AN: Well hi there, sudden urge to write for this story so here it is! hope you like it! let me know what you think

It was gloomy inside the run down Bison Steve hotel Nash had pointed him towards. Apparently somewhere inside was the deputy sheriff of the town, the man who had answers to his question. Of course said deputy was currently playing hostage to the powder gangers that had taken over the small town of Primm, so it wasn't exactly a midnight stroll through a dim building for Six.

Walking carefully to make as little noise as possible, the amnesic courier moved through the darkened room, keeping his eyes peeled for trouble. Rounding the entryway, Six almost walked headfirst into a powder ganger cradling a single shot scatter gun in his hands.

"Damn watch where you're going asshole," grumbled the smaller man as both men sidestepped a little.

"My fault," Six automatically replied.

The ex-convict squinted up at the larger man. "Hey wait a second, you don't look like anyone I know-"

Before the man could connect the dots, Six reached out and grabbed the smaller man's head in his hands. A violent twisting motion was followed by the sound of breaking vertebrae, and the unfortunate powder ganger died with a soft gurgle. Dragging the body with him, Six maneuvered the corpse into a doorway to the side. Judging by the remains of various bottles and old world trash it was most likely a small shop for people staying at the hotel before the war.

Depositing the body behind the counter, Six took note of the floor safe peeking out from beneath a pile of rubbish. The glowing lights showed it was still active, faithfully protecting whatever contents its owners had left within even centuries after the bombs fell.

A quick search of the dead man's body netted him some caps, a razor sharp combat knife, some shells for the gun and the weapon itself. Stashing the shotgun on a shelf and making a note to stop by and grab it before leaving, he headed back out the small shop.

Again he ran practically headfirst into another of the convicts, this one armed to the teeth with dynamite. The gloomy darkness served him well in this instance.

"Hey buddy, you got any cigarettes? I'm all out."

"Sure do," Six replied, reaching for his pocket.

His hand darted downwards and plucked the combat knife from its sheath. Fast as a radscorpion tail, he jabbed the blade into his opponent's throat, using his free hand to support the man's head as his legs gave out.

Once more he deposited the body behind the counter, pilfering the dozen sticks of dynamite from the dead ganger's body. A shiny silver lighter was looted off the unfortunate man's corpse as well.

He followed the path towards the dining area, being careful to watch the floor for any booby-traps. Standing in the shadow of the doorway, he noted that there were at least 4 gangers wandering around. Three of them carried various long arms, but the most problematic one was the seated man in leather armor carrying the incinerator. All it would take was one squirt of flaming fuel and Six was done for. He'd have to plan this one out a little.

Reaching into his pack, he pulled out the three proximity mines he had disarmed as he crossed the bridge from the NCR controlled side of Primm to the rest of town. Sneaking over to the next entrance, he carefully placed two of the mines on the floor, making sure to spread them out enough to catch anyone coming through the entrance. Rapidly retreating as the blinking lights warned him of the imminent arming of the floor mines, he took another look through the doorway to make sure his presence remained undiscovered.

Satisfied that he was still safe, he placed the last mine down on the floor. Stripping some copper wiring off the exposed wall socket, he carefully worked the cord around six sticks of dynamite. Twisting the fuses together, he took another quick look in the doorway. Still undetected. Perfect.

Taking out the lighter, he lit the fuses he had bunched together, watching as the sparks climbed their way towards the ends of the explosives. Once they were halfway down, he took careful aim and lobbed the bundle of dynamites at the man caressing the incinerator. Not bothering to wait to see his handiwork, Six swiftly armed the last landmine before beating a hasty retreat towards the shop where he had hid the bodies of his first two victims.

A massive explosion rocked the building before he had quite gotten into the cover. Six heard yelling as he armed himself with the shotgun he had left on the shelf. Quickly checking to make sure a slug had been placed in the chamber, he stalked towards the doorway and waited. Running feet could be heard coming from the direction of the dining hall, quickly muffled out by twin explosions. There was screaming, and then a gunshot. The screaming stopped.

"Where are you, you bastard?" shouted an enraged voice. "Come out so I can skin you!"

The sound of running feet got closer.

Six ducked out of the arch of the entrance to the store, his shotgun raised up. The convict had one moment to stare cross eyed down the barrel of the gun practically touching his nose.

"Oh shi-!"

The unfortunate man's curse was cut off as a twitch of Six's finger turned his head to mushy pulp.

Swearing as the bloody explosion had splattered his face with gore and gray matter, the courier pawed at his face to clear his vision. He listened for a moment to make sure there were no other survivors.

Going through the grisly task of stripping the dead of any useful resources, the courier managed to scrounge up a few salvageable weapons along with ammunition, dynamite and a hefty sum of caps. The leather armor of the leader of the convicts had been shredded by the bundle of dynamite Six had managed to land at his feet, but the dead man's body had soaked up enough of the explosive to keep the incinerator intact.

The unwieldy flame thrower was beaten to hell and back, but there were no leaks as far as Six could tell. This might come in handy. The doorway to the kitchens was locked, but his keen hearing picked up the sound of a muffled voice. Carefully examining the rusty hinges on the door, the courier decided that it was flimsy enough to bash down. Rearing back a size 16 boot, he slammed his foot against the doorway causing the entire wooden panel to shudder under the blow. Another good kick tore loose the top of the left hinge. A few more and the doorway began to bend out of shape under the weight of his attack.

With a grunt, the large man finally busted open the double set door, his newly acquired incinerator sweeping the room for any enemies. There was only one man in the kitchen, and seeing as he was tied up, blindfolded and gagged, it was doubtful he was of any threat.

Placing the incinerator on a countertop, he pulled back the man's blindfold meeting the scared brown eyes of scruffy looking man in his early thirties. Raising a finger to his lips to indicate quiet, Six took out the dirty rag that had served as a gag.

"Deputy Beagle?" he whispered.

"Yes sir!" replied the man in an enthusiastic but hushed voice. "I take it you were the one who took care of those ruffians? Well hurry up and cut me loose, we got to get out of here while we still can. There are more upstairs! They probably heard all the noise and will come down to investigate at any moment!"

Six grimaced as he quickly cut the tied down man, berating himself for overlooking that fact. The Bison had three floors, why did he assume the thugs were all hanging down here? He handed a pistol over to Beagle, noting that he could hear the sound of shouting and ponding footsteps.

"Aw damn we're too late," groaned the town Deputy as he loaded up the weapon he had been offered.

"Where does that hallway lead?" Six asked as he fished out the dynamite and passed three over to the Deputy along with a box of matches.

"Leads to a maintenance door in the lobby area, but it's locked. We're boxed in!"

"No choice then," replied Six grimly as he hefted the incinerator. "We fight."

The Deputy looked like he wanted to argue the point, but was cut off as the first of the powder gangers came running through the mess hall doorway. The unfortunate soul died screaming as a blast of napalm lit him up like a dry stack of kindling.

Six rapidly depressed the trigger on his new weapon, liberally spraying the entryway with balls of fire. More human torches ran about, screaming as their flesh was tormented by the hungry flames that burned at them. Beagle did the merciful thing and put those poor fools out of their misery with his pistol.

More shouts, but no one was coming through the doorway. The two besieged men traded nervous glances. Beagle took the time to reload his pistol.

"So now wha-?" the deputy began to ask, but was cut off as a hissing stick of dynamite flew through the kitchen doorway.

Six ran out the door and to the side to avoid the explosive while Beagle ducked back behind the kitchen counter. The explosion was deafening, their hearing left ringing from the loud noise.

"Beagle?!" Six yelled.

"I'm still here!" the deputy shouted back through his coughing.

Before the courier could get back into the kitchen more armed men came through the doorway. His incinerator spat out two more fireballs before it clicked empty.

Dropping the now useless heavy weapon, Six dived behind an upturned table as bullets whizzed by overhead. He peeked around his cover and spotted at least four of the thugs shooting at him, the small caliber rounds being deflected by the sturdy table.

Fumbling for the shotgun, he was surprised by shouts of panic and sudden pause in gunfire. He looked up in time to see the men scrambling away from a hissing stick of dynamite, a second lit explosive joining the first from the kitchen.

"Get out of my town you sorry whore sons!" bellowed Beagle from behind his cover as he threw the last dynamite he had on him.

Six smiled. It seems like the deputy had more spine than his demeanor suggested. As he ducked back behind the table in time to avoid the explosions, he fingered the pair of knuckle knifes he had. Time to stick with what he was good at.

Counting the third explosion, the courier burst out from behind cover, noting in a detached manner that only two of the men were left standing, both looking disoriented despite having avoided the worst of the blasts.

The first man never saw what hit him. One moment he stood blinking his eyes, the next, it felt like someone had swung a baseball bat into his face. As his consciousness faded, he felt a heavy pressure on his neck followed by the sound of something breaking. He would never wake again.

The last survivor turned in time to point his pistol at Six, but the courier was too close. Six brushed the gun aside with his hand sending the point blank shot of course. A swipe with the bladed end of HATE opened up a new airway in the convict's throat.

As the man bent over clutching his bleeding windpipe, Six grabbed his shoulders and powered a knee into his sternum. Leg muscles built from hauling around the courier's massive frame for years drove into the man's chest like a charging feral brahmin. Bones crunched and broke under the incredible force of the courier's attack. The powder ganger slumped to the ground with a gurgle, light fading from his eyes.

Six watched the man bleed out without remorse. Some men were animals, and they deserved to die like one.

"We're clear Beagle."

A sandy blonde head carefully poked up from behind the kitchen counter. It only took a moment for the deputy to join him in the hallway, casting a wary eye around the scene of destruction they had created.

"Well now, that was a nice little adventure!" he said in an upbeat tone. "We sure showed those villains the meaning of justice. What's your name stranger? Got to have a name for the sidekick who helped me restore order to my town when I tell folks this tale!"

Eyebrow twitching slightly at being labeled a sidekick, the courier decided to let it slide. Let the man tell his tall tales, he only needed information from him.

"I hear tell you got answers to a question I have."

Beagle scratched his head. "Well ask away, won't know if I actually have those answers until I hear the question."

"A man in a checkered suite accompanied by some Kahn's passed through town recently. Which way did they go?"

"Ah that city fella and the group of troublemakers eh? Well I was skulk- I mean scouting them out to make sure they weren't up to no good and saw them head northeast when they left town. Only place that way is Nipton, so if you're looking to follow that's their most probable destination."

"How far?" Six asked.

"About half days travel if you follow the road, hard to miss really. There's nothing out there but a dry lake be."

Giving the other man a nod of his head, Six began to check through his travel pack to see if he had enough supplies for a half day journey. He had his next destination.