But I Didn't Shoot the Deputy

"Well! That was quite the adventure. We taught those convicts a thing or two, didn't we?" Deputy Beagle, the only remaining 'lawman' in the town of Primm, boldly boasted outside of the Bison Hotel. "Breaking myself out of a hostage situation - not to diminish your role in it of course, but it was quite thrilling."

Marcus and the rest of his exhausted companions stared daggers at the man. After arriving the night before in the town of Primm, it was clear that something was very wrong. The main road leading into town was being blocked by an NCR check point, and both Marcus and Sarah were more than a little tense at their first encounter with the Californian soldiers. The sentry informed them that the town had been overrun by Powder Gangers and was off limits.

At first glance they appeared to be a well organized and disciplined army, but upon a closer look the Brotherhood soldier in Marcus began noticing a few disturbing things. While one of the soldiers on watch challenged them at the roadblock, another was sitting down on a crate reading with his rifle slung over his shoulder. Two other soldiers were standing near a fire barrel trying to keep warm, and it was obvious that while they were wearing the proper uniform for desert warfare they lacked jackets needed for the cold nights. Marcus took a quick glance at the sentry's weapon - a standard issue 5.56 service rifle - and it looked like it hadn't been cleaned or serviced in quite a while. Finally, the sentry never bothered to ask them for identification (much to their relief), and after insisting that they be allowed to pass, the soldier shrugged and said "Fine - your funeral." As they made their way past the roadblock Marcus made eye contact with Sarah, and though neither of them said anything, it was clear that she too noticed the sorry condition of this unit. Had any soldiers in the Brotherhood looked this sloppy and acted so unprofessional, there'd be hell to pay.

Once inside Primm they made their way to the Vicky and Vance Casino where the remaining towns people were hiding. It was there they met up with Dr. Mitchell's contact Johnson Nash, whom as it turned out was also the local supervisor of the Mojave express. When Marcus showed him the Courier's delivery order, Nash remembered every detail without having access to his records. "Oh, so your talking about one of them packages. That job had strange written all over it, but we couldn't turn down the caps."

"What was so strange about it?" Marcus asked.

"That cowboy robot had us hire six couriers. Each was carrying something a little different: a pair of dice, a chess piece, that kind of stuff. But the last word we got was that none of the pieces were delivered. Three of the other couriers are still missing. Two of them were found shot in the head execution style; and judging from that bandage on your head I'm guessing you ran into the same problem. It's a shame, though. The only reason you were given this job is because the first deadbeat we hired canceled."

That detail got Marcus' attention. "He canceled? Why?"

Nash shrugged. "Don't know, but he got this look when he saw you next down on the courier list. His expression turned right around, asked me if your name was for real. I said sure as lack of rain, you were still kicking. Then he turned down the job, just like that. I asked him if he was sure, it was good money. No, let Courier Six carry the package, that's what he said - like the Mojave'd sort you out or something. Then he just up and left."

When Marcus asked about the men who'd shot the courier, Nash told them that their best bet was to talk to Deputy Beagle - who as it turned out had gotten captured by the Powder Gangers and was being held hostage. Nash agreed that if they rescued the deputy, and cleared out the Powder Gangers, then he would provide them with new NCR identification papers.

The task of clearing out the Bison hotel of the Powder Gangers was not easy. In addition to booby traps, they had to literally fight the convicts room by room reminding Marcus of the time he, Clover and Charon helped rescue Reilly's Rangers from the roof of the Statesman Hotel. When they had finally freed the Deputy from his restraints, it took Sarah threatening to shove her gauss rifle up his ass for him to agree to help them clear out the last of the Powder Gangers. Now, the man had the nerve to act like he was the hero of the story, and it took both Marcus and Lily to stop Sarah from carrying out her threat.

"Do you have the information about those three men," Marcus growled, "or do we tell everyone in this town we found you crying like a little girl?"

Beagle's face seemed to lose its color, and he cleared his throat. "Ahh yes, my memory is much clearer now that I'm freed from my bondage. I was sku….er, performing recon, gathering information on some of the Powder Gangers, when some Great Khans arrived with your friend in the suit. They had been here a couple of weeks before, talking about meeting up with a Courier in Goodsprings - I'm guessing that was you? Anyway, they said they'd be heading through Nipton to Novac to meet a contact there."

Marcus took a quick glance at his PIPBOY's map, and both locations had been given to him by Lenny before he died. "Did they say anything about this contact?"

Beagle shook his head. "Afraid not. Listen, I told you everything I know, but now we have another problem. With my brother the sheriff dead there's no law here in Primm. What are we gonna do if another gang of outlaws rolls in?"

Marcus' patients had all but run out. "You're the deputy - you figure it out."

Before Beagle could say anything, Marcus and his companions turned and headed for the Vicky and Vance casino.

Marcus took another sip of coffee as he studied the notes that Beagle had given him. Despite his exhaustion, the information he learned from both the Deputy and Nash kept swirling around his head. A stirring to his left caused Marcus to look up, and he spotted Follows-Chalk and Lily sitting in a booth - both of them passed out and leaning against each other. Lily was snoring like a ripper, but it didn't phase the young tribal. Even Dogmeat was fast asleep at his master's feet, and Marcus couldn't help but chuckle at the scene. He went back to studying his notes when Sarah sat down at the table across from him. "I can hear you thinking."

Marcus snorted. "Is it that obvious?"

Sarah took a sip from her own cup of coffee. "I can't believe how much cheaper this stuff is out here. Find anything?"

Marcus flipped through the notes. "Beagle might be a chicken-shit for a lawman, but he's a pretty thorough spy."

Sarah cringed. "Something tells me that's more of a hobby for him than part of his job."

"He wrote down a pretty good description of these guys, especially the man in the checkered suit. Should make it easier to find them." He put the notes down and took another swig of coffee. "House sure went to a hell of a lot of trouble to make sure that chip was delivered. Hiring six couriers, five of them carrying decoys."

Sarah agreed. "And you remember what Nash said about the 'robot cowboy' who hired them?"

Marcus nodded. "Victor. It has to be. We suspected he worked for House, now this confirms it. Which means he didn't save me during the firefight with the Powder Gangers out of kindness. Yet despite all of these precautions, these three guys still managed to steal the chip….which can only mean one thing."

"That whoever this guy in the checkered suit is works for House and is looking to double-cross him." Sarah finished. "The question is, why? Is he looking to sell this chip and make money?"

Marcus finished his coffee and shook his head. "I don't think so. A chip this important - no profession would just bargain away. I just wish we knew why it was so damn important."

As they sat in silence and pondered this, Johnson Nash walked up next to them. "I'm almost finished with your new identification papers. All I need is a picture of you. There's a camera set up in my office across the street."

Marcus and Sarah both stood up, and as they were about to leave, Sarah pointed to their other companions. "What do you want to do about them?"

Lily's mouth was wide open and she was snoring loudly, and Follows-Chalk's head was resting on her left shoulder - a steady stream of drool from the you tribal running down it.

Marcus chuckled and shook his head. "We'll come back for them later."

Marcus and Sarah followed Nash to his office. Once inside he led them into a small back room that had a camera set up on one end, and a stool in front of a white canvas on the other. Sarah went first and decided to give herself the name Sarah Tikaani, in honor of the young Inuit sniper they'd met in the Operation Anchorage simulation. Even though she had been only an AI, it was based on the actual Corporal Tikaani who fought at Anchorage, and Sarah mourned her loss as if she were a member of the Pride.

Next up was Marcus, and Nash took two pictures for good measure.

"It should take only a few minutes to download the picture and print out your I.D. Now all you have to do is pick a name….unless you want people to believe your mother named you Six."

Marcus shifted in his seat. "To tell you the truth I….can't remember my real name….but I've kinda gotten use to Six."

Nash nodded his head. "That's okay. Lots of folks use an alias on their I.D." Nash's printer came to life, and in a few seconds he handed the forgery to Marcus. "Here you go, young man, you are now a proud citizen of the NCR."

"Thank you, Nash." He handed the trader a bag of caps, but Nash turned it down. "That's not necessary. You got rid of those Powder Gangers, so we're even."

After thanking him once again, Marcus and Sarah were about to leave when something in the corner of Nash's work bench caught Marcus' eye. He walked over and removed a small tarp….and his eyes shot wide open.

"Sarah….take a look at this."

Sarah made her way over to him and her body immediately tensed when she saw what it was. "Is that….what I think it is?"

Marcus nodded. "An Enclave eyebot." He inspected it closer. "A pretty old, beat up Enclave eyebot." His ran two of his fingers over two bullet holes in it's armor. "Looks like it was shot by a sniper. And look at this - there's a bumper sticker on it."

Sarah leaned in closer. "My child is an honor student at Roosevelt Academy. Roosevelt Academy that's….that's in the Capital!"

"This little guy must've traveled all the way from the East Coast." Marcus inspected the other side of the bot. "Look at this….someone used a license plate to patch up it's armor. Chicago, Illinois. The rest of it's faded except for the letters ED-E."

With curiosity getting the better of him, Marcus plugged his PIPBOY into one of the eyebots USB ports.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to be messing with this thing?" Sarah asked, concern clearly in her voice.

"If this thing really did travel across the country who knows what information it may have on it." He leaned in closer and lowered his voice. "It may even have information on the Brotherhood."

Sarah still didn't like it, but she couldn't argue the logic. "Alright. But if I hear the voice of John Henry Eden coming out of this thing I'm turning it to scrap."

"Deal. Alright Moira, what'd ya got for me."

Moira's avatar appeared on the screen. "Well, there's an awful lot of files in this little guy, and most of its encrypted." She paused for a moment and appeared to be deep in thought. "Hu….that's interesting. According to this he's an advanced prototype called a duraframe model. Unlike the ones back home that just broadcasted propaganda, these were designed for sustained combat….which would explain the small laser gun mounted on it."

Sarah blew through her lips. "It's good thing the Enclave never massed produced them. Can you imagine swarms of these things all over the Capital?"

Marcus shuttered at the thought. "Any idea where he was built, and why he was sent all the way out here?"

Again, Moira seemed to be deep in thought as she processed hundreds of megabytes of data in seconds. "All I can make out is he was built at Adams Air Force base. There's too much corruption and damage to make out anymore. Unless we fix this little guy up, that's about all the info we're gonna get."

Marcus cursed under his breath….but then he had an idea. "Moira, could you reprogram the eyebots friend or foe parameters?"

Moira cocked her head to the side. "Ummmmmmm, yeah sure."

Alarm bells began going off in Sarah's head. "Marcus. What are you doing?"

Before he could answer, Johnson Nash walked behind the counter. "Ah, I see you found Eddie."

Marcus gave him a puzzled look. "Eddie?"

"Yeah you know: ED-E. That's what it says on that license plate. Kind've a nickname me and the wife gave it. A few years ago one of our Couriers brought it in all banged up, not working. Wanted to trade it for a few caps. I figured I could repair it and use it to help me out around here, but I haven't been able to get the damn thing to work."

"Do you mind if I take a look?"

Nash shrugged. "Help yourself. Hell, I was about to turn it into salvage before those Powder Gangers showed up. Tell you what, if you can get it running I'll let you keep it."

Marcus' eyes lite up. "Thank you, Nash. Would it be okay if we use your workbench?"

Nash nodded. "Just as long as you clean up after yourself."

Sarah grabbed Marcus arm and turned him around. "Are you crazy?!"

Marcus responded with a smirk. "Maybe."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "I'm serious! You know what this thing is. How do you know the moment you turn it back on it won't try to kill us?"

"You heard what Moira said, we can reprogram it."

"Yeah, and the last time she reprogramed RL-3 he nearly burned down Megaton trying to kill a radroach."

"Hey," Moira snapped, "all I did was convince him that the radroaches were communist. I figured it was the best way to get rid of them."

Marcus placed his hand on Sarah's shoulder. "Relax. We'll be careful, and if something goes wrong then you can blast it with your gauss rifle."

Sarah wanted to protest further, but one look into Marcus' brown eyes and she gave up. "You know….I'm starting to think you really were shot in the head." She jabbed her finger in his chest. "You be careful." She looked down at the avatar on his PIPBOY. "Both of you."

Moira made the outline of an X on her chest. "Cross my heart, and hope not to die."

As it turned out, Johnson Nash had everything necessary to repair and reactivate the eyebot in his workshop. With the information Moira was able to download, she and Marcus were able to bring ED-E as he was called back on line after two hours. As the eyebot hummed back to life, Marcus and Sarah stood back and watched as it slowly began to rise off the workbench. Sarah took the safety off her guass rifle and was ready to blast the eyebot at the slightest hint it would attack. To the relief of both of them, the eyebot began to communicate with a series of beeps.

"Moira, can you understand what it's saying?" Marcus asked.

"Yes. He's asking for a designation."

Marcus breathed a sigh of relief. "I guess the reset worked." He approached the eyebot. "Can you understand me?"

The bot beeped while simultaneously bobbing up and down.

"He said yes." Moira said.

"Okay, good. Designation…..ED-E."

The eyebot seemed to respond, and Marcus looked to Moira for the translation. "He said affirmative."

Sarah eased the grip she had on her guass rifle and slowly approached. "Can you ask it what it's original mission was?"

Before Moira could act, ED-E responded with another series of beeps.

"He says he was instructed to go to the Enclave base in Navarro to bring them research data on the duraframe eyebots."

"Navarro was the Enclaves main base of operations in California." Sarah said. "But it was overrun in 2247."

Marcus looked at ED-E with awe. "That was over thirty years ago. You've been traveling the Wasteland for that long?"

ED-E beeped an affirmative.

Marcus felt compelled to ask the next obvious question. "ED-E, have you ever made contact with the Western Brotherhood of Steel?"

The eyebot began shaking and beeping in a distressful tone, and this caused Sarah to step back and raise her rifle.

"It's okay, it's okay, little guy." Moira spoke as a mother would to a frightened child. "The big, bad brotherhood's not going to hurt you."

ED-E appeared to calm down, and Sarah lowered her rifle. "I don't think we need a translation for that."

Marcus took a deep breath. "ED-E, the Brotherhood is no longer the enemy. Understand?"

The eyebot beeped an affirmative.

"Good. When's the last time you saw any of them?"

He responded with more beeps, and soon Moira translated. "He said the last time he saw the Brotherhood was just outside of Chicago."

Sarah cursed under her breath. It seemed like all they ever hit were dead ends.

"But," Moira continued, "he did pick up a few of their radio transmissions before he was knocked out."

Sarah nearly jumped for joy. "He did! Where? When!?"

"A place called Nellis Air Force base. Apparently he was going by there and a sniper took him out."

Marcus quickly checked the location on his PIPBOY. "Look at this….Nellis is not very far from where Lenny told us the abandoned Brotherhood bunker is. Hey Nash!"

Johnson Nash entered the room. "Oh, well I'll be. You actually got'em working."

"Nash you said a Courier brought this eyebot to you?" Marcus asked.'

"That's right."

"Do you remember when?"

Nash rubbed his chin. "I wanna say….about a year and half ago."

The was no containing the excitement in Sarah's eyes, and she grabbed Marcus by the arm. "Marcus….this means they could still be here - alive!"

Marcus looked at ED-E and grinned. "I knew this little guy would come in handy. So tell me, what are your capabilities, ED-E?"

Without warning, ED-E turned and blasted a hotplate off the workbench with his laser, causing everyone to jump.

"What in Sam Hill…." Nash yelled.

Before anyone could react, the eyebot hovered over the smoldering pieces of the hotplate, and suddenly three small robotic appendages sprang from ED-E, and in a matter of seconds he had rebuilt the destroyed hotplate as good as new.

Everyone stared at the eyebot with their jaws dropped open.

"Wow." Marcus finally said.

ED-E began beeping again.

"Are you serious?" Moira asked. "That is so cool!"

"What did he say, Moria?"

"He said that since he and I can link up he can use his sensors to greatly extend the range of my motion sensor. We'll be able to see bad guys much further away!"

Marcus couldn't believe their luck. "ED-E, we're on our way to New Vegas. Would you like to travel with us?"

The eyebot shook up and down and beeped with excitement.

"He said…."

"That's okay, Moira. I don't think we need a translation for that."

Sarah grabbed Marcus' hand and practically pulled him out the door. "Come on, we've got to wake up the others!"

Marcus groaned. 'I guess I'll sleep when I'm dead', he thought.

The next day, near the Mojave Outpost….

Marcus took a deep breath as he, Follows-Chalk and Dogmeat approached the main gate to the Mojave Outpost. Unlike the NCR checkpoint at Primm, this facility looked more professional (and intimidating). Three well armed and alert guards stood at the main gate, along with a Sentry bot. Up on the roof of the main building, Marcus spotted a sniper's nest being manned by what looked like an albino woman, and several 50. Caliber machine gun nests were also on the roofs and grounds of the outpost.

After seeing all of this security, Marcus was grateful that they had decided it would be best if Sarah waited with Lily and ED-E at the abandoned gas station at the bottom of the hill. There was not telling how the NCR troopers and Rangers would react to the sight of a Nightkin and an Enclave eyebot….but Marcus was certain he didn't want to find out the hard way. Clutching his new I.D in his hand, he said a silent prayer that it would be able to fool the soldiers. "The moment of truth." He said under his breath.

They reached the main gate and one of the soldiers held out his hand. "Identification papers, please."

Marcus casually handed them to the guard. The soldier's eyes scanned Marcus, then the papers, then back to Marcus again. Finally, he handed them back. "You can go in, citizen. Now your tribal friend doesn't need I.D, but he'll have to register at the main office."

Marcus felt the weight come off his shoulders. "Thank you, sir."

The soldier nodded and opened the gate. "Have a good day."

Once Follows-Chalk had registered with the main office, the three companions entered the local watering hole. Several soldiers who were not on duty were inside eating breakfast (though many of them seemed to be drinking their breakfast). The young woman tending to the bar smiled and greeted them. "New faces in the Outpost. Must've come from the North. So, what'll ya have?"

"My friend and I need some provisions."

The bar keep, who's name was Lacey, responded with a nod. "If you've got the caps we can hook you up."

"Great. We could also use some ammo and microfusion cells if you've got'em."

"Ummmm, fraid I can't help you with that. If I were you I'd go talk with Ranger Jackson. He might have equipment he's willing to sell or trade."

Marcus turned to Follows-Chalk and handed him a satchel of caps. "Here….why don't you get the provisions while I go find this Jackson."

The young tribal nodded. "I will." He opened the satchel and stared at the caps. "I still do not understand what value these have. I suppose you can make a nice necklace out of them."

Lacey had to hold in her laugh. "You're lucky I'm honest. If any other merchant heard you talking like that they'd take you for a ride."

The young tribal stared at both of them with confusion. "A ride on what?"

Marcus rolled his eyes and placed his hand on Follows-Chalk's shoulder. "Never mind." He turned to Lacey. "Take care of my friend here, alright."

Lacey could no longer hold back her smile. "Don't worry, I'll be gentle with him."

Marcus thanked her, and both he and Dogmeat left the bar. They made their way back over to the main office and spoke to Major Knight; the soldier who had registered Follows-Chalk. 'Back again, I see."

"I'm looking for Ranger Jackson."

"Who's asking?" Said a voice just to Marcus' left.

The Lone Wanderer turned and spotted who he could only assume was Ranger Jackson. "My name is Six, I'm a courier with the Mojave Express."

The two men shook hands. "Courier, hu? Does this mean you've got a package for me?"

"Actually I was told you might be able to help me acquire some supplies. Specifically ammo and microfusion cells."

The Ranger shook his head. "Sorry, but I'm not authorized to sell our equipment to civilians….unless," The ranger began to rub his chin as he looked Marcus up and down, "unless you'd be able to do me a favor. In which case a few supplies might go missing."

"Okay. And just what would I have to do for these missing supplies?"

"The road out of here has been jammed up for weeks with a swarm of giant ants, and I can't spare the manpower to clear them out. I've got Caravans backed up from here to the Hub, and I need someone to clear that road. If you can do that, then I'll make sure you're rewarded for you troubles."

Marcus thought about it for a moment. Playing exterminator wasn't exactly how he wanted to spend his day, but just like back home in the Capital, doing favors for people was how things got done. He reached out and shook the Ranger's hand. "You've got a deal."

Lacey handed the cumberson box of food and water to Follows-Chalk. "Here you go my friend….try not to eat it all in one place, now."

Follows-Chalk carefully lifted the box off the bar. "Thank you, very much." He turned and was heading for the door when an NCR trooper stepped in front of him. "Well, well, what've we got here?"

The way the trooper was slurring his words and the smell from his breath told Follows-Chalk that the man was drunk. "Excuse me, please." He tried to move to his right, and instead bumped into another drunken trooper. "Where you going with all this food, boy? Everyone knows you tribals live off of nuts and berries and shit."

Follows-Chalk heard movement behind him, and a third drunken trooper was standing there, boxing him in. "Hell….I heard these tribals eat each other."

The young tribal was cornered, outnumbered, and his hands were busy holding the cumbersome box. If this got ugly….

"I don't want trouble. Now let me pass. Please."

The three troopers responded with a laugh, and the one standing directly in front him raised both his hands. "No trouble. We're just having a little fun, that's all." He stepped aside and motioned for the tribal to pass. "After you."

Follows-Chalk gave them each a weary look before proceeding. At the last moment the soldier stuck out his foot, causing the young tribal to fall face first - the contents of the box scattering all over the floor.

"Oops!" The soldier laughed. "I guess these savages haven't figured out how to walk yet."

"Looking for trouble?" Said a voice from behind the troopers.

The soldier who had tripped Follows-Chalk turned around - and was immediately hit with a hard right hook that sent him down on his ass.

The other two troopers stood with their mouths gaped open as the blue eyed cowgirl, with a caravan shotgun strapped to her back, slung her head back and finished off a bottle of whiskey. She then tossed the now empty bottle over her shoulder and raised both fists. "Cause you've come to the right place."

Note: So, SO sorry this has taken so long to update. Between the holidays, home improvements and the release of Fallout 76, well, you know...

I hope this was worth the wait, and I promise, I WILL finish this.