A pulsing roar echoed faintly through the stagnant air as Dean led Veronica and Magog through dimly lit maintenance tunnels. After leaving the police station, Dean led them through winding streets slowly filling with the corrosive gas until he came to a heavy unmarked door. The ghoul quickly picked the lock and ushered them into a dank corridor that he announced was an old maintenance tunnel.
"Where are we going?" Veronica rasped. Her voice was improving, but her throat still burned every time she swallowed or spoke.
"To the Sierra Madre Switching station." Dean announced as he passed a tunnel annex without bothering to look down the other tunnels. "Since the Villa was just for show, Sinclair cut corners to conserve costs and finish the Casino. The Gala doesn't have its own power source, so it draws from the Casino."
"Forcing it to shut down non-essential systems to conserve power." Veronica interrupted.
"Indeed." Dean replied with a surprised glance over his shoulder at the grim-faced young woman. "When the Gala fires up, the holograms shut down and the hermetic doors unseal. All we need is a little technical know how to re-route the systems to start the Gala from out here."
"So it's clear why you need the woman." Magog rumbled. "So what purpose do you have in mind for me ghoul?"
"Muscle." Dean replied with a smirk as he approached a heavy steel door. "Aside from the Tunnelers who seem hell-bent on crashing the party, there's the unresolved matter of the Vault's guardian."
The door clanged open revealing a cavernous chamber with the floor below hidden beneath the toxic smog. Aging generators crackling with electricity and reeking of ozone stood in rows along the floor with the cloud curling about them.
"Watch your step." Dean said as he stepped on a catwalk running along the wall. "These walkways haven't aged well."
Soon they stood in a steel walled office suspended above the floor. Dean ignored the cabinets lining the walls and approached a terminal sitting on a desk before two open windows showing the sparking generators below.
"This is it." Dean said to Veronica as he gestured toward the terminal with a mocking bow. "After you my dear."
Veronica glared at the ghoul before approaching the terminal and activating the power button. After a moment, the screen flickered to life, illuminating Veronica's scarred face with a sickly green glow.
"Where does the elevator lead?" Magog growled as he noted the doors on the other side of the room.
"That's our ticket to the Casino." Dean said with a smile. "Clearly you never tried this route."
"I wasn't aware it existed." Magog growled while Veronica's fingers flew over the keys of the ancient terminal.
"I may be the only one who knows about it." Dean admitted casually. "I benefitted by being here longer than anyone else." Dean chuckled before raising the detonator as Magog took a step toward him.
"I'm not that lost down memory lane." Dean warned the snarling mutant with a smile. "I imagine that all the other treasure hunters were drawn toward that glittering tower and didn't consider the possibility that there was another way in."
"Sinclair spent a fortune on security." Veronica said without looking up from the terminal. "Why would he leave a back door?"
"Because the demands of a five-star hotel aren't the same as a fallout shelter." Dean said with a smirk as he watched Magog. "It takes a lot to keep the rich and famous comfortable The Casa Madrid was meant to give the finest dining this side of the Atlantic. It simply wouldn't do to haul all those supplies through the front door. I knew there had to be another access, it just took a while to find it."
"So why start the Gala if we aren't entering the front door?" Magog growled.
"It turns out all the doors are sealed with the same system." Dean replied as he glanced toward Veronica. "Once the Gala begins, all the doors open. Of course there's the added wrinkle that a rogue member of the Brotherhood seems to have control of some of the Casino's systems. Once the event begins he'll know someone is trying to get in, and the front door seems ill-advised under the circumstances"
"Got it." Veronica declared apparently oblivious to Dean's comments about her former mentor. "The Gala begins...now!"
For a moment nothing happened, then all the lights went dark except for the white flashes of the generators and the dim glow of the emergency lights.
"Ah, hear that?" Dean asked as he looked up with a broad smile on his decaying face. Magog and Veronica also looked up, and faintly over the snap and crackle of electricity they could hear the strains of music.
"The gates of the Sierra Madre are swinging wide." Dean said with a sweep of his arm. "History awaits!"
Despite the ghoul's excitement, he still held the detonator ready as he directed Veronica and Magog into the elevator. As the car rattled and shook, Dean faced his two glowering companions, his arms crossed and his smile intact. When the doors slid open revealing a dimly lit corridor, he stepped back out of the elevator and gestured for Veronica and Magog to walk ahead. The three continued through the darkness with the music of the gala echoing about them.
"The door on the left leads to the Casa Madrid kitchen." Dean directed as they came to an annex with heavy steel doors set on each wall blocking further progress.
"The mechanism tends to stick, so Magog if you would?" The ghoul said with a mocking smile. Magog growled in reply as he lumbered forward and seized the steel lever visible set in the door. The mutant gave it an experimental tug, then wrenched it counter-clockwise with a snap and a screech of metal on metal. Several clangs followed and the door slid open revealing a dark chamber that clearly once served as a kitchen. Stoves and sinks lined the walls and long granite topped counters ran the length of the room which reeked of methane.
"My, smells like the gas lines haven't aged as well as the rest of the casino." Dean observed as he motioned for Veronica to follow Magog. "Be careful not to strike any sparks."
As they entered the silent room, Veronica noticed several white ceramic knives gleaming in the dim light against the dark granite.
"Ah, looks like some 'cosmic' knives have survived." Dean said as he picked up one of the blades and regarded it thoughtfully. "Another example of Sinclair's excesses. I had heard from the staff that some of the chefs lost fingers to these. Excessively sharp, but very susceptible to corrosion from exposure to the cloud." Dean carefully replaced his own knife with the ceramic blade, and then gestured toward another elevator visible in the shadows on the far side of the kitchen.
"That elevator provides discreet transport to the kitchen in the executive suites. With the Gala in full swing we should be able to use it and bypass any security measures on the way up."
"Where is the Vault?" Veronica rasped as they approached the elevator through the reeking darkness.
"The Vault's in the basement." Dean replied with a chuckle. "One of the ironies of the Madre is you have to go to the top to get to the bottom."
Soon the three were hurtling up in the cramped confines of the supply elevator. Finally it stopped and the doors opened silently upon another kitchen, smaller and strewn with debris from toppled shelves. Lit by steadily burning yellow lamps, Veronica could see bones scattered among the wreckage.
"Apparently the guests up here were locked in with the holograms when the bombs dropped." Dean explained as he stepped over one of the skeletons. "It appears Sinclair's security measures had a few bugs."
"Are the holograms still active?" Veronica asked as she looked warily about.
"Not while the Gala's running." Dean replied dismissively as he approached an open door and quickly checked the hallway beyond. "Sinclair's suite's this way if nothing's changed in my absence."
"I smell sulphur." Magog growled as he sniffed the air.
"The massacre did some damage." Dean explained as he led them down a gilded hallway with a thick dark red carpet muffling their footsteps. "It looked like there was a garrison of regular guards up here , probably to reassure the guests who didn't trust the holograms. They put up a fight, but died with everyone else." At that moment they came to a T intersection with two skeletons wearing the remains of pre-war riot gear sprawled on the heavily stained carpet.
"Sinclair cared about one thing, and one thing only." Dean said with a nod toward the skeletons. "Preserving Vera and himself while the rest of the world burned." Dean sneered as hatred flashed across his face before regaining his composure.
"The suite's this way." He snapped as he continued down the hall before finally stopping in front of a pair of dark mahogany doors.
"Odd." The ghoul mused as he stared thoughtfully at the gold accented panels. "I don't remember closing these when I left." He turned to face Magog and Veronica with the detonator raised before him. "Remember, no funny business."
"You are safe from me...for now." Magog growled through gritted teeth.
"After you my good fellow." Dean replied with a mocking bow as he stepped aside. Magog stepped forward and shoved on the doors, clearly expecting resistance. There was none and the doors silently swung open to show a large living room lit by shafts of blood-red light from the stained windows lining the back wall. Before the windows was a heavy oak table with a massive chandelier suspended above it, the electric flames of its sculpted candles dark and lifeless.
"Welcome to Sinclair's private suite." Dean said with a grand sweep of his arm. "Of course this little love nest was as much for show as the Villa. The real heart of the Sierra Madre lies below."
As Dean spoke he led Veronica and Magog to a door behind a granite topped wet bar next to the dining table. Beyond the door was another dark hallway that ended at another elevator. Dean led the way to the elevator, then turned and indicated a speaker mounted in the wall beside them.
"Now it's time to play your part my dear." Dean said with a smirk. "Simply step up to the speaker and say begin again, let go."
Veronica glared at Dean, but stepped up to the panel and after clearing her throat with a wince of pain said:
"Begin again, let go."
The elevator doors silently slid open and impatiently Dean gestured them forward.
"Such a simple phrase, but you have no idea how long it took me to figure it out." The ghoul quipped as he stepped into the elevator. The doors closed with a ding and the elevator plunged into the depths of the Sierra Madre.
Finally the doors slid open, and Dean led the way into a steel tunnel with a reinforced door on one end, and an open doorway ahead leading into a vast dark chamber.
"Ah, fortune is finally smiling on Dean Domino." The ghoul said with a grin as he barely contained his excitement. "We don't have to take the scenic route through the maintenance tunnels. Behold the Vault of the Sierra Madre!" Dean stepped aside as he swept his arm toward the echoing chamber beyond.
The air throbbed with the sound of unseen generators as Veronica and Magog looked out the doorway onto a wide steel platform suspended over a void filled with the churning red mist. In the middle of the platform was a reinforced steel dome crowned with huge Tesla coils protruding from it like horns. Electricity arced and snapped from the coils, lighting the void above and below with flashes of white light.
"This was as far as I got the last time." Dean said as he gestured Veronica and Magog down a flight of steel steps to the platform below. "No one else ever made it this far!"
Veronica ignored Dean's rambling as she stared at the ancient dome before her. She had studied the Sierra Madre and knew all about the myths and legends surrounding it. But all she had read did nothing to prepare her for this moment. Even the constant weight of the steel collar reminding her of her situation couldn't dampen the awe she felt as she looked upon the ancient monument to the obsession of one man. The heavy steel door of the vault was enclosed in an open room that looked like the lobby of an ancient movie theater. Yellow lights illuminated a console mounted next to the door also flanked by two posters sealed behind glass that showed Vera Keyes in iconic poses.
"Magog, you will keep watch out here." Dean ordered the huge mutant as he raised the detonator for emphasis. Magog growled with rage, but nodded as Dean turned to Veronica.
"If you please?" He said as he gestured toward the console. Veronica stepped forward and began to type on the keyboard as once again she fought to bypass the ancient security system. As she worked, Dean faced the door, his tension evident even through his forced nonchalance. Suddenly there was a click from the door and with a sudden blare of alarms it silently swung out.
"Finally!" Dean hissed as he stepped through the door and entered the vault with Veronica close behind. The chamber beyond was dominated by three tables and cluttered with empty cans and the tattered remains of books. The central table was a circular desk curving around a steel chair bolted to the floor in a similar design as that of a Vault Overseer. To the left of the desk was a table covered with beakers and flasks, most shattered and empty. To the right was another table heaped with stacks of pre-war bills and dully gleaming gold bars.
As if in a trance, Dean approached the table, his body almost shaking with suppressed emotion.
"I've got you!" He hissed with such venomous fury that Veronica froze. Dean stopped at the table, but instead of reaching for the heaps of treasure, he began sweeping the stacks of bills aside as he began furiously searching. Then the ghoul froze a moment before picking up a chip that gleamed silver in the dim light. Dean began to laugh as he raised the chip up to regard it in the light.
"I've got you by the f****** balls House!" He howled in triumph, so lost in hatred he forgot he wasn't alone.
With a shriek Veronica launched herself at the ghoul, knocking the detonator from his hand with vicious chop. Dean cursed and lashed at her with his other fist but Veronica ducked and tackled the ghoul, sending him crashing into the heaped wealth of the Sierra Madre. Still shrieking, Veronica drove her palms into Dean's ribs in a flurry of vicious jabs, but the heavy clothing the ghoul wore blunted her attack giving Dean the chance to seize one of the gold bars and with a howl of effort wrench it from the table and smash it into the side of Veronica's head. Veronica sprawled across the control desk as Dean dropped the ingot before whirling to face Magog who charged in with a roar.
The huge mutant's hand caught Dean around the throat and slammed him up against the wall as Magog's other first raised for a killing blow. There was a flash of white followed by a gout of crimson as Magog howled and reeled back, blood spurting from the stump of his arm. Dean flung Magog's still twitching hand from his throat and raised his cosmic knife with a vicious sneer.
"You hurt Dog!" Magog bellowed, his voice hoarse and guttural "Dog will kill you!"
But before the mutant could move there was a flash of light and the front of his head exploded a shower of gore. As Magog's corpse slumped to the floor there was another flash and Dean was hurled back into the treasure with a curse of pain as the knife fell from his nerveless fingers.
In the doorway stood the man whose image taunted Colonel Royez from the Villa fountain. He lowered a strange energy rifle just enough to snarl.
"Move and I'll kill you both now!"