Chapter 25: Scratch My Back
Raven walked into the Presidential Suite of the Lucky 38 hotel with Boone tailing it behind her. With a giggle, she ran straight toward the bedroom and jumped onto the bed and began to bounce on it.
"Isn't this great, Boone? No more sleeping outside on the ground!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah," was the only response she got.
Raven sighed and fell onto her back on the bed and shut her eyes. "Not very excited, are you? This is the mother fuckin' Presidential Suite, man!"
"It's nice, but explain to me how you got this again?"
Raven sat up and looked at Boone, who was now sitting on the edge of the bed with his back to her. "The head honcho, Mr. House, asked me to do a job for him. I agreed and now this is one of the benefits of being in his service."
"I don't like it," said Boone. "It seems suspicious to me."
"Of course it's suspicious!" she replied. "But for once in my life, I'd like to enjoy having something spectacular." Raven got off the bed. "I'm going to do some exploring in here." Raven disappeared out of the bedroom.
Boone sat there for a few moments before he heard a scream. He jumped up and ran out of the bedroom. He heard his name being called hysterically and he ran in the direction of her voice. He ended up going to the bathroom. He looked at her in panic. "What's wrong? What happened?"
Raven beamed at him and jumped up and down. "They have...a BATHTUB! WITH A SHOWER HEAD!"
Boone growled at her. "Don't ever do that again! You scared the shit out of me!"
Raven laughed and hugged him. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm just a little too excited."
"A little? You call screaming at the top of your lungs over a bathtub 'a little'?"
Raven rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine. I'll explore while you're not here, ok? I don't know about you, in the mean time, but I'm going to go see the rest of New Vegas. Care to come with?"
"No, that's ok. I've got some people to see anyway."
She shrugged and made her way to the elevator. She got in and asked Victor to send her down to the casino floor. The doors shut just as she waved goodbye to Boone. After a minute or so, the doors reopened to the casino floor. Raven grinned and paced out of the elevator toward the front door of the casino. Once she got outside, a man dressed in NCR armor walked up to her. Before she could even say anything, he handed her a note and walked away. Raven shook her head and opened the letter. As she began reading it, her eyes narrowed. Apparently some NCR ambassador wanted to speak with her. Curiosity was a dangerous thing with her, and she wanted to know what this was about. So, she made her way down the steps of the Lucky 38 and marched straight down the street.
As she walked, her eyes drifted toward the neon lights of the city. The clash of light against the night sky was...brilliant. Beautiful. Raven had never seen anything like it. As she passed by the Tops casino, her heart raced. She knew the guy who shot her, Benny, was in there somewhere. But now was not the time to get him...yet. She had more business to attend to. After a few more minutes of walking, Raven finally found her way to the NCR Embassy. She entered the building and looked inside. All she found were a few doors, a desk with a woman behind it, and a few cabinets. Raven coughed and walked up to the desk.
The woman behind it looked up at Raven and smiled. "Welcome to the NCR Embassy. How can I help you?"
"Yeah, uh...I'm looking for the Ambassador."
"Ambassador Crocker can be found in his office through the door to my right at the end of the hall."
"Ok, thank you." Raven said before walking toward the right door.
Going through a hallway with red carpeting, Raven made her way to one of the rooms in the hallway. She poked her head in and saw a middle aged balding man behind a desk. Raven knocked a few times on the door and the man leaned to the side to see her.
"Yes, can I help you?" He said.
"Yeah. I got a note from Ambassador Crocker telling me to come in?"
"Oh yes. That's me. Please, come sit."
Raven did as she was told and plopped her bottom onto the chair on the opposite side of the Ambassador. "So, I guess you know who I am then?"
Ambassador Crocker nodded his head. "Yes. I had something important to discuss with you."
"People always want to "discuss important things" with me," thought Raven. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in the chair. "I'm listening."
"I'm sure you've noticed that things are a little tense around here with all the issues between the NCR, the Legion, and Mr. House. It doesn't take a genius to see that something big is going to happen soon. To be honest with you, the NCR is in a tight spot. But...if we fail now, it's the people here that are going to suffer the most. I'm not willing to let that happen, and I don't think you're the kind of person that would either."
When the Ambassador paused, Raven nodded to him. "You have my attention. Please, go on."
Crocker coughed. "To the northeast is a settlement. The locals here call them 'Boomers'. They are sitting on a munitions stockpile that would be invaluable to us. I'd like you to get in contact with them, and then do whatever it takes to convince them to help us. Unfortunately, the Boomers keep to themselves and are, let's say, hostile to all outsiders. That is why I need someone like you. Someone with your background and reputation would have a better chance of reaching them than anyone I have available. In exchange for your help, you would receive complete amnesty for any past crimes against the NCR, as well as additional benefits and perks. Do you think you would be able to do this for me?"
Raven raised an eyebrow. "Is there something about me that says, 'I eat danger for breakfast'?" After a few moments, she sighed. "I'll find them and talk to them."
"Much appreciated. Once you've talked to them, let me know what they have to say."
Raven ran to a crumbling ruin of a house and ducked behind a slightly firm piece of concrete. As she did, the whistling and crashing of bombs around her shook her to the core.
"I'm going to kill that man, I swear to God I will." she muttered under her breath.
Raven covered her head and squealed as a bomb came and hit a little too close for comfort. She hated this. The Ambassador had basically sent the girl to her death. Once she got out of this and finished her job, she was going to beat the crap out of him. Another bomb went off near her and Raven squeaked, although she could barely even hear herself do that. After a few moments, the bombs stopped hitting. In that moment, Raven got up and started running toward another set of crumbling houses. And that's when the whistles were heard again.
The King fingered the edge of his glass and stared down at it, lost in deep thought. He had a lot on his mind. He was thinking about his new found feelings for the Wagner woman. He hadn't felt like this in a long time. Not since...he pushed the memory from his mind, but it kept nagging at him.
The King nuzzled his face into the neck the blonde and she giggled. Soft touches and light kisses were made in the bed and their naked bodies pressed against each other. The girl laughed in his ear then whispered sweet nothings into it, and it caused the King to shudder.
The King's thoughts were interrupted by one of his underlings. "King!"
The King sat up straight and almost knocked his glass over. He coughed and turned to the man. "Yeah? What is it?"
"King, the courier...she uh, she was seen going into Boomer territory."
"She what?" The King stood up sharply, this time knocking the glass over. It fell to the ground with a crash.
Raven wiped the blood from her brow as she crawled her way to another crumbled house. That last bomb had hit pretty close and knocked some rubble down around her. Now she had a concussion, more than likely, as well as a few broken bones. Great. The girl huddled herself into a corner and groaned out in pain. A few more bombs hit around her and she growled in irritation.
"Yeah yeah! I hear ya, you fuckers! You don't like outsiders! Fuckin' assholes!" she yelled. She peeked around the corner and saw how close she was to the fence of the base. "Ok Raven, you're almost there. Just get to the fence and they'll hopefully stop trying to kill you."
The bombs ceased and the courier stood shakily. Raven took a few sharp breaths to get her adrenaline going, and she crept around the corner. It was at that moment that someone shot off another bomb and she decided to make a break for it. Fighting through the pain in her leg, she bolted away from the house in the direction of the metal fence. Doing her best not to limp, Raven bit her lip as she ran. The bomb fell and the blast knocked her off her feet. Instead of reaching the fence gracefully like she had planned, Raven was thrown into it. The girl landed on her back and she felt the wind get knocked out of her.
"Son of a BITCH!" she yelled.
Slowly, she picked herself up off the ground. Raven stared down at her legs and noticed bone poking through the leather of her armor. That really hurt. A lot. But instead of whining about it, Raven began to limp toward the fence gate by scaling the fence itself. As she hobbled, she noticed the bombs had stopped. Thank all the Gods in heaven, they stopped shooting at her. More blood spilled down her forehead and down her cheek as she tried to walk. She hurt everywhere, but not enough to stop trying her best to get to the Boomers. Finally, she reached the gate.
"Hold it right there!" said a man in combat armor. He was on the other side of the fence. "Don't you move!"
Raven froze in place and stared wide eyed at the man. "All right. No need to get bossy with me, pal."
The man ignored her words. "How the hell did you survive the bombardment?"
"Simple enough," she said weakly. "Run, hide, run. It's all in the timing." Raven smirked. "Not that my timing was the best, but I'm still alive." she thought to herself.
"But I had you zeroed in the whole time! Nobody's that fast!" the man scoffed. "Move a muscle now and I'll blow you to pieces!"
"I...didn't come here...to...to attack you," Raven said, barely above a whisper. The pain was really starting to get to her now.
"Then just...just stay where you are! Raquel'll be here any second..."
It was soon after that a woman dressed in combat armor showed up. "I'll take this from here," she said. "I'm Raquel, Master-At-Arms for the Nellis homeland. Mother Pearl, our eldest, wishes to speak with you."
Raven leaned against the fence, her breaths shallow. "What's a Master-At-Arms?"
"I oversee the security of the Nellis homeland, from the coordination of its defenses to the training and fitness of its population."
Raven smirked. "So the fact that we're having this conversation means you failed, right?" Raven knew better than to piss off the people with the big guns, but dammit, they gave her one hell of a hard time in getting to the base. Raven felt like busting their egos a little, even if it meant they would make her pay for it later.
Raquel narrowed her eyes. "I wasn't the one firing the howitzers. If you want to see how good I am at killing savages, I can show you. Or you can accept Mother Pearl's invitation. It's your choice."
Raven sighed. "All right. Lead the way."
"Follow close. And mind your behavior." Raven nodded and the gates began to open. She hobbled and limped her way to Raquel, who seemed to notice the broken leg. "But it looks to me like you need medical attention, first."
"Yeah, probably," said Raven. "You guys certainly gave me a run for my money."