It had been three weeks since Alessa had met Boone, and much to the man's chagrin they remained in Novac for a vast majority of those weeks while Alessa helped out around the rest of the town. With the help of ED-E, she tracked down an invisible Nightkin who'd been slaughtering Dusty McBride's Brahmin, and thus was rewarded with pound upon pound of Brahmin steak. Currently, she kept two of those steaks with them to cook on their journey, the rest sitting in her fridge back in Novac. She'd also gotten Ranger Andy back on his feet, and checked on Ranger Station Charlie at his request.

Boone could still remember the young woman's naive curiosity as they entered the empty Station. Where she was curious, Boone was cautious. Something did not feel right to him. No Ranger Station he had ever visited during his tour of duty was ever left abandoned. She began to search the old mobile homes that served as makeshift barracks for any sign of living. She found some bottles of alcohol (Pocketing a bottle of Scotch, which caused Boone to chuckle; That was his favorite, too.) and some scrap parts, but nothing else. Above the mobile homes, on the rooftops where Rangers spied on Legion soldiers crossing the desert, she found some ammo, and even a pair of sunglasses. She took them, commenting that the "damned sun was always in her eyes."

The two stood in front of the Comm Station door for a long time, as Alessa mustered up the courage to enter. Now she was starting to get worried, and for good reason; Boone noticed some Legionaries crossing the hills not too far from the area.

"This stinks of Legion." He muttered.

"I know." Alessa replied. She shakily reached for the doorknob, opening it, but soon wished she hadn't. She was instantly assaulted by the smell of decaying bodies, gagging and holding her mouth. The look of shock on her face told Boone everything, and as he looked inside, his stomach turned just slightly when he saw his suspicions were, indeed, true. Two dead soldiers lay on the floor, and as Boone looked a bit closer, he noticed they looked as though they'd been laid there purposefully, not having fallen there when they died. He turned to Alessa, about to speak when he noticed tears in her eyes. He couldn't help wondering what kind of rock this kid crawled out from under to react this way to death. Anyone else, they would've been picking through the corpses' pockets by now, searching for any food or drink left behind by the bodies that would no longer need their sustenance.

But here was this kid, looking like someone had just raped her mother right in front of her, and she'd seen nothing yet. Hell, she didn't even know these guys. Boone had seen much worse during his time. If this was how she reacted to Legion slaughter, he didn't want to know how much of a backbone she could possibly have when they marched to take the Mojave. He figured her backbone wasn't much to begin with, anyway.

"Get up." He commanded. "We have a job to finish." His voice was stern, as though scolding her for reacting the way she did. She nodded, a choked sob slipping from her throat, wiping her eyes hastily.

"We...We've got to bury them. We can't...Can't leave them like this." She moved inside, and Boone swiftly grabbed her arm.

"No. Legion does this a lot. Notice how the bodies are laid out, like they're hiding something." He pointed out that one body was clearly being pushed up just slightly, indeed hiding something sinister underneath. "Mines. Legion does it all the time. Doesn't want us to bury our kin, so they make sure we get blown up if we try."

"I know how to disarm a mine." Alessa carefully crept over to one of the bodies, moving it as though it were a huge, delicate vase that could shatter any moment. Once the mine was revealed, she quickly set to work disarming it. Boone hated to admit it, but he was impressed. For being so green, the kid clearly had a lot of tech experience. That was a good thing. He hated any technology that wasn't a gun, grenade, or mine. Alessa did the same to the second body, by the bathroom, and placed the mines very carefully into her pack. ED-E floated in after them, sensors searching for threats, finding none. Boone moved over to the Comm Officers' desks, hoping to find some sort of clue, and he did. Two holotapes, one dated, the other unmarked. This roused suspicion in the man, and he turned to Alessa.

"Hey. Found something." He called to the girl as she stared in horror at a massive bloodstain on the wall of the bathroom. Snapping back to reality, she nodded, moving over to him.

"Holotapes." She commented, wondering if they should listen to them now, or bring them to Andy. She handed her sack to Boone. "Put them in. We'll bring them to Andy, see what he thinks we should do afterwards." ED-E's sensors suddenly roused an alert, and Alessa turned her attention to a room with a closed door. She cautiously moved towards it, Plasma Pistol drawn just in case, and opened the door. She looked around, seeing nothing.

"That doesn't make sense," she muttered. "ED-E's sensors..." That was when she looked down, and noticed the tripwire at the door. She frowned, stepping back, and grabbed a trooper's helmet. Boone raised an eyebrow.

"What the hell are you-""Shh. Watch." She stood the helmet up on its edge, and rolled it towards the tripwire. As the helmet triggered the wire, an explosion ensued, causing Alessa to cry out as a coffee mug flew towards her head. The girl narrowly dodged the assault, looking into the room at the destruction. Boone was even more impressed.

"Never seen anybody make a move like that." He murmured. "Clever." Alessa smiled. That was the closest thing to a compliment the man had given her in the past three weeks.

"Thanks." She entered the room, now that it was safe. She suddenly felt her stomach turn, finding two more bodies, slowly decomposing. She was even more shocked to find that one of the bodies had been stripped naked...And the corpse was a female. Boone stepped in after her, his stomach turning again when he saw the nude woman's body. Carla's frightened face suddenly appeared in his mind, and he clenched his fists, trying to fight the vision away. He didn't want to think about what the Legion had done to this woman before killing her. It made him think of what they could have done to Carla.

Alessa sensed his tension, and ushered him out of the room so she could investigate, making up a lame excuse that he needed to make sure ED-E didn't get into anything she wasn't supposed to. The other body looked to be a Ranger, wearing armor and a hat similar to Andy's. She wondered if they'd perhaps been friends. She shook her head, noticing a safe under the beds. She picked the lock easily, finding more alcohol, some caps, and some personal female belongings: A necklace, a photograph of two girls and what must've been their parents. Another photograph of a woman and a man, both NCR soldiers. As Alessa studied the second photo, she noticed that the woman in the photo was not the dead woman lying a few feet away from her, and the man was not the Ranger in the room.

"Oh, God." She murmured.

"What is it?" Boone moved back into the room, once he'd composed himself. Alessa grabbed her bag, digging out the holotapes. She popped the first one into her Pip Boy, a shaky hand still clutching that second photo. The officer speaking on the tape was complaining about how a scouting team came back late. It must've been a regular occurrence, because he didn't seem at all concerned. The tape ended abruptly, when the team had presumably entered the office. Alessa gulped, ripping the tape out, and popping the second in. The second tape was the icing on this gruesome little cake.

"This is a message to the NCR from the Legion. We are coming for you. Run, and we will catch you. Hide, and we will find you. No matter what you do, you are all going to die." Alessa shook even more, listening to the threat, but she finally lost her lunch when she heard the last line.

"We took one of the women alive."

Alessa dropped the photo, getting up and running to the bathroom. Boone could hear her vomiting, but he didn't grimace. Instead, he picked up the photo, looking at it, then looking to the body of the woman on the floor. Boone growled, realizing that the woman in the photo was the one who'd been taken. Boone knew who she was, met her shortly before resigning and moving to Novac. Her name was Sheila, or Sally, definitely something with an "S." It took him a few moments to remember. It was Stella. He knew the man in the photo, too. Ralph, her fiancée. He then realized that Ralph was one of the dead men in the main room. He was shaking now, as well, but in rage, not fear. He stepped out of the room, and Alessa stepped out of the bathroom, wiping her mouth. Strangely enough, ED-E hovered around her, beeping and fussing as though it were concerned for her.

"I'm...I'll be okay." She looked up at Boone, her eyes red and puffy from crying. "We...Can we bury them now? Please?" Boone nodded. They spent the next three hours digging makeshift graves in the center of the Ranger Station, and conducting a short funeral-esque service for them. Afterwards, they returned to Novac, relaying the situation to Ranger Andy when they got there.

"I...I don't know what to say." Andy was at a loss for words. Hearing that his friends at the Station were dead, and that poor young Stella had been captured seemed to knock all of the words out of him.

"I...I'm sorry, Andy. If it helps, we gave them a proper burial." Alessa tried to be reassuring, and it seemed to work. Andy sighed heavily, and nodded.

"Those were good men and women. They deserved that much, at least." He looked up at the girl and Boone. "You two took quite a risk going out there. I might not have known it 'til now, but I nearly endangered your lives. You deserve a little something for your trouble." He moved over to his wardrobe, fishing out a small satchel of caps, handing it to Alessa. "Here. Consider it a gift from the Ranger Vets fund. And before you go, there's somethin' else I can teach ya." He smiled faintly. "I thought a lot about what you said before you left, that just 'cause my body's busted don't mean I can't help people out. Not often that people line up to see what's in my head." He cracked his knuckles, getting into a combat stance. "Boone already knows this move. I taught it to him myself when he was still a rookie. Us Rangers are good with guns, but there are times where we need an extra edge. This Ranger Takedown move ensures that we're still a threat even without our weapons. Boone, why don't you come on over here and demonstrate for us?"

"Your leg..." Boone started.

"I'll be fine. Just come on over here." Andy replied. Boone sighed in exasperation, and moved over to the man. A few hours and a lot of mistakes later, Alessa left with the knowledge of a new combat move. Andy stood at the door, waving the two goodbye.

"You'll get the hang of that takedown in time!" He called. "Can't tell you how many times I landed on my ass before I got it down!" Alessa laughed, waving in return.

"Thanks, Andy! I'll be sure to make you proud!"

* . * . * . * . * . *

"Boone? Hey, Boone?" Alessa's voice brought Boone back to the present, and his head snapped in her direction. It was nighttime now, and they'd set up camp somewhere in the hills between Novac and Primm Pass. A fire crackled, illuminating the pale girl's face as she held a frying pan. "The steaks are done. You wanted yours medium-rare, right?" Boone nodded, and Alessa began plating. He was surprised to see how good a cook she was. She made a simple dish of Brahmin steak, a roasted potato and two ears of maize, seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper she'd nabbed before leaving Novac. Boone dug in, starving, and nodded in approval.

"Mmsghood." He muttered with food in his mouth. Alessa giggled, assuming that meant, "It's good."

"Thanks." She sat down and began to eat as well, her thoughts wandering.

"So, tell me more about yourself." She decided she needed to know more about him if they were going to travel together. "You never did mention what happened to your wife." The look he gave her told her she'd said the wrong thing.

It was a question Boone had dreaded hearing. He was fairly surprised the young courier had the nerve to bring it up at all. She had been just as silent, if not moreso than the ex-NCR sniper since they'd left Novac. Boone had heard of her exploits, of course. She was all over Radio New Vegas. He'd heard everything: How she'd helped not one but two towns fend off gangs of convicts, how she got the NCR troops stationed in Primm to get off their asses and help the town. And she still bore heavily-bandaged wounds from her encounter with a Deathclaw in Primm Pass. It wasn't every day someone went toe-to-toe with a Deathclaw and survived to tell the tale, even if the Deathclaw was blind. But again, most of these events he'd heard over the radio, or in the case of the Deathclaw attack, through the grapevine (Ada Strauss, the good doctor, had a thing for gossip.) She didn't talk about her exploits personally.

But here she was, asking him questions she had no right asking. It pissed him off. He took a swig of Scotch, violently stabbing his fork into his steak.

"You got no right asking me that." He snapped. "Carla's dead. That's all you need to know, so drop it." The dark-haired girl beside him could feel the anger flowing from the sniper's body, and another emotion, too. One she couldn't quite pin down.

"I just want to understand you better. I don't feel like I can fully trust you." She observed his reaction as she spoke. The words spurned confusion in the older male.

"Then why the Hell did you ask me to travel with you?" He asked. Alessa pursed her lips in thought.

"Do you want the honest answer?" She asked. "Or the lie?" Boone shrugged.

"Doesn't matter." He answered, taking a harsh bite out of the ear of maize on his plate.

"I really don't know." She answered. "It's like you said back in Novac. When you're alone, you're ineffective. Mistakes get made." She paused, swallowing hard. "You lose things. Important things. I made a mistake when I went through Goodsprings alone that night. I...I lost everything." Her expression hardened, and Boone could swear he saw tears glittering in her hazel eyes. "I refuse to make that mistake again. I-" Boone didn't want to silence her. He knew it was best to just let a girl talk until they were satisfied. His time with Carla taught him that. But he heard something. Something unsettling.

"Quiet. Listen." Alessa instantly shut up, and listened.

"It sounds like..."

"A woman screaming." Boone finished, his expression hardening. He set his plate on the ground, and moved to the top of the hill to get a better view in the direction of the screams. He grabbed his scoped hunting rifle, aiming it in the direction of what looked like a camp. What he saw through the scope instantly filled him with rage.

"Legion." He growled. Alessa grabbed a pair of binoculars, looking in the direction of the camp. There were at least six Legionaries, two of them holding a girl with long, messy dark brown hair. The girl wore what looked like a Great Khan outfit to Boone.

"Is that a Khan?" Alessa asked, noting that the outfit looked similar to what the men who accompanied Benny wore. Boone nodded.

"I think so. Two Powder Gangers, too, over by the fire." They watched for a moment as a Veteran Decanus gave an order, and the men began to forcibly strip the young woman. Alessa's eyes widened in horror.

"Th-They're not going to..."

"Not if I can help it." Boone growled, aiming for the Decanus' head. He fired, the bullet hitting its mark. The Decanus' body toppled to the ground as his head exploded. The other Legionaries were momentarily stunned before dropping the girl, drawing their weapons, and searching for their assailant. Boone smirked, popping another, and another. It wasn't long until they caught on, and began heading in their direction. Boone laid his rifle down, pulling a combat knife from his boot.

"You good at stealth?" He asked. Alessa nodded, also drawing a combat knife she'd found at Ranger Station Charlie. "Good. Don't let them see you if you can avoid it." The two began to sneak towards the men, using rocks as cover. Once they were close enough, Boone gave a "One, Two, Three" signal, before moving to slit one of the remaining three men's throats, blood spraying from the wound. Alessa followed suit as Boone took down the remaining Legionary. Once they were all dead, ED-E released its usual victory trumpet music. Alessa looked in the direction of the camp, and headed down there, her companions following.

"Are you alright?" Alessa asked, moving to the Powder Gangers while Boone helped the woman. She couldn't have been much older than twenty, with skin a lovely tan color, sun-kissed cheeks, a face like a cherub. Her eyes were dark pools of chocolate, captivating him for a moment as he looked into them. Oh God, he realized. She looked like a younger version of his Carla. Her hair was longer, though, and messier. And Carla wasn't a Khan. Alessa freed the Powder Gangers, and they gave their thanks, swearing they'd live a pious life of religious dedication in return for their prayers being answered. They ran as far from the camp as they could.

"So...So you're my mystery guardian angels." The girl forced a smile as she began to re-dress herself, although she still seemed very nervous. "Nice to know I got a guardian angel with a 50-cal." She joked. Boone shook his head.

"If it was a 50-cal, you'd be covered in blood right now, and that bastard wouldn't have a head." He couldn't take his eyes off the girl. Even her body was the same as Carla's. Long legs, decently sized breasts and hips, a thin waist. She looked a bit more rugged than Carla, probably due to wandering the Wastes for her entire life.

"Those brutes didn't hurt you, did they?" Alessa asked, approaching the two and bringing Boone back to reality.

"Nah...Nah, not too much. Roughed me up a little when they caught me tryin' to steal their healing powder, but you...You guys got 'em before they did anything worse." Her voice had a soft Hispanic accent to it, and Alessa wondered how far south the girl was originally from. "Didn't expect my guardian angels to be NCR soldiers." She commented, noting Boone's beret.

"Ex." He said, frowning. "Ex-NCR."

"I'm not NCR at all." Alessa clarified. "I...I just couldn't allow something like this to happen if I could stop it. But Boone's the one you should be thanking, really. He's the one who spotted you and shot those bastards." The Khan girl smiled at Boone, and it tugged on his heartstrings, although he would never admit it.

"Well, thanks for that. Most NCR would've just kept on walkin' when they saw I was a Khan, and those guys were Powder Gangers. It's nice to see some unbiased people for a change." She looked to Alessa, still smiling charmingly. "You two got names?"

"Of course. My name's Alessa Grant." Alessa held out a hand, and the girl shook it, turning back to Boone.

"Boone. Craig Boone." He shook her hand in return, noting she had a strong grip.

"You guys got nicer names than me. Got drunk off my ass before I got my initiation done, and named myself Cherry Blossom." She shook her head. "Man, don't ever drink Whiskey and do Jet at the same time, leads to some stupid shit." Alessa was surprised by the girl's sudden vulgarity, when she'd seemed so charming just a moment ago.

"Well, if you don't like your name, what do we call you?"

"Sakura." She answered. "Found it in some book about a place called Japan, before the war. Means the same thing, but it's got a nicer ring to it. Not as girly." Sakura flashed a grin. "So, where you two headed?"

"Outpost." Boone answered. "Mojave Outpost." Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Huh. Thought you two weren't NCR."

"We're not." Alessa answered. "But Boone knows Major Knight well, and we both need our equipment repaired. Besides, my robot could use a tune-up. She's in bad shape from a Deathclaw attack a few weeks ago." Sakura's eyes widened, looking up at ED-E, who floated around them, beeping as it analyzed the newcomer. Sakura noticed a deep gash in its metal plating.

"Daaaayum." She murmured. "You took on a Deathclaw? That's some pretty whacked shit."

"I...Thank you?" Alessa wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not. Sakura's chuckle told her it was.

"Well...If I stick to myself, this shit's gonna happen again. I got no weapons, no armor besides my Khan outfit. Bastard Legionaries threw my shit near a Cazador nest, or so they said. Anyway, I go out there like this, I'm good as fucked."

"So...Are you asking to join us?" Alessa asked. Sakura nodded.

"You cool with it?"

"Sure, I'm, uh...I'm cool." Alessa nodded, glancing to Boone, who shrugged.

"Doesn't matter to me."

"Well, great." Alessa smiled. "Um...Our camp's just up the hill from here. We were eating. Would you like some?" Sakura's eyes lit up. She hadn't eaten in days.

"You just won my heart, girlie, and my stomach. Let's get the fuck outta this shithole."