THE VILLA
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re-attempting...
re-attempting...
The hologram was waiting for them when they returned to the Villa. They followed the faint haze of blue light past rows of twisted trees with leaves that had long since fallen, lying red and crumpled on the pavement beneath their feet. When Brianna lifted one and crunched it between her fingers, they came back stained with scarlet. The Cloud was running through the veins of fallen leaves just like it was running through her. The poison in the air was was boring its way through the freckles across the bridge of her nose and the dry patches of skin between her knuckles. It was in her skin. It was in her lungs. It was already killing her.
Christine and Veronica walked with their fingers entwined, solemn and silent until the Medical District was far behind them.
"Where did you go?" Veronica asked, her voice soft as she glanced in Christine's direction.
Brianna walked behind them with Dog at her side. The mutant grumbled something about a beeping in his stomach as Christine acted out a response. She drew an invisible circle in the air, pointed to her collar and made a looking motion by shielding her eyes with her hand. Every action was small and deliberate, as if she was attempting to convey a whisper. She gave Veronica a hopeless look, waiting for her to understand the message.
"I know you went to The Circle after you left. And something about the collars?"
Her shoulders slumped in a silent sigh as she repeated the motion of pointing to her collar and searching for something in the distance.
"You were looking for this place? Looking for the Sierra Madre?"
She shook her head.
"Looking for technology like this? For bomb collars?"
She raised an eyebrow.
"I hate charades."
"You were looking for Elijah," Brianna replied, stopping when they reached the fountain.
Christine turned around and nodded eagerly.
"Why?" Veronica asked. "What did he do before all this?"
She averted Veronica's gaze.
"Something bad, I'm guessing. You know, the last time anyone saw him was at the battle of HELIOS One."
She looked up, tilting her head slightly to one side as she listened.
"Everyone thought he was dead after the NCR overran the place, but I got a note from him at the comm station. The note, it- it was strange, even for him. I always knew he had some strong views about the Brotherhood, about the world, but this time I actually started to think he was crazy. He said that the Brotherhood was doomed, but that he'd return, save us. But the way he said it... He said he'd return with one of the greatest treasures of the Old World, make the Mojave like it was meant to be. Wipe the slate clean."
Christine sat down on the fountain's edge and looked up at the casino, eyes dark.
"You think that's what he meant?" Brianna asked. "He wanted to bring something back from here?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "I didn't know about any of this. I don't know where he went, or- or what he wanted and none of this makes any sense! How did he even know this place was here? I mean, going by the writing above the Medical District, my guess is that we're in Mexico."
"Mexico?"
"South of America. Really, really south. But that doesn't mean a damn thing, does it? What does he want with this place? If that note had anything to do with the Sierra Madre, then the guy really is crazy. A casino can't change the world. It won't make anything like it was meant to be, I know that now." She turned to Christine. "Can you tell us anything else? Can you write something down, maybe tell me how the hell you're even here? What did he do, Christine? Is he why you went away? Did they send you to The Circle because of me, or because of him?"
Christine's mouth opened and closed as she tried to figure out a way to explain. She made a small, pathetic gesture with her hands.
"Hey, it's fine," she said, moving to Christine's side at the first sign of discomfort. "Whatever this is, we'll- we'll figure it out."
Brianna couldn't watch as she put a loving arm around the mute woman, her eyes sad and her voice soothing as empty assurances broke past her lips. The sight was enough to make her remember. It made her remember a woman who didn't matter, a woman who didn't exist, it made her remember a woman who had no place here, not even in memory.
"Don't worry," Sunny assured her. "I'm your sunshine, remember?"
The glint of something golden caught her eye. She headed towards the fountain, eyes widening when she found the glittering coins that lay within. She scooped them up and made for the vending machine up 'd seen the model somewhere before - in some old pre-war book, maybe - and approached it with haste. Dog followed along uncertainly while she attempted to work out the controls.
"Swipe for food, insert coins, then-"
She took a startled step back as the holographic image of a box of Instamash began to take form. Actual, physical form. The screen began to glow, tiny atoms of light bunching together and shaping themselves into a tangible box of mashed potatoes, sitting right there in front of her. She stared at in amazement before taking it in her hands, quickly slotting the rest of the coins in until her pockets were empty and her arms were full. C
"Master here?" Dog questioned, as she set the food out on the fountain for the two scribes. "Bring food? Dog can feel hunger growing. Dog- needs to- hurt-"
"Dog. Back in the cage."
Christine watched the mutant suspiciously as Brianna lowered her Pip-Boy. He returned the look with a malicious grin.
"What have we here? Why, it's a little doll. Were you carved by a craftsman, little doll? Or by a drunk who didn't know his tools?" He moved closer, studying her. Christine shrunk back. "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. Yet. Much. Scars tell a story, and that one on your throat tells a particularly bloody one. Someone wanted to cut your voice, little doll, but they didn't do the job right. Didn't finish their work, or didn't know how."
She rose to her feet, fists clenched.
"No, no, it wasn't me. I have no use for your neck beyond what encircles it. The lack of screams when I finally kill you, that is what I'll-"
"You're really not a people person, are you?" Brianna grumbled. "Lighten up or I put you back in that cage."
"No, you can't," he replied. "If I see you move for that collar around your wrist, I'll snap your little porcelain body in half."
"Nice try, mutant, but your life's tied to mine. One of us dies and that collar in your stomach explodes."
He gave a low chuckle, blatantly insincere. "That would be very inconvenient for the Old Man, wouldn't it? Just remember what I told you back in the police station. If I die, I still win. The Old Man would be lost without his Dog to fetch him prisoners. Wouldn't that be a pity?"
"At this rate, Dog's gonna come out all on his own. I bet he's hungry in there."
He grunted. "He'll need to hunt soon. Your human food won't do anything for his greed. It's strange, though, how he brought two of you here. Dog tends to eat his prisoners while they're caught in his traps. He'll save one for the Old Man of course, drag one back here and strap a bomb collar around their neck just as he's told. But he's never brought two at a time- and the brute's hunger isn't subsiding. I can hear him howling, even now, for sustenance. So why?" He moved closer, inspecting Brianna thoroughly before moving onto Veronica, who returned the calculating gaze. "What did he see in you?"
"I'll be sure to ask him as soon as he comes back out."
"I'll tear that collar from your wrist and force it down your throat, don't think I can't."
"Take another step, go on. Before you reach me, I'll be scratching you behind the ears and calling you a good boy."
"You think you have this all figured out, don't you? You think you still have the same amount of control as you did before you came here. But our manacles and chains are just the same. You are as much a prisoner as I am, and the beast inside me was the one who put you here. I can see it in your eyes, human. I can see the hunger there, the hope. You think you'll be one to end this, to open the Sierra Madre again. You think you'll survive the Cloud, the traps, the residents, me. You think that you'll survive where hundreds have perished before."
"You said it could be different this time, didn't you?"
"And maybe I was right. But even if you succeed, it won't matter. It won't matter what you do, how well you work together, how much you trust each other. It will still be one of you, just one, who leaves this place. Nothing on this earth is more predictable, more easily manipulated than human nature. It's just as the Old Man always says. Dog and I have seen it countless times. Once you get in there, you'll forget about your freedom, forget about your home and your life and your friendship. None of that will save you from the downfall of human nature. None of that will take away the greed."
"How would you know a goddamn thing about human nature?"
"Because I see it broken every day I spend in this place."
"We don't have time for this," Veronica interjected, her expression stony. "We've got another newspaper to fetch."
Brianna glanced down at her Pip-Boy. "Residential District, not far. Says his name is Dean Domino."
"And why does that sound weirdly familiar?"
Christine stood up.
"You're coming too?" Brianna asked. "Think you can protect yourself out there?"
She raised an eyebrow and drew an invisible circle with her finger.
"Brotherhood training, right. What exactly can you do?"
She huffed an invisible sigh before miming the act of throwing a grenade, jumping back and moving her arms slightly to indicate an explosion. She went on to form two pistols with her hands, firing them at a non-existent target before finishing it off with a mimed sniper rifle. She performed a few quick melee attacks, pretending to hold something that might have been an axe or a club, then ended the charade with a number of tight punches.
"So, everything?"
Christine nodded. Brianna felt a lump rising in her throat as she shrugged the holorifle off her shoulder and handed it to her. She took it with a grateful smile, taking some ammo from her pockets and reloading the weapon.
"Dog, stay here," Brianna instructed. "Don't kill yourself."
"I'm not Dog," the mutant growled.
"Then what do I call you?" She snapped. "God?"
"Actually, yes. I believe that would be a fitting name."
The Villa was quiet. As they walked through the archways, Brianna realised for the first time just how deathly silent the Sierra Madre was without her collar beeping, when the voice on her Pip-Boy wasn't hissing fervent commands. She suddenly missed the sound of conversation, the sound of unseen creatures scuttling through brambles, the sound of howling in the distance that confirmed the existence of life somewhere else. There was no dancing in the Sierra Madre. There were no feet falling steadily into rhythm, no poorly stifled laughter or the clinking of beer bottles or the cawing of crows that circled overhead.
There was no life here. There were only secrets and traps and inhabitants that could not possibly exist in the nature she knew, in the nature she loved and missed with all her heart. There was only the scraping of metal against ceramic as she stole coins from the fountains and stuffed them into her pockets, only the lightest tapping of feet against stone, the shaky exhalations of breath and the ringing absence of unsaid words.
Brianna's grip tightened around her spear as she scanned the area. They were moving slowly past deserted buildings, their well-preserved walls remarkably intact, ruined only by the graffiti that seemed to appear more and more often as they crept closer into the district. A sign post they passed had told them that they were about to enter the Solida del Sol. A scribble of graffiti later on read MADRE'S MINE, MINE, MINE!
"Where do you think he found the red paint?" Veronica wondered.
No one laughed. The silence continued until they passed through the door to the Residential District.
"Picking up signals near your location. Detonators. Watch for traps."
Christine bristled at the sound of Elijah's voice. Brianna could feel the tension in her muscles just by walking next to her, and after a quick glance she saw that her jaw was clenched, her fists tight by her sides as they continued on. Just up ahead was a staircase leading into the white building ahead. Her Pip-Boy marker told her to go straight on, so she did.
Until something began to beep.
At first she thought the noise was coming from her collar. She searched the area for a speaker and-
Christine grabbed Veronica by the wrist and yanked her backwards as the world was swallowed by a deafening explosion.
For a moment, everything was gone. Everything was white and red and ringing.
"It'll be okay. It'll be okay, just show me your hand. Show me your hand. Show me your hand, Sunny!"
You've seen this before you've seen this before you've seen this before show me your hand show me your hand show me your hand.
"Help her. She's dying, Please, she- she's dying, she-"
She could breathe again.
She could see.
She could see Sunny cradling her arm- no, no, she could see Veronica holding Christine holding a glass of vodka and coke and gasping for air as she fixed the radio as she recovered from the shock of the explosion and laughing as she took down another ant and she was looking at her with confusion and worry and joy because "This is the best day of my whole life!" and "Hey, are you alright?" And "Sunshine doesn't go away sunshine doesn't go away sunshine doesn't go away doesn't doesn't doesn't doesn't - go - away."
"Fine," she croaked. "Up the steps. Look out for more traps."
Veronica gave her a look of uncertainty before heading up the steps. Christine followed, but slowed enough for Brianna to catch up. When the two were standing side-by-side, she stopped to give Brianna a questioning look.
"I don't know what you mean," she said, as the mute tapped her fingers against her head.
Christine pulled a reluctant face before pointing to both of her temples and swirling her fingers around.
"Am I crazy? Really?" She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I guess I am."
Christine dragged her fingers down her cheeks.
"Crying. Going crazy. You're asking if something bad happened?"
She nodded.
"Yeah. Something bad happened."
She gave Brianna a sympathetic half-smile and an encouraging thumbs-up.
"Somehow that's been the most reassuring thing I've seen in days."
Christine grinned ruefully.
"I just deactivated a tripwire," Veronica announced. "Should be safe to go in."
They barely made it through the Residential District alive. If the ghost people hadn't been dead on the ground when they got there, Brianna knew they wouldn't have survived. They managed to get through by heading inside the nearest building, jumping off a balcony and traversing across the district through the trap-rigged buildings. A rigged shotgun would have sent a bullet through Brianna's midsection were it not for Veronica's keen eye. A scrawl of graffiti on the door of the next building told them that THE FLOORS HAVE TEETH. In there they'd found a number of bear traps waiting for them with hungry open mouths. There were metal beams swinging through doors and explosives carefully hidden under nondescript furniture. When they made it out again, they found that the building across the courtyard had a gaping hole exploded right through it, eating up most of the wall, which was decorated with softly glowing lights. Beyond the Cloud's haze, she could just make out a figure seated there, admiring the view.
After a few explosions and another swinging beam, they were standing right behind him.
Collar 14.
"I'll go," Brianna mouthed. There was only one free chair. "Keep watch outside."
They whispered her luck and headed silently down the stairs. Brianna sucked in a breath and walked calmly across the room, her footsteps just loud enough to hear above the humming radio on the table. With a sudden sharp pang in her chest, she realised that she knew all the words. She'd heard the song in New Vegas, maybe, or from some old road trip with people she'd said goodbye to long ago.
"When an irresistible force such as you,
meets an old immovable object like me,
you can bet just as sure as you live,
Something's gotta give,
something's gotta give,
something's gotta give."
"The Sierra Madre. Beauty, isn't she?" Collar 14 exhaled a cloud of smoke and invited her to sit. "She the one who invited you here?"
She took a seat and knew at once that Dean Domino was a ghoul. His flesh was thick and red in some places, but so thin in others that his brain was fully visible, streaked with jagged blue veins. He had no ears or nose to support his dark sunglasses, so they were wedged by the hinges into his partially-decayed flesh, and the bridge just about balanced on the middle of his face. He wore a sharp black suit with a white bow tie crumpled beneath the collar around his neck. What surprised her was his voice, smooth and clear with a strange Old World accent. She'd never met any ghoul who spoke like that.
"Nice place you've got here," she replied, lifting the half-empty bottle from the table next to her. "Mind if I help myself?"
"Not at all, dear, not at all. Just don't get up or make any sudden movements, no matter how uncomfortable that chair gets. The cushion's just for show."
"Oh, shit," she replied, taking a long sip and shuddering at the burning taste in her throat. "What the hell am I drinking?"
He laughed. "That's what you're worried about? Ah, I see, it's time for a guessing game. I have to decide if you're crazy or just a few bars short of the full melody, is that it? My guess is that you're neither. Too captivated by my voice, by my charm, to notice that you just sat yourself down on a shaped fuse, that must be right. No matter. Get up without my permission and I'll blast your ass so far through your head, it'll paint the moon cherry pie red. So, let's keep this sweet and polite, shall we? Finish our conversation with no... misunderstandings."
"I'll save my questions for the end," she smiled. "Go right ahead."
"And that's what I've missed!" He declared, sitting back comfortably in his chair. "A rapt audience!"
"Oh, I promise I'll be very attentive. Best not slip up."
"I don't plan on it. Just because I work in entertainment doesn't mean I'm a moron, you know. I heard my necktie beeping, I know what that means. I'm part of this somehow, and I want out of this contract. So whatever's going on here, if you're a part of all this, then you'll be taking orders from me."
"Well, that's strange. It almost sounds like you're bargaining from a position of strength."
"What do you mean?"
"These little collars of ours, they're linked. One goes off and the rest of them start tick-tick-ticking."
"Ah, I see. What an interesting clause." His last word broke off into hearty laughter. "Looks like marriage finally caught me, then!"
"It's a blast, really."
"Must have cost a bomb to organise."
"But it's explosive fun, right?"
They collapsed into sniggers. Brianna passed Dean Domino his drink, letting him take a generous mouthful before he handed it back.
"Alright, alright, what do you propose we do, partner? What's next?"
"You let me get off this chair for a start. Then you meet my friends outside and we go back to the casino to find out more about this contract."
"Not leaving me much choice, hm? I'll follow you and your little pals, then - certainly not going alone. Not that I'm a coward or anything, I'm just not running around town without an escort. The locals are big fans, I wouldn't want to get swarmed. See, I know what's out there. That's why there's a minefield, shotguns and bear traps leading up to my little boudoir here."
"That was you?"
"Nice to see that my work's been recognised."
"Your work almost got us all killed."
"And now it's all gone, I'd imagine. All blown up because you're too clumsy or too stupid to disarm the things. Had to go running past them, hoping you didn't step on one. Believe me, I heard the explosions from all the way up here - and so did the ghost people, I'm sure. They'll be running up here like lovestruck broads just waiting to steal me away. Either that or they'll just reset all the traps you left intact. That's what they do, see. They'll rearm all the bear traps they come across, reload the shotguns if they know how. You've made this game even more dangerous."
"I like dangerous, and it looks like you do too. Maybe this is the start of a beautiful partnership."
She held out her hand. Dean shook it firmly.
"I'm Brianna O'Reilly."
"Dean Domino. But you knew that."