Friday August 28th, 2281 – 8:55 pm, Novac
Boone took a final drag from his cigar and slung his rifle on his back, crushing the cigar butt in the ashtray. His shift was about to start, another night of scoping from the gaping mouth of a big, dirty dinosaur. He sighed and opened the door, stepped outside and kicked it closed behind him before he made his way over to the green monstrosity.
Manny made his way down the stairs, and without even the exchange of a glance the two passed each other. Neither one could remember when the last time was they spoke, but both remembered the words that had been said. Boone entered the gift shop, past its counter and went up the stairs, to his nest. He looked out over the Mojave through the artificial teeth of the creature and sighed, knowing that it would just be as other nights – fire a single shot at a cactus, and spend the rest of the night trying not to think too much. He had to stay sharp, in case something would happen – that's what he told himself every night, and it hadn't been convincing since his third shift. He took the rifle from his back and raised it to eyelevel, scoping the desolate wasteland like he had so many, many nights before.
As he scoped the same highway for a thousandth time that evening, his thoughts began to wander off. He looked at the old, broken and destroyed highway and thought. Thought of why nobody came walking down that goddamn road, if not to shoot at least to look at. Or make a welcome change in the horribly unilateral landscape he had been looking at for at least an hour now. Every day and night seemed to be the same nowadays, and even if he wouldn't take pleasure in killing usually, he was glad when he'd finally get to shoot if even a radscorpion that'd gotten too close to the town. He sighed again and continued on scoping, stretching his already sore back. He cracked his knuckles and popped his neck, trying to keep his muscles from going stiff. He went back to scoping, and caught sight of what seemed to be a molerat in the distance, but he realized it was just a weirdly shaped rock.
It didn't take long for him to be drowned in thoughts again, of how horribly monotone his days had gotten ever since she had been taken from him. With her, every night was different, not to mention that he had something to come home to – even if it was a motel room he lived in. His fingers tightened around the rifle at the thought of her. Why hadn't they massacred the entire town? There was only one man on guard, and eight unarmed civilians that would make easy targets for slavery. But no, they took only her and nobody had seen it, it had been organized. He knew it had to be so.
The sharp crackle of a rifle was what shook him from his thoughts, followed by vicious barking. His scope followed the half-mechanical dog that was running towards its former target, the rock that had been a molerat after all. Goddamn it. The dog, who's body consisted out of three mechanical legs, a glowing brain-case and a metal torso, had already lost interest in the molerat, and ran back to his owner. Boone's scope was back at the old highway, finding a woman there, with sunglasses that covered half her face. He squinted to get a better look at her weapon, a sniper rifle. He raised his eyebrows in the knowledge that of all rifles, those were just about the most expensive of all. In this darkness it was hard to get a clear look at her, but he could swear he'd seen her before, and not too long ago. When she walked into town he shrugged it off, figuring that she was probably just another merchant that frequented the town.
Many hours later his shift was finally nearing its end, as he rubbed his eyes behind his sunglasses. He stretched again and heard the door click behind him.
Goddammit Manny, can't you at least wait 'till I'm gone?
But what he saw was not Manny, much to his relief, but the woman he'd seen a couple of hours back. Eyebrows raised behind her sunglasses, she stepped into the nest, the dog following behind her, which started growling at him immediately.
"Rex, down."
He frowned and got a better look at her then; Tall, not a day over 27 at most, brown, short and messy hair on her head. Tan skin, which was not a surprise for those that traveled the wasteland. What did surprise him was her jacket, the white shirt underneath and the jeans she wore. He'd seen an outfit like that before… he was snapped out of his thoughts when she began talking.
"Lookin' for Manny Vargas, you seen him?" she asked in simple, practical tone. "'cause I got some news on those ghouls from repconn for 'im." Her voice was not a soft, feminine one. It was a little rough, although not unfriendly.
"You really shouldn't sneak up on me like that." He huffed, slinging his rifle onto his back. "I could kill you."
A smile crossed her lips. "Thanks for the heads up." She folded her arms over her chest and repeated her question; "You seen Manny Vargas?"
"No, I haven't. I work nights, he works days."
She gave a single nod. "That makes you Boone, then. Suppose you don't have a job for me?"
Boone frowned, unsure of how to respond. "You're not from around here. I need someone I can trust, so it's a start."
"So you do have a job for me. Aces. What's it concern?" she rubbed her hands together, as if she was excited already.
"I want you to find something for me. I don't know if there is anything to find, but I need someone to try. Someone who isn't connected to this town."
"What am I looking for and why am I looking for it?" she asked, wanting to get to the point already.
"My wife was taken by legion slavers while I was on watch one night. They knew exactly where to go, how to do it and they only took Carla. It was planned, and I want to know who was the son of a bitch who did it." His tone was rough, but cold, not a trace of true emotion to be found.
The woman grit her teeth for a few seconds, the muscles on her jaw clenching. "Legion slavers…" she muttered. "No problem."
Boone was the slightest bit surprised when she accepted just like that, but figured she hated the Legion just as much as he did. "We won't speak again. Not until this is over." He took his beret off and gave it to her. "Take the convict to the front of the dinosaur, and put on my beret. That's my signal to shoot."
The woman nodded and stuffed the beret in her pocket. "See ya." And she left, just like that. The dog shot him a final glance, before following his owner down the stairs. Boone stood there for a few more minutes, waiting until he was sure he could make his leave.
The courier stared at the beret in her hand, huffing. "Well what do you know… " she mumbled to herself. She sat down by the old gas station and grabbed herself a bottle of Sunset Sarsaparilla as she began to think. Who could be possible convicts?
The McBride's were definitely innocent, those two were too old and too uninvolved to have done such a thing, Daisy Whitman was the same story.
The ranger was former NCR, no way he'd get involved with the legion like this.
No-Bark was crazy, and too old to be involved. He could be a useful source of information, however, so she figured.
This left Cliff Broscoe and Jeannie May as possible convicts, she thought. She drank the last of her Sunset, checking the bottle cap for a star. She sighed when she didn't see one, putting the bottle cap in her pocket. She got up again and thought of what to do. Jeannie May being the big boss in town would be make her a logical convict to the case, whereas Cliff was merely a gift shop owner. The courier made her way to the Dino Dee-lite front desk, which she found empty, to her surprise. Lucky her, it gave her time to investigate.
She checked the cabinets on the left, only to find all of them completely empty. She snatched a super stimpak from the First Aid box, and continued her investigation. Checking each and every book for maybe a scrap of paper or something, she still couldn't find anything. She went behind the counter, looking at each individual paper and finance clipboard in the hopes of finding something, but no. She turned around and checked each and every single drawer of the second filing cabinet, but no dice. Rex had been sitting in a corner the entire time, not quite getting why his master wouldn't just look down between her feet to that big, square thingy.
When the Courier noticed his looking, she raised an eyebrow. "What is it, Rex? You seen anything helpful?"
He gazed down and gave a soft whine, before he looked up at her again, panting. The courier looked down at her feet and saw the floor-safe built there. "… Oh." She shook her head and kneeled down to inspect the lock. "You have two cabinets to hide it behind but you build it right in the middle of the floor for everyone to see… Seriously, what the fuck…" she muttered to herself, taking a bobby pin from her pocket. She picked the lock and opened the safe, so very very pleased to find a bunch of bottle caps in there, along with pre-war money and… papers?
Frowning, she took off her sunglasses to get a better look at what it said. She read it to herself out loud, although quietly. "…exclusive rights to ownership and sale of the slave Carla Boone for the sum of one thousand bottle caps, and those of her unborn child for the sum of five hundred bottle caps…"
She was silent for a little while after that, stuffing the papers in her pocket. "God-fucking-dammit…" she said to herself. "Goddammit…" she sighed and kicked the safe closed, turning around. "C'mon Rexie… let's see if we can get ourselves a little breakfast…"
Rex followed her out of the office and back outside, where she put her sunglasses back on. She couldn't help but think of what she'd just read. 'Unborn child'… She shuddered and tried to shake it off, trying not to think about what could've happened if the Legion had found her too that day. A chuckle escaped her as she went to sit down on the Dino's tail, her hand stroking Rex' ear. "You'd never think you'd meet someone out in the Wasteland who's been through the same, would you, Rexie?" she said to the dog, who cocked its head her. "You would know, with Rey's brain and all…" she smiled down at the dog and sighed. "At least he'll have his revenge, right?"
And she hoped he would, because for the six and a half years she had been traveling the wasteland, she still hadn't gotten hers. And with the recent bullet to the head, it only added to her to-do list.