It was just about morning when his men spotted the courier. Benny took a drag of his cigaret. They were standing on a hill overlooking the long 15. He had been worried like sick that the courier had heard about the Deathclaw's blocking the road past the long 15. As he saw the courier approached he was already thinking about his next step.
Taking control over House his systems would be hard, but the robot had convinced him that it would be possible with the chip. He looked to Jessup, the Khan in charge. "Give the order to surround the courier, if they find anyone onlookers kill them as well." Jessup only gave a curt nod and went to his men.
The Khans were savages, but they had their uses. Besides they were the only group he could imaging stupid enough to take out a courier. He took another drag of his cigaret as The Khans surrounded the courier. From his position on the hill he could clearly see the courier didn't have a single clue about his situation. Their reputation is probably bloated like a NCR political. The Khans surrounded him in a matter of minutes. He saw a Khan, probably Jessup approach her on the road, closely followed by his men.
The moment the courier spotted him, he drew his blade and pistol. He squinted his eyes at the courier and realized it wasn't a man, but a woman. He shook his head. Good women shouldn't be wasted on a man's job. He let out a sigh, he couldn't let feeling get in the way now, Benny thought.
Benny watched as a conversation took occured between Jessup and the courier and was surprised when the courier threw her bag at Jessup's feet. Benny raised his eyebrow. The couriers had a reputation for never giving up on their cargo. Benny knew they had a bloated reputation, but this was one step too far. One of Jessup's man checked the bag, but they didn't kill the courier as ordered. Benny bitted his lip. Damn savages can't even kill on command, he thought. Short after a Khan ran up the hill and asked him to come down, while the courier sat casually on a rock drinking whiskey and smoking a cigaret.
He immediately approached Jessup and yelled "What of part of kill the courier and take the chip off her wasn't clear?" Jessup gave an amused smile. "The part where there is more than one chip." He gave Jessup a confused look, which he reacted to by pointing at the bag. He walked towards the bag and felt him stomach lurch. It was a massive bag, an army bag if he wasn't mistaken and it was filled to the brim with felt Jessup behind him. "If you want, we could just kill the courier anyway, but our deal said shit about dragging that bag" Jessup said in an amused tone.
He heard a feminine chuckle on his right. He grinded his teeth.
"You disarmed her, I assume?" Jessup nodded. He showed him a .357 revolver. Well maintained and almost shining, but what really impressed him was the sword. Not a machete that the usual raider walked around with, but an actual newly forged sword. Benny's gears were turning. There was only one group in the world that forged their own swords, The Legion. He inspected it more closely and saw words written in some unknown language.
Benny smiled. The Legion only gave infraged swords to their lieutenants. If this bitch broke the rules of the couriers and killed a Legion Lieutenant he would have some leverage over the couriers.
He pulled out his pistol and approached the courier. The woman wasn't beautiful. She was about mid twenties, rugged looking face, low cheekbones, she had venom green eyes with, golden blonde hair with darks roots barely visible in this light. That made him stop for a second.
Her hair was dyed.
Her weapons were top notch, but to have the disposable funds to dye her hair? He bit his lip.
"You won't tell me which is the right chip is? Would you, beautiful?"
The woman blushed a little. "Nah, sweetheart. I don't kiss and tell" Benny considered his position for a moment and turned to Jessup. "Make sure we aren't disturbed." He dragged the bag next another stone opposite the courier. He pointed towards the whiskey bottle. "Would you mind sharing, miss?" The woman wordlessly gave him the bottle. He took a good swig of it and looked at the courier.
He extended his hand. "Hank, pleased to meet you" The woman gave a look to the Khans before taking his hand. "Vicky, likewise." He gave a nod in acknowledgement. It was now that he took in her appearance. A brown trenchcoat and dirty combat armor. The armor was dirty, but it also looked well mainted.
Vicky gave him a charming smile. "We seem in a pickle, ain't we sweetheart?" Her accent was odd. It sounded like high class Shady Sands mixed together with something foreign. Something tribal.
He gave a snort. "Yesh, we are beautiful." He took a drag of his cigaret and passed the whiskey to her. She casually took sip like she wasn't in a life or death situation at all. He was about to make an offer, but she beat her to it. "How about this, honey, you tell me who ratted me out and i'll give you the chip your looking for." He pretended to consider the offer for a moment. He wasn't going to keep his word at all, but he couldn't appear to accept too easy.
"How do I know it's the chip I want? Besides, I need to make sure this little operation doesn't get discovered." She calmly nodded at that. "True enough I suppose, but the one providing you with information can betray you too can't he?" Benny had to resist the urge to chuckle. "True enough I suppose. I imagine the couriers don't like it when of their own gets killed do they?"
Vicky laughed. "You wouldn't believe it. I've only worked for them about six months and most of it has been killing stupid buggers that kill our guys." She shook her head. "I would deliver the bag of course, but I can just tell the whoever approaches me that this was how I got the bag and he can shove it where ever."
Benny nodded, he had played along enough. "Ladies first." He said with a smile. She tsked at him. "I ain't no lady, so you can go first. How did you manage to find out about me? That must have taken so top notch infiltration work." Benny felt his breast swell with pride. He made sure the Khans were out of earshot and said "Well, not exactly. It wasn't the couriers who told me about you. It was your employer, or rather a robot. I fooled someone to hack one for me."
The woman gave an impressed at that. "Wow, that's really clever. No stupid minions that can give away your plan." She took a sip of her whiskey. "But why go through all that trouble for a chip? I'm smarter than most pieces of meat the walk the long road, but I can't figure out what's special about it."
Benny smiled. The woman would be dead soon, no reasons to keep secret. "I was told it's the key to taking over New Vegas." He gave a triumph smile. "With me at the head the city will take achieve a new age of prosperity and whatever the outcome of the war, New Vegas will be safe." She laughed with him and put her hand on his knee. "Your a smart fellow aren't you?" He nodded with a smile. "Oh yes, sweety. I;ll be running the Mojave in no time." She passed the bottle of whiskey to him and he took a generous swig.
She gave a thoughtful look, then pouted. "But how will you survive The Legion? They're going to win this war and after that they will come for you." Benny gave heartfull chuckle and dismissed the concern with his hand. "Those idiots don't have the manpower to fight the NCR and New Vegas afterwards. They're more then willing to keep New Vegas as it is if I just promise to keep the city in order and pay tribute every so often." He snorted.
"Idiot's don't realize i'll just attack them the moment they exhausted themselves." They both chuckled out loud. Benny shook his head. "But that all can't happen without the chip you see?" Vicky nodded. "Suppose i'll just have to give you the chip." He smiled they both stood up and Vicky grabbed the bottle of whiskey. They stopped before the bag of chips and she light another cigaret.
Jessup stood there waiting impatiently. "Say, boss lady, time for the nasty yet?" Benny opened his mouth to retort, but then only realized what Jessup had just said. Vicky gave him a vicious smile. "Yesh, Jessup, it's time for the nasty."
The following instant he felt everything go dark. Sometime later he woke up on a hill. The same hill he had intended to bury the courier. He looked around him and noted The Khans were gone, his arms were bound behind him and his legs were tied together and he sat on his knees. "Well fuck." Benny said out loud.
"I would say so, Benny." Vicky said behind him. He walked in front of him and she sat down, her legs crossed. He looked at her. His mind was working in overdrive. Until he realized what had happened. "House found out, didn't he?"
Vicky nodded. "Not only that, but the robot that was supposedly hacked told you everything House wanted to tell you." Benny just looked at the ground and he laughed. "Damn, to be outplayed that bad is just embarrassing." He looked at her. "But he didn't realize you can't kill me." She just chuckled. "Why is that, Benny?" He sat as straight as he could. "Because I've left a cache of information behind for my people. They will know it was House that killed me. They won't accept that!"
Vicky just gave him a pitying look. "You mean Swank will take revenge?"
"Exactly! He will find my cache and… " Benny's face fell into of anguish. Vicky patted his shoulder. "The only song he will be singing is that you just disappeared one day. He mentioned you would be remembered as a swell guy, but he added that he won't be looking for you at the bar."
Benny just shook his head in defeat. "Out of curiosity, how did you convince The Khans to betray me?" Vicky tsked at him. "The Khans betrayed shit, they're an honorable group. I just hired them WAY before you did." Benny gave a laugh. "The game was rigged from the start"
Vicky nodded. "The only reason why I haven't killed you yet is before I want to known everything you can tell me about your Legion contacts. If you tell me everything you known, I'll kill you in one swift stroke."
Benny gave her a long hard look. "Fine, you have a deal, but I have one condition"
Vicky smiled. "Name it"