Sorry for the delay everyone. I scrapped the original idea for this chapter and had a better one, but then my nephew, he's 5 years old, got a hold of the notebook and decided to do some drawings on it. So, I had to rewrite everything again.
"So this is Freeside?" Asked Shepard as the gate doors swung close behind them. He took note of three people, standing on a crumbling sidewalk, who were all armed and looking at them with curiosity. Not too far from them was a ghoul, who was sitting on the ground and leaning up against the wall of a ruined building.
As they walked by the ghoul, it looked up at them and a smile appeared on his face, "Give you a tip for a cap." Confusion crossed Shepard's face at the ghoul's comment. The creature did not seem much like a beggar but more like a normal person just relaxing.
"A cap?" Questioned Zaeed as he walked up next to Shepard, "What do you mean?"
A perplexed expression flashed across the ghoul's face before being replaced by a content smile, "Freeside's a dangerous place my friends. It pays to know what's what around here. For a single cap, I'll give you a helpful piece of advice."
Shepard and Zaeed looked at each other helplessly. Neither had any idea what the ghoul meant by a cap. Luckily, Mike came to their aid. Pulling out a handful of bottle caps he handed them to the ghoul, who smiled gleefully up at Mike. "How about this," said the ghoul, pocketing the bottle caps, "Follow this man and you'll be fine."
Before Shepard or Zaeed could reply, or do anything else, Mike waved to them, telling them to follow. Zaeed shrugged to Shepard and began to follow Mike. As he headed off, Shepard felt a feeling of nervousness beginning to build up within him. He never considered himself the jealous type or one who felt angered by someone with more authority or power than himself, but Mike's actions were causing him to have power over Shepard and his crew. He was not sure if Mike was doing this on purpose or not however, he was pretty sure that the latter was more likely. Still, Shepard would have to be careful lest he lose command of his crew.
Sighing, and trying to brush aside his worries, Shepard hustled over to catch up with Mike and the gang.
Tali took in her surroundings with a feeling of disgust. The poverty, the ruined wreckage, and the filth caused her to shudder in revulsion. She had seen such things in places like Omega, but not to this extent. Even Tuchanka was, in some ways, better off than this place. As they made their way down the crumbling street, she saw a group of three children round the corner of a brick building and run towards her. At first, she thought that they were coming to rob or assault her, since one of the children had a baseball bat, but then she saw the rat. A large rodent, about the size of her drone, was scuttling towards her. Tali was so shocked that she instinctively drew the combat shotgun, that Mike had given her, and fired at the creature.
The rat was instantly killed by the shot and lay motionless on the ground. As she watched, the three children ran up to the corpse and crouched down next to it. One of the children, a boy with sandy brown hair, glanced up at her and smiled, "Thanks strange lady," then, to Tali's horror, the children began to eat the dead rat.
"The hell?" Exclaimed Jacob, who was watching the children with disgust.
"That's sick," said Joker, "Are the people here so hungry that they even eat the scavengers?"
Mike walked over next to them, a sorrowful look on his face as he watched the children, "Yes. Food is scarce, at least pure and unsoiled food is. The radiation from the bombs polluted most of the land on Earth. Sometimes it's so bad that many resort to cannibalism just to survive."
Tali shook her head in disbelief as she put the shotgun away. She was not sure if she could take much more of this.
The sight of children eating the corpse disgusted Garrus as well and his surroundings did not improve his mood in the slightest. One of his personal goals had been to go to Earth, the home world of humanity. He had wonted to see the place where his best friend, Shepard, was born and had grown up. How ironic it was that he had achieved his goal, but only on the wrong Earth. As the group moved on, he was forced to follow them, glad to leave the area.
"Are there any places where it's not like this," asked Garrus.
Mike nodded, "The Strip has no beggars. Only the wealthy can go there. Before he died, Mr. House closed off the Strip to any who did not have enough money. Thus, Freeside became a slum. Now, with Mr. House gone, I hope to change that."
"How do you intend to do that?" Garrus asked with interest.
"By allowing anyone and everyone into the Strip, as well as turning Freeside into a cleaner and more hospitable place."
At this, Miranda stepped in front of Mike, her arms crossed and a hint of determinations in her eyes, "How can you change that? You would have to have some power and influence in this place. Also, you don't seem to sad over Mr. House's death."
Garrus noticed Mike tense at Miranda's questioning and watched as he replied, "I have friends who agree with me. And yes. I'm not sad at Mr. House's death. He was a cruel man, pretending to be good, who wished to rule as a tyrant."
Miranda was about to question further but Garrus decided to intervene, "Miranda, we do not need to question Mike here about his motives. The fact that he's trying to help the people shows he's a good man." He looked over at Mike and nodded, "I wish you luck on that task."
Mike smiled at him and continued on as Garrus thought about Miranda's suspicion towards Mike. He knew that Miranda was a woman with an ego who did not like being questioned nor challenged, but that still did not explain her hostility to Mike, unless he had missed something.
Miranda was unhappy at Garrus's rebuke towards her. She knew that Mike was hiding something. Something very important of which he felt he did not need to share with them. And so, like any other time when she knew someone was keeping something from her, she was determined to find out.
As the group went beyond a door, which must have been apart of a siding of a blue vehicle, Miranda continued to keep a close watch on Mike. She was beginning to have suspicions as to whom and what Mike really was; she just needed a little more evidence.
Jacob had not gotten involved in the verbal battle between Miranda, Mike, and Garrus. He did not want to oppose Miranda, who was a close comrade and friend, nor did he want to alienate Mike, who had been if nothing but helpful to them.
Personally, he did not understand why Miranda had been suspicious. Jacob himself was curious about Mike, but had more important things to worry about. If Mike was hiding something, then he probably had a good reason, just so long as it did not turn out that he was a mass murderer or a domineering tyrant. All that Jacob cared about was getting back to their universe and preparing for the Reaper invasion, as well as do something about Cerberus.
His travels and adventure with Shepard had caused him to see Cerberus in a new light. The organization was no longer devoted to just preserving humanity. The Illusive Man was slowly moving towards a goal for human dominance, which was too much for Jacob. He wanted equality between humanity and the other alien species, not humanity ruling over everyone else.
Mike was unnerved by Miranda's questions and it seems that he had underestimated the woman. She was a suspicious woman and he knew that if he were not careful, she would learn the truth about him. Of course, he eventually intended to tell them the truth, but he wanted to wait awhile so he could learn more about them. The reason he did not want to tell them that he was the leader of New Vegas and had killed Mr. House was because he was unsure about how they would react. Would they try to kill him and claim leadership of the city, a city that possibly had all they needed to rebuild their ship? Would they try to oppose him and question his motives, thus creating tension and unease within the city? Or would they accept him?
No, later on, once they had all settled down and he had time enough to know more about them, he would tell them the truth. Until then, he would have to find a way to avoid giving clues, especially to suspicious Miranda. He was so deep in thought that he had failed to realize that a stranger, wearing familiar black and white clothing, had approached him. Looking around, Mike saw that they were in inner Freeside, with the King's hideout to his left and the Atomic Wrangler to his right. The stranger, a King's member, handed Mike a small handful of caps, "The King says to continue the good work around here and wishes to give you a token of appreciation."
Mike collected himself, "Ohh… Thanks, but I have enough caps as it is. Why don't you hand them out to those in need? However, tell the King that I accept his appreciation and that I do what I do because it's beneficial to all."
The man nodded, taking the caps back but he was not finished, "The King also wishes to talk with you about the terms of independence or something. I didn't quite catch all of it."
"I know what you mean. Tell him I will meet him two days from now when he's accepting meetings," replied Mike.
The man gave a final nod before running off towards the King's headquarters. When Mike turned to face the others, he noticed their looks of confusion. As expected, Shepard spoke for them, "What was that all about?"
"The King is for independence in Freeside. I'm what you consider an ally to the Kings."
"Why does the king call himself that? The King? Isn't a king a ruler of a monarchy?" Asked Tali.
Mike chuckled at the question and shook his head, "No. He's not a king as in a governmental sense. It's a title that came from their idol." He motioned toward the building with his left hand, "That place had records and tapes devoted to a man called The King. He was a famous rock star called Elvis who was called the king of rock. So when the people, now called the Kings, found this place, they were influenced by it." As he finished, Mike resumed his walk towards the gates that led to the Strip.
The rest of the trip continued in silence, at least until they reached the gate where a securitron stood guard in front of the path that lead to the gate. As Mike approached, the securitron rolled to the side and let them pass, him and everyone accompanying him.
Once, before the death of Mr. House, the securitron would have stopped Mike and demanded reasoning for bringing such a large band into the Strip. It was one thing to bring a follower or two, but a whole pack of people numbering more than a dozen was something entirely different. Now that Mr. House was no longer around, the securitrons did not even object to any of his action. After all, he was their ruler now.
Shepard was the one who had broken the silence. He walked up beside Mike and asked, "This is the only entrance to the Strip that prevents… undesirables from entering?"
There was an accusatory tone in his voice that Mike did not like. Frowning at Shepard, Mike nodded, "Yes, but as I'm pretty sure as I've stated, I'm trying to stop such things and allow all to enter… but it's not so easy. There have been complications. But that is nothing to be worried about. We must be going."
As the gates opened, Mike could not help but let pride get to him as he gave a large smile and announced, "My friends! I present to you the part of the city that survived the holocaust. A place unlike any other, both before and after the Great War!" As the light from the casinos spread across them through the open gates, Mike finished of with a final statement, "Welcome to New Vegas!"