Chapter 169: The Calm

Chapter 169: The Calm

That's right kids, it's me Three Dog! Bow wow! How're you kids handling Post-Apocalyptia tonight? Got lots of great music lined up for all y'all tonight. We've got "Children of the Grave" from Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin with some pure "Rock and Roll," and we've even got a little Queen with "You're My Best Friend." But I think I'm going to kick off this long block of new music with some Pink Floyd. It's "Wish You Were Here," and I'm glad you're here with me, only on Galaxy News Radio! AHWOOOO!

The orange and purple hues of a sunset were filtering through the clouds and onto the Lucky 38's balcony. I was leaning against one of the railings, watching the city below; it was already a bustle of activity, and the first of the neon lights were starting to blink into life. Despite all the... excitement earlier, I hadn't heard a peep from Crocker or anyone else from the NCR embassy. For that matter, I didn't hear any unusual chatter in my earpiece from any of the securitrons currently patrolling Freeside. Not even so much as a mugging.

I was quite glad about that. With the threat of Legion crossing the Dam getting ever closer, looming over my head like the Sword of Damocles, I honestly had no idea how many quiet nights I had left...

"Wurf!" As if by magic, Roxie suddenly appeared at my side. I hadn't even heard her come onto the balcony. Had I really been that lost in thought?

"Oh, hey girl!" I knelt down to scratch her behind the braincase; she rubbed her face into my hand and started idly pawing at me. "What's up? You hungry?"

"I think she just wanted to see you," Christine said, walking onto the balcony. "I was wondering why she was leading me out here."

"Christine!" I smiled up at her, continuing to pet the enormous dog. "Hi! I've hardly seen you the last couple of days. Been keeping yourself busy, have you?" I kept smiling broadly at her, with the best shit-eating grin I could muster; she just blushed and looked away, trying not to look smug.

"Oh... you know... relatively busy..." she chuckled.

"Well, I'm glad," I said, standing up and holding onto the railing. Roxie started trotting around, doing figure-8's around the both of us. "After everything that's happened, you two deserve your shot."

"Heh... thanks." Christine nodded slowly, leaning against the railing several paces away from me and looking out across the city. "Actually... I've been meaning to talk to you."

"Yeah? What's up?" I asked.

"Well..." Christine started wringing her hands together nervously. "I never got a chance to... you know..." She cleared her throat loudly. "Er... that is... uh... when I stayed behind in the Madre... I... uh... I had plenty of time to... think. And every day after sending you away, I wondered if... I wondered if I made the wrong choice, staying behind like I did. And after the last few days, I realized..." She cleared her throat, yet again. "It was the wrong choice. I should've come back to Veronica sooner. So I... I just..." She sighed heavily. "Thank you."

"Oh, hey, no, don't worry about it!" I waved it off with a smile and laugh. "After everything that happened between us in the Madre, it's the least I could do, you know?"

"I just wish I'd... figured... that... that..." she shook her head and let out a single weak chuckle, before looking back up at me with a smile. "There are some things more important in life than an oath to a dead man."

"Hey, you still figured it out eventually," I said, patting her shoulder. "And that's what matters."

The two of us stood on that balcony, looking out at the city below us, and we just started laughing.

"Oh, there y'are!" Cass greeted us as Christine, Roxie and I came into the kitchen from outside. "Was wonderin' where you guys had gone." Cass, Veronica and Boone were all sitting around the kitchen table; Veronica got up and met Christine with a hug while I sat down with everyone else.

"Hey you," Veronica whispered as the two lovebirds sat down and started smooching.

"So, what's going on?" I asked, leaning back into one of the chairs. "We gonna get some grub soon?"

"Well, we were," Cass shrugged. "But we can't find Arcade. Far as I know, nobody's seen him all day."

"What, nobody?" Cass shook her head. I sighed, getting up. Damn, just when I was getting comfortable, too. "I guess we better go look for him, then."

"Sounds good t'me!" Cass got up and slapped Veronica on the back; Christine was sitting on her lap. "D'you two wanna come, or are y'gonna be occupied fer th' next couple hours?"

"Uh..." Veronica looked up at Christine, who just shrugged. "Sure! Sounds like it could be fun!"

"I've been meaning to get outside more, anyway," Christine chuckled as she hopped up off Veronica's lap. "It's still nice to breathe the fresh air instead of poison all the time." The three girls (and the dog) made their way out of the kitchen and over to the elevator in the next room, but Boone kept sitting in his seat, with a hand on his beer.

"You wanna come with?" I asked. "You're welcome to join us... I mean..." I coughed nervously. "Unless you're still mad at me about what happened earlier?" Boone screwed his face up with a grumble, but eventually shook his head.

"Nah," he grunted, finishing off his beer and getting up. "I'm not mad. He's still alive, after all. That's the important thing." He paused on his way to the door, letting out a half chuckle. "Besides... the more I think about it... yeah, I admit. Punching him in the face was kinda funny."

"Y-yeah," I chuckled nervously, watching as he left.

I'll be honest, those thoughts I'd had on top of the tower were still roaming around the inside of my skull, scratching away at the back of my mind. I still had no idea where that sudden and wholly unwelcome desire to kill him had truly come from. The fact that I'd almost come so close to pulling the trigger when saving the President's life was literally the whole reason we even went out there... it was filling me with a sense of unease that I couldn't shake off. Mostly because I couldn't understand what I had been thinking... And how the hell do I not know what I am thinking?!

C'mon, man. Focus. Compartmentalize. The moment is long since gone. You don't have to worry about it anymore.

It's not important.

"Hey, man!" Cass called out from the other room. "Y'comin' r'what?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on my way!" I yelled back, walking to the elevator.

Ding.

"Hey guys!" I called out into the echo-y Penthouse as I left the elevator. From the other room, I could hear Yes Man's monitor blink into life.

"Hi there!" he boomed happily. "What can I do for you today?" April and Emily emerged from the nearby kitchen, each holding a steaming cup of coffee.

"Oh, hello," Emily gave us a wave as she blew on her coffee to cool it down. And then she paused when she realized all of us were up here. "Oh boy. What's wrong?"

"What... what's wrong?" I repeated. "I'm not sure I " Before I could finish, April cut me off.

"The last time you all came up here, the Lone Wanderer showed up and you guys had to fight Space Nazis on the Moon." April very calmly took a sip of coffee. "So, what's the ridiculous problem on our plate this time? An intergalactic locust swarm? A horde of pre-war communist robots built by the preserved brain of Chairman Cheng? An army of mole-men from the Earth's core wearing silly hats?"

"Oh, no, it's nothing like that..." I waved them off, amidst the intermittent laughter from Cass and Veronica behind me. "It's just that nobody's seen Arcade all day, and we thought you guys might know where he's gone." April and Emily looked at each other, and April shrugged.

"No, we haven't seen him either..." Emily said with a shake of her head.

"I think I might know where he's gone!" Yes Man spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to the big screen. His face flickered slightly. "A few hours ago, several cameras in Freeside picked up Arcade heading in the direction of the Followers of the Apocalypse headquarters in the Old Mormon Fort."

"That sounds promising!" Veronica chimed in happily.

"You guys wanna come?" I asked April and Emily with a smile. "Once we find him, we're all gonna get some food."

"I dunno..." Emily scratched the back of her head and chuckled nervously. "I mean, we've still got a bit of work to do yet, and..." She trailed off when she realized that a very large cybernetic dog was whimpering at her feet, looking up at them pitifully and pawing at the two scientists gently. April shrugged, finished off her coffee, and set the empty mug down.

"Sounds like fun," April slapped me on the shoulder, and her long black braid swished in the air behind her as she slid past me to the elevator. "What're we waiting for?"

We all ended up walking down Vegas Boulevard rather than driving. With Cass, Boone, Veronica, Christine, Emily, April, and Roxie all following me, there wasn't enough space in my Corvega. I would've taken the Deuce, but Stripe was laying half-in, half-out of the truck, snoring loudly, and... Well, we decided to just leave him be. Probably a bad idea to wake up a sleeping deathclaw, you know?

The walk to the Old Mormon Fort was actually pretty relaxing. I honestly couldn't remember the last time I'd gone for a walk through the Freeside streets (as opposed to hopping along the rooftops) after dark without someone trying to mug me or a gunfight spontaneously breaking out. But everything seemed quiet. There were tons of regular people out walking the streets, and a few of them even appeared unarmed. And that sat as a very stark contrast to me, let me tell you. Despite not expecting any action, I was still carrying three pistols, a sawed-off shotgun, and four knives.

The most heartening thing I saw on the trip was the evidence of repairs being done to the damaged city. You see, The King and I had a bit of a one-on-one during the big meeting the other day, and we decided to use his contacts and my money (which Yes Man had been managing, so I now had more than I knew what to do with) to hire some out-of-work construction workers to fix the damage caused by the Enclave. It wasn't going to be a permanent solution to the lack of jobs in Freeside, but it would provide a decent shot of adrenaline to the economy until after the big fight at Hoover Dam. Once the NCR and Legion were no longer a threat, that's when Yes Man would restart some of the abandoned factories around town... and they would all need employees.

After all, you can't build a nation with a GDP of $0. And yes, I realize that's probably the least entertaining thing I've ever said in the course of this narrative. But if there's one thing I learned from the Lone Wanderer, it's this: if you truly want to help out people, then there's more to being A Good Guy than gunfights, car chases, thrilling action setpieces, and massive explosions. Those can certainly help in the short term, but the end-goal of this experiment of mine is to get to a point where massive explosions are no longer needed.

When our amorphous cluster of people finally got to the gates of the Mormon Fort, we were greeted by an unexpected but certainly not unwelcome voice. It wasn't really that much of a surprise, as his motorcycle was parked just outside the gate.

"Hola mis amigos!" Raul appeared from one of the tents with a wave. "Didn't expect to see you guys around here." His sombrero wasn't actually on his head, but strapped to his back; it was a bit too huge and ridiculous to be on top of his head when he was inside the tents, presumably.

"I could say the same for you," I said with a chuckle, high-fiving his outstretched hand. "I like the coat, by the way." He nodded smugly, grabbing his (obviously Gun Runner up-armored) duster by the collar.

"Thanks. I needed a better way to carry all my machetes," he said, pulling open his coat to reveal at least a dozen knives probably more strapped to the duster lining. Cass whistled loudly from somewhere behind me.

"Nice," I laughed again. "So, what're you doing here?"

"Not much," Raul shrugged. "Just picking up a few supplies, and seeing how a few of my rescues are doing. You?"

"Looking for Arcade," I shrugged. "Once we find him, we're all gonna get some food. Wanna join in?" Raul nodded with a laugh.

"Th' stage!" Arcade slurred, shoving the microphone against my chest. "It's karaoke night, so y'gotta sing!" And before I knew it, I was in the middle of the stage, staring into a spotlight hanging from the ceiling, with a RobCo terminal next to me, listing all the songs they had.

The entire bar erupted in spontaneous silence. For several seconds, nothing happened. Then, nothing continued to happen.

"Sing something!" Cass shouted from the edge of the stage. So, I tapped a few buttons on the terminal next to me, and started browsing through the list of songs, trying to find a song I actually knew. I want to say that there was a surprising number of country and western songs, but really... not all that surprising, given the name of this place.

"Oh, hey, I think I know this one!" I said, selecting a Willie Nelson song and hitting enter. "One, two, a-one-two-three-four" The sound of drums and twangy guitar riffs playing to the steady and unmistakable beat of a train on the move filled the bar. I started tapping my foot to the beat, and made my best attempt to sing.

On the road again

Just can't wait to get on the road again

The life I love is makin' music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again!

While I was up there, warbling away into the microphone, I motioned at everyone else in our group to come up and join me. I'm the first to admit that I don't really have much of a singing voice; I have a range of about two notes, and both of them are off key. But I figured if I could get everyone up here to join me, it wouldn't seem so bad. A problem shared is a problem halved, right?

On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been

Seein' things that I may never see again

And I can't wait to get on the road again!

None of them seemed to be taking the hint, so I decided on a more direct form of persuasion. Halfway through the second verse, I hopped off the stage, grabbed Cass, and dragged her up with me. By the time next verse started, the two of us were singing almost in unison, arms wrapped around each other.

On the road again

Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway

We're the best of friends

Insisting that world keep turning our way

And our way...

By now, Veronica and Christine had joined us on one side, with Arcade bounding up the stage to my other side, draping his arm around my neck. The five of us all started singing...

Is on the road again

Just can't wait to get on the road again

The life I love is makin' music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again!

By now, it was like the whole bar had joined in on the fun. But they couldn't really sing along, as it was the big guitar solo in the middle... so everyone was shouting and clapping and stomping their feet to the beat instead. Reluctantly, the last few stragglers in our group decided to get in on it before the song ended. April and Emily were first, followed by Raul, and of course Boone was last. Couldn't really blame him. He was massively out of his element here. But as soon as he got up on stage with all of us in that big clusterfuck, he was smiling and singing like the rest of us. Even Roxie had her paws up on the edge of the stage, and was howling and barking along to the music.

"Everybody!" I shouted, and the whole bar erupted in voices, all singing along.

On the road again

Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway

We're the best of friends

Insisting that world keep turning our way

And our way

Is on the road again

Just can't wait to get on the road again

The life I love is makin' music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again!

And I can't wait to get on the road again!

There was one last twangy guitar riff, and the whole bar erupted in cheers and massive applause. And I honestly couldn't tell if it was because they liked the song, or if it was because Veronica had dipped Christine and the two of them were having a great big snog right on stage in front of everyone.

Probably the latter. I know I wanted to cheer.

"Who's up for another?" I asked.

Apparently the place served food, so we ended up deciding to stay. Nobody here seemed to mind us much, despite several of our company not actually being gay; that reason I learned after a rather lengthy discussion with the bartender-slash-owner. He insisted that this bar was not, in fact, a 'gay' bar, but was merely 'a place for people who wanted to have a good time and be themselves without ridicule or persecution.' And hey, we were all having a blast, so who was I to argue?

It did make me wonder, though: that sounded suspiciously like the motto of the Five Star Saloon up in New Reno, almost word for word. Did the owners know each other? Truly, it was a mystery for the ages.

After an hour or two, most of us were spread out. Veronica and Christine were up on stage, singing a sappy love song duet. Boone, Raul, April and Emily were playing pool. Arcade was riding (or more specifically, dancing) on the bucking brahmin. Cass and I, meanwhile, were tucked away in a quiet secluded booth off in a corner, with a perfect view of everything going on. Roxie was curled up in a ball on the seat to my right, with Cass on my left. My arm was draped around her, she was leaning into me, and we were sharing a mojito, complete with paper umbrella and a pair of bendy straws sticking out of the top.

"I think Veronica's found the singer for her band," I said, and Cass nodded.

"Yeah, who knew Christine could sing, right?" she asked.

"Well," I shrugged. "She does have the voice of Vera Keyes." Cass looked up at me with a furrowed brow.

"Who?"

"Never mind, it's not important," I said, waving it off. Cass let out a contented "Hmm," and settled back into her spot, resting against me. And as I sat there with my arm around her, absentmindedly toying with her hair, I couldn't help but laugh softly.

"What's up?" Cass asked.

"Oh... y'know. Just thinking of somethin' funny, is all. You remember what you said when we first met?"

"Said a lot've things back then," she shrugged, and rested her head against me.

"I just remember you sayin' nothing was gonna happen between us," I chuckled. "You were very specific. Very explicit. And look at us now, huh?" Cass shrugged again.

"Well, y'know. That was 'fore I got to know ya. B'sides..." she shifted in her seat, snaked her arm behind my neck and kissed me on the cheek. "People change."

"Thank you," I said with a nod, holding her closer. "Thanks for... everything. You've always been here for me, every step of the way, and "

"Well, not every step," Cass smirked and stuck out her tongue.

"You know what I mean," I said with a laugh. "I'm glad you're with me on this. I'm glad you're... here. I wouldn't have it any other way." Cass smiled at me, taking my face in her hand and kissed me softly.

"This caravan ain't done travelin' yet, motherfucker..." she laughed again. "We're only just gettin' started."