Wolfe had been standing in front of the tank that contained his organic heart for the last three hours. The first time he had travelled to Big MT the Sink's Auto-Doc had removed his brain, heart, and spine and replaced them with advanced technology. Later, he was able to regain his organic brain and spine, with a few upgrades, but chose to keep his technological heart because it made him immune to all poisons and toxins. He knew they were ready. Or at least he hoped they were ready to retake the Strip. Veronica was currently training with her new saturnite power fist. Raul was cleaning his revolver before loading it with specially customised saturnite bullets. The three brotherhood members were sparring to pass the time until the signal came in. Wolfe himself had dug the FIDO cyberdog gun out of storage. He hadn't used it since he'd mown down Lanius at Hoover Dam, but it was still in mint condition. He had it loaded with .44 SWC rounds. He knew what he was doing, he'd been through war before. But six years was a long time out of the battlefield. The Queen's Army was huge and relentless, and who knew how many more innocents she had mutated to swell her ranks? Wolfe focused on his breathing. Remain calm, he told himself. These people look up to you. Do not fuck up. Suddenly, the voice of Kreger spluttered through the CIU.
"We've breached the Strip sir!"
"Everybody to the balcony" roared Wolfe.
The seven made their way outside, linking hands as Wolfe pulled out the Transportalponder. He looked over at Chris, and the two men shared a nod. Then he pulled the trigger.
The group suddenly found themselves in the middle of the fray, just outside the Lucky 38. Wolfe begin firing FIDO into the middle of the Abominations, shredding them with the sheer number of rounds. The Vegas Army was holding up well against the creatures. This time, they weren't caught by surprise, proving that the Abominations were only good for a fast, overwhelming surprise attack.
"Clear a path to the Casino!" roared Wolfe.
The soldiers, hearing the voice of their President and hero, were spurred to more ferocity and fortitude. Just as the Abominations surrounding the Lucky 38 had been cleared, one of them reared up behind Wolfe and bared down on him, only to suddenly melt into a puddle of green goo. Wolfe turned to see Arcade, suited up in his father's Tesla Armour, lowering his Plasma Defender.
"Good to see you're alive Wolfe" he shouted.
"You too Arcade" Wolfe shouted back.
A huge explosion rocked the streets, as Chris and Arthur flung Plasma grenades at the Abominations. Veronica had ducked back into Freeside, presumably to make sure the Followers in the Old Mormon Fort were protected from the battle. Cannibal Johnson approached Wolfe and Arcade, his minigun tearing apart any Abominatins that got too close.
"You need to get inside and find a way to restart the Securitrons, Sir!" he panted. "We're holding them off for now, but there's too many to defeat without the robots, unless you want half the people here to die".
Wolfe merely nodded and signalled Raul, Chris, Arthur and Torch to follow him inside.
More Abominations were swarming around the ground floor. Chris's Tesla rifle made short work of the first one to notice them. After a minute or two the coast was clear. Wolfe undid the harness of FIDO and handed the huge gun to Arthur, explaining how it worked.
"I want you, Torch and Raul to defend that door against any Abominations that try to get in".
Chris nodded at his two Knights, indicating that they should go along with the orders. Then Wolfe turned to Chris.
"You and I will take the elevator to the penthouse and put an end to the Queen".
As he said this, Wolfe pulled out his silenced 10mm SMG, Sleepytyme, and Blood-Nap. ED-E followed the two men into the elevator as both checked their weapons were fully loaded. The elevator ride seemed to take an eternity, the silence inside only accentuated by the sounds of the battle outside. Soon, they reached the penthouse and burst forth, weapons at the ready. What they found was not a nest of Abominations, the Queen sitting smugly at their centre. Instead, they were greeted by the sight of five humans, two men and three women, standing around the giant computer.
"Who are you?!" roared Wolfe.
One of the men turned to face them.
"We are the Queen's chosen ones. We showed her such worship that it was her will that we remain human, to better watch over her Kingdom. I assume you came to kill her and take what is rightfully hers? Well you have failed. She is not here, she is safe from your bullets and knifes. Even if you take the Strip today, she will rebuild and return. She cannot be stopped, Wolfe Hunter".
Wolfe sighed, the quick as lightning threw Blood-Nap at the man, lodging the Bowie knife in his throat.
"Now" he said, strolling over and pulling Blood-Nap out of its latest victim, "Does anyone want to tell me where she is?".
The four remaining 'Chosen Ones' exchanged glances, then folding their arms in an act of defiance.
"So be it" muttered Wolfe, raising Sleepytyme and gunning them down.
After the last one had stopped twitching, Wolfe pulled out a holotape and inserted it into a slot on the computer.
"What's that?" asked Chris, still slightly shocked at Wolfe's sudden violence. Even in the heat of battle, the Courier had always come across as level-headed.
"It's a backup file for Yes Man" came the answer.
Even as Wolfe spoke the computer lit up, and a huge smiling face appeared.
"Thank God you got had that file Sir, being offline isn't really fun I must say"
"Yes Man, I need you to reactivate all of the Securitron units right now" ordered Wolfe.
Moments later, the Strip was filled with the sound of cheering. Under the combined pressure of the human and super mutant soldiers and the Securitrons, the Abominations were being torn to pieces. The Battle of the Strip was over twenty minutes later. Chris put his hand on Wolfe's shoulder and spoke.
"I told you we'd take back your city"
"It means nothing if we can't find the Queen" Wolfe growled in response.
He walked over and kicked the corpse of the first chosen one in frustration.
"He was right. She'll rebuild her Army and she'll come back. She won't let us taking back Vegas go without retaliation. I can't rest easy until she's been tracked down and given a bullet to the head".
At that moment, Yes Man spoke up in his consistently cheery voice.
"Funny you should mention that. See, while my AI was shut down by that virus the guy with the Mohawk uploaded, the computer actually remained active. And those guys you killed there were using it to send and receive messages from someone they addressed as 'The Queen'. While you guys were watching the Army winning the battle down there, I was tracking down the sources of the received messages. Ain't that neat?"
Wolfe rushed to the computer screen, a glimmer of hope in his voice as he nearly begged the AI.
"Where is she, Yes Man?!"
"The messages came from an overseer's computer in the sealed off vault east of here. Vault 34".
Wolfe looked up at Chris. Even with his power helmet on, he could tell the Paladin was grinning.
"We've got her" Wolfe grinned back. "We've got the bitch"