SIDE STORY: The Canyon
September 7th, 2283.
Six looked at the massive complex before him located directly on the southwestern corner of Arizona, it was obvious what the complex was used for. He'd seen the likes of them a dozen times by now. That and the sign on the front was pretty clear too.
Bloomfield Space Center
He hummed to himself and walked forward at a casual pace, making his way to the front door. He passed by a skeleton with a rusted and oversized pipe wrench buried in its chest.
Six looked at the tool for a moment before grabbing it by the handle and swiftly pulled it free of its boney prison. The red paint still holding on, the rust mainly centered around the head. A few test swings indicated that it was still usable.
He even found an inscription on one side of the handle.
'Would you Kindly?'
Six chuckled at the saying, 'Yes I would good sir.' He thought back, his thoughts imitating a posh accent.
Six stored the wrench in his coat before opening the doors to the center and walking in.
The first room was quite roomy by his standards, with four walls, an intact ceiling. Another skeleton, not all too interesting. He did find some Nuka-Cola, that was a plus.
He entered the next room, a long hallway with well over a dozen skeletons in it. Other than that nothing too interesting. Six walking past the old bones without a second thought.
It was the next room that gave him slight pause, not in horror no. He paused to admire the scene before him.
Usually, when dealing with Pre-War facilities you always had to worry about either a 200-year-old defense system that still worked. Or some retards in rags and scraps that somehow haven't starved to death.
It seemed that both were the case here.
In front of the mailman was a dozen skeletons and a few torn apart robots. The most surprising part was that most of the skeletons had NCR armor. What was the NCR doing so far east?
He hummed to himself as he looked at the skeletons before turning his gaze towards a stairway at the other end of the room. He made his way there and walked up the steps.
When he reached the top and walked through another door there he found himself in a room filled with computers and a few more skeletons, all of them wearing lab coats.
Six hummed to himself again as he walked forward, looking around for something before he honed into one of the larger terminals.
He walked towards it and sat down on the chair in front of it before cracking his fingers and getting to work. The terminal was locked of course, but it was child's play to crack the code.
Maybe he should write a book about hacking or something, thoughts for later he supposed. Reading through the terminal brought some rather interesting findings, it held both a journal and lots of notes.
The notes themselves were easy to sort through, a bunch of calculations and schematics. What for? For launching a rocket into the atmosphere, not in general. Just one specific point. A Space Station maybe?
If so then that station must have held something important, the person planning this expedition spent a long time figuring it all out. His cybernetic brain could easily sort through it all.
What interested him the most however were some Journal Entries, they all seemed to belong to the same man. A Scientist by the name of 'Victor Presper.'
It was a short few entry's by him, but the man had made it very clear that he was disgruntled with the current administration of the NCR and the route they were going.
He could somewhat relate to that, he just couldn't relate to the fucker's insane plan to unleash the New Plague. And then bomb it from orbit if the Plague plan failed.
'Great, another fucking Elijah.'
But seeing that there were skeletons of all sorts here he could hazard a guess as to what happened to his plans.
Six then began to skim through the rest of the notes, seeing more calculations and schematics. He downloaded most of them into his pip-boy. Who knows, might come in handy.
As he skimmed through he found something that got his attention in particular.
B.O.M.B-2… Location Grand Canyon.
'Interesting.'
Six got up and began to walk out of the building, he had a canyon to visit.
Six walked through the desert, a calm and even pace. The sands of Arizona moving with him. Moving as he did.
The winds began to pick up, becoming increasingly violent as sand began to swirl around him. Six carried on, unworried by the worsening weather.
He already knew what was coming, off in the distance in front of him a giant wave of swirling sand came closer and closer towards him. Closing the distance to him in an instant.
He embraced the sand storm, walking through with practiced ease. Where other's would have been flayed or buried alive, he moved on, unaffected. Where others would be lost in the storm, unable to see in front of them. Six walked with a purpose, never second-guessing himself as he braved the storm.
The sands that had been here since before life itself existed, flowing around and image and facade of the grim ranger.
The storm ending as soon as it had come. And Six had found himself on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Canyon. The same one where Caesar and his Legion had flung the Burned man into the depths of. He snapped a quick picture of it, as a memento.
And at the bottom of the ravine stood the decaying ruins of a large space station, one that had crashed into the earth when the great war had occurred.
Six had to reach it. To understand its secrets, he needed to see. To learn.
Six turned to the side and began to walk the path into the Canyon proper, entering a network of tunnels that formed in the two hundred years since.
Darkness quickly envelopes him as he enters, pushing a button turning on his helmet's night vision. Walking into the caverns unimpeded.
He seemed to be in a calm and casual posture, his demeanor non-violet. It was a ruse. To fool his stalkers.
He heard them first, their little chittering and running around. He ignored it for the moment, but he stayed ready all the same.
He was a far better killer than whatever called these caverns their home. He was sure of that.
He continued to walk forward, his natural sense of direction guiding him towards the exit of this place. He could also feel more eyes glaring at him as he walked through, but they would do nothing to him. Not yet anyway.
Six continued to walk through the long almost hallway-like caverns. Watching his footing as he went along. Coming to a stop as a large gap impeded him. It was ten feet in length, his path momentarily blocked.
Six stepped backward a little before sprinting forward, his cybernetics allowing him to launch himself off the edge of the gap. Jumping across with ease and landing on his feet perfectly. Continuing his walk forward.
He continued down the rocky hall before it formed into a large cavern. Easily the biggest one he has even been in.
And at the bottom laid dozens if not hundreds of skeletons, half-eaten corpses, and animal shit. All congealed into one pool.
Six hummed to himself before jumping off the ledge and into the pool. The mix of feces and blood reaching up to his shins. Nothing leaking into his waterproof boots.
Then Six looked around and found himself surrounded by dozens of tiny pitch-black creatures, their glassy yellow eyes glaring at him as they crawled down the wall of the cavern. Their large heads and oversized jaws marked them as former humans.
He scoffed, mutant cannibals. How cliche.
Six reached into his coat as more of the creatures began to circle the walls around him. Drool dripping from their maws filled with razor-sharp teeth. Claws that could cut through most armor. Most.
Six pulled out a flashbang, before pulling the pin and throwing it upwards. 'Let there be light.'
*BANG*
The sudden flash of light and noise caused the creatures closest to it to lose their grip and fall onto the floor below. Dying instantly from the fall, the other creatures, sensitive to light, had their retinas burned. Rendering them blind.
Six pulled out his M14 and began to fire at the now blind mutants, the .308 rounds ripping their child-sized bodies apart. Each bullet hit its mark as more corpses hit the floor.
Once the 20 rounds were spent Six quickly reloaded the weapon as more of the abominations came from above. Six aimed at the incoming mutants and fired a barrage of lead, whittling down the numbers of the mutants. He quickly reloaded once more as another Mutant leaped at him.
Six batted it away and cracked its skull open with the butt of his rifle before quickly putting it away and punching another mutant in the forehead, caving its face in.
Six then pulled out two weapons. In his right hand was the flaming sword Gehenna. The flames illuminating the cavern. And in his left was the pipe wrench he had found at Bloomfield. A weapon he dubbed. 'Would you kindly?' after the inscription.
Six rushed forward, into the crowd of Mutants. His weapons a blur and he Slashed and pulped the mutants.
Six himself became a whirlwind of death as he cut one mutant in half while bashing open another's head. The flames of Gehenna lighting those it cut off on fire, dazing the rest of the mutants and the light blinded them.
Six did not relent as he let the anger and bloodlust consume him. Showing no mercy as he ruthlessly cut down any in his way. Gore and blood showering the area and Six hacked and crushed through the mutants. Both his weapons and himself being caked in blood.
Once it was all over Six found himself breathing heavily as dozens of mutilated corpses and broken limbs surrounded him. He took a deep breath before exhaling, his calm returning.
He put away his weapons and walked on, the fight from earlier already escaping his mind. It was more a stress relief for him than an actual challenge anyways.
But truth be told he was disappointed at the sheer ease of the fight. "Bunch of little pansy-ass gremlins." He muttered to himself.
Six continued to walk at a leisurely pace through the caves. The mutant population culled by half and now knows to stay out of the Courier's way.
Six found that the path was getting narrower by the bit, so much so that he now had to squeeze himself through the small gap. Just barely big enough for himself to fit through.
He grunted before pushing himself through and making it past the tiny entrance, most of the blood on him being wiped off. Six found himself in another cavern, he looked around for a moment before pausing in slight shock at what he saw.
Wild Wasteland
Before him stood an ancient statue of a sphinx, made long before America as a concept was created.
It was a testament to ancient people who have long since been forgotten. Six took a photo of it. For keepsakes, definitely more memorable than those weak as hell mutants.
He sighed to himself, at least he had moments like these to himself. He enjoyed fighting, but he liked thinking to himself more. The little moments and all that.
He regarded the sphinx for a moment more before shrugging and walking past it. The momentary surprise was already leaving him.
He continued walking until he saw some light seeping through some cracks at the end of the cavern, Six walked up to it. It was a wall between him and exiting. A few test knocks revealed that it was thin enough to breakthrough.
He reached into his coat and pulled out a brick of C4 and placed it on the wall. He casually walked backward and once he was far enough, he leaned against the cave wall, pulled out the detonator, and depressed the trigger.
*BOOM*
The explosion kicked up clouds of dust and the cave shook from the explosions, Six put the detonator away and walked towards the new exit he had made. Looking out he found another hundred or so foot-long fall towards the bottom of the canyon.
Six hummed to himself before sliding down the edge of the canyon wall, controlling his descent to ensure he didn't delay his journey by a few hours.
Once he made it to the button he walked over to the river at the bottom of the canyon and jumped in. He stayed in the water for a moment more before walking out, all of the blood from before being washed off.
Six looked off in that distance and saw his target, the crashed station, and he began to walk towards his destination.
The merciless heat beating on him, the waster bearing it with ease. He was a native to the deserts, he knew them better than anyone else.
As he walked his eyes scanned the area around him, looking out for any potential ambushes, no matter how unlikely they would be.
Six suddenly paused before crouching down and hiding before a nearby boulder, his enhanced senses picking something up as he looked off in that distance.
He pulled out the Gobi Campaign Rifle and looked through the scope. 100 or so yards away from him he saw movement.
There were half a dozen piss boy legionaries, carrying two others with them. Both females, beaten to all hell. One dressed in rags and the other a road warrior, road warrior had black hair, and the slave had… pink hair.
Six hummed to himself in thought. He could hazard a guess as to what they had done to piss off the Legion.
Six curled his finger around the trigger before firing off six shots in an instant. The legionaries were ripped apart by the high-caliber rounds. The two women now free, the two of them looked around in confusion before the wanderer helped the other one up.
Six stood up and put away his rifle, the two still looking around in confusion before the Pink-haired one spotted him and began to wave. The wanderer waving along with her.
Six regarded the two for a moment before chuckling and waving back, the couple looking content before the two of them walked off into the sunset together. 'Crazy kids.' Six thought to himself, feeling like an old man.
He was certainly a lot older than he thought he would be, he always thought he'd die young. Guess he was far more stubborn than he originally thought.
Six sighed before continuing forward, he hated thinking about the past.
After a few hours of walking he finally made it to his destination, the large space station now in front of him. Six looked at it for a moment, determining the best course of entrance.
He spotted a latch about 50 feet up, Six walked over to the canyon side and began to climb up. The process being easy for someone like him. Six scaling the cliffside like a certain comic book character he could not for the life of him remember.
Once He was on the same height as the latch Six prepared himself and launched towards the lever on the hatch. Six just barely grabbing it, his weight and momentum bringing it fully down.
Six pulled himself upwards and onto the hatch before entering. He looked around for a moment, the large and decrepit insides of the station having begun to decay after over two centuries of nature beating down on it.
Six looked upwards, the long hall going on for what looked like hundreds of feet. He sighed before grabbing onto some nearby paneling and began his climb towards the center of the craft.
Six made it halfway before the panel he was climbing suddenly fell off, him still on it. With only a split second Six jumped upwards, the tips of his fingers grasping on the edge of an open door.
Six took a small sigh of relief as the panel hit the bottom some hundred or so feet down. Six then Pulled himself up, taking a small breather before climbing up the rest of the way.
As he climbed he remembered the name of the hero. Tarantula-Dude or something like that.
Six continued to climb towards the center, the large cube getting closer and closer. And after a few more minutes of climbing, he got close enough.
Six looked at the large handle of the door for a moment, Six took a deep breath. He did not want to waste an hour of climbing if he screwed this up.
Six placed his feet underneath him before springing himself forward, his hand grabbing the bar. Six then grabbed the bar with both hands before pulling himself forwards and unlocking the door.
He then climbed in and shut it behind him. The hard part was now over, all he had to do was hack into the mainframe. If it still worked that is.
Six looked around and saw that he was in a mostly blank white room; the only thing standing out being one large chair in the middle of the room.
Six jumped up towards it and pulled himself up on, the mailman sitting on it and sighing in relief. All that climbing had tired him out.
The chair was comfortable, maybe he'll try and take it with him. Just in case.
Six then pressed a button on the armchair, a large monitor sliding up from the floor, along with a keyboard covered in weird symbols.
It took him a moment before he realized what they were, it was code for real letters. Probably made that way to stop would-be saboteurs from taking this out.
Even if the attempt did nothing in the end, Six could appreciate the thoroughness in creating the code.
The monitor then turned on and displayed a loading screen before an all to familiar code wall appeared. Six cracked his neck before getting to work.
The code, like always, was easy to crack. Once you've seen one military-grade encryption you've seen them all.
Once he got through he found a dozen or so files related to the purpose of these, Ballistic Orbital Missile Bases or B.O.M.B for short. Three were made before the great war, an attempt to gain an advantage over the Chinese.
As far as the reports went, one of the stations was still in orbit. That one being BOMB-1. This was BOMB-2, and somewhere in Appalachia BOMB-3 had crash-landed.
Six nodded at the information, satisfied so far at what he had found. But there was more, he also found information on this 'Tibbets' place.
It looked like it was close by too, only fifty or so miles east of here. He could stop by while on his way to Phoenix.
As he looked upon Tibbets the screen to the monitor suddenly went white. Six tensed up and quickly grabbed the Sonic Emitter and began to look around for any sudden robotic surprises.
But he found nothing as the white screen slowly loaded in some text. The words made Six ponder to himself as he read them.
{UNKNOWN USER DETECTED… PROTOCOL IS AS FOLLOWS [REDACTED]… ODYSSEUS HAS BEEN CONTACTED. HAVE A NICE DAY.}
Six hummed to himself, things just got more interesting. He didn't know if that was a good or bad thing yet.
Main Story: Stories and Futures
September 12th, 2283
Six looked across the cracked and drylands between him and Phoenix. Walking towards the city with a casual air about him, another stop on the way to Colorado.
As he walked he suddenly stopped and began slowly turning his head to the left. "I know you're there. Come out."
Nothing happened for a moment before a hulking figure in some strange-looking power armor stepped out, an eye bot following him as the power-armored man held his hands out in a placating gesture.
Six scoffed upon seeing him. "What are you doing here, storyteller?"
The Storyteller shrugged. "When I found out you left the Mojave, I just had to know why. Just curious, that's all."
"... You still want that interview don't you?" Six asked.
"Can't blame a guy for trying. Out of individuals such as yourself still alive, you're the biggest enigma."
"I'm not a fucking puzzle, so piss off." Six turned to leave, to get this over with.
"Wait! I didn't mean to… I can help you, document your travels and fight off legion."
Six stopped for a moment, looking at the city in the distance before turning his head towards the Storyteller and his eyebot.
Six sighed before motioning the man to follow him, the Storyteller quickly catching up as the trio began to make their way to the city.
"So, why exactly did you leave the Mojave by yourself? As far as I know, you could have easily sent an army of securitrons to take it out."
"I wanted a vacation."
"You find killing people and survivalism relaxing?"
"Yes."
"Hmm. Edna, did you get that?"
The eyebot next to the storyteller gave a series of confirmatory beeps which was followed by a snide remark directed at Six.
"Edna, don't talk about our associate like that." They were both cut off when Six began to chuckle at the eyebots remark.
"ED-E would love her." The Courier said simply before continuing to walk forward, leaving the storyteller slightly stumped before he shook his head lightly.
"Come on Edna, we have stories to catalog. Who knows what we'll find."
It's me! PENIS MAN! LOOK AT ME GO!
Lmao, in all seriousness it's been a while huh? Also, guess who's going to Summer School cause he failed two classes. It's this guy! Yeah it sucks but what can I do? Just try and get it over with really. Anyways.
This chapter's pretty short so sorry for that, next one will be way longer so I can justify the long wait time next time. Been really moody lately and It's getting harder to do shit. It's not really an excuse but I'll try to get more stuff pumped out.
Moving onto topics that are less Depresso Expresso, a good friend of mine called Some Random Marine has released his first fic called Dust and Bullets, a Rwby and Aliens cross over. If ya have the time go and check it out.
Now let's get onto da reviews.
Reader: Maybe I'm just that good ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, lmao, I'm not
Super Heavy Weapons Guy: Glad you like it man, and looking over their relationship so far… who know, lmao. Gotta give the illusion that I know what I'm doing.
ManwithaPlan113: Oh for sure man, the two of them are gonna be the biggest badasses around. A true dynamic duo in the making, lmao. And as for giving her a bumper sword… that's a definite maybe.
Portalmesional Corporation: Yeah man, cool new sword and a big honking journey for ol Sixmeister.
Anyways, that's all for now folks. Cya on the other end!
