Fallout: Louisiana

[HolyFudgeBars]

Jacki was always amazed at a raider's creativity and she was amazed by it now as she sat behind the wall of fencing and the metal gate that had been used to divide the living room of the trailer she was trapped in inside half to create a makeshift prison. She sat against the wall and rubbed her face ignoring her cell mate, the man was still in despair over his wife or something that had gotten murdered and she cared so little for his plight it was almost alarming. At the moment the only plight Jacki cared about was her own as she tried to figure out why this group of bayou water backwash had kept her alive instead of killing her when they cornered her. Had she been recognized? That was a possibility, a slim one but possible. It had been a year, but if Slag or Crag or Craig, or whatever her damn ex-right hand had been named, still wanted to execute her, if he wanted crush the hopes of her return to anyone still even a little loyal to her still left in that crew (not that she was coming back) then having her delivered and then tortured to death would have been the way. She let out an exhale of air she didn't know she had been holding and stood up to pace their small confines again.

She doubted it. This group of raiders seemed too sloppy to have been around long, which meant the larger groups would have had no real interest in these small fry, so they most likely hadn't been told to keep an eye out for her, hell they probably had no clue who she was. Then they had mistaken her for a settler, probably thought she was from the same settlement as Sam or whatever the guy had said his name was. Or was his name Mary, or was that his wife? She didn't care. She kicked the gate and crouched in front of it examining the lock she had jammed trying to pick it.

Jacki was just about to give up and resign herself to her fate when gunshots began to ring out beyond the front door of the trailer. Her brows shot up and she ran over to a window that had been boarded up from the outside to prevent escape. Peering through the gaps in between the boards Jacki's eyes eagerly sought the source of the commotion and she frowned when she caught the glimpse of a hulking figure ducking behind cover.

'Holy Shit' Jacki slid down the wall as the thought echoed in her mind and she immediately attempted to find something that could act as a makeshift weapon in their cell. There was a super mutant, at least she thought it was a super mutant, storming around the camp. This isn't how she wanted to die, 'Did that thing have a slasher?' Slashed to pieces by a super mutant, there were worse ways to go she guessed.

 

[Grothnor]

Just as Beau hoped, the crack of Atom's .50 caliber sniper rifle echoed as the raiders assaulting him fell. Atom stood from his position on the hill and waved to Beau, then gestured that he'd be moving to another position to get a better vantage point. Considering that all the raiders near Beau were dead and there was still gunfire, he figured he should do the same.

Sten finished knifing a raider who didn't notice him coming, then followed up with two smooth shots to his partner. He had gotten separated from Scout, who was bowling through the raiders somewhere. He checked inside a trailer the now dead pair of raiders were in front of for more hostiles, but found a makeshift cage. Taking only a moment to identify the inhabitants, he shot off the lock and growled, "Come on, let's go!" Leaning out the door of the prison trailer, he spotted the raiders who were shooting at Scout, pinning her down. He fired off a burst of bullets at their flank, hitting one or two and forcing the rest to fall back. He regrouped with Scout. "Okay, let's get the hell outta- OH SHIT!" A trailer door burst open, revealing a power armored raider, undoubtedly the boss. "FUCKING RUN!" Sten cried, grateful that the raider captain was struggling to get his large armored frame and his rocket launcher through the relatively small door. He tossed a grenade into the doorway, hoping it would damage something important and slow him down, but knowing that it wouldn't do much against the heavy armor.

 

[Ythania]

As much as Scout enjoyed being peppered with bullets, she enjoyed caving in the skulls of whoever was trying to turn her into a human sieve even more. Luckily, the combined firepower of Sten and Beau pulled through, though admittedly Beau had worse aim than she did so she could hardly call it firepower but more of a glorified distraction. Either way, it did the trick - Scout was out of her predicament and ready to do what she did best, senseless and brutal murder.

And she was sorely disappointed. Sten had already located the prisoner in the trailer next to Scout and he was giving the order to retreat when, suddenly, a loud bang and a suit of power armour tried to push its way out of the trailer, rocket launcher in hand. Scout's mouth hung open as she stood and stared for a brief second, trying to figure out what she was meant to be doing in order to take that beast down, until Sten's grenade answered it for her - she was meant to run, and run very quickly. Her armour would not even begin to survive a rocket blast.

So Scout turned on her heels and ran. She ran, initially, for cover and burst into the trailer where a man and a woman were sitting, just about as dumbfounded as she was, with the door hanging wide open. The adrenaline had made her jumpy and it mixed with the leftovers of the Jet buzz to create a senseless, panicked fog over her reasoning. One of these two must be the prisoner, but she did not know who, so she did the most practical thing; she took both.

And by taking both, she actually lunged into the cell, grabbed the man by the waist, ignoring his protests which she could barely hear because that power armour was attempting to kick the door frame of the trailer wide enough to get out of, and then wrapped an arm around the waist of the scrawny woman. "Come on!" she yelled - it was more self encouragement than an order to the prisoners. Frankly, she couldn't care less for either of them, but one of them would give her a few more caps and she was really in the mood for some more Jet.

In the space of a couple of minutes, the trailer door burst open again and Scout was carrying two people in a fireman's hold as she ran full speed out of the campsite towards Beau, metal armour clunking and twisting with every heavy footfall. Her breath came out in heavy pants. "Going to need a distraction, Beau!" she cried out worriedly as she passed the youth and a crater from an explosive, continuing to run until she had broken into the twisted trees and then ran some more out of sheer panic. She missed Atom's vantage point by a fair few metres but she assumed that everyone had scattered - at least, she hoped that everyone scattered.

Once she was certain that she was not followed and after a few painstaking minutes of listening for explosions, Scout laid the prisoners down with extreme care. She was shaken up - who would have ever expected a rocket launcher to be in their arsenal? She looked around, and realised with a sinking feeling in her stomach that she was well and truly lost with two scrawny prisoners to look after. Her chest was still heaving from her mad sprint.

The man had not gotten up again and Scout realised right away that he had struck his temple on one of the screws jutting out of her shoulder pads and he was unconscious. She nudged him once with her boot, wincing a little and biting her lip anxiously. Truly, she looked remarkably more feminine when she was frightened. Her hands were shaking and her green eyes were wide with fear, lips puckered up into a nervous pout as she looked around searchingly. Eventually, she turned her attention to Jacki.

"I'm-...sorry, I don't usually grab people without their permission, b-but the...situation called for it." panted Scout. She was certain she heard a blast coming from somewhere. Completely oblivious to Jacki's possible reaction to the whole ordeal, Scout did not offer any words of comfort, or any assurances that she was not about to hurt the two prisoners any more - instead, she skipped straight to "We need to find a way back to the others."

 

[HolyFudgeBars]

Jacki stared at the ghoul as he shot the lock and watched on as the gate swung open and the smaller man demanded they follow before fleeing the doorway of the trailer they were being held in. She spared a glance at her cell mate and he shrugged in her direction obviously just as confused. Jacki wasn't about to look a gift brahmin in the mouth. If an angry tiny ghoul had decided to save her, for whatever reason, who was she to question? Before she could get the rest of her wits about herself and start moving the super mutant, who she now realized was definitely a not super mutant, came barrelling in. A shocked silence settled in the room despite the gunshots and commotion outside and she gapped at the hulking woman before whipping her head around to look at the man next to her. "Do you know these people?!"

She never got his response though, because before he could speak, he screamed. The massive figure had lunged and hauled him into the air and she followed shortly after and a string of curses left her mouth in response to her feet leaving the ground. "Can you not?!" She screamed as they where lugged out of the trailer but any further protest died in her throat as she caught sight of the massive figure struggling through the frame of a door nearby. "Nevermind Biggins! Faster!" her voice broke into a shrill screech to be heard over the gunfire and she clung to the woman's, who Jacki had decided in a panic to call Biggins, arm.

Jacki glanced at the pretty face hiding behind a rock when they passed him, listening to Biggins shout something about a distraction but her gaze focused instead on a fallen raider near him. "Ey that's mine!" Her hand shot out to point at a shotgun with a streak of purple paint on the stock the raider had been using, that had fallen close to Biggins's pretty friend. She watched after his figure growing smaller as their reckless charge continued, unsure if he heard her in their brief passing, and cursed dropping her arm. This day was going to absolute shit.

A couple of moments later she found herself gently lowered to the ground and she quickly untangled herself from Biggins and the now unconscious man when her feet touched the ground. She watched the much larger woman nudge the man with her foot and Jacki took a moment to process all of the things that had just happened to her in the span of maybe five minutes. It only took her a few moments to decide how she felt about the situation.

She was livid.

She sucked in a mouthful of air to scream at Biggins, but that caught in her throat when the other woman turned her massive figure towards her and apologized. Jacki's slender hand found it's way to her hip and she let out a frustrated sigh realizing that yelling at a person almost twice your size, who had weapons, probably wasn't the best idea. "I. . .look whatever cher, it's fine." She glanced around assessing the area they had stopped in and turned her attention to the man near her feet. "Listen I ain't against trying to find the rest of y'all, whoever y'all are, long as you ain't tying to shoot me. That's fine, we cool. I'm not about to carry him though so I guess you had better pick him back up Biggins." Her speech was choppy and quick thanks to her settlements creole dialect, and, at times, almost intelligible when coupled with the drawl she had developed over her life, which despite her speech speed still managed to drag out some of her vowels. Without another word Jacki crossed her arms and flashed Biggins what she hoped was a friendly smile, motioning for her to lead the way. After all Jacki had no clue who the "others" were let alone which direction to go to find them.

 

[Tyrannosaurus Rekt]

Beau gave a thumbs up to Atom as he cleared out his aggressors. The other man then disappeared. Snipers were like that, though. Your best friend when you knew they were there, and your worst enemy when you didn't.

He hunkered down behind the rock again, firing bursts of his laser rifle into the air. Unfortunately, whatever Sten and Scout were doing fishooked the attention. Beau peered up from his rock. He caught Scout barreling from the compound like an angry Brahmin. There were some people underneath her arms as she plowed straight towards him. "Shit, Scout!" Beau pulled up his rifle and tried to peg a few of the raiders that followed after her. He managed to catch one in the stomach, but his other shots missed.

Scout passed him full throttle. She asked for a distraction. "Is that all I'm good for? I'm a person ya'know." He smiled. The woman, curvy and delicious like a cake, exclaimed about her gun. First, he had to take care of those tailing his strong-yet-sexy cohort and then he'd fish the gun out. If the woman was a good shooter, they would need that.

Numerous raiders followed after Scout. Beau let out a whistle between his teeth. It would be hard to dissuade this company, violently, to leave them alone. He fired away, taking a few down with non-fatal injuries. His rifle clicked as it needed another fusion cell. Shit. He was going through these like candy. Ugh. Why weren't any of these guys Robotrons? That's where he shined. Well, that and getting a lucky lady, or man, in the sheets.

"Fine, I don't like money." He grabbed two of his grenades. They were for machines, but he figured their combined effort would do something. "But I love money." He hoisted them over the rocks. One managed to hit one raider square in the chest, electrocuting him and stunning his friends. Another got lodged in a rock. "Well, shit."

Beau tried to quickly trade out his fusion cell. His fingers felt thick and greasy while he attempted it. There was an explosion, though, and a loud yell. He peered from behind his post to see that his grenade had dislodged a large rock, which had dislodged more rocks, which in turn had created a very subdued avalanche.

Instead of congratulating his luck, as he liked to do, he looked around for one the gun that the prisoner had mentioned. It was easy to find the thing that didn't look like anything else the raiders owned. It wasn't a far stretch to imagine that hardboiled man-killers weren't into the color purple. He scooped it up and bolted to where Scout had run off to.

By the time he reached the both of them, he was heaving. Physical activity was not his forte. Sure, he was far from lithe or fat, but he wasn't drenched in muscle like some of his companions.

"This… yours?" Beau asked, thrusting the shotgun towards the woman.

"Good… job… Scout." He smiled brightly as he straightened, finally catching his breath.

 

[Ythania]

Scout had limited contact with the creole peoples in her vault; there were only a couple of families who were of creole descent, and they largely kept to themselves. It was a shame, since her fascination with different cultures and traditions was something which she brought along with her from the vault to the wasteland, only to be disheartened by the fact that most cultures had blended into one violent, instable and universal mixture under the umbrella term "Wastelander". To see and hear a creole woman speak again was...quite the surprise, and Scout pulled a shocked face as the words poured out of the smaller woman's mouth at a speed which Scout could barely comprehend. The fact that she was still recovering from the heart-stopping fear of a rocket to the back, the distinct lack of Jet in her system and the exhaustion from lugging full metal armour and two human beings all jointed together to further inhibit her train of thought. It took her several seconds to decipher what the woman just said.

"Don't call me Biggins," she stated flatly, her look of confusion falling back into her natural blank expression. Now that her mind had caught up with her, Scout realised that she was lost, tired, and unofficially looking after two other people, only one of which was actually useful. The small, snappy woman was giving her a headache; Scout hoped the man who she knocked unconscious was the true hostage so she could shake off this other irritant at the next settlement. "And I did not think you would be able to carry him anyway," she added monotonously as she hefted the man into her arms. He stank of urine and sweat, but then again, most things in this dystopian mire tended to smell anyway so Scout ignored it.

"I am afraid I do not know the way back to the others, since I was busy running away from the man with the rocket launcher," announced Scout as she doubled back on herself and began plodding towards the last place she had seen the rest of the mercs. Silently, the woman prayed that there wasn't a man in a metal suit coming the other direction. "Hopefully, we'll bump into them s-"

Scout moved with a fluidity that certainly took a lot of skill to master in such heavy armour; one arm pushed the unconscious man up and over her shoulder whilst the other simultaneously grabbed her gun and cocked it using her thigh, aiming directly towards the running figure in the trees. She only lowered her gun a little when she realised it was Beau, and watched him warily as he handed the aforementioned shotgun towards Jacki. She put away her gun shortly afterwards as Beau turned to look at her. "Good… job… Scout." He smiled brightly as he straightened, finally catching his breath.

It had been a long time since anyone complimented Scout for anything, most of the people she met were too intimidated or too dead to spare any common decency. So when she received the praise, her face briefly lit up like a Christmas tree; for two short seconds, that passive expression broke into a small, yet genuine smile. "Thank you," she responded quietly, before looking away out of embarrassment. Quickly, she reverted back to her usual mood, continuing with "but we need to find everyone else. Did you see which way Sten or Atom ran off to?"

Scout really hoped that Sten was alright, purely because he seemed to be the contract-holder in their deal - hostage or no, Scout would be hard pressed to have to return to that pre-war motel without him and demand payment without also having to explain how their employer died in the process of completing the job, especially if she did not see it. Settlers had a stronger code of honour than mercenaries, and Scout doubted whether or not they would pay someone if they thought there were any shady dealings in progress. She started to walk in the direction Beau came running from, not bothering to wait for the other two to catch up.

 

[HolyFudgeBars]

Jacki raised an eyebrow when the woman before her protested to her nickname but offered no alternative. Unsure what to call the giant, Jacki watched the unconscious man get hefted into the air again and shrugged her shoulders. "Well you right about me not being able to carry him, so a least we on the same page." She turned ready to follow the mercenary to where ever, preferring to follow a woman who didn't know where she was going and had weapons, rather than part ways by herself with nothing. Jacki froze when the gun was raised and whipped her head in the direction it was pointed, watching the pretty face from before come running up to them. Her eyes lit up when she saw the shotgun and eagerly snatched it from his hands when it was offered.

"Bessie!" The shotgun turned over in Jacki's hands, deft finger sliding over the firearm, as she inspected one of her oldest companions. "Bessie" had saved her life more times then she could count and she was grateful to have the gun back in her grasp. She flicked her eyes up when Biggins was addressed and almost laughed aloud when Jacki realized her name was Scout. She turned towards Scout prepared to make a playful remark about her name and paused when she saw the smile plastered across her face, then Jacki blinked and it was gone.

Jacki glanced back at her gun, snarky quip forgotten, and evaluated that cute expression she had just seen before quietly deciding something regarding Scout. This much larger deathclaw of a person was actually kind of adorable, maybe even pretty, in a weird intimidating sort of way. She forced her attention back to the shotgun and checked how many shells Bessie had left, noting that she had one shot until she got some more ammo.

"Thanks, cher." Jacki winked at Beau and started after Scout when she began to walk away. "You let me know if there's anything I can do to make this up to you, same goes to you Scout."

 

[Grothnor]

A muffled 'krump' of explosives going off nearby seized the groups attention, followed by shouting and gunfire. The group hid behind whatever they could find before Sten burst into view some distance away. They could see him quickly drop a frag mine onto the ground and cover it with some dirt before sprinting behind a tree. A raider could be heard shouting, "I hear him, he's over here!" before entering the clearing and stepping on Sten's mine. The small victory was foreshadowed by the entrance of the raiders' power-armored leader, barreling through with his hydraulically enhanced speed. He swung his RPG around one handed, seeking a target, but Sten had hidden himself well. Two other raiders caught up to him and beheld what had befallen their comrade. "Dammit, they got Jackal!"

"Maybe we should just let them go, boss," the other suggested. "I mean, we can't find this one guy and he's just been picking us off."

The raider boss whipped around and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground. "We are going to FIND HIM!" The boss screamed, clearly on psycho or some other combat stimulant. "We are going to FIND HIM, we are going to KILL HIM, and then we will MAKE HIM SUFFER!" The boss dropped his recalcitrant underling and continued to scream threats, unaware of Sten's presence or that of the rest of the team.

Sten slunk off surreptitiously, patiently waiting for his opportunity. His plan was to keep the raiders off his team- Heh, my team- as they got out, regrouped and hopefully came back for him. As much as he'd like to say that they had 'taught the raiders a lesson', he figured the raider leader wasn't the type to listen to reason. He couldn't take out the raider captain alone: frag grenades and mines did little against the welded plate and his pistol was practically worthless. All he had was the block of C4, and I only get one shot. Can't do that without a distraction. If only I had my sniper rifle, I could aim for the joints. May as well wish for Atom's .50 cal. Best I can do now is whittle away at their numbers and avoid the boss.

 

[Ythania]

Scout was honestly surprised there were enough trees to hide behind, since she thought she ran in a more-or-less straight line. The moment she saw the explosion, instinctively, she tried to quickly guide Jacki towards cover alongside her at the base of the thick bayou. As carefully as she could, she lay down her male hostage onto the floor - these two were the money makers, and since she didn't know which one held the bounty, she had to look after them both. Her dulled green eyes observed the scene before her as Sten ran right past, unaware of their presence, and rushed off to hide some distance away.

"Jesus..." murmured Scout. She was completely aware that Jesus, God, and all the trappings of Christianity had completely burnt up after the War and knew that she was one of the only people left who still knew about the supposed prophet, so not only did she sound weird praying to some random man, but she hoped that said man might take a little pity on these particular wastelanders who are about to face a man on Psycho.

The nightmare drug. Scout knew, in excruciating detail, the full extent of Psycho on a man's capacity to harm; anyone caught in the crossfires of someone tweaked on Psycho did not have long to live, let alone someone with power armour and an RPG. She also knew that someone on Psycho had slower reactions. Nevertheless, if that crazed man started shooting missiles towards either Sten or the rest of the team...even if he missed, the trees falling would take a few of them out. The creatures he would attract from the canopy would probably come down and rip them all to shreds. The shrapnel would cause significant damage to anyone unlucky enough to get near, and with someone on Psycho, there's no knowing where he would aim.

So the plan was simple - stop him from being able to shoot that RPG. And she saw a solution, plain as day, sitting right in front of her.

Scout weighed up her options. She could either sit in the shadows and try to take potshots at the raiders, wasting ammo and time and risking everyone's lives (again, she doubted any of them could dodge a rocket) in the process. She was a hands-on fighter anyway, and if she managed it - IF she managed it - she could eliminate the threat in one blow. The only problem would be the raiders, who would most likely leap on her like a bunch of rabid hounds, but when wasn't she able to patch herself up afterwards? She gingerly touched her scar on her face as she thought over her likelihood of survival. Her heart was beating fast. What did she have to live for anymore? If she managed it, she had bragging rights for years to come.

Besides...she couldn't let Sten die. Purely because he was going to pay her. In fact, if she successfully completed her attack, Sten would probably give her a raise - and even if he didn't, Scout would demand it. All in all, it seemed to be a decent course of action; a gamble, life or death for some more coins and a bit of boasting...Finally, Scout knew what it was to be a mercenary.

Scout peered over at Jacki. "If he fires that RPG, we're all dead meat - no matter where the rocket hits. You wanted to repay me, right?" Scout peered over at the madman on Psycho and reached behind her, grabbing her jet inhaler and taking a puff. "...Cover me, but don't shoot until I've punched that guy in the face. Here we go-" she hissed to herself as the Jet kicked in. No turning back now - Scout broke cover and made a break for the raider leader.

With Jet in her system, she moved significantly faster than her usual slow jog - she practically sprinted towards the man with the rocket launcher. By the time the raider leader realised she was there and had to manoeuvre the hydraulics of his power armour to aim at her, Scout had closed the gap, bent her knees, leapt and bodily threw herself at the mass of metal before her. The two collided with a bang, and the combined effort of a drugged-up Scout, her scrap metal armour, and the sudden crashing of all of her trinkets in their pouches moving towards the power armour were enough to just tip them past the raider leader's centre of mass. With a creak and a deafening crash, Scout tackled and tipped the power armour over. She immediately drew her fist back and smashed it into the raider leader's face for good measure, a rush of anger and indignation coursing through her. How dare they try to shoot Sten down.

And, naturally, by becoming so utterly reckless Scout received the full repercussions as another ear-splitting bang and a flash of white drew her attention from beating the everloving crap out of the raider leader's face to the brand new bullet wound in her side, just under her chest plate. The bullet ripped through the muscle and sinew and came out at the other end, blood oozing liberally from either side. Scout let loose a ragged gasp as the pain shot through her chest and she went into a panicked frenzy, rolling off her initial target and trying to kick the raider who shot at her in the shins. As she rolled, she snatched the RPG lying on the floor and held it away from the raider leader stubbornly. Another bang - another raider shot her in the shoulder and Scout grinned in pain. She swapped hands so she held the rocket launcher in her good arm and scrambled for cover. A bullet narrowly missed her neck as she dived behind a tree and kept going, not noticing she was laughing until she had put a little distance between herself and the angry raiders in the clearing and hid the RPG under some thorny shrubs.

She knew she would have to pay for getting hit, but the Jet kept her going. Charlie withdrew her pipe pistol, turning and running towards the clearing again so everyone else could get a clear shot at the other raiders whilst she shot, missing almost every time.

 

[Tyrannosaurus Rekt]

Scout's smile was small and cute, and then it was gone. Was she not the sort that was complimented much? Probably not, given her appearance. Those people had been idiots. Scout's human luggage thanked him for her weapon back. He tilted his hat down, grabbing the brim and angling it her direction. "Glad I could be of service."

Beau was about to say something else when an explosion of noise happened in close proximity. He ducked behind the nearest skeletal stump out of instinct. Cover was his friend, his lover, and his guardian angel. He peered out to watch Sten enter a clearing, not far from where they were. Shit. Boss man. Sten hid as the raiders filled the clearing.

Scout wasted no time in going full throttle. Beau watched. As she went into the raider's power-armor-covered boss fists-a-flying, he may have gawked. No. No, I need to help. He grabbed his laser rifle and pulled it up. It let out a sweet foo. Shit, he needed reload. He tried to do as quickly as he could, but his fingers fumbled in the light of Scout being harmed.

He brought the gun up about the time she was vaulting back towards cover with the RPG. There was a lot of blood on her. Was it hers? Was it the raiders? Why hadn't he been more prepared?

By that time, the raiders turned their attention towards their hiding place. Another group of them tried to get their leader back on two feet again.

If Beau had had a shot at it, he might have been able to get the power armor open and the raider yanked out of it. But now, the element of surprise wasn't theirs to have. Then again, he'd have to deal with the RPG that Scout managed to claw from the leader. There was no win-win solution, here.

That being said, did they even need to handle the leader? Beau didn't know the specifics of the contract, but there were obviously hostages involved. Still, if they didn't deal with this man and his power armor now, whoever Sten and his gang were working for might have a hard time with the raiders in the future. Especially considering they were all riled up.

Shots burst around them. They weren't very accurate, and so Beau didn't seek deeper cover. "Hey," he said in a coarse whisper. "I can take care of the power armor. I might be able to blow it up, or at least put it out of commission. I just need some cover. Like. A lot of cover." He looked at the saucy hostage. "And I expect you to help supply it. I think Scout is injured." He paused. "And don't ask me how I know about power armor. Long story."

 

[HolyFudgeBars]

Jacki flinched when she heard the explosives go off her eyes widening slightly as she looked around before following the example of the Faceman. Her thin frame quickly seeking out a nearby tree trunk to hide behind. She followed the gazes of her new companions and watched as the small angry ghoul from before single handedly pissed off the walking pain train made of power armour the raiders called a leader.

It was unfortunate, she thought to herself watching the raiders scramble to try and find the ghoul at their bosses command, that the short ghoul was going to most likely meet his end this way. Who was she to have that sacrifice be in vain? The least she could do for the angry man was make it out alive. She turned her head ready to voice this to Scout and watched as the monolith of a woman barrelled towards the group in the clearing, but not before telling Jacki that she could be repaid in the form of cover.

These people were crazier than a Yao Guai on buffjet.

She watched, jaw slack, as Scout began to beat the leader's face in after wrestling the man to the ground. Her attention to the scene was interrupted by someone speaking to her and she nearly rolled her eyes as the man next to her also demanded cover fire. She glanced at Bessie in her hands and sighed as she pumped the shotgun in her grip, preparing her last round. Her eyes scanned the clearing, watching briefly Scout retreat into the trees, and they lit up when she caught sight of a raider wielding a shotgun too. She sighed as she mapped her chosen path in her mind one more time and tossed a glance downwards at the Face.

"I hope y'all are getting paid, cause you can bet your ass I want a cut."

And then Jacki was off as fast as her legs could carry her towards the raiders, cursing as bullets began to fly past her head. One of the raiders, the one with shotgun, glanced over his shoulder to see what the commotion was about just in time to shout in surprise as Jackie used the momentum of her sprint to slam the stock of her gun into his face, sending them toppling backwards. A grunt left her lips as she slammed on top of the disoriented raider and she quickly whipped her head to the side finding her target. She aimed in the general direction of the legs of one of the raiders helping their boss to his feet and she fired, smirking to herself as the man cried out and dropped, the weight of the power armour falling on top him. The others stared shocked at the scene and Jacki had just enough time to get to her feet, snatching up the raider's shotgun, before they turned on her guns already firing.

A bullet grazed her arm and Jacki cursed aloud as she began to run towards the trees on the opposite side of the clearing not wanting to draw the fire back towards the only one who claimed to be able of taking care of this power armour. She slid behind a toppled trunk and peered over the log, ducking as soon as a bullet flew past her head. She quickly crawled behind a tree and loaded Bessie with the shells from the gun she had stolen, assessing the situation she had created. She had at least managed to draw fire away from both Scout and the pretty boy and gotten ammo for her gun. Sure, Jacki had people aggressively trying to kill her right now, but at least she had a new better location for providing cover fire. Peering from behind the tree she fired at a raider that was getting to close and decided to herself that if she got killed doing this and they all made it out okay, she was going to haunt the hell out of them.

 

[Grothnor]

Sten was shocked, first that his team was doing the ambushing, second that Scout just rushed a power-armored foe and punched him in the face. He then sucked his teeth in a mix of amusement and annoyance, both grateful for his team's assistance and peeved at it's sloppiness. He opened fire on the raiders next to the leader and between him and the rest of the team gunned them down, though not before they had put some holes in Scout. Pulling out his block of C4, he prepared to charge the raider leader and plant it on before he could react. A risky move, but now's the time, if ever. However, before he could move out of cover, Beau managed to hit him in the back with his laser rifle as he struggled to pick himself up. The raider collapsed, and Sten took a moment to realize that the bolt of energy didn't actually penetrate and hit the raider captain, but rather fried the fusion core powering his armor. Immobilized by the weight of the armor, the raider screamed obscenities at his dead men, at his power armor and mostly at Scout. Sten ran up and put a round into his skull, silencing his futile ravings.

He walked over to Scout, unceremoniously jabbing her with a stimpack to stabilize her. "Dunno if you're crazy, stupid or just looking for a bonus. Or all fucking three." He handed her his flask of scotch. "You look like you could use this." He moved back to inspect the raider captain, finding the fusion core was indeed fused solid from an energy blast. "Hmm... nice work." Not many people know how to disable power armor like that. He didn't feel any need to inquire how he knew that. Everyone's got a past, me especially. He tensed as he detected someone approaching, but relaxed once he realized it was the Lone Atom. "That was pretty cool guys," he said, tossing Sten's sniper rifle back to him. "Though I had you covered the whole time." He patted his .50 caliber to make his point. Sten nodded. Maybe they aren't as bad as I thought. He briefly checked his sniper rifle's condition before slinging it over his shoulder and calling out, "Alright, same as before: share bullets and caps, keep everything else. Wrap things up quick and lets get outta here."

The group headed back warily, keeping an eye out for raiders and helping Scout and Sam the unconscious hostage along. By the time they reached the parking lot where they first encountered the raiders, they relaxed, at least until Atom spotted a scavenger. They needed some time to rest and get Scout and Sam in better shape for traveling, so Sten and Beau went down to try talking to him, if only to make sure he wouldn't bother them one way or another.

 

[Ythania]

Scout eventually gave up on shooting the raiders because every shot of hers missed. It took her a moment to realise why - she was losing blood, and fast. One of the main problems Scout had with getting hurt was the fact that the Jet had a weird way of improving her reactions but numbing her body, plus she was so used to the familiar sharp aches that she never took any notice of them when they started to ripple through her body in the first place. She looked down at herself with surprise at the amount of red that had pooled on her clothes and armour and quietly slid back behind the tree, tentatively taking off her shoulderpad to have a look at the shoulder wound.

As she thought, the bullet was lodged in the fat and sinew just under her shoulder, in the arm-pit. Scout bit her lip thoughtfully; she had to get the bullet out, one way or another, but she did not have the appropriate tools. Even if she did, she didn't have anything to disinfect them. Gingerly, Scout felt for the bullet and breathed a sigh of frustration. The bullet had actually shattered in her shoulder, she could feel at least three fragments and as the pain began to increase Scout knew for certain that she would barely be able to move her arm as the Jet wore off.

Dimly, Scout noticed that the shots were becoming more and more scarce and she could hear the raider leader, screaming and cursing her. From the sounds of it, he couldn't move...it brought a smile to Scout's lips as she put pressure onto her chest wound with her good arm. The bullet went right through, and it was hard to breathe, but Scout thanked her lucky stars that it didn't scrape her ribs and break them. Furthermore, she silently thanked her team; Scout knew for certain that if they didn't take the lead and distract the raiders, she'd be dead meat. She rather grumpily mused over Sten's bad luck in all of this, dragging those raiders behind him...just as she thought about him, the ghoul walked over and slammed a stimpack into her back.

Scout grunted and shot a reproachful look at him. "Just the last one. How did I manage to lose their trail and you did not? I thought you were the stealthy one." She took the scotch, sniffed it and as Sten wandered off, dabbed some onto her wounds. She knew better than to drink alcohol with open wounds, it would only encourage the bleeding. As the stimpack worked its way through her wounds, barely sealing them shut - bullet and all - Scout mused over the ambush uncertainly. Why did she charge the raider leader? She thought it was for money, but she never cared for caps unless it bought her Jet - and she had plenty of that. Another part of her said it was so she wouldn't get shot by an RPG, but charging the leader just increased her chances of a rocket to the gut...

Scout stared at Sten thoughtfully. Then she knocked her head against the tree-trunk to empty her brain of all these invasive, annoying thoughts that were muddled around her head. I don't like them, I just want to get paid, she told herself firmly as she got up to her feet. The stimpack wouldn't hold her injuries closed forever, especially since they had to get moving, so she knew that she would have to work fast.

Scout wandered past Sten, tossing him back his flask. "Thank you," she called out idly, still soaked in blood. She had taken off both shoulderpads and clipped them onto her armour. Scout briefly glanced over at Jacki and Beau as she knelt down, grabbed the unconscious man (still rather impressed and disappointed that he had managed to stay unconscious all this time, Scout was certain she did not hit him that hard...then again, Scout had a habit of hitting things too hard) and threw him over her good shoulder with a grunt. She couldn't use her right arm and kept it as still as possible, knowing that the bullet shards would shred her shoulder muscle if she wasn't careful. The result was a very...precarious way of carrying the man by shifting her weight to the side a little and shrugging him up a little whenever he started to fall off, the same way one would shrug a loose backpack strap further up their shoulder. Except it was a human being. She alternated between a hand on her chest wound or on the man's hip to keep him steady. She completely forgot about the loot.

She kept going in grim silence, quietly plodding along. About halfway there she really started to feel the pain and her breath became shallow, and as the team were nearing the parking lot Scout was lagging behind and looking a bit peakier than normal. In reality, she was very stubbornly keeping herself as nonchalant about her wounds as possible to avoid looking weak, but...the others didn't need to know about that. She could handle her own. She hoped.

It was Atom who spotted him first - Scout collapsed into a sitting position, quietly muttering something about how she was just catching her breath as she rolled the hostage off her shoulder and checked her wounds. As she thought, they had opened again, a congealed mass of red fusing her clothes to her chest. When she felt the shrapnel in her shoulder, she was pleased that it had hardly moved. "I may need-...a moment, when we get to the...the settlement, to fix these injuries p-properly." she stated monotonously, struggling to get the words out. She leant back and squinted at the forms of Sten and Beau, trying to see what they were doing, and her eyes ran across the unsteady gait of the scavenger...

...And she began to laugh. Low, pained chuckles escaping from her lips as she shook her head, grinning. It looked like Scout had either finally found a sense of humour, or lost enough blood to go delirious. "Lucky, lucky me," she said to no-one in particular as she took the safety off her pipe gun and shot twice into the air, holding her pipe gun, arm raised, so everyone could clearly see her.

BANG BANG.

 

[Crysodic]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Swan patted down the last of the bandits, making sure to dump out every bag to eventually end up with nothing. [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]Fresh kills yet still picked clean. Efficient and thorough, have to give them that at least.[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent] He ignored the one that was leaning onto the car, as it's arm was positioned in a way suggesting being killed while being held hostage, or surrendering. The shot to the head at the high angle also gave the fact away. Swan pushed the pipe rifle back up his shoulder while making sure to not stab himself in the head again with the rebar at the barrel. There was already too many scratches on the back of his head from the metal and he surely didn't need more. He picked up his syringe gun off the cracked ground and checked the air for the seventh time today. The dial showed a half of tank of air, like it always have every other time he has checked it. Swan made himself stand, finally giving up on getting anything from the bodies and deciding it's time to move on. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]After a few moments of contemplation on where he should go next, he heard footsteps start walking his way. Swan turned his head to see a rough and tumble Ghoul and a baby faced, gold haired man, both armed and calmly walking up to him. He has seen this before, raiders pretending to be nice and then an ambush. Swan quickly looked over his options of either running or fighting. As there is no cover that involves him living, getting the first move sounded better. A small hiss came from the Syringe Launcher and then the rusty barrel of the gun raised up into the air and pointed at the Ghouls neck. A rush of air flowed through the metal and launched out a small syringe filled with something that looked like a light green liquid before attaching itself into the neck of the Ghoul and pushing itself into the bloodstream of it. Seconds passed and the man stood there with a very confused face, probably wondering what just happened. Swan then realized that the Ghoul has not dropped unconscious and was now probably very angry. "Uh. Oh." The clattering of the syringe gun echoed through the mini parking lot as Swan dropped the gun and quickly put his hands up surrendering. "I-Uh....I didn't do it. Wasn't me. Youve..you have a thing in your neck." Swan pointed to the area where the syringe hanged onto the wrinkled skin before putting his hands back up. "Can I uh. Can I have it? I kinda..I need it. Not mine though, someone elses...I didn't do it."[/BCOLOR]​

 

[Tyrannosaurus Rekt]

All it took was the vivacious woman's attack to render the raider captain prone in a way that was beneficial to them all. Beau sighed and he pulled up his laser rifle. This was a perfectly good waste of power armor. Poor, poor power armor. He pulled the trigger. He was a shit shot, usually, but the target was stationary. The blast connected with the fusion core and the entire power armor shut down. Beau's father told him that was the best way to stop power armor. Beau's father had only told him that because the raiders had made off with some old Brotherhood armor only a week before. He feared them invading Red Stick.

Beau touched the tag underneath his shirt as he watched Sten end this thing. Everyone's combined gun power decimated the raiders. They'd been successful. Yet, they caused quite a stir, and they needed to get out of here.

Sten approached them, jammed a stimpak into Scout, and thanked Beau. He hesitated. Wait. Did he just get thanked by the ghoul? The ghoul that had been so proud of slaughtering merchants the night before. Beau choked down a smile. He had to. If Sten saw it, well, he'd never hear the end of it. Fortunately, Sten didn't ask how Beau knew how to shut down power armor like that. Of course, Beau had some bullshit reason, but the less he said, the less he could get in trouble for.

They left area, quickly. Of course, quick may have been in the eye of the beholder. It was quick considering they had an injured woman and an unconscious man. For all the predators out there in the Louisiana Wastes, it was far less speedy.

They regrouped at the parking lot. It hadn't even fully been a day, and already Beau was returned to his previous adventures. Yet, unlike his previous partner, Sten and his crew seemed quite glad to welcome him aboard. He was quite giddy about that, and so much so that he may have winked a few times at their newest member. Of course, he introduced himself. "Beauregard Arsenault," he's said, proudly. "Though, most just call me Beau."

Things didn't settle down into the macabre until they tried to hunker down to take care of Scout and the unconscious man. Atom reported that there was a scavenger amongst the cars where the previous battle had taken place. Sten volunteered him and Beau to check it out. Power armor, check. Charming people into submission, check. Being sad that I wasted a lot of grenades and power cells on stupid raiders, check.

As they approached the lone raider there was a pneumatic hiss and suddenly Sten had a syringe sticking out of his neck. Beau went to say something, but he had nothing to say. Sten seemed Sten-ish in his acceptance of the new appendage. Meaning, the ghoul was probably pissed. Beau immediately turned his attention to the ghoul-assaulting-syringe-shooter. The man seemed extremely confused at what had just gone on, as if both Beau and Sten had lost their minds between here and a few steps ago.

"I'm not even going to dignify what you just said with an answer," Beau said. "But look, I realize these are tough times, and you're hurting. But we're the good guys." Maybe. Honestly. Maybe. "We don't mean you any harm. We just came back from a shootout with some raiders, and were looking to huddle down. We were just making sure you weren't hostile." He pointed to the ground where the syringe shooter was. "I hate to say this, my friend, but shooting a syringe is pretty hostile. I'm sure Sten is agreeance with this, but we might need you to come with us. I assure you, we'll not harm you." Yet, he saw the corpse of the woman he'd promised the same to. She was right there, a screaming dead reminder. This time, though, Beau would try to stay Sten's hand… if only because this man was obviously scared. He wasn't a raider—well at least he had better manners and survival instinct anyway. "And, to be honest, if those things were meant to harm… I'm sure you got ones that intend to help. And we have some friends that need helping. Though if you intend to harm us anymore we have an angry ghoul," Beau said, motioning to Sten. "A killer mutant in human form," with an adorable smile, but the scavenger didn't need to know that, "a sniper, and a woman who really loves plugging holes with her shotgun. So, best behavior, yeah?" Beau winked.

 

[Grothnor]

Sten's default scowl deepened when the scavver shot him in the neck. He figured that he should pull it out, but he wasn't really feeling the effect of the dart, whatever it was. He locked his eyes to the scavver's with a glare that continued through Beau's speech. After Beau finished, Sten just let the silence linger for a few moments, savoring the awkward silence and trying not to let the syringe's effects show. The drugs were starting to have an effect, but Sten would be damned before he let the scavver know. He delicately pulled the syringe from his neck, briefly examining the dart before tossing it aside. "You a doctor?" He said evenly. "If you are, then it's your lucky day: one of ours needs medical attention. You help her out, and I'll pay you. If you don't..." He unholstered his pistol. "...Let's just say I'd be okay with either option."

 

[HolyFudgeBars]

Jacki's eyes flicked around the ragtag group she had now fallen in with from where she had crouched next to Scout, who seemed to be slowly but surely bleeding out. This could have been worse. This mismatched band of mercenaries seemed to be an eclectic menagerie of people but they could have killed her instead of the seeming adoption into their ranks she had gotten. They knew she wasn't the hostage they were getting paid for but no one tried to kill her (yet) and they seemed content to let her stay after she had proven herself as useful.

It was a far cry from the kindness she had experienced growing up in a tight knit community but she understood that it was her family and fellow townsmen that had been the strange ones, not everyone else. As far as the waste went these were the kindest people she was going to find in a while simply because they hadn't tried to shoot her on site and they didn't leave her for dead. No harm in taking advantage of that.

She was pulled from her thoughts as Sten, that's what everyone kept calling the tiny angry ghoul so she figured it was his name, was shot in the neck nearby and snorted as the ghoul stood unaffected, save for a new found bout of annoyance it seemed. Not bothering to reach for Bessie, Jacki listened to the scavenger deny shooting the poor ghoul on sight. The man was out numbered and she offered a lazy wave his way after Beau, the pretty face with a playful wink, had mentioned her habit of fixing people's problem of not having a shotgun buried in their gut.

Her gaze turned to Scout as Jacki lost interest in the scene unfolding before them and raised a brow, taking time to actually realize how bad the damage was on their resident Yao Guai. Those wounds probably hurt worse than a Deathclaw bite and Jacki figured the least she could do for Scout was offer her a bit of a distraction from the pain while the maybe doctor was bartered with.

"So cher, where you from?" Jacki asked and then immediately regretted her question, no one liked talking about where they were from in the wastes, herself included. She let herself land on her rear, tiring of crouching, and adjusted, turning so she had a better view of Scout where she sat nearby. "That ain't what I meant, I meant like what did you do before you fell in with the grumpiest ghoul this side of the bayou." Jacki jabbed a thumb in Sten's direction before continuing. People always seemed to open up more if you offered a little something about yourself first. "I been wanderin for bout a year naw, after I let my ol' crew. An odd job here and there, just you know, makin it. Well, I was until those brahmin fuckers decided that I'd make nice cell decor." She glanced over at Scout and offered a lopsided smile "Well then y'all came along and here I am."

 

[Crysodic]

​

Colab Swan&Scout

[BCOLOR=transparent]Swan let the golden boy speak his words, trying to brainwash him into thinking that him and his group were not hostile. He mostly ignored the talking man and saw the growing frustration in the ghoul, and started thinking how fast his death would be, rating from many stab wounds to a swift shot to the head. A few words from the talking man peaked Swan's interest, like having syringes that help. Considering he was about ten feet from a man that would probably gladly shoot him right now, he kept his comment to himself. [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]Nah, I actually don't have any that help. [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]After his speech of wisdom, and the following silence as Swan still pondered his death sentence, the ghoul spoke while also tossing the dart into a small pool of still fresh blood. "You know now I have to disinfect that. Dick." Swan remarked, lowering his arms and already starting to shift through the bag that is tied to his waist. "You know, I probably wouldn't help you and still probably shouldn't but fuck if I do. Then Gold there said something about the mutant thing that you have and that sounds awfully like my own girly, and those two shots that were behind you that you ignored and probably should be dead from if they were hostile." Swan took a break from speaking to untie the bag from around him, letting it fall to the ground. "I really should sort this better, I can't ever find shit when I need it." He knelt down and started to push what sounded like glass, plastic and metal around in the bag. "And before you ask, yes I know it's the one i'm talking about because those shots were basically words to us. And well, they did come from a mountain with red hair that is shaved on one side. So it's ninety percent who i'm thinking of. Although i'm slightly hoping not because she could have grown. And then wow, it was hard enough trying to get to her face without standing on a chair, I might have to take up climbing if so."[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]Meanwhile, on the rise, Scout was listening to Jacki instead of watching the scene unfold below her. She could deal with the pain; that part was easy. The real problem was the blood loss, which crept up on her as it usually did. Scout could feel its effects in her muscles and so she distracted herself with the quirky little woman squatting next to her. She said absolutely nothing when Jacki asked where she was from, just giving her a flat stare that revealed, even in her weakened state, that the question was a little too personal to honour with an answer. When Jacki amended her question, Scout leant back on her good arm and thought over it. "Sten's not grumpy," she noted. "He's not grumpy, he's-..." Scout struggled to find the word. How do you explain it? It was not a sour temper, more an eternal weariness with the stupidity of man. Fed up with people in all their forms. "...tired," was the word Scout decided upon, and it wasn't even close to living up to the impression Scout got from her employer. She peered at Sten, then over at Beau. "They're friendly enough though," she added - it didn't need an explanation. It looked like Scout also shared the opinion that this travelling group of killer misfits was notably more welcoming than most other groups of people in the Wasteland.[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]"As for me, for a long time I just...worked on my own. I do not work well with others." Scout mused thoughtfully, looking over at her wounds nonchalantly whilst retaining that usual blankness in her demeanour. Even two increasingly serious bullet wounds did nothing to phase her. "Before that, I used to work in an underground bar, as a singer…" Scout looked away briefly, before peering back at Jacki. "That was nice. But when the owner got into business with raiders, a lot of us ran away - myself included. You have seen what raiders can do." Scout broke off sharply and gingerly shifted her weight, letting loose a short, wet cough. The chest wound started to sting horribly.[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]Swan grabbed a inhaler canister, and its husk both marked with "J.J.B" in red smudged marker. He pushed the canister within its holder and grabbed a stim-pak with his other hand. Standing up, Swan wiggled the flap of the bag under his foot and flipped it over the exposed part before starting to head towards the two in his path. "Oh how rude of me. I'm Swan nice to meet you two." He switched the stim-pak to his other hand and grabbed the other of the ghouls hands, giving it a light shake before dropping it back to his side. Swan side stepped over to the one he called Gold and grabbed his hand too, shaking it and then dropping it back to his side. Before leaving to tend to his patient, he lightly slapped the face of Gold. "Good job, like your face. Want a taste?" Swan moved his arm with the spray behind Gold and sprayed into the air behind him. Swan gave off a slight chuckle before wandering over to the ever more clear figure.[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]Scout stared at the approaching form of Swan flatly. "You know, when you call for a hound...you expect them to drop everything and run to your heels," she remarked pointedly. There was a moment's silence before Scout's usually passive expression broke into a small smile and she chuckled quietly, shaking her head. That unshakable blankness gave way to a hint of amusement as Scout added "It is good to see you again, Swan. You are precisely the person I need." [/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Well I usually do, but that is when I was in the actual room. Now I had to actually dig around and get the things you need. And yes, you do need me considering you are pretty much close to death right now." Swan said, sitting across from Scout, rolling the plastic casing in his hand.[/BCOLOR]

​

Scout turned her head to address Jacki this time, briefly and vaguely gesturing to the approaching man. "Swan was the bar's doctor; he looked after me, the dancers, and anyone who got the idea that I was a prostitute as well as a singer."

​

[BCOLOR=transparent] "I sure was. If you saw any intense action from her, you have not seen some of her more...better pieces of art." Swan nodded towards the lady sitting next to Scout and then put his attention back towards Scout. [/BCOLOR]

​

Scout broke off into another cough and stared at the floor quietly, putting her good hand on her chest wound. "If you did not appear when you did, I would have had to patch myself up on my own…" she mused, as if her body was some sort of intriguing little toy that she needed to fix. In fact, the sheer lack of concern for her own well being bordered on arrogance - at first glance, one would probably assume she thought herself immortal. Of course, her personality clashed with this notion since she seemed dead-set on remaining as humble as possible.

​

"I could manage without you, but whilst you are here, mind helping me out a little?" asked Scout, twitching the corners of her mouth briefly into what might be translated as a smile if it lasted longer. Unfortunately it did not, mainly because she pulled her hand away from her chest and it came back red and shiny. "Oops." Scout idly wiped the blood on her sleeve and peered up at Swan dully, falling back into her usual emptiness as she waited to see what her medic had come up with this time.

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]"I come back, have not seen you in probably years and you're already saying jokes. You are lucky that I am more or less being held at gunpoint right now or I would probably leave you for another day to suffer for that." Swan pushed himself off of the ground and re-checked the tools he had. "Also, you know I am going to have to disinfect that too. I swear you just try to make things more and more hard for me." A slight smile grew on Swans lips as he held out the jet container. "Here take this. It's slightly mor-"[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]Scout snatched the container and peered at it. It looked like Jet, and Scout needed some Jet. It was one of the few moments when she actually betrayed some emotion and there was some definite desperation in her eyes as she got her fingers around the container, smearing blood on the plastic. Without even waiting for Swan to finish she put the container to her lips and pushed down hard, shutting her eyes. "I don't make things hard for you, but I am in-...a lot of pain right now, and you are talking too much." she retorted, handing him back the canister. Of course, the moment she did and caught sight of Swan's expression, hers fell into one of grim resignation. "That was not Jet, was it," she sighed.[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]"No it wasn't. Stop making me wash shit."[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]Scout's pupils dilated almost twice their usual size in a heartbeat and Scout nearly fell backwards as the unknown chem hit her system hard. She shook for a few seconds before calming down, fresh blood pouring from her wounds, breath coming out in heavy pants as she stared at her knees in awe. "Oh my god," she whispered to herself quietly, wiggling her legs about slightly. Clearly, whatever odd hallucinations that she was suffering from were certainly incredible to look at and she seemed completely numb to the pain. "Never give this to me again," she said slowly, looking up at Swan before giggling like a little schoolgirl.[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]Swan took the mixed chem and tossed it to the lady next to Scout. "Here hold this, and if you have a marker or something write down one next to the letters." Presuming she caught the case, he went to work fixing his companion. "Blood rush is new, have to remember that for later. Don't seize on me, then you probably will be dead." Strangely Swan seemed to turn much more serious than before, as he took a clean knife and cut over the weak skin of the bullet wound.[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]Scout wasn't helping in the slightest because she kept trying to grab Swan's goggles off his head, either intentionally being annoying or simply wanting the reflective lenses to look at. She was certainly very, very far gone, and she kept trying to move as if she forgot why she was lying on the dirt in the first place. "Swan, Swaaan," she whined stubbornly, "give me your goggles, Swan, they're too bright."[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]Swan tried to ignore the drugged up giant he was very carefully operating on, but she was starting to get on his nerves. "Would you stop. Stop it." He grabbed her arm and put it to her side, but it instantly shot back up to the goggles. Eventually she managed to nudge him and make Swan cut her arm slightly. "FINE JUST TAKE THE THINGS." Swan set the knife down on his own lap, slightly sighing as that is probably the fourth thing he has to waste cleaner on and took off the goggles and slipping them on her head and placing them over her eyes snugly. Now actively trying to work around Scout's new lazer eyes and her constant squirming, Swan resumed the work on the wound.[/BCOLOR]

​

Semi-Detailed Gore

[BCOLOR=transparent]Swan cut a fairly good circle, despite the obstacles given to him. "Well, it does not look too damaged considering you have been moving." Swan said to the raider looking lady, as he was not expecting any intelligent or coherent response from Scout. "Bullet is wedged though, and my pliers just broke last time I had to use them." Swan inserted the knife and after a few tries and minimal cutting of more tissue, hooked the bullet and managed to lever it out. A few [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]tings[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent] rang out as the bullet head finally came out of its host and hit the ground. Swan scraped off the knife's blood on his pants, as he was already having to clean them before, and put it back within its pocket. Gently he inserted the stim-pak's needle into the hole and pushed the plunger. New cells and skin already started to form as Swan pulled back the husk of the medical item and pocketed that as well. "More or less done. Healing and the drugs wearing off and we should be good." Swan sat and contemplated that something looked wrong with Scout, and then finally figured out what it was. He pulled out some emergency bandages, the last of them, and wrapped them around Scout's shoulder. "Ok, now we are good." But yet red still grew on Scouts clothes as Swan accidentally ignored one of the wounds. "Oh. I'll get another." Swan pushed himself up off the ground and quickly walked over to the fallen bag of his and pulled out another stim-pak, then hustling back. This time he just normally inserted the needle near the wound and pushed the plunger down. "Sorry love, I don't have any stitches with me. But now I am, for sure, one hundred percent, sort of, sure you are now ok."[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]Once the surgery was complete, Scout peered down at her bandaged shoulder in shock. She tried to get on her feet by herself and nearly tottered over again; only with the help of Swan did she manage to regain her footing. "How come you're so small, anyway?" slurred Scout, patting her doctor on the head gently. "You're like-...a child." Scout peered over at Jacki as well and then back towards Sten before her features split into a wide smile and she burst into laughter, trying to stop herself by covering her mouth with her hand. "You're all so tiny! Ohhh, my god, s'like being around a-..." Scout couldn't finish her sentence because she broke into a fit of coughs, clutching at the bullet wound in her chest. "'Mokay, I'mokay," she murmured, peering down at Jacki again as her face lit up into an amused smile.[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]As Scout managed to stand and continued to crack jokes, he took her by the hand and walked over, grabbing his bag and tying it back around his waist. Putting back the empty Stim-pak, the two walked back over to the group, Swan being slightly more happy now that his materials are back at his side.[/BCOLOR]

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[BCOLOR=transparent]Despite being as high as a kite and constantly looking around in awe, Scout blinked and instinctively wrapped her fingers around Swan's hand, shuffling along behind him with the careful footing of an unsteady drunkard. "This is hard," she mumbled, peering at the back of Swan's head. "Can I have more?....why can't I move my arm-...Oh." she peered over at her shoulder despondently.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Uh. Yea sure. You can have more…" Swan used his free hand to open the flap and look around for another jet container. After a few seconds he found what he was looking for and handed it to Scout.[/BCOLOR] [BCOLOR=transparent]Scout took the inhaler and pressed it almost out of habit more than anything else, before handing it over to Swan.[/BCOLOR] [BCOLOR=transparent]Taking back the container, he turns the Jet towards the Ghoul and shows him the back label. "Nothing" Swan then put the empty air canister back into his back and put a single finger up to his mouth signaling to be quiet. "Welp. I'm ready. Where we goin'?"[/BCOLOR]
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[Grothnor]

Sten grunted in faint surprise to find that Scout and Swan knew each other. "It's a small wasteland after all," he mused. "So, doc, seeing as you followed through fair and square, I think I owe you some caps. Problem is I don't have them with me, but I will soon enough. You're welcome to tag along until then." He then led them back to the Hotel settlement.

Apparently they had set up a watch because when they arrived, Jed was out there to greet them. He ordered one of the other settlers to take the rescued hostage inside. "Get him a room and whatever he needs." he ordered. "You did us a good turn. Here's your 300 caps, plus another 200 for bringin' Sam back in one piece."

"Pleasure doin' business, Jed." Sten shook his hand and accepted the caps. He then turned to his ragtag band and started doling out the money. "Okay, Half shares for the Doc and 'Hostage number 2' for services rendered and for holding your own, respectively." He gave then 50 caps each, "And full shares for everyone else." He doled out 100 caps to Scout, Atom and Beau each. "Now, as your employer, it is my job to maintain company morale. That said, drinks are on me." He turned to Swan and Jacki. "You're welcome to join us, if not for the next job, then for the drinks."

It was evening by the time they returned to Cobb's Pier. Sten pushed open the door to Bob's Bayou Bar (and Flophouse) and called out, "Oi, Sally!"

The waitress smiled, "You're back! How'd it go?"

Sten shrugged, "Get us a pitcher, and keep 'em coming." He dropped a handful of caps on the bar. He looked around to find that the table he sat at before was occupied. He scowled at the loss of his preferred seat. Offered good sight lines of the entire bar. Oh well. "Come on." He grumbled, planting his butt in a chair and his boots on the table, sighing from getting off his feet. Sally brought over a pitcher of beer and a bunch of glasses. "Drink up," Sten said.