Author's Note: As I am writing this, it occurred to me that this is already the 27th chapter that I've written for this story. I went back and read it from the beginning, and I still can't believe I was able to write this much. Don't worry, though. We still have a long way to go. It also occurred to me that I don't have cover art for this story. I want to do something custom, but unfortunately I have all the artistic ability of a doorknob. If anyone is interested in helping me out, please message me and I'll let you know what I'm looking for in terms of the artwork. Enjoy the chapter, and reviews are always welcomed and appreciated.
It took them twenty minutes to get from the sniper's nest to Cottonwood Overlook. Mark approached the truck, and the Geiger counter on his pip-boy started going crazy. A message appeared: "Warning: Lethal levels of radiation detected. Evacuate the area immediately." Mark smiled and turned to the rest of the group. "Well?" asked Arcade. "We hit the mother lode," Mark said as he showed the rest of them the message. "That should do the trick," Veronica said. Mark approached the back of the truck, which was hanging over the edge. Mark tried to reach the lever on the door of the truck himself, but he realized that he would fall off the cliff if he tried to reach out any further.
"Need a hand, Captain?" Cass asked as Mark turned around. She grabbed his left hand, and leaned over and was able to reach the lever. He tried to move it but to no avail. It appeared to be rusted in place. Cass brought him back onto solid ground, and Mark considered his options. He turned to Arcade. "Did you bring your plasma pistol?" "Of course," he said. "Well, then could you do me a favor and shoot that lever off?" Arcade moved to the edge of the cliff, awkwardly lined up his shot while Mark held him. He took the shot, and a burst of plasma shot out of the gun, and it hit the lever straight on. Mark looked at the door. There was now a hole where the lever used to be. Mark looked down into the cove. He saw no frantic movement, so they likely hadn't been spotted yet.
"Alright," Mark said as he turned to Cass, "let's try this again." She grabbed his left hand again, and he leaned over. He grabbed the hole and gave it a small tug. It seemed willing to cooperate. "Boone, you hear me?" "Loud and clear," came Boone's voice over the earpiece. "Get ready, because the party's about to start." "Copy that." Mark yanked the door up, and Cass pulled him away quickly so that he wouldn't be knocked down with the toxic waste. At least thirty to thirty five barrels of toxic waste fell into the cove, releasing their contents on the unsuspecting Legion soldiers. Mark heard gunshots go off to either side of him, and a loud booming noise, which Mark assumed was Boone's sniper rifle. The toxic waste was having the desired effect, as the Legion soldiers were doubling over in pain, unable to return fire.
A few minutes later, Mark surveyed the area. The Legion soldiers were all dead, either from bullet wounds, radiation poisoning, or both. Mark turned back to the rest of them. "Well, that was fun!" Veronica exclaimed. "If that's your idea of fun, you need your head examined," Arcade said. Mark ignored them, and called Amata on his pip-boy. "Amata, you there?" A voice came through. "Yeah, I'm here Mark." "Alright. We just cleared the cove. I'm taking my pip-boy off now, like we discussed. I'll see you when we get back, alright?" "Ok," Amata said, sounding a bit worried, "please be careful." "Hey, you know me. I love you." "I love you too," she said in response. Mark terminated the transmission and turned to the rest of them. He took off his armor and put it in his bag. He then took off the pip-boy and handed it to Veronica, and gave his assault rifle to Cass.
"Keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't go into Freeside. If she calls and says that she's in trouble, just leave my bag at the sniper's nest and get back there as soon as you can. I'll make my way back." "You got it," Veronica said. "Keep an eye on the road. I don't want any surprises while I'm down there. Copy that, Boone?" "Copy." "Good luck," Cass said. "Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat," Arcade said. "Arcade, I learned a lot of things in the vault, but Latin wasn't one of them, so speak English." "Sorry. It means 'Fortune favors the bold.' "Thank you, Arcade." Mark turned from them and began his descent into the Cove.
(25 minutes later)
Mark walked into the cove and saw all the barrels of toxic waste strewn about, along with the bodies of all the Legion soldiers. Mark found a Legion soldier who didn't have that much vomit or blood on him. Mark took off his shirt, pants, and combat boots. He brought spares in his bag, just in case. As he was taking the clothes off of the soldier, Cass' voice rang in his hear. "Wooo! Yeah, take it off, lover boy. Show me what ya got!" "Cass, is that really necessary?" Veronica asked. "Hey, even you gotta admit he looks damn good with no shirt on." "Yeah…I'm gonna take my earpiece out now," Mark said. He took the earpiece out and left it with his clothes.
The outfit he took consisted of a white pre-war motorcycle helmet with a red stripe running down the middle, sunglasses, a face wrap, a red shirt and skirt, a red chest protector, and calf-high brown boots. He put the chip under the helmet. It was a bit uncomfortable, but he had dealt with worse. He put his 10 mm pistol in the back of the skirt, and made sure it was covered by the shirt. He headed towards the docks. There were a few boats made out of wood tied together, but he also noticed a pre-war boat with an outboard motor. That seemed strange to Mark. He got on the boat to see if the motor still worked. He studied it for a minute. He flipped a small switch on the side of the motor, and then pulled a cord. The engine sputtered for a few moments, before it fully came to life. He grabbed a handle in front of the motor and pushed forward. After he got used to the speed, he went full throttle and began his journey to the Fort.
Veronica, Arcade, and Cass stood on top of Cottonwood Overlook as they watched Mark speed away. As Arcade looked down on Cottonwood Cove, he asked, "So…what do we do now?" "We wait for 'em, brainiac. Right, Veronica?" Veronica didn't answer. "Veronica?" Arcade and Cass looked at Veronica. She was fiddling with Mark's pip-boy. Cass snapped her fingers in Veronica's face. "Veronica, ya with us?" She snapped out of it. "Oh, sorry. I was just looking at this." "I hope that you're just monitoring Amata like he asked, and nothing else," said Arcade. She ignored him.
"It's weird. He has a bunch of encrypted files on here, mostly audio files, by the looks of it. He said that he didn't modify his pip-boy to communicate with Amata until he came out here, but from what I can tell, some of these were from before they came out here. I knew he was hiding something." "Well," said Cass, "can ya un-encrypt 'em or whatever?" "Maybe. Just give me a few-" She didn't finish because Arcade took it from her. "What was that for?" Veronica asked indignantly. "This is Mark's. I'm sure that whatever these files are, they're encrypted for a reason. They're none of our business. If he wants to share them, he will." "Arcade," Veronica said, "he's clearly hiding something big from us." "Everyone has things that they're hiding. Say this was yours. Would you want me going through it and finding out all of your secrets?" Veronica opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it. "Yeah, I didn't think so. Until he comes back, I will hang on to this."
(30 minutes earlier, Lucky 38)
There indeed was a private laundry room in the Presidential Suite for Amata to do some laundry. She had done her own laundry in the vault, and the machines in the 38 were somewhat similar to those, so it didn't take her long to figure out how to use them. Right as she finished putting the laundry away, Mark's voice came over her pip-boy. "Amata, you there?" Amata pressed a button and said, "Yeah, I'm here Mark." "Alright. We just cleared the cove. I'm taking my pip-boy off now, like we discussed. I'll see you when we get back, alright?" "Ok. Please be careful," Amata responded. "Hey, you know me. I love you." "I love you, too." The transmission terminated, and Amata knew that it was safe for her to leave now. After a quick lunch, she took off her pip-boy and left it in their room. She figured Mark would have the rest of them keep an eye on where she was.
She put on her leather armor, which she realized was a bit snugger than it usually was. She was feeling a bit bloated, and noticed her chest had grown a little bit, due to her body getting ready for the baby. She would have to see about getting some less restrictive armor, but this would do for now. She holstered her sidearm. That was all she had at the moment, since Mark had given her hunting rifle to Cass. There were a couple of other more powerful weapons that Mark had kept at the 38, but those were only supposed to be used in emergencies. She went into the elevator, and pressed the button for the casino floor.
She stepped outside and looked around. There was a securitron standing at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the 38, and there were a few NCR troopers staring at one of the Gomorrah hookers across the street. She started walking down the steps when she noticed that another NCR trooper was jogging towards her. She drew her pistol and aimed it at him. "That's far enough," Amata commanded. The trooper stopped in his tracks and held up his hands. "Whoa, calm down. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm only here to deliver a message to the Courier." He pulled out a sealed envelope from the inside of his uniform and showed it to her.
"The Courier?" Amata asked. "Yes ma'am. I was told that he was staying here with a group of other people. "I'm sorry," Amata said, "I think you must have the wrong…" Her voice trailed off as she remembered the radio broadcast from their first night here: "A package courier found shot in the head in Goodsprings…" 'Maybe that's what they're calling Mark now,' she thought. She chuckled. 'I wonder if he knows. He can't get away from those damn nicknames, can he?' She realized that the trooper was staring at her. She snapped out of it. "I'm his wife. I'll give it to him. Who's it from anyway?" "Ambassador Crocker at the NCR Embassy on the other side of the Strip." She approached him and took it from him. She looked at it. It was off-white, with the word 'Courier' written on the front. On the back was a seal embossed with a two-headed bear looking at a star. She put it in her pocket. "I'll see that he gets it." "Thank you ma'am."
She put it in her pocket and proceeded to walk out of the front gate into Freeside. She walked down the street, and she started to feel like maybe it wasn't such a good idea. Every little noise made her jump a bit. She got a weird feeling that something bad was going to happen, so she kept her right hand on her pistol. She thought about heading back, but like Mark told her yesterday, she could handle herself. After walking for about thirty minutes, she came up to the building she was looking for. It read, "King's School of Impersonation," in purple lettering. There were a few guys milling around outside the building dressed up like the Tunnel Snakes, only without the damn jacket. They eyed her suspiciously as she walked into the building.
The room that she first entered had a hardwood floor, and the walls were painted white. There was a bar counter at the back of the room, and a couple of couches to her right. Scattered along the wall around the room were posters of the same man, wearing an oversized rhinestone jumpsuit, black sunglasses, and black, pompadour styled hair. A few more of the guys like the ones outside were standing around, talking to each other. Straight ahead of her was another one of the men, although he was wearing a dark blue jacket with a number stitched over the breast pocket, and he was standing next to a door. She approached the man.
"Well, well," the man said in an accent Amata didn't recognize, "who do we have here? Another petitioner for the King?" "Who's the King?" Amata asked. The man looked taken aback. "Who's the King? Who's the King? The King is the law and order of Freeside. He keeps order in the streets like no one else can. You better show some respect, missy." Amata felt an instant dislike for this man. "Whoa, what's with the attitude? I just asked a damn question. I'm new to the area. I was just checking this place out." "Yeah," said the man, displeasure in his voice, "we've had a lot of 'new people' to the area lately, and we don't want 'em, so you best be on your way," he said, waving her off dismissively. That cinched it. Now she definitely wasn't leaving. She crossed her arms and stood her ground. "No. I'm not leaving until you let me meet this 'King' guy that you're talking about."
"Missy, don't make me hit you. I've never hit a girl before, but I just might make an exception in your case." "Yeah, well, I don't want to have to embarrass you in front of your friends by beating you up, so let me pass." "Alright, missy, I gave you fair warning." He balled his right hand into a fist, and aimed for her face. To his surprise, and to the surprise of everyone in the room, she reached up and grabbed his fist with her left hand and held it there. That just made him even angrier, and tried to punch her with his left hand, but she caught that as well. A look of shock came across his face as he realized the predicament he was in. He looked at her face, and she gave him a mischievous smile.
She held his arms down in front of his chest, brought him close, and kneed him twice in the gut. Then she threw his arms down to his sides, turned sideways, planted her left foot, and with her right, delivered a swift kick to his chest. He slammed back into the wall, and fell onto the ground. Out of her peripheral vision she saw another man running towards her with his fist raised. He swung, but she ducked out of the way. He tried again, but Amata grabbed him by the wrist and crook of his elbow, flipped him over her head and slamming him hard into the ground. She looked at the rest of the men in the room. "Anyone else wanna go?" Seeing their friends on the ground, and the ease at which she put them there, the rest of them ran out of the room. "Yeah," she said as she smiled, "that's what I thought. Punks."
The door that was being guarded by the first man swung open, and another man came out. His face was the spitting image of the man in the posters. "Dammit, what the hell is going on out here?" He saw the two guys on the floor, and Amata standing over them. "Who are you?" the man asked. "Are you the King?" "Yes I am, and I ask again, who are you?" "My name's Amata. Let me ask you a question, Mr. King. Are your guys always rude to new people?" "Rude?" He noticed that she was looking at the man in the blue jacket near the door.
Realization dawned on him. "Pacer, what the hell did you do? We talked about this. Does she look like a squatter to you?" Pacer struggled to get to his feet. "King, she attacked me." "Oh, no," Amata said, "he threw a punch at me first. I was just defending myself." He looked at Pacer. "Pacer, is that true? And don't lie to me." He looked nervous. "Well, yes, but…" "No buts, Pacer. If you attacked first, then she was completely justified. We'll have words later. Right now, get out of my sight." He looked like he wanted to argue, but he held his tongue. He glared at Amata, before going through a door on the right side of the room. "Sorry about that, miss," the King said as he held the door open for her, "please come in." Amata walked through, and he closed the door behind him. There were at least fifteen small round tables with chairs surrounding them, and a small stage with a moth-eaten red curtain behind it. There were also some spotlights hanging above the stage. There was a man on stage singing a song that Amata didn't recognize. The King led her to a table near the stage, and they both sat down. "Can I get you something to drink?" "Water, please." The King snapped his fingers, and one of the Kings that was in the room came over. "Two waters, Jimmy." Jimmy nodded, and came back a minute later with two bottles of water.
"Sorry about Pacer. He can be a bit of a hothead. I'll talk to him later. We've had a lot of squatters come into the area lately. Probably mistook you for one of 'em." "It's fine. He was probably just mad that I beat his ass." The King laughed. "I like you. So, you know who I am. Mind introducing yourself properly? "Oh, sorry, right. My name is Amata Franklin." "Well Miss Franklin-" "It's actually Mrs. Franklin," Amata said, interrupting him. "My apologies. So, Mrs. Franklin, what brings you to my humble abode?" "I'm new to the area. I was doing some exploring, and this place looked interesting."
"Yeah," said the King, "we thought the same thing when we first found this place. All of these posters and outfits devoted to this one guy. We thought it was some kind of place of worship." "Do you know the name of the guy?" Amata asked. "Nah. We never found anything with names. We found some holotapes of him singing when we first found this place, but they wore out a long time ago. I think me and Pacer are the only ones who remember what he sounds like." He leaned back in his chair and took a sip of water. "Enough about the past. So, did you move here with your husband?" "Yeah, him, plus a few other people we met along the way." "Whereabouts are you living, if you don't mind me asking." "The Lucky 38."
The King sat up straight in his chair and stared at her. "Wait, you live in the Lucky 38?" Amata nodded. "Would your husband happen to be the Courier?" "Well, I guess that's what they're calling him, but his name's Mark." The King rubbed his chin. "Hmm…since you're his wife, you must have his ear, I assume." "Umm…I guess you could say that." "I've actually wanted to have a word with him." 'That seems to be happening a lot today,' thought Amata. "If it's not too much of a problem, could you let him know I would like a moment of his time to talk some business?" "Well, he's kinda busy at the moment, but I will be more than happy to let him know. Thank you for your hospitality, but I probably should get going." She got up, as did the King.
He walked with her to the front door. "Since you're gonna pass on my message, I'll have my boys watch out for you when you're in Freeside. If you're heading back to the Strip, keep on the main road. Don't go on any side streets. We try to keep some order, but it's still dangerous." "Thank you, King." She opened the door. "Have a nice day, little missy." He said, as the door closed.
When Amata was a little under halfway towards the Strip, she got a feeling that someone was following her. She took out her pistol and turned around. She couldn't see anyone in the immediate area, so she turned back around and kept walking, her pistol at the ready. After walking for another minute or so, she heard a noise behind her. She turned around, and all she saw was a fist connecting with her face. She stumbled backwards, and her foot got caught in a pothole. She fell to the ground, her head hitting the pavement, knocking her unconscious.
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Again, I'm looking for anyone interested in doing some custom cover art for this story, so please message me if you are interested. Until next time.