.
October 24th, 2281, 12:32 p.m.
Lucky 38, New Vegas
"Standing at the front, defending the Courier's defenseless soldiers, this lone Ranger-"
"What's all this then?" Veronica grumbled, skulking into the room and rubbing her eyes wearily.
"-defeating Legion soldier after Legion soldier."
Denn silenced the tape, and Veronica found herself watching a birds-eye view of the last skirmish on the Hoover Dam the day before. "Good afternoon!" the Courier said happily, and the former brotherhood scribe could swear that the man was smiling under his rebreather. "It seems you've become something of a celebrity overnight."
"Bullshit…"
"No, really! Looks like Kimball administration is desperate to put a positive spin on the events on the Dam, and have… cut and repurposed the complete footage I broadcasted to create their own propaganda."
"That's nice… but why does that make me a celebrity?"
"Remember that suit of Ranger armor that Walters let you use?"
"Yeah… and?"
"Well…"
"Wait… they think I'm a Ranger?"
"Bingo."
"And I 'defended the Courier's helpless soldiers."
"Oh yes! Guess their nickname for you."
"Oh God…"
"Not even close. 'The Iron Ranger."
"Oh! Well… that's not that bad."
"Thought you might like it. Shame you're dead, though."
"What?"
Denn turned the volume of the video back up.
"And the Iron Ranger lays dead, the Courier's response too late to save the soldier who gave her all to defend his ill-prepared defenses."
"Well shit… I guess that fame didn't last long. Do they not see me get up?"
"Fortunately, the clip I sent pans forward to keep track of the battle."
"Why is that fortunate?"
"They turned you into a martyr, in a way, to make me look incompetent. Most of the time it's a nuisance when a martyr comes back to life, but when they come back and turn out to be working for the person you're trying to discredit? Well… that's just too tempting of a situation for me to pass up."
"So are you gonna' stick me in a cave for three days before popping the door open with the Cameras rolling? I could work on pretending to float in the air – seen a street magician do it in New Vegas before."
"Nothing so dramatic. What we are going to do is do a little propaganda of our own…"
.
.
"Hunter."
"Red Lucy."
The leader of the Thorn stalked into the room, her approach controlled as she closed on the Courier's desk. Denn stood as she approached and reached out his hand in greeting, allowing Red Lucy to ignore the gesture entirely as she set herself down comfortably in the padded guest chair.
"As you may have heard by now," Denn began, returning to his seat, "I am looking to unite the Mojave into a single community for increased safety and…"
"When will you return to fight for the Thorn?" Red Lucy asked suddenly.
The Courier frowned at the interruption, leaning back in his chair. "Unfortunately, my responsibilities in New Vegas are substantial, and it will be quite some time before I am able to-"
"We had an agreement."
"We have an agreement, and I will honor it, but the Mojave is at too pivotal a moment for me to take the time to fight for the Thorn right now."
Red Lucy nodded, and, just as Denn registered the smile spreading across her normally stoic features, erupted into motion, flipping the desk between them towards the Courier. In the instant before the piece of furniture slammed into him, Denn managed to send the chair he was sitting on sliding away, keeping it from tripping him up as he braced himself against the rapidly approaching furnishing. Catching the desk as best he could, any semblance of balance his action had gained him was almost completely lost when Red Lucy slammed into the far side, forcing the Courier to desperately backpedal to keep himself upright.
The two combatants raced across the room, the leader of the Thorn unrelenting in her pressure and Denn unable to regain strong enough footing to press back. As they approached the room's floor-to-ceiling window, a metal cover slammed down on the outside of it. The Courier smashed into the reinforced glass, cracking it and reminding him why having a fully aware AI keeping tabs on him wasn't that bad, Yes Man having probably saved him from sailing through the window into a freefall to the city below.
Bracing against the glass, Denn forced the desk back towards Red Lucy. The leader of the Thorn's eyes bore into his own, radiating a blazing hunger.
"I will know your strength," Red Lucy whispered, locking her arms and stopping the desk cold.
The Courier complied with her request, dropping one arm and grabbing the bottom of the desk to send the furnishing flying to the side. As the object flew away, Red Lucy filled the space it had left, sending her fist up to smash into the Courier's rebreather. The device's strap held, but it was pushed up and to the side, awkwardly covering the right half of Denn's face.
Unable to dance back away from his adversary, the Courier pushed off the glass behind him and leapt at Red Lucy. The woman avoided his attempt to tackle her, but Denn didn't halt his momentum, turning his dive into a roll as he undid the clip of his rebreather, letting it fall free of his body. As he completed his roll, he turned, just in time for the leader of the Thorn slam into him with a leap of her own, though their choices of trajectories were slightly different. Red Lucy elected to jump up and wrap her legs around Denn's neck, twisting to change her momentum at the apex of the motion so that when she released her hold she sent the Courier spinning out of control to hit the ground with a resounding thud.
The attack, however, failed to disorient the Courier as it would have a normal human being, and as Red Lucy landed beside him, Denn spun, kicking his legs out against the woman. Caught unaware by the Courier's sudden recovery, Red Lucy fell to the ground in a heap. Before she could manage a recovery of her own, Denn was on top of her, doing his best to lock up her arms with his own. A sudden head-butt drove the Courier back, and with seemingly impossible flexibility, the leader of the Thorn wrapped her legs around Denn's neck and shoulder. Pulling the Courier's arm towards her, Red Lucy strengthened the headlock and prevented Denn from freeing himself.
The combatants gazes locked – their inhalations and exhalations short and ragged as their bodies strained one against the other. After a moment, the Courier pulled one of his legs forward from its kneeling position and Red Lucy's eyes widened as the man began to lift her from the ground. As they rose, the leader of the Thorn tried to free herself from the grapple, but Denn locked her in place with his own arms and, as he reached his full height, reversed his direction to send the woman crashing to the ground.
Stars erupted through Red Lucy's head as her breath was forced from her body. She tried to regain the lock around the other combatant, but was too dazed to prevent the Courier from gaining control. The instant it took to clear her mind was all he needed, and when the leader of the Thorn's senses returned, she was locked in place.
Red Lucy struggled to free herself, but Denn increased the pressure on her body in response and pain shot through her veins. The leader of the Thorn froze, realizing she was at the Courier's mercy. Electricity raced through her body following the realization, just as intense as the pain from a moment before and her pupils dilated as they stared up at the man above her. She had almost had him.
Denn's eyes widened as the woman beneath him pressed her body into his in a decidedly non-combative way. The Courier quickly realized the unintended intimacy of their embrace.
A few seconds later, Lucy stared up at the ceiling of the room and frowned, the Courier having ejected from their grapple as quickly as he could, leaving the strength of his grasp a phantom against her skin. She could hear his ragged breathing matching her own as his footsteps moved over to his discarded rebreather. Shortly thereafter, he returned to her field of view, and their eyes met as they stared at one another in silence.
Finally Denn reached out his hand, and after a moment of hesitation, Lucy clasped it.
"If at all possible could you please listen to what I have to say without diving for my throat?" the Courier asked as he helped the leader of the Thorn rise to her feet.
Lucy chuckled as she moved to the far side of the room, inspecting the broken glass of the Courier's earlier impact.
"I need soldiers," Denn continued, taking her silence (as well as the lack of further violence) as permission to proceed, "and the people of Westside are ideal candidates."
"Of course they are," Lucy stated, glancing behind her towards the Courier. "They've seen you fight."
"As had you," Denn responded, "yet you still attacked me."
"You're worried they'll see in you a challenge? An entity to defeat, overcome… or replace?"
"Given the response of one of their leaders, it's not that far off a conclusion to think some of them might see it that way."
"Well… Could they overcome you?"
"No."
"Then why concern yourself?"
"Because some of them might try to."
"Those that will, will. There is no 'might' or 'maybes' in the wasteland. Anyone from Westside who thinks they can take you, will take you. Or…" Lucy paused, turning back to the broken glass, "do their best to."
"So you don't think I have anything to worry about?"
"You do, but from the people of Westside, no more than I. Some respect you, some are in awe of you, but most of all they fear you – fear the strength you have – and that will keep all but the most foolhardy from rising against you."
"Does that make you foolhardy?"
"Does it? If I wanted you dead the first blow against you would have been with a knife."
"If you had wanted me dead the defenses in this room would have turned you to ash before the strike fell."
"Then it seems neither of us wants the other dead."
"Though for strikingly different reasons…"
"Not so different," Lucy stated, turning and begging to stalk towards the Courier. "You want me, I want you. There are few things more simple in this world than that."
"What we want from each other is not quite the same," Denn replied, holding his ground.
"Is it? Why?" Lucy's voice quieted as she approached, and her words fell from her lips in a hoarse whisper. "Why not experience the reward our strength deserves? Take what we have earned – experience what little pleasure this world provides?"
The Courier outstretched his hand, physically keeping the leader of the Thorn from approaching any further. "You are an influential leader in a major city of which I am trying to develop a trusting relationship with," Denn said factually. "To… engage in such distractions would-"
"Be worth it," the woman interrupted, taking the Courier's hand in her own and bringing it to her face, turning it to cup it against her burning cheek.
"I… can't," The Courier stated, pulling his hand away and stepping back from the leader of the Thorn.
"The wasteland takes from us all," Lucy replied, frowning at the man before her, "but you let that loss control your life. You risk so much for the future of others, yet fear repeating your past so much you ignore the present. Life is what happens between the pain the wasteland forces us to experience. Take control or waste what life you have."
Silence fell between them, the Courier's forehead creased as he considered the woman's words. Sighing, Lucy moved to the overturned desk and inspected it, leaving Denn with his thoughts.
That's two women who've attacked you today! Want me to call up Cass to try and make it a hat trick? Yes Man interjected.
Is she wrong? Denn asked.
Given what I've seen and what the heat sensors in the room are telling me… I don't think she's entirely unbiased, but that alone doesn't discredit her statement.
Everyone I've loved has been hurt because of me.
I don't think she's asking for love, but then I'm not an authority on the subject. Also, there're few people who could hurt her without a heck of a fight… from what I've seen.
You just want to record more people procreating…
It's my due diligence to document the happenings within this establishment! And she's not wrong about your loss influencing other aspects of your life…
You're not wrong either.
"In two weeks time I will return to Westside and fight in the Thorn," Denn stated, breaking the silence. "Until then, I ask that you consider helping me train the first wave of soldiers, as they will become the leaders of the Mojave's army."
"Unless it is your army," Lucy began, turning towards the Courier, "you will not have many volunteers. Westside values strength, and you have proven yours. The rest of the Mojave, however…"
"Understood. Is there any other way I can be of service at this time?"
Lucy's lips pursed for a moment before returning to their stoic line and the woman shook her head. "My hunters and I collected large amounts of Cazador venom," she stated finally. "More than we can reasonably use. Would it be of use to you?"
"It would. Thank you."
"They are an entity like none I have ever encountered. Survival is not their motivation, causing agony and death is."
"Their origin is likely the cause of that."
"Origin?"
"They were created by scientists who survived the Great War. Mutated and shaped into what they are today. Most likely intended to serve as combat fodder – a living weapon."
Lucy frowned, processing the revelation for a moment. Shaking her head, the leader of the Thorn bowed slightly to the Courier and began to walk out of the room, her eyes lost in thought. Denn watched her leave in silence, his description of the Cazadores reminding him that their creation wasn't that much different from his own.
.
.
Poll has run its course - almost unanimously sticking with a single story that focuses on the Mojave. The infrequency of updates already makes multiple stories a daunting prospect, so I agree with the results. Thank you for everyone who gave their input, and I'll do my best to update more often moving forward!