Bum-ba-da-dah-dunnnn! The next li'l story with Hits as he does his usual thing. Now, this story takes place before the Big Town incident. About two years or so before.
Enjoy, and be sure to review. Tell me what you think. Are the deeper mystery enshrouded parts interesting? Do the action scenes need more description? That kind of stuff.
In any case, enjoy.
-mythicdawn12
Fallout 3 isn't mine, Hits is mine. So back the fuck off before I stab your monkey ass.
"Jesus tap-dancing Christ Bill," muttered Hits as he angrily threw another handful of caps on the table, "you're good at this. Bastard."
Billy Creel just grinned and swept the caps to his side of the table. "You got to be good at prediction partner. You got to assess, analyze and rip caps off from your friends."
They both momentarily ignored the yelling and groans of pain as they counted the amount of caps they each had left. Hits kicked his feet up and rested them on the opposite chair. Hits wore a pair of pre-war tennis shoes he had found in an old store when he was out exploring, old boot-cut blue jeans and a white t-shirt underneath a tan canvas jacket. He was twenty-one, 5' 9", with light brown tanned skin and medium length black hair ("Like the Prince of Persia!" Hits says, but nobody gets it.) He looked pretty scruffy today, not having ben able to shave due to the fact his last blade had dulled. He'd have to go looking for some more. For now though, he and Billy watched the fight.
Billy sipped his nuka-cola.
"You know, I was pretty damn sure Jericho would put the first punch in," Hits mused as Andy Stahl attempted to tackle Jericho to the ground yet again. Jericho side stepped and threw him off balance, but Andy threw a falling kick and caught Jericho in the nose. Now both combatants were bleeding heavily from the nose. He sighed as he looked down at his meager supply of caps. Then he laughed as Jericho tossed Andy into the town brahmin. It panicked and ran off, chased by its caretaker. Hits loved chaos.
"I mean," Billy started, "I thought Andy was going to punch you when you told him Jericho tried to rape Jenny. He looked friggin' pissed man."
Hits frowned at the eye-patch wearing cap thief. "I know, but Jericho is the hardened raider murderer. Ten caps on him straight up uppercutting Andy...now I thought that was a steal."
"How did you find out about that anyway? Not many people knew at all." Hits smugly stuck a thumb over at Moriarty, who was also betting on the fight with Lucas Simms. The sheriff didn't seem to mind fistfights when he could possibly earn some caps from them. Hits mimed typing on a keyboard and Billy "ooohed" in recognition. Then they both started laughing as Hits pulled a red thong from his pocket and pointed at Nova.
"Damn Hits, you are quite the sneaky snake. I'd give anything to be able to lockpick and hack into computers and shit. Psssh, I can only shoot stuff."
Hits sat straighter, wide-eyed, and exclaimed, "But that's the best one!"
Right before Jericho landed on their table, yelling curses. Andy caught his breath as Jericho growled something about fucking bitches. The hint of cigarette smoke caught Hits' nose as Jericho shot up again, his face covered in blood and one eye blackened. "Jericho, don't you know cigarettes can be hazardous to your health?" Hits said, barely holding back a smile. Jericho glared at him. "After I beat up this kid, I'm coming after you fuckface. I didn't want any trouble from the Stahls, and then you open your big fat mouth."
Hits shrugged. "I was bored. I wanted to see a fight. Shit, I'd do it again."
Jericho thought for a minute. Then he nodded in respect. "I guess if you look at it that way I can forgive you. I was pretty bored myself."
Then he jumped off the table and ran back at Andy, who was ready for the assault.
Hits winced. "That one looked like it hurt."
Billy agreed.
Then Nova walked over looking pissed. She snatched the red thong out of Hits' grip and slapped him across the face.
Hits rubbed his cheek and looked up at her. "Uh, Nova? I told you I'm not into that masochistic stuff. I mean, if you want it I guess I could take you back to the bar and spank you a bit..." he ended suggestively.
Nova tried to slap him again, but Hits caught her wrist and pulled her down to his lap. "Let go of me you bastard!" she hissed at him, trying to squirm out of his strong arms. Hits furrowed his brow and looked at her in genuine concern. "Are you okay today? You're never really like this, you know, all mad." She still looked pissed at him, but she noticed he was really listening. She sighed and whispered. "I had a thing for Jericho, a couple years ago. I was really attracted to the 'bad-boy' thing. I guess remnants of that attraction still exist, because I'm pretty mad you screwed him over like this."
She indicated Andy now hitting Jericho with a chair as Jericho tried to block while finding something to hit Andy back with. She also looked over at Leo Stahl, being held back by a bunch of the settlers. It wouldn't be fair if it was two against one, and Andy was holding his own surprisingly well.
"Jericho is a murdering douchebag," Hits said seriously, "I wanted to see a fight. I made it happen. The fact Jericho is getting pretty well ass-whooped is a bonus. But, I guess I could help him out." Hits gently pushed her off his lap and stood up, cracking his neck and stretching in the process. "Billy," he said as he stripped off his worn canvas jacket, "hold this, and can you drag me home if things go poorly?" Billy rolled his eyes and gave Hits a thumbs up. Hits tossed his jacket over to him and picked up his chair, Nova watching him in confusion.
"Hey guys!" he called over to the Megaton settlers, "Let Leo go!" The group stopped holding Leo back, and he ran off toward Jericho and Andy.
"Another fucking great day." Hits sighed and threw the chair at Leo right before punching the nearby Colin Moriarty in the face.
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Hits woke up. His nose hurt. His left eye hurt. Could he even open his right eye? Nope. Probably too much blood coating it, he thought. Damage assessment. Bruised all over the place, possibly broken nose and a black eye. "Not too bad," he coughed out loud as he fully opened his left eye and tried to gaze around. He was upstairs in Billy Creels house, he recognized the bottles of nuka-cola and the teddy bears on the corner table. Old, partially rotten shelfs hel up a variety of knick knacks, including toy cars, little rubber balls, and some old pre-war books. Above him the ceiling rusted slowly, the old metal sheeting looking the worse for wear here. Actually, the metal sheeting in the whole town looked like shit.
"Hello Mr. Hits sir," said the cutest voice he had heard in the wasteland thus far. He looked to his right to see Maggie, Billy Creels adopted nine-year old daughter. Her parents were killed by raiders when she was younger, and Billy had found her hiding beneath her parents bed.
"Hello Maggie," he said wheezily and suppressed a cough. "Whatsup?"
She looked sternly at him. "You really should be more careful. It's not very smart to take on five people in a fight."
Hits tried to get a grips on his memory, not working very well through his foggy, sleep-laden mind.
"Yeah about that, can you remind me what happened Mag? I like to hear it from another perspective." he said with a small grin.
"Well basically, after you threw your chair at Leo and punched Mr. Moriarty, you ran over to Andy and Jericho, picked up another chair and hit them both with it. After that you randomly kicked one of the settlers in the nuts and then ran away from all of them laughing all crazy before you tripped on a loose pipe."
Hits grimaced. "And that's when they..."
"That's when they all caught you and beat you up, yeah. Afterwards they fought each other again."
Hits grunted and tried to roll over, but abandoned that quest after his side screamed at him to stop.
She giggled. "Lucy said it was the funniest thing she'd ever seen."
"I'm guessing she means the tripping and getting beat up part?"
"Uh-huh."
"Aww well, I had fun. Punching Colin in the face made my week." Hits felt his stomach growl. "Got any grub?"
Maggie stood up from her old stool and walked down the stairs to start rummaging around the ancient fridge. Hits winced at every creek he heard as she stepped from each stair to the next. This place was old.
He waited a few moments as he listened to her moving stuff around.
"We got the grubbiest grub in the whole wasteland here!' he heard her cry from below.
"I'm guessing you mean that negatively?" Hits cried back, trying to scratch his leg without making the movement hurt. "Yup!" came her enthusiastic reply.
Hits felt sorry for his stomach as she walked back up the stairs holding a tray with his absolute favorite. Cooked squirel meat and old, preservative drowned yum-yum deviled eggs. Yay.
At least the nuka-cola was good. He took a swig of it as she set the tray down next to his bed and almost cried at the effort of moving his arm.
"Where's your dad?" he asked her as he destroyed himself trying to have another sip.
"He's helping Mr. Simms trying to get everyone to talk out their differences. The Stahls seem to have calmed down, especially when they heard Mr. Jericho didn't actually do...whatever bad thing he did to Ms. Jenny. What exactly is rap?" she asked curiously.
"Mostly terrible music kid. Some of its good. Most of it is bad." he said without missing a beat.
Maggie "ohed" in understanding. "So he sang bad music to her? I don't think that would get the Stahls so angry at him to start beating him up."
Hits shook his head. "Oh, it would. Ever heard of Li'l Romeo?"
He didn't get to say anymore, because Billy picked that moment to slide open the metal door to his house. "You awake yet partner?" he hollered up at Hits as he grabbed a nuka-cola from the shelf.
"Who's asking?" Hits shot back as Billy jogged up the stairs to make sure his friend was okay.
"Tell you the truth man, Simms is asking. We're working out everyones differences and Colins beef with you is you owe him some caps. Doc Church fixed his nose up but charged him. Alot."
Hits almost cursed before remembering Maggie was in the room. "How much?"
"Two-hundred caps." This time Hits did curse, but Billy predicted as much and covered his daughters ears.
"Where the hell does Doc Church get off charging so much just for a broken nose? And where does Moriarty get off blaming me?!"
Billy looked confused for a second. "Didn't you punch him in the face?"
"Well, maybe he shouldn't have looked so punchable right then. I say it's his fault."
Billy chuckled. "Why did you punch him, really?"
"Because he's an ass, and I felt like it. Really Billy, you should know me well enough by now," Hits said, propping himself up on one elbow and eating a forkful of deviled egg.
"I reckon I should. But the settler? Really? Was that necessary?"
Hits frowned and looked thoughtful.
"Well, Andy, Leo, Jericho, Moriarty and me. That makes five. I don't like uneven numbers. I added a sixth for practicality."
Billy couldn't hold back a grin as he listened to his friends logic. "You're crazy you know that?"
Hits nodded, his mouth full. "Remember," Hits said jokingly after swallowing his food, "solve problem with more problem."
Billy stood up and escorted the giggling Maggie out of the house, telling her she was having too much fun and Mr. Hits was a bad influence.
He came back to find Hits standing up straight, albeit a bit wobbly.
"Damn, man," Billy said surprised, "you heal up quick."
Hits shrugged, twitching in pain at the action. "Gotta get up sometime. Besides, I have to step it out of town. I don't have nearly enough caps to pay Colin. And I imagine Lucas is serious about the reparation crap?"
"Yeah, Jericho payed a hundred an' fifty caps to the Stahls. Nobody is riding his ass. I'd reckon Lucas has some guys waiting for you outside though. Make sure you don't get away, like you just said." Lucas was very serious about keeping law and justice around the town. He didn't only have eccentric tastes about it, dressing up in his sheriff uniform with the big cowboy hat and all. Hits wondered why he didn't stop the fight sooner. He figured Lucas wanted to win a bunch of caps off of Colin. You know, just to shut the man down. Nobody really liked Moriarty.
But when Lucas Simms got serious, like he had now, he made sure shit got done. If he said everyone would get payed back and everybody would get even in a lawful manner, he was going to make sure it happened. Hits didn't find that fact comforting. His currently banged up condition would make it difficult for him to sneak out of town. And he bet if anyone saw him openly leaving they might seriously consider gunning him down. He didn't really want to get gunned down, and he didn't want to have to fight his way out. He liked Megaton, and it's people. He'd either have to find another way out, or play this one by the book.
"Tell them all I'm still sleeping," Hits finally said wearily. "I'm going to have to find a way out of this tomorrow." He laid down and threw the musky green blanket over himself.
"Alright. I'll try to get some people together to help you out man," Billy said as he walked down the stairs, "but I can't make any promises."
Hits grunted and rolled over. He still hurt everywhere. He sighed and began to drift asleep. At least it wasn't one of the crazier days he had had.
Little did he know as he slept, the next day would be absolute shit.
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Okay, I started this one out pretty calmly compared to the last one. Don't worry, as things will get VERY interesting soon enough. Remember to review, and tell me what you think. I look forward to insight from Coloneljuice, author of Wasteland Sheriff. (Which. You. Should. READ.) and I look forward to enthusiasm from Ocrun.
Alright, have to work on next chapter. Review!