AN: I'm back, last update before the end of 2016. Read and review in good health and I'll see youse fellas next year.
Chapter 48 – Containing Maxine
The Rose of Sharon Cassidy wasn't exactly a spring chicken anymore. Hey, it was true, the was no denying that she was on the wrong side of her forties. This was simply a fact and one she was totally cool with. She was still smoking hot after all.
Over the years of operating a caravan and travelling around the wastes, she had seen some strange shit; this was the first time she'd seen a pre war woman who wasn't a ghoul, who had skin like she imagined silk would feel like, totally uncorrupted by radiation. It was the first time she'd met anyone who found Boone even the slightest bit appealing who wasn't the Courier. And it was the first time she'd seen anyone get completely shitfaced on a few beers.
Like, completely fucking legless. It was funny as fuck.
Max had tilted her head back and drained her fourth beer, swaying slightly in her seat and looked bleary eyed around the bar room. Light weight was the understatement of the century. Cass was surprised when the woman started to suggest things that they should do next.
Courier pushed his way into the saloon with Boone at his shoulder and was greeted by the sight of Maxine Everton, General of the Commonwealth Minutemen and Sole survivor of Vault one eleven in the process of trying to do a head stand in the middle of the taproom. She had removed her leather pants and boots and was clad only in the singlet and underwear, her arse in the air and head on the floor, making weak and very unsteady attempts to kick her feet up into a chortling Cass' waiting hands.
Boone made a growling sound in his throat and pushed passed the Courier and hauled the woman to her wobbly feet and held onto her to stabilise her. He glared at Cass over Maxs head.
"He said to watch..." He managed to growl at Cass before Max realised who was holding onto her and lay a kneecap melting kiss on him, her hot lips tasting of malty hops and the sharp sting of rads. He vaguely heard Cass burst out laughing, but when Max wrapped her arms around his neck and he felt her fingers worm their way under his beret to stroke his soft short hair, he was pretty much lost. His hands slid across her hips and secured themselves to her, drawing her in close, his fingertips straying under the fabric of her underwear.
"Boone!"
Couriers large hands wedged themselves between them and forced them apart. Max had manged to secure Boones beret in her hands and slapped it on her head with a triumphant laugh. Cass sat her chuckling self onto a barstool and watched gleefully as the two men tried to wrangle Max.
Courier first glared at his somewhat breathless friend, who looked back unapologetically. He agreed to keeping his burgeoning relationship with Max a secret for Max. She kissed him, game changer.
"Cummon, Max… time to call it a day, aye?" Courier said gently to the inebriated General.
Max snorted and adjusted the beret on her head to a jaunty angle, dodging Boones attempt to reclaim it.
"What happened to her pants?" Demanded a rough voice from the doorway of the saloon. Maxson and Cade were back.
"The pants were too restrictive to do a head stand … and the boots meant she couldn't wiggle her toes." Cass informed them all from her barstool with a chuckle, she threw back a shot of whiskey and knocked on the bar for another.
"You were told to watch her." Maxson growled, as MacCready and Zac shoved their way through the doors behind him. Zac had acquired a brightly coloured tribal headdress, he laughed sharply as he took in the scene before him.
"Meh." Cass replied. "Y'all said she was a light weight… maybe you should have informed me that she couldn't handle more than three…"
Courier glared at her and tried to engage the general again.
"Max, you wanted a bath right?" He said, taking hold of her forearm and drawing her towards the door.
"Carry me." She slurred, leaning on him and looking up at him with those eyes.
"Nah, Fuck that, you've got legs." Courier sniffed. Nope, not falling for those damn eyes.
She pouted at him before giving an impish grin. She let her legs go out from under her and went ragdoll as she hit the floor.
"Got no legs." She whined from her prone position. "Have to carry me."
Courier sighed. He would not carry the woman to her bed, no fucking way was he doing that
Maxson stepped forwards. "I've got her." He said, stooping to collect her from the floor as she giggled like a little girl.
"Uh-uh." MacCready said quickly, stepping up as well. "There's no way I'm leaving you alone with her when she's like this."
Maxson looked insulted. "I wouldn't take advantage of her when she's incapacitated."
"Riiiiiight… she kisses you and you'd be all like 'No Max, I can resist your advances, you sexy, half naked bitch'." MacCready snorted incredulously. "I'll take her."
"I'll help." Cade said with a grin. "She'll be like a sack of flour in that state."
Zac watched with an amused expression on his face as Cade and MacCready manhandled Max off the floor. "Just out of curiosity, how many did she have?"
Cass was laughing uproariously." Four light beers…. Bwahaaahaaa."
Boone wanted to help but he knew that he definitely couldn't and wouldn't keep his hands off her, he simply stood back with his arms crossed over his chest and watched them struggle with her, a small smirk on his face.
MacCready managed to get her over his shoulder as she chortled gleefully. From her position on his back, she started beating out a tattoo on his right butt cheek with her hands. Cass almost fell off her barstool, she was laughing so hard, as MacCready touted General Max Everton out of the saloon with Cade in tow.
Boone walked over to the bar and collected Maxs belongings and rifle and slung them over his arm before making for the door.
"Where're we staying?" he asked over his shoulder to Maxson.
"Cedar City Inn, two streets back on the left." Maxson replied before looking at Courier. "More expensive, but Cade assured me that we wouldn't catch anything from the bedding."
Courier nodded approvingly and sank into the closest barstool as Cade came barrelling back through the saloon door, shoving the burdened Boone out of the way. Everyone looked at him in surprise.
"She got away." He cried.
Courier stood up again. "What do you mean she got away?"
"She told MacCready to put her down and that she could walk and then she was gone. He's looking for her but even drunk, she's still one of the best covert assassins in the wastes" Cade explained, looking remorseful.
Boone thrust Maxs things at Cade and disappeared through the doorway and out into Cedar City, ignoring Couriers call to wait.
Courier made an exasperated sound and looked at Maxson, Zac, Cade and Cass. "OK so, we have a beautiful drunk woman in her underwear, loose in a city full of mercs, traders and Legion. Maxson, Zac: you take the east side of town, Cade with me in the west. Cass?"
"I will wait here." She announced staunchly, her face straight.
Courier glared at her again. "Thanks pal."
"No problem."
The two teams separated at the saloon door and began to comb the streets for their missing general.
Boone found MacCready in minutes after exiting the Saloon. MacCready was uncharacteristically angry.
"I swear to God, when I find her I'm gonna kill her." RJ grated out, "We let too much of her bullshit slide… she knows better than this."
Boone stalked along side the young Major and listened to the rant nodding every now and then. It was the first time he'd heard MacCready use a cuss word.
"I mean, she was hard work before Danse died," MacCready continued, "but since then, she's off the hook, like she's trying to get herself killed. I thought her hooking up with you might calm her a bit."
Boone shot MacCready a quick look of disbelief.
"I'm not an idiot, despite appearances…" MacCready smirked as he stomped through a group of prostitutes trying to entice him to enter their brothel. He shooed them away impatiently. "I'm pretty sure the only one who doesn't know is Maxson."
Boone grunted.
"The police in this town are all Legion." MacCready said matter of factly as a patrol of said legionaries trooped past them from the opposite direction. "Is that going to be a problem?"
"No." Boone said gruffly. "I just want to find her."
"Ha, you're in love with her then." MacCready laughed.
"Yeah." Boone said softly, his eyes scanning the streets for any sign of his lady and his beret.
"That's gonna get tricky then. What happens when this is all over? Is she gonna stay in the Mojave? Are you coming back to the Commonwealth?"
Boone frowned… he hadn't thought about it. He shrugged.
Cade kept his eyes open and scanned the crowds, the Courier had a better view being five inches taller, but Cade still had sharp eyes. Back in the day, he was put on point even though he was just a lowly scribe. If he had practiced, he could have been spotter or sharpshooter, but he had always preferred medicine to fight craft.
Courier kept up a steady stream of curses, not always under his breath. People melted out of his way after one glance at his furious countenance. At the moment, he oozed malice. When Max was found, she would be in for it.
Cade had a few words to say to the woman as well. He was carefully crafting admonishments in his head as they searched, he always had a way with words and he wanted Max to be truly contrite after they had all finished rebuking her.
Right now though, he was worried. Max was unarmed, unarmoured and disorientated in a strange town in hostile territory. She wasn't the greatest with wise choices when she had her facilities about her and under the influence, as she was, he was surprised that the entire city wasn't on fire already. He was about to wonder how hard could it be to find a lady in her underwear in the city, when a fully nude guy stumbled out of a casino to a chorus of jeers from within and another man in a greying pair of boxer shorts lay snoring on the veranda of a whorehouse.
Cade kept on looking, trailing behind the fuming Courier.
Zac was treating the search like it was a fun treasure hunt or sporting event. He kept up an over the top narration of how events were unfolding and continues to throw over to Maxson for comment. Maxson loved the Lone Wanderer like a brother. He had, ever since the awe inspiring eighteen year old former vault dweller had wandered into the Citadel all those years ago and shown his contemporary Brotherhood of Steel soldiers how it was really done. At ten years old, Arthur Maxson had worshipped the dashing young hero. Right now though, he was being a pain in the arse.
"…The cunning and attractive young heroes stalked through the depraved town in search of the fair maiden in her skimpies. Sin and corruption surrounded them but they were steadfast and strong willed. The bold and austere Brotherhood Elder said…" Zac looked at Maxson expectantly.
"Shut up, Zac."
"… His voice resonated power and dared everyone who heard him to deny him his order." Zac concluded with a grin. "She's fine."
"I know."
"… the intelligent and extremely handsome adventurers passed by a palace filled with buxom, bright eyed wenches, each one more mouth watering than the last," Zac intoned as they passed by a whorehouse with half a dozen ladies reclining on the front porch. "… but they kept on their path resolute and virtuous."
Maxson rolled his eyes… buxom and bright eyed was a big stretch.
There was a commotion in alleyway up ahead and Maxson made a beeline for it and as he reached the mouth of the alleyway he found only a trio of men shaking down a fourth for his caps. Maxson drew his laser pistol and gunned down the three muggers with distain, returning to his search and leaving the victim to drag himself out of the dust to search his attackers and reclaim his stuff.
"… the educated and really good looking Brotherhood Elder was magnanimous in his justice, leaving those in his wake breathless and much obliged."
Maxson glared at his friend again, knowing it was no use wasting his breath.
"And there she is…" Zac said, pointing at a ring of onlookers, Maxs red beret capped head was the only part of her they could see.
"Oh god, what has she done?" Maxson breathed as they neared and pushed through the crowd of rubberneckers.
Max stood, breathing hard, in the centre of the cleared space, the bodies of a six man legion patrol littering the ground. Her white singlet and underwear splattered with the blood of the fallen. She was on her guard, her feet planted and hands wide as she scanned the crowd with agate hard eyes for more contestants in her impromptu fight club. The patrol had obviously approached her and tried to apprehend her. Maxson hesitated before advancing on her. She had that same look in her eye, the same look from when they took the institute. That dead look.
"Max?" Zac moved forwards first, his eyes wary as he felt the same vibe as Maxson did.
Her gaze fell on him but gave no hint of recognition, they needed back up. Maxson and Boone could still communicate through their pipboys, though they didn't. Maxson raised his pipboy microphone to his mouth and called on the sniper.
"Boone, we've found her. We need help." He said softly.
"Where are you?" Boone voiced came through clearly, though tinny, through the pipboy speakers and Maxs eyes snapped to Maxson.
"Outside the 'Rough 'n' Ready Brothel' and the 'Clinking Cap Casino' in the south east of town… hurry, we're gonna need to get out of town fast."
