"Oh, I'm feral, now!" Hancock shouted over the hood of a car as he aimed and fired with his rifle at the horde of super mutants.
At his side, Nora fired rapidly with her automatic lazer rifle, one of her eyes closed as she aimed swiftly and fired at the hostiles almost expertly.
The pair were at the satellite location near the marine, headed to a police station across the bay when Nora had caught sight of a vertibird flying to the Satellite Station, receiving fire and returning just as much back. She had looked at Hancock with wide eyes, sending him a clear message that made him want to groan.
"Yeah, let's go help 'em out," he allowed, and they had rushed into the battlefield.
Can't believe we're helping the bloody Brotherhood of Asses, Hancock thought, glaring ahead as he took aim and fired, directly hitting a supermutant in the arm, sending them staggering and clenching where the bullet had dug in. Hancock glanced at the paladins some ways off fighting in their power armor, then took a swing over at Nora to his left, who stood over the top of the vehicle to fire with her sniper rifle, probably almost out of bullets if she was using that weapon. A frown was etched low over her face, and her eyeglasses were smudged so he couldn't see her eyes behind the glass.
Well, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. . . for now, he decided, thinking of the brotherhood, and reloaded his weapon with skilled and practiced fingers before taking another excelled shot at a supermutant running towards them, hefting a board in it's giant hands.
Hancock and Nora had been traveling together for only a short couple of days now, and the pair had yet to warm up to each other. He didn't have any complaints about her at the moment, and he enjoyed having someone at his side to watch his back during a gunfight. He hadn't told Nora anything about himself yet, or his past with Goodneighbor, but he expected he might if their relationship continued the way it was going. She was a superb fighter, and amazing under pressure. Even now she was keeping her cool-
"Dammit!" she cursed at his side, and Hancock looked her way quick just in time to see the Sole Survivor sling her sniper rifle back over her shoulder with a frustrated glare. She ducked back beneath the shelter the car offered to dig around her inventory strapped around her waist and over her back.
Hancock bent his head to avoid a bullet that streaked past his ears, leaving a ringing sound, and the ghoul tried to call out to her over the sound of gunfire, "You outta bullets? Sister, there ain't no shame in running if we have to, especially if it means we get away with our lives. These Brotherhood types can take care of themselves anyw-"
She didn't even look his way, but Hancock saw a shadow of decision darkening her face, and his words cut off mid-sentence as she whipped out her machete from the sheathe strapped across her back-
And ran right to the supermutants.
"Sister, the hell're you-!" Hancock yelled after her, panic rising in his chest. She's crazy; she's insane; she's suicidal! What would actually make her decide to run into the line of fire like that?!
Hancock watched in awe, his thoughts grinding to a stop as she lifted her machete, and brought it down against the supermutant with a satisfying thwk!
To his amazement, the supermutant collapsed to the ground.
Another lateral swing as she turned towards the supermutant that stood beside it's former friend.
Thwk! went the machete, slicing through the supermutant's torso and sending it collapsing to the ground in a spray of blood and a groan from it's mouth.
Hancock gaped at her, and Nora disappeared from view as she chased after the last supermutant alive on the grounds. Feeling the dryness of his mouth, he licked his lips and chased after her, heaving his gun to his chest as he ran after the woman with fire in her blood. He jumped over a body, catching sight of Nora just in time to see her machete tear through the last supermutant and send it crippling to the ground. The gun it had been holding clattered several feet away from where it landed.
Breathing heavy, Hancock approached the Survivor, gaping at her, and fighting the smile that tugged at his mouth. He saw the fire flaring in her as she turned to him, her breathing unchanged and even as if she had taken a simple stroll in the park instead of fighting one of the greatest terrors of the Commonwealth.
"Damn, sister," he said to her, finally huffing out a chortle of laughter as he holstered his pistol. With deft hands, he pulled some cigarettes from his pocket, lit one, and brought it up to his mouth to take a deep dose of nicotine into his lungs. "Never seen anyone fight supermutants like that. You're either crazy or. . . really crazy. You sure you aren't on Psycho?"
Nora laughed breathlessly. "Thanks, I guess? And no, I'm not on Psycho. Never touched the stuff." She looked embarrassed (Hancock could honestly say he never saw anyone embarrassed about being amazing in combat) and she crouched down to start looting the supermutants. She began rambling, "Once I went melee, I never went back. It works so much better if you have the right type of armor to protect against the close contact with hostiles, and it kind of spooks people when you rush at them head-on when they're used to gunfire. And this way I get to store up more ammo for my guns in case of emergencies." She huffed out an irritated breath, "Not like today at least. I'm out of ammo for all my guns. Gonna have to store up longer this time for an actual emergency." She released another annoyed huff at this minor inconvenience, this non-emergency against a whole gang of supermutants, and moved on to the next body, snagging a frag grenade and some caps.
Just. . . damn, was all Hancock found he could think as he stared at this wonderful woman, this fierce fighter for the Commonwealth. Who even is she?
Hancock chuffed out a breath, "Well, gotta admit sister, when you get in a fight, you get in a fight," Hancock chuckled. He took another drag from the cigarette, "So tell me, sister, why do you fight the way you do?"
She looked up at him; the glare from the sun shone off her black-rimmed glasses, shielding her eyes and true expression from him as she answered in all seriousness, "Well, I really fight for the people of the Commonwealth, y'know? For those who can't fight for themselves. . . It's what's right, and it makes it more than just trying to survive." She ducked her head back down, a tic Hancock was swiftly associating with her being embarrassed, and watched as she expelled a couple of useless items from her inventory as she debated what to keep and what to toss.
In an easy moment of decision, Hancock held out an open hand to her wordlessly, and she immediately got the message as she handed him some weapons to hold on to while she carried the junk until they would return to Home Plate.
A half smile finally forced itself up the side of his face as he contemplated her answer. "You know what?" he asked, and he blew out the smoke from his lungs.
Nora looked up at him, and he could finally see the gleam of her green eyes behind her smudged eyeglasses as the sunshine behind them cleared. "What?" she asked, a smile behind her eyes. She straightened her stance to look around for more crates or bodies to loot, but he saw how she kept her gaze trained on him as Hancock's grin unfolded fully.
"I think we're going to get along just fine."
Her only response was a blush she tried to hide, and a pleased grin.