It's Letting Go

Chapter Twenty: Curtain Call

When seeing someone who they care about get shot, most people imagined screaming, or flying into a rage, but when Tonya Greene saw Christine fall backwards out of the chair after Dean's bullet struck her in the head, she just kind of froze in place with her jaw hanging open. That knot had reformed in the Courier's stomach, and her mouth ran dry when she saw that the scarred woman was no longer moving or breathing, but there was plenty of water coming out of her widened eyes.

"Aw, what's the matter, pet? Did I shoot your girlfriend?" Dean asked, faking that he was sad. "You know, this wouldn't have happened if she had just died in the restaurant like a good girl."

Angrily shifting her gaze back to the Ghoul standing on the stage, Tonya jumped to her feet with the intent of climbing up there to tear him apart with her bare hands, only to yelp and fall on her rear after another bullet from Dean's pistol struck the floor between her feet. Bang! Bang! Two more bullets hitting the floor between her knees now, forcing her to scoot backwards to get away from them, resulting in the Courier ending up hiding underneath the same table she had been before.

"You stupid, selfish bastard!" Tonya screamed, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'll kill you for this, Dean Domino!"

"No, my love, actually, you won't." The Ghoul replied, walking back toward the curtains and hitting a switch. "Hear that click just now, Tonya? That's the sound of holographic emitters warming up, and in about thirty seconds, you're going to find yourself surrounded by casino security."

Continuing this taunt, Dean explained how he had locked the doors of the theater while the Courier had been busy with her girlfriend, and if she thought that she could get away, then she was as delusional as Sinclair was for building an entire casino and resort for Vera Keyes… thinking that Vera had loved him when she had belonged to Dean the entire time. Apparently the two of them had conspired to rob the casino's vault by working together on opening night, but those damn bombs just had to fall… causing the Ghoul to trail off for a moment.

"Where are those damn holograms?" Dean grumbled to himself, looking around. "They won't attack me because I'm a registered guest of the Madre, but you and Elijah… nothing but tourists, like I said… trespassing tourists. Don't be scared, princess, I set them to non-lethal, so they won't kill you, just render you unconscious… after all, I still need you for my plan… once I'm done screwing you until you can't walk, that is."

Tonya had a reply to that last statement, and it was a good one too, but she was interrupted by the sudden appearance of blue glowing security holograms like the ones she had seen at the Clinic. There were three of them, appearing at different points around the theater, and each one turned yellow the moment they faced where the Courier was trying to hide. Dean had already told her that the doors were locked, so she was looking around for another exit, when the holograms turned red.

"Oh, fuck!" Tonya exclaimed, scrambling out from under the table as the holograms put their hands on top of their heads.

The first blast of red energy that was launched from their heads struck the table, leaving a black scorch mark as it was overturned by the force. The next one flew right past her head, followed by another hitting a chair when she tried to change directions, forcing the Courier to take the only shelter that she could see… by running for the snack bar, knocking everything down as she dove over the top of it, and very ungracefully crashing to the floor behind it.

Rolling over to upright herself, Tonya scooted over so that her back was against the snack bar, while keeping as low of a profile as she could, while watching the reflections of the red holograms as they walked around looking for her. However, about ten seconds later their color changed back to yellow just like at the Clinic, and after maybe ten more seconds of not being able to find her… they turned blue in order to resume what she guessed was a normal patrol.

"What? Are you serious right now?" Dean could be heard exclaiming in disbelief. "She's over there, behind the snack bar, she's right behind the snack bar, you God damn pre-war junk."

The Ghoul had said that he couldn't kill her for some reason, so there was no risk of him coming over to shoot her personally, and the holograms were no longer interested, giving the Courier time to use the mirror up above to find a way out. Aside from the main doors and the stage itself, there was only a single door available, one back around the far side of the stage where it was almost hidden from public view… but was it locked or open?

Well, she couldn't just stay there forever, in case one of the holograms checked back there on its patrol, so Tonya waited until she saw that all three of them were facing away from her, before getting up and rushing back around the snack bar. Dean started yelling for the holograms to shoot her, but apparently they only responded to what they could perceive on their own, because she was almost past the stage by the time she heard that hollow whoosh that came along with the holograms changing back to yellow.

Not even bothering to look back, the Courier just kept running; slamming herself into the door just as the holograms were heard changing to red… but it didn't open. There wasn't quite a curse word strong enough to express what she was feeling at that moment, but at least the Ghoul on stage was happy judging by his laughter… until the first shot fired by the holograms went right past her head, hitting the door with enough force to break it free of the lock.

"No!" Dean yelled as she ran through the door, slamming it shut again once she was through. "You can't hide in there forever, beautiful… the holograms will find you eventually!"

She didn't know whether or not the holograms could come back into the long hallway in which she found herself, nor did she want to wait around to find out. What she needed was a place to hide, at least until she could find a way to disable the holograms, or simply deal with the Ghoul and be done with it. He was going to pay for what he had done to Dog and Christine, but not while security was protecting him, so Tonya tried the first door that she came to… a door that had the words VERA KEYES written in big letters inside of a gold star.

Almost forgetting to close and lock it again after passing through, since she was just so happy that it was unlocked, the Courier corrected this mistake and was looking for something she could hide behind… when she realized where she was. Only now registering that Vera Keyes had been written on the door, she figured that this must have been her dressing room, since the starlet's clothes, makeup, and photographs were all over the place.

What caught her attention the most was a small photograph of Vera standing with the pre-war version of Dean Domino, but with as happy as the would be Ghoul looked with his big grin, Vera looked like she wanted to run away, regardless of the forced smile that was on her face. She and Dean must have been booked to play the theater on the same night, Tonya thought as she set the picture down… and then she saw herself in the full length mirror, and got an idea that made her smile.

The Courier's hands were almost shaking as she undid her hair, and then unzipped her jumpsuit before getting out of it, next grabbing the first hanging set of clothes that she found; a beautiful black dress with red trim that showed a lot of cleavage and her entire left leg once it was on. Now going over to the vanity table and sitting down, Tonya grabbed the dozen bobby pins that were sin the first drawer, and started putting up her hair, ending with it in a kind of beehive style like on the posters.

"You can pass for her as long as you keep your mouth shut." She mocked Dean's words while putting on some bright red lipstick. "Smile more and talk less."

Oh God, not heels, Tonya thought when she found the shoes that went with the outfit. It had been a very long time since the Courier had any reason to wear heels, and yep, they were just as uncomfortable as she remembered, regardless of being the right size. Okay Tonya, try to remember how to walk in them without being a klutz… lean back slightly… heel to toe… shorter steps… arch feet just a little… move hips more for balance.

"Ladies and Gentlemen." She said to herself, rocking her hips to the side and winking into the mirror. "I give you the one and only, Ms. Vera Keyes."

It took a couple laps of walking around the dressing room before it all came back to her as far as walking in heels, and now it was time to see just how identical she and Vera were… if the Courier was right, and this whole place had been built for the starlet, then not only would security not shoot at her, but they might even like her a bit more than the Ghoul. Either way, it would give her a fair fight, and this time Dean was going down.

Remembering that their voices were different, Tonya decided to actually take the Ghoul's advice about keeping her mouth shut, trying to walk as gracefully as possible back to the door back into the theater… and then taking a deep breath before pulling it open. Dean spotted her first, although freezing in place when he saw her new look, but the holograms were not so taken in, turning yellow as they approached… but then turning blue again.

"What are you doing?!" The Ghoul yelled, pointing at her with his pistol. "That's not Vera Keyes, its Tonya Greene, now shoot her! God damn it, I said shoot…

Suddenly the holograms turned yellow again, but this time they were not looking at the Courier, in fact all three of them were facing toward Dean, probably because he was pointing a gun at another guest of the Sierra Madre. Again the Ghoul tried to explain to them that Tonya was an impostor, to which the Courier responded by waving to them and smiling innocently… and then the holograms turned red.

"Oh, shit!" Dean yelled, running for cover as the holograms started shooting at him.