Some Things Never Change

by The Great Wizzard

Courier Six has had enough. His companions have abandoned him, assassins hunt him wherever he travels, and despite everything he has done for the Mojave and it's people he has received no thanks and was even demonized for his actions. Alone in the Big Empty while trying to drown his worries in alcohol and chems, Six abandons his world only to find himself stuck in another.

11. 9 The Holy Ambassador

Chapter 9: The Holy Ambassador

Well it only took me seven fucking hours, but now I'm finally not in immediate danger of taking another dirt nap. Getting myself back into fighting shape was well worth the effort, but damn, it took me way to clean myself up. Should have only taken me one hour to get ready, maybe two tops. Seven hours was just fucking ridiculous, and thanks to having all that time to get a feel for how well off the Spirit of Vacuo is I think I know why they're so far up shit creek.

I wasted five of those seven hours patching up my busted leg. I apparently managed to break my femur in two places, something that I regularly had to deal with when I misjudged how high a fall was. I knew that I fucked up my leg pretty badly when I was at a full limp going through the sewers, but the reality of the situation only hit me when I had to cut my pants open with a knife just to take them off.

I thought it was the extra bends in my leg giving me trouble, but once I finally cut my pants off and saw two chunks of bone popping out of my leg I was feeling really lucky that I hadn't gone into shock earlier. I don't know what the Think Tank did to me aside from replacing my guts and eyes, but apparently they made me a fuckton more resistant to pain and shock from lethal injuries. I just sat there dumbfounded looking at a couple inches of blood soaked bone until Julia walked in on me and her face turned the same pale silver as her hair after taking a single glance at my busted up leg.

That's what she gets for not knocking before she barged in on a guy unannounced! She's lucky that I didn't bust up my leg any worse when I fell down that manhole after asking her to carry Frost down for me, else she would have had to carry me through the sewers and get up close and personal with my bad leg.

After Julia ran out of the room to regain some color and probably throw up judging by the gagging I heard from her, I had to fix it up my leg the old fashioned way. Since the Spirit of Vacuo had no decent medicines, tools, or Stimpaks lying around for me to use, I had to make due with what was lying around to fix myself up. All I had was a bone saw, wonderglue, duct tape, bandages, a leather belt, and all the time in the world to patch me up. It wasn't the first time I had to use that assortment to patch myself up, but that doesn't mean I had a fun time going through that mess again.

I used what was left of my raggedy belt instead of using a painkiller of some sort because apparently these Spirit of Vacuo people didn't have any Med-X or Hydra stored away anywhere. From there, I started hacking at my leg with the bonesaw and got to work with the wonder glue and bandages in the hopes that my Monocyte Breeder could mend my broken leg once I set the bone into place and stitched myself back together with some spare thread I kept around to repair my armor.

Ever hear of the expression 'Fixing things is a lot more painful than it is breaking them'? Maybe I remembered the saying wrong, but even so, the point still stands. I walked what felt like a mile or two with my leg two without more complaints than the usual ones I had after a gunfight, and yet fixing myself back up brought me to tears until I finally patched myself up all the way. I've only cried a handful of times since Benny failed to kill me in Goodsprings, so believe me when I say that what I went through fixing my leg up was one of the worst things I have ever experienced.

Don't believe me? Try breaking your leg and setting the bone back into place without anything to dull the pain. Then glue the bone back together and stab yourself with a needle a couple dozen times before sowing yourself shut. Once you try that, then you can go ahead and fucking laugh at me for letting out a few tears then.

I don't know how I managed to go through with that without passing out, but even though I was going through Hydra withdrawal I somehow managed to keep myself awake until the shooting pain in my leg finally faded into nothingness. After I recovered from that horrible experience I spent my remaining time in the Spirit of Vacuo medical room pulling glass and metal shrapnel out of my back. Between fixing another leg with only what I had on me and making myself look less like a human porcupine for an hour and a half, I think I'd rather break another leg than blindly stab myself with tweezers again.

Here's a little piece of advice for any would be prospectors out there: NEVER GO ANYWHERES WITHOUT MAKING DAMN SURE THAT YOUR ARMOR IS READY TO GO! My decision to wait until the day after defeating the Think Tank for repairs really came to bite me in the ass when I had it hanging out while roaming around Vacuo for a bit. And yes, I mean that literally because I had a thumbnail sized piece of shrapnel that proved I wasn't fucking around.

So yeah, after taking way more time than I wanted to operate on myself and wishing I had enough sense to take some alcohol with me for emergencies like this instead of a few worthless weapons that I'll probably never use, I was finally ready to repair my tattered gear. Julia's complexion was less ghostlike as she escorted me out of the medical room and over to their storage room that was on the ground floor.

I can't imagine why a girl like her, someone so keen to point out my every flaw earlier, decided to shut her trap now that she had something to lord over me for a bit. I can't imagine why she wouldn't want to bring up what she saw me doing earlier, but I have a few guesses

Anyways, I thought that the medical room was the most pathetic part about the Spirit of Vacuo's hideout after five hours of fun with myself. Instead it turned out that there was a reason why there weren't any spare equipment or anything else in that room considering the state of the weapons I saw in storage. Alex did say that they didn't have much equipment to spare and most of it was broken, and I can genuinely understand how that could happen. What I couldn't understand was why it looked like every single gun they had in storage looked like a fucking Deathclaw turned them into confetti!

There were a few that looked like they had been melted into vaguely gun shaped blobs, and after getting a taste of what the local incendiary rounds could do I wasn't surprised to see that. What I was surprised by was how anyone thought they could salvage guns of all shapes and sizes that had been cleaved into who knows how many pieces and thrown into giant crates together. I might be a miracle worker when it comes to repairing shit that's broken down over time, but even I have my limits.

Rather than waste any time trying to find all the parts necessary to reassemble a weapon I had never seen before, I just decided to find whatever scrap metal I could that had been lying around and fashion a couple of weapons out of them instead. Sure, I would definitely be the laughing stock of the Mojave if anyone saw me using a pistol that had been crafted out of a couple pieces of pipe that had been lying around and held together by duct tape, wonderglue, and a whole lot of elbow grease, but it wouldn't have lasted long. A face full of lead usually tended to shut people up permanently, myself excluded.

The only things that I could make for myself were a pipe pistol and a very shoddy bladed gauntlet with an adjustable blade so I couldn't accidentally stab myself when I wasn't in a fight. They weren't anything impressive, but they were a whole hell of a lot better than nothing so there wasn't any use bitching about what I had to work with. I was still going to bitch about it all the same, but not in a way that anyone could hear me.

Luckily, there were also a few scraps of leather armor and some leather furniture that I was able to cannibalize to repair my Desert Ranger Armor with. Sure, I looked pretty stupid with what looked like to be half of a leather couch stitched on to my back, but at least the metal plating concealed underneath it would stop any bullets or shrapnel that hit me while I kill everyone who dares to laugh at me.

My pants were beyond salvaging, but thankfully Julia had enough sense to bring me a spare pair instead of letting me air out the boys for a couple of hours. After a couple of emergency patches and joint guards added from the few remaining supplies I didn't use to repair my long coat and chest armor, I was finally ready to kick some ass.

My newly updated Pipboy would definitely come in handy on that front. I damn near held that off until after I got my armor fixed instead of trying to download that BMS whatever I got from the Big Empty, but for once my bad luck paid off when I accidentally hit 'update' instead of 'maybe later' for the twentieth time today. That left me fully prepared for anything, and thank goodness too because Alex apparently had a job ready for me by the time I finished up with everything.

Overall, it was nothing short of a miracle that I was able to make myself look somewhat presentable when Julia escorted me back into Alex's office again. I was still feeling wonderful after operating on myself, and knowing that the best weapon I had on me was a fucking pipe pistol of all things didn't make me feel any better. Bunny Boy's smirk at seeing me so riled up thankfully turned whatever self-loathing I had and forged it into a finely honed rage pointed directly at him.

The bastard looked way too smug for my liking after seeing how ragged my appearance was, and if I didn't know any better I'd say he never wanted me to recover completely since his smile looked as fake as hell. I was still nursing a slight limp thanks to the dull sting of where the wonderglue hadn't completely dissolved inside of me yet, making me look like I was easy picking for anyone who wanted to get me killed. Sure enough, I felt like I was getting stared down by a fearsome predator instead of an overconfident asshat that didn't know better than to do everything he could to not piss me off.

Alex had no idea how lucky he was that he was my best option to get back at Mantle, or else he would have found out exactly who was the predator and who was the prey once I started pounding his face in with my left arm.

"My apologies for earlier, Courier. I do hope that we are able to set aside our differences moving forward." He said.

Oh, now he wants to kiss my ass. Nice try buddy, but that ship has sailed a long fucking time ago. It's always times like these when I think back to the words of a brave, if incredibly stupid, man that had the gall to charge down an squadron of snipers and was tough enough to win against them.

"Get. FUCKED." I said.

I would have told him to do a bit more than that, but I got belted upside the head by Julia just before I could as she walked up beside him. I don't know why she hit me or why she was giving me a look that screamed murder instead of pointing it towards Bunny Boy, but I had more important things to deal with. Until I know exactly what Alex has planned for me I'm not going to risk worrying about anything else, and for good reason.

I know a slimy bastard when I see one, and the leader of the Spirit of Vacuo was looking like he could teach Benny a few things. Sure, maybe he was being honest when he said he wanted to apologize to me, but even if that was the case it was probably just to cover his own ass once we no longer had a reason to work together. Rat bastards like him are all the same, so I didn't really read too much into what he said since I already got the jist of it by looking at that stupid smile he still had on his face.

He wanted me to forgive him when now that he knows damn well how bad of an idea it is to piss me off. If only I hadn't already gone through this same song and dance back in the Mojave, I would have let him lick the caked sewer muck off of my boots. Unfortunately for him, I wanted blood and Bunny Boy was making it real hard to keep myself from pounding his face in. He was the one that had a problem, not me, and he could shove whatever fake apologies he had for me right up his ass if he was sorry. He was the one with a fucking problem, not me.

"Oh my. How charming of you. Is that what passes for an apology in Mantle?" Alex goaded.

"Yep. Not a fan of a 'New Vegas Hello'?" I asked him.

"I enjoy listening to your excuses almost as little as you like talking to me." He answered me.

"Huh, I'm surprised you've got the guts to talk to me like that." I said.

"Julia told me how much you appreciate honesty, so I figured I would be honest and tell you that I loathe you just as much as you are incapable as you are at surviving in Vacuo on your own." He said smugly.

"Hey, as good as I am at handling myself, I'm still just one man fighting against an entire army. I'd like to say I've done a damn good job of keeping myself alive since those Mantle fucks are the ones that were getting their asses handed to them until you and Antlers here caught me at a bad time." I retorted. "Besides, it sounds like I've done a lot more in a couple days than what you people here have done in a few years."

If the fucker wanted to throw around insults, then I was going to send a few his way too. Apparently he hadn't been expecting that one, because his ears twitched just a little bit. Now, I might not know jack shit about these faunus people on account of having just met them, but I do know people and the way they think just fine. Headology or some shit, whatever it was called, I made damn well sure to remember what Ganon taught me about it.

People were surprisingly easy to listen to once you learned to listen to their body language more than what they were actually saying. A person could lie like no tomorrow with their words, but their eyes always told everyone that was paying attention to them exactly what their owner was thinking about. I managed to sniff out quite a few ambushes thanks to that trick of mine, and I always made it a point to make myself as unreadable as possible so no one could do the same to me. I'm so fucking good at it that I even can't tell what I'm thinking at times… or maybe that's just the chems making it harder to think. I honestly can't tell anymore. The fuzzy haze I've got going on is starting to feel kinda natural now.

Getting back on track with Alex, while he did a damn good job at keeping his eyes trained on me and his smile rarely faltered, I noticed that he had less control over his rabbit ears than he thought. Whatever Julia said about his quick temper seemed to be accurate, because those his ears were twitching about as hard as other people's eyes once I poked fun at everything he had been doing before I arrived.

"Yes, I will admit, we are not as well off as I would like to be." He said after finally getting his ears under control. "But at least I was not desperate enough to take the first handout that was offered to me."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" I growled at him, laying on THE VOICE thick this time.

To his credit, Bunny Boy kept his ears straight at my attempt to spook him before finally deciding to take the time to sneer at me. "I was under the impression that you were as capable at killing as you were at taking care of yourself. It seems that you are not nearly as impressive as you are trying to make yourself out to be."

Oh, this motherfucker…

"Hey, give me a fucking break. I was fucking high off my ass when they found me and I still haven't gotten all the chems from back then out of my system. Believe me, if I wasn't almost tripping over my own two feet and feeling like my usual self I wouldn't need your fucking help." I spat at him.

"You were HIGH the entire time you were fighting Mantle?" Julia shouted in shock. Alex still looked at me as if he hadn't heard anything, but I didn't like the way his ears were twitching all of a sudden.

Fuck. I slipped up. Time to dig myself out of another hole I made for myself before she or Alex starts asking questions.

"Yes… well, no. Maybe? It all depends on whether or not you consider getting shot full of every chem known to man before escaping Mantle the first time counts as being high. If you're referring to after I crawled out of that dumpster you found me in, then yeah, I was on one wild ride then." I told the two of them honestly.

"I uhh… I still kinda am feeling a little out of it too, now that I mention it. After having a bit of time to myself, I'm starting to think that those chems they pumped into me might have been what messed up with my head so badly. I've seen people go through the same thing in the Mojave before they got themselves cleaned up, so I guess I might be going through the same thing too." I said, before adding. "Although, I gotta say that those chems that they gave me do a damn good at keeping me in fighting shape no matter how many bullets they try pumping into me."

To prove my point, I pulled out a syringe of Super Hydra and set it on Alex's desk hoping he knew what the hell it was. Julia looked disgusted when she saw what pulled out of my pocket, but Alex's broken facade told a different story. He apparently knew what the glowing yellow liquid was inside of that syringe, and he looked like he was about to claw his way out of his office just to get away from it.

That probably wasn't a good sign.

"They… they used Deathstalker Venom on you… and you're still alive?" He stammered.

Now I don't know exactly what Deathstalker Venom is, but, considering it is some sort of venom with the word 'Death' in the name, even I knew that I fucked up by showing him just one of the remaining dozen or so doses I had left of it. Not wanting to get into even more trouble, I quickly tried to explain myself before everything went to hell.

"It was only a little bit, but yeah, they shot a bit of that into me and about a dozen other chems too. Couldn't hear what all of them exactly did, but I knew a lot of them were supposed to turn me into some sort of super human badass so one of them probably cancelled out the Deathstalker Venom they shot into me. I only have about half of the ones that they used on me after grabbing everything I could on my way out of the place Julia helped me escape, but yeah, I'm still alive after using some of that whatever it's called on myself and a whole lot of other shit too." I told them.

Alex's eyes widened even further once I said I willingly injected a whole bunch of other chems into myself, but he quickly recovered unlike Julia who seemed to still be deciding whether she should laugh or cry right now. I don't know what the big deal is about chems are around here, but apparently they must be a big no-no around Vacuo or something if their reactions were anything to go by.

In any case, since neither one of them were trying to kill me or calling for some extra help before attempting anything, it seems I successfully avoided the crisis I created for myself.

"Every time I think I understand you, you once again shatter my expectations." Alex said.

"I do have that kind of effect on people.".

"If only your immunity to poison was as great as your ability to take care of yourself." Bunny Boy said as he looked straight at one of the black leather patches on my brown long coat.

Son of a bitch! This guy can't let me have a moment to gloat, can he? So what if half of my outer layer of armor was pieced together from the only couch I could get my hands on in this sad excuse for a secret hideout? It gets the job done and no one has to stare at my wrinkly ass without anything to prevent my stink eye from having a staring contest with them.

"Yeah, well, I would have been able to fix myself up quicker if you had told me I would have been better off limping to the nearest hospital to raid it for supplies." I spat back at him.

Rather than pointing out the fact that I was practically half naked before I accepted his help, I just stayed quiet and let Alex have his moment over me. Bunny Boy just laughed at me, the same way every dickweed in charge did when they thought people like me couldn't ever touch them. The prick was lucky my desire for revenge was greater than my hatred for wannabe tyrants like him at the moment. Fucking authorities and 'civilized' folk like him earned a place on my permanent shit list for a damn good reason, just like those savages and raiders. Scum of the earth, every last one of them.

Said scum was currently my only hope of getting even too, so as much as I hated working with the guy I had to do it. There was no choice, I… I just have to do it, okay?

"I did tell you that we didn't have much to offer you earlier." He reminded me.

"Something ain't the same as nothing, and you got a whole lot of nothing going on here as far as I can tell." I said, hoping I could wipe that smug look on his face with a small jab like that.

His ears wilted a bit, but that shit eating grin on his face never wavered.

"Do not blame your failures on me for giving you exactly what you asked of me." He said, the superiority oozing from every word he spoke.

It took me every ounce of self restraint I didn't know I still had to keep myself from strangling him right then and there. I needed to kill the Major first, then if I ever found a bounty contract for Bunny Boy his ass would be mine, no questions asked.

You know what? Fuck it. Enough of this shit.

As much as I want to ring the guy's neck right now, I've got more important people to kill. Besides, the guy hardly looks like he even knows how to throw a punch. Fighting him would be like kicking a bunny, a sad, sad, little bunny doesn't know better than to mess with an angry Deathclaw and probably deserves what's coming to him, but a bunny nonetheless.

"Alright, did you bring me here for something important or are we going to keep this pissing match of our going on for a while longer?" I asked him, hoping he would take the Super Sledge sized hint.

"Hmph, very well." He said, sounding less like a man and more like a spoiled brat.

"Thanks to the general chaos in the city that a certain someone has been caused throughout Vacuo-"

"Are you talking about the city or the kingdom, Alex?" I interrupted.

Call me spiteful all you want, but I was a stickler for details like these. There was a big difference between an army large enough to take control over a city and one that can occupy another kingdom. Knowing which one I was up against was very important.

"...the city."

"Oh, alright then. I already fixed that problem for you. Your doorman should have put this 'certain someone' somewhere nice and comfy for later whenever you have time to, heh, thank her for all the trouble she has caused you and Antlers here." I said, just in case he wasn't as smart as he acted.

Apparently I was a bit smarter than I thought I was with all these chems in me, because Bunny Boy shot Julia a questioning look as soon as I informed him about Frost's capture. All Julia did was shrug before Bunny Boy's smile finally faltered for a moment as he shot me as murderous a look as someone with fucking rabbit ears on their head could manage. Needless to say, he looked more cuddly that angry.

"I can see why your only friend is a toaster." He growled at me.

Okay… I'm not going to lie, that one kind of hurt. He wasn't wrong, but damn did he hit the nail right on head. Still have to appreciate the creativity of his insult though, there are not many people that can say that with a straight face and mean it. At least, I hope not.

"I'd rather have friends than servants, or I suppose someone like you would call them subordinates." I said while looking Julia straight in the eyes. "Or maybe you prefer the term 'pets' around here? I'm not quite sure what the word is for it here in Vacuo."

I hardly had time to react before I saw Julia rearing her hand back to throw a punch at me. All I did was tilt my head up hoping that she hit my jaw again, and apparently she must have remembered the last time she tried hitting me too because she pulled her arm practically flew to her sword as she noticed what I was doing. Looks like what I said struck a nerve with her.

Alex didn't even bat an eye at what I said, making me feel a little more justified in hating the bastard. Having a genuine reason to hate the guy beyond being another tyrant in the making and general dickishness felt good.

"Don't hurt him Julia. Don't let him take any satisfaction by reacting to his insults." He said, as if I didn't just insult his girl and him in front of his face.

Then again, I did pull that insult out of my ass and hoped for the best. Maybe things are just kinkier in Europe than they are back in the Mojave. Definitely need to find me another Meeting People magazine so I can know for sure.

"Now, as much as I would like to see you make a complete fool out of yourself, I have a city to save." Alex said, finally getting to whatever reason he had for bringing me to his office.

"I have… certain reasons to believe that Mantle is vulnerable now after your three day rampage. I already have several targets selected and have spread word amongst my troops that this will be our best opportunity to liberate our brothers and sisters that have been locked up like animals throughout the city." He said, the shit coming out of his mouth so thick that I almost pulled out a bottle of Abraxo cleaner from my Pipboy and rammed it down his throat.

'Certain reasons' my ass. Don't forget I'm the guy who told you that Mantle's focusing on whatever abominations Grimm are. Just because I'm not able to focus as well as I'd like to thanks to all those chems I took doesn't mean I'm any less observant than I normally am!

"Now, as much as I would like to order an immediate attack on the holding cells throughout the city, I do not want to risk the lives of my people if it is possible." He continued, turning to address me.

Sure, and you definitely had that same concern about those people you were about to save to free me from The Camp before I ruined whatever plan you and Antlers were about to discuss. I'm not fucking deaf, Bunny Boy.

"Uh huh, so what the hell do you want me to do then? Raid a few jails on my own? It's been a good while since the last time I purged a prison. I don't think I'll have too many problems remembering what I need to do again." I said.

...and hoped.

"No, Brothers no. You've caused us enough trouble as it is, and you've given us enough opportunities to act as well." Alex replied. "No, I have something far more fitting for someone of your... reputation."

'Something more fitting for someone of your reputation'? That… that doesn't sound good, but what could he possibly mean by-

Fuck.

"You want me to be bait?" I asked him I started to catch on to what he was saying.

"Yes, although I prefer the word 'distraction' personally." He said in an attempt to brush off my concerns.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.

"Yeah, that ain't happening. I've been there and done that way too many fucking times, Bunny Boy. I ain't getting killed just so you can do whatever the hell you want in the meantime." I shouted at him, before adding. "Not unless you can pay me a couple thousand for my troubles."

"Who ever said anything about getting killed? You said that if I told you where to find Ironwood, you would accept that job and the information as payment." Alex said, that smug smile of his tempting me to beat his face in once more.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

"Yeah, I did. What the hell does that have to do with distracting anything?" I asked him.

Once again, I apparently said something stupid because both him and Julia looked at me like I was the biggest idiot alive. I don't know what the hell they were trying to do, but I wasn't appreciating how they were treating me like a fucking idiot. What the hell were they trying to get at anyways, sending me to kill the guy in charge of those Mantle fucks like that is going to somehow distract them. That is completely…

Oh. I really am a fucking idiot.

"You want me to attack wherever The Major is hiding out before your people do their thing, don't you? Get Mantle focused on me so that they forget all about you until your people are able to do whatever they need to do before they figure out what's going on." I said as I put two and two together. "That doesn't sound like too bad of a plan."

"Good, it's settled then."

"Hold on there a minute, cottontail. Your plan is decent… so long as you aren't the guy that will have an entire army trying to kill them if everything goes right!" I shouted before he could brush me off again.

"Are you saying that you aren't strong enough to do it by yourself?" He asked me.

Oh, first he has the nerve to try and send me on a suicide mission and now he thinks I'm too pathetic to prove him wrong? Son of a bitch! Nobody calls me a fucking coward! Then again, cowards usually do live to run away again another day. Oh, I get it. Smug bastard is playing Catch 22 with me.

Well guess what, Bunny Boy? Two can play that game.

"I ain't saying that I won't do it, I'm just saying that I won't do it alone." I spat back at him.

"Can't or won't?" Alex asked me, looking as punchable as always.

"Won't, because there is no way in hell that I can't kill The Major on my own." I growled.

"Then what is wrong with trying to kill him on your own?" Bunny Boy asked me as if he didn't have a clue of what I was talking about.

"Getting to The Major isn't the issue, it's getting away from the army I'll have on my ass after I've killed the guy leading them. I might be a good shot if I have the right kind of guns in my hands, but there's nobody alive who is that good. Maybe I can fight my way through an entire army and escape with my life. Maybe I can't. I don't know about you, but I don't feel like gambling my life away on a 'maybe', not unless you'd be willing to join me so I have some better odds of making it out alive." I said, taking pleasure in how he visibly flinched at the very idea of getting his prissy looking hands dirty.

"I see your concerns." He said as he straightened himself up. "But I'm afraid I won't have any men to spare once you grab Mantle's attention."

"Bullshit!" I shouted at him. "How stupid do you think I am?"

Alex didn't say anything, but the way he gave me a once over definitely said more than words ever could.

"Not as stupid as most people would expect you to be." He said.

Okay, Bunny Boy might actually be somewhat competent if he can figure that much out. Still doesn't mean that he isn't an incompetent asshole like General Oliver and all the other desk jockeys like him.

"What if I were to help him take out Ironwood, Alex?" Julia asked, surprising the both of us when she finally said something reasonable for a change.

"I can't afford to lose you on a suicide mission." Alex told her.

"But you can afford to lose me that way, huh?" I shot back at him.

I cracked my knuckles for emphasis and chuckled a bit as the color drained from Bunny Boy's face. I'd have scared the jackass a bit more, but Julia took the time I took to frighten her master and sneak up behind me. She was poking something in the small of my back, and I hoped to god that it was her sword because there was only one other thing it could be with antlers like hers.

Last I checked, female anythings didn't have horns unless they were horribly mutated. Julia certainly looked like she wasn't walking around with a third leg, but since I never met a 'faunus' mutant before I might have jumped to conclusions earlier.

"Julia, lower your weapon." Alex said.

Oh thank god it's her sword.

"Our Courier here was only making it clear that I overstepped my boundaries." He continued, like he regularly had to stop his lap dog from stabbing people.

"Yeah, listen to the only voice of reason in the room, Antlers. I'm just making it very clear that I didn't appreciate his choice of words there." I goaded.

Bunny Boy was really lucky that he had something I needed from him, or else I would have been done with his shit right then and there. The very least I could do was annoy the shit out of him, and I was good at doing that back in the Mojave that I only ever had to be myself to piss most people off after a while.

"Now, I'm going to choose to ignore what you just said now and accept Antler's offer unless you have anyone else to spare for my job." I said to him as I started to make my way out of Bunny Boy's office.

"W-wait, Julia, you can't go with him!" He shouted, sounding quite frantic for some reason.

"What's wrong? There something important about her that I'm missing here?" I asked him.

I turned back to face him and Julia, and wouldn't you know it, I found myself looking at a couple of faces that wouldn't stop shouting in my direction. Apparently Julia wasn't just Bunny Boy's personal pet or messenger like I had been thinking earlier, because the both of them looked far too nervous to give me a straight answer.

"N-no, not exactly…" Alex said in a clear attempt to hide something.

Yep, definitely hiding something. My bet is that she is either the sister or daughter of someone that holds a lot of sway Vacuo. Bunny Boy hasn't said much about anything that doesn't have to do with himself yet, and he sure as hell made the Spirit of Vacuo sound like it would be nothing without him. With the way he's acting so familiar around Julia, it wouldn't surprise me if he is trying to 'hop down her rabbit trail' to worm his way into some rich and powerful family the easy way.

With the way she seems to do everything he says and her apparent desire to stab me for insulting him, she clearly likes the guy. The verdict still is out on his feelings.

"Then what's the problem? Are you saying your personal bitch is a complete dogshit at handling herself?" I asked him, doing my best to ignore what I still hoped was a sword pressing against my back again.

"No, but I would rather have her here with me for… personal reasons." Bunny Boy said calmly.

Yep, that's what I thought. She's willing to kill for him and he won't so much as bat an eye at the way I'm talking about her. There's definitely more to Julia than meets the eye it seems. Either that or Alex is more messed up in the head than I am, but I doubt anyone can say that without visiting Big Empty at least once.

"Are those personal reasons more important than saving all those brothers and sisters you were so concerned for earlier and driving Mantle out of Vacuo? Because if they are, then you had better find someone else to act as bait for this plan of yours." I said, throwing his own words back in his face.

For once, Alex looked hesitant to give me an answer. Odds are the guy had a reputation to keep and, with me putting him on the spot like this, that reputation was now at risk. Maybe Julia would keep this little talk to herself, but if Alex tries screwing me over then nothing will stop me from telling Vacuo all about what he is willing to sacrifice to get whatever it is he really wants out of the Spirit of Vacuo. Still don't know what that is exactly, but odds are that it can't possibly be good. Alex sure acts like he is all about saving his fellow mutants, but after meeting Jason Bright and Marcus, I could tell it was nothing more than that.

Everything he showed me so far was just a hollow act for the sake of appearances, an act no different than the ones everyone else pulled when back in the Mojave.

Well, look who's still able to laugh about it assholes? Even though I don't think any one of them would want to speak to me since last we met, I'd still like to thank those two in particular for showing me the difference between people like them and Daddy Elijah. Being able to see the difference first hand has helped me out way too many times.

"So what'll it be Alex? Are you going to really let your whole entire plan fail just because you weren't willing to let the girl here do what she wants and help me out?" I asked him, twisting that nail I drove into him a little further.

To his credit, he didn't sick Julia on me right then and there. The guy looked like he was dangerously close to losing that friendly facade of his, but sure enough, that smug smile crawled back on his face like it had never even left in the first place.

"This is not a decision that I can make lightly, Courier. Some of us have responsibilities that go beyond the fate of a single kingdom." He said, suddenly sounding like the fate of the world was at stake or some shit.

What a fucking drama queen! If he wasn't obviously talking out of his ass, I might have entertained his bullshit excuse for a bit. Unfortunately, I wasn't nearly as gullible as he wanted me to be and in no mood to get screwed over by him. Then again, Alex hadn't been looking at me when he said that.

He was instead staring straight at Julia, and in case that hadn't made his intention obvious enough, the conflicted look on her face definitely did. The bastard was trying to weasel away the only help I'd be able to get and make me look like an ass if I didn't fight ol' Ironwood on my own. Fucking politics, this shit is exactly why I cant stand the NCR anymore.

Both of us watched her experience a rollercoaster of emotions as she went through some great internal struggle and yada, yada, yada… I don't think I need to explain it any further, do I? Bunny Boy said something that he knew would tug at the gal's heartstrings and both of us were hoping that she wouldn't agree to what the other one said. I don't know exactly what the hell kind of responsibilities he was talking about, but since Julia seemed to be thinking about them long and hard I could take a few guesses as to what they probably were.

Like I've said before, this isn't the first race war I've been dragged into. If what's happening in Vacuo is happening in Mantle and the rest of Europe like Alex had been implying, I can see exactly why he wouldn't want Julia to leave his side. Even if it was just because she was his right hand woman, strong enough to make him feel safe around me, and probably his ticket to the throne of Vacuo or some shit after a fateful one night stand I could understand where he was coming from. Didn't mean I didn't want to gut him like a Lakelurk for it, but I could at least understand his point of view.

"Alex, I'm sorry, but this is the best chance we have of driving Mantle out of Vacuo. I can't let this chance slip away." She said, finally coming to a decision.

YES! I won't be fighting an entire army on my own. Sure, Antlers ain't the first person I'd want watching my back, but since ED-E ain't here I have to take whatever I can get. Hopefully she is as competent as she looks, because I don't think Bunny Boy would be too happy with me if she ended up dead while trying to help me out.

"JULIA, YOU CANNOT LEAVE ME!" He shouted, the sudden panic suddenly surged through him disappearing as quickly as it showed up. "You can't leave me… not like your sister did."

Nice save there, casanova. You must be real fun at parties when things don't go your way.

Still, I couldn't help but to be glad for that little tidbit he said at the end. I was wondering why Julia seemed to hate Frost so much, and getting someone in your family killed is as good a reason as any to hate someone else's guts even if they are your closest companions.

"I'm sorry Alex, but someone has to do this." She said, tearing up a little as she walked up to him.

"Yes, someone does." He said.

The two of them came in for a hug, and once Julia had her head nestled behind Bunny Boy's he shot me the mother of all death glares thinking I wasn't paying attention to their little moment of passion. Well I noticed both his glare and exactly who that 'someone' he was referring to was. The only thing I have to say to that is if he is worried so much about her, then why doesn't he tag along with me instead? Fucking charismatic prick.

"Can you two stop fucking around already? I thought you guys had a city or something to save." I said after they enjoyed their moment a little too long for my tastes.

No, I wasn't petty about not being able to enjoy a moment like that myself. Hell no. After Mr Fisto, any touch is a bad touch unless it's coming from someone I would trust with my life. Since that list of people is limited to me and a handful of robots, I was just fine with watching.

No, I said that just to annoy Bunny Boy. Judging by the look he shot towards me when they finally separated from each other's arms, I'd say I did a damn good job.

"He's right. As much as I hate to admit it, Courier is right." Alex said as he finally dismissed us. "Be careful, Julia. I'll be counting down every second until you return."

Oh my god, you cheesy motherfucker. If Julia wasn't giving him puppy dog eyes right beside me and already gripping onto her sword, I would have told him exactly what I thought of his corny romantic bullshit. Fortunately for him, I hated being stabbed more than I wanted to have the last word.

I practically sprinted out of his office while those two did whatever it was that younguns like them do at their age. Fucking hell, what is it with young people these days? They're always lazing around letting old bastards like me and Raul do all the dangerous work of keeping them safe whenever they have a choice.

Well… at least they're able to enjoy themselves now and remember it. Can't say that I wouldn't do the same if I were twenty years younger. I really wish I had some good times to remember to make all the shit I've gone through for people like them feel like it was worth it.

Goddamnit, things are just getting better and better every fucking moment. I really need a goddamn drink soon.

---

"Hey Giles, remember me?" I shouted as I approached the doorman now that I wasn't at a limp.

I hadn't really taken notice of him earlier thanks to those creepy fucking eyes of his, but now that I wasn't feeling like absolute shit, I now saw that I quite possibly might have been just a little too abrasive towards him. All of that was completely on accident, of course.

Now that I was able to get a good look at him, Giles looked to be a little older than myself and lively enough to still kick some serious ass. He had white hair, tired eyes, a couple of wrinkles here and there, and some color to his skin thanks to not wearing a full suit of body for almost an entire year. If it wasn't for that scowl on his face when he realized I was trying to talk to him, he might have been able to give Old Ben a run for his money because he was about as well chiseled as Alex was from head to toe. As much as I wanted to rough up his face just out of spite, I knew better than to fuck with any old men and women looking for a fight.

There's a reason that there weren't that many heroes running around the Mojave besides myself. That's nobody lived long enough to earn a name for themselves like I did. The same thing could be said about anyone that could handle themselves in a fight too. People just didn't live long in general thanks to all the goings on there when compared to the paradise that was New California. In most places, you either had young bucks and does ready and willing to fight for their lives or wimpy old folk and kids that couldn't do a damn thing to save their own skins. Older gentlemen and ladies like myself that could kick ass and tell their grandkids were a rarity because only a handful of the toughest and meanest people the wasteland had to offer could kick the ass of everything and everyone that tried to kill them for twenty years and keep on kicking ass for twenty more.

Old soldiers that have lived long enough to earn themselves a few grey hairs had to be some tough sons of a bitches and Giles didn't seem to be an exception. Hell, he didn't have any scars showing! That probably meant he was so good at killing that no one could so much as scratch him or he was able to pick his fights wisely. Whether he was the fastest gun in Vacuo, a better brawler than me, or smart enough to avoid fights that were never in his favor, he had to be one hell of a badass. No wonder he's the guy watching the door, looks like that Super Sledge sized hammer he pulled out at the very sight of me isn't just for show after all.

Goddamn, the lucky bastard didn't even lose any fights against age either. The guy seemed to have the same aura as The King did when I first met him. No wonder Julia seemed so excited to see him earlier. I can only imagine how many women this guy had swooning over him back when he was in his prime.

…then again, maybe not. Now that I think about it, everyone I've seen has looked pretty damn good compared to most everyone in the Mojave. Maybe it's because nobody is in danger of starvation around these parts that everyone here didn't look atrocious. Yeah, that sounds about right. That definitely makes me feel a lot better about how hideous I looked underneath my mask too… NOT!

"Oh, it's you." He greeted me.

Considering how he said 'you' like I was some of the shit that I had to scrub out of the filters of my gas mask earlier, something tells me he didn't have the greatest opinion of me.

"What do you want?" He asked, the annoyance in his voice as clear as day.

"Well, I'm just about to head out to crack a few skulls once my partner gets here and I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of questions while I'm waiting for them to show up." I told him.

"Okay, but make it quick." He said.

"Great, I only have two so I'll try to make things quick. First off, you wouldn't happen to know where that one sniper rifle that Julia carried in would happen to be now, would you?" I asked him.

The very mention of that weapon sent him into a thousand yard stare. Although I was quite flattered at his reaction, now was not the time for enjoying what a man of my reputation could do to people. To his credit, that was the appropriate reaction that someone should have when I am asking for a weapon that can punch through a Deathclaw's hide like it was wet toilet paper.

Still, if he was the guy manning the door he probably had some say into who could carry what weapons, so I made sure to ease his nerves a bit before I tried waving the barrel of that bigass sniper in front of him. "I'm as surprised as you are that Alex let me use it too, but after seeing what else there was to choose from myself, I'm just glad that I have more than the pipe pistol I cobbled together with some of the scrap I found." I said as I pulled out the sad little weapon in question.

Apparently Giles thought I looked pretty pathetic with the weapon too, because he looked a whole lot more calm knowing that I was completely at his mercy right now and only getting a gun because Alex 'trusted' me with it.

"Yeah, I think Julia went to put it somewhere until we can find someone who could use it. You'll have to ask her where she put it the next time you see her.." He said dismissively.

Well shit, now I have to sweet talk Antlers into letting handing that gun over without beating me over the head with it after treating her boss like a dumbass. This day just keeps on getting better by the fucking second.

"I'm surprised Alex is giving you anything, considering what he was saying about you earlier." He said suddenly.

"Yeah, that makes two of us." I said, somewhat caught off guard by his sudden talkativeness. "Say, is that Alex guy always a massive dick or was it just my natural charm that was able to bring out the best in him?"

Giles let out a little chuckle at this, sounding a lot more relaxed from when I first met him. "No, he's like that to most people. In fact, he usually doesn't talk to anyone in person except for Julia. I can only imagine why he wanted to talk to someone like you."

"Apparently he wanted to offer me a job working for you guys." I told him.

"A job? You mean he didn't try to recruit you?" Giles asked me, sounding like I just told him that brahmin fly without being blown into chunks of steak first.

"Oh, he tried, but I… I'm not the joining type of person. Not when the people I'm joining think of me like I'm a tool instead of a person." I told him.

The uncomfortably long glance he gave me before he said anything was what I could only hope was him agreeing with me. I don't know why he was opening up to me now, but I wasn't complaining. Guess my charisn'tma isn't always a bad thing when people just can't stop talking to keep me like Giles was. People never let me share all the wonderful stories I had about myself.

"Ah, right… he does tend to do that at times. It's a shame that Julia hasn't been able to talk any sense into him yet. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a silver spoon shoved up his ass until everything went to hell when Mantle arrived and ripped it out." Giles rambled on.

I let out a chuckle at the sudden change in Snake Eyes' attitude. "No kidding? And here I thought leading you people made him go a little power hungry. Should have known Alex was a shitter from day one." I said.

Well, it's nice to see I'm not the only one that doesn't take too kindly to that kind of treatment. Really wish someone around here had the balls to say that to his face though. Then again, maybe someone already did. Bunny Boy did seemed really comfortable telling me to go ahead and kill myself trying to do an impossible job for him. He really didn't seem too fond about keeping people around that might talk back to him like myself from what I overheard earlier.

"Ah well, enough about that." I said knowing that it wouldn't be long until Julia walked in on our conversation "The other thing I wanted to ask you about was what you did with Frost after I handed her over to you. I still owe her a bit of payback for running my ass over a couple of times."

"Ah, her." He said, once again referring to someone like they were equal to the surplus of shit a minute's walk away from him.

"After Julia ran out of the medical ward when some idiot fucked up their own surgery bad enough to lock down the entire place for a couple of hours, I sent a message up to Alex about the guest you brought us. He made sure that she stays nice and comfy for as long as you let her stay with us. Don't worry too much about Frost, Julia made it nice and clear that you didn't want anyone to rough her up too much until the both of you had a chance to have a word with her." Giles told me.

"Well shit, and here I thought Alex was going to kill her right on the spot considering that they have some history together." I said.

That was about the first time I'd been genuinely surprised by Bunny Boy. He didn't seem like the forgiving type, and he sure as he didn't like me telling him what to do earlier. A guy like him should have had a place on his wall already set aside for her head instead of letting me do whatever I wanted with her. How lucky.

But I know my luck far too well to believe any of that shit.

Something ain't right about this and I want to know what that something is before it bites me in the ass.

"Uhh… yeah, I don't know too much about it myself, but apparently one of the founding members of the Spirit of Vacuo was killed by Frost and Alex has had a grudge against her ever since." Giles said, while I was trying to come up with a genius plan of getting the answer out of him.

Well, I was going to share some of my chems with him and go out for a few drinks until I could convince him or 'convince' him to tell me everything he knew. Hearing an old man sound like he needed a shoulder to cry on for a moment wasn't anything close to what I expected, but I'd take a free handout like that any day if all I had to do was play along with him to get what I wanted.

Hell, I don't think I could afford anything that isn't free now that I think about it. I don't know what the local currency is around here, but I somehow doubt my thousands of caps would be much use in a place as civilized as Vacuo. I'll definitely need to ask around about that sometime. Preferably while sticking someone like Alex with a sizable bill.

"Sounds like you were also close to whoever she killed." I said.

"Yeah… I guess you can say that I was." Giles said, stopping there before he could explain himself any further.

Sounds like those two were a lot more than just close. Might be some family ties there or something from the way he's making it sound. As much as I wanted to press him for further details, I knew what it was like to have a few skeletons wasting away in your closet, so to speak. No matter how much I wanted to play therapist to get a few more answers out of him, I didn't feel like pressing Giles any further on the matter. Sometimes there's just shit that goes on in the world that no amount of talking can ever fix while reminiscing just made it worse. This seemed like one of those times.

"Damn." Was the only thing I could say to him, so I said it.

"I've rambled on for too long, can't keep you held up talking to me when you have a job to prepare for." Giles said, sounding serious again after taking a moment to compose himself.

"Don't worry about it. I appreciate being able to talk to someone about things that aren't strictly business or being treated like some sort of soulless monster. That shit starts getting to you after a while." I said.

For a moment, Giles looked sorry for me. That little flicker of pity sickened me to my stomach and creeped me out all in one go thanks to his freaky snake eyes. Not sure what went through his mind there, but since he seemed to be keeping his questions to himself like I was I figured that the less that was said, the better.

"Sounds like you haven't quite forgotten everything about yourself after Mantle got a hold of you." Giles said.

Fuck. I forgot I'm going with the amnesia excuse for not knowing what the fuck is happening.

"How the hell did you know I'm having trouble remembering things?" I asked him, hoping I wasn't as fucked as I thought I was.

"You're not the first person to have made their way out of The Camp, Grimm Wanderer. You may be the first one to have escaped from one of Mantle's prisons' on your own, but you are not the first person to escape from them." He explained.

Well, I say explained, but if anything that was about the biggest sack of bullshit he could have given me. He explained jack shit to me, but even so I still figured out what he was trying to say. While others might not have been a Psycho packing man and a half like me, there's obviously enough people that hate Mantle to form a faction devoted to doing... something about them. Still unsure of what that something is personally, but it definitely sounds like saving people from 'The Camp' and places like it are high up on their list of priorities.

Odds are that more than a few people that joined the Spirit of Vacuo spent time in the place I broke out of. I barely did more than get a stern talking too and I already wanted to get the hell out there and kill everyone responsible for that place. I don't even want to know what all those spare animal parts and other shit in that medical room were for with a creepy ass doctor that was just as likely to use them as fetish gear as he would anything else. Not every day that a guy like that had plenty of new people to play with in his own personal sex dungeon.

Wait…

Spare… animal parts…

Room full of bloody, spare animal parts… and there are people with animal parts… and people with animal parts hate Mantle and get taken to The Camp...

Oh shit.

That wasn't a sex dungeon… THAT BETTER NOT HAVE BEEN A SEX DUNGEON. That wasn't a dungeon, jail, or even a torture room. That's just… I don't even know what to call that.

I do know what to call them, though. Mantle, it's soldiers, The Major, all of them.

DEAD. EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM.

D
E
A
D

DEAD.

I'm going to enjoy tearing those sick fucks apart.

"Are you okay there? Do you… uhh… do you need any help pulling your arm out of the wall?" Giles asked me suddenly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked him.

"You went silent all of a sudden and punched through a solid cement wall. Do you need someone to look at your arm, or…"

I looked to the wall he was pointing and saw that my arm was buried elbow deep into the wall beside me. I guess I lost my temper a bit and just… zoned out for a moment, did what felt natural to relieve a little bit of stress. Thankfully I was perfectly fine, not acting emotionally or some stupid shit like that, so I had complete control over myself as I pulled my arm free from the hole I apparently made.

"Oh. Oops."

"Uhh… are you okay? Do you need one someone to treat your hand or-"

"No. I'm fine." I told him.

"But-"

"I'M. FINE."

Giles flinched away from me when I answered him. I guess he didn't believe that I was absolutely calm right now, and the way he was gripping onto that hammer of his didn't make me think he was about to do something intelligent unless I acted quickly. I raised my hands in front of him as a sign of good faith and stayed perfectly still until he was comfortable enough to not kill me. Even though he never showed me the same courtesy and kept a death grip on the shaft of his hammer, I still let him cling to it because I was perfectly fine right now. Really, I don't know why he was so worried when there wasn't anything for him to worry about.

"Sorry." I said backing away from him ever so slightly.

"And to answer your first question, although I don't remember much about myself, I remember enough. If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not remember any more than I have to right about now." I told him, hoping that would be enough to make him happy.

Giles didn't back off from me again or put down his hammer, but he didn't try swinging it at me either. Considering how everyone else in Vacuo had been treating me, not seeing the guy getting ready to take a swing at my head was a definite improvement to the way I had been treated earlier. It wasn't much, but it was progress. A little progress never hurt anyone, right?

"Okay, I think I can see why you went on that rampage earlier, Grimm Wanderer." Giles said.

"Can you not call me that? The name's Courier Six, and what's this rampage that people keep on saying I went on?" I asked him now that it seemed that we were still in a talking mood and no one felt like ruffling any more feathers.

"Are you trying to say that you don't remember how much damage you did to Mantle after your first escape from The Camp?" He asked me.

Yep, the amnesia excuse is a blessing and a curse sometimes. It's really useful when trying to worm some answers and explanations from people, but damn does it hurt being treated like a fucking idiot in the meantime.

"Buddy, I can't remember my own fucking name right now. I can remember the last job I did, must have been employee of the fucking year or some shit if I remember that of all things, but I can't remember something as simple as my own goddamn name thanks to what Mantle did to me. Just tell me what I did so I can save you the sob story about how much it sucks not remembering anything important about myself, will you?" I grumbled.

"Don't bother." Julia said, approaching the two of us with the sniper I requested slung across her back. Guess she knew I wanted something better than a pipe pistol when fighting at a range and decided to save me the trouble of hunting it down for me. "We'll have plenty of time to talk on our way to the Mantlesian embassy, Six."

"Finally, it's about time you got here." I said.

"The embassy? Why are you going there?" Giles asked us.

Julia shot me a questioning look, and I could only shrug back at her. Guess I was apparently supposed to tell everyone I met that I was supposed to be the diversion for everyone else in the Spirit of Vacuo to make themselves useful. My bad for wanting to keep that a secret from any potential spies or traitors that might be able to sabotage things. Fucking hell, no wonder the Spirit of Vacuo is falling apart if this is what they do with all their important plans.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Remember that job I was telling you about?" I asked Giles. He shot me a strange look before finally nodding. "Yeah, turns out Alex brought me here so I could kill The Major."

Giles went wide-eyed and slack jawed when I told him that, a look I never expected to see on an old timer like him that has been around the block a few times. I don't know why he was so surprised by that considering the apparent hell I had been raising the past couple of days, but hearing the job I was hired for was enough to leave him at a loss for words and all he could stutter was a single word at me.

"What?"

"Yeah, Ironcock thought he could gloat after recapturing me and now that I'm free to visit him on my own terms I think I owe him a bit of payback for making me the enemy of an entire kingdom. I was going to do it even without your people's help, but Alex offered some assistance and I really wasn't in a position to reject his offer." I reluctantly explained. "I'm a hired gun without any idea where to find the bastard that went out of his way to piss me off and Alex needs a gun for hire, knows where to find said bastard, and wants him dead just as much as I do. We decided to work something out, help each other as much as we can since we both want the same thing and have what the other needs to make it happen."

Julia was quick to follow up the latter part of my explanation with one of her own, more than likely to deny any rumors that I was on equal to her boss or some shit like that. "We agreed to act as a distraction while the other agents we have throughout the city raid The Camp and other holding facilities that have been imprisoning our brothers and sisters."

"Oh… so you're not trying to get yourselves killed." Giles said with a sigh of relief.

"Nobody's going to get killed that isn't supposed to get killed so long as I have a decent gun on me." I said, running my eyes over the sniper Julia had on her back.

"We'll be fine Giles." She said, before adding, "I'll be fine."

"Fuck you, Antlers." I said. "What the hell are you trying to say there?"

"You told Alex you can take care of yourself earlier. You'll have every chance to prove it, Six." She said.

Are you fucking kidding me? Are we really playing this game now?

...damn, it's been too long since I've been the underdog. I actually feel kind of giddy just thinking about making a name for myself again. If feeling like this is wrong then I don't want to be right.

"Yeah, I know I said that. I also know that he agreed to arm me with whatever I needed to get the job done." I told her as I tried to reach around Antlers and grab the gun off her back. "So hand that thing over so I know what kind of tool I'll be working with."

"I'll let you carry it once we are back on the surface." She said, slapping my hand away from her as she did so.

"What the hell? Do you still not trust me to carry that thing?" I asked her.

"No, I don't."

I only asked her that jokingly, but she was either as bad at sarcasm as Boone was or she wasn't kidding around. Regardless of which, Giles just stayed there looking mighty uncomfortable as we continued to bicker between each other. Julia must have noticed it too, and she just passed by him on her way back to the sewers.

"We've already wasted too much time talking. We're leaving now Six." She called out as she went out into the darkness outside the iron door separating the Spirit of Vacuo's hideout and the tunnel to the sewers.

"Well shit, as much as I'd like to stick around and chat it looks like I don't have much of a say in the matter. See you 'round, Giles. I'll be sure to bring a couple of drinks for the two of us once I come back with Ironcock's head strapped to my belt." I said to him as we gave each other our goodbyes.

"Be careful out there! You've got a lot of people after your head!" He shouted at me as I ran after Julia before she got too far ahead of me.

Thanks for the reminder, Snake Eyes. It's not like I've had to deal with the problem for half of my life. Well, the half that I can remember at any rate…

Once this is all over, I should really get the hell out of Vacuo as fast as I can. I forgot how annoying it was to have an entire army hunting me down after a few weeks in the Big Empty. It's fun for the first couple of days, but that shit gets old real fast after a week or two.

---

Julia begrudgingly handed over the sniper she was carrying when we were less than a mile away from the Mantlesian embassy, but when she finally did hand that sexy beast over to me I ogled every single piece that it was made of the moment she dropped it into my hands. The overall weight was noticeably heavier compared to the anti-material rifle I was used to carrying, even without the lighter parts I installed some time before getting trapped in the Big Empty. The size wasn't anything to laugh at either, and yes, I was going through some serious size envy just by holding onto the rifle in my hands. Five feet of long distance armor piercing goodness tends to do that to you.

Amazingly, the whole thing was made out of metal too. No, I'm not talking out of my ass when I say that, the entire thing didn't have a single bit of plastic on it anywhere. That alone made it more valuable and difficult to replace than the weapons I was used to, but considering all of the benefits using this rifle would have, it was well worth the troubles I would need to go to when repairing it.

I didn't need to think about guns to know my way around them. In fact, not thinking about them was probably why I was so competent when using them. I usually just did what was right and never thought twice since thinking wasn't ever a specialty of mine, more so now than ever thanks to my current addictions. Why anyone would want a gun made of pure metal that would be absolute hell to lug around for miles on end without superhuman strength is beyond me, but the sturdiness is something I could get behind. It would take more than a stray bullet or curious gecko to leave a scratch on this gun, but that raises another question entirely. What sort of shit goes on around Vacuo and Mantle that it is better to make guns out of mostly metal instead of the lighter plastics and other shit more common in the Mojave?

Two possible answers came to mind almost immediately. The first one to hit me was that the metal was meant to help the sniper act as a club to block some seriously powerful weapons like that one exploding hammer I got hit by. It might break the sniper if I tried using it in an all out brawl, but after having a few ribs broken after blocking that damn exploding hammer, I can see the value behind sacrificing a weapon in place of yourself. Metal was easy to come by after all, and anyone with a forge could recreate most broken pieces to repair the sniper in my hands if they were talented enough. I was definitely talented enough and could probably spare a few hundred caps to melt down for replacement parts if I had needed to, if I ever couldn't get my hands on some other form of scrap metal.

As for the other possibility that crossed my mind, there was a chance that the sniper in my hand was more than just that. The exploding hammer I mentioned earlier didn't look like it could detonate after the head hit something and Frost's whip sword seemed to have a two in one feature as well. I think one of the assassins I killed earlier also had a pistol that was also a knife too now that I think about it, so considering the pattern that Mantle has going on with their weapons it seemed reasonable that more than just those few had some hidden features. I don't know what the sniper in my hands could do, if there was anything it could transform into at all, but since it seemed to fire .50 caliber bullets just fine I wasn't going to fuck around with the only reliable weapon I had plenty of ammo for.

Speaking of which, I only just found out that it used a standardized type of ammunition. I accidentally dislodged the magazine that had been loaded earlier while stroking my precious new toy's stock and dumped every single bullet inside at my feet. They thankfully weren't ESI rounds like the ones I found earlier, or else that would have been the end of me right then and there. Instead of having some sort of marking that matched with some sort of element like fire, ice, water, surprise, or some other fantastical bullshit, it looked as ordinary as any other bullet I had.

I wondered why such a big and powerful weapon didn't have any magical ammo to make it even more deadlier, but then again, the sniper in my hands put the anti-material rifles back home to shame with looks alone. Odds are that any explosive or icicle rounds that were shot from this thing would either be overkill and a waste of whatever was used to make them, or maybe they somehow took away from the innate psyker defense denying power that a bullet capable of punching clean through a suit of power armor possessed. If it was the latter, then I am real fucking glad I took the time to fix my armor. Those magic bullets did fuck all against leather and flesh earlier until a fuckton of them started hitting the same place.

Maybe they caused some sort of chemical reaction that corroded the elevator I was trapped inside earlier? I'm going to need to SCIENCE! that shit real soon because if I'm onto something, I will be unstoppable the moment I get my hands on some more of those magic bullets. Definitely going to need every trump card I can get my hands on if I'm unable to get far away enough from Alex and the Spirit of Vacuo for them to not be my problem when they finally do something stupid.

Forget making friends with them, the guy himself said he wanted people to do what they were told. The way he said it didn't leave much room for discussion, so I wasn't going to bother wasting time with him once I no longer needed his business. As much as I need friends right now, I'd rather not go through the same shit that my 'companions' put me through. What a bunch of free loading fuckers they turned out to be…

"So, who is this friend that is supposed to help us get into the embassy?" Julia suddenly said, snapping me back to reality.

I almost forgot she was still walking right beside me until she said something. I jumped when finally spoke up, probably a sign that I've been alone for far too long for my own good, not that I had any plans to risk changing that and getting stabbed in the back for my troubles once I decide to skip town. Still, Julia seemed far more competent than the average NCR trooper and was fun enough to talk to, so I decided to entertain her question. By entertain, I of course mean telling her jack shit about what I had planned in case Mantle somehow overheard me. I did just recently update my Pipboy, and until I ran a diagnostic to see if I could be hacked the same way I hacked Mantle, I wasn't letting out any of my secrets in the meantime. Other people's secrets were fair game as always.

"He's not another toaster, is he?" She asked me condescendingly.

"Fuck off Antlers." I shot back. "There's only one Toasty, and until he decides to STOP BEING A LITTLE BITCH AND START TALKING AGAIN, he's not going anywhere."

She didn't break her stride or think twice before trying to piss me off any further. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't think a drug addict like you had friends."

Okay… that one kinda hurt. She wasn't wrong, but that didn't mean I was going to let that insult go unavenged.

"And you're any different?" I asked her.

"OF COURSE I AM!" Julia shouted at me.

"Yeah, of course you are. That's exactly why Bunny Boy sent you on a suicide mission with me instead of anyone else." I said after she fell for my bait.

"You don't know anything about me." She spat at me.

"I think I know enough." I replied.

Angry at anything that looks at her funny, rushes head first into arguments without thinking things through all the way, and must be a badass of some renown for Alex to keep her by his side. I totally don't have any clue what could be going on through her head right now. Not a single fucking clue whatsoever.

Julia growled at me like a feral dog before realizing it was pointless trying to get one over me. A man about as clever with his words as Alex could make a fool of me if he tried, but someone that I could read like a book had no chance against me in a battle of words. Even though Speech wasn't one of my specialties, I could talk my way out of most situations if I ever felt like sparing a few dickbags their well deserved fate. I never did that because I never felt generous enough to do any of that heroic shit.

"So, what's it going to be now? Are you going to keep on moping to yourself, make fun of me and my friends again, or was there something else that you have in mind to help us pass the time on our way to this embassy you're leading me to?" I asked her in an attempt to rile her up.

I wasn't really putting any effort into pissing her off, but she fell for the bait all the same. "I wish you were half as competent as you are annoying, Grimm Wanderer, because-"

"Don't call me that."

"Or what?" She said, turning around to face me. "Go ahead, tell me exactly what you're going to do to me if you aren't just pretending to be some big tough guy or better yet, do something other than bitch and moan about everything."

Son of a bitch. As much as I would like to wash my hands of you and the rest of the Spirit of Vacuo, I can't really do that without shooting myself in the foot again.

"Fuck it, you ain't worth the effort." I said, choosing to let her live so that I didn't have two armies trying to kill me.

Sure, I was more or less admitting that she was right by doing it, but it had to be done. After going through the ringer with both Caesar's and General Oliver's assassination squads trying to stick my head on a pike, I didn't feel like doing a through a repeat of that now that I was finally free of the paranoia that a few dozen assassins out to kill you usually brought with them.

The smug bitch put on a shit eating grin the moment I more or less proved her right, clearly enjoying her little victory over me. "I wouldn't be surprised if this 'friend' of yours didn't really exist."

"Oh, he exists alright." I told her as I scrolled through my Pipboy to make sure I wasn't talking out of my ass, just in case. It never hurt to double check yourself, and I wasn't going to see if the opposite was true because I knew it damn well wasn't.

"Toasters don't count." She sneered at me.

"THE TOASTER WILL TALK WHEN THE LITTLE BITCH FEELS LIKE IT, OKAY?" I shouted back at her.

Goddamnit Toasty, the one time I want you to be an annoying prick you decide to finally shut your bread slot. Julia clearly didn't believe that he talked and, well… now that I think about it, why should she? Two months ago, if someone told me that they were friends with a Toaster I would have either thought that was what they called their laser gun or that they were about as crazy as No-bark. I really didn't do myself any favors by bringing Toasty along for a ride on my shoulder instead of storing him in my Pipboy.

"Now if we're done talking about toasters let me just say that for the record, I do have friends that do talk back to me." I told her, getting back to the matter at hand.

Okay, maybe I was stretching the truth going by her definition of 'friends', but if you ask me I told her nothing but the truth.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. Hell, the one that is going to help us get into the embassy is actually one hell of a smooth talker and an ambassador to boot. I have never seen anyone else like him get a whole crowd of people to fall silent the moment he pops into a room." I told her.

Not a lie.

"He's an ambassador?"

"Yeah. He's also the religious type, although you wouldn't know it just by looking at him. In fact, it was actually the guy who baptized him who told me where to find him and his friends." I said.

Also not a lie.

"Your friend is just as real as your plan to kill Ironwood, isn't it?" She suddenly asked me.

"Hey, I do have a plan! It's… it's not a good plan, I'll give you that much, but it's still a plan!" I said before filling her in on as much of it that I was able to figure out.

"What's his name?"

"Uhh… Antioch?"

Julia glared at me long and hard after giving her the only thing I could think to call my friend. I honestly didn't know why I called him that, but the name just somehow felt right when I said.

"Tell me more about this plan of yours. I want to know how screwed we are before we get started." She said.

I don't know why she was acting so concerned now when she volunteered to help me earlier, but I guess some people are never happy without an explanation of what the hell was going on. Truth be told, I would have felt the same way about her in her shoes, but that didn't mean I liked having to reveal my plan… or at least, the parts of it I had thought of so far.

"First, I'll knock on the front door of the embassy and let my friend have a word with whoever answers the door…"

"You can't be fucking serious." Julia groaned, interrupting me as I explained my brilliant plan.

"Yes, I can be fucking serious because that's what I am right now. Anyways, after I give my friend complete control of the floor and he shows them the power of an angry Mormon, I'll hack into Mantle's communications systems and whatever else I can remotely control from my Pipboy the moment word gets out that somebody is trying to kill Ironwood. Whether or not they know it is me attacking them or not shouldn't matter and I expect to start freaking out and either start running for the hills or heading straight for us once I kill their communications. From there, it's just a simple matter of killing everyone between us and The Major, killing the fucker while he probably begs for mercy or gives us some speech about how we're the bad guys and he's the hero, and we escape before every available Mantle fuck in the city arrives to fill us full of lead while the people that Bunny Boy sent on whatever mission he has them on are free to do whatever they want for an hour or two without anyone being the wiser." I explained.

Sure, there were probably going to be a few other things that I had no means of knowing about that I would have to figure out on the fly, but aside from that I had everything perfectly planned. Wasn't much use planning for the unexpected since things were bound to go wrong anyway.

Julia apparently didn't share my sentiments on the matter. "How do you expect to take down Mantle's communications system or get past whatever lockdowns they have to prevent us from reaching The Major in time?" She asked me.

"Remember when I managed to hijack your conversation with Bunny Boy earlier, Julia?" I asked her.

She nodded her head, but the inquisitive look she shot me didn't make me feel that she understood what I was getting at.

"To make a long story short, I did that by hacking into every system that I could while I was wired up to one of the emergency access terminals that Mantle had available for me to use. I cracked the security that they had set up in seconds and left myself a backdoor so I can have total control over whatever I feel like messing around with. Cameras, doors, speakers, Scrolls, radios, you name it and I can shut it down or take full control over it. All I need to do is have some way to access Mantle's network directly, and then I am in complete control over anything of theirs that isn't manually operated." I explained.

Although I was still hesitant to mention the risks that part of my plan entailed, I figured I'd tell her that much for free before she started demanding to know it. "Unless they figure out what is going on and kill power to everything I am connected to, then there shouldn't be anything to worry about. The only way things can go wrong is if they are wise enough to shut down and reboot their entire network to flush me out of the network. Even then, all that will do is make us as blind as they are at the worst." I told her.

To my surprise, Julia looked genuinely impressed with my plan. She still looked annoyed that I was the one telling her all this, but even she seemed to accept the fact that I was being useful to her and her people. I wasn't pretending to be the boot licker or servant like Alex wanted me to be, but useful nonetheless.

"If you really can control all of Mantle's systems whenever you feel like it then why didn't you try doing that earlier when you escaped The Camp, and why didn't you tell Alex what you were capable of earlier?" She asked me, the annoyance in her tone grating against my ears.

"First off, I didn't have enough time to take control of anything in The Camp and even if I did there wasn't anything worth messing around with other than the handful of cameras that I was already looking through. Then there was the risk of exposing myself and allowing Mantle to prepare some way to prevent me from sabotaging them in the future, so I decided to just take a peek at everything I could do and leave myself a backdoor into their network for a moment like this." I explained.

There was only so much you could do with a couple of cameras and complete control of an elevator after all, and if I was going to get busted for anything it wouldn't be for someone noticing they had a peeping tom on their hands.

"But why didn't you tell anyone you knew how to hack into Mantle's systems? Something like that would be useful to us." She whined.

"Sorry, but I trust you and the rest of the Spirit of Vacuo about as much as you trust me. Until I know nobody will stab me in the back the moment I've outlived my usefulness, I'd like to continue being too valuable to get rid of." I said.

Julia once again proved herself to be a horrible poker player as she started turning crimson at my explanation. Guess the gal didn't feel too keen on the idea of betraying me if she had to, unlike Alex. Looks like she isn't a hopeless cause yet. She's definitely one that doesn't know how screwed she is yet, but not beyond hope.

Either that or I pissed her off even more than I did before. If it was that, then I might be better off letting her die here instead of needing to take care of her later.

"Fine, but once we return to the hideout you have to tell Alex what you know." She demanded.

"I'll do whatever the hell I damn well please, missy. In case you have forgotten, I'm only working with you because I'm getting paid. Unless Alex is willing to drop a few gold bars in my pocket for access to everything Mantle owns I ain't doing shit. I don't do fucking charity work." I told her.

I was about to tell her that she and her little faction were on thin ice as it was and that they were in no place to make demands, but Julia brought her hand over my gas mask to silence me. After checking to make sure that she didn't break any fingers by slapping me in the jaw from her hasty action, she pointed towards a building that looked about as sturdy and lifeless as the research facilities in the Big Empty.

Down the street a short ways from us, surrounded by thick stone walls twice as high as me, was a windowless building that looked to be made from a solid slab of polished stone. Unlike the ones that I sometimes saw while prowling the Mojave that were mostly made of bricks or falling apart if they were from before The War or newer ones that looked like a stiff breeze could knock them down, this one looked like it could damn well survive just about anything. I don't know how anyone could have made an entire building like that, but I once again chalked that up to the Europe or Vacuo's freaky way of doing things. Overall though, the place looked pretty damn hard to break into… or out of.

"Please tell me that isn't the embassy." I said knowing damn well how likely that was.

"It is, so this friend of yours better have some connections in high places if you expect him to be able to help us launch an attack on it." She growled at me.

She clearly didn't believe that I had a plan still. My plan didn't include much more than 'kill everything that moves and don't die', but it was still a plan nonetheless and one that hadn't done me wrong yet.

"Relax, all I need to do is let him have a word with whoever is guarding the front gate and then all we will need to do is make sure not to trip over any of the wreckage that's left behind." I told her.

"It sounds like this 'ambassador' of yours has one hell of an explosive personality." She said sarcastically.

"You don't know the half of it. Nearly killed myself whenever I introduced his friends to a couple of bastards that had it coming, so once he's on the other side of the wall we are going to have to haul ass." I said as I moved past her.

Rather than start shouting about how stupid my plan was again or start cracking jokes at how it was still only just the two of us walking to the front gate, Antlers finally decided to keep her mouth shut. I guess she figured I had a way of letting my friend have a few words with the poor sucker on guard duty, and she wasn't too far off the mark either. All I needed to do was press the right button on my Pipboy and then the negotiations would only take till the count of three to be completed.

Wait, was it three? Maybe it was two or four? Definitely wasn't five, I know that much.

Feeling that the answer wouldn't really matter if I got the timing wrong, I walked up to the iron door that had been securely bolted onto the wall and inspected it like my life depended on it. My life did depend on it, so when I found the mail slot I was looking for at eye level I made sure to hold up a fist to it to make sure it was large enough for my plan to work. Julia just watched me work in what I could only assume to be morbid curiosity, but since she let me work in peace I didn't question it.

I made sure to give the camera watching the door a one finger salute with my face clearly in view, just in case Mantle somehow didn't hear me start my attack against The Major. With all the pieces in place, I set one of the hotkeys on my Pipboy so that way the friend I pulled out of storage would rematerialize in one of my pockets instead of falling on the floor and killing me. All I had to do was get someone's attention so I could let my friend have a word with everyone behind the wall, and I knew exactly how to do it.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

"Why are you knocking on the door? Do you want them to know that we are here?" Julia shouted at me.

"Antlers, no one behind that wall has a fucking clue who is behind this door right now." I said, grinning at the way she scowled at my nickname for her. "We passed by a couple dozen cameras on our way over here, so I'm pretty confident that we wouldn't have made it this far without seeing someone trying to stop us before reaching the embassy if they knew we were here."

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

"We are going to die…" She groaned as I started banging on the door again.

"Speak for yourself, I've done shit like this all the time back home." I told her.

"The same home that you can't remember anything about?" She asked me.

"Hey, I can remember some things, just none of the stuff that really matters." I quickly explained before she could ask any more questions.

Dammit, what the hell is taking these fucks so long? Maybe I would be better off ripping this door off its hinges or whatever is holding it in place. I still have a couple bottles of Battle Brew and I can't imagine a better time to use it than fighting down an entire army with some 'help' that is more than likely going to bail on me before the fun starts.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

"Calm down asshole! I'm on my way, just stop banging on the damn door already!" Shouted some guy from the otherside of the door.

"It's about fucking time. I've got a delivery for The Major and I'd rather not keep him waiting any longer than I have to." I blurted out, thankfully able to keep myself from laughing at the lie I pulled out of my ass.

"We'll just see about that." The guy behind the door said as he pulled the mail slot sized peephole open.

His eyes practically bulged out of his head at the sight of me glaring back at him from the other side of the door. Before he could cry for help or pull away from the door I pulled my friend out of my pocket, pulled the pin, and punched the guy in the face leaving my friend to be that guy's problem as I looked for the nearest object to take cover behind.

"Aaaaghh!" The poor bastard screamed as I found a sturdy looking dumpster and hauled ass to safety.

One.

While Julia had been hesitant to listen to me earlier, she had enough sense on her to start chasing after me the moment I bolted away from the door. She didn't look too pleased with me, but I had a feeling that would change as soon as the negotiations were complete.

"What the hell was that? I thought you said you were going to talk to him!" She shouted at me as we took cover behind a nearby dumpster.

Two.

"I said my friend would be the one doing the talking!" I shouted back at her, tucking my head between my legs in the hopes I was far away enough from the impending blast.

"What the hell was that 'friend' of yours anyway? You said he was an ambassador!"

"I did and he is, now get ready to see good ol' Ambassador Pineapple in action!" I shouted as I covered my ears, or at least tried to. Keeping my hearing came second to keeping any raining shrapnel out of my skull and my helmet was the only means of preventing that from happening. I made sure to keep the damn thing on while trying to prevent myself from going deaf as I waited for the negotiations to end just as quickly as they would soon begin.

Three.

SHOWTIME!

…

…

…

Uhh… showtime?

…

…

...

"What the hell? It should have gone off b-"

*KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

---

Author's Note:

So, here's a little bit of a story here for you all. Aside from a much more mundane cause of the bone sticking through his leg and the self-treatment, that first part of this chapter was almost a faithful retelling of an injury that happened to someone I knew when they were a kid. Apparently it didn't hurt him at all, but that didn't make it easier to stomach for the people that his femur playing peekaboo with them and called an ambulance.

With that little inspirational story aside, I do want to remind you all that I do have a poll up concerning bonus little chapters that would have minimal influence on the story aside from some minor characterization and deeper looks into incidents mentioned by Courier Six. So far… only one person has bothered looking at it, and to whoever that one person is I thank you for your input. You are a champion amongst champions! For those of you that are curious, it is up on my profile in case you want to make your voices heard.

Also, to any Freeman's Mind and Monty Python & THG fans out there, I hope I didn't ruin the surprise for this chapter with references to a memorable item in both series. I actually wanted Six to do something like this in Chapter 3, but couldn't find a time when he would think long and hard enough to consider it an option. That scene had been brewing for a long time and the idea of a Holy Grenade possibly blessed by the Burned Man seemed too great not to use.

Ah well, I've rambled on for far too long as it is. Thank you all for all the support you have given this story and I hope to see you on the long journey ahead.