Snowflake on the sand

Chapter 7

Winter left the elevator with plans and machinations on her head, her brilliant military mind already setting plans and events in motion. Her main objective was to return home and right now in order to advance she needed to recover the platinum chip, Benny had it and all she just needed to do was direct the man who wanted his head on a spike the most.

"How lucky can one guy be, I kissed her and she kissed me" came the surprisingly beautiful voice from the high roller suite. Winter was incredibly awed by how clean the old room looked; it was as if there was not a wasteland outside and she just walked into an used room of her manor back in Atlas.

Her smiled widened when she saw Six dancing around as he finished dressing up for the violent festivity that was about to take place, he reached out for her hand and pulled her in for a clumsy dance.

"Like a fella once said ain't that a kick in the head" a twirl and small step forward making Winter take a small dip, she knew how to dance but she decided that she would let him lead for a while, Six gave her a smile and then let go of her hand. Seeing him now she realized just how different he looked compared to what she was used to, there was no blood on his outfit nor was there any grime, he looked like a young man ready to head to a party.

"What do you think, too much?" he said as he gestured to his new suit, Winter tilted her head and frowned.

"You're missing a tie" she pointed out making Six shrug "It can be used to choke me, I would rather not die because I am wearing a tie and besides I think this is good enough for an infiltration"

Winter looked down at her outfit and frowned, too much blood on it for it to work as an infiltration outfit. Viktor as if seeing this made his presence known as he wheeled himself into the room "Looking good partner, the boss says that the party at the Tops will start in an hour, so best be ready for it and for the young miss, we acquired a dazzling dress"

In his claw was a white plain dress, Winter nodded and turned to Six "Get easy to hide weapons, we need to be ready for everything, I should not take long for me to get ready"

Six gave a mock salute "On it"

As he left for the elevator, Winter in turn left for the shower new dress in hand. This so-called Benny would not know what hit him.

"Hey there fella welcome the tops, I'm going to have to search you before I let you in, so please hand over every weapon you have" the bouncer said, Six gave a nod and placed down his shotgun and revolvers on a tray. Winter hesitated "Our items will be returned when we leave right?"

"Sure thing baby doll, all of them stay safe right here at the front desk and as soon as you leave you get them back" the bouncer said, Winter let out a sigh and handed out her sword, that made some of the chairmen raise an eyebrow at the weapon but they said nothing. Wasteland people are weird, one of the chairmen whispered to another making him chuckle.

And with that they were left to enjoy the casino's luxuries, Six held her hand and gave her a smile "We should check around to see if there's something good to do sweetheart" Winter saw his eyes move slightly to the right and following his gaze she saw how some gentlemen where giving the courier some dirty looks.

"Sure thing dear, let's see" Winter said with a fake smile, Six chuckled at her obvious fake happiness but if it threw people off the better for them, what followed was a small tour of the casino. They got some chips to gamble and some drinks to blend in and started to slowly make their way around the casino, Six played some blackjack while Winter sipped her drink calmly by his side, or at least that's what it looked like to the average chairman.

Six did his best to gather information from the patrons at his table while Winter surveyed around the area for the "checkered bastard" as Six had called him while he was describing the man that had shot him in the head.

"So who is the lovely lady with you?" another gambler said as he watched Six raise his bet a little, not missing a beat Six gave him a smile "Oh she is my wife, we just got married, so we decided to celebrate here in New Vegas"

"Oh I see, well I can't think of any other place in the wasteland that has something like Vegas, but let me give you an advice here in Vegas" he said as he placed down his cards, confident on his victory "Only the lucky make it out of here alive"

Six simply chuckled as he placed down his cards "I'll be sure to keep that in mind" enjoying how the face of the gambler reddened in anger as the chips where given to the courier, luck was always on his side. Winter gave him a gentle poke on the side and tilted her head slightly.

There in the end of the hall stood Benny, cigarette in hand and a stressed look on his face. Winter heard Six grip his chair so tightly that it almost splintered, the specialist looked around and frowned to many civilians, this could end up very badly if Six did not think this through.

But before she could voice her concern Six stood up, pocketed his chis, and walked towards Benny, a deadly sprint on his step and the speciliast saw a determined man ready to kill.

Winter decided that it would be best to be some steps behind him, she was anxious and curious about how this fight would go down but her inner code would not let her get civilians in the way of harm so for now she would try to shield them. To everyone's surprise Six walked up a stair and whistled making Benny and his guards turn around, the chairman dropped his cigarette in shock and took a step back

"What in the goddamn… let's keep this in the…" Six chuckled "Hello Benny, your aim is shit"

There was a cold chill in the air and Winter saw the way the checkered bastard swallowed nervously, a bodyguard tried to talk to him but Benny raised his hand and glared at him, lighting another cigarette Benny gave the courier a large smile that gave away just how much he hated him. Six replied by smiling back, but Winter noted how his knuckles where going white, he was clenching his fist to tightly.

"Oh I hit what I was aiming for baby, not my fault that you got brain to spare… so you're the couple that everyone saw go inside the lucky 38, man that sucks"

Six shrugged and crossed his hands "Could be, but that's neither here nor there what matters now is that you have something of mine"

Benny paled and shook his head "No, we are not talking about this here baby, this information needs to be kept private, comprende?"

The bodyguards aimed his weapons at the duo "And to be fair what's stopping me from having my guards paint my whole casino red with your blood"

Winter started to produce an ice weapons on both her hand, simple swords not wanting to catch to much attention and make this whole mess even worse.

This action made some of the guards take a step back "My friend here has some attributes that might persuade and… if you kill me the securitrons will storm the casino and drag you all the way to Mr. House kicking and screaming"

Benny stiffened at the comment and shook his head "And what, am I supposed to do? Just cower in fear and let you get away just because the big man sent you and some freak, that's not how this works. We are not talking about a simple delivery kid we are talking about the fate of Vegas here, hell you could even say we are talking about the fate of the fucking Mojave… but I could set you up with the presidential suite and meet you there where we can discuss this sensitive topic more privately"

Six narrowed his eyes bu gave a nod "Now you got my interest peaked Benny I can work with that… after you, I'm afraid I would get lost, I'm new to the town you see and I would hate to get lost and leave you hanging"

Benny snorted and motioned his bodyguards to follow him, Winter heard Six let out a sigh and turned to her "You don't have to come with me for this if you don't want to, if Benny tries to escape you can cut him off" the Courier said as he prepared his spiked knuckles for the upcoming fight. The specialist simply shook her head "You're going to need my help, even if you take down Benny his bodyguards will gun you down, I can help you with that"

Six smiled "You're way too nice Winter, has anyone told you that" he said as they entered the presidential suite, Benny's bodyguards eyed them warily but handed each of them a beer and pointed to where Benny was seating. Winter's first impression of the man might have been wrong, she was more than ready to put a wall of ice between them and the rain of bullets that would surely hit them but Benny had turned out to be more of class act… that or he did not care.

Winter while not unused to bad positions would have preferred the confrontation to happen in the casino, there was more open area to work with but for now she was content in eyeing the bodyguards and seeing what Six would do.

As if wanting to stretch the ridiculousness of the situation Six took a seat next to Benny on the counter and raised his bottle towards him, Benny obliged to the toast and when it was over both men took a long drink of their respective bottles.

"You know I could have that drink poisoned" Benny commented making Six chuckle "You have a story to tell, you wouldn't do that I can see that in your eyes" this made the chairman laugh. "Look at you, just got to Vegas and ready to gamble away but I have to know, how did you track me down once you were able to walk again?" Benny commented to which Six replied by placing the lighter he had acquired.

"You left a long trail of crumbs, not exactly hard to track someone that dresses like he is chess board" the courier said. Benny grabbed the lighter for a moment and frowned "To think that I considered this stupid thing my lucky charm"

"It's lucky all right but… the fate of the Mojave sound more important than your lighter" Six said and all false comradery disappeared, Winter knew it and the bodyguards knew it too.

"The fate of the Mojave it's putting it lightly, you see this thing" Benny said as he pulled the platinum chip from his shirt pocket. Winter's eyes widened as she aid eyes on the huge poker chip, it was beautiful a marvel that it looked almost comical in this place, almost as out if its element as Winter was. Six on the other hand gave it a passing glance, not important… for now.

"This platinum chip is old baby, and I don't mean grandma's saggy charlies old I mean war that destroyed the world old. This right here affects securitrons and makes them change I don't know how just yet I won't lie" Benny continued as he pocked back the platinum chip "But with this and some other things I can take over the strip, then Freeside and then all of the Mojave"

Raising his glass he gave him a sick smile "And you won't be there to fucking see it"

Six wasted to time and smashed his fist against Benny's face with all his might and Winter saw a tooth fly out of Benny's mouth. But she had bigger fish to fry, summoning some weapons she tanked some bullets and proceeded to jump towards the nearest bodyguard. She brought down her elbow against the neck of the first one knocking him out and with a powerful kick; she sent the other flying against the wall.

Winter felt a powerful punch hit her ribs as her aura sparkled, one of the bodyguards also had spiked knuckles it seemed. Before she could try to get some distance another grabbed her by the neck and tried to choke her out while the other one repeatedly landed blows on her ribcage "What the fuck is up with this freak?!" he screamed in confusion.

Winter out of the corner of her eye saw Six shatter a glass bottle on the head of the bodyguard holding her and with his other arm punch the one hitting her. Winter gave him a nod as thanks and threw ice spikes at the last bodyguard pining him to the other wall. Before they could relax, blood erupted from Six's side as he gritted his teeth in pain. Benny now recovered and with a broken nose shot at the ice holding his bodyguard down and yelled "Distract the freak I got Mr. Mailman over here"

Benny loaded Maria and grinned "This time I will unload this entire magazine in your stupid head you stupid…" Benny never got to finish his sentence as Six threw shattered glass towards him, the chairman quickly ducked and shot again. Most bullets missed him but one got him in the leg making him stumble and fall towards the counter they had been drinking. Six felt a gun being pressed against the back of his head "Hey don't worry, I will treat the icy baby doll nicely once you are gone"

A shot rang out in the room as Winter slammed the bodyguard against the pool table knocking him out and when she turned around to see she nearly let out a scream, blood erupted from the head of Six as he limply fell to the floor, tears threatened to spill out of her eyes as Benny smiled a bloody grin. But before Winter could pin him and beat him senseless she saw movement, Courier Six slammed his fist against Benny's crotch and slapped Maria off his hand.

Six groaned in pain as he touched the side of his head, the bullet grazed the side of his head, this time thankfully not hitting his brain this time; but he was sure some of his skull got shaven because man the headache was killing him. Benny quickly stood up and saw his foe barely staying conscious "What the fuck?"

Six slammed him against the wall and punched him to the ground, but he stopped making Winter and Benny look at him in confusion. His left arm was completely numb, he could not move it, and the gunshot on his leg was not helping him. He was loosing to much blood and he knew it.

"Hey Benny, catch" Six said as he took off the spiked knuckles from his useless hand, the chairman got to his feet and touched by this gave him a smile "You're a class act my man, let it be known" and with that both opponents laid into eachother in a brutal fistfight. Six's black suit in tatters and Benny's almost intact one stained by the blood that fell from his face, many times Winter wanted to jump in but Six shoved her back when she tried.

He was going to die and they both knew that.

It felt like hours of the two hitting eachother but finally Benny fell to the ground his breathing labored and his face completely broken and bloody "Y-you… you really are a freak" he said.

Winter saw the Courier point at the weapon that Benny had dropped and gave her a pleading look, he was barely standing and Winter with a sad look complied and handed him Maria.

"So this is how it going to end, can't lie had a hell of a run" Benny said with a sad smile "There's a safe in this room with some stimpacks on it cold lady; use them to fix this asshole and to you… the Chip is wasted on Mr. House, you should take over and make the game yours"

Six closed his eyes and shook his head "The game was rigged from the start Benny, it doesn't matter in the end"

Winter looked away as blood and brain matter sprayed across the floor, but Six didn't stop there he show two more times and gave him a nod "Now… we are even Benny" he said as he stumbled, but before he hit the floor Winter caught him and helped him to resting position.

"Hey, you're Swank right" Swank looked away from his book for a moment and frowned at the couple in front of him, the dude looked two minutes away from death and the lady was covered in blood probably not her own.

"Yeah, what do you want, I'm a little busy here if someone robbed you take it to Benny"

"Benny is dead and I killed him" Six said as he placed a note on the desk, Swank almost shot him but he saw the letter it had Mr. House's signature. He gave it a read and his frown deepened as he carried on reading.

"How the fuck did you get this printed so quickly" he asked as he rubbed his eyes trying to process why would Benny betray Vegas like that.

"The Presidential Suite had a computer" Winter said with a stern look, Six was still resting on her shoulder but his more critical wound had been healed for the most part. Swank cursed under his breath "So I take that you're not the happy new weds that you said you where… look if you get Mr. House to not close the tops I will owe you a big one"

Six gave him a weak smile "Sure, I will tell him"

And with that they both started to walk to the exit Swank making sure no one disturbed them on their exit. Winter was quiet wich bothered Six so he intentinally stumbled making her hold him more tightly. "You're colder than usual" he said quietly.

"You're a stupid, self-destructive, insensitive troglodyte and I loathe you" Winter said with a glare, but Six met her with a sad smile "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you"

Winter looked away but Six caught how her eyes started to water "You're the only person I have as an ally in this world… don't you dare leave me"

A/N: Benny you are one hell of a character but man does killing you feel good on every play through. Now with Platinum Chip in hand the Mojave Wasteland was forever change, see you soon!