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Boone leaned against the wall of the outside interior of Camp McCarran. His companion, the Courier, had entered the control tower after seeing someone enter. He had to admit so far she had upheld her end of the bargain with fighting the Legion. The former NCR sniper had been doubtful of the petite woman keeping the deal she had brokered with him back in Novac. However since then not only had the black haired woman kept it she supported his hatred of the bastards.
The sharp shooter's thoughts turned to when the two of them had entered Forlorn Hope. He had left the service after Bitter Springs but he still heard things. Even if he didn't Manny did, and despite the fact that he no longer truly considered Manny a friend the former Red Khan still kept him updated, just as they had done in the service when they were a team. What Manny had told him was Camp Forlorn Hope lived up to it's name. Soldiers who were stationed there took it as a death sentence. Yet within a few days Six had helped to give those stationed there some hope. It wasn't much but to the men and women meant a lot, as it did to him.
When Polati had asked the Courier about retaking Nelson from the Legion Boone had watched her closely. He half expected her to pull out from attacking Nelson, after all one of Legion's men had approached Six on the Strip after her showdown with Benny. The bastard had given her Caesar’s mark promising her safe passage through the Legion's lands to meet with the leader himself. The blue eyed woman had examined the mark curiously before nodding her acceptance. The former NCR sniper had felt a sinking feeling in stomach thinking he had chosen the wrong companion to wander the Mojave wastes with. Therefore Six had surprised him by accepting the task for taking back Nelson from the Legion. Still the ex First Recon hadn't stayed alive as long as he head without being suspicious of almost everything and everyone. Just because she had accepted the job didn't mean the Courier would actually follow through, from her interactions with Caesar’s man on the Strip the dark haired woman could actually turn around and betray the NCR by giving away the Intel to the leaders at Nelson.
As she constantly did since he had started traveling with her the Courier took the path he least expected. She retook Nelson, alright. Only she retook it with only himself and her eye-bot EDE, the woman had bypassed the NCR men completely. As soon as they entered Nelson Six's eyes never left the sight of the men hanging on the crosses. Boone remembered having been given the order to shoot men like them, to the NCR it was better to have killed the men than leave them to the Legion's mercies. If Six had gone with the NCR to retake Nelson it was a certainty that the orders would have been to shoot the hostages. Instead the Courier, after clearing the immediate area of any Legionaries, had released their bonds and given each a weapon to help them get out of Nelson and back to the NCR.
The door to the control tower slammed open pulling his thoughts sharply back to the present. Boone had his knife out before the door had finished swinging back. Six took off running across the airfield without a word to him, as usual. With a curse the sniper followed in her footsteps.
“Six!” he snapped at the Courier, trying to demand an explanation for her behavior. “Six! God dammit, Vivian, slow the fuck down and tell me what's going on!” It was one of rare times Boone had used her true name. Since getting shot Six, Vivian, had said she related more with the nickname Six than her given name of Vivian. Still she had given him leave to use the name should he ever want to, and so far the only times he had were times like this; when the woman had frustrated him to no end with no answers and her desire to run headlong into possible danger with no thought of her own safety.
Six, Vivian, called back to him, “I can't slow down, Boone. There's a bomb on the monorail! It's set to blow when it leaves McCarran. The bastard Curtis was the mole all along!” As if to put her words into action Vivian put on an extra burst of speed as she ran for the garage door leading inside the former airport.
Once inside the two companions by passed the personnel in the base and headed straight for the monorail.
“Can you disarm it?” Boone asked as he warily watched her climb aboard the monorail.
“I don't know...I won't know until I see it. I'm good at explosives but who knows with these fuckers.”
The sniper watched Vivian as she undid the air vent hiding the bomb. With her back to him Boone couldn't see what her expression was however he knew her well enough by now that the sudden slump of her shoulders, while on most people would symbolize despair, on her it was an expression of relief. She could disarm the bomb.
Although only a few minutes passed between her finding and disarming the bomb to the former NCR sniper it felt like hours. When the Courier stood and turned towards him relief showing in her blue eyes Boone let a tiny part of himself relax. He would never admit it to her but he did care what happened to her. He had cared for one woman and gotten her killed, he would never allow himself to show he cared about Vivian as other than a partner and hopefully that would be enough to keep her alive.
“I'm going to go kill that bastard than I am going to talk to Hsu. I also think I'm going to have a nice little talk with Boyd's captive Legionaire.” Vivian favored the sniper with a rare smile, “Than after this how about we collect EDE from Primm and go take out some of our frustrations on Cottonwood Cove. Even if we can't kill them all in one day we can make damn sure we put a dent in their forces.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he agreed. Well, he had gone to hell for one woman already, it seemed he would be going back this time with one by his side. This time, though, it would turn out better. He would make damned sure of that.