"Sooo…What are we doing here again?" Six asked as Dinky the dinosaur - and signature mascot of Novac - appeared in the distance.
Ruby spun around on her heels and eyed the Courier with a wide smile whilst walking backwards. "Scouting talents for Mr. Torini of course!" She confidently answered
"And we're going to Novac becaaaaause?"
"You said there was a singer there."
"I did?" Six searched her brain for the moment she'd revealed such a thing, but the search came up empty.
"Yeah you did. Last night."
Six facepalmed her helmet so hard even the molerats could hear the clap. Of course Ruby had to ask shit when she was drunk. And to top it all off, SHE COULDN'T FUCKING REMEMBER SHIT! Great, amazing, stupendous even! When she wants to drink and forget, she still remembers. But when she just wants to kick back and relax on a nice summer night she can't remember anything. "Okay what did I say then?" Hopefully nothing too bad.
"That you were pretty sure you saw a man that used to sing in New Reno coming out of the general store in Novac."
"No, more like, other stuff."
"Hmmm." Ruby brought a hand to her chin. "Just your regular drunken ramblings I suppose? I mean, it sounded like you and the guys were having fun." She shrugged.
"Whataya mean it 'sounded'?"
"I just popped in to ask you guys if you knew anyone. Cass mentioned a ghoul comedian in the Wrangler and you the singer in Novac. Then I just went to bed and read some comics. Why do yo–" A smug smirk formed in her face. "Don't tell me you were worried you said something horrible and mean to me?~"
Any and all concern Six had seemed to mysteriously vanish at that precise moment. "Shaddap." Ruby's smirk did not waver. "Anyhow, there's just one more thing I don't understand."
"Shoot."
"What's with the dog?"
"Bark!"
Ruby had to hand it to herself, she was getting better at talking to people, even if the process was, well, rather slow. Had she tried to persuade James to let Mr Hadrian out of his contract when she first arrived, she would have probably been told to go take a hike. But now? She might've not been able to get him to drop the contract for free, but she at least managed to make him drop the price. And that was a win in her books.
Ruby pulled out the little cards Mr Torini had given her. With Hadrian and Billy hired she only had 2 more to go, one of which was that singer Six said she spotted in Novac. Though she had no clue who she was gonna give the last one to. She exited the Wrangler and leaned against the wall, next to Veronica who'd accompanied her on this little adventure -and totally not because she wasn't allowed to leave the Lucky 38 alone.
"Why the long face Rubes?" Veronica asked with her signature big smile. "You're almost done with your new job."
"Yeah, but I still don't know who I'm going to give the last one to. Torini wanted four, I have maybe three."
"You can't beat yourself over that. You haven't even gotten to the third yet. Take it one step at a time you know? Maybe by the time you give out your third card, you have a new lead." She handed Ruby a Nuka Cola Quartz which the teen readily took.
She sighed. "I guess you're right. I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we get there." She shrugged and drank from her soda.
"Hey, you're that kid that's been helping the people here in Freeside right?" The voice of a man snapped Ruby from her thoughts.
The man dressed in a…peculiar manner, with a cartoon style prisoner outfit and a leather jacket, not to mention the ridiculous haircut. Although ridiculous, the outfit was not unfamiliar by now.
"You're one of the Kings right?" Veronica was the first to speak.
"Right on Lady, I'mma cut to the chase as to not waste both yours, or my time. The King heard of lil' red riding hood here, and wants to meet her."
"The King wants to meet me?" Ruby tilted her head. What did the self proclaimed ruler of Freeside want with her?
"Don't rightfully know, I'm just the messenger." The Kings' member rolled his eyes.
Ruby thought about it for a moment. She's heard decent enough things about the King, plus Six said he was a decent guy when it came to Freeside's people. And it wasn't like she was leaving right at that instant. She looked at Veronica who merely shrugged. "Alright, I'll go meet with the King. Lead the way messenger dude."
"Hey- it's Pacer, pipsqueak. Do you know who I am?" Pacer frowned.
"Sorry, sorry." Ruby chuckled, drinking the rest of the soda before hucking it away. "Lead the way Pacer."
The trio walked through the busy streets of Freeside, finally reaching their destination after a few minutes walk. A building with a large guitar shaped neon sign with neon letters spelling he 'The King's'. The Kings' members at the lobby said their hellos to Pacer before he led Ruby and Veronica through a door to what looked like an auditorium with a stage right at the end and a member performing what looked like…a dance show?
"You see the man there in the white suit? That's the boss. I gotta bounce, have a cut schedule for right about now and Sergio's been dodging me for a week." Without giving her time to respond, he gave her a 3 finger wave and disappeared back to the lobby entrance.
Ruby approached the so-called 'the King' with Veronica right behind her, not making much of a noise. The man seemed enveloped by the performance as he didn't take his eyes off it.
"No, no, no!" He suddenly shouted, signaling the gang member to stop. "You gotta put more swing to it Mickey. You need to feel the zing you feel me? When you move you gotta feel like you're top of the world." The King sighed, finally noticing the two girls approach. "Take five Mickey." He waved him off and took a sip from his drink before addressing the teen. "Sorry for the sudden shoutin' lil' lady. Teachin' a person to swing like a king can be a stressful endeavor. But anyways, You must be Miss Rose and if my memory serves right, you must be Miss Santangelo correct?" In place of the manner of speaking the Families - like of those in the Tops- did in the Strip, the King's accent was a more suave one, and Ruby could swear she's heard a voice similar to that somewhere.
"Yeah. But you can just call me Ruby, the King-sir."
"Oh you can keep the Miss your 'highness'." Veronica flashed the man a smile.
The King let out a laugh at the complete contrast between the two. "Very well ladies." He gestured to the chairs next to his. "Please, take a seat."
Ruby did as asked, sitting down on the chair next to the King's and Veronica picked the one that put her next to Ruby. The leader grabbed the bottle of whiskey that laid on the table and poured himself another glass before moving to a second, empty glass. He hovered the bottle over it and looked at the teen expectantly.
"I don't drink." Ruby had come to learn that it was fairly common for kids to consume alcohol in the wasteland. One reason was due to alcohol being a non-irradiated drink that was more readily available than water. Two, because there simply weren't any societal norms dictating they couldn't.
It was easier to simply say she didn't drink.
The King nodded then filled up Veronica's glass -with no protest- and put the bottle back down. "Right so, you're probably wondering why I had one of my people sent to get you?" Ruby nodded. "It ain't no secret you've been helping around Freeside, the Followers, Garret twins, heck you'd probably help an old lady cross the street if she needed. That's all to say that you're good people Ruby. And I could use a good person like yourself. I promise I'd make it worth your while."
"Oh, so you just want to hire me?"
"Well that and I want to see what one of Courier Six's friends can do. Especially one so young."
Ruby and Veronica perked up at the mention of Six. "You know Six?"
"Something like that. Met her when I was in my late teens and let me tell you, she was far from the bundle of joy she is now." He chuckled and took a sip from his drink. "I suppose that's youth for you. At any rate, will you work for me?"
Ruby paused for a moment. The Kings were technically a gang, but she'd seen how they helped keep Freeside from falling apart. The money would be nice too. "Sure, what's the job?"
"Excellent! I'll start you off with something easy to get you in the flow. I'm sure you've noticed the bodyguards for hire near the gates to Freeside right?"
"Yes. What about them?"
"It's good money if you can stay alive long enough. Freeside's not as safe as it used to be, so the money is well earned." His eyebrows furrowed. "Usually well earned that is. Recently my men tell me that one of those bodyguards, fella named Orris, is making a little too much money. I want you to find out why."
"What if he's just good at his job?"
"Then we have nothing to worry about. The problem is if it isn't. You feel me?" She nodded. "Great! Here, this should be just enough to buy his services." He placed a pouch full with caps on the table. "Use these caps to hire him and see what you can find out."
"I'm on it!" Ruby did a quick salute before getting up, heading for the door and leaving the building.
"Well ladies, I usually charge two hundred caps per trip from here all the way to the Strip's entrace. But since such fine dames are asking for my services, I might just give you a discount. Listen baby;" He eyed Veronica with a sick smile. "A boy like me, a girl like you; we could work something out."
There were few words in the English dictionary to describe how much Veronica wanted to punch this man in the face at that precise moment for that vulgar mouth of his. And dames? Plural? Ruby's a fucking kid for crying out loud. Although she was so ready to open her mouth and teach the man some good old manners, the nagging voice of Head Scribe Taggart rang out in her mind. Oh how he just loooooved to go on rants about how she needed to 'mind her temper' and learn to 'suck it up' sometimes. Urgh, the only thing more annoying than him was that bitch Melissa Watkins.
Wait…What was she doing here again? Oh right she and Ruby were doing a job for the King.
"The two hundred caps will do fine." Ruby deadpanned, handing him the sack of caps the King gave her.
The mischievous smile on Orris' face faded. "Suit yourself. Now, you two do exactly what I tell you, when I tell you. Got it?" The two 'women' nodded. "Fantastic." He muttered to himself before he gestured to his employers to follow.
The trek through the ghetto was mostly peaceful, apart from the occasional drunken thug that would appear that Orris -to his credit- did scare off. It wasn't until they were close to the Strip's entrance that something different happened.
The three of them were only about 600 feet from the gate when Orris suddenly stopped in his tracks. He looked ahead with a squint before clicking his tongue. "I don't like those guys over there." He gestured to a group of less than friendly-looking Freeside locals huddled together against a building on the main street. "We're taking a detour around the building." He turned around and started going around the building, giving no room for debate.
Veronica raised an eyebrow at that. Up until now the merc didn't try to evade any of the thugs they'd come across up until now. Plus it wasn't like he looked like he couldn't handle a bunch of Freeside junkies with rolling pins and metal pipes for weapons. This had fishy written all over it.
Suddenly, Orris broke into a sprint, revolver in hand as he raced to the end of the street. As soon as he reached where the street intersected into the main street, he fired off 3 shots before holstering the gun.
Ruby and Veronica ran to Orris as soon as they registered what was happening, but by then he already had his gun holstered his revolver, and turning the corner there were 4 bodies on the floor.
The mercenary turned to the two with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. "Nothing to worry about ladies. If you had hired one of those other hacks, you'd be up your ass in lowlife right about now. Now, if we can proceed." He turned around ready to continue the trip.
"Just wait a sec." Ruby spoke up. "You only fired three shots and there's four bodies…"
Orris' face cringed. "W-Well hum, you see–"
"Plus," Veronica interrupted, crouching down to one of the bodies. "They aren't dead. The 'blood' is just sauce. It doesn't have the same metallic smell."
The mercenary -or rather, scammer- gritted his teeth. "You want a metallic smell? Sure thing. Boys, get them!"
The four thugs stood up, weapons in hand and ready for a fight. The one that Veronica was crouching down, lunged at her, grabbing her neck with both hands as both fell on the ground. This small victory was as short lived though as a power fist connected with his side, sending him flying and instantly knocking him out of the fight.
Good thing Veronica had made sure her power fist was operating on minimal energy. She really didn't want to deal with puddles of blood and flesh today.
She looked to her companion, Ruby had her revolver drawn but seemed frozen in place as two thugs rushed her.
Oh no. "RUBY!"
That seemed to snap Ruby of whatever was happening as she dodged the attacks of the thugs just in time, whilst doing that, she flipped the revolver in her hand, grabbing it by its barrel and immediately countering the second thug, hitting him in the jaw with the handle.
Now that Ruby was handling herself, Veronica could focus on her opponent. A thug rushed at her screaming his attack out. Veronica deadpanned and simply backhanded him with the power fist. "No you. You!" She pointed at Orris. "Oh, I've been itching to punch you in the face since this whole trip started, Orris."
A single drop of sweat ran down Orris' face. And one thought appeared in his blank mind. He'd done fucked up.
"You were right King. There was something fishy going about with Orris. He was scamming his clients by creating false attacks. But don't worry, we gave him a good whooping in the butt!" Ruby proudly proclaimed.
The King smiled. "Oh I believe you lil' lady. I'll just tell my men to take him off the streets for good. You've done well. Here's your payment." He put a pouch with 200 caps on the table.
"Thaaaank you~" Ruby grinned, scooping the pouch into her jacket.
"Now, are ya ready for the next job?"
"Yes sir!" She saluted.
"That's the spirit. To make a long story short, ever since the Strip opened some ten odd years ago, there's been a massive influx of newcomers and tourists to the city. This doesn't sit well with a lot of the locals and some resentment builds up. In turn, most of these newcomers, most of whom come from NCR, have gotten ornery from being resented. Sometimes things get violent. This is one of those occasions. Recently, a few friends of mine were attacked, and I want you to find out who did it. Word's come that they woke up over at the Followers'. Head on over there and see if they remember anything."
"I will head over right away!" She saluted again.
The King quietly snickered. "Good. I like the enthusiasm. Come back when you have something we can use."
"You got it boss."
Once more Ruby and Veronica left the Elvis School of Impersonation and headed over to the Old Mormon Fort. The Followers of the Apocalypse base was, as always, packed with patients and doctors running from one place to another. After exchanging pleasantries with Beatrice at the gate and a quick chat, she was pointed to a tent where quote 'two smoothskins who looked like they wrestled a yao-guai' were passed out.
Inside the tent there were two people, an older man probably entering his 50s named Roy and a young man, Wayne, probably no older than 20, the latter of which had definitely taken the worst from the fight. Roy couldn't recall much as according to his own words he was 'mostly faced down on the dirt, begging for his life'. Wayne on the other hand, proved to be somewhat more helpful.
"I don't remember much, my head's still throbbing from the beating. But I think I remember them calling out a name? I-I think it was Lou something? Argh, it had a 'T'...Tenant? Yes that's it. One of them was called Lou Tenant."
"You mean lieutenant?" Veronica asked.
"Is that not what I said?"
Veronica face palmed, Ruby stared blankly at the young man and Roy, Roy just sighed. "I'm sorry. The boy means well, he's just dumb as a mutant sometimes."
"Thanks for the help guys, you helped a lot." Ruby smiled at the two. "Now get some rest, you're still pretty beat up. Vee, can you step outside with me for a sec?"
The Scribe nodded and the two left the tent, huddling in a more quiet corner of the old fort.
"Lieutenant, that's a military rank right?"
"Mhm." Veronica nodded. "Should've guessed the NCR was involved in this somehow. So, what do we do now? Tell the King?"
Ruby hummed, looking at the passing doctors as she thought for a moment. The NCR and the King's pretty much hated each other. So just telling the King some NCR thugs beat up his friends might escalate the whole situation. As she milled over what to do, her eyes caught a passing Julie, talking to one of the doctors. "No. Let's investigate further. And I have an idea just where to start."
Ruby waved at Julie, who'd just finished talking to her colleague, as she approached the head doctor. The woman smiled as she saw the young teenager walk up to her. The bags under her eyes were darker than Ruby remembered. "What brings you here today Ruby?"
"Hey Julie. Me and Vee just stopped by to ask some questions to some guys who recently got beat up."
"Oh right, I was told about that. As far as I know they'll make a full recovery. But, why are you interested in this exactly?"
"Not me exactly. They're friends of the King and he hired me to find out who did it."
Julie rubbed her eyes. "Of course he did. And let me take a shot in the dark, this somehow has something to do with the NCR?"
Veronica and Ruby looked at each other then back at the doctor. "...how did you know that?" The Scribe asked.
She sighed, letting her shoulders fall. "There's been an increase in the number of people who've been coming to the fort after fighting with NCR squatters and just because our luck is just that good I surmised if the King was involved in this, then the NCR also had to. Because god forbid we have a day where nothing bad happens."
Julie looked more tired than angry really. Sure she looked upset that fights just kept breaking out, combined with the Followers' chronicle lack of everything meant they could never truly dedicate all the resources needed to heal people. "Sorry I started rambling. Did you need anything?"
"Actually yeah. Do you know anything about the NCR in the area? I assume you'd know something since a lot of people pass through here. If we can talk to whoever's in charge maybe we can stop these fights from happening altogether."
"That would certainly help things a lot around here…" She mumbled. "I don't know a lot. But a friend of mine, Major Elizabeth Kieran, has been handing out supplies to the poor a little west from here, close to the old train station. Elizabeth's in charge of the NCR's operations here in Freeside, talk to her about this. She might not be that forthcoming with you, in that case tell her I sent you. The mention of my name should help a bit."
"Thank you Julie! You helped tons."
"I'm glad I was able to help Ruby. Now I really have to get back to helping some patients."
"Y-Yeah, of course. Just don't forget to rest okay?"
"I'll rest after I take care of my patients." Julie waved her off and turned around, only to have Ruby step in front of her with her arms crossed. "I promise I'll rest Ruby. But these people really need me."
"Yup, that they do. And they won't have you if you work yourself to death Julie Farkas."
"But–" Julie to counter back, but her rebuttal was interrupted by a stare from Ruby, a stare that Julie was all too familiar with seeing on a certain Courier. "...fine. I'll check this one and I'll go get some rest. Happy?"
"Very much." Ruby smiled and waved at a passing doctor. "You, make sure Julie gets some rest after checking her next patient!" The doctor looked behind him, then back at Ruby, pointed to himself and tilted his head before nodding and shrugging.
After making sure Julie was going to get proper rest, the duo departed to the west side of town. The small smile on Julie's face did not go unnoticed by Veronica as they walked out of the fort.
Given the constant state of disrepair of the area that the NCR liked to make home in Freeside, it took a decent 30 minutes for Ruby and Veronica to get to the place Julie had told them about. It wasn't like there were NCR flags waving around -that'd be suicide really- but you don't tend to see buildings in Freeside being guarded by healthy young adults with a straight posture and standard issue NCR service rifles.
"Hey hum–"
"Hold up, what's the password."
Ruby looked at Veronica, who simply shrugged. "What password?"
"You can't enter without the password."
"But we–"
"Did you hear?" The other guard raised his voice and visible gripped the handle of his rifle harder. "No password, no enteri–"
"Listen here you little shit." Veronica stepped between Ruby and the guard. "We got business with the Major. So unless you want to incur Lizzie's wrath, you better let us go on through."
The guards instantly went wide-eyed at the thought of having the Major chew them out fro screwing things up and instantly backed down. "O-Of course! J-Just go on through." The guards stammered and stepped to the side, letting the duo enter the half collapsed building.
The inside of the building was packed, with 3 lines of NCR squatters waiting to be served food. Not wanting to cause a scene, they stepped inside on the lines and waited for the following 15 minutes before being face to face with Major Kieran.
"Welcome. Here, have some food and water. There's enough here for any citizen of the NCR." The major smiled and handed them a small bag with necessities.
"Do you not serve locals?"
"No, we don't. Do you have a friend you want to bring in, is that it?"
"Why don't you serve them?" Ruby tilted her head.
The Major frowned. "That's not exactly a pleasant topic of conversation sweetheart. We have our reasons."
"Please Major. Listen, we're not NCR citizens. Don't worry, we're not here to steal any food. We just want to understand why the there's been an increase in fights between the locals and NCR, and Julie Farkas said you'd be able to help us."
The frown on her face faded, being replaced with a surprised look. "You know Julie? Not everyone in the NCR sees eye-to-eye with the Followers, but they're mostly okay in my book, especially because of her." She sighed. "If you really want to know, we sent an envoy to the King offering to coordinate the relief effort for the destitute here in Freeside. All that got us was a beaten up envoy to the brink of death. My superiors ordered the relief mission scrapped. I managed to get clearance to carry out the mission anyway, but with a lot less support. Now there's not enough supplies to go around, even if I wanted to feed everyone in town, which I don't."
"But that's all in the past now. I really need to get back to work, but do say hi to Julie for me." The Major then turned to the next people in line and the duo exited the building.
"This doesn't make sense." Ruby spoke up as they started to make their way out of the squatters' area. "The King might not like the NCR, but he'd never screw over the people in Freeside."
"Yeah." Veronica nodded. "Something's up here. But there's only one way to find out." Veronica smirked and help out her fist.
Ruby reciprocated the smirk and fist-pumped her friend. "Lets get to the bottom of this! To the Kings'!"
Twenty minutes later they found themselves back at the King's School of Impersonation. but just as they were about to enter the hall and clear everything up with the King, Pacer and two other Kings' members blocked their entry, and they did not look happy.
"Hey there."
"Uhhh hi Pacer? What uh, what's up?" Ruby tilted her head.
"Nothing, nothing. It's just I heard that NCR soldier lady told you some wild story about sending a messenger to us to work out some sort of deal."
"How did you–"
"That's bullshit, and it's nothing to bother the King with. More like they were a spy and not tough enough to last in Freeside. So do everyone a favor and keep your mouths shut about it, okay?"
"So you're saying the major lied to us?" Veronica raised an eyebrow.
"Exactly. The NCR only cares about themselves, not the locals. They'd never give us supplies for free."
"I never mentioned they were giving out supplies." Veronica narrowed her eyes.
"I-erm-You see-I don't owe you an explanation!" Pacer gritted his teeth. "Do whatever you want. I got business to tend to. Let's go boys." Pacer and his goons angrily walked out of the building, even bumping shoulders with Veronica.
"I have a sneaking suspicion Pacer had something to do with that envoy being beat up." Ruby commented.
"Whatever gave you that idea?" Veronica frowned, still looking at the door before the two entered the hall and walked up to the King who still sat at the exact same spot.
"Have you found anything yet ladies?"
"We found more than that actually."
"Oh? Well, don't keep me waiting."
"So, Roy and Wayne actually got into a fight with some NCR soldiers close to the squatter's area a few blocks east from here. So we investigated a little more and found out that there was a group of soldiers here in Freeside but they were just giving out supplies."
The King raised an eyebrow. "Giving out supplies? Like food and stuff? That ain't nothing to get ruffled over."
"But the catch is that they don't give supplies to the locals, only to NCR citizens."
"Ah, I suppose that would explain the goons. They're here to keep people like my friends away from the food. That ain't nothing I support. No sir."
"But that's the thing! Major Kieran said she sent out someone to talk about the issue with you."
The King blinked, several times in fact. "W-Wait a minute, wait a minute. They said what?"
This time it was Veronica who spoke. "The major said the man they sent was beaten to an inch of his life."
The King leaned back in his chair and sighed. "That would explain why they're so riled up at us. Seems like we have a big missunderst–" The doors to the hall swung open with such force they hit the wall with a loud crash and a gang member came rushing in to the King. "The hell is going on?!"
"King, King!" The gang member panted. The man looked like he'd just ran the marathon.
"Woah, calm down boy. Lay it on me. What's going on?"
"There's a shootout going down near the train station. It's Pacer and some strangers. Might be NCR."
King hit the table with his fist. "What is that fool doing?!" He turned to Ruby and Veronica. "I need you to head out there and defuse the situation. Tell them I'm willing to cooperate."
"You got it King!" Ruby gave the King a thumbs up and raced with Veronica outside the building and for the next few minutes until they reached the old train station.
The place was a mess. Around half a dozen corpses of both Kings and disguised NCR soldiers laid scattered around the makeshift battlefield. What remained of the Kings' force was hiding behind old cars so as to not be hit by the soldier perched on a tower right behind the station.
Ruby and Veronica ignored the angry shouts of Pacer and kept on moving to the NCR side of the battlefield. Many guns were now aimed directly at them, but none of the NCR fired. For now at least. "Keep your hands where we can see them. If you reach for your weapons you will be fired upon!" One of them shouted.
Ruby wondered for a moment what they even meant when it came to Veronica since her weapons were her fists but quickly shook the thought away. The two continued, with her hands raised, until they reached the major who look both surprised and annoyed to see them. "Hey you're the ones that came by the shelter earlier. What are y-Nevermind. This is really not a good time. What do you want?"
"The King wants to help out with the relief effort!"
The major scoffed. "Like he helped the envoy we sent? No thanks."
"That wasn't him." Ruby immediately shot back.
"Yeah, he didn't even know there was an envoy." Veronica added.
"Then he should watch his back. We know for a fact the envoy made it to their headquarters. Still…if the King's willing to deal with us, perhaps we can work something out. I'll tell my men to stand down."
With a movement from her hand, all gunfire ceased like it had never happened and all NCR soldiers in the area started to dissipate. Seeing as the fighting was over, the remaining King also cleared out, dragging a kicking and screaming Pacer with them. Ruby's eyes lingered on the bodies of the fallen that were being picked up by each respective side.
"What's up Rubes?"
"N-Nothing. I just wished we'd gotten here faster. Maybe less people would've died."
Veronica sighed and smiled warmly at the teen then pulled the teen into a hug. "We can't always save everyone Ruby." She broke off the hug. "But we did keep more people from getting hurt, so that has to count for something right?"
"Y-Yeah. You're right Vee. Let's go tell the King what happened. Today has me beat."
"Yeah, me too kiddo."
"I heard what happened, girls." The King sipped his drink, leaning back in his chair. "Maybe it's time for a little less fightin' and a little more talkin'. You two have helped us plenty today. So tell you what. Just this once, name whatever you want, and if I can make it happen, it's done."
"Really?!" Ruby beamed
The King chuckled. "Don't rush it though. Toss it around in your heads a bit. You only get one favor from the King."
"I'll think real hard about it!"
"I know you will. Now, where is my Rexie? I haven't seen him all day." The King whistled, confusing both Ruby and Veronica for a split second before a dog; no, a robot -a robot dog?- came rushing inside the room.
Ruby's pupils dilated and grew frighteningly large as the robot dog came into her view. The sheer cuteness of the dog proved too much for Ruby to bear and she instantly lunged at the dog, showering him with pets and rubs and a wave of compliments in a baby voice.
"...is she okay?" The King asked, a bit freaked out by Ruby's sudden behavior change.
Veronica shrugged. "She likes cute things. I suppose that means your cyberdog too. You good Rubes?"
"I'm amazing Vee! He's just sooo cuuute!" She continued rubbing the dog's belly.
"Didn't know you were a dog person Rubes."
"Oh I LOVE dogs. I even have one back home too. He's a corgi named Zwei and he's the cutest little furball there is!" The dog whimpered. "…okay, maybe second cutest."
The King let out a hearty laugh. "I'm surprised you're not out off by Rex here. Many people find him scary actually."
"Whaaaaat?! Who could be scared of this bean?"
He chuckled again. "More than you'd think."
"How did you come across Rex?" Veronica chimed in, her scribe instincts for knowledge overpowering her. "Cyberdogs aren't exactly common in these parts."
"I bought Rex off some scavengers a few years back. He was a little dinged up so I had one of the followers fix him right up." His smile faded. "But there have been some problems lately."
Ruby stopped petting Rex. "Is something wrong with Rex?"
He sighed. "Rex's been acting peculiar lately. I took him to the Followers to see what was wrong. Apparently it's something with his brain.
Ruby gasped. "That's horrible!"
The King grimaced. "No, they said they don't have the tools to help him."
"Can we help somehow?"
"Kid-…Ruby, I couldn't ask for you to do more for me."
"Then don't think of it as me helping you, but helping Rexie here."
The King smiled and ruffled the kid's hair. "Thank you Ruby. Your best bet would be to talk to Julie Farkas. Maybe you'll have better luck than I did. And take Rexie along. He seems to have taken a liking to you."
"I won't disappoint you King! I'll make sure Rexie is healthy again even if it kills me!"
"AAaaaaaand that's pretty much how I got Rexie! Isn't that right you cutie patootie?" Ruby couldn't contain the urge to rub the cyberdog's belly under the nice shade produced by Dinky the Dinosaur's towering body. "I went to the followers and stuff but they couldn't help. But Julie told me about this doctor in the mountains that should be able to help Rex."
"I see…" The older woman responded, leaning against the main attraction of Novac.
"Is there something wrong with it?"
"No, no. Not at all. I just honestly find it surprising that you managed to keep the Kings and NCR from shooting each other. Believe me, that's a feat. Especially when Pacer is involved." Six's voice oozed with the energy of someone who's had to deal with that before.
"Speaking of, how do you know the King?"
"You're asking me how I know the most well known and powerful gang leader in all of Freeside? I spent more than five minutes in the ghetto." She deadpanned.
"No, not like that!" Ruby puffed her cheeks. "The King said he met you when he was younger. How did that happen?"
"Oh, that." Ruby could swear she detected the slightest hint of surprise in Six's voice. "Surprised he told you that. I think I helped him deal with some muggers?" She said tentatively as she rubbed the gasmask part of her helmet.
"So the greedy Courier Six helped someone for no monetary gain? Whaaaaat Impossible!"
Despite the existence of the helmet covering the entirety of Six's face, Ruby could mostly definitely feel the squinted eyes and burrowed, unamused, frown.
"You're uncharacteristically sassy today. Don't tell me Raul's rubbing off on you."
"What, don't tell me you don't like it?"
Six wanted to say something, but she didn't.
"Where's that fucking guy." She muttered. They'd been standing there outside the general store for a good solid hour and the sun was starting to set. Her hopes and dreams of going back to Vegas the same day had been thoroughly squashed.
Yet another 15 minutes passed by, now very few people were out and about in the whole town and Six's patience had reached its limit.
"Alright, he's either dead or hauled up in his room by the looks of it."
"Sooooo are we just going to check the rooms one by one then?"
"No. We've already wasted enough time as is."
Without giving her companion to ask, Six began walking away to the motel's lobby. Turning the handle of the door, revealed that the lobby was in fact locked. Have they seriously not found a replacement for that bitch May? Six clicked her tongue in annoyance and raised her leg.
"Hey could you let me try and pick the–" Six's foot collided with the door, absolutely shattering it's lock and even breaking off its hinges. "...or you could do that…Since when can you do that? W-Why did you do that?"
"I didn't feel like picking the lock."
Both entered the closed deserted lobby motel. Very few people would come here now bar Cliff Briscoe since the unfortunate passing of the motel's owner.
"Yeah uh-huh." Ruby deadpanned, leaning against the door frame. "Now seriously Six, what's got your panties in a bunch today?"
"One, it's none of your business." She walked behind the counter. "And two, who the fuck taught you that?"
"That what?"
"That, that expression."
"Oh! Cass did. She was arguing with Boone about something and she said to him and I asked what it meant."
For a moment, the lobby was silent as the two simply stared at each other.
"Right." Six crouched down, disappearing from Ruby's sight.
"Why are we even her—" Before she could finish, Six popped back up, but now with a binder in her hands.
"Where did you?"
"Floor safe."
"And how did you—"
"The previous owner used to carry a key for it with her. I took it off her corpse."
"I'm going to skip the part where I'm horrified that you murdered an innocent motel owner and just ask why you still have the key on you?"
"One, I didn't kill her. Boone did. Two, you never know when these things might come in handy. Besides, they weigh practically nothing."
"Riiiiight…Let's just check the ledger."
Six rummaged through the dozens of pages of the old motel's ledger. In it, displayed all the residents the Dino Dee-lite motel had sponsored over the last decade since Jennie May had taken charge of the establishment. Flipping over to the most recent addition, Six traced her finger over the entries, finally stopping at one.
"Found him. Room one-oh-four.
"Bruce Is-Isaac?" Six nodded. "How'd you know that's him?"
"Because Bruce Isaac is, or at least used to be, a hit in the Shark Club back in Reno." Six closed the ledger and stuffed it inside of her many inner pockets. "Wonder what's he doing here though. He was quite popular."
"Really? Talk about a downgrade." Ruby mused, grabbing the dust-riddled Dinky the Dinosaur toy from the counter. Six nodded in turn and stuffed the ledger in her coat. Ruby raised her eyebrow at the display of thievery but said nothing.
"What?"
"Nothing, nothing." She put the toy in her satchel. "Let's go hire this Class One singer."
The two exited the lobby and made their way to the fourth door on the first floor of the motel, room 104.
Six knocked. No answer.
Ruby knocked. Still no answer.
"Isaac, I know you're in there. Just open the damned door." Six under less than enthused to tone, shuffling and the sound of falling objects could be heard.
"I think that made him want to come out even less."
"So it would seem." Six raised her leg, but was promptly stopped by Ruby.
"What if we saved the door busting for later and just try to, y'know, open the door?"
Six rolled her eyes and reached for the door handle. "Yeah right, and who in their right mind would leave their door un–Click! …Not a word." Six muttered through her teeth, not needing to look to know the huntress-in-training had the smuggest smile plastered on her face.
"I'm not saying anything." Ruby tried her best to hide her laugh, only letting a few chuckles out.
"I really don't like this new sassy you." Six whispered, opening the door to get this thing finally done…Only to be met the concussive of what it felt like a super sledge hit her right in middle of the chestplate and send her flying back against the railing.
In the split second between Six getting hit and flying against the railing, Ruby darted to cover and drew her new revolver, Lucky. As she did so, flashes of a severed head appeared in her mind, but she shook them off. Can't think about that now.
"Y-You try and come here again and-and I'll blow your head off!" A man's voice spoke from inside the room.
Poking her head out just enough, Ruby was able to peer inside and see a black man, around 5'10 give or take, holding a single shot 20 gauge shotgun in his hands.
"I'll have your money I swear! J-Just, I need time!"
"Money? What are you talking about? We're not here to hurt you sir!"
"Y-You don't work for Mr. Bishop?"
"No!"
A few tense seconds went by before the gun clattered to the floor and the singer shyly walked to the door. "I, hum well, I-I'm sorry. I thought you were on Mr. Bishop's payroll…Is-Is your friend okay?" Bruce meekly pointed at Six.
As if almost on cue, the woman in question released a pained groan and used the railing to get back on her feet.
"You okay Six?" The lack of the usual worry in Ruby's tone did not escape the Courier.
"I just took a twenty gauge to the chest. What do you think?"
"It technically landed on the armor."
"Yeah but it hurts like a bitch. Just give him the damn card." She waved her arm dismissively, but in a wider arc than usual.
Ruby thought. Turning her attention back to the singer, she pulled one of the two remaining cards Mr. Torini had given her. "Well Bruce, by your…explosive welcome, I'd bet you don't feel very safe right now do you?"
The singer deflated with a tired sigh. "That's not the half of it. For weeks I've been holed up here because I'm afraid one of Mr. Bishop's goons will cap me."
"Speaking of" Six raised her voice again "what did you even do to incur the wrath of the Bishops? You were the hot shit back in Reno a couple years back."
"Well I…Might have taken the money I was owed and–"
"You stole from Mr. Bishop?"
"I wouldn't…Yes. That and uh, I might have…Plowed his daughter?"
The moment those words left Bruce's mouth, Six exploded into euphoric laughter. "You-Hahaha! You fucked Mr. Bishop's daughter? Hahaha. Y-you gotta be a special kind of idiot for that one. Hahaha!"
"I'll admit, I slipped, stumbled and fell with that one." Bruce looked away, cringing at the humiliation.
"Yeah, no shit."
"Ahem!" Ruby diverted the attention back to herself. "Because of that, and because of your talents as a singer, I was thinking you could maybe go sing in the Tops? They're in need of acts and I think you'd fit right in. Not to talk about the security that comes with the job."
"As long as you don't steal from your boss again." The Courier added.
Ruby hit Six right in the spot she had been shot. "Don't be cruel."
"I-I-I don't know what to say miss. I-Thank you. Really." Bruce stuttered. He reached out to Ruby, grabbing both of her hands and wildly shaking them. Droplets of water even started forming up in the corners of his eyes.
"Y-Yeah, n-no problem man." Ruby smiled awkwardly, letting a handful of forced chuckles too. She expectantly looked at Six, her friend, her senpai, her trusted companion, with a 'help me' look. Yet, all the older woman did was keep leaning on the railing.
Ruby knew for a fact Six was smirking under that helmet.
After a full 5 minutes of profuse thanking and awkward acceptance, the former top crowd-maker of the Shark Club retreated back to his room for packing before setting off to Vegas.
As soon as the door 104 shut, Ruby let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed her face with both hands. "I was starting to think he'd never shut up."
"And here I was thinking your social skills had improved. But it seems you can't handle Mr Songman there." Six said with her own shit-eating grin, even though Ruby couldn't see it.
"Listen. Mediate peace negotiations between two groups? I can do that. Convince people to do what I want? Depends. Bartering for better prices? Hard, but doable. Bear a person cry while profusely thanking you? Yeah no, too awkward."
"Dully noted. Remind me to put more of those in your training regiment." Feeling better from the shot she had tanked a few minutes prior, Six finally leaned off the railing and walked a few doors away from Mr. Isaac's room.
"And you were talking about my sass." Ruby rolled her eyes.
Six reached into one of her many pockets and pulled out a keychain with many, many keys. She rummaged through them before finally finding the key she was looking for and stabbed it into the lock of the door before her. "Kid, you have a couple weeks worth of sass. I have over thirty years." Six turned the key, unlocked the door and finally entered the room she'd rented months ago when she first came into Novac, after being shot that is.
It was a quaint little room. A queen-size bed to the left and a little kitchenette area at the end with an adjacent bathroom, finalizing with a small 'living area' that consisted of 2 cushioned chairs in front of a non-functional TV.
Six immediately took off her helmet and hucked it on the bed, not bothering to stop her walking as sweet refreshing alcohol awaited her inside the fridge. But she was met with instant disappointment, as she had not, in fact, restocked since she was last here. So there were only some beers -aka piss water- and some sunset sarsaparillas. Alas, beggars couldn't be choosers. So she took out a beer and a sarsaparilla, and popped the caps with her hand.
Turning around she saw Ruby had already accustomed herself with the bed -as she was laying on it with her back towards the ceiling. She handed the soda to the young teen and clinked their bottles together, receiving a quiet and muffled 'thanks' in return. Then, and only then, did she allow herself some respite and she sat on one of the cushioned chairs, completely sinking on it.
"So." Ruby sat up and nudged herself to the end of the bed. "Can you tell me now?"
"Tell you what?"
"What's got you all grumpy today. Well, grumpier than usual." Six opened her mouth but was quickly interrupted by the teen. "And no more of that 'it's none of your business' crap."
Six paused, bringing the still full bottle to her lips for a whilst she thought. "House."
"Mr. House?" The Courier nodded. "Why?"
"Ever since I…dealt, with Benny. He's been pestering me about a job that's nothing more than a suicide run." She scoffed.
"It can't be that bad. You're, you know, you."
Six turned her head, making direct eye contact with Ruby. "It's infiltrating the Legion fort across the river and activating a giant dormant robot army."
"...oh." Both went quiet, letting the awkwardness seep into the air. "I…I know you'll think of something."
"I dunno. Maybe I'll just leave at this point, might go north to Utah for a bit. At least New Canaan has their shit put together if you look past the church's corruption. The Mojave's getting too hot, has been for years. It's the playground of two titans and the rest either join up, or die." Six took a long gulp from the beer.
"So you're just going to run away?"
The eyes of the two met again for a brief moment. In the stillness of it all, no words needed to be spoken for Six to understand what Ruby was really asking. 'Are you going to leave us?'
Six, honestly couldn't answer it.
"I never said I would." That made Ruby smile, even if it was small. "Alright, it's getting late. Let's munch on something and sleep. I'm tired."
"Is the bed big enough for the two of us though?"
"I'll sleep on the chair."
"Oh ok." Six swore she heard a quiet mumbled out 'sweet!' coming from the teen.
Darkness. That's all Ruby could see. A pitch black void that went for an endless amount of miles, and no matter how long she walked for, ran, used her semblance, the scenery didn't change a single bit.
"For how long are you going to continue to do that?" A venomous bodiless voice rang out. "You've been trying to walk your way out of here for what now? Weeks? But by all means keep trying, it's amusing."
"Shut up…" Ruby mumbled.
"What was that?" Ruby could practically hear the crooked smile on his face.
"Just leave me alone, Viper. You're not real. None of this is."
"I mean sure. You are not walking in an endless void of darkness. You're just havin' a nightmare. Shit I'm not even a 'real' person."
"Then why do you keep doing this?!" Ruby spun around, wanting to punch the bodiless voice behind her. Hitting him could at the very least provide some sort of cathartic release, Brothers, if she could feel anything other than absolute horrible would be a win.
Yet her fist didn't swing around in the air. Her arm stopped moving as something held her wrist. A dead man, with a crooked wide smile and a circular scar around his neck. But somehow…Different. He no longer lacked recognizable facial features or a blurred out haircut, having now sickly green eyes and a mohawk of the same color. Viper no longer wore rags but a mish-mash of raider armor akin to those of the Fiends and Remnant clothing.
"Why? Because it's fun. Because there's nothing else to do here. But mostly, because you deserve it Ruby Rose. You're a monster, a freak." He leaned in and whispered in her ear. "A murderer."
He let her wrist go and she immediately backpedaled as fast as she could, only for Viper to appear from behind her again.
"Which is so goddamn hi-larious. You stubbornly upholding some make-believe rules based on morals that don't even exist anymore." Viper wheezed and laugh, needing to take a moment to gather his bearings.
"I'm not a murderer! It was an accident! I haven't hurt anyone else!"
"THERE IT IS! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE ARRIVED AT THE BEST PART! Your hi-POCRICY! HAHA!"
"What're you talking about?"
"You say that you haven't killed slash hurt anyone after the highway patrol station right? Well, that's just not true. Remember Mortimer? He and his cabal are dead because of you. After all you exposed their plot and good 'ol Margy said those who started nibbling on people again would lose their heads. So you have a pretty good amount of blood on your hands. Or let's go with someone recent, like that scammer Orris who the King had 'taken off the streets' via nine millimeter more than likely, because you reported him."
"But I-I didn't do anything! I-I-I just turned them in and stopped them from hurting more people. I did the right thing! I didn't kill them!"
"I'm not a murderer! It was an accident! I haven't hurt anyone else!"
Viper frowned for a microsecond before contorting into a smile. "OH OFFICER! I didn't kill that man, the bullet inside my gun did it! I only pressed the trigger. Yeah, you might've done the right thing, but because of that those people are dead. They're dead, DEAD! DEAD and you killed them, Ruby Rose!"
Viper grew towering over Ruby like an unmutated ant. His body darkened, clouded by the infinite dark void leaving only his sickly green eyes and bright maniac toothy smile visible to the young Rose. Ruby shook her head non-stop. No, she didn't kill anyone. Mortimer didn't die because of her. Y-Yeah! It's his fault! It's not her fault, it's not her fault, it's not her fault, it's not her fault, it's not her fault, it's not her fault, it's not her fault.
"It's not my fault." She whispered
Viper bent downwards, his spine making unnatural cracks and creaks. "Oh but it is." He sighed. "We're not getting anywhere with this. Maybe I need to beat acceptance into you like last time." His smile returned as he stretched out his now massive long fingered hand, obscuring all his figure from Ruby.
It got closer, and closer and closer. All Ruby could feel was fear-no, despair. She couldn't do anything. She couldn't outrun him, even if she tried right this instance her legs would not obey. She didn't have Crescent Rose, or anything to fight him. She could only scream.
And so she yelled.
"NOOOOOOOO!"
Six almost fell out of the chair as she jolted awake because of the screaming. She raced to the bed, so quickly that she stumbled on her and headbutted the ground. She quickly got up with a pained groan and checked on Ruby. The kid was thrashing side to side, still asleep but her eyes were shut tighter than normal and she wouldn't stop screaming and mumbling out incoherent words.
Six froze.
What should she even do? She'd never had to deal with something like this. D-Did she have to wake Ruby up? Leave her be instead? Speaking of, why did she even rush next to her that fast? It's probably just a nightmare right? Those are a common thing, nothing out of the ordinary. Still, Six felt like she had to do something.
"Mommy! I-I-I saw a monster again." Cried out a little girl rushing to her mother.
Six hesitated for a moment, but slowly reached out and gently grabbed Ruby's hand. "Ruby?" She called out. The teenager continued thrashing on the bed, mumbling and now Six could even see tears.
"Oh honey, come here." The mother said softly, taking the small child into her arms. "You had a bad dream." The mother ran a hand through the small child's hair. "Shhhh. Everything's okay now. Mommy's here."
Six put a hand under Ruby's restless body and pulled her up into a gentle hug. The teen tried to fight it, thrashing in Six's hold but the Courier held stout. Six hesitated for a moment again before caressing her hair. "Shhhh, it's okay, it's okay. I'm here Ruby."
Six didn't even bother counting how long the two stayed like this. Caressing her hair, gently shushing her and holding her. At a certain point, Ruby stopped screaming and thrashing around, but it took much longer for her to stop crying. She didn't really know if Ruby was awake or still dreaming, but it didn't really matter in the end. Awake or not, Ruby had buried her head in Six's chest and had kept on crying, staining the Courier's shirt with tears and snot. More minutes would go by before Ruby fully stopped crying, but she kept quiet and her face buried in Six's chest. Six in turn, kept running her hand through Ruby's hair. She didn't really have to do it -at least she thought- but it felt…right.
Eventually, Ruby finally pulled back from the hug. Her eyes were swollen red, dry skin from the salt in the tears and a still stuffy nose. "Nightmare?" Ruby nodded.
"...s-sorry about the shirt." She whispered.
"It's just a shirt." Six shrugged. "You okay?"
Ruby nodded.
"Are you really?"
Ruby's face cringed and she looked away before meekly shaking her head.
"Want some water?"
Ruby nodded.
"Okay." Six got off the bed and grabbed her bag, pulling out a bottle of purified water and a pack of tissues, of which she pulled out one. She handed the tissue first, then the water -which Ruby proceeded to chug down. "Better?"
Ruby nodded again. "
"Ready to sleep again?"
Ruby hesitated for a moment but then nodded. Six nodded back and turned away from the kid, but just as she was standing up she heard a quiet whisper.
"Six?"
"Mommy?" The small child whispered.
"C-Can you s-sleep with me t-t-today?"
"Can I sleep with you today?"
Six looked at the teen. She couldn't exactly put into words the weird feeling in her chest right now. A warm fuzzy feeling she couldn't exactly recall. But she remembered a warm gentle smile of a mother who had just taken her child into her arms after she came crying to her.
"Of course honey."
Six smiled, a warm and gentle smile. "Yeah. Just this once."
Nelson was one of the first targets the Legion struck after they were first pushed back to the other side of the Colorado after the 1st Battle of Hoover Dam. The lightly defended town couldn't even muster a defense to fight against the might of a single contebenium led by Veteran Decanus Dead Sea.
Pitiful really, those degenerate profligates weren't even worth the thought.
Though, in death they became of use. Heads on poles scattered across the I-95 had proven to be quite the effective tactic and an amusing one at that. Vulpes Iculta's lips curved into a smile, remembering the faces of horror of those NCR troopers.
"My Dominay." Called out the frumentarius next. "Is something the matter?"
"No Appius. I was just thinking. Has the target moved?"
"Negative Dominay Vulpes. The target hasn't left her room."
"As expected then." Vulpes pulled out his canteen and drank from it. For all their faults, his concubines sure knew how to brew good tea -he made sure of that- he supposed that's one of few good characteristics of the Twin Mothers' Nurses as they used to call themselves. Still, he preferred that one NCR ranger he was gifted recently. It would be rather fun breaking it.
"Keep watch on the motel. The target will probably leave in the morning. Be ready to intercept. We do not want to disappoint the Imperator." The frumentarius nodded, following it with a curt bow before leaving the cabin Vulpes was sleeping in for the night.
Thoughts of the target the Imperator had ordered him to apprehend came oozing back to his mind. That savage profligate that had done nothing more than massacre good legionaries. Why make use of it when Mighty Caesar could use him, the best of the Frumentary. But alas, it was not his place to doubt the orders of his Imperator, his duty was simply to follow them. Even if it was for a profligate.
Vulpes Inculta stared out the window in the cabin, gazing at the shining half moon.
Just why did it have to be that profligate out of everyone?
Hey there folks…it's been a while hasn't it? In my defense, it was finals…I also got lazy but that's besides the point! This chapter was a bit hard to write, mostly because for the last couple chapters I've been thinking like the quality of them have been steadily decreasing. Maybe that's just me being to overly critical of my work (who knows?) but at least we are getting into some very juicy parts and if I'm not mistaken, the last 2 chapters of this arc.
As always, thanks to my beta readers Locus, TRNATS and Jakkdeath for helping me not make horrible grammar mistakes and battle my never ending war with commas.
Also I spread 5 Elvis song references throughout the chapter, so see if you can catch them all :)