[center][h3]♤ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄 ⤍ 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍 ♤[/h3][/center]
	His eyes opened slowly as he was finally regaining consciousness since the night of his 'death'. He saw a ceiling fan going around as he realized that he wasn't outside anymore. An old man's voice of surprise rang out,  "You're awake. How about that." The courier knew that he was somewhere else other than home or heaven's gate. He got out of bed as fast as he could before the old man stopped him.

"Whoa, easy there. Easy." the old man said as he reached his hand towards him, "You been out cold a couple of days now."

A couple of days? How is that possible? The courier looked around surprised  that he was alive, but he still felt like shit. A strong headache came in the moment he tried to get out of bed. The courier didn't know how to react to the situation other than panicking. "Why don't you just relax a second? Get your bearings." the old man tried to calm the younger man down. The courier breathed slowly and looked around the house. The old man must've been a doctor or something as he quickly saw the medical equipment nearby.

"Let's see what the damage is." the old man said as he moved the chair closer towards the bed. He was sitting on that chair as he took a hard look at the courier while talking to him, "How about your name? Can you tell me your name?"

"Phillips Henderson..." the courier said as it was the first time he had spoken since the night of the ambush. 

"Phillips... can't say it's what I'd have picked for you." the old man acted surprised by the name, "But if that's your name, that's your name. I'm Doc Mitchell, by the way."

The courier looked at the doctor and asked, "Where am I?"

"You're at Goodsprings. Welcome to this lovely town." the doctor said as he got up from the chair and walked towards the broken stretcher. "Now, I hope you don't mind but I had to go rooting around there in your noggin to pull all the bits of lead out. I take pride in my needlework, but you'd better tell me if I left anything out of place." He found a mirror and walked towards the courier as he handed it to him. The courier took a look at his face and saw the Mitchell's needlework at hand. It left a scar behind, but it's better than being dead.

"How'd I do?" he asked.

"You did a great job, doc." Phillips was impressed by the needlework and it must of taken a while to remove the bits of lead.

"Well, thank you. I got most of it right, anyway. Stuff that mattered." he said as he extended his hand towards Henderson. The doctor knew that Henderson was getting better than expected. Henderson accepted the hand as he got out of bed for the first time in days. The headaches appeared again as he closed his eyes for the pain. The doctor was impressed again by Phillips's recovery rate as he was standing up with his two feet.

"Well, you're now standing. Why don't you walk down to the end of the room? Over by that vigor tester machine there." the doctor let go of Henderson and headed towards the machine, waiting for Henderson to get there. After a moment of standing there, Phillips took his first steps and nearly fell to the ground. Thankfully, he was able to balance himself and walked towards the machine slowly rather than quickly. Once he got to the machine, Mitchell applauded as he got from the bed all the way to the machine without falling down. The doctor was pleased with the walk as he said, "Looking good so far."


"Thanks." Henderson said before taking a look at the machine. The machine was wooden and looked like some sort of game that you'd find down in the coastlines of California. It was some sort of test to determine your level of strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility, and luck. He hasn't seen the Vit-o-matic Vigor Tester back at the Hub or heard about it in his lifetime, but he wanted to take it to see if the bullet did any damage to his mind. It only took him a few minutes to take the test, but he thought that he did a good job at it. Mitchell took a look at the machine and was surprised by the result, "Look at that. Maybe them bullets done your brain some good."

After using the Vit-o-matic Vigor Tester, Mitchell sent the courier over to the living room to do several more tests. In the end, it didn't matter as the doctor didn't know much about them at all. Once they were done with the tests, it was time for Henderson to explore the area and then leave as soon as possible. The courier was given one of Mitchell's old vault suits to wear for the moment as his old clothes were ruined. When he got dressed, the doctor stopped him at the doorway for a moment with his Pip-Boy. Henderson grabbed the Pip-body and put it on his arm, the doctor explained that he grew up in one of the vaults: Vault 21. And he didn't need it anymore.

"Well, if you're heading back out there, you ought talk to Sunny Smiles. She can help you with directions if you're planning to leave town. She'll likely be at the saloon. I reckon some of the other folks at the saloon might be able to help you out, too. And the metal fella, Victor, who pulled you outta your grave. And his 'friend' as well." the doctor said to his patient, "Anyway, you ever get hurt out there, you come right back. I'll fix you up. But try not to get killed anymore."

Then he realized that he forgot to give Henderson's things back and ran towards the bedroom. Henderson stood there for a moment before the doctor returned with his basic things and a note. "Here. These are yours. Was all you had on you when you was brought in. I hope you don't mind but I gave the note a look. I thought it might help me find a next of kin. But it was just something about a platinum chip." Mitchell said as Henderson grabbed all of his belongings. The platinum chip was on the courier's mind as he still had to finish a job, but he didn't know where it was and who took it.

"What else can you tell me about Goodsprings?" Henderson asked the doctor as he opened the door.

"Well, there's a general store just up the road. Run by a fella named Chet. He don't got nothing fancy, but he's got your basics covered. If you're looking to wet your whistle, just past Chet's is the Prospector Saloon. The bartender there, Trudy, knows everyone in town. Other than that, there's not much to see. Just people trying to scratch out a living." Mitchell answered the question as best as he could.

Henderson had one more question to ask before he left the doctor's home, "Who was it that rescued me?"

The doctor coughed and then answered, "That'd be Victor. Curious fella. Sort of odd. And I don't just mean 'cause he's a robot. I couldn't tell you much about him. He's real friendly, don't get me wrong. You just get the sense that ain't the whole picture. Just a feeling. He's living with someone that has been here for two years. You want to know more about them, you'll have to ask them yourself. Their shack is on the southern edge of town."

"Thank you again for helping me, doctor." Henderson thanked the doctor, "I don't suppose that you are willing to spare something for the pain? It might come back again." The doctor nodded as he grabbed the doctor's bag with medical supplies in it. Phillips's charm was working better as he couldn't help but grin as the doctor looked for any additional supplies. The doctor talked as he was walking towards Phillips, "Here you go. You been through a lot."

He handed the bag to Henderson as he kept on speaking, "Ain't much, but these'll do you right if the pain flares up."

Phillips thanked Mitchell once again for the help and left for the Mojave Wasteland. Once he set foot outside, he had to cover his eyes for a moment because the sun was brighter than ever. Then, he saw the town of Goodsprings and its people doing their daily chores. He saw the Prospector Saloon and the general store near each other as Phillips knew where to start his mission of retreating the chip. The note said that he was to drop it off at Primm's Mojave Express to Johnson Nash. He knew that the chip wasn't dropped off there by the group of men, but it was a good start for now. Then, he saw Victor rolling on the street. It was him because he was the only robot around the area and he had a cowboy on his screen. Asking Victor some questions won't be a terrible idea.

So, Henderson went down the short hill and headed towards Victor. He must know something about his 'killer' and the guys that worked for him. Someone must know something.