CHAPTER 15: IN THE LINE OF FIRE.

"The only real power comes out of a long rifle." -Joseph Stalin.

Silence washed over the area once more. For now, the sniper fire had stopped. Doug clutched his bleeding leg and cursed like mad, Louis fished out a stimpak from his pouch and went over to inject it near the wound. The young man instantly felt the medicine in it go to work, the shattered bone mended and reset as the through and through opening closed up and the pain dulled away. The only signs that were left was the bullet hole and blood soaked section of his pant leg.

"Appreciate it, Lou, glad you still got some." Doug thanked while rubbing his leg to get some feeling back in it before remembering the Synth woman. "Wait! What about Chloe?!"

"It's alright, she's just unconscious..." Victoria assured him. The redhead was sitting on her knees with Chloe's head resting on her lap. Joe had a small medkit out and was cleaning the wound of her skin. "Her metal skeleton saved her."

"True, but she's gonna have a bitch of a headache when she wakes up..." Joe used a cotton ball soaked in cleaning alcohol. "She took a big blow to the side of her temple. There might be some scarring, but at least the bullet isn't lodged in anywhere." he started getting a gauze pad and medical tape ready.

"Can you see her skull?..." Louis asked him.

Joe nodded. "Hell yeah I can. It's gray, you guys wanna see?..."

"Joe..." Victoria frowned.

"Right, right. Close it up..." the Ghoul muttered.

"What do you guys think is going on? Who's shooting at us?" Wayland wondered and almost stuck his head up.

"Wayland, stay down!" Louis quickly stopped him from getting his head blown off. "This isn't a random attack. Whoever the shooters are, they planned this..."

Two more shots flew above their hiding spot and land nearby. "Why are they shooting if we're not running?" Doug growled in frustration.

Louis was fishing around in his pockets for something. "Because they're trying to make us panic. And where the hell is it?! Ah, here it is!" he pulled out a small, rectangle mirror and stood up. "Let's see if we can get an idea of who's out there..."

The Vault dweller lifted the mirror up to see the reflection of what was out there. It took him a moment before spotting several figures in the distance. He couldn't make out how many there were, and the sunlight started reflecting off the mirror.

"Fucking dammit!" Louis cursed and brought the mirror back down in case they saw it. "They have the sun against us and everything. This is the perfect location to snipe!"

"I figured as much, that's one of the first rules of sniping." Joe finished patching Chloe's wound. "Even if my hunting rifle could reach them, the sunlight would block my scope."

"We can't just stay here and get shot." Doug argued while grabbing his Winchester. "If they don't get us, all that gunshot is gonna attract trouble."

"Friends, I can get their attention while you run." Wayland spoke up. "They'll focus on me when I start shooting with my minigun..."

"As much as we appreciate the suggestion, Wayland, but nobody is going to be a target." Louis stopped the green being from throwing his life away. "We'll get through this mess somehow. We just need to think of a plan."

Victoria was deep in her own thoughts, the method of attack felt unusual to her. She heard of this tactic before, but at the moment couldn't remember what it was.

()()()

"Boss, we got those bastards pinned down now!" the crazed bounty hunter cackled.

The five snipers were laying on the roof with their boss standing just behind them. The remaining three were on guard with military assault rifles in hand. "Of course we do. Because I planned it exactly." the shaded man spoke condescendingly at the sniper. "Just remember, if you have the shot, take it. And make sure you don't hurt the redhead."

"What does Jeremiah even want with the bitch?" the dark skinned sniper asked. "Sure, someone like her is hard to come by, but it's not like he doesn't got a stable of slave girls to choose from."

"I don't know and I don't care." the sunglasses man scoffed. "His whole family is full of weirdos and freaks. I can spend all day telling you guys the things I've heard about his family, and this is from before the Great War. All I care about is the caps, so focus on the task at hand."

()()()

Ten long minutes have passed since the shooting stopped. The group came up with nothing to take on the snipers, making the situation more and more bleak with each passing minute. Victoria gently placed Chloe's head down on a folded cloth for comfort. The former slave had thought it over and finally figured out what this attack was about. Or at least she hoped she knew what the attack was about.

"Louis..." Victoria spoke to get his attention.

"Huh? Yeah, Victoria?" the Vault dweller looked to her. "Do you have any ideas?"

"Maybe..." she slowly rose back to her feet. "Listen, I've put a lot of trust in you all since I started following on this trip..."

Louis didn't like the way she was talking, almost as if she was about to do something reckless. "And we appreciate it, but where is this going?"

Victoria turned away on her heel. "Now I need you to put your trust in me..." she dashed into the opening where the snipers could see her, really hoping she was right about this gamble.

"Victoria, no!" Louis almost joined her in the opening, but Doug quickly grabbed his arm and halted him.

The redhead stopped a few feet from the downed plane. Her arms outstretched and ready, the snipers had her in their crosshairs. "Well?! What are you waiting for?! I'm standing in the opening! Shoot me! Do it!" she called out to them daringly, even flipping her fingers off towards the scope glares.

()()()

"Goddamn bitch!" the shaded bounty hunter stomped his foot. "She's already figured out who we are!"

"What should we do, boss?" the blonde haired woman asked. "I can put one in her leg."

"No! I already told you, Jeremiah wants her unharmed." the leader hissed in anger. "If she's smart, she would run. But she has grown attached to those people, or at least using them for protection. That will be our advantage. Nothing has changed other than the fact she's onto us. So keep your sights trained on the others!"

()()()

Joe frowned in confusion at the silence. "What the hell is going on? Why aren't they shooting her?"

Victoria decided not to press her luck and went back to cover with them. "That's because they're after me. I know who they are. Or at least heard of them. They are Jeremiah's special bounty hunters. They take any jobs in the Wasteland, and that slaver bastard is their top client."

Louis huffed in annoyance. "It all makes sense. They must have been following us, maybe even planned this location." he looked to the group. "But that doesn't mean we're done for. We're a team, they are just here for their next payday."

Doug sighed deeply. "I know we need to work together, just lower the pep talk a little..." he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Chloe's eyes shot open and quickly jerked up into a sitting position with her hands to the sides of her head. "Ow! Fuck! What the fucking hell happened?!" she groaned with pain through gritted teeth.

"Alright, Chloe!" Doug reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, a tad too excited for her waking. "Just take it easy. You took a bullet to the head. The short story is we're pinned down by snipers, they're after Victoria. This was all a plot."

Chloe groaned and laid back against the hull of the plane. "Ugh! Just wake me up when it's over..."

"No, this is good. Real good! They think they killed you, we can use that to our advantage in our plan of attack." Louis smiled, a plan started to form in his head.

"I might have something to start with if we get to the control tower building." Victoria eyed his black garb. "Give me your trench coat. They won't shoot if they can't see you."

Louis gave her a raised brow in response while taking the coat off. "Of course. We'll have a higher elevation, and their attentions will be split up."

"While we're thinking of half baked plans..." Doug turned his head to the hangar that was several yards away before looking up to the Super Mutant. "Big guy, think you can drag this plane over to the hanger?"

Wayland looked at the plane, most of the body was broken in half at the middle from the crash. His strength should be enough to drag it. "I can give it a try." he responded.

"Then let's get started. Just remember to stay hidden." Victoria stood up and unfurled the trench coat.

"Got it!" Louis nodded before looking to the Ghoul. "And Joe, I'm gonna need to borrow your rifle."

Victoria held the cuffs of the sleeves and stretched her arms out to cover the front of her body from the neck down like a curtain. Louis caught on and crouched to his knees as low as he could behind her. If he so much as poked a single part of his body out, he would receive a bullet.

The ends of the trench coat dragged lightly on the dusty runway, Victoria's arms held firmly in place with the life of her friend on the line. "So, any ideas after this?"

"Once we get to the control tower building, it will give us a higher vantage point and a better angle for me to use Joe's rifle." Louis informed with the rifle in hand.

()()()

The snipers turned their sights to the redhead, the shaded man frowned deeply. "What's going on?! Those idiots are up to something!"

"Why is she holding that trench coat up?" one of the bounty hunters standing guard asked.

"Because one of them is hiding behind her! Idiot!" the boss shouted with clenched fists. His plan starting to go off the rails. "One of you keep on eye on her. Don't shoot unless you can see the person behind her."

"They're going towards the control building!" the sniper stated.

"Just keep your sights on her and the rest of you aim at the plane! They think they can outsmart us, they got another thing coming!" the lead bounty hunter grew more frustrated, none of his plans have ever gotten this out of control.

()()()

"Are you sure about this, Chloe? You got lucky the first time, but their bullets can still go through your organs." Doug asked as she laid back down on the ground.

"Yes. I owe those bastards some payback." the Synth woman tilted her wound area to the ground and placed her plasma rifle nearby. "They think I'm dead. If they come this way, I can get the drop on them with an ass full of plasma."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Just make sure you don't breath." Joe chortled.

Wayland grabbed the rusted hull of the plane where the wing had broken off long ago. The Super Mutant's fingers dug into the frail side and strained a little at first, but the private jet soon scraped against the pavement. It wouldn't be long until the rest of the snipers took notice of the noise echoing all over the runway.

And soon indeed, new gunshot went off and hit the side of the plane. Three more shots followed, one of them came out very close to Wayland's hand. The Super Mutant didn't let the shots distract him, he only tighten his grip. Joe, Cavall and Doug followed close by and kept their heads down from the windows, the hybrid's ears were perked down in worry. The next bullet that was fired punched through the hull and grazed Joe's left shoulder deeply. The Ghoul cried out in pain from the bleeding cut and covered it with his hand, claiming he was okay for now.

The four were almost to the hangar as Victoria and Louis finally reached the back part of the control tower building near a backdoor. The Vault dweller quickly threw his trench coat back on. After that they kicked the doors down and sent it slamming to the floor. They needed to move quick, the gunshots were starting to get more rapid while avoiding the windows in case the snipers were still looking for them.

Soon they found the stairs that went up to the control tower and ran up the winding path. Halfway up they passed a skeleton that was draped over the rails. The control tower door was slammed open when they reached the top and took position near a broken window. There was still shards of glass scattered on the controls and some skeletons from before the war in their seats.

Louis aimed Joe's hunting rifle out the broken window and kneeled. The bounty hunters had not realized the two made it to the tower. He lined up the scope towards the leader of the bounty hunters, his finger slowly looping the trigger. Everything depended on this shot, the hunting rifle wasn't meant for long range sniping, but the higher elevation of the tower and closer location might be enough to hit his mark.

Just as he was about to fire, Victoria placed a hand on Louis' shoulder to stop him. "Wait a moment, you're aiming for the leader, right?"

The Vault dweller turned his face away from the scope. "Yeah, that's the plan. Why?"

"This might seem strange of me to ask, but I want you to avoid killing the leader if it can be avoided." she hesitantly spoke. "I want to question him and see if we can get an idea where Jeremiah is to avoid him."

Louis gave her a nod in response. "You got it..." he lowered the scope to one of the guards. "I'll make them scatter like the radroaches they are..."

He took a deep breath and activated his V.A.T.S. mode. The world around him slowed down to a crawl, he could see the muzzle flashes of the sniper rifles through the scope and willed the targeting system to the guard with an assault rifle. The blue targeting grid highlighted the head and showed a 68% chance of hitting before moving to the upper body that showed a 72% chance of hitting. Louis put one point into the head and two into the chest before willing his Pip-Boy to fire. The device on his wrist went to work, the sensational jolt was felt throughout his nervous system as it positioned his body steadily and pulled the trigger.

The first bullet flew, it struck the man in the side of his cheek. His teeth on that side were broken to pieces before the next bullet hit him in the chest just under the neck in the area where his armor was the lightest. Blood sprayed from the wound as the last bullet hit very close to the second. The world around Louis speed up back to normal, along with their position exposed.

()()()

It may have seemed like a long time to the Vault dweller, but it happened in only a few moments to the unsuspecting bounty hunters. The guard that was shot collapsed to the roof, blood pouring out from his bullet holes as he choked on it. His agony was soon over though, the body going limp as blood pooled around him.

The boss turned his eyes to the control tower while pulling out his sidearm and spotted them. "Idiots! They're up there!" he fired a few shots their way, the bullets hitting all over the outside of the tower under the windows before they took cover. "You two come with me! We'll kill that fucking Vault dweller!" he ordered the other two guards. "And as for the rest of you, go after them! They're almost at the hanger!"

The bounty hunters with assault rifles followed the shaded man while the remaining five with sniper rifles leaped off the low building with their boss and split off.

()()()

Louis and Victoria practically flew down the winding steps of the control tower. "Well, that worked out better than I thought!" the redhead stated.

"And now I have no idea what to do next." Louis chuckled awkwardly. "But at least we got him pissed! That's always a good start."

They reached the bottom steps with a hard thud. "Well, if you're fresh out of idea, I might have one more..." she looked at his coat again. "Random question, does your coat have a hood?"

()()()

Finally, the four came up to the hanger, Wayland let go of the hull and went up to the sliding hangar doors. He put his hands into the cracked opening and forced the metal doors open enough for them to go in.

"So what now?" Joe asked before wincing from the pain of the bullet wound. "Shit. They're not shooting anymore. That can't be good."

Cavall seemed to answer for him, the dog turned around and growled at the approaching threat.

Doug turned back to where the gunshots were coming from and didn't see the people on the roof anymore. "I think it's because they're coming after us!" he alerted.

"Come on! We'll lose them in here!" Wayland said as he squeezed through the opening.

Doug, Joe and Cavall entered with the Super Mutant. The inside was heavily dusty from age, most of the windows had been broken. Only a scattered amounts of crates were laid about with an old propeller plane in the middle of the room. The wanderers took cover behind the crates, knowing the snipers would be coming their way.

The snipers reached the other half of the plane and stopped for a moment. "You two wait right here in case we need backup or they flee." the sniper with dark skin ordered the crazed man and woman with short hair.

The bounty hunters took their position a few meters away from the plane with a perfect view of the doors. One of them glanced over at Chloe's body on the ground and smirked at his work. Slowly, the Synth woman opened one eye to see their position. Her hand slowly reached for the trigger of the plasma rifle, but for now she needed to wait for the right moment to strike.

The remaining three snipers widen the hangar doors, the thick sheets of metal scraped loudly on their tracks. More dust and sand floated out, making the inside a little difficult to see. One of the snipers spotted drops of blood on the floor, trailing to a stack of wooden crates nearby.

Grinning with joy, the bounty hunter slowly followed the trail. Eager to put a bullet in one of them. "I hope it's the Ghoul..." he quietly said to himself. The man quickly maneuvered to the other side of the crate with his rifle ready, but found nothing on the other side. "What the hell?..."

Joe poked his head up from above. "Hey, asshole!" he was hiding behind a higher stack of crates near the wall at the top. "I heard what you said..." the Ghoul kicked the crate in front of him and sent it all tumbling down.

The bounty hunter screamed as he was buried under the crates, only his rifle was sticking out when it was done. Joe started leaping back down to the floor as the other two bounty hunters started shooting at him. Doug and Wayland came out from hiding behind crates at the back end of the room and fired at the unsuspecting opponents. The snipers went behind the doors for cover on the outside. Both sides began exchanging gunshots, Doug fired in bursts with his 9mm as Wayland covered with his assault rifle. The snipers would turn into the hangar and fire from the hip, the shots punched through just about everything with ease. Wayland suddenly felt a burning pain in the side of his waist, a sniper bullet got him after it punched through the crate he was hiding behind. The Super Mutant just ignored it and pressed the attack.

The two snipers watched their comrades fight from afar. "Do you think they need help?" one asked the other.

"Give them a minute. Those idiots are pinned down. We already got the merc bitch, so we'll get these guys soon." the other scoffed.

Now was the time for Chloe to attack. She gripped her plasma rifle and slowly stood up while taking aim. The snipers heard footsteps and a charging sound and turned to see the end of her glowing barrel pointed at them. "Surprised to see me?..." her finger looped the trigger.

The snipers looked to each other in horror. "How? I know I put a bullet in your head!" the crazed looking one freaked out.

"Oh, good. That makes this part much more easy. And satisfying..." Chloe smiled before pulling the trigger twice.

Bolts of burning plasma hit the bewildered bounty hunters square in the chests. They flopped to the ground, their armor already starting to melt and burn. The Synth woman went in for the kill as they writhed on the ground. One of them made the mistake of clawing at the burning plasma and ended up watching his fingers melt from the green gloop. Chloe soon finished them off with two shots of plasma to the faces. It was over in a moment for them.

The snipers spotted their two comrades fall to the mercenary before she ran back for cover. Needless to say, they were baffled on how she was still alive. But their attention was quickly turned back to the people shooting at them.

Doug reloaded his 9mm and came out from his hiding spot with the gun held up in both hands and pulled the trigger rapidly. The snipers hid behind the hangar doors again as bullets hit the doors until Doug ran out of ammo and went behind a stack of crates near the plane. Both bounty hunters reloaded their rifles and started shooting into the hangar once more. Another bullet went through the crate Wayland was at and got him in the side of his left elbow. The bounty hunters wanted to make him the main target for now. The Super Mutant felt another stab of pain, this time his upper right leg was hit where it was more exposed.

The Super Mutant grit his teeth in anger. He dropped the rifle on the ground and grabbed the crate in front of him. Wayland lifted it with ease and tossed it across the room with a mighty yell. It slammed into the door where the sniper on the left was and sent him flying to the asphalt. The impact of the crate broke the rusty door off its tracks at the top with a loud screech. And before the sniper could even get up, the metal door fell right on top of him and pinned him to the ground.

The last sniper finally panicked, she decided this job wasn't worth it anymore and ran for her life. Doug moved from his hiding spot and charged out the door with his Winchester rifle in hand. He stopped and raised the rifle, his eye looking down the sights before taking a deep breath and fired.

The sniper screamed out in pain and fell to the ground hard, the back of her knee bleeding as the rifle went flying from her hands and landed several feet away. She moaned and fought back tears while crawling for her weapon.

Doug slung the Winchester over his shoulder and looked back into the hangar where he was first hiding and called out. "Cavall! Go get her..."

The large hybrid charged out from his hiding place at full speed, passing Doug in a matter of seconds. Cavall barked viciously and went in for the kill, he was on top of the bounty hunter and sank his teeth into the back of her neck and thrashed around. Her screams were soon silenced in a few moments by the large predator.

The Wastelander heard rumbling and looked down to see the bounty hunter that was pinned by the door crawling around under it. He finally poked his head and arms out in relief, only to look up and see Doug's Winchester pointed at his head. Nothing was said between them, the only thing to do was for Doug to pull the trigger and end him with one shot.

Back in the hanger, Joe pulled the man he buried under the stack of crates out from under it by his arm. The sniper's head was covered in bruises and some bleeding cuts.

The Ghoul gave him a light kick in the side to wake him. "Hey, dumb fucker..." he gave another hard kick. The bounty hunter just moaned, but he was out cold. "Eh, screw it..." Joe rolled his eyes and pulled out his revolver from its holster and put a round into the man's head. Blood and brains splattered out from the exit wound.

Wayland jogged outside with a huff. "We almost got them all. We have to hurry and help Louis and Victoria..." he stated.

"Right on, big guy..." Doug nodded. The group ran towards the control tower building as Chloe joined them. Only three more bounty hunters to go.

()()()

Inside the building, the shaded man and his two guards searched the first floor, keeping themselves close and alert. "Come out now, bitch! You're going back to your master, no matter what!" he shouted out loud and fired several shots into the air.

A scuffle was heard at end of the room, the remaining bounty hunters pointed their weapons towards the location. Surprisingly, one of them slowly side stepped into the room from the hall. But the person was wearing the black trench coat with a hood covering the head. The person had their back turned to the bounty hunters, making it impossible to tell who was there.

"What is this shit?! Do you really think I'm gonna fall for such a cheap trick?!" the shaded man started marching for the person behind the coat. "You two keep an eye out. The other one is lurking around somewhere!"

He aimed his gun at the person in question and slowly approached. When he was finally in range, the bounty hunter raised his hand and grabbed the shoulder harshly and turned whoever it was around. The face of the redhead was the one that greeted him with an odd smile. The shaded man was confused for a moment until he realized why she was smiling, the muzzle of her .223 revolver was placed firmly under her chin.

"What's wrong? I'm here, come and take me..." Victoria dared him to act.

The shaded man took a step back. "You don't have it in you to pull that trigger!" his free hand clenched into a fist. "And once you're tied up, I'll bring the heads of that Vault dweller, the asshole, and the zombie back to Jeremiah for their bounties! I don't need the rest of them!" he tried to reach for her.

Victoria stepped back and looped her finger around the trigger. "If I die, you don't get shit. You'll be lucky he doesn't just kill you." she narrowed her eyes at him. "So bring it. See if you can stop me before I pull the trigger!"