Author's Note: I hope everyone is doing well. We're now over 8,000 views, and that got me thinking. What was your favorite part of the story so far? Obviously I like the entire story, but I'll freely admit I enjoyed writing some parts more than others. I'd seriously like to hear from you guys about your favorite part, either as part of a review or as a PM. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and reviews are welcome and appreciated.

About a half hour later, Mark reached Fortification Hill. He guessed it would have taken him about an hour if he had taken one of the wooden boats. As he pulled up to the Fort, he pulled the boat around so that the back of the boat faced towards the Fort in case he needed to make a quick getaway. He killed the engine and got out of the boat. As he passed by the gatekeeper, the man said "Ave, true to Caesar," and pounded his chest with his right hand. Mark returned the gesture, and said, "Ave, true to Caesar," as well. The fences that surrounded the outer perimeter of the Fort were large wooden stakes bound together, and they were at least fifteen feet high.

As he started his walk into the Fort, he saw a rock ledge with more crosses and half-decayed bodies on them. 'Well,' Mark thought as he began his search, 'at least I know that I'm in the right place.' Mark began to walk up a small hill that most likely led to the rest of the Fort. As he walked, he noticed the slaves. They were wearing extremely dirty rags with red x's painted on the front and back. He briefly flashed back to Paradise Falls in DC, where he had to rescue a couple of kids so that he could get into Little Lamplight. He had been able to kill all of those slavers and save the kids, but there were only a handful of slavers there, and there were a hell of a lot more here, so rescuing the slaves right now was out of the question, no matter how much he wanted to.

He walked into the main area of the Fort, and looked around. There were some smaller tents to his left, and to his right were larger tents, obviously set up for eating. He observed the soldiers here. The equipment they were wearing was much different from the equipment at Nipton and Cottonwood Cove. While that equipment had been old-world sports equipment, the breastplates and helmets here looked to be made out of some type of metal, and they were ornately decorated. He doubted his pistol would be able to do much damage against them, so he would have to tread lightly. He looked to his right, and did a double take. The hill that he was standing on overlooked at least a thousand tents, at least that was all that Mark was able to see. He had figured that to give the NCR trouble, the army would have to be large, but actually seeing it surprised him a bit.

He continued to walk, and saw a long tent on a small hill in the middle of the Fort. Outside the entrance was a guard, and hanging above the entrance was golden plaque with a side view of a man's head. The man wore a crown of leaves, but he was otherwise bald. Mark noticed that his nose was crooked. He saw the tent flap open, and out stepped the man from the plaque. He wore a white shirt with a red sash across it, and was wearing a red skirt and brown sandals. 'I guess that's Caesar,' Mark thought. From where Mark was, he could probably kill him with his pistol, but he wasn't here for that right now. Plus, with all of the soldiers around, he would probably be killed before he could take two steps.

He walked around to the back of the tent, and after walking for another ten minutes, at the bottom of the hill he saw what was likely the weather monitoring station that House talked about. It was a squat, one-story concrete building with an antennae sticking out of the top of it. He walked down the hill, and to his left were some storage tents filled with crates, and to his right were more tents. As he reached the front door of the station, Mark looked around. He could hear some soldiers training off in the distance, but there were none in the immediate area. He took his silenced 10 mm pistol out from the back of the skirt, held it behind his back, and opened the door slowly.

He saw two men wearing capes with their back tuned to the door. The room itself was barely lit, but Mark could see computer consoles on either side of the room. As soon as Mark closed the door, the two men turned around and looked at him. The one to Mark's left spoke. "Halt. No one is allowed in here without the express-" He never got to finish, because Mark shot both of them in the head, since neither of them decided to wear helmets that day. "Sorry boys," Mark said as he put his pistol into the back of the skirt, "don't have time for any formalities today." Mark dragged both bodies into a corner where they were out of the direct line of sight of anyone coming in. He looked around the room, looking for the slot that this supposedly went in.

He checked the console on the right, and after looking for a minute or so, he found a slot roughly the size of the chip. He took off his helmet and grabbed the chip, and slid it in. It disappeared into the console. At first, nothing happened, but then a hatch in the right corner of the room opened up, revealing a staircase. Mark looked down, taking out his pistol just in case. As he walked down, Mark heard the hatch close above him. He came to a landing that had a computer setup similar to the one at the 38. Mark took off the face wrap, sunglasses and helmet, and tossed them over to the side. "House? You here?" House's face appeared on the monitor. "Well, Mr. Franklin, you made it here in one piece. Well done." "Ok, House," Mark said, "so what do I do now?"

"As I stated before, the remainder of my securitron force is housed here. They are currently inactive, but the chip will activate their programming sequences. The console to do that is on the other side of the facility, but there is a bit of a… complication." "There always is. What is it, House?" "While I can broadcast to this screen, the various malfunctions that left me in a coma also severed my control of the facility, meaning I cannot disable any security, most of which is still active, according to what I'm looking at." Mark sighed and rubbed his temple. "House, you're a smart man. I'm guessing you had some type of override installed on-site in case something like that happened. Am I in the ballpark?" "As it so happens, I did. At the bottom of the stairs is a small room with a few computers that should help you in disabling security." "All right House, I'm on it." "Very good. You've come this far. I would hate for this to be all for naught. With that, House's face disappeared, with the words 'connection lost' appearing on the screen.

(Same time, Freeside)

Amata opened her eyes, but her vision was fuzzy. She saw the outline of someone standing over her. "Mark?" she called out weakly. She tried to lift her arms and her head, but they felt like they were weighted down. The man was yelling something; "…get her to the Fort! King's orders!" Amata couldn't make sense of it, and blacked out again.

(Fortification Hill)

Mark began his descent down another set of stairs when he heard a robotic voice. "HALT. THIS AREA IS UNDER LOCKDOWN. TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT. LETHAL FORCE AUTHORIZED. Mark went flat against the wall and looked down. When he saw what it was, he exhaled. It was just a protectron. It was grey, and it had a vaguely humanoid shape, with two arms and two legs, and had a glass dome where its head would be. They were also notoriously slow. He had faced and killed many of them before. He aimed his pistol and took the shot. It went through the glass dome on its head, and it fell over. "SHUTTING DOWN. REQUEST BACK-" That was all it was able to say before it shut down for good. He stepped over it and continued down the stairs. He came to a hallway that led deeper into the facility, and on the other side was a small room. There were some lockers directly in front of him, and to his right were three computers on the wall. One was labeled "Protectrons," one was labeled "Turrets," and the last one was labeled, "Sentry Bots."

Mark walked up to the one labeled "Sentry Bots," and attempted to turn it on. Nothing happened. He pressed some keys and whacked the side, but it wouldn't turn on. "Well, that can't be good." He fared much better with the other two computers. The computers were the same models as the ones he hacked in DC, so it took him no time at all to shut down the protectrons and turrets. Once that was done, he took out his pistol and started down the hallway.

He entered the first room, and Mark got a sense of déjà vu. It was dimly lit, but it looked eerily similar to the vault. There was a window to the left of him, so he went over and looked out of it. When he saw what was on the other side, his jaw dropped. There were rows upon rows upon rows of securitrons. They were all immobile, and there was nothing on their screens. 'Those must be the securitrons House talked about,' thought Mark. He reasoned that there were probably a lot more than this elsewhere in the facility. He turned around and saw something in the corner. He pulled out his pistol and aimed, until he realized that it was one of the turrets he deactivated. He chuckled to himself and ventured onwards. He walked up a couple of sets of stairs, and past the deactivated turrets and protectrons, but he didn't see any sentry bots. Something wasn't sitting right with him. This seemed way too easy, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

He reached the other end of the facility. There was a computer console, and another window. Mark looked out the window and saw more securitrons waiting to be activated. He walked over to the console and looked for where the platinum chip was supposed to go. He found the slot, and put the chip in. It disappeared into the console, and Mark heard a loud rumbling noise, like machines were being activated. The platinum chip came back out, and Mark grabbed it. He made his way back to the console on the other side of the facility, where House was waiting for him. "Well done, Mr. Franklin. Come back to the 38, where we can discuss our next steps." With that, House cut out.

Mark grabbed the helmet, put the chip back on his head, and secured the helmet. He then put back on the face wrap and sunglasses, and made his way back up the stairs. The hatch re-opened, and Mark had his pistol ready, just in case there was anyone waiting. He walked back up the stairs and into the weather station, but there was no one there, except for the two soldiers he killed earlier. He went to the door that led outside, and opened it slowly. He looked around, and saw that there was no one waiting out there, either. He made his way cautiously back to the docks. He was still having that feeling that things were going too smoothly.

He got back to the docks and was about to get back in the boat, when the Legionnaire he passed on his way in said, "Halt!" Mark turned around and faced him. "Is there a problem?" Mark asked. "I received no orders for anyone to leave. Where are you going?" Mark got up in the man's face. "I am on a mission that is none of your concern. I will be leaving now." Mark turned to leave when the Legionnaire grabbed him by the shoulder, spun him around, and punched him in the face. Mark staggered a bit, and the sunglasses Mark was wearing snapped in half, so he took them off and threw them on the ground. The Legionnaire came at him again, but this time Mark was ready, as he deflected the punch and punched the Legionnaire in his face. They then started trading punches.

Out of the corner of his eye, Mark saw more Legion soldiers coming down the hill, swords drawn. He knew he needed to end this. The Legionnaire had pulled off the face wrap that Mark was wearing. Mark elbowed him in the face, which caused him to stagger. Mark pulled out his pistol and shot him in the gut. The Legion soldier fell to the ground, giving Mark the opening he needed. He ran to the boat, flipped the switch, and pulled the cord. The boat wouldn't start. He saw the Legion soldiers getting closer. He pulled it again. Nothing. He whacked it and pulled the cord again, and it finally started. He grabbed the throttle and pushed it forward, and watched as the Legion soldiers could do nothing but stare at him as he sped away.

(30 Minutes later, Sniper's Nest)

Cass was starting to get a bit antsy. "He's been gone fer an hour-an-a-half. What if they killed 'em? Are we jus' gonna wait here all day?" "He's not dead," Boone said, matter-of-factly. 'Oh, and how would ya know that?" Boone looked through the binoculars at the docks. "He's smart, and he can fight. He wouldn't do anything that would risk exposing himself unless absolutely necessary." "He better not be dead," Arcade said, "or otherwise we'll have to break the news to Amata, and that's a conversation I'd rather not have." "Wait," Boone said, "I see something." The others gathered on the edge and looked down. They saw a boat pull into the docks. "It's him," Boone said. Sure enough, Mark had arrived back, a little bruised, but otherwise fine. He waved on their general direction to let them know it was him.

Mark grabbed the earpiece and made his way back up to the nest. When he got back up there, Veronica nearly tackled him. "You're okay!" "Yes," said Mark, "but I won't be if you don't stop squeezing me." "Oh, sorry," she said as she let him go. "So," said Cass, did ya do what ya needed ta do?" "Yep," he said as he took the Legion disguise off and put his spare boots, clothes, and his armor back on. "Where's my pip-boy?" Mark asked, looking at Veronica. "Right here," Arcade said as he gave it to Mark, who put it back on his left arm. "Wait, why didn't Veronica have it?" "Well, she-" "It's not important," Veronica said, interrupting him, "but what is important is that you're alive, and you'll be glad to know Amata never left the Strip. Now, let's get the hell out of here." "Seconded," Arcade said.

Mark pushed a button on the pip-boy. "Amata, come in. It's Mark." They waited, but there was only silence. "Amata, can you hear me?" Still nothing. He tried typing in a message and sent it. They waited a few minutes, but there was no response. "Something's wrong," Mark said with worry in his voice. "Not necessarily," Arcade said, "maybe she just took it off." "I doubt it. You wear these things for long enough and eventually you don't even realize that you're wearing it anymore. Something feels seriously wrong. We need to double time it." "Mark," Cass said, "ya don't know-" "DON'T TELL ME THAT I DON'T KNOW," Mark yelled, "SHE IS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE. SHE ALWAYS RESPONDS TO ME. WE NEED TO GO, NOW!" His face was inches from Cass.

"Look, lover boy," Cass said, her voice rising, "don't make me pound you." "I'd like to see you try," Mark said sarcastically. Cass raised a fist, but Boone grabbed her arm. "Stop it, both of you! This is not the time for this!" Boone said in an authoritative voice. "He's right," Veronica said. She turned to Cass. "Cass, if he says something's wrong, I believe him. When you're in love, you just get that feeling. And you," she said, turning towards Mark, pointing a finger at him, a scowl on her face, "We are your friends. We wanna keep her safe, too. Don't you dare insinuate that we don't care. Now if you two are done having a pissing match, we need to hurry." She turned away from them and headed back in the direction of the Strip.

Ooh, there's some tension in the air. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and please keep reviewing. Until next time.