Debauched

Three long years after the so called Lone Wanderer had emerged from Vault 101 to find their missing father the Capital Wasteland had never been the same; here was one random, completely insignificant unimportant person who had lived underground for nearly their entire lives completely unaware of the outside world and suddenly they were running around changing everything. Megaton, Tenpenny Tower, Galaxy News Radio, the Brotherhood of Steel, everyone and everywhere was suddenly being affected by the Lone Wanderer - and then just as suddenly they disappeared. No one was quite sure what had happened and the Brotherhood while most likely to know didn't seem to, or else were sticking to their usual secretive ways. Just like that the wasteland had been suddenly and dramatically changed and now its inhabitants were left to deal with the changes on their own.

In the three years since the Lone Wanderer's disappearance many things had changed, and many more had stayed the same,Derek knew that all too well though he didn't always mind. Whiskey still made you drunk enough to forget your problems if only for a moment and Moriarty's Saloon still provided plenty of drinks. Not necessarily cheap drinks, but strong ones, stronger than down at the Lantern - though Derek didn't mind spending time around Leo, he was always good company, mainly because they shared their interest in chems and both wished to keep it a secret interest. Still, Derek couldn't lie to himself, he had hoped Megaton would prove to be more than it had - now he simply passed the days drinking, shooting Med-X or taking pot shots at passing critters to keep the town "safe". That of course had lead to him - drunkenly of course - deciding to join up with the next passing caravan as hired security and now there was no way out of it. Derek had signed a contract between Megaton and Canterbury Commons, now he was officially lent to the next passing caravan as a hired gun so they could make their runs.

Exactly what I needed, to on a fucking adventure for some assholes from Canterbury.

As much as the idea bothered him Derek still couldn't lie to himself, he needed to get moving, to get some action in his life. He'd spent most of it wandering the wasteland and Megaton wasn't his speed at all; at the very least back on the outside he'd have something to do.

"Yeah... caravans..." Derek muttered to himself.

"Hmm? You had one too many again I think." Gob grumbled in his usual rough voice as he looked up from wiping the bar clean, "Go home."

"Whatever." Derek muttered, his glazed over eyes suddenly lighting up with the will, if not the energy or coordination to strike Gob upside the head.

Realizing his inability to turn will into action successfully Derek simply got to his feet slowly and made his way toward the door, passing what had been Lucy West's usual place by the door until she'd finally found someone to help her with her troubles. Lucy had left for Arefu once again some time ago, finally leaving Megaton after her parents were found dead and her brother found by the legendary Lone Wanderer. She'd managed to leave but like Nova constantly pointed out it seemed no one else ever did - except now. Canterbury Commons had become extremely important in the Capitol Wasteland over time, especially with the Lone Wanderer's help and the failure of Project Purity. Water meant distribution, distribution meant caravans, caravans meant Canterbury. The Project had failed but people had come to realize they needed to secure Canterbuy's favor if they were to be truly successful settlements. Now Megaton was going out of its way to get on their good side, even offering contracts between its citizens and Canterbury Commons, while Megaton was very free form as a settlement the contracts were indeed binding, lest you didn't want to return to either Megaton or Canterbury Commons. Lucas Simms had seen to it that people stuck to their commitments though he'd also made sure there was at least one way out, maintaining some form of independence when he'd convinced them to let someone buy their way out of a contract - most people wouldn't have the caps for it though.

"Fuckruckmucking sherrif's hat." Derek mumbled to himself, passing by a few people on his way to his house which had once been Lucy West's, bough only two days after she'd left a year ago, deciding it was best to head back to Arefu after all.

Not long after he barely managed to unlock the door and get inside Derek fell over onto his bed and passed out, not waking until noon the next day with a massive headache; the fact that he only had about an hour to get ready before the caravan arrived didn't make things any better. Barely on his feet Derek wandered around for a moment almost unaware of what he was doing until he finally got his bearings - though he still felt much too sick to be standing for more than a minute at a time - but he managed to get his gear together. Chinese assault rifle, ammo, his sidearm, a sawn off shotgun he carried for emergencies and a knife made up the deadly portion of his equipment while Mirelurk meat in various forms made up most of his food supply, and all the other odd essentials were there as well.

Fucking caravans. Fucking caps. Least I'm outta here.

Angelina had been a bounty hunter, body guard and general mercenary for most of her life and seen most things people claimed to have out in the wasteland and yet somehow the sight of a man with short messy dark green hair stumbling out of Megaton's entrance still managed to surprise nearly bald wasteland wanderer.

Great, this guy's who we've been waiting for? Great. Angelina sighed inwardly and shook her head, adjusting the rifle slung over her shoulder, "Hurry up."

"Yeah yeah." Derek waved her off, "Not like I'm late or nothing."

"You're drunk."

"Was drunk. Was."

"It doesn't much matter." Doc Jones interrupted, "If everything's in order, we've all our group together and can head out."

"Right." Derek nodded, putting on a worn out baseball cap, "Let's roll then."

If nothing else Angelina already liked the fact that whoever the last man in their group was he wasn't one for words or waiting around; of course she also knew that meant a lot of other things. That meant not only was he a lot like her but he was also possibly one to shoot first and ask questions later, maybe even a former raider. Whoever he was he hadn't been there for the brief conversation they'd had and didn't know who anyone else was, nor did they know him, and he didn't know what exactly was going on either - something just as deadly as being quick to overreact. Derek on the other hand wasn't too concerned with who he made up the rest of the group, all he'd known when he'd signed up for the job was that medical supplies were being moved out west and needed extra security; they were after all heading to Girdershade, not exactly the worst place in the wastes but one which saw its fair share of attacks - more so, considering its proximity to several well known raider hang outs. Hang outs Derek knew all too well, a thought that made him wonder why he'd even accepted the job in the first place, he'd headed east to Megaton to get away from the raiders and actually live a comfortable life - something Evergreen Mills nor any other camp could provide. He figured maybe it was for closure, or perhaps he just couldn't walk away from the action. Either way it didn't matter much now that he was out in the wastes again.

"So where we going?" Derek asked finally.

"Tenpenny Tower, or whatever they've decided to call it now." Doc Jones shrugged, looking back at his sizeable group of merchants and caravan guards, "We'll be stopping once or twice along the way, but we're staying out of any populated areas until then."

"And then?"

"Why, and then Girdershade, my friend. And then Girdershade. After, of course, some trading with the fine residents of the reformed Tenpenny Tower."

Angelina snorted, "Right. Reformed. Buncha Ghouls think they can take whatever they want, think we're supposed to feel sorry for them. Tenpenny could keep out whoever the fuck he wanted, right or wrong, fucking self victimizing Ghouls."

"Amen." Derek smirked, "Heard they had some fun with whoever was in there when they showed up... apparently some ferals were let loose, did most of the work."

"Yeah, apparently Dashwood killed more than a few of 'em before he got a five-five-six lobotomy courtesy of one of the non-ferals."

"S'too bad." Derek shrugged, not caring in the least, "Hopefully someone'll drive them outta there too, always thought it looked rather comfy."

Of course Derek left out that he wouldn't ever move into Tenpenny Tower even once everyone that knew of his past life were dead, word of mouth made sure that even those who hadn't met him knew who he was by reputation, but he stayed away from the western settlements all the same. When Derek stopped to think about it though that didn't make sense even now that he was living in Megaton, he had after all moved into Lucy West's house but only after having run into her as she was making her way to Arefu - alone. It had simply been too easy, too natural, she was passing through Springvale like a fool and had run into Derek who was on his way to Megaton and wisely avoiding the raider camp in the school - if they'd found out he was in Megaton they could've blown his cover. Even worse, possibly, was that he had been foolish enough to rob and kill Lucy not far from the city. If anyone ever found out about what had happened that day he would surely be killed on the spot.

Completely unaware of her compnaion's past Angelina simply kept marching silently along with everyone else, appreciating the silence almost as much as Derek who still had a headache that made his head feel like it was going to split in half. Quiet meant being able to concentrate, being able to hear everything around you, being able to survive - something Angelina had learned to do early on. Survival was key, all else could wait, Angelina had been tought that lesson swiftly and severely when she'd run into a band of raiders while out scavenging at only the age of seventeen. They had completely surprised her, taken her completely off guard and had their way with her and the two others with her, killing Dennis after torturing him for what seemed like days on end but had only been two. Angelina could still see it as clearly as ever, as if it had happened not five minutes ago; the knife digging into his throat and sawing through it until his head was taken completely off. Angelina and Margaret would've suffered similar fates had the raiders not decided they would make good slaves, if only for a short while before finally allowing them the same sweet release of death. Angelina had waited four long, horrible days for that moment when they finally killed her, but it never came, one loud, drunken chem soaked night the raiders had let it slip that they would be sold into slavery at Paradise Falls, perhaps the most well known hell hole in all the Capital Wasteland. That night was when something in Angelina had started to repair itself, she'd already snapped but now something was rewiring itself deep inside her brain and telling her to fight, kill and survive, to make them pay and get as far away from their mangled corpses as possible.

Angelina sighed inwardly yet again as she realized she was dwelling on the past again and did her best to ignore the thought, pushing it to the back of her mind and then even further still. Thinking about things like that could get you killed, mainly because they were extremely distracting but because they were also a weakness and as soon as some wasteland wannabe hard ass caught wind of it they'd use it against you like the raiders she'd encountered had done. Angelina would never let that happen again, and staring out into the barren distance she knew that whoever tried to mess with her in such a way would be waiting for their death just as eagerly as she once had.

Just as Angelina had left that thougth behind she found herself just as distracted as she kept having to remind herself she would be, and blinked as she realized Doc Jones was saying something about stopping soon and Derek - she'd barely caught his name in the brief conversation he'd had with Jones while she was day dreaming - muttered something about being tired and needing the rest. Angelina couldn't help but shake her head, everyone else in the group seemed alright but she would've rather they had left without Derek who seemed to be nothing but a hinderance.

"Here." Angelina pulled a bottle of dirty water from her pack, holding it out over to Derek on the other side of a pack Brahmin, If it gets you to shut up.

Derek hesitated for only a second before taking the water, eyeing Angelina as he did so. There was something about her he didn't quite like but Derek couldn't figure it out, other than the fact that women with shaved hair looked horrible - Derek quickly decided he'd still fuck her though. Something about women in combat armor balanced out the fact that Angelina also had shaved her hair.

"Thanks." Derek barely murmured as he closed the half empty bottle and held it back out to Angelina.

"Keep it." She didn't even look at him.

Derek shrugged and put the bottle in his pack and kept walking, out toward a rocky out cropping that provided some degree of shade from the sun at the angle it was currently at, that was where Doc Jones decided they would stop and so they did.

"So what's up with this caravan anyway?" Derek finally asked, his headache starting to subside as he lowered himself to the ground slowly and leaned against the outcropping, "Doc Jones? The contract didn't say much, but that's not a name most people go by."

"I adopted my current moniker in honor of a fallen friend, you could say he was instrumental in turning my life around." Jones started, taking a seat himself nearby, "Doc Hoff was a well known and respected man, a talented merchant that offered only the best items to a badly hurting wasteland... and all it ever did was kill him."

At that very moment, with those very words, while they meant very little to anyone else in the group one of the hired guns in particular felt uneasy. Very uneasy. Suddenly he realized why Doc Jones was so familiar, why this all seemed so strange to him, and that was when he realized the death of the merchant known as Doc Hoff had not only not been forgotten as was to be expected, but someone had survived the raid on his caravan. Daniel had been the one that had killed Doc Hoff, he had been there when the lightly guarded caravan had stopped at Agatha's house, he had been the one to kill both him and her and now he was working with the one and only survivor a year after he had done so.

Fucking getting the hell outta here as soon as fucking possible. Daniel made a mental note and did his best to cover up his discomfort with discussing the subject.

"But that's all in the past, now." Doc Jones shrugged, not offering anymore about himself, "And the past isn't going to help save anyone, no matter what the Brotherhood Of Steel might have to say about it."

"Whatever you say." Derek shrugged, retrieving the water Angelina had given him and taking a sip, "I'm just here to make some caps."

"And so you shall, my friend, so you shall." Jones smirked, "It wouldn't do well to refuse to pay such heavily armed and highly trained individuals as yourselves now would it?"

"Guess not." Derek agreed, So these assholes know what they're doing then, figures, she's got combat armor after all...

Whoever made up the motley crew Derek now found himself to be a part of he decided it would be wise to keep his old raider habits in check, unlike with Lucy West, lest he end up dead at the hands of his supposed allies.

A half hour and some useless conversation later the group found themselves following Doc Jones' lead again, the six of them roughly forming a circle around several pack Brahmin and two other caravan merchants working with Jones. They caravan was relatively well protected in that fashion and it still allowed them to travel quickly, something Daniel noted, deciding that he definitely had to make his exit as soon as he could instead of trying to finish what he had started. He was alone, completely outnumbered and outgunned, his only hope would've been to kill them all in their sleep - and he likely could've done so. The trip to Tennpenny tower would take more than a day and they would have to stop again eventually, this combined with the fact that Daniel was more than a bit skilled at such things meant it wouldn't prove all that difficult. Still he had taken a chance by hitting a well known and liked caravan merchant, he wasn't about to take that chance again unless he absolutely had to. No one knew his secret, and he knew none of theirs except Jones', if it could be considered a secret at all that he had been there when Doc Hoff had been killed.

"So then, you've been running things for a while?" Daniel asked, watching Jones carefully.

"Why yes, yes I have," Jones turned to face him now, allowing himself a smile, "And I do think I've done a rather splendid job too. You see, Canterbury Commons, it was the perfect place for merchants. Safe, secure, and willing to cooperate with them more than any other settlement. Hoff, he understood this, and so I simply had to step in and continue his efforts."

"That so?" Daniel nodded after a moment of thought, "Guess I should've signed up with you a long time ago instead of messing around with all those other caravans."

"Yes, perhaps you should've." Jones agreed, "But one cannot always be so picky who one works for in the wasteland, I'm sure we've all learned that lesson by now."

"Yeah, I suppose so..." Daniel agreed, nodding after yet another moment, "Still, I'm sure there's more caps in working with you, you sure do seem to know what you're doing."

"I learned from the best." Jones smiled again, shrugged, and offered nothing more.

"Yeah, true." Daniel agreed quietly, shrugging off his pack to dig through it for water as everyone else sat around relatively quietly now, occasional conversations sprouting up here and there.

Though nothing important was being said Daniel listened closely all the same, it had been a skill he'd picked up in Rivet City when he had worked as a security guard but that was long ago and he hardly thought about it if he could help it. All the same it proved a useful skill, though he learned nothing new of his companions. The merchants had been working with Jones for a while, all except two, new comers to Canterbury Commons looking to get their start with an established caravan; the guards on the other hand were a bit more mysterious though daniel knew that was probably to be expected as most hired guns in the wasteland had probably seen and done things that needn't be talked about - or worse were running from some of those things just like him.

"We should be off." Doc Jones rose up and brushed off his now dusty suit, "We've still a ways to go after all."

Everyone simply nodded and prepared to head further west, further out into still further dangerous areas. The Brotherhood Of Steel and many other groups had fought over control of the Capital Wasteland and some had indeed whether intending to or not made it a slightly safe, better place than it had been before but in the end what lie to the west of downtown was still rather lawless and the further out one went the more chaotic and dangerous it became. Despite the best efforts of the residents of Girdershade, long since having become more than a simple hiding place for its two founding residents, the area all around them had become even more dangerous with their small town being the only real place of safety - raiders never bothered attacking entire towns even that far west as it almost always proved less viable than simply waiting for caravans and other travelers. The only other major settlement that was in the area and safe from raiders or other wasteland threats was Tenpenny Tower, now just as much an inpenetrable fort as ever before, perhaps even more so with the Ghouls so desperate to keep what had taken them so much time and effort to gain; outside of either of those locations everyone knew if they ran into trouble they were in for a fight with no one to help them but that didn't trouble them.

After yet another hour of marching Angelina had noticed everyone except Derek, yet again, seemed to be doing fine. The green haired man still had his baseball cap on and was still carrying his Chinese assault rifle slung over his sholder, revolver at his side though Angelina was sure she'd seen a sawn off shotgun hidden in his gear when he'd been messing with it earlier. Whoever he was not only was he dangerous because he was a mess he was a well armed mess, he was definitely going to be a problem but there was nothing she could do except hope he wasn't under contract for more than the trip to and from Girdershade and would leave her to do her job properly after that. So many people always getting in her way it was almost enough to driver her insane but only almost, Angelina was far too hardened for something like that to truly get to her however, no matter how much she disliked inefficiency or laziness such as his. Angelina had the deceny to only drink when it wouldn't interfer with her job, and even then she could easily ignore it and conduct herself properly; only the lowest form of human life let themselves be such a mess. With yet another inward sigh Angelina adjusted the assault rifle slung over her shoulder and gazed out into the distance off to the side, scanning the horizon though she didn't see anything then looked over to Derek's side of the caravan and found nothing again.

"Like the view?"

Angelina's eyes quickly shifted to Derek who was grinning, "Not even a little."

"Save the flirting for later." Daniel muttered, "You're gonna get us all killed."

"Agreed." Doc Jones didn't bother looking back at them as he lead the caravan, "And what good would you be to me dead?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever, not my fault I'm just that damn sexy." Derek chuckled, "But I'll try to keep it in check."

"Good. Do that." Angelina snapped, pointing after a moment, "And stand further up ahead of me, I think that's where they'll be shooting from."

"See something?" Doc Jones slowed down.

"Think so." Angelina nodded, already having unslung her rifle and prepared for battle, "By that low hill, with the boulder on the one side."

"Excellent, excellent..." Jones turned, smiling as he looked at everyone in turn, "Well then, I suppose it would be wise to go introduce ourselves to our new friends,."

"Of course." Derek grinned, "Wouldn't want to be rude."