"Whiskey Gob, top shelf today"
Jack opened the door to Simms house, lowered his head before going in as he always had to do so he wouldn't bang his head on the frame. Not because Simms's doorframe was unusually low, but because Jack was bigger than most people after all of the experimental surgeries he'd undergone. Even though he hadn't exactly volunteered for most of them, he had been extremely lucky with the results of them. The positive effects, like the adamantium skeleton, massively outweighing the negative effects, like loosing a couple of fingers.
"So how'd it go?" Simms asked. He was sitting at the dinner table, inspecting his Chinese assault rifle.
"We got them, or well, Stockholm did." Jack answered.
"Hell of a shot that man."
"Yeah, hell of a weirdo too."
Simms chuckled. "True, but enough about Stockholm, who were those folks?"
"Looked like mercs."
"Talon company?"
"Don't know, don't care, I'm here for my payment."
"Ah, so you're finally getting the fuck outta here I take it?"
"You made it quite clear you wanted me gone, so I'm going." Jack answered.
"You know I can't let you stay after what you did."
"I don't care, this town is a cesspool anyways, me moving was well overdue." Jack said now in his cold 'Lone Wanderer' tone.
Simms glared at him. "I guess I fooled myself all this time when I told myself you were a good person, but you really are on the devils highway. Who could've thought James Neeson's little son would become the Capital Wastelands biggest asshole."
"Yeah, yeah, my father was a saint blablabla, are you going to pay me or not?" Jack said and stared at Simms intensively, his hand now hovering above his 44. Magnum.
Simms stared at him with a defiant look in his eye, after a couple of seconds he finally spoke. "I said you could ask for anything you want, and I'm not a man to go back on his word, even if I sure would like to. So what do you want?"
"I want the Brahmin outside the clinic, and some things from Craterside supply, I'll tell Moira to put it on a tab, and I want your bobblehead."
"My bobblehead?" Simms looked confused.
"Yeah, the one on the desk in your bedroom." Jack said with a small grin.
Simms, clearly taken by surprise by the demand of his bobblehead, scratched his cheek, then he hissed: "Fine, I'll have the Brahmin sent to your porch along with the bobblehead but five hundred caps is the limit on that tab, if you go above that, you will have to pay the rest. Now get the fuck out of my house."
Jack smiled at Simms then turned around and headed out, towards Craterside supply.
-/-
"Heeyy Jack! I heard shooting earlier, was it you again? Moira said with her regular playful tone. She could very well be the only person left in Megaton who didn't hate his guts, or she was the best saleswoman he'd ever met. She was the only woman he couldn't quite read.
"Hi beautiful, no it wasn't me, there were some Talon company mercs creeping around the bomb, but Jericho chased them off and then Stockholm shot two of them outside the gates."
"Oh those two are such good men! Always protecting us simple folk!"
"Um, yeah, anyways, I need some supplies, do you mind walking me around? You know I can never find a thing in your shop." He said charmingly.
"Of course Jack! I can never say no to your handsome face." She answered and winked at him. "So what is it you need?"
"Ammo, 44. 556. and 308."
"Sure you didn't help fight off those baddies?" She said jokingly while walking towards the boxes on the far side of the room.
"Hahaha yes, I'm just grabbing some extra for the journey." He said while following her.
"Oh leaving again so soon? You just came back from Arefu!"
Yeah from Arefu, he thought to himself. He had actually gone to Paradise Falls to collect his payment for the four slaves he'd caught.
"Hello? Moira calling Jack?" Jack snapped out of his thoughts to find Moira standing in front of him holding three boxes of ammunition.
"Oh yeah, no, I'm leaving for good this time."
"WHAT!?" Moira shouted and threw him the boxes. James caught them easily thanks to his reflex implant.
"Are you leaving!? For good!?"
"Yeah, I've been living here on borrowed time since, you know.."
"Oh.. I see." Moira said with sadness in her tone.
"Don't worry beautiful I've read your book, I'll be fine."
"I know you will silly, but I will miss you and that handsome face." She said with teary eyes. Jack was actually surprised she seemed to care that much about him.
"I will miss my beautiful and smart local shopkeeper too." He said and caressed her cheek. She looked up into his eyes, and Jack saw that he had seen in so many women he had manipulated before, love. He almost felt bad for her, he hadn't realized she felt this way before, she was by far the kindest person he'd ever met.
"Anyways.. anything else you need handsome?" She asked. Wiping her tears while she waited for his answer.
"Yes, I need some copper wires, some off your extra-radiated water and a bottlecap mine."
"Okay go to the counter handsome, I'll be there in a jiffy."
Jack nodded and went to the counter with the ammo. He looked at the modified vault suit behind the counter, as he had done so many times while waiting for Moira. "You live in the vault, you die in the vault." He mumbled to himself. There was a time when he had often wondered what had happened in the vault after he left but nowadays it rarely crossed his mind. After all, it had been over two years now, and he still hadn't found his father, well he wasn't even looking for him anymore for that matter.
"Here you go! Everything you asked for in this box, neatly packed. Anything else?" Moira said, now smiling again although her eyes were still a bit sore.
"Yeah, I need to have my implants looked over before I go, but that can wait till tomorrow, right before I leave."
"I'm free tonight, I can come over to your place and look them over there if you want." She said seductively and bit her lower lip.
"That would be great beautiful. Around nine?"
"That sounds good! Now, all this will cost you three hundred seventy five caps."
"Write a tab for Lucas Simms, he will come pay it tomorrow."
"Oh, alright, then I'll see you later handsome!"
"Yeah, see you then beautiful." Jack said and put all off the boxes in his bag and headed out. Next stop, Moriarty's.
-/-
He kicked the door and it slammed wide open, the bar went silent. The scent of smoke, alcohol and fornication met his nose.
"What the fuck are you looking at?" Jack hissed as he walked up to the bar. The chatter slowly returned and everyone went back to their business except for a man in a grey suit and hat, sitting at his own table drinking whiskey. Jack could see the man was still watching him, despite him wearing dark sunglasses. He seemed of no threat to Jack though so he paid him no mind.
"Whiskey Gob, top shelf today."
"Are we celebrating something?" The ghoul asked with his raspy voice while he turned around to get the whiskey.
"Yeah, this is the last time I get to see your ugly face." Jack answered jokingly.
"Oh so the sheriff finally kicked your sorry-ass out hu?" Gob said and chuckled while opening the bottle.
"Leave the bottle, hand me a glass. Yeah he did, although I won't exactly miss this pisshole."
Gob picked up a glass and handed it to Jack. "You'll miss me though won't you? Wherever you end up, you'll never settle in a town with a ghoul in it, and then you'll be the most physically messed up." He said and it looked like he gave him a wink, but he didn't have an eyelid on the eye he tried to wink with so it looked very strange. He wasn't wrong though, he was the most scarred after Gob, and he had some missing fingers and toes, he even had patches of skin which were radiation burned.
"No doubt Gob, I'll miss my favorite bartender in the wasteland." He answered and poured himself some whiskey. "Do you have any cigarettes in stock by the way?" He asked and downed his whiskey.
"Yeah in the back, give me a moment." Gob turned around and went back. Jack searched his pockets for his lighter, and then a voice spoke next to him.
"Excuse me sir, are you Jack Neeson, the Lone Wanderer?" Jack turned around and found that it was the man in the grey suit who was talking to him.
"Who's asking?" He said, his tone now of the Lone Wanderer.
"Mr. Burke, pleasure to meet you Mr. Neeson, would you care to join me?" The man said. Jack had never seen this man before, but found himself intrigued, there was something special about this man, that much was clear because nobody in Megaton wore a fancy suit but there was something else to him.
"Sure, the pleasure is mine Mr. Burke." Jack said and offered him his hand. Mr. Burke took it and gave him a proper handshake, not to hard, and not to soft. This was without a doubt a businessman. Jack sat down on the chair next to Mr. Burke.
"Cigar?" Mr. Burke asked and slid over a brown box. Jack opened it and picked up a cigar, and inspected it.
"Hm, pre-war?"
"Of course, they don't make them like they did before the war anymore."
"True, thank you." Jack closed the box and slid it back towards the man. He took his lighter and lit the cigar. He inhaled the smoke and exhaled a big smoke cloud. "So, how come you wish to speak with me? Not many people in this town would offer me their finest cigars." He asked the man while pouring himself some more whiskey.
"You're a special man Mr. Neeson. Just so happens I'm in need of a special man."
"Is that so?" Jack glanced at the man from the side of his glass while taking a sip of his whiskey. "Why do you need a 'special man'?"
"My employer wants to blow up the atom bomb in the center of this town." He said and took a sip of his own whiskey, which Jack noticed was top shelf as well. Jack was a bit shocked over the mans straightforwardness, but he showed it in no way, instead he answered calmly.
"I've already disarmed the bomb."
"Can it not be re-armed?" He asked.
"Maybe with some kind of powerful charge."
"Would a fusion pulse charge do?" Mr. Burke said, now leaning forward towards Jack.
"Sure, that would do the trick, but those are rare, extremely hard to get your hands on, and then you would have to install it correctly." Mr. Burke reached for the cigarbox and turned it around, opened a secret compartment and slid it over to Jack. Jack looked down, and in there he saw a fusion pulse charge. "Mr. Burke, you are full of surprises." Jack said, still very calmly.
"Are you the man I'm looking for Mr. Neeson?" He asked and took another sip. Jack felt no allegiance towards the people of Megaton, he really only liked Moira and Gob, but blowing up the bomb and commiting genocide?
"What's in it for me?" He asked, to see if it was even worth considering.
"I'm allowed to offer you a VIP suite on the top of Tenpenny Tower, and five hundred caps."
"Oh a suite? I actually happen to be in need of a new home, does it come with furniture?"
"No, but once you arrive we will pay for one of the decorating themes Boutique le Chic, one of our local shops, offers."
"That sure sounds like a pretty good offer, make it a thousand caps, and I'm your man." Jack answered, now completely convinced. He had told himself after the incident that if he got a chance to fuck over the folks who had fucked him over, he would take that chance. Even if committing genocide seemed a bit overkill, it was very well paid and in the wasteland you always had to put yourself first, or you would pay for it, he had learnt that the hard way.
"Here are your cigarettes Jack." Gob interrupted them.
"Thanks Gob. Now shoo, we are talking here."
"Yeye fuck you too." He said and went back to the bar.
"Fine a thousand caps it is, here are the coordinates to Tenpenny tower. Meet me and my employer there when it's done. Keep the cigars." Mr. Burke said and stood up. "I'll be seeing you."
Then he walked up to Gob at the bar, paid him, and then left. Jack downed the last of his whiskey, then put the cigar/bomb box and his cartoon of cigarettes in his bag. He picked up his whiskey bottle and went up to the bar.
"Hand me the cork Gob." Gob handed him the cork and Jack sealed the bottle once again. "How much do you want?"
"Nothing Jack, that man in the fancy suit paid for everything." Jack looked up.
"Oh well, then here's a tip at least." He said and put ten caps in Gob's tipping jar. He took his whiskey bottle and headed out.
Time for the last night in Megaton, he thought. For everyone.