New Vegas: Sheason's Story

Chapter 45: The Singer

The mute woman and I were walking along the rooftops. Thankfully, we hadn't seen any inhabitants up here, I hadn't heard from Elijah over my Pip Boy, and somehow, even the air didn't seem so completely foul. There was still red Cloud above us, but it didn't seem quite as thick... somehow. I took a look at my companion, and decided to try and strike up a conversation. Despite the fact that it was probably going to be a bit one-sided.

"Hey, uh..." The woman stopped and turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow. "Those scars you have... those weren't done by the Auto Doc, were they? It was just the scar on your throat, wasn't it?" She nodded... slowly. She got a distant look in her eye, and she reached up to touch the scar on her neck... She closed her hand slowly, and then pointed at me, raising her eyebrow.

"Don't look at me. I didn't put you in there." She rolled her eyes and shook her head. She tapped the side of her neck twice and opened her mouth wide, shrugging her shoulders.

"I don't know. I can't restore your voice, I know that. All I have are stimpacks - we'd need a real Auto Doc to get your voice back." She shivered slightly at the words 'Auto Doc,' and shook her head quickly.

"I don't blame you. I wouldn't want to go back into anyplace small after that. Thing I don't get - why did the machine shave you bald?" She stared blankly at me for a few minutes... she ran a hand over her bald head, smiled, and shook her head at me.

"Wait, you cut your own hair off?" I asked. She raised a finger and opened her mouth - and then shut it quickly, shaking her head. She waved it off, and then nodded in the direction of the casino looming over us to the north.

"No, wait, I want to hear this." I started kicking myself immediately after I said it, and the mute woman just stared at me with a frustrated expression. "... You know what I mean. You were bald before?" She nodded at me with an exasperated look, then drew a circle in the air with her finger. She repeated it twice more, and then raised her hands, waving them like wings. She put both hands in front of her, and made a motion with her hands as if writing something. Something about that symbol seemed familiar... and then I remembered the night I killed Benny... when I found out Veronica was a member of the Brotherhood of Steel, and saw a symbol like that on her forearm armor.

"Wait... that's a Brotherhood of Steel symbol, right? Are you a scribe?" She nodded, and for the first time since I met her... she looked impressed. I just couldn't understand what a member of the Brotherhood was doing all the way out here in Mexico.

"How the fuck did you find yourself all the way out here?" I asked. She shrugged... and then she pointed to me and shrugged again.

"Fair point. So... were you here before, or did you get here the same way I did?" She paused, thinking for a minute... and then she moved a finger in a wide circle, then raised a hand over her eyes, looking around.

"Yeah, no, I got that earlier. You're looking for something, right?" She shook her head, and made a motion of two fingers - almost like two people walking. "Someone?" She nodded again, then raised up a fist, letting her pointer finger hang limp... and then, keeping the rest of her hand steady, pointed up. I couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"A man, huh?" She nodded, then made a motion with her hands around her chin, drawing it down, and then raised her hands, clenching them at the sky. Okay, that was a bit harder to figure out. Have I mentioned that I hate charades?

"An... angry... bearded man?" I took a gamble. Turns out, I was right. She nodded, looked concerned for a minute... then she tapped the side of her head, expanding her hands. "Someone smart." She nodded again, and circled her ear with her finger several times.

"... and nuts. Let me guess - you're looking for Elijah, the asshole who put the collars on us, right?" She nodded, frowning. "Sounds like it's pretty important for you to find him. That seems to be a running theme among the people here. I have no idea why..." I scratched absentmindedly at my bomb collar.

The mute woman just smirked, and shook her head. She frowned, raised two fingers and had them walk together. Then, she looked down on the two fingers, and her face became angry. Then she chopped her hand down, drawing the two fingers apart. One of the fingers she pointed at herself.

"So... he cut you off from someone?" She nodded. "What, like family in the Brotherhood? Husband?" She frowned and shook her head - and even more so at husband. "Boyfriend?" She shook her head even more. "...girlfriend?" She snapped her fingers and pointed at me, nodding.

"Heh... well, if it makes you feel any better, I know how you feel." She raised an eyebrow at that, so I continued. "I understand how important a loved one can be... and I know what it's like to lose... someone." I got quiet, trying to silence old memories in my head trying to surface. Now was really not the time to be thinking about... her. It's been 13 years. Push it out of your brain. Compartmentalize. Focus.

When I finally looked up, I realized the mute woman was staring at me with a raised eyebrow. It was almost like she was gauging me again - or judging me. One of those two.

"What, you think I don't understand love? Give me a little credit." She just rolled her eyes at me. She made a slow circle movement with her hands, and then tapped her wrist.

Yep. Definitely hate charades.

"No offense, but can you communicate some other way instead of the hand gestures? Can you write? I mean... if only so I could find out what your name is..." She opened her mouth, but closed it quickly and frowned. She traced one of the scars on her forehead with her finger. She then made a motion as if picking up a pencil, using it to write in midair, and then she shook her head.

"Something to do with the surgery?" She nodded, and then drew a jagged symbol in the air with her finger - almost like a symbol for electricity, maybe? She put a finger against each side of her head, shook her whole body, and then she put on an odd blank stare, her head lolling to one side and her mouth hanging open. She blinked slowly, closed her mouth, and looked around. She looked at her hands, shook them once, and let them go limp.

"Wait, are you saying somebody shocked your brain with electrodes?" She nodded. "That's... isn't that some kind of Pre-War brain surgery?" She nodded again, and then made a motion of typing and drawing X's and lines in the air, then gave a thumbs up. That one took me a minute to figure out.

"So, you can still do numbers and calculations?" She nodded slowly. "But you can't write." She shook her head. She motioned with her head back at the casino off in the distance, and tapped her wrist again.

"Alright, yeah. Good point. We should probably get moving again."

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It didn't take us that long to get to the fountain. Of course, when we got to the edge of the roof that overlooked the central courtyard, I realized something rather troubling: we were at least four stories off the ground.

"Okay, we're here," I knelt down near the edge, looking around. "So, how do we get down?"

I heard some motion to my left, and looked just in time to see the mute woman leap off the roof! I tried to say something, to stop her or... something... and I watched her fall gracefully through the air and land on her feet. She picked herself up and looked at me - like she was expecting me to follow her.

"I... I can't do that!" I managed to stammer out eventually. Hell, the last time I fell off a two story drop, I ended up with a bruised shin and a bloody shoulder. If I attempted what she just did, I'd probably break both my legs.

Right. Staying up here gawking isn't going to get me down. I looked around and saw a gutter running along the roof, and a drainpipe that led all the way down to the ground. So, I swallowed my pride and lowered myself down along the pipe... careful now... don't...

"Fuck!"

About halfway down, my foot slipped against something slick, I lost my grip, and I tumbled backwards. The holorifle and the spear clattered to the ground, and then immediately after, my back smashed into the cobbled streets with a crack that sounded... a lot worse than it was, really. Don't get me wrong - as soon as I tried to move, my whole body ached. But I think the armor must have softened the blow or something, because I'm sure nothing was broken.

The mute woman stood over me as I lay there on the ground, staring up at the mass of blood red clouds in the sky. She did not look the least bit amused. When I tried to get up, however, she offered me a hand and helped me get back on my feet.

"Thanks," I grunted, rubbing my lower back with a grimace. "Fuck, I need to get some pads for my ass. Ol' gal wasn't built for that much abuse!" I let out a grim chuckle, and she just shook her head. I reached down to grab my weapons, and checked to make sure they weren't damaged. "Alright, we should start looking around - there should be a super mutant here that's -" Before I could finish, I heard a door behind me creak open.

"What's this?" I heard God's voice from behind me. I turned around to see the Nightkin exiting the nearby building and start advancing towards the mute woman. "Why... it's a little doll. Were you carved by a craftsman..." I followed his gaze; he was staring at the scars on her head. "... or were you mauled by a drunk who didn't know his tools?"

The mute woman held her ground and planted her back foot in a combat stance. She pulled the automatic rifle off her back and pulled back the charging handle with a dramatic 'chak!' God just let out a low, menacing chuckle.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you... yet... much." I needed to stop this. I stepped between the mute and the super mutant, holding out my hands at both.

"Alright, everybody just calm down. God, seriously - chill your tits." I turned to the mute woman. "He's in the same boat as us - which means if he dies, we all blow up." She narrowed her eyes, still glaring up at the mutant for a minute... and then lowered the rifle. She turned on her heels and walked away. I heard God laugh from behind me.

"What the fuck was that about?" I practically yelled at the super mutant. He just continued to stare at her.

"Just testing the waters of the new... arrival. Scars tell a story. Some old... some new... and the one on her throat is fresh and red." He turned around and started to head back into the same building. "When you need me, I'll be waiting in here... out of the Cloud."

After the Nightkin left the courtyard, I went back to the fountain. The mute woman was standing at the edge, looking up at the holographic woman standing on the top.

"Sorry about that," I said, coming to a stop next to her. She looked over at me with a raised eyebrow. "He's... kind of an asshole. If I had a choice of working with him, I wouldn't. But I don't. So here we are." She shook her head, and went back to staring up at the holographic woman. I looked up at the hologram as well for a minute or two...

Wow. Someone must have spent quite a lot of time and effort to shape that ass. That ass was... I mean... damn.

I shook it off, realizing what I was doing, and I tried to distract myself with something else. My eyes fell on the large gate to the south... I looked behind me, at the casino to the north... and then back at the south gate.

"Hey, I have a question for you." The mute woman looked over to me and raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't happen to know how to get out of here, would you?"

Very simply, she pointed at the southern gate. Before I could say anything, she pointed at my collar, shook her head, and then made exploding motions with her fingers next to her own collar.

"Yeah, I got that when I talked to Elijah - he said that if I tried to leave, he'd set off my collar. But once the collars are gone, that's the way out? We could just leave?"

She nodded slowly, as if thinking. Then she rubbed her chin, narrowed her eyes, and then shrugged. She pointed downwards, making a circle around her, then back to the same spot... and then her finger drifted, circling, and she made a mock-frown. She then shook her head again.

"So... wait, you're saying it'll be difficult to return here if we leave?" It kind of made sense, given that we were in Mexico, and not in a part of Mexico that the NCR had tried to civilize like Baja... but then she pointed at herself, and shook her head. She then pointed to me, and nodded.

"... to return here if I leave." She nodded again. "But not you." She nodded once, her expression going stony.

"That doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't you be able to find your way back?" She shook her head. She pointed at the ground directly below her, and then she moved each of her legs outward, straddling the place where she was pointing in that same combat stance I'd seen before. And then everything clicked in my head.

"You aren't going to leave." She nodded. That didn't make any sense.

"Why?" I asked. "Why the fuck would you want to stay here, of all places? This is a hellhole! A deathtrap! Why the fuck would anyone ever want to stay?"

She frowned, and pulled the automatic rifle off her back. At first I wanted to step back, but then I realized she was just using it to illustrate a point. She hefted the rifle up, taking aim at something away from me off in the distance. She shouldered the rifle, made a sweeping circle with her hands, and then put her arms in a combat stance around where she'd drawn the circle in the air, as if covering it. I tried to work out all the motions she'd done in my head, trying to make sense of it all.

"You want to kill something here," or someone, I thought. "And then... protect this place?" She looked impressed, and nodded. "Why?" I asked.

She looked at me, as if surprised. She glanced at my collar, wrinkled her face, and pointed at it. She made a wide sweeping circle of the area, looking around... and then brought both hands back to her, then to her neck, and held it. With her hands still on her neck, she looked up at me gravely, and then shook her head. She didn't remove her hands.

"You're worried someone else is going to find this place. Use it to hurt people." She nodded slowly, her hands still locked on her throat. She looked pained for a moment, and she finally broke from my gaze. Her fingers fluttered for a second, almost frantically. Then she ran her hands along her scalp, then her throat... and then the collar. She looked back at me, pointing at my Pip Boy, almost with frustration... then gestured all around her, and her shoulders seemed to sag. After a moment, she glanced back at me, looked all around her, and then shook her head slowly.

"You can't protect the world from the world. It's... it's useless." As soon as I said that, I realized who I was talking to: she's a member of the Brotherhood of Steel. If everything I'd heard from Veronica and Arcade was true (or if even half of it was true) then trying to protect the world from the world seemed... very much like the Brotherhood's MO. She looked down and shook her head. She started walking away from the fountain, looked at me over her shoulder, and pointed at a nearby building.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Staying out of the Cloud... Alright, there's one last collar I need to find. I'll be back as soon as I find whoever it is, and hopefully we can get the fuck out of here." She nodded at me, and entered a nearby building - I noticed with a wry sense of amusement that it was on the opposite end of the courtyard from God.

I think I was finally getting the hang of navigating the winding streets of the Villa. I couldn't see it all the time, but the casino off to the north was large enough that I could use that as a point of reference... and there were street signs everywhere. Well, okay, not everywhere, but they were at regular enough intervals that I could actually use them. Despite the fact the signs were in Spanish.

Right, last collar to find. Elijah hadn't contacted me since the transmission broke up in the medical district, but luckily there was a map marker on my Pip Boy for the last collar... it looked like it was somewhere in the eastern part of the Villa, between the fountain and somewhere called "Salida Del Sol." The street signs were leading me to a place called "Zona Residencial."

Off in the distance, I could hear some more of the Villa inhabitants. I couldn't tell exactly where they were, or if they were getting closer. There was also a familiar chittering noise from behind me - a pair of radroaches were shuffling along the ground, just behind me. I shook my head, and couldn't help but laugh quietly to myself - I guess the three-foot long cockroaches really could survive anything, couldn't they?

After a bit more sneaking around, I found an archway, with a sign above it that read: "Zona Residencial - Residential District." Guess this must be the place. As soon as I crossed the threshold, the speaker on my Pip Boy crackled to life. Oh joy. What useless piece of 'advice' is Elijah going to shove down my throat this time?

"You're in the residential district - good, good... You must have found the mute. I'm picking up signals near your location. Detonators. Watch for traps." And then, just as suddenly as it sounded, there was a small burst of static, and my Pip Boy went silent again.

As soon as I got a good look ahead of me, I could see what he meant. There was one of the Villa inhabitants lying on the ground... or, rather, its head and torso were lying on the ground. I couldn't see where any of its limbs were. However, the really worrying thing was what was underneath it: a small metal disk, and a partially obscured orange light on the top.

It was an anti-personnel frag mine. When most people think of mines, I imagine they think of something buried in the ground, which are activated when you step on it. This kind of mine, however, I recognized: they're surface charges, designed to be used above ground. They're kind of like claymore mines - shaped charges that blow fragments in a wide area. The thing of it is, a claymore is either set off by a trip wire or detonated manually. This kind of mine has a sensor that blows if it detects motion roughly two feet above it. I don't know why it won't go off if there's motion below that two-foot ceiling, but I've really never questioned it... because it means that they can be disarmed.

Of course, you have to crawl on your belly just to get close to it, and if you stray slightly higher than that two feet - or move towards it too fast - then it'll give you hardly any warning and blow your face off, scattering you in a wide area.

There was a beep, and the light on the top of the mine turned off after I flicked the switch on the side to disarm it. I let out a sigh of relief, and quickly shoved the dismembered body off the mine. No sense leaving the mine here - I might be able to use it later.

I looked around, cycling my eyes through various different vision modes. I settled on EM vision first, and my blood went cold. This vision mode was designed to pick up electromagnetic signatures - mostly electrical wires, but also devices and sensors, things like that - and it also picked up the electrical impulses running through a nervous system. The whole area was awash with points of light. Elijah wasn't kidding about picking up signals. I had to really watch my step.

That point was proven less than two minutes later when I made my way up a set of stairs, and nearly tripped over a... well, a trip wire. It was just inside the door, and after I carefully stepped over it, I saw what it was connected to: there was a shotgun mounted on the underside of a table next to a door, and it was pointed right at one of those gas bottle things that liked to explode.

That sort of set the tone for my romp through the Residential District, really. If it wasn't rigged shotguns, it was grenade bouquets set to fall and explode, or it was a cluster of bear traps, or it was more mines. There was one trap that really stood out to me, however - at one point, I found a trap that involved a suspended I-beam hanging from the ceiling that, presumably, when set off by the trip wire at the door, the I-beam would fall and smash in the chest of the idiot stupid enough to set it off.

This place was just getting better and better by the minute, wasn't it?

I was getting close to the collar now. Eventually, I found myself on a balcony, overlooking what I presumed was another street... I couldn't really tell. Elijah said that when I saw concentrated pockets of the Cloud, I'd know. He really wasn't kidding. The entire street below me was completely obscured by what looked like heavy red fog so thick I couldn't even see the ground. I could hear movement inside the red Cloud, and when I got close - I had to, the only way forward to the next building was by a catwalk made out of scrap lumber - my eyes started to water. I didn't start choking or coughing, however. Maybe I was finally getting used to the Cloud? Honestly, I hoped not. I didn't want to be used to anything here.

After what felt like a million more traps (and finding another glowing handprint and a suitcase full of supplies that I raided) I wound up in another courtyard, surrounded on all sides by four story buildings. The strange thing is, as soon as I entered the courtyard, it was like I could hear music... and when I looked up, I could see strings of lights hanging between the buildings. All the lights seemed to originate from the same spot: a building on the southern end of the courtyard, with a large hole in the side of the top floor. I looked down at my Pip Boy's map. Yep. This was definitely where I needed to be.

I followed the staircase up, all the way to the top floor. The music sounded like... actually, I couldn't tell what it sounded like. When I finally got to the top floor, I saw two chairs facing the hole in the wall - and outside the hole, there was a perfect view of the Sierra Madre. The chair on the right was empty, but there was someone sitting in the chair on the left, with a small cloud of smoke hanging in the air above him. Off to the side, I could see - was that an old turntable and a vinyl record?

"Have a seat," I heard the figure sitting in the chair speak up. "And then... we'll talk." It was a man's voice. It sounded like his voice was wrapped in chocolate silk... and laced with snake venom. I don't know why I thought that, but... the smoothness of his words, and the precise way he carefully enunciated every syllable...

I was incredibly surprised to find the owner of the voice was a ghoul. I thought all ghouls had raspy, broken voices? He was wearing a ragged, beaten up tuxedo; there were a pair of mirrored aviators on his face - although, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how they stayed on without ears - in his hands was a lit cigarette, and around his neck... was a bomb collar.

"You collar 14?" I asked. He just smiled a cracked smile, and said nothing; he took a long draw from his cigarette, and let the smoke pour out of the holes on his face where his nose used to be. Obviously, he wasn't going to talk to me until I sat down. So... very gingerly, I did.

This is a bad idea, I thought to myself. With the amount of traps, mines, bear traps, explosives, and all the rest around here, and given how he was just sitting up here, smugly waiting for me... it was a good bet he was the one who set all those traps. Chances are, the chair was rigged as well, somehow.

"The Sierra Madre..." The ghoul leaned back in his chair, finally taking the cigarette away from his mouth. "Beauty, isn't she? She the one who invited you here? Or, maybe you didn't catch her voice on the radio. Woke up, confused, like some of the others. Least you're still breathing."

"There is that," I said, unconsciously fidgeting in my chair. The ghoul smirked at me.

"By the way, if I were you? I wouldn't get up or make any sudden motions, no matter how uncomfortable that chair gets..." The ghoul lifted up his left arm from behind where he was hiding it, and in his hands was what was unmistakably a detonator. "The cushion's just for show."

I looked down, and immediately realized what his game was. I could tell already: I wasn't going to like this asshole.

"That better be a shaped charge under my ass. Otherwise, you're going to kill both of us." The ghoul smiled wide, letting out an amused laugh.

"Sounds like you've done some blue collar construction work in your life! Oh, your mother must be so proud! Still... If you get up without my permission, I'll blast your ass so far through your head, it'll turn the moon cherry pie red. So - let's keep this meeting sweet and polite, and finish our conversation with no misunderstandings, yes?"

"You've got my attention. For the moment." The ghoul lowered the arm with the detonator behind the chair's armrest again, and he stopped smiling.

"Just because I work in entertainment doesn't mean I'm a moron," He tapped the bomb collar around his neck with the hand holding the cigarette. "I heard my necktie beeping, I know what this means. I'm part of this somehow. I want out of this contract. And if you put me in it, I'm not going to be too happy. So whatever's going on here, if you're part of all this? You're going to take orders from me." He smiled smugly at me and took another draw from his cigarette.

"Your negotiation skills assume you're bargaining from a position of strength." I said, rather bluntly. The ghoul stopped smiling again, and I saw a skinless brow raise from behind his sunglasses.

"What are you talking about?" He said slowly, deliberately. I tapped the side of my bomb collar.

"This thing on my neck isn't for show," I said, mimicking his words from earlier. "Our collars - these 'neckties' - are linked. That bomb goes off, so do I - and you, too." I saw the sides of his mouth twitch at that. He snuffed out his cigarette and tried his best to regain his composure.

"That's... an interesting clause," He let out a single, grim chuckle. "That's a real bad contract you have... We have"

"It's starting to make sense, now I've met you." The ghoul leaned back in his chair and just started laughing.

"Ha-ha-haa! All right, all right... Oh dear. Looks like marriage finally caught up to me. I'm listening... partner. What's next, if we're death-till-we part?" I saw him take the detonator in his left hand, put the safety cover back over the trigger, and toss it away. Good. I got up from the chair and started walking towards the hole in the wall - the chair didn't blow. Excellent.

"If I'm honest, I don't know what the whole plan is. I just know that I want to get this done so I can get the fuck out of this hellhole and never come back. As for our... 'contract?' We'll find out more back at the fountain in the center of town." The ghoul got up off his chair, and straightened his tux.

"The fountain, huh? Hope the hologram is still working and the battery is running strong. I'll follow you - but I'm not going alone, trust me." He hesitated momentarily, and then quickly added "Not like I'm a coward or anything. I'm just not used to running around town without an escort." I just stared at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You're kidding, right?"

"I'm serious," He said, looking out the hole in the wall. "One of the Ghost People catch us, we aren't coming back - and besides. I'd like to keep an eye on you."

"Fine. Whatever. Just one more thing. What's your name?" I asked. Seemed like a sensible enough question, but the ghoul just sighed, and shook his head.

"Well, I guess what Danny Parker always said was true - fame is fleeting, indeed. You really don't know who I am?" I shook my head. He seemed insulted. "I was one of the biggest names from before the bomb!" As he spoke, he gestured wildly with his hands. "London, Paris, Barcelona - my name was in lights for sold out shows all around the world! Everyone knew me - the world famous entertainer, Dean Domino, loved by all! And here, in the ruins of the Sierra Madre, I find myself being questioned by a tourist who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground."

"Sorry if I insulted you," I said, not really meaning it. "But like you said, that was before the bombs. Maybe you didn't notice, but the world got blown to shit 200 years ago. It's understandable that some things might have gotten lost in the interim."

"Still doesn't make the injustice sting any less..." I just rolled my eyes.

"Right. Well. It's a... 'pleasure' to meet you, Dean. I'm Sheason Fisher."

"I didn't ask."

Fucking hell. This was going to be Fun, wasn't it?

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