Chapter 147: Tidying Up

Chapter 147: Tidying Up

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Those were the only letters left on the Freeside sign. There were plenty of other telltale indications of yesterdays shootout all around this intersection bullet riddled building that were blackened from gunpowder and splattered with blood, a few fresh craters on the street to rival the other potholes, a few securitrons rolling up and down the boulevard on a new patrol but the broken sign was the most obvious.

I turned around and looked back at the ruined walls of The King's place.

Okay, it was the second most obvious.

"Inspecting your handiwork?" I heard a voice call out from somewhere behind me. I turned around to see Julie Farkas leading a group of Followers doctors out of a van; almost all of them were carrying bags and boxes of medical equipment. I just laughed nervously, jabbing my thumb over my shoulder at the massive hole in the upper floors of The King's place.

"It was like that when I got here," I insisted. Julie let out a single snorting laugh and nodded. "So, what brings you back this way?" I asked. "I thought you'd all still be at the Mormon Fort, patching up people."

"We've run out of room," Julie admitted, with an almost audible shame. "The King is graciously letting us use his building as a sort of impromptu medical center. After all... most of the people were wounded around here, anyway." Julie sighed, and gave a weak smile. It wasn't a forced smile, like what I was used to with Veronica, it was just...

Tired.

"It never ends, does it?" I asked, turning back to the sign. Julie nodded.

"There aren't enough hours in the day," Julie added in agreement. The doctors behind us were hard at work, and the two of us stood there, staring at the broken sign in silence for a few seconds.

A nagging question was gnawing at the back of my mind. It was a question that had been bothering me since the adrenaline and the rush of victory had worn off yesterday...

"How many?" I asked, breaking the silence. "How many people got hit? Caught in the crossfire, or... y'know. Died. How many?" Julie looked up, running a hand along the fuzz on her head to the right of her mohawk.

"Including Los Zorroz?" she asked.

"I don't care about Legion," I growled, hoping that would be enough.

"10 dead. 53 wounded. Mostly ricochets, but a few are really serious."

"Fuck," I grumbled, shaking my head. "I'm sorry."

"Why? What are you sorry for?"

"I dunno," I said with a sigh. "I just... I should've shown up sooner. And, well, more than that, I feel kind of responsible for what happened." Julie looked at me like I was crazy. "No, I'm serious. If I hadn't hammered those fuckers so hard and so fast, then they might not have gotten so desperate. They wouldn't have thrown all their weight into a last-gasp attack, and all this carnage could've been avoided."

"If you hadn't pushed them so hard, they'd still be here, causing chaos." Julie said softly. "Getting rid of them was probably the best thing that's happened to Freeside in a very long time." It was my turn to look at her curiously, now.

"I'm surprised to hear you advocating violence," I said, but Julie shook her head.

"I'm not. I don't want anyone to die, and in a perfect world, this situation might have been resolved without anyone getting hurt or maimed or killed..." Julie sighed heavily. "But we don't live in a perfect world. Our world is a crazy, blasted hell-hole, still paying for the mistakes made two hundred years ago. And over the last two years, I have had to treat too many wounds, and bury far too many friends because of that gang. Two years. And you got rid of them in a week. If you hadn't stopped them when you did, then they'd still be out here, causing chaos, killing people, killing... children... enslaving people with those damn collars... If things don't calm down considerably, now that they're gone, I will be very surprised."

I nodded... but there was still a nagging in the back of my brain.

"It's only going to get worse before it gets better," I said aloud. "You know that, right?" Julie nodded solemnly.

"The night is always darkest, just before the dawn," she said. "But the dawn is coming. And I know you're going to be the one to deliver it to us. You know how I know?"

"Because I'm The Courier, and it's my job to deliver shit?" I said - unable to resist the temptation to be a smartass and flashed a grin; she smiled back, but shook her head.

"Nope. It's because of everything you've already done. Helping the Followers, helping the King, trying to bring a bit of stability to Freeside... and there's also that." She pointed at the securitron rolling past us. "Those robots may be creepy, but they're the reason The Strip is so secure. If you keep them patrolling Freeside like this, who knows? People around here might actually be able to startfeeling safe again."

"Well, when you put it like that, how can I refuse?" I shrugged. "I promise you this: I'll deliver that dawn. And remember, if you ever need anything food, seeds, water, medical supplies, whatever don't hesitate to ask. Odds are, I've got it, or I can get it, and I'll do whatever I can to help you out." I paused, the gears in my head turning as soon as said 'water,' and snapped my fingers. "Actually, hang on. I got an idea."

"Yes?" Julie asked, suddenly interested.

"Where's that water pump you mentioned a while back?"

I strode through the lobby of the 38, making a beeline for the elevator. It was even more silent than normal; all but two of the securitrons posted for internal security in the casino were out in Freeside on patrol. It's not like there weren't plenty of other much less obvious security measures House had installed to protect this place...Read latest chapters at nov(e)lbin.com Only

I was just about to press the button to call the elevator when suddenly: Ding! The doors slid open to reveal Cass leaning against the wall.

"Oh, hey!" She smiled and nodded as I stepped inside. "I's just 'bout t'come look fer ya."

"Glad I could save you some time then." I jabbed the 'penthouse' button with my thumb, and the elevator started to ascend. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothin'," she shrugged. "Just thinkin' we might go fer some lunch, is all..."

I paused, regarding her in silence carefully for a second or two.

"Actually, I was talking about what's bothering you," I said. Cass started fumbling over her words, hurriedly denying that anything was wrong, before I held up a hand to try and stop her. "It's okay, it's no big deal. It's just written all over your face. What's up?"

"Well..." Cass scratched the back of her head nervously a bit. "I was just doin' some thinkin' about yesterday. Don't you think it was a little too... I dunno, easy?"

"Come again?" I asked.

"Well, think about it: ever since we first saw that fuck in Nipton, we kept hearin' stuff about him. He was supposed to be this crazy psychotic Legion puppetmaster - a sort of wasteland boogeyman, pulling about nine gazillion different strings at once. And then you take him down without breakin' a sweat."

"To be fair," I held up a finger and started leaning against the wall. "If I'd gone up against him even a week ago, that death course of his probably would've done me in."

"Is that supposed to be a comfort?" Cass asked.

"Look, point is, he probably didn't know about all my new toys that gave me the edge and made it look easy, like the grapnel gun or the Jury Rigger and he couldn't have possibly known about the rocket boots, because I'd just got them that morning." I looked down, flexing the fingers on my metal fist. "He may have known about the metal arm, but I'm not sure what he could've done to counter that. Hell, even the cybernetic eyes gave me an edge, and I've had those since forever. I think he tried to blind me at one point, but that didn't really work." Cass shot me a frustrated stare as I rattled off all the various little upgrades I've gotten recently.

"You're just showin' off now, aint'cha?" she said.

"Little bit." I gave her a smile and a wink. Cass just rolled her eyes. "Seriously, though. You're complaining that something was too easy for once?" Personally, I hadn't questioned it, as it was a nice change of pace from the constant barrage of shit that had been thrown at me in an unending stream since October.

"No, I'm just..." she sighed in frustration, obviously struggling to properly describe what she was thinking. "I just figured he'd have put up more of a fight. I feel like we're missing something here, y'know? Like, we're gonna find out later that it wasn't really him, and it was just a body double. Or, like, maybe it was all an illusion, constructed from smoke, mirrors, an' fear gas. Or maybe he was a doombot all along!"

A long pause hung in the air between us for several seconds, and the elevator continued in its ascent.

"You've been reading my comic collection again, haven't you?" I deadpanned.

"No!" she said, and then added quickly: "Well... okay, yes, but that's not the point. I guess I'm just kinda waitin' fer th' other shoe to drop, is all."

Ding.

"Well, if you want," I said, as the two of us stepped out of the elevator into the penthouse. "I was gonna check in with Yes Man before heading to the Big MT. He's been keeping a close eye on things across the Colorado, and I figure a status update is overdue."

"Oh boy. What're you pickin' up from the Mad Science toy-box this time?" Cass asked, chuckling.

"Nothing for me, this... time..." I said, trailing off; I suddenly realized that the penthouse was filled with music. In itself, nothing new. Veronica's record collection had been getting plenty of use since she first showed it off. But this was a sound unlike the Stones or Eric Clapton or Fleetwood Mac or Jimi Hendrix. It was a bit more...

Surreal.

Breathe

Breathe in the air

Don't be afraid to care

"A... project?" the feminine voice buzzed out of the sink mounted on the wall. "What sort of project?"

"It involves water, cleaning things, and you won't have to come in contact with any of those seventy hundred gajillion germs you were talking about before," I said with a smile, wondering to myself if she even remembered her little bout of hysterics when I'd first turned her on.

"Hmm... Well... alright. Consider my interest piqued. But there is one thing I would like to ask of you, darling." I raised an eyebrow. "I've been doing some thinking since that day you suggested I come up with a name for myself... and I've come up with one I quite like."

"Oh yeah?" I chuckled; pretty soon, every personality construct in The Sink will have a proper name. I can only dread to think what the Toaster is gonna call himself... "So, what'd you pick?"

"Jocelyn," she said simply. "Not sure why, but I like the sound of it. I feel it works."

"Sure thing, Jo," I smiled, nodding at the Sink. "Now... how am I gonna get you to Freeside..."

"I believe I may be able to assist, sir," Jeeves said behind me. I turned to look, and the holographic image above his console had changed it looked like a 3D schematic wireframe of some kind of... device? It was a sphere of some kind, but beyond that I couldn't really tell.

"What's this?" I asked, leaning against the console for a closer look.

"You told me before, sir, that I was to put on the agenda: 'look at all the schematics for the various personality constructs in The Sink,' so you could reconstruct proper homes for us outside the crater." Jeeves explained, and the wireframe continued to move, the various holographic pieces moving into an exploded view and then reconstructing.

"With the exception of the Toaster, obviously," I nodded.

"Obviously, sir," Jeeves replied. From the other room I heard a bellowing 'I HEARD THAT!' muffled slightly by the walls. "However, when Muggy used the teleporter, and still continued to function, I realized that the solution was obvious. I did a little digging, and found a suitable... shall we say, workaround."

"It looks like an eyebot," I said, finally recognizing the shape. "Except... y'know, smaller."

"Essentially yes, sir," Jeeves said. "This will provide freedom of mobility outside the confines of the crater, connected to their chips still housed in my chassis by way of the satellite phone technology with which sir is intimately familiar. It should prove... adequate."

"Alright then," I said. "Lets get to work."

"I must say!" Jocelyn's voice buzzed out of the tiny metal sphere bobbing in the air near my head. "The outside world is much more fascinating than I expected! There is just... so much to see!"

"I'm a little surprised," I said, continuing to walk down Vegas Boulevard. "I thought you would've been terrified of all the germs and diseases and filth out here."

"Well, I'm not actually here," she said, orbiting around my head as she spoke. "Using this device is like... it's like flying a model aeroplane by remote. It feels like there is a large sheet of Perspex between myself and the rest of the world, so I don't have to worry quite as much."

"Remind me again," Arcade said, as he kept pace next to me. "What are we doing?" I slapped Arcade on the shoulder, drawing him close.

"You're always talking about how you want to help out the people of Freeside, and today we're going to do just that. You, me, and this flying metal 8-Ball are gonna bring the Waters of Life to Freeside... by upgrading that."

I pointed to the courtyard ahead of us. It was a dusty, empty lot, devoid of anything except a single large pipe sticking out of the ground, and one of the Kings standing guard. It was the water pump Julie had told me about, and it looked just as pitiful as she'd described. So pitiful that it didn't really deserve someone with an AK standing guard.

"Hey there!" I said with a wave as we approached. At first, the guy looked confused especially when he saw the small, floating sphere but then he looked at me and seemed to recognize me.

"Oh, hey. You're that Courier, aren't ya?" I nodded. "Hey man, mad respect, you savin' The King like that yesterday. If you want a drink, I ain't gonna charge you money like I do fer everyone else."

"Why charge at all?" Arcade asked. The guard shrugged.

"Because if we let everyone run amok, the damn NCR'd shut us down. Gotta have some way to regulate things or..." He trailed off when he realized I was laughing.

"Oh, that's adorable. The NCR isn't gonna shut you down... and I'm not here for a drink," I walked around him, and started circling the pump. "We're gonna make this better." He just looked confused. "So, Jo? What do you make of this?"

"Oh, my goodness!" the tiny sphere buzzed around the metal pump. "This is hopeless! Completely inadequate! All of this rust, and the metal fatigue... and oh my word, is that lead?! My God, this is awful! It has to go! It's all got to be changed all of it!"

"Hey," I turned back to the guard, and patted him on the cheek; he was too stunned to react. "Go check on The King. He needs his boys more than this rusty old pump."

The work was slow at first. The hardest part was ripping out the original pump without damaging the water supply underneath. But once that was finished, things really started to fly. Every few minutes, we'd call Jeeves and have him teleport in some new piece of equipment: laser cutting tools, advanced water filters, some condenser systems, a pressure relief valve or two, some air intake vents... even a few tiny solar panels to keep it running.

What really surprised me was when I looked up from the work and realized that Arcade, Jo and I had been drawing quite the crowd. It seemed like half of Freeside had turned up to come watch us work. I'm not sure what was bringing them in the most: was it the size of the project, or was it the blue electric lightshow of us teleporting in so many parts in such quick succession?

"And I think..." I snapped the last panel shut, and took a step back to admire our handiwork. "...that should just about do it."

"Not bad for an hour's work," Arcade pushed his glasses up his nose, nodding at the device.

"Oh, yes!" the tiny sphere zipped around the device with a speed that gave away her excitement. "This is splendid! Marvelous! Simply wonderful!"

The final result was a gigantic cylindrical piece of shiny metal Big MT tech, about ten feet high. It almost looked alien, and when I flipped the switch to turn it on, the air was filled with an electric buzz that made my teeth tingle. Suddenly, a slight chill filled the air around the device, and I knew instantly that it was working.

This could provide an endless supply of fresh, clean water for everyone in Freeside by pulling it from the air. Maybe not just this one on its own... but a few more, spread all throughout Freeside?

"Yeah... this could do some good," I said aloud.

"I should've known you were the one causing all this commotion," I heard a voice say from behind me. I turned to see the crowd part, and Julie Farkas walking over to me. When she got a good look at the massive device, she came to a dead stop. "What the..."

"You like it?" I said with a grin. I looked out over the crowd, and raised my voice enough so that everyone could hear. "This thing behind me? This is better than that old water pump. This'll provide free water to everyone! As much as you want! And if the NCR doesn't like it..." I shrugged. "Then tough shit." A ripple of laughter went out among the crowd. As people started lining up to get a drink, Julie came up close and pulled me aside, for what I assumed she thought would be a quiet word.

"Are you sure that's wise?" She asked. "Badmouthing the NCR, I mean. That's just going to give them an excuse to come and try to sabotage this. We both know what they're like..." I just grinned back at her.

"No they won't. I'm gonna make sure this thing is still guarded but not so it can charge people, but just to discourage sabotage." Julie narrowed her eyes.

"... It?" she asked. I nodded, pointing over her shoulder.

"Hi there!" a securitron with Yes Man's face rolled into view, waving a claw. The screen flashed, and suddenly it changed into the soldier face of the Mk II securitron OS.

"I'm gonna get you and the rest of the Followers the plans to make more of these as soon as possible," I said. "This bot is gonna make sure to let us know if something goes wrong."

"Us?" Julie seemed genuinely surprised. I nodded.

"I've got big plans for Vegas... and you're a critical piece in the puzzle. You know why?" She shook her head, and I laughed. "Simple! Because everyone loves Julie!"

It was several hours later. The sun had gone down, and I was standing on the roof of one of the buildings overlooking the upgraded water pump; people were still crowding around, getting water... being nice to one another. For the first time in a week, it seemed like it was going to be a pretty calm night in Freeside.

"Not a bad bit of work..." I said aloud.

"Yeah... everything seems quiet," Emily said in my ear. "I can't see any activity on the security cameras... for once." I chuckled.

"Won't last," I said. "But it's a nice respite, and I'll take it while it lasts."

"Why don't I believe you?" she said. "Oh, that's right, because you're on patrol in full combat gear."

"Eh. No more than bein' prepared. I'm sure there's still a few pockets of Los Zorroz still out there. And there's always going to be people who need help." I paused a moment, and then decided to add: "By the way... thanks."

"Thanks? What for?" Emily asked.

"Because if it wasn't for you, I couldn't have done any of this," I explained. "You're my eye in the sky, and I couldn't ask for a better ally..." I grinned under my helmet. "...Alfred." Emily snorted, and laughed a bit before calming down.

"Don't mention it... Bruce." The two of us laughed briefly as I scanned the horizon... until suddenly the Local Surveillance antennae on my helmet buzzed in my ear, and picked up something:

"Help!" a voice cried out, desperately. "Someone! Help!"

"Well... back to work!" I said, pulling out the grapnel gun. In a flash I was running across the rooftop, in the direction of the sound.

PKCHOONT!