"Even the demons are encouraged when their chief is not lost in loss itself."
The rest of the week passed uneventfully, aside from the occasional argument during a meeting, Nifty's shenanigans, or Husk blacking out from drinking, which was routine anyways.
"I need to talk to someone about this…" Husk just raised an eyebrow, letting her continue.
"It's The Courier, I've been trying to understand what his deal is… I don't know how he even got here… there's just something weird about him just appearing out of thin air and coming here of all places-" Husk just placed a hand on Vaggie's shoulder, his expression relaxed.
"Vaggie, I've been around for a lot longer than you have, and I can tell, he doesn't have any motives, he isn't working for anyone, if he were, you think Charlie wouldn't be able to tell?" Vaggie considered this, before sighing.
"You're right. It's just so fucking weird…" Husk nodded at her, before a squeal from upstairs changed the subject.
Vaggie turned to the source of the squeal and grabbed Husk by the arm, practically dragging him up the stairs before opening the door and looking in with Husk, finding Charlie hugging an awake Courier. Vaggie sighed in relief, thinking of worst-case scenarios, with Charlie relaxing her embrace.
"Your armor's in the closet, and your weapons, what we could fit anyways…" Vaggie said as The Courier immediately got up, and went straight to the closet to check, Charlie looked at Vaggie, worried, but Vaggie placed a hand on her shoulder, cutting herself off, the duo just watching The Courier put his armor back on slowly and meticulously. He checked his armknife, followed by putting the Pip-Boy back on his arm, He turned towards his nightstand and saw the gifts and the cards on the table, with a card from everyone, even Alastor, which he promptly tucked into his coat. The gifts were minor except for Vaggie's which was the part of the blade The Courier had managed to break off during the battle.
"Thanks." He smiled at her before putting his helmet on, with Vaggie smiling softly in return. The Courier looked under his bed for his sniper rifle, which thankfully was still there. He noticed something on his nightstand, grabbing it and putting it with the other objects in his coat.
"Hey, before we leave, I want some answers." The Courier turned to face her.
"About what?"
"How did you get here?" The Courier just shook his head.
"Long Story..." Vaggie just scoffed, annoyance in her tone.
"Fine, whatever." She left along with Charlie, with Husk staring at The Courier for a moment before following the rest out.
As Husk left the room, The Courier opened the letter. It was from Vox, who had heard that he was a human, and about his idea for "power armor,' He decided to go to the "V Tower", as Vox called it in his letter, pocketing said letter. The Courier walked downstairs, finding Niffty cleaning and Husk watching the TV out of boredom, The Courier walked towards the door, hand reaching for the handle when a voice called out.
"Where do you think you're going? You literally JUST got up." It was Vaggie, brows raised in suspicion, The Courier decided to be truthful.
"The 'V Tower'?" Vaggie raised an eyebrow, her suspicion growing.
The Courier grabbed the letter from his coat pocket, and gave it to her which she promptly read. When she finished reading her tone was less harsh, yet still firm.
"So you got an invitation from Vox and you didn't tell us?" The Courier decided to change the subject.
"Could you give me directions?" Vaggie sighed, grabbing a piece of paper and writing some landmarks, what they look like and whether to turn left or right at them, and a general path he should take.
"As long as you take this path, you should most likely be fine, but take that blade with you just in-" The Courier opened his coat, revealing the blade in a pocket, with Vaggie nodding.
"Good. Just be safe out there." The Courier just gave a thumbs up before walking out, popped a holotape into his Pip-Boy, enjoying the soft tunes of Jazz, on his trip to the Entertainment district of Pentagram City which took several hours on foot, Upon arriving, he saw a towering skyscraper, with three capital V's on it, The Courier immediately knew he was where he needed to be, walking through the tower's double doors which opened at his presence it seemed, having passed by crowds of demons rushing into stores, turning back from the consumerist spectacle to see Vox suddenly was in front of him, a wide smile on his televised head.
"Ah, so you got my letter!" The Courier opened his mouth, but Vox just wrapped an arm around him, walking, with The Courier alongside him.
"Why don't we take this up to my office? I'd rather not get any unwarranted attention for my new… friend." Vox led The Courier to a seemingly innocent wall, with a sticker of Vox saying the words "Trust us". revealing a room with an elevator pad. The two walked onto it, The Courier looking around curiously. It dropped down, revealing a impractically large office with many computer monitors and a large control panel, Vox sat in a chair, with The Courier looking at him.
"Now….I heard some rumors about a Human being sent down here alive…" Vox eyed up The Courier's paintjob, his eye twitching in annoyance due to it being similar to Alastor's color scheme.
"Yeah, that's me." Vox raised an eyebrow, his eye's twitching stopped.
"Of course, hard to tell under all that tech you got on…" The Courier just sighed, taking his helmet off, revealing his pale skin, the scars on his face. Vox grinned, a soft chuckle emanating from him.
"Interesting…" Vox got up from his chair, walking around The Courier, surveying him with intensity.
"I-" Vox was interrupted by a phone call, The Courier put his helmet on, Vox answered by putting the video call on a screen in view of both of them. The Courier saw what looked to be some sort of dark-skinned, fashionable demoness, with dyed hair.
"I'm currently in the middle of a meeting Velvett-"
"Your fucking 'boytoy' is currently FUCKING UP my-" Velvette wildly and tensely gesticulated as she screamed at Vox.
"JUST GET THE FUCK IN HERE!" Vox sighed, turning to The Courier.
"Just fuckin' follow me, Valentino knows all about you, so maybe he'll shut up when you meet him." Vox said stiffly as he walked off towards the platform, with The Courier alongside him.
"Let me guess, this happens often?" Vox just nodded, annoyance in his tone.
"You wouldn't believe the shit I have to deal with sometimes…" They walked out the way they came, with a crowd nearby, and Vox's eye twitching in annoyance. The Courier felt eyes on him, something he was again used to. A reporter came up, asking about the new deadline, with Vox replying with a handwave "Soon, hopefully by next year…" The Courier was skeptical, pondering the logistics as the crowd's fervent questioning turned to dull mesmerization.
"Do you plan to hire people as soldiers or make turrets-" Vox continued to walk forward, The Courier continued to ask questions, slowing as he mulled over the problem himself, He walked into another elevator, Vox pressing for floor 38.
"While we're waiting, tell me about that….power armor." The Courier flinched as if he had been hit, he should have expected this, but it was surprising nonetheless.
"It's personal." Vox glanced at him, before resuming his gaze on the lights of the elevator as it hummed, the floor numbers ticking up far too slow for the banal electronica tunes that poured in like monoxide through the tinny, thin speakers, inoffensive yet suffocating
"We're here. Wait near the elevator." He exited the room, going into a glass boardroom to talk with Velvette, motioning for The Courier to follow him through a set of purple and gold doors, closing behind them.
There was a great assortment of furniture upholstered with red velvet and accented with gold and jewels which seemed to stretch on into the sea of the pink smoke, The source being a figure in the middle, slowly revealed as the last plume dissipated, being flicked away slightly with his wings.
"ABOUT FU-" He cut himself off upon seeing the Human, a sudden predatory grin spread on his face. wine dripping down his purple chin, as he lounged in what seemed to be kingly robes, a gaudy sparkly hat, pink bunny slippers, and a pair of slightly oversized sunglasses with heart shaped lens.
"You're the one Vox was telling me about, aren't you?" He noticed the "HH" letters on The Courier's head, his grin turning even wider.
"Where are my manners? Let me offer you a drink."
"No thank you, I'm fine, brought some for the road..." He pulled out a canteen with "13" inscribed on it, with which both Vox and Valentino were curious about. Vox turned to Valentino giving him a stern look, with Valentino nodding back.
"Hey…what's that fucking thing on your arm? Are you one of those fucking hipsters, ugh, I fucking swear if you go on about how phones are "damaging society" or "corrupting the youth" or how your device is gonna get people to reconnect with nature or whatever, I am going to fucking murder you and sell you limb for limb-" Valentino scoffed.
"It's a Pip-Boy…" the Courier injected, Valentino's demeanor immediately changing
"Pip….Boy? What is that?" Vox's tone was harsher, whilst Valentino's grew slightly softer.
"A...device?" He let Vox look over it, feeling a sense of amusement at Vox.
"Well I'm impressed, it looks like a very fine device."
"Oh yeah, it has a radio too." Vox's eye once again twitched in annoyance, as Valentino watched in mild bemusement, savoring every draw from his pipe.
"Say Courier 6 was it? You look to be fine…material for VoxTek, and an inventive mind too. Why don't you join us? You could help us make millions with your ideas… don't even need to leave your 'hotel' at all.
"No thank you, I am fine right where I am."
"Great-wait did you just say…no?" Vox stared at him, forcing his face into a smile, while Valentino surveyed The Courier before returning to his lounge to chair sip his Sauvignon Rouge.
"Well, I don't know you, and I don't need any money." Vox decided to not press the issue.
"Well, whenever you change your mind, just give me a call." He handed The Courier a card with his number on it.
"Thanks." The Courier turned now, leaving through the doors and going into the elevator, while both Vox and Valentino fumed, but another opportunity presented itself. As Vox turned on a screen in the room to watch The Courier leave, he saw someone else come in, a snake.
The Courier walked off from the building, his feet lightly pounding the concrete sidewalk, using the Pip-Boy to get back to the hotel, having written Vaggie's instructions for easier reading and in case the paper had gotten lost or damaged, starting his several hour long trek back through the city.
Upon his return late into the night, he noticed part of the wall was missing and that repairs had already started. Vaggie now opened the door for the Courier.
"You missed a lot. Like, a fucking lot." The Courier just shrugged, seeing an emotionally drained Charlie laying face-first on the couch.
Vaggie just sighed, her tone one of exhausted reluctance.
"Couldn't find anyone that wanted to join our thing, as expected. What about you?"
"Just talked with Vox, said he wanted me to work for him, told him I wasn't interested."
Vaggie just nodded at The Courier, when she heard another knock on the door, punching the serpent on the otherside of the doorframe snake, who whimpering, quickly put both hands up in surrender before meekly trying to introduce himself. The Courier stared for a moment before walking up the stairs to his room as Charlie bolted towards the door, excusing her disheveledness as she excitedly almost frantically greeted the new resident-inductee. The Courier entered his room and quickly jotted down on a piece of paper from under the desk with a pencil, a project that could deal with Adam.
(Yeah, sorry if Vox didn't have to come up on the spot about someone having eyes on Alastor, the reason why is that he knew Alastor was there a week earlier, and thus has a week to plan it. Also he wasn't that pissed off about Alastor being back because his curiosity and confusion about a Human overtook it. Also, sorry if a lot of the chapters feel like "filler", it's because I don't want the story to just be The Courier in normal HH and all he does is make a minor difference, or that it's too short. It's also a bit hard coming up with ideas that won't result in completely derailing the whole story of HH.)
(Another note, this chapter has been on the backburner for like a month, mainly because I lost motivation to continue this story. I have another couple chapters pretty much done, my editor is currently taking a break so.)
(Final note, funny how all the big HB/HH fanfics are doin new chapters this week.)