CHAPTER 16: MARKED.

"A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them." -John C. Maxwell.

Victoria stood with the .223 gun firmly under her chin, the shaded man needed to be careful with his next move. "If you think I'm going with you, forget it!" the redhead gave the trigger another light squeeze. "I'll die before going back to Jeremiah and his slave trade."

"If you were ever gonna kill yourself then you would have done it a long time ago..." the shaded man wasn't buying it with her. "And I know this is a pathetic attempt to distract me while the Vault dweller tries some half ass plot! Where is he?!"

The redhead took a step to the side and carefully eyed something at the far end of the room. She saw the glint of light reflecting off the small mirror Louis had earlier. It was on a displaced desk and propped up by a dial phone. Louis stood in the next room near the door with Victoria's bow and arrow in hand and looking out at the mirror being his only line of sight. He notched an arrow onto the bow string, Victoria gave him a quick rundown on how to use it, but he had never used such a weapon before. The plan was to silently take out the two bounty hunters one at a time, but it seemed they were sticking around with their boss.

"For the last time, you better drop that damn gun, bitch!" the shaded man bellowed. "You should consider yourself lucky you're just his pet and not working to death like the other slaves."

Victoria gritted her teeth and pointed the gun at him. "And you won't be able to collect your bounty on us with a head full of bullets!"

Both bounty hunters looked to their boss and aimed their guns at her. The shaded man ordered them to hold their position before turning back to Victoria. The Vault dweller figured now was the time to strike while the bounty hunters were still turned away. He drew back the arrow and quickly moved out from the room he was hiding. Louis took a deep breath, he only had one shot at this while taking aim as best he could and let the arrow fly...right into the ass of the bounty hunter on the right.

The man howled in pain and dropped his assault rifle. Running around like a chicken with its head cut off and crying while trying to pull the arrow out his cheek.

Victoria almost dropped her gun, completely dumbfound at such a terrible and embarrassing shot. Well, more embarrassing for the man with an arrow in his ass.

"Shit...I meant to get him in the back..." Louis said to himself.

The other bounty hunter turned to the Vault dweller and aimed his rifle with a furious look on his face. Louis barely managed to lunge back into the room as bullets shot through the walls while he dived for the floor. The bounty hunter gave chase after him and soon stepped through the door as another arrow that shot from Louis lying on the floor and punctured into the man's shoulder. The bounty hunter screamed and pulled the arrow out with a pained groan before realizing the Vault dweller had fled into the next room and continued the chase.

As Victoria listened to the random gunshots, the shaded man reached out and grabbed her wrist and pulled the gun away. "If you want to die, then do it after I turn you in!"

The redhead tried to pull away as he grabbed her other wrist, but she still didn't let the gun go. "And if I die here, you're as good as fucked!"

Louis ran into the next long room as bullets flew all around, the bounty hunter was getting closer to him and would soon have a perfect shot. He then turned his head and spotted an overturned cylinder trash can laying on the floor. A quick idea popped into his head as he suddenly stopped running and kicked the trash can into the air, leaving a sizable dent in it. The bounty hunter raised his arms instinctively as the can slammed into him. Louis finally had an opening and closed the gap to tackle the man to the floor while knocking the rifle out of his hand. The two rolled around the floor, trading blows and curses at each other. The bounty hunter flipped on top of him and pulled out a knife from his back pocket and tried to stab him.

Louis blocked with his forearm. The blade dangled only inches from his face. "Hey, buddy, that blade is getting close to my face." he joked.

"Just shut the fuck up and die!" the bounty hunter shouted.

A grin spread across Louis' face. If the man had payed attention, he would have noticed his legs were spread open above. The Vault dweller quickly drove his knee right into the man's groin, he screamed in agony and dropped the knife. Louis moved his head in time as the tip stabbed into the floor. Louis shoved the man off of him, the bounty hunter curled up on the with his hands covering his crotch. Louis crawled over to the assault rifle and picked it and turned to the man on the floor to empty the clip into the bounty hunter. After the man was done, Louis dropped the rifle on the floor and left the room.

()()()

The shaded man slammed Victoria against the wall and chocked her with his forearm. She tried to kick him away, but he only held her more firmly against the wall while holding her other hand that still held the gun tightly. He pressed against her throat harder, his intent was to make her pass out.

"Hurry up and get the rope! She's almost out!" he ordered.

"Boss...I still have an arrow in my ass!" the bounty hunter whined. He was hunched over a desk and trying to pull it out inch by inch.

"I don't give a fuck if a Deathclaw bit your ass off! Just get the fucking ropes so we can tie the bitch up!" he screamed at him.

Louis stormed into the room with his Desert Eagle in hand and fired a few rounds at the last bounty hunter. But he saw him coming and quickly dived behind the desk as the bullets tore into it. He pulled out his handgun and returned fire blindly from behind the desk. Louis ran from the flying bullets and fired the rest of the rounds in his gun at the back of the desk where it was the weakest and put the man down for good.

The shaded man grabbed Victoria's collar and roughly threw her to the floor and finally pried the .223 from her hand. The Vault dweller staggered over the desk and leaned on it with one hand to catch his breath after dodging several bullets and barely taking out the last bounty hunter. But his victory was short lived when he heard the sound of a hammer being drawn back and looked over to see the shaded man pointing Victoria's gun at him.

"You fucking bastard! The only thing you've achieved is giving me and the others more shares of the bounty on your heads! I can always get more people to work for me!" the shaded man shouted.

Louis narrowed his eyes at him. "Bounties, huh?..."

"That's right! And unfortunately for you...all I need is your head. Thanks for having that machete. Makes chopping it off much more easy!" the shaded man grinned and pulled the trigger.

The hammer hit the chamber, but nothing was shot. The bounty hunter pulled the trigger again and again, all of them empty. He looked towards Louis and saw that he was smiling deeply, it was then that the man saw it was all a trap. Giving him an empty gun in case he got it out of Victoria's hand. He shouted with a curse and tossed it aside and reached for his sidearm, but his legs suddenly gave out from a powerful blow to the back of the knees. He landed on his back and head with a loud thud, his vision blurred for a few long moments with a ringing in his head until it slowly returned to normal. Only to see the Vault dweller and redhead standing over him.

Victoria looked down with a cold face. "You should have watched your back..."

"Do you still want him alive, Vic?" Louis asked her.

The redhead deepened her frown, she had half a mind to take one of her SMGs and fill him with lead. But thankfully she took a long breath and raised her boot over his head. "Yes..." the heel hit the man square in the forehead, the back of his skull slamming into the concrete and knocked him out cold.

The fight was finally over. All the bounty hunters have taken out with their now lone leader their captive. The two gathered up their gear and checked them over.

"Thanks for your help, Louis." the redhead gave his coat back.

Louis threw it back on. "Not a problem. That was a clever idea with the gun." he complimented.

"I figured he wouldn't risk me killing myself, I'm just too valuable to die." Victoria scoffed while taking her bow and arrows back and suddenly laughed lightly. "But that shot with my bow was just terrible..."

"Hey, it was the first time I've ever used something like that!" the Vault dweller defended.

"Speaking which, we should see how everyone else is doing..." Victoria suddenly remembered the rest of the group.

Her worries were answered by the sound of a door being kicked down somewhere in the building, followed by heavy footsteps coming towards them. The remaining members of the group charged into the room with their weapons pointed forward and shouting all kinds of curses, expecting a fight.

"Alright! Put your fucking shit down and we'll kill you quick!" Doug shouted while waving his shotgun around before realizing the other two were okay and lowered his weapon. "Well, shit. Looks like you guys took care of everything..."

"Thanks for the rescue anyway, Doug." Louis gave him a wave. "I assume you guys took care of the rest of those assholes?"

"Dead as dead could be." Joe answered him.

Chloe pointed to the shaded man on the floor. "Is he dead too?"

"No," Victoria answered and looked down at the bounty hunter. "But I'll make him wish we did."

"So it's interrogation then." Chloe cracked her knuckles, which sounded like metal scraping. "I know a few tricks..."

Louis kneeled down to pick the man up by the arms. "Let's get him tied up first. Don't want him to run off before we get some answers."

Victoria bend down to grab his legs. "Time to make him pay for what he's done to us."

They threw him onto an old rolling chair by a desk and found some rope in the pack of the dead bounty hunter and tied his arms to the armrests and legs to the pole of it. After that, everyone took the time to relax and loot the bounty hunters for spare ammo and things they needed. Louis and Doug dragged the last two to the back of the control tower building, the Vault dweller insisted there was no reason to let them rot out in the opening.

"I still don't see why we're doing this for them, Louis..." the Wastelander said as he moved the body into the shade.

"I know, I know..." Louis shrugged to him. "But it's not like they were Raiders. They were just following orders, even if their boss is a greedy asshole."

"Even so, they tried to kill us." Doug did one last quick check to see if there was anything of value. "I don't mean to be hard on you, but that nice streak could get you killed one day."

The Vault dweller folded his arms. "If it makes you feel better, I won't go down without a fight." he quickly checked his Pip-Boy. "I can't afford to die, not until we find out what's at the end of the signal..."

The sound of heavy footsteps came their way and turned to see Wayland approaching. "Hey. Victoria said that guy is starting to wake up."

Louis smiled and gave his knuckles a crack. "About time. Let's find out what he knows."

Back inside, everyone watched as the shaded man started to wake. Joe had his denim jacket and long sleeve shirt off for Chloe to clean and patch the wound on his shoulder from the gunshot wound while having a smoke. Cavall laid on the floor fast asleep. Victoria leaned against the wall with one foot against it, resisting the urge to punch the man awake.

Louis and Doug entered the room with them just as the shaded man finally opened his eyes. When his blurry vision finally cleared, he looked around to figure out what was going on before realizing his arms and legs were tied to a rolling chair.

"What the fuck is going on here?! What did you all do to me?!" he demanded while trying to struggle free. His shaded eyes then fell on Chloe and Joe and went silent. His face turning a shade pale. "What the hell is this?! How is she alive?! I know one of my shooters put a bullet in her head!"

"Can I kill him now?..." Chloe asked, wanting payback.

Louis approached the man. "Maybe later. For now, we need him to talk." he grabbed a nearby chair and set in front of the man with the back towards him. The Vault dweller sat on it and folded his arms on the backrest. "For starters, what's your name? You seem to like wearing sunshades. Can I call you Mr. Shades?..."

"No!.."

"I'm gonna call you Mr. Shades."

"Fuck you!" he spat and tugged at his ropes.

Louis just leaned forward for a moment. "Let's start with what we probably already know. You were hired by that Jeremiah person to capture Victoria and bring her back to him. So I can only imagine you've been following us for some time. That must mean there's quite a bounty on us. Although I can't imagine there being bounties on Chloe and Wayland since they've joined us not long ago. How close to the ballpark am I?..."

The shaded man sneered at him. "Yeah, we've been following your trail, so the fuck what?! I'm still gonna get that bounty on your heads!"

Victoria decided to step in now. She grabbed a fist full of hair and turned his head towards her face with anger burning in her eyes. "Stop fucking around! How much did Jeremiah put on our heads?! Answer me!" she tugged at his hair harder.

Louis quickly stood up and placed a hand her wrist. "Victoria, just calm down for a moment. We'll get him to talk." he spoke sincerely.

The redhead let go of the man's hair and stepped back, her eyes never leaving him.

The Vault dweller turned back to the man and grabbed his collar. "So tell us, how much of a bounty do we have?" the man didn't say anything. "Do I have to start knocking your teeth out?..."

"Hey, Louis," Joe called to him. The Ghoul was putting his shirt and jacket back on. "Search his pockets. If he's a bounty hunter, he might have the information of us in them."

Louis gave him a quick nod before searching. The bounty hunter cursed and shouted at him to stay out of his pockets, but the Vault dweller ignored it before finally feeling something out of place in the back pouch. He pulled out a parchment paper that was folded a few times and opened it. On the paper was a hand drawn picture of Victoria with the hair colored in, and below her image was writing saying her bounty is eight thousand caps and to be brought back unharmed. And under that was a short description of Louis, Doug and Joe. But there wasn't much details to their features except for the number 96 on Louis' jumpsuit, and their bounty five thousand each.

"Wow, five thousand caps on us. This asshole is a big spender..." Joe looked at the paper with intrigue.

Victoria grabbed the bounty sheet and looked at the image of her, disgusted at the amount of detail to her image. "That bastard. Of course he has the blood caps for our bounties!"

The Vault dweller gently took the paper back to look at their info. "Hmm, seems like one of those slavers survived. That's the only way they could have known about my Vault number. But why isn't there more information on us?"

"If I had to guess, Jeremiah must have killed whoever survived before they could say anymore. He always punish people who fail him." Victoria spat with her arms crossed.

"And the bounty is only gonna get bigger when he finds out there's two more people in your group!" the shaded man spoke up again. "I don't know how that bitch over there survived, but I'm sure she can still die like anyone else! And that Super Mutant's bounty will be especially high! Hell, maybe the mutt will get a bounty too!" he started to cackle.

Cavall perked up at his tone and growled, his ears slanted down with the lips of his snout slowly raising to show his teeth. The big dog slowly stood up on all fours and moved to the shaded man, growling like a feral beast.

The shaded man panicked and tried to back the chair away. "Hey! Get this fucking dog away from me!"

Louis reached his hand out and pet Cavall's head to calm him. "Don't tempt me to let this dog have his way with you, asshole." he warned firmly. "So do yourself a favor and tell us where Jeremiah is."

"Why? So you can try to avoid him? Fat chance on that, Jeremiah has more bounty hunters than just me! You can run to the edge of hell and he will always send people after you!" he struggled around against his restraints again. "Tell me, what did she say to make you all help her like a damsel in distress? Was it her fiery red hair? Her flawless and rare beauty? Oh, I know, she spread her legs nice and wide for you, huh? Did you guys take turns? Or did you all dive in at once for a really messed up four way?!"

Doug snarled in rage and pulled out his sawed-off and marched over to the man. The bounty hunter received a hard smack of the barrel upside his head, a trickle of blood started to go down. He then placed the double barrel to the side of his head. "Can we kill him now?! This piece of shit doesn't deserve to limp back to his employer!" his finger tighten on the trigger.

"I say we let him go back!" Victoria stood turned away from them. "He might get a bomb collar slapped around his neck! If he's lucky."

Wayland could easily see that everyone was starting to get too worked up over the bounty hunter. "Look, why don't we all take a break on what to do with him. He can't do anything now."

Louis sighed deeply and rubbed the back of his head. "The big guy has a point. Let's take a breather before we put a bullet in this bastard's head."

"Wow, you people are so kind..." the shaded man snidely spoke.

Wayland grabbed the backrest and turned the man to him. The Super Mutant gave a terrifying growl before making the seat spin incredibly fast and almost sent the chair falling to the floor. If he had eaten earlier, he would have probably puked by now. The chair finally came to a slow stop with his head hanging limply, everything spun as he dry heaved from the nausea.

Everyone left the room knowing that the bounty hunter wouldn't be able to escape with his ropes too tight. The wanderers went to the entrance of the control tower building to hang out for a bit. Getting information from the man was harder than they thought, he was surprisingly tightlipped for a bounty hunter. Victoria stood outside in the opening near the runway and looking up to the sky with a deep scowl. The Vault dweller looked on at her, knowing she was deeply upset and wanted to say something to help.

"Don't do it, kid..." Joe suddenly spoke.

Louis jerked his head towards him in surprise. "Do what? What do you mean?"

"I know what you're thinking. You want to go and ask what's bothering her, but we both know whatever she's going through is a very personal thing..." the Ghoul sat on a plane seat that had been removed long ago. The old man could read him very easily. "I've met a lot of slaves that escaped from their owners, and each story I've heard has shock me to my core. This world is filled with sick fuckers..."

"Even if that's true, she can't keep it bottled up." Chloe spoke next. "One way or another, she will have to deal with her past."

Louis looked back to Victoria. "I'm still gonna talk to her." he stated, despite Joe's warning and started walking towards her.

Joe scoffed to himself and pulled out a cigarette. "Damn smooth skins..."

The Vault dweller quietly came up behind her, but she was already aware of his approach. If anything, she expected it. "I know you want to ask if I'm okay. Well I am, so you can leave now." she said without turning to him, her tone unintentionally harsh.

"I hate to say it, but you don't seem to be..." he replied cautiously.

The redhead then spun on her heel to face him. "What do you want me to say?! I'm being hunted by a slaver who will do anything to get me back! And now you guys are targets!" she placed a few fingers to the side of her head. "I shouldn't have come with you guys. I'm only going to get you all killed!"

"Now just stop it!" Louis raised his voice, startling her. "I don't care if someone is gunning for me! This is the Wasteland, someone is always gonna get attacked one way or another. Whether it's a common Raider or gun for hire by that slaver, I won't let anyone push us around. I won't force you to stay with us, but I promise I will protect you and everyone else."

Victoria's stern face soften at his words. It truly amazed her how confident he could be even in such dark situations. And she knew once his mind was made up he would stick with it. "Where do you get all that confidence?" she asked gently. "You shouldn't put so much on your shoulders."

"I'm the one who's leading us across the country. Everyone's safety is my priority. It's the least I can do with the danger all around..." the Vault dweller turned his bashful eyes away.

Before Victoria could say anything else in defense, Doug stepped up to them. "Hey, sorry to bother you, but that asshole has been yelling to see you, Louis."

"Me? Why would he want to see me?"

"I don't know, he just said he wanted to talk to you alone. So I gave him a smack before leaving." Doug smiled proudly.

"Fine. I'll go see what he wants." Louis walked back into the building to the room where the bounty hunter waited. He turned his head up to him, the brows of his eyes furrowed behind the shades. "So I guess this isn't a social visit. Talk, now."

"I just wanted to say something..." the shaded man shifted as much as he could in his bonds. "I won't tell you where Jeremiah is, if that's what you're wondering. Even I don't fully know, he moves around a lot.

"Then why did you call me in here?" Louis started to grow impatient.

"Because I know what kind of man you really are..." he gave a crooked grin. "And sooner or later they will find out too. I've traveled far and wide in the Wasteland all my life and run into people like you before. So no matter what you say, you will get them all killed at the end!"

Louis had enough of his insults and grabbed the armrests of the seat tightly. The shaded man was rolled into the wall so hard that the backrest cracked the plaster. The Vault dweller then marched up and grabbed his collar tightly and brought his face close to his.

"You don't know a damn thing about me! I'm not the one who lead my people to their deaths like you did!" Louis' eyes seemed to bore right through the man's shades.

"I can always get more people! But as for you, it will kill you on the inside when they die! So I hope you suffer a hell like no other!" the shaded man bit back.

Louis scoffed and let him go, tired of hearing his bullshit. It was then that the rest of the group came into the room to find out what was going on.

"Are we ready to go yet?" Doug asked him. "We're losing daylight."

"Yeah. We're ready to go..." Louis answered, his angered frown still on the shaded man.

Victoria went over and looked down on the bounty hunter. "I've decided to let him go back to Jeremiah. At least we can send a message that we won't go down without a fight."

"Yes! We are warriors!" Wayland boasted loudly and pumped his fists in the air.

"Dial it down, big guy..." Joe pat his side.

"Just one thing before we go," Chloe stood over him now. "You had a perfect chance to kill us all out in the open. So why didn't you have your people do it?"

The shaded man chuckled, it seemed he wanted to keep pressing his luck with them. "I've been a bounty hunter most of my life. And believe it or not it can get boring. Chase the target, capture them, bring them back, collect the bounty. Over and over it begins to blend in. So...the reason why I didn't kill you all at once except for red over there?! I did it so I can see what you all would do in that situation!"

"Like some kind of game?!" Victoria threw her fist back. "You sick bastard!"

Her fist collided into the shaded man's left lense and side of nose, breaking it with ease. The man moaned in pain, his brown eye already starting to swell from her hit. A trickle of blood fell from his nostril and down his lips.

"Yeah, like a game. It's always so fun to see what people do under pressure. Sometimes friends turn against each other. Sometimes they will offer to turn over the target to save their asses. And sometimes they just panic and run. Always so interesting to see what they do! Especially with a Vault dweller calling the shots! Sorry if that isn't the answer you expected to hear! Not everything is a grand scheme! Sometimes people do things for shits and giggles!" he laughed like a wild man to mock them all.

The group was finally done with him. Joe pulled out his revolver and cracked the butt of it over his head to put him out cold. "I'm starting to enjoy knocking people out..." the Ghoul grinned at his work.

Louis grabbed the back of the chair and rolled it over to a cleaning closet nearby. He pulled the door open with effort since it seemed to have been closed since the Great War. He loosened the ropes enough so the shaded man could get himself free. Eventually. After that he shoved the bounty hunter into the closet and kicked it close. Hopefully he would stay unconscious until they were far away.

They soon passed the chainlink gates at the other side of the airport. Despite the amount of time they lost, the wanderers were still on the right path of the signal. For awhile, the group was dead quiet. Victoria was especially silent after learning that they were now a target for every would-be bounty hunter Jeremiah could round up and hire. It was all she could do to force back the memories and keep a straight face.

"So...what do you think Jeremiah will do with that guy?" Doug asked to get rid of the silence.

Victoria thought it over for a moment. "I'm not sure. Or really care." she answered. "Jeremiah is unpredictable on a normal day. If that man is lucky, he'll just be brushed off and Jeremiah will move on to the next hunters."

Louis moved a little closer to her side. "He can send as many as he wants. They're just hired thugs looking for an easy pay."

"But that asshole will tell that slaver about me and Wayland. Which means there will only be more caps on all of us." Chloe stated to them. Cavall suddenly barked playfully as if he understood her. The Synth woman chuckled and gave him a pat. "Yes, maybe even you will get a bounty, boy."

"We will be infamous together!" Wayland excitingly pumped one fist.

"Hey, big green, being hunted isn't fun." Joe said to him. The Super Mutant still had a lot to learn about the Wasteland.

"I say bring them on. Bounty hunters always got good loot." Doug smiled at the idea of taking their gear.

"Then it's settled," Louis smiled before looking onto his Pip-Boy screen for a moment. "We wont take shit from any bounty hunters. Right, Vicky?..."

Victoria couldn't fight back the smile that spread across her lips. "Dammit, Louis, why are you so confident?" she asked, to which he shrugged in response. "But you're right. We'll keep moving forward. Just don't ever call me Vicky again."

"I promise to try..." Louis swore with his hand up as an honor pledge.

"Just so you know, he probably will call you Vicky again!" Doug interjected.

"You ass..." Louis simply retorted.