To be honest, the next three chapters in this story could have been one, but I decided that I wanted to get something out, as it was better than nothing.

For the record, no, I don't smoke, ^_-

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Daelan looked up at the statue at the Anchorage Memorial site, sitting on a recently deceased Mirelurk, a customary line of smoke snaking up into the sky as his cigarette burned away. He removed it from his mouth and studied it carefully. A good make, he mused, custom-rolled for him, actually. One of the few people Daelan trusted had made them. Designed for extra longevity, he frowned when he checked how many he had left.

Had it really been that long since he'd been to Fort Independence? Brief flashes of the Outcast stockade sprang into his mind. He made a mental note to check in there when he got a chance. Preferably soon, for Terry, who he went way back with, rolled 'em thick, and he rolled 'em well. A laugh escaped from his lips when he realised that he considered two years 'way back'.

Such was his life. Proper friends were few and far between for Daelan, but then due to the nature of his work, he wasn't exactly the most trusting of people. He thought of Terry for a brief moment, and how the Outcast had made this particular batch of cigarettes with a special ingredient, one that deterred any insects in the nearby area. They were a special gift to the hitman after he had saved Terry's life from a treacherous Paladin with a grudge. Another chuckle. That had been quite the escapade, and he hadn't even been paid to do it!

Daelan valued greatly the repellent in the cigarettes. They kept the biting bugs at bay quite effectively. Not that he fancied his chances of one of them repulsing a Radscorpion, but then he had another implement that would do that.

Coincidentally, it also smoked when he used it.

A glance to the south reminded him of why he was this close to the ruined city that was Washington DC. His employer was in Rivet City, no doubt getting drunk off of his ass in the Muddy Rudder, waiting for his lackey to return.

His employer also had the twin scimitar tattoo on the back of his neck, and when Daelan considered the vast difference between the two people he'd seen with it, it was hard to draw any sort of resemblance. His target had been wary, intelligent and skilful, and it had only been Dalean's vast knowledge of the art of killing that had made it seem so simple. A lesser hitman would never have succeeded.

When contrasted with the overweight (quite an achievement given the climate of the world), brash drunkard that was going to pay him handsomely for this job, Daelan could only assume that the connection was purely coincidental, and had nothing to do with the individual talent of the person.

It was a very rare occurrence that Daelan liked one of his employers, and this was no exception. After all, these people wanted someone else dead, at a time where the human race needed to rebuild, to work together and recover some form of order in this post-apocalyptic wasteland.

He considered those pacifist words. Pacifist indeed, for a contract killer, he mused.

"You gotta do what you gotta do" he said resignedly, that little mantra that kept him going. After all, he couldn't help rebuild the world if he was dead or broke, right? Rising to his feet, he checked his gear for the upcoming journey. Those Mirelurks had just jumped him from the shoreline, and he'd been lucky that it had only been a couple. One more reason to add to the list as to why he hated Rivet City

He wondered how anyone had managed to get there in the first place, because you had to be prepared to fork out a constantly rising amount of caps for a boat, well, to be more correct, a decaying rust bucket that was more than likely going to break down halfway across the water.

So, if you were poor, or just really liked radiation poisoning, you were forced to swim several leagues to get there, and if he was truly honest with himself, Daelan wasn't exactly ecstatic about running the risk of arriving there with either more or less limbs than he had started out with.

As always, a thought like that caused his mind to consider the possibilities. Even if possessing a third arm could help in a gunfight, or give him the upper hand in a bar brawl, Daelan wasn't too hopeful about what it would do to his chances with the opposite sex. After all, though it might be unnecessary, one of the ways he got some enjoyment out of his job was to seduce a female target. No, a third arm definitely wasn't the way to go. A lengthened tongue, however…

Not worth the risk, he decided eventually, declaring that he was dashing enough as it was, and if he possessed any more charm, it would just elicit a possibly dangerous amount of jealousy.

"Modest, too, huh?" He spoke aloud, before chuckling. Who better to accompany you than yourself? It led to some intelligent conversation, at least.

The other option, naturally, was to go through D.C. It doesn't take more than a glance at the ruined city to understand why that was a bad idea. Still, the lesser of two evils, providing you were capable of taking care of yourself, anyway.

Still, It was less of a hellish ordeal than it had been, courtesy of the Brotherhood of Steel. Those Metalheads had finally defeated the Super Mutants in the capital. Lyons had been particularly boastful about that achievement, although a couple of Outcasts that Daelan had talked to (admittedly before his contract had forced him to killed them, but he'd decided that that was irrelevant) had been less than respectful, saying that if the Elder hadn't have gone soft, the city would have been cleared a long time previously. Even so, they believed that the Brotherhood couldn't have done it without the help of '101' anyway.

But, unless you were prepared to face the Ghouls in the metro, you were stuck with navigating your way through a destroyed city that was still infested with Raiders and the odd Radscorpian.

Sighing, Daelan flipped the safety off on his pistol, put on his trademark tinted sunglasses, and ventured into the labyrinth of DC, reminding himself that the bounty was most definitely worth it.