"And you're positive Swank wouldn't have tipped Benny off?" Lone asked as her soles stepped off plush carpeting of the elevator and onto cold tile of the casino floor.
"No, no worries there. Swank's been looking for something to pin on Benny for a long time - he wouldn't shoot himself in the foot like that." Carson assured her, "Swank's a nice guy, but, - just like everyone else around here - he's trying to make it to the top of the pile. If Benny's out of the way, Swank takes his place as head Chairman, so it's the perfect situation for him. There's plenty of evidence for him to use against Benny and if he's lucky, two random people could handle the problem for him. Then, if it all goes south, who's going to blame him?"
She nodded absentmindedly, "Alright - makes sense. Then he has to be here somewhere."
They stepped down the large hallway towards the main room, their eyes keenly scanning the faces of the customers. The image of Benny's face, shadowed slightly in the dark, but illuminated in the moonlight, was still imprinted in her mind.
"And with any luck, he's wearing that black and white jacket of his, so he'll be easy to pick out. Which - you know, if you think about it - why wear something so recognizable, if you're going to go around killing people?" Carson pondered, "Hmm… probably has attention issues or something. Wears it as kind of a sign to say, 'I can afford to look this stupid'."
A small breath of a chuckle escaped her. Her eyes caught sight of his choice in décor before she noticed his face, and the man in the checkered suit was more than obvious to Lone. He leaned over a roulette table, placing small, white pieces on numbers he deemed lucky as he made his bet. Benny held himself with an authoritive air and she wasn't sure if it was because of his Chairman title, or the five or six men bodyguards that stood near him.
"There." Lone stated, her voice hard, causing Carson's eyes follow her line of sight to lock on Benny.
Possible plans of action played quickly in her mind. The StealthBoy idea might still work. She had her answers now, so she wouldn't have to question him. Just a quick blade to the throat. Or Carson could provide a distraction with the Mercy?
She could shoot him from here. Quick assault rifle round to the head? Or better yet, Carson's silenced and scoped hunting rifle. That'd provide more accuracy and with a silenced round, it take them longer to find where it came from. She wondered if Carson would let her borr-
A small notion in the back of her head reminded her that she wasn't alone, and pulled her from her thoughts. She leaned closer to Carson, but kept her eyes on Benny.
"Okay, I have an idea. Keep him from leaving the room; I'm going to the second floor. I need your rifle." She spoke in a low tone.
Carson's eyes glanced fleetingly to her, but took a double take as he grasped the intention in her words, "Whoa, whoa, easy, Rambo. Let's just think this out for a minute. Don't you want to talk to him?"
"I don't really need to, and the abundant amount of guards supports that decision."
"Well yeah, you don't need to, and when you say it like that, it sounds loony, but just take a second to look at it." He reasoned, "Although there's always a possibility, I doubt he'll try to have you killed right here. More than likely, he doesn't want a firefight in the middle of his casino, with all his paying customers around. He'd probably take the safety off if you try shooting him up right here in the open, so I wouldn't advise that; but you could talk to him."
That was an idea. Carson had a point; it wasn't very likely Benny would pull a gun on her. He didn't seem like an idiot - maybe not the best of assassins, but not an idiot. She was sure he'd make a run for it if he saw her, so she couldn't make an extravagant entrance.
"Seriously," Carson continued, "when will you get a chance to do something like this again? Even if you know why, don't you want to see the look on his face when you shoot it?"
There was a bit of intrigue at the idea of seeing how her executioner would react to her return, but more then anything, she wanted him dead. She'd lost her… taste; you could call it… for theatrics within her first year out of the Vault. She learned that sometimes you just have to get the job done, despite the poetics. Although, the idea was still most interesting.
Her eyes stayed ahead, directly locked on Benny as her mind mulled it over quickly.
"Alright." She relented, briskly moving across the room, "I'm going to get close to him. I'll need you to keep your distance, but be ready to intervene - just in case."
Benny seemed to be enjoying himself, watching the roulette wheel spin and waiting in anticipation to see if his choice was the right one. Lone took a breath, letting her features relax and muscles unwind as her quick walk turned into a meaningful saunter.
One guard glared at her cautiously as she drew near, but she returned his gaze with a bright smile, moving pass him without hesitance and - much to her satisfaction - he let her go without question.
A brief flash from her memory of the first time she did something like this, showed in her mind. Used her - as someone once called them - 'wiles' to get something done. Mr. Burke - she hadn't been out of the Vault a week, when he ushered her over and offered a good deal of caps to detonate the bomb in Megaton. She remembered how horrible she felt after sweet talking him out of it - like a charlatan. But after awhile, she noticed that it saved her a lot of time and harm.
All she had to do was smile, sway her hips a little and use the occasional 'honey' or 'baby', and all of the sudden, problems were solved. She still didn't like it though; she still felt like an idiot and would rather reason with them or just shoot them and be over with it. But she wasn't always the better armed one. Sometimes she had to be a little persuasive.
This was such a case.
Lone moved through the crowd with ease, and she slipped her arm sensually around Benny's waist as she rested her chin gently on his shoulder. In a hidden, fluent movement, she slipped her knife from her leg holster and - it shielded from sight by her own body - she poised it to hover just at his low back.
Benny glanced fleetingly over his shoulder at her touch and a smile spread over his face. A small crowd surrounded the table, the excitement of the game kept everyone's eyes on the table and the roulette wheel.
Picking up a piece, Benny raised it to her lips with a smile, "Hey, baby, want to make this luc-" There was a brief moment of friendliness before what she knew as recognition sparked in his eyes. His face paled and his voice dropped to a deep whisper, "What in the Goddamn." Unbelief, brief panic, than shock settled in his eyes. "Whoa, let's keep this in the groove, hey? Smooth moves like smooth little babies." A faked calm entered his tone.
She touched the blade to his back, aligning it with his spine. Feather light, but still an ominous threat. At this proximity, she could feel his muscles tense even further and could nearly feel his pulse quicken. "My sentiments exactly, 'baby'. And no thanks, by the way, just keep playing - Benny, was it?" Lone spoke casually, but low. "When you shot me, you ran off so fast I never got your name"
The bustle of the table hid their tones and the attention of everyone was on the wheel as it spun; the small ball being tossed and clattered around.
"What - you making a pass at me, sister?" He scoffed, "Because I'm out of your league."
"Certainly not in marksmanship." She sneered, "And don't flatter yourself. I'm just playing my cards right - isn't that how Vegas works?" Lone asked kindly.
"That's a fact, doll; you're fitting right in." His eyes moved to the table again as he placed a small white chip down; trying to seem civil to any prying eyes. His voice only heard to her, "But I hit my mark. You must just have brains to spare; or you're just thick headed? Because, excuse me for saying, dollface, but you're suppose to be dead."
Her eyes watched absently as he made his bet, but her mind was solely on him. "I'm pretty adaptable."
"I don't think you can adapt around a bullet."
"Well, I'm not unleaded, if that's what you mean. Scarred, but not dead." She took a breath, "You're certainly a hard man to find, Benny. I've spent a lot of time and resources to get to this point, so I'm not going to play around."
"Just what I was thinking, sugar. What say you and me cash out, go somewheres more private like? Any questions you got, I'll answer."
She paused a moment. It certainly sounded tempting… but something didn't feel right about that. He was a slippery one, and right now, he was in her grasp - more literally than she had planned. She didn't intend on letting him go.
"I appreciate the offer, but I've talked to Yes Man, Benny, so I already know everything I want to."
"Baby, this is not the place to go talking about that." He growled as his eyes darted to the other players. He continued much harsher, "Like I said, we should talking somewheres private." The cheers of the latest roulette winner hid his words.
Cocky bastard.
"I'm fine discussing it right here." She hissed back, pressing her knife a little harder into his back, "I have a good reason for you to shut your mouth and play nice. Do you have a reason for me not to kill you?"
"You want a reason, how about four? They're called bodyguard and everyone of them is packing. Me too - so, baby makes five. After that, every Chairman in this joint is armed and not with some pocket knife like maybe you smuggled through security." He took a breath and calmed his tone back to polite, "Anyhow, baby, you didn't come here for vengeance, you came to get clued in."
"Let's see how well you call for help with a severed spine? And I bet you everything, they can't shoot me faster that I can shiv this right into your back." She pressed her knife a little deeper to emphasize each word, "And don't be so sure of yourself. Vengeance is sounding pretty sweet right about now, so it'd be in your best interest to not toy with me. I'll tell you what, I want the Platinum Chip and I want it now; give it to me and there will be minimal disturbance."
"I can't do that, baby, and you know it. There's a lot of angles to this caper - complexity aplenty. But plenty of action too - enough for the both of us. But we don't jabber about it in the open, so, like I said, we should be talking somewheres private."
"Talking in the open doesn't bother me. I have nothing hide or lose, whereas you have plenty. Just give me the Chip and save yourself some time and pain."
"Hey, if a shootout is what you want, by all means, baby, go ahead." Benny switched his tactic, "But people get nervous when the bullets are flying, and you don't want a riot, now do you, sugar? Let's just go and talk it out, you dig?"
"Whether a riot starts or not, isn't my concern. Anything that needs to be said can be said here. If you want to make this into a shooting, then lets see if you can finish what you started." She taunted quietly, "Think about it, Benny. I've come back from the dead, tracked you across the desert and killed anything in my way. Do you really want to screw me over?"
She wouldn't loose him. She had done too many favors, put herself in far too much danger and sacrificed too much to loose him now. Dead or alive, she'd finish him.
"That temper of yours…" He cocked his head to the side, placing another chip down. Her eyes absently watched the small white pieces, but something drew her attention. "It's going to get you in a lot of trouble one day, dollface."
In the faint back of her mind, she noticed he placed the pieces in an odd formation. She wasn't too familiar with roulette, but she wasn't sure that was part of the game. What was the point in that? What did that mea-?
She drew in a sharp breath as she felt the familiar pressure of a gun's barrel against her back. Even through her clothing, it dug into her healing, but tender injuries and made her chest tighten from the pain. Her skin shied away from the hard metal as it began to tingle with the anticipation of a bullet.
Cocky bastard.
She wheeled around and clamped her hand firmly onto guard's wrist and gun, shoving away the barrel just as his finger impulsively pulled the trigger and sent a bullet flying into the wall. Her eyes caught sight of Benny dashing away as the room erupted into screams with the quick crack of the small caliber pistol. Her blade followed her actions quickly and stabbed deep into the bodyguard forearm, surpassing tendons and muscles, and sticking deep into his bone.
The gun fell from his hand as he yelled in pain. With a hard yank, Lone pulled the knife from his arm and sent a swift kick into his stomach. As another nearby bodyguard drew his piece to assist, Lone caught sight of Carson appearing from the chaotic crowd and taking ahold of a guard's armed hand.
As her attacker stumbled back from her kick, Lone drew her holstered Magnum in an instant and fired just as the barrel was free. With a deafening gunshot, his stomach exploded into a hole of gushing blood and entrails. Raising the gun higher, she sent another round into his head, bursting it into a mist of pink and chunks of red across the poker and roulette tables.
Her attention moved to the other guard to see him collapse onto the ground and his gun being held firmly in Carson's hand.
Carson's eyes met hers with a look of urgency. "13th floor." Carson called over the screaming people, answering the question in her eyes.
She gave a fleeting nod of agreement as she turned on her heel and they sprinted to the elevators.
Dashing into one, Lone lifted two 44. rounds from her pocket as the doors closed in front of them. She pressed them into her Magnum and, with the flip of her wrist, swung the cylinder shut.
I'm coming for you, Benny.
A/N: This was one of the hardest, yet most fun chapters I've written yet.
Benny is such an interesting character and I didn't realize the full depth of that, until I was studying his dialogue to write this.
Yet I wanted to shoot myself because I couldn't figure out how get all I wanted into this chapter, while staying in the cannon of the scene. So what did I do? I changed it around a bit, so Ta Da!