The heat in the Mojave had hit an all time high. Sands scorched, skin burned. As Icarus headed south once again to reach Searchlight, they talked and focused around them as a way to distract themselves from the immense heat. As they reached the outskirts of the town, they came across a NCR checkpoint. A soldier raised his hand, ordering them to stop.

"Sorry, No access allowed. Entire town is an irradiated cesspit." He told them.

"We have to get through. We have to get to the airport." Jess said. The soldier advanced on Alexei, eyeing her down.

"I take it you're the leader of this little motley crew. What business would you have in an irradiated hole like this? Huh?" He said, poking her in the chest to emphasise the end of his question. Calling over additional help, there was now a wall of armed grunts between them and the Airport.

Not looking to entice any conflict, Alexei backed away and retreated down the road, followed by her two companions. Taking cover in a nearby shack, they began to discuss strategies on how to avoid or bypass the checkpoint.

"How about we wait until nightfall and sneak past them then?" Jess asked. Alexei knew that soldiers were very light sleepers. She remembered how she used to are Nate just by coughing or how if Codsworth had hit anything by accident, his eyes would open and instinctively he'd search for the source of the commotion.

"We'd nearly need stealth boys along with us. We need another solution." Alexei said. Both Jess and Alexei then looked to Mullins, who had been practically mute now for quite some time.

"What? We could try it the old fashioned way? You know, All guns blazing?" He added.

"Definitely not Mullins! I will not willingly hurt innocents, or defenders of those innocents just because they make my job that much more difficult!" Alexei demanded, her tone finalising that solution was immediately off the metaphorical table.

Suddenly they could hear explosions along with the sounds of ballistic weapons and the familiar sounds of energy weaponry. Immediately falling into an attack and defend position, they moved out of the shack and looked toward the checkpoint. Looking through her scope, Alexei could count eight or nine fiends at the checkpoint.

"Fiends. About eight or nine of them. Looks like they caught the NCR by surprise. Killed each and every one of them. Now back to your initial idea, Mullins, Bandits I really don't mind getting rid off." Alexei said.

Gesturing for them to continue towards the checkpoint, they noticed that for bandits, the fiends were a rather intelligent bunch. Nearly immediately setting up a perimeter watch as the rest of them cleaned out the camp and burned the corpses. Hiding behind a large rock, Alexei, Jess and Mullins reloaded their weapons. Alexei then whispered.

"Remember to count your shots. We're all low on ammo, so if you can, go melee. But no heroics."

Again gesturing down from the count of three, they charged out from behind the rock, catching some of the bandits off guard. Again they stuck to their strengths. Jess, up close and personal, Mullins, in the middle giving Jess support and Alexei in the rear, picking off the enemy with her rifles. The combat was over in a few seconds, but like usual, Jess in her adrenaline-fuelled hyperactive state began screaming a war cry.

"Search the camp for ammo or medicine, we'll need it in the radiation around the airport." Alexei said, while looking around at the corpses around her.

It always surprised her how violent this new world was. How a man could be gunned down in the town square just on a consumption. Houses burned to the ground just because the criminal felt cold. This new world that Alexei found herself in after leaving the vault was twisted and turned, broken and remoulded into the twisted creature it now was. What scared her though was that she enjoyed the fact that she could take the law into her own hands. That a heated argue meant could be solved in the simple matter of one man's reaction time or his ability to dodge a flying bullet. While it scared her however, she decided to look at it through rose-tinted glasses, to look at the positive parts of her life now. For example, her relationship with Danse, her new found appreciation to be a mother again and the fact that she had made so many good friends throughout her vast travels.

After the camp was cleared, they continued on their way to Searchlight Airport, staring in awe at the fact that Caesar's Legion had willingly put this fate of irradiated damnation on the town. Eventually they reached their exfiltration point. Alexei dug into her pack and lifted out the beacon that Newark had given her earlier. She activated it and after a while, her pip-boy lit up, letting her know that it too had picked up the signal. All they could do now is wait.

Hours passed and still no sign of Newark. Alexei scanned the horizon, but between the dirt on her suits visor and the constant murky green hue surrounding them it was useless. Jess had gone on to look at the derelict remains of the planes that were left here to rot for the rest of eternity, while Mullins stayed quiet, sitting up on the wing of a plane, gently drumming his finger on the side of his rifle.

"Mullins? Are you ok? You've been almost mute since we left the Prydwen." Alexei asked him. She stared at him and watched as his helmet turned and he seemed to stare at her. Finally he talked again, this time rather weakly.

"My Dad was a Knight-Sergeant. Lived in the brotherhood all his life. Same as my grand-dad before him and so on. He met my mother at the Citadel, back when he was first promoted to a knight. She was a scribe. They married after about six months and I came soon after. Anyway both of them were thrilled when they were both stationed aboard the Prydwen because it meant that they'd never be separated. Before the Prydwen had left the air base, to travel to the Commonwealth, I had stay at the Citadel for my combat training, so I said good-bye to my parents but they promised me that we'd see each other again. I saw them again, I saw them today. They lay there together like always, holding each other in their arms. I lost my parents today and I promise that Turner will pay for what he's done. I was waiting to see Dads reaction when I told him I finally outrank him"

Alexei took pity in him and left him to his quiet requiem. She began to saunter around, dragging her gloved hands along the pieces of corroded steel and flakey paint. Suddenly the fast paced movement of boots crushing sand caught her attention and pulled her to attention. Heading back to the camp, she looked around for the source of the noise. Up along the tarmac, she could see beams flying. It was Jess. She seemed to be running backwards, trying to shoot her attacker. Alexei could now see why she was running. She was being followed by one of the biggest hordes of feral ghouls Alexei had ever seen. For a moment, her tactical mind failed her and just seemed to freeze. Her hands shook as her mind tried to calculate all the variables at once and she began to give herself a headache. She was brought back to earth however when she was handed her rifle and simply told,

"I wanted to vent today anyway."