AN: sleepless ramble. Fisticuff courier! Read and review please!
Sunny Smile had seen all manner of men walk through the town of Goodspring. They weren't a large prosperous town with much to offer travelers, just a small saloon and trading post that most ignored on their way to bigger and better things in the world. But still traffic had to pass by their small sleepy town, enough so that Sunny had learned to get a read on a man from a just a glance. The way he dressed, the way he held himself, the way he talked. No matter how much someone tried to hide it, they couldn't quite fully shroud their true self from her keen eyes.
Watching the man who had simply identified himself as Six work away at their makeshift firing range behind the saloon, Sunny could already tell quite a bit. He was young, perhaps a year or two behind her judging from the rather weak goatee and youthful look he sported on his rather handsome face had it not been for the mess of scars that adorned his features. Six had lived a hard life before he had lost his memories on the fateful night their local cowboy robot had found him, and it showed all across his face and the skin exposed by the vault suit the good doctor had been kind enough to provide him.
By no means was he ugly, in fact in a way the scars enhances his features by drawing attention to himself, especially those blue sapphire eyes that seemed to shine like gems. There were a number of white marks on his upper arms, evident of skin growing back over wounds that would make an onlooker wince if they were to apply their imaginations as to their origins. His hands were large solid things that could have easily wrapped themselves around the width of Sunny's biceps, and she wasn't a thin woman by any means. Large protruding knuckles that were calloused and disfigured hinted at his preferred method for engaging a foe. It certainly would explain how he had attained all those scars.
Of course there was another thing she could immediately tell after seeing him take a few shots, though that wasn't due to any extraordinary skill on her part. It was painfully obvious he had no talent for sharpshooting to put it kindly. If he had any skills with a rifle before his run in with the crooks that had tried to kill him, it had leaked out with what bits of brain matter that must have been left in the shallowly dug grave up by the hill that served as the town graveyard.
A groan of frustration from the target of her musing brought Sunny back to reality, and she couldn't help but laugh as her new acquaintance reloaded the empty cartridge.
"It doesn't seem the rifle was one of your talents," she teased as her companion straightened up.
Nobody would mistake Sunny for being a giant, but it was rare for her to have to look up when talking to people. The brain damaged courier easily stood over six feet tall, a rather unusual sight given most people's rather malnourished diet in the wasteland. The vault suit that the doctor had donated to the amnesiac courier seemed comically small on the large man's rather well defined frame whose muscles seemed moments away from bursting the material at its seams if he wasn't careful with his movements.
The local gecko hunter licked her lips and had to suppress a sigh of appreciation as Six turned to glare back at the offending soda bottles that stood tauntingly tall twenty meters away on the rickety bench she had rigged up as their shooting gallery. He might not have been the most handsome man in the wasteland, but he certainly had a dominating presence that a woman couldn't help but feel attracted to.
'I bet I'd feel safer being held by him than wearing a full suit of power armor,' Sunny thought with a wry smile.
"Apparently not," grumbled the dark haired man.
His voice came out in a deep rumble, like that of a bears, the deep timbre sending a shiver down Sunny's spine. Gods above and below, what was wrong with her? She hadn't felt this much hormones since she put her awkward struggle through puberty behind her half a decade back.
"Nobody got good at it by wanting it. What you need is practice!" exclaimed the woman as inspiration struck her. "Why don't you come and help me clear out some geckos? I bet you'll be able to fine tune your aim real fast with one of those lizards running up to take a chunk out of your leg."
Seeing the look of uncertainty on her companions face, Sunny decided to sweeten the deal for him. "There'd be caps in it for you."
"Well I certainly can't turn down the opportunity for work," Six said with a grudging nod. "You said we'd be hunting geckos?"
Seeing the look of confusion on his face Sunny elaborated. "They're basically mutant lizards that live out in the Mojave. Goodspring is lucky enough to only have to deal with the regular variant of the little buggers. They're about the size of a small dog, got a mouth full of teeth that can take a chunk out of man's leg with one bite and have learned to run on two legs when they want to get anywhere fast. Every day they flock to the water pumps to get water. I go in and clear them out so the townsfolk aren't in danger of being overrun by those little lizards. You could probably hold off one on its own easily enough even without a gun, but they got a nasty tendency to travel in packs. Every couple of months somebody ends up hurt real bad, and it's not unusual to lose folks, usually travelers who ignore our warnings."
Six absorbed the information with a thoughtful look and promptly handed back the well worn rifle Sunny had loaned him for practice.
"I think you're going to need that," Sunny told him with an amused look, though privately she knew she'd make damn sure to always be standing behind the man when he had a gun in his hands.
"I'm more a danger to you with that gun than those lizards," Six snorted in a huff, unknowingly voicing his companion's thoughts.
"Fair point. How exactly are you going to help me without a gun though?"
Instead of answering with words, the former courier reached into one of the many pouches on his utility belt. Sunlight glinted off the object, momentarily blinding Sunny from seeing what it was he had. Blinking to clear her vision, she felt her eyebrows shoot up as she finally got a good look at the weapon he had armed himself with.
"Where'd you get those?" she asked with a curious quirk of her eyebrows.
She'd seen something similar once before when she had headed up to Primm to try her hand at the blackjack tables. One of the travelers had accused the dealer of cheating and had pulled out a pair of brass knuckles to threaten the unfortunate Primm resident with. Fortunately the sheriff had been able to diffuse the situation. Brass knuckles were deadly at close range if used properly, and certainly they were easy to hide, but when faced with the barrel of a shotgun the sensible thing to do was to surrender as that man had done.
"Only thing I had on me apparently."
Six studied the beautifully polished pair of knuckledusters that adorned his hands. Unlike most brass knuckles, this pair had a silver sheen to it rather than the dull gold coloring most models had, hinting at the use of much sturdier alloys in its construction. Instead of the smooth finish at the ends near the pinky fingers, the pair he sported ended in a wickedly glinting blade that stuck out a good two inches away from the base of the weapon, making the normally dull weapon capable of doubling as a cutting edge as well. Inscribed on each band across the knuckle were the words Love and Hate in menacing hieroglyphs. The exotic weapons were surprisingly light given their size, but there was a certain comfortable weight in having them in his hands.
"It suits you," said Sunny, a thoughtful expression on her face.
Returning the woman's comment with a shark like grin of his own, Six gave his hand a few test swings. Years of instincts guided his movements into a cutting motion that sliced through the air so quickly it produced a snapping noise as he shadow boxed. Left, Right. Left, Right. Upward thrust. Mindlessly he pounded through the exercise that his mind could drudge no memories of ever practicing, though his muscles seemed to not need any instructions from his conscious mind to perform them with picture precision. It felt natural to be swinging his fists. It felt right.
It took them ten minutes to march across the pre-afternoon Mojave wasteland to get to the first water station. The two humans and the dog managed to get the jump on the four lizards that had been lounging about the water basin where the cool spring waters that had given the town its name collected slowly, waiting to soothe parched throats.
Two fell to Sunny's well-placed shot while a third was torn to pieces by her dog. The last managed to charge up all the way to the two humans while the huntress had struggled to clear a jam in her rifle, but the overgrown lizard quickly discovered that Six was not an opponent anyone should get close to.
Its gaping maw was slammed shut with a well-timed elbow drop from the imposing courier, shattering the gecko's teeth from the force of the blow. Powerful hands grabbed the lizards head in a firm hold before twisting violently, ending the battle with a dull crunch of breaking vertebrae.
"Damn Six," said Sunny with a low whistle. "Never seen anyone take down a lizard that way before."
Shrugging the amnesiac warrior dropped the lizard on the ground carelessly, rolling his shoulder to work out the slight kink he felt. In truth even he hadn't known how to react until the lizard had closed in on Sunny. Stepping forward without thought, his body had leapt into motion in answer to his mind's demands to protect his new acquaintance. The brutal violence he had displayed had happened so quickly he hadn't even had time to be surprised until he had dropped the still warm corpse.
While the dog tore eagerly into her own kill, Sunny took the time to show Six how to cut out the choicest bits of meat from the lizard and how to properly skin the little monster if they wanted to keep it's hide for use or sale.
"So you sell the hide and meat for a living?" Six asked curiously as he cautiously worked away at the gecko he had killed under Sunny's watchful eye. While he had watched her do it, her explanation had blown right over his head. He was going with the close enough approach.
"Well I certainly don't live off the townsfolk's good will," laughed the woman with a cheery smile.
Satisfied that Six knew what he was doing Sunny promptly skinned and butchered the remaining lizards with the ease of someone who had done it thousands of time. Carefully packing away the meat and hide inside a dark roll of fabric she had kept slung over her shoulder, she wiped off the knife before sheathing it.
Slinging it over her shoulder, she called to her dog with a whistle before they set off again to the next station. A few minutes winding around a large rock outcrop that provided some good shade to walk under and the trio managed to make it to the second water pump. Sunny swore as she caught sight of the half dozen lizards lounging about, her rifle already in hand. Her dog charged forward with a snarl, unheeding of the overwhelming foes in its zeal to protect her mistress prompting more swearing from Sunny as she held her own fire in fear of hitting her four legged companion.
"Damn it! Cheyenne! Get back here!"
The dog had managed to tear out the throat of one of the mutant denizens of the wasteland, but already the rest of the pack was rushing forward to surround the canine. Sunny managed to kill one that had been lagging behind the rest with a bullet placed in its eye, but could do nothing more than give a shout of helpless fright as her dog vanished under a tumble of scales and fur.
Before Sunny could shout again, a blur of motion from her periphery caught her off guard. Six stormed up to the struggling animals at a frightening speed, covering the ground with his large strides in but a breaths moment. The first unfortunate lizard that fell within his grasp was hoisted into the air and slammed into the ground with bone crunching force before a size twelve boot crushed its skull. The second lizard had been bucked out of the embroiled melee by the thrashing tail of one of its own pack mates. Rearing his leg back, Six punted the oversized reptile as if he were trying to send a football past a goalpost. His boot caught the gecko right across the lower jaw, the force of his kick tearing the lower half of the monstrous lizards mandible clean off as it's body went soaring through the air.
Snatching a flailing tail, Six dragged another lizard off the dog, careful to keep his appendages out of range from snapping jaws as he hoisted the reptile up in the air. Swinging the lizard like a baseball bat, he smashed its skull open in a shower of meaty gore against the boulder next to the tussling animals. Dropping the now headless corpse, the courier strode forward purposefully, grabbing the last rather battered looking lizard by the back of its neck. Pinning the squealing gecko to the ground he proceeded to smash its head in with the Hate inscribed band of metal across his right hand. Hard though the lizard's skull was, it didn't stand a chance against the hardened metal backed with the force of the courier's arm.
"Oh god Cheyenne, what did they do to you baby?" moaned Sunny as she rushed forward to her whimpering dog.
The animal was covered in blood, its fur clumped up in patches of dull red. She tried to walk to her master but only managed a lame stumble as she favored her front left paw which was even now bleeding profusely.
"How is she?" Six asked in the quiet voice most people reserved for the hospital room as he knelt next to animal directly across from its owner.
"Bad," whispered Sunny. "I think…I think I might have to put her down."
"Maybe," grunted the courier as he examined the dog with a critical eye. "Maybe not. Doc might be able to do something for her."
"She'll never make it back," said Sunny sadly.
"Not like this she won't. Get me some water."
Clinging onto whatever hope she could get, Sunny stumbled to her feet, feeling her heartstrings tug as her dog whimpered pitifully at the loss of her presence. Snatching up a nearby pail, the huntress filled the bucket with water from the stone trough and hurried back to the man who was pulling out some bandages and syringes from his utility belt.
Silently Sunny watched as Six carefully filled a syringe with clear liquid from a small bottle labeled with an X mark on the cap before injecting her dog. Cheyenne whined and whimpered, struggling to get away from the man trying to treat her. Sunny kept a firm hold on her dog's head as the man who a short while ago had been a patient himself began to clean and bandage up the dog. She noted with worry how the animal was no longer thrashing about as much.
"Med X," grumbled Six to answer her unvoiced concern. "Doc gave me some for pain, should work on animals just as well. If nothing else she won't be in much pain when she goes."
Wiping away at the stray tear on her cheeks, Sunny nodded back silently, not trusting her voice. After finishing cleaning up all the bloody patches of fur and bandaging the wounds, Six forced the dogs mouth open and popped in a pair of red pills before closing her mouth and muffling her nostrils. Massaging the animal's throat until he was certain she had swallowed, he proceeded to inject the dog with a pair of stimpacks he had on him.
"The blood coagulators slows bleeding in humans, should do something similar in dogs though maybe not as effective," he explained as he carefully removed the dog rom her lap. "Not sure if the stimpacks will do her much good unless she makes it through the night, but if we can get her to Doc Mitchel she'll stand a much better chance of surviving."
Watching him hoist her dog up in powerful arms, Sunny pushed aside her feeling of gratitude long enough to remember that they weren't quite done with their job yet.
"Wait, give her to me."
Six shot his female companion a skeptical look. "No offense, but I think I'd be able to get her to Doc Mitchel a bit faster than you might."
"The last pump still needs to be cleared. I'm in no mind to be shooting even if I let you take Cheyenne to the doc. Can you go clear out the last station by yourself? It's just round the bend. Follow the path and you can't miss it."
Handing over the now rather docile animal to Sunny, Six gave her a nod and a reassuring pat on her shoulder.
"I'll get it done."
"Thank you," whispered Sunny as she shifted the dog in her arms. Biting her lip, she stepped closer and stood on tip toes to give Six a quick peck on his cheek. "Stay safe."
Watching the woman hurriedly leave, the courier rubbed the spot where her soft lips had touched his cheek with his thumb. Feeling the lingering smile on his own lips, he gave himself a shake to reset his mind. Sunny was trusting him to do her job to keep the townsfolk safe. It'd be a hell of a way to repay that by zoning out over a little kiss on the cheek and getting himself killed.
"Don't look too deep into it idiot," he scolded himself as he marched off, following the winding rocky path downwards. "She's just feeling grateful that you fixed up her dog that's all."
A sharp cry of fear cut through the warming air, causing Six to pause in his movements. A second cry sent him moving again, a much more urgent note in his pace. The water pump station came into sight as he swung around another bend. A woman was backed up into the cusp of a large rock structure, a wildly flailing cleaver the only thing keeping three growling geckos at bay. A deep roar ripped itself from his throat, surprising even the man who had made the noise. Two of the lizards turned to face the new danger while the third wavered, torn in indecision between the soft target they had been pursuing and the newcomer.
Six had to stoop down a little as he swung his fists out, but he landed a flurry of punches on the two attacking geckoes. Within a matter of seconds, both charging lizards had been reduced to a mess of bloody flesh, either torn asunder by the sharp edges of the bladed knuckle dusters or crushed underneath the heavy weight of the couriers' reinforced fists. The final lizard hesitated too long and received a cleaver through it skull for its confusion.
Bringing his own breathing down to a more steady pace despite the way his heart was jackhammering away, Six moved up to the woman, raising his hands in the wasteland universal signal for approaching in peace.
"Mam," he rumbled, "are you alright?"
"My god, if you hadn't come along I would have been toast!"
She had a rather pretty face, enhanced by the fact that she was one of the rare few individuals that managed to keep themselves clean. Her bare arms showed wiry muscle, the fruits of years of toil and labor trying to keep some withering crop alive in the merciless Mojave.
"Please, take this. It's the least I can do for the man who saved my life."
Taking the proffered water canteen, Six gave her a nod of his own head. "Appreciated mam. Do you need help getting back to town?"
"No I'll be fine, just some scrapes and bruises. Can I have the name of the man who saved me?"
"You could if I knew myself," he replied back dryly. "Call me Six."
Smiling back warmly, the woman sheathed her weapon. "You're a good man Six. Too few of you out there in the Mojave."
"A good man wouldn't end up with a bullet in his head."
"Bad things happen to good people all the time."
Not sure how to reply, Six simply nodded and watched as the woman walked away. He had no memories of who he had been before, just a pair of knuckle knives and a body that knew how to kill. The hole in his memories was a constant bother, no doubt it would be until enough years had passed to make the gaping hole seem less prominent. He had nothing else. Well maybe not nothing else. There was the fuzzy memories of a man in the checkered suite raising the run in his face. Maybe someone around town had seen him. He might never get his memories back, but maybe he could find the man who had taken them away. It might not bring him happiness, but perhaps bashing in that bastards head with his fists would bring him peace.
Feeling the press of metal against flesh as his hands curled unconsciously into fists at the thought of the snake responsible for his current predicament, Six looked down at his weapons, examining the inscriptions on them. Love and Hate. Words of wisdom to live by. He would learn to love life, and hate the man who had tried to take it away from him.