Authors Note: Hi there! first of all i want to apologize for taking so long updating but for some reason this chapter was really hard to write. As i reached the half point i realized this chapter was gonna be really long so i decided to split it into two chapters. Also i want to thank everybody for the favs and the follows and a special shot out to LiliXLover for reviewing last chapter. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and as usual Fallout belongs to Bethesda i own nothing.
Hail Caesar Part1
Pablo the Courier was dreaming. He knew it the moment he looked down and saw that he was wearing small children red boots, a vault suit, and his old baseball cap. What followed next were a series of images he did not recognize: a Giant steel door closing and several people in vault suits crying. With a flash they were gone, replaced by a memory of himself as a child crying. Then a grown up extending her hand towards him, the silhouette of a tall blonde woman wearing a green bandana appeared before him. Pablo took the woman's hand and felt a faint sting of happiness. However he was soon engulfed in a white light; followed by a voice calling out to him.
Wake up
Pablo blinked and saw only darkness. After a few seconds of silence his vision adjusted and now he was able to see the fan above him silently giving him the much needed cold air he needed to sleep. He sat up upright and ran the back of his right hand through his forehead. He looked around his room in the Lucky 38: everything was quiet which meant everyone had gone to sleep. He looked at his pip-boy and saw that it was 3:00 AM and he felt his eyes getting heavy once again.
With a groan Pablo went back to sleep.
Pablo found himself dreaming once again except this time was different: he was standing in the Mojave outpost's barracks, except it was deserted. He looked around for any sign of Lacey but there was no one at the bar. Realizing this Pablo grinned and walked over to help himself to some free drinks.
He sat in one of the bar stool and reached for a vodka bottle and proceeded to pour himself a shot. Suddenly the main door opened and the Courier was barely able to distinguish the figures of two female NCR soldiers before they rushed him with great speed, each soldier grabbing one of his arms and started giggling like schoolgirls.
"Wow! You're the Courier everybody is talking about!" "That's awesome! Right Becky?" asked one of the girls.
"Yeah! We've heard so much about you! Did you really wipe out the Powder Gangers in the NCRCF with just a knife?" asked Becky.
Pablo the Courier was unsure what to do so he decided to just go along with it.
"Actually it was a modified varmint rifle and lots of explosives" answered the Courier but before he could explain he was interrupted a loud squeal.
"Oh My God that's amazing! How can we ever repay you?" said one of the girls as both started playing with his vault suit.
"You know. All I ever wanted was a thank you" said Pablo with a distant look in his eyes. He had never got a thank you out of anybody he helped, only caps and supplies and sometimes ammo. The more he thought about the more he felt like he needed a drink.
He looked at the shot of vodka and reached out to get it he grabbed it and realized that he was alone once again. Confused Pablo looked around for any sign of the girls but was met with nothing so he picked up the shot glass and proceeded to take the shot when a loud voice made him jump, spitting the vodka.
"There you are" said a calm female voice.
The Courier looked at a figure walking towards him; the first thing he noticed was the cowboy repeater, then he noticed the NCR Ranger uniform causing him to almost fall off his stool, only after she stepped into the light he was able to see her pale skin and her white hair.
"Ranger Ghost?" asked Pablo confused as hell.
"Yes. I 've been meaning to thank you for going into Nipton and letting us know what happened" "The NCR could use useful soldiers like you, maybe then we could kick Caesar back into the hell he came from" said Ranger Ghost as she got closer to the Courier.
So close in fact that he blushed madly as she whispered in his ear.
"consider this your payment" said Ranger Ghost as she proceeded to unbuckle his belt causing the Courier to tense up his body frozen but at the same time eager to see what she was going to do next.
The belt on his vault suit fell to the floor. He watched as ranger Ghost wet her lips and proceeded to reach for his zipper in his pants when.
BOOM!
The Courier watched as the image of Ranger Ghost exploded in a cloud of smoke and he was left weaponless scared and a little bit aroused. He cleared the smoke with his right hand tried to find the source of the shot.
The source wasn't hard to find as Pablo looked at the image of a slim female wearing a cowboy hat wielding a shotgun. The figure walked towards him.
"C…Cass?" asked Pablo nervously as the cowgirl got closer, he noticed that she didn't look very amused.
"Cass what are you doing here? Listen I swear I don't even know those women … I mean woman! Yeah! It was just one" said the Courier as he tried to do damage control.
Cass only proceeded to push Pablo off his stool, which he did with a loud yelp. He hit the ground and felt pain on his back but was very glad that he did not land on the back of his head. He groaned as he tried to rub his back but was stopped by Cass's boot, that was now pinning him to the ground. Pablo the Courier was very surprised by the redhead's actions, even more when she decided to straddle him.
"Listen Cass I can explain" said Pablo but was interrupted by Cass who seemed to have found a comfortable position on top of him and was now getting closer. So close he could smell the whiskey in her breath and the freckles in her pale neck. Pablo knew what was coming next as he watched the redhead leaning closer and he closed his eyes preparing himself for a kiss that could not come any faster.
Instead he felt warm saliva as Cass licked the right side of his face with her tongue, snapping Pablo into reality.
"What the hell!?" asked Pablo more to himself than to Cass, he looked at her for answers when she responded with a loud bark.
"Woof!"
Pablo snapped his eyes open only to find Rex the cyberdog licking his face.
"Ah! Rex, stop!" Screamed the Courier as he sat up and shuddered vowing to make sure that Rex would stay with Veronica from now on.
"Go bother Veronica Rex, I need to take a bath" said The Courier as he rolled to the edge of the bed and started looking for his clothes. Rex Barked once again and then he took off leaving the door open.
Pablo the Courier found his camouflage pants and proceeded to put them on when out of the corner of his eyes he saw Veronica enter his room and closing the door behind her. Pablo reached for a water bottle that he had next to his bed and took a sip then looked at Veronica who was waiting for him.
"What is it Vero?" asked the Courier while eyeing the young Brotherhood scribe who looked like she had not slept at all.
"I'm hungry! When are you going to cook breakfast?" asked Veronica while she placed both hands on her hips and proceeded to glare at him. Pablo the Courier looked at Veronica confused.
"What are you talking about Vero? It's too early. Let me take a bath and then I'll cook breakfast" said the Courier as he yawned and mumbled something to himself but Veronica continued to glare at him.
"It's 10:00 AM! You've been sleeping for twelve hours! That gorgeous redhead you brought with you has been pacing around like a crazy person for hours!" upon hearing Veronica mentioning Cass. Pablo the Courier jumped under his bed and began to scramble looking for his clothes.
With super speed he reached for his socks and picked them up all while panicking.
"Oh shit! She's probably furious, I bet she's gonna punch me and demand I take her to see that caravan ambush!" The Courier began to dress himself with haste then turned towards Veronica:
"Have you seen my shirt Vero?" asked Pablo as he looked around his room and found his old duster and he proceeded to put it on while he waited on a reply from Veronica but none came. The Brotherhood scribe kept glaring at him finally he gave up the idea of finding his t-shirt. Instead he approached his closet and opened it up revealing a small arsenal of armors and different suits but the Courier already had his mind made up.
He pulled out a pre-war dark blue vest that said Police on it and he placed it on his bed and began to open it by moving the zipper. Next Pablo the Courier pulled out the ceramic Kevlar plates and inspected them: they seemed to be in excellent condition. He guessed that the owner had little or time to use it before the bombs, but that didn't matter now. All that mattered was that his visit to the Nevada Highway Patrol Station had given the Courier a valuable edge on future battles.
He returned to his closed and retrieved a clean white t-shirt and headed out the door ignoring Veronica. The first thing he saw as he exited Room was Cass; the cowgirl was sitting in a chair across the room, her hat covering her face making her expression unreadable, next to her was her shotgun.
Pablo the Courier felt inadequate as he watched the cowgirl, memories from his dream came back flooding to him with embarrassment and desire. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and he quickly towards that direction only to reveal Boone.
"Boone? Is there something wrong?" asked the Courier surprised by the sudden appearance of the most anti-social member of his crew.
"There was a woman yesterday. I don't know who she is, but she seems to know a lot about guns" Pablo's interest picked and he grinned at Boone. But all he got was a glare from the scout/sniper.
"Wipe that stupid grin of your face Courier! And no! It wasn't that kind of meeting!" shouted an oddly worked up Boone. A few seconds later he looked around and seemed to have calmed down after taking a couple of deep breaths, then he spoke:
"She was looking for you actually" said Boone.
"Me? What could this woman want from me? Did she at least give you her name?" asked the Courier but Boone just shook his head.
"No. All I know is that she's some kind of genius when it comes to weapons and she said she had a gift for you and me if you came to visit her and her friends".
"Friends? What kind of friends? Boone the more I hear about this, the more it sounds like a trap" said The Courier.
"I don't think so. The woman really knows what she's doing, I don't know about her friends though" "now that I think about it she also sounded foreign, my best bet is that her friends are foreign too and she said that they were staying in Vault 21" said Boone.
Pablo the Courier led the information sink in as he watched Veronica join the group. The more he thought about it the less dangerous it sounded, even though they were complete strangers they were staying at Vault 21 and Sarah wouldn't let an armed group inside, so perhaps it would be safe to go there.
Finally reaching a consensus he looked at his companions and nodded.
"Alright guys we'll check it out, go get ready, because we're going in full force. Rex will stay to guard the place while all of us go there in case something goes wrong and Cass…" said the Courier as he looked at the cowgirl who was also watching him closely.
"We'll go find that caravan as soon as we deal with these tourists and we get something to eat alright? don't think for a second I have forgotten my promise" said the Courier with a small smile then he looked at the rest of his companions I'm taking a bath I expect everybody to be ready when I finish" and with that Pablo the Courier prepared himself for one of the longest days of his life.
Rose of Sharon Cassidy was surprised at herself. Normally she would have already insulted or punched somebody in the face but oddly enough she found herself in a good mood.
Maybe it was the fact that she slept for 10 hours straight which was a record, since it had been years since she got such a good night sleep and also it had been a long time since she felt safe. But now she felt strange, as she followed the group, she couldn't help to remember, back when her mother used to tell her stories about her father. John Cassidy and the people he traveled with: one was a supermutant named Marcus; unfortunately she had forgotten the names of the other companions. However she never forgot about the legend of the Chosen One.
Cass looked distant as her thoughts drifted from the stories told to her during her childhood and she wondered if this is what her father felt like when he traveled with the Chosen One?
Cass carefully smiled to herself making sure no one was watching her and followed the group as they neared a small white door. Cass was the last one to enter the hotel and was surprised to see that what looked to be a small building was actually a massive office. Cass blinked for a couple of seconds, her blue soulful eyes trying to get used to the dark but welcoming environment.
Cass watched from the rear as the group relaxed: Pablo was the helm while Boone and Veronica were at the flanks. ED-E was floating around while Lily was hidden behind them. Cass reached for her whiskey flask and looked around admiring the neatly organized office.
Cass took a sip of her whiskey and grunted in satisfaction and decided she earned the right to treat herself to another shot when out of peripheral vision she spotted a blonde haired figure approaching them.
She did not care for good manners so she took another sip of her whiskey but was taken back by how the blonde girl greeted their leader. The girl wrapped her arms around him with a loud squeal making Cass spit out her drink into Lily and Boone who turned around and gave her an icy glare.
Fortunately for her The Courier seemed to have not noticed her outburst and was busy talking to the girl. Which made her feel relived but a small part of her felt annoyed that the girl was taking so much of his attention and she found herself breaking ranks and getting closer to hear their conversation.
She walked towards them and expected to be acknowledged but both seemed way too focused to see the redhead.
"So Sarah, Let me get this straight Sarah; this woman and her friends have been staying here for a week? I was here two days ago how come I didn't see them?" asked the Courier.
"Well. You see they're a big group so they were either exploring the strip and or they were too busy arguing with each other in their rooms that you didn't see them" explained the blonde girl who apparently was named Sarah.
Cass looked at Pablo who seemed to take in the information very slowly, enough for her to frown and start suspecting he was perhaps looking at Sarah's breasts. But then Courier just scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders.
"I… I guess well, I supposed I should go meet them" said the Courier while looking down the stairs that led to the entrance of Vault 21.
"Yeah! Moira and the gang are so nice! You'll love them! Anyways, don't forget to bring me some suits next time you visit Bye!" said the over-enthusiastic blonde. Making Cass cringe but she had other things to worry about since they were headed to meet a group of people they knew nothing about.
Pablo the Courier led his group through vault 21 hoping he was able to remember the way, when he heard the sound of music coming from somewhere close. Pablo motioned his group forward towards the central atrium where a large of group of people having a party: most seemed like regular wastelanders wearing their most expensive outfits for a night in the strip. No one seemed to stand out, but then he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye.
He turned towards a figure of a woman wearing a black suit who was bending over a jukebox. Pablo Boone and Veronica seemed to have lost themselves in the hindquarters of the woman who seemed to be fixing it since the moment she stopped. The sound of Radio New Vegas filled the room.
The group managed to get a good look at the woman now that she finished, and she turned around: she was a skinny mildly attractive redhead around her late twenties; her hair tied up in a ponytail and wore what looked to be a very expensive black suit.
Pablo the Courier heard Boone whisper in his ear: "that's her".
Just as if the woman had heard those words she looked directly at them and with a loud squeal she charged at the group who seemed taken back.
"Wow! Holy Three Dog! You actually came! Bricks said I was crazy! But then again, that's what they all say" said the woman as she was now in front of them looking them over, then her blue eyes turned to Boone. She reached inside her pocket and pulled out what looked like gun part, she threw it at Boone who managed to catch it effortlessly, which earned him a suspicious glare from Cass and Veronica.
Next she turned her attention towards Pablo.
"So, are you guys part of a club or something?" asked the woman, which made the Courier look at her funny.
"W-wait what?" asked the Courier in confusion. The woman just smiled and pointed at his bandana.
"Your bandana, the wandered has one just like that one. Except his is red, this must mean that you both must be members of the super people club!" yelled the woman raising her fist up in the air in a dramatic pose.
Pablo the Courier looked confused and asked: "What club? What are you talking about lady?" the woman raised both eyebrows and laughed.
"Gee! I forgot to introduce myself! How silly of me! My name is Moira, Moira Brown please to meet you!" said the woman as she extended her had for a greeting. Pablo didn't find anything suspicious so she shook Moira's hand.
"Pleased to meet you Moira my name is Pablo, but everybody here calls me Courier" said the Courier as he watched Moira smile.
"Yeah that's the same with the wanderer. Nobody remembers his name. But I do! it's-" the sound of heavy footsteps interrupted Moira, as the group watched a tall and buff woman with a military haircut wearing olive green military pants and a white tank top approach Moira with eyes that could melt metal.
"Goddamnit Moira! I told you not to talk to strangers in this town! They won't let me use my weapons in this town! And the last thing I need is having to save your pasty ass with this fucking pea shooter!" said the woman as she pulled out a sub machinegun.
"Whoa! Easy! Bricks calm down! Let's not repeat the incident you caused last time you mistook someone for a threat" said Moira as she tried to calm the angry soldier down.
"He's the Courier Bricks! The man we were looking for, remember?" said Moira as she tried to get Bricks to lower her gun. Fortunately the news seemed to give Bricks pause.
"You're the Courier? Fuck me! Now I know I've been duped! You look the same age as the wanderer and you don't look that much but then again that's what I thought ,when I first met the wanderer" "tell me kid, have your balls dropped yet?" asked Bricks with a mischievous grin.
"What the fuck is the wanderer? Is it some kind of bar or what?" asked the Courier confused.
"Shit! You never heard of him? Which rock have you people been hiding under?"" anyway he's a very important figure back home" said Bricks.
Veronica who had been very quiet during the whole conversation finally spoke: "Where is this home? Where are you guys from anyway?"
Both woman looked at each other for a second and then answered in unison.
"We're from DC" said both women in unison with a small sense of pride and a smile in their faces. However that smile faded away when they saw that the Courier's group remained silent looking confused. This made the east coasters frown and sigh.
"We're from the Capital Wasteland!" both yelled and that seemed to bring the Courier's group back to life as they all said "Oh" with a dumbfounded look. Bricks looked like she was about to punch one of them until Moira being the self-proclaimed leader/mechanic/cheerleader of the expedition took charge.
"Anyways he-he now that we are all happy wasteland friends, I want to give you something for coming all this way" Pablo the Courier looked at his companions confused then turned towards Moira.
"Can I see your vault suit?" asked Moira. Pablo the Courier raised an eyebrow at the woman wondering if she was joking but after a few seconds he realized she was serious. He reached inside his backpack and gave her his vault 21 vault suit. Moira looked at vault suit for a moment her eyes filled with joy, suddenly she turned towards Pablo.
"I meant your original vault suit, where is it?" Pablo opened his eyes as big as saucers and felt cold sweat start to invade his forehead.
"Are you crazy lady, he only has one vault suit! I've traveled with Pablo the longest, I would know!" said Veronica defending Pablo. Her eyes were unleashing a menacing glare at both women.
Moira seemed unfazed or perhaps completely oblivious as she said "I know a vaultie when I see one" Veronica felt a tight know in her stomach and felt like punching the tourists when she felt Pablo extend his hand blocking Veronica's path.
"She's right Vero, it's ok" said the Courier as he locked eyes with the women. Boone and the rest looked at Pablo full of confusion as he spoke:
"I'm sorry but I don't have my original vault suit anymore. I traded it for weapons years ago" said the Courier.
"I told you he was a vaultie" beamed Moira as she talked to Veronica "Oh well I suppose I can work with this suit" said Moira as she pulled out a giant pair of scissors and some metal rods from her pocket and began to work her magic.
How did you know I once lived in a vault?" asked the Courier as he watched the woman putting together what looked to be some kind of holster.
"Simple, the pale skin underneath your pip-boy. It's the mark of all vaulties " said Moira "the wanderer has one too, except his is paler. Your tanned skin tells me you have been roaming the wasteland a lot longer than him."
Veronica stood in silence; she could not believe what she had just heard. All this time she had traveled with Pablo, he had never told her he once lived in a vault. This made her uncomfortable. It made her angry to know that he was hiding things from her, of course that made no sense since she herself was hiding things from him, such as the reason why she was traveling with him and the fact that she was ready to head back home to the bunker.
Fortunately for the group Cass decided to break the silence.
"Alright… so I take this whole vault guy thing was a sort of a secret?" well personally I couldn't give a flying fuck where you are from, I just want to get this over with so…" said Cass as she took off her hat and began to scratch her head.
"Yes! I completely forgot, you should go see the rest of the group. They are eager to meet you and they have jobs for you, once you finish those jobs I'll be more than happy to pay you for your troubles" said Moira as she pointed them towards the direction of a lone man sitting a in a very dark corner. The man wore a brown duster, his long messy brown hair somehow worked to his advantage allowing him to hide in the shadows. What bothered Pablo was the man's pale skin tone. He looked as if he had not seen sunlight in years. Pablo mentally prepared himself to approach the man but was surprised to see that Veronica had beaten him to it.
The man opened his eyes and stood up and greeted the group with a theatrical bow, as the group looked on he gently took Veronica's hand and kissed it making the Brotherhood scribe blush madly.
"Greetings humans, it is a pleasure to make acquaintance with all of you, my name is Vance and May I ask; which one of you is the Courier?" Pablo the Courier looked at Veronica who seemed almost enthralled by the man's voice so he stepped forward.
"My name is Pablo but they call me Courier" said Pablo as he locked eyes with Vance. Vance gave him a small smile and retreated back into the shadows. Pablo almost jumped in surprise as he saw the man's eyes glow in an ember like color in the darkness. Vance sat comfortably in a couch and motioned Pablo to sit next to him but before he had time to say no Veronica jumped in the couch and smiled at Vance.
"Hi I'm Veronica! You want to get some milkshakes? Or whatever is it you straight people get when they go on dates?" asked Veronica doing her best puppy eyes, which made Vance chuckle.
"Veronica my dear I would love to go out in a date with you but unfortunately I happen to be a married man and must gracefully decline your" Vance was about to continue but was interrupted by Veronica who stood up.
"This is such bullshit! Here I am, talking to the only guy I've ever felt attracted to and he is married… Fuck! I was better off being a lesbian!" said Veronica as she glared at everyone.
"When did you stop being a lesbian? You were all worked up when you met Sarah…." Said the Courier confused but stopped talking when he met Veronica's furious glare.
"Shut up Pablo! The point is … shit I forgot! Anyways I'm going to the ladies room to take care of lady business then… I'm gonna punch someone" said Veronica as she stormed off leaving an embarrassed Courier looking at Vance wondering what to say.
"Sorry Vance my companions can be a handful sometimes" said the Courier trying to ease the situation. The older man regarded Pablo for a moment then spoke.
"Don't worry about it. Through the years I have become accustomed to people reacting to me and my flock in negative ways, I am pleased to see that you are a human who does not jump to conclusions and attacks me on sight." Pablo the Courier looked at Vance and asked.
"What do you mean by your flock? Are you part of some cult?" asked Pablo regarding Vance suspiciously.
"No my friend it is not a cult, I am merely a shepherd that has chosen to take care of the weak and the downtrodden, children that have exiled by their parents and peers just because they have been born different" said Vance as his speech continued.
"I would like to continue enlightening you human but you seem to be in a hurry, so I will get to the "point" as you humans like to say" "I paid a hefty amount of caps to join this expedition, with the hopes of finding other gifted individuals like me" said Vance looking at Pablo with a flash of pride in his eyes.
"Over the years I have managed to obtain and nurture the gift of finding people like me, however this land is very different from DC. Here the tyrannical sun reigns supreme, and makes it impossible for me to try to reach out and retrieve this child from this uncaring world." "Unless I try to do it by night, where the lack of knowledge of the terrain and not to mention these "fiends" that seem to surround the outskirts of the city" "as you see friend; I have a very large predicament and I'm hoping you will seek this child and bring it to me, so I may give it a home" said Vance as he looked at Pablo in the eyes waiting for an answer.
Pablo the Courier did not know what to say. He took a deep breath and spoke.
"You want me to go look for a child?" asked Pablo while he looked at Boone for any kind of guidance, but unfortunately as expected the NCR sniper just shrugged his shoulders.
"Yes friend but I understand the laws of the wasteland, I once met a young man like you; he came looking for a member of my flock a child named Ian West. He managed to convince me to let the child go and then helped me with other tasks. For his services I bestowed upon him a gift, a gift that has saved his life countless times. If you would help me I would gladly bestow my gift to you as a reward".
"What kind of gift is it?" asked the Courier.
"It is a gift that mankind has dreamt about for centuries, but most important it is a gift that will keep you alive should you run out of Stimpacks and healing items" said Vance as he proceeded to look at the wall.
"Are you interested?" asked Vance.
"Can you be more specific? I want to know what kind of gift you are talking about."
"I'm afraid not, my hope is that you will take on this mission with the sole goal to rescue this child and not focus on the reward, selfless acts are as rare as gold nowadays" said Vance.
Pablo the Courier looked at Boone then turn to Vance and quietly nodded, Vance grinned in satisfaction.
"Excellent! Now let me ask you; do you have a radio?" asked Vance. The Courier nodded.
"Good. May I have your frequency? The child seems to be somewhere around Camp Searchlight. Let me know when you are ready to go and I will meditate and give you the child's exact location over the radio" said Vance then he asked.
"Any questions friend?" Pablo the Courier shook his head and said "no" Vance nodded then extended his hand.
"Very well friend I shall not take any more of your time, good luck" said Vance as he departed towards his room. The companions watched the strange man leave, Pablo thought it now it would be a good time to make a joke but then he saw a skinny brown haired man walking towards them.
The man seemed to be in his early 30's but what caught his attention was his clothing, he was wearing a scientists outfit.
"Hello there. I see that you have already met Vance, even though he is a little esoteric for my tastes, he is a good sort you know" said the man as he greeted the group.
"Greetings my name is Alexander Dargon and I am the chief scientist in charge of the project purity project and I must say it's a privilege to finally meet you Courier" said Alex as he extended his hand towards the Courier who looked at it for a couple of seconds and reluctantly shook it.
"It is nice to meet you Mister Dargon but could you explain, what is Project Purity? I have never heard of anything with that name…" said Pablo as he looked at the man in the eye looking for any hints of deception.
"That's unfortunate. However sad I may be for the lack of information, I suppose trying to get any kind of knowledge across the country must be next to impossible, thanks to Caesar and his legions" "at least all except Moira and her Wasteland Survival Guide, it's quite a hit in the Commonwealth or so my mentor tells me. Ha-Ha who would have thought a bunch of pencil necks and geeks would have need for survival guides right! Ha-Ha" said Alex laughing looking at the Courier and his group to join him on the joke but was silence.
For Alex Dargon those seconds seemed to have turned into hours, as he began to scratch the back of his neck longing for someone to break the silence to save him from his terrible joke. Fortunately the only female on the group; a redheaded cowgirl who seemed to be drunk began coughing saving him from the awkward moment Alex drew breath and began to try to save his speech.
"Well since you guys seem to lack the same sense of humor as my students I'll get to point: The Capital Wasteland although slowly recovering thanks to the efforts of its people, lacks the flora and fauna that your land seems to have plenty, so I would be willing to compensate you. If you gather some plants, they needed. Pablo the Courier looked the pictures one by one and then looked at Alex.
"I assume you are going to pay us for our trouble?"
"Yes we brought with us an entire barrel of Aqua Pura with us that I can offer as payment and since this is a desert I'm sure it must be extremely hard to find clean pure water… said Alex but was interrupted by Pablo.
"Actually it's not that hard, New Vegas gets its water from Lake Mead" said Pablo with a small sense of pride but as he saw Alex's smile fade into a frown he took pity on the scientist.
"But I'm sure I could always use extra water" said the Courier and sighed.
"Yes that's wonderful news! And I'm sure if you need more in the future Moira will gladly pay you for your troubles, oh and speaking of the devil" said Alex as he motioned towards Moira Brown who was walking towards the group carrying Pablo's vault suit with a smile on her face.
"Hey guys! I'm glad to see that you met everybody and guess what? I finished your gift" said Moira as she unfolded the modified vault suit she was carrying.
Pablo the Courier looked in wonder to see that his vault 21 suit now had several modifications: a leather leg holster combined with a kneepad connected to a leather belt with several pockets. But what caught his eye was, a steel shoulder pad connected to a leather bullet belt that ran across his chest.
Pablo the Courier was speechless which made Moira smile from ear to ear.
"You like it huh? Yep I remember when I first modified a vault suit for the first vaultie I met years ago, geez I wonder; whatever happened to her? Oh well who knows, but my best work was when I first met the wanderer. He still has my suit… wherever he is now" said Moira with a sad smile on her face.
"But yours is different see for yourself" said Moira as she opened the zipper and revealed the interior which had a mesh attached to it.
"See I never had time to add this to the wanderer's but yours now has a very strong protective mesh inside the suit and you can use it to put some more armor inside making you almost bulletproof" said Moira with pride.
Pablo's mind quickly raced as he smiled thinking about the Kevlar ceramic plates he was wearing and extended his hand at Moira with a Smile.
"Thank you Moira this suit is going to come extremely handy."
"No thank you" said Moira as she shook the Courier's hand "don't forget I have some more goodies for you if you fulfill the missions my group asks of you but here; I got this food sanitizer that may come in handy for your meals so they can be more delicious."
Pablo the Courier nodded and gladly took the small tool and nodded at Moira when out of the corner of his eye he saw Veronica leaving the restroom with a relieved look on her face, he looked at Moira and spoke:
"Well it seems we got a lot of work to do, so we'll see you some other time Moira" as the group stared to leave they were stopped by a loud voice.
"Hey! What the hell is going on here?! Why didn't anybody tell me the Courier guy showed up!" Pablo the Courier watched as all of the members of the expedition including Bricks; groan then lower their heads and sigh in unison. The Courier felt uneasy, he felt the need to leave before finding out just who that voice belonged to.
Unfortunately he was too late as he saw a young girl around her early twenties wearing a modified, badly died in all black mercenaries outfit. What caught his eye however was the girl's entire outfit was died black, her long red hair being the only thing not died as she also deemed to be wearing makeup and black eyeliner.
Pablo looked at his group as the girl drew near: Boone as usual was expressionless, Cass seemed to look at her Whiskey bottle in rage about something, and Veronica the ever friendly scribe was glaring at this girl. Pablo turned towards the girl and as she got closer couldn't help to admit she was mildly attractive if she wasn't dressing up like she was going to a funeral.
"Hi I'm Bittercup" said the girl.
Confused and doing his best not laugh at the girl for having such a weird name Pablo gave her a weak smile.
"Nice to meet you Bittercup my name is Pablo but they call me Courier" but before he could say anything else Bittercup let out a happy squeal.
"Finally! Someone who doesn't judge me like all these bozos, they think they all know everything about you, like just because I'm different doesn't mean I'm a freak. It's like Hello! This world sucks" said Bittercup as she glared at Moira and Bricks.
"You're not a freak you're just a freeloader" said Bricks glaring back at Bittercup.
"Whatever loser I'm no freeloader, I have no idea what your damage is but don't talk to me like that ever again ok?" said Bittercup as she watched Alex Dargon bite his nails and look at her.
"I'm sorry to tell you this but you are a freeloader Bittercup. You see each of us paid the powers that be a hefty amount of caps, 250 caps to be exact, in order to be part of this expedition. You in the other hand just showed up and talked your way into the expedition" said Alex but the fury in Bittercup's eyes forced him to shut up.
"Shut up! Nerdo! I don't have to take that from you! I'm the Lone Wanderer's girlfriend!" Pablo the Courier was taken back by this statement but then looked with curiosity as most of the members of the expedition groaned and face palmed themselves.
Moira looked at the younger girl with an almost sad smile on her face and said "Bittercup we've been through this a million times everybody knows that he's with…"
"Lies! Everybody knows that's a bunch of Brahmin shit that Three Dog just cooks up for all of those gossiping assholes that listen to his station" said Bittercup.
Knowing all hell was about to break loose. Pablo cleared his throat which made everybody especially Bittercup look at him confused.
"Look, although I would love to stay to see this catfight. I have a very busy day ahead of me so what is it that you need me to do?" asked the Courier cutting to the chase.
Bittercup looked at him with a bewildered look her face but then her eyes narrowed as she spoke "fine just find me lots of white chalk and black dresses. Moira will pay you for it" said Bittercup as she looked Moira who looked like she was about to protest but she instead sighed in defeat.
"Oh well It was nice to meet all of you and now I must go. I will return as soon as I finish one of your missions" said the Courier as his group left they could hear Bittercup getting into another argument with someone and they were grateful that they were leaving.
After a brief stop for lunch at the tops Pablo and company departed towards the Horowitz farmstead. From there they walked the road until they came to an old beat up billboard that had the silver rush logo on it next they were greeted by a foul stench that could only meant they were close to the site of the Griffin Wares Caravan.
Rose of Sharon Cassidy had fire in her eyes as she approached the site but oddly enough Veronica beat her to it as she dashed to pick something up that laid next to a Brahmin's corpse.
"Hey monkey girl! Hand of the merchandise, I need to see all the evidence in this place after you can take your pick if Pablo says it's ok" said Cass as she started looking through the remains of the caravan.
Veronica with childlike glee ran towards the Courier with the plasma rifle in her arms.
"Look Pablo a plasma riffle! We only have two of these at the bunker can I please keep it Pablo? Please?" Aasked Veronica.
"I thought you didn't like to use guns" Vero said the Courier.
"I don't. Guns are for novices. But the Brotherhood could definitely use new guns, we send a scouting party twice a week and once in a blue moon we find any decent weapons that we can use. Especially Enclave stuff, this like Brotherhood scavenging picking folklore."
"You mean you only find energy weapons once in a blue moon. Because those are the only weapons your code bids you to take Vero" said Pablo.
"Yeah kind of, I guess. The Brotherhood believes that they are saving the world by hoarding as much technology as possible, but they get boners whenever they come across any energy weapons. Normal guns just don't give them that kick they crave so much" Veronica grinned.
"You know boys and their guns, so… can I keep it? Come on it's not like you ever use energy weapons please?" asked Veronica unleashing her dreaded puppy eyes. Veronica knew that Pablo would be helpless against its effects. After a few seconds he sighed in defeat and Veronica lifted the rifle and did a victory dance.
Rose of Sharon Cassidy was feeling impatient so she yelled "Monkey Girl! Stop bothering Pablo! He and I have business here. You can talk about your energy weapons later" said Cass turning her back on a very annoyed Veronica who decided to take out her anger on a radscorpion she spotted not too far away.
Pablo the Courier walked towards Cass who seemed too occupied to notice him. He looked back at Veronica and resisted the urge to yell at her that she should not stray too far from the group but he kept quiet and went over to Cass.
Rose of Sharon Cassidy seemed completely immersed in the task of finding clues. So much that she barely noticed Pablo kneeling next to her as she picked up some dirt with her gloved hand, then she slightly opened her hand and watched as the dirt slipped from her fingers.
Without making eye contact she spoke: "besides the plasma rifle your sister picked up, this place has been picked clean. This … is Brotherhood level murder" Cass turned to Veronica and continued "are you sure she isn't involved?" asked Cass.
Pablo the Courier blatantly refused: "no way! The Brotherhood doesn't do stuff like that! Unless… unless of course you have some kind of futuristic weaponry the Brotherhood will leave you alone" said Pablo with all the conviction he could muster, even though he knew very little about the Brotherhood.
"Yeah… I guess… they don't do things like that. This… this was done with a purpose" said Cass as she stood up and motioned the Courier to follow her while the rest of the group stayed a few feet behind.
"Let's poke around a bit, see what we can find. There might be something in the wreckage" said Cass as she led Pablo towards the wreckage. Pablo the Courier was unable to find anything good until he came across the remains of some poor bastard and his backpack. Inside he found a cup of noodles and a bottle of Vodka inside. Grinning like an idiot Pablo stood up and turned to Cass who was busy trying to retrieve an old piece of paper from a dead Brahmin.
"I think I found our dinner, so did you find any_" Pablo broke off suddenly. His brain was awestruck as he saw Cass bending over trying to pull the paper by force. Her old, worn pair of blue jeans showcased her perfect figure. Another flashback from his dream came at him as she turned towards him holding the old paper triumphantly. Before she could Pablo turned around and looked elsewhere trying to hide the blush in his face.
Cass walked towards him. "Check this out. It looks like a map, got the route west of Vegas and… they marked another spot" said Cass as she pointed at the map "over here. That's fucked up!" "Right in the middle of fucking nowhere."
"Want to check it out?" asked the Courier.
"Yeah something is wrong, I can feel it. It's no closer than the first so if you prefer let it be, let me know" said Cass.
"No it's fine Cass. Although after this you're gonna treat me to a nice steak dinner at the tops" said The Courier with a mischievous smile. Cass just scoffed.
"Do you have any idea how much that is gonna cost me?"
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure I can talk to them into giving you a discount" said the Courier and he tapped Cass in the shoulder and pointed to the road with his head.
"Come on Cowgirl let's go solve this mystery" said Pablo as he walked towards the rest of the group while Cass just rolled her eyes.
Veronica had decided to distance herself from the rest of the group and was now looking through the sights of the plasma riffle she had procured from Pablo. She tried to remember the lessons paladin Ramos had taught her regarding plasma rifles back when she was just a teenager.
Veronica huffed in frustration as she found herself too angry to concentrate , she was still angry with Pablo for not telling her that he had once lived in a vault, and the fact that he had been acting weird all day. Before she could try to understand why she was mad in the first place she spotted something moving behind the rocks.
She spotted something orange moving at a slow speed. Veronica grinned and she once again looked through the sights but this time with a purpose. She watched the orange thing's movements and waited until it came close to a spot where the rocks wouldn't block the view.
Veronica gripped her rifle and took a couple of deep breaths in order to stabilize herself. Before the orange thing came into full view Veronica took the shot. To her horror she saw how the plasma beam burned part of the left orange wing of the biggest Cazador she had ever seen.
Panic seized her as she spotted five more coming her way. Veronica aimed her rifle and fired wildly into the pack and as luck would have it she managed to hit one and the Cazador turned into a pile of green puddle. This only seemed to have pissed the Cazadores even more and they flew at Veronica with fury in their blood colored eyes.
Veronica kept pulling the trigger frantically until a click told her that she was out of ammo, until a laser shot joined in and she turned around to see Ed-E firing at the Cazadores while the rest of the group was readying for battle.
"Veronica Run!" screamed the Courier as he kneeled over a small ridge Ratslayer in hand and started shooting, Cass went around the group shotgun in hand trying to flank the pack while Boone started firing his hunting rifle.
Veronica did as was told and began to run towards the safety of the group but she knew that the cazadores were getting closer and that she may not get there in time, for the first time in a long time she was afraid. Then she saw Lily jump over head wielding the biggest super sledgehammer she had ever seen and smashing it into a Cazador then she lifted it up and turned it counterclockwise and killed another one using it as some sort of baseball bat.
Pablo the Courier kept shooting frantically in to the giant Cazador, but his 5.56 bullets seemed to have little to no effect on it. He started panicking as he watched the Cazador getting closer to Veronica but a shot rang out hitting the wings of the Cazador making it stager making Pablo look at the shooter.
"The wings shoot at its wings! Yelled Boone as he started reloading his rifle, without any hesitation he looked through his scope and started shooting once again.
Veronica was running for what felt like hours and she was exhausted. Veronica felt like she wasn't going to get back to the group in time so she reached inside her robe to find the laser pistol she always kept with herself in case she needed to shoot something she couldn't punch.
She pulled out her pistol and turned around towards the direction she thought the Cazador was in and fired. Unfortunately she didn't count with the speed of the Cazador and soon felt the creature's sting hit her in the left shoulder. Veronica let out a pained scream which made her drop her pistol.
Veronica felt an agonizing pain on her shoulder and looked at the Cazador who was about to pull out and try to sting her again. Veronica channeled all her energy supplied by the adrenaline in her body and punched the Cazador with her powerfist with all her strength, pushing it back while she fell to the ground feeling all the pain in her shoulder.
Veronica's vision blurred as she watched the Cazador stagger but then it saw Veronica once again and she felt like she was done for when she heard a loud gunshot and felt a strong wind pass by her. Whatever came from that sonic boom made the Cazador explode in a million pieces splattering blood everywhere.
"Veronica!" Screamed Pablo as he dashed towards the scribe and kneeling to her side unsure what to do. The rest of the group except Boone made it a few seconds after. Pablo had never had to treat poisonous wounds so he started panicking unsure what to do.
"Fuck! What do we do?! I don't know what to do!" said Pablo who suddenly felt the sting of a slap to his face and it Cass who had delivered it.
"Calm down right now we can't allow ourselves to freak out, what we need right now is some anti-venom to counter its effects" Pablo nodded and his mind as he reached for his backpack and with desperation pulled out an empty stimpack with a flask of anti-venom.
Cass gently injected the anti-venom into Veronica's left shoulder and then she followed by a stimpack into her arm then she followed by ripping a piece from Veronica's gray robe and tied it to her shoulder as a makeshift tourniquet and the group looked at Veronica.
"How are you feeling Veronica?" asked Pablo.
Veronica looked at him as if she was dazed and confused and just answered "I'm so cold…" which made Pablo even more frantic.
"She needs medical attention" said Cass. "We could take her to the Vegas clinic but it's too far I don't know if she can handle such a big trip" Pablo began to pace back and forth trying to come up with a plan when finally he remembered.
"The Followers! We need to take her to the old Mormon fort! I helped those fucks so many times they better come through for me this time!" grunted Pablo then looked at Cass who locked eyes with him.
"Alright cowboy, the Followers it is then" "come on we don't have much time" Pablo turned to Lily who was covered in Cazador blood.
"Lily can you pick up Veronica? We need to get her to the Mormon fort in Freeside" asked Pablo.
"Of course sweetheart, Grandma will take little Becky to the nice doctors" said lily as she picked up Veronica.
"Sorry Cass but it looks like we're gonna have to take a little detour" Cass looked at Pablo and said "it's alright I can wait, monkey girl is more important" said Cass.
"Alright let's go Boone! Wait…" said Pablo as he looked around "where is Boone?"
Craig Boone was exanimating some very big footsteps a few feet away from the group. He tried to trace the footsteps but they disappeared, frustrated he picked up the only piece of evidence he had which was a rather large bullet case. His suspicions were proved correct as he looked at the rim. 50 Cal Auto it was all it said and that was enough for Boone.
He headed back to the group but only saw Pablo who was glaring at him.
"Where the hell you been?" "We need to go now!" said Pablo as he started to leave but was stopped by Boone.
"We're not alone" said Boone.
"What are you talking about? We don't have time Boone" said the Courier.
"There is someone watching us somewhere, it was him who killed that Cazador not us" looked at Boone frustrated.
"Look we'll worry about it later ok? Right now we need to get Veronica to the Followers so they can treat her, right now I don't care who is following us let's go!"
Boone the expressionless sniper rose both his eyebrows and was about to start arguing but relented.
"Fine let's go but if anything happens to us it's your ass who I'm gonna blame Courier" said Boone as he proceeded to follow Pablo as they hurried towards the old Mormon fort.
At a distance not too far away a man proceeded to de-activate his stealthboy and rose to his feet. His power armor made a noise telling him that he needed to start repairs soon. As he stood up he lifted his sniper rifle over his shoulder and started to follow them in the shadows.
The girl would be the key to fulfilling his mission.