"You really do suck, Cannonfodder." Brick commented, looking at the eight of ten tin cans that were still standing.
Butch glared at her, reloading his 10mm and jamming it back into his holster. "Stop calling me that, damn it!"
"No match for Charon, that's for sure." Donovan said, looking at the ghoul. "I've never seen anyone that accurate with a shotgun."
"Practice." Charon muttered, watching Butch start an argument with Brick about his nickname.
Reilly shook her head, wondering how she was going to get any use out of Butch and some better communication from Charon. Then there was the other idiot... who she just noticed was absent. "Hey, where'd Janus go?"
A distant gunshot answered her, and one of the cans Butch missed went flying. Seven more followed, each one hitting the remaining cans. A few moments after the gunfire ended, Janus walked into the training ground with a sniper rifle on his shoulder.
"Do I pass?" He asked, looking at Reilly with a cocky smirk on his face.
She scowled at him. "Sadly, yes. We could use a sharpshooter."
"Dandy. So, we going for field exercise yet?"
"Eager to have a Super Mutant rip your head off, are you?"
"Something like that, Boss." He smirked.
"Too bad, teamwork on the field doesn't happen just like that under normal circumstances. We have to try and get some trust built up first." Reilly explained, glancing over her shoulder at the others. "Though I'm not sure how well that's going to work with you three."
"No kiddin'." Janus shrugged. "Butch still has his head so far up his ass he can't see that he'd be ripped to shreds if he went one on one with a super mutant and the ghoulie's more keen on putting a bullet in my back than watchin' it."
"I know exactly how Charon feels." She muttered, glaring at him. "If you're going to be part of the Rangers, you'd better learn how to show some damn respect, and if you can't manage to go without insulting Charon simply because he's a ghoul, you can get the fuck out of my sight right now."
Janus arched an eyebrow at her. "Well, I never would have pegged you as a ghoul-lover."
"The only reason I'm still alive is because of the ghouls in Underworld, it's hard to have a bad opinion of someone after that."
"Fair enough." He said with a shrug. "What's the plan then?"
"Since there are three of you and us, I figured we could pair off and try to get along for the rest of the day."
A sly grin crossed his face. "Pair off? I like the sound of that."
Reilly glared at him, raising her assault rifle. "Keep in mind that we don't need a sniper that badly."
"It's a joke, boss. You should really try to lighten up a bit." Janus said, walking around her and heading toward the others. "I'll spend some time with Brick then, she seems like fun."
Reilly wated him go and shook her head. It suited her just fine, Brick would have to trouble keeping the jerk in line. Glancing around for Donovan, she noticed him along the edge of the training area, attempting to have a conversation with Charon. Which meant...
A voice came from her side. "Hey, looks like it's you and me!"
Oh damn it... Reilly thought with a grimace, before turning to Butch. ...I think I might have been better off with Janus.
xxx
Staring at Reilly's back as she typed something into her terminal, Butch sighed, feet hanging over the side of the table he was laying on. "We gonna do this trust buildin' thing or what?"
"We are." She replied, the steady clicking never slowing.
"All you told me to do was sit here and shut up, how's that building trust?" He wondered.
"You're behind me, and I'm trusting you not to try and put a bullet in my back. Although after the display outside, I doubt you'd even hit if you did try. The shut up part was to see how well you listened to orders and to save myself a headache." She explained, glancing over her shoulder. "You're failing that part, by the way."
He frowned. "Sounds like a stupid way to do it if you ask me."
"I didn't, but I suppose it might be good for a laugh. What do you suggest we do?" Reilly inquired.
Butch slid himself off the table and crossed his arms. "Well... how about... uh..."
Rolling her eyes, she turned back to the monitor and shook her head. "Let me know when you come up with something."
Thinking about it and staring at her for a couple minutes, he smirked. "I'll be right back, alright?" He said, heading out the door before hearing a reply
.Jogging down the hallway until he arrived at the storage room, Butch ducked inside and went straight to the lockers without even noticing the other two people in the room.
"Is everything okay?" Donovan asked from the corner workbench that was holding a partly assembled bottlecap mine. Charon was leaning against the wall next to him, having been watching the work with little interest.
"Fine, Donny. Just gotta grab a couple things." Butch said, pulling his Tunnel Snakes jacket out of the locker and making sure what he wanted was still in the inside pocket. Stowing it in his armor pocket and putting his jacket back in the locker, he grabbed something off the center shelves as he headed over to where Donovan kept various tools and parts.
"Does Reilly know you're in here?"
"Does she know you're in here?"
"I work in here!"
"Then I won't keep ya." He pulled a paint gun out of the ordered chaos Donovan called his parts collection and made for the exit. "Thanks for the help, Donny."
"Wait a second, what do you need all that for?" Donovan wondered.
Butch gave him a grin. "Building trust with Reilly the best way I can think of."
"I don't like the sound of that..." Donovan muttered as the rookie dashed out of the room. He glanced at Charon and smirked. "...bet you ten caps she ends up shooting him."
The ghoul thought about it for a moment. "No bet."
