New Vegas: Sheason's Story

Chapter 137: Black Rain

I was still shaking when I stepped out of Gomorrah and into the street. I breathed slowly and steadily, trying to calm myself down. But nothing was working. I was too worked up. I was just so fucking angry, and intimidating Cachino hadn't been enough to take the edge off.

"Don't worry," I heard Sue say. "I think he'll stick to his word. He'd have to be stupid not to change after THAT display." She started laughing softly.

"Yeah, well... I never credited Cachino with an overabundance of brains..."

A thundercrack echoed in the sky above my head, and I sighed, burying my face in my hands. By the time I was mostly calmed down, something strange happened: I heard a droplet of water hit the pavement.

"What the..." I looked up, and saw the clouds over my head. There was another boom of thunder, and the clouds lit up from within. I heard several more drops start falling. Rain? The entire time I've been here, I'd never seen it rain once in the Mojave...

Tik. Tik-ik. Tik.

"Oh, FUCK ME!" I yelled, putting the pieces together as soon as my Geiger counter started clicking. I broke into a run, trying to get to the Lucky 38 as quickly as I could. Not an easy proposition when your sphincter clenches that tight, let me tell you.

"What?!" Sue squeaked. "What's going on?"

"Those aren't storm clouds!" I said, trying to pour on the speed. "That's all that's left of the mushroom cloud! This is black rain!"

I never understood that phrase 'when it rains, it pours,' until that specific moment.

"C'mon... c'mon, where is it..." I scrolled through the functions on my Pip Boy, trying to find the right radio channel, all while running down the road as fast as I could. "YES MAN! Please tell me you're listening!" As I ran, I couldn't help but notice several people move out of the way either to get out of the rain, or to get away from the crazy man, running down the street and yelling into his arm.

"Oh! Hello there!" Yes Man's voice buzzed in my ear. "What can I do for "

"Shut up and listen!" I yelled. "Black rain is falling! Radioactive liquid, black rain, fallout, whatever the fuck it actually is, the last gasp of that fucking nuke is shitting on everyone's heads! I need you to get every securitron you can spare out on the streets, warning people of the danger, and urging them to get inside and under cover! Hell, get the roving securitrons that Victor used to take over get them warning people outside Vegas too! Goodsprings, Primm, Novac, Westisde, everywhere! Hell, get a securitron over to Crocker in the NCR embassy, or over to Camp McCarran! I don't care, warn the NCR, too! We've got to warn as many people as possible about this!"

Yes Man was silent for a few seconds, giving me more time to close the distance to the Lucky 38.

"Sounds good!" Yes Man replied. And then: "I'll just go ahead and activate the emergency radiation protocols Mr. House wrote up before the war!"

"Wait, what?" I said, momentarily stumbling from the unexpected revelation before finding my footing and getting back to running. "I thought you said you couldn't access all of House's files?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Yes Man laughed nervously. "I'm sorry! Gosh, what a delightful scatterbrain I can be! Most of the protocols were decrypted ages ago! There are still a few heavily encrypted files behind some equally encrypted partitions, but nothing that can't be worn down with a concentrated, relentless effort, and the inexorable crushing march of time. Hooray!"

"So, you can do it then?" I asked, just as another thundercrack boomed overhead. By now, I'd reached the Lucky 38's stairs, and had taken cover in the overhang right in front of the doors. The rain was starting to come down in heavy sheets now, and (to my immense relief) the street was starting to empty. Maybe the tourists were just trying to keep from getting wet, or maybe they realized how dangerous it was. Personally, I was okay with either.

"Certainly! Well, everything except the Radio New Vegas emergency broadcast system!" Yes Man gleefully replied. "I've been trying to restart the radio the last few weeks, but something has been blocking my access attempts."

"What, like more encryptions?" I ran through the casino, and desperately punched the elevator button. I had to get up to the teleporter to get to The Sink. Of all the times to have left the damn Transportalponder! back up in my room!

"Maybe!" I could practically hear the shrug in his voice. "I'm honestly not sure. It seems to be altering the access codes when I "

"Whatever! Shut up and get it done!" I yelled. The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open. I didn't even wait before throwing myself inside and hitting the button to go up.

Before the electricity and ozone hanging in the air could fully disperse, I was already leaping off the transport pad and running into the main room of The Sink.

"JEEVES!" I yelled, sliding across the smooth steel floor and skidding into the side of the Sink Central Intelligence console. "We've got work to do! You awake?" The table winked into life, and the moving blue bars appeared in midair.

"Welcome home, sir." Jeeves replied calmly. "How may I be of service?"

"Stimpacks, Rad-X, and Radaway!" I said, gulping down a cough and trying to calm myself down. Thankfully, this process was made easier by the smooth, authoritative tones of Jeeves' rather pleasing-to-the-ear digital voice. "How much can you make with that holographic replicator of yours?" Jeeves was silent for several seconds, and the bars flickered wildly, shifting from blue to orange to purple to yellow and then back to blue.

"Is this a literal question, sir? Or should I merely give sir a rough estimate based on the current stores?"

"What?" I asked, as the bottom of my stomach fell out. "What do you mean 'current stores'?"

"The holographic reconstitution matrix requires an existing supply of fissionable materiel to function." Jeeves explained. "Matter can neither be created, nor destroyed merely changed. The First Law of Thermodynamics is still in effect, and is a major limitation to the function of this device, it must be said. It was one of the fundamental rules of the universe that the Think Tank, rather regrettably, could never overturn."

"So... this 'make anything' device of yours is eventually going to run out, then." I said, finally understanding the feeling in my gut.

"Eventually, yes," Jeeves seemed incredibly nonplussed about the whole idea. "That is, if the raw materiels in the stores are not resupplied, of course. Thankfully, the matter-energy conversion matrices can be resupplied with relatively mundane and common items scrap metal, for instance. But really, any suitably dense substance with a stable isotope from the heavier end of the periodic table should do nicely, sir."

"But you have enough to make the medical supplies I need now, right?" I rubbed my temple. C'mon, focus, Fisher. You don't have time for this! Get back on track.

"That, sir, rather depends on how much you need." I wanted to scream in frustration. But Jeeves' didn't know what was going on, and it would take far too long to explain.

"Let's say... 100 of each, and put in a box for easy storage and transport. Can you do that?" The holographic bars shimmered again, but did not change color.

"Certainly, sir. Such a request is trivial, sir, and shall be carried out momentarily." I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good," I said, reaching into the console and pulling out one of the extra, disk-shaped teleport homers I'd been keeping there since transporting the deuce. "When it's ready, have the robots place it on the teleport pad, and wait for my signal." I tapped my earpiece for effect, and backpedaled into the teleport room. "I'm on the same frequency as last time. Be ready when I call!"

"For you, sir," Jeeves' voice echoed from the console in the main room, and the speaker above my head in the teleport room. "I am always ready."

My Corvega roared down Vegas Boulevard, sending sheets of water splashing up on either side of the car. The black rain was still coming down in buckets, and it was so heavy that I couldn't tell if the streets were completely empty or not. It looked like it, but except for the brief glimpses of clarity or the odd streetlamp, everything looked like indistinct dark blobs through the haze of rain. Frankly, I'm just glad the windshield wipers still worked. The last time I had to use them was 10 years ago.

As I drove down the road, I saw the glowing face screen of a securitron shining through the darkened haze. It looked like it was patrolling the road; I heard its muffled voice shouting something, but I couldn't hear any details over the rain pelting my car and the roar of my engine. At least Yes Man made good on his promise.

The outline of the Old Mormon Fort materialized ahead of me or, to be more accurate, I saw the sign out front, lit up from below. I stamped on the brakes, and the car skidded along the slick ground. I fought against the steering wheel for a few seconds, and the Corvega finally came to a halt... sure, the car had done a 180, but at least I was stopped.

I leapt out of the car, teleport homer in hand, and hoped that I could find some cover before getting soaked by the radioactive rain. Turns out it was a lot easier than I thought: there were several large tarps draped between the walls and the flagpole in the center of the courtyard. It wasn't perfect, and several small waterfalls were spilling to the ground between the cracks, but it was certainly better than nothing. All around, I could see people running and working and carrying more piles of burlap, trying desperately to close up any holes.

"Get those gaps closed up! Quickly! And make sure nobody drinks any of that water!" I heard a female voice say over the commotion, and the bright orange mohawk made it obvious who it was even though the orders being barked were a far cry from the soft, gentle voice I was used to. Julie Farkas was directing the rabble with a metal cylinder in one hand, and she was holding a large metal box with the other, and both the box and the cylinder were connected by a thick coiled wire. When I ran over to her, I heard the box clicking away, in time with the Geiger counter on my Pip Boy.

"Julie!" I said, catching her attention. She spun in place, bewildered at the new voice, and even more perplexed when she saw me.

"Courier?" She looked around, a bit unsure of herself. "What are you... this isn't really the best time..." She must think I was here to drop off more decrypted files, like the last time I came here with April and Emily.

"No, this is absolutely the best time," I corrected. "You're always talking about how you need more medical supplies, right?" Julie looked at me curiously for a second, before nodding. I held up the metal disk in my hands. "Well, I think I might be able to help."

"What are you talking about? What is that?" I didn't answer. I just set the disk down a few feet away from her, and hit the button in the center; it activated with a hum, and the edges began to pulsate with a bright blue glow.

"You'll see in a minute. Stand back. Jeeves!" I tapped my earpiece. "You reading me?"

"Of course, sir," Jeeves' voice wafted into my ear. "I take it sir is ready to receive the package?"

"Lock in on the teleport homer, and send it over right away!" I said, stepping back even further. There was a tiny crackle of energy above the metal disk, and suddenly the air began to warp and bloat. A crack of blue lightning ripped open the fabric of reality, and a large metal box bearing the twin hexagon logo of the Big Empty shimmered into existence several inches above the disk. It fell to the ground with an unceremonious clunk, coming to a slightly askew rest on the uneven ground.

"What the what but what?" Julie stammered, dropping the Geiger counter in her hands. I rushed over to the box and grabbed the carrying handles, lifting the heavy box with ease. It was

"Never mind that now. Where's your main medical tent?" I asked. Julie just stared at the box, apparently unable to process what she just witnessed. I dropped the box with a wet thud on the damp mud, and snapped my fingers several times in front of her face. "Hey, c'mon! Focus! We've got to get these supplies to the medical tent!"

"Supplies?" she repeated. I sighed, reaching down to undo the latch. I pulled open the lid with a hiss, and a puff of blue-white fog escaped. When she looked inside, and saw all the stimpacks, Rad-X, and Radaway, her eyes went wide and she gasped, bringing a hand to her mouth. "Oh my... Oh my God! This... this is... where did you get all this?!"

"I'll explain later," I said, slamming the lid shut. "Now, c'mon, help me out here. Where do you need this?" Julie clutched the side of her head and shook it once, before turning on her heel, picking up the Geiger counter, and waving at me to follow.

"This... this way." She sighed heavily. "This is all just so..."

"Yeah, I know," I said, hefting the box and following her. "Look, I'll do my best to explain later. But I want to promise to you, right now whenever you need more supplies, don't hesitate to ask." I set the box down on a nearby table once we got to the medical tent, and Julie waved over a few doctors to help us unpack it. "If you can't find me, talk to April, Emily, or Arcade, they'll know where I am. Whatever you need, I'll get it to you."

"You... do you really mean that?" Julie asked, overwhelmed and utterly bewildered. I nodded, opening the box again.

"Yeah. Hell, I... I would've done this kind of thing sooner, but..." I coughed nervously, scratching at the back of my head. "I've kind of been busy. The black rain just... sort of... gave me a deadline." Julie stared at me for several seconds.

"What are you getting out of this?" She asked. I gripped the edge of the box, watching as the doctors pulled out medicine by the handful, and refused to look at her. "I mean... don't get me wrong, I'm grateful. God, more than you can know. We're always on the verge of running out of medicine and supplies... But why are you being so generous? What do you want from us in return?"

"Nothing. You don't have to do anything except what you're already doing. I'm helping you out because..." I glanced out of the medical tent, and at the rain still falling, and the pools of dirty black water soaking everything. "...because you're the only people I know who can help everyone else. I just... feel... responsible for what's happening now."

"How can you be responsible?" Julie said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "You didn't fire that nuclear weapon the other day..."

I didn't say anything. I grit my teeth and closed my eyes, trying to ignore the massive pang of guilt like a knife being shoved into my spine.

"... did you?"

I wished for something anything to arrive to change the subject, or distract me.

"Well, I'll be," a familiar voice spoke up behind me. "I hoped we'd see each other again, just didn't think it'd be so soon."

"Hey, Carlitos," I said, turning around with a fake smile. "I'm glad you made it. Are Joana and the other girls with you?" He nodded.

"They're still getting looked at by the doctors here. Two of the girls are..." He grimaced. "It's bad. If you hadn't come when you did, it would've been a lot worse. Thanks again for helping them escape."

"It was the least I could do," I said, walking away from the box and back in the direction of my car.

"Wait, where are you going?" Julie called out after me. I stopped, looking at them over my shoulder.

"Those medical supplies were made in the Big Empty. There's a wealth of old world tech in there... and there might be something there that can stop this rain..." If I had thought about it (and I hadn't been in such a rush before), I might have asked Jeeves about the weather station in X-17. Maybe if I could get some instructions before heading out, I could use it to try and stop the rain instead of making things worse... like I had last time I went there.

"Stop the wait, what?" Julie said. "What are you talking about? The best we can do right now is bunker down and wait for the storm to pass. You can't stop the weather!"

I turned around fully and flashed a smile that spoke of a confidence I certainly didn't feel. It wasn't much, but hopefully it might reassure her.

"I'm the Courier. Doing the impossible is what I do best." A flash of lightning briefly lit up the area, followed swiftly by a boom of thunder echoing directly overhead. "I can stop the rain for you. Just watch me."

By the time I stumbled back into the Lucky 38's main casino floor, I had lost all sense of momentum. I wasn't in any physical danger, and I couldn't rely on adrenaline to keep me going. But I kept going forward, because I had to do something. I hadn't done enough. I had to do more. I had to do everything I could to fix the damage of my mistake...

"There y'are!" I heard Cass say from somewhere ahead of me. "I've been lookin' all over for you. Arcade says this is fallout comin' down outside!"

"Yeah," I grunted out, hanging my head and leaning on a nearby slot machine. "Yeah, I... I know..." I was suddenly feeling very tired.

"Oh, you fuckin' moron. You've been out in this shit, haven't you?" The next thing I knew, Cass had wrapped my left arm around her shoulder, and was trying to help me up. Wait, what? Why was I kneeling on the floor? When did that happen? "C'mon... geddup, ya useless... fuck..." She grunted, and I tried pushing myself up to help us along. "Damn it, man! You must weigh a solid ton!"

"Don't blame me," I chuckled, flexing my cybernetic fist. "Blame the magic hand. Now c'mon... help me get up to the teleporter..."

"Fuck that, man," she said as the two of us entered the elevator. "You look practically dead. You need some fuckin' sleep."

"But... but I've got to... I've got..." I coughed, steadying myself against the wall of the elevator as it started to ascend.

"Fuck sake, man! It's two in the morning!" She grabbed my shoulder and shook me as I leaned against the wall. "The only thing you've got to do is get some fuckin' sleep! You can't keep doin' this, or you're gonna wind up killin' yerself."

"It's... it's all..." I sighed, gently gripping her shoulder. "But it's all my fault..."

"Yer just babblin' now, man," Cass helped me on my feet again as the elevator doors opened. "C'mon. Whatever you've got planned, it can wait till after you get some shut eye."

"I..." I sighed, finally accepting that I could barely stand. "Thanks. I don't... I don't know what I'd do without ya, Cass..."

"Don't worry 'bout it, man," she said. "You know me. If you fall down on yer ass, I'll be there t'pick ya back up." She patted me on the back, and smirked at me. "An' then I'll give you a smack fer bein' so stupid."

The rain fell down in torrents. I trudged through the viscous, cloying mud, trying to climb up to the top of the hill even as every step threatened to pull me down into the bowels of the earth. The further I climbed, the steeper it seemed to get, until I was finally grabbing at the mud with my hands as well as pushing against the ground with my feet, and it felt more like climbing a wall than climbing a hill.

Thunder boomed overhead, and the rain pummeled me in a relentless deluge. But I had to get to the top of the hill. I just had to. I clawed at the terrain in front of me, and just as I looked up...

A giant boulder fell out of the sky and smashed me in the face. I lost my grip on the muddy cliff, and tumbled backward as the world spun madly out of control. Before I could get my bearings, or try and clear my vision to see what was going on, I smashed face-first into a hard, flat slab of concrete.

"Ugghhhh..." I grunted out, trying to peel myself from the floor. "What the fuck..."The rain was still pelting me relentlessly. It both sounded and felt like machine gun fire peppering me.

"Well now..." A familiar voice above me started laughing. "Nice of you to drop in like this."

"Benny?" I asked, finally finding the strength to push myself up and look around. Sure enough, Benny was standing a few feet away from me, wearing that hideous checkered jacket, and smoking as casual as you please. Despite the rain all around, he was completely dry.

"In the flesh. Or..." He laughed, taking another draw from his cigarette. "Close enough."

I looked around, trying to figure out where we were. The muddy hill I'd been trying to climb was nowhere in sight... but there were plenty of rooftops. Even through the rain, I could see the lights of Vegas off to my left, the broken sections of highway off to my right, and the glowing Freeside sign below that. The churning storm clouds overhead were dropping down rain in buckets... except for a strangely clear patch behind Benny, which let the full moon shine through. It hung behind his head like a halo, and seemed... somehow bigger than normal.

"Is this another warning?" I asked, pretty sure I'd figured out what was going on. Benny shrugged.

"Sort of. I just wanted to let you know how surprised I am." I raised an eyebrow. "You've made it this far, daddy-o. You managed to squeak by, through all the poison, the madness, and the fire. They just keep poppin' you, and you just keep getting back up? I would've lost that bet." I mimicked his shrug.

"What can I say? I'm a juggernaut. I'll just keep going and going and going..." I let out a single laugh. "... just to piss you off." Benny laughed, snorting out a huge cloud of smoke from his nostrils.

"Fair enough... But in that case? You best hold on tight." He tossed his cigarette away, and backed up, melting into the shadows until all that was left were his eyes staring back at me out of the darkness. "From here on, things will only get rougher."

I heard a sound behind me before I could question him further it sounded like a foot kicking off against gravel. I spun around and a fist smashed into my face before I could properly react. I tumbled head over heels and clutched furiously at the ground, digging into the concrete roof with my cybernetic hand and tearing it up.

"Oh, you..." I growled, looking up. The Enclave assassin was standing over me. A flash of lightning streaked across the sky behind her. I pushed off the ground with all my strength, and it began. The two of us started fighting, throwing punches and kicks like we were partners in some kind of strange dance. I ducked and blocked most of the strikes, and so did she.

"What's the matter?" I said, throwing a cross that she ducked. "Cat got your WHOA!" She swept my legs, and I dropped like a ton of bricks. Another crack of lightning lit up the sky, and before I could get up, she was grabbing me by the ankles.

The next thing I knew, I was sailing through the air. The landscape of rooftops below me went by almost too fast for me to see... that is, until I realized that warehouse skylight in front of me was getting bigger and bigger by the second. I smashed through the glass with a sickening crack, and everything turned black and red. Once again, I was subjected to the rather unpleasant sensation of smashing face-first into concrete.

I could barely see. I could barely think. Every part of my body was on fire and screaming at me, begging for any kind of relief. All I knew was that I was lying face down, smashed against the cold stone of the concrete below me. I tried to crack open my eyes, and all I saw around me was a steadily growing pool of red.

Blood. My blood.

A massive hand gripped the top of my head, and lifted me up with an almost supernatural ease. The metal gauntlet was squeezing my skull, like it was trying to smash a melon... or squash a grape. I tried to scream, but all that came out of my mouth was an exhausted grunt followed by another torrent of blood. The only thing I could do was try to crack one of my eyes open again and look around.

I wasn't in a warehouse. I was outside on top of Hoover Dam. And everything was on fire. Bodies littered the top of the dam, piled up in bloody corners, painting the grey-brown stone almost completely red. And all of this carnage was surrounding the figure holding me aloft: the bronzed metal giant, staring at me with glowing red eyes. His unmoving metal face was twisted in a snarl, complete with spiky beard. Horns were sticking out of the top of his head, and a tattered red cape flowed behind him like a river of blood. I may not believe in god... but he looked like a demon that had just walked straight out of Hell itself.

"So... this is the best you can muster, Man of the West?" The deep voice boomed and echoed with an almost inhuman depth; it felt like hot coals being dragged across my eardrums. The sound almost turned my stomach. He laughed grimly. "PATHETIC! Back in the dirt with you, boy!"

He let go of my head, and I began to fall. The world around me slipped away, in a swirling miasma of stone, blood, fire, and smoke. It was like the walls of Hoover Dam were rising up, closing in around me to swallow me whole, like a horrifying beast dredged up from the bowels of the earth.

And then I was gone.

My eyes snapped open. I was lying in my bed in the Lucky 38, staring at the ceiling.

I was a bit surprised. Not that it was a dream that much had been obvious from the start. But it had been a while since I'd had a nightmare quite like that... and I hadn't immediately jumped up out of bed when it ended so abruptly. Why not?

"SNNNNXXXXX..." A loud snore almost like someone sawing a log of wood sounded off right next to my ear. I looked down and I got my answer. Cass was clinging to me, fast asleep, and snoring like a chainsaw. Her hair was a tangled mass of orange filling most of my view, her mouth was wide open (complete with a thin trail of drool leaking out) as she snored up a storm, her shirt was only mostly buttoned, and she had a leg draped over mine while she clung to me like I was a giant teddy bear. What really made the image, though, was that I was pretty sure the fingers of her free hand were stuck down the front of her pants. All in all, I found the image pretty hilariously endearing.

I threw my head back and sighed, going back to staring at the ceiling of the darkened room. I tried to replay what images I could remember from the dream in my head, trying to keep them from fading completely before I slipped back into unconsciousness. Benny's words definitely didn't want to leave, and they echoed over and over again.

"Hold on tight," I whispered aloud, giving Cass a gentle squeeze... more for my benefit than hers. She snorted, shifting her grip on me while her fingers reflexively tightened around my shirt. "Things will only get rougher..."

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