Chapter 52 - Bunkerhood Blowout
Usually, Veronica Santangelo generally had little issue with being firmly grabbed by the hands of attractive young women.
"WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT?!"
""Sentinel Ironwood?!"
"What's going on here?!"
"Let go of her!"
"What... what did you say?"
As Veronica's robes was roughly gripped by the hands of a tearful Ruby Ironwood, whose natural strength was enhanced by her T-60f, and the poor scribe was shaken by the Sentinel like a dog with a chew toy, she ruefully reflected that this wasn't one of those occasions.
"WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT LINE?!" Ruby demanded once again, staring at Veronica with watery silvery orbs.
"Sentinel Ironwood!" Knight-Captain Colvin shouted, as the Lyons' Pride moved to stop her before she could accidentally cause the scribe brain damage. "Calm down!"
"Nothing to see here, folks!" Initiate Sydney declared, stepping between the Pride and the stunned Western Brotherhood.
"Ma'am?" A confused Knight-Captain Dusk turned to Elder Lyons, having expected her to be the first to chew the lively Sentinel out.
Instead. similar to Sentinel Ruby Rose Ironwood, they found Elder Sarah Lyons tearing up as well, as though she was barely holding in tears.
"What the fuck did you say to her?!" Paladin Reddin hissed, as she tugged on Ruby's other arm.
"I... I just repeated the message exactly as it was said to me!" Veronica weakly defended herself, the shell-shocked scribe still trying to process what the hell had just happened. "Aura is bullshit, Vomit Girl."
"Yes, that!" Ruby shouted suddenly, staring more intently at Veronica, like a starving dog eyeing a steak. "Where did you hear that?!"
The Lyons' Pride exchanged confused looks, unable to figure out why that phrase had triggered such an emotional response. It didn't seem particularly offensive, and they knew for a fact that Sarah and Ruby had exceptionally thick skins, with Sarah simply not giving a damn about the opinion of fools, and Ruby just not even noticing if someone was trying to insult her.
"I-I didn't mean to offend!" Veronica yelped fearfully.
"Answer the question, scribe." Sarah choked out, fighting back the tears. "Where did you meet this survivor?"
"Ma'am?" Dusk asked, looking warily around at the shocked faces of the Mojave Brotherhood around them. "Does the message mean something?"
"It's Jaune." Ruby said confidently, finally looking away from the poor Scribe.
"Jaune Arc." Sarah nodded. "He survived."
Silence filled the room.
"Impossible!" Colvin finally shouted, as his eyes widened in disbelief.
"But how?!" Dusk exclaimed. "We saw the nukes hit!"
"Avalon..." Reddin murmured in realization.
"It's Jaune." Ruby simply stated, half-chuckling, half-choking, as though that was enough of an answer.
"Jaune Arc?" Sydney repeated incredulously, remembering what the rest of the Lyons' Pride had told her about him.
"The guy you dedicated the Wasteland Survival Guide to?" Veronica asked, remembering how he'd reacted, when he'd flipped through it, and seen the author's name. "God, no wonder he started crying when he saw the foreword..."
"He did?!" Ruby turned back to the scribe.
"Yeah, he was touched by it!" Veronica quickly added, realizing that she needed to clarify that statement if she wanted to keep herself unshaken in the next ten seconds. "He said that he was glad to see you were doing okay for yourself!"
Ruby released her in favor of gently grabbing her locket, and stroking the twin crescents on it, beaming with pride as she did so.
As expected of her first and best friend.
"How do you know that it's him, Ma'am?" Colvin clarified, as he gently pulled Veronica up (and away from the Sentinel for the moment). "Like Dusk said, we all saw Adams AFB."
"Aura." Sarah said, slowly recomposing himself. "It's..."
Aura is... honestly, I'm not so sure myself, but my partner told me it's supposed to be the manifestation of our souls.
"It's a code only the three of us knew." Sarah continued, a smile growing on her face. "It's the phrase he used to describe his... abilities."
"And "Vomit Girl" was his nickname for me." Ruby added, looking down at her locket. "It's a long story, but only he called me that. It has to be him."
"That's all well and good." Elder McNamara's voice cut in. "But maybe if you'd like to tell us just what is going on?"
Ruby and Sarah blinked, as they finally remembered the presence of the Mojave Brotherhood, still staring at them for the breach in decorum.
"I'm sorry." Sarah hastily apologized, pulling her helmet back on to hide her flushing face. "The Sentinel and I were just... overjoyed, to learn that one of our members survived our war with the Enclave."
"See, Initiate?" Dusk whispered to Sydney, whose jaw had dropped upon seeing Sarah's expression. "What'd I tell you about her and Arc?"
"I thought you told me he was nuked!" Sydney hissed back, still unable to process that the Elder had cried, or that the Elder had blushed, or especially that the Lone fucking Wanderer had gotten so worked up.
"He was!" Colvin defended. "There is no way in God's name he should be alive!"
"I told you!" Reddin crowed. "He was spirited away to Avalon!"
Fortunately, neither Ruby nor Sarah heard the Lyons' Pride as they murmured among themselves, though Veronica did, and she stared at them weirdly, wondering just who the hell she'd delivered a message for.
What kind of person could make an Elder and a Sentinel react so emotionally?
And what was that about getting nuked?
Ruby, for her part, had pulled her hood out from beneath her power armor, and was trying to disappear into it, though a red glow was clearly visible from beneath it, as she kept shooting looks at Veronica, clearly wanting to ask more questions.
Sarah looked around at the room, before clearing her throat: "Moving on... if I may continue our previous topic? I'd like to share some classified files, regarding our war with the Enclave... but for that, I require some privacy."
"After how you've behaved so far?" Edgar Hardin snorted.
Nolan McNamara shot him a look, before looking back at her, and sighing.
His fellow Elder had raised some good points about the Codex, but at the same time... the Codex was the Codex.
And even if they wanted to change, even if they wanted to go against the Western Elders... it was far too late for the Mojave Chapter. They'd already earned the ire of the NCR, and lost too much at HELIOS ONE.
He didn't need to know more, to know that he couldn't adopt a revised version of the Lyons' Doctrine to save his chapter.
"I think we've heard enough about letting outsiders in." McNamara reluctantly answered. "If that's all..."
To his surprise, Scribe Santangelo spoke up: "I think we should hear her out, just a bit more, Elder McNamara."
Elder McNamara raised an eyebrow, but motioned for her to continue.
"The way the kid, a former outsider, described the Capital Wasteland, and the Brotherhood... maybe we'll never be able to have that same relationship with the Mojave-"
"And we shouldn't." Hardin growled. "The savages should fear us, not ask us to bleed for them."
"But it's better then just "keep doing what we've been doing and dying out slowly"." Veronica finished softly. "The Wasteland's changing. Something happened on the Strip, a few weeks ago, and now all of House's Securitrons have missile launchers. We can't keep relying solely on our suits of power armor and our laser rifles, Elder."
McNamara took in the new information with a grimace. Between the lockdowns, the missing patrols, and whatever had happened up at Black Mountain, none of them knew much about what was going on in the Mojave.
But he knew that Veronica didn't lie.
And not even a T-51b was immune to a direct hit from a dozen missiles.
"Edgar." McNamara called out. "Please clear our men out of the room."
"Are you mad?" Hardin shouted.
"Hey, if they assassinate me, you'll be the next Elder, like you've always wanted." McNamara shot back drily, only half-joking. Honestly, he'd never wanted to be Elder, and had only clung to the position after HELIOS ONE to stop Hardin from accelerating their inevitable demise.
Hardin studied the man for a moment, before nodding in grudging respect. "Come on, Paladins. Let the Elder commit suicide if he wants."
As the Mojave Brotherhood members shuffled out of the room uneasily, and McNamara sealed the command room once more, Sarah looked at him sympathetically, and asked: "Politics?"
"Politics." McNamara sighed. "So tiresome..."
"Dickbag reminds me out the Outcasts." Dusk stage-whispered to Reddin, audible enough for the rest of the room to hear.
"Anyway, what is this classified information?" McNamara pressed on, fighting the urge to agree.
"I... wasn't planning on ever sharing this, to be honest, even though it only helped my case for the good outsiders can bring to the Brotherhood." Sarah admitted. "But, Jaune's presence here changes everything. And Ruby... restrain yourself, at least for the moment."
The Sentinel, who had been inching closer to the scribe, sighed in response, as Reddin and Dusk moved between her and her target.
"Just who is this Jaune Arc, anyway?" Veronica asked, before McNamara could. "And... what was Adams AFB? Was he really at the battle?"
"At the battle?" Colvin snorted. "He and Sentinel Ironwood won the battle for us, that bloody day."
"Colvin." Sarah silenced him with a look, before forcibly changing the subject back, as she pulled out a holotape. "These classified files are related to Jaune Arc. I didn't see them as relevant, because he was one-of-a-kind... but like I said, his very presence changes things."
McNamara accepted the proffered tape, and slotted it in to his console, before projecting it onto his command screen.
The projected image of a map of the Mojave changed to a video.
"Our first encounter with Jaune, along with Sentinel Ironwood." Sarah explained, as Ruby and Reddin recognized the scene immediately. "The Vault 87 Super Mutants were besieging our outpost, at the Galaxy News Radio Station. A security camera in the building captured the battle."
As they watched, as power-armored Knights cowered behind barricades and exchanged laser fire with Super Mutants, a group of two figures in Vault Suits and three in power armor quietly approached from the rear.
Reddin beamed in pride as she saw herself fire the Fat Man, wiping out half the horde, before a blonde boy in a vault jumpsuit suddenly jumped out of cover, with a sword, a shield, and a pistol.
McNamara immediately paused the footage, and demanded: "Is he insane?!"
"Just watch." Sarah told him, and he played the footage, expecting to see the boy fall to a stray bullet, or get pulped by a Super Mutant.
To his surprise, as the rest of the figures gave the boy covering fire, he reached the Super Mutants, and immediately began carving a path through them, blocking their hits with his shield, before deftly counter-attacking with his sword.
Soon enough, all the Super Mutants around him lay dead.
"So... he's very skilled with a sword?" McNamara asked shakily, pausing the footage.
Honestly, that was an understatement; he wouldn't even have expected that kind of performance from his Head Paladin!
Veronica, Ruby, and the other members of the Lyons' Pride didn't respond, too busy staring at the screen as they were.
Ruby, especially wanted to approach the screen, to press her hand against the figure of Jaune... one that she'd only seen in her dream for years.
He was alive.
The Invincible Boy was alive!
And not once had she ever looked for him...
Reddin merely snorted at the Mojave Elder's words, as Sarah answered: "It's not over."
As he continued the footage, a giant super mutant suddenly tore through a makeshift barricade, and ran for the power armored figure with the Fat Man, knocking Jaune out of its path.
Reddin couldn't help but wince, as she watched herself got tossed like a tin can again.
As the behemoth turned to Sarah and began attacking her, however, they saw a figure rush forward, before a sudden flash of light filled the screen.
As the light faded, Jaune was standing there, shield in hand, blocking the attacking with seemingly no effort.
McNamara made to pause the video, but Dusk commented: "If you keep pausing it, we'll be here all day."
And so, as they watched, he continued weathering blows that had sent power-armored men flying, before Ruby fired the Fat Man at the behemoth, vaporizing it's entire upper body (and most of it's lower body)... without harming Jaune in the slightest.
As the footage ended, Veronica found her voice first: "What the fuck was that?"
"Super Mutant Behemoth." Colvin answered. "Unlike the Master's Super Mutants, Vault 87 Super Mutants keep growing with age. That specimen was probably almost two hundred years old."
"It tossed cars and power armored knights around like pebbles!" McNamara shouted.
"And Jaune went toe-to-toe with it." Ruby said in response, unable to take her eyes off of her mentor's figure.
"The next file is from our first contact with the Enclave, when they seized a water purifier at the James Ironwood Memorial." Sarah continued, as the next video began. "These videos were from security cameras within the building. Jaune was separated from the rest of the scientists, when they struck.
McNamara and Veronica both looked at each other, having so many questions, but decided to hold it in, and wait for the presentation to end.
The video began, showing Jaune standing there, as laser beams and plasma bolts flew at him.
Instead of being reduced to a pile of melted goo and ash, however, Jaune simply dodged the plasma bolts, while blocking most of the beams with his shield. Of course, he couldn't block them all, but the few stray beams that hit him simply dissipated into nothingness, as a yellow glow surrounded him.
McNamara couldn't help but pause the footage again.
"Come on!" Reddin protested. "We were just getting to the good parts!"
""What the fuck is that?!"" Veronica and Sydney both asked.
"Aura." Sarah replied with a shrug. "He didn't understand it, and we definitely don't either, but that's what he nicknamed it. Whatever it was, it protected it from harm... among other things."
""There's more?!""
"It's Jaune." Ruby couldn't help but giggle, both at the disbelief in their tones, and at the exuberance of seeing her best friend on the screen once more.
"That's fucking nothing." Dusk snorted.
"Wait until you see him counter-attack." Colvin added.
Intrigued, McNamara continued the video, and watched as Jaune began advancing, each dodge or block being used to take anothet step forward, until he suddenly went low and dashed forward, moving faster than a fucking Deathclaw, before slicing an Enclave soldier in half with his sword.
An Enclave soldier.
In Black Devil armor.
Was cut in half.
With a sword.
The footage paused again.
"The file was ending there." Sarah remarked. "You didn't need to pause it..."
"What the hell is that?!"
"A magic sword." Sarah replied drily, and only Ruby (and a misunderstanding Reddin) knew she wasn't joking. "The men called it Excalibur, because it could cut through anything."
"A magic sword..." Veronica murmured, remembering that she'd almost tried buying the sword off of him.
"You're joking, right?" McNamara looked at her skeptically.
"Nope." Ruby answered for her.
"What kind of sword can cut through advanced power armor mark II?!"
"He said it was made of the bones of a giant lizard that he fought." Sarah replied, having long since come to terms with the utter defiance of logic and common sense that was Jaune Arc. "Sentinel Ironwood tried recreating it out of Deathclaw parts, but..."
"The sword was certainly sharp enough to tear through power armor." Ruby continued for her. "But the material was non-conductive; it wouldn't have been able to mimic the other... anomalous properties, his sword showed."
"There's more?!" Veronica yelped.
""It's Jaune.""
"By the way... you met him in person, right?" Ruby pressed. "Does... does he still have his sword?"
"Uh, yes?"
Ruby pumped her fist quietly. Jaune and Excalibur had both made it!
Before she could once again ask where the scribe had met Jaune, Sarah warned her once again: "Ruby..."
"Fine." Ruby sighed, as the Lyons' Pride surrounded her wordlessly.
"Unfortunately, his next battle with the Enclave, at Site R, does not have any existing footage." Sarah continued, after making sure Ruby wasn't about to run out to try and find him (even if she could understand that feeling). "This is because, after his performance at the Purifier, the Enclave were so wary of him they called him the Crocea Mors, the Yellow Death, and blew up their own fortified bunker just to try and stop him-"
"Wait, he's the Crocea Mors?!" McNamara couldn't help but interject.
"You've heard of him?" Ruby asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We intercepted radio messages from Caesar's Legion." McNamara explained. "Apparently, it was Caesar's latest obsession; a weapon to win the war against the NCR."
"Sorry, but what's Caesar's Legion, exactly?" Ruby interjected.
Sarah groaned. Of course Ruby had skipped her homework...
"Silliest dressed band of raping, slaving marauders you'll see east of California, I'll say that. Where's that touch of Old World class?" Veronica scoffed, before adding: "Although I hear the soldiers mount each other as much as they mount their women, so maybe they did keep a little something from the Empire."
"Veronica..." McNamara chided the scribe with a sigh. "While crass, her description is... not inaccurate."
"I see..." Ruby hissed coldly.
"And he wanted Jaune?" Even the Lyons' Pride flinched, from the venom in Sarah's voice.
"And he was very unhappy that he wasn't able to even secure a meeting with him, let alone get his hands on him." McNamara finished. "Apparently, he offered fifty thousand caps for it, too."
"Jaune's worth way more than that." Ruby harrumphed, crossing her arms and frowning. She easily had a few hundred thousand caps, and she'd have given it all away in a heart beat for her best friend.
"Indeed." Sarah nodded in agreement (much to the amusement of the Pride). She didn't like the sound of the leader of a band of marauding slavers who mounted each other getting her hands on Jaune. "Caesar's lucky Jaune hasn't met his Legion yet. If he had, Caesar wouldn't even have a Legion anymore..."
"He's that good?" McNamara asked incredulously.
"He scared the shit out of the motherfucking Enclave." Reddin rolled her eyes. "He could probably break the NCR in a week."
McNamara looked back at the footage, and conceded the point. Steel, if they'd had men like him at HELIOS ONE... god, how much talent had they missed out?
"Or he'd have broken you at HELIOS ONE." Sarah interjected, knowing where McNamara's thoughts were going. "Well, broken you worse, I suppose..."
"You still haven't seen anything yet." Ruby spoke up. "Remember what I said about his sword having "anomalous properties?'
She drew her greatsword, and activated it.
Veronica's and McNamara's eyes widened, as it burst into flames, while sparks ran down it.
"You... you're the Lone Wanderer?" Veronica choked out.
"Eh, it's not that big of a deal." Ruby just waved it away modestly. "My point is, as impressive as Arondight is... it still comes nowhere close to what Excalibur could do."
"... I'm going to regret this, but is that what this final file is?" McNamara asked, looking down at his console.
"It took Head Scribe Rothchild a while, but he managed to recover and decrypt the data from the Mobile Base Crawler's black box." Sarah explained, as the Pride's eyes widened.
There was Enclave footage from Adams?!
None of them had ever seen this!
As the final video began, it showed Jaune and Ruby, in power armor, sprinting across the roof, as missiles, laser beams, bullets, and plasma bolts flew across the air.
"Our final major battle with the Enclave." Sarah explained somberly. "We launched a frontal assault on their base as a distraction, while Jaune and Ironwood snuck in through the Adams AFB. Once they got into the mobile base crawler, they ordered the Enclave's orbital launch platform, Bradley-Hercules, to launch all its remaining warheads at the base, before heading to the roof for exfiltration."
As a Vertibird descended, and Ruby continued sprinting towards it, Jaune suddenly turned around, and plunged his sword into the ground, causing a wall of ice to rise, blocking off the doorway.
"Yes, Jaune's sword could somehow create walls of ice." Sarah continued, before the Elder could pause the video and comment. "No, neither us nor him knew exactly how. And no, that's not all, either."
Before he could continue running for the Vertibird, however, the wall of ice suddenly melted in a flash of light.
"And, unfortunately, the Enclave had fought him a few times by then, and knew that trick. They came prepared."
They saw Jaune turn back to the Vertibird, before plunging his sword into the ground once more, causing two walls of ice to spring up, one between him and the Vertibird, and one more at the door, which was destroyed in an explosion as a rocket hit it.
The Pride watched grimly, as they saw the Vertibird take off. Logically, they knew it had been the right call. But emotionally...
The Pride didn't leave their own behind.
It was still a stain on their honor, that Jaune, who'd practically been a part of the Pride by then, had stayed behind, sacrificing himself for them, even after he'd saved them at GNR, Site R, and Project Purity.
They continued watching, as Jaune's sword suddenly burst into flames, frost, and had lightning running up and down simultaneously, before he charged at the squad that had just arrived, dispatching two before being pinned by a third, and bathed in plasma and heavy incinerator fire.
Then they watched, as he flipped his assailant, breaking his hold, before throwing him at the rest of his squad.
As more and more Enclave showed up, he charged in, dancing between the majority of the projectiles, using bodies as cover, while he desperately made a last stand against the Enclave, until bodies covered the floor, and the camera recording everything.
The view then switched, to the Brotherhood's command post, where they watched as thirty six streaks of fire smashed into the Enclave base, and a mushroom cloud rose over it.
As the screen changed, showing the Pride One's recovery efforts, Sarah finished her narration: "That was the last we ever saw of Jaune Arc. Between the mountains of bodies and thirty six nukes, we naturally assumed he was KIA... until now."
"... and you're certain the person who delivered the message is Jaune Arc?" Elder McNamara asked, after a pregnant pause. There was no way anything should have survived that explosion!
"Like I said, only Sentinel Ironwood and I knew about Jaune and his... Aura." Sarah nodded confidently. "And I doubt anybody else would dare call the Lone Wanderer "Vomit Girl"."
"So, Scribe... Veronica, was it?" Ruby pressed again, now that the briefing was over. "Where did you meet him?"
"I ran into him at the 188 trading post." Veronica answered automatically, even as she made sure the Lyons' Pride were between her and the Lone Wanderer. "That's the new trading post that sprang up at the intersection of the 93 and 95, by the way."
"And did he say how he got here, of all places?" Sarah inquired.
"No, he said he just woke up here... about two weeks ago, when I met him. And that was two weeks ago, so I guess he found himself here about a month ago..." Veronica tried remembering. "I wanted to invite him to follow me to the bunker, to deliver the message in person, but his new partner dragged him off towards the Strip before I could ask."
Ruby's brain halted, as she processed what she'd said.
Jaune had been on the Strip, about two weeks ago?
That voice...
The voice that had sounded so familiar...
Had she really just missed him by that much two weeks ago?!
Then her eyes widened, as she finally finished processing the last statement.
Jaune had a new partner?
"His new partner?" Ruby echoed, feeling like she'd just been punched.
"Oh, yeah... he's travelling with the Pyrrha Nikos." Veronica rolled her eyes. "I doubt you'll know her, but I think Elder McNamara had a file on her..."
"Indeed." McNamara nodded. "She was a person of interest to us due to her ties to the Divide, a community founded near a Pre-War military base. After its destruction, though, we haven't really bothered updating the file..."
Ruby Ironwood heard absolutely none of his explanation.
Instead, the name echoed in her mind.
Pyrrha Nikos...
Her name was Pyrrha Nikos. She was... patient, kind, polite, understanding, fond of chocolate, had this small smile that she'd try to hide... and incredible in every way. Better than the best partner I could have ever hoped for. She was also, apparently, a four-time champion of a fighting tournament, though I still don't know much about that. She didn't like to talk much about it, for some reason. But she's the one who unlocked my Aura, and taught me everything I know about using my sword and shield.
Had... had she been replaced by his previous partner?
Rationality, logic, and common sense, having already flown out of the window at the discovery that Jaune had survived, weren't there to point out that this couldn't have been his original partner from Remnant.
It wasn't fair.
She'd only had him for a month and a half.
She still had so much more to learn from the Invincible Boy.
They hadn't even done a thing for Jaune yet, hadn't even wandered across the Wasteland together helping people like they'd planned.
She'd never even thanked him for everything...
"Ruby?" Sarah asked cautiously, noticing the look on her face, and the hands tightening around Arondight (and crushing her locket).
"I'm going to get my partner back." Ruby snarled, as she stalked out of the room. Sarah could have sworn she heard her muttering under her breath: "No-good partner-hogging hussy..."
"You don't even know where he is!" Sarah shouted, rushing out of the room after her. "You only know he was at the 188 and the Strip two weeks ago! What are you going to do, search the whole fucking Mojave?!"
"If I have to..."
Elder McNamara, Scribe Veronica Santangelo, and the present members of the Lyons' Pride watched in shock as Elder Lyons and Sentinel Ironwood just walked out of the room, their voices trailing off.
Finally, after an eternity, Veronica was the first to recover her voice.
"What the fuck just happened?"
-PENTHOUSE, LUCKY 38, MOJAVE WASTELAND-
"Welcome back, Mr. Arc." House greeted the boy, as he entered the room. "Judging by the lack of screaming and fires, I assume that you were successful at quietly resolving matters?"
"Quick question." Jaune answered House with a question of his own. "Did you know that the White Gloves used to be cannibals?!"
"Yes, of course." House replied, unaware of how Jaune had learned this, or how it related to his assignment. "But refraining from those "dietary practices" is a primary requirement of their contract. They've been good to their word. Put together one hell of a resort hotel, too. From what I hear, I'd want to eat at the Gourmand every night... if I were ambulatory. But what does this have to do with the businessman's missing... oh. Don't tell me..."
"For what it's worth, it was just one White Glove, and he hadn't actually killed the guy yet." Jaune reassured House. "I made friends with a White Glove, who pointed me to a private detective, who pointed me to the kitchen. Apparently, the kid was stuck in the meat locker, and the White Glove planned to secretly serve him to the rest at a formal banquet, thus making them all break that rule."
"Is it really so hard not to engage in cannibalism?" House wondered out loud. "My goodness... so, how did you resolve the situation?"
"I helped the chef make an meat pie that... apparently, tasted like human flesh." Jaune fought down the nausea, as he remembered the smell. "I don't know (or want to know) what human flesh tastes like, and I had no intention of trying the pie, but the chef assured me it was perfect and rushed to serve it at the banquet. I was carrying the kid out of the kitchen just as that rogue White Glove had announced that they had all been unwittingly fed human meat. The other White Gloves were really angry at him for trying to make them break the "no cannibalism" rule..."
"Not bad." House couldn't help but give his approval. The boy was soft, undoubtedly, but his methods did produce results. Perhaps Miss Nikos had been right to keep him around. "And the missing kid?"
"He didn't remember a thing." Jaune shrugged. "I handed him over to a Securitron and told it that I found him passed out near Gomorrah."
"Very good, Mr. Arc." House may have been harsh, but he was a fair businessman. "You've certainly exceeded expectations once again."
"So you'll give the Brotherhood a chance?" Jaune perked up.
"Yes. A chance. One." House said firmly. He would keep his end of the deal, but that didn't mean he would tolerate any risks to his dreams. "I will send Victor to deliver a message to the Mojave Chapter, offering them a ceasefire until the resolution of the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. If they can keep their techno-fetishism in check until then, I will allow you to... attempt, to negotiate an understanding. But if they turn it down, or accept it and betray me later, the deal will be off. Is that acceptable, Mr. Arc?"
"That's probably the best I'll get from you, Mr. House." Jaune shrugged, knowing when to accept a compromise. After all, he had seven older sisters.
"Very good." House sounded satisfied. "We'll settle the details later, after I've given you and Miss Nikos your next assignment."
"What's she dealing with?" Jaune asked, feeling concerned.
"She's investigating a problem I'm having with the Omertas." House informed him. "Don't worry, she won't take long."
Jaune fought to keep his surprise from showing. So, the leader of the Chairmen had stolen House's chip, the White Gloves had been planning on breaking his contract, and now the Omertas were up to something, too?
Did he have anyone on his payroll that he could actually trust?
... well, there was the Courier, he supposed.
And him, though he wasn't sure if he counted.
"You know, I've been wondering, but..." Jaune began, more to fill the silence than anything else. "Why bother with... well... all of this?"
"What do you mean, Mr. Arc?" House was surprised by the question.
"I mean, you're rich, and you already control the Strip." Jaune pointed out. "So, why are you preparing to go to war with the NCR?"
"The salient issue is that they will go to war with me, if given the chance." House explained, remembering that Jaune, while talented... clearly lacked experience with politics. "There's just one reason why the NCR hasn't contrived some outrage to justify invading the Strip - Caesar's Legion. The final battle between those two armies is fast approaching. I can't afford to let either side win on their terms."
"Okay, I can understand that much..." Jaune nodded. "But then, what next? You already have all the caps you could ever want. What will you do with New Vegas after the battle? Are you really going to just keep running the city as a tourist trap?"
House found himself impressed with Jaune's insight.
Granted, it was a child's insight, but still, few saw beyond the profits of Vegas.
"New Vegas is more than a city - it's the remedy to mankind's derailment." House elaborated. "The city's economy is a blast furnace in which can be forged the steel of a new rail line, running straight to a new horizon. With all the money pouring in? Give me 20 years, and I'll reignite the high technology development sectors. 50 years, and I'll have people in orbit.
"100 years, and my colony ships will be heading for the stars, to search for planets unpolluted by the wrath and folly of a bygone generation." House finished passionately. "And now do you see why I find myself so opposed to the Brotherhood of Steel? My greater plans for humanity require the proliferation and development of technology, whereas those barbarians would seize a toaster just for having a heating coil."
Jaune found himself almost moved by House's vision.
Almost.
"Well, I'll do my best to convince them to stay out of your way..." Jaune replied automatically, distracted by his memories of the alien mothership.
House's goal sounded noble, really!
And other planets couldn't really be worse than the current post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland, right?
But at the same time...
"I doubt you'll succeed." House snorted. "But by all means, please do attempt to exceed my expectations."
"You really don't have a lot of faith in me, do you?" Jaune remarked drily.
"I'm not in the business of taking chances, Mr. Arc." House replied, not unkindly. "When the stakes are this high, it's best to stack the deck. Heavily. And the Brotherhood have hardly proven to be the most honorable and loyal of allies."
"Couldn't you find a common enemy in the NCR?" Jaune asked.
"The NCR are my best customers." House pointed out. "And besides... the NCR and the Brotherhood had a common enemy in the Enclave. A decade after the Enclave were gone, the Brotherhood turned on the NCR... with obvious results."
"I see..." Jaune nodded. Between House and Veronica, he was beginning to get a clearer picture of the local Brotherhood... but if they'd been able to produce the Lyons, he felt that they at least deserved a chance.
More importantly, though, since House had been so candid, Jaune felt that he should at least return the gesture.
"By the way... you might want to arm those colony ships of yours." Jaune suggested. "The stars... aren't friendly."
"... and how do you know this, Mr. Arc?" House couldn't help but ask, unable to hide the skepticism in his tone.
Jaune sighed. Well, it wasn't like this was his world; he didn't really have much to lose.
"You heard that I came from the Capital Wasteland, right?"
"Yes, you did mention that."
"Well, I didn't exactly choose to leave the Capital Wasteland..." Jaune admitted. "I was... taken, at the end of a battle with the Enclave, and frozen by aliens."
"... you're joking, right? Aliens, really?"
"Nope." Jaune just shook his head. "I woke up just over a month ago, when some other abductees rebelled and broke out of the cryo bay, thawing me out by accident. It took us a while, after that, but we seized the ship in the end."
"As fanciful as that sounds, extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, Mr. Arc."
Jaune thought about it for a second. "You have scanners that can study space, right?"
"Of course." House scoffed.
"Did your scanners pick up the explosion above the planet about a month ago?" Jaune challenged.
If House could, he would have blinked.
Jaune grinned at his silence, and took the chance to continue: "That was us destroying a second ship in orbit.
"..."
"You don't have to believe me." Jaune shrugged. "Just thought you might appreciate the warning - hey Pyrrha!"
"Hello, Jaune." Pyrrha nodded. "What were you talking about?"
House blinked again.
How had he not noticed the Courier entering the room?
Had Jaune's words really shaken him that much?
"I was just asking him about his plans for Vegas." Jaune shrugged nonchalantly. "By the way... what's that on your wrist?"
"It's... a seriously tacky Pip-Boy." Pyrrha grimaced. "They called it a... ugh, a "Pimp-Boy Three Billion". But hey, I wasn't going to turn down a free Pip-Boy."
"Miss Nikos." House finally greeted her, deciding to put his curiosity about Jaune Arc aside for the moment. "What do you have to report about the Omertas?"
"You were right." Pyrrha said easily. "The Omertas were up to something. They were planning to massacre everyone on the Strip, when the Legion attacks Hoover Dam."
"And how do you know this?" House couldn't hide the shock in his voice. He knew the Omertas were under-handed, hell, he relied on that!
But this?
This was too far!
How could he have missed this?!
"The receptionist you pointed me to, and a weapons dealer in Freeside, they gave me enough of a lead to investigate." Pyrrha replied coldly, still trying to control her anger at what she'd found. "Turns out, the heads of the Omertas made an alliance with Caesar. They got massive weapon shipments and the expertise to build chlorine gas bombs."
Silence filled the room.
House finally spoke, voice filled with quiet outrage: "I see. And I trust you have... resolved the matter?"
In response, Pyrrha tuned her new Pip-Boy to Radio New Vegas.
"Gomorrah is under new management after the departure of Omerta bosses Nero and Big Sal, the casino's new manager spoke to reporters; "Before he left Nero told me him and Big Sal were tight see, said that they were gonna go camping down at Lake Mead, said he always wanted to sleep with the lakelurks." In-"
"The other members of the plot have also been... taken care of." Pyrrha smiled as she turned off the radio, though it lacked any warmth. "And, since the weapon shipments... suffered an unfortunate accident, the Omertas had little choice but to start buying from that weapons dealer again."
"And that's how you got that Pip-Boy, I assume." House finished. "Well done, Miss Nikos. And rest assured; my Securitrons will be monitoring the Omertas much more closely from now on..."
"So, what's next?" Pyrrha asked, happy to change the subject. "And how did Jaune do?"
"Mr. Arc performed admirably." House reassured her.
As Pyrrha clapped Jaune on the back in congratulations, House continued: "And we will discuss the matters of the Brotherhood later. But first, your next assignment:
"I've picked up some radio broadcasts from a caravan company, regarding a nasty tribe of raiders and scavengers called the White Legs. Apparently, they want to become a part of Caesar's Legion, and have been told that the best way to do so would be to wipe out another tribe, called the New Canaanites. While I have little contact with, or care for, the New Canaanites, I would like to deny Caesar another potential source of manpower for his Legion. Travel to the former Zion National Park, and stop the White Legs from carrying out their task. And don't worry; this trip will be all expenses paid."
Author's Note: And on the third day, he wrote again, in fulfillment of the cliffhanger.
But seriously, though, I have no idea how the hell I'm writing so much this week.
I was honestly tempted to end off the last chapter's Author's Notes with "See you in five weeks", but I felt that would have been a bit too evil...
And behold! More dialogue! But at least I'm finally getting somewhere... specifically, the Honest Hearts DLC!
Or am I?
Will Ruby find Jaune before he leaves for Utah?
And I do think Jaune needed to hear House's reasoning for why he doesn't trust the Brotherhood, in the same way that House needed to be warned about the hostile aliens in space. It helps build trust, establish a proper relationship, clears the air between them.
And at this rate, everyone's going to figure out something's up with Jaune before Pyrrha does.
I think I've said this before, but I don't have a backlog. I publish my chapters as soon as I'm done writing and reading through them, and only then do I start writing a new one. So if I suddenly put out a 6000 word chapter a day after the previous one? That means I wrote 3000+ words in a day. This style definitely has it's downsides; if I wrote all my chapters and stored them in a backlog, I could easily set up a and a release schedule. But I do what I want, and I like what I do. And this way, you guys don't have to wait a week for the cliffhanger to be resolved...
