Chapter 6

Can't Stand Losing You


Veronica stared at the terminal as the program she had helped create booted up, delving into the hellscape that was her best friend's head. Lucy had seen a lot of horrible things since Veronica had met her, with the two having gone through hell together on more than one occasion, but that barely scratched the surface. Her friend had been shot in the head, cooked by radiation more times than either of them remembered, and replaced large parts of her body with cybernetics.

The fact the program had managed to find anything at all was surprising, that it had done so repeatedly was a miracle. The fact that it had hooked Lucy worse than any drug was a tragedy, however, and it was that which she was watching unfurl before her. Christine stood beside her, holding her hand as the two stood with bated breath. There was little else they could do, and the Brains were for once giving something their sole attention.

"What if we reroute some of the processing power to the divergent-core?" Zero asked. "That might take some of the pressure off of her hippocampus."

"The increase in temperature would result in third degree burns around her neck, with the possibility of spreading into her neural lace." Mobius shot the idea down quickly. "It would do more harm than good."

"Exterior damage can be dealt with." Klein added. "Her cybernetics will prevent any internal damage. Do it, Zero."

A few lines of code appeared on the terminal, and, for a moment, Lucy seemed to breathe easier. Her chest rising and falling with a steadier cadence. It was a rare sight indeed, and for the first time Veronica could recall, she saw the Scientists that had once been America's brightest minds. They had a task, saving the woman who had saved them, and they seemed determined to see it through.

"Her internal temperature has dropped back down to one hundred-and-eight." Dala reported. "Her heart rate has also dropped down to acceptable parameters."

Said parameters would have had anyone else checked into the Auto-Doc, of course, but given the circumstances, it was good news. It wouldn't last however, and Veronica winced as the display ticked up just a little bit more.

Eight blared out a message that she couldn't understand. Lucy was the only one who could translate it in real time, and the Brains of course.

"No, that won't work." Zero shook his monitors. "We would fry the circuit board." Another ear-piercing sound of audio echoed off of the walls. "Maybe, but I would advise waiting until she has passed her usual time frame before resorting to such measures."

His advice, whatever it was, seemed to be headed and Dr Klein agreed. "We will wait. Dala, keep monitoring her vitals."

"Internal temperature is One-hundred-and-fifteen." Dala relayed. "Her heart rate has officially entered the danger zone."

Veronica's shoulders shook, and Christine's hand tightened around her own. She wanted to put an end to it, to pull Lucy out and slap some sense into her, but she knew that was just her emotional response. Lucy needed this, as dangerous as it was. She needed the closure it would bring, and if it helped her find her parents?

Nobody deserved a happy ending more than her friend.

Lucy had gone to every length to reunite Lucy and Christine. She had taken an army of Securitrons to the Sierra Madre in an effort to free the woman Veronica had once thought lost. The woman she loved. Lucy had put the people of the Mojave over her own personal benefit time and time again, diving into irradiated mines and deadly Vaults to bring back even the slightest boon that would help people. If there was a chance that she could get this, Veronica wanted it for her more than almost anything in the world. Almost anything.

She wanted Lucy to come back more though. With or without an answer, so long as Lucy lived, that was enough for Veronica.

"Her internal temperature is spiking!" Dala reported frantically. "One-hundred-and-thirty and rising! We need to cool her off."

"That was what your concoction was supposed to do!" Dr Kline snapped. "What the hell do we do now?!"

"Find a wet rag," Dala replied back coldly. "And someone find an ice pack."

Veronica grabbed one from the terminal and ran to the nearby bathroom. It wouldn't be as good as an ice pack, but the water was at least cool, and she quickly ran back toward the pod to set it on Lucy's forehead. True to Dala's words, Lucy's skin was hot and worse, covered in sweat. That was good in the sense it would help to cool her off, but bad because it meant her cybernetics were failing to keep up.

Christine had gone up towards the Sink in an effort to retrieve something frozen, leaving Veronica alone with her friend.

Lucy's breathing steadily grew more erratic, sweat pouring from her as her body tried desperately to hold itself together. Her body shifted suddenly, a muscle spasm racking her body. Her conscious mind was busy elsewhere, but her body had no such luck. Veronica had seen mild versions of that before in the training simulators back when she was still a member of the Mojave Brotherhood. Never this extreme of course, and she had been assured that it was simply the body's response to receiving odd signals form the brain.

Lucy jolted again, a groan leaving her as her hands gripped the sides of the chair hard enough to turn her knuckles white. That seemed more responsive than she had seen in the bunker, as if the body were in serious pain. The look on Lucy's face only made it worse, the expression reminding her of the few times she had seen people have nightmares. Her muscles twitched, eyes flicking around under her eyelids, Veronica had to bite back the urge to wake her up, she couldn't see the terminal screen from where she was, and she hoped that it was better than it looked.

"Her internal temperature isn't dropping below one-hundred-and-thirty. " Dala moved from terminal to terminal as she monitored Lucy's progress, her monitors shifting up to look at Veronica. "Heart rate over four-hundred BPM, we need to pull her out."

There was a sudden sound of circuits popping and, to Veronica's horror, it sounded like it was coming from Lucy herself.

"Damn it, Luce'…" Veronica wasn't one for praying, she never had been, but in that moment, she couldn't help but mutter a soft one to whatever god would listen. She needed her friend to survive. The world would be a far darker place without her.


Lucy hugged her mom tightly.

"Promise you'll write?" Her mother asked, and though she tried to hide it, the tears in her eyes were obvious.

"I promise." Lucy replied with a watery smile.

"Why does she get a better hug than me?" Her dad moaned.

Lucy chuckled softly, reaching out to grab her dad and pull him into the hug. He didn't object, wrapping his arms around both of them as he stepped up.

"Remember everything we've taught you." He said softly. "The world can be a dangerous place, but the most beautiful things always are. Take your mother, for example."

She laughed as her mom elbowed him in the side.

"And don't forget your way home." He added. "I know it isn't cool to live with your parents, but you can always come back."

"I know dad." Lucy rolled her eyes but didn't pull away. "I know."

"And when you come back, be sure to have some good stories." Her dad leaned down to place a kiss on the top of her head. "I want to hear about all of your adventures."

They finally pulled away, and Lucy wiped at her eyes. Her parents didn't comment on her tears however, and she didn't comment on their own.

Nodding, Lucy stepped back, nearly falling down the stairs off the porch as she did. She didn't want to look away, but as she slowly moved over to her motorcycle and backpack, she had to. She tightened the straps one last time before checking the coolant and oil levels. Everything was good, and she ran out of excuses to slow her down. Her dad stepped down to check with her however. Everything was just as good as when she checked it over of course, but she didn't feel insulted. She appreciated the chance to delay.

Finally, he stepped back from the bike with a sigh, pulling her in for another hug in the process. "We'll always be proud of you." Her dad said, her mother smiling softly from the porch. "Don't ever forget that."

"Love you, dad." She muttered softly into his chest.

"Love you too, sweetie." He stepped back. "Now get going before I try to make you stay. Lord knows I couldn't handle a rebellious daughter."

Lucy chucked softly, wiping at her eyes again. With one final look back and a wave, she was off.

The mountain roads had fared well over the years, and she was able to find her way down to the local settlement she had grown up in. There weren't many people, and in truth the town was more just an assortment of small businesses. Everyone else lived farther out on their own land, but it had been home for the entirety of her life.

Now it was disappearing behind her as she drove down the mountain. It took her the better part of the day to reach the flats, her journey being slowed by trees and thirst more than once, and also the occasional thought of turning right back around.

Standing down at the bottom of the mountains, where the highway flattened out for miles, and looking back up, she felt the weight of her actions finally settle on her. She was leaving home, her mom and dad, and everything she had ever known, just to head off in search of her own adventure. It was daunting, and she felt her hand shake a little at the thought of it, but with a deep breath she thought of her parents' smiles, and the smiles they would have when she eventually came back.

It was enough to motivate her, and it would keep her on the road.

Moving over to her bag, she pulled out the atlas that her parents had gifted her and slowly traced her hand down the road she planned to take. It wouldn't be easy by any means, and she would have to be careful to avoid most of the cities between here and the coast. They'd heard stories of a Republic there though, and that was her destination. She wasn't in a rush though, and she had more than one place she wanted to stop enroute.

Her eyes drifted down the road back to where her parents lived, a small star drawn in sharpie with the word home in her moms handwriting. It would have been easy to turn around, but as she looked out in front of her, the empty road going so far that it slowly dipped below the horizon, she set her mind to her goal.

Her father wanted her to come back with stories, and she would. She would find the most amazing people, friends she would fight besides, and maybe even a rival or two. She would find something incredible to do. Help people, save towns, rescue the girl and maybe even meet a guy she could love. She'd bring him home and her dad could intimidate him into being the perfect boyfriend.

It was a nice picture, now she just had to make it happen. Packing her map back up, she got back on her motorcycle and started off down the road. She could travel for another few hours before camping at the off ramp to highway-eighty. One night there, and she would be heading west, and when she eventually decided to come home, she knew she would do it with a warm welcome.

Connection Complete

Termination Sequence: Initiated

Lucy gasped for air, a smile instantly appearing on her face. It was gone as the pain washed over her.


Lucy couldn't tell how much time had passed, but judging from the numb feeling in her body, and the vague drowsiness she could feel clogging her head, she knew she was drugged. She opened her eyes to see the familiar interior of the Auto-Doc.

"Well, I'll be, you lived." The machine said, one of the metal arms moving over to hold out a small tube, water filling her mouth before she could even think to ask. Normally, she might have objected to him taking such a direct approach, but her throat was dry and so she didn't complain. Swallowing hurt too, but she ignored that as she finished.

"How long was I out?"

"Five days." The Auto-Doc reported. "Pretty quick turnaround, all things considered."

Part of her wanted to balk at the idea she needed so long to recover, but then she remembered the pain immediately after waking up. It had been unlike anything she could describe, like her body had been on fire, yet unable to burn. Idly, she wondered if that was how Joshua had felt.

"What's the damage?" Lucy asked, trying to move her legs under her to help support her weight. She had no luck however, the drugs running through her system must have been a higher dose than usual. Which made sense considering how long she was out.

"It would take me a full hour to explain everything in depth, so I'll give you the highlights." The Auto-Doc whirled softly, pulling her up enough that her feet were flat against the floor. "Brain injury is the biggest concern, but with you I suppose that goes without saying. You had a fever that would kill most humans instantly, the only reason it didn't was because of whatever Dr. Dala gave you, but there are clear signs of neurological damage. Your cybernetics have already started repairing the damage, but they were offline for over seventy-two hours, so they will need a bit longer to catch up. Until then you will likely experience a severe degradation in your finer motor control, lapse in memory, and difficulty connecting thoughts. It will pass in time, but for you that will be days rather than the years it takes normal people."

Lucy let out a sigh. Grateful beyond belief that she had gotten so lucky. While she wouldn't say it wasn't a life worth living, being confined to the side lines unable to fight, that was something that scared her. She was relieved to hear that wouldn't be the case. It would suck in the meantime, but she wouldn't lament that fact when most people didn't have her advantages.

"Your heart rate topped out at over four-hundred BPM." The Auto-Doc continued. "So I would strongly advise avoiding anything even resembling heavy activity for the next week or two. No exercise, no battles, honestly, don't even take the stairs if you can help it. Most people would need rest for weeks before getting out of bed, and while your Cybernetics might help, I would rather avoid making them necessary to your survival."

That would be a little harder to do, especially knowing how much she hated sitting still for too long, but she was sure Veronica and Christine would help her in that regard.

"Expect bouts of sudden unconsciousness, as well as difficulty sleeping at times. Involuntary muscle contractions, maybe even fits or seizures if the damage was enough." He was silent for a moment. "It's a miracle you're alive at all."

Lucy nodded helplessly, even if she didn't fully agree. Calling it a miracle would have been an insult to Dala's work, as well as Veronica and Christine for looking after her during the procedure and pulling her from the chair after words. That had been the last thing she remembered really, that and the intense pain.

"Professional recommendation?" Lucy asked.

"Personal advice, the next time you want to kill yourself, use a bullet. It's cleaner that way." He joked, injecting something in her arm that started to counteract the numbing agents in her body. "Professionally, once you are healed, come back and see me so I can remove some of that damned metal from your body." Lucy opened her mouth to object, but he didn't let her. "Not all of it, honestly, I don't think you could survive without at least some of them now, but your body is reacting very poorly to them all of a sudden, and I'm not seeing any sign that it will be getting better on its own. You need to start from scratch, or as close to it as I can get you. That is my professional recommendation… but we both know how you feel about that, don't we?"

It wasn't the first time they had had this conversation, though it was the first time he had been so direct and forceful about it. She wasn't so confident it was necessary however, and she knew that it would be incredibly difficult to go through that process again. Not to mention how much weaker she would be in the event of another battle or fight.

Then again, as the numbing agent finally started truly slipping away, she could feel her cybernetics in a way she hadn't for years. They were foreign and, what had once been a part of her, was impossible to ignore now. The feeling of it under her skin unsettled her in a way it hadn't before.

"Don't say anything, just think about it." The Auto-Doc assumed her response was the same as the other times, and continued on. "Otherwise, get some rest, you might not need it, but it'll help."

The door opened before Lucy's legs were fully ready, and she opened her mouth to complain, only to have Veronica and Christine standing there waiting to catch her.

"H-hey guys." Lucy winced softly at the naked concern in their eyes. "That could have gone better."

Veronica and Christine led her into her room before setting her down on her bed. Enough feeling had come back to let her sit up, but it took a lot more effort than she was used to.

"Did it work?" Veronica asked desperately. "Tell me we don't have to do that crap again, please."

Lucy nodded softly. "It worked, I know where they are." Despite the pain, despite how her body felt so alien, she couldn't help but smile. "I can find my parents."

Veronica fell into the chair Lucy kept in the corner of her room, bringing both of her hands up to rub at her forehead. Muttering softly. "Thank god."

Christine stepped up while Veronica recovered. "We can go once you are feeling better."

"A few days." Lucy said. "That's all I'll need."

"You'll go when the Auto-Doc says you are good enough to go." Christine fixed her with a glare. "He sent us the report, we know how much stress you are under."

"And we have a Vertibird, not to mention access to the teleporter from Mothership Zeta." Lucy rolled her eyes. "He told me to rest, I'm not trying to go hiking. I'm proposing we fly in. Besides, I can't think of a better place to get some rest than the mountains. The air there was always so clear."

Christine sighed as she looked towards Veronica, some unseen message being sent between them before she looked back. "Fine, but you're resting tonight. If you are able to walk tomorrow without looking like you're going to fall over… we can go."

Lucy smiled softly. "Thank you, Christine. Thank you."

"Try to get some sleep, okay?" Veronica added as she stood. "You look like you could use it."

"I will, I promise." Lucy nodded quickly.

Veronica and Christine both moved to the door, stepping back out into the Sink and leaving her to get ready for bed. Slowly, she stood. Her legs were uneasy, and she felt a headache forming, but she focused on each step, making her way towards the bathroom and the shower within.