Developments
------------------------------------------
Rodney slowly regained consciousness, he could hear voice far away, both of which he recognized.
"Ah am surprised by his willingness to survive. Even more so by his selflessness, ah would not have judged him capable of such things."
"He's a lot stronger than we thought… but I guess he would be. He hasn't had to deal with the wasteland like the others."
"Yes… Would you do me the courtesy of tellin' him when he wakes up that ah will see him as soon as he is feeling up to it?"
"Of course Colonel. I'll be here until he gets better."
"Ah… yes, ah understand."
The drugs flowing through Rodney's body made everything seem so confusing. He couldn't open his eyes, he could barely move his pinkie if he concentrated, Rodney actually thought it was surprisingly similar to waking up from getting stunned. He recalled the first time he'd taken stunner fire, ending up paralysed for several hours in the infirmary. to the amusement of those around him.
The minutes passed by, and slowly he began to regain motion, still feeling numb from the Med-X painkiller. His back itched terribly, but he couldn't reach, his teeth chattered slightly at the terrible sensation.
"Are you cold Rod? Here."
He felt a warm fleece blanket go over him, not exactly what he wanted but it was very comforting. Rodney managed to open his eyes to a narrow slit, and could see the blond Dr Manning above him, her face still dirty from tears and the dust of the Meresti Train yard. He managed to get a hoarse voice out. "Dephany?"
She put her hand on his mouth, and shushed him. Dephany seemed so sad, and obviously she felt responsible for what had happened. "Shh… don't try and speak. You should be fine Rod, another few hours and you should be able to get up no problem."
Rodney was amazed, he'd been grievously injured and Dephany was saying he'd be okay in a few hours? He'd known how advanced their medical technology was, but this was very impressive Voodoo.
--------------------------------------------------------
Alicia looked up at the dark sky and sighed contentedly. John smirked and waved her along. "Falling in love with the sky?"
Alicia smiled, and taking a deep breath of the dusty air, felt it was the best breath she'd ever taken. "I'd kiss the moon if I could sir."
John chuckled and checked his map for where they were, Rivet City wasn't far off. "Well come on, I'm hoping that's the last time we ever have to go through those tunnels."
They had made it through the tunnels relatively unscathed, but the memories of the zombie-like monsters and their cannibalized victims were burned into their memories, something never to be forgotten. Rivet City wasn't far off now, and with any luck they would get the information they needed, and get the hell out of dodge so to speak.
They entered the city without much problem, Harkness remembering who they were. But when they tried to enter the market, it was locked down for the night. Upon questioning one of the guards, they were told to have to wait until tomorrow to speak to Flak, who had since retired to his quarters on the mid deck. John cursed the stupidity of the situation and decided one more day wasn't asking too much. He figured he owed Alicia one, so when they entered the Weatherly Hotel to rent their room again, he asked to see the menu.
Alicia, assuming he just wanted to resupply, was just about to head off to their room when John told her to stay.
'Hm? Stay for what?"
John chuckled. "Dinner! What? You think I'm letting you go to bed hungry? What kind of CO would I be to let that happen?"
Alicia snickered, and seeing that no one except the giant Mr Buckingham robot was around, figured it was better than nothing. She still felt a little queasy, but she might be able to hold down something light. "Alright Sheppard, what's for dinner?"
Mr Buckingham instantly displayed the inventory of food the Hotel currently had.
"Good Evening Sir, Madam. We have a very fine selection of victuals available at this time, including a rather fresh selection of Mirelurk Cakes from the restaurant downstairs in the market!"
John, knowing that Alicia was feeling unsettled, let her choose what she wanted. He himself took a rather tasty looking squirrel stew that at least would warm him up. Alicia on the other hand took a bottle of Nuka Cola and a Brahmin steak. When asked what a Brahmin was, Mr Buckingham described something very similar to a cow, except for the 2 heads of course.
They finished up and withdrew to their room, John taking extra care to make sure Alicia was ok. John didn't know what it was, maybe it was his innate sense of protection, but he felt he had to take care of her, especially in this wasteland. Yet again they slept in the same cot, each time less apprehensive than the last. Alicia seemed comfortable as she rested her head on his shoulder, cuddling up to him to stay warm. How he was going to explain this to Carter was a mystery, but if he was right and Atlantis was incommunicado, he would have a few weeks to come up with an answer.
They woke up the next morning feeling better, glad to be somewhere relatively safe. Once dressed, they brought one of the plasma rifles with them, holstered with the safety on so none of the security guards got in their way, to Flak in the market.
The man was waiting with a certain glee, a happiness that could only mean love. "Goddamn! I knew you two were hard as fuck, but Brahma on a pogo stick, an entire fucking outpost?"
John furrowed his brow, had the news of their deed gone this far already? "What? How'd you find out already?"
Flak chuckled, and fiddled with his desk. "I figured you'd ask, so I taped it for you, now is that the rifle I asked for?"
John had had enough of the man's fleecing, he held the rifle away from him and muttered softly. "Look, we went through hell to get this, and there's a lot more out there we've hidden. All of it's yours if you outfit us and give us the information we want."
Flak lost the smile, but quickly regained half of it. "You're not half as dumb as you look. Alright 'Spiky', you got a deal."
John handed him the rifle, and furrowed his brow. "Spiky? If this is about the hair…"
Flak laughed wholeheartedly, then handed him a holodisc. "Don't look at me. You wanna complain you go see Three-Dog in person."
John's nerves instantly shot. Three-Dog was the person on the radio. "What?" He turned to Alicia. "Three Dog is the guy we heard when we first came here."
She nodded, and looked around suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. Alicia saw on the other side of the room the dark haired man looking at her again. He remained unshifting, staring at her with a piercing gaze. She didn't like it one bit, and tugged on Sheppard's sleeve. "Sheppard?"
"Hmm?"
Alicia kept her voice low. "Put your arm around me like I'm your girlfriend."
John did a double take, and then replied in the same low tone. "Say whaat?"
Alicia put her own arm around him, feeling his muscles tensing up. She looked at him expectantly and whispered. "That guy is staring at me again, if he sees us together he might get the hint."
John looked around and saw the man off in the distance. He absentmindedly put his arm around Alicia and brought her closer. "Uhh ok. Special Forces never taught this."
Without any hesitation, Alicia nodded and put her head in the crook of his shoulder. "No they didn't… but that guy gives me the creeps so please help me."
John smirked, Alicia did have Special Forces training. "Yeah yeah, come 'ere ya little…"
He tried to make it look believable, and motioned for her to help him. "Here, put that holodisc thing into your Pipboy. See what's on it."
In front of them, Flak was busy examining the plasma rifle, when he saw them so close he made a lurid smile in their direction. John felt like giving him the finger but thought better of it. The recording began to play and Three Dog's theatrical voice was heard.
"Because one dog is too little, and two dogs ain't enough, it's Three Dog your master of ceremony!" John and Alicia looked at each other, this Three Dog character was certainly melodramatic. "Time for the news just listen to this. Kiddies, you are going to loooove this. I've always been a true believer that the Capital Wasteland is an entity of it's own, all that radiation had to do something other than make big dumb mutants."
Flak started laughing as he listened to the recording. "He's a hoot, funniest shit you could imagine."
John grunted in confusion and kept listening. "…and just like any entity, it'll fight infection with anything it can. Weeelll… I've just got a report that says a pair of hardass Mercs dressed in shiny combat armor just knocked over an Enclave outpost at the edge of the downtown ruins."
Alicia instantly felt the lump in her throat, she paused the recording. "Oh crap… someone saw us."
John bit his lip and sighed. "Can't do anything about that now. Let's just listen to the rest and see what Flak got us."
Alicia continued playing the recording. "These two Mercs are described as…. Nah! You ain't getting it from me Eden! But I hereby proclaim them 'Spiky' and 'Cutie' respectively! The Bonnie and Clyde of our times!"
John smacked his forehead, though Alicia blushed very hard. He figured she got the worse of the two and snickered a bit, hoping to diffuse the situation. "And here we were making nicknames for ourselves… Cutie."
Alicia gave him a death glare, but seeing his spiky hair and dumbstruck face started giggling too. "Oh god… Cutie and Spiky? Someone has way too much time."
John palmed his face and groaned emphatically. He looked up to Flak who was busy chuckling at John and Alicia's expense. "Like I said, go see the man himself if you want. He's not that far, maybe a day's away."
John shook his head in bitterness, his plan to avoid the downtown area may have just gotten harder. "Alright alright… what'd you get for us?"
Flak nodded and handed John another holodisc. "That's a map of all the Enclave outposts I know about. Some of them appear to have computers so you might find some useful information there. I've got more but I want those coordinates where you stashed the stuff."
John smiled menacingly, and kept his voice low. "There's half an army of ordinance there. I want to know the info you've got is worth it."
Flak nodded, and licked his dry lips. "I've got someone who's been out there, actually talked to Enclave and lived to tell the tale. I've also got someone who keeps tabs on them, hears a lot more than I do."
John thought about it, and realised that he needed any info, since they really didn't have the Intel needed to as Three Dog so eloquently put it, 'knock over' another outpost. If someone had seen them, it was likely that their descriptions were known to the Enclave, even if Rodney hadn't spilled the beans. "Alright… shoot."
Flak rubbed his hands together, obviously loving the idea of the weapons he'd be receiving soon. "Go downstairs and ask for Butch DeLoria, he got stopped by the Enclave a few days ago and they actually let him go through. And as far as the guy who knows more than me… well… you just heard his broadcast."
Alicia could feel the rage ripple through John's body, it was so obvious and yet, they'd missed it. "Three Dog? What could he know about the Enclave?"
Flak shrugged. "Beats me, but he's the go to guy in these parts, the Brotherhood uses his radio station as an outpost so most everyone who goes there hates the Enclave..."
John cursed under his breath, and handed the map he'd drawn up to Flak. He grumbled a bit and then spoke up "Alright, explosives. I want them."
-----------------------------------
"Whoa! Slow down Rod… You're alright but you shouldn't move around too quickly yet. The plastaskin will take some time to fully integrate into your body."
Rodney had finally awoken from his drug induced slumber and had gotten out of the bed they'd put him in and was looking for his clothes. Dephany had found him wandering the med-lab and was trying to get him to sit.
Rodney on the other hand, was currently hiding his exposed backside against the wall. The cold metal and sharp grating was barely felt under the plastaskin transplant he'd received. "Uhh… seriously, this is the best I've felt after being brought to the brink of death and back because you know, I uhh… it's happened before and I've never been able to walk or even talk much within hours of it happening…"
Dephany smirked, but her eyes watered as she took his hand. "Thank you Rodney… You didn't have to do what you did."
She squeezed his hand and moved forward to hug him. Rodney winced and cried slightly in pain as her hands pressed against his treated wounds. "Ow ow ow! Wounded here, big explosion? Remember?"
Dephany let him go, and smiled to him. "Sorry… the doctors say that… you lost a lot of blood Rodney… but they got all the fragments out and the plastaskin will take a few days to fully integrate into your own body. You'll need a transfusion every few hours but you should be alright."
"Well, if I don't get some warmer clothes then I might die of pneumonia! Let alone the probable chemical, biological, or radioactive particles that are going through my blood now from the shrapnel…"
"Our doctors have cleared you, part of the IV we gave you was a Radaway solution. You're completely clear of any radioactive particles and there wasn't any chemical or biological contaminants in that godforsaken hellhole that we couldn't get rid of."
"Godforsaken Hellhole?"
The blood in Dephany's face drained, clearly something had disturbed her. "They're monsters Rodney. The people who did this to you. We captured their leader and…"
Rodney gulped, he didn't like the way her voice quavered. "And what? What happened down there?"
Dephany's lips quivered, and her breath caught in sobs as she tried to get the words out. "They're… oh god… Rodney… they're animals… inhuman monsters."
She covered her mouth and the tears flowed freely. Rodney felt his manly obligation, and a little less bashful about his clothing, he moved forward and hesitantly gave her a hug. Dephany resisted squeezing him back and only laid her hands on his shoulders.
"I can't Rodney… I can't say it… it's too horrible… Colonel Autumn wants to see you… He'll tell you what happened…"
Dephany let go of him and faced away, in between sobs she opened a nearby cabinet and pulled out Rodney's clothing. Without another word, Dephany handed it to him and walked away, wiping the tears from her eyes. Rodney didn't know what to make of the situation and just put his clothing on. Colonel Autumn was an imposing man, and showing up half naked was not a proper thing to do.
-----------------------------------------
"Is that him?"
John squinted and looked at the man. He was pretty imposing in his worn and dirtied combat armor, but the obvious attention he lavished on his hair and the bottle in front of him gave him right away.
"Greasy looking, and getting drunk, exactly what Flak said."
Alicia sighed and bit her lip. "He's supposed to help us find Dr McKay? Why am I not encouraged…?"
John huffed in amusement and motioned for Alicia to follow him, slowly he walked down the steps and stood in front of the young man. He looked up, obviously more interested in Alicia then John. Despite already having drunken a bit, the shock on his face was completely sober. "Amata!?"
Alicia was taken aback. "Excuse me?"
Butch did a quick double take and then calmed. "Whoa… Chicky, you're the spittin' image of someone I knew."
Alicia did the same double take. She recalled the image Rob had shown her of a girl named 'Amata'. "How do you know I look like Amata?"
John was helpless, the strange argument unfolded before him without any chance of interrupting. Butch kept his shocked expression "How do I know? How the hell do you know about Amata!? No way she's out here already!"
Alicia furrowed her brow, the situation was quite confusing. "A guy named Rob told me about her… had a picture of her too."
Butch scoffed and then started laughing. "Oh Rob? You mean that do-goodie-two shoe. So how'd you meet Mr 'Lone Wanderer'?"
Again, Alicia replied before John could, she sat down in front of Butch and stared right at him. "He gave us a hand a few days ago. How'd you know him?"
Butch smiled, and leaned forward obviously misinterpreting Alicia's movements. "Well now, that's a story that I don't tell strangers. Of course if we have a couple drinks together, maybe we can get to know each other."
Alicia sat up straight, resisting the urge to slap Butch. John decided this was as good a moment as any and called for the bartender. "Hey! Three bottles of the hard stuff here! Unopened!" He sat down next to Alicia and gave Butch an intimidating, if non threatening glance.
Butch returned it with a slightly impressed look. "Looks like someone's got a little drinking experience. I guess I'm about to make a couple'a friends so let's get introduced." He cleaned his hands against the Kevlar fabric of his armor and held his hand out to Alicia in a slightly more than friendly manner. "Name's Butch DeLoria, and the pretty lady in front of me is?"
Alicia had one of her hands underneath the table, and even as she shook his hand with a smile, her other hand poked John in the leg, begging for his help. "You can call me Cutie, and this…" She motioned to John who stayed still. "is my boyfriend Spiky. You may have heard of us." Alicia turned to John and gave him a seductive look and lick of her lips.
John had to struggle not to burst out laughing, and instead summoned enough willpower to put his arm around Alicia and give his own seductive look. "Yeah, apparently we're kinda popular."
Butch raised his eyebrows, and kept silent as the bartender showed up with a trio of hard liquor bottles, he looked expectantly to John. "These don't hit the table till you pay."
John handed him double the caps he wanted and growled softly. "Keep it coming. Sealed,"
The bartended smiled, yellow and crooked teeth showed his delight. "No problem, but I ain't draggin' yer sorry ass outta here if you pass out."
John nodded and broke the seal on a bottle of rum; he motioned for Butch to take one of the others. "Consider that the beginning of our… friendship."
Alicia, not wanting to be the odd one out, took the remaining bottle and in a manner similar to John, took a sip of the harsh substance. "And since we're gonna be friends, we can tell each other whatever stories we want…"
Butch smiled, and took a heavy mouthful of the bottle John had gotten him. He was completely unfazed by the strong liquor and smiled. "Well well well… Maybe tonight is gonna be a good night for Butch."
-------------------------------------
