Mark heard the water turn off, so he closed the file and stood up. The door opened, and Abby came out first, Amata trailing behind her. Both were smiling and had freshly washed faces. Mark smiled and walked over to them. "Ah, there are my beautiful girls." He leaned down and kissed Abby on the cheek, and then straightened up and gave Amata a kiss on the lips, holding it for a few seconds. "Mr. Franklin, you are too sweet," Amata said. She then got a playful look on her face. She glanced at Abby, who was watching them with interest, and then back at Mark.
"The question is, which one of us is more beautiful?" Abby giggled as Mark smiled and shook his head. "Amata, my dear, if being best friends with a girl, and being around that same girl nearly every day for close to twenty years has taught me anything, it is to never answer a question like that. No matter which way I answer, someone will be upset. I fell for it when I was younger and stupider, but I wised up rather quickly." "Mark-" Amata went to speak, but Mark put a finger to her lips. "Ah. All that I will say is this: you are both beautiful in your own ways. It's impossible for me to choose, so I won't." Amata smacked him lightly on the chest. "Mark, that's a cop-out, and you know it."
Mark nodded. "Yes, it sure is." Mark looked at Abby. "You see, Abby, your mom likes to try and catch me off-guard with these types of questions. What she fails to realize is that I've learned all of her tricks by now." Abby looked at Amata inquisitively. "Mommy, will you teach me your tricks?" Mark groaned and Amata laughed. "Sure, Abby," Amata said, "I'll teach you everything that I know, so you can use them on the boys that you date." Mark closed his eyes and clutched his chest, pretending to be in pain. "Oh, please don't talk about her dating please. Just the thought of it is giving me heart palpitations. I think I need to sit down."
Abby looked concerned. "Are you okay, daddy?" "Don't worry, Abby," Amata said, sitting down next to him, "he's just pretending." "Prove it," Mark said, opening one eye. "Aww, is the big, bad courier afraid of his daughter dating?" "Yes. Abby, all men are jerks. Except for your birth father, me, Mister Arcade and Mister Boone. The rest are complete and total jerks." "Abby, don't listen to him," Amata said, "there are still good men out there. He's just being overprotective."
Abby climbed into Mark's lap and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you for looking out for me, daddy." Mark hugged her tightly and kissed her on the top of the head. "Always, Abby. Always," Mark said in a voice barely above a whisper. He then perked up. "Alright, enough talk of dating for now. Are you ready to face the others, Abby?" Abby smiled and nodded. "Good, because I think your Auntie Ronnie is chomping at the bit to see you. You wanna do the honors, babe?" "Sure thing, Mark." She raised her voice a bit. "Veronica, you can-" she was interrupted when the door flew open, and Veronica ran in. "-come in now," Amata finished quietly.
Veronica looked around for Abby, finally seeing her in Mark's arms. She walked briskly over to them, her arms outstretched. Mark handed Abby over to Veronica, who proceeded to hug the young girl tightly. "Oh, Abby! I was so worried about you. Are you okay? Come on, kiddo, talk to me." Mark noticed that Arcade and Cass had come in behind her. Abby said something, but Veronica couldn't understand her. "What was that, Abby?" Veronica asked. "Uh, Veronica," Arcade said, "I think she said that she needs to breathe." Abby nodded vigorously.
"Oh, sorry kiddo," she said guiltily. She loosened her grip. "It's okay, Auntie Ronnie." Veronica gave Abby a kiss on the cheek, and then looked at the faces of Mark, Amata, and Abby, trying to get a read on the situation. "Is everything okay?" "Yeah," Cass said, "Veronica filled us in on what happened. You doin' okay, rugrat?" Abby nodded and smiled. "Yeah. I'm better now." Veronica gave Abby another kiss on the cheek, and then sat down on the bed. As she sat down, Mark stood up and walked over to Arcade. "Hey, Arcade, can I, uh, can I talk to you for a minute?" "Uh, yeah, sure." Mark led him over to a corner of the room. "What's up?" Arcade asked. Mark looked over at the bed, where Cass had joined the others, lavishing attention on Abby. He then looked back at Arcade.
"Arcade," Mark said quietly, "does the name, "Hannah Knight" ring any bells?" Arcade rubbed his chin as he thought. He shook his head. "No, it doesn't. Should it?" "Okay, umm, do you remember a woman who looked like an older version of Abby ever working at the Old Mormon Fort?" Arcade thought again, and once again shook his head. "No, sorry. Why are you asking?" "Abby said that her mother worked at the Fort about eight years ago." "Ah, that'd be why the name didn't seem familiar. I've only been at the Fort for close to three years." Mark nodded, seeming a bit disappointed. "But," Arcade continued, "I'm pretty sure Julie's more or less been there since they first set up shop. If you're looking for information like that, she'd be the one to ask."
"Thanks, Arcade. I assume that since you're here, that Boone and Christine are waiting in the kitchen, correct?" He nodded. "As you requested." "Okay. If you wanna head back in there, we'll be there in a minute." He nodded, and left without a word. Mark walked back over to the bed, noting that ED-E had joined them. "Sorry to interrupt, ladies, but I need all of the adults in the kitchen." Cass gave Abby a pat on the head and got up. "Ya got it, Captain." She left the room. Veronica, who was still holding Abby, seemed reluctant to let her go. "Veronica," Amata said, "you can hug her more later. I really want to hear why my husband was missing for a week."
Veronica sighed, gave Abby another kiss, and then sat her down on the bed. "Okay. Abby, how about later we show your dad how good you are at punching?" "Okay, Auntie Ronnie." Veronica stood up and left as well, taking one last look at Abby before she exited the room. Mark kneeled in front of Abby. "Abby, sweetheart, I'd like to tell the others about what happened to your parents, but only with your permission. If you want, we can just keep it between the three of us." Abby looked down as she thought. "No, it's okay. You can tell them. They're family, right? There shouldn't be any secrets between family."
Mark smiled and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "No secrets. Right." Mark stood up, and Amata got off the bed. Amata gave Abby a kiss on the cheek, and then looked at ED-E. "ED-E, keep an eye on her. We'll be a little while." ED-E beeped in affirmation, and then Mark and Amata left the room. Mark closed the door. "You do realize the irony in that conversation the two of you just had about secrets, right?" Amata asked quietly as they stood in the hallway. "Oh, of course I realize the irony. I'd be an idiot not to." "I just-" she said as she pursed her lips- "I just don't like lying to her. Or the others for that matter. It's starting to feel like we're becoming our fathers, lying to us about the vault never opening. This whole secret feels like it's turning into too much of a burden."
Mark put his hands on her shoulders. "Babe, I am not my father, and you are not your father. When you get right down to it, the only things we really share with them is half of our DNA. Luckily for me, you got your mother's looks." Amata blushed, and Mark paused for a moment. "Look, we'll tell the others eventually. What separates us from our dads is that they were never going to tell us. I'm pretty sure Veronica's piecing things together anyway. I'm just not ready yet."
Amata nodded. "Ok. It's mainly your story, anyway. I was thinking though, that Abby could use a friend her own age, you know, maybe…" She trailed off and pointed skywards. Mark knew to whom she was referring. "We'll see, babe, we'll see. Come on, the others are probably wondering where we are." He put an arm around her shoulders and led her down the hall. "By the way," he whispered, "It's not my story. It's our story. The events are somewhat related, and you dealt with a lot, too."
They came into the kitchen, and saw that everyone was sitting in the same places that they were last night. Mark thought about breaking them up, but decided against it. As long as no one tried to shoot anyone else, they could sit wherever they wanted. Incidentally, he and Amata both sat in the same place as the previous evening. "Ok," Mark said, "before we tell you why Veronica and myself were missing for a week, as well as where we met Christine…" He paused, and took one of Amata's hands in his own for support. "…Abby has given Amata and I permission to tell you what we talked about in her room." Amata noticed that Veronica was now staring intently at them at this news.
"Before we do tell you, however, we need all of you to promise that you will not bring it up with her unless she brings it up first. We talked things through with her, and she's beginning to try and move past it." Amata nodded in agreement. After getting acknowledgement from everyone in the room, he told everyone in the room what Abby had told them about how her birth parents had died. After he finished, there was silence in the room as everyone absorbed what they had been told. "Damn," Cass said after a few moments. She then got up, went over to the fridge, took out a bottle of whiskey, and downed half of it in one gulp.
"If I ever run into tha fuckers that did that, they're gonna have a very unpleasant meetin' with tha business end a ma shotgun." Amata didn't bother to chastise Cass for her language. "Wow," Arcade said, "that was, well, pardon my language, but that was some messed up shit. Cass, can you get me a glass and pour me some of that, please?" Mark looked over at Veronica, who was showing no emotion whatsoever. That was when she got up and headed for the doorway. Mark, sensing where she was headed, got up and grabbed her arm as she walked by. "Mark, let go of me! I need to see her!" She tried to wrench her arm out of Mark's grip. She was strong, but Mark was stronger.
"Veronica, you just saw her. She is fine. Now, I know that you're concerned for her, and I'm glad that you're taking your duties as her aunt seriously, but I'd like to tell the story of why we were missing now, because I have other things to do today." He let go of her arm. She had a look of great concern on her face. "I know she is, but…" she trailed off, and put a hand over her mouth. She then started crying, and hugged Mark around his torso.
"It's-it's not fair, Mark. No one should have to see something like that. She's so young, and…" She trailed off again. Mark returned the hug. "I know it's not fair, Veronica. No one ever said life is. But Abby is stronger than you think, and she's wise and mature beyond her years. All we can do is give her as much love and support as we can muster." Mark patted her a couple times on the back, the universal sign to let go. She did not, so he tried again, but to no avail. "Uh, Veronica," Mark whispered, "you might wanna let go before everyone thinks there's something going on between us."
She finally broke away, looking embarrassed. "Sorry," she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes, and went back to her seat, grabbing one of Christine's hands for support. "Ok," Mark said, retaking his seat, "so to reiterate what we know from last night: Veronica was Brotherhood, but disavowed them. Christine still is Brotherhood, and I'm kinda, sorta in the Brotherhood from back east. Did I miss anything, Amata?" She shook her head. "No, that's pretty much where we ended up." He leaned over and kissed her. "Thanks, babe."
"Ok, so the morning after we first got to Vegas, Veronica asked me to speak with the Elder of her chapter of the Brotherhood, because she wanted it to be more like the one that I worked with, because they help people instead of just hoarding technology. Well, there is a splinter faction back east that still does that, but that's a story for another day. Anyway, the day that we visited McCarran, while the rest of you went fiend hunting, we went to their base, which I will not divulge the location of. Long story short, the meeting didn't turn out well."
"After we left, my pip-boy picked up a radio signal that advertised the opening of a pre-war casino. That led to an abandoned Brotherhood bunker, also whose location will not be divulged." He then went on to explain about how they got knocked out, waking up at the Sierra Madre, the bomb collars, and meeting Elijah. He then went on to explain about finding Christine and the others, the ghost people, the Cloud, the technology, his near-death experience, and then getting into the casino. He then talked about his confrontations with Dog/God and Dean, finding Veronica and Christine, their second meeting with Elijah, his death, and what happened afterwards between the two women that caused Veronica to resign from the Brotherhood. Veronica spoke when Mark had missed something, and that she felt stupid for falling for Elijah's tricks, and how she felt when Christine said she wanted to stay. Christine stayed silent, whether it was from pain or shame, wasn't really clear. By the time they finished, Amata had Mark's right hand in a death grip.
"So, yeah," Veronica said, "between Mark's meeting with our, I mean, their current Elder, seeing what Elijah had become, and Christine's initial refusal to leave the Sierra Madre, I made the decision to leave the Brotherhood. Honestly, the decision was one that was probably long overdue. If they refuse to change, then staying just to help an organization that is inevitably going to crumble into dust didn't really appeal to me. It's not like they wanted me there anyway. They basically sent me out to get me out of their hair for a while. As someone pointed out to me, my skills could be put to better use in service of people who want to make the Mojave a better place to live."
"Well, while some of that tech could've proved useful," Arcade said, "leaving it with Elijah would've been a mistake. Veronica, I know that killing him must've been difficult for you, but I think you made the right decision. Sure, maybe he could've killed Caesar, but he would've just been another Caesar, another tyrant." "Yeah, Arcade, I pretty much came to the same conclusion. I wanted to think that he was the same man that Christine and I had known, but…" she sighed, "…in my heart of hearts, I think that I knew that he wasn't. I guess I just didn't want to admit it. In a way, I guess it was a mercy killing."
Amata finally released Mark's hand, stood up, and walked over to where Veronica was sitting. Veronica looked up at her. "Veronica, could you stand up, please?" Veronica did, and then found herself enveloped in one of Amata's hugs. "Veronica, thank you for saving Mark and bringing him back to me. Believe me, I know what it feels like to lose faith in someone close to you who you thought had your best interests at heart." "How do you deal with it, Amata? The sting of betrayal?" Amata looked over at Mark and smiled. "Well, there is someone I have known my entire life, someone I love with all of my heart, who helped me work through it. The pain is still there, but it lessens with time. It has for me, and it will for you. Betrayal isn't something that you get over easily."
"It also helps when you have loved ones around to support you. Before you guys came back last night, I told Cass that you and her are the sisters that I never had. You are my family, and family supports each other, through good times and the bad." Veronica chuckled. "You know, I told Mark something similar to that at the Madre, that you guys felt more like family than the Brotherhood did." Amata released the hug and held Veronica at arm's length. "Well," Amata said, "they say that great minds do think alike." Veronica smiled. Amata then looked at Christine.
"Christine, I also need to thank you for saving Mark. Also, since you are important to Veronica, you are important to me. You are family as well, and I look forward to getting to know you better." Christine smiled, and then grimaced a bit. "Thanks, Amata. I look forward to getting to know you better as well. Oh, and I'm sorry about last night. It won't happen again." "Apology accepted, Christine." Amata re-took her seat, as did Veronica, each giving their respective partners a kiss.
"Well," Cass said after a few moments of silence, "this is one weird-ass family we got here." Everyone laughed, except for Boone, who barely cracked a smile. "I'm serious, guys. We got a couple a vault dwellers, a couple Brotherhood folks, an ex-NCR sniper, a Followers doc, an unemployed caravaner, a little orphaned girl, and a flyin' robot that shoots lasers. I never saw ma life goin' in this direction, but I wouldn't trade it fer tha world. Ya'll are good people, and I'm glad ta know all a ya. In fact, I think we all owe some big thanks ta Mark an' 'Mata fer bringin' us all together. As bad as this sounds, Mark, you gettin' shot in tha head may have been a blessin' in disguise."
"Guys," Mark said, "we didn't-" "No, no," Arcade interrupted, "now that I think about it, she's right. You getting shot led you to meeting ED-E in Primm, Cass at the Mojave Outpost, Boone in Novac, Veronica at the 188, myself at the Old Mormon Fort-" Veronica jumped in. "-Which led to Mark and I finding Christine, and Amata finding and adopting Abby. Mark, Amata, face it. You both are the reason that we're all here today, and I think that I can honestly say that we're all better for it." "Hear, hear," Cass proclaimed, raising the bottle of whiskey. Arcade jumped back in. "She's right on that front, too. You saved ED-E from rusting away, you helped Cass find out the truth about her caravan, Boone, um…" He trailed off, and looked at Boone. "I owe Mark," was all Boone said.
"Right. Well, Boone apparently owes Mark, you helped set Veronica on a new path and reunited her with her long-lost love, and you gave a lost little girl a home and a family again. Not to mention the gains I've made with my research. You can't tell me that if you didn't get shot, that you wouldn't still be in Goodsprings." Mark and Amata looked at each other. "They do make a good point, Amata," Mark said. Amata nodded. "Well," she said, "I think I speak for Mark when I say that both of our lives are better for having met all of you, too." "She's right. You're all family, and family is what you make of it. Right, Veronica?" Mark said. She nodded, remembering his words from the Sierra Madre. The room went silent again. "Alright, Veronica, you can go see Abby now. Just remember what we said earlier," Mark said. "Oh, thank you," she said as she got up and dashed out of the room.
A short while later, while Christine and Boone went to rest, Veronica had Abby show Mark how well she could punch. Amata and Arcade also watched. Once Mark declared that Abby could start hitting solid objects, Veronica proudly proclaimed, "Ah, punching. The gift that keeps on giving." After that exhibition, while Arcade went down to the lab, the rest of them split into two groups. Mark and Abby, with ED-E in tow, went through the crate of weapons that they had claimed from the Silver Rush. Mark was planning on doing that anyway, but Amata insisted that Abby join him for some "daddy-daughter" time. Mark was more than happy to have her, and Abby thoroughly enjoyed the time that she spent with Mark.
Cass, Veronica, and Amata had some girl time, chatting while Veronica modified her newly-acquired pip-boy to match what Mark's and Amata's could do. This way, they could all speak to each other and track where everyone else was. Mark had to leave his pip-boy with them so Veronica could get the correct frequency, so Amata kept a close eye on her to make sure that she didn't attempt to access any files on either of their pip-boys, since Amata held mostly duplicate files on hers.
Around 1:30, Mark decided that it was time for him to make his way over to Gomorrah. He found himself and Amata in their room, Amata sitting on the bed reading while he got ready. "Mark, why are you taking all of those weapons? You know that they're just going to take them from you on the way in." He had his assault rifle on his back, his 10mm pistol on his right hip, Maria on his left hip, various grenades on his belt, and his trench knife strapped to his right leg. He would also be carrying a plasma rifle. "Trust me babe, I am well aware of that fact. These weapons are only serving as a distraction."
Amata looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "A distraction? For what, exactly?" He went into his bag and pulled out a switchblade, and then put it in between his pip-boy and his wrist. "I have no intention of going in there unarmed, like I did when I went in the Tops. My goal is to make the guards think that there is no possible way that I would be able to carry any more weapons." "And if they ask you to take off your pip-boy?" Amata queried. "They didn't at the Tops, and since they're both operating under House's direction, I doubt they will. Even if they do, I'll just say that it can't be taken off until I die."
She put the book down and stood up. "So, you're assuming that security acts all the same and that they've never seen a pip-boy before. You do remember that there is a vault right down the street." "I do, but since said vault is now a hotel, I doubt that there are many of the actual vault inhabitants left. I'm guessing that that Sarah Weintraub woman was one of them, since she has a pip-boy, but other than that, I doubt it." Amata faced him, still looking unconvinced.
"Amata, look, if worse comes to worse, I'll just tell them that I'm the Courier, and that should scare them enough to leave me alone." She stood close to him, brushing something off his right shoulder. "You know," she said, "sometimes I long for the days when the most we had to worry about was how we did on one of Mr. Brotch's tests, and not about getting shot, radiation, or slaver armies." She then smiled. "But then I think about where we are, who we're surrounded by, and the child growing inside of me…" she put a hand on her stomach, "…I realize that everything that we've been through, all the pain, all the heartache, all the deceit, it has all been worth it."
"It's too bad that the other girls in the vault weren't nicer to you. If they could see you now, all manly, heroic, and looking as sexy as hell in that armor, I'm sure that they would all try to drag you into bed, and then I would get to beat them all with a baseball bat for trying to." She grinned evilly at that part. "Well," Mark said, "you did have a hell of a swing when we played baseball in the vault." Mark then smiled and then gave her a passionate kiss. She became flustered when he pulled back. "Yup," she said, "definitely worth it."
"Yeah," Mark said, "sometimes I miss those simpler days, or my "pre-Wanderer" days, as I like to think of them, as well. I remember that you would be so worked up over what you got on those tests, thinking that you failed, when you actually aced them." "Well, we studied together, so, theoretically, you should have aced them as well, instead of just barely passing them. You are smarter than that." Mark shrugged. "I've always said that you were smarter than me. Besides, we always knew that we were gonna take the G.O.A.T when we were sixteen, and while I'm grateful for the education, learning about World War II doesn't really help you unless you were gonna be a teacher."
"Well, true, but I still think that you could've tried harder." There was silence for a few moments. "Babe, how would you like to go on our date tonight, since our original plans got postponed?" She kissed him. "Is that a yes?" Mark asked. Amata rolled her eyes. "What do you think, idiot?" "I think that I'm the luckiest man on the damn planet." They were interrupted when someone knocked on their door. "Come in," Mark called out. The door opened, and Abby skipped into the room, followed by Cass. Abby looked at Mark. "Wow, daddy, you look awesome! You really are a superhero!" All of the adults smiled, and then Mark struck a heroic-looking pose. "Yes, I do look impressive, don't I?"
"Yes," Amata said, "you look very impressive. Now, I believe you have a casino to infiltrate." He nodded. "Yes, yes I do. How about a kiss for good luck?" Amata kissed him. "Ooh, daddy, can I give you a kiss too?" "Of course, sweetheart." Mark leaned down, and Abby gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Well, I got good-luck kisses from both of my girls. There's no way that I can fail now." "Can other people get in on this kissin' ya business?" Cass said, grinning. "Well," Mark said, "you could try, but your fate may be similar to that of one Christine Kendall." "Who?" Cass asked. "She was the last girl who wasn't myself or Abby to kiss him," Amata replied.
"What happened?" Cass asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer. "Well," Mark said, noting the pleased look on Amata's face, "when we were fifteen, apparently someone had dared Christine to kiss me on the lips and hold it for a couple seconds, which we didn't learn until later. Well, Amata was nearby when it happened, and when she saw that, she became enraged, grabbed Christine by the hair, threw her down the hallway, and said-" he covered Abby's ears with his hands, "-and said, and I quote, "go back to blowing the Tunnel Snakes, you skanky bitch." She had apparently also taken out a chunk of her hair." He removed his hands from Abby's ears. "And that was long before we were even a couple."
Cass looked at Amata incredulously. "Seriously, 'Mata? Even though ya'll weren't a couple yet?" "Yup. Christine had a certain…reputation amongst the boys, if you catch my drift. Besides, I wanted to give him his first kiss, and she stole that from me." Abby looked at Amata. "Did you ever kiss any other boys besides daddy, mommy?" Amata shook her head. "Other than my dad, no. Your father is the only man I've ever kissed in a romantic sense, and if I have my way, he will be the only man that I kiss in that way." Mark kissed her. "I hope so too, babe. Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I have to go and be all heroic." "Uh, actually, Captain," Cass said, reaching into her jacket, "I got somethin' that can help ya with that." She pulled out a small, black, leather-bound book and handed it to Mark.
Mark examined it. "What is it, Cass?" he asked. "Well, when ya were gone, I went ta Gomorrah, an' I remembered that House asked ya ta investigate 'em, so I did a little snoopin' a ma own. Open it." Mark read the first three pages, and found records of chem and gun deals done behind the back of the casino's management structure. Mark closed it and looked at Cass. "Who does this belong to?" "Dude's name's Cachino. He one a tha underbosses or whatever. I got it outta his room. Figured ya could use it ta blackmail him. From what he told me, his bosses are keepin' somethin' big from him."
"How did you get this out of his room? And how did you get him tell you that?" Mark asked. "Wait, on second thought, don't answer." Cass smirked at him. "Good, 'cause I don't think ya wanna know." "Well, this makes your job easier, at least a little bit," Amata said, looking at Mark. "Yes, it certainly does. Thank you very much, Miss Cassidy." Mark put the journal down inside the front of his armor, grabbed the plasma rifle, and then headed towards the door. As he opened the door, Mark heard Abby say, "oh, mommy, I almost forgot. Daddy told me to ask you how babies are made." Mark, upon hearing that, closed the door and walked quickly to the elevator. "MARK!" he heard Amata shout.
Mark walked out of the Lucky 38 and made his way across the street to Gomorrah. He opened the door, and walked in. A powerful smell hit his nostrils, one that smelled like a combination of sex and alcohol. Directly in front of him was the entrance to go onto the main floor of the casino. In front of that stood a man in a tan pinstriped suit, with a brown fedora and sunglasses. To his left was the reception desk, with a woman with brown hair and wearing a blue blouse sitting behind it. That was probably the receptionist that he needed to talk to. The man approached him.
"Hey, only Omertas are allowed to carry weapons in here. I'm gonna need you to check your weapons at the reception desk." Mark nodded and walked over to the reception desk. The woman smiled and stood up. "Hello, welcome to Gomorrah. I need you to leave your weapons here, and you will get them back on your way out." "Sure thing," Mark said. The woman walked into a storeroom behind the desk and brought out a metal box. Mark placed everything in the box, and the woman brought it back into the closet. She came back out and handed Mark a small, circular piece of plastic with the number '10' on it. "That's your claim ticket. Give that to me when you leave, and you'll get your weapons back. Now, is there anything that I can help you with?"
Mark looked over his shoulder, and saw the guard speaking with another man in a brown suit. Mark leaned forward on the desk and spoke in a quiet voice. "Yeah, there is, actually. I'm here to collect an outstanding balance for some information." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I knew someone would call that in soon. What do you want to know?" "I need to speak with Cachino. Where is he?" The woman leaned in and spoke quietly. "Cachino should be in Brimstone. Just head towards the back of the casino and follow the signs." Mark smiled. "Thank you, ma'am." "Have a nice day, sir," she said, her voice returning to normal.
Mark headed towards the doorway. The guard eyed him suspiciously, but let him pass. Mark took a couple of steps in and stopped to examine the main floor. There was a four-sided stone archway in the center of the room, with a fire pit underneath it. Slot machines and card tables surrounded it. To the far left were the cashiers, and along the right wall was a bar. There were strippers dancing in cages that were suspended from the ceiling, and there was a balcony overlooking the main floor. He felt like he was cheating on Amata just by being in here. "I am a pilgrim in an unholy land," he muttered as he made his way towards the back of the casino.
He made his way towards the back of the casino, rebuffing advances from a couple of women, and one man, and walked into Brimstone. To his left as he entered, there was a stage with a pole on it, and there was a topless woman dancing on it. He quickly averted his eyes when he realized that particular fact. There were some round tables in front of the stage, and on the opposite side of the room from where he was were a set of double doors, and to his right was a bar. There was only one man sitting at the tables, and he was wearing a tan suit, so Mark assumed that this was Cachino.
Mark approached the table that he was sitting at. Cachino had balding brown hair, and a round, pudgy face. 'Cass,' Mark thought, 'If you did what I think you did to get the journal, you seriously need to cut back on the whiskey, because your standards apparently go way down when you're drunk. At least, I hope that you were drunk.' Mark shook his head and sat down in the chair next to him. The man diverted his attention from the stage and onto Mark. "Who the fuck are you?" he asked, a scowl on his face. "Are you Cachino?" Mark asked, looking anywhere but the stage. "Who the fuck wants to know?" "I'll take that as a yes. The name's Mark. I hear that you've been doing some business on the side, things that your bosses might not like."
"Business? What the fuck do you mean, business? You better start talking clear, and I mean crystal fucking clear, because I'm about to lose my fucking patience." Mark took out the journal and smirked at him. "Lose something?" Cachino's eyes went wide, and started looking around the room quickly. "How- how the fuck did you get that?" he asked nervously. Mark shrugged his shoulders. "I have my ways." "Listen," Cachino said quietly, wiping sweat off his forehead, "that's some dangerous shit you've got there. That book could get me killed, if the wrong people see it. Let's talk. What do you want? What can I do for you?" Mark didn't speak for a few moments, letting Cachino sweat, watching him eyeing the journal.
"I need your help, Cachino. I have it on good authority that there's something big going on in this place, and my employer has tasked me to find out what it is and put a stop to it, and you're gonna help me. I mean, I'll stop it regardless of whether you help me or not, but in the scenario where you don't help me, there's a good chance that a lot of people will end up dead, yourself included. So, what do you say?" "Who do you work for?" "That's not important. Are you gonna help me or not?" Cachino leaned back in his chair. "Fuckin' hell. Alright, I'll help, but you gotta give me that journal back." He reached for it, but Mark pulled it back and put it back in his armor. "Nope. You'll get that back when I'm done. I'm not giving it back to you now and have you go back on our deal. I wasn't born yesterday, Cachino."
Cachino sighed. "Fine. You've got me by the balls anyway. Here's what I know. The bosses, Big Sal and Nero, they've been working on something big for a while, and they've been keeping it real quiet. They've been collecting enough guns to outfit a small army, using this guy Troike. They've also brought in this guy Clanden, called him a specialist. What kind of specialist, only he and the bosses know." "Tell me about these guys, Troike and Clanden," Mark said.
"Troike's a skittish little fucker. Spends half the day pumping his body full of chems, and the other half pumping hookers full of his willy. He's got some connections, so he's able to smuggle huge shipments of weapons onto the Strip. The bosses got him by the shorthairs, though. We covered up a hooker he killed while flying on psycho, so he gets us guns in exchange for us not ratting him out." Mark nodded. "And Clanden?" "Clanden…he's a little arrogant, but he's too nice. I've never seen him fucking or gambling. Everyone's got their vice, but he seems like the fucking Pope."
"Ok. So, where are they now?" "The bosses gave Clanden a room on the Suites level. Get off the elevator, turn right, and his room is at the end of the hall. Troike spends all day on the lower levels, in the Lower Brimstone." He paused and pulled something out of his jacket. Mark got ready to dodge in case he pulled out a weapon. What he took out was a small plastic card with the Gomorrah logo on it, and it said, 'Gomorrah VIP.' He handed it to Mark. "That'll keep the muscle from hassling you." Mark nodded, stood up, and slipped it in his pocket. "I'll be back once they're dealt with." Cachino looked back at the stage. "I hope this works, kid. For your sakes, and mine."
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Next chapter, well, there will be a surprise that I've been waiting to get to for a long while. I think that you'll like it. Until next time, and reviews are welcomed and appreciated.