And so I was back at the Mojave. I could smell the air. Of course, I coughed right after doing so, but I did smell the air.
Once I got out of the cave where I met the Happy Trails I thought about what to do. Then came to my mind that time where I spoke to a friendly Super Mutes and he told me there was a settlement to the northwest, so I decided to go check it out, before diving back to my life in the Mojave and all those hard decisions.
On my way I saw the Lucky 38 tower, beautiful above all New Vegas. I waved at the top, wanting Mr. House to know that I was back. Even though he couldn't see me - I think - it just eased my mind to let him know I was coming, eventually.
I missed Mr. New Vegas.
Passing by a farmstead that I thought abandoned I was attacked by three gangsters. They tested my sweet new Power Fist. I slept in their camp, because I was tired from the travel. Before laying down I scavenged a bit and found a cap with a blue star on it. So I ran through all my caps (Yeah I couldn't sleep very well) and turns out I already had 29 of those blue stared bastards! If only I knew what they did.
I found a single road that led to the middle of a valley, so I followed it. If the settlement was to the northwest, this had to be the path. Said road had some Bighorners guarding the entrance to something. I decided to go in and check it out. Turned out to be an abandoned mine and the first thing I saw was a freaking Lakelurk. Bah, those guys creep me out. And of course, a normal guy would've turn back and leave, but nooo, Bill has to go and punch those ugly motherfuckers in the face, while exploring the whole mine! Good thing though, because I found an AWESOME weapon. It's a fist with a pressure plate on the hand that, when activated, creates a shockwave, like a sonic boom. Holy shit. I'll call it Pushy. It's cute.
My beard itches.
Didn't walk much before finding another mine. Well, last time I went in one I may have found many ugly sons of bitches, but I also found a badass glove, so I went in. But this time there were casadores inside. Give me ugly ass monsters any time, at least those WALK and try to rip you apart from a near by distance, these bastards fly all around and shit, I don't want any of it! I left as soon as I saw one.
I swear, the freaking flying things hunt me. As soon as I got back on that road I was seen by a group of cazadores. I killed two, got stung and then fled. Motherfuckers.
I finally saw the settlement. Two Super Mutants guarded the main gate and another one was standing there, who was the leader. Marcus was his name. He told me that I was free to roam around, only had to be careful not to look at the nightkin - 'cause they didn't like it - and to keep it to myself if I was with the NCR. Heh, no wander Mutants don't like them, those bastards probably don't even ackowledge any creature that's not a human. He also didn't like the Legion. Said that Caesar's ideals went against human nature - greed, jealousy, ambition.
Marcus' hopes were that, one day, they could be a settlement acknowledged for trading, like any other human settlement. That's a noble goal. I liked him from the start, actually.
I explored around a bit and went in the main building. Once I entered I heard a Nightkin complain about me being there. Said that one human was enough, they didn't need another one. I found out that the other human was the doctor, Doctor Henry, who had a ghoulette as an assistant. Doc said he was doing research, so I thought I could help. I'm not dumb at all, might as well make myself useful. He said he was working on the Nightkin's Stealth Boy addiction. For that he was researching a local Nightstalker population who had begun developing invisibility and also had a Mrk II Stealth Boy, though he'd rather not use it. When I offered my help he asked me to look around the nightstalkers cave, because he didn't thought the mutation was natural, since both Nightkins' and nightstalkers' brains showed the same signs of Stealth Boy usage. He also told me to go with a Super Mutant called Lily, who would have been able to help.
I did what the Doc advised me to, talked with Lily. She was a funny mutant. Dressed funny and talked like a granny with loss of memory. She thought I was some Jimmy, her grandson. Poor lady. Then I asked her if she wanted to join me and she told me she'd love to. I saw her pick up her bigass sword, that seemed to be made after a vertibird propeler. Shit, how badass!
I started to create some small talk while we were going to the cave. Trust me, the last thing you want is awkward silence between you and a mutant. It takes awkwardness to whole new level. I asked about herself and she told me grew up in a Vault, only left when she was 75 and was abducted by a bunch of Super Mutants that stormed the place. At this point of the conversation she mentioned someone named "Leo", like she was talking to him at the same time I was talking to her. Somthing like "Shut up Leo, I'm getting to that part". Well, Marcus did say the Nightkin suffered from schizophrenia... Coninuing: she was made a Super Mutant (or Nightkin, whatever) by those who abducted her in order for someone to create an army and conquer California. She said she was a spy and an assassin, with the help of Leo, doing a lot of killing for The Master, who she said I didn't want to know about. He must've been nasty. All I knew was that he created the Super Mutant army. She told me about her sword and how Leo taught her how to make it good for chopping. I finally had to ask, to know her point of view, who was Leo. She told me he was a very, very bad man, who told her to do terrible, terrible things. Apparently, she was on meds to prevent her from hearing voices - Leo.
As we were walking out of the main gate, Marcus came running to me and asked for my help. He said that there were NCR mercs outside the town to harass them. I asked if he was sure they were NCR and he wasn't sure, only knew they wanted the Mutants gone - or dead. He said they have been shooting at the lodge and Bighorners and soon it would be hard to keep the Mutants from retaliating. Stupid humans, God damn.
Normally I'd kill them. Gosh how I'd kill these... Biggots... But no. That would be bad publicity for the Mutants and it would be on me. I asked the merc who did he work for and it was indeed for the NCR. Bastards. I asked them if, since they were mercenaries, they'd accept money to go away. He told him that if I gave him 2500 caps they'd go. Nice. I went back to Marcus and told him the conditions, so he gave me the money and no more mercs. Marcus was happy that it was solved with no bloodshed.
At the nightstalkers caves, Lily got disappointed on how they weren't hostile to us. Then I told her that ever since I parted ways with you guys animals never did attack me, don't really know why. She got all crazed because she really wanted to smash nightstalkers. I guessed it was a psychotic break, caused by Leo. I waited for her to calm down and then asked her what was that all about. She apologised and told me that sometimes she listened to Leo when she shouldn't. She also told me that the medicine helped with that, but sometimes she didn't take it because the meds causes her to forget things she doesn't want to forget. Poor her...
Investigating the cave we found two things. One, the mutation wasn't natural, just as Doc Henry thought. I found a chewed up Stealth Boy, which I assumed had been chewed by nightstalkers and making the effects pass on to them. Two, JUST THE MOST AWESOME THING AROUND THE MOJAVE!!! A bettered version of the Super Sledge! I know right, how can a Super Sledge be bettered?! But it was! Higher power and bigger impact zone! I'll call it "Oh Baby!", because those were the exact same words I said when I saw the thing. Fortunatly Lily didn't think of me as a weirdo for my excessive access of happiness, but found it rather cute. Then I remembered I never had a grandma. Heh... (yes, picture me smiling, please)
We went back to the Doctor and I told him what I had found. After he got disappointed and knew why his research was failing he told me he had only one more path to continue his work: run the Mark II on Lily. Of course, I asked why her. He said she wasn't dangerous like the others and, more importantly, she even volunteered to help. That is one great woman, mutant or not. I asked what were the risks and he told me that there was the possibility of immediant and permanent mental damage. I... I told him I had to think about.
I'm going to sleep now. Such a big decision, I don't even know if I'll do it properly.
Love you,
Bill.
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