One Second Chance
Disclaimer: I do not own the any of the intellectual property in the Fallout: New Vegas video game, and make no claims on the characters, locations, situations, etc. that are presented therein. I do not profit from the writing and posting of this fan fiction.
A/N: Finally got some inspiration on how to proceed! I have a tougher time with fight scenes, so I was lost for a while...
Chapter Ten - Never Gonna Stop
The first grenade missed by a long shot. The second seemed to hit the mark - there was an alarmed cry as it thumped on the roof near a few of the Fiends - but they had only just begun to run when the grenade rolled right off the roof. Most of the psychos broke out into wild, derisive laughter. They went on, one bending over and slamming his fist on his thigh, even as there was first one huge BOOM then another. As soon as the travelers could hear anything again, they knew the laughter had continued right through the noise.
"Almost feel bad killing this one. It's not even a fair fight!" a smug female voice said as the snipers took their positions again.
"Nah, it's good," another, a male, chuckled. "Then again, maybe we should keep her alive. Could be fun!"
Boone grabbed the woman's arm as she readied the last grenade, her expression grim. "Wait, do you even know how to use those things?" he asked.
"...I guess not. Do you?" She yanked her arm out of his grip then turned her hand, exposing the explosive.
"Not my thing, but I know the basics." He snatched it from her hand, his quick movements belying his irritation even if his face remained unchanged.
"Hey, sorry, but-", the Courier began, then shut her mouth, watching him pull the pin and simply hold the grenade. "Uh..."
"If you don't let it cook, they have time to get away - or worse, throw it back," he explained quietly. "Now cover me."
"Aw, hell." She leaned out from her side of the dumpster and popped off some one-handed pistol fire in the general direction of the largest group of Fiends.
A moment later, Boone stood in one smooth motion and lobbed the grenade. He ducked back down just as fast. Instead of taking shots at him, the gang was laughing again as they returned fire on the Courier. They were still laughing, one of them holding out his hands to either catch or swat at the grenade, when it went off in their midst. An instant later, there was little more than smoke and empty space where they and that piece of roof had been.
The woman peeked over her cover and let out an impressed whistle as she dropped back down just in time. A pair of .308 rounds slammed into the far side of the dumpster with a frightening sound.
"You fucking cocksuckers! Now we're gonna kill you slow!" a new voice cried. It was filled with madness and rage, but also fear.
"Nice," the Courier said with a grin, looking at her companion.
"Not really. You wasted two, and you should know what happens to our mission if those mines do go off." Boone stared at her a minute, then began looking around for their next move.
"Our 'mission'? Like I was saying, sorry, but I'm not a soldier. Sometimes the shit just hits the fan. What do you want from me?"
He sighed with clear irritation. "I told you, think. Do you want to bring Morales her husband back in bloody little pieces? That's not what we're risking our lives for."
It finally dawned on her. "The mines. You said it." She slapped a hand on her face. "Well, I guess I am a dumbass."
"Maybe. Maybe not. You just need to use your head. Don't get distracted by your emotions."
"My emotions! You're one to talk, you suicidal-" she hissed. He turned his head and he was staring at her again, eyebrows drawing closer warningly. She sucked in a breath. "Nope, nope, you're right. Let's do the job, then I'll chew you out for lecturing me, you hypocritical sonovabitch."
"Sounds like you're really getting it." He turned away again. "Here they come."
Her gut was rolling and her chest felt tight from both anger and embarrassment, but she smiled a little to herself all the same.
Was that a bit of not-so-unpleasant sarcasm? she wondered.
She said nothing and just kept smiling. Now she could hear the footsteps coming around the buildings on each side of them. With most of the gang down, the rest should be easy.
Not that things in the Mojave often went the way they should...
Blunt, as usual. No preamble, just straight to the point, even out of the blue.
"What's your name?" he'd asked.
Her hands paused in midair, then began to wind the bandage around his bicep again. The only real injury from this fight, and hopefully one that wouldn't slow the sniper down. It wouldn't bode well for their team if he couldn't hold his rifle up properly for the next few weeks.
Without answering, she looked toward the horizon, finding the situation a bit more personal than a minute ago. Her eyes caught the two NCR boys staring at them from behind their little sandbag wall. Maybe debating if it was safe to come over now. She hardly registered their presence.
Why the hell is he asking me something like that, now? she thought. Hadn't she already made it clear that she had no interest in sharing her name? He hadn't given a shit about any of her background up 'til now. And, more importantly, she had been busy keeping her mind off... some things... while she'd been playing nurse.
Pathetic as it felt, she was having some sort of reaction to simply being near and touching...let's face it, a friggin' arm. A big, muscly arm attached to a well-built, if cranky, man - but an arm all the same. She had been struggling - probably vainly - against a blush that seemed to be spreading through her whole body. And he was making it worse.
She cleared her throat, hopefully as if considering the question. Not that someone would normally have to consider over such a question. She was relieved he still hadn't turned to look at her during her awkward pause, then realized it didn't mean much. Behind those glasses, who knew where he was looking, especially if she wasn't even looking at him?
"Uh. Courier works, right?" She looked back at what she was doing, working to regain her cool.
"What, we're on nickname terms now? You know my name already."
"Well, it's more of a job title, not a nickname. Like if I called you just 'sniper guy'. Oh, oh." She perked up as she finished tying a knot in the bandage. "Can I call you snipey?"
"Hell no," he said without hesitation. "How about a real answer?"
The wanderer sat back on the dirt, sighing. After a moment, she realized her ass was getting wet and jumped up, looking back to find she'd sat in a puddle of blood.
She strung a few curses together into a semi-cohesive phrase. "There's pieces of this guy all over the place!" Almost impressed.
"Just answer the damn question," he said, a little more growly now.
"Alright, alright. Jesus." She almost wiped at her ass with her bare hands, then pulled a rag out of her pocket, instead. Still looking back at herself, she replied, "You're talking to someone with brain damage, remember? I actually don't have a name to give you. I forgot it. I think it started with a C, or a K..."
Boone remained silent. She finally looked at his face and saw his expression was unchanged from the usual. She wanted to take that as a good sign.
After consideration, the sniper just asked, "What else did you forget?"
"A lot, at first. When I woke up, nothing was familiar. The place I woke up in, the guy who patched me up...or even how I looked. But it started coming back to me. Mostly, it was how to do stuff. I'd pick up a gun and know what to do with it. Apparently that didn't apply to grenades. Still not sure if I've ever used them before.
"Later, I started remembering the look of things. Objects, symbols. I just wish I could remember the face of the prick that shot me."
"We'll find him, and maybe you'll know once you look at him. If not, we'll find someone who does." Boone stood, looked down at his arm. "Thanks."
"Sure. Why don't you stay here a minute?" She stood, too, and pulled her pistol once again. "I know I remember how to disarm mines."
"I'll come. This is nothing."
The Courier rolled her eyes. "Yes, you're the man. Ain't no little bullet gonna keep you down." She located ED-E hovering back by the dumpster. "Keep watch for us, pal."
The bot beeped in confirmation. Standing side-by-side, the two humans faced the minefield.
"Remember - think," Boone said before she could make a move.
She blew a raspberry and said nothing. However, she stood still for a minute and just looked at what was in front of her. One corpse with several bullets through its torso - her own handiwork. She was no sniper, but this close, it was hard to miss, and Fiends were not know for wearing the best armor. There was another corpse, hacked up pretty good. One arm a few feet from the rest of it. Boone had waited for the guy to come 'round the side of the building and gone to town before the Fiend could get off a single shot.
Only one other thing in the open that she could still recognize as a body. The late husband.
"Just have to disarm two mines to make a path to him. I...think I got it," she said finally.
"You think?"
"Yeah, I do," the Courier replied, a bit more firmly. In truth, she was a little unsure, simply because she couldn't remember a time she'd taken care of a mine herself. She hadn't come across any that she couldn't just avoid after Mr. Checker-suit Dickhead had double-crossed her. But, she had this certainty that she had the knowledge right there in her head.
"...Fine. Go for it." Boone sounded certain, too.
"Okay. But stay back for a sec, would ya? Seriously."
"No. Either you can do it, or you can't. You said you can."
The woman just threw up her hands and let out a strangled breath. "Do you somehow pour testosterone straight on your Sugar Bombs every morning? 'Cuz I don't see you doing it. And I don't wanna know where you get it."
"I've never eaten Sugar Bombs."
"Ah, so just good ol' injection straight into those muscly arms," she said, still talking but slowly moving forward now, at a crouch. "You're missing out, by the way. No point avoiding the good stuff when we're all getting our daily dose of radiation, anyway."
He was silent for a beat, and she realized she'd blurted out something weird. Maybe he had been able to read her while she'd bandaged him, after all. But he moved right past it and simply murmured, "Focus". He followed behind her, hardly making a sound.
For once, she didn't argue, because she knew she was just about within range. Sure enough, the dangerous little contraption began that rapid beeping. She quickly closed the distance, and found her hands moving on their own once she grabbed the thing. Before she knew it, she had deactivated the mine. Her shoulders drooped as her whole body tried to go limp, and she realized there was a hand on one of those shoulders. It was quickly withdrawn, and she peeked back at her companion.
"...Good work. One more," was all he said, but it was more than enough.
"Omigod," she responded. She tucked the mine away for later and wiped a trail of sweat from her face. Then she shook her limbs out a bit, trying to get back to normal. She would need full use of her body for the next one, not to mention for carting a grown man a ways.
"That was some crazy shit!" one of the soldiers exclaimed as the Courier, with Boone's help, tried to politely dump the corpse on the ground.
"Not as crazy as these two," his companion replied. "You could've died a dozen different ways just now. I mean, I was counting. Why would you do that for some dead guy?"
"Uh, I dunno. Bad decision-making skills, I guess," the woman panted, stretching her back. Really wish we coulda stripped him before we carried him over. "Hopefully his wife is loaded...or not."
Boone coughed rather aggressively. "Idiot."
"You're doing it wrong - the fake cough is supposed to be a subtle hint, you can't still follow it with-"
The sniper cut her off, directing a question to the NCR boys. "You'll get the body where it needs to go?"
"Yeah. And people are gonna know what you did for Morales," the more somber of the two troopers said. He looked at the Courier. "I know it couldn't have been for money. The brass might not care about one dead guy, but it sure was bringing the rest of us down. And everyone loves to hear about a few more dead Fiends. Especially the ones with enough brain cells left to make real trouble for decent people."
His friend grinned. "It's gonna be a good one to tell over a few beers. You should find me - er, us - next time you come by our compound."
The Courier looked him over. "Only if you're buying."
"Of course! And I don't just say that to all the girls."
"Hah!" She found herself grinning, too, and laughing. Man, it was good to just chat with normal people for once. "Well, what're you guys' names?"
Before the men could answer, Boone had her by the arm. "Alright, we have a war to win. And we should tell Morales about her husband before you go off getting drunk."
"Hey! I like a little actual conversation once in a while, you know! Something besides grunts and growls, you ever heard of- okay, okay, we'll go! I can fuckin' walk myself!"
.o End o.
"Muscly" looks like a misspelling to my eye, but apparently that's how it's really spelled. I tried figuring out what the process for disarming a real proximity mine, and could find nothing (there was stuff about a mine you step onto and off of to set off, but that's a bit different).