Chapter 95: Curiosity killed the

Chapter 95: Curiosity killed the

My Corvega was parked on top of a hill somewhere just outside Henderson. I was sitting on the roof, surveying the landscape below me. The city of New Vegas stretched out for miles, like a twinkling carpet of stars poking out through the desert, with some large stars shining brighter and with more color than others.

The stillness of the night air was a welcome contrast to the violence that had gone on in the Lucky 38 not so long ago. Exactly how long ago, I can't be certain. I couldn't be bothered to check the time. I just knew it was very late.

I reached for the bottle of whiskey next to me, and took another slug. It was almost empty. How had that happened? Hadn't it been full when I started?

I honestly... I didn't know what to do. I had no idea if I should even stay in the Mojave. Sure, I'd been gathering allies and trying to set this whole "Independent Vegas" thing in motion, but... the more I thought about it, the more the impossibility of the whole endeavor seemed. It weighed against my head like a two-ton deathclaw, and it just... if I couldn't even keep my own house in order, what chance did I have at running a nation, much less getting it going?

Maybe Cass was right. Right now, I really did think that I was a hypocrite. Ever since the first spat between Arcade and Veronica, I always tried to make sure that everyone worked out their issues, and insisted that people not keep secrets from one another. Because that's what a team is supposed to do, right? They're supposed to be able to talk to one another, and work out their arguments so that when push comes to shove, we can all work together.

But what had I done? I kept a secret from Veronica that got her so furious when she found out that the two of us were a hairs-width away from killing one another. And if I'd been following my own advice, I would be back at the 38, trying to talk to Veronica to work this fucking mess out. But here I am, sitting on a hill in Henderson, drinking by myself and contemplating leaving everything behind.

Some leader I turned out to be.

Without a word, I drank the last gulp of whiskey in the bottom of the bottle before hurling the empty bottle as hard as I could into the darkness below. It was a good four or five seconds before I heard it smash against the rocks. I flopped backward, sprawling out on the roof of my car with a clang, and looked up. For all the lights in Vegas below, the night sky still shone just as bright.

As I stared skyward, I suddenly became aware of something: the silence surrounding me was no longer absolute. I maneuvered my head - still lying on top of my car - to try and get my ears in a better position to listen... Yeah, there was definitely something going on. It was faint, but it was unmistakable:

People shouting. Gunfire. Alarm sirens. It definitely sounded like somebody was under attack.

Part of me didn't even want to check. It's not my problem, I told myself. It's not worth getting up to check. You don't even know who's down there fighting, so you certainly have no reason to even get up. But... despite all those thoughts rattling around in my skull, my curiosity won out. I rolled off the top of my car, and opened the trunk. Without a sound, I grabbed my scoped rifle Pinpoint, and headed over to the direction of the sounds. I didn't even really have much ammo for the rifle - not really. But the scope would come in handy if they were as far away as the sounds suggested.

I knelt down at the edge of the ridge, switching my eyes back to night vision. About a half-mile distant - I think - I could see a small concrete building, sitting next to a fenced-off field of electrical transformers, and all around were the unmistakable muzzle flashes of gunfire. I pressed the rifle stock into my shoulder, and peered into the scope.

The building was surrounded entirely by NCR soldiers, shouting and shooting from behind sandbag barricades and inside small concrete pill-box bunkers. I panned the rifle to get a look at their attackers; sure enough, a pack of Legion soldiers were running in from the south to assault the defenders of the building.

As I watched the carnage unfold below me, I honestly couldn't tell who was going to get the upper hand. The NCR forces were in a much better position - the building seemed to have been built in the corner of a small v-shaped canyon, allowing only one viable avenue of attack - and the soldiers themselves were heavily entrenched behind the sandbags, the bunkers, all that. But there were only about a dozen of them. The attacking Legion forces heavily outnumbered the NCR, and the Legion forces were able to close the gap with surprisingly few casualties. Forcing the conflict to go hand-to-hand took away the biggest advantage the NCR had.

I took my eye away from the scope, and slowly got up. I sighed heavily, weighing my options. Sure, I could help the NCR. I didn't have that many rounds for Pinpoint, but it was suppressed, and the elevated position gave me a distinct advantage that might confuse the Legion forces long enough to let the NCR get the upper hand... but what was the point? This wasn't my fight.

I shook my head, walking away from the ridge and back to my car. For all I knew, there were a dozen such attacks going on all over the wasteland right now. I couldn't stop them all.

I barely got halfway back to my car before the sounds of the conflict behind me changed once again. I came to a halt immediately, recognizing the sound. That didn't sound like... that wasn't gun fire. That was plasma fire.

In a flash, I was back to the ridge, with the rifle scope against my eye. Sure enough, the conflict had changed. It was almost like the Legion and the NCR were... were they fighting side by side? Bright streaks screamed into troops on both sides - I couldn't tell what color it was, since the night vision tinged everything green - and I tried to find the source...

My blood ran cold and my pulse quickened simultaneously, somehow. A single, solitary figure was fighting both sides, and was winning. The figure was practically dancing around the battlefield, moving around their opponents like water or smoke. This was unmistakably the same person that had killed Orris and saved Veronica and me from the pack of cazadores before I was spirited away to the Sierra Madre.

I had to get down there. This was my best chance at getting some answers. I had been trying to figure out who this person was for weeks, but I'd only seen them twice. If I could get down there before he or she or it was finished, maybe... maybe I could... I don't know what I thought I could do. But I dropped Pinpoint on the ground, and started climbing down the side of the cliff.

The closer I got, the more I could see: whoever this person was, it was clear that they weren't merely using the energy weapons. They were dispatching both the NCR and Legion troops with precise and deadly melee strikes. I saw at least one get kicked with enough force to send them flying back several feet. The attacker was switching between punches, kicks, and plasma blasts with an unnatural ease, and a speed that made me realize that this person - whoever they were - almost certainly wasn't human.

This was a bad idea. It was almost certainly the worst idea I'd ever had - and that was saying something. But I'd come too far down the cliff to try and turn back, and more than that... I needed answers, if only to sate my curiosity.

By the time I reached the bottom of the cliff, the fight was over. Both sides had been wiped out, with bodies littering the ground. The attacker was standing with their back to me, standing over one of the still moving bodies writhing on the ground. It was a Legion soldier, choking and gagging on, presumably, their own blood. The attacker sent a burst of energy weapon fire into the Legionnaire's head with an almost clinical precision.

For the first time, I got a decent look at this person. If the general shape of the body was anything to go by, then I was dealing with a woman. The armor almost reminded me a bit of the kind of armor Veronica wore under her robe. There were dark metal plates over a black bodysuit made out of that same kind of muscle-cables that created an exaggerated hourglass figure. Could this be another member of the Brotherhood? I couldn't be certain. I vaguely remembered Veronica mentioning that her suit was a one-of-a-kind prototype.

What I did know for certain is that it was hard to make out any details about the material at all. It was almost like the suit itself was trying to become invisible, even without the Stealth Boys I knew she had on her, somewhere. What's more, she was positively covered in weapons. There was a pistol mounted on each thigh, a knife on each boot, a large curved knife on the back of her belt, and several other unidentifiable weapons strapped to her back. To be honest, the weapons didn't look like weapons - they looked merely like metal boxes. In fact, I only knew the pistols were pistols because I saw her 'holster' one after executing the fallen Legion soldier. She set it against her thigh, it stayed there, and it folded up into itself, turning into a small metal box with a series of mechanical whirrs. It wasn't like any weapon I'd ever seen before.

There was one more detail that I couldn't help but notice: she was wearing a Pip Boy of her own. Except... it wasn't quite a Pip Boy. It looked sleeker, smaller, and more compact than the bulky device I wore on my left arm... and what's more, her Pip Boy was attached to her right arm.

I barely got a few feet away from the bottom of the cliff before this mysterious woman spoke up:

"You shouldn't be here." The voice was calm, precise, and very heavily synthesized. I couldn't recognize it. It sounded a bit like a robot, and when she turned around to look at me, the sound made sense. She was wearing a helmet that covered her entire head. The helmet had three eyes, like I'd seen before - two relatively normal sized eyes where you would expect and a single round eye in the center of her forehead. All three eyes glowed yellow, and were the most visible part of her armor. She didn't have ears so much as two spikes on each side of her head. It made her look like she had horns. There wasn't a mouth on the helmet, but there wasn't an obvious respirator like you got with Brotherhood helmets either.

"I know. I'm well aware of how much I shouldn't be here," I said, putting my hands in the air to show her that I was unarmed. Like it would matter, I thought to myself. She just executed an unarmed, dying man like she was swatting a fly. I tried to steady my breathing. "Look, I've seen you before, and I know you've seen me. Twice that I know of, at least. Both times, you could've killed me easily. But you didn't. I just want... I just want to know why."

I woke with a start, coughing and spluttering. My eyes snapped open and I was, again, greeted by a blanket of stars above my head. But I hadn't been woken by the melodic sounds of my lovers voice; I was woken up by a body on fire and wracked with pain.

"Aaaaugh..." I grunted, sitting up. I couldn't decide on whether to clutch my head or my sides. "Oh, what the fuck..." I coughed again several times, and finally settled on bringing a hand to my mouth to check... Oh, good, I'm not bleeding. That's always good.

I looked around, trying to get my bearings. I was in the middle of a field, surrounded by NCR and Legion bodies... that's right. I knew where I was, now. I sat there, trying to work up the strength to even get up off the ground, all the while trying to ignore the pain in my chest.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a familiar beeping sound. I looked up, and sure enough, ED-E was hovering around and bobbing over all the carnage surrounding me, beeping and whistling - doubling the noise when the robot finally took notice of me.

"Hey... hey ED-E," I said, still a little short of breath. "Followed me, didja?" I coughed again, the pain in my chest spiking. ED-E hovered over to me, letting out a trio of happy, affirmative sounding beeps. "Thanks, little buddy. I guess if you're still here, I can't have fucked up too badly..." I let out another cough, trying to disguise it as a laugh, and ED-E beeped at me, sounding a little... was that confusion?

"Yeah, I guess you missed all the action earlier..." ED-E let out a single solitary beep. "Yeah... you know, I think, out of all my friends, you're the only one who hasn't caused any problems. You haven't been responsible for any drama, sleepless nights, or... cracked ribs," I winced, clutching my side. ED-E was silent, bobbing in the air and staring at me. At least, I think he was staring.

"Truth be told... you're probably the best friend I have right now," I said to the eyebot with a smile. He seemed pleased with that... but I had to think: what does that say about me?

I touched my face as ED-E bobbed around happily, and realized that my sunglasses and had had been knocked away. Made sense, really. What didn't make sense was the wetness on my cheek. Was I bleeding? I drew my hand away to check - there wasn't any red, so what... were those tears? Why was I... Forget it. I shook my head, trying to focus.

"Hey, ED-E? Think you can help me up?" I said, lifting a hand up to the floating eyebot. He chirped, and hovered close enough for me to grab hold of the horizontal fin on his back. Next thing I knew, I was back on my feet - a bit wobbly, perhaps, but still up. "Thanks, buddy," I patted ED-E's chassis, and he bobbed happily into my hand, a bit like a dog who enjoyed being scratched behind the ears.

I was somewhere else throughout all this. That dream... it hadn't been a dream. It was a memory... but it didn't make sense. Why was my subconscious reminding me of that? That was the last night... the last truly happy moment I had with... but then she left. She left before the next morning, and never said why. But... why? Why was my brain thinking of that? I thought I'd buried that memory. I thought I'd come to terms with that years ago, and left all that baggage behind. Was it just... hell, I thought I was done for, maybe my brain was just trying to give me one last happy moment before I finally went West.

No. No, stop thinking about it. You left all that behind for a good reason. Don't think about... her. There's nothing down that road but sadness and pain.

I needed a distraction. Another distraction. Something else to focus on.

As it happened, that's exactly what I got. ED-E started beeping frantically, and pulled himself away from my absent-minded petting, and suddenly shot up in the air to fly high above my head.

"ED-E?" I asked, craning my neck to try and follow his movements. "What's up? What are you -" I stopped mid-sentence when I saw what was freaking him out. One of the stars in the sky above my head was moving... and it was getting larger.

Right, that's definitely not a star. Something was hurtling to the earth at a truly tremendous speed. My first instinct was to look for some kind of shelter or cover, but as the fireball started to really streak across the sky, I realized that it was definitely going to miss me. It veered off to the north, and disappeared behind the ridge next to me. From the sound (and the shaking ground) it must have landed pretty close. Somewhere in Henderson.

ED-E came back down to my level, and stared me straight in the face, beeping madly. I couldn't actually understand him, and yet I knew exactly what he was saying. Without another word, ED-E zoomed off, in the direction of the fallen star, and I started running for my car - stopping along the way to pick up my sunglasses and hat.

I pulled the car to a stop, and got out. ED-E was just ahead of me, and had easily found the crash site, and had helped me find the quickest route.

"What is this place?" I asked, trying to get a look at what had crashed. "Is this... this is a drive-in, isn't it?" ED-E beeped cautiously, and I advanced. Ahead of me, I could see a plume of smoke, except... it didn't look quite right. It should've been brown, or reddish-orange from the fire. But it looked... blue.

I had a really bad feeling about this. Before I left to find out exactly what had crashed, I rummaged through my car's trunk and started loading myself down with as many weapons and explosives as I could carry. The last time something crashed from the sky - and it belched out blue smoke - it was an alien spacecraft complete with a space alien armed with a ray gun.

I didn't want to take any chances.

I finally ducked under the giant billboard that was, presumably, the movie screen when this place was still a drive in, and saw what had crashed: it looked like a satellite. A few of the solar-panels on the edges were barely hanging on, and bent at odd angles, twitching occasionally and shooting out sparks. On the far end of the satellite, behind a large oval dish, I could see a blue fire belching smoke into the air.

The most curious thing about this satellite - quite apart from the fact that it was still in one piece - was the end closest to the solar panels. It looked like a camera lens, except... it was glowing. It looked like it was projecting... could it... I turned around to look at the movie screen, just on the off chance that -

"What the fuck?" I said aloud. I stood there, trying to make sense - it was an eye. A blue-tinged image of a close-up of an eye, lousy with static, was being projected onto the movie screen by the satellite. The eye was twitching around, like it was looking around at... something. Maybe it was just looking around.

ED-E hovered close, and beeped cautiously at me. I nodded, staring at the satellite, still marveling that it was still working.

"Yeah, I hear you buddy... there's something seriously not right here..." I edged closer, trying to get a better look. I wasn't going to touch it, fuck no. It just crashed from the sky, it was probably still boiling hot, and would probably melt my flesh off if I got too close. But I still wanted to... what was that on the side?

"Is that an American flag?" I asked aloud, leaning in to get -

WHAT THE!

I suddenly felt like every single cell in my body was being ripped apart. Everything started to spin wildly out of control. I felt an extremely uncomfortable sensation in the pit of my stomach, and started to work its way up. It was like a chain attached to my insides was trying to yank my rectum up through my mouth. I felt drunk, but it wasn't at all pleasant - I had room spin and a massive headache, all pushed through the kaleidoscope filter of color and noise.

I was caught in the grip of a teleporter. That's not fair! I didn't even touch the da-

And then I blacked out.