They found Christine waiting in the hallway. As they made their way up to the second floor, Mark couldn't help but wonder what Veronica was feeling right now. She had just found two people from her past who she believed to be dead, although one was likely insane, and one couldn't speak, and very likely didn't trust him, and was angry with Veronica (from what he could tell by Veronica's reactions to Christine's hand gestures). They came to the top of the stairs. Mark peeked around the corner, and saw another hologram at the other end of the hallway. This one was of a man wearing a security guard's uniform. It was standing motionless at the other end of the hallway. He saw the emitter at the bottom of the wall on their right.
He motioned for Christine and Veronica to stay. He walked slowly to the black, half-spherical shaped emitter, when the security guard turned around and saw Mark. Mark was frozen in his tracks, waiting for what happened next. He saw the blue hologram turn yellow. Mark wondered why they were supposed to be dangerous, when it put its hands to its head and turned red. "Oh, crap." Mark dived out of the way, landing in an old office as a beam of energy went where he was a few moments ago, and hit the opposite wall. Mark stood next to the doorway, waiting for the security guard to come in, but it never did. Mark took a peek in the hallway. The hologram had turned back to yellow, and just stood there. After a few moments, it turned back to blue. As soon as it walked past the room Mark was in, Mark went out in the hallway, and smashed the emitter with the butt of the holorifle. The glass broke, and the wiring inside sparked, and the hologram disappeared.
"Clear!" Mark called out. Christine and Veronica came to the landing. "Are you guys okay?" "We're fine," Veronica said. "That was an interesting hologram, though. Imagine the practical uses for it." "Yeah," Mark said, "well, Elijah said he was looking for schematics for the technology here. Maybe that's one of the things he was looking for. Come on, let's search the rest of the floor." The search turned up a couple of med-x, a stimpak, and, more practically, a brown doctor's bag, which meant that they wouldn't have to keep everything in their pockets. They went back downstairs to search the remainder of the first floor. There was nothing in the rooms with the auto-docs, and Christine hadn't joined them in those rooms, opting to remain in the hallway, and Mark couldn't blame her. Who knows how long she had been stuck in that auto-doc? She probably had severe claustrophobia by now.
The last room they looked in was an examination room, and after checking that there was no auto-doc, Christine followed the others in there. There were two headless corpses wearing grey jumpsuits, similar to what Mark and Veronica were wearing. They also had bomb collars on what was left of their necks. "Oh my god," Veronica said in shock when she saw them. Mark was hoping that she was realizing that these were two of the people Elijah had condemned to death, and that there was no hope for Elijah. She shook it off and continued to look around. "Look at this," she said. They saw what she was looking at: a full set of green, nearly skin-tight composite body armor. "Well," Veronica said, "there's only one set." "One of you guys take it," Mark said. "Are you sure, Mark?" "I insist. This isn't the first time I've been thrust into a hostile environment with no armor whatsoever." Veronica narrowed her eyes a bit, but not in a menacing way. "There's a story behind that, isn't there?" she asked. "Yeah, and one day I might tell it to you. I'll be waiting in the lobby."
Mark went into the lobby and sat on the couch. He looked at the radio frequencies that were now on his pip-boy. One was the Sierra Madre Broadcast that had brought them here in the first place. There were six others, although those just listed the numbered frequencies. He guessed that the highest number was Elijah's, and since he (probably, although Mark thought he might just be crazy enough to) didn't put a collar on himself, he was likely using a radio in a safe location that wasn't pinged to him. There was no way to guess as to what frequency belonged to whom among the three of them and the other two collars in the villa. Amata's frequency had disappeared, as he figured it would have, since they were well outside the twenty-five mile radius for them to stay in communication.
He sat back and closed his eyes, and imagined her smile, and wondered what she was doing right now. Knowing her for as long as he has, she was probably pissed off and worried sick at the same time. But he also knew that she was strong enough to carry on by herself until he could figure a way out of this predicament. "Don't worry, babe," he said quietly, "I'm gonna find my way back home. Like I always told you, I will always come back." "Mark, who are you talking to?" Mark opened his eyes. Christine and Veronica were staring at him. Christine had been given the body armor, and on her hip she saw the 9mm pistol they had found earlier, and she was also carrying a knife they had apparently found in there. Veronica was carrying the doctor's bag and the spear from earlier. "Uh, no one," he said as he stood up. "Let's just get going."
They were making their way towards the second collar. Mark could hear the noises that the inhabitants were making elsewhere, as they were echoing off of the walls, but luckily for the three of them, they had avoided any direct confrontation. They came upon a human skeleton with a spear through its ribs, pinned up against the wall. Written in white paint above was the phrase, "WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW?" "Yeah, that's not ominous or anything," Mark said, as he saw something gleaming next to the body. There were two golden, octagonal coins with one half of a woman's smiling face, and the letter "SM" inscribed in them. He showed them to Christine and Veronica. "Huh. Wonder what these are for," he said aloud. Christine closed her eyes and shook her head. Then she grabbed Mark by the arm and dragged him over to some wooden looking device against a wall. It had an ornately decorated wooden base, with a blue, glowing screen-type thing resting on top of it. Mark and Veronica stared at it. "Christine," Mark said, "what are we looking at?"
Christine rolled her eyes and took the coins out of Mark's hand. She put them in one of the slots on the machine. A menu appeared in the circle on top of the machine, listing various items for sale. "Oh," Mark said in realization, "these must be the vending machines. Veronica, can you hand me that stimpak holotape?" Veronica took it out of the bag and handed it to Mark. He put it in a slot just under the coin slot, which looked just the right size. An alert appeared on the screen, saying stimpaks were now available for sale. Mark used a finger to scroll up and down. "Ok, so they sell med-x, stimpaks, some types of ammo, and some food. Looks like these coins are just going to get us some food." Mark suddenly realized how hungry he was. "You guys hungry?" "Yeah," Veronica said, "I could go for some food." Christine, who had been keeping watch, simply nodded.
Mark selected a Fancy Lads Snack Cake. As soon as the selection was confirmed, a square silver plate on the front of the machine rose up. They looked inside. At first, there was only a hologram of the package, but a second later there was an actual package there. Christine remained stoic, but Mark and Veronica were amazed. "Did that…it just appeared from nothing. That's amazing!" Veronica said a little excitedly. Mark ripped open the package and ripped off roughly equal sized chunks of the snack cake, and handed them to Christine and Veronica.
As they continued their way to their next target, Mark contemplated something. Elijah said that he wanted the schematics for the technology in this place. The technology that they had encountered so far were security holograms that can shoot laser beams and can't be shot or blown up, and vending machines that seemed to make something out of nothing. Mark was getting a feeling that Elijah wasn't telling them the whole plan. Then again, Mark had forgotten, insane dictatorial nut jobs rarely did. Add in the fact that the Cloud, which wasn't a natural occurrence, could preserve, decay, and kill, all at the same time. If it wasn't natural, then theoretically, it could be replicated.
'What's your game, Elijah? What are you planning?' he thought to himself. "Mark?" Veronica asked. "Huh? Sorry, what was that?" "Mark, how close are we?" Mark checked. "According to this, we need to go up those stairs and it should just be a bit further after that." They ascended the staircase and came to an open area with a dry fountain, and on the other side of the fountain was the Villa's police station. Walking in front of the entrance was another one of the green creatures. This one, however, was a bit taller, and was wearing some type of contraption on its right hand. Mark looked at the others. "So, how do we want to-" He was interrupted by Christine firing a couple of shots at the creature. It staggered it a bit, but it did not fall and charged at them. Mark fired a shot with the holorifle, but that did little to slow it down. Veronica dropped the doctor's bag and ran at it with the spear. The creature swung its right fist, and what looked like a bear trap caught the spear and broke it in half.
The creature looked at it, trying to shake it out of the trap, but it was stuck. With the creature distracted, they took their opportunity to strike. Veronica smacked it across the head with the other half of the broom handle, which staggered it enough for Mark to tackle it to the ground. He punched its face repeatedly before Christine threw him off, and used the knife she had acquired earlier and sliced its head off. Mark got up off the ground and dusted himself off. "Alright, good teamwork everyone. Uh, Christine, I normally like to have a plan before I go running into battle, so please just remember that for next time, okay?" Christine just put the knife on the edge of the fountain and grabbed the few coins that were in the fountain. After they collected the coins, they made their way into the police station.
There were only splotches of light illuminating the interior of the police station. In the back right corner was a large cell with a couple of desks in front of it, and in the cell, there appeared to be a large blue creature with its back turned to them. It also appeared to be talking to itself. They took a step forward when their collars started to beep. They stepped back. The beeping stopped, and they looked around. Mark counted two HAM radios on desks in front of the cell, and one on a desk off to their left. Before Mark or Veronica could say anything, Christine fired three shots, and all of the radios were destroyed. Mark had to admit, that was slightly impressive. They stepped forward, and when they heard no beeping, they exhaled, and the three of them approached the cage.
"Uh, hi," Mark said as he knocked on one of the bars a couple of times. It didn't respond to them, and it continued muttering to itself. Mark banged a bit harder. "Excuse me, can you turn around so we can talk?" It turned its head briefly, looking at them, before turning back around. The face reminded Mark of Fawkes a bit, except for the obvious difference that it was blue. Mark tried to open the cage, but it was locked, and he had nothing to try and pick the lock with. Mark looked at Veronica and Christine. "Either of you ever seen a mutant like that before?" "They're called nightkin," Veronica said. "They use stealth boys to ambush their prey. There's a group of them on Black Mountain near Hidden Valley, and there are rumors of some mutants up in Charlestown in the mountains. Why one is here by itself is beyond me." "Well, according to his pip-boy, he's the next "person" that we need, so we need to find some way to communicate with him. Keep trying, will you Veronica? Christine, search this floor for any usable weapons or armor. I'll check the rest of the building." Veronica nodded, and Christine just walked away.
Mark walked through a doorway when his collar started to beep. He stepped back, and saw an old-time radio, similar to the one they had seen in the trap Elijah had apparently set. He ran up to it and switched it off, and the beeping stopped. Mark descended the staircase into the basement, when he heard a strange voice, seemingly from out of nowhere. "That's it, just a bit further," the deep, seemingly animalistic voice said. "Come find my voice. Find what puts the dog in its cage, and then…then we can talk." The voice cut out, and Mark stood there, a bit perplexed. "Hello?" he called out, but there was no answer. "Put the dog in its cage?" Mark wondered aloud. "What the hell does that mean? I haven't seen any dogs around here."
He went down in the basement, destroying a speaker as he went. Most of the stuff down here was crap, but he was able to find a couple of clips of 10 mm ammunition. 'That's good,' Mark thought, 'if they had the ammunition, that must mean they have 10 mm pistols around here somewhere.' He continued searching when he found a holotape on a desk. It had, "Dog Command Tape" written on it. 'Wait,' Mark thought, 'didn't that voice say something about putting a 'dog' in its cage?' He downloaded it wirelessly, and after finding nothing else useful, he went back upstairs.
It seemed that Christine had some luck finding supplies, but Veronica getting frustrated, nearly yelling at the creature. "Any luck?" Mark asked as he came back next to her. "All he keeps saying is something about a "master." What about you? Find anything?" He showed her the ammunition in his pocket. "I also found a holotape, and there was this weird voice that came over the speakers, saying something about 'putting the dog in its cage', so I'm gonna try something." Mark played the recording. The same voice that Mark heard in the basement played. "Dog! Back in the cage!" As soon as the tape finished, he nightkin's head shot up, like it had been awoken from a trance. He staggered to his feet, and turned around. Veronica let out an involuntary gasp, and Mark understood why. He nightkin was wearing a heavy-duty chain like a necklace, had a bear trap clamped over its left hand, and the word "DOG" was carved into its chest.
The nightkin approached them. Veronica and Christine back up a bit, but Mark stared at it and held his ground. He looked around, as if he was looking for someone or something specific. "Well, what have we here? You weren't who I was expecting. Still…even if you aren't my intended guest, you couldn't have been idiots to figure out how to release me from my cage." He paused. "Or perhaps you three are, with the leash on your arm-" he motioned to Mark- "and the ones around your necks. With our collars, we might as well be kin." Veronica and Christine looked a bit shocked to hear a super mutant that was articulate, but Mark had experience with Fawkes, so the novelty had worn off a bit. "Hi," Mark said, "I'm Mark Franklin, this is Veronica Santangelo and Christine Royce. Who were you expecting?" The nightkin looked at Mark curiously, noting the lack of fear on Mark's face.
"You do not appear to fear me. How unusual." "I've faced and killed bigger. Plus, you're not the first intelligent super mutant that I've met, although he preferred the term, "Meta Human." So do you want to explain to us why you weren't answering us before?" "To answer your first question, I was hoping the old man would make an appearance." Veronica spoke. "Why-why do you want to talk with him?" The nightkin growled. "The old man…obsessed with the Sierra Madre, riddled with greed. Hoped you might be him when I woke up. All three of you are only his hands. You all have the same kind of greed. Followed the radio signal, and now you're here, all confused. Not for long, though." "Look," Mark said, "I'm not here for any money. I only heard of the Sierra Madre a few hours ago. I just want to go home. We don't even know how the hell we got here." "Oh, I know how you got here," the nightkin said, "even if I don't see it happen. Down in the cage, I hear echoes of the footfalls, the click of the collars. Every time I see one of you, I know exactly how you got here. You couldn't control yourselves, any more than Dog can help himself."
Veronica looked at his chest. "Aren't you Dog? Why is it carved in your chest?" "Dog. Elijah's lackey. He is not as… articulate as I am. He carved it in our chest to remind him of who he is, put this trap on our arm." Mark realized something. "So you have two personalities. One is Dog, so who are you?" "I guess you could call me the voice of reason. You may call me God." "So, God," Mark continued, "you're saying that Dog dragged Veronica and I here. That tape, it brought you out. So, what is this cage?" "The cage. We trade places. When Dog is out, I am in the cage, and unable to be in control. When I am in control, Dog is in the cage. Dog, he is conditioned to need a master. The old man found him, so now when he says fetch, Dog fetches."
"I've seen this before," Veronica said, "It's common in nightkin. Excessive stealth boy use can cause paranoia and multiple personality disorder." "Yes," God growled, "that is the human excuse, as if technology is the cause of all man's ills. So, why are you all here?" "Elijah sent us to find three other collars. Christine here was the first, and you're the second, but I don't actually see a collar." "Oh, it is here, closer to me than you may think. Dog, sometimes he doesn't watch what he eats, gets careless." "Wait," Mark said, "so the collar is in your stomach?" "Yes, and I can feel its warm embrace as we speak." Mark continued. "Look, Elijah needs us to get into the casino or whatever, so I actually need you to come out of the cage. The literal one, not the mental one." "No, that's not going to happen," God said, "this cage is more to keep Dog from getting out than others getting in. It's for his own safety." "I don't think you understand," Mark said, "if you refuse to comply, all of these collars go boom, and as a general rule, I try to avoid dying as often as possible."
"Then I still win. Dog will be free from the old man's grasp." Mark saw this going nowhere, so he got a better idea. "You know," Mark said nonchalantly, "I bet Dog would be more compliant. I see the key around your neck. I could just have Dog unlock the cage." God actually looked a bit nervous. "You-you wouldn't. Even if you had a way of bringing him out." "Oh, but I do. I have Elijah's frequency, and Dog will come out, and he can tell Dog to obey me." "If you do, then the next time I come out, I'll break all of your limbs, and prop you all up in front of the Sierra Madre, and you can slowly die knowing the treasure is forever out of your reach." "I don't want the damn treasure," Mark said, "I want to go home. I'd rather work with someone I can trust. Now, I have the power to send you back to the cage, and I'm going to use that power… by not using it." God seemed to be thinking. "You would still work with me, even though Dog is easier to control. Hmm. Very well. I accept your proposition. But trust is such a strong word. How about we go with… mutual need?" "Whatever works for you," Mark said. God pulled a smaller chain around from the back of his neck, and nimbly reached through the bars and unlocked the cage. "So, where do we go from here?" Veronica asked.
Mark looked at his pip-boy. I was nearly 1 am. "Well, I'm tired, and I could use some sleep. We have one more collar to find, but I don't think Elijah would detonate these collars just yet. This place seems pretty secure, and it's probably the safest place we're going to find in the Villa. I saw some mattresses in the cells in back." Christine headed in back. "Yeah, alright," Veronica said, "I am kind of tired." She also went in back. Mark turned back to God. "You won't eat us while we sleep, will you?" "Do not worry. Dog has been fed, and I am firmly in control now. It will be a while before he needs to feed again. You are safe."
They had dragged the mattresses out to the main area. God had gone in the basement to "meditate." Fawkes had a tendency to meditate as well. Mark though it had something to do with suppressing the urge to kill and eat everything that wasn't a mutant. Veronica was awoken by a noise. She saw Christine sleeping, but she saw Mark walking quietly to a hallway on the right side of the station, and he looked like he was acting sneaky. Becoming curious, she quietly followed him. She saw him go into a room at the end of the hallway. She got a bit closer, and then heard a voice that wasn't Mark's. It was Amata's voice.
"Hi, Mark," the recording began, "When you were gone for all that time, you said that you missed the sound of my voice. So, with us beginning our new lives together, and with you starting your job as a courier, I made this recording so that you can hear my voice, even when you're not at home. I just want you to know that you are everything that I could ever ask for. You are kind, sweet, gentle, and a great lover. I know that, when the time comes, you will make an excellent father as well. You are my knight in shining armor. You rescued me when I needed you the most. I am eternally grateful that you came into my life, even though the only reason you did come into my life caused your father great pain. As sad and horrible as your mother dying was, I believe that we were brought together for a reason. No matter what challenges life has in store for us, I look forward to facing them all with you by my side. You are the best thing that has ever happened, or will ever happen to me. I love you, Mark, and I always will."
The recording finished. "I love you, too, Amata," Mark said. He sighed. "You can come in, Veronica. No need to hide." Veronica stood there for a few moments, frozen, before she made her way in to what was a locker room. "How did you know I was there?" she asked. "I have a sense about that kind of thing. Plus, I saw your shadow." "Mark, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude on a private moment. I was just curious." Mark smiled and patted the seat on the bench next to him. "It's alright. Come on, join me." She slowly sat down. "So, why did she record that if you could communicate with her over your pip-boys?" "We had only been out here for a couple of weeks at the time, and I hadn't modified them yet." He chuckled. "She thought it was cute, recording that." "It is cute," Veronica said. "You know," Mark said, "she didn't even tell me about it until I found it for myself. I think she must have done it while I was sleeping, because that's the only time I would take it off, if I took it off at all." "Well, I think that it's romantic," Veronica said. "Yeah, so did I. I recorded a message on her pip-boy, too, for when I was away." "What did you say, if you don't mind me asking?" Mark thought it over, and decided that telling her wouldn't hurt.
"I told her that I loved her, that I would always be with her, if not physically, then in spirit. I told her that she was the girl of my dreams, and I had a feeling that we were destined to be together, too. I also thanked her for putting up with all of the stupid shit that I did, and believe me, most, if not all of it was stupid, crazy, dangerous shit that probably should've killed me." Veronica wanted to ask further questions, but she decided that she had intruded enough for one night. "What time is it?" "A little after 3 AM, why?" "Well, we should probably at least try to get some sleep, if for no other reason than to keep us sane." "Yeah," Mark said, "you're probably right." They went back into the main area and went back to sleep.
Mark opened his eyes and looked at his pip-boy. It was a little after seven. Christine and Veronica seemed to be sleeping peacefully. He got up and went over to the collection of weapons and other useful items they had collected. They found a couple of bullet-proof vests, while not nearly as protective as his armor, would have to suffice for now. They found an automatic rifle, a couple of 10 mm pistols, a kitchen knife, a .357 revolver, ammunition for the weapons, a few holsters and a couple of bottles of dirty water. He decided to go find this third collar alone, mainly because he wanted to have a chat with Elijah away from Christine and Veronica. He put on a vest, a holster, took a pistol and loaded it, and put an extra clip in his pocket. He grabbed the holorifle, and walked out the door as quietly as he could so as not to wake the others. Unbeknownst to him, Christine watched him leave, but made no move to stop him.
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I got the idea of Amata and Mark recording messages for each other from the beginning of Fallout 4 when Codsworth gives you the holotape of your spouse. Until next time, and reviews are always welcomed and appreciated.