Author's Note: I hope everyone is doing well, and that you are all enjoying the story up to this point. We are now in Vegas, and the real fun is about to begin. Enjoy, and please review.
Victor led them up to the entrance to the Lucky 38, and what looked like a protective wall screeched open, going into the overhang above, which then revealed the actual entrance doors. They walked inside and were met with a blast of cold air. The air also seemed to be stale, like it was the same air that had been recycled over and over for the past two hundred years. They saw the main floor of the casino, which was decorated in a black and red motif. On either side of the room were fully stocked bars. There was an elevator in the middle of the room that was guarded by two unmoving securitrons. The floor around the elevator was sunken in from the rest of the main floor, with blackjack and roulette tables. There were slot machines on the outside of the railing that separated the sunk-in part of the floor from the rest of the main floor.
"Alright, partner. Now the boss has comped you the Presidential Suite. It'll be like a little clubhouse for you and all your friends." "Thank you, Victor, I guess," Mark said. "Now, there is a condition. Y'all can stay here, but you are the only one who gets to see the Boss. Clear?" Mark looked around at the others and looked back at Victor. "Crystal clear." All of them, including Victor, got in the elevator, which was cramped with all of them squeezed in there at once. The elevator started to rise, and it eventually came to a stop, and the doors opened. "Presidential Suite," Victor said. Everyone but Mark and Victor got off, and they looked around. Amata noticed that Mark didn't get off. "Mark, aren't you coming?" "I'm just gonna go speak with Mr. House first. Go ahead and get settled. I'll be back in a bit." He gave her a quick kiss, and then the door closed, and it started to rise again.
This ride was not as long as the first one. "Penthouse Floor," Victor said as the door opened. The first thing Mark saw when the door opened was another securitron. This one, however, had a woman's face. She had brown hair with a flower in it. "Hey, Victor, haven't seen you in a while. Who's your friend?" "Well, hello miss Jane. It's a pleasure to see you as well." He made a motion as if he was tipping a hat to her, if he had been wearing a hat at the time. "This buckaroo here is here to see the boss." 'Buckaroo?' Mark thought. 'Apparently he thinks i'm five years old or something.' "Oh, right," Jane said, "well, don't let me keep you." Mark walked down a set of stairs. From the view out of the window, Mark guessed that they were probably on the top floor. The floor seemed to be made out of white marble, and off to his right he could see a kitchen area.
Mark walked through some curtains and was met with a massive computer monitor, with smaller monitors around it, with a control panel below it. He guessed that this was likely Mr. House's office, but he didn't see anyone. "Mr. House?" Mark called out as he looked around the room. He turned back to the monitor, and he jumped a little. On the screen was an image of a man with a styled, off-center haircut and an expertly groomed mustache. He also had a frown on his face. "Mr. Franklin," the man said in an old-world accent, "you've come a long way, both literally and figuratively, I'm guessing. You take your obligations very seriously, for which I am very grateful." Mark looked at the monitor in shock for a couple of moments, and then shook it off. "I'm guessing that you are the mysterious Mr. House that everyone's been talking about. So are you some kind of AI, or do you not like meeting people in person?"
"I can assure you, Mr. Franklin, that I am no AI. I am very much real. As for meeting in person, this is as close as we're going to get. This is the closest anyone's gotten in two hundred years." It took a moment for Mark's brain to register that. "Two hundred years? So that must mean-" "Yes, Mr. Franklin, I was alive before the Great War, as its now called. To exist this long, I've had to make certain sacrifices, but I believe that it is well worth it. Now, if you're done, I believe that you have something for me." Mark took the Chip out of his jacket pocket. "Excellent," Mr. House said. "Please put it in the console." A slot opened in the control panel, just big enough for the chip.
Mark took a step forward and then stopped. "House, before I give this to you, we need to discuss payment. The delivery order stipulated a two-hundred-and-fifty cap bonus for completing the delivery. Now I'm not stupid. I've seen enough tech to know that this is much more than just some novelty poker chip. If it was, I doubt that Benny would have robbed and shot me for it. If it was, I would be back in Goodsprings with my girlfriend right now. So, I think that I deserve a bit of a bonus, wouldn't you agree?" There was silence for a moment. "Well, you certainly have balls, I'll give you that." He sounded like he was impressed. "I could've used someone like you working for me before the war. Very well. I will give you five times your contract bonus, and not one cap more. Now, if you wouldn't mind, the chip please." "You've got a deal, House." Mark put the chip in the slot on the console. It slid in, and after a few seconds, it popped back out, and Mark grabbed it. A securitron came up to Mark and handed him a bag of caps.
"I spent decades looking for this," House said, "hiring salvagers to search for this out west in the town that was once called Sunnyvale. The chip was to be delivered on October 24, 2077. Unfortunately, the bombs fell first." "Yeah, House, I was actually wondering how Vegas managed to survive the war, although I'm guessing that you had something to do with that." "Very astute, Mr. Franklin. In 2065, all of my mathematical simulations predicted that the world would be engulfed by nuclear war within fifteen years. My contacts in the United States military informed me that there were seventy-seven warheads aimed at Vegas. Using satellites and roof-mounted laser cannons, I was able to prevent a majority of the warheads from hitting Vegas, although some did hit outlying areas. If the chip had been delivered earlier, I would have been able to destroy them all." Mark noticed that he sounded almost…disappointed.
"You see, the chip, in addition to other things, would have given me an upgraded operating system. In the two-hundred years since the war, I've had multiple system crashes, and I spent a good seventy years in a veritable coma to prevent a complete meltdown." "So, what else does this chip do, if you don't mind me asking?" "As for that, Mr. Franklin, I believe showing you would be the best course of action. Please proceed to the elevator." Apparently what the Chip did was upgrade the defensive capabilities of the securitrons. In addition to the Gatling lasers and 9mm machine guns already availabe to the securitrons, it also unlocked shoulder mounted missile launchers and grenade launchers. It also changed the face from a cartoon policeman to those of soldiers out of an old-world movie, complete with stubble and a cigar.
When Mark got back up to the Penthouse, House asked, "What do you think?" "I'll admit, House, those securitrons are impressive. So, what happens now?" Mark asked. "A cascading series of events, with you in the center of it all. To ensure the future of the city, certain steps must be taken. Make no mistake, the NCR and Legion will go to war again, and when they do, we'll need to be ready. As long as you are in my employ, there will be rewards beyond your wildest dreams, and I'm not just talking about money, but there will be plenty of that. What do you say?"
Mark thought for a few moments, mostly about Amata. He knew that if House was able to disarm and destroy nuclear bombs, the city was probably the safest place in the Mojave, perhaps the world. Amata would likely be safe here more than anywhere else they could go. Even if he had to put up with House, he knew that her safety was worth it. "Alright, House, you've got a deal." "You have made the correct choice, Mr. Franklin. Under my guidance, with you doing the legwork, this city, and humanity as a whole will not only survive, but thrive as it once did. Now, onto your first task. The securitrons on the Strip are but a mere fraction of my total force. The rest are located in an underground bunker, and I need you to take the chip there to upgrade them as well." "Ok," Mark said, "so where is it?" "The bunker is located under Fortification Hill, which is currently occupied by the Legion." "Wait, wait, wait, you want me to sneak onto a massive slaver base without anyone noticing?" "Exactly," House said. "You seem like a resourceful person. I'm sure you'll think of some way to do it. You are dismissed." With that, House's face disappeared, and the screen said 'connection lost.' Mark stood there for a moment, and then headed back to the elevator.
On the way back to the Presidential Suite, Victor told him about the amenities of the 38. It had a gym, medical facilities, a state-of-the-art laboratory, and a variety of clothing shops, among other things. Mark got off the elevator and looked around. The Presidential Suite took up an entire floor, and had its own fully-stocked kitchen, a game room with a bar, and several bedrooms, each with a private bath with water drawn from a private source under the 38. The entire place looked perfectly preserved. Mark went into the kitchen and saw Cass and Veronica talking to each other. They had both changed back into their regular clothes.
"Hey Mark," Veronica said. "Veronica, Cass," he said, nodding to both of them. "Would ya look at this place?" Cass said, with a smile on her face, "they got booze up the wazoo, and best of all, it's free. Now I'm really glad I decided ta travel with y'all." "So," said Veronica, "how'd your talk with House go?" "It was…interesting, to say the least. I'll explain more tomorrow, but the short of it is, House has hired me to do some work." Mark put the bag of caps on the table. Both Cass' and Veronica's eyes widened. "There are 1,250 caps in there, and that's just to start. If you guys want to work with me, you are more than welcome to share in the profits." Cass spoke first. "If tha caps keep rollin' in like this, ya can definitely count me in." "I'm in, too," Veronica said. "By the way," said Mark, "where's Amata?" "She's in the master bedroom, second door on the right," said Veronica. "We figured our captain and his lady should get the biggest room." "Please don't call me captain," Mark said. "We're all equal. Mark will be fine, thanks. Anyway, goodnight guys." "Goodnight, captain," they said in unison. Mark shook his head and walked out of the room.
He opened the door to the master bedroom. There were a couple of couches, a coffee table, and a small walk-in closet to his right, a bed directly in front of him, and a desk and some dressers to his left. Amata was sitting on the bed, still wearing the dress, although she had taken off the shoes and put her hair back in a ponytail. When she saw him, she got up and kissed him. "Hey, honey. How did your talk go?" Mark took off the jacket and put it on one of the couches. "I'll explain in the morning. I'm tired as hell." When Mark had his back turned, Amata noticed a gun tucked in the back of his pants. "Mark, what's that gun?" "Oh, this? This is the gun that Benny nearly killed me with. Looks nice. I thought that I'd keep it."
It was a customized 9 mm pistol, the entire body covered with ivy and floral details, and in image of some saint-like figure on either side of the ivory-finished grip. "You're gonna keep the gun that nearly killed you?" "Yeah," Mark said with a grin, "I have a weird sense of humor, although you know that already." She gave him a chuckle. "Yes, you certainly do. Mark, I wanted to talk to you about something." Mark sat down on the bed and she joined him. "What'd you want to talk about?" She was silent for a couple of moments, and she looked like she was having second thoughts. "Mark, we've been together for a few months now, and we're going to have a child together. As far as I'm concerned, I am your wife, so I've decided to change my last name to Franklin. What do you think?" Mark just looked at her, a big smile on his face. "Well, Mrs. Franklin, I think that it would be an honor and a privilege for me to be able to call you my wife, and if I remember correctly, I do believe that it is traditional for newlyweds to have a first dance. Although compared to you, I am severely underdressed for such an occasion. Nonetheless, let's see what's on the radio."
He went over to the radio that was on the desk and turned it on. After fiddling with the dials, he found Radio New Vegas. "…in other news, a package courier found shot in the head in Goodsprings has reportedly regained consciousness and has made a full recovery. Now that's a delivery service that you can count on." Amata started to laugh, and Mark just rubbed his temple. "And now," the man on the radio continued, "here's Frank Sinatra singing, "Fly Me to the Moon." As the music began to play, Amata put her arms around Mark's neck, and Mark wrapped his arms around her waist, and they began to dance.
"Fly me to the moon,
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars…"
As they danced, they stared into each other's eyes
"…In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby kiss me…"
They began to kiss, and the music seemed to fade out
"…Fill my heart with song,
And let me sing forever more
You are all I long for,
All I worship and adore..."
The kissing made way to loud, passionate love-making, lasting into the night.
"…In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you…"
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I do not own any rights to the song. I heard it at my cousin's wedding and thought it would be perfect here. Until next time.