Charon stepped through the door into Snowflake's makeshift barber shop, happy to do anything that didn't involve standing in a corner and growling at potential problem customers.
Ahzruhkal had stopped him just before opening the double doors earlier, quickly telling him that after 9:00 pm he was not permitted to use any violence until ordered to do otherwise. Since then he hadn't been able to stop thinking about the strange command. He'd never been ordered to not be violent before, and he couldn't figure out the reason for it.
He ground to a halt as he saw three Underworld residents and Snowflake surrounding someone on the barber chair, a strange noise filling the air; laughter.
Charon took a step closer to where he could clearly see Viola, laughing along with the other ghouls as Snowflake buried his face in her hair which he had piled up on top of her head.
"God I miss hair...you have so much hair!" Snowflake muffled from beneath the heaped up blonde locks.
"Run while you still can Smoothskin, looks like you've made a friend for life," The shortest ghoul chuckled.
Viola grinned and looked up, spotting Charon in the middle of the room. Her smile grew wider.
"Hey Charon, get over here. Snowflake's cutting my hair for free!" She beamed. Snowflake, still with his face lost in her thick hair, giggled euphorically.
"Are you sure that is what he is doing?"
"Awh come on Big guy, join the party!" She laughed, frantically waving her hand for him to come closer.
The other three ghouls, one a regular at the bar who he could actually name, Quinn, shuffled nervously. Charon bared his teeth at them, and they exchanged worried glances.
"Don't mind him, he just get's grouchy," Viola smiled, and the three ghouls returned her smile although less enthusiastically.
"You realise he is high on jet?"
"I trust him,"
"Is that wise?"
"Nope." She laughed, shuffling in excitement.
"So...er...Charon. What are you doing out here?" Quinn questioned after plucking up the courage to talk.
Charon said nothing and glared at him.
"So, what you having done Smoothskin? I can do anything you want, anything at all," Snowflake asked breaking the awkward silence.
"Just a trim please, Snowflake,"
"Are you sure? Really I can do anything,"
"Yeah, I cut it once to just under my chin and hated it, I have a round enough face as it is,"
"Fine," Snowflake said grumpily as he began snipping at the ends.
Viola let out a long sigh and slumped into the wooden chair. The three ghouls said their quick goodbyes and shuffled out, eyeing Charon suspiciously as they moved around him to get to the exits.
Once Snowflake was done Viola shook her hair out and brushed the chopped off split ends from her shoulders, thanking the ghoul who placed down his scissors.
"Here, I heard you lost yours," Snowflake said, handing her a hair faster. Viola let out a little squeak of happiness and flung her arms around the old ghoul.
"Thank you! Do you realise how hard it is to find these in the Wastes? I've been so sick of having it flap about all the time," She beamed at him a toothy smile and looked to Charon.
"What are you doing here, Big guy? Not that I'm complaining, but usually Ahzruhkal has you chained to the corner of that damned bar," She said, saying Ahzruhkal's name with a spit of disgust.
Charon hesitated. Ahzruhkal didn't tell him not to tell her.
"He ordered me to keep an eye on you," He told her, folding his arms over his chest.
"Oh, how sweet...he's such a caring gentleman, isn't he?" She said dreamily before making herself heave. The corner of Charon's lip twitched up in a smile before disappearing as quickly as it appeared.
Viola said goodbye to Snowflake who had been watching them converse with curious eyes, left the room and stepped into the hallway and leaned over the banister watching the residents below.
"Do you know why Ahzruhkal wants me to go into the lower halls of the museum?"
"I do not,"
"I mean, at such a specific time, too..." she breathed, frowning.
Charon shrugged his large shoulders before catching the eye of a female ghoul who walked past, suspiciously running her eyes over the two figures who stood together. He shot her a shudder inducing glare and she quickly averted her eyes, quickening her pace.
"People keep staring at me..." Viola said wincing as she spotted a ghoul staring at her before snatching his stare away. Charon grumbled. It wasn't surprising with the talk that was going around, no doubt being fueled by Ahzruhkal's lies.
"I swear to God I'm going to kill Ahzruhkal," She growled watching a couple of male ghouls in the corner exchange hushed words, occasionally glancing over to her.
They heard stumbling footfalls on the stairs and looked over to see Patchwork drunkenly shuffling up towards them. He took two steps forward, then one backwards, then continued onwards, bumping into the corner of the banister and muttering an apology to it. He stumbled up to Viola, stopping just short of head butting her in the face. He stood, a spaced out smile on his falling apart lips and swaying. Viola raised an eyebrow.
"So, I er...wait...have you seen...no, that's not, not right. So, I hear you're, er, fucking ghouls now,"
"Oh fucking fantastic..."
"And then he said...no...yes...what?"
"Oh just do us all a favour and fuck off Patches," Viola growled at the ghoul who continued smiling as he shuffled away humming. Charon glanced over at her as she scowled after Patchwork.
"Do I need to scream that I didn't fuck you or Winthrop from the top of the Washington monument? I will if I fucking have to," Viola hissed, stomping downstairs with Charon following after her, baring his teeth occasionally to passers by.
As Viola paced up to Tulip's shop, she heard a group of four ghouls huddled up on a bench stop speaking and turn to stare at her. She frowned at them and continued on. She stopped. Then she turned on her heels and strode up to them.
"Have you got something to say?" Viola questioned, hands on her hips and biting her lip in frustration.
The three shyer ghouls shook their head rapidly, but the tallest one, a ghoul who had dark hair sneered.
"So, how much did Winthrop pay you?"
"What?" Viola spat, feeling her head pound in rage.
"Do I need to repeat myself, Smoothskin?"
"No, I'm giving you time for your brain to catch up with your mouth," She hissed.
The ghoul barked out a laugh on the other three ghouls exchanged awkward glances.
"I'm sorry about my friend, he's got a bit too much vodka in him...you'd like him if he was sober," The ghoul to his right said quickly, trying to make amends for his friends' behavior.
"Right," She said sharply, her lips tightening into a thin line. Charon stepped to her side, arms at his side whilst he clenched and unclenched his hands.
"Oh, of course, I almost forgot you had another friend," The dark haired ghoul mocked, running his eyes over Charon who stared blankly at him.
"Strider come on," Another of the ghouls begged before grabbing him by the arm and whispering a little too loudly, "You should know not to fuck around with Charon,"
"Well she didn't, did she?"
Viola felt her eyelid twitch. Her teeth clenched and she launched a punch square into the sneering ghoul's face. The ghoul fell back off the bench, and knocked his head off the ground. He didn't get up.
Two of his friends dragged the unconscious ghoul away heading towards the Chop Shop, yelling abuse at Viola who bared her teeth at them. She turned around and before she could see it coming a ghoul had threw a fist into her face, grazing her cheek and making her spin to the floor. The world around her juttered like an old movie screen to black.
Charon grabbed the attacker by the throat and flung him back, raising his fists as the ghoul shuddered with a coughing fit. Viola jerked back to reality, and drew herself up slowly, rubbing her cheek and scowling at the ghoul who punched her.
"Fucking bitch! Got your guard dog to protect you?" He snarled.
"It's not my fault your little friend wouldn't leave me alone. And I can fight my own battles," Viola hissed and ghoul sneered out a laugh.
"Looks like it," He laughed and Viola took a step forward.
The ghoul did too and Charon stepped between them, staring down the much shorter ghoul, his stony face unmoving. The ghoul let out another wheezing laugh to cover the new sense of unease he got from the piercing stare of Charon.
"See you round, Smoothskin," He winked, and walked towards the Chop Shop.
"I fucking hate this," Viola hissed, her head pounding as she tentatively touched her fingers to her cheek.
"You have to learn to control your emotions," Charon told her sternly.
"I know, I shouldn't let it get to me...but I actually like people down here. I mean seriously, I haven't felt more at home since leaving the vault, if Ahzruhkal was to drop dead one day then it would be perfect. And now just because of some idiots who don't know how to keep their mouths shut I'm the odd one out again. The one people stare at and talk about,"
"You were the odd one out before this, human."
"Yeah, but at least that was just looks, and people soon got over that." She sighed, slumping down onto the bench besides Charon.
"I guess it's because this place is for outcasts. For those who don't really belong anywhere else. Everywhere I go, I'm belittled and shunned for being a naive little vault girl. The Vault didn't want me, the Wasteland didn't want me...this was the only place that didn't care where I came from or where I was going. And now...well, I don't know. But if someone brings it up again I swear to God, they'll be more than one knocked out dick head on the floor."
Charon nodded as he watched her hold her head which was throbbing in pain. He made a quick mental note for the future when she would be his employer that although she could deal out a powerful punch, she clearly couldn't take one. He snorted. It was lucky he only punched her lightly before. He could probably kill her in one blow if he felt like it.
"Come on, I'm getting something to eat at Carol's before the freak show commences," Viola grumbled, abandoning her trip to Tulip's and shuffling back upstairs, this time ignoring the glances she got of the residents of Underworld.
...
"So, This is it?" She asked Charon, staring skeptically at the double doors before looking back at the archaic, dust gathering skeleton and mammoth in the hall behind her.
"I'll be outside. It's 9 O'clock now. Go in," Charon told her, a slight tone of urgency in his voice.
He had to make sure she went in at the specified time. If she didn't, she'd have disobeyed Ahzruhkal and he would be forced to kill her.
"Okay, wish me luck...just a minute right?" She laughed, handing him her shotgun and Chinese Assault rifle. She took a breath, and as quietly as she could, opened up a gap in the door and squeezed through, reminding Charon of how she first entered the 9th circle. Charon realised with a start that that was only two days ago. It felt like it had been weeks.
She disappeared, the door shutting without a noise. Viola squinted in the darkness, her eyes struggling to adjust to the new lighting. She made out strange shapes, a couple of staircases leading to an upper floor. Ruined and decaying artifacts and columns lay around her, once valued but now laid to rest underneath the city of Underworld.
In the darkness she saw her own breath billow out of her lungs as she rubbed her arms roughly to warm up down in the chilling air. After a while had passed she looked at her Pipboy. Thirty seconds. This wasn't so bad. She shrugged and let out a long sigh. Maybe she was worrying about nothing after all. Then she heard a gargle.
She pushed herself against the double doors in shock, eyes grown twice their natural size as she desperately tried to see what was making the noise. Then a few more scramblings were heard above her head. Something limped out of the shadows, joined by another wobbling figure that let a long drone of a hiss out of the gaping hole filled with shards of broken rotted teeth that once resembled a human mouth. Viola froze.
She watched them stumble forwards, smelling the air and breathing in her human scent. She tore her terror filled stare from the figures to look at the time. Ten more seconds. She held her breath. The one began scuffling towards her, still smelling the air. Viola felt her chest restrict painfully and she began to feel sick. It let out a snarl and sprinted towards her, flailing arms ready to tear at her skin.
She let out a sharp yelp and ducked away from the arms of the first feral only to hammer into the second, which crunched it's teeth down into her hand, the flesh giving away like butter. She snarled out and slammed the feral biting into her hand into the other, making it release its jaws around her hand long enough for her to pull away.
She heard more inhuman screeches above her and the patter of dozens of feet. How many were there down here? It didn't matter. The time was up and she was getting out of there.
She ripped open the doors and sprinted through, but before she had time to spin around and slam them shut, the two ghouls leapt out and tackled her to the floor. Through the sound of their snarls she heard the door slam shut, Charon swearing as he locked it behind her.
"Smoothskin?" Greta called over from the steps leading up to Underworld, mouth hanging open and dropping her cigarette.
Viola managed to kick one ghoul off her which suddenly lost attention in her and ran towards something else, but Viola was more concerned with the ghoul that was raking it's fingernail against the soft flesh of her face. She scrunched her eyes shut as it moved to gouge them out of her sockets. She slammed her fists into its face but it didn't budge.
"Charon my gun! My gun!" She screamed, reaching out one hand whilst trying to tear of the ghoul's hands from her exposed flesh.
Charon flew forward quicker than a dart, jamming the Chinese assault rifle into her hands, feeling utterly obsolete as he looked on helplessly. Any kind of violence would be in violation of Ahzruhkal's demands.
Viola let out a howl of triumph as she managed to jam the barrel of the rifle into the ghoul's face, pulling the trigger and watching it's head explode, throwing blood in all directions. She scrambled to her feet, and before she could look up, she heard a scream that would make even battle hardened soldiers shudder.
The second feral ghoul in its frenzy had charged into Greta who fell back, cracking her head open on the concrete steps. Viola let out a mortified scream. She aimed her gun and blew the creatures head to bits.
She flung down her weapon, torrents of tears already pouring from her round horror struck eyes. She rushed to her side, collapsing onto her knees and picking up the limp body into her chest. Greta's head lolled back, lifeless. Although Viola never really liked the sharp tongued woman, she had learned to adore Carol. She knew the loss of Greta would cripple her and she was never going to get over it. It was all her fault.
"Charon, get Barrows!" Viola yelled desperately. Charon stood motionless.
"Charon, please!" Viola implored, holding Greta's body tighter.
"She's gone, Smoothskin."
"No...Carol..." Viola choked. Suddenly she snapped her head up.
"You didn't help! I could have died! Greta is dead...and you didn't do anything!"
"Ahzruhkal commanded that after 9:00 pm I must not commit any acts of violence until further instructions," Charon explained stoically. Viola's mouth fell open.
"He planned this...he knew this was going to happen...he knew she was going to come out at this time...the fucking sneaky bastard knew!" She roared, trembling with rage.
Charon had never seen her look so furious, and beneath his set straight face, he felt shocked at the tiny woman's fury.
She charged through the doors of Underworld, attracting the stares of the residents who suddenly began hissing questions at her and to each other as they saw the anger burn in her face that was drenched with blood. She ran up the stairs taking them two at a time and rounded the banister, throwing open the doors of the 9th circle.
Surprisingly, the bar was empty, all except for one. Ahzruhkal.
He wasn't at his usual place behind the bar. He sat on a solitary chair in the center. Grinning.
Viola paused, her chest feeling like it had crumbled in on itself. It was true. He had planned this. Ahzruhkal let out a chuckle, swirling a bottle of red wine in his right hand.
"I always get what I want..."
This can actually be done in the game, hence where I got the idea from. That's right, if you go down into the lower rooms of the museum, get a feral ghoul to follow you out into that massive hall just before entering Underworld and 9:00 pm, you'll find Greta having a fag break and the feral ghoul will kill her. Thus you don't have to fork out a shed load of caps and you don't lose karma...but Carol never really gets over it.
So things are kicking off in Underworld and the smug little asstard (A fantastic way of describing Ahzruhkal which made me choke on my drink by LostOne1771) is finally getting his way. My God I love writing his villainous exploits.
You guys already know how much I love reading your thoughts and opinions, so if you decide to leave a review it'll make me incredibly happy, I appreciate every one. Thank you all so much.