Author's Note: Hello everyone. Thanks for the nice reviews everyone :D im sorry this took so long but i had to get it right.
Trooper in the wastes:
Chapter 2
David was standing there in just as much shock as the people in front of him. Who could blame them? A man in a metal cacoon falls from the sky and lands in front of them. A few of them started whispering to each other so David decided what the hell. I may as well try.
"Uh hello, I come in peace" David said making the peace symbol with his left hand holding his SMG in his right.
"You're not an alien are ya'" one the men sitting at a table asked
"No, I was born on earth"
"Earth?" another man asked
"Yeah, wait you don't know what planet this is?" David asked
"Uh I heard about that thing you said just now" a third man asked
"Uh ok then, who here is in charge?" David asked
"We don't actually have a person in charge, stops us from going mad with power" a woman dressed in rags with a hood answered. She had an odd contraption on her hand that David didn't recognise.
"Ok um is there someone I can talk to about what happened here?" David asked
"If anyone should know it be you, after all you're the one who came down in that there cacoon" the first man said pointing towards the pod
"Oh no not that, what happened here. Why is this place a wasteland? I don't think it was covenant coz there are people here alive"
"I think I could help you answer that", the girl with the odd contraption said
"Ok cool. What happened?" David asked
"Hey I said I could help. Not that I could tell you. Anyway first things first, what's your name?"
"Are you sure you can trust them?" Cortana asked after turning off David's helmet speakers.
"Well the girl seems trustworthy, but your right, I'll stay frosty" David replied
"David, my name id David" he said turning on his helmet speakers
"Nice name, I'm Veronica. Pleasure to make your acquaintance" said the hooded girl holding out her hand
Shaking her hand, David said "Ok veronica, how am I supposed to find out what happened here"
"Come with me"
"uh, mind telling me where we're going"
"all in good time, David"
"ok Hold on, I need to grab some things" David said as he turned to his pod. He pulled out the food packs, survival kits and the spare marine helmet and put them in his armoured rucksack.
"Cortana, where are we?" David asked
"close to the remnants of Las Vegas, in the Mojave desert" Cortana replied
"Also could you put a locking system and a NAV beacon on the other pod? And try and establish a connection to the Chief and the other you."
"You sound just like the Chief, Frosty"
"You used my call sign"
"well you are technically in the field"
"good point"
David turned around to Veronica and they headed off towards an off ramp for the highway.
"You're not from around here but I'm going to ask anyway. Do you know the Brotherhood of Steel?" Veronica asked
"Brotherhood of Steel?" David asked
"Well that answers my question. And another thing, there were two of those metal things that you came in. what was in there?"
"I'm not entirely sure"
"Well that seems a little odd"
"Yeah you could say that, there's another one of me. Well kind of me, more like a freak version."
"Freak version?"
"Yeah, he's been altered to make him stronger, faster and all-round better"
"You mean like super mutants"
"Not familiar with them"
"Oh you will be soon enough"
The two walked down the highway towards the south. Along the way Veronica told David about the Brotherhood and Cesar's legion. Then she told him about the NCR, when she mentioned Rangers the trooper all but threw his SMG away in a large flailing motion of his arms.
"What? You seem familiar with the Rangers" Veronica questioned
"I just, I never thought the Army would be in power" David replied with anger to which Veronica was startled.
"I'm sorry, Army? I don't follow"
"Uh it's a military thing"
"Oh military, like during the war?" Veronica replied
"YES! The war, tell me what you know." David nearly screamed
"Not much. I'll tell you when we get to the bunker"
They continued as the sky became dark. Soon they decided to set up camp within a cave they stumbled across. David entered very cautiously with his SMG drawn and training instantly on any form of movement his helmet systems could pick up. Luckily the cave was clear so they set up a fire and began to eat their respective foods. David opted for his military food pack rather than Veronica's iguana on a stick. Soon afterwards the girl fell asleep, leaving David to ponder what to do the next day.
David awoke to a scream and a monstrous roar, instantly bringing him to combat readiness. Raising his SMG he exited the cave at a pace so fast, one could confuse him for a bullet. He turned in the direction of yet another roar to see a beast with its grip on Veronica. The beast had claws the size of his leg and horns protruding from its head. It was hunched with spikes protruding from its back. It was the most menacing thing David had seen since he helped take down a Scarab. But David didn't hesitate at the sight of this beast; he had taken on Hunter pairs on his own before. He instantly opened fire on the beast's head, but the bullets seemed to ricochet off, doing nothing to stop its rampage. He looked for weaknesses but came up short. So he just fired his entire magazine into the monster's chest. Blood started to seep out of wounds in its abdomen, David reloaded and continued his fire upon the creature, which had dropped Veronica and prepared to charge at David. He rolled at just the right moment avoiding the charge and filled its back with lead. However, the creature didn't seem to notice. It turned and charged again, David rolled again priming a grenade. He held the grenade, cooking it until he threw it at the perfect moment straight at the creature's face. The grenade exploded at point blank range, lifting dust and obscuring the creature. Triumphant with his effort, David threw his fists in the air with a victorious roar, the action throwing his SMG away. But he heard the creature stir, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. He turned on his Visual Intelligence System, Reconnaissance (VISR) and halted. His VISR showed a red silhouette of the creature standing, walking slowly towards him in a blind rage. David stood still 'what was this? I've never seen anything take a frag to the face and survive', David thought. He saw his SMG laying behind the creature. David mentally cursed his stupidity and drew his sidearm. Aiming down the sights he fired three shots in quick succession, hitting the creature in the eye, this seemed to only give away his position as the monster charge once more.
"Fuck fuck FUCK FUCK FUCK!" David yelled as he rolled
David turned looking towards the beast, seeing it ready for another charge. It started sprinting at him, this time it was low to the ground and had its enormous arms extended at its sides. There was no rolling out of the way this time. David crouched, readying himself to jump. The creature continued its charge with a roar. Just as David was about to jump he saw movement to his right, in his peripheral. David jumped, timing it to perfection, landing behind the creature. he heard a mechanical pounding followed by a sound similar to water hitting concrete. He turned to see the creature laying down, facing away from him and Veronica standing over it covered in blood.
"Holy shit, what did you do?" David asked astonished
"I used this" Veronica said holding up her hand with the contraption
"I need one of those"
"yeah, they are pretty awesome"
"hell yeah" David said before turning off his helmet speakers. "Cortana, does my suit have any scanning equipment?"
"no, but if you can get a hold of one, you could take it apart and let me use your helmet camera"
"and what? Look at it?" David asked with a hint of sarcasm.
"yes. Then I could make up some improvements and guide you in creating the improved version"
"sounds like a plan. Any luck with contacting the Chief"
"negative, your suit's COM is fine though. And if the impact left the Chief unconscious my other self would have responded. I believe the interference may be caused by the amount of radiation in the area"
"damn"
"ok we need to get moving, one Deathclaw means many" Veronica stated
"that's definitely a good name for them" David said, turning on his helmet speakers.
With that, they continued south, down the highway. Walking along, they encountered many 'creatures of the wastes' as Veronica had called them. They soon found a gate heading through a valley. Veronica soon warned of radscorpions. David pulled out his pistol and told her he was ready. They trekked through the valley, David shooting anything he saw moving. The valley spread out into a clearing of sorts with three bunkers in it.
"ok this is it. Follow me" Veronica commanded to which David complied.
They headed towards a bunker on the left and opened the mechanical door. David was surprised at the lack of room inside the bunker. He wasn't expecting it to be a mansion, but he didn't expect it to be so claustrophobic. Veronica walked up to another door and opened it, it was of the same style as the first. Then she walked to yet another door, this one was arched. She walked to an intercom next to the door and buzzed it three times.
"what's the password", a voice from the intercom asked
"it's me. Let me in" Veronica replied
"Veronica we have a password for a reason"
"just let me in!" Veronica screamed.
"fine, fine. I can see the outsider on the camera. Make sure to keep an eye on that one, he's well-armed and looks trained."
"I think that'll be fine. Just let me in now"
"ok then"
The door's centre turned and the entire door slid into the ground. David instinctively brought his weapon up. But he saw no threat and when he looked to Veronica, he lowered it. Intimidated by the glare she gave him. They walked in to the metal corridors and were greeted by many people wearing some very chucky plate armour. It reminded David of the Spartans, and so he treated the men in plated power armour as Spartans. Only acknowledging them when they greeted him. He was a little unnerved by everyone calling him outsider but he figured he could get used to it. They walked through a large door that resembled the front one with the intercom. Once through, they rounded a corner to see a raised platform with a semicircle of what seemed to be controls of some sort. It almost looked like the same setup the forerunners had on the ark. Of course not as advanced.
"ahh greetings outsider, I trust Veronica treated you well?"