//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: The Courier // Story: The Heart of A Soldier // by Always Shipper6 //------------------------------// I smelled something foul. It smelled like rotting corpses, but I quickly got used to it. I was always one who got used to smells quickly. I felt myself laying on something hard, but it had a pillow. I opened my eyes and sat up. I was in a medical building from the looks of it. However instead of being clean and neat, it was dirty and unsanitary. I stood up and began to walk. I felt light headed from where I stood up too fast, but I had a goal to get to; the door. As I walked through, I saw a nurse and someone who was wearing armor talking to her. "Yes, I know Mr. Courier I-" "Please, just Courier is fine." "Ok then, Courier, that will be 200 caps." The person who I guess went by Courier pulled out 200 bottle caps and sat them on the counter the nurse was standing behind. "Thank you, he should be getting up any- Oh, there you are. Better be glad this man found you, you were dying from blood loss." I looked over at the man in the armor, who proceeded to walk towards me. "Names...well, that doesn't matter. You can just call me Courier." He reached his hand out, and I shook it. "Nice to meet you Courier, my names John, and do you know where we are?" We stopped shaking hands, and I finally got a good look at him. He had a weird kind of armor on. It covered his entire body, and didn't give him any way to breathe. I wondered how, then I noticed the breathing filter on his helmet. I saw that he had a weapon on his back, and it looked like an ordinary M4 Carbine. The armor had insanely large pieces that went from the back to over the shoulders, and eventually to the front of the armor. The armor piece on the left had an E that was surrounded by stars. It was an emblem I had never seen before, so I began to get curious. "Your in the Mojave Wasteland, why?" "Mojave?" "Yea, you know, what used to be California before it got hit by nuclear war?" "Nuclear war?" "Nevermind, long story short, humans screwed the world over with nuclear war. Now everything is either irradiated, mutated, or dead. There are very few of us who are normal anymore, and those are usually down in the vaults." "Vaults?" I felt like Twilight since I was asking so many questions, even though they were only one word. "Yes, a long time ago giant underground housings a.k.a 'Vaults' were made to save people form the nuclear holocaust. They had to get a specific invitation from Vault Tec. in the mail, if they didn't get an invitation they would either request one, or just die once the nukes fell. Either way, many people survived the nukes, while people in the Vaults did not. Most Vaults around here were used as experimental facilities, where the people would undergo changes that they didn't know about. I remember one time where I had to go into...I think it was..Vault 32, or something close. Anyways, the Vault was covered in vines, grass, plants, stuff that's very scarce in the Wasteland. When I got deep inside the Vault I found an elevator that I could fix, so I fixed it. I proceeded to look throughout the Vault, running into experiments that were basically people that had green skin, walked on all fours, and were very hostile. I killed I don't know how many of them. However, the worst Vault of them all was Vault 34, the most irradiated place I had ever been into. I had to do something for someone there, I think I had to get something in the Overseer's office, but I ended up going back and forth throughout the Vault like maze. I ran into ghouls, which are basically humans that were so irradiated that they went feral, attacking anything but their own kind. They are easy to kill in small numbers, but find them in a big group and your in trouble. Thankfully I only ran into one group of 5, which with my Missile Launcher, made it easy to take them out. The Overseer was a different story. he had two Mark IV turrets in his office, and those are tough and do a lot of damage. It took me a while, but with the weapon I found in the armory called the 'All-American', it made things easy. After I killed the Overseer and took what I needed, I opened the staircase under his desk by activating a computer behind it. I walked down the stairs, and out back into the open. I would go into more detail, but I think that's all you need to know about the dangers of the wastes. Now, I'm giving you two choices. Stay here and find a normal job and live a peaceful life, hopefully without raiders and other creatures bothering you. Or, you could come with me, and help those who need help, and save those who need saving. Ever since I quit being a courier, I guess you could say I became the hero of the wastes." So many thoughts were running through my mind, but the last thing he said made all of those go away. It brought me back to the time where I found out my parents died, and to choose to join the army, or live a normal life. I had a chance to have one here, but the good in me wouldn't let me. I walked closer to him. He stood maybe a few inches taller than me, either that or it was his armor. I gave him a look, and said one thing. "Come at me bro, I'll take anything you've got." "I take it that your coming with me then?" He said as he looked through his thing on his arm and pulled out a few weapons. "Yes." I said, looking as he pulled out a black and gray sniper rifle. "Okay, I'll let you pick what you want to u-" "Give me the sniper." "You mean the Anti-Material Rifle? It's a lot stronger than your ordinary sniper rifle you know." "I know, but...let's just say I used to be a soldier, and I was the best shot around." With this he nodded and handed me a few clips of ammunition, and a rifle. "What's the rifle for?" I asked looking it over, it looked like an M1 Grand, almost in perfect condition. "You'll need something for when enemies get in close won't you?" "Well, I do have this sword on me." I had totally forgotten about my sword on my left thigh until I started putting the Anti-Material Rifle on my back. I noticed it was unharmed, and as I drew it out people began to stare at it's golden glow. "Well, looks like you have two special weapons now." He said as he pointed towards the sword and the rifle. "I know about the sword, but the rifle?" I said inspecting it again. "That rifle is special, it's the best of it's kind. It has a name, they call is 'This Machine', and it definitely is a machine." I think he meant that as a compliment towards the gun, not that it literally was a machine. "Ok, one more thing...where can I get armor like that, because I want it!" I said enthusiastically while looking at his armor. "Oh, I got this from a friend. I know where we can find another suit like this, but we have to go through a camp of Legionares and then a whole horde of Deathclaws, including a Deathclaw Mother." He said while giving me a stare through his helmet...at least I thought it was a stare, maybe one of challenge. "That sounds tough, and deadly." I said, giving him another stare. "Who's keeping score." He said while hopefully smiling under the helmet. "I guess I will, I always keep score. Just letting you know, I NEVER miss...never." "Well, I am a killing machine. I did take out a whole camp by myself, not to mention a whole robot army." "Well maybe you should have kept 'This Machine' instead of me." "No, your going to need the firepower if you want to keep up with me." "Oh really?" "Yea, really." "Alright then, your on." I said as I started towards the door, opening it. "Ladies first." I laughed as he didn't go through. "Naa, I think I'll let you go first." "What's that? Badasses first, ok then." I walked through the door. The nurse behind the counter shook her head. "Those two are so much alike it's not funny, their going to be one deadly duo." She shook her head even more thinking about what those two could possibly do. We were approaching the camp, and it was filled with people dressed out in red. The armored one's weren't even that covered, but looking at how many of them there were, this was going to be a problem. I looked over to the Courier, who was just standing on the cliff edge like a badass. "Well Mr. Badass, what are we going to do?" I said the first part with a sarcastic tone. "Simple, kill em' all." He said as he shrugged. "You think as you go don't you?" "Yep." "So do I. I can tell we're going to be great friends." He laughed. "Me too." We began our walk down the mountain to the camp. there were a few buildings, one was two stories that had stairs on the side of the building leading to the top. The others were single storied building that were old and run down, and some were barred up all over to where you couldn't get inside. Others were probably used as barracks, and I constantly saw men walking out of them. There were a few tents, but not many. However, the one thing that caught my eye was the people in the cages. They looked nothing like these so called 'Legionares'. Instead, they looked poor, starved, and dehydrated. I wanted to save those people. "Hey Courier, how do you think we could save those people over there in the cages?" I asked, pointing towards the cage far in front of us and off to the right a little. "Simple, after killing everyone we deactivate their collars and let them go." He said while shrugging. "Wait, collars?" "Yes, those people over there are slaves, used for many purposes." "You mean like back when African American's were slaves?" "What?" "Nevermind." I said. 'They must not remember history that far back.' "Okay then, we're getting close to the camp now, so stay quiet." He said while crouching down. I joined in, and followed his every step since he knew more about this world than I did. I must say, it is vastly different from the California I knew of. However, that one wasn't torn apart by nuclear warfare. We were getting ever closer, and the only sound we made was the slight scuffle of where I would accidentally forget to roll my feet. That's the one way I know that can make your steps silent; just take it slow and roll your feet. He was dead silent even in the armor he was wearing, and I wondered how he did it. We got to the camp, still crouched and slowly moving, but I was quickly becoming stiff as from where I hadn't changed positions in a while. Once we got up to the camp he motioned me to stay back, and walked forward. I heard a slight groan, and the sound of a body falling to the ground. He walked back around dragging a body of a Legionare to me. He pulled off the armor, and tossed it over to me. "Here, put this on for protection." I did as he said and changed, first I stripped down to my boxers and put on the underclothes, and then the armor. "This good enough?" I asked, trying to get used to the new weight added to my body. "Yes, that should be fine." He whispered as he walked back around. "Follow me, were getting ready to start the attack." "Alright finally, some action." I said as I pulled out the Anti-Material Rifle. "Just in case, I recommend armor piercing or explosive rounds." He said as he began to pull out a big gun. It wasn't a minigun, it was more futuristic. "Alright, let's do this." He said as he walked out into the open. "Hey limp dicks." He yelled as they looked as him. Some drew melee weapons and ran at him, and others began to pull out a variety of rifles and machine guns. "Eat laser freaks." I heard a slight spin up, then green lasers mowed down anyone that came near him. 'Are lasers usually green?' 'Are gatling guns supposed to shoot lasers?' 'Well we are in a futuristic world...I think.' 'Well, since we are pretty much anything can happen, so watch your back.' 'Oh trust me, I know to watch my back.' "Hey John, I could use some help over here!" I looked over to the Courier, and he was literally being swarmed by Legionares. He was basically surrounded, and the only way he could escape was by backing away, which he was quick;y doing. I came out from behind cover and loaded some explosive rounds into the rifle. "Gotcha!" I said as I shot one group of enemies. The explosive rounds worked miracles. Every time I would hit someone in the head, it would kill them and scatter everyone else around them. This gave enough time for the Courier to get back to me. "Phew, thanks John. I could have got out of that myself, but my ammo count was running low. Plus, my V.A.T.S. was already used up." He said while catching his breath. "V.A.T.S.? What's that?" "I'll tell you later." He said while pulling out another weapon. "Ready for round two?" "You know it." I said as I pushed the bolt forward on the rifle, putting another explosive round in the chamber. We both dove out from behind the building and took cover behind some rubble from a house that was destroyed by a rocket launcher. There were maybe 15 people left in the camp from what we could see, so we both looked at each other and nodded. Since the Courier had the armor he walked out into the open, taking most of the fire while I took the enemies out one by one. However, since I had explosive rounds I aimed for big groups first. I saw what looked like a squad huddled together, so I aimed for them. I looked into the dirty scope, trying to get the right shot on them. "Damn this scope for being dirty, can't see shit....wait a minute, what's that?" I saw something tan and big running at the group. It has it's arms stretched out like it was going to attack them. I saw the Courier react to this thing. "HOLY SHIT, JOHN, GET THE ARMOR PIERCING ROUNDS!" He screamed at me as I frantically looked for the clip that had the armor piercing rounds in them. I grabbed the clip, ejected the one that was currently in the gun, and put in the new one. I looked back and saw the thing jump at the group, practically tearing through them like paper. It was honestly the first thing that has truly scared me. I aimed at it, but before I pressed the trigger I heard fast, deep breathing. I looked behind me to see another one of those monsters charging me. It jumped into the air, and aimed for my head. Thankfully I ducked as the claw hit the concrete above me, making it turn to dust. I saw it reach it's other arm back, so I flinched and fired the rifle. I felt blood splatter across my face, and a heavy body land on me. I opened my eyes to see the monsters face falling towards me. I tried to move, but it landed on me; and it was heavy. As I began to move out from under the body, I saw the Courier fly into a building, leaving a big hole in it. I knew he was screwed if I didn't do something. I got out from under the body as fast as I could, watching the other tan creature walk towards the Courier, who was now getting out from under the rubble. I pulled the sniper up and aimed at the monster's head. I pulled the trigger, but all I heard was a click. I facepalmed. That was by far the most stupid thing I have ever done in my sniping career. I pulled the bolt back, ejecting the shell, and pushed the bolt forward which put another armor piercing shell in the chamber. I aimed once again for the monster's head. The Courier was now standing still in front of it, basically starting death in the face. I fired just before the monster hit the Courier. As the bullet hit the monster in the head, it hit the Courier's body. He flew back into the house again, so I ran over to see if it was okay. "Hey Courier, you alright." He let out a moan and began to move. "Yeah, your going to be just fine." I walked over and helped him up. As I let go he began to stumble a bit, but I caught him before he fell again. "Ok, thanks for saving me there. I usually get the Deathclaws before they get that close, but that one got lucky," I began to think for a minute. 'Deathclaws...why does that seem so familiar...I have a feeling I've heard it before, but I just don't know where.' 'Dude, he said if you wanted to get to the armor then you would have to go through a whole horde of them.' 'Oh...great, just great. Now I have a death wish, but I might as well go along with it. Besides, what could possibly go wrong.' 'Dude, never say that.' 'Say what?' 'What could possibly go wrong, you know why?' 'Why?' 'Because something ALWAYS goes wrong.' 'Meh, I don't believe in that kind of stuff.' 'You will soon.' 'Whatever you say.' Now that the camp was empty we could look for supplies, and scavenge off the dead bodies if we needed to. We searched all over for items. We searched on the dead bodies, in cabins and tents that were set up, and finally the main building. We discovered that to get in we needed a key, so the Courier went to the leader's dead body and found the key. After he got back up the stairs, we entered inside the office. There was just a desk with a terminal and light on it, along with a row of lockers. While the Courier hacked the terminal and lockpicked the desk, I took a look at the lockers. Inside one was a ton of dog tags made to look like a pair of brass knuckles. I took them out and brought them over to the Courier, and he willingly took them. After our search through the camp, we made our way to a nearby river. "Here comes the fun part, you know how to swim?" He said while stretching and pulling off his helmet. I finally got to see his face. He had a tunnel snake hair style that was jet black. He had hazel eyes, and looked to be Caucasian. As he put his helmet up, he pulled out something else that just went over his mouth. He pulled out a second and handed it towards me. "You'll be needing this for the long swim." He said as I grabbed the mask-like thing and put it on my face. It felt weird, and it was just a bit harder to breathe in as well. "Alright, see that opening way down there." He said pointing down the river and to the other side of the bank. It looked to be pretty far, but I was always a good swimmer. "Yea. Let me guess, that's where we've got to go?" I said while putting away my weapons, hoping not to get them wet. "Yep, now get ready. I suggest if you don't have anything waterproof, then you hand it to me." "Wait a minute, let me check something first. Hey Gizmo!" I called for Gizmo, who transformed once I pulled him out of my pocket. "You can go underwater right?" I asked, Gizmo simply nodded and rubbed up against me letting out a metallic purr again. "I guess we're ready then." I said while giving the Courier a thumbs up. "What is that?" He said while pointing towards Gizmo. "Oh, that's my pet transforming cheetah...long story, not enough time," I said while readying myself to jump in, "CANNONBALL!" I yelled as I did a cannonball into the water. When I hit the water, water went everywhere. I looked over to the Courier and laughed as he was covered from head to toe in water. "Yea yea, very funny...wait a minute, be right back. You better stay there." I nodded and watched as he ran to the top of the cliff we were below. "Hey kid!" He yelled down to me. "This is how real men do a cannonball." He said as he jumped off the cliff, armor and all. I swear I could hear whistling as he hit the water, practically making a wave engulf my entire being. I let out a muffled scream as the wave hit me, making me do flips under the water. After I regained my balance, I went to the top of the water. As I surfaced, I saw the Courier backstroking past me. "Come on slowpoke, I thought you said you knew how to swim?" He said while slowly swimming by me. "So you want a race?" I said while backstroking alongside him. "Nope, it's best we save our energy for the horde of Deathclaws we're getting ready to face." "Good point." "Care for some music?" He said while lifting up his arm and slightly sinking in the water. We stopped and just waded in the water as he chose a radio station. The music was old, but I liked it. It was relaxing. We just floated down the river, listening to the steady beat and western sound of the music. After it was over, we were halfway to the area where we would hopefully not die. "Mid if i put on some of MY music." I said while getting out my iPod, which was Gizmo transformed. "Sure go ahead, play anything you want, I like all music." He said while turning off his radio on his arm. I just grinned a bit. "Okay, you got it boss" I hit the play. Hollywood Undead is by far one of my favorite bands, and like I said, I listen to a wide variety of music, so expect the unexpected. The Courier nodded his head to the beat. "Hey, this isn't bad, I like it! However, your going to have to change it to some fighting music soon, because we're coming up on it now...do you have any fighting music on there? Cause the music here isn't that...well...you know what I mean." He said while we got out of the water. "Fighting music? Oh yea, I have plenty of those." I turned on one of my favorites. As we walked farther into land, I notices we were surrounded by a cliff edge. We heard the approaching footsteps of Deathclawes nearby. "You ready for this John?" The courier said while pulling out a weird looking cannon that emitted a yellow glow. "Oh yea, let's do this!" I yelled as the first Deathclaw came at us. It didn't make it far due to the Courier's weapon. It shot out a blue beam of what looked like energy, sending electricity through the Deathclaw, and killing it almost instantly. I saw two more run around the bend, so I got the Anti-Material Rifle ready. I loaded armor piercing rounds into the weapon, and fired at one of the Deathclaws. The bullet hit it right in the eye, and came out behind it's head. I watched as it fell over and skidded at me, much like the Chimera I saw back when I first entered Equestria. I was instantly reminded of all those people I left. Fluttershy, Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Celestia, and Luna. I left them all behind, no, it was Discord that did this, and I will kill him for it. Being reminded of how Discord had caused all of this, I was filled with rage, and put explosive rounds into the sniper. "Explosive rounds at close range, are you crazy!" The Courier said as he was backing away from me before I shot. I hit a jumping Deathclaw, and watched as it flew into a million pieces. Blood covered my entire body as a wave of it from the now dismembered Deathclaw hit me. I didn't flinch, I just kept on putting more bullets into the chamber and kept on pulling the trigger. The Courier stayed back and provided support fire, but eventually he had to intervene because they were beginning to get too close. I watched as one jumped at me from the side. I ducked, dodging the claws and another Deathclaw hit that one and took it's head off. I laughed on the inside out of the sheer stupidity that just happened. "John, LOOK OUT!" I looked behind me as I saw a claw come across my chest. It sent me flying back across the field. From what I could see, the field was almost wiped out except for a giant black one and a few smaller ones as I flew past them. I hit a rock, and heard a cracking noise. "Oh shit, that's not good." I laid there as I saw three orange lasers come down from the sky. They all acted on one pinpoint location, the Mother Deathclaw, or at least I think it is. I saw the lasers form into one orange laser. Then, I saw a massive blue light come down from the sky, immediately vaporizing anything that was inside the blast area. I felt the heat coming from it as I laid there against the rock. I instantly thought about the Courier, and if he was okay. I managed to stand up, only to see him walking towards me like a badass. He was walking away from the explosion as it went off, and as it did he put some badass aviators on. I sat back down, and laid my head up against a rock. "There's one thing you can't beat me at, and that's danger close." He laughed as he looked me over. He tossed something to me. It looked like a syringe, but it had a big round top on it, and had some weird liquid inside it. "It's a Stimpak. Should heal you right up." I did as he said and injected the weird liquid into my bloodstream. I felt my wounds slowly closing. It took a few minutes, but eventually I was back to my old self. I stood up and stretched and looked to my left. I saw the armor I was looking for. I was right beside it the whole time, I facepalmed. I picked it up, and damn it was heavy. "Heavy isn't it?" He said while laughing. "You don't say." I said in a smart remark. "Here, I'll tech you how to use it professionally like I do." He said while tossing me the boots to the armor. "Now suit up soldier!" He said while giving me a pat on the back. "Alright, give me a minute." I said while putting the suit on. It took me a while, but I eventually got it all on, and I could hardly move in it. "Alright, ready." "Alright the first thing you have to do is-" After a few hours I was just as skilled in wearing power armor as the Courier, and we were heading back when I noticed something. I saw something colorful, so I made my way towards it. "Hey Courier, come over here for a sec." I said while waving at him. He walked over and looked into the weird portal thing that was there. It showed, I couldn't believe my eyes. It showed Ponyville! "Courier, this is the place where I came from! I can finally go home!" I said while jumping around like a happy little kid, but I soon stopped. "Wait, Discord is still there, and I know just what I'm going to do." The Courier looked at me. "What are you going to do?" I looked at him and pulled out the Anti-Material Rifle, and looked at him. "I'm going to shoot an explosive round right down that bastards throat, that is, if you'll let me have this rifle." "Go ahead, consider it your going away present." He looked at me and took off his helmet. "I'm pretty sure your going to need these more than I do, besides, there's more of them out here in the wastes." He said while handing me the aviators that he wore earlier. "You sure? I mean, I know these mean a lot to you." I said while looking at him thankfully. "Yes, take those and the rifle. Something to remember me by. Goodbye friend, I hope to see you again someday." He said while reaching out his hand. "I hope so too. Who knows, maybe next time we could go into a Vault and fight some ghouls, or some other crazy kind of adventure. Anyways, until next time." I waved as I put on the aviators and stepped into the portal. However, as I was halfway through I forgot something. "WAIT!" The Courier turned around and looked at me. "We forgot to set free those slaves." His eyes opened wide, and he facepalmed. "Knew we forgot something. Oh well, you get going, I'll set free the slaves. No need to worry, I'll be just fine." He said as he gave me a thumbs up. "I know you will, your a badass like me." We let out one final laugh before we waved and went our separate ways. I finished stepping through the portal. I appeared in some kind of throne room, and I saw eight cages aligned on the walls. I looked to my left, and there sat Discord in a silky red chair, asleep. I walked around, trying not to wake him. I noticed that the eight cages held Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Luna, and Celestia. They seemed to be held in by some kind of powerful forcefield. I turned around and noticed Discord began to stir. I pulled out the Anti-Material rifle, and as he turned to look at me, I shoved the barrel of the gun down his throat, literally, it was at least halfway down his throat. He looked at me wide eyed, and just stared. "Hey motherfucker, I'm back, miss me?" I fired the gun. A/N: Wow, uber long chapter O.O...Shows how much I'm beginning to write now that schools finally coming to an end (There be a shitstorm a brewin' in two weeks). After schools out, I practically have all summer to write =D...still, I don't know if I got my facts straight about the story about the vaults and the stories I described...I kind of did it off the top of my head (I vaguely knew what they were, but I just couldn't remember...that's the one thing I have...a very bad memory). But I hope you all liked this chapter, now it's back to ponies...YAY! =D...now we can finally stop with all the random transportation XD (And he didn't get knocked out this time either O.o) Oh well, see everyone next chapter!