Chapter 2: Friends of the Followers

[i]Freeside[/i]

Once the group passed the large gate into the town of Freeside, the female Follower pointed out the Old Mormon Fort, a building surrounded by giant walls with a large courtyard in the middle: the Followers' base of operations. "We'll take here there." She said, and after a few more moments of running, the group were allowed through the large gates of the fort. Inside the main courtyard stood the short, brown haired, mohawked Julie Farkas and three other male and female Followers.

"Take her to the tent." Julie ordered, and the two men carried Cetea into a medical tent, where they set her down on a metal table. Inside a single doctor sat beside the table, "This is what I'm working on? I haven't seen an alien before..." He said, and he brushed a few strands of blond hair off of his glasses, he then leaned over the now unconscious Cetea. "Gonna need to amputate this ring finger.." He muttering, lifting Cetea's right hand and examining her blackened ring finger.

Azumi stayed by the table, hands gripping the side, not bothering to depolarize at the moment. After removing the Stealth Boy, she looked to the as-of-yet unnamed female follower, and tossed it to her with a nod of thanks. She reached into her chest's pouch immediately after, trying to find some kind of equipment. Anything. "Any way to save it, or is it completely gone? Can I help in any way?"

After the female follwer caught the Stealth Boy and left the tent, the doctor shook his had. "Nope, it's probably been like this for an hour or so, and yeah, you can help. Hand me a saw and those stim-paks over there on that table." Said the doctor, pointing to a table beside Azumi, where a hand saw and two syringes lay on top.

"Oh yeah, forgot to introduce myself, Arcade Ganon." He added, before turning towards Cetea as she slipped into consciousness again.

"What's... Azumi... Where...?" She mumbled, and tried to lift herself up, only for Arcade to gently push her down again.

"Syringes, saw, now please."

Azumi nodded, running over to the table and getting the materials and bringing them back. "Go back to sleep, PFC. It'll be alright, just sleep now."

Arcade took one stim-pak and immediately injected it into Cetea's neck. "I've modified this particular stim-pak to serve as a knockout agent. It's more efficient than whiskey." Said Arcade, and Cetea's eyes soon closed to prove his point.

"Okay... I haven't tested my modified stim-pak on any patients yet, so I'm not sure if she'll feel this..." Arcade muttered, grabbing the saw. He held Cetea's blackened index finger up and placed the saw at the back.

"Be ready to get that bottle of disinfectant and dab it over the wound, I'll use a hot iron to brand it, should only take a few seconds to do all of this." Said Arcade, and he immediately began sawing through Cetea's finger. In less than five seconds, he was finished sawing, and he placed the blackened finger on a nearby tray. the stump of Cetea's index finger then began to bleed. Arcade wiped the excess blood off, and turned to Azumi.

"Disinfectant."

The ODST nodded, grabbing the disinfectant bottle and a cloth. She put a reasonable amount on the cloth, then began to dab the wound. "Tell me when to stop," she said.

Arcade let her dab onto the wound for two seconds, "Stop." He said, before reaching for a wad of gauze, after putting medical tape onto it, he pressed it onto Cetea's wound and taped it onto her hand.

"Okay... We're done with that... Can you go get a blanket? We need to get her back to a stable temperature. I also need to check her body for any other signs of frostbite. Although her arms look okay, we're just going to take off her boots. Can you do all this?" Said Arcade, before grabbing the second stim-pak and injecting it into Cetea's neck.

"That should help, another mixture of mine to raise a person's core body temperature."

The grandmaster nodded, turning to a blanket leaning against the table. Though she had been panicked all of this time, her voice did not allow her to show any of said emotion. She had to remain calm.

She picked it up, pulling it over the asari, and walked over to her feet, to the boots that she then pulled off, one by one.

Arcade then proceeded to examine the asari's toes, wiggling each one individually on each foot. After he was satisfied, he pulled the blanket over her feet and tucked it under her body. He then turned towards Azumi.

"You handled yourself well, good job. Anyway, she'll be alright, but it was close. I'll monitor her vitals while you go see Julie, she told me that she wanted to talk to you after the operation." Said Arcade, before he turned to face Cetea again.

"Huh... Part of me kind of hoped she'd die, then I'd be able to do an autopsy and find out if alien anatomy is different from humans.... Then another part of me reminds that other part that it needs to be a little more in control of it's medical curiosity...."

Azumi nodded, starting to walk away....but heard the last. She turned around, glaring at him. "If you [i]ever[/i] insinuate that you're willing to allow that, I'm calling it in. We'll see how well Julie handles you. We clear?"

She didn't wait, however, instead, she just walked out, grumbling to herself, looking around for the leader of this group. On the way, she took off her helmet, wiping her face of sweat. In spite of her helmet, she still was nervous about all of that, still was terrified on some small level. She was used to killing. Killing was fast. Medical procedures to save people outside of bone setting and some cuts? Not so much. Of course, it didn't take long, but it still made her squeamish.

She shook it off, assuming a serious expression again and looking around. "If anyone can direct me to Julie Farkas, it would be much appreciated. She says she wanted to talk."

Almost immediately after Azumi said this, the female follower that had given Azumi the Steath Boy approached her. "She's in that tower in the corner of the Fort," Said the woman,  who pointed out the door to said tower, "Emily Ortal, by the way. I hope your friend recovers well." She then began to walk to away, but had just as soon turned towards Azumi again.

"I heard what Ganon said, don't mind him. He gets a little... Carried away at times, but he's the best doctor we have."

"Azumi," the grandmaster introduced herself in turn. "I just hate people who treat others like that. I know one." On that note, she just walked on, going to the tower specified by Ortal. Quickly, the woman walked up the stairs, helmet under on arm, finally coming to the door and opening it. She saw Julie at the desk in the office she entered. "You wanted to see me?"

Looking up from a mess of paper, Dr. Farkas smiled slightly as Azumi entered. "Please, take a seat." She said, waving her hand towards a chair at the end of her desk. After Azumi sat down with her helmet in her lap, she continued.

"I am glad that you were able to successfully liberate Miss T'Zumo, you even managed to set up a food trade with the White Gloves. We just recieved their shipment, everyone is happy, and I can assure you I am very impressed. But I haven't called you up to shower you with praise. I wanted to speak to you about T'Zumo's agreement between your Order and our group's partnership. You are aware of our deal, correct?" Said Julie, who had her fingers interlocked.

A nod, a more or less blank face. "I sent her on a mission to assemble more allies. We're in need, as you might be able to tell. Given how Doctor Ortal acted, you know about where I come from in some degree. So I assume we can skip that. From what I see, this is about getting people to accept you and give you aid, right? Expand throughout the Mojave in the least so that you don't have so much of a stigma. Am I getting this right, or am I missing some?"

Julie nodded, "You hit the nail on the head, actually. If we become a regularly accepted and funded group in the strip, we'll have more than enough resources send some your way." She said, before turning two sheets of paper around and pushing them towards Azumi. Each sheet bore a picture of a casino: The Tops, and Gomorrah. Below the pictures were dossiers of how each casino could benefit the followers if their owners were persuaded to assist them.

The Tops, run by Benny, would be a supplier of the new world's currency: bottle caps.

Gomorrah, run by Big Sal and Nero, would send guards to better protect the Fort and follower caravan trips.

"If we have the support of all three strip casinos, we won't have to worry about hostilities from anyone in New Vegas, and, as I said, we'll have more resources than we could imagine. You've already gotten us backed by the White Gloves, so I'm sure that negotiations with the other two should be easy for you, right?" Said Julie, who grinned.

Around now, Azumi finally was feeling just...a little uneasy. It was...no, never mind, she had it. Her voice sounded like... [i]her[/i]. The Hypnotic Seductress, the reason she worked for... The woman pushed the issue from her mind. It was a stupid idea anyway. Sometimes voices were similar. "I never say a mission's easy until I'm dropped off from evac, in all honesty. That last one was a tight fit. But I'm sure I'll try my best."

"I know you can do it. Although I do need to talk about your friend, T'Zumo. I don't think she's healthy enough to do this with you, so we're keeping her here for the time being." Said Julie, and she looked slightly uncomfortable as she said this. She had no idea if Azumi would take offense to having one of her soldiers kept hospitalized without telling her beforehand.

Azumi nodded in understanding, thankfully. "Unless she feels she's ready, I won't force her to go into action. Safety comes first with these things." She remained stern. "But if it turns out you might cross me and her, then we have a problem. Until then, I'm going on goodwill here."

"Like I would want to cross the leader of an Assassin Order, I'm not stu-" Said Julie, before a the sound of her door swinging at ground level stopped her. As she stood up, she was surprised to see none other than Cetea herself stumble into the room, Arcade Ganon following close behind. Cetea stood on wobbly legs, and she stared at the two women with a look of determination.

"I was told that I would have to sit out this mission, Azumi. So I came to tell you that I am coming, whether you think I can or not, a missing finger and a low temperature will not stop me from completing the task at hand." Said Cetea, who swatted away Arcade's hand as he tried to inject her with a syringe.

"Can you please just come back to bed? You haven't even recovered your leg stability yet." Said Arcade, who sounded annoyed, yet impressed at the asari's resilience.