Gob had taken too long, well in Moriarty's opinion anyway. Nova watched helpless as Moriarty took his morning anger out on poor Gob. The scrawny ghoul had become accustomed to these beatings, he took the usual defense technique of covering his face and hoping for the best. Gob didn't deserve the constant abuse, hell either did Nova, but they were stuck. Trapped by debt,debt created by a lying abusive boss. The abuse was never this bad, until Gob told the little vaultie about the terminal in the back when she had returned caked in blood from Moriarty's job. Nova guessed he was afraid Moriarty would stick her in the same 'contract' as he and Nova were in. He told her to take the caps, read the terminal and get the hell out of dodge. He felt bad for her, and risked his neck, even giving the vaultie a discount and how did she repay him? By leaving him to rot in the place she had found him. Nova remembered how happy Gob was, calling her friend, smiling when she laughed at his jokes. Leading him on is what she did. Now he was paying for it, and the vaulite was no where in sight.
" Colin hun, how is he supposed to work if you leave him blind?" Nova asked, attempting to use her charm to get Gob even a moment of relief.
"I'm sorry I must have forgotten. A whore knows how to treat my property better than I do." Moriarty spat, stepping away from Gob, she may have set the bullseye on her but at least he wasn't hurting Gob anymore. "Get to work ya lazy zombie!"
Gob stood up, wiping the blood off his face, he looked absolutely miserable. Nova knew she should have hugged him, or helped him in some way but she knew Moriarty would punish her for it. Nova was a woman who followed her own advice, she never stuck her neck out too far.
It had been three long weeks since Yolandi had been home, Charon had never been to Megaton, in all honesty compared to the vast skyline of DC, Megaton was pretty insignificant. As soon as they stepped through the gates a woman greeted Yolandi, thanking her and handing her a water bottle. Charon scoffed, Yolandi had disarmed a bomb, saving all of them and all they can scrounge up is a bottle of water. Although watching Yolandi's reaction, it seemed like they had given her something she has always wanted. Her warm smile, her light touch on the woman's arm, all signs of true gratitude. As the walked away, a scrawny dog with a procession of children approached Yolandi.
" Dogmeat! How are you sweetheart? Who's a good dog?" She had knelt down to take the dog into her arms. It licked her face as she ruffled it's fur, all the children began talking all at once, trying to tell Yolandi of the adventures they had shared with Dogmeat. Of course all voices hushed immediately when the children caught sight of Charon. Charon couldn't help but bask in the fear that emitted from the children.
" Oh don't worry about him, he's a big sofite." Yolandi smiled, as she stood up. Charon glared at her. Soft. Soft? No one had ever called Charon soft, he was a creature of nightmares, ghouls shook in his presence. He was a killer, a demon that haunted the ninth circle of Underworld. Charon's train of thought was quickly derailed as he felt Yolandi take his hand in hers and pull him in the direction she wanted him to go. Suddenly he didn't feel like a nightmare, he felt strange, the only thing he could focus on was the feeling of her smooth skin on his ruined flesh. He didn't appreciate being led around like a toddler, but the feeling of her skin caused his complaint to catch in his throat. She was speaking but he couldn't hear anything but his own heart beat. She had let go of his hand to unlock a door, they had some how made their way to her home.
"Get it the fuck together." Charon muttered to himself. He straightened himself out to stand as tall as he could, slightly puffing his chest, he needed to be intimidating, he needed to remind this little Vaulite that he wasn't soft, that she had hired a weapon, a man capable of anything. He stepped into the house, the soft lighting a welcome change from the glaring sun. Her home was different to say the least. She had a large heart shaped bed that took up a huge amount of space on the bottom floor. She was thrown on top of it, curling herself in the blankets.
" Your room is upstairs, don't mind the robot." She sat up to gesture to the second floor, " So just get settled, there's food in the fridge, nuka cola in the machine, mi casa is your casa. I'm gonna take a nap, so uh do what you want."
Charon opened his mouth to protest, to begin to explain to her that he needed orders from her, that 'do what you want' was not a proper order, but she had fallen asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. He knew better than to bother his employer with clarifications so he made his way upstairs to his room to get settled. Charon looked at the bed, the locker and the table. He didn't have enough belongings to need a room, he didn't need a bed, he barely slept and if he did a chair was enough. How could he keep watch the perimeter from the second floor? Perhaps she had given him the top floor room so he could have an eye over the whole house? Or was she coddling him? He felt like she was. She was giving him too much, he had not done anything to deserve her kindness and her gifts. Charon felt an anger build up in him, she was treating him like he was weak, like he was a delicate flower not the killing machine that he was. Although she was kind to everyone, why would she treat him different? Did he want her to treat him differently? Different in what way? Charon grunted as he threw his pack on the bed, he was filled with anger, and confusion. Anger at himself, anger at Yolandi. He needed to kill something.
"What do you mean make trouble? I'm getting rid of the trouble!" Yolandi raised an eyebrow at her tall companion. They were making their way to Moriarty's. Charon was never one for questioning his employer, but since she had given him the privilege.
"I am just saying, you're well liked here and killing another citizen is going to bring you unnecessary trouble." Charon tried to explain himself, but Yolandi was not hearing a word.
" They like me here, I saved this place from turning into nothing but a mushroom cloud, I think I can get away with this." Yolandi said, her logic he thought had holes in it. " I'll tell you what, I'll give my friend the new radio I got him, we'll have a drink and i'll think about my options."
As they came to the entrance of the saloon Yolandi gestured for Charon to stop and handed him the crudely wrapped radio. She adjusted the dress she changed into, patted her hair to make sure it was in place, and licked her lips. Charon gave her a strange look, which she caught.
" What? I want to make sure I look cute. What's it to you?" She asked, a light blush on her cheeks as she quickly grabbed the radio from his hands.
" Your plans, whatever they are that involve what's in this pack, are those going to be cute also?" He liked the face she made when he poked fun at her. He did have to admit, he was eager to see the 'friend' that she was so nervous to see, the 'friend' that had her wanting to impress.
As they walked into the saloon, Charon almost choked on his own saliva. Her 'friend' the man who she was all dolled up for was a fucking ghoul. Not any ghoul either, but Gob, Carol's spineless son. Charon felt a genuine urge to laugh, a smile twitching on his face. Yolandi looked at him and narrowed her eyebrows.
" Don't be rude, or ill make you wait outside. I'm sure you guys have a history, both of you being from underworld and all." Her eyes meeting his in a challenging glare.
" What? I have not said a single thing, and I will not, unless I am spoken too." Charon stated. He doubted Gob would say anything to him, Gob was scared to death of him. It was extremely evident, when his eye widened as he and Yolandi approached the bar.
" What is he doing here?" Gob asked, his voice dripping with revulsion. Charon smirked at him, maybe Gob had a spine, or at least pretended to have one in front of Yolandi.
" Never mind that, what happened to your face?!" Yolandi asked reaching forward and touching Gob's wounded face, Charon's smirk quickly disappeared.
" The usual." Gob looked down in shame, but quickly bit it back to glare at Charon. " He's the reason i'm here, him and Azrachaul!"
Charon wanted to say that it wasn't his fault it was Gob's fault for owing money to Azrachaul, it was his own fault that Charon had to chase him out of Underworld.
" He doesn't work for Azrachaul anymore, he works for me." Yolandi said trying to feign a soft smile.
"So you hold the leash now?" Gob asked, he attempted to express confusion on his face but quickly winced in pain.
" Don't say it like that. I don't like that." Yolandi said sadly, sneaking a glance at Charon.
" It's true. He's nothing but a dog that follows orders no matter what they are but if he tries to hide behind Azrachaul for all the shit he's done, he's a liar. I know he enjoyed every bit of torment he brought down on us." Gob spat. Charon could see himself picking up the ghoul by his scrawny little neck and choking him until the life had drained from his eyes, or grabbing his worthless head and bashing it into the bar, but he couldn't do anything not without Yolandi's orders. And just the way she looked at Gob he knew that would never happen, so he simply grunted at him. Yolandi had made her way around the counter, and was attempting to use a stimpack on him.
" Enough about Charon, has Moriarty gotten worse?...quit fidgeting and let me give this to you." Yolandi asked as she applied a stimpack to the side of Gob's face. Gob couldn't look her in the eye. " It's my fault isn't it? Since you helped me." Yolandi whispered, " I'm so sorry I didn't come back sooner."
"It's not like that, don't blame yourself for something I chose to do." Gob smiled weakly at her, " Did you find your dad?"
" Uh it's much more complicated than that. I'm on the right track though….. Oh Gob this should have never happened to you, you shouldn't have helped me." Yolandi said sadly, handing Gob another Stimpack. " I have a present for you though."
" Turns out Nova was right, it was the radio station not the radio. I actually helped fix it, but I still wanted to get you a new one, as a thank you for helping me." Yolandi said while Gob opened up the gift.
" Thank you friend…." Gob began to say before he was interrupted by Moriarty.
"Hello there Lass, it's been fortnight since I last saw you. Did you find your dear old dad?"
Charon looked around the bar, going to the bar late was a good idea, there was only one woman in the corner, who he assumed to be Nova.
" I did not know they made shufflers that large!" Moriarty laughed giving a quick point to looked over at Yolandi hoping she understood why he was looking at her, she nodded giving him permission to speak.
" Your charming aren't you? I heard you like to beat on ghouls." Charon stood up, speaking as he made his way around the bar. " Why don't you take a swing at me?"
Charon felt at peace once again looking down at Moriarty, all the confusion with Yolandi was the furthest thing from his mind. Now all that mattered was the horror in the old man's face.
" Is this about Gob? He's my employee, I do with him as I please." Moriarty attempted to sound strong, his illusion was easily seen through, as he slowly began to step back.
" Or is this about that little ghoul fucker? She wanted free information, aa-about her father. It was just business! I can't be gg-given away caps like that"
Yolandi giggled, " Ghoul fucker?"
By now Charon had gotten close enough to grab Moriarty, Yolandi was too was stalking towards Moriarty, a rope and bandana in her hands.
" We can talk about this? Is it caps you want? I'll let Gob go, I'll give Nova time off! Lets talk about this!" Moriarty babbled as he stepped further back. He began to reach behind him. Charon was faster, quickly grabbing Moriarty's arm, and squeezing. Moriarty screamed as the pain shooting through his arm brought him down to his knees. Yolandi leaned forward, roughly gagging moriarty with the bandana. Charon pulled Moriarty's arms back allowing Yolandi to tie his hands. At this point Moriarty had began to struggle, dropping onto his back and kicking wildly.
" Oh, oh looks like he's a kicker!" Yolandi laughed, trying to get a hold of the struggling man's legs. Her laugh immediately stopped when Moriarty's foot connected with Yolandi's finger, Charon had to smirk at the sudden mood change. Cradling the injured finger in the opposite hand, she furrowed her brows her mouth forming a snarl.
" Charon get his fucking legs!" She yelled.
Charon stomped down on Moriarty's kicking legs, until Moriarty stopped moving his legs at all, then proceeded to tie them up.
"Yolandi Why are you doing this?!" Gob yelled, beginning to pace back and forth.
" Uh, cause I like watching Charon fuck people up?" Yolandi seemed genuinely confused." I mean, Moriartys a fucking asshole, he abuses you and Nova, he tried to extort caps out of me! Geeze Gob I thought you'd be happy! I had high hopes for this! I was expecting love and happiness, maybe to get lifted in the air like a true hero!" Yolandi put her hands on her hips, and pouted. Charon left their victim on the floor, and picked up his shotgun.
" Where is this headed? What are we doing?" Charon asked, he should have had her outline the plan with him, to iron out the details. He still had a lot to learn about her, but one thing was certain this girl liked to, as she said, 'wing it.' Although Charon didn't mind chaos, he preferred a chaos that he had a hand in creating, not a one created by the psychotic unorganized whims of a vaultie.
" You guys need to stop second guessing me. See I didn't want to shoot him cause that would cause a ruckus, beating him would leave a mess, so we take him out of town and do it there. Geeze I have things under control." Yolandi smiled, Charon narrowed his eyes.
Gob had begun to say something but stopped as the front door swung open. Lucas Simms trudged in with his rifle in hand. Charon immediately raised his shotgun.
" Thought I heard someone scream. Apparently I was correct." Simms said, his voice steady and calm.
" Simm's darlin, why are you up so late? " Yolandi asked her voice smoother than silk and her smile sweeter than sugar.
"I see what your doin, I can't allow it." Simm's spoke with command, his stance strong.
"Listen Simms, darlin this can only go two ways." Her smile was gone along with the softness in her demeanor. Her face became dark, her eyes narrowed, Charon felt that he could cut the tension with a knife. He had no idea what to do, he didn't want to kill the sheriff, even Charon had to admit there was something noble about taking on justice and law in the chaotic wasteland. However if he did not lower his gun, if he stepped out of turn he would have to, to protect Yolandi.
Yolandi sighed, a serious look upon her face. " Like I said, two ways. Charon and I wrap up this abusive piece of shit in a carpet and walk him out of town. It's awful late, no one will know the difference between a rolled up carpet and Moriarty. Also when the people start asking for him you can tell them he went out on business and sadly never returned. It's a big bad wasteland who knows what might of happened. Or you take another step forward, try to pull the trigger on that gun and my friend here shoots you down. Your son left all alone, an orphan and for what? Moriarty! And of course we can't forget the rest of this town, they'll take up arms, they'll come for me and Charon which they have every right to do. Thing is we won't go quietly, hell we'll probably end up burning this place to the ground because I guarantee you I do not need an atomic bomb to wipe this town off the map."
Charon watched as the Simm's lowered his rifle, removed his hat and wiped sweat off his forehead. Even though he didn't want to kill the sheriff his finger was itching on the trigger of his shotgun. Simm's sighed placing his hat back on his head.
" This is it. Consider us even. I let this go, I don't owe you my life anymore." Simm's said quietly.
" This is justice Simms." Yolandi replied. she waved her hand signaling for Charon to lower his gun.
" Is it? Is this about Gob or Nova, or is this because Moriarty didn't give you what you wanted?" Simm's asked. Yolandi's face slightly contorted, Charon felt his spine tingle, he was going to have to shoot the old sheriff after all. However Yolandi smiled and slightly tilted her head.
" Doesn't fucking matter now, does it?" She smiled, " Now why don't you go on home."
Lucas Simms turned on his heel and headed out the door, but paused " This is your one pass little girl, you've done good by this town, but I won't turn my back again."
He continued out the door mumbling about being too old for this shit. Charon hadn't realized he was holding his breath, until Yolandi let out hers.
"Holy fuck that was intense, hahaha." She laughed
" That wasn't funny Yolandi! What if he had shot you?" Nova finally breaking her silence. Charon knew she was right, the whole situation could have gone south. He knew better than to question her again, especially in front of other people. As Yolandi began to explain herself, to try and put Nova at ease Charon turned toward Moriarty again, he had to begin to whimper pathetically. His eyes swollen from crying.
" I'll knock him out before we go." Charon said, Yolandi nodded and continued speaking to Gob and Nova. Charon landed a clean punch upon Moriarty's skull rendering the crying man unconscious. He watched as Yolandi turned up her charm, smiling touching Novas, reassuring them that her plan was going to work. Assuring them that no one would blame them, promising that if the town turned on them, or didn't swallow Simm's story she'd stand in the middle of town and yell about what she had done. Charon admired his new employer, the way she used her words to accomplish things, the way she could wrap people around her pretty little finger.
" I'll come around tomorrow, we'll have dinner, drinks, listen to the new radio! It'll be fun. Charon if you please." She smiled, as Charon dragged Moriarty's body onto a carpet, and rolled him into it. He lifted the unconscious man with ease throwing his carpeted body over his shoulder. He followed her as they made their way through the silent her out the gate, past the robot, into the ruins of an old neighborhood.
" I used to live right over there." She whispered, Charon didn't answer her, he knew she wasn't speaking to him. She turned to face him, gone was the smile, gone was her joking manner.
" Over here, this house." She walked up to the door and pressed her hand gently on it. As she pushed it open the scent of decay cut through the air, even with Charon's reduced sense of smell, it caused his stomach to drop. Yolandi turned on the light on her pipboy and walked into the house, Charon saw the source of the rotting scent, a woman's decaying corpse lay in the house's kitchen. A portion of her skull laid fragmented on the floor, a blood caked brick sat not far from her.
" Put him on his knees, in front of her." She said, softly her voice dripping in pain. Charon did as he was told, propping up the man giving him a slap across the head to wake him. Immediately Moriarty began to scream, muffled of course but loud just the same. His legs were a swollen mess the pain coursing through his body must have been unimaginable.
" Shut up. Shup up. SHUT UP!" Yolandi bellowed, pulling her pistol from her holster and pointing it Moriarty. Charon smirked, looking down the barrel of a gun worked better than most painkillers. Charon stepped back as Yolandi leaned forward burying her hands in Moriarty's hair dragging his face forward to face the decaying woman.
" You probably don't remember her do you?! She was probably another junkie to you! Some bitch who owed you money?! You knew it wouldn't go easily! You knew she'd fight me! I didn't want to kill her! I told her no never mind but she was so afraid of you! Afraid that Id tell you where she was! That you'd send someone worse! She was so scared of you, she attacked me!" Yolandi was on the verge of tears, Moriarty was already crying, his sobs muffled by the bandana in his mouth.
" She knocked the gun out of my hand, I had to use the brick, I kept hitting her and hitting her. You don't even give a fuck do you? " Yolandi's sentence ended in a barely audible whisper. She stood up straight and kicked Moriarty over, his body landing on top of the corpse. She raised her pistol and shot Moriarty in the head. She stood for a moment staring at what she had done.
" It was much more poetic in my head." She said, she turned on her heel and proceeded to walk through the door. She paused again as she stared off into the distance, quietly whispering again " I used to live right over there."
Charon stared at the woman before him, the moonlight bouncing off her skin, the light outlining the splatters of blood across her dress, she bit her bottom lip before her mouth contorted into the wicked grin that had attracted Charon from the moment he first saw it. He didn't know whether he should admire her ability to bury her emotions or feel sorry for her.
" I fucked him up, he was terrified." She grinned, a small laugh escaping her mouth.
" I helped." Charon replied.
" That you did but I scared him though, really made his final moments horrifying." She replied with a matter of fact tone.
" Smoothskin there is nothing more terrifying than a six foot ghoul stalking towards you." Charon replied as they began walking back toward Megaton. Yolandi laughed as she ran ahead and turned around.
" Alright big guy, stalk towards me." She giggled placing her hands on her hips.
Charon stopped in his tracks, was she playing a game with him? What the hell was she doing? He did as she asked, taking intimidating step after step, he got close enough to touch her, she didn't move. She looked up at him, he almost touched her. Why did he want to touch her? To ttouch her face, to wipe the drop of blood off her cheek, maybe even run his thumb along her plump bottom lip, what the fuck was he thinking. It felt strange, a horrible sickening kind of strange; Sure he wanted to put his hands on Azrachul before, to rip his head clean off his shoulders, to pummel his face until there was nothing left, to rip off and make him eat every last bit of remaining skin off of his former employers body. Pain, causing pain is what Charon knew, harm, mutilation, that is what he was trained to cause. Anger flared up inside him, he could feel the rage all the way down to his fingertips. He did not want this, he did not want these forgotten, buried urges to surface, he did not want to play games with her that is something that is done with friends. He was not her friend, he was her bodyguard. He would have to stop interacting with her, in ways that did not pertain to his duty.
" You are not afraid because you hold my contract. I cannot hurt you, you are my employer." He stated, her eyes saddened.
" Oh okay big guy, whatever you need to tell yourself." She said. "Let's go home."
He followed her all the way home.
" See Wadsworth the doggy door was a good idea." Yolandi said as she sat down on her bed, to pet Dogmeat.
" My apologies ma'm but I must point out that it still presents a security risk." The robot replied.
" Security risk? No one is going to come a knockin, I've got a robot, a rabid dog, and scary ghoul to keep the bad guys at bay." She said with a small smile.
"As you say madam." The robot replied.
" I'll go upstairs then. I will see you when you awaken." Charon said standing at the foot of the stairs waiting to be dismissed.
" Charon, why do you do that?" She was looking up at him, her gaze piercing his skin.
" What are you talking about?" Charon asked, genuinely confused.
" You start speaking to me, all fine, even making fun of me, you get sarcastic and then out of nowhere you revert back to when I first met you. You go from conversating and communicating to all cold and distant. Why do you do that?" Yolandi asked.
Charon felt the rage again, coupled with the horrible strangeness that pooled in the pit of his stomach. He wasn't going to answer her question, he wasn't even sure if he could. He wouldn't answer unless she commanded him too.
" I'll see you in the morning." Charon said, he couldn't dismiss himself, he needed her approval before continuing up the stairs.
" Goodnight Charon." She said.
He didn't look back at her as he walked up the staircase.
~It took me a month to update, that's not cool. I'll definitely update more frequently starting September. Rate and Review, Criticism is always accepted, I'm genuinely trying to improve my writing. Thanks for reading.