I wrote this witch as much respect as I possibly can. I am not trans. I have some very good friends who are and I used terms and words I have heard them use. I wanted to give a voice to the fallout universe that I do not feel has been expressed often.
It is a quick story and set up involving the courier killing Benny and starting a love affair with Swank. It is rated T, because nothing blue happens in the story. The title is just something I picked at random.
It's also a writing exercise so I don't' get rusty. That said, please enjoy the story.
Donna ran her hand over her face. It had been several days since she had time to shave and she was disgusted with herself. The floor of the tops felt cheap and easy. The atmosphere told her a lot about Benny, as he moved from person to person. Smiling jack ass, but that was okay, Donna knew how to deal with those.
Snubbing out her cigar in the ash tray Donna leaned back, feeling her boots cut into her shins. Right now she was in "real drag." Her flat chest and narrow hips might fool most people but she knew better than to let nature define who she was. Right now it served her best to look plain and boring. Another washed up man from nowhere, identical to everyone in the bar.
Looking at Benny she vowed a velvety revenge and fate had steered her towards the perfect dress to do it in. She'd wept when she'd found Vera Keys sitting in a chair, an elegantly dressed skeleton. Donna felt a kinship to Vera, trapped in a life of lies and deception, unable to escape. She knew the fate Vera had to have met, but seeing her bones hurt.
She wanted Vera to have met her fate with bravery, flinging open the windows and screaming into the poison cloud. Choking on air, fighting against cancer, spitting in the face of death and demanding her survival. Instead she'd curled up faded away. Donna wouldn't let herself do it. She remembered telling that to Veronica's lover, the girl with the false voice. Christine's blessing gave Donna the courage she needed. She honorably defrocked the skeleton and headed out to demand the Platinum Chip from Benny.
Tired of watching Benny she slipped up to her hotel room and looked at the dress laid out on the bed. The next few hours were a ritual of tape, stuffing, and decoration. A lady in every sense of the word, Donna worked to make her face smooth and hide the unfortunate parts of her. Finished only when perfection greeted her in the greasy mirror.
"This is who I was meant to be," Donna said between stringy wisps of straight brown hair.
"That outfit is mesmirzing," Arcade said, arms folded tight to his chest. "I don't understand you but I do understand revenge."
Donna smiled sweetly, feeling a little embarrassed. Arcade had met her after some dick in Freeside ripped her pants. Changing in the Mormon Fort, Arcade had walked in to check on a patient and gotten an eye full. Once the doctor got over his shock they became friends. They attempted a few trysts but learned that Arcade loved men and not women like Donna. In the end she needed a man to love her for the real her and not the parts she wished away on the morning star.
"Can I help in any way?" he sat on the bed.
"I'm so grateful for your friendship," Donna put her hand on Arcade's . "I have to do this myself. Tell me you understand."
He avoided looking at her. That they failed as lovers proved hard to overcome but she was the only person who Arcade could open up to. He had become her brother in combat and some nights they would talk about their dream men, drink, and watch the stars shine over the Mojave. She wouldn't trade him for anything, she just wished she could go back and change parts of their relationship.
"I don't understand." She knew he was going to say it before he did. "Come back to me, Donna. You're the sister I never had."
She squeezed his shoulders and kissed him on the cheek. Smearing lipstick off his blond stubble Arcade smiled. He nerviously fiddled with his hair. "At least take Lily with you. She can stand outside of the room and clobber him if he hurts you."
"Everyone knows Courier Six runs around with a big purple mutant," Donna admonished. "All of you stick out, honestly. I can't take the risk."
It surprised her when he squeezed her hand. "I know you'll be careful, so I won't bother saying it."
"I need to be more than careful." She stood from the bed and paced nervously. "I need to be elegant, sexy, beautiful, and cunning. If I can't be the perfect woman for Benny he'll see right through me, see the slip of a girl he shot in Goodsprings, and it will be the death of me."
"I wouldn't recognize you if I didn't know you," Arcade said. "You've never used your natural hair before, it's nice."
"It's stringy and hard to manage," she waved her hand dismissively. "I keep it long because when I dress in drag I feel like it keeps me in touch with my real self. The person I have to be."
"I know," he smiled, "and you are beautiful. Benny won't know what to do with himself."
Using these words to build herself up Donna put her hand on the door knob and stepped out into the hallway. She didn't want Arcade to linger any longer. He seemed more nervous than her and she needed away from it.
The lights were yellow and dim as Donna made her way down the grimy carpet. The stairs clinked under her black heels and she could feel the bows behind her bobbing as she walked. Mentally she was running down a check list of taped, draped, and manipulated body parts. If anything might slide free she needed to adjust it now and not after she approached Benny. Most worrisome, the knife in her garter belt, held in place with a little piece of tape. If he found it he'd find other surprises and she'd be in a different kind of trouble.
As she passed the concierge desk she eyed swank, who winked at her in a worrisome and familiar way. She'd tried to convince him Benny had headed straight for trouble, but he'd wanted proof. Her heart leapt in her chest at the idea he'd reveal her identity. Fortunately Swank had his own problems to worry about and resumed talking to an underling.
Every footstep she moved towards Benny took a thousand years to register against the carpet. Three steps past the desk he looked up from the round table he sat at with his goons. On the fifth footstep Benny's face spread in a raunchy smile. On the sixth footstep she knew he was convinced and on seven she breathed easier. On thirteen she stood at the table, smiling.
"My God you're a beautiful dame," Benny said. His bodyguards leered but her glamour had enchanted him already.
"I didn't know The Tops had such handsome men in it," she lied. "If I'd have seen you I'd have left the Ultra Luxe ages ago."
Gesturing for his bodyguard to stand and move aside Benny patted the red leather seat. "The Ultra Luxe don't got a thing on us baby, ring-a-ding. A girl like you is too brilliant for those weird cats. Only The Tops can pitch a tent big enough for a lady such as yourself."
The blatant pick up line genuinely amused Donna. In another time and another place Benny's death might not be the only thing in her panties tonight. He ordered them both a drink and her flirtation continued.
"Tell me the staff's been good to you, baby," Benny said, his white teeth shimmering over a whiskey glass.
Laughing politely Donna crossed her legs. Benny salivated at the sight. His hand crawled up her leg and squeezed into her thigh.
"Oh my," Donna protested but didn't remove the offending digits.
Another drink in Benny's finger trailed down her arm. He smiled at her with his pristine white teeth, the enamel combining with his dark har, contrasting his checkered suit. She pretended to shiver and turned her head slightly to allow him to kiss her. She prayed he wouldn't touch her breasts; they were the best she could manage but still felt odd.
His hand resting on her shoulder, Benny pulled back from the kiss with a rehearsed sophistication. "Wanna go up to my room and let me show you the real tops?"
"Ring-a-ding," she purred. Her voice was edgy in that moment, she worried it sounded to masculine, but Benny's face didn't change.
As Donna stood she made another pass concerning the tape she wore. She'd lie if she said she hadn't liked some of Benny's ministrations and the painful shifting of blood made her worry something might spring free. Luckily she was a pro with the tape and it looked like things would stay where they are. She made careful steps, swinging her hips as she moved, the ruffle from the dress falling in strange directions that threatened to show more thigh then she would have chosen.
In the elevator Benny's bodyguards prevented him from smothering her. He seemed to want to keep the illusion of control in front of his men. Donna felt grateful for the time to gather herself and prepare for what she had to do. All to soon the doors opened and she stumbled inside of Benny's suite.
He his lips were on hers. His hands moved up and down, pulling at Vera's dress. She rolled her neck, directing his focus as they walked backwards towards the bed. She needed him to be in a position where she could strike and avoid the guards rushing in. Finally they were on the bed and he began to pull the sleeve of her dress down. In a hurry she ran her hands up her dress and into her garter as she pulled the switch blade free.
"The Ben-man really makes you hurry, huh baby?" His assumption gave her enough time to free the blade and open it as he pulled the top of the dress down.
The look on his face betrayed confusion and disgust. Next he noticed the knife. The false breasts were obvious in her bra and Donna used the hurt of his reaction to spurn her forward.
"You're no broad," Benny mumbled as he tried to hold her off of him. It didn't work, Donna had him pinned beneath her legs. "Who the hell are you?"
"Courier six," she spat, the knife inches from his beautiful face.
"Well fuck me. I thought you were a screwy looking dame when I put the bullet in your coconut. How the fuck are you still alive?"
"House," hissed from between her teeth as she drove the switch blade into his throat. The cut prevented Benny from screaming. He trashed about for some time, trying to pull pillow covers and the sheets to his neck to stop the blood. It didn't work and soon he sunk down dead onto the mattress.
Donna stood over him, her dress still folded half over her mid section and blood splattering her hands and chest. She turned and looked in the mirror, the first thing she noticed were gold earrings and the square quality of her jaw. She used Benny's duvet to wipe the crimson off her skin before she restored her dress. The woman in the mirror looked much better this time.
Flinging the blanket over Benny's lifeless body she began to search the room, finding the Platinum Chip at last in his coat pocket. At some point he'd left the jacket on a dresser and she quickly rummaged his drawers for money, ammo, anything she might need.
Next she checked the bathroom. He lived clean for a total son of a bitch and Donna rinse out her black opera gloves in the sink. The men outside hadn't rushed in. She could rely on being safe for the next few minutes. At last she pulled on the door handle to a conjoined room and it opened to her surprise.
Inside was a gutted closet with a happy secretion smiling back at her. "Well hello," the machine greeted her.
"Hello, honey," She repeated, hoping his smiling face was a good sign.
The robot called Yes-Man filled her in on Benny's little plot to over throw House. It made Donna grin. He had been a sly mother fucker after all and Donna felt double glad she'd put him down like the lame dog he was. Peering over her shoulder at the stiff corpse Donna realized revenge hadn't made her feel better as much as it had risked her life. Ready to ditch the high heals for good she prepared to ask the robot for a distraction while she left when a knock came to Benny's door.
"Benny," Swank's voice shouted. "Stop fucking that crazy dame and open the door right now. I need to talk to you."
Before Donna could protest a key clicked in the lock and Swank forced his way in. He opened the door only a crack so the bodyguards couldn't peer inside. His eyes rested on Benny dead on the bed.
"Well shit," his only response.
"He had it coming," Donna said, leaning back on the door frame. Visible behind her, the Robot tried to wheel out of the way. Swank's eyes moved from her face to it.
She half expected him to call the guards or open fire in revenge for his partner's death, but instead Swank settled in a chair.
"What the fuck did you do Benny?" Swank asked the floor.
"He betrayed House," Donna sounded glib, but at this moment she didn't care.
"Shot you in the head," Swank smiled up at her.
Fidgeting Donna smoothed Vera's dress but couldn't bring herself to return Swank's stare. "How'd you know?"
"I saw you when you weren't dressed like that. Had the same bangs over the scar."
Swank seemed nervous now and Donna could not venture to explain why.
"You're pretty, even with the face stubble," Swank grinned at her, sad, but naughty.
Unsure why, Donna felt flattered at Swank's compliment. It had been a long time since a man who knew her secret called her that. She put her hand to her chest and whispered, "Thank you."
Standing slowly Swank walked over to her. Her smelled like old world cologne and man. He was handsome in the same way Benny had been but with a sensible sincerity. As he studied her she felt small and feminine, another rarity from a man like him. He ran his fingers along her jaw and whispered in her ear. "I didn't want to believe you when you told me he betrayed House but that robot is hard to argue with. I guess Benny broke my heart. I should kill you for what you did, but ever since I saw you walk into the Tops-with your swagger and those lips-I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to kiss you."
"It would be easy to find out." She prayed he would.
"Right now ain't right," Swank motioned over to his friend's rotting body. "I'm gonna drag you out. Tell his men he's acting punchy and pushing you around. Hang out in my room for awhile and when the news spreads that Benny's killed himself I'll come to see you."
"Thanks Swank," she whispered through battering eyes. He melted. It made her heart leap.
"Don't tell no one about the robot yet, please."
"No problem."
Her wish came true and he kissed her. His lips were dry and hot. The moment smoldered and writhed. When he was done he ran his finger across her lip and she pulled a handkerchief from her small purse and dabbed the makeup off his.
"Thought you weren't going to do that here," she said.
"I don't think this is the first crazy thing I'm going to do with a dame like you," Swank chuckled. "We'd better go before I do something else that isn't alright."
"Ring-a-ding." He winked as took he took her arm and pretended to drag her out the door.