Once the breakfast was over, with the Forger family making their departure from the diner, it left the newly wed couple to themselves. Both the Courier and Dala were satisfied with how the breakfast went in general, but there was obviously room for improvement for the two of them.
The Courier looked around at his surroundings and saw what he could assume to be normal everyday happenings occurring in this city. The people, either by walking or driving, were heading to the places they needed to be. The weather was nice and the sun was out, shining its beautiful rays upon the city itself.
"We probably are going to need IDs and other papers to prove that we are rightfully here before we go hunting for jobs," The Courier said before turning to his new wife. "We got to head back to our new home."
Dala nodded in response, and walked beside the Courier on their way back to their apartment room. The streets were more crowded than before. Every type of person was using the sidewalks and roads for their intended purpose since it was later in the day.
The duo kept walking until Courier Six suddenly stopped near what one could consider the outskirts of the city hall for Berlint. His eyes darted all around the building looking for something, before turning back to Dala.
"We definitely have to go back now. I don't think the place is open right now."
"Well Yor stated that she worked there and ate with us so I suppose you are correct." She replied back, before continuing to walk back to their new home.
Eventually they both found themselves in front of the apartment complex once again and entered back in their little home. The interior of the apartment was rather nice and cozy, albeit it was small. Though it was perfect for just two people. The flooring was wooden and done professionally by a specialist.
The two rooms most obvious to the naked eye would be the living room and kitchen. Which weren't separated from each other. The only thing signaling that the living room started and kitchen ended was that the kitchen had titled flooring compared to the rest of the apartment's wooden flooring.
Both rooms had the basics needed for the room's specialities. The living room had a television set and a couch. While the kitchen had various appliances and cabinets for storing food or other general appliances.
Dala locked the door behind them and sat down on the couch, with a sigh. Tilting her head to the man in the room with her. Courier Six then went up to the television and flicked the dial to turn it on. The TV then began speaking like a politician about whatever on the channel left on previously.
Then the Courier sat down right beside Dala. He looked at the TV before talking to the scientist right beside him.
"I'm going to break into the city hall to forge documents." He stated nonchalantly, Dala looked at him and giggled into her hand.
"Oh really? In broad daylight? I don't know about that one Marshall." Dala teased. The Courier rolled his eyes in response, while flicking through the different channels with the remote.
"I was put on the spot, Maria. I had to think of something. I don't think people would be trusting of a man named Courier Six or a woman named Dala." He replied back with some snark, settling on a news channel for the TV, placing the remote back on the arm of the couch.
"Oh, are you saying that I am too unique for this place?" She said with a sly smile. The Courier again rolled his eyes at her actions.
"Yes. Is that what you wanted to hear?" The Courier said before chuckling. Dala nodded childishly and leaned into the Courier a bit, her head laying on the man's shoulder. He stiffened for a few seconds before relaxing himself.
"So…colored TV…you ever think of that in the Big Empty?" The Courier said, wanting to pivot away from the teasing game laid out by his fake significant other. Dala looked at him sharply before replying to the amnesiac.
"It's the Big Mountain, not the Big Empty. Only the illiterate would think that. Please don't refer to Big Mountain as such again in my presence." She said without compromise.
"Why not?" The Courier asked with a grin. Dala gave him a stink eye in response before answering.
"I have the other scientists in my head. Imagine hearing them yelling in your head each time to correct the wrong doing," Dala said before answering the Courier's question from before. "But no, the Big MT didn't care that much about colored television sets when inventing things like security holograms and resource duplicators."
The laughter from the Courier was quiet and light, but it still got him a glare from Dala who was right beside him. She separated herself from the man and crossed her arms, pouting.
"It's not funny! I didn't get my seven hours of sleep due to them arguing about the nature of this place," Dala explained, before continuing. "You also abandoned me last night to sleep on the couch!"
"You kept crawling over the pillow barrier on the bed and crossed into my side!" The Courier said, somewhat complaining. Although it was clearly just a playful jab at the only woman in the room.
"Well I have to test out the various synthetic components and abilities of my new body and who is better than my new husband." Dala said with a smirk. The Courier just gave her a blank stare in response.
"I could just give you a microfusion cell and you can do your business in the bathroom." He calmly stated. Dala looked at the man before looking down at the floor, her index finger colliding together in an embarrassing fashion, much like those school girls in old movies.
"How would you even know about that..maneuver?" Dala asked, her face now having a small red tint to it. The Courier, knowing that he had won the teasing competition, had another statement to close the deal.
"In your bedroom in Higgs Village, I sacked the place while trying to get my brain back. I saw some things that weren't meant to be seen." The Courier said, laughing a bit. Dala looked at the man, and dropped her embarrassed state. She held her hand out to get the microfusion cell.
"You have to help me insert it in then. I haven't been in a bipedal form in a long time-"
"Wow, look at the time! It seems like it's time to commit misdemeanors and felonies for science!" He said very quickly while darting into the bedroom and shutting the door. The Courier's internally seethe a bit before steadying himself.
Dala may have won the battle here, but he will win the war! He will not fall for flirtatious tricks, and dastardly tactics! The Courier looked over the bedroom with a newly found resolve.
The queen sized mattress was on the right side of the rather small room, facing directly to the left of the closet. The room had a window on the wall which was closer to the bed than the closet. There were other things in the room such as a little rug near the bed itself and a cabinet mirror combination near the window, but that wasn't important now.
Courier Six walked towards the closet and opened it. The closet itself was rather empty besides the various suits and Dala's scientific scrubs. Each suit he had represented one of the three families of the Vegas Strip. The regular, most normal suit was from the Chairmen. The pinstripe suit was a gift from the Omertas. Finally, a suit with coattails, a rather fancy suit from the White Gloves society.
Besides them being the most fancy family on the Strip. It felt like the personalized suit from them was a silent token of gratitude for not exposing their depravity and degeneracy to the public. It made sense to him, Marjorie and Mortimer wanted to keep their traditions away from the public eye.
However he didn't come to the closet to reminiscence about his new nation. In the dark corner of the small storage room was a little box. The Courier picked it up and brought it to the bed.
He opened the box to reveal three things of importance. The most important was his pip-boy, which was a storage device of great importance to him in a sentimental way. A gift from the good doctor who saved his life in a little out of the way town.
The second item was the Mark Two Stealth Suit. It was nicely folded, which put an emphasis on its armored breastplate. He took it out of the box and laid it out on the bed. It was useful for stealth of all kinds and had a kind personality oddly enough.
The suit itself was rather revolutionary for its time. A testament to late American ingenuity and genius against the Communist Chinese. It was a mix of whites and blues, with a white stripe connecting all of the armored parts of the suit. The dark blue itself was more of the generic color of the suit, it served no technical purpose.
Finally the third item of importance was a simple silenced .22 pistol. Simple in design, a white barrel and a generic pistol grip. The only unique thing about it was the built-in silencer. Although the weapon was explicitly made stealth in mind, and wouldn't be useful in an actual gun fight.
He took off Sinclair's suit and changed into the stealth suit. The put his pip-boy back on his wrist and placed his silenced weapon in its holster. Before he could inform Dala that he was leaving to aid in their alibis, the suit quietly hummed to life.
"Status:online, Med-X and stimpak amount, in surplus. Welcome back Courier Six! How may I assist you?" The suit asked in her usual tone of voice. While most sane people would think they have lost their mind in this situation, the Courier has realized that truth is stranger than fiction.
"We are going to infiltrate a city hall to make some documents." The Courier explained to the suit.
"Yay! It's just like us in the X-13 facility getting access to all of the upgrades for me. Or us sneaking into the Gun Runners to get secret weapon blueprints! Or what about us trying to stop the assassination of President Kimball! That didn't end so well…" The suit rambled on happily. The Courier looked down at the suit before replying back.
"Not so loud, we are in a new land where talk like that could get me arrested." The Courier explained.
"Oh, okay! Should we get going? I wonder if we could do this completely stealthy like. Like hiding in a cardboard box or maybe putting the corpses of the enemies in ice boxes?" She suggested innocently.
"No killing for this mission, nobody can know that we are going to be there," The Courier said before continuing. "Hiding in a cardboard box like a cat? How would that help me?"
"Well, one of the doctors that worked on me tested it during one of the trials before you found me. It had a ninety five percent success rate!" She said happily. The Courier gave a look that questioned what she stated, but didn't question the artificial intelligence.
The Courier then left the bedroom and went back into the living room to where Dala was. Clearly the living room television wasn't on the news station it was previously on, but on some kids channel.
"Dala I am going to head out, I am probably going to be back in a few minutes. A half an hour at most." He said nonchalantly before looking at the TV screen. Dala looked at him funnily before saying anything.
"You're using the psychoanalytic cardiac-dampening sneaky stealth suit? That's good for us. Big Mountain never got to use it outside of X-13," Dala said, her eyes returning back to the television. "Make sure you don't get seen with that, it may cause complications."
The Courier felt the stealth suit tightening around his body, a probable sign that the suit was wincing and embarrassed about Dala saying her full name. But the suit didn't make a comment about it.
"Well, I have a plethora of stealth boys in my pip-boy. Gonna use one right now to make sure no one sees me get in or out." The Courier explained quickly. Dala just nodded, completely immersed in the show she was watching. The only man in the room looked at the TV and back to the scientist.
"You like kids cartoons? Aren't you a centennial at this point in your life?" The Courier asked jokingly. Dala's head nearly snapped to face the Courier's.
"Well technically I am, but I haven't aged a day since the year 2077. I was probably around twenty four to twenty nine years old. I wasn't an old man like Doctor Klein or 8." She spouted quickly, her eyes narrowing at the man. In response, he simply shrugged his shoulders.
"It's been about 200 years since the Great War Dala, but I guess you're right since you're in your old body again," The Courier conceded, he brought up his pip-boy and took out a microfusion cell, tossing it to the woman, who caught it sloppily.
"That's the microfusion cell you wanted. Don't do what you're going to do on the bed or couch please." The Courier requested politely, before opening his pip-boy again to take out a stealth boy. The stealth boy itself wasn't anything special, just a little pouch that held together machinery that made a little red button turn whoever pressed it invisible.
Dala nodded viciously before standing up, energy weapon ammo in hand.
"Well, hope you have fun and get home safe. Thank you for the gift." She said, thanking the man. The Courier just gave a quick salute in response and pressed the button on the stealth boy, making him invisible to the average person.
Dala opened the door for him so it didn't just look like the wind somehow opened the door. Once the Courier stepped out of the apartment, Dala gave a knowing smile to the man before shutting the door.
The Courier knew the limits of the stealth boy. It mainly had two really big ones that he would have to worry about. Although most likely he would only run into one of them.
One of them was that if you were specifically looking for something who activated a stealth boy, you would probably notice them due to the nature of the piece of equipment's invisibility. It didn't make the user truly invisible in the comic book sense. It just manipulates molecules to transmit light to make it so you look invisible to the naked eye.
The second problem was the much larger one. The time limit on stealth boys was always one hour maximum. Nothing more or less. So he had to do his little act of criminality in under an hour if he wanted to succeed.
He made his way to the staircase leading down to the exit of the apartment complex. However there going up the stairs he would have to go down, was a family of three. A really familiar family of three.
It was the Forger family. It seems like they returned from whatever they were doing after they ate at the diner this morning. Loid was left of his wife, Yor and their daughter Anya was in the middle. Scowling at the early hurdle in his way, he decided that the most easy way to succeed was to simply wait them out.
Although his intrusive thoughts were telling him to just leap over the kid in the middle. Although due to how lanky he was, he would probably have his feet clip the kid and make her tumble down the stairs. He simply couldn't do that.
Before he could think of another way to go by undetected. Anya had adopted a look of shock, with her eyes nearly bulging from her skull. Loid seemed to notice her daughter's odd reaction to seemingly nothing and asked about.
"What's wrong Anya?"
"Anya is tired. My wittle stubby legs can't handle walking anymore." She explained, sweat dropping a bit. Her mother Yor bent down and picked up Anya into her arms. Leaving a little space between the two.
There the Courier found his opportunity to leave the complex due to their daughter's tiredness. He would have to time his footsteps perfectly with their own so they don't suspect anything was out of the ordinary.
As his neighbors made their way near the second to last stairway step, he made his move. Moving in complete unison with the two. Yor was too preoccupied with her daughter in arms to notice anything out of norm, although the same couldn't be said about her husband.
His left eye trailed the supposed empty spot between him and his two significant others. He seemed to have noticed something off about the spot where the Courier was at currently. The invisible man's eye met the husband's eye and a little contest of will was initiated between the two.
Although Courier Six was sure that he was just imagining that the man somehow saw him. He pushed that thought out of his head, as it seemed like the blond man only heard his footsteps. However it seemed that Yor would unknowingly help the Courier.
"Loid you aren't tired too? I could try to carry you up as well." Yor offered, not realizing the potential intimacy from the action. Loid waved his hands side to side in a frantic manner, taking his eyes off the infiltrator right next to him.
"Oh no you don't have to do that Yor! I was just admiring the structural stability of this stairwell." He explained passively, before putting his hands in his pockets.
The family finally found themselves at the top of the staircase and made their way to their apartment room. Although the Courier thought his eyes were deceiving him when Anya over her mother's shoulder squinted at him.
But there was no way a kid her age saw him. So as soon as he heard the family enter their house, he made his way down the stairs and into the same lobby which held the old lady manning the counter. However the opportunity to slip out of the apartment complex itself came when a man opened the door. He slipped out of the apartment complex without any issue.
Now he had free reign to get to the city hall undisputedly. He nearly sprinted to the place, since he knew most people wouldn't even notice or believe that an invisible man was near them.
Eventually through the weaving in and out of people in the city he reached the outskirts of the city hall building. It wasn't anything special compared to the other city buildings, but it was still well made.
He then looked for anything obvious enough to where he didn't have to do much to force an entry. An open window, or door would be in his best interest at this point of time. Although that was probably not likely.
He circled to the back of the building to where most people wouldn't be looking and bothered to go to. He saw a back door entrance and walked towards it, and crotched down, trying to open the door.
However the door wasn't bulging at all. The Courier then resorted to picking the lock with a bobby pin and screwdriver. He moved the bobby pin with the help of the screwdriver to the left and unlocked the door. He opened the door quietly and entered, shutting the door behind him.
He then resumed crouching and moving slowly and methodically through the back area of the city hall. It wasn't anything special, all things considered. It was just a holding area for various cardboard boxes and all metallic cabinets that were probably just replaced recently.
"We're Sneaky, sneaky, sneak!" The suit sang quietly, the Courier's soul almost left his body at the stealth suit's childishness during this situation.
"C'mon! This has high stakes! You can't be singing when infiltrating this place!" The Courier whispered-yelled to his clothing. The stealth suit just sighed in response.
"I was just trying to have fun before you make me go into sleep mode!" She whined like a baby, making the Courier's eye twitch. He kept moving throughout the inside of the building until he reached an office area full of cubicles.
"If I wear you to more missions like this will you be quiet?" He offered the stealth suit, making her gasp in response. It seemed like she liked the offer given to her.
He continued to make his way through the cubicle office area, carefully checking each cubicle to make sure nobody was there. The lights were all off, since nobody was here today, if Yor were to be believed.
The Courier then kept looking until he found a sort of break room, although it was a part of the office area. It was just a little off to the side, with various things expected for an office break room. A coffee pot and one of them old fashioned phones.
He decided he wouldn't even enter it due to the unlikely probability that anything of use was in there. He kept looking around until he found a door. Courier Six then opened the door to find some filing room with large metallic cabinets and a table with a typewriter on it.
He entered the room, closing the door behind him. He stopped crouching and stood up, and took a look around the room. The Courier opened up one of the cabinets and ran his fingers through the files in one of the draws before settling one.
He took it out and it had all of the important information on this random person. Occupation, age, date of birth etc cetera. He placed it down on the table next to the typewriter. Courier Six cracked his knuckles, preparing himself to learn some esoteric knowledge on how to work the writing utensil.
"Okay..the keys are the same as the ones on computers. But how do I make a new row of words on this thing?" He asked himself, not really knowing the answer. He put a piece of paper in the typewriter and started to learn about it.
He tried just typing, but that would just type letters out where he already put letters. He tried sliding the roller knob to adjust, but that wasn't really solving his issue either. He was starting to see why these things went the way of the cat after computers were invented.
"Have you tried checking the back of the typewriter?" The suit suggested politely. The Courier looked at his suit like she was insane.
"No, why would they design something like that?" The Courier replied with sarcasm dripping from his voice. The stealth suit just sighed exasperatedly.
"Just check the back please." The suit suggested, in a more whiny fashion. The Courier rolled his eyes and did what she asked him to do.
Low and behold, there were two little switches waiting for his use. He adjusted them to what he thought was necessary and took out an old paper and replaced it with a new one. He began typing vigorously, starting to form his alibi first before Dala's.
He almost finished his forged document when he heard footsteps in the hallway outside of the room he was in. The Courier stopped typing and crouched down, unholstering his silenced pistol and aiming it at the door, where a person's head would be. Before realizing he wouldn't be able to kill a person without good cause.
Quickly holstering the weapon and moving to the side where he wasn't in front of the door had its advantages. The Courier could just slip out undetected. But that would leave evidence that he was here, and that wouldn't be good.
However, before he could formulate a proper plan the door opened, and a gingered haired girl wearing a uniform entered the room he was in. She wore a red ribbon on the right side of her hair and wore a more feminine uniform than the Courier was used to seeing.
Besides the loose fitting uniforms in the Gomorrah that is.
"Why are all light's off in this place? I thought we had work today?" The worker asked herself before sighing. "Why didn't no anyone tell me that?"
She looked around the room before her eyes landed on the typewriter. She had a look of intrigue on her face and walked towards the Courier's hard work. Courier Six internally cursed, and formulated a new plan that would make her leave. He stood up and stomped his feet all the way to the door and slammed it shut. The employee jumped and turned around quickly.
"That wasn't funny, Camalia! You can stop this prank now!" She said frantically hoping that her co workers were just pulling her leg. The Courier smiled at his plan working ingeniously, without fail.
"WHO DARES INSULTS THE GREAT LATE EMPEROR OF OSTANIA!" The Courier shouted, deepening his voice. Making it almost unrecognizable from his real voice.
The employee shrieked in response. She stumbled back and fell on her rear end.
"This isn't f-funny anymore!" She said, with her voice wavering like a girl first going through puberty. The Courier gave an over the top laugh in response.
"YOU DARE INSINUATE THAT I AM NOT A TANGIBLE BEING! I HAVE RISEN FROM THE GRAVE TO DELIVER A MESSAGE." The Courier shouted again with fake anger. Although the worker didn't know that.
"You're not real! I am just hearing and seeing things! Yeah, that's right. Ghosts aren't real." She tried to reason to herself, however how could she believe what she was saying when the signs were already there.
The Courier slammed his fists into the nearest metal cabinet, leaving a physical imprint on it. This caused the ginger to flinch, and start to have tears form in the sides of her eyes. Courier Six felt a little sympathy for the girl, but it was buried by the mountains' worth of relief that his plan worked.
"n-NOW THEN, YOU MUSTN'T TELL ANYONE OF THIS CONVERSATION WE ARE GOING TO HAVE." The Courier demanded, maneuvering himself closer to the table where his cover could be blown.
The employee kow tow, with her forehead touching the ground.
"I won't, I promise!" She said, in a frantic subservient manner. It surprised the Courier that she actually bought into this, but he continued his deceit.
"YOU WILL LEAVE THIS BUILDING AND THINK ABOUT YOUR LIFE IN GREAT DETAIL. AS A MAN STUCK BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL, AND AS YOUR EMPEROR, IT'S OF GREAT IMPORTANCE THAT YOU REFLECT. LESS YOU END UP LIKE ME." He said, opening up the door to allow her to leave.
Which she did, thanking her rightful sovereign for his wisdom quickly as she was bolting out the door. The Courier listened in, to make sure that she still wasn't in the building. When he knew for certain, he started laughing like a mad man before calming himself and resuming his forgery.
It was like this until he finished creating the fake documents, and he placed them into the cabinet which housed all the other real documents. With his work done, he went to leave the building.
He continued to be stealthy, until he made sure that nobody was in the building, and at that point he just wanted to get back home and prepare for phase two of his master plan.
Getting a job of course. So he ran through the streets of Berlint, expertly dodging the various amounts of people, pets and cars on the sidewalks and streets. The day continued on during the time he was in the city hall. The sun was still out, but out in full force, with him feeling the sun's rays on his back.
Eventually he did reach the apartment complex. Although he didn't know how he would enter without looking suspicious. He looked around the sides of the building to see if there were optional ways to enter into his apartment room, but there wasn't.
"How long do I have until the stealth boy runs out?" He asked his stealth suit for her proper opinion. The stealth suit gave a polite reply back to him.
"Three minutes until the stealth boy runs out."
The Courier silently cursed to himself before walking up the steps to the apartment complex and leaning towards the doors windows to see if anyone was there. Currently nobody was in the lobby, not even the old lady behind the counter was there. He couldn't waste any time.
He opened the door just slightly enough so he could fit in and closed it behind him. He looked around a little bit more and started to slowly make his way up the stairs.
Although it had seemed like luck was on his side since there seemed like there was nobody on their way up or down the stairs. He quickly made it to his floor and briskly walked down the hall to his room, knowing that his stealth boy was probably about to run out.
But he did reach the apartment room just in time and just when he entered his apartment, the stealth boy ran out of juice and he became visible again. However he wasn't too pleased that the door was unlocked. Sure it helped him in this particular situation, but this could lead to his place being robbed or worse.
Besides the Courier having an analytical monologue thinking about the possibilities about a potential home invasion, Dala was still sitting on the couch with now a newspaper in hand, watching the TV. She changed back into her scientist's scrubs, which seemed to act like pajamas for her.
"You're back, how did it go?" Dala asked while paying special attention to the television. The Courier just held out his hands in an exacerbated manner.
"You know that could have been anyone that has walked through the door, right? You could have been in trouble without me around to help you." Courier Six lightly criticized. Dala just kept watching his cartoons.
"Please, I memorize the noise your footsteps make so I knew it was you. I wasn't in any trouble." Dala explained with a small smile. The Courier just sighed and took a seat right beside her on the couch.
"When did you get that newspaper?" He asked, turning his head to the TV, seeing that it was still on the cartoon channel.
"While you were gone I went to that smoke shop and bought a newspaper with the last of our money." She simply stated, handing the newspaper to her husband. He took it into his hands.
"Okay…what's so special about this newspaper that you used the last of our money on?" He asked sarcastically. Dala just turned to him with the biggest grin he had seen her do.
"I just applied to a job, a teaching job specifically," Dala explained, turning her head back to the television. "I already sent my application and now I am just waiting for a response."
The Courier put the newspaper back in his lap and sighed. His overly introverted and perverted companion is getting a job before him? It was pretty out there, but it was a good development.
"You are still watching these cartoons? What's so good about them?" He asked with some curiosity. Dala just shrugged her shoulders in response.
"Mobius was really big into cartoons, he always invited us over to his house to watch them with him." Dala explained with a sense of nostalgia in her eyes. The Courier smiled a bit before responding.
"Well, it's a good thing you guys are starting to remember your pasts. Mobius did a number on your memories."
"It's more thanks to you than anything. Without you, we would still be obsessing about Mobius." Dala said, thanking the Courier. He just gave a thumbs up in response.
"I should probably go and try to get a job now." Courier said, getting up from the couch. Dala looked at him like he said something crazy.
"You just came back here! You're making me a very lonely woman, plus Spy Wars is coming back on." Dala said, trying to convince the Courier to stay a little longer.
"Nope. I got to create a cover for me while we do our scientific mission and find a way home." The Courier said, waving his hand in dismissal of her concerns.
Dala pouted a bit before standing up herself. She then went to the kitchen counter and picked up something. She then went back to the Courier with something in her hand.
"You want your microfusion cell back?" She asked, while opening up her hand to reveal the piece of ammunition. The Courier gave a scandalized look before reverting back to his normal face.
"No..you can keep that for yourself. Think of it as a gift." Courier Six muttered, while walking past her to the bedroom to change out of the stealth suit into something more presentable. Dala didn't really react in return at the Courier's remark.
He made his way into the bedroom to find that the dress he gave Dala was on the bed, next to the box where he stored his equipment. He first removed his pip-boy from his wrist and placed it back in the box. Then he put his silenced pistol back in the cardboard box. Finally, he undressed and folded the stealth suit and patted it gently.
"I did good today, right?" The suit asked. The Courier smiled a bit before answering.
"Of course, you kept me in good company and helped me out during the mission. But I can't leave you out in the open due to you looking suspicious to other people." He explained carefully so he wouldn't hurt her feelings.
"Oh okay! If that's the case…sleep mode activated." The suit said before turning herself off. The Courier put her into the box and closed it.
He picked it up and walked to the closet. He then placed it into the corner where it was. The Courier then took the plain suit that the Chairman gave him and took it out. He then put it on and grabbed Vera's dress that was used by Dala earlier in the morning and left the bedroom.
He walked into the living room again. Courier Six looked around until he saw Dala again. He started to tell her what he was going to do to get a job.
"I am probably going to head to a laundromat to get your dress washed for your interview. I am going to try to get a job at the laundromat for convenience honestly."
Dala nodded to her husband's words. She turned up the TV's sound volume to make it louder to the point where he could hear what the cartoon's plot was.
"Bondman, your mission is to infiltrate the palace to retrieve the tiara for the princess." The boss of Bondman ordered. The Courier rolled his eyes at the basic plot of the show, but knew it was for children so he didn't complain.
He then opened the door and left the apartment room again. However this time he was under less scrutiny than before. He wasn't sneaky around to create alibis for himself and his fake wife. Now he just looked like a caring husband who went out to help his wife with laundry.
He made his way out of the apartment complex again, but this time he took his time while walking around the city. He held the dress under his arm to make sure nobody stole it. Courier Six scanned the stores on each side of the street to see if there was a laundromat to clean Dala's dress.
The more he walked, the more he had grown to love everything about it. The well dressed people and the infrastructure are everything he wanted the Mojave to be. A place where civilization triumphs over barbarism and tyranny. A place where every man is a king, and a free man walking.
Before he could ponder further, his eyes landed on a laundromat across the street. It wasn't anything special by any means. It didn't even have a unique name, it was called a laundromat in big bright red letters above its store windows and double door.
He waited for the cars to stop zooming on the room before he crossed. Then he walked into the laundromat itself. It wasn't too special on the inside either. It just had rows upon rows of washing machines and dryers on top of each other. With benches nearby for people to sit down at. Although these weren't needed right now since it was empty besides him, the man at the counter and some other man in a leather jacket.
The man at the counter was an interesting looking man to say the least. He had two scars on his face running down vertically nearly on his right eye. His eyes itself were a light blue and he had a rather tall stature. He had platinum blond hair which was neatly combed and his clothes were all a matching black.
The other man wearing the leather jacket was less interesting in comparison. Besides his leather jacket he wore a pair of jeans with brown shoes. His hair was a messy brown and his eyes were a sharp dark green. He was sitting down at the far end of the bench, which was closer to the man at the counter than the Courier.
But the Courier didn't really care about either man, but he did care about the one article of clothing that he had to wash. He opened up the washing machine and placed the beautiful black dress in it. However the machine didn't start when he pressed the button that would normally start the machine.
He pressed the little switch on the pay box timer so he could potentially pay for the service. But then he remembered that he doesn't have money for it, since he was technically broke by this world's standards. The Courier hoped he would become lucky and felt around in his pockets for any coins that could potentially pay for two hours at least.
But he did find one coin, a Legion coin to be exact in his left pocket. It wasn't anything special to him, it was just a silver coin with Legion memorabilia. It had the Legion's bull on one side of the coin and the helmet of a prime decanus on the other. A celebration of the conquest of Arizona for Caesar.
He placed the coin in the pay box timer and shoved it into the washing machine. Making the washing machine activate for one hour. He sighed, usually the Legion's currency is better than the others, but not here apparently. Even though it is mostly silver.
But before he can wallow in pity about how he basically got scammed out of his money. He heard an argument brewing between the two other men in the store.
"C'mon man I know you have some spare change you can give to me." The leather jacket man said, his voice plagued with aggression and malice. The scarred man on the other side of the counter just gave a reasonable response.
"I can't just take money out of the cash register sir. But I can direct you to a church or homeless shelter-"
The leather jacket man slammed his hands on the counter in rage. The other man narrowed his eyes but didn't make any moves that could be considered aggressive towards the man.
"I am going to ask you to leave now,sir." The scarred man said. The man in the leather jacket put his hands up in an defensive and defeated manner. He backed away from the man and went back to the bench and stretched his right leg.
However this wasn't as innocent as it may have seemed. He pulled up his jeans on his right leg to reveal a snubbed nosed revolver tucked into his socks. He took it into his left hand and pointed it at the scarred man.
"Now, I am going to ask again politely one more time. Give me the money." He demanded.
The Courier couldn't believe his luck. First the washing machine eats his silver coin that's worth fifty dollars but now he is stuck in a robbery situation. He could potentially just walk out of the store itself and avoid the problem in its entirety, however the dress would still be here and it was worth more than all of the cash in the register on the counter.
Although the homeless robber didn't somehow see him, he knew that any noise that was off putting to man can cause the scarred man to potentially gain another scar or worse. The Courier slowly inched his way to the homeless man.
It seemed like the scarred man behind the counter saw him and understood what he was doing and tried to stall for more time for him.
"You don't have to do this. It's not too late to just leave." He stalled for time. The homeless man laughed.
"It's been too late for a while. I got laid off from work and keep getting beat down by everyone! So screw off you bum." He yelled in disappointment at himself and the man in front of him. The scarred man let out an uncharacteristic chuckle.
"That's ironic coming from you."
The homeless man's eyes widened at the insult and it squinted in fury. He straightened out his form with his gun and stiffened his body. His breathing became erratic and uneven.
"Why you little shit! I am gonna put a bullet through your skull!" He yelled in anger.
However before he could potentially kill the man in front of him, he found himself in a chokehold suddenly by none other than the Courier.
"You forgot about me, don't rob someone without casing the entire store." Courier Six whispered into his ear before slamming him into the ground, making the robber lose his grip on his gun, making it slide across the ground.
Due to Courier Six's superior athletic ability the struggle became more difficult for the homeless man. Eventually the man went limp and stopped struggling. The Courier then let go of the man and stood back up.
He then grabbed the gun and pointed it at the homeless man. But the scarred man stopped him from sending him to Hell.
"You don't have to kill him, the police are already on the way." The scarred man said, leaving the counter. Courier Six then put the revolver down right beside the homeless man's head.
"That's one scumbag off the streets. You should probably get some security guards." The Courier suggested. The scarred man shrugged his shoulders before looking Courier Six in the eye.
"The country needs more men like you. People that take action to get rid of evil." He complimented politely. The Courier just shrugged it off.
"I took an oath to defend this country against both foreign and domestic threats when I joined the army during the war. So it isn't special to me." Courier Six lied, although he did care enough about Vegas to take an oath once he became the leader of the free economic zone.
The scarred man held his right hand out for a handshake, and the Courier took his offer and shook it with his left. Courier just said a polite goodbye and left the laundromat, not wanting to be involved in a police report.
He then walked back to the apartment complex again, deciding to get the dress back later. He knew that the scarred man wouldn't even attempt to steal the dress due to him saving his life and the police presence coming to his store.
He entered the building and walked up the stairs all the way until he reached his apartment door again. He stopped in motion to open the door when felt something in his left hand.
It was a simple folded card, most likely given to him by the scarred man. He opened the card and revealed a message for him. The top part of it had some crest on it that he wasn't familiar with. It depicted a striped shield with an eagle on it with one big eye. With intersecting rifles at the bottom of it. Finally it had a ribbon in between the eagle and intersecting rifles that had a name of some agency on it.
It had the words State Security Service on it.
On the bottom of the card was a message written in cursive.
Come to the laundromat tomorrow at five o'clock in the morning sharp if wish to serve your country.
The Courier's smile grew a bit upon reading the message.
This just made his fake life as Marshall Van Graff much more interesting.
