the bus, Arcade had fallen asleep in the passenger seat, Vulpes stepping out of the driver seat and clearing it up for Sandra. They drove carefully out of Freeside, cruising down the broken roads as the afternoon set in, and it wasn't long before they parked the giant vehicle just outside the walls of Westside.

After strolling through the town, they ended up on the other side, approaching the nearest guard tower, which faced the open desert beyond the outer wall, a distant mountain canyon visible in the near distance. Sandra—after chatting with a few Westsiders and learning of Bradley's whereabouts—led her companions down the street, sliding the letter out of her pocket and gazing up at the large guard tower from behind.

"There he is," Sandra knew, spotting a figure standing inside.

She marched up the walkway, Niner close behind her while Arcade and Vulpes waited at the bottom with Scar. When Sandra reached the top, she found herself standing behind a man with a marksman carbine, shaved black hair beneath a roving trader's hat, fitted with a sleek set of MKII combat armor.

The man—Bradley—slowly turned, peering over his shoulder and seeing that he was no longer alone in the tower.

"Look… I'm on duty," he said, his voice lower than Sandra expected. "If you got something to say, make it quick."

"Yeah. I'm a courier," Sandra informed, holding up the letter and offering it to him. "And I've got a delivery for you."

"What?" Bradley said, seeming slightly taken back. "Are you sure it's for me?"

"M-hm," Sandra affirmed with a nod. "Guy asked for you by name. And there's a lot more—"

"Shh," Bradley interrupted, holding up a hand and glaring off to the side, suddenly distracted. "Hold on. Thought I heard something."

Sandra fell silent, following his trail of vision out to the open desert—just when a sudden blast shook the earth, the tower giving a slight tremor as a Westside guard exploded in a burst of bone and red mist.

Niner jumped and whipped out his rifle—Arcade reaching for his plasma defender and Vulpes curling up his fist within his displacer glove.

Sandra and Bradley aimed their guns outside the tower—and they opened fire at once, as a large group of fiends were now barreling toward Westside at top speed, Sandra's shotgun rounds deafening as she hammered the trigger without cease.

After a moment of merciless firing—a silence suddenly fell, the fiends having fallen dead just outside the walls. Sandra and Bradley released conclusive exhalations, then turned to face one another again.

"Goddamn… haven't seen that many all day," Bradley remarked. "More and more of 'em every time they crawl outta their little shit-hole, I swear…"

"Right… ah… oh, I remember," Sandra recalled, fishing a key out of her pocket and handing it off to Bradley. "Yeah, this is part of the delivery too. He also wanted to hire me as a gun… not just a courier."

Bradley stared at her, his eyes narrowing with skepticism.

"I don't know," Sandra said with a shrug. "He just wanted me to help you with… something. I don't really know what. Here, just read the letter. Find out."

Bradley continued to eye her strangely for a moment, then made a sideways nod and ripped the letter open. Niner moved a little closer from behind Sandra, and they listened intently as Bradley cleared his throat, unfolding the letter inside and beginning to read it aloud.

"'Dear Bradley; my name is Joe Sellers. I'm almost certain you've never heard of me.' No shit. 'When I wrote this letter, I was uncertain if I'd summon the nerve to send it.' Okay. 'I made choices long ago that impacted you more than you may know. I often question my decisions, how everything turned out. I will get to the point; I am your father. I separated from your mother not long after you were born. The reasons for my decision are complicated. It was not for lack of feeling or to shirk responsibility.' Pff, bull-fucking-shit. 'On the contrary. I became an exile to ensure your safety. Not long after I met your mother, there was a war, and I was on the losing side. Mere association with me could be mistaken for complicity. As a result, I cut all ties with your mother. She went to Reno, and I wandered. I have no doubt you harbor resentment for my actions.' Fuck you. 'If you hate me or only wish to ignore me, I only beg you to accept my parting gift. Consider it my feeble attempt to reckon for your abandonment. I know you have subsisted as a soldier of fortune for some time. I never wanted that life for you.' Tch, better than your life, cocksucker. 'There's a vault in the Mojave that contains enough wealth to let you start anew. You can leave the hazards of the wasteland behind you. There is nothing I can offer to make up for the pain I inflicted on you and your mother, but I still owe you this birthright. It is all that I have left. Make no mistake, this is not a simple salvage; you must walk a dangerous path in order to see this through. But I believe your profession has given you the skills and the necessary fortitude to get this done. With this letter will be a key, the first of three required to open the vault. The next key will be in the Linus Caverns. It's been so long since these measures have been put into place, I have no idea what you'll find in these vaults aside from the next key. I understand if you wish to dispose of this note and erase any notion of connection with me. You would be more than justified. Consider this my last will and testament. Your father… Joe Sellers.'"

A long, tense silence fell following the long narration, Sandra and Niner hovering close by, looking and feeling uncomfortable—Arcade and Vulpes now standing on the walkway just behind them, each of them wearing thoughtful expressions—and Bradley fell silent for nearly a full minute straight, glaring down at the paper and releasing a long, heavy breath.

"Ah Christ," Niner muttered softly behind Sandra's ear. "Shit got real…"

Sandra said nothing, observing Bradley and feeling a pinch of empathy inside. Now, she fully understood why the old man delivered the job to her in the strange way that he had. It seemed she was being hired to do far more than courier work this time around.

"No bullshit," Bradley finally spoke, his voice darkening as his eyes shot up to Sandra, jabbing an accusing finger toward her. "Is this some fucking con? Come clean or I will butt-stroke your fucking skull."

Sandra opened her mouth to reply—and suddenly Vulpes was right beside her.

"I'd really advise against that, friend," Vulpes sneered, cocking his head and giving him a warning sort of glare. "Assuming you're too much of an ingrate to understand counting, let me point out to you just how outnumbered you are."

"Calm your shit, freak," Bradley snarked at him, glancing between him and Sandra. "Excuse my skepticism, but what the hell am I supposed to make of this? Some old coot writes me, tells me I inherited his stash? Even if it's a con, it's shit. He expects me to go traipsing around in God-knows-what shit-holes for some keys, big-ass caves full of God knows what? Fuck that noise."

"He wasn't lying," Sandra mumbled grimly, remembering her conversation with Sellers and feeling another surge of sympathy. "Trust me, he's… he's just an old man on his last leg. He seemed pretty desperate to make contact with you."

Bradley stared at her, scoffing and shaking his head. He ran a hand down his face, leaning on the edge of the tower's overlook and glaring across the desert with conflict.

"But, ah…" Niner uttered, scratching his face and stepping forward, wearing a sly half-smile. "If you ain't interested, we wouldn't mind just takin' that key off your hands for ya, pal."

Bradley hung his head and sighed. Then, he turned to face them again, now wearing a caustic little smirk.

"Na-na-no," he muttered, slowly shaking his head and waving a finger at Niner. "Not so fast. I'm not about to just hand this off."

"Well… Sellers wanted me to help you," Sandra told him. "So… what're you planning to do?"

Bradley was quiet for a moment, leaning on the ledge and biting his lip while he thought.

"If he's what I think he is… ex-Enclave," he mumbled moments later. "That really could be worth my time. Those old bastards still have munitions scattered all over the goddamn place. Tch… fucking Van Graffs gouge the shit outta everyone. It'd be fun to undercut them…"

"You sound like you're on-board," Sandra observed, cracking a smile.

Bradley maintained his smirk, making a loose little shrug. "I'm not opposed to looking into this, and I'd be happy to split the goods if you help out… but I wanna see this old bastard before we do anything else. If he is who he says he is, I at least wanna look him in the eye."

"Fair enough," Sandra disclosed. "He's in Novac. We can probably get there before nightfall if we go now."

"Nightfall?" Bradley asked, making a face. "Novac before nightfall? From here?"

"Yeah… it's easier if you got a bus," Sandra replied curtly, moving to step down the walkway and motioning for him to follow. "C'mon."

Bradley joined them, and they all marched off the platform. When they reached the dirt, Sandra wheeled around to face the merc again.

"Oh yeah—this is Niner, random drifter I met on the street one day," she introduced, motioning between her companions. "This is Arcade, a doctor I stole from the Followers—and this is Vincent Fox, my own personal bodyguard, but I just call him Foxxy. We have a deathclaw too."

Bradley slowly folded his arms, squinting strangely at her. "Riiight… m'kay. Nice to meet the freak show. No offense."

"None taken, mate—you're part of it now," Niner laughed, slapping him on the back. "Let's go and see your father."

Bradley cocked his head at him. "Let's get something real clear. I don't have a father."

Niner paused, giving him a coy look. "Uh-oh—someone's got some daddy issues!"

"Come'ere. I'll show you issues—I'll give you issues that keep you walking funny for a week."

"Pfahahaha—uuuh-oh, touched a nerve!"

"Oh hell," Sandra murmured to Arcade as she watched. "Niner's gonna get his ass kicked."

Arcade choked out a laugh, quickly clamping a hand over his mouth.

They all strolled away from the Westside guard tower, maneuvering through the town and eventually arriving outside of the Vegas Machine. Bradley paused, observing the bus and making an odd face before boarding it alongside the others.

Everyone took their seats inside—Niner and Vulpes on the benches, Arcade in the passenger seat, and Sandra driving while Bradley sat in the space between the two front seats, listening to the courier during the drive. While Sandra cruised the bus away from the lights of the city, coasting down the old lonesome road leading south, she told Bradley all the details of her meeting with Joe Sellers, informing him of everything she knew about the man who was allegedly his father.

The longer she talked, the less angry Bradley seemed to become. More than anything now, he simply seemed curious, leaning on his leg and stroking along his face as he stared at the windshield in thought.

By the time Sandra parked the bus outside of Novac, the afternoon began to darken to an early twilight, and they all stepped off the bus together strolling toward the motel and stopping just outside the door leading to Joe Sellers's room.

Sandra grabbed the door knob, turning and eyeing Bradley, whose teeth seemed to be clenched, a hand balled into a fist by his side as he braced himself for the meeting. Then, she pushed the door open, and the two of them stepped inside, the others close behind them.

"Okay, let's see what…"

Bradley's voice instantly faded off, he and Sandra halting in unison as they stared across the room. It appeared mostly the same as it did before, when Sandra first visited—the breathing machine, the chems on the table, and the medical supplies nearby—but now, Joe Sellers was no longer sitting in his chair, and the heart monitor was no longer beeping with the rhythm of a steady heartbeat. The monitor's line had gone flat, and the old man was lying on the floor in front of his chair, motionless, cold, and entirely, deathly still.

"Fuck. Fuck… me," Bradley sighed gravely, stepping forward and surveying the dead old man. "Fuck me… he's dead."

Sandra didn't reply, staring down at Sellers as a knot began to form in the pit of her stomach.

"Here I was, ready to spit in his eye, and he…" Bradley stopped, pausing beside the body and narrowing his eyes down at it. "Hold on, that… that's blood."

He knelt down, studying the body and gently shifting the short gray hairs on the back of Sellers's head, examining the bloody spot where a bullet had penetrated his skull.

Sandra watched, glaring down at the scene as her visage darkened more every second.

"Small caliber… very precise," Bradley observed. "This was professional. An execution. Someone was after him. But why… why would they go through the trouble if he was already on his deathbed?"

"He broke an agreement with someone of power," Vulpes mumbled, mostly to himself. "And this was… retribution."

Only Arcade was able to hear him, turning and giving Vulpes a curious squint.

Bradley remained knelt over his deceased father for several silent seconds, though each one felt like hours of tense quietness. Eventually, he slowly raised his head, looking to Sandra and instantly locking eyes with her.

"What… the fuck have you got me involved with here?"

Sandra took back, trying to think of a response and drawing a blank.

Then, Niner stepped to her side, shooting Bradley a searing look. "Oy—ya' know she only delivered the damn package, jagoff. She didn't make this happen any more than you did, and we don't know what's going on any more than you do."

Bradley reached his feet, glaring at him and preparing to answer—

And Vulpes let out a sudden choking noise.

Everyone whipped around—seeing that someone had yanked Vulpes out of the motel room from behind, snapping him in a one-armed chokehold and pressing a silences pistol firmly to the side of his skull.

A man in a dark navy suit stood just outside, holding Vulpes at gunpoint and returning everyone's stared from beneath the rim of his dark fedora, a head of short blond hair visible beneath his hat and a snarky little smirk firming as he met eyes with the courier.

"Well… now this is an auspicious occasion," the man said with a laugh, digging the pistol deeper into Vulpes's head. "I was expecting some generic messenger… not the courier. Courier Six and her whole freakazoid gang. I'll be a legend after today."