"It's a superstition thing," Veronica explained.
"What she means," Six interjected, "is that it's good luck. Toss a cap into a fountain or well, it brings you luck."
"Right," Boone let the chip fall from his hand and back into the fountain.
Six began scanning frequencies with his pip-boy, Veronica peered over his shoulder. "Where to?"
"Well, the old man "
"Elijah."
"Yeah. Elijah said we should go after 'Collar 8' first. My pip-boy is reading signals low frequency waves. Doesn't say which is Collar 8 though."
"But he said that it was a super mutant," Boone chimed in.
"Yeah?"
"So listen to signals."
Six tuned into the first signal total silence, save for sporadic knocking that seemed to come and go. The next was the voice of a man. The voice sounded almost sophisticated, eloquent. "Definitely not that one "
Then, the next. "So hungry Dog is sorry, sorry, sorry please let Dog out." The transmission was followed by the sound of muffled whimpering.
Veronica's face turned sympathetic. "Aww Dog?"
"Must be what he calls himself. Sounds mutant to me."
"Yeah," Boone agreed. "Which direction?"
"West."
The group began to navigate the winding streets of the Villa. The cloud blanketed the area around them.
"Movement," Boone raised his sand colored rifle.
"Where?"
Boone was quiet for a long moment. "Huh I could have sworn "
"It's this gas," Veronica began. "My vision has been pulsing since we got here."
"Mine too."
"Maybe " Boone's eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "But I'm sure I saw something."
They continued. Mostly in silence. Maybe because they were tired. Maybe because they were confused. But mostly it was feeling of trepidation. There was something foreboding about this place. Even more so than the hopelessness of the wasteland. This place was different it felt alive. Like the crumbling walls were watching you. Six found himself seeing things too. Things that couldn't be real. Creatures so unbelievably agile that they scaled vertical walls in a matter of seconds. Bounding from rooftop to rooftop. Boone held up his hand as they neared an intersection with the stump of a long dead tree. He ducked down behind it Six and Veronica took cover alongside him.
"Now, I know I'm not imagining that," Boone aimed his rifle. Ahead of them near another fountain was what appeared to be a man. His movements erratic; he swayed unnaturally as he walked back and forth between the nearby police station and the fountain. "It's almost like he's patrolling."
"Don't shoot. We don't know if he's hostile I'll investigate. If he attacks, put him down," Six nervously stood. Arms spread out and weapons holstered he walked towards the hooded figure. The figure stopped patrolling and stood erect. "Easy not a threat."
The figured eyed him carefully it wore some type of filtration suit and had a homemade spear holstered to its back. The spear looked to be nothing more than a wooden broom stick handle with knives fashioned to the end. With every breath it took, a green mist seeped through its mask. The masks eyes shined bright neon green. Six took a step towards it, "That's right. Nice and " It screamed, lunging forward impossibly fast. With a quick sweeping motion it withdrew the spear and took Six's legs out from under him. It raised the spear high into the air. Boone took aim and fired. Stumbling backwards, it turned its gaze upon Boone briefly before returning its attention to Six; raising its spear again. Another shot, its head jerked back and it gargled in pain slumping to the ground.
"Holy mother of " Six quickly made his way to his feet. He turned to Boone, "You're slipping. Two shots."
"I didn't miss."
"Well maybe you should aim for the head the first time."
"Uh guys," Veronica watched the creature still faintly breathing.
"I did. Two shots. Both to the head."
"Nothing can survive two shots to the head."
The creature let out a light gasp. "Six "
"You did, didn't you?"
Six cringed. "I wasn't shot with a .308."
The creature was on its feet now. Veronica stepped forward, bringing her gauntlet crashing into the side of its head. The creature stumbled back and let out a hollow growl.
"Get down!" Veronica jumped onto the ground, covering her head. Six and Boone followed suit. The creature's head detonated in an explosion of bright green fluid, flesh, bone, and fabric.
Boone rose first slowly making his way to the headless cadaver. He knelt down and examined it. "The old man did say they'd be difficult to kill."
"How does that gauntlet work anyway?"
Veronica held it up proudly. "Well, I used to use a pneumatic gauntlet. But I came across this ballistic fist. I did some tinkering...removing one of the chambers and changing the firing mechanism a bit. It also doesn't use shotgun shells anymore, like the standard ballistic fist. I rigged it up so it plants a small explosive...of my own design of course."
Six blinked.
"I'm not just another pretty face. I'm crafty when I need to be...I love tinkering around with technology. Elijah taught me a lot of what I know. Everything else I learned through trial and error."
Upon entering the police station the group was greeted by a faint beeping from their collars. They were very narrowly able to disable the many radios that peppered the station. A single large cell situated itself parallel to the entrance. Inside was the "FEV Reject" Collar 8.
Six approached the cell. "Dog?"
The nightkin didn't respond. Boone guardedly took aim. Veronica pushed his rifle towards the ground. "He's got a collar signal you kill him, it kills us."
Boone scowled. "I don't like this."
"Dog?" Still nothing. "Can you hear me, buddy?" Silence.
Six's pip-boy crackled to life. "What's going on?"
"M-Master?"
Six raised a brow. "We can't get Dog out of his cell."
"Dog? Is that what you're calling it? What's it doing in a cell?"
"Master Dog is sorry. It's the voice's fault. It's in cage. In basement. Dog doesn't want it to come back."
"Look for a way to open the cell The FEV ah Dog his help will be invaluable." The pip-boy crackled and fell silent.
"Fan out. The key to that cell has to be here somewhere. Veronica, check the terminals. Boone, search this floor Dog said something about the basement. I'll check it out."
"I knew you would come " The voice greeted Six upon entering the basement. Cold, callous, menacing. "Follow my voice that's it. You're almost there. Down here where I am in the cage."
Six slowly made his way through the basement as he entered one room, his collar began beeping, but he was unable to find a signal. He hesitantly made the decision to sprint through. Deeper into the cellar, he found the source of the voice and the reason his collar had been beeping.
"That's me there. The disk. On the table. My voice. Take my voice to the caged beast let me speak to the beast inside. Then you and I we can talk."
"What the hell " Six slipped the holotape into his pouch, then began the long trek back upstairs.
"What'd you find?"
Veronica shrugged. "A room with confiscated equipment...alcohol, chems. You?"
He paused briefly in front of the cell. "Found this holotape downstairs when I entered the basement I tripped some type of transmission," he held up the holotape. "Led me to this "
"What is it?" Veronica's eyes grew wide with curiosity.
"I don't know one way to find out," Six slipped the tape into his pipboy.
"Dog! Back into the cage!"
The nightkin froze. It's demeanor changed. It quit rocking back and forth, and its eyes froze on Six. "No. No, this isn't right. Who are you? Where is the old man?"
Six didn't respond.
"Don't play stupid. I already have to tend to one child you figured out how to release me from the cage, so you can't have been an idiot," the nightkin eyed the collar around Six's neck, then his gaze moved to his pip-boy. "Or perhaps you are. With a collar around your neck and another around your wrist. Why with our collars and manacles, we may as well be kin."
"What happened with your voice?"
"I sleep sometimes, down in the basement, in the cage. Locked myself in here I could feel myself slipping. Letting go. Dog's howls were growing louder it happens from time to time. When he's hungry, and there's no one around to tell him no. Now that I'm awake, Dog goes back in the cage. Dog knows I'm here, but can't do anything about it."
Six was quiet again. Bewildered.
The nightkin stepped towards the cell door. Boone made his way around behind him rifle at the ready. The nightkin paid no mind. "You released me from my slumber. You opened my cage. Now I want to know why."
"We need your help to get into the casino."
The nightkin grunted. "You're an extension of his being, then. The old man."
"What makes you think I'm the same as the old man?"
"I didn't say you and he were the same. You're no more akin to him than I am to Dog. You're a tool a clumsy one, perhaps. But a tool nonetheless. But you share his greed all of you do. You'll be enticed by the treasures of the Sierra Madre and when it has a hold of you. When your greed takes over. Then you'll be more than just like him. You'll become him. Every time I see one of you, I know exactly how you got here you couldn't help yourselves, anymore than dog can help himself. Treasure seekers. Thrill hunters. Seeking the legends of the Sierra Madre seeking the riches within this poisonous grail...this jewel of the desert."
"Whoa " Veronice stepped towards the cell. "I know that prolonged stealthboy use caused adverse affects in nightkin we've had incidents with them on Black Mountain. But I don't think I've ever seen one develop personalities that were so distinctive."
"That's your answer for everything. You humans, especially brotherhood, blame prewar technology as if it's some demon responsible for all ills. I awoke because Dog needed me. To protect him. To protect us."
"You say you are not akin to Dog as if he's a different entity entirely. Then who are you?" Veronica could barely contain her interest.
"I am the voice of reason. His conscience, so to speak. I am God."
Six half smirked. "Clever. A palindrome."
The nightkin didn't respond.
Six went on. "The old man said that you Dog brought us here. Why?"
"Dog obeys. When the old man says fetch Dog fetches. He must have found you during his rounds in one of the old man's traps. It must have been recent Dog was out of his cage he knows not to eat what he finds in the traps. But sometimes, his hunger gets the best of him. You were spared so he must have eaten."
"You remember Dog bringing us here then?"
"No But I don't have to see it or remember it to know it is he that brought you here. Dog and I don't share everything. What he knows what little he knows I do not. What I know, he does not. But I can hear the echoes of the footfalls down in the cage. The click of the collars he wrapped around your tiny necks.
"Well, God. We need to get you out of this cell."
"No. No why do you think I locked him in this cell? If Dog roams, he gets into trouble eats things he shouldn't does things he shouldn't. The collar you have around your neck. There's one inside of me. It was cold. Now you're here and its electromagnetic heartbeat has slithered back to life. It's burning my intestines as we speak. No, I'm not opening the cage Dog's safer in here. We're safer in here. I'm not leaving until the one who controls the collar shows. So go. Go back to your master. To the old man. Tell him to come to me. To get within my reach, and we'll settle things. Dog may follow him I will not."
Six shook his head. "I don't think you quite understand. I'm not here because I want to be. We're in this together. You don't come with us, he'll kill us all."
"That's fine. He does that and I win. I'd rather die in this cell than have Dog follow him any longer. Dog, so eager to obey, always begging for recognition. I'd rather be free of this shell than have it cage me any "
"Your voice it caged Dog. When Six played it on his pip-boy. So I'm guessing there's a way to bring Dog back," Veronica interrupted. "The question is how he called Elijah his master. That's it isn't it? I bet he'd be more cooperative."
"So you have contact with the old man "
"Don't need to," Six told him. "I can play back any previous transmissions we've had."
God's gaze turned menacing. "Even if you could drag Dog out of his cage, you still couldn't get him out of this cage. I put him here for a reason if he could've escaped, he would have."
Veronica paid no mind to the cruelty in the nightkin's eyes. "Different personalities with distinct memories. You act as if you could open the cage any time you want. I'd wager you have the key with you in the cell. Dog doesn't know where it is. All we'd have to do is help Dog find it. So we wouldn't need you at all. Not really."
"Don't have to find it," Boone confirmed. "It's on that chain wrapped around your neck. I can see it from here."
The nightkin growled with frustration. "If you cage me I'll find my way back out. I'll murder you. Rip you limb from limb "
"And kill yourself in the process "
The nightkin's anger faded he regained composure. "Then I'll shatter every bone in your bodies. I'm not worried about your collars. I'll leave you alive. And I'll prop you up in front of the Sierra Madre so you can see it. Forever out of reach as you die. And I'll leave. I'll keep walking until the collar goes cold."
"We don't need to bring Dog back out. I think I'd much rather have someone who can help us work out why we're here. The old man you want? He's trapped in the casino. He can't get out unless we go in after him. You don't have to trust us. But we need to work together. We just want to leave."
"Leave? No, the old man won't permit that. You try to leave, and he'll detonate your collar. I can come and go as I wish. After all, Dog serves him. He'd Be none the wiser. Until the old man lets you go, you're going nowhere. This beautiful paradise with all its toxins and death is home."
"Then it seems to me, it would be mutually beneficial for us to find this Elijah."
Veronica shot Six a disheartened look, but didn't speak on it. The nightkin's expression changed. He seemed perplexed. He was quiet for a long moment, then he grasped the chain around his neck. "Very well."
They were back at the central fountain in the Villa.
"I'll keep an eye on the nightkin. You go on after the next collar."
Six nodded to Boone. "Veronica, come with me."
"Which one's next?"
"Pip-boy says that this one's closest only hear faint knocking though." They began to make their way through the villa. Six paused briefly to inspect some prewar machine. It was oddly out of place while the rest of the villa was dilapidated and aging, the machine looked almost pristine. Unaffected by the cloud, and certainly built to last. Six examined the machine he found a slot. "Look at this the engraving looks like a poker chip slot?"
"Has the same symbol as the chips we found in the fountain."
Six began toggling dials on the machine. Holographic images displayed on its central hud. "Stimpacks 25 chips. This will certainly come in handy." He turned back to Boone, who was perched on the fountain, rifle across his lap. "Boone, gather up the chips in the fountains we've passed up."
"Why?"
"It's currency " Six slapped the machine. "And these are the vendors"