//------------------------------// // Chapter 37 // Story: Fallout New Vegas: Unexpected Friends // by Sleepyted //------------------------------// The trio approached Victor, or the Securitron with Victor’s face on it, as he stood in front of the large wall at the top of the stairs at the entrance of the Lucky 38, no actual door visible yet from where they were. “Well howdy partner! Good to see you again, boss is waiting for ya upstairs so get a move on.” He said happily. “Thank you Victor.” “I see you brought some friends. Sorry partner but they’re can’t go up to meet the big man, they’ll have to wait in the- the little critter is allow to go up but not the solder boy.” He suddenly change what he was saying mid-sentence. Twilight blinked slightly confused, that was the second time she had been told she couldn’t do something before they suddenly changed their minds in an instant and without missing a beat. “Ummm, thanks Victor…” The pony said unsurely. “Welcome to the Lucky Thirty Eight.” The wall behind him suddenly made a loud metal-on-metal screeching sound and the wall split, sliding out of place to expose to large golden doors, the once shiny paint now dulled down but still looked amazing compared to a lot of other places. Walking inside they were welcomed by a massive casino, a second layer bar to the right above the cashier station. Many slot machines were around the room along with different type of gambling tables on the far end of the large room. But what made the place seem wrong was the lack of people, only three Securitrons stood around an elevator in the middle of the room with one of them being Victor. “Must have done that trick of his.” Anne muttered as they walked in. “Boone, just chill out here and we’ll be back soon.” “Alright.” He said, heading up to the bar. The now pair approached Victor again within a minute of approaching him before. “Where to partner?” He asked. “Umm, Mister House? What floor is he on?” Anne said with a shrug. “Penthouse it is.” Victor said, the elevator door sudden opening. “Hop on in.” Walking into the elevator the doors closed and the friends could feel the movement as the elevator suddenly started to go up. “Alright, I have an idea.” Anne said. “What is it?” “Well, if the Chip is meant to upgrade the defenses, we should play along until they’re better and once they’re at full we take out Mister House and install Yes Man, I’ll just need to tweak him a little so he only listens to one of us.” “That’s a good idea, but what happens if upgrading the defenses make it impossible to take over?” Twilight asked. “Then we’re fucked, but if we’re going to go through all the effort of taking over a wasteland than I want to know it’ll be able to defend itself if ever attacked. Once you’re back home it’ll just be Boone and I looking after the place and if let’s say the NCR attack it’ll be just me and I can’t stop an entire army.” Twilight sighed tiredly. “We’re just going to have to take the gamble here.” “We’re in Vegas, all we do is gamble.” Anne joked with a grin, the elevator stopping and a moment later the doors opened, Victor at the door. “Penthouse floor.” He said before rolling over to the side. They were on a small balcony, a bunch of Securitrons around the place guarding. The room was a large circular one, all around the elevator and in two layers. Walking around they eventually found what they guessed was Mister House. It wasn’t a man as so much as the picture of a man’s face on a giant screen, other smaller screens around it, each looking through a camera around the Strip but mainly the Lucky 38. Consoles with flashy lights and buttons were all around it, the man on the screen having a blank expression and a raised eyebrow, a mustache on the face. Approaching the large computer uncertainty the two stood before it. “Hello?” “You’ve been a busy courier haven’t you?” The speakers around the screen said. “You take your obligation to deliver a package very seriously. An ethic for which I am grateful. And you, you’re quite a far away from home aren’t you? I still have yet to wrap my head around what you even are exactly but I’ve heard of some of the things you do… you have me interested. I will admit, when you ignored my invitation I predicted… negative outcomes. But… you have a way of exceeding expectations don’t you?” He said. “Well, let’s have the Chip then.” He said, a large slot opening on the console. Anne stepped forward, taking the Chip from her pocket and slipping it into the slot, hearing it slide off somewhere. “Such a small thing isn’t it?” He said in wonder, the picture on the large screen unchanging. “And yet so… capacious. So very dear. Decades of hiring salvagers out west to search for this little relic in the ruins in a place called Sunnyvale, back then anyway. That’s where the Chip was printed, on October twenty-second, twenty seventy-seven. It was to have been hand-delivered to me here at the Lucky Thirty Eight, the next day. But the bombs fell first. Suffice it to say the delivery was never made.” “What does the Chip do exactly?” Twilight asked. “Some things are more easily shown than told. Take the elevator all the way down to the bottom level and you’ll see what I mean. Don’t worry, you’ll like what you see, we have much to accomplish you and I…” ___________________ “Step closer to the demonstration area, if you would...” Mister House’s voice said through the loudspeakers in the basement, the room being made from moss covered concrete and rusted iron beams. Pipes were all over the room, ranging from the size of a wire cable to one that a human could easily climb through. There was a large open pit area in the middle with a blue force field of sorts to protect all viewers watching. In the pit were two Securitrons, each stood across the pit to a large brick wall with a small paper target on it. “I expect you're well familiar with my Securitrons by now. The titanium alloy housing that protects its electronic core deflects small arms and shrapnel easily enough...” Mister House said, the two robots in the pit turning to each other before their three large fingers on their hands folded back and a tube popped out in the middle, machinegun fire exploding from the end as the low caliber bullets bounced off the other, only leaving scratching in the paint and sometimes denting the metal. “Its X-Twenty Five gatling laser, produced to spec by Glastinghouse Inc., is deadly against soft targets at medium range...” He explained, both turning to the target where their other hand was brought up before those fingers were folded back and sudden barrage of bright red lasers shot out, burning the wall and almost fully getting rid of the target. “And for close-range suppression or crowd control, the Securitron is armed with a nine millimetre submachine gun. All of this, you probably already knew...” Mister house continued, the robots switching back to the machine gun in their hands before firing at the wall this time, chips of rock flying off. “What you did not know is that these are the Securitrons' secondary weapons. All this time, my Securitrons have had to get by running the Mark One operating system, which lacked software drivers for their primary weapons! Today, with the delivery of the Platinum Chip, all that changes. Behold, for the first time, Securitrons running the Mark Two OS!” He cheered, the screens on the two Securitrons turning bright red before changing to one of a grizzled looking solder instead of the police man of before. “The M Two Thirty Five Missile Launcher gives the Securitron the ability to engage ground and air targets at significantly longer ranges...” The two robot’s arms seemed to suck up into their bodies, flaps on their shoulders opening up to expose a dozen small missile heads poking out from their oversized shoulders. They each fired six, the ground seeming as if it were shaking with the shockwaves and Twilight couldn’t help but cover her ears for how loud it was for such an enclosed place. Explosions went off constantly, chunks off the wall flinging everywhere including the force field which stopped them from hitting the pair. “And a rapid-fire G Twenty Eight grenade launching system ensures the Securitron is deadly in close-range engagements.” The hand of the robot folded back again but a larger tube stuck out before with a loud thudding sound large projectiles launched from the hand before exploding as they impacted against the wall all with the speed of an automatic firearm. “The software upgrade also includes drivers for the Securitrons' highly sophisticated onboard auto-repair systems. Altogether, the Mark Two software upgrade confers a Two hundred and Thirty Five percent increase in combat effectiveness per unit. The city of New Vegas finally has soldiers worthy of protecting it. Return to the penthouse now. We have much to discuss...” “Woah…” Anne said, slowly stepping away from the viewing platform. “That was… Intense, and if every one of these guys have all this then one of them is worth five men.” She stated. “We should head back upstairs to Mister House, I feel we shouldn’t make him angry.” Twilight said walking back to the elevators. “Well he will be pissed off when we try to kill him.” Anne whispered as they walked in. “When we get up there you distract him by asking questions while I ‘casually’ walk around looking for a way to take him out.” _________________________ “Trips to the basement are rarely so educational don’t you think?” The screen said. “I’ve since broadcast the upgrade to every Securitron in range of my transmitters, and I must say, it’s causing quite a stir down on the Strip.” He stated. Anne looked at Twilight and Twilight looked at Anne, both knowing what was going to happen now. The pony noted that the Securitrons in the room still had the police faces and not the solder faces, hoping that also meant they didn’t have those explosive weapons she saw. Looking back at the large screen the pony started to stall him while her friend looked around, walking over to a large book shelf and seeming to look through the titles. “Do you think you Securitrons can defeat Caesar’s Legion AND the NCR?” The pony asked. “Why would I want to go to war against the NCR? They’re my best customers.” He stated. “If their leaders weren’t scheming to steal Vegas out from under me I would have no troubles with the NCR at all. To secure the future of New Vegas I must have your assistance. The work ahead is dangerous but you two weather danger well.” He said Anne, catching sight of a small computer bolted to a wall away from all the others and it caught her attention, slowly walking over to it. “What are your plans for New Vegas?” Twilight asked, not knowing when to stop. “I’ve resurrected Vegas, spirit intact. What I need now- what are you doing?” He suddenly said, all the Securitrons spinning around to face Anne who was looking at the computer. “What? Me? I’m not doing anything sir.” Anne said with an overdone smile, acting like a foal would with their hand found in the cookie jar. “Good, because if you tapped that keyboard one more time every Securitron in this room would unload itself at you.” He stated. “I know all that is typed on the computers on my network.” “What does this computer do? I was seeing if I could get room service.” Anne said innocently, Twilight resisting the urge to facehoof at her friends stupidity, a baby would know she’s up to something. “I can tell you it does not get room service, there isn’t any.” He stated. Anne knew that this computer was something important and she had no clue how to do it without getting filled with more holes than Swiss Cheese. Twilight seemed to have the same train of thought and with a flash of her horn she teleported herself next to her friend before her horn glowed more intensely and a pink bubble appeared around them. Anne blinked in surprise and quickly turned back to the wall computer and started to furiously type on the fold down keyboard. Bullets started to fire at them, Twilight gasping at how much just a single bullet hit her shield, each impact feeling like she were heat across the head and with the huge number she almost lost consciousness and the only reason she didn’t want the need to keep it up to stay alive. A loud siren suddenly went off, the door next to the computer sliding open to expose another small with a few consoles and severs, a couple of securitrons and an elevator, another computer next to it. Running at it with all their might Twilight and Anne ran over to it, and letting out a yelp of pain as a bullet hit her in the back of her leg and another hit her shoulder. Twilight wasn’t spared from pain either, a laser hitting her rump directly, burning the clothing she wore and leaving a bad red mark on her normally purple coat. Bringing her shield back up Twilight gritted her teeth together, feeling as if her horn was about to split from how much it hurt. Anne quickly went to the computer, rapidly typing on it. Even after only a few bullets Twilight felt she could barely hold on anymore, her legs shaking violently and a small stream of blood coming from both nostrils. The doors for the elevator slammed open and Anne quickly grabbed the collar of Twilight’s clothing before dragging both of them into it, hitting the only other button on the wall and the doors closed. Both girls slumped down, leaning against the wall of the elevator as they sat “F-fuck…” Anne grunted, a hand clutching the bleeding wound on her leg while Twilight was rubbing the head around her horn. “My horn hurts so much.” Twilight groaned in massive amounts of pain, her head hurting more than the second degree burn on her flank. Anne slowly brought her bag off her back with a hiss, her shoulder wound aching from the action before opening one of her pouches and pulling out two needles, a Med-X and a Stimpak. Pulling the protector off the smaller painkiller she jabbed the needle into Twilight’s side, pressing the plunger and injecting her friend with the numbing chemical. Twilight felt her pain slowly fade away until it was just a dull ache, panting softly with sweat covering her fur. With the Stimpak, Anne jabbed it close to the bad looking burn on her friend before pressing the other plunger, the burn rapidly healing up, the burn looking like it was never there besides the lack of fur in that area. Anne pulled Benny’s pistol from the holster, looking at it before holding it out to Twilight. “I want you to have this Princess, look after it.” She said. “It’ll be better than your current nine mil.” Twilight looked at the offered pistol. “C-can I keep my current one? It’s the first firearm I ever had and it feels… personal to me.” She said softly. “Yeah, you can keep it, but it’s much better to stay alive than to feel content, keep it in a pocket and use this.” Anne said. Twilight used her magic to grab the silver gun, pulling out her black 9mm and switching it with Benny’s one, pulling out the magazine in the gun and keeping it in her ammunition pocket. “What happens if this is just his personal library or something along those lines?” Twilight asked softly. “Then we’re screwed aren’t we?” Anne said, skipping with the Med-X and instead jabbed two Stimpaks into her body around the two bullet holes, healing up with only tender scars left. “He’s probably just an AI or something, that’s artificial intelligence if you wanted to know, we just need to find the sever he’s on and beat the shit out of it.” “What if he’s a ghoul? Can’t they survive for a long time?” Twilight asked. “Even if he was a ghoul he would have gone crazy by now, being all alone for the past two hundred years does that to a lot of ghouls, that’s why there are the feral ones.” “Let’s just get this over with, I just want to lie down and stay down for a while.” Twilight stated. This place is the nicest she saw so far besides The Tops. but even then the paint was still peeling off. Looking as the number go further and further down, seeing it nearing the basement she stood back up. “Alright, we’re here.” Anne stood back up as well with a groan, even though it healed, it still hurt a lot to move around. The doors opened and the sound of the siren filled their ears again. They were on a walkway, stood over what looked like a bottomless pit as it just faded to black a few floors down. On the very far end of the walkway was a large grouping of machines, in the middle of it all being a sleek silver capsule with some of it being glass, nothing visible inside due to the white smoke filling it up. A single computer sat on a console, the screen glowing faintly. Approaching the computer Anne flicks down the keyboard down, reading what appeared on the screen. “LS chamber? Life support?” Anne read in confusion. “Mister House isn’t an AI or ghoul, he just kept himself alive for all this time in a life support chamber.” Anne said, typing some things onto the keyboard before stepping back. A hiss came from the capsule, steam being vented from the sealed edge before another bout of steam hissed out, the lid slowly opening and letting out the large amount of fog inside. A bed inside the capsule lifted itself up, turning the face the two and what was on it shocked the two. On the bed was what must have been Mister House, barely any meat on his bones with wires and tube sticking into his whole body, a large metal helmet on his head with blinking lights. A thin white beard was on his chin, barely there. Using a voice not used in two hundred years what was left of Mister House spoke. “Why have you… done this?.. centuries of preparation… so much good, undone…” He croaked out, and Twilight thought if a corpse could talk that’s what it would sound like. “It’s just business, it’s nothing personal.” Anne said softly, bringing out her 10mm pistol and pulling the slide back. “If personal gain… what you sought… Should’ve done… as asked…” he croaked out, twitching slightly. Anne felt light she was doing something really bad but knew it was too late to go back now, bringing the gun up to point at Mister House. “Goodbye Mister House.” Anne stated. “May there be… a hell… for you… a Tartarus… bleak, unending…” He said. Anne didn’t say anything more, pointing her gun at his chest before firing three bullets in rapid succession into his chest, jolting his body each time before he went limp in his restraints. The woman lowered her gun, putting it back into her holster. “I guess Vegas is ours now…” Anne said softly, turning to look at the in tears Twilight. “Yeah… but I feel so hollow inside…” Twilight said sadly, walking back to the elevator with her head hung low. “That feeling, that shows you that you still have a soul…”