AN/ Just wanted people to know that somewhere in this chapter is the 100,000th word that I have put on this site. Yay me!

For those of you who have read the chapters before this, I went and changed something. :( Sorry, but you'll easily spot what it was so it is okay. Or you could go back and read it all again... and review on each chapter as you finish it...

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

Chapter Three: Information Costs

Pushing the unlocked metal gates open, Jack stepped into Freeside. A group of people were loitering to his right all looked to him, which was slightly unnerving and caused him to stop. A few seconds passed before one of them said, "So, are you going to hire one of us or not?"

"Um..." he said with a raised eyebrow, "What exactly does that mean?" Some of the group looked like hired guns, but the rest were wearing a strange attire that looked pre-war, and he wasn't quite sure what was being offered.

One of the first man's fellows, this one in the white pre-war outfit, hit him on the shoulder and gave him a look that said, "What is wrong with you?" then turned to Jack and, out loud now, said, "Forgive him, he's not the brightest bulb in Vegas. This here is Freeside, and she's dangerous as a Deathclaw. With one of us around she'll be as tame as a dead Deathclaw. Man, because of what you done for the Kings, no charge. What do you say?"

Wondering what exactly it was that he had done for the Kings, he said, "No thanks. I think I can handle myself fine, but thanks for the warning anyway. Which way is The Strip's North Gate?"

The man gave him a puzzled look, but then pointed and said, "At the end of the road turn right then head that way."

Reaching for the 9mm at his waist, not wanting to use the expensive ammo for his rifle on what would probably be soft targets, Jack proceeded with a bit more caution than he thought should be needed in a town, and sure enough he didn't get down the street before three sickly humans rushed out of a building to his left. They wore no armor and were wielding only rusty pipes so they were barely a threat. Farther down a man yelled, "Hey, need a fix?" from across the street, but quieted when he was ignored. As he went, following the bodyguard's directions, a large brick wall loomed up to Jack's right.

Coming to an intersection, he could see a sign that said "Welcome to The Strip," far down the street to his left. He started for it when a woman leaning against a building nearby said, "Hey, you. With the robot."

He stopped and said, "Yes?" His 9mm was still in his hand, so he wasn't worried.

"Do you have any injuries that need healing?"

He smiled and replied, "I have an injury, but there isn't anything anyone can do for it."

The woman was puzzled at the cryptic reply and said, "Okay, want to bet? This is Vegas after all." Jack looked at her incredulously, but didn't decline, so she continued, "I'll give you 100 caps," she pulled out a cloth sac that jingled slightly. "If you go to get checked out and the Followers can't help you, you keep them. If they can, two-hundred caps for me. Oh, and ask for Julie, the leader."

Knowing he had already made it to where he was going, Jack decided to take the bet. On one side of the building with big brick walls there were two large wooden doors that stood slightly ajar with a well armed cowboy-looking ghoul sitting behind a pile of sandbags just inside. He walked in and as he passed by the ghoul she (he could only tell from the voice) said, "Be good while you're here or I'll shoot you."

"Kay, message received." Quickly moving past the intimidating ghoul, Jack looked around. The wall that he thought was a building was actually four thick brick walls with guard towers that formed a very defensible fort. There was no roof, and the courtyard that the walls made contained several tents erected around a flagpole. The most common apparel around seemed to be a white lab coat, so Jack assumed they were doctors or scientists of some type. Suddenly a flashback hit him. He was in this same place, but it was at night and he was hurt. A knife in his gut. Bullet in his shoulder. A bodyguard had a secret, and had turned on him when he found out what it was. And finally a person, a... soldier? Someone in a tan uniform/armor running away. Jack snapped out of it and approached the nearest doctor. "Hey, can I speak with someone in charge?"

"Sure," he said, and led him to a woman with a dark mohawk who wore the same type of dress as all the others. She gave a quick glance at ED-E and, although she didn't really show it, Jack could tell she was very glad to see it. He wondered why, but didn't ask. It might be beneficial for him to play stupid.

"Hello, I'm Julie Farkas, Follower of the Apocalypse. How can I help?"

Forgoing the bet he had made for info, he said, "My name is Jack. I'm not really here for anything, but I've received a head injury recently and lost some of my memory. When I walked in I recalled this place, so do you know if I've been here before?"

The woman took a second before answering. "Yes, I believe I've seen you here before. It was something to do with the Kings, and you getting hurt on the job, right?"

"Uh, I don't know. I remember a corrupt bodyguard and getting shot then stabbed."

"Yes, I remember. You were the one the King sent to get dirt on Orris. Orris didn't take to kindly to getting found out, as I recall."

"Okay, well thanks for the help. It looks like I need to talk to this, um, King, I guess."

He started to walk away when Julie said, "Hey, wait!" He turned back to her and she continued, "Since I just helped you out, can I ask a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"How much is that eyebot worth to you?" She glanced at ED-E over his shoulder.

Jack followed her gaze to the spherical, spiky metal thing that was hovering behind him and said, "I don't think I'm willing to part with ED-E. He's saved my live a few times, he can watch my back out in the lonely Wastes and he's carrying all of my stuff. I can't go without him."

"Hm, alright, how much is a few hours away from it, uh... him, worth to you?"

This is starting to get interesting, Jack thought to himself. Why could she want him for only a little while? It ruled out the possibility that she wanted ED-E for a task, unless the job could be done quickly. The only thing he could think of was to see how the eyebot, as she called it, and any especially unique parts of him were constructed to make more, but for some reason he didn't think that was the right answer. In short, his interest was perked.

"It would be worth quite a bit to me, but why do you want him?"

A pause, then, "You don't need to know that. It is important to me, enough so that I'm willing to spend some caps. That is all the information I am offering on the subject, do you accept of decline?" When she spoke it was with an incredible poker face, and at that Jack knew there was something going on. He wanted to know what it was. Time to play hardball, he thought, forming a plan. This is going to be fun.

"Well, as I'm currently trying to find the man that did this," he pushed back from his forehead a lock of his shaggy hair to expose the large scar and stitch marks that ran from his left temple to his ear, "And I have reason to believe he is in this city, details are what it's going to take to get me to delay for hours on end."

Julie's eyebrows shot up at the sight of such a wound and, now distracted, she said, "Wow, that is the head injury you mentioned earlier? You should probably let one of us look at that, there could have been lasting effects..."

Seeing an opening, he attacked (verbally, that is). Raising his voice slowly and steadily, starting with a forced indifference and ending at a not-quite shout that was just under the decibel level needed to 'make a scene,' he began. "Yeah, I know what the lasting effects are. The lasting affects are that I can't remember my last name, if I have one." He pulled out the key on its cord necklace that he had gotten from Doc Mitchell, one of the few things he had from his forgotten life, and held it up, "The lasting effects are that I can't remember what this goes to, even though it's important enough to me that I wear it around my neck. Luckily, the lasting effects, though they might have caused an anger problem, didn't fuck up my ability to think straight because if they had then I wouldn't know that you're trying to get information from a one-of-a-kind-robot without even telling me, it's rightful owner, what that information is." Jack could tell he had the Doctor on the run, so he lowered his voice and said, "Now, I offer an unlimited amount of time with ED-E, on the condition that I get to see whatever it is that you find. Do you accept of decline?"

The veteran doctor was shaken, not as much by Jack's tone but by his tone coupled with the logic he provided for his argument and the force he put behind it, and it was enough to leave her speechless for a moment. The she hurriedly said, "Yes, fine, I accept." She looked around and said, "Here, follow me. I need to set things up." She started for a tent at the back, one in which a blond and bespectacled man quickly withdrew his head and pretended he hadn't been observing the display. Julie closed the tent flap after ED-E was in and then started talking to a scientist at a terminal.

Seeing he wasn't needed at the moment, Jack turned to the blond man that had been watching his performance and cheerily said, "So, Nosy, what do you think? How did I do?"

The scientist looked up through his glasses and condescendingly said, "What are you talking about?"

He let out a chuckle before saying, "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I was just asking about the show I put on, you know? It was pretty good, right? You think she believed it?"

From his peripheral vision he saw Julie's head snap up from her conversation to look at him, but he pretended he didn't notice. The blond man's superior attitude was gone now, replaced by a a genuine sense of confusion. "Wait, what? Really, what do you mean?"

"Oh, well I mean I was curious about what exactly she wanted to do with ED-E, so I made up a bunch of stuff to throw her off guard. I wouldn't actually get mad over her expressing concern for my health and welfare." There was movement in the corner of his eye as some one approached, so he put on an urgent tone. "But there's no need to let her know any of this of course. If she did she might try and talk me out of a deal we already agreed on. That would just force me to run word-circles around her again until she reaccepted." The man looked between his superior and Jack with a slack jaw, slightly awed by what was happening. Then there was a crunch of dirt under a boot as the Head Follower turned back to what she was doing.