"Well, you sure you want to do this?"
Ike tapped her cigarette against the side of the ashtray and reached for the whiskey that was in front of her. "I've been thinking about it," she mumbled, pouring a small amount of whiskey into a cracked glass. "But, I'm not sure if I'm ready for it. Or…if he's ready to see me."
"In all your horrid glory?"
"Exactly," she sighed and took a small sip. "Then again, it's his fault I'm like this in the first place…"
Roy nodded sideways for a moment. "Yeah, that's true," it wasn't, just in her mind, so he played along. "When will I see ya again?"
"That's the thing," Ike looked over at Roy with glazed eyes. "I don't know if I will be back this time."
Roy stared at her in silence and after awhile, she took to her whiskey again. The lunch hall was empty, the only sound playing was the elevator music wired through the entire lobby and shops around the tower. Ike hated that, the way he would grow quiet when she told him something like this. What did he expect from her? She wasn't invincible, though most of the Wasteland saw her as such; Roy was one of her biggest fans, and she hated that fact.
"You'll be back," she looked up at him from under her brow, blowing smoke from the corner of her mouth. "So when?"
She paused. "Give me a month…maybe…"
Roy shook his head and took the whiskey bottle from the table, putting it to his lips. "Alright then, I'll keep that robot in line. Every time you leave for too long, he goes a little crazy."
"Maybe I need to get him a friend," Ike hummed. "I'll talk to Tinker Joe about that so he won't give you so much trouble when I'm gone."
"Good," Roy muttered. "You turnin' in for the night?"
Ike nodded and pushed herself out of her chair, leaning over the table as she snuffed out her cigarette. "Goodnight, Roy," she pressed her lips in a chaste kiss against his right cheek.
He watched her leave, teeth grit and left hand curled into a fist on the table top.
Getting ready for a long trip is easy when you are a complete sociopath.
You don't need anything.
Ike looked back over her shoulder at Tenpenny Tower, at it being overshadowed by the hill near the Outcast fort. She hated leaving home, but this needed to be done. For some reason, over the past couple of weeks, she had been thinking about finding her father. The reason behind that? She didn't know and wanted to. She didn't hate her father, she was just angry enough to want to see his corpse rotting somewhere just so she can hate herself for not saving him later.
"Think I'm doing the right thing," she muttered.
Dogmeat barked, ears perked up at something in the distance. Was that howling? Ike ignored it and sighed, adjusting the bag on her shoulder. Ok, so she didn't leave everything behind. It was just a few things that weren't for her. She always had her stimpaks in the pocket of the lab coat she wore. It fit snuggly over Raider Badlands armor. How it was armor, she had no fucking clue, but it kept her cool during the day and the coat kept her warm at night so no complaints, though she would prefer to be naked all the time.
But there was that whole rape thing so fuck it.
"Hold it right there," Ike froze. "Turn to your right slowly and raise your hands where I can see them."
Dogmeat growled but Ike kicked some dust at him and he laid in the dirt, growling into his paws. When she saw the Outcasts, they seemed to roll their eyes through the helmets. What?
"Oh great, it's you," the soldier lowered their gun – by the voice, it was a woman – and Ike lowered her own hands. "Why are you near our fort?"
Ike hadn't even noticed.
"Well shit, I wasn't paying attention. I'm going to Rivet City."
The soldier nodded. "Alright, you can pass through. Just make it quick and do not approach the front of the building."
"Whatever…"
She had run into Outcasts more often than once in the Wasteland, but had never even come close to Fort Independence. She really needed to start paying attention. She had heard the soldiers manning the front gate were shoot-on-sight unless you were called for in advance by the soldiers in the field. It seemed like a crap system but whatever floats your boat. It seemed to be working for them so she supposed she had no room to knock.
"I wonder where dad is, what he's doing," it was weird talking about him.
She hadn't spoke of or tried to find her father since she found out what a raider was. Hell, Ike was a raider. Not every established settlement of raiders knew who she was, but the lab coat in the middle of the Wasteland was a dead giveaway. The only other people she had seen with a lab coat outside of the Vault were the people in Rivet City and even they feared the sight of her coat.
But, back to her father. Since she took up the role as raider, Ike had been consumed in tromping across the Wasteland. She had been consumed in killing things, finding seemingly rare trinkets and other things, she hadn't thought of finding her father. He decided to leave her, she could take her time in finding her answers. He could wait….
Couldn't he?
Thinking.
Ike quickly turned on her Pip-Boy radio and let the sound of 'Butcher Pete' dance over the dry sands of the Capital Wasteland.
She grit her teeth, her hips snapping right and left a little more sharply than before, Dogmeat struggling to keep up without running. She was angry, she was angry at herself. She didn't want to think about her father. She didn't want to think about him even though that was the whole point in her leaving Tenpenny Tower. She just wanted her legs to carry her where she needed to go without her thinking about it like they usually did.
She could do this.
She could do this.
"It's your fault."
"How is this my fault?"
"Titties. Titties everywhere."
Ike looked down at her tits, seeing them about to bulge out of her top. She giggled and set the heavy piece of machinery down, pushing her boobs back into her top and grinning at Harkness. He was glaring at her, eyes narrowed to slits. So her tits had distracted him and he dropped the monitor on his foot? How could he be angry about it?
"Come on," she picked up her equipment. "Don't blame me or the girls, blame your traitorous hands. And those eyes."
Harkness grumbled and picked up the monitor, grunting ever-so-slightly and they began to head back towards the Science Lab. "Maybe if you would keep yourself properly clothed…"
"Oh please, if you wouldn't have hurt yourself, you wouldn't be complaining right now."
"Yeah, you would be trying to get into her pants."
Ike glared over her shoulder. "Shut up, Butch."
He snickered and began to walk behind her, close enough for her to feel his breath across the top of her head. "Come on, girly, now you're just saying that because you would have so easily let him in."
Ike laughed. "He wishes."
"I'm still here ya know."
"We know," Butch tried to drape an arm over Ike's shoulders, but she kicked her right leg back and into his knee. "Fuck…"
"That's what you get."
He grumbled after her for a moment and then jogged to catch up. "What're ya doin here?"
She looked back at him with wide eyes for a moment and then looked forward again, watching Harkness greet one of the lab workers as she opened the heavy door. "Looking for dad," she mumbled. "Heard Doctor Li knows where he went. I'm here to talk to her."
"That prudent bitch," Butch scoffed. "She won't tell ya shit."
"Oh ho ho," Ike mocked. "So, she brushed off your advances too? Butch, you need to learn that you can't worm your way into just anyone's pants out here?"
Butch sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, stuffing his free hand into his front pocket. "So I've been told," he side stepped Harkness as he brushed past them, looking a little distressed. "I need to get laid like something serious."
Ike barked out a sharp laugh, setting down the heavy box-thing in her hand, making sure it was secure on a table before she turned to Butch. She cocked a hip and gripped them in her hands, smirking at Butch.
"Listen, you don't have to keep chasing tail. You can come out into the Wasteland and take it with me."
At that, Butch scowled. "Um…no thank you. I may not be the best man, but I'm not like…that."
Her smirk didn't waver. "Well, suit yourself. Now, I'm gonna go talk to this bitch. Why don't you scamper off somewhere?"
Butch left without another word, not the least bit concerned in her anymore. That made her smirk waver and she dropped her hands. What was happening to her? If Butch wasn't in for a bit of pillaging, why was she?