"...they seemed bigger from afar," Makoto sheepishly remarked.

Akira's party (him, Makoto, the courier and Whitmeyer) got off the roof and kept marching towards the Mojave outpost, and had just approached the carcass of one of the dead radscorpions, the one that got the closest to them. The bullet-riddled bugger was now sprawled next to a rusted sign reading "Interstate 15."

"Well, you aren't that tall to begin with," Whitmeyer pointed out. "And I assume you Vault dwellers aren't used to radscorpions one way or another, so they seem scarier than they are."

"You live and you learn," the courier shrugged. "Can't blame you for being careful in a new environment."

"Especially since that environment is hostile in new and unique ways," Akira added.

The road led up an incline, towards what used to be a road junction and was now a bunch of rubble. The group went up the ramp on the right, approaching the ruins of a boarded up gas station with a bit of a roof over the spot where the distributors used to stand, and a bunch of buildings. A radscorpion emerged from behind one of the buildings.

"Creepy crawly, two o'clock!" the courier announced with confidence.

The group all turned towards it and everyone put a few rounds in the bugger, who dropped dead almost immediately.

"By the way, Akira, Makoto," he glanced at the two, "what we just did is a useful pattern to keep in mind for the future. If there's a group of wildlife in the way, pick off a bunch of them with some long distance weapon. Then, when you get close to them or they get close to you, you have less baddies to deal with so you can calmly switch to a pistol or whatever you have and clean up before you get hurt."

"I'll keep that stratagem in mi-"

Makoto was interrupted by a buzzing sound. She glanced at Akira. "[My cell phone is ringing,]" she said in a conspiratorial murmur.

"[How? There's no signal.]"

"[I don't know. Can I pull it out in front of those two and check?]"

"What's that buzzing?" Whitmeyer asked.

"Right, you know Pip-Boys?" Akira said, pointing at his left arm. "Our Vault had some kinda experimental model. It's miles ahead of what you're used to, but unfortunately it has some drawbacks and needs an external network for most of its functions." He glanced at Makoto. "Can you check why yours is buzzing?"

Makoto pulled out her cell phone and glanced at it. "I'm getting a call, pardon me…" She put it to her ear. "Moshi moshi," she said, walking away from the group.

"A call?" Whitmeyer raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, a phone call," Akira continued. "One of the functions it has is two-way comms. Though admittedly, it shouldn't have worked without the network I mentioned. I'll check what's happening."

He trotted up to Makoto, leaving Whitmeyer and the courier alone. After a beat, the former commented: "They aren't actually Vault dwellers, are they?"

"Who knows?" the courier shrugged. "But they seem alright, so I say let them keep pretending."

"Yeah, of course."

Meanwhile, Akira reached Makoto. "[What's going on?]"

"[Futaba jury-rigged a cell phone tower,]" Makoto told him. "[I was about to tell her you're with me. I'll turn on the loudspeaker.]"

She did so. "[Hey, Oracle,]" Akira greeted Futaba. "[You've been hard at work for the past few hours, weren't you?]" he remarked, proud of his teammate.

"[Yep!]" Futaba replied, proud of herself. "[You've got no idea how hard it was to make something stable out of the frickin' antiques I had on hand.]"

"[You're right, I don't.]" He chuckled at his own joke, as Makoto rolled her eyes. "[So what, can we call others now?]"

"[If your phones have the juice for it,]" Futaba said. "[I should be able to make everyone a charger when we all get together. 'Cause I assume the main quest objective now is getting us all in a single spot.]"

"[Yep,]" Akira confirmed. "[I've got it confirmed that once I get everyone in one spot, the Velvet Room guy will send us back home to finish off that mad god.]"

"[Right,]" Futaba paused for a moment. "[There's something you gotta know.]"

"[Yeah?]"

"[I… can't find Ryuji's phone,]" she went on, losing a chunk of her prior confidence. "[My setup should be powerful enough to pick up everyone in the area, but Ryuji's not showing up.]"

"[He probably forgot to charge it or something.]" Akira said, reassuringly. "[And I already planned to do a tour-de-Mojave looking for everyone. Since Morgana doesn't have a phone I still kinda have to do that. I'll find both of them, I promise.]"

"[Akira, I…]" Futaba wasn't reassured. "[I've already seen how dangerous this world can get. I ended up spawning around a bunch of bloody orcs, and barely managed to bluff my way out of getting gibbed by a rocket launcher.]"

Makoto raised an eyebrow. "[Sorry, did you say 'orcs'?]"

"[They call themselves 'super mutants', but they're big-ass muscular green humanoids, they implement the Orc interface as far as I care.]" Futaba glanced at Neil, just to make sure he didn't pick up the loanword, but he seemed to have tuned out all the foreign language.

"[Back to the main point,]" Akira said, "[are you safe now?]"

Futaba took a breath. "[Yes. Most orcs left. One remained, but he's a smart one. Didn't even got mad when I called him an orc earlier, so that's good prognosis.]"

"[Right. I didn't encounter anything scarier than a big lizard, but…]" He glanced at the revolver he had literally pried out of someone's cold dead hands, now hanging from a holster on Makoto's hip. "[I've already heard from others what I can expect on the roads. And when I say 'we're all gonna live and get back home', I'm not saying that because I'm naive or stupid, I'm saying this because I know what we're capable of, both as individuals and as a group. We've survived everything that led up to this point, we're not going to get stopped by some goddamn post-apocalyptic desert.]"

Silence on the line, as Futaba wondered if she found that little speech as uplifting as it was supposed to be. Finally, Makoto spoke up: "[So, is everyone besides Ryuji and Morgana accounted for?]"

"[Yes, I already called everyone else,]" Futaba confirmed. "[Ann and Inari are safe in a town of Novac, while Haru is reportedly AFK, but also safe in some aid camp in a place called Freeside. I left a message, she'll call me back.]"

"[Tell her to call me when she's available,]" Akira asked.

"[200.]" As in, OK. "[As for me, I'm on Black Mountain, apparently. Some old radio station that was taken over by orcs, but they left, and I turned it to a cell phone station.]"

"[Got it. We're traveling with a local, a courier,]" Akira said. "[I'll ask him about those places, see what he tells me.]"

"[To complete your picture,]" Makoto added, "[we are on a road between Primm and a military outpost.]"

"[We're gonna get some grub, and I'll call Ann to compare notes with her,]" Akira went on. "[After that we'll most likely head to Nipton, maybe further if we'll have time in the day.]"

"[Sounds like a plan,]" Futaba remarked. "[I'll try and set up some remote control of the cell phone network so I don't have to stay here.]"

"[You are invaluable,]" Akira said. "[We'll keep in touch. Talk to ya later.]"

"[Bye, and stay safe,]" Futaba said. "[And keep your eyes peeled. You don't know what could wait for you out there.]"

The call ended, and Makoto pocketed her phone. "[Well,]" she remarked, "[I am slightly calmer now.]"

"[Yeah, we're getting closer to our goal,]" Akira dared to tempt fate. "[And even in such a hostile world there are some safe towns, so I'm sure Ryuji and Morgana will turn out fine as well. Let's go back to the, uh…]"

He turned towards the courier and Whitmeyer and trailed off. They were a bit further down the road, staring at the town of Nipton in the distance with uneasy expressions. Compared to how it was a few hours prior, the smoke trail was thinner, albeit still visible in the clear sky, and the banner of Caesar's Legion was still hanging from the town hall. It was enough for the two adults to put two and two together.

"What's going on?" Akira asked as he and Makoto trotted up to the two.

"The black smoke in the distance means bad news, I assume," Makoto commented, bracing herself for whatever bad news will follow.

The courier turned to them with an uneasy scowl. "I am going to be direct:" he said, dead serious, "that town up there is Nipton. The Legion raided it and most likely tortured and killed everyone in it."

Akira and Makoto needed a moment to process the meaning of the words. The description seemed too… unreal. Things like that didn't happen in contemporary Japan. Was something lost in translation? "Uh, everyone-everyone?" Akira blurted out.

"Based on what I know of the bastards, everyone-everyone. Maybe a few people hid, maybe they left a few people alive to spread the word, but most of them got the axe. Or the cross."

"But-but… why would they do that though?" Makoto asked, stunned.

"Considering this is technically NCR territory, but Nipton stayed neutral… because they could," the courier replied. "And they want everyone else to know that they could."

"Y-you think it's really that bad?" Whitmeyer asked. "I-I mean, I've heard stories, but they mostly came from NCR guards, so…"

The courier just glanced at him with a neutral expression. Whitmeyer's stance wasn't uncommon – most people didn't travel that far, didn't see as much as the courier did, and the grapevine had a tendency to distort and exaggerate the local news. "I avoided the topic to spare the Vault dwellers, unused to what's the 'standard' out here," the courier said, in a somber tone. "But I can't do that now, so I will explain this in no uncertain terms:" He put emphasis on the next four words: "The Legion is evil. No stories about the quote-unquote security east of Colorado change the fact that they are all, to a man, killers, slavers, and destroyers, subjugating everything and everyone under their banner." He turned to Makoto and Akira. "I mean every word when I say this: if they get their hands on you, they will take away everything you ever were, and everything you could ever become."

Makoto and Akira felt chills going down their spines, and the thought of two unaccounted-for teammates started to weigh down on them. "S-so, uh, what's the plan now?"

"The plan stays mostly the same," the courier proclaimed. "We are still going to the outpost. After Makoto hands over the Primm accession request, we listen to gossip and resupply. I'm gonna need a rifle or a shotgun." He glanced at Whitmeyer. "This is where we split up, isn't it? You'll probably catch the first Caravan back to the core Republic."

"Yes." Whitmeyer turned to Akira and Makoto. "And I'll be honest, I think you two should do the same."

Akira's jaw slightly clenched. "Sir…" he adjusted his glasses, "my friends are out there."

"I kno-"

"And I was the leader of my group," Akira butted in. "They are all stuck in this world as a result of the decisions I made."

"Nobody could've predicted it would end like this," Makoto pointed out.

"That doesn't change the fact that it's my responsibility to get them out of this mess," Akira retorted. "And I will do that… or I will die trying."

Whitmeyer seemed bothered by the willingness with which the (as far as he knew) Vault dweller wanted to throw his life away. "Uh, those are big words for someone your age."

"Don't coddle them, Whitmeyer," the courier butted in, before Akira could retort. "I know they aren't used to Mojave's particular brand of bullshit, but from what I can tell, they are tougher than your usual Vault dweller. I mean, Makoto has two notches on her pistol already and still holds herself together." He glanced at her. "There are psychologists in the area if you need one though."

"I'll keep that in mind."

The courier turned back to Whitmeyer. "And by the way, I'm going to the Strip to get my stuff back, so I can walk with them as they pick up their friends. I'll keep an eye on them and stop them from doing anything stupid. So don't worry about them."

Whitmeyer, in fact, continued to worry, but didn't feel like belaboring the point. "Fine then, it's your funeral. You resupply in the outpost, then what?"

"We go down Nipton Road, circumvent the city from a distance, and head to Searchlight or Novac for the night," the courier explained. Noticing Akira and Makoto's unsure expressions, he explained: "Even with what just happened, this is still the least insane way to get to the eastern side of the Mojave. Take my word for it."

"Right then, can we keep going?" Akira asked. "I think we've wasted enough time here."

Without waiting for a response, he turned around and marched towards the outpost, with Makoto by his side. The courier and Whitmeyer went behind them.

Let's turn back the clock a little bit.

"[Bye, and stay safe. And keep your eyes peeled. You don't know what could wait for you out there.]"

The call ended. Futaba let out a sigh. They don't know what waits out there because you didn't tell them, she thought to herself.

"You don't look happy," Raul pointed out. "Okay, you didn't get everyone, but most of them are alive and safe, aren't they?"

"And how do you know that?" Futaba asked, turning to them. "You don't speak my language."

"You've said before that you didn't pick up all the phones you expected," Raul explained. "You didn't sound panicked at any point during your phone calls, and you're keeping yourself together right now so nobody bit the dust so far."

"Well, aren't you a goddamn detective bastard."

That came out just a smidgen more hostile than Futaba intended. "Did I strike a nerve?" Raul asked, concerned. "I didn't mean to, naranjita, I promise."

"No, no, it's just… dumb and implausible and I'm trying to pretend it's not happening."

"Miss, I reassure you," Neil reassured her, "we have seen enough dumb and implausible things in our life."

"And we can keep secrets." Raul added. "Mostly because nobody will ask us anything, but I'm still counting that."

Futaba sighed. "Right. I told you earlier that I picked up an unexpected result when scanning for others' phones. One of these results was someone that should be dead. A fucking two faced asshole that killed my mother, betrayed my friends, and tried to kill us all before… killing himself, basically. He must've screwed that up too, the prick." Another sigh. "Honestly, I keep telling myself that maybe it's some freak coincidence, maybe some wires crossed in some radio out there and it just looks like his phone."

"That sounds… unlikely," Raul remarked. "I don't think I've seen anything close to what you've done with this station."

"Ghoulification is also unlikely, and yet it happens to some people," Neil countered. "The Brotherhood of Steel is hiding nearby, and they fiddle with cutting-edge technology, maybe it's related to them somehow." He turned to Futaba. "But if it's really the guy you mentioned, do not worry. We'll fend him off if he shows his face here."

"I'm more worried about him bumping into the others," Futaba said. "And I didn't tell them anything yet because… well, because I don't know anything beyond a 90% chance that he's here. Somewhere. Somehow. I can't even get his location with the hardware I currently have."

"Could you use your tech wizard skills to learn more?" Raul asked.

"I can try." Futaba turned back to the screen. "Like, maybe I'll remotely connect to that device to confirm once and for all that it's him, and when I get it confirmed, maybe bug it or-"

She was interrupted by a log entry appearing on the screen. Due to its low resolution, it was truncated.

BST → RYU, [timestamp], FAIL (UNRCHBL).

The device, internally labeled 'bastard', tried to call Ryuji's phone and didn't reach it because, as previously established, it was turned off or out of range.

Another entry showed up a moment after.

BST → YSK, [timestamp], FAIL (UNRCHBL).

"You trailed off, naranjita," Raul pointed out.

"It's him, definitely," Futaba remarked. "He's trying to… call us, for some reason? But why?!" she raised her voice slightly. "Why the fuck would he want to inform us that he's here and not keep his head down and preparing for another round or whatever?"

Another log entry showed up.

BST → FTB, [timestamp], CONNECTING.

Her phone buzzed on the desk.

"I can pick it up and lie for you if you wanna," Raul offered.

"Or we could just ignore it," Neil suggested.

"Or…" With some hesitation, Futaba picked up her phone. "I could speak to him. Play up my low Charisma to pull his tongue and get some intel I can share with others."

"The choice is yours," Raul remarked. "If he gets too cocky, tell him I'll put a .44 in him."

Futaba put her phone to her ear and picked up the call. "[Jackass,]" she said in place of a greeting.

"[And a good afternoon to you too, Sakura-san,]" Akechi replied on the other end.