AN: Another Chapter! It's almost too good to be real. (yeah I can hardly believe it myself!)
The ride down to the casino floor of the Lucky 38 was filled with awkward silence, with only the hum of gears turning filling the void. Amata felt she should say something to break the tension but the Lone Wanderer beat her to it.
"Well this is awkward." The Lone Wanderer said voicing his thoughts out loud.
"Tell me about it." The Courier muttered. Amata noticed out the corner of her eye that he seemed slightly anxious as he tapped his foot on the elevator floor.
"So on a scale of one to ten, how bad do you think this is?" she asked.
"Are you talking about the Wrangler? Or the situation as a whole?" the Courier retorted, but before Amata could answer the elevator dinged announcing that they had arrived at the ground floor. The elevator doors couldn't have opened faster for the Courier as he pushed himself through the barely open doors.
'I hope Veronica is okay.' Amata thought as they crossed the lobby heading to the double doors that lead outside.
The Courier pushed the door open and wasn't surprised at the sight that greeted him. People were pouring out of the casinos to see what was going on as thick black smoke dared to blanket the red and orange sky, but the sight that got his attention was the squad of NCR soldiers with service rifles aimed at the Lucky 38 with Ambassador Crocker standing behind them. Amata and the Lone Wanderer were stepping outside when they locked eyes with the Ambassador.
"Something tells me these soldiers aren't here to help." The Lone Wanderer muttered to Amata.
"Courier, it's good to see that you are well. I was afraid that these fugitives might have sought harm towards you." The Ambassador greeted.
'Fugitives! That son of a backstabbing-" Amata fumed.
"Fugitives? Well I guess that would explain a lot of things. For a moment I thought they were working for the NCR, a shame really. I could use there assistance in retrieving the Platinum chip." The Courier noted.
"Y-you don't have it?" the Ambassador stammered.
"Of course not, what if some assassins got me? I wouldn't keep it on me or nearby for that matter. In fact I was just about to go retrieve it when this 'problematic' situation developed. Now if you'll excuse me-" He stated as he headed towards the gates.
"Hold on for just a minute, if these two can help you then they are at your disposure. I'll just need a minute with them so they can weigh their options." Crocker offered. He approached Amata and the Lone Wanderer and spoke in a hushed tone, obviously not wanting the Courier to hear what he had to say.
"Nothing's changed, you get the chip, you end him, you get your freedom." He stated plainly.
"Sure we don't get a firing squad instead?" the Lone Wanderer asked mockingly.
"It was just a precaution in case you two couldn't do it." The Ambassador shot back.
Amata scrunched her nose as if she smelled something foul. "Something smells like Brahmin shit." She remarked.
Ambassador Crocker straightened his tie and ignored the accusation as he gave the simple order.
"Get it done."
As he turned his back on the two the sound of gunfire erupted from the other side of the gate causing him to fall prone and put the crowd of people in a state of uproar.
"What's going on?" Amata asked as she watched the Courier approach the gate.
"Damn idiots must've tried rushing the gate and the guarding Securitrons put them down. Now they've triggered safety failsafe." The Courier cursed.
"What's that?" the Lone Wanderer inquired.
"They just caused the gates to lock temporarily." The Courier answered as he put a cig in his mouth and lit it.
"How long will it stay lock?" Ambassador Crocker said as he got up and dusted himself off in a vain attempt to look dignified.
"Maybe a minute, maybe more. Depends if there's more dumbasses on the other side wishing to rush the gate again." the Courier answered mildly annoyed.
The sound of gunfire started again, this time it seemed to last a bit longer.
"Why would they rush the gate again? Can't they see how pointless it is." The Ambassador noted.
"It's because they're desperate. Desperate people do desperate things." The Lone Wanderer remarked.
"Funny, I think its stupid people doing stupid things." The Courier countered as he blew out a huff of smoke.
"Won't the Securitrons will run out of bullets?" Amata asked.
"Oh believe me, they'll run out of bodies before these bots run out of ammunition. Hell they haven't even used their grenade launchers yet." The Courier pointed out.
"So we're safe inside the gates?" Crocker asked.
"Nope, far from it to be exact. Well more importantly 'you' to be exact. If I was a Legion Frumentarius this would be a perfect time to assassinate a high ranking NCR official." The Courier answered.
Amata saw the color drain from the Ambassador's face as he realized what the Courier was hinting at, he quickly barked orders to his soldiers to head back to the embassy no doubt to barricade himself inside till everything blew over.
The Courier finished off the remainder of his cigarette and plucked the butte away as Amata and the Lone Wanderer joined him.
"I guess we should think you for sticking up for us." The Lone Wanderer told him.
"Thanks? For what? I simply told him what we are going to do." The Courier remarked as he checked his Sequoia.
As the three stood there waiting for the gates to unlock Amata wondered what they were about to get themselves into along with their relationship towards the Courier.
"So… what is this, exactly?" she finally decided to ask.
"An uneasy partnership?" the Lone Wanderer guessed.
"Well it sure as hell isn't the start of a beautiful friendship." The Courier answered.
"Then what do you think this is?" she asked.
"It's a truce, temporarily at best. We'll handle this 'matter' with the Legion first." The Courier stated.
"Afterward?" the Lone Wanderer inquired.
"Afterward? What makes you think you two will survive this?" the Courier answered a bit amused.
"We've survived worse." The Lone Wanderer countered.
"Your 'worse' is nothing when you face the Legion." The Courier told them.
"I wish they gave us our guns back. I'd feel a bit better going into this with some way to defend myself." Amata mumbled.
The Courier let out an audible sigh as he reached into his back pocket and pulled a silver 9mm pistol, he paused as if he was weighing his options before tossing Amata the pistol.
"Don't read too much into this. Chances are we're dealing with Frumentarii so they'll blend into the panic, if any get the drop on me I expect you to shoot them not me." The Courier explained.
"Understood." Amata answered as she check the chamber.
"What? I don't get one?" the Lone Wanderer jokingly asked.
"Sure let me just pull another one out my ass!" the Courier quickly snapped back.
Buzzzzzzz
The locking mechanisms on the gates unlocked and the gears controlling the gate began to turn. The gates loudly creaked open revealing the sight of a massacre before them, bloodied bodies piled over each other in a vain attempt to get into the safety of New Vegas.
"Think any of them were Frumentarii?" the Lone Wanderer solemnly asked.
"Nope just stupid people doing something stupid." The Courier sighed as he stepped over the bodies.
"You can't tell me you don't feel anything for these people?!" Amata asked feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"How I feel no longer matters to them, so why feel anything at all?" he retorted heading in the direction of the Wrangler.
Amata did her best not to look at the faces of the deceased as she stepped over them to follow the Courier. The Lone Wanderer took a few glances to see if anyone he had knew was among them, having found no one he quickly caught up with Amata.
"How can someone be that cold." She asked him.
"Only someone who've seen a lot of death can move pass it, If the Legion is capable of committing atrocities worse than this, then maybe this is his way to move forward." The Lone Wanderer suggested.
Once they reached the Atomic Wrangler they could see that the explosion took only the lower front of the building out but without support the front half of the second floor had collapse and now a group of Kings were working to dig any possible survivors out.
"Who's in charge here?" the Courier demanded.
"Well that me obviously." A voice came from behind them, it was a voice Amata knew well even with the short time she had heard it. It was The King leader of the Kings in Freeside only instead of looking charming he was covered and dirt and scratches with a small trail of blood trickling down the left side of his head.
"So nice of you to join the rescue effort." He remarked trying to muster up some of his charm but to no avail.
"Where's Cassidy and Veronica?" the Courier inquired.
"My men are working to clear out the ruble as quickly as possible." The King answered.
"I don't want excuses! I want them!" the Courier snapped.
The group of workers pushed a large chunk of rubble aside revealing two individual underneath.
"We found two!" one of them yelled out.
The Courier quickly darted over to see who they've found, one of them was Cass, she was alive but blood was flowing down the side of her face matting her red hair to her cheeks and her right leg was pinned by some rubble. The woman in power armor next to her wasn't moving, she looked to have fared better at first glance but upon a closer look the Courier could see that a sharp rebar sticking through the right side of her power armor.
"Veronica." Was all he could say as he knelt closer.
"She… protected me." Cass told him as he reached out to touch Veronica's face.
"Come on V, you're tougher than this! You got to wake up!" the Courier said.
"Rose!" the Lone Wanderer shouted as he ran over, he lifted the rubble that was pinning her leg and heft it to the side.
"Come on Veronica, just open your eyes. You can do it." The Courier encouraged.
'Please be alive.' Amata prayed.
Veronica's eyes began to stir as they slowly began to open, she looked at the Courier through tired eyes.
"I hate it. When you have that face on. You always look like that when someone you know is about to die." She coughed, a small stream of blood began pouring from her mouth.
"Internal bleeding, she's going to need a doctor immediately." The Lone Wanderer advised.
"Of course she needs a doctor you jackass!" the Courier hissed at him before turning to Cass.
"Did Arcade ever come back from the Fort?" he asked.
"No, I think he's still over there." She answered trying to remember.
The Courier let out an annoyed sigh as he stood up. Cass could see a small twitch under his eye which usually meant he was nearing the end of his restraint.
"Don't hurt him too badly." She reminded him.
"I'll make sure he can still use both of his arms, that's all he'll need." The Courier retorted.
"We'll come with you." Amata offered.
"No, you two stay here and guard them, I'll move faster on my own." He ordered. The Courier didn't give her a chance to argue as he quickly headed for the gates that lead to Northern Freeside.
"Always the loner." Veronica remarked.
"You should conserve your energy as much as possible." The Lone Wanderer told her.
"Speaking of energy." Cass said as she handed him a set of keys. "Get over to the Silver Rush and arm yourself. No point in guarding us if you can barely defend yourself." She told him. The Lone Wanderer looked at Amata as if seeking permission.
"Go, I'll stay here with them. Just bring me back something nice." She told him.
"I'll be back soon." He told them as he left.
"No hurry, we're not going anywhere." Cass called out after him.
AN: Sorry for the long wait, had so much on my plate recently and the next thing I know a whole month has passed! (I'm starting to think 'soon' does not mean what I think it means. Lol)