"Women have no hearts, Preston. That's got to be it." MacCready shouted over the sound of shotgun blasts and raider taunts.
"Can we shoot first, talk later?" came the exasperated reply, as the Minuteman furiously cranked his musket.
"No, that's not it. I mean she broke Piper's heart first, didn't she?" MacCready rolled a grenade into the nearest room and was rewarded with frantic yells from the raiders within. "Man, you should have heard her bawling her eyes out. She chose a robot over that pair of reporter legs? Jeez." Almost thought I was going to score with her myself. He thought to himself, unwilling to add credibility to the thought with actual words.
"She's got a name, you know." Preston replied, despite his better judgement. As much as he wanted to focus on the fight, he knew that MacCready needed to run his mouth off a little to keep his cool in a firefight. And when MacCready was at his best, there were very few people in the Commonwealth who could stand against him.
"Yeah, Yeah, I've spoken to her too, you know." MacCready grunted, spraying down a raider as he tried to dash from cover to cover. "I don't see what she sees in her."
Preston sighed as he carefully took aim at a raider's exposed leg. As the laser burned through flesh and bone, Preston ducked back behind cover.
"You mean, you don't see why she isn't into you." Preston said matter-of-factly, suppressing a raider with his sidearm while he cranked his musket with the other.
MacCready popped out from behind a table, two-tapping a charging raider in the chest before rolling to another piece of cover.
"Maybe I just wanna know why she cares about her so much. I mean, I've taken bullets for this lady." He snatched up a Molotov cocktail, lit it in one fluid motion, and tossed it in the general direction of the nearest raider.
"I set up the most romantic scene possible, invited her out to dinner over the Charles, and all she talks about is Curie." MacCready complained, raising his voice over a burning raider's screams.
"You're lucky, she trusts you." Garvey replied, quickly ducking behind cover as a flurry of bullets peppered the pillar he was hiding behind. "Not many people get to have a one on one dinner with the General. Even I don't get that."
"Yeah, just like she trusts Dogmeat, or Strong." MacCready said bitterly, blindly firing in the direction of the last few raiders. "And now she wants me to go looking for her. Alone. In the Commonwealth."
Garvey paused, not sure what to make of that. He didn't know MacCready as well as some of the General's other companions, but from what he'd heard, MacCready was one of the General's closest followers and most experienced soldiers. To send a man like that off into the Wasteland on a fool's errand… Maybe she was letting her emotions cloud her judgement?
As the last raider dropped, MacCready sighed in exasperation. She'd probably decided to send him because she knew he'd do anything she asked of him. After all, she'd helped him save his son's life.
"I'll probably be gone for about a week or two." He muttered, not meeting Garvey's eyes. Despite all his complaining, both of them knew he was going to do what she asked. She wasn't the type of person that one simply refused. Anyone, even the greediest, toughest mercenary around ended up doing exactly what she asked.
Just like Dogmeat.
The thought left a sour taste in his mouth, like one of Mama Murphy's herbal medicines. He had to keep up appearances for Preston and the rest of the Minutemen, but he was starting to grow bored of the General's little games. Whatever else he may be, he was a mercenary first and foremost. And if the General wasn't willing to pay him or sleep with him, what skin did he have in this game of hers?