"Hey you, you finally awake. You were trying to rescue all of those children, right? You walk right into that legion ambush."

I opened my eyes, I felt sore all over my body. I couldn't move any part of my body. I could look down. However, my vision was too blurry to see all the finer details. All I could see was a person with a white coat standing up right next to my bed.

"Vitals are good, most of your organs are fine, but the slit on your throat was quite tricky to fix. Luckily, squad Alpha was just in time to receive the report about a large population of children," the doctor sighed.

Squad Alpha? Where am I? I didn't remember the Mojave had this kind of sterile hospital environment. The most sterile environment could be the Mojave Clinic, and that place was more clean than sterile. This place had a natural hospital vibe with its white room alongside the white bed and all.

The beeping sound next to me seemed to say the same language as I did. This was not Mojave Wasteland, no way anyone in the Mojave had any technology this advanced. I tried to nod left and right. Beside my bed was an ECG machine, monitoring my heartbeat alongside monitoring my vitals.

I couldn't move my mouth. There was a tube obstructing my lips. I felt there was also something else on my nose as well. Hmm? Breathing tube? Feeding Tube? Wait, did I just wake up from my dream? So, I didn't die? I was only in a coma?

If that was the case, what a wild dream I had. Entering Mojave Wasteland? What a wild dream. I shouldn't have done that again. Thinking about it again, was that really a dream, or was it not a dream? Goddarn it, my brain couldn't focus.

"Can. You. Hear. Me? Blink. Twice."

I opened and closed my eyes. I then repeated it again. The doctor just nodded. "Good. Good. So, you are awake. For your information, you are heavily sedated from painkillers so if you can't move, don't panic, alright?"

Well, I was trying to. But the fact that I was here laying on the bed with many cables and tubes attached to my body didn't make it any easier, doc. I noticed that there was also a neck brace on my neck, suggesting that the Legion did manage to almost kill me.

Still, who were these strangers? Why would they rescue me in the first place? Was it out of pity? Or was it because of my luck? I didn't really know, but I should thank them. Those legion bastards, using children as their bait. Just… disgusting.

"I know you are just awake, but do you want to hear the details of your injury?" The doctor asked.

I just blinked twice, since that was the only organ that I could move. The doctor nodded, and he put several pieces of radiographic pictures taken by him. He first showed me a picture of my lungs. It was kinda damaged, especially the right quadrant.

"The blast from the explosion gave you a pneumothorax on your right lung. A fragment also tore it down, resulting in an operation in which we removed some part of your right lung, nothing too serious, but you need to get used to it," the doctor said.

"There were also… fragments, covering your upper extremities, probably from the explosives alone," he showed me a scan of my hands. All of them were filled with bits of metals, probably coming from the explosive collars. "Mostly bones, and metals."

"There was also a little bit of concussion, but we fix it. There were no fractures, thankfully. Recovery time was rather fast, thanks to Stimpak. Your body has mostly stabilized, so we decide to wake you up," the doctor explained.

Hmm, I doubted I could walk and return to the wasteland, or not. Where was this place? That was the question that kept popping into my mind. Who owned this place? Why did they rescue me, and how they stumbled upon me?

"Still, your recovery isn't complete yet, and we don't have the nerve to even reduce the painkiller amount that we pumped into your body. Right now, we don't extract all of the fragments from your body because of your deteriorating condition when you arrived last week," the doctor said.

"However, we have extracted bits and pieces that would be bothering your movement, or those which would cause major infections. However, bits and pieces that wouldn't be a major issue were left in your body, I hope you understand," he then continued as he put another image.

This time, it was the scan of my whole body. My legs were filled with bits and fragments, alongside my hands and stomach. My upper torso was fine, but still, how did I survive all of that? Ah, yeah, combat armor with some extra protection.

"Anyway, that's all I can tell. By the way, most people talked about your action, you know, I'm impressed. Some of our scouts are impressed by your selfless action," the doctor said as he put all of the x-ray photos away.

Scouts? Wait, the Legion had access to things like this? Nah, it couldn't be. The Legion never used advanced technology, even Caesar alone needed a replacement part for his auto-doc. Could it be the NCR? Nah, a faction with a logistical problem wouldn't even bother to rescue its mercs from an ambush.

"Well, we know you are not with the NCR, and you are clearly not a regular vault dweller. You were only shot in the head and somehow survived that. You created a legend among the slavers, but that legend immediately died down thanks to the last ambush."

Seriously, doc, one question, please, answer it, who the hell are you?

"Anyway, son, we're the Reformist Enclave, welcome to America." The doctor smiled.