Fallout New Vegas: Unexpected Friends

by Sleepyted

Chapter 59

It didn’t take long for Twilight and the mute to rush their way down the stairs through the rubble and back up in the direction Anne went and after a few minutes they managed to find her slouched against a wall as she tried to pull a large length of rusty rebar out from one of her legs, the other was bent at an odd angle.

“Anne! Let me help you!” Twilight said quickly going over to Anne, horn glowing.

“Wait.” Anne said, voice rough and dry as she held up a hand. “It’s stuck in there.” She croaked out.

“We could use some Med-X, it won’t hurt and we can pull it out.” Twilight offered quickly, not caring about the risk of getting addicted again as long as she could help her friend for something she felt was her fault.

“No. It’s stuck.” Anne repeated. “It’s fused to my leg, it’s literally a part of my bones now.” She grumbled.

Twilight’s eyes went wide. “Anne I’m so sor-“

Before Twilight could finish her sentence however when the woman reached out and clamped her muzzle shut with her hand, not allowing her to speak. “Don’t need to apologize… You did nothing wrong.”

“But I dropped you.”

“I know, but you didn’t do it on purpose so I don’t blame you.” She said in a weak voice.

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” Twilight asked worriedly as she looked over her friend.

“I think I broke a few ribs…” Anne noted with a groan. “Just help me up, let’s get everything over with.”

Twilight nodded, going to one side of her as the mute went to the other, and slowly helped Anne to her feet. She stumbled up slightly and let out a few pained groans. “I’m not going to be useful anymore… You’ll have to leave me behind until you’re done with everything else.”

“No, I’m not leaving you here!” Twilight stated firmly.

“I don’t mean here, by the fountain cause that seemed safe and I’ll hold onto a gun as well, but I can barely stand, I’ll just be holding you back and will get both of us killed!” Anne explained. “Don’t worry princess, I’ll be fine, just don’t take too long, I want this thing off.” She said referring to the suit. “It’s starting to smell.”

Twilight and the mute moved further into the complex as Anne made her way back to the fountain. While she was heading back Twilight set up the mute at her station, chatting with her even though it was only one sided.

But now it left Twilight heading to where she needed to be to set off the Gala, high in an old clock tower that held itself above the thick cloud of pink and gave a perfect view of the hotel above the villa, its outline visible in the dark sky.

“Everything should be ready, start the Gala and the secrets of the Madre will be mine.” The old man said through her collar once at the tower. “Let me patch you through to the others.”

After a few moments a tapping sound could be heard from the speaker.

“That you…?” Twilight said, not really wanting to call her mute but she didn’t know the name of the woman. “Are you ready?”

A single tap came back in response.

“We both are ready to begin.” A rough deep voice stated after another few moments and then a smoother voice. “Don’t stand around for too long, once we strike up the band all those Ghosts will be out in force.

“Alright everyone. Let’s get started.”

Twilight lingered for a few moments as she watched the spotlights light up and shine along the walls of the casino, music blaring from speakers around the villa and soon the loud bangs as fireworks filled the sky and lit the once dark clouds with the number of colorful explosions.

Twilight wanted to just stay up in the tower, not having to deal with everything else but that was quickly discarded when a makeshift spear clattered along the walls of the tower and a peak over the railing could show that a small grouping of the ghosts were readying spears to lob at the princess.

“Better get moving…”

Using other words than grand to try and describe the Serra Madre would be impossible, with the gold leaf filling in intricate carvings along the once polished surface which was now tinted red with the traces of the cloud. Pushing it open with a grunt of magical effort she managed to push it open, soon walking inside.

But barely inside had she spotted four familiar figures laying still on the floor, all the people that she had been working with in the villa including Anne and before a loud hissing filled her ears. Looking around she noted the familiar color to the gas and with a sigh she knew what it was and before she knew it her sight grew blurry and soon faded to darkness.

By the times she woke the air was silent and clear, with the still figures gone from the floor of the entrance room of the casino. Around her were the bones of long dead people, from before the war with the oldness and dryness of the bones.

The floor that while covered in a thick layer of dust and grime still let through the sight of the intricate tile work in patterns. The railings of the balconies above were gold plated much like many of the decorations of the casino.

The large staircase drew her attention when a glowing blue woman could be seen walking up it, see through. She was wearing a long flowing dress with only one shoulder strap, her hair left down along her and just as she walked up the stairs she blinked out of existence.

Blinking in confusion twilight slowly got to her hooves, looking around at where she might be needed to go.

“You inside. Can you hear me? Power's fluctuating... emergency power. Oh! You are in.” A voice came from her collar until a few crackling pops could be heard from speakers around the casino. “Good, thought that might be the end of you. Unfortunately your... ‘friends’ also found their way here. Knocked unconscious just like you. Wondering what happened? You were hit by casino security. Detects anything foreign, radioactive, it subdues the ‘visitor,’ moves them if needed. Hnh, getting interference from old recordings... the guests who were trapped here... eh, shut that noise off... Looks like the casino moved your ‘friends’ around once inside... might be useful. Or not. Wonder if they came to help or kill you. Still... My signal should work through the speakers, now that you're inside. Heh, heh! Welcome to the Sierra Madre, in all its glory. This is what the Old World stood for, even with bombs about to rain down on them. Now look at it. Beautiful... now its guests are all dead. Better this way. Quiet. How the Mojave should be. Now, with the casino sleeping, it's got places closed off, won't let you go yet. We'll get there, trust me, just need to wake it up.”

“Fine.” Twilight grumbled before sighing tiredly, it seems getting knocked out by gas doesn’t let you have a restful sleep.

Twilight winced as just after the pulling the power breaker switch the lights of the casino blew to full blast which was an assault on her one natural eye while the other seemed perfectly adjusted and a simple peek out of the small maintenance room and relaxed when she saw that the holograms of armored security guards were gone and replaced with bland men in suits behind gambling tables.

The voice of the old man soon cracked through the speakers again. “Casino's woken up, paying attention to us. Good. Wondering what happened to your team? Looks like they got moved to other floors. Interesting, maybe that's why... hmmm. Yes... yes. Perhaps the casino recognized specific guests... or guests with a voice or look close enough for them to be assigned to that floor. We'll see. Had hoped with the power restored, the systems would fully awaken... especially the sound archives. But no... your teammates' collars on each floor are interfering with the systems. It's the white noise filters embedded in their construction... they're blocking the casino speakers, the music. You'll need to recalibrate... or destroy... each collar. To do that, you need to get close, re-set the signal, or blow their heads off. I'll leave the choice up to you, my preference? End them now. They're of no use. After all, it's safe to kill them now, provided you make it quick. You see, the collars don't work inside the Sierra Madre... well, between floors. Else, I'd set off the collars, be done with it. So find them, deal with them, as long as you're fast and can get off the floor after killing them. The floors... whatever they lined this place with, interferes with the collar frequency... so if you kill them, you should have some time to run. Uh... just not sure how long, may not be consistent. More... less... whatever, it doesn't matter. What we need is in the basement, we need to go to the top first and ride our fortunes down. After we deal with your team on the other floors.”

“I’m not killing anyone.” Twilight said looking around but she didn’t get a response.

With a tired sigh she decided she might as well get started.

The theater was rather impressive to look at when she entered, the stage was rather large with a center part extended out with chairs around much like a runway for a fashion show with a microphone in its stand at the end and the name DEAN DOMINO in neon lights at the other end. Around the stage were once polished wooden tables and chairs that seemed to not care about being comfortable and more just look fancy enough that people wouldn’t care. There was a pair of skeletons at one of the tables, one having fallen from its seat to the ground with a half empty bottle of whisky in its bony grasp.

Walking in she looked around for signs of anyone inside, since it was indicated that one of the active collars was inside along with eh old man commenting again telling her to ‘break the ghoul’ or kill him so she could only guess who it was.

“Finally, a friendly face, or whatever you have... hey! Partner!” A familiar voice called out but she couldn’t see where it was coming from. “Up here.” Continued and Twilight spotted a familiar suited ghoul on a walkway above the stage where curtains would have once hidden. “In a bit of a predicament here... had to duck backstage, take a powder, the audience is a little... murderous tonight.”

“How did you get up there?” Twilight called out in confusion.

“No idea... woke up here, thought I was dreaming for a second... right back on stage, the mic... Thought I was back at the Fronds... well, except no audience, used to pack theaters back then... so stepped up on the stage, check things out… Then suddenly Holograms walked out of the wings... and they started raising their hands to their heads all creepy-like, not a good sign.”

“Holograms? I didn’t see any around this part since I turned off the lockdown.”

“Look... those ghosts are going to come out of the wings behind you in a second, the security types, not the ‘friendly’ bald types. And if you got in here, the door's probably locked tight behind you, so don't back up or run for the exit, you're not going to make it. Trust me, as soon as you can, run to the door to the left - use the key you got out of the music rag there, and camp out. As bad as things are, it's going to get a lot worse if either of us pops, so get backstage... until we get a better plan.” He said as he made to quickly hide backstage again.

“Wait!” Twilight quickly yelled out. “My left or your left?” She asked quickly.

“What? Oh, my left, your right. So, yeah, run to the door on your right. Heh, almost got you killed there. Us killed there.”

Twilight sighed in annoyance but before anyone could say anything else a beam of blue light went shooting right in front of Twilight’s head and a quickly glance as she was diving to the side showed her the hologram of a security guard with his hands to the sides of his head as his eyes glowed brightly.

“I hate these things!”

Author's Note:

OH MY GOD! That old man won't shut the hell up! It's so annoying to write his dialogue, I'm dreading with the Lonesome Road DLC with that guy who won't just something simply with ten words but wants to dance around it in 1000!

Comments

[Commander Darklight]

just have anne shoot her pip boy or somthing no more dialog

[Curtis LeMay]

I'm dreading with the Lonesome Road DLC

THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL AND THE BEAR AND THE BULL

Yeah. Unless you're super invested in the NCR vs Legion side of things it gets repetitive.

[Lord Of Dorkness]

8210740

Yeah. Unless you're super invested in the NCR vs Legion side of things it gets repetitive.

Have to agree. The politics side of Lonesome Road got... old.

Still, there’s a few downright delicious opportunities to slap the idiot in the face with how little your Currier cares about ‘The Bull,’ ‘The Bear,’ or even both if you favor an independent New Vegas. You have to give the DLC that much.

[Crystonian]

Ugh, lonesome road was a bitch. I'm going for a Hpuse ending but the game gave me the NCR ending and I hate it.