Charles stood in the office of Nero and Big Sal. The room was empty of Nero, but his blood splatters still remained.
Outside the door, a Securitron and an Omerta with sunglasses appeared. Charles spoke, "Come on in, and Securitron, wait out there."
Once the Omerta entered and the Securitron waited outside the door, Charles said, "So, according to the reports, you're Russell. You've been working at Gomorrah for about a year, and you have problems with your vision, which is why you wear those sunglasses. Did I get all that right?"
"Yeah, yeah, that's me alright," Russell replied with an uncaring tone.
"Okay, so I'm sure you heard about your promotion. My only question is, why did you tell me about the ambush at the vault?"
"Do you want the real answer?" Russell asked.
"Yeah," said Charles.
"Because I saw the idiocy of their plan and knew they were doomed the second they decided to fuck with you and House. Now, is that all the questions you have for me, now that I'm entrusted with all these new fucking responsibilities?" Russell replied aggressively.
"Yeah, that's all. But if you have any problems with your new position Russell, just tell me," said Charles.
"No, I'm satisfied with this new power I have. Just let me utilize it," said Russell
"Alright then, you're free to go. And tell that Securitron to get in here," said Charles.
Once he stepped out, he waited for a moment. The Securitron then entered, and he closed the door behind it.
Charles spoke again, "Okay, Securitron, put Iris on."
After a few seconds, the screen of the securitron turned to Iris, and it said, "Well, Charles, I heard what happened. Good work. Now, you just have to deal with this Brahmin baron over at the Ultra-Luxe, he's also got a guard with a gun but he's allowed to hold firearms so don't go shooting at him."
"Have a fucking securitron do that, love. I need a break," Charles replied.
"Heck, in his express words, says that he doesn't want a robo-bastard to deal with this, and everyone in the IONV is busy with our recent occupations in Outer Freeside plus he said there would be a little reward of 500 caps," Iris said directly.
"Sometimes I feel like the Reds were right, you know, with these fucking work hours. Give me a break and pay a merc to do this simple fucking job, Iris, put dad on let me talk to him." Charles said angrily.
"The girls are keeping him entertained," said Iris.
"Of course he caused that whole debacle by scanning those girls' brains just so he could have them as AI. Do you want me dead that bad because you have that backup AI of me, Iris? You make me do everything, which means I'll end up working myself to death or a lucky shot will get me."
"No, what, love? I don't feel that way at all. But just a merc, seriously, babe. You can't trust them, and nobody can match your skill. But if you want to come back to the Lucky 38 and rest with me or by yourself, whatever. I'll hire a merc. Don't worry, love."
"Fuck you with that puppy voice, Iris. Fine, I'll do it. But I was never competent, never finished Liberty Prime as lead, and took the blame for it. I'll admit, I want to fulfill House's dream for New Vegas. I want us to prosper and reach the stars, but I feel I'll fail again, you know? Maybe luck will screw me over, like when I thought that business trip was just one day, then the bombs happened early according to Dad's prediction."
"That was so long ago, babe. You can't blame yourself for that. Prime was an impossible project altogether, and we were all fucked over when the bombs dropped."
"Well, enough with my bitching. I'm off to the Ultra-Luxe," said Charles plainly.
"Okay, babe. Stay safe then, and I'm sorry if I got you pissed."
"No, that was just me being selfish without recognizing your struggles, Iris. It's because you're the only one I can get emotional with, love. But I'll make sure to get the job done. And Iris, if you need to tell me anything to comfort you or for whatever reason, tell me. I'm tired of you having to listen without receiving anything in return."
"Ha, I'll make sure to keep it in mind, Charles. Now go, and don't die on me, love, okay?"
"Don't worry about me, Iris. I've lived this long for 200 years. One little investigation for a brahmin baron ain't a big deal, especially after the hectic events today."
Then Charles went off to the Ultra Luxe.
As he walked toward the exit of Gomorrah, he noticed an ominous atmosphere hanging over the casino. There was fear in the people's eyes, amplified by the presence of Securitrons. More eyes widened in fear at the sight of Charles, and even Clanden, who was drinking at the bar, had a slight twinge of fear on his face—a detail Charles hadn't noticed until now.
Once out of Gomorrah, somebody approached him and said with an empty look in his eye:
"I know who you are, EONV, right? Got some chems here for you that would knock the edge off you for a small price, of course."
"Been there, done that. Never again. Plus, us ghouls don't feel that shit."
"Yeah, shit, forgot about that. Well, got more customers that need the edge off, so if you would excuse me, sir."
After that, Charles arrived at the Ultra-Luxe and entered the casino.
The 2 guards at the door allowed him in with his weapons, and there was a look of fear in everybody from the casino, which Charles assumed was because of his actions at Gomorrah.
There, he saw Walter sitting at the bar drinking. He approached and said
"Walter, good to see you."
"Yeah, just getting a drink. Anyways, what are you doing here? Heard about that nasty business at Gomorrah. Hopefully that doesn't happen here," said Walter in an out-of-breath tone.
"Yeah, nothing serious like that. Just got this Brahmin baron Heck Gunderson who wants me to investigate his son's disappearance like it's my fault."
"Hurricane Heck, huh? Heard he's a wrathful baron, so be careful."
"Yeah, I'll be sure to be watchful of him. Anyway, stay there and enjoy yourself, Walter. I got work to do."
Charles then approached one of the White Glove guards and asked, "Heck Gunderson around here?"
"He's probably in his room. I'll get him out, sir."
Charles sat back at the bar with Walter, noticing Walter seemed shaken but not wanting to press him. He waited at the chair and took his hat off.
When Heck arrived with his guard by his side, Charles saw Walter get up and suddenly shoot Heck with a small pistol hidden in his jacket. Before Charles could draw his revolver, Heck's guard shot Walter.
Charles froze for a moment but quickly regained his composure. As the White Gloves were about to attack him, Charles said, "Guards, it's fine. Clean up this mess."
Heck's guard, in a firm tone, said, "Your guards didn't think to check this guy?"
Charles, screaming to the guards, said, "You didn't think to fucking check Walter for anything?"
"One of your other EONV guys said that we treat him with the utmost respect. Said his name was Joseph Martin, so don't put the blame on me."
"Alright, now get off me. You got your answer."
Heck's guard let go of Charles and introduced himself, "Just for future reference, name's Dan, and I already know you, Charles House, the son of Robert House, sole proprietor of the Strip, am I right?"
"Yeah, that's me. So with the deck now flipped up its ass, what do you want from me?"
"Don't talk to me like I'm not your buddy," the guard said in a stern voice. "But you're correct, things have changed and I'm not getting paid. So, what do we do?"
A few moments passed, an ominous atmosphere pervading the casino, but business continued as usual. Charles then said, "I assume the successor to Heck is his son, so nothing changes. We save him and you get your payment from him and I get mine. Hopefully, he keeps trading with New Vegas."
"And where do we get the money from?" asked Dan in an arrogant tone.
"From Heck's corpse."
"And if we don't find the kid?" asked Dan.
"Worry about that later. Right now, I gotta tell the White Gloves about this. So stay there," said Charles in an erratic tone.
Before Charles realized it, Securitrons surrounded the area. He said, "Tell the White Gloves to keep Heck's money until further notice from specifically me, no one else from the EONV, okay?"
"Got it, sir," said the Securitron.
Charles then asked Dan, "So, you gonna help me with this investigation?"
"Ain't my job. You're getting paid for this, so you're on your own," said Dan in an uncaring tone.
Charles was mad at the response but held his anger, telling Dan in a firm tone, "Fine."
Charles walked around the casino trying to find Marjorie for any information but didn't need to find her because she came up to him and asked, "Heard about the situation, Charles. It's a mess. The guard will be reprimanded but you gotta reprimand one of your guys."
"Yeah, I'll be doing that. Just some questions about the disappearance of Heck Gunderson's son, Ted?"
"Well, I got some questions of my own, so let me finish. First of all, why do you want us to keep Heck's money?"
"We keep it until this investigation is over. Then I take the express amount that he told me at 500 caps and the guard gets his share of the caps that Heck told him also. And if he lies, so be it. Don't really care, not like Heck has a list of the caps transactions he's making, ha."
"Okay, got it. So you want info on the disappearance of Ted Gunderson? Got nothing really but a bride-to-be went missing here also and another investigator is investigating the situation there. Mortimer has more information on that. So yeah, that's all I have for you."
"Okay, well thanks, Marjorie."
"Oh, and one more thing: clean your clothes. Don't want you or anything else ruining our reputation even more with the nasty situations that have been happening recently here or at the other casinos."
Ignoring Marjorie's statement, Charles left to talk to Mortimer.
Once he reached Mortimer's reception area, he asked, "Marjore told me there's an investigator investigating the case of the missing bride."
"Yeah, he hasn't checked out yet so head back to the hotel rooms and he should be one floor above you after you exit the lobby."
"Yeah thanks."
"One question, what business do you have with the missing bride? Wasn't your original job to find Heck's son?" said Mortimer.
"Yeah, it was, but this is the closest lead I have to finding Heck's son because two missing persons in the hotel doesn't make sense."
"Yes sir, I believe I understand, now be on your way."
Charles thought about all the troubles that had happened at the casinos and how this would weaken New Vegas with its enemies sensing weakness, but if Charles fixed this last problem at Ultra-Luxe, then at least some sense of who controlled New Vegas would be firmly implanted.
Once he reached the investigator's room, however, he saw nothing there. To investigate further, he closed the door and searched for anything of note.
The bedroom seemed normal to Charles, but the lamp seemed a bit out of place and the carpet seemed a bit wet. Next, he checked the drawers and cabinets but found nothing of note, just a few books.
After that, he checked the bathroom, which seemed even wetter with water coming from the toilet. He checked inside it for anything of note but found nothing. Next, he checked the sink and the cabinet under it but found nothing there either. Lastly, he checked the tank of the toilet and found a note that was rather wet but Charles could still read the words as "Cannibalism", he then placed the note in his jacket pocket.
This reminded Charles of when House had recruited the tribes of the Omertas, Chairmen, and White Gloves to run the casinos. Each of the tribes was vicious in their own right, and Charles had objected to using them, but House wanted to use them to embody aspects of the old Strip. As tribes, they would be able to rapidly assimilate to the lavish lifestyle that New Vegas would provide, and their violence would wither away. Clearly, Charles thought this wasn't true now because Benny had betrayed them, the Omertas planned to gas the Strip, and now the White Gloves had gone back to their old ways of cannibalism.
After this, Charles was extremely pissed at having three casinos try to betray House, and his anger was even directed at his dad, House, for hiring the tribals. But he knew he still had a mission to do, so he was going to try to investigate the casino and not attract attention.
So the next logical place that Charles thought to investigate was the Gourmand, the exclusive restaurant in the Ultra-Luxe reserved for members of the White Glove Society and some honorary members. However, Charles would be allowed since the original deal between the tribes was that the EONV had full access and info to all matters in the casinos.
When Charles reached the Gourmand he saw some people seated at the banquet and talking including Mortimer but then Marjorie saw him and said, "Did you find the investigator, Charles?"
"No, he wasn't in his room."
"Oh well, anyways, if you want, we have our banquet soon at 7. Just clean yourself up," Marjorie said in a condescending tone.
Charles checked his Pip-Boy and saw it was 6:15. He made an excuse to check the kitchen, thinking it was the best place to hide someone if they intended to eat them. He said, "Sure, just let me check the kitchen first, but don't tell anybody. I need to know your kitchen's normal cleanliness."
"You'd be making the kitchen more dirty by checking for cleanliness, but since you're coming to the banquet anyway, I'll get you a room and a fresh pair of clothes. But remember, we don't delay, not even for our EONV."
"Yeah, just which room?"
"I believe the room next to the investigator is free. Let me call up some people to clean it for you. For now, go up to the room, and the White Gloves there will tell you when it's ready."
Charles then went in the direction of the investigator's room and entered the room to its left since the investigator's room was on the right at the end of the hall.
The White Gloves were cleaning the area when Charles asked, "You almost done yet?"
"Yes sir, just 3 more minutes approximately."
"Alright, I'll sit on the sofa in the lobby but I have one question, since the investigator isn't here, when will his contract for his room expire?"
"I believe his contract for that room expires tomorrow."
"Got it, I'll be waiting on the lobby sofa. Let me know when the room's ready."
Charles sat on the lobby sofa, took off his hat, and waited for about five minutes until the White Gloves informed him that the room was ready and that his fresh pair of clothes was in the drawer.
Once the White Gloves cleared out and gave him the keys, Charles entered the room and closed the door and locked it. The room was relatively clean, suggesting they had cleaned it earlier. He decided to put the note stating "cannibalism" back in the toilet tank because if the white gloves didn't check that area before they probably wouldn't check that area now.
After checking the drawer, he found a traditional White Glove outfit: a black and white suit with a bow tie and a white and gold facemask. He removed his clothes, hat, shoes, and weapons placing them in the drawer. He then hung the clean clothes on the bathroom door and entered the shower.
Turning on the faucet to hot, the water started cold but eventually warmed up. Charles' dead ghoul skin more noticeably dropped and fell down the drain. He cleaned himself, rubbing water on his small patch of black hair, and thought about the feelings he had poured onto Walter during their attack on Benver, and Walter's sudden death attempting to kill Heck. He wondered if Walter had been wronged by Hurricane Heck, known for using mercenaries to drive off competition in California. One thing that did amuse Charles though is that Walter may have rushed his plans to kill Heck after Charles annoying talk during the fighting at Benver though Charles was confused on why Walter would hastily shoot Heck while leaving a loving wife.
After showering, Charles dried himself with a towel, then dressed in the White Glove clothes, mask, and got his old shoes.
Closing the door and locking it after leaving the room, Charles then went back to the Gourmand in his White Glove outfit and checked the time: 6:32.
When he reached the Gourmand, the banquet was filling up with people. Marjorie was still at the reception area and spotted him.
"Well, that outfit looks better on you, but I understand your physical features can't be changed, so it's alright. You're good to go. And I'm glad you didn't bring your weapons; you don't want to scare off the cooks and cause more fear, which has engulfed our establishment in the past few days," said Marjorie in a condescending tone.
Charles then nodded and walked to the kitchen of the Gourmand, though he cringed a little because his shoes were still relatively dirty.
As he entered the kitchen, he noticed a few sideways glances from the staff. The bleak environment ominously crept up inside him. When Charles walked down the hall to the next room, he saw it illuminated by White Glove members using flamers to cook the brahmin.
He saw two paths ahead—an elevator and stairs—but he chose the stairs to draw less attention.
Once downstairs, he encountered a White Glove member who immediately moved to attack, swinging his cane. Charles blocked high, then struck the assailant in the liver, stunning him for a moment. The guard, clutching his liver, continued to hit Charles aggressively with the cane.
Charles' guard broke a bit under the rapid strikes, and he started bleeding. But when the White Glove member seemed tired from the effort, Charles ran at him, bringing him down to the ground. The cane dropped, and as the guard tried to retrieve it, Charles punched him as hard as he could and choked him, using all his strength to knock him out.
Exhausted and bleeding due to his ghoulish biology causing weakened strength, Charles knew he had to keep moving. He stood up and stepped on the unconscious White Glove's face to ensure he wouldn't get back up, then grabbed the cane for defense.
He was afraid someone might have heard the fighting, but the loud flamers upstairs concealed much of the noise.
Charles was impressed by his own fighting skills, which he had only recently developed in the post-war days. He remembered his nerdy days back in college when he wasn't able to fight much, relying on status and intelligence instead. However, his anatomy classes had taught him about weak and exposed points in the human body, knowledge that had helped him win this fight. The damage to his body now made Charles seriously consider getting a knife as a close-range weapon for enforcing New Vegas.
Though injured, Charles continued walking, heading to the end of the hall and turning right. He remembered this as the main cooking area in the casino, where the freezer was located—the perfect place to hide a body.
Upon opening the door, he saw the cook, utterly committed to his task and oblivious to the fight outside. The creak of the door caught the cook's attention, and without looking up, he said, "What the fuck are you doing, I'm bu—" until he saw Charles and his expression turned to fear.
"This mask is hiding it, but I know you know who I am just from this skin. So tell me, and don't lie to me, I know about your little plot to bring back cannibalism. I assume you kidnapped Heck's son and the bride?"
The cook responded with a sneer, "So what will you do? If you free Heck's son, the political ramifications for you would be disastrous."
"Give me the keys to the freezer and I'll decide that for myself. If you alert anybody, the Securitrons will know and will end you."
The cook passed the keys to Charles. He saw one door straight ahead and another to the right. Using the key, he unlocked the door straight ahead and found a terrifying sight: bodies hanging upside down, dead, with one resembling the bride. Some bodies were skinned, revealing muscle.
Charles closed the door and, with a stutter, asked the cook, "Is T-Ted in there?"
"He's in the other room. Now you know we can't tell anybody about this and save Heck. We in the White Glove Society reject your disgusting treaty. You changed our culture because some of our weak leaders changed our name from the Human Keepers to this bullshit White Glove Society to work in your stupid casinos. For what?" the cook said with passion.
"For your survival. Instead of thinking about your petty traditions, think about your people's upliftment and humanity's future," Charles responded with disgust.
Charles walked to the other door and unlocked it. This one was mostly normal, filled with cooking products, but there was a terminal to another door. The cook saw him and said condescendingly, "Need help with that? I got the password."
"No, I can hack it myself. I'm experienced with RobCo tech."
Using his technical skills, Charles guessed the password and opened the door, finding Ted Heck asleep. To avoid waking him, Charles turned to Phillipe and said, "You've got me in a bit of a pickle. Bring Marjorie and Mortimer down here. Let me discuss this with them. Only them, and if I see anybody else, you know the consequences."
Phillipe hastily went to get Marjorie and Mortimer. Once they arrived, Marjorie said, "Charles, you're bleeding, there's blood on the kitchen floor, and an unconscious White Glove member is in the hall. The banquet is in 5 minutes. Could you explain this?" Her tone was brooding and threatening.
"Look in the room behind me. There's a mass of people hanging upside down, dead. This is a clear violation of your treaty," Charles said, his pain returning and leaving him out of breath.
Marjorie saw it and, for the first time, spoke in fear, "I promise I wasn't a part of this."
"It was me," Mortimer said, unfazed. "We lost our identity from the treaty. We're supposed to be the civilized connoisseurs of civilization and food, but we lost the most precious of our food."
"I don't care. You violated the treaty. Now one of you needs to be punished," Charles said angrily.
"The blame falls on me," Mortimer stated in a brooding voice.
"Yes, that is clear. But your cook and perhaps other White Glove members were involved. But with all this bad publicity, I will show mercy. Kill Ted and clean up this mess. If any of you break your treaty again, the Securitrons in the Strip will come in and kill all of you. New Vegas is supposed to be our shining beacon, but you have made it into a shining shitshow. I'm done with you. Remember Gomorrah and the Tops and be lucky you didn't end up like them. Your reputation is already failing, and now our supply lines will be bogged down with no clear successor to Heck's company."
"And what of Heck's guard?" Marjorie asked softly.
"I'll deal with it." Then Charles left the kitchen and dropped the mask.