Echo's of Eras Past

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A Fallout: New Vegas fanfic

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What's your name, little girl?

What's your name?

Shootin' you straight, little girl

What' your name?

What's your name? By Lynyrd Skynyrd

Oo000oo000oO

By Zombie Boy

Oo000oo000oO

Molly walked down the staircase to where House's terminal was installed and strode over to it.

"Well, I'm back." she announced as she came up to him.

"Did you get the chip?" House asked.

"Yeah." Molly answered and reached into her cleavage. "Here it is." she said, withdrawing the chip and holding it up.

"Excellent." House said. "Now put it in the slot."

Molly looked at House's face on the screen, then the slot on the console, then to the chip, then back to House.

"This isn't going to be one of those go mad with with power things?" she asked. "'cause if it is-"

"It's a software upgrade." House snapped. "For my Securitrons."

Molly looked over at the robot hulking over by the console. "Uh huh." she said, twirling the chip across her knuckles. "Large hulking death machines getting upgraded really isn't that much of a-"

"If I truly was the type of cliche villain that you find in the pages of those tawdry pulp magazines, don't you think I would have had my Securitrons shoot you?" House asked in an annoyed tone.

Molly thought for a second, glanced at the chip, then back at House. "Whatever makes you sleep at night." she said, and then walked over to the terminal and slapped the chip into the slot.

The reaction was almost immediate. There was a click, and then the hum of electronics. Next to her, the Securitron slumped over, the screen going blanks while the automatic stability systems keeping the machine upright as the main systems rebooted.

Then there was 'clunk',and the machine powered back up as the systems came back online, the screen flickering as a new face came on the screen, a cartoon image of a soldier appearing in place of the policeman.

"If you would follow the Securitron to the elevator, I'll show you what this upgrade means and perhaps you won't be so reluctant to help me..." House said.

"Before that," Molly said, holding up her hand "Payment is due for services rendered. I snapped Benny's fucking neck and blew a bunch of his guys to hell."

House sighed in annoyance at Molly's request. "Of course. You needn't worry, I haven't forgotten our arrangement." he said as a new Securitron rolled into view carrying a sack in one hand. "Here you go, as specified in our deal: Three thousand caps, receivable upon termination of Benny."

"Thank you." Molly said, taking the caps and looking at the first Securitron. "Well, lead on." she said.

Oo000oo000oO

The elevator took her all the way to the basement of the casino, where she found herself walking into a large, cavernous space filled with machinery and piping that by her best guess, fed various services in the building.

In front of her was an elevated platform, with a table and a row of sandbags behind a photonic resonance field. House started speaking as she walked forwards towards the platform.

"My files show that you have been in New Vegas several times, so I'm sure you know what Securitrons were capable of." he said.

"Yeah." Molly nodded. "Gatling laser and a pistol caliber automatic weapon." Molly said, noting that there was a pair of binoculars, an ammo can, a subgun, and a pistol, both weapons being 9mm, and a pack of cigarettes.

"Yes. But what you don't know is that the Securitrons come with grenade and missile launchers for long range offensive capabilities, along with an automated self repair system, the drivers for which are not contained within the Mark One operating system." House continued. "However, the Mark Two operating system,"

"Which is contained on the Platinum Chip." Molly finished for him as she helped herself to the stuff on the table. "Which really gives you a tactical boost.." she said. "But there's more to it than that, isn't there?"

"You," House said, a trace of amusement in his voice "are a very prescient woman."

Molly shrugged, the equipment she'd grabbed rattling. "I have my moments." she said.

"Which, like I said earlier, is why I would like to continue to retain your services." House said. "We can discuss this further upstairs."

"Agreed." Molly said, and shook one of the cigarettes out of it's box.

Oo000oo000oO

"You smoke." House commented as Molly came into what she had mentally dubbed the monitor room.

"Only occasionally." she responded. "So, what's your offer?" she asked.

"What you were paid for delivering the chip, three thousand caps, per completion of every assignment." House offered. "And bonuses if you complete on time of ahead of schedule."

Molly ran the economics of operating in the Mojave with what he was offering through her mind and liked what she saw.

"Throw in Boone and I using this place to crash and you've got a deal." she said.

"Agreed." House said. "Now that we have that out of the way, I have your first assignment: The Securitrons I have on the Strip are not the only ones I have." he said. "There is another group of them at Fortification Hill, in a bunker I built there, before the war."

"And, let me guess, you want me, to go down there, and break into the bunker, and upgrade them for you." Molly stated.

"Exactly." House said, smug satisfaction creeping into his voice.

"You want me to kill Caesar while I'm at it?" Molly asked sarcastically.

"Absolutely not! Caesar is of great use to me!" House said emphatically.

"You're kidding, right?" Molly asked. "He's a fucking monster."

"He's a useful monster." House corrected her. "And for my long term plans, the continued existence of the Legion is not part of them. The Legion will be dealt with, just when I want them dealt with."

"And meanwhile, the Mojave will have to pay the butchers bill." Molly thought sourly. "Just so you know, the Legion wants my head on a pike. Getting into Fortification Hill is not going to be easy." she pointed out.

"Yes, I know that." House said, his tone reminding Molly of an annoyed schoolteacher. "But you seem to be fairly capable at manipulating men. I'm sure you can think of something."

Molly didn't like the emphasis that he put on the last word, but let it go. This was a chance to earn some good caps, no sense in being stupid and losing.

"Yeah, whatever." she said, and took one last drag from her cigarette before crushing it out in her fist and dropping it into a nearby ashtray.

"Before you go, you will need this." House said as the Securitron who had escorted her to the basement elevator took the Platinum Chip out of it's slot and handed it to her. "There's an abandoned weather station on top of the bunker. This will open the hatch on that bunker, and enable you to upgrade the Securitrons as well."

"Thanks." Molly said as she took the chip and stuffed it into her cleavage.

"That's certainly a secure storage method." House commented as she walked towards the stair.

"You have no idea, Mr House." Molly commented.

Oo000oo000oO

After hitting the Presidential Suite for a quick change into something more comfortable (her armor and her guns) Molly found Boone in the entertainment lounge of the suite, lying on a couch, reading a book.

"Hey, Boone, get your stuff. We're going for a drink." Molly said, leaning over the man.

"Why not just stay here and get a drink?" Boone asked her.

"Because this place is as quiet as as a tomb, and I like to drink in noisy places." Molly said. "Now get up."

Boone merely marked his place and got up.

Ten minutes later, they both were standing on the steps of the Lucky 38, wondering where they should go.

"Well, the Gomorrah's out." Molly said, looking at said edifice of wretched, shameful debauchery with a look of distaste. "Not to mention the Tops."

"Thanks to you shooting their boss." Boone pointed out.

"I didn't shoot him, I beat his head in." Molly said, fibbing slightly on the method she used in the demise of Benny. No sense in Boone asking questions in how she had the strength to break Benny's neck- or how she got him in that position.

"That leaves the Vault 21- what?" Boone asked when Molly cocked her head to one side.

"You hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what- oh." Boone said as his ears picked up what Molly was hearing.

"-ooooOOOOLLLLLLYYYYYYYYY!"

The next thing they knew, Molly was bowled over by a five and a half foot tall missile with neon purple hair.

"The hell?" Boone asked no one in particular.

"MOLLY MOLLY MOLLY MOLLY MOLLY MOLLY MOLLY MOLLY MOLLY ..." the girl latched onto Molly in a death grip chanted.

"Aaack! Air Air!" Molly croaked.

"MollyMollyMo- oh." the girls said, finally realizing that she was unintentionally choking the life out of Molly "Sorry!"

"AMI! Breath!" Molly said as she extracted herself from the mad grip of the purple haired girl.

"ButIwassoworriedaboutyou-" the girl, Ami, started babbling on again until Molly hauled back and slapped her across the face.

Her head lolled around from the force of the blow, her eyes staring off into space with her mouth agape. Then she recovered and shook her head, sitting up straight. .

"Thanks, I needed that." she said, rolling off of Molly and standing up.

"You're welcome." Molly said, standing up and dusting herself off. "Boone, meet one of my coworkers, Damian Bjornson." she said.

That's when the girl noticed Boone for the first time. "Oh!" she exclaimed perkily. "How are you? You can call me Ami." the girl said, extending her hand.

"Okay." Boone said, shaking the girls hand. "Nice to meet you." he added.

"Likewise." the girl said, bouncing on her heels and giving him a beaming smile.

"So." Molly said, getting the girls attention. "You heard from Old Man Johnson that I'd gotten shot and you went looking for me?"

"Yeah." Ami said. "I was making an express run when I heard the news, and by the time I was able to get to your last stop, you'd already passed through again, so I just started following your trail."

"Oh, thank you." Molly said, and gave the girl a kiss on the cheek.

"You're welcome." Ami said, blushing slightly.

"Are you okay for caps?" Molly asked. "It's a long way from Primm to Vegas-"

"I'm okay." Ami answered. "Since I was heading this way anyways and Johnson figured I'd be in a hurry, he gave me a couple of packages to deliver. One of them was pretty weird though. It was this bright green rubber penis, and I had to take it to the Atomic Wrangler, where this scary deathclaw looking lady signed for it..."

Molly gave a sputtering snort and covered her mouth with her hand.

"What?" Ami asked, baffled by Molly's reaction. "What's so funny?"

"I -I know that woman..." Molly choked out, tears forming at the corner of her eyes. "Francine Garret mail ordered... a ... dildo?"

At that point Molly lost control and doubled over laughing, Ami watching her in puzzlement.

"I don't get it." she said, then looked at Boone. "Whats so funny?" she asked him.

Boone, who had seen Francine (and now that he thought about it, she did have a 'deathclaw-like' air about her) and the thought of a stern, no nonsense woman like her ordering a sex toy... well, he had a very good poker face.

"And people say I'm weird." Ami said as Molly recovered from her laughing fit.

"Oh man... I am so gonna let her have it for that..." Molly said as she straightened back up.

"Please don't!" Ami begged her. "If you do that, she;ll think that I told you and then she'll come after me and eat me-"

"Relax." Molly told her, clapping her on the shoulder. "She'd have to catch you first, and we both know that you're the fastest thing on two feet in the whole Mojave, and second of all, I'd put in a good word for you and have her back off."

"Oh, thank goodness." Ami said, sighing in relief. "I was worried there for a second." she added, then perked up again. "So, what are you two doing?" she asked.

"Going to get a drink." Molly answered.

"May I come?" Ami chirped.

Molly looked over at Boone, who shrugged. "I don't care." he said.

"Sure." Molly told her. "We were thinking about going to the Atomic Wrangler."

Ami gulped nervously at the mention of that Casino. "Do we have to?" she asked. "Couldn't we go to the Tops instead?"

Molly shook her head. "Can't." she answered. "The Tops has a bit of an issue with me at the moment."

"Why?" Ami asked in a suspicious tone. "Molly, what or who did you do?" she asked.

"Oh." Molly said with another shrug. "You remember those six packages that came through? You were number three?"

"Uh huh." Ami said as they started walking to the gate.

"Well, long story short, the head of the Tops tried to kill me and took the package." Molly explained. "So I killed him right back and took back the package. I just finished making the delivery."

"Okay." Ami said. "If he was dumb enough to try and pick on you, he deserved what he got." she added, then snapped her fingers. "Oh, that reminds me. There's a couple of people looking for you."

Molly sighed as they walked through the gate into Freeside. "They're probably Legion. Me and Boone have had some run ins with them, and now they don't like us-"

"They're not Legion." Ami told her. "One's a little Khan girl. She's hanging around the gate in here, muttering about getting what's hers and a blue haired fat ass. I didn't make the connection until just now."

"Pfft! Don't worry about her, Ami. She's no threat." Molly said with a wave of her hand. "Who's the other one?"

Ami was silent for a few moments before she answered. "He calls himself Ulysses." she said. "He wears the flag of the Old World on his back."

"fuck." was Molly's response.

"You know him?" Ami asked.

"Yeah. He's an old associate of mine." Molly told her. "We have a bit of history together, and, well, now I need a drink."

"It didn't end well?" Ami asked.

"You have no idea, Ami." Molly answered.

Oo000oo000oO

As they walked through Freeside, Molly and Ami talked while Boone characteristically kept silent. This gave him a chance to get a good look at the girl while he kept an eye on their surroundings.

The first thing that stood out was, of course her bright purple hair. One thing thing that stood out was its color, or more specifically, it's uniformity. It was purple all the way down to the roots.

That meant she had either had gotten it dyed that very day (unlikely, Boone figured that she would have mentioned it in her babbling) or that it was natural. A quick look at her eyebrows confirmed it, her hair was indeed bright purple.

Moving on from her hair, he was a bit off his estimate of her height. Ami had to be about five four at most, with dark brown skin. Keeping with her Asian features, she had large dark blue almond eyes that were alert and intelligent, taking in everything around her.

A younger Boone would have described her figure as "slender but awesome", with an "awesome" ass. A part of him couldn't help but notice the contrast between Ami and Molly's rear end's.

Ami's had a nice perky twitch to it, versus the rhythmic swaying of Molly's. The leather armor dyed a very dark purple didn't hurt either. Along with it she had a pair of forest green shemagh's wrapped around her head and neck as protection against the sun and wind blown sand of the Mojave.

What really interested him was her choice of weapons: a trail rifle and a hunting revolver, both in .45-70. Her pistol belt was a little different though, with a pair of large pouches on the front instead of cartridge loops.

All in all, she was an attractive, attentive, and very distinctive young lady.

"-and so then a bunch of clowns burst in-"

Make that a very strange young lady.

Oo000oo000oO

The Atomic Wrangler turned out to be dead, which was not surprising considering the part of the day it was, so they turned around and headed out the door. As they were leaving, Molly remembered that she needed to talk with the Garrets about one of the outstanding jobs they had with them and ducked back inside while Ami and Boone waited outside.

"So, what are you?" Ami asked Boone as they waited.

"Excuse me?" Boone asked.

"What are you?" Ami repeated. "Tit's, ass, legs?"

"I really don't see how that's any of your business." Boone said. "But it's none of those."

Ami's eyebrows arched up towards her hairline. "None?" she asked. "So you like guys-"

"No." Boone said firmly. "I am a heterosexual. I just do not share the shame obsession of a woman's attributes like the rest of the male population."

"So what do you obsess over?" Ami asked.

Boone ground his molars and reminded himself that she was Molly's friend and so he should at least try to be polite to her. He also remembered why he became a sniper- it was a lot easier to deal with people from eight hundred yards out.

"Are you normally this prying with strangers?" he asked.

"When they hang around with my friends, yes." the purple haired girl responded. "So, what do you obsess over?"

Boone sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Yes, it was much easier to deal with someone from eight hundred yards out.

"I can understand your concern, but I don't see how your question would be relevant." he told Ami.

"Oh, it's very relevant." Ami told him. "In case you haven't noticed, Molly's bi. I need to make sure that you two have compatible tastes."

Boone blinked, stunned by the girls frank admission. "First of all..." he said. "I know she's bisexual. We stopped for the night at the 188 and she was flirting with a girl there."

Ami nodded. "Yeah, Veronica." she said. "I ran into her too. She's cute, in a sarcastic sort of way."

Boone gave her a long look when she said that.

"Are you-?" he asked.

"Bi." Ami chirped, giving him a cheeky smile. "Sex is fun, with boys or girls. Or both."

"Do your parents know that you're this way?" Boone asked.

Ami nodded. "Yeah. My dad caught me in the hayloft with Jimmy Stoger and his sister Betty when I was fifteen." she answered.

"He must have been so thrilled." Boone said dryly.

Ami chuckled nervously and scratched the back of her neck. "Ah, yeah, you could say that." she said, embarrassment coloring her cheeks. "Betty was my youngest brother's ex. He was off at boot camp at the time."

Boone stared at the girl for moment, then shook his head. "You don't do anything by halves, do you?"

"Nope!" Ami responded, beaming. "So, back to my original question: What is it?"

"She's not going to stop until I tell her, and if I don't tell her, this conversation is just going to get more and more surreal..." Boone thought as he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose again.

"Alright, you win." he said. "Eyes. I like eyes, the shape, the color..."

"Oh." Ami said, nodding. "That... actually makes sense, for a sniper." she said, then tilted her head to one side as a thought struck her. "What do you think of my eyes?"

All who knew Boone would say that he was a very blunt, to the point, type of person. The type for whom subtlety or caring for others feelings was an alien concept. However, not even he would be crass enough to snub a woman if she asked him about his looks.

"They're very pretty." he said. "I like the shade of blue they are. It reminds me of the sky when it's starting to get to sundown, and they don't miss a thing."

"Aww..." Ami said, and then enveloped him in a hug. "You're such a sweetie."

Boone could only grunt in response as he felt the breath being squeezed out of him.

"Cripes, where the hell did you get so strong?" he asked when she let go of him.

"My family are Brahman ranchers." she told him. "Shoveling shit and throwing hay."

"Good grief." Boone said.

Ami chuckled at Boone's response, then frowned as another thought occurred to her. "I wonder how your thing is going to work with hers..." she wondered aloud.

"Since you're going to probably tell me anyways, what does she like?" Boone asked.

"I'm an ass woman." Molly said, making them both jump as she grabbed them on the butt and gave a playful squeeze. "And I must say, damn Boone." she added, giving an appreciative look at his rear.

"Firm?" Ami asked.

"Rock hard." Molly informed her.

"oooh..."

"You're both disgusting." Boone said, scowling at the two women, who giggled. "Did you get the information that you needed?" he asked.

"Yeah." Molly answered him. "I figure we can take care of it when we get back."

Boone grunted and waited for the two women to figure out what they were going to do next.

"So now what?" Ami asked. "The Wrangler's dead right now, we can't go to the Tops..."

"I'd like to go back and finish reading my book." Boone said.

"That's not the worst idea I've ever heard..." Molly said.

"But it does sound kind of dull." Ami added. "This is New Vegas. It's supposed to be fun!"

"Vegas is fun only if you like wasting your caps on gambling or tacky entertainment." Boone told her.

"That's true..." Ami agreed. "I risk my life enough as it is being a courier. What do I need to gamble for?"

"Good point." Molly said. "But still, what to do?"

Ami thought for a second. "I'm horny." she said, her mouth once again operating with out any oversight from her brain.

Molly snapped her fingers. "Ami, where are you staying at?" she asked.

"Vault 21." answered the purple haired girl.

"There we go."Molly said. "Boone, why don't you go back to the Lucky 38 and read your book. Ami and I are gonna be at the Vault, seeing if we cant break the bed."

"Yaaay!" Ami cried.

Boone just shook his head and headed for the Strip North Gate.

"So how did end up staying in the Lucky 38?" Ami asked as Boone walked away.

"I'll explain on the way over." Molly said.

Oo000oo000oO

End.

Author's note: One thing that always bugged me about using the Black Widow method of retrieving the Chip was the fact is that he's a casino boss. That means he's on call twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. He would have people coming up to him regularly to bug him about one thing or another that required his attention.

And lets not forget all the other irons he has in the fire. So yes, the Courier would have a very good chance of being discovered by someone. So, hence the poor schmuck walking in on Molly getting shot in the head.

As for Ami, well. She's a lot of fun to write. You're going to be seeing more of her from time to time.

And as always, please review.

ZB.