It's Not for Me to Say

The Lone Wanderer, The Sixth Courier, The Lone Courier, The Angel of Death, and that one guy who still has a bar tab of 20 caps back at some dive in Denver. But a lotta people just call him Alex. Currently our illustrious hero is combating his arch-nemesis in mortal combat … his hangover … and the lack of clothing.

"Waa… Ehhh… huh … oh … oh… oh fuck, another night in the stew" said Alex

He rose up like a great Phoenix to meet the day, he could slowly feel the testosterone surge through him and the expansion of his mighty and heroic chin. Not even the terrible, and now deceased, Legate Lanius could stand up to the Courier in such a form!

That was a lie.

He tried rising to his feet, but he just ended up crawling on all fours over to his penthouse bed. After his daring and arduous adventure, he scaled the walls of Mt. Bed finally atop the comfy blankets and pillows. This was not to last with his Pip-Boy suddenly blaring an unholy beep that rung his head like a bell tower. Lifting the Pip-Boy to his face he saw it was a message from Dr. Klein reading IMPORTANT. It was regarding something about the satellites being ready to test for teleportation.

This probably needs some context

After the battle of Hoover Dam the Courier helped secure it alongside the NCR, the NCR, in turn, gave Six awards and allowed him to Legally own the Lucky 38 (after they raided the place making off with all of Houses equipment), Alex also had something of a company in the works obtaining all the legal documents through some of his friends in NCR (aka bribed a few officials to give the necessary paperwork to be a legit company). He called the business the Guerrero company after his last name, it would mainly specialize in Aerospace products like XVBO1 and 2 vertibirds along with cargo planes and jets. His main customer would mostly be the NCR as they would have enough funds to buy his products, other organizations either were too far away to ship products or flat out hated his guts. Later down the road, Alex planned on manufacturing aerospace products for civilian purposes but for now, his number one customer would have to be the NCR.

The Company also had a Subsidiary called Hoplon Defense Services, made up of former NCR army Special forces, Rangers, and pilots. They operate as Intelligence contractors along with consulting and training NCR SWAT teams and police officers. On a side note Alex was genuinely surprised that the NCR even had SWAT teams, let alone ones that were kitted out way better than their soldiers in the Mojave. Hoplon Defense's real purpose was to act mostly as a paramilitary organization under the Guerrero Company.

Alex would go on operations with these guys to retrieve technology from Pre-War R&D facilities, raiding slaver compounds, and securing highways leading into Utah and Colorado. NCR still struggled to deal with Raiders especially in Vegas as brahmin barons back west put pressure on the army to have troops sent to patrol around their ranches, in case of a serious raider threat Hoplon came in and took care of it. Alex offered Boone a position as a sniper instructor and as his bodyguard on occasions, Boone accepted the position in a heartbeat… which for Boone means 5 seconds of silence followed with the driest 'sure' you'll ever hear.

With the Guerrero Company now officially based out from the Lucky 38 they grew within the next 6 years to rival even the Gun Runners as a major defense contractor for the NCR. Alex owed a lot of his success to the people who help run the company like a well-oiled machine, primarily his Co-CEO George Clemente who kept a tight ship when Alex was out running ops or at Big MT. The technologies he scavenged from Big MT, the Sierra Madre, and even Mothership Zeta contributed a lot to the company's success as well.

Don't get it twisted though, Alex wasn't churning out VTOLS and jets like hotcakes it still took a while to process raw materials and then start making the parts to be slapped on the assembly line, but by wasteland standards, it was an amazing feat.

Alex also had stuff made in house that wasn't for commercial purposes, it's mostly schematics for armor, weapons, and vehicles that never reached mass production on the account of the world ending.

From these in-house products, he'll have a research unit from Hoplon to test them out such as newer versions of night vision goggles, chest plates, guns, armored vehicles, and even jets before decking out other Hoplon units with the new goodies. Further down the line, Alex had plans to introduce his line of chest plates and chest plate carriers but for now, he focused on his NCR commissions.

Alex funded constructions of 2 kill houses to use for Hoplon Counter-terrorist training, Alex was paranoid about Legion diehards conducting terrorist attacks after the battle of Hoover Dam, Caesar was essentially deified after his death and that kept the Legion going for a little while longer but it was never the same afterward, it was only until now turmoil was starting to ramp up in Legion lands mixed in with this religious fervor that threatened to spill over into the NCR and it did to some extent in the form of a hostage situation, but NCR SWAT teams did a pretty good job of handling it.

The Think Tank also blinged-out Alex with an overhaul with some of his equipment, his Pip-boy was the first significant change, taking some of the technology from Mothership Zeta they managed to get stuff to materialize and de-materialize within the Pip-boy that was stored in a pocket dimension, some advanced green man shit. Other changes were more mundane such as the ability to send him messages from the Think Tank so he can approve of designs and keep tabs on the research. Originally, they wanted to make phone calls through his Pip-Boy, but he shot them down, his head already throbbed enough when around them.

On a good day, Alex will get a pleasant surprise from them such as the satellites they had in the works, it would help with reconnaissance and communications especially in more remote areas and would be invaluable to operators in Arizona, they also had the dual function of assisting with teleportation using a laser pointer on a location it would allow for a faster response to emergencies and provided an easier mode of travel to more isolated communities.

So that was the whole rundown of how Alex was getting messages from his Pip-Boy and why there are brand spanking new satellites in space, a bit longwinded but necessary to understand a bit of the development in Alex's life.

We return now to our valiant hero overcoming the woes of hangover, through the abysmal sounds of him retching out his organs into a nearby ice bucket.

"Jesus fucking Christ" slurred out Alex

Probably should have stayed away from the Super Mutant hooch

After Six's retching fest was complete he cleaned up washing his face and mouth, Alex got back into his usual morning routine of starting up his pot of coffee and cooking his breakfast of cubed radstag meat with some potatoes and jalapeño peppers, some bald hunter dude back out east taught him how to cook the meat just right, nice guy even taught him a few grappling techniques but he kept asking if ever did DMT. Anyways Alex had his breakfast by the windows and checking his schedule for the day, while George ran the finer aspects of the company Alex still had to do his part by being the face of it. His morning was pretty much clear until noon. where he had to attend a Union rally.

Another player in the Western wasteland was the Trade Unions, they came and went throughout the history of the NCR, but the new wave of unions surged during the NCR's campaign in New Vegas. He was going out to show support for Marie Brown running for president of the National Workers League, herself being popular among caravanners out in California and being a Vegas native herself won her some points here, but if Alex hadn't come in with his support her campaign in New Vegas would have most likely landed flat on its face, her opponent David Mathews, also a Vegas native, is wildly more anti-NCR making him popular amongst the people most affected by the new Regimes heavy taxes.

In exchange for his support, Marie would essentially be acting under the influence of the Guerrero Company, netting them funds that they can use to refurbish and open up new casinos under the Guerrero Co. meaning a fat payday for the company, or at least Alex hoped so.

Did actions like this make the NCR wary of Alex and his growing power? Absolutely, there was even a whole committee dedicated to throwing Alex in prison a few years back, but they couldn't find any substantial evidence against him and so the charges were dropped, they tried to use the fact that since Guerrero Co. owned Hoplon they would try to use that PMC force to take over the region, it was dismissed since the other Defense contractors had fucking private militaries of their own, the only difference was that his had Vertibirds and frankly it was flimsy reasoning trying to catch him on those charges.

Alex finished his breakfast, had a quick shave, and got dressed. His suit was Benny's suit but instead of the shirt and tie he had a black turtle neck, at first checkered suit jackets annoyed the fuck out of him, but somewhere down the line, he took a liking to them so he decided to pick one up for himself. Cass likes to bust his balls every time they see each other saying that he's 'dressed like a dumbass'. His fragile ego was damaged, but he'll be damned if someone ever tries to stop him from wearing this fashion masterpiece.

His morning is also never complete without that usual deep pit of despair that claws at his insides, usually happens shortly after he wakes up, as a matter of fact, Six is deeply melancholic but does a pretty good job of hiding it, but he'll have his moments where he's really in the stew and not in the edgy way a teenager is, more in the shutting himself off from the world, feeling wildly anxious, and paranoid type way. It was always a lot easier dealing with it when he was traveling the wastes, always being on the move and drinking so his nightmares didn't come to haunt him.

Speaking of which he did develop a certain fondness for hooch, a little too much, some might even call him an alcoholic. When Alex loaded himself up with a plethora of cybernetics a side-effect was that most of his favorite drinks couldn't get him drunk anymore, turns out super mutants have a bit of the same problem so he turned to Marcus, who luckily enough, knew a special moonshine recipe, it would kill a regular human and not just because of the high alcohol content but because of the drugs mixed into it that can get super mutants shit faced.

After his usual sit down with sorrow, Alex headed down to wait for Boone and his convoy, Alex knew a couple of guys out in New Reno that modified cars for the Bishops, they're armored up while being aesthetically pleasing, it cost him an arm and leg to commission three Highwaymen, but it was worth it.

Alex waited for a little while but as usual, Boone showed up at least 15 minutes early to everything, and as per usual every time Boone and Six see each other it's just a simple nod, rolling out with the convoy Alex noticed Boone was wearing his usual plate carrier, 1st Recon Beret, and signature shades. Boone started wearing more armor after having a heart to heart at Bitter Springs, he convinced Boone to let go of his past and try to make the best of his time on Earth to make the wasteland a better place, it'd be better if he didn't look like he was ready for a shootout though.

"Expecting to get hit by an angry gang of grandmas?" asked Alex

"Hmph, No, doesn't hurt to be ready though," said Boone, inspecting his MK12

"Speaking of angry grandmas, any new reports on the Legion?" said Alex

"Yeah, Legions still dealing with rebels in New Mexico, Denver and Boulder city completely broke away, and we just took back Fort Abandon," said Boone

A quirk with Boone is that when talking about the NCR is that he often says 'we' whenever talking about NCR actions, it confuses the hell out of Alex sometimes but for the most part he's learned to deal with it.

"Thinking NCR's gonna make a push into Arizona?" asked Boone

"Most likely, get em while their pants are down, probably sending that fucking cocksucker Rowlinson alongside Moore to fumble it all the way to Flagstaff. I mean shit you remember when they sent him in to take Cottonwood cove and he struggled, he struggled to take it from a skeleton crew, and he had an entire battalion and two M60's against maybe a Century of Legionnaires, pussyfooted harder than fucking Oliver and when he finally engaged he wanted the tanks up on the cliffs instead of moving in with the troops, some of his boys died and a lot more got injured, wasn't like the Legion was fighting hard either they were trying to peel out with the slaves. Still promoted that fucker because he managed to free the slaves after the fact, and because his daddy is some big brahmin baron" when he heard of it from Hsu, Alex was pissed off to the utmost extreme even still to this day, also when he met Rowlinson for the first time he was complete dickhead.

"Mhm" replied Boone, Boone's usual response to Alex after he goes on a longwinded rant

After that, it was just a silent car ride to the event Boone usually didn't speak much and Alex's headache was flaring up again after his rant.

"Okay looks like we're pulling up to the event I'll be posted up on the building across the street," said Boone.

"Alright cool, look out for other dark and broody shooters," said Alex

"Hmph, will do, I'll look out for any loudmouthed jackasses too," said Boone

Exiting the car with a chuckle, Alex walked with his two Hoplon guys to meet Marie, she legitimately believes in the well-being of workers and had pretty good plans for negotiating with NCR officials and companies to guarantee more benefits for her union members, but she didn't capture that large anti-NCR sentiment that Mathews had so she had to turn to Alex for support, it's a little shady what she was doing paying into Guerrero Co., but Alex isn't a bad guy, by wasteland standards, and promised to donate funds to the NWL so they could grow and expand.

Marie and Alex shook hands, making small talk and eventually brought the topic of Mathews up.

"Has he been harassing you as of late?" asked Alex

"Sure has, he called me the other day and was just cursing, and I mean cursing. So. Much. It was unbelievable, he found out Larry, my husband, is from San Francisco and the idiot thinks it's a part of the NCR and was saying just absolutely disgusting things about me and my family" said Marie shaking her head in disbelief

It pissed Alex off because she was a sweet lady with two kids, a little too clean if you asked him since she never drank or even cursed at all to his knowledge. Without her knowing Alex had some Hoplon dudes watch her house after she told him about Mathews harassment a month back.

Alex told her not to worry and that if Mathews tries to send some of his thugs to her house to just call Alex and he'll send help right away. They continued to make small talk for a few minutes before the rally started.

The rally went off without a hitch, the King even came to show support albeit late and had to be invited on stage because of the clamor people were making over him being a Freeside celebrity and all that. A couple of guys were arrested after being patted down and finding guns on them, they were suspected to be Mathews supporters, but they didn't make any mentions of him.

It was honestly boring; Alex was at least expecting his convoy to get ambushed and into an epic shootout with some bad guys, considering wherever Alex goes there's always some type of violence. He was by no means ungrateful, but he did get a bit antsy when he's not out there in wastes saving hapless villagers from destruction, but he came to the realization that there was only so much he could do by himself and while he was saving one place from being destroyed another was already dust in the wind, it was still the case even with his growing influence but at least he could save a lot more people a lot faster with a large team.

He'd still be out in the wastes or better yet in a bed rather than catering to a hangover at a large event

After the rally Alex had a quick lunch and headed back to the Lucky 38, from there he teleported into Big MT, on the way into the Think Tank he grabbed his 3-day assault pack, which is a backpack equipped with extra ammo, food, and tools to survive for at least three days, he had more stuff in his Pip-Boy but he could carry extra when he brought the pack, walking into the Think Tank he was greeted by Dr. Klein.

Now Alex has good reasons as to why he keeps his visits to the Think Tank brief, for starters Klein never fixed his volume levels and adamantly refused even the idea of Alex fixing his volume knob saying that he'd be 'TOUCHING ME WITH HIS LITTLE PENISES'.

What a way to break a man's heart.

Another reason and the most important is that they're all crazed Pre-War scientists that would, at the drop of a hat, unleash a torrent of cruel and unusual experiments on the denizens of the waste. Unfortunately, he was subject to one of these experiments in the form of the cloud. He saw the various experiments used here aswell during his short stay, also he didn't appreciate the fact that they cut him up for his brain leading to an awkward conversation with... his own brain, but that's a story for another time

So while the Think Tank are geniuses, they're mad geniuses in the worst possible way, he already had a few contingencies in place in the event that they ever got ambitious again and tried to find another way out. Well not like actual plans he was just gonna grab an emp grenade and lob it at them, but it made him feel special in his own basement operator way calling it a contingency.

"AHH, HELLO I TRUST THAT YOU'RE READY TO GET STARTED," said Klein

"Yeah let me just put my face on," said Alex

Alex's 'face' is his modified elite riot armor, as he de-materialized the armor it showered him in a bright white light, he used parts of the stealth armor Mk II and Chinese stealth suit to give him better stealth capabilities such as invisibility, he kept the AI from the stealth suit giving her a few upgrades and dubbing her Panacea, usually, Alex calls her Pan, a lame nickname but Alex wasn't a naming genius. Panacea could now hack into computers a lot faster than he could, he did it by plugging her in through a cable that can extend on the back of his helmet. On top of that, she provided tactical assistance and kept him company when he went out on his lonesome.

His Riot helmet also had new features, such as the ability to tune into radio signals and intercepting them, helped a ton when dealing with overly ambitious raiders or Talon mercs, especially when he can hear everything they're saying. He also added thermal vision but besides that, it was still the normal ole' riot helmet.

The body armor itself was pretty much the same as well, with the exception of the integrated Chinese stealth suit and the ammo pouches he added to the chest plate. Alex at first had the idea of using Saturnite for his chest plate since it worked great as body armor and could be used as a weapon, but the fact that it held onto heat for an unusual amount of time was a deal-breaker for him, he'd rather not be cooked alive.

Onto his rifle, Alex used a modified All American, the modifications are an extended barrel with a foregrip, suppressor, and a AN/PEG slapped on top. Alex wanted to be prepared in case wherever he teleported to, he had to get into a scrap.

There was still a shit ton of gear he had on his Pip-Boy but he'd go over it later. Alex, on top of his alcoholism, he had a hoarding problem, not as bad as his drinking though he'll throw stuff of out like scrap metal or whatever, then again it was almost always so that he can carry another shiny new gun and not be weighed down.

"Did you miss me?" asked Panacea

Chuckling Alex said "Always do"

"IF YOU WOULD PLEASE STOP IN YOUR ATTEMPTS TO FRATERNIZE WITH ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE WE CAN GET ON WITH THE EXPERIMENT," said Klein

"Alright, alright so how does this thing work," asked Alex

"IT USES ADVANCED LASER POINTER TECHNOLOGY TO… POINT AT AREAS YOU WISH TO TRAVEL TOO, AND OTHER SCIENCY THINGS," said Klein

Alex sighed, and would have rubbed his temples if he could, Klein never really understood the technologies he was working on or rather his colleagues were working on, but that was pretty much how it worked, at least to his knowledge. He'd ask one of the Think Tank later for exact details

"So where am I headed," asked Alex

"TO THE EAST COAST, SPECIFICALLY WASHINGTON D.C. 20 KILOMETERS FROM THE PENTAGON," said Klein

"Alright well here goes nothing," said Alex

He'd probably stop and say hello to Arthur while he was there if he hadn't already left for his campaign in Boston, something about a synth epidemic.

Activating the transportalponder Mk II Alex witnessed the usual white light burst into his eyes and then suddenly a pitch darkness, it was trippy as fuck, almost like dying well it essentially WAS dying but he didn't like to think about that. With another flash of light, Alex was back in the material world.

And falling

"Wha- oh fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-"

AN: First fanfic, mostly inspired by other stories such as The Bringer of War, A New World, A New Threat, and even the movie The Irishman. I've been doing this late at night or early in the morning depending on how you view it. Any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, I'm by no means a writer so any advice to help become a better writer and produce better content is, as I've said, greatly appreciated.