A/N: Desmond is probably one of my favorite characters from Fallout 3, I really wanted him to make an appearance in New Vegas but no such luck. Honestly I don't know how this will turn out, just got in the mood to write a Desmond fic but since Lonesome Road came out I want to write more Moxie/Sank, so we'll see if this gets finished.
If there was anything that he hated more than the heat of the Capital Wasteland it was the stench of Point Lookout. The fog carried it in every morning from the water, a continuous haze that made the sun nothing more than a yellow blob in the gray sky. He would have quit this shithole of a swamp weeks ago if he hadn't known that eventually the wait would pay off, and after a little more than two months, it did.
No one but the tribals had come near the mansion for weeks, every once in a while a local would shamble by, but never within the gates. Desmond was beginning to think he was wasting his time when he noticed the Dutchess Gambit had returned to the docks. Grabbing his binoculars the ghoul focused in on two figures on the boardwalk, that insufferable bigot Tobar, and a young woman. Even with the binoculars he could only make out that she was young, blond, and wearing green combat armor. Tobar pointed towards the mansion but Desmond had no fear of being seen through the fog, instead he watched as the girl followed Tobar's finger then nodded at the ferryman before taking her leave.
The ghoul watched her for a minute, thinking she'd head straight for his little abode in a misguided search for treasure, but instead she headed further onto the boardwalk, probably looking for that drugged out loon "Madame Panada". As the young woman disappeared around the corner of the building Desmond set the binoculars down and returned to his book, glancing at his monitors every few sentences to be sure those bloody tribals weren't making another house call.
"What in the bloody fucking hell is it now?" Desmond muttered under his breath. A rather loud gunshot had interrupted his reading and caused the pups to start barking, he snapped at them to shut it and peered out the back window, gripping the 10mm on his belt.
The blond he'd spotted earlier was sitting on a ruined lawn chair in the gazebo, leaning into the scope of a .44 magnum. He watched as she seemed to focus in on something then pull the trigger, there was no possible way he could see what she was shooting at but he figured she'd hit it when she looked up with a satisfied smirk on her face before looking down into a…mirror?
"Well now, that's interesting." He chuckled to himself, the ghoul thought it odd that a waster would be so vain. He could see her features better now, and while she wasn't an eyesore he couldn't see any reason for her to carry around a mirror to check her hair. Desmond was surprised however when she moved the glass at just the right angle to catch the light and blind him temporarily, after covering his eyes with his hand he looked back up to find the chair empty, no sign of the girl to be found. Scrambling to his monitors he searched for any trace of her, but instead saw that the tribals were back.
"Fucking brilliant."
Whistling for his pups and grabbing the combat shotgun off the table Desmond got behind his makeshift barricade and waited. It didn't take long for the now familiar sound of bare feet running on the wood floors above to reach him. Geri and Freki growled at the double doors to his left a moment before they burst open, one tribal falling to the floor while one of the others took a shotgun blast to the head. Desmond let the dogs take care of the wounded while he worked at dropping the rest. One of the bastards managed to get through the barricade while he was reloading. He dodged the axe said tribal was wielding, but wasn't sure how well he'd be able to get the upper hand when he stumbled and fell. As the blade came a hair's width away from his torso a gunshot rang out and the tribal trying to chop of Desmond's head lost his own.
"The fuck?" Desmond looked over and saw the young woman from before holding a combat shotgun of her own. Without even glancing at him she turned and helped Geri and Freki finish off the injured tribals. When the last one stopped kicking she turned to him and grinned.
"Finally something interesting happens around this swamp." She walked over and offered him her hand, taking it Desmond pulled himself up with enough force to make the girl stumble.
"I don't know who you are, but you need to help me if you want to stay alive." The ghoul was pretty sure she didn't sense the underlying threat in that statement as she nodded at him then followed his lead. He barked orders at her and was slightly surprised to see her follow them with relative efficiency. As he watched her progress on the monitors Desmond wondered for a moment if he'd lost his little helper for good when he saw her disappear off the screen and heard the floorboards give way, twice. But the gunshots continued after a minute and moved quickly from the basement back up to the second floor.
After gunning down the final onslaught of tribals Desmond took a moment to study the girl who'd helped him. She was down on the first floor looting through the pockets of the dead tribals for anything of value or use, a disgusting waster habit Desmond was proud to say he'd never sunk to. The only thing of interest about her was the pipboy strapped to her wrist. Either she'd come from a vault herself or killed someone for it. The ghoul made his way down the stairs, pretending to ignore her as he spoke.
"That looks like the last of them, you're a pretty good shot." He drawled, kicking a tribal body out of his path. It would take a while to clean this mess up, but at least he'd have some help this time. The girl was making her way towards him, and the satisfied smile gracing her lips irked him.
"So, my hero huh?" He allowed himself a small smile when the girl's own faltered. "Think you came and saved me in the nick of time? Not hardly," That dampened her spirits. "Had it all well in hand, and I didn't even need to use the failsafe. But that would have done a real number on some of the paintings, so just as well you were here. Anyway, name's Desmond."
"Jane, and I'm pretty sure I just saved your life you know." She threw at him. The girl made her way over to a chair she took off her boot and began checking her ankle methodically.
"No, but you helped me out, and that's something. Can't let you think I'm not a gracious host." He opened up a first aid kit and tossed her a stimpack. She caught it with ease and nodded her thanks before plunging the needle into the side of her leg before putting the boot back on, that fall through the floor must have done more damage than she'd previously let on.
"Well, that was fun, but I should be heading out." Jane grabbed her bag and headed for the door. "Thanks for the stim."
"Now hold on there." Desmond moved forward and caught her arm. A dangerous spark entered the girl's eyes but he didn't let go. "Not so fuckin' fast. You can be useful to me. I need someone willing to get their hands dirty."
Tension filled the room and made the dogs whine as the ghoul waited for her reply. Just as he was beginning to wonder how hard it would be to get that slave collar he had in his bag around her neck, she relaxed and gently pulled her arm free of his grasp.
"What's my incentive for helping you?"
"What you earn depends on how well you can follow directions." He waited for her to say something but she only looked at him with interest. "You're not the most incompetent waster I've ever met. I think we can put you to work and figure out what's going on here."
Jane shrugged and lifted up her pipboy to add a quick memo.
"So, any idea why these tribals were attacking you?"
"Not a fucking clue."
"So I'm guessing you wouldn't know if there was something about the mansion that made them attack?"
"Damned if I know, it was abandoned when I got here. There's plenty hidden away here, but none of it would be useful to a bunch of crazed inbreds."
Sitting back down on the chair she'd vacated a minute ago Jane put down the pipboy and fixed Desmond with an exhausted look as she continued asking him useless questions that he answered with annoyed tolerance and impatience.
"Well that's helpful." The girl grinned as Desmond sneered at her. He had a feeling he was going to regret recruiting the whelp.
"Are you quite done yet?" He gave her his best growl and was pleased to see her pause as she reached for her bag. Walking over to the front door he pulled it open and waited impatiently for her to get the hell out.
"Alright, alright I'm going." The vaultie made her way over but paused just inside the doorway, looking at him expectantly. "Well?"
Desmond stared at her in near disbelief, but managed to mask it with the rage he felt a well up second later. The whelp actually expected him, Desmond fucking Lockheart, to say thank you? The ghoul growled at the girl as he shoved her out the door.
"Just find a way in there and find out what they're up to." Slamming the front door behind her, he turned and gave the nearest tribal corpse a good kick.
