Chapter Summary: At Fortification Hill, Boone exacts revenge on the Legion with Beth's help. She retrieves the Platinum Chip and must deal with Benny. Once she has the Chip, what is she going to do with it?

Chapter 17: Live and Let Die

Guided through the dark by the map on her Pip-Boy, Beth and Boone took the Legion's raft up the river toward Fortification Hill. Along the way, the companions barely spoke as they rowed quietly through the moonlit water. In another time or place, this might have been a lovely romantic evening, but romance was the last thing on either of their minds at the moment. They were on a mission, possibly their last.

Beth could almost hear Charon's voice in her head telling her how foolish this was, marching into a war camp full of slavers and killers at the side of a vengeful, broken man. He'd had similar doubts about attacking Paradise Falls back in the Capital, but that had been successful. Besides, the old ghoul hadn't been immune to vengeance himself, she recalled. Moments after his contract had changed hands, his former employer had been sprawled out on the floor in a pool of blood, dead from two shotgun blasts. It all seemed like a lifetime ago, yet she could remember some details with almost perfect clarity.

If Charon were here now, she knew the Legion wouldn't stand a chance against the three of them. She felt a wistful twinge at the thought. She glanced over at Boone who was rowing beside her and staring forward with a determined expression. Oddly, he did remind her a bit of Charon, she supposed, although they obviously looked nothing alike. They were both protective and more than capable in a fight. They were also stoic to a fault and largely only spoke when necessary. Boone was warmer and more talkative, however, but she doubted anyone would believe that if she said it. She had managed to learn more about him in just the last few weeks than she ever knew about Charon.

When they reached their destination, they pulled the raft up to the shore and checked over their equipment again. The entrance to the Fort was only a short trek up the hill. As they approached through the darkness, they saw two guards standing outside the gate. With quick shots from the companions' silenced pistols, they fell lifelessly into the sand.

The sniper had been reluctant to use the silenced handguns, saying that they were too low-powered and "cowardly," but Beth had insisted. She wanted to take out as many of the enemy as they could before the whole camp knew they were there. She had also suggested they wear Legion armor to blend in even more, but he had flat out refused that, so this was a compromise.

Going in through the front gate seemed to be the only option, since they didn't have climbing gear to go over the wall.

Mouthing to her, Boone asked, "You ready?"

She nodded.

They opened the gate slowly and, when the guard peered around to see who was coming through, Boone shot him through the forehead before he could make a sound. The other guard didn't have a chance to react before Beth shot him and he collapsed silently.

Even without their sunglasses, it was still difficult to see with the camp's torches and the moon providing the only light. Moving forward towards a bridge, they spotted two more guards and silently took them out while they weren't expecting it. Continuing to sneak along, they made their way up to the main section of the camp to another large wooden gate. Signaling to each other that they were ready, they slowly pushed it open and carefully snuck inside.

The Legion had been rather foolish in not guarding itself well enough against possible rogue infiltrators, Beth observed. They were likely expecting a large and brazen NCR assault, one that could be easily spotted prior to the attack. The companions' stealth tactics were a variable they clearly hadn't anticipated—the element of surprise had always been the pair's best weapon. They took their time and used the darkness to their advantage. It was also clear that this was no longer the main Legion camp in the area, as it was large enough to hold at least five times as many soldiers as were currently here. Most of them had likely been moved closer to the Dam in preparation for the battle everyone in the Mojave knew was coming.

Clearing the Fort was still difficult, but the companions were careful and survived with only moderate injuries. The few legionaries that were on nighttime guard duty were young and easily surprised. The ones that were sleeping were even easier to defeat. Using the silenced weapons had been quite effective, allowing them to take out nearly half the camp in secret through the quiet dark. When legionaries were alerted to their presence, they were able to kill them before they could sound the alarm to the rest of the camp.

The mongrels were not as easy to sneak up on, since they could smell the intruders before they saw or heard them. The growling and barking that should have alerted the legionaries to trouble, however, had only caused them to yell at the dogs to shut up. It might have been a comical situation, had the stakes not been so high and if luck didn't threaten to turn against them at any moment.

The few slaves that inhabited the war camp had been too broken and terrified to scream. The companions instructed them to stay hidden until the camp was clear, then get to safety.

As they moved through the camp, Beth noted how well she and Boone had learned to work together, in an almost choreographed fashion. She and Charon hadn't been this in-sync with each other in battle, not even after more than three years of training, traveling, and fighting together. Even though she proved herself time and again to him, he had still mostly treated her like a kid. With Boone, they were partners and she knew he trusted her as much as she trusted him.

They reached the command tent just as the sun was rising. Beth checked her .45 as Boone readied his new rifle—the time for silence was over. They knew the tent would likely be more heavily guarded, since Caesar himself was inside.

From the small satchel at her side, Beth pulled out a grenade she had been saving for just this purpose. Silently lifting up a corner of the tent, she pulled the pin with her teeth and rolled the grenade inside. The companions stepped back and there was a large bang, along with a bright flash that they could see even through the thick canvas. A second later, they burst into the tent with their weapons drawn and began shooting the stunned legionaries inside. Some of them were stumbling around, dazed and partially blinded from the blast.

The tighter quarters made the fight chaotic and the tent was filled with the smoke from the grenade, making it more difficult to see. Working quickly while the legionaries were still stunned, Beth and Boone killed four of them before they could strike. One guard with a shaved head swung at her face with his ballistic fist, but he was still somewhat disoriented and she was able to duck in time. He drew back to swing again, but before he could, she shot him twice in his unprotected face, nearly decapitating him.

"What the hell is going on?!" Beth heard a man yell from the other side of the tent. She looked across the tent and saw a bald man walking from behind what she could only guess was Caesar's throne. "Can't a man get any sleep without you fuckers-" Those were his last words, as Boone's bullet struck him in the forehead. A spray of red hit the canvas fabric behind him and he collapsed.

Before the sniper could take his eye from his scope, another legionary armed with a ballistic fist shouted something in Latin and charged toward him, punching him hard in the face, then the stomach; Boone stumbled and doubled-over against the blows, falling back onto the ground and letting out a heavy grunt. Beth shot the legionary in the side of his head and he fell in a heap on top of one of his dead comrades, their blood flowing together into a bright red puddle in the sandy floor.

Suddenly, she felt someone grab her from behind, wrapping an arm around her throat, choking her to the point where she began to see spots in her vision. Boone was still laying on the ground, seemingly still dazed from the punch from the ballistic fist. "Focus," she thought to herself forcefully, knowing she only had a few seconds before she lost consciousness. With as much strength as she could gather, she elbowed the man behind her in the stomach, stomped on his foot, then snapped her head back against his face. The force of her skull against his more fragile facial bones gave a sharp, sickening crack and his grip loosened enough for her to break free. Turning quickly, she hit him again, this time in his temple with the grip of her gun. She then aimed and shot him in his already bloody face, shattering what was left of it, and leaving it an unrecognizable mangled mess bleeding into the dirt.

A legion mongrel charged at Beth and sunk its teeth into the back of her leg as she fended off another legionary armed with a machete, who yelled "For Caesar!" as he swung at her.

Boone sat up with a groan of pain and kicked the dog hard with the heel of his heavy boot to get it off of her, then fired his rifle at its head, which shattered into a spray of blood and brain. She was able to dodge the machete and shoot the final legionary in his stomach, then in his chest. The weapon fell from his hands and he staggered toward her. She brought up her foot and kicked him away, then shot him once more in the forehead, causing him to crumple lifelessly to the ground.

It was over.

After taking a moment to make sure the threat had passed, Beth knelt down beside Boone, whose left cheek and eye were already red and heavily swollen. "Are you alright?" she asked with deep concern.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he replied in a strained voice. She reached out and lightly touched his cheek and he winced with a hiss. "Okay, yeah, that hurts."

"Well you were just hit with a ballistic fist. Here." Reaching into her satchel, she pulled out a couple of stimpaks and injected one into his neck. "That should help. Let's see your abdomen." Since he was in obvious pain and still somewhat dazed, she took the initiative to unfasten his jacket and pull up his shirt. The spot above his belly button was just starting to bruise. She pressed lightly against his skin as she moved her hand along each side.

"What are you doing?" he asked, sounding uncomfortable.

"I'm checking to see if your ribs are broken. Doesn't feel like they are. Your armored jacket absorbed a lot of the blow. Still, I'm going to give you a stimpak in case there's any internal bleeding." After injecting the other stimpak into the bruised skin, she looked him over for any other injuries, but found none. "Do you need some med-x?"

He shook his head. "No. The stimpaks will kick in soon enough."

While it still sounded like he was in pain, she didn't press it. "Okay, but let me know if you don't start feeling better soon." Seeing his beret lying in the dirt behind him, she picked it up and dusted it off, then handed it back to him.

"Thanks." He put it back on his head and fastened his jacket closed.

Beth stood, then reached down to help Boone to his feet. The two of them paused there for a moment, catching their breath and processing what had just happened. Then they walked forward.

Through the opening to the next part of the tent, Beth was somewhat surprised to see a man in a checkered suit kneeling on the ground, looking beaten and afraid. After their detour to Bitter Springs, she had wondered if he would still be alive by the time they got here.

Boone didn't seem to notice the man. Instead, he walked over to Caesar's body and stared down at it with a look of rage and disgust. "Thumbs down, you son of a bitch," he growled with clear satisfaction, taking off his aviators and spitting on the crumpled body lying on the dirt floor.

Beth bent down and rummaged through the dead Legion leader's clothing until she found the Platinum Chip. Taking it between her thumb and forefinger, she turned it over in her hand: the thing that nearly got her killed, the thing that brought her all this way, the thing that changed everything. She hadn't gotten a good look at it before, didn't know how significant it would be. It was smaller than she remembered. And now it was coated with blood.

After a couple of minutes of her staring at the Chip, Boone bent down next to her and asked, "You okay?"

With a nod, she stood up and pocketed the Chip. "Yeah. Just one more thing to take care of." Turning back to the figure in the checkered coat on his knees with his hands tied, she fixed her gaze on him as she approached. "Hello, Benny." He leaned back slightly at the address. Spattered with so much blood, she knew she had to appear somewhat terrifying and she resisted the urge to smirk. "Now what was it you were saying about the game being rigged?"

"Go ahead and laugh, baby. I ain't blind to the humor in this situation," he responded, letting out a cough and then wincing in pain.

Examining him more closely, she saw that his face was heavily bruised and dirty, his lip split, his once pristine suit now ragged and stained with blood. The legionaries had clearly given him regular beatings over the course of his captivity, since his various injuries looked to be in different stages of healing. She wondered why they hadn't just killed him.

"But I gotta say, you're a scrapper. Those guys didn't stand a chance," he said, his voice much weaker and less confident than it had been during their last encounter at The Tops. "What about me?"

Pulling out her .45, she held it against his forehead as he looked up at her through his swollen eyes. "I think you know," she responded through gritted teeth.

"You fink! You're going to murder me like this, down on my knees?" He coughed again.

Shaking her head in disbelief, she didn't even know what to say to that. The hypocrisy was unbelievable. She took a deep breath, preparing herself to finish this in the way she had planned to for so long. But then she hesitated. Seeing the helpless, pathetic figure there on the ground diminished her resolve.

Glancing at the gun in her bloodied hand, she thought back to that day in Zion, how she had stayed Joshua's hand which held the grip of this same gun, while Salt-Upon-Wounds cowered on the ground before them. Yes, the tribal had deserved to die for all the pain and death he had caused, but not like that.

And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.

"Son of a bitch!" she spat under her breath with frustration, knowing now what she needed to do. Holstering her pistol, she walked around behind Benny and pulled out her combat knife.

The Courier bent down, putting one hand firmly on the Chairman's shoulder and whispered aggressively in his ear, just loud enough for Boone to hear, "So here's how this is gonna go. I'm going to cut you loose and you're going to get the fuck out of here. You're going to leave the Mojave and never come back. You've seen what my friend here and I are capable of. If you ever show your face anywhere near my Wasteland ever again, I'll make you wish I'd left you here to be crucified. Do you understand?" She waited a moment for him to respond, her hand gripping him tighter.

Benny gulped. "Sure, baby. I'll head for the nearest sunset."

"Good." Slipping the knife roughly under the bindings, she cut the ropes on his ankles, then on his wrists and shoved him forward. "Now go."

Scrambling to his feet, he quickly made his way to the door, running out of the tent with surprising swiftness, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. She threw the knife down, impaling it into the dirt floor.
Boone stared at her, dumbfounded. "You—you let him go?"

"Yeah. I guess I did," she said with a dull scowl.

"Why?"

Watching the door for a moment as the dust calmed, she looked to her companion with tired eyes. "I...I don't want to talk about it right now. Let's just take the Chip to the bunker like House wants and get the fuck out of here."

They wordlessly walked to the weather station building through their destruction, the camp now as still and quiet as a graveyard. The image of Caesar's final moment replayed in Boone's mind, but the concept of it hadn't sunk in yet. It was almost surreal. Caesar was dead and it had been his bullet that ended him. After everything, that part had seemed far too easy.

Otherwise, Boone didn't want to think about how close things had gotten back there, but couldn't help it. He had been lying helplessly on the ground when that legionary grabbed Beth and choked her. Thankfully, she had been able to fight the bastard off, but things could have easily gone the other way. Before and during the fight, Boone tried not to think about what could happen, as it would have only distracted him from the mission. He had reassured himself that she was strong and he would never let anything happen to her. Now that the fighting was over, the thought of them capturing her made him sick and furious, making him wish there were more of them there to kill. In the quiet aftermath, however, all that was left for him in that moment was a pressing need to keep her safe.

Looking over at her, he saw how bloody her leg was from the mongrel's bite. "Hey, your leg looks pretty bad," he said to her.

She glanced down at it with a curious expression, as though she hadn't noticed. Perhaps being wounded numerous times over the years made her ignore injury. Or maybe the agony from being shot in the head had taught her to disregard more minor pain. Or she was too distracted by other things to pay attention to anything else. "Oh, yeah," she replied.

"Here, sit. Let me look at it." He took her arm and gently led her to sit down. Rolling up her torn, blood soaked pant leg, he lifted up her leg and examined the bite. It was still bleeding slightly and he could see the individual marks from the dog's teeth. "We need to clean this before you get an infection."

"I can do it."

"It's in the back of your leg. It would be easier for me to do it."

She sighed. "Okay."

Taking off the satchel at his side, he pulled out a bottle of purified water and poured it over the wound, washing the fresh blood away. She handed him the small medkit from her bag and he took out a bottle of alcohol and used it to sterilize the bite as best he could. Then he applied a stimpak and bandages. Through all of it, she hardly made a sound.

She seemed very distracted, which made him seriously wonder what was going on with her. He didn't understand what had happened back in the command tent. When she holstered her gun and pulled out her knife, he thought she was going to slit Benny's throat, but she didn't. She threatened him, but that was it. After everything, all her threats and thirst for vengeance, after the piece of shit had almost killed her more than once and caused her so much pain, she would just let him go? Wasn't killing him the main reason she was here? It didn't make sense.

"How does it feel?" he asked, wondering about her state of mind in addition to her pain level.

"Better. Thank you." She stood up and didn't seem to be bothered by the injury, despite a lack of med-x. "Let's keep going."

They reached the weather station and with a push, the heavy door creaked open, cutting through the silence with a metallic whine. The inside was sparse with a couple of consoles and broken computer terminals.

"What does he want you to do?" Boone asked.

"I'm supposed to use the Chip in one of the consoles here and then I guess we see what happens." Inserting the Chip into the slot opened up the hatch on the floor to their left, revealing a set of stairs leading downward. The Chip ejected back into her hand. "You coming?"

"Yeah. I'm not letting you go down there by yourself."

Down the steps, they could see a set of old double elevator doors bearing the emblem of the Lucky 38. They rode down the elevator in silence.

When the doors opened again on the other side, it seemed to be some kind of vault. The air was cold and Boone could hear the Geiger counter on Beth's Pip-Boy click distinctively. After she popped a Rad-X tablet, she handed one to him, which he took without comment. Since vaults were far out of his comfort zone, he was feeling unsettled. The stimpaks had already done a decent job at healing his injuries and most of the pain was subsiding, so that was not a distraction.

Following the corridor to the next room, she jumped at the sight of Mr. House on the large screen. "Shit!" she exclaimed, putting her hand to her chest in surprise.

Boone let out a small gasp. "Is that...?"

"Yeah. The 'Big Boss' himself."

The sniper hadn't been allowed into the penthouse of the Lucky 38, so this was his first direct encounter with the man. As far as he knew, he was the only NCR citizen to have ever seen him. He wasn't sure what he should have expected.

"I see you reached your destination safely," came the deep, commanding voice of Mr. House. "Shall we get to work?"

"Hello to you, too," Beth replied with slight annoyance. "What are we doing here?"

"I need you to find the Systems Control Room and insert the Platinum Chip into the console there."

"Why? What is this 'Chip'?"
"It is a data storage device. Once inserted, the console will download the necessary software to the facility's primary computer. Should be simple enough."

Beth seemed hesitant. "Anything else we should know?"

"Unfortunately, while I can broadcast to this screen, I cannot control any of the facility's systems, including security, which appears to be on alert. There is a security room at the bottom of the stairs to your left where you can disable it."

"Fine. I will do as you ask," she said. Boone was surprised she agreed so readily.

"Very good. Report back here when you are finished."

From the doorway to the left, Boone quickly dispatched a hostile robot at the base of the stairs, then he and Beth went down to the security room.

"Let's see if I can disable the alert and keep these damned robots off our backs," she said. Activating one of the three consoles with a glowing green screen, it beeped and she began to type.

"You know how to do that?" Boone asked, with a raised eyebrow.

Not taking her eyes off the screen, she shrugged. "Most of the RobCo computer systems have a similar interface. They used them in the vaults and a lot of other places back before the war. Businesses, government offices. Some are more complex, but once you get the general idea of how they work, hacking them is pretty straight-forward." She tapped some keys and before long, the console beeped and clicked. Then she moved to the next one and did the same thing. "Done." Snapping her fingers, she shot him a brief grin.

Again, she managed to surprise him. Not much intimidated the veteran sniper, but she often did. Yet it never lasted long. One minute she would be dazzling him with her skills or intelligence, the next, she would flash him a disarming smile or glance at him with her bright blue eyes and all was comfortable again. Things certainly never got boring.

They wound their way through the corridors, passing the deactivated security robots and turrets. "So he said the Chip is a 'data storage device,' but what does it do, exactly?" he asked as they entered the control room.

Seeing through the window at the other side of the room, she answered, "I think I can take a guess." Stepping to the window, she stared out into the sea of inactive securitrons, row after row of them in a massive cave. Their screens were blank, which somehow made them even creepier than usual.

His eyes widened. "How many of them do you think there are?"

"I dunno. Hundreds?"

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Crossing his arms over his chest, he tried not to let the worry show on his face.

Taking a deep breath and turning to him, she nodded. "You may be more optimistic than I am that the NCR can defeat the Legion, but from what I've seen, I don't like their chances. They barely held the Dam the last time. We've seen the state of their camps and towns near the border. You said yourself that they've spread themselves too thin and can't protect their territory." Boone's lips drew into a thin line. "Even if the NCR can win, they will take heavy casualties. If they lose..."

"God help us."

She nodded. "If there's a chance that this can help stop them, even if it's not in the NCR's hands...I have to take it." Boone was still hesitant. She grasped his forearm and looked in his eyes. "If you're not with me on this, I'll understand. We can part ways here. I won't stop you and I won't hold it against you."

As much as he hated to admit it, part of him knew she was right. Given the chance, the Legion would butcher or enslave everyone in the Mojave. They would storm New Vegas and make it their second capital. How long before they made their way further west? The thought was terrifying. Still, he didn't like the idea of all this weaponry being in the hands of anyone other than the NCR. But maybe it didn't have to be. Beth was an undeniably good person and seemed to be very pro-NCR. Maybe she would eventually see that they were the right ones to back against the Legion and she'd stop working for Mr. House. Regardless, he didn't want to leave her. He shook his head. "No, I said I've got your back and I meant it. We've come this far."

"Okay." She sighed with a smile, visibly relieved.

"But I need your word that none of this is to be used against the NCR."

With a nod, she affirmed, "You have my word. Not one single NCR citizen will be harmed by anything controlled by me or Mr. House. Unprovoked, of course. And they still need to keep order on the Strip. If he can't agree to that, then he and I are done and you and I will stop him."

He nodded. "Okay."

Releasing his arm and turning to the console, she pulled the Chip out of her pocket and inserted it into the slot. Suddenly, there came a startling cacophony of clanging and banging from all around them. They stood and watched through the window as the army of securitrons activated one by one.

Boone's heart was beating hard in his chest. Glancing over at Beth, he saw that she was biting her bottom lip and her brow as furrowed with worry. He had a sudden, unexpected impulse to take her hand, but he kept his arms crossed over his chest. They stood still until the banging subsided.

"We should get back," she said.

"Yeah," he responded.

Without another word, they turned and walked together back through the vault.