24 Years.
24 Years had it been she had been born in the hellscape that was once the beacon of humanity left in the horrors of the wasteland. 24 years had she wandered through the Tunnel infested roads of the Mojave Desert. 24 Years she had seen the horrors of the Cloud and its manifestation in full view. 24 Years she had lived with fear and desperation her entire life. 24 Whole years. . .24 Whole fucking years in this hellhole. And she truly never escaped the Mojave, not that she was going to attempt to escape any time soon that is.
The Dust Survivor dryly stared through the former area of Lake Mead as her steps went over the cracks of the new uneven land mass as she slowly and silently got ever so close to "The Tomb". The last place that the Courier had resided. While unconfirmed, she had gone hell and back to find at least some kind of secret place that the fucker would have found or created. Even going so far as going into the Big Empty to see if the bastard made the location into some fortress, only to be met with a warzone when she woke up in a strange building.
Guess being nice with the Brotherhood in Searchlight did have its benefits after all. As the carnage she saw in that swamp infested old world sight would've killed her within seconds if she didn't know how to wear power armor that region provided.
She then stopped right down toward a ladder that would be an open space that seems separated from the rest of the dried lake. One which contained multiple dead corpses. Animals and Humans alike, some were skeletons with them a decade old, skeletons that appeared to be a couple years old. While some were mere weeks ago.
So this was it eh? Rotting away in a good view from the strip.
The Gas Mask wearer looked down again in silence before merely sighing before the survivor braced herself as the Survivor dropped down into the tomb and landed with a roll before standing back up. She checked herself to see if there was any damage from the initial fall but found nothing wrong or any pain whatsoever. Her eyes then darted at a singular wooden door that stood out from the rest of the rotting corpses.
The Dust Survivor then slowly crouched down as she approached the wooden door. She already experienced the traps the piece of shit put down all over Lake Mead. Hell she almost lost her god damn legs due to a mine deep in the ground, the only thing she was glad that she had stimpacks, especially having a [Adamantium Skeleton] does help with keeping her limbs together.
Well. Half the time that is.
Her feet ever got so close toward the door as her fists were clenching ever so slightly for the the lightest bit of some kind of bomb going off in her feet again. So to say that there wasn't a trap from the ladder to the door was, surprising to say the least. But only an idiot would think that beyond the door the traps would suddenly stop.
The Survivor placed her hand on the handle and slowly opened the door to reveal the shrouded darkness inside of the tomb. Too dark that it forced her other available hand to go up to her Elite Ranger Helmet and turn on the implanted flashlight which lit up the hollow pathway to se- oh there's a tripwire right there.
The Dust Samatha proceeded to carefully disarm the tripwire [22 Repair] to which made a snap sound without the sound of a grenade going off, so carefully she walked inside as she promptly closed the door behind her. From the dry sand was now replaced by stone as her steps now walked in a solid surface prompting her to now not look at her feet but now at her surroundings as the light in her helmet was always directed toward something.
The woman then saw light emitting from a corner, and seeing that some of the pathways was blocked by rubble she turned off the flashlight helmet implant as she slowly moved, walked toward the emitted light and looked to see.
Well.
The usual empty and bent cans, a lot of empty bottles, a bunch of trash laying around, some freshed up corpses that look like NCR mercenaries, packs of empty Radaways bags, chunks of Med x syringes all over the floor, a broken Securitr-. This is the place.
The Survivor then looked down toward the ladder as she slowly descended down into the ground surface. Upon landing on the ground, she pulled out her handheld Pipe-Boy 2500 as an AA-12 materialized in her very hands as she loaded in a fresh drum mag into the Auto Combat Shotgun. She then looked at her Pip-Boy 2500 once more as she checked the ammo she had stored in the Pip-Boy's internal storage.
[12 Gauge Shotgun Shell (35000)]
. . . Okay that's not right.
She then smacked the pip-boy a couple times before looking down onto it again.
[12 Gauge Shotgun Shell (350)]
Stupid piece of junk.
The Survivor wasn't sure why exactly, but just a couple days ago the handheld Pip-Boy started to either malfunction or just not work entirely. [42/100 Science] She wasn't entirely sure why that was the case, maybe the time of age is finally caught up towards the handheld machine? Maybe the amount of shit she went through is not suitable for the machine itself. She didn't fucking know.
She was very much hoping that she could retrieve the Couriers pip-boy to replace the one she had, if he hadn't destroyed it already that is. But it was pretty much still wishful thinking regardless.
The Dust Survivor slowly walked toward the gun downed Securitron as she began to see if the broken machine had any bullets or missiles that she could store. She didn't find anything as it was an assumption that the Courier simply took off any ammunition and replenished it to any other Securitrons that he had left. Though the Securitron did have a tape inside of it, to which the Survivor simply picked up the tape and out a state of slight curiosity, plucked the tape inside of the Securitron as the there a slight static in the other end before text from the Securitron finally began to form.
THE FOLLOWING IS A TEXT TRANSLATION OF AUDIO RECORDED ON _4/3/2301_
(All audio property of House Industries c2077)
USER 1: They. . They tried to pin this on me you know... all of this.
USER 1: After Hoover Dam the NCR had a price on my head. They said I was a terrorist. A war criminal. But all I did, I did for Vegas.
USER 1:
USER 1: I FUCKING DID FOR VEGAS!
USER 1: I FUCKING DID.
USER 1: *Violent coughing*
USER 1: . . .
USER 1: *Incomprension speech*
USER 1: . . .
USER 1: A price for a head. And now you've come to pay it.
USER 2: *Muffled screaming*
USER 1: *Dull thud*
*End Recording*
The words that were present in Securitron slowly disappeared as it was once again replaced by the static tape itself were then slowly ejected from the receiver as she calmly picked it up as the tape disappeared from her hand as it was stored into the handheld pip-boy internal storage.
She stared at the broken mangled machine for a split second before making her attention towards an open part of the cave to which was lit up clear by some of the open parts of the cave shining in light.
She slowly walked toward the opening to which it led down further into the cave. And the moment she looked down on the cave, she was met with an actual well functioning Securitron who upon seeing the Dust Survivor, almost immediately the machine opened up a 9mm Submachine Gun from its right arm just in time for the Survivor to jump into [Bullet Time] as the bullets began to prey onto the Dust Survivor. [Agility 9] In swift motion, she moved to the side as the bullet landed where she was previously at.
She placed her AA12 in her back as she materialized a Homemade Pulse Grenade in her left hand as she took a peak and saw that it was already making its move. Taking a quick course of action, The Dust Survivor activated the grenade as she rolled it down as she braced herself from the electrical sphere as it activated.
Upon hearing the dissipation of the pulse grenade activation, she quickly pulled out her AA12 as she saw the active robot in the grenade being electrocuted. Not wanting to give the chance of it getting back, she unloaded about 5 shots into the machine before the screen shut off signaling its shutoff.
The Dust Survivor walked forward as she the broken down Securitron laying there, she crouched down as she began to take whatever ammunition the robot had. It had a bunch of 9mm bullets, good ones that is, not any junk rounds, even some grenades and missiles in a sizable margin. How lucky.
She then stood pack up as she moved inward, and when she even took a step onto the next section of the cave, [Perception 2/8] a shot came out deep into the cave which shot directly at her knee causing her to collapse to the floor.
Acting quickly in adrenaline, she manifested a stimpack onto her hands and injected it directly in the knee before time slowed down considerably as she moved to dodge to the side as the next bullet that came over where her head was previously at.
-
So.
Another decided to join the fray eh?
No matter, they'll just end up just like the others.
The Courier pulled two bullets and inserted them inside of his personal Grand. 50. Hearing the click inside of his gun, he simply began to quietly move forward to put an end to another poor mercenary who was dumb enough to not hear his warning and let their pride take the best of them.
But it did cause a wake up call for him, as now he has to realize the fact that this is the quickest time a mercenary had gotten after the lead just a mere week after he dealt with the previous mercs. Maybe the NCR was truly back into the Mojave.
Heh.
And he was stupid enough to think that the NCR learned their lesson after their previous failed expedition back in 2301. Of course that wasn't the case, the bear was always hungry for their never ending conquest, not after taking Vegas from him and losing the Mojave to the Lanius's Legion. Cause he has to check if the NCR has stationed themselves around Camp Gulf once again, maybe they got bolder from last time and are now directly in the previous abandoned camp near his home.
Maybe he should pay a visit after dealing with this mercenary.
When he got closer towards the big rock that it took cover in as noted by the fresh blood, knowing the unlikely possibility of the person escaping, he broke the silence by sprinting up next to the rock, raising his Grand .50 towards the where the mercenary and. .
Seeing nothing on the other end. . not even any foot marks of blood or anything.
He was completely baffled, where the fuck did that person go?! He didn't hear the person leave the spot! So where the fuc-
[10 Perception] He heard the sudden dissipation of a cloak turning off, one related to that of a stealth boy from behind. He then heard the sound of an Automatic Shotgun being raised from the person's back as it was pointed most definitely at him.
Moving with quick agility, The Courier practically threw himself as the figure behind him started to unload his shotgun where he was at, and kept on firing as the person kept shooting it's weapon as it was slowly being directed toward him as the bullets were moved closer and closer by each shot.
Aiming quickly, the Courier raised his weapon up and the moment the figure appeared out of the corner, a single shot was fired from the Grand .50. And much to the disappointment to the Courier, the shot didn't even hit the merc but instead only hit the AA12 shotgun which broke the weapon in an instant. The merc seeing the gun non responsive anymore, the weapon disappeared from her very hands as it was replaced with a Machete.
Great!
[100 Science] A fucking pip-boy user.
Absloute fucking joy.
[Lucky 1/10] The Courier attempted to give another shot off only for the gun to jam all of a sudden. The Merc immediately took the opportunity to launch forward as he rolled to the side barely missing the mark of the Machete. The Courier quickly stood up as he almost got a bladed melee directly towards his neck had he not blocked the bladed weapon with his Grand .50.
Within the split second that the machete made contact with his rifle. He saw the figure's eyes within the hybrid mashup of a NCR Elite Ranger helmet and a Gas Mask setup earlier similar to that of the Ghost People. He saw through the blue lens of the Hybrid Face its eyes. It's bloodshot eyes looking at him with unrestrained pure rage that had been harvested for far too long. It was at that moment that he truly realized that this woman wasn't a mercenary sent by the NCR to kill him or one seeking glory and greed.
Nay.
This one was for absolute personal rage and retribution against his very being of existence.
The woman retracted her Machete once more and launched it forward with the Courier blocking it once more with his gun before, already knowing that the rifle's condition was at this point Brahmin shit. He opted for the more direct option.
[Unarmed 65] He dematerialized the Grand .50 which now in his place was a Power Fist in his right hand to which he gave a hard punch which caused the Women to drop the Machete from her hand and caused her to go flying backwards to which she landed on her back. He took advantage of her unfortunate predicament as he rushed forward with his right fist up with the women trying to get back up.
Well, it looked like she was getting back up so she could dodge his attack, what he didn't expect was for her to immediately go forwards and tackle him into the ground with the sudden shift of movement. She was now on him as she immediately went forward with punching the absolute shit out of him that it began to disorientate his vision.
The punches that the woman was giving her were strong. Hell it could be compared to Veronicas if it was combined with psycho. The lens of his helmet finally gave way as they finally cracked under the pressure of the women's punches to see the state of him. She manifested a combat knife in her right hand as she directed it directly into the Courier's neck and let the entire blade sink in as she violently yanked it out.
And this was the first mistake that she made. Because that move alone would be enough to kill any normal human person, it would make them suffocate in their blood as they would need an immediate stimpack to heal it.
The Courier wasn't a human being anymore. Not for a long time.
Given this grateful amount of time with the women just waiting for him to suffocate, he manifested Lucky and activated vats as he raised it up towards the center mass of the women. The women didn't have any time to counter it whatsoever as a single shot was enough to knock the figure away from him as now she was on ground squirming a bit.
Maybe he should've lobotomized Veronica when he had the chance.
Ah oh well, no point dwelling on a lost opportunity.
The Courier got up from his beat down as he approached the women. From what it looked like, he shot her directly in the kidney. Which should've been fatal at any normal capacity, seemed to be completely nullified by some perk that she had gained.
He then saw the woman manifest a stimpack from her left hand and attempted to inject it where he had shot her, but he wasn't gonna let this woman have a chance in the slightest.
[100 Unarmed/10 Strength] He rushed forward and grabbed ahold of the woman's left hand and yanked it so hard that it instantly ripped off the rest of her left arm entirely.
This was the first time the women actually yelled out in pain, maybe the other interaction she was pumped up in Med-X that she couldn't felt a thing until her fucking arm got torn off. Didn't particularly matter, as now she didn't have access to her pip-boy anymore.
He looked back towards the women who tried to kill him, he could see the pain that was emitting from her lens, she wasn't screaming bloody murder and grunting in pain, just pure silence as her eyes were completely directed towards her missing limb. The Courier could see the amount of blood she was already losing and could see that this one was. .
Unique?
Just the sight of the women just trying to kill him despite the incredible odds reminded a little about himself. Kinda like he did back in the Divide with that self loathing fuck Ulysses and both with Legate Lanius and General Oliver. Both were good fights and almost killed him, but guess having an army of robots does help.
Just wished he capped that fucking general a second time after he got through his power armor and his "Elite" Rangers. Fucking cunt bastard.
Feeling the broken glass within his face, he then proceeded to remove the Desert Ranger helmet as he got a good look on how this lady destroyed it and in doing so he truly revealed what was behind the helmet.
A ghoul.
The wasteland after Hoover Dam hasn't been too kind to him, never had been to begin with, but it always appeared that he decided the best option for Vegas was independence, it decided to fuck him over in every fucking conceivable way, wether it'd be the Third Battle of Hoover with the Legions Toxic Cloud or the NCR's brutal offensive into Vegas itself, it was all to put to shit all the shit he had accomplished.
If this was supposed to be fate's attempt at his life with these women, then they have to try harder than that.
The Courier then dropped his broken helmet towards the ground as he pulled out Lucky once more and pointed it directly at the dazed woman who was still distracted with her open wound to their arm. The Courier had an eerie grin as the barrel of his revolver was pointed down towards the woman's head.
And with a twisted chuckle he gravely stated towards the women. "This is the end of the road galley".
He then pulled the trigger on Lucky.
There were many things that the Dust Survivor hated more than else in this god forsaken planet.
And it was giving satisfaction to those who try to either take advantage of any misfortune that fell upon her, or those who try to fulfill their sadistic needs when they have her knocked down and beaten.
She could always remember her horrid times back in the sewers as she could remember the start of complete insanity that she endured there. The Cannibals in every corner waiting to get their teeth deep into her skin, the Ghost People tirelessly running after her, the clicks of blood and water covering the bed of every tunnel. The sick. The horrors that encompassed the tunnels alone made her feel completely helpless.
That is what she felt when the Courier towered over with his revolver. The feeling of helplessness was his entire embodiment, seeing his sidearm looking at him with that hellish face that used to belong to a man, she felt afraid. .
But it also angered her.
Hearing the mocking words of the man who destroyed the Mojave, the same man who was indirectly responsible for the death of her mother back in Cannibal Camp. The one who gave hell for the sake of being the monstrous fuck that he was.
Even despite the amount of fear and pain that she herself was in. She just glared at the ghoul as his finger pulled the trigger of his revolver, and in the brace of time itself, she shut her eyes as the anticipating bullet would blow her very head off.
Only for. .
[Lucky 10] . . A click to take its place.
The Courier's grin evaporated within a second as he pressed it again only for it to be a click before lowering it down. The ghouls face morphed into that of an angered cannibal as he open the Revolver as he began to take a bullet out of his front pocket.
Not questioning the odd predicament that the Courier found himself in, she took the opportunity.
[Quick Draw] Thanks to whatever doses of Med-X remained in her system, she was able to take in the horrid pain in her chest and missing arm so her right hand would go into her holster and pulled out a Ranger Sequoia and pointed it directly at the Courier.
But due to the drawbacks of missing her arm, she had to aim carefully and quickly on that as the Courier took full notice of the hit and directed his revolver back at the Survivor and both having their place of target in sight. Both pulled the trigger on their separate revolvers.
Two shots were heard.
And one was shot faster than the other.
One contained a ,45-70 Gov't (Magnum Sized) round, made contact with the head of the infamous Courier exploding the moment the bullet entered the head.
Another contained a .357 Magnum round which upon firing, landed straight on the neck of the Dust Survivor.
One was killed immediately while the other was left suffocating on their own blood.
As the headless corpse of the Courier landed alongside whatever bloody mess it had, the Dust Survivor had released her hold on the Ranger Sequoia as her hand was retracted towards her neck as the blood started to pour out of her neck.
Her mind was dazed as any motion of time felt incredibly slow, the pain was now nullifying the effects of the Med-X, but she didn't scream or squirm. She was there, feeling as if she was coughing out her own blood in her hybrid mask.
The Survivor began to feel her vision to black out as black spots were now visible in her dizzied state indicating the loss of too much blood. As the bullet in her throat caused her to be spilling out blood from her mouth. There was slow rampant light emitting from her torn off arm, a light that got brighter and brighter as her vision slowly began to close.
As she held in her final breath filled with blood, there was a flash that encompassed her entire vision as everything suddenly went black.
There was a moment of peace within the countryside, the night was a bright blue with the colorful green grass all around that could be seen for miles, a peace that seemed unbreakable.
Then there was a sudden surge of light energy that manifested out of thin air as the form of a human body was soon captivated with its left arm separated from the body. It then moved slowly as it was then soon connected with the human body almost as if it was brand new.
As soon as the light appeared, it was so quick that it disappeared. Leaving only a human with odd looking armor to stumble forward dazed as if it was drunk.
The human hastily placed it's hands on its mask, as they took it off from their face, they landed on their knees as they puked out their own blood. And containing with their blood were two small metal cylinders that were fitted with gold shelling. The figure's hands began to shake all of a sudden as their body suddenly collapsed as they fell unconscious.
There was now a new inhabitant in these strange lands. A stranger towards a world unlike her very own. One whose fate is completely unchained in the environment around her.
S.P.E.C.I.A.L (DUST SURVIVOR) First activated in 2301
Strength: 3
Perception: 1
Endurance: 4
Charisma: 5
Intelligence: 3
Agility: 3
Lucky: 6
Sanity: Disturbed
S.P.E.C.I.A.L (DUST SURVIVOR) last activated in 2304
Strength: 10
Perception: 2
Endurance: 8
Charisma: -1
Intelligence: 5
Agility: 10
Lucky: 10
Sanity: Controlled Insanity
Authors Notes: If you haven't figured it out, this would be revolving around the Survivor in Fallout: DUST. Check the mod out if you already haven't. And my first Fallout fic that I have ever created, so this would be fun. Hopefully if my writing skills won't hold me back.