Fallout New Vegas: The Legion
Ch 2: The Legionary
I watch as the sun rises over the wasteland sands. It's rays turning the canyon rock from a deep red to a bright orange. I inspect my body and keep note of a few new cuts and bruises. My arms, chest, and back show almost a lifetime of wear and tear. Unconcerned by it I run my fingers through my short, slightly graying, black hair and breathe deeply. I begin my daily mantra of exercises and meditations, designed to bring harmony to both my spirit and body. I can still remember the quotes my father would tell me, "Harmony is the universe aligning as one. Good and evil, black and white, spirit and body. All these things cannot live without the other. To be a true warrior, you must bring balance to everywhere you go and in everything you do or you will die in spirit and body!."
It wasn't till I killed my first man that I truly understood the words my father spoke. And now with only three days left before my 30th anniversary of becoming a legionary and swearing loyalty under Caesar, the centurion I work with tells me that's the very same day we begin the operation.
September 9, 2245, I can still picture it clearly as if it was yesterday. I was about thirteen at this time. My father and I were in the Arizona wastelands, making our way west because we had heard about the New California Republic. He believed that was the best chance for survival for the two of us. Whether you believe in fate or simply bad luck doesn't matter, because we had none of it. Every settlement, every village, every outpost we lived at or tried to live at would be destroyed, raided, burnt to the ground, or simply vanished without a trace. Because of this seemingly, endless bad luck we were forced to become scavengers and nomads. Traveling from place to place, never having a home, no form of attachment except for each other. I was still too young to understand why this was happening to us. He would always say, " The reason for our misfortune is because the universe seeks to balance the sins that I have gained in my 250 years of life my son. By raising you and teaching you everything I know, maybe it will go a bit faster." He would always laugh after that, right on queue.
Now you may wonder why my father would be 250 years old and yet his "son" is only thirteen is because I was adopted and raised by a ghoul. His name was Wu Zhang.
Wu Zhang was a part of the PLA's special operations unit detachment that was sent to America as a sleeper cell unit. He remembered moving to the U.S during the Resource Wars that would eventually lead to the final Great War that destroyed the world. His job was to help fuel the fear and paranoia already gripping the U.S populace. He told me his jobs ranged from assassinations, bombings, kidnappings, torture, and theft of classified documents.
I asked him, " Dad why did you do such terrible things?"
he replied," Because at the time I was not a balanced man. I was living in utter darkness. I felt that by doing these terrible acts, I would bring honor and victory for my country! Little did I know that all I brought upon myself was pain and sadness." He told me the day the bombs dropped he realized how much of a fool he had been, that he wasted such precious time that could have been spent with his wife and son.
He told me the bombs had dropped right in the middle of a mission in Washington D.C where him and his team were fleeing the area after they had stolen documents from a military outpost about power armor development being researched there. I asked him, "What happened when the bombs dropped?" he chuckled, "We drove back to the military outpost as fast as possible!"
In the aftermath of the bombs, my father found himself to be the last standing member of his team. He took only what was with him into the newly formed wastelands of America. His Hei Gui stealth suit, his special energized jian straight sword given to him by his commander, a Norinco Type 93 assault rifle, and his Shanxi Type 17 pistol. He still had those very same weapons with him even after 250 years.
He told me, " When the day comes of my passing of this mortal coil, I give everything I have to you my son." I marveled at the beauty of his sword, the way the hilt reflected its ancient lineage and the blade represented the technological marvels of the modern era all in one beautiful, and deadly package.
It was September 8, I remember, we were somewhere near Flagstaff. We had just left a small mining town that we resupplied at and were checking out some old factories for anything valuable. After dealing with a few radroaches here and there, we didn't have much luck finding anything good. The last building however was different. As we started making our way deeper in the factory, the air progressively became damp and musty, the ground became moist and the light started fading away. Eventually, we reached the main assembly area but it became too dark to see so my father grabbed a flashlight and almost ran straight into a rotting brahmin corpse. I almost burst out laughing before my father silenced me, he beckoned me to get behind him. Looking around we noticed more corpses, a lot more.
Naturally scared, I grabbed onto his arm he whispered, "We need to leave now. I know what creature this den houses." Immediately as he said that we heard a loud thud to the left of the exit. And BOOM! A deathclaw emerges behind the ancient machinery. My father, remaining strangely calm, grabs his rifle with one hand and has his flashlight in the other. I however, was about to scream in sheer terror. My father rushes towards me and covers my mouth. Using hand signals he points towards the monstrous creature.
I notice why he didn't shoot the creature on sight. The deathclaw had no eyes! Slowly the creature approaches our position, sniffing the air and flicking its' serpentine tongue trying to pick up our scent. Thanks to all the rotting corpses however, our scent was masked. we slowly started navigating around the beast. To our dismay, the more we got away from the corpses the more the monster could smell us. Its head began tracking our direction and started getting more aggressive. Then all of a sudden, the creature rushes towards our position and stops right in front of me! I don't move a muscle, I could feel the deathclaws' musty breath on my face but I stay a statue. It began sniff towards my backpack. Now I know why it picked up my scent, it was because I bought salted brahmin jerky that morning! As I imagined the most horrible death possible, in a flash my father pulled his Jingwei's shocksword and decapitates the creature like it's heavily muscled neck was butter!
After we had finished collecting the horns, claws, and teeth from the decapitated deathclaw we make our way out of the factory and back in the wilderness. The skies began to darken as night fell and we made camp in an old cave. We built a campfire and began to cook dinner. The fire's glare reflects in my father's eyes. I could tell he wanted to tell me something but despite all of his talents, the one thing he was never good at was starting conversations.
"What is it dad? What's the matter?" I questioned him. He looked at me and paused for moment, like he was gathering his thoughts before he asked me, "Do you truly consider me as your father? I'm sure you were old enough when I found you that you remember your real family. Why did you start calling me dad?"
He honestly seemed confused, I immediately replied, "Yes, I do remember my parents. I remember my mother's bright, loving smile and my father's big bushy beard!" I chuckle as the thought of his beard always tickling my face when he would hug me. "I remember my older sister too, how even though she was a teenager she always made time to play with me. I remember them all clearly. But that was a long time ago, and now it's just us and that's what matters." I tell him and I meant every word.
My words brought a smile to his face and he took a deep breath as if to tell me more. "When I discovered your farm, it looked like a warzone. bodies of raiders, dogs, and brahmin were everywhere. I first found your father, in an old, beat up suit of T-45d power armor and a busted minigun. It was then I found your mother in combat armor lying next to him. I looked inside and I found your sister… well, what was her, shielding you from whatever had gotten inside. Then I found you, only 6 years old covered in blood, crying and clutching to her begging her to wake up." he paused, as if the memories had caused him physical pain to recall them.
"You first screamed when you first were aware of my presence, probably thought I was another raider. I had my face covered so you weren't spooked by my looks. You ran into a closet and locked the door behind you. I spent hours there trying to coax you out. At one point I had actually fallen asleep, holding a teddy bear and fancy lad snack cakes. You slowly went towards me and grabbed them both. I slowly opened my eyes and began to move quietly so not to disturb you and I wrapped a blanket around you."
I smiled towards him and handed him some cooked gecko while he continued, "You were startled at first but then immediate clutched on to me and wouldn't let go. Not that I couldn't blame you. I took you away from that place after gather any remaining supplies that were left." He finished and began eating. I stopped eating for a moment to process the story, "No matter what I consider you my father. I have no one else in entire world. That's why I want to be by your side till the very end." I told him and we continued eating.
What I didn't know was fate would be calling a lot sooner than we had hoped…..