Fuck that. You may not be able to sneak away with crates of rifles but you’re not leaving here without knowing what’s in that facility. If nothing else, you’re going to break into a few of those bunkers scattered across the desert.

Radioing Daisy that you’ll be a few hours, you tape any loose gear and haul ass down to the edge of town. Even with the occasional torch and unbroken street light through the town, the stealth suit makes skulking around almost too easy.

*I’m glad you’re back in me, Courier. I get so lonely when you’re away.*

Ah, you keep forgetting about the unique relationship with your stealth suit. Someone from Big Mountain had a sense of humor…

*Our relationship is unique, because I’m the only one who knows you as intimately as this.*

Oh that’s right, it picks up on your brainwaves as well. Meaning it can read your thoughts. Well if this suit wants you to stay inside, alive, it better stop talking and let you focus.

And mercifully, it does. You pass through the other picket with no issue, the guard being offensively incompetent at holding a firm perimeter. This is either an incredibly quiet part of the front or the NCR is in worse shape than you thought.

It seems the town of Hawthorne has a little agriculture but the vast majority of its citizens are employed in breaking open the thousands of storage bunkers that litter the desert surrounding the town.

Unsurprisingly, there’s a handful of craters sprinkled throughout the depot. They seem to be from nuclear weapons long ago. Whether they were duds or not, most of the depot is relatively untouched and it seems the bunker designs did their job admirably.

As you sneak through the town, it’s seen better days with many of the buildings completely collapsed and others severely damaged. You can hear the quiet chatter of conversation as you pass by broken windows or sneak around holes in the wall. Hawthorne is shockingly populated.

The ease of access stops as you approach the Hawthorne Depot Administration Buildings. Here it seems the NCR has set up an actual military base, with sandbags, barbed wire, hard points and regular patrols. There’s even a motor pool with floodlights illuminating a few sorry bastards who are stuck on the graveyard shift.

You take the next half hour to snake your way through a hole in the fence near the front, slowly making your way into a garage bay. From there you move quickly through the hallways, having to duck into adjacent rooms to dodge the occasional wandering trooper.

As intimidating as the outside defenses are, the main Hawthorne Depot building is sparse and seems to be used for the few officers on-site. There’s little of value here and no secret doors for you to access, at least none that you can find. If you had days to comb through the facility…