The Courier

Chapter 1

First Encounters

"A wise man once taught me that killing is a chore, I found that to be very true…"- Courier Number Six, Marcus, on receiving the Golden Branch for his services to the NCR.

Courier number six, Marcus, had a headache, that was usually a bad thing because if he had a headache this bad he was either drunk beyond his limits (he blamed Cassie for that, she was always such a bottle fairy) or he got hit in the back of the head. The Courier pushed himself off the ground and took in his surroundings. Nope, he was definitely not in the desert anymore. Vault 22-nah…Vault 22 was infested with vegetation; wherever he was this place was a lot more natural looking.

Now he was completely confused, where was he?

Standing up the Courier brushed himself off, picking up his small but still serviceable rucksack by its shoulder strap. The Desert Ranger Combat Armor he wore had served him well in Zion, it would probably serve him well here…Wherever here was…The Courier stood up. No time to mope about his apparent misfortune, he had to find some civilization and get his bearings. Hopefully he could also find a way back, the NCR was moving into the east after all and the Legion was still bearing its fangs against the Mojave. Apparently Oliver had needed his 'expertise' with the upcoming conflict. Marcus was very close to giving that general an ass-full of boot. What part of the word "independent" did the asshole not understand?

/

The Courier had to count his lucky stars sometimes, because finding a creek was just that lucky. He tried the water and refilled his canteen eagerly then decided to wash off his face. He was not a very tall man; in fact he only stood at around five foot five. Marcus was often described as an angry looking twenty-something year old with unkempt hair and sharp blue eyes. The Desert Ranger armor he wore was something he was mildly proud off; he found the thing in a survivalist cave in Zion. It resembled the NCR combat armor the ranger veterans were famous for save that the duster was green and no NCR markings were visible on it.

Marcus drew his favored weapon, A Light Shining in the Darkness, the .45 auto was shorter than standard models and featured a snakeskin grip and Greek text etched on the barrel. Joshua Graham had given the Courier this pistol personally after driving out the White Legs in Zion, Marcus counted Graham as a close friend and had learned a lot of things from him.

He checked the pistol over and holstered it and drew his knife, it had apparently belonged to a Great Khan named Chance. Marcus began sharpening the blade quietly seeing as he had nothing else to do during this short break.

After another drink Marcus shouldered his small rucksack, wiped his mouth, pulled his helmet on and began to follow the creek. It was about to be dusk, meaning that he had to find a good place to camp out.

/

"Shit," Marcus said as he spotted someone just lying on the ground near the creek. "How long has she been there…?"

The Courier approached slowly panning the area with his handgun before holstering. She was a blonde, a cute young thing that was easy on the eyes. He blinked and sighed dejectedly as he saw that she was wearing a large breastplate and a pair of panties along with metal gauntlets and that was pretty much it for her clothing. If it weren't for her breastplate she might as well have been walking about naked. She didn't look like one of the girls from Gomorrah either. She carried a sword and shield and what was left of her pack lay alongside her.

"She's lucky I suppose." Marcus remarked and crouched down. He hauled her gently out of the water and gathered up her stuff. She had wisely brought along flint and cooking supplies so she must have been a traveler who was well armed considering her…armor and her sword which was high quality make. Marcus began gathering up wood for fire.

/

It was nighttime and Marcus was sitting next to the fire when the girl stirred then sat up quickly, reaching for the now empty sheathe at her side. Marcus raised a hand in greeting as the blonde stared at him suspiciously.

"Sorry 'bout scaring you," Marcus told her tonelessly "I just found you by the creek over there. Don't worry I didn't do anything weird or bad. You looked like you were in bad shape." The girl's blue eyes narrowed as she watched Marcus stand up to check the boiling pot of pork and beans.

"My thanks for saving me traveler," the girl told him after a pause as she went to retrieve her sword which Marcus had inspected then carefully left it with the small shield next to her. "Who are you? And such strange clothes…"

Marcus looked at his duster and his armor and shrugged. "I'm not obviously from around here." He told her "Name's Marcus, I'm a Courier."

"Leina Vance, I am a warrior seeking to compete in the Queen's Blade."

The Courier crossed his arms, brows raised in confusion as he looked at the now named Leina Vance "Queen's Blade?"

At that Leina tilted her head curious and surprised "You do not know of the Queen's Blade? Surely you must have at least heard of the name?"

"Nope," Marcus answered honestly "Unless it's a weapon or some location I really do not know what that is." The Courier looked at the pot of beans and scooped out a bowl for the girl. "Here, you need to eat something. I don't know if you-"

Leina Vance's stomach rumbled and it sounded like thunder. Marcus actually looked up at the sky. No clouds so…He saw Leina turn red in embarrassment and looked down at her lap, fidgeting.

/

"Sorry, I haven't eaten in quite a while." Leina mumbled a bit flustered, but she did take the bowl. She tried the food she was offered and was surprised to find that it was…very mediocre in taste. Still food was food so she ate.

All in all Leina finished most if not all of the pot and her strange newfound companion ate little. She took a quick glance at the stony faced man. He was a few inches shorter than her and had unkempt black hair. His eyes were blue much like hers except that they were a harder shade and held a lot of experience in them, something that reminded her very much of her elder sister Claudette. He wore very outlandish clothes and armor. Marcus was an enigma, one that she would figure out.

"You call yourself a Courier, Sir Marcus." Leina remarked "Who do you work for?"

"I'm a free agent." Marcus answered simply washing out the pot and the bowl. As he worked Leina caught glimpse of a strange but small weapon strapped to his belt, a single edged knife next to it. He was lightly armed, was he a warrior as well?

"I've also done my own fair share of murder as well," Marcus said softly as though in response to Leina's discovery of his weapons "I hope to avoid bloodshed but sometimes…" he sighed "A chore is all it is, necessary but tiring."

A Courier who was also a murderer, Leina thought it best to keep an eye on this one seeing as he just admitted that he could hold his own.

The Courier exhaled "We should get some rest" he said "I'll take first watch, we can talk more tomorrow."

Leina nodded her consent and unpacked her bedroll to settle for the night; Marcus just removed his duster, using it as a makeshift blanket as he leaned against a tree. He was leaner than he looked but he was strong, not like most of the boorish men that she was used to.

/

The next morning was pleasant and Leina woke feeling refreshed, though her defeat against Claudette was still heavy on her mind. She was surprised to see Marcus already awake, burying the remains of the campfire. He wore a strange metal mask over his head and he glanced over, the mask hid his face entirely. It made her shiver slightly as small blue

"Ah you're awake." The Courier commented, his voice toneless. "How'd you sleep?"

"I'm refreshed Marcus, thank you for asking" Leina answered. "And Good morning to you as well"

The Courier gave a polite nod and shouldered his pack. "So…where were you headed? I imagine that you ending up unconscious in near the creek was not planned was it?" He asked Leina.

She gave a nod "Yes…" she said slightly ashamed. Claudette had found her and had beaten her. Still she didn't place fault with her sister for failing to catch her, Leina winced. She really should have thought out her words better.

"Cool, truth is I never expected to be here at all." Marcus said interrupting her thoughts "I just got finished with one war and I was going to end up in another one." Leina's curious glance made him shrug "So here I am wandering the desert and next thing I know a freak sandstorm blows me away and I wake up here. Then I found you."

Strange, it was a very curious story but Leina wouldn't question her new companion. "We should stick together for now, Marcus." She suggested "Seeing as I'm heading to the capital, maybe we can find a way for you to get back to where you're going."

Marcus sounded surprised but grateful "Thanks, without a guide I'd probably end up more lost. Compared to the Mojave this place is…different."

And with that settled the unlikely pair of the Courier and the Wandering Warrior set off.

/

Her companion was silent as a grave but he did listen, that got him a few points. Leina talked and Marcus listened that's how it often turned out as they headed towards Gainos, which was the capital city of the Continent. She talked all about her previous life and why she ran away from the Vance County. Marcus didn't say much but he did ask a lot of questions about her home, he also made remarks on her description of Melona, a monster that she had beaten.

"So she…" Marcus said slowly, exhaling through his nose. "In addition to shape shifting she sprayed acid from her…chest?" Leina was blushing as well as she recalled what Melona used as a weapon.

"Yes, I had to stop her from doing that." Leina said "That was my first victory."

"I see…" Marcus mused "You certainly have a better story than I do."

Leina looked at him curiously "What makes you say that, Sir Marcus? I'm sure as a Courier you have seen a lot more than I"

Marcus gave a small sardonic chuckle; he wasn't wearing his mask as it was strapped to his own pack. His duster billowed in the wind ominously. "I nearly died you know when I first started out." Marcus told Leina "I was off delivering some packages when I got ambushed by this guy called Benny." He tapped his skull "I was hit right here, theoretically I was supposed to be dead." Leina looked surprised and she waited for Marcus to continue.

"I got dragged out of my grave and I was patched up by a doctor," he said "He was a good man."

Marcus smiled "I hope he stays out of trouble."

"Did you ever find the man who buried you?" Leina asked swinging her arms about looking down the trail.

"I watched him die actually," Marcus answered grimly making Leina flinch. "He was crucified."

"Oh…" Leina was speechless. Such a cruel place this man lives in. Claudette had taught her how to judge someone's strength by looking into their eyes. The Courier's gaze was as hard as they come.

"I wouldn't say that he didn't deserve it." Marcus said "He stabbed a lot of people in the back, and he did leave me in a grave." The Courier shrugged his shoulders "I can tell that I'm upsetting you…my apologies."

After a long pause Marcus spoke up again, Leina felt a little relieved as she thought she had dug way too deep.

"So…this Queen's Blade, what is it really?" Marcus asked Leina.

"A tournament that happens every four years to decide the next Queen, the angels from above officiate the entire thing." Leina answered clenching her fist in determination. She would win it and prove that she was not some weak little puppet, that she was worth more than just a little noble girl. Her determined expression must have shown because Marcus raised a brow.

"Seems like a big deal," The Courier said quietly as he looked up at the next settlement they were headed towards.

/

The inn was boisterous, loud and full of drunks. While Marcus could hold his alcohol as well as any surly bastard here he decided that getting drunk off his ass was not the best way to go about things. He did stick close to the Vance girl however seeing as her…attire was getting a lot of looks. Marcus palmed the grip of his .45 idly before leaning against the wall to keep a watch on his blonde companion.

When the three guys sitting at the round table moved towards her, the Courier moved also silent as a ghost as the bar quieted and the atmosphere turned tense.

/

Gabriel was supposed to be having a bad day but when this blonde beauty walked through the inn's doors he felt a lot better.

"Why hello there," he said putting an arm around the blonde's shoulders "You looking for company?" his leery gaze landed on her bum but her tits were looking real good too, big and firm. His cronies ogled as well.

"No," the blonde answered pushing his arm off. She sounded pissed but they always did, the little bitch would stop that soon though after he was done with her. Gabriel smiled.

"Come on, don't play so hard to get." Gabriel advanced slowly "You can trust me; I'll be gentle with ya…" There was a sudden thud; someone very familiar gave a short cry of pain and the brigand stopped cold as he felt something big staring at the back of his head. It was evil like some kind of demon.

"I really don't appreciate what you're trying to do to my companion." A quiet, somewhat accented voice spoke. Gabriel turned around; the young man holding a knife to his friend's, Tom's, neck was short. The last guy, the big man Chester was on the floor knocked out cold.

Gabriel felt his heartbeat quicken as the boy watched him, a hard blue eyed glare with no life in it. The brigand at first felt very angry, he could have flattened this little bastard with his eyes closed. The boy's glare said otherwise, it said that if Gabriel made one step towards the blonde then Tom would die and Gabriel would join him.

"Don't worry about your friend; he's unconscious" The boy spoke sighing like he truly regretted that things had to come this way.

"Y-You think you're a big guy aren't you boy!" Gabriel crowed "Come on, show me what you got!"

"Quit blustering," his opponent spoke, his voice hard but quiet "You make one move I don't like and the last thing you see before I kill you is this knife opening your friend's throat."

"Big words for a bastard who barely reaches my shoulder," Gabriel snarled drawing his own knife "I'll gut you like a stuck pig-"

The blonde shield bashed the back of his head.

/

Marcus raised a brow as Leina gave the fallen bandit a kick to the head to make sure he stayed unconscious. "Nicely done, couldn't have done it better myself" the Courier commented.

"I wanted to avoid bloodshed as well," Leina said simply while giving the unconscious bandit a glare. "What are we supposed to do with him?" Marcus lowered his knife and his hostage gave a whimpering noise as he begged for his life.

"I see you again," Marcus warned him coldly "And I promise you that absolutely nothing will save you from me." He gestured to the two unconscious men on the floor with his knife "See to them, I don't care if you have to find a wagon. Get the fuck out of my sight."

The last bandit nodded quickly in fear, dragging his first companion out and then the second one.

The inn returned to its boisterous atmosphere, and the inn-keeper had apparently been having problems with those guys. He let Leina and Marcus have a free room and board.

/

Leina flopped down on the bed, sighing. "Ah…better than sleeping on rocks and dirt!" she commented smiling. Her stony faced companion just shrugged off his pack and removed his duster. Hanging the large green coat in the cabinet he unfastened his armor, revealing that he wore a simple black shirt underneath. He also removed the strange contraption attached to his left forearm.

"What is that?" Leina asked sitting up and looking at the large bracer, or whatever it is. Another mystery to add to her companion's already growing supply.

Marcus took a glance "They call it a Pip-Boy from where I come from, it's a Vault thing." He said, and seeing the confused look on Leina's face he elaborated "Where I come from, the people used to live in these underground places called Vaults. Not me though I was born after the Great War."

"Great…War?" Leina asked.

"I don't know much about it, but it burned everything in its path." Marcus said shrugging "I know that it was different back then though…a lot more peaceful than what it is now." He took a seat at the small table in the room. "You should get some rest, I'm sure you need it."