Fallout New Vegas: Unexpected Friends

by Sleepyted


Chapter 30

After Anne healed up a bit they started moving again, getting deeper into the confined metal corridor, managing to take down any nightkin that popped out with only a few injuries. They were almost all covered in blood from how close the nightkin got to them, muscles aching from constantly jumping out of the way from attacks and the wearing down on their minds at the thought that a nightkin could attack from anywhere with barely any chance of them knowing before it was too late.

They walked down a few stairs, took turns and went through doors but they didn’t find too many nightkin, only maybe half a dozen or so.

Soon they neared another door at the end of a hallway and Anne twisted the wheel to open it and what they saw inside surprised them slightly.

Stood behind a desk was a nightkin, standing there breathing heavily while on a coffee machine on the desk rested a bleached bull skull, the jaw missing and leaving on the top part of the head. The nightkin was dressed slightly differently, instead of the signs on his arms he had knives tied to them and over his shoulders were an animal skin with thick fur.

“Antler says you are the one killing my kin. Antler says you must die!” He suddenly yelled before picking up a large weapon. It was made from a car bumper badly sharpened with a bit of pipe as the handle but from the strength they have it could easily cut through a full grown human.

He suddenly turned invisible a shimmer in the air where he once was.

Quickly Anne unloaded both barrels right where the nightkin once was and that disrupted what was keeping him hidden and he appeared again, running around the table at the group. She quickly dropped her shotgun and pulled out her pistol but didn’t get to fire it before she had to dive out of the way from a lightning fast slash right for her torso.

Anne and Boone started unloading but like the others it didn’t seem to have much effect on him but this one he didn’t even flinch, just bring around his makeshift sword for another swing at the pair, going about midsection for Boone but neck for Twilight.

The pony does the first thing in mind and teleports behind the nightkin while Boone jumps backwards but still gets the front of his shirt cut open and a small cut along his skin that started to bleed.

Twilight unloaded Lucky into his back but because of her lower angle she wasn’t able to get it into his head, only his upper back.

He turned around suddenly in rage and as he did so he brought his sword in a downward swing towards the pony which she managed to jump out of the way in time of.

Anne jumped onto his back wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling as hard as she could. The mutant on the other hand didn’t like the and ran right at a wall before turning around just before impact and slammed Anne into it instead, the woman letting out a cry of pain but held on strong.

He let out a roar of anger and now was focusing on the woman and not the other two, trying to shake her off his back as he tried slapping over his shoulder and slamming into the wall again. Boone crouched down on a knee and aimed down his sights for a moment before firing, a bullet ripping through the mutant’s knee and causing him to buckle over.

Anne fell off and scrabbled back from the kneeling mutant, pulling out That Gun from its holster and unloading the gun into his chest but like before that did very little.

Twilight was done reloading her gun and this time jammed the barrel of the gun into the side of the mutant’s head before pulling the trigger, splattering grey matter and bone across the wall and causing the nightkin to flop to his side dead, bleeding from bullet wounds all over his body.

“Fucking shit…” Anne muttered, reloading That Gun at a slow pace with her hands shaking slightly from the adrenalin flowing through her blood like the rest of them.

“You got that right.” Boone said, slumping over against a wall and relaxing, panting slightly as he reloaded his rifle.

“Is that it?” Twilight asked softly, making sure she wasn’t missing a limb or something.

“Yeah, I think it is, we’ll go back to Jason to tell him the good news soon.” Anne said with a yawn. “Just after a small power nap, just ten minutes.”

“How can you think about sleep after something like that just happened!?” Twilight exclaimed in shock at her friend.

“Fine then, you’re on watch to make sure nothing attacks us.” Boone said, laying back and using his beret to cover his eyes as got comfortable on the metal floor.

Twilight stared in disbelief at her two companions before just mumbling and sitting back and waiting for the ten minutes to pass.

__________________________________

“Is the way clear?” Jason asked in his echoing voice.

“The ‘demons’ are gone.” Anne said with a sigh, her side hurting from Twilight giving her a small kick to get up when she pretty much refused, claiming she was asleep.

“Praise the creator!” He exclaimed in pure joy. “And bless you wanderers. The way is clear. I will lead my flock through the basement and to the sacred site. I hope you will come find us there, there is much to be done.” He said before heading towards the door to get up to where they were, calling out for his ‘flock’ to follow him.

The trio followed the large group of ghouls, waiting for them to all go down the groaning metal staircase before they did.

Going back to the basement they past many of the corpses of the nightkin they killed, avoiding stepping in the blood puddles under them as they made their way further and further down.

Once they past room with large rusted metal generators that let out chugging sounds or a steady loud hum they entered a large tunnel, no longer metal but just stone with the sides rounded off to make it cylinder with a flat floor to walk on.

They went deeper and deeper into the building until they reach a room at the end, Jason stood by a large window overlooking a launch pad with three of the red metal rockets in stands, ghouls around it doing things along with spilled over rusted barrels with bright glowing green sludge coming out of them.

Approaching the ghoul he said. “I waited to speak with you one last time before I descend to the launch pad wanderers.” He said. “I want you to know that we will remember for all eternity how you delivered us to the threshold of the Great Journey. Our preparations are nearly complete, but the rockets that will carry us to salvation are yet missing vital components. If you would still help us wanderers speak to Chris, he can tell you what is missing. There is no way we can thank you enough wanderers, your arrivals here were a blessing. We will remember you always.”

“Are you seriously going to make your ‘Great Journey’ on those things?” Anne asked shocked, going over to the window and looking at the rusted and old rockets, looking as if more than just a few parts were missing from it.

“Yes. The rockets will convey us to our promised land in the Far Beyond. Vison upon vision has confirmed it.” He said.

“Those ‘rockets’ will convey you and your flock straight into the ground!” Anne exclaimed, Twilight not having any clue about rockets and what they’re meant to look like while Boone just didn’t care.

“I understand your concerns friend and I thank you for voicing them. But the creators will for us has been made manifest.” He said facing Anne.

“I guess we’ll go help Chris then…” Twilight said, smiling softly at Jason.

“There is no way that we can thank you enough wanderers, your arrival here was a blessing. We will remember you always.” He said before walking over to a hatch on the ground and pulling it open, climbing in and closing it behind himself.

Chris could be seen walking into the room in the same direction that the trio came from, a scowl still stuck on his face like the first time they met him. They small group approached him.

“Hey.” Anne said giving a small wave.

“Jason says I am to cooperate on the final tasks necessary to launch the Great Journey.” He said in his gravelly voice.

“How can we help?” Asked the pony princess, fearing her female friend might say something that they all might regret.

“I was close to completing work on the rockets before we were driven into hiding on the upper floors. Two components were missing, a quantity of Isotope two thirty nine igniting agent and a set of thrust control modules. The igniting agent is highly radioactive and decays quickly. That’s why we can’t use the drums that leaked down on the Launchpad. It’s no longer potent enough, I need you to find an intact, shielded container of the igniting agent.” He said. “As for the thrust control modules, they were custom built for these rockets, they won’t even launch without them.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up. “We’ll get the igniting agent.” She said quickly.

“Very well, but we don’t need a huge amount, just two to three liters should be enough.” He stated.

“Alright, we’ll be back.” Twilight says with a smile.

“Do you know where it is or something?” Anne asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yep, I have a hunch about something.” She stated with a proud grin.

“There’s a ladder in the tunnel, take it and you’ll go straight back up to the surface.” Chris stated.

The trio turned around and but for once Twilight was leading the way, smiling at feeling s useful.

“So are you going to tell us where this stuff is?” Anne asked, still confused.

“Nope, it’s a surprise.” Twilight stated, reaching the ladder that Chris mentioned and spreading her wings and jumping up, flying to the hatch and opening it before landing outside as she waited for her friends to follow her up.

“I hope it ain’t too far…”

______________________

“Hi Cliff! Good to see you again.” Twilight said happily as she approached the counter of the shop inside the dinosaur in Novac, the same friendly looking black man sat behind the counter.

“Why hello there, it’s good to see you again, anything I can help you with?” He asked with a smile as he saw the friendly face of Twilight again, seeing someone was always nice when he was normally stuck along in the building.

“We’ve come here to do a little trading.” She stated.

“Well I’m open at the moment, let’s hear it.”

After some friendly chat Twilight managed to trade things that the trio didn’t need for the staggering price of 530 caps but Twilight came to this place for a certain reason.

“So cliff, I was wondering if I can buy all your remaining rocket souvenirs.” She said with a smile.

“Really? I thought I’d never see the day.” He said with a smile before it fell. “I mean… the day I’d part with them for such an incredibly low price, with so many other offers flooding in. But I like you, I think maybe it’s time, all that’s left is in the storage room here, you can buy the key.”

“And how much will that cost?” Twilight asked.

“Eighty caps.”

Twilight let out a sigh, a large number of her just gained caps just gone. “Fine, here.” Twilight said, handing him over eighty caps from inside the pocket she puts them in.

“Here you go.” He stated, pulling a key from his pocket and handing it over to Twilight who took it and went over to the storeroom door and opened it.

Inside it was the same as before, dozens and dozens of toy tin dinos and tons of the rockets with the glowing green sludge inside them.

Twilight picked one up with her magic, looking it over until she saw a very tiny label on the bottom of it saying that each one contained 500 milliliters of igniting agent for the real life rockets. Deciding to be safe Twilight grabbed six of the rockets and closed the door behind her, trotting back to the front of the dino where Boone and Anne were waiting.

“Got them!” Twilight said happy, floating them over to Anne who proceeded to put them away inside her large bag.

“Great work Twilight, I totally forgot about those things, I probably would have led us to a monster infested ruin to try and find it but you saved us risking our lives and got to trade some of the useless stuff off.” The woman said with a smile, Twilight beaming at the praise.

“Don’t mention it Anne, I am known by my friends for being rather smart.” The pony said.

“Don’t get cocky, no one likes a boaster.” Anne warned.

Twilight just smiled sweetly. “I leant most of it from you.”

“Ha ha, very funny.” Anne said dryly.

“She’s right you know.” Boone said to Anne, smirking slightly behind his sunglasses.

“Great, now I’m being ganged up on.” The woman muttered.

“You said we should banter more, don’t blame us, you literally asked for it.”

“What have I gotten myself into?”