Chapter 145: Freeside Firefight

Chapter 145: Freeside Firefight

"Thanks again," I said, locking the metal box which held the anti-plant virus bomb. Keely just shook her head and waved me off.

"Don't mention it," she growled. "The last thing any of us wants is an outbreak of those fungal spores on the surface..." While she spoke, she adjusted the collar on her labcoat. Apparently, both she and Williams had taken over the OSI offices in Camp McCarran - at least, for the time being. Hildern was nowhere to be seen. That said, Keely didn't seem entirely comfortable in her labcoat. "So, where did this happen? Was it close to Vault 22? Do you think the strains are related?"

"Well..." I scratched the back of my head. "It's... complicated. I'm pretty sure I ran into Patient Zero, to be honest..." Keely raised a hairless eyebrow, and I shrugged. "The place where it happened is pretty isolated. I don't think we're against the clock on this one..."

"But better safe than sorry," she finished for me, and I nodded. She paused for a moment, tapping her chin and looking me up and down before finally continuing: "Alright, I've gotta ask... what's with the metal hand?"Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

"It's... uh..." I looked down at my exposed cybernetic and reflexively opened and closed my hand several times. "It's a metal arm actually."

Keely stared at me, unblinking, for several seconds.

"You serious?" She asked. I nodded. "What the fuck happened?"

"Would you believe business as usual?" I said with a shrug.

Again, Keely stared at me for several seconds.

"I'm tempted to say I don't believe you, but that would be a lie. I mean, you're The Courier. Shit not making sense around you makes a certain amount of sense." She paused. "Sort of."

"Thanks," I gave her a nervous laugh, scratching the back of my neck. "... I think."

"So, what's your excuse for the boots?" She pointed down at the pair of rocket boots I was still wearing. "Is that business as usual, too?"

"Not exactly." I'm not sure she picked up on my unwillingness to elaborate, because she just kept staring.

"Where did you even get those, anyway?" She asked, squatting down and leaning in close to get a better look. "Did you loot them from a set of power armor or something?"

"Sure, let's go with that." I tried to be as non-committal as possible. I think it must've worked, because she stood back up, shook her head, and laughed.

"Alright, whatever. Keep your secrets. At least you're keeping yourself busy."

"Aren't we all?" I shrugged. I was about to ask her what she'd been doing to keep herself occupied when suddenly I was interrupted by the sudden screeching halt of bad news flooding into my ears.

"Sheason!" Emily yelled over the radio, panic evident in her voice. "We've got a problem!"

"Speaking of, hold that thought, I've gotta take this." I held up a hand in front of a suddenly confused Keely. I turned away and tapped the side of my helmet, to make sure the speaker was seated. "Emily? What's "

"It's happening!" she said before I could finish. "It's sooner than we expected!"

A knot formed in the pit of my gut.

"Slow down," I said. "What's going " Again, I was cut off.

"Los Zorroz! They're attacking The Kings!"

"Shit..." I growled under my breath. I turned back to Keely, grabbed the bomb, and started backtracking to the door. "Thanks for the bomb, but something incredibly urgent has come up, I've gotta go."

"Don't mention it. Do what you've gotta do," she nodded at me, shooing me out of her office. I turned on my heel and ran through the McCarran airport terminal to get back to where my car was parked.

"I'm on my way," I said to Emily, carrying the box under my arm like a football. "How many are there?"

"All of them!" she practically shouted.

The knot in my gut got tighter.

"All of... all of who?" I asked, fairly certain I knew what was coming next.

"ALL of them! It's not a skirmish Los Zorroz are hitting The King's headquarters! They've turned that whole intersection into a warzone!"

"Fuck!" I popped the trunk, secured the box, slammed the hood closed, and practically jumped into my car. "Alright Em, this is All Hands On Deck! Tell everyone to gear up and load up into the Deuce. I'll meet them there." My Corvega roared into life, and I peeled away from Camp McCarran leaving a trail of burnt rubber and smoke behind me. "I have a bad feeling we're gonna need some medical help before this is all over... We've gotta get a message to Julie some-" I snapped my fingers. "Yes Man! You listening?"

"Hi there!" Yes Man's cheery voice buzzed. "Of course I am! I'm always here for you, sir!"

"How many securitrons can you spare?" I asked, swerving around a wrecked car near the Vegas sign.

"How many do you need?"

I sped into Freeside, practically punching the horn over and over again to get people out of my way. Off in the distance, I could see a huge cloud smoke rising, and that was never a good sign. I rounded the last corner, tires squealing in pain, and I suddenly realized just how much Emily had NOT been exaggerating. In fact, calling it a war zone was probably too mild.

At that precise moment, the top floor corner of the The King's place was hit by a rocket fired from the roof of a building across the street and the wall exploded in a shower of fire and rubble. The street was completely filled with people, all of them armed, and all of them shooting at one another. The Freeside sign across the street was in pieces. A few hastily constructed barricades had been set up outside the front of The King's place, in a vain and pitiful attempt at defense. Several wrecked cars were being used as cover by both sides, and at least one of the wrecks was still on fire.

For about half a second, I wondered where the cars had come from I couldn't remember those wrecks being there before. Of course, that's around the time most of the shooters wearing red noticed me, and bullets started ricocheting off my Corvega with loud pings. I knew the armor on my car would hold just so long as they didn't hit me with a 50 cal or rockets or anything so I just put my foot down and aimed my car at a spot between The Kings and Los Zorroz.

"I hope you guys are close!" I yelled, unsure if they were even still on the radio or not, all while spinning the wheel and yanking on the handbrake. My car started skidding sideways, vomiting tire smoke and screeching loud enough to be heard over all the gunfire.

Before I got the chance to answer, a rumbling engine sounded off behind me. I turned around, and saw a large white van barreling down the street, swerving around the wreckage and slowing down as it got close to The King's place. The Followers of the Apocalypse logo was painted on the side. The door on the side slid open, and several Followers doctors jumped out, carrying medical equipment and doctors bags.

"He's in here!" Arcade yelled from the door. "Come quick!"

"Aw, hell," a familiar southern drawl wafted out of the darkened interior. "Stop fussin' over me, I'm fine!" The King emerged out of the darkness, looking a lot worse for wear. He was bleeding heavily from several wounds, he was covered in dirt, grime, and ash, and I'm pretty sure he was only standing because of the two men on either side of him holding him up. As the three of them stumbled forward, Rex emerged, trotting alongside and staring up at his master, whimpering. "See to my boys first. A lot of 'em are hurt worse than me!" Considering that the two guys helping him walk looked just as wounded as the King, I could believe that.

"Don't worry," one of the doctors said. "More help is on the way."

The doctors got to work, and I breathed a silent sigh of relief. For a while, I'd been worried my message hadn't gotten to Julie and the other Followers. Speaking of which, I heard a wheel squeaking behind me. Sure enough, a securitron was approaching but, surprisingly, it had Yes Man's face.

"Hi there!" Yes Man said, his tone of voice making him seem oblivious to the carnage all around him. "I have some interesting news!"

"Yeah? What's up?" Cass and Raul crowded around behind me, but Roxie had stopped nuzzling into my hand; she had trotted over to Rex and the King.

"A few of my securitrons have, well, secured some surviving gang members!" Yes Man proclaimed happily. "They were out of ammunition, so it was a trivial matter!"

"What, they just gave up?" Cass asked. Yes Man's screen flickered.

"Sort of!" It was just as cheery as everything else he ever said, but somehow he was able to inject a terrifying undercurrent of menace into his words...

I peered into the room cautiously. A figure wearing a red shirt was hunched over and tied to a chair, while a securitron hovered around nearby with one of its gun arms trained on him. I turned to Cass and Raul.

"Well..." I said. "What do you think? He might be able to tell us something."

"We could try the old good-cop, bad-cop routine on him, Boss," Raul said. "Try and get some information out of him that way."

"Personally, I prefer bad-cop, worse-cop," Cass said, smashing her fist in her other palm. "So, we gonna put th' squeeze on him, r'what?"

"Nah..." I said, tapping my chin. "Beating on somebody for info is useless. Hurt them enough, they'll say anything just to get it to stop."

"You sure?" Cass asked, confused. "That shit always works in the movies."

"Yeah, and that's the only place it works..." I tapped my chin, and smiled as an idea started forming. "But I think I might have a way to get him to talk."

"Oh yeah?" Raul asked. "How's that, Boss?"

"Psyche him out. All I have to do is tell him exactly who I am, and exactly what I can do. Let him know in excruciating detail exactly what he's in for if he doesn't cooperate." I shrugged. "If I'm right, I won't have to lay a finger on him."

Turns out, I was right.

"Holy fuck, man..." Cass looked in the room after I finished. The thug was still shaking, still tied to the chair and sitting in a pool of his own piss. "What'd you say to him?" I shrugged.

"Not that much, to be honest. Just telling him I'm The Courier made him start to crack."

"So what'd he tell you, Boss?" Raul asked, tipping his sombrero back. "Anything useful?"

"This attack on The Kings was a last-ditch effort, but they were still expecting to win. Their plan was to take out the King, level his place, and then regroup at Cerulean Robotics."

"I think I know that place," Raul said. "It's an old factory, over near the train station, isn't it?" I nodded.

"That's what it sounded like. And that's where The Boss is holed up I think. He didn't say for sure, one way or another, but that's where they were gonna get new orders. I'll bet you any money that's where we're gonna find that Boss. Whoever he is."

Assuming the information is even good, I thought to myself.

"Man," Raul whistled, shaking his head. "These Foxes sure are crafty, aren't they?"

A knot started tugging in my gut again.

"Wait, what?" I asked. "Foxes? What foxes?"

"Los Zorros. The Foxes. I mean, yeah, they spell it with a z, but it's still Spanish, Boss." He stared at me curiously. "What, did you not know that?"

"No..." I said, my mind racing. "No I..."

An image flashed in my mind from... fuck, it felt like years ago. Back when we went to Cottonwood Cove. When I dressed up as a Legionnaire, and tried to sneak into Caesar's Fort across the Colorado River...

"That is not for you to know," I said as forcefully as I could from behind the cloth in front of my mouth. "This report is for the eyes and ears of Vulpes Inculta only, until he tells me otherwise." I pulled the machete from my belt. "I could tell you... but then I'd have to slit your throat."

To his credit, he didn't flinch. He just stepped to the side, and gestured an arm to let me pass. I sheathed the machete and walked off the dock. As I passed, the Legion soldier called back: "You certainly speak like one of The Fox's men. No respect for honorable combat."

"Vulpes..." I growled, finally putting the picture together. "Son of a bitch..."

"What?" Cass asked.

"I know who their boss is..." I said, shaking my head. "Vulpes... The Legion Fox! It all makes sense now! The name, the red clothing, the brutality, the slavery... it all makes sense! All this time, and we've still just been fighting Caesar's Legion!"