Author's Note:

I don't usually do these as I believe author's notes distract from the flow of the story, but since so many readers expressed their frustrations due to the last chapter I felt that I should address the complaints presented. Firstly, I am focusing the actions of this story to fall more along the lines of the dramatic instead of relying on gameplay mechanics. In Fallout 3 and New Vegas, you could pump five or six shotgun blasts into an NPC's unarmored face and he still wouldn't go down. As all of us can agree, this is extremely unrealistic. Therego I chose to go the more "realistic" route and show injuries as they should be. If you are shot in the arm, you will feel it. If you are shot in the face with a shotgun at point blank range, you will most definitely die. Gameplay mechanics are fun when you are playing a video game, but not so much when you're telling a story. The only reason I included the stats and perk lists for the Courier and Lone Wanderer was so that people could get a basic gist of what these guys are capable of. I did not chose perks like "Almost Perfect" for obvious reasons. Overpowered heroes are boring; just read the later Ender novels or watch the Matrix Reloaded to see what I'm talking about. It all goes to gameplay vs. storytelling again; although it's fun as hell to play an invincible badass in a game, it's a bit irritating to read through a story where the main character is one-shot killing everyone and making no mistakes.

Many readers also felt that I made Victor too overpowered. Well, in a gameplay sense, I did. In the game they really weren't very effective enemies. Regardless, I have a reason for doing so. Everyone here would probably agree that in New Vegas and Fallout 3 the developers made power armor way too weak. I feel the same. Therego in this story power armor will be as it was meant to be in the lore: wear it and you're basically a walking tank. As with power armor, I think the Securitrons were also handed the short end of the stick. It was obvious that they were major badasses from the way NPCs in the game kept talking about them. The NCR restrained themselves from taking over the Strip while the Legion was around because they knew the Securitrons would be trouble, and that was before the upgrade was implemented. After the MK II OS was installed, Mr. House had no trouble kicking all the NCR forces out of the Mojave. The developers made power armor and Securitrons weak in-game because of balance issues, which makes sense since you don't want players to be frustrated after getting slaughtered by Securitrons and Paladins. If you read through the lore though, this is not the case. The two technologies are completely tough as nails, and made the Brotherhood and Mr. House forces to be reckoned with.

So, in the end, it all boils down to storytelling vs. gameplay. I think you guys can see which school I'm siding with. This is a story, so I'm tossing the gameplay mechanics out the window. If you can't get past this, then I'm afraid that you will definitely find this story frustrating and should probably not continue reading. For those of you who can, then please continue reading.


Chapter Six: East Vs. West

Knight Sergeant Morras was worried. Ever since Star Paladin Black radioed in yesterday with his bad news, the camp at Hidden Valley was awash in rumor and speculation. The death of Paladin Cody was a blow to all of them; the young man was one of the up-and-comers in the Brotherhood ranks, joining at fifteen and making Paladin at nineteen. He had been one of the youngest people to reach that rank in the D.C. chapter's history, second only to Sarah Lyons. It was sad indeed to know that his life had ended in such a way.

In response to the danger John warned him about, Morras had put the camp on high alert. He also radioed Cutter, head of the second patrol that had journeyed eastwards in order to investigate a settlement with a large fake dinosaur. Paladin Cutter had been shocked to hear about the attack on John since his own party's journey had been quite peaceful. He told Morras that his group would head back to Hidden Valley ASAP, a fact that Lang would probably not appreciate. The Senior Scribe and her apprentice had gone along with Cutter as she wanted to take a quick look at an old Repconn facility near the settlement. Such plans would have to be postponed (if not put off entirely) due to Cody's death.

Now, with the desert sun high overhead, Morras had a new problem. His scouts reported a large contingent of robots headed their way, and from the descriptions the scouts provided these robots matched the configuration of the one that had attacked Star Paladin Black's team. Another troubling detail was the robots' approach: the scouts reported that they were rolling down Highway 93, which all but cut off the Cutter group's approach from the east.

The camp went into a frenzy, with all Knights arming themselves and making sure to set up adequate defenses. Laser sentries were set up around the Vertibird and the six Mr. Gutsy robots were fully loaded with ammunition. Even the two pilots were on high alert, prepping the Vertibird's engines just in case the entire expeditionary team needed to retreat.

Knight Sergeant Morras hoped that it wouldn't come to that. In his mind, whoever these robots were, they had a lot to answer for. Not only for the death of Paladin Cody, but perhaps for the destruction of the Mojave chapter as well.

No, he wouldn't run. Not if he could help it.

Morras' hand tensed upon the trigger of his gattling laser as he awaited the enemy's arrival. Whoever these miserable machines were, along with whomever they worked for, they would feel the wrath of the Brotherhood.


"Well, there's not as much of them as I thought there'd be," the Courier remarked as she counted less than twenty armored figures through her binoculars. The young woman was laying upon her belly like a snake along the edge of a cliff overlooking Hidden Valley. When she first arrived there, she had been expecting an entire army of Brotherhood Paladins to be waiting for her. Instead, there were only a paltry handful. It was definitely disappointing.

Expecting a fight, the Courier had brought along the Securitron Model 2's, fresh off the assembly lines from the factories of the Big Empty. Each of the Model Twos were brand new, so they needed a thorough testing to see how their systems held up in a real life-or-death confrontation. A great way to do so was to put the new robots up against a contingent of heavily armed Brotherhood of Steel Paladins. Such a victory would have been wonderful news to greet Mr. House with; he would have been extremely pleased to learn how his new Securitron models had annihalated an entire brigade of the power armored soldiers. And of course, House would have been extremely proud of his protege's diligence at supervising the entire affair, dispensing those rare parcels of praise that she so eagerly lapped up, like a cat at a saucer of creme.

Unfortunately it looked like the Courier wouldn't get her desired pat on the head, since such a paltry force wouldn't really do for a true test.

One thing somewhat troubled her, though. A few of these new Brotherhood troops were wearing power armor that she had never seen before. The suits looked eerily similar to the armor Arcade Gannon's Enclave Remnants wore, but much more advanced and fearsome looking. At first she had been afraid that her initial guess was mistaken, and that she was in fact facing off against a re-emergent Enclave force. But then she saw the blue Brotherhood of Steel insignias painted upon the strange armors' left shoulders and realized that this chapter merely wore a more advanced model armor than that of the Mojave Brotherhood.

"That's a nice little plane, though," she muttered as she focused her binoculars' sights on the strange propeller-driven vehicle that was parked in the center of the encampment. It was large, almost as big as the Boomer's aerial bomber, its steel skin the color of dark gunmetal. The Courier grinned, imagining all sorts of possibilities. If she could get her hands on that baby, then who knew what Mr. House could accomplish? It would make a nice gift for her beloved employer, something to make up for the failure in the Model 2's testing.

"I've seen enough," she said over her shoulder. Ed-E clicked from where it floated low overhead. "Let's get down there." A grim smile twisted her lips. "I want to say hello to our new friends."

The Courier began to slowly crawl back down towards the path hidden behind the nearby ravine. Upon the path, her army of fifty Securitrons lay waiting.


It was a tense situation at the Hidden Valley camp, as the twelve remaining souls in the Brotherhood expeditionary force watched the large dust cloud slowly rising into the air. The plume was massive, created by sand and sediment churned up from the tires of the approaching robot army.

And what an army it was.

Morras counted fifty of the things steadily approaching their position, and to his eternal irritation the machines did not seem to be in any hurry to get there. It's so nice to be taken so seriously, he thought bitterly as he watched the long lines of the large wheeled, boxy forms slowly roll towards them. He adjusted his helmet's viewer, focusing the electronic field of vision to zoom in on the approaching sight. The majority of the robots looked to be old and well worn, with decades of rust marring their armored shells. A few of the machines, though, looked a bit newer, with shiny blue paint jobs and chrome detailing upon their exteriors. Their shoulder housings and view screens were slightly smaller than their older counterparts, thus making them look somewhat sleeker. Despite the differences, all the machines still projected an air of menace about them. The monitors on their chasis showed the faces of cartoon Pre-War soldiers glaring outwards, each gruffly chomping down on their fat cigars. These images, coupled with what was obviously a slew of weaponry housed in their arms and shoulder mounts, caused the Knight Sergeant to have a slight tingle of dread trickling down his back.

"There's so many of them," one of the younger Initiates spoke up. Morras identified her as Sasha, one of his less than stellar recruits. Although the girl was hard-working and always followed orders, she was always getting into trouble with that idiot Bittercup. He, for the life of him, could not figure out why Sasha continued to hang around the lazy, inept, and moronic Initiate. She would have had a bright future in the Brotherhood and well on her way towards Knighthood if only she stayed away from that troublemaking twit.

"We don't stand a chance," the girl mumbled. It was obvious that she was only muttering to herself in worry, but her helmet's speakers amplified the words so that all the others could hear them.

"Shut it, Initiate!" snarled Morras. He saw the girl's shoulders tense from behind the T-45d's pauldrons. "Only dead men have the attitude you're displaying! And I don't allow dead men to serve in my unit! Do you hear me, Initiate?"

"Y-yes, Knight Sergeant!" Sasha squeaked. "Sorry, Knight Sergeant!" She clutched at her laser rifle a bit tighter and aimed it down field, making sure to keep the approaching machines in her sights. If there was one thing that scared her more than an army of killer robots, it was an angry Knight Sergeant Morras.

"Remember your robot battle training," Morras said through the radio in his helmet, which allowed him to communicate to all forces within range. "Aim for the joints, they're the weakest area. Also, don't bother trying for the wheel or monitor screen. I know they look like tempting targets, but the designers of those damn things probably thought so, too. Those spots are likely armored to hell, so don't waste your shots on them. Aim for the joints, or if you can, get 'em in the weapon barrels. Sight down the muzzle flash or emitter glow."

"Sergeant!" One of his Knights spoke up, drawing Morras's attention away from his lecture. "They've stopped."

Looking back out into the field, the Knight Sergeant saw that the large assembly of robots had ceased their advance. The machines stood still like immovable statues, arrayed in an almost perfectly straight line some fifty meters from his own force's position.

The Brotherhood had set up a defensive line around the vertibird, erecting durasteel barriers around the large vehicle. This was pretty much their full defense, along with the two laser turrets and the handful of Mr. Gutsy robots. Compared to the massive robotic force allayed against them, the Brotherhood force looked to be totally outmatched.

There was a loud blare of static coming from the robot side, followed by an amplified cough.

"Testing, testing," a female voice rang out, blaring from one of the robot's speakers. Morras focused his helmet's optics towards the sound and saw a young brown-haired woman in a black suit among the large machines. She stood fearlessly next to one of the mono-wheeled robots and was speaking into a microphone it was holding. Even more curious, what looked to be an Enclave eyebot was floating right next to her.

"That the hell?" The Knight Sergeant muttered, utterly perplexed.

"Attention, Brotherhood of Steel," the woman's amplified voice continued. "You are trespassing upon the property of Robert Edwin House, Chief Executive Officer of the Free Economic Zone of New Vegas. You are hereby ordered to put down your weapons and surrender in a peaceful manner. Refusal to comply with my request will result in very bad things happening to you." Morras saw the woman's lips twist up into a demented smile. "Okay, let's just cut the bullshit and get right to it, shall we? I think everyone here knows that you people don't stand a chance. You are outnumbered and outgunned. If you want my advice, do yourselves a favor and comply. I've killed a shitload of you fuckers already, as you all have probably found out by now. So unless you wanna join your buddies, whose corpses are still interned fifty feet below us by the way, then you WILL put down your guns and surrender.

"I'll be nice and give you thirty minutes to think it over." With that, the amplified voice cut off and she moved back behind the robot line.

Morras grunted, his face under the helmet sneering at the woman across the field from him. "Thirty minutes?" He all but snarled aloud. "We don't need God damn thirty minutes to decide." He turned away from the enemy army and addressed Paladin Haskell behind him. "Haskell, why don't you show the lady what our answer is?"

The big, muscular Paladin laughed, then hefted his massive weapon onto his shoulder. Most people would have found the task a bit difficult, but for a man of Haskell's size firing off the Fat Man was like tossing a football around. He could do it all day.

"Fire in the hole!" Haskell shouted before pulling the trigger. There was a loud thump, then a whoosh of warm air as the Mini Nuke was launched into the sky and towards the large line of robots in front of them.


"Incoming!" One of the Securitrons warned just before a massive explosion sent dust, sand and bent metal flying everywhere.

"Shit!" the Courier cursed as she tossed herself onto the sand. A wave of searing heat poured across her back as twenty feet away from her position four Securitrons became reduced to bent metal and cinders. Six more had serious damage, and rolled away from the newly formed crater so that their auto-repair systems could kick in. Her Pip-boy's radiation detector began to tick wildly as she looked up, spotting a small mushroom-shaped cloud forming overhead. "Motherfuckers!" she shouted, pulling herself up to her knees. She wiped at eyes stinging with dust, causing her glasses to fall from her face. "Fucking motherfuckers! Kill the bastards!" She shouted. "Kill 'em all!"

Both sides began firing. Laser beams and plasma bolts seared through the air, as did bullets and projectiles of every make and caliber. Unlike the Mojave chapter, the D.C. Brotherhood did not limit themselves to just energy weapons. Since the majority of their forces were recruits from the Wasteland, many in their ranks felt more comfortable using projectile weaponry. Thus they had a wider arsenal of tools in the Citadel's armory than perhaps any other Brotherhood chapter, a fact that aided them this day.

Although the small arms and energy weapons did minimal damage to the Securitrons, the stronger firepower from the Brotherhood's heavier weaponry began punching holes into the robots' offensive line. The missle launchers, miniguns, gattling lasers, and Haskell's Fat Man smashed apart the robots, destroying or damaging them enough that their self-repair systems could not keep up. The large Paladin laughed maniacally, his deep, booming voice almost silent in the chaotic roar of numerous weapons fire.

There was a loud pop, followed by an explosion as one of the Mr. Gutsy robots went down. It cursed at imaginary communist forces before the lights on its optical sensors dimmed and went offline. Several seconds later, three more went down as the Securitrons began firing a barrage of missiles at the Brotherhood defenses.

Morras took cover behind a barrier when the rain of missiles hit, his helmet sensors flickering wildly as sand and debris clouded the air around him. A large detonation went off nearby, and he guessed by the sound that one of the laser turrets had just gone down.

"What the hell are those things?" he heard one of his men shout through the din of explosions and gunfire. There were several other gasps of surprise, and curiously all fire from the robots ceased.

The Knight Commander took a peek over the barrier and felt a chill go down his spine. From the smoke and dust clouds rising from the flaming battlefield, ghosts began to appear. Each apparition stood perhaps six feet tall and was dressed in Pre-War military gear. They wore the uniforms and combat armor of the old United States Army, though this detail was somewhat difficult to tell since the ghosts glowed an eerie blue. Their forms were also somewhat translucent, as he could see the dust particles blowing from behind them.

The firing from the Brotherhood line stopped as the Knights stood in awe at the approaching ethereal figures. There were mutters of fear and terror sounding through the radio, as some of the more superstitious and religious Knights all but fell to their knees. Morras counted about twenty of the ghosts walk out from the smoke and approach them. The glowing figures were about twenty meters away when they suddenly stopped.

"What the fuck?" Haskell spoke up as he stepped forward towards the strange new arrivals. "Are they projections? Holograms maybe?"

"Paladin, what are you doing!" Morras shouted, but it was too late.

All of the sudden, the ghosts flared up, their color changing from the eerie blue to a malevolent red. The ethereal soldiers raised their arms over their heads and soon bright bolts of sizzling energy erupted from their ghostly forms. Haskell was hit first, as three of the scarlet beams smashed into his armor's chestplate. The large Paladin grunted and began lifting his Fat Man to fire back, but the ghosts were already on him. A dozen more of the red apparitions concentrated their fire directly at him, and soon the deadly energy rays burned through his armor to cook the flesh beneath. His large form crumpled to the ground, his armor belching out smoke.

"Damn it!" Morras stood away from cover and began blasting the ghosts with his gattling laser. He shot beam after beam of deadly focused light towards the red forms, seemingly to no effect. The other Knights began firing their weapons as well, unloading on the new arrivals with everything they had. Bullets of every caliber, along with laser beams, plasma bolts, missiles and grenades all flew towards their frightening new foes. But whatever the Brotherhood threw at them, the ghosts did not even feel it. The demonic entities just stood there and continued firing, sending blast after blast of red lightning towards them. Morras himself was hit several times and soon had to duck down behind the durasteel barrier as his armor became too damaged. All around him were the sounds of screaming and explosions, and he saw two of his Knights go down along with the remaining Mr. Gutsy robots.

"Knight Sergeant!" A voice flared up in Morras' ear, coming from his helmet's radio. It was Otis Butler, one of the pilots. "Knight Sergeant! The bird is ready to take off! Sound the retreat and we can be airborne in thirty seconds!"

"No! We are not finished yet!" Morras shouted into his mic. He then quickly pushed himself up, peeking his head over the barrier. He saw that the red monsters were still there, blasting at anything that moved, and now that the smoke had cleared he also saw the robot army staying back, remaining completely still and not firing at them at all. The smaller, newer looking ones were on the front lines while the older models stayed behind them.

"The robots!" the Knight Sergeant yelled. "The robots are controlling those things! Shoot the damn robots!" With those words, Morras hauled his rather battered gattling laser from the sand where he had dropped it and began to direct laserfire down field towards the robotic force.

The other Knights and Paladins quickly followed his lead, ignoring the attacking ghosts and shooting at the robots behind them. One lucky Knight managed to hit one of the newer model robots with a grenade round, blowing a wide hole right into its monitor screen. The robot exploded, its remains clattering noisily down upon the sand. As soon as it did so, two of the red ghosts disappeared.

"That's it," shouted Morras, "keep that fire up!"

The Knights did so, continuing to fire upon the robots and managing to down another one. With its demise, two more of the ghosts vanished. It was then that the other robots began moving, the older models rolling forwards to protect the newer ones. The firefight quickly intensified as the machines returned fire, shooting minigun rounds, lasers, grenades and missile volleys towards the Brotherhood. Fire and explosions rocked the sands as Paladin bled and machine sparked. Fragments of metal and bone littered the already battered features of Hidden Valley, while the silent red ghosts continued their assault. Their ethereal numbers quickly dwindled though as one by one the robots powering them were turned to scrap.

On the other side of the line, the Courier cursed. She, along with Ed-E, had ducked behind a large outcropping of rocks to watch the battle unfold. She had been directing orders to the Securitrons via Ed-E's built-in transmitter, but her instructions did not seem to be doing much good. Despite the Securitrons' numbers and superior firepower, the small contingent of Paladins seemed to be holding their own. They were obviously a battle-hardened force and had the advantage of being in an entrenched position. Combine this with the fact that the Courier, regardless of her numerous talents, had little practical military experience herself. The closest she had ever come to fighting in a large-scale battle was during the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, and during that fight she wasn't the one in charge. She had merely been following Mr. House's plan, and in the end his genius shone through when his stratagem payed off and both the Legion and the NCR forces were kicked out of his city.

Now, as she watched her precious Securitrons fall one by one, she felt the desperate need to call her employer. She wanted to hear his voice tell her it was all going to be alright, that he had a plan which would turn the tide of battle and bring them victory. His plans were always brilliant, often shocking her at the simplicity and elegance within the details. Mr. House had once asked her to play a game of chess with him, but she politely declined; she had been deathly afraid that he would beat her too easily and thus reveal how truly idiotic she was, or worse, that she would win the match through some thoroughly random fluke and make him look bad.

But no, she would not call him. This was her plan, after all. This was the first time in House's employ that she had taken the initiative without consulting him first. She wanted to show her beloved employer that she could be, if not as smart as him, then a distant but acceptable second. She wanted him to know that his right hand wasn't just muscle; she was someone he could rely on completely, someone who deserved to be by his side.

"I will not be humiliated like this!" She hissed towards the battle. Her Securitrons continued their relentless assault, though their numbers had dwindled drastically. The Brotherhood continued their struggle to survive, blasting away, slowly but surely, at the once-mighty wall of robots. There were now only six hologram soldiers left as only three of the Model 2's remained operable.

"Ed-E!" the Courier turned to the floating eyebot. "Give me Euclid! Now!"

The robot clicked in an affirmative before a port at its side armor popped open. The Courier reached in and pulled out a surprisingly heavy looking toy ray gun, its green plastic shell marred by years of dirt and scratches. Its innocent appearance belayed what a truly dangerous item it was.

She turned back to the battlefield with the toy in hand, directing a set of angry amber eyes towards the Brotherhood of Steel force. "The House always wins, boys," she sneered as she hefted the toy, aiming it at the center of the camp. "Time to wipe you fuckers out. This place'll be your grave, just like with Veronica's pals." The Courier grinned, then pulled and held the trigger, causing a laser beam to paint an orange bead against the dark hull of the vertibird. With all the explosions and death going on around them, none of the Knights noticed.

There was a loud, harsh burst of electronic noise as Euclid's Rangefinder transmitted the coordinates of the Brotherhood camp to one of the Archimedes II system's satellites in geo-synchronous orbit around the earth. Seconds ticked by, and once transmission was done three large orange beams of light fell to the earth, piercing through the clouds as they flashed brightly against the sand. Several Knights shouted in warning as they saw the three large beams moving, and only the Courier from her vantage point saw that the three shafts of light were twisting around, triangulating their position before converging, ready to release blinding death down upon them.

Soon the beams met, forming into one large shaft of light directly above the Vertibird. Morras screamed into his mic, warning everyone to take cover. He really had no idea what the strange lights were or what was about to happen, but his instincts during battle were sharp, and right now those instincts were screaming at him to get the fuck down.

It was a few seconds later that death claimed the Brotherhood, as a massive column of searing blue light fell upon them from the heavens.


"What the hell was that?" Bittercup screamed as she looked away from the bright pillar of energy that had flared up in the sky. She opened and shut her eyes several times, trying to blink the afterimage formed out of her sight.

John grit his teeth as a cold feeling of dread sunk into him. He and Bittercup had been traveling through the rugged terrain of the Mojave, taking the back paths through dangerous, radscorpion infested territory in order to avoid the main roads. Robots, of the same model that had attacked them in Goodsprings, had suddenly appeared everywhere and were patrolling the main thoroughfares. This left them no choice but to cut across the desert on the way back to Hidden Valley to rejoin the rest of the expedition.

The day of trekking through the Mojave was not as easy as their earlier trip down the Long 15. He and Bittercup had been attacked several times already, once by a giant radscorpion and thrice by groups of strange lizard-like creatures that ran on two legs. Needless to say it wasn't a very restful trip, and he had been looking forwards to getting back to camp.

But then the column of light appeared, striking down from the heavens like the fabled hammer of Thor. It was brighter than anything John had ever seen before, and even outshone the sun for a few seconds. When it struck down they felt more than heard a gigantic explosion. The massive wall of sound slammed into their senses, rattling the teeth in their skulls.

But what shocked John the most was where the light had touched down. It had appeared right in front of them in the direction they were heading. From what he could see, it struck right at the base of Black Mountain, straight into the heart of Hidden Valley.

"John," Bittercup spoke up, her demeanor uncharacteristically serious. "You... you don't think something bad happened, do you? To our friends, I mean?"

The Star Paladin looked towards the direction of Hidden Valley, where his sharp eyes spotted a large cloud of black smoke beginning to rise into the hot desert air.

"I'm sure they're fine," he lied. "Let's go."

Bittercup had no choice but to follow him as he trudged forwards, towards the direction of the mysterious light.


APPENDIX

PDQ-88b Model 2: A modified version of the Robco security model 2060. This model has had their shoulder-mounted M-235 missile launchers removed in order to house two tactical hologram emitters. Their backside armor is also thinner so that an enlarged reactor could be installed, one robust enough to provide the power necessary for the two emitters. This makes the Model 2's somewhat more vulnerable than their older model counterparts, but the addition of the tactical holograms' increased offensive capabilities more than makes up for any defensive deficiency. Regardless, the Model 2's are still escorted by Model 1's during missions in order to maximize efficiency.

The Model 2 came about when the Courier, during a forray into the legendary Sierra Madre casino, found tactical hologram technology within its poisoned, ghost-infested depths. After escaping from the Sierra Madre, the Courier returned a month later with a full force of one thousand Securitrons and took the casino by force. Her robotic army slaughtered hundreds of Ghost People before managing to break into the casino itself, but the toxic red cloud proved a hindrance even to the mighty Securitrons. The robots began to wear away in the noxious fumes, the cloud corroding the rubber in between their joints before eating into the interior circuitry. More than half of the Courier's Securitrons suffered catastrophic system failure before she left with as much research data as she could scrounge up; this data included numerous files from the deranged Father Elijah as well as several working hologram emitters. Although there were other valuable treasures within the Sierra Madre's depths, staying to secure them all would have proven much too difficult as she not only had the red cloud to contend with but a seemingly endless stream of Ghost People as well. After leaving the Sierra Madre, the Courier destroyed the casino through unknown means.

Although initially skeptical with the Courier's discovery, Mr. House soon saw the potential for the hologram technology. He began implementing hologram vendors and dealers in his casinos, as well as using security holograms to bolster the Lucky 38's security systems. It wasn't until a year later, when the Courier secured the Big MT research facility, that plans for the construction of the Model 2 Securitron took place. The Courier had become enamored with the idea of a mobile platform for tactical hologram technology. The greatest weakness of holograms, she reasoned, was their limited range from their emitters. But if you made the emitter itself mobile, then theoretically the holograms' range would be infinite. Thus, she designed and planned out the first of the Model 2's construction, with some limited supervision from Mr. House.

The first batch of Model 2 PDQ-88b Securitrons were field tested against a small squad of Brotherhood of Steel Paladins at Hidden Valley. Results from the test remain inconclusive.