Charlie WhiteknifeWe like to tell stories about the things we did out there. Not all of them, anyway. Some of them we can't tell. But the ones we do tell, we tell to make us feel good about what we did. To give us hope that it was all for the right reasons. But we're just Marines. We don't get the privilege of knowing. We just had to go off of what they told us. They told us that it was all on the line. Fate of the whole Free World. With the stakes stacked that high, we didn't get much choice, did we? And I guarantee you, the guys on the other side got told the same shit. At the end of the day, we just gotta hope we bet on the right side. The side that protects the people you love. Because if it did, I guess that's worth doing pretty much anything. Even something bad.
Charlie Whiteknife
Do you know what "fiduciary responsibility" means?
"Fiduciary responsibility?" No. I have no fucking idea. I play a cowboy for a living.
Charlie Whiteknife
Okay. So, the US Government has outsourced the survival of the human race to Vault-Tec. Vault-Tec is a private corporation that has a fiduciary responsibility to make money for its investors. And how does it make money? By selling Vaults.
That's called "capitalism," Charlie.
Charlie Whiteknife
But they can't sell Vaults if these peace negotiations go through. So, Vault-Tec has a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that it don't work out.
[scoffs] Yeah? How are they gonna do that?
Charlie Whiteknife
I don't know. But...do you remember that movie we did with Johnny Morton? You were the Sheriff, and I was some generic Indian?
Hey come on, don't say that. Tallhand Mudlake could talk to horses. You played him with grace and dignity. It was a great role for you!
Charlie Whiteknife
Morton played a rancher who owned half of Missouri. And what happens when the cattle ranchers have more power than the Sheriff?
The whole town burns down.
Charlie Whiteknife
The whole town burns down. Right. Vault-Tec is a trillion-dollar company that owns half of everything, and after ten years of war the US Government is broker than a joke. The cattle ranchers are in charge, Coop. Unless the People do something about it.
I guess everything's a conspiracy, right? Come on man, you sound like you're in a cult.
Charlie Whiteknife
And you're sitting here defending a system that's ready to set the world on fire, Cooper. Maybe you're the one in the cult.
MWMoldaver Williams
[Giving a church sermon] What is it about California, that we all came to this place? [Inhales deeply] Maybe it’s the sunshine. Maybe it’s the friendly people. When you think of the promise of the American Dream, you think of California. But it is just a dream. It’s not real. We were told the atom bomb meant the end of war. That didn’t work out, did it? We were told America’s always getting better, it’s always moving toward a better future. But the future is getting closer, and we can see it. Their “better future” is a cliff’s edge. And it’s coming up fast, isn’t it? [Sighs] These soldiers that we’re fighting abroad, their families, we have more in common with them than we do with the people here in power, the real enemy.
That’s about all the horseshit I can take.
CWCharles Whiteknife
Coop. Coop, come on. [Congregationalists murmurs with Howard getting up and walking to door]
MWMoldaver Williams
Mr. Howard? [Cooper sighs] I’m sorry, I didn’t hear what you said.
[Stops and turns around] I said that, um... this is about all the horseshit I can take.
MWMoldaver Williams
I didn’t realize that America’s favorite gunslinger was so sensitive. [Congregationalists chuckles]
I have my principles, Miss Williams, that’s all.
MWMoldaver Williams
Uh-huh. And those principles of yours... how much did Vault-Tec pay to take them off your hands?
Well, this is America. Everybody has a sponsor, and, uh, I’m not ashamed to earn a living.
MWMoldaver Williams
Vault-Tec is the largest company in America. There’s a lot of money in selling the end of the world.
Well, I’m sure there’s a lot of money in selling a political ideology that ends in breadlines.
CWCongregationalist woman
Fascist.
CWCharles Whiteknife
Okay, uh, sorry, this was a mistake. We’ll be leaving.
MWMoldaver Williams
Oh, no, I’m-I’m quite glad you brought Mr. Howard today. You see, it happens that I know your wife. And perhaps a side of her you don’t.
...
[Walking in hallway with Moldaver] How do you know my wife?
MWMoldaver Williams
My research company was acquired by her division. We were developing this kind of technology that’s... difficult to monetize. Cold fusion. Infinite energy. That’s what I was on the verge of achieving when Vault-Tec swept in and bought up every company I’d ever worked for.
Every one of them? So, what are you, a millionaire communist?
MWMoldaver Williams
Hypocrisy is like violence in your movies. If you only let the bad guys use it, the bad guys win.
Yeah? I, uh, I got a little showbiz secret for you. A good bad guy doesn’t see themselves as the bad guy.
MWMoldaver Williams
America has been locked in a resource war for over a decade. Vault-Tec bought the means to end that war, the same war you fought in, so they could put it on the shelf. All because it didn’t fit into their business model. [Holds out listening device] I want your help in getting it back.
MWMoldaver Williams
It’s a listening device.
A listening device. You... you want me to spy on my wife? [Softly chuckles] Good luck with the revolution.
MWMoldaver Williams
You can keep it. As a token. I’m not a communist, Mr. Howard. That’s just a dirty word they use to describe people who aren’t insane.
What do you know about Robert House?
Charlie Whiteknife
All I've heard is that he's building some kind of weapons system in Vegas. Our intel thinks it's connected to whatever you heard Barb talking about.
Charlie Whiteknife
It's blueprints and a bunch of phone records. What else am I supposed to call it?
Intel, I guess. Well, do you know what your boss wants me to do with him?
[Cooper and Charlie exchange a significant look]
Charlie Whiteknife
I didn't know.
Look, I wanna help. I'll do whatever I can. But there's got to be another way.
Charlie Whiteknife
Look where we are, Coop. Half the men in here have killed people. Maybe not the right ones. Robert House is just one person.
Fallout · 165 quotes
