Chapter 170: The Storm

Chapter 170: The Storm

Hey, kiddies! This is Three Dog, your friendly neighborhood disc jockey! What's a disc? Hell if I know! But I'm gonna keep talkin' anyway! Got a lot of great music coming straight for your ear-hole a little later, but right now we're gonna start with request from a loyal listener livin' in Vegas. It's somethin' from a little band called Foreigner, telling the story of a man "At War With the World." All that and more, coming up next only on Galaxy News Radio! AHWOOOO!

It was just before noon on December the 26th, 2281.

Everything seemed quiet, so most of us were hanging out in the common room. Boone and Veronica were playing a few rounds of pool. Arcade had finished nursing his hangover, and was playing darts against Christine. Cass was sprawled out on the couch, with Roxie on her lap. And I was in the easy chair, finishing up the job of cleaning Roscoe.

Just as I snapped the slide back in place, Roxie perked her head up and leapt off Cass' lap, barking at the ceiling.

"Rox?" I asked. "What's up, girl?" My response came from a series of atonal beeps that were emitted from every speaker in the room including the speaker on my Pip Boy and the tiny speaker in my earpiece.

"Exciting news!" Yes Man's voice bellowed. "Caesar's Legion has begun the assault on Hoover Dam! Monster of the East, ready to roll!"

The room erupted in noise and frenzied movement.

"QUIET! QUIET! EVERYONE SHUT UP!" I yelled, trying to get everyone to calm down. This was no time to panic. Part of me wanted to ask how he knew, but then I remembered the half-dozen Big MT satellites performing orbital reconnaissance these last few weeks. We all knew this was coming, and we were prepared for it, so we needed to act like it. "How long do we have before the Legion breaks through the final NCR barricade and reaches this side of the Colorado?"

"If the panicked NCR com traffic I'm picking up is any indication?" Yes Man paused. "We have maybe an hour. But probably less! Exciting, isn't it?"

"Then we better get moving. Everyone, gear up and meet me in the garage, we're on the road in five."

"S'gonna be just like the assault on th' Moon Base, huh?" Cass chuckled.

"I hope not, we barely made it out of there alive." She rolled her eyes and gave me a quick peck on the cheek (not to mention a swat on the ass) before leaving. Everyone else swiftly followed except for Arcade, who I grabbed by the shoulder before he left. "Hold up. I got a special mission for you."

"Mission? What kind of mission?" he asked with narrow eyes.

"Well, first I need you to contact the Remnants, since... y'know. You're the only one who knows how to call them anyway. Once they're on the move, grab April from upstairs and head on over to the Mormon Fort," I said. He opened his mouth to protest, but I kept going. "Look, we both know that you're better at healing people than killing them. And things in Freeside are going to get a lot worse before they get better. Julie and the rest of the Followers are going to need all hands on deck, and as much help as they can get before the day is done. Plus..." I shrugged. "I don't think you want to be nearby when the Remnants swoop in. It'll keep people from asking too many questions, y'know?"

"Yeah... fair enough." He nodded somberly, before taking my hand in his with a firm handshake... and then:

"Fuck it, I'm going for it," he said, quickly taking my face in his hands and planting a kiss on my lips. Part of me felt like I should've been surprised. But to be perfectly honest, the only thing that surprised me was that it took him that long. I'd been expecting something like this ever since I offered to kiss him after the coffee he'd brewed that one time.

"They'll be time enough for that later," I said pulling away, and patting his cheek. "Right now, we've got a job to do." He nodded, clearing his throat.

"R-right. Of course. You... take care of yourself, Sheason," he said. I urged him out the door.

"Don't you worry about me, man. I'll be fine. Now get moving, we're on the clock!" As soon as he was gone, I rushed to my room to grab my gear, and tapped my earpiece. "Em, you online? It's starting!"

"I know," Emily's voice came in through my ear, amid a flurry of typing. "What do you need, boss?"

"A lot of heavy duty tactical support," I said, slipping on the Gun Runner armor as fast as possible; Sue was gone, which meant Cass was probably wearing her. "Shit is bound to get hairy, and I'm gonna need your eye in the sky, now more than ever. Can you send a message to the Boomers?"

"I can do better than that," she said. "I'll let you know as soon as I get them patched into our radio network. If they do everything right, you'll have a direct line to the B-29 once it's in the air."

"Good," I nodded, grabbing the Alien Blaster in one hand and my helmet in the other. "We're gonna need the biggest guns we can get for this one."

Ding.

"There y'are!" Cass said from her spot leaning against my Corvega, shotgun resting against her shoulder. "We're cocked, locked, and ready to rock!" I nodded at her, as Roxie trotted happily by my side.

Like I predicted, she was wearing Sue, the up-armored duster, and about 7 spare ammo drums for the AA-12. Boone was decked out in the Desert Ranger armor with an anti-materiel rifle slung across his shoulder, and the Gobi-campaign rifle in hand. Christine was armored in the stealth suit I'd seen her wearing in the Madre, loaded to the brim with ammo for her COS sniper rifle. And Veronica... looked exactly like she always did, with her armor hidden by the brown robe and with a power fist on one hand, and Oh, Baby! in the other.

"Awesome," I said as I tossed my keys to Cass without even bothering to slow down; she caught them in midair and immediately got in my car. "You guys get a move on; I'll be right behind you." While Cass, Boone, and Veronica all got into the Corvega, Christine looked confused.

"Where are you going?" she yelled over the rumble of the engine.

"To get the biggest guns!" I gave one last wave before turning on my heel and heading down the ramp to the lower levels of the garage. Roxie bounded off ahead of me into the darkness, and by the time I flipped the heavy toggle to turn the lights on, she was already leaping into the cab of the Deuce.

"Hey, Stripe! Sasha!" I clapped several times, as the lights above my head turned on with a series of clunks. "Wake up, big guys! We got a fight on!" There was a rumble from inside the back of the Deuce, and Stripe poked out his head with a growl, eyes glinting with malice. Shortly after, the minigun emerged from behind the flap, and... seemed just a little bit more sluggish than the deathclaw.

"?" Sasha coughed out with a bark, as the barrels started to spin. "...?" Stripe looked up at the minigun, snorting loudly in annoyance.

"Of course it's a fight..." Stripe growled, shimmying his entire body like a cat; Sasha jerked on his mechanical gimbal, and seemed a bit more awake. "The scent of blood is in the air. The enemy clan has made their move, haven't they Alpha?"

"Yes, they have," I said, leaping into the drivers seat and starting up the Deuce. "You boys best strap in back there, we're goin' straight for Hoover Dam!" Stripe growled out a deep, bellowing laugh that mixed with the booming dirty rumble of the engine roaring to life.

"Excellent..."

Hoover Dam was roughly 34 miles away from the Lucky 38, and the top speed of the Deuce was 70... ish. You do the math.

We saw the smoke rising from the Dam long before we got there. Huge columns of dirty, oily smoke were rising from behind the ridge, filling the sky all around the Dam with ash and fire. The closer we got, the harder it was to get there; the only road to the Dam was practically blocked by soldiers running away, and the burning vehicles they were leaving behind. By the time I reached where Cass had parked my Corvega, I'd seen several burning trucks and at least one tank. It hadn't even been an hour since Yes Man told me the attack had begun, and it was clear that the NCR was in full retreat.

"This is lookin' bad..." I said aloud, hopping out of the Deuce. Behind me, I could hear Stripe snorting and growling loudly. Ahead of me, Cass and Veronica had taken cover against the sheer cliff face that led to the Visitors Center. I was just about to ask Cass what it looked like, when Stripe spoke up suddenly.

"What's that smell..." he growled out. The next thing I knew, he let out a loud snarl and he was off leaping and bounding across the rocks on all fours before disappearing out of sight.

"Wait, what? STRIPE! Where are you- ah, fuck! That doesn't bode well." That's what my head was telling me, at least. My gut, on the other hand was strangely quiet. I hadn't gotten that familiar sinking feeling that warned me of proper danger at all today. Not even when Yes Man sprung the news on us.

And that was making me all manner of confused.

"Let me guess," I gripped the Jury-Rigger tightly and rushed over to Cass. "It looks bad?"

"Worse," she said with a laugh tainted by sick desperation. "I think Boone an' Christine are already set up on th' ridge, just waitin' fer th' order."

I peered around the corner to get a look at what all the NCR soldiers were running from. Cass was right it was a lot worse than I was expecting. The stone walls were practically painted red with blood, and bodies were littered absolutely everywhere. The gigantic artillery piece the President had used as a backdrop for his speech decided at that particular moment to explode. When the smoke cleared and I looked past the dozens of destroyed sandbag barricades littering the top of the dam, I saw the Legion troops. They were shoulder to shoulder, filling the entire path with bodies, marching slowly and steadily... behind a phalanx of armored riot shields. I could barely see any of the Legion troops behind their mobile cover.

There were maybe a dozen Rangers still here, refusing to retreat despite being knee-deep in the dead, trying in vain to hold the position and drive them back. But no matter how many shots they fired at the phalanx, the bullets just sparked and bounced off harmlessly.

"Y'want Boone an' Christine t'open up?" Cass asked, holding her AA-12 at the ready, but refusing to fire just yet.

"Hang on, I got an idea," I said, rushing over to my Corvega. I ignored Cass' confused questions as to what the fuck I was doing, and popped the trunk, pulling out a souvenir I'd been saving for the last few weeks.

"... is that a grenade launcher?" Veronica asked as I passed the two of them and stepped out into the open. I nodded with a smirk, leveling the M32A1 that I'd snatched from the Los Zorroz armory weeks ago.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

THWOONT! THWOONT! THWOONT!

The phalanx dissolved both figuratively and literally in fire. I honestly couldn't tell if the Legion were surprised by the sudden counterattack, because I couldn't see any of their faces through the explosions and shrapnel flying everywhere. I fired the last three grenades from the 6-shot cylinder for good measure, and tossed the launcher aside as the ground continued to shake from the final explosions. The path ahead of us was just a curtain of flame and smoke.

"I think that woke them up," I said, smiling behind my helmet, and pressing a finger to the comlink. "Boone? Christine? We're headin' out, so we'll need covering fire."

"Copy that," Boone grunted, and I heard the clack of the anti-materiel rifle's bolt being locked in place.

"Hey, Em? Think you can hack into the Dam's PA system from there?" I asked. Veronica looked confused, but Cass just started laughing.

"I'll talk to Yes Man, see what I can do," Emily replied. "What do you need?"

"I was thinking, maybe... I dunno. Jazz, side 2, track 12?" Veronica figured it out, and started laughing alongside Cass.

"You got it!" she said. I shrugged the Jury-Rigger back into my hands, and switched it to the LAER setting.

"Let's go fishing."

The three of us charged forward, towards what remained of the Legion attack. What few soldiers I could see through the smoke looked bloodied, confused, and disoriented. Bright LAER bursts cut through the smoke, clearing the air in its wake; the crack of sniper fire echoed from above us. And then, just when I thought it couldn't get any better:

CRACK!

I belted the deathclaw across the face as hard as I could, and it staggered back several feet from the impact. It roared in fury and anger as I corkscrewed over the monster, landing with a metal clang behind him. And then I realized: this wasn't the only deathclaw making noises.

I looked up, and sure enough, Stripe was perched on top of one of the nearby towers, snarling and roaring at the Legion deathclaw below him. There was a burst of minigun fire from Sasha, and Stripe leapt down, tackling his prey. There was a flurry of claws, teeth, bullets, and Russian expletives; within seconds, the Legion deathclaw was on the ground, with a huge bloody chunk torn out of its neck. With blood and meat still hanging from his teeth, Stripe stood on top of his kill and raised his head to the sky with a bellowing roar that shook the Dam.

"Where the hell have you been?" I asked, unable to stop myself from laughing. Stripe snorted.

"Looking for this one," he snarled and snorted, sending blood and meat splattering to the ground. "Pathetic! I wanted a better fight!"

"Oh, I'm sure we'll find something else for you to kill soon enough," I said, watching as the rest of our group advanced; the surviving Remnants seemed (understandably) a bit wary of Stripe, and were keeping their distance.

"Holy shit..." Veronica muttered. I was about to agree when she pointed off in the distance. "Look! Up at the Fort!"

I followed her gaze, and my eyes went wide. Unless I was very much mistaken, the Fort was already on fire.

"Damn. Yes Man works fast, doesn't he?"

Now, it was the Legion's turn to be in full retreat.

Daisy was circling high above us, still a bit wary of any rocket launchers that might still be in the area. But we kept pushing forward; the ground underneath us was still cracked, broken, and slightly on fire from the Boomer's bombing run earlier. Sparks and ash hung heavy in the air, floating up around us like snow from the mirror universe. I couldn't see any more Legion troops in the vicinity, because they had all seemingly fallen back behind a giant metal wall, blocking our entrance to Arizona.

"Damn," Cass whistled loudly. "That's a big wall." She adjusted her grip on the stolen rocket launcher she had resting on her shoulder.

"She's all yours," I said, gesturing to the giant barricade. She laughed, leveling the rocket launcher.

"Thought you'd never ask! FIRE IN TH' HOLE!" Everyone stepped back a few paces, and Cass fired at the wall. The missile streaked through the air, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake, and exploded against the side of the barricade. Sparks and flame erupted from the wall, and when the smoke cleared...

The wall was still there.

"Fuckin' Legion trash!" Cass yelled, tossing the rocket launcher aside. "Well, I'm out've ideas. What've you got?"

"Alpha," Stripe growled. "I can tear down that wall. It is no match for my claws!"

"Hold on, I got a better idea. I've been saving this one for a special occasion." I waved him off and began tapping my earpiece. "Hey, Jeeves? You up?"

"For you sir?" Jeeves' calm voice cut through the static. "Always."

"Can you tag Long Tall Sally in the armory and teleport it above my current position, offset by about... say, ten feet?" I asked. Cass and Veronica looked confused.

"Of course, sir. It shall be delivered presently."

"What, teleported?" Cass asked. "Like what Chris does with his guns?" I nodded, looking up.

"Sort of," I said. "It's not quite as accurate as his, yet. I can't teleport it directly into my hands."

"Long Tall Sally?" Veronica asked incredulously. "You named a gun Long Tall Sally?"

"Not quite a gun."

The air above my head crackled with blue lightning and briefly warped and bloated as the fabric of space and time was ripped open. There was a flash, and suddenly the Fat Man launcher from the Vault 34 armory fell out of the sky and dropped into my hands.

"I think everyone should probably take cover," I said with a laugh. I didn't even finish before everyone started to scatter. Even Stripe seemed to back up. I readied the shoulder-mounted mini nuke launcher, aiming it slightly above the wall, and planted my feet as firmly as I could.

Let's hope this mini nuke lived up to the name and didn't cause any fallout.

I pulled the trigger, and the only sound I could hear at first was the burst of pressurized gas next to my ear. The next thing I knew, my vision was filled with a bright, all-consuming flash, and I was hit by a blast of wind and heat that threatened to knock me on my ass. I looked away, closing my eyes, hoping that I'd been quick enough to keep from blinding myself.

And then, just as the roar of the massive explosion started to die down, I heard another sound coming from the Fat Man: "cha-ching!"

Why it made the sound of a cash register, I'll never know.

"Well..." I coughed out a laugh, looking up at the carnage. "I think that did the trick."

The wall had practically been vaporized. The edges were red hot and dripping molten metal; the smoke from the blast was beginning to curl into the air, creating a miniature parody of a mushroom cloud.

The way was open.

I couldn't tell if the Legion was retreating anymore or not. For every Legionnaire I saw turning tail just to get cut down by securitron laser fire, I saw just as many trying to dig in... only to get blown away by LAER bursts, shotgun blasts, laser beams, or the fire from Johnson's minigun.

The sky was so full of haze and smoke, that the glow from the sun was tainted by a dark orange hue. Crows and other carrion birds were already starting to circle overhead. The smell of death all around us was practically overpowering, especially as it mixed with the sulfur from so many explosions. It was like we were descending into hell. The only place that had ever come close to what I was experiencing now was the Madre.

"Yes Man, what's our status?" I said, tossing a grenade; the sandbag barricade exploded, and the two Legionnaires taking cover behind it were sent flying.

"23% of the army is activated and out of the bunker, with that number growing rapidly by the minute! I've created a perimeter around the Legion camp, and I'm sweeping the area for hostiles and survivors!"

"Good!" I fired another pair of LAER bursts. "I think we're at the Legate's Camp. I'll call you once we've..."

The sounds of combat all around me had suddenly stopped. I looked around and realized that everyone had suddenly stopped moving, like they were rooted in place and I mean everyone. Even Stripe was nowhere to be found. I looked up at the cliff ahead of me: Legion flags were hanging from crucified skeletons, and dozens upon dozens of crows were circling directly above my head.

That sinking feeling that had been missing all day finally took hold of my gut.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Heavy footfalls came from the cliff above me, preceding the arrival of a figure shrouded in darkness and smoke. It was a bronze metal giant, just as massive as the power armored figures of the Remnants around me; he was staring down at me with glowing red eyes. Horns were sticking out of the top of his crested helmet, and his tattered red cape flowed in the wind behind him like a river of blood.

Legate Lanius.

"An envoy of Vegas, yet you carry yourself for battle..." his voice echoed around the camp, and... something very wrong was happening. "If so, you cannot truly be of that city of cowards!"

I couldn't move. My joints were locking up. It was like I was in the Think Tank, and the Pacification Field had just been turned on.

"W-what," I coughed out, using all the strength I could muster just to yell up at him. "Caesar giving you orders from beyond the grave?"

He started laughing. My whole body started to shake, and it felt like I was about to vomit.

"Csar's will is the will of the Legion," Lanius' voice was calm and level, barely above a whisper... and yet, somehow it was loud enough to shake the ground beneath my feet. "And the West... all beneath the flag of the Great Bear exist to test the strength of the Legion. The West shall fall as the East fell, and all the tribes that stretch to the setting sun shall bear the mark of the Legion."

"F-fuck you!" I yelled up through gritted teeth. I struggled against some unseen force, but I still managed to bring up the Jury-Rigger all the same. "All your men are dead, dyin' or run off! Give up now... and maybe I won't rip off that mask and beat you to death with it!"

Lanius laughed again, and suddenly my arm fell, pinned to my side before I could get a shot off. He reached behind his back and pulled out a massive sword, holding it above his head.

"Enough words, then," he roared. The clouds above his head swirled and churned into a boiling vortex, and the crows began to scatter. There was a crack of thunder, and a streak of lightning lit up the sky, hitting his sword. In an instant it was wreathed in fire.

"... what the fuck?!" I wheezed out.

"Come, Man of the West," Lanius pointed his flaming sword directly at me. "Let me see the best you can muster before you die."

Without another word, he leapt from the cliff. He fell, sword-point first, coming straight for me. The pressure all around me released slightly not much, but enough. I activated the jets in my boots, and tried to rocket away just as he plunged the sword into the earth.

A flash like the mini nuke from earlier filled my vision, and an unearthly ringing filled my ears. I was caught in an explosion that knocked me off balance and threw me off course.

Everything went black.