21: The Lucky 38

Victor, that goddamn robot, was right there standing at the entrance to the Lucky 38. Courier frowned as she approached him, not surprised in the least when he rolled forward to greet her.

"Well howdy partner, good to see you!"

The damn thing had been following her.

"The boss is waitin' for ya upstairs, so get a move on!"

"Mr. House?"

"Yep." Victor rolled away, leaving the way to the doors open. "He's been waitin' on ya for a few days now, best not keep him waitin' anymore."

~!~

The Lucky 38 looked like it had never been touched, like the Great War had never happened. She walked into the building to find everything looking like it must have before the War. The carpets were clean and in mostly pristine condition, other than deep treads that showed where Securitrons had been by. The slot machines were still up and running, cheerfully lit up and making their little ding ding noises… it was disconcerting.

Before her was an elevator, the row to it was guarded by Securitrons, with one standing right before her. She glimpsed its blank screen for a brief moment before it was filled with Victor's cowboy face. Victor who she had left outside, she really hated these things.

"To the penthouse, miss!"

Feeling like she had stepped into an alternate reality, Courier walked onto the elevator. The ride up seemed to take forever, and through it all she could only wonder what Mr. House wanted with her. What did Caesar want with her? What the hell was going on? She knew who Mr. House was thanks to Yes Man, and felt her stomach churning slightly. Had this man she was about to meet known Shane? Known of Shane's schemes?

When the elevator doors opened, she was greeted to yet another Securitron rolling up to her. This one had a woman's face on its screen: a woman with elegantly coiffed hair with a flower tucked behind her ear and a face that would have been beautiful if it wasn't two-dimensional.

"Well hey there honey! Mr. House is waiting for you in the next room, you shouldn't keep him waiting any longer."

Courier was going to hazard a guess that Mr. House was also a Securitron. At this point, nothing would really surprise her. She followed the winding stairs down a level, marveling at how open the rooms were, and the view… the outer walls were nothing but panes of reinforced glass, or some other material, regardless, the view was breathtaking, if you didn't look down.

At the bottom of the steps was nothing but marble floor, and a second flight of stairs some odd feet away. Towards the windows, on what looked to be a small marble stage with a lot of electronic equipment, including a giant monitor that could have crushed several people if it fell. On this monitor was the image of a middle-aged man with slicked back black and grey hair and a very impressive mustache. She was getting tired of the faces on machines. That feeling wasn't helped by the arrogant expression on the man's face.

"If you had spoken to Victor before stomping into the Tops, I could have helped to prepare you."

The voice that came over the speakers was just as arrogant as the face that stared down at her.

"Because of your carelessness, Shane has fled the Strip, taking with him the Platinum Chip."

"Tell me something I don't know, Mr. House." She said tiredly.

"Shane was highly resourceful. He would have made a fine agent, had he stayed loyal. It's fortunate that you came along to replace him –and ironic."

Courier did not find any of this ironic so much as annoying. "I'm not your gopher, House." She cautioned, unsure just what he thought she had come along for. "I'm only up here out of curiosity."

"So you have no interest in finding out where Shane went?"

She gritted her teeth, already having a general idea. "Not particularly."

"He is heading for Caesar's camp, at Fortification Hill. I am aware, Courier, that you have just been invited to go there yourself by Caesar himself no less."

She didn't bother asking how he knew; she had seen all the robots on the streets. The Strip was House's turf, and she suspected not a lot went down without him knowing about it. "Why would he go there?" She asked, playing along with his assumption that she didn't know what was going on outside of Shane deciding to put a hole in her forehead.

"Because it is one of two places on Earth that have the hardware necessary to read the Platinum Chip –the Lucky 38 is the other, of course."

"Of course."

"So our next step is for you to infiltrate Caesar's camp at Fortification Hill, which as you already have an invitation, shouldn't be too hard."

Her eyes narrowed.

~!~

"Pack your shit, we're moving."

Melina raised her head off the pillow, groaning as light spilled into the dark room. "Courier?" She had no idea what time it was, there were no windows to even show if it were day or night. "What the hell?"

Courier reached for the light switch, arching an eyebrow when she seen John pulling the sheet over his head, fairly certain she had glimpsed bare chest. The whole scenario was complete when Melina shoved back blankets and swung her naked legs over the side of the bed. Melina was entirely naked. In bed. With John. They had hooked up. She idly wondered if John had been drinking. It was already a given that Melina had been.

"Did you say we're movin'?" Melina yawned, bending down to reach for her jeans.

"Yes."

"Where too?"

"The Lucky 38."

John sat upright at that, the sheet falling down to his hips.

He was definitely nude too.

~!~

"I don't understand any of this, Courier." Shawn said an hour later, sitting down in the bar of the Atomic Wrangler, keeping his voice down low so no wouldn't be overheard. Upstairs, John and Melina were getting their asses up and around, and probably either going at it again or pretending it never happened. "You're movin' into the Lucky 38?"

"Yes, for now." She stared at him intently, seeing a million and one questions burning in his eyes and reached across the table to gently touch the back of his hand. "Any chance I could talk you into coming with me?"

He turned his hand over in order to take hers, squeezing gently. "That depends, Courier. Just what is it you're plannin' on doing, honey?"

"I don't know yet." She admitted. "I'm… confused, and lost. I thought I wanted Shane dead, and to a point I still do, but… there's something much bigger than that going on, Shawn. Something I've been dragged into."

"Something you can walk away from?"

"I'm not sure anymore."

~!~

"You have run of the building, Miss Katy." Victor said when Courier and the rest showed up. "Your friends too, except for the penthouse. Nobody but you allowed up there."

"Alright, okay." Courier led the way inside, hearing Melina's low whistle. She felt Shawn reaching for her hand and groped for his, threading her fingers through his. "Up this way."

"Straight to the Presidential suite!" Victor called before the doors closed behind them.

John looked uncomfortable, staring straight ahead while Melina kept glancing at him.

"Presidential suite, huh?" Shawn smiled down at her, worry in his eyes. "You sure are movin' up in the world, honey."

Courier just smiled tensely.

~!~

"We need to talk."

Courier was unpacking her satchel in the master bedroom, listening to the radio when she heard John's voice. Turning, she found him leaning in the open doorway and arched an eyebrow at him. "Okay Cena, what about?"

John studied the room, noting the red décor, which matched the rest of the suite. There was the master bedroom along with an adjacent bathroom, a dining room, a kitchen, recreation room, a second bathroom, and a guest room with several beds all partitioned off for some privacy. Melina had promptly destroyed those partitions, which John was assuming was her way of telling him she wasn't letting him get away from her so easily.

He hadn't been surprised when Courier took the master bedroom, nudged along by the damn robot that had been waiting to meet them. Nor was he surprised when Shawn had made himself at home in the master bedroom either. He didn't want to or care to know about whatever their arrangement was. What he did care about was just what the hell he was doing here.

"What're you plans, Courier?"

"Good question Cena, I'm kind of making them up as I go along at this point."

"I've noticed."

Courier already knew she was eventually going to be heading towards Fortification Hill, and she most definitely could not take John with her. He had made it abundantly kill he had a shoot first, don't bother asking later question concerning the Legion. She needed to get in and out without being massacred. "I have business out in the desert, business I won't need your services for."

He grunted, wondering just why she had bothered enlisting him then.

"However, Melina needs to do some traveling. She wants to check in on locations where her caravans were last seen. I don't want her going alone."

"I'll take care of… it."

Courier kept her back to him, hiding her smile.