foreword: You guys I probably shouldn't write while on painkillers; I'm leaving this here but I'm going to edit it in the very near future (also Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate)
11-29-15: Sorry about that, I'm editing now, and will be publishing in an hour or two. The change in the chapter is near the end and pretty minor, but is reflecting events in the next chapter.
Note: I lost a fingernail! Man, that was painful! Sorry about the wait!
Boone raised his rifle and stared out at the wastes. Coyotes, a couple of geckos, some people milling around a campfire. Maggie was sitting behind him on an outcropping, picking at her fingernails and being unusually quiet. He watched the people for a moment longer, then turned his head back to her.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Fine," she muttered. "Is the coast clear?"
He lowered the rifle and turned to face her. "Can't tell if they're prospectors or Vipers," he said.
Maggie sighed and ran a hand along her forehead, patting her hair down. "Alright, I guess we'll have to get closer, then." She stood up and hopped down from the rocks, then started walking toward the camp.
Prospectors. Maggie talked with them for a time, bartered a little bit. When they walked away from the camp she was drinking a Nuka-Cola and humming a little. Boone fell in behind her, through a little pass in the rocks.
She seemed like she was in a better mood than earlier, after he'd hugged and tried to touch her. Couldn't help that. Missed touching her. She was showing a lot of self-restraint, but hadn't really let him in on any of her thoughts. Other than her under-the-breath comment about bedposts―which made him smile, because he was almost certain that meant she missed him touching her, too.
She'd said she loved him, and that was all he wanted. Made the pathetic and miserable him, less so. Even an "I guess I do" was better than nothing.
While he was watching her, she stopped to toss the bottle to the side and scratched her head, then checked the map.
"Do you have a plan?" he asked, partly out of curiosity. Maggie hadn't been very clear on what her actual plan was, overall. Only thing she'd told him was that she was going to play along with House, then get him out of Vegas. She'd been pretty closed-in about all her plans―including that mess with the bodyguard in Freeside.
Doubted that she wanted it to go the way it did. Didn't like that it had happened, himself. She was pretty shaken after that, even if she said it didn't bother her. Boone rubbed his cheek, remembering. Heard her scream, and he'd known it was her―he couldn't imagine what it was like, to be helpless like that.
She'd lashed out at him over the matter, probably only because he was there. Maggie might not have much strength, but she knew how to throw a proper punch. Was more than he could say about himself. ...Wished she didn't have to punch people, though.
"A plan for what?" she asked, turning to look up at him. She looked annoyed and hot, sweat building up her forehead. Thin strands of hair stuck to her skin, and it was all he could do not to think about... other things.
"For the Brotherhood." Boone adjusted his rifle. "How to talk them into helping you." Nice save, Craig, he thought, staring out and away from the sight.
"No." Maggie chuckled, stupidly. "We're winging this one. Like you said, they're gonna want the tech shit House has, so 'plan a' is do what we can." She started walking again. "We'll see how it goes before we have to 'plan b' anything."
Well... it was about right for Maggie plans. He kept pace. "We're not going in there to kill them all, are we?" he asked, after a thought. Maggie wasn't afraid to fight, if she needed, but she might decide it was easier to get rid of the Brotherhood, after all.
"What? No, why―" she frowned and turned to him again, but stopped herself with a quick step. "What was that?"
He heard it too, the skittering sounds of radscorpions. Pulled his rifle and searched the area. Maggie drew out her shotgun and cracked it, checking the ammo, then stalked forward slowly.
Over a hill and down into a bowl of rocks, they both found the scorpions. Tons of them, actually. Maggie didn't do much other than curse while firing repeatedly at the things, then switched to her machete. Took them twenty minutes to get rid of all scorpions―every time they turned around two more would be coming down a hill or crawling up from under a rock.
In the end Maggie grumbled and collected poison sacs, tucking them away in her pack. For a city girl, she knew a lot more about the wastes than he'd expected―if she was planning to sell them, he applauded her foresight.
Knowing Maggie, she'd probably try to use them to hurt someone, though. He chuckled at himself. Not it, he thought.
She looked down at her Pip-Boy and then up at Boone. "Should be this way," she said, leading him through the rocks.
Came out onto a chain-link fence and some hillocks set inside of it. Boone stared out and noticed the fans set into the ground, then turned to Maggie. She screwed up her face and stared at her Pip-Boy, then growled and smacked it hard. "Stupid thing," she muttered, and stepped through the fence.
"This is the Hidden Valley?" he asked, walking beside her.
"I guess the name tells it," she said, angrily. "Where the fuck―how do we get in―" She grumbled, then yelped and dashed forward a few steps. "Goddammit!" she yelled, pulling her machete.
Boone put down the bark scorpion as it scuttled toward him, then swept the area with his scope. "Don't see any more," he said, turning back to her.
"Dammit," she swore, pulling up her pants leg. "Dammit, the fucking thing stung me!"
Boone moved to her side and looked down at the wound. A small hole in her calf dripping a thin line of blood with a funny oil-slick sheen to it. "Doesn't look that bad," he said. He patted her shoulder. "You want me to bandage it?"
"Uhh," she said, then stopped and went very still. She blinked rapidly. "Shit. Um. Craig?"
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Are those things poisonous?" she asked, still blinking.
"Pretty sure all scorpions are poisonous." Boone stared at her. She was still sweating―her face a grimace of pain and something else. "Are you okay?"
"Whoa," she said, and suddenly crumpled. "Whoa, that's―that's crazy―" Maggie landed in a heap of arms and legs on the ground.
"Do you have any antivenom?" he asked, reaching down to help her up.
"Don't think so," she whispered, moving her hand in front of her face. "Whoa."
"Shit," he muttered. The bark scorpion venom wouldn't kill her―but now she was going to be high for a little while, until her body processed the venom. That might take all day, he thought, and eyed the dirt covered hills.
"Hey, I see the door," she said, and before he could stop her, she was wobbling over to a hill. She disappeared over the side in a tumble as he caught up, then activated the lock and opened it.
"Maggie, maybe you should―" he started.
She grumbled and moved inside the bunker. "I ain't spending the afternoon tripping balls on the wasteland floor," she said. "Oh―" she stumbled.
Boone caught her and helped her down the stairs, setting her down at the bottom and looking around the little room. Only one door, on the opposite side. He looked back at Maggie, who was loosening the collar of her NCR armor and groaning.
"Guess we'll have to hang out here," he said, quietly.
"Yeah," she said, waving her hand in front of her. "Damn, this stuff is powerful. I feel like I'm flying." She laughed. "Man, I should sell this shit in Freeside―make a hell of a lot of caps―"
Boone turned to talk to her when a sudden explosion of light overtook them―a flashbang―and an upraised arm with a rifle landed on the side of his face in the confusion, knocking him down and out.
Goddammit!
He woke up without his clothing. The first thing he thought was that he was never going to be able to handle all the trouble Maggie brought―wait, where the hell was Maggie?
Boone bolted upright and looked around for her. Maggie was not in the room with him, and he was damn near naked―he was locked into a holding cell without his equipment―
He stood and examined the door for a moment. Magnetic locks. No way in hell he was getting out of the room. He looked about the small room and sat down on a cot against the wall. Put his face in his hands and tried not to think.
Maggie was gone. He was captured, and he was at a disadvantage. Last time that had happened, he'd almost died. This time...
Stay calm, Craig. They have no reason to kill you or her, if they're holding you.
Boone muttered to himself and tried to still the anger and fear spiking into his heart. After a while he stood up and punched the wall a few times, letting the pain that came from hitting his knuckles against solid metal focus him.
Shouldn't have come to the Brotherhood bunker to begin with. Boone stared at the door, grinding his teeth. Not with Maggie being so involved in House's affairs, not with her high as a kite after being stung, not with her wearing NCR colors―he couldn't have stopped them, anyway. Brotherhood hated the NCR after that business at Helios.
And now Maggie was missing and he was―
Kicking his own ass, like he ought to be. Couldn't protect her, like he hadn't been able to protect Carla―
The door opened then, and he turned his head to stare down a man in a bulky set of power armor. The man regarded him for a moment, then turned to the side and shoved Maggie into the room. Boone caught her and clutched her to himself, glaring at the soldier. She was wearing khakis and a button-down shirt, the top open to the cool air of the bunker and her exposed skin breaking out in goosebumps.
The soldier moved and dropped Maggie's pack onto the floor, then removed himself and shut the door, all without a word.
Boone tightened his hands on Maggie, who was muttering something under her breath. He breathed out shakily, then rubbed her shoulder gently. "Maggie," he said, his voice strained.
"I'm alright," she said, finally, digging her fingernails into his skin as she righted herself. "Lemme go, you jerk."
"Maggie―" he said, turning his head and burying his face in her hair. "Thank God. What's going on?"
"Well," she said, pushing him back a little. "I talked to the boss guy. They call him Elder McNamer-amera, or something." She sighed in frustration. "They're not really interested in stealing House's tech, though. Just want some help. I had to tell them I would help, before they let me go." She glanced up at him, and he saw the concern in her eyes, and his self-doubt started to fade. "Are you okay?"
Maggie was alright, and he was alive, and nothing had come of it. She was lucky, though. It could have been much worse―
"Boone," she said, frowning at him. "Hey, jerk, talk to me."
"Maggie, what about―" he started, running his hand down her spine. "The venom," he said, lamely.
"That's all over with," she said, slowly. "Boone, listen―"
He held her to him, sighing. Thank God, she really was okay. Maggie groaned and moved her hands up to his head, squeezing his scalp. "Dammit," she muttered, and he felt her move her body flush up against his. "Damn you and your hugs! Let go―"
Boone chuckled in relief, moving her to the cot, and laid her onto the canvas. Maggie immediately tried to sit up but he held her down with a hand and leaned over her, one knee on the edge of the cot. "Hugs isn't all I have," he said, caressing her cheek.
"Not the time for that," she muttered, angrily. She glared at him. "Listen, Boone―"
He bent down and rubbed his cheek against hers, breathing onto her neck. Maggie swore and went limp, then placed both her hands on his collarbone and pushed him away. "You asshole," she said. "Listen to me!"
"I am listening," he said, running a hand down her side and up her shirt. "Just... really glad you're okay."
"Pssh," Maggie said, slapping at his hand. "Like I'm gonna get killed. I'm fucking invincible." She held his hand against her rib cage and sighed. "Look, we're free to go, I just gotta run around and look for some things for McNamar-ama."
"Mmm-hmm," he said, breathing hard onto her neck on purpose. She made a little moaning noise and arched her back up, pressing her chest into his. Boone smiled to himself. She was easy to rile up―a lot like him―he laughed at himself.
"Dammit, Craig, knock it off!" she said, finally getting angry and shoving him back. "I don't want to get in any more trouble with these asshats―"
He pulled away and looked down at her. "What did you do?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Maggie flushed and looked away, staring at the wall with her face screwed up. "Nothing," she said, defensively, and crossed her arms over her chest.
"I should be mad," Boone said, shaking his head and moving off of the bed. "You're terrible at lying. What did you do?"
Maggie got up and retrieved her pack. "McNara-arama doesn't like me very much," she said, in a low voice. "Uh, on account of my being high. I... I told him I was the whore queen of Vegas." She frowned.
Boone spat out a chuckle. "You didn't."
"I'm pretty sure I did―" Maggie swore. She turned her eyes to the floor. "Look, I wasn't exactly very friendly to begin with―mostly because you were gone―" Her face flushed with blood.
"Maggie," he said, smiling at her.
"Anyway, McNama-ramama doesn't like me," she finished as she met his gaze. "And I told him I'd help him do his thing, if he helped me learn how to use a computer."
Boone stroked her face for a second, then turned and began to dress himself. ...Had hoped for something, for a moment. But Maggie was all business right now, and he wasn't about to make her upset. She'd never let him back in, if he kept agitating her. And he knew too well how to handle a moody woman.
"So what do we have to do," he asked, looking down at the clothing he'd grabbed. His old First Recon gear. Forgot that he still had it, for a long time. Didn't know if he could stand to wear it. But...
...When in Vegas, he thought, glancing at Maggie. She stomped her feet angrily against the metal floor.
"It's easy shit," she said, finally. "Just run out and pick up some stuff for him." She stood up and hooked her machete to her belt. "Ooh," she grinned at him, watching him getting dressed. "I like that. When'd you pick that up?"
"Always had it," he said, quietly.
"Damn." Maggie's teeth flashed at him in the dim light. "Guess I'm not the only one who can pull it off."
Boone smiled sadly and finished dressing, then turned to her. "Let's get going," he said.
"Yeah," she answered, and hit the door lock. "Yeah. We need to get back to Vegas soon. ...I might have to pull that outfit off you myself."
Maggie laughed stupidly at herself the whole way out of the bunker, and all he could do was smile.