Six left without telling me. My heart sunk into my stomach and my stomach rose to my throat. How could he leave me? Wasn't I his lovely Lacey, the companion he needed help from? My nails carved crescents into my palms as I balled my fists.
"There's more," Veronica told me. And more she indeed told.
Now, I didn't at first understand why she spilled out her heart and soul to me. But as she cried and explained that Six had some sort of hold over a girl she was in love with, I assumed it was because she wanted me to understand one thing: Six is bad news. I felt truly sorry for Veronica. He could get her to do anything for him simply with the threat of hurting a girl she loved.
"Why don't you go save her," I asked her. Six apparently wouldn't give up the location of her beloved. Of course he wouldn't, he was playing this smart. Blood seeped down my hands, a drop or two falling from my middle knuckles. That conniving bastard had me finally willing to let him in, and this has set any hope of that miles out of reach.
"Where'd he go," I asked Veronica. She said he went back to Vegas and had tasked her to bring me to the Brotherhood.
I was stuck, now. I wanted to find Six and force him to take me to the Brotherhood of Steel. He was taking the easy way out of his part of the bargain; I'd help him, he'd help me. This was cheating. Yet at the same time, I wanted to find them as quickly as possible. Maybe going back to Six was a bad idea. Maybe it'd be best to leave with a bad image of him so that I'd never want to see him again. However, with this girl caught in a blackmail trap wiping her tear-swollen eyes sitting in front of me, I knew that the Brotherhood could wait.
My fists unclenched as I calmed down. The blood was drying and the stretching of the skin that pulled as I flexed my hands stung the carved cuts.
I looked at my hands as I spoke, "Veronica, why are you telling me this?"
"Because," she responded, "I saw how you followed him without question when you showed up here. I thought that maybe you saw the wrong side of him."
"From the moment I first met him I knew he was a bad person. I've seen him lie, cheat, steal, and manipulate. I know he's a bad person right now. But maybe," I pulled the folded poster from my bag and handed it to her, "Maybe he wasn't always this way."
As Veronica read it over, I could see the clicking of gears work in her head, "You think he's broken from his brain injury?"
I nodded, "I have an injury, too, and I feel like I'd be a different person - or maybe I'm already a different person - if it weren't for my messed up brain. I've spent a good deal of time with him, and I truly feel like he has compassion and kindness and the capability to be a really good person."
She laughed. Veronica actually started laughing. It began as a snort and blossomed into an oxygen deprived cackle as she keeled over on the ground.
"Veronica!" I whined.
"I'm sorry! But," she laughed through her words, "Six is not a good person. He's manipulated you just like everyone else. He doesn't actually care about you, ya know."
Her words hurt. They worked themselves right into the truth I had already known but had locked away in hope of Six being fixed. The pain was the key to unlocking those realizations, and I didn't like it.
"Besides," she started as I bit my nails, "How do you know he'd even be willing to do that? You know he wants to rule New Vegas, right?"
I was aghast, "What?" I breathed.
"I was his companion for a while, Lacey. When he hunted down Benny he got sidetracked in side problems. We never made it to Freeside because he wanted a reputation or something. That's when he found my girlfriend - during one of his adventures. It was far away and he was gone a long time. When he got back, he had riches and blackmail and an even cockier smile than before. It's the only reason he knows where the bunkers are."
Veronica told him where the Brotherhood bunkers were hidden?
"Why'd you tell him that? Didn't you question why he'd want that information in the first place?" I practically yelled at her.
She flinched back a bit, "I didn't want him to kill her. Haven't you ever been in love, Lacey?"
I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, "Does he support the Brotherhood?"
She shook her head, "No, why are you so worked up over that?"
My eyes were wide and my mouth hung open. How could she not see it? "You just told me he wants to rule New Vegas. If the Brotherhood had any chance of getting in the way, he'd-"
She gasped, her eyes seeing ghosts, "He's gonna kill my whole family."
The sun said noon by the time Veronica and I reached the bunkers. A sand storm was dying down as we reached the gates. Smoke came up from several vents we passed in this valley of Brotherhood bunkers, and I could see how nervous Veronica was.
As she approached a bunker, I could see terror in her eyes. She yanked at the door but it wouldn't budge. Veronica started screaming, "It's me! It's Veronica, open up!" Still nothing. Tears fell from her broken eyes.
"Why won't it open?" She said as she fell to her knees. I gulped and observed the door. It was bent outwards towards us, as if impact from an explosion had forced its strong metals away. Six must have done this just hours before we got here. Why would he send us here only to find his aftermath? It made no sense.
"Veronica, we need to go," I told her, pulling her up from behind. She wailed out into the bright sky as I hoisted her to her feet. She knew the truth, she knew what Six did. He blew them up, making sure that at least one faction of the Mojave area wouldn't get in his way. More anger surged like electricity in my veins. This was too far. They were part of my family, too, in a way. Now, I've lost contact with my home. My initial mission was to reach them, or at least that's what I believed. And what of my squad? What if they had indeed reached here after whatever incident took place around Goodsprings? Tears threatened to fall from my face, too, but I wouldn't let them.
Veronica clung to me as I lead her away. We headed north. Veronica and I stuck to the main roads and didn't say a word. She knew where we were going, and I was happy that she followed me the whole way. Veronica sold the food she gathered for her family so we could afford to make it to the strip. There was no emotion on her face, but I sensed the blackness beneath that pretty shell.
Music blared, lights flashed, caps jingled, drunks stumbled, and hookers danced. Veronica and I were covered in Mojave dust and sweat and blood - completely out of place. It felt good to be seen in my armor rather than a silly red dress. I scratched my chin and brushed my necklace as we looked around.
"Holy shit..." Mumbled Veronica. Six waltzed out of the Lucky 38 in his iconic duster.
I looked curiously at Veronica, "It's just that, well, nobody ever gets into the Lucky 38," she told me. Of course it'd be Six who made it inside. Whose heart did he twist around to reach that? My eyes focused on a tall man with blonde hair and thick glasses. Already Six had a new person to use?
"Let's go," Veronica's voice brought my eyes from his new partner's face to hers. Before I could say anything she was walking towards the two. This was reckless, waking in there without a plan. But perhaps reckless was what Six couldn't handle. His face went as white as his friends lab coat when he saw us approach him.
"Ladies, what are you doing here?" He asked.
"You're..." Veronica's voice faded. I rubbed her back and she looked down.
"How could you do that," I spat at him. He smiled nervously.
"Look, I'm sorry for leaving without a goodbye kiss, Lacey, but I ha-"
I laughed loudly in the middle of him talking, "Hah! Imbecile, not you leaving. How could you destroy her family. Family!"
He scrunched his eyebrows and stepped closer to me, "You accusing me of something?"
I tested him and got right in his face, "Oh we know it was you."
Veronica tugged me back, "You're a monster. I planned on killing you right here in the streets!" She swung her metal-covered fist at him and it would have landed right in his nose if his friend hadn't hadn't pulled Six aside.
"Listen, you'll have to explain whatever you think I did to me another time. I was about to come back to grab Lacey," he looked at me and smiled.
"That makes no sense, Six. You left and blew up the Brotherhood and thought somehow you'd catch up with us?" Now I knew he was lying. He'd planned to see us here, he planned for us to try and take revenge on him here. Maybe that way when we died, he could say it was out of self defense and people would love him even more.
"Wait, you blew up the Brotherhood?" His friend asked.
"Lacey, listen to me. I'm going to that brain surgeon right now. You wanted me to go, right?" He stepped towards me and took both of my hands into his.
My eyes searched his for anything kind. His dark, emotionless, driven stare bored into my begging face. I wanted so badly for Six to be a decent human being. The shocks his hands shot into mine every time they touched and the kind words and acts he can take upon me when he's not in it for personal gain sent images of us into my brain. My heart yearned for Six. It yearned for the kindness Six I knew he held within. Yet I only saw darkness in those black orbs.
"Are you really?" I said quietly. He smiled and nodded, keeping one of my hands in his as he led us away from the filthy Strip and to Aerotech Office Park. All the while Veronica whispered that I was being lied to and played, but I could barely hear her as I pictured his black eyes becoming bright and happy with his memories returned.
But as we reached the entrance to Aerotech, Veronica screamed and Six threw me down. Men came out of nowhere and I barely fought back against their hands. My mind was numb. He'd done it, he'd used me and was sending me to my death. All this time, his flirting and company had been to get me close to him. Six felt nothing and would forever feel nothing. The men tied my hands and ankles together, Veronica cried and screamed and begged to be let go, "Christine," she screamed, "Christine save me!"
These men wore red and upon realizing that, I just knew that Six had been the devil before losing his memory. These were his demons doing his dirty work. My swollen eyes met his companions.
"You're so dead," I told him, and he looked extremely uncomfortable. I started to laugh. I laughed at how stupid I was, at how smart Veronica was, and at how evil Six was. He'd been digging my grave with every step of the way and I willingly laid as he covered me with dirt.
Whoever I created Lacey to be was certainly dumb. Was my past self this incompetent? Did I truly not see that this whole time spent with Six was just before a war between us - our antebellum? As I was dragged I saw people who heard the commotion trying to help.
"Legion!" They screamed, scurrying for weapons and courage. No shots were fired. Whoever the legion was truly sent fear into these people. Veronica's silly cries still begged for people to shoot. "Shoot anything," she yelled, "Shoot them, shoot me, just shoot!"
As Veronica and I were thrown into the back of a wagon, I caught Six's eyes. He smiled and turned, his companion following him. My vision went black as something blunt hit the back of my head, and all I dreamt of were ways to kill Six.