The sun was setting, causing an orange glow across the ravaged wasteland. A figure moved on top of a hill. It was a young man in a suit light armor. He had a shotgun strapped to his back and a hunting rifle in his hand. He took a long gaze at the wastes before him and then slowly descended the hill. He was not an idle wastelander, born to die in horrific ways, he was more then that. He was returning to his home, where he could sleep, eat and share his earnings with his comrades. He was content at the moment. His assignment was finished; it was nothing difficult but, either way it had to be done to ensure his survival. The man heard the sound of a dog attack. He could not help himself and followed the sounds to the edge of a rocky cliff.
He looked down to witness a girl, undoubtedly of Asian descent, marooned on a rock. Below her swarmed a pack of wasteland dogs, barking, growling, lunging, and biting. The man brushed back his shaggy brown hair to get a better look at the girl. She was probably around the same age as him, mid twenties, with shoulder length black hair. She swung a Chinese sword around her head, threatening the dogs with it. One dog, probably the alpha male, circled the rock and found a place to climb up. It lunged, but the girl swung her sword at the dog, slicing its side open and forcing the animal into the rock. The injured dog dropped to the ground and began to whine. Another dog turned away from the rock and grabbed the injured dog by the neck. It began to shake the alpha dog until its injured body lay motionless. The man knew that he witnessed a new alpha male become leader. He grinned a little. He was finding this battle interesting, but he knew he had to help. He snickered as he loaded his hunting rifle. He took aim and shot five times, taking out all the remaining dogs. One still squirmed, but the girl jumped off the rock and placed the end of her sword in its neck. She then looked up and motioned towards the man to come see her.
The two approached each other, "Thanks." She said.
The man nodded and replied, "It didn't look like you needed too much help. You took out a couple of the dogs and I witnessed you kill the alpha."
She smiled and flipped her hair out of her face, "My name is Mei Ling Cho, and I've been traveling the Wasteland. I've killed at least one of everything in this hellhole, but once your gun breaks you can't do too much."
The boy raised his hand for a handshake and introduced himself, "I'm Raycomb, Raycomb Jim." He paused then continued, "By the looks of it, I'd call you a raider, not a wastelander."
"Like I said I've killed stuff before...including raiders. I took the armor for protection. You got to use what you can find." She then looked proudly at her spiked shoulder pads. "Anyways thanks for the help, hopefully I'll see you again. See ya!"
"Wait!" Raycomb hollered without thinking. Mei Ling turned around. "Look, Ms. Cho..."
She interrupted, "Please call me Mei Ling."
"OK, Mei Ling, if you really did kill off raiders and are that independent I have a proposition for you. But if you're some wastelander trying to pull a bluff then you won't live very long."
"Alright, I'm listening." She announced while folding her arms a cross each other.
Raycomb sighed, "I work for a...company that does uh...favors for people of the wastes. It isn't particularly easy, but you get shelter, nourishments, protection and caps."
"So, you're a Merc?" She asked.
"No, not a Merc. We do tasks and favors for people and yes, some have involved assassinations, but not all of them."
"So, you're a Merc." Mei said again, but this time she wasn't asking it, she was stating it.
Raycomb sighed into his hand, "Are you in or not?"
Mei thought about it then asked, "What company? Talon?"
"What? Hell no! Talon Company is a soulless company in it for caps. We do this to survive. We don't have a large task force. We only have...well you'll see when we get there. So are you coming?" Raycomb was getting agitated now.
"Yeah, I'll come. What's the worst that could happen?" Mei sighed.
"Fine! Good, let's go."
***
The two approached a rocky passage that divided the cliff. They entered the passage quietly. "Careful now. We had a buyer that was coming to our location when a rock fell off the cliff and killed him." Raycomb warned.
Mei Ling rolled her eyes, "Wonderful."
They soon reached another passage off of the main one that had a cave at the end of it. A protectron robot stood guard in front of the cave, it spook as the got closer, "Greetings, Raycomb Jim." It said in its emotionless, mechanical voice.
"Hey Pork!" Raycomb replied.
"Pork?" Mei Ling asked, but before Raycomb could answer Pork interrupted. "Halt. Identify yourself stranger." He ordered.
"It's fine Pork. She's with me."
"Very well. Have a nice day." Pork said while turning away from Raycomb and Mei Ling.
The two of them entered the cave, as they got further into the cave the ground ramped upwards. They soon exited the cave and to Mei's surprise, they found themselves on top of the cliff. There was a rocky landscape on top of the cliff and in one of the rock piles there was a cave where Raycomb Jim and his company worked. Mei Ling was awestruck, "So that cave uh, I mean tunnel brought us up on top of the cliff?" She then took in a big breath of air and spoke again. "I've never seen a place like this in all of the Capital Wasteland. Where are we anyways?"
Raycomb laughed, "The funny part is that we don't really know. We know how to get here and that's it. We're not on a map or computer or anything."
Mei looked around the area again but this time she noticed that the cliff slowly merged with the ground below them into a natural hillside. "Why didn't we just walk up that way?" she asked.
Raycomb looked at it with a grin, "It would be too easy. Let me explain." He picked up a rock and through it on to the hillside. As soon as the rock hit the ground it exploded into a cloud of dust. He looked at Mei, whose jaw was wide open in shock, and said, "Minefield."
A grizzly, southern accented shout was heard, "Fuck! Raycomb? What the fuck are you doin'?" The shout came from a figure on a rocky ledge looking over the hillside.
Mei looked at Raycomb and then the figure, "Who was that?"
"Ah, you'll find out and then you'll wish that you never met him."
They were met at the entrance of the cave by a stocky man. His face was tanned and wrinkled from years of exposure from the sun's rays. He had a full dark brown beard with large traces of grey showing his age. He wore metal armor and a cowboy hat on top of his head. He shuffled a tooth pick from side to side with his lips while he looked at them. Then he spoke in his grizzly southern voice, "What the hell are you doin', throwin' a rock into the minefield?"
"I was just showing my friend here why not to go up the hillside." Raycomb said cautiously.
"You couldn't have just told her that there's a god damn minefield there? She's Asian and they're smart aren't they? I'm sure she would'a got it!" The man snarled.
"Excuse me? Who the hell are you to make racial stereotypes?" Mei yelled.
"I'm Abraham Wilkins! Master sniper for over forty years! And I'm allowed to say whatever the fuck I want because your kind were the ones who blew the fuck outta this place!"
"You're a prick! I was born in America and so were my parents and grandparents!" She reached for the sword in her sheath.
Wilkins grabbed the sniper off his back and said "You wanna fight lil lady? You wouldn't hurt a fifty-five year old man now, would ya?"
"Watch me!" she screamed, but Raycomb held her back.
Wilkins laughed, "I'm just foolin'! You know that Raycomb. Come on in!" He tilted his hat and smiled as Mei walked past.
The three of them entered the cave. They were met again. This time by a short muscular man in a Colonel's uniform. He spoke in a strong orderly voice, "Raycomb, Wilkin and you are?" He asked while looking at Mei Ling.
"Hi, I'm Mei Ling Cho. I was being attack by dogs and Raycomb helped me out."
"So why did you bring her here, Raycomb?" He asked.
"Well Colonel, she pretty much took care of the dogs herself and she said that she has killed one of everything in the wasteland. She does have the raider armor to prove she killed raiders at least."
The Colonel looked at her, "She could have easily taken that armor off of a rotting corpse and then lied to you too, Raycomb, but I'll take her word for it. I'm Colonel Roger Cardarian." He shook her hand. The Colonel had a grey buzz cut hair style and a firm face like a statue. He had icy pale blue eyes, which reflected his cold personality. "Well Raycomb, you brought Ms. Cho here so you get her set up and introduce her to everyone. I'm guessing you already met Wilkins and the protectron have you?
"Uh, yes Colonel." She replied, "But what is it that you guys do?"
"Well, we're a task company we do anything that will get us some form of reward. Escorts, shipments, pest control, wasteland assassinations, etc. We do have some rules though. We do not accept any assassin contracts that take place within a settlement, be it Big Town or Megaton or Rivet City or any other some what populated settlement. We do not kill unless it's our contract or if our life is threatened. We are not a prostitution business. I think that last one is quite clear, hmmm? Finally what ever pay you get is split between the workers."
"And what is this task company called?" Mei asked
"We are the Red Arachnid Company. I know the name sounds cheesy but we like it. Now go get your stuff ready. If you're going to join us then you're working tomorrow,"
"Yes Colonel." Mei said
"Well let's go then Mei, we'll get you some weapons from Tinker." Raycomb said delightfully and led her through the cave.
They entered a small cavern where an African American man was welding a gun together. He looked up at his fellow co-worker, "Hey, Raycomb!"
"Hey Tinker, I want you to meet Mei Ling Cho, she's the newest addition to our company."
"Well the pleasure is all mine, Ma'am." He shook her hand, "I'm Phillip Tort, but everyone just calls me Tinker."
Raycomb nodded at Tinker, "Yup, without Tinker there would be no company. He builds and fixes the weapons; he built Pork and the Radio we use to get contracts."
Mei still couldn't see his face behind the welding mask he was wearing.
"Well what can I do for you two then?" Tinker asked.
Mei answered him, "I guess I need weapons for my new employment here."
"OK, then name a weapon and I'll check if we got it, if not I'll build it, but that might take a while."
She thought about it then said, "You got a 10mm Sub-Machinegun and some grenades?"
Tinker laughed; "Of course." he said and then pulled out the gun and five grenades from under the counter. "That's all, Ma'am?" he said and then sipped his Nuka-Cola through a straw from under his mask.
"No." Mei began "Why don't you take that mask off?"
Raycomb stared at her with his mouth and eyes wide open, but Tinker finished his drink and set it down calmly and said, "Sorry, Ma'am, but I can't. You see, when I was in the wasteland a super mutant threw acid in my face, scarring and burning it. I can't take this mask off or I'll be mistaken for a ghoul."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Mei said quietly.
Raycomb stepped in to break the awkward silence, "Well, thanks Tinker, we should be going now."
"Any time, Raycomb, any time. And nice meeting you Mei Ling."
"Next stop the medical station." Raycomb announced
They entered a room where a young, skinny, red haired woman was stitching the shoulder of a young man. The man wore a wasteland brahmin skin outfit and he had brown hair.
"Whoa, Dispatcher! What happened to you?" Raycomb asked shockingly.
"Hello to you to, Raycomb" Said the brown haired man, "A boatfly just flew by the radio outpost and stung me, that's all."
The red haired women spoke, "There we go, hun. You should be fine now." She had finished stitching Dispatcher's shoulder.
"Anyways, Mei Ling this is Dispatcher and Nurse Rose Glenn. Nurse, Dispatcher, this is Mei Ling the newest addition to the Red Arachnid family."
"Nice to meet you, darling."
"Hi."
"Well, I think it's self-explanatory of what Nurse Rose does and Dispatcher receives and sends out radio signals and messages."
"Well it's nice to meet both of you." Mei looked at Dispatcher, "That's a cool nickname, I like it."
"It's not a nickname." He said, "It's my name. These guys found me with amnesia out in the wastes and I didn't remember anything except of to talk, walk, eat and for some reason work a radio. So my name is Dispatcher and that's it."
"Well there, you've met everyone. Oh! Except the yao guais. When we first moved into this cave it was home to a family of yao guais. So we caged them in a fairly large pit at the back of the cave. I think they're happy, but still I wouldn't hop in there with them. I'll show you." Raycomb said excitedly.
"Now, be careful around those creatures, darling, I don't trust them." The nurse warned.
"After I show you the yao guais it'll probably be diner time. I think Wilkins is cooking something."
"Great." Mei said sarcastically.