"Let's get a move on, shall we?" Taylor said. "If what I've heard about The Strip is as good as everybody says it is, then I'm likely going to have quite a good time. Of course, Followers first." Damien looked around the cold pavement streets of the nearby Freeside and waited to leave the room last. Aside from some people in Freeside being fairly friendly and the order that has been maintained by the Kings, Damien hated everything about Freeside. It was the place where he met her, and he tried to forget everything that happened since she died.
With John now in the good company of the followers of the apocalypse, the five set off into the strip. Opening up the gates into the strip was like unwrapping an old world jewelry set that was covered in dirty rags as the strip's bright lights and virtually intact buildings stood boldly in contrast to the area surrounding it. Will: sure feels nice to be back here again. c: Abbey: you said it.
Taylor almost felt giddy after finding herself inside of The Strip, amazed by all of the lights and colors that the entire area of the city brought to the rest of the wasteland. "I can't believe what I'm seeing, this place looks like a paradise in comparison to DC." Damien still didn't say anything, his mind still racing with more thoughts from before. He wished he could have lighten up about being on the Strip, although memories of the happiest days of his life were still tormenting him. He has been a broken soul since then, and the reason he became "Demon of the West" in the first place after declaring a one-man crusade against the entire Legion.
Jenny: I know right! The capitol sucks pretty hard compared to here. Probably why I've never gone back c: Will: gotta hand it to Mr house for keeping this place as intact as he could.
"Yeah, although if I was in his shoes, I would have spent the time rebuilding Vegas instead of The Strip" Damien finally spoke for the first time for a while. "Been a local for around five years, and I honestly believe that those areas needs the attention they deserve if Vegas is to grow. He might as well only focus on the elite and not the helpless, but it doesn't matter in the long run. If he runs Vegas..." Damien was then approached by a Securitron with a cowboy face on its screen and spoke to him in a generally friendly tone. "Well howdy partner! Mr. House has been keeping an eye on you for a while and the boss wishes to speak to you personally by inviting you and your companions into the Lucky 38." Damien looked at the others with a small grin in his face. "The Lucky 38 hasn't been opened in 200 years, we would be the very first humans to step foot inside since the Great War. If House personally wants to speak to us, then this must be extremely important." Taylor was cautious about this, but her Brother seemed to know what he was doing. "Should we accept the invite?"
Abbey: seeing Mr house would be a rare honour indeed. And if he's invited us up, it must be important. Jenny: awesome, let's go then :3
"He'll be waiting for you on the penthouse, partner. Don't dawdle now!" Victor said before the doors of the Lucky 38 suddenly opened up for the first time in centuries, shocking other tourists of the strip. Once inside, the group found themselves on a casino floor that hasn't been touched in over 200 years. This sightseeing opportunity didn't last long however, as they were escorted into the elevator and went towards the top floor to the penthouse. The doors opened on the penthouse floor as another Securitron escorted them to the main room that contained the mysterious Mr.House, who turned out that he wasn't human anymore. Everybody in the wastes knew of RobCo, but those who received an education knew that Robert Edwin House founded the company in 2042. Here he was, well a projection of his face on an enormous screen anyway, that Mr.House remained.
"Um yes, hello." Mr. House responded back. "Glad to see that you have received my invitation. Each of you are the first people to set foot in The Lucky 38 in over 200 years, something that I don't really offer lightly. But, each and everyone of you are important to me." "And for what do we owe the pleasure? If it's a job you want us to do, go ahead and tell us. "Damien asked. "Well, aren't we a sharp one? I have selected each and every one of you to help me recover something dear to me, The Platinum Chip. If you recover it, you will be rewarded immensely. If we continue this business offer and decide to join me, you won't just be saving yourselves, but you will be saving mankind in the process." "Last location?" Damien replied. "The package did indeed make it to Vegas, although it never made it to me directly. My courier was intercepted at Goodsprings and was likely killed. I suspect fowl play, but a lead shouldn't be hard to find." "I know who did it, it was Benny." Damien replied. "And how suppose do you know that?" Damien then took his hands and split open his hair slightly to reveal two scars across the top of his head, two distinct scars left by bullet marks. To add the icing on the cake, Damien took out Benny's lighter and shown it to House. House was speechless, but undeniably impressed. "He tried to kill me and make it look like another innocent killing in the desert. I didn't even know how he managed to restrain me or drug me, he thought that I should have died on that night." Damien told House, his voice starting to drip with venom. "I've been searching for him for weeks, I'm going to get even with him." "He's currently at the Tops. When you see him, don't make it a bloodbath. A shootout is understandably bad for business. You get the Chip, and I'll make you live like a king...Damien" House replied. "Don't be surprised, I know exactly who you are. Former NCR Ranger, Captain of the Mockingbirds. Son of Aaron Winters, The Chosen One. Your allies and enemies call you plenty of names. Archangel, Blackbird, Reaper, The Cinderella Man, but the Legion is absolutely terrified of 'The Demon of the West. Personally, you should be known as The Courier, the Legions messenger of death. You became who you are, all because they killed Ch-" "Don't mention that name..." Damien coldly interrupted. "Anyway, I'm sure we get the idea." House replied. "Bring the Chip to me, and we can discuss in further detail."
"All will be revealed in time. It's time that you lot head towards the House, I'll order a Securitron blockade at the entrance if he decides to run. Remember, no weapons. I still have a business to maintain" Mr.House responded. Damien nodded in silence as he begun to head on out while Taylor stuck with the group. "Alright, let's get a move on." Taylor said before she begun to follow Damien into the elevator.
Everyone else soon followed Damien into the lift and started discussing about how they were going to approach Benny. By the time they'd left the lucky 38 they'd devised a plan. Will was going to stay outside and be ready to subdue Benny if he tried to escape while the remaining 4 would go in and try to get the platinum chip off of his person. "hey hey guys and gals welcome to the tops hotel and casino. I'm gonna have to ask you to hand over any weapons you might be carrying" one of the men at the tops' front desk asked of the group as they walked in. Jenny: alright; here you go c: (puts her hunting rifle, this machine and her tommy gun on the desk) Abbey: (puts her various lazer weapons on the desk) there.
Taylor complied, handing over her energy weapons. She quickly turned to Damien who found out that he wasn't doing anything, causing some concern. After a moment, he handed over everything. However, the Lone Wanderer knew that it likely that Damien didn't hand over absolutely everything. Once the group was done, everything was set in place. Benny and his goons were located on the far end of the casino, visible yet far away. Damien took the lead as they walked over to him, while Taylor felt something seemingly unnatural around him. Damien was perhaps the highest trained warrior on the West Coast, he was literally as dangerous as the stories told of him. Even the fact that he fought in an endurance fight against hundreds of other combatants that lasted for thirty five hours, and only had to be ended when the other opponents refused to fight him because of his sheer abilities. Taylor, despite her own impressive accomplishments such as taking down the Enclave on the East Coast, actually took a step back from her own brother. Benny was laughing with his bodyguards, likely after talking to his bodyguards, until the corner of his eye noticed the distinct ginger colored hair heading towards him. For a moment, he just in mid-sentence and dropped a cigar he was smoking onto the ground. The color in his skin drained almost instantly and turned a ghostly white out of pure fear of what was approaching him. He quickly backed up against the wall while his bodyguards were confused. Was this some other courier that he decided to kill, he would had at least maintained his bravado and talked them out of it. Damien wasn't a normal courier however, and Benny suddenly realized who he wronged. "What in the goddamn?" Benny said before he found himself at the wall. "Your supposed to be dead!" "I got better" Damien responded, being the most dangerous when he was cold.
"It's not yours anymore princess! Back off of suffer the consequences, ya dig?" Benny suddenly replied. Benny's guards suddenly moved slowly towards Damien, taking out their rifles out. Damien just stood there, watching Benny try and make himself look tough. Damien started to walk slowly towards the Chairman, the crowd starting to panic now as they tried to flee what would become a serious fight and seek safety. Two Chairmen slowly moved towards Damien, rifles pointed at him as they got closer and closer to his face. Now long later, Damien suddenly knocked the rifles out their hands before knocking the two bodyguards out cold in a single blow as they dropped to the floor. Before the other two reacted to what was going on, Damien suddenly rushed towards the other two and punched one bodyguard in the chest hard enough to kill him instantly and send him flying, while the other bodyguard tried to shoot him. Damien appeared next to him and broke his arm by punching the elbow hard enough to cause the bones to pop out his skin, causing him to scream in pain before Damien shut him up quickly by knocking him out. Once the bodyguards were delt with, only Benny remained. "Your move..." Damien responded coldly.
Benny saw a window of opportunity and decided to leg it. He leapt over the railing and darted straight through the gambling area. Where he may have lacked guts, he sure made up for it in speed and agility as he was outside the casino in a flash with Damien, Abbey, Jenny and Taylor in hot pursuit behind him. Not long after Benny left out of the front door, a gunshot rang out from outside. Will had shot Benny in the leg with his riot shotgun loaded with bean bag rounds so as to not hurt him. Will: (goes over to Benny and picks him up as the others burst out of the casino)
Benny hit the ground hard, he could feel his legs at all. He moaned and cried out in pain as he tried to turn around and take Maria out of his jacket, only to find that Damien was right behind him and effortlessly kicked it out of his hand while restraining him with his fight boot against the top of his chest. Taylor meanwhile, searched through him and soon found the oversized chip in his other pocket. Taylor was going to give Damien the same pistol that almost killed her brother, but Damien quickly started to get his revenge. Damien was the inventor and sole practitioner of a martial art known as Mokara, developed through dozens of fighting styles of different fighting styles that combines raw physical power and speed with the grace and style of Wing Chun and other Chinese martial arts. It looked pretty to watch, but Damien could hit harder then the force of a car crash and could punch a Legionary six times in under a second. Damien started the mother of all beatdowns until Benny backed himself up against a wall. "Funny how things can turn around in an instant. You didn't even have the courage to face me like a man, you truly do have no honour." Damien started, Benny listening although heavily injured. "You tried to kill me, make it look like a lonely traveller was murdered in the Mojave. Then, I came for you. I have spent almost two months hunting you and here we are. You might think that I'm dangerous now, you have no idea what I'm capable of when it dedicate myself to something." Damien then took Maria from Taylor and loaded a single bullet into the pistol, a bullet literally with Benny's name on it that Damien created when he first recovered. He even shown Benny, the serpent of a man now terrified that everything has come to this. He was still in disbelief that he managed to not kill a courier, but the damn Demon of the West. Not even the Legion, an entire country of cold hearted and trained killers, could do that "Now Benny" Damien began to paraphrase. "From where you are kneeling, it must seem like an 18 karat run of bad luck." Damien took aim with the same pistol that was used to almost kill him. At this point, Benny's eyes shrunk to the size of a pea. He was white in fear. "Truth is, the game was rigged from the start"
Damien suddenly lowered the gun, although slowly, before looking at Jenny. "Give me a really good reason on why I shouldn't" Damien spoke to Jenny
Jenny: Well given the fact that you've given him a beating equivalent to that of losing a boxing match with a super mutant, he's defenseless, we have the chip AND that Robby House told us NOT to kill him, I'd say those were four pretty good reasons not to kill him. Oh and revenge is never the answer, so make that 5 good reasons not to off him. c: Benny: o-o-kay what's the catch? Jenny: There's a catch? I don't remember there being a catch. Hmmm.... there must be a catch then c: okay. I won't let Damien give you an extraneous butthole in your forehead IF..... I can have your gun Benny: **** you. you ain't gettin' Maria you crazy broad! Jenny: Listen Benny, I don't want you to die. Dying is bad. But regardless as to how this turns out though, I'm having that gun. Benny doesn't say anything for a brief period. However after weighing up his options he decides that he'd rather live and lose his signature firearm than die and lose his signature firearm. Benny: fine... take it. Jenny: awesome!
