Preston was in shock.
The shot that came from the bleachers didn't hit Nick. But he couldn't figure out why. Everyone else too heard the gunshot from the stands and looked at Preston who was running towards the group sitting at Power Noodles.
"What are you yelling about, boy scout? Gunshots are normal in the Commonwealth, if you hadn't noticed." Nick asked Preston.
"Sorry, General. But while you were eating, there was a red dot focusing on your back. That's why I was yelling." Preston apologized, pointing to where he thought the gunshot came from, but they couldn't see anything from where they were.
Nick unhooked his .44 holster, ready at a moments notice, followed by Mac and Hancock. "Cait, stay here. Don't want you getting hurt on your wedding day." Nick said, motioning for Cait to stay behind with Preston and the town guard.
"To hell with that! Someone shoots at you, I'm gonna have some choice words with 'em." Cait pushed past her guards, snatching a shotgun from one of them.
The four of them slowly made their way to the upper stands, where the most upper-class Diamond City residents lived, carefully watching every nook and cranny, looking for anything out of the ordinary. When they made it to the Colonial Taphouse, they noticed that Wellingham had been deactivated, but by who?
Hancock opened the door to the Taphouse, warily greeted by Paul Pembroke. "Hey, Pauly, did you know that Wellingham had been shut down?"
"Wait, WHAT? He's been deactivated? Oh no… Can someone please fix him?" Paul came out of the Taphouse and crouched next to the unresponsive shell of Wellingham.
"Yeah, I got it. Won't take any time at all. Man, whoever did this knew what they were doing." Nick went quick to work fixing the arrogant Mister Handy, re-wiring and hooking together components in such a way that'd make the chump scavengers look like total amateurs. "Alright, should be fixed up and good to go."
Wellingham made some whizzing sounds and his jet propulsion started up, lifting him off the ground, but slamming him into the wall of the Taphouse. "What was that?" Pembroke asked.
"Whoops… I might've missed the gyroscopic balancing. One moment more!" Nick opened the Mister Handy's back-panel, and checked the gyroscopic balancer, noticing that it had been completely removed. He closed the panel and looked at Paul with a confused look. "So, uh, there is no balancer currently in Wellingham. Did you by chance accidentally take it out, or someone doing maintenance?"
Paul walked over to where Wellingham was hovering. "What? No. I've never once went into Wellingham's internals to 'fix' anything before. I only asked experienced mechanics, such as yourself, to do anything with his wiring and shit."
"Okay then, well while we try to figure out who shut down and took Wellingham's balancer, just make sure he doesn't fly off the stands. Sound good?" Paul nodded towards Nick, and the four continued their search for the culprit of the gunshot and shut down.
They crept up the stairs next to the Taphouse gingerly, as if to not wake a sleeping momma deathclaw. When the four rounded the corner, they spotted a giant robot looming over the corpse of a man wearing leather clothing and holding a .50cal rifle.
"Hey, Mac, do .50cal make that small of a gunshot?" Hancock asked.
"No, but typically 10mm's do, though." He replied, looking at the robot. "Hey, Nick, do you know what kind of robot that is?"
"Not a clue." Nick said, not breaking his vision from the robot.
The robot turned on its one wheel to face the four people at its flank, revealing that it had a single monitor on its front, projecting a stereotypical cowboy on it. It wheeled over towards them crew, where Nick stepped to stand in front of Cait, holding his .44 at the ready. When Nick was face-to-monitor with the robot, he asked it why it was here, killing the man that wanted to kill Nick. To no one's surprise it replied in a very whole-hearted cowboy accent.
"Howdy, y'all! Name's Victor, an' I been sent here to congratulate you two on yer wedding by my boss. Killing this man 'ere was just a little something that I just stumbled upon when I entered this fine city of yers." Victor seemed very friendly to Nick and his crew, breaking the cycle of hostile robots that went after Nick's crew.
"Well he seems very friendly, if you ask me." Hancock inputted, with a bit of a sarcastic undertone. "Who's this boss you're talking about?"
Nick waved his hand to Hancock, telling him to back off. "Woah, woah, woah. First thing: what do you mean 'stumbled upon', and yeah, who's this 'boss'?" Nick holstered his .44, while Cait, Hancock and MacCready kept their weapons ready.
Victor wheeled over to the corpse of the sniper and pulled a scrawled note from one of the pockets, and gave it to Nick, and it read: "I don't care what it takes for you to do it just make sure that he dies. To make more of a statement, try to kill him after the wedding. We got to make ourselves known again, whatever it takes."
Nick read the note aloud and crumpled it when he was done. "I guess whoever wrote this note wasn't the best at using grammar properly." He walked over to the corpse and turned it over and noticed that it had a symbol like the Brotherhood of Steel, but red in color, and it was only one gear with a sword through it. "Does anyone know what this symbol is?"
Cait crouched down next to Nick. "Looks a bit like the Brotherhood. We could probably ask Danse about it. He'd probably know what it is." She grabbed the man's bag and grabbed something that she couldn't make heads or tails. "Hey, Nick, what's this?"
"Oh great! That's Wellingham's gyroscopic balancer. I'll go reinstall it. Thanks, babe." He takes the balancer and heads downstairs to fix Wellingham, leaving Cait, Hancock and MacCready to talk with Victor.
"So, Victor, where did you come from, exactly? You don't look like any robot I've seen before, even in the Capital Wasteland." MacCready asked, being the first to lower his weapon. "What are you, some kind of 'Securitron'?" He laughed.
"Well I'll be! That's exactly the kind o' robot I am. That was quite the guess." Victor replied, happy that people out here seem to know of the kind of robot that he is.
"Surely you can't be serious…?" MacCready asked, understandably shocked.
"First thing: of course, I be serious. My designation is: RobCo security model 2060-B, albeit a bit upgraded. And second, don't call me Shirley. Name's Victor."
Hancock leans in to whisper into Cait's ear: "Also dense."
Cait replies: "Just like Codsworth." Both Cait and Hancock share a little chuckle as Nick comes back up.
"So, Victor. Just what are you doing in the Commonwealth, let alone on my wedding day? What are you here for, and who are you here for?" Nick asked accusingly.
"Well, I's sent by my boss, who I don't think would like it if I used his name, so I just gonna keep referring to him as the boss. He sent me here with a message for you I recorded on my sensor. I'll play it for ya." Victor's monitor switch from the cowboy to static.
The static faded away to reveal a figure wearing a hat like Preston's, a pair of sunglasses, and a bandana covering his mouth. After a couple of seconds, the figure spoke to Nick.
"Hello, Nick Whitaker. I hope Victor made it to you safe and sound and stopped the man from killing you. I sent him to find you to ask you to come to New Vegas for a meeting of like-minded individuals. I have a proposition someone like yourself couldn't pass up. You can bring whomever you want with you, the more the merrier I always say! Anyways, I hope you deeply consider my offer, and I hope to see you here as soon as you can."
The message stops, and Victor's face shows again. "So, you heard what the boss had to say. What you think? I say you do it, he don't offer stuff like this to anyone."
Nick looked at Cait and asked what they should do. She of course said that they should take the boss up on his offer, but Nick said that they should think about it a bit more. But before Nicks said anything else, he looked over to Victor and said: "Wait, you're from Vegas? That's practically across the fuckin' country! How long did it take you to get here, exactly?"
"I wouldn't worry 'bout that too much. We know y'all got them "ver-tee-birds". Y'all can make it to New Vegas in record time, by my calculations."
Nick wasn't too sure about it, but Cait seemed set. She had told him about wanting them to spend their honeymoon in New Vegas, and Nick didn't object to it. He'd always wanted to go to Vegas, back before the bombs dropped, but because of deployment schedules and Shaun being born, he never got the chance. So, now would a good a time as any to go.
"I'd hate to disappoint my new bride on her wedding day, so I'll take your boss up in his offer. We'll set a travel plan, and we'll meet you at the Castle when we're all ready and set to go. Sound good, Victor?"
"Yee-haw! That's what I like ta hear! I'll be at this 'Castle' fore when y'all are ready."
Hancock leant his elbow on MacCready's shoulder, placing the barrel of his gun on the ground, using it as an anchor for his other hand. "So, Nicky. Who're you taking to New Vegas with you and Cait? Realistically you can't take all of us. Some will have to stay back and make sure the Minutemen don't go to complete shit." MacCready agreed.
"I think you two should come along, seeing as the three musketeers can't be broken up." Nick thought about all his friends that could be a good idea for coming along.
Preston? He'd have to stay behind and coordinate the Minutemen in Nick's absence; Danse? He could be a good gun to have if things went sideways; Deacon? He could provide useful info about New Vegas when they got there; Piper? She'd just try to dig up stories and stir up trouble; Codsworth? He'd be fun, but Preston would need him to help keep the peace, as Nick modified Codsworth to have an Assaultron body and like-wise weapon systems; Curie. She would be a necessity, as Nick doesn't know what kind of doctors they have in New Vegas; Dogmeat was an instant yes, as he's just too good a boy to not keep along; Valentine? Nick always liked having another Nick around, albeit a bit more… metal; Strong? He'd also be a great muscle to have along, although a bit too literal at times. Ada was staying with Isabel, helping with keeping the robots in line, and Longfellow stayed in Far Harbor, helping the dock residents stay safe from the Fog Creatures.
Nick made the list of people he'd want along, and ran it by Cait and Preston, who both objected to having Strong on the list, as well as Deacon, for some reason, but Nick convinced them to see why he'd want them both on the trip. When they confirmed the list of travelers, Nick and Cait met everyone at the Castle a day after the wedding, wanting to have some time to themselves.
When they got to the Castle, Strong had packed some things into a half-red, half-tan sack slung over his shoulder. "Strong," Nick asked. "Please don't tell me you have body parts in there."
Strong replied: "I don't have parts in here."
"Then why is it dripping a red liquid?"
"It was painted… jus now…" Strong looked away from Nick's gaze.
"Pack something more useful for the ride. It supposedly isn't going to take that long. Pack a gun, or a Super Sledge."
"Fine…" Strong went to empty his bag and came back with a clean bag filled with 5.56 ammunition, a heavily modified assault rifle, and his pink Super Sledge. Deacon carried a bag with some of his classic disguises, some 10mm ammunition, and the Deliverer. Valentine carried only his custom .44, like Nick's, and some ammo for it. Hancock had a bag filled with shotgun shells, some chems for the way there and back, and his custom double barrel shotgun. MacCready carried a bag with .50cal ammo, his custom sniper he and Nick modified, and the toy soldier Nick insisted he kept. Danse carried his black trim laser rifle and a reserve of MF cells for it. Curie had her bag filled with medical supplies, being the pacifist of the group, and finally, Dogmeat wore his ballistic weave harness that Nick and Cait custom made to perfectly fit his body.
Nick walked along the ramparts which held the vertibird landing pads, and met Victor, who stood next to four fully fueled birds, which, according to their mechanic, are in: "Tippy-toppy flying shape!"
"Alrighty, pardner. Y'all ready to get going to New Vegas to meet the boss man? Word of warnin' though: don't piss him off. He's got a bit of a short temper, if yer catchin' my drift." Victor warned Nick and Cait.
"Why are ya telling this ta us now? Can't he hear you?" Cait asked.
"Not from this far away. Luckily my audio isn't recorded, so he can't tell that I told you this. But as soon as we get to New Vegas, everything I say and do is monitored, and with a flick of a button, I could become a completely different Securitron, or just shut down."
"Good to know. Thanks for the heads-up, Victor." Nick said.
"Anytime, pardner. Let's say we get these birds up an' operational, yea?"
Victor, Nick and his crew boarded the four vertibirds, with Nick, Cait, Hancock and MacCready in the first, followed by Deacon, Curie and Victor in the second, Valentine and Dogmeat in the third, and Strong and Danse in the fourth.
Half way there, Cait leaned out of the vertibird, and vomited out what looked like her whole stomach's contents.
"You okay, babe?" Nick asked, placing his hand on her back.
"Yea, I'll be fine. Thanks though." She pulled herself up and leant into Nick, snuggling up and falling asleep for the rest of the trip.
In Danse's vertibird, Strong wouldn't stop asking if they were there yet, even when there was no habitable city within miles. Valentine's vertibird was relatively quiet, except for the odd conversation between him and the two pilots of the craft. Victor's vertibird was a haven for him and Curie, talking about the things he's seen roaming the Mojave and surrounding areas for his boss. Deacon stayed quiet most of they way, only inputting when Curie asked him specifically.
When they landed in New Vegas. Cait got off the vertibird first and ran to the nearest trashcan and vomited again, prompting Nick to wonder what's happening to his new wife. "You sure you're alright, Cait? That's technically the second time you threw up during the flight."
"I get airsick."
"Never once have you thrown up when we traveled in the vertibirds back home. What's really happening, babe?" Nick walked over to where Cait hunched over, trying to comfort her.
"I'll be fine. Must be a new development. I'll ask Curie about it later." Cait reassured Nick everything would be fine, and they held hands following Victor as the descended the staircase with their crew following suit.
"Oh-boy! Will this never be a sight for sore sensors! This, my friends, is New Vegas!"
Hey thanks for reading this far into my mind rambles! I've recently just got a whole lot more inspiration for this story in particular, so if you like it, don't like it, or just like readin, don't be afraid to review, as I love to read them.
