Warning: if you haven't read Shattered Illusions turn back now. This is a sequel. And as sequels are wont to do, it is full of spoilers for part 1. Go read part 1 and then report back. If you've already read part 1 then welcome back! Read, review, and enjoy. Seriously though, drop a review, it's helpful to hear what you guys have to say.
April 19, 2280
14:30
Staunton, Virginia
Along the I-70
"Knox... KNOX!"
The Courier stopped and pinched the bridge of his nose. A nose that until several days ago had only been broken twice, but had now been broken four times. Once when he'd tried to collect his current package, she'd pistol whipped him and another when she'd kicked him in the face when he'd made the mistake of trying to wake her up by grabbing her foot.
The girl in question stood behind him with her arms crossed, a duffel bag and assault rifle slung across her back. She was wearing a battered set of leather armor that looked like it was about to simply fall apart. The knees were torn open and bullet holes riddled one of the sides.
Her skin was covered in dirt and grime, but was naturally dark beneath it all. Her hair was pulled lazily into a ponytail at the back of her head and was sticking out at odd angles. It's once violent scarlet color was beginning to fade to a more moderate pink. Far less aggressive in Knox's opinion.
"Yes, Ava, what is it?"
Ava scuffed her boot along the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust. "Are you still pissed because I kicked you in the face?"
"I don't know. Is that still my blood on your boot?" he replied mock irritably.
She stopped kicking the ground. "Well maybe if you hadn't grabbed my leg like you were attacking me, then your blood wouldn't be all over my boot!"
Knox smiled sardonically at her as she got defensive. "How is it that you make it sound like my blood's fault for being on your boot?" He kept walking, not even to check and see if Ava was following.
She was.
The Courier's nose had been broken when he had woken Ava shortly before dawn several days previously. His reasoning was that too many people wanted the Lone Wanderer dead for Ava to spend any more time in the Capital Wasteland than absolutely necessary. So he'd tried to wake her up early so they could move out under the cover of night. However, that hadn't exactly gone according to plan. She hadn't taken kindly to being woken up that way.
"And I didn't grab you like I was attacking you. I tapped your foot. Lightly. I think that's a perfectly acceptable way to wake a lady in the morning."
Ava sped up her pace to walk next to Knox. As interesting as it was to talk to the back of his head, single file was getting boring and she was craving conversation.
"How many 'ladies' have you woken up that way?" she asked, fingers miming quotes. Knox frowned thoughtfully and bobbed his head to the side.
"Fair point. I wouldn't classify them as 'ladies' technically. Female for sure though. At least I think." Knox raised an eyebrow until it disappeared under his cowboy hat's brim and smirked at her.
She shook her head in irritation and said, "gross," in mild disgust. Followed shortly by "pig."
Knox acted mock indignant. "You know, just because you have some sort of weird hatred for sex, which admittedly for you makes a lot of sense, but still," he said, trying to get back to the point. "For the rest of us, it's a welcome reprieve from a hard day's work and a reminder that there can be safety in another person's arms for those of us that have lost faith in humanity."
"Moron."
Knox's performance had fallen flat for Ava and she wasn't buying it. He was such a weirdo sometimes! However, Ava still enjoyed his company immensely. Maybe it was because she had spent so long alone, or maybe it was because she genuinely liked him. Despite the multitude of eccentricities she was discovering that he possessed, Ava had realized that Knox was an honest man. He treated her fairly, which was more than most people had ever done for her, and he seemed to be a good man. He was also a more than capable combatant. The light armor he wore over his khakis and short sleeve, tan, button up shirt was not for show. Neither were the pistols he wielded. There was a reason he'd cut the trigger fingers off his gloves. While she thought the man couldn't fight close quarters for shit, he was certainly the best shot she'd ever seen. And she was no slouch herself.
As they'd traveled she'd also begun to learn that he was quite smart. Not science smart, or medical smart like she was, but smart in other ways. He was a gifted tracker and hunter and goddamn it, despite rambling like an incoherent maniac at times, Knox could talk the armor off a paladin if he were so inclined and the paladin would think it was their idea!
The two continued to walk under the bright sun in silence for several more minutes until Ava couldn't take it anymore.
"Aargh! Come on! I can't keep walking in silence. I can't do it, Knox. I won't do it."
Knox laughed at her. "Well if you'd like I can continue describing my sexscapades throughout the Wasteland," he teased her. Ava rolled her eyes in defeat.
"Anything is better than silence. Seriously."
"Well, I was kidding," Knox said. "I'm not gonna describe my sex life to some kid. I think that qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment. And teenagers are supposed to discover that shit out on their own, right?"
Ava looked at him. "How old do you think I am?" she asked. Knox gave his battered watch a glance before responding. "You turn twenty in seven days."
She stopped and looked at him in shock. "How the fuck do you know that?" she asked. Her frown had deepened from annoyance to angry surprise. Knox was unimpressed and kept walking.
"I've been tracking you for over a year. I learned a little about you in that time."
"A little about someone is how tall they are, hair color, weight, skin color, guns or knives, um..." Ava listed as she caught back up to him again.
"Boxers or briefs?" Knox suggested. She slugged him in the arm, but he shrugged it off. "Look, Ava. I was hired to find your dad and mom, not you. So when I found out about you I did some research. I got hired by your grandfather to find his family, you qualified, but well... to be honest, the trail you were leaving did not give me a lot of hope for finding someone to take back to him."
Ava looked down in shame. She was well aware of the trail of carnage and death that had been left in the wake of her passing. Knox slapped her on the back, her hand twitched towards her knife, but she restrained herself from acting on impulse. She looked up at Knox. His smile had disappeared.
"Ava. You've got to stop thinking about everything that happened the last month. I may not have been there, but from what I've seen and what you've told me, you weren't you. Stop beating yourself up."
Ava took a deep breath before managing to say, "It was me."
"Ava-"
"No, Knox. Listen. It was me. It was all me. I know that. But I'm better now. I'm going to be better now."
A small smile returned to the Courier's face, one that Ava returned. "It's good to hear that." They stood in silence for a few moments until Knox spun around on his heel. "Now come on! We've been standing around too long!" He took off walking again.
Ava continued after him still smiling, but she wasn't about to return to silence. "Can we please talk about something at least? I don't know how you travel all over the place alone. The quiet is too much."
"Coming from someone who had voices in their head? Thought you'd want some quiet," Knox smirked. His smirk disappeared when he caught the scowl on her face. "Alright. Insanity is an off limits topic. What do you want to talk about?"
"I don't know! Anything," she answered in exasperation.
Knox gave a few moments thought. "Want to talk about a point where your life didn't suck? I mean it went to shit, but it wasn't always like that, right?"
"Let's not talk about me," Ava said hurriedly. She was afraid her new grasp on sanity might not last if she thought to much on her past life which, as Knox said, had gone to shit.
Knox raised his eyebrows and looked at her sideways. He gave a tug on his mustache and said, "So, anything is apparently not anything."
"It was an exaggeration, Knox."
"So, it was, Ava."
The duo continued under the sun in silence for another minute until Ava broke it again. She skipped forward half a step and turned to face Knox, almost tripping on an old car tire sitting on the road.
"You could tell me something about you," she suggested in earnest.
"Oho! So, we can't talk about you," he replied, "but we can talk about me, is that right?"
She narrowed her gaze on him. "Yeah, Knox. That's right." She glared at him for a few more moments. "Spill."
"Well, shit. I mean where do I start? There's so much to tell. Can you narrow the field down for me a bit?"
"You know how old I am, how old are you?"
"Twenty-two."
"Bull shit."
"Twenty-five."
"Are you just going to spit out numbers?"
"Twenty-eight," Knox replied with a chuckle. "I really am twenty-eight."
Ava looked at him suspiciously. "And I'm just supposed to take your word for it?"
He shrugged and Ava groaned in frustration. Knox may have been one of the nicer people she'd met in her time in the Wasteland, but he was infuriating sometimes.
"All right, you secretive bastard, fine! Don't tell me about yourself. I just think our relationship is a little imbalanced is all. I mean I know your name (first or last, I'm not sure), I know you're a courier, and I know... oh right. That's it!"
Knox was chuckling as the girl continued to rage at him.
"Meanwhile, you apparently know everything about me! You probably even know my- mmph!"
Knox put a gloved hand over her mouth. "Hey, hey, cool it. We can have a normal conversation." Ava slapped his hand away and glared at him resentfully. She was strongly considering decking him, but she already felt bad for breaking his nose twice. It might still be worth it though to go for the hat trick.
"You want to know about the family waiting for you?"
Ava's face lit up, her mental debate quickly forgotten. "Yes, tell me about them!"
"Him," Knox corrected. "Doc Mitchell, resident doctor of the town of Goodsprings." Ava stared at him expectantly, waiting for more.
"And?"
"And what?" asked Knox. "What do you want to know about him?"
"What's he like?"
"What's he like..." Knox thought aloud. "Well, he's a doctor like your dad was, guess that's how your pops got started, but Mitchell has retired for the most part. He just deals with the locals now. Works for free for town folks and in turn they keep his house in repair and his fridge full. I can see the family resemblance a little. Though you sure got your mom's skin and eyes."
"How do you know that?"
"Because I saw your dad and you sure didn't get it from him," he answered. "You want me to tell you more about the doc? Or are you gonna interrupt again?" Ava mimed zipping her lips.
"Right. So. Doc Mitchell. Town doctor, provider of medical supplies for the average traveler. He was born in Vault 21."
Ava's eyes lit up, but she kept quiet. Knox caught her look. "Yep, from what he told me he and your grandmother grew up Vault 21, but moved out into the Mojave and started a family. Family who then moved across the country."
"I-" Ava started to say, but she bit her lip. "Question?" asked Knox. Ava nodded and he waved her forward to ask.
"Did... did he tell you why my dad left?" she asked quietly.
"He did. Mitchell said it was over a, and I quote, 'stupid, little argument that got big in hurry'." Knox paused for a moment and took a swig from his canteen. He offered it to Ava, but she shook her head no. She wanted to hear more. "Your dad wanted to do more. He thought it was their duty to help as many people as possible and when Mitchell was talking about retiring he flew off the handle. Your dad wanted to save the Wasteland. Doc Mitchell was content with the way it was. James didn't like that. So he left."
Ava nodded. "That... sounds like my dad. And he did it. He saved the Capital Wasteland. How did you meet him?"
"The Doc? The way most people do. He treated me."
"What happened? Ava asked curiously. Knox waved the question away.
"Just a head injury. Nothing too interesting. Anyway, after he treated me I rolled on out of town, but a few months later I was back and he offered me the gig to find his long lost family. Which brings us to now."
"Is he nice?"
"Yes, Ava. He's nice," Knox replied with a cheeky smirk and an elbow to Ava's side. Ava was about to retaliate, but the two were interrupted by a man jumping out from behind a burned out car wreck and brandishing a shotgun at them.
"Stop right there, you two, and reach for the sky."
Knox and Ava stopped side by side in front of the bedraggled man, but neither lifted their arms. After several seconds Knox scratched his nose and Ava coughed. The lone raider waved his shotgun dramatically.
"I said raise em!"
"Or what?" asked Knox mockingly.
The raider looked taken aback. "Or... or I'll shoot you. That's what."
Knox snorted loudly. Ava looked at him in bewilderment and wondered why they hadn't already killed the clearly moronic raider.
"D-don't laugh at me. I said don't laugh!"
Knox held a finger up to silence the man as he finished laughing and wiped a tear from one eye. "Look, buddy. What've you got there? Buck shot?" The raider looked at his shotgun and tried to pretend otherwise. "Yeah, that's what I thought. This body armor," he rapped a knuckle on his chest plate, "it can stop buck shot. Trust me. And besides you could shoot me in the goddamn head with that and I'd be fine. A little scarred yeah, but certainly not mortally wounded. I'd have plenty of time to beat you to death, bury you, piss on your grave, and then bandage my wound."
As Knox continued to monologue to the man he was taking steady steps forward towards him. "So do you think threatening me is a good idea?" The raider jumped as if he hadn't noticed how close Knox had gotten all of a sudden.
"I- I'll shoot the girl! She's not wearing armor!"
Knox chuckled and put his arm around the raider's shoulder. "Clearly you weren't listening. Doesn't matter if you shoot her. It won't be fatal. Painful maybe, but not fatal. She'll be fine!"
"Knox!" exclaimed Ava in irritation.
"And besides," continued Knox, holding the nervous raider close, "better men than you have tried to kill this one. And I mean a lot of better men. She's still here."
The raider gulped nervously as he looked between the brooding girl and the maniacally smiling man. The shotgun clattered to the ground. "Smart move, my friend. Let's go, Ava!" Knox released the now traumatized raider and waved for Ava to follow. Ava passed the raider and made him flinch before catching up with Knox.
"Knox."
No response.
"Knox!" she repeated and called after him, "What the hell was that?"
"The hell was what?" he asked innocently.
"That! Are we seriously going to just leave him there? He tried to rob us!"
Knox looked at her dubiously. "Did you honestly feel threatened?"
"No," Ava said bluntly, "but I would have just killed him."
"Yeah, I know what you would have done, Ava, but I like to think to myself that if I have to draw my gun I didn't do my job properly."
Ava looked at him in annoyed confusion. "Your job? You're a glorified mailman. How did that have anything to do with your job?"
Knox seemed to think on that for a second. "Hm. Guess you're right. Guess it doesn't have anything to do with my job."
Ava scowled at him. He was taunting her. He'd meant something. She just didn't know what.
"Cut the crap, Knox. What was that? You talked a raider down from a robbery. What was the point?"
"Honestly, it wasn't that hard."
Ava shook her head and made a strangled, frustrated noise in her throat. "I know it wasn't that hard, but why?" she asked again.
Knox gave her a knowing and secretive smile. "It's always advantageous to be able to talk to your enemies. Sometimes you can even make them your friends. Or make them think they are." His smile changed to a cold facade of a smile. It didn't reach his eyes.
Ava stared at the man with more respect. The courier was certainly more than he seemed. Inside that head was a calculating personality. Someone most definitely not above manipulating people. Smart, a talented gunslinger, a silver tongue, and the will to use it to boot. She looked at him warily.
"So... you have a lot of experience tricking your enemies, Knox?"
"Oh certainly not," he denied. "That's something a smart person would do. I'm just a glorified mail man after all, what business do I have making enemies?"
He gave a cocky grin to her again, a grin that never failed to get under her skin, and turned and vaulted over the railing of the highway. He sailed down and landed with a roll in the dirt.
"Where are you going?"
Knox looked back up at Ava who was leaning over the railing. He pointed to the south.
"Roanoke. That's where our ride is."
"Our ride?"
"Yeah. Unless you want to walk twenty five hundred miles to Nevada."
Ava rolled her eyes at him. Clearly she wasn't getting any more answers out of him today. The man was a friggin' magic eight ball of infuriating responses. She tossed her duffel down to him and jumped off the overpass.
Oh well. At least she had time to figure out who her mystery courier was during whatever their 'ride' entailed.
Knox held her duffel out to her, but Ava brushed past him and kept walking.
"Be a gentleman and carry that for me, would you?" she said over her shoulder to him. Knox dropped his head in defeat before slinging the duffel and trudging along after her.
It was going to be a long trip.
And with that we are officially into part 2! Part 2 will be significantly shorter than part 1, but fear not! Part 3 will be written immediately after part 2 is done being posted. I don't want to make you guys wait. I have all the stories planned out, but there are natural breaking points that I just didn't feel right leaving in one fic. So I split it up. Anyway, part 2 will be featuring the Courier and the Wanderer traveling cross country together. I hope you guys like it. If you do, please, please, please, pleeeeaaassseee leave a review.
