Echo's of Eras Past
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A Fallout: New Vegas fanfic
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Now woman, get away from me
American woman, mama let me be
Go, gotta get away, gotta get away
American Woman, by The Guess Who
By Zombie Boy
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Before she went after Benny, there were preparations that Molly had to do.
First among those preparations was that she obtained a master key from the casino managers office, which was a fairly straightforward proposition, for she had been considerate enough to leave her key ring on her desk before blowing her brains across the back wall of her office.
Molly thanked the woman's skeleton before taking the keys, her pistol (a snub nosed .38 with pink mother of pearl grips and nickel finish), her jewelry, and anything else that looked to be of value from her desk.
The rooms were a treasure trove of Old World artifacts, books, magazines, clothes, cosmetics, you name it. Molly went through them methodically, looking for a few specific item, which she loaded onto a housekeeping cart that she had found abandoned in the hallway.
There was one room though, that Molly just couldn't bring herself to loot. It was a suite with an adjoining bedroom, that had a skeleton sitting in a chair, another wearing the remains of dress lying on the bed- and two small ones lying next to her, a bottle of pills on the nightstand, and neat, round, holes in their temples.
She had stood there for a moment, taking in what was before her and putting together what had happened. Then she had apologized to them for disturbing them, and quietly backed out of the room, locking the door behind her.
As gut wrenching as that one had been, the room where she had opened up a trunk and found a skeleton inside, dressed in a gimp suite, was the most disturbing one of all. She had left that room in a hurry and shut the door behind her.
Thankfully, most of the rooms weren't as bad as those previous rooms. Quite a few had skeletons in them, the occupants deciding that suicide was a better alternative than trying to survive in the radioactive apocalypse.
On the upside, Molly collected a lot of guns and ammo, along with a lot of jewelry and a lot of books and magazines, all of which she piled on the cart.
Also piled on the cart was a cotton sun dress, heels, a handbag, and a hat what went with the dress. All of which got a raised eyebrow from Boone when she wheeled the cart into the Presidential Suite.
"You going on a date?" he asked, watching as Molly took the dress off the cart and hung it up.
"Something like that." Molly answered as the shoes, handbag, and hat followed. "It's for when I go after Benny tomorrow."
"I see." Boone said, and then crouched down to look at the large amount of handguns lying in the cart. "You got enough firepower here, thats for sure."
"Oh, those are merchant bait." Molly said, sparing a glance at the guns. "I'm going in with this."she added, holding up the .38.
"That's it?" Boone asked. "You know what kind fo firepower they have at the Tops?"
"Yeah, and that's where you come in." Molly explained, twirling around to face him. "You, you are going to be up in the cocktail lounge with my rifle, providing over watch."
"Your rifle?" Boone asked, his tone vaguely offended, as though the thought that his rifle wasn't up to snuff was a personal insult. "Why your rifle?"
"Because it has a can." Molly said, nodding at the weapon in question, lying on her bed. "And if I need you, I don't want them to know where the fire is coming from."
"Ah." Boone said, nodding in understanding. "I think I get what you're planning."
"Good." Molly said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a nice, hot, shower and scrub the dust of ages off of me." she added, then looked down at herself and frowned slightly. "Come to think of it, I need to shave my legs and... other areas."
Boone made a surprised choking noise and Molly looked up at him. "What?" she asked him.
"I, ah, um, aaah,.." sputtered Boone, his face turning red.
Smirking, Molly put one hand on her hip and looked at the reddening sniper. "I don't believe this. You, Mr Billy -bad ass sniper, is embarrassed by the thought of me shaving my girly parts?" she asked. "You saw me naked. Didn't you wonder how I got that way?"
"Ah, no, I wasn't staring- I mean, ah..." Boone stammered, clearly uncomfortable with where this conversation was headed.
Molly cocked her head to one side and gave him a look. "You were staring at my tits, weren't you?" she asked.
Boone's blush deepened.
"You were." Molly said. "Well, I don't blame you, they're very nice tits, and I appreciate you looking."
"I- never mind." Boone said. "Excuse me."
Turning on his heel, the now beet red sniper retreated from the room, leaving Molly alone. Chuckling to herself, she gathered up the necessary supplies and headed to the bathroom.
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When she got to the bathroom, she found that the stall closest to the door was occupied, the sound of a shower running emanating from behind the curtain. Sniffing the air, she noted that the air wasn't warm like it normally would be with a shower running.
"Boone?" Molly asked, knocking on the stall wall.
"What?" Boone asked sharply.
"Are you taking a cold shower?" she asked.
"Yes." Boone replied, the slight chatter of his teeth bare audible underneath the sounds of the running shower.
"Oh." Molly said. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable-"
"You didn't." Boone said.
"So why are you taking a cold shower?" Molly asked.
Boone was silent for a few moments, and Molly was starting to think that she'd managed to offend him when he spoke. "You're a very attractive woman, Molly." he said. "But, I'm not ready to even think about something like that right now."
"Not even a one night stand?" Molly asked as she turned on the water.
"Not even that." Boone answered.
"What about if I have one?" Molly asked. "Is that a problem for you?"
"No." replied Boone. "That's your personal life, not mine."
"Okay." Molly said as she waited for the water to heat up. "I wouldn't want to make things difficult between us."
"Thanks." Boone grunted.
Frowning for a second, Molly grabbed the bottle of bourbon that she had brought with her and walked over to the other stall.
"Hey, Boone." she said as she thrust the bottle through the curtain. "Here."
"Huh?" Boone asked.
"I figured you probably needed a drink." Molly explained.
"Oh, thanks." Boone said, and took the bottle.
"You're welcome."
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The next morning Molly shimmied into her new dress and encountered a small problem: she couldn't get it zipped all the way.
"Oh, for the love of..." Molly muttered. "Boone!" she called. "I need you to zip me!"
For several moments there was no answer, then Molly smacked herself upside the head. "Dummy! He's up in the cocktail lounge." she muttered. "Oh well, time to improvise."
Exhaling deeply, Molly reached behind her and got the zipper fully closed.
"There we go." she said. "Much better."
Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Molly checked how the dress fit on her- it was a size too small, so it fit her... perfectly. The upper part of her dress fit her perfectly, hugging her curves, the neckline cut just low enough to show some cleavage.
Molly had forgone wearing a bra, so there was the added benefit that her nipples were just visible through the fabric of her dress. Perfect for what she was going to be doing. Reaching down, she hiked up her skirt and checked the revolver that she had tucked into a holster on her thigh, the rig held in place by a garter belt.
Satisfied that everything was ready, Molly dropped her skirt, smoothed it out, grabbed her hat and handbag, and headed out.
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When she stepped into the Tops, the first thing that Molly noticed was that it was actually in pretty good shape for a casino that had been abandoned for almost two hundred years and then taken over by a bunch of reformed tribals. The carpets were clean, but slightly threadbare. The plants were green and well watered, and the place exuded a general air of cleanliness.
"Hey tots..." a man addressed her, coming from around the front desk towards her. "I gotta ask, you got any weapons on ya?"
"Do I look like the kind of girl who carries guns on her?" Molly asked demurely.
"I'm looking at a couple right now." the man said as he came up to her.
"And just keep looking at them, buddy." Molly thought "Say hello, girls."
"I'm sure you are." Molly said. "Here, take a look at my bag." she said, holding it up and opening it so he could see.
The man gave her bag a cursory but thorough inspection and nodded. "Okay." he said. "You're clean."
"Told ya.' Molly told him.
"I gotta check." the man said. "One more thing: If you 'find' a gun or what not on the floor, it'd be appreciated if you didn't wave it around."
"Duly noted." Molly said as she closed her handbag.
"Enjoy your visit." the man said as she started walking towards the floor.
"Oh, I will.' Molly said as she spotted an obnoxious black and white checkered coat on the opposite end of the floor.
Threading her way across the floor, Molly carefully approached the man who had shot her in the head. As she approached, she took careful notice of how his body guards were arranged and a dozen plans formed in her head.
"Hey, Benny." she called out to him in a sultry tone as she approached his ring of guards.
Benny stopped and turned around to the voice "Heey, baby, what can Benny do for- Oh God..." his face fell as he trailed off when he saw who had addressed him.
"Can we talk?" Molly asked sweetly.
"Hey, babe, I don't want any trouble." Benny said.
"I'm not looking to start any." Molly replied, leaning against a railing. "I just want to talk."
Benny gave her an incredulous look. "Girl, are you crazy?" he asked.
Molly smirked and shifted her position slightly so her breasts were jutting forwards. "Yeah." she answered, simple and to the point.
"Okay..." Benny said, drawing out the word. "What's your angle, babe?" he asked.
Molly shrugged slightly, which did all sort of interesting things with her chest, which did not escape the attention of Benny and his guards she was quick to notice.
"What can I say, I like bad boys." she replied. "So, how about we go somewhere more private so we can talk?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you really are crazy." Benny said.
"Told ya.' Molly replied. "Nothing like a bullet to the head to get a girls attention."
"Huh." Benny said as he looked down at her with a calculating look. "You're for real."
Molly just grinned and spread her arms wide.
"C'mon." Benny said. "Lets go up to my suite and you can show me just how much you like bad boys."
Smiling, Molly followed him as he headed off to the elevator.
"Don't try anything." one of his guards muttered, low enough that only she could hear him.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Molly retorted as she slipped past him.
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"So, babe, you ready for a real good time?" Benny asked as he sauntered towards the bedroom, loosening his tie as he went.
"Yeah." Molly said, closing and locking the suite's double doors.
"Glad to hear it, toots, cause' baby, I'm taking you to moon." Benny said, starting to unbutton his shirt, oblivious to Molly crossing the room towards him. "I think we can- urgh!"
He collapsed like a rag doll from Molly's knife hand strike to his neck, and as he fell she caught him and held him with an ease and grace that spoke of a far greater strength than what it looked like she possessed.
Lowering him to the floor, Molly shifted her arms so they were around his neck, right as cohereant thought returned to Benny.
"Babe, what are you doing- uuurkkkk-!" he gasped out as she tightened her grip on him.
"This." she answered simply, and flexed her arms.
Benny's body spasmed as the vertebra in his neck snapped, his limbs flopping around for a couple of seconds before going limp. His jaw worked up and down a few times as he tried to breath, his last breath exhaling out of his lungs taking his life with it.
Benny slumped to the floor as she let go of him, his eyes becoming glassy and unfocused as his brain shut down from the lack of oxygen. Molly, on the other hand, was wasting no time in rolling his body for whatever he was carrying.
In this case, Molly scored the jackpot, for in the inside pocket of his jacket was the Platinum Chip.
"Score." Molly said, holding up the chip to light before stuffing it safely into her cleavage.
The only other items of use to her was his pistol, heavily engraved and plated in sliver now that she had gotten a closer look at it. An easy mistake to make, especially if you had just gotten cracked over the head and were kneeling next to your own grave.
The other item was his lighter, gold and also engraved. Tossing the lighter in her purse, Molly stood up and looked around at the suite.
"Well, since I'm here, I might as well toss the place, see if there is anything else of value thats small and easily portable." she mused, tapping the pistol against her thigh.
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After thoroughly searching the room, the only thing Molly was able to turn up was a safe and a passage to another room that contained a Securitron with a cartoon face on it's display. Not being equipped to deal with a robot if things went south on her, Molly decided to leave it be and concentrate on the safe.
The lock was fairly easy for her to pick, and when she opened the door on it's squeaky hinges she discovered that it contained a single shot grenade launcher, two buckshot rounds, an HE round, a stack of porn mags and what looked like two thousand caps.
Not keen to see what the latest smut rags from New Reno contained, Molly left them and dumped the caps and shells into her purse. Benny's pistol took the place of the .38 in her garter belt rig, and the revolver tossed into the bag with the rest.
That left the launcher. Thinking for a moment, Molly happened to glance down at Benny's corpse, still lying cooling on the floor, and inspiration struck. Crouching down, she relieved him of his belt and shoelaces.
Putting the launcher on the bed, Molly hitched up her skirt and wrapped the belt around her hips, pulling it back to the smallest notch possible. Tying one end of the first shoelace to the belt, Molly was about to thread the free end of the shoelace through the empty swing swivel on the launcher when one of Benny's guards opened the doors to the suite and poked his head in.
"Hey, Boss there's a -what the hell?" he said as his gaze fell on the body of his boss.
He was just starting to look up at Molly when, on instinct, she reached down and drew the pistol in her garter holster and put two rounds into his head.
"Well, shit." she said as the guards body crumpled to the floor. "I thought I locked those."
Flipping the safety back on her pistol, Molly put it back in its holster, grabbed the launcher, broke it open and stuffed a round into the chamber with out checking to see what kind it was.
Snapping the weapon shut, she grabbed her purse and the spare shoelace before heading to the door.
Not knowing the conditions or locations of the stairwells, something that Molly kicked herself for being so sloppy about not knowing, she headed for the elevator. She was about thirty feet away from it when she heard the doors open.
Dropping to one knee, Molly snapped the weapon up to her shoulder and fired through a gap in the potted trees, remembering after she had pulled the trigger that she was carrying a grenade launcher, not a rifle.
An expletive had just started to form in her mind when the explosion knocked her ass over teakettle back down the hall.
Ears ringing, she staggered to her feet and looked down at herself. Amazingly, she had survived the explosion without a scratch.
Molly didn't know it, but when she had fired, the round had clipped one of the branches on the trees, deflecting it up into the roof of the elevator car where it had detonated, killing everyone in the car, which in a stroke of luck was Benny's personal contingent of bodyguards.
It had also destroyed most of the ceiling causing the two hundred odd year old cable attachments to fail along with the anti drop devices and sent the destroyed car plummeting to the basement below.
Not knowing this however, Molly just shook her head to clear the ringing and weaving slightly, headed off down the hall looking for the stairs.
She found the stairs in short order, and thankfully by the time she had gone down two flights of them her hearing was back to normal. Pausing on a landing to take her shoes off, Molly head the pounding of feet and voices below.
She figured that by the amount of noise coming up the stairs there were more guys than she could handle with what she was armed with, and spotting an alcove, hid in it, desperately hoping that this tactic was going to work.
Much to her relief, it did and the group of guards thundered past her without noticing her. Letting out the breath she had been holding, Molly took a second to reconsider her situation and came up with a different plan on how to get out of there.
Listening carefully, she didn't hear any more people coming charging up the stairs and so she the launcher down in the corner and hitched her skirt back up. Taking the launcher, she threaded the shoestring that was still tied to the belt circling her hips through the swing swivel on the fore end.
Tying it off, she then took a small folding knife she had in her bag and cut off the excess shoelace. She then took this portion and looped it through the trigger guard before tying it around her leg. Putting her skirt back down, Molly smoothed it back down and after experimentally moving around a bit, saw that it was moving around too much and that the pleated skirt of the sun dress concealed it effectively.
Satisfied, she then picked up her shoes and purse, and resumed heading back down the stairs.
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Cracking the door open, Molly peeked out through the crack at the casino floor. There were people milling around in confusion, employees were rushing to and fro taking care of things- and nobody was paying attention to the stairwell.
Pulling the door the rest of the way open, she stepped out into the crowd and began sauntering towards the front doors. Thanks to the flaming elevator crashing to earth in the basement, no one paid her any mind and she was able to walk out of the casino with out any trouble at all.
As soon as she stepped out into the hot dry air outside Molly took a deep breath and exhaled. Looking around, she saw that there was the usual early afternoon traffic for the Strip, no one was running towards her waving weapons, so she figured that it was safe to assume that she had made it out in the clear.
Nonchalantly, she began walking towards the gate. As she walked she looked up at the tower of the Lucky 38, towering over the Strip, and imagined Boone up there with her rifle, keeping an eye on her.
Waving up at the tower, she continued on her way.
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Boone was waiting for her when she came into the Lucky 38, her rifle slung over her shoulder.
"You okay?" Boone asked as she walked up to him.
"Yeah." she answered. "It was a piece of cake. I got the chip, plus some other stuff."
"Other stuff?" Boone asked.
"A grenade launcher and Benny's handgun." Molly explained, hiking up her skirt to show Boone the weapons in question. "I also managed to snag what looks like a couple of thousand in caps and a couple of rounds worth of ammo for the launcher." she added, shaking her purse for emphasis.
Boone grunted and nodded his head once. "Good. Here's your rifle back." he said, unslinging her weapon and handing it over to her.
"Thanks." Molly said and slung it over her shoulder before starting to dig around in her cleavage. "Now. If you'll excuse me, I got a delivery to complete."
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End.