MS-00 piloted his Vertibird towards what appeared to be an old amusement park. Stationed beside an underpass, it appeared to be a fairly large trade center. Just after he started lowering his altitude, he heard a metallic clank, a sound he recognized as a bullet of small caliber ricocheting off of the hull.

Going into defensive mode, he brought the helicopter's Laser Gatling online and opened fire on them. When he had counted four kills and could no longer see any enemies, he flew towards the dead bodies and began landing, intending on salvaging anything of worth from their corpses. When he was about one hundred feet from the ground, however, a man in a Merc Charmer outfit stepped out from behind a large rock formation and fired a rocket at the ship. The Vertibird responded to the attack by smoking profusely and spinning, losing altitude too quickly.

After it slammed into the ground, Zero found himself trapped beneath a piece of the windshield. He managed to move his laser cutter around to cut it approximately in half, and lifted the half on top of him out of the way with his claw. He then reactivated his bottom engine and lifted himself off of the ground.

[i]Status check: minor armor damage, negligible structural damage, no damage to critical systems[/i] his subroutines told him as he made his way outside to assess the damage to the craft. The man in the Merc outfit must not have liked the idea, as he opened fire on the robot with a 9mm pistol. Zero flew back behind the edge of the bird's loading ramp and aimed his laser emitter at about head height. When the man ran around the corner, Zero activated his targeting computer and locked onto the man's head. At a distance of less than 10 feet, however, the targeting computer wasn't much needed. After four shots, Zero had burned a hole through to his brain and the man collapsed. Zero returned to normal operating mode and began his salvage operation on the bodies of the dead men, storing their gear in the damaged storage crates in the back of the helicopter.

Twenty three point four minutes later, a human in leather armor, leading several other humans and carrying an assault rifle walked up to him as he placed the rocket launcher on top of the other salvaged items in the crate. “Uh, robot? What happened here? Are there any survivors? We've got a doctor.” he said in a southern wasteland drawl.

“These gentleman attacked my Vertibird when they saw me attempt to land. They were too hostile to attempt negotiations and I was forced to kill them. I do not need attention, however, as my systems were only slightly damaged by the crash.”

“Wait,” he said, “So what you're telling me, Mr. Robot, is that you were the pilot and owner of this craft? I didn't know their were any robots around anymore that could keep something this complex functioning.”

“First,” responded Zero. “My serial number is MS dash zero zero, but I prefer to be called Mr. Zero, or just Zero if you prefer that. Secondly, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm the only robot capable of such repairs that you'll ever meet. And thirdly, keeping a Vertibird in good repair isn't the limit of my abilities, but it is necessary in order to travel to new areas for trade purposes.”

“So, uh, Mr. Zero, you're a mechanic and a trader, and apparently a pilot and decent fighter. If that's the case, I may know of a job a buddy of mine could use some help on, fixin' up some defenses. There'd be plenty of caps in it for you, if you could help us out.”

Zero ran a quick calculation of what it would cost to repair the ship, given that their was a decent supply of salvage in the area. His calculations weren't promising, though. The average cost of repairs, as badly damaged as the Vertibird was, came to 10,427 caps. He knew that the goods he had on board weren't worth even half that. “Very well.” he said, “I will need caps, and access to salvage in order to repair my vessel. I will go and make repairs to your equipment. Don't expect my services to come cheap, though.”

“Well, fer what we'd be needin' 'em fer, I wouldn't expect it.”

–-------

A tall robot rolled up to the front of the gate at the entrance to Primm, a cowboy's face on its screen. “Halt” said an armored man on the other side of a shining blue field which the robot couldn't get through. “State yer biznes in Primm.”

“Howdy there,” said the Securitron, “I've come all the way from New Vegas because I heard you had a robot here that could fix or build anything, even pre-war tech. Now judgin' by this here energy field you've got protectin' the city, I recon I've come to the right place. I need to talk to him if'n you'd allow it.”

“Well, I guess there wouldn' be any harm in letting ya in. But don't try anything funny, ya here?. We've got enough turrets to take you down 'fer you could even draw your gun.” Then man reached over and flipped a large switch, and the field faded. “Welcome to Primm.”

“Well, thank ya, sir. Any idea where I could find the man I'm looking for?”

“Well, I believe he's over near the Vicki and Vance, installing a reactor sos' we don't have to keep buyin' power from the dam. Here's a map of tha town.” He handed the robot a brochure with a carefully copied map drawn on it.

“Thankin' ya kindly, sir.” said the robot as it rolled away, the force-field being reactivated behind it.

When it got to the Vicki and Vance Casino, it looked around, and heard noise coming from beside a nearby Mohave Express building. It rolled over to where it heard the noise and saw a human and a robot arguing over how to properly connect an old nuclear engine from a car.

“No, no, no,” said the hovering robot. “If you connect it like that, it will burn out half the power regulators I just finished building. I don't mind rebuilding them, but your boss would probably make you pay for it.”

“Yeah, I guess he would. I guess we need to expand the system a bit to handle all of the power we're trying to pull from it. We can't even get up above 50% without tripping a safety.”

“I know that, but it's better to have partial power to all of the buildings than full power to a few of them. At partial, at least the turrets will still function.” 

“True enough. I'll get to work on finding the stuff to expand the system while you finish up here, ok?”

“Very well,” said MS-00, connecting a large copper wire.

“Excuse me,” said the cowboy robot, “but I've been sent by Mr. House to find you. I assume you're the robotic mechanic we've been hearin' stories about.”

“That most likely true,” said Zero. “I assume this Mr. House has a job for me?”

“Why, yes he does. I can't give you the specifics, but he's come across some pre-war tech that he wishes to have reconditioned. He thought you might be able to help.”

“Well, while I don't mind helping, assuming the caps are good, I'm currently under contract to finish routing power throughout this town. Unless you can convince my employer to release me from that contract, I can't in good conscience go with you until the job is done. And at the rate things are going, it could be several weeks.”

“Oh, well, if that's the case, I'm sure I can convince them to loan you to us.” After Zero had given the robot, who still hadn't mentioned its name, the name and location of his employer, it left, and returned a few minutes later. “I've managed to convince him to let you come with us for as long as we need your help.” it said upon returning.

“I assume you didn't resort to violence? I didn't hear any gunfire.”

“Oh, no, I ain't no rustler. I merely offered him a loan of ten thousand caps to fix this place up, payable one year from now, with a very low interest rate. He was more than happy to accept, as money troubles is one of the reasons he hasn't done this before, and its the reason it's taking so long now. I guess he figured that he could risk losing his best mechanic for a month or two in order to get this place up and running a good bit faster.”

“Well, in that case, lead on.” said Zero.

–-

Zero exited the elevator in a room surrounded completely in glass. [i]Interesting[/i] he thought, [i]I haven't heard of a room like this existing after the war. Mr. House must be very well off.[/i] “Well, here ya go, pardner. I'll be downstairs if ya need me.” said the single-wheeled robot as Zero left the elevator, and with that, closed the elevator door and left.