A brush of cold air flushed Colt's face as he entered the Tops hotel and casino. It was the first breeze of cold air from an ndustrial air conditioner to hit his face since a few days ago at the Mojave Outpost where he met Cass. Cass… he was still looking for her, coming to the Tops to speak with Swank on information regarding the whereabouts of the Stallions. But, Colt couldn't help but take in the interior of the casino. It was well lit and exceptionally cooler compared to the Lucky 38. Unfortunately, Colt couldn't see much of the casino from where he was standing because of a large potted plant that was behind a semi-circular desk in front of him. The plant was as long as a car and had a neon light of musical notes protruding from the leaves; it completely blocked his view of the rest of the casino.
But, even though he couldn't see anything, he could hear everything; the sound of slot machines pinging as their reels stopped, the sound of dice being thrown, the sound of cards being dealt, the sound of chips being wagered and pushed around, the sound of losers as they lost all of their money and the sound of winners as they gained a few hundred bucks… this was a casino alright.
Veronica and Boone stepped in next to him, taking in the sights and sounds of the casino just as Colt was doing. At least, they were until a man in a business suit approached the newcomers.
"Welcome to the Tops. Sorry to say, but all weapons are to be relinquished to me," the man in the suit informed them, "Only Chairmen are allowed to carry weapons."
The three complied with the Chairman and gave up their weapons; Veronica gave up her pneumatic gauntlet, Boone handed the man his .308 sniper rifle, and Colt surrendered his M16 assault rifle and, reluctantly, gave the man Cass' shotgun.
"I'm going to need the revolver too," the Chairmen said, pointing to the weapon on Colt's hip.
"The revolver stays with me," Colt retorted, placing his hand over the gun, trying to shield it from unwanted viewers, "Its valuable and I don't really trust anyone with it."
"Sorry, baby, but it's gotta come with me," the Chairmen said, reaching for the weapon.
Colt took a step back, "Sorry, baby, but if you touch the revolver, I'm gonna break my foot off in your ass."
"Woah, you're one hostile cat," another voice piped up. Another man approached from Colt's left. He was wearing the same suit as the other Chairmen, but his hair was what set him out; it was trimmed uptight and was clean cut. "What's going on here?"
"Swank, this cat won't give up his revolver. He says its 'valuable'."
"Listen," the man named 'Swank' addressed Colt, "The weapons have to be turned out and given up, ya dig? Safety regulations and all. Don't want anyone getting shot over a hand of poker, now do we?"
"Look, this revolver is extremely valuable and I don't trust casino vaults and the like."
"Oh, it's valuable? Just how valuable?" Swank asked, obviously not buying Colt's story.
"Its pure silver."
"Pure silver, you say?" Swank rubbed his chin, "Prove it."
"Alright," Colt said as he removed the revolver and tilted it in such a way that it shined a ray of light in Swank's eyes.
"Damn," Swank exclaimed, trying to shield his eyes from the bright light, "You can keep the gun, just stop that and keep it holstered." Colt complied with Swank and stopped the shine from the revolver and holstered the weapon.
"But, Swank, how's that proof that thing is silver?" The Chairmen, who tried to take Colt's revolver, protested.
"That thing is silver alright. It shines like the motherfucking sun; that's proof enough. Now, go put those weapons in the vault," Swank waved off the Chairman. The Chairman, murmuring under his breath, left with the weapons. "Sorry for that," Swank said apologetically to Colt, "Now, is there anything I can help you with?"
"Yeah, what was your name again?" Colt asked, wanting to make sure he had the right guy.
"The name's 'Swank'. I run the Tops now… well, since Benny the two-face got what was coming to him, ya dig?"
"Uh, huh," Colt said, not caring who this "Benny" was, "It's actually a stroke of good luck I've met you, Swank."
"Yeah, and how's that?"
"I need to talk to you about what happened a couple days ago."
"What about a couple days ago?"
"Did a gang, by the name of the Stallions, come in here?"
Swank's eyes widened at the mention of the gang's name and he quickly reacted, "How do you know about them?"
"You can say we're… old friends. I need some information on them and I was directed here."
"Well, it depends on how you're going to use the information…"
Colt knew what Swank meant. If he told Swank that he was going to kill the entire gang, then there's the possibility he won't give Colt the information… but, that's only if he was helping the gang. From what Colt could piece together, no one liked the Stallions and no one was willing to help them. He hoped that Swank felt the same way…
"I'm going to kill them. All of them."
Swank just stood there, looking at Colt. Finally, after a few minutes of silence, Swank nodded and said, "Thank God. Someone needs to teach those assholes a lesson, ya dig? Sure, I'll help you take them down. Come on; let's talk in the Ace's Theater where it's dark and quiet."
Colt nodded and, with Veronica and Boone behind him, he followed Swank around the reception desk and into the main part of the casino. They bypassed the main floor of the casino that was to the right of the entrance. A long line of slot machines stretched down the northern wall, capped off with small potted plants on each end and placed in between the machines every so often. Roulette, blackjack, and poker tables dominated the area, along with area underneath a set of stairs that lead to the Cashier's Exchange and the Ace's Theater.
Colt, Veronica, and Boone followed these set of stairs and Swank up to a second floor platform. Right in front of them was a set of double doors with a colorful neon sign that read "Ace's Theater". To the left of the theater was the Cashier's Exchange, where Colt stopped Boone and Veronica.
"Look," Colt said as turned to them, "I want to talk to this guy alone. Take some of my NCR bills," he pulled out a small bundle of NCR twenties, ten or so, and handed the money to Boone, "Exchange them for chips and play some blackjack or something."
"Are you sure?" Boone asked, taking the bundle of bills.
"Yeah, he'll talk much easier if it's a one-on-one talk and, besides, you guys need to relax after coming all this way with me. It's my treat."
"Colt," he turned to Veronica, "Be careful," she said worriedly.
Colt smiled and nodded, "Don't worry; if he gets too riled up, I can take him, ya dig?"
Veronica snickered as she, too, nodded and turned to join Boone at the exchange. Colt pushed through the double doors to the Ace's Theater, where Swank was waiting for him. The Ace's was dark, except for a single pool of light on the stage where a woman in a sleek blue dress was singing smooth jazz. In front of the stage was a group of ten or so tables with three chairs a piece. Only a few tables were actually occupied though. To the left of the Ace's entrance was a small bar chock full of all kinds of liquor. One or two people sat at the bar counter, that circled a corner of the theater, taking sips from glasses full of alcohol. To the right of the Ace's entrance was a few booths; all of them were empty except for the one in the corner where a young couple had taken residence. Colt followed Swank over to the occupied booth.
"Hey, get out of here," Swank told the couple as he walked up. The two just looked up at Swank. "I said scram!" Swank commanded, raising his voice to barely a yell.
The couple scoffed as they scooted out of the booth and walked out of the Theater, angry at Swank for ruining their "special moment". Swank motioned for Colt to have a seat.
"So, what is it that you wanted to know?" Swank asked as he sat in the seat with his back to the bar.
Colt sat in the seat in front of him, "I want to know everything."
"Like what? There's a lot subjects dealing with these cats; they have a long history. Just pick a subject and we'll start from there, ya dig?"
"Alright," Colt leaned back, "Let's start with Aleksander Lebedev."
"Aleksander," Swank laughed softly, "He's the leader of the whole gang and one of the founders."
"One of the founders?" Colt asked, hoping there weren't more people he'd have to kill.
"Yeah, there were three others; Vladimir Ryndenko, Mikhail Voroshilov, and some other cat named Nikolai something or other. I've met the first two, but not Nikolai. Aleksander wouldn't even talk about him and the most he would say on the subject is 'regret'. So, I just guessed he got into a fight with Nikolai and the guy left before they first came to the Mojave. I think Mikhail left after they went back to California… I didn't see him when the Stallions visited a few days ago. Its just heartbreaking; that little gang is breaking up bit by bit…"
"Look, it's helpful that you told me that, but, I don't want to learn about the other leaders. The guy I want is Aleksander. Tell me more about him."
"Fine. Aleksander, along with those three other ghouls, came to America after the War. They used some old Soviet submarine, believe it or not. They lived for a few decades at the Boneyard, doing security jobs and the like. That's when Aleksander saw all the trouble that's in the Wastes and him and his friends created a gang called the 'Stallions' to protect the people.
They used to be helpful. I mean, really helpful. When the gang was formed and they took on new members, they started to do large caravan security jobs and town protection. Helped a lot of people and gained a lot of favor with some top class cats and even the finks at the bottom of the food chain.
Then, the war with the NCR happened and, not long after that, his gang was kicked out of the Mojave by the Families and House. That's when Aleksander lost it completely. Now, he only wants to hurt people and he already has. He's hurt a lot of people and most of them had something to do with the NCR, mainly ranchers and other business owners who provide the NCR with supplies that keep the country alive. The country is suffering from the attacks and the government wants blood… more specifically, his blood, ya dig? But, here's the catch; the NCR government can't do anything about it themselves, so, Aleksander and his gang have total immunity."
"This is starting to get confusing," Colt said, leaning back, trying to process the information "Okay, the only thing that really gets me is why the NCR can't do anything about them. What do you mean Aleksander and the gang have 'immunity'? You mean they're protected from the NCR or something?"
"Well, yeah, sort of. Here, let me explain," Swank said, leaning forward, " Most of the NCR citizens hate their government because they rule with an iron fist. So, to get back at the government, they pretend to support Aleksander and then watch their government squirm as they try to figure out a way to deal with him without causing anarchy in Cali. Now, does that mean they like Aleksander? No, they hate him because of the deaths of their fellow citizens, but they hate their government so much that they support him to get underneath the government's skin. That's it, basically."
"Wait, what?" Colt asked, surprised at how deviant the citizens actually are, "They only support Aleksander because he causes the government trouble?"
"Yep. NCR citizens are deviant bastards, aren't they?"
"But doesn't the government know about the citizens' plot?"
"Well, yeah, of course," a smile crossed Swank's face, "They know the citizens are only supporting Aeksander to piss them off… but, they're not willingly to risk shooting Aleksander and causing anarchy across Cali. In reality, the government's too scared to do anything and the citizens actually hate both parties... but they hate the government more and will do anything to humiliate them."
"A deviant world we live in… alright, let's move away from the diabolical plot and the screwed up country. Tell me; what in the world happened to make Aleksander want to start a war with the NCR."
Swank shrugged, "No one knows; kept it to himself. The most someone could coax out of him was a 'broken promise'. That's it, really. What I do know is that the Stallions didn't win and they fled here."
"Alright, let's move on to another subject. How did you meet Aleksander and the Stallions?"
"I met them a few years back. I would say, around 2270 or 2271; it was before House converted the Vegas tribals into the Strip Families. Aleksander arrived right in the middle of our negotiations with House and tried to recruit us to help him and his gang in their 'noble' cause. We listened to both offers and they were almost exactly the same; clothes, food, clean water, a place to kick it. But, Aleksander offered something more; a stake in a new country… the only problem was, countries take time to get set up and all of the luxuries Aleksander offered would come later with our success.
Meanwhile, House had all those luxuries up front. You can already tell who we went with," Swank said, gesturing to the things around them, "I say we got some nice digs going with House. If we went with Aleksander, we'd still be playing in the dirt with sticks and rocks trying to run a country that would probably never get off the ground in the first place or Securitrons would be running over our dead bodies."
"Why did Aleksander come here a second time, though? The King told me about 'outstanding debts' the Strip Families owed, but Aleksander isn't credited with anything you guys have."
Swank scoffed, "Don't listen to the King. He doesn't know shit that goes on in the Strip. No, Aleksander may have went to him for debts, but he came here to make trouble and intimidate us to 'change our ways' and 'join his righteous cause' or else be 'destroyed with the rest of the Old World'," Swank scoffed again as he shook his head, "I told him to beat it or else we're going to have an old school showdown. That's when the NCR came in, broke up the party, and chased the Stallions out of the Strip… being careful not cause them any harm."
"Thanks for clearing that up," Colt remembered to the security footage… one of the gang member's who was carrying a burlap sack didn't come out with the rest of the men. Colt inquired about it, "Okay, look, I know about the gang coming here because William Hans showed by security footage of that day. Now, when they left with the NCR chasing them, they were down one or two men. One of those guys was carrying a dark burlap sack. Do you remember them?"
Swank leaned back, thinking, and then answered, "Yeah, I do remember. A big guy carrying a burlap sack with a bandage on his hand stepped out of the group with a buddy of his. They rented a room, saying they had 'special plans'."
Colt's heart raced. It was Ivan; the prick who shot Colt, kidnapped Cass, and one of his family's murderers. His mind flushed with fury… and thoughts of his first, true taste of revenge. He was going to kill Ivan for all of the pain he caused Colt… someone was going to die tonight… and the burlap sack? Special plans? That bastard was going to die...
"Are they still here, Swank?"
"Yeah, why?"
"What room is he in?"
"Why?" Swank asked, looking worried and shifting in his seat. Colt didn't move… all he could think about was shooting Ivan in the head.
"What room is he in, Swank?" Colt asked again, raising his voice and making patrons of the Ace's Theater turn to them.
"Uh, R-Room 102 on the third floor. W-Why do you want to know?"
Colt abruptly stood from the booth and headed straight for the door, ignoring Swank's constant questions of where he was going and what he was doing. He bolted through the door and into the casino. He ignored all the sights, sounds, and many other distractions and just headed for the elevators on the first floor beneath the platform leading to the theater. He ignored and pushed aside Veronica and Boone as they approached him, asking if they were leaving and what happened in the theater. He ignored everything except for one thing… his thirst for revenge...