Snowflake on the sand

Chapter 8

Before he left the Tops Casino Six had insisted in changing his chips into caps, he knew it was slightly childish but he hardly cared. Money was money and if there was something that the bullets didn't manage to blow out of his brain was that money in the wasteland as a commodity and he should not waste any. Winter patiently waited by as he finished the transaction focused on the blood that stained his ripped suit, the poor lady at the transaction counter looked very freaked out by him but complied in making the transaction anyways, she allowed herself to relax for a second and just thank whatever god was in this world that Six was alive.

She realized just how much he had grown on her as her time on the Wasteland seemed to prolong the more stuff she did here, but he was not like her. He had no aura, no training and above all he was borderline suicidal. That's why he was prolonging his stay at the tops, once he delivered the platinum chip his one motive for staying on the wasteland disappeared and he was left with nothing but his haunting memories.

Winter knew that they had talked about this, how he wanted to help her out get back home and the he wanted to go to Remnant but that could have been just him either lying or speaking to appease her. Courier Six was a man without a past and without ties to this world now that his vengeance was completed and Winter worried of what might come next.

"Hey, I have something for you" Swank, Benny's right hand man said as he approached the courier as he finished his transaction, leaning in to whisper something to Six's ear, Swank placed a key in his hand and left making Six stand still for some moments but he snapped out of his small trance quickly and turned to Winter.

"Ready to head out?" he said as if nothing had happened. Winter gave him a nod and as they walked towards the exit again she wondered if he would make another excuse to not leave the building but Six quietly grabbed his gear and weapons and left not saying a word. Winter followed with a quiet frown, one which changed into a shocked face as man she recognized aproached them.

"The eyes of the might Caesar are upon you, he blesses you with the exceptional gift of his mark. Every crime that you have committed against the legion will be forgiven and you and your… dissolute friend will be allowed safe travel in his lands, seek him by Cottonwood Cove" Vulpes Inculta said as he placed a gold coin with straps on its side. This necklace shone under the lights of Vegas and the image of the Bull created a sense of dread on the pit of Winter's stomach. Courier Six on the other hand gave a stiff nod and looked around the strip.

Some NCR soldiers where dancing in one of the fountains and other roamed the strip with drinks on their hand making him frown, he lowered his voice enough so that only winter and the spy could hear "Vulpes Inculta, it was rather rude of you not saying your name when we met back in Nipton"

Vulpes let out small laugh "Ah so they have told you my name that must mean that you have shared the message as I told you… good, following orders is the first step to become a legionare"

Six snorted "I will see you around" and with that he walked towards the lucky thirty-eight. Winter turned around to glare at the spy to which Vulpes simply tipped his hat at her as a response "You will look good on a collar" and with that he left towards the exit. The lucky thirty-eight opened its doors almost immediately as they approached the large building, as they entered securitrons opened the way for them as the elevator came down. The ride to the top was quiet and for Winter a little tense Mr. House could very realistically just shoot them and then move on with his plans… or maybe he would just shoot Six. He had shown interest in her world, one not ravaged by nuclear devastation and for that reason she felt herself being relatively safe for the moment.

Six was not from her world, he was expendable and it deeply worried Winter.

"Howdy partner boss is ready to see you now" Viktor said with his happy go lucky attitude to wich Six replied with a sad smile and a nod, Mr. House's screen came to life and to her surprise Six said nothing as he delivered the chip. "Ah excellent Work, judging by the blood on the chip and on your… everything I'm going to assume that Benny has been handled"

There was a pause as Mr. House analyzed the chip "Such a small thing, isn't it? And yet so… capacious. So very dear. Decades of hiring salvagers out of the west to search for this little relic in the ruins of a place called Sunnyvle. Back then anyways" Mr. House said as Six gave him a look that said that he did not understand what he was saying.

As if to explain Mr. House continued "That's where the chip was pronted before the war, on October 22, 2077. It was supposed to be delivered to me here on the lucky thirty eight the next day but… next day never came for the bombs fell first and the delivery was never made"

"I see, yeah Benny is no longer with us and the chip is all yours" Six said as he rubbed the back of his head, to which Mr. House replied with an enormous amount of caps being dispensed from his machine. Six's eyes widened as he grabbed the bag "I threw in a little bonus as a way to congratulate you in your efficiency a reminder that if you continue to work for me only good things will come your way" the businessman said and Six looked up surprised.

"You want me to keep working for you?" he asked genuinely surprised, Mr. House paused for a moment as if thinking it over, but Winter saw it for what it was a dramatic display of power.

"But of course, only a fool would not see that you're a valuable asset for what's to come and my future plans for the Mojave, agreat deal of things will be happening now that the chip is in my possession, a cascade of events with you taking a central role. But for now I would like for you to head down to the basement if you would like to see the future"

Six turned to Winter to which she simply shrugged "We are here" the specialist commented as they entered another elevator this one well hidden behind a giant wall. Quiet reigned again but Winter gave a stop to it when she turned to her companion and gave him a glare "You need to stop doubting your worth… it makes seem weak"

Six gave her a raised eyebrow "What do you mean? I got the job done our transaction was over he had every right to just boot me off the building"

"You have serious issues if you think that just any random person of the wasteland can do what you have done"

"Exactly Winter, look at all of this doesn't this scream mystery to you? This man built an empire ruling from the shadows and doing things in subtle ways and I don't know if you have noticed but I am the opposite of subtle… I guess I was just relieved, there is nothing out in the wasteland for me… not a wife, not some kid that I can call my own and no home to go back to; I don't want to play detective for the rest of my days trying to piece who the fuck I was before Benny showed up"

Winter gave a sad nod but after some consideration placed a hand on his shoulder softly, "I already told you that you're welcome to tag along"

"Oh I was going to do that regardless of what Mr. house said" came the surprising reply from Six, seeing that he needed to elaborate he turned to look at her icy blue eyes "Everyone carries something with them, we all carry our own history and… to carry another one's history is not right, we both a story that crosses path yes but in the end…" Six frowned as he held his head in pain, Winter gave him some water worry in her eyes.

"I didn't take you for a poet" she said, to which Six replied with a chuckle "Those words are not mine, some of the couriers heard it from… someone, I don't remember" Six said sadly and before Winter could say something the elevator opened its door and they were let in to a giant room, a giant wall that looked to Winter like a force field separated the room in half.

"Step closer to the demonstration area if you would" Mr. House said over the intercom and Six was the first to glance down and two securitrons where on the ground floor, before either of them could question Mr. House spoke once again "I'm going to assume that you are familiar with my securitrons by now, their titanium alloy protects them from most weapons that anyone can carry out there and its gatling laser is deadly against small targets at medium range and for crowd control its armed with a nine millimeter machine gun, but that it's pretty much obvious to you and here comes the importance of the chip, this weapons they are only the secondary weapons"

Six raised an eyebrow as the mcahines changed and their forms became more bulkier and the faces on the screen changed from cops to military men.

"All this time my securitrons have been running on the mark one operating system which lacked software for their primary weapons" Mr. House explained "Today with the delivery of the platinum chip all that changes, behold for the first time securitrons running the mark two! Now they are equipped with missile launcher and rapid-fire grenade launcher also now they have new drivers for their auto repair system. Putting it simply this upgrade makes them two hundred percent more efficient than before, finally Vegas has soldiers worthy of protecting it, return to the penthouse we have much to discuss" Mr. House said as he went quiet once again leving the stunned Winter and Six to gather their thoughts.

"You know what I said about me not being subtle" Six said as heturned to Winter, to wich she simply nodded "Well slap me on the knee and call me a mail man because Mr. House is going to war with the most unsubtle weapons"

Winter shook her head "Wait… you don't know that he might just… want better security for the casinos"

Six shook his head "Benny was right the platinum chip is not just some poker chip, it holds the fate of the Mojave"

"Visits to the basement are rarely so educational, don't you think" Mr. House commented as the duo stepped out of the elevator "I've since broadcast the upgrade to every Securitron in range of my transmitters and I must say that it's causing quite a stir down on the strip"

"Why not wait, wouldn't it be bad to show your ace infront of both the NCR and… the Legion" Winter said not sure if House knew of the spy, but to her surprise the smug man brushed her off. "Putting it simply, I don't have to worry because this is not even the ace up my sleeve, you will see soon enough because Courier Six and Miss Schnee your next mission is to infiltrate Caesar camp, more specifically its main base which can only be access by Cottonwood Cove"

Six let out a whistle "You know I might have paled about the idea of going into the den of a band of raping, insane and brutal monsters… but luckily for you I was already invited" Six said as he showed the sign of Caesar on his neck.

"Good, that's one less problem, take the platinum chip with you and head to Caesar, you will be probably searched and all items will be removed but do not fret Caesar wont be a problem for much longer"

Six blinked in confusion "You don't want me to kill Caesar right?"

"Absolutly not, I don't want you to harm a hair of that man's head… if you can find any that is; Caesar is of great use to me. He is the only reason why the lucky 38 is not littered with flags of two headed bears, I managed to make the NCR sign a treaty with Vegas so that we could keep being independent not because I held any power over them or I managed to intimidate them. I got them to sign because they were afraid of Caesar not me but soon that deterrent won't be needed anymore" Mr. House said, Six rubbed his chin and gave him a smile.

"Sounds to me like you want to go on a war against both the Legion and the NCR" the courier said to which Mr. House scoffed "War is not what I would call it, to wage war is to loose resources, what I plan to do is land the biggest checkmate on the history of mankind, the house always wins" the screen replied.

Winter zoned out after that she vaguely could hear the discussions of the pay and how Six wanted a day of rest before heading out, Mr. House agreed and encouraged him to spend money on the casinos, he also wanted Six to spy on the reactions of the people towards the new securitrons especially personnel from the NCR.

Back in their room Six changed to his usual blue outfit and noticed how distracted Winter seemed. He coughed into his fist to get her attention and when that didn't work he placed a hand on her shoulder, Winter gave him a sideways glance and tilted her head.

"Cap for your thoughts?" Six asked as he drank some Sunset Sarsaparilla, Winter let out a sigh and let her hair down "When did you change into that stupid thing?"

"When you were to lost on your mind to see me head to another room" he replied with a smirk, Winter replied with a smile of her own "Look at you, all fired up I guess going into literal war hell gets your blood pumping"

"look if you don't want to go you don't have to" Six started to say but Winter raised her hand "I'm going, seems like it's the only way to kick things into gear and maybe get back home… but no that's not what I am thinking; Six you said that you remember some couriers the people you worked and… I remember back in Primm there was this graffiti and I don't know it sounds really stupid but it said that something about couriers and home… and I can't stop thinking about it; it's like if I am seeing some puzzle… maybe it's nothing I'm sorry my work used to be analyzing data and creating the most optimal solution"

Six stared at her quietly for a moment but he took out his Pipboy and looked at the map "We can make some stops as we head to the fort… Primm is one of them" and with that the Courier told her to have a good night while he headed to the bar, the images of cracked land and red skies assaulting his mind.

A/N: Lonesome road is the best DLC, no I will not accept criticism on this opinion.