"Vadim! Nice to see you buddy, how are things going?" MacCready swaggered into the Dugout Inn, propping himself up against the bar as Vadim made his way over to greet him. If MacCready was being honest, he kind of missed the big old jerk, and would be even happier at their reunion if he had some of his famous vodka stashed away for the drinking.
Artemis was still out in the marketplace, trading some guns for stimpaks probably, and he had promised to get her one of the weakest drinks they had. He decided to break that promise as soon as he walked through the bar's familiar entrance.
"MacCready! Long-time no see! What're you in the city for? Strolling through?" Vadim laughed and shook MacCready's outstretched hand firmly, and MacCready chuckled too. No way would he ever stroll through this City without a good reason or enough caps in his pocket.
"Nope. Here on business, got myself a client to watch out for."
Vadim started wiping the counter down with an old rag saturated with dingy water, "That's good to hear. How is life, MacCready? Lucy doing okay?"
He tensed at that name, and tried to grab the nearest bottle that contained alcohol. He almost swore when he saw the bar was completely clear of any, "Uh, she didn't make it, Vadim," he part groaned and part whispered.
Vadim turned back to him, pity and sorrow written in the lines of his face, and MacCready hated it, but he couldn't help the tightness he felt in his chest at the thought of Lucy.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize," Vadim replied, before his eyes flicked to somewhere behind MacCready's shoulder. He turned and found himself staring into a pair of molten steel, and he tensed for a moment, hoping she didn't hear what he and Vadim were discussing.
Their relationship was business, and he didn't want her feeling any pity for him about his personal life either.
Her eyes flickered a moment, before turning her gaze from her merc to Vadim, her expression brightening as she gave the barkeep a warm greeting.
Whether she heard or not he still wasn't certain, but he was thankful that she didn't mention anything. He turned back and leaned his elbows on the bar, listening in to Vadim's and Artemis's conversation.
"Ah, my saviour! What are you doing back in this dump?" He teased, and she giggled in return, playfully swatting his arm.
"Just here on some errands."
MacCready snorted, "Yeah, just a couple of small errands," he butted in sarcastically.
Artemis blushed, which, MacCready admitted, was kind of pretty, before Vadim put two-and-two together, smiling and swiveling his head between the two of them, like his neck was… broken or something. MacCready didn't really care what he looked like, he just wanted a good drink to burn his throat.
"Ah! My saviour and old MacCready working together? Drinks on the house for you two! It is the least thanks I can give!" Vadim cried at the top of his lungs, winking at Artemis, and MacCready cringed as half the bar turned to look at the commotion, most with scowls on their faces for being disturbed.
Artemis blushed harder, and after receiving their choice of drinks from the boisterous man they found a seat out of the way, in the far corner of the slowly filling bar. MacCready took her drink from her the moment they sat down and popped it with a spare bottle opener he carried, realizing she probably didn't have one herself, and she giggled nervously as he handed it back to her.
He pocketed the extra cap, and stayed silent, waiting for her reaction to the foul drink she decided to choose. She took a swig of the disgusting alcohol and her face scrunched up as if she was tasting a very sour lemon candy. MacCready tried holding in his laughter as she shook her head, hoping for the alcohol to go down smoother, but then he couldn't help and give a good hearty chuckle once she looked back at him, her eyes telling him that she regretted drinking in the first place.
"Sorry, I was never much of a drinker," her voice was hoarse, probably from the swill burning her throat.
"Yeah, you think, saviour?" He emphasized the word, silently asking for that particular story after he was finally done shaking with laughter, taking a sip from his own drink. Ah, Vadim had the good stuff this time.
She looked sheepish when she began talking again, "Oh, yeah, that. It wasn't anything, really. Vadim asked for my help to get Travis to be more confident, but he had a pretty stupid plan that went south so Travis and I ended up having to save him. So, long story short, Travis got some confidence and a girlfriend, and Vadim has a new saviour," when MacCready didn't reply, she added, "The end!"
"How many caps did you get out of Vadim?"
"What? Why would I get caps out of him?"
MacCready scowled, as if the answer was obvious, "Because you saved his butt? From, you know, being totally dead?"
Artemis's eyes flicked over to the counter, where Vadim was talking animatedly with his more moody brother, "Why would I? I mean, it was a good cause to help Travis, and Vadim is such a nice guy. It wasn't his fault he got captured. Isn't he your friend?"
MacCready gave a hard, single laugh without the same cheeriness it had held before, "Doesn't mean I wouldn't get a few caps out of the guy. Look how well he's off, 'course he's got a couple of caps to spend, especially with the right persuasion to get him off his cheap as- butt," he gave her a hard look, "Like I told you about the caps-"
"Yeah I know," she cut him off, but very softly, and he could tell she was getting flustered, "I thought you meant from people who… demanded my help. Who obviously were cheating me out of caps for dangerous missions. Who obviously wanted to use me as gun fodder that they didn't want to face themselves. Vadim had a good cause, for a good friend. It just ended up turning bad," her voice her soft but with conviction, and once she was done she looked up to him, hoping for him to understand her explanation, and he almost agreed.
Almost.
He didn't care if the girl wasn't a natural born killer, or that she wanted to find the good in anything and everything, but caps were important, she had said so herself that she was saving up for… something. So how could she be so dense? Wasn't she here for a month already?
"Hm," was all he responded with, and he turned away from her to survey the rest of the bar. He didn't know how much of her pouting he could take before he actually ended up agreeing with her, if only for her to wipe that cute look off her face.
Remember the caps. For Duncan.
"You said so yourself. You need caps. So stop wasting opportunities to earn some," his voice was hard, with an edge, and he saw from the corner of his eye her fidget in her seat, obviously nervous.
"Well, it was a while ago, I know that now," she sounded like a child who did something bad, had been scolded, and was now trying to justify her petulance.
"Whatever," once he was certain she no longer had that little pout on her face, he faced her and decided to bring up the real reason they were in a dark corner of this dingy pub in the first place, his nerves soothed with his long drinks of alcohol, "So, tell me all about your deal with Marowski. And no skimming on any details!" Maybe they could find a way to mooch even more caps out of this deal.
She hesitated a moment, looking intently at her bottle before taking a very long drink, one that MacCready could tell was burning her throat with alcohol, before going on to explain her tale. She didn't look him in the eye, still unnerved about the whole killing for money thing – like an assassin – but she didn't spare him any details either.
Helping – out of good will, of course – Paul Pembroke with his wifey issues, making a deal with Henry Cooke ('because he seemed like a decent fellow and I didn't want to beat him up'), getting Paul caught up in the chem deal too, killing Marowski's goons and Nelson Latimer in the process by accident (grenades will tend to do that), watching their bodies explode except for one of the ghouls who they got info about Marowski from, and watching her walk away before Henry decided to turn on his deal and stab (or more like shoot) her in the back.
"Henry skipped town, Paul took the chems into Diamond City to sell and I got the directions to Marowski's chem lab," MacCready took note of this very interesting fact to ask about later, but otherwise didn't interrupt, "Then Nelson's father came accusing me of killing his son and I told him I… didn't," she breathed heavily, "He told me Marowski accused me of it, so I accused Marowski. He believed me, told me I'd get some caps for killing his son's murderer. And then he walked away. So I did it, partially for the caps and partially for the fact that if I didn't do it Malcolm would come after me too. I had heard about Marowski – what he's done, how many innocents he's killed – so I thought I was doing the right thing. That's when I got to Goodneighbour, barely, and I found you in The Third Rail. I took you to the hotel with me, and once everyone was asleep, I went into Marowski's room and with a shock baton I… killed him. In his sleep. He couldn't even fight back." She looked at MacCready, her eyes unclear and hazy and a little bit glazed over from the telling him everything.
MacCready whistled appreciatively, "Wow, that is quite the story you got there. Make sure to keep it in your back pocket when you're in good company," he smiled, and he saw her visibly relax, the tension leaving her shoulders.
"So you're not…"
He waved her off, "I've done and been through worse. Everyone in the Commonwealth has. But I think I understand, you killing him in his sleep and all. Probably didn't feel the best. Not honorable?"
She nodded vigorously, and he knew he hit the nail on the head, the root of all her self-loathing.
"At least it was a guy like Marowski. Wasn't very honorable himself, and I would dare to say that I think he deserved it," he smirked at Artemis, and she smiled back before taking another sip of her beverage.
"So tell me some of your own stories, I'm sure they're pretty interesting!" She said it too cheerily after being so depressed a minute ago, and he narrowed his eyes at her.
"Oh, no, no, no!" He waggled his finger in front of her face, "You're not getting out of this one," she blushed from embarrassment, "You got information about how to get into freakin' Marowski's lab! Please tell me that you already scoured the place for all the chems and caps you could?" He was almost begging, he realized. But the thought of so many chems to sell and caps to collect had him almost drooling.
She shifted uncomfortably a bit again, "No, but we can leave for that next, it would be a good place to scourge up some extra caps and stuff," She looked at him for approval, if she had said the right thing.
"Now you're speaking my language," MacCready's smile was wide and languid. He leaned over the table, "C'mon, show me those directions and we'll be back on the road in no time!"
A/N: Wow, thank you all for the favs and follows! :) I'm happy people are digging this story so far, and here is the next chapter. Also thank you for all the reviews, it's nice to see what people are thinking!
