This story is dedicated to not only my love for the fictional character Benny Gecko, but to the many waves of fan girls who share my love for him as well. I do not own Fallout New Vegas or any of the characters. I only own the idea and plot to this story as well as some of the characteristics to the courier. Any reviews, opinions or overall comments are more than appreciated! Also: The title of this story comes from my love of Dean Martin. So listen to the song "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You" when you have a chance and you might be able to see where I'm going with this short fanfic, if not, don't worry because you will in the end! Thanks!
Chapter One: A Plan Set Into Motion
For as long as he had been living, one could argue that Benny Gecko hadn't always been a fink. He had never fallen into love, and usually stuck with the good ol' whores of Gomorrah for only sex. Most of the time he never bothered to introduce himself to the oncoming newcomers to the New Vegas Strip unless they were real good lookin', which unfortunately was a rarity for him. He wasn't much of a drinker, but preferred to smoke instead, finding it to be more calming when he became agitated with the way Mr. House was treating the three family's, especially as of late. But did that necessarily make him a fink? Hardly.
Anyone who knew Benny well enough could tell you that he usually kept to himself. He spent most of his days in the back of the casino he owned, the Tops, overseeing the gamblers and the occasional drunks who staggered around the floor cursing out for more caps. Yet you would have to be Benny himself to know that he wasn't just a goof-off looks for good lookin' broads to screw.
No, Benny was smarter than that. He may have had charm, looks and money to boot, but unknown to most, even his right hand man, deep down Benny was sly. Slier than a fox even. Heck, he may have even been slier than Mr. House, the NCR and Caesar put together, and even that wasn't too far a stretch. He may have started out ordinarily fashioning his daily schedule based on judgment and not on impulse, but that seemed to change when he had gotten word of an opportunity of a lifetime.
This 'Platinum Chance' as he called it would not only give him all the control of the New Vegas Strip, but would also make it so that Mr. House would never be in absolute power ever again. Yeah, Benny could already feel it in that pretty little head of his and all the way down to his black suede shoes. The fame, the broads, the caps and did he forget to mention the power and control of it all? He would be the one to set Vegas free, to let her swing again, just like she had been doing way before the war.
Good thing for him that he was a higher up and could pretty much contact anyone he wanted. And for him, that anyone happened to be the Great Khans. The Great Khans were the prime companions for the type of dirty work he was offering, and would be easy to persuade for the job, but only because it involved a boat load of caps, or so they thought. He had already planned ahead on screwing them over on the deal because it wasn't like he actually wanted to pay out the caps, especially if he was paying from his own pocket. It was just a matter of when and where he would dump them, but that would be decided at a later date.
For now he had to first meet up with the Great Khans, which had already been predecided to happen just outside of a little town called Primm, where the package Benny was after was suppose to be picked up by a courier hired by Mr. House himself. But what this courier didn't know was that Benny had set her up. To him, she was just another piece of the puzzle he had been fixing to put together into the round chip of platinum he planned on obtaining one way or another.
It had taken him a good four and a half days to reach the outskirts of Primm from the New Vegas Strip on foot which didn't seem to phase Benny at all because he was now only closer to his prize. He could already see five stark and shady figures walking around in the distance as he continued his way to Primm. He knew they were Khans by the black leather attire they wore, and their hand painted insignia of a golden warrior portrait wearing a red viking helmet on the back of their jackets. He didn't bother smiling in that charismatic way of his as he approached them because he had no need to, for this, this was only a business transaction.
"Well look who finally decided to show up." Snorted one of the Khans as he nudged the leader of the group playfully to get his attention.
"Your late for the meeting." The leader said in a husky voice as he turned to Benny.
"What can I say pally? I had to shoot a few deathclaws on my way here." Benny spoke in a short but sweet way, wanting to get the transaction over with and onto the more important stuff.
"Right. So, you got the caps or what? We're not working until we get our pay." The man spoke again, running a quick hand over his spiked up mohawk.
"Alright, alright. Here's half the bread. You'll get the other half after the deeds done." Benny was quick to reach into his checkered jacket and hand the guy half of the caps he owed him.
"You said we'd be paid a thousand caps." The man replied defensively, clearly not impressed with only receiving half the cut of the caps that had been previously promised.
He wasn't about to get jipped by another rich city liver like he had been in the past so many times before.
Benny calmly took out a pricy cigarette from the same pocket he had taken the caps out of and lit it up with his lucky flip-top silver lighter.
"Relax. I said I'll pay you the rest after the jobs done. I wanna make sure the deeds done right, and not shoddy, ya dig?" Benny took a long drag on his cigarette and exhaled when the Khan started to speak again.
"You listen here big shot, and you listen good. You better not screw us over or else. No one messes with the Great Khans and lives to tell about it." The leader pointed his finger menacingly at the man in the checkered suit whom just happened to blow another a light cloud of smoke his way as a response to the threat.
Benny wasn't sweating anything right now. He had no reason to be afraid of this Khan or any of the other ones that lived in the desolate desert that they happened to call home. To him, they were nothing but a bunch of chem hooked tribals with the brain of a bloatfly. And just like a bloatfly, they may have been able to get around easily and they may have been able to sting you when you weren't looking, but when you were three steps ahead of them like Benny was, they couldn't touch you, no matter how many there were of them.
"Did you hear me?" The leader of the small group of Khan's shouted as he got up in Benny's face, becoming irritated at his sudden silence.
Benny neither flinched nor moved, but instead dropped his half smoked cigarette to the ground and stomped it out, crushing it further into the cool desert sand.
"Yeah I heard you. So, cool it pally and hop off my breathing space. I told you I'd pay you the rest and I will." Benny was collected with his speech, but the Khan refused to move from his place.
After awhile, it seemed as though the two where locked in a starring contest, attempting to make the other move from his spot, but that was until one of the other Khans spoke up from behind.
"Jessup, aren't you going a little too far here?" The Khan with dark skin approached his boss slowly, wanting to just get the job over and done with.
"If he said he'll pay us, he'll pay us. All we're doing is wasting time." The Khan added with reason, trying to make Jessup back off from the man with the expensive suit.
The air remained quiet for a while after the Khan pleaded with his boss and it took a few minutes for him to make up his mind.
"Fine. But like I said, he better pay up the rest of the caps after this task is done, or else." Jessup backed off from Benny and moved back into the small circle of his fellow Khans as he waited for instructions to be dealt.
Benny wasted no time in giving his orders which were swift and to the point, or so he thought.
"Alright, first were gonna get the drop on this courier, ya dig? We gotta knock her out, tie her up and drag her senseless body to nowheresville. Then I'll be fixing to get my package off of her and you'll get the rest of your bread. Sound fair enough to ya?"
"Well sure it's fair... but Nowheresville... ? Where would that exactly be...?" Asked the Khan to the right of Jessup who wore a confused expression.
Benny sighed heavily and glanced around at the other Khans in hopes they would have understood what he meant by Nowheresville, but only found that there faces mimicked the first Khans. Even their leader held the same hopeless expression. Apparently nowheresville wasn't clear enough for even the leader of the group of five either.
"A graveyard?" Benny put the generalized word into more simplified terms and was more than dumbfounded when they all made the same realization noise of "Ohhh!" Guess he had been right when he had compared these Khans to having the brain of a single bloatfly.
"So we take this courier to a graveyard. Where is the closest graveyard you suspect Jessup?" The dark skinned Khan inquired in a profound tone as he turned to his Great Khan boss.
"That would be near that small town of goodsprings I think, way up on a hill. Its a good ways north though..." Jessup's tone faded flat when he thought about all the dragging and walking they would have to be doing to get there.
Benny also thought about this for a quick minute. It would take them three hours in the very least and at most five to get there, which would still leave him in the dark when it came down to heading back to the New Vegas Strip. He wanted it to still be dark when they left the scene of the crime and for all he knew, there still could have been the possibility of watchmen in that little town of goodsprings...
"Well? Are we gonna do this or not? We're wasting time just standing here." One of the Khans suddenly snapped Benny out of thought, reminding him that time had to be on his side in order for this plan to go down right.
"You're right pally. Let's get this show on the road. The moon won't stay up there for us forever. We gotta stack this game while the chips are down. Let's agitate the gravel and get a move on!" Benny rolled with excitement at the Khans as he gave his final orders and they smirked back, intent on getting the job done and getting the rest of their pay.
And as the moonlight beamed high in the sky, and the misty clouds seemed to break from its ever powerful glow, all Benny could hope for now was that lady luck was on his side and pray that this courier wasn't a good lookin' broad or he may have to do some rethinking on his part.