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Fallout Wasteland	By : Samson Category: +A through F > Fallout (Series) > Fallout (Series) Views: 28950 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
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A Price On Her Head.

Fallout: Life In The Wasteland

Part 8 - "Echoes of the Past"

By: Jesse Racine AKA Samson

Original Date Written: January 30, 2011

Libitina walked along one of Rister's streets, smiling contently. She had found herself a man selling weapons not long before, but to her dismay, he didn't have a pair of Shredder gloves; the closest he had to that was a pair of razor claws, which was a fairly popular weapon with reavers that couldn't get their hands on an energy weapon of any sort. Libitina didn't really like the razor claws, so the man proposed that he attempt to create a pair of Shredders for her at the cost of an additional fee. He cut off part of the sharp claws from a set of razor claws, taking a minute to stitch them into the fingers of a plain leather glove. Libitina had tried the glove on then, finding it comfortable yet not as effective as she would've liked. The blades to the razor claws weren't curved; they were meant to simply extend from the back of one's hand and stand past the ends of their fingers, not extend from the backs of one's fingers, themselves. Although they weren't curved like the talons of Shredder gloves, Libitina figured it was as close to her old glove's style as she was going to get, deciding to take the glove.
After all, the blades were still sharpened like those of the Shredder glove, so she could still swipe at someone's throat if need be. She didn't have any caps on her, and the man was asking for quite a bit; reaching a compromise, Libitina got down on her knees, servicing the man in exchange for the glove. Leaving with the glove on her right hand, she began to head back in the direction of the safehouse. The leather of the glove was a dark brown, the blades glinting as they extended from each of Libitina's fingers. As she walked past a dark alley in a quiet street, a pair of figures emerged from the darkness, both females. They looked pretty punkish, they had an air of danger about them. One had her hair cut into a mohawk, the mohawk dyed bright pink. She was wearing a leather jacket, the right sleeve torn off at the shoulder, a few thin and short chains dangling from varying spots over the jacket's back. Underneath the jacket, she wore a light purple shirt along with several silver necklaces. Wearing dark pants with chains along them, she had big boots laced up tight on her feet.
The other female had her hair cut short like a boy, her hair dyed dark red to a shade of crimson. She wore heavy amounts of makeup, dark circles around her eyes with her lips covered in white lipstick. She had a rag-like shirt on, the green shirt having quite a few holes to it, not even having sleeves. The shirt looked like it offered hardly any warmth, and most likely left the girl shivering on cold nights. She wore baggy pants, coloured dark brown. She wore old sneakers that were practically falling apart with age. The both of them had light skin, but the one with the rattier clothes had much paler skin than the one with the mohawk. They both looked to be in their late teenage years, maybe a year or two older than Libitina. They both eyed Libitina up maliciously. The one with the mohawk said "Don't take another step, bitch. Whatcha got?" Libitina spotted the girl with the mohawk to brandish a switchblade, the other girl pulling out a makeshift shiv. "What's up with this bitch's face? Are you heading to a circus, hah hah?" The girl with ratty clothes said, laughing to herself afterwards.
Libitina's face instantly began to darken. She had put on a new face before going out. She had covered her face in white before covering the end of her nose with dark green paint. Putting pink circles over her cheeks to simulate blush, she had put bright red paint just above her eyes yet below her eyebrows, using the paint like it was eyeshadow. Just below her eyes, on her cheekbones slightly, she had spread black paint, essentially creating circles around her eyes. She had spread black facepaint along her eyebrows to help them stand out against the pure white of the rest of her face. On the very middle of her forehead, she had painted a star in yellow. Libitina just smiled at the girls mockingly, facing them as she continued down the street backwards. The girls walked out of the alley's entrance, following after Libitina, holding their weapons up. Watching them with narrow eyes, Libitina felt anger continue to rise inside her as the girl with ratty clothes looked to the girl with the mohawk, saying "Lookit the clothes on her, they look so new! She must've got them from the clothing shop down on Yearl street!"
The girl with the mohawk smiled smugly and shook her head a few times, saying "A shame. Shame that you paid so much for new clothes, only to have them stolen. Now quit moving, bitch!" Libitina slowly came to a stop. The girl with the mohawk said "Now, toss off that glove of your's." Libitina simply smiled and shook her head. The expression of the girl with ratty clothes quickly turned rather angry. She took a few quick steps towards Libitina, raising her shiv. Libitina responded by raising up her bladed glove. Libitina lunged for the girl, the girl jumping backwards and avoiding a swipe at throat-level. The girl with the mohawk jumped forwards, aiming for Libitina's right eye, planning on stabbing into her eye. The girl was fast, but Libitina still managed to pull her head to the side to avoid the blow to her eye; instead, the girl's blade flew through some of Libitina's hair, slicing across the upper reaches of her ear, instead. Libitina ducked low, bringing her head under the girl's arm, stepping to the side, the girl's arm now on Libitina's left side. She reached up and grabbed the arm, Libitina raising her right hand, slashing the five blades of her glove across the back of the girl's forearm blindingly quickly, the girl crying out in pain.
Libitina went to stab the attacker in the stomach, but she managed to wrench her arm from Libitina's grasp, jumping backwards to avoid the stomach blow. Blood was trickling down the right side of Libitina's head due to her ear wound. The girl with the shiv ran up to Libitina just as the other girl jumped back, trying to stab Libitina in the chest. Libitina tried moving back, but the girl was pretty fast, heavily driven by her own personal motivations; her shiv stabbed down through the chest of Libitina's shirt, although it wasn't plunged directly down into her flesh. Because Libitina had been moving back, the blade had made a long slice along her shirt, only slightly going into her skin before tearing it up. The result was a long yet shallow cut along Libitina's chest, going from the right side of her right breast, near the center of her chest, down to the lower reaches of her chest. Libitina glanced down at herself in anger. "Oops. Looks like I ruined your pretty shirt." The girl said, grinning like a mad jackal. It wasn't just her shirt that the girl had ruined; she had also partially damaged Libitina's bra. She hadn't cut through it entirely, but she the edge of her shiv had pulled on the bra's fabric and put a few thin slices along it.
Libitina was enraged. The girl with the mohawk suddenly let out a frantic scream, the girl with the shiv and fraying clothes looking over. Several squirts of blood had flown from the mohawk girl's injured forearm. The girl was trying to clench her fist, barely able to move her fingers, extreme pain running through her whenever she tried. "What the fuck did you do, bitch?! I can't move my fingers!" The mohawk girl cried, tears filling her eyes. Libitina used the distraction that the girl had posed. She dashed closer to the girl with the shiv, launching her gloved hand right down at the girl's stomach. As the glove's blades went through her shirt and shortly afterwards her flesh, the girl attempted to gasp, her eyes going wide. Nothing but a choked sound came from her throat. Her shirt's fabric very rapidly began to grow dark with blood, Libitina yanking her hand back from the girl's stomach a second later. The girl stumbled backwards for a moment before collapsing to the ground. The girl with the mohawk, desperate energy flooding her, tried slashing at Libitina's throat.
Libitina jumping back, turning and facing the girl, the mohawk girl having been on her right side. The girl charged at Libitina, holding her knife up for stabbing. Libitina jumped to the side, the tip of the girl's blade hitting the brick of the building that had been behind Libitina. Striking her blade as hard as she could against a brick wall with her weak hand was too much for the girl; her blade popped out of her hand, falling to the ground. It didn't take Libitina long to kick into the girl's legs from behind, knocking her straight to the ground. Falling with a heavy thud, her backside came crashing down on the other girl's legs. Libitina swooped down upon the fallen girl, getting over her with a dark grin. she sat down on the girl's stomach with a heavy impact, the girl's eyes going wide as the air was pushed out of her lungs. "You two picked the wroooong target." Libitina said playfully, smiling darkly afterwards. The girl with ratty clothes lay nearby, her hands over her stomach as blood began to fill her mouth. The girl with the mohawk began to cry even more, reaching out to her knife with her left arm. Libitina reached over, stabbing down into the girl's upper arm, near her shoulder.
The girl screamed in pain, Libitina pulling her bladed fingers from the girl's arm after a few seconds. "You wanna know what really pissed me off? Not that you two tried to mug me, that was stupid, but it didn't really piss me off. What really ticked me off was your friend's crack about my face." Libitina brought her right hand to the woman's chest, plopping her hand down over the girl's left breast, almost carelessly drumming her fingers, tapping the ends of her glove's blades against the girl's shirt. "Oh well. Your friend won't last much longer. With a wound like that, it won't take long for her to bleed out. The question remains, though...What do I do with you?" Libitina grinned viciously, looking down to the girl's eyes. The girl with the mohawk was still crying, her bottom lip trembling as she tried to speak bravely. "J-Just fucking kill me..." Libitina raised her eyebrows, still smiling, saying "Hmm? I couldn't hear you over the sound of your crying. What was that?" Growing angry, the girl said "Go fuck yourself, cunt!"
Libitina moved her hand in the blink of an eye. Her fingers and the blades attached to them were now pointing downwards towards the girl's chest. She slowly began to push down, the blades biting through the girl's shirt quickly, instantly finding her skin and beginning to pierce through that, as well. The girl writhed for a few moments, crying out in pain, shutting her eyes tight. As Libitina went deeper, the girl's movements slowed, her eyes opening slightly. She was twitching like crazy, but she wasn't truly moving anymore. A meaty sound came from the girl's chest as Libitina pushed even deeper, the girl suddenly coughing up blood, the blood violently going up in the air for a moment before coming back to her face in droplets. Libitina rapidly pushed her fingers deeper into the girl, moving her fingers back and forth. The mohawk girl's eyelids drooped down for a moment before her head limply rested to the side. Libitina smiled, pulling her hand from the girl's chest, her shirt rapidly darkening with blood, a few squirts flying out. She got up with a soft sigh, brushing at her shirt with her left hand, wincing slightly from her wound.
Libitina looked to the girl with the crumbling clothes. She was already dead, lying in a small pool of her own blood. Libitina looked to the girl with the mohawk. Glancing along the girl's body, she got an idea. She got down on her knees by the body, pulling the girl up until she was sitting upright. She pulled off the girl's jacket, tossing it off to the side. She quickly pulled the girl's bloody shirt off, also tossing it off to the side. Keeping the girl sitting upright, Libitina glanced along the girl's bare and bloody bosom, looking down to her own chest every few seconds. After about a dozen seconds, Libitina grinned, saying "Heh, I'm bigger. Oh well, maybe you'll have better luck in your next life?" Libitina got up then, letting the girl fall back to the ground. She walked along the sidewalk with a happy smile, heading towards the hideout once again.
After another minute of holding one another, Kid and Dominique finally began to release each other. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon." She said, smiling. Kid said "I missed you, Dom..." He went quiet for a few seconds, neither of them saying anything. "...I want you to come with us again." He finally said after a few seconds. Dominique's expression stayed cheerful for a few seconds, but it eventually began to grow a little depressed, Dominique looking down to his chest. "...What's wrong?" He asked quietly. Dominique lightly shook her head. "...I can't..." She said softly. Kid didn't know what to say. Things were quiet for a few seconds before she looked up to his eyes, saying "I can't do it anymore, Kid...I wouldn't be able to go another day watching you and Dawn love each other...I tried, I really did, but nothing I did made me forget how I felt..." She smiled, saying "Besides, I can't go anywhere just yet. The other reavers need me, I need to help with some problems. I couldn't go with you even if I wanted to."
Kid felt depression over her words, and he was sure it could show on his face. He reached over and rested a hand on the worktable nearby, glancing at her laser pistol for a moment before looking over to her eyes. "Dom, you're my friend...I'm sorry about me and Dawn, but what can I do?" Dominique smiled more, saying "And as your friend, I'm telling you that I can't deal with some of my feelings anymore, so I'm...Going to stay here...Rister is my home, and most of my people are here. Come and see me any time you like, but...I can't go with you." Kid said "A-Are you sure?...Seriously?..." Dominique nodded confidently. Kid looked down to the ground. They were both quiet for several seconds, but Kid eventually broke the silence by saying "Well...Alright..." He raised his eyebrows a little, saying "If that's the way things really have to be, then...Okay."
He smiled a little, saying "Are you going to be here tomorrow?" Dominique nodded, looking into his eyes affectionately. "Can I see you tomorrow, then?" He asked hopefully. Dominique nodded happily. Kid smiled and brought his arms around her again, the both of them closing their eyes as they hugged once more. After a few seconds, they released each other, Kid saying "Alright, then...I'll see you tomorrow..." Dominique nodded, saying "I'll be here." Kid raised a hand and waved to her, Dominique doing the same to him just before he turned around and walked over to Dawn. The two left without another sound. As Dominique turned back to her pistol, her eyes rapidly grew watery, but she made no sound, forcing herself not to slip any further into her tears, simply focusing back on her work.
Heading back outside, the two got in the Highwayman, driving for the safehouse. "I'm sorry Dom didn't want to come with us again." Dawn said, looking over to him. Her helmet resting in her lap, her weapons were in the backseat of the vehicle. Kid shrugged lightly. "It's alright...I can understand why she doesn't want to come with us anymore. It's just..." He smiled, letting out a soft exhale like a noiseless chuckle, shaking his head lightly for a moment. "I've gotten so used to her, and now I won't be able to see her every day...She's my friend, I don't want to lose that." Dawn smiled a little as she looked forwards once more. "You don't have to see someone every day to be friends with them." Dawn said. Kid looked over. Dawn raised her eyebrows a little, saying "It helps, yeah, but you don't really need to. Even if you only see Dom once a month, maybe once every three months, whatever; I'm sure you two are going to keep being friends for a long time." Kid looked down to his knees, thinking for a few seconds, remaining silent during that time.
He smiled, nodding slightly, Dawn's words making sense to him. "Yeah, she's right...Even if I don't see Dominique for a while, I'm not going to just forget about her...She'll always be a friend." Kid thought. He looked over to her again, saying "I hope she thinks the same." Dawn said "She might, she might not. That's why, when we go and see her tomorrow, you'll tell her about that." She looked over to him, smiling. Kid grinned a little, reaching over and taking her right hand in his left, affectionately locking fingers with her. When they reached the safehouse, they found Libitina standing in the doorway, walking over towards the vehicle as it slowed to a stop. "The hell happened to her?" Dawn said in a sort of mutter as she opened the driver's side door, getting out of the vehicle with her helmet in her left hand. Kid had noticed Libitina's injury as well, getting out of the car, feeling worried for her. "What happened?" Dawn asked as Libitina walked over. Libitina had a pained smile on her face. Her injury had begun to sting constantly since she had gotten it, the situation with the other two girls having taken place about fifteen minutes beforehand.
"A couple of chicks tried mugging me. I killed them both, but they ruined my shirt." "Are you okay?" Kid asked. Libitina nodded, saying "Yeah, it just stings a bit. I could use a stimpack or, at least, some of that tribal healing powder crap." Dawn raised an eyebrow as she said "I've used healing powder once, and as soon as I was healed up, I vowed never to touch the crap again. It messes with your head, screws with your vision while it fixes you up." Libitina chuckled, saying "But it works!" Dawn made a slight "Pfft" sound before saying "Barely." She reached into the back of the Highwayman and, a moment later, she had tossed Libitina a stimpack. Libitina quickly used it on herself, tossing the spent stimpack off to the side a moment later. Libitina made a "Whew" sound before saying "Thanks. Having one of your tits sliced isn't fun." Dawn just chuckled, shutting off the Highwayman and shutting the driver's side door after grabbing her Gauss rifle and modified Beretta. Kid, not having the bosom of a female and never having his chest cut anyway, couldn't connect to what the two were saying.
He shut his door, following after the two as they headed into the safehouse. "Where were you?" Dawn asked. Libitina held up her right hand, showing off her new glove, shaking her fingers back and forth playfully. "I was out getting myself a new glove. It's not a Shredder, but it did the trick when those girls tried mugging me." Kid closed the front door to the safehouse behind himself, saying "We found Dom, Libby." Libitina looked over, smiling a little, saying "Oh? How was she? Since she's not with you guys, I guess she didn't want to hang around with us anymore." Kid said "She...Had her reasons for not wanting to be with us anymore, and they make sense. But she looked like she was doing okay, and I'm gonna go see her again tomorrow. You should come." Libitina shrugged, saying "Alright, sounds fine." Dawn looked over as Stitch and Ice walked over from the kitchen. "Dawn. We need to talk about the Wrights." Stitch said. Dawn nodded, calmly saying "Okay. Let's talk." She walked over to the two of them, the trio heading to the kitchen table, taking a seat at it.
Dawn rested her helmet and modified Beretta on top of the table, standing her Gauss rifle up, leaning it against the table's side. Ice said "It been ages since de Scaled Hiss took New Reno. Do you think old Tandi's soldiers have made it to de city yet?" Dawn thought for a moment before nodding. "...Yeah, it's been long enough. They've probably reached the city, maybe even freed it." Stitch said "We should head back there and try to find Keith or any of the others. And Ronald'll be there with Krypt and the rest by now, so we could find them, too." Dawn nodded, saying "Alright, but not until tomorrow morning. Kid wants to see Dominique one more time." Stitch raised his eyebrows, saying "Oh, you found her?" Dawn nodded. "She was with the rest of the reavers." Stitch and Ice nodded in understanding. A second later, Stitch said "Hey, we should all have a beer and relax." Dawn smiled a little, saying "Sure, but let me get out of my armour first, hmm?" Dawn got up, grabbing her helmet and weapons, heading up into the master bedroom.
When she got up into the room, she closed the door until it was only open by a crack. Turning to the bed, she rested her guns down on the floor by the bed, dropping her helmet with a sigh. She slipped off her trenchcoat, resting it down on the end of the bed. She reached behind herself, unzipping her vest, pulling it off and dropping it to the ground, as well. She slipped off her gloves, dropping them on top of her trenchcoat. She bent over and reached to her boots, quickly unlacing them before slipping them off. She undid her pants, letting them drop to the floor, stepping away from them a moment later. She found the clothes she had worn the day before, laying her blue jeans, black belt, and purple shirt on the end of the bed. She had just pulled on the shirt when she heard the door to the bedroom open slightly. Turning around, she smiled, seeing Kid. Kid was looking at her with blush in his cheeks. Dawn smiled more when she saw his blush. She seductively said "Yes? May I help you with something?"
Kid slowly walked across the room, coming up to her, running his hands along her hips. He got on his tippy-toes to give her a kiss, closing his eyes as he did so. Dawn kissed him back, closing her eyes as well. She began to lean over slightly so Kid wouldn't have to stay on his toes. She reached her arms around him slightly, resting her hands against his back as the two kissed gently. They kissed a few times before Dawn pulled back. Smiling broadly, she said "Tonight, before we fall asleep, we'll fool around. But right now I'm gonna relax with the others. I'll share a beer with them before he head up here, okay?" Kid nodded, saying "I guess in the meantime I'll hang out with Libitina. Just let me know whenever you're ready, okay?" Dawn nodded, the two kissing twice more before Dawn pulled away, reaching for her jeans, beginning to pull them on as Kid left the room.
Harlot and Cain stood within a building of The Den, standing by a long counter. The walls of the building were ramshackle pieces of sheet metal and planks of wood, the building being a shoddy attachment to a small brick building. A room to the brick building had crumbled ages before, so the slavers at The Den built the shack-like building to fill the spot the old room used to take up. All along the wall to Harlot's left were old girlie posters, the posters all showing women in varying stages of undressing. Behind the two of them was an open doorway leading outside, and to their right, there was another doorway that led into the brick building. Behind the counter in front of them was several old file cabinets, some rusting slightly, all of them made of a tan metal. A grizzled man looking to be in his late thirties, dressed in metal armour and having a sniper rifle shouldered on his right side, stood with his back turned to them.
He had a file cabinet's top shelf open, searching through the folders of paper within. Harlot and Cain had just entered the building, and the man looked over to them as they walked up to the counter, saying "Whaddya want?" Cain said "We're looking for more bounty work. We're taking a break from slave runs." The man said "Yeah, I got some bounties. A fresh batch of 'em came in yesterday, so your timing isn't too bad. Jus' gimme a second." The man continued to search through his file cabinet for a moment before simply sliding it shut, turning to another cabinet. He pulled open it's middle shelf, quickly pulling out a tan file folder. He stepped over to the counter, bringing the folder down to the table's top. Harlot reached over, opening up the folder. There was a small stack of paper within the folder, all yellowed slightly with age. On each paper, at the top in bold black letters, was the word "Bounty". Usually, slavers didn't bother with bounties; that was a job better suited for mercenaries. Harlot and Cain had found that bounty work was fun and fairly easy, so they had decided to try their hand at more. Along each page, there was varying lengths of words, some looking hand-written while others appeared to by the text of a computer.
Along each page was a short description of who the bounty was for, if a description was even available, along with where they might likely be found as well as the reward for killing them. Just below the reward section was another for special conditions, like if the target was to be brought somewhere alive, killed in a specific way, or if a possession of their's was to be taken to the one who had posted the bounty. Usually these bonus conditions, if met, were rewarded were additional caps or other items of worth. It was standard that, for a normal bounty without any bonus conditions, the head of the target was to be taken as proof that they had been eliminated. Harlot quickly scanned over bounties, flipping through the loose pieces of paper, looking for a target close to The Den. There were seven bounties in total. Two were for targets down around the NCR, one was for someone in Gecko, another for someone in Vault City, one for someone in Illust, one for someone without a known location, and finally one for someone that could be found in either New Reno or Rister.
Harlot made a bit of a face. "Most of these fuckers are way out of our range. We can't go too far, we don't have a lot of supplies." She said. The man behind the counter said "And I should give a fuck...Why? Most of the mercenaries are down in Rister and the NCR, so for them, it's in their range. You should be thinking about slaves, not bounties." Harlot quietly raised her left hand, flipping the man her middle finger for a moment as she continued to look down at the bounties on the counter. She set aside the bounties for the targets in the NCR, knowing that they were well out of her and Cain's ability to travel. She looked at the rest of the bounties, sighing softly through her nose, bringing her left hand back down then. She looked to the bounty for the person likely found around either New Reno or Rister, about to set it aside when she noticed a word. It was a name, a familiar name. Her face going confused, Harlot thought "Who would I know that had...?" before her thoughts trailed off. She carefully read the description of who the target was, her eyes widening slightly as the words quietly ran through her mind.
"Description: Dawn Darkwater, also known as "Ruby-Red". Tall with white skin. Long, black hair; most likely straight and smooth. Very easy on the eyes; may attempt to seduce you to either escape or kill you, so be on your toes. Is currently wearing black armour akin to the armour of the NCR's elite Rangers. Armed with a Gauss rifle, among other things. Is believed to be extremely dangerous as well as very well stocked with survival supplies. Bounty meant for deeply experienced mercenaries or teams of mercenaries."
Harlot's face went a little surprised, her eyes a touch wide, her mouth hanging open slightly. Cain noticed her reaction, saying "What is it?" He leaned over, taking a look at the bounty. "Ruby-Red? I think I've heard that name before...Oh yeah, some porn star down in Reno, yeah. Shit, she must've really pissed somebody off to get a bounty on her head...Oh, looks like she can fight, or at least got her hands on some nice tech. I've seen what a Gauss rifle can do; sick shit." Harlot blinked, closing her mouth, her wide eyes relaxing slightly. Harlot seemed tense, like her mind was racing. Some of her dark hair slipped over and hung in front of her eyes, Harlot raising a hand and smoothing the hair along with some of her dyed blonde bangs behind her right ear. She was silent, so Cain took the moment to read the rest of the bounty aloud.
"Pay: Killing Dawn yet not completing the bonus condition will get you three thousand caps, seeing as how Dawn is such a dangerous individual. Completing the bonus condition yet not killing Dawn will earn you two thousand caps; I will explain this drop in the "bonus conditions" section. Killing Dawn and completing the bonus condition will earn you six thousand caps."
Cain raised his eyebrows, whistling softly for a moment. "God damn, this bitch pissed off one rich sonuvabitch." Harlot blinked again, taking in a deep breath before slowly exhaling. "We'll take this one." She said softly. Cain smiled slightly, saying "Your greed is showing. We haven't even read the bonus condition yet." Harlot's face was calm as she gently said "This has nothing to do with the caps." Cain looked to her curiously, asking "What do you mean?" Harlot remained quiet for a moment before, brushing off his question, reading the bonus condition on the bounty aloud.
"Additional information and side notes: I've seen Dawn multiple times around New Reno, driving around in a functional Highwayman. The car is painted black with a pair of white lightning bolts on the hood, and a bunch of skulls are mounted along the car's grill. I don't know Dawn on a personal level, but I know that I'd be one vindictive motherfucker if someone stole my car, so I can only assume that she'd be the same. Taking the car without killing her might have her come down on my head some day, which is something I really don't want to have to deal with, so the pay would be lessened in that case.
If you only kill Dawn but don't bring me the car, then the pay will be lessened because I'm going to have to go out and get the car, maybe even kill some dumb shit that thought they could take the car. If you kill Dawn and want the bonus caps for bringing me the car, then you can find me in Illust; I'll find you when you roll in. I'll need Dawn's head as proof of her death. Oh, and don't try to take the car for yourself; I have enough caps to post an even higher bounty on whoever tries to fuck me over."
"Probably won't find her in New Reno. I heard the Scaled Hiss took it over." The man behind the counter said. Cain shook his head a few times, making soft "tsk" sounds for a moment before saying "A car? That's tempting as hell, but six thousand caps might be even better. With a car, we'd have to keep buying fuel for it and crap like that. Can you imagine how much stuff we could get with even just two thousand caps? Two, three, six, any one of those is a pretty sweet deal. I'm up for it, we just need to get a little bit more supplies to make the trip down there." Harlot nodded, a bit of life coming to her face once more. "Alright. Let's get some more stuff, then." Cain smiled a little, saying "Oh, you finally say something. Why're you being so quiet all of a sudden?" Harlot's face remained calm as she quietly said "My own reasons." In a bit of a louder voice with her more usual tone, Harlot said "Alright then, let's get a move on." Cain nodded, the two of them taking the bounty sheet with Dawn's name on it, leaving everything else where it sat on the counter.
Sitting with the others in the living room of the safehouse, Dawn was enjoying a beer, Stitch and Ice doing the same. Stitch had just told a humorous story about something that had happened to him while working for the Wrights, the three of them chuckling. "So, Dawn, what's it like to have a second life?" Stitch asked once everyone's chuckling had died down. Dawn was lying back in the soda she sat upon, her right leg crossed over her left. Her right hand resting in her lap, she held her bottle of beer in her left hand, keeping her hand with the bottle down on the couch. "It's...It's not something I could believe if someone else told me that the same had happened to them. I feel blessed, you know?" She calmly and softly said. She glanced over to her bottle of beer. "I should be dead. I don't even remember how many times I was shot. I'm not complaining though." Dawn smiled a little, saying "I've got a second chance. I want to make the most of it with Kid, but...There's business that needs to be taken care of before that."
Ice asked "What was it like, waking up with de Brotherhood guys?" Dawn looked up to her, saying "Well, there was only one guy there, actually. I'm not sure why, but their San Francisco base was pretty much empty. I didn't get a tour of the place, but it didn't really seem that big...It was almost like a little scouting outpost or something." Dawn looked back down to her knees as she thought. "There was this big machine there...An A.I. that called itself ACE. It had these tanks with some kind of fluid in it. I just remember waking up in that stuff." Stitch smiled a little, saying "Ironic. An Ace killed you, and another brought you back." Dawn smiled slightly, holding back a chuckle. "Dawn, lemme ask you something...What are your plans for those G.E.C.K.s?" Ice asked.
Dawn took a quick gulp from her beer before saying "I plan to use at least one of them. When everything's taken care of and all loose ends have been tied up, I'm gonna leave with Kid and find somewhere nice and quiet. I'll use a G.E.C.K. and have my own little piece of tranquillity to share with him. Maybe I'll turn things into a town, who knows, but if I did that, I'd make myself leader. If I turned my place into a town, it'd probably be something like New Arroyo; advanced tech like Vault City, tough military like the NCR, peaceful like Klamath, and maybe open to trading with other cities like San Francisco and all the others, all mixed into one place. We'd be independent, though; I'd be damned if anyone, especially the NCR, tried to bully me into joining them."
Stitch and Ice looked at Dawn curiously. She just smiled, saying "I guess you never heard. Yeah, the NCR's got a reputation of trying to bully all of the surrounding settlements into coming under their flag. I remember the Chosen One telling me about how, in his time, there was a big fight over the town of Redding between New Reno, Vault City, and the NCR, and how at the same time, the NCR was also trying to take control of Vault City. The NCR has it's heart in the right place, but it's beginning to take things past peaceful levels. I mean, order and safety can be brought to the wastes without having everything ruled by one group. NCR doesn't see things that way, though." Stitch's face went confused. "Why did they all want Redding? It's a shitty little place."
Dawn chuckled for a moment before raising her eyebrows, nodding slightly before saying "Yeah, yeah it is. But it has something no other place has anymore; a couple of gold mines. New Reno, Vault City, the NCR, they all wanted the gold for themselves. The only other place that had a mine during that time was the Broken Hills, but they mined uranium, not gold. The NCR didn't have too much of a need for uranium though, and Vault City is full of bigots; they hate ghouls and super mutants with a passion, hell, they hate anything that isn't human or might be mutated in any way. Even if they needed uranium, I doubt they would've traded with the guys in the Broken Hills. And New Reno? They had no use for uranium at all, so nobody even looked in the Broken Hills' direction. So, in the end, the Broken Hills traded enough of their stuff to survive, but they didn't attract enough attention that people were trying to take control of them. Of course, the mine eventually ran out of uranium, and there weren't any other mines like it in the area..."
Ice said "So the place ain't there anymore." Dawn nodded. "There were racial tensions and stuff, racist humans trying to fuck with the ghouls and super mutants, racist ghouls and mutants doing the same back to the humans. When the mine ran out of uranium, there wasn't much keeping everyone there anymore. Everyone just sort of drifted on and went away. Broken Hills is still there, but it's a ghost town, nobody puts the place on their maps anymore." Everyone went quiet for a second before Stitch suddenly said "Hey, remember when that Marilyn Monroe impersonator came to New Reno?" Dawn grinned a little, saying "Yeah, she raised up one hell of a storm." Ice smiled and looked over to Stitch as he began a story, saying "I remember when Orville wanted me to find the girl and give her some advice about the town, but..." Dawn and Ice listened silently as he went on with his story, smiling slightly.
Tansy was nearing New Reno. She had just helped a couple of simple peasants defend themselves against a small group of slavers, the peasants thanking Tansy by letting her take whatever possessions she wanted from the slain slavers. Tansy took pretty much everything the slavers had had on them, taking their money, food, drinks, guns, ammo, and whatever chems they had. Proceeding on her way again, she slowly sipped from a glass bottle of Classic Nuka-Cola, heading south towards her destination.
Kid and Libitina were sitting outside by the safehouse's right side, sitting against the ground with their backs to the house's wall. Libitina sat with her knees near her chest, Kid with his legs outstretched against the ground. She had her hands on her knees, Kid having his on his thighs. The sun was beginning to lower in the sky, the sky beginning to turn a golden shade. They sat close by one another, their sides touching. They were both looking out to the wasteland beyond, as the safehouse sat right near the outskirts of Rister. They had remained quiet for several minutes, just enjoying one another's company without a word. Eventually though, Libitina softly said "Can I ask you a question?..." Kid glanced over to her face for a moment, saying "Sure." Libitina looked downwards near her knees for a moment, not tilting her head, calmly asking "Do you have any plans for the future? Like...Do you know what you're doing tomorrow and the day after?" Kid thought for a moment before slowly shaking his head. "Not really...Tomorrow I'm seeing Dominique again, but that's really as far as I've got things p-planned. What about you?"
Libitina shook her head slightly, saying "No, nothing...I don't know what to do with myself. I don't have any plans for the future or anything...Don't even know what I'd like to do. I'm just...Living." Kid asked "Is that bad?" Libitina shrugged slightly, saying "Well, it's not exactly bad, but...It might be a bit boring. Not doing anything can get mighty lame at times." Kid smiled a little. They were both quiet for a second or two before Kid said "Well, I don't know what to tell you...I don't have any plans, either." Libitina smiled and said "But for you it's easier, you've got Dawn. You don't really have to think of that stuff, she's taking care of things. I don't have anyone." Kid softly said "But you're not alone." Libitina looked over to him for a moment, smiling slightly. Her right hand still covered in her bladed glove, she reached her left hand over to his left thigh, touching his hand slightly. He responded by taking her hand in his, holding her hand over his thigh. She held his hand back, beginning to lean against him a little. They were quiet for a minute before Libitina softly said "...You're the best friend I ever had, Kid...You're almost like a brother to me...Except...Well...I wouldn't mind fooling around with you, most people don't think like that about their siblings, heh..."
Kid just smiled a little, looking upwards for a moment, shaking his head slightly. After a few seconds of silence however, he said "...You're a good friend, Libby...I'm glad I know you...It sucks that we met more or less just because we went through so much crap at Vault 17, but...Well, some good came out of it." Libitina smiled happily, resting her head down on his shoulder, giving his hand a tender squeeze. "...What do you think we're going to do now? Are we just going to stay in Rister or something?" She asked a few moments later. Kid said "I don't know...Maybe. I really don't know. Dawn might have something planned." Libitina didn't reply, the two of them going silent once more. They stayed close to each other, watching as the sun continued to slowly lower in the sky, casting beautifully warm shades across the horizon.
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Fallout Wasteland