Snowflake on the Sand
Chapter 17
Doctor Usanagi had seen many thing while she worked with the Followers. From ghouls that had lived before the bombs fell, the mutants that had achieved a sort of immortality. But if there was something that always surprised the good Doctor and that was the ability and resilience of humanity.
It seemed that no matter what place they found themselves in, humanity always pushed past its limits and survived. From NCR soldiers that survived just enough to send a warning to their comrades and save many lives, to the ability of the mind to create new ways to help people around the world. As she finished the operation she was reminded of the reason why she chose to be a doctor, the wonders of the human body and its anomalies when exposed to radiation, the current example was Courier Six.
When he had returned the next day after being mortally wounded with a large bag of caps and requested that he was operated to have all of the implants his body could carry, every single one of her colleagues told him that he was insane and to leave.
But Doctor Usanagi humored the man in his request and told him that she would only perform the operation when his wound had healed completely. The Courier grinned and took his shirt off showing a completely healed abdomen and shoulder.
One day it had taken his body to heal completely and that intrigued Usanagi, against the wishes of her coworkers she grabbed the caps and told Six to prepare for the operation. The anesthesia would wear off in a couple of hours so for now she could put down her thoughts on the entire thing, from what she had seen inside his body there was nothing different than any other person, same bones and muscles.
Nothing that would indicate anomalies seemed to be present, all but one thing. His immune system was different; it seemed to be working on over time keeping him alive. That was not normal, something or someone had tampered with him at a genetic level, but that was impossible in the wasteland. Vegas was the most advanced city and they had only just managed to get implants to work, so that left the big question who had done it? And why had they not shared it with everyone else to help the wasteland?
Doctor Usanagi spent hours writing down theories until her patient finally stirred awake, not wasting a second Six almost jumped to his feet and stretched "God damn doc, you really are a miracle worker I can already feel my body kicking, I feel lighter"
"Then I would say that the operation was a success, I would ask how are you feeling but I can see that you are just fine" The doctor commented as Six flexed his muscles and threw a couple of practice punches.
"Say Six, would you mind doing something for me?"
"If you're asking me out I won't say no but right now is not the best time" Six replied with a grin, the doctor simply chuckled "I will tell Miss. Schnee if you keep this up" Six snorted but motioned with his hand for her to continue.
"We have on your file that you suffer from amnesia, so there's nothing you remember from your early childhood? Not even a little?" Usanagi said as Six furrowed his brow, the courier stood still for a minute before shaking his head "No, not really. Only grey corridors, screams and bullets, but that could be anywhere out in the wasteland"
Usanagi let out a disappointed sigh "Oh well, is not really important I just wanted to confirm some things, I recommend that you head to your home and rest for the rest of the day".
Nodding Six headed to the door once he was fully dressed but as he left he could not help but to feel a little bit guilty, after all he had lied to the doctor.
There was more that he remembered from the past, faces that held no meaning, tall computers and laboratories. He did not remember the name of the place or even what it was but he knew that it was his home… and he also knew that it was gone now.
"With the Boomers on our side the battle to come will be more manageable but we can't rest just yet. The families on the strip have been very cooperative, TOO cooperative you could say. We cannot win the battle to outside forces only to lose to enemies on the inside. You need to infiltrate each casino and find if there's any suspicious going on" Mr. House said to Winter and Six. Winter nodded "Where do you suggest we start?"
"Gomorrah, while the Tops and Ultra Lux are not the most trustworthy people they are at the very least creatures of habit and I assumed the same of Gomorrah but then they started to change their behavior. No longer questioned orders, not trying to get more power and that is not in their usual habits"
Six rubbed his chin "I'll go to Gomorrah, we can already rule out the Tops of any crazy conspiracy. Benny was the only one with ideas there, Swank is barely running the Casino and Tommy cares more about his theater" Six replied, Mr. House hummed "And you already searched everything inside"
"Yes, found out that they have a pool imagine that. But other than an elaborate plan to take over Vegas in Benny's room not much" Six said as he scratched the back of his head.
"Good, then that leaves Winter with the Ultra Luxe. While there's nothing wrong on the surface with them they used to be cannibals and their contract prohibits this, use it to your advantage I will be monitoring the region while you two stay in the Strip. I would also suggest that you give a report to the NCR, no need for them to grow suspicious"
And with that the monitor shut off, so the duo left to their room. Their plans already forming, Winter grabbed the multiple notes that where on her desk and started to put them away for later. With the desk cleared once again, she started to write down her ideas for the mission.
Six on the other hand sharpened his spiked knuckles as he sang one of his favorite songs " I got spurs that jingle jangle jingle, as I go riding merrily along ", he really loved the songs that Mr. New Vegas picked, they truly where something else. He felt a stare and turned to look at Winter who was smiling at him.
"Something on my face?" he asked with a smile, Winter shook her head and chuckled "It's just that I forget that you actually have quite a nice voice to listen to, you should try to sing in the tops since you seem to be so close to them"
"Nah, I prefer to be outside there's nothing quite like the wind and the sand hitting your face" Six said as he walked over to her desk, looking at her notes he hummed "Nothing new on the big mountain?"
Winter let out a sigh "On the contrary, I found quite a lot of information. Is just that I can't make heads or tails of the information. From what it looks like they asked for shipments from all over the country but I just don't get where this places are and I looked at the map" Winter said as she showed the courier a map of the old world, North America, on her PipBoy, Six stared at her wrist in surprise.
"How did you manage to get that on your PipBoy?" Six asked as Winter placed a huge book on the table "I read through the manual"
The courier chuckled and flipped through the pages "You read a lot don't you?"
"Most of the free time I get, there's so much that could be used to help my planet. Stimpaks, auto docs and maybe even some weapons, we could win against the grimm once and for all" Winter commented as she placed a bag on Six's hands.
"Your friends from the Tops dropped by with your suit" she said her voice neutral seeing if Six would be affected by this, but he simply dug in into the bag and whistled "Now this looks like a good fit for hitting the casinos!"
Winter snorted "You'll look awful, I think I prefer the stupid Vault Suit"
"Like I always say, Vault Suits are really something else. Both stylish and comfortable"
"It also makes you look like an exhibitionist" Winter said making Six laugh "Don't let Sarah from Vault 21 hear you, she gets pretty defensive on everything vault related"
"The blonde girl that eyes you from time to time?"
"She eyes me?"
"Six… why did you care about the power in the Tops Casino? Is there something going on?" Winter questioned as Six stopped looking at the suit, with a wink Six moved towards his room "Care for a walk, we still need to talk to the NCR" Winter nodded and stood up.
"Great, wait for me on the casino bellow I just need to dress all snazzy like" and with that the Courier disappeared into his room, making Winter smile and pick up the book Joshua Graham had given her as she walked towards the elevator. While not her priority, she had read the peculiar book when the memory of Caesar's former second in command reared its way into her head.
It was an interesting read, a religious book for sure but it gave her glimpses of why the Burned Man became this vengeful spirit following his beliefs and his god. Winter would not say it aloud but she was anxious of the Legion advances on the Mojave, they had destroyed Six and he had been the one to ambush them, surviving only because he was the luckiest man she had ever met.
Putting it simply they hurt, one single slap from Vulpes Inculta a man that from the NCR intel specialized in espionage had made her aura flare in warning as if struck by a powerful blow from a rogue hunter.
And the days seemed to get faster, the NCR was losing control and there were still so many unknown factors. The rumors of how the fiends had gathered under one leader called Motor Runner, the mysterious Brotherhood of Steel that was at Helios One and seemed to still roam the Mojave. Would they aid the Legion? Destroy the strip while no one was looking?
"There are way too many unknown variables" she muttered to herself as she tried to get her mind off these stressing thoughts, so with a flick of her finger she turned on the radio on the PipBoy. Mr. New Vegas was giving the news about how the bizarre events that had happened on the Mojave seemed to mount by the day, a courier was shot in the head but made a full recovery. There where sightings of weird objects flying over Novac and most interestingly there was a rumor that Legate Lanius had butchered his own men after a failed attack on a tribe.
Winter wondered how Mr. New Vegas knew of the last one but trying to keep her mind of the Legion was the reason she tuned in to the radio, so she changed the "station". Classical musical soothed her taking her back to when she and her sister would attend the many musical shows in Atlas.
But today the radio glitched, she did not know what I was or maybe she turned the dial a little to enthusiastically but now she caught the end of a weird broadcast "…where all your wildest dreams come true, the Sierra Madre waits for you for its grand opening" the seductive voice of a woman, making Winter's eye widen.
The Sierra Madre, House had records of it and from her investigation on the mysterious Big Mountain, they had supplied the Madre with some unknown thing from what the tech spies had written down. Winter stored that little bit of information on her brain for later and listened to the sweet tone of the voice from the lady only tearing herself from her PipBoy once the elevator opened and Winter felt a small frown form on her face.
Six looked handsome on his new suit, the fabric showed off his muscles while not appearing too tight and it made his smile look brighter than it was before but Winter could not forget the bloodied form of Six over a broken Benny.
No matter how many times Six washed it would not change the fact that Benny had shot him in the head twice and buried him in a swallow grave, did he not care about that?
"Ready to head out?" Six said as Viktor closed the elevator, Winter gave him a stiff smile and walked with Six towards the large door, when the hot air hit them again she almost flinched but little by little she had begun to get used to the heat. Part of her wanted to modify her outfit so it would better suit the environment but she was way too attached to it, she wanted to change nothing.
A red head in a lab coat waved at Six nervously, Six simply gave her thumbs up and a wink. Winter frowned even more but this time Six cached her "You know if you want I can wink at you if you would like Winter"
"Please, I need you to get a ladder and get down from that massive ego of yours" Winter replied huffing and turning her head to the side. Six laughed and pulled her closed as they passed Gomorrah.
"You're so cold, if I didn't know you could summon ice monsters I would make more jokes about your name"
Winter remained quiet but her frown started to lessen "Patrolling the Mojave really makes you wish for a nuclear Winter" Six said as Winter had to hide the laugh as they passed some NCR soldiers.
"… Six, I will use my glyphs to throw you all the way to Camp McCarran if I have to" Winter threatened but her voice lacked any real anger. She wanted to talk to him about the Sierra Madre but she knew it was not the time, as relaxed as he looked, Six's eyes where darting from side to side. Trying to gather as much as he could from the area and Winter smiled at that, it was not the method she would use to gather information but it was one that helped.
He would have made a fine soldier.
"Hey you there!" an NCR soldier said as he approached the duo, Winter took the initiative "Soldier" she said adopted a more military tone and glare. The soldier out of instinct saluted "Mam… err Crocker is waiting for a report" he said as he realized she was not really his superior.
"Good, we're on our way to him now. Keep it discrete soldier we are under many eyes, dismissed" Winter said as the soldier nodded and left as fast as he could, no doubt letting Crocker know that they were on their way. For his part Six analyzed the small display a sense of familiarity tickled his brain but he pushed it away because right now they had a report to give.
A/N: Short chapter to lay out what's to come. The Sierra Madre looms in the horizon, the Legate arrival seems imminent and Courier Six needs to get better puns. See you soon!